The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1881-04-27

smooth and placid gale" Does not this
use of the term bring to mind the Ian
guage of our own Toplady?
AT anchor laid, remote from home,
Toiling L cry, sweet Spirit come. :.
Celestial breeze, no longer stay,
But spread my sails and speed my way"
And no less that of De Courcy, in the
hymn "Jesus, at Thy command
Come, heavenly wind, and blow
A prosperous gale of grace
And watt me from below,
To heaven, my destined place.
Then in full sail my port I'll find,
And leave the world and sin behindr
May not this primary use of the word
also serve to explain the language of the
Saviour to Nicodemus, John iii s.? On
account of the same Greek word occurring
in both clauses of the verse, we must
either render, The Spirit breatheth
where He listeth the meaning of which
would hardly be apprehended by Nico-
demus until after the Day of Pentecost-
or else, "The (earthly) breeze bloweth
where it listeth . so is every one that
is born of the Heavenly breeze" The
gust OF the breeze furnishes in any case,
In its hidden cause, its varying direction,
force, and effect beautiful illustration
OF the sovereignty, power, and benefcent
operation of the Spirit of God.
1t is, among Greeks, in the conceptions
of poet like Sophocles, especially, that
we discover the most ideal use Of the
word z'newnaa. Generally speaking he
too uses it of the breeze or gale. Thus
the gust of terrible gales (by ceasing)
hushed to sleep the moaning deep" Ajax
626), just as Euripides speaks of "breeze
(pmeuma) of misfortune" In the poem
just referred to Sophocles makes Ajax
address his son in the words, BE thou
fostered by the light breezes' (kOuzhois
pneunaaSlaa), like tender flower which
cannot bear the heat or wind (Ajax 500.
But elsewhere he says, Nor is there ever
the same spirit (pmeuma) in men," 4. e.,
az cording to the Scholiast, the soul of
man never abides in the same frame.
(Oed. COL ]. 572). In the same sense,
perhaps, Eulipides says, "The spirit
(pmeunaa) on the one hand goes away to
the ether, the body on the other hand to
the earth (SmppJ, J. $50. With later
Greek writer's the Specification esprit"
is the more common one, though it does
not appear that the meaning they attach
ed to it ever got much beyond that of
vital breath. Aristotle peaks of the
spirit as mortal (phthartoS). Plutarch is
said to employ the expression pneumatic
in the sense of "spirits of the departed.
| have not had the opportunity of veri-
tying this statement; but, if he does, he
is most likely indebted for this sense to a
great extent to Christian influences
Theocritus denotes by preunao the air
upon wind instrument; and the gram
marians denoted thereby the soft or rough
breathing which accompanied vowel.
1t is very doubtful whether the word was
ever used by the ancients in the trans
ferred sense of disposition or sentiment
(daanaoia, phromema). In the epistles of
the New Testament and the Book of Rev
citation it seems always to denote per-
soTaot spirit, as also in the gospels except
In its igurative use, John iii 8. The
spirit of man, however, in the Scriptures
is always something higher and more
sacred than anything OF which the an
Gent Greeks had any conception. The
highest faculty in man they expressed
by nooS, mind" the higher nature III
man is expressed in Scripture by esprit,
the name under which the Third Person
Of the Sacred Trinity is revealed to u.s.
On account Of this two-fold application
Of the word the sense intended in par
ticular passage is sometimes regarded as
doubtful. So James iv: s. where Calvin
rightly understands the expression of the
Spirit Of God" the Spirit who has made
His abode in us.
Pneuma, finally, became with the
Greek writer's of the second century after
Christ (Maximus Tyrius, and perhaps
Arrian) the equivalent of anenaoS, which
it replaced. Thus Tyr, Dis8. xiv,
" the winds (pneumata) burst upon the
ship" So Useless is the swelling of the
winds (pneumat5n), 4. e., without
helmsman (ibid). Again pneumat5n
Phora, "the waiting Of the winds" (Diss.
XXX, and elsewhere.
The ascertained usage with regard to
the word E1,e1In1a will aid us considerably
in the Interpretation Of such text as
Heb. i 7, "He maketh His angels
spirits" Some would here translate,
He maketh the winds His messengers"
But in order to justify this rendering the
article would be required in the Hebrew
FPS civ AZ before r1,cbofL (bl,--,,oboJLN