ture can be named, was not; and therefore be could not exist from eternity: And, consequently, he cannot be called an eternal being. There is also a ace, in which any one creatures not, for a limited nature can only occupy one point of space in the eternity of being about him: And therefore, in this view, he is not eternal; but comprehended by HIM, whose FULLNESS filleth all in all. But the Holy Spirit is the ETERNAL SPIRIT, who ever existed beyond all points of time, and does exist beyond all bounds of place; and therefore He is the eternal God, who is from everlasting to everlasting with respect to duration, and whom the beaven of beavens cannot contain with regard to his dwelling. He is in all ages present, and in all limits unlimited, and possesses that eternity, which (as Boethius terms it) is at once a whole and perfect possession of an endless or boundless life.*

This title of Eternal is proper to God; and, therefore, God hath revealed himself by that name, and by others which include or imply it. So Abraham called on the name JEHOVAH the everlasting God, Gen. xxi. 33. So the promise was made to Israel, concerning the eternal God and the everlasting arms, Deut. xxxiii. 27. SO JEHOVAH is called in Isaiab, the Alebim of ages, or everlasting God, Is. xl. 28. And so the apostle, who calls the SPIRIT eternal, uses the same word in another place, as a high and grand title peculiar to God alone, Rom. vi. 26.

And as God only is eternal, in the strict sense of the term, and the cause of eternity; so all eternal things, or things which shall remain to eternity, are ascribed to him as the agent, and derived from him as the source. Thus, his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom; his power, an eternal power; his righteousness, an everlasting righteousness; his glory, an eternal glory. In like manner, what is derived from him, partakes of his duration: And, therefore, his redeemed receive an everlasting consolation, a crown of glory which fadeth not, a life eternal, and do reign with bim for ever and ever. In a word, all, that shall endure to eternity, must and doth proceed from HIM, who only can possess, in their proper

Thomas Aquinas, in the first part of his Summa Theologia, Quaest. x. Art. i. has discussed this passage of Boethius with his usual metaphysical subtilty; but proves how poorly the intellect of man can conceive, or the pen of man express, what is infinite and unbounded. The French hermit who spent his whole life in pondering (as he said) upon Eternity, might have spent a thousand lives, and then be beginning only to think upon it. There is a sensible essay upon this topic of Eternity in the Spectator. No. 590. And for a more metaphysical and philosophical disquisition, see GALE'S Court of the Gentiles. Part iv. p. 276–288.

ense and relation to each other, those glorious titles of, JEHOVAH ALEHIM THE TRUTH, THE VERY ALEHIM OF LIVES (or of all life,) THE KING OF ETERNITY. Jer. x. 10.

From hence it appears, that scarce any, and perhaps no, word could more positively assert the truth of the Deity, than this one word ETERNAL; and, accordingly, we find it ascribed to no being whatever, but to that bigb and lofty One, who inbabitetb* eternity. All the multitude of the blest, all the angels of God, are immortal, and, in God, shall partici pate a future eternity: But not one of them can say, that he existed from all past eternity, since, in that case, he must deny himself to be a creature; because all creation, with respect to the being which created, is a beginning to be. None of these, therefore, ARE eternal: None of these possess eternity in their own nature, or from themselves; but are limited in the quantity and quality of their existence, and are dependent for the continuance of it. Now, then, as the Holy Spirit is expressly styled THE ETERNAL SPIRIT, with out any expression of his dependence or derivation, but the contrary; it is a plain and precise declaration, from the word of truth, that He is THE ETERNAL GOD, who was in Christ reconciling the world of his elect to himself, and through whom Christ offered up himself without spot to God, i. e. the Father.

If, after so positive a testimony, any one can doubt of the divinity of the Holy Spirit, it may be worth while to recur to the xxxii. chapter of Deuteronomy, in which we have a definition of all false gods, with their abomination in the sight of Jehovah. The striking circumstance, laid down in their character, is, that they are new, newly come up, of a late original; strange, of a nature remote from the divine, and different from it. The idolaters, therefore, were cursed for their gods, or the devils who so imposed themselves upon them, and with their gods. This service to these new and finite beings is called, by Isaiab, a rebelling and vexing the HOLY SPIRIT; and the punishment was, that this Holy Spirit was turned to be their enemy, and fought against them, Is.

* The word implies not only to occupy or fill by inhabiting, but to rest as in an habitation. To occupy, therefore, eternity as a whole, and to rest in that whole, is a most sublime expression of the power of the divine Majesty. Human authors have attempted this sense in their expressions of his eternity, particularly some of the antient philosophers. Boethius, the Christian philosopher, addresses God very nearly in this idea:

-Staiblisque manens das cuncta moveri.

The Rabbins are said to call God pn PLACE, with the same notion of his resting or standing in all that exists. By this word, they would express his omnipresence; as, by 0, [literally, without end] they mean his eternity, or infinitude.

Ixiii. 10. But, wherefore? Because they left the service of HIM, who is the only true and everlasting God, and turned to idols, who are false and finite, and therefore are termed vanities, emptinesses, nothings. In opposition to all these vanities and errors, Jebovab speaks so often of his everlasting name, and of the eternal duration of his nature and attributes.*

In this view, what a blasphemy must it be to ascribe the epithet ETERNAL to any being but the great ONE; tó Him, who fills eternity with his presence, and who is himself the very life and spring of eternity? And, on the other hand, how direct a testimony is this ascription to the Holy Ghost, that He is the eternal JEHOVAH, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and whose dominion endureth throughout all ages?

Need we more proof of the divinity of this gracious Spirit from the eternity of his nature?-Blessed be God for his word, we have (if required) proof upon proof, as well as line upon line. What think we of the following Scripture?

GAL. vi. 8. He, that soweth to the SPIRIT, shall, in te veμalos, of or from the SPIRIT [i. e. by the Spirit's gift and power] reap life everlasting. From hence it may be argued, that

He, who bestoweth life everlasting, must be the author and possessor of it:

But eternal life (says the apostle, in Rom. vi. 23.) is the gift of GOD:

Therefore, the SPIRIT, from whom it is reaped, or deriv. ed, and by whom consequently it is bestowed, is necessarily God.

To the real Christian, this title of ETERNAL SPIRIT affords a hope full of immortality. He is led to perceive, from the eternity of his nature, that He is capable of performing all the great and glorious operations ascribed to Him in the Scriptures, and that those operations upon this account, are permanent and perpetual. Only because He is the Eternal, could He be a party in the everlasting covenant made before all worlds, of which so frequent mention is made: Only be, cause He is God, could He stipulate to bestow those blessings of grace and of glory, which spring from Jebovab, and are at his sole disposal. His purpose is an eternal purpose, because, both in essence and person, he himself is eternal,

* There is a grand idea of the superiority of the divine nature to all the descriptions and conceptions of time in those words, which Moses hath used in the xc. psalm. A thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday, WHEN IT IS PAST, &c. i. e. As the day past, which being now no more, is less to us than the present existing moment; so are a thousand years almost a nothing in the eternity of God.

Hence the believer sees, that this counsel is also immutable, (for nothing can be eternal or perfect, which is subject to mutability) not exposed to diminution or change, but ordered in all things and sure; that all these things were known to Him from eternity, not because they might exist, but bebecause, in his purpose which could not alter, they must exist; and that He beholds the whole series of things, not as they arise to our view in parts or degrees, but as one great whole, of which He Himself is the one great cause. When a man stands upon a mountain (to use a simile of the schoolmen,) he can see an whole army in march from the beginning to the end at one view; while another, who walks in the valley and is a part of the train, can see but very few, and those only who are close about him. So God (if one may compare immensity by minuteness) views at once all infinitude; and all things revolve in the order, in which he hath placed them, this order, consequently, is immutable and not to be broken.

Hence, likewise, the Christian is led to consider the Omnipresence of the divine Spirit, who only can be so, as He is eternal. It has been observed before, that a creature must be confined to place, and must begin with time. But this almighty Spirit, as he is never no-where, so he always exists: He is present with the blest in heaven, and never absent from the redeemed on earth. In every moment of time, he diffuses his everlasting consolation through all the mansions, the innumerable mansions of glory, and sheds his sacred influences upon all, even the meanest, believers in houses of clay. From pole to pole it is but as a point with him who views the various nations of this habitable globe, like a few atoms of dust. As Ferom phrases it; "The court of heaven is equally open at once for Jerusalem and Britain." There is not a sigh of prayer, nor an emotion of praise, however secret in any of his people's hearts, but what he perfectly knows, because he first imparted it to them. He knows indeed the mind of every spirit; but especially the mind of those, who are the objects of his peculiar care.

From hence, lastly, the believer is privileged to rejoice, that, as his salvation is not the purpose of a day, nor rose upon the spur of some accidental occasion, so it shall endure; like its great and bountiful Author, for evermore. God gives like himself: And his gift is eternal life through Jesus Christ. The Spirit imparts this blessing, through his own divine nature, maintains it amidst all the agitations of an evil heart and an evil world, and secures it, beyond all possibility of decay, throughout his own eternity. With how much reason, then, may the believer entertain everlasting consolation, and good hope through grace? With how much absurdity, do those persons think or talk of either, who dream of this Holy

Spirit, as a creature, an emanation, a quality, a nothing?—If He be only a creature; to us, in respect to the eternity of our salvation, he is but as nothing.

WHAT Comfort results from this whole matter to the weak, the troubled or desponding soul! Come, build upon this Rock of ages, and thou shalt never fail, never be moved. Remember, his kingdom is a kingdom of all ages [Ps. clxv. 13. margin,] and his dominion throughout all generations. He hath visited thee in thy generation, and set up a throne within thy heart for his own praise. Now, look to him upon his throne; and seek to ask in prayer nothing but what shall be for thy real welfare, and to offer in praise nothing but what shall be for his own glory: At the same time, pray to leave and give up the whole into his hands. Then, rest assured, upon the faithfulness of his own word and promise, that thy praise shall be accepted, and thy prayer answered, through Christ Jesus." But I want comfort; and surely, I should have it, if I belonged to him." O that selfish spirit, which ever rises within us! Thou wantest this thing; thou wantest the other; thou wantest heaven upon earth; all comforts and no troubles: But if it be for God's glory, that thou shouldest want all these things (like those noble believers in Hebr. xi.) throughout thy whole way to heaven; art thou willing that God's purpose should be answered, rather than thine? Speak to thy heart, reader; and bid it tell thee no lie.-canst thou give up all, without reserve, to God's will; and keep back no part from him? I know, thou art staggered at this inquiry, and hast need to make a very long pause-consider well; and pronounce not hastily. In the mean time, recollect, that to induce this disposition in thy soul, to work this new life within thee, and to break down the strength of 'the old; is one great end of all the divine visitations within thee, and upon thy affairs. Providence, to a believer, has no end but grace: And when the effects and purposes of grace are accomplished in him and by him, he has no more business in this life. Our unhappiness consists, as Christians, in getting into a multitude of things, for our own ends or with relation to others, without committing our way to the Lord, submitting to his will, or considering his glory. We feel hurt and disappointed, if our wishes are not attained; if men annoy us; if our affairs are entangled; if our persons are slighted; if we fall into sickness, decay, or tribulation. And can all this affliction spring out of the ground? No, indeed: There is a very superior cause; and as merciful (could we view it aright) as it is superior. We are all, by nature, froward children, and want much weaning. The earth is our mother, and we love her milk; And we often roar aloud, only because we cannot obtain it. But God, having provided some better thing