57. All the particulars of this Creed, as it is verbally set forth, are true if, instead of a Trinity of Persons, we understand a Trinity of Person. This may appear if we transcribe it again, with this Trinity of Person substituted for the other. The Trinity of Person is this: THE DIVINE OF THE LORD IS THE FATHER, THE DIVINE HUMAN THE SON, AND THE DIVINE PROCEEDING THE HOLY SPIRIT. When this Trinity is understood, a man can then think of One God, and can also say One God. Who does not see that otherwise, a man must think of three Gods? This was evident to Athanasius, and for this reason be inserted in his Creed these words:
As by the Christian verity we are obliged to acknowledge each Person by Himself as God and Lord, yet still we cannot, according to the Catholic religion or the Christian faith, say, or name, three Gods or three Lords;
which amounts to this: "Although it is allowable by the Christian verity to acknowledge, or think of, three Gods and Lords, yet it is not allowable by the Christian faith to say or to name more than one God and one Lord." And yet it is acknowledgment and thought that conjoin man with the Lord and with heaven, and not words alone. Besides, no one comprehends how the Divine, which is one, can be divided into three Persons, each one of whom is God. For the Divine is not divisible; and to make three one by essence or substance does not take away the idea of three Gods, but only conveys the idea of unanimity between them.
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