the heart of a little child, endures as seeing Hirn who is invisible.
On these three steps of heightened self-conscious, ness — forgiveness, imitation, and communion — . stands the temple of immortality for the soul.
(2) Jesus made the .soul capable of attaining its high destiny (in correspondence with its Divine origin) by the gft of the Holy Spirit. This was the one great object of His saving ministry besides revealing the Father. It is not that there was no Holy Spirit except for the ministry of Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit, we must believe, was as truly at the centi'e and circumference of the universe as the Father Himself. But none the less, for the purposes of human personality, the Fatherhood and Spirit of God were alike the creation of Jesus Christ. On these twin pillars His Kingdom of the redeemed is founded ; Justification being the result of the Father's relation to personality, and Sancti- fication being the effect of the Spirit s influence on personality : both being secured through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. It were of little use to heighten the soul's self - consciousness without increasing its powers of self-determination. The knowledge that God is our Father, Avith all it implies, must be completed by our receiving the ' sjjirit of adoption ' whereby we cry ' Abba, Father' (Ro 8^^), and the 'power to become sons of God' (Jn 1'-). The connexion between this Spirit of God and our spirits is too subtle for our analysis. ' In the ephemeral and empirical Me, there is a mysterious Guest, greater than the Me, and to which the Me instinctively addresses its prayer and its trust' (Sabatier, Religions of Au- thority, p. 318). But there can be no doubt (and this is the meaning of Ro 8) that the result is an enhancing of the soul's power to realize itself in respect of character which is the real realm of per- sonality. In other words, the Holy Spirit is pre- eminently the mainspring of the life inspired by Christ [vis vicaria, Tertullian), not, however, as substitute for the will, but as its jmrtner and prompter (cf. Gal 22« with 5'^», and Eph 3i« with v."). ' The Sjiirit and faith,' says Dr. Denney (art. Holy Spirit in vol. i. p. 738''), 'are correlative terms, and each of them covers from a ditterent point of view all that is meant by Christianity. Regarded from the side of God and His grace and power in initiating and maintaining it, Christianity is the Spirit ; regarded from the side of man and his action and responsibility in relation to God, it is faitli.' The bearing of the Spirit on man's self- determination (i.e. as a moral motive) may be viewed in two aspects.
(a) There is the entrance of the Spirit, which is sometimes called simply a gift (Lk IP^), but also ' a new birth' (Jn 3'*''^-)) because its origin is behind the will of man (1''*), and a 'baptism' (Mk P), because its outcome is in the will of man, in his personal dedication (cf. Ph 2^^).
' My heart was full ; I made no vows, but vows Were then made for me ; bond unknown to me Was given, that I should be, else sinning greatly, A dedicated Spirit' (Wordsworth, The Prelude, iv. 334 fif.).
And cf. Paracelsus -. —
'As He spoke, I was endued With comprehension and a steadfast will ; And when He ceased, my brow was sealed His own.'
In any case, it brings the power of the Highest (diivafiii v\pi(TTov, Lk P^) to those who have high work to do. Christ began His public ministry (4^^) in the power of the Sj^irit, who first brooded over Him and then drove Him forth (Mk V- 12). The Spirit also endoAved the behaviour and bearing of Jesus with its unique characteristics (Mt 12^''*-). But this belongs more properly to the section below. The most critical act of the soul's self- determination is known as conversion, which is the final acceptance of the will and love of God as
i
PERSOXALITY
PERSOXALITY
3V,
revealed in Jesus Christ, so that the motives stored in the <rospel become henceforth dominant partners in the life of the sotil. ' In conversion ' (says Star- buck, quoted in James, Religious Experience, p. 210) 'a person must relax, i.e. must fall back on the larger power that makes for righteousness, which has been welling up in his own being, and let it finish in its o^^^l way the work it has begun.' This is the true leverage of all moral possibilities ; and it Ls due to the entering of the Spirit, which has its own heavenly ways (cf. Lk ^^ AV), and releases the soul from the enctimbrance of habit and the tyranny of desire. The entrance of the Spirit thus brings the release of the personality. ' The unseen region is not merely the ideal, for it pro- duces effects in this world. AMien we commtine with it, work is actually done upon our finite per- sonality, for we are turned into a new man, and consequences in the way of conduct follow in the natural world uix)n our regenerative change" (Professor James, oij. cit. p. 516).
(b) The indv:dling of the Spirit is the consumma- tion of the Christian faith, its distinctive feature and i>eculiar power (Lk ll'^ 04*, Jn 7^ U'* 20^, cf. Ac 1 115-18 191-6^ Ro 82_ 2 Co 3, Gal o^'^^). The human problem Is stated in a famous chapter (Ro 7) by Paul, in a memorable sentence by Christ (Mk 14^j. Without the higher inspiration the mind becomes carnal instead of the body being consecrated. Christ Himself suffered from no division in His nature (cf. Hamack, WMt is Christianity ? p. 32 f. ), . because He was filled with the Spirit (Lk 4^) : the Prince of this world had nothing in Him (Jn \^'). And this is the summura bonum to which He in- vites His disciples : ' Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you' (v.-'^). It resolves the antinomies of flesh and spirit, body and soul, whereby the self-determination of man is tested, enabling us to believe, and live by the truth, that our bodies are ' temples of the Holy Ghost ' which is in us, which we have from God (1 Co 6^) ; or, using the original analogy of Christ, that we are branches of the true Vine,' into which, and through which, the sap of His ever-living word is to flow, producing fruit to the glory of God ( Jn 15^"-). The fruitfulness of life in character, which is the crown of personality, depends in short on the partner- ship of our personality with the Paraclete, whose dominion brings us liberty from the Law, as the obverse of our obedience to Love (Ro 8" cf. v.*, Gal 522- 23 cf. v.i«- IS, 2 P P cf. v.^). AU this is the process of sanctification. • If it has come to pass that the saints of the New Covenant have a higher idea of holiness, have walked by a more perfect rule, have shown forth a more exc-ellent and lovely character, these are the fruits of the blessed Spirit ' (Dean Church, Village Sermons, p. 121).