The Person and Office Of The Holy Ghost. 6.

By Very Rev. THOMAS S. PRESTON, V.G.,

II. THE OFFICE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.

In our contemplation of God and the divine Persons we may reverently look at the Deity within itself and at the Deity in its action outwards upon things created.

1. Within the sacred Trinity each Person may have His office, as each has His place and relations. The Father, who is of none, and who is called by spiritual writers " the root and fountain of the whole Divinity," begets the eternal Son, and is to Him, in the truest sense of our inadequate language, a father. All that this relation involves belongs to Him with the full rights of paternity. He is, in the figures of prophecy, the " Ancient of days." He sits upon the throne, sending forth the streams of light and grace, and holding in His hands the scales of impartial justice, according to the law which is the expression of His will. What He is to the Son eternally begotten by Him, "the brightness of his glory and the figure of His substance," let no one but that Son presume to tell.

If paternity mean anything of strength, and care, and tenderness in our speech, in the divine tongue it must mean much more.

The Son, from all eternity generated by the will of the Father, comes forth, with the fullness of the divine essence, to express the glory of Deity and the power of that Deity within itself. To paternity filiation responds, and the Son gives back the love that He receives in the might of a divine filial affection. God only can know Himself. God only can worthily love Himself. Here all that sonship signifies is real in the immensity of Deity. Its loyalty, its consecration, its expression of likeness are all here, and all heightened to infinity; because the Son begotten is equal to the Father, and the eternal generation presents a coequal and consubstantial Son. He is not only the likeness of His Father ; He is in all things equal to Him, having His whole substance and the whole indivisible divine essence. Oh! what joy is here in the unapproachable felicity of the Trinity: the Father contemplating the Son; the Son contemplating the Father; God loving Himself! Perhaps it may be part of the beatitude of saints to know something of this joy, and to be filled with some faint impulses of this gladness, when they see God as He is, and are borne into the sphere of the attractions of His being.

The spiration of the Holy Ghost is the last of the divine processions. Here, as some of the Fathers reverently say, the Father and the Son, as one principle, by an act of supreme love breathe forth the co-etemal Spirit. It is the act of their mutual love, and the Spirit of Father and Son proceeds from both, the pledge of their mutual affection and the expression of beatitude. This completes, if we may so speak, the circle of the divine productiveness, and the Spirit, being one in substance and equal in power and glory, is, in the words of St. Bernard, "the sacred kiss of the Father and the Son, as their imperturbable peace, their firm co-inherence, their undivided love, their indivisible unity." "The Holy Ghost proceeds from both and embraces both, as the indissoluble bond of charity, the sweetest kiss of peace, the most blessed embrace of mutual love." Thus in the Trinity "there are two origins, the first by the way of knowledge and the other by the way of love. By the first is a Son co-eternal with His Father, who comes forth from the bosom of the Father, but leaves it not; who receives all from Him, but is not dependent on Him. By the second is the Holy Ghost produced like the Son, but not, like Him, begotten. The Son proceeds from the Father as the ray from the sun; the Holy Ghost from the Father and the Son as heat from the ray and the sun; the Son as the word, the Holy Ghost as the breath; the Son as the river from the fountain, the Holy Ghost as the lightning from the cloud. These expressions are all good, but all defective. The ray wants equality, the heat substance ; the word wants reality, the breath solidity, the river stability, the lightning duration and life. But here the ray is equal to the sun; the heat consubstantial with its principle; the word says all, and is all that it says ; the breath goes forth unceasingly, and never breathes its last; the river flows continually, and abides ever in its source; the fire of heaven burns always, and never burns away."  If the divine Spirit may be called the expression of the eternal mutual love of the Father and the Son, what must be the transport of His being when, in response to the spiration of that love, He gives back the affection by which He proceeds! 

The Person and Office Of The Holy Ghost. 5.

theophilia.deviantart.com

By Very Rev. THOMAS S. PRESTON, V.G.,

The Holy Ghost is in all things equal to the Father and the Son, from whom He eternally proceeds, and with whom He is consubstantial. "In this Trinity nothing is prior or posterior, nothing is greater or less ; but the whole three Persons are co-eternal to one another and co equal." (Creed of St. Athanasius).

In speaking of the nature of God's being we necessarily transcend the powers of reason, but we in no sense contradict reason, which in its finite sphere can predicate nothing of the Infinite. While there might be contradiction in the idea of three human persons in one human being, there cannot be the slightest in the mystery of the Trinity which reveals to us the mode of God's existence. To attempt to see contradiction here would be to reason from things made and imperfectly comprehended to the uncreated and incomprehensible. Here the one office of right reason is to hear, believe, and adore.

There is still another truth to be presented before we finish our brief exposition of the Christian doctrina concerning the divine Spirit. He is called the third Person of the eternal Trinity, because they are three who bear testimony in heaven, and they are as distinct in person as they are one in essence. The terms first, second, and third are only to mark such distinction. It is manifest that there can be no first in any dignity of nature or power. In the unity of the Trinity there is, however, a marvellous order expressed as clearly as our poor language will admit, and revealed to us as far as our finite intellects may bear it. "The Father is made of none, neither created nor begotten. The Son is from the Father alone, not made nor created, but begotten. The Holy Ghost is from the Father and the Son, not made, nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding." (Creed of St. Athanasius.) The Father from all eternity communicates the divine essence to the Son, and this communication we call generation, by which there is a true filial relation between the Father and the Son. Thus the Second Person is eternally begotten, and is of necessity consubstantial with Him by whom He is begotten. The Father and the Son eternally communicate the divine essence to the Holy Spirit by a process which we call procession. In this act they are one principle, and there is one spiration. The Father is the principle of the Son in the eternal act of generation. The Father and the Son are the principle of the Holy Ghost in the eternal act of spiration. We say principle intrinsic, since all is within the essence of Deity. We use not the word cause, since this term may imply an extrinsic agency, and the cause may also produce an effect which shall in nature be distinct from itself. Thus in the holy Trinity we admit two origins, generation and procession. From these flow the four relations which exist between the divine Persons. Paternity truly belongs to the Father, because He begets His eternal and consubstantial Son. The filial relation of the Second Person responds to the paternity of the Father. And as the Father and Son together breathe forth the Spirit there are the relations of procession and spiration. These wonderful relations in God are true and real.

We call, therefore, the Holy Ghost the Third Person of the undivided Trinity, because He eternally proceeds from the Father and the Son. This is the clear confession of our creed. Thus the General Council of Florence defines "that the Holy Spirit proceeds eternally from the Father, and the Son as from one principle and by one spiration." In the Sacred Scriptures He is called the Spirit of Christ, as well as the Spirit of God; and He is the Paraclete sent by the Son to accomplish His work on earth. He glorifies the incarnate Word on earth, since He takes of that which is His and shows it unto us. He then proceeds from the Father and the Son as from a fountain and origin, and has all things common with them.

Such is the mystery of the Trinity which declares the divine personality of the Holy Ghost. While there is perfect distinction, so that in regard of personality there is no confusion; there is also the intimate existence of one Person in the other by reason of unity of essence. Thus, according to St. Fulgentius, "the Father is wholly in the Son and Holy Spirit; the Son is wholly in the Father and Holy Spirit; the Holy Spirit is wholly in the Father and the Son." To this end are the words of Christ, twice repeated: "1 am in the Father, and the Father in me." (St. John xiv. 11.) When the apostle is transported at the sight of the ways of God in the works of His hand he cries out in wonder: " O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and of the knowledge of God! how incomprehensible are His judgments and how unsearchable His ways!" Much more will the Christian soul tremble and exult at the thought of the greatness of his Maker. Wonderful in His ways, how far beyond all the reach of finite intellect is He wondrous in Himself ! There from things created, from things conceivable, the mind ascends where clouds and darkness are the outskirts of the throne, where cherubim and seraphim veil their faces before the uncreated light, and all the universe, poised on the divine hand, bows down in adoration. Such is our God, a Trinity in unity, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost in their supreme rest and unspeakable bliss.

The Person and Office Of The Holy Ghost. 4

By Very Rev. THOMAS S. PRESTON, V.G.,

The divinity of the Holy Spirit is evident from the nature of His personality in the eternal Trinity. He is proceeding from the Father and the Son as one principle, and so has His distinct mode of subsistence, while He possesses the whole of the divine essence. In the Sacred Scriptures the name, properties, and operations of God are attributed to Him. He bears the incommunicable name of God in the same manner as the Father and the Son. Omnipresence, omniscience, and omnipotence are attributed to Him.

"The Spirit of the Lord hath filled the whole world." (Wisdom i. 7) ''The Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. The things that are of God, no one knoweth but the Spirit of God."(1 Cor. ii. 10,11.) "By the Word of the Lord the heavens were established, and all the power of them by the Spirit of His mouth." (Psalm xxxii. 6.)

Thus it is the Holy Ghost who creates, renews the face pf the earth, works the miracles of grace, and will, by His power, raise the bodies of the dead. "Thou shalt send forth thy Spirit, and they shall be created ; and Thou shalt renew the face of the earth." (Psalm ciii. 30.) "Ye are the temple of God, for the Spirit of God dwelleth in you." (I Cor 3:16.) "If the Spirit of Him, that raised up Jesus from the dead, dwell in you; He that raised up Jesus Christ from the dead, shall quicken also your mortal bodies, because of His Spirit that dwelleth in you." (Rom. viii. 11.) So the words of the text clearly sum up the whole doctrine : " There are three who give testimony in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit." If, therefore, there are three witnesses, they are distinguished from each other. "I am one," says our Lord, "that give testimony of myself; and the Father that sent me, giveth testimony of me." (St. John viii. 18) "The Spirit of truth shall not speak of Himself. He shall glorify me, because He shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you." (St. John xvi. 13)

The Word, therefore, and the Holy-Spirit, who concur with the Father in giving testimony; are not two energies or attributes of the Father. They must be distinct persons, else there would not be three witnesses. They cannot be distinct in essence, else there would be three Gods, which is impossible. They are therefore distinct in personality, as we have already seen. But " these three distinct persons are one." The unity of essence in the divine Persons is manifest. It is a necessity of God's being, which can suffer neither change nor division. The very notion of such change would destroy the fundamental idea of deity. If there were not one and the same essence in the Word and Holy Spirit as in the Father, they would be at an infinite distance from the Father, and could not be one with Him. "I and my Father are one" (St. John x. 30.) says our Lord to the Jews, who stoned Him for the assertion of His divinity. And to Philip, His disciple, He thus - speaks: " So long a time have I been with you, and have you not known me? He that seeth me, seeth the Father also." (St. John xiv. 9.) "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." (St. John 1:1) As the Word was God by unity of essence with the Father, so also, from all eternity the Holy Ghost is God. Thus the divine Three who bear testimony in heaven are one.