The Holy Spirit

"What Church history sufficiently verifies is that without a full testimony to the divine personality and agency of the Holy Spirit, no blessing can be expected on the ministrations of any Church...Wherever religion comes in power, the presence of the Spirit as connecting the Church on earth with Christ in heaven occupies a large place in the Church's consciousness and adorations.  The doctrine of the Spirit not less than the doctrine of justification by faith in Christ's merits is the article of a standing or falling Church, and without the recognition of it no religious prosperity exists or can exist.The historical survey of past centuries ... the age of Augustine, the Reformation and the great awakening of last century, naturally suggest a closing remark that may not be out of place.  The Church of God is in her right attitude only when she is waiting for a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit who comes from Christ and leads to Christ.  We see combined in all successful preachers of the gospel right views of the Spirit's operations, an undiverted gaze upon the cross, and a proclamation of the fact that the Spirit comes to glorify the Son in His person and in His offices.  Thus we hear one exclaiming, 'Spirit of preaching, that is Spirit of Christ, come down on me.'  They have always set forth that spiritual life flows form the historical Christ the Surety through the Holy Ghost, and that though the Spirit comes not of necessity, but of free condescending love, He comes as the Spirit of our risen Lord, the organ by which He acts, the executive by whom He rules, the Comfort sent in Christ's name."George Smeaton, The Doctrine of the Spirit, p.366