and by Him, and in Him, are all things: to Him be glory for ever" (Rom. 11.36), thereby signifying both the Trinity of Persons and the Unity of Nature: for as this is one and the same in each of the Persons, so to each is equally owing supreme glory, as to one and the same God. St. Augustine, commenting upon this testimony, writes: "The words of the Apostle, _of Him, and by Him, and in Him_, are not to be taken indiscriminately; _of Him_ refers to the Father, _by Him_ to the Son, _in Him_ to the Holy Ghost" (_De Trin_. 1. vi, c. 10; 1. i, c. 6). The Church is accustomed most fittingly to attribute to the Father those works of the Divinity in which power excels, to the Son those in which wisdom excels, and those in which love excels to the Holy Ghost. Not that all perfections and external operations are not common to the Divine Persons; for "the operations of the Trinity are indivisible, even as the essence of the Trinity is indivisible" (St. Aug. _De Trin_., 1. 1, cc. 4-5); because as the three Divine Persons "are inseparable, so do they act inseparably" (St. Aug., _ib_). But by a certain comparison, and a kind of affinity between the operations and the properties of the Persons, these operations are attributed or, as it is said, "appropriated" to One Person rather than to the others. "Just as we make use of the traces of similarity or likeness which we find in creatures for the manifestation of the Divine Persons, so do we use Their essential attributes; and this manifestation of the Persons by Their essential attributes is called _appropriation_" (St. Th. 1a, q. 39, xxxix, a. 7). In this manner the Father, who is "the principle of the whole God-head" (St. Aug., _De Trin_., 1. iv, c. 20), is also the efficient cause of all things, of the Incarnation of the Word, and the sanctification of souls; "of Him are all things": _of Him_, referring to the Father. But the Son, the Word, the Image of God, is also the exemplar cause, whence all creatures borrow their form and beauty, their order and harmony. He is for us the Way, the Truth, and the Life; the Reconciler of man with God. "By Him are all things": _by Him_, referring to the Son. The Holy Ghost is the ultimate cause of all things, since, as the will and all other things finally rest in their end, so He, who is the Divine Goodness and the Mutual Love of the Father and Son, completes and perfects, by His strong yet gentle power, the secret work of man's eternal salvation. "In Him are all things": _in Him_, referring to the Holy Ghost. THE HOLY GHOST AND THE INCARNATION