Whether the Holy Ghost Proceeds from the Father Through the Son?
Objection 1: It would seem that the Holy Ghost does not proceed from
the Father through the Son. For whatever proceeds from one through
another, does not proceed immediately. Therefore, if the Holy Ghost
proceeds from the Father through the Son, He does not proceed
immediately; which seems to be unfitting.
Obj. 2: Further, if the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Father through
the Son, He does not proceed from the Son, except on account of the
Father. But "whatever causes a thing to be such is yet more so."
Therefore He proceeds more from the Father than from the Son.
Obj. 3: Further, the Son has His being by generation. Therefore if
the Holy Ghost is from the Father through the Son, it follows that
the Son is first generated and afterwards the Holy Ghost proceeds;
and thus the procession of the Holy Ghost is not eternal, which is
heretical.
Obj. 4: Further, when anyone acts through another, the same may be
said conversely. For as we say that the king acts through the
bailiff, so it can be said conversely that the bailiff acts through
the king. But we can never say that the Son spirates the Holy Ghost
through the Father. Therefore it can never be said that the Father
spirates the Holy Ghost through the Son.
_On the contrary,_ Hilary says (De Trin. xii): "Keep me, I pray, in
this expression of my faith, that I may ever possess the
Father--namely Thyself: that I may adore Thy Son together with Thee:
and that I may deserve Thy Holy Spirit, who is through Thy Only
Begotten."
_I answer that,_ Whenever one is said to act through another, this
preposition "through" points out, in what is covered by it, some cause
or principle of that act. But since action is a mean between the agent
and the thing done, sometimes that which is covered by the preposition
"through" is the cause of the action, as proceeding from the agent;
and in that case it is the cause of why the agent acts, whether it be
a final cause or a formal cause, whether it be effective or motive. It
is a final cause when we say, for instance, that the artisan works
through love of gain. It is a formal cause when we say that he works
through his art. It is a motive cause when we say that he works
through the command of another. Sometimes, however, that which is
covered by this preposition "through" is the cause of the action
regarded as terminated in the thing done; as, for instance, when we
say, the artisan acts through the mallet, for this does not mean that
the mallet is the cause why the artisan acts, but that it is the cause
why the thing made proceeds from the artisan, and that it has even
this effect from the artisan. This is why it is sometimes said that
this preposition "through" sometimes denotes direct authority, as when
we say, the king works through the bailiff; and sometimes indirect
authority, as when we say, the bailiff works through the king.
Therefore, because the Son receives from the Father that the Holy
Ghost proceeds from Him, it can be said that the Father spirates the
Holy Ghost through the Son, or that the Holy Ghost proceeds from the
Father through the Son, which has the same meaning.
Reply Obj. 1: In every action two things are to be considered, the
_suppositum_ acting, and the power whereby it acts; as, for instance,
fire heats through heat. So if we consider in the Father and the Son
the power whereby they spirate the Holy Ghost, there is no mean, for
this is one and the same power. But if we consider the persons
themselves spirating, then, as the Holy Ghost proceeds both from the
Father and from the Son, the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Father
immediately, as from Him, and mediately, as from the Son; and thus He
is said to proceed from the Father through the Son. So also did Abel
proceed immediately from Adam, inasmuch as Adam was his father; and
mediately, as Eve was his mother, who proceeded from Adam; although,
indeed, this example of a material procession is inept to signify the
immaterial procession of the divine persons.
Reply Obj. 2: If the Son received from the Father a numerically
distinct power for the spiration of the Holy Ghost, it would follow
that He would be a secondary and instrumental cause; and thus the
Holy Ghost would proceed more from the Father than from the Son;
whereas, on the contrary, the same spirative power belongs to the
Father and to the Son; and therefore the Holy Ghost proceeds equally
from both, although sometimes He is said to proceed principally or
properly from the Father, because the Son has this power from the
Father.
Reply Obj. 3: As the begetting of the Son is co-eternal with the
begetter (and hence the Father does not exist before begetting the
Son), so the procession of the Holy Ghost is co-eternal with His
principle. Hence, the Son was not begotten before the Holy Ghost
proceeded; but each of the operations is eternal.
Reply Obj. 4: When anyone is said to work through anything, the
converse proposition is not always true. For we do not say that the
mallet works through the carpenter; whereas we can say that the
bailiff acts through the king, because it is the bailiff's place to
act, since he is master of his own act, but it is not the mallet's
place to act, but only to be made to act, and hence it is used only
as an instrument. The bailiff is, however, said to act through the
king, although this preposition "through" denotes a medium, for the
more a _suppositum_ is prior in action, so much the more is its power
immediate as regards the effect, inasmuch as the power of the first
cause joins the second cause to its effect. Hence also first
principles are said to be immediate in the demonstrative sciences.
Therefore, so far as the bailiff is a medium according to the order
of the subject's acting, the king is said to work through the
bailiff; but according to the order of powers, the bailiff is said to
act through the king, forasmuch as the power of the king gives the
bailiff's action its effect. Now there is no order of power between
Father and Son, but only order of 'supposita'; and hence we say that
the Father spirates through the Son; and not conversely.
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