Page:The Great Encyclical Letters of Pope Leo XIII.djvu/443



THE HOLY SPIRIT. 437

ner offends this his Benefactor, abusing His gifts; and taking advantage of His goodness becomes more hardened in sin day by day. Again, since He is the Spirit of Truth, whosoever faileth by weakness or ignorance may per- haps have some excuse before Ahnighty God; but he who resists the truth through mahce and turns away from it, sins most grievously against the Holy Ghost. In our days this sin has become so frequent that those dark times seem to have come which were foretold by St. Paul, in which men, blinded by the just judgment of God, should take falsehood for truth, and should believe in "the prince of this world," who is a liar and the father thereof, as a teacher of truth: God shall send them the operation of error, to helier>e lying} In the last times some sJiall depart from the faith; giving heed to the spirits of error and the doctrines of devils."^ But since the Holy Ghost, as We have said, dwells in us as in His temple, We must repeat the warning of the Apostle: Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby you are sealed.^ Nor is it enough to fly from sin; every Christian ought to shine with the splendor of virtue so as to be pleasing to so great and so beneficent a guest: and first of all with chastity and hoU- ness, for chaste and holy things befit the temple. Hence the words of the Apostle: Know you not that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you f But if any man violate the temple of God, him shall God destroy. For the temple of God is holy, which you are * â€” a terrible, indeed, but a just warning.

Lastly, we ought to pray to and invoke the Holy Spirit, for each one of us greatly needs His protection and His help. The more a man is deficient in wisdom, weak in strength, borne down with trouble, prone to sin, so ought he the more to fly to Him who is the never-ceasing fount of fight, strength, consolation, and hofiness. And chiefly that first requisite of man, the forgiveness of sins, must be sought for from Him: "It is the special character

1 2 Thess. ii. 10. ^ gph. iv. 30.

2 1 Tim. iv. 1. Â« 1 Cor. iii 16. 17.