CONCERNING THE TRINITY. 379 thatthe Father alsoprecedes Him (ina certainsense),since itisnecessary(insome degree)thatHe shouldbe beforeHe isFather. Because [inany wise]itisessentialthat He who knows no beginning must go before Him who has a begin ning; even as He isthe lessas knowing thatHe is in Him, having an originbecauseHe isborn,and of likenature with theFather in some measure by His nativity,althoughHe has a beginninginthatHe isbom, inasmuch asHe isborn of that Father who alone has no beginning. He, then,when the Father willedit,proceeded from the Father,and He who was in the Father came forthfrom the Father; and He who was in the Father because He was of the Father,was sub sequentlywith the Father,becauseHe came forth from the Father,— thatisto say,thatdivinesubstancewhose name is the Word, whereby allthingswere made, and withoutwhom nothing was made. For allthings are afterHim, because they areby Him. And reasonably,He is before allthings, but afterthe Father,sinceall things were made by Him, and He proceeded from Him of whose will allthingswere made. AssuredlyGod proceedingfrom God, causinga person second to the Father as being the Son, but not takingfrom the Father that characteristicthat He is one God. For if He had not been born— compared with Him who was unborn, an equalitybeing manifestedin both— He would make two unborn beings,and thus would make two Gods. If He had not been begotten— compared with Him who was not begotten,and as being found equal— they not being begotten,would have reasonablygiven two Gods, and thus Christ would have been the causeof two Gods. Had He been formed without beginningas the Father,and He Him self the beginningof allthings as isthe Father,thiswould have made two beginnings,and consequentlywould have shown to us two Gods also. Or ifHe alsowere not the Son, but the Father begettingfrom Himself another Son, reason ably, as compared with the Father,and designatedas great as He, He would have causedtwo Fathers,and thus alsoHe would have proved the existenceof two Gods. Had He been invisible,as compared with the Invisible,and declared