It may be necessary to pause here long enough, and to be at pains to state definitely, some things in regard to the terms to be employed in the present inquiry after truth. By the Holy Spirit then is meant, let me say, nothing less than the Divine nature, God himself.

"God is spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." That "there is one God," and but one, is the declaration alike of reason and of revelation. The philosophy of the "Godhead" lies, no doubt, beyond the sphere of finite minds; and the relations of "Father, Son and Holy Spirit" are not presumed to be fully understood by man. The subject, though, lies so near to the human heart that it instinctively yearns and struggles after a satisfactory conception of the Holy One. Reverently, then, let us say, that we conceive the terms "Father, Son and Holy Spirit" to indicate certain manifestations of the "One God" as he reveals himself in different relations to a man; these different relations finding the ground of their necessity, possibly in the nature and conditions of man rather than in that of God. This Divine Being, in his relation to us as the author of life and its blessings, is the "Father of all;" in his relation to us as Redeemer, He is the Son, "God manifest in the flesh," the " Word," veiled in the mysteries of the incarnation, the Lord Jesus Christ; and in His relation to us as Sanctifier, as one who aids and energizes our spiritual nature, in its struggle with sin, He is the "Holy Spirit."

It may help us to a clearer apprehension of this sublime doctrine of the Godhead, in its essential unity and threefold relationship to man, to gather some analogies in our own human relations. Were I a physician, as I am a teacher, I would sustain to my own children a threefold relation, growing out of the necessities of their lives. As father, I would study their daily wants, and provide for the same; as physician, I would seek to relieve them of the ills and pains of disease under which they might fall, and restore them to health; as teacher, I would labor to enlighten, to strengthen, and to intensify their intellectual and moral natures, and to guide their whole spiritual being into the way everlasting. That I would experience, in my own nature, sympathies peculiar to these several relations, which, though they might, in some measure, overlap each other, and, in some instances, probably blend together in one great flow of feeling, would still have and hold an essentially distinct existence and nature, will appear evident to every one at all accustomed to analyzing the moods and methods of his own soul. Nor is it less evident that the sympathetic nature of my children would experience a similar diversity of feeling, corresponding to this multiform administration. At the same time, they would instinctively see, through all this variety, an essential unity and individuality, both in themselves and in me, as the being in whom is centered their very lives and all their hopes. This illustration is not thought to be adequate, but is given as suggestive of those blessed and mysterious relations which we sustain towards the great Fountain of all being. What a sublime conception - man looking up to God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, as Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier; and, yet, as the one, Almighty and Eternal God!

Let it be understood then, that when we speak of the Holy Spirit throughout this paper, we speak of God, in the highest and sublimest sense of the term.

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"Now may the Lord of peace Himself give you peace always in every way.
The Lord be with you all.

2 Thessalonians 3:16