are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made7; and neither the light is as the night, nor the sun as the moon; nor the irrational as rational man; nor the Angels as the Thrones, nor the Thrones as the Authorities, yet they are all creatures, but each of the things made according to its kind 3 viov xpyuarigev. The question between Catholics and Arians was whether our Lord was a true Son, or only ca//ed Son. ‘Since they whisper something about Word and Wisdom as only samzes of the Son, &c.” dvéuara wdvov, supr. i. 26, note 1, and de Decr. 16, note ro, And so ‘the title of Image is not a token of a similar substance, but His zame only,’ szfr. 1. 21, and so im/r. 38. where Tots ovduacr is synonymous with kar’ érivorav, as Sent. D. 22. f.a. Vid. also 39. Orat. iil. 11. 18. ‘not named Son, but ever Son,’ iv. 24. fin. Lp. 40g.16. ‘We call Him so, and mean truly what we say; they say it, but do not confess it.’ Chrysost. in Act. Hom. 33- 4. vid. also vd@ots domep dvduacr, Cyril. de Trin. ii. p. 418. Non hee nuda nomina, Ambros. de Fid. i. 17. Yet, since the Sabellians equally failed here, also considering the Sonship as only a notion or title, vid. Ovaz. iv. 2. (where in contrast, “The Father is Father, and the Son Son,’ vid. supr. p. 319, note 1.) 12. 23. 25. the word ‘real’ was used as against ¢hem, and in opposition to avuméatatos Adyos, by the Arians, and in consequence failed as a test of orthodox teaching; e.g. by Arius, supr. p.97. by Euseb. zz Marc. pp. 19, d. 35, b. 161, c. by Asterius, 7/7. 37- by Palladius and Secundus in the Council of Aquileia ap. Ambros. Off. t. 2. p. 791. (ed. Bened.) by Maximinus ap. August. contr. Max. i. 6. 4 Matt. xxiil. 19.
5s And so S. Ambrose, Que enim creatura non sicut alia creatura non est? Homo non ut Angelus, terra non ut ccelum. de Fid. i, n. 130, and a similar passage in Nyss. contr. Eun. iii. p. 132, 3- 6 éfaiperov. vid. 7z/r. Orat. iii. 3. init. iv. 28. init. Euseb.
DISCOURSE Ii.
exists and remains in its own essence, as it was made.
20. Let the Word then be excepted from the works, and as Creator be restored to the Father, and be confessed to be Son by nature; or if simply He be a creature, then let Him ‘be assigned the same condition as the rest one with another, and let them as well as He be said every one of them to be ‘a creature, but not as one of the creatures, offspring or _work, but not as one of the works or offsprings.’ For ye say that an offspring is the same as a work, writing ‘generated or made*’ For though the Son excel the rest on a comparison, still a creature He is nevertheless, as they are; since in those which are by nature creatures one may find some excelling others. Star, for instance, differs from star in glory, and the rest have all of them their mutual differences when compared together; yet it follows not for all this that some are lords, and others servants to the superior, nor that some are efficient causes?, others by them come into being, but all have a nature which comes to be and is created, confessing in their own selves their Framer: as David says in the Psalms, ‘The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament sheweth His handy work3;’ and as Zorobabel the wise says, ‘ All: the earth calleth upon the Truth, and the heaven: blesseth it: all works shake and tremble at it+.’ But if the whole earth hymns the Framer and the Truth, and blesses, and fears it, and its Framer is the Word, and He Himself says, ‘I am the Truths,’ it follows that the Word is not a creature, but alone proper to the Father, in whom all things are disposed, and He is celebrated by all, as Framer; for ‘I was by Him disposing®;’ and ‘ My Father worketh hitherto, and I work7.’ And the word ‘ hitherto’ shews His eternal existence in the Father as the Word; for it is proper to the Word to work the Father’s works and not to be external to Him.
21. But if what the Father worketh, that the Son worketh alsot, and what the Son createth, that is the creation of the Father, and yet the Son be the Fathers work or creature, then either He will work His own self, and will be His own creator (since what I yevynOévta 7 moindévTa; as if they were synonymous; in opposition to which the Nicene Creed says, yevunbevTa ov movn-@éyra, In like manner Arius in his letter to Eusebius uses the words, mp yevvnOh HToe KTLaOH, a opiobh, 7 OeperiwOH, Theodor. H.£. p.750. And to Alexander, axpovus evvnGers Kat mpo alavav Krigbeis Kal Ocwedrwbetss de Syn. 16. An Eusebius to Paulinus, «rioTov Kai Gewedtwrov Kai yevyntov Theod. p. 752. The different words profess to be Scriptural, and to explain each other; ‘created being in Prov. viii. 22. ‘made’ in the passages, considered in the last two chapters, ‘appointed’ or ‘declared in Rom. i. 4. and founded’ or ‘established’ in Prov. viii. 23. wae is discussed infr. 22, &c. vid, also 52. 2 21, note 2. ae Ps, xix. 1. a Esdr. iv. 36. 5 John xiv. 6.
6 Prov. viii. 30, LKX. 7 Johnv.17. 1 Ovat, ill. 11. note.
the Father worketh is the Son’s work also), which is absurd and impossible; or, in that He creates and worketh the things of the Father, He Himself is not a work nor a creature; for else being Himself an efficient cause”, He may cause that to be in the case of things caused, which He Himself has become, or rather He may have no power to cause at all.
For how, if, as you hold, He is come of nothing, is He able to frame things that are nothing into being? or if He, a creature, withal frames a creature, the same will be conceivable in the case of every creature, viz. the power to frame others. And if this pleases you, what is the need of the Word, seeing that things inferior can be brought to be by things superior? or at all events, every thing that is brought to be could have heard in the beginning God’s words, ‘ Become’ and ‘be made,’ and so would have been framed. But this is not so written, nor could it be. For none of things which are brought to be is an efficient cause, but all things were made through the Word: who would not have wrought all things, were He Himself in the number of the creatures. For neither would the Angels be able to frame, since they too are creatures, though Valentinus, and Marcion, -and Basilides think so, and you are, their copyists; nor will the sun, as being a creature, ever make what is not into what is; nor will man fashion man, nor stone devise stone, nor wood give growth to wood. But God is He who fashions man in the womb, and fixes the mountains, and makes wood grow; whereas man, as being capable of science, puts together and arranges that material, and works things that are, as he has learned; and is satisfied if they are but brought to be, and being conscious of what his nature is, if he needs aught, knows to ask 3 it of God.
22. If then God also wrought and compounded out of materials, this indeed is a gentile thought, according to which God is an artificer and not a Maker, but yet even in that case let the Word work the materials, at the bidding and in the service ofGod*. But if He 2 mountikoy atrioy, also, infr. 27. and Orat. iii. 14. and contr. Gent. g init. No creature can create, vid. e.g. about Angels, August. de Civ. Dei xii. 24. de Trin. i. 1318. Damasc. /, O. ii. 3. Cyril in Julian, ii. p. 62. “Our reason rejects the idea that the Creator should be a creature, for creation 1s. by the Creator. Hil. Trin. xii. 5. ws SvvaTar TO KTWGOMEVOY krige; 7 mas 0 KTiS@v xrigerar; Athan. ad Afros. 4 fin. Vid. also Serap. 1. 24, 6. iil. The Gnostics who attributed creation to Angels are alluded e. ic infr. Orat. iii. 12. Epiph. Her. 52. 53, 163, &c. Theodor. Her. i, rand 3. 3 De Decr. 11- I mpootatropevos Kal vmoupyav. It is not quite clear that Athan. accepts these words in his own person, as has been assumed de Decr. 9. note 2, de Syn. 27 (3). Vid. de Decr. 7. and infr. 24. and 31, which, as far as they go, are against the use of the word, Also S. Basil objects to vrotpyos contr. Eunom. ii. 21. and S. Cyril in Joan. p. 48. though S. Basil speaks of toy mpoorarzorTa KUpLov. i, 46, note 3. and S, Cyril of the Son’s vmorayy, Thesaur. P. 255 calls into existence things which existed not by His proper Word, then the Word is not in the number of things non-existing and called; or we have to seek another Word?, through whom He too was called; for by the Word the things which were not have come to be. And if through Him He creates and makes, He is not Himself of things created and made; but rather He is the Word of the Creator God, and is known from the Father’s works which He Himself worketh, to be ‘in the Father and the Father in Him,’ and ‘ He that hath seen Him hath seen the Father3,’ because the Son’s Essence is proper to the Father, and He in all points like Him*. How then does He create through Him, unless it be His Word and His Wisdom? and how can He be Word and Wisdom, unless He be the proper offspring of His Essences, and did not come to be, as others, out of nothing? And whereas all things are from nothing, and are creatures, and the Son, as they say, is one of the creatures too, and of things which once were not, how does He alone reveal the Father, and none else but He know the Father? For could He, a work, possibly know the Father, then must the Father be also known by all according to the proportion of the measures of each: for all of them are works as He is. But if it be impossible for things originate either to see or to know, for the sight and the knowledge of Him surpasses all (since God Himself says, ‘ No one shall see My face and live °’), yet the Son has declared, ‘No one knoweth the Father, save the Son 7,’ therefore the Word is different from all things originate, in that He alone knows and alone sees the Father, as He says, ‘ Not that any one hath seen the Father, save He that is from the Father,’ and ‘no one knoweth the Father save Vid. ‘ministering, ianpetodvra, to the Father of all.’ Just. Tryph. p. 72. ‘The Word become minister, taypérns, of the Creator,’ Origen Hom. in Joan. p. 61. also Constit. AZ. viii. 12. but Pseudo-Athan. objects to banperav, de Comm. Essent. 30. and Athan. apparently, 7/7. 28. Again, ‘Whom did He order, pracepit?’ Iren. Her. iii. 8. n. 3. ‘Lhe Father bids, évréAAerae (allusion to Ps. xxxiii. 9. vid. 2/r. 31), the Word accomplishes...He who commands, xeAevwv, is the Father, He who obeys, truxovwr, the Son...The Father willed, 4@¢Ancev, the Son did it.’ Hippol. contr. Noet. 14. on which Fabricius’s note. S. Hilary speaks of the Son as ‘subditus per obedientiz obsequelam.’ de Syz. 51. Vid. below, on § 31. In note 8 there the principle is laid down for the use of these expressions. [Sxfr. p. 87, note 2.]
2 Cf, Zp. Ag. 14. vid. also supr. p. 155. and Orat. iii. 2. 64. Aug. in Joan. Tract. i. 11. Vid. a parallel argument with reference to the Holy Spirit. Serap. i. 25. b.
3 Vid. John xiv. 9, 10, 4 mv Kata mavra dpoudtyra: vid. parallel instances, de Syit. 26 (s) note x, which add, duos xara mavra, Ora. i. 40. KaTa mdvra Kat ev mac, Ep. dig. 17, c, Tod marpos omo.os, Orat. ii. 17. Orat. ili. 20, a. ‘not duovos, as the Church preaches, but os avrot G€dovar’ (vid. p. 289, note 4), also de Syx. 53, note 9.
_ 5 As Sonship is implied in ‘Image’ (sur. § 2, note 2), So it is implied in ‘Word’ and ‘Wisdom.’ Ovaz. iy. 15. Orat. iii. 29 init. de Decr. 17. And still more pointedly, Ovat. iv, 24 fin. vid. also supr. i, 28, note 5. And so ‘Image’ is implied in Sonship: ‘ being Son of God He must be like Him,’ suv. 17. And so ‘Image’ is implied in Word;’ év rf idia cixove, Aris eoriv 6 Aoyos avrod, infr. 82, d. also 34, c. On the contrary, the very root of heretical error was the denial that these titles implied each other, vid. supr.
27,-de,Decr. 17, 24, notes. Vid. Ex. xxxiii. 20, 7 Matt. xi. 27.
the Son8,’ though Arius think otherwise. How then did He alone know, except that He alone was proper to Him? and how proper, if He were a creature, and not a true Son from Him? (For one must not mind saying often the same thing for religion’s sake.) Therefore it is irreligious to think that the Son is one of all things; and blasphemous and unmeaning to call Him ‘a creature, but not as one of the creatures, and a work, but not as one of the works, an offspring, but not as one of the offsprings;’ for how not as one of these, if, as they say, He was not before His generation 9? for it is proper to the creatures and works not to be before their origination, and to subsist out of nothing, even though they excel other creatures in glory; for this difference of one with another will be found in all creatures, which appears in those which are visible *°.
23. Moreover if, as the heretics hold, the Son were creature or work, but not as one of the creatures, because of His excelling them in glory, it were natural that Scripture should describe and display Him by a comparison in His favour with the other works; for instance, that it should say that He is greater than Archangels, and more honourable than the Thrones, and both brighter than sun and moon, and greater than the heavens. But he is not in fact thus referred to; but the Father shews Him to be His own proper and only Son, saying, ‘Thou art My Son,’ and ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased *’ Accordingly the Angels ministered unto Him, as being one beyond themselves; and they worship Him, not as being greater in glory, but as being some one beyond all the creatures, and beyond themselves, and alone the Father’s proper Son according to essence?. For if He was worshipped as excelling them in glory, each of things subservient ought to worship what excels itself. But this is not the case 3; for creature does not worship creature, but servant Lord, and creature God. Thus Peter the Apostle hinders Cornelius who would worship him, saying, ‘I myself also am a man4,’ And an Angel, when John would worship him in the Apocalypse, hinders him, saying, ‘See thou do it not; for I am thy fellow-servant, and of thy brethren the Prophets, and of them that keep the sayings of this book: worship Gods,’ Therefore to God alone appertains worship, and this the very Angels know, that though they excel other beings in glory, yet they are all creatures and not to be worshipped §, but worship the Lord. Thus Manoah, the father of 9 Vid. supv. x.and Exc. B.
2 De Decr. ro. 3 Vid. Oraz. iii. 12. 4 Acts x. 26.
5 Rev. xxii. 9. © [A note, to the effect that ‘ worship’ is aa ambiguous term, is omitted here,] 8 John vi. 46, not to the letter. 10 Greek text dislocated.
BrscCOURSERIE ee eee eee C8 Samson, wishing to offer sacrifice to the Angel, was thereupon hindered by him, say- Ing, ‘Offer not to me, but to God7.’ On the other hand, the Lord is worshipped even by the Angels; for it is written, ‘Let all the Angels of God worship Him®;’ and by all the Gentiles, as Isaiah says, ‘The labour of Egypt and merchandize of Ethiopia and of the' Sabeans, men of stature, shall come over unto thee, and they shall be thy servants;’ and then, ‘they shall fall down unto thee, and shall make supplication unto thee, saying, Surely God is in thee, and there is none else, there is no God’ And He accepts His disciples’ worship, and certifies them who He is, saying, “Call ye Me not Lord and Master? and ye say well, for so I am.’ And when Thomas said to Him, ‘My Lord and my God *9, He allows his words, or rather accepts him instead of hindering him. For He is, as the other Prophets declare, and David says in the Psalm, ‘the Lord of hosts, the Lord of Sabaoth,’ which is interpreted, ‘the Lord of Armies,’ and God True and Almighty, though the Arians burst? at the tidings.
24. But He had not been thus worshipped, nor been thus spoken of, were He a creature merely. But now since He is not a creature, but the proper offspring of the Essence of that God who is worshipped, and His Son by nature, therefore He is worshipped and is believed to be God, and is Lord of armies, and in authority, and Almighty, as the Father is; for He has said Himself, ‘ All things that the Father hath, are Mine*.’ For it is proper to the Son, to have the things of the Father, and to be such that the Father is seen in Him, and that through Him all things were made, and that the salvation of all comes to pass and consists in Him.
CHAPTER XVII.
INTRODUCTICN TO PROVERBS Vili. 22 CONTINUED.
Absurdity of supposing a Son or Word created in order to the creation of other creatures; as to the creation being unable to bear God’s immediate hand, God condescends to the lowest. Moreover, if the Son a creature, He too could not bear God’s hand, and an infinite series of media will be necessary. Objected, thai, as Moses who led out the Israelites was aman, so our Lord; but Moses was not the Agent in creation:—again, that unity is found in created ministrations, but all such ministrations are defective and dependent:—again, that He learned to create, yet 1r Scappnyvvwowy éavtovs' also ad Adelph. 8. and vid. sugr. note on de Decry. 17. vide also dcappyyviwvroar, de Syn. 54, Kai diappayotey, Marcell. ap. Euseb. Eccl. Theol. p. 116. also p. 40 TpiGwar rovs bb6vTws, de Pug. 26. init. rpigérwoav, ad Adelph. 8. Hist. Ar. 68. fin, and literally 72. a. xomrovow éavtovs. Ln illud Onunia 5. i John xvi. 15.
could God’s Wisdom need teaching? and why should He learn, if the Father worketh hitherto? If the Son was created to create us, He is for our sake, not we for His, 24 (continued), AND here it were well to ask them also this question’, for a_ still clearer refutation of their heresy;—Wherefore, when all things are creatures, and all are brought into consistence from nothing, and the Son Himself, according to you, is creature and work, and once was not, wherefore has He made ‘all things through Him’ alone, ‘and without Him was made not one thing??’ or why is it, when ‘all things’ are spoken of, that no one thinks the Son is signified in the number, but only things originate; whereas when Scripture speaks of the Word, it does not understand Him as being in the number of ‘all,’ but places Him with the Father, as Him in whom Providence and sgalvation for ‘all’ are wrought and effected by the Father, though all things surely might at the same command have come to be, at which He was brought into being by God alone? For God is not wearied by commanding 3, nor is His strength unequal to the making of all things, that He should alone create the only Son 4, and need His ministry and aid for the framing of the rest. For He lets nothing stand over, which He wills to be done; but He willed only 5, and all things subsisted, and no one ‘hath resisted His will®.’ Why then were not all things brought into being by God alone at that same command, at which the Son came into being? Or let them tell us, why did all things through Him come to be, who was Himself but originate? How void of reason! however, they say concerning Him, that ‘God willing to create -originate nature, when He saw that it could not endure the untempered hand of the Father, and to be created by Him, makes and creates first and alone one only, and calls Him Son and Word, that, through Him as a medium, all things might thereupon be brought to be%.” This they not only have said, but they have dared to put it into writing, namely, Eusebius, Arius, and Asterius who sacrificed 7.
25. Is not this a full proof of that irreligion, 1 These sections 24—26 are very similar to de Decr. 7, 8, yet not in wording or order, as is the case with other passages.
4 povos movov, also 7zfr. 30. this phrase is synonymous with ‘not as one of the creatures,’ vid. wovos bro povov, supr. Pp. 12also p. 75. note 6. vid. povws, de Sy. 26, fin. note 2, though that term is somewhat otherwise explained by S. Greg. Naz..dvws ovx as Ta oHpaTa, Orat. 25,16. Eunomius understood by povoyeris, not poves yevynOels but mapa povov. It should be observed, however, that thisis a sense in which some of the Greek Fathers understand the term, thus contrasting generation with procession. vid. Petav. 7vin. vii. 11. § 3. 5 §§ 20, 31. 6 Rom, ix. 19.
6a Vid. de Decr. § 8. supr. p. 2. also Cyril. Thesaur. pp. 15%, 241. de Trin. p. 523. Basil contr. Eunom. ii. 21. vid. also in/7. 20, with which they have drugged themselves with ‘much madness, till they blush not to be in- ‘toxicate against the truth? For if they shall assign the toil of making all things as the reason why God made the Son only, the whole creation will cry out against them as saying unworthy things of God; and Isaiah too who has said in Scripture, ‘The Everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary: there is no searching of His understanding *.’ And if God made the Son alone, as not deigning to make the rest, but committed them to the Son as an assistant, this on the other hand is unworthy of God, for in Him there is no pride. Nay the Lord reproves the thought, when He says, ‘Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing?’ and ‘one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father which is in heaven.’ And again, ‘Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air, for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them; are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought, can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: and yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore if God so clothe the grass of the field which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, shall He not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith??’ If then it be not unworthy of God to exercise His Providence, even down to things so small, a hair of the head, and a sparrow, and the grass of the field, also it was not unworthy of Him to make them. For what things are the subjects of His Providence, of those He is Maker through His proper Word. Nay a worse absurdity lies before the men who thus speak; for they distinguish 3 between the creatures and the framing; and consider the latter the work of the Father, the creatures the work of the Son; whereas either all things must be brought to be by the Father with the Son, or if all that is originate comes to be through the Son, we must not call Him one of the originated things.
_ 26. Next, their folly may be exposed thus:— if even the Word be of originated nature, how, whereas this nature is too feeble to be God’s own handywork, could He alone of all endure to be made by the unoriginate and unmitigated 3 Suatpovar, as supr. de Decr. 7 FOUR> DISCOURSES? AGAINST THE ARIANS, Essence of God, as ye say? for it follows either that, if He could endure it, all could endure it, or, it being endurable by none, it was not endurable by the Word, for you say that He is one of originate things. And again, if because originate nature could not endure to be God’s own handywork, there arose need of a mediator4, it must follow, that, the Word being originate and a creature, there is need of medium in His framing also, since He too is of that originate nature which endures not to be made of God, but needs a medium. But if some being as a medium be found for Him, then again a fresh mediator is needed for that second, and thus tracing back and following out, we shall invent a vast crowd of accumulating mediators; and thus it will be impossible that the creation should subsist, as ever wanting a mediator, and that medium not coming into being without another mediator; for all of them will be of that originate nature which endures not to be made of God alone, as ye say. How abundant is that folly, which obliges them to hold that what has already come into being, admits not of coming! Or perhaps they opine: that they have not even come to be, as still seeking their mediator; for, on the ground of their so irreligious and futile notions, what is would not have subsistence, for want of the medium.
27. But again they allege this:—‘ Behold, — through Moses too did He lead the people from Egypt, and through him He gave the Law, yet he was a man; so that it is possible for like to be brought into being by like.’ They should veil their face when they say this, to save their much shame. For Moses was not sent to frame the world, nor to call into being things which were not, or to fashion men like himself, but only to be the minister of words to the people, and to King Pharaoh. And this is a very different thing, for to minister is of things originate as of servants, but to frame and to create is of God alone, and of His proper Word and His Wisdom. Wherefore, in the matter of framing, we shall find none but God’s Word; for ‘all things are made in Wisdom,’ and ‘without the Word was made not one thing.’ But as regards ministrations there are, not one only, but many out of their whole number, whomever the Lord will send. For there are many Archangels, many Thrones, and Authorities, and Dominions, thousands of thousands, and mytiads of myriads, standing before Him?, minis- 4 Vid. ib. 8. vid. also a similar argument in Epiphanius Her. 76. p. 951. but the arguments of Ath. in these Orations are so generally adopted by the succeeding Fathers, that it is impossible and needless to enumerate the instances of agreement.
5 And so de Deer. 8. 4, 62. and Ambros. ae Fid. iii, 106 DISCOURSE IL.
tering and ready to be sent. And many Prophets, and twelve Apostles, and Paul. And Moses himself was not alone, but Aaron with him, and next other seventy were filled with the Holy Ghost. And Moses was succeeded by Joshua the son of Nun, and he by the Judges, and they not by one, but by a number of Kings. If then the Son were a creature and one of things originate, there must have been many such sons, that God might have many such ministers, just as there is a multitude of those others. But if this is not to be seen, but while the creatures are many, the Word is one, any one will collect from this, that the Son differs from all, and is not on a level with the creatures, but proper to the Father. Hence there are not many Words, but one only Word of the one Father, and one Image of the one God*. ‘But behold,’ they say, ‘there is one sun only3, and one earth.’ Let them maintain, senseless as they are, that there is one water and one fire, and then they may be told that everything that is brought to be, is one in its own essence; but for the ministry and service committed to it, by itself it is not adequate nor sufficient alone. For God said, ‘Let there be lights in the firmament of heaven, to give light upon the earth, and to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years.’ And then he says, ‘And God made two great lights, the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: He made the stars also. And God set them in the firmament of the heaven, to give light upon the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night 4,’ 28. Behold there are many lights, and not the sun only, nor the moon only, but each is One in essence, and yet the service of all is one and common; and what each lacks, is supplied by the other, and the office of lighting is performed by alls. Thus the sun has authority to shine throughout the day and no more; and the moon through the night; and the stars together with them accomplish the seasons and years, and become for signs, each according to the need that cails for it. Thus too the earth is not for all things, but for the fruits only, and to be a ground to tread on for the living things that inhabit it. And the firmament is to divide between waters and waters, and to be a place to set the stars in. So also fire and water, with other things, have been brought into being to be the constituent parts of bodies; and in short no one thing is alone, but all things that are made, as if members 3 Vid. Euseb. Demon. iv. 5 fin.
eet of each other, make up as it were one body, namely, the world. If then they thus conceive of the Son, let all men throw stonesé at them, considering the Word to be a part of this universe, and a part insufficient without the rest for the service committed to Him. But if this be manifestly irreligious, let them acknowledge that the Word is not in the number of things originate, but the sole and proper Word of the Father, and their Framer. ‘But,’ say they, ‘though He is a creature and of things originate; yet as from a master and artificer has He7 learned to frame, and thus ministered® to God who taught Him.’ For thus the Sophist Asterius, on the strength of having learned to deny the Lord, has dared to write, not observing the absurdity which follows. For if framing be a thing to be taught, let them beware lest they say that God Himself be a Framer not by nature but by science, so as to admit of His losing the power. Besides, if the Wisdom of God attained to frame by teaching, how is He still Wisdom, when He needs to learn? and what-was He before He learned? For it was not Wisdom, if it needed teaching; it was surely but some empty thing, and not essential Wisdom9, but from advancement it had the name of Wisdom, and will be only so long Wisdom as it can keep what it has learned. For what has accrued not by any nature, but from learning, admits of being one time unlearned. But to speak thus of the Word of God, is not the part of Christians but of Greeks.
29. For if the power of framing accrues to any one from teaching, these insensate men are ascribing jealousy and weakness? to God;— jealousy, in that He has not taught many how to frame, so that there may be around Him, as Archangels and Angels many, so framers many; and weakness, in that He could not make by Himself, but needed a fellow-worker, or under-worker; and that, though it has been already shewn that created nature admits of being made by God alone, since they consider the Son to be of such a nature and so made. But God is deficient in nothing: perish the thought! for He has said Himself, ‘I am full?’ Nor did the Word become Framer of all from teaching; but being the Image and Wisdom of the Father, He does the things of the Father. Nor hath He made the Son for the making of things created; for behold, though the Son exists, still 3 the Father is seen to work, as the Lord Himself says, ‘My Father worketh hitherto and I work+’ If