Works Eusebius of Caesarea (260-339) De laudibus Constantini The Oration of Eusebius Pamphilus
Chapter XII.

1.

On the other hand, the sacred doctrine teaches that he who is the supreme Source of good, and Cause of all things, is beyond all comprehension, and therefore inexpressible by word, or speech, or name; surpassing the power, not of language only, but of thought itself. Uncircumscribed by place, or body; neither in heaven, nor in ethereal space, nor in any other part of the universe; but entirely independent of all things else, he pervades the depths of unexplored and secret wisdom. The sacred oracles teach us to acknowledge him as the only true God, 1 apart from all corporeal essence, distinct from all subordinate ministration. Hence it is said that all things are from him, but not through him. 2

  1. [Referring, apparently, to John xvii. 3, "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent:" a passage which has been called a stronghold of the impugners of the Deity of Christ; but which, simply considered with its context, cannot fairly be understood to indicate any inferiority of the Son to the Father; but rather appears to speak of the mission of the former as the manifestation of the grace of him who is called "the only true God" in contradistinction to the polytheism of the heathen world. In other words, the knowledge of "the only true God," in connection with that of "Jesus Christ whom he has sent," constitutes "eternal life"; the one being ineffectual, and indeed impossible, without the other.--Bag.] Compare 1 John v. 20-21: "That we know him that is true and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life," which seems to show that John had no idea of any subordination in essence in this matter. ↩

  2. [But see, for a refutation of this statement, Rom. xi. 36, and Heb. ii. 10.--Bag.] Yet the second of these references clearly refers to the Son. Eusebius, speaking of God the Father, has in mind the truth that all things were made by the Son, "and without him was not anything made that hath been made." John i. 3. ↩

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The Oration of Eusebius Pamphilus

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