Come Holy Ghost. Part 1

FROM MANY WRITERS ON DEVOTION TO THE THIRD PERSON OF THE ADORABLE TRINITY.

DIVINUM ILLUD MUNUS
ENCYCLICAL OF POPE LEO XIII
ON THE HOLY SPIRIT

That divine office which Jesus Christ received from His Father for the welfare of mankind, and most perfectly fulfilled, had for its final object to put men in possession of the eternal life of glory, and proximately during the course of ages to secure to them the life of divine grace, which is destined eventually to blossom into the life of heaven. Wherefore, our Saviour never ceases to invite, with infinite affection, all men, of every race and tongue, into the bosom of His Church: "Come ye all to Me," "I am the Life," "I am the Good Shepherd." Nevertheless, according to His inscrutable counsels, He did not will to entirely complete and finish this office Himself on earth, but as He had received it from the Father, so He transmitted it for its completion to the Holy Ghost. It is consoling to recall those assurances which Christ gave to the body of His disciples a little before He left the earth: "It is expedient to you that I go: for if I go not, the Paraclete will not come to you: but if I go, I will send Him to you" (1 John xvi., 7). In these words He gave as the chief reason of His departure and His return to the Father, the advantage which would most certainly accrue to His followers from the coming of the Holy Ghost, and, at the same time, He made it clear that the Holy Ghost is equally sent by-and therefore proceeds from-Himself and the Father; that He would complete, in His office of Intercessor, Consoler, and Teacher, the work which Christ Himself had begun in His mortal life. For, in the redemption of the world, the completion of the work was by Divine Providence reserved to the manifold power of that Spirit, who, in the creation, "adorned the heavens" (Job xxvi., 13), and "filled the whole world" (Wisdom i., 7).

The Two Principal Aims of Our Pontificate

2. Now We have earnestly striven, by the help of His grace, to follow theexample of Christ, Our Saviour, the Prince of Pastors, and the Bishop of ourSouls, by diligently carrying on His office, entrusted by Him to the Apostlesand chiefly to Peter, "whose dignity faileth not, even in his unworthysuccessor" (St. Leo the Great, Sermon ii., On the Anniversary of hisElection). In pursuance of this object We have endeavoured to direct all that Wehave attempted and persistently carried out during a long pontificatetowards two chief ends: in the first place, towards the restoration, both in rulers and peoples, of the principles of the Christian life in civil and domestic society, since there is no true life for men except from Christ; and, secondly, to promote the reunion of those who have fallen away from the Catholic Church either by heresy or by schism, since it is most undoubtedly the will of Christ that all should be united in one flock under one Shepherd. But now that We are looking forward to the approach of the closing days of Our life, Our soul is deeply moved to dedicate to the Holy Ghost, who is the life-giving Love, all the work We have done during Our pontificate, that He may bring it to maturity and fruitfulness. In order the better and more fully to carry out this Our intention, We have resolved to address you at the approaching sacred season of Pentecost concerning the indwelling and miraculous power of the Holy Ghost; and the extent and efficiency of His action, both in the whole body of the Church and in the individual souls of its members, through the glorious abundance of His divine graces. We earnestly desire that, as a result, faith may be aroused in your minds concerning the mystery of the adorable Trinity, and especially that piety may increase and be inflamed towards the Holy Ghost, to whom especially all of us owe the grace of following the paths of truth and virtue; for, as St. Basil said, "Who denieth that the dispensations concerning man, which have been made by the great God and our Saviour, Jesus Christ, according to the goodness of God, have been fulfilled through the grace of the Spirit?" (Of the Holy Ghost, c. xvi., v. 39).

The Catholic Doctrine of the Blessed Trinity

3. Before We enter upon this subject, it will be both desirable and useful to say a few words about the Mystery of the Blessed Trinity. This dogma is called by the doctors of the Church "the substance of the New Testament," that is to say, the greatest of all mysteries, since it is the fountain and origin of them all. In order to know and contemplate this mystery, the angels were created in Heaven and men upon earth. In order to teach more fully this mystery, which was but foreshadowed in the Old Testament, God Himself came down from the angels unto men: "No man bath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He bath declared Him" (John i., 18). Whosoever then writes or speaks of the Trinity must keep before His eyes the prudent warning ofthe Angelic Doctor: "When we speak of the Trinity, we must do so withcaution and modesty, for, as St. Augustine saith, nowhere else are moredangerous errors made, or is research more difficult, or discovery morefruitful" (Summ. Th. la., q. xxxi. De Trin. 1 L, c. 3). The danger thatarises is lest the Divine Persons be confounded one with the other in faith orworship, or lest the one Nature in them be separated: for "This is theCatholic Faith, that we should adore one God in Trinity and Trinity inUnity." Therefore Our predecessor Innocent XII, absolutely refused thepetition of those who desired a special festival in honour of God the Father.For, although the separate mysteries connected with the Incarnate Word arecelebrated on certain fixed days, yet there is no special feast on which theWord is honoured according to His Divine Nature alone. And even the Feast ofPentecost was instituted in the earliest times, not simply to honour the HolyGhost in Himself, but to commemorate His coming, or His external mission. Andall this has been wisely ordained, lest from distinguishing the Persons menshould be led to distinguish the Divine Essence. Moreover the Church, in orderto preserve in her children the purity of faith, instituted the Feast of theMost Holy Trinity, which John XXII. afterwards extended to the Universal Church.He also permitted altars and churches to be dedicated to the Blessed Trinity,and, with the divine approval, sanctioned the Order for the Ransom of Captives,which is specially devoted to the Blessed Trinity and bears Its name. Many factsconfirm its truths. The worship paid to the saints and angels, to the Mother ofGod, and to Christ Himself, finally redounds to the honour of the BlessedTrinity. In prayers addressed to one Person, there is also mention of theothers; in the litanies after the individual Persons have been separatelyinvoked, a common invocation of all is added: all psalms and hymns conclude withthe doxology to the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; blessings, sacred rites, andsacraments are either accompanied or concluded by the invocation of the BlessedTrinity. This was already foreshadowed by the Apostle in those words: "Forof Him, and by Him, and in Him, are all things: to Him be glory for ever"(Rom. xi., 36), thereby signifying both the Trinity of Persons and the Unity ofNature: for as this is one and the same in each of the Persons, so to each is equally owing supreme glory, as to one and the same God. St. Augustine commenting upon this testimony writes: "The words of the Apostle, of Him, and by Him, and in Him are not to be taken indiscriminately; of Him refers to the Father, by Him to the Son, in Him to the Holy Ghost" (De Trin. 1. vi., c. 10; 1. i., c. 6). The Church is accustomed most fittingly to attribute to the Father those works of the Divinity in which power excels, to the Son those in which wisdom excels, and those in which love excels to the Holy Ghost. Not that all perfections and external operations are not common to the Divine Persons; for "the operations of the Trinity are indivisible, even as the essence of the Trinity is indivisible" (St. Aug., De Trin., I. 1, cc. 4-5); because as the three Divine Persons "are inseparable, so do they act inseparably" (St. Aug., i6.). But by a certain comparison, and a kind of affinity between the operations and the properties of the Persons, these operations are attributed or, as it is said, "appropriated" to One Person rather than to the others. "Just as we make use of the traces of similarity or likeness which we find in creatures for the manifestation of the Divine Persons, so do we use Their essential attributes; and this manifestation of the Persons by Their essential attributes is called appropriation" (St. Th. la., q. 39, xxxix., a. 7). In this manner the Father, who is "the principle of the whole God-head" (St. Aug. De Trin. 1 iv., c. 20) is also the efficient cause of all things, of the Incarnation of the Word, and the sanctification of souls; "of Him are all things": of Him, referring to the Father. But the Son, the Word, the Image of God is also the exemplar cause, whence all creatures borrow their form and beauty, their order and harmony. He is for us the Way, the Truth, and the Life; the Reconciles of man with God. "By Him are all things": by Him, referring to the Son. The Holy Ghost is the ultimate cause of all things, since, as the will and all other things finally rest in their end, so He, who is the Divine Goodness and the Mutual Love of the Father and Son, completes and perfects, by His strong yet gentle power, the secret work of man's eternal salvation. "In Him are all things": in Him, referring to the Holy Ghost.

The Holy Ghost and the Incarnation

4. Having thus paid the due tribute of faith and worship owing to the Blessed Trinity, and which ought to be more and more inculcated upon the Christian people, we now turn to the exposition of the power of theHoly Ghost. And, first of all, we must look to Christ, the Founder of the Churchand the Redeemer of our race. Among the external operations of God, the highestof all is the mystery of the Incarnation of the Word, in which the splendour ofthe divine perfections shines forth so brightly that nothing more sublime caneven be imagined, nothing else could have been more salutary to the human race.Now this work, although belonging to the whole Trinity, is still appropriatedespecially to the Holy Ghost, so that the Gospels thus speak of the BlessedVirgin: "She was found with child of the Holy Ghost," and "thatwhich is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost" (Matt. i., 18, 20). Andthis is rightly attributed to Him who is the love of the Father and the Son,since this "great mystery of piety" (1 Tim. iii., 16) proceeds fromthe infinite love of God towards man, as St. John tells us: "God so lovedthe world as to give His only begotten Son" (John iii., 16). Moreover,human nature was thereby elevated to a personal union with the Word; and thisdignity is given, not on account of any merits, but entirely and absolutelythrough grace, and therefore, as it were, through the special gift of the HolyGhost. On this point St. Augustine writes: "This manner in which Christ wasborn of the Holy Ghost, indicates to us the grace of God, by which humanity,with no antecedent merits, at the first moment of its existence, was united withthe Word of God, by so intimate a personal union, that He, who was the Son ofMan, was also the Son of God, and He who was the Son of God was also the Son ofMan" (Enchir., c. xl. St. Th., 3a., q. xxxii., a. 1). By the operation ofthe Holy Spirit, not only was the conception of Christ accomplished, but alsothe sanctification of His soul, which, in Holy Scripture, is called His"anointing" (Acts x., 38). Wherefore all His actions were"performed in the Holy Ghost" (St. Basil de Sp. S., c. xvi.), andespecially the sacrifice of Himself: "Christ, through the Holy Ghost,offered Himself without spot to God" (Heb. ix., 14). Considering this, noone can be surprised that all the gifts of the Holy Ghost inundated the soul ofChrist. In Him resided the absolute fullness of grace, in the greatest and mostefficacious manner possible; in Him were all the treasures of wisdom andknowledge, graces gratis datae, virtues, and all other gifts foretold in theprophecies of Isaias (Is. iv., I; xi., 23), and also signified in that miraculous dove which appeared at the Jordan, when Christ, by His baptism, consecrated its waters for a new sacrament. On this the words of St. Augustine may appropriately be quoted: "It would be absurd to say that Christ received the Holy Ghost when He was already thirty years of age, for He came to His baptism without sin, and therefore not without the Holy Ghost. At this time, then (that is, at His baptism), He was pleased to prefigure His Church, in which those especially who are baptized receive the Holy Ghost" (De. Trin. 1., xv., c. 26). Therefore, by the conspicuous apparition of the Holy Ghost over Christ and by His invisible power in His soul, the twofold mission of the Spirit is foreshadowed, namely, His outward and visible mission in the Church, and His secret indwelling in the souls of the just.

The Holy Ghost and the Church

5. The Church which, already conceived, came forth from the side of the second Adam in His sleep on the Cross, first showed herself before the eyes of men on the great day of Pentecost. On that day the Holy Ghost began to manifest His gifts in the mystic body of Christ, by that miraculous outpouring already foreseen by the prophet Joel (ii., 28-29), for the Paraclete "sat upon the apostles as though new spiritual crowns were placed upon their heads in tongues of fire" (S. Cyril Hier. Catech. 17). Then the apostles "descended from the mountain," as St. John Chrysostom writes, "not bearing in their hands tables of stone like Moses, but carrying the Spirit in their mind, and pouring forth the treasure and the fountain of doctrines and graces" (In Matt. Hom. L, 2 Cor. iii., 3). Thus was fully accomplished that last promise of Christ to His apostles of sending the Holy Ghost, who was to complete and, as it were, to seal the deposit of doctrine committed to them under His inspiration. "I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now; but when He, the Spirit of Truth, shall come, He will teach you all truth" (John xvi., 12-13). For He who is the Spirit of Truth, inasmuch as He proceedeth both from the Father, who is the eternally True, and from the Son, who is the substantial Truth, receiveth from each both His essence and the fullness of all truth. This truth He communicates to His Church, guarding her by His all powerful help from ever falling into error, and aiding her to foster daily more and more the germs of divine doctrineand to make them fruitful for the welfare of the peoples. And since the welfareof the peoples, for which the Church was established, absolutely requires thatthis office should be continued for all time, the Holy Ghost perpetuallysupplies life and strength to preserve and increase the Church. "I will askthe Father, and He will give you another Paraclete, that He may abide with youfor ever, the Spirit of Truth" (john xiv., 16, 17).

6. By Him the bishops are constituted, and by their ministry are multiplied not only the children, but also the fathers-that is to say, the priests-to rule and feed the Church by that Blood wherewith Christ has redeemed Her. "The Holy Ghost hath placed you bishops to rule the Church of God, which He bath purchased with His own Blood" (Acts xx., 28). And both bishops and priests, by the miraculous gift of the Spirit, have the power of absolving sins, according to those words of Christ to the Apostles: "Receive ye the Holy Ghost; whose sins you shall forgive they are forgiven them, and whose you shall retain they are retained" (John xx., 22, 23). That the Church is a divine institution is most clearly proved by the splendour and glory of those gifts and graces with which she is adorned, and whose author and giver is the Holy Ghost. Let it suffice to state that, as Christ is the Head of the Church, so is the Holy Ghost her soul. "What the soul is in our body, that is the Holy Ghost in Christ's body, the Church" (St. Aug., Serm. 187, de Temp.). This being so, no further and fuller "manifestation and revelation of the Divine Spirit" may be imagined or expected; for that which now takes place in the Church is the most perfect possible, and will last until that day when the Church herself, having passed through her militant career, shall be taken up into the joy of the saints triumphing in heaven.

The Holy Ghost in the Souls of the Just

7. The manner and extent of the action of the Holy Ghost in individual souls is no less wonderful, although somewhat more difficult to understand, inasmuch as it is entirely invisible. This outpouring of the Spirit is so abundant, that Christ Himself, from whose gift it proceeds, compares it to an overflowing river, according to those words of St. John: "He that believeth in Me, as the Scripture saith, out of his midst shall flow rivers of livingwater"; to which testimony the Evangelist adds the explanation: "Nowthis He said of the Spirit which they should receive who believed in Him"(John vii., 38, 39). It is indeed true that in those of the just who livedbefore Christ, the Holy Ghost resided by grace, as we read in the Scripturesconcerning the prophets, Zachary, John the Baptist, Simeon, and Anna; so that onPentecost the Holy Ghost did not communicate Himself in such a way "as thenfor the first time to begin to dwell in the saints, but by pouring Himself forthmore abundantly; crowning, not beginning His gifts; not commencing a new work,but giving more abundantly" (St. Leo the Great, Hom. iii., de Pentec.). Butif they also were numbered among the children of God, they were in a state likethat of servants, for "as long as the heir is a child he differeth nothingfrom a servant, but is under tutors and governors" (Gal. iv., I, 2).Moreover, not only was their justice derived from the merits of Christ who wasto come, but the communication of the Holy Ghost after Christ was much moreabundant, just as the price surpasses in value the earnest and the realityexcels the image. Wherefore St. John declares: "As yet the Spirit was notgiven, because Jesus was not yet glorified" (John vii., 39). So soon,therefore, as Christ, "ascending on high," entered into possession ofthe glory of His Kingdom which He had won with so much labour, He munificentlyopened out the treasures of the Holy Ghost: "He gave gifts to men"(Eph. iv., 8). For "that giving or sending forth of the Holy Ghost afterChrist's glorification was to be such as had never been before; not that therehad been none before, but it had not been of the same kind" (St. Aug., DeTrin., 1. iv. c. 20).

8. Human nature is by necessity the servant of God: "The creature is a servant; we are the servants of God by nature" (St. Cyr. Alex., Thesaur. I. v., c. 5). On account, however, of original sin, our whole nature had fallen into such guilt and dishonour that we had become enemies to God. "We were by nature the children of wrath" (Eph. ii., 3). There was no power which could raise us and deliver us from this ruin and eternal destruction. But God, the Creator of mankind and infinitely merciful, did this through His only begotten Son, by whose benefit it was brought about that man was restored so that rank and dignity whence he had fallen, and was adornedwith still more abundant graces. No one can express the greatness of this workof divine grace in the souls of men. Wherefore, both in Holy Scripture and inthe writings of the fathers, men are styled regenerated, new creatures,partakers of the Divine Nature, children of God, god-like, and similar epithets.Now these great blessings are justly attributed as especially belonging to theHoly Ghost. He is "the Spirit of adoption of sons, whereby we cry: Abba,Father." He fills our hearts with the sweetness of paternal love: "TheSpirit Himself giveth testimony to our spirit that we are the sons of God"(Rom. viii., 15-16). This truth accords with the similitude observed by theAngelic Doctor between both operations of the Holy Ghost; for through Him"Christ was conceived in holiness to be by nature the Son of God," and"others are sanctified to be the sons of God by adoption" (St. Th. 3a,q. xxxii., a. I). This spiritual generation proceeds from love in a much morenoble manner than the natural: namely, from the untreated Love.

9. The beginnings of this regeneration and renovation of man are by Baptism. In this sacrament, when the unclean spirit has been expelled from the soul, the Holy Ghost enters in and makes it like to Himself. "That which is born of the Spirit, is spirit" (John iii., 6). The same Spirit gives Himself more abundantly in Confirmation, strengthening and confirming Christian life; from which proceeded the victory of the martyrs and the triumph of the virgins over temptations and corruptions. We have said that the Holy Ghost gives Himself: "the charity of God is poured out into our hearts by the Holy Ghost who is given to us" (Rom. v., 5). For He not only brings to us His divine gifts, but is the Author of them and is Himself the supreme Gift, who, proceeding from the mutual love of the Father and the Son, is justly believed to be and is called "Gift of God most High." To show the nature and efficacy of this gift it is well to recall the explanation given by the doctors of the Church of the words of Holy Scripture. They say that God is present and exists in all things, "by His power, in so far as all things are subject to His power; by His presence, inasmuch as all things are naked and open to His eyes; by His essence, inasmuch as he is present to all as the cause of their being." (St. Th. Ia, q. viii., a. 3). But God is in man, not only as in inanimate things, but because he ismore fully known and loved by him, since even by nature we spontaneously love,desire, and seek after the good. Moreover, God by grace resides in the just soulas in a temple, in a most intimate and peculiar manner. From this proceeds thatunion of affection by which the soul adheres most closely to God, more so thanthe friend is united to his most loving and beloved friend, and enjoys God inall fulness and sweetness. Now this wonderful union, which is properly called"indwelling," differing only in degree or state from that with whichGod beatifies the saints in heaven, although it is most certainly produced bythe presence of the whole Blessed Trinity-"We will come to Him and make ourabode with Him," (John xiv. 23.)-nevertheless is attributed in a peculiarmanner to the Holy Ghost. For, whilst traces of divine power and wisdom appeareven in the wicked man, charity, which, as it were, is the special mark of theHoly Ghost, is shared in only by the just. In harmony with this, the same Spiritis called Holy, for He, the first and supreme Love, moves souls and leads themto sanctity, which ultimately consists in the love of God. Wherefore the apostlewhen calling us to the temple of God, does not expressly mention the Father orthe Son, or the Holy Ghost: "Know ye not that your members are the templeof the Holy Ghost, who is in you, whom you have from God?" (1 Cor. vi. 19).The fullness of divine gifts is in many ways a consequence of the indwelling ofthe Holy Ghost in the souls of the just. For, as St. Thomas teaches, "whenthe Holy Ghost proceedeth as love, He proceedeth in the character of the firstgift; whence Augustine with that, through the gift which is the Holy Ghost, manyother special gifts are distributed among the members of Christ." (Summ.Th., la. q. xxxviii., a. 2. St. Aug. de Trin., xv., c. 19). Among these giftsare those secret warnings and invitations, which from time to time are excitedin our minds and hearts by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. Without thesethere is no beginning of a good life, no progress, no arriving at eternalsalvation. And since these words and admonitions are uttered in the soul in anexceedingly secret manner, they are sometimes aptly compared in Holy Writ to thebreathing of a coming breeze, and the Angelic Doctor likens them to themovements of the heart which are wholly hidden in the living body. "Thy heart has a certain hidden power, and therefore the Holy Ghost, who invisibly vivifies and unites the Church, is compared to the heart." (Summ. Th. 3a, q. vii., a. I, ad 3). More than this, the just man, that is to say he who lives the life of divine grace, and acts by the fitting virtues as by means of faculties, has need of those seven gifts which are properly attributed to the Holy Ghost. By means of them the soul is furnished and strengthened so as to obey more easily and promptly His voice and impulse. Wherefore these gifts are of such efficacy that they lead the just man to the highest degree of sanctity; and of such excellence that they continue to exist even in heaven, though in a more perfect way. By means of these gifts the soul is excited and encouraged to seek after and attain the evangelical beatitudes, which, like the flowers that come forth in the spring time, are the signs and harbingers of eternal beatitude. Lastly there are those blessed fruits, enumerated by the Apostle (Gal. v., 22), which the Spirit, even in this mortal life, produces and shows forth in the just; fruits filled with all sweetness and joy, inasmuch as they proceed from the Spirit, "who is in the Trinity the sweetness of both Father and Son, filling all creatures with infinite fullness and profusion." (St. Aug. de Trin. 1. vi., c. 9). The Divine Spirit, proceeding from the Father and the Word in the eternal light of sanctity, Himself both Love and Gift, after having manifested Himself through the veils of figures in the Old Testament, poured forth all his fullness upon Christ and upon His mystic Body, the Church; and called back by his presence and grace men who were going away in wickedness and corruption with such salutary effect that, being no longer of the earth earthy, they relished and desired quite other things, becoming of heaven heavenly.

On Devotion to the Holy Ghost

10. These sublime truths, which so clearly show forth the infinite goodness of the Holy Ghost towards us, certainly demand that we should direct towards Him the highest homage of our love and devotion. Christians may do this most effectually if they will daily strive to know Him, to love Him, and to implore Him more earnestly; for which reason may this Our exhortation, flowing spontaneously from a paternal heart, reach their ears. Perchance there are still to be found among them, even nowadays, some, who if asked, as were those of old bySt. Paul the Apostle, whether they have received the Holy Ghost, might answer inlike manner: "We have not so much as heard whether there be a HolyGhost" (Acts xix., 2). At least there are certainly many who are verydeficient in their religious practices, but their faith is involved in muchdarkness. Wherefore all preachers and those having care of souls should rememberthat it is their duty to instruct their people more diligently and more fullyabout the Holy Ghost-avoiding, however, difficult and subtle controversies, andeschewing the dangerous folly of those who rashly endeavour to pry into divinemysteries. What should be chiefly dwelt upon and clearly explained is themultitude and greatness of the benefits which have been bestowed, and areconstantly bestowed, upon us by this Divine Giver, so that errors and ignoranceconcerning matters of such moment may be entirely dispelled, as unworthy of"the children of light." We urge this, not only because it affects amystery by which we are directly guided to eternal life, and which musttherefore be firmly believed; but also because the more clearly and fully thegood is known the more earnestly it is loved. Now we owe to the Holy Ghost, aswe mentioned in the second place, love, because He is God: "Thou shalt lovethe Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thywhole strength" (Deut. vi., 5). He is also to be loved because He is thesubstantial, eternal, primal Love, and nothing is more lovable than love. Andthis all the more because He has overwhelmed us with the greatest benefits,which both testify to the benevolence of the Giver and claim the gratitude ofthe receiver. This love has a twofold and most conspicuous utility. In the firstplace it will excite us to acquire daily a clearer knowledge about the HolyGhost; for, as the Angelic Doctor says, "the lover is not content with thesuperficial knowledge of the beloved, but striveth to inquire intimately intoall that appertains to the beloved, and thus to penetrate into the interior; asis said of the Holy Ghost, Who is the Love of God, that He searcheth even theprofound things of God" (1 Cor. ii., 10; Summ. Theol., la. 2ae., q. 28, a.2). In the second place it will obtain for us a still more abundant supply ofheavenly gifts; for whilst a narrow heart contracteth the hand of the giver, a grateful and mindful heart causeth it to expand. Yet we must strive that this love should be of such a nature as not to consist merely in dry speculations or external observances, but rather to run forward towards action, and especially to fly from sin, which is in a more special manner offensive to the Holy Spirit. For whatever we are, that we are by the divine goodness; and this goodness is specially attributed to the Holy Ghost. The sinner offends this his Benefactor, abusing His gifts; and taking advantage of His goodness becomes more hardened in sin day by day. Again, since He is the Spirit of Truth, whosoever faileth by weakness or ignorance may perhaps have some excuse before Almighty God; but he who resists the truth through malice and turns away from it, sins most grievously against the Holy Ghost. In our days this sin has become so frequent that those dark times seem to have come which were foretold by St. Paul, in which men, blinded by the just judgment of God, should take falsehood for truth, and should believe in "the prince of this world," who is a liar and the father thereof, as a teacher of truth: "God shall send them the operation of error, to believe lying (2 Thess. ii., 10). In the last times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to spirits of error and the doctrines of devils" (1 Tim. iv., 1). But since the Holy Ghost, as We have said, dwells in us as in His temple, We must repeat the warning of the Apostle: "Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby you are sealed" (Eph. iv., 30). Nor is it enough to fly from sin; every Christian ought to shine with the splendour of virtue so as to be pleasing to so great and so beneficent a guest; and first of all with chastity and holiness, for chaste and holy things befit the temple. Hence the words of the Apostle: "Know you not that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? But if any man violate the temple of God, him shall God destroy. For the temple of God is holy, which you are" (1 Cor. iii., 16-17): a terrible, indeed, but a just warning.

11. Lastly, we ought to pray to and invoke the Holy Spirit, for each one of usgreatly needs His protection and His help. The more a man is deficient inwisdom, weak in strength, borne down with trouble, prone to sin, so ought he themore to fly to Him who is the never-ceasing fount of light, strength,consolation, and holiness. And chiefly that first requisite of man, theforgiveness of sins, must be sought for from Him: "It is the special character of the Holy Ghost that He is the Gift of the Father and the Son. Now the remission of all sins is given by the Holy Ghost as by the Gift of God" (Summ. Th. 3a, q. iii., a. 8, ad 3m). Concerning this Spirit the words of the Liturgy are very explicit: "For He is the remission of all sins" (Roman Missal, Tuesday after Pentecost). How He should be invoked is clearly taught by the Church, who addresses Him in humble supplication, calling upon Him by the sweetest of names: "Come, Father of the poor! Come, Giver of gifts! Come, Light of our hearts! O, best of Consolers, sweet Guest of the soul, our refreshment!" (Hymn, Veni Sancte Spiritus). She earnestly implores Him to wash, heal, water our minds and hearts, and to give to us who trust in Him "the merit of virtue, the acquirement of salvation, and joy everlasting." Nor can it be in any way doubted that He will listen to such prayer, since we read the words written by His own inspiration: "The Spirit Himself asketh for us with unspeakable groanings" (Rom. viii., 26). Lastly, we ought confidently and continually to beg of Him to illuminate us daily more and more with His light and inflame us with His charity: for, thus inspired with faith and love, we may press onward earnestly towards our eternal reward, since He "is the pledge of our inheritance" (Eph. i. 14).

12. Such, Venerable Brethren, are the teachings and exhortations which We haveseen good to utter, in order to stimulate devotion to the Holy Ghost. We have nodoubt that, chiefly by means of your zeal and earnestness, they will bearabundant fruit among Christian peoples. We Ourselves shall never in the futurefail to labour towards so important an end; and it is even Our intention, inwhatever ways may appear suitable, to further cultivate and extend thisadmirable work of piety. Meanwhile, as two years ago, in Our Letter ProvidaMatris, We recommended to Catholics special prayers at the Feast of Pentecost,for the Re-union of Christendom, so now We desire to make certain furtherdecrees on the same subject.

An Annual Novena Decreed

13. Wherefore, We decree and command that throughout the whole Catholic Church,this year and in every subsequent year, a Novena shalltake place before Whit-Sunday, in all parish churches, and also, if the local Ordinaries think fit, in other churches and oratories. To all who take part in this Novena and duly pray for Our intention, We grant for each day an Indulgence of seven years and seven quarantines; moreover, a Plenary Indulgence on any one of the days of the Novena, or on Whit-Sunday itself, or on any day during the Octave; provided they shall have received the Sacraments of Penance and the Holy Eucharist, and devoutly prayed for Our intention. We will that those who are legitimately prevented from attending the Novena, or who are in places where the devotions cannot, in the judgment of the Ordinary, be conveniently carried out in church, shall equally enjoy the same benefits, provided they make the Novena privately and observe the other conditions. Moreover We are pleased to grant, in perpetuity, from the Treasury of the Church, that whosoever, daily during the Octave of Pentecost up to Trinity Sunday inclusive, offer again publicly or privately any prayers, according to their devotion, to the Holy Ghost, and satisfy the above conditions, shall a second time gain each of the same Indulgences. All these Indulgences We also permit to be applied to the suffrage of the souls in Purgatory.

14. And now Our mind and heart turn back to those hopes with which We began, andfor the accomplishment of which We earnestly pray, and will continue to pray, tothe Holy Ghost. Unite, then, Venerable Brethren, your prayers with Ours, and atyour exhortation let all Christian peoples add their prayers also, invoking thepowerful and ever-acceptable intercession of the Blessed Virgin. You know wellthe intimate and wonderful relations existing between her and the Holy Ghost, sothat she is justly called His Spouse. The intercession of the Blessed Virgin wasof great avail both in the mystery of the Incarnation and in the coming of theHoly Ghost upon the Apostles. May she continue to strengthen our prayers withher suffrages, that, in the midst of all the stress and trouble of the nations,those divine prodigies may be happily revived by the Holy Ghost, which wereforetold in the words of David: "Send forth Thy Spirit and they shall becreated, and Thou shalt renew the face of the earth" (Ps. ciii., 30).

15. As a pledge of Divine favour and a testimony of Our affection, Venerable Brethren, to you, to your Clergy, andpeople, We gladly impart in the Lord the Apostolic Benediction.

Given at St. Peter's, in Rome, on the 9th day of May, 1897, in the 20th year of Our Pontificate.

LEO XIII

The Person and Office Of The Holy Ghost. 24.

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

The life communicated to the church is for the end of completing the work of Christ, and making known His Gospel to the successive generations of men. The Holy Ghost abiding in His temple is the divine light shining in the darkness of earth. And the most necessary office of the church is to teach to all men the faith by which they may be saved. As the incorruptible body of Christ, and the dwelling of the eternal Spirit, she must possess a supernatural knowledge of the truth, and the power to teach,without the possibility of error. There is also another faculty which comes from the life of her soul, the Spirit of God. It is the power not only toteach, but to give the grace which pre-pares the way of truth, and enablesthe hearer to appreciate and improve it.In the second gift of the Holy Ghost to the church are comprehended, therefore, inerrancy in receiving divine revelation, infallibility in teaching it, and supernatural unction in imparting it. In these three departments of her infallibility the church acts, as she can only act, as the organ of the Spirit. She has no life without Him, and never can her union with Him be sundered, not even for a moment. It is always the Holy Ghost, who lives, speaks, and acts in and through her. Let us briefly glance at these fruits of the divine presence in the church. They are among the plainest yet most fundamental truths of our religion.

The Person and Office Of The Holy Ghost. 23.

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

3. The catholicity of the Church is also another consequence of her supernatural life. Being the temple of the Spirit, she is for the world which Christ redeemed, and so for all times and places. The Jewish Church was indeed the Church of God, but it was not the temple of the Holy Ghost ; whatever graces its members received, they were not the brethren of the Incarnate Word nor the children of the regeneration. The eternal Paraclete had not come in His fullness, nor was He united to the Jewish theocracy, which had a national and not a corporate life, as He is now united to the body of believers who are baptized into one Christ. Hence the grand economy of the Old Law did not pass the bounds of the national unity; and even from that unity tribe after tribe became apostate. But the Christian Church, animated by the almighty Spirit, can be bound by no laws of race or nation. By its own vitality it passes from land to land, from east to west and from north to south. There is no limit to the prolific energy of the Holy Ghost. It is for all times, all tribes and tongues. The church could not be one, unless she were at the same time Catholic; since the salvation of Christ is for all men, and the pity of the Trinity is extended towards all who have sinned. " Going therefore," said the risen and ascending Lord to His apostles, "teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things which I have commanded you: and behold, I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world."(St. Matt, xxviii. 19, 20) This commission is perpetual, and by its power the church extends like a fruitful vine to bless the earth. ~No power can quench its life, and no force prevent its living growth. It is in every age the city of God, illumined by the divine presence; always and everywhere the temple of the Holy Ghost. No body or aggregation of men which has not this quality can lay any claim to the participation in the gift of Pentecost, or the indwelling of the Spirit. The church of Jesus Christ is Catholic by the necessity of her being; and by this note she alone vindicates her claim to be the tabernacle of God upon earth, and the organ of His grace. " The faith which we rehearse," says St. Cyril of Jerusalem, u contains in order the following: 6 And into one baptism for the remission of sins, and into one holy, Catholic Church.' Now, it is called Catholic because it is throughout the world, from one end of the earth to the other; and because it teaches universally all the doctrines which ought to come to men's knowledge. . . . And if ever thou art sojourning in any city, inquire not simply where the Lord's house is (for the sects also attempt to call their own meeting-places houses of the Lord), nor merely where is the church, but where is the Catholic church ? For this is the peculiar name of the holy mother of us all, which is indeed the spouse of our Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God." (St. Cyril, Catech. xviii.) The name signifies a reality, and no heretical sect has ever been able to keep the name or show a pretence of its truth. This fact alone is a proof of the divinity of the true church. So says St. Augustine: "The agreement of peoples and of nations keeps me ; an authority begun with miracles, nourished with hope, increased with charity, confirmed by antiquity, keeps me ; the succession of priests from the chair itself of the Apostle Peter, unto whom the Lord, after His resurrection, committed His sheep to be fed, down even to the present bishop, keeps me; finally, the name itself of the Catholic Church keeps me—a name which, in the midst of so many heresies, this church alone has held possession of." (viii. Contra Ep.Manichai.) The catholicity of the church is not an accident, but a necessity of its life through the Holy Ghost, and its union to the humanity of Jesus Christ. The body which is not catholic has no claims to the Holy Ghost, or to the gifts of His presence. Whatever life it may have is human and temporary. It cannot be divine and permanent.

The Person and Office Of The Holy Ghost. 22.

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

2. If this vitality of the church proceed from the breath of God, and depend upon His continual presence, it cannot tail. It is everlasting. It proceeds not from a temporary union of the Sanctifier with the intelligence of man; but, as we have seen, from a substantial union with the regenerate in their corporate capacity. The church is always the body of Christ, and can never lose its vital union with the Holy Ghost. This union is indissoluble, and, like the union of the two natures in the one Christ, it cannot be sundered. Then, though individual members may perish by separation from the body, the church can never decay, grow old, or perish. It may suffer, and become the object of the world's attack. The battle around it may rage with violence; the gates of hell cannot prevail. It cannot fare worse than the adorable Humanity in Gethsemane, and on the cross. It will live till the latter day, amid " the wreck of matter and the crush of worlds." It has stood firmly united to the rock of Peter on which Christ built it, while all man's strongest works have crumbled to decay ; and the powers which have arrayed themselves against it have been ground to powder. Its life is the miracle of our world, the proof that "God is in the midst thereof, and that it shall not be moved, though the earth be troubled, and the mountains be removed into the heart of the sea." Psalm xlv. 3,6. The life of the Christian Church is the proof incontestable of her divine character. "For this cause," says St. Ignatius, "did the Lord take the ointment on His head, that He might breathe incorruption upon the church." Epistle to the Ephesians. To this end are the words of St. Cyprian : "The church is one which, having obtained the grace of eternal life, both lives for ever, and gives life to the people of God." The language of St. Chrysostom is the rehearsal of our arguments : "The church is stronger than heaven. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. What words Thou art Peter, and upon this rock will I build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. If thou believe not the word, believe the facts. How many tyrants would fain have overcome the Church! And they prevailed not. Where. are those that warred against her ? They are unnamed; they are buried in oblivion. But where is the church ? She shines brighter than the sun. She is immortal."St. Chrysostom The continued existence of the church is a manifest proof that her life is in God. So when we profess our faith in the Holy Ghost we immediately add our confession of " one holy, Catholic Church." We only know the divine Spirit through the church, and we cannot really believe in the Holy Ghost, unless we also believe in the Church which He sanctified, and in which He is communicated to us.

The Person and Office Of The Holy Ghost. 21.

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

As the soul informs the body of man and gives it vitality, so the Holy Spirit, as a soul to the church, communicates to her the gift of life. In the first creation of our race "the Lord God formed the body of man of the slime of the earth" ; but though formed, he had no life, " until the Creator breathed into his face the breath of life"; "then he became a living soul." Genesis ii. 7. This life was in the union of a living principle with the body, and it was in its own order. The human soul gave a human life, and to the vitalized body communicated its own energies. The animal frame awoke with all the properties of the rational and immortal principle which animated it. The eternal Spirit, however, is in the divine order, and the life which flows from Him is that of God. The energies He communicates are those of the divine Being; and the body which He animates possesses a life far above that of earth. This is the necessity of His operation, who always works as God.

The life of the church may be seen in its birth, which is the new creation, in its indefectibility, and in its catholicity.

1. The Christian Fathers fail not to see in the creation of our mother Eve from the side of Adam the type of the formation of the church from the pierced breast of Jesus Christ. From Adam came forth, by the hand of God, the woman fully formed to be his bride and the mother of the human race. From second Adam on the cross came forth the blood and water which, through the agency of the Spirit, were to purify the fallen, and form a spouse for the Lamb. Thus the apostle draws the parallel between the bridegroom and the bride, and Christ and His church: "He is the head of the church, as the husband is the head of the wife " "This is a great sacrament, but I speak in Christ and the church." The bride of Jesus Christ is, then, formed by the operation of the Holy Spirit, and derives her life from her spouse, the Word made flesh. The coming of the divine Spirit into the body prepared for Him was like the breathing of the living soul into our father Adam. By one spiration the man began to live; by the other the race, dead in sin, was quickened to immortality. The church, in its corporate life, takes upon itself personality, and becomes joined in nuptial union to the heavenly Bridegroom. The communication of the Holy Spirit is the new creation. The first creation produces only a human life ; the second takes hold of eternity. If such were not the fruit of the presence of God in the church, we could not believe in that presence; since it could not be found in death or without the communication of life. "The law of the Spirit of life delivers us from the law of sin and death. We are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit." "In Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature, " "If any one be in Christ he is a new creature; the old things are passed away : behold, all things are made new."J "Christ is the Saviour of His body. No man ever hated his own flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it, as also Christ doth the church."  The life of the church appears in its divine character, from the fact that it is the life of His body; and the body of the Son of God must of necessity be living, even as Christ lives. Moreover, that any one be made the member of this body, he must be born again of water and the Holy Ghost. As we have already seen, regeneration by holy Baptism is the means of union with the body of Christ. "By one Spirit are we all baptized into Christ, and so into one body, where we all drink of one Spirit."

Where, then, the Holy Spirit dwells, where He works the grace of a new birth, and unites the members of the fallen Adam to the humanity of the Son of God, there must be true life, and the life of the Deity. In the communication of this life the Holy Ghost is the principal worker, and the water and the blood are applied by His power. The individual born again is passed from the corporate life of mere humanity to the new life of the body of the sanctified, who are made one in Christ, and nourished from His flesh and blood. This is the glory of the Christian Church, that it lives by the vitalizing energy of its soul, which is the Paraclete, proceeding eternally from the Father and the Son, and sent by both to complete the miracles of redemption.

The Person and Office Of The Holy Ghost. 20.

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

THE GIFTS OF THE HOLY GHOST TO THE CHURCH.

"And there are three that give testimony on earth: the Spirit, and the water, and the blood; and these three are one."—1 St. John v. 8.

We have already anticipated the subject on which we now propose to dwell. In speaking of the visible church as the temple of the divine Spirit we have of necessity implied the gracious fruits of His indwelling. Yet so great are these fruits, and so wholly supernatural does the church become by reason of the presence of God, which vitalises her, as the soul informs the body, that it is necessary, even in this brief series of discourses, to draw out and make manifest these wonderful endowments of the body of Christ. They are wonderful because all that comes from God is admirable beyond our powers of appreciation; but they are the direct consequences of the actual presence of the life-giving Spirit, who, wherever He is, must quicken all He touches with divine energy. In the text the apostle draws a parallel between the witnesses of Jesus Christ on earth and in heaven. The Father, Son, and Holy Ghost give their testimony in heaven, and proclaim the Incarnate Son to all intelligences. On earth the Holy Ghost gives testimony of Christ and reveals the truth as it is in Jesus. In Him as the God-Man are our regeneration and redemption. With His humanity He came to bear our burdens, by His flesh to heal our disorders, and by His Blood to expiate and wash away our offences. "This is He that came by water and blood: not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who testifieth that Christ is the truth."

Thus the Holy Ghost really takes "the things of Christ," all the precious gifts of His Passion, and applies them to man. He not only writes upon his mind the truths revealed in Christ, but He brings the whole person of Christ, with all His saving power, to the believer. The humanity is the victim for our sins. The body is broken and the blood is poured out. The sacred Heart is pierced, and the stream of water and blood gushes forth plenteously. These streams which spring from the Man-God on the cross are filled with the unction of the Spirit; and by them He works to glorify Christ and bring back the erring world to peace. The water and the blood are in the hands of the Spirit, and by them He completes the work of the glorified Son. Mystically, by the Spirit, the water, and the blood are signified the three which concur to our justification. So they as one, because in the hands of one Spirit, give their united testimony to the Lamb of God, by whom alone all sin is taken away. The blood signifies the merit of the Passion and death of Christ, which is applied in our reconciliation to God; the water signifies the washing away of our sins; and the Spirit infuses the gifts of grace and charity, by which we are made just. Thus St. Ambrose says that "we are renewed in our minds by the Spirit, and purified by water, and that the blood is the price of our redemption." "These three," in the language of St. Leo, "are the Spirit of sanctification, the blood of redemption, and the water of baptism." These three are one in end, as they are one in operation. They represent the mystical power of the Trinity in the body of Jesus Christ on earth.

In this discourse, and in the one which follows, we are to behold the testimony of these three witnesses, and adore the wonders which the Holy Ghost works in the church and in the individual believer. The Spirit, all-divine as He is, could not work without the water and the blood, could not have descended to a substantial union with man, if the atonement had not prepared His way; could not dwell on earth where the humanity of the Word did not call Him, and open the place for His sanctifying repose.

The earthly testimony of the Holy Ghost in the visible temple which He hallows, may be seen in the gifts His presence bestows upon the church. They are principally that of supernatural life; that of knowledge in the understanding and teaching of the truth; and that of holiness, by which the whole body is quickened as by a central principle of sanctification. In this brief view of the endowments of the bride of Christ may be seen the whole mystery of grace.

The Person and Office Of The Holy Ghost. 19.

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

The parallel between the gifts of the Holy Spirit to the Sacred Humanity, and His anointing of the mystical body, is plain and beautiful. Grace flows from the head to the members, and the members of the mystical body are quickened because of the life which resides in the Head. Each one of the many members baptized into Christ has put on Christ, and is to be conformed to His likeness. The Holy Spirit works unceasingly "for the edifying of the body of Christ, until we all meet in the unity of faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect Man, unto the measure of the age of the fullness of Christ." "So in prophetic vision the apostle beheld the great reality: the heavens opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man,"f upon the body of Christ. The mystery of the Incarnation is real; it is the foundation of all our hope. As it is real, so the unction of the Spirit is real: and the way to peace for our fallen race is only by the embrace and participation of the humanity of the Word made flesh. And this participation is by the gift of the Holy Ghost in the visible body wherein He dwells to complete the work of Christ, and bring all to the unity of one Man. "Thus only do we" receive power to become the sons of God. Thus are we born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." To this end was the Word made flesh, and for this did He dwell among us.

The conclusions which flow from our brief view of the earthly home of the Holy Ghost are such as should move all hearts. We are still to walk about this Sion, and tell its towers, and gaze upon its wonders. It is as if we were to see the light and beauty which emanate from the Incarnate Son of God, in the temple made by His human hands.

Yet there are two lessons already implied in our argument which we beg the blessed Spirit to impress upon your hearts.

How wonderful is the plan of salvation which is here revealed to us! The condescension of the Father, the incarnation of the Son, and the indwelling of the Holy Ghost are the mysteries of grace by which the fallen race of Adam is brought back to God. When all human help was in vain, and the pity of angels availed nothing, the majesty of the Trinity was bowed down, and the strength of the eternal Three was spent in our redemption. "The first man was of the earth, earthly," "and by him came death." "The second Man is from heaven, heavenly," "and in Him all shall be made alive." "We have borne the image of the earthly; we are to bear also the image of the heavenly." The new race takes the place of the old. The second Adam is a quickening Spirit. In Him we are one body, the temples of the Holy Ghost, and the habitation of God through the Spirit. In Him we are anointed with the unction from above; and as on the Sacred Humanity the glory of the Paraclete rested, descending like a dove and abiding on Him, so on the mystical body which is one with that Humanity the oil of gladness perpetually flows. "God, even Thy God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows." The redeemed are in truth the children of the Father, because the brethren of the Son and the tabernacles of the Holy Ghost. It is all from God, and of God, and in God. Our salvation is in the Trinity and in unity. "Behold how good and pleasant a thing it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. It is like the precious ointment on the head, that ran down upon the beard, the beard of Aaron; which ran down to the skirt of his garment: as the dew of Hermon, or that which descendeth upon Mount Sion. For there the Lord hath commanded blessing and life for evermore."

The unction from above is the Holy Spirit. Upon the body of Christ it descends, and remains only with those who are joined to that Humanity, as "the members of His flesh and of His bones."
They, therefore, who seek for the sanctifying grace of the Spirit must come to the home where He dwells, to the visible temple where alone the Paraclete " takes of the things of Christ and shows them to His chosen." "The unity of the Spirit is in the bond of peace," "the house of God, which is the church," "against which the gates of hell cannot prevail." "As there is one Spirit, there is one body, one Lord, one faith, and one baptism." Vainly shall man seek any other salvation, or hope to draw nigh the eternal Trinity, without the atonement of the Son and the indwelling of the Holy Ghost. The devices of men are folly, and the works of human hands shall perish. "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but the word of the Lord shall not pass away.": As the ark upon the waves of the deluge, so is the church of Jesus Christ. It bears the children of the Second Adam to the heavenly shore, and there the earthly home of the Holy Ghost becomes the temple of the beatific vision. "The Lord God Almighty is the temple thereof, and the Lamb." The voice of the Spirit speaks in the harmony of angels: "Come, and I will show thee the bride, the wife of the Lamb." "Let us be glad and rejoice, for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath prepared herself." 

The Person and Office Of The Holy Ghost. 18.

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

The sphere of the operations of the Holy Ghost is, then, the visible church, which is His temple.
If our divine Redeemer has founded a church to represent Him on earth, and administer to successive generations His grace; if the eternal Spirit has come upon earth to dwell in this church with the fullness of a substantial union ; then it is manifest that in and through the church the souls of men are to be sanctified. Else His work would be to no purpose, and the miracles of redemption in vain. Christ could not have founded a church, if in His plan of mercy the church were not a necessity. The Holy Spirit could not have come in flaming glory to dwell in this church, unless it were to be the sacrament of union with Him, and the sphere of His sanctifying energies. Thus, the facts of the Gospel being admitted, they who would drink of the Spirit of life must come to the fountains of salvation opened in the church. The Spirit fills the universe with His immensity, but He dwells with the gift of substantial union only in the body which is His temple. Let us see how the Holy Scripture speaks of this great and momentous truth, and how it draws the comparison between the humanity of Jesus Christ and the church which is His mystical body.

"All these things one and the same Spirit worketh, dividing to every one according as He wills. For as the body is one, and hath many members; and all the members of the body, whereas they are many, yet are one body; so also is Christ. For in one Spirit were we all baptized into one body; and in one Spirit have we all been made to drink."

"As many of you as have been baptised in Christ, have put on Christ."  "The church of which Christ is the head, is His body, and the fullness of Him, who is filled all in all." J "Christ is the head of the church: He is the Saviour of His body. Christ loved the church and delivered Himself up for it, that He might sanctify it, cleansing it by the laver of water in the word of life ; that He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle. Because we are members of His body, of His flesh and His bones." "In Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead corporally: and you are filled in Him, who is the head of all principality and power. Buried with Him in baptism, in whom also you are risen again by the faith of the operation of God."

These passages of Holy Scripture confine the gifts of redeeming grace, according to the ordinary economy of salvation, to union with the body of which Christ is the head, whence pardon and life flow. In this body the Holy Spirit . dwells; and by His energy the fallen children of Adam are adopted into this body, and by regeneration in baptism put on Christ, and are joined to His life-giving humanity. The Holy Ghost is the agent in this work. He is the worker of regeneration. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

Unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." This union to the humanity of Christ makes the regenerate a member of the body of Christ, and so "partaker of the divine nature." There is, therefore, a likeness between the body of Christ which He took of Mary in hypostatic union with His divinity, and the mystical body which of many human members is made one by vital union with Him.

We have seen how the eternal Spirit had a special care of the sacred humanity of the Word Incarnate. It was conceived by His operation in the womb of His immaculate Mother. It was anointed by the special and infused gifts of the seven-fold Spirit. So when He came to Nazareth after His temptation, under the guidance of the same Spirit, He entered the synagogue, and, opening the inspired prophecy, He read these words of Himself: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, wherefore He hath anointed me, to preach the Gospel to the poor He hath sent me, to heal the contrite of heart, to preach deliverance to the captives, and sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bound, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of reward. And when all eyes were fixed upon Him, He began to say to them: This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears." These words are to be understood in a literal sense, as they were directly applied by our Lord Himself. In the nature which He assumed He was anointed by the Holy Ghost, both by the substantial union of the human nature with the Word, and also by the accidental unction by which all gifts were poured upon His humanity. Thus says the prophet: "The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him: the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of fortitude, the Spirit of knowledge and of godliness. And He shall be filled with the Spirit of the fear of the Lord." "So St. Peter tells how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power." As the Son of man He was anointed and sent to the work of redemption. 

The Person and Office Of The Holy Ghost. 17.

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

IV.

The Holy Spirit in the church, as He is the principle of her life, so is He the cause of her unity.
The church of Christ, as it appears to us in the Scriptures and through the testimony of historical Christianity, cannot be conceived of without the indwelling of the Holy Ghost. He alone makes her all that she is, and is therefore the principle of her being. Without Him she would be like any other organization of mere men, liable to constant changes and having no promise of perpetuity. She is, indeed, an organization of men, but not of mere men. Her members are bound to each other and to God by the presence and power of the almighty Spirit. So no essential change can pass over her; no attack of man can prevail against her; for, by the life of God within her, she is emancipated from the law of decay. She could no more perish than God could perish, for her life is bound up with His. For this reason, when we confess the Holy Ghost in our baptismal creed, we also confess the holy Catholic Church. We know nothing of the Holy Ghost except through the church, and without the living presence of the Spirit there is no church. The building erected by Jesus Christ for 4 'an habitation of God through the Spirit" can be no merely human temple to pass away with the wrecks of time.

But if the Spirit of God abides in the church, then is she necessarily one, and with the most rigid unity. He could not abide in two or many churches arrayed against each other. This were to array God against Himself, and make Him the author of confusion and error.

Moreover, where God is, there must be unity, since disunion is disorder directly opposed to his attributes. Unity is life, and disunion is death. Where, then, the Spirit of life binds together the different members of an organization established by divine hands, there is of necessity the unity which flows from the fountain of all oneness. So the sacrificial prayer of the Mediator asks for His members, "that they may all be one, as Thou, Father, in me, and I in Thee, that they may also be one in us, that the world may believe that Thou hast sent me."St. John xvii. 21. This unity is more than visible. It is indeed visible, else the world could never know that the Father had sent the Son to produce it. The visible unity is the proof given to the nations of the presence of the Spirit. But that which is visible, and so a testimony to the world, is only the outward sign of a still more wonderful unity of faith and hope and love. This internal oneness is the work of the Holy G-host, who alone maketh men to be of one mind and to confess everywhere the same faith. This unity, so impossible to all mere human societies, is the manifest proof of the divine power. Man strives to counterfeit it in vain. Yet God cannot be in man without subordinating his will and illuminating his intellect. The visible unity is the fruit of the attraction of the Holy Ghost drawing to one, and binding together in one, elements discordant. The moral unity is the work of that same Spirit revealing Himself to many eyes as one, and in many hearts showing forth the one truth as it is in Jesus. Thus is there one Lord and one faith, as there is one Spirit and one body, even as we are called in one hope to a union with the one God and Father of all, who is in all, and through all, and above us all.

Here again the denial of unity in the visible church leads to the rejection of the one Spirit as He has been revealed to men. And the denial of the Holy Ghost is the most emphatic rejection of Christ our Lord, who can only be known through the Paraclete, whom He sends.

The Person and Office Of The Holy Ghost. 16.

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

This union between the Spirit and the members of the Church is dependent upon their union with the body which He permanently fills. From this body He never can depart, though individuals may fall away and lose His presence by apostasy. Let us quote here the language of St. Augustine: "What the soul is to the body of a man, that the Holy Ghost is to the body of Christ, which is the church. What the Holy Ghost does in the whole church, that the soul does in all the members of the body. In the body of a man it may happen that a member, the hand, the finger, or the foot, may be cut off. Does the soul follow the severed member? While it was in the body it was alive ; cut it off, its life is lost. So a man is a Christian and a Catholic while he is alive in the body ; cut off, he becomes a heretic."  The words of Scripture are abundant to establish this great fact of redemption. It is just as important to believe in the personal presence of the Holy Ghost in the visible church as it is to confess the incarnation and passion of the Second Person of the Holy Trinity. "By our Lord we have access both in one Spirit to the Father. In whom we arc built together into an habitation of God in the Spirit."

The union of the Holy Ghost with the church is so perfect that the Scriptures and the Fathers speak as if it had a personality. "The head and the body are one man ; Christ and the church are one man, a perfect man: He the bridegroom, she the bride." Such words could have no meaning, if the union of the visible body with the Spirit were not substantial and indissoluble.

That body, therefore, in which the Holy Ghost dwells by a personal and abiding presence, is of necessity permanently and essentially sanctified. It loses its mere human character and becomes divine. It is an organisation of visible men, and so far of human nature; but by the union of the members with God dwelling in the body it partakes of the life of God. As the soul informs the body and gives it vitality, so the quickening Spirit vitalises the church and fills it with His divine energy.
This is a direct and logical consequence of the presence of the Holy Ghost. If He be in the church, then is she divine. If He be not in her, then all the words of revelation are an enigma and the Christianity of nineteen centuries a fable.

The body which the Spirit, proceeding from the Father and the Son, animates is in truth the temple of the holy Trinity. It is " built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner-stone; in whom all the building, being framed together, groweth up into a holy temple in the Lord."

The Person and Office Of The Holy Ghost. 15.

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

III.

Of this visible body the Holy Ghost took possession, dwelling in it and giving it a divine character.
The mission of the Holy Ghost on earth is directly connected with the Christian Church. Our confession of faith in the Holy Ghost is immediately followed by that of belief in the Holy Catholic Church. This, in the baptismal creed, implies the truth that we cannot rightly believe in the divine Spirit unless we understand His operations in the visible body which He animates for the sanctification of its members and the world. The union between the church and the Holy Ghost is divine. From this union springs the supernatural character which is the life and glory of the Christian dispensation.

The entry of the eternal Spirit into the Church took place on the day of Pentecost, in fulfilment of the promise of Christ. It was a triumphal entry, which moved the earth and brought a new life to the apostles. The external miracles which glorified this day, in the flames of fire, the rushing, mighty wind, and the gift of tongues, were the signs of a divine power which the world had not known before. The church was formed by our Lord in all its essential framework, and stood ready to receive the supernal guest who was to quicken it and make it the dwelling of God. In this manner the Holy Spirit had never been in the world until this day. He had been one in the operations of the Father and the Son. He had blessed the different ages and dispensations with His influence. He had been the unseen author of every good thought and work. All, the race of man had known of sanctity, came from the effusion of His gifts. Now He comes, by a special and personal presence, to complete the work of the Incarnate Son. It was necessary for the Son in our nature to atone for our transgressions, and in that nature to ascend to the throne on high, before the Holy Ghost could thus personally dwell on earth. The expiation of our sins was necessary, and the preparation of our fallen nature to be a fitting home for the quickening Spirit: "It is expedient for you that I go: for if I go not, the Paraclete will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you." St. John xvi. 7.

That the Holy Ghost came to the church on Pentecost in a different manner, and with a permanent end, is evident from the words of our Lord. He came to the church, to the visible body founded by Christ, and He came there to abide. He did not come to any not in union with this visible body ; and to partake of His presence it was necessary to become a member of this visible body by baptism, the divinely-established rite. "They who received the word of St. Peter were baptized, that they might receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." Acts ii. 28, 41. "For by one Spirit were we all baptized into one body." II Cor. xii. 13. Into this body He came to dwell by a personal, substantial, and permanent presence. To this end are the words of St. Gregory Nazianzen: "Now the Holy Ghost is given more perfectly, for He is no longer present by His operation as of old, but He speaks and converses with us in a substantial manner. For it was fitting that as the Son had conversed with us in a body, the Spirit also should come among us in a bodily manner." Orat. xII. In Pentecost.

In virtue of this presence the members of the church are sauctified by a real union with the divine Spirit. This substantial union gives to each one the grace of the uncreated life, while the human personality remains intact. So says St. Cyril of Alexandria: "The Holy Ghost works in us by Himself, truly sanctifying us and uniting us to Himself, while He joins us to Himself and makes us partakers of the divine nature." De Trinitate.