Chapter V.
The Holy Spirit, as well as the Father and the Son, is
pointed out in holy Scripture as Creator, and the same truth was
shadowed forth even by heathen writers, but it was shown most plainly
in the Mystery of the Incarnation, after touching upon which, the
writer maintains his argument from the fact that worship which is due
to the Creator alone is paid to the Holy Spirit.
32. But who can
doubt that the Holy Spirit gives life to all things; since both He, as
the Father and the Son, is the Creator of all things; and the Almighty
Father is understood to have done nothing without the Holy Spirit; and
since also in the beginning of the creation the Spirit moved upon the
water.
33. So when the Spirit was moving upon the water,
the creation was without grace;
but after this world being created
underwent the operation of the Spirit, it gained all the beauty of that
grace, wherewith the world is illuminated. And that the grace of
the universe cannot abide without the Holy Spirit the prophet declared
when he said: “Thou wilt take away Thy Spirit, and they
will fail and be turned again into their dust. Send forth Thy
Spirit, and they shall be made, and Thou wilt renew all the face of the
earth.”1046
Not only,
then, did he teach that no creature can stand without the Holy Spirit,
but also that the Spirit is the Creator of the whole
creation.
34. And who can deny that the creation of
the earth is the work of the Holy Spirit, Whose work it is that it is
renewed? For if they desire to deny that it was created by the
Spirit, since they cannot deny that it must be renewed by the Spirit,
they who desire to sever the Persons must maintain that the operation
of the Holy Spirit is superior to that of the Father and the Son, which
is far from the truth; for there is no doubt that the restored earth is
better than it was created. Or if at first, without the operation
of the Holy Spirit, the Father and the Son made the earth, but the
operation of the Holy Spirit was joined on afterwards, it will seem
that that which was made required His aid, which was then added.
But far be it from any one to think this, namely, that the divine work
should be believed to have a change in the Creator, an error brought in
by Manicheus.1047
| 1047 Manes, or
Manicheus, born about a.d. 240, seems to have
desired to blend Christianity and Zoroastrianism. The fundamental
point of his teaching was the recognition of a good and an evil
creator. For a full account, see art. “Manicheans,”
in Dict. Ch. Biog. |
35. But do we suppose that the substance of
the earth exists without the operation of the Holy Spirit, without
Whose work not even the expanse of the sky endures? For it is
written: “By the Word of the Lord were the heavens
established, and all the strength of them by the Spirit of His
Mouth.”1048
Observe
what he says, that all the strength of the heavens is to be referred to
the Spirit. For how should He Who was moving1049
before the earth was made, be resting when
it was being made?
36. Gentile writers, following ours as it
were through shadows, because they could not imbibe the truth of the
Spirit, have pointed out in their verses that the Spirit within
nourishes heaven and earth, and the glittering orbs of moon and
stars.1050
So they deny
not that the strength of creatures exists through the Spirit, are we
who read this to deny it? But you think that they refer to a
Spirit produced of the air. If they declared a Spirit of the air
to be the Author of all things, do we doubt that the Spirit of God is
the Creator of all things?
37. But why do I delay with matters not to
the purpose? Let them accept a plain proof that there can be
nothing which the Holy Spirit can be said not to have made; and that it
cannot be doubted that all subsists through His operation, whether
Angels, Archangels, Thrones, or Dominions; since the Lord Himself, Whom
the Angels serve, was begotten by the Holy Spirit coming upon the
Virgin, as, according to Matthew, the Angel said to Joseph:
“Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take Mary thy wife, for
that which shall be born of her is of the Holy Spirit.”1051
And according to Luke, he said to
Mary: “The Holy Spirit shall come upon
thee.”1052
38. The birth from the Virgin was, then, the
work of the Spirit. The fruit of the womb is the work of the
Spirit, according to that which is written: “Blessed art
thou among women, and blessed is the Fruit of thy womb.”1053
The flower from the root is the work
of the Spirit, that flower, I say, of which it was well
prophesied: “A rod shall go forth from the root of Jesse,
and a flower shall rise from his root.”1054
The root of Jesse the patriarch is the
family of the Jews, Mary is the rod, Christ the flower of Mary, Who,
about to spread the good odour of faith throughout the whole world,
budded forth from a virgin womb, as He Himself said: “I am
the flower of the plain, a lily of the valley.”1055
39. The flower, when cut, keeps its odour, and
when bruised increases it, nor if torn off does it lose it; so, too,
the Lord Jesus, on the gibbet of the cross, neither failed when
bruised, nor fainted when torn; and when He was cut by that piercing of
the spear, being made more beautiful by the colour of the outpoured
Blood, He, as it were, grew comely again, not able in Himself to die,
and breathing forth upon the dead the gift of eternal life. On
this flower, then, of the royal rod the Holy Spirit rested.
40. A good rod, as some think, is the Flesh of the
Lord, which, raising itself from its earthly root to heaven, bore
around the whole world the sweet-smelling fruits of religion, the
mysteries of the divine generation, pouring grace on the altars of
heaven.
41. So,
then, we cannot doubt that the Spirit is Creator, Whom we know as the
Author of the Lord’s Incarnation. For who can doubt when
you find in the commencement of the Gospel that the generation of Jesus
Christ was on this wise: “When Mary was espoused to Joseph,
before they came together she was found with child of [ex] the
Holy Spirit.”1056
42. For although most authorities read “de
Spiritu,” yet the Greek from which the Latins translated have
“ἐχ
πνεύματος
ἁγίου,” that is,
“ex Spiritu Sancto.” For that which is
“of” [ex] any one is either of his substance or of
his power. Of his substance, as the Son, Who says: “I
came forth of the Mouth of the Most High;”1057
as the Spirit, “Who proceedeth from
the Father;”1058
of Whom the Son
says: “He shall glorify Me, for He shall receive of
Mine.”1059
But of the
power, as in the passage: “One God the Father, of Whom are
all things.”1060
| 1060 1 Cor. viii. 6. The argument from the exact
force of prepositions is often urged by the Fathers, as by St.
Athanasius and St. Basil among the Greeks. The Latins also use
it, as St. Ambrose here, but occasionally the same Greek prepositions
are variously rendered, which destroys the force of the argument.
With regard to the two prepositions ex and de St.
Augustine gives a very good explanation, De Natura Bon, c.
27: “Ex ipso [of Him] does not always mean the same
as de ipso [from Him]. That which is from Him can be said
to be of Him, but not everything which is of Him is rightly said to be
from Him. Of Him are the heavens and the earth, for He made them,
but not from Him, because not of His substance.” But
neither the Vulgate nor even St. Ambrose himself is quite consistent in
this matter. |
43. How, then, was Mary with child of the Holy
Spirit? If as of her substance, was the Spirit, then, changed
into flesh and bones? Certainly not. But if the Virgin
conceived as of His operation and power, who can deny that the Holy
Spirit is Creator?
44. How is it, too, that Job plainly set
forth the Spirit as his Creator, saying: “The Spirit of God
hath made me”?1061
In one short
verse he showed Him to be both Divine and Creator. If, then, the
Spirit is Creator, He is certainly not a creature, for the Apostle has
separated the Creator and the creature, saying: “They
served the creature rather than the Creator.”1062
45. He teaches that the Creator is to be
served by condemning those who serve the creature, whereas we owe our
service to the Creator. And since he knew the Spirit to be the
Creator, he teaches that we ought to serve Him, saying:
“Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the
concision, for we are the circumcision who serve the Spirit of
God.”1063
46. But if any one disputes because of the
variations of the Latin codices, some of which heretics have falsified,
let him look at the Greek codices, and observe that it is there
written: “οἱ
πνεύματι
Θεοῦ
λατρεύοντες,”
which is, being translated, “who serve the Spirit of
God.”
47. So, then, when the same Apostle says
that we ought to serve the Spirit, who asserts that we must not serve
the creature, but the Creator; without doubt he plainly shows that the
Holy Spirit is Creator, and is to be venerated with the honour due to
the eternal Godhead; for it is written: “Thou shalt worship
the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve.”1064
E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
