Trollope on Article V: Of the Holy Ghost

Disputes arose in very early times respecting the pra^ cession of the Holy Ghost : the Greeks maintained that He proceeded from the Father only ; not, as the Latins contended, from the Father and the Son. Although the Scriptures are not perhaps so distinct on this point as on others of more fundamental importance, the Cuurch of England is abun- dandy justified in adopting the latter conclusion. The manner of this procession, it is impossible to comprehend ; but it is clear that the Holy Spirit stands in the same rela- tion both to the Father and the Son. Thus our Lord savs in one place (John xiv. 26.), * The Father mill send the ’ Holy Gmost in my name ;* and in another (John xv. 26.) * When the Comforter is come, whom I rvill send unto vou ‘from the Father, even the Spirit of Truth which proceedeth ’ from the FuUier, he shall testify of me.’ Moreover, the Holy Ghost is called the Spirit ^ God and the Spirit qf Christ indifferently. See Rom. viii. 9.

2. State the proofs of the personality of the Holy

Ghost.

Whatever ambiguity may be alleged against the terms in which the procession of the Holy Ghost is announced, it is evident from ^eper^nal acts assigned to him that he is not only a person, out that his personally is distinct from that of the Father and the Son. Thus He is described as sent by the Father in the name of the Son ; and his office is to oon^orty to sanctify j and to guide into aU truths which implies the necessity of personal agency.

3. Shew that the Holy Ghost is God, of the same

substance with the Father and the Sen.

If not so numerous, the proofs of the divinity of the Holy Ohost are equally satisfactory, with those of the divinity of the Father and tne Son. When Ananias lied unto the Holy Ohost, he lied ’ not unto men, but unto God * (Acts v. 4.) ; and those peculiar properties, such, for instance, as the

S’ftof inspiration (2 Pet. i. 21.), which belong only to the eity, are ascribed to the Spirit. It is further enjoined that all nations should be dedicated to him by baptism (Matt, zxviii. 19.), and his blessing is invoked (2 Cor. xiii. 14.) in precisely the same form as that of the Father and the Son, so that there can be no inequality in the Godhead. Com- pare also 1 Cor. iii. 16. with vi. 19.

4. What was the heresy of MacedoQius ; and

how was it condemned ?

Maoedonius, Patriarch of Constantinople, was one of the earliest and most violent opponents of the divinity of the Holy Ghost; whom He asserted to be merely a created energy or power, attendant upon the ministry of the Son. His followers wer» called PneumatomaeAi ; and the first coun- cil of Constantinople, in condemnation of his heresy, added to the clause of the Nicene Creed, I believe in the Holy Ghost y the words following, Tfie Lord and giver qflife^ who proceedeth &c.

6. Prove the divinity of the Holy Ghost from the writings of the early Fathers.

Basil adv. Eunom. v. Seeing what is common to the Father and the Son^ is common alw to the Spirit ; seeittg also that by what things God the Father and the Son are cMxrao-

terized and deturibed in Scripture, hy the eame is the Holy Ghost characterized and described ; %t is hence gathered that the Spirit i* of the same divine essence with Itoth, Justin M. Apol. I. c. 6. We worship and adore the prophetic Spirit. Compare Iren. Hsbp. I. 2. IV. 17. 37. v. 8. Tertull. ad. Prax. 0. 30. Cyprian. Epist. 73.