SERMON XVIII.
THE BREATH OF THE MOST HIGH GOD.

WHITSUNTIDE.

Ps. civ. 30.

"Thou sendest forth Thy Spirit, they are created: and Thou renewest the face of the earth."

THESE words were apparently intended to put thoughtful readers in mind of the history of the creation of the world, as we find it in the book of Genesis. "The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light." The work of creation did not begin, things did not receive any order, nor had come into that condition which caused the Almighty, seeing them all, to pronounce them "very good," until the Holy Spirit of God had "brooded upon the face of the dark void deep," as one may imagine a bird brooding with outspread wings, according to the force of the original word. He brooded over it, and in some mysterious way made it apt to obey God's commands, and to bring forth out of its own bosom those marvellous works, which, one after another, God called into being out of the great deep, during those six days of creation.

In like manner, when all things were again become in a manner empty and void and waste, by reason of the mischief which the wilful sin of Adam had caused; when it had become quite manifest, that men left to themselves must perish in their misery (they can but "die, and turn again to their dust"); then did God send forth His Holy Spirit, the Comforter promised by our Saviour, to unite them as true members to Jesus Christ, so to new-create them, and "renew the face of the earth." Since He came down on the day of Pentecost, a new heaven and a new earth has begun here among men; all things are changed, all put in a new light, all clothed with a kind of glory from above. So great is this change, that the New Testament mentions it repeatedly under the title of a "new creation," a "new birth," a "kingdom which cannot be moved," and the like: and the Church has always considered such Psalms as this hundred and fourth, which celebrates God's glory in the works of the first creation, to be in their Christian meaning, hymns of praise for the second creation also; for the regeneration of the world out of wickedness and confusion, as well as for its first birth out of disorder, and emptiness, and darkness.

The Breath of the Most High, then, mentioned in the text, is the Holy Spirit of the Father and the Son, the Third Person in the Blessed Inseparable Trinity, proceeding from the Father and the Son, to give life, and order, and harmony, to His creatures; especially to make His reasonable creatures, Angels and men, partakers of His unspeakable holiness. Therefore, the Psalm which so teaches concerning the Breath of the Lord, is appointed to be one of the proper Psalms for this great day; Almighty God having so ordered this world which we see, in reference to that better one which we do not see, that the one is throughout a kind of pattern or shadow of the other; and the hymns of praise for the first creation, which the book of Psalms has in many places, are suitable to be used when we are glorifying God for this His second and far more perfect creation, His spiritual and eternal world.

And as the Church on Christmas-day taught us to regard the light of the sun as a visible token of our Saviour, according to S. John's expression, "That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world;" so at this season she teaches us to regard the Holy Spirit as being, in some wonderful sense, the Breath of God; as indeed the word "Spirit" would of itself imply, for in the first place it means "breath."

The Holy Spirit is called the Breath of God, as being breathed out in a mysterious and marvellous way over His whole creation, but especially into the souls of reasonable beings, to make all in their several measure partakers of God and of happiness. The Holy Spirit is God secretly present, encompassing us about, entering into us, piercing even to the very depths of our being, like the air we breathe, unseen, but known by its effects.

If this parable of Breath be well considered, it may seem to account for other like parables, so to call them, by which Holy Scripture teaches us how to think of This our most Holy Comforter. For instance, the Holy Spirit is sometimes compared to the wind, as in the discourse of our Saviour to Nicodemus: "the wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou nearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit." The wind, blowing so far and wide over the world, invisible, but possessed often of immense power, unknown as to where it begins and ends, and as to the rules by which it rises or falls, is set forth as an emblem of that Spirit, Whose coming was to-day made known to His chosen messengers by a sudden great "sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind," which "filled all the house where they were sitting." So the Holy Spirit came suddenly, not according to any rules which we could calculate upon, but according to God's good pleasure, when He saw the time was arrived for the kingdom of heaven to be set up. It was "a rushing mighty wind;" the whole world might perceive, that that there was a heavenly power in It, which had never yet made Itself known. "It filled all the house, where they were sitting:" the Spirit of God shewed Himself alike in all places of the Church at once. North, south, east, and west; it is the same Divine Presence and Power, accompanying the Sacraments of Jesus Christ, and answering the prayers of His people.

Thus the wind, when we hear or feel it, may remind us of the Breath of Almighty God; and the effects of the wind, the clouds which it brings over the earth, the moisture which the air takes up, the dews which descend, the rains which pour down, the springs which gush out, the waters which flow over the earth; all these are in Scripture tokens of the same Spirit, shewing Himself in gifts and sanctifying graces, and communicating spiritual life to His people.

Thus the cloud of Glory, in which, as well as in the Red Sea, the children of Israel were baptized, was the figure, as we learn from S. Paul, of the Holy Spirit by Whom Christians are regenerated in the waters of Baptism.

The dew which came down at the prayer of Gideon, first on the fleece alone, then on all the ground besides, leaving the fleece alone dry, betokened the gifts of the Holy Spirit in several degrees, for a long time given to the Jews only, then at the setting up of Christ's Kingdom made common to all nations, and that in an infinitely higher and more blessed way. The manna which came down all night, silently on every side of the camp, that too was a kind of dew from heaven, "a gracious rain upon God's inheritance, refreshing it when it was weary," as another of the Psalms appointed for this season teaches, adding, that God's congregation was to dwell therein. The whole Church is to dwell in the Spirit of God, as in the air it breathes, as in the comfortable and refreshing dewy vapour, which makes this earth tolerable for her to abide in.

The water gushing from the smitten rock was the token and sign of the Holy Spirit, flowing forth from Jesus Christ crucified to every one of His members, even as He Himself declared: "If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink: he that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." "This" (S. John adds) "spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive." It is also compared to water generally, as in the Sacrament of Baptism; and in the vision wherein S. John saw living waters proceed from the Throne of God and the Lamb, and go out through the whole sacred city, "a pure river of water of life."

Nay, and that well-known token also of a dove, by which the Holy Spirit manifested Himself to the Baptist, is not altogether of a different sort from these. For the hovering of the Holy Dove, we may suppose, was like a soft cloud, gently wafted from heaven to settle on the Son of God; and this may have been one reason why that figure in particular was fixed on.

You see, then, what a number of common things, the most common things in our sight, Almighty God has set down in His Word as emblems of His Holy and Blessed Spirit, the Teacher and Comforter of all faithful souls. If you do but see a cloud in the sky, you see what may remind you of Him, overshadowing the Church with blessed consolations and promises, coming to be the Tabernacle and Refuge, the Home and Shelter of all who are weary and heavy laden. The morning and evening dews are like His refreshing graces, ever new, never failing, given impartially to all, coming silently, but known by their purity and brightness, and by the holy hope and joy and strength, which they spread over the whole heart and life of man; not unlike the cheerful green, which follows on a timely shower in spring or summer.

Nay, even such an ordinary sight as a shower of rain is a sign of the same high Presence, if Christians will but have the heart to believe it. It tells us of Him Who is always ready, in answer to our true and faithful prayers, to "send a gracious rain on His inheritance, and refresh it" in its weariness.

And so, too, if we will follow the example of those who came nearest our Lord's own time, we shall not be ashamed to see continually, even in the wells by our doors, or in the brooks or watercourses that we meet with, something to remember Him by, Who has vouchsafed, once for all, to "sanctify the element of water to the mystical washing away of sin."

So many, and so common and cheap, are the lessons which the works of God all around will read to us, if we have ears to hear, concerning the ever-blessed Spirit; and how unspeakably deep and high, how infinitely important, is the truth which they join to teach! That He Who is the Finger, the Power of God, the Holy Ghost, One with the Father and the Son, as He is present in all His works, so is He ever in a peculiar manner abiding in those whom He has regenerated and made members of Jesus Christ: out of sight, out of hearing, beyond all feeling or any outward sense, yet infinitely nearer and closer to every one of us than any of the things we do see, hear, or feel, or can make out by reasoning; ready at hand to all His faithful ones, at every moment of their dangerous and trying pilgrimage, to guide and comfort, to purify and refresh them; so that, whatever difficulties arise we may still say, "We are, by Baptism, partakers of God and of Christ; we have once renounced and overcome the Evil one, and by the same Power we may do so again, because 'greater is He that is in us, than he that is in the world.'"

More especially we are hereby taught to think of our own spiritual and hidden life, the life which we have, concealed and laid up for us with Christ in God, the life which is altogether of faith, not at all of sight. I say, whatever puts us in mind of the Holy Spirit, puts us in mind of that life; for He, as the Belief truly tells us, is "the Lord and Giver of life." Christ, we know, is our only life, as many as truly belong to the kingdom of heaven. Now the Holy Spirit joins us to Christ, makes us members of Him in Holy Baptism; keeps us so in the other Blessed Sacrament; and, therefore, especially is He called "the Lord, and Giver of Life" in the Creed. By Him "we live, and move, and have our being," as people of God.

Observe now, how well this agrees with the teaching both of the Old and New Testament, concerning the heavenly operation and providence of God's Spirit. First, the Spirit of God, moving on the face of the waters, prepared them mysteriously for the wonderful births, which God kept bringing out of them, till the six days' work was over. The waters cherished the still and dead elements, to bring forth life when Almighty God should command. Bye and bye, when mention is made of creating man, we read, "The Lord God formed man out of the dust of the earth, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul." What was it, then, my brethren, that gave our first father life? It was the Breath of Life, the Spirit of God, breathed from above into his nostrils. The natural life, then, of the first Adam was a gift of the Spirit, a token of His Divine Presence; but much more so the spiritual life, which Christians have by union with the second Adam. To bring us, us I say, who are here present, unworthy sinners (for every one of us was then in His mind), to bring us to Almighty God, the Holy Ghost first performed this great wonder, He afterwards came down from heaven in the fulness of time, descended upon the ever-blessed Virgin Mary, and caused our Lord to be conceived in her womb, and to take our human nature upon Him, of her substance, she still continuing a most pure and holy virgin. Thus, that Christ's life might be communicated to us, did God's watchful love provide for Him to be first partaker of our life; and as our regeneration was to be the work of the Holy Ghost, so was Christ's Nativity ordered in like manner.

Again, at the Baptism of our Lord, when that water, and in it all water, was sanctified to be the outward means of that blessed union and communion with Christ, here also again the Holy Spirit came down from heaven to bless the water for the purpose. At Pentecost He came down as in cloven tongues of fire, to quicken the dead world and make it a living Church. In Baptism it is His gracious doing, that we put on Christ, Who is our Life. In the Holy Eucharist, He it is, He the most Holy Spirit, Who comes down in answer to the prayers of His Church, and works that unseen wonder, that the Bread and Wine become, to those who worthily receive them [1], the Body and Blood of Christ, verily taken and received. That is, in the Eucharist the Holy Spirit comes down, to strengthen and refresh us in Christ, Who is our Life.

Lastly, the Holy Spirit is to us a Giver of life, because He plants even in our bodies a life-giving seed, Christ's Body received by faith; and it is a pledge that we really never die, but sleep; it is a token, in our very outward members, that we may look in hope for a glorious resurrection; as S. Paul reasons in the epistle to the Romans, "If the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit which dwelleth in you."

Thus is Christ's Spirit to each one of us the Lord and Giver of Life from the beginning; thus is He near at hand, keeping us continually joined to Jesus Christ, our Head, if we have not thrown His grace quite away.

Surely, if we believe these things indeed, they will not pass away out of our minds; they must seem to us so great and wonderful, so near to our own selves, as to swallow up all other thoughts and cares in this one, how we may shew ourselves not unworthy of the miracles of God's mercy towards us, how we may avoid grieving that good Spirit, and forcing the Almighty Father to take Him from us. If we believe that, as baptized and justified Christians, we are really temples of the Holy Ghost, members of the Son, partakers of the Divine Nature, even as S. Paul and S. Peter plainly teach; which of us can say, that he has been or is behaving himself with that awefulness and fear, which becomes those, to whom God is so very nigh? Which of us is thankful, as he ought, to that gracious and merciful God, Who has given us not this or that blessing, but the Gift, the gracious and unspeakable Gift, even His Own Self, to dwell in our hearts and bodies, to cure us of all evil, and perfect us in every good? Surely our condition is now, since our Baptism, like that of God's Angels, before any of them fell; we are brought very near to Him, nearer than any of us can imagine or express: our blessings are heavenly blessings and privileges; our communion is with the inhabitants of heaven; we see "the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ," in His Church, and in His Scriptures; and we know and feel all the while that we have as yet all our blessings, and the hope of infinitely greater ones, on trial; we have them to make sure of, or to lose, for ever, according as we try to keep God's commandments or no. This is, so far, like the condition of the high Angels in heaven before they fell; or like that of our first parents in Paradise.

Let us not, I beseech you, be so childish, as to put off serious thoughts of this our state with the ordinary saying, "God is merciful; and I hope I shall find pardon, though I have sinned, as many more have done." Was not He the same merciful God, was not His mercy over all His works, when the Angels sinned and when Adam fell, as truly as it is now? And yet His sentence came to pass in both cases; the one lost Heaven, and the other Paradise. Whatever else we do, then, or refrain from doing, let us at least endeavour to open our eyes, and contemplate our real condition. The outward world indeed is to us the same, as if we were no Christians; the breath of heaven is around us, the dew falls, the winds blow, the rain descends, the waters gush out, and all the other works of nature go on, as if we had never been taken out of this wicked world, and placed in the kingdom of God. But in reality, we know that there is a meaning and power in all these common things, which they can have to none but Christians. They are so many tokens of the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, the Breath of God, Which proceeded and yet proceeds from the Father and the Son, to new-create a ruined world, to renew each one of us in particular to a new life, the life of Jesus Christ. That good Spirit is around us on every side; He is within us; we are His temples; we do not leave Him behind us, when we go out of Church; only let us so live, that we force Him not to depart from us at last!

[1] The author was speaking only of the benefits to the faithful receiver, without any reference to the case of the wicked. He held undoubtingly that the Holy Eucharist was, by virtue of the consecration, the Body and Blood of Christ to all; to the members of Christ, to unite them yet more to Christ; to those who profaned His Body, to their hurt. The words are equivalent to the prayer in the Roman Missal and other Eucharistic Liturgies, "that it may be to us the Body and Blood of Thy most dearly Beloved Son our Lord Jesus Christ." The writer was one who cooperated with Bishop Forbes in writing (what there was not time allowed, in which one person could write) "the theological defence for the Bishop of Brechin," in which Eucharistic doctrine was fully set forth. E.B.P.

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