The Spurgeon Series 1855 & 1856. Charles H. Spurgeon

we shall gather from the pool of holy baptism. Let me take you down, as I have taken others, into the pool, now concealed, but which I wish were always open to your view. Let me take you to the baptismal font, where believers put on the name of the Lord Jesus; and you shall hear me pronounce the solemn words, “I baptize you in the name,” — note, “in the name,” not names, — “of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” Every one who is baptized according to the true form laid down in Scripture, must be a Trinitarian: otherwise his baptism is a farce and a lie, and he himself is found a deceiver and a hypocrite before God. As the Father is mentioned, and as the Son is mentioned, so is the Holy Spirit; and the whole is summed up as being a Trinity in unity, by its being said, not the names, but the “name” the glorious name, the Jehovah name, “of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Let me remind you that the same thing occurs each time you are dismissed from this house of prayer. In pronouncing the solemn closing benediction, we invoke on your behalf the love of Jesus Christ, the grace of the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, and thus, according to the apostolic manner, we make an obvious distinction between the persons, showing that we believe the Father to be a person, the Son to be a person, and the Holy Spirit to be a person. Were there no other proofs in Scripture, I think these would be sufficient for every sensible man. He would see that if the Holy Spirit were a mere influence, he would not be mentioned in conjunction with two whom we all confess to be actual and proper persons.

      5. A second argument arises from the fact, that the Holy Spirit has actually made different appearances on earth. The Great Spirit has revealed himself to man; he has put on a form, so that while he has not been beheld by mortal men, he has been so veiled in appearance that he was seen, so far as that appearance was concerned, by the eyes of all beholders. Do you see Jesus Christ our Saviour? There is the river Jordan, with its shelving banks, and its willows weeping at its side. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, descends into the stream, and the holy Baptist, John, plunges him into the waves. The doors of heaven are opened; a miraculous appearance presents itself; a bright light shines from the sky, brighter than the sun in all its grandeur, and down in a flood of glory descends something which you recognise to be a dove. It rests on Jesus — it sits upon his sacred head, and as the old painters put a halo around the brow of Jesus, so did the Holy Spirit shed a resplendence around the face of him who came to fulfil all righteousness, and therefore commenced with the ordinances of baptism. The Holy Spirit was seen as a dove, mark his purity and his gentleness, and he came down like a dove from heaven to show that it is from heaven alone that he descends. Nor is this the only time when the Holy Spirit has been revealed in a visible shape. You see that company of disciples gathered together in an upper room; they are waiting for some promised blessing, by and by it shall come. Listen! there is a sound as of a rushing mighty wind, it fills all the house where they are sitting; and astonished, they look around them, wondering what will come next. Soon a bright light appears, shining upon the heads of each: cloven tongues of fire sat upon them. What were these marvellous appearances of wind and flame but a display of the Holy Spirit in his proper person? I say the fact of an appearance demonstrates that he must be a person. An influence could not appear — an attribute could not appear: we cannot see attributes — we cannot behold influences. The Holy Spirit must then have been a person; since he was beheld by mortal eyes, and came under the cognizance of mortal sense.

      6. Another proof is from the fact, that personal qualities are, in Scripture, ascribed to the Holy Spirit. First, let me read to you a text in which the Holy Spirit is spoken of as having understanding. In 1 Corinthians 2:9-11, you will read, “But as it is written, eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither has it entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for those who love him. But God has revealed them to us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man, except the spirit of man which is in him? Even so the things of God no man knows, but the Spirit of God.” Here you see an understanding — a power of knowledge is ascribed to the Holy Spirit. Now, if there are any people here whose minds have such preposterous ideas that they would ascribe one attribute to another, and would speak of a mere influence having understanding, then I give up the whole argument. But I believe every rational man will admit, that when anything is spoken about as having an understanding it must be an existence — it must, in fact, be a person. In 1 Corinthians 12:11, you will find a will ascribed to the Holy Spirit. “But all these works that one and the very same Spirit, dividing to every man individulally as he wills.” So it is plain the Spirit has a will. He does not come from God simply at God’s will, but he has a will of his own, which is always in keeping with the will of the infinite Jehovah, but is, nevertheless, distinct and separate; therefore, I say he is a person. In another text power is ascribed to the Holy Spirit, and power is a thing which can only be ascribed to an existence. In Romans 15:13, it is written, “Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.” I need not insist upon it, because it is self-evident, that wherever you find understanding, will, and power, you must also find an existence; it cannot be a mere attribute, it cannot be a metaphor, it cannot be a personified influence; but it must be a person.

      7. But I have a proof which, perhaps, will be more convincing to you than any other. Acts and deeds are ascribed to the Holy Spirit; therefore he must be a person. You read in the first chapter of the book of Genesis, that the Spirit brooded over the surface of the earth, when it was as yet all disorder and confusion. {Genesis 1:2} This world was once a mass of chaotic matter; there was no order; it was like the valley of darkness and of the shadow of death. God the Holy Spirit spread his wings over it; he sowed the seeds of life in it; the germs from which all beings sprang were implanted by him; he impregnated the earth so that it became capable of life. Hence it must have been a person who brought order out of confusion; it must have been an existence who hovered over this world and made it what it now is. But do we not read in Scripture something more about the Holy Spirit? Yes, we are told that “holy men of old spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.” When Moses penned the Pentateuch, the Holy Spirit moved his hand; when David wrote the Psalms, and discoursed sweet music on his harp, it was the Holy Spirit that gave his fingers their seraphic motion; when Solomon dropped from his lips the words of the Proverbs of wisdom, or when he hymned the Canticles of love it was the Holy Spirit who gave him words of knowledge and hymns of rapture. Ah! and what fire was that which touched the lips of the eloquent Isaiah? What hand was that which came upon Daniel? What might was that which made Jeremiah so plaintive in his grief? or what was that which winged Ezekiel, and made him like an eagle, soar into mysteries aloft, and see the mighty unknown beyond our reach? Who was it that made Amos, the herdsman, a prophet? Who taught the rough Haggai to pronounce his thundering sentences? Who showed Habakkuk the horses of Jehovah marching through the waters? or who kindled the burning eloquence of Nahum? Who caused Malachi to close up the book with the muttering of the word curse? Who was in each of these, except the Holy Spirit? And must it not have been a person who spoke in and through these ancient witnesses? We must believe it. We cannot avoid believing it, when we read that “holy men of old spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.”

      8. And when has the Holy Spirit ceased to have an influence upon men? We find that still he deals with his ministers and with all his saints. Turn to the Acts, and you will find that the Holy Spirit said, “Separate me Paul and Barnabas for the work.” I never heard of an attribute saying such a thing. The Holy Spirit said to Peter, “Go to the centurion, and what I have cleansed, do not call common.” The Holy Spirit caught away Philip after he had baptised the eunuch, and carried him to another place; and the Holy Spirit said to Paul, “You shall not go into that city, but shall turn into another.” And we know that the Holy Spirit was lied to by Ananias and Sapphira, when it was said, “You have not lied to man, but to God.” Again, that power which we feel every day who are called to preach — that wondrous spell which makes our lips so potent — that power which gives us thoughts which are like birds from a far off region, not the natives of our soul — that influence which I sometimes strangely feel, which, if it does not give me poetry and eloquence, gives me a might I never felt before, and lifts me above my fellow men — that majesty with which he clothes his ministers, until in the midst of the battle they cry, aha! like the warhorse of Job, and move themselves like leviathans in the water — that power which gives us might over