The Articles of Faith Part 19

[466] John xiv, 16-26; xv, 26.

[467] John xv, 26; xvi, 13.

=7.= The Holy Ghost undoubtedly possesses personal powers and affections; these attributes exist in Him in perfection. Thus, He teaches and guides,[468] testifies of the Father and the Son,[469]

reproves for sin,[470] speaks, commands, and commissions,[471] makes intercession for sinners,[472] is grieved,[473] searches and investigates,[474] entices,[475] and knows all things.[476] These are not mere figurative expressions, but plain statements of the attributes and characteristics of this great Personage. That the Holy Spirit is capable of manifesting Himself in the true form and figure of G.o.d, after which image man is shaped, is indicated by the wonderful interview between the Spirit and Nephi, in which He revealed Himself to the prophet, questioned him concerning his desires and belief, instructed him in the things of G.o.d, speaking face to face with the man. "I spake unto him," says Nephi, "as a man speaketh; for I beheld that he was in the form of a man, yet nevertheless I knew that it was the Spirit of the Lord; and he spake unto me as a man speaketh to another."[477] However, the Holy Ghost does not possess a tangible body of flesh and bones, as do both the Father and the Son, but is a personage of spirit.[478]

[468] John xiv, 26; xvi, 13.

[469] John xv, 26.

[470] John xvi, 8.

[471] Acts x, 19; xiii, 2; Rev. ii, 7; I Nephi iv, 6; xi, 2-8.

[472] Rom. viii, 26.

[473] Eph. iv, 30.

[474] I Cor. ii, 4-10.

[475] Mos. iii, 19.

[476] Alma vii, 13.

[477] I Nephi xi, 11.

[478] Doc. and Cov. cx.x.x, 22.

=8.= Much of the confusion existing in our human conceptions concerning the nature of the Holy Ghost arises from the common failure to segregate our ideas of His person and powers. Plainly, such expressions as being filled with the Holy Ghost,[479] and the Spirit falling upon men, have reference to the powers and influences which emanate from G.o.d, and which are characteristic of Him; for the Holy Ghost may in this way operate simultaneously upon many persons, even though they be widely separated; whereas the actual person of the Holy Ghost cannot be in more than one place at a time. Yet we read that through the power of the Spirit, the Father and the Son operate in their creative acts and in their general dealings with the human family.[480] The Holy Ghost may be regarded as the minister of the G.o.dhead, carrying into effect the decisions of the Supreme Council.

[479] Luke i, 15, 67; iv, 1; Acts vi, 3; xiii, 9; Alma x.x.xvi, 24; Doc. and Cov. cvii, 56.

[480] Gen. i, 2; Neh. ix, 30; Job xxvi, 13; Psalms civ, 30; Isa.

xlii, 1; Acts x, 19; I Nephi x, 19; Alma xii, 3; Doc. and Cov. cv, 36; xcvii, 1.

=9.= In the execution of these great purposes, the Holy Ghost directs and controls the numerous forces of Nature, of which indeed a few, and these perhaps of the minor order, wonderful as even the least of them seems to man, have thus far been made known to the human mind.

Gravitation, sound, heat, light, and the still more mysterious, seemingly supernatural power of electricity, are but the common servants of the Holy Spirit in His operations. No earnest thinker, no sincere investigator supposes that he has yet learned of all the forces existing in and operating upon matter; indeed, the observed phenomena of nature, yet wholly inexplicable to him, far outnumber those for which he has devised even a partial explanation. There are powers and forces at the command of G.o.d, compared with which, electricity, the most occult of all the physical agencies controlled in any degree by man, is as the pack-horse to the locomotive, the foot messenger to the telegraph, the raft of logs to the ocean steamer. Man has scarcely glanced at the enginery of creation; and yet the few forces known to him have brought about miracles and wonders, which but for their actual realization would be beyond belief. These mighty agencies, and the mightier ones still to man unknown, and many, perhaps, to the present condition of the human mind unknowable, do not const.i.tute the Holy Ghost, but the mere means ordained to serve Divine purposes.

=10.= Subtler, mightier, and more mysterious still than any or all of the physical forces of nature, are the powers that operate upon conscious organisms, the means by which the mind, the heart, the soul of man may be affected. In our ignorance of the true nature of electric energy, we speak of it as a fluid; and so by a.n.a.logy the forces through which the mind is governed have been called spiritual fluids. The true nature of these higher powers is unknown to us, for the conditions of comparison and a.n.a.logy, so necessary to our frail human reasoning, are wanting; still the effects are experienced by all. As the conducting medium in an electric current is capable of conveying but a limited current, the maximum strength depending upon the resistance offered by the conductor, and, as separate circuits of different degrees of conductivity may carry currents of widely varying intensity, so human souls are of varied capacity with respect to the diviner powers. But as the medium is purified, as the obstructions are removed, so the resistance to the energy decreases, and the forces manifest themselves with greater perfection. By a.n.a.logous processes of purification, may our spirits be made more susceptible to the power of life, which is an emanation from the Spirit of G.o.d. Therefore are we taught to pray by word and action for a constantly increasing portion of the Spirit, that is, the power of the Spirit, which is a measure of the favor of G.o.d unto us.

=11. The Office of the Holy Ghost= in His ministrations among men is very fully described in scripture. He is a Teacher sent from the Father;[481] and unto those who are ent.i.tled to His tuition He will reveal all things necessary for the soul's advancement. Through the influences of the Holy Spirit, the powers of the human mind may be quickened and increased, so that things past may be brought to remembrance. He will serve as a guide in things divine unto all who will obey Him,[482] enlightening every man,[483] in proportion to his humility and obedience;[484] unfolding the mysteries of G.o.d,[485] as the knowledge thus revealed may tend to spiritual growth; conveying knowledge from G.o.d to man;[486] sanctifying those who have been cleansed through obedience to the requirements of the gospel;[487]

manifesting all things;[488] and bearing witness unto men concerning the existence and infallibility of the Father and the Son.[489]

[481] John xiv, 26.

[482] Doc. and Cov. xlv, 57.

[483] Doc. and Cov. lx.x.xiv, 45-47.

[484] Doc. and Cov. cx.x.xvi, 33.

[485] I Nephi x, 19.

[486] Doc. and Cov. cxxi, 43.

[487] Alma xiii, 12.

[488] Doc. and Cov. xviii, 18.

[489] John xv, 26; Acts v, 32; xx, 23; I Cor. ii, 11; xii, 3; III Nephi xi, 32.

=12.= And not alone does the Holy Ghost bring to mind the past, and explain the things of the present, but His power is manifested likewise in prophecy concerning the future;--"He shall show you things to come," declared the Savior to the Apostles in promising the advent of the Comforter. Adam, the first prophet of earth, under the influence of the Holy Ghost "predicted whatsoever should befall his posterity unto the latest generation."[490]

[490] Doc. and Cov. cvii, 56.

=13.= The power of the Holy Ghost then is the spirit of prophecy and revelation; His office is that of enlightenment of the mind, quickening of the intellect, and sanctification of the soul.

=14. To Whom is the Holy Ghost given?= Not to all indiscriminately.

The Redeemer declared to the apostles of old, "I will pray to 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."[491] Clearly, then, a certain condition of the candidate is requisite before the Holy Ghost can be bestowed, that is to say, before the person can receive a right to the company and ministrations of the Spirit. G.o.d grants the Holy Ghost unto the obedient; and the bestowal of this gift follows faith, repentance, and baptism by water.

[491] John xiv, 16, 17.

=15.= The apostles of old promised the ministration of the Holy Ghost unto those only who had received baptism by water for the remission of sins;[492] John the Baptist gave a.s.surances of the visitation of the Holy Ghost to those only who were baptized unto repentance.[493] The instance of Paul's rebaptizing the twelve disciples at Ephesus before he conferred upon them the Holy Ghost, on account of a probable lack of propriety or of authority in their first baptism,[494] has already been dwelt upon. We read of a remarkable manifestation of power among the people of Samaria,[495] to whom Philip went and preached the Lord Jesus; the people with one accord accepted his testimony and sought baptism. Then came unto them Peter and John, through whose ministrations the Holy Ghost came upon the new converts, whereas upon none of them had the Spirit previously fallen, though all had been baptized.

[492] Acts ii, 38.

[493] Matt. iii, 11; Mark i, 8.

[494] Acts xix, 1-7; see page 146.

[495] Acts viii, 5-8, 12, 14-17.

=16.= The Holy Ghost dwells not in tabernacles unfit and unworthy.

Paul makes the sublime declaration that the body of man when filled with the power of the Holy Ghost becomes a temple of this spirit; and the apostle specifies the penalty prescribed for defiling a structure sanctified by so holy a presence.[496] Faith in G.o.d leads to repentance of sin, this is followed by baptism in water for the remission of sins, and this in turn by the bestowal of the Holy Ghost, through whose power come sanctification and the specific gifts of G.o.d.

[496] I Cor. iii, 16. See also vi, 19; II Cor. vi, 16; Doc. and Cov. xciii, 35.

=17. An Exception to the Prescribed Order= is shown in the case of the devout Gentile, Cornelius, unto whom, together with his family, came the Holy Ghost, with such power that they spake with new tongues to the glorification of G.o.d, and this before their baptism.[497] But sufficient reason for this departure from the usual order is seen in the prejudice that existed among the Jews toward other nations, which, but for the Lord's direct instructions to Peter, would have hindered, if indeed it did not prevent, the apostle from ministering unto the Gentiles; as it was, his act was loudly condemned by his own people; but he answered their criticisms with a recital of the lesson given him of G.o.d, and the undeniable evidence of the Divine will as shown in the reception of the Holy Ghost by Cornelius and his family before baptism.

[497] Acts x.

=18.= And in another sense the Holy Ghost has frequently operated for good through persons that are unbaptized; indeed, some measure of this power is given to all mankind; for, as seen already, the Holy Spirit is the power of intelligence, of wise direction, of development, of life. Manifestation of the power of G.o.d, as made plain through the operations of the Spirit, are seen in the triumphs of enn.o.bling art, the discoveries of true science, and the events of history; with all of which the carnal mind may believe that G.o.d takes no direct concern.

Not a truth has ever been made the property of human kind except through the power of that great Spirit who exists to do the bidding of the Father and the Son. And yet the actual companionship of the Holy Ghost, the divinely-bestowed right to His ministrations, the sanctifying baptism with fire, are given as a permanent possession only to the faithful, repentant, baptized candidate for salvation; and with all such this gift shall abide, unless it be forfeited through transgression.

=19. The Bestowal of the Holy Ghost= is effected through the ordinance of an oral blessing, p.r.o.nounced upon the candidate by the proper authority of the Priesthood, accompanied by the imposition of hands by him or those officiating. That this was the mode followed by the apostles of old is evident from the Jewish scriptures; that it was practiced by the early Christian Fathers is proved by history; that it was the acknowledged method among the Nephites is plainly shown by the Book of Mormon records; and for the same practice in the present dispensation authority has come direct from heaven.

=20.= Among the instances recorded in the New Testament, we may mention the following: Peter and John conferred the Holy Ghost upon Philip's converts at Samaria, as already noted, and the ordinance was performed by prayer and the laying on of hands.[498] Paul operated in the same manner on the Ephesians whom he had caused to be baptized; and "when he had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them, and they spake with tongues and prophesied."[499] Paul also refers to this ordinance in his admonition to Timothy not to neglect the gift so bestowed.[500] The same apostle, in enumerating the cardinal principles and ordinances of the Church of Christ, includes the laying on of hands as following baptism.[501]

[498] Acts viii, 14-17. Read the account of Simon, the magician, in the same chapter.