Novatian, On the Trinity 2

Containing all things within himself, he leaves nothing empty outside his being, so he has not left room for a superior God, as some imagine. Indeed, he has enclosed the whole universe in the embrace of his perfect magnitude and power. He is ever intent on his work, passing through all things, moving all things, giving life to all things, and seeing all things. He joins the discordant materials of every element into harmony, so that from differing elements one world arises, solidified by this conspiracy, which no force can dissolve unless he who made it commands it to be dissolved, so that he may give us greater things. We read that he contains all things; therefore nothing can exist outside him. Since he has no origin at all, he consequently knows no end either—unless, absurdly, he once began to exist, in which case he would not be above all things but below what preceded him, found lesser in power because he is later in time. For this reason he is always immense, because nothing is greater than he is, and always eternal, because nothing is older than he is. What is without origin cannot be preceded by anything, since it has no time. Therefore he is immortal, not failing at the consummation's end. And because whatever is without origin is without law, he excludes the measure of time, since he recognizes himself as indebted to no one. Consequently, the human mind cannot worthily conceive what he is, how great he is, or what kind he is, nor can human eloquence express a virtue equal to his majesty. In contemplating and speaking of his majesty, all eloquence is rightly mute, and every mind is small. He is greater than mind itself, and cannot be thought as to how great he is, lest if he could be thought he would be less than the human mind that conceives him. He is also greater than all speech, and cannot be expressed, lest if he could be expressed he would be less than human speech, by which, when he is expressed, he can be encompassed and collected. For whatever is thought of him is less than he is, and whatever is spoken of him, compared with him, is less than he is. We can sense him in silence to some extent, but we cannot explain him in speech as he truly is. If you call him light, you have named a creature of his rather than him; you have not expressed him. If you call him virtue, you have named his power rather than him and set it forth. If you call him majesty, you have described his honor rather than him himself. Why should I make a long discussion, running through each thing individually? I will explain the whole matter once: whatever you say of him altogether, you have explained some thing of his, some virtue of his, rather than him. For what can you say or think worthily of him, who is greater than all speeches and all senses? Unless, in one way (and even this, how can we do it, how can we grasp it, how is it permitted to understand it?), we can apprehend what God is with our mind, if we think that he is that which cannot be understood as to its kind and magnitude, and cannot even enter into thought itself. For if the vision of our eyes is dulled by the sight of the sun, so that it cannot look at the orb itself, overcome by the brilliance of its rays, the same thing happens to the vision of the mind in every thought of God; and the more it strains to consider God, the more it is blinded by the light of its own thought. For what can you say worthily of him (to repeat once more), who is more sublime than all sublimity, higher than all height, deeper than all depth, more lucid than all light, clearer than all clarity, more splendid than all splendor, more robust than all robustness, more virile than all virtue, more beautiful than all beauty, truer than all truth, stronger than all strength, more majestic than all majesty, more powerful than all power, richer than all riches, more prudent than all prudence, more benign than all benignity, better than all goodness, more just than all justice, more merciful than all mercy? All kinds of virtues must be less than he who is both God and parent of all virtues, so that it can be truly said that he is God, who is such that nothing can be compared to him. He is above all that can be said. For he is a certain mind that generates and fills all things, which, without any beginning or end of time, moderates the causes of things—naturally linked for the utility of all—with supreme and perfect reason.