| John 16:13
| But when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will teach you all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but what things soever he shall hear, he shall speak: and the things that are to come, he will shew you.
| When he, the Spirit of Truth, is come, he will teach you all truth; will direct you and the Church, in the ways of truth. For he shall not speak of himself, or of himself only, because, says St. Augustine, he is not from himself, but proceedeth from the Father and the Son. Whatsoever he shall hear, he shall speak{ Ver. 13. Non loquetur a semetipso, St. Augustine says on these words, (tract 99.) quia non est a semetipso. Sed quaecunque audiet, loquetur ... ab illo audiet, a quo procedit ... a quo est illi essentia, ab illo scientia; et audientia nihil aliud est quam scientia.|}; this his hearing, says St. Augustine, is his knowledge, and his knowledge is his essence, or being, which from eternity is from the Father and the Son. The like expressions are applied to the Son, as proceeding from the Father. (John 5:30.; 8:16.; etc.) (Witham) --- If he shall teach all truth, and that for ever, (John 11:26.) how is it possible, that the Church can err, or hath erred in matters of faith, at any time, or in any point of doctrine? In this supposition, would not the Holy Ghost have forfeited his title of Spirit of Truth?
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