rtainly cannot be a more
serious and decisive sin to blaspheme Him than it is to blaspheme the Son
of man, our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ Himself.

Here then we have four distinctive and decisive lines of proof _that the
Holy Spirit is a Person_. Theoretically most of us believe this but do we,
in our real thought of Him and in our practical attitude towards Him treat
Him as if He were indeed a Person? At the close of an address on the
Personality of the Holy Spirit at a Bible conference some years ago, one
who had been a church-member many years, a member of one of the most
orthodox of our modern denominations, said to me, "I never thought of _It_
before as a Person." Doubtless this Christian woman had often sung:

"Praise God from whom all blessings flow,
Praise Him all creatures here below,
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host,
Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost."

Doubtless she had often sung:

"Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost,
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
World without end, Amen."

But it is one thing to sing words; it is quite another thing to realize
the meaning of what we sing. If this Christian woman had been questioned
in regard to her doctrine, she would doubtless have said that she believed
that there were three Persons in the Godhead, Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
but a theological confession is one thing, a practical realization of the
truth we confess is quite another. So the question is altogether
necessary, no matter how orthodox you may be in your creedal statements,
Do you regard the Holy Spirit as indeed as real a Person as Jesus Christ,
as loving and wise and strong, as worthy of your confidence and love and
surrender as Jesus Christ Himself? The Holy Spirit came into this world to
be to the disciples of our Lord after His departure, and to us, what Jesus
Christ had been to them during the days of His personal companionship with
them (John xiv. 16, 17). Is He that to you? Do you know Him? Every week in
your life you hear the apostolic benediction, "The grace of the Lord Jesus
Christ and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you
all" (2 Cor. xiii. 14), but while you hear it, do you take in the
significance of it? Do you know the communion of the Holy Ghost? The
fellowship of the Holy Ghost? The partnership of the Holy Ghost? The
comradeship of the Holy Ghost? The intimate personal fr