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| The Angel the Forerunner of the Holy Spirit. Meaning Contained in the Baptismal Formula.
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Chapter
VI.—The Angel the Forerunner of the Holy Spirit. Meaning
Contained in the Baptismal Formula.
Not that in8584
| 8584 Compare c.
viii., where Tertullian appears to regard the Holy Spirit as given
after the baptized had come out of the waters and received the
“unction.” |
the waters we obtain the Holy Spirit; but in the water, under (the
witness of) the angel, we are cleansed, and prepared for the
Holy Spirit. In this case also a type has preceded; for thus was John
beforehand the Lord’s forerunner, “preparing His
ways.”8585
Thus, too, does the
angel, the witness8586
of baptism,
“make the paths straight”8587
for the Holy Spirit, who is about to come upon us, by the washing away
of sins, which faith, sealed in (the name of) the Father, and the Son,
and the Holy Spirit, obtains. For if “in the mouth of
three witnesses every word shall stand:”8588
| 8588 Deut. xix. 15; Matt. xviii. 16; 2 Cor.
xiii. 1. | —while, through the benediction, we
have the same (three) as witnesses of our faith whom we have as
sureties8589
of our salvation
too—how much more does the number of the divine names suffice for
the assurance of our hope likewise! Moreover, after the pledging
both of the attestation of faith and the promise8590
of salvation under “three
witnesses,” there is added, of necessity, mention of the
Church;8591
| 8591 Compare de
Orat. c. ii. sub fin. | inasmuch as,
wherever there are three, (that is, the Father, the Son, and the Holy
Spirit, ) there is the Church, which is a body of three.8592
| 8592 Compare the de
Orat. quoted above, and de Patien. xxi.; and see
Matt. xviii. 20. | E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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