and unfit to die. They rest in that unhappy phrase, " We know it, we know it," as if knowledge could wash away all their sins, — forgetting that the devil has more knowledge than any of us, and yet is no better for it. Let the burning words of our Lord in the passage now before us, sink down into our hearts, and never be for- gotten : *' If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin : but now- they have no cloke for their sin." To see light and not use it, to possess knowledge and yet not turn it to account, to be able to say " I know," and yet not to say " I believe," will place us at the lowest place on Christ's left hand, in the great day of judgment.
We should observe, for another thing, in these verses, how our Lord speaks of the Holy Ghost.
He speaks of Him as a Person. He is " the Com- forter " who is to come ; He is One sent and " proceed- ing ; " He is One whose office it is to " testify." These are not words that can be used of a mere influence or inward feeling. So to interpret them is to contradict common sense, and to strain the meaning of plain lan- guage. Reason and fairness require us to understand that it is a personal Being who is here mentioned, even He whom we are justly taught to adore as the third Person in the blessed Trinity.
Again, our Lord speaks of the Holy Ghost as One whom He "will send from the Father," and One " who proceedeth from the Father." These are deep sayings, no doubt, so deep that we have no line to fathom them. The mere fact that for centuries the Eastern and Western Churches of Christendom have been divided about their meaning, should teach us to handle them with modesty and reverence. One thing, at all events, is very clear and plain. There is a close and intimate connection between the Spirit, the Father, and the