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AND THEIR REFUTATION. 135
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 com
mand, 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 Divino
Person, manifested by any sensible effect, which is specially as
cribed 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.
"
St. John : He shall
In the same way we explain that text of
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
tilings, not by learning them, but proceeding from them with
out any dependence, as a necessary requirement of
Nature. And this is the very meaning of the words :
his Divine
" He shall
receive of mine;" since through the Son, the Father communi
cates to the Holy Ghost, together with
wisdom, and all the attributes of the Son.
the Divine Essence,
" He will hear from
"
from whom he proceeds. To
him," says St. Augustin (3),
him, to hear, is to know, to know, is to exist. Because, there
fore, 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, scientia." quam
Ambrose expresses the same sentiments (4).
St.
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 in-
(3) St. Augus. Trac. 99, in Joan. (4) St. Ambrose, /. 2, de Sp. San.
c. 12.