(Scripture Reading Exercise.)

WHO MAY RECEIVE THE HOLY GHOST.

SPECIAL TEXT: "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in yon? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are." (Doc. and Cov. iii:16, 17.)

DISCUSSION.

1. Preparation for Union With the Holy Ghost: It will be remembered that John the Baptist was sent to preach repentance and baptism before the coming of him who was to baptize with the Holy Ghost. It will also be observed, in the teachings of Peter on the day of Pentecost, after his arguments and the power of the Spirit by which he spake had aroused belief in the minds of the people, that he required them to repent and to be baptized for the remission of their sins before he gave them the promise of the Holy Ghost.^[A]

[Footnote A: Acts ii:38.]

If we turn to the account given in the Acts of the Apostles of the conversion of the people of Samaria, we shall find the same order observed. Philip went down to that city, taught them the word, which they believed, they repented of their sins, and were baptized; then Peter and John came and conferred upon them the Holy Ghost.^[A]

[Footnote A: Acts viii.]

Then, again, when Paul found a number of men in Ephesus, who claimed to have been baptized unto John's baptism, yet had not so much as heard of the Holy Ghost, Paul was careful to rebaptize them—since there seemed to be some doubt as to the validity of their first baptism—before he conferred upon them the Holy Ghost.^[A]

[Footnote A: Acts xix.]

It appears from these circumstances that faith, repentance, and baptism, precede the reception of, or the baptism of, the Holy Ghost, and are, in fact, prerequisites to a reception of it. This order, in respect of these principles and ordinances, is further sustained by other passages of scripture.

The Holy Ghost dwells not in unholy temples. Therefore man, as a prospective temple of the Holy Ghost, must receive preparatory cleansing before he can hope to become a temple of God, temple of the Holy Ghost.

In writing to the Corinthian Saints who had received the Holy Ghost, Paul says: "What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God."^[A]

[Footnote A: I. Cor. vi:19.]

And again: "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy. For the temple of God is holy which temple ye are."^[A]

[Footnote A: I. Cor. iii:16, 17.]

From these passages this much is learned: That the man who receives the Holy Ghost becomes a temple thereof, even the temple of God; and since it is decreed that if a man defiles the temple of God him will God destroy, it may be reasonably inferred that the Holy Ghost dwells not in unholy temples; hence, through faith in God, sincere repentance of all sins, and baptism for the remission of them, man cleanses the prospective temple of the Holy Ghost, his body, that it may be a fit place for the indwelling of the Divine Spirit.

3. The World Cannot Receive the Holy Ghost: Just previous to his crucifixion, Jesus said to the apostles: "I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; even the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him."^[A]

[Footnote A: John xiv:16, 17.]

It is evident from this that the world cannot receive the Holy Ghost. And now, who are the world? I answer, those who have not yet put on Christ; or, in other words, those who have not yet entered into the Kingdom of God, through faith in God and Christ, repentance and baptism. They are the world; and, according to the word of the Master, they cannot receive the Holy Ghost.

Again: When Peter and other apostles were brought before the senate of the Jews, accused with intent to bring the blood of Messiah upon them, Peter answered: "The God of our Fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree. Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Savior for to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him."^[A]

[Footnote A: Acts v:30-32.]

Not, mark you, to them who have not obeyed him. This is in harmony with the statement that the world cannot receive the Holy Ghost, and also with the other cases we cited above where the order in presenting the gospel to the people was faith in God and Christ, repentance, baptism for the remission of sins, and then the reception of the Holy Ghost.

4. Distinction Between "Immanent Spirit" and the Holy Ghost: At this point we may note and justify the course followed in this treatise in making a distinction between the "Spirit" or "Light," which "lighteth every man that cometh into the world," and the Holy Ghost. The first "Spirit," or "light," "lighteth every man that cometh into the world." The Holy Ghost is given to those who obey God, that is, to those who obey the Gospel. The world cannot receive the Holy Ghost; but the "Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world" seems not so restricted in its contact with men and things; since besides being the "light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world," this "light of Christ,"^[A] is also a universal, vital spirit, that "proceedeth forth from the presence of God to fill the immensity of space. The light which is in all things; which giveth life to all things; which is the law by which all things are governed: even the power of God."^[B] Which spirit or "light is in the sun, and the light of the sun, and the power thereof by which it was made; as also he is in the moon, and is the light of the moon and the power thereof by which it was made";^[C] and so with reference to earth and stars. But from what we learn in the Word of God, as already set forth in this treatise, the Holy Ghost is a special spirit-witness for God the Father, and of God the Son, to those who are especially prepared to receive him by faith in, and obedience to, the gospel of Jesus Christ; who have repented of their sins and received baptism in water for the remission of them, thus giving evidence of faith in God and acceptance of the Atonement of the Christ by receiving the symbols thereof.^[D] To those thus especially prepared, and to such only, is witness and union with the Holy Ghost possible; while no such especial preparation for contact with and even enjoyment of the all-immanent Spirit is anywhere insisted upon; although, as we have seen in a previous lesson,^[E] those who are most in harmony with righteousness, who hunger and thirst after it, and who seek to draw near to God, will undoubtedly, by the great law of spiritual affinity, enjoy closer union with the Spirit of God—the Immanent Spirit—than those who have no such longings for the pure and the good.

[Footnote A: See Lesson II.]

[Footnote B: Doc. & Cov. lxxxviii:12, 13.]

[Footnote C: Ibid, verses 7-10.]

[Footnote D: See Seventy's Year Book IV, Lesson XXI.]

[Footnote E: See Lesson IV this treatise, topic 3 Immanence and Manifestation.]

5. Inter-Changeability of Words: It would be well to remember also in this connection, and it may prevent some confusion in the minds of those who read the scriptures, that by metonymy the words "Spirit," "Holy Spirit," "Spirit of God," "Spirit of Christ," and even "God"-are sometimes used when the "Holy Ghost" is meant. In other words, these terms above given are used inter-changeably. And sometimes the influence of the Spirit or his powers or even his operations are spoken of as the Holy Ghost himself, and hence confusion in thought, and perhaps also in what is written in some of our books. This merely by way of parenthesis.

6. The Case of Cornelius: There is an exception, however, to this order of things in the New Testament: the case of Cornelius, the devout Gentile,^[A] and for this exception there was a special reason. It seems that the apostles applied the narrow and contracted views of the Jews to the Gospel. They thought it was to be confined to the house of Israel—to those of the circumcision. They appeared slow to understand that in Jesus Christ all the nations and peoples of the earth were to be blessed, the Gentiles as well as the Jews. Consequently, when the time had come to send the Gospel to the Gentiles, the Lord opened the way by sending an angel to Cornelius to tell him that his prayers and alms had come up for a memorial before the Lord, and to direct him to send men to Joppa for Peter, who would tell him what he ought to do.^[B] He at once obeyed the heavenly injunction.

[Footnote A: Some also note the case of Paul as an exception to the rule, but I think this an error. It is true Ananias, on entering the house where Paul was, put his hands on him and said: "The Lord, even Jesus that appeared unto thee in the way as thou earnest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost. And immediately," the historian tells us, "there fell from his eyes as it had been scales; and he received sight forthwith, and arose and was baptized." (Acts ix:17, 18.) But in all this I see nothing to warrant the assumption that he received the Holy Ghost prior to his baptism.]

[Footnote B: Acts x:1-8.]

Meantime the Lord prepared Peter to go to the Gentiles. In vision he beheld a great net lowered down from heaven, filled with all manner of beasts, and a voice cried unto him, "Rise, Peter, kill, and eat." But Peter said, "Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean," "What God hath cleansed, that call thou not common," said the voice.^[A] This was done thrice, and before he had wholly concluded what the vision could mean, the messengers from Cornelius were at the gate—and the Spirit told him to go with them, for the Lord had sent them.

[Footnote A: Acts x:9-17.]

That Peter understood the import of this vision to be that the Gospel was for all mankind, for all races and nations, is evident from the fact that when on the following day he went with the messengers to the house of Cornelius, he said to him:

"Ye know how that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company, or come unto one of another nation; but God hath showed me that I should not call any man common or unclean. Therefore come I unto you without gainsaying, as soon as I was sent for."^[A]

[Footnote A: Acts x:28.]

Cornelius related to him his vision and expressed himself as ready to receive the commandments of God. Then Peter preached to him Christ and him crucified, and that whosoever believed on him should have remission of sins. And "while Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word. And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost. For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God. The answer Peter gave was, "Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we? And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord."^[A]

[Footnote A: Acts x:44-48.]

Afterwards, when they of the circumcision complained of Peter for going to them who were uncircumcised, he related the whole matter to them, and testified that as he began to speak to Cornelius and his kindred, "the Holy Ghost fell on them, as on us at the beginning. * * * Forasmuch then as God gave them the like gift as he did unto us, who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ; what was I, that I could withstand God?"^[A] When they heard this they held their peace, and the saying went abroad that God had also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.

[Footnote A: Acts xi:15-17.]

The object for deviating from the order in which the principles and ordinances of the Gospel follow each other is obvious—it was that the Jews might have a witness from God that the Gospel was for the Gentiles as well as for their own nation. But according to the scriptures, and, I may say, according to the nature and relationship of these several principles and ordinances of the Gospel to each other, the reception of the Holy Ghost comes after faith, repentance, and baptism.

The Prophet Joseph, in a discourse delivered at Nauvoo, 20th of March, 1842, refers to this case of Cornelius, and offers the suggestion that there is "a difference between the Holy Ghost and the gift of the Holy Ghost." That is to say, judging from the whole tenor of the passage to be quoted—a difference between the special manifestation of the Holy Ghost in the case of Cornelius for a particular purpose, and the permanent possession of the Holy Ghost as a gift from God coupled with a right to the manifestations of his powers following after observance of those laws and ordinances which make the necessary preparation for the constant fellowship of the Holy Ghost with man. Resuming now the quotation:

"There is a difference between the Holy Ghost and the gift of the Holy Ghost. Cornelius received the Holy Ghost before he was baptized, which was the convincing power of God unto him of the truth of the Gospel, but he could not receive the gift of the Holy Ghost until after he was baptized. Had he not taken this sign or ordinance upon him, the Holy Ghost which convinced him of the truth of God, would have left him. Until he obeyed these ordinances and received the gift of the Holy Ghost, by the laying on of hands, according to the order of God, he could not have healed the sick or commanded an evil spirit to come out of a man, and it obey him; for the spirits might say unto him, as they did to the sons of Sceva: "Paul we know, and Jesus we know, but who are ye?"^[A]

[Footnote A: History of the Church, Vol. IV, p. 555.]