Philochristus: Memoirs of a Disciple of the LordAbbott, Edwin Abbott
Religion
Philochristus: Memoirs of a Disciple of the Lord
Abbott, Edwin Abbott
Christian fiction; Jesus Christ -- Fiction
While I was saying these words, standing beneath the olive‐grove on the
side of the hill which looketh on Jotapata, Nathanael sat down upon the
grass; and I sat down likewise. Then he said to me, “Not many days gone
by, I heard Jesus speak concerning the Holy Spirit; and his words were on
this wise. As in each man the man’s breath or spirit is the life of the
body, so in each man there is a certain holy breath or spirit which is the
life of his soul; whence also cometh every good thought and deed unto the
man. Moreover thou seest that the air which we breathe, and which is the
breath of our bodies, is but a part of that great sea of air which
embraceth the whole earth so that there is nothing hidden from the touch
thereof; insomuch that the same air or breath which is coming towards us
from yonder mountain top, making the terebinth‐trees to bow, and which
even now rustleth in the olive‐trees above us, even this is our breath and
our life. Now I have heard Jesus say that there is a likeness between this
breath of our bodies and the breath or spirit of our souls. For as the
wind bloweth where it listeth, and we hear the sound thereof, but know not
whence it cometh nor whither it goeth, even so it is with the spirit of
our souls, the spirit of goodness, which is the Holy Spirit of God.”
Then I said, “But how shall we obtain this Holy Spirit? Or is it indeed
needful that we should obtain it, seeing that we have it already? Or do
some have it, but others have it not?” Nathanael answered and said, “All
have it. But some have little, and none much; and Jesus hath come that we
may have it abundantly. But how we shall obtain it, this I know not now.
But this I know, that Jesus hath the Holy Spirit in himself, and that he
will impart it to us. For I heard him say that no man can enter into the
Kingdom of God unless he is born again of the Holy Spirit.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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