Then the moral character of the Divine Spirit's office appears in such expressions as "I called upon God, and there came to me a spirit of wisdom," or (as already quoted) "Whoever gained knowledge of thy counsel, except thou gavest wisdom, and sentest thy Holy Spirit from above?"

But the most interesting development in the conception of the Holy Spirit, as the Apocrypha, and especially the book of Wisdom, represents it, lies in the intimate association of the Holy Spirit with Wisdom itself. In the book of Proverbs, Wisdom, sanctified and personified, is connected with the Holy Spirit; in the book of Wisdom it is, if not habitually, yet authoritatively, identified with the Holy Spirit. And the result is not only to elevate the doctrine of the Holy Spirit into the region of Personality, but almost to equalise it, in the minds of religious thinkers, with the doctrine of the Divine Word, or Logos.

For not only can the author of the Wisdom speak of a Spirit, which can hardly be other than the Holy Spirit, as dwelling in Wisdom, using words of close correspondence to the teaching in the Proverbs, but he can speak of Him as actually being Wisdom. Thus in one passage he says: "She that is the artificer of all things taught me, even wisdom: for there is in her a spirit quick of understanding, holy, alone in kind" (literally (literally "only begotten"), "manifold, subtil, freely moving, clear in utterance, unpolluted, distinct, unharmed, loving what is good, keen, unhindered, beneficent, loving toward man, stedfast, sure, free from care, all-powerful, all-surveying,

1 vii. 7.

and penetrating through all spirits that are quick of understanding, pure, most subtil."1 But in another he says, "Wisdom is a spirit that loveth man; and she will not hold a blasphemer guiltless for his lips; because God beareth witness of his reins, and is a true overseer of his heart, and a hearer of his tongue. Because the Spirit of the Lord hath filled the world," 2 where " wisdom" is almost certainly identified with the "spirit that loveth man," ie. with the "Spirit of the Lord."

Upon the whole, then, it appears that whereas Jewish thought, in and after the Canon of the Old Testament, tended towards the identification of the Wisdom which looms so prominently in the Proverbs with the Second Person (as afterwards defined) in the Blessed Trinity, and concurrently to the accentuation of the moral and spiritual qualities inherent in Wisdom itself, it was the tendency of Greek or Hellenistic thought, on the other hand, while emphasising the purely intellectual quality of Wisdom, to identify it with the Third Person, i.e. with the Holy Spirit.

But more and more, as speculation proceeded, the Spirit of God became in men's eyes a Personal Agent, guiding, informing, directing, controlling, elevating, and sanctifying, and leading the way from darkness and doubt into the free light and liberty of truth. And yet the transition from the Old Testament to the New, if it be considered only in regard to the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, is like the passing from some dim twilight into noonday. For in the light of the New Testament that doctrine is no more a 2 i. 6, 7.

1 vii. 22, 23.

mere inference from vague, obscure, and sporadic expressions occurring here and there at many times in many writings; but it is a clear and positive enunciation of Him who claimed to speak upon earth. with the authority of God Himself.

CHAPTER II

THE REVELATION IN THE GOSPELS

THE plan which it seems best to pursue in the present Essay will consist in grouping the revelations of the Gospels in regard to the Holy Spirit under three main heads, and then in treating as subordinate to these, and supplementary, the special expressions which occur here and there in the Gospels, but independently of these three heads. In this way the continuous explicit revelations will meet the eye first, in their proper relation of significance; the incidental teachings, whether of our Lord Himself or of others, will follow upon these.

Apart, then, from isolated expressions, which may be, and often are, highly valuable and instructive in themselves, the passages of the Gospels bearing upon the nature and office of the Holy Spirit may be conveniently arranged under these heads :

A. There are the passages which treat of the Holy Spirit in direct relation to our Lord Himself at certain epochs of His human life, as at His Birth, His Baptism, His Temptation, etc.

B. There is His conversation with Nicodemus, which may fairly be regarded as occurring somewhere in the beginning of His ministry.

C. And there is His valedictory address respecting the Paraclete, as the Holy Spirit is there called, in the 14th, 15th, and 16th chapters of St. John's Gospel.

It is evident that these heads of teaching (if they may be so called) do not all occupy the same position of authority. To the second and third belong exclusively the sayings and (in far less degree) the doings of our Lord Himself. So far, then, as these are correctly reported, they are absolute and unquestionable; they express the revelation of Him who had "the words of eternal life." To the first belongs in part the teaching of our Lord Himself, but principally the testimony of other persons, who may or may not have been eye-witnesses, to certain circumstances of His life on earth. And further, under the first head, the relation of the Holy Spirit to our Lord, although it was indisputably continuous, may yet, in respect of its manifestations, be studied conveniently by reference to such events of His life. as (1) His Birth, (2) His Baptism, (3) His Temptation, (4) His appearance to His disciples after His

Resurrection.

It may, indeed, be asserted, as it has been by Christian theologians, that the Holy Spirit is the concomitant of our Lord's life in all its various stages. So Gregory of Nazianzus writes: "Christ is born; the Spirit is His harbinger. He is baptized; the Spirit is His witness. He is tempted; the Spirit leads Him up into the wilderness. He performs miracles; the Holy Spirit assists Him. He ascends to heaven; the Holy Spirit receives Him."1 So too Canon Gore: "The Spirit anoints Him; the Spirit

1 Theological Orations, v. 29.