The work of the Holy Spirit - pagina 190

THE APOSTOLATE

I50

The supporters

of the first say

:

than the work of the Holy Spirit in sit

down, take pen and

Nothing can be more simple the apostles. They had only to "

and write

ink,

vocates of the natural process state

at

its

His dictation."

case as follows:

"

The adThe apos-

had entered more deeply into the mind of Christ; they were holier, purer, and more godly than others hence they were better fitted to be the instruments of the Holy Spirit, who after all animates every child of God." These are the extreme views. On the one hand, the work of the Holy Spirit is considered as a foreign element introduced into the life of the Church and that of the apostles. Any schoolboy competent to write a dictation might have written tles

;

Romans

the Epistle to the

just as well as St. Paul.

The obvious

and manner of presentation between his epistles and those of St. John does not spring from the difference of personalities, but from the fact that the Holy Spirit purposely adopted the style and way of speaking of His chosen scribe, be he St. Paul or St. difference of style

John.

The other extreme

considers that the persons of the apostles ac-

count for the whole matter so that to speak of a work of the Holy According to this view, the Spirit is only to repeat a pious term. ;

had an educating effect life upon them that they could understand His Person and aims much better than others; hence being the best-developed minds of the Christian cir-

influence of Christ's personal intercourse

upon His

disciples,

cle of those days,

which

left

such impress of His

they adopted in their writings a certain apostolic

authority.

Besides these two extremes, tain friendly theologians

but

is

we must mention

the view of cer-

turn this natural into a supernatural,

self-developed, process.

still

there

who

They acknowledge, with

us, that

a work of the Holy Spirit which they also call regeneration,

and allow that to this the gift of illumination is often added. And from this they argue " Among the regenerated there are some in whom this divine work is only superficial, and others in whom He :

operates

more deeply.

undeveloped; in the

In the former, the gift of illumination

latter, it attains

great luster; and

it is

is

to this

who were partakers of this gift in Owing to these two gifts, the work of the Holy Spirit attained in them such clearness and transparency that, in speaking or writing concerning the things of the Kingdom of God, class that the apostles belonged,

its

highest degree.

they struck almost invariably the right note, chose the right word,

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