By Very Rev. THOMAS S. PRESTON, V.G.,
Who can venture to speak of that love which in . its immense tide inundates the bosom of the Trinity ? Yet may we reverently think of that unspeakable bliss where we behold our God in the boundless reach of His attributes, a unity and yet a Trinity; alone and yet not alone; in solitude and yet in glad communion with Himself; one in essence, and so alone in His immeasurable distance from things created; three in person, and so not alone in that inner life where Father, Son, and Holy Ghost embrace each other, and know each other, and are lost in felicity at this knowledge of the Divine perfections. Here is all knowledge, all speech, and all love. Here are the Unbegotten, the begotten Word, the prolific Spirit. Love divine gushes in its eternal fountain, and the light of Deity burns everlastingly in its source. So, following the steps of the Fathers, we may think of the Holy Spirit as the active and passive affection of the Godhead, the spring of peace, the tranquillity of order, the harmony of the Infinite in the ~ grandeur of His being. Oh! how it adds to our adoring wonder of the Divinity thus to contemplate the eternal Three in the distinctness of personality and the perfection of unity. Thus they give testimony in heaven, each in His place, and where the "Sanctus" of angels resounds, God, in three persons, knows, enjoys, and glorifies Himself. There the Word speaks the language which Divine ears alone can hear; there the Spirit " searches out the deep things of God."
2. The office of the Holy Ghost .in and towards created things is called His work outwards, though, strictly speaking, there is nothing without the Trinity.
There was an eternity when there was nothing but God; and Father, Son, and Holy Ghost were alone in their supreme and unapproachable rest. When it pleased the infinite will to create; things possible became existences, and in the order and sphere eternally appointed. Light dawned upon material worlds. The spheres rolled in their orbits, and the beauty of the visible creation bloomed beneath the divine touch. The voice of things made broke the silence of eternity, and the morning stars sang in joyful chorus. Angels assembled around the throne, and cherubim and seraphim knelt in mute adoration before the consuming fire. So towards creatures the Holy Spirit hath a special office, and, in harmony with His work within the bosom of Deity, He comes forth to complete, beautify and sanctify the whole creation. "Thou shalt send forth Thy Spirit, and they shall be created ; and Thou shalt renew the face of the earth."
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"In the beginning God created heaven and earth: and the earth was void and empty, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the Spirit of God moved over the waters." * When God spoke, the Word went forth, and "all things were made by Him." f Yet it was the office of the Spirit to brood upon the shapeless mass of chaos, that from His fecundating energy, order and beauty might come forth. When, in the new earth created for our use, the race of man was to take its place, the Three Persons communed together. "Let us make man to our image and likeness." Then was man made with the royal mark upon him, with an intelligent soul, with memory, will, and understanding, in the image of the eternal Three who formed him. Upon our first father, Adam, the Holy Ghost descended, and so was "he made into a living soul." Reason ruled within him, and, by the power of the sanctifying Spirit, there was harmony between soul and body. There was peace, which is "the tranquillity of order," and no war was known between the rational and irrational natures. We attribute to the Third Person of the Trinity the special office in creation of establishing order, of harmonizing elements that might be in conflict, of causing life and beauty to bloom where, without His celestial touch, all would be dead and shapeless. He is the uncreated beauty shining in the things He touches; the divine order leading created intelligences up to the living Unity, which is God. He is "the living spring, the living fire, sweet unction and true love."
So, gazing over the face of the material universe, where there are wonders far above our comprehension and beauties above our capacity of appreciation, we see everywhere "the finger of God's right hand." In every ray that illumines the earth; in the glory of the forests; in the grandeur of the mountains ; in the order of the firmament with its myriad spheres; in the flowers that exhale their sweet odor; in the human face and form, that speak of a world unknown; in all we behold the finishing touch of the eternal Spirit proceeding from the Father and the Son; in creatures, as in the bosom of Deity, showing forth the beauty of God, and telling, as human ears may be able to hear, of His perfections. "Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night" showeth knowledge."
