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Is this the age of the age, or ages of ages? --The eternity of God contains the ages of time themselves, and can be called the age of the age or ages of ages.
Is this, then, the age of the age, or ages of ages? For, as an age of time contains all temporal things, so thy eternity contains even the ages of time themselves. And these are indeed an age, because of their indivisible unity; but ages, because of their endless immeasurability. And, although thou art so great, O Lord, that all things are full of thee, and exist in thee; yet thou art so without all space, that neither midst, nor half, nor any part, is in thee.
He alone is what he is and who be is. --All things need God for their being and their well-being.
THEREFORE, thou alone, O Lord, art what thou art; and thou art he who thou art. For, what is one thing in the whole and another in the parts, and in which there is any mutable element, is not altogether what it is. And what begins from non-existence, and can be conceived not to exist, and unless it subsists through something else, returns to non-existence; and what has a past existence, which is no longer, or a future existence, which is not yet, --this does not properly and absolutely exist.
But thou art what thou art, because, whatever thou art at
any time, or in any way, thou art as a whole and forever. And thou art he who
thou art, properly and simply; for thou hast neither a past existence
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This good is equally Father, and Son, and Holy Spirit. And this is a single, necessary Being, which is every good, and wholly good, and the only good. --Since the Word is true, and is truth itself, there is nothing in the Father, who utters it, which is not accomplished in the Word by which he expresses himself. Neither is the love which proceeds from Father and Son unequal to the Father or the Son, for Father and Son love themselves and one another in the same degree in which what they are is good. Of supreme simplicity nothing can be born, and from it nothing can proceed, except that which is this, of which it is born, or from which it proceeds.
THIS good thou art, thou, God the Father; this is thy Word,
that is, thy Son. For nothing, other than what thou art, or greater or less than
thou, can be in the Word by which thou dost express thyself; for the Word is
true, as thou art truthful. And, hence, it is truth itself, just as thou art;
no other truth than thou; and thou art of so simple a nature, that of thee
nothing can be born other than what thou art. This very good is the one love
common to thee and to thy Son, that is, the Holy Spirit proceeding from both.
For this love is not unequal to thee or to thy Son; seeing that thou dost love
thyself and him, and he, thee and himself, to the whole extent of thy being and
his. Nor is there aught else proceeding from
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But what each is, separately, this is all the Trinity at once, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; seeing that each separately is none other than the supremely simple unity, and the supremely unitary simplicity which can neither be multiplied nor varied. Moreover, there is a single necessary Being. Now, this is that single, necessary Being, in which is every good; nay, which is every good, and a single entire good, and the only good.