The Giver of natural and spiritual life. 119

FATHER, the second to CHRIST the SoN, the third to the HOLY GHOST, that having sought mercy of each Divine Person, we may more fitly address all Three, the One GoD, as "our FATHER Which is in Heaven." And so too, when the Angels in Heaven three times ascribe holiness to the "LORD GOD of Sabaoth," it is in honour of the HOLY GHOST that they (and we too joining with them on earth) repeat the word 66 Holy" for the third time.

II. Secondly, concerning His Office towards us: what He does for mankind. In the Nicene Creed we confess that He is the LORD, and Giver of Life: "the LORD," that is His Nature, what He is "the Giver of Life," that is His Office, what He does.

There are two kinds of life, natural and spiritual: natural life was given to the first and Old Creation, of which Adam was the chief; spiritual life has been given to the second and New Creation, of which JESUS CHRIST our LORD is the Chief. As regards the first: we read in the beginning of Genesis that "the SPIRIT of GOD moved upon the face of the waters:" in Job we read, "The SPIRIT of GOD hath made Me, the Breath of the Almighty hath given Me life" and in the hundred and fourth Psalm,

. xxxiii. 4.

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Necessity of spiritual life.

"Thou sendest forth Thy SPIRIT, they are created; and Thou renewest the face of the earth." The other, spiritual life, is that which makes natural life bearable: I suppose there are very few Christians in the world who have not at least some small spark of it left; the less they have, the more burdensome and heartless their life is to them. Those who do not live for GOD have always, deep in their hearts, a sort of hollowness and wearing remorse which makes their life most wretched. Whatever remains they have of spiritual life will be utterly taken away, every spark of it, from those who die impenitent; and they will be in that terrible state, which is called in Holy Scripture "the second death;" a kind of existence which is much worse than any idea we have of death; an existence cut off and shut out from GOD, and therefore from all peace; a life without spiritual life. It was to win for mankind this gift of spiritual life and to save them from this most awful kind of death, that God the SON became Man. He received into His Human Nature this gift, that we by being incorporated into Him by a real union might receive it from Him. So S. John writes, "God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His SON. He that hath the SoN hath life, and he that hath

Gifts of the SPIRIT; faith, and new birth; 121

not the Son of GOD hath not lifet."

And this

spiritual life, including every thing which makes men fit to be in communion with God, this life which was won for us by God the Son, is given out to us by GOD the HOLY GHOST.

(a.) In order to receive it, and profit by it when it is received, we must have that which is called faith: i. e. we must believe that we do need that new life, and that it is the gift of GOD, and of none but GOD, and that we are bound to lead heavenly lives. This faith is one gift of the HOLY GHOST; the soil of our heart is thus prepared by Him in order that His other gifts may not be received in vain. So it is said in the Acts, that God gave the HOLY GHOST alike to Jews and Gentiles when they became Christians, "purifying their hearts by faith ""

(6.) Again: the new birth in Baptism is from Him: so S. Paul writes to Titus, "According to His mercy GoD saved us, by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the HOLY GHOST." And our LORD's words are to the same effect, "Except a man be born of water and of the SPIRIT, he cannot enter into u Acts xv. 9.

t1 S. John v. 11, 12.

Tit. iii. 5. Comp. 1 Cor. vi. 11.

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Confirmation;

the kingdom of GOD."

This He does not

withhold even from little infants, who are not old enough to have active faith. For as they are not capable of that, so neither are they capable of unbelief; so that there is nothing in them to hinder Him from new-creating them. His tender mercy is satisfied with that.

(c.) Again: Confirmation is from Him, appointed in order to strengthen in us the spiritual life which was begun in Baptism, to make us more able to live holy, and pure, and devout lives; such a life as Angels live, and Christians (by the power of the HOLY GHOST Who is in them) can live, if they give themselves to it. So we read in the Acts, that after Philip the Deacon had baptized many of the people of Samaria, the Apostles at Jerusalem sent to them Peter and John, who, when they were come down, prayed for them that they might receive the HOLY GHOST (for they had not yet fully received Him): "then laid they their hands on them, and they received the HOLY GHOST"? It is concerning Confirmation that St. Paul. writes, "Grieve not the HOLY SPIRIT of GOD, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption;" for "the seal" was the common name of

S. John iii. 5.

z Acts viii. 14-18.

Holy Communion; guidance;

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Confirmation in the early times. And Isaiah prophesied of the seven gifts which are given in Confirmation; "The SPIRIT of the LORD shall rest upon Him; the SPIRIT of wisdom and understanding, the SPIRIT of counsel and might, the SPIRIT of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD; and shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD a."

(d.) Again: Holy Communion is given to us by the same SPIRIT. So S. Paul says, "We

have been all made to drink into one SPIRIT "." And I suppose we may understand those words of our LORD to signify this, when at the end of His wonderful discourse on the eating of His Flesh and the drinking of His Blood, He says, "it is the SPIRIT that quickeneth C."

(e.) Again: all guidance in our duty is from Him. There is the inward guidance of the conscience: As many as are led by the SPIRIT of God, they are the sons of GoDd." The natural conscience which all men have, is made by Him stronger and quicker in Christians. And there is the outward guidance, (1) by Holy Scripture, which was written by men who spake "as they

a Isa. xi. 2, 3. See the first Collect in the Confirmation Service. b 1 Cor. xii. 13. c S. John vi. 63.-See Johnson, Unbloody Sacrifice, p. 287, 288.-Oxf. ed. d Rom. viii. 14.