tinguished from Jesus Christ, "Another Comforter;" and the gospel his "ministration."8 Now, it would be difficult to conceive why our Lord should speak in the same manner, and in precisely the same terms of the Holy Spirit and his commission, as he did of himself and of his own commission, if he did not necessarily imply a capacity, and therefore personality, on the part of him who is to exercise the respective functions. Receiving a commission does, indeed, intimate a subordination, but it is only official. For, He exercises supreme authority. "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? And he said, Go, and tell this people," &c. &c. "He said unto me, Arise, go forth into the plain, and I will there talk with thee. Then the Spirit entered into me, and set me upon my feet, and spake with me, and said unto * John xv. 26; xvi. 14; xiv. 26; xvi. 13, 14; xvi. 8; xiv. 16. 2 Cor. iii. 8. me, Go, shut thyself within thy house," &c.-"The Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot.""The Spirit said unto him, Behold, three men seek thee. Arise, therefore, and get thee down and go with them, doubting nothing for I have sent them."-" The Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them so they, being sent forth by the Holy Ghost, departed unto Seleucia." "It seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things." "And were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia."-" After they were come to Mysia, they assayed to go into Bithynia: but the Spirit suffered them not."-"I go bound in (by) the Spirit unto Jerusalem."-"Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God."-" All these worketh that one and the self same Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will."9 Independently of the personal pronouns and the operations attributed to the Spirit by the respective writers, he speaks in these passages, not as delegated by another, but in his own name, and by his own authority; displaying almighty power and sovereign will in the distribution of his gifts. A view utterly at variance with every hypothesis that does not admit his personality. A fact corroborated by his being represented As the efficient cause of the several gifts bestowed upon man. Whether those gifts were, 1. Extraordinary endowments of mind or body. For, "the wisdom, and understanding, and knowledge" which Bezaleel had were the effects of his being "filled with the 9 Isa. vi. 8, 9, with Acts xxviii. 25. Ezek. iii. 22, 27. Acts viii. 29; x. 19, 20; xiii. XX. 2, 4; xv. 28; xvi. 6, 7 Spirit of God." The seventy elders of Israel "prophesied," because "the Spirit rested upon them." And the more than ordinary physical powers of Gideon, Jeptha, Sampson, and Saul, &c. were occasioned by "the coming of the Spirit of the Lord upon them." Or were, strictly speaking, "Moreover the Spirit lifted me up, and brought me unto the east gate of the Lord's house, which looketh eastward :then he said unto me," &c.-"Whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye for it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost."-"They began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance."-" The Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip."-" The Holy Ghost came on them, and they spake with tongues and prophesied.' 66 Through mighty signs and wonders by the power of the Spirit of God."-" The word of 1 Exod. xxxi. 3. Numb. xi. 25. Judges vi. 34; xi. 29; xiv. 6; xv. 14. 1 Sam. xi. 6. wisdom, of knowledge, and of faith; the gifts of healing, miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, divers kinds of tongues, the interpretation of tongues; all these worketh that one, and the self-same spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will." Or consisted in being 3. The author of Revelation. "The Spirit of the Lord spake by me, and his word was in my tongue."-" Then David gave to Solomon his son, the pattern of all that he had by the Spirit.""For David himself said by the Holy Ghost."-" And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost."-" This Scripture must needs have been fulfilled which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake before." "Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit which was in them did signify." "Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost."3 2 Ezek. xi. 1,2; et passim. Mark xiii. 11. Acts ii. 4. 16, 17; viii. 39; xix. 6. Rom. xv. 19. 1 Cor. xii. 8, 11. 3 2 Sam. xxiii. 2. 1 Chron. xxviii. 12. Mark xii. 36. Luke ii. 26. Acts i. 14. 1 Pet. i. 11. 2 Pet. i. 21. |