no order; it was like the valley of darkness and of the shadow of death. God the Holy Spirit spread his wings over it; he sowed the seeds of life in it; the germs from which all beings sprang were implanted by him; he impregnated the earth so that it became capable of life. Hence it must have been a person who brought order out of confusion; it must have been an existence who hovered over this world and made it what it now is. But do we not read in Scripture something more about the Holy Spirit? Yes, we are told that “holy men of old spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.” When Moses penned the Pentateuch, the Holy Spirit moved his hand; when David wrote the Psalms, and discoursed sweet music on his harp, it was the Holy Spirit that gave his fingers their seraphic motion; when Solomon dropped from his lips the words of the Proverbs of wisdom, or when he hymned the Canticles of love it was the Holy Spirit who gave him words of knowledge and hymns of rapture. Ah! and what fire was that which touched the lips of the eloquent Isaiah? What hand was that which came upon Daniel? What might was that which made Jeremiah so plaintive in his grief? or what was that which winged Ezekiel, and made him like an eagle, soar into mysteries aloft, and see the mighty unknown beyond our reach? Who was it that made Amos, the herdsman, a prophet? Who taught the rough Haggai to pronounce his thundering sentences? Who showed Habakkuk the horses of Jehovah marching through the waters? or who kindled the burning eloquence of Nahum? Who caused Malachi to close up the book with the muttering of the word curse? Who was in each of these, except the Holy Spirit? And must it not have been a person who spoke in and through these ancient witnesses? We must believe it. We cannot avoid believing it, when we read that “holy men of old spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.”
8. And when has the Holy Spirit ceased to have an influence upon men? We find that still he deals with his ministers and with all his saints. Turn to the Acts, and you will find that the Holy Spirit said, “Separate me Paul and Barnabas for the work.” I never heard of an attribute saying such a thing. The Holy Spirit said to Peter, “Go to the centurion, and what I have cleansed, do not call common.” The Holy Spirit caught away Philip after he had baptised the eunuch, and carried him to another place; and the Holy Spirit said to Paul, “You shall not go into that city, but shall turn into another.” And we know that the Holy Spirit was lied to by Ananias and Sapphira, when it was said, “You have not lied to man, but to God.” Again, that power which we feel every day who are called to preach — that wondrous spell which makes our lips so potent — that power which gives us thoughts which are like birds from a far off region, not the natives of our soul — that influence which I sometimes strangely feel, which, if it does not give me poetry and eloquence, gives me a might I never felt before, and lifts me above my fellow men — that majesty with which he clothes his ministers, until in the midst of the battle they cry, aha! like the warhorse of Job, and move themselves like leviathans in the water — that power which gives us might over men, and causes them to sit and listen as if their ears were chained, as if they were entranced by the power of some magician’s wand — that power must come from a person; it must come from the Holy Spirit.
9. But is it not said in Scripture, and do we not feel it, dear brethren, that it is the Holy Spirit who regenerates the soul? It is the Holy Spirit who quickens us. “He has quickened you who were dead in trespasses and sins.” It is the Holy Spirit who imparts the first germ of life, convicting us of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment to come. And is it not the Holy Spirit who after that flame is kindled, still fans it with the breath of his mouth and keeps it alive? Its author is its preserver. Oh! can it be said that it is the Holy Spirit who strives in men’s souls, that it is the Holy Spirit who brings them to the foot of Sinai, and then guides them into the sweet place that is called Calvary — can it be said that he does all these things, and yet is not a person? It may be said, but it must be said by fools; for he never can be a wise man who can consider that these things can be done by any other than a glorious person — a divine existence.
10. Allow me to give you one more proof, and I shall be done. Certain feelings are ascribed to the Holy Spirit, which can only be understood upon the supposition that he is actually a person. In Ephesians 4:30, it is said that the Holy Spirit can be grieved: “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by which you are sealed to the day of redemption.” In Isaiah 63:10 it is said that the Holy Spirit can be vexed: “But they rebelled, and vexed his Holy Spirit: therefore he was turned to be their enemy, and he fought against them.” In Acts 7:51, you read that the Holy Spirit can be resisted: “You stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you.” And in Acts 5:9, you will find that the Holy Spirit may be tempted. We are there informed that Peter said to Ananias and Sapphira, “How is it that you have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord?” Now, these things could not be emotions which might be ascribed to a quality or an emanation; they must be understood to relate to a person; an influence could not be grieved; it must be a person who can be grieved, vexed, or resisted.
11. And now, dear brethren, I think I have fully established the point of the personality of the Holy Spirit; allow me now, most earnestly, to impress upon you the absolute necessity of being sound to the doctrine of the Trinity. I knew a man, a good minister of Jesus Christ he is now, and I believe he was before he turned aside to heresy — he began to doubt the glorious divinity of our blessed Lord, and for years he preached the heterodox doctrine, until one day he happened to hear a very eccentric old minister preaching from the text, “But there the glorious Lord shall be to us a place of broad rivers and streams, where no galley with oars shall go, neither shall gallant ship pass by it. Your tacklings are loosened: they could not well strengthen their mast, they could not spread the sail.” “Now,” said the old minister, “you give up the Trinity, and your tacklings are loosened, you cannot strengthen your masts. Once you give up the doctrine of three persons, and your tacklings are all gone; your mast, which ought to be a support to your vessel, is a rickety one, and shakes.” A gospel without a Trinity! — it is a pyramid built upon its apex. A gospel without the Trinity! — it is a rope of sand that cannot hold together. A gospel without the Trinity! — then, indeed, Satan can overturn it. But, give me a gospel with the Trinity, and the might of hell cannot prevail against it; no man can any more overthrow it, than a bubble could split a rock, or a feather break in halves a mountain. Get the thought of the three persons, and you have the marrow of all divinity. Only know the Father, and know the Son, and know the Holy Spirit to be One, and all things will appear clear. This is the golden key to the secrets of nature; this is the silken clue of the labyrinths of mystery, and he who understands this, will soon understand as much as mortals ever can know.
12. II. Now for the second point — the UNITED AGENCY of the three persons in the work of our salvation. Look at the text, and you will find all the three persons mentioned. “I,” — that is the Son — “will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter.” There are the three persons mentioned, all of them doing something for our salvation. “I will pray,” says the Son. “I will send,” says the Father. “I will comfort,” says the Holy Spirit. Now, let us for a few moments discourse upon this wondrous theme — the unity of the Three Persons with regard to the great purpose of the salvation of the elect. When God first made man, he said, “Let us make man,” not let me, but “Let us make man in our own image.” The covenant Elohim said to each other, “Let us unitedly become the Creator of man.” So, when in ages far gone by, in eternity, they said, “Let us save man.” It was not the Father who said, “Let me save man,” but the three persons conjointly said with one consent, “Let us save man.” It is to me a source of sweet comfort, to think that it is not one person of the Trinity that is engaged for my salvation; it is not simply one person of the Godhead who vows that he will redeem me; but it is a glorious trio of Godlike ones, and the three declare, unitedly, “We will save man.”
13. Now, observe here, that each person is spoken of as performing a separate office. “I will pray,” says the Son — that is intercession. “I will send,” says the Father — that is donation. “I will comfort,” says the Holy Spirit — that is supernatural influence. Oh! if it were possible for us to see the three persons of the Godhead, we should behold one of them standing before the throne with outstretched
