Tuesday 5 June 2012

The Holy Trinity

This past weekend featured the celebration of Trinity Sunday. The doctrine of the Holy Trinity is one of the fundamental beliefs that separates Christianity from other religions. One of the earliest heresies which the church had to combat was the denial of the true unity of person of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Some denied the divinity of Jesus (Arianism). Others denied his humanity (Docetism). As Christians, we believe in one God who is manifested in three persons - God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. The Athanasian Creed spells out quite clearly the total reality of the Holy Trinity as revealed to and believed by Christians.

The litugrical colour for Trinity Season is green, the colour of new growth. In the early part of the Church year, Advent Sunday through WhitSunday (Pentecost) we have learned about the great moments in the life of Jesus Christ here on earth. Trinity Season begins a progression and reflection on all we have seen and learned. The Collects, Epistles and Gospels lead us through greater understanding of the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives based on the teachings and commission of our Lord Jesus Christ.



Image Source: Google Images



Trinity Sunday readings:

THE COLLECT.  
ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, who hast given unto us thy servants grace, by the confession of a true faith, to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity, and in the power of the Divine Majesty to worship the Unity: We beseech thee, that this holy faith may evermore be our defence against all adversities; who livest and reignest, one God, world without end.  Amen.

THE LESSON.  Rev. 4. 1
AFTER this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will show thee things which must be hereafter.  And immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne: and he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardius stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald.  And round about the throne were four and twenty seats; and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold: and out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices.  And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.  And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four living beasts full of eyes before and behind.  And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle.  And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.  And when those beasts give glory and honour and thanks to him that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever, the four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying,
          Thou art worthy, O Lord,
          To receive glory and honour and power;
          For thou hast created all things,
          And for thy pleasure they are, and were created.

THE GOSPEL.  S. John 3. 1
THERE was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: the same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.  Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.  Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?  Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.  That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.  Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.  The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth; so is every one that is born of the Spirit.  Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be?  Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?  Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness.  If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not; how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?  And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of Man who is in heaven.  And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.




COMMENTARY:



Trinity Sunday
excerpt from 
COMMON PRAYER
Volume 4: Trinity Sunday to the Twelfth Sunday After Trinity 
Daily Reading on the Lectionary of the Book of Common Prayer 
by W. J. Hankey, D. P. Curry, J.A. Matheson, B.L. Craig, R. U. Smith, and G. W. Thorne
Revised by D. P. Curry, P. W. Harris, and B. M. Large 
St. Peter Publications Inc. Charlottetown, PEI, Canada, 1999.
Reprinted with permission of the publisher.

Almighty and everlasting God, who hast given unto us thy servants grace, by the confession of a true faith, to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity, and in the power of the Divine Majesty to worship the Unity: We beseech thee, that this holy faith may evermore be our defence against all adversities; who livest and reignest, one God, world without end. Amen.
Thus far in the Church year the Love of each Person of the Trinity has been remembered in separate festivals.  In the Incarnation, Death, Resurrection and Ascension of our Lord, we see the Love of both the Father and the Son, for it was the Father who sent his Son into the world.  In the sending forth of the Blessed Spirit by the Father and the Son on Whitsunday, we acknowledge the special and marvellous work of the Holy Spirit.  Today, on Trinity Sunday, we bring to a close the first half of the Christian year as we gather together all three Persons of the Trinity in our worship, witnessing to the glory of the eternal Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, as one God, equally concerned in our salvation.  Our Epistle for today encourages us to look upward into Heaven and to cry with all the Saints triumphant: 
  





Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty,
which was, and is,
and is to come...
Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive
glory, and honour,
and power; 
  
Trinity Sunday is also the beginning of the second half of the Church year.  Having been taught who God is and what he has done for us in and through his Son, we now focus our hearts and minds on living the Christian life.  This new start is reflected in the fact that we begin to read from three books of the Bible, Job, James, and Mark.  We shall see Job struggling to understand how God can be active within his life, in the midst of tragedy, sorrow and pain. The readings from Job will help us to see how we must place our trust and faith in God, knowing that he will never forsake us and that only he, in his Wisdom, and Love, can know what is best for us.  The readings from James assist us as we focus on the practical living of the Christian life.  Its principle themes are: patience in temptation; humility and equal treatment of the poor; the necessity of faith producing good works; the control of the tongue; the curbing of lusts; the danger of material riches; the beauty and use of prayer.  The readings from St. Mark remind us that the Christian life must be guided by the example of the life of our Lord.  The Gospel for today makes it very clear that Trinity Sunday is a new beginning: “Ye must be born again”.  Born again by the Spirit, we let the Spirit shape our lives by his life during this Trinity season.
Site Link: http://www.lectionarycentral.com/trinity/CommonPrayer2.html





COMMENTARY:



Introduction to the Trinity Season
excerpt from
COMMON PRAYER
Volume 4: Trinity Sunday to the Twelfth Sunday After Trinity 
Daily Reading on the Lectionary of the Book of Common Prayer 
by W. J. Hankey, D. P. Curry, J.A. Matheson, B.L. Craig, R. U. Smith, and G. W. Thorne
Revised by D. P. Curry, P. W. Harris, and B. M. Large 
St. Peter Publications Inc. Charlottetown, PEI, Canada, 1999.
Reprinted with permission of the publisher.

The Christian year consists of two parts: from Advent to Trinity Sunday; and from Trinity to Advent.  The first half of the Church year has set before us the saving life and work of Jesus Christ: at Advent and Christmas with the celebration of the incarnation (‘taking on flesh’) of Jesus; at Epiphany with the manifestation of our Lord to the Gentiles; at Lent with his fasting, temptation, agony, bloody sweat, cross, passion, death and burial; at Easter with his glorious resurrection; at the Ascension; at Pentecost with his sending of the Holy Ghost to comfort us.  During all this time the Church has made us remember with thankful hearts those unspeakable benefits we receive from the Father, first by his Son, and then by his Holy Spirit.  This part of the Christian year concludes on Trinity Sunday when the Church gives praise and glory to the whole Trinity, three persons in One God.  We are beginning the second half of the Christian year (Trinity season), which prompts us to conform our lives to the truth we have seen in the first half of the year.  As Christians we are not only to know that our salvation is in Jesus Christ, but we ourselves must become like him.  Religion consists of things to be believed and things to be done.  Advent to Trinity has made clear the truth to be believed; but belief is unreal unless it is made the basis of action.  The emphasis in Trinity season is on the transformation of our life by and through the Love of God.  The Collects in Trinity season are prayers for Divine help and guidance to enable us to bring forth the fruits of Christianity.  We seek to understand our faith in a way which shows us how we can become more charitable, compassionate, humble and patient.  The Sunday lessons are concerned with the practical life of God’s Kingdom within us as individuals and among us as a Christian community.  As Charles Wheatley noted in 1710 about Gospels and Epistles appointed for Trinity season: 
From Trinity Sunday to Advent, the Gospels are not chosen as peculiarly proper to this or that Sunday, (for that could only be observed in the greater festivals), but such passages are selected out of the conduce to the making us good Christians: such as are the holy doctrine, deeds, and miracles of the blessed Jesus, who always went about doing good, and which the Church always proposes to our imitation.... The Epistles tend to the same end, being frequent exhortations to an uninterrupted practice of all Christian virtues.
The Christian life is lived within God himself: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  The continuing theme throughout Trinity season is that of the practice of allowing God to live in us so that we might be able to say with St. Paul: “I am crucified with Christ, yet I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me” (Gal. 2. 20).  Trinitytide is a time when we daily offer our life to God so that he may transform it by his life and make it more beautiful to God, to others and to ourselves.

Site Link: http://www.lectionarycentral.com/trinity/CommonPrayer.html





Sermon:





St Athanasius on the Trinity 
A reading from the letters of St. Athanasius
Ep I to Serapion, 28-30)


Light, splendour, grace in the Trinity and from the Trinity.  It will not be irrelevant to examine the ancient tradition and the doctrine and the faith of the Catholic Church, which, as we know, the Lord handed down, the apostles preached and the fathers preserved.  For on this tradition the Church is founded, and if anyone abandons it, he cannot be a Christian nor have any right to the name. 
And so the Trinity, which is recognized in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, is holy and perfect, and has no adulteration of that which is foreign or external.  Nor is it compounded of creator and created matter, but it is endowed with the complete power of creating and energizing; its mature also is consistent with itself and undivided, and its energy and activity is one.  For the Father makes all things tough the Word in the Holy Spirit, and in that way the unity of the Holy Trinity is preserved.  Thus in the Church one God is preached, who is ‘above all things and through all things and in all things’.  Yes, certainly, ‘above all things’ as the Father, the first principle and origin; and truly ‘through all things’, that is through the Word, and finally ‘in all things’ in the Holy Spirit. 
When Saint Paul was writing to the Corinthians about spiritual matters, he traced all things back to one God the Father as to the fountain-head in these words: ‘Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord: and there are varieties of working, but it is the same God who inspires them all in every one.’ 
The gifts which the Spirit distributes to individuals are given by the Father through the Word.  For all things which belong to the Father likewise belong to the Son: so that those things which are given by the Son in the Spirit, are true gifts of the Father.  Similarly when the Spirit is in us, the Word by whom we receive him is also in us, and in the Word is also the Father, and this is the meaning of the text: ‘We (that is, my Father and I) will come to him and make our home with him.”  For where there is light, there also is brilliance, and where there is brilliance, there the power and the glory of the light shines out. 
Paul also in the second letter to the Corinthians gives the same teaching in these words: ‘The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.’  For grace and the gift which is given in the Trinity is given by the Father through the Son in the Holy Spirit.  For just as grace is given from the Father through the Son, so within us the fellowship in the gift cannot be brought about except in the Holy Spirit.  If we  have received the Spirit, then we have the love of the Father, the grace of the Son and the fellowship of the Spirit himself.

Site Link: http://www.lectionarycentral.com/trinity/Athanasius.html


Sermon:






St. Basil the Great - On the Trinity 
(Epistle VIII in Vol VIII, NPNF (2st))

To the Caesareans. A defence of his withdrawal, and concerning the faith. 
1. I Have often been astonished at your feeling towards me as you do, and how it comes about that an individual so small and insignificant, and having, may be, very little that is lovable about him, should have so won your allegiance. You remind me of the claims of friendship and of fatherland,2 and press me urgently in your attempt to make me come back to you, as though I were a runaway from a father's heart and home. That I am a runaway I confess. I should be sorry to deny it; since you are already regretting me, you shall be told the cause. I was astounded like a man stunned by some sudden noise. I did not crush my thoughts, but dwelt upon them as I fled, and now I have been absent from you a considerable time. Then I began to yearn for the divine doctrines, and the philosophy that is concerned with them. How, said I, could I overcome the mischief dwelling with us? Who is to be my Laban, setting me free from Esau, and leading me to the supreme philosophy? By God's help, I have, so far as in me lies, attained my object; I have found a chosen vessel, a deep well; I mean Gregory, Christ's mouth. Give me, therefore, I beg you, a little time. I am not embracing a city life.3 I am quite well aware how the evil one by such means devises deceit for mankind, but I do hold the society of the saints most useful. For in the more constant change of ideas about the divine dogmas I am acquiring a lasting habit of contemplation. Such is my present situation. 
 
2. Friends godly and well beloved, do, I implore you, beware of the shepherds of the Philistines; let them not choke your wills unawares; let them not befoul the purity of your knowledge of the faith. This is ever their object, not to teach simple souls lessons drawn from Holy Scripture, but to mar the harmony of the truth by heathen philosophy. Is not he an open Philistine who is introducing the terms "unbegotten" and "begotten" into our faith, and asserts that there was once a time when the Everlasting was not;4 that He who is by nature and eternally a Father became a Father; that the Holy Ghost is not eternal? He bewitches our Patriarch's sheep that they may not drink "of the well of water springing upeverlasting life,"5 but may rather bring upon themselves the words of the prophet, "They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water;"6 when all the while they ought to confess that the Father is God, the Son God, and the Holy Ghost God,7 as they have been taught by the divine words, and by those who have understood them in their highest sense. Against those who cast it in our teeth that we are Tritheists, let it be answered that we confess one God not in number but in nature. For everything which is called one in number is not one absolutely, nor yet simple in nature; but God is universally confessed to be simple and not composite. God therefore is not one in number. What I mean is this. We say that the world is one in number, but not one by nature nor yet simple; for we divide it into its constituent elements, fire, water, air, and earth.8 Again, man is called one in number. We frequently speak of one man, but man who is composed of body and soul is not simple. Similarly we say one angel in number, but not one by nature nor yet simple, for we conceive of the hypostasis of the angel as essence with sanctification. If therefore everything which is one in number is not one in nature, and that which is one and simple in nature is not one in number; and if we call God one in nature how can number be charged against us, when we utterly exclude it from that blessed and spiritual nature? Number relates to quantity; and quantity is conjoined with bodily nature, for number is of bodily nature. We believe our Lord to be Creator of bodies. Wherefore every number indicates those things which have received a material and circumscribed nature. Monad and Unity on the other hand signify the nature which is simple and incomprehensible. Whoever therefore confesses either the Son of God or the Holy Ghost to be number or creature introduces unawares a material and circumscribed nature. And by circumscribed I mean not only locally limited, but a nature which is comprehended in foreknowledge by Him who is about to educe it from the non-existent into the existent and which can be comprehended by science. Every holy thing then of which the nature is circumscribed and of which the holiness is acquired is not insusceptible of evil. But the Son and the Holy Ghost are the source of sanctification by which every reasonable creature is hallowed in proportion to its virtue. 
 
3. We in accordance with the true doctrine speak of the Son as neither like,9 nor unlike10 the Father. Each of these terms is equally impossible, for like and unlike are predicated in relation to quality, and the divine is free from quality. We, on the contrary, confess identity of nature and accepting the consubstantiality, and rejecting the composition of the Father, God in substance, Who begat the Son, God in substance. From this the consubstantiality11 is proved. For God in essence or substance is co-essential or con-substantial with God in essence or substance. But when even man is called "god" as in the words, "I have said ye are gods,"12 and "daemon" as in the words, "The gods of the nations are daemons,"13 in the former case the name is given by favour, in the latter untruly. God alone is substantially and essentially God. When I say "alone" I set forth the holy and uncreated essence and substance of God. For the word "alone" is used in the case of any individual and generally of human nature. In the case of an individual, as for instance of Paul, that he alone was caught into the third heaven and "heard unspeakable words which it is not lawful for a man to utter,"14 and of human nature, as when David says, "as for man his days are as grass,"15 not meaning any particular man, but human nature generally; for every man is short-lived and mortal. So we understand these words to be said of the nature, "who alone hath immortality"16 and "to God only wise,"17 and "none is good save one, that is God,"18 for here "one" means the same as alone. So also, "which alone spreadest out the heavens,"19 and again "Thou shall worship the Lord thy God and Him only shalt thou serve."20 "There is no God beside me."21 In Scripture "one" and "only" are not predicated of God to mark distinction from the Son and the Holy Ghost, but to except the unreal gods falsely so called.As for instance, "The Lord alone did lead them and there was no strange god with them,"22 and "then the children of Israel did put away Baalim and Ashtaroth, and didserve the Lord only."23 And so St. Paul, "For as there be gods many and lords many, but to us there is but out god, the Father, of whom are all things; and one Lord Jesus Christ by Whom are all things."24 Here we enquire why when he had said "one God" he was not content, for we have said that "one" and "only" when applied to God, indicate nature. Why did he add the word Father and make mention of Christ? Paul, a chosen vessel, did not, I imagine, think it sufficient only to preach that the Son is God and the Holy Ghost God, which he had expressed by the phrase "one God." without, by the further addition of "the Father," expressing Him of Whom are all things; and, by mentioning the Lord, signifyings the Word by Whom are all things; and yet further, by adding the words Jesus Christ, announcing the incarnation, setting forth the passion and publishing the resurrection. For the word Jesus Christ suggests all these ideas to us. For this reason too before His passion our Lord deprecates the designation of "Jesus Christ," and charges His disciples to "tell no man that He was Jesus, the Christ."25 For His purpose was, after the completion of the oeconomy,26 after His resurrection from the dead, and His assumption into heaven, to commit to them the preaching of Him as Jesus, the Christ. Such is the force of the words "That they may know Thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent,"27 and again "Ye believe in God, believe also in me."28 Everywhere the Holy Ghost secures our conception of Him to save us from falling in else direction while we advance in the other, heeding the theology but neglecting the oeconomy,29 and so by omission falling into impiety. 
 
4. Now let us examine, and to the best of our ability explain, the meaning of the words of Holy Scripture, which our opponents seize and wrest to their own sense, and urge against us for the destruction of the glory of the Only-begotten. First of all take the words "I live because of the Father,"30 for this is one of the shafts hurled heavenward by those who impiously use it. These words I do not understand to refer to the eternal life; for whatever lives because of something else cannot be self-existent, just as that which is warmed by another cannot be warmth itself; but He Who is our Christ and God says, "I am the life."31 I understand the life lived because of the Father to be this life in the flesh, and in this time. Of His own will He came to live the life of men. He did not say "I have lived because of the Father," but "I live because of the Father," clearly indicating the present time, and the Christ, having the word of God in Himself, is able to call the life which He leads, life, and that this is His meaning we shall learn from what follows. "He that eateth me," He says, "he also shall live because of me;"32 for we eat His flesh, and drink His blood, being made through His incarnation and His visible life partakers of His Word and of His Wisdom. For all His mystic sojourn among us He called flesh and blood, and set forth the teaching consisting of practical science, of physics, and of theology, whereby out soul is nourished and is meanwhile trained for the contemplation of actual realities. This is perhaps the intended meaning of what He says.33 
 
5. And again, "My Father is greater than I."34 This passage is also employed by the ungrateful creatures, the brood of the evil one. I believe that even from this passage the consubstantiality of the Son with the Father is set forth. For I know that comparisons may properly be made between things which are of the same nature. We speak of angel as greater than angel, of man as juster than man, of bird as fleeter than bird. If then comparisons are made between things of the same species, and the Father by comparison is said to be greater than the Son, then the Son is of the same substance as the Father. But there is another sense underlying the expression. In what is it extraordinary that He who "is the Word and was made flesh"35 confesses His Father to be greater than Himself, when He was seen in glory inferior to the angels, and in form to men? For "Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels,"36 and again "Who was made a little lower thanthe angels,"37 and "we saw Him and He had neither form nor comeliness, his form was deficient beyond all men."38 All this He endured on account of His abundant loving kindness towards His work, that He might save the lost sheep and bring it home when He had saved it, and bring back safe and sound to his own land the man who went down from Jerusalem to Jericho and so fell among thieves.39 Will the heretic cast in His teeth the manger out of which he in his unreasonableness was fed by the Word of reason? Will he, because the carpenter's son had no bed to lie on, complain of His being poor? This is why the Son is less than the Father; for your sakes He was made dead to free you from death and make you sharer in heavenly life. It is just as though any one were to find fault with the physician for stooping to sickness, and breathing its foul breath, that he may heal the sick. 
 
6. It is on thy account that He knows not the hour and the day of judgment. Yet nothing is beyond the ken of the real Wisdom, for "all things were made by Him; "40 and even among men no one is ignorant of what be has made. But this is His dispensation41 because of thine own infirmity, that sinners be not plunged into despair by the narrow limits of the appointed period,42 no opportunity for repentance being left them; and that, on the other hand, those who are waging a long war with the forces of the enemy may not desert their post on account of the protracted time. For both of these classes He arranges43 by means of His assumed ignorance; for the former cutting the time short for their glorious struggle's sake; for the latter providing an opportunity for repentance because of their sins. In the gospels He numbered Himself among the ignorant, on account, as I have said, of the infirmity of the greater part of mankind. In the Acts of the Apostles, speaking, as it were, to the perfect apart, He says, "It is not for yon to know the times or the seasons which the Father hath put in His own power."44 Here He implicitly excepts Himself. So much for a rough statement by way of preliminary attack. Now let us enquire into the meaning of the text from a higher point of view. Let me knock at the door of knowledge, if haply I may wake the Master of the house, Who gives the spiritual bread to them who ask Him, since they whom we are eager to entertain are friends and brothers. 
 
7. Our Saviour's holy disciples, after getting beyond the limits of human thought, and then being purified by the word,45 are enquiring about the end, and longing to know the ultimate blessedness which our Lord declared to be unknown to His angels and to Himself. He calls all the exact comprehension of the purposes of God, a day; and the contemplation of the One-ness and Unity, knowledge of which He attributes to the Father alone, an hour. I apprehend, therefore, that God is said to know of Himself what is; and not to know what is not God, Who is, of His own nature, very righteousness and wisdom, is said to know righteousness and wisdom; but to be ignorant of unrighteousness and wickedness; for God who created us is not unrighteousness and wickedness. If, then, God is said to know about Himself that which is, and not to know that which is not; and if our Lord, according to the purpose of the Incarnation and the denser doctrine, is not the ultimate object of desire; then our Saviour does not know the end and the ultimate blessedness. But He says the angels do not know;46 that is to say, not even the contemplation which is in them, nor the methods of their ministries are the ultimate object of desire. For even their knowledge, when compared with the knowledge which is face to face, is dense.47 Only the Father, He says, knows, since He is Himself the end and the ultimate blessedness, for when we no longer know God in mirrors and not immediately,48 but approach Him as one and alone, then we shall know even the ultimate end. For all material knowledge is said to be the kingdom of Christ; while immaterial knowledge, and so to say the knowledge of actual Godhead, is that of God the Father. But our Lord is also Himself the end anti the ultimate blessedness according to the purpose of the Word; for what does He say in the Gospel? "I will raise him up at the last day."49 He calls the transition from material knowledge to immaterial contemplation a resurrection, speaking of that knowledge after which there is no other, as the last day: for our intelligence is raised up and roused to a height of blessedness at the time when it contemplates the One-ness and Unity of the Word. But since our intelligence is made dense and bound to earth, it is both commingled with clay and incapable of gazing intently in pure contemplation, being led through adornments50 cognate to its own body. It considers the operations of the Creator, and judges of them meanwhile by their effects, to the end that growing little by little it may one day wax strong enough to approach even the actual unveiled Godhead. This is the meaning, I think, of the words "my Father is greater than I,"51 and also of the statement, "It is not mine to give save to those for whom it is prepared by my Father."52 This too is what is meant by Christ's "delivering up the kingdom to God even the Father;"53 inasmuch as according to the denser doctrine which, as I said, is regarded relatively to us and not to the Son Himself, He is not the end but the first fruits. It is in accordance with this view that when His disciples asked Him again in the Acts of the Apostles, "When wilt thou restore the kingdom of Israel?" He replied, "It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father hath put in His own power."54 That is to say, the knowledge of such a kingdom is not for them that are bound in flesh and blood. This contemplation the Father hath put away in His own power, meaning by "power" those that are empowered, and by "His own" those who are not held down by the ignorance of things below. Do not, I beg you, have in mind times and seasons of sense but certain distinctions of knowledge made by the sun apprehended by mental perception. For our Lord's prayer must be carried out. It is Jesus Who prayed "Grant that they may be one in us as I and Thou are one, Father."55 For when God, Who is one, is in each, He makes all out; and number is lost in the in-dwelling of Unity. 
 
This is my second attempt to attack the text. If any one has a better interpretation to give, and can consistently with true religion amend what I say, let him speak and let him amend, and the Lord will reward him for me. There is no jealousy in my heart. I have not approached this investigation of these passages for strife and vain glory. I have done so to help my brothers, lest the earthen vessels which hold the treasure of God should seem to be deceived by stony-hearted and uncircumcised men, whose weapons are the wisdom of folly.56 
 
8. Again, as is said through Solomon the Wise in the Proverbs, "He was created;" and He is named "Beginning of ways"57 of good news. which lead us to the kingdom of heaven. He is not in essence and substance a creature, but is made a "way" according to the oeconomy. Being made and being created signify the same thing. As He was made a way, so was He made a door, a shepherd, an angel, a sheep, and again a High Priest and an Apostle,58 the names being used in other senses. What again would the heretics say about God unsubjected, and about His being made sin for us?59 For it is written "But when all things shall be subdued unto Him, then shall the Son also Himself be subject unto Him that put all things under Him."60 Are you not afraid, sir, of God called unsubjected? For He makes thy subjection His own; and because of thy struggling against goodness He calls himself unsubjected. In this sense too He once spoke of Himself as persecuted-"Saul,Saul," He says, "why persecutest thou me?"61 on the occasion when Saul was hurrying to Damascus with a desire to imprison the disciples. Again He calls Himself naked, when any one of his brethren is naked. "I was naked," He says, "and ye clothed me;"62 and so when another is in prison He speaks of Himself as imprisoned, for He Himself took away our sins and bare our sicknesses.63 Now one of our infirmities is not being subject, and He bare this. So all the things which happen to us to our hurt He makes His own, taking upon Him our sufferings in His fellowship with us. 
 
9. But another passage is also seized by those who are fighting against God to the perversion of their hearers: I mean the words "The Son can do nothing of Himself."64 To me this saying too seems distinctly declaratory of the Son's being of the same nature as the Father. For if every rational creature is able to do anything of himself, and the inclination which each has to the worse and to the better is in his own power, but the Son can do nothing of Himself, then the Son is not a creature. And if He is not a creature, then He is of one essence and substance with the Father. Again; no creature can do what be likes. But the Son does what He wills in heaven and in earth. Therefore the Son is not a creature. Again; all creatures are either constituted of contraries or receptive of contraries. But the Son is very righteousness, and immaterial. Therefore the Son is not a creature, and if He is not a creature, He is of one essenceand substance with the Father. 
 
10. This examination of the passages before us is, so far as my ability goes, sufficient. Now let us turn the discussion on those who attack the Holy Spirit, and cast down every high thing of their intellect that exalts itself against the knowledge of God.65 You say that the Holy Ghost is a creature. And every creature is a servant of the Creator, for "all are thy servants."66 If then He is a servant, His holiness is acquired; and everything of which the holiness is acquired is receptive of evil; but the Holy Ghost being holy in essence is called "fount of holiness,"67 Therefore the Holy Ghost is not a creature. If He is not a creature. He is of one essence and substance with the Father. How, tell me, can you give the name of servant to Him Who through your baptism frees you from your servitude? "The law," it is said," of the Spirit of life hath made me free from the law of sin."68 But you will never venture to call His nature even variable, so long as you have regard to the nature of the opposing power of the enemy, which, like lightning, is fallen from heaven and fell out of the true life because its holiness was acquired, and its evil counsels were followed by its change. So when it had fallen away from the Unity and had cast from it its angelic dignity, it was named after its character" Devil,"69 its former arid blessed condition being extinct and this hostile power being kindled. 
 
Furthermore if he calls the Holy Ghost a creature he describes His nature as limited. How then can the two following passages stand? "The Spirit of the Lord filleth the world;"70 and "Whither shall I go from thy Spirit?"71 But he does not, it would seem. confess Him to be simple in nature; for he describes Him as one in number. And, as I have already said, everything that is one in number is not simple. And if the Holy Spirit is not simple, He consists of essence and sanctification, and is therefore composite. But who is mad enough to describe the Holy Spirit as composite, and not simple, and consubstantial with the Father and the Son? 
 
11. If we ought to advance our argument yet further, and turn our inspection to higher themes, let us contemplate the divine nature of the Holy Spirit specially flora the following point of view. In Scripture we find mention of three creations. The first is the evolution from non-being into being.72 The second is change from the worse to the better. The third is the resurrection of the dead. In these you will find the Holy Ghost cooperating with the Father and the Son. There is a bringing into existence of the heavens; and what says David? "By the word of the Lord were the heavens made and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth."73 Again, man is created through baptism, for "if any man be in Christ he is a new creature."74 And why does the Saviour say to the disciples, "Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost"? Here too you see the Holy Ghost present with the Father and the Son. And what would you say also as to the resurrection of the dead when we shall have failed and returned to our dust? Dust we are and unto dust we shall return.75 And He will send the Holy Ghost and create us and renew the face of the earth.76 For what the holy Paul calls resurrection David describes as renewal. Let us hear, once more, him who was caught into the third heaven. What does he say? "You are the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you."77 Now every temple78 is a temple of God, and if we are a temple of the Holy Ghost, then the Holy Ghost is God. It is also called Solomon's temple, but this is in the sense of his being its builder. And if we are a temple of the Holy Ghost in this sense, then the Holy Ghost is God, for "He that built all things is God."79 If we are a temple of one who is worshipped, and who dwells in us, let us confess Him to be God, for thou shale worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shall thou serve.80 Supposing them to object to the word "God," let them learn what this word means. God is called Theos either because He placed (tetheikenai) all things or because He beholds (Theasthai) all things. If He is called Theos because He "placed" or "beholds" all things, and the Spirit knoweth all the things of God, as the Spirit in us knoweth our things, then the Holy Ghost is God.81 Again, if the sword of the spirit is the word of God,82 then the Holy Ghost is God, inasmuch as the sword belongs to Him of whom it is also called the word. Is He named the right hand of the Father? For "the right hand of the Lord bringeth mighty things to pass;"83 and "thy right hand, O Lord, hath dashed in pieces the enemy."84 But the Holy Ghost is the finger of God, as it is said "if I by the finger of God cast out devils,"85 of which the version in another Gospel is "if I by the Spirit of God cast out devils."86 So the Holy Ghost is of the same nature as the Father and the Son. 
 
12. So much must suffice for the present on the subject of the adorable and holy Trinity. It is not now possible to extend the enquiry about it further. Do ye take seeds from a humble person like me, and cultivate the ripe ear for yourselves, for, as you know, in such cases we look for interest. But I trust in God that you, because of your pure lives, will bring forth fruit thirty, sixty, and a hundred fold. For, it is said, Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.87 And, my brethren, entertain no other conception of the kingdom of the heavens than that it is the very contemplation of realities. This the divine Scriptures call blessedness. For "the kingdom of heaven is within you."88 
 
The inner man consists of nothing but contemplation. The kingdom of the heavens, then, must be contemplation. Now we behold their shadows as in a glass; hereafter, set free from this earthly body, clad in the incorruptible and the immortal, we shall behold their archetypes, we shall see them, that is, if we have steered our own life's course aright, and if we have heeded the right faith, for otherwise none shall see the Lord. For, it is said, into a malicious soul Wisdom shall not enter, nor dwell in the body that is subject unto sin.89 And let no one urge in objection that, while I am ignoring what is before our eyes, I am philosophizing to them about bodiless and immaterial being. It seems to me perfectly absurd, while the senses are allowed free action in relation to their proper matter, to exclude mind alone from its peculiar operation. Precisely in the same manner in which sense touches sensible objects, so mind apprehends the objects of mental perception. This too must be said that God our Creator has not included natural faculties among things which can be taught. No one teaches sight to apprehend colour or form, nor hearing to apprehend sound and speech, nor smell, pleasant and unpleasant scents, nor taste, flavours and savours, nor touch, soft and hard, hot and cold. Nor would any one teach the mind to reach objects of mental perception; and just as the senses in the case of their being in any way diseased, or injured, require only proper treatment and then readily fulfil their own functions; just so the mind, imprisoned in flesh. and full of the thoughts that arise thence, requires faith anti right conversation which make "its feet like hinds' feet. and set it on its high places."90 The same advice is given us by Solomon the wise, who in one passage offers us the example of the diligent worker the ant,91 and recommends her active life; and in another the work of the wise bee in forming its cells,92 and thereby suggests a natural contemplation wherein also the doctrine of the Holy Trinity is contained, if at least the Creator is considered in proportion to the beauty of the things created. 
 
But with thanks to the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost let me make an end to my letter, for, as the proverb has it, pa=n me/tron a!riston.93 
 
1 This important letter was written a.d. 360, when Basiil, shocked at the discovery that Dianius, the bishop who had baptized him, had subscribed the Arian creed of Ariminum, as revised at Nike (Theod., Hist. Ecc. II. xvi.), left Caesarea, and withdrew to his friend Gregory at Nazianzus. The Benedictine note considers the traditional title an error, and concludes the letter to have been really addressed to the monks of the Coenobium over which Basil had presided. But it may have been written to monks in or near Caesarea, so that title and sense will agree. 
2 patri/j seems to be used of the city or neighbourhood of Caesarea, and so far to be in favour of Basil's birth there.  
3 i.e. the life of the city, presumably Nazianzus, from which he is writing. 
4 cf. the Arian formula h\n pote\ o#te ou'k h\n. 
5 John iv. 14. 
6 Jer. ii. 13. 
7 cf. p. 16, note. This is one of the few instances of St. Basil's use of the word qeo/j of the Holy Ghost. 
8 For the four elements of ancient philosophy modern chemistry now catalogues at least sixty-seven. Of these, earth generally contains eight; air is a mixture of two; water is a compound of two; and fire is the visible evidence of a combination between elements which produces light and heat. On the "elements" of the Greek philosophers vide Arist., Met.i. 3. Thales (_c. 550. b.c.) said water; Anaximenes (_c. b.c. 480) air; and Heraclitus (_c. b.c. 500) fire. To these Empedocles (who "ardentem frigidus Aetnam insiluit, c. b.c. 440) added a fourth, earth. 
9 Asserted at Seleucia and Ariminum. 
10 cf. D. Sp. S. § 4 on Aetius' responsibility for the Anomoean formula.  
11 ro\ o'moou/sion. 
12 Ps. lxxxii. 6. 
13 Ps. xcvi. 5, LXX. 
14 2 Cor. xii. 4. 
15 Ps. cii. 15. 
16 1 Tim. vi. 16. 
17 Rom. xvi. 27. 
18 Luke xviii. 19. 
19 Job. ix. 8. 
20 Deut. vi. 13, LXX., where the text runs ku/sion to\n qeo/n sou fobhqh/sh. St. Basil may quote the version in Matt. iv. 10 and Luke iv. 8, psoskunh/seij. The Hebrew=fear. 
21 Deut. xxxii. 39, LXX. 
22 Deut. xxxii. 12, LXX. 
23 1 Sam. vii. 4. 
24 1 Cor. viii. 5, 6. 
25 Matt. xvi. 19. 
26 i.e. of His work on earth as God manifest in the flesh. Vide note, p. 7. 
27 John xvii. 3. 
28 John xiv. 1. 
29 cf. note, p. 7. 
30 John vi. 5y, R.V. The Greek is e'gw\ zw= dia\ to\n pate/pa , i.e. not through or by the Father, but "because of" or "on account of" the Father. "The preposition (Vulg. propter patrem'>) describes the ground or object, not the instrument or agent (by, through dia\ tou= p.). Complete devotion to the Father is the essence of the life of the Son; and so complete devotion to the Son is the life of the believer. It seems better to give this full sense to the word than to take it as equivalent to 'by reason of;' that is, 'I live because the Father lives.'" Westcott, St. John ad loc. 
31 John xi. 25.  
32 John vi. 57, R.V. 
33 With this striking exposition of Basil's view of the spiritual meaning of eating the flesh and drinking the blood, f. the passage from Athanasius quoted by Bp. Harold Browne in his Exposition of the XXXIX. Articles, p. 693. It is not easy for Roman commentators to cite passages even apparently in support of the less spiritual view of the manducation, e.g. Fessler, Inst. Pat. i. 530, and the quotations under the word "Eucharistia," in the Index of Basil ed Migne. Contrast Gregory of Nyssa, in chap xxxvii. of the Greater Catechism. 
34 John xiv. 28. 
35 John i. 14. 
36 Ps. viii. 5. 
37 Heb. ii. 9. 
38 Isa liii. 2, 3. LXX. 
39 cf. Luke x. 30. 
40 John i. 3. 
41 tou=to oi'konomei=. 
42 tw= stenw th=j proqesmi/aj. n 9 proqesmi/a sc. h 9me/ra was in Attic Law a day fixed beforehand before which money must be paid, actions brought, etc. cf. Plat. Legg, 954, D. It is the "time appointed" of the Father in Gal. iv. 2. 
43 oi/konouei=. 
44 Acts i. 7. 
45 cf. John xv. 3, "Now ye are clean through the word." 
46 Mark xiii. 32.
47 The Ben. note is Totahaec explicandi ratio no sua sponte deducta, sed vi pertracta multis videbitur. Sed illud ad excusandum difficilius, quod ait Basilius angelorum scientiam crassam esse, si comparetur cum ea quae est facie ad faciem. Videtur subtilis explicatio, quam nic sequitur, necessitatem ei imposuisse ita de angelis sentiendi. Nam cum diem et horam idem esse statueret, ac extremam beatitudinem; illud Scriptura, sed neque angeli sciunt, cogebat illis visionem illam quae fit facie ad faciem, denegare; quia idem de illis non poterat dici ac de Filio eos de se ipsis scire id quod sunt nescire quod non sunt. Quod si hanc hausit opinionem ex origenis fontibus, qui pluribus locis eam insinuat, certe cito deposuit. Ait enim tom P. p. 320. Angeloj in di/inum faxiem xontinenter intentoj oxuloj habere. Idem doxet in Xom. Is. p. 515, n. 185, et De Sp. S. cap. XVI.
48 dia\ tw=n a'llotri/wn. cf. 1 Cor. xiii. 12, where St. Paul's word is e!soptpon. St. Basil's ka/toptron may rather be suggested by 2 Cor. iii. 18, where the original is katoptrizo/menoi.
49 John vi. 40.
50 ko/smwn. The Ben. note quotes Combefis as saying, "Dura mihihic vox: sit pro stoixei/wn, per cognata corpori elementa," and then goes on, sed hac in re minus vidit vir eruditus; non enim idem sonat illa vox ac mundi, quasi plures ejusmodi mundos admittat Basilius; sed idem ac ornatus, sive ut ait Basilius in Epist. vi. ta\ pepi\ gh=n ka/llh, pulchritudines quae sunt circa terram. In Com. in Is. n. 58, p. 422. Ecclesia dicitur pre/pousin e 9auth= kosmi/oij kekosmhue/nh, convenientibus sibi ornamentis instructa eadem voce utitur Gregorius Nazianz. Ep. cvii.
51 John xiv. 28.
52 Matt. xx. 23. cf. n. Theodoret, p. 28.
53 1 Cor. xv. 24.
54 Acts i. 6, 7.
55 John xvii. 21 and 22, slightly varied.
56 Basil also refers to this passage in the treatise, C. Eunomium I. 20: "Since the Son's origin (a'rxh\) is from (a/po/) the Father, in this respect the Father is greater, as cause and origin (w 9j ai!tioj kai a'oxh/). Whence also the Lord said thus my Father is greater than I, clearly inasmuch as He is Father (kaqo\ path/r). Yea; what else does the word Father signify unless the being cause and origin of that which is begotten by Him?" And in iii. 1: "The Son is second in order (ta/cei) to the Father, because He is from Him (a/po/) and in dignity (a'ciw/mati) because the Father is the origin and cause of His being." Quoted by Bp. Westcott in his St. John in the additional notes on xiv. 16, 28, pp. 211 seqq., where also will be found quotations from other Fathers on this passage. 
57 The text of Prov. viii. 22 in the LXX. is ku/riose!ktoise/ me a'rxhn o 9dw=n au'tou= eij e$oga au'touj. The rendering of A.V. is "possessed," with "formed" in the margin.
The Hebrew verb occurs some eighty times in the Old Testament, and in only four other passages is translated by possess, viz., Gen. xiv. 19, 22, Ps cxxxix. 13, Jer xxxii. 15, and Zec. xi. 5. In the two former, though the LXX. renders the word in the Psalms e'kth/sw, it would have borne the sense of "create." In the pasage under discussion the Syriac agrees with the LXX., and among critics adopting the same view Bishop Wordsworth cites Ewald, Hitzig, and Genesius. The ordinary meaning of the Hebrew is "get" or "acquire," and hence it is easy to see how the idea of getting or possessing passed in relation to the Creator into that of creation. The Greek translators were not unanimous and Aquila wrote e'kth/sato. The passage inevitably became the Jezreel or Low Countries of the Arian war, and many a battle was fought on it. The depreciators of the Son found in it Scriptural authority for calling Him kti/sma, e.g. Arius in the Thalia, is quoted by Athanasius in Or. c. Ar. I. iii. § 9, and such writings of his followers as the Letter of Eusebius of Nicomedia to Paulinus of Tyre cited in Theod., Ecc. Hist. I. v., and Eunomius as quoted by Greg. Nyss., c. Eunom. II. 10; but as Dr. Liddon observes in his Bampton Lect. (p. 60, ed. 1868), "They did not doubt that this created Wisdom was a real being or person."
e!ktise was accepted by the Catholic writers, but explained to refer to the manhood only, cf. Eustathius of Antioch, quoted in Theod., Dial. I. The view of Athanasius will be found in his dissertation on the subject in the Second Discourse against the Arians, pp. 357-385 of Schaff & Wace's edition. xf. Bull, Def. Fid. Nic. II. vi. 8.
58 Heb iii. 1.
59 cf. 2 Cor. v. 21.
60 1 Cor. xv. 28. i.e. Because the Son then shall be subjected, He is previously a$nupo/taktoj, not as being "disobedient" (1 Tim. i. 9), or "unruly" (Tit. i. 6. 10), but as being made man, and humanity, though subject unto Him, is not yet seen to be "put under Him" (Heb ii. 8).
61 Acts ix. 4.
62 Matt xxv. 36.
63 cf. Isa. liii. 4 and Matt. viii. 17.
64 John v. 19.
65 2 Cor. xi. 5.
66 Ps. xix. 91.
67 Rom. i. 4.
68 Rom. viii. 2. 
69 In Letter cciv. The name of Dia/boloj is more immediately connected with Diaba/llein, to caluminate. It is curious that the occasional spelling (e.g. in Burton) Divell, which is nearer to the original, and keeps up the association with Diable, Diavolo, etc., should have given place to the less correct and misleading "Devil."
70 Wisdom i. 7.
71 Ps. cxxxix. 7.
72 paraywyh= a'po\ tou= mh/ o!ntoj ei'j to\ ei\nai. For paragwgh/ it is not easy to give an equivalent; it is leading or bringing with a notion of change, sometimes a change into error, as when it means a quibble. It is not quite the Ben. Latin "productio." It is not used intransitively; if there is a paragwgh\, there must be o 9 para/gwn, and similarly if there is evolution or development, there must be an evolver or developer.
73 Ps. xxxiii. 6. tw= pneu/mati tou= sto/matoj au'tou=, LXX.
74 2 Cor. v. 17.
75 cf. Gen. iii. 19.
76 cf. Ps. ciii. 30.
77 1 Cor. vi. 19.
78 The Greek word nao/j (nai/w) = dwelling-place. The Hebrew probably indicates capacity. Pour "temple," from the latin Templum (te/menoj - TAM) is derivatively a place cut off.
79 Heb. iii. 4.
80 Matt. iv. 10. f. note on p. .
81 1 Cor. ii. 10, 11. On the derivation of Qeo/j from qe/w (ti/qhmi) or qea/omai, cf. Greg. Naz.
Skeat rejects the theory of connexion with the Latin Deus, and thinks that the root of tiqhmi may be the origin.
82 Eph. vi. 17.
83 Ps. cxviii. 16. P.B. "doeth valiantly," A.V. e'poi/hse du/na min, LXX.
84 Ex. xv. 6.
85 Luke xi. 20.
86 Matt. xii. 28. 
87 Matt. v. 8.
88 Luke xvii. 21, e'nto\j u'mw=n. Many modern commentators interpret "in you midst." "among you" So Alford, who quotes Xen., Anab. I. x 3 for the Greek, Bp. Walsham How. Bornemann. Meyer. The older view coincided with that of Basil; so Theophylact, Chrysostom, and with them Olshausen and Godet.
To the objection that the words were said to the Pharisees, and that the kingdom was not in their hearts, it may be answered that our Lord might use "you" of humanity, even when addressing Pharisees. He never, like a merely human preacher, says "we."
89 Wisdom viii. 4.
90 Ps. xviii. 33.
91 cf. Prov. vi. 6.
92 Ecclus. xi. 3. The ascription of this book to Solomon is said by Rufinus to be confined to the Latin church, while the Greeks know it as the Wisdom of Jesus son of Sirach (vers. Orig., Hom. in Num. xvii.).
93 Attributed to Cleobulus of Lindos. Thales is credited with the injunction me/trw xpw=. cf.. my note on Theodoret, Ep. cli. p. 329. 



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The BCP and Trinity Season.




from 
A Rationale upon the Book of Common Prayer of the Church of England
By Anthony Sparrow, D.D.
first printed in London, 1655.
With thanks to the Project Canterbury Website for this contribution.

Feast of the TRINITY IN Ancient Liturgies and Ritualists, we find this day lookt upon as an Octave of Pentecost, or as Dominica vacans (of which Name is spoken p. 219.) and that the observing of it as a Feast of the Trinity was of later use, and more late in the Roman Church than in some other, (See Decretal lib. 2. T. 9. De Feriis) And there were who objected, that because on each day (and especially Sundays) the Church celebrates the praises of the Trinity, in her Doxologies, Hymns, Creeds, &c. Therefore there was no need of a Feast on one day for that which was done on each. But yet the wisdom of the Church thought it meet, that such a Mystery as this, though part of the Meditation of each day, should be the chief subject of one, and this to be the day. For no sooner had our Lord ascended into Heaven, and Gods holy Spirit descended upon the Church, but there ensued the notice of the glorious and incomprehensible Trinity, which before that time was not so clearly known. The Church therefore having solemnized in an excellent order all the high Feast of our Lord, and after, That of the descent of Gods Spirit upon the Apostles, thought it a thing most seasonable to conclude these great solemnities with a Festival of full, special and express Service to the holy and blessed Trinity. And this the rather in after-times, when Arrians and such like Hereticks had appeared in the world, and vented their blasphemies against this Divine Mystery. 
Some proper Lessons this day hath, as the Morning First and Second. 
The first Lesson is Gen. 18. wherein we read of three that appeared to Abraham, or the Lord in three Persons, ver. 1, 2. A type of that mysterious Trinity in Unity, which was after revealed in the Gospel: So Theodor. l. 2. ad Graec. 
Because the Jews had long lived in Egypt, and had learned there the worship of many gods; the most wise God did not plainly deliver to them the mystery of the Trinity, lest they should have mistaken it for a doctrine of a plurality of gods. Yet the Doctrine of the Trinity was not wholly hidden in those times, but some seeds of that perfection of Divinity were dispersed: and for that cause, the Quire of Angels sing thrice Holy, but once Lord, holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Hosts; and here Three Men appeared to Abraham. 
The Second Lesson, S. Matth. 3. is thought fit for this Feast, because it delivers to us the baptism of Christ, at which was discovered the mystery of the Trinity; for there the Son is baptized, the holy Spirit descends upon him, and the Father speaks from Heaven, This is my beloved Son. 
The Epistle and the Gospel are the same that in Ancient Services were assigned for the Octave of Pentecost, (The Epistle being of the vision of S. John, Rev. 4. and the Gospel the Dialogue of our Lord with Nicodemus) And the mentioning (which we find therein) of Baptism, of the holy Spirit and gifts of it, though it might then fit the day, as a repetition (as it were) of Pentecost, so is it no less fit for it as a Feast to the Blessed Trinity. The mission the Holy Ghost brings with it (as aforesaid) more light and clearness to the doctrine of the Trinity, and when more fit to think of the gifts of the Spirit, than on a solemn day of Ordination (as this is one) when Men are consecrated to spiritual Offices? But besides this, we have in the Gospel set before us, all the Three Persons of the Sacred Trinity, and the same likewise represented in the Vision which the Epistle speaks of, with an Hymn of praise, Holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty, &c. which expressions by ancient interpretation relate to the holy Trinity, as is above said. 

 
Of the Sundayes after TRINITY till ADVENT. 
 
THe Church hath now finished the celebration of the high Festivals and thereby run, as it were, through a great part of the Creed, by setting before us in an orderly manner the highest Mysteries of our Redemption by Christ on earth, till the day he was taken up into Heaven, with the sending down of the Holy Ghost at Pentecost. Now after she hath in consequence and reflexion upon these Mysteries, broke out into a more solemn and special Adoration of the Blessed Trinity, she comes according to her Method in the Intervals of great Feasts (of which see [above]) to use such Epistles, Gospels, and Collects, as suit with her holy affections and aims at this season. Such, namely, as tend to our edifying, and being the living Temples of the Holy Ghost our Comforter with his Gifts and Graces; that having Oyl in our Lamps, we may be in better readiness to meet the Bridegroom at his second Advent or coming to judgment. And this done in the remaining Sundaies till Advent, which in their Services are, as it were, so many Eccho's and Reflexions upon the Mystery of Pentecost (the life of the Spirit) or as Trumpets for preparation to meet our Lord at his second coming. Which will be more manifest if we take a general view of the Gospels together, and afterwards of the Epistles and Collects. 
The GOSPELS for this time, according to the method which hath before been declared, are of the holy Doctrine, Deeds and Miracles of our Saviour, and so may singularly conduce to the making us good Christians, by being followers of Christ, and replenished with that Spirit which he both promised and sent, and for which the Church lately kept so great a solemnity: For to be charitable, heavenly-minded, repentant, merciful, humble, peaceable, religious, compassionate and thankful, to trust in God and abound with such spiritual qualities, are the Lessons taught us by our Lord in these Gospels; and that not only by word and deed, but many miracles also, for divers Gospels are of such, and tend much to our edifying. From his healing of the sick, and going about doing good, we may learn to employ that power and ability we have in works of mercy and goodness. He that raised the dead, and did such mighty works, can be no other, we may be sure, than God and Man, the Saviour of the world, and able to protect us, even against death it self, to raise our bodies from the dust, and glorifie them hereafter. 
Thus we have in general the intent of these Gospels (as may easily appear by particular observation) and withal, how pertinent they are to the time. And with them the Church concludes her Annual course of such readings, having thereby given us (and in such time and order as most apt to make deep impression) the chief matter and substance of the four Evangelists. 
True it is, that in ancient Rituals, and particularly in S. Hieromes Comes (or Lectionarius) where we find this same order of Epistles and Gospels (See Pamelii Liturg. Eccles. Lat. T. 2.) there are some other besides these which our Church useth, as for Wednesdays, Fridaies and other special times and Solemnities. But these for Sundaies and other Holy-daies, which are retained by our Church, are so well chosen for the fitness, variety and weightiness of the matter, and out of that Evangelist that delivers it most fully, that the chiefest passages of all the Evangelists are hereby made known and preached to us; and what we meet not with here is abundantly supplied by the daily Second Lessons. And the like also may be said concerning the Epistles. 
In the EPISTLES for this time there is an Harmony with the Gospels, but not so much as some have thought in their joynt propounding of particular considerations, and those several and distinct, as the daies they belong to (for that belongs to more special solemnities) but rather as they meet all in the common stream, the general meditation and affection of the season. 
We may therefore observe, that as all the Gospels for Sundaies since Easter day hitherto are taken out of the beloved Disciple S. John, who therein gives us many of the last and most tender and affectionate words of our dear Lord before his Passion and Ascension; his promising of a Comforter bidding them not fear, bequeathing his peace to them, and the like: so now the two first Epistles are taken (and most fitly) out of the same Apostle, who therein minds us with much earnest affection of that spirit which our Lord promised for our Comforter, and of the great effect and sign of it, the love of one another: If, saith he, we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfect in us: Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit. And the Epistle for the second Sunday exhorteth us in like manner, To love one another as he gave commandment, and he that keepeth his Commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him; and hereby we know that he abideth in us, even by the Spirit which he hath given us. In the Epistle for the third Sunday, we are put in mind by S. Peter of submission, and being humble, (for God gives grace to such) of sobriety, watching, faith and patience in affliction, with an exhortation to cast our care upon God, who cares for us, and shall perfect, settle, strengthen and stablish us, which is according to what Christ said, That he would not leave us Comfortless. The fourth Epistle is out of Rom. 8. and is a comfort against afflictions, as not worthy of that glory which shall be shewed upon us, provided we be such as they whom the Apostle there speaks of, who had received the first-fruits of the Spirit. The Epistle for the fifth being taken out of S. Peter, exhorts us to Love, Peace, Innocence and such spiritual affections; and if any trouble us, not to be afraid, but to sanctifie the Lord God in our hearts. The rest of the Epistles for all the days following, relate much to the same business, as newness of life, and all the fruits and gifts of Gods holy Spirit, and as a particular insight will sufficiently manifest. But being not the first that are used in this season, they seem to have been chosen with more indifferency, for they are taken out of S. Paul, and keep the very order of his Epistles, and the place they have in each Epistle. For of them the first are out of the Epistle to the Romans, and (so in order) the next out of the Epistles to the Corinthians (first and second) Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians, for so far the Order reacheth till the time of Advent. Only two of the Sundaies (the 18. and 25.) do vary from this method in the choice of their Epistles, and there is reason for both. 
And first, for the 25. or last Sunday the reason is manifest: for it being lookt upon as a kind of preparative or fore-runner of Advent, as Advent is to Christmas (and in S. Ieromes Lectionarius it is comprized within the time of Advent) an Epistle was chosen not as hapned according to the former method, but such an one as prophesied of Christs Advent or Coming; for that plainly appears in This out of Ieremy, Behold the time cometh saith the Lord, that I will raise up the righteous branch of David, which King shall bear rule, and he shall prosper with wisdom, and shall set up Equity and Righteousness again in Earth. The like Prophesie is implyed in the Gospel, and applyed to Jesus in the words of the people when they had seen his miracle. This is of a truth the same Prophet that should come into the world. And therefore when there are either more or fewer Sundays than 25 between Trinity and Advent, if we so dispose of the Services as always to make use of this for the last of them, it will be agreeable to reason and exemplary practice, and that from time of old, for we find such a Rule in Micrologus an ancient Ritualist. The other Sunday that follows not the method of the rest, is the 18. after Trinity; for its Epistle is taken out of the first to the Corinthians, not out of that to the Ephesians, as other are for the Sundayes that go next before and after. This seems to be occasioned by a particular circumstance for which a fit Epistle was to be found out, though it were not taken out of its place in the usual order, and that was the Ordination of Ministers; for the understanding of which, and the ancient care about Ordinations, it will not be amiss to be somewhat the larger. We may therefore note that what was said of Collects is true also of this order of Epistles and Gospels, that it comes down to us from Ancient Times, as appears by S. Hieromes Lectionarius above mentioned, and other old Liturgists and Expositors. And by them we find that it was the Custome of old to have proper Services for Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdayes in each Ember-week, and then followed (as with us) the conferring of Holy Orders. But care being taken that the Ordination should be performed after continuance the same day in Prayer and fasting, and yet be done upon the Lords day also; and because by ancient Canon that day was not to be fasted, they therefore took this course, to perform it on Saturday (it being one of the Ember Fasts) and yet in the Evening of it, for that time was accounted as belonging to the Lords day following; or if they would continue so long fasting, to do it early in the morning following. See Leo Epist. 81. ad Diosc. 
In regard therefore that this was accounted a Sundays work, and that there had been so much Exercise and Fasting on Saturday, the Sunday following had no publick Office, and was therefore called Dominica Vacat (or Vacans) a vacant Sunday. But it was afterwards thought better not to let that day pass in that manner, nor to continue so long and late on Saturday in such Abstinence and Exercise; and therefore the Ordination came to be dispatcht sooner on Saturday, and the Sunday following had a Service said on it, which at first for some time was borrowed of some other days, but afterwards One was fixt, being fitted to the day or season with some respect in the frame of it to the Ordination at that time. For although there were peculiar Readings, Rites and Prayers for the Ordination it self (as there is also in our Church much resembling the ancient Form,) yet besides that, in the general Service of the day, some reflexion was made on the business of Ordination. 
Only the Vacant Sunday for the Ember week in September had no constant peculiar Service; for being fixt to a certain time of that Month, it chanceth that the said Sunday sometimes is the 18. after Trinity, sometimes the 17. or sooner, as Easter falls out; and accordingly takes the service of the 18. Sunday, or some other before it, as it happens to be that year. But of old after other Vacant days had their proper Services, this day continued for some while to make use of borrowing; so Berno and Micrologus say it was in their times: and what Service can we think could be more useful for that purpose, than this of the 18th Sunday, especially if we consider it with all the accessaries it had then? 
In ancient Rituals, as S. Hieromes Lectionarius, S. Gregories Antiphonarius, Liber Sacramentorum, &c. we find the service of Ember week placed immediately before that of this Sunday, and the chief reason to be this aforesaid, their affinity of matter. Rupertus Tuitiens. in his 12. Book De Divin. Officiis, and 18. Chap. is very copious in shewing, how much the office of this day (in that largeness it then had) concern'd them that had the cure of souls: and Berno Augiens. in his 5. Chap. is as large in shewing how well it might serve in that regard for a supplement to the Vacant Sunday. All which considered, and withal that the usual order of the Epistles from 5. to the 25. was changed only in This, and that according to the course of Easter, the Ordination falls on this Sunday, or some other before it, we may very probably conclude that the choice of this Epistle (and Gospel also) was with design to exercise our meditations somewhat on the Ordination this day celebrated, or not long before it. And hereby a good ground was given to the Preacher in his Sermon (for that was usually upon the Readings of the day) to declare in a fit season the duty of Pastors and their flocks, according as he saw occasion. 
The Epistle is a Thanksgiving in behalf of the Corinthians for the grace of God which was given them by Jesus Christ: It appears by what the Apostle saith of them in divers places, that they had been taught by many learned Instructers, and that many of them had much profited, and abounded in many spiritual gifts: And such gifts are here mentioned as are specially requisite for them that are Ordained to be Spiritual Guides, as the being enriched in all utterance, and in all knowledge, and being behind in no good gift. And the Gospel is of our Saviours answering a question of a Doctor of the Law, of his silencing both Pharisees and Sadduces by his doctrine and questions: whereby he shews how those whom he sends on Divine Messages should be qualified, how able to speak a word in due season, to give a reason of their faith, and to convince gain-sayers. This is the Gospel in the ancient Lectionary above mentioned; and though some Churches use other, yet we may observe that they are all very appliable to this occasion. And the old Anthems or Versicles for the day S. Greg. Antiphonary (which are to be found most of them in some Latin Services) are herein most express: desiring of God, That his Prophets may be found faithful; and speaking of being glad of going into the house of God, Bringing presents, coming into his Courts, &c. Of telling out among the Heathen that the Lord is King; Of Moses hallowing an Altar, and offering Sacrifices, ascending into the Mount, praying for the people, of Gods shewing himself to him, &c. 
It is true, that other Ordination-Sundays relate principally (as is most meet) to the chief Meditations of those special seasons wherein they fall, but yet therein we may find matter very pertinent to this occasion. How fit the Service of Trinity Sunday is in this regard, hath already been declared, nor could any season have been more aptly chosen for this occasion. In that of Lent the Epistle tells us what holiness of life is required in all, and therefore certainly in them whom God hath called to such an holy profession: and that saying of Christ (in the Gospel for the same day) that he was sent to the lost sheep, &c. may mind them of their duty who are sent by him to be Pastors of his flock. The like Advertisements they may gather from both Epistle and Gospel of the Sunday of Ordination in time of Advent as may be obvious to view. And no less proper is that Epistle, which the Lectionary and some Churches appoint for the same day: Let a man, saith the Apostle there, thus wise esteem us, even as the Ministers of Christ, and Stewards of the Secrets of God. Furthermore it is required of Stewards that a man be found faithful. Which Epistle with us, and some other Churches, is applyed to the Sunday next before this, changing place with another Epistle, not unfit for this occasion, and more fit to come next to Christmas: For by those words in it, The Lord is even at hand, it may excite us to such a preparation for the Feast of Christs coming in the flesh, as may prepare us for that other coming in glory which we look for. 
Thus have we taken a view of these Epistles and Gospels, and upon occasion also of those which are used after Ordinations, and somewhat also of the time when holy Orders were given. Our Church herein keeps to the day that is most proper: and that is to the Sunday which next follows the Ember Fast. A day on which Christ bestowed his Spirit upon his Apostles, gave them their Commission and many wonderful gifts for the good of the Church. For this and other reasons doth Leo shew, how congruous the Lords day is for such a work. Besides this may be added, that a business of such consequence being done upon such a day, is attended with more solemnity and presence of the Congregation. See the discourse of Ember weeks, and Leo Epist. 81. ad Diosc. 
The COLLECTS remain to be now spoken of: and they in the same manner with the Epistles and Gospels have a general congruity with the affection of the season. For as Faith, Hope and Charity, graces and gifts of the Holy Ghost are the general subject more or less of these Epistles, and the same taught, exemplified and confirmed in the Gospels; so are these Collects certain general Invocations upon God for the assistance of his holy Spirit, and bringing forth the fruits of it, and consist usually of a most humble acknowledgment, and a petition suitable, as is above declared. 
And as we have taken there a brief view of the pious sense and spirit of these acknowledgments, so will it not be amiss to do the same here concerning the petitions; which in each Collect are some or other of these following, or such like: That God would be pleased to prevent and follow us always with his grace, and with his mercy in all things direct and rule our hearts, to stir up our wills, pour into our hearts (graft in them) the love of his holy Name, make us to have a perpetual fear and love of it, to ask such things as shall please him, to have the Spirit, to think and do always such things as be rightful (to please him, both in will and deed) that he would encrease, nourish, keep us in true Religion and all goodness; give unto us the encrease of Faith, Hope and Charity, that we may live according to his will, with pure and free hearts follow him; accomplish those things he would have done, may be cleansed, assoyled, delivered from all our offences, have pardon peace, protection and defence; may plentifully bring forth the fruits of good works, and by him be plenteously rewarded, and obtain his promises which exceed all we can desire. Such requests as these (besides some other, That God would hear the prayers of the people, of which see [above]) are by the Priest presented to God, fit for the Churches meditations at this time after Pentecost, and not unfitly following the Lessons, the Decalogue, and the following Supplications of the people, as the proper place of Collects: Being all of them (though in several branches and expressions) in effect thus much: That by the merciful Grace, Inspiration, Defence and Protection of God Almighty, we may be cleansed from our sins, may obey his Commandments, may live as Christians ought, not after the flesh, but after the Spirit, and so to be fitter to meet our blessed Lord at his second Advent to judge the world. 
And this meditation of the second Advent of Christ is thought so seasonable in the last place; that some Churches instead of those Readings which we have for the last Sunday of this Time, make use of some other which concern the day of judgement: But our Church, as she hath good reason for her method, as we have seen, [above]. So is she not at all defective in her thoughts of Christs second coming: In time of Advent, and often afterwards she takes occasion to remember it, but most especially at this season. The last Gospel (except that which implyes a prophesie of Christs advent) sets before us his raising up of one from the dead, a great ground of our faith and hope of a Resurrection. The Epistle that goes with it, and all the rest in a manner aim most evidently at this, the Quickning us to a life spiritual by the hopes of an eternal. The last Collect, with some other, is for the enjoyment of it according to Gods promises. So that we see the Church in her Meditations for the conclusion of the year, takes in that for her subject which is the close of our Creed, end of our Faith, and Crown of our Devotions: The Resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.
 


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