35. And it does not seem out of agreement
with this that it is written: “Who alone hath
immortality.” 1 Tim. vi. 16. For how
could He not have immortality Who has life in Himself? He has it
in His nature; He has it in His essential Being; and He has it not as a
temporal
grace, but
owing to His eternal Godhead. He has it not by way of a gift as a
servant, but by peculiar right of His Generation, as the co-eternal
Son. He has it, too, as has the Father. “For as the
Father hath life in Himself, so also hath He given to the Son to have
life in Himself.” S. John v. 26. As He has
it, it says, so He has given it. Thou hast learnt already how He
gave it, De Fide, iv.
6. that thou mayest
not think it to be a free gift of grace, when it is a secret of His
generation. Since, then, there is no divergence of life between
the Father and the Son, how can it be supposed that the Father alone
has immortality, whilst the Son has it not?