the spirit of God;" that is to say, God himself. "Take heed," says he in another place," that you grieve not the spirit of God." This signifies, oblige not God to repent of the favours he hath bestowed upon you; as it is said of St. Paul, that he grieved at the view of the idolatry of the Athenians.

All the rules which have just been established are very conformable to scripture and the genius of language. They also accord extremely well with the unity of God, which is here a kind of fixed point, from which, in this dispute, one ought never to deviate. One cannot say the same of a seventh sense which is very frequent with divines, which is, to understand by the Holy Spirit, a person really distinct from God the Father; or, to speak of their art with more exactness, the third person of a Trinity in the Divine Essence. This new sense, if it is true that one can call it sense, of words which are totally strangers to it, besides that it is useless and superfluous in explaining sacred scripture, appears to me to contain insurmountable difficulties.

For if the Holy Spirit be a person distinct from God the Father, whence comes it that the Scripture does not say so in express terms? And the more, as it seems to intimate the contrary, and precipitate us into error, when it speaks of the Holy Spirit, as if it was nothing but the agency of God. Is it for this reason divines allege, that there must be in mysteries a mixture of light and darkness; light

enough to illuminate those, who have the disposition to believe, and darkness enough to blind the unbelievers; as the cloud, which was luminous on one side to the Israelites, but was nothing but darkness on the side of the Egyptians?

If the Holy Spirit be a divine person, whence comes it, that the Scripture never calls him God, and seems even to distinguish him from the Deity every time that it calls him the Spirit of God? For when we say the will of man, by this itself we distinguish it from the man.

Whence comes it, that it hath never commanded us to worship the Holy Spirit, to invoke him, to render him our homage, since he hath so great a part in the work of our salvation?

Why ask the Father for the gifts of the Holy Spirit, instead of addressing him, who on this scheme is the author and source of them?

Whence comes it, that the scripture omits the Holy Spirit in those passages where, on these principles, he ought to have been mentioned? "This is eternal life, that they may know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent." Why not speak of the Holy Spirit? St. Paul always introduces at the head of his Epistles, "Grace and peace from God the Father and from Jesus Christ;" why not here also mention the Holy Ghost? "We have fellowship with the Father and with the Son;" why not also add the Holy Ghost, of which we are

the temples? And an infinite number of like passages, where the Holy Ghost is always omitted. But what is more, the sacred writers often put angels in his place. "I conjure you in the presence of God, of Jesus Christ, and his elect angels.-Him who shall overcome, I will proclaim his name before my Father and before his angels.-But he, who shall be ashamed of me, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and glory of his Father and the angels.-Grace and peace be from him who is, who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits, who are before the the throne and before Jesus Christ." Why introduce angels into the third place, where the Holy Ghost should naturally have come, if it were true that he is a Divine Person, and the third in the Trinity?

Whence comes it, that Jesus Christ is always called the Son of God, and never the Son of the Holy Ghost, though he was conceived of him? When the angel says to Mary, "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, wherefore that which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God;" whence comes it, that it is not rather said, the Son of the Holy Ghost? And consequently there will be two Fathers and two Sons in the Trinity; but whence comes it, that according to scripture, there is one Father only, and one Son only?

Christ's Charge to his Apostles.

"Go, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost." These words, which Jesus Christ spoke to his disciples, before he ascended to heaven, contain two principal things; first, a command to spread throughout the whole world the doctrine of the Gospel, "Go, and teach all nations;" or, according to the proper signification of the Greek term, make disciples among all nations; secondly, the establishment of baptism, with the design of that ceremony; baptizing them in, or rather, for, the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost." In effect, the preposition in the original expresses the end and design which one proposes to one's self. Let us attempt, then, to discover what was the view of our Lord, when he ordered his disciples "to baptize for the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit."

Jesus Christ, who lived among the Jews, ordinarily makes allusions to their customs, frequently even borrows their own terms, as might be proved from an infinite number of examples. This expression of baptizing for the name of a thing is found in their formularies or liturgies. When they admitted a pagan into their religion, they baptized him for the name of proselyte, that is, to be henceforth called

proselyte, and to enjoy privileges annexed to this denomination. If he was retained in the service of any one, he was baptized for the name of servant; and if he was set free, he was baptized for the name of free, that is, to be called servant or free, accordingly as it pleased his master to favour him.

St. Paul also uses the same phrase in the same acceptation, when he reproaches the Corinthians with their schisms and divisions, a prelude of that party spirit, which hath for a long time reigned in the Christian Church. "One said, I am the disciple of St. Paul; another, I am of Apollos; a third, I am of Cephas;" pretty much as they now say, I am a Lutheran, I am a Calvinist. The Apostle condemns, as a bad thing, this extravagant attachment to particular teachers; he wants to crush the evil in its birth, and to abolish those odious titles, which serve as a standard to religious mutiny. With this design he calls back the Corinthians to their baptism; Were you baptized, says he to them, for the name of Paul, that is, to bear my name, and to call yourselves my disciples? You were baptized for the name of Christ, and you ought to denominate yourselves Christians and not Paulinists.

At present it is easy to understand these words, "Go, and make disciples among all nations, baptizing them for the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit." They signify; Baptize them to be denominated disciples of the Father, the Son, and