The Methodist Quarterly Review July, 1896

ART. 1.-THE DOCTRINE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.

The Scriptures, as a whole, are a magazine of facts, incidents, metaphors, symbols, and implications, out of which doctrines must be formulated, covering the wide field of creation, providence, sin, redemption, immortality, and eternal destinies. From this storehouse of precious things we gather the doctrine of the Holy Spirit; but we are indebted especially to the discourses of our Lord, and to the record of the planting of the Church, for the foundation facts and guiding principles by which we are to be led to right conclusions in this particular study. In these are statements which stand out with the prominence of mountain peaks, pointing us to high and solid ground where we may stand with firm footing and look with serene confidence upon the open vista of divine communion with the human soul.

Underlying this doctrine is the basal fact that there is a Holy Spirit. Our first apprehension of this fact comes to us, not by direct statement, but like our first recognition of the being of God, by assumption in the work of creation: "And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." In that mysterious era of unrevealed duration known is "the beginning," after the substances of which the universe is composed had been spoken into existence by the fiat of Omnipotence, the divine energy which molded them into form and energized them with intrinsic and vital forces was the Spirit of God. From the inner recesses of the eternal Godhead, he proceeded forth to the work of garnishing the heavens and filling the earth with life and gladness.

The ordinary conception of the Holy Spirit as a divine personality has its vindication in the distinctness of his office in creation. It is also justified to usby a rational view of his place and agency in redemption. His work in the soul in recovering it from sin is as clearly personal and divine as is his work in creation; and since our interest in the study arises more from the latter than from any other feature we shall endeavor to grasp the work attributable to the Spirit in renewing the sinner in righteousness, and gather therefrom the doctrine of the Spirit in its most important relations. In order to accuracy we must be somewhat careful of definitions and try to give exact expression to the reasons governing our belief, although it is aside from the purpose of this writing to state the grounds of our faith in the divinity and personality of the Holy Spirit, involving the doctrine of the Trinity, as distinct from that conception of the unity of God which is common to Unitarians and deists.

The work of salvation comprehends all the processes of canceling guilt, removing condemnation, breaking the reigning power of sin, imparting life to the spiritually dead, washing away moral uncleanness, and establishing the heart and life in righteousness and true holiness. The immanence of the Spirit of God, and his activity in all these processes which take place within the soul, are the central facts around which must be grouped the incidents and implications of the Scriptures in making up the doctrine of our study.

That God in some way touches the human soul and affects it, impressing upon it somewhat that awakens desires, impulses, inclinations, and affections, giving it a character and capabilities not otherwise possible to it, is a truth which pervades revelation and distinguishes the Gospel from all other schemes of religion. There must be, therefore, in the nature of man, some quality or aptness, or some susceptibility to divine influence, which adapts him to this invisible contact, and which in itself marks the soul as designed for this high communion and prophesies its exalted destiny. Without this assumed capacity for immediate intercourse with Deity it would be vain for us to look for testimonies to the manifestation of God to man, or for any data for building or interpreting the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. A mere hypothesis about the Spirit as an entity, or as an agent, or as a personality, with conjectures touching the filial or processional relations of the persons in the Godhead, is not such a doctrine as is demanded by the moral exigencies of the race. A doctrine is more than an hypothesis, more than a theory, more than a conjecture or a speculation it is formulated truth, with traceable sources, with rational attestations, and with apprehensible purpose. It is truth declared, teachable and taught, which, when received, increases the store of knowledge, shapes the activities of the faculties, dominates the sensibilities, relates the motives, tones up the volitions, and nourishes the life with which the soul is endowed. It is higher and nobler than dogma, because it is sustained by evidences which commend it beyond the external authority requiring its propagation. He who speaks lightly of doctrines, and especially of those relating to God's gracious power in dealing with souls and in preparing destinies, speaks ignorantly, or speaks from the exuberance of his vanity.

God is invisible and intangible. When he comes forth from the immensity of his being, and from the hidings of his personality, to reveal himself to intelligent creatures, he always appears within the sphere of finite contemplation in the person of the only begotten Son, "who is the image of the invisible God," or else in the activity and life-giving energy of the Holy Spirit. These are the personal manifestations of his presence, the personal agents appearing in all his works, in all his relationships, and in all his revelations of himself in creation and in redemption, and especially in the applications of his grace to the salvation of sinful men. These personal agents are divine, each of one substance, power, and glory with the Father, and each in his sphere revealing God and doing the work of God. As in the nature of God there is neither mixture nor confusion because of the distinction of persons or because of the manifestations of personality in the outgoings of the Deity in the Son and in the Holy Spirit, so in the official work of these divine persons, in the scheme of human recovery, there are distinctness and departmental separateness, without confusion or impingement, and yet with complete and constant cooperation. In other words, the Son of God has his official sphere of personal activity, within which the Holy Spirit has neither place nor official recognition; and the same is true of the Holy Spirit. He also has an official sphere within which he works alone, so to speak; works the work of God, works as God, and works with cease-less regard to the one supreme will, to the unbending purpose of love, and to the invincible nature of responsible man.

Can these official spheres be ascertained Can we trace the lines which separate these departments of official activity Are there not at least some pointers which indicate their boundaries Think it not presumptuous to make the inquiry. If we fail in this, or think it rash to undertake it, we are doomed to abide in such a state of ignorance that clear conceptions of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit will be impossible. What then is the office of the Holy Spirit, as distinguished from the office o Jesus Christ Where is the sphere of his operations, and what his limitations If we can outline these with an approximation to accuracy we shall gain a point of view that will be helpful in surveying the whole field of moral and spiritual impressions.

In the first place, let it be noted that there are two distinct needs to be met in the case of every sinner. A man condemned as a criminal at the bar of justice, in order to become a good citizen and enjoy his freedom, must be released from the legal penalties he has incurred, and then he must take on new qualities of character, becoming honest and upright. So the sinner's relation to the divine law must be adjusted, and his inner self must be transformed. These two needs are met in the scheme of redemption, one by each of the divine persons engaged in the undertaking. Whatever is legal in the scheme belongs to the official work of the Messiah, the Son of God. He adjusts the relations of mankind to the law of God. He magnifies the law, maintains its honor, and redeems from its curse. He was made under the law, that he might redeem them who were under the law. Forensic terms represent his distinctive work. He redeems, propitiates, reconciles, justifies; and such terms also describe his offices as mediator, advocate, intercessor, and judge. This legal work is his alone. In all the wide range of his kingly authority the work of the Spirit is not found. The Son of man has power on earth to forgive sin, because he himself became the propitiation for sin and met the legal demand, so that forgiveness to the penitent is as consistent with law as it is in itself an act of grace. On the other hand, the office of the Holy Spirit is to meet the other need. All that is moral, or that relates to the inner state of the man, requiring the adjustment of personal qualities to fit the soul for its purchased legal privileges, belongs to the department or sphere in which the Holy Spirit is supreme. He only can reconstruct the moral nature and make it a temple of the living God. In the order of thought the official work of Christ is antecedent and procurative, while that of the Holy Spirit is subsequent and resultant. The latter is impossible without the former, while the former is incomplete and fruitless without the latter. Both ale requisite to fill the measure of the divine love and wisdom in the salvation of sinners.

Can we trace signs of this distinction of official work in the earlier revelations It has been said that every essential doctrine of the New Testament was in some way foreshadowed in the Old Testament. Whether this is an extreme statement or not we shall not contend, but it is evident that in the Levitical services under the Mosaic ritual there were typical adumbrations of some distinction of the kind we are considering. The proper classification of all the typical ceremonials which had respect to deliverance and purification from sill is into blood sacrifices and water ablutions. The blood redeemed and the water purified. The sin offering of the lamb or the bullock was indispensable, but it was unavailing unless followed by the required washing with water. The sin offering typified the redeeming act of the Son of God as " the Lamb slain from the foundation of th9 world" in the stipulation of the everlasting covenant; and the washing with water typified the purification from sin which is wrought within the soul by the agency of the Holy Spirit. All religious uses of water under the old covenant pointed to this result. The sprinkling of the water of purification prefigured the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost. The blood and the water together indicated the redemption complete. The fountain opened to the house of David was "for sin and for unclean-ness "-for "sin." the transgression of the law; and for "uncleanness," the moral defilement to be washed away by the purifying power of the Holy Spirit. These two aspects of the work of salvation show the ground of the distinction between the legal and moral in the process, and prove that each arises from the actual relation and condition of the sinner. The distinction is not fictitious, existing only in the imagination, but is necessary to the understanding of the needs of the soul and to an appreciation of the wonderful provisions of grace to meet its emergencies.

As has been already anticipated, we find the sphere of the Spirit's work in the moral nature of man, as affected by sin, and not in the legal relation the sinner sustains to the divine government, either before or after his conversion. It is therefore impossible to develop the doctrine of the Holy Spirit without ascertaining, as nearly as possible, what there is in the soul that renders it susceptible to divine influence. What is there ill man that opens to spiritual touches from God The best psychology at command is defective. We must therefore proceed tentatively, and yet there is firm footing in reach, so far as necessity compels us to go into the study of the soul's attributes with our present object in view. A perfect analysis of the associated faculties which inhere within the immaterial entity we call the soul is neither necessary nor possible; yet this imperfection does not hinder a proximately accurate classification of the powers we do apprehend, with an approach to certainty adequate to the purposes of our inquiry. While the soul is an assemblage of different powers or capabilities, each sufficiently distinct to be identified in its special character and work, and to be differentiated from all others, there is no such separateness to any of them as to require the belief that the soul is compounded or in any sense resultant from the union of different or divisible organs. It is rather a simple essence, a unit, an indivisible entity that cannot be distributed into parts, some of which may be supposed to be actively employed, while others are at rest. This entity acts as a whole, in its unity, or it does not act at all. What we call faculties are not branches or separable parts, but simply powers or activities employed always under the guidance of the complete personality. They are attributes or capacities for the pursuit of different ends, working under dissimilar conditions and motives. The will is the soul it self exercising its volitional power. So with all the faculties. The memory is the soul's capacity for retaining impressions, ideas, or the knowledge of the facts previously acquired; the understanding is the soul apprehending material of knowledge; the reason is the soul tracing and discriminating the relations of things; and the imagination is the soul busying itself with pure intellections. All these and possibly others, are the natural faculties-powers without which the functions OF rational soul- life would be impossible; and yet we can conceive of each and all of them as existing in completeness without any leaning or bent to sin, or without any positive preference for the good. Not that anyone so exists, as a concrete fact, with all his natural faculties in full play, without a bias to good or evil; but such a thing is possible to our conceptions, so that we may imagine this utter destitution of predisposition; that is, we may think of an individual endowed with all the essential faculties of the soul and yet devoid of moral character. He may mind, will, memory, and reason, and yet have no inclination for or against moral rectitude. If these natural faculties were all the powers of the soul there might be a soul without elements of moral character. But these are not all powers of the soul. There is another class of powers in everyone, which, if not faculties, are so related to the faculties as to be inseparable from them. They are the powers which give the soul its character for goodness or badness. They form a sort of vestment to the soul, giving to it inclination, impulses, biases, affinities, and aversions; and in these are found also the spiritual sensibilities or the capacity for impressions. As are these powers, so is the man in all moral characteristics.

Here, then, we may assume that the soul itself, with its natural faculties, is the person, the conscious self, the substratum of being; but the personality is not complete without this second class of powers which we distinguish from the natural faculties, and which determine the moral quality of the soul by giving bent or inclination to all its faculties. These are the avenues through which sin enters; these are the forces which dominate the soul to the extent that it is not governed by pure reason; and these are the powers which open to the touch of all spiritual influences. Here is the seat of depravity, the carnal or fleshly mind, "the body of the sins of the flesh," designated "the old man" in words of the apostle; for here is the evil bent of nature which affiliates the man with all that is sensual and corrupting.

This department of the immaterial nature is called in the Scriptures both the "heart " and the "spirit," when specifically mentioned as distinct from the soul. When "soul" and "spirit" are conjoined, so that each must have its specific meaning, the "soul" expresses all the natural faculties, and the " spirit "those that are moral. The " spirit" is not the "soul," but it is the cluster of its moral qualities; it is to the soul what warmth is to the sunbeam, or what fragrance is to the flower, or what the temper is to the steel. It is of the soul, and yet it is not the essence of being. It is a changeable quality-something that may be transformed, renewed, put oil or put off, without affecting the identity of the soul. In scriptural usage it is also called the "heart." The words "heart" and 'spirit" are used interchangeably in the Old and New Testaments, so as to demonstrate the identity of their significance. We never speak of the soul as good or bad, as right or wrong, but we do of both "heart" and "spirit." Indeed, all moral qualities, good and bad, are ascribed to these. When the psalmist prayed, "Create in me a clean heart, 0 God; and renew a right spirit within me," he sought one blessing, and not two, using repetition for intensity, as was common in ancient usage. Thus also the prophet Ezekiel wrote: "A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh." The "heart" and the spirit" are the subjects of that transformation which makes the man a "new creation" -a change wrought by the Holy Spirit-while the soul retains not only its identity but all its natural faculties, with all their aptitudes and acquisitions. When converted the man, in respect of "heart" and "spirit," like King Saul before his coronation, is "turned into another man;" but he loses nothing of his proper personality in the change. In the essence of his being, in the essential attributes of his spiritual nature-in mind, will, reason, and judgment he remains himself alone; so that the work of the Holy Spirit is in the "heart," in the "spirit," or in the moral qualities of the soul which give character to the man, making him what he is for goodness or badness.

Some one may ask, "Is not this restricting the sphere of the Holy Spirit's work to narrow limits" It does not restrict it below the limit imposed by the nature of the case. The Spirit works for the eradication of sin, and works where sin reigns; and he works for the implantation of new qualities and for building up the new life imparted, so that his whole sphere is where dwell the elements of moral character. Unless the essential being of the man is invaded, and the invincible basis of his moral freedom is subjected to extrinsic forces, involving his accountability, this limitation of the divine working within him must be a sacred reality. It is simply what exists, what is revealed in the Scriptures, and what everyone may read distinctly in the disclosures of his own consciousness, as well as gather from any true philosophy of his own being.

The sphere of the Spirit's work thus ascertained is not a narrow one when viewed with any just regard to the vastness of the empire within, or with a rational conception of the resultant possibilities. It is not a little thing to touch and transform a human heart, through which the whole man is swayed. While the first contact of the Holy Spirit is with the spirit of man, touching the sensibilities, the thrill of that contact vibrates throughout the realm of moral consciousness and sensation. It is as when God said, "Let there be light: and there was light." The moving of the Spirit of God upon the assemblage of susceptible powers, metaphorically called the heart, is like the brooding of that same Spirit over the disorder of the chaotic earth at the dawn of creation, when the morning stars in concert sang their jubilant anthem of praise and the sons of God in celestial spheres shouted their joyous greeting to the newborn world. The regenerated soul becomes "a habitation of God through the Spirit." The kingdom of God set up within drives out alien forces till every power yields to the sway of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost-a dominion wider than the continents of earth.

Human philosophy stands appalled at the greatness of this work. Its tiny fingers touch nothing like it. Its sensuous wisdom is dumb before it. Science falters and is silent when God's Spirit renews a soul. The greatest stretches of its power cannot reach an agency capable of such an achievement. The highest human learning can find nothing beyond the subjective energies of the man for his uplifting and reconstruction. These are not disregarded but subordinated in the operations of the Holy Spirit. He works in harmony with every natural power. Whatever intrinsic capability the soul possesses is energized, directed, and utilized by the Spirit in the processes of salvation. While grace is supernatural in its source it comes into harmonious relations with the natural order of working out results in the spiritual kingdom, supplementing, inciting, and vitalizing the inherent forces, so that the resultant development of "newness of life " is attributable reciprocally to the holy Spirit and to the active agency of the human will. It is God working within and man working out his own salvation.

The true doctrine of the Holy Spirit is synergistic, and not monergistic. There is found in it the presence of two distinct agencies, each retaining its essential character and working in its appropriate sphere, and yet blending and working together as with a single aim to a single end. The Spirit of God reinforces the spirit of man. This is the supernaturalism of the Gospel. It is not a supernaturalism which overrides the human will with arbitrary compulsion or sets at naught the unbending laws of the moral universe, hut a supernaturalism which, without departing from the order of the higher realm, comes into the sphere of humanity with the light and quickening power which the lapsed condition of man renders indispensable to the restoration of the lost image of God. There was a supernaturalism of miracles that, at the beginning of the dispensation of the Spirit, had a most important mission, which was to attract attention, to arouse inquiry, and to authenticate messengers and messages from God; but that supernaturalism could not be incorporated into a system of religion for permanent continuance, because the constant recurrence of miracles would destroy their purpose as extraordinary attestations. In an important sense not to be disparaged miraculous manifestations enter into our faith and support it. The historical records reporting them command our assent. The incarnation and the mighty works of the Son of God stand out before the world as the foundation of our faith, and with the historical verity of these extraordinary facts Christian institutions must stand or fall. This extraordinary supernaturalism is an integral part of Christianity, but it has fulfilled its mission, so that we no longer look for miracles under the Gospel ministry. They are not needed. The supernaturalism which the doctrine of the Holy Spirit warrants is less tangible to the senses, but not less real nor less satisfying to the heart when clearly apprehended. It attests the verity of our faith with convincing power equal to that of miracles. "He that believeth on the Son of God bath the witness in himself." Through the Holy Spirit the Gospel evinces its own divinity, and, by producing in believers the fruits of righteousness, commends itself to "every man's conscience in the sight of God."

The doctrine of the Holy Spirit presents God as working in the human soul for its recovery from sin. This is its first and last thought. Through all the dispensations this essential work has been going on. Since no other power could ever renew the heart or fit the sinner for communion with God, this power must have been available from the time the first sinner needed salvation. God working in men is not a new thing in human history, nor a something peculiar to the Gospel dispensation. Because it is essential some manifestation of it must be found in every age and among all the peoples and generations out of which have been gathered jewels to deck the Redeemer's crown. The memorable words from the mouth of God before the flood, "My Spirit shall not always strive with man," although of warning tone, indicate that the Holy Spirit was then working with men, and that his absence at any time must be disastrous to human hopes. In their rebellion Israel "vexed his Holy Spirit: therefore he was turned to be their enemy, and he fought against them." David, in his penitence, prayed, "Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy Holy Spirit from Inc. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free Spirit." Evangelical as is this prayer, and as clearly. as it recognizes the work of the Holy Spirit in the heart, there is no reason for regarding it as indicating an experience beyond the common privilege of the pious of that day. Indeed, we cannot conceive of the piety and saintliness of character exhibited by the worthies of Old Testament history without suggestions of a divine work in the soul which has never been wrought except by the Holy Spirit.

The first significant manifestation of the Holy Spirit in New Testament history is in connection with the person of the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth. Not only was he conceived by the Holy Ghost, but in the temple the Spirit revealed his presence to Simeon and inspired Anna to speak of him to all that waited for salvation in Jerusalem. When he appeared on the banks of the Jordan, to fulfill all righteousness in his baptism, the heavens opened and the Spirit of God descended upon him, while the voice of the Father attested his sonship. From that hour whithersoever he went he went by the Spirit. The prophecies which went before, predicting his Messianic achievements, pointed to this anointing, and ascribed the establishment of his kingdom to it. In the first sermon ever preached to a Gentile audience Peter spoke of a report published throughout all Judea, " How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil." This comprehensive summation of the life of Jesus accords with all prophetic testimonies in ascribing his miracles to the Spirit, which the Father gave without measure unto him. Jest's himself had said, "But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you." We must not therefore wonder that all the instrumentalities ordained for spreading the kingdom of God on earth receive their efficiency from the presence and energizing power of the Holy Spirit. Chief among these is the preaching of the Gospel, which wins success and approves itself unto men as "the power of God unto salvation," when preached " with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven."

The disciples who were called to be apostle-who gave up all to follow Jesus as their Master and Lord, and who witnessed his miracles, heard his discourses, and shared his most intimate fellowship-were doubtless partakers of his saving grace and renewing power, experiencing the work of the Holy Spirit up to the measure of privilege under the dispensation in which they lived; and in some' respects they transcended the ordinary privileges of the saints, in that they were endowed with miraculous gifts under the commission which ended before the crucifixion. But these same disciples, after being witnesses of all that Jesus did and suffered, and then of his resurrection and ascension, were still short of needed qualifications for the Gospel ministry till after an enduement of power from the Holy Ghost which they bad not yet received. They were commanded to wait for this special endowment, and not to open their ministry till it should come upon them. Must we not then deem it essential

This special gift to be waited for was "the promise of the Father," which Jesus bad previously declared in their presence should come to them after his departure. We find it in the wonderful discourse delivered by him just before his passion. He then designated the Holy Ghost as the Paraclete-the "Comforter," "Advocate," or "Helper." The Spirit was not unfamiliar to the disciples, but now he was to take a new official relation and become to them what the personal presence of the Master had been-their teacher, defender, guide, and helper. His coming was to be an epiphany, the manifestation of Christ himself, in fulfillment of his promise, "I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you." Nay, more; it was to be the revelation of both the Father and the Son: "he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. . . . If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him." He was to manifest himself to his disciples as be did not to the world. But this special manifestation of the Father and the Son, in the person of the Paraclete, the Holy Ghost, was not to be the second .com mg of Christ in the clouds with the angels, but the consummation of his first advent. It was the coming of the Son of man in his kingdom, or the coming of the kingdom of God with power.

The promise of the Holy Spirit had been in the minds of the disciples from early in Christ's ministry. In his sermon on the duty and privilege of prayer he had said: "If ye then, being evil, know hew to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him" But now they stood face to face with ft crisis. He whom they trusted and loved, who had been their instructor, guide, friend, and helper, was about to leave them. They knew not as yet hew, nor why. SOITOW filled their hearts. In some way they felt that new trials and new responsibilities awaited them, demanding larger measures of divine help than had been vouchsafed to men, except in the personal leadership of Him who was now to depart. It was then he said, "If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever; even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him : but ye know him ; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you." A little later in this discourse he reiterated the promise of the Comforter, and indicated his work: "These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you. But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you." The next step in this instruction with regard to the mission of the Comforter points out to the disciples what should be their own office and work under this divine leadership: "But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me: and ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning." Further on ill this address, still tenderly encouraging their saddened hearts, Jesus said: "Nevertheless I tell you the truth ; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; 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. . . .He will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you."

From these passages, so rich in promised blessings, we pass over to the time beyond the "hour and the power of darkness," when the risen Christ recalled to his disciples "the promise of the Father," " which," he said, "ye have heard of me." Gethsemane, the cross, and the tomb were now behind him; the last commission had been given; and having bidden them to wait for the promise, and not to depart from Jerusalem without its fulfillment, he spoke what were probably his last words before his ascension from Olivet: "But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." Surely, then, a new dispensation of the Spirit was at hand-one whose glory should eclipse all that had preceded.

On one occasion, quite a while before his suffering, when Jesus stood up on the great day of the feast of tabernacles and cried, "If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink," and spoke of "rivers of living water," he anticipated this effusion. For the evangelist who recorded his words explained: " This spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified." After all the revelations of the Spirit, and the work he had done among men, working in them and striving with them through the centuries, "the Holy Ghost was not yet given " in the sense contemplated in "the promise of the Father; "he had not yet come as Comforter in the revelation of the Father and the Son, in the higher experiences to which the Church is called under the new dispensation. This brings us to the epoch of the Pentecost-the starting point for the study of the doctrine under the Gospel; an epoch which opens to the Church visions of spiritual power never known before. It was the day of the opening of the New Testament temple, with walls of salvation and with gates of praise. Beginning at this point we study the work of the Holy Spirit as set forth in the Acts of the Apostles, and as interpreted in the epistles, in his convincing, illuminating, regenerating, sanctifying, and witnessing power-with endowments for comfort, strength, testimony, work, and victory, surpassing all that preceding dispensations had revealed.

Written by Bishop S. M. Merrill, LL.D., Chicago, Ill.

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