Page:The Great Encyclical Letters of Pope Leo XIII.djvu/435



THE HOLY SPIRIT. 429

the mountain," as St. John Chrysostom writes, "not bearing in their hands tables of stone hke Moses, but carry- ing the Spirit in their mind, and pouring forth the treasure and the fountain of doctrines and graces."^ Thus was fully accomplished that last promise of Christ to His apostles of sending the Holy Ghost, who was to complete and, as it were, to seal the deposit of doctrine committed to them under His inspiration. / have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now; but when He, the Spirit of Truth, shall come. He will teach you all truth.^ For He who is the Spirit of Truth, inasmuch as He pro- ceedeth both from the Father, who is the eternally True, and from the Son, who is the substantial Truth, receiveth from each both His essence and the fulness of all truth. This truth He communicates to His Church, guarding her by His all-powerful help from ever falling into error, and aiding her to foster daily more and more the germs of divine doctrine and to make them fruitful for the welfare of the peoples. And since the welfare of the peoples, for which the Church was established, abso- lutely requires that this office should be continued for all time, the Holy Ghost perpetually supphes life and strength to preserve and increase the Church. / urill ask the Father, and He will give you another Paraclete, that He may abide loith you forever, the Spirit of Truth?

By Him the bishops are constituted, and by their ministry are multiplied not only the children, but also the fathers â€” that is to say, the priests â€” to rule and feed the Church by that blood wherewith Christ has redeemed her. The Holy Ghost hath placed you bishops to nde the Church of God, which He hath purchased with His own blood.* And both bishops and priests, by the miraculous gift of the Spirit, have the power of absolving sins, accord- ing to those words of Christ to the apostles: Receive ye the Holy Ghost; whose sins you shall forgive they are for^

1 In Matt. Horn. I., 2 Cor. iii. 3. ^ John xiv. 16, 17.

2 John xvi. 12, 13. * Acts xx. 28