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Translated by Cardinal Newman.
St Athanasius the Great Resources Online and in Print
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This Part: 128 Pages
Page 16
13. It is plain then from the above that the Scriptures declare the Son's eternity; it is equally plain from what follows that the Arian phrases 'He was not,' and 'before' and 'when,' are in the same Scriptures predicated of creatures. Moses, for instance, in his account of the generation of our system, says, 'And every plant of the field, before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew; for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground [1904] .' And in Deuteronomy, 'When the Most High divided to the nations [1905] .' And the Lord said in His own Person, 'If ye loved Me, ye would rejoice because I said, I go unto the Father, for My Father is greater than I. And now I have told you before it come to pass, that when it is come to pass, ye might believe [1906] .' And concerning the creation He says by Solomon, 'Or ever the earth was, when there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled, before the hills, was I brought forth [1907] .' And, 'Before Abraham was, I am [1908] .' And concerning Jeremiah He says, 'Before I formed thee in the womb, I knew thee [1909] .' And David in the Psalm says, 'Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever the earth and the world were made, Thou art, God from everlasting and world without end [1910] .' And in Daniel, 'Susanna cried out with a loud voice and said, O everlasting God, that knowest the secrets, and knowest all things before they be [1911] .' Thus it appears that the phrases 'once was not,' and 'before it came to be,' and 'when,' and the like, belong to things originate and creatures, which come out of nothing, but are alien to the Word. But if such terms are used in Scripture of things originate, but 'ever' of the Word, it follows, O ye enemies of God, that the Son did not come out of nothing, nor is in the number of originated things at all, but is the Father's Image and Word eternal, never having not been, but being ever, as the eternal Radiance [1912] of a Light which is eternal. Why imagine then times before the Son? or wherefore blaspheme the Word as after times, by whom even the ages were made? for how did time or age at all subsist when the Word, as you say, had not appeared, 'through' whom 'all things have been made and without' whom 'not one thing was made [1913] ?' Or why, when you mean time, do you not plainly say, 'a time was when the Word was not?' But while you drop the word 'time' to deceive the simple, you do not at all conceal your own feeling, nor, even if you did, could you escape discovery. For you still simply mean times, when you say, 'There was when He was not,' and 'He was not before His generation.'
[1904] Gen. ii. 5.
[1905] Deut. xxxii. 8.
[1906] John xiv. 28, 29.
[1907] Prov. viii. 23.
[1908] John viii. 58.
[1909] Jer. i. 5.
[1910] Ps. xc. 2.
[1911] Hist. Sus. 42.
[1912] de Decr. 23, note 4.
[1913] John i. 3.
Reference address : https://www.elpenor.org/athanasius/discourses-against-arians.asp?pg=16
