[Footnote B: "All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men, but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. * * * Whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him, but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come." (Matt. xii:31; also Mark iii:28, 29.)] "Why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost," said Peter to Ananias, when the latter had dealt deceitfully in the sale of his land and the gift he had made to the Church. "Thou hast not lied unto men," said the chief Apostle, "but to God!"[A] [Footnote A: Acts v:1-14.] From which it is to be concluded that to lie to the Holy Ghost is to lie to God, because the Holy Ghost is God. I may not more fittingly close this and the two preceding lessons on the Godhead than by quoting a passage upon the subjects of which they treat from the writings of the late venerable Apostle, Orson Pratt, who upon both the oneness and the distinctiveness of the three personages of the Holy Trinity made the following observations: _4. The Persons of the Godhead One Council:_ "The Godhead may be illustrated by a council, consisting of three men--all possessing equal wisdom, knowledge, and truth, together with equal qualifications in every respect. Each person would be a separate distinct person or substance from the other two, and yet the three would form but one council. Each alone possesses, by supposition, the same wisdom and truth that the three united or the one council possesses. The union of the three men in one council would not increase the knowledge or wisdom of either. Each man would be one part of the council when reference is made to his person; but the wisdom and truth of each man would be the whole wisdom and truth of the council, and not a part. If it were possible to divide truth, and other qualities of a similar nature into fractions, so that the Father should have the third part of truth, the third part of wisdom, the third part of knowledge, the third part of love, while the Son and the Holy Spirit possessed the other two-thirds of these qualities or affections, then neither of these persons could make 'one God, but only a part of a God.' But because the divisibility of wisdom, truth, or love is impossible, the whole of these qualities dwells in the Father--the whole dwells in the Son--the whole is possessed by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is one part of the Godhead in essence; but the whole of God in wisdom, truth, and other similar qualities. * * * The oneness of the Godhead, as described in the scriptures, never was intended to apply to the essence, but only to the perfections and other attributes."[A] [Footnote A: Orson Pratt's Works, "Absurdities of Immaterialism," p. 30.] LESSON X. (Scripture Reading Exercise.) SPECIAL OFFICES OF THE PERSONAGE OF THE HOLY TRINITY. ANALYSIS. I. Distinctiveness Among Divine Beings.