incorruptible, unchangeable, living, Wise, ED FROM THE TRINITIES WHICH HAVE BEEN
ON THE TRINITY. 203
Cuap, VI. ] other? Certainly not; but that which is righteousness is also itself goodness; and that which is goodness is also itself blessedness. And God is therefore called incorporeal, that He may be believed and understood to be a spirit, not a body.
us rather choose that one which cannot exist even in men without the three others, wz. blessed.
CHAP, 6.—HOW THERE IS A TRINITY IN THE VERY SIMPLICITY OF GOD. WHETHER AND HOW THE TRINITY THAT IS GOD IS MANIFESTED FROM THE TRINITIES WHICH HAVE BEEN SHOWN TO BE IN MEN.
8. Further, if we say, Eternal, immortal, incorruptible, unchangeable, living, Wise, powerful, beautiful, righteous, good, blessed, spirit; only the last of this list as it were seems to signify substance, but the rest to signify qualities of that substance; but it is not so in that ineffable and simple nature. For whatever seems to be predicated therein according — to quality, is to. be understood according to substance or essence. For far be it from us to predicate spirit of God according to substance, and good according to quality; but both according to substance.* And so in like manner of all those we have mentioned, of which we have already spoken at length in the former books. Let us choose, then, one of the first four of those in our enumeration and arrangement, z.e. eternal, immortal, incorruptible, unchangeable; since these four, as I have argued already, have one meaning; in order that our aim may not be distracted by a multiplicity of objects. And let it be rather that which was placed first, vz. eternal. Let us follow the same course with the four that come next, v7z. living, wise, powerful, beautiful. And since life of some sort belongs also to the beast, which has not wisdom; while the next two, vz. wisdom and might, are sO compared to one another in the case of man, as that Scripture says, "* Better is he that is wise than he that ts strong;''? and beauty, again, is commonly attributed to bodily objects also: out of these four that we have chosen, let Wise be the one we take. Although these four are not to be called unequal in speaking of God; for they are four names, but one thing. But of the third and last four,—although it is the same thing in God to be righteous that it is to be good or to be blessed; and the same thing to be a spirit that it is to be righteous, and good, and blessed; yet, because in men there can be a spirit that is not blessed, and there can be one both righteous and good, but not yet blessed; but that which is blessed is doubtless both just, and good, and a spirit,—let g. When, then, we say, Eternal, wise, blessed, are these three the Trinity that is. called God? We reduce, indeed, those twelve to this small number of three; but perhaps we can go further, and reduce these three also to one of them. For if wisdom and might, or life and wisdom, can be one and the same thing in the nature of God, why cannot eternity and wisdom, or blessedness and wisdom, be one and the same thing in the nature of God? And hence, as it made no difference whether we spoke of these twelve or of those three when we reduced the many to the small number; so does it make no difference whether we speak of those three, or of that one, to the singularity of which we have shown that the other two of the three may be reduced. What fashion, then, of argument, what possible force and might of understanding, what liveliness of reason, what sharp-sightedness of thought, will set forth how (to pass over now the others) this one thing, that God is called | wisdom, is atrinity? For God does not receive wisdom from any one as we receive it from Him, but He is Himself His own wisdom; because His wisdom is not one thing, and His essence another, seeing that to Him to be wise is to be. Christ, indeed, is called in the Holy Scriptures, 'the power of God, and the wisdom of God.''3 But we have discussed in the seventh book how this is to be understood, so that the Son may not seem to: make the Father wise; and our explanation came to this, that the Son is wisdom of wis-. dom, in the same way as He is light of light, God of God. Nor could we find the Holy Spirit to be in any other way than that He Himself also is wisdom, and altogether one wisdom, as one God, one essence. How, then, do we understand this wisdom, which is God, to be atrinity? Ido not say, How do we believe this? For among the faithful this ought to admit no question. But supposing there is any way by which we can see with the understanding what we believe, what is. that way?
t [In the Infinite Being, qualities are inseparable from essence; in the finite being, they are separable. If man or angel ceases to be good, or wise, or righteous, he does not thereby cease to be man orangel. But 'it God should lose goodness, wisdom or righteousness, he would no longer be God. 'Uhis is the meaning of Augustin, when he says that '* goodness'' as well as "spirit" must be predicated of God, '' according to substance''—that is, that qualites in Ged are essential qualities. They are so one with the essence, that they are inseparable.—W, G. T. S.]
10. For if we recall where it was in these books that a trinity first began to show itself
2 Wisd. vi. 1.
377.Coret. 24,