done by bringing the children of such persons into an association with others, through whose medium they may become acquainted with principles, and be led to feel their importance, a great object will be achieved for them.

But what can be done for the parents themselves? How can we convince them of their Laodicean state of mind? They are "lukewarm " in that great work for which alone they were born into the world! But, alas! for them, they think themselves warm enough! and conclude all persons who appear more in earnest, or more warm than themselves in active zeal, to be enthusiasts! O could they be led well to meditate upon the Lord's awful words, "I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot; I would thou wert cold or hot; so then, because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth!" And how expressively is this lukewarm state traced to the want of humility, arising from the neglect of self-examination. "Because thou sayest I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing, and knowest not thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked." But there is some sincerity in such characters, nevertheless, affording a plane upon which the divine influx may operate, if they submit themselves to it, and therefore they are advised to cultivate the internal things of faith and charity, truth and goodness, in the words next following:-"I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, (genuine good procured by overcoming in temptation) that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, (genuine truth, and thence intelligence,) that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eye salve, (the conjunction of truth with good,) that thou mayest (spiritually) see." Rev. chap. 3, ver. 14.

How deeply interested is every member of the New Church, in ascertaining whether he is a Laodicean or not!

SIMPLEX.

ON THE NON-PERSONALITY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT,

WITH PREFATORY REMARKS ON THE TRINITY.

To the Editors of the Intellectual Repository.

GENTLEMEN, HAVING lately met, amongst my papers, with these brief arguments for the non-personality of the Holy Spirit, which were written some years ago, in answer to some objections of a clergyman of the Esta

blished Church, I forward them to you, because I have noticed that most New Church writers on the Trinity have made the nature of the Holy Spirit quite a subordinate consideration in their arguments; whereas, I know that there is a party now existing in the Old Church, who rely principally on the distinct attributes which they conceive to be ascribed by Scripture to the third Person, for their belief and support of the tri-personal scheme. I am not aware that they produced any effect on the gentleman to whom they were sent; but if you deem them worthy of a place in your Repository, I shall not consider that they were written in vain. With best wishes for the increasing success of your "New Series," I am, in the cause of truth,

Yours most sincerely,

G

NOTHING can be clearer or less liable to mistake than the manner in which it has pleased God to reveal himself to us throughout the volume of the Old Testament. From the time he manifested himself to his chosen people under his most glorious name of "Jehovah" and "I am," to the last of their prophets, he constantly declares his simple unity and self-existence. And when he afterwards takes to himself the further title of the Saviour and Redeemer of his people, it is impossible that he could more strongly caution them against attaching the gross idea of personal deity to these his attributes, than he does when he positively and repeatedly affirms, that there is no God beside him, that he alone, and by himself, is their Creator, their Redeemer, and their Saviour, and there is none else. "I am Jehovah thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour; before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. I, even I, am Jehovah, and beside me there is no Saviour " (Isaiah chap. 43,*ver. 3, 11, 14). "There is no God else beside me, a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside' me" (Isa. chap. 45, ver 21). "And all flesh shall know that I Jehovah am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob" (Isa. chap. 49, ver. 26). "Thus saith Jehovah thy Redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb, I am Jehovah that maketh all things, that stretcheth forth the heavens alone, that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself" (Isa. chap. 44, ver. 24. See also Isa. chap. 35, ver. 4; chap. 41, ver. 14; chap. 43, ver. 1, 15; chap. 45, ver. 5, 6, 14, 15, 18, 21, 22; chap. 44, ver. 9; chap. 48, ver. 12, 17, 20; chap. 49, ver. 7, 26; chap. 54, ver. 5, 8; chap. 49, ver. 16; chap. 60, ver. 16; chap. 63, ver. 8; Hosea, chap. 13, ver. 4; with numerous other passages.)

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But though, throughout this part of Revelation, there is not the slightest mention made of any other divine being, all prophecy teems with predictions of a future glorious time, when "a child should be born unto the world," "The Prince and Saviour of his people," who should be himself "the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father,” “ Jehovah our righteousness." Thus also we find that when the almighty Jehovah is called a Saviour and Redeemer, it is with a prophetic feeling towards a future day when he would himself come and visit his people, and manifest himself to them more nearly.

Accordingly on opening the New Testament we read of the birth of a child, who is declared by numerous messengers from above to be born not of man, but of the Highest-the Son of God. He was named Jesus, for he came to save and redeem us from our sins, which he effected by overcoming their evil tendencies in himself, and thus "bearing our sins and carrying our sorrows," he combined the divine and human natures into one. In him was the whole burden of prophecy plainly fulfilled; and that we might have no possible ground of doubt who this our Saviour might be, every name and attribute by which Jehovah is known in the Old, is assumed by Jesus in the New Testament, thus entirely identifying himself with the Mighty God of Jacob, who had wrought such wonders for his people. Besides the names Almighty, Creator, Saviour, Redeemer, and many more, and this after Jehovah had positively declared that beside him there was no Creator, Redeemer, Saviour, or God, he constantly claims even the great and incommunicable titles, "I am," "the First and the Last," with that peculiar and endearing appellation, "the Husband of his Church," when too the Almighty God has expressly affirmed that he "would not give his glory to another." Can anything possibly be plainer? Can we hesitate one moment in acknowledging that Jehovah and Jesus are the same identical Almighty Being-the very same God and Lord?

So, when our Lord began to teach and shew forth his mighty works before all people, that none might mistake him, though he sometimes spoke of the Father, as it were, distinct from himself, inasmuch as till his resurrection and glorious ascension, his human was not entirely united, and thus identified with his divine nature, he constantly and repeatedly affirms that he and his Father are one. "I am not alone:" "I am in the Father and the Father in me:" "I can of mine own self do nothing; the Father which dwelleth within me, he doeth the works:" "I and my Father are one." And as if, as he approached the complete glorification of his humanity, he would be still more explicit, when re

quired by Philip, shortly before his crucifixion, "Lord, shew us the Father," his plain and pointed reproof was conveyed in these words, "Have I been so long with thee, and hast thou not known me, Philip? He that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou, shew us the Father!"

Thus almost every chapter throughout the Gospel would furnish evidence to prove that our Lord's existence in this world was not independent of the Father; and that though termed "Son," it was in accommodation and adaptation to our faculties. For it would appear that the "Father" is the inmost essential divinity, the source and essence of all things; the "Son" the approachable manifestation of the invisible and infinite God, by and through which he is pleased to act and to govern all creation,-perfectly distinct essential principles, though one and the same divine being, as soul and body are one man. So our Saviour is called Immanuel, “God with us," and declares that he came to manifest forth to man the invisible God (John, chap. 1, ver. 18), (for so εnynoαro would be better rendered). "My Father dwelleth within me. "The Father that dwelleth within me, he doeth the works." To this view, too, the apostles give a plain and concurrent testimony: "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself." "He is the image of the invisible God." "God manifest in the flesh." "In him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." And thus "He is the true God," "God over all, blessed for ever more," only wise God our Saviour."

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But to proceed to the more immediate subject of this argumentthe distinct personality of the Holy Ghost. Though, if it be proved, as I trust it is, that Jesus Christ cannot be a personal being distinct from the Father, inasmuch as he is himself "the mighty God, the everlasting Father," the great Jehovah manifest in the flesh for the salvation of his creatures, every argument for the separate existence of what is commonly termed the Third Person in the Trinity, must of necessity fall to the ground. But that we may not leave any possible reason for doubt, let us examine the question solely on its own foundation.

Here the principal, and indeed the only strength of the Tripersonalist consists in the ascription of the personal pronoun, as well as personal properties, to the Spirit of God, by the Lord himself, and by his Holy Scriptures; and he says that those who differ from him are obliged to have recourse to some figure of speech, such as prosopopœia or metonymy, to explain such passages, of which he has in some instances attempted to expose the absurdity. But let us not rest on the

surface of things. Would we fairly examine the Word of God we should find personal properties, fully as strong, ascribed to the spirits of men. These are common expressions, that the spirit of man "cometh, returneth, is troubled, overwhelmed, faileth, rejoiceth, willeth, searcheth, and even prayeth." And yet who ever thought of giving his spirit a personal existence, separate from the man himself? We besides see all the attributes of Deity, his Justice, Judgement, Mercy, Righteousness, and Truth, with many more, constantly personified in the sacred writings; but it were folly to say, they are all` separate persons. Nor can it have escaped the attention of any reader how frequently, in the strong and highly figurative language of scripture, personal attributes, and even the personal pronoun, are predicated of things inanimate, as well as the qualities of the mind. Let then the Tripersonalist beware how he taunts his opponents with absurdity, in applying the use of figures to the interpretation of the Word, lest his sneers should perchance miss their aim, and fall on the language of the Most High himself.

The term Holy Ghost appears to have contributed not a little to the support of the Tripersonal doctrine, though the translators of the New Testament seem to have themselves shown its utter inapplicability, by rendering the same word sometimes "ghost," and at others "spirit;" for they must have seen that "Ghost of Truth" would have been ridiculous. Now "ghost," whatever it may have originally signified, does not, we may be allowed to say, carry with it a very proper idea of divinity, and it might have been better had the term never been used; the inconsistency would then have been avoided of translating the same word differently in one chapter, and even in one sentence, as has been done: and all will allow that uniformity in the rendering of Scripture words and phrases is in the highest degree desirable.

But perhaps the word in the original Greek translated "ghost," may give us some intimation of the proper meaning of what has been called the third Person in the Trinity. TvEvμa is a neuter noun, and invariably, we believe, joined with the neuter adjective and participle; and more than once where we meet with the personal pronoun "he," as applied to this word in our translation, the neuter pronoun, To," it," is used in the original. The primary signification of vενμа πνευμα is breath, or breathing, which is the sign or evidence of natural life and activity, and it is a general expression applied equally to God, to man, and to the great moving power in nature, air or wind. Spirit, in our language exactly answers to the original, being derived from the N. S. No. 35.-VOL. 3. 3 G