Finally, not to omit an argument which goes, most forcibly to establish this truth, the authority of Holy Scripture proves, that whatever faith attributes to God, belongs equally to the Holy Ghost: to him is ascribed, in Scripture, the honour of temples: "Know you not," says the Apostle, "that your members are the temple of "the Holy Ghost;" [1] and also sanctification. [2] vivification, [3] to search the depths of God, [4] to speak by the prophets, [5] and to be present in all places; [6] all of which are attributed to God alone.
The pastor will, also, accurately explain to the faithful, that the Holy Ghost is God, so as to be the third Person in the divine nature, distinct from the Father and the Son, and produced their will. To say nothing of other testimonies of Scripture, the form of baptism, taught by the Redeemer, [7] furnishes an irrefragable proof that the Holy Ghost is the third Person, self-existent in the divine nature, and distinct from the other Persons: a doctrine taught, also, by the Apostle, when he says: " The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the charity of God, and the communication of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen." [8] This same truth, is still more explicitly declared in the word. which were here added by the Fathers of the first Council of Constantinople, to refute the impious folly of Macedonius: " And in the Holy Ghost the Lord and giver of life, who proceedeth from the Father, and the Son: who, together with the Father and the Son, is adored and glorified; who spoke by the prophets." Thus, by confessing the Holy Ghost to be " Lord," they declare, how far he excels the angels, who are the perfection of created intelligence; for, " they are all," says the Apostle, " ministering spirits, sent to minister for them who shall receive the inheritance of salvation." [9]
They, also, designate the Holy Ghost: "The giver of life," because the soul lives more by an union with God, than the body is nurtured and sustained by an union with the soul. As, then, the Sacred Scriptures ascribe to the Holy Ghost this union of the soul with God, with great propriety, is he denominated "the giver of life."
With regard to the words immediately succeeding: " who proceedeth from the Father and the Son," the faithful are to be taught, that the Holy Ghost proceeds by eternal procession, from the Father and the Son, as from one principle: a truth propounded to us by an ecclesiastical rule, from which the least departure is unwarrantable, confirmed by the authority of the Sacred Scriptures, and defined by the Councils of the Church. Christ himself, speaking of the Holy Ghost, says: " He shall glorify me, because he shall receive of mine;" [10] and we, also, find that the Holy Ghost is, sometimes, called, in Scripture, "the Spirit of Christ," sometimes, " the Spirit of the Father;" is, one time, said to be sent by the Father, [11] another time, by the
