THE PROBLEM OF FAITH 221; 



sity of reproducing evil, to a holy and truly spirit- 

 ual state, and the privilege of handing that nature 

 on to future generations, is what we mean by sal- 

 vation, and the proclamation of this truth is the 

 gospel. 



The doctrine of the Holy Spirit is fundamental 

 in Christianity as that of salvation is central and 

 distinguishing. It means that God is present and 

 efficient in the life of the individual and of the 

 race ; that He is the ultimate personality, and 

 that He touches and influences spirits, as the 

 light touches and colours flowers. The law of 

 heredity presents a series of facts which at first 

 seem to leave no place for action on human beings 

 by a personality from the outside ; but heredity 

 does not preclude the freedom of men, and there- 

 fore we must assume that it does not exclude the 

 free direct action of the Almighty. God moving 

 human spirits according to His own will is God 

 the Holy Spirit. This is one fact. The inquiry 

 of those who accept Christian teaching therefore 

 is : How may the ministry of the Spirit be recon- 

 ciled with the fact that men receive from those 

 who have gone before them their natural endow- 

 ments of ability and tendency ? Every individual 

 is apparently under inflexible laws, and in the end 

 is what heredity and environment make him ; and 

 ■ Q 



