Whitsunday. The Gospel. John 14. v. 23. Saturday Meditation Plaine Path-way to Heaven ~ THOMAS HILL 1634
Saturday Meditation
Though we instruct, teach, prove with never so much art and eloquence, yet unless the Grace of the holy Ghost doth concur, it availeth little. Therefore Christ himself, of those things he had spoken to his disciples before, said thus here: “These things I spake unto you, being present with you. But the holy Spirit, the Comforter, whom my Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and suggest unto you whatsoever I have said unto you.”
Here one might ask this question: Have they need, O Christ, to be told by another those things which thou hast told them before, as though any could tell them more effectually than thyself? Yes. Whosoever speaketh to any good purpose, and speaketh never so eloquently or well, it is the grace of the holy Ghost that giveth life unto it. And therefore we ought to commend the matter to God by prayer, or elevation of our mind to God, more or less. And if we have not time to do more, yet to lift up our eyes at least towards heaven, as Christ for our example did many times in the Gospel, before he began to speak or to do. For as St. Paul saith, “Well may Paul plant and Apollo water, but it is God (the holy Ghost) that giveth the increase.”
Moreover, we may learn here not to arrogate to ourselves that virtue or praise that is due to another, but to give unto every one their due: that which is Caesar’s unto Caesar, and that which is God’s unto God. As Christ did here to the holy Ghost, acknowledging him to be the expected Comforter unto his disciples, and the leader of them into all truth; and himself together with his Father to be the sender of him.
God is more honoured in the service of many than of few, and in the virtues of many than of few, he being the author and giver (as St. James saith) of all good gifts. Wherefore to rob any man of his honour is to rob God of his.
We may likewise observe that the holy Ghost descended upon the disciples, being all assembled together in one room, to signify that the grace of the holy Ghost descendeth not upon us unless we be united together by faith and charity in one room — the holy Catholic Church, the house of God — as they were. For as a man’s spirit doth quicken only those members of the body that are united together, and none else, so doth the holy Ghost (which is the spirit of the Catholic Church, the mystical body of Christ) quicken no member that is not united unto it by the bond of faith and charity.
Before the holy Ghost came there was a great sound, as it were of a vehement blast of wind, to give them notice to prepare themselves. So we, before we address ourselves to prayer or any good exercise, must prepare our hearts and souls thereunto; and no preparation is better than sorrow for our sins and a firm purpose to abstain from sin, according to that saying of wise Solomon: “A just man, in the beginning of his prayer, is an accuser of himself” — that is to say, ought to be an accuser of himself. And in another place: “Before prayer prepare thy heart, that thou be not like one that tempteth God.”
Christ at his Ascension commanded his disciples to go to Jerusalem and sit there till the holy Ghost came down upon them. Christ said not “tarry there” but “sit there.” To sit signifieth quietness or tranquillity of mind, according whereunto Aristotle, the chief of philosophers, saith: “A man is made a philosopher by sitting and resting.” Not meaning bodily rest or sitting (for he himself taught walking, and therefore his disciples were called Peripatetics, that is to say, walkers). He meant not, I say, by the word “sitting,” rest and quietness of the body, but of the mind.
Wherefore, when Christ bid his disciples sit in Jerusalem, he meant they should be quiet in mind, as a necessary disposition to receive the grace and illumination of the holy Ghost. And so it is for us also, especially before prayer and contemplation. And as quietness and tranquillity of mind from all worldly cares and affairs is a singular preparation to receive the grace of the holy Ghost, so it is likewise an effect which the holy Ghost doth cause in us. In signification whereof it is said that at Pentecost the holy Ghost did sit upon every one of them — that is to say, did cause them to have peace and tranquillity of soul, from all inordinate love of the world and the cares and affairs thereof. Which, if we have, is an evident sign of the holy Ghost within us, and a preparation to ascend (as the Prophet David saith) from one virtue to another, until we come to see the God of Gods in Sion, that is, in heaven, upon whom we had the eyes of our souls fixed here on earth.
Here one might ask this question: Have they need, O Christ, to be told by another those things which thou hast told them before, as though any could tell them more effectually than thyself? Yes. Whosoever speaketh to any good purpose, and speaketh never so eloquently or well, it is the grace of the holy Ghost that giveth life unto it. And therefore we ought to commend the matter to God by prayer, or elevation of our mind to God, more or less. And if we have not time to do more, yet to lift up our eyes at least towards heaven, as Christ for our example did many times in the Gospel, before he began to speak or to do. For as St. Paul saith, “Well may Paul plant and Apollo water, but it is God (the holy Ghost) that giveth the increase.”
Moreover, we may learn here not to arrogate to ourselves that virtue or praise that is due to another, but to give unto every one their due: that which is Caesar’s unto Caesar, and that which is God’s unto God. As Christ did here to the holy Ghost, acknowledging him to be the expected Comforter unto his disciples, and the leader of them into all truth; and himself together with his Father to be the sender of him.
God is more honoured in the service of many than of few, and in the virtues of many than of few, he being the author and giver (as St. James saith) of all good gifts. Wherefore to rob any man of his honour is to rob God of his.
We may likewise observe that the holy Ghost descended upon the disciples, being all assembled together in one room, to signify that the grace of the holy Ghost descendeth not upon us unless we be united together by faith and charity in one room — the holy Catholic Church, the house of God — as they were. For as a man’s spirit doth quicken only those members of the body that are united together, and none else, so doth the holy Ghost (which is the spirit of the Catholic Church, the mystical body of Christ) quicken no member that is not united unto it by the bond of faith and charity.
Before the holy Ghost came there was a great sound, as it were of a vehement blast of wind, to give them notice to prepare themselves. So we, before we address ourselves to prayer or any good exercise, must prepare our hearts and souls thereunto; and no preparation is better than sorrow for our sins and a firm purpose to abstain from sin, according to that saying of wise Solomon: “A just man, in the beginning of his prayer, is an accuser of himself” — that is to say, ought to be an accuser of himself. And in another place: “Before prayer prepare thy heart, that thou be not like one that tempteth God.”
Christ at his Ascension commanded his disciples to go to Jerusalem and sit there till the holy Ghost came down upon them. Christ said not “tarry there” but “sit there.” To sit signifieth quietness or tranquillity of mind, according whereunto Aristotle, the chief of philosophers, saith: “A man is made a philosopher by sitting and resting.” Not meaning bodily rest or sitting (for he himself taught walking, and therefore his disciples were called Peripatetics, that is to say, walkers). He meant not, I say, by the word “sitting,” rest and quietness of the body, but of the mind.
Wherefore, when Christ bid his disciples sit in Jerusalem, he meant they should be quiet in mind, as a necessary disposition to receive the grace and illumination of the holy Ghost. And so it is for us also, especially before prayer and contemplation. And as quietness and tranquillity of mind from all worldly cares and affairs is a singular preparation to receive the grace of the holy Ghost, so it is likewise an effect which the holy Ghost doth cause in us. In signification whereof it is said that at Pentecost the holy Ghost did sit upon every one of them — that is to say, did cause them to have peace and tranquillity of soul, from all inordinate love of the world and the cares and affairs thereof. Which, if we have, is an evident sign of the holy Ghost within us, and a preparation to ascend (as the Prophet David saith) from one virtue to another, until we come to see the God of Gods in Sion, that is, in heaven, upon whom we had the eyes of our souls fixed here on earth.
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