as only a person can do. Gen. vi, 3: "My Spirit shall not always strive with man." He loves as only a person can love. Rom. xv, 30: "I beseech you by the love of the Spirit." He can be vexed, grieved, and pleased, which can only be said of a person. Isa. lxiii, 10: "They rebelled and vexed his Holy Spirit." Eph. iv, 30: "Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God.”

DIVINITY OF THE HOLY GHOST.

We believe the Holy Ghost is divine, for reasons such as follow: 1. Divine names are given him by inspired writers. "We find," says Dr. Dewar, "in several instances, that what is spoken of God in one part of Scripture is in another applied to the Holy Ghost; from which circumstance we are surely warranted to infer that the Holy Ghost is God." Take this passage: "Now the Lord is that Spirit." (2 Cor. viii, 17.) Here it is directly affirmed that the Spirit is God.

2. The same attributes which are ascribed to God are ascribed equally to the Holy Ghost.

(1.) Eternity. In Heb. ix, 14, the Holy Spirit is called "the Eternal Spirit." But the Almighty is called "the Eternal God;" making the two equal in eternity.

(2) Omnipresence. This is an attribute of God. But it is also an attribute of the Holy Spirit. Psa. cxxxix, 78: "Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there; if I make my bed in hell, behold thou art there."

(3.) Omniscience. It is God who "declares the end from the beginning," and that "knows all things." But the "Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God." (1 Cor. ii, 10.) "Even the things of God knoweth no one, but the Spirit of God."

(4.) Holiness is an attribute of God. But the Spirit is called the "Holy Ghost," the "Holy Spirit," the "Spirit of Holiness." He is called the "Holy Ghost," or "Holy Spirit," in the New Testament, some ninety-three times. He is so called not only because he is absolutely holy, but it is his work to make human beings holy.

(5.) Truth is an attribute of God. But the Spirit is designated

the "Spirit of Truth."

3. The same acts which are ascribed to God are ascribed to the Holy Spirit.

create.

(1.) Creation. "In the beginning God created." God alone can But while the earth was without form and void, we meet with this remarkable announcement: "The Spirit of God moved upon

66

the face of the waters." Move, has the sense of hover, or 66 was hovering," or brooding. "The brooding of the Spirit of God," says Dr. Murphy, "is evidently the originating cause of the reorganization of things on the land, by the creative work which is successively described in the following passages." "It indicates a new and special display of Omnipotence for the present exigencies for this part of the realm of creation. Nothing but a creative or absolutely initiative power could give rise to a change so great and fundamental." 'By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, and all the host of them by the Spirit of his mouth." (Psa. xxxiii, 6.) "The Spirit of God hath made me." (Job xxxiii, 4.) "By his Spirit he garnished the heavens." (Job xxvi, 13.) If creation is the work of God-if "all things were made by him, and without him was not any thing made that was made"-then the Spirit who "moved upon the face of the waters," "garnished the heavens," and "made us," must be God.

(2.) Miracles. He works miracles, which can only be done by a person. Rom. xv, 19: “Through mighty signs, and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God." It appears that the Spirit wrought miracles which were distinctively physical, as when Ezekiel says: "The Spirit lifted me up and took me away." The same is implied in the words which Obadiah addressed to Elijah: "The Spirit of the Lord shall carry thee whither I know not." This same miraculous power is seen in the case of Philip. "The Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more."

The Holy Ghost has all the divine appellations, attributes, and perfections ascribed to either the Father or the Son; he proceeds from them, and is one with them in constituting the Triune God. As Christ is one with the Father by eternal filiation, so the Holy Spirit is one with both by an eternal procession. Jesus said: "When the Comforter is come, whom I will send you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me." (John xv, 26.) Neither the Father nor the Son is sent by the Holy Ghost, but the Holy Ghost is sent by both. The Nicene Creed has this language: "I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of life, who proceedeth from the Father and the Son, who, with the Father and the Son together, is worshiped and glorified." And the Athanasian Creed expresses the doctrine of the evangelical Churches of Christendom thus: "The Holy Ghost is of the Father and of the Son, neither made, nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding." All evangelical Churches have adopted similar language as the expression of their belief in the third person of the Trinity.

WORK OF THE SPIRIT.

How faithful is the Holy Ghost in his office of convicting the world of sin! From childhood up, he strives with us to turn us from evil and keep us in the pathway of duty. He is present with every soul, moment by moment, tenderly wooing and never forsaking, unless grieved away by persistent and willful sin-literally driven off. Jesus knew how important this work would be in the scheme of redemption, and hence declared to his disciples: "It is expedient for you that I go away, for if I go not away the Comforter will not come; but if I depart I will send him unto you. And when he is come he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment." At first hearing, this must have been hard for the disciples to believe. Expedient that their Master should leave them in the world alone! He had been their instructor, their leader, their guide, their defense, their all. He had attached them to himself most strongly and tenderly. They believed in him as Israel's Redeemer. They had forsaken all, and had followed him. Now he says it is expedient to go away from them. Love is never reconciled to separation, especially when the prospect is only one of loneliness and sorrow. The disciples were not reconciled to the departure of their Lord. But he reasoned with them: "When he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you." "He will show you things to come. He shall glorify me." As much as to say, My part in the work of redemption is nearly done, and when it is finished I will leave the world; my tangible, visible form shall be withdrawn; but I will send the Comforter in my stead. He will do what I can not. He will be personally present with all men. He will be in their hearts and in their consciences. He will show them what I have done. He will persuade mankind that I am the Redeemer, the only Redeemer, and will win them to my cause. This is just what the world needs, and my departure is expedient, inasmuch as otherwise it can not be. And Jesus was right. He went away, and the Spirit came. The Spirit has fulfilled the prophecy. He has not spoken of himself, but has glorified Christ. Jesus is the precious name of earth. It is the name to sinners dear, and to saints most sacred. It charms our fears and drives away our sorrows. It is the first upon lieve and last in our thoughts when we die. work of the Holy Ghost it would not be so. and would forget Christ himself were the Spirit not here to keep alive his name and power. Because he is here, in our hearts, moving us

our lips when we beBut for the office and The world is forgetful,

to action, prompting us to labor, and showing us things to come, we can not forget. He is Christ's representative, his witness, his continued life. Through him Jesus fulfills his promise to every age and generation: "Lo, I am with you alway, even to the end of the world.”

Yet the soul is not conscious of the presence of two personalities. The Spirit comes clothed in the personality of Jesus, and his life is bestowed through the manifestations which God makes of himself in his Son. This is the view of Dr. J. B. Walker in his "Doctrine of the Holy Spirit." He says: "The Holy Spirit gives to the soul, by influx through the susceptibility, a newer and higher consciousness of the Divine nature, which is love. But he is not a revealer of new truths, nor an exhibitor of his own personality. When he visits the pious mind, he does not lead that mind to think of himself, but of Jesus. He takes of the manifestations of the Divine character, made by Christ, and gives them efficacy, by power and love, in the human soul. He comes to us through the Son, baptized in his humanities, as a ray of light takes the hue of the medium through which it passes; and thus he becomes to the soul the Spirit of both the Divine and the human, as it was in Christ Jesus. The Son of God manifests the Divine mind; the Spirit of God uses that manifestation to sanctify and save us. Hence, Christ and the Spirit are one to the soul, and one in the Church to the end of the dispensation."

The departure of Christ was a trial of the faith of the disciples in the Holy Ghost. Had Jesus remained with the twelve, like many other believers they would not so much as have heard whether there be any Holy Ghost. But because Jesus promised the Spirit as his own representative and witness, they pleaded that promise and received the gracious baptism. So may we. Our faith will be tried somehow, but will be rewarded. He is faithful that promised. The Spirit is with the Church. He is in the hearts of believers. He honors those with blessing who honor Christ with faith. He seems to work with no others. Religious organizations that ignore Christ are cold, powerless, dead. We must trust Christ. His blood is all our plea. We must submit ourselves into his hands and remain there. The Spirit can then use us, can work by us and in us the wonderful works of God.

THE SIN AGAINST THE HOLY GHOST.

The four evangelists agree in attributing to our Lord a very solemn and startling statement respecting the possibility of committing one sin that is absolutely unpardonable. Read the following: "Where

fore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come." St. Mark says: "Hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation." (Matt. xii, 31, 32; Mark iii, 28, 30; Luke xii, 10.) The early fathers undertook to apply this passage to certain acts which they styled unpardonable sins. Irenæus regarded it as the rejection of the gospel of Christ, and applied it to the Gnostics; Athanasius believed that it consisted in a denial of the divinity of Christ, inasmuch as the Holy Ghost is sent into the world to glorify Christ as God; Origen thought that it was any mortal sin committed after baptism; Augustine applied it to every one who died impenitently.

Modern writers have expressed opinions in a similar way; for example, the following: "When any man speaks against Christianity because he can not bear the purity of its Spirit, and the wisdom of its doctrine;""when a man knows what Christianity is, and hates it for that very reason." "It is a sin which is committed, unhappily every day, but it is most certain that they who are afraid of having committed it, are the persons, above all others, who must be innocent of it." (T. Arnold.) Whatever special interpretation may be given to our Lord's awful announcement concerning the sin against the Holy Ghost-an announcement which stands out as an anomaly in the midst of his declarations of mercy-every devout mind must regard it as shedding a fearful penumbra of warning around the doctrine of Divine influence, and will admit an apprehension lest he should, by any perversion of that doctrine, approach the precincts of so tremendous a guilt, or become liable to the charge of giving occasion in others to unpardonable blasphemies." (I. Taylor.) It is "a definitive unbelief, which absolutely challenges punishment, and for which no farther sacrifice exists, and no intercession must be made."

More thoughtful writers represent this sin as not generally a single word, expression, or act, standing out isolated and independent of other words and actions, but rather a moral condition, a sin which is "rooted deep in pre-existing depravity," unbelief, and wickedness. Rev. Dr. L. R. Dunn says: "It is the culminating act of a series of transgressions rashly persisted in for a longer or shorter period. It is a final act, which links itself to a long chain, and completes the work by which the soul binds itself to an endless perdition and