V. Or rather, let me reason with you about Him
from a somewhat earlier point, for we have already discussed the
Trinity. The Sadducees altogether denied the existence of the
Holy Spirit, just as they did that of Angels and the Resurrection;
rejecting, I know not upon what ground, the important testimonies
concerning Him in the Old Testament. And of the Greeks those who
are more inclined to speak of God, and who approach nearest to us, have
formed some conception of Him, as it seems to me, though they have
differed as to His Name, and have addressed Him as the Mind of the
World, or the External Mind, and the like. But of the wise men
amongst ourselves, some have conceived of him as an Activity, some as a
Creature, some as God; and some have been uncertain which to call Him,
out of reverence for Scripture, they say, as though it did not make the
matter clear either way. And therefore they neither worship Him
nor treat Him with dishonour, but take up a neutral position, or rather
a very miserable one, with respect to Him. And of those who
consider Him to be God, some are orthodox in mind only, while others
venture to be so with the lips also. And I have heard of some who
are even more clever, and measure Deity; and these agree with us that
there are Three Conceptions; but they have separated these from one
another so completely as to make one of them infinite both in essence
and power, and the second in power but not in essence, and the third
circumscribed in both; thus imitating in another way those who call
them the Creator, the Co-operator, and the Minister, and consider that
the same order and dignity which belongs to these names is also a
sequence in the facts.