By Very Rev. THOMAS S. PRESTON, V.G.,
"There are three who give testimony in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost. And these three are one."—1 St. John v. 7.
I propose, with the divine assistance, to devote the sermons of this Advent season to a brief and simple explanation of the agency of the Holy Spirit in the redemption of mankind. The subject is of the highest importance, as it lies at the foundation of all truth and spiritual life; while it is directly connected with the whole structure of Christian revelation. Every verity of our creed, and every error opposed to faith find here the light which makes truth resplendent,and puts to flight the shadows of unbelief.
As you are aware, we have recently established in this church a religious confraternity whose object is to promote, and spread more widely devotion and filial affection to the Third Person of the most holy Trinity. We venture to hope that our instructions may be welcome to many hearts, and, by the grace of God, stimulate them to more zeal in the Christian life and burning love to the divine Sanctifier, who is the author of our supernatural life and the fountain of all holiness.
This devotion to the Holy Ghost is a necessary part of Christian worship, as we adore one God in three Persons, and there is no distinction in essence between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, who are one and the same God. "This is the Catholic faith, that we adore one God in trinity, and the Trinity in unity, neither confusing the Persons nor separating the substance. One is the person of the Father, another that of the Son, and another that of the Holy Spirit. But one is the divinity of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; the glory is equal and the majesty is co-eternal." (Creed of St Athanaaius.)
It would be heresy striking at the foundation of Christianity to distinguish even in our minds the adoration we pay to the three Persons of the Trinity, in whose name we are baptized, and by whom we are created and sanctified. New devotion towards the Third Person of the Godhead is only the realization of the old and unchangeable truth, the bringing into clearer light and action that which is essential to our Christian confession and spiritual life.
This is manifest not only from the nature of the Holy Spirit as God, but also from the fact that, in the plans of the Trinity, and the economy of redemption, He is the agent in the application of the atonement of Christ, and in the sanctification of our souls. To Him we owe every good thought, word, or work. From Him we receive the gift of supernatural life. He, by His divine energy, sustains that life once imparted, and carries it on to its development in the union of our whole being with God. He is the soul and living principle of the church, which without Him would be only a human organization, subject to decay and death. He is the source of its unity, and the voice which speaks the words of immutable truth. What, then, do we not owe of love and gratitude to the quickening and sanctifying Spirit!
And surely there never was a time when men needed more the aid of His purifying influence. We walk amid shadows, which we often mistake for light. Men exalt their little knowledge, and even boast of their ignorance. In the pride of their intellects they have arrived at the denial of the only source whence truth can come. Is it not the very height of folly to ignore the being and attributes of God, and in the assertion of self to deny the Deity, without which there is neither the possibility of being nor the faculty of knowledge ? Infidelity has grown bold, and from the rejection of the Christian Church, and the verities of her creed, has come to the unblushing denial of the great First Cause, whose attributes are essential to the existence of all dependent being. Is there any light but that of the Divinity which can illumine eyes so darkened by the mists of pride and the worship of self?
Then the materialism of our age, which measures all things by sense, depresses the instincts of the spiritual life and draws away the heart from the supernatural world wherein we truly live, and for which we were created.
