The Doctrine of the Holy Spirit

Endorsements

‘Page after page glows with the ardour of a preacher who is enamoured of his theme … The truth is so real to his own experience that he cares little for unprofitable controversies.’– C.H. SPURGEON

‘Dr Smeaton was the master of a very clear and unobtrusive style of expression. … He was as modest and unassuming as he was thorough and painstaking. A man can take his word in regard to any theme that he handles as soon as that of any writer on theological subjects.’– PRINCIPAL JOHN MACLEOD

Book Description

‘Wherever Christianity has become a living power, the doctrine of the Holy Spirit has uniformly been regarded, equally with the atonement and justification by faith, as the article of the standing or falling church…’– GEORGE SMEATON

The Doctrine of the Holy Spirit formed the capstone of George Smeaton’s teaching.
Handling his subject under three divisions, Smeaton treats first the testimony to the Holy Spirit as it is progressively revealed in Scripture. Secondly, he gives detailed attention to six subjects: the personality and procession of the Holy Spirit; the work of the Spirit in the anointing of Christ; the work of the Spirit in connection with revelation and inspiration; the Spirit’s regenerating work in the individual; on the Spirit of holiness; and the work of the Holy Spirit in the church. Finally, there is a historical survey of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit from the Apostlic age.

Though considered by his colleague, James Macgregor, to possess ‘the best constituted theological intellect in Christendom’, Smeaton’s lucid style and earnest spiritual convictions make him valuable to all Christian readers.

Filled with the Spirit at Pentecost, he writes, ‘the timid became bold, the selfish self-denied, the arrogant humble’, and he characterizes as ‘mischievous and misleading’ the opinion that the church, having received the Paraclete, is no longer warranted to pray for effusions of transforming power today.

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