CONCERNING THE TRINITY. 835 .
divinityis immense, in the Paraclete being found to be
lessthan Christ,and taking from Him what He givesto
others;seeingthat if Christ were only man, Christ would
receivefrom the Paracletewhat He should say, not the
Paracletereceivefrom Christwhat He should declare. If
Christ was only man, wherefore did He lay down for us
such a rule of believingas that in which He said,"And
thisislifeeternal,thatthey shouldknow Thee, the only and
true God, and Jesus Christ,whom Thou hastsent?"1 Had
He not wished thatHe alsoshouldbe understoodto be God,
why did He add, " And Jesus Christ,whom Thou hast
sent,"exceptbecause He wished to be receivedas God also?
Because if He had not wished to be understoodto be God,
He would have added," And the man Jesus Christ,whom
Thou hast sent;" but,in fact,He neitheradded this,nor
did ChristdeliverHimself to us as man only,but associated
Himself with God, as He wished to be understoodby this
conjunctionto be God also,as He is. We must therefore
believe,accordingto theruleprescribed,on the Lord, theone
true God, and consequentlyon Him whom He has sent,Jesus
Christ,who by no means, as we have said,would have linked
Himself to the Father had He not wished to be understood
to be God also: forHe would have separatedHimself from
Him had He not wished to be understoodto be God. He
would have placedHimself among men only,had He known
Himself to be only man ; nor would He have linked Him
self with God had He not known Himself to be God also.
But in this case He is silentabout His being man, be
cause no one doubts His being man, and with reason links
Himself to God, that He might establishthe formula of
His divinityfor those who should believe. If Christ was
only man, how does He say,u And now glorifyme with the
glory which I had with Thee beforethe world was?" * If,
beforetheworld was,He had glorywith God, and maintained
His glorywith the Father,He existedbefore the world,for
He would not have had the gloryunless He Himself had
existedbefore,soasto be ableto keep the glory. For no one
1Johnxvii.3. *Johnxvii.5.