366 NOVATIAN THE ROMAN PRESBYTER stonetheenot,but for blasphemy ; and becausethou,being a man, makest thyselfGod/'1 the Lord establishedthedis tinction,in givingthem the principleon which He had either said that He was God, or wished it to be understood,and says," Say ye of Him, whom the Father sanctified,andsent intothisworld,Thou blasphemest; becauseI said,I am the Son of God?"2 Even here alsoHe said that He had the Father. He is thereforethe Son, not the Father: forHe would have confessedthatHe was the Father had He con sideredHimself to be the Father ; and He declaresthatHe was sanctifiedby His Father. In receiving,then,sanctifica- tion from the Father,He is inferiorto the Father. Now, consequently,He who is inferiorto the Father,is [notthe Father],but the Son; for had He been the Father,He would have given,and not received,sanctification.Now, however, by declaringthat He has receivedsanctification from the Father,by the very factof provingHimself tohe lessthan the Father, by receivingfrom Him sanctification, He has shown that He is the Son, and not the Father. Besides,He says that He is sent: so that by that obedience wherewith the Lord Christ came, being sent,He mighthe proved to be not the Father, but the Son, who assuredly would have sent had He been the Father ; but being sent, He was not the Father,lestthe Father shouldbe proved,in being sent,to be subjectedto anotherGod. And stillafter thisHe added what might dissolveallambiguity,and quench allthe controversyof error: for He sap, in the lastportion of His discourse," Ye say, Thou blasphemest,becauseI said I am the Son of God." Therefore if He plainly testifiesthat He is the Son of God, and not the Father, itis an instanceof greattemerityand excessivemadnessto stirup a controversyof divinityand religion,contrarytoth« testimonyof the Lord ChristHimself,and to say thatChrist Jesus isthe Father,when it isobserved thatHe has proTed Himself to be,not the Father,but the Son. 1Johnx.33. 2Johnx.36.