Novatian — On the Trinity 9
IX. 1. The same rule of truth teaches us to believe, after the Father, also in the Son of God, Christ Jesus our Lord God — yet the Son of God, of this God who is both one and alone, namely the founder of all things, as has already been set out above. 2. For this Jesus Christ, I say again the Son of this God, we read promised in the Old Testament and we observe exhibited in the New Testament, filling the shadows and figures of all the sacraments by the presence of embodied truth. 3. For him Abraham’s son, him David’s, him the old predictions and the Gospels alike testify. 4. Him Genesis itself, when it says: To you and to your seed I will give; him, when it shows a man wrestling with Jacob; him, when it says: A prince shall not fail from Judah nor a leader from his thighs until he comes to whom it is promised, and he himself will be the expectation of the nations. 5. Him Moses, when he says: Provide another whom you may send; him the same, when he witnesses: A prophet, he says, God will raise up for you from your brothers; hear him as me; him, when he says: You will see your life hanging night and day and will not believe him. 6. Him Isaiah: A rod will come forth from the root of Jesse and a flower will rise from the root; him the same, when he says: Behold, a virgin will conceive and bear a son; him, when he places healings to come from him, saying: Then the eyes of the blind will be opened and the ears of the deaf will hear; then the lame will leap like a deer and the tongue of the mute will be free; him, when he unfolds the virtues of patience, saying: His voice will not be heard in the streets; he will not crush a bruised reed and will not quench smoking flax.
7. Him, when he described his gospels: And I will arrange for you an everlasting covenant, the faithful holy things of David; him, when he prophesies nations that will believe in him: Behold, I have set him as a prince and a commander for the nations. Nations that have not known you will call on you, and peoples that do not know you will flee to you; him the same, when he cries out to his passion, saying: Like a sheep he was led to slaughter and like a lamb before its shearer without voice, so he did not open his mouth in humility. 8. Him, when he described the blows of his scourges and wounds: By his bruise we were healed; or the humility: And we saw him and he had no appearance or honor; a man in plague and knowing how to bear weakness; or that the people would not believe: All day I stretched out my hands to an unbelieving people; or that he would rise from the dead: And in that day there will be the root of Jesse and he who rises to rule the nations; in him the nations will hope and his rest will be honor; or when the time of resurrection: As at dawn we will find him prepared; or that he would sit at the Father’s right hand: The Lord said to my Lord: sit at my right hand until I put your enemies as a footstool for your feet; or when he is set as owner of all: Ask of me, and I will give you the nations as your inheritance and your possession the ends of the earth; or that he is shown judge of all: God, give your judgment to the king and your justice to the King’s Son. 9. Nor will I pursue more in this place, which things announced about Christ are better known to all heretics, but also to those who hold the truth themselves.
Latin
IX. 1. Eadem regula ueritatis docet nos credere post Patrem etiam in Filium Dei Christum Iesum Dominum Deum nostrum, sed Dei Filium, huius Dei qui et unus et solus est, conditor scilicet rerum omnium, ut iam et superius expressum est. 2. Hunc enim Iesum Christum, iterum dicam huius Dei Filium, et in ueteri testamento legimus esse repromissum et in nouo testamento animaduertimus exhibitum, omnium sacramentorum umbras et figuras de praesentia corporatae ueritatis implentem. 3. Hunc enim Abrahae filium, hunc Dauid, hunc non minus et uetera praedicta et euangelia testantur. 4. Hunc ipsa Genesis, cum dicit: Tibi dabo et semini tuo, hunc, quando luctatum ostendit hominem cum Iacob, hunc, quando dicit: Non deficiet princeps de Iuda neque dux de femoribus eius, donec ueniat is cui repromissum est, et ipse erit expectatio gentium. 5. Hunc Moyses, cum dicit: Prouide alium quem mittas, hunc idem, quando testatur: Propheten uobis, dicendo, suscitabit Deus ex fratribus uestris; eum quasi me audite, hunc, quando dicit: Videbitis uitam uestram pendentem nocte ac die et non credetis ei. 6. Hunc Esaias: Prodiet uirga de radice Iesse et flos de radice ascendet, hunc eundem, quando dicit: Ecce uirgo concipiet et pariet filium, hunc, quando sanitates ab eo futuras collocat dicens: Tunc aperientur oculi caecorum et aures surdorum audient, tunc saliet claudus ut ceruus et diserta erit lingua mutorum, hunc, quando patientiae uirtutes expromit dicens: Non audietur in plateis uox eius; arundinem quassatam non conteret et linum fumigans non exstinguet.
7. Hunc, quando eius euangelia descripsit: Et disponam uobis testamentum aeternum, sancta Dauid fidelia, hunc, quando gentes in ipsum credituras prophetat: Ecce posui eum in principem et praecipientem gentibus. Gentes quae te non nouerunt inuocabunt te et populi qui te nesciunt ad te confugient, hunc eundem, quando ad passionem eius exclamat dicens: Sicut ouis ad occisionem ductus est et sicut agnus coram tondente se sine uoce, sic non aperuit os suum in humilitate. 8. Hunc, quando flagrorum eius ictus plagasque descripsit: Liuore eius nos sanati sumus, aut humilitatem: Et uidimus eum et non erat ei species neque honor; homo in plaga et sciens ferre infirmitatem, aut quod populus non erat crediturus: Tota die expandi manus meas ad populum non credentem, aut quod resurrecturus a mortuis: Et erit in illa die radix Iesse et qui surget imperare gentibus; in eum gentes sperabunt et erit requies eius honor, aut cum tempus resurrectionis: Quasi diluculo paratum inueniemus eum, aut quod sessurus ad dexteram Patris: Dixit Dominus Domino meo: sede ad dexteram meam, donec ponam inimicos tuos scabellum pedum tuorum, aut cum possessor omnium collocatur: Postula a me, et dabo tibi gentes hereditatem tuam et possessionem tuam terminos terrae, aut quod iudex omnium ostenditur: Deus, iudicium tuum regi da et iustitiam tuam Filio Regis. 9. Nec hoc in loco plura persequar, quae annuntiata de Christo omnibus haereticis, sed et ipsis ueritatem tenentibus magis nota sunt.