All sorts of illustrations have been used from the earliest times—such as fountain, brook, river; root, stalk, branch; memory, understanding, will;(76) soul, reason, sense;(77) three persons in grammar, the teacher, the person spoken to, and that spoken of.(78) Some mystics argued the necessity of three persons in the Deity for the sake of a divine society and mutual love.(79) Lessing argues that “God from eternity must have contemplated that which is most perfect, but that is himself; but to contemplate with God, is to create; God’s thought of himself, therefore, must be a being, but a divine being, that is, God, the Son God; but these two, God the thinker and God the thought, are in perfect divine harmony, and this harmony is the Spirit.”(80) Leibnitz also considers the Trinity as illustrated best by the process of reflection in the human mind. Strauss objects to this class of definitions, that they are two elements united in a third, while the Church doctrine requires three united in a fourth. The Church doctrine concerning the Trinity appears most fully developed in its Orthodox form in what is called the Creed of St. Athanasius. It was not written by him, but by some one in the fifth or sixth century. 1. Whosoever will be saved, before all things must take care to keep the Catholic faith: 2. Which except one keeps it entire and inviolate, he shall without doubt perish everlastingly. 3. But the Catholic faith is this: that we adore one God in Trinity, and the Trinity in Unity; 4. Neither confounding the persons, nor dividing the substance. 5. For there is one person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Spirit. 6. But the divinity of the Father, Son, and Spirit, is one, the glory equal, the majesty equal. 7. As is the Father, so is the Son, and so is the Holy Spirit. 8. The Father is uncreated, the Son is uncreated, and the Holy Spirit uncreated. 9. The Father immeasurable,(81) the Son immeasurable, and the Holy Spirit immeasurable. 10. The Father eternal, the Son eternal, and the Holy Spirit eternal. 11. And yet there are not three Eternals, but one Eternal. 12. And so there are not _three_ uncreated, nor _three_ immeasurable, but _one_ uncreated, and _one_ immeasurable. 13. So the Father is omnipotent, the Son is omnipotent, and the Holy Spirit is omnipotent. 14. And yet there are not _three_ omnipotents, but one omnipotent. 15. So the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God. 16. And yet there are not _three_ Gods, but _one_ God. 17. So the Father is Lord, the Son is Lord, and the Holy Spirit is Lord. 18. And yet there are not _three_ Lords, but _one_ Lord. 19. For as we are compelled by Christian truth to confess of each one, that each person(82) is God and Lord; so we are forbidden by the Catholic religion from saying three Gods or three Lords. 20. The Father is not made, nor created, nor begotten. 21. The Son is from the Father alone; not made, nor created, _but begotten_.