Note 794 — Chapter X · LEARNING AND LANGUAGE.

Et exceptis his, quæ aut Lex, aut Prophetæ, aut Evangelium, aut Apostoli loquuntur, grande debet esse ab aliis de Trinitate silentium. Dei enim tantum de Deo, hoc est, de seipso credendum est testimonium.—Migne, Patrologia, vol. xxxvii. col. 233. When Columbanus goes on to say, ‘Cæterum disputatio, seu ingenium humanum, aut aliqua superba sapientia, quæ vel mundi in ratione fallitur, de Deo magistra esse non potest, sed sacrilega et impia in Deum præsumenda est,’ it is hardly possible to avoid the suspicion that it was intended as a protest against the Athanasian Creed and its metaphysical definitions, which probably made its appearance about this time in the Church.