V. By whom and why the Holy Ghost was given.

The Father gives the Holy Ghost through the Son, as the following declarations of the word of God sufficiently affirm. “Wait for the promise of the Father.” “I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh.” “I will pray the Father and he shall send you another Comforter.” “Whom the Father will send in my name.” (Acts 1:4; 2 : 17. John 14 : 16 & 26.) The Son also gives the Holy Ghost; but in this order, that he sends him from the Father, from whom he himself is, and works; in accordance with which it is said: “Whom I will send unto you from the Father.” “If I depart I will send him unto you.” “Being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this which ye now see and hear.” (John 15:26; 16:7. Acts 2:33.) From this we deduce a strong argument in favor of the Divinity of Christ; for who has any right in the Spirit of God, and who can give the Spirit, but God? The Holy Ghost so far from having been sent by the human nature of Christ formed and sanctified it.

This giving of the Holy Ghost by the Father and the Son, must be understood in such a manner that both work effectually through the Spirit, and that he again exerts his influence by the will of the Father and the Son going before. For the order of working on the part of the different persons of the Godhead, which is the same as the order of their existence must be carefully observed. The will of the Father precedes, the will of the Son comes next, and that of the Holy Ghost follows the will of both the Father and the Son, yet not in time, but in order.

The reason on account of which God grants us the Holy Ghost, is to be traced to his good pleasure, called into exercise for the sake of the merit and intercession of his Son: “Who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world.” “I will pray the Father, and he shall send you another Comforter.” (Eph. 1:3, 4. John 14:10.) But the Son gives the Holy Spirit unto us, or he is given to us by, and for the sake of the Son, because he has by his merits secured for us, the gift of the Holy Ghost, and himself confers him upon us by his intercessions.