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of the . place compel them so to render it * as in the following instances , Getu iii * S it is rendered the cool of the day % vi 17 * The breath of life ^ v iii . 1 ,
taind ; so also Exod * xv * to , Thou didst blow with thy wind ? and 1 Kings xix * 11 , it is three tjmes rpndertfd wind ; Psalm xxxiii . 6 , " By the word of the Lord were the heavens made
atid all the host of them by ( not the spirit or person * but ) the breath of his ftiouth ; " ver * 9 ? For he spake and it was dotie , he commanded and it stood fast ; " John iii . 8 , " The wind , rtvevpti ,, foloweth where it listeth . " In these
passages the meaning of the word Spirit is clearly seen , and so the word should be rendered , John xx . 22 , " He breathed on them , and saith unto them ,
receive ye the Holy Breath ; " thus 2 nd Timothy iii . 16 , " All Scripture given by inspiration of God . " The words * given by inspiration of God , are but one word in the original , add is literally divinely breathed * So the words Hbder consideration might properly be
rendered , " In the name of the rather And of the Son and of the Hdly llreath ; " for as the terms Father and Sen , necessarily convey the idea of personality , so the terms Holy Spirit 9
being of the neuter gender , as necessarily convey the idea of impersonality ; and we as certainly know , by the ' very name by which it is descr ibed , that it is mot a person , as toe fciiow , by their very names > the Father and Son to be persons .
Again , as nouns are the names of persons and things , so the pronottfts which supply their place must necessarily correspond with those nouns whose place they supply , in number and gekider , or they will not be just
representatives of them . A violation of this rule , by substituting personal pronouns for neuter nouns , and neuter pronoun ** for personal nouns , is confounding all propriety , a perversion of All language and grammar * This is never done , nor . can it be done , without
the greatest absurdity ; for instance * how preposterous would it be to apply neuter pronouns to God and to Christ , and to adopt such language as the following , G 6 d itself even our Father Christ loved our church and gave
iUti / f for it 1 God raised Christ from the dead and set it at his right hand * &c * This , on the face of it , is sufficiently ridiculous . If then the Holy
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Spirit be ' a proper pw $ on &Ad tfoe name Wvevpa be bf ¦ the ntefccnlitite gehder , such prctaouns could not possibly be used to supply its place ; but such pronouns &re used * as for
ihstance , " The Spirit itself bearetb Witness with our spirit ; v * 6 The Spirit itself maketh intercession for us " 8 fcfc . The last clause ita the next verse ougfit to have been rendered „ ' u Because i % not he 9 intercedeth for the s&ints
atcordittg to the Will of God . " There is nothing in the original to ^ nrr&iit the rcaidering in the common versiosio The Holy Spirit , therefore , c&imot be a person . On the other hatid , if the word spirit be a neuter noun , ( as it unquestionably is , ) it would be equally
preposterous and absurd to make use of the personal pronouns , he 9 him and his , as its substitutes . This , we may venture to affirm , is never the case in the New Testament , Yet , notwithstanding this , Mr . Wardlaw , in ' -violation of so plain a rule of grammar *
( which every one understands and uniformly complies . witji , *) almost invariably u&es these personal pronouns as the substitutes of the neuter frouxi spirit . % t The great work of the Ifoly Spirit * ( he says ) is to bear witness to
Christ , He did so by all those supernatural powers , of which he was the author , in the beginning of the gospel ; &ttd &e did so then , add continues to do $ 0 now by his gracious hiHtience $ on the ftiinds of toeti . " Such is the
influence of system , —arid by such a perversion of language as this is , the nature of the word spirit , as an impeTsonal name , and its meaning is completely kept out of the view of the
common reader . He is first taught to believe that the Spirit is a proper person , and then to support the erroneous idea , personal pronouns are made to supply its place .
If this reasoning- be just , on what ground does Mr , Wardlaw ' s believiing the doctrine of the Trinity or of the personalit " y of the Holy Spirit stand , in the commission of our Lord to teach and baptize ? There is not , in this passage , any one of the terms by whicla those doctrines are or can bfc
expressed y there is in it no such term as Trinityi nor does it contain . in it the terms three persons . Thtfre are indeed three frames mentioiied , but © fate I ill » li » i i - . i - . I II" - I 1 MM-. I - |~ ¦ ' . ' . "I ir -If ** - "" HWJUililiraHTTH iT'luli' * ' - '"' * -Fare Slfi .
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34 Mt \ Mahem m ihe J % eit $ iff ths Moly J ^ pirik ^ lL&tieiTo
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1818, page 34, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2472/page/34/
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