125. Let us pass on to further points. Arius
says: “Before He was born, the Son of God was not,”
but the Scripture saith that all things are maintained in existence by
the Son’s office. How, then, could He, Who existed not,
bestow existence upon others? Again, when the blasphemer uses the
words “when” and “before,” he certainly uses
words which are marks of time. How, then, do the Arians deny that
time was ere the Son was, and yet will have things created in time to
exist before the Son, seeing that the very words, “when,”
“before,” and “did not exist once,” announce
the idea of time?