But this, as we have already said, we shall consider somewhat more carefully hereafter. At present the equality and one and the same substance of the Trinity has been demonstrated as briefly as possible, that in whatever way that other question be determined, the more rigorous discussion of which we have deferred, nothing may hinder us from confessing the absolute equality of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Chap. x. — Of the attributes assigned by Hilary to each person. TJie Trinity is represented in things that are made.
11. A certain writer, when he would briefly intimate the special attributes of each of the persons in the Trinity, tells us that " Eternity is in the Father, form in the Image, use in the » 1 Cor. iii. 22, 23. ^ i Cor. xi. 3. ^ j^i^u xiv. 28. * 1 Tim. ii. 5.
CHAP. X.] OF A SAYING OF IIILARrS. 177 Gift." And since he was a man of no mean authority in handling the Scriptures, and in the assertion of the faith, for it is Hilary who put this in his book {On the Trinity, ii.); I have searched into the hidden meaning of these words as far as I can, that is, of the Father, and the Image, and the Gift, of eternity, and of form, and of use. And I do not think that he intended more by the word eternity, than that the.Father has not a father from whom He is; but the Son is from the Father, so as to be, and so as to be co-eternal with Him. For if an image perfectly fills the measure of that of which it is the image, then the image is made equal to that of which it is the image, not the latter to its own image. And in respect to this image he has named form, I believe on account of the qualit}^ of beauty, where there is at once such great fitness, and prime equality, and prime likeness, differing in nothing, and unequal in no respect, and in no part unlike, but answering exactly to Him whose image it is: where there is prime and absolute life, to whom it is not one thing to live, and another to be, but the same thing to be and to live; and prime and absolute intellect, to whom it is not one thing to live, another to understand, but to understand is to live, and is to be, and all things are one: as though a perfect word, to which nothing is wanting, and a certain skill of the omnipotent and wise God, full of all living, unchangeable sciences, and all one in it, as itself is one from one, with whom it is one. Therein God knew all things which He made by it; and therefore, while times pass away and succeed, nothing passes away or succeeds to the knowledge of God. For things which are created are not therefore known by God, because they have been made; and not rather have been therefore made, even although changeable, because they are known unchangeably by Him. Therefore that unspeakable conjunction of the Father and His image is not without fruition, without love, without joy. Therefore that love, delight, felicity, or blessedness, if indeed it can be worthily expressed by any human word, is called by him, in short. Use; and is the Holy Spirit in the Trinity, not begotten, but the sweetness of the begetter and of the begotten, filling all creatures according to their capacity with abundant bountifulness and copiousness, that they may keep their proper order and rest satisfied in their proper place.
DE TPvIN. M 178 ON THE TRINITY. [BOOK YI.
12. Therefore all these things which are made by divine skill, show in themselves a certain unity, and form, and order; for each of them is both some one thing, as are the several natures of bodies and dispositions of souls; and is fashioned in some form, as are the figures or qualities of bodies, and the various learning or skill of souls; and seeks or preserves a certain order, as are the several weights or combinations of bodies, and the loves or delights of souls. When therefore we regard the Creator, who is understood by the things that are made,^ we must needs understand the Trinity, of whom there appear traces in the creature, as is fitting. For in that Trinity is the supreme source of all things, and the most perfect beauty, and the most blessed delight. Those three, therefore, both seem to be mutually determined to each other, and are in themselves infinite. But here in corporeal things, one thing alone is not as much as three together, and two are something more than one; but in that highest Trinity one is as much as the three together, nor are two anything more than one. And They are infinite in themselves. So both each are in each, and all in each, and each in all, and all in all, and all are one.
Let him who sees this, v^rhether in part, or "through a glass and in an enigma," ^ rejoice in knowing God; and let him honour Him as God, and give thanks; but let him who does not see it, strive to see it through piety, not to cavil at it through blindness. Since God is one, but yet is a Trinity. Neither,are we to take the words as used indiscriminately, " of whom, and through whom, and to whom are all things;" nor yet to many gods, but '' to Him, be glory for ever and ever. Amen."^ CHAP, l] AVHICH of THE PEESONS IS WISDOM. 179 BOOK SEVENTH.
THE QUESTION IS EXPLAINED, WHICH HAD BEEN DEFERRED IN THE PREVIOrS BOOK, VIZ. THAT GOD THE FATHER, WHO BEGAT THE SON HIS POWER AND WISDOM, IS NOT ONLY THE FATHER OF POWER AND WISDOM, BUT ALSO HIMSELF POWER AND WISDOM; AND SIMILARLY THE HOLY SPIRIT: YET THAT THERE ARE NOT THREE POWERS OR THREE WISDOMS, BUT ONE POWER AND ONE WISDOM, AS THERE IS ONE GOD AND ONE ESSENCE. INQUIRY IS THEN MADE, WHY THE LATINS SAY ONE ESSENCE, THREE PERSONS, IN GOD; BUT THE GREEKS, ONE ESSENCE, THREE SUBSTANCES OR HYPOSTASES: AND BOTH MODES OF EXPRESSION ARE SHOWN TO ARISE FROM THE NECESSITIES OF SPEECH, THAT WE MIGHT HAVE AN ANSWER TO GIVE WHEN ASKED, WHAT THREE, WHILE TRULY CONFESSING THAT THERE ARE THREE, VIZ. THE FATHER, AND THE SON, AND THE HOLY SPIRIT.
Chap. i. — Augustine returns to the question, whether each person of the Trinity by itself is wisdom. With what difficulty, or in what way, the proposed question is to be solved.
1. Let us now inquire more carefully, so far as God grants, into tliat whicli a little before we deferred; whether each person also in the Trinity can also by Himself and not with the other two be called ^ God, or great, or wise, or true, or omnipotent, or just, or anything else that can be said of God, not relatively, but in respect to substance; or whether these things cannot be said except when the Trinity is understood. Eor the question is raised, — because it is written, " Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God,"-^ — whether He is so the Father of His own wisdom and His own power, as that He is wise with that wisdom which He begat, and powerful with that power which He begat; and whether, since He is always powerful and wise. He always begat power and wisdom. Eor if it be so, then, as we have said, why is He not also the Eather of His own greatness by which He is great, and of His own goodness by which He is good, and of His own justice by which He is just, and whatever else there is? Or if all these things are understood, although under more names than 180 ON THE TRINITY. [BOOK VIL T^ one, to be in the same wisdom and power, so that that is greatness which is power, that is goodness which is wisdom, and that again is wisdom which is power, as we have already argued; then let ns remember, that when I mention any one of these, I am to be taken as if I mentioned all. It is asked, then, whether the Father also by Himself is wise, and is Himself His own wisdom itself; or whether He is wise in the same way as He speaks. For He speaks by the Word which He begat, not by the word which is uttered, and sounds, and passes away, but by the Word which was with God, and the Word was God, and all things were made by Him:^ by the Word which is equal to Himself, by whom He always and unchangeably utters Himself. For He is not Himself the Word, as He is not the Son nor the image. But in speaking (putting aside those words of God in time which are produced in the creature, for they sound and pass away, — in speaking then) by that co-eternal Word, He is not understood singly, but with that Word itself, without whom certainly He does not speak. Is He then in such way wise as He is one who speaks, so as to be in such way wisdom, as He is the Word, and so that to be the Word is to be wisdom, that is, also to be power, so that power and wisdom and the Word may be the same, and be so called relatively as the Son and the image: and that the Father is not singly powerful or wise, but together with the power and wisdom itself which He created; just as He is not singly one who speaks, but by that Word and together with that Word which He begat; and in like way great by that and together with that greatness which He begat? And if He is not great by one thing, God by another, but great by that whereby He is God, because it is not one thing to Him to be great and another to be God; it follows that neither is He God singly, but by that and together with that Godhead which He begat; that so the Son is the Godhead of the Father, as He is the wisdom and power of the Father, and as He is the Word and ' imacje of the Father: and that because it is not one thing to Him to be, another to be God, the Son therefore is also the essence of the Father, as He is His word and image; and that hence also — except that He is CHAP. I.] GOD THE FATHER IS HIMSELF POWER AND WISDOM. 181 the Father — the Father is not anything, unless because He has the Son; that not only that which is meant by Father (which it is manifest that He is not called relatively to Himself but to the Son, and therefore is the Father because He has the Son), but altogether that He is that which He is in respect to His substance, He therefore is, because He begat His own essence. For as He is great, only with that greatness which He begat, so also He is, only with that essence which He begat; because it is not one thing to Him to be, and another to be great. Is He therefore the Father of His own essence, in the same way as He is the Father of His own greatness, as He is the Father of His own power and wisdom? since His greatness is the same as His power, and His essence the same as His greatness. 2. This discussion has arisen from that which is written, that " Christ is the power of God, and the wisdom of God." Wherefore our discourse is compressed into these narrow limits, while we desire to speak things unspeakable; that either we must say that Christ is not the power of God and the wisdom of God, and so shamelessly and impiously resist the apostle; or we must acknowledge that Christ is indeed the power of God and the wisdom of God, but that His Father is not the Father of His own power and wisdom, which is not less impious; for so neither will He be the Father of Christ, because Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God; or that the Father is not powerful with His own power, or wise with His own wisdom: and who shall dare to say this? Or yet, again, that we must understand, that in the Father it is one thing to be, another thing to be wise, so that He is not by that by which He is wise: a thing usually understood of the soul, which is at some times unwise, at others wise; as being by nature changeable, and not absolutely and perfectly simple. Or, again, that the Father is not anything in respect to His own substance; and that not only that He is the Father, but altogether that He is, is said relatively to the Son. How then can the Son be of the same essence as the Father, seeing that the Father, in respect to Himself, is neither His own essence, nor is at all in respect to Himself, but even His essence is in relation to the Son? But, on the contrary, much more is He of one and the same essence, since the Father and Son 182 ON THE TRINITY. [BOOK VIT.
are one and the same essence; seeing that the Father has His being itself not in respect to Himself, but to the Son, which essence He begat, and by which essence He is whatever He is.
Therefore neither is in respect to Himself And both are said relatively the one to the other. Or is the Father alone not only called Father, but altogether whatever He is called, relatively to the Son, but the Son is predicated of also in reference to Himself? And if it be so, what is predicated of Him in reference to Himself? Is it His essence itself? But the Son is the essence of the Father, as He is the power and wisdom of the Father, as He is the Word of the Father, and the image of the Father. Or if the Son is called essence in reference to Himself, but the Father is not essence, but the begetter of the essence, and is not in respect to Himself, but by that very essence which He begat; as He is great by that greatness which He begat: therefore the Son is also called greatness in respect to Himself; therefore He is also called, in like manner, power, and wisdom, and word, and image. But what can be more absurd than that He should be called image in respect to Himself? Or if image and word are not the very same with power and wisdom, but the former are spoken relatively, and the latter in respect to self, not to another; then we get to this, that the Father is not wise with that wisdom which He begat, because He Himself cannot be spoken relatively to it, and it cannot be spoken relatively to Him. For all things which are said relatively are said reciprocally; therefore it remains that even in essence the Son is spoken of relatively to the Father. But from this is educed a most unexpected sense: that essence itself is not essence, or at least that, when it is called essence, not essence but something relative is intimated. As when we speak of a master, essence is not intimated, but a relative which has reference to a slave; but when we speak of a man, or any such thing which is said in respect to self, not to anything else, then essence is intimated.
Therefore when a man is called a master, man himself is essence, but he is called master relatively; for he is called man in respect to himself, but master in respect to his slave. But in the point from which we started, if essence itself is spoken relatively, essence itself is not essence. Add further, CHAP. I.] RELATION PRESUPPOSES ESSENCE. 183 that all essence whicli is spoken relatively, is also something, although the relation be taken away; as e.g. in the case of a man who is a master, and a man who is a slave, and a horse that is a beast of burden, and money that is a pledge, the man, and the horse, and the money are spoken in respect to themselves, and are substances or essences; but master, and slave, and beast of burden, and pledge, are spoken relatively to something. But if there were not a man, that is, some substance, there would be none who could be called relatively a master; and if there were no horse having a certain essence, there would be nothing that could be called relatively a beast of burden; so if money were not some kind of substance, it could not be called relatively a pledge. Wherefore, if the Father also is not something in respect to Himself, then there is no one at all that can be spoken of relatively to something. For it is not as it is with colour. The colour of a thing is referred to the thing coloured, and colour is not spoken at all in reference to substance, but is always of something that is coloured; but that thing of which it is the colour, even if it is referred to colour in respect to its being coloured, is yet, in respect to its being a body, spoken of in respect to substance.
But in no way may we think in like manner that the Father cannot be called anything in respect to His own substance^ but that whatever He is called. He is called in relation to the Son; while the same Son is spoken of both in respect to His own substance and in relation to the Father, when He is called great greatness, and powerful power, plainly in respect to Himself, and the greatness and power of the great and powerful Father, by which the Father is great and powerful. It is not therefore so, but both are substance, and both are one substance. And as it is absurd to say that whiteness is not white, so is it absurd to say that wisdom is not wise; and as whiteness is called white in respect to itself, so also wisdom is called wise in respect to itself But the whiteness of a body is not an essence, since the body itself is the essence, and that is a quality of it; and hence also a body is said from that quality to be w^hite, to which body to be is not the same thing as to be white. For the form in it is one thing, and the colour another; and both are not in themselves, but in a certain bulk.
184 ON THE TRINITY. [BOOK VII.
which bulk is neither form nor colour, but is formed and coloured. True wisdom is both wise, and wise in itself. And since in the case of every soul that becomes wise by partaking of wisdom, if it again becomes foolish, yet wisdom in itself remains; nor when that soul was changed into folly is the wdsdom likewise so changed; therefore wisdom is not in him who becomes wise by it, in the same manner as whiteness is in the body which is by it made white. For when the body has been changed into another colour, that whiteness will not remain, but will altogether cease to be. But if the Father also who begat wisdom is made wise by it, and to be is not to Him the same as to be wise, then the Son is His quality, not His offspring; and there will no longer be absolute simpleness in the Godhead. But far be it from being so, since in truth in the Godhead is absolutely simple essence, and therefore to be is there the same as to be wise. But if to be is there the same as to be wise, then the Father is not wise by that wisdom which He begat; otherwise He did not beget it, but it begat Him. For what else do we say when we say, that to Him to be is the same as to be wise, unless that He is by that whereby He is wise? Wherefore, that which is the cause to Him of being wise, is itself also the cause to Him that He is; and accordingly, if the wisdom which He begat is the cause to Him of being wise, it is also the cause to Him that He is; and this cannot be the case, except either by begetting or by creating Him. But no one ever said in any sense that wisdom is either the begetter or the creator of the Father; for what could be more senseless? Therefore both the Father Himself is wisdom, and the Son is in such way called the wisdom of the Father, as He is called the light of the Father; that is, that in the same manner as light from light, and yet both one light, so we are to understand wisdom of wisdom, and yet both one wisdom; and therefore also one essence, since there to be is the same as to be wise. For what to be wise is to wisdom, and to be able is to power, and to be eternal is to eternity, and to be just to justice, and to be great to greatness, that being itself is to essence. And since in that simpleness to be wise is nothing else than to be, therefore wisdom there is the same as essence.
CHAP. II.] THE FATHER AND THE SON TOGETHER ONE WISDOM. 185 Chap. ii. — The Father and the Son together one wisdom^ as one essence, although not together one Word.
3. Therefore tlie Father and the Son together are one essence, and one greatness, and one truth, and one wisdom. But the Father and Son both together are not one Word, because both together are not one Son. For as the Son is referred to the Father, and is not so called in respect to Himself, so also the word is referred to him whose word it is, when it is called the word. Since He is the Son in that He is the Word, and He is the Word in that He is the Son. Inasmuch, therefore, as the Father and the Son together are certainly not one Son, it follows that the Father and the Son together are not the one Word of both. And therefore He is not the Word in that He is wisdom; since He is not called the Word in respect to Himself, but only relatively to Him whose Word He is, as He is called the Son in relation to the Father; but He is wisdom by that whereby He is essence. And therefore, because one essence, one wisdom. But since the Word is also wisdom, yet is not thereby the Word in that it is wisdom; for He is imderstood to be the Word relatively, but wisdom essentially: let us understand, that when He is called the Word, it is as much as to say, wisdom that is born, so as to be both the Son and the image; and that when these two words are used, namely wisdom (is) horn, in one of the two, namely horn, both word, and image, and Son, are understood, and in all these names essence is not expressed, since they are spoken relatively; but in the other word, namely wisdom, since it is spoken also in respect to substance, for wisdom is wise in itself, essence also is expressed, and that being of His which is to be wise. Whence the Father and Son together are one wisdom, because one essence, and singly wisdom of wisdom, as essence of essence. And hence they are not therefore not one essence, because the Father is not the Son, and the Son is not the Father, or because the Father is unbegotten, but the Son is begotten: since by these names their relative attributes are expressed. But both together are one wisdom and one essence, wherein to be is the same as to be wise. And both together are not the Word or the Son, since to be is not the same as to be the Word or the Son, 186 ON THE TEINITY. [BOOK VII.
as we have already sufficiently shown that these terms are spoken relatively.
Chap, hi. — Why the Son cJiiefly is intimated in the Scriptures by the name of wisdom, while both the Father and the Holy Spirit are wisdom. Thai the Holy Spirit, together with the Father and the Son, is one wisdom.
4. Why, then, is scarcely anything ever said in the Scriptures of wisdom, unless to show that it is begotten or created of God? — begotten in the case of that wisdom by which all things are made; but created or made, as in men, when they are converted to that wisdom which is not created and made but begotten, and are so enlightened; for in these men themselves there comes to be something which may be called their wisdom: even as the Scriptures foretell or narrate, that " the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us;"■"• for in this way Christ was made wisdom, because He was made man. Is it on this account that wisdom does not speak in these books, nor is anything said of it, except to declare that it is born of God, or made by Him, although the Father is Himself wisdom; because that wisdom ought to be commended and imitated by us, by the imitation of which we are fashioned? For the Father speaks it, that it may be His word: yet not as a word producing a sound proceeds from the mouth, or is thought before it is pronounced. For this word is completed in certain spaces of time, but that is eternal, and speaks to us by enlightening us, what ought to be spoken to men, both of itself and of the Father.