Who has also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.
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Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
I have learned from your letter, as well as from the statement of the bearer, that you ardently desire a letter from me, in the belief that it will bring you the greatest consolation. I must not refuse or delay this letter, but you will have to see what good you can draw from it. Let the faith and hope and charity, which are diffused through the hearts of the faithful by the Holy Spirit, be your consolation. We receive a little of it in this life as a pledge to make us learn how to long for its fullness. You must not think of yourself as left alone, since in the interior life you have Christ, present in your heart by faith. Letter , To Italica.
To realize that Paul was filled with the Holy Spirit, and like him all the apostles, and all who after them believe in Father, Son and Holy Spirit, pay attention to the clear words of Paul himself. … “God who also stamped us with his seal and gave us the Spirit as a pledge.”
Wherefore such men have necessarily lost the wisdom of God, and have not found the truth. If you please, then, study these things carefully, that you may have a compendium
