19. It may seem waste of time to bring forward further arguments, for truths concerning God gain no strength by repetition; a single statement suffices to establish them. Yet it is well for us to know all that has been revealed upon the subject, for though we are not responsible for the words of Scripture, yet we shall have to render an account for the sense we have assigned to them. One of the many commandments which God gave to Noah is, Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, for his blood shall his life be shed, for after the image of God made I man192    Ib. ix. 6.. Here again is the distinction between likeness, creature, and Creator. God bears witness that He made man after the image of God. When He was about to make man, because He was speaking of Himself, yet not to Himself, God said, After our image; and again, after man was made, God made man after the image of God. It would have been no inaccuracy of language, had He said, addressing Himself, I have made man after My image, for He had shewn that the Persons are one in nature by, Let us make man after Our image193    I.e. by the word Our.. But for the more perfect removal of all doubt as to whether God be, or be not, a solitary Being, when He made man He made him, we are told, After the image of God.

19. Alio loco idipsum confirmatur.---Et quamquam superfluum post haec existimetur ultra aliquid afferre, quia in divinis rebus non frequentius dicta, sed tantum dicta sufficiunt: tamen quid de hoc eodem dictum sit, cognosci oportet. Non enim divinorum 0111D dictorum, sed intelligentiae nostrae a nobis ratio praestanda est. Deus ad Noe inter multa mandata ita loquitur: Qui effuderit sanguinem hominis, pro sanguine ejus effundetur anima ejus; quia ad imaginem 0112A Dei feci hominem (Gen. IX, 6). Etiam hic distinguitur exemplum, opus, operans. Deus testatur se ad imaginem Dei hominem fecisse. Cum faciendus homo est, quia de se, neque ad se loquebatur, dixit ad imaginem nostram: cum autem factus homo est, Fecit Deum hominem ad imaginem Dei. Non ignoravit utique verbi proprietatem, si sibi ipse loqueretur, ut diceret, Feci ad imaginem meam. Dixerat enim ad demonstrandam naturae unitatem, Faciamus ad nostram. Neque rursum confudit de solitario ac non solitario intelligentiam: cum hominem Deus faciens, ad imaginem Dei fecerit.