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remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained."-John xx. 21, 23.

Death and Resurrection.

John x. 17, 18., "Therefore doth my Father love me because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father."

As Christ laid down his life and received it again, in obedience to his Father's command, his death and resurrection furnish no evidence that he is God. God cannot be the subject of a command.

Authority to judge the World.

2 Cor. v. 10. "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ."

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1 Cor. vi. 2, 3. Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world?.... Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things which pertain to this life ?"

This passage fully justifies the conclusion that Christ being the constituted judge of the world is no evidence that he is God. For further illustration of this, see page 76, 77.

See Norton's Statement of Reasons, Section IX. Wright's Essays, p. 431-481. Belsham's Calm Inquiry, Section III. IV. V. Vindication, &c by Yates, part IIL Chap. V. VI. VIL

SECTION XIV.

THE SPIRIT OF GOD NOT ANOTHER PERSON DISTINCT FROM GOD.

"On all hands it is agreed," says Dr. Dwight, "that the Holy Ghost is acknowledged by Trinitarians to be a Divine Person." He uses the word 'person' in its proper and obvious sense. By 'person' he means a percipient being," distinct from God the Father.

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This doctrine is to be rejected for the following reasons. 1. It is incredible that a self-existent person should be the spirit of another person. The Spirit of God bears the same relation to God, that the Spirit of man bears to man. What man knoweth the things of a man, save the Spirit of man which is in him? Even so the things of God knoweth no man (no one) but the Spirit of God."-1 Cor. ii. 11. As the Spirit of a man is not another person distinct from him, but a consciousness by which he contemplates himself, and knows himself, and whatever is peculiar to himself, so the Spirit of God is not another person distinct from God, but is that consciousness and intelligence which is essential to him, whereby he manifests and reveals himself to his. intelligent creatures. As the Spirit of a man means the man himself, so the Spirit of God means God himself, and not an other "percipient being" distinct from God. St. Paul unquestionably means, that as the man alone is conscious of what passes within himself, and as another man

cannot know it till it is revealed to him; so no one can know what passes in the mind of God, unless he reveal it to him. But St. Paul had received this revelation: For he adds, "Now we have received, not the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God; that we might know the things which are freely given us of God." Verse 12. Here the Spirit which is of God is contrasted with the Spirit which is of the world; and there is as much evidence that the Spirit of the world is a person distinct from the world, as that the Spirit of God is a person distinct from God.

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2. The Greek word avevμa, which is translated 'Spirit,' and Ghost,' in the New Testament, and the pronouns standing for it, are of the neuter gender; and consequently impersonal. A neuter noun is not used to express the proper name of a person; nor is a neuter pronoun used instead of a personal pronoun. It would not be proper to

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say, "There is one God, and none other but it." itself, even our Father." "Christ loved the church, and gave itself for it." Sometimes the pronouns are translated correctly, and rendered it, its, itself. "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our Spirit." "The Spirit itself maketh intercession for us." Had the Translators always done so, instead of giving us he,' his,' 'him,' they would have been correct, and would have appeared consistent. In John xiv. 17, the pronoun is four times mistranslated. It should have been, Even the Spirit of Truth; which the world cannot receive, because it seeth it not, neither knoweth it: but ye know it; for it dwelleth with you and shall be in you." In the Greek the pronoun is avro, neuter gender. The Spirit of truth is contrasted with the Spirit of error; 1 John iv. 6. If the Spirit of Truth, which the Translators have incorrectly personified in John xiv. 17, be a person, then it is a person in 1 John iv. 6. But if the Spirit of truth be a person, the Spirit of error, with which it is

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contrasted, is a person also. The word 'Spirit' in both passages means the influence under which persons act.

Had the translators been consistent with themselves, and rendered the impersonal neuter pronouns correctly, 'it,' 'its,' 'itself,' instead of 'he,' 'his,' 'him,' in all places, as they have in some, the appearance of the personality of the Spirit would have been almost entirely removed from the New Testament. But they were Trinitarians, who believed that God and his Spirit were two distinct persons; consequently they gave us the personal pronouns instead of the impersonal as in the Greek.

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3. The breath of God and the Spirit of God are synonymous. "By the blast of God they perish, and by the breath of his nostrils are they consumed."-Job iv. 9. By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.-Ps. xxxiii. 6. And Jesus breathed on his disciples and said, Receive ye the Holy Ghost."-John xx. 22. And then shall that wicked be revealed whom the Lord shall consume by the Spirit of his mouth."-2 Thess. ii. 8. "The Lord breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.”—Gen. ii. 7. "Thou takest away their breath and they die. Thou sendest forth thy Spirit and they are cre ated."-Ps. civ. 29, 20. Jesus illustrates the regenerating influences of the Spirit by the effects which the wind produces John iii. 8. "While the Spirit of God is in my nostrils, my lips shall not speak wickedness."—Job xxvii. 3. Here the Spirit of God means the air, which by the agency and blessing of God, Job breathed through his nostrils.

Hence it appears that under the idea of breath, wind, and air, we obtain the most correct apprehension of the nature and operation of the Spirit of God of which we are capable. But no ideas are more incompatible with proper personality. It is absurd to speak of a self-existent and almighty

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person as the breath of another person. to personality. If the Spirit of God the tinct person, that person must have a spirit peculiar to himself, and distinct from the Spirit of the Father. If God be three equal persons, the third person can no more be the Spirit of the first, than the first can be the Spirit of the third. The Spirit of God can have no connection with personality, only as it is the Spirit, or power, or sufficiency, or fulness, or something else, of a real person.

4. The Spirit of God is synonymous with the hand, and the finger of God. "The Spirit of the Lord lifted me up, and took me away....but the hand of the Lord was strong upon me." -Ezek. iii. 14. "By his Spirit he hath garnished the heavens; his hand hath formed the crooked serpent."-Job xxvi. 13. "When I consider the heavens, the work of thy fingers.”—Ps. viii. 3. But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you."-Matt. xii. 28. "But if I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you.”—Luke xi. 20.

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But what can be more disrespectful and absurd than to call a self-existent and almighty person the hand and the finger of another co-equal person? As the hand and the finger of a person are mere instruments and subordinate to his will, so the Spirit of God is represented as subordinate to his will. As what is done by the hand of a man is done by the man, so what is done by the Spirit of God is done by God. If the Spirit of God is the third person in the Trinity, then the finger of God is the very same blessed person.

5. To fortify his disciples against the terrors of persecution, Jesus said to them, "But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak; for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak: for it

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