CONCERNING THE TRINITY. 345
the sheep,and the she-goatsare hlack and white,and many-
coloured,and grizzled,and speckled: for I have seen all
that Laban hath done to thee. I am God, who appeared
to theein the place of God, where thou anointedstfor me
therethe standingstone,and therevowedst a vow unto me :
now thereforearise,and go forth from thisland, and go
iintothe land of thy nativity,and I willbe with thee."1 If
the Angel of God speaksthus to Jacob, and the Angel him
selfmentions and says," I am God, who appearedunto thee
in the house of God," we see without any hesitationthat
thisisdeclaredtobe not onlyan angel,but God also; because
He speaksof the vow directedto Himself by Jacob in the
place of God, and He doesnot say,in my place. It is then
the place of God, and He also is God. Moreover, it is
writtensimply in the placeof God, forit is not said in the
place of the angeland God, but only of God ; and He who
promises those things is manifested to be both God and
Angel, so thatreasonablytheremust be a distinctionbetween
Him who iscalledGod only,and Him who isdeclaredto be
not God simply,but Angel also. Whence if so great an
authoritycannot here be regardedas belongingto any other
angel, that He should alsoavow Himself to be God, and
should bear witnessthata vow was made to Him, exceptto
Christ alone,to whom not as angel only, but as to God,
a vow can be vowed ;itismanifestthatitisnot tobe received
as the Father,but as the Son, God and Angel. Moreover,
if thisisChrist,as it is,he is in terribleriskwho saysthat
Christ iseitherman or angel alone,withholdingfrom Him
the power of the divinename,— an authoritywhich He has
constantlyreceivedon the faithof the heavenly Scriptures,
which continuallysay that He isboth Angel and God. To
allthesethings,moreover,isadded this,that in likemanner
as the divineScripturehas frequentlydeclaredHim both
Angel and God, so the same divineScripturedeclaresHim
also both man and God, expressingthereby what He should
be, and depictingeven then in figurewhat He was to be in
the truthof His substance. " For,"itsays," Jacob remained
1Gen.xxxi.11-18.