76. Seeing, then, that we find not the
customary order prevailing, be content, Arian, to believe in a
miraculous generation of the Son. Be content, I say, and if you
believe me not, at least have respect unto the voice of God saying,
“To whom have ye esteemed Me to be like?” Isa. xlvi. 5. and again: “God is not like
a man that He should repent.” Num. xxiii. 19. If,
indeed, God works mysteriously, seeing that He doth not work any work,
or fashion anything, or bring it to completion, by labor of hands, or
in any course of days, “for He spake, and they were made; He gave
the word and they were created,” Ps.
cxlviii. 5. Cf. xxxiii. 6, 9. why should we not believe that He Whom
we acknowledge as a Creator, mysteriously working, discerning it in His
works, also begat His Son in a mysterious manner? Surely it is
fitting that He should be regarded as having begotten the Son in a
special and mysterious way. Let Him Who hath the grace of majesty
unrivalled likewise have the glory of mysterious generation.