376 NOVATIAN THE ROMAN PRESBYTER Father,sinceGod isone. If Christ be not the Father,be cause Christ is God the Son, there appear to be two Gods introduced,contraryto the Scriptures.And they who con tend that Christ is man only,conclude on the other hand thus:— If the Father isone,and the Son another,but the Father isGod and ChristisGod, then thereisnot one God, but two Gods are at once introduced,the Father and the Son ; and if God is one,by consequence Christmust be a man, so that rightlythe Father may be one God. Thus indeed the Lord is,as itwere,crucifiedbetween two thieres, even as He was formerlyplaced; and thus from eitherside He receivesthe sacrilegiousreproachesof such hereticsas these. But neitherthe Holy Scripturesnor we suggest to them the reasonsof theirperditionand blindness,if they eitherwillnot,or cannot,see what is evidentlywritten in the midst of the divinedocuments. For we both know, and read,and believe,and maintain that God isone,who made the heaven as wellas the earth,sincewe neitherknow any other,nor shallwe at any time know such,seeingthat there isnone. " I,"says He, " am God, and thereisnone beside me, righteousand a Saviour."1 And in another place: " I am the firstand the last,and besideme thereisno God who isas I."s And, " Who hath meted out heaven with a span, and the earth with a handful? Who has suspended the mountains in a balance,and the woods on scales?" * And Hezekiah : " That allmay know that Thou artGod alone."* Moreover,the Lord Himself: " Why askestthou me concern ing thatwhich is good ? God alone isgood."5 Moreover, the ApostlePaul says: " Who only hath immortality,and dwellethin the lightthatno man can approach unto, whom no man hath seen,nor can see."6 And in another place: " But a mediatorisnot a mediatorof one,but God isone."7 But even as we hold,and read,and believethis,thus we ought to pass over no portionof the heavenly Scriptures, since indeed also we ought by no means to rejectthose 1 Isa.xliii.11. 2 laa.xliv.6,7. 3 Isa.xl.12. 4 Isa.xxxvii.20. " Matt.xix.17. 6 1 Tim.vi.16. 1Gal.iii.20.