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pleasure ; it was , as , he expresses it , the intimation of his will whose influence it was . It seemed good to the Holy Spirit , therefore , evidently means nothing more than this , that it appeared to them to be agreeable to the mind ofGod > as well as to themselves , to lay no other burden upon them .
The next passage cited by Mr . Wardlaw on this subject , is Acts xvi . 6 , 7 : " Now , when they had gone throughout Phrygia , and the regions of Galatia , and were forbidden of the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia , after they were come to Mysia , they assayed to go into Bithynia : but
the Spirit suffered them not . " Now this can certainly mean nothing more than that they acted under , and were directed by the influence of immediate inspiration , in not preaching the word in Asia , and in not going to Bithynia ; for , I suppose , no one will contend that the Spirit personally and verbally forbade the one and hindered the
other . We are told in the following verses , that by the call of the Lord they endeavoured to go into Macedonia ; but what was this call , not an audible voice , but they gathered from a vision that they were so called .
The next proof Mr . Wardlaw adduces * in support of the personality of the Spirit , is by citing a number of passages where the Holy Spirit is represented as speaking . I shall cite one or two of them as a specimen of the rest .
Actsxxi . 11 : "And when he ( Agabus ) was come unto us , he took Paul ' s girdle , and bound his own hands and feet , and said , * Thus saith the Holy Spirit ^ so shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owneth this girdle , and shall deliver him into the hands
of the Gentiles . * " The person who spake these words was Agabus : were they spoken by two different persons > He does not say that he heard the Holy Spirit speak these words , or that they were at all spoken to him * but he
represents the Holy Spirif as at that time speaking by him : " Thus saith the Holy Spirit , " as much as if he had said , what I now say is not my own , it does not rest on my authority , it is what 1 am inspired to say , and it is that inspiration speaking in me .
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Acts xxviii . § 5 : " And when they agreed not among themselves , they departed , after that Paul had spoken one word , * Well spake the Holy Spirit , by Esaias the prophet , unto our fathers , ' " &e . The words referred to are quoted from Isaiah vi .
9 > 10 , where they are expressly said to be spoken by the Lord to the prophet , verse 8 : " I heard the voice of the Lord" says Isaiah , " saying , and he said , 'Go and tell this people , hear ye indeed , but understand not , '" &c . In John xii . 41 , our Lord says they
were spoken by Esaias , Having cited the words in the prophet , he adds , ct These things said Esaias" The apostle referring to the same words , says , " Well spake the Holy Spirit by Esaias the prophet unto our fathers . " Upon which I observe , that those
words , in a strict and proper sense , could be spoken by one person onl y * and that person certainly could neither be Isaiah nor the Holy Spirit , for Isaiah himself says they were spoken by the Lordf that they were spoken to him , and that he heard I hem . ' * I heard the
voice of the Lord , saying . ' * And the close of the passage as cited in John , ( " And I should heal them , " ) shews that our Lord understood them to be the words of God - , nor is it any where
recorded in the prophecy , that Isaiah really said these things to the Jewish fathers , any more than that he really made "the heart of that people gross ^ as he was commanded to do . If , then ,
the only speaker in this passage is the Lord , how , or in what sense , are they said to be spoken by Isaiah and by the Holy Spirit ? The answer is obvious ; they are ascribed to Isaiah , because they are contained in the prophecy which he wrote , and because
Isaiah wrote those prophecies by inspiration : the Spirit , by which they were dictated , is represented as saying these things by him . So David says , * u The Spirit of Jehovah spake by me , and his word ( i . e . Jehovalis word ) wan in my tongue . " For he adds , 44 The God of Israel saidf the Rock of
Israel spake to me . " Thus , wherever the Spirit is said to speak by a pro phet , ( and it is never represented as speaking personally and independently of a prophet , } the speaker properly ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^•^ ¦ ' i » « . ' - * 2 Samuol xxiii . 2 , 3 *
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Mr . Marsom on the Deity of the Holy Spirit . — Letter HI . 189
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1818, page 189, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2474/page/37/
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