3rd.—Impressional Inspiration.

This was effected by an external agency sometimes, and by an internal agency at other times, or by the spirit dwelling for the time being within them. We may conceive somewhat of this by the following (Hebrews i. 1) :—II. Peter i. 21 : "Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." Luke i. 70: "As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets which have been since the world began." Luke i. 67: "And Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost and prophesied.", Colossians ii. 9: "In him dwelleth the fullness of the godhead bodily." On the occasion of Jesus' baptism (Matthew iii. 16; Mark i. 10; Luke iii. 22; John i. 32) "the Spirit of God descended and lighted upon him," and, as the history shews, remained with him upon earth until the ascension. In Acts ii. 4, we have an account of the pentecostal gift of the spirit: "And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost," whereby the vocal organs of plain, illiterate Galileans were made to speak many foreign languages. In this connection, as showing the modus of communication, I would instance the following cases of "possession" (see also next chapter):—The first occurs in Genesis iii. Here the organs of a dumb animal are utilized to some purpose. The serpent is made to carry on an argumentative conversation with Eve. An angel is referred to in Numbers xxii. 28, 30: "And the Lord opened the mouth of the ass and she said," &c. There also is given an interesting conversation between a dumb animal and Balaam. In Mark v. 13, i. 24-25, vii. 26; Luke iv. 36, ix. 29, 40, viii. 28—30; Matthew ix. 32, we read of unclean spirits entering bodily into certain persons, controlling their actions, and using their vocal organs to speak with, and so real was this page 13 possession that certain of them were not to be dislodged by any other means than by prayer and fasting. In John xiii. 27, we read that, "Satan entered into" Judas Iscariot, who at once became a passive, willing, instrument in his hands, both in speech and action.