A Treatise of Novatian Concerning the Trinity.

 A Treatise of Novatian Concerning the Trinity.

 The Rule of truth requires that we should first of all things believe on God the Father and Lord Omnipotent that is, the absolutely perfect Founder o

 And over all these things He Himself, containing all things, having nothing vacant beyond Himself, has left room for no superior God, such as some peo

 Him, then, we acknowledge and know to be God, the Creator of all things—Lord on account of His power, Parent on account of His discipline—Him, I say,

 Him alone the Lord rightly declares good, of whose goodness the whole world is witness which world He would not have ordained if He had not been good

 Moreover, if we read of His wrath, and consider certain descriptions of His indignation, and learn that hatred is asserted of Him, yet we are not to u

 And although the heavenly Scripture often turns the divine appearance into a human form,—as when it says, “The eyes of the Lord are over the righteous

 But when the Lord says that God is a Spirit, I think that Christ spoke thus of the Father, as wishing that something still more should be understood t

 This God, then, setting aside the fables and figments of heretics, the Church knows and worships, to whom the universal and entire nature of things as

 The same rule of truth teaches us to believe, after the Father, also on the Son of God, Christ Jesus, the Lord our God, but the Son of God—of that God

 But of this I remind you , that Christ was not to be expected in the Gospel in any other wise than as He was promised before by the Creator, in the Sc

 Chapter XI.—And Indeed that Christ Was Not Only Man, But God Also That Even as He Was the Son of Man, So Also He Was the Son of God.

 Why, then, should we hesitate to say what Scripture does not shrink from declaring? Why shall the truth of faith hesitate in that wherein the authorit

 And thus also John, describing the nativity of Christ, says: “The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, the glory as of the o

 And yet the heretic still shrinks from urging that Christ is God, whom he perceives to be proved God by so many words as well as facts. If Christ is o

 If Christ is only man, how is it that He says, “Though I bear record of myself, yet my record is true:  because I know whence I came, and whither I go

 If Christ was only man, how is it that He Himself says, “And every one that believeth in me shall not die for evermore?” And yet he who believes in ma

 What if Moses pursues this same rule of truth, and delivers to us in the beginning of his sacred writings, this principle by which we may learn that a

 Behold, the same Moses tells us in another place that “God was seen of Abraham.” And yet the same Moses hears from God, that “no man can see God and l

 What if in another place also we read in like manner that God was described as an angel? For when, to his wives Leah and Rachel, Jacob complained of t

 But if some heretic, obstinately struggling against the truth, should persist in all these instances either in understanding that Christ was properly

 And indeed I could set forth the treatment of this subject by all heavenly Scriptures, and set in motion, so to speak, a perfect forest of texts conce

 But why, although we appear to hasten to another branch of the argument, should we pass over that passage in the apostle: “Who, although He was in the

 In this place I may be permitted also to collect arguments from the side of other heretics. It is a substantial kind of proof which is gathered even f

 But the material of that heretical error has arisen, as I judge, from this, that they think that there is no distinction between the Son of God and th

 Therefore, say they, if Christ is not man only, but God also—and Scripture tells us that He died for us, and was raised again—then Scripture teaches u

 But from this occasion of Christ being proved from the sacred authority of the divine writings not man only, but God also, other heretics, breaking fo

 But since they frequently urge upon us the passage where it is said, “I and the Father are one,” in this also we shall overcome them with equal facili

 Hereto also I will add that view wherein the heretic, while he rejoices as if at the loss of some power of seeing special truth and light, acknowledge

 Moreover, the order of reason, and the authority of the faith in the disposition of the words and in the Scriptures of the Lord, admonish us after the

 And now, indeed, concerning the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, let it be sufficient to have briefly said thus much, and to have laid down t

 Thus God the Father, the Founder and Creator of all things, who only knows no beginning, invisible, infinite, immortal, eternal, is one God to whose

Chapter VII.  Argument.—Moreover, that When God is Called a Spirit, Brightness, and Light, God is Not Sufficiently Expressed by Those Appellations.

But when the Lord says that God is a Spirit, I think that Christ spoke thus of the Father, as wishing that something still more should be understood than merely that God is a Spirit.  For although, in His Gospel, He is reasoning for the purpose of giving to men an increase of intelligence, nevertheless He Himself speaks to men concerning God, in such a way as they can as yet hear and receive; although, as we have said, He is now endeavouring to give to His hearers religious additions to their knowledge of God. For we find it to be written that God is called Love, and yet from this the substance of God is not declared to be Love; and that He is called Light, while in this is not the substance of God.  But the whole that is thus said of God is as much as can be said, so that reasonably also, when He is called a Spirit, it is not all that He is which is so called; but so that, while men’s mind by understanding makes progress even to the Spirit itself, being already changed in spirit, it may conjecture God to be something even greater through the Spirit. For that which is, according to what it is, can neither be declared by human discourse, nor received by human ears, nor gathered by human perceptions. For if “the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him, neither eye hath seen, nor ear hath heard, nor the heart of man, nor even his mind has perceived;”37    1 Cor. ii. 9. what and how great is He Himself who promises these things, in understanding which both the mind and nature of man have failed! Finally, if you receive the Spirit as the substance of God, you will make God a creature. For every spirit is a creature. And therefore, then, God will be made. In which manner also, if, according to Moses, you should receive God to be fire, in saying that He is a creature, you will have declared what is ordained, you will not have taught who is its ordainer. But these things are rather used as figures than as being so in fact. For as, in the Old Testament,38    [Ex. iii. 2. Not consuming. Heb. xii. 29, “consuming.”] God is for this reason called Fire, that fear may be struck into the hearts of a sinful people, by suggesting to them a Judge; so in the New Testament He is announced as Spirit, that, as the Renewer and Creator of those who are dead in their sins, He may be attested by this goodness of mercy granted to those that believe.

CAPUT VII. ARGUMENTUM.---Spiritus quoque cum Deus dicitur, claritas et lux, non satis Deum illis appellationibus explicari.

Sed illud quod dicit Dominus (Joan. IV, 24) Spiritum Deum, puto ego sic locutum Christum de Patre, ut adhuc aliquid plus intelligi velit quam Spiritum Deum. Hominibus enim licet in Evangelio suo intelligendi 0897B incrementa faciens disputet; sed tamen et ipse sic adhuc de Deo loquitur hominibus, quomodo possunt adhuc audire vel capere; licet, ut diximus, in agnitionem Dei religiosa jam facere incrementa nitatur. Invenimus enim scriptum esse quod (I Joan. IV, 8) Deus Charitas dictus sit; nec ex hoc tamen Dei substantia Charitas expressa est: et quod (I Joan. I, 5) Lux dictus est; nec tamen in hoc substantia Dei est, sed totum hoc de Deo dictum est quantum dici potest; ut merito et quando Spiritus dictus est, non omne id quod est, dictus sit; sed ut dum mens hominum intelligendo usque ad ipsum proficit Spiritum, conversa jam ipsa in spiritu, aliud quid amplius per Spiritum conjicere Deum esse possit. Id enim quod est, secundum id quod est, nec humano sermone edici, nec humanis 0897C auribus percipi, nec humanis sensibus colligi potest. Nam si (I Cor. II, 9) quae praeparavit Deus his qui diligunt illum, nec oculus vidit, nec auris audivit, nec cor hominis, aut mens ipsa percepit; qualis et quantus est ille ipse qui haec repromittit, ad quae intelligenda et mens hominis et natura defecit? Denique si acceperis Spiritum substantiam Dei, creaturam feceris Deum. Omnis enim spiritus creatura est. Erit ergo 0898A jam factus Deus. Quomodo et si secundum Moysen (Deut. IV, 24) Ignem acceperis Deum; creaturam illum esse dicendo, institutum expresseris, non institutorem docueris. Sed haec figurantur potius quam ita sunt. Nam et in Veteri Testamento ideo Deus Ignis dicitur, ut peccatori populo metus incutiatur, dum judex ostenditur. Et in Novo Testamento Spiritus esse profertur, ut refector et creator in delictis suis mortuorum, per hanc bonitatem collatae credentibus indulgentiae, comprobetur.