--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Penrose, Charles W. collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 12 number: 6 published: 1909-04 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Penrose, Charles W., "Personality of the Holy Ghost," *Improvement Era* 12, no. 6 (April 1909): 409–413.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1206unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera1206unse start_page: 409 end_page: 413 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1909-04) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1206unse publication_year: 1909 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1909, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Personality of the Holy Ghost PERSONALITY OF THE HOLY GHOST.* BY CHARLES W. PENROSE, OF THE QUORUM OF TWELVE APOSTLES, AND PRESIDENT OF THE EUROPEAN MISSION. In the midst of the opposition raised against the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, there is occasionally some attempt at argument against a few of its teachings, but even these are usually either burlesques or perversions of its doctrines or a misconception of those principles. The ordinary weapon of anti- "Mormon" assailants is villification and attacks on personal character. An article, however, which appeared a short time ago in a,church of Scotland magazine called Life and Work, approaches the subject of "Mormonism" in a fair and rational manner. There is one paragraph in it that exhibits misunderstanding of a prominent feature of our faith, on which we desire to make some comment. It is this: Not only is the doctrine of the Trinity set aside in favor of a doctrine of Duality — the personality of the Holy Spirit being denied in the view that the Holy Ghost is simply a spiritual essence; or the concomitant will of the Father and the Son — but the Mormon doctrine of God is in keeping with that materialistic view of things which is so dominant in their teaching. The writer has obtained his idea of the ' 'Mormon" doctrine of Deity from some explanations of the faith which relate to the * From the Millennial Star, December, 1907. 410 IMPROVEMENT ERA. Father and the Son without entering into the personality of the Holy Ghost. But if he had investigated more fully he would have learned that the personality of the Holy Ghost is one of the fundamental conceptions of the Godhead by the Latter-day Saints. The Doctrine and Covenants, which is one of the written standards of the Church, says: ' 'The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man's; the Son also; but the Holy Ghost has not a body of flesh and bones, but is a personage of spirit," (Sec. 130: 22.) In the Book of Mormon, an account is given of a revelation to the Prophet Nephi, who was "caught away in the Spirit of the Lord into an exceeding high mountain," and there he conversed with the being who spoke to him, and Nephi says: "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 with another" (I Nephi 11: 11). The Bible, which is also a standard authority in the Church, speaks of the Holy Ghost as a person. Jesus said to his disciples: ' 'If I go not away the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart I will send him unto you." "Howbeit when he, the Spirit of Truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth; for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear that shall he speak; and he will show you things to come" (John 16: 7-13). These three witnesses from written standards of the Church show conclusively that the personality of the Holy Ghost is an established tenet of the faith. But the existence of a universally diffused essence is shown in all three of those standards, and it is declared that by that Spirit the personal beings composing the Holy Trinity are present in all their creations. That Spirit is divine light and by it is exercised divine power. It ' 'moved upon the face of the waters" when the earth was created, and by it God "garnishes the heavens." It is bestowed as a higher endowment by the power and gift of the Holy Ghost upon repentant believers who have been baptized by Divine authority. It has a "diversity of operations" as light has a variety of rays. It is manifested in things physical as well as things spiritual. It is the spirit of life, and "lighteneth every man that cometh into the world." It "proceedeth forth from the presence of God to fill the immensity of space." It is the Spirit of the Lord, but the Holy PERSONALITY OF THE HOLY GHOST. 411 Ghost spoken of above is an individual, as much so as is the Son of God, and as is the Father himself. They are one; not one person or substance, but three distinct individuals acting in perfect unity by the power, presence and light of the Holy Spirit permeating the entire universe. This is the teaching of the Bible from beginning to end; it is the doctrine of Deity in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The common notion concerning the Trinity as set forth in orthodox creeds is an utter impossibility. It is said to be composed of three persons who are each distinct and yet are "one substance," and are as such omnipresent, equal and eternal, yet one of them is the Father, another his Son, and another neither the Father nor the Son, and yet it is affirmed that one is "not before the other nor after the other;" that the whole Deity is "without body, parts or passions," and yet that it has three parts, and one of those parts has a body and passions. Then it is declared, "Such as the Father is, such is the Son and such is the Holy Ghost." To sum it all up, it is announced that this being is ''immaterial'' and "incomprehensible." That is a god of heathen invention and modern "Christian" adoption. It is not the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, nor of Moses and the prophets, nor of Jesus Christ and his apostles. It springs from the "vain philosophy" of this world, and to worship it is sheer idolatry. The writer in Life and Work complains about our "materialistic view of things." We have to object to his immaterialistic view of things, in which, however, he is not singular as it is generally accepted by the theologians of the period, We regard everything that is substantial as material in a certain sense. "Immaterial substance" we view as impossible and the term a contradiction of words. Yet we understand a distinct and essential difference between spirit and gross element, which is commonly called matter. The physical creation is one thing; the spiritual essence by which, under Divine direction, the elements were organized is of a much more refined and subtle character than anything that is perceived through the senses. If that which is called matter is dissolved into its primitive atoms, which would be imperceptible to the natural sight and mind, they would not be identical with that more subtle essence, the eternal Spirit, which gives both light and 412 IMPROVEMENT ERA. life. That which is denominated ''energy" may be immaterial, but the substance from which it proceeds is and must be material in the sense in which we have explained. Motion is immaterial, but that which is moved or moves it is substantial. Thought must not be confused with the thinker, love with the being of whom it is an attribute, gravitation with the object moving by that force. Theologians are startled with the statement that God is a being with a body, that he is a Spirit clothed upon with flesh and bones; yet they declare that Christ is God, and they recognize the fact that he has a spiritual body which he declared was of flesh and bones when he appeared to his disciples after his resurrection, and with which he ascended into heaven. He is also declared to be "the express image of the Father's person," and that he "sits at the right hand of God." Why should there be any objection to the idea that the Father is just like the Son, or in other words, the Son is exactly like the Father in all respects, when as much is declared in the published creeds of Christendom? Christ's body, though composed of flesh and bones, is a spiritual body. It is tangible, as he demonstrated to his apostles. His saints are to become like him if raised in the first resurrection, for he is to "change their vile bodies and fashion them like unto his glorious body," and as John the apostle declared: "Now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is." We shall not be "immaterial," but be like him, and if we were immaterial we could not see him as he is, for that would be an impossibility. We believe in God the Father, and God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, as three distinct personalities, (and in the Holy Spirit proceeding from them all), being one in perfect unity and harmony and power and glory, together constituting Deity, "the Fulness of the Godhead," to be approached with some degrees of understanding by mortals, and to be fully comprehended by those immortals who shall be raised to everlasting life in its complete condition and exaltation, in the presence and society of the Deity. The Father and the Son dwell in the heaven of heavens, the Holy Ghost is their minister on earth; the Divine Spirit which is "in all things and through all things, and round about all chings, and PERSONALITY OF THE HOLY GHOST. 413 is the law by which all things are governed," operates everywhere in the phenomena of nature and in the spiritual sphere, unfolding to those who receive it and walk in its light "the deep things of God." It is bestowed as a gift unto all who are obedient to the gospel and will be guided by it in their earthly lives, and they will be sanctified by its influence until they are fit to dwell with God eternally in the heavens. Liverpool, England.