11. Jo. eu. tr. 99.2; Rettig, Tractates, 4.220; slightly adjusted. (continued)
The Holy Spirit's Indwelling 139 dove" upon Jesus, Augustine uses this as an opportunity to note that upon the Apostles the Spirit descended as flame (cf. Acts 2:1–4).12 This distinction within the economy manifests the various attributes of the Spirit: to the Son he reveals simplicity, to the Son's followers he grants apostolic zeal and evangelical fervor.13 The Spirit has correspondingly chosen creatures which represent both the gentleness and the power, as well as the union of love which he has been given by the Son to accomplish. Even the breath of Christ (cf. John 20:22) aptly displays the intangibility of the Spirit as well as dual procession from the Father and the Son.14
The second preliminary consideration is methodological in nature: we shall examine the Augustinian principle that the way the divine persons exist in the economy reveals something about their eternal relationships within the Trinity. The Trinity, inseparably at work in history, reveals God's eternal persons and processions. In other words, everything God does in time is arranged so as to elicit proper faith by giving testimony to the eternal missions of the Trinity: "Everything that has taken place in time in 'originated' matters which have been produced from the eternal and reduced back to the eternal, and has been designed to elicit the faith we must be purified by in order to contemplate the truth, has either been testimony to this mission or has been the actual mission of the Son of God."15 All God accomplishes in history is carried out
12. For Augustine, the dove is a most guileless bird, yet it possesses a beak and wings and is willing to fight for its own. Even though such an arsenal leaves much to be desired, he sees how it most fittingly "expresses anger without bitterness" [sine amaritudine saeuit]. Unlike the raven which knows how to injure only with acrimony, the dove chastises with love [amor saeuit, caritas saeuit]; cf. Jo. eu. tr. 6.3. For more on the dove in Augustine's thought, see Adam Ployd, "The Unity of the Dove: The Sixth Homily on the Gospel of John and Augustine's Trinitarian Solution to the Donatist Schism," Augustinian Studies 42 (2011): 57–77.
13. ep. Jo. 7.11; Rettig, Tractates, 5.226–27. 14. Cf. Trin. 4.20.29. 15. Trin. 4.19.25; Hill, Trinity, 171: "Quaecumque propter faciendam fidem qua