can mean only the one spiritual agent of acknowledged and pre-eminent dignity."

The same idea is therefore conveyed to general readers still more forcibly, if possible, by the manner in which they speak of him. For though the Greek noun itself be neuter, they join it with masculine pronouns, agreeably to the usage of the New Testament writers, when the change is from the neuter gender to a personal object. Thus, "The Holy Ghost-He shall teach you all things." "Whom I will send unto you-He shall testify of me." "I will send him unto you." "When he is come." "When he the Spirit of truth is come,-He shall not speak of himself." "He shall glorify

me." The Spirit said, "separate me,"

&c.

"The Spirit of promise, who is the earnest of our inheritance." "The Spirit said, I have sent them." "As the Holy Ghost saith, to-day if ye will hear his

' Bishop Middleton's Doctrine of the Greek article, &c. on Matt. i. 18. pp. 165–170.

2 See Matt.xxviii. 19. John xvii. 2. Acts xv. 17, &c.

voice." ""

By the Holy Ghost who dwel

leth in us."3

And, though the Scriptures are the final authority by which the truth of christian doctrine must be determined, it unquestionably tends to confirm our belief when we learn that others, how widely soever they may have differed from us in other respects, viewed the same subject in the same, or in a similar light. Thus, the Jews of the ancient synagogue, notwithstanding the cabalistical allegories which they have interwoven with their statements, regarded the Spirit as "He by whom God would raise the dead and from whom men receive true wisdom."4

3 John xiv. 26.; xv. 26; xvi. 7, 8, 13, 14. Acts xiii. 2. Eph. i. 14. Acts x. 20. Heb. iii. 7. 2 Tim. i. 14. Compare Acts xxviii. 25, with the Hebrew of Isa. vi. 8, 9. and Ezek. iii. 22, 24. Should not in Isa. xxxiv. 16, be rendered "He," thus, "His Spirit he hath gathered them?"

Synop. Lib. Sohar. Chadasch. f. xv. 4, as quoted by Bishop Heber. Bamp. Lect.

:

ii. notes k. l. Pages 103, 4.Bishop Middleton's Doctrine. Greek art. on Matt. xiv. 2. Grotius, replying to the objections of the modern Jews, asks, Quid enim est, cur magis id christianis objiciatur quàm -cabalistis, qui Deum distinguuntin tria lumina, et quidem monnulli iisdem, quibus christiani, nominibus, Patris, Filii, sive Verbi, et Spiritûs Sancti ? Et ut id sumam,

And, if those impostors, Simon the magician, (or according to others, Helena,) Manes, Montanus, and Mohammed, did not regard the promise of the Paraclete, (the Comforter,) as relating to a person, it will be difficult, if not impossible, to account for their having respectively assumed the title:5 while ecclesiastical history acquaints us with the fact that, the primitive gnostics, part at least of the Ebionites, the Nazarenes, Arius and Macedonius, &c., however they differed as to his rank in the scale of intelligent beings, did not deny his personality."

quod apud omnes Hebræos maximè confessum est, spiritus ille, quo agitati sunt Prophetæ, non est aliquid creatum, et tamen distinguitur a mittente: quomodò et illud, quod Schechina vulgò vocant. Jam verò in Messia habitaturum eam vim divinam, quam Sapientiam vocant, &c.-De Verit. Relig. Christ. Lib. 5. §

21.

5 Vide Irenæus, 1. i. c. 20. Epiphanius, tom. 2. Hær. 21. Cyril Hierosol. Catech. 6. p. 58. Ed. Par. "Manes dared

to call his mistress the Paraclete." Montanus is so called by his illustrious disciple Tertullian, in his work against Praxeas, and that De Monogamiâ passim. The Koran, c. 61. &c.-as quoted in Bishop Heber's Bamp. Lect. i. notes h, i, k, l.

6 Heb. Bamp. Lect. 3. and notes, pp. 169-179. And Spanheim's Introd. ad. Hist. et Antiq. Sac. Sæcul. prim. § xiii. p. 293, et Sæcul. Quart. § vii. p. 415.

Strong, however, as the preceding evidence confessedly is, it should be borne in mind, that the Scriptures were intended to instruct, not to perplex,-to certify, not to involve "in doubtful disputation," the many for whose benefit they were chiefly vouchsafed. The force of the argument, therefore, depends, not so much on the niceties of criticism and the belief of others, as on the plain unsophisticated meaning of their current language. What effect that language has produced upon the sentiments of "the many," it is scarcely necessary to point out. In every age of the christian church that many have believed, and still do believe, the personality of the Spirit. Nor could it be otherwise, since the personality of such an object must be ascertained chiefly, if not exclusively, by the fact of the writers attributing to him personal properties, and personal actions.

Accordingly, they represent the Holy Spirit,

As acting agreeably to a commission re

ceived.

"The Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name. The Spirit of truth-he shall not speak of (amò from) himself; but whatsoever he shall hear that shall he speak." "He shall receive of mine."

His office in relation to our Lord is thus stated: "He shall testify of me:' "shall glorify me."-In relation to the apostles, "He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance." "He will guide you into all truth, and he will shew you things to come," &c. And in relation to men generally, "He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment." He is, therefore, styled, as dis