CONTEMPLATIONS

- A SERIES OF LETTERS TO A FRIEND

William Huntington (1745-1813)

LETTER III

TO THE REV. J. JENKINS, LEWES, SUSSEX.

Dearly beloved in the Lord Jesus - Perfect peace, and at such a time.

If I have not wearied my beloved brother with my epistles on the pleasing subject, I will resume it and proceed. That the Holy Spirit is properly a person, I have endeavoured to prove from scripture; and that he is a divine person appears as plain, because be personally subsists and has life in himself "As the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself," John, v. 26. And so hath the Spirit life in himself. This appears in his creation-work. "The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life," Job, xxxiii. 4. He quickened, animated, and inspired Adam, and furnished him with a life of love. What power but a divine person, who has life in himself, could form a living soul in Adam, and give him life, righteousness, and true holiness? He is the author of natural and spiritual life. "It is the Spirit that quickeneth," John, vi. 23. And, as he giveth spiritual life, so he maintains it; hence he is called "a well of living-water, springing up into everlasting life," John, iv. 14. And all the elect of God, who are by nature dead in trespasses and sins, and children of wrath, even as others-these doth the Holy Spirit quicken. "I will put my Spirit in you, and ye shall live, "Ezek. xxxvii. 14. Hence our Saviour says, "If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture Hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified" John, vii. 38, 39. It was the Spirit that quickened the Saviour's body in the tomb. He was "put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit," 1 Peter, iii. 18. Hence the Spirit is expressly called life; and he will, at the last day, quicken all that ever died in the Lord. "And, if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. I have sowed and you have reaped; and he that reaped receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto eternal life; when he that sows and them that reap shall rejoice together." The Spirit, as a well of living, water, shall spring up into everlasting life. This is the glorious harvest promised, as the present is the seed-time, in which the blessed crop (that we have already got in hope) is sown for he that soweth to the Spirit, shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting," Gal. vi. 8. If, therefore, the Spirit be not a person, and a divine person too, who has eternal life in himself, we never could reap everlasting life from him by yielding spiritual obedience to him. I say spiritual obedience, because we are said to serve "in newness of Spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter," which is only bodily exercise. And we are said, likewise, to worship God in the Spirit, and to walk in newness of life. Furthermore, the names which, in the strictest sense, are peculiar to God, are by the scriptures given to the Holy Ghost. As Jehovah; which is an incommunicable name of God. "Thou, whose name alone is Jehovah, art the most high God over all the earth," Psalm lxxxiii. 18. He, whom the children of Israel tempted and proved, vexed and rebelled against, was Jehovah. And Isaiah ascribes it to the Holy Ghost, "But they rebelled, and vexed his Holy Spirit; therefore he was turned to be their enemy, and fought against them," Isaiah, Lxiii. 10. The apostle ascribes the same to him. Wherefore, as the Holy Ghost saith, to-day, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness; when your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, they always err in their heart; and they have not known my ways. So I sware in my wrath, they shall not enter into my rest," Heb. vii. 11. Isaiah, and the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, ascribe his tempting and rebelling of the Israelites to be done against the Holy Ghost; therefore the Holy Ghost must be Jehovah, and so it is written, "And he called the name of the place Massab, and Meribah, because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted Jehovah, saying, Is Jehovah among us or not?" Exod. xvii. 7. It is therefore plain that the Holy Ghost is Jehovah, which incommunicable name is peculiar to the most high God.

The Holy Ghost is called God, not in a figurative, but in a proper sense. "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?" I Cor. iii. 16. What is not essentially God cannot be the Spirit of God; therefore the Holy Ghost is God. The Spirit of Jehovah is Jehovah the Spirit; the Spirit of God is God the Spirit. And this rule may be seen in the Epistle to the Corinthians. " Nevertheless, when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away. Now the Lord is that Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty," 2 Cor. iii. 16, 17. The Spirit of the Lord is the Lord the Spirit. Hence we may safely conclude that the Holy Ghost is Jehovah, God, and Lord.

And, to shew the divine equality of the adorable persons in the Godhead each person at times is named or placed first. Sometimes Christ is named first: "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen." 2 Cor. xiii. 14. Sometimes the Holy Spirit stands first: "That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding; to the acknowledgment of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ," Col. ii. 2. Sometimes God the Father stands first: "For there are three that bear record in heaven; the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. I John, v. 7. Now, as this last order is not always attended to, it shews that one is not before or after another; and that one is not greater or less than the other. Again - "Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same spirit; and there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord; and there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God, which worketh all in all," I Cor. xii. 4, 5, 6. Here the Holy Ghost rates the name of Spirit, Lord, and God, to himself; and therefore he must be the Spirit, Lord, and God. Sometimes the Holy Ghost is prayed to as God. "But the Lord is faithful, who shall establish you, and keep you from evil. And we have confidence in the Lord touching you, that ye both do and will do the things which we command you. And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ," 2 Thess. iii. 3, 4, 5. The Lord, who is faithful, and who establishes the churches, and keeps them from evil, and in whom Paul places his confidence, is the Holy Ghost; and he is prayed to, that he may direct the saints hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ. The Holy Spirit is prayed to as a divine person, to direct souls into the love of God, who is another person, and into the patient waiting for Christ, which is another, and a distinct person from the former two.

That the Holy Ghost is truly and essentially God, appears from the scriptures, which ascribe divine attributes and perfections to him; such as eternity: "Through the eternal Spirit he offered himself to God," Heb. ix. 14. Omniscience also -, "The Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God; for what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? Even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God," I Cor. ii. 10, 11. Omnipotence is ascribed to him." The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee," Luke, i. 35. He is called " the Spirit of counsel and might," Isaiah, xv. 2. And "the Spirit of power and of a sound mind," 2 Tim. i. 7. How can he be called the Spirit of power, the Spirit of might, and the power of the Highest, if he be not the Almighty God? Nothing can be the power of the Highest, but Omnipotence itself; and whatever is omnipotent is God.

Omnipresence. - "Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? or Whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there; if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me," Psalm cxxxix. 7-10. Here is the Holy Spirit, and his presence, and his hand, in all places; therefore be must be omnipresent, and immensity itself, seeing there is no going, from him, either in heaven or in earth, in the sea, or in hell.

Holiness also. - He is "declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of Holiness, by the resurrection from the dead," Rom. i. 4. If he be the Spirit of Holiness, he must have holiness in himself, as he has; and he is the author of holiness in all the saints, for they are sanctified by the Holy Ghost, Who dwells in them. "Know ye not that your bodies are the temples of the Holy Ghost? Ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people," 2 Cor. vi. 16. He is called the "Spirit of truth," and "truth itself," who leads the saints into all truth. The "Spirit of wisdom" also and, if he be the Spirit of truth, and truth itself, then he must be divine verity and divine wisdom, or he cannot be the Spirit of truth and wisdom. All these things, properly considered, are sufficient to prove that the Holy Ghost is a person, a divine person, and therefore truly and properly God. I must conclude, wishing my dear brother much of the presence of God in this new year. And when it is well with thee remember.

W. HUNTINGTON.