T this period, Elder Scott revised and republished, in the "Evangelist," a remarkable discourse on the Holy Spirit,^a which is deserving of mention. The work of the Holy Spirit for years had been the subject of controversy between the Disciples and other religious bodies, and also among themselves, and one which from its very nature was extremely difficult to settle. It was commonly treated as a proper subject of philosophical inquiry, to be decided by reasonings with regard to the faculties and powers of the human mind, rather than by the express teachings of the Scriptures. The result was that, by some, conversion was regarded as the work of the Spirit without the Word; by others, as effected exclusively by the Word. It was, indeed, the greatest religious question of the day, upon which the greatest possible confusion prevailed. The theory of one party made the Word of God a dead letter, and did not scruple to call it such, while the opposite party laid so much stress upon the Word, that they were understood as regarding the Word and Spirit identical. One party would advocate a direct contact between the mind of man and the Spirit of God, and that the impression resulting from this contact was the converting and sanctifying power, while the other party would ask, Of what use or value then is the Word of God, if impressions made upon the soul without its agency are saving and sanctifying? The former view made every conversion a miracle as it was effected by a power that the sinner could neither avail himself of, nor resist, as the very desire for salvation must be [121] begotten in the heart by the Spirit which effected it; and its this view of the case man had too agency whatever in his own conversion. The latter view regarded all the power of the Spirit as being put forth through the Word of God alone; and all changes in saint or sinner, as the result of the light, instruction, and motives contained in the Words of Scripture, and as being accordant with the human mind, heart, and will; no distinction was made between the agent and instrument, but the Word and Spirit were regarded as one and the same.

      These views being in direct conflict, both could not be true, while both might be false; but, instead of attempting to sustain either, or the hopeless task of harmonizing them, Mr. Scott resolved to review the whole ground, and see if the Scriptures did not warrant a view different from those generally entertained, and free from the objections which might be urged against them. The result of his reflections upon this important theme was an elaborate discourse on the Holy Spirit, several editions of which were widely circulated in pamphlet form.

      The discourse was eagerly read, and had to pass through a most searching criticism, but it stood the test; the objections have already been forgotten, but his argument, no one has been able to improve. The main points of the discourse may be gathered from the following extracts:

"'Whom the world cannot receive.'--JOHN xiv.

      "Christianity, as developed in the sacred oracles, is sustained by three divine missions--the mission of the Lord Jesus, the mission of the apostles, and the mission of the Holy Spirit; these embassies are distinct in three particulars, namely, person, termination, and design. Like the branches, [122] flowers, and fruit of the same tree, they are, indeed, nearly and admirably related; still, however, like these, they are distinct; not one, but three missions, connected like the vine, its branches and clusters of grapes.

      "Of the person sent on these missions: It may suffice to observe that, although the Scriptures give to Jesus, the apostles, and to the Holy Spirit, the attitude of missionaries, i. e., speak of them as persons sent by the Father, they never speak of the Father himself in such style. God is said, in the New Testament, to send the Lord Jesus, the Lord Jesus to seed the apostles, and the Holy Spirit to be sent by the Father and the Son, but the Father himself is not said to be sent by any one.

      "Of the termination of these missions: Every embassy, political or religious, must and does end somewhere; hence, we have political embassies to Spain, Portugal, the Court of St. James, St. Cloud's, Petersburgh, Naples; and we have religious missions to Japan, the Cape, Hindoostan, to the Indians, and the South seas. If it be inquired then, in what other respect these three divine institutions differed from each other, I answer, they had distinct terminations. Our Lord Jesus was sent personally to the Jewish nation and his mission terminated on that people.

      "The apostles were sent to all the nations, and their mission terminated accordingly; but the Holy Spirit was sent only to the church of our Lord Jesus Christ, and, so far as his gifts were concerned, his mission terminated in that institution.

      "Of the design of these missions: In every embassy there is something to be accomplished. We do not send out political and religious embassadors for nothing; but for the high purpose of negotiation; and, therefore, it will be seen, in the following discourse, that God, in sending forth His Son, the apostles, and the Holy Spirit, had a great design; also, that the ends or designs of the embassies of these functionaries were all distinct from each other.

      "In fine, it will be shown, in regard to the Holy Spirit, that he was not sent to dwell in any man in order to make him a Christian, but because he had already become a Christian; or, in other terms, it will be proved that the Holy Spirit [123] is not given to men to make them believe and obey the gospel, but rather because they have believed and obeyed the gospel.

      "The propositions of the discourse are as follows:

      "PROPOSITION 1. Jesus Christ was, personally, a missionary only to the Jews; his mission terminated on that people, and the designs of it were to proclaim the gospel, and to teach those among them who believed it.

      "PROPOSITION 2. The apostles were missionaries to the whole world; their mission terminated on mankind, and its design was to proclaim the gospel, and to teach those among men who believed it.

      "PROPOSITION 3. The Holy Spirit was a missionary to the church; His mission terminated on that institution, and the designs of it were to comfort the disciples, glorify, Jesus Christ as the true Messiah, and to convince the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment."^b

      He showed clearly from the labors of Christ, while on earth, which were in strict accordance with his words, "I am not sent, but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel," that his mission began and terminated with that people. In like manner, from the commission, it was evident that the mission of the apostles was to all nations--the unconverted--and its design, their conversion by preaching the gospel; from which it follows that the mission of the Spirit was not to the world or the unconverted, as, in that case, its mission and that of the apostles would have been the same; but that its mission was as distinct from theirs, as theirs was from that of the Savior; that it was to the church, and not to the world, since Christ had said of the Spirit, "whom the world can not receive." This point he argues as follows:

      The idea of the Spirit being a missionary to the church affords a new and striking argument against that immoral and fatal maxim in popular theology, namely, that special [124] spiritual operations are necessary to faith! In this discourse it is shown that the church was formed before any of her members received the Spirit; that after the church was formed the Spirit was sent into her on the day of Pentecost; finally, that men did not and do not receive this Spirit to make them disciples, but because they were or are disciples; in a word, it is shown, from the express words of Christ himself, that no man that does not first of all believe the gospel can receive the Holy Spirit. 'If any man thirst,' says Christ, 'let him come unto me and drink, and out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.' Now, what does this mean; that the Holy Spirit will be given to unbelievers? No. John, the Apostle, explains it as follows: 'This he spake of the Spirit which was to be given to those who believed, for the Spirit was not yet given (to believers) because that Jesus was not yet glorified.'

      "Concerning the Holy Spirit, the Redeemer said, further: 'It is expedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come; but if I go away, I will send him to you;' again, 'whom the world cannot receive.' I will send him to you; to you, my disciples; now, the number of disciples must have been at this time very great, for Christ made and baptized, it is said, more than John; there were one hundred and twenty present on the day of Pentecost, and five hundred brethren beheld him at once after his resurrection, and all these were reckoned disciples without having received the Holy Spirit! But if the Holy Spirit had been necessary to make men repent and believe the gospel, then he must have come to them before Jesus left the world; and, consequently, when he went away he could not send him, from the fact that he had already come--I will send him to you. The mission of the Spirit, then, was to those whom the Redeemer designated you, the disciples--the church which he had gathered; and this institution is distinguished from the world by nothing so much as that of receiving the Spirit through faith; for, a prime reason why the world does not receive the Spirit is, that it has no faith in God. 'Whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not.' The Spirit, then, being received by them who believe, and the world being endued with sense, and having no faith, it is [125] impossible that he should be received by the world, or that his mission should be to unbelieving men. He came to the church; and there is no instance on record of the Holy Spirit transcending the limits of his mission, or of operating in a man before faith to produce that principle in his soul.

      "The doctrine, then, alas! the too popular doctrine, which extends the mission of the Spirit beyond the bounds of the church, and teaches the world, which the Savior says, cannot receive him, to sit and wait for his internal special operations to produce faith, is monstrously absurd and impious; absurd, because it makes the Holy Spirit to transgress, by overreaching the limits of his embassy, which is to the church; and impious, because it makes him give the lie to the Lord of Glory, who says, the world cannot receive him. Jesus said, 'When he is come he will glorify me;' Would it glorify the Redeemer's character before either angels or men to make him a liar, as the Spirit would and must do, were he, according to the maxims of party theology, to be received by sinners for the purpose of originating in them either faith or repentance? Let ministers reflect on this; let all professors reflect on this.

      "That those who obey the gospel, that is, believe, repent, and are baptized, do and must, by the very nature of the New Covenant, receive the Holy Spirit, is made certain by a 'thus saith the Lord;' but that men who hear the gospel, cannot believe and obey it, is wholly human, and is supported by nothing but a 'thus saith the man'--the preacher--the Episcopalian, the Presbyterian, the Methodist, the Baptist, the Quaker; for, however these parties differ in other matters, they are all alike here; in this doctrine they are one! And judge for yourself, reader, whether such among us, as are charged with the office of public instructors in the Christian religion, are not chargeable with the grossest perversity, when we refuse to announce the great things of salvation in the sound wordsof the New Testament, and cry aloud that our audience cannot believe and obey the gospel, on the testimony of the Holy Scriptures, without special operations from the Holy Spirit, when Almighty God has caused it to be written in living characters on the intelligible page of his never-dying word, 'Repent, and be baptized, every one of you, in [126] the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of your sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.'^c

      "The Spirit, then, can do nothing in religion, nothing in Christianity, but by the members of the body of Christ. Even the Word of God--the Scriptures--have been given by members filled with this Spirit; they spake as the Spirit gave them utterance. But mark, reader, that there is no member of the body of Christ in whom the Holy Spirit dwelleth not; for it will hold as good at the end of the world as it does now, and it holds as good now as it did on the day of Pentecost and afterward, that 'if any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his.' If, therefore, the Spirit convinces the world of sin, or glorifies Jesus, it is all through the agency of the members of the body of Christ, whom he fills--the church. Hence, the indispensable duty of all disciples being led by the Spirit of God, with which they are sealed, and of holding forth, in the language of the New Testament, the gospel; for, where there are no Christians, or where Christians do not perform their duties, there are no conversions--as in Tartary, India, some parts of Europe, and so forth. But wherever there are Christians, Christians who hold forth the gospel in the sound words used on Pentecost by the apostles, there will always be some conversions, more or less."^d

      The "Word alone" party were ready to admit that the gospel was the great instrumentality in the conversion of the world, the power of God unto salvation to every one that believed it, as it accorded with the course pursued by the apostles, who, as is evident from the account of their labors in the book of Acts, preached the gospel wherever they went, and promised the Spirit to those who became obedient; and they saw, moreover, that the gospel which they preached was never called the Spirit: and the "Spirit alone" party were astounded at the discovery that Christ had said that the world could not receive the Spirit, and that conversions never were known to precede a [127] knowledge of the Word, but invariably followed the preaching. Mr. Scott had thrown away all theories and speculations in regard to the matter, and fallen back upon the Scriptures; and, hence, those who reverenced the Word of God had little difficulty in accepting what now, in the light of that Word, was so clear. [128]

[LWSA 121-128]