CHAPTER II

Concerning the Undifferencing and the Differentiation in Divinity, and the Nature of Divine Unification and Differentiation.¹⁶⁶¹⁶⁶περὶ ἡνωμένης καὶ διακεκριμένης θεολογίας καὶ τίς ἡ θεία ἕνωσις καὶ διάκρισις.

I. ’Tis the whole Being of the Supernal Godhead (saith the Scripture) that the Absolute Goodness hath defined and revealed.¹⁶⁷¹⁶⁷The point of this section is that God’s Nature is not a sum total of separate Attributes. Therefore when we say that the Scriptural titles of God are only symbols and that the ultimate Godhead transcends them, we do not mean that they express only a part of His Nature (for His Nature has no parts), but that they dimly suggest His whole Nature. Hence, too, we cannot say that some of God’s titles belong only to one separate Person of the Trinity and others only to the other Persons severally—e. g. The Trinity, and not the Father alone, is the Creator of the world. “The one world was made by the Father, through the Son, in the Holy Ghost” (St. Aug., Com. on St. John, Tr. XX. 9). For in what other sense may we take the words of Holy Writ when it tells us how the Godhead spake concerning Itself, and said: “Why asketh thou me concerning the good? None is good save one, that is, God.”¹⁶⁸¹⁶⁸The title “Good ” is applied to the whole Godhead. And if that title, then others too. Cf. Matt. xix. 17.] Now this matter we have discussed elsewhere, and have shown that all the Names proper to God are always applied in Scripture not partially but to the whole, entire, full, complete Godhead, and that they all refer indivisibly, absolutely, unreservedly, and wholly to all the wholeness of the whole and entire Godhead. Indeed (as we made mention in the Outlines of Divinity), if any one deny that such utterance refers to the whole Godhead, he blasphemeth and profanely dares to divide the Absolute and Supreme Unity. We must, then, take them as referring unto the entire Godhead. For not only did the goodly Word Himself say: “I am Good,”¹⁶⁹¹⁶⁹John x. 11. but 66also one of the inspired prophets speaks of the Spirit as Good.¹⁷⁰¹⁷⁰Ps. cxliii. 10. This is a further argument arising out of what has been said above. The point here is that we cannot limit the title “Good” to one Person of the Trinity. (The notion that the Father is stern and the Son mollifies His sternness is false.) The rest of the section takes other titles and shows how they are common to all Three Persons of the Trinity. So, too, of the words “I Am that I Am.”¹⁷¹¹⁷¹Ex. iii. 14. If, instead of applying these to the whole Godhead, they wrest them to include only one part Thereof, how will they explain such passages as: “Thus saith He that is and was and is to come, the Almighty,”¹⁷²¹⁷²Rev. i. 4. or: “Thou art the same,”¹⁷³¹⁷³Ps. cii. 27. or “The Spirit of Truth that is, and that proceedeth from the Father”?¹⁷⁴¹⁷⁴John xv. 26. And if they deny that the whole Godhead is Life, how can that Sacred Word be true Which declared “As the Father raiseth the dead and quickeneth them, even so the Son quickeneth whom He will,”¹⁷⁵¹⁷⁵John v. 21. and also, “It is the Spirit that quickeneth”?¹⁷⁶¹⁷⁶John vi. 63. And as to the Dominion over the whole world belonging to the whole Godhead, it is impossible, methinks, to say (as far as concerns the Paternal and the Filial Godhead) how often in the Scriptures the Name of “Lord” is repeated as belonging both to the Father and to the Son: moreover the Spirit, too, is Lord.¹⁷⁷¹⁷⁷2 Cor. iii. 17. And the Names “Fair” and “Wise” are given to the whole Godhead; and all the Names that belong to the whole Godhead (e.g. “Deifying Virtue” and “Cause”) Scripture introduces into all its praises of the Supreme Godhead comprehensively, as when it saith that “all things are from God,”¹⁷⁸¹⁷⁸1 Chron. xxix. 14. and more in detail, as when it saith that “through Him are and to Him are all things created,”¹⁷⁹¹⁷⁹Rom. xi. 36. that “all things subsist in Him,”¹⁸⁰¹⁸⁰Ibid. and that “Thou shalt send forth Thy Spirit and they shall be created.”¹⁸¹¹⁸¹Ps. civ. 30. And, to sum it all in brief, 67the Divine Word Himself declared: “I and the Father are one,”¹⁸²¹⁸²John x. 30. and “All things that the Father hath are mine,”¹⁸³¹⁸³John xvi. 15. and “All mine are thine, and thine are mine.”¹⁸⁴¹⁸⁴John xvii. 10. And again, all that belongeth to the Father and to Himself He also ascribes in the Common Unity to the Divine Spirit, viz. the Divine operations, the worship, the originating and inexhaustible creativeness and the ministration of the bountiful gifts. And, methinks, that none of those nurtured in the Divine Scriptures will, except through perversity, gainsay it, that the Divine Attributes in their true and Divine signification all belong to the entire Deity. And, therefore, having here briefly and partially (and more at large elsewhere) given from the Scriptures the proof and definition of this matter, we intend that whatever title of God’s Entire Nature we endeavour to explain be understood as referring to the Godhead in Its entirety.

2. And if any one say that we herein are introducing a confusion of all distinctions in the Deity,¹⁸⁵¹⁸⁵i.e. That we are seeking to destroy the distinction between the Persons of the Trinity. we for our part opine that such his argument is not sufficient even to persuade himself. For if he is one utterly at enmity with the Scriptures, he will also be altogether far from our Philosophy; and if he recks not of the Holy Wisdom drawn from the Scriptures, how can he reckon aught of that method by which we would conduct him to an understanding of things Divine? But if he taketh Scriptural Truth as his Standard, this is the very Rule and Light by which we will (so far as in us lies) proceed straight to our defence, and will declare that the Sacred Science sometimes employs a method of Undifference and sometimes one of Differentiation; and that we must neither disjoin those things which are Undifferenced 68nor confuse those which are Differentiated; but following the Sacred Science to the best of our powers, we must lift up our eyes towards the Divine Rays; for, receiving thence the Divine Revelations as a noble Standard of Truth, we strive to preserve its treasure in ourselves without addition, diminution, or distortion, and in thus preserving the Scriptures, we also are preserved, and are moreover enabled by the same to the end that we may still preserve them and be by them preserved.

3. Now Undifferenced Names belong to the entire Godhead¹⁸⁶¹⁸⁶The method of Undifference applies to the ultimate Godhead, that of Differentiation to the emanating Godhead. The absolute and the relative planes of Being both belong to God. On the absolute plane all distinctions are transcended, and the Persons exist in a manner in which They would appear to us to be merged, but on the relative plane we see that They are eternally distinct. See Intr., p. 8. (as we showed more fully from the Scriptures in the Outlines of Divinity). To this class belong the following: “Super-Excellent,” “Super-Divine,” “Super-Essential,” “Super-Vital,” “Supra-Sapient,” and thereto all those titles wherein the negative expresses excess; moreover, all those titles which have a causal sense, such as “Good,” “Fair,” “Existent,” “Lifegiving,” “Wise,” and whatever titles are ascribed to the Cause of all good things from Its bountiful gifts.¹⁸⁷¹⁸⁷Because we see things which are good, fair, existent, etc., we apply to God, their ultimate Cause, the titles “Good,” “Fair,” “Existent,” etc. See p. 36, n. 6. The differentiated Names, on the other hand, are the Super-Essential names and connotations of “Father,” “Son,” and “Spirit.” In these cases the titles cannot be interchanged, nor are they held in common. Again, besides this, the perfect and unchangeable subsistence of Jesus in our nature is differentiated, and so are all the mysteries of Love and Being therein displayed.¹⁸⁸¹⁸⁸i. e. Only the Second Person was Incarnate, was crucified, etc. ‘Mysteries of Love and Being” = φιλανθρωφίας οὐσιώδη μυστήρια.

4. But needs must we, methinks, go deeper into the matter and thoroughly explain the difference between Undifference and Differentiation as concerning God, in order that our whole Discourse may be made clear, and, being free from all doubtfulness and obscurity, may (to the best of our powers) give a distinct, plain, and orderly statement of the matter. For, as I said elsewhere, the Initiates of our Divine Tradition designate the Undifferenced Attributes of the Transcendently Ineffable and Unknowable Permanence as hidden, incommunicable Ultimates, but the beneficent Differentiations of the Supreme Godhead, they call Emanations¹⁸⁹¹⁸⁹προόδους τε καὶ ἐκφάνσεις,—sc. the Persons of the Trinity. See Intr., p. 16. and Manifestations; and following the Holy Scripture they declare that some Attributes belong especially to Undifference, and some, on the other hand, to Differentiation.¹⁹⁰¹⁹⁰The received text reads: Φᾶσι . . . καὶ τῆς εἰρημένης ἑνώσεως ἴδια καὶ αὖθις τῆς διακρίσεως εἶνάι τινας ἰδικὰς καὶ ἱνώσεις καὶ διακρίσεις. This, as it stands, must be translated: “They say that certain qualities belong to the said Undifference, and that to Differentiation, on the other hand, belong certain principles of Unity and principles of Differentiation.” This would mean that the Persons of the Trinity, though distinct from Each Other, yet have a Common Unity, or else that Each has a Unity of Its Own making It distinct from the Other Persons.    I have ventured, however, to emend the text by omitting the last six words and making the sentence end at εἶναι. I believe the last six words have crept in from a marginal gloss or variant, which ran (I imagine) as follows:—εἶναί τινας ἰδικὰς κ.τ.λ.. If the MS. belonged to a family having seventeen or eighteen letters to a column the εἶναι after διακρίσεως would end a line, since there are 571 letters from the beginning of the chapter to the end of that word. Hence it would easily be confused with the εἶναι at the beginning of the gloss, which would thus creep into the text. And, since the added words amount to thirty-four letters, they would exactly fill two lines, thus making the interpolation easier. For the meaning, see Intr., p. 6f. For instance, they say concerning the Divine Unity, or Super-Essence, that the undivided Trinity holds in a common Unity without distinction Its Subsistence beyond Being, Its Godhead beyond Deity, Its Goodness beyond Excellence; 70the Identity, surpassing all things, of Its transcendently Individual Nature; Its Oneness above Unity; Its Namelessness and Multiplicity of Names; Its Unknowableness and perfect Intelligibility; Its universal Affirmation¹⁹¹¹⁹¹Cf. Myst. Theo1. I. 2. This universal Affirmation is not pantheism because evil, as such, is held to be non-existent. It is only all goodness that is affirmed of God, though He surpasses it. God is present in all things, but not equally in all. and universal Negation in a state above all Affirmation and Negation,¹⁹²¹⁹²“Yes” implies the possibility of “No,” and “No” the possibility of “Yes.” Thus “Yes” and “No” belong to the relative world. God’s absolute existence is beyond such antithesis. See Intr., p. 4f. and that It possesses the mutual Abiding and Indwelling (as it were) of Its indivisibly supreme Persons in an utterly Undifferentiated and Transcendent Unity, and yet without any confusion¹⁹³¹⁹³The Persons, though fused, are yet not confused because the Godhead transcends unity. See Intr., p. 5. even as the lights of lamps (to use visible and homely similes) being in one house and wholly interpenetrating one another, severally possess a clear and absolute distinction each from each, and are by their distinctions united into one, and in their unity are kept distinct. Even so do we see, when there are many lamps in a house, how that the lights of them all are unified into one undifferentiated light, so that there shineth forth from them one indivisible brightness; and no one, methinks, could separate the light of one particular lamp from the others, in isolation from the air which embraces them all, nor could he see one light without another, inasmuch as, without confusion, they yet are wholly commingled.

Yea, if any one takes out of the dwelling one of the burning lamps, all its own particular light will therewith depart from the place without either carrying off in itself aught of the other lights or bequeathing any of its own brightness to the rest. For, as 71I said, the entire and complete union of the lights one with another brought no confusion or commixture in any parts—and that though the light is literally embodied in the air and streams from the material substance of fire. The Super-Essential Unity of God, however, exceedeth (so we declare) not only the unions of material bodies, but even those of Souls and of Intelligences, which these Godlike and celestial Luminaries in perfect mutual interpenetration supernaturally and without confusion possess, through a participation corresponding to their individual powers of participating in the All-Transcendent Unity.¹⁹⁴¹⁹⁴Material things are merged by being united (e. g. drops of water). Souls or angels being united through love (whereby they participate in God) are not merged but remain distinct even while being, as it were, fused into a single spiritual unity more perfect than the fusion of water with wine. The Persons of the Trinity are still more perfectly united and at the same time still more utterly distinct.

5. There is, on the other hand, a Differentiation made in the Super-Essential Doctrine of God—not merely such as I have just mentioned (viz. that in the very Unity, Each of the Divine Persons possesses without confusion Its own distinct existence), but also that the Attributes of the Super-Essential Divine Generation are not interchangeable.¹⁹⁵¹⁹⁵Two kinds of Differentiation: (1) Distinctness of Existence, (2) Difference of Functions. The Father alone is the Source of the Super-Essential Godhead, and the Father is not a Son, nor is the Son a Father; for the Divine Persons all preserve, Each without alloy, His own particular Attributes of praise. Such, then, are the instances of Undifference and of Differentiation in the Ineffable Unity and Subsistence of God. And if the term “Differentiation” be also applied to the bounteous act of Emanation whereby the Divine Unity, brimming Itself with goodness in the excess of Its Undifferenced Unity thus enters 72into Multiplicity,¹⁹⁶¹⁹⁶D. means that the Undifferentiated Godhead is actually present in all these creative activities. It is multiplied (as it were) in Its energies, and yet It remains indivisible. See Intr., p. 17. yet an undifferenced unity worketh even in those differentiated acts whereby, in ceaseless communications, It bestows Being, Life, and Wisdom, and those other gifts of the all-creative Goodness in respect of which (as we behold the communications and the participants thereof) we celebrate those things wherein the creatures supernaturally participate. Yea, ‘tis a common and undifferenced activity of the whole Godhead that It is wholly and entirely communicated unto each of them that share It and unto none merely in part;¹⁹⁷¹⁹⁷D. here touches on the fundamental difference between spiritual and material things. Cf. Shelley: “True love has this different from gold or clay that to divide is not to take away.” even as the centre of a circle is shared by all the radii which surround it in a circle;¹⁹⁸¹⁹⁸Plotinus uses the same illustration (Enn. iv. 1). and as there are many impressions of a seal all sharing in the seal which is their archetype while yet this is entire, nor is it only a part thereof that belongeth unto any of them. But the Incommunicable All-creative Godhead transcends all such symbols in that It is beyond Apprehension nor hath It any other mode of communion such as to join It unto the participants.¹⁹⁹¹⁹⁹D. is always on his guard against Pantheism.

Perhaps, however, some one will say: “The seal is not entire and the same in all the printed copies.” I answer that this is not due to the seal itself (for it gives itself wholly and identically to each), but the difference of the substances which share it makes the impressions of the one, entire, identical archetype to be different. For instance, if they are soft, plastic, and smooth, and have no print already, and are neither hard and resistent, nor yet melting and unstable, the imprint will be clear, plain, and permanent; 73but if the aforesaid fitness should in aught be lacking, then the material will not take the impression and reproduce it distinctly, and other such results will follow as an unsuitable material must bring about.

6. Again, it is by a Differentiated act of God’s benevolence that the Super-Essential Word should wholly and completely take Human Substance of human flesh and do and suffer all those things which, in a special and particular manner, belong to the action of His Divine Humanity. In these acts the Father and the Spirit have no share, except of course that they all share in the loving generosity of the Divine counsels and in all that transcendent Divine working of unutterable mysteries which were performed in Human Nature by Him Who as God and as the Word of God is Immutable.²⁰⁰²⁰⁰Redemption is a work performed by the whole Trinity through the Second Person. (So, too, is Creation. Cf. p. 65, n. 2). So do we strive to differentiate the Divine Attributes, according as these Attributes are Undifferenced or Differentiated.²⁰¹²⁰¹i. e. We strive to distinguish the two planes of Being in God. Cf. Athan. Creed: “Neither confounding the Persons,” etc.

7. Now all the grounds of these Unifications, and Differentiations in the Divine Nature which the Scriptures have revealed to us, we have explained in the Outlines of Divinity, to the best of our abilities, treating separately of each. The latter class we have philosophically unravelled and unfolded, and so have sought to guide the holy and unspotted mind to contemplate the shining truths of Scripture, while the former class we have endeavoured (in accordance with Divine Tradition) to apprehend as Mysteries in a manner beyond the activities of our minds.²⁰²²⁰²Undifference belongs to the ultimate Godhead, Differentiation to the distinction between the Three Persons of the Trinity. The former is the sphere of Mystical Theology, the latter is that of Dogmatic Theology. The former implies the Via Negativa the latter the Via Affirmativa. For 74all Divine things, even those that are revealed to us, are only known by their Communications. Their ultimate nature, which they possess in their own original being, is beyond Mind and beyond all Being and Knowledge.²⁰³²⁰³Even the Differentiations finally lead us up into the Undifferenced Godhead Where they transcend themselves. (Cf. p. 70, n. 3 and the passage in ii. 4 about the torches.) Into that region we cannot track them. But on the other side they flow out into creative activity, and thus are, in some degree, revealed. For instance, if we call the Super-Essential Mystery by the Name of “God,’’ or “Life,” or “Being,” or “Light,” or “Word,” we conceive of nothing else than the powers that stream Therefrom to us bestowing Godhead, Being, Life or Wisdom;²⁰⁴²⁰⁴These terms may be thus classified:— Sphere of Activity. Nature of Gift. Form under which Giver is manifested  (i) Grace.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  Godhead .  “God”     (ii) Nature (1) Material existence.  .  .  .  .  .  . Being .  “Being” } “Word.” (2) Vegetable and animal existence.  .  . Life .  “Life” (3) Human existence.  .  .  .  .  .  .  Wisdom .  “Light” while that Mystery Itself we strive to apprehend by casting aside all the activities of our mind, since we behold no Deification,²⁰⁵²⁰⁵The doctrine of “Deification” is not a mere speculation. It embodies an experienced fact. See Intr., p. 43. or Life, or Being, which exactly resembles the altogether and utterly Transcendent Cause of all things. Again, that the Father is Originating Godhead while Jesus and the Spirit are (so to speak) Divine Off-shoots of the Paternal Godhead, and, as it were, Blossoms and Super-Essential Shinings Thereof we learn from Holy Scripture; but how these things are so we cannot say, nor yet conceive.

8. Just so far can the powers of our .minds attain as to see that all spiritual paternity and sonship is a gift bestowed from the all-transcendent Archetypal Fatherhood and Sonship both upon us and also upon the celestial Powers: whereby Godlike Minds receive 75the states and names of Gods, and Sons of Gods, and Fathers of Gods, such paternity and sonship being perfected in a spiritual manner (i. e. incorporeally, immaterially, and invisibly) because the Divine Spirit setteth above all invisible Immateriality and Deification, and the Father and the Son, supernaturally transcend all spiritual fatherhood and sonship.²⁰⁶²⁰⁶The act by which one spirit or soul imparts spiritual life to another is a manifestation in time of a Mystery which is eternally perfect in the Trinity, and would be impossible were it not ultimately rooted in that Mystery. Just as all life draws its existence from the Divine supra-vitality, so all spiritual paternity draws its existence from the Divine supra-paternity. For there is no exact similitude between the creatures and the Creative Originals;²⁰⁷²⁰⁷τὰ αἴτια—i.e. The Persons of the Godhead. for the creatures possess only such images of the Creative Originals as are possible to them, while the Originals Themselves transcend and exceed the creatures by the very nature of Their own Originality. To employ human examples, we say that pleasant or painful conditions produce in us feelings of pleasure or pain while yet they possess not these feelings themselves; and we do not say that the fire which warms and burns is itself burnt or warmed. Even so if any one says that Very Life lives, or that Very Light is enlightened, he will be wrong (according to my view) unless, perchance, he were to use these terms in a different sense from the ordinary one to mean that the qualities of created things pre-exist, after a superlative manner as touching their true Being in the Creative Originals.²⁰⁸²⁰⁸So St. Augustine constantly teaches that God acts not in the manner which we call activity, but by causing the creature itself to perform the action. Thus he explains God’s rest on the Seventh Day to mean not that God Himself rested but that the creation now rested in Him. Aristotle and his disciple, St. Thomas, teach that God moves all things simply through being desired by them. So God causes action without Himself acting (somewhat as fire causes warmth without feeling it). Cf. p. 87, n. 1.

9. Even the plainest article of Divinity, namely the 76Incarnation and Birth of Jesus in Human Form, cannot be expressed by any Language or known by any Mind—not even by the first of the most exalted angels. That He took man’s substance is a mysterious truth, the which we have received; but we know not how from the Virgin’s seed He was formed in another manner than is natural, nor how His dry feet supporting the solid weight of His material body He walked upon the unstable substance of the water, nor understand we any of the other things which belong to the Supernatural Nature of Jesus. Of these things I have spoken enough elsewhere; and our renowned Teacher hath wonderfully²⁰⁹²⁰⁹ὑπερφυῶς. The proper meaning of ὑπερφυής in the Dionysian writings appears to be “supernatural.” declared, in his Elements of Divinity, what he hath either learnt directly from the Sacred Writers, or else hath discovered from his cunning research concerning Scriptural truths through the much toil and labour which he bestowed thereon, or else hath had revealed unto him by some diviner inspiration wherein he received not only true spiritual notions but also true spiritual motions,²¹⁰²¹⁰οὺ μόνον μαθὼν ἀλλὰ καὶ παθὼν τὰ θεῖα. and by the kinship of his mind with them (if I may so express it) was perfected to attain without any other teacher to a mystical communion with these verities and a belief therein.²¹¹²¹¹πρὸς τὴν ὰδιδακτὸν αὐτῶν καὶ μυστικὴν ἀποτελεσθεὶς ἕνωσιν καὶ πίστιν. And to put before them in briefest compass the many blessed speculations of his ingenious mind thus speaketh he concerning Jesus in his compilation of the Elements of Divinity.

10. From the Elements of Divinity, by S. Hierotheus.

The Universal Cause which filleth all things is the Deity of Jesus, whereof the parts are in such wise tempered to the whole that It is neither whole nor part, and yet is at the same time whole and also part, 77containing in Its all-embracing unity both part and whole, and being transcendent and antecedent to both.²¹²²¹²Being beyond Unity the Godhead is, of course, beyond the categories of whole and part. The Godhead is not a Whole because it is indivisible, nor a Part because there is nothing, on the ultimate plane, outside It. Yet It is a Whole because It includes the true existence of all things, and is Partitive because It contains the principle of separate Individuality whereby Christ possesses a Human Soul distinct from all other human souls, and whereby, too, we possess distinct and separate souls. This Deity is perfect in those Beings that are imperfect as a Fount of Perfection;²¹³²¹³God is in us even before we are in Him. Cf. Luke xvii. 21. Cf. St. Aug., “Thou wast within; I was without.” Also cf. c. i. 3; c. iii. i: “For the Trinity,” etc. See Intr., p. 6 on the use of the word ” outside.” It is Perfectionless²¹⁴²¹⁴Perfection implies an objector purpose achieved. Hence it implies a distinction between self and not self. The Godhead is beyond such a distinction. Compared with imperfection, It is perfect; compared with perfection, It is perfectionless (ἀτελής), or, rather, beyond Perfection (ὑπερτελής) and before it (προτέλειος), just as compared with impersonal things It is personal, and compared with personality It is non-personal, or, rather, supra-personal. in those that are perfect as transcending and anticipating their Perfection; It is the Form producing Form in the formless, as a Fount of every form; and it is Formless in the Forms, as being beyond all form; It is the Being that pervades all beings at once though not affected by them;²¹⁵²¹⁵Cf. p. 75, n. 3. and It is Super-Essential, as transcending every being; It sets all bounds of Authority and Order, and yet It has Its seal beyond all Authority and Order.²¹⁶²¹⁶Cf. St. Paul on the Law and the Spirit. The Law is deposited, as it were, by the Spirit; and yet the Law cramps the Spirit, and the Spirit must break loose from this bondage. It is the Measure of the Universe;²¹⁷²¹⁷i. e. It gives the universe its bounds and distinctions. and it is Eternity, and above Eternity and before Eternity.²¹⁸²¹⁸Eternity, in the sense of ” Very Eternity” (αὐτοαιών), is an Emanation of the Godhead—a distinct view of Its transcendent state (cf. Intr., p. i7). It is the Divine Rest taken in the abstract, as Very Life is perhaps the Divine Motion taken in the abstract. The Godhead includes both rest and Motion by transcending them. It is an 78Abundance in those Beings that lack, and a Super-Abundance in those that abound; unutterable, ineffable; beyond Mind, beyond Life, beyond Being; It supernaturally possesses the supernatural and super-essentially possesses the super-essential.²¹⁹²¹⁹Behind Nature are certain higher supernatural possibilities (which are manifested, e. g., in the Miracles of Christ and His Disciples), and beyond our personalities there is a mystery which is greater than our finite selves, and yet, in a sense, is our true selves. The Godhead possesses in Itself the supernatural possibilities of Nature and the supra-personal possibilities of our personalities. And since that Supra-Divine Being hath in loving kindness come down from thence unto the Natural Estate, and verily took substance and assumed the name of Man (we must speak with reverence of those things which we utter beyond human thought and language), even in this act He possesses His Supernatural and Super-Essential Existence—not only in that He hath without change or confusion of Attributes shared in our human lot while remaining unaffected by that unutterable Self-Emptying as regards the fullness of His Godhead, but also because (most wonderful of all wonders!) He passed in His Supernatural and Super-Essential state through conditions of Nature and Being, and receiving from us all things that are ours, exalted them far above us.²²⁰²²⁰i. e. Christ did not merely keep His Godhead parallel, as it were, with His Manhood, but brought It into His Manhood and so exalted the Manhood.

11. So much for these matters. Now let us proceed to the object of our discussion and endeavour to explain the Common and Undifferenced Names belonging to God’s Differentiated Being.²²¹²²¹e. Let us explain what are the Names which belong indivisibly to all Three Persons of the Trinity. And, that the subject of our investigation may be clearly defined beforehand, we give the name of Divine Differentiation 79(as was said) to the beneficent Emanations of the Supreme Godhead.²²²²²²The word “Emanation” is here used in its very widest sense as including (1) the Persons of the Trinity, (2) Their creative activity as manifested in the Universal and the Particular stream of energy. See Intr., p. 17. The Differentiated Being of the Trinity underlies all the Differentiations of the creative process. The Trinity is differentiated on the plane of Eternity; then It emanates or energizes on the temporal plane, and thus It is manifested in all the differentiations of the universe, (especially in deified souls). For bestowing upon all things and supernally infusing Its Communications unto the goodly Universe, It becomes differentiated without loss of Undifference;²²³²²³God is indivisibly present in each separate deified soul (see supra, p. 71), the sentence beginning: “And if the term ‘Differentiation’ be also applied to the bounteous act,” etc. and multiplied without loss of Unity; from Its Oneness it becomes manifold while yet remaining within Itself. For example, since God is super-essentially Existent and bestows existence upon all things that are, and brings the world into being, that single Existence of His is said to become manifold through bringing forth the many existences from Itself, while yet He remains One in the act of Self-Multiplication; Undifferenced throughout the process of Emanation, and Full in the emptying process of Differentiation; Super-Essentially transcending the Being of all things, and guiding the whole world onwards by an indivisible act, and pouring forth without diminution His indefectible bounties. Yea, being One and communicating of His Unity both unto every part of the world and also unto the whole, both unto that which is one and unto that which is many, He is One in an unchangeable and super-essential manner, being neither an unit in the multiplicity of things nor yet the sum total of such units. Indeed, He is not an unity in this sense, and doth not participate in unity nor possess it;²²⁴²²⁴These two phrases well express the meaning of the title “Beyond things and supernally infusing Unity” (ὑπερηνωμένη), which I have generally translated, like ἡνωμένη, as “Undifferenced.” but He is an Unity in a manner far 80different from this, above all unity which is in the world; yea, He is an Indivisible Plurality, insatiable yet brim-full, producing, perfecting, and maintaining all unity and plurality. Moreover, since many, through Deification from Him, are made Gods²²⁵²²⁵τῇ ἐξ αὐτοῦ θεώσει . . . θεῶν πολλῶν γιγνομένων. See Intr., p. 43. (so far as the Godlike capacity of each allows), there thus appears to be what is called a Differentiation²²⁶²²⁶Cf. p. 71, n. 1. and a Reduplication of the One God, yet none the less He is the primal God, the Supra-Divine and Super-Essentially One God, who dwells Indivisibly within the separate and individual things, being an Undifferenced Unity in Himself and without any commixture or multiplication through His contact with the Many.²²⁷²²⁷The fullness of God’s Unity is manifested, (1) in all the multiplicity of the material world, (2) after a higher manner in the deified souls of men and in angels. And supernaturally perceiving this, thus speaketh (by inspiration, in his holy writings) that Guide unto Divine illumination by whom both we and our teacher are led, that mighty man in things Divine, that Luminary of the world. For though (saith he) there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth (as there be gods many and lords many). But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in Him, and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by Him. For in divine things the undifferenced Unities are of more might than the Differentiations²²⁸²²⁸Each deified soul is a differentiation of God (cf. p. 71, n. i); yet the Unity of God transcends them all, even after God has thus poured Himself into them. and hold the foremost place and retain their state of Undifference even after the One has, without departing from Its oneness, entered into Differentiation. These Differentiations or beneficent Emanations of the whole 81Godhead—whereby Its Undifferenced Nature is shared in common²²⁹²²⁹i. e. These active Manifestations whereby God enters into each part of the universe, yet without loss of Unity.—we shall (so far as in us lies) endeavour to describe from the Divine Names which reveal them in the Scriptures, having now made this clear beforehand (as hath been said): that every Name of the Divine beneficent Activity unto whichever of the Divine Persons it is applied, must be taken as belonging, without distinction, to the whole entirety of the Godhead.²³⁰²³⁰See the beginning of this chapter.