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Full text of "The work of the Holy Spirit"

THE WORK OF 
THE HOLY SPIRIT 



BY 



ABRAHAM KUYPER, D.D., LL.D. 

PROFESSOR OF SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY IN THE 
UNIVERSITY OF AMSTERDAM. 



TRANSLATED FROM THE DUTCH WITH EXPLANATORY NOTES 
BY 

REVEREND HENRI DE VRIES 



WITH AN INTRODUCTION 
BY 

PROFESSOR BENJAMIN B. WARFIELD, D.D., LL.D. 

OF PRINCETON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY 



FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY 

NEW YORK AND LONDON 



BT 



COPYRIGHT, igoo 
BY 

FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY 



{Registered at Stationers Hall, London.] 



Printed in the United States of A merici 



i 5 a 1M to 






CONTENTS. 



FACE 

PREFACE, ix 

EXPLANATORY NOTES TO THE AMERICAN EDITION, xv 

PARTIAL LIST OF THE WORKS OF DR. KUYPER, xix 

INTRODUCTION BY PROF. BENJAMIN B. WARFIELD, D.D., LL.D., . xxv 



VOLUME I. 

FIRST CHAPTER. 
INTRODUCTION. 

I. Careful Treatment Required, 3 

II. Two Standpoints, 8 

III. The Indwelling and Outgoing Works of God, . . . .13 

IV. The Work of the Holy Spirit Distinguished, . 18 

SECOND CHAPTER. 
THE CREATION. 

V. The Principle of Life in the Creature, 22 

VI. The Host of Heaven and of Earth, 27 

VII. The Creaturely Man, 32 

VIII. Gifts and Talents 38 

THIRD CHAPTER. 
RE-CREATION. 

IX. Creation and Re-Creation, 43 

X. Organic and Individual, 48 

XI. The Church Before and After Christ, 52 

FOURTH CHAPTER. 
THE HOLY SCRIPTURE OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. 

XII. The Holy Scripture 56 

XIII. The Scripture a Necessity, 60 



iv CONTENTS 

PAGE 

XIV. The Revelation to Which the Scripture of the Old Testa 
ment Owes Its Existence, 65 

XV. The Revelation of the Old Testament in Writing, . . 70 

XVI. Inspiration, 74 

FIFTH CHAPTER. 
THE INCARNATION OF THE WORD. 

XVII. Like One of Us, 79 

XVIII. Guiltless and Without Sin, 84 

XIX. The Holy Spirit in the Mystery of the Incarnation, . . 88 

SIXTH CHAPTER. 
THE MEDIATOR. 

XX. The Holy Spirit in the Mediator, 

XXI. Not Like unto Us, 

XXII. The Holy Spirit in the Passion of Christ, 

XXIII. The Holy Spirit in the Glorified Christ, 

SEVENTH CHAPTER. 
THE OUTPOURING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 

XXIV. The Outpouring of the Holy Spirit, 112 

XXV. The Holy Spirit in the New Testament Other than in the 

Old, 117 

XXVI. Israel and the Nations, . 123 

XXVII. The Signs of Pentecost, 128 

XXVIII. The Miracle of Tongues, 133 

EIGHTH CHAPTER. 
THE APOSTOLATE. 

XXIX. The Apostolate 

XXX. The Apostolic Scriptures, 

XXXI. Apostolic Inspiration, 

XXXII. Apostles To-Day? 

NINTH CHAPTER. 
THE HOLY SCRIPTURES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. 

XXXIII. The Holy Scriptures in the New Testament, 

XXXIV. The Need of the New-Testament Scripture, 
XXXV. The Character of the New-Testament Scripture, . 



CONTENTS v 

TENTH CHAPTER. 

THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 

PAGE 

XXXVI. The Church of Christ, i?9 

XXXVII. Spiritual Gifts, . 184 

XXXVIII. The Ministry of the Word, 190 

XXXIX. The Government of the Church 196 



VOLUME II. 

FIRST CHAPTER. 

INTRODUCTION. 

I. The Man to be Wrought upon, 203 

II. The Work of Grace a Unit 208 

III. Analysis Necessary 213 

IV. Image and Likeness, 218 

V. Original Righteousness, ....... 222 

VI. Rome, Socinus, Arminius, Calvin, ..... 227 

VII. The Neo-Kohlbruggians, ....... 232 

VIII. After the Scriptures, 238 

IX. The Image of God in Man, 242 

Y Adam Not Innocent, but Holy, ...... 247 

SECOND CHAPTER. 
THE SINNER TO BE WROUGHT UPON. 

XL Sin Not Material, ......... 252 

XII. Sin Not a Mere Negation, 258 

XIII. Sin a Power in Reversed Action, 263 

XIV. Our Guilt, 268 

XV. Our Unrighteousness, ........ 273 

XVI. Our Death 278 

THIRD CHAPTER. 
PREPARATORY GRACE. 

XVII. What It Is, 283 

XVIII. What It Is Not, . 288 



vi CONTENTS 

FOURTH CHAPTER. 

REGENERATION. 

PAGE 

XIX. Old and New Terminology, 293 

XX. Its Course, 2 99 

XXI. Regeneration the Work of God, 304 

XXII. The Work of Regeneration . 3 IQ 

XXIII. Regeneration and Faith, 3 T 5 

XXIV. Implanting in Christ, 322 

XXV. Not a Divine-Human Nature, 

XXVI. The Mystical Union with Immanuel, 333 

FIFTH CHAPTER. 
CALLING AND REPENTANCE. 



XXVII. The Calling of the Regenerate, 
XXVIII. The Coming of the Called, . 
XXIX. Conversion of All that Come, 



SIXTH CHAPTER. 

JUSTIFICATION. 

XXX. Justification, 

XXXI. Our Status, 

XXXII. Justification from Eternity, 

XXXIII. Certainty of Our Justification, 

SEVENTH CHAPTER. 
FAITH. 

XXXIV. Faith in General, 378 

XXXV. Faith and Knowledge, 384 

XXXVI. Brakel and Comrie 39 o 

XXXVII. Faith in the Sacred Scriptures, 39- 

XXXVIII. The Faculty of Faith 40: 

XXXIX. Defective Learning 407 

XL. Faith in the Saved Sinner Alone, . . . . .415 

XLI. Testimonies, .... ..... 420 



CONTENTS vii 

p 

VOLUME III. 

FIRST CHAPTER. 

SANCTIFICATION. 

PAGE 

I. Sanctification, 431 

II. Sanctification a Mystery 435 

III. Sanctification and Justification, 440 

IV. Sanctification and Justification (Continued), . . . 444 
V. Holy Raiment of One s Own Weaving, .... 448 

VI. Christ Our Sanctification, 452 

VII. Application of Sanctification, 456 

VIII. Sanctification in Fellowship with Immanuel, . . . 460 

IX. Implanted Dispositions, 464 

X. Perfect in Parts, Imperfect in Degrees, 468 

XI. The Pietist and the Perfectionist, 474 

XII., The Old Man and the New 480 

XIII. The Work of God in Our Work, 485 

XIV. The Person Sanctified, ........ 490 

XV. Good Works 496 

XVI. Self-Denial 502 

SECOND CHAPTER. 

LOVE. 

XVII. Natural Love 508 

XVIII. Love in the Triune Being of God, ...... 513 

XIX. The Manifestation of Holy Love, . . . . . .517 

XX. God the Holy Spirit the Love which Dwells in the Heart, . 522 

XXI. The Love of the Holy Spirit in Us, ..... 527 

XXII. Love and the Comforter, ....... 532 

XXIII. The Greatest of These Is Love, 538 

XXIV. Love in the Blessed Ones, 543 

XXV. The Communion of Saints, 548 

XXVI. The Communion of Goods, ....... 554 

XXVII. The Communion of Gifts 560 

XXVIII. The Suffering of Love, 565 

XXIX. Love in the Old Covenant, 570 

XXX. Organically One, 575 

XXXI. The Hardening Operation of Love, 580 

XXXII. The Love which Withers, 584 



viii CONTENTS 

PAGE 

XXXIII. The Hardening in the Sacred Scripture, . . . .589 

XXXIV. Temporary Hardening, ....... 594 

XXXV. The Hardening of Nations, 598 

XXXVI. The Apostolic Love, 603 

XXXVII. The Sin Against the Holy Ghost, 6oS 

XXXVIII. Christ or Satan, 613 

THIRD CHAPTER. 
PRAYER. 

XXXIX. The Essence of Prayer, 618 

XL. Prayer and the Consciousness, ...... 623 

XLI. Prayer in the Unconverted, 629 

XLII. The Prayer of the Regenerated, 636 

XLIII. Prayer for and with Each Other, 643 



PREFACE OF THE AUTHOR. 



SPECIAL treatises on the Person of the Holy Spirit are compara 
tively few, and systematic treatment of His Work is still more un 
common. In dogmatics, it is true, this subject is introduced, devel 
oped, and explained, but special treatment is exceptional. 

As much as there is written on Christ, so little is there written 
on the Holy Spirit. The work of John Owen on this subject is 
most widely known and still unsurpassed. In fact, John Owen 
wrote three works on the Holy Spirit, published in 1674, 1682, and 
1693. He was naturally a prolific writer and theologian. Born 
in 1616, he died at the good old age of seventy-five years, in 1691. 
From 1642, when he published his first book, he continued writing 
books until his death. 

In 1826 Richard Baynes reissued the works of John Owen, D.D., 
edited by Thomas Russell, A.M., with memoirs of his life and wri 
tings (twenty-one volumes). This edition is still in the market, 
and offers a treasury of sound and thorough theology. 

Besides Owen s w r orks I mention the following: 

David Rungius, " Proof of the Eternity and Eternal Godhead of 
the Holy Spirit," Wittenberg, 1599. 

Seb. Nieman, " On the Holy Spirit," Jena, 1655. 

Joannes Ernest Gerhard, " On the Person of the Holy Spirit," 
Jena, 1660. 

Theod. Hackspann, " Dissertation on the Holy Spirit," Jena, 1655. 

J. G. Dorsche, " On the Person of the Holy Spirit," Konings- 
berg, 1690. 

Fr. Deutsch, " On the Personality of the Holy Spirit," Leipsic, 
1711. 

Gottfr. Olearius (John F. Burgius), " On the Adoration and Wor 
ship of the Holy Spirit," Jena, 1727. 

J. F. Buddeuss, " On the Godhead of the Holy Spirit," Jena, 1727. 



x PREFACE OF THE AUTHOR 

J. C. Pfeiffer, " On the Godhead of the Holy Spirit," Jena, 1740. 

G. F. Gude, " On the Martyrs as Witnesses for the Godhead of 
the Holy Spirit," Leipsic, 1741. 

J. C. Danhauer, " On the Procession of the Holy Spirit from the 
Father and the Son," Strasburg, 1663. J. Senstius, Rostock, 1718, 
and J. A. Butstett, Wolfenbiittel, 1749. John Schmid, John Meisner, 
P. Havercorn, G. Wegner, and C. M. Pfaff. 

The Work of the Holy Spirit has been discussed separately by 
the following: Anton, " The Holy Spirit Indispensable." Carsov, 
"On the Holy Spirit in Conviction." Wensdorf, "On the Holy 
Spirit as a Teacher." Boerner, " The Anointing of the Holy Spirit." 
Neuman, " The Anointing which Teaches All Things." Fries, " The 
Office of the Holy Spirit in General." Weiss, "The Holy Spirit 
Bringing into Remembrance." Foertsch, "On the Holy Spirit s 
Leading of the Children of God." Hoepfner, " On the Intercession 
of the Holy Spirit." Beltheim, Arnold, Gunther, Wendler, and 
Dummerick, " On the Groaning of the Holy Spirit." Meen, " On 
the Adoration of the Holy Spirit." Henning and Crusius, " On the 
Earnest of the Holy Spirit." 

The following Dutch theologians have written on the same 
subject: Gysbrecht Voetiusin his" Select-Disput.," I., p. 466. Sam. 
Maresius, " Theological Treatise on the Personality and Godhead 
of the Holy Spirit," in his " Sylloge-Disput.," I., p. 364. Jac. Fruy- 
tier, " The Ancient Doctrine Concerning God the Holy Spirit, True. 
Proven, and Divine"; exposition of John xv. 26, 27. Camp. Vi- 
tringa, Jr., " Duae Disputationes Academicae de Notione Spiritus 
Sancti," in his Opuscula. 

Works on the same subject during the present century can 
scarcely be compared with the studies of John Owen. We notice 
the following: Herder, " Vom Paraclet." Kachel, " Von der Laster- 
ung wider den Heiligen Geist," Niirnberg, 1875. E. Guers, " Le 
Saint-Esprit, Etude doctrinale et pratique sur Sa Personne et Son 
CEuvre," Toulouse, 1865. A. J. Gordon, "Dispensation of the 
Spirit." 

This meager bibliography shows what scant systematic treatment 
is accorded to the Person of the Holy Spirit. Studies of the Work 
of the Holy Spirit are still more scanty. It is true there are several 
dissertations on separate parts of this Work, but it has never been 
treated in its organic unity. Not even by Guers, who acknowledges 
that his little book is not entitled to a place among dogmatics. 



PREFACE OF THE AUTHOR xi 

In fact, Owen is still unsurpassed, and is therefore much sought 
after by good theologians, both lay and clerical. And yet Owen s 
masterpiece does not seem to make a closer study of this subject su 
perfluous. Altho invincible as a champion against the Arminians 
and Semi-Arminians of the latter part of the seventeenth century, 
his armor is too light to meet the doctrinal errors of the present time. 
For this reason the author has undertaken to offer the thinking Chris 
tian public an exposition of the second part of this great subject, in 
a form adapted to the claims of the age and the errors of the day. 
He has not treated the first part, the Person of the Holy Spirit. 
This is not a subject for controversy. The Godhead of the Holy 
Spirit is indeed being confessed or denied, but the principles of which 
confession or denial is the necessary result are so divergent that a 
discussion between confessor and denier is impossible. If they 
ever enter the arena they should cross lances on the point of first 
principles, and discuss the Source of Truth. And when this is set 
tled they might come to discuss a special subject like that of the 
Holy Spirit. But until then such a discussion with them that deny 
the Revelation would almost be sacrilegious. 

But with the Work of the Holy Spirit it is different. For altho 
professing Christians acknowledge this Work, and all that it includes, 
and all that flows from it, yet the various groups into which they 
divide represent it in very divergent ways. What differences on this 
point between Calvinists and Ethicals, Reformed, Kohlbruggians, 
and Perfectionists ! The representations of the practical Supernatu- 
ralists, Mystics, and Antinomians can scarcely be recognized. 

It seemed to me impracticable and confusing to attack these 
deviating opinions on subordinate points. These differences should 
never be discussed but systematically. He that has not first staked 
off the entire domain in which the Holy Spirit works can not suc 
cessfully measure any part of it, to the winning of a brother and to 
the glory of God. 

Hence leaving out polemics almost entirely, I have made an 
effort to represent the Work of the Holy Spirit in its organic rela 
tions, so that the reader may be enabled to survey the entire do 
main. And in surveying, who is not surprised at the ever-increas 
ing dimensions of the Work of the Holy Spirit in all the things that 
pertain to God and man? 

Even tho we honor the Father and believe on the Son, how little 
do we live in the Holy Spirit! It even seems to us sometimes that 



xii PREFACE OF THE AUTHOR 

for our sanctification only, the Holy Spirit is added accidentally to 
the great redemptive work. 

This is the reason why our thoughts are so little occupied with 
the Holy Spirit; why in the ministry of the Word He is so little 
honored, why the people of God, when bo wed in supplication before 
the Throne of Grace, make Him so little the object of their adora 
tion. You feel involuntarily that of our piety, which is already 
small enough, He receives a too scanty portion. 

And since this is the. result of an inexcusable lack of knowledge 
and appreciation of His glorious Work in the entire creation, holy 
enthusiasm constrained me, in the power of God, to offer my fellow 
champions for the faith once delivered by the fathers, some assist 
ance in this respect. 

May the Holy Spirit, whose divine Work I have uttered in hu 
man words and with stammering tongue, crown this labor with such 
blessing that you may feel His unseen Presence more closely, and 
that He may bring to your disquieted heart more abundant conso 
lation. 

AMSTERDAM, April 10, 1888. 



Postscript for American readers, I add one more observation. 

This work contains occasional polemics against Methodism 
which to the many ministers and members of the churches called 
"Methodist" may appear unfair and uncalled for. Be it, there 
fore, clearly stated that my controversy with Methodism is never 
with these particular churches. The Methodism that I contend with 
prevailed until recently in nearly all the Protestant churches as an 
unhealthy fruit of the Rcveil in the beginning of this century. 
Methodism as here intended is identical with what Mr. Heath, in 77/6 
Contemporary Review (May, 1898), criticized as wofully inadequate to 
place Protestantism again at the head of the spiritual movement. 

Methodism was born out of the spiritual decline of the Episco 
pal Church of England and Wales. It arose as the reaction of the 
individual and of the spiritual subjective against the destructive 
power of the objective in the community as manifested in the 
Church of England. As such the reaction was precious and un 
doubtedly a gift of God, and in its workings it would have contin 
ued just as salutary if it had retained its character of a predominant 
reaction. 



PREFACE OF THE AUTHOR xiii 

It should have supposed the Church as a community as an 
objective power, and in this objective domain it should have vindi 
cated the significance of the individual spiritual life and of the 
subjective confessing. 

But it failed to do this. From vindicating the subjective rights 
of the individual it soon passed into antagonism against the objec 
tive rights of the community. This resulted dogmatically in the 
controversy about the objective work of God, viz., in His decree 
and His election, and ecclesiastically in antagonism against the ob 
jective work of the office through the confession. It gave suprem 
acy to the subjective element in man s free will and to the individ 
ual element in the deciding of unchurchly conflicts in the Church. 
And so it retained no other aim than the conversion of individual 
sinners ; and for this work it abandoned the organic, and retained 
only the mechanical method. 

As such it celebrated in the so-called Reveil its most glorious 
triumph, and penetrated nearly all the Protestant churches, and 
even the Episcopal Church under the name of Evangelicalism or 
Low Churchism. As a second reaction against the second decline 
of the Protestant churches of that time this triumph undoubtedly 
brought a great blessing. 

But when the necessity arose to reduce this new spiritual life 
to a definite principle, upon this to construct a Protestant-Christian 
life and world-view in opposition to the unchristian philosophies 
and to the essentially pantheistic life and world-view, and to give 
these position and to maintain it, then it pitiably failed. It lacked 
conscious, sharply defined principles; with its individualism and 
subjectivity it could not reach the social questions, and by reason 
of its complete lack of organic unity it could not formulate an in 
dependent life and world-view; yea, it stood everywhere as an ob 
stacle to such formations. 

For this reason it is absolutely necessary to teach the Protestant 
churches clearly to see this dark shadow of Methodism, while at 
the same time they should continue to study its precious signifi 
cance as a spiritual reaction. 

Hence my contending with Methodism and my persistent point 
ing to the imperative necessity of vindicating over against and 
alongside of the purely mechanical subjectivity the rights of the 
organic social in all human life, and of satisfying the need of the 
power of objectivity in presence of the extravagant statements of 



xiv PREFACE OF THE AUTHOR 

subjectivity. This presses all the more since in the Methodist 
theology of America the modern tendency is gaining ground. 

The Work of the Holy Spirit may not be displaced by the activ 
ity of the human spirit. 

KUYPER. 

AMSTERDAM, April 21, 1899. 



EXPLANATORY NOTES TO THE AMERICAN 

EDITION. 



DR. KUYPER S work on the Holy Spirit first appeared in the He- 
raut in weekly instalments, after which it was published in book 
form, Amsterdam, 1888. 

This explains the object of the author in writing the book, viz., 
the instruction of the people of the Netherlands. Written in the 
ordinary language of the people, it meets the need of both laity and 
clergy. 

However, depth of thought was not sacrificed to simplicity of 
speech. On the contrary, the latter was only the instrument to 
make the former lucid and transparent. 

The Heraut is a religious weekly of which Dr. Kuyper has been 
the editor-in-chief for more than twenty years. It is published on 
Friday, and forms the Sunday reading of a large constituency. 
Through its columns Dr. Kuyper has taught again the people of the 
Netherlands, in city and country, the principles of the Reformed 
faith, and how to give these principles a new development in ac 
cordance with the modern conscience of our time. 

Dr. Kuyper is not an apologist, but an earnest and conscientious 
reconstructionist. He has made the people acquainted with the 
symbols of the Reformed faith, and by expounding the Scriptures 
to them he has maintained and defended the positions of those 
symbols. His success in this respect appears conspicuously in the 
reformation of the Reformed Churches in 1886, and in the subsequent 
development of marvelous energy and activity in Church and State 
which are products of revived and reconstructed Calvinism. With 
out the patient toil and labor of this quarter of a century, that ref 
ormation would have been impossible. 

In his religious and political reformations, Dr. Kuyper proceed 
ed from the personal conviction that the salvation of Church and 
State could be found only in a return to the deserted foundations 
of the national Reformed theology ; but not to reconstruct it in its 



xvi NOTES TO THE AMERICAN EDITION 

worn-out form. " His fresh, brave spirit is entirely free from all 
conservatism" (Dr. W. Geesink). He is a man 0/his time as well 
as for his time. The new superstructure which he has been rear 
ing upon the carefully reuncovered foundations of the Reformed 
theology he seeks to adapt to all the needs, demands, and distresses 
of the present. In how far he has succeeded time only can tell. 

Since 1871 he has published in the columns of the Heraut and 
afterward in book form the following: " Out of the Word," Bibkj 
studies, four volumes; " The Incarnate Word, " The Work of the 
Holy Spirit/ three volumes, and " E Voto Dordraceno," an explana 
tion of the Heidelberg Catechism, four volumes. This last work is 
a rich treasury of sound and thorough theology, dogmatic and prac 
tical. He has published several other treatises which have not yet 
appeared in book form. Among these we notice especially " ( )n 
Common Grace," which, still in process of publication, is full of 
most excellent reading. The number of his works amounts already 
to over one hundred and fifty, a partial list of which is to be found 
following this introduction. 

The following works have been translated into English : " Ency 
clopaedia of Sacred Theology" (Charles Scribner s Sons, 1898); 
"Calvinism and Art ; "Calvinism and Our Constitutional Lib 
erties"; "Pantheism and Destruction of the Boundaries 11 ; "The 
Stone Lectures." 

For the better understanding of the work, the translator begs to 
offer the following explanations : 

" Ethical Irenical," or simply " Ethical/ is the name of a move 
ment in the Netherlands that seeks to mediate between modern 
Rationalism and the orthodox confession of the old Reformed 
Church. It seeks to restore peace and tranquillity not by a return 
to the original church order, nor by the maintenance of the old 
Confession and the removal of deviating ministers through trial 
and deposition (Judicial Treatment), but by making efforts to find 
a common ground for both parties. It proceeds from the idea that 
that which is diseased in the Church can and will return to health . 
partly by letting the disease alone to run its course (Doorziekeri)- 
forgetting that corruption in the Church is not a disease, but a sin ; * 
partly 1 j a liberal diffusion of Bible knowledge among the people 
(Medical Treatment). 

* Dr. W. Geesink. 



NOTES TO THE AMERICAN EDITION xvii 

Dr. Chantepie de la Saussaye, a disciple of Schleierrnacher, was 
the spiritual father of this Ethical theology. Born in 1818, Dr. De 
la Saussaye entered the University of Leyden in 1836. Dissatis 
fied with the rational supernaturalism of a former generation, 
unable to adapt himself to the vagueness and ambiguousness of the 
so-called Groningen school, or to find a basis for the development 
of his theological science in the treasures of the Calvinistic theol 
ogy, he felt himself strongly attracted to the school of Schelling, 
and through him he came under the influence of Pantheism. During 
the years of his pastorate in Leeuwarden (1842-48) and in Leyden 
to 1872, he modified and developed the ideas of Schleierrnacher in 
an independent way. The Ethical theology was the result. Its 
basic thought may be comprehended as follows : 

" Transcendent above nature, God is also immanent in nature. 
This immanence is not merely physical, but also, on the ground of 
this, ethical. This ethical immanence manifests itself in the relig 
ious moral life, which is the real and true life of man. It originates 
in the heathen world, and through Israel ascends to Christ, in whom 
it attains completion. Among the heathen it manifests itself espe 
cially in the conscience with its two elements of fear and hope ; 
among Israel in Law and Prophecy ; and in Christ in His perfect 
union with God and humanity. For this reason He is the Word/^r 
excellence, the Central Man, in whom all that is human is realized. 
However, while until Christ it proceeded from circumference to 
center, after Christ it proceeds in ever-widening circles from center 
to circumference. Life flows from Christ into the Church, which, 
having temporarily become an institution for the education of the 
nations, became through the Reformation and the French Revolu 
tion what it should be, a confessing Church. Its power lies no 
more in ecclesiastical organization, neither in authoritative creed 
and confession, but in moral activity and influence. The divine 
Word in the conscience begins to work and to govern; Christianity 
is being transferred into the moral domain. 

" However, the perfect ethical immanence of God is not attained 
in this dispensation; being always possible, it may be realized in 
the succeeding eons."* 

It is not surprising that this theology, obliterating with its pan 
theistic current the boundary-lines between the Creator and the 

* Dr. Bavink. 



XVI 11 



NOTES TO THE AMERICAN EDITION 



creature, should have come in hostile contact with the Reformed 
theology, which most zealously guards these boundary-lines. In 
fact, instead of uniting the two existing parties on one common 
ground, the Ethical movement added a third, which in the subse 
quent conflict was much more bitter, arbitrary, and tyrannical than 
the moderns, and which has already abandoned the Holy Scriptures 
in the manner of Wellhausen and Kuenen. 

In 1872 Dr. Chantepie de la Saussaye was appointed professor 
of theology in the University of Groningen, succeeding Hofstede 
de Groot. He filled this position but thirteen months. He fell 
asleep February 13, 1874. 

His most excellent disciple is the highly gifted Dr. J. H. Gun 
ning, till 1899 professor of theology at the University of Leyden. 

The name of Dr. Kohlbrugge is frequently found in the follow 
ing pages. Born a Lutheran, a graduate of the seminary of Am 
sterdam, a candidate for the Lutheran ministry, Dr. Kohlbrugge 
became acquainted with the Reformed theology through the study 
of its earlier exponents. Known and feared as an ardent admirer 
of the doctrine of predestination, the authorities first of the Luther 
an then of the State Church refused him admission to the minis 
try. He left Holland for Germany, where for the same reason he 
was debarred from the pulpits of the German Reformed churches 
At last he was called to the pulpit of a Free Reformed church at 
Elberfeld, established by himself. 

He was a profound theologian, a prolific writer, and one zealous 
for the honor of his Master. His numerous writings, half Luther 
an, half Reformed, were spread over Holland, the Rhenish prov 
inces, the cantons of Switzerland, and even among some Reformed 
churches of Bohemia. 

Some of his disciples fell into Antinomianisrn, and occupy pul 
pits in the State Church at the present time. They are called Neo- 
Kohlbruggians. Professor Bohl, of Vienna, is the learned repre 
sentative of the Old Kohlbruggians. Both the old and the new 
school are strongly opposed to Calvinism. 

The translation of "The Work of the Holy Spirit" was under 
taken by appointment of the author, to whom the proof-sheets of al 
most all the first volume were submitted for correction. Being 
overwhelmed " with work, and being fully satisfied with the trans 
lation so far as he had seen it, the author decided not to delay the 
work for the reading of the remaining volumes, but to leave that to 



NOTES TO THE AMERICAN EDITION xix 

the discretion of the translator. A question of the omission of mat 
ter referring to local conditions and to current theological discus 
sions was also left to the translator s judgment. 

Grateful thanks are due to Rev. Thomas Chalmers Straus, A.M., 
of Peekskill, N. Y., for valuable assistance in preparing this work 

for the press. 

TRANSLATOR. 
PEEKSKILL, N. Y., January 27, 1900. 

The following is a partial list of the works of Dr. Kuyper: 

"J. Calvini et J. a Lasco : De Ecclesia Sententiarum inter S3 Compositio 

Acad. Diss." 1862. 

"Joarmis a Lasco: Opera turn Edita quam Inedita." Two vols., 1866. 
"Wat moeten wy doen, het stemrecht aan ons zelven houden of den 

Kerkeraad machtigen?" (What Are We to Do: Retain the Right of 

Voting, or Authorize the Consistory ?) 1867. 
"De Menschwording Gods Het Levensbeginsel der Kerk." Intreerede 

te Utrecht. (The Incarnation of God the Vital Principle of the 

Church. Inaugural discourse at Utrecht. ) 1867, 
" Het Graf. " Leerrede aan den avond van Goede-Vrydag. (The Tomb. 

Sermon on Good Friday night.) 1869. 
"Zestal Leerredenen. " (Six Sermons.) 1869. 
"De Kerkelyke Goederen." (Church Property.) 1869. 
"Vrymaking der Kerk. (The Emancipation of the Church.) 1869. 
"Het Beroep op het Volksgeweten." (An Appeal to the National Con 
science.) 1869. 
"Eenvormigheid de Vloek van het Moderne Leven." (Uniformity the 

Curse of Modern Life.) 1869. 

" De Schrift het Woord Gods. " (Scripture the Word of God. ) 1870. 
"Kerkeraadsprotocollen der Hollandsche Gemeente te London." 1569- 

1571. (The Consistorial Minutes of the Dutch Church in London.) 

1870. 
"De Hollandsche Gemeente te London." 1570-1571. (The Dutch Church 

in London.) 1870. 

"Conservatisme en Orthodoxie, Valsche en Ware Behoudzucht." (Conser 
vatism and Orthodoxy, the True and the False Instinct of Self-Preser- 

vation.) 1870. 
"Gewortelden Gegrond, de Kerk als Organisme en Institute." (Rooted 

and Grounded, the Church as Organism and Institute.) Inaugural at 

Amsterdam. 1870. 
"De Leer der Onsterfelykheid en de Staats School." (The Doctrine of 

Immortality and the State School.) 1870. 



xx NOTES TO THE AMERICAN EDITION 

"Ben Perel in de Verkeerde Scbeip.* A Pearl in the Wrong She.l > 
1871. 

"Het Modernisme een Fata Morgana op Christelyk Gebied." (Modem- 
ism a Fata Morgana in the Christian Domain.) 1871. 

"De Zending Naar de Schrift." (Missions According to Scripture.) 
1871. 

" Tweede Zestal Lecrredenen." (Another Six Sermons. ) 1871 . 

"O God Wees My Zondaar Genadig "* Leerredeop den Laatsten Dag van 
Het Jaar, 1170. (O God be Merciful to Me a Sinner Sermon on 
Old Year s night. 1870.) 1371. 

"De Bartholomeusnacht." (The Bartholomew Night ) 1872 

" De Sneeuw van den Lebanon." (The Snow of Lebanon.) 1872. 

" Bekeert u Want bet Koningryk Gods is Naby " (Repent, for the Kingc jm 
of Heaven Is at Hand) . Sermon on the last day of the year 1871 i : 72. 

"Het Vergryp der Zeventien Ouderlingen ." (The Mistake of the Seven 
teen Elders. Memoir of the Consistory of Amsterdam.) 1872. 

M Uit bet Woord. " (Out of the Word.) Devotional Bible studies. i:}. 

"Het Calvinisme, Oorsprong en Waarborg onzer Constitution eel e Yry- 
heden." (Calvinism, the Origin and Surety of Our Constitutional 
Liberties.) 1874. 

"Uit bet Woord. " (Out of the Word ) Second volume. 1875 

"De Schoolquestie. " (The School Question.) Six brochures. 1875 

" Liberal isten en Joden." (Liberalists and Jews.) 1878. 

" Uit het Woord." (Out of the Word.) Third volume. 1879 

"Ons Program. " (Our Program.) 1879 

"De Leidsche Professoren en de Executeurs der Dordtsche Nalatenschap." 
(The Leyden Professors and the Executors of the Inheritance of 
Dordt.) 1079. 

"Revisieder Revisielegende." (Revision of the Revision Legend.) 13-9. 

" De Synode der Nederlandsche Revormde Kerk uit Haar Eigen Ver- 
maanbrief Geoordeeld." (The Synod of the Reformed Church in the 
Netherlands Judged by Its Own Epistle of Exhortation.) 1879. 

" Antirevolutionair ook in u\v Gezin." (Anti-Revolutionary Even in the 
Family.) 1880. 

"Bede om een Dubbel Corrigendum." (Prayer for a Double Corrigen 
dum.) 1880. 

"Strikt Genomen." (Taken Strictly. The Right to Found a University 
Tested by Public Law and History.) 1880 

"Souvereiniteitin Eigen Kring." (Sovereignty in Our Own Circle.) i8So. 

"Honig uit den Rottsteen." (Honey Out of the Rock.) 1880. 

" De Hedendaagsche Schriftcritiek in Hare Bedenkelyke Strekking voor de 
Gemeente des Levenden Gods." (Modern Criticism and Its Danger 
ous Influence upon the Church of the Living God.) Discourse. i8S2. 



NOTES TO THE AMERICAN EDITION xxi 

"D. Franscisci Junii : Opuscula Theoiogica. " 1882. 

Alexander Connie." Translated from The Catholic Presbyterian Re 

view. 1882. 
"Ex Ungue Leonem.* Dr. Doedes s Method of Interpretation Tested on 

One Point. 1082. 
"Welke zyn de Voomitzchten TOOT de Studenten der vrye Universiteit? " 

(What Are the Prospects for the Students of the Free University?; 

: - -. 
* Tractaat van de Reformatie der Kerken. " (Tractate of the Reformation 

-.::. . ~ -:.;-::.*-.. : ; 
"Honig uit den Rottsteen. " (Honey Out of the Rode. ) Second volume. 



Uit bet Woord. " (Out of the Word. ) Second series, first volume . That 

Grace Is Particular. 1884. 
"Yzer en Leem." (Iron and Clay.) Discourses. 1885, 

* Uit bet Woord. * (Out of the Word.) Second volume : The Doctrine of 

the Covenants. 1885. 

" Uit het Woord. " Third volume : The Practise of Godliness, 1886, 
" He: Dreigend Conflict. " (The Conflict Threatening, j 1886, 
M Het Conflict Gekomen. * (The Conflict Come. ) Three vols. , 1886, 
"Dr. Kuyper TOOT de Synode. " (Dr. Kuyper Before the Synod. ) 1886, 
| ail if n Woord tot de Conscience Tan de Leden der Synode." (Last 

Word to the Conscience of the Members of Synod.) On behalf of the 

persecuted members of the Consistory of Amsterdam. 1886. 
Afwfrpinjv ran bet Juk der Synodale Hierarchic. " (The Throwing Off 

of the Yoke of the Synodical Hierarchy. , i 86, 
"Alzoozal net onder u niet zyr." (It Shall Not be So Among You.) 

: : 
"^^^ ziel die zich Nederbuigt. " (A Prostrate Soul. } Opening address 

of the Reformed Chtirch Congress at Amsterdam. 1 887, 
De Verborgen Dingen zyn voor den Heere Onzen God." (Tne Secret 

Things Belong to the Lord Our God., i "7. 
M Sion Door Recht Verlost." (Zion Saved through Judgment.) i- ;. 

* De \Teescbword:ng des Woords. " (The Incarnation of the Word. ) ie* 7. 

* Dagen van Goede Boodscbap. " (Days of Glad Tidings. ) 1887. 
"Tweederlei Vaderland." (Two Fatherlands.) 1^7. 

M Het Cahrinisme en de Ktmst." (Calvinism and Art) 1888. 

*Dr Gisbeni Voetii Selectantm Dispotationum Fasciculus. " In the hib- 

liotheca Reformat a i***,. 
net Work des tfeihgen Geestes." (Tne Work of the Holy Spirit.) 

Three vols. , 1889 

fHomer TOOT den Sabbath.* (Homer for the Sabbath.) Meditations on 
:-.-. 



xxii NOTES TO THE AMERICAN EDITION 

"Niet de Vryheidsboom Maar het Kruis." (Not the Tree of Liberty, but 
the Cross.) Opening address at the tenth annual meeting of the 
Deputies. 1889. 

"Eer is Teer." (Honor Is Tender.) 1889. 

"Handenarbeid." (Manual Labor.) 1889. 

"Scolastica." (The Secret of True Study.) 1889. 

"Tractaat van den Sabbath." (Tractate on the Sabbath.) A historical 
dogmatic study. 1890. 

"Separatie en Doleantie." ("Secession and Doleantie." "Doleantie" 
from doleo, to suffer pain, to mourn is in Holland the historic name 
adopted by a body of Christians to designate the fact that they are 
either being persecuted by the State Church or have been expelled 
from its communion on account of their adherence to the orthodox 
confession.) 1890. 

"Zion s Roem en Sterkte." (Zion s Strength and Glory.) 1890. 

"De Twaalf Patriarchen." (The Twelve Patriarchs.) A study of Bible 
characters. 1890. 

"Eenige Kameradviezen." (Chamber Advices.) Of the years 1874, 1875. 
1890. 

" Is er Aan de Publieke Universiteit ten onzent Plaats voor eene Facul- 
teit der Theologie? " (Is tkere Room in Our Public Universities for a 
Theological Faculty?) 1890. 

"Calvinism and Confessional Revision." In The Presbyterian and Re 
formed Review, July, 1891. 

"Voor een Distel een Mirt." (Instead of a Brier a Myrtle-Tree.) 1891. 

"Maranatha." Opening address at the meeting of Deputies. 1891. 

" Gedrachtslyn by de Stembus." (Line of Conduct at the Polls. ) 1891. 

" Het Sociale Vraagstuk en de Christelyke Religie. " (The Social Question 
and the Christian Religion. ) Opening address at the Social Congress. 
1891. 

"De Verflauwing der Grenzen." (The Destruction of the Boundaries.) 
Address at the transfer of the Rectorate of the Free University. 1892. 

"In de Schaduwe desDoods." (In the Shadows of Death.) Meditations 
for the sick-chamber and death-bed. 1893. 

" Encyclopaedic der Heilige Godgeleerdheid." (Encyclopedia of Sacred 
Theology.) Three vols. , 1894. 

"E Voto Dordraceno " Explanation of the Heidelberg Catechism. Four 
vols., 1894-95. 

Levinus W. C. Keuchenius, LL.D. Biography. 1896. 

" De Christus en de Sociale Nooden, en de Democratische Klippen." 
(Christ and the Social Needs and Democratic Dangers.) 1895. 

"Uitgave van de Statenvertaling van den Bybel." (Edition of the Au 
thorized Version of the Bible.) 1895. 



NOTES TO THE AMERICAN EDITION xxiii 

"DeZegen des Heeren over Onze Kerken." (The Blessing of the Lord 
upon Our Churches.) 1896. 

"Vrouwen uit de Heilige Schrift." (Women of the Bible.) 1897. 

"Le Parti Antirevolutionaire." (The Anti-Revolutionary Party.) In 
Les Pay-Pas. Presented by the Dutch Society of Journalists to the 
foreign journalists at the inauguration of the Queen. 1898. 

"By de Gratie Gods." (By the Grace of God.) Address. 1898. 

"Calvinism." Six lectures delivered at Princeton, N. J., October, 1898. 
"Calvinism in History," "Calvinism and Religion," "Calvinism and 
Politics," "Calvinism and Science," "Calvinism and Art," "Calvinism 
and the Future." Published in Dutch, January, 1899. 

"Als gy in uw Huis Zit." (When Thou Sittest in Thine House.) Medita 
tions for the Family. July, 1899. 

"Evolutie. " (Evolution.) Oration at the transfer of the rectorate of the 
Free University, October 20, 1899. 



INTRODUCTORY NOTE. 

BY PROF. BENJAMIN B. WARFIELD, D.D., LL.D., 

Of Princeton Theological Seminary. 

IT is fortunately no longer necessary formally to introduce Dr. 
Kuyper to the American religious public. Quite a number of his 
remarkable essays have appeared of late years in our periodicals. 
These have borne such titles as " Calvinism in Art," " Calvinism the 
Source and Pledge of Our Constitutional Liberties," " Calvinism and 
Confessional Revision," "The Obliteration of Boundaries," "The 
Antithesis between Symbolism and Revelation "; and have appeared 
in the pages of such publications as Christian Thought, Bibliotheca 
Sacra, The Presbyterian and Reformed Review not, we may be sure, 
without delighting their readers with the breadth of their treatment 
and the high and penetrating quality of their thought. The col 
umns of The Christian Intelligencer have from time to time during 
the last year been adorned with examples of Dr. Kuyper s practical 
expositions of Scriptural truth ; and now and again a brief but il 
luminating discussion of a topic of present interest has appeared in 
the columns of The Independent. The appetite whetted by this taste 
of good things has been partially gratified by the publication in 
English of two extended treatises from his hand one discussing in 
a singularly profound way the principles of " The Encyclopedia of 
Sacred Theology" (Charles Scribner s Sons, 1898), and the other 
expounding with the utmost breadth and forcefulness the funda 
mental principles of " Calvinism " (The Fleming H. Revell Company, 
1899). The latter volume consists of lectures delivered on " The 
L. P. Stone Foundation," at Princeton Theological Seminary in the 
autumn of 1898, and Dr. Kuyper s visit to America on this occasion 
brought him into contact with many lovers of high ideas in Amer 
ica, and has left a sense of personal acquaintance with him on the 
minds of multitudes who had the good fortune to meet him or to 
hear his voice at that time. It is impossible for us to look longer 
upon Dr. Kuyper as a stranger, needing an introduction to our fa- 



xxvi INTRODUCTORY NOTE 

vorable notice, when he appears again before us ; he seems rather 
now to be one of our own prophets to whose message we have a 
certain right, and a new book from whose hands we welcome as 
we would a new gift from our near friend charged in a sense with 
care for our welfare. The book that is at present offered to the 
American public does not indeed come fresh from his hands. It 
has already been within the reach of his Dutch audience for more 
than a decade (it was published in 1888). It is only recently, how 
ever, that Dr. Kuyper has come to belong to us also, and the pub 
lication of this book in English, we may hope, is only another step 
in the process which will gradually make all his message ours. 

Certainly no one will turn over the pages of this volume much 
less will he, as our Jewish friends would say, " sink himself into the 
book" without perceiving that it is a very valuable gift which 
comes to us in it from our newly found teacher. It is, as will be at 
once observed, a comprehensive treatise on the Work of the Holy 
Ghost a theme higher than which none can occupy the attention 
of the Christian man, and yet one on which really comprehensive 
treatises are comparatively rare. It is easy, to be sure, to exag 
gerate the significance of the latter fact. There never was a time, 
of course, when Christians did not confess their faith in the Holy 
Ghost; and there never was a time when they did not speak to one 
another of the work of the Blessed Spirit, the Executor of the God 
head not only in the creation and upholding of the worlds and in 
the inspiration of the prophets and apostles, but also in the regen 
erating and sanctifying of the soul. Nor has there ever been a 
time when, in the prosecution of its task of realizing mentally the 
treasures of truth put in its charge in the Scriptural revelation, the 
Church has not busied itself also with the investigation of the mys 
teries of the person and work of the Spirit; and especially has there 
tiever been a time since that tremendous revival of religion which 
we call the Reformation when the whole work of the Spirit in the 
application of the redemption wrought out by Christ has not been 
a topic of the most thorough and loving study of Christian men. 
Indeed, it partly arises out of the very intensity of the study given 
to the saving activities of the Spirit that so few comprehensive 
treatises on the work of the Spirit have been written. The subject 
has seemed so vast, the ramifications of it have appeared so far- 
reaching, that few have had the courage to undertake it as a whole. 
Dogmaticians have, to be sure, been compelled to present the en- 



BY PROFESSOR WARFIELD xxvii 

tire range of the matter in its appropriate place in their completed 
systems. But when monographs came to be written, they have 
tended to confine themselves to a single segment of the great cir 
cle; and thus we have had treatises rather on, say, Regeneration, 
or Justification, or Sanctification, on the Anointing of the Spirit, or 
the Intercession of the Spirit, or the Sealing of the Spirit, than on 
the work of the Spirit as a whole. It would be .a great mistake to 
think of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit as neglected, merely be 
cause it has been preferably presented under its several rubrics or 
parts, rather than in its entirety. How easily one may fall into 
such an error is fairly illustrated by certain criticisms that have 
been recently passed upon the Westminster Confession of Faith 
which is (as a Puritan document was sure to be) very much a treat 
ise on the work of the Spirit as if it were deficient, in not having a 
chapter specifically devoted to " the Holy Spirit and His Work." 
The sole reason why it does not give a chapter to this subject, how 
ever, is because it prefers to give nine chapters to it ; and when an 
attempt was made to supply the fancied omission, it was found that 
pretty much all that could be done was to present in the proposed 
new chapter a meager summary of the contents of these nine chap 
ters. It would have been more plausible, indeed, to say that the 
Westminster Confession comparatively neglected the work of 
Christ, or even the wcrk of God the Father. Similarly the lack in 
our literature of a large number of comprehensive treatises on the 
work of the Holy Spirit is in part due to the richness of our litera 
ture in treatises on the separate portions of that work severally. The 
significance of Dr. Kuyper s book is, therefore, in part due only to 
the fact that he has had the courage to attack and the gifts success 
fully to accomplish a task which few have possessed the breadth 
either of outlook or of powers to undertake. And it is no small gain 
to be able to survey the whole field of the work of the Holy Spirit 
in its organic unity under the guidance of so fertile, so systematic, 
and so practical a mind. If we can not look, upon it as breaking en 
tirely new ground, or even say that it is the only work of its kind 
since Owen, we can at least say that it brings together the material 
belonging to this great topic with a systematizing genius that is 
very rare, and presents it with a penetrating appreciation of its 
meaning and a richness of apprehension of its relations that is ex 
ceedingly illuminating. 

It is to be observed that we have not said without qualification 



xxviii INTRODUCTORY NOTE 

that the comparative rarity of such comprehensive treatises on the 
work of the Holy Spirit as Dr. Kuyper s is due simply to the great 
ness and difficulty of the task. We have been careful to say that 
it is only in part due to this cause. It is only in the circles to 
which this English translation is presented, to say the truth, that 
this remark is applicable at all. It is the happiness of the Re 
formed Christians of English speech that they are the heirs of what 
must in all fairness be spoken of as an immense literature upon this 
great topic ; it may even be said with some justice that the pecu 
liarity of their theological labor turns just on the diligence and 
depth of their study of this locus. It is, it will be remembered, to 
John Owen s great " Discourse Concerning the Holy Spirit "that 
Dr. Kuyper points as hitherto the normative treatise on the subject. 
But John Owen s book did not stand alone in his day and genera 
tion, but was rather merely symptomatic of the engrossment of 
the theological thought of the circle of which he was so great an 
ornament in the investigation of this subject. Thomas Goodwin s 
treatise on " The Work of the Holy Ghost in Our Salvation" is well 
worthy of a place by its side ; and it is only the truth to say that 
Puritan thought was almost entirely occupied with loving study of 
the work of the Holy Spirit, and found its highest expression in dog- 
matico-practical expositions of the several aspects of it of which 
such treatises as those of Charnock and Swinnerton on Regeneration 
are only the best-known examples among a multitude which have 
fallen out of memory in the lapse of years. For a century and a 
half afterward, indeed, this topic continued to form the hinge of 
the theologizing of the English Nonconformists. Nor has it lost 
its central position even yet in the minds of those who have the 
best right to be looked upon as the successors of the Puritans. 
There has been in some quarters some decay, to be sure, in sure- 
ness of grasp and theological precision in the presentation of the 
subject; but it is possible that a larger number of practical treat 
ises on some element or other of the doctrine of the Spirit continue 
to appear from the English press annually than on any other branch 
of divinity. Among these, such books as Dr. A. J. Gordon s " The 
Ministry of the Spirit," Dr. J. E. Cumming s " Through the Eternal 
Spirit," Principal H. C. G. Moule s " Veni Creator," Dr. Redford s 
"Vox Dei," Dr. Robson s "The Holy Spirit, the Paraclete," Dr. 
Vaughan s "The Gifts of the Holy Spirit" to name only a few of 
the most recent books attain a high level of theological clarity 



BY PROFESSOR WARFIELD xxix 

and spiritual power ; while, if we may be permitted to go back only 
a few years, we may find in Dr. James Buchanan s " The Office and 
Work of the Holy Spirit," and in Dr. George Smeaton s " The Doc 
trine of the Holy Spirit," two treatises covering the whole ground 
the one in a more practical, the other in a more didactic spirit 
in a manner worthy of the best traditions of our Puritan fathers. 
There has always been a copious stream of literature on the work of 
the Holy Spirit, therefore, among the English-speaking churches; 
and Dr. Kuyper s book comes to us not as something of a novelty, 
but as a specially finely conceived and executed presentation of a 
topic on which we are all thinking. 

But the case is not the same in all parts of Christendom. If we 
lift our eyes from our own special condition and view the Church at 
large, it is a very different spectacle that greets them. As we 
sweep them down the history of the Church, we discover that the 
topic of the work of the Holy Spirit was one which only at a late 
date really emerged as the explicit study of Christian men. As we 
sweep them over the whole extent of the modern Church, we dis 
cover that it is a topic which appeals even yet with little force to very 
large sections of the Church. The poverty of Continental theology 
in this locus is, indeed, after all is said and done, depressing. Note 
one or two little French books, by E. Guers and G. Tophel,* and a 
couple of formal studies of the New-Testament doctrine of the Spirit 
by the Dutch writers Stemler and Thoden Van Velzen, called out 
by The Hague Society and we have before us almost the whole 
list of the older books of our century which pretend in any way 
to cover the ground. Nor has very much been done more recently 
to remedy the deficiency. The amazing theological activity of 
latter-day Germany has, to be sure, not been able to pass so fruit 
ful a theme entirely by ; and her scholars have given us a few scien 
tific studies of sections of the Biblical material. The two most 
significant of these appeared, indeed, in the same year with Dr. 
Kuyper s book Gloel s " Der heilige Geist in des Heilsverkiindi- 
gung des Paulus," and Gunkel s " Die Wirkungen des heiligen Geistes 
nach d. popular. Anschauung der apostolischen Zeit und der Lehre 
d. A. Paulus" (2d ed., 1899); these have been followed in the same 
spirit by Weienel in a work called " Die Wirkungen des Geistes und 

* Guers " Le Saint-Esprit : Etude Doctrinale et Practique " (1865); G. 
Tophel s "The Work of the Holy Spirit in Man" (E. T., 1882), and also 
more recently " Le Saint-Esprit ; Cinq Nouvelles Etudes Bibliques " (1899) . 



xxx INTRODUCTORY NOTE 

der Geister im nachapostolischen Zeitalter" (1899); while a little 
earlier the Dutch theologian Beversluis issued a more comprehensive 
study, " De Heilige Geest en zijne werkingen volgens de Schriften 
des Nieuwen Verbonds" (1896). Their investigation of the Biblical 
material, however, is not only very formal, but it is also dominated 
by such imperfect theological presuppositions that it can carry the 
Student scarcely a step forward. Very recently something better 
in this respect has appeared in such books as Th. Meinhold s " Der 
heilige Geist und sein Wirken am einzelnen Menschen, mit beson- 
derer Beziehung auf Luther " (1890, 121110, pp. 228);* W. Rolling s 
" Pneumatologie, oder die Lehre von der Person des heiligen Geistes " 
1894, 8vo, pp. 368); Karl von Lechler s "Die biblische Lehre vom 
heiligen Geiste" (1899, 8vo, pp. 307) ; and K. F. Nosgen s" Geschichte 
von der Lehre vom heiligen Geiste" (1899, 8vo, pp. 376); which 
it is to be hoped are the beginnings of a varied body of scholarly 
works from the Lutheran side, out of which may, after a while, 
grow some such comprehensive and many-sided treatment of the 
whole subject as that which Dr. Kuyper has given our Dutch breth 
ren, and now us in this English translation. But none of them pro 
vides the desired treatise itself, and it is significant that no one 
even professes to do so. Even where, as in the case of the books 
of Meinholcl and von Lechler, the treatment is really topical, the 
author is careful to disclaim the purpose to provide a well-compacted, 
systematic view of the subject, by putting on his title-page a hint 
of a historical or exegetical point of view. 

In fact, only in a single instance in the whole history of German 
theological literature or, we may say, prior to Dr. Kuyper in the 
entire history of continental theological literature has any one had 
the courage or found the impulse to face the task Dr. Kuyper has 
so admirably executed. We are referring, of course, to the great 
work on " Die Lehre vom heiligen Geiste," which was projected by 
that theological giant, K. A. Kahnis, but the first part of which 
only was published in a thin volume of three hundred and fifty -six 
pages, in 1847. It was doubtless symptomatic of the state of feel 
ing in Germany on the subject that Kahnis never found time or en 
couragement in a long life of theological pursuits to complete his 

* Meinhold s book is mainly a Lutheran polemic in behalf of funda 
mental principles, against the Ritschlian rationalism on this subject. As 
such its obverse is provided in the recent treatise of Rudolf Otto, " Die An- 
schauung vom heiligen Geiste bei Luther" (1898). 



BY PROFESSOR WARFIELD xxxi 

book. And, indeed, it was greeted in theological circles at the 
time with something like amused amazement that any one could 
devote so much time and labor to this theme, or expect others to find 
time and energy to read such a treatise. We are told that a well- 
known th eologian remarked caustically of it that if things were to 
be carried out on that scale, no one could expect to live long enough 
to read the literature of his subject; and the similar remark made 
by C. Hase in the preface to the fifth edition of his " Dogmatic," tho 
it names no names, is said to have had Kahnis s book in view.* 
The significance of Kahnis s unique and unsuccessful attempt to 
provide for German Protestantism some worthy treatment of the 
doctrine of the Holy Spirit is so great that it will repay us to fix 
the facts concerning it well in our minds. And to this end we ex 
tract the following account of it from the introduction of the work 
of von Lechler which we have just mentioned (p. 22 sqq.~] : 

"We have to indicate, in conclusion, another circumstance in the his 
tory of our doctrine, which is in its way just as significant for the attitude 
of present-day science toward this topic as was the silence of the first Ecu 
menical Council concerning it for the end of the first theological age. It 
is the extraordinary poverty of monographs on the Holy Spirit. Altho 
there do exist some, and in some instances important, studies dealing 
with the subject, yet their number is out of all proportion to the greatness 
and the extent of the problems. We doubtless should not err in assu 
ming that vital interest in a scientific question will express itself not 
merely in comprehensive handbooks and encyclopedic compendiums, the 
latter of which are especially forced to see to the completeness of the list 
of subjects treated, but of necessity also in those separate investigations in 
which especially the fresh vigor of youth is accustomed to make proof of its 
fitness for higher studies. What lacuna; we should have to regret in other 
branches of theological science if a rich development of monographic litera 
ture did not range itself by the side of the compendiums, breaking out here 
and there new paths, laying deeper foundations, supplying valuable mate 
rial for the constructive or decorative completion of the scientific structure ! 
All this, in the present instance, however, has scarcely made a beginning. 
The sole separate treatise which has been projected on a really profound 
and broad basis of investigation the " Lehre vom heiligen Geiste " of K. 
A. Kahnis (then at Breslau), 1847 came to a standstill with its first part. 
This celebrated theologian, who had certainly in his possession in surpri 
sing measure the qualities and acquisitions that fitted him to come for 
ward as a preparer of the way in this uncertain and little worthily studied 
subject, had set before himself the purpose of investigating this, as he him 
self called it, extraordinarily neglected topic, at once on its Biblical, ec- 

* See Holtzmann in the Theolog. Liter aturzeitung of 1896, xxv., p. 646. 



xxxii INTRODUCTORY NOTE 

clesiastical, historical, and dogmatic sides. The history of his book 
is exceedingly instructive and suggestive with respect to the topic itself. 
He found the subject, as he approached it more closely, in a very 
special degree a difficult one, chiefly on account of the manifoldness of the 
conception. At first his results became ever more and more negative. A 
controversy with the friends of light of the time helped him forward. 
Testium mtbes viagis jui ant, quani luciferorum viroriim importuna ln- 
mina. But God, he says, led him to greater clearness ; the doctrine of the 
Church approved itself to him. Nevertheless it was not his purpose to es 
tablish the Scriptural doctrine in all its points, but only to exhibit the place 
which the Holy Spirit occupies in the development of the Word of God m the 
Old and New Testaments. There was a feeling that came to him that we 
were standing upon the eve of a new outpouring of the Spirit. But the 
wished-for dawn, he says, still held back. -His wide survey, beyond his 
special subject, of the whole domain of science in the corporate life of the 
Church, is characteristic no less of the subject than of the man. It was not 
given to him, however, to see the longed-for flood poured over the parched 
fields. His exegetical foundation (chaps, i.-iii.) moves in the old tracks. 
Since he shared essentially the subjective point of view of Schleiermacher 
and committed the final decision in the determining conceptions to philoso 
phy, in spite of many remarkable flashes of insight into the Scriptures he 
remained fixed in the intellectualistic and ethical mode of conceiving the 
Holy Ghost, tho this was accompanied by many attempts to transcend 
Schleiermacher, but without the attaining of any unitary conception and 
without any effort to bring to a Scriptural solution the burning question of 
the personality or impersonality of the Spirit. The fourth chapter insti 
tutes a comparison between the Spirit of Christianity and that of heathen 
ism. The second book deals first with the relation of the Church to the 
Holy Spirit in general, and then enters upon a history of the doctrine, 
which is carried, however, only through the earliest fathers, and breaks off 
with a survey of the scanty harvest which the first age supplied to the suc 
ceeding epochs, in which the richest development of the doctrine took 
place. Here the book closes. . . . " * 

Thus the only worthy attempt German theology has made to pro 
duce a comprehensive treatise on the work of the Holy Ghost re 
mains a neglected torso till to-day. 

If we will gather up the facts to which we have thus somewhat de 
sultorily called attention into a prepositional statement, we shall 
find ourselves compelled to recognize that the doctrine of the Holy 
Spirit was only slowly brought to the explicit consciousness of the 
Church, and has even yet taken a firm hold on the mind and con 
sciousness of only a small section of the Church. To be more spe 
cific, we shall need to note that the early Church busied itself with 
the investigation within the limits of this locus of only the doctrine 
* Compare the remarks of Dr. Smeaton, op. cit., ed. 2, p. 396. 



BY PROFESSOR WARFIELD xxxiii 

of the person of the Holy Ghost His deity and personality and of 
His one function of inspirer of the prophets and apostles, while the 
whole doctrine of the work of the Spirit at large is a gift to the 
Church from the Reformation ; * and we shall need to note further 
that since its formulation by the Reformers this doctrine has taken 
deep root and borne its full fruits only in the Reformed churches, and 
among them in exact proportion to the loyalty of their adherence 
to, and the richness of their development of, the fundamental prin 
ciples of the Reformed theology. Stated in its sharpest form this 
is as much as to say that the developed doctrine of the work of the 
Holy Spirit is an exclusively Reformation doctrine, and more 
particularly a Reformed doctrine, and more particularly still 
a Puritan doctrine. Wherever the fundamental principles of 
the Reformation have gone, it has gone ; but it has come to its 
full rights only among the Reformed churches, and among them 
only where what we have been accustomed to call " the Second 
Reformation " has deepened the spiritual life of the churches and 
cast back the Christian with special poignancy of feeling upon the 
grace of God alone as his sole dependence for salvation and all 
the goods of this life and the life to come. Indeed, it is possible to 
be more precise still. The doctrine of the work of the Holy 
spirit is a gift from John Calvin to the Church of Christ. He did 
not, of course, invent it. The whole of it lay spread out on the 
pages of Scripture with a clearness and fulness of utterance which 
one would think would secure that even he who ran should read it ; 
and doubtless he who ran did read it, and it has fed the soul of the 
true believer in all ages. Accordingly hints of its apprehension are 
found widely scattered in all Christian literature, and in particular 
the germs of the doctrine are spread broadcast over the pages 
of Augustine. Luther did not fail to lay hold upon them; 
Zwingli shows time and again that he had them richly in his 
mind ; they constituted, in very fact, one of the foundations of the 

* For the epoch-making character of the Reformation in the history of 
this doctrine cf. also Nosgen, op. cit, p. 2. "For its development, a divi 
sion-line is provided simply and solely by the Reformation, and this merely 
because at that time only was attention intensely directed to the right 
mode of the application of salvation. Thus were the problems of the 
specially saving operation of the Holy Spirit, of the manner of His work 
ing in the congregation of believers cast into the foreground, and the theo 
logical treatment of this doctrine made of ever-increasing importance to 
the Church of Christ, " etc. 



xxxiv INTRODUCTORY NOTE 

Reformation movement, or rather they provided its vital breath. 
But it was Calvin who first gave them anything like systematic or 
adequate expression ; and it is through him and from him that they 
have come to be the assured possession of the Church of Christ. 
There is no phenomenon in doctrinal history more astonishing than 
the commonly entertained views as to the contribution made by 
John Calvin to the development of Christian doctrine. He is thought 
of currently as the father of doctrines, such as that of predestination 
and reprobation, of which he was the mere heir, taking them as 
wholes over from the hands of his great master Augustine. Mean 
while his real personal contributions to Christian doctrine are utterly 
forgotten. These are of the richest kind and can not be enumer 
ated here. But it is germane to our present topic to note that 
at their head stand three gifts of the first value to the Church s 
thought and life, which we should by no means allow to pass from 
our grateful memory. It is to John Calvin that we owe that broad 
conception of the work of Christ which is expressed in the doc 
trine of His threefold office of Prophet, Priest, and King; he was 
the first who presented the work of Christ under this schema, and 
from him it was that it has passed into a Christian commonplace. 
It is to John Calvin that w r e owe the whole conception of a science 
of " Christian Ethics " ; he was the first to outline its idea and de 
velop its principles and contents, and it remained a peculium of 
his followers for a century. And it is to John Calvin that we owe 
the first formulation of the doctrine of the work of the Holy Ghost; 
he himself gave it a very rich statement, developing it especially 
in the broad departments of "Common Grace" "Regeneration," 
and " the Witness of the Spirit"; and it is, as we have seen, among 
his spiritual descendants only that it has to this day received any 
adequate attention in the churches. We must guard ourselves, of 
course, from exaggeration in such a matter; the bare facts, when 
put forth without pausing to allow for the unimportant shadings, 
sound of themselves sufficiently like an exaggeration.* But it is 
simply true that these great topics received their first formulation 
at the hands of John Calvin ; and it is from him that the Church has 
derived them, and to him that it owes its thanks for them. 

*So, for example, a careless reading of pp. 65-77 of Pannier s " Le 
Temoignage du Saint-Esprit " gives the impression of exaggeration, where 
as it is merely the suppression of all minor matters to emphasize the salient 
facts that is responsible for this effect. 



BY PROFESSOR WARFIELD xxxv 

And if we pause to ask why the formulation of the doctrine of 
the work of the Spirit waited for the Reformation and for Calvin, 
and why the further working out of the details of this doctrine and its 
enrichment by the profound study of Christian minds and medita 
tion of Christian hearts has come down from Calvin only to the Puri 
tans, and from the Puritans to their spiritual descendants like the 
Free Church teachers of the Disruption era and the Dutch contest 
ants for the treasures of the Reformed religion of our own day, the 
reasons are not far to seek. There is, in the first place, a regular 
order in the acquisition of doctrinal truth, inherent in the nature of 
the case, which therefore the Church was bound to follow in its grad 
ual realization of the deposit of truth given it in the Scriptures ; and 
by virtue of this the Church could not successfully attack the task of 
assimilating and formulating the doctrine of the work of the Spirit 
until the foundations had been laid firmly in a clear grasp on yet 
more fundamental doctrines. And there are, in the next place, 
certain forms of doctrinal construction which leave no or only a 
meager place for the work of the personal Holy Spirit in the heart; 
and in the presence of these constructions this doctrine, even where 
in part apprehended and acknowledged, languishes and falls out of 
the interest of men. The operation of the former cause postponed 
the development of the doctrine of the work of the Spirit until the 
way was prepared for it ; and this preparation was complete only 
at the Reformation. The operation of the second cause has re 
tarded where it has not stifled the proper assimilation of the doctrine 
in many parts of the Church until to-day. 

To be more specific. The development of the doctrinal system 
of Christianity in the apprehension of the Church has actually run 
through as it theoretically should have run through a regular 
and logical course. First, attention was absorbed in the contem 
plation of the objective elements of the Christian deposit, and 
only afterward were the subjective elements taken into fuller con 
sideration. First of all it was the Christian doctrine of God that 
forced itself on the attention of men, and it was not until the 
doctrine of the Trinity had been thoroughly assimilated that at 
tention was vigorously attracted to the Christian doctrine of the 
God-man ; and again, it was not until the doctrine of the Person 
of Christ was thoroughly assimilated that attention was poignantly 
attracted to the Christian doctrine of sin man s need and helpless 
ness ; and only after that had been wrought fully out again could 



xxxvi INTRODUCTORY NOTE 

attention turn to the objective provision to meet man s needs in 
the work of Christ; and again, only after that to the subjective pro 
vision to meet his needs in the work of the Spirit. This is the log 
ical order of development, and it is the actual order in which the 
Church has slowly and amid the throes of all sorts of conflicts 
with the world and with its own slowness to believe all that the 
prophets have written worked its way into the whole truth re 
vealed to it in the Word. The order is, it will be observed, The 
ology, Christology, Anthropology (Hamartialogy), Impetration of 
Redemption, Application of Redemption ; and in the nature of the 
case the topics that fall under the rubric of the application of 
redemption could not be solidly investigated until the basis had 
been laid for them in the assimilation of the preceding topics. We 
have connected the great names of Athanasius and his worthy 
successors who fought out the Christological disputes, of Augustine 
and of Anselm, with the precedent stages of this development. It 
was the leaders of the Reformation w T ho were called on to add the 
capstone to the structure by working out the facts as to the applica 
tion of redemption to the soul of man through the Holy Spirit. 
Some elements of the doctrine of the Spirit are indeed implicated 
in earlier discussions. For example, the deity and personality of the 
Spirit the whole doctrine of His person was a part of the doctrine 
of the Trinity, and this accordingly became a topic for early debate, 
and patristic literature is rich in discussions of it. The authority of 
Scripture was fundamental to the whole doctrinal discussion, and 
the doctrine of the inspiration of the prophets and apostles by the 
Spirit was therefore asserted from the beginning with great empha 
sis. In the determination of man s need in the Pelagian controversy 
much was necessarily determined about " Grace," its necessity, its 
prevenience, its efficacy, its indefectibility, and in this much was 
anticipated of what was afterward to be more orderly developed 
in the doctrine of the interior work of the Spirit; and accordingly 
there is much in Augustine which preadumbrates the determination 
of later times. But even in Augustine there is a vagueness and 
tentativeness in the treatment of these topics which advises us that 
while the facts relatively to man and his needs and the methods of 
God s working upon him to salvation are firmly grasped, these same 
facts relatively to the personal activities of the Spirit as yet await 
their full assimilation. Another step had yet to be taken: the 
Church needed to wait yet for Anselm to set on foot the final de- 



BY PROFESSOR WARFIELD xxxvii 

termination of the doctrine of a vicarious atonement; and only 
when time had been given for its assimilation, at length men s 
minds were able to take the final step. Then Luther rose to pro 
claim justification by faith, and Calvin to set forth with his marvel 
ous balance the whole doctrine of the work of the Spirit in applying 
salvation to the soul. In this matter, too, the fulness of the times 
needed to be waited for; and when the fulness of the times came 
the men were ready for their task and the Church was ready for 
their work. And in this collocation we find a portion of the secret 
of the immense upheaval of the Reformation. 

Unfortunately, however, the Church was not ready in all its parts 
alike for the new step in doctrinal development. This was, of 
course, in the nature of the case : for the development of doctrine 
takes place naturally in a matrix of old and hardened partial concep 
tions, and can make its way only by means of a conflict of opinion. 
All Arians did not disappear immediately after the Council of Nice; 
on the contrary, for an age they seemed destined to rule the Church. 
The decree of Chalcedon did not at once quiet all Christological de 
bate, or do away with all Christological error. There were remain 
ders of Pelagianism that outlived Augustine ; and indeed that after 
the Synod of Orange began to make headway against the truth. 
Anselm s construction of the atonement only slowly worked its way 
into the hearts of men. And so, when Calvin had for the first time for 
mulated the fuller and more precise doctrine of the work of the Spirit, 
there were antagonistic forces in the world which crowded upon it 
and curtailed its influence and clogged its advance in the apprehen 
sion of men. In general, these may be said to be two : the sacerdotal 
tendency on the one hand and the libertarian tendency on the other. 
The sacerdotal tendency was entrenched in the old Church ; from 
which the Reformers were extruded indeed by the very force of the 
new leaven of their individualism of spiritual life. That Church was 
therefore impervious to the newly formulated doctrine of the work 
of the Spirit. To it the Church was the depository of grace, the sac 
raments were its indispensable vehicle, and the administration of it 
lay in the hands of human agents. Wherever this sacramentarian- 
ism went, in however small a measure, it tended so far to distract 
men s attention from the Spirit of God and to focus it on the media of 
His working; and wherever it has entrenched itself, there the study 
of the work of the Spirit has accordingly more or less languished. 
It is easy indeed to say that the Spirit stands behind the sacraments 



xxxviii INTRODUCTORY NOTE 

and is operative in the sacraments ; as a matter of fact, the sacra 
ments tend, in all such cases, to absorb the attention, and the theo 
retical explanations of their efficacy as vested in the Spirit s energy 
tend to pass out of the vivid interest of men. The libertarian 
tendency, on the other hand, was the nerve of the old semi-Pelagi- 
anism which in Thomism and Tridentinism became in a modified 
form the formal doctrine of the Church of Rome ; and in various 
forms it soon began to seep also into and to trouble the churches 
of the Reformation first the Lutheran and after that also the Re 
formed. To it, the will of man was in greater or less measure the 
decisive factor in the subjective reception of salvation ; and in pro 
portion as it was more or less developed or more or less fully ap 
plied, interest in the doctrine of the subjective work of the Spirit 
languished, and in these circles too men s minds were to that degree 
distracted from the study of the doctrine of the work of the Spirit, 
and tended to focus themselves on the autocracy of the human will 
and its native or renewed ability to obey God and seek and find com 
munion with Him. No doubt here too it is easy to point to the func 
tion which is still allowed the Spirit, in most at least of the theo 
logical constructions on this basis. But the practical effect has been 
that just in proportion as the autocracy of the human will in salva 
tion has been emphasized, the interest in the internal work of the 
Spirit has declined. When we take into consideration the wide 
spread influence that has been attained even in the Protestant 
world by these two antagonistic tendencies, we shall cease to wonder 
at the widespread neglect that has befallen the doctrine of the work of 
the Spirit. And we shall have prosecuted our inquiry but a little 
way before we become aware how entirely these facts account for 
the phenomena before us : how completely it is true that interest in 
the doctrine of the work of the Spirit has failed just in those regions 
and just in those epochs in which either sacramentarian or libertarian 
opinions have ruled ; and how true it is that engagement with this 
doctrine has been intense only along the banks of that narrow 
stream of religious life and thought the keynote of which has been 
the soli Deo gloria in all its fulness of meaning. With this key 
in hand the mysteries of the history of this doctrine in the Church 
are at once solved for us. 

One of the chief claims to our attention which Dr. Kuyper s 
book makes, therefore, is rooted in the fact that it is a product of a 
great religious movement in the Dutch churches. This is not the 



BY PROFESSOR WARFIELD xxxix 

place to give a history of that movement. We have all watched it 
with the intensest interest, from the rise of the Free Churches to 
the union with them of the new element from the Doleantie. We 
have lacked no proof that it was a movement of exceptional spir 
itual depth; but had there lacked any such proof, it would be 
supplied by the appearance of this book out of its heart. Wher 
ever men are busying themselves with holy and happy meditations 
on the Holy Ghost and His work, it is safe to say the foundations 
of a true spiritual life are laid, and the structure of a rich spiritual 
life is rising. The mere fact that a book of this character offers it 
self as one of the products of this movement attracts us to it ; and 
the nature of the work itself its solidity of thought and its depth 
of spiritual apprehension brightens our hopes for the future of 
the churches in which it has had its birth. Only a spiritually 
minded Church provides a soil in which a literature of the Spirit 
can grow. There are some who will miss in the book what they 
are accustomed to call "scientific" character;* it has no lack cer 
tainly of scientific exactitude of conception, and if it seems to any 
to lack " scientific" form, it assuredly has a quality which is better 
than anything that even a "scientific" form could give it it is a 
religious book. It is the product of a religious heart, and it leads 
the reader to a religious contemplation of the great facts of the 
Spirit s working. May it bring to all, into whose hands it finds its 
way in this fresh vehicle of a new language, an abiding and happy 
sense of rest on and in God the Holy Ghost, the Author and Lord 
of all life, to whom in our heart of hearts we may pray : 

" Veni, Creator Spiritus, 

Spiritus recreator, 
Tu deus, tu datus ccelitus, 
Tu donum, tu donator." 

PRINCETON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, 
April 23, i goo. 

*Thus Beversluis, op. cit, speaks of it as Dr. Kuyper s bulky book, 
which "has no scientific value," tho it is full of fine passages and 
treats the subject in a many-sided way. 



ERRATA. 



Page 20 Col. i. 7, read Col. i. 17. 
" 102 Heb. ix. 4, rea Heb. ix. 14. 
" 108 i Peter i. iS. read i Peter iii. 18. 
" 114 Chap, xxxiv. 25, read chap, xxxvi. 25. 
u 144 Rev. xxi. 24, read Rev. xxi. 14. 

154 John xiv. 16, read John xiv. 26. 

164 John xxix. 31, read John xx. 31. 

180 Ephes. xiv. 17, read Ephes. iv. 7. 

190 John xiii. 13, read John xvi. 13. 

273 " OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS, " read " OUR UNRIGHTEOUSNESS. 

273 Gen. iii. 6, read Gen. vi. 3. 

3 2 3 John iii. 15, read John xv. 3. 
" 349 2 Tim. ii. 5, read 2 Tim. ii. 25. 

351 Jer. Iv. 7, read Isa. Iv. 7. 
" 391 Rom. xix. 19, read Rom. x. 10. 
" 392 Acts xiii. 31, read Acts xvi. 31. 

4071 Peter ii. 16, read i Peter ii. 6. 

408 Phil. i. 23, read Phil. i. 29. 

457 Matt. vi. 10, read Matt. v. 16. 

592 2 Sam. xiv. i, read 2 Sam. xxiv. i. 

636 Rom. iii. 26, read Rom. viii. 26. 



THE 

WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT 



VOLUME ONE 

The Work of the Holy Spirit in the Church 
as a Whole 



fftrst Gbapter, 
INTRODUCTION. 



I. 

Careful Treatment Required. 



" Who hath also given unto us His Holy 
Spirit." i Thess. iv. 8. 

THE need of divine guidance is never more deeply felt than when 
one undertakes to give instruction in the work of the Holy Spirit 
so unspeakably tender is the subject, touching the inmost secrets of 
God and the soul s deepest mysteries. 

We shield instinctively the intimacies of kindred and friends 
from intrusive observation, and nothing hurts the sensitive heart 
more than the rude exposure of that which should not be unveiled, 
being beautiful only in the retirement of the home circle. Greater 
delicacy befits our approach to the holy mystery of our soul s inti 
macy with the living God. Indeed, we can scarcely find words to 
express it, for it touches a domain far below the social life where 
language is formed and usage determines the meaning of words. 

Glimpses of this life have been revealed, but the greater part 
has been withheld. It is like the life of Him who did not cry, nor 
lift up nor cause His voice to be heard in the street. And that 
which was heard was whispered rather than spoken a soul-breath, 
soft but voiceless, or rather a radiating of the soul s own blessed 
warmth. Sometimes the stillness has been broken by a cry or a 
raptured shout ; but there has been mainly a silent working, a min 
istering of stern rebuke or of sweet comfort by that wonderful 
Being in the Holy Trinity whom with stammering tongue we adore 
as the Holy Spirit. 

Spiritual experience can furnish no basis for instruction; for 
such experience rests on that which took place in our own soul. 



4 INTRODUCTION 

Certainly this has value, influence, voice in the matter. But what 
guarantees correctness and fidelity in interpreting such experience? 
And again, how can we distinguish its various sources from our 
selves, from without, or from the Holy Spirit? The twofold ques 
tion will ever hold: Is our experience shared by others, and may 
it not be vitiated by what is in us sinful and spiritually abnormal :> 

Altho there is no subject in whose treatment the soul inclines 
more to draw upon its own experience, there is none that demands 
more that our sole source of knowledge be the Word given us by 
the Holy Spirit. After that, human experience may be heard, at 
testing what the lips have confessed ; even affording glimpses into 
the Spirit s blessed mysteries, which are unspeakable and of which 
the Scripture therefore does not speak. But this can not be the 
ground of instruction to others. 

The Church of Christ assuredly presents abundant spiritual utter 
ance in hymn and spiritual song ; in homilies hortatory and conso 
ling ; in sober confession or outbursts of souls wellnigh overwhelmed 
by the floods of persecution and martyrdom. But even this can not 
be the foundation of knowledge concerning the work of the Holy 
Spirit. 

The following reasons will make this apparent : 

First, The difficulty of discriminating between the men and 
women whose experience we consider pure and healthy, and those 
whose testimony we put aside as strained and unhealthful. Luther 
frequently spoke of his experience, and so did Caspar Schwenkfeld, 
the dangerous fanatic. But what is our warrant for approving the 
utterances of the great Reformer and warning against those of the 
Silesian nobleman? For evidently the testimony of the two men 
can not be equally true. Luther condemned as a lie what Schwenk 
feld commended as a highly spiritual attainment. 

Second, The testimony of believers presents only the dim out 
lines of the work of the Holy Spirit. Their voices are faint as com 
ing from an unknown realm, and their broken speech is intelligible 
only when we, initiated by the Holy Spirit, can interpret it from 
our own experience. Otherwise we hear, but fail to understand ; 
we listen, but receive no information. Only he that hath ears can 
hear what the Spirit has spoken secretly to these children of God. 

Third, Among those Christian heroes whose testimony we receive, 
some speak clearly, truthfully, forcibly, others confusedly as tho 
they were groping in the dark. Whence the difference? Closer 



CAREFUL TREATMENT REQUIRED 5 

examination shows that the former have borrowed all their speech 
from the Word of God, while the others tried to add to it something 
novel that promised to be great, but proved only bubbles, quickly 
dissolved, leaving no trace. 

Last, When, on the other hand, in this treasury of Christian testi 
mony we find some truth better developed, more clearly expressed, 
more aptly illustrated than in Scripture ; or, in other words, when 
the ore of the Sacred Scripture has been melted in the crucible of 
the mortal anguish of the Church of God, and cast into more per 
manent forms, then we always discover in such forms certain fixed 
types. Spiritual life expresses itself otherwise among the earnest- 
souled Lapps and Finns than among the light-hearted French. The 
rugged Scotchman pours out his overflowing heart in a different way 
from that of the emotional German. 

Yea, more striking still, some preacher has obtained a marked 
influence upon the souls of men of a certain locality ; an exhorter 
has got hold of the hearts of the people ; or some mother in Israel 
has sent forth her word among her neighbors ; and what do we dis 
cover? That in that whole region we meet no other expressions of 
spiritual life than those coined by that preacher, that exhorter, that 
mother in Israel. This shows that the language, the very words and 
forms in which the soul expresses itself, are largely borrowed, and 
spring but rarely from one s own spiritual consciousness; and so do 
not insure the correctness of their interpretation of the soul s ex 
perience. 

And when such heroes as Augustine, Thomas, Luther, Calvin, 
and others present us something strikingly original, then we en 
counter difficulty in understanding their strong and vigorous testi 
mony. For the individuality of these choice vessels is so marked 
that, unless sifted and tested, we can not fully comprehend them. 

All this shows that the supply of knowledge concerning the work 
of the Holy Spirit, which, judging superficially, was to gush forth 
from the deep wells of Christian experience, yields but a few drops. 

Hence for the knowledge of the subject we must return to that 
wondrous Word of God which as a mystery of mysteries lies still 
uncomprehended in the Church, seemingly dead as a stone, but a 
stone that strikes fire. Who has not seen its scintillating sparks? 
Where is the child of God whose heart has not been kindled by the 
fire of that Word? 



6 INTRODUCTION 

But Scripture sheds scant light on the work of the Holy Spirit. 
For proof, see how much the Old Testament says of the Messiah 
and how comparatively little of the Holy Spirit. The little circle 
of saints, Mary, Simeon, Anna, John, who, standing in the vesti 
bule of the New Testament, could scan the horizon of the Old 
Testament revelation with a glance how much they knew of the 
Person of the Promised Deliverer, and how little of the Holy 
Spirit! Even including all the New Testament teachings, how 
scanty is the light upon the work of the Holy Spirit compared with 
that upon the work of Christ ! 

And this is quite natural, and could not be otherwise, for Christ 
is the Word made Flesh, having visible, well-defined form, in which 
we recognize our own, that of a man, whose outlines follow the di 
rection of our own being. Christ can be seen and heard; once men s 
hands could even handle the Word of Life. But the Holy Spirit is 
entirely different. Of Him nothing appears in visible form; He 
never steps out from the intangible void. Hovering, undefined, 
incomprehensible, He remains a mystery. He is as the wind! We 
hear its sound, but can not tell whence it cometh and whither it 
goeth. Eye can not see Him, ear can not hear Him, much less the 
hand handle Him. There are, indeed, symbolic signs and appear 
ances: a dove, tongues of fire, the sound of a rushing, mighty 
wind, a breathing from the holy lips of Jesus, a laying on of hands, 
a speaking with foreign tongues. But of all this nothing remains ; 
nothing lingers behind, not even the trace of a footprint. And 
after the signs have disappeared, His being remains just as puz 
zling, mysterious, and distant as ever. So almost all the divine in 
struction concerning the Holy Spirit is likewise obscure, intelligible 
only so far as He makes it clear to the eye of the favored soul. 

We know that the same may be said of Christ s work, whose 
real import is apprehended solely by the spiritually enlightened, 
who behold the eternal wonders of the Cross. And yet what won 
derful fascination is there even for a little child in the story of the 
manger in Bethlehem, of the Transfiguration, of Gabbatha and 
Golgotha. How easily can we interest him by telling of the 
heavenly Father who numbereth the hairs of his head, arrayeth the 
lilies of the field, feedeth the sparrows on the house-top. But is it 
possible so to engage his attention for the Person of the Holy 
Spirit? The same is true of the unregenerate : they are not unwill 
ing to speak of the heavenly Father ; many speak feelingly of the 



CAREFUL TREATMENT REQUIRED 7 

Manger and of the Cross. But do they ever speak of the Holy 
Spirit? They can not; the subject has no hold upon them. The 
Spirit of God is so holily sensitive that naturally He withdraws from 
the irreverent gaze of the uninitiated. 

Christ has fully revealed Himself. It was the love and divine 
compassion of the Son. But the Holy Spirit has not done so. It 
is His saving faithfulness to meet us only in the secret place of His 
love. 

This causes another difficulty. Because of His unrevealed char 
acter the Church has taught and studied the Spirit s work much 
less than Christ s, and has attained much less clearness in its theo 
logical discussion. We might say, since He gave the Word and 
illuminated the Church, He spoke much more of the Father and the 
Son than of Himself; not as tho it had been selfish to speak more 
of Himself for sinful selfishness is inconceivable in regard to Him 
but He must reveal the Father and the Son before He could lead us 
into the more intimate fellowship with Himself. 

This is the reason that there is so little preaching on the subject; 
that text-books on Systematic Theology rarely treat it separately ; 
that Pentecost (the feast of the Holy Spirit) appeals to the churches 
and animates them much less than Christmas or Easter ; that un 
happily many ministers, otherwise faithful, advance many erro 
neous views upon this subject a fact .of which they and the 
churches seem unconscious. 

Hence special discussion of the theme deserves attention. 

That it requires great caution and delicate treatment need not 
be said. It is our prayer that the discussion may evince such great 
care and caution as is required, and that our Christian readers may 
receive our feeble efforts with that love which suffereth long. 



n. 

Two Standpoints. 

" By the word of the Lord were the heavens 
made ; and all the host of them by the 
breath of His mouth." Psalm xxxiii. 6. 

THE work of the Holy Spirit that most concerns us is the renew 
ing of the elect after the image of God. And this is not all. It even 
savors of selfishness and irreverence to make this so prominent, as 
tho it were His only work. 

The redeemed are not sanctified without Christ, who is made to 
them sanctification ; hence the work of the Spirit must embrace the 
Incarnation of the Word and the work of the Messiah. But the work 
of Messiah involves preparatory working in the Patriarchs and 
Prophets of Israel, and later activity in the Apostles, i.e., the fore 
shadowing of the Eternal Word in Scripture. Likewise this revela 
tion involves the conditions of man s nature and the historical de 
velopment of the race ; hence the Holy Spirit is concerned in the 
formation of the human mind and the unfolding of the spirit of 
humanity. Lastly, man s condition depends on that of the earth ; 
the influences of sun, moon, and stars; the elemental motions; and 
no less on the actions of spirits, be they angels or demons from 
other spheres. Wherefore the Spirit s work must touch the entire 
host of heaven and earth. 

To avoid a mechanical idea of His work as tho it began and 
ended at random, like piece-work in a factory, it must not be deter 
mined nor limited till it extends to all the influences that affect the 
sanctification of the Church. The Holy Spirit is God, therefore 
sovereign ; hence He can not depend on these influences, but com 
pletely controls them. For this He must be able to operate them ; 
so His work must be honored in all the host of heaven, in man and in 
his history, in the preparation of Scripture, in the Incarnation of the 
Word, in the salvation of the elect. 

But this is not all. The final salvation of the elect is not the 



TWO STANDPOINTS 9 

last link in the chain of events. The hour that completes their re 
demption will be the hour of reckoning for all creation. The Bib 
lical revelation of Christ s return is not a mere pageant closing this 
preliminary dispensation, but the great and notable event, the con 
summation of all before, the catastrophe whereby all that is shall 
receive its due. 

In that great and notable day the elements with commotion and 
awful change shall be combined into a new heaven and earth, i.e., 
out of these burning elements shall emerge the real beauty and 
glory of God s original purpose. Then all ill, misery, plague, 
every thing unholy, every demon, every spirit turned against God 
shall become truly hellish ; that is, every "thing ungodly shall re 
ceive its due, i.e., a world in which sin has absolute sway, For 
what is hell other than a realm in which unholiness works without 
restraint in body and soul? Then man s personality will recover 
the unity destroyed by death, and God will grant His redeemed the 
fruition of that blest hope confessed on earth amid conflict and 
affliction in the words " I believe in the resurrection of the body. 
Then shall Christ triumph over every power of Satan, sin, and 
death, and thus receive His due as the Christ. Then wheat and 
tares shall be separated ; the mingling shall cease, and the hope of 
God s people become sight , the martyr shall be in rapture and his 
executioner in torment. Then, too, shall the veil be drawn from 
the Jerusalem that is above. The clouds shall be dispelled that 
kept us from seeing that God was righteous in all His judgments; 
then the wisdom and glory of all His counsels shall be vindicated 
both by Satan and his own in the pit, and by Christ and His re 
deemed in the city of our God, and the Lord be glorious in all His 
works. 

Thus radiating from the sanctification of the redeemed, we see 
the work of the Spirit embracing in past ages the Incarnation, the 
preparation of Scripture, the forming of man and the universe ; and, 
extending into the ages, the Lord s return, the final judgment, and 
that last cataclysm that shall separate heaven from hell forever. 

This standpoint precludes our viewing the work of the Spirit 
from that of the salvation of the redeemed. Our spiritual horizon 
widens ; for the chief thing is not that the elect be fully saved, but 
that God be justified in all His works and glorified through judgment. 
To all who acknowledge that " He that believeth not on the Son 



10 INTRODUCTION 

shall not see life, but the wrath of God abiding on him," this must 
be the only true standpoint. 

If we subscribe this awful statement, not having lost our way in 
the labyrinth of a so-called conditional immortality, which actually 
annihilates man, then how can we dream of a state of perfect bliss 
for the elect as long as the lost ones are being tormented by the 
worm that dieth not? Is there no more love or compassion in our 
hearts? Can we fancy ourselves for a single moment enjoying 
heaven s bliss while the fire is not quenched and no lighted torch is 
carried into the outer darkness? 

To make the bliss of the elect the final end of all things while 
Satan still roars in the bottomless pit is to annihilate the very 
thought of such bliss. Love suffers not only when a human being 
is in pain, but even when an animal is in distress; how much more 
when an angel gnashes his teeth in torture, and that angel beautiful 
and glorious as Satan was before his fall. And yet the very men 
tion of Satan unconsciously lifts from our hearts the burden of 
fellow pain, suffering, and compassion, for we feel immediately 
that the knowledge of Satan s suffering in the pit does not in the 
least appeal to our compassion. On the contrary, to believe that 
Satan exists but not in utter misery were a wound to our profound 
sense of justice. 

And this is the point : to conceive of the blessedness of a soul 
not in absolute union with Christ is unholy madness. No one but 
Christ is blessed, and no man can be blessed but he who is vitally- 
one with Christ Christ in him and he in Christ. Equally it is un 
holy madness to conceive of man or angel lost in hell unless he has 
identified himself with Satan, having become morally one with him. 
The conception of a soul in hell not morally one with Satan is the 
most appalling cruelty from which every noble heart recoils with 
horror. 

Every child of God is furious at Satan. Satan is simply unbear 
able to him. In his inward man (however unfaithful his nature 
may be) there is bitter enmity, implacable hatred against Satan. 
Hence it satisfies our holiest conscience to know that Satan is in the 
bottomless pit. To encourage a plea for him in the heart were 
treason against God. Sharp agony may pierce his soul like a dag 
ger for the unspeakable depth of his fall, yet as Satan, author of all 
that is demoniac and fiendish, who has bruised the heel of the Son 
of God, he can never move our hearts. 



TWO STANDPOINTS n 

Why? What is the sole, deep reason why as regards Satan com 
passion is dead, hatred is right, and love would be blameworthy? 
Is it not that we never can look upon Satan without remembering 
that he is the adversary of our God, the mortal enemy of our 
Christ? Were it not for that we might weep for him. But now 
our allegiance to God tells us that such weeping would be treason 
against our King. 

Only by measuring the end of things by what belongs to God 
can we stand right in this matter. We can view the matter of the 
redeemed and the lost from the right standpoint only when we 
subordinate both to that which is highest, i.e., the glory of God. 
Measured by Him, we can conceive of the redeemed in a state of 
bliss, enthroned, yet not in danger of pride ; since it was and is and 
ever shall be by His sovereign grace alone. But also measured by 
Him, we can think of those identified with Satan, joyless and mis 
erable, without once hurting the sense of justice in the heart of the 
upright ; for to be mercifully inclined toward Satan is impossible to 
him who loves God with love deep and everlasting. And such is 
the love of the redeemed. 

Considered from this far superior standpoint, the work of the 
Holy Spirit necessarily assumes a different aspect. Now we can 
no more say that His work is the sanctification of the elect, with all 
that precedes and follows; but we confess that it is the vindication 
of the counsel of God with all that pertains thereto, from the creation 
and throughout the ages, unto the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, 
and onward throughout eternity, both in heaven and in hell. 

The difference between these two viewpoints can easily be ap 
preciated. According to the first, the work of the Holy Spirit is 
only subordinate. Unfortunately man is fallen; hence he is dis 
eased. Since he is impure and unholy, even subject to death it 
self, the Holy Spirit must purify and sanctify him. This implies, 
first, that had man not sinned the Holy Spirit would have had no 
work. Second, that when the work of sanctification is finished, His 
activity will cease. According to the correct viewpoint, the work 
of the Spirit is continuous and perpetual, beginning with the crea 
tion, continuing throughout eternity, begun even before sin first 
appeared. 

It may be objected that some time ago the author emphatically 
opposed the idea that Christ would have come into the world even 



12 INTRODUCTION 

if sin had not entered in ; and that now he affirms with equal em 
phasis that the Holy Spirit would have wrought in the world and 
in man if the latter had remained sinless. 

The answer is very simple. If Christ had not appeared in His 
capacity of Messiah, He would have had, as the Son, the Second 
Person in the Godhead, His own divine sphere of action, seeing 
that all things consist through Him. On the contrary, if the work 
of the Holy Spirit were confined to the sanctification of the re 
deemed, He would be absolutely inactive if sin had not entered 
into the world. And since this would be equal to a denial of His 
Godhead, it can not for a moment be tolerated. 

By occupying this superior viewpoint, we apply to the work 
of the Holy Spirit the fundamental principle of the Reformed 
churches : " That all things must be measured by the glory of 
God." 



III. 

The Indwelling and Outgoing Works of God. 

"And all the host of them by the breath 
of His mouth." Psalm xxxiii. 6. 

THE thorough and clear-headed theologians of the most flourish 
ing periods of the Church used to distinguish between the indwell 
ing and outgoing works of God. 

The same distinction exists to some extent in nature. The lion 
watching his prey differs widely from the lion resting among his 
whelps. See the blazing eye, the lifted head, the strained muscles 
and panting breath. One can see that the crouching lion is labor 
ing intensely. Yet the act is now only in contemplation. The 
heat and the ferment, the nerve-tension are all within. A terrible 
deed is about to be done, but it is still under restraint, until he 
pounces with thundering roar upon his unsuspecting victim, bury 
ing his fangs deep into the quivering flesh. 

We find the same distinction in finer form among men; When a 
storm has raged at sea, and the fate of the absent fishing-smacks 
that are expected to return with the tide is uncertain, a fisher 
man s awe-stricken wife sits on the brow of the sand-hill watching 
and waiting in speechless suspense. As she waits, her heart and 
soul labor in prayer ; the nerves are tense, the blood runs fast, and 
breathing is almost suspended. Yet there is no outward act ; only 
labor within. But on the safe return of the smacks, when she sees 
her own, her burdened heart finds relief in a cry of joy. 

Or, taking examples from the more ordinary walks of life, com 
pare the student, the scholar, the inventor thinking out his new 
invention, the architect forming his plans, the general studying his 
opportunities, the sturdy sailor nimbly climbing the mast of his 
ship, or yonder blacksmith raising the sledge to strike the glowing 
iron upon the anvil with concentrated muscular force. Judging 
superficially, one would say the blacksmith and sailor work, but 
the men of learning are idle. Yet he that looks beneath the sur- 



I 4 INTRODUCTION 

face knows better than this. For if those men perform no apparent 
manual labor, they work with brain, nerve, and blood; yet since 
those organs are more delicate than hand or foot, their invisible, 
indwelling work is much more exhausting. With all their labor 
the blacksmith and sailor are pictures of health, while the men of 
mental force, apparently idle among their folios, are pale from ex 
haustion, their vitality being almost consumed by their intense 
application. 

Applying this distinction without its human limitations to the 
works of the Lord, we find that the outgoing works of God had 
their beginning when God created the heavens and the earth; and 
that before that moment which marks the birth of time, nothing 
existed but God working within Himself. Hence this twofold 
operation : The first, externally manifest, known to us in the acts 
of creating, upholding, and directing all things acts that, compared 
to those of eternity, seem to have begun but yesterday ; for what are 
thousands of years in the presence of the eternal ages? The second, 
behind and underneath the first an operation not begun nor ended, 
but eternal like Himself; deeper, richer, fuller, yet not manifested, 
hidden within Him, which we therefore designate indwelling. 

Altho these two operations can scarcely be separated for there 
never was one manifest without which was not first completed with 
in yet the difference is strongly marked and easily recognized. 
The indwelling works of God are from eternity, the outgoing belong 
to time. The former precede, the latter follow. The foundation of 
that which becomes visible lies in that which remains invisible. The 
light itself is hidden, it is the radiation only that appears. 

The Scripture, speaking of the indwelling works of God, says: 
" The counsel of the Lord standeth for ever, and the thoughts of 
His heart to all generations" (Psalm xxiii. 1 1). Since in God heart 
and thought have no separate existence, but His undivided Essence 
thinks, feels, and wills, we learn from this significant passage that 
the Being of God works in Himself from all eternity. This answers 
the oft-repeated and foolish question, " What did God do before 
He created the universe?" which is as unreason-ing as to ask 
what the thinker did before he expressed his thoughts, or the 
architect before he built the house ! 

God s indwelling works, which are from everlasting to everlast 
ing, are not insignificant, but surpass His outgoing works in depth 
and strength as the student s thinking and the sufferer s anguish 



INDWELLING AND OUTGOING WORKS OF GOD 1 5 

surpass their strongest utterances in intensity. " Could I but 
weep," says the afflicted one, " how much more easily could I bear 
my sorrow ! " And what are tears but the outward expression of 
grief, relieving the pain and strain of the heart? Or think of the 
child-tearing of the mother before delivery. It is said of the de 
cree that it hath " brought forth" (Zeph. ii. 2), which signifies that 
the phenomenon is only the result of preparation hidden from the 
eye, but more real than the production, and without which there 
would be nothing to bring forth. 

Thus the expression of our earlier theologians is justified, and 
the difference between the indwelling and the outgoing works is 
patent. 

Accordingly the indwelling works of God are the activities of His 
Being, without the distinction of Persons; while His outgoing 
works admit and to some extent demand this distinction: e.g., 
the common and well-known distinguishing of the Father s work 
as that of creation, the Son s as that of redemption, and the Holy 
Spirit s as that of sanctification relates only to God s outgoing 
works. While these operations creation, redemption, and sanctifi 
cation are hidden in the thoughts of His heart, His counsel, and His 
Being, it is Father, Son, and Holy Ghost who creates, Father, Son, 
and Holy Ghost who redeems, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost who 
sanctifies, without any division or distinction of activities. The 
rays of light hidden in the sun are indivisible and indistinguishable 
until they radiate ; so in the Being of God the indwelling working 
is one and undivided ; His personal glories remain invisible until 
revealed in His outgoing works. A stream is one until it falls over 
the precipice and divides into many drops. So is the life of God 
one and undivided while hidden within Himself; but when it is 
poured out into created things its colors stand revealed. As, there 
fore, the indwelling works of the Holy Spirit are common to the 
three Persons of the Godhead, we do not discuss them, but treat 
only those operations that bear the personal marks of His outgoing 
works. 

s 

But we do not mean to teach that the distinction of the personal 
attributes of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost did not exist in the divine 
Being, but originated only in His outward activities. 

The distinction of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is the divine 



16 INTRODUCTION 

characteristic of the Eternal Being, His mode of subsistence, His 
deepest foundation ; to think of Him without that distinction would 
be absurd. Indeed, in the divine and eternal economy of Father, 
Son, and Holy Spirit, each of the divine Persons lives and loves and 
lauds according to His own personal characteristics, so that the 
Father remains Father toward the Son, and the Son remains Son 
toward the Father, and the Holy Spirit proceeds from both. 

It is right to ask how this agrees with the statement made above, 
that the indwelling works of God belong, without distinction of 
Persons, to Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and are therefore the 
works of the divine Being. The answer is found in the careful dis 
tinction of the twofold nature of the indwelling works of God. 

Some operations in the divine Being are destined to be revealed 
in time ; others will remain forever unrevealed. The former con 
cern the creation ; the latter, only the relations of Father, Son, and 
Holy Spirit. Take, for instance, election and eternal generation. 
Both are indwelling operations of God, but with marked difference. 
The Father s eternal generation of the Son can never be revealed, 
but must ever be the mystery of the Godhead; while election 
belongs as decree to the indwelling works of God, yet is destined 
in the fulness of time to become manifest in the call of the elect. 

Regarding the permanently indwelling works of God that do not 
relate to the creature, but flow from the mutual relation of the 
Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, the distinctive characteristics 
of the three Persons must be kept in view. But with those that 
are to become manifest, relating to the creature, this distinction 
disappears. Here the rule applies that all indwelling works are 
activities of the divine Being without distinction of Persons. To 
illustrate: In the home there are two kinds of activities one flow 
ing from the mutual relation of parents and children, another per 
taining to the social life. In the former the distinction between 
parents and children is never ignored ; in the latter, if the relation 
be normal, neither the father nor the children act alone, but the 
family as a whole. Even so in the holy, mysterious economy of the 
divine Being, every operation of the Father upon the Son and of 
both upon the Holy Spirit is distinct ; but in every outgoing act it 
is always the one divine Being, the thoughts of whose heart are 
for all His creatures. On that account the natural man knows no 
more than that he has to do with a God. 

The Unitarians, denying the Holy Trinity, have never reached 



INDWELLING AND OUTGOING WORKS OF GOD 17 

anything higher than that which can be seen by the light of the 
darkened human understanding. We often discover that many 
baptized with water but not with the Holy Spirit speak of the 
Triune God because others do. For themselves they know only 
that He is God. This is why the discriminating knowledge of the 
Triune God can not illuminate the soul until the light of redemp 
tion shines within, and the Day-star arises in man s heart. Our 
Confession correctly expresses this, saying: "All this we know as 
well from the testimony of Holy Writ as from their operations, and 
chiefly by those we feel in ourselves" Cart. ix.). 

2 



IV. 
The Work of the Holy Spirit Distinguished. 

" And the Spirit of God moved upon thd! 
face of the waters." Gen. i. 2. 

WHAT, in general, is the work of the Holy Spirit as distinguished 
from that of the Father and of the Son? 

Not that every believer needs to know these distinctions in all^ 
particulars. The existence of faith does not depend upon intellec 
tual distinctions. The main question is not whether we can dis 
tinguish the work of the Father from that of the Son and of the 
Holy Spirit, but whether we have experienced their gracious opera 
tions. The root of the matter, not the name, decides. 

Must we then slightly value a clear understanding of sacred, 
things? Shall we deem it superfluous and call its great matters 
hair-splitting questions? By no means. The human mind searches 
every department of life. Scientists deem it an honor to spend 
their lives in analyzing the minutest plants and insects, describing 
every particular, naming every member of the dissected organism. 
Their work is never called "hair-splittings," but is distinguished 
as " scientific research." And rightly so, for without differentiation 
there can be no insight, and without insight there can be no 
thorough acquaintance with the subject. Why, then, call this same 
desire unprofitable when it directs the attention not to the creature, 
but to the Lord God our Creator? 

Can there be any worthier object of mental application than the 
eternal God? Is it right and proper to insist upon correct discrimi 
nation in every other sphere of knowledge, and yet regarding the 
knowledge of God to be satisfied with generalities and confused 
views? Has God not invited us to share the intellectual knowledge 
of His Being? Has He not given us His Word? And does not the 
Word illumine the mysteries of His Being, His attributes, His per 
fections, His virtues, and the mode of His subsistence? If we 
aspired to penetrate into things too high for us, or to unveil the 



WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT DISTINGUISHED 19 

unrevealed, reverence would require us to resist such audacity. 
But since we aim in godly fear to listen to Scripture, and to receive 
the proffered knowledge of the deep things of God, there can be 
no room for objection. We would say rather to those who frown 
upon such effort : " Ye can discern the face of the sky, but ye can 
not discern the face of your Father in heaven." 

Hence the question concerning the work of the Holy Spirit as 
distinguished from that of the Father and of the Son is quite legiti 
mate and necessary. 

It is deplorable that many of God s children have confused con 
ceptions in this respect. They can not distinguish the works of 
the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Even in prayer 
they use the divine names indiscriminately. Altho the Holy Spirit 
is explicitly called the Comforter, yet they seek comfort mostly 
from the Father or the Son, unable to say why and what in sense 
the Holy Spirit is especially called Comforter. 

The early Church already felt the need of clear and exact dis 
tinctions in this matter ; and the great thinkers and Christian phi 
losophers whom God gave to the Church, especially the Eastern 
Fathers, expended their best powers largely upon this subject. 
They saw very clearly that unless the Church learned to distinguish 
the works of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, its confession of the 
Holy Trinity could be but a dead sound. Compelled not by love 
of subtleties, but by the necessity of the Church, they undertook to 
study these distinctions. And God let heretics vex His Church so 
as to arouse the mind by conflict, and to lead it to search God s 
Word. 

So we are not pioneers exploring a new field. The writing of 
these articles can so impress those alone who are ignorant of the 
historical treasures of the Church. We propose simply to cause 
the light, which for so many ages shed its clear and comforting 
rays upon the Church, to reenter the windows, and thus by deeper 
knowledge to increase its inward strength. 

We begin with the general distinction : That in every work 
effected by Father, Son, and Holy Ghost in common, the power to 
bring forth proceeds from the Father; the power to arrange from 
the Son ; the power to perfect from the Holy Spirit. 

In i Cor. viii. 6, St. Paul teaches that : " There, is but one God 
the Father, of whom are all things, and one Lord Jesus Christ by 



20 INTRODUCTION 

whom are all things." Here we have two prepositions: of whom, 
and by whom. But in Rom. xi. 38 he adds another: " For of Him 
and through Him and to Him are all things." 

The operation here spoken of is threefold : first, that by which 
all things are originated (of Him) ; second, that by which all things 
consist (through Him) ; third, that by which all things attain their 
final destiny (to Him). In connection with this clear, apostolic 
distinction the great teachers of the Church, after the fifth century, 
used to distinguish the operations of the Persons of the Trinity by 
saying that the operation whereby all things originated proceeds 
from the Father; that whereby they received consistency from the 
Son; and that whereby they were led to their destiny from the 
Holy Spirit. 

These clear thinkers taught that this distinction was in line with 
that of the Persons. Thus the Father is father. He generates the 
Son. And the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. 
Hence the peculiar feature of the First Person is evidently that He 
is the Source and Fountain not only of the material creation, but 
of its very conception ; of all that was and is and ever shall be. 
The peculiarity of the Second Person lies evidently not in genera 
ting, but in being generated. One is a son by being generated. 
Hence since all things proceed from the Father, nothing can 
proceed from the Son. The source of all things is not in the Son. 
Yet He adds a work of creation to that which is coming into exist 
ence; for the Holy Spirit proceeds also from Him; but not from 
Him alone, but from the Father and the Son, and that in such a 
way that the procession of the Son is due to His sameness of 
essence with the Father. 

The Scripture agrees with this in teaching that the Father cre 
ated all things by the Son, and that without Him was nothing made 
that was made. For the difference between " created by" and 
" created from," we refer to Col. i. 7 : " By Him all things consist," 
i.e., by Him they hold together. Heb. i. 3 is even clearer, saying 
that the Son upholds all things by the Word of His power. This 
shows that as the essentials of the creature s existence proceed 
from the Father as Fountain of all, so the forming, putting together, 
and arranging of its constituents are the proper work of the Son. 

If we were reverently to compare God s work to that of man we 
would say : A king proposes to build a palace. This requires not 
only material, labor, and plans, but also putting together and 



WORK OF THE.HOLY SPIRIT DISTINGUISHED 21 

arranging of the materials according to the plans. The king fur 
nishes the materials and plans, the builder constructs the palace. 
Who, then, built it? Neither the king nor the builder alone ; but 
the builder erects it out of the royal treasure. 

This expresses the relation between Father and Son in this 
respect as far as human relations can illustrate the divine. In the 
construction of the universe two operations appear: first, the 
causative, which produces the materials, forces, and plans ; second, 
the constructive, which with these forces forms and orders the mate 
rials according to the plan. And as the first proceeds from the 
Father, so does the second from the Son. The Father is the Royal 
Source of the necessary materials and powers ; and the Son as the 
Builder constructs all things with them according to the counsel 
of God. If the Father and the Son existed independently, such 
cooperation would be impossible. But since the Father generates 
the Son, and by virtue of that generation the Son contains the 
entire Being of the Father, there can be no division of Being, and 
only the distinction of Persons remains. For the entire wisdom 
and power whereby the Son gives consistency to all is generated in 
Him by the Father; while the counsel which designed all is a 
determination by the Father of that divine wisdom which He as 
Father generates in the Son. For the Son is forever the effulgence 
of the Father s glory, and the express image of His Person Heb. 

i- 3- 

This does not complete the work of creation. The creature is 
made not simply to exist or to adorn some niche in the universe 
like a statue. Rather was everything created with a purpose and 
a destiny ; and our creation will be complete only when we have 
become what God designed. Hence Gen. ii. 3 says: "God rested 
from all His work which He had created to make it perfect" (Dutch 
translation). Thus to lead the creature to its destiny, to cause it 
to develop according to its nature, to make it perfect, is the proper 
work of the Holy Spirit. 



Seconb Cbapter. 
THE CREATION. 



V. 
The Principle of Life in the Creature. 

" By His Spirit He hath garnished the 
heavens; His hand hath formed the 
crooked serpent." Job xx vi. 13. 

WE have seen that the work of the Holy Spirit consists in lead 
ing all creation to its destiny, the final purpose of which is the glory 
of God. However, God s glory in creation appears in various 
degrees and ways. An insect and a star, the mildew on the wall 
and the cedar on Lebanon, a common laborer and a man like 
Augustine, are all the creatures of God; yet how dissimilar they 
are, and how varied their ways and degrees of glorifying God. 

Let us therefore illustrate the statement that the glory of God is 
the ultimate end of every creature. Comparing the glory of God 
to that of an earthly king, it is evident that nothing can be indiffer 
ent to that glory. The building material of his palace, its furni 
ture, even the pavement before its gate, either enhance or diminish 
the royal splendor. Much more, however, is the king honored by 
the persons of his household, each in his degree, from the master 
of ceremonies to his prime minister. Yet his highest glory is his 
family of sons and daughters, begotten of his own blood, trained 
by his wisdom, animated by his ideals, one with him in the plans, 
purposes, and spirit of his life. Applying this in all reverence to 
the court of the King of heaven, it is evident that while every 
flower and star enhance His glory, the lives of angels and men are 
of much greater significance to His Kingdom; and again, while 
among the latter they are most closely related to His glory whom 
He has placed in positions of authority, nearest of all are the 
children begotten by His Spirit, and admitted to the secret of His 



THE PRINCIPLE OF LIFE IN THE CREATURE 23 

pavilion. We conclude, then, that God s glory is reflected most in 
His children ; and since no man can be His child unless he is begot 
ten of Him, we confess that His glory is most apparent in His elect 
or in His Church. 

His glory is not, however, confined to these ; for they are related 
to the whole race, and live among all nations and peoples with 
whom they share the common lot. We neither may nor can sepa 
rate their spiritual life from their national, social, and domestic life. 
And since all differences of national, social, and domestic life are 
caused by climate and atmosphere, meat and drink, rain and 
drought, plant and insect in a word, by the whole economy of this 
material world, including comet and meteor, it is evident that all 
these affect the outcome of things and are related to the glory of 
God. Hence as connected with the task of leading creation to its 
destiny, the whole universe confronts the mind as a mighty unit 
organically related to the Church as the shell to the kernel. 

In the accomplishment of this task the question arises in what 
way the fairest, noblest, and holiest part of the creation is to attain 
its destiny ; for to this all other parts must be made subservient. 

Hence the question, How are the multitude of the elect to attain 
their final perfection? The answer to this will indicate what is the 
Holy Spirit s action upon all other creatures. 

The answer can not be doubtful. God s children can never 
accomplish their glorious end unless God dwell in them as in His 
temple. It is the love of God that constrains Him to live in His 
children, by their love for Him to love Himself, and to see the 
reflection of His glory in the consciousness of His own handiwork. 
This glorious purpose will be realized only when the elect know as 
they are known, behold their God face to face, and enjoy the felicity 
of closest communion with the Lord. 

Since all this can be wrought in them only by His indwelling in 
their hearts, and since it is the Third Person in the Holy Trinity 
who enters the spirits of men and of angels, it is evident that God s 
highest purposes are realized when the Holy Spirit makes man s 
heart His dwelling-place. Who or what ever we are by education 
or position, we can not attain our highest destiny unless the Holy 
Spirit dwell in us and operate upon the inward organism of our 
being. 

If this His highest work had no bearing upon anything else, we 



24 THE CREATION 

might say that it consists merely in finishing the perfection of the 
creature. But this is not so. Every believer knows that there is a 
most intimate connection between his life before and after conver 
sion ; not as tho the former determined the latter, but in such a way 
that the life in sin and the life in the beauty of holiness are both 
conditioned by the same character and disposition, by similar circum 
stances and influences. Wherefore, to bring about our final perfec 
tion the Holy Spirit must influence the previous development, the 
formation of character, and the disposition of the whole person. 
And this operation, altho less marked in the natural life, must 
also be traced. However, since our personal life is only a manifes 
tation of human life in general, it follows that the Holy Spirit 
must have been active also in the creation of man, altho in a less 
marked degree. And finally, as the disposition of man as such is 
connected with the host of heaven and earth, His work must touch 
the formation of this also, tho to a much less extent. Hence 
the Spirit s work reaches as far as the influences that affect man 
in the attaining of his destiny or in the failure to attain it. And 
the measure of the influence is the degree in which they affect 
his perfecting. In the departure of the redeemed soul every one 
acknowledges a work of the Holy Spirit ; but who can trace His 
work in the star-movements? Yet the Scripture teaches not only 
that we are born again by the power of the Spirit of God, but that 
" by the Word of the Lord were the heavens made, and all the host 
of them by the breath [Spirit] of His mouth" 

Wherefore the Spirit s work leading the creature to its destiny 
includes an influence upon all creation from the beginning. And, 
if sin had not come in, we might say that this work is done in three 
successive steps : first, impregnating inanimate matter ; second, 
animating the rational soul ; third, taking up His abode in the elect 
child of God. 

But sin entered in, i.e., a power appeared to keep man and 
nature from their destiny. Hence the Holy Spirit must antagonize 
sin ; His calling is to annihilate it, and despite its opposition to cause 
the elect children of God and the entire creation to reach their 
end. Redemption is therefore not a new work added to that of the 
Holy Spirit, but it is identical with it. He undertook to bring all 
things to their destiny either without the disturbance of sin or in 
spite of it / first, by saving the elect, and then by restoring all things 
in heaven and on earth at the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. 



THE PRINCIPLE OF LIFE IN THE CREATURE 25 

Things incidental t,o this, such as the inspiration of Scripture, 
the preparation of the Body of Christ, the extraordinary ministration 
of grace to the Church, are only connecting-links, connecting the 
beginning with its own predetermined end; that in spite of sin s 
disturbance the destiny of the universe to glorify God might be 
secured. 

Condensing all into one statement, we might say: Sin having 
once entered, a factor which must be taken into account, the Holy 
Spirit s work shines most gloriously in gathering and saving the 
elect ; prior to which are His operations in the work of redemption 
and in the economy of the natural life. The same Spirit who in 
the beginning moved upon the waters has in the dispensation of 
grace given us the Holy Scripture, the Person of Christ, and the 
Christian Church ; and it is He who, in connection with the original 
creation and by these means of grace, now regenerates and sanctifies 
us as the children of God. 

Regarding these mighty and comprehensive operations, it is of 
first importance to keep in view the fact that in each He effects 
only that which is invisible and imperceptible. This marks all the 
Holy Spirit s operations. Behind the visible world lies one invisi 
ble and spiritual, with outer courts and inner recesses ; and under 
neath the latter are the unfathomable depths of the soul, which the 
Holy Spirit chooses as the scene of His labors His temple wherein 
He sets up His altar. 

Christ s redemptive work also has visible and invisible parts. 
Reconciliation in His blood was visible. The sanctification of His 
Body and the adorning of His human nature with manifold graces 
were invisible. Whenever this hidden and inward work is specified 
the Scripture always connects it with the Holy Spirit. Gabriel says 
to Mary: "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee." It is said of 
Christ: " That He had the Spirit without measure." 

We observe also in the host of heaven a life material, outward, 
tangible which in thought we never associate with the Holy Spirit. 
But, however weak and impalpable, the visible and tangible has 
an invisible background. How intangible are the forces of nature, 
how full of majesty the forces of magnetism! But life underlies 
all. Even through the apparently dead trunk sighs an impercept 
ible breath. From the unfathomable depths of all an inward, 
hidden principle works upward and outward. It shows in nature, 
much more in man and angel. And what is this quickening and 



26 THE CREATION 

animating principle but the Holy Spirit? " Thou sendest forth Thy 
Spirit, they are created; Thou takest away Thy breath, they die." 
This inward, invisible something is God s direct touch. There 
is in us and in every creature a point where the living God touches 
us to uphold us; for nothing exists without being upheld by Al 
mighty God from moment to moment. In the elect this point is 
their spiritual life ; in the rational creature his rational conscious 
ness; and in all creatures, whether rational or not, their life-prin 
ciple. And as the Holy Spirit is the Person in the Holy Trinity 
whose office it is to effect this direct touch and fellowship with the 
creature in his inmost being, it is He who dwells in the hearts of 
the elect ; who animates every rational being , who sustains the 
principle of life in very creature. 



VI. 

The Host of Heaven and of Earth. 

" The Spirit of God hath made 
me." yc0 xxxiii. 4. 

UNDERSTANDING somewhat the characteristic note of the work of 
the Holy Spirit, let us see what this work was and is and shall be. 

The Father brings forth, the Son disposes and arranges, the 
Holy Spirit perfects. There is one God and Father of whom are 
all things, and one Lord Jesus Christ through whom are all things; 
but what does the Scripture say of the special work the Holy Spirit 
did in creation and is still doing? 

For the sake of order we examine first the account of the crea 
tion. God says in Gen. i. 2 : " The earth was without form and 
void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit 
of God moved upon the waters." See also Job xxvi. 13: " By His 
Spirit He hath garnished the heavens ; His hand hath formed the 
crooked serpent [the constellation of the Dragon, or, according to 
others, the Milky Way]." And also Job xxxiii. 4: "The Spirit of 
God hath made me ; and the breath of the Almighty hath given me 
life." And again Psalm xxxiii. 6: " By the Word of the Lord were 
the heavens made, and all the host of them by the breath of His 
mouth." So also Psalm civ. 30: "Thou sendest forth Thy Spirit, 
they are created, and Thou renewest the face of the earth." And 
with different import, in Isa. xl. 13: "Who hath directed the Spirit 
of the Lord [in creation], or being His counselor hath taught Him?" 

These statements show that the Holy Spirit did a work of His 
own in creation. 

They show, too, that His activities are ^closely connected with 
those of the Father and the Son. Psalm xxxiii. 6 presents them 
as almost identical. The first clause reads : " By the Word of the 
Lord were the heavens" made"; the second: "And all the host of 
them by the breath [Spirit] of His mouth." It is well known that 
in Hebrew poetry parallel clauses express the same thought in 



28 THE CREATION 

different ways ; so that from this passage it appears that the work 
of the Word and that of the Spirit are the same, the latter adding 
only that which is peculiarly His own. 

It should be noticed that hardly any of these passages mention 
the Holy Spirit by His own name. It is not the Holy Spirit, but the 
" Spirit of His mouth," " His Spirit," " the Spirit of the Lord." On 
account of this, many hold that these passages do not refer to the 
Holy Spirit as the Third Person in the Holy Trinity, but speak of 
God as One, without personal distinction ; and that the representa 
tion of God as creating anything by His hand, fingers, word, breath, 
or Spirit is merely a human way of speaking, signifying only that 
God was thus engaged. 

The Church has always opposed this interpretation, and rightly 
so, on the ground that even the Old Testament, not merely in a few 
places but throughout its entire economy, bears undoubted testi 
mony to the three divine Persons, coequal yet of one essence. It 
is true that this too has been denied, but by a wrong interpretation. 
And to the reply, " But our interpretation is as good as yours," we 
answer that Jesus and the apostles are our authorities; the Church 
received its confession from their lips. 

Secondly, we deny that " His Spirit" does not refer to the Holy 
Ghost, for the reason that in the New Testament similar expres 
sions occur that undoubtedly do refer to Him, e.g., God hath sent 
forth the Spirit of His Son" (Gal. iv. 6); "Whom the Lord shall 
consume by the Spirit of His mouth" (2 Thess. ii. 8); etc. 

Thirdly, judging from the following passages, " By the Word ot 
the Lord were the heavens made " (Psalm xxxiii. 6) ; " And God said, 
Let there be light" (Gen. i. 3) ; and " All things were made by Him, 
and without Him was not anything made that was made" (John i. 
3), there can be no doubt that Psalm xxxiii. 6 refers to the Second 
Person in the Godhead. Hence also the second clause of the same 
verse, " And all their host by the Spirit of His mouth," must refer 
to the Third Person. 

Finally, to speak of a Spirit of God that is not the Holy Spirit is 
to transfer to the Holy Scripture a purely Western and human idea. 
We as men often speak of a wrong spirit which controls a nation, an 
army, or a school, meaning a certain tendency, inclination, or per 
suasion a spirit that proceeds from a man distinct horn his person 
and being. But this may not and can not apply to God. Speak 
ing of Christ in His humiliation, one may rightly say, " To have 



THE HOST OF HEAVEN AND OF EARTH 29 

the mind of Christ," or " to have the spirit of Jesus," which indi 
cates His disposition. But to distinguish the divine Being from 
a spirit of that Being is to conceive of the Godhead in a human 
way. The divine consciousness differs wholly from the human. 
While in us there is a difference between our persons and our con 
sciousness, with reference to God such distinctions disappear, and 
the distinction of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit takes their place. 

Even in those passages where "the breath of His mouth" is 
added to explain " His Spirit," the same interpretation must be 
maintained. For all languages show that our breathing, even as 
the " breathing of the elements "in the wind which blows before 
God s face, corresponds to the being of spirit. Nearly all express 
the ideas of spirit, breath, and wind by cognate terms. Blowing or 
breathing is in all the Scripture the symbol of spirit-communica 
tion. Jesus breathed on them and said : " Receive ye the Holy 
Ghost" (John xx. 22). Thus the breath of His mouth must signify 
the Holy Spirit. 

The ancient interpretation of the Scripture should not be hastily 
abandoned. Accept the dictum of modern theology that the dis 
tinction of the three divine Persons is not found in the Old Testa 
ment, and allusions to the work of the Holy Spirit in Genesis, Job, 
Psalms, or Isaiah are out of the question. Consequently nothing is 
more natural for the supporters of this modern theology than to 
deny the Holy Spirit altogether in the passages referred to. 

But if from inward conviction we still confess that the distinc 
tion of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is clearly seen in the Old 
Testament, then let us examine these passages concerning the 
Spirit of the Lord with discrimination, and gratefully maintain the 
traditional interpretation, which finds at least in many of these 
statements references to the work of the Holy Spirit. 

These passages show that His peculiar work in creation was : 
ist, hovering over chaos; 2d, creation of the host of heaven and of 
earth ; 3d, ordening the heavens ; 4th, animating the brute creation, 
and calling man into existence; and last, the operation whereby 
every creature is made to exist according to God s counsel concern 
ing it. 

Hence the material forces of the universe do not proceed from 
the Holy Spirit/ nor did He deposit in matter the dormant seeds and 
germs of life. His special task begins only after the creation of 
matter with the germs of life in it. 



30 THE CREATION 

The Hebrew text shows that the work of the Holy Spirit moving 
upon the face of the waters was similar to that of the parent bird 
which with outspread wings hovers over its young to cherish and 
cover them. The figure implies that not only the earth existed, 
but also the germs of life within it ; and that the Holy Spirit im 
pregnating these germs caused the life to come forth in order to 
lead it to its destiny. 

Not by the Holy Spirit, but by the Word were the heavens 
created. And when the created heavens were to receive their 
host, then only did the moment come for the exercise of the Holy 
Spirit s peculiar functions. What " the host of heaven" means is 
not easily decided. It may refer to sun, moon, and stars, or to the 
host of angels. Perhaps the passage means not the creation of the 
heavenly bodies, but their reception of heavenly glory and celestial 
fire. But Psalm xxxiii. 6 refers certainly not to the creation of the 
matter of which the heavenly host are composed, but to the produc 
tion of their glory. 

Gen. i. 2 reveals first the creation of matter and its germs, 
then their quickening; so Psalm xxxiii. 6 teaches first the prepara 
tion of the- being and nature of the heavens, then the bringing forth 
of their host by the Holy Spirit. Job xxvi. 13 leads to a similar 
conclusion. Here is the same distinction between the heavens and 
their ordening, the latter being represented as the special work of 
the Holy Spirit. This ordening is the same as the brooding in 
Gen. i. 2, by which the formless took form, the hidden life emerged, 
and the things created were led to their destiny. Psalm civ. 30 and 
Job xxxiii. 4 illustrate the work of the Holy Spirit in creation still 
more clearly. Job informs us that the Holy Spirit had a special 
part in the making of man ; and Psalm civ. that He performed a 
similar work in the creation of the animals, of the fowls and the 
fishes; for the two preceding verses imply that verse 27 "Thou 
sendest forth Thy Spirit, they are created " refers not to man, but 
to the monsters that play in the deep. 

Grant that the matter out of which God made man was already 
present in the dust of the earth, that the type of his body was 
largely present in the animal, and that the idea of man and the 
image after which he was to be created existed already ; yet from 
Job xxxiii. 4 it is evident that he did not come to be without a 
special work of the Holy Spirit. So Psalm civ. 30 proves that, 
altho the matter existed out of which whale and unicorn were to be 



THE HOST OF HEAVEN AND OF EARTH 31 

made, and the plan or model was in the divine counsel, yet a special 
act of the Holy Spirit was needed to cause them to be. This is still 
plainer in view of the fact that neither passage refers to ihejftrst 
creation, but to a man and animals formed later. For Job speaks 
not of Adam and Eve, but of himself. He says: "The spirit of 
God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me 
life." In- Psalm civ. David means not the monsters of the deep 
created in the beginning, but those that were walking the paths of 
the sea while he was singing this psalm. If, therefore, the bodies 
of existing man and of mammals are not immediate creations, but 
are taken from the flesh and blood, the nature and kind of existent 
beings, then it is more evident that the hovering of the Holy Spirit 
over the unformed is a present act ; and that therefore His creative 
work was to bring out the life already hidden in chaos, i.e., in the 
germs of life. 

This agrees with what was said at first of the general character 
of His work. " To lead to its destiny " is to bring forth the hidden 
life, to cause the hidden beauty to reveal itself, to rouse into activity 
the slumbering energies. 

Only let us not represent it as a work performed in successive 
stages first by the Father, whose finished work was taken up by 
the Son, after which the Holy Spirit completed the work thus pre 
pared. Such representations are unworthy of God. There is distri 
bution, no division, in the divine activities ; wherefore Isaiah declares 
that the Spirit of the Lord, i.e., the Holy Spirit, throughout the 
entire work of creation, from the beginning yea, from before the 
beginning directed all that was to come. 



,t moving 

*ent bird 

; sh and 

: sted, 

VII. 
The Creaturely Man. 

"The Spirit of God hath made me, and 
the breath of the Almighty hath 
given me life." Job xxxiii. 4. 

THE Eternal and Ever-blessed God comes into vital touch with 
the creature by an act proceeding not from the Father nor from 
the Son, but from the Holy Spirit. 

Translated by sovereign grace from death unto life, God s chil 
dren are conscious of this divine fellowship; they know that it con 
sists not in inward agreement of disposition or inclination, but in 
the mysterious touch of God upon their spiritual being. But they 
also know that neither the Father nor the Son, but the Holy Spirit, 
has made their hearts His temple. It is true Christ comes to us 
through the Holy Spirit, and through the Son we have fellowship 
with the Father, according to His word, " I and the Father will 
come unto you, and make Our abode with you"; yet every intelli 
gent Bible student knows that it is more especially the Holy Spirit 
who enters into his person and touches his innermost being. 

That the Son incarnate came into closer contact with us proves 
nothing to the contrary. Christ never entered into a human person. 
He took upon Himself our human nature, with which He united 
Himself much more closely than the Holy Spirit does; but He did 
not touch the inward man and his hidden personality. On the con 
trary, He said that it was expedient for the disciples that He should 
go away ; " for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto 
you; but if I depart I will send Him unto you." Moreover, the In 
carnation was not accomplished without the Holy Spirit, who over 
shadowed Mary; and the blessings that Christ imparted to all 
around Him were largely owing to the gift of the Holy Spirit, 
which was given Him without measure. 

Hence the principal thought remains intact: When God comes 
into direct contact with the creature it is the work of the Holy 



THE CREATURELY MAN 33 

such contact. In the visible world this action con- 



.ie kindling and fanning of the spark of life ; hence it is 
ei ltural and in full harmony with the general tenor of the 

e Lng of Scripture that the Spirit of God moves upon the face 
of the waters, that He brings forth the host of heaven and earth, 
ordened, animated, and resplendent. 

Besides this visible creation there is also an invisible, which, so 
far as our world is concerned, concentrates itself in the heart of man ; 
hence, in the second place, we must see how far the work of the 
Holy Spirit may be traced in man s creation. 

Of the animal world we do not speak. Not as tho the Holy 
Spirit had nothing to do with their creation. From Psalm civ. 30 
we have proven the contrary. Moreover, no one can deny the 
admirable traits of cunning, love, fidelity, and thankfulness in many 
of the animals. Not that we would be foolish on that ground to 
call the dog half human; for these higher animal properties are 
evidently but instinctive preformations, sketches of the Holy 
Spirit, carried to their proper destiny in man alone. And yet, 
however striking these traits may be, it is not a person that meets 
us in the animal. The animaj. proceeds from the world of matter, 
and returns to it; in man alone appears that which is new, invisible, 
and spiritual, justifying us in looking for a special work of the Holy 
Spirit in his creation. 

Of himself, i.e., of a man, Job declares: " The Spirit of God hath 
made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life." The 
Spirit of God hath made me. That which I am as a human person 
ality is the work of the Holy Spirit. To Him I owe the human and 
personal that constitute me the being that I am. He adds : " The 
breath of the Almighty hath given me life"; which evidently 
echoes the words : " The Lord God breathed into His nostrils the 
breath of life." 

Like Job, we ought to feel and to acknowledge that in Adam 
you and I are created; when God created Adam He created us ; in 
Adam s nature He called forth the nature wherein we now live. 
Gen. i. and ii. is not the record of aliens, but of ourselves concern 
ing the flesh and blood which we carry with us, the human nature in 
which we sit down to read the Word of God. 

He that reads his Bible without this personal application reads 
amiss. It leaves him cold and indifferent. It may charm him in 
the days of his childhood, when one is fond of tales and stories, but 
3 



34 THE CREATION 

has no hold of him in the days of conflict, when he meets the stern 
facts and realities of life. But if we accustom ourselves to see 
in this record the history of our own flesh and blood, of our own 
human nature and life, and acknowledge that by human generation 
we spring from Adam, and therefore were in Adam when he was 
created then we shall also know that when God formed Adam out 
of the dust He also formed us ; that we also were in Paradise ; that 
Adam s fall ^was also ours. In a word, the first page of Genesis 
relates the history not of an alien, but of our own real selves. The 
breath of the Almighty gave us life, when the Lord formed man of 
the dust, and breathed into his nostrils and made him a living soul. 
The root of our life lies in our parents ; but through and beyond 
them the tender fiber of that root goes back through the long line 
of generations, and received its earliest beginning when Adam first 
breathed God s pure air in Paradise. 

And yet, tho in Paradise we received the first inception of our 
being, there is also a second beginning of our life, viz., when from 
the race, by conception and birth, each of us was called into being 
individually. And of this also Job testifies : " The Spirit of the Lord 
hath given me life." 

And again, in the life of sinful man there comes a third begin 
ning, when it pleases God to convert the wicked; and of this also 
the soul testifies within us ; " The Spirit of the Lord hath given me 
life/ 
Leaving this new birth out of the question, the testimony of Job 
shows us that he was conscious of the fact that he owed his exist 
ence as a man, as a person, as an ego, hence his creation in Adam 
as well as his personal being, to God. 

And what does the Scripture teach us concerning the creation 
of man? This : that the dust of the ground out of which Adam was 
formed was so wrought upon that it became a living soul, which 
indicates the human being. The result was not merely a moving, 
creeping, eating, drinking, and sleeping creature, but a living soul 
that came into existence at the moment when the breath of life was 
breathed into the dust. It was not first the dust, and then human 
life within the dust, and after that the soul with all its higher facul 
ties in that human life ; nay, as soon as life went forth into Adam, 
he was a man, and all his precious gifts were natural endowments. 

Sinful man being born from above receives gifts that are above 
nature. For this reason the Holy Spirit merely dwells in the quick- 



THE CREATURELY MAN 35 

ened sinner. But in heaven this will not be so ; for in death the 
human nature is so completely changed that the impulse to sin 
disappears entirely ; wherefore in heaven the Holy Spirit will work 
in the human nature itself for ever and ever. In the present state 
of humiliation the nature of the regenerate is still the Adam-nature. 
The great mystery of the work of the Holy Spirit in him is this: 
that in and by that broken and corrupt nature He works the holy works 
of God. It is as light shining through our window-panes, but in no 
wise identical with the glass. 

In Paradise, however, man s nature was whole, intact; every 
thing about him was holy. We must avoid the dangerous error 
that the newly created man had an inferior degree of holiness. 
God made man upright, with nothing crooked in or about him. All 
his inclinations and powers with all their workings were pure and 
holy. God delighted in Adam, saw that he was good, surely noth 
ing more can be desired. In this respect Adam differed from the 
child of. God by grace in not having eternal life; he was to attain 
this as the reward for holy works. On the other hand, Abraham, 
the father of the faithful, begins with eternal life, from which holy 
works were to proceed. 

Hence a perfect contrast. Adam must attain eternal life by 
works. Abraham has eternal life through which he obtains holy 
works. Hence for Adam there can be no indwelling of the Holy 
Spirit. There was no antagonism between him and the Spirit. So 
the Spirit could pervade him, not merely dwell in him. The nature 
of sinful man repels the Holy Spirit, but Adam s nature attracted 
Him, freely received Him, and let Him inspire his being. 

Our faculties and inclinations are impaired, our powers are ener 
vated, the passions of our hearts corrupt; hence the Holy Spirit 
must come to us from without. But since Adam s faculties were all 
intact, and the whole expression of his inward life undisturbed, 
therefore could the Holy Spirit work through the common powers 
and operations of his nature. To Adam spiritual things were not a 
fjtematural, but a natural good except eternal life, which he must 
earn by fulfilling the law. Scripture expresses this unity between 
Adam s natural life and spiritual powers by identifying the two 
expressions " To breathe into the breath of life," and " to become 
a living soul." 

Other passages show that this divine "inbreathing" indicates 
especially the Spirit s work. Jesus breathed upon His disciples 



36 THE CREATION 

and said: "Receive ye the Holy Ghost." He compares the Holy 
Spirit to the wind. In both the Biblical languages, Hebrew and 
Greek, the word spirit means wind, breathing or blowing. And as 
the Church confesses that the Son is eternally generated by the 
Father, so it confesses that the Holy Spirit proceedeth from the 
Father and the Son as by breathing. Hence we conclude that the 
passage, "And breathed into his nostrils the breath of life" in 
connection with, "The Spirit of God moved on the face of the 
waters," and the word of Job, " The Spirit of God hath given me 
life " points to a special work of the Holy Spirit. 

Before God breathed the breath of life in the lifeless dust, there 
was a conference in the economy of the divine Being : " Let Us 
make man in Our image, after Our likeness." This shows- 
First, that each divine Person had a distinct work in the creation 
of man " Let Us make man." Before this the singular is used of 
God " He spake," " He saw"; but now the plural is used, " Let Us 
make man," which implies that, here specially and more clearly 
than in any preceding passage, the activities of the Persons are to 
be distinguished. 

Secondly, that man was not created empty, afterward to be en 
dowed with higher spiritual faculties and powers, but that the very 
act of creation made him after God s image, without any subse 
quent addition to his being. For we read : " Let Us create man in 
Our image and after Our likeness" This assures us that by immediate 
creation man received the impress of the divine image ; that in the 
creation the divine Persons each performed a distinct work ; and, 
lastly, that man s creation with reference to his higher destiny was 
effected by a going forth of the breath of God. 

This is the basis of our statement that the Spirit s creative work 
was making all man s powers and gifts instruments for His own 
use, connecting them vitally and immediately with the powers of 
God. This agrees with Biblical teachings regarding the Holy 
Spirit s regenerating work, which also, tho differently, brings the 
power and holiness of God in immediate contact with human 
powers. 

We deny, therefore, the frequent assertion of ethical theolo 
gians, that the Holy Spirit created \.}\o, personality of man, since this 
opposes the entire economy of Scripture. For what is our person 
ality but the realization of God s plan concerning us? Such as God 
from eternity has thought each of us, as distinct from other men, 



THE , CREATURELY MAN 37 

with our own stamp, life-history, calling, and destiny as such each 
must develop and show himself to become a person. Thus alone 
each obtains character ; anything else so called is pride and arbi 
trariness. 

If our personality result directly from God s plan, then it and 
what we have in common with all other creatures can not be from 
the Holy Spirit, but from the Father ; like all other things, it re 
ceives its disposition from the Son ; and the Holy Spirit acts upon 
it as upon every other creature, by kindling the spark, imparting 
the glow of life. 



VIII. 
Gifts and Talents. 

" And the Spirit of the Lord came 
upon him. Judges iii. 10. 

WE now consider the Holy Spirit s work in bestowing gifts, 
talents, and abilities upon artisans and professional men. Scrip 
ture declares that the special animation and qualification of persons 
for work assigned to them by God proceed from the Holy Spirit. 

The construction of the tabernacle required capable workmen, 
skilful carpenters, goldsmiths, and silversmiths, and masters in the 
arts of weaving and embroidering. Who will furnish Moses with 
them? The Holy Spirit. For we read in Exod. xxxi. 2, 3 : " I have 
called by name Bezaleel, the son of Uri, . . . and I have filled him 
with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in 
knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, to devise cunning 
works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, and in cutting 
of stones, to set them, and in carving of timber, to work in all 
manner of workmanship." Verse 6 shows that this activity of the 
Holy Spirit included others : " In the hearts of all that are wise- 
hearted I have put wisdom, that they may make all that I have 
commanded them." And to give clearest light on this subject, 
Scripture says also: " Then hath He filled with wisdom of heart, to 
work all manner of work of the engraver and of the cunning work 
man, and of the embroiderer in blue and in purple and in scarlet 
and in fine linen of the weaver, even of them that do any work and 
of these that devise cunning work." 

The Spirit s working shows not only in ordinary skilled labor, 
but also in the higher spheres of human knowledge and mental 
activity; for military genius, legal acumen, statemanship, and 
power to inspire the masses with enthusiasm are equally ascribed 
to it. This is generally expressed in the words, " And the Spirit 
of the Lord came upon " such a hero, judge, statesman, or tribune 
of the people, especially in the days of the Judges, when it is said 



GIFTS AND TALENTS 



39 



of Joshua, Othniel, Barak, Gideon, Samson, Samuel, and others 
that the Spirit of the Lord came upon them. Also of Zerubbabel 
rebuilding the temple, it is said : " Not by might nor by power, but 
by My Spirit, saith the Lord." Even of the heathen king, Cyrus, 
we read that Jehovah had called him to His work and anointed him 
with the Spirit of the Lord Isa. xlv. 

This last instance introduces another aspect of the case, viz., the 
operation of the Holy Spirit in qualifying men for official functions. 
For altho this operation upon and through the office receives its 
fullest significance only in the dispensation of grace, yet the case 
of Cyrus shows that the Holy Spirit has originally a work to per 
form in this respect which is not only a result of grace, but belongs 
essentially to the nature of the work, even tho it is obvious only 
in the history of God s special dealings with His own people. 

It is especially noticeable in the struggle between Saul and 
David. There is no reason to consider Saul one of God s elect. 
After his anointing the Holy Spirit comes upon him, abides with 
him, and works upon him as long as he remains the Lord s chosen 
king over His people. But as soon as by wilful disobedience he 
forfeits that favor, the Holy Spirit departs from him and an evil 
spirit from the Lord troubles him. Evidently this work of the 
Holy Spirit has nothing to do with regeneration. For a time it 
may operate upon a man and then forever depart from him ; while 
the Spirit s saving operation, even tho suspended for a time, can 
never be wholly lost. David s touching prayer, " Take not Thy 
Holy Spirit from me," must therefore refer to gifts qualifying him 
for the kingly office. David had the terrible example of Saul 
before him. He had seen what becomes of a man whom the Holy 
Spirit leaves to himself; and his heart trembled at the possibility 
of an evil spirit coming upon him, and an end as sad as Saul s. 
Like Judas, Saul dies a suicide. 

From the whole Scripture teaching we therefore conclude that 
the Holy Spirit has a work in connection with mechanical arts and 
official functions in every special talent whereby some men excel 
in such art or office. This teaching is not simply that such gifts 
and talents are not of man but from God Hke all other blessings, 
but that they are not the work of the Father, nor of the Son, but of 
the Holy Spirit. 

The distinction discovered in creation may be observed here : 
gifts and talents come from the Father ; are disposed for each per- 



40 THE CREATION 

sonality by the Son ; and kindled in each by the Holy Spirit as by 
a spark from above. 

Let us distinguish art itself, personal talent to practise it, and 
the vocation thereto. 

Art is not man s invention, but God s creation. In all nations 
and ages men have pursued the arts of weaving, embroidering, 
skilful dressmaking, casting and chasing noble metals, cutting and 
polishing diamonds, molding iron and brass ; and in all these coun 
tries and ages, without knowing of each other s efforts, have applied 
the same arts to all these materials. Of course there is a difference. 
Oriental work bears a stamp quite different from that of the West. 
Even French and German work differ. But under the differences, 
the endeavor, the art applied, the material, the ideal pursued are 
the same. So, too, art did not attain perfection all at once ; among 
the nations forms at first crude and awkward gradually developed 
into forms chaste, refined, and beautiful. Successive generations 
improved upon previous achievements, until among the various 
nations comparative perfection of art and skill was attained. 
Hence art is not the result of man s thought and purpose; but God 
has placed in various materials certain possibilities of workman 
ship, and by applying this workmanship man must make out of 
each what there is in it, and not whatever he chooses. 

Two things must cooperate to effect this. In the creation of 
gold, silver, wood, iron, God must have placed in them certain 
possibilities, and have created inventive power in man s mind, per 
severance in his will, strength in his muscle, accurate vision in his 
eye, delicacy of touch and action in his fingers, thus qualifying 
him to evolve what is latent in the materials. Since this labor has 
the same nature among all nations, the perpetual progress of the 
same great work being accomplished according to the same majestic 
plan, through successive generations, all artistic skill and executive 
ability must be wrought in man by a higher power and according to 
a higher command. Viewing the treasures of an industrial exposi 
tion in the light of the revealed Word, we shall see in their gradual 
development and genetic unity the downfall of human pride, and 
exclaim : " What is all this art and skill but the manifestation of the 
possibilities which God has placed in these materials, and of the 
powers of mind and eye and finger which He has given the children 
of men ! " 

Consider, now, personal talent as utterly distinct from art. 



GIFTS AND TALENTS 41 

The goldsmith in his craft and the judge in his office enter upon 
a work of God. Each labors in his divine vocation, and all the skill 
and judgment that he may develop therein come from the treasures 
of the Lord. 

Still, workman differs from workman, general from general. 
The one copies the product of the generation before him and be 
queaths it without increasing the artistic skill. He began as an 
apprentice, and imparts this skill to other apprentices; but the 
artistic proficiency is the same. The other manifests something 
akin to genius. He quickly surpasses his master; sees, touches, 
discovers something new. In his hand art is enriched. It is given 
him to transfer from the treasures of divine artistic skill new beau 
ties into human skill. 

So also of men in office and profession. Thousands of officers 
trained in our military schools become good teachers of the science 
of tactics as practised heretofore, but add nothing to it ; while among 
these thousands there may be two or three possessed of military 
genius who in the event of war will astonish the world by their 
brilliant exploits. 

This talent, this individual genius so intimately connected with 
man s personality, is a gift. No power in the world can create it in 
the man that possesses it not. The child is born with or without it 
if without it, no education nor severity not even ambition can call 
it forth. But as the gift of grace is freely bestowed by the sover 
eign God, so is also the gift of genius. When the people pray, let 
them not forget to ask the Lord to raise up among them men of 
talent, heroes of art and of office. 

When in 1870 Germany had victory only, and France defeat onty, 
it was God s sovereignty that gave the former talented generals, 
and in displeasure denied them to the latter. 

Consider the vocation. 

Official and mechanical men have a high call. All have not the 
same ability. One is adapted for the sea, another for the plow. 
One is a bungler in the foundry, but a master at wood-carving, 
while another is the reverse. This depends upon the personality, 
nature, and inclination. And since the Holy Spirit lights the 
personality, He also determines every man s calling to trade or 
profession. The same applies to the life of nations. The French 
excel in taste as well as in artistic workmanship ; while the English 
seem created for the sea, our masters in all the markets of the 



42 THE CREATION 

world. The Holy Spirit even bestows artistic skill and talent upon 
a nation at one time and withdraws it at another. Three centuries 
ago Holland surpassed all Europe in weaving, making porcelain, 
printing, painting, and engraving. But how great the subsequent 
decline in this respect altho now progress again appears. 

What we find in Israel is related to this. This very thirst and 
capacity for knowledge had caused man to fall. The first impetus 
was given to artistic skill among Cain s descendants; the Jubals 
and the Jabals and the Tubal-Cains were the first artists. And yet 
this whole development, altho feeding upon the treasures of God, 
departed more and more from Him, while His own people utterly 
lacked it. In the days of Samuel there was no smith found in all 
the land of Canaan. Hence the Spirit s coming upon Bezaleel and 
Aholiab, upon Othniel and Samson, upon Saul and David, signifies 
something more than a mere imparting of artistic skill and talent ; 
namely, the restoration of what sin had corrupted and defiled. And 
thus the illumination of a Bezaleel links the Holy Spirit s work in 
the material creation and that in the dispensation of grace. 



ITbfrfc Gbapter, 
RE-CREATION. 



IX. 
Creation and Re-Creation. 

" Behold, I will pour out My Spirit 
unto you." Prov. i. 23. 

WE approach the special work of the Holy Spirit in Re-creation. 
We have seen that the Holy Spirit had a part in the creation of 
all things, particularly in creating man, and most particularly in 
endowing him with gifts and talents ; also that His creative work 
affects the upholding of "things," of "man," and of "talents," 
through the providence of God ; and that in this double series of 
threefold activity the Spirit s work is intimately connected with 
that of the Father and that of the Son, so that every thing, every 
man, every talent springs from the Father, is given disposition in 
their respective natures and being through the Son, and receives 
the spark of life by the Holy Spirit. 

The old church hymn, " Veni, Creator Spiritus," and the ancient 
confession of the Holy Spirit as the " Vivificans " agree with this 
perfectly. For the latter signifies that Person in the Trinity who 
imparts the spark of life ; and the former means, " Seeing that the 
things which are to live and shall live are ready, come Holy Spirit 
and quicken them." 

There is always the same deep thought: the Father remains 
outside of the creature; the Son touches him outwardly; by the 
Holy Spirit tlje divine life touches him directly in his inward 
being. 

However, let us not be understood to say that God comes into 
contact with the creature only in the regeneration of His children, 



44 RE-CREATION 

which would be untrue. To the Gentiles at Athens, St. Paul says: 
"In Him we live and move and have our being." And again: 
" For of His offspring we are." To say nothing of plant or ani 
mal, there is on earth no life, energy, law, atom, or element but 
the Almighty and Omnipresent God quickens and supports that 
life from moment to moment, causes that energy to work, and 
enforces that law. Suppose that for an instant God should cease to 
sustain and animate this life, these forces, and that law ; in that same 
instant they would cease to be. The energy that proceeds from 
God must therefore touch the creature in the very center of its 
being, whence, its whole existence must spring. Hence there is no 
sun, moon, nor star, no material, plant, or animal, and, in much 
higher sense, no man, skill, gift, or talent unless God touch and 
support them all. 

It is this act of coming into immediate contact with every crea 
ture, animate or inanimate, organic or inorganic, rational or irra 
tional, that, according to the profound conception of the Word of 
God, is performed not by the Father, nor by the Son, but by the 
Holy Spirit. 

And this puts the work of the Holy Spirit in a light quite differ 
ent from that in which for many years the Church has looked upon 
it. The general impression is that His work refers to the life of 
grace -only, and is confined to regeneration and sanctification. This 
is due more or less to the well-known division of the Apostolic 
Creed by the Heidelberg Catechism, question 29, " How are these 
articles divided?" which is answered : " Into three parts of God the 
Father and our creation, of God the Son and our redemption, and 
of God the Holy Spirit and our sanctification." And this, too, altho 
Ursinus, one of the authors of this catechism, had already declared, 
in his " Thesaurus," that: " All the three Persons create and redeem 
and sanctify. But in these operations they observe this order that 
the Father creates of Himself by means of the Son; the Son creates 
by means of the Father; and the Holy Spirit by means of both." 

But since the deeper insight into the mystery of the adorable 
Trinity was gradually lost, and the pulpit s touch upon it became 
both rare and superficial, the Sabellian error naturally crept into 
the Church again, viz., that there were three successive periods in 
the activities of the divine Persons: First, that of the Father alone 
creating the world and upholding the natural life of all things. This 
was followed by a period of activity for the Son, when nature had 



CREATION AND RE-CREATION 45 

become unnatural and fallen man a subject for redemption. Lastly, 
came that of the Holy Spirit regenerating and sanctifying the 
redeemed on the ground of the work of Christ. 

According to this view, in childhood, when eating, drinking, and 
playing occupied all our time, we had to do with the Father. Later, 
when the conviction of sin dawned upon us, we felt the need of the 
Son. And not until the life of sanctification had begun in us did 
the Holy Spirit begin to take notice of us. Hence while the Father 
wrought, the Son and the Holy Spirit were inactive ; when the Son 
undertook His work, the Father and the Holy Spirit were inactive ; 
and now since the Holy Spirit alone performs the work, the Father 
and the Son are idle. But since this view of God is wholly unten 
able, Sabellius, who elaborated it philosophically, came to the con 
clusion that Father, Son, and Holy Ghost were after all but one 
Person; who first wrought in creation as Father, then having 
become the Son wrought out our redemption, and now as the Holy 
Spirit perfects our sanctification. 

And yet, inadmissible as this view may be, it is more reverent 
and God-fearing than the crude superficialities of the current views 
that confine the Spirit s operations entirely to the elect, beginning 
only at their regeneration. 

True, sermons on creation referred, in passing, to the moving of 
the Holy Spirit on the face of the waters, and His coming upon 
Bezaleel and Aholiab is treated in the catechet^ , ; but the 
two are not connected, and the hearer is never ir co understand 
what the Author of our regeneration had to do with the moving 
upon the waters ; they were merely isolated facts. Regeneration 
was the principal work of the Holy Spirit. 

Our Reformed theologians have always warned against such 
representations, which are only the result of making man the start 
ing-point in the contemplation of divine things. They always 
made God Himself the starting-point, and were not satisfied until 
the work of the Holy Spirit was clearly seen in all its stages, 
throughout the ages, and in the heart of every creature. Without 
this the Holy Spirit could not be God, the object of their adoration. 
They felt that such superficial treatment would lead to a denial of 
His personality, reducing Him to a TQS.TZ force. 

Hence we have spared no pain, and omitted no detail, in order, 
by the grace of God, to place before the Church two .distinct 
thoughts, viz. : 



46 RE-CREATION 

First, The work of the Holy Spirit is not confined to the elect, and does 
not begin with their regeneration ; but it touches every creature, animate 
and inanimate, and begins its operations in the elect at the very moment 
of their origin. 

Second, The proper work of the Holy Spirit in every creature consists 
in the quickening and sustaining of life with reference to his being and 
talents, and, in its highest sense, with reference to eternal life, whic/i is 
his salvation. 

Thus we have regained the true standpoint requisite for consid 
ering the work of the Holy Spirit in the re-creation. For thus it 
appears : 

First, that this work of re-creation is not performed in fallen 
man independently of his original creation ; but that the Holy 
Spirit, who in regeneration kindles the spark of eternal life, has 
already kindled and sustained the spark of natural life. And, 
again, that the Holy Spirit, who imparts unto man born from 
above gifts necessary to sanctification and to his calling in the 
new sphere of life, has in the first creation endowed him with 
natural gifts and talents. 

From this follows that fruitful confession of the unity of man s 
life before and after the new birth which nips every form of 
Methodism* in its very root, and which characterizes the doctrine 
of the Reformed churches. 

Second, it is evident that the work of the Holy Spirit bears the 
same character in creation and re-creation. If we admit that He 
quickens life in that which is created by the Father and by the Son, 
what does He do in the re-creation but once more quicken life in 
him that is called of the Father and redeemed by the Son? Again, 
if the Spirit s work is God s touching the creature s being by Him, 
what is re-creation but the Spirit entering man s heart, making it 
His temple, comforting, animating, and sanctifying it? 

Thus following the Sacred Scripture and the superior theolo 
gians, we reach a confession that maintains the unity of the Spirit s 
work, and makes it unite organically the natural and the spiritual 
life, the realm of nature and that of grace. 

Of course His work in the latter surpasses that in the former : 

First, since it is His work to touch the inward being of the crea- 

* For the sense in which the author takes Methodism, see section 5 in 
the Preface. 



CREATION AND RE-CREATION 47 

ture, the more tender and natural the contact the more glorious the 
work. Hence it appears more beautiful in man than in the animal ; 
and more lustrous in the spiritual man than in the natural, since the 
contact with the former is more intimate, the fellowship sweeter, 
the union complete. 

Secondly, since creation lies so far behind us and re-creation 
touches us personally and daily, the Word of God directs more 
attention to the latter, claiming for it more prominence in our con 
fession. But, however different the measures of operation and of 
energy, the Holy Spirit remains in creation and re-creation the one 
omnipotent Worker of all life and quickening, and is therefore 
worthy of all praise and adoration. 



X. 
Organic and Individual. 

" Where is He that put His Holy Spirit 
among them ? " ha. Ixiii. u. 

THE subsequent activity of the Holy Spirit lies in the realm of 
grace. 

In nature the Spirit of God appears as creating, in grace as 
re-creating. We call it recreation, because God s grace creates not 
something inherently new, but a new life in an old and degraded 
nature. 

But this must not be understood as tho grace restored only what 
sin had destroyed. For then the child of God, born anew and sancti 
fied, must be as Adam was in Paradise before the fall. Many under 
stand it so, and present it as follows : In Paradise Adam became 
diseased; the poison of eternal corruption entered his soul and 
penetrated his whole being. Now comes the Holy Spirit as the 
physician, carrying the remedy of grace to heal him. He pours 
the balm into his wounds, He heals his bruises and renews his 
youth; and thus man, born again, healed, and renewed, is, according 
to their view, precisely what the first man was in the state of recti 
tude. Once more the provisions of the covenant of works are laid 
upon him. By his good works he is again to inherit eternal life. 
Again he may fall like Adam and become a prey of eternal death. 

But this whole view is wrong. Grace does not place the ungodly 
in a state of rectitude, but justifies him two very different things. 
He that stands in a state of rectitude has certainly an original 
righteousness, but this he may lose; he maybe tried and fail as 
Adam failed. He must vindicate his righteousness. Its inward 
consistency must discover itself. He who is righteous to-day may 
be unrighteous to-morrow. 

But when God justifies a sinner He puts Him in a totally differ 
ent state. The righteousness of Christ becomes his. And what is 
this righteousness? - Was Jesus in a state of rectitude only? In no 



ORGANIC AND INDIVIDUAL 49 

wise. His righteousness was tested, tried, and sifted; it was even 
tested by the consuming fire of God s wrath. And this righteous 
ness converted from " original rectitude " into " righteousness vindicated" 
was imputed to the ungodly. 

Therefore the ungodly, when justified by grace, has nothing to 
do with Adam s state before the fall, but occupies the position of 
Jesus after the resurrection. He possesses a good that can not be 
lost. He works no more for wages, but the inheritance is his own. 
His works, zeal, love, and praise flow not from his own poverty, 
but from the overflowing fulness of the life that was obtained for 
him. As it is often expressed: For Adam in Paradise there was 
first work and then the Sabbath of rest; but for the ungodly justi 
fied by grace the Sabbath rest comes first, and then the labor which 
iows from the energies of that Sabbath. In the beginning the 
week closed with the Sabbath ; for us the day of the resurrection of 
hrist opens the week which feeds upon the powers of that resur- 
ection. 

Hence the great and glorious work of re-creation has two parts : 

First, the removing of corruption, the healing of the breach, the 
death to sin, the atonement for guilt. 

Second, the reversing of the first order, the changing of the 
entire state, the bringing in and establishing of a new order. 

The last is of greatest importance. For many teach differently. 
Altho they grant that a new-born child of God is not precisely what 
Adam was before the fall, yet they see the difference only in the 
eception of a higher nature. The state is the same, differing only 
n degree. This is the current theory. This nature of higher 
degree is called the "divine-human" which Christ bears in His Per 
son, which being consolidated by His Passion and Resurrection is 
now imparted to the new-born soul, raising the lower and degraded 
nature to this higher life. 

This theory directly conflicts with the Scripture, which never 
speaks of conditions similar yet differing in degree and power, but 
of a condition sometimes far inferior in power and degree to that of 
Adam, but transferred into an entirely different order. 

For this reason the Scripture and the Confession of our fathers 
emphasize the doctrine of the Covenants; for the difference be 
tween the Covenant of Works and of Grace shows the difference 
between the two orders of spiritual things. They who teach that 
the new birth merely imparts a higher nature remain under the 
4 



50 RE-CREATION 

Covenant of Works. Theirs is the wearisome toil of rolling the 
Sisyphus stone up the mountain, even tho it be with the greater 
energy of the higher life. The Scriptural doctrine of Grace ends 
this impossible Sisyphus task ; it transfers the Covenant of Works 
from our shoulders to Christ s, and opens unto us a new order in 
the Covenant of Grace in which there can be no more uncertainty 
or fear, loss or forfeit of the benefits of Christ, but of which 
Wisdom doth cry, "and Understanding putteth forth her voice, 
standing in the top of high places," saying that all things are now 
ready. 

The work of re-creation has this peculiarity, that it places the 
elect at once at the end of the road. They are not like the traveler 
still half way from home, but like one who has finished his journey ; 
the long, dreary, and dangerous road is entirely behind him. Of 
course, he did not run that road ; he could never have reached the 
goal. His Mediator and Daysman traveled it for him and in his 
stead. And by mystic union with his Savior it is as tho he had 
traveled the whole distance; not as we reckon, but as God reckons. 

This will show why the work of the Holy Spirit appears more 
powerful in re-creation than in creation. For what is the road 
spoken of, but that which leads from the center of our degenerate 
hearts to the center of the loving heart of God? All godliness aims 
to bring man into communion with God ; hence to make him travel 
the road between him and God. Man is the only being on earth in 
whom contact with God means conscious fellowship. Since this 
fellowship is broken by the alienation of sin, at the end of the road 
the contact and fellowship must be perfect, so far as concerns, 
man s state and principle. If fellowship is the terminus and God s 
grace puts His child there at once, at least so far as his state is con 
cerned, there is an obvious difference between him and the unre- 
generate ; for the latter is infinitely distant from God, while the 
former has sweetest fellowship with Him. Since it is the inward 
operation of the Holy Spirit that accomplishes this, His hand must 
appear more powerful and glorious in re-creation than in creation. 

If we could see His work in re-creation all at once as an accom 
plished fact, we should understand it more thoroughly, and escape 
the difficulties that we now meet in comparing the Old Testament 
with the New regarding it. 

Re-creation brings to us that which is eternal, finished, perfected, 



ORGANIC AND INDIVIDUAL 51 

completed; far above the succession of moments, the course of 
years, and the development of circumstances. Here lies the diffi 
culty. This eternal work must be brought to a temporal world, to a 
race which is in process of development; hence that work must 
make history, increasing like a plant, growing, blossoming, and 
bearing fruit. And this history must include a time of preparation, 
revelation, and lastly of filling the earth with the streams of grace, 
salvation, and blessing. 

If it did not relate to man but to irrational beings, there would 
be no difficulty ; but when it began its course man was already in 
the world, and as the ages passed the stream of humanity broad 
ened. Hence the important question: Whether the generations 
that lived during the long period of preparation before Christ, in 
whom the work of re-creation was finally revealed, were partakers 
of its blessings? 

The Scripture answers affirmatively. In the ages before Christ 
God s elect shared the blessings of the work of re-creation. Abel 
and Enoch, Noah and Abraham, Moses and David, Isaiah and 
Daniel were saved by the same faith as Peter, Paul, Luther, and 
Calvin. The Covenant of Grace, altho made with Abraham and for 
a time connected with the national life of Israel, existed already in 
Paradise. The theologians of the Reformed churches have clearly 
unfolded the truth, that God s elect of both Dispensations entered 
the same gate of righteousness and walked the same way of salva 
tion which they still walk to the marriage-supper of the Lamb. 

But how could Abraham, living so many years before Christ, in 
whom alone grace and truth have been revealed, have his faith 
accounted unto him for righteousness, so that he saw the day of 
Jesus and was glad? 

This difficulty has confused many minds regarding the Old and 
New Dispensations, and causes many vainly to ask : How could there 
be any saving operation of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament if 
He were poured out only on Pentecost? The answer is found in 
the almost unsearchable work of the Holy Spirit, whereby, on the 
one hand, He brought into the history of our race that eternal sal 
vation already finished and complete which must run through the 
periods of preparation, revelation, and fruit-bearing; and whereby, 
on the other hand, during the preparatory period, this very prepa 
ration was made the means, through wondrous grace, of saving 
souls even before the Incarnation of the Word. 



XI. 
The Church Before and After Christ. 

"All these having obtained a good 
report through faith, received not 
the promise." Heb. xi. 39. 

CLEARNESS requires to distinguish two operations of the Holy 
Spirit in the work of re-creation before the Advent, viz., (i) pre 
paring redemption for the whole Church, and (2) regenerating and 
sanctifying the saints then living. 

If there had been no elect before Christ, so that He had no 
church until Pentecost ; and if, like Balaam and Saul, the bearers 
of the Old Testament revelation had been without personal interest 
in Messiah, then it is self-evident that, before the Advent, the Holy 
Spirit could have had but one work of re-creation, viz. , the prepara 
tion of the coming salvation. But since God had a church from the 
beginning of the world, and nearly all the bearers of the revelation 
were partakers of His salvation, the Spirit s re-creative work must 
consist of two parts : first, of the preparation of redemption for the 
whole Church ; and, secondly, of the sanctification and consolation 
of the Old Testament saints. 

However, these two operations are not independent, like two 
separate water-courses, but are like drops of rain falling in the 
same stream of revelation. They are not even like two streams of 
different colors mingling in the same river-bed ; for neither did the 
one contain anything for the Church of the future which had not 
meaning also for the saints of the Old Covenant; nor did the latter 
receive any revelation or commandment without significance also 
for the Church of the New Covenant. The Holy Spirit so inter 
wove and interlaced this twofold work that what was the preparing 
of redemption for us, was at the same time revelation and exercise 
of faith for the Old Testament saints; while, on the other hand, He 
used their personal life, conflict, suffering, and hope as the canvas 
upon which He embroidered the revelation of redemption for us. 



THE CHURCH BEFORE AND AFTER CHRIST 53 

Not that the revelation of old did not contain a large element 
that had a different sense and purpose for them from what it has 
for us. Before Christ, the entire service of types and shadows had 
significance which it lost immediately after the Advent. To con 
tinue it after the Advent would be equivalent to a denial and repu 
diation of His coming. One s shadow goes before him; when he 
steps into the light the shadow disappears. Hence the Holy Spirit 
performed a special work for the saints of God by giving them a 
temporary service of types and shadows. 

That this service overshadowed all their life made its impres 
sion all the stronger. This shadow lay upon Israel s entire history ; 
was outlined in .all their men from Abraham to John the Baptist; 
fell upon the judicial and political systems, and more heavily upon 
the social and domestic life ; and in purest images lay upon the serv 
ice of worship. Hence the Old Testament passages which refer to 
this service have not the meaning for us which they had for them, 
Every feature of it had a binding force for them. On the contrary, 
we do not circumcise our boys, but baptize our children ; we do not 
eat the Passover, nor observe the Feast of Tabernacles, nor sacrifice 
the blood of bulls or heifers, as every discriminating reader of the 
Old Testament understands. And they who in the New Testament 
Dispensation seek to reintroduce tithing, or to restore the kingdom 
and the judiciary of the days of the Old Testament, undertake, ac 
cording to past experience, a hopeless task: their efforts show poor 
success, and their whole attitude proves that they do not enjoy the 
full measure of the liberty of the children of God. Actually all 
Christians agree in this, acknowledging that the relation which we 
sustain toward the law of Moses is altogether different from that 
of ancient Israel. 

The Decalogue alone is occasionally cause of contention, espe 
cially the Fourth Commandment. There are still Christians who 
allow no difference between that which has a passing, ceremonial 
character and that which is perpetually ethical, and who seek to 
substitute the last day of the week for the Day of the Lord. 

However, leaving these serious differences alone, we repeat that 
the Holy Spirit had a special work in the days before Christ, which 
was intended for the saints of those days, but which has lost for us 
all its former significance. 

Not, however, that we may therefore discard this work of the 
Holy Spirit, and that the books containing these things may be left 



54 RE-CREATION 

unread. This view has obtained currency especially in Germany, 
where the Old Testament is less read than even the books of the 
Apocrypha, with the exception of the Psalms and a few selected 
pericopes. On the contrary, this service of shadows has even in 
the smallest details a special significance to the New Testament 
Church ; only the significance is different. 

This service in the history of the Old Covenant witnesses to us 
the wonderful deeds of God, whereby of infinite mercy He has 
delivered us from the power of death and hell. In the personalities 
of the Old Covenant it reveals the wonderful work of God in im 
planting and preserving faith in spite of human depravity and Sa 
tanic opposition. The service of ceremonies in the sanctuary shows 
us the image of Christ and of His glorious redemption in the minu 
test details. And finally, the service of shadows in Israel s political, 
social, and domestic life reveals to us those divine, eternal, and un 
changeable principles that, set free from their transient and tem 
poral forms, ought to govern the political and social life of the 
Christian nations throughout all ages. 

And yet this does not exhaust the significance that this service 
always had, and still has, for the Christian Church. 

Not only does it reveal to us the outlines of the spiritual house 
of God, but it actually operated in our salvation : 

First, it prepared and preserved amid heathen idolatry a people 
which, as bearers of the divine oracles, offered the Christ at His 
coming a place for the sole of His foot and a base of operations.* 
He could no more have come to Athens or Rome than to China or 
India. No one there could have understood Him, or have furnished 
instrument or material to build the Church of the New Covenant. 
The salvation which was cast like a ripe fruit into the lap of the 
Christian Church had grown upon a tree deeply rooted in this serv 
ice of shadows. Hence the history of that period is part of our 
own, as the life of our childhood and youth remains ours, even tho 
as men we have put away childish things. 

Secondly, the knowledge of this service and history, being parts 
of the Word of God, were instrumental in translating God s children 
from nature s darkness into His marvelous light. 

However, as the Holy Spirit performed special work for the 
saints of those days that has a different tho not less important 

* In Dutch, " life-center. " 



THE CHURCH BEFORE AND AFTER CHRIST 55 

significance for us, so also He performed a work in those days that 
was intended more directly for the Church of the New Testament, 
which also had a different but not less important significance for 
the saints of the Old Covenant This was the work of Prophecy. 

As Christ declares, the purpose of prophecy is to predict future 
things so that, the events predicted having come to pass, the Church 
may believe and confess that it was the Lord s work. The Old Testa 
ment often states this, and the Lord Jesus declared it to His disci 
ples, saying : " And now I have told you, before it come to pass 
that, when it is come to pass, ye might believe" (John xiv. 29). 
And again : " Now I tell you before it come to pass, that when it is 
come to pass ye may believe that I am He" (John xiii. 19). And 
still more clearly: "But these things have I told you, that when 
the time shall come, ye may remember that I told you of them." 
These statements, compared with the words of Isa. xli. 23, xlii- 
9, and xliii. 19, leave no doubt as to the design of prophecy. 

Not that this exhausts prophecy, or that it has no other aims; but 
its chief and final end is reached only when, on the ground of its 
fulfilment, the Church believes its God and Savior and magnifies 
Him in His mighty acts. 

But while its center of gravity is the fulfilment, /.<?., in the 
Church of the New Testament, it was equally intended for contem 
porary saints. For, apart from the prophetic activities that re 
ferred solely to the people of Israel living at that time, and the 
prophecies fulfilled in Israel s national life, prophecy even as boldly 
outlining Christ yielded precious fruit for the Old Testament saints. 
Connected with theophanies it produced in their minds such a fixed 
and tangible form of the Messiah that fellowship with Him, which 
alone is essential to salvation, was made possible to them by antici 
pation, as to us by memory. Not only did this fellowship become 
possible at the end of the Dispensation, in Isaiah and Zacharias; 
Christ testifies that Abraham desired to see His day, saw it, and 
was glad. 



jpourtb Cbapter. 

THE HOLY SCRIPTURE OF THE OLD TESTA 
MENT. 



XII. 
The Holy Scripture. 

" All Scripture is given by inspiration of 
God, and is profitable for doctrine, for 
reproof, for correction, for instruction 
in righteousness; that the man of God 
may be perfect, thoroughly furnished 
unto all good works." 2 Tim. iii. 
16, 17. 

AMONG the divine works of art produced by the Holy Spirit, the 
Sacred Scripture stands first. It may seem incredible that the 
printed pages of a book should excel His spiritual work in human 
hearts, yet we assign to the Sacred Scripture the most conspicuous 
place without hesitation. 

Objectors can never have considered what this holy Book is, or 
any other book, writing, or language is, or what the putting down of 
a world of thought in a collection of Sacred Scripture means. We 
deny that a book, especially such as the Sacred Scripture, opposes 
a world of divine thought, the current of life, and spiritual experi 
ence. A book is not merely paper printed in ink, but is like a 
portrait a collection of lines and features in which we see the like 
ness of a person. Standing near, we see not the person, but spots 
and lines of paint ; but at the right distance these disappear and we 
see the likeness of a person. Even now it does not speak to us, for 
it is the face of a stranger; we may be able to judge the man s 
character, yet he fails to interest us. But let his child look, and 
instantly the image which left us cold appeals to him with warmth 



THE HOLY SCRIPTURE 57 

and life, which were invisible to us because our hearts lacked the 
essentials. What appeals to the child is not in the picture, but in 
his memory and imagination; the cooperation of the features in 
the painting and the father s image in his heart makes the likeness 
speak. 

This comparison will explain the mysterious effect of the Scrip 
ture. Guido de Bres spoke of it in his debates with the Baptists : 
" That which we call Holy Scripture is not paper with black im 
pressions, but that which addresses our spirits by means of those 
impressions." Those letters are but tokens of recognition; those 
words are only the clicks of the telegraph-key signaling thoughts 
to our spirits along the lines of our visual and auditory nerves. 
And the thoughts so signaled are not isolated and incoherent, but 
parts of a complete system that is directly antagonistic to man s 
thoughts, yet enters their sphere. 

Reading the Scripture brings to our minds the sphere of divine 
thoughts so far as needful for us as sinners, in order to glorify God, 
love our neighbor, and save the soul. This is not a mere collection 
of beautiful and glttering ideas, but the reflection of the divine life. 
In God life and thought are united : there can be no life without 
thought, no thought not the product of life. Not so with us. 
Falsehood entered us, i.e., we can sever thought from life. Or 
rather, they are always severed, unless we have voluntarily estab 
lished the former unity. Hence our cold abstractions ; our speak 
ing without doing; our words without power; our thoughts without 
working; our books that, like plants cut off from their roots, wither 
before they can blossom, much less bear fruit. 

The difference between divine and human life gives Scripture 
its uniqueness and precludes antagonism between its letter and its 
spirit, such as a false exegesis of 2 Cor. iii. 6 might suggest. If 
the Word of God were dominated. by the falsehood that has crept 
into our hearts, and in the midst of our misery continues to place 
word and life in opposition as well as separation, then we would 
take refuge in the standpoint of our dissenting brethren, with their 
exaltation of the life above the Word. But we need not do so, for 
the opposition and separation are not in the Scripture. For this 
reason it is the Holy Scripture ; for it was not lost in the unholy 
tearing asunder of thought and life, and is therefore distinct from 
writings in which yawns the gulf between the words and the reality 
of life. What other writings lack is in this Book ; perfect agree- 



58 HOLY SCRIPTURE OF THE OLD TESTAMENT 

ment between the life reflected in the divine thought and the 
thoughts which the Word begets in our minds. 

The Holy Scripture is like a diamond : in the dark it is like a 
piece of glass, but as soon as the light strikes it the water begins 
to sparkle, and the scintillation of life greets us. So the Word 
of God apart from the divine life is valueless, unworthy even of the 
name of Sacred Scripture. It exists only in connection with this 
divine life, from which it imparts life-giving thoughts to our minds. 
It is like the fragrance of a flower-bed that refreshes us only when 
the flowers and our organs of smell correspond. Hence the illus 
tration of the child and his father s picture is exact. 

While the Bible always flashes thoughts born of the divine life, 
yet the effects are not the same in all. As a whole, it is the portrait 
of Him who is the brightness of God s glory and the express image 
of His Person, aiming either to show us His likeness or to serve as 
its background. 

Notice the difference when a child of God and an alien face that 
image. Not as tho it has nothing to say to the unregenerate this 
is a mistake of Methodism which should be corrected.* It addresses 
itself to all men as the King s Word, and every one must receive 
its impress in his own way. But while the alien sees only a strange 
face, which annoys him, contradicts his world, and so repels him, the 
child of God understands and recognizes it. He is in holiest sym 
pathy with the life of the world from which that image greets him. 
Thus reading what the stranger could not read, he feels that God 
is speaking to him, whispering peace to his soul. 

Not as tho the Scripture were only a system of signals to flash 
thought into the soul ; rather it is the instrument of God to awaken 
and increase spiritual life, not as by magic, giving a sort of attes 
tation of the genuineness of our experience a fanatical view al 
ways opposed and rejected by the Church but by the Holy Spirit 
through the use of the Word of God. 

He regenerates us by the Word. The mode of this operation 
will be discussed later on ; let it suffice here to say that the opera 
tions of the Word and the Holy Spirit never oppose each other, 
but, as St. Paul declares emphatically, that the Holy Scripture is 
prepared by the Spirit of God and given to the Church as an instru 
ment to perfect God s work in man; as he expresses it: " That the 

* For the author s sense of Methodism, see section 5 in the Preface. 



THE HOLY SCRIPTURE 59 

man of God may be perfect" i.e., a man formerly of the world, made 
a man of God^by divine act, to be perfected by the Holy Spirit ; 
wherefore he is already perfect in Christ through the Word. To 
this end, as St. Paul declares, the Scripture was inspired of God. 
Hence this work of art was prepared by the Holy Spirit to lead the 
new-born man to this high ideal. And to emphasize the thought 
he adds : * That he may be thoroughly furnished unto all good 
works." 

Hence Scripture serves this twofold purpose : 

First, as an instrument of the Holy Spirit in His work upon 
man s heart. 

Secondly, to qualify man perfectly and to equip him for every 
good work. 

Consequently the working of Scripture embraces not only the 
quickening of faith, but also the exercise of faith. Therefore instead 
of being a dead-letter, unspiritual, mechanically opposing the 
spiritual life, it is the very fountain of living water, which, being 
opened, springs up to eternal life. 

Hence the Spirit s preparation and preservation of Scripture is 
not subordinate, but prominent with reference to the life of the 
entire Church. Or to put it more clearly: if prophecy, e.g., aims 
first to benefit contemporary generations, and secondly to be part 
of the Holy Scripture that is to minister comfort to the Church of 
all ages, the latter is of infinitely higher importance. Hence the 
chief aim of prophecy was not to benefit the people living at that 
time, and through Scripture to yield fruit for us only indirectly, 
but through Scripture to yield fruit for the Church of all ages, and 
indirectly to benefit the Church of old. 



XIII. 
The Scripture a Necessity. 

" For whatsoever things were written 
aforetime wore written for our learn 
ing, that we through patience and 
comfort of the Scriptures might 
have hope." Rom. xv. 4. 

THAT the Bible is the product of the Chief Artist, the Holy 
Spirit ; that He gave it to the Church and that in the Church He 
uses it as His instrument, can not be over-emphasized. 

Not as tho He had lived in the Church of all ages, and given us 
in Scripture the record of that life, its origin and history, so that 
the life was the real substance and the Scripture the accident; 
rather the Scripture was the end of all that preceded and the in 
strument of all that followed. 

With the dawn of the Day of days the Sacred Volume will un 
doubtedly disappear. As the New Jerusalem will need no sun, 
moon, or temple, but the Lord God will be its light, so will there 
be no need of Scripture, for the revelation of God shall reach His 
elect directly through the unveiled Word. But so long as the 
Church is on earth, face-to-face communion withheld, and our 
hearts accessible only by the avenues of this imperfect existence, 
Scripture must remain the indispensable instrument by which the 
Triune God prepares men s souls for higher glory. 

The cause of this lies in our personality. We think, we are self- 
conscious, and the threefold world about and above and within us is 
reflected in our thoughts. The man of confused or unformed con 
sciousness or one insane can not act as a man. True, there are 
depths in our hearts which the plummet of our thinking has not 
sounded ; but the influence that is to affect us deeply, clearly, with 
outlasting effect upon our personality, must be wrought through 
our self-consciousness. 

The history of sin proves it. How did sin enter the world? Did 
Satan infuse its poison into man s soul while he slept? By no means. 



THE SCRIPTURE A NECESSITY 61 

While Eve was fully herself, Satan began to discuss the matter 
with her. He wrought upon her consciousness with words and 
representations, and she, allowing this, drank the poison, fell, and 
dragged her husband with her. Had not God thus foretold it? 
Man s fall was to be known neither by his recognized nor by his 
unrecognized emotions, but by the tree of knowledge of good and evil. 
The knowledge that caused his fall was not merely abstract, intel 
lectual, but vital. Of course the operating cause was external, but 
it wrought upon his consciousness and bore the form of knowledge. 

And as his fall, so also must be his restoration. Redemption 
must come from without, act upon our consciousness, and bear the 
form of knowledge. To affect and win us in our personality we 
must be touched in the very spot where sin first wounded us, viz., 
in our proud and haughty self-consciousness. And since our con 
sciousness mirrors itself in a world of thought thoughts expressed 
in words so intimately connected as to form, as it were, but one 
word therefore it was of the highest necessity that a new, divine 
world of thought should speak to our consciousness in a Word, i.e., 
in a Scripture. And this is the work of Holy Scripture. 

Our thought-world is full of falsehood, and so is the outer world. 
But one thought-world is absolutely true, and that is the world of 
God s thoughts. Into this world we must be brought, and it into 
us with the life that belongs to it, as brightness to light. There 
fore redemption depends upon faith. To believe is to acknowledge 
that the entire world of thought within and around us is false, and 
that only God s world of thought is true and abiding, and as such to 
accept and confess it. So it is still the Tree of knowledge. But the 
fruit now taken and enjoyed grows upon the inward plant of self- 
emptying and self-denial, whereby we renounce our own entire 
world of thought, no longer judging between good and evil, but 
faithfully repeating what God teaches, as ever little children in 
His school. 

But this would not avail us if God s thoughts came in unintelli 
gible words, which would have been the case if the Holy Spirit had 
used mere words. We know how hopeless it is to try to describe 
the felicities of )ieaven. Every effort has been so far a failure. 
That bliss passes our imagination. And the Scripture revelation 
concerning it is couched in earthly imagery as a Paradise, a Jeru 
salem, or a wedding-feast which, beautiful as it may be, leaves no 



62 HOLY SCRIPTURE OF THE OLD TESTAMENT 

clear impressions. We know heaven must be beautiful and en 
trancing, but a concrete conception of it is out of the question. 
Nor can we have clear ideas of the relation of the glorified Son of 
man to the Trinity, His sitting at the right hand of God, the life of 
the redeemed, and their condition when, passing from the cham 
bers of death, they enter the palace of the great King. 

Hence if the Holy Spirit had presented the world of divine 
thoughts concerning our salvation in writing directly from heaven, 
a clear conception of the subject would have been impossible. Our 
conception would have been vague and figurative as that concern 
ing heaven. Hence these thoughts were not directly written, but 
translated into the life of this world, which gave them form and shape; 
and thus they came down to us in human language, in the pages of 
a book. Without this there could not even be a language to em 
body such sacred and glorious realities. St. Paul had visions, i.e., 
he was freed from the limitations of consciousness and enabled to 
contemplate heavenly things; but having returned to his limita 
tions, could not speak of what he had seen, as he said : " They are 
unspeakable." 

And that the equally unspeakable things of salvation may be 
rendered expressible in human words, it pleased God to bring to this 
world the life which originated them ; to accustom our human con 
sciousness to them, from it to draw words for them, and thus to 
exhibit them to every man. 

God s thoughts are inseparable from His life; hence His life 
must enter the world before His thoughts, at least at first ; after 
ward the thoughts became the vehicle of the life. 

This appears in the creation of Adam. The first man is created; 
after him men are born. At first human life appeared at once in 
full stature ; from that life once introduced, new life will be born. 
First, new life originated by forming Eve from Adam s rib; then, 
by the union of man and woman. So also here. At first God 
introduced spiritual life into the world, finished, perfect, by a mir 
acle; afterward differently, since the thought introduced as life into 
this world is pictured to our view. Henceforth the Holy Spirit will 
use the product of this life to awaken new life. 

So redemption can not begin with the gift of Holy Scripture to 
the Church of the Old Covenant. Such Scripture could not be pro 
duced until its content is wrought out in life, and redemption is 
objectively accomplished. 



THE SCRIPTURE A NECESSITY 63 

But the two should not be separated. Redemption was not first 
completed and then recorded in Scripture. Such conception would 
be mechanical and unspiritual, directly contradicted by the nature 
of Scripture, which is living and life-giving. Scripture was pro 
duced spontaneously and gradually by and from redemption. The 
promise in Paradise already foreshadowed it. For tho redemption 
precedes Scripture, yet in the regeneration of the first men the 
Word was not idle ; the Holy Spirit began with speaking to man, 
acting upon his consciousness. Even in Paradise, and subsequently 
when the stream of revelation proceeds, a divine Word always pre 
cedes the life and is life s instrument, and a divine thought intro 
duces redemptive work. And when redemption is fulfilled in 
Christ He appears first as the Speaker, then as the Worker. The 
Word that was from the beginning reveals Himself to Israel as the 
Seal of Prophecy, saying : " This day is this Scripture fulfilled in 
your ears." 

Hence the work of the Holy Spirit is never purely magical nor 
mechanical. Even in the preparatory period He always acted 
through the Word in translating a soul from death unto life. How 
ever, between then and now there is a decided difference : 

First, then, the Word came to the soul directly by inspiration or 
by a prophet s address. Now, both these have ceased, and in their 
stead comes the Word sealed in the Sacred Scripture, interpreted 
by the Holy Spirit in preaching in the Church. 

Secondly, then, the bringing in of life was confined to Israel, 
expressed itself in words and originated relations that strictly sepa 
rated the servants of the only true God from the life of the world. 
Now, this extraordinary, preparatory dispensation is closed; the 
Israel of God are no more the natural descendants of Abraham, but 
the spiritual ; the stream of the Church flows through all nations 
and peoples; it stands no more outside the world s life and develop 
ment, but rather governs them. 

Thirdly, altho in the Old Dispensation redemption existed 
partly already in Scripture, and the Psalmist shows everywhere his 
devotion thereto, yet Scripture could be used so to a small extent 
only, and needed constant supplementing by direct revelations 
and prophecies. But now, Scripture reveals the whole counsel of 
God, and nothing can be added to it. Wo to him who dares dimin 
ish or increase this Book of Life which discloses the world of divine 
thought ! 



64 HOLY SCRIPTURE OF THE OLD TESTAMENT 

But notwithstanding differences, the fact remains that the Holy 
Spirit mastered the problem of bringing to man lost in sin, by 
human language intelligible to all nations and ages, the world of 
divine thoughts, so as to use them as the instrument of man s 
quickening. 

It does not alter the case that the Holy Scripture shows so many 
seams and uneven places, and looks different from what we should 
expect. The chief virtue of this masterpiece was so to enfold 
God s thoughts in our sinful life that out of our language they could 
form a speech in which to proclaim through the ages, to all nations, 
the mighty words of God. This masterpiece is finished and lies 
before us in the Holy Scripture. And instead of losing itself in 
criticizing these apparent defects, the Church of all ages has 
received it with adoration and thanksgiving; has preserved it, 
tasted it, enjoyed it, and always believed to find eternal life in it. 

Not as tho critical and historical examination were prohibited. 
Such endeavor for the glory of God is highly commendable. But 
as the physiologist s search for the genesis of human life becomes 
sinful if immodest or dangerous to unborn life, so does every criti 
cism of Holy Scripture become sinful and culpable if irreverent or 
seeking to destroy the life of God s Word in the consciousness of 
the Church. 



XIV. 

The Revelation ,to Which the Scripture of the Old 
Testament Owes Its Existence. 

" O Lord, . . . Thou art stronger than I, 
and hast prevailed." -Jer. xx. 7. 

THE understanding of the Holy Spirit s work in- Scripture 
requires us to distinguish the preparation, and the formation that 
was the outcome of the preparation. We will discuss these two 
separately. 

The Holy Spirit prepared for Scripture by the operations which 
from Paradise to Patmos supernaturally apprehended the sinful life 
3f this world, and thus raised up believing men who formed the 
developing Church. 

This will seem very foolish if we consider the Scripture a mere 
paper-book, a lifeless object, but not if we hear God speaking 
;herein directly to the soul. Severed from the divine life, the 
scripture is unprofitable, a letter that killeth. But when we real- 
.ze that it radiates God s love and mercy in such form as to trans- 
:orm our life and address our consciousness, we see that the super- 
mtural revelation of the life of God must precede the radiation. The 
evelation of God s tender mercies must precede their scintillation 
n the human consciousness. First, the revelation of the mystery 
)f Godliness ; then, its radiation in the Sacred Scripture, and thence 
nto the heart of God s Church, is the natural and ordained way. 

For this purpose the Holy Spirit first chose individuals, then a 
ew families, and lastly a whole nation, to be the sphere of His 
tctivities; and in each stage He began His work with the Word, 
ilways following the Word of Salvation with the Facts of Salvation. 
He began this work in Paradise. After the fall, death and con- 
emnation reigned over the first pair, and in them entombed the 
ace. Had the Spirit left them to themselves, with the germ of 
eath ever developing in them, no star of hope would ever have 
risen for the human race. 
5 



66 HOLY SCRIPTURE OF THE- OLD TESTAMEN1 

Therefore the Holy Spirit introduces His work at the very begii 
ning of the development of the race. The first germ of the myster 
of Godliness was already implanted in Adam, and the first mothe: 
word of which the Holy Scripture was to be born was whispere 
into his ear. 

This word was followed by the deed. God s word does nc 
return void; it is not a sound, but a power. It is a plowshai 
subsoiling the soul. Behind the word stands the propelling powc 
of the Holy Spirit, and thus it becomes effectual, and changes th 
whole condition of things. We see it in Adam and Eve ; especially i 
Enoch ; and " By faith Abel obtained witness that he was righteous 

After these operations in individuals the Spirit s work in th 
family begins, partly in Noah, more especially in Abraham. 

The judgment of the flood had completely changed former reli 
tions, had caused a new generation to arise, and perhaps ha 
changed the physical relations between the earth and its atmoi 
phere. And then, for the first time, the Holy Spirit begins to wor 
in the family. Our Ritual of Baptism points emphatically to Noa 
and his eight, which has often been a stumbling-block to a though 
less unspirituality. And yet needlessly, for by pointing to Noa 
our fathers meant to indicate, in that sacramental prayer, that it : 
not the baptism of individuals, but of the people of God, i.e., of th 
Church and its seed. And since the salvation of families emerge 
first in the history of Noah and his family after the flood, it wa 
perfectly correct to point to the salvation of Noah and his famil 
as God s first revelation of salvation for us and our seed. 

But the work of the Holy Spirit in Noah s family is only pre 
liminary. Noah and his sons still belong to the old world. The 
formed a transition. After Noah the holy line disappears, and froi 
Shem to Terah the Holy Spirit s work remains invisible. But wit 
Terah it appears in clearest light; for now Abraham goes oat, nc 
with sons, but alone. The promised son was still resting in th 
hand of God. And he could not beget him but by faith; so thf 
God could truly say, "I am the Almighty God,"/>., a God " wh 
quickeneth the dead and calleth the things that are not as tho thej 
were." Hence Abraham s family is almost in literal sense the prod 
uct of the Holy s Spirit s work in that there is nothing in his \\\ 
without faith. The product of art in Abraham s history is not trj 
image of a pious shepherd-king or virtuous patriarch, but the woij 



REVELATION AS TO THE OLD TESTAMENT 67 

derful work of the Holy Spirit operating in an old man who again 
and again "kicks against the pricks," who brings forth out of his 
own heart nothing but unbelief working in him a stedfast and 
immovable faith, bringing that faith into direct connection with his 
family life. Abraham is called " the Father of the Faithful," not in 
the superficial sense of a spiritual connection between our faith and 
Abraham s history, but because the faith of Abraham was inter 
woven with the fact of Isaac s birth, whom he obtained by faith, 
and of whom there was given him a seed as the stars of the heaven 
and as the sand of the seashore. 

From the individual the Holy Spirit s work passes into the 
family, and thence into the nation. Thus Israel receives his being. 
It was Israel, i.e., not one of the nations, but a people newly cre 
ated, added to the nations, received among their number, perpetu 
ally distinct from all other nations in origin and significance. And 
this people is also born of faith. To this end God casts it into death : 
on Moriah ; in Jacob s flight; in the distresses of Joseph, and in the 
fears of Moses; alongside the fiery furnaces of Pithon and Ramses; 
when the infants of the Hebrews floated on the Nile. And from this 
leath it is again and again faith that saves and delivers, and there- 
pore the Holy Spirit who continues His glorious work in the gene 
ration and regeneration of this coming people. After this people 
s born it is again thrown into death: first, in the wilderness; then, 
luring the time of the Judges; finally, in the Exile. Yet it can not 
lie, for it carries in its bosom the hope of the promise. However 
aimed, plagued, and decimated, it multiplies again and again ; for 
ie Lord s promise fails not, and in spite of shameful backslidings 
nd apostasy, Israel manifests the glory of a people born, living, 
nd dying by faith. 

Thus the work of the Holy Spirit passes through these three 
ages: Abel, Abraham, Moses; the individual, the family, the 
ition. In each of these three the work of the Holy Spirit is visi- 
.e, inasmuch as everything is wrought by faith. Is faith not 
rought by the Holy Spirit? Very well; by faith Abel obtained 
itness; by faith Abraham received the son of the promise; and 
y faith Israel passed through the Red Sea. 

And what is the relation between life and the word of life dur- 
g these three stages? Is it, as according to current representa- 



68 HOLY SCRIPTURE OF THE OLD TESTAMENT 

tions, first life, and then the word springing therefrom as token o 
the conscious life? 

Evidently history proves the very opposite. In Paradise the 
\v r ot -d precedes and the lif e follows. To Abraham in Ur of the Chal 
dees, first the word ; " Get thee out from thy country, and I wil 
bless thee, and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed. 
In the case of Moses it is first the word in the burning bush anc 
then the passage through the Red Sea. This is the Lord s ap 
pointed way. He first speaks, then works. Or more correctly, H< 
speaks, and by speaking He quickens. These two stand in closes 
connection. Not as tho the word causes life ; for the Eternal anc 
Triune God is the only Cause, Source, and Fountain of life. Bu 
the word is the instrument with which He wills to complete Hi: 
work in our hearts. 

We can not stop here to consider the work of the Father and th< 
Son, which either preceded or followed that of the Holy Spirit, anc 
which is interwoven with it. Of the miracles we speak only be 
cause we discover in them a special twofold work of the Hoi] 
Spirit. The working of the miracle is of the Father and of the Son 
and not so much of the Holy Spirit. But often as it pleased Goc 
to use men as instruments in the performance of miracles, it is th( 
Spirit s special work to qualify them by working faith in thei: 
hearts. Moses smiting the rock believed not, but he imagined tha 
by smiting he himself could produce water from the rock ; whicl 
God alone can do. To him that believes it is the same whether ht 
speaks or smites the rock. Stick nor tongue can in the least affecj 
it. The power proceeds from God alone. Hence the greatness o 
the sin of Moses. He thought that he was to be the worker, an<| 
not God. And this is the very work of sin in God s people. 

Hence we see that when Moses cast down his rod, when h| 
cursed the Nile, when Elias and other men of God wrought miral 
cles, they did nothing, they only believed. And by virtue of thei] 
faith they became to the bystanders the interpreters of God s test* 
mony, showing them the works of God and not their own. This i 
what St. Peter exclaimed: " Why look ye so earnestly on us as thj 
by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk?" 

To work this faith in the hearts of men who were to perforrj 
these miracles was the Holy Spirit s first task. His second was tl 
quicken faith in the hearts of those upon whom the miracle was tin 
be wrought. Of Christ it is written, that in Capernaum He coull 



REVELATION AS TO THE OLD TESTAMENT 69 

not do many powerful works because of their unbelief; and we read 
repeatedly : " Thy faith hath made thee whole." 

But the miracle alone has no convincing power. The unbeliever 
begins with denying it. He explains it from natural causes. He 
neither will nor can see God s hand in it. And when it is so con 
vincing that he can not deny it, he says : " It is of the devil." But 
he will not acknowledge that it is the power of God. Therefore to 
make the miracle effectual, the Holy Spirit must also open the eyes 
of them that witness it to see the power of God therein. All our 
reading of the miracles in our Bible is unprofitable unless the Holy 
Spirit opens our eyes, and then we see them live, hear their testi 
mony, experience their power, and glorify God for His mighty 
works. 



XV. 
The Revelation of the Old Testament in Writing. 

" Then I said, I will not speak any more in 
His Name. But His word was in my 
heart as a burning fire, shut up in my 
bones : and I was weary with forbearing, 
but I could not." -Jer. xx. 9. 

ALTHO the miracles performed for and in the midst of Israel 
created a glorious life-center in the midst of the heathen world, yet 
they did not constitute a Holy Scripture ; for this can not be created 
except God speak to man, even to His people Israel. " God, who at 
sundry times and in divers manners spake in times past unto the 
fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by 
His Son." 

This divine speaking is not limited to prophecy. God spoke 
also to others than prophets, e.g., to Eve, Cain, Hagar, etc. To 
receive a revelation or a vision does not make one a prophet, unless 
it be accompanied by the command to communicate the revelation 
to others. The word "nabi," the Scriptural term for prophet, does! 
not indicate a person who receives something of God, but one whoj 
brings something to the people. Hence it is a mistake to confine 
the divine revelation to the prophetic office. In fact, it extends to] 
the whole race in general ; prophecy is only one of its special f ea-J 
tures. As to the divine revelation in its widest scope, it is evident! 
from the Scripture that God spoke to men from Adam to the lasl 
of the apostles. From Paradise to Patmos revelation runs like A 
golden thread through every part of Sacred History. 

As a rule, the Scripture does not treat this divine speaking meta-i 
phorically. There are exceptions, e.g., "God spake to the fish 1 
(Jonah ii. 10); "The heavens declare the glory of God, and dajjJ 
unto day uttereth speech " (Psalm xix. 2, 3). However, it can b<| 
proven, from a thousand passages against one to the contrary, thaj 1 
the ordinary speaking of the Lord may not be taken in other thai 
the literal sense. This is evident from the call of God to Samuel t 



OLD TESTAMENT REVELATION IN WRITING 71 

which the child mistook for that of Eli. It is evident also from the 
names, numbers, and localities that are mentioned in this divine 
speaking ; especially from the dialogues between God and man, as 
in the history of Abraham in the conflict of his faith concerning the 
promised seed, and in his intercession for Sodom. 

And therefore we can not agree with those who would per 
suade us that the Lord did not really speak; that if it reads so, it 
must not be so understood; and that a clearer insight shows that " a 
certain influence from God affected the inner life of the person 
addressed. In connection with the person s peculiar character and 
the influences of his past and present this working gave special 
clearness to his consciousness, and wrought in him such a convic 
tion that, without hesitation, he declared: Since I will as God 
wills, I know that the Lord has thus spoken to me. " This repre 
sentation we reject as exceedingly pernicious and hurtful to the life 
of the Church. We call it false, since it dishonors the truth of God ; 
and we refuse to tolerate a theology that starts from such premises. 
It annihilates the authority of the Scripture. Altho commended by 
the Ethical wing it is exceedingly -ethical, inasmuch as it directly 
opposes the clearly expressed truth of the Word of God. Nay, this 
divine speaking, whose record the Scripture offers, must be under 
stood as real speaking. 

And what is speaking ? Speaking presupposes a person who has 
a thought that he wishes to transfer directly to the consciousness 
of another, without the intervention of a third person or of writing 
or of gesture. Hence when God speaks to man three things are 
implied : 

First, that God has a thought which He wills to communicate 
to man. 

Second, that He executes His design in a direct way. 

Third, that the person addressed now possesses the divine 
thought with this result, that he is conscious of the same idea which 
a moment ago existed only in God. 

With every explanation doing full justice to these three points 
we will agree; every other we reject. 

As to the question whether speech is possible without sound, we 
answer: "No, not among men." Surely the Lord can speak and 
has spoken at times by means of air-vibrations ; but He can speak 
to man without the use of either sound or ear. As men we have 
access to each other s consciousness only by means of the organs of 



72 HOLY SCRIPTURE OF THE OLD TESTAMENT 

sense. We can not communicate with our neighbor except he hear 
or see or feel our touch. The unfortunate who is devoid of these 
senses can not receive the slightest information from without. 
But the Lord our God is not thus limited. He has access to man s 
heart and consciousness from within. He can impart to our con 
sciousness whatever He will in a direct way, without the use of ear 
drum, auditory nerve, and vibration of air. Tho a man be stone- 
deaf, God can make him hear, inwardly speaking to his soul. 

However, to accomplish this God must condescend to our limita 
tions. For the consciousness is subject to the mental conditions of 
the world in which it lives. A negro, e.g., can have no other con 
sciousness than that developed by his environment and acquired 
by his language. Speaking to a foreigner unacquainted with our 
tongue, we must adapt ourselves to his limitations and address him 
in his own language. Hence in order to make Himself intelligible 
to man, God must clothe His thoughts in human language and thus 
convey them to the human consciousness. 

To the person thus addressed it must seem therefore as tho he 
had been spoken to in the ordinary way. He received the im 
pression that he heard words of human language conveying to him 
divine thoughts. Hence the divine speaking is always adapted to 
the capacities of the person addressed. Because in condescension 
the Lord adapts Himself to every man s consciousness, His speak 
ing assumes the form peculiar to every man s condition. What a 
difference, for instance, between God s word to Cain and that to 
Ezekiel ! This explains how God could mention names, dates, and 
various other details ; how He could make use of the dialect of a 
certain period ; of derivation of words, as in the changing of names, 
as in the case of Abraham and Sarah. 

This also shows that God s speaking is not limited to godly and 
susceptible persons prepared to receive a revelation. Adam was 
wholly unprepared, hiding himself from the presence of God. And 
so were Cain and Balaam. Even Jeremiah said: " I will not speak 
any more in His Name. But His word was in my heart as a burn 
ing fire, shut up in my bones : and I was weary with forbearing, but 
I could not" (chap. xx. 9). Hence the divine omnipotence is un 
limited. The Lord can impart the knowledge of His will to whom 
soever He pleases. The question why He has not spoken for eigh 
teen centuries must not be answered, " Because He has lost the 
power " ; but, " Because it seemeth not good to Him." Having once 



OLD TESTAMENT REVELATION IN WRITING 73 

spoken and in the Scripture brought His word to our souls, He is 
silent now that we may honor the Scripture. 

However, it should be noticed that in this divine speaking from 
Paradise to Patmos there is a certain order, unity, and regularity ; 
wherefore we add : 

First, the divine speaking was not confined to individuals, but, 
having a message for all the people, God spoke through His chosen 
prophets. That God can speak to a whole nation at once is proven 
by the events of Sinai. But it pleased Him not always to do this. 
On the contrary, He never spoke to them in that way afterward, 
but introduced prophetism instead. Hence the peculiar mission of 
prophetism is to receive the words of God and immediately to com 
municate them to the people. God speaks to Abraham what is for 
Abraham alone; but to Joel, Amos, etc., a message not for them 
selves, but for others to whom it must be conveyed. In connection 
with this we notice the fact that the prophet stands not alone, but 
in relation with a class of men among whom his mind was gradually 
prepared to speak to the people, and to receive the divine Oracle. 
For the peculiar feature of prophecy was the condition of ecstasy, 
which differed greatly from the way by which God spoke to 
Moses. 

Secondly, these divine revelations are mutually related and, 
taken together, constitute a whole. There is first the foundation, 
then the superstructure, until finally the illustrious palace of the 
divine truth and knowledge is completed. Revelation as a whole 
shows therefore a glorious plan, into which are dovetailed the 
special revelations to individuals. 

Thirdly, the speaking of the Lord, especially of the inward 
word, is peculiarly the work of the Holy Spirit, which, as we have 
found before, appears most strikingly when God comes into closest 
contact with the creature. And the consciousness is the most inti 
mate part of man s being. Wherefore, as often as the Lord our 
God enters human consciousness to communicate His thoughts, 
clothed in human thoughts and speech, the Scripture and the 
believer honor and adore therein the comforting operation of the 
Holy Spirit. 



XVI. 
Inspiration. 

" And unto the angel of the church in Sardis 
write, These things saith He that hath 
the seven Spirits of God." Rev. iii. i. 

WE do not speak here of the New Testament. Nothing has con 
tributed more to falsify and undermine faith in the Scripture and 
the orthodox view concerning it than the unhistoric and unnatural, 
practise of considering the Scripture of the Old and the New Testa 
ment at the same time. 

The Old Testament appears first; then came the Word in the 
flesh ; and only after that the Scripture of the New Testament. In 
the study of the work of the Holy Spirit the same order ought to be 
observed. Before we speak of His work in the Incarnation, the 
inspiration of the New Testament may not even be mentioned. 
And until the Incarnation, there existed no other Scripture than the 
Old Testament. 

The question is now : How is the work of the Holy Spirit to be 
traced in the construction of that Scripture? 

We have considered the question how it was prepared. By 
wonderful works God created a new life in this world ; and, in order 
to make men believe in these works, He spoke to man either direct 
ly or indirectly, i.e., by the prophets. But this did not create a 
Sacred Scripture. If nothing more had been done there would 
never have been such a Scripture ; for events take place and 
belong to the past; the word once spoken passes away with the 
emotion in the consciousness. 

Human writing is the wonderful gift which God bestowed on 
man to perpetuate what otherwise would have been forgotten and 
utterly lost. Tradition falsifies the report. Among holy men this 
would not be so. But we are sinful men. By sin a lie can be told. 
Sin is also the cause of our lack of earnestness, and the root of all 
forgetfulness, carelessness, and thoughtlessness. These are the 
two factors, lying and carelessness, that rob tradition of its value. 



INSPIRATION 75 

P or this reason God gave our race the gift of writing. Whether on 
wax, on metal, on the face of the rock, on parchment, on papyrus, 
or on paper, is of no importance ; but that God enabled man to find 
the art of committing to posterity a thought, a promise, an event, 
independent from his person, attaching it to something material, 
so that it could endure and be read by others even after his death 
this is of greatest importance. 

For us, men, reading and writing are means of fellowship. It 
begins with speaking, which is essential to fellowship. But mere 
speaking confines it to narrow limits, while reading and writing 
give it wider scope, extending it to persons far away and to genera 
tions yet -unborn. Through writing past generations actually live 
together. Even now we can meet with Moses and David, Isaiah 
and John, Plato and Cicero; we can hear them speak and receive 
their mental utterances. Writing is therefore no contemptible 
thing as some, who are overspiritual and sneer at the written 
Word, consider it. On the contrary, it is great and glorious one 
of the mighty factors whereby God keeps men and generations in 
living communication and exercise of love. Its discovery was a won 
derful grace, God s gift to man, more than doubling his treasures. 

The gift has often been abused ; yet even in its rightful use there 
is ascending glory. How much more glorious appears the art of 
writing when Dante, Shakespeare, and Schiller write their poetry, 
than when the pedagogue compiles his spelling-books or the notary 
public scribbles the lease of a house ! 

Since writing may be used or abused, may serve low or high 
purposes, the question arises: "What is its highest end?" And 
without the least hesitation we answer: "The writing of the Holy 
Scripture." As human speech and language are of the Holy Spirit, 
so is writing also taught us of Him. But while man uses the art to 
record human thoughts, the Holy Spirit employs it to give fixed 
and lasting form to the thoughts of God. Hence there is a human 
employment of it and a divine. The highest and wholly unique is 
that in the Holy Scripture. 

Actually there is no other book which sustains communication 
among men and generations as does the Sacred Scripture. To 
honor His own work the Holy Spirit has caused the universal dis 
tribution of this book alone, thereby putting men of all stations 
and classes into communication with the oldest generations of the 
race. 



76 HOLY SCRIPTURE OF THE OLD TESTAMENT 

From this standpoint the Holy Scripture must be considered, 
being in fact " the Scripture par excellence." Hence the divine and 
oft-repeated command: " Write." God did not only speak and act, 
leaving it to man whether His deeds and the tenor of His words 
were to be forgotten or remembered; but He also commanded that 
they should be recorded in writing. And when just before the 
announcement and close of the divine revelation to John on Patmos, 
the Lord commanded him, " Write to the church" of Ephesus, Per- 
gamos, etc., He repeated in a summary what was the design of all 
preceding revelations, viz., that they should be written and in the 
form of a Scripture, a gift of the Holy Spirit, and be deposited in 
the Church, which for that reason is called the " pillar and ground 
of the truth." Not, according to a later interpretation, as tho the 
truth were concealed in the Church ; but, according to the ancient 
rendering, that Holy Scripture was entrusted to the Church for 
preservation. 

However, we do not mean to say that with reference to every 
verse and chapter the Holy Spirit commanded, " Write," as tho the 
Scripture as we possess it had come into existence page after page. 
Assuredly the Scripture is divinely inspired: a statement dis 
torted and perverted beyond recognition by our Ethical theolo 
gians, if they understand by it that " prophets and apostles were 
personally animated by the Holy Spirit." This confounds illumina 
tion with revelation, and revelation with inspiration. " Illumination " 
is the clearing up of the spiritual consciousness which in His own 
time the Holy Spirit gives more or less to every child of God. 
" Revelation " is a communication of the thoughts of God given in 
extraordinary manner, by a miracle, to prophets and apostles. 
But " inspiration," wholly distinct from these, is that special and 
unique operation of the Holy Spirit whereby He directed the minds 
of the writers of the Scripture in the act of writing. " All Scripture 
is given by inspiration of God"; and this has no reference to ordi 
nary illumination, nor extraordinary revelation, but to an operation 
that stands entirely alone and which the Church has always 
confessed under the name of Inspiration. Hence inspiration is 
the name of that all-comprehensive operation of the Holy Spirit 
whereby He has bestowed on the Church a complete and infallible 
Scripture. We call this operation all-comprehensive, for it was 
organic, not mechanical. 

The practise of writing dates back to remote antiquity; pre- 



INSPIRATION 77 

ceded, however, by the preservation of the verbal tradition by the 
Holy Spirit. This is evident from the narrative of the Creation. 
Noted physicists like Agassiz, Dana, Guyot, and others have openly 
declared that the narrative of the Creation recorded many cen 
turies ago what so far no man could know of himself, and what at 
the present time is only partly revealed by the study of geology. 
Hence the narrative of the Creation is not myth, but history. The 
events took place as recorded in the opening chapters of Genesis. 
The Creator Himself must have communicated them to man. 
From Adam to the time when writing was invented the remem 
brance of this communication must have been preserved correctly. 
That there are two narratives of the Creation proves nothing to the 
contrary. Creation is considered from the natural and from the 
spiritual points of view ; hence it is perfectly proper that the image 
of Creation should be completed in a twofold sketch. 

If Adam did not receive the special charge, yet from the revela 
tion itself he obtained the powerful impression that such informa 
tion was not designed for himself alone, but for all men. Realizing 
its importance and the obligation it imposed, succeeding generations 
have perpetuated the remembrance of God s wonderful words and 
deeds, first orally, afterward by writing. In this way there grad 
ually arose a collection of documents which through Egyptian 
influence were put in book form by the great men of Israel. These 
documents being collected, sifted, compiled, and expanded by 
Moses, formed in his day the beginning of a Holy Scripture prop 
erly so called. 

Whether Moses and those earlier writers were conscious of their 
inspiration is immaterial ; the Holy Spirit directed them, brought 
to their knowledge what they were to know, sharpened their judg 
ment in the choice of documents and records, so that they should 
decide aright, and gave them a superior maturity of mind that 
enabled them always to choose the right word. 

Altho the Holy Spirit spoke directly to men, human speech and 
language being no human inventions, yet in writing He employed 
human agencies. But whether He dictates directly, as in the 
Revelation of St. John, or governs the writing indirectly, as with 
historians and. evangelists, the result is the same : the product is 
such in form and content as the Holy Spirit designed, an infallible 
document for the Church of God. 

Hence the confession of inspiration does not exclude ordinary 



;8 HOLY SCRIPTURE OF THE OLD TESTAMENT 

numbering, collecting of documents, sifting, recording, etc. It 
recognizes all these matters which are plainly discernible in Scrip 
ture. Style, diction, repetitions, all retain their value. But it must 
be insisted that the Scripture as a whole, as finally presented to 
the Church, as to content, selection, and arrangement of docu 
ments, structure, and even words, owes its existence to the Holy 
Spirit, i.e., that the men employed in this work were consciously or 
unconsciously so controlled and directed by the Spirit, in all their 
thinking, selecting, sifting, choice of words, and writing, that their 
final product, delivered to posterity, possessed a perfect warrant of 
divine and absolute authority. 

That the Scriptures themselves present a number of objections 
and in many aspects do not make the impression of absolute inspi 
ration does not militate against the other fact that all this spiritual 
labor was controlled and directed by the Holy Spirit. For the 
Scripture had to be constructed so as to leave room for the exercise 
tot faith. It was not intended to be approved by the critical judg 
ment and accepted on this ground. This would eliminate faith. 
Faith takes hold directly with the fulness of our personality. To 
have faith in the Word, Scripture must not grasp us in our critical 
thought, but in the life of the soul. To believe in the Scripture is 
an act of life of which thou, O lifeless man ! art not capable, except 
the Quickener, the Holy Ghost, enable thee. He that caused Holy 
Scripture to be written is the same that must teach thee to read it. 
Without Him this product of divine art can not affect thee. Hence 
we believe : 

First, that the Holy Spirit chose this human construction of the 
Scripture purposely, that we as men might more readily live in it. 

Secondly, that these stumbling-blocks were introduced. that it 
might be impossible for us to lay hold of its content with mere 
intellectual grasp, without the exercise of faith. 



jf iftb Cbapter. 
THE INCARNATION OF THE WORD.* 



XVII. 
Like One of Us. 

" But a body Thou hast prepared 
UQ."Ifet>. x. 5. 

THE completion of the Old Testament did not finish the work 
that the Holy Spirit undertook for the whole Church. The Scrip 
ture may be the instrument whereby to act upon the consciousness 
of the sinner and to open his eyes to the beauty of the divine life, 
but it can not impart that life to the Church. Hence it is followed 
by another work of the Holy Spirit, viz., the preparation of the body 
of Christ. 

The well-known words of Psalm xl. 6, 7 : " Sacrifice and offering 
Thou didst not desire ; mine ears Thou hast pierced ; burnt-offering 
and sin-offering hast Thou not required. Then said I, Lo, I come: 
in the volume of the book it is written of me," are rendered by St. 
Paul : " Sacrifice and offering Thou wouldst not, but a body Thou 
hast prepared me ; in burnt-offerings and sin-offerings Thou hast no 
pleasure : lo, I come, in the volume of the book it is written of me." 
We do not discuss how the words, " Mine ears hast Thou pierced," 
can mean also, " A body Thou hast prepared me." For our present 
purpose it is immaterial whether one says with Junius: " The ear is 
a member of the body; by the piercing of the ear hearing becomes 
possible ; and only by the hearing does the body become an instru 
ment of obedience"; or with another: " As the body of the slave 
became an instrument of obedience by the piercing of the ear, so 

* Owing to the recent publication of the author s work, "The Incarna 
tion of the Word," this subject is presented here in an abbreviated form. 



8o THE INCARNATION OF THE WORD 

did the body of Christ become an instrument of obedience by the 
conception of the Holy Spirit " ; or finally : " As the Israelite became 
a servant by having his ear pierced, so has the Eternal Son adopted 
the form of a servant by becoming partaker of our flesh and blood." 
St. Paul s infallible exposition of Psalm xl. 7 does not raise any seri 
ous objection to any of these renderings. It suffices our present 
purpose if it be only acknowledged that, according to Heb. x. 5, 
the Church must confess that there was a preparation of the body of 
Christ. 

This being conceded and taken in connection with what the 
Gospel relates concerning the conception, it can not be denied that 
in the preparing of the body of the Lord there is a peculiar work of 
the Holy Spirit. For the angel said to Mary : " The Holy Ghost 
shall come upon thee and the power of the Highest shall over 
shadow thee ; therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of 
thee shall be called the Son of God" (Luke i. 35). And again: 
"Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy 
wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost" (Matt, 
i. 20). Both passages, apart from their proper meanings, evidently 
seek to produce the impression that the conception and birth of 
Jesus are extraordinary ; that they did not occur after the will of 
man, but result from an operation of the Holy Spirit. 

Like all other outgoing works of God, the preparation of the 
body of Christ is a divine work common to the three Persons. 

It is erroneous to say that the Holy Spirit is the Creator of the 
body of Jesus, or, as some have expressed it, " That the Holy Spirit 
was the Father of Christ, according to His human nature." Such 
representations must be rejected, since they destroy the confession 
of the Holy Trinity. This confession can not be maintained when 
any of the outgoing works of God are represented as not common 
to the three Persons. 

We wish to emphasize, therefore, that not the Holy Spirit alone, 
but the Triune God, prepared the body of the Mediator. The 
Father and even the Son cooperated in this divine act. 

However, as we have seen in Creation and Providence, in this 
cooperation the work of each Person bears its own distinctive mark. 
From the Father, of whom are all things, proceeded the material 
of the body of Christ, the creation of the human soul, and of all His 
gifts and powers, together with the whole plan of the Incarnation. 
From the Son, who is the wisdom of the Father, disposing ancl 



LIKE ONE OF US 81 

arranging all things in Creation, proceeded the holy disposition and 
arrangement with reference to the Incarnation. And as the corre 
lated acts of the Father and the Son in Creation and Providence 
receive animation and perfection through the Holy Spirit, so there 
is in the Incarnation a peculiar act of the Holy Spirit through which 
the acts of Father and Son in this mystery receive completion and 
manifestation. Therefore it is said in Heb. x. 7 of the Triune God : 
"A body Thou hast prepared Me"; while it is also declared that 
: that which is conceived in Mary is of the Holy Ghost. 

This, however, may not be explained in the ordinary sense. It 
might be said that there is nothing wonderful in this, for Job 
i declares (chap, xxxiii. 4), " The Spirit of the Lord hath given me 
I life," and of Christ we read that He was born of Mary, being con 
ceived by the Holy Ghost. These two cover the same ground. 
! Both instances connect the birth of a child with an act of the Holy 
| Spirit. While, as regards the birth of Christ, we do not deny this 
ordinary act of the Holy Spirit, which is essential to the quickening 
of all life, especially that of a human being, yet we do deny that the 
conception by the Holy Spirit was the ordinary act. The ancient 
confession, " I believe in Jesus Christ, His Only-Begotton Son our 
ord, who was conceived by the Holy Ghost" refers to a divine miracle 
and a deep mystery, in which the work of the Holy Spirit must be 
glorified. 

Accordingly a complete analysis of this work is impossible. If 
not, it would cease to be a miracle. Wherefore let us look into 
this matter only with deepest reverence, and not advance theories 
contrary to the Word of God. What God has been pleased to 
reveal we know; what His Word only hints we can know only in 
:aint outlines; and what is advanced outside of the Word is only 
the effort of a meddlesome spirit or unhallowed curiosity. 

In this work of the Holy Spirit two things must be distinguished: 

First, the creation of the human nature of Jesus. 

Secondly, His separation from sinners. 

On the first point, the Scripture teaches that no man ever could 
claim paternal connection with Jesus. Joseph appears and acts as 
the stepfather of Christ; but of a fellowship of life and origin 
between him and Jesus the Scripture never speaks. Indeed, Jo 
seph s neighbors regarded Jesus as the Son of the carpenter, but the 
Scripture always treats this as an error. St. John, declaring that 
6 



82 THE INCARNATION OF THE WORD 

the children of God are born not of the will of man, nor of the wil 
of the flesh, but of God, undoubtedly borrowed this glorious descrip 
tion of our higher birth from the extraordinary act of God whicl 
scintillates in the conception and birth of Christ. The fact tha 
Mary was called a virgin ; that Joseph was troubled at the discover] 
of his bride s condition; that he intended secretly to leave her, an< 
that an angel appeared to him in a dream in a word, the wliol< 
Gospel narrative, as well as the unbroken tradition of the Church 
allows no other confession than that the conception and birth o 
Christ were of Mary the virgin, but not of Joseph her betrothec 
husband. 

Excluding the man, the Scripture thrice puts the Holy Spirit ii 
the foreground as the Author of the conception. St. Matthew say: 
(chap. i. 1 8): "When Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, befor< 
they came together, she was found with child by the Holy Ghost/ 
And again, in ver. 20: " For that which is conceived in her is of the 
Holy Ghost." Lastly, Luke says (chap. i. 35): "The Holy Ghos 
shall come upon thee and the power of the Highest shall over 
shadow thee ; therefore also that holy thing which shall be born o: 
thee shall be called the Son of God." These clear statements d( 
not receive full recognition unless it be plainly confessed that the 
conception of the germ of a human nature in the womb of the vir 
gin was an act of the Holy Spirit. 

It is not expedient nor lawful to enter more deeply into this 
matter. How human life originates after conception, whether the 
embryo immediately contains a human person or whether he ii 
created therein afterward, and other similar questions, must remair 
unanswered, perhaps forever. We may advance theories, but the 
Omnipotent God allows no man to discover His workings in the 
hidden laboratories of His creative power. Wherefore all thai 
may be said according to Scripture is contained in the following 
four particulars : 

First, in the conception of Christ not a new being was called 
into life as in all other cases, but One who had existed from eter 
nity, and who then entered into vital relation with the human nature. 
The Scripture clearly reveals this. Christ existed from before the 
foundation of the world. His goings forth were of old, from the days 
of eternity. He took upon Himself the form of a servant. Even the 
the biologist should discover the mystery of the human birth, it 
could not reveal anything regarding the conception of the Mediator, 



LIKE ONE OF US 83 

Second, it is not the conception of a human person, but of a 
human nature. Where a new being is conceived, a human person 
comes into existence. But when the Person of the Son, who was 
with the Father from eternity, partakes of our flesh and blood, He 
adopts our human nature in the unity of His Person, thus becoming 
a true man; but it is not the creation of a new person. The Scrip 
ture clearly shows this. In Christ appears but one ego, being in 
the same Person at once the Son of God and the Son of man. 

Third, from this it follows not that a new flesh was created in 
Mary as the Mennonites used to teach, but that the fruit in Mary s 
womb, from which Jesus was born, was taken from and nourished 
with her own blood the very blood which through her parents she 
had received from fallen Adam. 

Last, the Mediator born of Mary not only partook of our flesh 
and blood, such as it existed in Adam and as we have inherited it 
from Adam, but He was born a true man, thinking, willing, and 
feeling like other men, susceptible to all the human emotions and 
sensations that cause the countless thrills and throbs of Tiuman life. 

And yet He was separate from sinners. Of this we speak in the 
next article. 

Let this suffice for the fact of the conception, from which fact 
we derive the precious comfort: " That it coiners in the sight of God 
my sin and guilt wherein 1 was conceived and brought forth" (Heidel 
berg Catechism, quest. 36). 



XVIII. 
Guiltless and Without Sin. 

" For such an High Priest became us, who 
is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate 
from sinners, and made higher than the 
heavens." Heb. vii. 26. 

THROUGHOUT the ages the Church has confessed that Christ took 
upon Himself real human nature from the virgin Mary, not as it 
was before the fall, but such as it had become by and after the fall. 

This is clearly stated in Heb. ii. 14, 17 : " Forasmuch as the chil 
dren are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself took part of 
the same. . . . Wherefore in all things it behooved Him to be 
made like unto His brethren, to make reconciliation for the sins of 
the people." It was even such a partaking of our nature as would 
make Him feel Satan s goad, for there follows: " In that He Him 
self hath suffered, being tempted, He is able to succor them that are 
tempted." Upon the authority of the divine Word we can not 
doubt then that the Son of God became man in our fallen nature. 
It is our misery, by virtue of the inherited guilt of Adam, that we 
can not live and act but as partakers of the flesh and blood corrupted 
by the fall. And since we as children are partakers of flesh and 
blood, so is He also become partaker of the same. Hence it can 
not be too strongly emphasized that the Son of God, walking among 
men, bore the same nature in which we spend our lives ; that His 
flesh had the same origin as our flesh ; that the blood which ran 
through His veins is the same as our blood, and came to Him as 
well as to us from the same fountain in Adam. We must feel, and 
dare confess, that in Gethsemane our Savior agonized in our flesh 
and blood ; that it was our flesh and blood that were nailed to the 
cross. The " blood of reconciliation " is taken from the very blood 
which thirsts after reconciliation. 

With equal assurance, however, bowing to the authority of the 
Scripture, we confess that this intimate union of the Son of God 
with the fallen human nature does not imply the least participation 



GUILTLESS AND WITHOUT SIN 85 

of our sin and guilt. In the same epistle in which the apostle sets 
forth distinctly the fellowship of Jesus with the human flesh and 
blood, he bears equally clear testimony to the fact of His sinless- 
ness, so that every misunderstanding may be obviated. As by vir 
tue of our conception and birth we are unholy, guilty, and defiled, 
one with sinners, and therefore burdened with the condemnation of 
hell, so is the Mediator conceived and born holy, harmless, undefiled, 
separate from sinners, made higher than the heavens. And with equal 
emphasis the apostle declares that sin did not enter into His temp 
tations, for, altho tempted in all things, like as we are, yet He was 
ever without sin. 

Therefore the mystery of the Incarnation lies in the apparent 
contradiction of Christ s union with our fallen nature, which on the 
one hand is so intimate as to make Him susceptible to its tempta 
tions, while on the other hand He is completely cut off from all 
fellowship with its sin. The confession which weakens or elimi 
nates either of these factors must, when logically developed, de 
generate into serious heresy. By saying, " The Mediator is con 
ceived and born in our nature, as it was before the fall," we sever 
the fellowship between Him and us ; and by allowing that He had 
the least personal part of our guilt and sin, we sever His fellowship 
with the divine nature. 

Does the Scripture not teach then that the Mediator was made 
sin and bore the curse for us, and " as a worm and no man " suffered 
deepest distress? 

We answer: Yea, verily, without this we could have no redemp 
tion. But in all this He acted as our Substitute. His own person 
ality was not in the least affected by it. His burdening Himself 
with our sins was a High- Priestly act, performed vicariously. He 
was made sin, but never a sinner. Sinner means one who is person 
ally affected by sin ; Christ s person never was. He never had any 
fellowship with sin other than that of love and compassion, to bear 
it as our High Priest and Substitute. Yet, tho He was exceedingly 
sorrowful even unto death, tho He was sorely tempted so that He 
cried out, " Let this cup pass from Me," in the center of His personal 
being He remained absolutely free from the least contact with sin. 

A close examination of the way by which we become partakers 
of sin will shed more light on this subject. 

Every individual sin is not of our own begetting only, but a par 
ticipation in the common sin, the one mighty sin of the whole 



86 THE INCARNATION OF THE WORD 

race against which the anger of God is kindled. Not only do we 
partake of this sin by an act of the will as we grow up ; it was ours 
already in the cradle, in our mother s womb yea, even in our con 
ception. " Conceived and born in sin " is the awful confession which 
the Church of God s redeemed can never deny. 

For this reason the Church has always laid such stress upon the 
doctrine of inherited guilt, as declared by St. Paul in Rom. v. Our 
inherited guilt does not spring from inherited sin ; on the contrary, 
we are conceived and born in sin because we stand in inherited guilt. 
Adam s guilt is imputed to all that were in his loins. Adam lived 
and fell as our natural and federal head. Our moral life stands in 
root-relation to his moral life. We were in him. He carried us in 
himself. His state determined our state. Hence by the righteous 
judgment of God his guilt was imputed to all his posterity, for as 
much as, by the will of man, they should successively be born of 
his loins. By virtue of this inherited guilt we are conceived in sin 
and born in the participation of sin. 

God is our Creator, and from His hands we came forth pure and 
undefiled. To teach otherwise is to make Him the Author of indi 
vidual sin, and to destroy the sense of guilt in the soul. Hence sin, 
especially original sin, does not originate in our creation by the 
hand of God, but by our vital relation with the sinful race. Our 
person does not proceed from our parents. This is in direct con 
flict with the indivisibility of spirit, with the Word of God, and its 
confession that God is our Creator, " who has also made ;;/<?." 

However, all creation is not the same. There is mediate and 
immediate creation. God created light by immediate creation, but 
grass and herbs mediately, for they spring from the ground. The 
same difference exists between the creation of Adam and that of 
his posterity. The creation of Adam was immediate : not of his 
body, which was taken from the dust, but of his person, the human 
being called Adam. His posterity, however, is a mediate creation, 
for every conception is made to depend upon the will of man. 
Hence while we come from the hand of God pure and undefiled, 
we become at the same time partakers of the inherited and imputed 
guilt of Adam ; and by virtue of this inherited guilt, through our 
conception and birth, God brings us into fellowship with the sin of 
the race. How this is brought about is an unfathomable mystery; 
but this is a fact, that we become partakers of the sin of the race by 
generation, which begins with conception and ends with birth. 



GUILTLESS AND WITHOUT SIN 87 

And now, with reference to the Person of Christ, everything 
depends upon the question whether the original guilt of Adam 
"was imputed also to the man Jesus Christ. 

If so, then, like all other men, Christ was conceived and born in 
sin by virtue of this original guilt. Where imputed original guilt 
is, there must be sinful defilement. But, on the other hand, where 
it is not, sinful defilement can not be ; hence He that is called holy 
and harmless must be undefiled. Adam s guilt was not imputed to 
the man Jesus Christ. If it were, then He was also conceived and 
born in sin; then He did not suffer vicariously, but for Himself 
personally; then there can be no blood of reconciliation. If the 
original guilt of Adam was imputed to the man Jesus Christ, then 
by virtue of His sinful conception and birth He was also subject to 
death and condemnation, and He could not have received life but 
by regeneration. Then it also follows that either this Man is Him 
self in need of a Mediator, or that we, like Him, can enter into life 
without a Go-between. 

But this whole representation is without foundation, and is to be 
rejected without qualification. The whole Scripture opposes it. 
Adam s guilt is imputed to his posterity. But Christ is not a 
descendant of Adam. He existed before Adam. He was not born 
passively as we, but Himself took upon Him the human flesh. He 
does not stand under Adam as His head, but is Himself a new 
Head, having others under Him, of whom He saith : " Behold Me 
and the children whom Thou hast given Me" (Heb. ii. 13). True, 
Luke iii. 23, 28 contains the genealogy of Joseph, which closes 
with the words, "The son of Adam, the son of God"; but the 
Evangelist adds emphatically, " as was supposed " ; hence Jesus 
was not the son of Joseph. And in Matthew His genealogy stops 
at Abraham. Altho on Pentecost St. Peter says that David knew 
that God would raise up Christ out of the fruit of his loins, yet he 
adds this limitation, "according to the flesh." Moreover, realizing 
that the Son did not assume a human person, but the human nature, 
so that His Ego is that of the Person of the Son of God, it neces 
sarily follows that Jesus can not be a descendant of Adam ; hence 
the imputation of Adam s guilt to Christ would annihilate the 
divine Person/ Such imputation is utterly out of the question. 
To Him nothing is imputed. The sins He bore He took upon Him 
self voluntarily, vicariously, as our High Priest and Mediator. 



XIX. 
The Holy Spirit in the Mystery of the Incarnation. 

"The Word was made flesh and 
dwelt among us, and we beheld 
His glory." -John i. 14. 

THERE is one more question in the treatment of this subject: 
What was the extraordinary operation of the Holy Spirit that 
enabled the Son of God to assume our fallen nature without being 
defiled by sin? 

Altho we concede it to be unlawful to pry into that behind the 
veil which God does not freely open to us, yet we may seek the 
meaning of the words that embody the mystery ; and this we intend 
to do in the discussion of this question. 

The Incarnation of Christ, with reference to His sinlessness, is 
connected with the being of sin, the character of original sin, the 
relation between body and soul, regeneration, and the working of 
the Holy Spirit in believers. Hence it is necessary for a clear 
understanding to have a correct view of the relation of Christ s 
human nature to these important matters. 

Sin is not a spiritual bacillus hiding in the blood of the mother 
and received into the veins of the child. Sin is not material and 
tangible ; its nature is moral and spiritual, belonging to the invisi 
ble things whose results we can perceive but whose real being 
escapes detection. Wherefore in opposition to Manicheism and 
kindred heresies, the Church has always confessed that sin is not a 
material substance in our flesh and blood, but that it consists in the 
loss of the original righteousness in which Adam and Eve bloomed 
and prospered in Paradise. Nor do believers differ on this point, 
for all acknowledge that sin is the loss of original righteousness. 

However, tracing the next step in the course of sin, we meet a 
serious difference between the Church of Rome and our own. The 
former teaches that Adam came forth perfect from the hand of his 
Maker, even before he was endowed with original righteousness. 



HOLY SPIRIT IN MYSTERY OF INCARNATION 89 

This implies that the human nature is finished without original 
righteousness, which is put on him like a robe or ornament. As 
our present nature is complete without dress or ornament, which 
are needed only to appear respectable in the world, so was the 
human nature, according to Rome, complete and perfect in itself 
without righteousness, which serves only as dress and jewel. But 
the Reformed churches have always opposed this view, maintain 
ing that original righteousness is an essential part of the human 
: nature ; hence that the human nature in Adam was not complete 
; without it; that it was not merely added to Adam s nature, but that 
i Adam was created in the possession of it as the direct manifestation 
\ of his life. 

If Adam s nature was perfect before he possessed original right 
eousness, it follows that it remains perfect after the loss of it; in 
which case we describe sin simply as " carentia justitia3 originalis," 
i.e., the want of original righteousness. This used to be expressed 
thus : Is original righteousness a natural or supernatural good? If 
natural, then its loss caused the human nature to be wholly cor 
rupt ; if supernatural, then its loss might take away the glory and 
honor of that nature, but as a human nature it retained nearly all 
of its original power. 

Bellarniinus said that desire, disease, conflict, etc., naturally be 
long to human nature; and original righteousness was a golden 
bridle laid upon this nature, to check and control this desire, dis 
ease, conflict, etc. Hence when the golden bridle was lost, disease, 
desire, conflict, and death broke loose from restraint (torn, iv., 
chap, v., col. 15, 17, 1 8). Thomas Aquinas, to whom Calvin was 
greatly indebted, and whom the present Pope has earnestly com 
mended to his priests, had a more correct view. This is evident 
from his definition of sin. If disease, desire, etc., existed in man 
when he came from the hand of God, and only supernatural grace 
can restrain them, then sin is merely the loss of original righteous 
ness, hence purely negative. But if original righteousness belongs 
to human nature and was not simply added to it supernaturally, 
then sin is twofold: first, the loss of original righteousness; 
second, the ruin and corruption of human nature itself, disorganizing 
and disjointing it. Thomas Aquinas acknowledges this last aspect, 
for he teaches (" Summa Theologiae," prima secundae, ix., sect. 
2, art. i) that sin is not only deprivation and loss, but also a state of 
corruption, wherein must be distinguished the lack of what ought 



9 o THE INCARNATION OF THE WORD 

to be present, i.e., original righteousness, and the presence of what 
ought to be absent, viz., an abnormal derangement of the parts and 
powers of the soul. 

Our fathers held almost the same view. They judged that sin 
is not material, but the loss of original righteousness. But since 
original righteousness belongs to the sound human nature, the loss 
did not leave that nature intact, but damaged, disjointed, and cor 
rupted it. 

To illustrate: A beautiful geranium that adorned the window 
was killed by the frost. Leaves and flowers withered, leaving only 
a mass of mildew and decay. What was the cause? Merely the 
loss of the sun s light and heat. But that was enough; for these 
belong to the nature of the plant, and are essential to its life and 
beauty. Deprived of them it remains not what it is, but its nature 
loses its soundness, and this causes decay, mildew, and poisonous 
gases, which soon destroy it. So of human nature : In Paradise 
Adam was like the blooming plant, flourishing in the warmth and 
brightness of the Lord s presence. By sin he fled from that pres 
ence. The result was not merely the loss of light and heat, but 
since these were essential to his nature, that nature languished, 
drooped, and withered. The mildew of corruption formed upon it; 
and the positive process of dissolution was begun, to end only in 
eternal death. 

Facts and history prove even now that the human body hasj 
weakened since the days of the Reformation ; that bad habits of aj 
certain character sometimes pass from father to child even wherel 
the early death of the former precludes propagation by education 
and example. Hence the difference between Adam, body and soul, 
before the fall and his descendants after the fall is not merely the 1 
loss of the Sun of Righteousness, which by nature shines no longerj 
upon them, but the damage caused by this loss to the human nature, 
in body and soul, which thereby are weakened, diseased, corrupted, 
and thrown out of balance. 

This corrupt nature passes from the father to the child, as th 
Confession of Faith expresses it in article xv. : " That original sin is| 
a corruption of the whole nature, and an hereditary disease, where-) 
with infants themselves are infected in their mother s womb, and) 
which produces in man all sorts of sin, being in him as a roolj 
thereof." 

However, the relation between a person and his ego must be 



HOLY SPIRIT IN MYSTERY OF INCARNATION 91 

taken into account. The disordered condition of our flesh and 
blood inclines and incites to sin, a fact that has been observed in 
the victims of certain terrible diseases as their effect. But this 
could not result in sin if there were no personal ego to allow itself 
to be excited. Again, tho the unbalanced powers of the soul which 
cause the darkening of the understanding, the blunting of the sensi 
bilities, and the weakening of the will arouse the passions, yet 
even this could not result in sin if no personal ego were affected 
by this working. Hence sin puts its own mark upon this corrup 
tion only when the personal ego turns away from God, and in that 
disordered soul and diseased body stands condemned before Him. 

If according to established law the unclean brings forth the 
unclean, and if God has made our birth to depend upon generation 
by sinful men, it must follow that by nature we are born first, 
without original righteousness; secondly, with an impaired body; 
thirdly, with a soul out of harmony with itself, lastly, with a 
personal ego which is turned away from God. 

All of which would apply to the Person of the Mediator if, like 
one of us, He had been born a human person by the will of man 
and not of God. But since He was not born a human person, but 
took our human nature upon Himself, and was conceived not by the 
will of man, but by an operation of the Holy Spirit, there could not 
be in Him an ego turned away from God, nor could the weakness 
of His human nature for a moment be a sinful weakness. Or to 
put it in the concrete : Altho there was in that fallen nature some 
thing to incite Him to desire, yet it never became desire. There 
is a difference between the temptations and conflicts of Jesus and 
those of ourselves ; while our ego and nature desire against God, 
His holy Ego opposed the incitement of His adopted nature and 
was never overcome. 

Hence the proper work of the Holy Spirit consisted in this : 

First, the creation not of a new person, but of a human nature, 
which the Son assumed into union with His divine nature in one 
Person. 

Second, that the divine-human Ego of the Mediator, who, 
according to His human nature, also possessed spiritual life, was 
kept from the inward defilement which by virtue of our birth 
affected our ego and personality. 

Hence regeneration, which affects not our nature but our person, 
is out of the question with reference to Christ. But what Christ 



92 THE INCARNATION OF THE WORD 

needed was the gifts of the Holy Ghost to enable His weakened 
nature, in increasing measure, to be His instrument in the working! 
out of His holy design; and finally to transform His weakened 
nature not by regeneration, but by resurrection into a glorious 
nature, divested of the last trace of weakness and prepared to! 
unfold its highest glory. 



Gbapter, 
THE MEDIATOR. 



XX. 
The Holy Spirit in the Mediator. 

" Who through the Eternal Spirit 
offered Himself without spot to 
God." Heb. ix. 14. 

THE work of the Holy Spirit in the Person of Christ is not 
exhausted in the Incarnation, but appears conspicuously in the 
work of the Mediator. We consider this work in the development of 
His human nature ; in the consecration to His office ; in His humiliation 
unto death j in His resurrection, exaltation, and return in glory. 

First The work of the Holy Spirit in the development of the human 
nature in Jesus. 

We have said before, and now repeat, that we consider the effort 
to write the " Life of Jesus " either unlawful or its title a misnomer : 
a misnomer when, pretending to write a biography of Jesus, the 
writer simply omits to explain the psychological facts of His life ; 
unlawful when he explains these facts from the human nature of 
Jesus. 

There never was a life of Jesus in the sense of a human, personal 
existence ; and the tendency to substitute the various biographies 
of Jesus of Nazareth for the simple Gospel narratives aims really at 
nothing else than to place the unique Person of the God-man on the 
same level with the geniuses and great men of the world , to hu 
manize Him, and thus to annihilate the Messiah in Him in other 
words, to secularize Him. And against this we solemnly protest with 
all the power that is in us. 

The God-human Person of the Lord Jesus did not live a life, but 



94 THE MEDIATOR 

rendered one mighty act of obedience by humbling Himself untcj 
death; and out of that humbling He ascended not by powera 
developed from His human nature, but by a mighty and extraordij 
nary act of the power of God. Any one who successfully under] 
took to write the life of Christ could do no more than draw thJ 
picture of His human nature. For the divine nature has no history! 
does not run through a process of time, but remains the same for! 
evermore. 

However, this does not prevent us from inquiring, according tc 
the need of our limitations, in what manner the human nattire o. 
Christ was developed. And then the Scripture teaches us thai 
there was indeed growth in His human nature. St. Luke relates 
that Jesus increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with God 
and men. Hence there was in His human nature a growth anc 
development from the less unto the greater. This would have beei 
impossible if in the Messiah the divine nature had taken the plac< 
of the human ego; for then the majesty of the Godhead would 
always and completely have filled the human nature. But this wa:| 
not the case. The human nature in the Mediator was real, i.e., iif 
body and soul it existed as it exists in us, and all inworking o| 
divine life, light, and power could manifest itself only by adapting 
itself to the peculiarities and limitations of the human nature. 

When maintaining the mistaken view that the development ol 
sinless Adam would have been accomplished without the aid of th< 
Holy Spirit, it is natural to suppose that the sinless nature of Chrisl 
did equally develop itself without the assistance of the Spirit o 
God. But knowing from the Scripture that not only man s gifts 
powers, and faculties, but also their working and exercise are ; 
result of the work of the Holy Spirit, we see the development o] 
the human nature of Jesus in a different light and understand th< 
meaning of the words that He received the Holy Spirit withem 
measure. For this indicates that His human nature also receivec 
the Holy Ghost; and not this only after He had lived for year 
without Him, but every moment of His existence according to thj 
measure of His capacities. Even in His conception and birth thJ 
Holy Spirit effected not only a separation from sin, but He alJ 
endowed His human nature with the glorious gifts, powers, an<i 
faculties of which that nature is susceptible. Hence His humaif 
nature received these gifts, powers, and faculties not from the So>\ 
by communication from the divine nature, but from the Holy Ghos\ 



THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE MEDIATOR 95 

by communication to the human nature; and this should be 
thoroughly understood. 

However, His human nature did not receive these gifts, powers, 
and faculties in full operation, but wholly inoperative. As there 
are in every infant powers and faculties that will remain dormant, 
some of them for many years, so there were in the human nature of 
Christ powers and faculties which for a time remained slumbering. 
The Holy Spirit imparted these endowments to His human nature 
without measure John iii. 34. This has reference to a contrast 
between others, whom the Holy Spirit endowed not without measure, 
but in limited degree according to their individual calling or des 
tiny ; and Christ, in whom there is no such distinction or individual 
ity to whom, therefore, gifts, powers, and faculties are imparted in 
such a measure that He never could feel the lack of any gift of the 
Holy Spirit. He lacked nothing, possessed all; not by virtue of 
His divine nature, which can not receive anything, being the eternal 
fulness itself, but by virtue of His human nature, which was endowed 
with such glorious gifts by the Holy Spirit. 

However, this was not all. Not only did the Holy Spirit adorn 
the human nature of Christ with these endowments, but He also 
caused them to be exercised, gradually to enter into full activity. 

This depended upon the succession of the days and years of the 
time of His humiliation. Altho His heart contained the germ of 
all wisdom, yet as a child of one year, e.g., He could not know the 
Scripture by means of His human understanding. As the Eternal 
Son He knew it, for He Himself had given it to His Church. But 
His human knowledge had no free access to His divine knowledge. 
On the contrary, while the latter never increased, knowing all 
things from eternity, the former was to learn everything; it had 
nothing of itself. This is the increase in wisdom of which St. Luke 
speaks an increase not of the faculty, but of its exercise. And 
this affords us a glimpse into the extent of His humiliation. He 
that knew all things by virtue of His divine nature began as man 
with knowing nothing ; and that which He knew as a man He 
acquired by learning it under the influence of the Holy Spirit. 

And the same applies to His increase in stature and in favor 
with God and men. Stature refers to His physical growth, inclu 
ding all that in the human nature depends upon it. Not created an 
adult like Adam, but born a child like each of us, Jesus had to grow 
and develop physically; not by magic, but in reality. When He 



9 6 THE MEDIATOR 

lay in Mary s lap, or as a boy looked around in his stepfather s 
shop, He was a child not only in appearance with the wisdom of a 
venerable, hoary head, but a real child, whose impressions, feelings, 
sensations, and thoughts kept step with His years. No doubt His 
development was quick and beautiful, surpassing anything ever 
seen in other children, so that the aged rabbis in the Temple were 
astonished when they looked upon the Boy only twelve years old; 
yet it always remained the development of a child that first lay 
upon His mother s lap, then learned to walk, gradually became a 
boy and youth, until He attained the fulness of man s stature. 

And as the Holy Spirit with every increase of His human nature 
enlarged the exercise of its powers and faculties, so He did also 
with reference to the relation of the human nature to God and men, 
for He increased in favor with God and men. Favor has reference 
to the unfolding and development of the inward life, and may 
manifest itself in a twofold way, either pleasing or displeasing to 
God and men. Of Jesus it is said that in His development such 
gifts and faculties, dispositions and attributes, powers and qualifi 
cations manifested themselves from the inward life of His human 
nature that God s favor rested upon them, while they affected those 
around Him in a refreshing and helpful way. 

Even apart from His Messiahship Jesus stood, with reference to 
His human nature, during all the days of His humiliation, under the 
constant and penetrating operation of the Holy Spirit. The Son, 
who lacked nothing, but as God in union with the Father and the 
Holy Spirit possessed all things, compassionately adopted our 
human nature. And inasmuch as it is the peculiarity of that nature 
to derive its gifts, powers, and faculties not from itself, but from the 
Holy Spirit, by whose constant operation alone they can be exer 
cised, so did the Son not violate this peculiarity, but, altho He was 
the Son, He did not take its preparation, enriching, and operation 
into His own hand, but was willing to receive them from the hand 
of the Holy Spirit. 

The fact that the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus at His Bap 
tism, altho He had received Him without measure at His concep 
tion, can only be explained by keeping in view the difference 
between \he personal and official life of Jesus, 



XXI. 
Not Like unto Us. 

"Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit 
into the wilderness." Matt. iv. i. 

THE representation that Christ s human nature received anima 
ting and qualifying influences and impulses directly from His divine 
nature, altho on the whole incorrect, contains also some truth. 

We often distinguish between our ego and nature. We say : " I 
have my nature against me, "or " My nature is in my favor"; hence 
it follows that our person animates and actuates our nature. Ap 
plying this to the Person of the Mediator, we must distinguish 
between His human nature and His Person. The latter existed 
from eternity, the former He adopted in time. And since in the 
Son the divine Person and the divine nature are nearly one, it must 
be acknowledged that the Godhead of our Lord directly controlled 
His human nature. This is the meaning of the confession of God s 
children that His Godhead supported His human nature. 

But it is wrong to suppose that the divine Person accomplished 
in His human nature what in us is effected by the Holy Spirit. 
This would endanger His true and real humanity. The Scripture 
positively denies it. 

Second The work of the Holy Spirit in the consecration of 
Jesus to His office (see " First," on p. 93). 

This ought to be carefully noticed, especially since the Church 
has never sufficiently confessed the influence of the Holy Spirit 
exerted upon the work of Christ. The general impression is that 
the work of the Holy Spirit begins when the work of the Mediator 
on earth is finished, as tho until that time the Holy Spirit cele 
brated His divine day of rest. Yet the Scripture teaches us again 
and again that Christ performed His mediatorial work controlled 
and impelled by the Holy Spirit. We consider this influence now 
with reference to His consecration to His office. 

By the spirit of the prophets already Christ testified of this say- 
7 



9 8 THE MEDIATOR 

ing by the mouth of Isaiah : " The Spirit of the Lord Jehovah is 
upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good til, 
dings unto the meek." But the great fact which could not be learned 
from prophecy is that of the descent of the Holy Spirit at Jordan! 
Surely Isaiah referred partly to this event, but principally to the! 
anointing in the counsel of peace. However, when Jesus went upl 
out of Jordan, and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him like a dove, 
and a voice was heard from heaven saying, " This is My beloved! 
Son," then only the anointing became actual. 

In regard to the event itself, only a few words. That Christ s) 
Baptism was not a mere form, but the fulfilling of all righteousness 
proves that He descended into the water burdened with our sinsJ 
Hence St. John makes the words, " Behold the Lamb of God," pre 
cede the account of His Baptism. Wherefore it is incorrect to say 
that Christ was installed into His Messianic office only at His BapJ 
tism. On the contrary, He was anointed from eternity. Wliere-j 
fore He may not be represented as being for a moment unconscious,] 
according to the measure of His development, of the Messiah task 
that rested upon Him. This lay in His holy Person ; it was not! 
added to Him at a later period, but was His before Adam fell. 
And as in His human consciousness His Person gradually attained! 
stature, it was always the stature of the Messiah. This is evident 
from His answer when, at the age of twelve, He spoke of the things 
of His Father which were to occupy Him ; and still more clearly 
from His words to John the Baptist commandingly saying : " Suffer 
it to be so now, for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness." 

And yet it is only at His Baptism that Jesus receives the actual! 
consecration to His office. This is proven from the fact that imme 
diately after this He entered publicly upon His office as a Teacher;! 
and also from the event itself, and the voice from heaven pointing} 
to Him as the Messiah ; and especially from the descent of the Holy 
Spirit, which can not be interpreted in any other way than as His; 
consecration to His holy office. 

What we have said with reference to the communication of the 
Holy Spirit qualifying one for office, as in the case of Saul, David,! 
and others, is of direct application here. Altho in His human 
nature Jesus was personally in constant fellowship with the Holy 
Spirit, yet the official communication was established only at the! 
time of His Baptism. Yet with this difference, that while in others] 
the person and his office are separated at death, in the Messiah the| 



NOT LIKE UNTO US 99 

. 

two remain united even in and after death, to continue so until the 

moment that He shall deliver the Kingdom unto God the Father, 

gj j that God may be all in all. Hence the descriptive remark of John : 

"I saw the Spirit descending from heaven, and it abode on Him " 

j, (John i. 32). 

And finally, to the question why the Person of the Mediator 
1 needed this remarkable event and the three signs that accompany 
i it, we answer : 

First, Christ must be a true man even in His office, wherefore 
He must be installed according to the human custom. He enters 
; upon His public ministry at thirty ; He is publicly installed ; and 
1 He is anointed with the Holy Spirit. 

Second, for His human consciousness this striking revelation 
from heaven was of the utmost necessity. The conflict of the 
temptation was to be absolute, i.e., indescribable ; hence the impres 
sion of His consecration must be indestructible. 

Third, for the apostles and the Church it was necessary to dis 
tinguish unmistakably the true Messiah from all the pseudo-mes- 
siahs and antichrists. This is the reason of St. John s strong 
appeal to this event. 

If the work of the Holy Spirit with reference to the consecration 
is conspicuous and clearly indicated, the fact that the official influ 
ence of the Holy Spirit accompanied the Mediator throughout the 
entire administration of His office is not less clearly set forth in the 
Holy Scripture. This appears from the events immediately follow 
ing the Baptism. St. Luke relates that Jesus being full of the Holy 
Spirit, was led by the Spirit into the wilderness. St. Matthew 
adds: " To be tempted of the devil." Of Elias, Ezekiel, and others 
it is said that the Spirit took them up and transferred them to some 
other place. This stands in evident connection with what we read 
here concerning Jesus. With this difference, however, that while 
the propelling power came to them from without, Jesus, being full 
of the Holy Spirit, felt its pressure in the very depths of His soul. 
And yet, altho operating in His soul, this action of the Holy Spirit 
was not identical with the impulses of Christ s human nature. Of 
Himself Jesus would not have gone into the desert; His going 
there was the result of the Holy Spirit s leading. Only in this way 
this passage receives its full explanation. 

That this leading of the Holy Spirit was not limited to this one 
act appears from St. Luke, who relates (chap. iv. 14) that after the 



I00 THE MEDIATOR 

temptation He returned in the power of the Holy Spirit into GaliJ 
lee, thus entering upon the public ministry of His prophetic office. 

It is evidently the purpose of the Scripture to emphasize the fact! 
of the inability of the human nature which Christ had adopted, to 
accomplish the work of the Messiah without the constant opera 
tion and powerful leading of the Holy Spirit, whereby it was so 
strengthened that it could be the instrument of the Son of God forj 
the performance of His wonderful work. 

Jesus was conscious of this, and at the beginning of His ministry 
expressly indicated it. In their synagogue He turned to Isa. Ixi. I 
i, and read to them: " The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because! 
the Lord hath anointed me"; then added: " This day is this Scrip-! 
ture fulfilled in your ears." 

The Holy Spirit did not support His human nature in the temp 
tation and in the opening ministry only, but in all His mighty deeds, 
as Christ Himself testified: "If I cast out devils by the Spirit ot 
God, then the Kingdom of God is come unto you" (Matt. xii. 28). 
Moreover, St. Paul teaches that the gifts of healing and miracles: 
proceed from the Holy Spirit, and this, in connection with the state 
ment that these powers worked in Jesus (Mark vi. 14), convinces us 
that these were the very powers of the Holy Spirit. Again, it is 
frequently said He rejoiced in the Spirit or was troubled in the 
Spirit, which may be interpreted as a rejoicing or being troubled in 
His own spirit; but this is not a complete explanation. When it 
refers to His own spirit it reads: " And He sighed deeply in His 
spirit" (Mark viii. 12). But in the other cases we interpret the ex-l 
pressions as pointing to those deeper and more glorious emotions 
of which our human nature is susceptible only when abiding in the! 
Holy Spirit. For altho St. John states that Jesus groaned in Him 
self (chap. xi. 38), this is not contradictory, especially with refer 
ence to Jesus. If the Holy Spirit always abode in Him, the same 
emotion may be attributed both to Him and to the Holy Spirit. 

Apart, however, from these passages and their interpretations, 
we have said enough to prove that that part of Christ s work of 
mediation, beginning with His Baptism and closing in the upper 
chamber, was marked by the operation, influence, and support of 
the Holy Spirit. 

According to the divine counsel, human nature is adapted in 
creation to the inworking of the Holy Spirit, without which it can 
not unfold itself any more than the rosebud without the light and 



NOT LIKE UNTO US 101 

influence of the sun. As the ear can not hear without sound, and 

the eye can not see without light, so is our human nature incom- 

| plete without the light and indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Where- 

fore, when the Son assumed human nature He took it just as it 

is, i.e., incapable of any holy action without the power of the 

Holy Spirit. Hence He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, that 

i from the beginning His human nature should be richly endowed 

i with powers. The Holy Spirit developed these powers; and He 

was consecrated to His office by the communication to His human 

nature of the Messianic gifts by which He still intercedes for us as 

; our High Priest, and rules us as our King. And for this reason He 

j was guided, impelled, animated, and supported by the Holy Spirit 

at every step of His Messianic ministry. 

There are three differences between this communication of the 
Holy Spirit to the human nature of Jesus and that in us : 

First, the Holy Spirit always meets with the resistance of evil 
in our hearts. Jesus s heart was without sin and unrighteousness. 
Hence in His human nature the Holy Spirit met no resistance. 

Secondly, the Holy Spirit s operation, influence, support, and 
guidance in our human nature is always individual, i.e., in part, 
imperfect; in the human nature of Jesus it was central, perfect, 
leaving no void. 

Thirdly, in our nature the Holy Spirit meets with an ego which 
in union with that nature opposes God; while the Person which He 
met in the human nature of Christ, partaking of the divine nature, 
was absolutely holy. For the Son having adopted the human 
nature in union with His Person, was cooperating with the Holy 
Spirit. 



XXII. 
The Holy Spirit in the Passion of Christ. 

"Who through the Eternal Spirit; 
offered Himself." Heb. ix. 4. 

THIRDLY Let us now trace the work of the Holy Spirit in the 
suffering, death, resurrection, and exaltation of Christ (see "First"! 
and " Second," pp. 93 and 97). 

In the Epistle to the Hebrews the apostle asks: " If the blood ofj 
goats and calves and the ashes of the heifer sprinkling the unclean,! 
sanctifieth to the purification of the flesh, how much more shall! 
the blood of Christ purge your conscience from dead works?" add-j 
ing the words : " Who through the Eternal Spirit offered Himself! 
without spot to God." The meaning of these words has been much! 
disputed. Beza and Gomarus understood the Eternal Spirit tcj 
signify Christ s divine nature. Calvin and the majority of reformers 
made it to refer to the Holy Spirit. Expositors of the present dayj 
especially those of rationalistic tendencies, understand by it merel>i 
the tension of Christ s human nature. 

With the majority of orthodox expositors we adopt the view o:| 
Calvin. The difference between Beza and Calvin is that already" 
referred to. The question is, whether as regards His human nature 
Christ substituted the inworking of the Son for that of the Hoi}! 
Spirit; or did He have the ordinary operation of the Holy Spirit? j 

At the present time many have adopted the former view withou 1 
clearly understanding the difference. They reason thus: " Are the 
two natures not united in the Person of Jesus? Why, then, shouki 
the Holy Spirit be added to qualify the human nature? Could tin 
Son Himself not do this?" And so they reach the conclusion tha 
since the Mediator is God, there could be no need of a work of the 
Holy Spirit in the human nature of Christ. And yet this view mus 
be rejected, for 

First, God has so created human nature that without the Holj, 
Spirit it can not have any virtue or holiness. Adam s origina 



i 



HOLY SPIRIT IN THE PASSION OF CHRIST 103 

righteousness was the work and fruit of the Holy Spirit as truly as 
the new life in the regenerate is to-day. The shining-in of the 
j Holy Spirit is as essential to holiness as the shining of light into 
i the eye is essential to seeing. 

Second, the work of the Son according to the distinction of 
: three divine Persons is other than the work of the Holy Spirit with 
I reference to the human nature. The Holy Spirit could not become 
i flesh; this the Son alone could do. The Father has not delivered 
I all things to the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit works from the Son ; 
I but the Son depends upon the Holy Spirit for the application of 
redemption to individuals. The Son adopts our nature, thus rela 
ting Himself with the whole race ; but the Holy Spirit alone can so 
enter into individual souls as to glorify the Son in the children 
of God. 

Applying these two principles to the Person of Christ, we see 
that His human nature could not dispense with the constant in- 
shining of the Holy Spirit. For which reason Scripture declares : 
" He gave Him the Spirit without measure." Nor could the Son ac 
cording to His own nature take the place of the Holy Spirit; but in 
the divine economy, by virtue of His union with the human nature, 
ever depended upon the Holy Spirit. 

As to the question, whether the Godhead of Christ did not sup 
port His humanity, we answer : Undoubtedly ; but never independ 
ently of the Holy Spirit. We faint because we resist, grieve, and 
repel the Holy Spirit. Christ was always victorious because His 
divinity never relaxed His hold upon the Holy Spirit in His hu 
manity, but embraced Him and clave unto Him with all the love 
and energy of the Son of God. 

Human nature is limited. It is susceptible of receiving the Holy 
Spirit so as to be His temple. But that susceptibility has its limits. 
Opposed by eternal death, it loses its tension and falls away from 
the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. Hence we have no unlosable 
good in ourselves, but only as members of the body of Christ. 
Apart from Him, eternal death would have power over us, would 
separate us from the Holy Spirit and destroy us. Wherefore all 
our salvation lies in Christ. He is our anchor cast within the veil. 
As to the human nature of Christ, it encountered and passed through 
eternal death. This could not be otherwise. If He had passed only 
through temporal death, eternal death would still be unvanquished. 
To the question how His human nature could pass through 



104 THE MEDIATOR 

eternal death and not perish, having no Mediator to support it, we 
answer: The human nature of Christ would have been overwhelmed 
by it, the in-shining of the Holy Spirit would have ceased if His 
divine nature, i.e., the infinite might of His Godhead, had not been 
underneath it. Hence the apostle declares : " Who through the 
Eternal Spirit offered Himself"; not through the Holy Spirit. The 
two expressions are not identical. There is a difference between 
the Holy Spirit, the third Person in the Godhead, apart from me, 
and the Holy Spirit working within me. 

The word of Scripture, " He was full of the Holy Ghost," refers 
not only to the Person of the Holy Spirit, but also to His work in 
man s soul. So with reference to Christ, there is a difference 
between: "He was conceived by the Holy Ghost," "The Holy 
Ghost descended upon Him," " Being full of the Holy Spirit," " Who 
offered Himself by the Eternal Spirit." The last two passages indi 
cate the fact that the spirit of Jesus had taken in the Holy Spirit 
and identified itself with Him, in almost the same sense as Acts xv. 
28: "It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us" The term 
" Eternal Spirit " was chosen to indicate that the divine-human Per 
son of Christ entered into such indissoluble fellowship with the 
Holy Spirit as even eternal death could not break. 

A closer examination of the sufferings of Christ will make this 
clear. 

Christ did not redeem us by His sufferings alone, being spit 
upon, scourged, crowned w r ith thorns, crucified, and slain ; but this 
passion was made effectual to our redemption by His love and volun 
tary obedience. These are generally called His passive and active 
satisfaction. By the first we understand His actual bearing of pain, 
anguish, and death; by the second, His zeal for the honor of God, 
the love, faithfulness, and divine pity by which He became obedient 
even unto death yea, the death of the cross. And these two are 
essentially distinct. Satan, e.g., bears punishment also and shall 
bear it forever; but he lacks the willingness. This, however, does 
not affect the validity of the punishment. A murderer on the gal 
lows may curse God and men to the end ; but this does not invali 
date his punishment. Whether he curses or prays, it is equally 
valid. 

Hence there was in Christ s sufferings much more than mere 
passive, penal satisfaction. Nobody compelled Jesus. He, par 
taker of the divine nature, could not be compelled, but offered 



HOLY SPIRIT IN THE PASSION OF CHRIST 105 

Himself quite voluntarily: " Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God; in 
the volume of the book it is written of Me." To render that volun 
tary sacrifice He had with equal willingness adopted the prepared 
body : " Who being in the form of God thought it no robbery to be 
equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation and being 
found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself and became obe 
dient unto death, even the death of the cross"; "Who, tho He 
were a Son, yet learned He obedience." And to give highest proof 
of this obedience unto death, He inwardly consecrated Himself to 
death, as He Himself testified: " I sanctify Myself for them." 

This leads to the important question, whether Jesus rendered 
this obedience and consecration outside of His human nature, or in 
it, so that it manifested itself in His human nature. Undoubtedly 
the latter. The divine nature can not learn, or be tempted; the 
Son could not love the Father with other than eternal love. In the 
divine nature there is no more or less. To suppose this is to anni 
hilate the divine nature. The statement that, " tho He were the 
Son, yet learned He obedience," does not mean that as God He 
learned obedience ; for God can not obey. God rules, governs, 
commands, but never obeys. As King He can serve us only in 
the form of a slave, hiding His princely majesty, having emptied 
Himself, standing before us as one despised among men. " Tho He 
were the Son "means, therefore: altho in His inward Being He is 
God the Son, yet He stood before us in such lowliness that noth 
ing betrayed His divinity; yea, so lowly that He even learned 
obedience. 

Wherefore if the Mediator as man showed in His human nature 
such zeal for God and such pity for sinners that He willingly gave 
Himself in self-sacrifice unto death, then it is evident that His human 
nature could not exercise such consecration without the inworking 
of the Holy Spirit; and again that the Holy Spirit could not have 
effected such inworking unless the Son willed and desired it. The 
cry of the Messiah is heard in the words of the psalmist : " I delight 
to do Thy will, O God." The Son was willing so to empty Him 
self that it would be possible for His human nature to pass through 
eternal death; and to this end He let it be filled with all the mighti 
ness of the Spirit of God. Thus the Son offered Himself " through 
the Eternal Spirit that we might serve the living God." 

Hence the work of the Holy Spirit in the work of redemption 
did not begin only at Pentecost, but the same Holy Spirit who in 



I0 6 THE MEDIATOR 

creation animates all life, upholds and qualifies our human nature, 
and in Israel and the prophets wrought the work of revelation, also 
prepared the body of Christ, adorned His human nature withj 
gracious gifts, put these gifts into operation, installed Him into 
His office, led Him into temptation, qualified Him to cast out 
devils, and finally enabled Him to finish that eternal work of satis 
faction whereby our souls are redeemed. 

This explains why Beza and Gomarus could not be fully satisfied 
with Calvin s exposition. Calvin said that it was the working- of 
the Holy Spirit apart from the divinity of the Son. And they felt 
that there was something lacking. For the Son made Himself of 
no reputation and became obedient; but if all this is the work of 
the Holy Spirit, then nothing is left of the work of the Son. And 
to escape from this, they adopted the other extreme, and declared ; 
that the Eternal Spirit had reference only to the Son according to 
His divine nature an exposition that can not be accepted, for the I 
divine nature is never designated as spirit. 

Yet they were not altogether wrong. The reconciliation of 
these contrary views must be looked for in the difference between 
the existence of the Holy Spirit without us, and His working within 
us as received by our nature and identified with its own working. And 
inasmuch as the Son, by His Godhead, enabled His human nature, ! 
in the awful conflict with eternal death, to effect this union, there- 
fore the apostle confesses that the sacrifice of the Mediator was ! 
rendered by the working of the Eternal Spirit. 



XXIII. 
The Holy Spirit in the Glorified Christ. 

" Declared to be the Son of God with 
power, according to the Spirit of 
holiness, by the resurrection from 
the dead." Rom. i. 4. 

FROM the foregoing studies it appears that the Holy Spirit per 
formed a work in the human nature of Christ as He descended the 
several steps of His humiliation to the death of the cross. 

The question now arises, whether He had also a work in the 
several steps of Christ s exaltation to the excellent glory, i.e., in 
His resurrection, ascension, royal dignity, and second coming. 

Before we answer this question, let us first consider the nature 
of this work in the exaltation. For it is evident that it must greatly 
differ from that in His humiliation. In the latter His human nature 
suffered violence. His sufferings antagonized not only His divine 
nature, but also His human nature. To suffer pain, insult, and 
mockery, to be scourged and crucified, goes against human nature. 
The effort to resist such sufferings and to escape from them is per 
fectly natural. Christ s groaning in Gethsemane is the natural 
utterance of the human feeling. He was burdened with the curse 
and wrath of God against the sin of the race. Then human nature 
struggled against the burden, and the cry, " Father, let this cup 
pass from Me," was the sincere and natural cry of horror which 
human nature could not repress. 

And not in Gethsemane alone ; through His whole humiliation 
He experienced the same, tho in less degree. His self-emptying 
was not a single loss or bereavement, but a growing poorer and 
poorer, until at last nothing was left Him but a piece of ground 
where He could weep and a cross whereon He could die. He 
renounced all that heart and flesh hold dear, until, without friend 
or brother, without one tone of love, amid the mocking laughter 
of His slanderers, He gave up the ghost. Surely He trod the wine 
press alone. 



io8 THE MEDIATOR 

His humiliation being so deep and real, it is not surprising that 
the Holy Spirit succored and comforted His human nature so that 
it was not overwhelmed. For it is the proper work of the Holy 
Spirit by gifts of grace to enable human nature, tempted by sor 
row to sin, to stand firm and overcome. He animated Adam before 
the fall; He comforts and supports all the children of God to-day; 
and He did the same in the human nature of Jesus. What air is to 
man s physical nature, the Holy Spirit is to his spiritual nature. 
Without air there is death in our bodies; without the Holy Spirit 
there is death in our souls. And as Jesus had to die, tho He was 
the Son, when breath failed Him, so He could not live according to 
His human nature, tho He was the Son, except the Holy Spirit 
dwelt in that nature. Since, according to the spiritual side of His 
human nature, He was not dead as we are, but was born possessed 
of the life of God, so it was impossible for His human nature for a 
single moment to be without the Holy Spirit. 

But how different in the state of His exaltation ! Honor and 
glory are not against human nature, but satisfy it. It covets them 
and longs for them with all its energy of desire. Hence this exal 
tation created no conflict in the soul of Jesus. His human nature 
needed no support to bear it. Hence the question: What, then, 
could the Holy Spirit do for the human nature in the state of glory? 

Regarding the resurrection, the Scripture teaches more than 
once that it was connected with a work of the Holy Spirit. St. 
Paul says (Rom. i. 4) that Jesus was " declared to be the Son of God, 
by the Spirit of holiness with power, by the resurrection from the 
dead." And St. Peter says (i Peter i. 18) that Christ " being put to 
death in the flesh, was quickened by the Spirit," which evidently 
refers to the resurrection, as the context shows: " For Christ once 
suffered for our sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring 
us to God." His death points to the crucifixion, and His quicken 
ing, being the opposite of the latter, undoubtedly refers to His 
resurrection. 

In Rom. viii. n, speaking of our resurrection, St. Paul explains 
these more or less puzzling utterances, affirming that " if the Spirit 
of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that 
raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal 
bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you." This passage tells 
three things concerning our resurrection : 

First, that the Triune God shall raise us up. 



HOLY SPIRIT IN THE GLORIFIED CHRIST 109 

Second, that this shall be wrought by a special work of the 
Holy Spirit. 

Third, that it shall be effected by the Spirit that dwelleth in us. 

St. Paul induces us to apply these three to Christ; for He com 
pares our resurrection with His, not only as regards the fact, but 
also as regards the working whereby it was effected. Hence with 
reference to the latter it must be confessed : 

First, that the Triune God raised Him from the dead. St. Peter 
stated this clearly on the day of Pentecost : " Whom God has raised 
up, having loosed the pains of death"; St. Paul repeated it in 
Ephes. i. 20, where he speaks of "His mighty power" which He 
wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead. 

Second, that God the Holy Spirit performed a peculiar work in 
the resurrection. 

Third, that He wrought this work in Christ from within, dwell 
ing in Him : " Which dwelleth in you." 

The nature of this work is apparent from the Holy Spirit s part 
in Adam s creation and in our birth. If the Spirit kindles and 
brings forth all life, especially in man, then it was He who re 
kindled the spark quenched by sin and death. He did so in Jesus; 
He will do so in- us. 

The only remaining difficulty is on the third point : " Which 
dwelleth in you." The work of the Holy Spirit in our creation, and 
therefore in that of Christ s human nature, came from without ; in 
the resurrection it works from within. Of course persons dying 
without being temples of the Holy Spirit are excluded. St. Paul 
speaks exclusively of men whose hearts are His temples. Hence 
representing Him as dwelling in them, he speaks of Him as the 
Spirit of holiness, and Peter as the " Spirit" indicating that they do 
not refer to a work of the Holy Spirit in opposition to the spirit of 
Jesus, but in which His spirit agreed and cooperated. And this 
harmonizes with Christ s own words, that in the resurrection He 
would not be passive, but active : " I have power to lay down life 
and I have power to take it again. This commandment I have 
received of My Father." The apostles declare again and again not 
only that Jesus was raised from the dead, but that He has risen. 
He had thus foretold it, and the angels said: " Behold, He is risen." 

Hence we reach this conclusion, that the work of the Holy Spirit 
in the resurrection was different from that in the humiliation ; was 
similar to that in the creation ; and was performed from within by 



no THE MEDIATOR 

the Spirit who dwelt in Him without measure, who continued with 
Him through His death, and in whose work His own spirit fully 
concurred. 

The work of the Holy Spirit in the exaltation of Christ is not so 
easily denned. The Scripture never speaks of it in connection with 
His ascension, His sitting at the right hand of the Father, nor with 
the Lord s second coming. Its connection with the descent at 
Pentecost will be treated in its proper place. Light upon these 
points can be obtained only from the scattered statements concern 
ing the work of the Holy Spirit upon human nature in general. 
According to Scripture, the Holy Spirit belongs to our nature as the 
light to the eye ; not only in its sinful condition, but also in the sin 
less state. From this we infer that Adam before he fell was not 
without His inworking; hence that in the heavenly Jerusalem our 
human nature will possess Him in richer, fuller, more glorious 
measure. For our sanctified nature is a habitation of God through 
the Spirit Ephes. ii. 22. 

If, therefore, our blessedness in heaven consists in the enjoy 
ment of the pleasures of God, and it is the Holy Spirit who comes 
into contact with our innermost being, it follows that in heaven He 
can not leave us. And upon this ground we confess, that not only 
the elect, but the glorified Christ also, who continues to be a true 
man in heaven, must therefore forever continue to be filled with the 
Holy Spirit. This our churches have always confessed in the Lit 
urgy : " The same Spirit which dwelleth in Christ as the Head and 
in us as His members." 

The same Holy Spirit who performed His work in the concep 
tion of our Lord, who attended the unfolding of His human nature, 
who brought into activity every gift and power in Him, who conse 
crated Him to His office as the Messiah, who qualified Him for 
every conflict and temptation, who enabled Him to cast out devils, 
and who supported Him in His humiliation, passion, and bitter 
death, was the same Spirit who performed His work in His resur 
rection, so that Jesus was justified in the Spirit (i Tim. iii. 16), and 
who dwells now in the glorified human nature of the Redeemer in 
the heavenly Jerusalem. 

In this connection it should be noticed that Jesus said of His 
body: "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." 
The Temple was God s habitation on Zion ; hence it was a symbol 
of that habitation of God that was to be set up in our hearts. 



HOLY SPIRIT IN THE GLORIFIED CHRIST in 

Hence this saying refers not to the indwelling of the Son in our 
flesh, but to that of the Holy Spirit in the human nature of Jesus. 
Wherefore St. Paul writes to the Corinthians : " Know ye not that 
your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you?" If 
the apostle calls our bodies temples of the Holy Ghost, why should 
we take it in another sense with reference to Jesus? 

If Christ dwelt in our flesh, i.e., in our human nature, body and 
soul, and if the Holy Ghost dwells, on the contrary, in the temple of 
our body, we see that Jesus Himself considered His death and resur 
rection an awful process of suffering through which He must enter 
into glory, but without being for a single moment separated from 
the Holy Spirit. 



Seventb Cbapter. 
THE OUTPOURING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 



XXIV. 
The Outpouring of the Holy Spirit. 

"The Holy Spirit was not yet j^iven 
because that Jesus was not yet 
glorified." -John vii. 39. 

WE have come to the most difficult part in the discussion of the 
work of the Holy Spirit, viz., the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on 
the tenth day after the ascension. 

In the treatment of this subject it is not our aim to create a new 
interest in the celebration of Pentecost. We consider this almost 
impossible. Man s nature is too unspiritual for this. But we shall 
reverently endeavor to give a clearer insight into this event to 
those in whose hearts the Holy Spirit has already begun His work. 

For, however simple the account of the second chapter of the 
Acts may seem, it is very intricate and hard to explain; and he 
who earnestly tries to understand and explain the event will meet 
more and more serious difficulties as he penetrates more deeply 
into the inward connection of the Holy Scripture. For this reason 
we claim not that our exposition will entirely solve this mystery. 
We shall endeavor only to fix the sanctified mind of the people of 
God more earnestly upon it, and convince them that on the vrhole 
this subject is treated too superficially. 

Four difficulties meet us in the examination of this event : 

First, How shall we explain the fact that while the Holy Spirit 
was poured out only on Pentecost, the saints of the Old Covenant 
were already partakers of His gifts? 

Second, How shall we distinguish the outpouring of the Holy 
Spirit nineteen centuries ago from His entering into the soul of the 
unconverted to-day? 



THE OUTPOURING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT 113 

Third, How could the apostles having already confessed the 
good confession, forsaking all, following Jesus, and upon whom He 
had breathed, saying, " Receive ye the Holy Ghost " receive the 
Holy Spirit only on the tenth day after the ascension? 

Fourth, How are we to explain the mysterious signs that accom 
pany the outpouring? There are no angels praising God, but a 
sound is heard like that of a rushing, mighty wind; the glory of the 
{Lord does not appear, but tongues of fire hover over their heads; 
there is no theophany, but a speaking in peculiar and uncommon 
| sounds, understood, however, by those present. 

With reference to the first difficulty : How to explain the fact that, 
while the Holy Spirit was poured out only on Pentecost, the saints 
of the Old Covenant were already partakers of His gifts. Let us 
put this in the concrete : How are the following passages to be 
reconciled? " I am with you, saith the Lord of Hosts, and My Spirit 
jremaineth among you, fear ye not" (Hag. ii. 4, 5) ; and " This spake 
He of the Holy Spirit which they that believe should receive , for 
the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet 
glorified" (John vii. 39). 

Scripture evidently seeks to impress us with the two facts, that 
the Holy Spirit came only on the day of Pentecost, and that the 
same Spirit had wrought already for centuries in the Church of 
the Old Covenant. Not only does St. John declare definitely that the 
Holy Spirit was not yet given, but the predictions of the prophets 
and of Jesus and the whole attitude of the apostles show that this 
fact may not in the least be weakened. 

Let us first examine the prophecies. Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Joel 
Dear undeniable witness to the fact that this was the expectation of 
the prophets. 

Isaiah says : " The palaces shall be forsaken, the multitudes of 
the city shall be left until the Spirit shall be poured upon us from on 
high ; then the wilderness shall be a fruitful field, and the fruitful 
field shall be counted for a forest; then judgment shall dwell in the 
wilderness, and righteousness remain in the fruitful field." This 
prophecy evidently refers to an outpouring of the Holy Spirit 
that shall effect a work of salvation on a large scale, for it closes 
with the promise :, " And the work of righteousness shall be peace, 
and the effect of righteousness, quietness, and assurance forever" 
(Isa. xxxii. 14-17). 

In like manner did Ezekiel prophesy : " Then will I sprinkle 
8 



n 4 THE OUTPOURING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT 

clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean ; a new heart also will 
I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you ; and I will put My 
Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes ; and ye 
shall keep My judgments, and do them ; and I will save you from all 
youruncleanness. Not for yourselves will I do this, saiththe Lord, 
be it known unto you" (chap, xxxiv. 25). Ezek. xi. 19 gives the 
prelude of this prophecy : " Thus saith the Lord -God, I will give 
them one heart, and I will give a new Spirit within them ; and I will 
take the stony heart out of their flesh, that they may walk in My 
statutes." 

Joel uttered his well-known prophecy : " And it shall come to 
pass afterward that I will pour My Spirit upon all flesh, and your 
sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream 
dreams, your young men shall see visions ; and also upon thy serv 
ants and upon thy handmaidens i*i those days will I pour out My 
Spirit" (Joel ii. 30, 31) ; a prophecy which, according to the author 
itative exposition of St. Peter, refers directly to the day of Pentecost. 

Zechariah adds a beautiful prophecy (xii. 10) : " I will pour out 
the Spirit of grace and of supplication." 

It is true that these prophecies were given to Israel during its 
later period, when the vigorous spiritual life of the nation had 
already departed. But Moses expressed the same thought in his 
prophetic prayer: "Would God that all the Lord s people were 
prophets, and that the Lord would put His Spirit upon them " (Num. 
xi. 29). But these prophecies are evidence of the Old Testament 
prophetic conviction that the dispensation of the Holy Spirit in 
those days was exceedingly imperfect; that the real dispensation 
of the Holy Spirit was still tarrying; and that only in the days of 
the Messiah was it to come in all its fulness and glory. 

Regarding the second difficulty, our Lord repeatedly put the stamp 
of His divine authority upon this prophetic conviction, announcing 
to His disciples the still future coming of the Holy Spirit : " I will 
pray the Father and He shall give you another Comforter, that He 
may abide with you forever; even the Spirit of truth, whom the 
world can not receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth 
Him, for He dwelleth with you and shall be in you" (John xiv. 16, 
17); "When the Comforter is come whom I will send from the 
Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, 
He shall testify of Me " (John xv. 26) ; " Behold, I send the promise 
of the Father upon you, and ye shall be endued with power from 



THE OUTPOURING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT 115 

on high" (Luke xxiv. 49) ; " It is expedient for you that I go away; 
for if I go not away the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I 
depart, I will send Him unto you. And when He is come, He will 
reprove the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment " (John 
xvi. 7, 8). And lastly: He commanded them not to depart from 
Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, " which, saith 
He, ye have heard of Me ; for John truly baptized with water, but 
ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. 
And ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon 
you" (Acts i. 4, 5, 8). 

The third difficulty is met by the fact that the communications 
of the apostles agree with the teaching of Scripture. They actually 
tarried in Jerusalem, without even attempting to preach during the 
days between the ascension and Pentecost. And they explain the 
Pentecost miracle as the fulfilment of the prophecies of Joel and 
Jesus. They see in it something new and extraordinary ; and show 
us clearly that in their day it was considered that a man who stood 
outside the Pentecost miracle knew nothing of the Holy Ghost. 
For the disciples of Ephesus being asked, " Have ye received the 
Holy Ghost?" answered naively: "We have not so much as heard 
whether there be any Holy Ghost." 

Wherefore it can not be doubted that the Holy Scripture means 
to teach and convince us that the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on 
Pentecost was His first and real coming into the Church. 

But how can this be reconciled with Old Testament passages 
such as these?" Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, saith the Lord; 
and be strong, O Joshua, the High Priest; . . . for I am with you, 
. . . and My Spirit remaineth among you : fear ye not" (Hag. ii. 4, 5); 
and again : " Then He remembered the days of old, Moses, and His 
people, saying, Where is He that brought them up out of the sea 
with the Shepherd of His flock? where is He that put His Holy 
Spirit within them?" (Isa. Ixiii. 1 1). David is conscious that he had 
received the Holy Spirit, for after his fall he prays : " Take not Thy 
Holy Spirit from me" (Psalm li. 13). There was a sending forth of 
the Spirit, for we read : " Thou sendest forth Thy Spirit, and they 
| are created ; and Thou renewest the face of the earth " (Psalm civ. 30). 
There seems to have been an actual descending of the Holy Spirit, 
for Ezekiel says : " The Spirit of the Lord fell upon me " (chap. xi. 
5). Micah testified : " Truly I am full of the power by the Spirit of 
the Lord" (chap. iii. 8). Of John the Baptist it is written, that he 



n6 THE OUTPOURING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT 

should be filled with the Holy Ghost from his mother s womb Luke 
i. 15. Even the Lord Himself was filled with the Holy Spirit, 
whom He received without measure. That Spirit came upon Him 
at Jordan, how then could He be spoken of as still to come? a 
question all the more puzzling since we read that in the evening 
of the resurrection Jesus breathed upon His disciples, saying: 
"Receive ye the Holy Ghost" (John xx. 22). 

It has been necessary to present this large series of testimonies 
to show our readers the difficulty of the problem which we will 
endeavor to solve in the next article. 



XXV. 

The Holy Spirit in the New Testament Other than in 

the Old. 

" By His Spirit which dwelleth in 
you." Rom. viii. n. 

IN order to understand the change inaugurated on Pentecost we 
must distinguish between the various ways in which the Holy Ghost 
enters into relationship with the creature. 

With the Christian Church we confess that the Holy Spirit is 
true and eternal God, and therefore omnipresent; hence no crea 
ture, stone or animal, man or angel, is excluded from His presence. 

With reference to His omniscience and omnipresence, David 
sings : " Whither shall I go from Thy Spirit, or whither shall I flee 
from Thy presence? If I ascend up to heaven, Thou art there; if I 
make my bed in hell, behold, Thou art there. If I take the wings 
of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even 
there shall Thy hand lead me and Thy right hand shall hold me." 
These words state positively that omnipresence belongs to the Holy 
Spirit; that neither in heaven nor in hell, in the east nor in the 
west, is there a spot or point from which He is excluded. 

This simple consideration is, for the matter under discussion, of 
the greatest importance ; for it follows that the Holy Spirit can not 
be said ever to have moved from one place to another: to have 
been among Israel, but not among the nations ; to have been pres 
ent after the day of Pentecost where He was not before. All such 
representations directly oppose the confession of His omnipresence, 
eternity, and immutability. The Omnipresent One can not go trom 
one place to another, for He can not come where He is already. 
And to suppose that He is omnipresent at one time and not at 
another is inconsistent with His eternal Godhead. The testimony 
of John the Baptist, " I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like 
a dove, and it abode on Him," and that of St. Luke, "The Holy 
Spirit fell on all them which heard the Word," may not therefore 



n8 THE OUTPOURING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT 

be understood as tho the Holy Spirit came to a place where He was 
not before, which is impossible. 

However and this is the first distinction which will throw light I 
upon the matter David s description of omnipresence applies to 
local presence in space, but not to the world of spirits. 

We know not what spirits are, nor what our own spirit is. In 
the body we can distinguish between nerves and blood, bones and 
muscles, and we know something of their functions in the organism ; 
but how a spirit exists, moves, and works, we can not tell. We 
only know that it exists, moves, and works in an entirely different ; 
way from that of the body. When a brother dies nobody opens a j 
door or window for the exit of the soul ; for we know that neither j 
wall nor ceiling can hinder it in its heavenward flight. In prayer | 
we whisper so as not to be overheard ; yet we believe that the man j 
Jesus Christ hears every word. The swiftness of a thought exceeds | 
that of electricity. In a word, the limitations of the material world i 
seem to disappear in the realm of spirits. 

Even the working of spirit on matter is wonderful. The average 
weight of an adult is about one hundred and sixty pounds. It takes 
three or four men to carry a dead body of that weight to the top of 
a high building; yet when the man was alive his spirit had the 
power to carry this weight up and down those flights of stairs easily 
and quickly. But where the spirit takes hold of the body, how it 
moves it, and where it obtains that swiftness, is for us a perfect 
mystery. Yet this shows that spirit is subject to laws wholly 
different from those that govern matter. 

We emphasize the word law. According to the analogy of faith, 
there must be laws that govern the spiritual world as there are in 
the natural ; yet owing to our limitations we can not know them. 
But in heaven we shall know them, and all the glories and particu 
lars of the spiritual world, as our physicians know the nerves and 
tissues of the body. 

This we know, however, that that which applies to matter does 
not therefore apply to spirit. God s omnipresence has reference 
to all space, but not to every spirit. Since God is omnipresent, it 
does not follow that He also dwells in the spirit of Satan. Hence 
it is clear that the Holy Spirit can be omnipresent without dwelling 
in every human soul ; and that He can descend without changing 
place, and yet enter a soul hitherto unoccupied by Him ; and that 
He was present among Israel and among the Gentiles, and yet 



HOLY SPIRIT IN OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS 119 

manifested Himself among the former and not among the latter. 
From this it follows that in the spiritual world He can come where 
He was not ; that He came among Israel, not having been among 
them before; and that then He manifested Himself among them 
less powerfully and in another way than on and before the day of 
Pentecost. 

The Holy Spirit seems to act upon a human being in a twofold 
manner from without, or from within. The difference is similar to 
that in the treatment of the human body by the physician and the 
surgeon : the former acts upon it by medicines taken inwardly ; the 
latter by incisions and outward applications. A very defective 
comparison, indeed, but it may illustrate faintly the twofold opera 
tion of the Holy Spirit upon the souls of men. 

In the beginning we discover only an outward imparting of cer 
tain gifts. On Samson He bestows great physical strength. Aho- 
liab and Bezaleel are endowed with artistic talent to build the 
tabernacle. Joshua is enriched with military genius. These 
operations did not touch the center of the soul, and were not 
saving, but merely external. They become more enduring when 
they assume an official character as in Saul ; altho in him we find the 
best evidence of the fact that they are only outward and temporal. 
They assume a higher character when they receive the prophetic 
stamp ; altho Balaam s example shows us that even thus they pene 
trate not to the center of the soul, but affect man only outwardly. 

But in the Old Testament there was also an inward operation in 
believers. Believing Israelites were saved. Hence they must have 
received saving grace. And since saving grace is out of the ques 
tion without an inward working of the Holy Spirit, it follows that 
He was the Worker of faith in Abraham as well as in ourselves. 

The difference between the two operations is apparent. A per 
son outwardly wrought upon may become enriched with outward 
gifts, while spiritually he remains as poor as ever. Or, having 
received the inward gift of regeneration, he may be devoid of every 
talent that adorns man outwardly. 

Hence we have these three aspects : 

First, there is the omnipresence of the Holy Spirit in space, the 
same in heaven and in hell, among Israel and among the nations. 

Second, there is a spiritual operation of the Holy Spirit accord 
ing to choice, which is not omnipresent; active in heaven, but not 
in hell; among Israel, but not among the nations. 



120 THE OUTPOURING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT 

Third, this spiritual operation works either from without, im 
parting losable gifts, or from within, imparting the unlosable gift 
of salvation. 

We have spoken so far of the work of the Holy Spirit upon indi 
vidual persons, which was sufficient to explain that work in the 
days of the Old Testament. But when we come to the day of Pen 
tecost, this no longer suffices. For His particular operation, on 
and after that day, consists in the extending of His operation to a 
company of men organically united. 

God did not create humanity as a string of isolated souls, but as 
a race. Hence in Adam the souls of all men are fallen and defiled. 
In like manner the new creation in the realm of grace has not 
wrought the generation of isolated individuals, but the resurrection 
of a new race, a peculiar people, a holy priesthood. And this favored 
race, this peculiar people, this holy priesthood is also organically 
one and partaking of the same spiritual blessing. 

The Word of God expresses this by teaching that the elect con 
stitute one body, of which all are members, one being a foot, another 
an eye, and another an ear, etc. a representation that conveys the 
idea that the elect mutually sustain the relation of a vital, organic, 
and spiritual union. And this is not merely outwardly, by mutual 
love, but much more through a vital communion which is theirs by 
virtue of their spiritual origin. As our Liturgy beautifully ex 
presses it: " For as out of many grains one meal is ground and one 
bread baked, and out of many berries, being pressed together, one 
wine floweth and mixeth itself together, so shall we all, who by a 
true faith are ingrafted into Christ, be altogether one body." 

This spiritual union of the elect did not exist among Israel, nor 
could it exist during their time. There was a union of love, but 
not a spiritual and vital fellowship that sprang from the root of life. 
This spiritual union of the elect was made possible only by the 
incarnation of the Son of God. The elect are men consisting of 
body and soul ; therefore it is partly at least a visible body. And 
only when in Christ the perfect man was given, who could be the 
temple of the Holy Spirit body and soul, did the inflowing and out 
pouring of the Holy Spirit become established in and through the 
body thus created. 

However, this did not occur directly after the birth of Christ, 
but after His ascension; for His human nature did not unfold its 
fullest perfection until after He had ascended, when, as the glori- 



HOLY SPIRIT IN OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS 121 

fied Son of God, He sat. down at the right hand of the Father. 
Only then the perfect Man was given, who on the one hand could 
be the temple of the Holy Ghost without hindrance, and on the 
other unite the spirits of the elect into one body. And when, by 
His ascension and sitting down at the right hand of God, this had 
become a fact, when thus the elect had become one body, it was 
perfectly natural that from the Head the indwelling of the Holy 
Spirit was imparted to the whole body. And thus the Holy Spirit 
was poured out into the body of the Lord, His elect, the Church. 

In this way everything becomes plain and clear: clear why the 
saints of the Old Testament did not receive the promise, that with 
out us they should not be made perfect, waiting for that perfection 
until the formation of the body of Christ, into which they also were 
to be incorporated ; clear that the tarrying of the outpouring of the 
Holy Spirit did not prevent saving grace from operating upon the 
individual souls of the saints of the Old Covenant ; clear the word 
of John, that the Holy Spirit was not yet given because Jesus was 
not yet glorified; clear that the apostles were born again long 
before Pentecost and received official gifts on the evening of the 
day of the resurrection, altho the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in 
the body thus formed did not take place until Pentecost. It becomes 
clear how Jesus could say, " If I go not away the Comforter will not 
come unto you," and again, " But if I go I will send Him unto you"; 
for the Holy Spirit was to flow into His body from Himself, who is 
the Head. It becomes clear also that He would not send Him from 
Himself, but from the Father; clear why this outpouring of the 
Spirit into the body of Christ is never repeated, and could occur 
but once ; and lastly, clear that the Holy Spirit was indeed stand 
ing in the midst of Israel (Isa. Ixiii. 12), working upon the saints 
from without, while in the New Testament He is said to be within 
them. 

We arrive, therefore, at the following conclusions: 

First, the elect must constitute one body. 

Second, they were not so constituted during the days of the 
Old Covenant, of John the Baptist, and of Christ while on earth. 

Third, this body did not exist until Christ ascended to heaven 
and, sitting at the right hand of God, bestowed upon this body its 
unity, in that God gave Him to be Head over all things to the 
Church Ephes. iv. 12. 

Lastly, Christ as the glorified Head, having formed His spiritual 



122 THE OUTPOURING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT 

body by the vital union of the elect, on the day of Pentecost poured 
out His Holy Spirit into the whole body, never more to let Him depart 
from it. 

That these conclusions contain nothing but what the Church of 
all ages has confessed appears from the fact that the Reformed 
churches have always maintained : 

First, that our communion with the Holy Spirit depends upon 
our mystic union with the body of which Christ is the Head, which 
is the underlying thought of the Lord s Supper. 

Second, that the elect form one body under Christ their Head. 

Third, that this body began to exist when it received its Head; 
and that, according to Ephes. i. 22, Christ was given to be the Head 
after His resurrection and ascension. 



XXVI. 
Israel and the Nations. 

"Because that on the Gentiles also 
was poured out the gift of the 
Holy Ghost." Acts x. 45. 

THE question that arises with reference to Pentecost is : Since 
the Holy Spirit imparted saving grace to men before and after 
Pentecost, what is the difference caused by that descent of the 
Holy Spirit? 

An illustration may explain the difference. The rain descends 
from heaven and man gathers it to quench his thirst. When house 
holders collect it each in his own cistern, it comes down for every 
family separately ; but when, as in modern city life, every house is 
supplied from the city reservoir, by means of mains and water-pipes, 
there is no more need of pumps and private cisterns. Suppose that 
a city whose citizens for ages have been drinking each from his 
own cistern proposes to construct a reservoir that will supply 
every home. When the work is completed the water is allowed to 
run through the system of mains and pipes into every house. It 
might then be said that on that day the water was poured out into 
the city. Hitherto it fell upon every man s roof; now it streams 
through the organized system into every man s house. 

Apply this to the pouring out of the Holy Spirit, and the differ 
ence before and after Pentecost will be apparent. The mild show 
ers of the Holy Spirit descended upon Israel of old in drops of saving 
grace ; but in such a manner only that each gathered of the heavenly 
rain for himself, to quench the thirst of each heart separately. So it 
continued until the coming of Christ. Then there came a change ; 
for He gathered the full stream of the Holy Spirit for us all, in His 
own Person. With Him all saints are connected by the channels of 
faith. And when, after His ascension, this connection with His 
saints was completed, and He had received the Holy Spirit from 
His Father, then the last obstacle was removed and the full stream 



i2 4 THE OUTPOURING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT 

of the Holy Spirit came rushing through the connecting channels 
into the heart of every believer. 

Formerly isolation, every man for himself; now organic union 
of all the members under their one Head: this is the difference 
between the days before and after Pentecost. The essential fact of 
Pentecost consisted in this, that on that day the Holy Spirit entered 
for the first time into the organic body of the Church, and individ 
uals came to drink, not each by himself, but all together in organic 
union. 

To the question where that system of connecting channels uni 
ting us in one body under our Head may be found, we can give 
no answer. This belongs to things invisible and spiritual which 
escape our observation, of which we can have no other representa 
tion than that by an image. 

Yet this does not alter the fact that the organic union really 
exists. The Word of God is to us its undeniable witness. Organic 
life appears in nature in two forms : in the plant, and in the body 
of man and animal. These are the very types that Christ uses to 
illustrate the spiritual union between Himself and His people. He 
said: "I am the Yine, ye are the branches." And St. Paul speaks 
of having become one plant with Christ. And he frequently uses 
the image of the body and its members. 

Hence there can be no doubt that there exists a mystic union 
between Christ and believers which works by means of an organic 
connection, uniting the Head and the members in a for us invisible 
and incomprehensible manner. By means of this organic union I 
the Holy Spirit was poured out on Pentecost from Christ the Head i 
into us, the members of His body. 

If it were possible to construct the city s water-works in the air I 
above the city, the chief engineer could properly say : " When I turn 
on the water for the first time I will baptize the city with water." 
In similar sense Christ may be said to have baptized His Church 
with the Holy Spirit. For the word of John the Baptist, " I indeed : 
baptize you with water, but He that cometh after me is mightier 
than I; He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost," is explained by 
Christ Himself as referring to the day of Pentecost (Acts i. 5) : ! 
And being assembled together with Him, He commanded them 
that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the 
promise of the Father, which, saith He, ye have heard of Me. For j 
John truly baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the j 



ISRAEL AND THE NATIONS 125 

Holy Ghost not many days hence"; a promise that undoubtedly 
referred to the Pentecost miracle. This agrees with the fact that 
Jesus during His ministry allowed His disciples to continue the 
Baptism of John. And this shows that even before the crucifixion, 
John and Peter, Philip and Zaccheus, and many others received 
saving grace of the Holy Spirit, each for himself, but none of them 
was baptized with the Holy Spirit before the day of Pentecost. 

With reference to the apostles, we must therefore distinguish a 
threefold giving of the Holy Spirit : 

First, that of saving grace in regeneration and subsequent illu 
mination Matt. xvi. 17. 

Secondly, official gifts qualifying them for the apostolic office 
John xx. 22. 

Thirdly, the Baptism with the Holy Ghost Acts i. 5 in connec 
tion with Acts ii. i ff. 

One more difficulty remains. We often read of outpourings of 
the Holy Spirit after Pentecost. How can this be reconciled with 
our explanation? In Acts x. 44, 45 we read: "While Peter yet 
spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all who heard the word. 
And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, 
as many as came with Peter, because on the Gentiles also was 
poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost." And Peter confirms this 
by saying : " Can any man forbid water that these should not be 
baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we?" 
From this it is evident that the outpouring on the house of Cor 
nelius was of the same nature as that on Pentecost. Moreover, we 
hear of a descent of the Holy Ghost in Samaria (Acts viii.), and of 
another in Ephesus (Acts xix. 6). This descent took place in both 
instances after the laying on of hands by the apostles; and at 
Caesarea and Corinth it was followed by a speaking with foreign 
tongues as in Jerusalem. 

It is evident, therefore, that the outpouring of the Holy Spirit 
was not limited to Pentecost in Jerusalem, but was afterward re 
peated in a weaker and modified form, but still extraordinarily, as 
on Pentecost. 

And who would deny that there is an outpouring of the Holy 
Spirit to-day in the churches? Without it there can be no regen 
eration, no salvation. Yet the Pentecost signs are lacking, e.g., 
there is no more speaking with tongues. Hence it is necessary to 



126 THE OUTPOURING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT 

distinguish between the ordinary outpouring which occurs now, and 
the extraordinary at Corinth, Caesarea, Samaria, and Jerusalem. 

Hence the question stands as follows : If on the day of Pentecost 
the Holy Spirit was poured out once for all and forever, how do we 
account for the ordinary and extraordinary outpourings? 

Allow us once more to recur to our former illustration. Suppose 
that the city above referred to consisted of a lower and an upper 
part, both to be supplied from the same reservoir. Upon the com 
pletion of its system the lower city may receive the water first, and 
the upper part receive it only after the system shall have been ex 
tended. Here we notice two things : the distribution of the water 
took place but once, which was the formal opening of the water 
works, and could take place but once ; while the distribution of the 
water in the upper city, altho extraordinary, was but an after-effect 
of the former event. This is a fair illustration of what took place 
in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. The Church consisted of two 
parts sharply defined, viz., the Jewish and the Gentile world. Yet 
both are to constitute one body, one people, one Church ; both are 
to live one life in the Holy Ghost. On Pentecost He is poured out 
into the body, but only to quench the thirst of one part, i.e., the 
Jewish; the other part is still excluded. But now apostles and 
evangelists start from Jerusalem and come into contact with the 
Gentiles, and the hour has come for the stream of the Holy Ghost 
to pour forth into the Gentile part of the Church, and the whole 
body is refreshed by the same Holy Spirit. Hence there is an 
original outpouring in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost, and a 
supplementary outpouring in Caesarea for the Gentile part of the 
Church; both of the same nature, but each bearing its own special 
character. 

Besides these there are some isolated outpourings of the Holy 
Spirit, attended by the laying on of the apostles* hands, as in the 
case of Simon Magus. We explain this as follows : as from time 
to time new connections are made between individual houses and 
the city reservoir, so new parts of the body of Christ were added to 
the Church from without, into whom the Holy Spirit was poured 
forth from the body as into new members. It is perfectly natural 
that in these cases the apostles appear as instruments ; and that, 
receiving into the Church persons that come from a part of the 
world not yet connected with the Church, they extend to them by 



ISRAEL AND THE NATIONS 127 

the laying on of hands the fellowship of the Holy Ghost who dwells 
in the body. 

This also explains why to-day newly converted persons receive 
the Holy Spirit only in the ordinary way. For they who are con 
verted among us stand already ,in the covenant, belong already to the 
seed of the Church and to the body of Christ* Hence no new con 
nection is formed, but a work of the Holy Spirit is wrought in a 
soul with which He was already related by means of the body. 

And thus every objection is met and every detail is put in its 
own place, and the lines of the domain which had become vague 
and confused are once more clearly drawn. 

It is evident also that the prayer for another outpouring or bap 
tism of the Holy Spirit is incorrect and empty of real meaning. 
Such prayer actually denies the Pentecost miracle. For He that 
came and abides with us can no more come to us. 

*The author refers either to persons baptized in infancy, instructed by 
the ministers of the Word in the doctrines of the Church and at suitable age 
received into the Church on confession of their faith, or to persons not so 
received into the Church, and then on the ground that Holland belongs to 
the baptized nations. TRANS. 



XXVII. 
The Signs of Pentecost. 

"Signs in the earth beneath. 1 
Acts ii. 19. 

LET us now consider the signs that accompanied the outpouring 
of the Holy Spirit the sound of a rushing, mighty wind ; tongues 
of fire ; and the speaking with other tongues which constitute the 
fourth difficulty that meets us in the investigation of the events of 
Pentecost (see p. 113). The first and second precede, the third 
follows the outpouring. 

These signs are not merely symbolic. The speaking with other 
tongues, at least, appears as part of the narrative. Symbols are 
intended to represent or indicate something or to call the attention 
to it; hence it may be omitted without affecting the matter itself. 
A symbol is like a finger-post on the road: it may be removed 
without affecting the road. If the Pentecost signs were purely 
symbolic, the event would have been the same without them ; but 
the absence of the sign of other tongues would have modified the 
character of the subsequent history completely. 

This justifies the supposition that the two preceding signs were 
also constituent parts of the miracle. The fact that neither of them 
is an apt symbol strengthens the supposition; for a symbol must 
speak. The finger-post that leaves the traveler in doubt concern 
ing the direction he is to take is no finger-post. Considering the 
fact that for eighteen centuries theologians have been unable to 
ascertain the significance of the so-called symbols with any degree 
of certainty, it must be acknowledged that it is difficult to believe 
that the apostles or the multitude understood their significance at 
once and in the same way. The issue proves the contrary. They 
did not understand the signs. The multitude, confounded and per 
plexed, said one to another: "What meaneth this?" And when 
Peter arose as an apostle, enlightened by the Holy Spirit, to inter 
pret the miracle, he made no effort to attach any symbolic signifi- 



THE SIGNS OF PENTECOST 129 

cance to the signs, but simply declared that an event had taken 
place by which the prophecy of Joel was fulfilled. 

Did the event of Pentecost then exhaust the prophecy of Joel? 
By no means ; for the sun was not turned into darkness, nor the 
moon into blood; and we hear nothing of the dreams of old men. 
Nor could it ; the notable day that will exhaust this and so many 
other prophecies can not come until the return of the Lord. But 
the holy apostle meant to say, that the day of the Lord s return 
was brought so much nearer by this event. The outpouring of the 
Holy Spirit is one of the great events which pledge the coming of 
that great and notable day. Without it that day can not come. 
Looking back from heaven, the day of Pentecost will appear to us 
as the last great miracle immediately preceding the day of the 
Lord. And since that day shall be attended by awful signs, as was 
the preparatory day of Pentecost, the apostle puts them together 
and makes them appear as one, showing that in Joel s prophecy 
God points to both events. 

If it be certain that the signs attending the Lord s return blood, 
fire, and vapor of smoke shall not be symbolic, but constituent ele 
ments of that last part of the world s history, viz., its last conflagra 
tion, then it is certain that Peter did not understand the signs of 
Pentecost to be symbolic. 

Neither can the still more unsatisfactory explanation be enter 
tained that these signs were intended to draw and fix the attention 
of the multitude. 

The senses of sight and hearing are the most effectual means by 
which the outside world can act upon our consciousness. In order 
suddenly to arouse and excite a person, one need only startle him 
by an explosion or by the flash of a dazzling light. Acting upon 
this, some of the earlier Methodists used to fire pistols at their re 
vival meetings, hoping that the report and flash would create the 
desired state of mind. The subsequent excitement of the people 
would tend to make them more susceptible to the operation of the 
Holy Spirit. Similar experiments are those of the Salvation Army. 
According to this notion, the signs of Pentecost bore a similar char 
acter. It is supposed by some that the disciples, still unconverted 
men, were sitting together in the upper chamber on the day of Pen 
tecost. To render them susceptible to the inflowing of the Holy 
Spirit they must be aroused by a noise and fire. It must seem as 
tho a violent thunder-storm had burst upon the city; flashes of light- 
9 



130 THE OUTPOURING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT 

ning and peals of thunder were seen and heard. And when th 
multitude were startled and terrified, then the desired condition foil 
receiving the Holy Spirit prevailed and the outpouring took place. 
Such extravagances only hurt the tender sense of the children ofl 
God ; while it is almost sacrilege to compare the signs of Pentecosti 
to the report of a pistol. 

Hence there remains only one other explanation, i.e., to consider] 
the Pentecost signs as actual and real constituents of the event ; in-j 
dispensable links in the chain of occurrences. 

When a ship enters the harbor we see the foaming spray under! 
the bow and hear the waters dashing against the sides. When aj 
horse runs through the street we hear the noise of his hoofs against 
the pavement and see the clouds of dust. But who will say that! 
these things seen and heard are symbolic? They necessarily belong 
to those actions and are parts of them, impossible without them. 
Therefore we do not believe that the Pentecost signs were symbolic, 
or intended to create a sensation, but that they belonged insep-j 
arably to the outpouring of the Holy Ghost, and were caused by 
it. The outpouring could not take place without creating these 
signs. When the mountain-stream dashes down the steep sides of \ 
the rocks we must hear the sound of rushing waters, we must see 
the flying spray; so when the Holy Spirit flows down from the 
mountains of God s holiness, the sound of a rushing, mighty windi 
must be heard, and glorious brightness must be seen, and a speak-j 
ing with foreign tongues must follow. 

This will sufficiently explain our meaning. Not that we denyj 
that these signs had also a significance for the multitude. The! 
noise of the horse s hoofs warns travelers on the road. And we 
concede that the purpose of the signs was realized in the. perplexity 
and consternation which they caused in the hearts of those present. I 
But this we maintain, that even in the absence of the multitude and] 
their consternation the sound of a rushing, mighty wind would have! 
been heard and the fiery tongues would have been seen. As the | 
horse s hoofs cause the ground to vibrate tho there be no traveler 
in sight, so the Holy Spirit could not come down without* that sound 
and that brightness, even tho not a single Jew were to be found in i 
all Jerusalem. 

The outpouring of the Holy Spirit was real, not apparent. Hav 
ing found His temple in the glorified Head, He must necessarily j 
flow down into the body and descend from heaven, And thisj 





THE SIGNS OF PENTECOST 131 

lescent from heaven and this flowing into the body could not take 

ce without causing these signs. 

To penetrate more deeply into this matter is not lawful. On 
irloreb Elijah heard the Lord pass by in a gentle breeze; Isaiah 
\ieard the moving of the door-posts in the Temple. This seems to 
indicate that the* approach of the divine majesty causes a commo- 
j.ion in the elements perceptible to the auditory nerve. But how, 
ive can not tell. We observe, however : 

First, that spirit can act upon matter is evident, for our spirits 
(ict upon the body every moment, and by that action are able to 
produce sounds. Speaking, crying, singing are nothing but our 
pirit acting upon the currents of air. And if our spirit is capable 
f such action, why not the Spirit of the Lord? Why, then, call it 
nysterious when the Holy Spirit in His descent so wrought upon 
he elements that the effects vibrated in the ears of those present? 

Secondly, in making the covenant with Israel upon Sinai, the 

d God spoke in peals of thunder so terrible that even Moses 
aid, "I am exceedingly fearful and quaking"; yet not with the 
ntention of terrifying the people, but because a holy and angry 
can not speak otherwise to a sinful generation. It is not 
ierefore surprising that the coming of God to His New Covenant 
eople is attended by similar signs, not in order to draw men s 
ttention, but because it could not be otherwise. 

The same applies to the tongues of fire. Supernatural manifes- 
ations are always attended by light and brightness, especially when 
he Lord Jehovah or His angel appears. Recall, e.g., God s cove- 
ant-making with Abraham, or the occurrences at the burning bush. 
Vhy, then, should it surprise us that the descent of the Holy Spirit 
/as attended by phenomena such as those seen by Elijah on Horeb, 
loses in the bush, St. Paul on the way to Damascus, and St. John 
n Patmos? That the cloven tongues sat upon each of them proves 
othing to the contrary; for He proceeded to each of them and 
ntered their hearts, and in each going He left a trace of light 
ehind. 

The question, whether the fire seen by these men on those occa- 
ions belonged to a higher sphere, or was the effect of God s action 
ipon the elements of the earth, can not be answered. 

Both views have much in their favor. There is no darkness in 
leaven ; and the heavenly light must be of a higher nature than 
urs, even above the brightness of the sun, according to St. Paul s 



132 THE OUTPOURING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT 

description of the light on the way to Damascus. It is very prot 
able, therefore, that in these great events the boundary of heave 
overlapped the earth, and a higher glory shone in upon our atmoj 
phere. 

But, on the other hand, it is possible that the Holy Spiri 
wrought this mysterious brightness directly by a miracle. An 
this seems to be confirmed by the fact that the signs attending th 
law-giving on Sinai, which event was parallel to this, were no 
from higher spheres, but wrought from earthly elements. 

Finally, let it be noticed, that the outpouring of the Holy Spiri 
on the house of Cornelius and on the disciples of Apollos was at 
tended by a speaking with other tongues, but not by the other signst 
This confirms our theory; for it was not a coming to the house 9 
Cornelius, but a conducting of the Holy Spirit into another part ol 
the body of Christ. If symbolism had been intended, the sign) 
would have been repeated; not being symbols, they did not appear 



XXVIII. 
The Miracle of Tongues. 

"If any man speak in an {unknown) 
tongue, . . . let one interpret. But 
if there be no interpreter, let him 
speak to himself, and to God." i 
Cor. xiv. 27, 28. 

THE third sign following the outpouring of the Holy Spirit con 
sisted in extraordinary sounds that proceeded from the lips of the 
japostles sounds foreign to the Aramaic tongue, never before heard 
jfrom their lips. 

These sounds affected the multitude in different ways: some 

palled them babblings of inebriated men ; others heard in them the 

*g;reat works of God proclaimed. To the latter, it seemed as tho 

;hey heard them speaking in their own tongues. To the Parthian 

t sounded like the Parthian, to the Arabian like the Arabic, etc. ; 

.vhile St. Peter declared that this sign belonged to the realm of rev- 

ilation, for it was the fulfilment of the prophecy of Joel that all the 

)eople should become partakers of the operation of the Holy Spirit. 

The question how to interpret this wonderful sign has occupied 
he thinking minds of all times. Allow us to offer a solution, which 
ve present in the following observations : 

In the first place This phenomenon of spiritual speaking in ex- 
\ raordinary sounds is not confined to Pentecost nor to the second 
hapter of the Acts. 

On the contrary, the Lord told His disciples, even before the 
scension, that they should speak with new tongues Mark xvi. 18. 
^.nd from the epistles of St. Paul it is evident that this prophecy 
iid not refer to Pentecost alone; for we read in i Cor. xii. 10 that in 
he apostolic Church, spiritual gifts included that of tongues ; that 
jome spoke in .yev^y^wrrwv, i.e., in kinds of tongues or sounds. In 
rer. 28 the apostle declares that God has set this spiritual phenome- 
lion in the Church. It is noteworthy that in i Cor. xiv. 1-33 the 
Lpostle gives special attention to this extraordinary sign, showing 



i 3 4 THE OUTPOURING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT 

that then it was quite ordinary. That the gift of tongues mentione 
by St. Paul and the sign of which St. Luke speaks in Acts ii. ail 
substantially one and the same can not be doubted. In the fird 
place, Christ s prophecy is general: " They shall speak with nej 
tongues." Secondly, both phenomena are said to have made irrd 
sistible impressions upon unbelievers. Thirdly, both are treated a 
spiritual gifts. And lastly, to both is applied the same name. 

Yet there was a very perceptible difference between the two: th 
miracle of tongues on the day of Pentecost was intelligible to I 
large number of hearers of different nationalities; while in th| 
apostolic churches it was understood only by a few who were calle 
interpreters. Connected with this is the fact that the miracle o 
Pentecost made the impression of speaking at once to differer! 
hearers in different tongues so that they were edified. Howeve: 
this is no fundamental difference. Altho in the apostolic churche 
there were but few interpreters, yet there were some who unde: 
stood the wonderful speech. 

There was, moreover, a marked difference between the men thtj 
endowed: some understood what they were saying; others did no 
For St. Paul admonishes them, saying : " Let him that speaketh i 
an unknown tongue, pray that he may interpret" (i Cor. xiv. 13 
Yet even without this ability, the speaking with tongues had a 
edifying effect upon the speaker himself; but it was an edificatior 
not understood, the effect of an unknown operation in the soul. 

From this we gather that the miracle of tongues consisted in th 
uttering of extraordinary sounds which from existing data could blj 
explained neither by the speaker nor by the hearer ; and to whiq 
another grace was sometimes added, viz., that of interpretatiotj 
Hence three things were possible : that the speaker alone understock 
what he said; or, that others understood it and not himself ; or, thzl \ 
both speaker and hearers understood it. This understanding hd ] 
reference to one or more persons. 

On the ground of this we comprise these miracles of tongues i 
one class; with this distinction, however, that on the day of Pent(|{ 
cost the miracle appeared perfect, but later on incomplete. As then 
is in the miracles of Christ in raising the dead a perceptible iricreas 
of power: first, the raising up of one just dead (the daughter ( 
Jairus), then, of one about to be buried (the young man of Nain), an 
lastly, of one already decomposing (Lazarus) ; so there is also in th I 
miracle of tongues a difference of power not increasing, but Jccrea\ > 



THE MIRACLE OF TONGUES 135 

ing. The mightiest operation of the Holy Spirit is seen first, then 
those less powerful. It is precisely the same as in our own heart : 
first, the mighty fact of regeneration ; after that, the less marked 
manifestations of spiritual power. Hence on Pentecost there was 
the miracle of tongues in its perfection ; later on in the churches, 
in weaker measure. 

Secondly There is no evidence that the miracle of tongues con 
sisted in the speaking of one of the known languages not previously 
I acquired. 

If this had been the case, St. Paul could not have said : " If I 
i pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understand 
ing is unfruitful " (i Cor. xiv. 14). The word " unknown " appears 
in italics, not being found in the Greek. Moreover, he says that 
tongues are for a sign not to them that believe, but to them that 
believe not ver. 22. If it had been a question of foreign but 
ordinary languages, the matter of understanding them could not 
depend upon faith, but simply upon the fact whether the language 
was acquired by study or was one s native tongue. 

Finally, the notion that these tongues refer to foreign languages 
not acquired by study is contradicted by St. Paul : " I thank my 
God that I speak with tongues more than ye all." By which he can 
not mean that he had mastered more languages than others, but 
that he possessed the gift of tongues in greater degree than other 
men. The following verse is evidence : " Yet in the Church I had 
rather speak five words with my understanding, that I may teach 
others also, than ten thousand words in an (unknown) tongue." 
According to the other view, this ought to have been : " I wish to 
speak in one language, so that the Church may understand me, 
rather than in ten or twenty languages which the Church under 
stands not." But the apostle does not say this. He speaks not of 
many languages in opposition to one, but of five sounds or words 
against ten thousand words. From this it follows that St. Paul s 
" I speak with glottal (languages or sounds) more than ye all," must 
refer to the miracle of sounds. 

For altho it is objected very naturally that on Pentecost the 
apostles spoke the Arabic, Hebrew, and Parthian tongues besides 
many others, yet the fact appealed to is not proven to be a fact. 
Surely we learn from Acts ii. that these Parthians, Elamites, etc., 
received the impression that they were addressed each in his own 



1 36 THE OUTPOURING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT 

tongue ; yet the narrative itself proves rather the contrary. Let the 
experiment be tried. Let fifteen men (the number of languages 
mentioned in Acts ii.) speak in fifteen different languages at once 
and together, and the result will be not that every one hears his 
own language, but that no one can hear anything. But the nar 
rative of Acts ii. is fully explained in that the apostles uttered 
sounds intelligible to Parthians, Medes, Cretans, etc., because they 
understood them, receiving the impression that these sounds agreed 
with their own mother-tongues. As a Dutch child seeing a problem 
on the blackboard worked out by an English or German child 
naturally receives the impression that it was done by a Dutch child, 
simply because figures are signs not affected by the difference of 
language, so must the Elamite have received the impression that 
he heard the Elamitian, and the Egyptian that he was addressed in 
the Egyptian tongue, when on Pentecost they heard sounds uttered 
by a miracle, which, being independent from the difference of lan 
guage, were intelligible to man as man. 

We must not forget that speaking is nothing else than to pro 
duce impressions upon the soul of the hearer by means of vibrations 
in the air. But if the same impressions can be produced without 
the aid of air-vibrations, the effect upon the hearer must be the 
same. Try the experiment upon the eye. The sight of twinkling 
stars or dissolving figures excites the retina. The same effect can 
be produced by rubbing the eye with the finger when reclining 
on a couch in a dark room. And this applies here. The air- I 
vibrations are not the principal thing, but the emotion produced in | 
the mind by the speaking. The Pamphylian, accustomed to re- | 
ceive emotions by hearing his mother-tongue, and receiving the 
same impression in another way, must think that he is addressed in 
the Pamphylian tongue. 

Thirdly According to St. Paul s interesting information, the 
miracle of tongues consisted in this, that the vocal organs produced 
sounds not by a working of the mind, but by an operation of the 
Holy Spirit upon those organs. 

St. Luke writes : " They began to speak with other tongues, as 
the Spirit gave them utterance" (Acts ii. 4); and St. Paul proves 
exhaustively that the person speaking with tongues spoke not with 
his understanding, i.e., as a result of his own thinking, but in con 
sequence of an entirely different operation. That this is possible, 



THE MIRACLE OF TONGUES 137 

we see, first, in delirious persons, who say things outside of their 
own personal thinking; second, in the insane, whose incoherent 
talk has no sense ; third, in persons possessed, whose vocal organs 
are used by demons; fourth, in Balaam, whose vocal organs ut 
tered words of blessing upon Israel against his will. 

Hence it must be conceded that in man three things are possible : 

First, that for a time he may be deprived of the use of his vocal 
organs. 

Second, that the use of these organs may be appropriated by a 
spirit who has overcome him. 

Third, that the Holy Spirit, appropriating his vocal organs, can 
produce sounds from his lips which are "new," and " other" than 
the language which ordinarily he speaks. 

Fourthly In the Greek these sounds invariably are designated by 
the word yAtiTTai, i.e., tongues, hence language. In the Greek world, 
from which this word is taken, the word "glotta" always stands in 
strong opposition to the " logos," reason. 

A man s thinking is the hidden, invisible, imperceptible process 
of his mind. Thought has a soul, but no body. But when the 
thought manifests itself and adopts a body, then there is a word. 
And the tongue being the movable organ of speech, it was said that 
the tongue gives a body to the thought. Hence the contrast be 
tween the logos, i.e., that which a man thinks with the mind, and 
the glotta, i.e., that which he utters with the vocal organs. 

Ordinarily the glotta comes only through and after the logos. 
But in the miracle of tongues we discover the extraordinary phe 
nomenon that while the logos remained inactive, the glotta uttered 
sounds. And since it was a phenomenon of sounds which proceeded 
not from the thinking mind, but from the tongue, the Holy Scripture 
calls it very appropriately a gift of the glottai, i.e., a gift of tongue 
or sound-phenomena. 

Lastly In answer to the question, How must this be understood? 
we offer the following representation : Speech in man is the result 
of his thinking; and this thinking in a sinless state is an in-shining 
of the Holy Spirit. Speech in a sinless state is therefore the result 
of inspiration, in-breathing of the Holy Spirit. 

Hence in a sinless state man s language would have been the 
pure and perfect product of an operation of the Holy Spirit. He 



138 THE OUTPOURING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT 

is the Creator of human language; and without the injury and de 
basing influence of sin the connection between the Holy Ghost and 
our speech would have been complete. But sin has broken the 
connection. Human language is damaged : damaged by the weak 
ening of the organs of speech; by the separation of tribes and 
nations; by the passions of the soul; by the darkening of the 
understanding; and principally by the lie which has entered in. 
Hence that infinite distance between this pure and genuine human 
language which, as the direct operation of the Holy Spirit upon the 
human mind, should have manifested itself, and the empirically 
existing languages that now separate the nations a difference like 
unto that between the glorious Adam and the deformed Hottentot. 

But the difference is not intended to remain. Sin will disappear. 
What sin destroyed will be restored. In the day of the Lord, at the 
wedding-feast of the Lamb, all the redeemed will understand one 
another. In what way? By the restoration of the pure and original 
language upon the lips of the redeemed, which is born from the 
operation of the Holy Spirit upon the human mind. And of that 
great, still-tarrying event the Pentecost miracle is the germ and 
the beginning; hence it bore its distinctive marks. In the midst of 
the Babeldom of the nations, on the day of Pentecost, the one pure 
and mighty human language was revealed which one day all will 
speak, and all the brethren and sisters from all nations and tongues 
will understand. 

And this was wrought by the Holy Spirit. They spake as the 
Holy Spirit gave them utterance. They spoke a heavenly language 
to praise God not of angels, but a language above the influence 
of sin. 

Hence the understanding of this language was also a work of 
the Holy Spirit. At Jerusalem, only they understood it who were 
specially wrought upon by the Holy Spirit. The others understood 
it not. And at Corinth it was not comprehended by the masses, 
but by him alone to whom it was given of the Holy Ghost. 



Jigbtb Gbapter. 
THE APOSTOLATE. 



XXIX. 
The Apostolate. 

"That ye also may have fellowship 
with us: and truly our fellowship 
is with the Father, and with His 
Son Jesus Christ." i John i. 3. 

THE apostolate bears the character of an extraordinary manifesta 
tion, not seen before or after it, in which we discover a proper work 
of the Holy Spirit. The apostles were ambassadors extraordinary 
different from the prophets, different from the present ministers of 
the Word. In the history of the Church and the world they occupy 
a unique position and have a peculiar significance. Hence the 
apostolate is entitled to a special discussion. 

Moreover, the apostolate belongs to the great things which the 
Holy Spirit has wrought. All that the Holy Scripture declares 
concerning the apostles compels us to look for an explanation of 
their persons and mission in a special work of the Holy Spirit. 
Before His ascension Jesus predicted repeatedly that they should be 
His witnesses only after they shall have received the Holy Spirit 
in an extraordinary manner. Until this promise is fulfilled they 
remain hiding in Jerusalem. And when they raise the banner of 
the cross in Jerusalem and in the ends of the earth, they appeal to 
the power of the Holy Spirit as the secret of their appearance. 

The apostolate was holy, and we call them holy apostles, not be 
cause they had, attained a higher degree of perfection, but " holy " 
in the Scriptural sense of being separated, set apart, like the Temple 
and its furniture, for the service of a holy God. 

By sin many things have become unholy. Before sin entered 



I 4 o THE APOSTOLATE 

into the world all things were holy. That part of creation which 
became unholy stands in opposition to that which remained holy. 
The latter is called Heaven ; that which was made holy is called 
Church. And all that belongs to the Church, to its being and or 
ganism, is called holy. 

Hence Jesus could say to the disciples who were about to deny 
Him : " Ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto 
you." In like manner the members of the Church and their children 
are called " sanctified"; and in his epistles St. Paul addresses them 
as holy and beloved : not because they were sinless, but because God 
had set them as called saints in the realm of His holiness, which by 
His grace He had separated from the realm of sin. In like manner 
the Scripture is called holy : not to indicate that it is the record of 
holy things only, but that its origin is not in man s sinful life, but 
in the holy realm of the life of God. 

We confess, therefore, that the apostles of Jesus were set apart 
for the service of God s holy Kingdom, and that they were qualified 
for their calling by the power of the Holy Spirit. 

By omitting the word " holy," as many do, we make the apostles 
common; we consider them as ordinary preachers ; in degree above 
us undoubtedly, being more richly developed, especially by their 
intercourse with Christ, and as His witnesses very dear to us, but 
still occupying the same level with other teachers and ministers of 
the Church of all ages. And so the conviction will be lost that the 
apostles are men different in kind from all other men; lost the 
realization that in them appeared a peculiar and unique ministry ; 
lost also the grateful confession that the Lord our God gave us in 
these men extraordinary grace. 

And this explains why some ministers, at the special occasion 
of installation, departure, or jubilee, apply to themselves apostolic 
utterances that are not applicable to their persons, but exclusively 
to the men who occupy a peculiar and unique position in the Church 
of all ages and all lands. For this reason we repeat purposely the 
title of honor, " holy apostles," in order that the peculiar significance 
of the apostolate may again receive honorable recognition in our 
churches. 

This peculiar significance of the apostolate appears in the Holy 
Scripture in various ways. 

We begin with referring to the prologue of the First Epistle of St. 



THE APOSTOLATE 141 

John, in which, from the fulness of the apostolic sense, the holy 
apostle solemnly addresses us. He opens his epistle by declaring 
that they, the apostles of the Lord, occupy an exceptional position 
regarding the miracle of the incarnation of the Word. He says : 
" The Word became flesh, and in that incarnate Word, Life was 
manifested ; and that that manifested Life was heard and seen and 
handled with hands." By whom? By everybody? No, by the 
apostles; for he adds emphatically : " That which we have seen and 
heard declare we unto you, and shew you that eternal life which 
was with the Father and was manifested unto us." 

And what was the aim of this declaration? To save souls? 
Surely this also, but not this in the first place. The purpose of this 
apostolic declaration is to bring the members of the Church into 
connection with the apostolate. For, clearly and emphatically, he 
adds: " This we declare unto you, that ye also may have fellowship 
with us." And only after this link is closed, and the fellowship 
with the apostolate an accomplished fact, he says: " And truly our 
fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ." 

The apostle s reasoning is as transparent as glass. Life was 
manifested in such a way that it could be seen andliandled. They 
who saw and handled it were the apostles; and they were also to 
declare this life unto the elect. By this declaration the required 
fellowship between the elect and the apostolate is established. 
And in consequence of this, there is fellowship also for the elect 
with the Father and the Son. 

This may not be understood as referring only to the people then 
living; and, regarding Rome, one s position, Bible in hand, is ex 
ceedingly weak if he maintain that this higher significance of the 
apostolate had reference only to the then living, and not in the 
same measure to us. Indeed, we, upon whom the end of the ages 
has come, must maintain the vital fellowship with the holy aposto 
late of our Lord Jesus Christ. Rome errs by making its bishops 
the successors of the apostles, teaching that fellowship with the 
apostolate depends upon fellowship with Rome : an error which is 
obvious from the fact that St. John expressly and emphatically 
connects the fellowship of the apostolate with men who have seen 
and heard and handled that which was manifested of the Word of 
Life something to which no Roman bishop can appeal in the 
present day. Moreover, St. John says distinctly that this fellowship 
with the apostolate must be the result of the declaration of the Word 



i 4 2 THE APOSTOLATE 

of Life by the apostles themselves. And inasmuch as Rome established 
this fellowship not by the preaching of the Word, but by the sacra 
mental sign, it is in direct opposition to the apostolic doctrine. 

However, from this it follows not that Rome errs in the funda 
mental thought, viz., that every child of God must exercise com 
munion with the Father and the Son through the apostolate ; on the 
contrary, this is St. John s positive claim. The solution of this 
apparent conflict lies in the fact that they have not only spoken, but 
also written: i.e., their declaration of the Word of Life was not 
limited to the little circle of the men that happened to hear them ; 
on the contrary, by writing they have put their preaching into real 
and enduring fprms; they have sent it out to all lands and nations; 
that, as the genuine, ecumenic apostles they might bring the testi 
mony of the Life which was manifested to all the elect of God in 
all lands and throughout the ages. 

Hence even now the apostles are preaching the living Christ in 
the churches. Their persons have departed, but their personal 
testimony remains. And that personal testimony, which as an 
apostolic document has come to every soul in every land and in 
every age, is the very testimony which even now is the instrument 
in the hand of the Holy Spirit to translate souls into the fellowship 
of the Life Eternal. 

And if one says, " Surely in this sense their word is still effec 
tive; however, it results no longer in fellowship with the apostles, 
and by means of this fellowship with Christ, but it points us directly 
to the Savior of our souls, which is a more simple way," then we 
oppose this unscriptural notion most energetically. 

Such reasoning ignores the body of Christ and overlooks the 
great fact of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. There is not the 
saving of a few individual souls, but a bringing together of the body 
of Christ; and into that body every one that is called must be incor 
porated. And inasmuch as the King of the Church gives His Spirit 
now not to separate persons, but exclusively to them that are in 
corporated, and the inflowing of the Holy Spirit into this body, 
and principally in the persons of the apostles, took place on Pente 
cost, therefore no one can receive at the present time any spiritual 
gift or influence of the Holy Spirit unless he stands in vital con 
nection with the body of the Lord; and that body is unthinkable 
without the apostles. 



THE APOSTOLATE 143 

In fact, the apostolic Word comes to the soul to-day as the testi 
mony of what they have seen and heard and handled of the Word 
of Life. By virtue of this testimony souls are inwardly wrought 
upon, and by their being incorporated into the body of Christ they 
become manifest. And this fellowship becomes manifest as a fel 
lowship with the very body of which the apostles are the leaders, 
in whose persons and in the persons of whose associates the Holy 
Spirit was poured out on the day of Pentecost. 

We know that this view, or this confession rather, is in direct 
opposition to the view of Methodism,* which has pervaded all classes 
and conditions of men. And the deplorable results have become 
apparent in various ways. Methodism has killed the conscious ap 
preciation of the sacrament; it is cold and indifferent toward 
church fellowship ; it has cultivated an unlimited disregard for truth 
in the confession.! And while the Lord our God has deemed it 
necessary to give us a voluminous Holy Scripture, consisting of 
six-and-sixty books, Methodism has boasted that it could write its 
Gospel upon a dime. 

This error can not be overcome except the Word of God become 
again our Teacher and we its docile scholars. And then we shall 
learn 

(1) Not that a few isolated persons are being rescued from the 
floods of iniquity, but that a body will be redeemed. 

(2) That all that are to be saved will be incorporated into that 
body. 

(3) That this body has Christ as its Head and the apostles as its 
permanent leaders. 

(4) That on Pentecost the Holy Spirit was poured out into that 
body. 

(5) That even now each of us experiences the gracious opera 
tions of the Holy Spirit only through fellowship with this body. 

Only when these things are clear to the soul, the glorious word 
of Christ, " Father, I pray not for these alone, but for them also 
which shall believe on Me through their word" will be well under- 



* See section 5 in the Preface. TRANS. 

f The truth of this is apparent in the Salvation Army, the latest expo 
nent of Methodism. It denies the sacraments, stands isolated from the 
churches, and does not seem to care for truth in the confession, for it has 
no confession. TRANS, 



i 4 4 THE APOSTOLATE 

stood. Taken in the current sense, this word has not the least 
comfort for us; for then the Lord has prayed only for these then 
living, who had the privilege of personally hearing the apostles, 
and who were converted by their verbal testimony. We are entirely j 
excluded. But if this petition be taken in the sense indicated above, 
as tho Christ would say, " I pray not for My apostles alone, but also 
for them who through their testimony shall believe on Me, now and 
in all ages and lands and nations," then it acquires widest scope, 
and contains a prayer for every child of God called even now and 
from our own households. 

This unique significance of the apostolate is so deeply embedded 
in the heart of the Kingdom, that when in the Revelation of St. 
John we get a glimpse of the New Jerusalem, we see that the city 
has twelve foundations, and on them the names of the twelve apostles 
of the Lamb Rev. xxi. 24. Hence their significance is not tran 
sient and temporary, but permanent and including the whole 
Church. And when its warfare shall be ended and the glory ofj 
the New Jerusalem shall be revealed, even then, in its heavenly 
bliss, the Church shall rest upon the very foundation on which it 
was built here, and therefore bear, engraven on its twelve founda 
tions, the names of the holy apostles of the Lord. 

The apostle Paul considers the apostolate so glorious and ex 
alted that in his Epistle to the Hebrews he applies the name of 
Apostle to the Lord Jesus Christ. " Wherefore, holy brethren, par 
takers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest 
of our profession, Christ Jesus." The meaning is perfectly clear. 
Properly speaking, it is Christ Himself calling and testifying in His 
Church. But as the white ray of light divides itself into many 
colors, so does Christ impart Himself to His twelve apostles, whom 
He has set as the instruments through whom He has fellowship 
with His Church. Hence the apostles stand not each by himself, 
but together they constitute the apostolate, the unity of which is 
found not in St. Peter nor in St. Paul, but in Christ. If we should 
wish to comprehend the whole apostolate in one, it must be He in 
whom is contained the fulness of the twelve the Apostle and High 
Priest of our profession, Christ the Lord. 

Not until we fully grasp these thoughts and live in them shall 
we be able to understand the epistles of St. Paul, and appreciate 
his spiritual conflict to maintain the honor of the apostolate for his 
divine mission. Especially in his epistles to the Corinthians and ! 



THE APOSTOLATE 145 

Galatians he sustains this conflict bravely and effectually ; but in 

such a way that the Methodist can not have eye or ear for it. He 

rather feels like deploring the apostle s zeal, saying: "If Paul had 

| insisted less on his title and more humbly applied himself to the 

I conversion of souls, his memory would have been much more 

: precious." And from his standpoint he is quite right. If the apos- 

| tolate has no higher significance than to be the first teachers and 

! ministers of the Church, then there can be no reason why St. Paul 

| should waste his strength contending for a meaningless title. 

But the undeniable fact that St. Paul s energetic contending 
i agrees not with the current opinions of the present time ought to 
I make us oppose the notion that, since his contention does not com 
port with our opinions, he must be wrong ! and acknowledge that 
the standpoint which we can not occupy without condemning the 
apostle must be abandoned the sooner the better. St. Paul must 
not conform himself to our opinions, but our opinions must be 
modified or altered according to St. Paul s. 
10 



XXX. 
The Apostolic Scriptures. 

" And I think that I also have the 
Spirit of God." i Cor. vii. 40 

WE have seen that the apostolate has an extraordinary signifi-i 
cance and occupies a unique position. This position is twofold] 
viz., temporary, with reference to the founding of the first churches] 
and permanent, with regard to the churches of all ages. 

The first must necessarily be temporary, for what was then ae 
complished can not be repeated. A tree can be planted only once 
an organism can be born only once ; the planting or founding of thi 
Church could take place only once. However, this founding waj 
not unprepared for. On the contrary, God has had a Church in tbi 
world from the beginning. That Church was even a ftwr/^-Churchj 
But it went down in idolatry; and only a small Church remained 
among an almost unknown people the Church in Israel. When thi| 
particular Church was to become again a world-Church, two thingj 
were required : 

First, that the Church in Israel lay aside its national dress. 

vSecondly, that in the midst of the heathen world the Church oj 
Christ appear, so that the two might become manifest as the on 
Christian Church. 

By these two things the apostolic labor is almost exhausted. I|i 
St. Paul the two are united. No apostle labored more zealously t| 
divest the Church of Israel of its Jewish attire, and no one was mor ( 
abundant in the planting of new churches in all parts of the world; 

The apostolate had, however, a much more extensive and higheH 
calling, not only for those days, but also for the Church of the age;; 
It was the task of the apostles for which they were ordained: b 
giving to the churches fixed forms of government to determinj 
their character ; and by the written documentation of the reveUJ 
tion of Christ Jesus to secure to them purity and perpetuity. 

This is evident from the character of their labors: for they n 



THE APOSTOLIC SCRIPTURES. 147 

only founded churches, but also gave them ordinances. St. Paul 
writes to the Corinthians: " As I have given order to the churches 
of Galatia, even so do ye" (i Cor. xvi. i). Hence they were con 
scious of possessing power, of being clothed with authority. " And 
so ordain I in all the churches," says the same apostle (i Cor. vii. 
17). This ordaining is not like that of our official church boards 
which have power to make rules ; or as a minister in the name of 
the consistory announces from the pulpit certain regulations. Nay, 
the apostles exercised authority by virtue of a power they consciously 
possessed in themselves, independent of any church or church 
council. For St. Paul writes, after having given ordinances in the 
matter of marriages : " And I think that I also have the Spirit of 
God." Hence the power and authority to command, to ordain and 
to judge in the churches, they derived not from the Church, nor 
from church council, nor from the apostolate, but directly from the 
Holy Spirit. This is true even of the power to judge; for, concern 
ing an incestuous person in the church of Corinth, St. Paul judged 
that he should be delivered to Satan ; the execution of which sen 
tence he left to the elders of that church, but upon which he had 
determined by virtue of his apostolic authority i Cor. v. 3. 

In this connection it is remarkable that St. Paul was conscious 
of a twofold current running through his word : (i) that of tradition, 
touching the things ordained by the Lord Jesus during His min 
istry ; and (2) that of the Holy Spirit, touching the things to be de 
cided by the apostolate. For he writes: " Now concerning virgins, 
I have no commandment of the Lord; yet I give my judgment as 
one that hath obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful" (i Cor. 
vii. 25). And again he saith: " Unto the married I command, yet 
not I, but the Lord, Let not the wife depart from her husband" 
(ver. i o) . And in verse 1 2 he saith : " But to the rest speak I, not the 
Lord." Many have received the impression that St. Paul meant to 
say : " What the Lard commanded, you must keep ; but the things 
by me enjoined are of less account and not binding"; a view de 
stroying the authority of the apostolic word, and therefore to be re 
jected. The apostle has not the least intention of undermining his 
own authority ; for having delivered the message, he adds expressly : 
" And I think that I also have the Spirit of God " ; which, in connec 
tion with the commandment of the Lord, can not mean anything 
| else than this: "That which I have enjoined rests upon the same 
authority as the Lord s own words 1 ; a declaration which was al- 



148 THE APOSTOLATE 

ready contained in the word: "I have received mercy to be faith 
ful," i.e., in my work of regulating the churches. 

By these ordinances and regulations the apostles not only gave 
to the churches of those days a fixed form of life, but they also pre 
pared the channel that was to determine the future course of the life 
of the Church. They did this in two ways : 

First, partly by the impressions they made upon the life of the 
churches, and which were never wholly obliterated. 

Secondly, partly also and more particularly by leaving us in 
writing the image of that Church, and by sealing the principal 
features of these ordinances in their apostolic epistles. 

Both these influences, that directly on the life of the churches, 
and that of the apostolic Scriptures, have taken care that the image 
of the Church should not be lost, and that, where it was in danger 
of such loss, by the grace of God it should be fully restored. 

This leads us to consider the second activity of the apostles, 
whereby they operated upon the Church of all ages, viz., the in 
heritance of their writings. 

Our writings are the richest and maturest products of the mind ; 
and the mind of the Holy Spirit received its richest, fullest, and 
most perfect expression when His meaning was put into documental 
form. The literary labor of the apostles deserves, therefore, careful 
attention. 

When the apostles Peter and Paul preached the Gospel, healed 
the sick, judged the unruly, and founded churches, giving them 
ordinances, they performed in each of these a great and glorious 
work. And yet the significance of St. Paul s labor when he wrote, 
e.g., the Epistle to the Romans so far surpassed the value of preach 
ing and healing that the two can not be compared. When he wrote 
that one little book, which in ordinary pamphlet form would make 
no more than three sheets of printed matter, he performed the 
greatest work of his life. From this little book the most far-reach 
ing influences have gone forth. By this one little book St. Paul 
became a historic person. 

We know, indeed, that many of our present theologians reverse 
this order, and say : " These apostles were profoundly spiritual men ; 
they lived near the Lord and had entered deeply into the mind of 
Christ ; they labored and preached and occasionally wrote a few ; 
letters, some of which have come down to us; yet this letter-wri- 



THE APOSTOLIC SCRIPTURES. 149 

ting was of little significance to their persons ; but against this 
whole representation we protest with all our might. Nay, these 
men were not such excellent personalities that the few occasional 
letters from their hands could scarcely have any significance in 
their Iives On the contrary, their epistolary labor was the most 
important of all their lifework ; small in compass, but rich in con 
tent; apparently of less, but by virtue of its comprehensive and 
far-reaching influence of much higher significance. And since the 
apostles may not be considered half-idiots, knowing scarcely any 
thing of the future of the Church, and without any realization of 
what they were doing, we maintain that a man like St. Paul, hav 
ing finished his Epistle to the Romans, was indeed conscious of the 
fact that this work would occupy a prominent place among his 
apostolic labors. 

Even tho it be granted that the apostle was unconscious of it, 
yet this alters not the fact. To-day, when the churches founded 
eighteen centuries ago have all past away, and the church of Rome 
can scarcely be recognized ; when the people who by his wonderful 
power were healed or saved have all crumbled to dust, and not a 
single memory remains of all his other toil ; to-day his epistolary 
inheritance still governs the Church of Christ. 

We can not conceive what the condition of the Church would be 
without St. Paul s epistles; if we were to lose the inheritance of the 
great apostle that has come to us through our fathers. What is it 
that controls our confession, if not the truths developed by him ; 
what is it that governs our lives, if not the ideals so highly exalted 
by him? We can safely say, with reference to our own Church, that 
without the Pauline epistles its whole form and appearance would 
be totally different. 

This being so, we are also justified in saying that the objectify 
ing of Christian truth in the apostolic epistles is the most important 
of all their labors. Instead of calling it a " dead-letter," we confess 
that in it their activity reached its very zenith. 

However, the peculiar work of the Holy Spirit in the apostolate 
being the subject of our present inquiry, and not the apostolate 
itself, we will consider now the serious question : What is the nature 
of this work? 

Our choice lies between the theory of the mechanical, and that of 
the natural, process. 



1 5 o THE APOSTOLATE 

The supporters of the first say : " Nothing can be more simple 
than the work of the Holy Spirit in the apostles. They had only to 
sit down, take pen and ink, and write at His dictation." The ad 
vocates of the natural process state its case as follows : " The apos 
tles had entered more deeply into the mind of Christ; they were 
holier, purer, and more godly than others ; hence they were better 
fitted to be the instruments of the Holy Spirit, who after all ani 
mates every child of God." These are the extreme views. On the 
one hand, the work of the Holy Spirit is considered as a foreign ele 
ment introduced into the life of the Church and that of the apostles. 
Any schoolboy competent to write a dictation might have written 
the Epistle to the Romans just as well as St. Paul. The obvious 
difference of style and manner of presentation between his epistles 
and those of St. John does not spring from the difference of person 
alities, but from the fact that the Holy Spirit purposely adopted the 
style and way of speaking of His chosen scribe, be he St. Paul or St. 
John. 

The other extreme considers that the persons of the apostles ac 
count for the whole matter; so that to speak of a work of the Holy 
Spirit is only to repeat a pious term. According to this view, the 
influence of Christ s personal intercourse had an educating effect 
upon His disciples, which left such impress of His life upon them 
that they could understand His Person and aims much better than 
others ; hence being the best-developed minds of the Christian cir 
cle of those days, they adopted in their writings a certain apostolic 
authority. 

Besides these two extremes, we must mention the view of cer 
tain friendly theologians who turn this natural into a supernatural, 
but still self-developed, process. They acknowledge, with us, that 
there is a work of the Holy Spirit which they also call regeneration, 
and allow that to this the gift of illumination is often added. And 
from this they argue : " Among the regenerated there are some in 
whom this divine work is only superficial, and others in whom He 
operates more deeply. In the former, the gift of illumination is 
undeveloped; in the latter, it attains great luster; and it is to this 
class that the apostles belonged, who were partakers of this gift in 
its highest degree. Owing to these two gifts, the work of the Holy 
Spirit attained in them such clearness and transparency that, in 
speaking or writing concerning the things of the Kingdom of God, 
they struck almost invariably the right note, chose the right word, 



THE APOSTOLIC SCRIPTURES 151 

and continued in the right direction. Hence the power of their 
writings, and the almost binding authority of their word." 

Over against these three opponents we wish to present the view 
of the best theologians of the Christian Church, which, altho fully 
appreciating the effects of regeneration and illumination in the 
apostles, still maintain that from these the infallible, apostolic 
authority can not be explained ; and that the authority of their word 
is recognized only by the unconditional confession that these oper 
ations of grace were but the means used by the Holy Spirit when, 
through the apostles, He cast His own testimony into documental 
forms for the Church of all ages. 



XXXI. 
Apostolic Inspiration. 

"When He, the Spirit of truth, is 
come, He will guide you into all 
truth. 1 -JohnxvL 13. 

WHAT is the nature of the work of the Holy Spirit in the inspi 
ration of the apostles? 

Apart from the mechanical and natural theories, which are vul 
gar and profane, there are two others, viz., the Ethical and the Re 
formed, 

According to the former the inspiration of the apostles differs 
from the animation of believers only in degree, not in nature. 
They represent the matter as tho, by the incarnation of the Word, 
a new sphere of life was created which they call the " God-human 
They that have received the life of this higher sphere are called 
believers; others are unbelievers. In these believers the conscious 
ness is gradually changed, illuminated, and sanctified. Hence 
they see things in a different light, i.e., their eyes are opened so 
that they see much of the spiritual world of which unbelievers see 
nothing. However, this result is not the same in all believers. 
The more favored see more correctly and distinctly than the less 
favored. And the most excellent among them, who possess this 
God-human life most abundantly, and look into the things of the 
Kingdom with greatest clearness and distinctness, are the men 
called apostles. Hence the inspiration of the apostles and the 
illumination of believers are in principle the same ; differing only | 
in degree. 

The Reformed churches can not agree with this view. In their | 
judgment the very effort to identify apostolic inspiration with the 
illumination of believers actually annihilates the former. They 
hold that the inspiration of the apostles was wholly unique in nature 
and kind, totally different from what the Scripture calls illumina- i 
tion of believers. The apostles possessed this latter gift even in its i 



APOSTOLIC INSPIRATION 153 

highest degree, and we heartily indorse all that the Ethical theolo 
gians say in this respect. But, when all is said, we hold that apos 
tolic inspiration is not even touched upon ; that it lies entirely out 
side of it; is not contained in, but added to, it; and that the Church 
must reverence it as an extraordinary, peculiar, and unique work 
of the Holy Spirit, which was wrought exclusively in the holy apos 
tles. 

Hence both sides concede that the apostles were born again, that 
they had received illumination in a peculiarly high degree. But 
while the Ethical theorists maintain that this extraordinary illumi 
nation includes inspiration, the Reformed hold that illumination in 
its highest degree has nothing to do with inspiration; which was 
unique in its kind, without equal, given to the apostles alone, never 
to other believers. 

The difference between the two views is obvious. 

According to the Ethical view, the epistles are the writings of 
very worthy, godly, and sanctified men ; the thoughtful utterances 
of highly enlightened believers. And yet, having said all this, 
they are after all only fallible ; they may contain ninety per cent, 
of truth, well expressed and accurately defined ; but the possibility 
remains that the other ten per cent, is full of errors and mistakes. 
Even tho there be one or more infallible epistles, how can this 
avail us, since we do not know it? In fact, we are without the least 
certainty in this matter. And for this reason it is actually conceded 
that the apostles have made mistakes. 

Hence the Reformed churches can not accept this fascinating 
representation ; and the conscience of believers will always protest 
against it. What we expect in " holy apostles" is this very certainty, 
reliability, and decision. Reading their testimony, we want to rely 
upon it. This certainty alone has been the strength of the Church 
of all ages. This conviction alone has given her rest. And the 
Church of to-day feels as instinctively that the reliability of the 
Word that is its Bible is being taken away from it, inasmuch as 
these beautifully sounding theories strip the apostolic word of its 
infallibility. 

The holy apostles appear in their writings as such, and not other 
wise. St. John, the most beloved among the twelve, testifies that 
the Lord Jesus gave them as apostles a rare promise, saying, " He 
shall guide you into all truth," a word that may not be applied to 



I 5 4 THE APOSTOLATE 

others, but to the apostles exclusively. And again : " The Com 
forter which is the Holy Ghost shall teach you all things, and bring 
to your remembrance all things whatsoever I have said unto you" 
(John xiv. 1 6) ; which promise was not intended for all, but for the 
apostles only, securing them a gift evidently distinct from illumi 
nation. In fact, this promise was nothing else than the permanent 
endowment with the gift received only temporarily when they went 
forth on their first mission among Israel : " For it is not you that 
speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you." 

Moreover, the Lord Jesus did not only promise them that the 
word proceeding from their mouth would be a word of the Holy 
Spirit, but He granted them such personal power and authority 
that it would be as tho God Himself spoke through them. St. Paul 
testified of this to the church of Thessalonica, saying: "For this 
cause we thank God that ye received it not as the word of men, but, 
as it is in truth, the Word of God" (i Thess. ii. 13). And St. John 
tells us that, both before and after the resurrection, the Lord Jesus 
gave His disciples power to bind on earth in the sense that their word 
would have binding power forever : " Whosesoever sins ye remit, 
they are remitted unto them ; and whosesoever sins ye retain, they 
are retained"; words that are horrible and untenable except they 
be understood as implying perfect agreement between the minds of 
the apostles and the mind of God. Of similar import are the words 
of Christ to Peter : " Whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be 
bound in heaven ; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on -earth shall be 
loosed in heaven." 

However, reading and pondering these remarkable and weighty 
words, let us be careful not to fall into the error of Rome, or, in 
order to escape from this, make the Word of God of no effect, which 
is equally dangerous. For the Church of Rome applies these words 
of Jesus to His disciples, to the whole Church as an institution ; 
especially the word to Peter, making it to refer to all Peter s suc 
cessors (so-called) in the government of the Church of Rome. If 
that be indeed the meaning of these words, then Rome is perfectly 
right ; then to the Pope is granted power to bind, and the priests of 
Rome have still the power to absolve. Our reason for denying 
that Rome has this power is not the impossibility for men to have 
it, for it was given to the apostles ; Peter was infallible in his sen 
tences ex cathedra, and the apostles could grant absolution. But we ( 



APOSTOLIC INSPIRATION 155 

deny that Rome has the slightest authority to confer this power of 
Peter upon the Pope, or that of the apostles upon its priests. Nei 
ther Matt. xvi. 19 nor John xx. 23 contains the least proof for such 
claim. And inasmuch as no man has the liberty to exercise such 
I extraordinary power except he can show the credentials of his mis- 
jsion, so we deny Rome s qualifications to exercise it in pope or 
j priest, not because this is impossible, but because Rome can not 
| substantiate its claims. 

At the same time, let us, in our contending with Rome, not fall 
linto the opposite error of disparaging the plain and clear meaning 
iof the word. This is done by the Ethical theologians; for the 
! words of Jesus referred to do not receive justice so long as we re- 
jfuse to recognize in the apostles a working of the Holy Spirit en 
tirely peculiar, unique, and extraordinary. We dilute the words of 
Jesus and violate their sense so long as we do not acknowledge 
Ithat, if the apostles were still living, they would have the power to 
[forgive us our sins ; and that Peter, if he were still living, would 
have power and authority to issue ordinances binding upon the 
whole Church. The words are so plain, the qualification was 
jgranted in such definite terms, that it can not be denied that John 
could forgive sin, and that Peter had power to issue an infallible 
decree. The Lord said to the disciples : " Whosesoever sins ye remit, 
they are remitted unto them"; and to Peter: " Whatsoever thou 
shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven." 

Thus acknowledging the unique position and extraordinary 
power of the apostles, we immediately add that this power was 
granted to them alone and to no one else. 

We emphasize this in opposition to Rome and to those who apply 
he words of Christ, spoken to His disciples exclusively, to minis- 
cers and other believers. Neither Rome nor the Ethical theologians 
lave the right to do this, unless they can show that the Lord Jesus 
jave them such right. But they never can. Care should be taken, 
:herefore, in the choice of texts, proofs, and quotations from the 
Scripture, to ascertain not only what is said, but also to whom 
t was said. And thus the error concerning the apostolate will 
>oon be overcome; and believers will see that the apostles oc- 
iupy a different position from other Christians, that the promises 
quoted bear an exceptional character, and that the Word of the Lord 
s misunderstood when inspiration is confounded with illumina- 
ion. 



156 THE APQSTOLATE 

In opposition to these wrong views, which are Romish, clerical 
in principle, and at the same time strongly tending to rationalism] 
we maintain the ancient confession of the Christian Church whicH 
declares that, as the ambassadors extraordinary of Christ, the apos-l 
ties occupied a unique position in the race, in the Church, and irj 
the history of the world, and were clothed with extraordinary powJ 
ers that required an extraordinary operation of the Holy Spirit. 

But we do not deny that these men were born again and parta-l 
kers of the heavenly illumination ; so that the man of sin was driven) 
back, and the new man was powerfully revealed in them. Buti 
their personal state and condition was the cause of their contin-| 
ued sinfulness until the hour of their death ; hence their infallible 
authority could never spring from the fallible condition of thein 
hearts. Even tho they had been less sinful, such power could nod 
be thus accounted for. And if they had fallen more deeply into] 
sin, it would not have hindered the Holy Spirit s operation wita 
reference to the exercise of this authority. It is remarkable thati 
Peter, who was clothed with the highest power, fell again and again 
into great sin. They were saints because they were hid in Christ 
like other Christians ; but they were holy apostles not on the ground 
of their spiritual state and condition, but only by virtue of their 
holy calling and the working of the Holy Spirit that was prom 
ised and given unto them. 

Finally, the question arises, whether there was a difference be 
tween the operation of the Holy Spirit in the prophets and in the 
apostles. We answer in the affirmative. Ezekiel s oracles arej 
different from St. John s Gospel. The Epistle to the Romans bears] 
witness to a different inspiration from that of the prophecies ofj 
Zacharias. Undoubtedly the book of Revelation proves that the) 
apostles were also susceptible to inspiration by visions; the book 
of the Acts is evidence that in those days there were also wonder 
ful signs; and St. Paul speaks of visions and ecstasies. And yet the 
collective treasure that came down to us under the apostles namei 
bears evidence that the inspiration of the New Testament has an 
other character than that of the Old. And the principal difference 
consists in the mighty fact of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. 

The prophets were inspired before Pentecost, and the apostles 
after it. This fact is so strongly marked in the history of their 
mission that before it the apostles sit still, while immediately 
after it they appear in their apostolic character before the world. 



APOSTOLIC INSPIRATION 157 

And since in the outpouring the Holy Spirit came to dwell in the 
body of Christ, which before He had been preparing, it is obvious 
I that the difference of inspiration in the Old and the New Testa- 
ment consists in the fact that the former was wrought upon the 
! prophets from without, while the latter wrought upon the apostles 
! from within, proceeding from the body of Christ. 

And this is the reason that the prophets give us more or less the 
! impression of an inspiration independent of their personal, spiritual 
I life, while the inspiration of the apostles acts almost always through 
i the life of the soul. It is this very fact that offers to the error of 
I the Ethical view its starting-point. Surely the person and his con- 
i dition appear in the apostles much more in the foregrotmd than in 
the prophets. And yet in both prophet and apostle inspiration is 
that wholly extraordinary operation of the Holy Spirit whereby, in 
a manner for us incomprehensible and to them not always con 
scious, they were kept from the possibility ot error. 



XXXII. 
Apostles To-Day? 

" Am I not an apostle ? am I not free ijl 
have I not seen Jesus Christ oui I 
Lord ? are ye not my work in the! ! 
Lord?" i Cor. ix. i. 

WE may not take leave of the apostolate without a last look at! i 
the circle of its members. It is a closed circle ; and every effort toU 
reopen it tends to efface a characteristic of the New Covenant. 

And yet the effort is being made again and again. We see it injij 
Rome s apostolic succession; in the Ethical view gradually effacing! 
the boundary-line between the apostles and believers; and in its 
boldest and most concrete form among the Irvingites.* 

The latter assert not only that the Lord gave to His Church a 
college of apostles in the beginning, but that He has now called! 
a body of apostles in His Church to prepare His people for th.e> 
coming. 

However, this position can not be very successfully supported. 
Neither in the discourses of Christ, nor in the epistles of the apos 
tles, nor in the Apocalypse, do we find the least intimation of such < 
an event. The end of all things is repeatedly spoken of. Thej 
New Testament frequently rehearses the events and signs that! 
must precede the Lord s return. They are recorded so minutely j 
that some even say that the exact date can be fixed. And yet, 1 
among all these prophecies, we fail to discover the slightest sign of 
a subsequent apostolate. In the panorama of the things to come 
there is literally no room for it. 

Nor have the results realized the expectations of these brethren. 
Their apostolate has been a great disappointment. It has accom 
plished almost nothing. It has come and gone without leaving a 
trace. We do not deny that some of these men have done wonder- 



* The Irvingites are known in England and America as the Catholic j 
Apostolic Church. TRANS. 



APOSTLES TO-DAY? 159 

ful things; but be it noticed, in the first place, that the signs 
wrought were far below those performed by the apostles; second, 
that a man like Pastor Blumhardt has also wrought signs that 
greatly deserve to be noticed; third, that the Roman Catholic 
Church sometimes offers signs that are not pretended nor artificial ; 
lastly, that the Lord has warned us in His Word that signs shall be 
wrought by men who are not His own. 

Moreover, let us not forget that the apostles of the Irvingites 
completely lack the marks of the apostolate. These were: (i) a 
call directly from the King of the Church ; (2) a peculiar qualifica 
tion of the Holy Spirit making them infallible in the service of the 
Church. These men lack both marks. They tell us, indeed, of a 
call come to them by the mouth of prophets, but this is to little or 
no purpose, for a call from a prophet is not equal to one directly 
from Christ, and again the name "prophet" is exceedingly mis 
leading. The word prophet has, on the sacred page, a wide appli 
cation, and occurs in both a limited and a general sense. The former 
involves the revelation of a knowledge that mere illumination does 
not afford ; while the latter applies to men speaking in holy ecstasy 
to the praise of God. We concede that prophesying, in the general 
sense, is an enduring charisma of the Church ; for which reason the 
reformers of the sixteenth century attempted to revive this office. 
If the Irvingites, therefore, believe that in their circles the pro 
phetic activity has been revived, we will not dispute it; altho we 
can not say that the reports of their prophesying have had a very 
overwhelming effect upon us. However, let it be granted that the 
gift has been restored ; but even then we ask : What do you gain by 
it? For there is not the slightest proof that these prophets and 
prophetesses are like their predecessors in the Old Testament. 
The unrevealed will of God has not been revealed to them. If 
prophets at all, then their prophesying is merely a speaking to the 
praise of God in a state of spiritual ecstasy. 

The uselessness of an appeal to such prophets for the support 
of this new apostolate is evident. It is merely the effort to sup 
port an unsupported apostolate by an equally unsupported proph- 
etism. 

Nor should it be forgotten that the labors of these so-called 
apostles have not carried out their own program. They have failed 
to exert any perceptible influence upon the course of events. The 
institutions founded by them have in no respect surpassed the many 



160 THE APOSTOLATE 

new church organizations witnessed by this century. They have 
established no new principle ; their labors have manifested no new 
power. Whatever they have done lacks the stamp of a heavenly 
origin. And nearly all these new apostles have died not like the 
genuine twelve on cross or stake, but on their own beds surrounded 
by their friends and admirers. 

However, this is not all. The name of apostle may be taken (i) 
in the sense of being called directly by Jesus as an ambassador for 
God, or (2) in a general sense, denoting every man sent by Jesus 
into His vineyard ; for the word apostle means one that is sent. In 
Acts xiv. 14 Barnabas is called an apostle; not because he belonged 
to their number, but merely to indicate that he was sent out by the 
Lord as His missionary or ambassador. In Acts xiii. i, 2 Barnabas 
is mentioned before Saul, who is not even called by his apostolic 
name; which shows that this call of the Holy Spirit bore only a 
temporary character, having in view only this special mission. 
For this reason the Lord Jesus Christ, as the One sent of the Fa 
ther, the great Missionary come to this world, the Ambassador of 
God to His Church, is called Apostle : " Wherefore, holy brethren, 
. . . consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ 
Jesus" (Heb. iii. i). 

If the Irvingites had called the great reformers of the sixteenth 
century, or some prominent church leaders of the present time, 
apostles, there could have been no great objection. But they did 
not mean this. They claim that these new apostles shall stand 
before the Church in a peculiar character, on the same plane with 
the first apostles, altho differently employed. And this can not be 
conceded. It would be in direct opposition to the apostolic declara 
tion of i Cor, iv. 9: " For I think that God hath set us forth as the 
last apostles, as it were appointed unto death " (see Dutch trans 
lation). How could St. Paul speak of the last apostles, if it were 
God s plan after eighteen centuries to send other twelve apostles 
into the world? 

In view of this positive word of the Holy Spirit, we direct all 
those that come into contact with the Irvingites to what the Scrip 
ture says concerning them that call themselves apostles, and are 
not : For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, fashioning 
themselves into apostles of Christ." And the Lord Jesus testifies 
to the church at Ephesus : " I know that thou hast tried them which 
say they are apostles, and are not." 



APOSTLES TO-DAY ? 161 

The notion that false apostles must be a sort of incarnate devils 
applies in no wise to the calm, respectable, and venerable men fre 
quently seen in the circles of the Irvingites. But apart from this 
absurd notion, and considering that the false prophets of the Old 
Testament so closely resembled the true ones that at times even 
the people of God were deceived by them, we can understand that 
the false apostles of St. John s day could be detected only by a 
higher spiritual discernment; and that the pretended apostles of 
the nineteenth century, who by their similarity to the genuine 
twelve blinded the eyes of the superficial, could be detected only 
by the touchstone of the Word of God. And that Word declares 
that the twelve of St. Paul s day were the last apostles, which set 
tles the matter of this pretended apostolate. 

This error of the Irvingites is therefore not so very innocent. 
It is easy to explain how it originated. The wretched and deplor 
able state of the Church must necessarily give rise to a number of 
sects. And we heartily acknowledge that the Irvingites have sent 
forth many warnings and well-deserved rebukes to our superficial 
and divided Church. But these good offices by no means justify 
the doing of things condemned by the Word of God; and those who 
lave allowed themselves to be carried away by their teachings 
will sooner or later experience their fatal result. It is already man- 
fest that this movement, which started among us under the pretext 
)f uniting a divided church by gathering together the Lord s peo- 
ile, has accomplished little more than to- add another to the already 
arge number of sects, thus robbing the Church of Christ of excel- 
ent powers that now are being wasted. 

That the apostolate was a closed circle, and not a flexible theory, 
s evident from Acts i. 25 : " Lord, show of these two, the one whom 
Thou hast chosen to take the place of this ministry and apostleship ; 
and again from St. Paul s word (Rom. i. 5): "By whom we have 
eceived grace and apostleship"; and again (i Cor. ix. 2) : " For the 
eal of my apostleship are ye in the Lord"; and lastly from Gal. 
i. 8 : " For He that wrought for Peter unto the apostleship of the 
ircumcision, wrought for me also unto the Gentiles." And again 
t is evident from the fact that the apostles always appear as the 
welve ; and from their being specially appointed and installed by 
esus breathing upon them the official gift of the Holy Spirit; and 
rorn the exceptional power and gifts that were connected with the 

ipostolate. And it is especially from its conspicuous place in the 
ii 



1 62 THE APOSTOLATE 

coming Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ that the apostolate ob 
tains its definite character. For the Holy Scripture teaches that 
the apostles shall sit upon twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes 
of Israel; and also that the New Jerusalem has " twelve foundations 
upon which are written the twelve names of the apostles of the 
Lamb." 

St. Paul offers us in his own person the most convincing proof 
that the apostolate was a closed college. If it had not been, the 
question whether he was an apostle or not could never have caused 
contention. Yet a large part of the Church refused to acknowledge 
his apostleship. He did not belong to the twelve; he had not 
walked with Jesus; how could he be a witness? It was against 
this seriously meant contention that St. Paul repeatedly lifted 
up his voice with such energy and animation. This fact is the 
key to the right understanding of his epistles to the Corinthians 
and Galatians. They glow with holy jealousy for the reality of his 
apostleship , for he was deeply convinced that he was an apostle as 
well as St. Peter and the others. Not by virtue of personal merit; 
in himself he was not worthy to be called an apostle i Cor. xv. 9; 
but no sooner is his office assailed than he arouses himself like a 
lion, for this touched the honor of his Master, who had appeared 
unto him in the way to Damascus, not, as is commonly said, to 
convert him for this is not Chrisfs work, but that of the Holy\ 
Spirit but to appoint him an apostle in that Church which he was 
persecuting. 

As to the question, how the addition of St. Paul to the twelve is 
consistent with that number, we are convinced that not the namej 
of Matthias, but that of St. Paul is written upon the foundations ofj 
the New Jerusalem with those of the others; and that not Matthias, 
but St. Paul shall sit down to judge the twelve tribes of Israel. Asi 
one of the tribes of Israel was replaced by two others, so in regard) 
to the apostolate ; for Simeon, who fell out, Manasseh and Ephraiml 
were substituted, and Judas was replaced by Matthias and Paul. 

We would not imply that the apostles erred in electing Matthias! 
to fill the vacancy occasioned by the suicide of Judas. On the con-| 
trary, the completion of the apostolic number could not be delayed] 
until the conversion of St. Paul. The vacancy had to be filled im 
mediately. But it may be said that when the disciples chose Mat 
thias they had too small a conception of the goodness of their Lord. 
They supposed that for Judas they would receive a Matthias, and, 



APOSTLES TO-DAY ? 163 

behold, Jesus gave them a Paul. As to the former, the Scripture 
mentions his election and no more. Yet even tho to the Church of 
later times the apostolate without St. Paul is unthinkable, and tho 
it allowed his person the first place among the apostles and his 
writings highest in authority among the Scriptures of the New Tes 
tament, to the person of Matthias the election to the apostolate 
must have brought highest honor. The apostolate stands so high 
that the fact of having been identified with it, even temporarily, 
imparts greater luster to a man s name than a royal crown. 



IRintb Cbapter, 

THE HOLY SCRIPTURES IN THE NEW TESTA 
MENT. 



XXXIII. 
The Holy Scriptures in the New Testament. 

" But these are written that ye might 
believe that Jesus is the Christ, 
the Son of God ; and that believing 
ye might have life through His 
name." -John xxix. 31. 

HAVING considered the apostolate, we are now to discuss God s 
gift to the Church, viz., the New Testament Scripture. 

The apostolate placed a new power in the Church. 

Surely all power is in heaven ; but it has pleased God to let this 
power descend in the Church by means of organs and instruments, 
chief among which is the apostolate. This organ was a consolation 
of the Comforter, given to the Church after Jesus had ascended to 
heaven and was provisionally not to govern His Church in person. 
Hence it was a forsaken Church, not yet planted, and soon to be 
scattered, to which the Holy Spirit gave the apostolate as a bond of 
union, as an organ for self-extension, and as an instrument for its 
own enrichment with the full knowledge of the life of grace. Com 
missioned by the King of the Church, the apostles were animated 
by the Holy Spirit. As the King works for His Church only by the 
Spirit, so He caused the apostolate to work also by the higher pow 
ers of the Holy Spirit. 

It was not the Lord s intention that His Church should set out 
in ignorance, to wander about in manifold error, finall) 7 , the long 
journey ended, to arrive at a clearer perception of the truth ; but that 
from the beginning it should stand in the light of complete knowl 
edge. Hence He gave it the apostolate, that from the cradle of 



HOLY SCRIPTURES IN NEW TESTAMENT 165 

its existence it should receive the full sunshine of grace, and that 
no subsequent development of Christendom should ever surpass 
that of the apostles. 

This is a very significant fact. 

Indeed, in the course of history there is development, especially 
in doctrine, which has not yet ceased, and which will continue until 
the end. The King has cast His Church into the midst of warfare 
and trouble ; He has not permitted it to confess His name in an un 
manly and indolent manner, but from age to age He has compelled 
it to defend that confession against error, misunderstanding, and 
hostility. It is only in this warfare that it has learned gradually to 
exhibit every part of its glorious inheritance of truth. God shall 
judge heretics ; but, besides much mischief, they have rendered the 
Church this excellent service of compelling it to wake up from 
slumbering upon its gold-mines, to explore them, and to open the 
hidden treasure. 

Hence our conscious insight into the truth is deeper than that 
of the preceding centuries. Semper excelsior! Ever higher! Re 
search into holy things may never cease ; even now the Lord ful 
fils His promise to every true theologian : " Ask, and it shall be 
given you; seek, and ye shall find." And in the development of 
the consciousness of the Church concerning its treasure of truth, the 
Holy Spirit has a special work, and he who denies it leaves the 
Church to petrify and is blind for the word of the Lord. 

Yet, however great its present and future progress, it will never 
possess a grain of truth more than when the apostolate passed away. 
Afterward the gold-mine might be explored ; but when the apostles 
died the mine itself existed already. Nothing can be added to it or 
ever will ; it is complete in itself. For this reason the great men of 
God, who, in the course of ages, by brave words have animated the 
Church, have always pointed back to the treasures of the apostles, 
and without exception told the churches : " Your treasure lies not 
before, but behind you, and dates from the days of the apostles." 

And herein was mercy ; any other disposition would have been 
unmerciful. The people of one or eighteen centuries ago had the 
same spiritual needs as we have ; nothing less than we have could 
suffice for them. Their wounds are ours; the balm of Gilead that 
has healed us, healed them also. Consequently the remedy for 
souls must be ready for immediate use. Delay would be cruel. 
Hence it is not strange and problematic, but perfectly in accord 



1 66 HOLY SCRIPTURES IN NEW TESTAMENT 

with God s mercy, that the whole treasure of saving truth was given 
to the Church directly in the first century. 

To accomplish this was the mission of the apostolate. It is like 
medical science in this respect, which makes constant progress in 
the knowledge of herbs. But however great that progress, no new 
herb has been produced. Those that exist now, existed always, 
having the same medicinal properties. The only difference is, that 
we know better than our ancestors how to apply them. In like 
manner, since the days of the apostolate no new remedy for the 
healing of souls has been created or invented. Indeed, some of the 
powers then at work are lost to us, e.g., the charisma of tongues. 
All the difference between the Church then and now is, that we, 
according to this thinking and emotional age, understand more pro 
foundly the connection between the effect of the remedy and the 
healing of our wounds. 

This difference does not make us richer or poorer. For the sim 
ple peasant it is sufficient to receive the prescribed medicine, altho 
he is ignorant of its ingredients and effects upon blood and nerves. 
In his world this need does not exist. But the man of thought, un 
derstanding the connection between cause and effect, has no confi 
dence in any medicine unless he knows something of its working. 
To him, this knowledge is a positive need, and to the psychological 
effect it is even indispensable. 

This is likewise true of the Church of Christ; it has not been 
always the same, neither have its needs. The development of our j 
knowledge has been such that every age has received an insight j 
adapted to satisfy its necessity. More than this : the very fermen 
tation of the age has created the modified need, and has been used 
of God to give a clearer understanding of the truth. 

And yet, whatever the increased clearness and maturity of the| 
knowledge concerning the secret of the Lord during the ages, thej 
secret itself has remained the same. Nothing has been added to it. \ 
And the mystery of the apostolate is, that by the labors of its mem 
bers the whole secret of the Lord was made known to the Church, 
under the infallible authorship of the divine Inspirer, the Holyj 
Spirit. 

This is the great fact accomplished by the apostolate : the pub 
lication of the whole secret of the Lord, by which the revelation in j 
the Old Testament, to John the Baptist and Christ was enlarged and 
worked out. For to complete a thing means to add that which be-j 



HOLY SCRIPTURES IN NEW TESTAMENT 167 

fore was lacking; after which nothing more can be added. And 
this is the second point that we emphasize. 

Through the apostles the Church received something not pos 
sessed by Israel nor imparted by Christ. Christ Himself declares: 
" I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye can not bear them 
now. Howbeit when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide 
you into all truth ; for He shall not speak from Himself; but whatso 
ever He shall hear, that shall He speak ; and He will shew you things 
-to come. He shall glorify Me; for He shall receive of Mine, and 
shall shew it unto you" (John xvi. 12-14). St. Paul spoke not 
less clearly, saying : " That the mystery which was kept secret since 
the world began was now made manifest" (Rom. xvi. 25). And 
again : " To make men see what is the dispensation of the mystery 
which from all ages was hid in God." And again: " The mystery 
which has been hid from ages and from generations, but now is 
made manifest to his saints" (Col. i. 16). Finally, St. John de 
clares that the apostles testify of what they had looked upon with 
their eyes, and their hands had handled of the Word of Life, which 
was with the Father, and which is manifested. 

Altho we do not deny that the germ of saving knowledge was 
given in Paradise, to the Patriarchs, and to Israel ; yet the Scrip 
ture teaches distinctly that truth was revealed to the Patriarchs, 
unknown in Paradise ; to Israel, of which the Patriarchs were igno 
rant; and by Jesus, truth that was hidden from Israel. In like 
manner, truth not declared by Jesus was revealed to the Church by 
the holy apostolate. 

Against this last statement, however, objections are raised. 
Many unbelieving writers of the present century have frequently 
asserted that not Jesus, but Paul was the real founder of Christian 
ity ; while others have frequently exhorted us to abandon the ortho 
dox theology of St. Paul, and to return to the simple teachings of 
Jesus; especially to His Sermon on the Mount. 

And really, the more the Scripture is studied the more obvious 
the difference between the Sermon on the Mount and the Epistle to 
the Romans will appear. Not as tho the two contradict each other, 
but in this way, that the latter contains elements of truth, new rays 
of light, not found in the former. 

If one objects to the doctrines of the apostles, as does the 
Groninger School.it is natural to place the gospels above the epistles. 
Hence the fact that many half-believers still receive the Parables and 



1 68 HOLY SCRIPTURES IN NEW TESTAMENT 

the Sermon on the Mount, but reject the doctrine of justification as 
taught by St. Paul ; while those who wish to break with Christianity 
entirely are inclined to consider the Pauline epistles as its real ex 
ponent, but only to reject them with the entire Pauline Christianity. 
For the Church of the living God, which receives both, there is in 
this unholy tendency an exhortation to have an open eye for the dif 
ference between the gospels and the epistles, and to acknowledge 
that our opponents are right when they call it a marked difference. 

Yet while our opponents use the difference to attack either the 
authority of the apostolic doctrine or that of Christendom itself, 
the Church confesses that there is nothing surprising in this differ 
ence. Both are parts of the same doctrine of Jesus, with this dis 
tinction, that the first part was revealed directly by Christ, while 
the other He gave to His Church indirectly by the apostles. 

Of course, so long as the apostles are considered as independent 
persons, teaching a new doctrine on their own authority, our solution 
does not solve the difficulty. But confessing that they are holy 
apostles, i.e., organs of the Holy Spirit through whom Jesus Him 
self taught His people from heaven, then every objection is met, 
and there is npt even a shadow of conflict. 

For Jesus simply acted like an earthly father in the training of 
his children, who teaches them according to their comprehension ; 
and in case of his death, his task still unfinished, he will leave them 
written instructions to be opened after his departure. But Jesus 
died to rise again, and even after His Ascension He continued to 
be in living contact with His Church through the apostolate. And 
what we would write before our decease, Jesus caused to be written 
by His apostles under the special direction of the Holy Spirit. Thus 
the Scriptures of the New Testament originate a New Testament 
in a sense now easily understood. 

The correctness of this representation is proven by Christ s own 
words, which teach us 

First, that there were things declared to the apostles before His 
departure, and there were things not declared, because they could 
not bear them then. 

Secondly, that Jesus would declare the latter also, but by the 
Holy Spirit. 

Thirdly, that the Holy Spirit would reveal these things to them, 
not apart from Jesus, but by taking them from Christ and declaring 
them unto them. 



XXXIV. 
The Need of the New Testament Scripture. 

"For I testify unto every man that 
heareth the words of the prophecy 
of this book, If any man shall add 
unto these things, God shall add 
unto him the plagues that are writ 
ten in this book." Rev. xxii. 18. 

IF the Church after the Ascension of Christ had been destined to 
live only one lifetime, and had been confined only to the land of 
the Jews, the holy apostles could have accomplished their task by 
verbal teaching. But since it was to live at least for eighteen cen 
turies, and to be extended over the whole world, the apostles were 
compelled to resort to the written communication of the revelation 
which they had received. 

If they had not written, the churches of Africa and Gaul could 
never have received trustworthy information; and the tradition 
would have lost its reliable character ages ago. The written reve 
lation has, therefore, been the indispensable means whereby the 
Church, during its long and ever-extending career, has been pre 
served from complete degeneration and falsification. 

However, from their epistles it does not appear that the apostles 
clearly understood this. Surely, that the Church would sojourn in 
this world for eighteen centuries, they did not expect ; and almost 
all their epistles bear a local character, as tho not intended for the 
Church in general, but only for particular churches. And yet, al- 
tho they understood it not, the Lord Jesus knew it ; He had thus 
planned it ; hence the epistle written exclusively for the church of 
Rome was intended and ordained by Him, and without Paul s 
knowledge, to edify the Church of all ages. 

Hence two things had to be done for the Church of the future : 

First, the image of Christ must be received from the lips of the 
apostles and be committed to writing. 

Secondly, the things of which Jesus had said, " Ye can not bear 



i/o HOLY SCRIPTURES IN NEW TESTAMENT 

them now, but the Holy Spirit will declare them unto you," must 
be recorded. This is the postulate of the whole matter. The con 
dition of the churches, their long duration in the future, and their 
world-wide extension demanded it. 

And the facts show that the provision was made; but not imme 
diately. So long as the Church was confined to a small circle, and 
the remembrance of Christ remained fresh and powerful, the apos 
tles spoken word was sufficient. The decree of the Synod of Jeru 
salem was probably the first written document that proceeded from 
them. But when the churches began to extend across the sea to 
Corinth and Rome, and northward to Ephesus and Galatia, then 
Paul began to substitute written for verbal instructions. Gradually 
this epistolary labor was extended and Paul s example followed. 
Perhaps each wrote in turn. And to these epistles were added the 
narratives of the life, death, and Resurrection of Christ and the 
Acts of the Apostles. At last the King commanded John from 
heaven to write in a book the extraordinary revelation given him 
on Patmos. 

The result was a gradually increasing number of apostolic and 
non-apostolic writings, probably far exceeding that contained in 
the New Testament. At least Paul s epistles show that he wrote 
many more than we now possess. But even if he had not thus in 
formed us, the fact would have been sufficiently well established; 
for it is improbable that such excellent writers as Paul and John 
should not have written more than a dozen letters during their long 
and eventful lives, Even in one year they must have written more 
than that The controversy of former days over the assertion that I 
no apostolic writings could have been lost was most foolish, and 
showed little reckoning with real life. 

It is remarkable that from this great mass a small number cf 
writings was gradually separated. A few were collected first, then 
more were added, and arranged in certain order. It took a long 
time before there was uniformity and agreement ; indeed, some wri- I 
tings were not universally recognized until after three centuries. 
But in spite of time and controversy, the sifting took place, and the 
result was, that the Church distinguished in this great mass of liter 
ature two distinct parts: on the one hand, this arranged set of 
twenty-seven books; and on the other, the remaining writings of 
early origin. 

And when the process of sifting and separating was ended, and i 



NEED OF NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURE 171 

the Holy Spirit had borne witness in the churches that this set of 
writings constituted a whole, and was, indeed, the Testament of 
the Lord Jesus to His Church, then the Church became conscious 
that it possessed a second collection of sacred books of equal author 
ity with the first collection given to Israel , then it put the Old and 
the New Testament together, which unitedly form the Holy Scrip 
ture, our Bible, the Word of God. 

To the question, How did the New Testament Scripture origi 
nate? we answer without hesitation, By the Holy Spirit. 

How? Did He say to Paul or John : " Sit down and write >: ? 

The gospels and the epistles do not so impress us. It does 
indeed apply to the Revelation of St. John, but not to the other 
New Testament Scriptures. They rather impress us as being writ 
ten without the slightest idea of being intended for the Church of 
all ages. Their authors impress us as writing to certain churches 
of their own definite time, and that after a hundred years perhaps 
not a single fragment of their writings would be in existence. They 
were indeed conscious of the Holy Spirit s aid in writing the truth 
even as they enjoyed it in speaking; but that they were writing parts 
of the Holy Scripture, they surely knew not. 

When St. Paul had finished his Epistle to the Romans, it never 
occurred to him that in future ages his letter would possess for mil 
lions of God s children an authority equal to, or even higher than 
that of the prophecies of Isaiah and the Psalms of David. Nor could 
the first readers of his epistle, in the church of Rome, have imag 
ined that after eighteen centuries the names of their principal men 
would still be household words in all parts of the Christian world. 

But if St. Paul knew it not, surely the Holy Spirit did. As by 
education the Lord frequently prepares a maiden for her still un 
known, future husband, so did the Holy Spirit prepare Paul, John, 
and Peter for their work. He directed their lives, circumstances, 
and conditions; He caused such thoughts, meditations, and even 
words to arise in their hearts as the writing of the New Testament 
Scripture required. And while they were writing these portions 
of the Holy Scripture, that one day would be the treasure of the 
universal Church in all ages, a fact not understood by them, but by 
the Holy Spirit,, He so directed their thoughts as to guard them 
against mistakes and lead them into all truth. He foreknew what 
the complete New Testament Scripture ought to be, and what parts 
would belong to it. As an architect, by his mechanics, prepares the 



i;2 HOLY SCRIPTURES IN NEW TESTAMENT 

various parts of the building, afterward to fit them in their places, 
so did the Holy Spirit by different workers prepare the different 
parts of the New Testament, which afterward He united in a whole. 

For the Lord, who by His Holy Spirit caused the preparation of 
these parts, is also King of the Church; He saw these parts scat 
tered abroad ; He led men to care for them, and believers to have 
faith in them. And, finally, by means of the men interested, He 
united these loose fragments, so that gradually, according to His 
royal decree, the New Testament originated. 

Hence it was not necessary that the New Testament Scripture 
should contain only apostolic writings. Mark and Luke were no 
apostles ; and the notion that these men must have written tinder 
the direction of Paul or Peter has no proof nor force. What is the 
benefit of writing under the direction of an apostle? That which 
gives divine authority to the writings of Luke is not the influence 
of an apostle, but that he wrote under the absolute inspiration of 
the Holy Spirit. 

Believing in the authority of the New Testament, we must 
acknowledge the authority of the four evangelists to be perfectly 
equal. As to the contents, Matthew s gospel may surpass that of 
Luke, and John s may excel the gospel of Mark; but their author 
ity is equally unquestionable. The Epistle to the Romans has 
higher value than that to Philemon ; but their authority is the same. 
As to their persons, John stood above Mark, and Paul above Jude; 
but since we depend not upon the authority of their persons, but 
only upon that of the Holy Spirit, these personal differences are 
of no account. 

Hence the question is not whether the New Testament writers 
were apostles, but whether they were inspired by the Holy Spirit. 

Assuredly, it has pleased the King to connect His testimony with 
the apostolate; for He said: "Ye are My witnesses. " Hence we 
know that Luke and Mark obtained their information concerning ; 
Christ from the apostles ; but our guaranty for the accuracy and i 
reliability of their statements is not the apostolic origin of the same, 
but the authority of the Holy Spirit. Hence the apostles are the 
channels through which the knowledge of these things flows to us 
from Christ ; but whether this knowledge reaches us through their 
writings or through those of others makes no difference. The vital 
question is, whether the bearers of the apostolic tradition were in 
fallibly inspired or not. 



NEED OF NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURE 173 

Even tho a writing were indorsed by the twelve apostles, this 
would not be positive proof of its credibility or divine authority. 
i For altho they had the promise that the Holy Spirit would lead 
them into all truth, this does not exclude the possibility of their 
I falling into mistakes or even untruths. The promise did not imply 
I absolute infallibility, at all times, but merely when they should act 
as the witnesses of Jesus. Hence the information that a document 
comes from the hand of an apostle is insufficient. It requires the 
i additional information that it belongs to the things which the apos 
tle wrote as a witness of Jesus. 

If, therefore, the divine authority of any writing does not depend 
upon its apostolic character, but solely upon the authority of the 
Holy Spirit, it follows, as a matter of course, that the Holy Spirit 
is entirely free to have the apostolic testimony recorded by the 
apostles themselves, or by any one else ; in both cases the authority 
of these writings is exactly the same. Personal preferences are out 
of the question. So far as form, content, wealth, and attractive 
ness are concerned, we may distinguish between John and Mark, 
Paul and Jude. But when it touches the question of the divine 
authority before which we must bow, then we no longer take ac 
count of any such distinctions, and we ask only: Is this or that 
gospel inspired by the Holy Spirit ? 



XXXV. 
The Character of the New Testament Scripture. 

1 And these things write we unto you, 
that your joy may be full. 1 i 
John i. 4. 

FROM the two preceding articles it is evident that the New 
Testament Scripture was not intended to bear the character of a 
notarial document. If this had been the Lord s intention we should 
have received something entirely different. It would have required 
a twofold legal evidence : 

In the first place, the proof that the events narrated in the New 
Testament actually occurred as related. 

Secondly, that the revelations received by the apostles are cor 
rectly communicated. 

Both certifications should be furnished by witnesses, e.g., to 
prove the miracle of the feeding of the five thousand would re 
quire : 

1. A declaration of a number of persons, stating that they were 
eye-w T itnesses of the miracle. 

2. An authentic declaration of the magistrates of the surround 
ing places certifying to their signatures. 

3. A declaration of competent persons to prove that these wit 
nesses were known as honest and trustworthy people, disinterested 
and competent to judge. Moreover, it would be necessary by 
proper testimony to prove that, among the five thousand, there 
were only seven loaves and two fishes. 

4. That the increase of bread took place while Jesus broke it. 

In the presence of a number of such documents, each duly au 
thenticated and sealed, persons not too skeptical might find it pos 
sible to believe that the event had occurred as narrated in the 
Gospel. 

To prove this one miracle would require a number of documents 
as voluminous as the whole of St, Matthew. If it were possible 



CHARACTER OF NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURE 175 

thus to prove all the events recorded in the gospels and the Acts 
of the Apostles, then the credibility of these narratives would be 
properly established. 

And even this would be far from satisfactory. For the difficulty 
would remain to prove that the epistles contain correct communi 
cations of the revelations received by the apostles. Such proof 
would be impossible. It would require eye- and ear-witnesses to 
these revelations; and a number of stenographers to report them. 
If this had been possible, then, we concede, there would have been, 
if not mathematical certainty for every expression, yet sufficient 
ground for accepting the general tenor of the epistles. 

But when the apostles wrote them there was no audible voice. 
And when a voice was heard, it could not be understood, as in the 
case of Paul s revelation on the way to Damascus. The same may 
be said of what occurred on Patmos: St. John actually heard a 
voice, but the hearing and the understanding of the words which it 
uttered required a peculiar, spiritual operation that was lacking in 
the people at the same time on the island. 

The fact is, that the revelation of the Holy Spirit granted to 
the apostles was of such a nature that it could not be perceived by 
others. Hence the impossibility to prove its genuineness by nota 
rial evidence. He that insists upon it ought to know that the Church 
can not furnish it, either for the historical narratives of the gospels, 
or for the spiritual contents of the epistles. 

Hence it is evident that every effort to prove the truth of the 
contents of. the New Testament by external evidence only con 
demns itself, and must result in the absolute rejection of the au 
thority of the Holy Scripture. If a judge of the present day should 
condemn or acquit an accused person on the ground of the insig 
nificant evidence which satisfies many honest people with reference 
to the Scripture, what a storm of indignation would it raise ! The 
whole list of the so-called evidences as to the credibility of the New 
Testament writers, that they were competent to judge, willing to 
testify, disinterested, etc., proves nothing indeed. 

Such externals may suffice when it concerns ordinary events, of 
which one might say : :< I believe that it has really happened ; I have 
no reason to doubt it ; but if to-morrow it should prove not to be so, 
I will lose nothing by it." But how can such superficial methods be 
applied when it concerns the extraordinary events related by the 
Holy Scripture, upon the positive certainty of which my own and 



i;6 HOLY SCRIPTURES IN NEW TESTAMENT 

my children s highest interests depend; so that, if they proved to 
be untrue, e.g., the report of the resurrection of Christ, we should 
suffer the priceless and irreparable loss of an eternal salvation? 

This can not be ; it is absolutely unthinkable. And experience 
proves that the efforts of foolish people to prop their faith by such 
proofs has always ended with the loss of all faith. Nay, such kind 
of proof is by its very insignificance either unworthy to be men 
tioned with reference to such serious matters, or, if it be worth 
anything, it can not be furnished, nor ought it to be. 

Notarial or mathematical proof neither can nor may be fur 
nished, because the character and nature of the contents of Scrip 
ture are inconsistent with or repellent to such demonstration. 

No man may demand legal proofs for the fact that the man 
whom he loves and honors as father is his father indeed, God has 
made such proof impossible by the very nature of the case. The 
delicacy which ennobles all family life cuts off the very appearance 
of such investigation; and, if it were possible, the son, furnished 
with such proof, would ipso facto have lost his father and mother"; 
they would be his parents no more; and beneath the pile of evi 
dence his child-life would be buried. 

The same principle applies to the Holy Scripture. The nature 
and character of the revelation has been so ordered that it allows 
no notarial demonstration. The revelation to the apostles is un 
thinkable, if other persons could have heard, recorded, and pub 
lished it as well as they. It was an operation of holy energies, not 
intended to compel doubters to a mere outward faith, but simply to 
accomplish that for which God had sent it, without caring much for 
the contradiction of the skeptics. It concerns a work of God \\hich 
legal or mathematical investigation can not fathom ; which mani 
fests itself upon the spiritual domain where certainty obtains not by 
outward demonstration, but by personal faith of the one in the other. 

As faith in father and mother springs not from mathematical 
demonstration, but from the contact of love, the fellowship of life, 
and personal trust in each other, even so here. A life of love un-! 
folded itself. The mercies of God came bending down to us in 
tender compassion. And every man touched by this divine life was 
affected by its influence, taken up by it, lived in it, felt himself in 
sympathetic fellowship with it; and, in a way imperceptible and 
not understood, obtained a certainty, far above any other, that he 
was in the presence of facts, and that they were divinely revealed. 



CHARACTER OF NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURE 177 

And such is the origin of faith ; not supported by scientific 
proof, for then it would be no faith ; which has mastered the reader 
of the Holy Scripture in an entirely different way. The existence 
of the Scripture is owing to an act of the unfathomable mercies of 
God, and for this reason man s acceptance must equally be an act 
of absolute self-denial and gratitude. It is only the broken and 
contrite heart, filled with thankfulness to God for His excellent 
mercy, that can cast itself into the Scripture as into its life-element, 
I and feel that here is found real assurance, casting out all doubt. 

Hence we must distinguish a threefold operation of the Holy 
: Spirit with reference to faith in the New Testament Scripture : 

First, a divine working giving a revelation to the apostles. 

Second, a working called inspiration. 

Third, a working, active to-day, creating faith in the Scripture 
in the heart at first unwilling to believe. 

First comes revelation proper. 

E.g., when St. Paul wrote his treatise on the resurrection (i 
Cor. xv.), he did not develop that truth for the first time. Prob 
ably he had apprehended it previously, and in his sermons and 
jprivate correspondence expounded it. Hence the revelation ante- 
|dates the epistle. It belonged to the things of which Jesus had 
said . " When the Holy Spirit has come He shall guide you into all 
truth, and He will show you things to come." And he received 
that revelation in such a way that he had the positive conviction 
that thus the Holy Spirit had revealed it to him, and that thus he 
would see it in the Judgment day. 

But the epistle was not yet written. This required a second act 
of the Holy Spirit that of inspiration. 

Without this the knowledge that St. Paul had received a revela 
tion would be useless. What warrant should we have that he had 
:orrectly understood and faithfully recorded it? He might have 
nade a mistake in the communication, adding to it or taking from 
t, thus making it an unreliable report. Hence inspiration was in- 
[ispensable ; for by it the apostle was kept from error while he re- 
orded the revelation previously received. 

Lastly, the spiritual bond must be created connecting the soul 
md the consciousness with the spiritual realities of the infallible 
liVord of God positive conviction of spiritual things. 

The Holy Spirit accomplishes this by the implanting of faith, 
vith the various preparations that ordinarily precede the breaking 

12 



i;8 HOLY SCRIPTURES IN NEW TESTAMENT 

forth of the act of believing. The result is inward conviction. Thi: 
is not wrought by referring us to Josephus or Tacitus, but in 
spiritual way. The content of the Scripture is brought to the soul 
The conflict between the Word and the soul is felt. The convictior 
thus wrought causes us to see not that the Scripture must make 
room for us, but we for the Scripture. 

In the discussion of regeneration we shall refer to this point more 
largely. For the present we shall be satisfied if we have succeeded 
in showing that the existence of the New Testament Scripture and 
our faith in it are not the work of man, but a work in which the 
Holy Spirit alone must be honored. 



Uentb Cbapter, 
THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 



XXXVI. 
The Church of Christ. 

" It is the Spirit that beareth wit 
ness, because the Spirit is 
truth." i John v. 6. 

WE now proceed to discuss the work of the Holy Spirit wrought 
in the Church of Christ. 

Altho the Son of God has had a Church in the earth from the 
beginning, yet the Scripture distinguishes between its manifesta 
tion before and after Christ. As the acorn, planted in the ground, 
exists, altho it passes through the two periods of germinating and 
rooting, and of growing upward and forming trunk and branches, 
even so the Church. At first hidden in the soil of Israel, wrapped in 
the swaddling-clothes of its national existence, it was only on the 
day of Pentecost that it was manifested in the world. 

Not that the Church was founded only on Pentecost; this would 
be a denial of the Old Covenant revelation, a falsification of the 
idea of Church, and an annihilation of God s election. We only 
say that on that day it became the Church for the world. 

Arid in it the Holy Spirit has wrought a very comprehensive 
work. 

Not its formation, however, for that is the work of the Triune 
od in the divine decree ; or, speaking more definitely, of Jesus the 
ing when He bought His people with His own blood. 

Indeed, the Spirit of God regenerates the elect, whom He does 
not find in the world, but already in the Church. Every represen 
tation as tho the Holy Spirit gathers the elect out of a lost world, 
and so brings them into the Church, opposes the Scripture s repre- 



1 8o THE CHURCH OF CHRIST 

sentation of the Church as an organism. Christ s Church is a 
body, and as the members grow out of the body and are not added 
to it from without, so must the seed of the Church be looked for in 
the Church and not in the world. The Holy Spirit works that only 
which is already sanctified in Christ. Hence our form of Baptism 
reads : " Do you acknowledge that altho our children are conceived 
and born in sin, and therefore are subject to all miseries, yea to con 
demnation itself ; yet that they are sanctified in Christ?" 

However, since regeneration belongs to His work in the individ 
ual, and we are considering now His work in the Church as a whole, 
as a community, we direct our attention, in the first place, to His 
work of imparting spiritual gifts, particularly those called " cJiaris- 
mata" Some New Testament passages speak of gifts like those 
offered to God (Matt. v. 23): "If thou bring thy gift to the altar"; 
or gifts communicated to others (2 Cor. viii. 9 and Phil. iv. 17); 
and the gift of salvation ; but those we do not consider. 

A gift offered to God is called in the Greek " doron" ; imparted* 
to others, it is commonly called " char is" ; while the gift of grace 
is usually called " doma." Hence these gifts are distinct from those 
that now occupy our attention. And this distinction appears 
strongest when we compare the gift of the Holy Spirit with spiritual 
gifts. The Holy Spirit Himself is a gift of grace. But when He 
imparts spiritual gifts He adorns us with holy ornaments. The 
first refers to our salvation ; the last to our talents. 

Referring to our salvation, the Scripture calls it a free and gra 
cious gift, generally doma in the Greek, which, being derived from 
a root meaning to give, denotes that we were not entitled to it, hav 
ing neither merited nor bought it, but that it is a given good. St. 
Paul exclaims: "Thanks unto God for His unspeakable gift/ /.^., 
of salvation (2 Cor. ix. 15). And again: " Much more the grace of | 
God and the gift of grace, which is by one man Jesus Christ, hath 
abounded unto many." " Much more they which receive abundance 
of grace and the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus I 
Christ" (Rom. v. 15, 17). And lastly: " But unto every one of us is 
given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ" (Ephcs. 
iv. 17).* 

*It should be noticed that in Rom. v. 15, 16; vi. 23; xi. 29, the word 
"charisma" is found in the Greek text, referring to salvation. The rea- i 
son is that these passages refer not to the graciousness of the gift, but to) 



THE CHURCH OF CHRIST 181 

The same expression is used invariably for the imparting of the 
Holy Spirit : " Ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost " (Acts ii. 
38). And: " Because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the 
gift of the Holy Ghost" (Acts x. 45). Hence it should be carefully 
noticed that this has nothing to do with the subject under consid 
eration. When St. Paul speaks of faith as the gift of God, he refers 
to our salvation and God s saving work in the soul. But the gifts of 
which we now speak are wholly different. They are not unto sal 
vation, but to the glory of God. They are lent to us as ornaments, 
that we should show their beauty as talents to gain other talents 
therewith. They are additional operations of grace, which can not 
take the place of the proper work of the grace of salvation, nor con 
firm it, having an entirely different purpose. The work of grace is 
for our own salvation, joy, and upbuilding; the charismata are 
given us for others. The first implies that we have received the 
Holy Spirit ; the latter that He imparts gifts unto us. 

Properly speaking, the charismata are given to the churches, not 
to individual persons. When a ruler selects and trains men for 
officers in the army, it is evident that he does this not for their 
personal enjoyment, honor, and aggrandizement, but for the effi 
ciency and honor of the army. He can search for men with talents 
for the military service, and train and instruct them ; but he can 
not create such talents. If this were possible, every king would 
endow his generals with the genius of a Von Moltke, and every ad 
miral would be a De Ruyter. 

But Jesus is not thus limited. He is independent ; unto Him all 
power is given in heaven and on earth. He can create talents, and 
freely impart them to whomsoever He will. Hence, knowing what 
the Church requires for its protection and upbuilding, He can fully 
supply all its need. His purpose is not merely to please or enrich 
individuals, much less to give to some what He withholds from 
others; but with the persons thus endowed to adorn and favor the 
whole Church. We do not put a lamp upon the table to show it a 
special favor or because it is more excellent than chair or stove ; 
but simply because thus it serves its purpose, and the whole room 
is lighted. To consider the charismata as intended merely to adorn 
and benefit the person endowed would be just as absurd as to say : 



its scintillating brightness, in contrast with corruption and death. "The 
wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life. " 



i8 2 THE CHURCH OF CHRIST 

" I light the fire to warm not the room, but the stove " j and to be 
jealous of the charismata given to others in the Church would be 
just as foolish as for the table to be jealous of the stove because it 
gets all the fire. 

The charismata must therefore be considered in an economical 
sense. The Church is a large household with many wants ; an in 
stitution to be made efficient by the means of many things. They 
are to the Church what light and fuel are to the household; not 
existing for themselves, but for the family, and to be laid aside 
when the days are long and warm. This applies directly to the 
charismata, many of which, given to the apostolic Church, are not 
of service to the Church of the present day. 

These charismata have undoubtedly more or less an official 
character. God has instituted offices in the Church; not in a me 
chanical way, or depending upon robe or gown; such unspiritual 
conception is foreign to the Scripture. But as there is division of 
labor in the army or in the human body, so there is in the Church. 

Take, e.g., the body. It must be protected against injury; 
blood must be carried to muscles and nerves; venous blood must 
be converted into arterial; the lungs must inhale fresh air, etc. 
All these activities are laid upon the various members of the body. 
Eye and ear keep watch; the heart propels the blood; the lungs 
supply the oxygen, etc. And this can not be changed arbitrarily. 
The lungs can not watch ; the eye can not supply oxygen ; the skin 
can not propel the blood. Hence this division of labor is neither 
arbitrary, by mutual consent, nor a matter of pleasure; but it is j 
divinely ordained, and this ordinance must not be ignored. Hence I 
the eye has the office and gift of watching over the body; the heart j 
of circulating the blood; the lungs of supplying fresh air, etc. 

And this applies to the Church in every respect. That great 
body requires the doing of many and various things for the com 
mon weal. There is need of guidance, of prophesying, of heroism; 
mercy must be exercised, the sick must be healed, etc. And this | 
great, mutual task the Lord has divided among many members, j 
He has given to His body, the Church, eyes, ears, hands, and feet; 
and to each of these organic members a peculiar task, calling, and j 
office. 

Hence to be called to an office simply means to be charged by i 
Jesus, the King, with a definite task. You have done some work. 
Very well, but how? From impulse, or in obedience to the 



THE CHURCH OF CHRIST 183 

charge of your Sender? This makes all the difference. The King 
may send us in the ordinary or in an extraordinary way. Zacharias 
was a priest of the course of Abijah ; but his son John was the her 
ald of Christ by extraordinary revelation. The Levite served by 
right of succession ; the prophet because he was chosen of God. 
But this makes no difference ; called in the one way or the other, 
the office remains the same, eo long as we have the assurance that 
King Jesus has called and ordained us. 

For this reason our fathers devoutly spoke of an office of all be 
lievers. In Christ s Church there are not merely a few officials and 
a mass of idle, unworthy subjects, but every believer has a calling, 
a task, a vital charge. And inasmuch as we are convinced that we 
perform the task because the King has laid it upon us not for our 
selves, nor even from the motive of philanthropy, but to serve the 
Church, to this extent has our work an official character, altho the 
world denies us the honor. 



XXXVII. 
Spiritual Gifts. 

" But desire earnestly the greater 
gifts. And a still more excel 
lent way show I unto you." 
i Cor. xii. 31 (R. V.). 

THE charismata or spiritual gifts are the divinely ordained 
means and powers whereby the King enables His Church to per 
form its task on the earth. 

The Church has a calling in the world. It is being violently 
attacked not only by the powers of this world, but much more by 
the invisible powers of Satan. No rest is allowed. Denying that 
Christ has conquered, Satan believes that the time left him may yet i 
bring him victories. Hence his restless rage and fury, his incessant 
attacks upon the ordinances of the Church, his constant endeavor 
to divide and corrupt it, and his ever-repeated denial of the author 
ity and kingship of Jesus in His Church. Altho he will never suc 
ceed entirely, he does succeed to some extent. The history of the) 
Church in every country shows it ; it proves that a satisfactory con 
dition of the Church is highly exceptional and of short duration, 
and that for eight out of ten centuries its state is sad and deplor 
able, cause for shame and grief on the part of God s people. 

And yet in all this warfare it has a calling to fulfil, an appointed) 
task to accomplish. It may sometimes consist in being sifted like) 
wheat, as in Job s case, to show that by virtue of Christ s prayer? 
faith can not be destroyed in its bosom. But whatever the form of j 
the task, the Church always needs spiritual power to perform it; a L 
power not in itself, but which the King must supply. 

Every means afforded by the King for the doing of His work isj: 
a charisma, a gift of grace. Hence the internal connection between! 
work, office, and gift. 

Wherefore St. Paul says: " To each one is given the manifesta- 1 
tion of the Spirit to profit withal, i.e., for the general good (Trpfcli 



SPIRITUAL GIFTS 185 

(i Cor. xii. 7). And, again, still more clearly: " Even so 
ye, forasmuch as ye are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek that ye may 
excel, to ihQ* edifying of the Church" (i Cor. xiv. 12). Hence the 
petition, " Thy Kingdom come," which the Heidelberg Catechism 
interprets : " Rule us so by Thy Word and Spirit that we may sub 
mit ourselves more and more to Thee ; preserve and increase Thy 
Church; destroy the works of the devil, and all violence which 
would exalt itself against Thee, and also all wicked counsels de 
vised against Thy Holy Word, till the full perfection of the King 
dom takes place, wherein Thou shalt be all in all. 

It is wrong, therefore, to consider the life of individual believers 
too much by itself, separating it from the life of the Church. They 
exist not but in connection with the body, and thus they become 
partakers of the spiritual gifts. In this sense the Heidelberg Cate 
chism confesses the communion of saints : " First, that all and every 
one who believes,- being members of Christ, are in common par 
takers of Him and of all His riches and gifts ; secondly, that every 
one must know it to be his duty readily and cheerfully to employ 
his gifts for the advantage and salvation of other members." The 
parable of the talents has the same aim ; for the servant who with 
his talent failed to benefit others receives a terrible judgment. 
Even the hidden gift must be stirred up, as St. Paul says; not to 
boast of it or to feed our pride, but because it is the Lord s and in 
tended for the Church. 

St. John writing, " Ye have an unction from the Holy One, and 
ye know all things" (i John ii. 20), and " Ye need not that any man 
teach you" (i John ii. 27), does not mean to say that every indi 
vidual believer possesses the full anointing, and in virtue of this 
knoweth all things. For if this were so, who would not despair of 
salvation, nor dare say : " I have the faith" ? Moreover, how could 
the statement, " Ye need not that any man teach you," be reconciled 
with the testimony of the same apostle, that the Holy Spirit quali 
fies teachers appointed by Jesus Himself? Not the individual be 
liever, but the whole Church as a body possesses the full anointing 
of the Holy One and knows all things. The Church as a body 
needs not that any come to teach it from without; for it possesses 
all the treasure of wisdom and knowledge, being united with the 
Head, who is the reflection of the glory of God, in whom dwelleth 
all wisdom. 

And this applies not to the Church of one period, but of all 



186 THE CHURCH OF CHRIST 

ages. The Church of to-day is the same as in the day of the apos 
tles. The life lived then is the life that animates it now. The 
gains of two centuries ago belong to its treasury, as well as those 
received to-day. The past is its capital. The wonderful and glo 
rious revelation received by the Church of the first century was 
given, through it, to the Church of all ages, and is still effectual. 
And all the spiritual strength and insight, the inward grace, the 
clearer consciousness, received during the course of the ages are 
not lost, but form an accumulated treasure, increasing still by the 
ever-renewed additions of spiritual gifts. 

He who realizes and acknowledges this fact feels himself rich 
and blessed indeed. For this apostolic view of the matter causes 
us to be thankful for our brother s gift, which otherwise we might 
envy; inasmuch as those gifts do not impoverish, but enrich us. 
In one city there may be twelve ministers of the Word, all gifted 
in various directions. According to the natural man, each will be 
jealous of his brother s gifts and fear that his talents will excel his 
own. But not so among the Lord s own servants. They feel that 
together they serve one Lord and one flock, and bless God for giv 
ing them together what the leading and feeding require. In an 
army the artillerist is not jealous of the cavalryman, for he knows 
that the latter is for his protection in the hour of danger. 

Moreover, this apostolic standpoint excludes isolation; for it 
creates the longing for fellowship with distant brethren, even tho 
they walk in more or less deviating paths. It is impossible, Bible 
in hand, to limit Christ s Church to one s own little community. It 
is everywhere, in all parts of the world ; and whatever its external 
form, frequently changing, often impure, yet the gifts wherever; 
received increase our riches. 

This apostolic standpoint is also against the foolish notion that 
for eighteen centuries the Church has received no gifts whatever; 
and hence that, like the early Church, each of us must take his 
Bible to formulate his own confession. That standpoint makes one 
so intensely conscious of the communion of spiritual gifts that he 
can not but appreciate the Church s treasure accumulated during; 
the centuries. In fact, Christ s Church has received greatest 
abundance of spiritual gifts; and to-day we have the disposition 
not only of the gifts of the churches in our own city, but of all 
those imparted to the churches elsewhere, and of the historic capi-l 
tal accumulated during eighteen centuries. 



SPIRITUAL GIFTS 187 

Hence the treasure of every particular church is threefold: 
First, the charismata in its own circle ; secondly, those given to other 
churches ; and lastly, those received since the days of the apostles. 

According to their nature these spiritual gifts may be divided 
into three classes : the official, the extraordinary, and the ordinary. 

St. Paul says : " To one is given through the Spirit the word of 
j wisdom, and to another the word of knowledge, according to the 
i same Spirit, and to another faith by the same Spirit ; and to another 
gifts of healing in the one Spirit ; and to another workings of mira- 
! cles, and to another prophecy ; and to another discerning of spirits ; 
and to another divers kinds of tongues ; and to another the inter 
pretation of tongues. But all these worketh the one and the same 
Spirit, dividing to each one severally even as He will" (i Cor. xviii. 
8-1 1). In like manner the apostle speaks to the Church of Rome: 
" Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to 
us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion 
of faith; or ministry, let us wait on our ministering; or he that 
teacheth, on teaching; or he that exhorteth, on exhortation; he 
that giveth let him do it with simplicity ; he that ruleth, with dili 
gence; he that showeth-mercy, with cheerfulness " (Rom. xii. 6-8). 
From these passages it is evident that among these charismata 
St. Paul assigns the first place to the gifts pertaining to the ordi 
nary service of the Church by its ministers, elders, and deacons. 
For by prophecy St. Paul designates animated preaching, wherein 
the preacher feels himself cheered and inspired by the Holy Spirit. 
By " teaching * he means ordinary catechizing. " Ministry" refers to 
| the management of the temporalities of the Church. " Giving " has 
reference to the care for the poor and the miserable. " He that rul 
eth" refers to the officers in charge of the government of the Church. 
These are the ordinary offices embracing the care of the spiritual 
and temporal affairs of the Church. 

Then follows a different series of charismata, viz., tongues, 
healing, discernment of spirits, etc. These non-official gifts divide 
themselves into two classes those that strengthen the gifts of sa 
ving grace, and those distinct from the grace of salvation. 

The former afe, e.g., faith and love. Without faith no one can 
be saved. It is therefore the portion of all God s children, and as 
such not a " charisma but a " dor on." But while all have faith, God 
is free to let it manifest itself more strongly in the one than in an- 



i88 THE CHURCH OF CHRIST 

other. Of one degree Scripture says : " Believe on the Lord Jesus 
Christ, and thou shalt be saved"; and of another: "If ye have 
faith as a grain of mustard-seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, 
Remove hence to yonder place, and it shall remove." The first] 
works internally, the other externally. For this reason St. Paul; 
speaks not only of ministries and gifts, but also of " workings" which 
consist in a more vigorous exercise of the grace which the believer 
as such possesses already. Where the faith of many languishes, 
the Lord frequently grants extraordinary workings of faith to some, 
thus to refresh and comfort others. The same is true of love, which 
also is the portion of all, but not in the same effectual degree. And 
where the love of many waxes cold, the Lord sometimes quickens 
it in the few to such extent that others see it and are provoked toi 
holy jealousy. 

Besides these ordinary charismata, which are only more energetic 
manifestations of what every believer possesses in the germ, the Lord 
has also given to His church extraordinary gifts, working partly upon] 
the spiritual and partly upon the physical domain. Of the latter 
are the charismata of self-restraint and healing of the sick. Of the 
former Christ speaks in Matt. xix. 12, where he calls such persons 
" eunuchs for the sake of the Kingdom." St. Paul says that for the 
sake of the weak brother he will abstain from meat; and again, 
that he keeps under the body, bringing it into subjection, etc. The 
charisma of healing refers to the glorious gift of healing the sick : 
not only those who suffer from nervous diseases and psychological 
ailments, who are more susceptible to spiritual influences, but alsoj 
those whose diseases are wholly outside the spiritual realm. 

Of an entirely different nature are the extraordinary, purely! 
spiritual charismata, of which St. Paul mentions five: wisdom,] 
knowledge, discernment of spirits, tongues and their interpreta-^ 
tion. These may also be divided in two classes, inasmuch as the 
first three mentioned are also found, altho in a different form, out 
side of the Kingdom of God; and the last two, which present a| 
wholly peculiar phenomenon, within the Kingdom. Wisdom,! 
knowledge, and discernment of spirits exist even among- the! 
heathen, and are much admired by those who reject the Christ. 
But those natural gifts appear in the Church in a different way. 
The charisma of wisdom enables one without much investigation,; 
with great tact and clearness, to understand conditions and to offer 
judicious advice. Knowledge is a charisma whereby the Holy 



SPIRITUAL GIFTS 189 

Spirit enables one to acquire an unusually deep insight into the 
mysteries of the Kingdom. Discernment of spirits is a charisma 
whereby one can discern between the genuine spirits raised up of 
God and those that only pretend to be such. The charisma of 
tongues we have discussed at length in the twenty-eighth article. 

The charismata now existing in the Church are those pertaining 

to the ministry of the Word ; the ordinary charismata of increased 

exercise of faith and love; those of wisdom, knowledge, and dis- 

, j cernment of spirits ; that of self-restraint ; and lastly, that of healing 

I the sick suffering from nervous and psychological diseases. The 

1; others for the present are inactive. 



188 THE CHURCH OF CHRIST 

other. Of one degree Scripture says : " Believe on the Lord Jesus] 
Christ, and thou shalt be saved"; and of another: "If ye havej 
faith as a grain of mustard-seed, ye shall say unto this mountain! 
Remove hence to yonder place, and it shall remove." The first! 
works internally, the other externally. For this reason St. Paul! 
speaks not only of ministries and gifts, but also of " workings" which! 
consist in a more vigorous exercise of the grace which the believer! 
as such possesses already. Where the faith of many languishes,! 
the Lord frequently grants extraordinary workings of faith to some,! 
thus to refresh and comfort others. The same is true of love, which! 
also is the portion of all, but not in the same effectual degree. And! 
where the love of many waxes cold, the Lord sometimes quickens 
it in the few to such extent that others see it and are provoked tol 
holy jealousy. 

Besides these ordinary charismata, which are only more energetic 
manifestations of what every believer possesses in the germ, the Lord! 
has also given to His church extraordinary gifts, working partly upon) 
the spiritual and partly upon the physical domain. Of the latteri 
are the charismata of self-restraint and healing of the sick. Of the 
former Christ speaks in Matt. xix. 12, where he calls such persons 
" eunuchs for the sake of the Kingdom." St. Paul says that for the 
sake of the weak brother he will abstain from meat; and again, 
that he keeps under the body, bringing it into subjection, etc. The) 
charisma of healing refers to the glorious gift of healing the sick :! 
not only those who suffer from nervous diseases and psychological 
ailments, who are more susceptible to spiritual influences, but also 
those whose diseases are wholly outside the spiritual realm. 

Of an entirely different nature are the extraordinary, purely] 
spiritual charismata, of which St. Paul mentions five: wisdom, 
knowledge, discernment of spirits, tongues and their interpreta 
tion. These may also be divided in two classes, inasmuch as the 
first three mentioned are also found, altho in a different form, out-, 
side of the Kingdom of God; and the last two, which present a 
wholly peculiar phenomenon, within the Kingdom. Wisdom, 
knowledge, and discernment of spirits exist even among the 
heathen, and are much admired by those who reject the Christ. 
But those natural gifts appear in the Church in a different way. 
The charisma of wisdom enables one without much investigation, 
with great tact and clearness, to understand conditions and to offer 
judicious advice. Knowledge is a charisma whereby the Holy 



SPIRITUAL GIFTS 189 

Spirit enables one to acquire an unusually deep insight into the 
mysteries of the Kingdom. Discernment of spirits is a charisma 
whereby one can discern between the genuine spirits raised up of 
God and those that only pretend to be such. The charisma of 
tongues we have discussed at length in the twenty-eighth article. 

The charismata now existing in the Church are those pertaining 
to the ministry of the Word ; the ordinary charismata of increased 
5, exercise of faith and love; those of wisdom, knowledge, and dis- 
;. cernment of spirits; that of self-restraint; and lastly, that of healing 
: the sick suffering from nervous and psychological diseases. The 
c others for the present are inactive. 

I! 



XXXVIII. 
The Ministry of the Word. 

14 He shall lead you into all truth." 
John xiii. 13. 

LET us now consider the second activity of the Holy Spirit in 
the Church, which we prefer to designate as His care-taking of the 
Word. In this we distinguish three parts, viz. : the Sealing, the 
Interpretation, and the Application of the Word. 

In the first place, it is the Holy Spirit who seals the Word. This 
has reference to the " testimonium Spiritus Sancti," of which our 
fathers used to speak and by which they understood the operation 
whereby He creates in the hearts of believers the firm and lasting) 
conviction concerning the divine and absolute authority of the| 
Word of God. 

The Word is, if we may so express it, a child of the Holy Spirit. 
He has brought it forth. We owe it entirely to His peculiar activ 
ity. He is its Auctor Primarius, i.e., its Principal Author. And 
thus it can not seem strange that He should exercise that motherly | 
care over the child of His own travail whereby He enables it to| 
fulfil its destiny. And this destiny is, in the first place, to be believed\ 
in by the elect; secondly, to be understood by them; and lastly, to| 
be lived by them; three operations that are successively effected in| 
them by the sealing, the interpretation, and the application of the 
Word. The sealing of the Word quickens the " faith"; the intcrpre-\ 
tation imparts the "right understanding"; and the application effects 
the " living" of it. 

We mention the sealing of the Word first, for without faith in 
its divine authority it can not be God s Word to us. 

The question is : How do we come in real contact and fellowship 
with the Holy Scripture, which, as a mere external object, lies before 
us? 

We are told that it is the Word of God; but how can this become 
our own firm conviction? It can never be obtained by investigation 



THE MINISTRY OF THE WORD 191 

In fact, it ought to be acknowledged that the more one investigates 

the Word the more he loses his simple and childlike faith in it. It 

i can not even be said that the doubt created by superficial inquiry 

will be dispelled by deeper research ; for even the profound scrutiny 

of earnest men has had but one result, viz., the increase of interro- 

! gation-points. 

We can not in this way examine the contents of the Scripture 
i without destroying it for ourselves. If one wishes to examine the 
j contents of an egg, he must not break it, for then he disturbs it and 
: it is an egg no more ; but he should ask them that know about it. 
. In like manner we can learn the truth of the Scripture only by seal- 
I ing and external communication. 

For suppose that the final verdict of science will eventually 
confirm the divine authority of the Scripture, as we firmly believe 
it will, what would that avail us in our present spiritual need, since 
during our short life science will not reach that final verdict? And 
even if after thirty or forty years we should see it, would that avail 
my present distress? And if this difficulty could also be removed, 
we would still ask : Is it not cruel to give spiritual assurance only 
to Greek and Hebrew scholars? Do not men see and understand, 
then, that the evidence of the divine authority of the Scripture must 
come to us in such a manner that the simplest old woman in the 
poorhouse can see it just as well as I can? 

Hence all learned investigation, as the basis for spiritual convic 
tion, is out of the question. He who denies this maltreats souls and 
introduces an offensive clericalism. For what is the result? The 
notion that the unscholarly can have no assurance of themselves; 
that is what ministers are for; they have studied the matter; they 
ought to know, and the simple folk must believe upon their authority. 
The absurdity of this notion is obvious. In the first place, the 
learned gentlemen are frequently the greatest doubters. Secondly, 
one minister almost always contradicts what another has laid down 
as the truth. And, thirdly, the congregation, treated as a minor, is 
delivered again into the power of men ; a yoke is laid upon it which 
our fathers could not bear ; and the mistake is made of trying to 
prove the testimony of God by that of men. 

If we must bear a yoke, then give us that of Rome ten times 
rather than that of the scholars; for altho Rome puts men between 
us and the Scripture, they speak at least with one mouth. They all 
repeat what the Pope has settled for them, and his authority rests 



I 9 4 THE CHURCH OF CHRIST 

terpretation. For they wrote things the comprehensive meaningj 
of which they did not understand. E.g., when Moses wrote abouti 
the serpent s seed, it is obvious that he did not begin to see all thai 
is contained in the " bruising of his heel." 

Hence the Holy Spirit alone can interpret the Scripture. And 
how? After the manner of Rome, by means of an official trarislai 
tion as the Vulgate ; an official interpretation of every word and 
sentence ; and an official condemnation of every other explanations 
By no means. This would be very easy, but also very unspiritual.i 
Death would cleave to it. The full, boundless ocean of truth would| 
be confined within the narrow limits of a formula. And the re 
freshing fragrance of life, which always meets us from the sacred 
page, would at once be lost. 

Surely the churches may not be given over to an arbitrary, irre-j 
sponsible translation of the Word ; and we greatly appreciate the 
mutual care of the churches in providing a correct translation in 
the vernacular. We consider it even highly desirable that, undei 
the seal of their approval, the churches should publish expository 
marginal readings. But neither the one nor the other should eveij 
replace the Scripture itself. Scriptural research must ever be freeJ 
And when there is spiritual courage, then let the churches revise 
their translation and see whether their expository readings need 
modification. Not, however, to unsettle things every three years, 
but that in every period of vigorous, animated, spiritual life the 
light of the Holy Spirit may be shed in larger measure upon the 
things that always need more light. 

Hence the work of the Holy Spirit with reference to interpreta 
tion is indirect, and the means employed are: (i) scientific study 
(2) the ministry of the Word; and (3) the spiritual experience oil 
the Church. And it is by the cooperation of these three factors 
that, in the course of ages, the Holy Spirit indicates which inter-! 
pretation deviates from the truth, and which is the correct under-i 
standing of the Word. 

This interpretation is followed by the application. 

The Holy Scripture is a wonderful mystery, which is intended 
to meet the needs and conflicts of every age, nation, and saint. 
When preparing it He foreknew those ages, nations, and saints, and 
with an eye to their necessities He so planned and arranged it as it 
is now offered to us. And only then will the Holy Scripture attain] 



THE MINISTRY OF THE WORD 195 

the end in view, when to every age, nation, church, and individual 
it shall be applied in such a way that every saint shall receive at 
last whatever portion was reserved for him in the Scripture. 
Hence this work of application belongs to the Holy Spirit alone, for 
only He knows the relation which the Scripture must sustain at last 
to every one of God s elect. 

As to the manner in which the work is performed, it is either 
direct or indirect. 

The indirect application comes most generally through the min 
istry, which attains its highest end when standing before his con 
gregation the minister can say : " This is the message of the Word 
which at this time the Holy Spirit intends for you." An awful claim, 
indeed, and only attainable when one lives as deeply in the Word 
as in the Church. Besides this there is also an application of the 
Word brought about by the spoken or written word of a brother, 
which sometimes is as effectual as a long sermon. The quiet 
perusal of some exposition of the truth has sometimes stirred the 
soul more effectually than a service in the house of prayer. 

The direct application of the Word the Holy Spirit effects by 
the reading of the Scripture or by remembered passages. Then He 
brings to remembrance words deeply affecting us by their singular 
power. And, altho the world smiles and even brethren profess 
ignorance concerning it, it is our conviction that the special appli 
cation of that moment was for us and not for them, and that in our 
inward souls the Holy Spirit performed a work peculiar to Himself. 



XXXIX. 
The Government of the Church. 

No man can say that Jesus is 
the Lord, but by the Holy 
Ghost." i Cor. xii. 3. 

THE last work of the Holy Spirit in the Church has reference to 
government. 

The Church is a divine institution. It is the body of Christ, 
even tho manifesting itself in a most defective way; for as the man 
whose speech is affected by a stroke of paralysis is the same friend 
ly person as before, in spite of the defect, so is the Church, whose 
speech is impaired, still the same holy body of Christ. The visible j 
and invisible Church are one. 

We have written elsewhere : " The Church of Christ on earth is 
at once visible and invisible. Even as a man is at once a percept 
ible and imperceptible being without being therefore two beings, 
so does the distinction between the Church visible and invisible in 
no wise impair its unity. It is one and the same Church, which 
according to its spiritual being is hidden in the spiritual world, 
manifest only to the spiritual eye, and which according to its visi 
ble form manifests itself externally to believers and the world. 

" According to its spiritual and invisible being the Church is one | 
in all the earth, one also with the Church in heaven. In like man- j 
ner it is also a holy Church, not only because it is skilfully wrought j 
of God, dependent entirely upon His divine influences and work 
ings, but also because the spiritual defilement and indwelling sin 
of believers belong not to it, but war against it. According to its 
visible form, however, it manifests itself only in fragments. Hence 
it is local, i.e., widely distributed; and the national churches origi 
nate because these local churches form such connection as their 
own character and their national relations demand. More exten 
sive combinations of churches can only be temporal or exceedingly! 
loose and flexible. And these churches, as manifestations of the! 



THE GOVERNMENT OF THE CHURCH 197 

invisible church, are not one, neither are they holy ; for they par 
take of the imperfections of all earthly life, and are constantly de 
filed by the power of sin which internally and externally under 
mines their well-being." 

Hence the subject may not be presented as tho the spiritual, 
invisible, and mystical Church were the object of Christ s care and 
government, while the affairs and oversight of the visible Church 
are left to the pleasure of men. This is in direct opposition to the 
Word of God. There is not one visible Church and another invis 
ible; but one Church, invisible in the spiritual, and visible in the 
material world. And as God cares both for body and soul, so does 
Christ govern the external affairs of the Church just as certainly 
as with His grace He nourishes it internally. 

Christ is the Lord ; Lord not only of the soul, but before He can 
be that He must be Lord of the Church as a whole. 

It should be noticed that the preaching of the Word and the ad 
ministration of the sacraments belong not to the internal economy 
of the Church, but to the external; and that church government 
serves almost exclusively to keep the preaching pure and the sacra 
ments from being profaned. Hence it is not expedient to say : " If 
the Word of God be only preached in its purity and the sacraments 
rightly administered, the church order is of minor importance " ; elim 
inate these two from the church order and very little remains of it. 

The question is, therefore, whether these means of grace are to 
be arranged according to our pleasure, or according to the will of 
Jesus. Does He allow us to trifle with them according to our own 
notions, or does He rebuke and abhor all self-willed religion? If 
the last, then also He must from heaven direct, govern, and care for 
His Church. 

However, He does not compel us in this matter; He has left us 
the awful liberty of acting against His Word and of substituting 
our form of government for His own. And that is the very thing 
which misguided Christendom has done again and again. Through 
unbelief, not seeing the King, it has frequently ignored, forgotten, 
deposed Him ; it has established its own self-willed regime in His 
Church, until at last the very remembrance of the lawful Sovereign 
has been lost. , 

The individual church, still mindful of the kingship of Jesus, 
professes to bow unconditionally to His kingly Word as contained 
in the Scripture. Therefore, we say that in the state church of the 



198 THE CHURCH OF CHRIST 

Netherlands, whose church order not only lacks such profession, 
but lays the supreme legislative power exclusively upon men, 
Christ s Kingship is mocked; that a pretender has usurped His 
place, who must be removed as surely as it is written : " Yet have I 
set My King upon My holy hill of Zion." 

Hence it must be maintained firmly and fearlessly that Jesus is 
not only the King of souls, but also King in His Church ; whose 
absolute prerogative it is to be the Lawgiver in His Church ; and 
that the power which contests that right must be opposed for con 
science sake. 

To the question, why the Church is so apt to forget the Kingship 
of Christ, so that many a godly minister has not the slightest feeling 
for it, often saying : " Surely Jesus is King in the realm of truth, 
but what does He care for the external church? I, at least, a 
spiritual man, never attend the meetings of the official board"; we 
answer : " If Jesus had an earthly throne and thence reigned person 
ally over His Church, all men would bow before Him ; but being { 
enthroned in heaven at the right hand of the Father, the King is 
forgotten ; out of sight, out of mind. Hence ignorance concerning the 
work of the Holy Spirit is the cause. Since Jesus governs His Church 
not directly, but by His Word and Spirit, there is no respect for the 
majesty of His sovereign government. 

The spiritual eye of the believer must therefore be reopened 
for the work of the Holy Spirit in the churches. The unspiritual 
man has no eye for it. A consistory, classis, or synod is to him | 
merely a body of men convened to transact business according to 
their own light, the same as a meeting of the directors of a board of 
trade, or some other secular organization. One is a shareholder 
and a committeeman, and as such assists in the administration of < 
affairs to the best of his ability. But to the child of God, with an 
eye for the work of the Holy Spirit, these church assemblies assume 
an entirely different aspect. He acknowledges that this consistory 
is no consistory, this classis no classis, this synod only apparently] 
so, except the Holy Spirit preside and decide matters together with 
the members. 

The opening prayer of consistory, classis, or synod is therefore! 
not the same as that of the Y. M. C. A., or of a missionary conven 
tion, simply a prayer for light and help, but an entirely different! 
thing. It is the petition that the Holy Spirit stand in the midst of 
the assembly. For without Him no ecclesiastical meeting is com-i 



THE GOVERNMENT OF THE CHURCH 199 

plete. It can not be held except He be present. Hence in the 
liturgical prayer at the opening of consistory, there is first a peti 
tion for the Holy Spirit s presence and leadership; secondly, the 
confession that the members can do nothing without His presence ; 
and thirdly, a pleading of the promises to office-bearers. 

The prayer reads: " Since we are at present assembled in Thy 
Holy Name, after the example of the apostolic churches, to consult, 
as our office requires, about those things which may come before 
us, for the welfare and edification of Thy churches, for which we 
acknowledge ourselves unfit and incapable, as we are by nature un 
able of ourselves to think any good, much less to put it into practise, 
therefore we beseech Thee, O Faithful God and Father, that Thou 
wilt be pleased to be present with Thy Spirit according to Thy prom 
ise, in the midst of our present assembly, to guide us in all truth." 

In the prayer at the close of the consistory there follows the ex 
press giving of thanks that the Holy Spirit was present in the 
meeting : 

" Moreover, we thank Thee that Thou now hast been present 
with Thy Holy Spirit in the midst of our assembly, directing our 
determinations according to Thy will, uniting our hearts in mutual 
peace and concord. We beseech Thee, O faithful God and Father, 
that Thou wilt graciously be pleased to bless our intended labor 
and effectually to execute Thy begun work ; always gathering unto 
Thyself a true church and preserving the same in the pure doctrine 
and in the right use of Thy holy sacraments, and in a diligent exer 
cise of discipline," 

Hence church government signifies : 

First, that King Jesus institutes the offices and appoints the in 
cumbents. 

Secondly, that the churches submit themselves unconditionally 
to the fundamental law of His Word. 

Thirdly, that the Holy Spirit come in the assembly to direct the 
deliberations ; as Walasus expressed it : " That the Holy Spirit per 
sonally -may stand behind the president to preside in every meet 
ing." And this saying is so rich in meaning that we would seri 
ously ask, whether it is not yet plain that a mere change of officers 
avails not, so long as the organization itself is not agreeable to the 
Word of God. The question is not whether better men come in power, 
but whether the Holy Spirit preside in the assembly ; which He can 
not do except the Word of God be the only rule and authority. 



THE 

WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT 



VOLUME TWO 

The Work of the Holy Spirit in the Individual 



jftrst Gbapter. 
INTRODUCTION. 



I. 
The Man to be Wrought upon. 



Behold, I will pour out My Spirit 
unto you, I will make known 
My words unto you." Prov. 



THE discussion so far has been confined to the Holy Spirit s 
work as a whole. We now consider His work in individual persons. 

There is a distinction between the Church as a whole and its 
individual members. There is a Body of Christ, and there are mem 
bers which constitute a part of that Body. And the character of 
the Holy Spirit s work in the one is necessarily different from that 
in the other. 

The Church, born of the divine pleasure, is complete in the 
eternal counsel, and sovereign choice has prepared all its course. 

The same God who has numbered the hairs of our head has also 
numbered the members of Christ s Body. As every natural birth 
is foreordained, so is every Christian birth in the Church divinely 
predestinated. 

The origin and awakening of eternal life are from above ; not 
from the creature, but from the Creator, and are rooted in His free 
and sovereign choice. And it remains not merely a choice, but is 
followed by a divine act equally decisive that enforces and realizes 
that choice. 

That is God s spiritual omnipotence. He is not as a man who ex 
periments, but He is God who, never forsaking the work of His hands, 
is persistent and irresistible in the doing of all His pleasure. Hence 
His counsel becomes history ; and the Church, whose form is outlined 



204 INTRODUCTION 

in that counsel, must in the course of ages be born, increase, and 
perfect itself according to that counsel; and since that counsel is 
indestructible the gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church. 
This is the ground of the security and consolation of the saints. 
They have no other ground of trust. From the fact that God is 
God, and that therefore His pleasure shall stand, they draw the 
sure conviction with which they prophesy against all that is visible 
and phenomenal. 

In the work of grace there is no trace of chance or fatalism ; God 
has determined not only the final issue, leaving the way by which 
it is to be attained undecided, but in His counsel He has prepared 
every means to realize His choice. And in that counsel ways dis 
close themselves which human eye can not trace nor fathom. The 
divine omnipotence adapts itself to the nature of the creature. It 
causes the cedars of Lebanon to grow and the bulls of Bashan to 
increase ; but it feeds and strengthens each according to its nature. 
The cedar eats no grass, and the ox does not burrow in the ground 
for food. 

The divine ordinance requires that by its roots the tree shall ab 
sorb the juices from the ground, and that by the mouth the ox shall 
take his food and convert it into blood. And He honors His own 
ordinance by providing food in the soil for the one, and grass in the 
field for the other. 

The same principle prevails in the Kingdom of Grace. To man 
as a subject of that Kingdom, and of the moral world belonging to 
it, God has given another organism than to the ox, cedar, wind, or 
stream. The movements of the latter are purely mechanical ; from 
the steep mountain the stream must fall. In a different way He acts 
upon ox and tree ; and in still another way upon man. In the hu 
man body chemical forces work mechanically, and other forces like 
those in the ox and cedar. And besides these there are in man 
moral forces which God operates also according to their nature. 

Upon this ground our fathers rejected as unworthy of God the 
fanatical view that in the work of grace man is a stock or block ; 
not because it attributes something to man, but because it repre 
sents God as denying His own work and ordinance. Creating an ox 
or a tree or stone each different from the other, giving each a na 
ture of its own, it follows that He can not violate this, but must | 
adapt Himself to it. Hence all His spiritual operations are subject! 
to the divinely ordained dispositions in man as a spiritual being; 



THE MAN TO BE WROUGHT UPON 205 

and this feature makes the work of grace exceedingly beautiful, 
glorious, and adorable. 

For let us not deceive ourselves and speak any longer of a glo 
rious work of grace if the omnipotent God treats man mechanically, 
as a stock or block. Then there is no mystery for angels to look 
into, but an immediate work of omnipotence breaking down and 
creating anew. To admire the work of grace we should take it as 
it is revealed, i.e., as a complicated, unsearchable work by which, 
violating nothing, God adapts Himself to the delicate and manifold 
needs of man s spiritual being; and reveals His divine omnipotence 
in the victory over the endless and gigantic obstacles which human 
nature puts in His way. 

Even the heart of God thirsts after love. His entire counsel 
may be reduced to one thought, viz., that in the end of the ages 
He may have a Church which shall understand His love and return 
it. But love can not be ordered, neither can it be forced in an un- 
spiritual way. It can not be poured out in a man s heart mechani 
cally. To be warm, refreshing, and satisfying, love must be quick 
ened, cultivated, and cherished. Hence God does not instil an 
ounce of love into His people s hearts, in consequence of which 
they love Him, but He exhibits love to such an extent that He, who 
was from the beginning with God and was God, in unfathomable 
love dies for men on the cross. 

This would have been superfluous if man were a stock or block. 
Then God would only have had to create love in his heart, and men 
would have loved Him from sheer necessity, as a stove emits heat 
when the fire is lighted. But the love so warmly portrayed in 
Scripture is not superfluous, when God deals with spiritual crea 
tures spiritually. Then the cross of Christ is a manifestation of 
divine love far surpassing all human conceptions ; hence exercising 
such irresistible power upon all God s elect. 

And that which is preeminently true and apparent in love is 
equally true of every part of the work of grace in all its stages. In 
it God never denies Himself, nor the ordinance and plan after which 
man was created. Hence it is its glory that, while on the one hand 
God granted man the strongest means of resistance, on the other 
He overcame that resistance in a divine and kingly way by the om 
nipotence of redeeming grace. 

When the apostle testifies, " We pray you in Christ s stead, as 
tho God did beseech you by us, be ye reconciled to God," he reveals 



206 INTRODUCTION 

such a depth of the mystery of love that finally the relations are 
literally reversed, and the holy God beseeches His rebellious crea 
ture, who instead should cry to Him for mercy. 

Tradition speaks of the fascination of mysterious beings exerted! 
upon travelers and mariners so irresistibly that the latter cast 
themselves willingly and yet against their will into destruction.) 
In love s revelation this tradition in a reversed and holy manner 
has become a reality. Here also is an almighty power of fascina 
tion, in the end irresistible to the condemned sinner; but allowing! 
himself to be drawn unwillingly and yet willingly, eternal pity! 
draws him not into destruction, but otit of it. 

However, the wonderful workings of love can scarcely be ana 
lyzed. Lovers never know who has attracted and who has been 
attracted, nor how in the struggle of the affections love performed 
its drawings. Love s being is too mysterious to reveal its various 
workings and how they succeed one another. And this applies in 
far greater measure to the love of God. Every saint knows by ex 
perience that at last it became irresistible, and prevailed. But how 
the victory was achieved can not be told. This divine work comes 
to us from such infinite heights and depths, it affects us so myste 
riously, and in the beginning there was such utter lack of spiritual 
light that one can scarcely more than stammer of these things. 
Who comprehends the mystery of the natural birth? Who had 
knowledge when he was being curiously embroidered in the lowest 
parts of the earth? And if this took place without our conscious-l 
ness, how can we understand our spiritual