the incentives of vice, (in c. 6, p. 368.)
St. Peter he calls the Prince of the College of the Apostles, and
the Porter of Heaven, and extols the authority of the keys conferred
upon him, (in Matt. c. 7, p. 642, in c. 16, p. 690. Also 1. 6. de
Trin. p. 891, 903, 9114.) He proves that Christ, in his bloody
sweat, grieved more for the danger of his disciples and other
causes, than for his own death; because he had in his last supper
already consecrated his blood to be poured forth for the remission
of sin. Numquid pati ipse nolebat. Atquin superius fundendum in
remissionem peccatorum corporis sui sanguinem consecraverat, (S.
Hilar. in Matt. c. 31, p. 743.) His twelve books on the Trinity he
compiled during his banishment in Phrygia, between the years 356 and
359, as is clear from his own express testimony, and that of St.
Jerom. In the first book of this immortal monument of his admirable
genius and piety, he beautifully shows that man's felicity is only
to be found in God; and that the light of reason suffices to
demonstrate this, which he illustrates by an account of his own
conversion to the faith. After this he takes notice, that we can
learn only by God's revelation, his nature, or what he is, he being
the competent witness of himself, who it known only by himself, (n.
18, p. 777.) In the second book he explains the Trinity, which we
profess in the form of baptism, and says, that faith alone in
believing, and sincerity and devotion in adoring, this mystery ought
to suffice without disputing or prying, and laments, that by the
blasphemies of the Sabellians and Arians, who perverted the true
sense of the scriptures, he was compelled to dispute of things
ineffable and incomprehensible which only necessity can excuse, (n.
25.) He then proves the eternal generation of the Son, the
procession of the Holy Ghost, and their consubstantiality in one
nature, (l. 2 and 3.) He checks their presumption in pretending to
fathom the Trinity, by showing that they cannot understand many
miracles of Christ or corporeal things, which yet they confess to be
most certain, (l. 3, n. 19, 20, 24.) He detects and confutes the
subtilties of the Arians, in their various confessions of faith, (l.
4, 5, 6,) also of the Sabellians and Photinians, (l. 7;) and
demonstrates the divinity of Christ, from the confessi