equally, and therefore believed them all three to be truly and substantially God. What makes this stronger is, that St. Clement is contrasting the three Divine Persons with the gods of the Gentiles, who had no life, while God in the Scriptures is called "the living God." It is of no importance either, that the words quoted are not found in the two Epistles of St. Clement, for we have only some fragments of the Second Epistle, and we may, therefore, believe for certain, that St. Basil had the whole Epistle before him, of which we have only a part.

Thus

15. St. Justin, in his second Apology, says: "We adore and venerate, with truth and reason, himself (the Father), and he who comes from him . . . . . . . . .the Son and the Holy Ghost." St. Justin pays the same adoration to the Son and the Holy Ghost as to the Father. Athenagoras, in his Apology, says: "We believe in God, and his Son, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, united in power.........For the Son is the mind, the word, and the wisdom of the Father, and the Spirit is as the light flowing from fire." St. Iræneus (30) teaches that God, the Father, has created and now governs all things, both by the Word and by the Holy Ghost. "For nothing," he says, "is wanting to God, who makes, and disposes, and governs all things, by the Word and by the Holy Ghost." We here see, according to St. Iræneus, that God has no need of anything; and he afterwards says, that he does all things by the Word and by the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost is, therefore, God, the same as the Father. He tells us, in another part of his works (31), that the Holy Ghost is a creator, and eternal, unlike a created spirit. "For that which is made is," he says, "different from the maker; what is made is made in time, but the Spirit is eternal." St. Lucian, who lived about the year 160, says, in a Dialogue, entitled Philopatris, attributed to him, addressing a Gentile who interrogates him: "What, then, shall I swear for you?" Triphon, the Defender of the Faith, answers: "God reigning on high. ....the Son of the Father, the Spirit proceeding from the Father, one from three, and three from one." This passage is so clear that it requires no explanation. Clement of Alexandria says (32): "The Father of all is one; the Word of all is also one; and the Holy Ghost is one, who is also everywhere." In another passage he clearly explains the Divinity and Consubstantiality of the Holy Ghost with the Father and the Son (33): "We return thanks to the Father alone, and to the Son, together with the Holy Ghost, in all things one, in whom are all things, by whom all things are in one, by whom that is which always is." See here how he explains that the three Persons are equal in fact, and that they are but one in essence.

(30) St. Iræn 7. 1, ad Hæres. c. 19. (31) St. Iræn. l. 5, c. 12. Alex. Padag. 1. 1, c. 6. (38) Idem, l. 3, c. 7.

(32) Clem.

Tertullian (34) professes his belief in the "Trinity of one Divinity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost ;" and in another place (35), he says: "We define, indeed, two, the Father and the Son, nay, three, with the Holy Ghost; but we never profess to believe in two Gods, although the Father is God, the Son God, and the Holy Ghost God, and each one is God," &c. St. Cyprian (36), speaking of the Trinity, says: "When the three are one, how could the Holy Ghost be agreeable to him, if he were the enemy of the Father or the Son?" And, in the same Epistle, he proves that Baptism administered in the name of Christ alone is of no avail, for "Christ," he says, "orders that the Gentiles should be baptized in the full and united Trinity." St. Dionisius Romanus, in his Epistle against Sabellius, says: "The admirable and Divine unity is not, therefore, to be divided into three Deities; but we are bound to believe in God, the Father Almighty, and in Christ Jesus, his Son, and in the Holy Ghost." I omit the innumerable testimonies of the Fathers of the following centuries; but I here merely note some of those who have purposely attacked the heresy of Macedonius, and these are-St. Athanasius, St. Basil, St. Gregory Nazianzen, St. Gregory of Nyssa, St. Epiphanius, Didimus, St. Cyril of Jerusalem, St. Cyril of Alexandria, and St. Hilary (37). These Fathers, immediately on the appearance of the Macedonian heresy, all joined in condemning it—a clear proof that it was contrary to the Faith of the Universal Church.

16. This heresy was condemned, besides, by several Councils, both general and particular. First.-It was condemned (two years after Macedonius had broached it) by the Council of Alexandria, celebrated by St. Athanasius, in the year 372, in which it was decided that the Holy Ghost was consubstantial in the Trinity. In the year 377, it was condemned by the Holy See, in the Synod of Illiricum; and about the same time, as Theodoret (38) informs us, it was condemned in two other Roman Synods, by the Pope, St. Damasus. Finally, in the year 381, it was condemned in the first Council of Constantinople, under St. Damasus; and this Article was annexed to the symbol of the Faith: "We believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of life, proceeding from the Father, and with the Father and the Son to be adored and glorified, who spoke by the Prophets." He to whom the same worship is to be given as to the Father and the Son, is surely God. Besides, this Council has been always held as ecumenical by the whole Church, for though composed of only one hundred and fifty Oriental bishops, still, as the Western bishops, about the same time, defined the same

(34) Tertul. de Pudic. c. 21. (35) Idem, con. Praxeam, c. 3. (36) St. Cyp. Ep. ad Juba. (37) St. Athan. Ep. ad Serap.; St. Basil, l. 3, 5, cont. Eunom. & l. de Spi. S.; St. Greg. Naz. l. 5, de Theol.; St. Greg. Nys. l. ad Eust.; St. Epiphan. Hier. 74; Didimus, 7. de S. San.; St. Cyril, Hieros. cat. 16, 17; St. Cyril, Alex. 7. 7, de Trin. & 1. S. Sanc.; St. Hil. de Trinit. (38) Theodoret, l. 2, Hist. c. 22.

Article of the Divinity of the Holy Ghost, under St. Damasus, this decision has been always considered as the decision of the Universal Church; and the subsequent General Councils-that is, the Council of Chalcedon, the second and third of Constantinople, and the second of Nice-confirmed the same symbol. Nay more, the fourth Council of Constantinople pronounced an anathema against Macedonius, and defined that the Holy Ghost is consubstantial to the Father and to the Son. Finally, the fourth Council of Lateran thus concludes: "We define that there is but one true God alone, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost, three Persons indeed, but only one essence, substance, or simple nature.....And that all these Persons are consubstantial, omnipotent, and co-eternal, the one beginning of all things."

SEC. II. ANSWER TO OBJECTIONS.

17. First, the Socinians, who have revived the ancient heresies, adduce a negative argument. They say that the Holy Ghost is never called God in the Scriptures, nor is ever proposed to us to be adored and invoked. But St. Augustin (1) thus answers this argument, addressing the Macedonian Maximinus: "When have you read that the Father was not born, but self-existing? and still it is no less true," &c. The Saint means to say that many things in the Scriptures are stated, not in express terms, but in equivalent ones, which prove the truth of what is stated, just as forcibly; and, for a proof of that, the reader can refer to N. 4 and 6, where the Divinity of the Holy Ghost is incontestibly proved, if not in express, in equivalent terms.

18. Secondly, they object that St. Paul, in his first Epistle to the Corinthians, speaking of the benefits conferred by God on mankind, mentions the Father and the Son, but not the Holy Ghost. We answer, that it is not necessary, in speaking of God, that we should always expressly name the three Divine Persons, for, when we speak of one, we speak of the three, especially in speaking of the operations, ad extra, to which the three Divine Persons concur in the same manner. "Whosoever is blessed in Christ," says St. Ambrose (2)," is blessed in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, because there is one name and one power; thus, likewise, when the operation of the Holy Ghost is pointed out, it is referred, not only to the Holy Ghost, but also to the Father and the Son."

19. They object, thirdly, that the primitive Christians knew nothing of the Holy Ghost, as we learn from the Acts of the Apostles, when St. Paul asked some newly-baptized, if they had received the Holy Ghost, they answered: "We have not so much as heard

(1) St. Augus. 1. 2, alias 3, cont. Maxim. c. 3. (2) St. Amb. l. 1, de Sanc. c. 3.

if there be a Holy Ghost" (Acts, xix. 2). We reply that the answer to this is furnished by the very passage itself, for, St. Paul hearing that they knew nothing of the Holy Ghost, asked them: "In what, then, were you baptized?" and they answered, "in John's Baptism.' No wonder, then, that they knew nothing of the Holy Ghost, when they were not even as yet baptized with the Baptism instituted by Christ.

20. They object, fourthly, that the Council of Constantinople, speaking of the Holy Ghost, does not call him God. We answer that the Council does call him God, when it says he is the Lord and giver of life, who proceeds from the Father, and who, with the Father and the Son, should be adored and glorified. And the same answer will apply, when they object that St. Basil (or any other Father) has not called the Holy Ghost God, for they have defended his Divinity, and condemned those who called him a creature. Besides, if St. Basil, in his sermons, does not speak of the Holy Ghost as God, it was only an act of prudence in those calamitous times, when the heretics sought every occasion to chase the Catholic Bishops from their Sees, and intrude wolves into their places. St. Basil, on the other hand, defends the Divinity of the Holy Ghost in a thousand passages. Just take one for all, where he says, in his Fifth Book against Eunomius, tit. 1: "What is common to the Father and the Son is likewise so to the Holy Ghost, for wherever we find the Father and the Son designated as God in the Scripture, the Holy Ghost is designated as God likewise."

21. Fifthly, they found objections on some passages of the Scripture, but they are either equivocal or rather confirmatory of the Divinity of the Holy Ghost. They lay great stress especially on that text of St. John: "But when the Paraclete cometh, whom I will send you from the Father, the Spirit of Truth who proceedeth from the Father" (John, xv. 26). Now, they say, when the Holy Spirit is sent, it is a sign that he is inferior, and in a state of subjection, or dependence; therefore, he is not God. To this we answer, that the Holy Ghost is not sent by a command, but sent solely by a procession from the Father, and the Son, for from these he proceeds. Mission, or being sent, means nothing more in Divinis, than this, the presence of the Divine Person, manifested by any sensible effect, which is specially ascribed to the Person sent. This, for example, was the mission of the Holy Ghost, when he descended into the Cenaculum on the Apostles, to make them worthy to found the Church, just as the eternal Word was sent by the Father to take flesh for the salvation of mankind. In the same way we explain that text of St. John: "He shall not speak of himself, but what things soever he shall hear, he shall speak...... he shall glorify me, because he shall receive of mine" (John, xvi. 14, 15). The Holy Ghost takes from the Father and the Son the knowledge of all things, not by learning them, but proceeding from

them without any dependence, as a necessary requirement of his Divine Nature. And this is the very meaning of the words: "He shall receive of mine;" since, through the Son, the Father communicates to the Holy Ghost, together with the Divine Essence, wisdom, and all the attributes of the Son. "He will hear from him," says St. Augustin (3), "from whom he proceeds. To him, to hear is to know, to know is to exist. Because, therefore, he is not from himself, but from him from whom he proceeds, from whom he has his essence, from him he has his knowledge. Ab illo igitur audientia, quod nihil est aliud, quam scientia." St. Ambrose expresses the same sentiments (4).

22. They object, sixthly, that St. Paul says: "The Spirit himself asketh for us with unspeakable groanings" (Rom. viii. 26). Therefore, the Holy Ghost groans and prays, as an inferior. But St. Augustin thus explains the text: "He asketh with groanings that we should understand that he causes us to ask with groanings" (5). Thus St. Paul wishes to instruct us, that by the grace we receive, we become compunctious and groaning, making us pray with "unspeakable groanings," just as God makes us triumph, when he says that Jesus Christ triumphs in us: "Thanks be to God, who always makes us triumph in Christ Jesus" (2 Cor. ii. 14).

23. They object, seventhly, another passage of St. Paul: "The Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God" (1 Cor. ii. 10); and they then say that the word, "searcheth," shows that the Holy Ghost is ignorant of the Divine secrets; but we answer, that this expression does not mean seeking or inquiring, but the simple comprehension which the Holy Ghost has of the whole of the Divine Essence, and of all things, as it is said of God: "That he searcheth the heart and the reins" (Psalms, vii. 10); which means that God comprehends all the thoughts and affections of mankind. Hence, St. Ambrose (6) concludes: "The Holy Ghost is a searcher like the Father, he is a searcher like the Son, and this expression is used to show that there is nothing which he does not know."

24. They object, eighthly, that passage of St. John: “All things were made by him, and without him was made nothing that was made" (John, i. 3); therefore, the Holy Ghost was made by him, and is consequently a creature. We answer, that in this sense, it cannot be said that all things were made by the Word, for in that case, even the Father would be made by him. The Holy Ghost is not made, but proceeds from the Father and the Son, as from one principle, by the absolute necessity of the Divine Nature, and without any dependence.

(3) St. Augus. Trac. 99, in Joan. (4) St. Ambrose, l. 2, de Sp. San. c. 12. Augus. Coll. cum Maxim. (6) St. Ambrose, 1. de Sp. San. c. 11.

(5) St.