Francis Patrick Kenrick

G. P. " because the Spirit is truth." According to this reading, the testimony of the Spirit is urged on account of His truth. The matter of his testimony is the Incarnation of Christ, His baptism, and His death for sinners. ^o The authenticity of this verse is strongly controverted among Protestants. Being read in the Vulgate, which, in all its parts, was sanctioned by the Council of Trent, Catholics generally maintain it. Some indications of it are found in the writings of Tertullian and St. Cyprian, and it was specially employed in an address of African bishops to the Arian king Huneric, in the fifth century. It must have been omitted from a very early period in the manuscripts, since it is not found in the most ancient, nor in the Syriac or Arabic versions. The Britan- nic, Dublin, and Ravian contain it. The testimony given in heaven is the mani- festation of the Divine counsels to the saints.