Chapter LXXI.

Jesus taught us who it was that sent Him, in the words, "None knoweth the Father but the Son;" ¹ and in these, "No man hath seen God at any time; the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him." ² He, treating of Deity, stated to His true disciples the doctrine regarding God; and we, discovering traces of such teaching in the Scripture narratives, take occasion from such to aid our theological conceptions, ³ hearing it declared in one passage, that "God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all;" ⁴ and in another, "God is a Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth." ⁵ But the purposes for which the Father sent Him are innumerable; and these any one may ascertain who chooses, partly from the prophets who prophesied of Him, and partly from the narratives of the evangelists. And not a few things also will he learn from the apostles, and especially from Paul. Moreover, those who are pious He leadeth to the light, and those who sin He will punish,--a circumstance which Celsus not observing, has represented Him "as one who will lead the pious to the light, and who will have mercy on others, whether they sin or repent." ⁶