CONCERNING THE TRINITY. 301 CHAPTER II. Argument. — God is aboveallthings,Himself containingall things,immense,eternal,transcendingthe mind of man ; inexplicablein discourse,loftierthanallsublimity. And over allthesethingsHe Himself,containingallthings, having nothing vacant bej'ondHimself, has leftroom for no superiorGod, such as some people conceive. Since, indeed,He Himself has includedallthingsin the bosom of perfectgreatnessand power, He isalways intentupon His own work, and pervadingallthings,and moving allthings, and quickeningallthings,and beholdingallthings,and so linkingtogetherdiscordantmaterialsinto the concordof all elements,thatout of theseunlike principlesone world is so establishedby a conspiringunion,that itcan by no forcebe dissolved,savewhen He alonewho made it commands it to be dissolved,forthe purposeof bestowingotherand greater thingsupon us. For we read that He containsallthings, and thereforethat there could have been nothing beyond Himself ; because,sinceHe has not any beginning,so con sequently He is not consciousof an ending; unlessper chance— and farfrom us be the thought— He at some time began to be, and is not above allthings,but as He began to be aftersomething else,He would be beneath thatwhich was before Himself, and would so be found to be of less power, in thatHe isdesignatedas subsequenteven in time itself.For thisreason,therefore,He is alwaysunbounded, because nothingisgreaterthan Him ; alwayseternal,because nothing ismore ancientthan Him. For thatwhich iswith out beginning can be precededby none,in that He has no time. He is on that account immortal,that He does not come to an end by any ending of His completeness. And since everythingthat is without beginning is without law, He excludesthe mode of time by feelingHimself debtor to none. Concerning Him, therefore,and concerning those things which are of Himself,and are in Him, neithercan the mind of man worthilyconceivewhat they are,how great