1. On First Principles
1. On First Principles I know that it is upona flimsy raft that we set out on a great voyage, or upon frail wings we hasten towards the starry heaven. On these the mind stirs itselfto proclaim a Divinity which not even heavenly beings have power to worship fittingly, nor can they revere the ordinances of great Divinity and its governance ofthe universe. Yet (for often God is pleased not witha gift from the hand ofa wealthy man so much as with the offering of a humble and loving giver), I shall break into confident speech. But get you far away, any who are sinful. This discourse of mine is meant for the pure or for those moving towards purity. As for the profane, like wild beasts, when Christ coming from the peak clothed in light wrote the Law for Moses upon tablets, let them be crushed by the rending of rocks. That is how the Hebrews acted and that is how the Word drove from our assembly rascally men with hearts set against God. But I shall set this word upon the page as a prologue, a word which before now godly men have uttered to bring fear to a harsh-minded people, those two witnesses of divine sayings,
Moses and Isaiah (I shall address the perceptive), the one when he gave the newly enunciated law, the other when it had been broken:
'Let heaven hear and earth receive my words!' Spirit of God, in your truthfulness, come rouse my mind and stir my tongue to be a loudsounding trumpet, that all who are fused with the fullness ofGodhead may heartily rejoice.
The one God is without beginning, without cause, not circumscribed by anything existing before or in time to come. He encompasses eternity, he is infinite, the great Father of the great and excellent Son, his only-begotten, the Father who experiences through the Son nothing corporeal, since he is Mind. There is one other who is God,
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