The eighth chapter of Daniel is a prophecy of wonderful interest; for it gives the prophetic history of the world from the rise of the Persian Empire till the final destruction of all earthly kingdoms by the God of heaven. The succession of earthly empires was presented to the prophet under the symbols of a ram, a goat, and a little horn that became exceeding great. And when these had been shown to him, he was told by the angel Gabriel that the ram represented the kingdom of Media and Persia; and that the goat was the kingdom of Grecia; and the horn which became exceeding great, though not called by name, was identified by several decisive facts, among which are these: That it should be the great destroyer of the people of God, and that it should put to death the Prince of princes. These facts show that the Roman power is intended.
In connection with these symbols which represent the great empires that have since arisen, the prophet learned the duration of his vision. For he heard Gabriel ask Michael, "How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the transgression of desolation to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot?" And Michael, who answered the question to Daniel, said: "Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed." Verses 13, 14.
Now, it is plain that the period of twenty-three hundred days cannot be understood to mean so many literal days; for this would not make quite seven years, and would cover only a very small part of the duration of one of the three great empires of this vision. But we should remember that in this vision the great empires of the world are represented by symbols, and thus are given on a scale which brings them distinctly before the eye of the observer. It is necessary that the time should be given on a scale that corresponds with this in order not to involve an absurdity, for the Persian, Grecian, and Roman Empires have in all continued between 2000 and 3000 years. Now when these empires were represented by beasts, if the time that the empires were to continue was given without a corresponding abatement, then we should have these beasts living a thousand years apiece! This would be absurd. But it would not be absurd to represent them as living and acting that number of days.
The days must therefore represent longer periods of time. If we compare spiritual things with spiritual, we shall find the key to the interpretation of these days, for the different inspired writers were all led by the same Spirit of truth. They were like so many workmen engaged in building a temple. If we can find the rule which governed one of them, we shall find that same rule governing all the rest in like circumstances. Now God gave this rule to Ezekiel in the interpretation of the symbols of his own vision: "I have appointed thee each day for a year." Eze. 4:6. We shall find in Gabriel's explanation of this vision of Daniel given in the ninth chapter, that the days in Daniel's prophecy are so many years.
This period of two thousand and three hundred days was certainly given for the benefit of the people of God. But it cannot benefit them unless they are able to understand it. We have indeed ascertained that it must be two thousand and three hundred years. But if we do not know when this period commences, we shall be none the wiser for having the period given in Daniel's prophecy. But there is a certain great event to take place when this period expires, and God designed to give his people knowledge of the time. The event is called the cleansing of the sanctuary. We shall find the subject one of very deep interest when we come to examine the Bible to learn what it teaches respecting the sanctuary and its cleansing.
But the date of this great period is not given in the eighth chapter of Daniel. In that chapter, however, the commandment is given by Michael thus: "Gabriel, make this man to understand the vision." Verse 16. And yet, in verse 27, he tells us that he "was astonished at the vision, but none understood it." The angel in explaining to him this vision, set before him the destruction of the mighty and the holy people, and the cruel death of the Son of God. The prophet could bear no more, for he "fainted, and was sick certain days;" so Gabriel reserved the remainder of the explanation till another time.
But in the ninth chapter we find Daniel earnestly seeking God with reference to his sanctuary. Verses 3, 17. He seems to have connected his own vision of the sanctuary with that of Jeremiah respecting the desolation of the temple at Jerusalem. Verse 2. His mind was upon the subject of time. He knew that the seventy years of Jeremiah's prophecy were just expiring, and he was intently studying that period, doubtless in connection with the period which Michael told him marked the cleansing of the sanctuary. It was necessary that he should now be made to understand the reckoning of the great period revealed to him in his vision of the eighth chapter.
And so while he was engaged in importunate prayer for the people of God and for his sanctuary, the angel Gabriel touches him, saying, "I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding." Verse 22. And calling attention to the vision which he had been commanded to explain to him, he says: "Therefore understand the matter, and consider the vision." Verse 23, compared with chapter 8:16.
Thereupon he gives to Daniel the key to the reckoning of his great period. "Seventy weeks," says he, "are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city," etc. Verse 24. The word determined does not express the full sense of the Hebrew word used by the angel. The word spoken by the angel was "cut off." The translators, not seeing the propriety of such a word in this place, for they did not note the fact that the ninth chapter is the key to the eighth, and so thought nothing of the long period in that chapter, could not understand how the seventy weeks could be said to be cut off, and so they departed from the literal meaning, and said that seventy weeks were "determined," that is, appointed, upon thy people and thy city. But with the prophet the case was different. The angel had bidden him "consider the vision." And nothing was more natural when told that seventy weeks were cut off than that he should recur to the long period revealed to him without a date in that vision.
This shorter period being cut off from that long period gives us the key to the reckoning of that period from which it is cut off. When we ascertain the date of the seventy weeks, we have also ascertained the point from which the twenty-three hundred days are to be reckoned. And this date the angel next gives us.
"Know therefore," said Gabriel, "and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks and threescore and two weeks." Verse 25. The commandment for the restoration of Jerusalem, which city then lay in ruins, is the event which marks the commencement of this period. Cyrus gave the Jews permission to return and build the temple, but did not say anything respecting the city itself. Ezra 1. This decree Darius renewed when the Jews were hindered by their enemies, and he provided means for the expense of finishing the temple. Ezra 6. But Artaxerxes added to the work of Cyrus and Darius the full restoration of the city to its ancient privileges, and the re-establishment of the law of God as the law of the city; and he authorized the rebuilding of its walls. Ezra 7:11-26; 9:9. The commandment is the prophetic commandment of the God of heaven (Isa. 44:26-28; 45:13), and was carried into effect by Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes, whose successive action is recognized as the legal establishment of that commandment by the authority of the Persian Empire. Ezra 6:14.
The decree of Artaxerxes, which marks the going forth of the commandment, was in the year B. C. 457 (see margin of Ezra 7), a date which has been established by the infallible testimony of many eclipses. Sixty-nine weeks, or 483 prophetic days, extend from this date to the Messiah, that is, to Christ. This period was fulfilled in exactly 483 years, which proves that we have made no mistake in reckoning Daniel's days as years, nor in fixing their date at B. C. 457.
It was in the fall of A. D. 27, just 483 full years from the going forth of the commandment in B. C. 457, that our Lord began his ministry. And this was the announcement which he made: "The time is fulfilled." Mark 1:15. He did in these words refer to the sixty-nine weeks which marked the commencement of his ministry, and he announced the fulfillment of that period. For the period extends not simply to the birth of the Saviour, but to his anointing, which took place at his baptism, the word Messiah signifying the anointed one. See John 1:41; Acts 10:40, 41; Luke 3:21, 22; 4:14-21.
The sixty-nine weeks did, therefore, end with the beginning of our Lord's ministry in the fall of A. D. 27. One week of the seventy remained in which the covenant was to be confirmed with many. Verse 27. In the midst of this week, the sacrifice and oblation were to cease. This must signify that he should take these away by becoming himself the great sacrifice for sin which these typified. Heb. 10:1-13; Col. 2:14-17. And so it was that our Lord preached during three years and a half, until the spring of A. D. 31, when he was crucified for the sins of men. This date, Dr. Hales, one of the most distinguished of chronologists, establishes by conclusive evidence. See his "Analysis of Chronology," second edition, Vol. 1, pp. 94-100. There remained of the period which was specially assigned to the Jews three and a half prophetic days to complete the seventy weeks. The termination of this period in A. D. 34 marked the close of the exclusive work for the Jews, and the commencement of the work for the Gentiles in the conversion of Saul, who was at once commissioned to them. Acts 26:15-17. Here ended the seventy weeks which were cut off from the 2300 days. When these 490 days were finished, there remained 1810 days before the time should come for the cleansing of the sanctuary. As the 490 days ended in the fall of A. D. 34, the remaining 1810 ended in the fall of 1844.
In the great Advent movement under the preaching of William Miller and his fellow-laborers, the evidence was brought out with great clearness that the 2300 days would end in 1844. He believed that the sanctuary to be cleansed is our earth. He found no testimony in the Bible that the earth is the sanctuary, but he did find that the earth is to be purified by fire (2 Pet. 3:7-13), and so he inferred that this was the sanctuary which Michael said should be cleansed at the end of 2300 days. He therefore concluded that this period was given to mark the time of Christ's coming. And as it was sufficiently evident from the several great lines of prophecy in Daniel and Revelation, and from the signs of the times, that the advent of Christ was at the doors, the time was preached in connection with the signs with very great solemnity and power.
But though it could be clearly shown that the 2300 days actually ended in 1844, the Advent people were doomed to a great disappointment. The ending of the 2300 days was not the time appointed of God for the coming of Christ, nor for the burning of the earth. But the great Advent disappointment made it necessary that two important questions should be carefully studied.
1. What is the sanctuary of the Bible?
2. What is meant by the cleansing of the sanctuary?
The fact that the cleansing of the sanctuary is an event located in prophecy in the very conclusion of one of Daniel's great prophetic chains, shows that it is an event of deep interest to mankind. And as we live at a time when the 2300 days are in the past, we are most deeply concerned to understand the nature of the work called the cleansing of the sanctuary.
The Bible is full of the subject of the sanctuary, and we shall find it a theme of intense interest if we give it careful study. The Bible doctrine of the sanctuary is this: That the sanctuary is the place where the High Priest stands to offer blood before God for the sins of those who come to God through him. The central object in the sanctuary is the ark which contains the law of God that man has broken. The cover of this ark was called the mercy-seat, because mercy came to those who had broken the law beneath it, when the high priest sprinkled the blood of sin-offering upon it, provided they accompanied his work by repentance and faith. Last of all was the work of cleansing the sanctuary when the high priest by blood removed the sins of the people from the sanctuary into which they had been borne by the ministration of the priests before God. We now invite attention to the testimony of the Bible respecting the sanctuary.
1. There are two covenants; the first, or old covenant, extends from the time of Moses to the death of Christ; the second, or new covenant, begins at the death of Christ and extends forward to the consummation. Gal. 4:24-26; Heb. 8:7-13; Luke 22:20.
2. The first covenant had a sanctuary which was the tabernacle erected by Moses. Heb. 9:1-7.
3. The new covenant has a sanctuary which is the temple of God in heaven, into which our High Priest entered when he ascended up on high. Heb. 8:1-5.
4. When Moses erected the tabernacle, he was commanded by God to make it according to the pattern which he showed to him; and this pattern must have been a representation of the temple of God in heaven; for the earthly sanctuary is declared to be a pattern of the heavenly. Ex. 25:9, 40; Heb. 8:5; 9:23.
5. The earthly sanctuary consisted of two holy places; the first of which contained the table of shewbread, the candlestick with seven lamps, and the golden altar of incense; and the second contained the ark of God's testament with the tables on which the ten commandments were written by the finger of God, and over which was the mercy-seat with the cherubim of glory overshadowing it. Ex. 40:18-28; Heb. 9:1-5.
6. The temple of God in heaven is not only spoken of as the original from which the earthly sanctuary was copied (Heb. 9:23, 24; 1 Chron. 28:11, 12, 19), but it is also spoken of as consisting of holy places, in the plural. See Heb. 8:2; 9:8, 12, 24; 10:19, in each of which verses the original is holy places, in the plural, and they are so rendered in various translations.
(To be continued.)
J. N. A.
Learn Something New of the Bible
By Talmage
LEARN SOMETHING NEW OF THE BIBLE.—That is a good day in which you learn something new of the Bible. Do not keep treading around in just the same place, reading the same Psalms of David over and over again because they are short, while you neglect other portions of the gospel. If your friend writes you a letter written on four sides of a letter-sheet, you do not stop after you have read the first page. You do not treat him well unless you read the second page, the third page, and the fourth page, as well as the first. God our Father has written us a very long letter, all full of affection and counsel; and what a wrong thing it is if we only read one or two of the pages when all of them demand our attention.—Talmage.
Our Faith and Hope.
By James White
SERMON ONE—CONTINUED.
TEXT: "Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear." 1 Pet. 3:15.
The text not only suggests that we should always be ready wherever we may be to give the reasons of our hope, but it also suggests the manner in which we should give them, "with meekness and fear." Christ in his ministry was a pattern to all those who should go forth as his ambassadors. He prayed for his enemies. He says, "Resist not evil." He farther says, Blessed are they that mourn. Blessed are the meek. Blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are the peacemakers. He bids those rejoice greatly when persecuted and when the tongue of slander shall cast calumny upon their work and upon the words of life which they preach. The gospel of Jesus Christ when clothed with that meekness which is exhibited by Christ, Paul, and his fellow-apostles, is most powerful. Scoffing, whether it comes from the world or the popular churches, can not injure the work of God, but will tend to the furtherance of the gospel. "Now I pray to God," says the apostle, "that we do no evil, not that we should appear approved, but that ye should do that which is honest, though we be as reprobates. For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth." 2 Cor. 13:7, 8.
From Peter's manifestation of human nature as recorded in his life, he has the reputation of being impetuous, rash, and dauntless; yet he would impress upon the ministry of the last days the importance of performing the work of the gospel minister with fear and trembling. Paul says, "Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place. For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved and in them that perish. To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things? For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God; but as of sincerity, but as of God in the sight of God speak we in Christ." Triumphant Paul! He was a profound scholar, and his wonderful experience has been looked upon by the church ever since his time as most remarkable. If any man was prepared to preach the gospel it was Paul; but in consideration of the fact that the preaching of the word seals the destiny of men, either fitting them for eternal life or for destruction, the minister should be led to fear and tremble lest he after preaching to others might himself become a castaway, and lead others from heaven down to the gates of death. What a solemn and responsible work! a savour of life unto eternal life with the saved, and a savour of death unto everlasting destruction in those that are lost.
In Lee, General Grant before Richmond had a wily foe; but the minister of Jesus Christ has not only before him perverse minds and hearts as hard as steel in the sinner, but he has also Satan to contend with, who has had the experience of six thousand years in deceiving souls and leading them to destruction. The nicest work that ever mortal man engaged in was to deal with minds; but when a minister labors not only to meet human sophistry but Satanic reason also, his duty and work becomes most difficult and important.
Revivalists report the conversion of hundreds and thousands. They appeal to the feelings and excite the nerves by the use of strong and over-wrought figures, and the relation of touching anecdotes; but not five per cent of these conversions endure for a single year. After the labors of Mr. Hammond the revivalist, at Oakland and San Francisco, Cal., which drew the attention of the multitudes and secured the influence of all the popular ministers, these very ministers under a sense of duty each preached a sermon upon the real results of Mr. Hammond's labors; and without a single exception they stated before their congregations that on the whole they regarded the labors of Mr. Hammond as injurious to the cause of truth and piety.
As we have stated, the apostle Peter has the reputation of being impulsive; and if any one of the holy twelve could be expected to encourage a fanatical style of presenting the word of God, such as has been seen among first-day Adventists and other rash persons, we might suppose it to be Peter. We have long since become disgusted with the course of some who would use the strong language of certain scriptures as a sort of whip to punish the people because they would not believe and act just as they profess to believe and act. These seem to think it their duty to crowd the truth down the throats of the people whether they wish to hear it or not. But the apostle exhorts to holy living, which is the power of the ministry and the strength of the church of Christ. He would even have us wait until the spirit of inquiry is waked up among the people to that degree that they ask for the reasons of our hope before we give them. And what course would be so efficient in waking up a spirit of inquiry as a godly life, which is sure to impress any community that those who maintain that life are godly persons. The inquiry at once is raised in their minds, To what church do these good people belong? What do they believe? And thus they are led to inquire, and next they invite the minister to give the reasons why he believes as he does. Now the way is fully open, and the people come to hear. The minister spreads out the sacred scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. He reads the prophecies of the Old Testament, and shows their fulfillment in the New, and also shows the fulfillment of the different lines of prophecy which reach down to the end, by secular history. This he does with meekness and fear, lest some careless word or act of his shall prove a savour of death to some soul that might be gathered into the fold of Christ.
The people who attend the church hear the minister as he takes his text. He does not confine himself to the text, but departs from it, leaving them as ignorant of what the scriptures do say and mean as though they never attended a popular church. Our ministers, educated particularly in the word of God, become giants. Many of those who receive papers of commendation from our Conferences to improve their gifts as teachers of the word, are but youths. These go out into the rural districts where, although the people may have the Bible on their shelves, yet they know but little of its contents. There they are looked upon with astonishment as men who know more of the Bible than all the popular ministers of the age. The people become charmed with the harmony and plainness of the Scriptures, and God by his spirit, through the influence of the preaching, moves on their hearts and they are gathered into the fold of Jesus Christ. There is power in the Scriptures when they are taken as meaning just what they say. It is true there are parables and figures used in the Scriptures; but these are given for a better elucidation of divine truth; and in every case where a figure or parable is introduced the context explains the meaning. We adopt the simple rule of taking every text of Scripture as meaning just what it says, excepting in these cases where it is evident that a parable or figure is introduced. And why should we not understand the Bible as we would any other book? If the Bible does not mean what it says, pray tell us what it does mean? If God does not mean what he says in his word, it ceases to be a revelation until he gives another book to tell us what this one means. But this is the very book in which God has appealed to us in reference to our duty in this life, and the glorious reward in reserve for the overcomers.
The field is world-wide, and the work of giving the last message to the world is vast. Those young men who are preparing to enter the ministry, should become thoroughly acquainted with the Scriptures. We have been greatly surprised and encouraged to see the success of some of our ministers who are not educated in the simple rules of their mother-tongue. What we witnessed at the Sparta camp-meeting in 1876 well illustrates the subject. Four of our preachers in that State went forth to the reaping with our publications, and gathered hundreds to the churches, and not one of the four could speak or write the English language correctly. At that camp-meeting during a very busy season of the year there assembled three hundred Sabbath-keepers, most of whom were from the northern part of Wisconsin. Among that number were about fifty school-teachers, one justice of the peace, several who had been clerks of county courts, and one county superintendent of schools; and yet, these four unlettered men with our books which are written in good, plain English, had gathered these men and women of education and great moral worth.
J. W.
The Holy Spirit.
By Dudley Marvin Canright
THE HOLY SPIRIT NOT A PERSON, BUT AN INFLUENCE PROCEEDING FROM GOD.
(Concluded.)
ANOTHER fact which has a strong bearing upon this question is that the word spirit, Greek, pneuma, is always neuter, that is neither masculine nor feminine. All the pronouns referring to the Holy Ghost are neuter, except when the Holy Ghost is personified, as the Comforter, Greek, Parakletos. John 14:16, 26. Here of course, it would have to be masculine. If the Holy Spirit is a person, the pronouns referring to it should be in the masculine, which they never are. It is said that Christ, was anointed with the Holy Ghost. Acts 10:38. Was one person of the trinity anointed with another person of the trinity? How could you anoint one person with another? But we can readily conceive how God could put his Spirit, and power, upon Jesus.
Again, of Jesus it is said, "God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him." John 3:34. What sense would there be in talking of measuring out a person? giving a person by measure? Furthermore the Spirit of God is said to be everywhere, omnipresent, all-pervading. Ps. 139:7. But if the Spirit of God were a person, it certainly could not be everywhere personally present, without absolutely filling the universe to the exclusion of everything else.
Again, it is said that the Holy Spirit fell upon the Gentiles at the house of Cornelius. Acts 10:44. How could this be true if the Holy Ghost were a person? How would it sound to talk of the Father's falling upon them, or of the Son's doing the same? The very idea is absurd. But if the Holy Ghost is a person like the other two, then it would be just as absurd to say that the Holy Ghost fell upon them. Moreover it is said that the Father "hath given us of his Spirit," (1 John 4:13), and that he will send the Holy Spirit. This is frequently said in the Bible. Every such declaration shows that the Holy Spirit is not equal with the Father. If the Holy Spirit is equal with the Father why don't we read somewhere of the Holy Spirit sending the Father, giving the Father, or something like that. We are to ask the Father for the Holy Spirit, and he will send it. Luke 11:13. If the Spirit of God is a person, equal with the Father, why not pray directly to the Holy Spirit? Why not ask it to come, instead of asking the Father to send it.
Jesus breathed the Holy Ghost upon his apostles. John 20:22. Paul admonishes us not to quench the Spirit. 1 Thess. 5:19. How could you quench a person? The Spirit of God can also be divided. To Moses the Lord said, "I will take of the Spirit which is upon thee, and I will put it upon them." Num. 11:17. And the Lord did so. Did the Lord take his Spirit away from Moses, and give to them? No, but a part of the same influence that rested upon Moses he put upon the other men.
I think we could properly illustrate the Spirit of God by the rays of the sun. Up there in the heavens hangs this great orb of light. We know that it is a material globe. From this are constantly being shed forth innumerable rays of light, lighting and warming all parts of the earth. We see this light every day, and we feel its warmth. Without it we could not live. The earth could not exist. Yet no one can explain what these rays of light are, or how they come. But we know that they are not a person, neither are they the sun itself, nor yet a body like the sun. The best we can say is, that light is a powerful influence constantly proceeding from the sun.
Just so with the Holy Spirit. It is an influence which proceeds from the Father. For thus Jesus says, "But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me." John 15:26. It is mighty and powerful. It is shed forth everywhere throughout the entire universe. As the sun lights and warms the whole solar system by its rays, just so God controls and influences the whole universe by his Holy Spirit. God is a person, in a local habitation, the same as the sun is a body occupying a definite position. But the Spirit of God, like the rays of the sun, is everywhere diffusive, but is not a person, has no shape or body any more than has the light of the sun.
We might illustrate it again by the rays of heat from a fire. Here is a very hot fire. The rays of the heat are felt for rods around. The fire is a local body. We can see it, can handle it, can measure it; but who can see or handle, or weigh the rays of heat that proceed from it? So of the Spirit of God. Its influence is felt, but it has no body, it is not a person.
We might further illustrate the Spirit of God by the influence which one man often has over another. It is a familiar and undeniable fact, that one person with strong nerves and will power can often mesmerize another person with weaker nerves. He can do this without touching him at all. We see it done; we know the effect; we see the result. The two men stand twenty feet apart; and yet there is an influence extending from the one and reaching to the other, which controls him. We call it mesmerism, but we know nothing about it. We cannot tell how it is, nor why it is; but there is an influence, a spirit in man, which reaches out far beyond his actual bodily presence, his physical touch, and exercises a mighty influence over others. Just so the spirit of God is an almighty, potent influence flowing forth from God, which effects everything where it goes.
In another but more limited sense, the Spirit of God sometimes means something as we mean when we say, "The spirit of Washington," "the spirit of Elijah," "the spirit of the age," "the spirit of the party," etc. It means the disposition, feeling, which is in harmony with God. In the Bible we read of the "spirit of Egypt" (Isa. 19:3), of the "spirit of sleep" (Isa. 29:10), of the "spirit of heaviness" (Isa. 61:3), and many like expressions; yet no one supposes that Egypt, or sleep or heaviness, actually have a living, intelligent, personal spirit. In speaking this way we simply mean the influence of Egypt, of sleep, etc., which is here personified as an intelligent being. And this is what is frequently meant by the Spirit of God, though of course in a stronger sense.
It is personified, and thus spoken of in a manner that might convey the impression that it was a real person. "And it is observable that the spirit of man is also personified in the Bible, and spoken of as though it were distinct from the man, or as though man and his spirit were two persons. Instances of this are perhaps nearly as numerous as the instances in which the Spirit of God is personified. But it ought to be distinctly noted, that when we have become habituated to the idea that by the Holy Spirit is intended a person, the idea of a person will immediately arise in our minds upon seeing or hearing the words Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost. So if we had been taught from our infancy that the natural sun is a person, then we should think of it as such whenever it should come into view. This may account for its having been supposed that there is much in the Scriptures in favor of a distinct personality of the Holy Spirit. In general, throughout the Bible, the Holy Spirit is spoken of as the spirit of a person, just as we speak of the spirit of man as the spirit of a person. And in the same manner have the sacred writers spoken of the attributes of God, not as distinct persons, but as something of the person, in a person, or belonging to a person. The inspired writers speak of the spirit of man, the Spirit of God, the spirit of the world, the wisdom of God, the power of God, the goodness of God, and the will of God. We may also observe that when God speaks of the spirit he says, "My spirit," just as he says, "My power," "My goodness," etc. These and similar forms of speech respecting the Holy Spirit are very numerous in the Bible. They naturally convey the idea that the Spirit of God is not a distinct person, but the spirit of a person, as naturally as the forms of speech respecting wisdom, power, and goodness, convey the idea that they are attributes of a person, and not so many distinct persons.
It may be also observed in the Bible that the term, Spirit of God, is often used as synonymous with the breath of God, the hand of God, the finger of God, etc. The wicked are represented as consumed by the breath of the Lord, and also by the Spirit of the Lord, both meaning the same. Again, speaking of the creation of the heavens, it says, "By his Spirit he garnished the heavens;" also, "The heavens are the work of thy hands." Here hand and spirit evidently mean the same. So Jesus says, "If I cast out devils by the Spirit of God." And again, "If I with the finger of God cast out devils," etc. The Spirit of God, then, we understand to represent the power of God.