Note Q

NOTE Q.

On The Spirit's Coming (Chap. 5).

'The teaching of Jesus Christ respecting the ministry of the Holy Ghost is so peculiar as to raise ihe inquiry— Where was the Holy Ghost during the earthly ministry of the Son of Man t Where was the Spirit that had moved on the face of the waters, that had been poured out upon Israel ] Was His ministry suspended? It may be suggested that the fulness had not been realized in the ancient Church, which is undoubtedly true; yet, though true, it is insufficient to account for the treatment of His descent as a new visitation and benediction of God. The answer would seem rather to be that the Holy Ghost was in Jesus Christ Himself, and could not be given to the Church as a distinctively Christian gift, until the first period of the Incarnation had been consummated in the Ascension of the Son of Man. In Him dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead bodily; when the influence of that Godhead was poured out upon the Church, it came from the'very heart of Christ, and was impregnated with all the elements which made up the mystery and beneficence of the Incarnation.'—The Paraclete, p. 96.

THE END.