Oration XLI. On Pentecost.

 I.  Let us reason a little about the Festival, that we may keep it spiritually.  For different persons have different ways of keeping Festival but to

 II.  Wherefore we must keep the feast spiritually.  And this is the beginning of our discourse for we must speak, even if our speech do seem a little

 III.  As to the honour paid to Seven there are many testimonies, but we will be content with a few out of the many.  For instance, seven precious spir

 IV.  And if we must also look at ancient history, I perceive that Enoch, the seventh among our ancestors, was honoured by translation.  I perceive als

 V.  We are keeping the feast of Pentecost and of the Coming of the Spirit, and the appointed time of the Promise, and the fulfilment of our hope.  And

 VI.  They who reduce the Holy Spirit to the rank of a creature are blasphemers and wicked servants, and worst of the wicked.  For it is the part of wi

 VII.  If, my friends, you will not acknowledge the Holy Spirit to be uncreated, nor yet eternal clearly such a state of mind is due to the contrary s

 VIII.  Confess, my friends, the Trinity to be of One Godhead or if you will, of One Nature and we will pray the Spirit to give you this word God.  H

 IX.  The Holy Ghost, then, always existed, and exists, and always will exist.  He neither had a beginning, nor will He have an end but He was everlas

 X.  Are you labouring to bring forth objections?  Well, so am I to get on with my discourse.  Honour the Day of the Spirit restrain your tongue if yo

 XI.  He wrought first in the heavenly and angelic powers, and such as are first after God and around God.  For from no other source flows their perfec

 XII.  And therefore He came after Christ, that a Comforter should not be lacking unto us but Another Comforter, that you might acknowledge His co-equ

 XIII.  This was proclaimed by the Prophets in such passages as the following:—The Spirit of the Lord is upon me and, There shall rest upon Him Seven

 XIV.  This Spirit shares with the Son in working both the Creation and the Resurrection, as you may be shewn by this Scripture By the Word of the Lor

 XV.  They spoke with strange tongues, and not those of their native land and the wonder was great, a language spoken by those who had not learnt it. 

 XVI.  But as the old Confusion of tongues was laudable, when men who were of one language in wickedness and impiety, even as some now venture to be, w

 XVII.  Next, since it was to inhabitants of Jerusalem, most devout Jews, Parthians, Medes, and Elamites, Egyptians, and Libyans, Cretans too, and Arab

 XVIII.  These questions have been examined before by the studious, and perhaps not without occasion and whatever else any one may contribute at the p

XIV.  This Spirit shares with the Son in working both the Creation and the Resurrection, as you may be shewn by this Scripture; By the Word of the Lord were the heavens made, and all the power of them by the breath of His Mouth;57    Ps. xxxiii. 6. and this, The Spirit of God that made me, and the Breath of the Almighty that teacheth me;58    Job xxxiii. 4. and again, Thou shalt send forth Thy Spirit and they shall be created, and Thou shalt renew the face of the earth.59    Ps. civ. 30.  And He is the Author of spiritual regeneration.  Here is your proof:—None can see or enter into the Kingdom, except he be born again of the Spirit,60    John iii. 3. and be cleansed from the first birth, which is a mystery of the night, by a remoulding of the day and of the Light, by which every one singly is created anew.  This Spirit, for He is most wise and most loving,61    Wisd. i. 6. if He takes possession of a shepherd makes him a Psalmist, subduing evil spirits by his song,62    1 Sam. xvi. 23. and proclaims him King; if he possess a goatherd and scraper63    The Hebrew word means “a cultivator of sycamores.”  The LXX. rendering is due to the process of maturing the fruit, which grows on the stem of the trunk, and is made to mature by puncturing it with an iron instrument, when after three days the fruit is fit to eat.  The Hebrew word occurs only this once in the Bible; Aquila renders it by “Looking for;” Symmachus by “propping with stakes.” of sycamore fruit,64    Amos vii. 14. He makes him a Prophet.  Call to mind David and Amos.  If He possess a goodly youth, He makes him a Judge of Elders,65    Susannah. even beyond his years, as Daniel testifies, who conquered the lions in their den.66    Dan. vi. 22.  If He takes possession of Fishermen, He makes them catch the whole world in the nets of Christ, taking them up in the meshes of the Word.  Look at Peter and Andrew and the Sons of Thunder, thundering the things of the Spirit.  If of Publicans, He makes gain of them for discipleship, and makes them merchants of souls; witness Matthew, yesterday a Publican, today an Evangelist.  If of zealous persecutors, He changes the current of their zeal, and makes them Pauls instead of Sauls, and as full of piety as He found them of wickedness.  And He is the Spirit of Meekness, and yet is provoked by those who sin.  Let us therefore make proof of Him as gentle, not as wrathful, by confessing His Dignity; and let us not desire to see Him implacably wrathful.  He too it is who has made me today a bold herald to you;—if without rest to myself, God be thanked; but if with risk, thanks to Him nevertheless; in the one case, that He may spare those that hate us; in the other, that He may consecrate us, in receiving this reward of our preaching of the Gospel, to be made perfect by blood.

ΙΔʹ. Τοῦτο τὸ Πνεῦμα συνδημιουργεῖ μὲν Υἱῷ καὶ τὴν κτίσιν καὶ τὴν ἀνάστασιν. Καὶ πειθέτω σε τὸ, Τῷ Λόγῳ Κυρίου οἱ οὐρανοὶ ἐστερεώθησαν, καὶ τῷ Πνεύματι τοῦ στόματος αὐτοῦ πᾶσα ἡ δύναμις αὐτῶν: Πνεῦμά τε θεῖον τὸ ποιῆσάν με: Πνοὴ δὲ παντοκράτορος ἡ διδάσκουσά με: καὶ πάλιν: Ἐξαποστελεῖς τὸ Πνεῦμά σου, καὶ κτισθήσονται, καὶ ἀνακαινιεῖς τὸ πρόσωπον τῆς γῆς. Δημιουργεῖ δὲ τὴν πνευματικὴν ἀναγέννησιν: καὶ πειθέτω σε τὸ, Μηδένα δύνασθαι τὴν βασιλείαν ἰδεῖν ἢ λαβεῖν, ὅς τις μὴ ἄνωθεν ἐγεννήθη Πνεύματι, καὶ τὴν προτέραν ἐκαθαρίσθη γέννησιν, ἣ νυκτός ἐστι μυστήριον, ἡμερινῇ καὶ φωτεινῇ διαπλάσει, ἣν καθ' ἑαυτὸν ἕκαστος διαπλάττεται. Τοῦτο τὸ Πνεῦμα (σοφώτατον γὰρ καὶ φιλανθρωπότατον), ἂν ποιμένα λάβῃ, ψάλτην ποιεῖ, πνευμάτων πονηρῶν κατεπᾴδοντα, καὶ βασιλέα τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ ἀναδείκνυσιν. Ἐὰν αἰπόλον συκάμινα κνίζοντα, προφήτην ἐργάζεται. Τὸν Δαβὶδ καὶ τὸν Ἀμὼς ἐνθυμήθητι. Ἐὰν μειράκιον εὐφυὲς λάβῃ, πρεσβυτέρων ποιεῖ κριτὴν καὶ παρ' ἡλικίαν. Μαρτυρεῖ Δανιὴλ, ὁ νικήσας ἐν λάκκῳ λέοντας. Ἐὰν ἁλιέας εὕρῃ, σαγηνεύει Χριστῷ, κόσμον ὅλον τῇ τοῦ λόγου πλοκῇ συλλαμβάνοντας. Πέτρον λάβε μοι, καὶ Ἀνδρέαν, καὶ τοὺς υἱοὺς τῆς βροντῆς, τὰ πνευματικὰ βροντήσαντας. Ἐὰν τελώνας, εἰς μαθητείαν κερδαίνει, καὶ ψυχῶν ἐμπόρους δημιουργεῖ. Φησὶ Ματθαῖος, ὁ χθὲς τελώνης, καὶ σήμερον εὐαγγελιστής. Ἐὰν διώκτας θερμοὺς, τὸν ζῆλον μετατίθησι, καὶ ποιεῖ Παύλους ἀντὶ Σαύλων, καὶ τοσοῦτον εἰς εὐσέβειαν, ὅσον εἰς κακίαν κατέλαβεν. Τοῦτο καὶ Πνεῦμά ἐστι πραότητος: καὶ παροξύνεται τοῖς ἁμαρτάνουσιν. Τοιγαροῦν πειραθῶμεν ὡς πράου, καὶ μὴ ὀργίλου, τὴν ἀξίαν ὁμολογοῦντες, καὶ τὸ βλάσφημον φεύγοντες, καὶ μὴ βουληθῶμεν ἰδεῖν ὀργιζόμενον ἀσυγχώρητα. Τοῦτο κἀμὲ ποιεῖ σήμερον ὑμῖν τολμηρὸν κήρυκα: εἰ μὲν οὖν οὐδὲν πεισόμενον, τῷ Θεῷ χάρις: εἰ δὲ πεισόμενον, καὶ οὕτω χάρις: τὸ μὲν, ἵνα φείσηται τῶν μισούντων ἡμᾶς: τὸ δὲ, ἵν' ἡμᾶς ἁγιάσῃ, μισθὸν τοῦτον λαβόντας τῆς ἱερουργίας τοῦ Εὐαγγελίου, τὸ τελειωθῆναι δι' αἵματος.