Lecture XXI
LECTURE XXI.
(ON THE MYSTERIES. 111.)
ON THE HOLY CHRISM.
1 JOHN ii. 20—28.
But ye have an unction from the Holy One, §c..... that, when He shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before Him at His coming.
1. Havine been baptized into Christ, and put on Christ. "chsh a 3, have been made conformable to the Son of God; forGod having 7" predestinated us to the adoption of sons, made us share the Eph.le re fashion of Christ's glorious body. Being therefore made par3}. takers of Christ, ye are properly called Christs, and of you ee 3,
God said, Touch not My Christs, or anointed.
Now ye were Pz. 105, made Christs, by receiving the emblem of the Holy Ghost; }> and all things were in a figure wrought in you, because ye se. are figures of Christ.
He also bathed Himself in the river Jordan, and having imparted of the fragrance of His Godhead to the waters, He came up from them; and the Holy Ghost in substance lighted on Him, like resting upon like.
In the sbrsdns same manner to you also, after you had come up from the /"*""" pool of the sacred streams, was given the Unction, the emblem eel of that wherewith Christ was anointed; and this is the Holy
Ghost; of whom also the blessed Esaias, in his prophecy respecting Him, says in the person of the Lord, The Spirit of the 1s.61,1.
Lord is upon Me, because He hath anointed Me to preach glad tidings to the poor.
2. For Christ was not anointed by men with oil or material (2.) ointment, but the Father having appointed Him to be the Saviour of the whole world, anointed Him with the Holy
Ghost, as Peter says, Jesus of Nazareth, whom God anointed S041
Oil in Baptism typifies the gift of the Spirit.
Luor. with the Holy Ghost.
And David the Prophet cried, saying, Mya. i Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever; a sceptre of righte3.
45, ousness is the sceptre of Thy kingdom; Thow hast loved
righteousness and hated iniquity; therefore God even Thy oy God hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows.
And as Christ was in truth crucified, and buried, and raised, and you in likeness are in Baptism accounted worthy of being crucified, buried, and raised together with Hin, so is it with the unction also.
As He was anointed wary with the spiritual oil of gladness, the Holy Ghost, who is so called, because He is the author of spiritual gladness, so ye were anointed with ointment, having been made partakers
Ps45,7,.and fellows of Christ.
(3.) | 3. But beware of supposing this to be plain ointment.
For $a. as the Bread of the Eucharist, after the invocation of the xdeeHoly Ghost, is mere bread no longer, but the Body of Christ, e#- —_ go also this holy ointment is no more simple ointment, nor (so to say) common, after the invocation, but the gift of Christ ; de and by the presence of His Godhead, it causes in us the Holy vi ian Ghost.
It is symbolically applied to thy forehead and thy other senses; and while thy body is anointed with visible ointment, thy soul is sanctified by the Holy and life-giving
Spinit.
4. And ye were first anointed on your forehead, that ye might be delivered from the shame, which the first man, when he had
3Cor.8, transgressed, bore about with him every where; and that with 3. open face ye might behold as in a glass the glory of the Lord.
Then on your ears; that ye might receive ears quick to hear 1s.50,4.the Divine Mysteries, of which Esaias has said, The Lord wakened mine ear to hear; and the Lord Jesus in the Mat 11, Gospel, He that hath ears to hear let him hear.
Then on 5. your nostrils; that receiving the sacred ointment ye may say, 2 Cor. 2, 15.
We are to God a@ sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved.
Then on your breast; that having put on the breast1d aad plate of righteousness, ye may stand against the wiles of the devil.
For as Christ after His baptism, and the descent of the Holy Ghost, went forth and vanquished the adversary, so likewise, having, after Holy Baptism and the Mystical
Chrism, put on the whole armour of the Holy Ghost, do ye stand against the power of the enemy, and vanquish it,
Oil used in the consecration of Aaron and of Solomon. 269 saying, J can do all things through Christ which strengthPhil. 4, eneth me.
18, 5. When ye are counted worthy of this Holy Chrism, ye (4,) are called Christians, verifying also the name by your new birth.
For before you were vouchsafed this grace, ye had properly no right to this title, but were advancing on your way towards being Christians.
6. Moreover, you should know that this Chrism has its symbol in the old Scripture. For what time Moses imparted to his brother the command of God, and made him Highpriest, after bathing in water, he anointed him; and Aaron was called Christ or Anointed, from the emblematical Chrism.
So also the High-priest raising Solomon to the kingdom, anointed him after he had bathed in Gihon.
To them how1 Kings ever these things happened in a figure, but to you not in a!) 39figure, but in truth; because ye were truly anointed by the Holy Ghost.
Christ is the beginning of your salvation; He is truly the First-fruit, and ye the mass; but if the First-fruit v. Rom. be holy, it is manifest that Its holiness will pass to the mass!) !¢ also.
7. Keep This unspotted: for It shall teach you all things (5,) if It abides in you, as you have just heard declared by the -blessed John, who discourses much concerning this Chrism.
For this holy thing is a spiritual preservative of the body, and safeguard of the soul.
Of this in ancient times the blessed Esaias prophesying said, And in this mountain,— Is.25,6.
(now he calls the Church a mountain elsewhere also, as when he says, In the last days the mountain of the Lord's house 1s. 2, 2. shall be established ;)\—in this mountain, shall the Lord make unto all people a feast; they shall drink wine, they shall Sept. drink gladness, they shall be anointed with ointment.
And that he may make thee sure, hear what he says of this ointment as being mystical; Give all these things to the nations, Is. 25,7. for the counsel of the Lord is unto all nations. Having been pepe anointed, therefore, with this holy ointment, keep it unspotted and unblemished in you, pressing forward by good works, and becoming well-pleasing to the Captain of your salvation,
Christ Jesus, to whom be glory for ever and ever.
Amen.