The true doctrine, it seems to me, is laid down most clearly by the famous bishop, Cyril of Alexandria; who, whatever personal faults he had—­and they were many—­had doubtless dialectic intellect enough for this, and even deeper questions.  And he says—­“The Holy Spirit moves all things that are moved; and holds together, and animates, and makes alive, the whole universe.  Nor is He another Nature different from the Father and the Son:  but as He is in us; of the same nature and the same essence as they.”  And so says another divine, Eneas of Gaza—­“The Father, with the Son, sends forth the Holy Spirit; and inspiring with this Spirit all things, beyond sense and of sense—­invisible and visible—­fills them with power, and holds them together, and draws them to Himself.”  And he prays thus to the Holy Spirit a prayer which is to my mind as noble as it is true—­“O Holy Spirit, by whom God inspires, and holds together, and preserves all things, and leads them to perfection.”  I quote such words to shew you that I am not giving you new fancies of my own:  but simply what I believe to be the ancient, orthodox and honest meaning of that same Nicene Creed, which you just new heard; where it says that the Holy Spirit is the Lord and Giver of life; and the meaning of the 104th Psalm also, where it says—­“Thou lettest Thy breath—­Thy Spirit—­go forth, and they shall be made, and Thou shall renew the face of the earth.”

And now—­if anyone shall say—­This may be all very true.  But what is it to me?  You are talking about nature; about animals and plants, and lands and seas.  What I come to church to hear of, is about my own soul—­

I should answer such a man—­My good friend, you come to church to hear about God as well as about what you call your soul.  And any sound knowledge which you can learn about God, must be—­believe me—­of use to your immortal soul.  For if you have wrong notions concerning God:  how can you avoid having wrong notions concerning your soul, which lives and moves and has its being in God?

But look at it thus.  At least I have been speaking of the works of God.  And are not you, too, a work of God?  The Lord shall rejoice in His works, even to the tiniest gnat that dances in the sun.  Is the Lord rejoicing in you?  I have said—­Whither shall a man go from God’s presence?  Are you forgetting or remembering God’s presence?  And—­Whither shall a man flee from God’s Spirit?  Are you, O man, fleeing from God’s Spirit, and forgetting His gracious inspirations; all pure and holy, and noble, and just and lovely and truly human, thoughts, in the whirl of pleasure, or covetousness, or ambition, or actual sin?  If so, look at the tiniest gnat which dances in the air, the meanest flower beneath your feet; and be ashamed, and fear, and tremble before the Living God, and before His Spirit.  For the gnat and the flower are doing their duty, and pleasing the Holy Spirit of God; and you are not doing your duty, and are grieving the