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Objection 1: It would seem that the Holy Ghost is not fittingly
sent in a visible manner. For the Son as visibly sent to the world is
said to be less than the Father. But the Holy Ghost is never said
to be less than the Father. Therefore the Holy Ghost is not
fittingly sent in a visible manner.
Objection 2: Further, the visible mission takes place by way of
union to a visible creature, as the Son's mission according to the
flesh. But the Holy Ghost did not assume any visible creature; and
hence it cannot be said that He exists otherwise in some creatures than
in others, unless perhaps as in a sign, as He is also present in the
sacraments, and in all the figures of the law. Thus the Holy Ghost
is either not sent visibly at all, or His visible mission takes place
in all these things.
Objection 3: Further, every visible creature is an effect showing
forth the whole Trinity. Therefore the Holy Ghost is not sent by
reason of those visible creatures more than any other person.
Objection 4: Further, the Son was visibly sent by reason of the
noblest kind of creature---namely, the human nature. Therefore if
the Holy Ghost is sent visibly, He ought to be sent by reason of
rational creatures.
Objection 5: Further, whatever is done visibly by God is dispensed
by the ministry of the angels; as Augustine says (De Trin. iii,
4,5,9). So visible appearances, if there have been any, came
by means of the angels. Thus the angels are sent, and not the Holy
Ghost.
Objection 6: Further, the Holy Ghost being sent in a visible
manner is only for the purpose of manifesting the invisible mission; as
invisible things are made known by the visible. So those to whom the
invisible mission was not sent, ought not to receive the visible
mission; and to all who received the invisible mission, whether in the
New or in the Old Testament, the visible mission ought likewise to
be sent; and this is clearly false. Therefore the Holy Ghost is not
sent visibly.
On the contrary, It is said (Mt. 3:16) that, when our Lord
was baptized, the Holy Ghost descended upon Him in the shape of a
dove.
I answer that, God provides for all things according to the nature of
each thing. Now the nature of man requires that he be led to the
invisible by visible things, as explained above (Question 12,
Article 12). Wherefore the invisible things of God must be made
manifest to man by the things that are visible. As God, therefore,
in a certain way has demonstrated Himself and His eternal processions
to men by visible creatures, according to certain signs; so was it
fitting that the invisible missions also of the divine persons should be
made manifest by some visible creatures.
This mode of manifestation applies in different ways to the Son and to
the Holy Ghost. For it belongs to the Holy Ghost, Who proceeds
as Love, to be the gift of sanctification; to the Son as the
principle of the Holy Ghost, it belongs to the author of this
sanctification. Thus the Son has been sent visibly as the author of
sanctification; the Holy Ghost as the sign of sanctification.
Reply to Objection 1: The Son assumed the visible creature,
wherein He appeared, into the unity of His person, so that whatever
can be said of that creature can be said of the Son of God; and so,
by reason of the nature assumed, the Son is called less than the
Father. But the Holy Ghost did not assume the visible creature, in
which He appeared, into the unity of His person; so that what is
said of it cannot be predicated of Him. Hence He cannot be called
less than the Father by reason of any visible creature.
Reply to Objection 2: The visible mission of the Holy Ghost does
not apply to the imaginary vision which is that of prophecy; because as
Augustine says (De Trin. ii, 6): "The prophetic vision is not
displayed to corporeal eyes by corporeal shapes, but is shown in the
spirit by the spiritual images of bodies. But whoever saw the dove and
the fire, saw them by their eyes. Nor, again, has the Holy Ghost
the same relation to these images that the Son has to the rock,
because it is said, "The rock was Christ" (1 Cor. 10:4).
For that rock was already created, and after the manner of an action
was named Christ, Whom it typified; whereas the dove and the fire
suddenly appeared to signify only what was happening. They seem,
however, to be like to the flame of the burning bush seen by Moses and
to the column which the people followed in the desert, and to the
lightning and thunder issuing forth when the law was given on the
mountain. For the purpose of the bodily appearances of those things
was that they might signify, and then pass away." Thus the visible
mission is neither displayed by prophetic vision, which belongs to the
imagination, and not to the body, nor by the sacramental signs of the
Old and New Testament, wherein certain pre-existing things are
employed to signify something. But the Holy Ghost is said to be sent
visibly, inasmuch as He showed Himself in certain creatures as in
signs especially made for that purpose.
Reply to Objection 3: Although the whole Trinity makes those
creatures, still they are made in order to show forth in some special
way this or that person. For as the Father, Son and Holy Ghost
are signified by diverse names, so also can They each one be signified
by different things; although neither separation nor diversity exists
amongst Them.
Reply to Objection 4: It was necessary for the Son to be declared
as the author of sanctification, as explained above. Thus the visible
mission of the Son was necessarily made according to the rational
nature to which it belongs to act, and which is capable of
sanctification; whereas any other creature could be the sign of
sanctification. Nor was such a visible creature, formed for such a
purpose, necessarily assumed by the Holy Ghost into the unity of His
person, since it was not assumed or used for the purpose of action,
but only for the purpose of a sign; and so likewise it was not required
to last beyond what its use required.
Reply to Objection 5: Those visible creatures were formed by the
ministry of the angels, not to signify the person of an angel, but to
signify the Person of the Holy Ghost. Thus, as the Holy Ghost
resided in those visible creatures as the one signified in the sign, on
that account the Holy Ghost is said to be sent visibly, and not as an
angel.
Reply to Objection 6: It is not necessary that the invisible
mission should always be made manifest by some visible external sign;
but, as is said (1 Cor. 12:7)---"the manifestation of the
Spirit is given to every man unto profit"---that is, of the
Church. This utility consists in the confirmation and propagation of
the faith by such visible signs. This has been done chiefly by Christ
and by the apostles, according to Heb. 2:3, "which having begun
to be declared by the Lord, was confirmed unto us by them that
heard."
Thus in a special sense, a mission of the Holy Ghost was directed to
Christ, to the apostles, and to some of the early saints on whom the
Church was in a way founded; in such a manner, however, that the
visible mission made to Christ should show forth the invisible mission
made to Him, not at that particular time, but at the first moment of
His conception. The visible mission was directed to Christ at the
time of His baptism by the figure of a dove, a fruitful animal, to
show forth in Christ the authority of the giver of grace by spiritual
regeneration; hence the Father's voice spoke, "This is My beloved
Son" (Mt. 3:17), that others might be regenerated to the
likeness of the only Begotten. The Transfiguration showed it forth
in the appearance of a bright cloud, to show the exuberance of
doctrine; and hence it was said, "Hear ye Him" (Mt.
17:5). To the apostles the mission was directed in the form of
breathing to show forth the power of their ministry in the dispensation
of the sacraments; and hence it was said, "Whose sins you shall
forgive, they are forgiven" (Jn. 20:23): and again under the
sign of fiery tongues to show forth the office of teaching; whence it
is said that, "they began to speak with divers tongues" (Acts
2:4). The visible mission of the Holy Ghost was fittingly not
sent to the fathers of the Old Testament, because the visible mission
of the Son was to be accomplished before that of the Holy Ghost;
since the Holy Ghost manifests the Son, as the Son manifests the
Father. Visible apparitions of the divine persons were, however,
given to the Fathers of the Old Testament which, indeed, cannot be
called visible missions; because, according to Augustine (De
Trin. ii, 17), they were not sent to designate the indwelling of
the divine person by grace, but for the manifestation of something
else.
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