Novatian — On the Trinity 29
He Next Teaches Us that the Authority of the Faith Enjoins, After the Father and the Son, to Believe Also on the Holy Spirit, Whose Operations He Enumerates from Scripture. Moreover, the order of reason, and the authority of the faith in the disposition of the words and in the Scriptures of the Lord, admonish us after these things to believe also on the Holy Spirit , once promised to the Church , and in the appointed occasions of times given. For He was promised by Joel the prophet , but given by Christ. In the last days, says the prophet , I will pour out of my Spirit upon my servants and my handmaids. And the Lord said, Receive the Holy Ghost : whose sins you remit, they shall be remitted; and whose you retain, they shall be retained.
But this Holy Spirit the Lord Christ calls at one time the Paraclete, at another pronounces to be the Spirit of truth . And He is not new in the Gospel , nor yet even newly given; for it was He Himself who accused the people in the prophets , and in the apostles gave them the appeal to the Gentiles . For the former deserved to be accused, because they had contemned the law; and they of the Gentiles who believe deserve to be aided by the defense of the Spirit , because they earnestly desire to attain to the Gospel law.
Assuredly in the Spirit there are different kinds of offices, because in the times there is a different order of occasions; and yet, on this account, He who discharges these offices is not different, nor is He another in so acting, but He is one and the same, distributing His offices according to the times, and the occasions and impulses of things. Moreover, the Apostle Paul says, Having the same Spirit; as it is written, I believed , and therefore have I spoken; we also believe , and therefore speak. He is therefore one and the same Spirit who was in the prophets and apostles , except that in the former He was occasional, in the latter always.
But in the former not as being always in them, in the latter as abiding always in them; and in the former distributed with reserve, in the latter all poured out; in the former given sparingly, in the latter liberally bestowed; not yet manifested before the Lord's resurrection, but conferred after the resurrection. For, said He, I will pray the Father , and He will give you another Advocate, that He may be with you for ever, even the Spirit of truth . And, When He, the Advocate, shall come, whom I shall send unto you from my Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from my Father. And, If I go not away, that Advocate shall not come to you; but if I go away, I will send Him to you. And, When the Spirit of truth shall come, He will direct you into all the truth .