of the unoriginate, nor made of things previously existing; but that by the will and purpose of God he was in being before time, perfectly divine, the only-begotten; that before his generation he was not; that we believe in one God alone without birth, alone everlasting, alone unoriginate. We believe that God gave birth to the only-begotten Son, before eternal periods, making the divine family a Triad, through whom he made these periods and all else that was made; that he gave birth to the Son, not in semblance, not in idea, but in truth giving unto him a real existence; and we have refused to profess faith in the teachings of Bishop Alexander, that ’as God is eternal, so is his Son’; ’where the Father, there the Son’; ’the Son is present in God without birth’; ’ever-begotten’; ’an Eternal God, an Eternal Son’; ’the Son is your God himself.’ "But I have never taught this philosophy as an article of faith, binding upon the conscience of believers; and have required of them to profess faith in nothing except what the gospels declare." The philosophy of Arius struck many as a novel thing. To some of them it seemed to be a rational and beautiful solution of problems which they had pondered long and regarded as insoluble, and had abandoned in despair. To none of them did it seem to be at all tainted with heresy. But Athanasius had a definite end in view, which closed his ears to any statement the presbyter might make, although he waited courteously until Arius had concluded his remarks, and then exclaimed, "Hast thou not taught that the Son of God was created out of things not existing?" "Never," said Arius. "Thou knowest I have taught that he was not ’created’ at all, but ’begotten’; ’conceived,’ not made." "Hast thou not taught that there was a time when the Son was not?" "Nay, verily! The word ’time’ is thine own, not mine. But I have said ’God was, when he was not.’ I have said that ’before he was begotten he was not.’ Else how could God beget him? But this was in the beginning, before ’time’ was." "Hast thou not taught that the Father was superior to the Son, and the Son inferior to the Father?"