Pamph. and do believe there is nothing | Son, and Holy Ghost, and do believe that there is nothing unbegotten but the Father, or that is different from the Father; do admit as pious and true, (all Things being made by the Word) that the Holy Ghoft is more honourable than all Things, and in Order or Station, than all Things made by the Father by Chrift. Befides other Faults in your Tranflation, I must take notice that you turn mutter into a Superlative, most honourable, in fpight of your Grammar, and infert Firft in fpight of your Author, in which it is not. The Import of this Paffage feems to be this: That there are Three distinct Persons or Subfistences, (not Subftances) viz. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; and tho' it be true, that there is nothing unbegotten but the Father, and that all Things were made by him; yet 'tis true too, that the Holy Ghoft, who is One of those Three Perfons, is more honourable than all Made or Created Beings, and is in Rank and Station above, or more honourable than all Things made by the Father, by or through Chrift. But whatever Doubt there may be of Origen's Opinion or Expreffions in this Paffage, the Account which Pamphilus gives of him is full and clear, and sets forth Origen's Sentiments of the Holy Spirit in Terms indifputable. ، (i) P. 760. Origen fays, He could not find one Word in the Scriptures, by which the Holy Ghost could be faid to be a Creature ; and yet, of all the Fathers, none were better, fcarce fo well, vers'd in the Scriptures as Origen. (k) P. 764. he fays, That Baptifm was not compleat, but by the Authority of the Trinity, that is, by the Naming of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghoft; and, particularly, that the Name of the Holy Ghost must be join'd with the Father and Son. (i) Veruntamen ufq; ad præfens nullum fermonem in Scripturis fanctis invenire potuimus, per quem Spiritus Sanctus Creatura effe diceretur. (k) Salutare baptifmum non nifi excellentiffimæ Trinitatis authoritate; i. e. Patris & Filij, & Spiritûs Sancti cognominatione compleatur, & innato Deo & unigenito ejus Filio, nomen quoq; Spiritus Sancti copuletur. (1) P. 765. ' (1) P. 765. He makes the Omniscience of the Holy Spirit a Proof of his Divinity, faying, That as the Father and the Son • knows the Beginnings and Ends of all Things, so alfo does the Holy Spirit; which is impoffible for a Creature to do. I have in a former Place taken notice of your Quotation, P. 35. of Irenæus, that the Text in Genefis, Let us make, &c. was fpoken to the Holy Ghoft, as well as to the Son; and you have alfo cited him for applying the 8th of the Proverbs to the Holy Spirit, and then, notwithstanding your Notion of the Creation of the Holy Ghost by the Son, if the Son was created the Beginning of his Ways, and the Holy Ghoft was alfo created the Beginning of his Ways, then there are Two Beginnings. ' And tho' I have alfo quoted Athenagoras before, I must once more mention what he fays viz. The Holy Ghoft is the Efflux of God, flowing from and reflected back to him, as the Rays. of the Sun. Who then would not wonder, that they should be call'd Atheifts, who acknowledge God the Father, God the Son, and the Holy Ghoft, fhewing both their Power in Unity, and Diftinction in Order? And now furely I may venture to contradict you, and say, that there are fome proper and direct primitive Teftimonies for the equal Antiquity of the Holy Ghost with the Son, nay, and for his Coeternity. For Athenagoras and Irenæus liv'd in the Second Century; Tertullian, Origen and Pamphilus in the Third, long before Arius broach'd his Herefy, or Athanafius had Occafion to affert our Faith in Opposition to it; fo that you must blot these out of your Catalogue, p. 29. of the Defenders of your Doctrine, and the reft too, if your Quotations out of them be like thefe which I have examin'd; and I have a Right to conclude they are no better, till thefe are juftify'd to be true and fair, which, I am confident, is impoffible to be done. I fhall now mention fome of the Sacred Teftimonies, which the Scriptures afford us. I have already taken notice of the Form of Blessing in the Name of the Holy Ghoft, as well as of the Father and of the Son; and that we are in like Manner to be baptiz'd; and of the Inference Origen makes from the Omnifcience of the Holy Spirit. And St. Paul fays, I Cor. c. ii. v. 10. The Spirit fearcheth the deep Things of God; and v. 11. The Things of God ⚫ knoweth no Man, but the Spirit of God. So I Cor. xii. St. Paul reckons up the feveral Gifts of the Holy Spirit, in the 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th Verses; and in the 28th (1) Sicut Pater novit initia omnium quæ funt & fines, fic & Filius fic & Spiritus Sanctus fciat id, quod impoffibile eft omni Creaturæ cognofcere. he Ουδεις. P. I. Letter to the Bishop of London, he afcribes them all to God; and as he fays in the 4th Verfe, There are Diverfities of Gifts, but the fame Spirit: So in the 4th and 5th Verfes he fays, It is the fame Lord, the fame • God which worketh all in all. Rom. ix. 1. St. Paul calls the Holy Ghost to witness: This is, fwearing by him, which is appealing to him as knowing our Hearts, which God only does. I the Lord fearch the Heart, I try the Reins, Jer. xvii. 10. And 'tis an Act of Adoration due only to Almighty God; and therefore our Saviour forbids us to fwear even by Heaven, tho' it be the Throne of God, Matth. v. 34. Als v. 3. St. Peter tells Ananias, He had lied to the Holy Ghost; and v. 4. he fays that by fo doing, he had lied unto God. A&s xiii. 2. The Holy Ghoft faid, Separate me Barnabas and Paul, and v. 4. they being fent forth, preached, v. 5. the Word of God. These may be fufficient to fhew, that there are Sacred Testimonies alfo afferting the Godhead of the Holy Ghoft. And therefore let me expoftulate with you, why you never make him the direct Object of any Doxology at all? For if he be God; if he beftows upon us all other Gifts and Graces, by which we are enabled to do any Service to God, as is evident both by Sacred and Primitive Teftimonies, all Acts of Adoration are due to him; and, ad hominem, I may fay, you efpecially fhould not deny this to him; because in the Doxologies, which you quote, you allow this Act of Divine Worship to be paid to Chrift, tho' you make him but a Creature; which, if but a Creature, ought not to be paid to him. There can be no doubt, but that the Doxologies in the Scripture may be piously us'd by any good Chriftian; God forbid, that they fhould be call'd Arian: But if they, who deny the Divinity of the Lord Jefus Chrift, and of the Holy Ghost, ufe these Doxologies in Oppofition to the Divinity of Chrift and the Holy Ghoft, and as a Declaration of their Denial of it, then they are Arians, or fomething (I know not what, for you call both Arians and Athanafians Hereticks) which is not Christian, by wrefting and abufing thofe Scriptures to a Purpose very different from the Doctrine therein exprefsly afferted and deliver'd to us. The Devil quoted to our Saviour the Scripture exactly in Syllables; but in the Application and Ufe he made of it, Luk.iv. 10. he was ftill a Devil, a Tempter, and a Liar, as much as from the Beginning. p. 5. Pfal. xci. II. Mat. iv. 6. Heb. x. 29. Now whatever may be that Sin against the Holy Ghoft, which our Saviour fays fhall never be forgiven, furely denying that Holy Spirit, reducing this Third Perfon in the Blessed Trinity to a Creature, and that of a Creature; and doing this despight to the Spirit of Grace, must most of all be a Sin against Him: And tho' tho' there be a Sin unto Death, for which St. John will not fay 1 John v. that we shall pray, yet in Charity I will hope you are not fo 16. harden'd in it, but that you will find Place for Repentance, and Heb. xiii. a Way to change your Mind; and, in order to it, will feek it 17. earnestly with Tears; and therefore (tho' you value not Anathe- Me Tavolas ma's, p. 41.) accept of my Prayers, that that Holy Ghost, that TóOV. Paraclet, that Advocate, who maketh Interceffion for us, with Rom. viii. Groanings which cannot be utter'd, may give you his Grace to fee 26. your Error, and to repair by a publick Recantation (as much as in you lies) that Scandal, which you have given to all true Chriftians by fo unwarranted and blafphemous a Doctrine. I fhould now, according to your Method, fum up the Evidence on both Sides; but when I confider how few Texts of Scripture you have cited, and how ftrangely you have misconftrued and mifapply'd them; and how you have mangled your Teftimonies, by leaving out and putting in whatsoever fuited your Purpofe; I may very juftly fay, as you do, p. 37. it is not neceffary to divide them under Two Heads; for you may be faid to have made Evidence, but to have produced none: So that if renouncing your firft Faith, into which you were baptiz'd, be a Falling away, and that be a Crucifying the Son of God afresk, I Heb. i. 6. doubt we cannot fay for the fame Reafon, for which our Savi our pray'd for them, who actually did crucify him, Father, Luk.xxiii. forgive them, for they know not what they do. 34. On the other hand, if the Texts and Prophecies in the Old Te- Joh. v. 39. tament, which teftify of the Meffiah, and what he was to be; and if the Opinion and Expectation of the Jews founded thereupon be of any Value: If Revelations from Heaven, the Voice of God the Father bearing Witness of him, the Holy Spirit of Truth, the Affertions of our Saviour himself, and the Writings of the infpir'd Apofties, and their Succeffors, to the Time of Arius, are fufficient Evidence of Truth: If Miracles, fuch as no Man ever did, wrought by his own Power, and in his own Name, raifing himself from the Dead, authoritatively forgiving Sins, giving the Holy Ghost and Eternal Life, receiving and requiring from all Men Adoration, and Worfhip, and Honour, no less than what is paid to the Father, are as good Proofs of his Divinity, as they are of Omnipotency, which I take to be fynonimous; Then the Author and Finisher of our Faith, the Lord Jesus, is eternally God, the God of our Salvation; and we muft with joyful Lips praise him, and fay, Before thou hadst form'd the World, from Everlasting to Everlafting thou art God. And no less is the Holy Spirit; for which the Authorities and Proofs have been but fo little before mention'd, that I need not repeat them. This Pfal. xc. 2. This is the Faith which has been deliver'd to the Saints; this has been profefs'd and taught for 300 Years after Chrift, (as the incomparable Bishop Bull hath irrefragably prov'd;) This is what hath been confirmed by their Miracles, and feal'd with their Blood; and alfo of their Succeffors, in Oppofition to Arius and his Difciples, and in Spight of the feverest, and indeed more barbarous Perfecution than ever was fuffer'd under the most cruel and inhuman Heathens. This Seed of the Church has brought forth Fruit for thefe 1300 Years from that Time: In all which long Time, have there been no learned, no pious, unbiafs'd Men in the Chriftian Church, in no Part of the World, to rescue our Holy Religion from the Errors which you now impute to it? Were they all, in all thefe Ages, corrupt and become abominable? Was there none that would do fo great good; no, not one? This is a very heavy (think whether it be not alfo a very arrogant) Charge: Think whether against fuch a Cloud of Witnesses, a Man may not be fufpected to be wife in his own Conceit; efpecially fince one Apofile has told us, that grievous Wolves will enter in, not v. 29, 30. Sparing the Flock; (and fuch furely the Arians have prov'd, and even more than at firft the Gnofticks :) And that Men 2 Tim. iii. should arife, speaking perverse Things, to draw away Disciples after them; fuch as filly Women, or Men weak in Faith: And another Apoftle has foretold, that there fhall be fale Teachers, who fhall privily (I wish I had no Occafion now to add Openly) bring in damnable Herefies. (I am forry to rekcon you among them, as I muft by the Defcription which the fame Apostle gives of them, viz.) even denying the Lord that bought them. Arts xx. 6. Rom. xiv. 1. 2 Pet. ii. 1. John xvi. 13. xiv.25. Jer. xxxi. 34. Heb. viii. II. 2 Tim. iii. And unless that Holy Ghoft, who was fent from Heaven to lead and guide us into all Truth, and to teach us all Things, has taught. you to deny himself, and that you can Evidence your Dotrine, as the Apoftles did that, which they did, and we do profefs by the miraculous Gifts of that Holy Ghost; you must excufe me, and Mankind will excufe themselves from fubmitting to your Authority, and peremptory, ill grounded Affertions, in Contradiction of thofe Apoftles, who, we both agree, did write as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. And tho' it be one great Bleffing and Privilege of the Kingdom of the Meffiah, foretold by the Prophet, and repeated by St. Paul, that all fhall know the Lord, from the leaft to the greatest; and the Scriptures were written for this Purpofe, and are profitable for Inftruction; and are able to make us, and even Children (for literally Timothy, to whom it is faid, had known them from a Child) wife unto Salvation; yet 2 Tim. iii. they must be forbid to all Proteftants, as well as Papifts, who are not fo learned and cunning Interpreters of them as your felf and your Friends, left they fhould be led by them Acts xxiv. into that Faith and Worship of their Fathers, which You call Herey. Bishop Kidder mentions a fabulous Story among the Jews, 16. 15. 20, That |