THE MYSTERY OF THE TRINITY IS NEITHER UNREASONABLE NOR INCREDIBLE.
Passing over the first principle of the Christian Faith, _viz._,
the unity of God, we will proceed to the second article which is
pre-eminently difficult, _viz._, the Unity in Trinity. By this we mean
that the three Persons,—Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,—are not three Gods
or three natures, but One God and One Nature. We hold that there is
One God, of most pure nature; and our belief is in no wise contrary to
philosophy. Although we believe that the Father, the Son and the Holy
Ghost are One God, we do not teach, as Sabellius taught, that one Person
is called at one time Father, at one time Son, and at another time Holy
Ghost. Nor, do we hold, as was held by Arius, that the three Persons are
substantially different, and that the Son is inferior and posterior to
the Father, and the Holy Ghost inferior and posterior to the Father and
the Son. We profess, against Sabellius, that the Father, the Son, and the
Holy Ghost are three distinct Persons. We teach, against Arius, that they
are of one and the same nature, and equal in power and glory; so that all
that belongs to the Father, belongs likewise to the Son and to the Holy
Ghost; and all that belongs to the Son, belongs equally to the Father
and the Holy Ghost; and all that belongs to the Holy Ghost, belongs, in
like manner, to the Father and the Son. Thus, there is not between the
Divine Persons the natural distinction which exists among creatures,
consequent upon the more or less that each possesses, but merely a
relative distinction. By which we mean that the Father possesses all that
He has, of Himself, and from none other; that the Son, who has all that
the Father has, derives it from the Father; and that the Holy Ghost, who
has all that have the Father and the Son, receives it from Father and
Son. Nor, on this account, are the Son and the Holy Ghost inferior to the
Father, for they are One with Him in Nature and in dignity. Neither did
the Father exist before the Son, nor the Son before the Holy Ghost. For,
God, being immutable and eternal, the Father could not be God before He
was the Father, and was always God and Father; and as He could not be
Father without a Son, the Son is necessarily co-eternal with Him; and as
the Holy Ghost is love, and the Father and the Son have loved each other
from all eternity, they can never have existed without breathing forth
the Holy Ghost. Neither is there any composition in the Divine Essence;
for we believe that each of the Persons is One and the Same with the
Divine Nature. Human reason cannot understand how in God, who is Pure Act
and Simple Substance, there can be three Persons so completely distinct
that One is not the Other, so that the Father is not the Son, nor the Son
the Father, nor the Holy Ghost the Father and the Son, nor the Father and
the Son the Holy Ghost; and yet at the same time the Father is the same
Simple Nature as the Son, and the Son as the Father, and the Holy Ghost
as the Father and the Son. For in God there is Personal, but not natural,
distinction; and as we name things according to our knowledge of them,
and knowing God by means of creatures, we name Him by names derived from
creatures. Now, among creatures, the production of one living being from
another living being is called _generation_, and the one who begets is
termed _father_, and the one begotten, _son_. And as in God, one living
Person proceeds from another living Person, we term this procession
generation, and He from whom the other Person proceeds is called THE
FATHER, and the Person who proceeds we name THE SON. This generation,
unlike that of men and animals, is wholly spiritual and Divine. And
therefore we say that the Son is THE WORD, THE IMAGE, AND THE BEGOTTEN
WISDOM OF THE FATHER. But the procession of the Holy Ghost, who is Love,
is from the Father and the Son, because love is the union between the
lover and the beloved, and thus the Holy Ghost proceeds immediately from
two perfect Persons, the Father and the Son. But because, in the order of
nature, nothing can be found which proceeds immediately from two equally
perfect beings, no special name has been found for the Holy Ghost and
His procession; and therefore the general term _procession_ has been
retained. It is correct, however, to call this procession the _spiration_
of the Father and the Son, because the Holy Ghost proceeds by love,
which implies a certain impetus, or breathing forth, towards the thing
beloved. It is for this reason that the Person proceeding from the Father
and the Son is called, _par excellence_, THE HOLY SPIRIT, although both
the Father and the Son are equally Spirits and equally Holy. And because
in intellectual nature, there are but two processions—the one by means
of the understanding, the other by means of the will—faith reasonably
teaches that in God there are but two processions and three Persons.
Any one who desires to learn more about the mystery of the Holy Trinity,
will find inexhaustible treasures of knowledge in the writings of the
Fathers. We have stated only the mere substance of the Faith, and have
been content to show that in the mystery of the Blessed Trinity there is
nothing incredible or unreasonable. Faith teaches nothing contrary to
reason, but merely declares, that we cannot, by natural reason alone,
arrive at the knowledge of Divine things. For human reason can only,
by means of creatures, know God as the Cause and Principle of created
things. And, as God is the Principle and Cause of things, only by means
of His Power, Wisdom, and Goodness, and as the three Divine Persons
are not distinct in these attributes, but united in them, it follows
that reason cannot, by means of creatures, apprehend the distinction of
the Persons of the Blessed Trinity. We do not say that we should not
_believe_ this mystery because we cannot _understand_ It. For it is most
foolish to gauge truth by our intellectual capacity; since in God there
are infinite mysteries, unfathomable by the mind of man.
If we further consider the arguments set forth in the second Book, we
can have no doubt as to the Mystery of the Trinity. Our faith in it
is confirmed by certain peculiar reasons, one being that though this
Mystery is above our reason, it is, in no sense, contrary to it, and
that it is further rendered credible by the likeness borne to it by
many created things. First, by means of the procession or emanation of
creatures, the mind may rise in some sort to the contemplation of the
Divine procession. For, in creatures we see processions of many kinds,
of which those that belong to the more perfect nature are likewise most
perfect and most interior. For example, there is in inanimate things a
certain sort of generation. One fire generates another, the virtue of the
generating fire passing into the one generated. This procession, however,
is not perfect nor intrinsic; for it does not remain in the thing that
generates, but passes into an object outside of itself. Plants, being
animated, have procession more perfect and more intrinsic; for that
which is generated from a plant belongs to the principle of the plant
producing it, and is united to it. But here, as the thing produced is
finally separated from the principle of the producer, this procession
is not perfect nor intrinsic. As animals are more perfect than plants,
we find in them more perfect and more intrinsic procession, and one
rather spiritual than corporeal. Now, this procession is the operation
of the senses which remains within the senses themselves. Nevertheless
this operation, being caused by an extrinsic object, its procession is
not wholly intrinsic. But the procession of the intellect is far more
perfect and more interior; because, since the intellect of itself, and
by no external aid, understands that which it understands, it forms its
own operations within itself, produces the word and the likeness of the
thing known, and is united, as it were, by love to that thing in such a
way as to become an image of the Trinity—to wit: by understanding, word,
and love. But, since all our knowledge has its origin in sense, the
processions of our intellect are not wholly, but only partly, extrinsic.
We shall find, if we consider the angelic intellect, that in it the
procession of word and of love is more intrinsic and more perfect than
is the case in the human intellect; because angelic cognition does not
arise from sense, but is wholly interior. Nevertheless, as the whole of
the angelic substance depends on God, we cannot say that the procession
of word and of understanding in the angelic intellect is as intrinsic
as if it depended on nothing extrinsic; and, therefore, it contains
some imperfection. Knowing then, as we do, that creatures are noble
in proportion as they are perfect and intrinsic, and understanding,
likewise, that every effect endeavours to imitate its cause, our Faith
surely teaches nothing unreasonable when it professes that, as the
nobility of God infinitely surpasses the nobility of all creatures,
there are in Him most perfect and intrinsic processions, arising from no
extrinsic cause, and having no existence apart from His Substance; and
that all creatures endeavour, in so far as they can, to imitate these
processions, though they can never equal them in perfection, since the
Divine Persons depend on nothing, but are God, the Cause of all things.
We see, therefore, that the dogma of the Blessed Trinity contains nothing
either impossible, or unreasonable.
There exists in the spiritual part of man’s nature a certain likeness
to the Trinity, _viz._, understanding, word, and love. This likeness
becomes more apparent when man is engaged in actual contemplation of
God; for, then, his understanding is informed by the Divine light and
presence representing the Father; he forms in his contemplation a concept
of God which represents the Son, and is called the word of the mind; and
the Divine love which springs from his understanding and his concept of
God represents the Holy Spirit. Of course this human trinity is very
remote from the Trinity of God, and differs from it exceedingly. For
our intellectual word, and our love, are changeable, and are not the
substance of our soul; whereas the Divine Word and the Divine Love are
eternal, consubstantial with the Father. But in spite of this essential
difference, so vivid a likeness to the Blessed Trinity is apparent in the
nobler creatures that it is proved, that this doctrine is completely in
accord with reason.
This likeness to the Blessed Trinity exists, not only in the superior,
but also in the inferior, ranks of creation, since the perfection of
every creature consists in three things, _viz._, beginning, middle, and
end. The beginning is attributed to the Father, the middle to the Son,
and the end to the Holy Ghost. We see, likewise, in creatures another
trinity, that, namely, of substance, power, and operation. We might
point out many other illustrations of the trace left by the Trinity
upon creatures, and of their tendency to reproduce the number three,
as if _it_ were the sum of their perfection. Aristotle, the Prince of
Peripatetics, following not faith but reason, says in his _Heaven and
Earth_: “All things appear to be made up of threes”. And Pythagoras also
concludes, that “all things are determined and perfected in this number
three, which represents beginning, middle, and end,” and that “this
number has been transferred from creatures to the gods”. And “if we speak
of _two_ things (he adds) we do not mean the sum total of things; but
when we say _three_ things we mean all things; for without the third
thing, the quantity would be incomplete, and therefore imperfect, since
perfection means completeness”. Pythagoras further adds, that “bodies
being composed of three things—to wit length, breadth, and height—are
perfect quantities”. By these examples, and by the arguments already
brought forward, it becomes clear, that our belief in the Blessed Trinity
is not unreasonable, but rather that this doctrine is a most credible,
and, even according to our human standard, a most probable one. For,
although far exceeding human reason, it is in no wise opposed to natural
philosophy. It avails itself of the arguments of philosophy, thereby
giving a most sure sign of its truth.