ABSTRACT
Donne seems to have had a premonition of the conviction voiced by some modern theologians that any doctrine of the Trinity is only as good as its pneumatology, or theology of the Holy Spirit. In his sermon for Whitsun 1624 Donne takes the limits placed on the Spirit's freedom a stage further by refusing to allow that the Spirit can function 'without the Ministery of man' any more than the Church's ministers can function without the Spirit. Donne's words have to be read as a stark warning that believers must not be misled by the name 'Christian' into unconsciously undervaluing the Spirit. Donne's anxious protectiveness of the Spirit was not paranoia. One aspect of the Spirit's historic work which Donne took very seriously was his authorship of the Scriptures. Donne looked at the Holy Spirit and saw a personal channelling of the whole Trinity.
