All his argument, then, in opposition to the doctrine of conception I think it best to pass over, though he charge with madness those who think that the name of God, as used by mankind to indicate the Supreme Being, is the result of this conception. For what he is thinking of when he considers himself bound to revile that doctrine, all who will may learn from his own words. What opinion we ourselves hold on the use of words we have already stated, viz. that, things being as they are in regard to their nature, the rational faculty implanted in our nature by God invented words indicative of those actual things. And if any one ascribe their origin to the Giver of the faculty, we would not contradict him, for we too maintain that motion, and sight, and the rest of the operations carried on by the senses are effected by Him Who endowed us with such faculties. So, then, the cause of our naming God, Who is by His nature what He is, is referable by common consent to Himself, but the liberty of naming all things that we conceive of in one way or another lies in that thing in our nature, which, whether a man wish to call it conception or something else, we are quite indifferent. And there is this one sure evidence in our favour, that the Divine Being is not named alike by all, but that each interprets his idea as he thinks best. Passing over, then, in silence his rubbishy twaddle about conception, let us hold to our tenets, and simply note by the way some of the observations that occur in the midst of his empty speeches, where he pretends that God, seating Himself by our first parents, like some pedagogue or grammarian, gave them a lesson in words and names; wherein he says that they who were first formed by God, or those who were born from them in continuous succession, unless they had been taught how each several thing should be called and named, would have lived together in dumbness and silence, and would have been unequal to the discharge of any of the serviceable functions of life, the meaning of each being uncertain through lack of interpreters,—verbs forsooth, and nouns. Such is the infatuation of this writer; he thinks the faculty implanted in our nature by God insufficient for any method of reasoning, and that unless it be taught each thing severally, like those who are taught Hebrew or Latin word by word, one must be ignorant of the nature of the things, having no discernment of fire, or water, or air, or anything else, unless one have acquired the knowledge of them by the names that they bear. But we maintain that He Who made all things in His wisdom, and Who moulded this living rational creature, by the simple fact of His implanting reason in his nature, endowed him with all his rational faculties. And as naturally possessing our faculties of perception by the gift of Him Who fashioned the eye and planted the ear, we can of ourselves employ them for their natural objects, and have no need of any one to name the colours, for instance, of which the eye takes cognizance, for the eye is competent to inform itself in such matters; nor do we need another to make us acquainted with the things which we perceive by hearing, or taste, or touch, possessing as we do in ourselves the means of discerning all of which our perception informs us. And so, again, we maintain that the intellectual faculty, made as it was originally by God, acts thenceforward by itself when it looks out upon realities, and that there be no confusion in its knowledge, affixes some verbal note to each several thing as a stamp to indicate its meaning. Great Moses himself confirms this doctrine when he says105    Gen. ii. 19, 20. that names were assigned by Adam to the brute creation, recording the fact in these words: “And out of the ground God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air, and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them, and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to all the beasts of the field.”

Πάντα τοίνυν τὰ κατὰ τῆς ἐπινοίας αὐτῷ φιλοσοφηθέντα ῥήματα παραδραμεῖν οἶμαι καλῶς ἔχειν, κἂν « μανίαν » ἐπικαλῇ τοῖς τὸ τῆς θεότητος ὄνομα πρὸς δήλωσιν τῆς ὑπερεχούσης φύσεως παρὰ ἀνθρώπων οἰομένοις δι' ἐπινοίας λέγεσθαι. τί μὲν γὰρ οὗτος νοῶν διασύρειν οἴεται δεῖν τὴν ἐπίνοιαν, ἐκ τῶν ἐκείνου πάρεστι λόγων τοὺς βουλομένους διδάσκεσθαι: ἃ δὲ ἡμεῖς ὑπολαμβάνομεν περὶ τῆς τῶν ὀνομάτων χρήσεως, ἐν τοῖς κατόπιν εἰρήκαμεν, ὅτι τῶν πραγμάτων ἐχόντων ὡς ἔχει φύσεως τὰς ἑρμηνευτικὰς τῶν ὄντων φωνὰς ἡ « ἐν »τεθεῖσα παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ τῇ φύσει ἡμῶν λογικὴ δύναμις εὕρατο. ὧν εἰ μέν τις τὴν αἰτίαν εἰς τὸν δεδωκότα τὴν δύναμιν ἀναφέροι, οὐδὲ ἡμεῖς ἀντιλέγομεν, ὥσπερ καὶ τὸ κινεῖσθαι καὶ τὸ ὁρᾶν καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ διὰ τῶν αἰσθήσεων ἐνεργεῖν παρ' ἐκείνου λέγομεν γίνεσθαι, παρ' οὗ τὴν τοιαύτην ἐσχήκαμεν δύναμιν. οὕτως οὖν καὶ τοῦ ὀνομάζειν τὸν θεὸν τὸν ὄντα κατὰ τὴν φύσιν ὅπερ ἐστὶν ἡ μὲν αἰτία κατὰ τὸν κοινὸν λόγον εἰς αὐτὸν ἐκεῖνον τὴν ἀναφορὰν ἔχει, ἡ δὲ ἐξουσία τοῦ τὰ νοηθέντα πάντα τοιῶσδε ἢ ὡς ἑτέρως κατονομάζειν ἐν τῇ φύσει κεῖται: ἣν εἴτε τις ἐπίνοιαν εἴτε ἄλλο τι βούλοιτο λέγειν, οὐ διοισόμεθα. τεκμήριον δὲ τοῦ λόγου τοῦτο ποιούμεθα, τὸ μὴ παρὰ πᾶσιν ὁμοίως τὸ θεῖον κατονομάζεσθαι, ἀλλὰ κατὰ τὸ δοκοῦν ἑκάστοις τὸ νοηθὲν ἑρμηνεύεσθαι. οὐκοῦν πᾶσαν τὴν συρφετώδη περὶ τῆς ἐπινοίας αὐτοῦ φλυαρίαν σιγήσαντες τῶν δογμάτων ἑξόμεθα, τοσοῦτον μόνον παρασημηνάμενοι ἔκ τινων τῶν κατὰ τὸ μέσον αὐτῷ τῆς κενοφωνίας παρεντεθέντων, ὅπου οἴεται τὸν θεὸν τοῖς πρωτοπλάστοις καθάπερ τινὰ παιδαγωγὸν ἢ γραμματιστὴν παρακαθήμενον ῥημάτων τε καὶ ὀνομάτων ὑφηγεῖσθαι διδασκαλίαν: ἐν οἷς φησιν « αὐτοὺς τοὺς πρώτους ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ πλασθέντας ἢ τοὺς προσεχῶς ἐξ ἐκείνων φύντας, εἰ μὴ ἐδιδάχθησαν ὡς ἕκαστα τῶν πραγμάτων λέγεταί τε καὶ ὀνομάζεται, ἀλογίᾳ καὶ ἀφωνίᾳ συζῆν, καὶ οὐδὲν ἄν », φησίν, « τῶν βιωφελῶν κατεπράξαντο, ἀδήλου τῆς ἑκάστου διανοίας ὑπαρχούσης δι' ἀπορίαν τῶν σημαινόντων, ῥημάτων δηλαδὴ καὶ ὀνομάτων ». τοσαύτη « ἡ » παραφροσύνη τοῦ λογογράφου, ὡς μὴ ἐξαρκεῖν ἡγεῖσθαι τὴν ἐντεθεῖσαν τῇ φύσει παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ δύναμιν πρὸς πᾶσαν μέθοδον λογικῆς ἐνεργείας, ἀλλ' εἰ μὴ τὰ καθ' ἕκαστον μάθοιεν, καθάπερ οἱ τὴν Ἑβραίων ἢ τὴν Ῥωμαίων φωνὴν διὰ λέξεων διδασκόμενοι, ἀγνοεῖν τὰ πράγματα ὅ τι ἐστί, μὴ τὸ πῦρ, μὴ τὸ ὕδωρ, μὴ τὸν ἀέρα, μὴ τὰ λοιπὰ τῶν ὄντων ἐπιγινώσκοντας, εἰ μὴ διὰ τῶν ἐπικειμένων αὐτοῖς ὀνομάτων τὴν περὶ τούτων γνῶσιν ἐκτήσαντο. ἡμεῖς δέ φαμεν ὅτι ὁ τὰ πάντα ἐν σοφίᾳ ποιήσας καὶ τὸ λογικὸν τοῦτο πλάσμα ζῳοπλαστήσας μόνῳ τῷ ἐφεῖναι τῇ φύσει τὸν λόγον πᾶσαν τὴν δύναμιν τὴν λογικὴν ἐναπέθετο. καὶ ὥσπερ τὴν ἐν τοῖς αἰσθητηρίοις δύναμιν παρὰ τοῦ πλάσαντος τὸν ὀφθαλμὸν καὶ φυτεύσαντος τὴν ἀκοὴν ἐν τῇ φύσει ἔχοντες ἀφ' ἑαυτῶν πρὸς ὃ πέφυκε τῶν αἰσθητηρίων ἓν ἕκαστον, πρὸς τοῦτο κεχρήμεθα καὶ οὐ δεόμεθα οὔτε τοῦ τὰ χρώματα κατονομάσαντος, ὧν ἡ ὅρασις τὴν ἀντίληψιν ἔχει (ἀρκεῖ γὰρ ὁ ὀφθαλμὸς ἑαυτῷ γενέσθαι τῶν τοιούτων διδάσκαλος) οὔτε ὧν διὰ τῆς ἀκοῆς ἢ διὰ τῆς γεύσεως ἢ διὰ τῆς ἁφῆς αἰσθανόμεθα ἀλλοτρίων πρὸς τὴν γνῶσιν διδασκάλων δεόμεθα, οἴκοθεν ἔχοντες ἑκάστου τῶν κατ' αἴσθησιν ἐγγινομένων ἡμῖν τὸ κριτήριον: οὕτω φαμὲν καὶ τὴν διανοητικὴν τῆς ψυχῆς δύναμιν τοιαύτην παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ γενομένην ἀφ' ἑαυτῆς τὸ λοιπὸν κινεῖσθαι καὶ πρὸς τὰ πράγματα βλέπειν, καὶ ὡς ἂν μηδεμίαν σύγχυσιν ἡ γνῶσις πάθοι, καθάπερ σήμαντρά τινα τὰς διὰ τῶν φωνῶν ἐπισημειώσεις ἑκάστῳ τῶν πραγμάτων ἐπιβάλλειν. πιστοῦται δὲ τὸ τοιοῦτον δόγμα καὶ ὁ μέγας Μωϋσῆς εἰπὼν παρὰ τοῦ Ἀδὰμ ἐπιτεθεῖσθαι τοῖς ἀλόγοις τῶν ζῴων τὰς ἐπωνυμίας, οὑτωσὶ γράψας τῷ ῥήματι: Καὶ ἔπλασεν ὁ θεὸς ἔτι ἐκ τῆς γῆς πάντα τὰ θηρία τοῦ ἀγροῦ καὶ πάντα τὰ πετεινὰ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καὶ ἤγαγεν αὐτὰ πρὸς τὸν Ἀδὰμ ἰδεῖν τί καλέσει αὐτά: καὶ πᾶν ὃ ἐκάλεσεν αὐτὸ Ἀδὰμ ψυχὴν ζῶσαν, τοῦτο ὄνομα αὐτῷ: καὶ ἐκάλεσεν Ἀδὰμ ὀνόματα πᾶσι τοῖς κτήνεσι καὶ πᾶσι τοῖς θηρίοις τοῦ ἀγροῦ.