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Yet he did not utter this by his own authority, even if it was said somewhere, that "Isaiah said," and not God the Father, or the Son, or His Spirit through Isaiah. Nor indeed were the apostles deceived, who from childhood were at once nurtured in the Scriptures, and were entrusted with the preaching of the new grace, who have, through the goodness of the Trinity in unity, what no other man yet has. But John is also clear, as they say, even to a blind man, understanding that the Son of God said these things; and Paul, that the Holy Spirit did. For these blessed hypostases command, and the nature of angels and all things yields. For they rule royally, and they govern by their own nature, because of their unchangeable divinity toward the Father from whom they came forth, and all things are referred to Him. So this is one point; and another is, that what other person would be seen, to whom more harmoniously, or more fittingly these things, prophesied from the person of God the Father, would seem to be ascribed as having been said? And of what condemnation is he not worthy who dares to counterfeit the truth about the superior one, and wishing to surpass John and Paul in esteem, who were neither ignorant, nor concealed, but clearly and plainly declared the things concerning this to all? And all Scripture has some sense concerning the greatly-named Spirit has some sense concerning the greatly-named Spirit's 39.661 uniqueness, that is, divinity, being set apart and entirely unranked with all things, but ranked with and in harmony with the first, and originative, and incomparable nature. For what good thing is not always through him, and from him, and indeed also from the only-begotten Son by the good pleasure of God the Father? When, then, the Psalmist says: "Take not thy holy Spirit from me;" and Paul: "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed;" and adds: "Into what then were you baptized?" if you were not baptized into the Holy Spirit; and the only-begotten God: "It is to your advantage that I go away. For if I do not go away, he will not come, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father;" and, "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you;" and God the Father in Haggai: "I am with you, says the Lord Almighty, and my Spirit stands in your midst;" what shall we say that they are saying, except that they proclaimed these things, handing down a divine nature and participation in it, and sanctification, and creative power, purifying us, and as it were making our life brilliant, and helping in all things? And when again God the Father says: "Woe, children! You have made a plan, but not through me; and covenants, but not through my Spirit;" does he not fittingly censure the misery and wretchedness of the Arians, and Eunomians, and Macedonians in their heresy? In addition to these things we might say, that for this reason it was written: "These things Isaiah said;" and, "As David says;" so that the divine ordinance might be shown, through which saint it was preached. But concerning the angel in the story of Balaam we will say this much, that the things concerning him do not have a similar account to those properly stated by Paul and John concerning the divine Spirit, or the Son. For the angel, having been sent, announced what God promised to declare to Balaam at a future time, but he was not himself understood to be God, just as the Son and the Holy Spirit were understood to be the ones who had spoken the things commanded to Isaiah by the one sitting on the divine throne, and existing in unutterable light and incomparable glory. Here too, therefore, they try to show that our things are worthless, but their own things are venerable, and worthy of greater zeal and faith. They produce a certain intermingling and harmony of the divine with created things, and they bring down together, as they are ignorant, the divine conceptions of the Holy Spirit who is always in the same 39.664 state in relation to God the Father, both those of God the Father Himself and of His only-begotten Son, and they suggest that Isaiah, perhaps having been seated on the heavenly throne, commanded himself:

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οὐ μέντοι κατ' ἐξουσίαν ἰδίαν ταύτην ἐφθέγξατο, κἄν που ἐλέχθη, ὅτι "Ἡσαΐας εἶπεν," καὶ οὐχὶ ὁ Θεὸς Πατὴρ, ἢ ὁ Υἱὸς, ἢ τὸ Πνεῦμα αὐτοῦ διὰ Ἡσαΐου. Οὐδὲ μὴν ἐπλανήθησαν οἱ ἀπόστολοι, οἱ ἐκ παίδων εὐθὺς ταῖς Γραφαῖς ἐντεθραμμένοι, καὶ πιστευθέντες τῆς νέας χάριτος τὸ κήρυγμα, οἱ ἔχοντες, διὰ τὴν ἀγαθότητα τῆς ἐν μονάδι Τριάδος, ἃ μήπω τις τῶν ἀνθρώπων καὶ ἕτερος. Ἀλλὰ καὶ Ἰωάννης δῆλός ἐστι, καθά φασι, καὶ τυφλῷ, ταῦτα τὸν Υἱὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ νοήσας εἰρηκέναι· καὶ Παῦλος, τὸ ἅγιον Πνεῦμα. Κελεύουσι γὰρ αἱ μακάριαι ὑποστάσεις αὗται, εἴκει δὲ ἡ ἀγγέλων καὶ πάντων φύσις. Ἡγεμονεύουσι γὰρ βασιλικῶς, καὶ κατάρχουσιν αὐτοφυῶς, διὰ τὴν ἀπαράλλακτον πρὸς τὸν ἐξ οὗ προῆλθον Πατέρα θεότητα, καὶ ἀνάγεται πάντα εἰς ἐκεῖνον. Ἔχεται οὖν ἓν τοῦτο· ἕτερον δὲ, ὅτι τίς ἂν ὀφθείη ἕτερος, ᾧτινι συμφωνότερον, ἢ προσφορώτερον ταῦτα, τὰ ἐκ προσώπου τοῦ Θεοῦ Πατρὸς προφητευθέντα, δόξειεν ἐπιγράφεσθαι ὡς εἰρηκότι; Ποίας δὲ κατακρίσεως οὐκ ἔστιν ἄξιος ὁ τὴν περὶ τοῦ κρείττονος ἀλήθειαν τολμῶν παραχαράττειν, καὶ παρευδοκιμεῖν ἐθέλων Ἰωάννην καὶ Παῦλον, τοὺς μήτ' ἀγνοήσαντας, μήτ' ἀποκρύψαντας, ἐναργῶς δὲ καὶ τρανῶς τὰ περὶ τούτου εἰς πάντας ἐξαγορεύσαντας; Καὶ πᾶσα δὲ Γραφὴ ἔχει τι νόημα περὶ τῆς τοῦ μεγαλωνύμου Πνεύματος ἔχει τι νόημα περὶ τῆς τοῦ μεγαλωνύμου Πνεύματος 39.661 μονότητος, ἤτουν θεότητος, ἐξῃρημένον μὲν καὶ ἀσύντακτον παντελῶς τῶν ὅλων, συντεταγμένον δὲ καὶ σύμφωνον τῆς πρωτίστης, καὶ γενεσιουργοῦ, καὶ ἀσυγκρίτου φύσεως. Τί γὰρ οὐκ ἀεὶ τῶν ἀγαθῶν δι' αὐτοῦ, καὶ παρ' αὐτοῦ, ἔτι μὴν καὶ παρὰ τοῦ μονογενοῦς Υἱοῦ εὐδοκίᾳ τοῦ Θεοῦ Πατρός; Ὅταν οὖν λέγῃ ὁ μὲν Ὑμνολόγος· "Τὸ Πνεῦμά σου τὸ ἅγιον μὴ ἀντανέλῃς ἀπ' ἐμοῦ·" ὁ δὲ Παῦλος· "Εἰ Πνεῦμα ἅγιον ἐλάβετε πιστεύσαντες·" ἐπιφέρῃ τε· "Εἰς τί οὖν ἐβαπτίσθητε;" εἴ γε μὴ εἰς τὸ ἅγιον Πνεῦμα ἐβαπτίσθητε· ὁ δὲ μονογενὴς Θεός· "Συμφέρει ὑμῖν, ἵνα ἐγὼ ἀπέλθω. Ἐὰν γὰρ μὴ ἐγὼ ἀπέλθω, ἐκεῖνος οὐκ ἔρχεται, τὸ Πνεῦμα τῆς ἀληθείας, ὃ παρὰ τοῦ Πατρὸς ἐκπορεύεται·" καὶ, "Ὑμεῖς δὲ λήψεσθε δύναμιν, τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος ἐπελθόντος ἐφ' ὑμᾶς·" καὶ ὁ Θεὸς Πατὴρ ἐν τῷ Ἀγγαίῳ· "Μεθ' ὑμῶν ἐγώ εἰμι, λέγει Κύριος παντοκράτωρ, καὶ τὸ Πνεῦμά μου ἐφέστηκεν ἐν μέσῳ ὑμῶν·" τί φήσομεν αὐτοὺς φάσκειν, ἢ ὅτι θεϊκὴν φύσιν καὶ μέθεξιν αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἁγιασμὸν, καὶ δημιουργικὴν δύναμιν, καθαίρουσαν ἡμῶν, καὶ οἷον ἀπολαμπρύνουσαν τὴν ζωὴν, καὶ ἐν πᾶσιν ἀρωγοῦσαν, παραδιδόντες ταῦτ' ἐξεφώνησαν; Ὅταν δὲ καὶ πάλιν λέγῃ ὁ Θεὸς Πατήρ· "Οὐαὶ, τέκνα! Βουλὴν ἐποιήσατε, οὐ δι' ἐμοῦ· καὶ συνθήκας, οὐ διὰ τοῦ Πνεύματός μου·" ἆρ' οὐκ ἀραρότως Ἀρειανῶν, καὶ Εὐνομιανῶν, καὶ Μακεδονιανῶν τὴν ἐπὶ τῇ αἱρέσει ἀθλιότητα καὶ ταλαιπωρίαν ἐπιμέμφεται; Πρὸς τούτοις φαίημεν ἂν, ὡς διὰ τοῦτο ἐγράφη· "Ταῦτα εἶπεν Ἡσαΐας·" καὶ, "Καθὰ ∆αυῒδ λέγει·" ἵν' ὁ θεῖος θεσμὸς φαίνηται, διὰ ποίου ἁγίου κεκήρυκται. Περὶ δὲ τοῦ κατὰ τὸν Βαλαὰμ ἀγγέλου τοσοῦτον ἐροῦμεν, ὡς οὐκ ἔχει τὰ κατ' αὐτὸν τῶν περὶ τοῦ θείου Πνεύματος, ἢ τοῦ Υἱοῦ παρὰ Παύλου καὶ Ἰωάννου κυρίως πεφασμένων ἐοικότα λόγον. Ὁ γὰρ ἄγγελος ἀποσταλεὶς, ἅπερ ὁ Θεὸς ὑπέσχετο ἐπὶ μέλλοντι χρόνῳ δηλώσειν τῷ Βαλαὰμ, διήγγειλεν οὐκ αὐτὸς δὲ εἶναι ἐνοήθη ὁ Θεὸς, καθὰ ὁ Υἱὸς καὶ τὸ ἅγιον Πνεῦμα ἐνοήθησαν εἶναι οἱ λελαληκότες τὰ ἐνταλθέντα τῷ Ἡσαΐᾳ παρὰ τοῦ καθεζομένου ἐπὶ τοῦ θεϊκοῦ θρόνου, καὶ ἐν φωτὶ ἀφάτῳ καὶ δόξῃ ἀνεικάστῳ ὑπάρχοντος. Κἀνταῦθα τοίνυν, ὡς τὰ ἡμῶν μὲν φαῦλα, τὰ δὲ αὐτῶν σεμνὰ, καὶ πλείονος σπουδῆς καὶ πίστεως ἄξια πειρῶνται δεικνύναι. Συμμιγίαν τινὰ καὶ συμφωνίαν τοῦ θείου πρὸς τὰ κτίσματα ἐργάζονται, καὶ συγκαταβάλλουσιν, ὡς οὐκ ἴσασι, ταῖς θεϊκαῖς ὑπολήψεσι τοῦ ἀεὶ ὡσαύτως 39.664 ἔχοντος πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν Πατέρα ἁγίου Πνεύματος, τάς τε αὐτοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ Πατρὸς καὶ τοῦ μονογενοῦς αὐτοῦ Υἱοῦ, καὶ ὑποδηλοῦσιν τὸν Ἡσαΐαν, τάχα ἐπὶ τοῦ οὐρανίου καθεσθέντα θρόνου, καὶ προστάξαντα ἑαυτῷ·