Novatian — On the Trinity 3
That God is the Founder of All Things, Their Lord and Parent, is Proved from the Holy Scriptures.
Him, then, we acknowledge and know to be God, the Creator of all things — Lord on account of His power, Parent on account of His discipline — Him, I say, who spoke, and all things were made; He commanded, and all things went forth: of whom it is written, You have made all things in wisdom; of whom Moses said, God in heaven above, and in the earth beneath; Deuteronomy 4:39 who, according to Isaiah, has meted out the heaven with a span, the earth with the hollow of His hand; who looks on the earth, and makes it tremble; who bounds the circle of the earth, and those that dwell in it like locusts; who has weighed the mountains in a balance, and the groves in scales, that is, by the sure test of divine arrangement; easily fall into ruins if it were not balanced with equal weights, He has poised this burden of the earthly mass with equity. Who says by the prophet, I am God, and there is none beside me Isaiah 45:22 Who says by the same prophet Because I will not give my majesty to another, Isaiah 13:8 that He may exclude all heathens and heretics with their figments; proving that that is not God who is made by the hand of the workman, nor that which is feigned by the intellect of a heretic. For he is not God for whose existence the workman must be asked. And He has added hereto by the prophet, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: what house will you build me, and where is the place of my rest? that He may show that He whom the world does not contain is much less contained in a temple; and He says these things not for boastfulness of Himself, but for our knowledge. For He does not desire from us the glory of His magnitude; but He wishes to confer upon us, even as a father, a religious wisdom. And He, wishing moreover to attract to gentleness our minds, brutish, and swelling, and stubborn with cloddish ferocity, says, And upon whom shall my Spirit rest, save upon him that is lowly, and quiet, and that trembles at my words? Isaiah 66:2 — so that in some degree one may recognise how great God is, in learning to fear Him by the Spirit given to him: Who, similarly wishing still more to come into our knowledge, and, by way of stirring up our minds to His worship, said, I am the Lord, who made the light and created the darkness; that we might deem not that some Nature, — what I know not — was the artificer of those vicissitudes whereby nights and days are controlled, but might rather, as is more true, recognise God as their Creator. And since by the gaze of our eyes we cannot see Him, we rightly learn of Him from the greatness, and the power, and the majesty of His works. For the invisible things of Him, says the Apostle Paul, from the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being understood by those things which are made, even His eternal power and godhead; so that the human mind, learning hidden things from those that are manifest, from the greatness of the works which it should behold, might with the eyes of the mind consider the greatness of the Architect. Of whom the same apostle, Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honour and glory. 1 Timothy 1:17 For He has gone beyond the contemplation of the eyes who has surpassed the greatness of thought. For, it is said, of Him, and through Him, and in Him are all things. Romans 11:33 For all things are by His command, because they are of Him; and are ordered by His word as being through Him; and all things return to His judgment; as in Him expecting liberty when corruption shall be done away, they appear to be recalled to Him.
Latin
1. Hunc igitur agnoscimus et scimus Deum, conditorem rerum omnium, Dominum propter potestatem, parentem propter institutionem, hunc, inquam, qui dixit, et facta sunt omnia, praecepit, et processerunt uniuersa, de quo scriptum est: Omnia in sapientia fecisti, de quo Moyses: Deus in caelo sursum et in terra deorsum, qui secundum Esaiam mensus est caelum palmo, terram pugillo, qui aspicit terram et facit eam tremere, qui continet gyrum terrae et eos qui habitant in ipso quasi locustae, qui expendit montes in pondere et nemora in statera, id est certo diuinae dispositionis examine, ac ne facile in ruinam procumberet magnitudo inaequaliter iacens, si non paribus fuisset librata ponderibus, onus hoc moderanter terrenae molis aequauit.
2. Qui dicit per prophetam: Ego Deus et non est praeter me, qui per eundem prophetam refert quoniam maiestatem meam non dabo alteri, ut omnes cum suis figmentis ethnicos excludat et haereticos, probans Deum non esse qui manu artificis factus sit nec eum qui ingenio haeretici fictus sit. Non est enim Deus cui ut sit quaerendus est artifex. 3. Quique adhuc adiecit per prophetam: Caelum mihi thronus est, terra autem scabellum pedum meorum: qualem mihi aedificabitis domum aut quis locus requiei meae?, ut ostendat quoniam multo magis illum templum non capit, quem mundus non capit. Et haec non ad sui iactantiam, sed ad nostri scientiam refert. Neque enim ipse a nobis desiderat magnitudinis gloriam, sed nobis uult religiosam, qua Pater, conferre sapientiam.
4. Quique praeterea ferinos nostros animos et de agresti immanitate tumidos et abruptos ad lenitatem trahere uolens dicit: Et super quem requiescet spiritus meus, nisi super humilem et quietum et trementem uerba mea?, ut Deum aliquatenus quantus sit possit agnoscere, dum illum per spiritum collatum discit timere. 5. Qui similiter adhuc magis in notitiam nostri uolens peruenire, ad culturam sui nostros excitans animos aiebat: Ego sum Dominus qui feci lucem et creaui tenebras, ut uicissitudinum istarum quibus noctes diesque moderantur non naturam nescio quam putaremus artificem, sed Deum agnosceremus potius, quod erat uerius, conditorem. 6. Quem quoniam obtutu oculorum uidere non possumus, de operum magnitudine et uirtute et maiestate condiscimus.
Inuisibilia enim ipsius, inquit apostolus Paulus, a creatura mundi per ea quae facta sunt intellecta conspiciuntur, sempiterna quoque eius uirtus et diuinitas, ut animus humanus ex manifestis occulta condiscens de operum magnitudine quae uideret mentis oculis artificis magnitudinem cogitaret. 7. De quo idem apostolus: Regi autem saeculorum immortali, inuisibili, soli Deo honor et gloria. Euasit enim oculorum contemplationem qui cogitationis uicit magnitudinem. Quoniam, inquit, ex ipso et per ipsum et in ipso sunt omnia. Nam et imperio eius omnia, ut ex ipso sint, et uerbo eius digesta, ut per ipsum sint, et in iudicium eius recidunt uniuersa, ut dum in ipso expectant libertatem corruptione deposita, in ipsum uideantur esse reuocata.