through his only-begotten Son, our Lord and Saviour Christ Jesus. Wherefore we believe, hold, and venerate all things that were handed down to us by the Law, Prophets, Apostles, and Evangelists, and do not seek for anything beyond them.— For the good God imparts them; who is certainly the giver of every good gift, and who is not a prey to envy, nor any other inordinate passion; for far away is envy from the divine nature, which is free from every sort of excitement, and which is the only good. Further, as he knoweth and seeth all things, and provideth what is expedient for us, so he revealeth what conduces to each man's benefit, and what may surpass our ability and capacity, this he withholdeth."

Cap. 2. "God is without a beginning and end, always eternal, uncreated, unchangeable, immutable, simple, without parts, or body; he cannot be seen with corporeal eyes, nor touched with hands, nor circumscribed, nor considered and apprehended. Moreover, he is good and just, and the maker of all things; he seeth every power and empire, and taketh in review all things, provideth for all things, hath all things under his control and power, and finally, he is our judge; all these things we know and confess."

Cap. 4. "That there is a God is well known; what he is in essence and nature can by no means at all be understood and comprehended. For that he is incorporeal is evident. For how could that be a body which is infinite and unlimited, and which lacks a figure, and which can neither be felt nor seen with eyes; finally, which is simple and without composition? For who could say that he ought to be worshiped, if he is circumscribed or passible? Further, how could that be free from passion, which is compounded of elements, and which would totally relapse again into its innate decay. Composition is indeed the source of strife, strife the cause of collision, and collision is the parent of death and dissolution; but death is entirely foreign from God. Otherwise, how could the Scripture say

ing be sustained, that God pervades all things? Do not I fill heaven and earth, saith the Lord. Jer. XXIII, 24? For it is impossible that any body penetrate other bodies, without mutually tearing one another, and without amalgamating or repelling each other, as all liquid bodies are mixed up and diluted together. Hence it is evident that God is incorporeal. But this saying declares not his nature and essence, no more than the saying, that he is unbegotten and without a beginning, end or corruption, and the other properties that are predicated of God or in God. For such sayings indicate not what he is, but what he is not. A man who defines the nature of anything, shows what the thing is, not what it is not. But it is impossible to say

what the nature or essence of God is. It is more suitable to draw the argument from the negative properties. For he is not any one of the things that exist. Which saying is not to be understood, as if he exist not, but because he is above all things in being, and therefore above that being. For if the things that exist be the object of our reflections, certainly the thing that surpasses our comprehension, will be also above being. Therefore God is infinite and incomprehensible; and this is the only conception, or apprehension we can form of him, that he is infinite and incomprehensible. But whatever attributes we affirm of God, they indicate not his nature but the external character of his nature."

ELIAS CRETENSIS, A. D. 790.

In orationem tertiam Nazianzeni. "Neither Moses nor any one of the Prophets sees God. For he is simple and incorporeal, and without a figure. And he neither stands nor sits.

In Orationem, 24. "Whereas, that supreme builder is uncreated, he is also totally immutable: What nature and essence is that which entirely surpasses all comprehension and understanding? That he is without a body is manifest, for how could that be a body which is infinite and unlimited; which has not a figure,

which cannot be touched or seen, which is simple and without composition? In what other manner could the position be sustained, that God penetrates and fills all things, according to the Prophet, Jer. XXIII. Do not I fill heaven and earth, saith the Lord? For it is impossible that a body penetrate another body without tearing it, and being torn thereby. Hence it follows

that God is incorporeal."

CYPRIANUS, A. D. 250.

De Idolorum vanitate. "The Ruler of the world is one, who by his word orders, by his wisdom disposes, and by his power perfects, all things. He cannot be seen, for he is clearer than sight; nor comprehended, for he is purer than feeling; nor estimated, for he is greater than conception. And therefore we hold him in the proper estimation when we say that he is inestimable. In what temple could God be held, whose temple is the whole universe? And whilst man remains at large, shall I confine within one edifice the greatness of such majesty? He must be dedicated in our affection and consecrated in our breast. Seek not the name of God, he has the name, God. Names are needed where the multitude is to be distinguished by proper appellations; God is sole, the word, God, tells all. Therefore he is one, and he is diffused everywhere."

LACTANTIUS, A. D. 330.

De origine erroris, lib. 2, Cap. S. "God is sole who was not made, and therefore he can destroy all things, and he cannot be destroyed; he shall always remain what he has been, because he was not generated or begotten of another, nor does his nativity depend upon any other cause which when changed would dissolve him. He is self-existent, and therefore he is such as he decreed himself to be, impassible, immutable, uncreated, blessed, eternal."

HILARIUS, A. D. 350.

Lib. 1, de Trinitate. "No place is without God, nor any place not in God. He is in heaven, in hell, and beyond the seas; he is within, and without; so when he holds and is held, he is neither in any one person, nor in all persons.

Lib. 2. "God is everywhere, and is whole everywhere.— God is invisible, ineffable, infinite; for expressing him language fails, for investigating him the judgment withers, and for comprehending him the understanding is straitened."

AMBROSIUS, A. D. 170.

De fide contra Arianos, Cap. 6. "Let us see according to our capacity, ability and our faith, what God is; and let us see whether any thing could compare with him. Certainly it is he of whom it is said, he cannot be expressed; when he is estimated he cannot be appreciated; when he would be compared, he cannot find a match; when he is defined, he grows with his definition. Who veils the heavens with his hand, encloses the whole extent of the world with his palm, whom in full the world knows not, and whom by fearing they know."

HIERONYMUS, A. D. 390.

Epist. 148, ad Marcellam. "The divine nature and the Word of God cannot be cut into pieces; but as it is everywhere, it is whole everywhere."

Ad Cap. 3, ad Ephesios. "God who always is, has not a beginning from elsewhere, and he is his own origin and the cause of his own substance; nor can it be understood from whence he subsists."

AUGUSTINUS, A. D. 400.

Lib. 5, Cap. 1, de Trinitate. "Let us understand God if we can, as much as we can, that he is good without quality, great without quantity, Creator without need, present without

place, containing all things without a position, whole everywhere without a location, eternal without time, changing all things without any change of himself, and subject to no suffering. Whosoever contemplates God thus, although being not yet able to discover what he is, let him however piously beware, as much as possible, to think nothing of him that he is not."

FULGENTIUS, A. D. 500.

De fide ad Petrum, Cap. 33. "Hold thou most firmly and doubt not at all, that unto the unchangeable God, not alone all things past, and present, but also the future, are unalterably well known, to whom the Prophet, Dan. XIII, 42, saith: O eternal God, who knowest hidden things, who knowest all things before they come to pass."

GREGORIUS MAGNUS, A. D. 590.

Lib. 2, in Tob, Cap. 7. "Because God dwells within all things, he is without all things, he is above all things, he is below all things, and he is superior by power, and inferior sustentation, exterior by magnitude, interior by subtilty, governing above, containing below, externally encompassing, internally penetrating, not in one part superior, in another inferior; but he is whole one and the same everywhere, upholding by presiding, and presiding by upholding, penetrating by surrounding, encompassing by penetrating."

ISODORUS HISPALENSIS, A. D. 620.

De Universitatis dispositione, Cap. 1. "God is eternal without a beginning, whole everywhere, without a place, disposing all changeable things without a change of himself, beholding alike the past, the present, and the future times, to whom nothing is past, nothing remains to come, but all things are present, whom nothing good displeases, nothing that is bad pleases, by whom was nothing that is naturally bad, created. He is there

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