Page:History of the First Council of Nice.djvu/60

50, not only to man, but also to orders of beings superior to man. These opinions we advance, not as having derived them from our own imagination, but as having deduced them from Scripture; whence we learn that the Son was created, established, and begotten in the same substance, and in the same immutable and inexpressible nature as the Maker; and so the Lord says, 'God created me in the beginning of His way; I was set up from everlasting; before the hills was I brought forth;' (Prov. viii. 22–26.) If he had preceded from Him or of Him, as a portion of Him, or by an efflux of His substance, it could not be said that he was created or established; and of this you, my lord, are certainly not ignorant. For that which proceeds from Him who is unbegotten, cannot be said to have been created or founded, either by Him or by another, since He has been begotten from the beginning…

"There is, indeed, nothing which partakes of His substance; yet, every thing which exists, has been called into being by His will, for He verily is God. All things were made in hisHis [sic] likeness, and in the future likeness of His Son, being created according to His will. All things were made by the Son, and through God. All things are of God.

"When you have received my letter, and have revised it according to the knowledge and grace given you by God, I beg you will write, as soon as possible, to my Lord Alexander. I feel confident that if you will write to him, you will succeed in bringing him over to your opinion."