stance, or, if it be better so to call it; an to be equal with God."'4 We ask, equal ac-
88 THE WORKS OF
ST. AUGUSTIN. [Book Wis to be that which it had been; and hence that which not only is not changed, but also cannot at all be changed, alone falls most truly, without difficulty or hesitation, under the category of BEING, its Creator and Saviour Himself. For with what understanding can man apprehend God, who does not yet apprehend that very under-. standing itself of his own, by which he desires to apprehend Him? Andif he does already apprebend this, let him carefully consider that there is nothing in his own nature better than it; and let him see whether he can there see any outlines of forms, or brightness of colors, or greatness of space, or distance of parts, or extension of size, or any movements through intervals of place, or any such thing at all. Certainly we find nothing of all this in that, than which we find nothing better in our own nature, that is, in our own intellect, by which we apprehend wisdom according to our capacity. What, therefore, we do not find in that which is our own best, we ought not to seek in Him who is far better than that best of ours; that so we may understand God, if we are able, and as much as we are able, as good without quality, great without quantity, a creator though He lack nothing, ruling but from no position, sustaining all things without ''having'? them, in His wholeness everywhere, yet without place, eternal without time, making things that are changeable, without change of Himself, and without passion. Whoso thus thinks of God, although he cannot yet find out in all ways what He is, yet piously takes heed, as much as he is able, to think nothing of Him that He is not,
CHAP. 3.—-THE ARGUMENT OF THE ARIANS IS REFUTED, WHICH IS DRAWN FROM THE WORDS BEGOTTEN AND UNBEGOTTEN.
4. Wherefore,—to being now to answer the adversaries of our faith, respecting those things also, which are neither said as they are thought, nor thought as they really are:— among the many things which the Arians are wont to dispute against the Catholic faith, they seem chiefly to set forth this, as their most crafty device, namely, that whatsoever is said or understood of God, is said not according to accident, but according to substance: and therefore, to be unbegotten belongs to the Father according to substance, and to be begotten belongs to the Son according to substance; but to be unbegotten and to be begotten are different; therefore the substance of the Father and that of the Son are different. To whom we reply, If whatever is spoken of God is spoken according to substance, then that which is said, ''I and the Father are one,''3 is spoken according to substance. Therefore there is one substance of the Father and the Son. Or if this is not said according to substance, then something is said of God not according to substance, and therefore we are no longer compelled to understand unbegotten and begotten according to substance. It is also said of the Son, '' He thought it not robbery to be equal with God."'4 We ask, equal according to what? For if He is not said to be equal according to substance, then they admit that something may be said of God not according to substance. Let them admit, then, that unbegotten and begotten are not spoken according to substance. And if they do not admit this, on the ground that they will have all things to be spoken of God according to substance, then the Son is equal to the Father according to substance.
CHAP. 2,—-GOD THE ONLY UNCHANGEABLE ESSENCE.
3. He is, however, without doubt, a substance, or, if it be better so to call it; an essence, which the Greeks call odséa. For as wisdom is so called from the being wise, and knowledge from knowing; so from being? comes that which we call essence. And who is there that 1s, more than He who said to His servant Moses, ''I am that I am;'' and, 'Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, He who is hath sent me unto you?''? But other things that are called essences or substances admit of accidents, whereby a change, whether great or small, is produced in them. But there can be no accident of this kind in respect to God; and therefore He who is God is the only unchangeable substance or essence, to whom certainly BEING itself, whence comes the name of essence, most especially and most truly belongs. For that which ts changed does not retain its own being; and that which can be changed, although it be not actually changed, is able not
CHAP. 4.—THE ACCIDENTAL ALWAYS IMPLIES SOME CHANGE IN THE THING.
5. That which is accidental commonly implies that it can be lost by some change of the thing to which it is an accident. For although some accidents are said to be inseparable, which in Greek are called dydprora, as the color black is to the feather of a raven; t Esse. 2 Ex, iii, 14.
3 John x. 30. 4 Phil. ii. 6.