130 Unfair Argument from Controversy,

have "tried" to sink their credit. It is said that we resort to inferences and the collation of different passages to prove this doctrine, instead of relying on individual assertion. In the first place, this is not true; the first chapter of John's Gospel stands at the head of a class of passages which contain absolute assertions of this doctrine; and secondly, if we pursued this course in reference to all the passait ges upon this subject, as we do with some, is in accordance with the instruction of Christ; "Search the Scriptures; for they are they which testify of me." But the controversy which has thrown darkness upon this doctrine has been used as an argument against it. Unitarians have involved the plainest passages in dispute,—an instance of which is found in the history of Rom. ix. 5. "God blessed forever," a passage which has been through the Inquisition of criticism, and every species of torture exercised upon it to make it speak a different language. In replying to their opponents, Trinitarians have been obliged to commence with the first principles of interpretation, and have followed them through the mazes of their ingenious arts, and then have been rewarded

against the Deity of Christ.

131

with the following reply: If it costs so much. to prove the doctrine, is there not presumptious evidence that it is not from God?'

The truth lies on the face of the Bible. Two things prove it. It would be inconsistent with the goodness of God to give us a revelation with the truth hid, and deception on its face, so that the majority of mankind, unaccustomed to critical investigation, should be misled by the obvious meaning. The second proof is from fact. The humble and pious poor in every age of the world, whose minds have never been perverted by false reasonings, nor perplexed with various readings, nor dazzled by new translations, have generally been believers in the Deity of Christ. "To the poor the Gos pel is preached."

CHAPTER VIII.

DEITY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.

'Whether there be any Holy Ghost.'—The Unpardonable Sin.— Names of God applied to the Holy Spirit.--Divine Attri-` butes. Are not 'the Seven Spirits before the Throne,' the Holy Ghost?-Sublimity of the Doctrine of the Trinity.— Society in the Godhead. An Extract.-Faith is not Credulity. Christ a Stumbling Block.-Advice to an Inquirer.

We shall now endeavor to present, as concisely as possible, the proof of the personality and Deity of the Holy Spirit. We begin with a passage which is used as an argument against it.

We are told, Acts xix., that Paul found certain disciples at Ephesus, to whom he said, "Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost. The Tract inquires,

"How is this? The Holy Ghost a person in

Whether there be any Holy Ghost. 133

the Godhead, equal with the Father, and essential to salvation to know him, and yet these disciples never heard of him? Impossible-and therefore impossible that it should be a third person in the deity, distinct from the Father, and equal in power and glory."

The passage here quoted is an impregnable proof of the personality and Deity of the Holy Ghost. It is observable that in a short paragraph in the Tract, three different meanings are given to the term Holy Spirit. "It signifies-divine influence."-"The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God."-"The Spirit of God is God himself." Substitute each of these definitions in the place of the term Holy Spirit in this passage from the Acts: "Have ye received divine influence since ye believed?" "We have not so much as heard whether there be any divine influence!" Is this credible? Again: "Have ye received the Spirit of God since ye believed?" "We have not so much as heard whether God has a Spirit." Now if there were no Spirit of God, or no Holy Ghost, of course Paul would not have asked the question. The only rational explanation is that the Holy Ghost belongs to the Godhead, but

134 Whether there be any Holy Ghost.

that these disciples had not received the knowledge of this mystery; for to say that they had never heard of such a thing as "divine influence," or, that "God is a Spirit," is contradicted by the fact that they were John's disciples. No one can doubt that, in the Apostolic age, the gift of the Holy Ghost included miraculous powers; for as soon as these disciples received the Holy Ghost, "they began to speak with tongues and prophesied." But to say that because such signs and wonders follow the descent of the Spirit, therefore, the term Spirit means only "signs and wonders," would be an unwarrantable use of metaphor, and at the same time is contradicted by facts. For the influence of the Holy Ghost is declared by Christ in the third chapter of John, to be indispensable in order to "see the kingdom of God." No one, we believe, would say, that the meaning of Christ is "Except a man receive the gift of tongues, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God,"-for-who then could be saved?

Our next argument is that unless the Holy Spirit be a person, the New Testament abounds in tautology. If the Spirit of God is "God