REVIEW OF THE HISTORY.

The first thing we notice as we look back over the centuries from New Testament times is that there have been two main epochs in the history. The first extended from the Sub-Apostolic age to the Reformation, and was concerned with the Personality and Deity of the Holy Spirit and His relation to the Father and the Son. Almost everything that occupied the attention of the Church during these centuries was connected with the. Person of the Spirit. The second took rise at the Reformation, and may be said to reach to the present day. This has been concerned almost wholly with the Work of the Spirit, and no one can doubt the epoch-making character of the Reformation, since its religious attitude revolutionised all that had been held and practised in regard to the relations of the individual and the Church to the Holy Spirit.

' For its development, a division-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 working in the congregation of believers cast into the foreground, and the theological treatment of this doctrine made of ever-increasing importance to the Church of Christ.'1

The next thing to be observed in a review of the history is that during the centuries there seem to have been five special dangers besetting the doctrine of the Holy Spirit,

1. Intellectualism. This was the weakness of Greek theology in the early ages, and has been the danger of Rationalism ever since, the tendency to sublimate the work of the Holy Spirit into an illuminated mind and a clear perception of the truth.

' Truth or truths about the spiritual life, if they stand alone, are intellectualist, however impressive, or, to use a word fitter in some ways, they are aesthetic, however penetrating. They may produce the certainty of knowledge but not of salvation.'2

The Holy Spirit is indeed the ' Spirit of truth,' but truth is at once intellectual and moral.

' Full recognition of the service rendered to religious thought by the Greek genius and by the intellect which the Greek Christian Fathers brought to bear upon Christian problems leaves unaffected the elementary and indisputable historic fact that it was through the Church of the West, and finally through the great Roman Church wherein for centuries the religious life of the West was concentrated, the broad highway of Christendom's future lay.'3

2. Pelagianism. Under this general title may be combined the various Movements from early days which have! tended to ignore and often to set aside the need of Divinel grace. Whether we think of Pelagianism proper, or the Semi-Pelagianism of the Middle Ages and of Rome, or the Synergism of the Lutheran Church, or the Arminianism of the Reformed Churches, the essential feature is much the same in its tendency to forget the presence of Him Who is ' the Spirit of Grace.'

3. Ecclesiasticism in various forms throughout the ages from the second century onwards. This has been a pressing danger. It is impossible to avoid noticing the various ' heresies ' which have sprung up in reference to the relation between the Holy Spirit and the Church. When we mention Montanism, Puritanism, Pietism, Quakerism, Moravianism, Methodism, Irvingism, Brethrenism, and, more recently, Stundism, we observe that all these tendencies have asserted themselves in opposition to what may be generally called Ecclesiasticism. The danger of the latter and the significance of each of the former movements, with the particular measure of truth and falsehood in each, constitute one of the most fascinating, important, and also perplexing studies.

' It were well for us to give more heed to the voice of Christian history as related to such questions as these. The rise of " sporadic sects " like the " Quietists," the " Mystics," the " Friends," and the " Brethren," with their emphasis on " the still voice " and " the inward leading," is very suggestive. If we may not go so far as some of these go in the insistence on speaking only as sensibly moved by the Spirit we may be admonished of the hard, artificial, man-made worship which made their protest necessary.'4

The tendency of the Church, especially in the West, towards an organisation, and a sacerdotal ministry and rigidity, have tended to rob the individual and the community of that free, direct approach to, and appropriation of the Holy Spirit which are so marked in the New Testament.

4. Individualism. Under this term it is intended to include all those Movements which represent pure unbalanced subjectivity, whether of Montanigm in the Early Church, or of Mysticism in the Middle Ages, or of Quakerism in later days. The severance of the Holy Spirit from Holy Scripture, and the emphasis on the former to the forgetfulness and exclusion of the latter has often proved disastrous; sometimes to ethics, and sometimes to truth and devotion.

5. Idealism. By this is to be understood that emphasis on philosophical ideals which has tended to sever the soul from dependence on and connection with the Historic Christ. Whatever form this takes, its inevitable result is the denial of distinctive Christianity.

Another feature that stands out from a study of the Christian centuries is the sad but patent fact that the work of the Spirit has been signalised by advancing and receding tides.5 The question has rightly been asked, how it is that the work of the Spirit ' is marked by so many fluctuations, such apparent irregularity and intermittency in its energies and effects.' It is, of course, possible that ' if our knowledge of all the causes and conditions were adequate, we could discern a law of periodicity.' But if we may judge from the teaching of our Lord and His Apostles, these ebbs and flows of religious life are not necessary, and are to be deplored in the best interests of the Gospel in the world.

' The restriction does not lie in the Divine power or grace, but in the human capacity, a lack either of power or will on the part of the Church to receive and use the resources ready to her hand. The deficiency may sometimes be the result of ignorance, or it may imply real inability; but too frequently it springs from carelessness, neglect, unfaithfulness, or actual sin.'6

One thing is certain, that the spiritual power of the Church has always been closely associated with the prominence given to the Person and work of the Holy Spirit, and whenever this has been absent, loss has inevitably followed. Purely abstract ideas never existed long, and never exercised great influence. The secret of spiritual blessing has been found in the constant emphasis on the redemptive aspects of the work of the Holy Spirit in relation to Christ, the Saviour of the world.

' All this is countersigned by Christian experience — and that, too, on the highest and widest scale — the experience of all the Christian Church. In all branches of it, the Head has vindicated the honour due to His Holy Spirit — " I believe in the Holy Ghost " has been inscribed on the Creeds of Christendom, Yet the Eastern Church, more than eleven centuries ago, committed herself to the denial of His connection with the Son — a small point, a theological nicety, some would say — but look at the result. In all these centuries that Church has remained an " orthodox fossil," unvisited and unblessed by the Revivals and Reformations of the Spirit. The Romish Church has filioque in her Creed, it is true, but in doctrine and practice alike has painfully denied the Spirit, and the result is declension and corruption. Even the Churches of the Reformation have not been all equally faithful. Some of them through their unfortunate Sacramentarianism and Churchliness, leave little room in their teaching for the grace of the Spirit. It is in the Reformed Churches, and especially in those of the Puritan type, that the doctrine of the Spirit has been cherished and most fully illustrated in literature. Does anyone need to be reminded of the practical result, that these Churches have been mainly honoured to extend the Gospel throughout the world, and to manifest the experimental fruits of Christian life and work? '7

1 Nösgen, Geschichte von der Lehre vom heiligen Geiste. Quoted by B. B. Warfield, Introduction to Kuyper's The Work of the Holy Spirit, p. xxxiii, note.

2 Forsyth, ' Intellectualism and Faith ' The Hibbert Journal, January, 1913, p. 322.

3 H. W. Clark, ' Religious History and the Idea of " Immanence," ' The Review and Expositor, January, 1913, p. 9.

4 A. J. Gordon, The Ministry of the Spirit, p. 157, note.

5 Davison, The Indwelling Spirit, ch. ix.

6 Davison, ' The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit,' London Quarterly Review, April, 1905, p. 220.

7 Laidlaw, Questions of Faith, pp. 124, 125.