330 NOVATIAN THE ROMAN PRESBYTER CHAPTER XV.1 Argument. — Again lieprovesfrom theGospelthatChrkt is God. If Christ is only man, how is it that He says," Though I bear recordof myself,yet my recordistrue: becauseI know whence I came, and whither I go ; ye know not whence I came, and whitherI go. Ye judge aftertheflesh?"1 Behold, alsoHe says,that He shallreturn thitherwhence He bears witnessthat He came before,as being sent,— to wit,from heaven. He came down thereforefrom whence He came, in the same manner as He goes thitherfrom whence He descended. Whence if Christwere only man, he would not have come thence,and thereforewould not depart thither, because he would not have come thence. Moreover, by coming thence,whence as man He couldnot have come,He shows Himself tohave come as God. For theJews, ignorant and untaught in the matterof thisvery descentof His,made thesehereticstheirsuccessors,seeingthat to them itissaid, " Ye know not whence I come, and whitherI go : ye judge afterthe flesh." As much they as the Jews, holding that the carnal birthof Christ was the only one, believedthat Christwas nothingelsethan man ; not consideringthispoint, thatas man couldnot come from heaven,soasthat he might returnthither,He who descendedthencemust be God, seeing that man could not come thence. If Christ is only man, how does He say," Ye are from below,I am from above; ye are of thisworld,I am not of thisworld?" 3 But there fore if every man is of thisworld, and Christ is for that reason in thisworld,is He only man ? God forbid! But considerwhat He says: "lam notof thisworld." Does He then speak falselywhen He says" of thisworld,"if He is only man ? Or if He does not speak falsely,He is notof thisworld; He isthereforenot man only,becauseHe isnot 1AccordingtoPamelius,ch.xxiii. 2Johnviii.14,15. *Johnviii.23.