By Very Rev. THOMAS S. PRESTON, V.G.,
Two important lessons are to be learned from this brief view of the person and work of the divine Spirit.
The more we know of the greatness of God in Himself, the more wonderful seems His condescension. What are we that the Three Persons of the Godhead should so occupy themselves with our salvation? The creature is low enough by nature in comparison with his Creator. What is he, then, before the eyes of the infinite Majesty, when by sin he has degraded his nature and made it impure; when the gifts of Providence have been trailed in the mire of corruption? If the unfallen angels are not clean in the sight of the AU-Holy, what is man, fallen and corrupted by transgression? Yet upon him seems to stoop the whole mercy of the Creator. Passing by fallen angels for whom no redemption was offered, the outer life of the eternal Three seems to be spent upon our recovery. The Father plans in His great heart the scheme of salvation ; the Son comes joyfully to the Virgin's womb and the cross; and the Holy Spirit refuses not to move with pitying love and unwonted energy upon the waste, where a greater than primeval darkness rests upon the face of the deep. Let us value our souls by their price in the eyes of God, by the labors of the Three infinite Persons. What a loss will it be if we, made by the will of the Father, bought by the Blood of the Son, and sanctified by the power of the Holy Ghost, fail to realize our dignity, and fall eternally from the arms of the Trinity into the rayless darkness where the light of grace can never be rekindled! The divine Mind alone can estimate our value and measure our ruin.
And, lastly, while we rejoice in the presence and comfort of the Paraclete, and know that He is our all-abiding strength, how should we fear before Him and tremble lest we . grieve Him ! He is a consuming fire, to burn away our dross and to lighten our darkness with the searching beams of divinity. He is ours in thought and will, in word and deed, according to our wish. As much as we ask He will give, and even beyond all our hopes he will respond to our desires. We can drink of purity itself; bathe at our will in the precious Blood of Christ; and even before the days of exile are ended taste of the fruit of the tree of life. Yet do we realize that it is God who is within us, that we are His temples, that it is He who speaks to us in times of trial, sorrow, or joy? How happy are we to bear our Paraclete within us, and how sacred is the heart where He dwells! Lifted up above the storms of earth, far from its confusing strife, is the home where the Spirit of the Father and the Son abides! This is the Love of the Holy Trinity, and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God dwelleth in Him. We cannot dwell in love unless our souls, in will and affection, are one with God, for God is one. Let us cry earnestly to the quickening Spirit by whose life we live. He will help us to realize our consecration to the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. He will enlighten our understanding, chase away sin and sorrow from our memory, and give supernal vigor to our will. By God we shall take hold of God, and by divine power ascend where our weakness shall be made strength. On the wings of the Spirit we are borne to the bosom of the Son, and in His human arms we are presented to the Father. God bears us to God. "The Spirit helpeth our infirmity ; for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit Himself asketh for us with unspeakable groanings. And He that searcheth the hearts knoweth what the Spirit desireth, because He asketh for the saints according to God. And we know that to them that love God, all things work together unto good, to such as according to His purpose are called to be saints."
"Careful to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. One body and one Spirit: as you are called in one hope of your calling. One Lord, one faith, one baptism. One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in us all."— Ephesians iv. 8-6.
Order is the necessary mark of all the works of God. To this order unity-is essential. In things created this unity appears, as far as is possible to finite existences. There cannot be the supreme oneness of God, but there is the unity of design, of end and operation. We cannot conceive of the divine Being working in confusion, which would be disorder and seeming contradiction. In things inanimate there is perfect harmony throughout the whole realm of creation. If there be disorder among intelligent beings it is owing to the perversity of their wills, which have the power to resist the plan of God and rebel against Him. The Deity has no share in this work of disunion from Himself. The separation from unity is essential disorder.
If, then, order and unity mark the works of the first creation, when from nothing the universe sprang into being; much more, and in a truer sense, shall be seen these signs of the divine action in the new creation, which is a work of a higher nature and in a plane nearer to the Deity itself. There is no need to develop here the argument which from the unity of the visible creation demonstrates the unity of the great First Cause. We pass to the necessary conclusion that the essential attributes of the Deity must be more manifest in the redemption. By sin the intelligent race of man fell from order, and by the interposition of God, who is one, they mnst by unity be restored to unity. This human erring wills may be brought brought back to harmony with the one all-perfect will of the Creator. If God is to work a salvation for the children of Adam, He must act in accordance with His nature. The subject of this lecture concerns, then, the sphere of the divine operation in redemption, and consequently the work of the Holy Ghost upon earth. That work is in a visible body, of which the eternal Spirit becomes the living principle, and through which He operates to the sanctification of men.
