Cowley's Talks on DoctrineCowley, Matthias F. (Matthias Foss)
Religion
Cowley's Talks on Doctrine
Cowley, Matthias F. (Matthias Foss)
Latter Day Saint churches -- Doctrines
Agreeable to the language of these quotations, there is a distinct
separation between the personality of the Savior and that of the Holy
Ghost. Jesus, in speaking of those who should believe and obey Him,
used this language: "He that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath
said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this
spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive;
for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet
glorified." (John vii:38, 39.) It appears from this statement that while
Jesus was the representative of the Godhead to men in the flesh, at
least for a period of time, the Holy Ghost had not come to officiate
at that time as a personal witness of the Father and the Son to the
children of men. To corroborate this idea, we quote from the sixteenth
chapter of John, seventh verse: "Nevertheless I tell you the truth;
it is expedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away, the
Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send Him
unto you." That this Comforter is the Holy Ghost is evident from the
fourteenth chapter of St. John, sixteenth and twenty-sixth verses:
"And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter,
that He may abide with you forever. But the Comforter, which is the
Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, He shall teach you
all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I
have said unto you." Further: "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, xv:26.)
These promises are so definite that no one could reasonably mingle
the personality of the Holy Ghost with that of either the Father or
the Son. After the crucifixion and resurrection of the Savior, and
when He had spent forty days with His disciples before His ascension,
instructing them preparatory to their great mission, before He allowed
them to go out, He reminded them of the promise which He had made to
them, and commanded them to tarry at Jerusalem "until ye be endued
with power from on high." (Luke xxiv:49.) This promise was fulfilled
on the day of Pentecost, when the powers of the Holy Ghost were
manifest through His glorious gifts which attended the apostles on
that occasion. On that great day the Holy Ghost as a gift for their
permanent guidance, was promised to all without distinction of time
or place, if they would have faith, repent and be baptized by divine
authority.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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