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."