47. And when, by means of the power that
enlightens us, we fix our eyes on the beauty of the image of the
invisible God, and through the image are led up to the supreme beauty
of the spectacle of the archetype, then, I ween, is with us inseparably
the Spirit of knowledge, in Himself bestowing on them that love the
vision of the truth the power of beholding the Image, not making the
exhibition from without, but in Himself leading on to the full
knowledge. “No man knoweth the Father save the
Son.”
Matt. xi. 27, “οὐδεὶς
οἶδε τὸν
πατέρα εἰ μὴ
ὁ Υἱ& 231·ς” substituted for “οὐ δὲ τὸν
πατέρα τὶς
ἐπιγνώσκει
εἰ μὴ ὁ Υἱ&
231·ς.” And so
“no man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy
Ghost.”
1 Cor. xii.
3. For it is not
said through the Spirit, but by the Spirit, and “God is a spirit,
and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in
truth,”
John iv. 24. as it is written
“in thy light shall we see light,”
Ps. xxxvi. 9. namely by the illumination of the Spirit,
“the true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the
world.”
John i. 9. It results
that in Himself He shows the glory of the Only begotten, and on true
worshippers He in Himself bestows the knowledge of God. Thus
the way of the knowledge of God lies from One Spirit through the One
Son to the One Father, and conversely the natural Goodness and the
inherent Holiness and the royal Dignity extend from the Father
through the Only-begotten to the Spirit. Thus there is both
acknowledgment of the hypostases and the true dogma of the Monarchy is not
lost. cf.
note on p. 27 and the distinction between δόγμα and κήουγμα in
§ 66. “The great objection which the Eastern Church
makes to the Filioque is, that it implies the existence of
two ἀρχαὶ in the godhead; and
if we believe in δύο
ἄναρχοι; we, in
effect, believe in two Gods. The unity of the Godhead can
only be maintained by acknowledging the Father to be the sole
᾽Αρχὴ or πηγὴ
θεοτήτος, who
from all eternity has communicated His own Godhead to His
co-eternal and consubstantial Son and Spirit. This
reasoning is generally true. But, as the doctrine of the
Procession of the Spirit from the Father and the Son presupposes
the eternal generation of the Son from the Father; it does not
follow, that that doctrine impugns the Catholic belief in the
Μία
᾽Αρχή.” Bp.
Harold Browne, Exp. xxxix Art., Note on Art
v. They on
the other hand who support their sub-numeration by talking of first
and second and third ought to be informed that into the undefiled
theology of Christians they are importing the polytheism of heathen
error. No other result can be achieved by the fell device of
sub-numeration than the confession of a first, a second, and a third
God. For us is sufficient the order prescribed by the
Lord. He who confuses this order will be no less guilty of
transgressing the law than are the impious heathen.