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AND THEIR REFUTATION. 93
other two. But, say they, the Son has not the perfection of the
Father to generate, and the Holy Ghost has not the perfection
of the Father and the Son to spirate, therefore the Son is not
infinite as is the Father, nor has the Holy Ghost the perfections
of the Father and the Son. We reply, that the perfection of any
thing is that which properly belongs to its nature, and hence it
is that the perfection of the Father is to generate, of the Son,
to be generated, and of the Holy Ghost to be spirated. Now,
as these perfections are relative, they cannot be the same in each
Person, for otherwise, the distinction of Persons would exist no
longer, neither would the perfection of the Divine Nature exist
any longer, for that requires that the Persons should be really
distinct among themselves, and that the Divine Essence should
be common to each. But then, say they, those four expressions,
the Essence, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, are not
synonymous ; they, therefore, mean four distinct things, and that
would prove not alone a Trinity, but a Quarternity in God.
The answer to this frivolous is objection very simple. We freely
admit that these four words are not synonymous, but for all
that, the Essence is not distinct from the Persons ; the Divine
Essence is an absolute thing, but common to all the three Persons,
but the three Persons, though distinct among themselves, are
not distinct from the Essence, for that is in each of the three
Persons, as the Fourth Council of Lateran (can. 2) declares : "In
Deo Trinitas est non quaternitas quia qualibet trium personarum,
est ilia res videlicet essentia, sive natura Divina qua? sola est
universorum principium praeter quod aliud inveniri non potest."
16. The Socinians object, Fifthly The Father generated the
Son, either
existing or not existing ; if he generated him already
existing, he cannot be said to be generated at all, and if the Son
was not existing, then there was a time when the Son was not ;
therefore they conclude that there are not in God Three Persons
of the same Essence. To this we reply, that the Father has
always generated the Son, and that the Son is always existing,
for he was generated from all eternity, and will be generated
for ever, and, therefore, we read in the Psalms :
"
I have
To-day
begotten thee" (Psalms, ii, 7) ; because in eternity there is no
succession of time, and all is equally present to God. Neither
is there any use in saying that the Father has generated the