[Footnote B: John xvi: 13-15.]
From these passages four important things are learned respecting the powers of the Holy Ghost:
I. That he will teach all things; and, what is equivalent, "guide into all truth."
II. He will bring all things to remembrance, that is, whatsoever things have been stored in the mind.
III. He will show things to come.
IV. He will take of the things of God and reveal them unto men.
Of the excellence and importance of these several powers it is scarcely needful to speak, since their excellence is evident, upon the mere enumeration of them, yet one cannot refrain from looking at them more in detail. How excellent a thing it is to have a teacher competent to teach all things, and guide into all truth In view of the fact that the saints possessed the Holy Ghost, and that the Holy Ghost has these powers, one can understand the reasonableness of John's remarks to the saints, in which he says: "But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things. * * * The anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him."[C]
[Footnote C: I. John ii: 20, 27.]
Moreover, to that extent that a man is guided into all truth, he is preserved from all error. There is no danger of his being deceived, or led astray by every wind of doctrine, or the cunning craftiness of false teachers, so long as he is in possession of that Spirit which guides into all truth. So taught Isaiah, who, in speaking of the time when the house of Israel should possess this Spirit, says: "And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction, yet shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner any more, but thine eyes shall see thy teachers: And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying. This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand and when ye turn to the left."[D]
[Footnote D: Isaiah xxx: 20, 21.]