6. Personality and Powers of the Holy Ghost.—The Holy Ghost is associated with the Father and the Son in the Godhead. In the light of revelation, we are instructed as to the distinct personality of the Holy Ghost. He is a Being endowed with the attributes and powers of Deity, and not a mere thing, force, or essence. The term Holy Ghost and its common synonyms, Spirit of God,[463] Spirit of the Lord, or simply, Spirit,[464] Comforter,[465] and Spirit of Truth,[466] occur in the scriptures with plainly different meanings, referring in some cases to the person of God, the Holy Ghost, and in other instances to the power or authority of this great Being. The context of such passages will show which of these significations applies.
7. The Holy Ghost undoubtedly possesses personal powers and affections; these attributes exist in Him in perfection. Thus, He teaches and guides,[467] testifies of the Father and the Son,[468] reproves for sin,[469] speaks, commands, and commissions,[470] makes intercession for sinners,[471] is grieved,[472] searches and investigates,[473] entices,[474] and knows all things.[475] 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 God, 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 God, 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."[476] 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.[477]
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,[478] and the Spirit falling upon men, have reference to the powers and influences which emanate from God, 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.[479] The Holy Ghost may be regarded as the minister of the Godhead, carrying into effect the decisions of the Supreme Council.
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 God, 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 constitute 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 analogy 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 analogy, 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 analogous processes of purification, may our spirits be made more susceptible to the power of life, which is an emanation from the Spirit of God. 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 God 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;[480] and unto those who are entitled 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,[481] enlightening every man,[482] in proportion to his humility and obedience;[483] unfolding the mysteries of God,[484] as the knowledge thus revealed may tend to spiritual growth; conveying knowledge from God to man;[485] sanctifying those who have been cleansed through obedience to the requirements of the gospel;[486] manifesting all things;[487] and bearing witness unto men concerning the existence and infallibility of the Father and the Son.[488]
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."[489]
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."[490] 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. God grants the Holy Ghost unto the obedient; and the bestowal of this gift follows faith, repentance, and baptism by water.
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;[491] John the Baptist gave assurances of the visitation of the Holy Ghost to those only who were baptized unto repentance.[492] 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,[493] has already been dwelt upon. We read of a remarkable manifestation of power among the people of Samaria,[494] 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.