cording as its tendency was right or wrong *: but also, that God fhall judge the fecrets of men by Jefus Chrift†;” “that there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known." "For God fhall bring every work in judgment, with every fecret thing; whether it be good, or whether it be evil §."

Therefore, with respect to other perfons, let us be charitable, and "judge nothing" needlefsly "before the time, until the Lord come; who will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and make manifeft the counfels of all hearts ||." And, with refpect to ourselves, let us be eafy under human cenfures, if we have given no occafion for them; for in that cafe, “it is a small thing to be judged of man's judgment ¶:" But let us carefully prepare for the Divine sentence, by "perfecting holiness in the fear of God;" and after all our care, let us be thoroughly humble for though "we know nothing of ourselves, yet are we not hereby justified," if it be through partiality or forgetfulness, as poffibly it may; but he that judgeth us, is the Lord 4.”

***

5. As to the manner of the judgment, it will be with the greatest folemnity and awfulness, and with the greatest justice and equity. "The Lord himself fhall defcend from heaven ‡‡," "with his mighty angels, in flaming fire §§;" and "the trumpet fhall found ||||," and "all that are in the graves fhall hear his voice, and come forth ¶¶." "Then fhall he fit upon the throne of his glory " and the books shall be opened, and they fhall be judged out of those things, which are written in the books, according to their works H." As "many as have finned without a revealed law, fhall perish without a revealed law and as many as have finned in the law," whether Jewish or Christian, " fhall be judged by the law." law ++ "Unto whomfoever much is given, of him fhall much be required and to whom much is committed, of him will the more be asked." He " that hath fowed fparingly,

hall reap alfo fparingly and he which hath fowed bountifully, fhall reap alfo bountifully." "Whatsoever a man hath fowed, that fhall he alfo reap t": 1 29137

"What manner of perfons ought we to be then, in all holy converfation and godliness: looking for and haftening unto the coming of the day of God; wherein the heavens, being on fire, fhall be diffolved, and the elements fhall melt with fer"vent heat? Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteoufnefs. Wherefore, beloved, feeing that ye look for fuch things, be diligent, that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blamelefs: grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jefus Chrift: to him be glory, both now and for ever. Amen ‡."

TH

tians concerning the twofirft perfons of the facred trinity, the Father and the Son; our Creed proceeds in this to the third object of our baptifmal faith, the Holy Ghoft. And to explain it properly, there will be need to speak, First, Of his nature: Secondly, Of his peculiar office in the work of our redemption: Thirdly, Of the duties owing to him: Fourthly, of the fins, which we are liable to commit against him.

Of the nature of the Holy Ghoft, or Spirit. For Ghost, in the ancient ufe of our language, denoted the fame thing, which Spirit doth now: a fubftance different from body or

matter.

matter. Indeed we still use it, in expreffing the departure of the spirit from the body, which we call giving up the ghost; and in speaking of fuppofed apparitions of the fpirits of perfons after their deceafe. Hence alfo the catechifm mentions gholy dangers; and the communion fervice, ghoftly counfels; meaning fuch dangers, and fuch counfels, as relate to our spiritual part.

In like manner, the Holy Ghoft is the Holy Spirit: concerning whose nature, we can know, as I told you before concerning that of the Son, only what refults from the difcoveries made to us in fcripture. And thefe, though they en lighten us but in part, are both credible and fufficient. For it is no objection against believing what God hath revealed in relation to any fubject, that many queftions may be asked a bout what he hath not revealed, to which we can give no anfwer. And he will never expect us, in this or any matter, to apprehend more, than he hath afforded us the means of apprehending. Now the chief things, revealed in the prefent cafe, are the following.

The Holy Ghost is not merely an attribute or power of the Father, but hath a real fubfiftence, diftinct both from the Father and the Son. For the New Teftament exprefsly and repeatedly uses the word, he concerning him *: which is never used in that manner of a mere attribute or power. It afcribes to him, will and understanding t: it speaks of him as being fent by the Father, coming and acting on various occafions, relative both to the Son and to others; nay, as fhewing "him felf in a bodily fhape, like a dove ‡."

Further, The Holy Ghoft is, truly and strictly speaking, God. For the language of fcripture concerning him is fuch, as cannot belong to any created being. He is there called, the eternal Spirits, the Lord : faid to quicken, or give life; to be eve ry where present with all good Chriftians; to "fearch all things, yea, the deep things of God, even as the things of a man are known by his own spirit, which is in him. Christ, being conceived by him, became the Son of God ‡‡. Chriftians, by his dwelling in them, become the temples of the Holy Ghof ||||

or,

† Rom. viii. 27. Heb. ii. 4. Compare Heb. ix. 14. || 2 Cor iii. 17,

John xiv. 16, 17. +1 Cor. ii. 10, 11,

1 Cor. vi. 19.

or, as another place expreffes it, the temples of God. Ananias, by lying on him, yed not unto men, but unto Godt. He is faid, to diftribute fpiritual and miraculous gifts, dividing to every man feverally, as he will. "And as the difciples miniftered to the Lord and fafted, the Holy Ghoft faid, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work, whereunto I have called them§." He is represented by our Saviour, as able fully to fupply the want of his perfonal prefence with the apoftles ||, And laft ly, He is joined with the Father and the Son, on equal terms, both in the form of baptifm, where his name and theirs are ufed alike ¶; and in the folemn form of bleffing, where "the fellowship of the Holy Ghoft" is placed on a level with "the love of God, and the grace of our Lord Jefus Christ Thefe, and many other fcripture expreffions, are furely fuch, as cannot be used of any creature: but prove the Spirit, as others, already mentioned to you, prove the Son, to partake of the fame authority and perfections, and therefore the fame nature, with the Father. Yet we know, that though in holy writ men and angels are, fometimes on account of their extenfive power, sometimes as reprefentatives of the Deity, called gods, yet in literal propriety of speech, there is but one God, and not either three Supreme Beings, or a fuperior and an inferior Object of adoration. "Hear, O Ifrael, the Lord our God is one Lord." "Is there a God befides me? yea, there is no God: I know not any ‡‡." "Before me was no god formed: neither shall there be after me §§.” Lord, and my glory will I not give to "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only fhalt of gods;

“I am the another ||||.”

thou ferve TT." Since then there is not a plurali fhalt

and yet the Son and the Spirit are each of them God, no lefs than the Father: it plainly follows, that they are, in a manner by us inconceivable, fo united to him, that these three are **; but still, in a manner equally inconceivable, so distinguished from him, that no one of them is the other.

one

Now certainly, in general, it is no contradiction, that things fhould be in one refpect the fame, and in another different, But the particular and explicite notion of this union and this distinction, the word of God hath not given us. Whether we are capable of apprehending it, we know not: and therefore it is no wonder in the leaft, that we are incapable of forming one to ourselves. For indeed we are incapable of forming clear notions concerning thousands of other things, which are unfpeakably lefs beyond our reach. All that we can do therefore, is, to ufe thofe expreffions in relation to it, which either fcripture furnishes, or experience hath found useful to guard against false apprehenfions: for with very imperfect ones we must be content. Thus, in speaking of the difference of the Son and Spirit from the Father and from each other, we fay, with our Bible, that the Son is begotten, and the Spirit proceeds, without pretending to know any further, what these two words mean, than that each denotes fomething different from the other; and both fomething different from creation out of nothing. And this distinction giving occafion to fcripture to speak of them in fomewhat the fame manner, as of different perfons amongit men: we call them the three perfons of the Trinity: not at all intending by it to say, that the word perfon, fuits them in every respect that it fuits us: but only to acknowledge, that as we find them thus fpoken of, we doubt not but there is fome fufficient ground for it. And as we find further, that in point of rank, the perfon of the Father is reprefented as fupreme, the Son as fubordinate to him, the Holy Spirit to both; and in point of relation to us, creation is afcribed peculiarly to the first, redemption to the fecond, fanctification to the third; and yet, in some sense, each of thefe things to each: we imitate the whole of this likewife. Still we are very fenfible, at the fame time, that many doubts and difficulties may be raised, almost about every part of the doctrine, than God, in his unfearchable wifdom, hath given us light enough to folve. But we apprehend it is our duty, to believe with humility and fimplicity what the fcripture hath taught us; and to be contentedly ignorant of what it doth not teach us; without indulging fpeculations and conjectures, which will only perplex the fubject more, instead of clearing it. And furely it is our duty alfo, to interpret with

candour,