354 NOVATIAN THE ROMAN PRESBYTER
God. For althoughHe remembered thatHe was God from
God the Father, He never eithercompared or associated
Himself with God the Father, mindful that He was from
His Father,and that He possessedthatvery thing thatHe
is,because the Father had given it Him. Thence, finally,
both beforethe assumptionof the flesh,and moreover after
the assumption of the body, besides,afterthe resurrection
itself,He yielded all obedience to the Father, and still
yieldsit as ever. Whence it is proved that He thought
that [the assertionof] a certaindivinitywould be robbery,
to wit, that of equallingHimself with God the Father;
but,on the otherhand, obedientand subjectto allHis rule
and will,He even was contentedto take on Him the form
of a servant(thatis,to become man) ; and the substance
of fleshand body which,as itcame to Him from the bondage
of His forefathers'sinsaccordingto His manhood, He under
took by being born, at which time moreover He emptied
Himself,in tbat He did not refuseto take upon Him the
frailtyincidentto humanity. Because if He had been born
man only,He would not have been emptied in respectof
this; for man, being born, is increased,not emptied: for
in beginning to be thatwhich He couldnot possess,so long
as He did not exist,as we have said,He is not emptied,but
is ratherincreasedand enriched. But if Christ is emptied
in being born,in taking the form of a servant,how isHe
man only? of whom itcould more trulyhave been saidthat
He was enriched,not emptied,at the time thatHe was bom,
except because the authorityof the divineWord, reposing
for awhilein taking upon itselfhumanity, and not exercis
ing itselfwith itsrealstrength,castsitselfdown, and puts
itselfoff for the time, in bearing the humanity which it
has undertaken? It emptiesitselfin descending to injuries
and reproaches,in bearing abominations,in experiencing
thingsunworthy ; and yet of thishumilitythere is present
at once an eminent reward. For He has "receiveda
name which is above every name," which assuredlywe
understand to be none other than the name of God. For
sinceitbelongsto God aloneto be above allthings,itfollows