always with you; and if, after all his favors, you despise and forsake him, wonder not, if he should forsake you; wonder not, if he should say to you as to the ungrateful Jews, I will go and you shall seek me, and you die in your sins. O think what a terrible thing it is, to lose God and all good! What a torment to suffer fire! What despair, to endure it without end! Remem• ber thy last things, and thou shall never sin.

Q. WHO

ART. VIII.

I believe in the Holy Ghost.

HO is the Holy Ghost? A. The Third Per son of the Blessed Trinity. Q. From whom does he proceed? A. From the Father and the Son, by love. Q. Is he equal with them? A. Yes, he is the same Lord and God as they are, and has the same divine perfections. Q. Why is he called the enlivening spirit? A. Because he gives life to all our actions, and inspires us by his grace to all good. Q. In what form has he appeared? A. In the form of a dove, in the form of a bright cloud, and the shape of fiery tongues. Q. How many are the special gifts of the Holy Ghost? A. Seven; Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel, Fortitude, Knowledge, Piety, and the Fear of our Lord.

INSTRUC.-As in the first article we are taught what we are to believe of God the Father, and of the creation; and in the six following, what we are to believe. of God the Son made man, and all the mysteries relating to our redemption; so in the present article is declared what we are to believe of God the Holy Ghost.

St. Paul insinuates how necessary it is to be well instructed in this matter; for when he came to Ephesus, and found certain disciples, he said to them, Have you received the Holy Ghost? and they said, We have not so much as heard if there be a Holy Ghost; he replied, In whom are you then baptized? Acts xix. 2. As if he said, What can your baptism avail, if you have not heard of the Holy Ghost, and do not believe in him, in whom all christians are baptized, and by

whom all are confirmed and strengthened in their faith.

It is not enough then to believe in the Father and Son, unless we also believe in the Holy Ghost; so the Creed, having taught us to profess our belief of the Father, who is the first Person, and of the Son, who is the second Person, here teaches us to profess our belief of the Holy Ghost, who is the third Person. We must believe that he is a distinct Person from the Father and the Son, and proceeds from both, and is the same God with them, as is clear in holy writ; There are three that give testimony in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one, 1 John v. 7. one God, having the self-same divine nature. He proceeds both from the Father and the Son, by the mutual love of both; and therefore is termed love: the love of the Father and the Son. He is co-éternal and consubstantial with them. He is also termed the enlivening Spirit, because he inspires the soul by grace, and gives life to all our good actions, according to that; The charity of God is poured out in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, who is given to us, Rom. v. 5. This holy Spirit was infused into our souls in baptism, and still in a more special manner in confirmation. It is through him we work all good, he is the divine love, that gives life to every soul.

The Holy Ghost is a pure spirit, yet he has appeared several times in divers forms, to represent therein the many effects he works in our souls: he appeared at our Saviour's baptism in the form of a dove, to signify that baptism makes us pure and innocent as doves: he appeared to the Apostles in tongues of fire, to signify that by their tongues, by their zeal and preaching, the. world was to be converted: he appeared in a bright cloud at the transfiguration of our Saviour, to teach us that in paradise we shall be encompassed in glory. But these corporeal forms themselves were not the Holy Ghost, but only figures, to signify that he was there present to produce such effects.

There are seven special gifts of the Holy Ghost numbered by the prophet Isaiah, Wisdom, which directs

our actions to the last end; Understanding, which penetrates the mysteries of faith; Counsel, which discovers the snares of the devil; Fortitude, which overcomes all temptations, especially where life is at stake; Knowledge, by which we discern the will of God; Piety, which prompts us to put it in execution; Fear of our Lord, which bridles us from sin. These are the effects of the divine love and gifts of the Holy Ghost, who is termed the gift of God, because all his gifts proceed through love, and are comfortable marks and arguments that he dwells in our souls by grace, by which he lives in us, and we in him.

By these seven gifts of the Holy Ghost, our souls are so disposed, as to be easily moved by the impulse of the Holy Ghost, to put in practice every command of God, and every counsel which is necessary to our eternal good, especially the eight beatitudes, which are so many steps by which we ascend unto eternal beautitude.

EXHOR.-Bow down, O my soul, and adore the person of the Holy Ghost: adore him as your God; one God with the Father and the Son. Prepare your heart by love to receive him into it: harbour not there the inordinate love of the world; for if you do, the Holy Ghost, who is the love of the Father and the Son, will not abide in you. Oh! how often have you banished this love out of your soul by mortal sin? Remember, that by baptism you are become Christians, and as such are the temple of God; if any of you violate the temple of God, (by sin) him will God destroy; 1 Cor. iii. 17. for the temple of God is holy, which you are, sanctified by the Holy Ghost. O what a blessing it is to be thus honoured by God, to be even in this life possessed by God and his holy Spirit, and to have him reigning in our hearts, by the infusion of all grace! But O what a misery to a believing Christian, to abandon his happiness, to banish God out of his heart, and to admit the Devil into it: this you do as often as you offend him by mortal sin.

As the Holy Ghost is the life of your soul, as he has infused all graces into you, make them not void, but

work according to what you have received, and improve the graces he has bestowed upon you: let divine Wisdom direct your life and actions to the glory of God, and your own salvation: let Understanding keep you in due submission to your faith: let Counsel warn you against the deceits of the world and the devil: let Fortitude be your armour against all persecution, and teach you to despise all dangers for the love of God: let Knowledge lead you in all things, to know and fulfil the will of God: let Piety spur you on to the performance of all your devotion: let Fear keep you in the way of God's commandments, the accomplishing whereof is the sure path to life eternal. Come, Holy Ghost, inflame my heart with the love of God, and may this love be never extinguished in me, but abide in my soul for all eternity.

ART. IX. SECT. İ.

I believe in the Holy Catholick Church, the communion of Saints.

Q. WHAT

HAT understand you by this article? A. That Christ established a Church on earth, that this Church is but one, and that we are bound to believe her in all things belonging to faith. Q. What is the Church? A. It is the congregation of all the faithful under Jesus Christ their invisible Head, and his Vicar on earth the Pope. Q. Is the Chruch visible? A. Yes it is, always was, and always will be. Q. How long will it last? A. As it began with Christ, it shall last to the end of the world.

INSTRUC. As then this is an article of our Creed, it is a point of the Christian faith, and we are as well bound to believe it as the foregoing articles; the Church, which we believe, being established by Christ, propagated by the Apostles, and their successors, and supported not by human, but by divine power. The Church, which is the object of our faith, is not made by the hands of men, but is a congregation of believing persons, who are called to it by grace, all concurring

in the same faith. The whole Church is composed of the pastors and people: among the pastors there is a hierarchy, as among the angels, consisting of bishops, priests, and deacons, instituted by Christ: but of all the apostles and bishops, St. Peter was the head, to whom were given the keys of the kingdom of heaven, with a commission to feed the whole flock, both the lambs and the sheep and as the bishops of Rome are St. Peter's successors, they inherit his privilege and power, and hence are supreme Heads of the Church under Christ, who is supreme Head of all.

To believe the Holy Catholick Church, is not only to believe there was such a Church in times past, or will be in time to come, but that there is such a Church now, and always existing, which we are bound to believe, hear, and obey, in all things belonging to faith : those who submit not to her doctrine and authority, are all out of her communion; as Pagans, Infidels,. Turks, Jews, Heretics, and Schismatics.

The Church is called the body of Christ, Ephes. i. 23. because he is the principal Head of it. It is called the Spouse of Christ, because it is a glorious Church without spot: it is called the Flock or Fold of Christ, because he is the Shepherd of it: it is called the House of God, because it was built by Christ, and that pon a rock, proof against all the swelling waves and storms of persecutions; even the gates of hell shall not prevail against it: it is represented in holy writ as a city seated upon a high mountain, which cannot be hid: its Apostles are the lights of the world; its members have never ceased openly and loudly to teach and profess their faith: hence this true Catholick Church must be ever visible and conspicuous to all those who desire to know it.

Q.

SECT. II.

Marks of the true Church.

WHAT

HAT are the marks by which the true Church may be known? A. By its Unity in faith: by