God, the Father Almighty, has one Son naturally, and many adoptively. Christ is the Son of God, seeing that the Father begot him of himself without any mother. The Father has no body, nor begot he his Son in that wise which men do: but his Wisdom, with which he wrought all creatures, is his Son, who is ever of the Father and with the Father, God of God, as mighty as the Father. We men are children of God, because he made us; and afterwards, when we were undone, {261} he sent his own Son for our redemption. Now are we children of God, and Christ is our brother, if we will duly obey the Father, and with all our mind worship him. Christ is our head, and we are his limbs: he is invested with our humanity, and he has our body, which he received of the holy maiden Mary; therefore may we manifestly cry to him, as to our brother, if we so observe our brotherhood as he has taught us; that is, that we should not allow the devil with any evil practices to seduce us from the brotherhood of Christ. Verily the man who imitates the devil is a child of the devil, not by nature nor by creation, but by that imitation and evil deserts. And the man who makes himself acceptable to God is a child of God, not naturally, but by creation and by good deserts, as Christ said in his gospel, "He who doeth the will of my Father who is in heaven, he is my brother, and my mother, and my sister." Now therefore all christian men, whether high or low, noble or ignoble, and the lord, and the slave, are all brothers, and have all one Father in heaven. The wealthy is not better on that account than the needy. As boldly may the slave call God his Father as the king. We all are alike before God, unless any one excel another in good works. The rich for his wealth is not to despise the poor; for the poor is before God often better than the rich. God is our Father, therefore should we all be brothers in God, and hold the brotherly bond unbroken; that is, true peace, so that each of us love other as himself, and command to no one that which he would not another should command to him. He who observes this is a child of God, and Christ, and all holy persons who thrive to God, are his brothers and his sisters.