36. The true method of our enquiry demands that we should begin with him, through whom God first manifested Himself to the world, that is, with Moses, by whose mouth God the Only-begotten thus declared Himself; See, see that I am God, and there is no God beside Me261    Deut. xxxii. 39.. That godless heresy must not assign these words to God, the unbegotten Father, is clear by the sense of the passage and by the evidence of the Apostle who, as we have already stated262    Book iv. § 33., has taught us to understand this whole discourse as spoken by God the Only-begotten. The Apostle also points out the words, Rejoice, O ye nations, with His people263    Deut. xxxii. 43 (Rom. xv. 10). as those of the Son, and in corroboration further cites this:—And there shall be a root of Jesse, and One that shall arise to rule the nations; in Him shall the nations trust264    Isai. xi. 10 (Rom. xv. 12).. Thus Moses by the words, Rejoice, O ye nations, with His people indicates Him Who said, There is no God beside Me; and the Apostle refers the same words to our Lord Jesus Christ, God the Only-begotten, in Whose rising as a king from the root of Jesse, according to the flesh, the hope of the Gentiles rests. And therefore we must now consider the meaning of these words, that we, who know that they were spoken by Him, may ascertain in what sense He spoke them.

36. Quod ex Moyse Filius cum Patre unus sit Deus.---Veritatis ratio postulat, ab eo initium intelligentiae istius sumi, per quem manifestari saeculo Deus coeptus est, Moyse namque, cujus ore haec de se unigenitus Deus professus est: Videte, videte, quoniam ego sum Deus, et non est Deus praeter me 0154B (Deut. XXXII, 39). Ac ne forte dicti hujus virtutem haeretica impietas ad patrem innascibilem Deum referat; et ipsa dicti ratio, et Apostolus auctor occurrit, qui ex persona unigeniti Dei, sicut superius (lib. IV, n. 33) docuimus, intelligendi totius hujus sermonis interpres est; et hoc quod dictum est, Laetamini gentes cum plebe ejus (Deut. XXXII, 43; et Rom. XVII, 10), proprium ejus esse demonstravit, subjiciens ad fidem dicti: Et erit radix Iesse, et qui surget regere gentes, in eum gentes sperabunt (Ibid., 12). Demonstrato igitur per Moysen eo qui dixerat: Non est Deus praeter me, in eo quod ait: Laetamini gentes simul cum eo; et Apostolo id ipsum ad Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum unigenitum Deum intelligente, in quo secundum carnem ex radice Jesse surgente 0154C rege 128 gentium spes est, ipsa nunc dicti ratio tractanda est, ut quia dictum non ambigitur, quatenus dictum sit possit intelligi.