Or in the communication of, you, "Thou gavest also thy good Spirit to instruct them."-"Take not thy Holy Spirit from me."—" Uphold Uphold me with thy free Spirit."-" Thy Spirit is good, lead me."-" I will pour out my Spirit unto I will make known my words unto you."-"Until the Spirit be poured upon us from on high-then judgment shall dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness remain in the fruitful field," &c.-" He shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever."" Then had the churches rest, &c. walking in the comfort of the Holy Ghost."-" As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God."-" Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities." "We are changed into the same image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord." "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance." "Strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man."-" Having received the word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Ghost."-" God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth."" That good thing which was committed unto thee keep by the Holy Ghost, which dwelleth in us.""The renewing of the Holy Ghost."+ He is moreover represented As the object upon whom the actions of others terminate. "They rebelled, and vexed his Holy Spirit.' -"The blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men."-" Baptizing them in (io, to) the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."-" Why hath Satan 4 Neh. ix. 20. Psal. li. 11, 12; cxliii. 10. Prov. i. 23. Isa. xxxii. 15, 16. (See also xliv. 3; lix. 21; Ezek xxxvi. 27. Zech. xii. 10.) John xiv. 16. Acts ix. 31. Rom. viii. 14, 26. Gal. v. 22. Eph. iii. 16. 1 Thess. i. 6. 2 Thess. ii. 13. 2 Tim. i. 14. Titus iii. 5; et the S. S. passim. 5 Vide Vitringa Observ. Sacra. lib iii, ch. 22. §. 14, 15. Wolfii Cura Philolog. and in Matth.xxviii.19; and Schleus. Lex. sub voce eio, No. 3. filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost?""How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord ?" -"Ye do always resist the Holy Ghost.""Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God." "And hath done despite unto the Spirit Such is the current language of the Scriptures. Nor does it seem possible to adopt any method which could more clearly convey, or to use any phraseology which could more forcibly express the idea of personality, than those which the sacred writers have employed. It meets you in every form, and everywhere, directly or incidentally. He is an object upon whom the actions of others terminate. He is the efficient cause of all those physical and miraculous powers, which have been conferred upon man: the Author of revelation itself, and, in the exercise of his supreme authority, directing and controlling the affairs of Isa. Ixiii. 10. Matt. xii. 31; xxviii. 19. Acts v. 3, 9; vii. 51. Eph. iv. 30. Heb. x. 29. his church, bestowing all those graces, everywhere represented as indispensable to your becoming holy, humble, happy, and "meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.” All these require intelligence and affections,-"that which can contrive, which can design. These capacities constitute personality, for they imply consciousness and thought. They require that which can perceive an end or purpose; as well as the power of providing means, and of directing them to their end. They require a centre in which perceptions unite, and from which volitions flow; which is mind. The acts of a mind prove the existence of a mind; and in whatever a mind resides, is a person." Hence, we are assured, "He that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is (rò poóvnμa) the mind of the Spirit." Nay more, that the greater part, if not all, of these passages do literally and of themselves convey the idea of personality 7 Paley's Nat.Theol. c. 23, p. 351. 8 Rom. viii. 27. is clear from the fact of those, who reject the doctrine of the Spirit's personality, supposing the writers to have used in every instance a figure of speech-the Prosopopeia-whereby that which is not person is nevertheless represented as such. But, it may be asked, what is personified? To reply, an influence, or power, or an attribute, is obviously irrelevant; inasmuch as "attributes, operations, and every other species of accident, as they are, in truth, no more than modes in which one substance produces an effect on another; so, whatever is, in poetry or oratory, predicated of them, is only predicated of the agent or patient in whom the accident itself is inherent." Accordingly, the Spirit must be identified either with God the father, or must be an intelligent person in some respect distinct from him. Wherein this distinction consists the Scriptures reveal nothing, and I am therefore silent. But the fact itself seems indubitable. If the Holy Spirit be 9 Bp. Heb. Bamp. Lect. 3, p. 143. |