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146 THE HISTORY OF HERESIES,
from the Son), that it has been lawfully and rationally in
troduced into the Creed, for the sake of declaring the truth, and
because there was a necessity for doing so at the time." Now,
all those Councils in which the Greeks joined with the Latins
in denning the procession of the Holy Ghost from the Father and
the Son, supply an invincible argument to prove that the schis
matics uphold a heresy, for otherwise we should admit that the
whole united Church, both Latin and Greek, has denned an error
in three General Councils.
12. As to theological reasons, we have already given the two
principal ones : the first is, that the Son has all that the Father
has, with the exception of the Paternity alone, which is impos
sible, on account of the Filiation.
"
All
things whatsoever the
Father hath are mine" (John, xvi, 15) ; therefore, if the Father
has the power of spirating the Holy Ghost, the same power
belongs also to the Son, since there is no relative opposition
between the Filiation and the active spiration. The second
reason is, that if the Holy Ghost did not proceed from the Son,
he would not be really distinct from the Son, for then there
would be no relative opposition or real distinction between them,
and, consequently, the mystery of the Trinity would be destroyed.
The other arguments adduced by theologians can either be re
duced to these, or are arguments a congruentia, and, therefore,
we omit them.
n.
OBJECTIONS ANSWERED.
13. They object, first, that the Scripture speaks of the pro
cession of the Holy Ghost from the Father alone, and not from
the Son, but we have already answered this (N. 6), and we
remind the reader that though the Scripture does not express it
in formal, it does in equivalent terms, as has been already proved.
But, besides, remember that the Greeks recognized, equally with
the Latins, the authority of tradition, and that teaches that the
Holy Ghost proceeds from the Father and the Son.
14. They object, secondly, that in the First Council of Con-