small or great, since phantasms or as it were images of bodies flit about in his mind.
12. And until he be purged from this uncleanness, let him believe in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, one God, alone, great, omnipotent, good, just, merciful. Creator of all things visible and invisible, and whatsoever can be worthily and truly said of Him in proportion to human capacity. And when he is told that the Father only is God, let him not separate from Him the Son or the Holy Spirit; for together with Him He is the only God, together with whom also He is one God; because, when we are told that the Son also is the only God, we must needs take it without any separation of the Father or the Holy Spirit. And let him so say one essence, as not to think one to be either greater or better than, or in any respect differing from," another. Yet not that the Father Himself is both Son and Holy Spirit, or whatever else each is singly called in rela- tion to either of the others; as word, which is not said except of the Son, or gift, which is not said except of the Holy Spirit.
i CHAP. YL] how man is THE IMAGE OF GOD. 199 And on this account also tliey admit the plural number, as it is written in the Gospel, '' I and my Father are one." ^ He has. both said " one,'' ^ and '' lue are ^ one/' according to essence, be- cause they are the same God; "we are," according to relation, be- cause the one is Father, the other is Son. Sometimes also the unity of the essence is left unexpressed, and the relatives alone are mentioned in the plural number: " My Father and I will come unto him, and make our abode with him." * We will come, and we will make our ahode, is the plural number, since it was said before, " I and my Father," that is, the Son and the Father, which terms are used relatively to one another. Sometimes the meaning is altogether latent, as in Genesis: " Let us make man after our image and likeness." ^ Both let %ts make and our is said in the plural, and ought not to be received except as of relatives. For it was not that gods might make, or make after the image and likeness of gods; but that the Father, and Son, and Holy Spirit might make after the image of the Father, and Son, and Holy Spirit, that man might subsist as the image of God. And God is the Trinity. But because that image of God was not made altogether equal to Him, as being not born of Him, but created by Him; in order to signify this, he is in such way the image as that he is " after the image," that is, he is not made equal by parity, but approaches to Him by a sort of likeness. For approach to God is not by intervals of place, but by likeness, and with- drawal from Him is by unlikeness. For there are some who draw this distinction, that they will have the Son to be the image, but man not to be the image, but " after the image." But the apostle refutes them, saying, " For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God." ^ He did not say after the image, but the image. And this image, since it is elsewhere spoken of as after the image, is not as if it were said relatively to the Son, who is the image equal to the Father; otherwise he would not say after our image. For how our, when the Son is the image of the Father alone? But man is said to be " after the image," on account, as we have said, of the inequality of the likeness; 200 ON THE TRINITY. [cOOK VII.
and therefore after our image, that man might be the image of the Trinity; not equal to the Trinity as the Son is equal to the Father, but approaching to it, as has been said, by a certain likeness; just as nearness may in a sense be signified in things distant from each other, not in respect of place, but of a sort of imitation. For it is also said, " Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind; " ^ to whom he likewise says, " Be ye therefore imitators of God, as dear children." ^ For it is said to the new man, " which is renewed to the knowledge of God, after the image of Him that created him." ^ Or if we choose to admit the plural number, in order to meet the needs of argument, even putting aside relative terms, that so we may answer in one term when it is asked what three, and say three substances or three persons; then let no one think of any bulk or interval, or of any distance of howsoever little unlike- ness, so that in the Trinity any should be understood to be even a little less than another, in whatsoever way one thing can be less than another: in order that there may be neither a confusion of persons, nor such a distinction as that there should be any inequality. And if this cannot be grasped by the understanding, let it be held by faith, until He shall dawn in the heart who says by the prophet, " If ye will not believe, surely ye shall not understand."* PREFACE.] EECAPITULATIOK 201 BOOK EIGHTH.
EXPLAINS AND PROVES THAT NOT ONLY THE FATHER IS NOT GREATER THAN THE SON, BUT NEITHER ARE BOTH TOGETHER ANYTHING GREATER THAN THE HOLY SPIRIT, NOR ANY TWO TOGETHER IN THE SAME TRINITY ANYTHING GREATER THAN ONE, NOR ALL THREE TOGETHER ANYTHING GREATER THAN EACH SEVERALLY. IT IS THEN SHOWN HOW THE NATURE ITSELF OF GOD MAY BE UNDERSTOOD FROM OUR UNDERSTANDING OF TRUTH, AND FROM OUR KNOWLEDGE OF THE SUPREME GOOD, AND FROM THE INNATE LOVE OF PJGHTEOUSNESS, WHEREBY A RIGHTEOUS SOUL IS LOVED EVEN BY A SOUL THAT IS ITSELF NOT YET RIGHTEOUS. BUT IT IS URGED ABOVE ALL, THAT THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD IS TO BE SOUGHT BY LOVE, WHICH GOD IS SAID TO BE IN THE SCRIPTURES; AND IN THIS LOVE IS ALSO POINTED OUT THE EXISTENCE OF SOME TRACE OF A TRINITY.
Preface. — The conclusion of what has been said above. Tlie rule to be observed in the more difficult questions of the faith.
We have said elsewhere, that those things are predicated specially in the Trinity as belonging severally to each person, which are predicated relatively the one to the other, as Father and Son, and the gift of both, the Holy Spirit; for the Father is not the Trinity, nor the Son the Trinity, nor the gift the Trinity: but that whenever each is singly spoken of in respect to themselves, then they are not spoken of as three in the plural number, but one, the Trinity itself, as the Father God, the Son God, and the Holy Spirit God; the Father good, the Son good, and the Holy Spirit good; and the Father omni- potent, the Son omnipotent, and the Holy Spirit omnipotent: yet neither three Gods, nor three goods, nor three omnipotents, but one God, good, omnipotent, the Trinity itself; and whatso- ever else is said of them not relatively in respect to each other, but severally in respect to themselves. For they are thus spoken of according to essence, since in them to be is the same as to be great, as to be good, as to be wise, and whatever else is said of each person severally therein, or of the Trinity itself, in respect to themselves. And that therefore they are called three persons, or three substances, not in order that any 202 ON THE TRINITY. [BOOK VIII.
difference of essence may be understood, "but that we may be able to answer by some one word, should any one say what three, or what three things? And that there is so great an equality in that Trinity, that not only the Father is not greater than the Son, as regards divinity, but neither are the Father and Son together greater than the Holy Spirit; nor is each several person, whichever it be of the three, less than the Trinity itself. This is what we have said; and if it is handled and repeated frequently, it becomes, no doubt, more familiarly known: yet some limit, too, must be put to the discussion, and we must supplicate God with most devout piety, that He will open our understanding, and take away the inclination of disputing, in order that our minds may discern the essence of the truth, that has neither bulk nor moveableness. Now, therefore, so far as the Creator Himself aids us in His marvel- lous mercy, let us consider these subjects, into which we will enter more deeply than we entered into those which preceded, although they are in truth the same; preserving the while this rule, that what has not yet been made clear to our intellect, be nevertheless not loosened from the firmness of our faith.
Chap. i. — It is shown hy reason that in God three are not anything greater than one jperson.
2. For we say that in this Trinity two or three persons are not anything greater than one of them; which carnal associa- tions do not receive, for no other reason except because they perceive as they can the true things which are created, but cannot discern the truth itself by which they are created; for if they could, then the very corporeal light would in no way be more clear than this which we have said. For in the substance of truth, since it alone truly is, nothing is greater, unless because it more truly is. But in whatsoever is intel- ligible and unchangeable, nothing is more truly than another, since all alike are unchangeably eternal; and that which therein is called great, is not great from any other source than from that by which it truly is. Wherefore, where greatness itself is truth, whatsoever has more of greatness must needs have more of truth; whatsoever therefore has not more of truth, has not also more of greatness. Further, whatsoever has more of truth is certainly more true, just as that is greater which CHAP. II.] COEPOEEAL CONCEPTIONS OF GOD TO BE REJECTED. 203 has more of greatness; therefore in the substance of truth that is more great which is more true. But the Father and the Son together are not more truly than the Father singly, or the Son singly. Both together, therefore, are not anything greater than each of them singly. And since also the Holy Spirit equally is truly, the Father and Son together are not anything greater than He, since neither are they more truly. The Father also and the Holy Spirit together, since they do not surpass the Son in truth (for they are not more truly), do not surpass Him either in greatness. And so the Son and the Holy Spirit together are just as great as the Father alone, since they are as truly. So also the Trinity itself is as great as each several person therein. For there, where truth itself is greatness, that is not more great which is not more true: since in the essence of truth to be true is the same as to be, and to be is the same as to be great; therefore to be great is the same as to be true. And in it, therefore, what is equally true must needs also be equally great.
Chap. ii. — Every corporeal conception must he rejected, in order that God may he understood, as God is truth» 3. But in bodies it may be the case that this gold and that may be equally true, but this may be greater than that, since greatness is not the same thing there as truth; and it is one thing for it to be gold, another to be great. So also in the nature of the soul; a soul is not called great in the same relation in which it is called true. For he, too, has a true soul who has not a great soul; since the essence of body and soul is not the essence of the truth itself; as is the Trinity, one God, alone, great, true, truthful, the truth. Of whom if we endeavour to think, so far as He Himself permits and grants, let us not think of any touch or embrace in local space, as if of three bodies, or of any compactness .of conjunction, as fables tell of three-bodied Geryon; but let whatsoever may occur to the mind, that is of such sort as to be greater in three than in each singly, and less in one than in two, be rejected without any doubt; for so every- thing corporeal is rejected. But also in spiritual things let nothing changeable that may have occurred to the mind be thought of God. For when we aspire from this depth to that 204 ON THE TPJNITY. [BOOK VIII.
lieiglit, it is a step towards no small knowledge, if, before we can know what God is, we can already know what He is not. Por certainly He is neither earth nor heaven; nor, as it were, earth and heaven; nor any such thing as we see in the heaven; nor any such thing as we do not see, but which perhaps is in heaven. Neither if you were to magnify in the imagination of your thought the light of the sun as much as you are able, either that it may be greater, or that it may be brighter, a thousand times as much, or times without number; neither is this God. ' Neither as ^ we think of the pure angels as spirits animating celestial bodies, and changing and dealing with them after the will by which they serve God; not even if all, and there are " thousands of thousands," ^ were brought together into one, and became one; neither is any such thing God. Neither if you were to think of the same spirits as without bodies — a thing indeed most difficult for carnal thought to do. Behold and see, if thou canst, 0 soul pressed down by the corruptible body, and weighed down by earthly thoughts, many and various; behold and see, if thou canst, God is truth.^ For it is written that "God is light;"^ not in such way that these eyes see, but in such way as the heart sees, when it is said, He is truth.. Ask not what is truth; for immediately the darkness of corporeal images and the clouds of phantasms will put themselves in the way, and will disturb that calm which at the first twinkling shone forth to thee, when I said truth. See that thou remainest, if thou canst, in that first twinkling with which thou art dazzled, as it were, by a flash, when it is said to thee. Truth. But thou canst not; thou wilt glide back into those usual and earthly things. And what weight, pray, is it that will cause thee so to glide back, unless it be the bird-lime of the stains of appetite thou hast contracted, and the errors of thy wandering from the right path?
Chap. hi. — How God may he known to he the chief good. The mind does not become good unless by turning to God.
4. Behold again, and see if thou canst. Thou certainly dost not love anything except what is good, since good i^ the earth, with the loftiness of its mountains, and the due measure of * Read si for siciit, if iov as. Beued. ed. ^ Apoc. v. 11.
CHAP. Ill] THE GOOD, AND GOOD THINGS, TO BE DISTINGUISHED. 205 its hills, and the level surface of its plains; and good is an estate that is pleasant and fertile; and good is a house that is arranged in due proportions, and is spacious and bright; and good are animal and animate bodies; and good is air that is temperate and salubrious; and good is food that is agreeable and fit for health; and good is health, without pains or lassi- tude; and good is the countenance of man that is disposed in fit proportions, and is cheerful in look, and bright in colour; and good is the mind of a friend, with the sweetness of agree- ment, and with the confidence of love; and good is a righteous man; and good are riches, since they are readily useful; and good is the heaven, with its sun, and moon, and stars; and good are the angels, by their holy obedience; and good is discourse that sweetly teaches and suitably admonishes the hearer; and good is a poem that is harmonious in its numbers and weighty in its sense. And why add yet more and more? This thing is good and that good, but take away this and that, and regard good itself if thou canst; so wilt thou see God, not good by a good that is other than Himself, but the good of all good. For in all these good things, whether those which I have mentioned, or any else that are to be discerned or thought, we could not say that one was better than another, when we judge truly, unless a conception of the good itself had been impressed upon us, such that according to it we might both approve some things as good, and prefer one good to another. So God is to be loved, not this and that good, but the good itself. For the good that must be sought for the soul is not one above which it is to fly by judging, but to which it is to cleave by loving; and what can this be except God? ISTot a good mind, or a good angel, or the good heaven, but the good good. For perhaps what I wish to say may be more easily perceived in this way. For when, for instance, a mind is called good, as there are two words, so from these w^ords I understand two things — one whereby it is mind, and another whereby it is good. And itself had no share in making itself a mind, for there was nothing as yet to make itself to be any- thing; but to make itself to be a good mind, I see, must be brought about by the will: not because that by which it is mind is not itself anything good; — for how else is it already 206 ON THE TllINITY. [bOOK VIII.
called, and most truly called, better than the body? — but it is not yet called a good mind, for this reason, that the action of the will still is wanted, by which it is to become more excellent; and if it has neglected this, then it is justly blamed, and is rightly called not a good mind. For it then differs from the mind which does perform this; and since the latter is praiseworthy, the former doubtless, which does not perform it, is blameable. But when it does this of set purpose, and becomes a good mind, it yet cannot attain to being so unless it turn itself to something which itself is not. And to what can it turn itself that it may become a good mind, except to the good which it loves, and seeks, and obtains? And if it turns itself back again from this, and becomes not good, then by the very act of turning away from the good, unless that good remain in it from which it turns away, it cannot again turn itself back thither if it should wish to amend.
5. Wherefore there would be no changeable goods, unless there were the unchangeable good. Whenever then thou art told of this good thing and that good thing, w^hich things car also in other respects be called not good, if thou canst put aside those things which are good by the participation of the good, and discern that good itself by the participation of which they are good (for when this or that good thing is spoken of, thou understandest together with them the good itself also): if, then, I say thou canst remove these things, and canst discern the good in itself, then thou wilt have discerned God. J And if thou shalt cleave to Him, with love, thou shalt be forthwith blessed. But whereas other things are not loved, except because they are good, be ashamed, in cleaving to them, not to love the good itself whence they are good. That also, which is a mind, only because it is a mind, while it is not yet also good by the turning itself to the unchangeable good, but, as I said, is only a mind; whenever it so pleases us, as that we prefer it even, if we imderstand aright, to all corporeal light, does not please us in itself, but in that skill by which it was made. Tor it is thence approved as made, wherein it is seen to have been to be made. This is truth, and simple good: for it is nothing else than the good itself, and for this reason also the chief good. For no good can be diminished or increased, ex- CHAP. IV.] GOD IS TO BE KNOWN BY FAITH. 207 cept that which is good from some other good. Therefore the mind turns itself, in order to he good, to that by which it comes to be a mind. Therefore the will is then in harmony with nature, so that the mind may be perfected in good, when that good is loved by the turning of the will to it, whence that other good also comes which is not lost by the turning away of the will from it. Tor by turning itself from the chief good, the mind loses the being a good mind; but it does not lose the being a mind. And this, too, is a good already, and one better than the body. The will, therefore, loses that which the will obtains. For the mind already was, that could wish to be turned to that from which it was: but that as yet was not, that could wish to be before it was. And herein is our good, when we see whether a thing ought to be or to have been, of which we comprehend that it ought to be or to have been, and when we see that a thing could not have been unless it ought to have been, of which we also do not comprehend in what manner it ought to have been. This good then is not far from every one of us: for in it we live, and move, and have our being.-^ Chap. iv. — God must first he known hy an unerring faith^ that He may he loved.
6. But it is by love that we must stand firm to this and cleave to this, in order that we may enjoy the presence of that by which we are, and in the absence of which we could not be at all. For as "we walk as yet by faith, and not by sight," ^ we certainly do not yet see God, as the same [apostle] saith, "face to face:"^ whom however we shall never see, un- less now already we love. But who loves what he does not know? For it is possible something may be known and not loved: but I ask whether it is possible that what is not known can be loved; since if it cannot, then no one loves God before he knows Him. And what is it to know God except to behold Him and stedfastly perceive Him with the mind? For He is not a body to be searched out by carnal eyes. But before also that we have power to behold and to perceive God, as He can be beheld and perceived, which is permitted to the pure in heart; for " blessed are the pure in heart, for 208 ox THE TRINITY. [BOOK VIII.
they shall see God;"^ except He is loved by faith, it will not be possible for the heart to be cleansed, in order that it may be apt and meet to see Him. For where are there those three, in order to build up which in the mind the whole apparatus of the divine Scriptures has been raised up, namely Faith, Hope, and Charity,^ except in a mind believing what it does not yet see, and hoping and loving what it believes? Even He therefore who is not known, but yet is believed, can be loved. But indisputably we must take care, lest the mind believing that which it does not see, feign to itself something which is not, and hope for and love that which is false. For in that case, it will not be charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned, which is the end of the commandment, as the same apostle says.^ 7. But it must needs be, that, when by reading or hearing of them we believe in any corporeal things which we have not seen, the mind frames for itself something under bodily features and forms, just as it may occur to our thoughts; which either is not true, or even if it be true, which can most rarely hap- pen, yet this is of no benefit to us to believe in by faith, but it is useful for some other purpose, which is intimated by means of it. For who is there that reads or hears what the Apostle Paul has written, or what has been written of him, that does not imagine to himself the countenance both of the apostle himself, and of all those whose names are there men- tioned? And whereas, among such a multitude of men to whom these books are known, each imagines in a different way those bodily features and forms, it is assuredly uncertain which it is that imagines them more nearly and more like the reality. ISTor, indeed, is our faith busied therein with the bodily countenance of those men; but only that by the grace of God they so lived and so acted as that Scripture witnesses: this it is which it is both iiseful to believe, and which must not be despaired of, 'and must be sought. For even the countenance of our Lord Himself in the flesh is variously fancied by the diversity of countless imaginations, w^hich yet was one, what- ever it was. Nor in our faith which we have of our Lord Jesus Christ, is that wholesome which the mind imagines for CHAP, v.] HOW WE KNOW WHAT WE HAVE NOT SEEN. 209 itself, perhaps far other than the reality, but -that which we think of man according to his kind: for we have a notion of human nature implanted in us, as it were by rule, according to which we know forthwith, that whatever such thing we see is a man or the form of a man.
Chap. v. — How the Trinity may he loved though unTcnovm.