This is altogether in harmony, if only one God is acknowledged, so that one does not think of three Persons; and then if the Creed of Athanasius is read in accordance therewith, and no other idea is suffered to enter, full harmony is effected.

(1) No one denies that the Divine which took upon Itself the Human was His Divine; thus that the Lord Himself suffered Himself to be born. Hence it follows that this is the Divine of which He was conceived, concerning which we read in Matthew and in Luke; and that this is the very Divine, and no other besides it, which He called His Father; nor was there any other; according to what is said in Matthew, that Joseph "touched her not"; and in Luke, when Mary said that she "knew not a man"; and when Joseph "found that she was with child," and on that account wished to put her away. (2) The Divine of the Lord took upon Itself the Human; and if the Divine is one, it follows that the Divine Itself, which is one, took it upon Itself. Nor does the idea that the Divine which created the universe put on the Human, make anything against this; for it is said in the Creed that the Divine of the one Person and the Divine of the other Person are altogether equal, in these words:

As the Father is infinite, eternal, uncreate, omnipotent, God, Lord, so likewise is the Son; for no one is first or last, greatest or least; but they are altogether equal. What then does it matter whether I think that the Divine of the Lord or the Divine of the Father took it upon Itself, since in either case there exists a similar idea? For when it is said that the Divine of the Father put on the Human, the idea which at the present day exists in the Christian world stands in opposition; when nevertheless this statement is altogether like the other, since the one Divine is altogether the equal of the other. (3) It is said that the Lord was perfect God and perfect Man; or it is said concerning the Human that He was perfect Man, consisting of a rational soul and a perfect body; and afterwards, that He was Man from the nature of the mother. No one who thinks on this subject from the Divine order that is known to everyone, can still bring it into his faith; for this would be saying that the Lord can exist a rational Man, or a perfect Man, from the mother alone. Was He not from the Father? And are not life and the first of life from the father, and its additions from the mother? To believe that the Lord was perfect Man from the mother alone, is wholly contrary to all order, and contrary to what is stated. Is not the image of the father in his children as much as that of the mother? The very love or the ruling affection of a father stands out clearly in grandchildren and in families. In a word, there must be father and mother, that a man may be a perfect man. How then is it to be believed that He was perfect Man from the mother? And does it not thence follow that the Divine was in the Lord from conception, as is the soul with every man? (5) This was clearly seen by Athanasius, when he said that God and Man are one Christ, and not two but a united Person, like soul and body. From these things it is evident that according to the faith of our Creed the Divine and the Human in the Lord are together in one Person, and not that the Divine is outside of the Human, as many insanely hold in the idea of their thought. (6) And still further, it is said that the two natures were not commixed, but that the Divine took to Itself the Human. Neither are soul and body commixed, with any man; but with everyone the soul clothes Itself with the body, and thus takes to Itself that which is called the human. In this likewise there is agreement. (7) And when the Divine takes to Itself the Human, and unites Itself with it as soul and body, so that there is one united person, then also the human becomes a partaker of the Divine; that is to say, by unition. From this, likewise, it may be manifest that the human also is Divine. (8) This, likewise, is confirmed in the Word; as in the Old Testament, where it said that a "Son" was born, whose name shall be called "God," "Father of eternity"; whose name is "God-with-us"; whose name is "Jehovah our justice"; these things are said concerning the Human of the Lord, for it is said that the "Son" shall so be called (Isa. 9:6). And this is also confirmed elsewhere, particularly in Revelation, where such things are said concerning "the Son of man"; by which name, also, the Divine Human of the Lord is meant.