5. Now seeing that heretics cannot deny
these things because they are so clearly stated and understood, they
nevertheless pervert them by the most foolish and wicked lies so as
afterwards to deny them. For the words of Christ, I and the
Father are one Ib. x.
30., they endeavour to
refer to a mere concord of unanimity, so that there may be in them a
unity of will not of nature, that is, that they may be one not by
essence of being, but by identity of will. And they apply to the
support of their case the passage in the Acts of the Apostles, Now
of the multitude of them that believed the heart and soul were
one Acts iv. 32., in order to prove that a diversity of
souls and hearts may be united into one heart and soul through a mere
conformity of will. Or else they cite those words to the
Corinthians, Now he that planteth and he that watereth are
one 1 Cor. iii. 8., to shew that, since They are one in
Their work for our salvation, and in the revelation of one mystery,
Their unity is an unity of wills. Or again, they quote the prayer
of our Lord for the salvation of the nations who should believe in
Him: Neither for these only do I pray, but for them also that
shall believe on Me through their Word; that they all may be one; even
as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be in
Us St. John xvii. 20, 21., to shew that since men cannot, so to
speak, be fused back into God or themselves coalesce into one
undistinguished mass, this oneness must arise from unity of will, while
all perform actions pleasing to God, and unite one with another in the
harmonious accord of their thoughts, and that thus it is not nature
which makes them one, but will.