4. We, on the contrary, having by spiritual teaching arrived at the faith of the evangelists and apostles, and following after the hope of eternal blessedness by our confession of the Father and the Son, and having proved out of the Law the mystery of God and God, without overstepping the limits of our faith in one God, or failing to proclaim that Christ is God, have adopted this method of reply from the Gospels, that we declare the true nativity of Only-begotten God from God the Father, because that through this He was both very God and not alien from the nature of the One very God, and thus neither could His Godhead be denied nor Himself be described as another God, because while the birth made Him God, the nature within him of one God of God did not separate Him off as another God. And although our human reason led us to this conclusion, that the names of distinct natures could not meet together in the same nature, and not be one, where the essence of each did not differ in kind; nevertheless, it seemed good that we should prove this from the express sayings of our Lord, Who after frequently making known that the God of our faith and hope was One, in order to affirm the mystery of the One God, while declaring and proving His own Godhead, said, I and the Father are one; and, If ye had known Me, ye would have known My Father also; and, He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father also; and, Believe Me, that the Father is in Me, and I in the Father: or else believe for the very works’ sake382    St. John x. 30; xiv. 7, 9, 10, 11.. He has signified His own birth in the name Father, and declares that in the knowledge of Himself the Father is known. He avows the unity of nature, when those who see Him see the Father. He bears witness that He is indivisible from the Father, when He dwells in the Father Who dwells in Him. He possesses the confidence of self-knowledge when He demands credit for His words from the operations of His power. And thus in this most blessed faith of the perfect birth, every error, as well that of two Gods as of a single God, is abolished, since They Who are one in essence are not one person, and He Who is not one person with Him Who is, is yet so free from difference from Him that They Two are One God.

4. Fides catholica hactenus asserta et sensu communi et Domini dictis confirmatur.---Nos autem evangelicam atque apostolicam fidem doctrinis spiritalibus assecuti, et beatae aeternitatis spem in Patris et 0239C Filii confessione sectantes, demonstrato Dei et Dei ex lege sacramento, neque unius Dei fidem excedentes, neque non et Deum Christum praedicantes, hunc ex Evangeliis responsionis ordinem sumpsimus, ut veram ex Deo patre nativitatem unigeniti Dei doceremus; quia per eam et Deus verus esset, neque a natura unius Dei veri esset alienus; ac sic neque Deus negari posset, neque ipse alius Deus dici; quia et Deum (supple, esse) nativitas praestaret, et natura in eo unius Dei ex Deo, eum in Deum alterum non separaret. Et quamquam ad id nos communis intelligentiae sensus impelleret; ne in natura eadem naturarum nomina convenirent, et non unum essent, quibus id quod sunt non differret in genere: tamen 0240A ipsis hoc Domini nostri professionibus placuit ostendi, qui cum frequenter fidei ac spei nostrae Deum unum intimasset, ut sacramentum unius Dei se 217 quoque Deo professo probatoque firmaret dixit: Ego et Pater unum sumus: et, Si scitis me, scitis et Patrem meum: et, Qui me vidit, vidit et Patrem: et, Pater, qui in me manet, ipse facit opera sua: et, Credite mihi, quia Pater in me, et ego in Patre: sin autem vel propter opera ipsa credite (Joan. X, 30; XIV, 7; Ibid. 9, 10, 11, 12). Nativitatem suam in nomine patris expressit, cognosci Patrem in se cognito docet. Unitatem naturae fatetur, cum Pater in se viso videtur. Inseparabilem se a Patre testatur, cum in manente in se manet Patre. Fiduciam conscientiae tenet, cum his dictis suis credi postulat ex operatione 0240B virtutis. Atque ita in hac perfectae nativitatis beatissima fide, vitium omne, et duum deorum, et Dei singularis exstinguitur: cum qui unum sunt, non sit unus; et qui non unus est, non tamen ab eo qui est, ita ex aliquo differat, ut uterque non unum sint.