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* # & £ fc us mow ret am to the promise etthe Spirit contained in chapter xiv . 1 ^ , jy : i «* I wi ff pray the Father , and he shall give you another comforter ^ that he may abide with you for ever , even- the Spirit * of the truth , which the world catmot receive . * because it
seeth it not , neither knowetfr it ; but ye know it 9 for it dwefleth with you and shall be in you / ' This is the first time that the Holy Spirit is spoken of under ttie personal appellafckMi ** the ? comforter ? and is also thefivstinstance * in which iflfoe personal pronoun he h usied in speakingf of the
Sprrit , in agreement with that appeltetion . Ottr Lord ; therefore , having applied to the Hdly Spirit » character » o unusiinl atffd unknown , inrarediately explains himself by itiform ing-his drsciples that by the comforter he meant ike Spirit ofifceiinitfo : his explanation therefore must be decisive as to tm
meaning : If it be iiecfeivieri thett by tile comforter he did not mean , a person ; for , I believ e it has never been contended' that tke truth i& a persbTtf andx if it has not , ; ftow tlien can the spirit of it toe a person ? It toay ^ perhaps , oe said , that the spirit
eftke truth is also an unusual phrase to denote the Spirit of God ^ , but it is ft * H of mearring ^ and easily understood ; a * calculated to ccmrey to tkera the idea of that complete knowledge of ( Me- truth with whrictt they srhould be inspired . But when our Jbord next
mentions : tha corafcoiaav -verse ® 6 , he adds , >< Which is the £ T % ^/; mY , whom the Fkther will send in my nMtte . ** The Spirit of the truth , then , aond t ^ e Holy Spirit mean the same
thing : if , therefore , the Spirit of the truth be not a < peroonr neither can the . Holy Spirit be a pcrvon ^ for the Holy SpiriJ ? i ^ ttie Spirit of the trutb .
. I'TlMfc is c * tir Lord ' * QKplanation ^ and fc » A be : gone ti » farth « ri i-t ? would have been fbliy Bilffidfent lo do txwwjj the Wfea of personality conveyed by the BOtm comforter ^ and to shew that he
had assumed that name as a personix fication of the Holy Spirit . lie dae ^ nott . however ,, stop hero , but goes on farther to flx ^ i ) » iu l > i » maaMuig , ^ Even tike Spirit oft truth * " aaya fca > , « ff mhiah thft ^ onlclcamicit r&oeive ( teke away > a « ^ IW *^ ai ^ yi , Sw Jtanrb « A % ( Srooit ZcstamKuxt . iNoto inloc * .
Untitled Article
it would him ) because it see ^ fe not , neither fcno w ^ th f ^ fettt ye know * ^ for ^ <* w ^ ltefc ! i with yott and shalf B ^ in you . * tJpoiiwfticft I 6 bse ^ e ffrirt ; that -as the nouvt Spirit , so aiseaff the pronouns in tfcfcf verse are of iWe
neuter gender 5 foot we cannot ( as we have aliewn ) apeak of a proper person under sadt terms ; for although tfeit which is not a person may with great propriety and effect be * personified , as the Psalmist personifies the testi *
monies of Jehovahj by styling them hi ? co % toselfor $ ; in the orijgmal ' , " tfte men of his ecmnscfl ;" f yet a proper person cannot with any { propriety ( if I may use tfte expression ) be unper * sonified ; oiir ilord * therefore does not
speak here of the HWy Spirit as a person ; This verse ; I bbsei ^ ve , iii wMch our Lord explains wfi ^ t he means by the couaforter , is not quot ^ i 1
or so much as alhidfedto ( fit reasons no drjubt best known to himself ) by Mfr . Wardlaw , Perhaps h # does not alfevr our Lord to explain his owti terms , or if he dbes , he does not choose
to abide by that explanation . Secondly , the comforter promised was ^ to he an invisible and an internal comforter ; such a one as the world could not take away from them , because it could not seeitor know it , bat to them it would be well known , : & *
it should dwell with them , and should be in them * But one person cannot possibly reside and dwell in another person ; if he could , how should we be able to discriminate between tfrfe
personal properties possessed , and the actions performed , so as to know tq which of the persons they were ^ tb be ascribed *? Besides , a person is jtwKviaible : how then can the same
individual person be in a variety of other individual persons ? iHbtv , for instant ^ could the Holy Spirit , if a person , dwell in each of the apostles and < Hs * ciplcs of Jesus Christ ? The comf 6 rter , therefore , which was promised to dwell with and be in tjiem , could
not be ajperson . Oar lLord having- premised . tliB &pirit undier the assumfed character dt a comfortfer or advocsflte , ' , or , * s Cattipbell rendfer ^ thewordi ** aiiic > 4 nit or , instructor and gui ^ e ^ goe » on through the rem ^ ndei ^ oft * i $ i # ^ isctmnse to speak - ' f it * it uttder tttett pery * \ I ^)~ l ~ ¦¦•¦¦ ! Ill L —il- " i ' ii' iM ' Wf | t 11 *" 1 " 1 —^^ * -- ' --- -I j ; ¦ ' -t ' tj , -1 i |<| r I , ' 1 If- " ' 1 - " , f PtiAin ^ i . ^ '' - ; - - -
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Mr . nfartom on the B * ky nftlie Hof y ^ jHrt < .-r . Letter H . fit
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1818, page 111, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2473/page/31/
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