scattered everywhere among its works._
We believe, we maintain, we faithfully preach, that the Father
begat the Word, that is, Wisdom, by which all things were made, the
only-begotten Son, one as the Father is one, eternal as the Father
is eternal, and, equally with the Father, supremely good; and that
the Holy Spirit is the Spirit alike of Father and of Son, and is
Himself consubstantial and co-eternal with both; and that this whole
is a Trinity by reason of the individuality[492] of the persons, and
one God by reason of the indivisible divine substance, as also one
Almighty by reason of the indivisible omnipotence; yet so that, when
we inquire regarding each singly, it is said that each is God and
Almighty; and, when we speak of all together, it is said that there
are not three Gods, nor three Almighties, but one God Almighty; so
great is the indivisible unity of these Three, which requires that it
be so stated. But, whether the Holy Spirit of the Father, and of the
Son, who are both good, can be with propriety called the goodness of
both, because He is common to both, I do not presume to determine
hastily. Nevertheless, I would have less hesitation in saying that
He is the holiness of both, not as if He were a divine attribute
merely, but Himself also the divine substance, and the third person
in the Trinity. I am the rather emboldened to make this statement,
because, though the Father is a spirit, and the Son a spirit, and the
Father holy, and the Son holy, yet the third person is distinctively
called the Holy Spirit, as if He were the substantial holiness
consubstantial with the other two. But if the divine goodness is
nothing else than the divine holiness, then certainly it is a
reasonable studiousness, and not presumptuous intrusion, to inquire
whether the same Trinity be not hinted at in an enigmatical mode of
speech, by which our inquiry is stimulated, when it is written who
made each creature, and by what means, and why. For it is the Father
of the Word who said, Let there be. And that which was made when He
spoke was certainly made by means of the Word. And by the words, "God
saw that it was good," it is sufficiently intimated that God made
what was made not from any necessity, nor for the sake of supplying
any want, but solely from His own goodness, _i.e._, because it was
good. And this is stated after the creation had taken place, that
there might be no doubt that the thing made satisfied the goodness on
account of which it was made. And if we are right in understanding
that this goodness is the Holy Spirit, then the whole Trinity is
revealed to us in the creation. In this, too, is the origin, the
enlightenment, the blessedness of the holy city which is above among
the holy angels. For if we inquire whence it is, God created it; or
whence its wisdom, God illumined it; or whence its blessedness, God
is its bliss. It has its form by subsisting in Him; its enlightenment
by contemplating Him; its joy by abiding in Him. It is; it sees; it
loves. In God's eternity is its life; in God's truth its light; in
God's goodness its joy.