Paul mean when he said, 'In
every city the Holy Ghost testifieth that bonds and afflictions await
me'? What does the minister officiating in baptism mean when he says, 'I
baptize thee in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Ghost'? That form presents, according to many interpretations, a Divine
Person, a Man, and an Influence. Why are these bracketed together? And
what do we mean when, at the end of every Christian service, we invoke
'The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God the Father, and
the fellowship of the Holy Spirit'? A Man, and God, and an Influence--is
that the interpretation? You cannot get rid from the New Testament
teaching, whether you accept it or not--you cannot eliminate from it
this, that the divine causality of our salvation is threefold and one,
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.

Now, brethren, I do not think I am exaggerating when I say that
practically the average orthodox believer believes in a duality, and not
a Trinity, in the divine nature. I do not care about the scholastic
words, but what I would insist upon is that the course of Christian
thinking has been roughly this. First of all, in the early Church, the
question of the Divine nature came into play, mainly in reference to the
relation of the Eternal Word to the Eternal Father, and of the
Incarnation to both. And then, when that was roughly settled, there came
down through many ages, and there still subsists, the endeavour to cast
into complete and intelligible forms the doctrine, if I must use the
word, of Christ's nature and work. And now, as I believe, to a very
large extent, the foremost and best thinking of the Christian Church is
being occupied with that last problem, the nature and work of that
Divine Spirit. I believe that we stand on the verge of a far clearer
perception of, and of a far more fervent and realising faith in, the
Spirit of God, than ever the Churches have seen before. And I pray you
to remember that however much your Christian thought and Christian
faith may be centred upon, and may be drawing its nourishment and its
joy from, the work of Jesus Christ who died on the Cross for our
salvation, and lives to be our King and Defender, there is a gap--not
only in your Christian Creed, but also in your Christian experiences and
joys and power, unless you have risen to this thought, that the Divine
Spirit is not only an influence, a wind, a fire, an oil, a dove, a dew,
but a Divine