We say in the Belief, "I believe in the Holy Ghost." And we need to think often of what these words mean, for many hardly stop to think who He is, in Whom they here profess to believe. People know of God the Father, and His love to sinners. They can speak of Jesus as the Saviour of a lost world. But the name of the Holy Spirit rarely enters their thoughts, and seldom perhaps occurs in their prayers. But is this right? Is not the Holy Spirit quite as much God as Jesus Christ is? It is His special office and pleasure to help mankind. With what loving care He does this the lives of individual men can shew. When a sinner is converted to Christ, a lost sheep restored to the Fold, it is the work of God’s Holy Spirit. When we feel that we want to lead better or holier lives, when we feel grateful to Christ for all He has done for us, when we seek to please God, or to deny self, this again is the work of the Holy Spirit. At Holy Baptism He is present at the font; He washes away sins in the Blood of Jesus; He gives a new heart, and a right spirit to the repentant sinner, and leads our feet into the way of peace. Sometimes we see a man who has been leading a life of sin suddenly turn from his evil ways and become a consistent, God-fearing Christian, and we wonder at the change, and say how extraordinary it is; and we ask each other if it will last--and if it does last we wonder still more, never thinking for a moment that it is only an instance of the power of the Holy Spirit of God. I have spoken of how very near the Holy Spirit is to us at Holy Baptism. He is near us always; He hears every word we speak, and notes down every thought of our heart; but there are special occasions on which He is specially near us: Holy Baptism is one of them, Confirmation is another. He is present when a young man or young woman kneels before the Bishop to be confirmed. He loves to hear and answer the prayer, "Defend, O Lord, this Thy child, with Thy heavenly grace, that he may continue Thine for ever, and daily increase in Thy Holy Spirit more and more, until he come unto Thine everlasting kingdom." Yes, young man, He was with you at your Confirmation, and heard and noted down the promises made by you then--promises to give up "the devil and all his works, the carnal desires of the flesh," not to "follow or be led by them;" promises to "keep God’s holy will and commandments, and walk in the same all the days" of your life. And though you may have forgotten that you made those promises, He has not. And He, too, promised something in return. He promised that God’s "Fatherly Hand should ever be over you," and that He Himself would ever be in you, as you travelled onward on the road to heaven. In Holy Matrimony, again, the same Holy Spirit is ever near. He joins the man and woman in an unseen union, as a great and good poet has it-- "A high mysterious union Which nought on earth may break."