- THE HOLY GHOST WAS NOT SENT TO THE APOSTLES BY JESUS CHRIST, BUT BY THE FATHER ALONE, AT THE PRAYER OF CHRIST.
- Berruyer says that the Holy Ghost was not sent to the Apostles by Jesus Christ, but by the Father, at his prayer : ” Ad orationem Jcsu Christi, quæ voluntatis ejus efficacis signum erit, mittet Pater Spiritum Sanctum. Quæ quasi raptim delibavimus de Jesu Christo missuro Spiritum Sanctum, quatenus homo Deus est Patrem rogaturus.”
- This error is also a necessary consequence of the former ones; that is, Jesus Christ, the Word, did not operate, but the Humanity alone, or the Man made the Son of one God subsisting in three Persons, by reason of the union of the Person of the Word with the Humanity; and from this false supposition he deduces this present falsehood, that the Holy Ghost was not sent by Jesus Christ, but by the Father, at the prayer of Jesus Christ. If he said that the Holy Ghost does not proceed from the Word, but from the Father alone, he would fall into the Greek heresy already refuted (Ref. iv); but he rather leans to the heresy of Nestorius, who, admitting two Persons in Christ, a Divine and a human Person, said, consequently, that the Divine Person dwelling in Jesus Christ, together with the Father, sent the Holy Ghost; and the human Person in Christ obtained from the Father, by his prayers, that the Holy Spirit should be sent. Berruyer does not expressly say this; but when he asserts that the Holy Ghost was not sent by Jesus Christ, only by his prayer alone, he appears to believe, either that there is no Divine Person in Christ at all, or that there are two Persons one Divine, which sends, of himself, the Holy Ghost; the other human, which obtains, by his prayers, that he may be sent. He shows that that is his opinion, when he says that in Jesus Christ it was the Humanity alone that acted and suffered, that is, the Man alone made in time the Son of God by the whole three Persons. This was not, certainly, the Word who was born of the Father alone before all ages.
(6) St. Thom. 3 p. q, 43, art. 4.
But the Word, he says, was already united to the Humanity of Christ in unity of Person; but then we should remember, that according to his opinion the Word had nothing to do, for it was only the Humanity that acted in Christ. That being the case, of what service was the union of the Word in unity of Person with the Humanity ? Merely, as he said, that by means of the hypostatic union Christ might be made the Son of God, of the three Divine Persons; and hence, he says, the operations of Christ were not elicited by the Word, but merely by his humanity, and the hypostatic union gave no value to his actions: “in ratione principii agentis unio hypostatica nihil omnino contulit.”
- With what face could Berruyer assert that the Holy Ghost was not sent by Jesus Christ, when he himself several times said he was, and promised his Apostles that he would send them the Paraclete : ” 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); ” For if I go not, the Paraclete will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you” (John, xvi, 7). Listen to this ! Christ says that he sent the Holy Ghost; and Berruyer says that the Holy Ghost was not sent by him, but only at his prayer. Perhaps he will argue that Christ himself said : ” I will ask the Father, and he shall give you another Paraclete” (John, xiv, 16). But we answer with St. Augustine, that Christ then spoke as man; but when he spoke as God, he said not once, but several times, ” whom I will send to you.” And again he says : ” The Paraclete, the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things” (John, xiv, 26). St. Cyril, explaining this text, says, ” in my name,” that is, by me, because he proceeds from me. It is certain the Holy Ghost could not be sent unless by the Divine Persons alone, who were his Principle, the Father and the Son. If, then, he was sent by Jesus Christ, there can be no doubt that he was sent by the Word, who operated in Jesus Christ, and the Word being equal to the Father, and with the Father, co-principle of the Holy Ghost, had no necessity to pray to the Father (as Berruyer says) that he might be sent; for as the Father sent him, so did he likewise.