"Fathers, by the Prophets, hath in these last

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days spoken unto us by his Son." The Prophets spake by the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who by his Holy Spirit suggested to their minds the substance of their discourses.

no intimation of a third Person.

There is

"It is written in the Prophets, and they shall John vi. 45. "be all TAUGHT of GOD."

"Not in the words which man's wisdom 1 Cor. ii. 13. "teacheth, but which the HOLY GHOST "TEACHETH."

"This latter verse," says Mr. Jones, "would prove the Holy Ghost to be God, by itself."

Now, the discourse from which it is taken, plainly declares that this teaching is of God. At the 10th v. the Apostle says, "God hath revealed "them to us by his Spirit." Mr. Jones deals very unfairly with the Scriptures; he gives but a part of his first text; it is continued thus: "Every "man therefore, that hath heard and hath learned

of the Father, cometh unto me.".

In his epistle to the Philippians (1. 19), St. Paul terms it," the supply of the Spirit of Jesus "Christ." It is the self-same Spirit; but neither in Mr. Jones's texts, nor any where else in the Bible, is a third Person declared to be the giver of it.

(p. 62.)

Acts v. 3.

Ibid. ver. 4.

VIII.

Why hath Satan filled thine heart to LIE to "the HOLY GHOST ?"

"Thou hast not LIED unto men, but unto "GOD."

In

The object here is the same as in the preceding texts, viz. to show that lying to the Holy Spirit in the first, is called lying to God in the second. the preceding chapter, at the 8th verse, we read that Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit. The question then still recurs-By whom was the Apostle thus filled with the Spirit? the beloved Disciple saith, Hereby we know that He (the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ) abideth in us, by the Spirit which He hath given us." (1 John 3. 24.) And St. Paul, in his epistle to Titus (3. 6,) speaking of the Holy Spirit, saith, "Which He (the

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Father) shed on us abundantly through Jesus "Christ our Saviour." The Apostles were largely gifted with the Spirit, and thus commissioned, might be considered as God's vice-gerents; lying to them therefore, was, in effect, lying to God. St. Paul expresses the same idea in his first epistle to the Thessalonians (4. S). "He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man but God, who hath "also given unto us his Holy Spirit."

There is no difficulty in understanding these texts, unless we create one, by supposing a third Person as the giver of the Spirit.

"Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then 1 John iii.21. "have we confidence toward GOD."

"And hereby we know that HE abideth in us, Ibid. ver. 24. " by THE SPIRIT which he hath given us."

"The Apostle's reasoning," says Mr. Jones, "is this: The Spirit abideth in us, and hereby

we know that He (God) abideth in us."

This is trifling with a serious subject. The Apostle is speaking of the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (see v. 23), and it is plainly declared that" He hath given the Spirit."

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"The TEMPLE OF GOD is holy, which temple 1 Cor. iii. 17.

are YE."

"Know ye not that YOUR BODIES are the Ibid. vi. 19. "TEMPLE of the HOLY GHOST ?"

I have copied these texts, merely because Mr. Jones ought to have the advantage of all the Scriptural authority he can urge. The argument he would draw from them (for he gives no comment) has been, I conceive, sufficiently answered. I cannot, however, but notice his continued unfairHis first text is introduced by these words, "The Spirit of God dwelleth in you." Can the Spirit of God, as the words are used here, be possibly understood to mean a third Person in the Deity, equal in majesty and glory with the

ness.

(p. 65.)

Matt. iv. 1.

Luke xi. 2.

4.

Almighty Father? The second text concludes
thus: "The Holy Spirit which ye have of God."
In both texts the Spirit is shown to be the gift of
God.

XI.

"Then was Jesus LED up BY THE SPIRIT to "be TEMPTED," &c.

"OUR FATHER which art in Heaven. LEAD "6 us not into TEMPTATION."

I must say, I have never met with any thing more strange and objectionable than Mr. Jones's comment on the two passages now quoted. He tells us that this petition in the Lord's Prayer, though it commences with the words " Our

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Father," is" addressed to the Person of the "Holy Spirit" for "Our Father which is in "Heaven would not lead us into temptation; it

being needless and absurd to pray that God "would not do what by the necessity of his "nature it is impossible for him to do."

"But

"when Jesus was tempted, the leading him into temptation, was the act of the Holy Spirit." We therefore pray to Him to spare us.

What a heathenish kind of Trinity does Mr. Jones here present to his readers! He describes the first Person as not merely unwilling, but in his nature incapable of leading us into temptation. The third Person, by his statement, is both able

and willing. Thus making the first and third Persons of his Trinity to be of different natures and dispositions! The second Person, being the patient in the trying scene, differs from both! If this be not tritheism, I know not the meaning of the word. O lovely, rational, heart-soothing Christianity! how cruelly is thy sweet simplicity corrupted and abused! What a mass of confusion does this good man make of that best of Heaven's gifts-the Gospel of Christ!

Blessed be GOD, even the God of ALL COM- 2 Cor. i. 3. "FORT."

Mr. Jones has thought proper to mutilate this text, and to comment upon it accordingly. He argues very unreasonably, with the view of proving that "the God of all comfort" must be the Comforter, that is, the "Holy Spirit, a Person in the

unity of God." He proceeds" If there be a "God distinct from him who claims that title,

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then he is not the Comforter, but one of two;

and two Divine Comforters, like two Almighties, "would make two Gods; which is not a principle " of Christianity, but of heathen idolatry.”

Now the text itself shows that it is not the Holy Spirit that is here meant, for it stands thus: "Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord "Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the

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