29. But by these very words He proclaims Himself plainly to be true God in the nature of the only true God. To understand this, let our answer proceed from statements which He made previously, though the connection is unbroken right down to these words. We can then establish the faith step by step, and let the confidence of our freedom rest at last on the summit of our argument, the true Godhead of Christ. There comes first the mystery of His words, He that hath seen Me, hath seen the Father; and, Do ye not believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me? The words that I say unto you, I speak not from Myself; but the Father abiding in Me, Himself doeth His works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me: or else believe Me for the very works’ sake504    St. John xiv. 9–11.. At the close of this discourse, teeming with deep mysteries, follows the reply of the disciples, Now know we that Thou knowest all things, and needest not that any man should ask thee: by this we believe that Thou camest forth from God505    Ib. xvi. 30.. They perceived in Him the nature of God by the divine powers which He exercised; for to know all things, and to read the thoughts of the heart belongs to the Son, not to the mere messenger of God. They confessed, therefore, that He was come from God, because the power of the divine nature was in Him.

29. Ex adjunctis verbis diluitur. Deum ex Deo natura Christum agnoscunt Apostoli.---Sed ut hoc ipso eodem dicto non ambigue ipse se in unius Dei veri natura Deum verum professus esse intelligatur, a superioribus, huic tamen dicto continuatis atque junctis, professionibus responsionis nostrae sermo descendat: ut per gradus demonstratae fidei, jam in ipso apice veri Dei Christi libertatis nostrae fiducia conquiescat. Post 280 sacramentum itaque sermonis ejus, quo dixerat: Qui me vidit vidit et Patrem; et: Non creditis mihi, quod ego in Patre, et Pater in 0303C me? Verba, quae ego loquor vobis, non a me loquor; sed Pater, qui in me manet, ipse facit opera sua. Credite mihi, quoniam ego in Patre, et Pater in me est: sin autem, vel propter opera ipsa credite (Joan. XIV, 9 et seqq.). Post multiplicem ergo hunc ingentium mysteriorum sermonem, sequitur respondentium discipulorum sermo iste: Nunc ergo scimus quia nosti omnia, et non habes necesse ut aliquis te interroget; in hoc credimus quoniam a Deo existi (Joan. XVI, 30 et 31). Virtutibus in eo Dei, naturam quoque Dei intellexerunt: neque enim nosse omnia, et cordium cogitationes scire, missi potius a Deo posset esse, quam nati. In hoc ergo se credere profitentur quod a Deo exierit, quia naturae in eo Dei esset potestas.