therefore is this the case in that unchangeable and eternal substance, which is incomparably more simple than the human m-ind is? Since, in the human mind, to be is not the same as to be strong, or prudent, or just, or temperate; for a mind can exist, and yet have none of these virtues. But in God to be is the same as to be strong, or to be just, or to be wise, or whatever is said of that simple multiplicity, or multifold simplicity, whereby to signify His substance. Wherefore, whether we say God of God in such way that this name belongs to each, yet not so that both together are two Gods, but one God; for they are in such way united with each other, as according to the apostle's testimony may take place even in diverse and differing substances; for both the Lord alone is a Spirit, and the spirit of a man alone is assuredly a spirit; yet, if it cleave to the Lord, " it is one spirit: " how much more there, where there is an absolutely inseparable and eternal union, so that He may not seem absurdly to be called as it were the Son of both, when He is called the Son of God, if that which is called God is only said of both together. Or perhaps it is tha.t whatever is said of God so as to indicate His substance, is not said except of both together, nay of the Trinity itself together? Whether therefore it be this or that (which needs a closer inquiry), it is enough for the present to see from what has been said, that the Son is in no respect equal with the Father, if He is found to be unequal in any- thing which has to do with intimating His substance, as we have already shown. But the apostle has said that He is equal. Therefore the Son is equal with the Father in all things, and is of one and the same substance.
Chap. v. — The Holy Spirit also is equal to the Father and the Son in all things.
7. Wherefore also the Holy Spirit consists in the same unity of substance, and the same equality. For whether He is the unity of both, or the holiness, or the love, or therefore the unity because the love, and therefore the love because the holiness, it is manifest that He is not one of the two, through whom both are joined, through whom the Begotten is loved by the Begetter, and loves Him that begat Him, and through whom, not by participation, but by their own essence, neither 172 05T THE TKINITY. [BOOK VI.
by the gift of any superior, but by their own, they are " keep- ing the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace;"^ which we are commanded to imitate by grace, both towards God and towards ourselves. " On which two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."^ So those three are God, one, alone, great, wise, holy, blessed. But we are blessed from Him, and through Him, and in Him; because we ourselves are one by His gift, and one spirit with Him, because our soul cleaves to Him so as to follow Him. And it is good for us to cleave to God, since He will destroy every man who is estranged from Him.^ Therefore the Holy Spirit, whatever it is, is something common both to the Father and Son. But that communion itself is consubstantial and co-eternal; and if it may fitly be called friendship, let it be so called; but it is more aptly called love. And this is also a substance, since God is a substance, and " God is love," as it is written.* But as He is a substance together with the Father and the Son, so that substance is together with them great, and together with them good, and together with them holy, and whatsoever else is said in reference to substance; since it is not one thing to God to be, and another to be great or to be good, and the rest, as we have shown above. For if love is less great therein [i.e. in God] than wisdom, then wisdom is loved in less degree than according to what it is; love is therefore equal, in order that wisdom may be loved according to its being; but wisdom is equal with the Father, as w^e have proved above; therefore also the Holy Spirit is equal; and if equal, equal in all things, on account of the absolute sim- plicity which is in that substance. And therefore they are not more than three; One who loves Him who is from Himself, and One who loves Him from whom He is, and Love itself. And if this last is nothing, how is " God love "? K it is not sub- stance, how is God substance?
Chap. vi. — Hoio God is a substance both simple and manifold.
8. But if it is asked how that substance is both simple and manifold; consider, first, why the creature is manifold, but in no way really simple. And first, all that is body is CHAP. VII.] HOW THE CREATURE IS MANIFOLD. 173 composed certainly of parts; so that therein one part is greater, another less, and the whole is greater than any part whatever or how great soever. For the heaven and the earth are parts of the whole bulk of the world; and the earth alone, and the heaven alone, is composed of innumerable parts; and its third part is less than the remainder, and the half of it is less than the whole; and the whole body of the world, which is usually called by its two parts, viz. the heaven and the earth, is certainly greater than the heaven alone or the earth alone. And in each several body, size is one thing, colour another, shape another; for the same colour and the same shape may remain with diminished size; and the same shape and the same size may remain with the colour changed; and the same shape not remaining, yet the thing may be just as great, and of the same colour. And whatever other things are predicated together of body can be changed either together, or the more part of them without the rest. And hence the nature of body is conclusively proved to be manifold, and in no respect simple. The spiritual creature also, that is, the soul, is indeed the more simple of the two if compared with the body; but if we omit the comparison with the body, it is manifold, and itself also not simple. For it is on this account more simple than the body, because it is not diffused in bulk through extension of place, but in each body, it is both whole in the whole, and whole in each several part of it; and, therefore, when anything takes place in any small particle whatever of the body, such as the soul can feel, although it does not take place in the whole body, yet the whole soul feels it, since the whole soul is not unconscious of it. But, nevertheless, since in the soul also it is one thing to be skilful, another to be indolent, another to be intelligent, another to be of retentive memory; since cupidity is one thing, fear another, joy another, sadness another; and since things innumerable, and in innumerable ways, are to be found in the nature of the soul, some without others, and some more, some less; it is manifest that its nature is not simple, but manifold. For nothing simple is changeable, but every creature is changeable.
Chap. vii. — God is a Trinity, hut not threefold.
But God is truly called in manifold ways, great, good, wise.
174 ON THE TRINITY. [BOOK "VT.
blessed, true, and whatsoever other thing seems to be said of Him not unworthily: but His greatness is the same as His wisdom; for He is not great by bulk, but by power; and His goodness is the same as His wisdom and greatness, and His truth the same as all those things; and in Him it is not one thing to be blessed, and another to be great, or wise, or true, or good, or in a word to be Himself 9. Neither, since He is a Trinity, is He therefore to be thought threefold; otherwise the Father alone, or the Son alone, will be less than the Father and Son together. Although, indeed, it is hard to see how we can say, either the Father alone, or the Son alone; since both the Father is with the Son, and the Son with the Father, always and inseparably: not that both are the Father, or both are the Son; but because they are always one in relation to the other, and neither the one nor the other alone. But because we call even the Trinity itself God alone, although He is always with holy spirits and souls, but say that He only is God, because they are not also God with Him; so we call the Father the Father alone, not because He is separate from the Son, but because they are not both together the Father.
Chap. viii. — Ho addition can he made to the nature of God.
Since, therefore, the Father alone, or the Son alone, or the Holy Spirit alone, is as great as is the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit together, in no manner is He to be called threefold. Forasmuch as bodies increase by union of them- selves. For although he who cleaves to his wife is one body; yet it is a greater body than if it were that of tha husband alone, or of the wife alone. But in spiritual things, when the 'less adheres to the greater, as the creature to the Creator, the former becomes greater than it was, not the latter. For in those things which are not great by bulk, to be greater is to be better. And the spirit of any creature becomes better, when it cleaves to the Creator, than if it did not so cleave; and therefore also greater because better. "He," then, "that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit: "^ but yet the Lord does not therefore become greater, although he who is joined to the Lord does so. In God Himself, therefore, when the equal Son, UCor. vi. 17.
CHAP. IX.] WHO IS THE ONE TEUE GOD. 175 or the Holy Spirit equal to the Father and the Son, is joined to the equal Father, God does not become greater than each of them severally; because that perfectness cannot increase. But whether it be the Father, or the Son, or the Holy Spirit, He is perfect, and God the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit is perfect; and therefore He is a Trinity rather than three- fold.
Chap. ix. — WheOier one 07* the three ^persons together are called the only God.
10. And since we are showing how we can say the Father alone, because there is no Father in the Godhead except Him- self, we must consider also the opinion which holds that the only true God is not the Father alone, but the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. For if any one should ask whether the Father alone is God, how can it be replied that He is not, unless perhaps we were to say that the Father indeed is God, but that He is not God alone, but that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are God alone? But then what shall we do with that testimony of the Lord? For He was speaking to the Father, and had named the Father as Him to whom He was speaking, when He says, " And this is life eternal, that they may know Thee the one true God." ^ And this the Arians indeed usually take, as if the Son were not true God. Pass- ing them by, however, we must see whether, when it is said to the Father, " That they may know Thee the one true God," we are forced to understand it as if He wished to intimate that the Father alone is also the true God; lest we should not understand any to be God, except the three together, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Are we therefore, from the testimony of the Lord, both to call the Father the one true God, and the Son the one true God, and the Holy Spirit the one true God, and the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit together, that is, the Trinity itself together, not three true Gods, but one true God? Or because He added, " And Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent," are we to supply " the one true God;" and that the order of the words is this, "That they may know Thee, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent, the one true God "? Why then did He omit to mention the * John xvii. 3.
176 ON THE TRINITY. [BOOK VI.
Holy Spirit? Is it because it follows, that wheresoever we name One who cleaves to One by a harmony so great, that through this harmony both are one, forthwith from this that harmony itself must be understood also, although it is not mentioned? For in that place, too, the apostle seems as it were to pass over the Holy Spirit; and yet there, too. He is understood, where he says, "All are yours, and ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's." ^ And again, " The head of the woman is the man, the head of the man is Christ, and the head of Christ is God."^ But again, if God is only all three together, how can God be the head of Christ, that is, the Trinity the head of Christ, since Christ is in the Trinity in order that it may be the Trinity? Is that which is the Father with the Son, the head of that which is the Son alone? For the Father with the Son is God, but the Son alone is Christ: especially since it is the Word already made flesh that speaks; and according to this His humilia- tion also, the Father is greater than He, as He says, " for my Father is greater than I;" ^ so that the very being of God, which is one to Him with the Father, is itself the head of the man who is mediator, which He is alone.* For if we rightly caU the mind the chief thing of man, that is, as it were the head of the human substance, although the man himself to- gether with the mind is man; why is not the Word with the Father, which together is God, much more suitably and much more the head of Christ, although Christ as man cannot be understood except with the Word which was made flesh? But this, as we have already said, we shall consider somewhat more carefully hereafter. At present the equality and one and the same substance of the Trinity has been demonstrated as briefly as possible, that in whatever way that other question be determined, the more rigorous discussion of which we have deferred, nothing may hinder us from confessing the absolute equality of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Chap. x. — Of the attributes assigned by Hilary to each person. TJie Trinity is represented in things that are made.
11. A certain writer, when he would briefly intimate the special attributes of each of the persons in the Trinity, tells us that " Eternity is in the Father, form in the Image, use in the » 1 Cor. iii. 22, 23. ^ i Cor. xi. 3. ^ j^i^u xiv. 28. * 1 Tim. ii. 5.
CHAP. X.] OF A SAYING OF IIILARrS. 177 Gift." And since he was a man of no mean authority in hand- ling the Scriptures, and in the assertion of the faith, for it is Hilary who put this in his book {On the Trinity, ii.); I have searched into the hidden meaning of these words as far as I can, that is, of the Father, and the Image, and the Gift, of eternity, and of form, and of use. And I do not think that he intended more by the word eternity, than that the.Father has not a father from whom He is; but the Son is from the Father, so as to be, and so as to be co-eternal with Him. For if an image perfectly fills the measure of that of which it is the image, then the image is made equal to that of which it is the image, not the latter to its own image. And in respect to this image he has named form, I believe on account of the qualit}^ of beauty, where there is at once such great fitness, and prime equality, and prime likeness, differing in nothing, and unequal in no respect, and in no part unlike, but answering exactly to Him whose image it is: where there is prime and absolute life, to whom it is not one thing to live, and another to be, but the same thing to be and to live; and prime and absolute intellect, to whom it is not one thing to live, another to understand, but to understand is to live, and is to be, and all things are one: as though a per- fect word, to which nothing is wanting, and a certain skill of the omnipotent and wise God, full of all living, unchangeable sciences, and all one in it, as itself is one from one, with whom it is one. Therein God knew all things which He made by it; and therefore, while times pass away and succeed, nothing passes away or succeeds to the knowledge of God. For things which are created are not therefore known by God, because they have been made; and not rather have been therefore made, even although changeable, because they are known unchangeably by Him. Therefore that unspeakable conjunction of the Father and His image is not without fruition, without love, without joy. Therefore that love, delight, felicity, or blessedness, if indeed it can be worthily expressed by any human word, is called by him, in short. Use; and is the Holy Spirit in the Trinity, not begotten, but the sweetness of the begetter and of the begotten, filling all creatures according to their capacity with abundant bountifulness and copiousness, that they may keep their proper order and rest satisfied in their proper place.
DE TPvIN. M 178 ON THE TRINITY. [BOOK YI.
12. Therefore all these things which are made by divine skill, show in themselves a certain unity, and form, and order; for each of them is both some one thing, as are the several natures of bodies and dispositions of souls; and is fashioned in some form, as are the figures or qualities of bodies, and the various learning or skill of souls; and seeks or preserves a certain order, as are the several weights or combinations of bodies, and the loves or delights of souls. When therefore we regard the Creator, who is understood by the things that are made,^ we must needs understand the Trinity, of whom there appear traces in the creature, as is fitting. For in that Trinity is the supreme source of all things, and the most perfect beauty, and the most blessed delight. Those three, therefore, both seem to be mutually determined to each other, and are in themselves infinite. But here in corporeal things, one thing alone is not as much as three together, and two are something more than one; but in that highest Trinity one is as much as the three together, nor are two anything more than one. And They are infinite in themselves. So both each are in each, and all in each, and each in all, and all in all, and all are one.
Let him who sees this, v^rhether in part, or "through a glass and in an enigma," ^ rejoice in knowing God; and let him honour Him as God, and give thanks; but let him who does not see it, strive to see it through piety, not to cavil at it through blindness. Since God is one, but yet is a Trinity. Neither ,are we to take the words as used indiscriminately, " of whom, and through whom, and to whom are all things;" nor yet to many gods, but '' to Him, be glory for ever and ever. Amen."^ CHAP, l] AVHICH of THE PEESONS IS WISDOM. 179 BOOK SEVENTH.
THE QUESTION IS EXPLAINED, WHICH HAD BEEN DEFERRED IN THE PREVIOrS BOOK, VIZ. THAT GOD THE FATHER, WHO BEGAT THE SON HIS POWER AND WISDOM, IS NOT ONLY THE FATHER OF POWER AND WISDOM, BUT ALSO HIMSELF POWER AND WISDOM; AND SIMILARLY THE HOLY SPIRIT: YET THAT THERE ARE NOT THREE POWERS OR THREE WISDOMS, BUT ONE POWER AND ONE WISDOM, AS THERE IS ONE GOD AND ONE ESSENCE. INQUIRY IS THEN MADE, WHY THE LATINS SAY ONE ESSENCE, THREE PERSONS, IN GOD; BUT THE GREEKS, ONE ESSENCE, THREE SUBSTANCES OR HYPOSTASES: AND BOTH MODES OF EXPRESSION ARE SHOWN TO ARISE FROM THE NECESSITIES OF SPEECH, THAT WE MIGHT HAVE AN ANSWER TO GIVE WHEN ASKED, WHAT THREE, WHILE TRULY CONFESSING THAT THERE ARE THREE, VIZ. THE FATHER, AND THE SON, AND THE HOLY SPIRIT.
Chap. i. — Augustine returns to the question, whether each person of the Trinity by itself is wisdom. With what difficulty, or in what way, the proposed question is to be solved.
1. Let us now inquire more carefully, so far as God grants, into tliat whicli a little before we deferred; whether each person also in the Trinity can also by Himself and not with the other two be called ^ God, or great, or wise, or true, or omnipotent, or just, or anything else that can be said of God, not relatively, but in respect to substance; or whether these things cannot be said except when the Trinity is understood. Eor the question is raised, — because it is written, " Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God,"-^ — whether He is so the Father of His own wisdom and His own power, as that He is wise with that wisdom which He begat, and powerful with that power which He begat; and whether, since He is always powerful and wise. He always begat power and wisdom. Eor if it be so, then, as we have said, why is He not also the Eather of His own greatness by which He is great, and of His own goodness by which He is good, and of His own justice by which He is just, and whatever else there is? Or if all these things are understood, although under more names than 180 ON THE TRINITY. [BOOK VIL T^ one, to be in the same wisdom and power, so that that is greatness which is power, that is goodness which is wisdom, and that again is wisdom which is power, as we have already argued; then let ns remember, that when I mention any one of these, I am to be taken as if I mentioned all. It is asked, then, whether the Father also by Himself is wise, and is Him- self His own wisdom itself; or whether He is wise in the same way as He speaks. For He speaks by the Word which He begat, not by the word which is uttered, and sounds, and passes away, but by the Word which was with God, and the Word was God, and all things were made by Him:^ by the Word which is equal to Himself, by whom He always and unchangeably utters Himself. For He is not Himself the Word, as He is not the Son nor the image. But in speaking (putting aside those words of God in time which are produced in the creature, for they sound and pass away, — in speaking then) by that co-eternal Word, He is not understood singly, but with that Word itself, without whom certainly He does not speak. Is He then in such way wise as He is one who speaks, so as to be in such way wisdom, as He is the Word, and so that to be the Word is to be wisdom, that is, also to be power, so that power and wisdom and the Word may be the same, and be so called relatively as the Son and the image: and that the Father is not singly powerful or wise, but together with the power and wisdom itself which He created; just as He is not singly one who speaks, but by that Word and to- gether with that Word which He begat; and in like way great by that and together with that greatness which He begat? And if He is not great by one thing, God by another, but great by that whereby He is God, because it is not one thing to Him to be great and another to be God; it follows that neither is He God singly, but by that and together with that Godhead which He begat; that so the Son is the Godhead of the Father, as He is the wisdom and power of the Father, and as He is the Word and ' imacje of the Father: and that because it is not one thing to Him to be, another to be God, the Son therefore is also the essence of the Father, as He is His word and image; and that hence also — except that He is CHAP. I.] GOD THE FATHER IS HIMSELF POWER AND WISDOM. 181