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55. Furthermore man crowned with glory and honour," and "glory,
honour and peace" are laid up by promise "to every man that worketh
good." There is moreover a special and peculiar glory for Israelites
"to whom," it is said "pertaineth the adoption and the glory ...
and the service," and the Psalmist speaks of a certain glory of his
own, "that my glory may sing praise to Thee ;" and again "Awake
up my glory" and according to the Apostle there is a certain glory of
sun and moon and stars, and "the ministration of condemnation is
glorious." While then so many things are glorified, do you wish the
Spirit alone of all things to be unglorified? Yet the Apostle says
"the ministration of the Spirit is glorious." How then can He
Himself be unworthy of glory? How according to the Psalmist can the
glory of the just man be great and according to you the glory of the
Spirit none? How is there not a plain peril from such arguments of
our bringing on ourselves the sin from which there is no escape? If
the man who is being saved by works of righteousness glorifies even them
that fear the Lord much less would be deprive the Spirit of the glory
which is His due.
Grant, they say, that He is to be glorified, but not with the
Father and the Son. But what reason is there in giving up the place
appointed by the Lord for the Spirit, and inventing some other?
What reason is there for robbing of His share of glory Him Who is
everywhere associated with the Godhead; in the confession of the
Faith, in the baptism of redemption, in the working of miracles, in
the indwelling of the saints, in the graces bestowed on obedience?
For there is not even one single gift which reaches creation without
the Holy Ghost; when not even a single word can be spoken in defence
of Christ except by them that are aided by the Spirit, as we have
learnt in the Gospels from our Lord and Saviour. And I know not
whether any one who has been par-taker of the Holy Spirit will
consent that we should overlook all this, forget His fellowship in all
things, and tear the Spirit asunder from the Father and the Son.
Where then are we to take Him and rank Him? With the creature?
Yet all the creature is in bondage, but the Spirit maketh free.
"And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." Many
arguments might be adduced to them that it is unseemly to coordinate the
Holy Spirit with created nature, but for the present I will pass
them by. Were I indeed to bring forward, in a manner befitting the
dignity of the discussion, all the proofs always available on our
side, and so overthrow the objections of our opponents, a lengthy
dissertation would be required, and my readers might be worn out by my
prolixity. I therefore propose to reserve this matter for a special
treatise, and to apply thyself to the points now more immediately
before us.
56. Let us then examine the points one by one. He is good by
nature, in the same way as the Father is good, and the Son is good;
the creature on the other hand shares in goodness by choosing the good.
He knows "The deep things of God;" the creature receives the
manifestation of ineffable things through the Spirit. He quickens
together with God, who produces and preserves all things alive, and
together with the Son, who gives life. "He that raised up Christ
from the dead," it is said, "shall also quicken your mortal bodies
by the spirit that dwelleth in you;" and again "my sheep hear my
voice, ... and I give unto them eternal life;" but Spirit"
also, it is said, "giveth life," and again "the Spirit," it is
said, "is life, because of righteousness." And the Lord bears
witness that "it is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth
nothing." How then shall we alienate the Spirit from His quickening
power, and make Him belong to lifeless nature? Who is so
contentious, who is so utterly without the heavenly gift, and unfed by
God's good words, who is so devoid of part and lot in eternal hopes,
as to sever the Spirit from the Godhead and rank Him with the
creature?
57. Now it is urged that the Spirit is in us as a gift from God,
and that the gift is not reverenced with the same honour as that which
is attributed to the giver. The Spirit is a gift of God, but a gift
of life, for the law of "the Spirit of life," it is said, "hath
made" us "free;" and a gift of power, for "ye shall receive power
after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you." Is He on this account
to be lightly esteemed? Did not God also bestow His Son as a free
gift to mankind? "He that spared not His own Son," it is said,
"but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also
freely give us all things?" And in another place, "that we might
truly know the things that are freely given us of God," in reference
to the mystery of the Incarnation. It follows then that the
maintainers of such arguments, in making the greatness of God's
loving kindness an occasion of blasphemy, have really surpassed the
ingratitude of the Jews. They find fault with the Spirit because He
gives us freedom to call God our Father. "For God hath sent forth
the Spirit of His Son into" our "hearts crying Abba, Father,"
that the voice of the Spirit may become the very voice of them that
have received him.
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