the direction of the conduct of Paul and his companions and a
Person whose authority they recognized and to whom they instantly submit.

Further still than this the Holy Spirit is represented as the One who is
the supreme authority in the church, who calls men to work and appoints
them to office. We read in Acts xiii. 2, "As they ministered to the Lord,
and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate Me Barnabas and Saul for the
work where unto I have called them." And in Acts xx. 28, "Take heed
therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy
Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the Church of God, which He hath
purchased with His own blood." There can be no doubt to a candid seeker
after truth that it is a Person, and a person of Divine majesty and
sovereignty, who is here set before us.

From all the passages here quoted, it is evident that many acts that only
a person can perform are ascribed to the Holy Spirit.

III. _An office is predicated of the Holy Spirit that can only be
predicated of a person._

Our Saviour says in John xiv. 16, 17, "And I will pray the Father, and He
shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever; Even
the Spirit of truth: whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him
not, neither knoweth Him: but ye know Him; for He dwelleth with you, and
shall be in you." Our Lord had announced to the disciples that He was
about to leave them. An awful sense of desolation took possession of them.
Sorrow filled their hearts (John xvi. 6) at the contemplation of their
loneliness and absolute helplessness when Jesus should thus leave them
alone. To comfort them the Lord tells them that they shall not be left
alone, that in leaving them He was going to the Father and that He would
pray the Father and He would give them another Comforter to take the place
of Himself during His absence. Is it possible that Jesus Christ could have
used such language if the other Comforter who was coming to take His place
was only an impersonal influence or power? Still more, is it possible that
Jesus could have said as He did in John xvi. 7, "Nevertheless I tell you
the truth: _It is expedient for you that I go away_: for if I go not away,
the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send Him
unto you," if this Comforter whom He was to send was simply an impersonal
influence or power? No, one Divine Person was going, another Person just
as Divine was coming to tak