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1. I WOULD have them believe, who are willing to do so, that
I had rather bestow labor in reading, than in dictating what others
may read. But let those who will not believe this, but are both able
and willing to make the trial, grant me whatever answers may be
gathered from reading, either to my own inquiries, or to those
interrogations of others, which for the character I bear in the
service of Christ, and for the zeal with which I burn that our faith
may be fortified against the error of carnal and natural men, I must
needs bear with; and then let them see how easily I would refrain from
this labor, and with how much even of joy I would give my pen a
holiday. But if what we have read upon these subjects is either not
sufficiently set forth, or is not to be found at all, or at any rate
cannot easily be found by us, in the Latin tongue, while we are not
so familiar with the Greek tongue as to be found in any way competent
to read and understand therein the books that treat of such topics, in
which class of writings, to judge by the little which has been
translated for us, I do not doubt that everything is contained that we
can profitably seek; while yet I cannot resist my brethren when they
exact of me, by that law by which I am made their servant, that I
should minister above all to their praiseworthy studies in Christ by my
tongue and by my pen, of which two yoked together in me, Love is the
charioteer; and while I myself confess that I have by writing learned
many things which I did not know: if this be so, then this my labor
ought not to seem superfluous to any idle, or to any very learned
reader; while it is needful in no small part, to many who are busy,
and to many who are unlearned, and among these last to myself.
Supported, then, very greatly, and aided by the writings we have
already read of others on this subject, I have undertaken to inquire
into and to discuss, whatever it seems to my judgment can be reverently
inquired into and discussed, concerning the Trinity, the one supreme
and supremely good God; He himself exhorting me to the inquiry, and
helping me in the discussion of it; in order that, if there are no
other writings of the kind, there may be something for those to have
and read who are willing and capable; but if any exist already, then
it may be so much the easier to find some such writings, the more there
are of the kind in existence.
2. Assuredly, as in all my writings I desire not only a pious
reader, but also a free corrector, so I especially desire this in the
present inquiry, which is so important that I would there were as many
inquirers as there are objectors. But as I do not wish my reader to
be bound down to me, so I do not wish my corrector to be bound down to
himself. Let not the former love me more than the catholic faith, let
not the latter love himself more than the catholic verity. As I say
to the former, Do not be willing to yield to my writings as to the
canonical Scriptures; but in these, when thou hast discovered even
what thou didst not previously believe, believe it unhesitatingly;
while in those, unless thou hast understood with certainty what thou
didst not before hold as certain, be unwilling to hold it fast: so I
say to the latter, Do not be willing to amend my writings by thine own
opinion or disputation, but from the divine text, or by unanswerable
reason. If thou apprehendest anything of truth in them, its being
there does not make it mine, but by understanding and loving it, let
it be both thine and mine; but if thou convictest anything of
falsehood, though it have once been mine, in that I was guilty of the
error, yet now by avoiding it let it be neither thine nor mine.
3. Let this third book, then, take its beginning at the point to
which the second had reached. For after we had arrived at this, I
that we desired to show that the Son was not l therefore less than the
Father, because the Father sent and the Son was sent; nor the Holy
Spirit therefore less than both, because we read in the Gospel that
He was sent both by the one and by the other; we undertook then to
inquire, since the Son was sent thither, where He already was, for
He came into the world, and "was in the world;" since also the
Holy Spirit was sent thither, where He already was, for "the
Spirit of the Lord filleth the world, and that which containeth all
things hath knowledge of the voice;" whether the Lord was therefore
"sent" because He was born in the flesh so as to be no longer
hidden, and, as it were, came forth from the bosom of the Father,
and appeared to the eyes of men in the form of a servant; and the Holy
Spirit also was therefore "sent," because He too was seen as a dove
in a corporeal form, and in cloven tongues, like as of fire; so
that, to be sent, when spoken of them, means to go forth to the sight
of mortals in some corporeal form from a spiritual hiding-place;
which, because the Father did not, He is said only to have sent,
not also to be sent. Our next inquiry was, Why the Father also is
not sometimes said to be sent, if He Himself was manifested through
those corporeal forms which appeared to the eyes of the ancients. But
if the Son was manifested at these times, why should He be said to be
"sent" so long after, when the fullness of time was come that He
should be born of a woman; since, indeed, He was sent before also,
viz., when He appeared corporeally in those forms? Or if He were
not rightly said to be "sent," except when the Word was made flesh;
why should the Holy Spirit be read of as "sent," of whom such an
incarnation never took place? But if neither the Father, nor the
Son, but the Holy Spirit was manifested through these ancient
appearances; why should He too be said to be "sent" now, when He
was also sent before in these various manners? Next we subdivided the
subject, that it might be handled most carefully, and we made the
question threefold, of which one part was explained in the second
book, and two remain, which I shall next proceed to discuss. For we
have already inquired and determined, that not only the Father, nor
only the Son, nor only the Holy Spirit appeared in those ancient
corporeal forms and visions. but either indifferently the Lord God,
who is understood to be the Trinity itself, or some one person of the
Trinity, whichever the text of the narrative might signify, through
intimations supplied by the context.
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