38. And therefore we look to Thy support for the
first trembling steps of this undertaking, to Thy aid that it may gain
strength and prosper. We look to Thee to give us the fellowship
of that Spirit Who guided the Prophets and the Apostles, that we may
take their words in the sense in which they spoke and assign its right
shade of meaning to every utterance. For we shall speak of things
which they preached in a mystery; of Thee, O God Eternal, Father of the
Eternal and Only-begotten God, Who alone art without birth, and of the
One Lord Jesus Christ, born of Thee from everlasting. We may not
sever Him from Thee, or make Him one of a plurality of Gods, on any
plea of difference of nature. We may not say that He is not
begotten of Thee, because Thou art One. We must not fail to
confess Him as true God, seeing that He is born of Thee, true God, His
Father. Grant us, therefore, precision of language, soundness of
argument, grace of style, loyalty to truth. Enable us to utter
the things that we believe, that so we may confess, as Prophets and
Apostles have taught us, Thee, One God our Father, and One Lord Jesus
Christ, and put to silence the gainsaying of heretics, proclaiming Thee
as God, yet not solitary, and Him as God, in no unreal
sense.