OF.
Perhaps it was in order to correct the grossly defec- tive conceptions of the Holy Spirit which prevailed com- monly among the people, and to teach them that this is the most awful possession of the heirs of the kingdom of heaven, that our Lord himself pronounced the strong condemnation of blasphemers of the Holy Ghost (Matt. xii, 31). This has roused in every age the susceptibil- ity of tender consciences, and has caused much incpiiry to be made as to the specific character of the sin so de- nounced, and of the human actions which fall under so terrible a ban. On the one hand, it is argued that no one now occupies the exact position of the Pharisees whom our Lord condemned, for they had not entered into covenant with the Holy Spirit by baptism ; they did not merely disobey the Spirit, but blasphemously attributed his works to the devil; they resisted not merely an inward motion, but an outward call, support- ed by the evidence of miracles wrought before their eyes. On the other hand, a morbid conscience is prone to apprehend the unpardonalde sin in every, even unin- tentional, resistance of an inward motion which may proceed from the Spirit. This subject is referred to in Article XVI of the Church of England, and is discussed by Burnet, Beveridge, and Harold Browne, in their Ex- positions of the Ai-ticlcs. It occupies the greater part of Athanasius's Foui-(h Epistle to Serapion, ch. viii-xxii (sometimes [)rinted separately as a treatise on ISIatt. xii, 31). See also Augustine, Ep. ad Rom. Exposiliv Incho- ata, § 14-23, tom. iii, pt. 2, p. 933. Also Odo Came- racciisis {X.Y). 11 13), De lilasphemia in Sp. Sanctum, in Migne's Putroloyia Lat. vol. clxiii; Denison (A.D. Hill), The Sin (u/ainst the Holy Ghost; Waterland, Ser- uions, xxvii. in Works, v, 706; Jackson, On the Creed, bk. viii, ch. iii, p. 770). See UNi'AKDONAiii-K Six.
But the ascension of our Lord is marked (Eph. iv, 8; John vii,39, etc.) as the commencement of a new pe- riod in the history of the inspiration of men by the Holy (ihost. The interval between that event and the end of the world is often described as the djspensation of the Spirit. It was not merely (as Didymus Alex. De
SPIRIT, HOLY
947
SPIRIT, HOLY
T>{nif(ife,\n,3i,ASl,anA others have suggested) that the knowledge of the Siiirii's operations became more ijeneral among mankind. It cannot be allowed, though Bp. Heber {Lcdurea, viii, 514. and vii, 488) and Warbur- ton have maintained it, that the Holy Spirit has suffi- ciently redeemed his gracious promise to every suc- ceeding age of Christians only by presenting us with the New Test. Something more was promised, and continues to be given. Under the old dispensation the gifts of the Holy Spirit were uncovenanted, not univer- sal, intermittent, chiefly external. All this was changed. Our Lord, bj' ordaining (Matt, xxviii, 19) that every Christian should be baptized in the name of the Holj' (ihost, indicated at once the absolute necessity from that time forth of a personal connection of every be- liever with the Spirit ; and (in John xvi, 7-15) he de- clares the internal character of the Spirit's work, and (in xiv, 16, 17, etc.) his permanent stay. Subsequent- ly the Spirit's operations under the new dispensation are authoritatively announced as universal and inter- nal in two remarkable passages (Acts ii, 16-21; Heb. viii, 8-12). The different relations of the Spirit to be- lievers severally under the old and the new dispensation are described by I'aul under the images of a master to a servant, and a father to a son (Rom. viii, 15); so much deeper and more intimate is the union, so much higher the position (Matt, xi, 11), of a believer, in the later stage than in the earlier (see Walchius, Miscel- lanea Sacra, p. 763 : De Spiritu A dopdonis ; and the opinions collected in note H in Hare's Mission of the Comforter, ii, 433). The rite of imposition of hands, not only on teachers, but also on ordinary Christians, which has been used in the apostolic (Acts vi, 6 ; xiii, 3; xix, 6, etc.) and in all subsequent ages, is a testi- mony borne by those who come under the new dispen- sation to their belief of the reality, permanence, and universality of the gift of the Spirit.
Under the Christian dispensation it appears to be the office of the Holy Ghost to enter into and dwell within everv believer (Rom. viii, 9, II ; 1 John iii, 24). By him the work of redemption is (so to speak) appropriated and carried out to its completion in the case of every one of the elect people of (iod. To believe, to profess sincerely the Christian faith, and to walk as a Chris- tian, are his gifts (1 Cor. xii, 3; 2 Cor. iv, 13; Gal. v, 18) to each person severally : not only does he bestow the power and faculty of acting, but he concurs (I Cor. iii, 9; Phil, ii, 13) in every particular action so far as it is good (see South, Sermons, xxxv, vol. ii, p. 292). His inspiration brings the true knowledge of all things (1 John ii,27). He unites the whole multitude of believ- ers into one regularly organized body (1 Cor. xii, and Eph. iv, 4-U)). He is not only the source of life to us on earth (2 Cor. iii, 6 ; Rom. viii, 2), but also the power by whom God raises us from the dead (ver. 11). All Scripture, by which men in every successive gener- ation are instructed and made wise unto salvation, is inspired by him (Eph. iii, 5 : 2 Tim. iii, 16 ; 2 Pet. i, 21) ; he co-operates with suppliants in the utterance of every effectual prayer that ascends on high (Eph. ii, 18; vi, 18; Rom. viii, 26); he strengthens (Eph. iii, 16), sancti- ties (2Thess. ii, 13), and seals the souls of men unto the day of completed redemption (Eph. i, 13; iv, 30).