this new year. And when it is well with thee, remember

W. HUNTINGTON.

LETTER IV.

TO THE REV. J. JENKINS, LEWES,

Beloved,

SUSSEX.

SINCE I sent off the last, my head and my heart have been conceiving and bringing forth again, insomuch that I think I have more oil in my cruse now than when I began. "My horn is exalted like the horns of an unicorn, and I am anointed with fresh oil." Therefore I will proceed to shew that the Holy Ghost is a distinct person. He is said to proceed from the Father-" When the comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me," John xv. 26. If he proceed from the Father, he must be distinct from him from whom

he proceeds. Again-"It is expedient *for you that I go away; for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but, if I depart, I will send him." Here the Spirit proceeds from the Son also, as well as from the Father. And, as he is distinct from the Father, so he is also from the Son-" I will send him." The Spirit, which is sent, is a distinct person from him that sends him. He is likewise called another. "I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another comforter." God is called the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort: the Saviour is called the Consolation of Israel, which good old Simeon waited to see and Christ, being about to leave his flock, promises to send them another comforter, that should abide with them for ever; and if he be another comforter, he must be distinct both from the Father and the Son, or else he cannot be another, but must be the same.

I believe that God the Father never did any works from which the Son or the Spirit were excluded. "Verily, verily, I say unto you, the Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do for what things soever

he doeth, these also doth the Son likewise," John v. 19. Nor did he ever work any work from which the Spirit was excluded. Their distinct personality appears in all their divine operations; and in every work they seem to be jointly concerned. In the secret

councils of old, and in the decree of election, and in the covenant of grace which was made from everlasting, they were jointly concerned: there was the Father choosing, the Son, in whom the choice was made, undertaking to save, and the Spirit to sanctify and make obedient the objects chosen. "Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience, and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ," 1 Pet. i. 2. This will appear more plain in the following passage, where you have an account of the covenant, and of the persons in the Holy Trinity altogether. "As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the Lord, My Spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of

thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and for ever," Isa. lix. 21. Here is the Father and the Son agreeing about a covenant; "I have made a covenant with my chosen." The Son is undertaking to become man; it is to be a covenant by sacrifice. He undertakes in our behalf, and for us: the promise of eternal life and the Holy Spirit are to come upon him: this the Holy Ghost undertakes to do; and these are to abide upon him, the head of influence, till salvation is finished. And, when Christ was glorified, then the Word and Spirit were to be sent forth by the Covenant Head to the chosen seed. The Spirit is to apply the benefits of the cross, and proclaim liberty to the elect. "By the blood of thy covenant I have sent thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water." They are called Christ's prisoners, because they are given unto him to redeem, sanctify, and save.

In the work of creation the distinct personality and operations of the Holy Trinity plainly appear. There is God the Father creating all things by Jesus

Christ (Eph. iii. 9); and there is the Holy Spirit moving upon the face of the waters (Gen.i.2), bringing the confused chaos into its present beautiful form and order. "By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth," Psalm xxxiii. 6. Here is the Lord, and the essential Word which was with God, and was God, creating the world; and the breath of his mouth, which is the Holy Ghost, equally concerned in the work; for "by his Spirit he hath garnished the heavens," Job xxvi. 13.

Nor need it be thought strange that the Holy Ghost is compared to breath and to the wind; seeing, as a learned man observes, that "generation expresses the Son's distinct mode of subsisting in the divine Essence, so spiration may also express the Spirit's distinct mode of subsisting therein; and, perhaps, is the true reason of his bearing this name. And, as he is called the Breath of the Almighty, and as Christ breathed on the apostles, and said unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost;" the procession of the Holy Spirit is beautifully set forth thereby.

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