XIII. Having said that the Word of God was made man, he says that this Word was the Seed of Christ; also that it was different from the Son; and that the Word by which the world was created, was produced by the grace of God; whence it would follow that Christ was not the Word in question. It is said, further, that the Word of God was the Dew, the natural engenderer of Christ in the womb of the Virgin, similar to the generative element of animals; and, yet further, that the Son 410 of God was naturally begotten of the Holy Ghost by the Word. REPLY. XIII. I speak here as do Tertullian, Irenæus, Philo, and others. In the passage you quote, the Word is taken for the voice from heaven saying, ‘This is the Son of God.’ Who does not see that the Word of God is something other than the man his Son? You have not read me aright, neither do you understand me. What else you say, I admit. ARTICLE. XIV. The Word of God is said to be itself the seed generative of Christ; and as the generative element is in creatures, so is it in the Deity, in whom was the seed of the Word before the son was conceived of Mary; the paternal element in God acting in the engenderment of Christ in the same way as that of our fathers in us. REPLY. XIV. All this I admit. God acted as generator in the way I explain in my first Dialogue. [The Celestial influence overshadowing the Virgin acted in her as the dew or the rain of heaven acts on the ground, and brings forth herb and flower.] ARTICLE. XV. The Divine Word, it is said, mingling with created elements, was the agent in the generation of Christ. The divine and the human elements coalescing, there came forth the one hypostasis of the Spirit of Christ, which is the hypostasis of the Holy Ghost; though it had been asserted previously that the three elements in Christ were of the substance of the Father. REPLY. XV. I grant everything here if you understand what you say as having reference to the paternal elements, so called because of their existence as ideal reason in God. ARTICLE. XVI. To corrupt what the Apostle says—viz. that Christ did not take on himself the nature of the angels, but that of the seed of Abraham—it is said, by way of explanation, 411 that he delivered us from death. REPLY. XVI. I corrupt nothing, but accept both interpretations; you, however, quote everything falsely and teach falsely also. ARTICLE. XVII. God, he says, is father of the Holy Ghost. But this is nothing less than to confound the persons—even such persons as he feigns. REPLY. XVII. The confounding is in your own mind, so that you cannot comprehend the truth. ARTICLE. XVIII. Playing with the word Person, he says there was one sole personal image or face, which was the person of Christ in God, and was also communicated to the angels. REPLY. XVIII. I play fast and loose with nothing. I make use of the language of those I quote, which you treacherously pervert. ARTICLE.