SPECIAL treatises on the Person of the Holy Spirit are comparatively few, and systematic treatment of His Work is still more uncommon. In dogmatics, it is true, this subject is introduced, developed, and explained, but special treatment is exceptional.

As much as there is written on Christ, so little is there written on the Holy Spirit. The work of John Owen on this subject is most widely known and still unsurpassed. In fact, John Owen wrote three works on the Holy Spirit; published in 1674, 16821 and 1693. He was naturally, a prolific writer and theologian. Born in I6I6, he died at the good old age of seventy-five years, in 16gi. From 1642, when he published his first bpok, he continued writing books until his death.

In 1826 Richard Baynes reissued the works of John Owen, D.D., edited by Thomas Russell, A.M., with memoirs of his life and writings (twenty-one volumes). This edition is still in the market, and offers a treasury of sound and thorough theology.

David Rungius, " Proof of the Eternity and Eternal Godhead pf the Holy Spirit," Wittenberg, 1599·

Joannes Ernest Gerhard, " On the Person of the Holy Spirit," Jena, I66o.

J. G. Dorsche, " On the Person of the Holy Spirit," Konings-berg, I 69o.

Fr. Deutsch, " On the Personality of the Holy Spirit," Leipsic, 1711.

Gottfr. Olearius (John F. Burgius), " On the Adoration and Wor· ship of the Holy Spirit," Jena, 1727.

 

THE

WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

 

VOLUME ONE

 

The Work of the Holy Spirit in the Church as a Whole

shall not see life, but the wrath of God abiding on him," this must be the only true standpoint.

If we subscribe this awful statement; not having lost our tvay in the labyrinth of a so-called conditional immortality, which actually annihilates man, then how can we dream of a state of perfect bliss for the elect as long as the lost ones are being tormented by the worm that dieth not? Is there no more love or compassion in our hearts? Can we fancy ourselves for a single moment enjoying heaven's bliss while the fire is not quenched and no lighted torch is carried into the outer darkness?

To make the bliss of the elect the final end of all things while Satan still roars in the bottomless pit is to annihilate the very thought of such bliss. Love suffers not only when a human being is in pain, but even when an animal is in distress; how much more when an angel gnashes his teeth in torture, and that angel beautiful and glorious as Satan was before his fall. , And yet the very mention of Satan unconsciously lifts from our hearts the burden of fellow pain, suffering, and compassion; for we feel immediately that the knowledge of Satan's suffering in the pit does not in the least appeal to our compassion. On the contrary, to believe that. Satan exists but not in utter misery were a wound to our profound sense of justice.

And this is the point: to conceive of the blessedness of a soul not in absolute union with Christ is unholy madness. No one but Christ is blessed, and no man can be blessed but he who is vitally one with Christ-Christ in him and he in Christ. Equally it is.unholy madness to conceive of man or angel lost in hell unless he has identified himself with Satan, having become morally one with him. The conception of a soul in hell not morally one with Satan is the most appalling cruelty from which every noble heart recoils with: horror.

Every child of God-is furious at Satan. Satan is simply unbearable to him. In his inward man (however unfaithful his nature may be) there is bitter enmity, implacable hatred against Satan. Hence it satisfies our holiest conscience to know that Satan is in the bottomless pit. To encourage a plea for him in the heart were treason against God. Sharp agony may pierce, his soul like a dagger for the unspeakable depth of his fall, yet as Satan, author of all that is demoniac and fiendish, who has bruised the heel of the Son of God, he can never move our hearts. ,

First Chapter.

 

INTRODUCTION.

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