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