come from the Holy Spirit.
9. But is it not said in Scripture, and do we not feel it, dear brethren, that it is the Holy Spirit who regenerates the soul? It is the Holy Spirit who quickens us. “He has quickened you who were dead in trespasses and sins.” It is the Holy Spirit who imparts the first germ of life, convicting us of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment to come. And is it not the Holy Spirit who after that flame is kindled, still fans it with the breath of his mouth and keeps it alive? Its author is its preserver. Oh! can it be said that it is the Holy Spirit who strives in men’s souls, that it is the Holy Spirit who brings them to the foot of Sinai, and then guides them into the sweet place that is called Calvary — can it be said that he does all these things, and yet is not a person? It may be said, but it must be said by fools; for he never can be a wise man who can consider that these things can be done by any other than a glorious person — a divine existence.
10. Allow me to give you one more proof, and I shall be done. Certain feelings are ascribed to the Holy Spirit, which can only be understood upon the supposition that he is actually a person. In Ephesians 4:30, it is said that the Holy Spirit can be grieved: “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by which you are sealed to the day of redemption.” In Isaiah 63:10 it is said that the Holy Spirit can be vexed: “But they rebelled, and vexed his Holy Spirit: therefore he was turned to be their enemy, and he fought against them.” In Acts 7:51, you read that the Holy Spirit can be resisted: “You stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you.” And in Acts 5:9, you will find that the Holy Spirit may be tempted. We are there informed that Peter said to Ananias and Sapphira, “How is it that you have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord?” Now, these things could not be emotions which might be ascribed to a quality or an emanation; they must be understood to relate to a person; an influence could not be grieved; it must be a person who can be grieved, vexed, or resisted.
11. And now, dear brethren, I think I have fully established the point of the personality of the Holy Spirit; allow me now, most earnestly, to impress upon you the absolute necessity of being sound to the doctrine of the Trinity. I knew a man, a good minister of Jesus Christ he is now, and I believe he was before he turned aside to heresy — he began to doubt the glorious divinity of our blessed Lord, and for years he preached the heterodox doctrine, until one day he happened to hear a very eccentric old minister preaching from the text, “But there the glorious Lord shall be to us a place of broad rivers and streams, where no galley with oars shall go, neither shall gallant ship pass by it. Your tacklings are loosened: they could not well strengthen their mast, they could not spread the sail.” “Now,” said the old minister, “you give up the Trinity, and your tacklings are loosened, you cannot strengthen your masts. Once you give up the doctrine of three persons, and your tacklings are all gone; your mast, which ought to be a support to your vessel, is a rickety one, and shakes.” A gospel without a Trinity! — it is a pyramid built upon its apex. A gospel without the Trinity! — it is a rope of sand that cannot hold together. A gospel without the Trinity! — then, indeed, Satan can overturn it. But, give me a gospel with the Trinity, and the might of hell cannot prevail against it; no man can any more overthrow it, than a bubble could split a rock, or a feather break in halves a mountain. Get the thought of the three persons, and you have the marrow of all divinity. Only know the Father, and know the Son, and know the Holy Spirit to be One, and all things will appear clear. This is the golden key to the secrets of nature; this is the silken clue of the labyrinths of mystery, and he who understands this, will soon understand as much as mortals ever can know.
12. II. Now for the second point — the UNITED AGENCY of the three persons in the work of our salvation. Look at the text, and you will find all the three persons mentioned. “I,” — that is the Son — “will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter.” There are the three persons mentioned, all of them doing something for our salvation. “I will pray,” says the Son. “I will send,” says the Father. “I will comfort,” says the Holy Spirit. Now, let us for a few moments discourse upon this wondrous theme — the unity of the Three Persons with regard to the great purpose of the salvation of the elect. When God first made man, he said, “Let us make man,” not let me, but “Let us make man in our own image.” The covenant Elohim said to each other, “Let us unitedly become the Creator of man.” So, when in ages far gone by, in eternity, they said, “Let us save man.” It was not the Father who said, “Let me save man,” but the three persons conjointly said with one consent, “Let us save man.” It is to me a source of sweet comfort, to think that it is not one person of the Trinity that is engaged for my salvation; it is not simply one person of the Godhead who vows that he will redeem me; but it is a glorious trio of Godlike ones, and the three declare, unitedly, “We will save man.”
13. Now, observe here, that each person is spoken of as performing a separate office. “I will pray,” says the Son — that is intercession. “I will send,” says the Father — that is donation. “I will comfort,” says the Holy Spirit — that is supernatural influence. Oh! if it were possible for us to see the three persons of the Godhead, we should behold one of them standing before the throne with outstretched hands crying day and night, “Oh Lord, how long?” We should see one clothed with Urim and Thummim, precious stones, on which are written the twelve names of the tribes of Israel; we should behold him crying to his Father, “Do not forget your promises, do not forget your covenant”; we would hear him make mention of our sorrows, and speak out about our griefs on our behalf, for he is our intercessor. And if we could behold the Father, we would not see him as a listless and idle spectator of the intercession of the Son, but we would see him with attentive ear listening to every word of Jesus, and granting every petition. Where is the Holy Spirit all the while? Is he lying idle? Oh no; he is floating over the earth, and when he sees a weary soul, he says, “Come to Jesus, he will give you rest.” When he beholds an eye filled with tears, he wipes away the tears, and bids the mourner look for comfort on the cross. When he sees the tempest tossed believer, he takes the helm of his soul and speaks the word of consolation; he helps the broken in heart, and binds up their wounds; and ever on his mission of mercy, he flies around the world, being everywhere present. Behold how the three persons work together. Do not then say, “I am grateful to the Son,” — so you ought to be, but God the Son no more saves you than God the Father. Do not imagine that God the Father is a great tyrant, and that God the Son had to die to make him merciful. It was not to make the Father’s love flow towards his people. Oh, no. One loves as much as the other; the three are conjoined in the great purpose of rescuing the elect from damnation.
14. But you must notice another thing in my text, which will show the blessed unity of the three — the one person promises to the other. The Son says, “I will pray to the Father.” “Very well,” the disciples may have said, “We can trust you for that.” “And he will send you.” What you see here is the Son signing a bond on behalf of the Father. “He will send you another Comforter.” There is a bond on behalf of the Holy Spirit, too. “And he will abide with you for ever.” One person speaks for the other, and how could they if there were any disagreement between them? If one wished to save, and the other did not, they could not promise on one another’s behalf. But whatever the Son says, the Father listens to; whatever the Father promises, the Holy Spirit works; and whatever the Holy Spirit injects into the soul, that God the Father fulfils. So the three together mutually promise on one another’s behalf. There is a bond with three names appended, — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. By three immutable things, as well as by two, the Christian is secured beyond the reach of death and hell. A Trinity of Securities, because there is a trinity of God.
15. III. Our third point is the INDWELLING of the Holy Spirit in believers. Now beloved, these first two things have been matters of pure doctrine, this is the subject of experience. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit is a subject so profound, and so having to do with the inner man, that no soul will be able truly and really to comprehend what I say, unless it has been taught by God. I have heard of an old minister, who told a Fellow of one of the Cambridge Colleges, that he understood a language that he never learned in all his life. “I have not,” he said, “even a smattering of Greek, and I know no Latin, but thank God I can speak