Catholique traditions. Or A treatise of the beliefe of the Christians of Asia, Europa, and Africa, in the principall controuersies of our time In fauour of the louers of the catholicke trueth, and the peace of the Church. Written in French by Th. A.I.C. and translated into English, by L.O.

QVESTION. XI. Whether the holy Ghost proceedeth from the Father and the sonne, or from the Father onely.

THE EAST CHVRCH.

THe second answere to the confession of Ausburg. l 1.1 You see how many absurdities doe arise on euery side, if it bee concluded that the holy Ghost doth proceede from the Father, and from the Sonne. Hold not an euill opinion in the name of the Lord. For if the Latins, the Church of Rome and others, doe bring approued witnesses, as it seemeth likely to them, that is to say Augustine, Ambrose, and Ie∣rome, we likewise can produce farre more, and more worthy of credit. All which haue pronounced that the holy Ghost proceedeth from the Father onely, and haue prohibited vpon paine of a grieuous Anathema, to hold any other beleefe.

THE ROMANE CATHOLIKE CHVRCH.

THe confession of faith by the Councell of Trent.m 1.2 We beleeue in the holy Ghost, the Lord and giuer of life, which proceedeth from the Father and the Sonne, which is worshipped and glorified, together with the Father and the Sonne, who spake by the Prophets.

THE SOVTH CHVRCH.

SAint Seuerus Patriarch of Alexandria.n 1.3 I beleeue in one holy Ghost liuing, which giueth life vnto all, who proceedeth from the Father and the Sonne.

The King of Aethiope.o 1.4 In the name of God the Fa∣ther Almightie Creator of all things, visible and inui∣sible: In the name of God the Sonne Iesus Christ, which is one with the Father, light of lights: In the name of the holy Ghost, God liuing which proceedeth from the Father, I am King, &c.

THE REFORMED CHVRCH.

THe English Confession. Wee beleeue that the holy Ghost which is the third person in the holy Trinity, is very God, not made nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding from the one and from the other: to wit, from the Father and the Sonne, in a manner vnknowen and vnspeakeable of men.

ANNOTATION.

LOmbard surnamed Master by the Schoole Doctors of the Latin Churchq 1.5 saith as followeth, touching the differē∣ces between the Grecians and the Latins in this question. The Grecians say that the holy Ghost proceedeth frō the Fa∣ther only, and not frō the Son: which they hold, because that the truth in the Gospel, which cōtaineth wholy the faith, speaking of the procession of the holy Ghost, ma∣keth mention onely of the Father, and also that in the principallest Councels which were celebrated with them, their Symbols or Credes haue bene so fortified by the Anathemaes added, that it is not lawfull for a∣ny man to teach any thing touching the Trinitie other∣wise then is therein contained: in which Symbole or Creede, the holy Ghost is fayd to proceede from the Father, and not from the Sonne: And therfore (say they) all those are Anathema, that doe affirme that he pro∣ceedeth from the Sonne: and a little after. Wee doe conclude that the Grecians doe accord with the Latins in the matter it selfe, although that they differ in words.

Behold here the opinion of the Master of sentences, who to shew that there is no difference betweene the Greekes and the Latins in that point, doth onely report the sayings and sentences of the ancient Grecians, who say: that the holy Ghost proceedeth from the Father and the Sonne. But that hath not satisfied his followers, which thinke that the mo∣dern Gretians hold not the beleefe of the ancient: besids some of the Latin Doctors doe confesse, that they vnderstand not well the intention and meaning of the Grecians, others doe

call them Heretickes and Schismatikes. The reformed Churches doe leaue this question with the same irreso∣lution.

We reiect (saith Tilenus) the errour, or as others tearme it, the* 1.6 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 of the moderne Grecians. This difference hath beene the cause, or at least wise the pretext of the Schisme betwixt the East Churches and the VVest. The East Churches who would transport the Primacie to Con∣stantinople, pretending that the Pope of Rome abuseth the Church, doe take occasion to accuse the Pope vpon this Ar∣ticle (that Pope, was Nicholas the first, by the report of Bel∣larmine, who alledgethr 1.7 Anthoninus or Adrianus as some will haue it) because that he had beene so bolde as to adde of his owne authoritie to the Symbole of Nice, that the holy Ghost proceedeth from the sonne: and because (peraduen∣ture) he hath not expounded it fully, they of the East haue accused the Latines of constituting two principles: and the Latines laying the fault vpon them, doe impute vnto them blasphemie, saying, that they did derogate from the Diuinity of the Sonne of God. Lombard and others say, that the dif∣ference is in words, and not in the matter it selfe. Peraduen∣ture the Grecians doe denie the procession of the holy Ghost to be from the sonne in one consideration, and the Latines do affirme it in another: for to know if it be so, wee are con∣strained to enter into very curious considerations of Diui∣nitie. It is therefore necessary to marke, that the sonne is considered three manner of waies:

First as being the Diuine essence, and the very same essence with the Father: hoc sensu filius non spirat: for the actions are of the persons, and not of the essence conside∣red apart.

Secondly, the Sonne is to be considered as a Sonne, and that formally; So the Sonne produceth not the holy Ghost; for he which is produced, so farre as hee is produced, produceth not.

In the third place the Sonne is to be considered as a per∣son: and that is it which S. Austen regarded, when he saide, that the Sonne hath from the father, not onely to be sonne, but also to be, or his being: that is to say, to be a distinct per∣son, not to be simply the Diuine essence: for the Sonne hath the same ofs 1.8 himselfe, and the person begetteth not the es∣sence, but the essence begetteth the person: and if the sonne produce not in this maner (that is to say) as a person, then the holy Ghost proceedes not from the Sonne in any wise: for as it hath beene said, the holy Ghost proceeds not from the Sonn, eyther as an essence, or as a Sonne.

Well then, if the Grecians say not that he (to wit the holy Ghost) proceedeth from the essence of the Sonne, being simply taken, neyther from the Sonne as a Sonne, the Latines should not take occasion to condemne them, seeing that they say the same.

But because the Grecians say, and that according to the Gospell, that the holy Ghost proceedeth from the Father: it is manifest, that they denie not the procession of the holy Ghost to be from the Sonne, because he proceedeth not from him, either as an essence, or as a Sonne: for if that were so, they should denie in like manner his procession to be from the father: for the father produced not the holy Ghost as an es∣sence simply (for the essence produceth not:) neither as a fa∣ther, for if he had produced him as a father, the holy Ghost should be then his sonne.

The Grecians doe hold, that the holy Ghost proceedeth

from the father in such a sort as he cannot be saide to pro∣ceede from the sonne. And they haue reason to say so, be∣cause the holy Ghost is in the person, and from the person of the Sonne, the which the father hath begotten as a sonne: and the father begot not a Sonne, which had not the holy Ghost, and his productiue grace and fertility: Likewise the father is the cause (the Greeke Doctors do vse this word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉) of the holy Ghost, both as a person primo & per se, and as a father per filium. But the Sonne inspireth not as a sonne, primo & per se, neyther in producing another person, which should produce the holy Ghost. This obseruation remaineth obscure, if it be taken without distinction, that the holy Ghost pro∣ceedeth from the Father and from the Sonne: also the Gre∣cians should seeme to speake more properly then the Latines. The auncient Doctors confesse that the holy Ghost proceedeth from the father proprie: as hee speaketh more properly, which saith, the King commandeth, then he that saith, the King goeth: for the commandement proceedeth from the King, as a King, but the King goeth as he is a man. If then the Sonne be an inspirer, the Father is the cause, euen as a fa∣ther. But because that the Grecians do absolutely denie that the holy Ghost proceedeth from the Sonne, denying thereby that his person is an inspirer: a man must take heede least he fall into a 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉: for if by the word proceede, they vn∣derstand to haue his originall or beginning, they say not ill, considering the Father alone is the beginning. The Di∣uines doe confesse as much, when they call the Sonne Princi∣pium quasi Secundarium. This word Secundarium de∣stroieth the name of Principium, and the word quasi, shew∣eth that it is to speake improperly. Yet here one cannot speake properly enough. Therefore you may see that the

holy Ghost is sayd to proceed from the Father alone in diuers sorts, the which the Churches of the East doe regard. But they regard not the reasons, wherefore he may be said to pro∣ceed from the Sonne: as also it is very hard to expresse how the person of the Sonne is an inspirer without considering him either as an essence simply, or as begotten, for in this person is considered but the essence, and the relation, as those schoole diuines affirme; the which relation hath the place of forme from, which the action ought to proceed.

It is likewise very hard to say, how the Father inspireth as a person, without inspiring neither as a Father nor as an Essence: Neuerthelesse we must so say, seeing the sonne of God himselfe hath sayd and taught so, as his beloued Disciple Saint Iohn testifieth vnto vs, which heard it of himselfe: But because he hath not said that the holy Ghost proceeds from himselfe, the Churches of the East will not say so: but do consider the Father as Father, and the Sonne as Sonne, and they say with their great Doctor Saint Damascenus: t 1.9 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, the Father alone is the cause and begin∣ning as well of the Sonne as of the holy Ghost.

That which moueth the Latins to be so obstinate, and to say that the holy Ghost proceedeth from the person of the Sonne, is because they feare that otherwise men would feigne or imagine inequallitie in the persons: And if the Father did not communicate to the Sonne the inspiratiue power, he communicated not vnto him all, that is in him: but hee com∣municated vnto him all, except the constitutiue propertie of his person. Neuerthelesse the truth is, that the Grecians confesse constantly the equality of the persons, & they say that the Father did communicate all to the sonne: but they seeme to denie that that production is the action of the Sonne, be∣cause

that the Son doth not inspire, but the person already be∣gotten and resident in himselfe: and they say moreouer, that there is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉u 1.10 that is, that the inspiration is one and the very selfe same action of them both, the which neuerthelesse onght to be attributed to the Father alone, because that he a∣lone is the beginning. The Latins do confesse all this, that is to say, that there is one selfe same inspiratiue vertue, and consequently one selfe same inspiration which proceedeth from the Father, yea euen in that, that it is the action of the Sonne, and that the Father and the Sonne doe inspire be∣cause they are both one, for the essence is the foundation of the power, although that it is the Persons that doe produce it. It is as if one would search to know, whether the light which shineth sometimes in the night time, doth proceede onely from the Sunne, or else, as well from the Sunne, as from the Moone A man should not doe amisse to maintaine both the one and the other, I speake this, yet not comparing the most holy mysteries with creatures, as some for want of a more solid discourse are wont, and would make men beleeue so. I say this onely, that there may be found Logomachies as well in the one, as in the other. The conclusion accor∣ding to the intention of all the Churches seemeth to be, that,

The Father as a person produceth the holy Ghost, and as a Father begot the Sonne, who through the inspira∣tiue vertue communicated, produceth also the holy Ghost: in such sort that the holy Ghost is said to pro∣ceede from the Sonne, if one consider the action of the Sonne simply, but if one haue regard to the beginning of the same, he proceedeth from the Father only.

Notes

• l 1.1

  De proces∣sione Spiritus sancti.
• m 1.2

  Sess. 3. decret. 1.
• n 1.3

  Formul. Bapt.
• o 1.4

  Epist. of Dauid.
• q 1.5

  Li. 1. dist. 1.
• * 1.6

  Logoma∣machiè, strife about words.
• r 1.7

  De Christo l. 2. c. 21.
• s 1.8

  Bellar. de Christo lib. 2. cap. 19.
• t 1.9

  Orth. fid. li. 1. ca. 13.
• u 1.10

  Damasc. ibid.