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AND THEIR REFUTATION. 87
ask," &c., the distinction of the Persons, for the same Person
cannot be at once the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
This is even more fully explained by the words of Si. John,
" But the Paraclete, the Holy Ghost, whom the Father
xv, 26 :
shall send in my name."
9. It is also proved by that text of St. John :
" There are three
who give testimony in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the
Holy Ghost, and these three are one" (John, I. Epis. v. 7). Nor
is the assertion of the adversaries of the Faith, that the Father,
the Word, and the Holy Ghost, are merely different in name, but
not in reality, of any avail, for then it would not be three testimo
nies that are given, but only one alone, which is repugnant to the
text. The Socinians labour hard to oppose this text especially,
which so clearly expresses the distinction of the three Divine
Persons, and they object that this verse is wanting altogether in
many manuscripts, or, at all events is found only in part ; but
Estius, in his commentaries on this text of St. John, says, that
Robert Stephens, in his elegant edition of the New Testament,
remarks that, having consulted sixteen ancient copies collected in
France, Spain, and Italy, he found that, in seven of them, the
words
"
in heaven" alone were omitted, but that the remainder
of the text existed in full. The Doctors of Louvain collected a
great number of manuscripts for the Edition of the Vulgate
brought out in 1580, and they attest, that it was in five alone
that the whole text was not found (5). It is easy to explain how
a copyist might make a mistake in writing this verse, for the
seventh and eighth verses are so much alike, that a careless
copyist might easily mix up one with the other. It is most
certain that in many ancient Greek copies, and in all the Latin
ones, the seventh verse is either put down entire, or, at least,
noted in the margin : and, besides, we find it cited by many of
the Fathers, as St. Cyprian, St. Athanasius, St. Epiphanius, St.
Fulgentius, Tertullian, St. Jerome, and Victor Vitensis (6). The
Council of Trent, above all, in its Decree of the Canonical Scrip-
(5) Tournel. Theol. Comp. t. 2, qu. (6) St. Cypr. LI, de Unit. Eccl. St
3, p. 41 ; Juenin, Theol. t. 3, c. 2. Ath. /. 1, ad Theoph. ; St. Epiph.
Haer. St. Fulg. 1. contra, Arian.
Tertull. 1. adv. Prax. 25 ; St. Hier.
(aut Auctor) Prol. ad Ep. Canon,
Vitens. /. 3, de Pers. Air.