Chapter IX.

St. Ambrose questions the heretics and exhibits their answer, which is, that the Son existed, indeed, before all time, yet was not co-eternal with the Father, whereat the Saint shows that they represent the Godhead as changeable, and further, that each Person must be believed to be eternal.

58. Tell me, thou heretic,—for the surpassing clemency of the Emperor grants me this indulgence of addressing thee for a short space, not that I desire to confer with thee, or am greedy to hear thy arguments, but because I am willing to exhibit them,—tell me, I say, whether there was ever a time when God Almighty was not the Father, and yet was God. “I say nothing about time,” is thy answer. Well and subtly objected! For if thou bringest time into the dispute, thou wilt condemn thyself, seeing that thou must acknowledge that there was a time when the Son was not, whereas the Son is the ruler and creator of time.124 He cannot have begun to exist after His own work. Thou, therefore, must needs allow Him to be the ruler and maker of His work.

59. “I do not say,” answerest thou, “that the Son existed not before time; but when I call Him “Son,” I declare that His Father existed before Him, for, as you say, father exists before son.”125 But what means this? Thou deniest that time was before the Son, and yet thou wilt have it that something preceded the existence of the Son—some creature of time,—and thou showest certain stages of generation intervening, whereby thou dost give us to understand that the generation from the Father was a process in time. For if He began to be a Father, then, in the first instance, He was God, and afterwards He became a Father. How, then, is God unchangeable?126 For if He was first God, and then the Father, surely He has undergone change by reason of the added and later act of generation.

60. But may God preserve us from this madness; for it was but to confute the impiety of the heretics that we brought in this question. The devout spirit affirms a generation that is not in time, and so declares Father and Son to be co-eternal, and does not maintain that God has ever suffered change.

61. Let Father and Son, therefore, be associated in worship, even as They are associated in Godhead; let not blasphemy put asunder those whom the close bond of generation hath joined together. Let us honour the Son, that we may honour the Father also, as it is written in the Gospel.127 The Son’s eternity is the adornment of the Father’s majesty. If the Son hath not been from everlasting, then the Father hath suffered change; but the Son is from all eternity, therefore hath the Father never changed, for He is always unchangeable. And thus we see that they who would deny the Son’s eternity would teach that the Father is mutable.

CAPUT IX.

Haereticos interrogat Vir sanctus, ostensaque illorum responsione, qua Filium omni quidem tempore priorem, Patre autem posteriorem esse affirmabant, in Deum induci mutationem, aeternitatem utrique personae tribuendam colligit.

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58. Dic mihi, haeretice, dat enim veniam elementissimus 0542A imperator, ut te non colloquendi studio, nec audiendi cupiditate, sed exponendi gratia, paulisper alloquar: dic mihi, inquam, fuitne aliquando tempus quo omnipotens Deus Pater non erat, et Deus erat? Tempus, inquis, non astruo. Bene et argute. Si enim tempus dixeris, te ipse convinces: quia necesse est asseras fuisse tempus ante Filium, cum Filius temporis auctor sit et creator; non potest enim post opus suum ipse coepisse: necesse est igitur auctorem operis sui esse fatearis.

59. Ante tempora, inquis, non nego Filium: sed cum Filium dico, ostendo priorem Patrem, quia Pater, inquis, Filio prior. Quid est hoc? Negas esse tempus ante Filium, et tamen nescio quid ante Filium 0542B vis praecessise, quod temporis sit; et ostendis media nescio quae molimina fuisse generandi, in quo generationem Patris significas temporalem. Nam si Pater esse coepit, Deus ergo primo erat, postea Pater factus est. Quomodo ergo immutabilis Deus? Si enim ante Deus, postea Pater: utique generationis accessione mutatus est.

60. Sed avertat Deus hanc amentiam; nos enim ad impietatem eorum redarguendam, hanc retulimus quaestionem. Pia namque mens generationem sine tempore asserit; ut et sempiternum Patrem cum Filio dicat, nec aliquando asserat esse mutatum.

61. Jungat igitur honorificentia Patri Filium, quem divinitas junxit: non separet impietas, quem 0542C generationis proprietas copulavit. Honorificemus Filium, ut honorificemus et Patrem, sicut et in Evangelio scriptum est (Joan. V, 23). Sempiternitas Filii Paternae majestatis insigne est. Si iste non semper fuit, ergo ille mutatus est: sed semper fuit Filius, ergo nec Pater aliquando mutatus est; quia immutabilis semper est. Itaque videmus quod illi qui volunt negare Filium sempiternum, volunt Patrem docere esse mutatum.