PIONEER QUOTES
The Trinity Pre 1915
• 3 Persons and 3. Beings
• The three Persons = God
• All three worthy of worship
• Trinity = Christ not created
• The Holy Spirit an individual
• All three Persons eternal
• Oneness in unity, not ontology
“It is evident that the Holy Spirit is one of the *Trinity, and fully represent God [the Father] and Christ, and the *Trinity [or the Godhead GROUP overall]; and appears in any form or shape, or without form or shape, as best answers the purpose of God”
–S.N. Haskell, The Bible Training School, 1910, Vol. 9, No. 7, pg. 13
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“Is THe Holy Spirit a person?”
The Holy Spirit is represented in the Bible as one of the Trinity. Of the Holy Spirit,
Christ said that it “proceedeth from the Father”; and, “He shall testify of Me.” John 15:26. In many instances in the New Testament, the Holy Spirit is spoken of by the use of the personal pronoun ” He” and ” His.” From this we would conclude that the Holy Spirit has a personality.
While the Holy Spirit has a personality, and is represented as an intelligence, yet it is spoken of in a way that we cannot comprehend its personality. The definite form of its personality is not revealed in the Bible. In Acts 2:3, 4, it is represented as ” cloven tongues”; and in verses 17 and 18, it is represented as an influence.
In the Bible it is spoken of as divested of all personality; in other places it is represented as a person; in another place, as ” cloven tongues of fire”; and still again, it is represented in a “bodily shape like a dove.” Luke 3:22. It is not confined to a personality, as a man, as cloven tongues, as a dove, or as being only an influence. It is evident that the Holy Spirit is one of the Trinity, and fully represents God, and Christ, and the Trinity; and appears in any form or shape, or without form or shape, as best answers the purpose of God
S.N. Haskell, Bible Training School, December 1910
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Gabriel was only an angel, upheld by the same Power that sustained John, and he would not for one moment allow John to be deceived by thinking he was a part of the great Trinity of heaven, and worthy of the worship of mankind.
S.N. Haskell, The Story of Daniel the Prophet, 1905 edition, pg. 132
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There is a trinity, and in it there are three personalities.
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From these statements it seems there can be no doubt that Jesus and the Father are two separate individuals, or persons. Therefore when the Word de-clares, “There are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three
are
one,” we must conclude that since the first two are found indisputably to be two persons, the last, or third, member of the trio must logically be also a personality…..The oneness of the Godhead must, then, consist not in personality, but in some other kind of oneness. Let us apply the Bible idea of oneness of individuals to the Godhead, and see if it will contradict the possibility of three or more individuals being called one. WR French – The Trinity (The Review and Herald 1912)
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For the benefit of those who may desire to know more particularly the cardinal features of the faith held by this denomination, we shall state that Seventh-day Adventists believe In the divine Trinity. This Trinity: consists of the eternal Father, a personal, spiritual being, omnipotent, omniscient, intinite in power, wisdom, and love; of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the eternal Father, through whom alll things were created, and through whom the salvation of the redeemed hosts will be accomplished; the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Godhead, the one regenerating agency in the work of redemption.
F.M. Wilcox, Review and Herald, Oct 9, 1913, p. 21
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We recognize the divine Trinity,-the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,-each possessing a distinct and separate personality, but one in nature and in purpose, so welded together in this infinite union that the apostle James speaks of them as “one God.” James 2:19
F.M. Wilcox, Review and Herald, Oct 29, 1931, p. 3
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“…as to the Being of God, —the Godhead,-Divinity as revealed in the Father, the Word (the Son), and the Holy Spirit, we [SDAs] believe and teach just what the Bible says, and nothing else. No man can by searching find out God. No creature can
understand the Almighty to perfection.
The finite mind cannot comprehend infinity…”
—E. J. Waggoner, The Present Truth for 1902 – Vol. 18 – No. 06, pg. 83)
“The doctrine of the trinity is true when rightly understood [or taught in the true way.”
–Stephen N. Haskell (SDA We recognize the divine Trinity,-the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,-each possessing a distinct and separate personality, but one in nature and in purpose, so welded together in this infinite union that the apostle James speaks of them as “one God.” James 2:19), The Bible Training School, Feb. 1906, pg. 156
This is indeed a divine trio, but the Christ of that Trinity was not a created being such as His angels-He was the
“only begotten” of the Father, and He came to earth as the one with the Father from the ” days of eternity.” R.
Hare Union Conference Record July 19,
1909 (Check this quote)
Triune God
“Let Him [the Holy Spirit] make you know, beloved, how surprisingly beautiful are the blended personalities of our *TRIUNE God manifested by the personal presence of the Holy Ghost.”
—“Blended Personalities”, Review and Herald, Vol. 77, April 3, 1900, pg. 210
“I have not by any means reached your conclusion, that the Holy Ghost and the Father are one”, and probably never shall. The Scriptures say that God is a Sun; God is a light, etc. There is certainly a sense in which these statements are true. God and the Son of God MUST BE TWO DIFFERENT PERSONS. Christ says, “My Father is greater than I”, and yet He says we should be one, even as the Father and He are one. It would be pretty hard to make fifteen or twenty of us, all children of God into ONE PERSON.
BUT IT IS JUST AS DIFFICULT TO MAKE THE HOLY GHOST AND THE FATHER ONE PERSON.” Butler to Kellogg 1903
(Note that Kellogg attempted to make the Father into two persons, thus destroying their distinct personalities.
In like manner, many non trinitarians do the same to Jesus, thus becoming a part of the fulfillment of the omega.)
This union between the Father and the Son does not detract from either, but strengthens both. Through it, in connection with the Holy Spirit, we have all of DEITY. Uriah Smith {1898
UrS, LUJ 17.1}
“In the afternoon, at 3: 30 l conducted a singular baptismal service in the home of a sick sister who, although bedridden, anxiously desired a burial with Christ. A bath tub was procured, and after a straight talk on the necessity of baptism and salvation through it, I buried Sister Jennie Bagley in the name of the TRIUNE Deity…..”
—J. K. Humphry, Atlantic Union Gleaner, August 2, 1905, Vol. 4 (No.
30), pgs. 357-8
“…the Creator is the only Being worthy to receive worship….God is worshipped because He is Creator; and God means the Godhead, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; for all are mentioned as having part in creation.”
—The Present Truth (SDA periodical),
Vol. 29, No. 48. Nov. 27, 1913, p. 757
( check who wrote this)
James White wrote: “The inexplicable trinity that makes the godhead three in one and one in three, is bad enough; but that ultra Unitarianism that makes Christ inferior to the Father is worse.”
A.T Jones wrote in 1899, “God is one. Jesus Christ is one. The Holy Spirit is one. And these three are one: there is no dissent nor division among them.”
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“… in the course of the lessons as opportunity occurs you will impress upon the children the relation in which they stand to God the Father as their Creator; to *God the Son (!!!) as their Redeemer; and to God the Holy Ghost (!!!) as their Sanctifier.”
—E.J. Waggoner, Present Truth (UK), February 15, 1894, p. 101
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It was once hard for me to see how a spirit could be a person, bit when I saw that “God is a spirit” (John 4:24)) and that he is no less a person; when I saw that the last Adam (Christ) “was made a quickening spirit” (1 Cor.15: 45), and that he is a person; when I saw that the angels are “spirits” (Heb. 1: 7, 14),, and even that the fallen angels, called “devils, are said to be “unclean spirits” (Luke 8: 26,
29; Acts 19:15, 16); and knowing that all these are persons, I could understand better how the Holy spirit can be a person. R.A Underwood 1898
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