奥古斯丁知道自己是在“努力言说人断不能言说之物（to speak of subjects which cannot altogether be spoken as they are thought）。无论如何，当我们想到上帝三位一体时，便认识到，我们的思想不足以达到其对象，不能如其所是的领会他。”【159】

“上帝是实体，也许更好的词是存在（是者），即希腊语的ousia。…故‘是者’出自‘是’…我们叫做是者或实体的别的东西都允许有限定，或显或微地有所改变。但上帝断不能限定，故而上帝所是的实体或是者独独不变，故而最高最真的是属于它，从它才出了‘是者’之名（He is, however, without doubt, a substance, or, if it be better so to call it, an essence, which the Greeks call οὐσία，…so from being comes that which we call essence… other things that are called essences or substances admit of accidents, whereby a change, whether great or small, is produced in them. But there can be no accident of this kind in respect to God; and therefore He who is God is the only unchangeable substance or essence, to whom certainly being itself, whence comes the name of essence, most especially and most truly belongs）。”【161】

奥古斯丁明确说三位一体并非恰当之称而是无奈之举：“我们说三个位格，不是为了说得确切，而是为了不化作沉默（three “persons,” not that it might be [completely] spoken, but that it might not be left [wholly] unspoken.”【168】

我们关于上帝的思想，真于我们关于上帝的言谈，而上帝本身之所是，又远真于我们关于他的思想（For God is more truly thought than He is altered, and exists more truly than He is thought）。”【203】

类和种的逻辑类型用于说三位一体是成问题的，而“为了讨论和论证的需要，说三位乃是合法的；不是因为《圣经》这么说过，而是因为《圣经》没有非难这个说法。但我们若说三个上帝，那圣经就会非难我们了（it was lawful through the mere necessity of speaking and reasoning to say three persons, not because Scripture says it, but because Scripture does not contradict it: whereas, if we were to say three Gods, Scripture would contradict it）。”【205】

“我们只好承认，采用这些术语是受形式所迫，是为了以最充分的可能论证来反对异端派的诡计和谬误（we confess that these terms sprang from the necessity of speaking, when copious reasoning was required against the devices or errors of the heretics）。”【206】

“我的理解是苦劳多于功劳（I felt that I have made an attempt more than I have achieved success）。”【443】

奥古斯丁对教义与神真理本身的清醒与敬畏，岂是你们这些庸俗化、偶像化TULIP的教义崇拜者所能理解的。

愿神怜悯你们几个庸俗化、偶像化TULIP的教义崇拜者