As represented by the apostles, the Holy Spirit, by which they spake, is God; as represented by His Son that was God and man, the Son is that God; as represented by Moses and the high priests, the Father, that is to say, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, is that God. From whence we may gather the reason why those names “Father,” “Son,” and “Holy Spirit,” in the signification of the Godhead, are never used in the Old Testament: for they are persons, that is, they have their names from representing; which could not be, till divers men had represented God’s person in ruling or in directing under Him.

Thus we see how the power ecclesiastical was left by our Saviour to the apostles; and how they were, to the end they might the better exercise that power, endued with the Holy Spirit, which is therefore called sometimes in the New Testament paracletus , which signifieth an “assister,” or one called to for help, though it be commonly translated a “comforter.” Let us now consider the power itself, what it was, and over whom.