in a spiritual sense. For from him, and from him alone, are we born again—that is, regenerated. It is from his Glorified Humanity that the Holy Spirit flows, by which man's regeneration is effected; for before that humanity was glorified, the Holy Spirit was not—as is declared in John, "the Holy Ghost was not yet, because that Jesus was not yet glorified."[1] But after the Humanity was glorified, that is, after the Lord rose from the tomb, we find him breathing upon the disciples, saying, "Receive ye the Holy Spirit."[2] And just as the Lord, from his glorified Humanity, breathed the Holy Spirit on his disciples, so now also, upon us, who desire to be his disciples, who wish to learn of him, and worship him, and do his commandments, he still breathes his Holy Spirit constantly; for though in heaven, he is still on earth, for there is no space with the Lord: he is still near, and can still pour upon us, if we look to him, that light of Divine truth, and that warmth of Divine love, which constitute the Holy Spirit, and which have power to regenerate the heart and mind and the whole man. Thus may we perceive, that the Lord Jesus Christ is truly our Spiritual Father, since he and he alone is our Regenerator; from him alone we are born anew, and it is his children that we become, as we grow up in the regenerate life. And when, having been thus regenerated, we enter heaven after death, we shall see and recognize him as indeed our Heavenly Father, and the Only Father and Lord of all.
