ever the "Spirit of God" is mentioned, it is an impersonal attribute or quality, or an endowment granted to man as a divine gift. Careful consideration, however, of the language used in Holy Scripture makes it quite clear that such a view is wholly inadequate. It will be seen that, throughout the New Testament, personal actions are ascribed to the Spirit, and such actions as cannot be predicated of the Father or the Son. Our Lord's discourses in the upper chamber on the eve of His passion (S. John xiii.-xvi.) deal largely with the subject of the Holy Spirit, whom He would send from the Father, or whom the Father would send in His name (xiv. 26, xv. 26), as "another Comforter " or "Advocate" (äλλov παράκλητον). The use of this term seems of itself decisive. Whatever be the exact translation of maρáKANTOS the title is certainly a personal one. It is applied to our Lord in 1 John ii. 1, and if the Spirit is to be "another Paraclete," He must not only be distinct from the Son, and from the Father, by whom He is "sent," but must equally be a Person. Further, the masculine pronoun is used, "He (exeîvos) shall teach you all things" (S. John xiv. 26), and such personal actions are ascribed to Him as teaching, reminding, bearing witness, convicting of sin, guiding into truth, declaring things to come, glorifying Christ, taking of the things of Christ, and declaring them to the disciples (xiv. 26, xv. 26, xvi. 8-14). But the proof of the distinct personality of the Holy Ghost is not confined to these chapters of S. John's Gospel. The apostolic epistles are full of passages which testify to the same truth. "The Spirit also helpeth our infirmity: for we know not how to pray as we ought; but the Spirit Himself (avrò тò πveûμa) maketh intercession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered; and He that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because He maketh

"There

But

intercession for the saints according to the will of God" (Rom. viii. 26, 27). The Spirit here can only be thought of as distinct from the Father with whom He intercedes, nor can there be any personification of, or confusion with, the human spirit, since the Spirit "helpeth our infirmities," and "maketh intercession for us." And though, undoubtedly, such attributes as love are personified in Scripture, and personal actions ascribed to them, which are really done by the men in whom they reside (see e.g. 1 Cor. xiii.), yet such a passage as 1 Cor. xii. 4 seq. is decisive against the notion that the language of the apostle concerning the Spirit may be explained in the same way. Here the Spirit of God is spoken of as apportioning the gifts of grace. He is expressly distinguished from the gifts which He assigns to men, and personal action is markedly attributed to Him. are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit to profit withal. For to one is given through the Spirit the word of wisdom; and to another the word of knowledge, according to the same Spirit; to another faith, in the same Spirit; to another gifts of healings, in the one Spirit; and to another workings of miracles; and to another prophecy; and to another discernings of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; and to another the interpretation of tongues: but all these worketh the one and the same Spirit, dividing to each one severally even as He will." The Personality of the Holy Spirit is evident throughout this passage. "Even as He will" could be said of no influence or attribute. Many other passages to the same effect might be quoted. Elsewhere we read of the Spirit being "grieved" (Eph. iv. 30), of men being "led by the Spirit" (Gal. v. 18). It is possible to "lie to the Holy Ghost" (Acts v. 4), and to "blaspheme against Him" (S. Matt. xii. 31). Language

such as this is surely conclusive. It would be inexplicable and misleading if the Spirit were only an attribute, influence, gift, or operation. He is plainly revealed in the Holy Scripture as a divine Hypostasis, distinct from both the Father and the Son-the Third Person in the Blessed Trinity.

It may be added, with reference to the use of the same term, TVεûpa, both for the Person and the gift, that a comparison of passages will show that as a rule where the gift, operation, or communication of the Spirit is spoken of in Scripture, the word Tveûμa is without the article. Where the word is definite, Tò πveûμa, it will generally, if not always, be found that the divine Person is designated.1

Before passing on to the subject of the procession, it will be well to notice briefly the history of the doctrine of the Divinity and Personality of the Holy Spirit in the Church.

In the earliest ages comparatively little attention was paid to the subject. The doctrine was held, so to speak, in an informal manner. The witness of hymns, doxologies, and professions of faith, as well as the incidental statements of early Fathers, all combine to convince us that the Church had no real doubts on the Divinity or Personality of the Holy Ghost, although the doctrine was not formally and dogmatically stated, and occasionally there are traces of a confusion of thought and language, so that not only are acts and operations ascribed to the Son which would be properly assigned to the Spirit, but the Spirit is actually identified with the Son. Such passages are, however, rare; and against

1 See Dean Vaughan, Lectures on the Epistle to the Romans, p. 103, and cf. Pearson On the Creed, Art. viii.

2 See Ps. Clement, 2 Cor. ix. and xiv. Hermas, Pastor. Sim. v. ix. ; Theoph. ad Autolyc. ii. 23; Justin Martyr, Apol. i. 33, where the Incarnation is said to have been wrought by the Word Himself, though

them may be set the witness of many others, which show that the doctrine was recognised from the beginning.1 "The Catholic doctrine of the Deity of the Holy Ghost," it has been truly said, "found a place from the first in the life and worship of the Church; in her worship because in her life. Yet the dogmatic expression of this truth will be sought in vain among the outpourings of Christian devotion. Until heresy attacked one by one the treasures of the traditional creed, they were held firmly indeed, yet with a scarcely conscious grasp the faithful were content to believe and to adore."

"2

The first recognition in any form of the fact that the doctrine had not hitherto received the attention due to it may be found in the outbreak of Montanism in the latter half of the second century. It has been said that Montanus claimed himself to be the Paraclete, but this assertion probably arises from a misunderstanding of his claim to be the inspired organ of the Spirit. According to the express statement of Epiphanius, his views were sound on the subject of the Holy Trinity, and therefore the prominence which he gave to the doctrine of the Holy Spirit may be taken as "the first expression of a need already beginning to make itself felt-the need of a fuller recognition of the Person and work of the Holy Ghost." 4

In the early days of the Sabellian heresy the subject

elsewhere Justin clearly distinguishes the Spirit from the Word, placing "in the third order" (èv TρiTŋ Táže) the Spirit of prophecy "for we honour Him with the Word," Apol. i. 13.

1 See Clement of Rome, 1 Cor. ii. xlv. xlvii. lviii.; Ignatius, Ad Magn. xiii.; Philad. vii.; Eph. ix. xviii.; Mart. Polyc. xiv. xxii.; Theoph. ad Autol. ii. 15; Athenagoras, Legat. x.; Irenæus, IV. xiv.; xxxiv. etc.

2 Swete, On the Early History of the Doctrine of the Holy Spirit, p. 8. Hær. xlviii. Swete, op. cit. p. 12.

of the Holy Spirit was not prominently brought forward, but as the controversy proceeded there were indications that the Sabellians were prepared to extend to the Third Person of the Trinity the principle of explanation which they applied to the Second, and to regard the Spirit merely as a manifestation or character of the one Person whom they admitted as God. The subject, however, still remained in the background, nor was the attention of churchmen specially directed to it for some time yet. Indeed, it is not till a considerable time after the outbreak of the Arian heresy in the fourth century that it receives due consideration. The creed which received the sanction of the Fathers assembled at Nicæa (A.D. 325), being drawn up expressly to guard against Arianism, ended abruptly with the clause, " And in the Holy Ghost." All the clauses which follow this in our present (so-called) Nicene Creed were wanting, and the reason why this article of the faith was so brief and free from all elaboration was, if we may believe the express statement of S. Basil of Cæsarea, "because no question had as yet arisen on this subject." 1

At the same time, it is necessary to remember that the denial of the Divinity of the Holy Spirit was logically involved in the position of the Arians. If the Son is not "very and eternal God," but a "creature" (xτloμa), what can be thought of the nature of the Spirit who is "sent" by Him, and is actually called in Scripture "the Spirit of Christ?" It is clear that on the Arian hypothesis the Spirit cannot be truly divine, or else He would be superior to the Son who "sends" Him. For a while, however, this inference remained in the background. The main question at stake was that

1 Διὰ τὸ μηδέπω τοτε τοῦτο κινεῖσθαι τὸ ζήτημα, Ep. lxxviii. (al. cxxv., cf. cccxxv.; al. cclviii.).