26. And thus, although nothing but a sincere belief that these names are truly significant,—that, when we read, This is My Son and My Father, the words really indicate Persons of Whom, and to Whom, they were spoken—can make them intelligible, yet, lest it be supposed that Son and Father are titles the one merely of adoption, the other merely of dignity, let us see what are the attributes attached, by the Son Himself, to His name of Son. He says, All things are delivered Me of My Father, and no one knoweth the Son but the Father, neither knoweth any the Father save the Son, and he to Whom the Son will reveal Him292    St. Matt. xi. 27.. Are the words of which we are speaking, This is My Son and My Father, consistent, or are they not, with No one knoweth the Son but the Father, neither knoweth any the Father save the Son? For it is only by witness mutually borne that the Son can be known through the Father, and the Father through the Son. We hear the voice from heaven; we hear also the words of the Son. We have as little excuse for not knowing the Son, as we have for not knowing the Father. All things are delivered unto Him; from this All there is no exception. If They possess an equal might; if They share an equal mutual knowledge, hidden from us; if these names of Father and Son express the relation between Them, then, I demand, are They not in truth what They are in name, wielders of the same omnipotence, shrouded in the same impenetrable mystery? God does not speak in order to deceive. The Fatherhood of the Father, the Sonship of the Son, are literal truths. And now learn how facts bear out the verities which these names reveal.

26. Proprietates filii ad nomen adjectae. Opera testantur filium eum esse.---Quamquam igitur sola simplex confessio naturae nomina ostendat, ut de quo 0177C dictum est: Hic est filius meus, et ad quem dictum est, Pater meus, hoc sint quod nuncupantur: tamen ne aut adoptionis in Filio nomen sit, aut honoris in Patre: videamus quae proprietates per Filium ad filii nomen adjectae sint. Ait: Omnia mihi tradita sunt a Patre meo, et nemo novit Filium nisi Pater, neque Patrem quis novit nisi Filius, et cui voluerit Filius revelare (Matth. II, 27). Ad id quod dictum est: Hic est filius meus, et Pater meus, utrumne sibi convenit: Nemo novit Filium nisi pater, neque Patrem quis novit nisi Filius? Non enim nisi per mutuam testificationem cognosci vel per Patrem Filius, vel per Filium Pater potuit. Vox e coelis est: sermo etiam Filii 0178A est. Tam ignorabilis est Filius, quam et Pater. Omnia ei tradita sunt: et in omnibus nihil intelligitur exceptum. Si potestas exaequata est, si secretum cognitionis aequale est, si natura in nominibus est: quaero quomodo quod vocantur non sunt, quorum et vis in potestate, et difficultas in cognitione non differt. Non fallit itaque in vocabulis Deus, nec se aut Pater mentitur, aut Filius: et accipe quam in his fides nominum sit.