Chapter I.
Therefore, none who is wise and sound believes that God, who is omnipotent, Trinity and Spirit, is any visible or palpable body: but rather understands Him as a simple, rational and invisible nature, which is not at all solidified by any composition, nor appears to have anything external or added to it from elsewhere: whom no substance, no creature, no dominion ever precedes. Therefore, the source and origin of all virtues, both visible and invisible creatures, that is, the creator of the heavenly and earthly, is the holy and inseparable Trinity, which contains nothing external within itself; so that it does not appear to be bounded or found to be in need of anything, since it is always pure, indivisible and mystical, and, so to speak, fruitful in unity. For such is the essence of unity in the Holy Trinity, inseparable and indistinguishable, that it seems to do nothing outside of itself: in which Holy and inseparable Trinity there is true eternity, immutable truth, and eternal and perfect charity. Therefore, God is thought of more truly than He is said, because He is always incomprehensible. Therefore, God, who is omnipotent and has no gender, age, or defined bodily parts, desired to be proclaimed most excellently, most clearly, and most magnificently. Eternity therefore is in the Father, beauty in the image, use in the task (Augustine, VI, de Trin. c. 10, ex Hilary, II, de Trinit.) : and these three are one God; not however in the singularity of one person, but in the essence of one Trinity. Therefore, one who loves Him, who is from Him: and one who loves Him, of whom He is: and love itself is the same one of both, that is, the Holy Spirit. And yet these three, as has been said, are one God, good, true, just, light, life, truth, spirit, and charity. Therefore, because God is eternal and the creator of all things, He cannot be understood as composite; lest there be things prior to God, by which He is thought to be composed. Therefore, every creature that is not what God Himself is, is made by Him alone. Therefore, He cannot be called eternal unless He who lacks a beginning and an end, that is, God the Father, who has the Word and the Spirit coeternal and coomnipotent with Himself. This clearly proves that the substance of the Son and the Holy Spirit exists before all creatures and beyond all times, and that the beginning in God the Father always remains. Therefore, the Holy Spirit is not generated, but rather the sweetness, holiness, and eternity of the generator and the generated. For since the Father is a Spirit, and the Son is a Spirit, and the Father is holy, and the Son is holy, it is properly said of the Spirit that he is the Holy Spirit. Therefore, because he is coeternal and common to both, he is called the same thing that both are.