Come, Holy Ghost, fill the hearts of Thy faithful, etc., etc.
Twelfth Day.
By Adam's disobedience his glory and greatness were swept away. The presence of the Holy Ghost was forfeited, and in His place reigned ignorance, weakness, and passion. Man not only ignored God, but fell deeper and deeper into a degrading ignorance until he lived a life not far removed from the brute. Man became so weak and unreliable that [pg 340] even if ignorance was removed by education, his will was subject to the allurements of interest and passion. Terrible confusion ensued in the ages after the fall of Adam and Eve. But God had mercy on the human race, and promised a Redeemer, by Whom we were to regain salvation. Instead of falling a prey to the devil after death, man had a means of reinstating himself in the mercy and goodness of God, for, as the Apostle says in his first epistle to Timothy: “God will have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of truth.” We should appreciate highly this work of our redemption. Mankind could do nothing of itself. It deserved to die, and share with the evil spirits eternal damnation, but through the mercy of God it was not consumed.
Prayer.
Come, Holy Ghost, fill the hearts of Thy faithful, etc., etc.
Thirteenth Day.
Our justification comes from Christ's redemption, by the operation of the Holy Ghost. “But you are washed, but you are sanctified, but you are justified in the name of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Spirit of Our God.”—1 Cor. vi. 11. It is still the operation of the Holy Ghost which brings comfort to our souls. Since the Fall, the Spirit of God has assisted every man that came into the world, so that there never yet was a soul which had not sufficient grace to escape from eternal death, if it only had fidelity to correspond with it. Even heathens may, according to the mercy of God, find the means ready at hand by which to be saved. Every soul is created [pg 341] in the likeness of God; the light of reason shining in the soul is a means of salvation, the whole world reveals the existence of God. Every living soul in the order of nature, then, has the illumination of God's grace, and by the light of conscience, which is reason, can rightly exercise its will in the performance of duty. “We hope in the living God, Who is the Saviour of all men,” and especially of the faithful. The work of the Holy Ghost, even in the order of nature that is outside of the Church, is going on, giving to all men grace to be saved.
Prayer.