XVII. 224 The Spirit descended on Christ at His Baptism. LECT. also, the Father of John, prophesied, telling how many good things the Only-begotten should procure, and that John should be His harbinger through baptism. By this Holy Ghost also it was revealed to just Symeon, that he should not see death, till he had seen the Lord's Christ; and he received Him in his arms, and bore clear testimony in the Temple concerning Him. Cat. iii. 7. 11. 8. But John moreover, who had been filled with the Holy Ghost from his mother's womb, was for this cause sanctified, vid. sup. that he might baptize the Lord; not giving the Spirit himself, but preaching glad tidings of Him who gives the Spirit. Mat. 3, For he says, I indeed baptize you with water to repentance, but He that cometh after me is mightier than I, and the rest; He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire. With fire, wherefore? because the descent of the Holy Ghost was in fiery tongues; concerning which the Lord Luke 12, says joyfully, I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled? 49. 33. 16. (5.) 9. This Holy Ghost descended on the Lord at His baptism, that the dignity of Him who was baptized might not be John 1, hidden; as John says, But He which sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whomsoever thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, the same is He which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. But see what saith the Gospel; the heavens were opened; they were opened Mat. 3, because of the dignity of Him who descended; for, lo, he says, The heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon Him: that is, with voluntary motion in His descent. For it behoved, as some have interpreted, that the handsel and first-fruits of the Holy Spirit in the baptized, should be given to the manhood of the Saviour, who confers such grace. But perhaps He came down in the form of a dove, as some say, to exhibit a figure of one who is pure and innocent and undefiled, and also helps in the prayers for the children she has begotten, and for forgiveness of sins; as it was emblematically foretold that Christ should be thus manifested in the appearance of His eyes; for in the Canticles she cries concerning the BrideCant. 5, groom, and says, His eyes are as the eyes of doves by the rivers of water. 12. Texts from the New Testament concerning the Holy Ghost. 225 σεις. 10. Of this dove, the dove of Noe, according to some, was in part a figure. For as in his time by means of wood and of water salvation came to men, and the beginning of a new creation, and the dove returned to him towards evening with an olive branch, thus, say they, the Holy Ghost also descended upon the true Noe, the Author of the second birth, who draws together into one the wills of all nations, of whom goαigithe various sorts of animals in the ark were a figure:-Him at whose presence, the spiritual wolves feed with the lambs, in whose Church the calf, and the lion, and the ox, feed in the same pasture, as we behold to this day the rulers of the world guided and taught by Churchmen. The spiritual dove ixxέκκληtherefore, as some interpret, came down at the season of His v. baptism, that He might shew that it is He who by the wood of the Cross saves them who believe, who should at eventide through His death vouchsafe to them salvation. σιαστι 5. 13. 23. 11. And of these things perhaps there may be another (6.) exposition; and now too we ought to hear the words of the Saviour Himself concerning the Holy Ghost. For He says, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, He cannot John 3, enter into the kingdom of God. And because this grace is from the Father, He says, How much more shall your heavenly Luke 11, Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him. And because we ought to worship God in the Spirit, He says, But the hour cometh and now is, when the true worshippers John 4, shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth; for the Father seeketh such to worship Him. God is a Spirit; and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. And again, But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of Mat. 12, God; and immediately afterwards, Wherefore I say unto you, v. 31. all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men ; but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven. And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him; but whosoever speaketh a word against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come. And again He says, And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another John 14, Comforter, that He may be with you for ever, the Spirit of Cyr. Truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him, not, neither knoweth Him; but ye know Him, for He dwelleth rec. text. Q 28. 16. abide, ver. 25. 226 Texts from the New Testament concerning the Holy Ghost. LECT. with you, and shall be in you. And again He says, These XVII. things have I spoken unto you being yet present with you. But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in My name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said Ib. 15, unto you. And again He says, But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of Truth, which proceedeth from the Father, He shall Ib.16,7. testify of Me. And again the Saviour says, For if I go not 26. ... away, the Comforter will not come unto you... And when He is come, He will reprove the world of sin, of righteousness, ver. 12. and of judgment; and afterwards again, I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them yet. Howbeit, when He the Spirit of Truth is come, He will guide you into all truth; for He shall not speak of Himself; but whatsoever He shall hear that shall He speak, and He will shew you things to come. He shall glorify Me, for He shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine; therefore said I, That He shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you. I have read to thee now what the Only-begotten Himself has uttered, that thou mayest not give heed to human words. 22. (7.) 12. The fellowship of this Holy Spirit He bestowed on the John 20, Apostles: for it is written, And when He had said this He breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost; whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained. vid.supr. This was the second time He breathed, (His first breath xiv. 10. having been stifled by wilful sins ;) that the Scripture might Nahum be fulfilled, He went up breathing upon thy face, and de 2, 1. Sept. livering thee from affliction. But whence went He up? From Hades; for thus the Gospel relates, that after His resurrection then He breathed on them. But though He bestowed His grace then, He was to lavish it yet more bountifully; and He says to them, "I truly am ready to give it even now, but the vessel cannot yet hold it; for a while therefore receive ye grace, according as ye can bear it; but look forward for even more; Luke24, but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be invested with power from on high. Receive it in part now; then, ye shall bear it in its fulness." For he who receives often, pos 39. The Holy Ghost enters and invests the soul. 227 sesses the gift but in part; but he who is invested, is com- 16. 1. 13. Jesus therefore went up into heaven, and fulfilled the promise. For He said to them, I will pray the Father, and John 14, He shall give you another Comforter. They were accordingly sitting, looking for the coming of the Holy Ghost; and when the day of Pentecost was fully come, here, in this city of Acts 2, Jerusalem,—(for this honour also belongs to us; and we speak not of good which has happened among others, but of that which has been vouchsafed among ourselves,)-on the day of Pentecost, I say, they were sitting, and the Comforter came down from heaven, the Guardian and Sanctifier of the Church, the Ruler of souls, the Pilot of the tempest-tossed, the Enlightener of the lost, who presides in the combat, and crowns the victors. 14. But He came down to invest the Apostles with power, (8.) and to baptize them; for the Lord says, ye shall be baptized Ib. 1, 5. with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. His grace is not in part, but His power is in full perfection; for as he who plunges into the waters and is baptized is encompassed on all sides by the waters, so were they also baptized completely by the Holy Ghost. The water however envelops but outwardly, but the Spirit baptizes also the soul within, and that perfectly. And wherefore wonderest thou? Take an example from matter; poor indeed and common, yet useful for the simpler sort. If the fire penetrating the mass of the iron makes the whole of it fire, so that what was cold becomes burning and what was black is made bright,-if fire which is a body thus penetrates and works without hindrance in iron which is also a body, why wonder that the Holy Ghost enters into the very inmost recesses of the soul? &c. 15. And lest men should be ignorant of the greatness of that mighty gift, which was coming down to them, there sounded as it were a heavenly trumpet. For suddenly there Ib. 2, 2. came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind,' signifying the presence of Him who was to grant unto men, to seize with violence the kingdom of God; that both their 228 The Holy Ghost obliterates sin and brightens the soul. LECT. eyes might see the fiery tongues, and their ears hear the XVII. sound. And it filled all the house where they were sitting; VonTO. for the house became the vessel of the spiritual water; as the disciples sat within, the whole house was filled. Thus they were entirely baptized according to the promise, invested soul and body with a divine and saving garment. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost. They partook of fire, not of burning but of saving fire; of fire which consumes the thorns of sins, and gives lustre to the soul. This is now coming upon you also, and that, to strip away and devour your sins which are like thorns, and to brighten that precious possession of your souls, and to give you grace; for He gave it then to the Apostles. And He sat upon them in the form of fiery tongues, that by fiery tongues their heads might be encircled with new and spiritual diadems. The fiery sword barred of old the gates of Paradise; the fiery tongue which brought salvation restored the gift. 4. (9.) 16. And they began to speak with other tongues, as the Acts 2, Spirit gave them utterance. The Galilean Peter or Andrew spoke Persian or Median. John and the rest of the Apostles spake every tongue to those of Gentile extraction; (for it has not arisen in our time that multitudes of strangers assemble here from all quarters, but they have done so since that time.) What teacher can be found so great as to teach men things at once which they have not learned? So many years are they in learning by grammar and the other arts to speak well Greek only; nor do all speak even this equally well; the Rhetorician perhaps succeeds in it, and the Grammarian sometimes not, and the Grammarian is ignorant of the subjects of philosophy. But the Holy Spirit taught the Apostles many languages at once, languages which all their life long they had not known. This is in truth vast wisdom, this is power divine. What a contrast is their long ignorance in time past, and their sudden utterance of these divers and strange languages! 17. The multitude of the hearers was confounded;-it was a second confusion, in the room of that first evil one at Babylon. For in that confusion of tongues, there was division of |