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The Confessions of St. Augustin In Thirteen Books
Chapter V.--He Recognises the Trinity in the First Two Verses of Genesis.
6. Behold now, the Trinity appears unto me in an enigma, which Thou, O my God, art, since Thou, O Father, in the Beginning of our wisdom,--Which is Thy Wisdom, born of Thyself, equal and co-eternal unto Thee,--that is, in Thy Son, hast created heaven and earth. Many things have we said of the heaven of heavens, and of the earth invisible and formless, and of the darksome deep, in reference to the wandering defects of its spiritual deformity, were it not converted unto Him from whom was its life, such as it was, and by His enlightening became a beauteous life, and the heaven of that heaven which was afterwards set between water and water. And under the name of God, I now held the Father, who made these things; and under the name of the Beginning, 1 the Son, in whom He made these things; and believing, as I did, that my God was the Trinity, I sought further in His holy words, and behold, Thy Spirit was borne over the waters. Behold the Trinity, O my God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,--the Creator of all creation.
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See also xi. sec. 10, and note, above. ↩
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Confessiones (PL)
CAPUT V. Trinitas qui Deus est ex primis verbis Geneseos intelligitur.
6. Ecce apparet mihi in aenigmate Trinitas, quod es Deus meus; quoniam tu, Pater, in Principio sapientiae nostrae quod est tua Sapientia de te nata, aequalis tibi et coaeterna, id est in Filio tuo, fecisti coelum et terram. Et multa diximus de coelo coeli, et de terra invisibili et incomposita, et de abysso tenebrosa, secundum spiritualis informitatis vagabunda deliquia, nisi converteretur ad eum a quo erat qualiscumque vita, et illuminatione fieret speciosa vita, et esset coelum coeli ejus, quod inter aquam et aquam postea factum est; et tenebam jam Patrem in Dei nomine, qui fecit haec, et Filium in Principii nomine in quo fecit haec; et Trinitatem credens Deum meum, sicuti credebam, quaerebam in eloquiis sanctis ejus, et ecce Spiritus tuus superferebatur super aquas. Ecce Trinitas Deus meus, Pater et Filius et Spiritus sanctus, creator universae creaturae.