UPON THE FAITH, AGAINST THE DISPUTERS*.
RHYTHM THE FIRST. Instead of that all-quickening Btandard" which He Who
* Or investigators, in which sense it and try to give it life again, he adds,
would apply to the Anomceans as af- '* The Church doth that body of Truth
fectine to he able to explore the Nature rejoice, which is orderly in its limhSy
of God. The word however is, I think, and perfected in its expressions, to be
used of logicians, and so I have given it relied upon in its promises, and crowned
a rendering which falls in with the fond- by its noble acts. The Truth forms a
nesB for Aristotelian subtleties ascribed head lift up on high : the two Testa-
to the Anomoeans (against whom ments its wide spread hands, the Apo-
these Bhythms are aimed) by St. £. sties its senses, tne Prophets the righte-
vol. ii, p. 485, d. S. Bas. o. £un. i. 9. ous and the Just serve for its limbs."
S. Greg. Nys. ii. pp. 294. 602. 862. o. On 1 Sam. xiv. p. 324. f. he says, << And
Naz. p. 629. Cyril. Thes. p. 89. that he hid it from his father and mother,
£piphan. Hsr. Ixxvi. p. 923, d. p. and revealed it to his bride, this is a
931, d. p. 964, c. p. 989, d. Socrat. type of our Lord, who, as was deter-
H. £. ii. 35. Ambr. de Fide, i. $. 42. nuned, hid from the synagogue the
Austin de Trin. xv. §. 20. mysteiyof the Gospel, which was hidden
^ 'Standard' is here used for the from generations and ages, and revealed
substance of the faith irrespectively of the riches of the glory of this mystery
the sources of it— Ass. renders ' regula among the Gentiles, and explained it
fidei.' Much as we shall see that St. £. to the Church." Vol. ii. p. 494. f.
insi#its on the study of Holy Writ, (see " The Prophets delivered it to the
XXXV. fin. xlvi. §. 1. Ivi. fin. lix. §. 5. Apostles. Blessed be the Lord of sue-
Ixiv. §. 5. cont. Scr. iii. $. 19.) the fol- cessions ! He handed it down from
lowing passages will shew that he Adam even to Noah : it reached from
thought it was the Church who alone Noah to Abraham, and from Abraham
oould teach the faith. In ii. p. 442. he on to Moses, and from Moses onto
says, '* In the Church is the Truth per- David, and from David to the Captivity,
feet and perfecting Her. Great is the and from Babylon to our Reaeemer.
Church of true [believers], because (comp. Athanas. de D. S. N. §. 5. p. 8.
great is Her bosom, and able to contain O. T.) Then the [Jewish] people was
Sie fulness of hoth Testaments. For scattered, and cut short ana put aside
broken fountains are convicted of being all their traditions. Aside also was the
unable to receive waters in themselves : presence of the Apostles put* Blessed He
for the old bottles by its newness doth that has kept up their traditions. He
the strong wine break, which by its that gave commandment concerning
roughness cleanseth the new." And the ark. He it was that built the taber-
presently, after oomparinx the heretics nacle of His people. He that did all
to those who would cut a body to pieces these things. He it was that fixed Holy
The Son's Generation incomprehensible to weak man. 107
teacheth all had set for us, a new faith hath this presumptuous* generation made for us. He Who knoweth all knoweth what is the cause of their stirrings'*. If pride was the cause of them, may our Lord restrain its haughtiness, and if strife was the cause of them, may our Lord increase our harmony, and if love was the cause of them, may He reveal to them that be His, what is His. O thou that shootest at a great Mountain, fancy not that thine arrows have hit ! from thyself they have gone a little way, and that standard they have not hit. For high is that Generation of the Son above the questioning of man. Set thyself a standard of thine own stock like that which is near thee, that by the testimony of what is near, that which is far may be believed. Let the soul be to thee a standard, for those that philosophize about it miss of it'. For one confesses
Charch. He that ordereth the sacces- word ]aaJ is used for a mark or butt to
•ioDS of natures and creatures, He it is aim at, in which sense it corresponds
that ordered the successions of Prophets to the U»JIikmmv'i»^ rxiirH of St. Atha-
and of Apostles from one aee even to nasius, c. Arian. iii. §. 28. As the soul
another. Blessed be He uat began may be a standard for the natural
and perfecteth." If instead of' traditions' reason to aim at, so Grod is for the
we render successions, as may be done, reason enlightened by Baptism : see
still he plainly contemplates doctrine note b, on p. 87.
as delirered through those successions. « TheodoretH. Fab.iy.S. states, that
Again,Tol. i. p. 464,f. hesays/' When Eunomius was daring enough to say
thou hearestof the well-ordered ministry that there was nothing of things divine
of Solomon's princes, and the exact ar- that he was ignorant of, but that he was
rangement of those who brought the acquainted exactly with God's very
supply of bread to the great congre- Essence, and had the same Imowledge
gadon of men and women, and pur- of God that God had of Himself. . . .
▼eyed hay and barley for the stallions and other things did he deyise beside,
and the horses, bethink thyself of the that he might seem to be a discoverer
all-penrading beautiful order whioh of new doctrines. So Chrysost. de
Immanuel has stamped upon His Incomp. i. and ii. Epiphan. Ixxvi. p.
Church. For these spiritual princes 916, b. and Basil quoted p. 102, n. a.
nourish all the children of the Church ' St. E. (who was called the Prophet
in their order : the chief shepherds, to of the Syrians) here and elsewhere (see
wity offer deep things to the perfect, and Pearl, vii. §. 3. §. 4. &c. adv. Scrut.
to penitents and those that stand with- Ixiv. 1. oont. Sorut. iii. §. 26 — SO.)
oat the gates they bring hay and barley seems to look on heresies as a scourge
— not that tbesemysteries are barley and mysterious in its origin and its tend-
bay, but that men such as those, have encies. To him we may apply a re-
their conversation like the beasts, and mark of St. Austin, de Trin. iv. 23.
consequently are not nourished as " The minds of some men are so far
rational men. Nourished however they exalted by the Holy Spirit, that it is
are, seeing we give nourishment even not through Angels, but through their
to beasts ; afl the Prophet says, Thou, own selves, that they behold, in the
Lord, shalt save both man and beast." Sovereign Citadel of all things, the
These passages bring out the force of causes of things to come existing."
the iirst sentence ; they shew St. E. to • Seebelow,lvii.vol.ii.p.47l,d. Greg,
conceive of the faith as somewhat sub- Naz. Or. xxxiv. p. 662, a. Nys. o. Eun.
stantive, as held by the Church only, p. 749, a. Chrys. de Inoomp. v. p. 343, b.
as old, and so opposed to the new doc- where man's ignorance of his own soul
trine, and lastly, as dispensed by the is similarly used. Sextos Empiricns
Chnroh. It may be added that the urges the same, though with a sceptical
tures
108 J%e soul unable to comprehend
that it exists, another [says] that it existeth not. One puts it in subjection to death % another above the power of death. One maketh it out of something, and another, out of nothing '. He that sees its greatness makes it a small part of somewhat great', and he that sees its evanescence, maketh it a breath of air. There is that maketh it a breathing, and there is also that calleth it blood ^. One that seeth its fieriness, says that it iS.Bpiri-is of fire*, another that seeth its viewlessness', lays down that ^ '^ it is of the wind. One makes it a part of Ood ^ and another an inspiration [from God] . One maketh it of one essence, and another of many essences ^ There is that maketh it of one element, and there is that maketh it of seven " compounded < 5. mix- elements*. There is that magnifieth and extols its nature, and there is that degradeth its race and maketh it little. If then in regard to the bewildered soul, that which even dreams bewilder, men of research be so bewildered as to have
aim, u ibllowi, < That the soul ii in- E. i. 18. p. 24. mentioos Epienraa av
oomprehensible appearw from tfais: of believing it to be in the blood. S. Empir.
those who hare disputed about the eonly p. 616, aod the note, (to pasf orer the rife and endlese battling * So Parmenidee and Lencippas ac-
about it,) some have said that it did oording to Stobeos, and Demooritns,
not exist, some that it did ; some have according to him and Aristotle, doubted. If then the dogmatists allow k See n. g. What St £. objects to
that this is a controversy which cannot in calling the soul an inspiration from
be settled, they do thereby allow the Grod is the calling it so in such sense as
incomprehensibility of the soul.' Pyrrh. to imply He alienated any portion of
Hyp. li. 6. p. 74. Fabr. Himself. A notion like this seems to
* This was the case with the Stoics have prevailed amongst certain An-
who, according to Nomenius, held that thropomorphists in the tract against
the soul was generate and corruptible, them given to St Cyril, cap. v. St E.
and that die soul of the Tirtnoos lasted held the inspiration mentioned in Gen.
only till the resolation of all things to be not the substance of the soul, but
into fire, (Euseb. P. Evan. x^. 80.) the supernatural gift See v<^. i. p.
an opinion very similar to one widely 146. e. maintained in tiie East. * Empedocles is mentioned by Ari-
' Perhaps he means those who de- stotle as believing that the sonl was
fine soul to be tiiat which moves itself, made up of the several elements, and
although such conceived it to be eternal, that each element was itself a soul,
see Aristot de An. ii. S. Epicurus thought it made of air, fire,
S This was oommonlv held in the n»irit, and a fourth unnamed element
East(see Windisohm. Philos. in Fortg. stobeas. Hahu takes < essences' of the
der Weltgesoh. p. 636. Kleuker zum .£ons and refers to his Baides. p. 73. Zend Av. 1. pt. ii. p. 119.) where the » Plutarch de Plac. PhiL iv. 4.
sonl was thought to be a part of God, Diog. Laert vii. §. 1. Ixiii. mentions
conceived as come out of himself to that the Stoics made the soul consist of
create. On the next words Stobflsus eight elements, whereof one was the
may be cited, (Eel. Phys. p. 93. quoted govemingfacalty. And Philo,deMundi
by Fabric.) ' Anaxagoras, Anaximenes, Op.§. 40. and elsewhere, notices that the
Arehelaus, and Diogenes of Apollonia soul has seven divisions, if we do not
make the soul of air.' See also S. Empir. reckon in that Ikcnlty. Any closer ap-
p. 174. proach to St E.'s statement, I am not
^ Aristot. as above mentions some able to point out. who thoQght the sonl blood. Euseb. P.
its awn nature ^ much less that of God, 109
come short of it, who is able to trace out that untraceable Generation? Come let us wonder at him who says of the soul that it does not exist, for when the soul is even dwelling in him, it yet disputes against itself, it rejects itself, in that it says of its own essence that it exists not. The soul that gropeth not out its own self, [so as to know] whether it exists or exists not, suflSceth not to feel itself. How should it, which is at a loss what to say of itself S be able to search out Him by Whose ^ S. hands it was created. Though in its proper nature not to ber^JI'^ seen, its own mirror ' is, to let it see that it exists : in this, [the i^ gift of] speech, hath the soul been able to see itself, forasmuch od itself as it is by that gift that its glory is greater than that of the dumb animals. While then the soul exists, yet to itself it exists not, to its* knowledge. For how can it not exist? for see! it is comprehended by its workings ; and when from the Creator it existed, it perished by its own free-will. If then in regard to all this the soul rejecteth its true nature, and feeleth not its own majesty; this soul that denieth itself, what is there that it shall be able to confess to exist as it really does ? And if the soul misseth of the very investigation of its own self, what shall it seek out by its searching ? what shall it comprehend by its questioning ? and if it be so far from itself, how shall it find the Secret One ?
If then our knowledge knows not how to know itself, how shall it dare to raise difficulties about the Generation of Him that knoweth all things? The thing made that knoweth not itself, how should it seek into its Maker? The mighty Nature, that never was not, is spoken of by all mouths. The mouth that willeth to speak of That which is unspeakable, bringeth Him to littleness, in that it sufficeth not for His greatness. Every one then that wisheth to magnify God exceedingly, as He is great in His own Nature, himself in magnifying Him is magnified in Him. Restrain searching which sufficeth not [to reach] Him, and gain silence, which is becoming, of Him. Give me. Lord, to use them both discerningly, that I may neither search rashly, nor be silent carelessly. Teach me words of edification, and make me gain the silence of discernment.
RHYTHM THE SECOND.
1. Blessed be he that hath fixed him up the delicate * mirror of truth, and hath seen therein Thy Generation, which is too great for any tongues ! Blessed be he that hath been brought near to the knowledge of truth, and hath learnt by it that God cannot be searched out by any man ! Blessed he who
ilzx.§.i.hath been, Lord, a sailor* of Truth in this generation, whose faith also hath not lost its savour among the savourless that pry into Thee ! Blessed he that hath surrounded his hearing with the wall of silence, and through it have never broken the questionings of the wise that have fought with Thee !
«xx.5.3. Blessed he that hath let the wings of the Spirit grow* secretly on him, and because there was questioning upon earth, hath left it and gone up to Heaven ! Blessed he again that hath been a sailor for his Faith, and from the storms of controversy hath fled into the port of Silence ! Blessed also be he that
siTti.$.4.hath felt that the language of his mouth was weak', and the womb of it cannot suffice for that unutterable Generation ! Blessed he that hath withheld his tongue from relating the Procreation^, which is not allowed him [to speak of] ! Blessed he that hath punished' himself for ought that he has pried into
45.whose thereof ! Blessed he that hath tuned his harp^ with Psalms
JngB which David sung, with plain things that are not to be questioned, and obscure that are not to be searched into! Blessed he that hath made him a measure of truth eveiy
* This is like the well-known senti- measare, and by bodily organs in con-
ment of St. Austin de Trinitate Tii. §. 7. fined/'
" God is conceited in the mind more b Procreation. loL* is used of the
troly than He is spoken of, exists more Generation of the Sonfrom the Father,
^^l ,f^'o 1? . '? «°nf *>v4 *n *« xxTiii. §. 8. XMTii. §. 3. fin. contr.
mmd. ' So Epiphan. Ixx. 8. "We Scnit i. §. 13. fin. its ordinary use is
have no other use of the voice than of a genealogy.
what God hath given us in measure, « Vol. ii. p. 440, b. he states the theory
even though we conceive more excel- of penance which he here commends,
lently of God. Yet it w not as much as thus : « He that sheweth mercy to all,
the mmd hath, that the mouth can through our suffering sheweth mercy
utter, seemg it is precluded by the to us."
Blessedness of simple-minded faith. 111
day, and hath weighed therein all his questionings that he may not raise snperfluous questions ! Blessed he that hath made Him a jost measure, which is meted with that of the Prophets and Apostles \ the measure that Righteousness hath made ! Blessed he that weigheth his searching by the edification of his hearers, and it is not too light, lest it should be wanting, nor too heavy, lest it be sunk ! Blessed he that hath not passed over the boundary in his haste, and also he whose delay laboureth for peace, and findeth it! Blessed be he that seeks laboriously for that which he is competent to find! Blessed he that does not distract himself with inyestigating the Incomprehensible ! Blessed he whose tongue hath been to Thee, Lord^ as of a harp, and who sings with it sounds able to heal those that hear them !
2. Blessed be he, Lord, that hath gained the Truth which sustaineth the weak, whose verity also is as a staff to the feeble-minded ! Blessed he whose doctrine is good leaven, 80 that he thereby communicates a right taste to the foolish who is unleavened ! Blessed he that cleanseth his disputation* as a mirror for them that are lacking in faith, that they may by it clear off their spots ! Blessed he whose speech is as a medicine of life, and he quickeneth the spiritually dead that lift themselves up against Him that quickeneth all! Blessed he that is dumb what time Thy Generation is pried into! Blessed he that becometh a trumpet what time Thy Generation is proclaimed M i xx. §.
3. Blessed he that knoweth. Lord, that the power of^* searching after Thee is hard to obtain'! Blessed he that knoweth how sweet is the taste of speaking Thy praise! Blessed be he, Lord, that giveth not his mouth to be a
* Vol. ii. p. 494. dted above p. 106. Trin. " Hard in very deed to oome at, So St. Epiphanins often speaks of are matters relatinff to Grod eren for the faith of the Chnrch as that of the those who are the oest practised and Prophets and Anosties, e. g. i. pp. 728. most ready at the perception of mys- 735. 763. 933, o. see also Athan. D. teries, and to see the things above every N. S. §. 5. p. 8. O. T. intellect in a glass and in an enigma. . .
* St. £. here evidently assumes that coarse to a degree is the language of there is a lawful use (see Petav. D. T. man, and for following along with the Prol.iij.)of disputation, as he does else- fineness of the thoughts inadequate, where, though his general tone like that Wherefore great is one's fear in speakof other Fathers is to disparage it, in ing the things of God, and a very wise (an implied) comparison with faith. See plan is it upon them subjects to prefer note g. being silent, still for those who are set
f CyriU Alex. Pref. to Dial. i. de to teach, not a coarse free from danger."
112 Evils of disputatioutness.
conduit for the foolish questionings that well forth bam gloadng disputers ! Blessed he. Lord, whose tongue is a pure vessel, and he speaketh therewith the Truth that floweth down from Prophets and Apostles ! Blessed he that hath not tasted the gall of wisdom of the Grreeks'! Blessed he that hath not let slip the simplicity of the Aposdes !
C St. E. means here to oondemn ^e die whole of logic in oqdcim Imngaage,
disputatious and wrangling spirit of the and of philosophy he made one hodj
Greeks, and the adoption of views, perfect and entire. Of liim is aooom-
meritorious enough in Pagans, by Chris- pUshed Uiat which is written of Solomon
tians who had the true light. This ap- the wise, that among tiiose before and
pears both from the context here, from those after him there was none that was
his speaking toI. ii. pp. 444. 468. d. of wise as he was.' This is important to
Bardesanes as adopting iheir error of notice, (1.) because it qualifies any cen-
■npposing the world created from eternal sure passed upon reasoning on rdig;ions
elements, and from the praise he be- matters by St. £.; and (2.) beeaoae it
stows ii. p. 817' on the Orators, Sophists, shews that it is not absurd to quote from
Grammarians, Physicians, Astronomers, Greek authors in illustration of the
and Philosophers of the Grreeks, some of tiieories of the soul, whether it were
whom he mentions by name. Of An- from translations or originals that he
stotle, the chief, though innocent, souroe derived his knowledge of them. Of
of disputationsness, he says, ' Exalted ' disputation in measure' he says, c
was Aristotie in knowledge above them Scrut. i. §• 16. (hat it is < a medioine of
all, and he surpassed in knowledge all life.' before and after him. He compassed
RHYTHM THE THIRD.
1. Blessed be he, Lord, who, in great love, hath been worthy to call Thee beloved Son, which [Name] God Thy Father Himself called Thee ! Blessed he. Lord, that hath weaned his mouth from all questionings and hath called Thee the Son of God, which [Name] the Holy Ghost called Thee ! Blessed he, Lord, Ps. s, 7. who hath been worthy to believe in simplicity and to call * Thee * Son,* as all the Prophets and Apostles' called Thee!* ^p. Blessed he that knoweth, Lord, that Thy Majesty is unsearch- '**' * able, and hath rebuked his tongue' speedily that by silence '?• HO. he might honour Thy Generation ! Blessed he, Lord, that hath obtained a hidden eye wherewith to see how the Angels turn abashed from Thee', and how shamelessly man dealeth! ' ^^ >▼• Blessed he. Lord, that hath expanded his mind, and hath contemplated Thee, how that creatures cannot attain to Thee, and hath given Thee thanks, because he hath been worthy of having Thee to dwell in him * ! Blessed be he that knoweth. Lord, that Thou art God, the Son of God, and knoweth himself whose son he is — a mortal the son of a mortal ! Blessed he that hath reflected that Adonai ^ is Thy Father, and hath also remembered his own generation, that he is a Son of Adam of the dust!' Blessed he that hath reflected that the Angels by silence confess Thee, and hath speedily chidden with himself because his tongue has been so daring! Blessed he that hath understood that the heavens above were still, and the earth below was moved, and hath quieted his soul whilst among* the waves [thereof] ! Blessed he, Lord, that
* St Jerome on Isaiah Iz. 6. *' < Be man doth not walk in enlargement,
ye alio enlarged/ lest through strait- Enlarged must the heart be, if a man
oess of heart ye be not able to have is to contain Christ walking in it." Christ for Toar gnest, VVhosaith in the ^ The Hebrew word is preserred in
Gospel, < I and Mr Father will come the Syriac, as it was in Greek often,
and make oor wode with him.' " See Coteler. ad Const Ap. ii. 19. Bas.
St Meletins in St. Epiphan. i. p. 878. c. Eon. it §. 7> and in Latin, Austin.
" Take not the Word of Thy Truth o. Faust Man. xv. §. 9. ont of mj month. When does this ^ or, as the vaves were quieted, lit
take place P When a man does not with the wares, keep the law continually, when a
114 Angeli leave what man boldly prieth into.
hath learnt that the Seraph crieth, ^ H0I7,' and is still, that the Seraphim search not at all, and that hath left alone what the Seraphim leave, and hath chosen what the Seraphim chose !
2. Who then is not sBtonied that Thou art sitting at the Bight Hand, and that dust which sitteth upon dust upon its dunghill searcheth into Thee! Blessed, Lord, be he that knoweth that Thou art in the Bosom of the [Divine] Essence, and hath remembered that himself is fast felling into the bosom of the earth his mother ! Who, Lord, is not astonied that Thou art the Creator of all creatures, that man essayeth above, to search into Thee, and yet knoweth not what his own soul '^' ' is! This is a wonder that it is Thou, Lord, alone thai knowest Thy Father, and yet vile dust lifteth itself up even to search into Thy Father in Thee, O Lord ! Blessed he. Lord, that by his conversation hath become godlike, who, as having sanctified himself, calleth Thee God, the Son of Ood I
RHYTHM THE FOURTH.
1. A thoosand thousands stand, ten thousand ten thousands run : thousands and ten thousands are not able to search into One : for a]l of them in silence stand to minister. He hath no assessor save the Son who is from Him: within the Silence' [alone] is there investigation into Him. If the Angels had come to search, thej had met the Silence, and been restrained. The First-Bom entered the belly, and the pure Virgin suffered** not. He went in, and came forth in pangs, and the Fair One perceiyed Him. Glorious and hidden was His entering in: vile and visible His coming forth, for He was God in His going in, and Man in His coming forth. A wonder and an astonishment to hear ! Fire went into the Belly*, and clothed^ > P* ffi, Himself with a Body and came forth ! Gabriel gave the Jlie i Name of * Lord' to Him Who is the Lord of Angels. He 28. called Him ^ Lord' that he might teach that He was his Lord, and not his fellow-servant. Michael was Gabriel's fellowservant The Son is the Lord of servants: High is His Me John Nature as is His Name. The servant cannot search Him®'*^'
* ' Silence' ' ^ti^mi' * kptv^S^* is used where he speaks of the womb as seoM,
of God by Dionys. Areop. de Div. Nom. an expression used byOrigen and others,
p« 841. whieh Corderins (p. 848.) says, and taken from Cant. iv. 13. The^pangs'
18 used, *' because neither can we by he mentions presently (if not those of
speech declare God, nor doth He there- Compassion) may of course be quite
by 80 declare Himself to us as that we consistent with this, as they may hare
can know Him perfectly as He is." preceded Child-birth.
^ * Suffered,' will apply to mind or « The incomprebensibleness of Christ's
body. St. Hil. de Trin. iii. §. 19. ' She Generation from St. Mary is urged as a
begat a perfect Man without having reason for accepting afortiori Uie in-
ooitht that was her's minished.' See on oomprehensiblenera of His Eternal Ge*
xviii. fin. The receired doctrine is, that neration by St. £. here, as by St. Greg,
as Christ entered the house in spite of the Nyss. c. £un. ii. vol. ii. p. 446. d. " Oh
doora being shut, BO He came forth from the disgustingness of thefie foul and
the Bleased Virnn without opening the filthy thoug:hts ! how is it that he who
gste of her womb. See Petav.de Incam. talks in this way understandeth not,
x»6. §• 3. and Aesem. in Oper. Grr. iii . (p. how that, even when manifested by the
41.) Hnet. Origenian ii.4. $.2. who quote flesh , God did not allow of the passions
Psei»i«-Orig.Hora.indiv.Theod.Dial.3. of nature in the formation of His own
5. 79. St. Auff. de Civ. D. xxii. 8.f. 21. Body, but it was from the Holy Spirit
erom. c. Pel. ii. §. 4. St; Ambr. Epist. and the Power of the Most High that
81. (49. §. 4. Bened. whom see on Comm. the Child was bom to us : and neither
in Loo. ii. §. 67.) St Hormisd. Epist. did the Virgin suffer, nor was the Spiiit
79. Gr»g. Maffn.Hom.26.§.l.inEvan. minished, -nor the Power of the Most
besideeeeveraTpasBages from the Opera High divided and the Child was
Crneea of St. £. e. g. vol. ii. p. 266. bom whole, and to the undefiled estate
*' M«nr neiHier suffered as a woman, of His Mother He wrought no scathe,"
nor hac she the pains in bringing forth which he asain refers to p. 636. c. See
aa a Virgin." See above, p. 40. and 46. also Feuard. on St. Iran., ii. 28.
I2
116 Mysteriotuness of God's dealings^ even to Angels^
1 p. 121, out, because how great soever tbe work ' is, greater than it is the Workman !
2. Wondrous is it that the mind should gather all its forces Exod. to break through and gaze upon Thy Light. Thy Brightness
' ' came forth but a little ; It scattereth it and throws it back altogether. Who shall look upon the Son, whose rays are fearful? The whole of them with His whole Nature are closely blended**. He is the Sun Whom the Prophets proclaimed, with healing in His wings, and trouble among His examiners. Shall one feel Thee with his hands, when there is not even a mind keen enough to feel after Thee and search Thee out, seeing Thou art a great mountain } Shall one listen to Thee with the ears, seeing Thou art more fearful than thunder? A stillness art Thou that cannot be heard, yea, a silence that cannot be listened unto. Shall a man see Thee with his eyes, when Thou art the Bright Morning Light ? From all is the sight of Thee concealed !
3. It is not for weak beings alone that the sight of Thee is too great, or the searching out of Thee is concealed : for the
9 See E. senses^ of the body, since they much need other sense's which XIV. n. a. ^^^ in the inmost imagination, do not grasp even the
smallest things within their search. Let us then ask the ' See Angels that are near Thy gate. Though the Angels' stand' 19. p. ' before Thee with praises, yet know they not upon what side iS7.n.a. 1^ see Thee. They sought Thee above in the height, they
saw Thee in the depth, they searched for Thee in the 1 Pet. 1, heaven, they saw Thee in the deep; they looked for Thee 1 Tim. with the Adorable One, they found Thee amid the creatures, s» 16- they came down to Thee and gave praise. When they
<i i. e. Those attributes wherebj He sentimeot St. £. is evidently alluding,
sbines on as are not in reality different • It mast be obeeryed, ti^at St. £. is
from His Essence, though we oontem- here combating those who said that they
plate them one by one. See p. 80, n. i. could understand God as He could Him-
and below, Ixii. §. 4. The word * feeP self: hence it is open for him to hold
which occurs presently and often in the that certain roirits see Him as He is,
original, where * explore' is necessarily i. e. behold His Essence, though thej
substituted in the translation, has aforce see it only in part, as a man in a well
from the fact that the Anomoeans said, really beholds the Heaven, though in
*< that they did not only know God in part only, which is StEpiph. illustration,
the knowledge of faith, but as a man Ixx. $.8. SeePetav.d^Deo.vii.6.§.6.
would know any thing visible or tangible and on contr. Scrut. i. $. 3. Comp. R.
with his bauds, as when he might take v.§. 4. and voLi. p.St68. where he speaks
ioto his bands a stone or a stick or im- of Apostles and Saints as aim brought
plement made of any other matter.'' *' near by Christ to the Majestio Glory
Epiphan. i. p. 989. d. To this atrocious of the invisible heavenly Tabernacle."
particularly of the Incarnation and Omnipresence. 117
had begun to enquire into Thy appearance among things created, they comprehended not how, by running up and down, to come to a stand in their search into Thee. For '?««?•
24*
they saw Thee in the depth, they saw Thee above on high' ; they saw Thee in the sepulchre, they saw Thee in the chamber', they saw Thee dead, they found Thee a raiser of the dead: they were amazed, they were astonied, and had DO strength left.
4. In every place is Thy mysterious Presence', Lord, and ''^- Thy from every place Thou art withdrawn. Though Thy myste- see Job tious Presence' be in the height, yet it feeleth not that Thou^^* ^^ art what Thou art. Though Thy mysterious Presence' be in the depth, is it not comprehended what it is. Though Thy mysterious Presence' be in the sea, from the sea Thou art concealed : though Thy mysterious Presence' be in the dry land, it knoweth not that Thou art He. Blessed be the glorious hidden One, since even Thy little mystery * is a fountain of mysteries ! who is able to clear up mysteries that fail not ? If a man were to take a likeness of Thee it would be a fountain whence all likenesses^ would flow, and to what shall
' S. poj^^Q^^^^ Aas. * in tbronose- neraes of God." That St. E. conceiyed
denteiiL'Thispax^tnweistnierperhaps *here were different degrees of likeness
than it seems: AnoDymns ap. Corder. " ?!»»» fro" vol. i. p. 128. d. " Ihtt
Cat, in Ps- xix. 6. p. 367. " He being ?*» wa« created in the Likeness and
the San of Righteousness cometh forth I™««o ©^ ^od, we understand in three
from the Chamber of His Father's ^^7^- ^^^ >* " ^^^ **> ^" external
Bosom." However, one should rather ^nn that the phrase * image of God' w
think St. E. would allude here to Abra- appHed, but to his freedom and power
ham's boflom and the descent into hell. <>▼" ^^ creatures. This also do we
In ToL iii. p. 683. f. he calls it * the understand as of the Image in three
chamber of the just' The contrast then ways-one is, that as the power of God
would lie between the powerlessness of is over all things, so also the lordshy
one dead, and the wondeni shewn by of man is established over aU : asecond,
Christ in the grave. ?>»« *>« obtomed a just soul, whereby
« Thy Utile mystery, i. e. Thy Birth he is capable of all species of virtu^
of Mary as contrasted with Thy Birth and divine indwellings ; and the third
of God. see p. 38. * A great cro^, &c.' l^i tJ^** ^J the inteUectual and govern-
h Comp. Atbanas. I. 29. O. T. and >Dg faculty of the mmd he reacheth
notek.Pseudo.Ba8.c.Eun.v. p.301.c. nnto every place, and earrieth in himself
♦* If it is impossible that matter should the image of whatsoever he pleweth.'
be made into the shape of a pattern by And again, p. 147. on My SmrU mHoU
men, unlesfi they partook of the ideal ^ ^^!f <^^ «« «f«» ^' *»« "^V
form thereof, how should the creature " some interpreters take it thus : This la
ascend up to a Ukeness unto God, if J^d by reason of the Spmt which waa
not partaking of the expreas image breathed into us and shaped man to a
Ct«M»«^) of God ? But the express ^V^eness unto God, to express how by
im^TorGod is not such as man's is, t^eir evil domgs they had lost the grace
but is living, and is in very deed the of that Divine likenew. We might then
b-keness productive of likenesses, where- think here of the Pagans and Jews,
of all things that partake, become like- ''^o are not called the image of God,
118 Silence and prayer more becoming than prying ^
we be able to look and sbadow out Thy Image upon our hearth In Thy one adorable Image ten thousand beauteous things are crowded together.
5. Wondrous art Thou altogether on all sides that we seek Thee ! Thou art near and far off. Who shall approach to Thee? No searching is able to extend and reach unto Thee. When it had reached itself forth to approach, it was intercepted and stopped short. It is too short to reach Thy mountain ; faith does find it, and love with prayer. Imagining
1 p. 110, is easier for us than speaking in words^ ; the mind is able to extend itself to every place ; when it cometh to walk in Thy way to seek after Thee it loseth its path before itself; it la perplexed and halteth. And if the mind be overcome, how much more the language, whose path is amongst perplexities^.
6. This becometh the mouth, that it should praise and keep silence, and if it is asked to be hasty, let it betake its whole self to silence as its strong hold. Thus [only] can it comprehend, if it be not hasty to comprehend; the quiet is more able to com-
10.93,4. prehend than the rash that is hasty. The weak that searcfaetk is as a feeble one, that laboureth to measure the fearful sea. Lo, if the mouth refrain. Lord, from searching into Thee, no gracious act would it have done, if able to search into Thee, it yet refused to search ! Its weakness hindered it from that s5.tookitto which its audacity led it away*. It had been a gracious ^^ ^ act in it, had it decided to be still ; for silence would have been a port to it, that it should not perish, in perplexity, in Thy sea and Thy billows !
since they have not that holy inspiratioD, At p. 812. c. he says, seeing that the
whence we have become in very truth thoughts which be in ns. are, owing to
the image of God. Still the *■ image of our nature being clasped round with a
God' is used also in another sense, and fleshly enclosure, incapable of being
all msnkind by reason of the human maoifested, it is of necessity that we
soul which is rational and intelligent putcertain names asifsignsupontbings,
may properly have all of them the name and thereby public to one anofter m
of *■ image of Grod' in a certain sense." movements of our minds." Tlie in-
I St. Athan. de Incarn. §. 13. '^ How adequacy of language to the expression
could this (i . e. the renewing of what was of the substance of the faith was noticed
made in God'slmage) have beeneflfeoted, as early as by St Clement Alex. Strom,
save by the coming of the Image of God t. §. 82. §. 83. p. 095. Pott. < We speak
Itsel^even our Saviour Jesus ChristP" (of Lord, &c.) not as though we uttered
^ The Anomceans contended that His Name, but in our pezplezity we
there was an inherent connection be- use comely Names, that &e minil may,
tween words and things, as if Grod without wandering about over other
Himself had given the names to things, things, have in theee whenon to stay
This is combated at great lengtii bv itself up.' We shall have to reear to
St. Gregory Nyra. o. Eunom. lib. xii. this su^eot below.
<md recommended by Scripture and the example of Angels. 119
7. And if there be a mode of seeking Him out. come let us seek out the hidden One ; come, let ns in astonishment feel after Him if He can be comprehended ! Thou art reyealed. Lord, to babes and hidden from the cunning; to him that Mat ii, believeth Thou art found, to him that searcheth Thou art^ hidden. Blessed be he that is simple in searching out Thee and vigorous at Thy promise. Searching, Lord, is
too little to glorify' Thee within itself. The power that extendeth unto eveiy place' is able to search for Thee,>i.e.th« in the height to shadow Thee forth, and in the depth ]J^ 5^ to feel after Thee, but though reaching to every place is notandn.b. able to find out Thee. Blessed be he that hath felt that [only] in the Bosom of Thy Father is the enquiry into Thee fully set at rest*. M. i-
8. The Seraph that is winged and flieth is too weak to search Thee out ; his wing is weak in comparison of Thee, so as not to measure with Thy Majesty. In Thy Bosom are the worlds laid ; how much soever one would wander into it, one is hindered. The Seraph whose voice proclaims Thee Holy*, in reverential silence keeps from search into Thee'. f^. and Woe unto him that is bold, when the Seraph before Theej^^ with his wings covereth his face! The Cherubs bear thatltmoar- Mighty One^ Who beareth all. Bowing downwards doxhee. die hosts of the Cherubim in fear beneath Thy chariot ^^• veil themselves and fear to gaze therein, carrying yet not
able to find Him, trembling when approaching. Blessed he that hath learnt the honour due to Thee from them, and bath praised and been silent in fear !
1 La. perhaps aearohing as tboagh est; and the Seraphim say, Holj,
it ocunprebendad Thee in itself womd HoIt, HoIt, and turn bwsj their eyes,
glorify, Sbc. The Latin yersion has onaDle to bear Grod even m His oon-
'non eapif, and possibly ...ii^.-la/. desgnrionj and the Chernbim, Blessed
. 1 ' J, L^ Z / be His glory firom out of His place....
» a misprmt for ; .a '^ »» r or g^ ^YibX fear there is above, what
^a»» / to comprise, or to imagine, oontemptnoosness below : they give ■ Similar reasoning oocnn in St. glory ; these are oarions, &c.' So iryi. de Inoompr. i. p. 801. d. ' Some p. 817. p. 319. p. 3?7. See on ▼. §. 2.
Chrys. ae xnoompr. i. p. ovi. a. - ouxue p. si/, p. siv. p. _ Angels say. Glory to God in the high- See n. ^ on B. x.
RHYTHM THE FIFTH.
1. The knowledge of Angels searcheth in measure, the knowledge of men without measure goeth roaming. Thy mercy put in Thy way inns and milestones* that the unsettled disputers might come into order. Blessed he that hath measured his wonder with his knowledge so as to reach the inns. The knowledge of man to the knowledge of an Angel is like a feeble twilight, and ev^en the knowledge of Angels to the knowledge of the Spirit is as a little twinkling. [Yet] the Spirit
Is.68,8. saith of the Son, * Who hath declared His generation?' Rash-
1 p. 129, ness* is for running on and passing over the boundaiy which
^ ' the Spirit** came up to and was still.
• p. 110, 2. When the Angels searched to learn the Generation' of the
O. D.
Son, they directed their questions to those that were higher
s 5. nod than they, and these great ones learn at the suggestion of the
Spirit ''. As the degrees of the Angels, so are the questions
of the Angels'^. There is none among them that dareth to
• Vol. ii. p. 486, 0. '* Plain is the Holy, nnlew taugbt by the Spirit how
way for the simple, and that way is often tiiey most utter tiiis doxology,
faidi) which metes oat inns and mile- to be true to orthodoxy P &c"
stones from Paradise back to Para- ^ See on I Kings in note e. Greg.
disc, &c." and p. 495. '' Prophets and Naz. Or. zxxiv. p. 639. ' I wist not
Apostles handed it down, in it are if so great a thing be not incom-
milestones which the Truth did fix, in prehensible even to the intellectual
it are inns which JLiOve did garnish." natures above, which through their
^ St. E. here conceives the Spirit as beinff near unto Gkxl and shone upon
setting Himself a limit according to by uie entire Light, may yet haply
what He saw it to be fitting to disclose clearly see it, if not entirely, yet at least
to His creatures, according, not to after a more perfect and express sort
His capacity to reveal, but theirs to than we, according to the ranx to which
receive. On the mysteriousness of they belong, umi JkimXtyim* rSf r^O^ —
such limits he dwells further below, who had biden contrasting (p. 638.)
liii. §. 1, &c. God's own knowledge of Iffimself with
« Basil de Sp. Sancto. xvi. (§. 38.) that of His creatures. See Dionys. de " Take away from the account the Ccel. Hier. cap. v. Cyril Thes. p. ^166, Spirit, and the quires of Angels are c. Epiphan. Ixiv. 33. quoted in St. Jo. disbanded, the prefectures of Arch- Damasc. de F O. iL 3., and Petav. de angels come to an end, all things are Ang.ii. 4. §.6. who has however not given confounded; of law, order, and boundary these or any other passages from tibe will their life be void. For how is it Fathers. He shews however ^at St. that the Angels say, * Glory to God in Thomas held to the doctrine of St. £. the Highest, if it be not by the Holy and St. Greg, even after the visibility Spirit that they are empowered to do of God had been authoritatively deit ?... .1 think that Gabriel also fore- termined. It diould seem difficult to telleth not things to come by any other conceive of different orders of Angels, way than by the Spirit's foreknowledge, without different degrees of knowledge seeing one of the divisions of the gifts to be imparted, and of goodness les2-
of the Spirit is prophecy, &c How ing them to impart it.
could the Seraphim say. Holy, Holy,
Degrees of knowledge as qfcrealed beimgs different. 121
stretch himself onto aught that is greater than his own 9 Cor. measure. Hereto nature witnesseth bj the subordination^^' ^^ that is therein*, for rank leadeth unto rank unto that which is the crown : and also the counsels of Jethro made subordinations Bx. is, from degree to degree even up to Moses himself. Men, who ^^ ^^ are of vile degree, trespass over the degrees of Angels to come ^^ up to the First-bom and search into Him ! ShT
3. It was not. Lord, from envy ' in Thee, that Thy works were less than Thee; the work can never be made equal with itsP* ^^^ Maker. It were a fearful blasphemy if it could be made equal to Him, since the servant would be companion of his Lord, and the Lord fellow-servant of His servant Blessed be he who hath felt that it was in His love that the Lord condescended and the Maker put on the work'. There is no
« We have already seen above, n. b. of those An^ls, that without a veil,
p. 107. St. £.'8 way of argaing from the things of God, and are oonnted
analogy npon snch subjecrs : as it is a worthy to see the mysteries from God
common habit with him so to argue, an withoat the mediation of others. And
instance or two shall be here added ; these be like the fine floor, because it
onNamberBX].35.p«257>hesay8, ''Goef is by a light clear and pure that they
iooA' ^ the Sgnrii thai wom on htm and are enlightened, and are m their essence
gave U to the seventy elder*. As the pure wi&out spot and without mixture,
fruits of trees receive the iuice that These are they whom we account Sera^
distils frt>m their branches, so the seventy phim and Cherubim. But those who eat
elders felt the Spirit which distilled flower mixed withbran, are those [men]
from Moses and entered into them, who hitherto have not attained to a eapa-
And again, the sense (of the text) is bility for the pure light, for hitherto they
not that He minished him, but it ex- have not attained a mind pure and per-
plains how it was from Christ that all feet every whit, but there is over tnem
intellectual Spirits receiTed.*' On a covering like to the bran,&c." See also
Nombers i. he says, p. 250, e. '^ Here vol. i. p. 269. We see here that he holds
is a *■ tjpe of the twelve Apostles, by men and Angels to see God in very dif-
whose means the chosen below were ferent ways ; and that in niite of his
enrolled in the Church on earth, but holding as St. Thomas did, that Angels
those above perhaps bv the head of see God without any medium, he also
their ordem. That he did not number holds in the text, th at Angels themselves
the tribe of Levi with Israel, although see Him in different degrees,
he was of Israel, is again a ^pe of the ' This seems to have been originally
Saints, who although they be of the suggested by Plato, (Tim. §. 10. « He
worldy yet are not reckoned of the world : who established this universe was good,
The Archangels too are higher than and in him who is good doth no envy
their companies, as the head is above ever at any time have place,'') and. is
the members." Again, on Joshua, used in a similar way by St £. B. xlvi.
p. 305, c. <* By those that dwell in cities §. 2. St. Athan. c. Gent. $. 41. St. Grn^.
are typified those that stand in the rank Naz. p. 16. d. p. 543. d. St. Gr. Nys. o.
of virtues and powers and dominions ; Eun. p. 372. a. xxi. §. 2. St. Epipban. i.
those again who have their portion in p. 959. a. If Arianism grew out of Pla-
conntry places are a semblance of those tonism, we should not forget any service
who stand in a lower contemplation, as the heathen did to orthodoxy, especially
Principalities and Angels." And on when (as Heindorf notices) he is op-
i Kings iv. p. 454. a. Of the different posing the current heathen notion of
provisions for the king's table he says, the enviousness of the Divinity.
'* first take thee in the fine flour, a type S i. e. put on our nature.
IM ChfUft takes our names, gives us His.
work of His that can be compared unto its Maker. For not even ore the names of the two eqoal and more than the names are
« p. iS3.they themsdves unequal. The Lord willed in His love* to make His servants share in His names. Priests and kings by grace clad on Thy surnames, and Moses and Joshua Thy names^.
4. Merciful was the Lord in that He also clad on oui names ;
Mat.is,eTen to a grain of mustard seed He condescended to compare Himself. He gave unto us His Names, He took from us our names. His Names made us great, our names made Him small. Blessed be he who covered his own name with Thy goodly Name, and hath ornamented with Thy Name his own names: Let nature be a furnace* unto us
*p. lS8.for the word of truth. Lo, the sun is all of him visible' to the eye of all ; it is not that he is in any thing concealed that the eye cannot search into him. The whole of him is visible before it, yet can it not see one hundredth part
• eomp. of him'. In the sun is revealed Thy hidden G^eration, and n. e. ' who can gaze upon the might thereof^ ?
* p. 196, 5^ Again set thy heart [to think] how the sea* also is in- *p.87, accessible. It is not hidden by distance. Lo! though "' '* quite in the midst of it, the sailors are tossed about, they
cannot [attain] to the end thereof; so is also His Majesty; in it dwell powers, natures, and Angels, and every thing plungeth into it and welleth forth in it, and yet is unable to search Him out ! With every thing also is there mingled this common air on which our breath hangeth. Though its fetter gall us not, it entereth into us and cometh forth from us, and is unto us as though it were not The hand fidls upon it and it is not felt beneath it; it flees without changing while it is in the hand ; when it is taken, it lets itself not be taken. Its breath passes through bodies, things bound in it are as loose things, that turn them whithersoever they please. They come and go in the midst of it^ On one
l» * Names' Mem to mean Hometfaing oconre xx. §. 3. W. §. 5. Ixit. $. 1.
' more woper than snrnamee ; the latter vol. ii. p. SSI . e. p. 454. d. p. 476. d. &c.
probatW mean sooh names aa Rock, for some saoh idea as capacity for
Axe,WonB,KingofBighteoiisness,&o. testing—perhaps suggested by Prov.
Joshua is the same as Jesns Jn Syriac ; 37. SI .
Moses' being ealled< God to Pharaoh' is ^ t^^ compatibilitT of Chid's grace
probably the other thing alhided to. with man's freedom is noticed as a
" « Fvmace' is an expression which wonder again xxt. §. 1. It will be right
Analogies in air and colour to OotPs pervading presence. 198
Bieath all depend ; It beareth all without weariness ; in His fulness they all dwell, and as in an empty space they abide. He is too great to be hidden in any thing. Lo ! He is covered though not hidden, for with Himself He veileth Himself.
6. Parallels to the air,hath He made thee also in the colours*; by them hath He shadowed thee out a likeness of the Eternal, Who [Himself] cannot be shadowed out. For He is near us and £air off; though He is in us, He is not ; and though the creation is in Him, it is as though it were not in Him ; though
to qnoCe some puaagee here to shew exiatath not if it be Ugbt, or s forest, if how fltrongljhe (in common with other it be let run wild, for want of tilling, writers before Pelagian times) ex- Blessed be the Creator of freepressed himself apon man's freedom, as will, the handmaid to whom He haUi the weight of the pasHage in the text given power over the sonl. Who is to cannot otherwise be duly appreciated, hide free*will that is as diesnn shining VoLii.p.326. b. ''If£noch,thatlived, in the firmament P who deny ite dofonnd no way to live without the Tree minion whereof the power is as God of life, who is there that can live in might P oomp. (vol. i. p. ISO.) quoted without the living Son, Whose fruit in p. 117. n. k..... Blessed be He that givetii 1I& to all P No man can gain a plaited the oommandmente that by reward proportioned to his labour save them free-will might be crowned I by justice: no man can receive one Blessed be He that hath made just greater than his labour save by grace, men numerous, to be witnesses that ory Whose labour then sufficeth for the aloud concerning free-will." See xxr. price of the Kingdom and receiveth in §. 3. xxviii. §. 2. xxxi. §. 3. Ixxix. §. 8. justice so as not to inherit by grace ? contr. Scrut. i. §. 36. Again, voU L There is a drop by justice and the rest p. 143, a. speaking of Cain he says; by grace. The labour of justice (i. e. *' if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the which in justice requires reward) is the door of thy heart i these words go to cause to uie Giver, to give for the little shew, that God wisheth man|s repent- ^reat riches without measure. Neither anee and waitoth for him to return, 18 He blameable for adding, who add- and exciteth and giveth opportunities eth thus to all things. For a mortal which are a call thereto. They shew man's scant labour in the stead of much also that man has power over himself persuadeth that he will hereafter work : and a liberty of willing. Lo, sin lieth for were he to prolong his life, then his at the door of thy mind like to a fanged labours had been great. Wherefore it beast at the door of a house, if tnou is justice while it is also grace, for it torn thee to it, it will get it power over woold have been justice had his life thee." St. £., as other Fathers, when been prolQiLp»d." Again ib. p. 461 , e. arguing with fatalists, Insiste on the fact be says, ** Thou that art our Healer, of man's freedom, and does not go into heal our free-will : healed may it be by the question of the way in which he be- Thee, and by Thee forgiveness gain, came free. See his de Lib. ArUtrio, iii. Befbse not to assist it, for in Thee ite p. 359. Petavius de Beo ix. 4. and 5. health also standeth. O mighty gift, notices how the earlierwriters have been whereby Thou hast made us greater causelessly impeached,^ and may yet be than tfaie seas that are fettered hy their defended upon this subject, boundaries, than the earth, the heaven, ^ i. e. use the colours in a parallel and the mountains that witiiout are way to what we have just been using very small! May our Lord visit our the air: He is near, &c. He here states, minid, the will whereof is enfeebled by what he alludes to, of the prototjrpe inite wealth, and ite thoughte by ite poe- stead of the type : otherwise the inoomsessions, and by ite desires enfeebled is prehensibility of colour is the point to ite power. For evil, if man willeth which he draws our attention, not, does not exist, Iflce darkness which
124 The Son is as unsearchable as the Father y
Pb. 81, no one is able to reil himself in Him, yet He corereth him in
1 p, 1 18^ Himself. We have shadowed forth for the sake of our quietness ^
n. k, fin. the Eternal that cannot be felt : let us not explore Him, but let
us depart and go forth by the straight course to silence. If a
* See blind man shall touch a living coal' to explore it, its brightness a^. ' ' 'profiteth him not, but its heat' bumeth him". So doth a P^^ hidden Essence harm them that search into it, but them that
worship it, it advantageth.
7. The Son is close unto His Father in glory as in name ; seeing He is close Him in these two, He is not distant from Him in the third thing. As the Father is unsearchable, so is the Son unsearchable. He that would search into the First-bom would search into the Father. The
* See searching into the Begotten is a bridge^ which whoso passeth *^' ' over, passeth on to search into the Father. Bethink thyself
^§. 1. that whoso wisheth to examine and search into the fruity his ixx^. seeking speedily runs into the root that bare it. The Son is §• 4* a treasurehouse wherein is searching and also treasure, for Mat 13, the daring the searching of Thee, for the merchants* Thy 6 Pearl treasure. Both of them are to be wondered at. The guilty ▼i.§.d.R. doth searching into Thee employ^; the good is hidden in ^ ^. fill * Thy loving-kindness.
8. He condescended to come down to thee; taste the fruit of His love, and the sweetness thereof let it delight Thee ; let not searching into Him harm thee ; for He is able to be a
•yi.§. 3. medicine of life* and a medicine of death. Take from Him that which He brought, give unto Him also that which He will accept Take from Him and give to Him ; take bowels
>¥U.$.2.of mercies which He brought, and give works' which He will accept Praise Him that brought a blessing ; let Him receive of us prayer. Because the Adorable came down to us. He caused adoration to come up from us. Because He
w rrix. gave us the Divine Nature'", we gave Him the human nature ; because He brought us the promise, we give Him the faith of Abraham His friend; for almsgivings have we put out to
■B Perhaps the mentioii of coloim put it into words, beinff through the
reminds him of a blind man, and his incomprehensibility of them to them-
having no sense for them. For ' all the seWes m a state of ignorance' to apply a
blind do is to persnade their own mind seemingly oormpt passage of Epipha*
by talking and deceive those that hear nius, i. p. 991. c. Compare vi. §. 1. when
them, as if they had a perfect know- the same simile is used to snggeet the
ledge of their difference, and oonld even imperfect vision of God given to man.
yei is Ugkiy Ufe^amd Heaiik io the good mmd kmaMe. 125
interesi" with Him, diat we maj demand it of HimM&Ltf,
97. again.
9. Phiise thoa the hidden light bj means of the gleaming firomHim; hard is it for the eye ofthesool to look at the secret Lig^U By means of the shining from Him' it is able to go'?- 97, to meet Him. He sent forth a brightness firom Himself to them that sit in darkness. He tamed away their eyes from the beanty of worthless things to the beauty of Him that sent Him. Wonder is there and astonishment at our age'! for*p>i07, there are bruises in our bodies, and scars in our souls, and seams in our spirits. Instead then of searehing out where there was medicine suited for us, we have probed our Riysician, and hare searched iuto His nature and birth. Oh, how bitter is our wound ! It is with the Physician that chaseth away our pangs that we bare bruised our own selves.
JO. May Thy fiuth be in my mind a curdle which, when poured into it, may thicken my thoughts' from prying and'p.9S, straying. I will knock at Thy gate, O Lord, that Thy gift^ ^ may dwell upon me in righteousness, that my poverty may come and be suddenly enriched, for it oweth ten thousand talents. O Lord, do Thou make me a debtor, that I may make Thee pay interest firom what is Thine own.
■ See $. 10. and xxT. §. 3. 4. xxxTiii. tbeiewith; die itoek for tradins is
fin. So of a monk he says. Can. inner. doaUed to Him by interest and by osnry
xri. * The priesthood is the talent which too.' tiioa didst leceiTe of thy Lord to trade
RHYTHM THE SIXTH.
1. How then can a man miss of the Trae One, when the
Trae One is a great Mountain that may be seen even by the
blind ? For who does not perceive by the word * Father* that He
has a Son ; it was not because He was in need that He
begat Him, seeing that He Who begat Him lacketh nothing;
neither did any causes beget Uim% the Father Himself in His
Lore** begat the Glorious Son. The eye is too weak to gaze
upon the great might of the sun. He maketh his intenseness
dim, he softeneth down his vehemence, his ray doth spread
itself abroad, and cometh down unto the eye. Without.
the Son of the Hidden no one hath seen the Hidden
one ; for He is concealed from His works. By His Son is
* or the Essence' seen which cannot be 8een^ In the Ray from EtMual
* The beretios said the Son was Thus St Austin, de Trin. xt. §. 37.
oreated as an instrament to create the " Other Son of God's Love there is
creatures: to this the Fathers replied, none save He, YTho of His Sahstance
titat would be to make the creatures the is begotten;" speaking of Col. 1, 13.
final cause of the Creator. See Petay. see the margin, where our Tersioo fol-
deTrin.ii.6.§.16. To somesuch arguing lowing the Syriac renders * beloved.'
St. E. is probably alluding : the con- Possibly, however, the text is corrupt,
nection is : the title Father implies the oiQQm should be read OIOQ^,
existence of the Son: else Gtod the <in His womb or bosom.' See farther
Father must have been at some time note at the end of this R.
lacking, and have become Father which c See above, p. 68, n. q. It was die
He once was not. Neither waa it doctrine of all the earlv Father* that
anyother cause externalto the Father, it ^^ the Son and not the Father
which led to the veneration of the Son. ^h^ manifested Himself. (Vide Pe-
A"*"?- '^^®" ^oluntate pro- t^^. ^e Trin. ii. 9. §. 9.) As St. E.
genuit, nuUft vi ooactus :» the last holds Them to be equally incom-
olause IS his own, and the whole version prehensible, he must here mean to
is a paraphrase. ' In or by His Love* refer to that office of the Son spoken of
is the literal rendermg, which would i^ st. John i. 18. Vol.ii. p. 60f . c. will
imply, though not near so distinctly, illustrate the sequel, " By His truth
that the Father begot the Son * volun- He made us many medicines; He made
tate :• which mode of expression is of His greatness little by borrowed namea.
sufficiently freauent occurrence not to But that we might not think that this
require m itself any apology whatever. ^„ the whole of Him, He disclosed
See Petav.de Inn. vi. 8. the context. His Greatness not such as it is, but
Aerefore, if any thing, must be what proportioned to our strength. Even
g^ves Ml awkwardness to tiie expres- this Greatness is but a littleness, seeing
sion. Still, * in His Love' may bear it i, a spark from Him which Heshewed
the paraphrase A. pots upon it, and ^. according to our pupils he set be-
imply that the Father begot Oie Son fore u0 of the multitude of His miffhtr
voluntarily m the same sense that He rays." St. Justin Martc. Tryph.p.S68.
exists Himself volmtanly, that is, not ^^es the Ray in a similar way as a type
at wiU, but with His will, since He of the Incarnate Son. Later writov
cannot will Himself to be else than He Qg„ally employ it as St. E. does below,
IS. Again, Love is a name used for rf. §. j. jj^j^i. j. j, ^f Hia Divine
God, and therefore powibly Ae ex- Nature. See p. 188. preesion might mean * m Himself.'
Varioiuveik^hro^wkichfmmuviniedbyChrigt^Creaiar.l97
Himself He softened His wondrous might ; for our Strengthener would not weaken. He was pleasing unto us, when He sofiemed it for us. By a ray we have represented Him, not that this is indeed like Him, for there is nothing which accurately shadoweth forth Him K He lets Himself be sha^iK^m. dowed forth in similitudes, that according to our strength we|^ may learn Him in His blessed dispensations. Ser. l
2. For in bread the StrongOne that cannot be eaten, is eaten* ^ * In strong wine also is drunk the Power which cannot be drank '. We also anoint ourselves in oil with the Power %mB.z. which cannot be used as ointment'. And as He hath softened \^'^' Himself for the mouth in pleasant meats, and it eateth Him, ' p- M>, BO He hath made the sight of Himself soft to the eye. He ^ ^' hath softened His might in words, so that the ear may also
hear Him. Amongst those conceived Thou art marvellous : amongst those bom Thou art glorious: amongst the baptized Thou art approved : amongst the redeemed Thou art desirable : amongst die sacrificed Thou art slain: amongst pleasant meats Thou art eaten: among the Prophets^ Thou art mingled :« p. 49, in the Apostles Thou art mixed: the whole of Thee, Lord, is^^ in all : in the deep Thou art buried : in the hei^t Thou<» B. 1. art worshipped !
3. In the beginning then by the First-bom were the works created. For God said. Let there be light, and it was created. To whom then did He give the command, for as yet nothing existed? Now if He had given the command to light. He would not have commanded it to be, for He said.
Let there be light For this word * it was,* is diflferent from Gen. i, ' let it be.* He evidently intended the Firstrbom when He^* created Adam, [saying,] Let Us make man in Our Image, ib.T.9«. according to Our Likeness'. It were blindness to think that
' This text has been already quoted, in all places, when creating P It is plain
p. 68. with the same view as here. So that it was to the Son He said it Of
on Gen. p. 18. d. The earth << bronsht Him the ETangelist said, * All things-
tbrth cattle in saeh way as was fitting were by Him, and without Him was not
for tiie serrioe of 1dm who on that Tery any thing msde.' John 1, 3. Panl also
day transgressed the commandment oif setteth to his seal concerning Him, and
his Loid. After having said of the saith, In Him was created whatsoerer
creeping things, beasts, and cattie, tiiat is in heaTsn and on earth, all things
they were ereated on the sixth day, he visible and all things invisible. Col. 1.
proceeds to write of ihe creation of man 16. In p. 138, b. he explains it as saia
who was formed, as it here saitii, on by the Father to the Son and Spirit,
that same sixth dav. Jnd Ocd mud, Sre. Seeon Athanas. p. 130. n. p. We seefirom
To whom then did God say, here and p. 68, the text, and this passage, that the
iitar Toioes
128 The command to create not addressed
He said it to Adam : seeing it was He Who quickened him 1 s. in by the Wood after six thousand* years', Who also formed him gn^d ^^'in the beginning on the sixth day, when' he provoked Him ■*^***® with the wood. Whoso thiuketh again to say, that He gave s p. 137, command to the Angels', it is a manifest audacity: if it be note- right that the servant should be partaker with the Lord and
companion in the work ; how much more is it fitting for the s5.min-Son to exercise the commands'' of His Father, who with a
voice was able to finish His work, and with a word the creation. 4. This also is made a question, for what reason God spake
by His word and thus the work was made ? Was His Will
idea of explaining avvay the passage by bowever Atban. c. Ar. i. $. 66. p. i62.
the artifice of a 'plaralismajestatis' does O. T. where it is pointed out how
not enter into the mind of one familiar Arianism would run up into tiiis error,
with a Semitic language. < Audacity' IZaa^L^ is almost a
• On Judff. xiv. fin. be says, «* That technical word with St. E. for heresy,
Samson's riddle was explained on the heretical boldness. scTenth day shews that m the seventh s In a passage presently quoted,
thousand [of years] all the riddles and p. 139. g^. ^. repeats this, " by Him
types which have been spoken are to be He works and by Him commands.*' So
interpreted, before there be seen the St. Athan. de D. S. N. f. 9. p 15. and
table prenared for the spiritual mamage p. 1 1 8. O. T. quoting as was commonly
feast of the Bride of Christ" It was Jone Ps. 33, 9. Others however objected
a common opinion that (he world would to speaking of the Father commanding
last seven thousand years. Of these six the Son, lest an inferiority should
were supposed to have gone before thereby be implied. See Petav. de
Christ. SeeBedeon Genes.5. and com- xrin. ii. 7. $. 8. whence it will i^pear
pare St. Ephrem upon Deut. i. p. 269. that St. Athan. (c. Ar. Or. ii.31 . see also
where he speaks of five divisions of on f. 21.) does not differ in doctrine from
time before Christ Perhaps the real st. E. on the point 5 for in the expression
G-en. D. 20 and p. lov. St. JCi. notices _^_j ^ j xv \i au ^ ^v
*i.I -™-*i, A^z «. 4\^^ ^^T^ ^f ♦!!<> mand and the creation, the use of the
oonciled : tte same Wood of the C«« ^'oirimagTard buVLtten^ It i.
'^l*i"*~^!!L'"Ml "^'^^'S o»^««" that the word, are .ddre«»d by
will KlTe a more fall rest in Hea»«"' " the Fattier to the Son and the Spirit
Si'"* ,'S"n^h°?ii* J"& Q ' ■**• for the creation of man. Brtheeew^nl.
^ C'^ E. nttioJ^ii:p;444. a. a P/2^"3,7,'?.S'' P::?*^" I""^- '*
r± • — ^-. it. :- ^^.«.:i.i^ • ....M«i !■ seen, that God was making for him
*^^ITL' A«„I^IS^^ TS^ » B'o'y P«*ter than that o? all the
^^^t^lJ^^^^^ sLt wn-itiTe creatare. which He CTeat»l
i?T?« i^lSoT^^V AaJ^ B i^«" »»«'" W>»- For of then He spake
ii.4.88.p.449.Potter.Ath«n.o.Ar,ii, commandingly only: 'Lit Oeti ie
§. 21. Arohel. Caschar. o. Man. cap. x. j.^. g. ^ LmiJi^^ ^LthTiZ #1!
Epiphan. i. p. 63. p. 62. p. 109-10.) and ^Xl^^J^L^^t^Ji^'^ j^
alSaV the Jew.; (we fea.il Hex. fin. St^n^Sf^iStk L^. ^w"^*^
VoiririadB.M.pig.fidei,fol.892.)Thi. ^J^^'2^^^^^,.^ *»'!
is one of the m«^ instiLices in Which "^"i°** *» the oonsidenng and
Sfc E. glances at other heretic, than '^^^^'''J^t il?, JK^*^
tho« apiinrt whom he is writing. See "•"oh men m^e in «i«r *.ingfc'»
to any qfihe creaiureSf but to the Son. 129
then too weak to create in silence ? Or the sounds which He spake did He give them a body, so that they became the works ^? Both these alternatives are untenable'; that '5. are which is third is tenable, yiz. that it was to the Second ^^^ Person' that He gave the command; for if a man should say > 5. His that God gave the command to the work to be created', ^^^M^nis confuted in Adam, since He said not to himy let Us makeeA man in Our image; it was not to His companion* that He See spake, nor yet to His servant did He ^ve the command. |^ ™*4^ It was not meet that a servant should be made by his fellowservant. All of them were created by the Son.
5. A thing made is too little to create, along with the Creator, the creation. There is no other Eternal^ to be as a ^ or partaker with Him; servant and associate fail, and the Onlybegotten Son remains, who was not to be commanded as a servant, nor be put on an equality with a companion. His Son sufficed for His voice. Blessed be the Eternal that softened the might of His voice in His Sou ^. For behold the First-bom how different He is from companions, and from servants how diverse ! For He is high and yet humbled Himself. He is lifted up above servants and lowered more than companions. He is not numbered with servants, neither is He reckoned with companions. He is raised up above both ; He is not servant, since He is Son ; He is not companion, since He is First-bom. The tme One is plainly revealed to him that willeth to see Him. The six days that were created bear witness on six sides; they proclaim to the four quarters, and to the height, aud to the depth, that it was not the things made which He commanded to make themselves ; by One, from One, were they created. The Father gave the command with His voice ; the Son finished the work.
^ Epiphan. Ixxiii. §. 13. mentioDs abore, mentions that Manes looked on
that the insisting on the application of the passage as implying a mler speal-
«jv&i Id Uie Son, originatea in the at- ing to other rnlers. tempt of Panl of Sunosata and Mar- ^ This must be considered (as the
oellna to make tiie Word a mere spoken immediate mention of Hnmiliation
word. Then qnoting' Let there be, &c.' shews) as a transition to the Incar-
he says, * the words which the Father nation. See on §. 1. After considering
ppeaketh to the Son are not Sons,' to that tbe Son is alone able to hear the
which a^tematiTe the heretical inter- Father, (so to speak of Him who is all
pretation of ' Grod said' mnst come if fol- hearing,) he breaks off with a thanks-
uywed ont. gi^Qg ^or the revelation God made of
* Companion. AroheL Casch. as Himself by His Son in the fle^h.
130 The words of Crealum discussed,
6. It is veiy plain, that if He commanded the earth to bring
forth, it was fitting that He should speak in the way of com-
Geo. 2, mand with the earth also, as He said unto Ere, in sorrow shall
16 3 31
' 'thou bring forth; instead of saying, let it bring forth^ He would have said, * bring forth.' It was His Son Himself Who set and planted it*: by the Tree of Life alone, the Planter Heb. 1, shadowed out His own Likeness- He knew how to make it known, that He was speaking with water, as He knew how to make it known, that He was speaking with Cain. When He Gen. 1, said, let them bring forth fruit abundantly^ He would hare ^^' said, * Bring ye forth abundantly.' For His speaking to them was different from that to others. His beloved Son He charged to create the beloved fishes and the beautiful birds. He that knoweth all things provided, that in the forming of ' p. 137, man* He should reveal the greatness of the First-bom. He ^^' saw that of all His works the son of Adam was perverted". He revealed His Son openly, that whoso denied the Firstbom, him might Adam his father, who by the First-bom was created, refute ; when he was not, by Him He created him, and when he sinned and went astray, in Him He called him. — ^Jesus, Thou glorious Name, thou hidden bridge that carrieth over from death to life, at Thee have I arrived and >S.ngngtand still! in J Thy initial"^ I am detained^ be a bridge to
1 The Syriac has the masculine pro- uncreate Nature.' Vide Greg. N. ibid,
noun here in the printed text. If this p. 386. d.
he correct, I am unable to understand *> It may not be easy to aacertaia
it I have yentured to render, as if it precisely what is hete in St. E.'s mind,
were the feminine point, which the St.Bamab.£p.ix.St.Irensea8fr.[p345.]
editor appears from his version to have St. Clera.Al.Strom. vi.$.145.p.816. Pott,
intendea it to be. St Jerome in Zechar. viii. fin. Epiphan.
» Vol, ii. p. 479. d. <* Of (Adam) viii. 6. 1. 3. Ixx. 12. and others cited by
man alone is it written, that *• I have Cotel. ad Const. Ap. ii. 26. notiee the
repented, (Gen. 6, 6.) though he was I in our Lord's name as referring to ten
fairer than all the creeping things and in one way or other. Above, p. 38. StE.
beasts without discernment' The force uses the ten as the symbol of Christ's
of the next words seems to be this : the Humanity, in part perhaps, because
heretics assert, that to say the Son is the Yod is the smallest ofthe lettern.
very God, implies that He is Ingenerate: (See Matt. v. 18.) Here then he mav
therefore there will be two Ingenerates. mean, one jot of Thee is too great ft^
(See Didymus de Trinitate p. 38. St. me : in that which is least in Thee I
Greg. Nys. ii. p. 384.) To this St linger, praying of Thee to make Thy
£. replies; * Adam, though a created Incarnation a way whereby I may pa^s
being, was ingenerate, seeing he was over to the Trinity. St Aostin de
not gendered as others are. Still he is Doctr. Christian, ii. §. 26. may perhaps
not unfruitftil: he has a son without throw some further light on the passage,
there being thereby another ingenerate. ' The number ten signifieth the know-
If this is so with created beings, how ledge of the Creator and the creature :
much more might it be conceived of an for the three belongs to the Creator,
Pa99ages on the use qfthe ward * Bosom? 131
my speech that I may pass over to Thy truth. Thy love is a bridge to Thy servant ; by Thee shall I pass over to Thy Father; I will pass over and say, blessed be He that softened down His might in His Son !
and die seren indicates the creatnre by Body. As persons of late yean found
reason of the life and hody. For in the mysteries in the name Latinos, or a^
former there are three things, whence alpha and omega are insisted on in
ft comes that God is to be loved with Holy Writ, so was Christ's holy name
all the heart, with all the soul, and with of old. St £. may refer to what was
all the mind ; in the body the fonr ele- obYioos enough to devotional people
ments, of wliich it consists, are quite of the day. Didymns de Trin. p. 264.
obvioas.*' This meaning of fonr occurs treats in a like way of the woixl sn^-
in St E. i. p. 233. d. t of onr Lord's #ri^.
The proposed emendation requires mother.*' See also $. 7* and ix. 46.
the change of a single letter : how far (§. 2.) In lx.^w<. he tays, *' Leave ye
the present letter in the codices may he unto God Himself the names that He
like the proposed one, in default of any called His Son : He afi&rmed that He
accurate dtticription of the character begat Him from Hu own BosotUj (or
Qsed in them, (known to me,) I cannot Womb,) yet not after oar custom, but in
judge ; but 1 Uiink there is strong in- a way above it, and alUwonderfol."
temal evidence in its favour which I (§. 3.) And $. 6. ' The Holy One in
proceed to state. [His Name] ' Eternal,' is consistent
manner is not to ^iM><e Scripture, but to is consistent; and how comes His
aUude to it Now whoever reads over Fatherhood to be different, in that it is
this section, must see, at first sight, that inconsistent with Itself, if [that is] He
somediing, supposed to be known, is has no glorious Son from His Boeom ?'
Syriac it runs thus: *No man hath thou canst find out the Father, then seen God at any time: God, the Only- &long with Him shalt thou find out the Begotten, Who is m Mtf jRwom ^JI*» Son? He is with His Mouth when FiSAer, He hath declared Him.' As- commanding, witii His Arm when He same that St E. is ex pecting his readers ordereth things. By Him He worketh, to be familiar with this text, and the by Him likewise He commands: the pamage becomes clear: insist on tile One for the Other alone sufficetii: in pi«Iratreading,andtheallasionisl08t ■»»» Botom is He when He em- Next, the word l^O^' Cwhich it »'X5*;iti;i4.<TheFather,.«,.W may seem to ^Jy^^,l'')^}^^^^J^ B^is the Son, alone knoweth, &c.' ^'^^7^ ^"^ 'I I ^JTn^l ^ And ili. $. 10. * If thou canst measure w^ St Epl^^n;^ for 1\\}^^^LZ that Etefnal One, then thou hast mea. Boeom of Ac Fattier. As ^« P»^^^ ^ured the Son, that is/rom His Bosom.' in which It ^^*^«"'Jji°f„°°°"^^^^^ Vol. ii. p. 330. a. » Our Lord Jesus bght upon the passi^ '°J"^„f °tSem Christ ro^ anto us from the Bosom of f!LJ^ ^^^ ^ His Father.' Ibid. p. 472. « Praise thou *Vi0 oTe'of them has occurred al- ^^^^ Son that <lwelfeth in His Bosom, reS.]i r! iii. i. 2. " Blessed, Lord, be «jd P|>"^2isf^^^^^,l^ ^^^
^^^^'^^ 5?"^^ m-i?'^.:^^^^ ontinlwcte^^ SoM&m of the iDtmnei JSssence, ana . i , • ^i. !! *. •* -ii
ST^eiember'ird that him«slf ii fwt ""•^« " P^" Tt" .^^ T*
SSiTtatoS; bowrn of the earth, his " " >•>«"*»<*«» *» *»» <« three other
k2
132 The use of the word ^ Bosotn* illustrated
passages^ that will be found to bear apon ftgnrati^ely, as bretiiren, wbo dwell
the doctnne in the text. It ocean contr. together at unity, have one will. Doabt-
Scrut i. §. 30. '* How ehonld a fruit be less the tone of the Semi-ariaos in many
named so, if in reality it were not sop cases was better than their statements
Name thou the Father < Root/ surname implied : still likeness of substance is
the Son as His ^ Fruit.' He is blended not sameness, and therefore implies un-
with Him, and distinct from Him. He likeness, as St. Austin has on another
is III His Boiom. and on His Bisfat matter observed, (c. Faust. Man. xti.
Hand. For if He were not blended §. 16.) and as the Semi-arians at An-
with Him, then His Beloved were not cyra (ap. Epiphan. i. p. 866. a.) seem to
m His Bosom, If again He were not have seen. Neither am I able to see
distinct from Him, He would not be how the Two Persons, if 'not consub-
sitting at His Bight Hand. Blended stantial, can possibly be conceived (save
with Him is He, seeing He is in His figuratively) to have one Will. So Greg.
Awom, distinct from Him, seeing He Ny8.ii.p.376.d.'' The identitv of choices
is on His Bight Hand. They are One {w^Mu^nm) necessarily indicates the
in one Will : They are Two in two coaimunity of nature in those that so
Names: They have not two Wills, choose." This (as has been shewn
They have two appellations. The me) was proved by passages from the
Name of Fatherhood belongeth to Fathers to be their usual doctrine, in
the Father : His Name guardeth His the Lateran Council in A.D. 649. see
Honour. The Name of Generatenesa Harduin's Cone. vol. iii.p. 868. Petav.
belongeth to the Son.^Ks Name guard- de Trin. iv. 16.
eth His Generation," &c. see the place. The doctrine of the Perichoresis is Presently he adds, ** Fruit and tree also taught in the passage just given from are not one, though they are one. The Sl E., the perfect in-dwelling of One fruit is known as the fruit, and the tree Person in the Other being expressed by as the root In one equal love are they the word I have rendered ^blended,' mingled." Perhaps * bosom* should be which, as is plain from this and other passubstituted here. x^gee, (see above, p. 34, n.g. and xl. §. 1.)
As then St. £. so frequently uses the does not imply any confusion. Vol. ii. p.
word * Bosom' in the sense here con- 471. d. puts his view on this pointbeyond
templated, as he uses it in a similar a doubt. '^ One Name hath the Eternal,
connection in (3.) to that of the pre- who hath none other that is equal to
sent context, as a reference to St. J ohn Him. But if He (be repeated in His Son,
i. 18. will clear up the abrupt transition i. e.) is two owing to having a Son, how
to the Incarnation ; as the phrase the can He dwdl in Him when He is not
Father ITtmsej^ seems to have so little generate from Him? Great perplexity
force with the present reading ; it seems seeing that if the two eternals dwell in
not unlikely that the first letter of the each other, lo I there is confosion with
word j<^ov is wrong. blasphemv. But if it be space in which
The context with the proposed read- ^^7 dwell, then the space is greater
ing would be capable of some such ^^^n the eternal, seeing it limiteth the
paraphrase as this : Though human f&me. It is clear that if Eternal dwell
eyes cannot gaze at the Son, as He is ^^ Eternal, either He is His Son, or of
in the Bosom of the Father, as neither H" framing. But if the eternals dwell
oan they at the sun's light in its bosom ; ^"^^^ everiasting each in his own place,
still in His Dispensation for man's ^•" Here he is arauing against the
good, the Son may be beheld. Manicbsan notion of two et^al prin-
As St. £. is writing a^rainst the ciples; he winds up witii the passage Just
Anomoeans, it may serve further to 11- quoted $. 6. from p. 472, ^' Praise thou the
Instrate the text, if some passages aro ^°» ^•" &nd assumes the doctrine of
put together which tend to shew that ^^ Perichoresis to be known, and that
his view of doctrine is such as would ^^ ^i^l ^ once clash with tne Mani-
preclude his sympathizing much with ohean doctrine. To speak of a eo-
the Semi-arian way of opposing them, eternal Son in a co-eternal Father is
To the Anomcean tenet that the Son consistent : to speak of a bad and good
was uniike the Father, the Semi- principle mutually indwelling in each
arians opposed their statement, that other is inconsistent, and most lead to
He was m all things like {i/ufSnt not ^^o assumption of a space in which they
^M«^«f), and by this rejection of the d^ell, and which is ffreater than tbey.
V^^^M precluded the possibility of as- ^3ee on St. Austin's Confess, p. 314.
sorting that They have one Will except To return to the * one Will.' In vol.
irtiA a view to improving the text. 133
ii. D. 396. O. G. he says on his death- distance extendeth unto as !' bed, *' Not bj the Three Names of It is quite posible that a scribe
Hre, not bj their One MoTement and who looked over the passage before
WH], have I erer doubted toaching the transcribing might purposely substitute
Cfaorehor tbepowerofCxod: If I have Move' for * bosom' to suit the im-
magnified die Father more than His mediate context, if unlearned ; and
Son in my mind, may He shew no if heterodox to meet the wishes of
mercy on me, or if I have made die others. But in ^ 8. St. £. seems
H«>ly Spirit lesR than Giod, dark be plainly to return to the coetemity of
mine eyes: If I hare not confessed the Son with the Father, and to be
according to these words, to outer dark- arguing §. 6. that though commanded,
sees may I go, or if T am speaking He was in no way inferior, as the
figuratiTely (I^^aL^) with the Homceoosian system at least tended to
wicked in the fire may I bum." This ™*^ ^>™-
solemn assereration is consistent with ^^ ™*7 ^ noticed also that St.
the abore cited passage, as also (as we ^J^ ^^ ^^'^' P- ^^- ^ ®- mentions
shall see) with Ixxrii. §. 6. and oontr. ^^^ berebca who got over the text
Serot. i. ^ 33. ii. ^ 8. ^ St John, to which I suppose
Again in xW. 4. he aignes against St. E. to be referring, by asserting,
ihe heretical dilemma, «if the True *•* 'bosom' meant « low' in that
One be^. He begat ddier by His P*»*f«; m>^ »>o* («• St. C. says it
Will or against His Will.' But the "bould be taken) of the Son's being
reading in the text is not what one 'from the Father and m the Fadier,' the
ahoold expect from a writer awan of "^^^ '»«>™ ^"^ '"^ ^"' * Essence/
diat dilemma, and arguing against it in St. CyriPs Tiew of the text of St. John
another part of the same w^. ^U meet the only further difficulty
In lii. §. I. die T«ry term in the ^^'^^ •««"• ^^"^7 ^ ^ "^« ^ ^^
present text is used I diink un- proposed reading, Tia. that it is usual
qoesdonablyofthesonshipwhichisby to speak of the Son bemg begottenyrom
gnuse. < As by His Names He is the Bosom of the Father and not usual
comnrefaended to be God, and Just and *» 8P«»^ ^^ His being begotten in the
Good, so the Name of Fadier erinoedi Bosom of the Father. St. E. however,
Him to be a Generator. For the very >^ «Uoding to diat text would take a
Name of Fadierhood used of Him "^^^ ®' ^^j « ^ ^^'^^"^ ^«™ >«* *J>**
beareth witness of the Son, and as He text, especially when the OL^Q^^^
was the Father of One, m His Ltme it ' in the Bosom' also contradicts the
is that He is so of many. Praises be heretical notion that the Son was ex-
to His Grace !' which doctrine of son- temal to the Father. Yet in matter
ship by' grace occurs again in xxix. of feet St. Greg. Nys. who had die
§• I. in other terms. See ▼. §. 3. same reading of St. John thus com-
The epithet *■ glorious' seems to me ments on it in c. Eun. ii. p. 433, b.
to suggest to St. £.'s mind the idea of " Fair, rea beyond all feimess, is God
the sun shining in his might. Hence the Only-begotten, Who ia in the
he passes off to the giiring of ' that Bosom of the Father : He that is in
li^t* to us, through &e Incarnation, the Bosom of the Father, is He not
and the blessings, sacramental or other, begotten in it P i At U rf mikirf ^ix,*
nttending it. Or he may mean more lyynJfUfH i**
generally, that we do not grasp the To conclude: the question here
Dirine Essence shining in its strength, raised is not whether the reading in
bat only some small part of Its opera- the text does or does not contain a
tions. < For look' (he says, yoI. ii. questionable expression : but, whether
p. 518, c. on another point) ' at the that expression does or does not fell in
•oorce of this son which we see, and with St. £.'& ordinary teaching. To
observe that the fountain-head of its haye illustrated this may be useful,
rays is unbearable, but when the shining even though the present reading seem
of it spreads abroad, feeble and doUed to others perfectly satisfectory. i should
does the might of its rays become : heat add, that a similar passage from a Latin
too and the gleam of it which is from translation of St. £. is discussed by
fire is dulled and minished each moment. Petav. de Trin. vi. 8. §. 24. which, for
How much more dulled then will the reasons given in the Prefece, I have
Brilliance be which fhm a lengthened omitted.
RHYTHiM THE SEVENTH.
1. Who, that forgets himself, and knows not his own understanding, would declare the nature of the First-born, the • Lord of natures ? The natures, that by Him exist, who is able to search out ? Even that nature which is in himself he cannot search out. How then shall he who meets a reproof in his own self, in that be is not equal to [investigating] himself, be equal to [investigating] his Lord? Plain is the object before us, great, and open, and at hand : IB. i. yet, whoso will hit at it, misses it and fails ^ If then the ^' ^' object close at hand none be capable of hitting, the Hidden Object that strikes awe what man shall find a way to hit ? < p. 116, The Manhood none is equal to': who can attain unto the
hidden Godhead ?
Heb.io, 2. He came down, and veiled His face with a veil of Flesh.
ajl^jj f From the brilliance of His light the whole of Jordan* light
p. 86. became. He gleamed a little in tbe mount ; trembling,
quivering, and aghast, were those three pillars that the
Gal.2,9. Apostle so accounted: He granted them a sight of His
« pp. 63, hidden glory commensurate with their strengths The sea
^^'^{4' beheld Him and was shaken; though so sturdy with its
26. waves, yet it bowed its back and bare Him, and took Him
better than the colt. When He sat within the ship, the
sailors counted Him a man: He went down and trod the
sea, and awe the shipmen felt at Him. With no searching
searched they Him, but with wonder wondered at Him.
* ab. pp. They praised and held their peace in fear. The Magi* again
' ' sought Him, and when they found Him in the manger, it
Scr. iii. was not prying, but worship, that they offered to Him in
^' ^ ' sUeuce : not empty strifes, but offerings, were what they gave
to Him. Do thou too seek for the First-bom, and if thou
« R. T. hast found Him in the height^ instead of wrangling dis-
^' ' putations open thy treasures before Him, and offer unto
Him thy works.
7)le fryimg and the beiievimg comirasied. 135
d. Come, let ns be astoiued at the men that saw the King in His low estate, and neither searched nor sought ; not one of them made inquiry: there, pure fiiith was fictorious in silence. The Magi, when He was in His low estate, durst not search into Him, who shall dare to search into Him now that He hath gone up and sat down at the Right Hand on high 7 I'ea, the thief made no enquiries, but believed without searching into Him. The one on the' left* hand enquired, and his*&tlM enquiring cut off his hope. The Scribes^ that sought feU^ with Herod, who asked [after] Him. Satan* tempted Him, I'V^^ss, wishing to know who He was. Unto all these that searched, the Mesaah gave Himself not, as He did to the little*?- ^9 children*. A star rose above Him, to shew without all con- p. 79^' troversj that He was indeed the Bright Light of the Gentiles, ^^-^<^ in that they saw the Truth in Him. On Him when baptized the Spirit settled in the form of a dove, that He might shew ^^« '> without question that it was He who was to baptize with fire. The voice openly proclaimed, * This is My Son and My Beloved,' that the voice might reprove piying.
4. These affections have they repressed who have refrained from searching, and have quieted the soul that it might believe without toil*. The Pharisees enquired. Who is this,' ^- »*• and Whose Son ? As searching into the Truth they fell firom the Truth. On faith all dependeth. When seeking after the Truth Himself, in the seeking of Him they lost Him. The centurion was commended* when he marvelled at Him as God : *&gra«t
lUfaM ft
in faith he honoured Him, and suffered Him not to come in. g. ' His coming in he counted a weighty matter : do thou then
* Ab. p. 13. n. 1. and xxxriii. §. 3. or a diTine one, wherewith he came to CaD. Necros. t. init. " Above low and oar Lord id the mount," &c. Cyril de middling was hie rank exalted : and as Incam. cap. xiii. ap. Mai, viii. p. 74. we are perfect in what belongetfa to the *' He continaed fasting forty days and left hand, so was he perfect in what be- as many nights. For He woald not go loDgeth to the right hand. YTith him, beyond the measure of those who had Lord! may we stand on the right listed of old, lest the adversary should hand.'' For die belief that it was the shun the contest with Him, lest, having thief on the left hand who blasphemed, recoffnised that which was hidden, he see the Catena on the place, p. 761 . should shan the struggle with that which
b Scribes, or' leamea men' generally, was seen." St. Mil. on Mat. iv. 1.
' have sought.' The word will recur *' There was in the Devil suspicion
below in thifi sense. from his fear, not knowledge from his
* Of Satan's ignorance of the In- suspicion It was fit that before the
carnation, see xxx. §. 4. and above, temptation he should not be able to un-
{>. 21. n. e. St £. vol. i. p. 28. f. says, derstand God in Man." Chrys. Hom.
' Satan was not permitted to come to xiii. in Mat iv. 2. p. 147. a. see Pe tav. -
Adam in the gazwn in a human form, de Trin. iii. 6. §. IS.
136 St. T%oma8 blamed/or believing slowly.
think so of searching into Him, because at this daj thou hast no room for checking His visibly coming in, check and count a weighty thing the searching into Him, that He may praise thy faith before Angels on high. Weigh them together, the Johnso, Centurion that believes, and that Thomas^ who would feel and search. His Lord praised the former, and the latter did His Master rebuke. If he were blamed that dared to search into Him and so believed, what disgrace does he store up for himself that wisheth to search first, and to believe afterwards" i
' The more usual Tiew of St. Thoman' of, we should be no loDger aUowed to
doubt is perhaps to regard it as a dis- speak upon those whereof we are able.
Sensation, whereby for ' the more con- For it is from belief we ought to speak,
rmation of the faith' light was for a and not from things spoken to believe ;
time withheld from him. It is, how- since it says, I believed and therefore
ever, usual with St. £. to avail himself did I speaL" The Anomcsans objected
as well of the moral and literal, as of to the Catholics, that they worshipped
the deeper and spiritual,le88oni*of Scrip- they knew not what, (V. G. Nys. ii.
ture. Thus in p. 20. he may be said to p. 619. 1.) In observing on this sort of
moralize on Noah's drunkenness, while reasoning, St. Bas. £p. 234. §. 2. says,
in vol. i. p. 162. there quoted, and p. 3* '^ A sufficient faith it is that knoweth
he considers of what it was the type : t/uU God is, without knowing what He
in vol. i. p. 112. d. we find him stating is, in that He is a rewarder, &c. For
in terms that he gives both inteipreta- the knowledge of the Divine Essence is
tions of the Benedictions of «iacob. the perception of His incomprehensible-
Thus too in B. ix. §. 3. he speaks of Job ness ; and what we worship is not that
88 if he had done what (as he notices whereof it is comprehended what the
on Jerem. xx.) ' the Spirit says he did essence is, but thai it is." not,' sin or blaspheme with his lips. A In this Bhythm St. E. is enforcing
large part of the prophecies he refers to the necessity of fiaith in order to Ae
Zorobabel, sometimes stating along with reception of doctrine of the Eternal
this, and sometimes not, ^e ultimate Generation of the Son, a doctrine which
and spiritual sense of tbem. ^ more than any part of the Christian
• See B. ix. $. 2. and xi. §. 4. St. Mele* Beligion requireth of us mere faith upon
tins in St. Epiph. 1. p. 881. << There is authority only.' See Pet de Trin. v. 6.
reason to fear, lest, if forced to speak who gives several passages to this ei!ect
upon topics that we are not able to speak frv>m the Greek and Latin Fathers.
RHYTHM THE EIGHTH.
1. O the brightness of Moses which none could behold ! ^x. 34, They that beheld him were not able to look at a mortal:
who shall dare to look upon the Quickener of all living? If the brightness of the senrant was so powerful, who shall look sted&stly upon his Lord ? for the Mount Sinai when Ex. 19, it saw Him, smoked and was melted before Him. The * mighty men were not equal to seeing the glory of Moses. A veil ministered between the brightness and the people, instead of the veil which wore away, a Brightness of living Fire surrounded the chariot, that the Cherubim might not be affirighted'. Let stillness and silence be the curtain to thee,LeTit. that thou gaze not upon His Brightness. ^^' ^'
2. There was none that approached the folds' of the visible i & veil to pry into the brightness of the servant that was dwelling^***" within it. When Moses had been to gaze on Him, all the tribes were moved: how much more fearful the searching into that wherein Thy Generation is hidden ! If Thou lookest upon the Angels, the Heaven and the Heaven of Heavens tremble before Thee. In the veil of Moses Thy Ex. 4, bright shining Truth was hidden, in his stammering wasg^j^)' hidden Thy ready-speaking teaching ^ Beneath two veils >& Thy Truth was hidden, and Thy speaking. As for the veil T"»^ Thou didst lift it up, and the stammering Thou didst make 3 Cor. 3, to speak plain. The whole of Thee came forth to sight.
Lo ! Truth speaketh in the mouth, and verity is revealed to the eyes. The veil upon his face and the stammering of his mouth, as two veils veiled the blinded people: but to the just that longed for* Thy day Thou wert revealed. The»pp.4.6e.
* If this seem contraiy to what was shew that he meaDS rather to deojthat noticed aboTe, p. 116, n.e. what he says eTen Angels comprehend God as the
138 Lessons against prying^ from the types
heretics also, who at this day are blinded with the veil,
stutter, and are blindfold. They are blind to Thy beauty,
and to Thy teaching dumb.
3. These types under Moses shadowed out to the foolish
two veils spread over the crucifiers. The Truth hath risen up Beat, openly : let us not grope in darkness : let not searching into Job 12 ^^™ ^^ ^^^^ ^^ another veil. His beauty came forth openly. 2^* Liken not thou Him to any thing, for He is like His Father
in the whole of Him. Into the Holy of Holies the priest went
in silence: once only in the year did he go in in fear. And if
SeeHeb. he reverenced the whole of that dwelling-place of His, who
' ' shall dare to search into the Power which dwelt in it? Let
us feel a share of his awe in searching out of the First-bom,
since He is Lord of the sanctuary. Numb. 4. Two hundred and fifty priests with their censers were ' '* burnt up, because they wished to seize on Aaron's priestib, 31. hood; and they of Corah's company were swallowed up,
because they wished to be priests. If the priesthood of
Aaron was thus altogether fearful, how much more fearful > Acts the Lord of priests who made priests with His- own Blood' ** ! See Who would dare to search into Him ? Great was the shock, ^*^' that the sons of Aaron were [so] suddenly burnt up ! They §.46. dared to offer up strange fire*, and were burnt up. Who n.^b. p! ^^^^ ^^^^ escape that bringeth up into the Church strange 3 p. 1 12, questioning ^ " ? There is indeed in the Ch urch a seeking which p. fii. examineth things revealed, but not one that prieth into things
hidden.
2 Sam. 5. Uzzah*, the chief priest, when he went to stay [the ark],
' ' was taken off. What he was commanded he did not, things
* 5. they not commanded he performed. He was commanded^ to carry
maaded ^^^ ^^^ upon his shoulders : He put forth his hand to stay
him
^ On Levit. ▼iii. he writes thus : His Blood as the eeneral source of all
'* Lo, from the fact that it was by the Christian graces, moogh particolarly of
oil of anointing and the blood of sacri- the priestly. See n. d. on R. x.
fices that Aaron and his garments were *^ xhis passage is to be obeenred, as
hallowed, it is plain that it is by the Holy implying that St. £. looked on here^
Ghost that the Sacrifices are offered on as a species of idolatry,— .of which
the mystical and priestly table." So on more hereafter.
Lot. ziv. he looks on the blood of the ^ So in the Can. Neoros. xn. p. S58.
sparrow as the type of Immanuel, f. ^' Not like Uzzah hast tboabonoitred
'' the Sacrament of Whose Incarnation God in the eyes of man, for be ran to
is interwoyen and blended with the support tiie Ark, and the AilHmbdtting'
Gentiles, as blood is in the arteries." Power swept him off." Probably he means here then to regard
and kvfiories of the Old Tesiameni. 189
the Might of Him that stays op all things. He thought the ark was aboat to fall : when he approached it, it slew him. Do not shew honoar to what is holy on a side that they have Rjcznii. not commanded thee*. Uzziah shewed an honour, which was a IlI*^:: dishonour. Do not as avenging the Truth search into and§-<>- dishononr the First-born. Think not that the faith is likely 95 1^* to fall. Itself snpporteth them that are cast down' : do not^ R. ix. support it as Uzza^ lest in anger it destroy thee. ^' ^
6. The princes [of the Philistines] who were insolent honoured the ark ; when they had made trial of its might, they worshipped it with offerings. Dagon*, before it, was'abore, broken off, for it cut off his limbs. How much more should ^' fP' we honour the Gospel, before which the wicked one was destroyed. From his dominion did it cut him off; with offerings let us appease it, for it hath healed our torn wounds. The Jordan also saw the iirk and was divided in two parts, for itR. ix. ran away before it and fled behind it. It flowed down, not^* * after its nature, because it saw the Lord of natures. If the ark'' *^ P* was fearful because the tables were within it; how much ' more fearful is searching [into Him], and who shall approach unto it since the Lord of the tables is hidden in it ?
7. Daniel saw wondrous living creatures* He saw also that * ^^* P* the Ancient of Days^ was sitting in glory. He approached '
to the living creatures that be might ask and learn. He approached not to search into the glory of the High One. Fools have left the works and run on to the Maker that they ^^^^* ^f might search out. Who He is. Daniel saw one of the Angels and was affrighted'. He approached not to search into him; the voice that he heard he was not able to bear. Daniel was not able to hearken even to his voice. He looked not upon him that ministered ; upon Him that was ministered unto, who shall look.? The sea that saw the sign* of Him*******^* feared and fled back and was moved, it was divided into two ' heaps. Daniel that asked concerning the words, heard that
* See B. ix. §. 3. B. xxxviii. §. 4. AnomceanH affected to honour the
439. h. Id vol. ii. p. 439. there is Father, when they denied the Son to
a pasmge which will ulastrate the ex- he like Him. See also Did. de Trin. i.
pression ' ihey have not, &c.' *' In- 36. Reverence was a common pretext
stead of the meaning of the Church, that with heretics. See on A thanas. p. 223,
sheep which cheweth the cud of the p. 222. n. f.
holy Scriptoreft, these men are sohtle ' The same is noticed hy St. Chrys.
in mischieroos writings." Si. Greg, de Ineompr. Hom. 6. init Nys. mentions (ii. p. 340.) that (he
140 DttwietM nrnqmetHamimg iewtper lo be imiiaietL
Dn.i9ytbe7 were waled, and thai it was not seeming to seaicb oal the hidden things of the fbtnre! Who shall dare to search into the Treasmy in Whom dwelledi all knowledge ? The Firstbom is the Tieasoiy of the Father, in Whom is all His coonsel ' ; and who is equal to searching into Him ?
uIp thnosBt or invs''^ Piwjdeooc tnc Son docni wbatsucTvi
ation. St. £. ■osw to iia^ thai the He seedi tbe Father do. whole of the Fatber'a eooneeb wbedier St. £. is arniiig here, as others hare
ID ereatnig or rating are in the Sob. done, that if me jndgmeDta of God are
St. G. Nys. ii. p. 376. nrses against poet finding oat, a fortiori God Hiraidf
the AnoDMeaas tbat dieir tbeoiy woidd isineoaqvrdwnsAle. See St.Gm. Nax.
ezcfaide Ihe Son from the fonetions of Lp.S61.e. NTai.iL p. 590. c. St.£n]ih.
Pnmdcnoe, a simple Natnre having a i. p. 943. e. St. Cluysost. Horn. 1. de
simple Win (eyiej^ws), which WiD Lie. p.300. who aU refer to Bom. xi.
displajs itself in ProTidaioey in whidi 3S.
RHYTHM THE NINTH.
1. Right was once the searching' which hath been perverted ']B^i>M- in our age. Read and seek [to see] that He is the Son, so^'*^^' that thou seek not how He is so. Jordan fled and turned B. Tiii. back to do honour to the ark. Thou searchest and goest in ^ '
to do dishonour to His Majesty. The right-minded [sons]*'pp-3, turned themselves so as not to look at Noah, that they might reprove the daring ones. They went backwards to hide what GeD. 9, was uncovered. Do thoa turn back the searching which uncovers what is hidden. There they hid what was uncovered : here men pry into what is concealed. The chaste men spread a garment and hid him that they might not see: the disputer, if possible, stripjieth the First-bom of His glory, that His whole Nature may be scrutinized '. * above,
2. Prove by thyself this, that all which is easy becomes notes d. difficult, if thou alterest the nature of it, or disturbest the order |-
of it Walking is very easy, and yet difficult if thou doest it He may backwards. Disputing is throughout difficult, because men ^j^' dispute not orderly. Rashness hath perverted the Faith in in tbe oar generation, because it is in a perverted way that it Him? ^ questioneth.
3. God pleaded with Job*; He asked him about things *& came before his eyes, and with questions put him to silence. If Job I^q asuit. were not able to speak of things before his eyes, who shall
dare to plead about the hidden things of the first-born ? cb. Weak was Job% who in his scourges overcame, in his&"^*"' questionings was overcome ; on the side' that belonged to him ' R. Tiii. he overcame, on the side that did not belong to him even he z^^
* See Doted.on thela8tB.biit oDe. St.E. Job to bave been free from actual ana,
would probably regard Job's question- and alio to clear bim from anj im-
iDgN, as allowed or eren divinely ordered putation of taking a mere literal sense
witbtbepurpoeeofbringing out a certain of Scripture. St. Orqar. M. Mor. xz.
doctrine. As God asis men questions §. 66. says concisely, ' Vv bat parts soever
to carry on His revelations, not because we go tbrougb so as to track oot tbe
He is ignorant, so His saints migbt allegory thereof, tbrougbout tbe wbole
ask of Him. Tbis sbould be noticed of tbe same ougbt we iUto to bold to
both because on Job u St. £• conceiyes the historical sense.
142 Lessons against prying from the conduct
was overcome; he overcame in the combat in which it belongs to us to overcome, in investigating he was overcome, for it is not ours to be disputing. The wicked one made confusion, that he might make us to cease from what is in our power, and in what was not belonging to us might make us over-anxious.
4. Ezechiel He asked if the bones would rise^, and though the Prophet knew that the dead should be restored, he ventured not to speak of that which he knew. He gathered in all his knowledge, and to the Knower of all things he offered it up. Who shall dare to search into a question which is hidden away from all, and for One alone hath light upon it ?
5. Zachariah also questioned about the mysteries revealed; the Angel therefore wished to prove him, if his earnestness
Zeoh. 4, was exhausted, saying thus: Knowest thou not these things? He was not ashamed to confess, that he might put the proud to shame. The Prophet was not confident about his own 1 p. 128, knowledge, as the rash ' of our day. But Zachariah the priest questioned that he might dispute. The Angel took away his speech that he might make disputers fear; if the Chief Priest was smitten, because he scrutinized and wished to learn the generation and conception of the preacher and servant, terror, and shuddering, and fear to him who shall be bold enough to search into the generation of the Lord of all. <^.tbej Because Zachariah scrutinized, his mouth was bridled' 2JJ with silence. He afterwards in silence did honour unto moath that which he had scrutinized. The generation of the Firstbom how much more should we honour in silence ! Since he was blamed that scrutinized the generation in the womb of his « & of own wife^ let him fear that hath approached to the [Divine] womb Essence to search out His Well-beloved in His Womb.
k On Ezek. xzxvii. p. 194. i. he writes the true one are eqnall/ easj, ■eeing it
thus : ^' The Spirit bj tiiis vision shewed is by His Will without l^our that mej
the Prophet the return of the children of are effected, still here it is a vision of
Israel. . . . It was fitting that He should a resurrection that He workedi, to be
shadow out to him all these things as if a sign to their defective faith, &c."
of the framing and binding together of The vision would of course try the
bones for the perfecting of a human body Prophet's faith, in the same way as the
.... * And the Spirit entered into them, reality ; so far as it was intended to try
&c.' This he says of the resurrection in it, the point is, whether upon the teed-
the sniritual vision, which took place on mony of his senses he will belicrre a
the plain : and though to the omnipotence certain doctrine, of uod the resurrection of a vision and
ofiho^e of eld during retelaiions and types. 143
Zacbariah by his qaestionings let go of the Truth. Every man therefore that questioneth at all, his questioning shews that he has no faith hitherto. His prying looseneth the faith wherewith he had been believing'. Zachariah sheweth this, since he lost the faith of his heart by the questions of his mouth.
5. The serpents bit the people in the wilderness. [Moses] Namb. fiistened up another serpent that they might look thereon ' * and be revived. The sight revived the people [of God] and fidth the nations^ A type of the First-bom [this] ! It was not ^ p- 136, searching into Him which healed them ; seeing of Him alone revived them. In faith look upon the Lord of types, that He
may quicken thee ! Also the blood of the sprinkling that was poured out upon the doors, and the cloud' too, and the rock,'B.xiT. and the pillar, and the rod, these be types of the First-born*. When this gainsaying people did not pry into the glorious types, do not ye Gentiles search into the First-bom, that TVeasure* of mysteries, lest the blind rejoice [over you]. » p. 140.
6. Though ye were all of one mind, ye have been divided,
c Clem. Alex. Strom. ▼!. $. 80. as a proof that their law was typical
p. 780. Pott. " Half the world are as and to pass awaj. " How came God
afraid, as duldreo are of hoghear, of who id the wilderness wrote and
the Grecian philosophy, heing appre- warned the Jew, saying, *■ Thou shalt
hensiTe of its leading them astray. But not make any image or likeness, lest
if fiaith with them (for call it knowledge thon die,' to form a serpent, where<», as
I cannot) he of such a sort that it may be npoo God, man should look and be
by persuasive discourses loosened, let it healed ?"
1)e loosened at any rate by thesediscourses * Of the blood, see p. 32, note n. and oftheirs which belong to men that o«>nfeM p. 138, note b. of the cloud I do not rethat the truth i^ not to be theirs ; for truth , collect any other notice in St . E . ; of the stf one says, is invincible, but falsehood it rock, on Num. zzi. 17. he says, ** They is that gets loosened." So too St. Chrys. say that that rock, which went with oo Bom. iv. 21. p. 126. O. T. << He them, (1 Cor. z. 4.) even in the time that is persuaded with words, may have that they journeyed, sent down tweWe faia persuasion altered too by them, streams, but in the time of their en- Bat ne, &o.'' camping did not indeed withdraw them
* On Num. xxi. 8. p. 263. a. he says, altogether, yet did not altogether send
'* Moses fixed it in the door of the taber- them down ;** where he eridently has
naele, that they might turn their frees the Apostles filled from Christ in his
thitber, from whence ^y had turned mind, as lie says plainly on Dent,
them away, and that the place whence xxxii. 13. that '' the rock is a type of
healing csme forth to them might be Christ, that true Bock Who is the
boiKnirable in their eyes ; the while in Head of the eternal Building and
it were shadowed out types of Him Fountain of Life." Of the rod of Aaron
who said, ' As Moses hfted up the which budded, he says on Num. xrii.
serpent in the wilderness for the beaUng that *^ it was a type of the adorable
cf tlie ebildren of Israel, so is the Son Body of Immanuel, which, although of
of Man to be lifted up upon the Crass the same nature with corruptible ones,
for the redemption of all nations.' " remained itself alone in the sepulchre The same &ct he urges toL ii. p. 483. e. incorruptible." as others haye done, agsiost the Jews^
144 God is incomprehensible to man.
for that ye have come near to search into the Nature that cannot be searched out. The blind people thought that our Truth itself is false. If it were false, it would necessarily have 1 B.viii.been minishedS lo! it is altogether strengthened'! Ye blind ^' *' perceive not that it is in His Majesty that ye have been straying, for if He had been an Angel or weak man, searching into Him would have been an easy thing; since one would have known that He was a servant. Disputing, then, which is against Him, comes to be in the place of Him. Itself bears witness that He is great, seeing He cannot be searched out, and proclaimeth that He is God, for lo ! [all] ages have been wandering in Him, and have not been able to comprehend Him. If all measures were to come and go down to the sea', they would be short, and be surpassed, and would not contain the whole of it. They are measured by it, yet are unable to measure it ; and not because they were surpassed, is that not the sea ; for it is even because it is so, that the foolish dared to come down to Him. Whoever is able to search, to him He is poor. The knowledge that is able to comprehend Him that knoweth all things must be greater than Him, since it sufficeth to measure Him entirely. He that can search out the Father and the Son, is greater than Both of Them. Forbear, and let it be an anathema*", for the Father and the Son to be searched into, and for dust and ashes to be lifted up !
f Hil. de Trin. yii. §. 4. '^ (rreat is Fair as are those waves of His and
the strength of the truth, which though pleasant vnthal, stiJl in the deep tfaey
capahle hy itself of heing understood, will plunge thee. For if thou make it
jet doth hy the very things which op- tby pleasure to search into that Sea,
pose it shine forth, so that while and come^t near to a single small and
abiding unmoyeable in its own nature gentle waye, it will cast thee into a
it gaineth firmness for its nature while wave that is great, yea, all its wavea
it is daily attacked. For it is inherent one by one will plunge thee down :
in the Church then to conquer when it seeing that Sea is the whole of It in
is injured, then to be understood when every part of Itself, blended aod yet
it is set down, then to gain ground equal in Eternity and in Unitedness ;
when it is deserted.'' and if thou come nigh to an outer wave
B To the passages given, p. 87* n. i. of it, into the inmost depth it plnogeth
the {ioUowing may be here added theel"
from vol. ii. p. AlO, c. << Who hath b Vol. ii. p. 486. t " An anathema
been able to search out the Nature be on him that snmameth himself bj
of the Eternal ? who hath been aUe the name of Apollos and not by the
to measure the Lord of the King- name of Christ. The fomaoe of an
dom and of kings? who hath been anathema detects them, seeing they
able to grasp the depth of the Majesty, are not minded to use the anathema,
or comprehended His hidden things by Blessed be he (St. Paul) by whose
seeking ? In the midst of that strong anathema they have been detected !*' Sea, thou wilt be lost beneath the sand.
RHYTHM THE TENTH.
1. Thou, Lord, hast caused it to be written. Open thy mouthy Ps. 8i, and I shall fill iL Lo ! the mouth of Thy servant is open to ^^' Thee, with his mind ! Do Thou fill it. Lord, with Thy Gift, that according to Thy will I may sing Thy praise. For speaking of Thee every man hath his own proper measure' ;'& Aero to the lowest measure I would approach as being bold.J^|!^^f Within the silence' is Thy Generation sealed up, and what*** ™«*- mouth is it that dareth to meddle therewith ? Though Thy all men Nature is One, the explanations* thereof are manifold. Lofty ! ^' *^- discourses are there, and intermediate, and lowly on the part of the lowly*. Deem me worthy as it were of the crumbs, 'p. 163, that I may gather up the droppings of Thy wisdom ^ ?s/wis-
2. Thy visible Generation' is laid up with Thy Father. ^oms. Angels are astonied at Thy smaller riches. A small drop,p.°ii5. ' Lord, of Thy history^ becomes with those below a flood of interpretations ; for if John, even, that great one, cried [saying], * I am not worthy, O Lord, to [unloose] the John i, latchet^ of Thy shoes,' I wiU flee as that sinful woman to Ma/. 9 ' the shadow of Thy garments, that I may begin from thence ;^<^- and as she who was affrighted, yet took heart, because she was Mat 9,
Sl.Lnke
8 47. • Tbifi word ieems intended to ex- on the figures of the Datives, it were '
press the same as the Iwivam of the fitting that He should be found fault
Greeks, i. e. cmr conception of God as with bj those infidels, because like a
opposed to what He really is. This spy He hath fraudulently changed His
oonception of Him may be compounded dress to deceive the free. But if it be
of the several ideas d goodness, holi- becoming for a stranser to clothe him-
ness, wisdom, and the other positive self with semblances borrowed and not
sttruratee, as well as the negative ones, his own, bow much more is it so for the
The following illustration of this may Creator to clothe Himself with the
be given from vol. ii. p. 507* t. ''Let beauty ofHi^ creatures P'M.e. to display
us enter the lists and question, and Himself under those attributes which
have questiooa asked us : for one of two adorn them.
things must be established, either they b Syr. ^4iUfi>- The printed lexicons
are minded to find themselves with no giy© 'ezcusatio,' 'causatio:' the word
God. (that which is in Hot the case,) occurs xlv.fin.b[v.§.S. in neither of which
or else another God, a stran^^r, have places does this sense suit. Bar Bahlul
they, who is clear from, and does not, ^ ^ ,, . ^ * #* a / i-i.
as liing a stranger, fall under thi Mss. Bodl. gives C-^ 35:* a Mike-
words and names descriptive of our ness* whether in loe miud or outward, nature. If then He borrowed and put or * history,' ' narration.'
146 Lessons against prying from Chris f 8 visible
made whole ; heal my fright at the danger, and let me take heart in Thee, may I be also moved from Thy garment to Thy Body, that according to my power I may speak of Thee.
3. Thy garment, Lord, is a foantain of medicines. In Thy visible vesture there dwelleth an hidden power. A little
John 9, spittle from Thy mouth became also a great miracle of light in the midst of its clay. In Thy Bread is hidden the Spirit that cannot be eaten ; in Thy Wine there dwelleth the Rre that cannot be drunk. The Spirit in Thy Bread and the Fire in Thy Cup are distinct miracles, which our lips receive*
4. When the Lord came down to the earth unto mortal men, 3 Cor. 5, He created them a new Creation, as in the Angels He ^^' mingled Fire and the Spirit, that they might be of Rre and
Spirit in a hidden manner. The Seraph did not bring the living coal* near with his fingers ; it did but come close up Ig.6, 6. to Isaiah's mouth; he did not himself lay hold of it or eat it; but unto us the Lord hath given both of them '.
5. To the Angels which are spiritual Abraham brought bodily Gen. 18, food, and they ate^ A new miracle it is, that our mighty ®' Lord giveth to bodily creatures Fire and the Spirit, as food
c AboTe, p. 81. he calls the Angels after this Coal hath presented iteelf to
Empyreals, as in vol. ii. p. 330. f. 334. sight in a Body, 1o ! it is eaten from
a. xhe word for ^ Spirit/ as in Greek the table of the Godhead. So on Ezek.
and Hebrew, is the same as that for z. t. 2. St £. says, '^ These coalSj and
' wind.* The idea that Aogels consist the man that is clothed in fine bnen,
of Fire and Spirit is suggested by Ps. that bringeth them and oastetli them
104, 4. ' He maketh His Angels spirits, upon the people, are a trpe of the priest
and His Ministers aflamiug fire,' which by whofe mediatorship the liring coida
of course does not (as Enseb. Pr»p. Ev. of the Life-producing Body of oor Lord
Tii. 15. p. 326. d. notices) imply that are given away. But see there is an>
they consist of material fire or wind, other Cherub that reacheth fhem forth,
bat only that the words are used of and placeth them in his fists ! this is a
them, as fire and spirit are of Grod. type, to shew that it is not the priest
St. Greg. Naz. Or. xxxIt. v. fin. n. 560. who is able to make the Body, of the
quotiuff the same text, says, '^Angels bread, but Another, to wit, the Holj
are called fire and spirit, partly as being Ghost: the priest, therefore, doth hot
above our senses, and partly as minis- lend his hands as a mediator, and his
tering to our purification, (i»f tuJd^ti) ^ip" ^^'^^ prayers with supplicationa, as
though I am aware that these are names a servant suing for mercy," — ^which
of the First Essence.'' passage seems to Ass. to have been
^ See above, p. 30, n.k. contr. Scrut. i. copied by St. Chrysost. Horn. Ixzxiii.
$.12. St James of Sarug,A.D.480, Quoted in Matt. p. 870. b. See p. 119, n. L in Assemanni's Antirrh. adv. Kohl. p. 5. * Greg. Naz. Or. 34. n. 549. *< Abra-
* * The Seraph took not hold of i t with his ham , that great patriarcn, was justified
hand, that he might not be burned: by fuith, and oifered a sacrifice strange
neither did the prophet take it in his and typical ofthe great One: yet he saw
mouth, that he mi^ht not be consumed : not God as God, but nourished Him as
the one did not seize hold of, the other if man, and was commended for having
did not eat the gloriiled (ember). It was reverenced as ikr as he did compre-
because it was incorporeal, that it was bend.*' not to be taken hold of, nor eaten, but
GeneraiUm and ike/rmiU ofii in the Euckarisi. 147
and drink. Fire came down upon sinneis in wrath, and i Cor. consumed them. The Fire of the Mercifiil in bread cometh^^l^ down and abideth'. Instead of that fire which deTonred men, > « ^• ye eat a Fire in bread and are quickened. As fire came down q. q. on the sacrifice of Elijah and consumed it, the Fire of Mercy i Kings hath become to ns a liring Sacrifice'. Fire ate up the^^'^* oblations, and we, O Lord, hav^e eaten Thy Fire in Thy Oblation.
6. Who hath ever taken hold of the Spirit* in his fists? Come Pn>^-
30 4
and see, O Solomon, what the Lord of thy father hath doncsor^ad For Fire and Spirit against its natare He hath mingled, and hath poured them into the fists of His disciples. He asked, ' Who hath bound the waters in a garment?^ Lo! the Fountain'*xii.§.3. in a garment, the lap of Mary! From the Cup of Life thef^^* distilling of life in the midst of the garment do Thine handmaids take M 2^9
7. Oh, Might hidden in the veil of the sanctuary, that Might ^ 7* ^^ which the mind never conceives, It hath His love brought ^f. 4. down ; and It hath descended and brooded over the veil of the ^^\,. altar of propitiation. Lo! Fire and Spirit in the bosom^ of her §. 2. that bare Thee ! Lo I Fire and Spirit in that river wherein ^P^^* Thou wert baptized, Fire and Spirit in our baptism^ ! In the^ p- B6. Bread and the Cup is Fire and the Holy Ghost. Thy Bread "^ Pa. killeth the greedy one who had made us his bread*; Thy^^>^*
' In vol. i. p. 497. c. OD the place he Moees do (with the calf, Ex. xxxii. 19.)P
Mjay *' Elijah, who io Moant Carmel, Cast it into the fire [says he] that first
pot a atop to the priests, the ministBn the fonn itself maj he confused and
of vanity, hy the perfect sacrifice which lost: break it into small pieces that it
he oAma to the liring God, gave onto may by degrees be consumed : cast it
na a lively semblaooe of &e whole into water, g^ve it the people to drink.
Bumfe-oflering which Emmanuel made What is this to signify, save that the
upon Mount Golgotha, and by the 8a- worshippers of the Devil became the
orifice of His own Own Self which was body of the Deril himself P (1 Cor. x.
offered once for all, caused to pass away 21.) How do those who acknowledge
those sacrifices which Moses had ap- Christ become the Body of Christ?
pointed, and the fat offerings which the It was said to Peter touching the
GiCDtiles offered to their shameful gods." Gentiles, ' Kill and eat.' What is the
If in this place he applies to the Sacri- meaning of ' Kill and eat ?' Kill that
fioe in Calvary, what in the text he which uey are (Bom. viii. 10, 13.) and
applies by implication to That of the make them that which thou art. In
AUar, we must remember that here, one place itis^Eall and eat,' in another,
and p. 32, he looks upon the Sacrifice, ' Break it small and drink.' Either,
whether in Calvary or on the Altar, as however, is done in the same Sacrament,
ooe, abiding, Sacrifice. For it was necessary, yea without
C See p. 84. p. 63. rel 4. St. Austin doubt it was, that the body which was
in Ps. Ixxiii. §. 16. speaking of that the Deril's, should by believing pass
text, * Thou breakest the head of the into the Body of Christ." dragon in pieces,' says, '^ What did
l2
148 Lessons from those who ministered to Christ an earth.
cup destroyeth death which swallowed us up''. We have
eaten Thee, O Lord, yea, we have drunken Thee, not
that we shall make Thee fail, but that we might have life
in Thee*.
Mark 1, 8. The latchet of Thy shoe was a thing fearful to the dis-
Mat.9 ceming; the hem of Thy garment was fearful to the
^0* understanding: our generation is foohsh in scrutinizing
• Thee. Oh, Feast which is drunken with new Wine ! Wonder
Ps. 77) is there in Thy footsteps that went upon the waters ; the
Mati4 S^^^ ^^ didst Thou make obedient beneath Thy feet ; to a
S6. little stream^ Thy head made itself obedient, in that it con-
Mat^s, descended to be baptized therein. The stream ' was like John
13. with^liQ baptized therein. Both of them in littleness mutually
5,12.14. shadow out each other. To the little stream and the weak
John s ^^Ai^^ ^^6 Lord of them both made Himself obedient
^* 9. See my folds be filled. Lord, with the dropping of Thy
47yfi.' blessings; and as no room is now remaining, as in my
borders I am full, O stay Thy Gift, and, as a store, O keep it
in Thy treasury for Thee to give it us again !
i> So above, p. 10. he speaks of * St. Austiii in Ps. cxxxi. ^ S4.
Christ as shewing mercy by His Body " Whence is it that the poor are to be
on His hoasehold's bodies. See also satisfied? Of what kind is this satis-
5. 10. and p. 19, n. k. where the same fying, Oh my brethren P God Himself
ootrine of the inflnence of the En- is the Bread : the Bread, tiiat It might
charist on the body as communicating become milk for ns, descended into the
a new principle of life is referred to. earth, and said to His own, I am the
So in Parsen. zxix. he says, *< Lo ! of Living Bread, &c." It may be added,
dnst and asbes are the tribes and races that this passage again is a strong one
of Adam made, and they wait for the against the Nestorians. For Nestoriua
Voice of the Raiser to raise in glory argued, that in the Eucharist we par-
the departed bodies that have put on take not of Grod, but of Man, (see Cyril
Thee, O Lord, in Baptism, and have c. Nest. p. 108-9.b.) so making Catholics
eaten Thy Body and drunk Thy Uving to be man-eaters : whereas the thing
Blood. Oh, may they rise, Lord, on the St E. insists on in this B.is the amazing
Bight Hand, and with the Angels in marvel of eating the Spirit Paradise have joy !"
RHYTHM THE ELEVENTH.
1. I, O Lord, am not worthy, neither venture I upon this; for should I venture to fly, I should not reach it. He deceiveth Himself whosoever ventureth without Thee upon what is Thine, O Thou that art above alL Thy Nature with its breath reproacheth us when it afirightedi us. Thy height mocketh us, so high and lifted up is it Thy mercy also, lo ! it putteth us to shame, it hath so humbled itself to the abjects. Let him who hath ventured, yield proof openly ; let his eye see the Great Mountain from afar, let his eye reprove that mind of his, because he hath scrutinized Him without measure ; for his own troubled course' reproacheth him, ' S. mnand his vision putteth him to shame. His troubled course '°'°^ reproacheth his tongue, that he hath thus strayed into that Majesty, in Whose Bosom the world is placed, as but a span.
2. Lo! his ear is not able to hear the mighty crash, neither
can it hear the still silence ; how then shall he hear the voice ^ * ab. p. of the Son or the silence of the Father, when the silence too ' '^' is vocal? The heavens declare the glory of God. Lo ! a silence', the whole whereof muttereth among all languages to all languages ! This firmament, lo ! it declareth day by day the glory of its Maker. Man is too little to be able to hear all languages, and if he sufficed to hear the tongue of Angels ^ ^<>r. that are spirits, so might he lift himself up to hear the silence ' which speaketh between the Father and the Son\ Our
• Ps. xiz. 4. in the present S. Vera, represented as taking place by an ac-
(aceordiDg to Bathe's text,) is, " There oommodation. St. Greg. Nyss. ii. p. d 13.
is no speech, no, nor words, which t> a. may be adTantageonsly cited here,
not heard in their voices." St E. seems " No one do I suppose to be in such a
to have had the passage with this read- heavy headed state, as not to know that
ing, or one similar to it, as it is not God, the Only-begotten, who is in the
very grammatical at present. Nyssen. Father and in Himself seeth the Fa-
ii. p. 775. b. p. 776. d. has the same ther, doth not need any noan or verb
illustration from the heavens. towards the knowledge of the Subject,
b This passage falls in with what was as neither is the Holy Spirit, who
quoted above, p.l28,n.g.*Silencespeak- searcheth the deep things of God, led
ing' implies that the speaking is only into the knowledge of what He search-
150 The narrow path of Orthodoxy
tongue is estranged to the voice of beasts ; the tongae of Angels is estranged to every [other] tongue. That silence
Comp. wherewith the Father speaketh with His Well-beloved, is strange unto the Angels.
8. Good is He that clad Him in all forms for our sight, clad Himself likewise in all voices in order to have intercourse
1 S. for ^th us' *. He alone is able to see His Own Nature, and His
suLfoD. silence He alone can hear. His Son that is from Him is Himself also equal to Him. And he that is a stranger to His Nature is a stranger to the investigation of Him, and he wandereth exceedingly, since there is no path that leadeth to the Hidden One. When the Creator trod a path for the
« R. XX. creature that the bfierings of prayers • might come to His door, it was not a path for prying which He made that by it man might come to the door of the [Divine] Essence.
4. To him that briugeth an offering and cometh unto prayer, the Way sheweth itself and cleaveth to him, and the Door itself when it seeth him, also openeth itself before his offering. Whoso cometh unto that Majesty to scrutinize, the paths are deceitful, the gates are closed to him, and there is a waste and a desert and a veritable solitude, and the rash one wan-
3 See on dereth [herein] : let him learn that Satan ^ brought him thither.
p.9. 11.8. Him who thought that he sufficed for Thy Godhead, his
eth by meaDR of appellatiye Douns : the height." See IL Ixii. §• 4. Gr.
neither doth the unembodied nature of Njssen. ap. Ang. Mai, C. N. vlH. p. 3.
the powers above this world name the * He appeared as man, but God bj
Deity with voice and tongue. For in Nature He was and is, having eireum-
the case of an immaterial and spiritual scribed His illimitable greatoeM in a
nature, the energy of the mind is a Body, and by Himself, as by a minor,
language without the use of material having shewn to us the whole greatness
appliances of organs of speech. And of the Grodhead, that using thia as a
indeed in the case of human nature, no glass we might be beholders of tlw
need would there be of using verbs and r ather also. For being the Image
nouns, if it were possible to expose to of the invisible God according to tae
one another the movements of our Apostle, He said, < He that hath seen
thoughts naked." Me, hath seen the Father;' thus also
<: Vol. ii. p. Sll.b. " Borrowed ap- by the things which are said in the
pearances, my son, are stamped upon a Scriptures, according to the measure of
mirror : it is perfect with the perfect, our nearing, which vet from the inade-
feeble is it with the feeble : it eateth quacy of language do sundry times ill
with him that eateth, and receiveth assort with the Godhead, we contem-
these things, while they are not in it. plate Him proportionably to onr under-
Herein is a semblance of that Divine standing. For as God, when circnm-
Majeaty to whom the sacrifices of the scribed by a Body was seen unto us by
Jewish people were sweet, for their ad- our sight, thus also is the language,
vantage. By pleas of all kinds did He which through our hearing is preached
humble Himself to children, that He unto us, more humble than is fitting
might bring them up in His Mercy to touching God."
UHavailable without moral graces, 151
own nature doth reproach, in that he wandereth in Thee, while eren it is not acquainted with itself. Foolish is he thatiRL^i. thinketh he can overcome death, and he cannot know death ^^' ^* ^' Qor its essence. Knowledge does not remain with him that forgetteth his own nature in Thy Nature. He is blameworthy who hath lost his own and found neither his own comp. nor Thine. He deceiveth himself that thinketh that he hath ^q 39, mounted up and searched out Thee. He injureth not Thee by all his knowledge, since it is in Thee ; and what is his*,^ i-««igis without Thee. "^~~
5. My mouth sufficeth not for Thee, and I rejoice that 1 sufficed not, for if I sufficed it were a blasphemy on both accounts ; either that the nature of man should be greater than that of God, or that it should be equal were harsh to think. Thy feast is athirst for them that were bidden.*!^
Matt.
Without bound Thy banquet rejoiceth in ready guests aud 33, 3.* their dresses. Thy chamber longeth for the virgins whose lamps ^^' are furnished with oil. There are many called, that long for p. in, Thy door, but since Thy door is narrow ', they are very few ?s^ on that have given up and cast away every thing, and have^^^<i^* been able to enter in, because it hateth riches. n. 190.
6. Thy furnace exulteth in us, that it may be perfect in the JJ*^ assaying, and true in the trial. And since Thou hast lifted
up our mind unto the impress of Thy Imaged on it, Lord,*R-^"« may there be cast the impress of Thy Truth. Thy path tOxWi. §. us is long. It is shortened, for in His mercy He cut short ^* y^^ the length of it, in His love for him that is weak. He ex- p. 87. tended His mountain unto him that is little, that the praise for Thy wisdom might be increased. The throne of Thy gloiy, and also the tribunal of Thy righteousness*, rejoiceth *P-^*i in the victor that put the adversary to shame. Thy mercy also sustaineth the weak, and even Gehenna ** would be refreshed with Thy shadow.
' See coDtr. Sonit. iii. ^ 34. where a le^iated. It maybe right to add, to pre-
sinrilsr impoasibilitr is noticed ; unlew vent misconception, that St. £. neld
it be tboaght that St. E. held with St. the fire of hell to be 'Mnextingnishable,
Austin (in a difficult passage in the not consuming that which it devoureth,
Enchir. ad Laur. ▼. fin.) that the pnnish- seeing it was not appointed to consame,
ment of the damned, though unalterable but to cause suffering and torment." ii.
as a rondiiiom, mignt, in decree, be al- p. SM, s.
n. s.
RHYTHM THE TWELFTH.
L Thy salt is the Truth; season therewith our minds; let it
yield the fruits which are pleasant to them that eat them.
Understanding and taste and mind together may it blend
and give unto child-like ears. Lo! a furnace is set, and
each one of us hath brought his soul to it, and his seal* and
his teaching, whoeyer hath sealed and taught. The furnace
will reveal it, if it be a fraud which hath put on the like-
* K* .. ness and shape of the Truths The balance is suspended, let
§. 3. OS weigh our minds in it By comparison with Thy Will let
Matt. 6, us weigh our own wills. And if our will be less or more
than Thy Will, perfect it in Thy mercy.
Ft. 86, 2. The scales of Thy balance are grace and righteousness,
and how and when they shall be balanced it is Thou that
knowest. When they do not balance, they yet do balance,
See since they are not uneven to the One Lord of all. Thy
18^. balance directeth the little with small weights, the middling
with weights which are like unto them, the perfect with
perfect weights^: and even the scrutinizers [it weigheth]
with weights of mercy. The bosom of Thy Kingdom
Ltikei6,looketh unto the sincere; Thy Paradise also, O Lord,
^* looketh for the pure. The table of Thy Kingdom longeth
* St. £. looks upon the Trinity as a sight of His Majesty ; by whom likeseal imparted at Baptism, see XTiii.§.2. wise those without are brought near to Vol. ii. p. 486. " Quite despised was the enclosure of the spiritual court : as
fold to our King, who sealed not His oar Lord said in the Gospel, I am the mage upon silver. Upon man that is door ; the door of the inner ^te for the greater than all, did our Redeemer set perfect ; of the middle for the just ; of the seal of His Beauty. He that hath the outer for penitents." P. 33S. o. ** By belieyed in the Name of Grod, hath re- the sacrifices of oxen, rams, and lamba, ceived the seal of God ; but if he have he indicateth the three ▼arioun consumamed himself by the name of man, versations of the saints, and the reit is aman's seal that he hath received." spective amelioration of conscience in b This threefold division of Chris- each. The first and chief order is that tians occurs several times in St. Ephrem. of those exceedingly exalted in their Thus in vol. i. p. 330. a. << By these conveisation: the second is the middling three doors Moses shadoweth out Im- one, less than these: and the third, that manuel, by whom interior men enter of beginners, which in respect of these into the contemplation of God ; by is small and lowly." See also p. 352. b. whom also middling men enter into a 354. b. 255. c. 368. c
ChrUij the Remnant, draweth all men to Him. 153
for Thy TwelFe who shall sit thereat With Thy rain every thing increaseth, with Thy dew every thing is moistened. Thy doctrine is a hidden dew for the hidden earth*. Gather, O Lord, Thy froit as a vintager, and offer it to Thy Father as a Sheaf of reconciliation.
3. Thou art a Branch of that Vine^ whicA is from Egypt, i Pa. so, which also the wild boar of the forest devoured, when it^*^
pp. 58,
sprouted and put forth its twig from it; which bare the 64, 36. blessed Cluster and the Cup of the Medicine of Life. From the fronily of the circumcised and from the place of tares there came up unto us the Sheaf which was fiill of New Bread, t above. from the bitter the sweet Fruit, and from the murderers the^*^^*"*** Physician that healed all. In a spicy root the Son of David was brought to us, and from a dry ground flowed unto us the 18.63,9. Fountain of mercies. How shall we reject that Fountain',' R-z. which mercies have poured forth in dry lands ? Thy key i^. 35 manifesteth itself unto him that seeketh it. Thy treasure re- ^* ^* joiceth in the thief that taketh it by violence, because Thou 23. ' didst rejoice in that woman who from the hem of Thy garment j^*^^^' took and stole a medicine for her plague. Thy leaven, O Lord, Mark s, longed for a mass of siimers, that it might change them, and Mat. 13 draw them to repentance. Thy light maketh the path of^-P*^" Truth even; it cleanseth out and taketh away from it [all]^^'^^^' stumbling stones. Thy silver, O Lord, sbeweth mercy unto !>• ^7, the empty, that he may be enriched thereby. Thy pound Liikei9' sheweth mercy, since it cometh to the humble with ten^^* pounds; Thy talent desireth to come to the indolent with^^ ten. Glory to Him that enricheth all ! ' '
4. Thy armour, O Lord, rejoiceth in a penitent that fighteth with wickedness: Thy vineyard rejoiceth in the idler, who contendeth victoriously with the thrifty*, that with open mouth and unveiled face he may claim his reward. Glory to the Rewarder of all ! Thy yoke, Lord, rejoiceth in subduing the ^ent. rebellious. Thy rod rgoiceth in scattering the assembled jer.ss
14.
« So, in the far west, St. Austin on 'Of the parable here referred to Ps. 1. §. 4. '^ As this visible earth (Matt xx. 1.) he giyes eUmwhere, nonrisheUi and containeth the visible vol. i. p. IftS, a. and p. 269, e. the v^n ij so doth that invisible earth the other and perhaps more exact interinterior man : from the face of which pretation, which refers the different euth it is that the wind scattereth the hours to the different interpositions of ungodlj. &c." See also Jerome on Christ for His Church. Esai. Iviii. ▼. fin.
154 ' Chrut deHrou$ of all metC% salvation.
Ezek. wolves, and Thy fold in gathering the persecuted sheep into pj 2 9 the pastore. Glory to the Shepherd of all! Thy haven £z. 34, looketh for oar ship, which Thou wilt bring unto it. Direct P«. lor, it with Thy Spirit'; in Thy love with the oars of Thy mercies J^hnio ^^^ ^^ ^^ assisted : let it stop the mouth of the greedy sea. 11. ' Olory to Thy astistance ! Thy Rock looketh for them that ^ig^ buildy that the foundatious may be builded upon it. and all Mat. 7, that see it may give [Thee] glory. L^t not their tower, Lord, Lukeii ^6 ^ laughing-stock: in Thee may it be finished! Gloiy be to ^- Him that perfecteth all ! Thy seed looketh for lands that are Mat.13, to bd tilled. In the least may it bring from Thee thirty-fold ; noteT ^^^ *^ *^^ middling may it bring sixty, and in the perfect may
it bring an hundred-fold.
6. Thy mirror is clear, and all of it tumeth towards Thee.
Thy brightness inciteth the filthy to cleanse themselves
thereon, since no impurity can be joined unto Thee, unless
S6'^are.it hath wiped from it its stains'. Thy hyssop' looketh for us
'^' 'that it may be gracious unto us in its mercy. With the dew
of Thy mercy. Lord, let us be cleansed again. The Lord Ezek. hath no pleasure in our uncleanness, though the Just One is Joii^^K^eaUy glorified in our purity.
8.
RHYTHM THE THIRTEENTH.
1. I WOULD keep my faith from the deceit* which hath burst up here, and which, while it confesseth the Father, denieth the Onlj-Begotten: and since the investigators have flown up to all the high things, in the Fort of Truth I would keep my faith. I came near to the Father, and He denoteth Himself by His Paternity' : I came near to the Son, and H^'^'S^" hath blended' Him in His Sonship: as hath the Holy Spirit Pateralso His holiness: in Him then do 1 also conclude t^^HmiTOlf all-hallowing mystery ! All faith which is not signed ^ is error. * See on Let us prepare ourselves for tribulation if it come, whether s haVe I our spirit suffer, or our soul depart, or our body be burned*, ^^j^d Who shall overcome us ? This is that which is written, neither Him height, nor depth, nor sword, shall be able to cut off our faith. * ^ Who shall cut off the glory -rays that cannot be cut off from § 3.* the Sun of Truth. Upon the Three Names* our baptism ^"9.^' hangeth. In the Three Mysteries our faith overcometh. * R. , The Three Names our Lord gave to His Twelve, that in them ^. 7^' * we might find a refuge. The soul that is not sealed is like a Pror. wandering sheep : and that which is sealed in one name is ' ' also to be rejected, and that whose seal, being inadmissible, is stolen, it also strayeth. Blessed be He that hath sealed us for Himself! The doctrine is a treasury of the faith: the Col. 3,3. voice is the key, and the tongue as it were the treasurer. Never hath the &ith ceased to set forth and yield truth unto the hearers*. To sileDce are the trumpet and the faith' See Strangers. Never did the trumpet mutter low in the secret ' '
* This is a word frequent with St. Nyss. 470, b. &c. and St. Basil, p. 209,
£* for heresj : see vol. ii. p. 490, d. a. of the AnomcBana. ^,b.andoomp.below, R.xxxTii.§.3. ^ By 'signed' I beUe^e he means
I^^oeitfahiess is a characteristic of all which has the seal of the Trinity ffiren
heresies, inasmuch as they come from at Baptism : see xviii. §. 2. and ab.
the father of lies ; but it is particularly note h. p. 87. The Anomoeans innovated
noticed by St. Epiphanins, p. 923, b. npon the form used at Baptism, b» we
Didym. de Trin. 11. 3. p. 131. St. Greg, see presently.
156 The Faith l\fi9 up Um voice to all.
chamber, and the faith also did never steal away and mutter the tmth low in secret or in a hidden place*.
2. Who ever saw [before] a tree which produced only a single fruit with this fruit singly upon it continually i Faith it is which hath Truth singly hung upon it: for Truth is one. Let not my tongue be silent or be bridled for the faith, let it ascend from my lips, Lord, as an offering unto Thee. Lo ! from
Seep, branches speaking or silent my tongue hath gathered it for
^^'^^^•Thee!
* This flentimeiit ocoore again, B. is a beacon to all— as fides is used m XX. §. 8. The £utii means prol)ablY Latin and itUrst in Greek for a fonnof the written form of it, the Creed which words.
RHYTHM THE FOURTEENTH.
1. I HAVE invited Thee, Lord, to a banquet of songs : the wine in the banqnet hath failed, even the language of praise. Thou Guest, who filledst the waterpots with goodly wine, fill John 3, my mouth with the praise of Thee ! The wine that was in the ' water-pots was near akin to, yea, was of the same stock with
tlus reasonable wine which begetteth praise, since that wine also begat praise from them that drank it, who saw the miracle. Oh, Thou most just, if in the marriage-feast, which was not^^^'i®* Thine own. Thou filledst six waterpots with that goodly wine, in this feast, instead of waterpots, fill ten thousand ears. Lord, with sweetness. Oh, Jesus, who wast invited to the feast of others, lo! now is Thine own feast, chaste and fair! gladden Thy youths ! for lo ! Thy guests also are lacking, Lord ! with Thy songs let Thy harp speak. The soul is Thy bride See on and the body is Thy bridechamber : Thy guests are the 14"' senses with the mental faculties'. And if it be one Body which Thou hast for a banquet. Thy guestchamber is the Church, inasmuch as she imitateth Thee !
2. An holy man' took the synagogue up to mount 'i*e. Sinai. His body shone with white garments, and [yet] his £2^33 heart was dark. She played the adulteress with the calf, ^•
and the High One was displeased at her' and brake the *5. hated tables, that writing of His Covenant. Who ever at any time saw a bawling out amidst a deed of lust, [or] a bride that would
* It U oomnum to explain the Dumber such a banquet must bejprepared : he five of the senses: see Method. C.Virg. must be a member of Tny yisible re- ' ▼i. §. S. Ang;nstin in Ps. xliz. §. 9. presentatiye.' Or, perhaps it is better Greg. M. in Evang. cap. i. Hom. xii. to take the words ' one Bod j* of Christ's $. 1. who all consider the five yirgins to Body as a newly introduced sabject, liaTe reference to the five scDses. I be- soggested by the mention of the human Here St. £. has somewhat of the kind in body, the banqaet, again, of the Supper his mind here, and wishes to imply that in which It is eaten, as sugges ted by the fiTe senses, with the mental ncolties the * banqaet of soDgs' and the guestthereto corresponding, are to be like the chamber of the visible Churchy wMch five Tirgins admitted to the feast SeeB. imitates Christ in giving His Body to iv. §. 3. The next words, I believe, mean, her disciples. The passage, however, ' If oDe man's bodv, so filled with is one upon the meaning of which 1 praises, has thereby become a banquet feel more uncertain the more I look to Thee, stin it is in the Church that at it.
158 The Jew^ ingraiiitide warns Christians to be thankful.
1 S. her do Wickedly in her chamber and lifts up her voice the while ' ?
was Hft- 1^ ^EJP^ sh^ dwelt, she learnt of the mistress of Joseph, who
®? "P- cried out while she did wickedly. The light' of the piUar of
13—15.' fire and of the cloud drew in its rays unto itself, so as to be
£i^33 ^^^^ ^^^ ^^^ which was darkened in the day, when she
s^.with judged the King, and called for another deed of wickedness\
g^ ' 3. How shall my harp, Lord, cease from Thy praise ? How,
Pro?, again, shall I teach my tongue to reject Thee? For Thy
' * love giveth boldness of feice to my shamefacedness, and yet
my will rejecteth Thee. Meet is it that men should praise
Thy Godhead ! meet is it for the highest Angels to worship
Thy Humanity ^ The highest Angels marvelled [to see] how
ab.p.24. small Thou wert, those below marvelled to see how exalted
Thou art!
^ St. E. here doobtless refers to die ing the altar before the calf, it is likelj Jews quoting the very words of the that, when they were instant to perform prophecy they were fvJfiUing. See Ps. rites before the altar, they had killed xxii. 8. Matt, xxyii. 43. By ' another Hnr, (because he reboked l^em findeed of wickedness' perhaps he means changing their God, c.) Aaron, howthe attempt to stop the Resurrection by ever, in order to delay them till Moses the soldiers demanded of Pilate. The came down, said, ' There is a feast of connection of the whole Rhythm is pro- the Lord to-morrow.' Yet they sacri* bably this : God showers benefits pro> ficed to it first, and were eatini? the fusely upon us : the Jews, and uter manna and drinking the water thai them, the heretics shew us, that no Moses gave them ! and underneath the amount of means of grace will aloae cloud that was oTcrshadowing them, keep man from sin: how then shall I, they forthwith sported before the calf." who hare strength given to praise (rod « See Hebr. 1, 6. 1 Tim. 3, 16. Phil, for all His benefits, fail to doit ? Vol. i. 2, 10. So above, p. 143. n. e. he speaks p. 334. f. may throw some lieht upon it. of ' the adorable Body of Immannel.' " From Aaron's being afraid and ouild-
RHYTHM THE nFTEENTH.
1. Let him that is a man care for the things of a man: let
him who is mortal mtise qpon what is commanded^; aiid^<»<^^* again, let him that is a sinner seek medicine fit for his ^44/ womid. Let the discerning with silence venerate Thy Godhead: let the learned in stfllness be amazed at Thy Majesty: let the wise with wholesome words proclaim to children the glory of Thy kingdom. Let not our soul go astray and raise doubts about our Grod. Let us mete our mind and measure also our imagination, and let us know our knowledge' how*I^-ixmuch too small and foolish it is, to search into Him, who knoweth all things.
2. Tell me how thou didst shadow out in thy mind that Generation which is at a mighty distance from thy scrutinizing ? Thou fanciedst It was a little mountain, into the midst of which thou didst descend to explore it. In silence seal up thy mouth : let not thy tongue be rash. Know thyself a creature made, a child of clay, for a great gulph and boundless is between thee and the Son in the parts where thou searchest' into Him. He that is weak hath no'foi^*|^«
siilo Oi
concern with difficulties; nor he that is feeble with per- searchplexities : and let not him who is of the earth lift himself so ^°9 proudly up, that his mouth should haste to fly up at his Maker. He that scrutinizeth is a limb that is broken : let it get itself ^ ^o^*-
12 96.
healed, lest it hurt the whole body, and lest, because it is ' ' diseased, the Healer of all pains should cut it off and drive it away from His pasture.
8. Every one that questioneth, is a companion of him that is ^^ A- lost, and he that searcheth, is a fellow unto him diat is gone astray. For never did one that is lost seek and find himself, Uke to the scrutinizer. Let him who is a member fix himself firmly upon Christ. Let not his blade be separated ^<>^ni6,
160 lite dUputaHoHfi blindy and miss their aim.
from his Root : for the Vintager cutteth off him whose fruit
He hath perceived to be bitter. 4. Let us not blind the eyes of our imagination by disl^^^'^'putation: for when our mind is darkened, it is no longer
possible for it to seek with clear eye into the Father and
into the Son and into the Holy Ghost\ Let no man un- ' K- .. sheath his tongue as a sword \ neither let our mind be a bow §. 4. ' against Heaven ; nor yet let our evil questioning be a
serpent sending forth bitterness into the hearers.
* See Aristoti Eth. Nie. vi. §. 13. safe, as nather is it for an impaired
Did. de Trin. iii. i. Greg. Naz. Or. 33. vision to deal with the sun's raj.^' See
p. 630, c. ^' For one not pare to meddle Petav. Theol. I>. ProL ix. §. 6 and 6. with what is pure, were haply no wise
RHYTHM THE SIXTEENTH.
1. How shall Thy servant, Lord, cease from giving Thee glory ? how shall my tongue desist from Thy praise ? How shall I stop up the sweet overflow which Thou hast opened in my mind that was parched ? With what is Thine I will sing praise unto Thee, from Thine own gift. For in Thee, Lord, it is that I am rich, and unto lliee I bring forth increase. In Thee I am increased, and shall I reftise Thee, O Thou Giver of all increase ? Blessed be He that sent Thee unto us ! Thy treasure is sweet, and we are Thy treajsurers. My deposit is increased in Thy storehouse as a choice seed. This is of Thy gentle mercy, that Thou causest my little to have great returns. For, lo! our debts are great, and who shall dare to ask ? Lo ! the danger is taken away, in Thy mercy, from the oppressors who have taken and op-comp. pressed. Yea, they dissemble, and have come to the door of 12?*' * Thy treasury. Give unto us, O give unto us more ! To be
bold I would not wish, from being daring I refrain myself. Which then of the two is preferable to Thee, Lord ? The boldness of our love is pleasing unto Thee, as it is pleasing Heb. 4, to Thee that we should steal from Thy treasury.
2. To Thee, Lord, my faith 1 bring as an offering in its See nakedness: I have brought it without works; it as being ^.3. ^^' Thine will be enriched by Thee, and I from it, and also from Thee, since 1 am [found] wanting. A merchant bringeth a pearl to the king ; he receiveth it in its nakedness, and by pp. 89, himself he enhanceth it. If the king enhanceth it in his crown, how much more. Lord, shall my faith be enhanced in Thee ? If even the husbandman offers plucked fruit, and the
lord of the vineyard rejoiceth therein, and even giveth him clothing, and if the workman for fruit plucked receiveth clothing, clothe me with Thy mercy. He whose faith is great is not small : the faith that in him is small, in
M
162 Faith dumld Aew its inward gromrih omiwardif.
Thee, Lord^ it is enhanced; and if eren wheat com is ^^ enriched in the dnst', let mj £uth be enriched from Tlij
90. ' treasmy. It sofficeth then for that [com] and also fen* this
IB. zz.£uth that it is not we who, as though impostors, giye to it
from what is its own. Strip not off even from what is its
own ; because it groweth not in us, let it not therefore. Lord,
diminish in us.
3. Woe [unto us] if we see the abode of idle disputants ;
we have been naugfatjr labourers who hare turned idle and
fallen asleep ! But and if we be watchfiil, we shall receive the
reward which the prudent receiveth, who hath not been in
*p.ift3,any wise idle'. Yet at this time many smother it entirely,
"• ^ for beneath the veil of the silence of fear have they put it,
Liikei9, whose faith watcheth in their hearts, while their profession
a p' 178 slumbereth in their mouths. For this is not prayer 'ministering
^' ^' in silence. Faith, typified by the face, is set in an open place.
He that concealeth his faith, it were fitting for him to cover
his face also *.
* A similar complaint occurs ia St. reason of the tmth imitating dioM who
Bas. Ep. zTii. §. 2. ' At these things corrupt the word with craftiness. Si-
the faitnless laogh, and those of little lent are the months of diose who are
faith are shaken :*tlie faith is doubtful, godly, &c.' ignorance oterwhelms men's souls by
RHYTHM THE SEVENTEENTH.
1. He that seeketh after the Truth in a gnidging spirit, not even if he meeteth it will he be able to know it. Since enrj troubleth his mind, he doth not know it, not eren if he graspelh hold of it. His anger is mad, and dareth without considering. He disturbeth the earth, he graspeth also at the heaven. He knoweth not his fellow-servant, neither distinguisheth he the servant from his Lord. Who would not weep to see that his neighbours' have forsaken and left the ' S»mmB contest with them without, and themselves among themselves gj^e* as strangers are daring at disputation? Who would not blame him who, though insufficient for the things which
in his own self are concealed from himself, jet proudly lifteth ' See R. himself up above his Creator, though not attaining even unto '* °* ^' the creatures ?
2. God seeing that He was never at any time searched
out, clothed Himself with a body' that may be searched 'R.xxx. out, that we might cease from searching into His Divine Nature, and rest ourselves in the Generation of His Human Nature*. He persuadeth us to ask how the Divine Nature < p. 115, came down, and in the Belly was for nine months silent ^°*^ 23 Thirty years also He was in the earth, that by His long stay we might gain Him by use. He left those above, and became a companion unto those below: He left those that were found, aud sought for those that were lost*: He left those that were wise*. He chose those that were simple, 'orcunand by them He spread His simple preaching unto every '''"^ man : He left the chariot of the four living creatures, and came down: and the Cross He made Him a chariot unto the
■ St. £. atlndes, perliaps, to the in Ps. viii. §. 13. St. Greg. Nys. ii. p.
oomnum interpretadon which taken 711* h. Nax. p. 631, a. See aWo Cynl
the ninety aiid nine sheep of the in Lneam. ap. Ang. Mai, Anct. Claw.
Angeb, and the loet eheep of man's z. p. S73, 4. PetaT. de Angelis, i. 14.
natore. See Method. 0. viig. iii. 6. §. 9. St. B9. in Matt, zviii. §. 6. St. Austin
m2
164 Christ the Creator of all things.
four quarters [of the world] **: He left the Seraphim and also > p. 202, the Cherabim, and came down and endured the contempt* of °* *• His cracifiers.
3. Thou art the Son of the Living One, and Thou art the
Son of a mortal. Thou art the Son of our Creator, O Lord,
See who in Thee stablished all things, and also the Son of Joseph,
JJ*^^^' that workman who learnt by Thee. By Thee it was, that the
Lake 2, Maker without teaching stablished [all things] ! with Thy
Finger the Creator fashioned all the creatures ! by Thee it
was that Joseph fashioned his carpenter's work, since he saw
that Thou wert his Teacher! Hail! Son of the Creator.
Hail ! to the Son of Carpenter, who, when creating, created
every thing in the mystery of the Cross*. And haply even in
Mark 6, the house of Joseph, that carpenter, with the Cross' He was
t p. 24, busied all the day.
n. X*
^ As the first chapter of Ezekiel is sapportetb The faces were in the
eridently in St. E.'s mind in the text, four corners, though they were upon
it may be allowable to give here a por- two siden. One face was that which
tion of his commentary on th<; place : looked to the West, from one corner,
p. 166. ** The faces of the lion, who is another again, opposite to it to the
the king of beastm, represent to us the North, and another to the Eaut, and
kings and princes of the world, who that opposite to it to the South: and so
have come under and been subdued to it was opposite each one of the faces
the yoke of the Church, which iti repre- that the quarter to which it looked waA,
sented by the chariot; or to the Gospel, and each observed it whenever they
which self-same Gospel the chariot re- moved. They formed therefore the
presents. The faces of the eagle again shape of a plinth, whose breadth does
are, that we may know that it is from not amount to its length. For the ox
above that He, which shall come, is to was yoked with animals that destroy
be. But by the faces of the birds and it, unclean with the clean. Here is a
the beasts, he represents the nations marvel to nee three unclean species and
differing in their habits, who have re- one clean : and by this he taught na,
ceived the Gospel and wrought at its that it was out of those that were cir-
spiritual toils.. . . The hand that was be- cumcised that choice was made of those
neath the wings of the Cherubs repre- to be Apostles to the Gentiles : by the
sents to us, that it was the might of four corners he hinteth at the four
Him Who is the Son of Man, which quarters of the world.'' sapporteth the chariot that carrieth ^ i.e. as having four quarters. See §.2.
Him. By this hand also he pointeth and xviii.$.l. In a similar way £pb. 3,
out that Christ our Redeemer put on a 18. is taken of the Cross by St. Greg,
man's body. ' The hand of a man be- Nys. Or. Cat. 32. c. Eun. p. 682.
neath the wings,* i.e. the foundations of Jerom. in £a. v. 10. Austin, de Doctr.
the Church it is His Eight Hand which Christ, ii. $. 62.
RHYTHM THE EIGHTEENTH.
1 . The young of a bird, unless it be matured, is not able to S«e on
break through its covering, through its imperfect state ; and n/c. *
faith which is under silence is also imperfect '. Oh perfect
it, Thou that peifectest all things ! The race of birds is
brought up bj a threefold advance from the bellj, to the
egg : from hence to the nest, and when it is perfected, it
flieth in the air : it spreadeth its wings in the mjsteiy of the
Cross. And faith too is perfected by threefold advanced
For since in the Father, and in the Son, and in the Holy
Ghost the Apostles believed, thus the faith flew unto the
four quarters [of the world] in the mystery of the Cross'.
The Threefold Names are sown in a threefold way, in the ^- ^
f.i,
» i. e. the faith ought to be plain- in8taDce,hath not its waved cut throngb, 0pealLiiig to all fit to receive it. See anless that eDsign, which is called the K. ziii. §.1. On Deat. xt. §. 7* he mast, abide safe in the ship ; the earth, sajs, ^* Let not him that is entrusted again, is not ploughed without it ; with the word of doctrine lift himself diggers, too, do not manage their work, up above the unlearned and humble, nor hnmble artizans either, save by but let him instruct each one in meek- tools that have this form. The human ness, and give unto each of the word of form, moreover, difiere in no other redoctrine which he hath received." The spect from that of animals more than in text also concisely expresses another its being upright and allowing of the
truth, viz. that the belief of the Church stretching forth of the hands, and
is rendered fuller by her being forced pointeth to nought else than the form
to cast it into formal statements, comp. of the Cross." St. Method, de Cruce i.
R. ix. §. 5. and vol. ii. p. 439, b. §. 3. *' The sea, as yielding to this
quoted p. 139. n. e. form, alloweth itself to be sailed upon
i> 5. ^ is threefoldly perfected.' The by mankind. For the whole creation,
idea of advance is implied by the simile as one may say, was invested with thin
of the bird's growth ; he seems to refer form in order to [its obtaining] liberty,
to the gradual revelation of the Trinity, For the birds when they fly aloft darkly
noticed by St. Epipban. 1. p. 899. and intimate the figure of the Cross by the
St. Basil c. Eun. p. 248. quoted above, outspreading of their wings : and man
p. 72. and to the Eunomian rejection himself, &c." SeeonTertullian*sApoL
of this great badge of Christianity. cap. xvi. and xxx. and the notes to
e To the mysteries ofthe Cross St. E. Min. Felix, cap. xxix. or Gretser de
often recurs. See B. Ixiii. p. 104, f. S. Cruc. i. cap. 52. whence it will
229, c. 493, h. iii. p. 343, e. 350, d. appear that the same instances a«
351, e. Op. G. ii. p. 248, &c. There St. E. notices in nature or art, as
are parts of this R. very like the follow- having the Cross in them, occur all
ing from St. Just. M. Apol. i. §. 55. over the world, if by any chance they
*' See ye to it if there be aught in the were all taken from St. Justin, still they
world which without this form hath its roust, to have been generally received,
orderings or can minister to intercourse commend themselves at once to th»
between man and roan. The sea, for Catholic mind.
166 The manifold occurrence of Holy Cross
spirit and in the soul and in the body, as in the mystery'. When our trinity was perfected by the Threefold One, it
reigned unto the ends [of the earth]. See R. 2. If the spirit suffer, it is wholly sealed* with the Father;
xii. §. 1.
^ By ' the mystery' probably the Pseudo-Atbao. c. Sabell. Gregales,
Sacrament of Baptum is intended. The §• 13. would be obTiated by the teit.
connection probably is to be fonnd by ** This man (says St. Epiph.) and the
recalling the use of the Cross at SabelUans after him teach that the
Baptism ; upon which see Gretser de Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost,
Cr. iv. 13. In vol. ii. p. 336, b. we is the same, so that there are three
find the following parallel passage: names in one subsistency, as in [the
*' Grant to us, Lord, that we may case of] man, body, soal, and spirit;
kindle three bright-shining lights to that the body, so to say, is the Father,
Thee, the spirit, the sonl, and the the sonl the Son, and that as the spirit
body. The spirit let ns give to the of a man so is the Holy Ghost in the
Father, the soul let as give to the Son, Godhead." The form of Baptism was
and let us give the body to the Holy often urged as telling against Sabelliasa
Ghost. Oh, Father, hallow Thou oar as well as Arians, (see Petav. de Trin.
spirit for ns ! and oh, Son, hallow Thon ii. 12. §. 8.) the singular ' Name' proT-
oor soul for ns ! and oh, Holy Ghost, ine the Unity, and the repetition of
hallow the feeble body from its ^ts ! ' tne* proving the Trinity of Persoos.
Grant to as, Lord, to rejoice in Thee, This then would be a heresy at which
and that Thou mayest rejoice in us, the passage quoted and tiie text might
and from spirit, soul, and body, to be levelled, though it mi^t meet some
Theebeglory and on us Thy mercies!" secret form of ApoUinarianism, the
This passage, as well as the text, maintainers of which had ^ for disciples
evidently alludes to 1 Thess. v. 23. of the inner school' more open blaa-
the only diflTerence is that Jjaoi P*»emies. Vid. Gr. Naz. p. 746, c.
supplies the place of U^ in the ^, f^^f^u"!!?", i? *"'" °**"'!i ~!!;
text, as the wSrd for «pirirt>f which ""^'"P ""[ *^, ^^^'^.^ J^"^ f
more in note e. St.*^E. is probably ^^"^ ^ *^.^°"?^ « S*- ^^^"".t
.:».:«» .* f».^;.ii:n» • ./«*«- ^r r*<w>^ Tnn. ix, x. xi. A passage from the
aim ng at furnishmg a sort of Creed ^ g^jj GrifTk^S. may be
against some heresy in vogne, although .jded here. " Let nooniwhodeJieth It may be difficqlt to determine pre- »«.. ti. „ "="•">' j j "T Vt ^.T cwely what he allude, to. Two en^n., ?*! ,^''"* "P^' ^, *?^ £S.^"l^' however, seem to deserve notice in 5?' " ^« T""'? »«» 'T.^'^'^.u*^* thi. view. Apollinarig is .aid by St W' ,•?»""« *? "■" »' '^t ?"* 1° G. Naz. ad Cledon. i. p. 744. to have '"' B»P"f . »°d "> *« *[« holy •e«l« made the Trinity con.iM of great, »^e™»>y hewa.regener^^intOMliwgreater, and grAtest; Spirit, Son f"'' '*"«'°'«n''8 "'?' *« ^,P^t'« Ind Father, a! brightie... raV, anJ J»^' Z*"'Z "V°°« *^'^Z ^S^- «>n :-in thi text tie Thrie /erwn. ?.'^. f^ '^'^J^T,^ ?fV 'c ??:
are wt before u« a. working Each "t^'J^^ f ''"^ ".".^ *« »° ' ^P'"*
.i:i,. -,.„'. ..»»..fs~.. >i.»-„if :_ A!. "' "OOj *bat our ntirit and «Hil may be
alike man . rraovahon, though in dm- j^ ^^^ ^^^ ^g ,^ „f q^ ' j
tinct way.; which of courM muft not _/„._ . ^I. » ■ . j',.t.
be «, tafcen a. to militate against the !1,^L?XS^ image and like-
weU-known rule, ' that wh^ver God ^J^!^ljS^I° ""* ^ **«""
doe. externally to himself, that the """S "«•»<"•
whole Trinity doe..' St E.'s object * ," """"* ^ '•^'' "JT ^« P*'"
seems to be to mark out the distinctocM iTltL, *T!li, l "«8?»^ '" '|* "i?
of the Perw)ns, a. well a. their equality. J^,?^ J" ^^ P'^ ^^ ^'•f V !*•
Basil. Ep. 266. §. 2. (compare^usefc. if^^i^yf/ "V, ^iT ''^ ,^ ^{
c. Marcell. ii. 4. Timoih. A ap. Cotel. M?"*^ "^f^l^iJllT^ ^TiT^
M. 6. iii. p. 396.) speaks of Apol- ••""'• ^ "''«" *"• ^"^ ™««"«d *«
linari. a. rctoring SalSuu.' doctrine KT^ ^5 ? ?!."•: ^°" °°*°
and one form of this, of which we learn ^'^Z . -•!J"Jf7"'^ 'a' ". T*"'
from Epiphan. Hair. Ixii. init (who ^ l^onoirable estate of adopted .on-
says they aboanded in Mesopotamia; •"'P- ' The ''o™ fJOOl in the passage
see also St E. ii. p. 486, d. 488, e. quoted answers to ^St oommonly, and
and Aasem. B. O. i. p. III.) and «>o to this as iUomioated. See on
tit the things of nature or qfart. 167
and if the soul suffer, it is wholly blended with the Son'; and R. xi. if the body confess and be burned, it communicateth wholly ^ ^ with the Holy Ghost'. And if the httle bird drew in its wings and refiised to use the silly mystery of the Cross, the air would then refuse her, and not bear her up ; but her wings praise the Rood. And if a ship spreadeth her sails for the sea, in the mystery of the Rood and firom the yoke of wood, she maketh a bosom for the wind ; when she hath spread forth the Rood, then is the course spread clearly out for her Foyage. And if the ship was that of the Jew, the Cross rebuked him by his deed, since though not intending it, in the ship himself with his own hands hath spread and displayed the mystery of the Rood. The sea by the Rood was subjected to the unbelievers : but unless the crucifiers had made wood into the form of a cross, and upon it had hung ' the i s. a Body as a sail, the voyage would have halted'. Oh, pure ^jlijJe. bosom [of a sail], sign mysterious of the Body of our Re-nenof deemer, which was filled with the Spirit', although It in no^^iamed wise confined It*". By the [same] Breath which dwelleth inf ^'> ,
•^ breath
the sail do bodies live, in which the soul dwelleth.
Ezech. xxzrii. 1. Lerit. 1. xziii. and filing by the seal upon iL
ToL i. p. 139, e. p. 132, b. p. 398, a. The ' The word * blended' meana wholly
rairit then being that part or faculty of penetrated with, united in mystical
tne aool which reoeivet the Grift of the communion. See on B. xl. §. 3. It
Spirit, 18 said to be sealed with the seems likely that this alludes to the
Father, because as the Father is the Apollinarians, ApoUinaris being him*
Fount of the €rodhead, so the spirit be- self a Syrian, and in the earlier form
oomesby that Gift the fountain of a new of his heresy denying Christ to hare
lifb in man. Greg* Nas. p. 743, d. '^ If a human soul : or rather dwelling upon
it was by sanctifying like by like that this aspect of A nan and Anomean
Christ would put an end to the con- error. Hence the soul may be said
denmation of sin, then as He needed to be blended with the Son, because
Flesh, by reason of the flesh which was it was by having a human soul that
ander condemnation, and a Soul, by Christ deUvered eouls and dwelleth in
FeasoD of the soul ; so did He also need them. See Clem. Rom. ad Cor. c. 49.
a (spirit or) mind, {90S,) by reason of A than. ApoUin. i. §. 14. and ii. §. 17.
the (spirit or) mind which not only Greg. Naz. p. 760, c. Petav. de Inc.
•tumbled in Adam, but was the seat of vr, 13.
the disease, (rfMrM'«ASr«vr«,) as the K This alludes to passages which speak
physiciajm say of bodily ailments. For of the body as the Temple of the Holy
It was that which received the com- Ghost, &c. A passage u-om the Comm.
mandment, which also did not keep it on Deat. xiv. 9. may help to connect
. • • and chiefly needed salvation." comp. this sentence with the following. *' ' And
Cyril de Incam.cap. 16. Mai C. N. viii. all that is in the water with wings and
p. 77* It then may be viewed as thefoun- scales, eat ye thereof.' These be they
tain of sin in the old Adam, of grace by who have gotten tbem wingt< from Bap-
the new. The expressions, God of the tism, and by their conversation fly up
Sirits, &C. &c. Father of spirits, to share with spiritual beings." ' See
eb. xii. should be borne in mind. p. 223, n. e.
It may tuffer from weariness, (see ^ l.eontiu8,c. Nest.p.416.ap. Mai.C.
3 Cor. ii. 13.) though preserved from N. <* If in a body less than and circum*
168 Manifold occurrence of Holy Crosi
8. Neither, again, doth the land yield itself to the crucifiexv, without the fair mystery of the shining Rood. It is the sign of a Rood which worketh it and softeneth it, and scattereth its seed therein. Neither doth his dress please him without a mystery : be spreads out his arms in putting it on as if a Rood. Lo ! his covering is a mirror to him, the sign is sealed upon it which he denieth. If the crucifier buyeth a lamb and killeth it, upon wood he hangs it, Lord, that he may shadow forth the slaughter of Thee'. And again, when he hideth wheat in the earth, the living seed preacheth Thy resurrection. In his flock he museth on Thee, because it is kept by Thy Rod. And in his vineyard is the cluster full of the type of Thy Blood: and when upon his tree the firuit hangeth, it is a type of Thy Cross and of the Fruit of Thy Body''.
4. Lo ! in the house of unbelievers the preacher of Thee crieth aloud, Ye that sleep arise, be watchful ! Since it is plain what he signifies by clapping his wings there. Lo ! he proclaimeth the resurrection of the dead to that buried living man, seeing that his sleep is deadly to himself ^ And if
scribed by Himself, He was able to con- fixed in walls aod posts, whereby they
taiDHimselfas well entire without being hung them and sKinned them. And
aoght impeded, as without being aoght every one that had not where to hang
eircomscribed, yet in no way straitened; and skin it, got thin smooth staves,
this is in very deed a sign of a natural and rested them upon his own shoalder
Power, that may not by any external and the shoulder of his fellow, and so
force be shat out from its own uncircum- hung it and skinned it.''
scribed couditiou, or be circumscribed ^ On Numbers xiii. p. 26il, c. he
in doing what it plea.iuth. This too is says, * They cut thence a branch with a
what is spoken of as the exceeding cluster of grapes, and carded it on a
wonder by him who saith of Christ after staff between the two. The cluster
the flesh, that in Him dwelleth all the that was carried on the staff hanging
fulness of the Godhead bodily." The by the branch by which it grew, is ■
word rendered sail might also be ren- type of the Prophets and Apostles that
dered ' linen cloth.' Comp. note p, carried and bore about Tmrnimael. Its
p. 68. form also typifies the Rood, and they
> St. Ju>>t. Mart. c. Tryph. p. 269. thatbareitbeatype of the two thieves."
** The lamb that is roastea, is roasted So on Zech. ix. 1/. *** Virgins' signify
in a form like to that of the Cross ; the souls that be barren in the seed of
for one upright spit is passed through the devil, and have not corrupted tfaeir
it frcm the nethermost parts to the fair nature; the Wine of the Cluster
head, and one again into the back, to which was hong upon the RoimI, is pre-
wliich also the shoulders of the lamb served for their consolations." Here
are affixed." This is not precisely we see the Cluster hanging much as
like what St. E. says, as he alludes to the Lamb in note i : either case sug-
the slaughter rather than the roastinjj^ gests the Cross to St. E/s mind,
of the lamb. The directions in the * Asseman. in his lax way of
Mischna, Pesach. v. §.9. compared with rendering, gives the passage thus:
note 1, may serve to bring out St. E.'s *' Quatit alas clare insinuans viventibns
meaning. ^' How did they hang [the mortuorum reditnm, mortuisque pras-
lamb] and skin it ? Hooks of iron were nuneians, mortem somnum breve (sic)
tn the ihingi of nature or of art, 169
in her nest by mere touch her womb conceiveth holily from the wannth of the [male's] cherishing wings', and hath her^ R* zli. issue Mrithout other intercourse', then, lo ! in his own houses5.^arhe hath a mirror of Mary " ! "•?*
fatonun." To me the passage is very TriDity that every thing was perfected
ohseure, bnt sepalto isto tivo would and finished. Consider , too, that since
seem to be the literal rendering of oi^ '*>« Scripture is speaking of the agency
1 _ 1 V „ iji xt u I of God, that this Spirit is not a beinfi
rf^ }^ .^'"'''^^ i*^'?" a createdandshedforth,whichitexplaiM
hding to Matt V,,, 22, 1 Tim. v. 6. ^^ ^^^. ^^^^ ^^e surface of the
Eev. 1,1. 1 and the l^e^d the pas- ^^^ ^^ ^-^^^ Him ; bnt it speaks of
sage might be paraphrased : the cock ^^^ g^, ^^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^ He rendereth
says, Awake thou that "^eeoest, rise ^j^^ ^J^^ \^^' ^^ ^.,i^ ^^ j^_
from thy death of sin be buried no parteth thereto generative ^wers. An
more therein, seeing there is a resur- \ ^^^^^ j/^l^^ j^^„ ^Q hr^^th
rection and a judgment, and that thy ^^^^^^ ^^^ ^ ^^^ ^^^^ ^^ ^^^
i"^""*?" !? ^^1 n^T '^^ r!.*^. JS »>rooding wanieth them, and gendereth
the truest and awfiiU^t sense of death, f^^^^^ ^^ them. It is also intended
-The same is noticed of Vultures, ^^ ^^^^.^^ ^^ ^^ the same time with a
hy Ong. c. Cels. p. 29. (where Hee ^^ ^^ Holy BapUsm, which was, by
Spencer,) Basil Hex. vin. ^^6. Euseb. ^^„, ^^ His brooding irer it, to geAder
P. E. ill. 12. Ambrose, ««. v. 20. children of God." This serves to shew
A passage from vol i. p. 117, f. may ^^^ g^ j.. dwelt over the things of
be worth adding. "The Father spake, ^^^ure, and found in them types of the
and the Son wrought; «nd so it was ^j^.^^^^ „,^^ ^^ 3^^, ^^^ .^
fitting that the Sp.nt should Himself corr«ponding series. Compare what he also wercise operation ajd Bhew it in of Baptism, as typified by the In-
His brooding over it, that Weby it eaination in n. f. p. ^. might be revealed that it was by the ^
RHYTHM THE NINETEENTH.
1. Praise becometli the Son Who taught the Truth! do thoa praise the Lord that became the brother of His servants ! Honour is becoming from the time that He came in% Who became a Child and ministered unto theloirty. Thy
* P* 61} garment seeing it was the corering^ of Thy Human Natmne, and •on AtluThy Body seeing it was the covering* of Thy Divine Nature, p. 391. coverings twain they were to Thee, Lord, the garment and
* &. z. the Body that Bread, the Bread of Life \ Who would not B.zzzi.^^''^^^ at Thy changes of garments ? Lo ! the Body covers §. 6. Thy glorious fearfiil brightness ^ : the garment covered Thy
feebler nature: the bread covereth the Fire which dwells therein. Never at any time did the mind of mortal touch it Who hath the Hands of Fire and the Fingers of Spirit which
«5. for our Maker hath to* grasp That, in respect of the Invisible Nature of Which even our mind is as it were a body * ? Neither again is the knowledge of the highest [Angels] capable of that Glorious One, Who is within all and without all. He is His own knowledge and our knowledge. He is
*p«W, tije Life* of our soul which dwelleth in us. Who is not
* p. 105, astonished that though every thing is in Him', and He is also in "' '* them all, yet never at any time have they touched Him though
• Hahn takes the wordd W^l ^J^ that of their nature; because erery
, ft. created thing of necesfiity exisceth in
|OOIl as if a pleonasm for tW:^ : this somewhat whence it originates." Greg.
seems an unnecessary assamption; Mor. ii. §. 3. << The spirits of Angels
since W^ may be a verb, and there is >° comparison of oar bodies are spirits ;
come into vogoe,' or the like. ^^^i P* 301. Bekker, Amob. c. Serap.
^ A passage from St. Cyril on St. Joan. Thessalon. ap. Hardoin Cone
not recoil in fear at the sight of the ™ode of stadnff the finiteness of all
Flenh and Blood lying openly npon spirits hot Grod. See B. xxz. $. 2.
the holy Tables of the Churches, Grod, ^^ Bar. Bak. in Michalis Lex.
accommodating Himself to our weak- P* ^^^' It should be added that
nesses, sendeth a power of Life into ^ome have spoken of our Lord's
what lieth before us, and changeth ^ody as more subtle than the Angels
them so as that they should have the ^hom we know to be spirits. Vid.
operation of His own Flesh, that we Petav. de Inc. x. 6. §. 3. This pre-
mav have them, so as to partake of ini^ed, the following may be suggested
Liie through them," &c. ^ the drift of the passage. In speak-
« Hil.in Matt, v. §. 8. " The different i°S of changes of garments, it is not
kinds of souls, whether possessed of meant to imply that the Body^ &c. is
bodies or devoid of bodies, yet have a ^ viere investiture which may be cast
bodily substance allotted to them as "^i^® <^t pleasure ; on the contrary, it
The Incamaliom an economy to meet mak^s needs. 171
they be in Him ; like as the body never at any time hath touched with the hand it hath, the soul which is within it.
2. Who wouldnot praise that EQddenOne that is hiddenfirom
all. Who came openly to manifestations' the plainest of all? *&toan When He had clothed Himself with a Body bodies touched ^^. Him, though minds had never at any time felt Him. It is a>>o great thing that the little ones pressed upon His Greatness, fitMn aU that even It' was made little in their form that It might be like t r. them. Since it was hard for them to be like unto Him, forf^'; Him it was a light thing to make Himself like them.
3. The weak man that armeth himself is deceived. He putteth armour of brass upon his feeble body ^ Thou, O Lord, didst clothe Thy Nature with a firafl Body, that Thou mightest be able to suffer in it. Divers remedies flowed* from Thee to them that needed ; though all of them were one undivided Virtue, it was many for the frail, was divided to the needy : it gathered [them into one] and was one Verity
for the truthful\ Thy Love collected stores for our neediness, > R. ▼!. that to each one Thou mightest assign a difierent gift from out of Thy Treasuiy. By little portions Thou didst move our needy estate. Lord, that it might come near to Thy door.
it pvt of His penon and adorable as is right to mention that Hahn thinks
nch ; (see p. 168, n. c p. 199, n. a. and the text oormpt. Pet de Inc. XT. 3.) The Fire, i. e. God, * This alludes to 1 Sam. xvii. 17.
though so concealed, is onapproach- where, among other reasons for rejecting
aUe even hj the mind. Tnie that in Saul's armour, he gives the following :
the Eucharist the Word of Life is David *^ was musing in the spirit of
handled and seen, jet it will not follow prophecy upon die sufferings of his
from this that we can know, and explore. Lord, and contemplating how wholly
snd grasp, as ifln our hands, the Inrisihle unbecoming it was for the senraot to
Person there present, as the Ennomlans clothe himself with princely apparel in
&Dcy. (Bee p. 116, n. e.) We have the place wherein he was to shadow
not those Hands, 4fec. i.e. those creative forth a type of the Son of God, Who
energies (it not being the priest who is was to stniggle with the king of the
aUe to maAe the Body, p. 146, n. d.) proud ones, not in the might of His
which produce That which, in respect Fower, but in the lowliness of His
of It's Divine Nature, is such that Cross."
even onr souls are gross and material • Vol. ii. p. 480, b. *' To the soul
when compared witn it. So far then itself He restored the health which it
from oar mind being able to grasp It, had lost: and lo, the bodies thai were
even the highest Angels, who are ever raised bear witness thereof! And if
praising Him, know Him not to the He changed the Law and so gave life,
full ; so far from haring any independ- it was as a physician that changes
ent knowledge of Him, He it is Who medicines. His medicines then are not
is the Light and Life of our souls. If strange to the world : the physician
then we wonid argue that we can usethallkindsof medicines to cure, and
grasp Him, because in a sense we do God all arguments to give life." Comp.
so in the Eucharist ; let us reflect diat R. liii. §. 3. He is there arguing that
we cannot lay hold of our own souls. God is unchanged though He applied
This interpretation sadfiies myself ; it the Law, and then the Gospel , to heal us.
RHYTHM THE TWENTIETH.
1. To Thee, Lord, I offer up my faith with my voice: for prayer and request can both of them be conceived and brought forth likewise, without any voice, in silence. The womb if it closes upon the child, two die. O Lord, let not my speech
1 See too close upou my faith ^ so that that perish and this be smothered, and both of them perish each by the other. The tree if it close over its graft, destroyetli it ; but if it lets the graft-bud out, it maketh leaves come forth from it, and in its season yieldeth fruit. And if from the womb of the green wood fruit buddeth, then let my faith leap for joy !
2. The seed in its greenness bursteth the covering of the * Pearl, earth, as looking out for the shock of com full of mysteries*: R. rvi. ^^^ faith, whose bosom is filled with goodly fruits, is the shock
sT^i ' ^^ 8^^^* ^^^ ^^h' ^^^^ ^^ ^^^ ^^ ^^ conception, and also
ziv.§.5!its birth, and if, it plunge into the deep, it escapeth those
who would take it. In becoming silence, within the mind
let prayer gather itself up, that it may not wander. A virgin of
the bride^chamber* is this well-refined entreaty, and if it pass
* It may be right to give here a that were in the dea, and the children
loDger passage from vol. ii. p. 330, f. of Ananias* company it resoved them
to the same effect as the text. ** For too from the fire ; and on every oc-
prayer, my brethren, it is fit that we casion on which it riseth it takedi the
should at all times be ready ; for very victory. It taketh and carrietfa forth
great is prayer which communeth with its requests from God who nveth to it:
God. "VYhen prayer goeth up in love and it bringeth forth and giveth iti
to hold intercourse with God, then the gifts to him that loveth dealings with
gates of Heaven are opened, and there it. The Lord rejoiceth that it seeketh
is none that letteth it from entering, of Him and is glad at its asking from
The Angels let it not, neither do the Him : and when it commandeth with
empyreals delay it. When it seeketh boldness, He with gladness bringeth
to enter, then doth it make its requests out and giveth to it. Behold how
come forth from God. Let each man prayer is a prophet, standing before
be in love with prayer and labour vrith God, and speaking with boldness, and
her, vigil-keepin^ in the day-time and not ashamed to say, O Lord my God,
at night. Let him that prayeth, never preserve me as the apple in the eye in
faint: prayer raised Jonah up when Thy tabernacles, yea, beneath Thy
the fish had swallowed him in the sea. wings may I be rescued from tempt-
Prayer rescued Daniel from the beasts ations ! I beseech Thee, Lord of height
The spirit ofpra^ and of faith contrasted. 173
the door of the month, it is as one that wandereth. Truth is its chamber. Lore its crown ; stillness and silence are the ennnchs at [its]] gate. She is the Betrothed of the King's Son : let her not go forth to be lured into wantonness: but let Faith, as a bride to be seen in the street, mounted upon the voice ride stately on from the mouth unto the chamber of the ear^.
3. For it is written, that there were many who beliered Jobnir,
. 13* 19
on the Lord, whose voice because of danger denied the 39/ ' faith, while the heart within confessed it With unbelievers did He count the speechless. Jonah prayed a prayer widiout Mat 23, any voice; the preacher was put to silence in the belly of 4],* ' the fish: from the midst of the reptile his prayer crept forth, and the High One heard, for silence was to Him a ciying. In one body are, both prayer and faith, hidden and visible, for the Hidden One and also for the visible. Hidden prayer for the hidden ear, and faith for the visible ears. Our prayer is as it were a secret taste in the middle of our body. Let us then be rich and breathe forth the savour of faith, a savour which preacheth, and that to the taste of him that possesseth discernment* in sweetly savoiured things ! ^ ^-^
.m^iT .1 1 « furnace
4. Truth and Love are wings that cannot be separated, for, p. since Truth without Love cannot fly, neither can Love^^*°*''
and depth and of this world, prenerve whoredom by lo^. It was to see the
me as that pupil which is preserved for works of God that the eye was placed
me in the eye. Be Thoa, O GoH, a in the body, and to receive in itself
Preserver unto all that trust in Thee ! wondering, and convey it into the
And as a pupil in the eye, so may Thy region of the heart."
{ireserving be their hiding-place ! Two *> See R. ii. §. 2. xi. §. 3. xiii. §. 1.
ids hadi He made to the eye, that n. c. faith here means the Creed,
within them it might hide, that no which is set up as a beacon to all,
hurtful thing might come into it : for which ought to be openly professed,
by it the whole body is lighted. Two St. E.'s object is to contrast it in its
gates hath He set to the pupil which external developement with prayer ; in
veils itwlf within the eye, as a modest its inremal existence in the mind of
virgin within them, as a beloved one the believer it is the trnth which St. E.
io the bridechamber ; two gaten hath makes the ^ chamber' of prayer. St.
He raised before it, to be open or be Cyprian de Or. Dom. init. ** Anna in
shut ; open to admit the light, and to the First Book of Kings bearing a
keep out when shut things hurtful, type of the Church.... prayed with an
Its eyelids furnish it with covering, entreaty not else than noiseless, silently
that when any thing is falling into it, and humbly within the secret chambers
it may be kept from entering, and its of the heart itself. She spoke with a
clearness may not be impaired prayer concealed, but with a manifest
The eye, it is an adulteress if it doth raith, &c.'' — a passage of Scripture
look not chastely; the ear, it is a which St. E. himself takes as a type of
fornicatress if it hear not uprightly, the Apostles preaching the faith when
When the eye looketh and luMteth after they were thought to be filled with new
aught that belongeih not to it, it is an wine, adulteress to <^, and committeth
174 Natural analogies agaifiit severing faith and prayer.
mount witboat Truth. Their yoke is that of amity. There
is one look too and one movement of the eve-balls, and
though the nose be a division, yet is there no separation
therein : since not even the least wink can one eye take without
> 5. steal the other's cognizance ^ Never did the feet separate into
othCT ^two [different] paths. His heart is divided who goetb in
two paths at once. In the two ways of darkness and of
light he goes waywardly in his wilfulness. His feet and his
eyes reprove him for a divided man. Oh heart, thou ox
equally divided to two yokes ! He that divideth himself unto the
righteous yoke and into that of unrighteousness, to a cursed
husbandman his will is enslaved. He draweth a hard yoke :
s R. he ploweth error, and instead of wheat he soweth thorns',
zxxvi. ^ijjjg ^jjg goad of sin drives him on. Let prayer within wipe
out troubled imaginations ! let faith also wipe out thoughts
of things without, and let the one man who is divided collect
himself, Lord, and become one before Thee *" !
« Vol. ii. p. 333. t " He said that oat thee it is not. The Kingdom
the Kingdom of God if within jou, dwelleth within thee, and without thee
becanae the Son of Grod is within thee. bell. Without thee death standeth,
His kingdom dwelleth in thee : lo ! the and sin is the gate thereof. Evils with
riches of Heayen are within thy soul, tonnentB are far off from thee. Go not
if thou be willing I Lo ! the Kingdom forth to things without, that thou
of God is within thee, O sinner I £nter perish not with those .without. Go not
in, and seek with earnestness, and m unto strangers, that the murderers
thou wilt find it without toiL Enter may not destroy thee : neither open
in, leaving the wandering of pleasures thou the door of thy body, lest robbers
and the oorruption of lusts, the errors enter into thee and bind thee with
of the love of money and the business chains and cast thee into darkness,
that harmeth thee. Enter thou in and Shut the gates of thy membem, that
dwell in thine own self in the cleared they who lead away captives lead not
ground of thine own mind, and seek thee, and take thee forth from die
thee there the Kingdom, as our Be- Kingdom, and thou go with them unto
deemer taught. And if so be it dwell not hell. Enter thou in and dwell within
in thee, call it as He taught us, saying, thine heart, for lo ! there is God : for
Our Father, Thy Kingdom come. Come it is not He that goeth forth from
it will, if tiiou dost call. The King- thee, but thou that goest forth ftom
dom standeth within thee, and with- Him."
RHYTHM THE TWENTY-FIRST.
1. Do Thou, Lord, play on my harp with all Thy edifying strains : Sing we to the perfect ' with words that are healthful ' P- ^^^f and with pure words to the nuns, and with simple ones sing
we to the simple ! Come and hearken to Zacharias that answered Gabriel again ! O aged man, search and look where- Luke i, unto thy speech is gone! Thus is every one stopped and put ' ' to silence that dares to dispute with the Truth. For if Gabriel, though a servant, dealt so severely, because his word was not believed with a Levite, how much more severely will the Son of the Just One deal with those who believe not, that He is, as He said, the Son !
2. O Zacharias, barren so as to be past cure, in that thy tongue doubted how thou couldest have a son, while there
was there that which might reprove thee ! Appeal to the rod Numb. that budded, in the Ark. If then a mortal being' so grudged * his fellow servant, that he threw upon him the bit of silence, because he doubted concerning John, as for the mouth that
* Cyril. Alex. Thes. p. 204, d. '' If speaking of the immortality of Angels,
an Angel be a thing immortal, owing See on Ambr. de Fid. iii. §. 19.
to the will and grace of Him that Pet. de Ang. 1. c. 6.) For aa St.
made him so ordering his estate; still, Greg. Njs. notices, " Creatures grow
since he hath a beginning of being, it in such way, that erery thing which
is aleo possible for him to have an end. they acquire becomes the beginning
HoweTer, what things soever accme of an adyance to what is greater;
onto any nature, are indeed in relation . . .but if they fall off from tne par-
to their possessors valid, though not in taking of what is good, then they may,
relation to God ; as fire is caustic, but owing to the mutability of their nature,
not to God, so also an uigel is im- also partake in a worse estate, which
mortal, but not to God ; for He only is is nothing else than a death which hath
in His own right immortal, having by a kind of analogy to the death of the
nature, not, as things made, by grace, body." ii. p. 640, 1 . St. G. is also explain*
His certainty thereol" Dia, de Trin. ing 1 Tim. vi. 16. and shewing how the
p. 373. " Souls and angels are im* word ' only' does not exclude the Son,
mortal in the imperishableness and in- but does exclude the Angels. Probably
corruptibility of their substance ; and St £. meant to glance at the Eono-
mortal, seeing they be sometimes cor- mians by the word rendered ' a mortal
nmted in their mind;" (speaking of being.' 1 Tiin.vi. 17* a passage often qootra in
176 Freedom from heretical deceilfulness
l«. 37, disparageth the Only-begotten, for it is the bit of Sennacherib ^' fitted\
3. Let Abraham^s single-heartedness be a mirror to shew thee that prying is an evil blemish unto faith. When he believed, he was also justified, and when he was prying*, his seed was subjected to bondage. For as a partridge' which calleth unto the young that are not her own, or a bird whose voice deceiveth him to whom she singeth, so let not the voices
1 See R.of them who confess the Son, but own not His Generation* §.™^ lead thee astray. There is a fowl that changeth the sounds >R. of its own voice; there is a bird that alters his voice*, and I™' ensnareth his companion ; there is a deceiver' that alters his > p. 104. words with his hearers, because of advantage to himself.
4. Deal not then, thou harp, deceitfully with thy hearers ; * S. do do not respect persons of men in thy song*: whether in secret
not sing
faces
faces to b Xwo passages may be eiven from . ..If then he had spoken in the way
>n«i^ St. £. here as expanding the idea in the the accusation assumes, God would
text. On2Kingflxix. p.658.d.he8ays, not have receded his sacrifice or have
'* The epistles of the king of Assyria, rati6ed his covenant with him in that
in which he mocketh the power of the same day, nor have promised upon the
Most High, and urgeth his people to same day that ten peoples should he
eome out into a strange land, are a type subjected to his seed, &c.. . .How then
of the writings of the wicked, who come men to say of a man who in thac
assail the faith of such as fear Grod, same day was [counted] worthy of the
and try to get them by persuasion or greatest rewards for his faith, that his
fear to leave the Church of Christ, and seed was punished for his want of faith
turn aside to the synagogues of Satan." in that same day P'' This, which ac-
p. 568, d. On Is. xxxvii. 29. p. 81, cords with the opinion of the Jews,
he writes thus : ** He U overcome in who urged this to shew that Abraham
the members wherewith he blasphemed, had sinned (see B, Mart. P. Fid.
For he blasphemed with his lips, and fol.474.) and is here rejected by StE.,
was violent against Jerusalem and her was probably a current opinion, and so
God." urged, in the text, as an argnmentom ad
^ It is remarkable that St. E. upon hominem ; or, as Scripture avails itself
Gren. XV. p. 62, e. argues against the of the current views of natural history
notion which he here seems to adopt, as for illustration.
follows: Whereby shall I know, Sfc. <i Ofthe partridge he says, on Jerem.
" There are some that say that it was xvii. p. 230. d. " The partridge craftily
on account of his doubting about this stealeth the eggs from the nesits of other
that it was said to him, * Know as- partridges, and sitteth over them, and
suredly that thy seed shall be a so- warmeth them, and hatcheth from them
joumer in a land that is not theirs.' little partridges; and when they are
But let such an one as saith so know, grown, and have put out their wings to
that at that very time he believed in fly, and hear the voices of their own
the seed that was as the sand ; if he mothers, they go after them, and leave
believed in that which was great, (read the partridge, that bewails itaelf and
. >0! .yosPi as in the Latin,) that from calleth craftily afirer them." Compare
^ \ note b. See Bochart Hierox. part iv.
one man and one barren woman who lii,. i. c. 12. who quotes other instances
was old his seed should be as numerous of the use of this fabulous aoooont.
as the sand, then would he be doubting st Aust. o. Faust, xiii. 13, 16. also
about a small piece of ground, who compares heretics to the partridge, as
about that great matter doubted not. j^ ^^^ ^^on^ Bochart quotes.
prayed for tcith love of truth and peace. 177
or openly, let thy Yoice set forth the savour of thy Truth. Moses also, with the mystic trumpets made the camp move, NoBh. two trumpets only made proclamations ; lo ! the type is ' accomplished, since in the Churches two Testaments sound forth their proclamations. And David too, his harp also sang in three manners. With loud strings he sung to Thy Godhead, with tenor ^ strings to Thy Humanity, with low** middle ones he sang again of Thy Death*'. And let Thy Churchy ^^49 also he a harp to Thy praise! Appease, Lord, the strifes 1^7. wherewith its strings are untuned, that upon this harp we may sing of peace, truth, and concord* ! *ffi*^^'
\77yfLWL.
* This diTision correspondfl, if not in tbe Father in Me/ &e. Othera belong
terms at least in meaning, to one often to the Human throoghout, as * Now ye
insisted upon afterwards against the seek to kiU Me, a Man Who hath told
Nestorians hy St. Cyril, from whom yon the truth/ &c. (which cor iespo n ds
Petsriofi draws his first rale to he ob- to Uie last in St. E.) Others are inter-
serred in speaking of the communica- mediate and belong to both Natores,
tion of the attributes of the two Na- as ' Jesus Christ the Same to^air,
tares in Christ. ** Some expressions yesterday, and Ibr erer,' &c.*' Pet. de
of Seriptnre bdong to the Divine Nar Inc. iy. 16. 1. 1. tnre omy, as * I am in the Father, and
N
RHYTHM THE TWENTY-SECOND.
Praise thou the Lord of all, Who fashioned and strung
> p. 217, for Himself two lyres*, that of the Prophets, and also of the
Apostles. Thus one finger struck the two distinct sounds of
the two covenants. And yet, though the lyre hath different
sounds, it is the same lyre and the same player ; the lyres of
Truth also, my son, have different sounds, though the Truth
>R.xiz.he one^ Also one flute is able to generate distinct sounds.
To the healthy ear it pipeth healthful sounds ; to the ear of
children simple sounds ; to the ear of the sickly a feeble
sound. These trumpets of Truth likewise set perfect sounds
3 p. 162, before him that is perfect^, but to him that is a child, they
frame promises of milk and honey ^
2. Who ever took a harp or horn, when men had set him for a help unto the commonweal, to sound one note at leisure and be gone? 'tis by diversity of notes that a rescue is secured ^ Thus therefore in many ways have the notes of the Truth set forth and sealed the Faith. The Father and
* S, in the Son are my son, true to * Their Names. If Jesus is dishonoured by fools, that dishonour [is done to] the Father also, John 6, and His Name is false and not true.
23.
3. That Jesus that endured the mocking of strangers also endureth great dishonour from worshippers. Great insult is it to the Trinity, if it be in borrowed names'^ that a man is
» St. Clem. Al. Strom. Ti. §. 88. melody which in each Prophet doth ac-
p. 784. Pott, gives the different mystical cording to the changes of persons in the
senses of a harp, more than one of choir finally come out."
which occnr in these Bhythms, as ^ Milk and honey were given at
follows : " The harp in the Psalmist Baptism. See Cotel. on Bam. i- p. 1^«
allegorically signifieth in its first sense, and on TertuUian de Bapt. p. 163, n.u.
the Lord ; and in the second, those < i. e. The comhination of notes is
who continually strike their souls under what gives them the power of Bo^uniiag
the Lord as Chief Musician: the elect a retreat, &c.
people would also he called a harp d i. e. If, as the heretics say, the
owing to the breathing of the Word Names do not indicate something real,
upon them, and owing to their know- See on Ixii. §. 4. Perhaps St. E. may
ledge of God they are heard uttering be thought here to incline to the vic^
glory notes, and stricken so as to ex- of St. Athanasius, that hereticai
press belief in the Word ; and you can BaptiRm was invalid, c. Ariao. ii«
also take it in another way of the §. 42. p. 339. O. T. where St. A-
musical harmony in the Church between speaks of *< the rite administered hf
the Law and the Prophets, and the them as altogether empty and unprofi*'
Apostles with the Gospel too, and the able, making a show, but in reality
Tfie So)i*8 Generation known to God alone. 179 *
baptized ! How should thy blasphemy be a song of praise ? how should thy deficiency * be as a superabundant gsun ? * See How should thy strife, O daring man, be a treasurehouse of "°** *** edification ?
4. The Son knoweth His Father as a fruit doth its tree % and He also knoweth His Fruit as being the Stock. Lo ! this knowledge of Them Both, in Both of Them is hidden and closed up: this knowledge of the Begotten and the Begetter is in a Treasury whose door is sealed up in mighty silence, and before the door is awful silence ^ and the keeper 'p. ii5, of it also is a strong Cherub. "• ••
5. What mouth is that, my son, that shall question, or that shall speak near the door of that treasurehouse hidden and still ? The Angels above' when they gaze upon it, sea) ' R. ▼. up their mouths with the silence of discernment. Whoso- lii,?' A ever knoweth not the awfiilness of that place, as a drunken man chattering is he, and also his hearers. But if he abase himself, my son, the pride of him who was drunken is silent at Him and adores.
being no help towards religion ;" and tions, that the Ennomians objected to
§. 43. " as deficient in religious mean- baptizing the uncomely parts, using but
ing, so that he who is ftprinkled by one immersion, and that only partial,
them is rather polluted by irreligion See Constant on Dionys. Alex. £p. i.
than redeemed.'' A passage from ad Sixt. Rom.
Didymns de Trin. ii. 15. is worth * Didym. de Trio. p. 26. '< If in
adding, " Those who come oyer to the beginning of the creation the
orthodoxy, even if they happen to have first trees came into being with the
been baptized, are yet baptized — for fruits from them upon them at the
rebaptized we do not call it, since they time, and it is no absurdity for the
have not the true Baptism, not the Eu- fruit to have sprung up along with the
Domians owing to their making but one root ; in what way is it incompetent
immersion and saying that it is only for the all-competent Father to have
into the Lord's death Siat they are bap- had the Fruit of His own Son in Him
tized, and not the Phrygians from their at the beginning, and for the Bright-
oot baptizing into the Three sacred ness to have shone with no interval
Persons, bnt believing that Father, from the glory of His Substance P" and
Sod, ana Holy Ghost are the same.'' Cyril of Alex. Thes. p. 304, c. and p.
D. also mentions innovations upon the 308, b. ** If. • . .the tree is known by its
form, p. 294. If the text appears to fruit, and the Fruit of the Father is the
imply regularity in the use of the Name, Son, such must He of necessity be as
it will appear from xxviii. §. 7. that the that is which is generate from Him."
DiTine Persons were only mentioned St. C. as well as St. E. frequently
to cheat the unwary, not in the proper applies the name mm^h to the Son,
way. Hence what Mingarelli says of and ptf/k to the the Father. See above,
Didymns may i^ply to our author, p. 10. n. a. and xlii. §. 3. 1. §. 1. Ixxvi.
that he looks on neretical Baptism as 1. 1. Ixxvii. $. 4. contr. Scrut. i. §. 12.
invalid only in the case of heretics who &c. and St. Cyr. Thes. p. 46, c. p. 126,
altered the form as the Eunomians did. c. p. 280, c. p. 240, e. jp. 326, b. Dial.
Sea Gr^. Nys. ii. p. 295, d. Didym. p. 413, e. &o. Vid. Petav. de Trin.
£. 279. Epiphan. i. p. 992. Sozom. H. v. 0. §. 16. Newmsn on Athan^ p. 284,
\, Ti. 96. and Beading's note. Tim. note e. Presb. ap. Cot. M. G. iii. p. 384. men-
n2
RHYTHM THE TWENTY-THIRD.
1. Speak oit, harp, for silence is thine enemy ; speak theu
whatsoever is to be spoken, for whatsoever we have no right
to speak, if it be spoken, to the righteous it will be blasphemy.
Unto the unbelievers is he nigh akin that dares to pry ; on
is.de- the very edge' of death the rash standeth, in that he hath
^^ left the faith in his disputations to go down and search into
* p. U4, the Ocean' of hidden things.
"• *• 2. Marvel not, my child, at what 1 tell thee. Take them,
s s.take and compare' them together discerningly. For the one deuieth
^^"^ His Divinity, and the other searcheth how to depreciate God.
parisoDs The Lord of all is greater than all, as is His surname. They
see by His Name that Lord of all who is greater than all.
Who is there whose knowledge is great enough to feel after
and mete out the Sea of all wisdom ?
« p. 177. 3. Cleanse the harp of thy soul from strife^ ! Let it not
sing in thyself from thine own', for self-will is death. Let
not proud boasting speak in thee strains of mockery, for it is
wholly mischief to thee. Tune then such strings as have
become discordant by disputation : draw in the strains which
Ecoles. go astray in vain searchings. Be first, my son, in the presence
^> ^- of the Divinity, and then shalt thou sing the praise of God,
5 p. 123, for then art thou a living harp and a reasonable. Liberty
"• ^' indeed thou hast in thy strings, and in thy words also, thou
harp that from thy soul and from thy will singest unto thy
God. Set thy soul then in tune, and sing without discord.
* Id R. xxii. to zxiii. adv. Hieres. Marcion and the like to do, but virtually
Vol. ii. p. 485. St E. dwells at length Arianti and others who do not add to
upon the tendency of heretics to Scripture or take from it professedlj:
originate doctrines and to call men Of course St. £. insists upon the
after their own names. As the infinite necessity of adhering to the Church's
variety producible out of the com- teaching, see ii. pp. 489 and 493. and
position of a few notes occurs to him the decrees of its councils, p. 488.
here, so the alphabet does there, as a (below, p. 197, n. d.) while ne admits
^^ body perfect in its members from such an infinite combination of texts
which we may not take away oi add a in subordination to these. Vide on
letter;" and this he considers not only A than. p. 238, a.
Harmony genderedby keeping to revealedorder o/mysie rics. 1 8 1
Purify thy sliaiDs and sing unto us^ but not of hidden things. Be a disciple to all the things revealed, speak fair things which are free of danger ; weigh out then thy words, sounds which may not be blamed; weigh also and sing strains thatTit.2,8. cannot be reproved, and let thy song be, my son, comfort to the servants of thy Lord, and then shall thy Lord reward thee!
4. Do not, therefore, sing things hurtful to mankind, neither divide, by thy disputation, brethren at unity together : put not a sword, which this questioning is, among the simple that believe in sincerity. Sing not then unto God perveiTsely in the stead of praise % lest thou forget
and sing iniquity. Sing like David to David's Son, andMat«23, call Him Lord and Son as David did ! Do not dishonour jobn Father and Son at once! Neither again sing thou to the 23. Father the reproach of His Son, lest thou sing to the Son too the dishonour of His Father, denying that He begat Him. That the Father is first, is without all controversy : that the Son is second, is without all doubt : as that the Name of the Spirit is thir4 : so that thou shouldest not per\'ert the order' * R. xl. of the Names. ^' '
5. Make ye then disciples^ and baptize in the Three *R.xli. Names, that is, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son,
and of the Holy Ghost. For the Name of the Son could not have come before the Name of the Father, that there might not be confusion". But how and why this is so, is encompassed in' silence. Far off from that silence, without it, bef<s*withthou speaking of His praise. Let not thy tongue be a bridge ''^ for sounds, which letteth all words pass across it. Praise do thou send up to Him, as the tithing of thy strains ! A waive-sheaf of words offer unto Him from thine imagination, hymns also as first-fruits, and send up clustered hymns thy tongue hath culled.
^ TliiB seems to allude to the Syriac Petav. de Trin. vii. 6. $. 3. We shall
versioD of Wd<€i«, viz. U^Om \ .^iL : ^f ^ several things which make it pretty
•* *u \ x, 1\, ^j-x • *i. *J ^ ^ plain what St E.'s belief was as to the
"5 'fJJ^^y took the h^m the sense ^,^^^^^^ ^f the Holy Spirit, which
of glory. The word W^^.., how- ^.^^ ^ ^^^^^ ^ ^^^^ occur, as the
ever occurs in Aristotle Eth. N. and ^^^^^^^^ ^ ii tj^e Fathers
Ir^-^in Plato The8.t.§ 116. ^^.^^^ ^^^^^^ ^^^ jj^^^^j
c See contr Scrnt. n. § 8. The ^^^^ this doctrine, form one of the
order of the Names of Each PenK>n ^^ ^ arguments' in its favour. See
indicates the order of Procession. Vidt q^ g^^^^i 5,2
RHYTHM THE TWENTY-FOURTH.
1. With the weapons of the guilty wrestler, did the Lord » p. 20. prevail ' ! He clad on a body which was from Adam, and
from David, that with that body which the wicked one had s On A- made guilty ', he might be brought low, so that his disgrace Mi'n.t flight the more abound. Yea, that litdeness of Thine is too
great for the eloquent. For who shall open his mouth [to speak] 3 p. 23. of Him that feedeth' all, who was yet brought up at the poor
table of Joseph and of Mary ! [Coming] from the Bosom great
and rich, which maketh all rich, in the poor bosom of Maiy «R.xvii.wert Thou brought up. Thou hadst a mortal^ father upon ^' ^' earth, the while Thou wert living anc^ quickening all things.
2. He rode upon a lowly ass ; hidden in His humility was His nobleness. They that rode upon horses and chariots were overcome while victorious. For David con-
9 Sam. quered the warrior ranks, and a weak rib* brought this
Niim? ^v^arrior low. The ass spake, and knew that she was an ass,
2, 28. and knew also her master for her master. What sort of
§.2. teacher is he that cannot distinguish the work which is
R. xii. made, from the Maker ? If Nabal too was overcome because ^. 3. '
he thrust forth his scornful** tongue, in that he opened his
• i. e. Bathsheba. David's (en youths and inlqaitoiulT
" On 1 Sam. XXV. 26. "Nabal scorned them. He then peruhed by a
when a man in a passion in chiding vehe- put on the hardness of a rock toward
mently with his neighbour.' 1 his com- tis brethren that were importonale
mentilKwtratestheexpression'wrought ^th him, so his heart might become
folly {1733 in Israel,' which occurs so as a senseless stone. Nabal, then,
often of acts of open contempt of all whom for his wife's pleadoig's sake
law and feeling — an expression which man did not slay, did the justice of
does, in this sense of the word folly, God kill for his sin's sake. But as
further illustrate the text. A part of God rewarded him according to his
his commentary on that seemingly hardness, to did He also reward his
unintelligible conduct of David's may wife with good according to her merci-
be wortn adding. After noticing fulness, and brought her un unto the
that Abigail's words, v. 38. shew how chamber of David the king.' Some see
notorious it was that David was to be the character of Nabal in Ps. xiv.
king, and that Abigail had kept David which might begin, Nabal bath said in
from a sin ; " Nabal," he proceeds, his heart, &c. Vid. the Choz^ Zion oa
" was smitten Justly by the Lord ten the place, days after, because he had rejected
The intended and ctciual effects of the Incarnation, 18S
mouth brutishly, for he esteemed lightly of David the great kingy and joined his name with servants ; then whoso is so foolish as to be like Nabal, flee from his tongue, my brethren, and from his death ; for it is not the son of Jesse of whom he speakcth scornfully, but the Son of David.
3. The Lord humbled Himself and came down, and the Maker became a servant^ He was as a minister. He was a fellow-servant who washed the feet. These things let us search into, my beloved, if we be able to give due thanks ! The Lord of Heaven came down to the earth and became a sojourner ! He was a sojourner [there], and a dweller, and also a traveller, that He might take us up and cause us to dwell in"* His Kingdom in an everlasting mansion.
4. Praise we with all our mouths the Lord of all tongues ! how long shall we go astray, and how long will it be ere we praise the Son of the Living One, against Whom, because He took a Body in His Love, the crucifiers have been bold, and the disputers have been mad !
« On the sense of the word servant, in Matt xxt. U. ix. §. 1. '< Who is
see Petay. de Incam. Tii. §. 7* The that man that travelled into a far
word in the Syriac comes from the country, bat our Redeemer, who with
same xxx>t as the word for Maker, that flesh which He had taken, de-
Hence it easily suggests to the mind parted into Heaven ? For of flesh
the text, Ps. 119. 91. <for all things the proper abode is earth; and it is as
are Thy servants. it were led to a strange country, when,
* The well known words of St Greg, by our Redeemer, it is placed in
the Great may be added here. Horn. Heaven."
RHYTHM THE TWENTY^PIFTH.
1. Would that some one would give to me a little breathing of the Spirit, not that I might prophesy, for that were death to ask for, but that I might have enough to set forth the praise of Him, that is greater than all, with my poor tongue. For without the gift of that Divine Majesty Itself no mouths are able to set His treasures forth, since it is with His key that those treasuries are opened in the presence of
* p. 122, jjjg treasurers. Glory be to the Gift which lispeth ' in the mouth of the speakers, though by its speech it snatcheth not their own free will away. The mouth is owner of two things at once. With that which is His, it museth on Him ; with that which is its own, it magnifieth Him : without the gift of the word too the mouth cannot declare of Him, who is the
See on Word, what and how great He is. It is by word too that ' man is able to speak in behalf of himself, and be his own spokesman. The eye also is able by the light to see the light, for by the rays thereof is it able to see its beauty. Even by the brilliancy from itself man is able to see the lightning in the heavens. For without the guidance sent forth from the lights [of heaven], the eye were not able to come to the light, and also in the midst of thick darkness Are by its shining draweth the pupils unto itself.
3. The type of the Son of the Creator is sealed upon the creatures^: through the light, fire, and also water, as with tlie rest wherein He is, can human nature approach, through the type of His Majesty. By the gift of the sea the
• Treasurers. Perhaps St. £. here having the keys of His treasures,
alludes tosomeofiice in heathen courts, ^ St. Aust de Trin. ri. §. 12. St.
like that of the Comes PrlTatamm in Athan.de Incam. 14. speaks of the Son
the Roman. Vide Cod. Theod. i. tit. 32. making known the Father through the
(.2. The Jews however had a sort of trea- things of the creation. See R. xxxt.
snrer called Apostoli, (see Petav. ad (.3. Of light see R. xi. (. 1. of water
Epiphan. xxx. p. 135.) which in part R. v. §. 6. and R. Ixxv. §. 2. would resemble Christ's Apostles, as
The Gift of God not to be idled away, 185
swimmer has streDgth to swim on the deep, because the power of the water supporteth him. Not incoherent^ are is. the tides there, the dashings also, and the waves, and the™^^^ murmurings. And as the surface of the sea is on the very verge and confine of destruction, whereon thou yet mayest*^. ia ride ; so there are also those that dwell in the depths' of it, be id t« after the fashion in which these knowing men do in the^9u^PP®<l generations of the Divine Majesty. 3 p. 114^
3. And though the seed be from us, yet is the fruit from ^' ^' His good pleasure ; that Gift of His doth not teach us sloth- 6. ^^' ' fulness. Its thriving strength suggests to us by thriving ^^'^P* strength to seize upon the riches which His mercies have p. 1S6.' brought unto us. And the rain too which He sprinkleth^^^^^i over all is His Gift; this doth not teach idleness unto the Hoe. 10, husbandmen. Their labour increaseth their stores; and^^* here again thrift increaseth solid boasts.
4. May Thy Gift, O Lord, take me up soon unto Thy height! by Thee I can be great enough to reach unto Thee. For if through the creatures man is able to attain to the creatures, may I through 1 hee attain. Lord, unto Thee ! Me shall the example of Zacchseus persuade, for he reached forward to Thee ! By Thee his weakness was made great, and he mounted and reached to Thee. Lo ! the voice which came from Thee to him, brought near to Thee him that had^ p. 16, kept aloof of Thee. The fruitless fig tree yielded fruit ; taste- ^ ^' less insipidity yielded a taste. The sycamore^ by means of its ^ 5. infruit became a salt, which cleared away tastelessness. A mar\'el *'^ ^ is the fig tree which was despoiled of its natural fruit, and bare
a different fruit that was not according to its nature, and that which in another form was not eatable, the hungry ate in the possessions which he distributed. May Thy Gift call me also as it did Zacchsus, not that I may distribute possessions as he did, Lord, but that I may make haste, and restore again*B.T.fiii. interest^ upon Thy money. •
5. For this thing also, namely, that He gave His money to the merchants, sheweth us that without His being joined unto us, there were no trading : and so neither is there any finding of the Truth without His Gift'. Run, my bretliren, ^ n. h. and gather along with us all similitudes, for lo ! they are too ^' many for our mouth to describe. Be ye then pleased
186 St. Ephrem prays against unstableness.
with what we have found, and it is right that we be also with what ye have. For the lump cannot without the gift of leaven partake in the flavours thereof By the Gift >B.xii.firom Him the whole lump^ may have it entirely diffused p.8.'q„, throughout itself. Neither can the curdle thicken milk without the hidden power of the rennet. By the gift that comes from ity it thickens milk's fluid nature into a close mass.
6. Grant unto my unsteady nature Thy straight ascents* ! By Thee, Lord, let my vileness ascend unto Thy Majesty ! By ^- is> Thee let it reach up unto Thy Height, in a large room, that there it may worship Thee !
* l Ae«-l y/^\^Vw - A88. recti adi- Lexicon. P«. Ixzxiv. 6. woald occur
♦«« .. i'r fiZ, \W • A-. ^«.,*«..«<> «r *o t^oae acqaunted with the Greek and ton as If from W:^ , the occarrence of ^^^^ ^;^^^^ ^ ^^^^ ^ ^^^^ . ^^
I NS^^ «> immediately would alope poaaibly St. E.' may have had aVenioi seem to determine the etymology of the Jq ^hjch the Awmj^drug of the LXX wordy which does not occur in the ^gg giyen.
RHYTHM THE TWENTY-SIXTH.
1. The Hidden God is by His First-born a Creator^ wonderful yet tiring not, for in respect of master, He lacked P11.ISI, not one, nor was He feeble at the art, for at the nod of His^'^^'^' Will, noiseless and gentle, from out of nothing He created all, and ordered all: and as without labour He created, so without anxiousness He supporteth all. In the Beginning He created all things, while His Thought* was with Him without^ R*.. any beginning. He hath no thinking as man hath, that Hes.^'" * should be moved in any new way, as is a child of flesh. His movement was not uew, nor was His thought fresh. His creation is subject to time and starting and beginning. But His knowledge preventeth times, and beginnings it transcends. The natures of the Seraphim are concealed from us, so that we are to seek as to how an angel hath six Is- 6, a. wings, and what his wings are, and where they are, and how a spirit needeth to fly by means of wings. Is this a parable? or is it plain truth ? If a truth, very hidden it is ; and if a figure, very perplexing it is^ Withdrawn from us then is that Infinite Hidden Being, and the searching into Him is too deep for feeble men, and the seeking after Him too high for mortals. And who shall fly up unto His Height? or search out His Depth'? He that ventureth towards Hissp.i44y Height, stumbleth mightily, and falleth ; and. he that ven- "' *'
* The Anomasaxis arged, that an of argament, (suggested probably bj Eternal Creator implied an Eternal Arlstot £. Nie. ii. 3.) was used bjr Creation, as mach as an Eternal Father several fathers, Greek and Latin. See an Eternal Son. To this Catholics Petav. de Trin. ii. 13. §. 18. and Newreplied, that the notion of a father im- man on Ath. p. G6. n. m. p. 201, n. b. plied the CO- existence of a son; whereas *> To say that the Angels exist in a man is called an architect, ship space, would make them corporeal ; to Imilder, &c. not from his having built say that they haye no relation to it, them, but from his having in him the would make them omnipresent. The art; the one is named from an existing difficulty which St. E. here touches fact, the other from an inherent power ; upon is treated of by Petavius de An- Hence St«E. speaks of the art of Grod, gelis, i. §. 13. and His thought or idea. This line
188 The objects and occasions to be considered
tureth to His Depth, drownelh in it, and perisheth. Miserable is the death of him that pried into Him, and the drowning of him that dived to search Him out !
2. The sun that we see persuades us, my brethren, that it is harm to gaze upon Majesty, since His Nature is too potent
1 B. !▼. for any mouth', and to all languages wholly strange, since our
perceptions wist not how to shadow Him out, for there is
none of them daring enough to bo able to reach unto Him.
But the writings of the prophets essayed to depict a symbol
[of Him] in Names. For causes there were, why they
' 5. should be spoken with after so imperfect a manner', since, if
^ ^ He had essayed to speak according to the marvel and wonder
» R. xi. of His Divine Nature, it had benumbed their hearing ', put a
* stumbling block before their childishness : the simple man
had perished, and the perfect man had fallen short. By
«p.S06,every similitude^ then He accommodated Himself [to them],
that man might according to his power and ability suffice for
3. The man that thinketh to liken the [Divine] Essence to the creatures, is in a great error. For us to body It forth as the mouth, the ears, and the eyes, this weakly frame of ours',
AR. xli. isa danger: forus to frame a shape of It', is a terror: for us to
^' ' measure It, a wickedness: for us to limit It, an iniquity.
And though He was higher than these, yet in His mercy It
condescended to be below these : the likenesses which are
suited to man, came forth from the treasury of the Lord of all.
According to the time and the circumstance. He setteth forth
•p. 171, a likeness, that He may help us thereby*. In the time of
^^' ' wrathfulness, in the time of cheerfulness, in the time of
'5. He fearfulness, in the time of quietness, though His Essence^
with His remaineth equable, yet, according to the laws of men, He
Ewenoe changeth Himself.
4. Lo ! Moses, when he taught the people, spoke of His Majesty after our fashion : he overthrowetli these same
Deot. 4, [ideas], in that which he says, Yc saw no similitude in the
66.
^ St. Chrysostom de Incompr. ii. p. of the shapelewneas of spirits, par-
331. has some similar sentiments. He ticnlarlv of God.
quotes Is. Ti. Dan. vii. 1 Kings xzii. ^ This is said with reference to the
Amos ix. as instances, Hos. zii. 10. as Anthropomorphites. v. contr. Scmt. i.
a statement, shewing that the prophets §. 18. See also n. c. p. 150. and n. b.
saw but similitudes. He also speaks p. 310.
ichen God gires or wilhholds similitudes of Himself. 189
iire. For the Hidden One did not clothe Himself with a likeness in Mount Sinai, lest the people should shadow itDeut.4, forth in colours. He gat Him an Image and a Countenance with Moses, that he might shadow Him forth in his heart. And as it was profitable * that He shewed no countenance or > S, He image in Mount Sinai, that He might not give profaueness ^^^^ occasion, to shadow forth Himself in erroneous conceptions to mankind, so was it profitable also that He clothed Himself with the Ukeness of a countenance, that He might shew us His glory, and we might perceive His fairness. In not shewing it He hindered error, and in shewing it He edified more abundantly.
5. When the elders saw Susanna, they sought to know H. Sober. And when Moses saw the glory of the Majesty, he betook himself to all humble entreaty", and besought Him • S. he that he might see Him, that He would make Himself known ^u begto him. The elders falsely said, that they had seen what^ins they declared they saw. And Moses too when he saw, yetv. 7. knew that he saw not, for that discerning person did not forget that his Lord put on borrowed similitudes. The sight
of the Lord of all lowered itself to dust, and the Stablisher of all things formed it into shape ! and as He condescended to Vide shape it in His goodness, so He humbled Himself to shew* g""* Himself in His littleness. And if, though in our similitudes, Moses saw Him and was afiraid, how then is it possible to stand before the real power of His Essence ? Lo ! the Son R.xxYii. alone can bear that* ! %>ntx.
6. Gaze then on Him [and seel that it was He, and^nit.
R i ( 3.
yet it was not He, for the Real One veiled Himself with an image : His fulness was found within it. His Brightness was covered with our form: for the form was not devoid of His Majesty. This similitude then was not of the Divine Nature. The Majesty made itself a veil
* On the place he says, *■ I will xxxiii. 2. conoeives sight to be here
cause to pass, &c.' i. e. glory, such as knowledge ; *' For there are not the
thine eyes can bear; thon canst not see pupils, eyes, and eyelids, in the ineor-
My Faoe,' i. e. it is not possible for poreal powers; but what with us is
man to live among the living of this sight, that with them is knowledge,
world after he hai£ seen It' It may When then you are told that ^ no one
be added in allusion to what has been hath seen God at any time,' consider
said aboye, note c. p. 116. that St. yourself to be told this, that no one
Chrysostom, who also refers to Ex. hath known God with tfn/tVeaccvraey."
190 God^s language of Himself an economy.
for the benefit of childish creatures. Good and wise was He whose Mords were clear, so that they might reproach the ears of the foolish. The similitudes of His countenance were wondrous, so that His Beauty might ' R. attract the eyes of children'. And though He was wholly XXXI. s-gq^j^ijjg^ fQj. jjg ji^j jjQt decrease and increase, yet He
decreased that decreaseth not, and increased that He might give increased He extended His discourse to all men. He drew Himself in and was small, to speak with one man [only]. His knowledge was thought by the simple to be so unto Himself, as it was unto us*. For He had it without deficiency : but to us it was seen as if deficient. They saw not that He framed artifices for the people, that He might make them obedient who went astray amid heathenish sacrifices. Because he enticed them with sacrifices, the simple people thought the fat [of rams] was acceptable to Him.
' Vol. ii. p. 510. in speaking of tbe his mind also. This is the more credible
accommodation to man by which the from what he says on the place referred
Holy Ghost is said to be grieved, he to, p. 227. ' When my glory passetb, I
adds, '^ He is high, and it is His love willplacethee in the hollow of the rock.'
that makes Him Tow, and for oar sakes ^* The hollow of the rock he calleth the
it is that He decreaseth. Because He assembly of Churchmen : in it then is
spake with us and as we do, the foolish placed the spiritual law. And ' I will
deem God to be such, and reproached remove My hand, and thou shalt see
Him with those similitudes and devices My hinder parts.' Thus He indicates,
which utter things edifying to us." that He giveth to him tbe power of
V St. E. seems here to anticipate that ordination in that typical Church. 'And
interpretation of Mark xiii. 32. which thou shalt see My hinder parts :' thus
takes it as parallel to those cases in He calls the Incarnation of Immaniiel,
which God asketh questions as if ig- and the face which was not seen indi-
norant, wondering, or the like, i. e. as cates the Nature of the Godhead.'*
disclosing not His real knowledge, but Here we see he views the appearance
BO much only as might serve a certain to Moses as a type of tbe manifestation
end in relation to man. See on A than, in the flesh, and the whole arffument is
p. 461 , b. For though he is here speak- that in no case can God manifest Him>
ing of the old dispensation, in which self to men while in the flesh, without
God as it were afifected not to know an cqtpearance of mutability and imper-
that the blood of bulls and of goats lection, which really exist only in the
could not take away sin, yet one cannot recipients. See also below, R. xxxii.
but think from the changeofthepronouns §. 3. and §. 4. and on R. Ixxvii. and
' us,' < them,' &c. that the new was in vol. ii. p. 521.
RHYTHM THE TWENTY-SEVENTH.
1. God Who existeth essentially '^ hath a Nature glorious >S. Who as His Name. And if He be an Entity Who is in Hisg^noa Name distinct from all, He is an Entity Who in the know- R* »• ledge of Him is withdrawn from all : let things which are made harass themselves as they may to understand Him, since
He hath nothing like to a created being, gaze they as much as they may upon the attributes*, these it is which theyt K^^, behold instead of Him. Lo ! natures fancy that they see Him, [even] Him Whom in them they cannot ever see ! For thej looked, and lo ! they erred, in that God they deemed to be like unto themselves. For had they seen Him in Himself they had done well to think they saw Him ; instead of Him they saw themselves, and thought that they saw Him. Oh, childish man, that feeleth himself, and fancieth that he toacheth the Hidden One. For the Nature of the Entity which cannot be shadowed out in the heart, as He is, of that what likeness shall we make, if we would not go astray and settle down in that for Truth, which is but like the Truth ? If then in the likeness they fancy that they have seen Him, grievously are they misled, and do mislead grievously, they err and make to err. For the Fruit' that is from Him alone 'R.xzii. knoweth Him in verity. ^^
2. Woe to the bUnd synagogue of disputers ! they stand i- ^* in the light, and yet seek for it. They touched gold and imagined it the sun. They felt a seal, and thought it was the colour of the light. They handled every thing and felt every thing, and lo ! they foolishly thought that they felt the sun. Each then as they fancied, took his shadow in his mind for the sun. Neither did they consider that there was but one sense akin to the sun. Their other senses were bereaved of and strangers to the sun. Its flavour is not tasted, its savour is not smelt : its clearness is not heard : its light is not handled. The sight alone, being related to it, is
able to reach unto it, as a son to his father^ * B. xU.
192 Correlativepessq/' senses to objectSyU lesson (igainsi prying.
m
3. Light dwelt in the palate and it felt it not ; it rose and dwelt in the ear, and it was not affected by it It dwelt on the hand, and how came it not to touch it ? The nostrils snuffed it not up. At its rising upon it, the mind and the heart, the
1 See onking^ and the captain of his forces, and all the host of thoughts ^'^ and their army comprehended not the sun : and yet into the Lord of light vile things of dust do pry ! Lo ! it is a disgrace, and a dishonour, and an ignominy, and a shame, that all of them [are employed] about one thing, and that they are not all of them together able to see this feeble light which is before them ! Lo ! it poureth itself about them, its radiance brushes by them, its brightness anointeth them, and though thej <B. zl. are clad with it, it is removed a boundless distance': it is ' [as it were] by hearsay that the feeble beings have perceived it !
4. Lo ! the blind in their questionings are like unto that proud blind man who took hold of the bow and shot arrows therewith into the flame, and he perceived not how his arrows were wasted away ; for the arrows which he shot in his pride became ashes in the fire, became dust in the wind ; and if it should happen unto him that he himself went up to it, he and his arrows would be consumed *.
* St. Eohrem appears to be allndiBg I am unable to find what it is. to some fable then known in the East ;
RHYTHM THE TWENTY-EIGHTH.
L If clouds and ligbtnings and meteors, yea, and earthquakes and whirl mnds and floods, being but fellow*servants, are terrible to [us] servants, when they come impetuously upon our feebleness, and if the ministers that are appointed to minister to him, are thus awful to man who is ministered i p. 208, unto, who shall venture to gaze upon that Might, by Whose ^^ j Power all things subsist? Lo ! medicines have a diflerents. power, which is hurtful to us when they are not mingled, and wine also injureth with its sweetness', and spices witht r. the strength of their odours. Sleep and food without measure "J* |' are harmful. And if the weak things, when not [rightly] Vol. ii. blended, are hard upon us, how much harder shall it go^'^^^^' with the man who without restraint prieth into the consuming Fire ? Heb.12,
2. Therefore the Good One hath appointed us weights, ^^^ and measures, and rules, that we should approach with 16,11. restraint to the creatures, in order to receive from them jj "20. benefit and comfort. Is it not in measure then that He hath granted to us that men should approach unto Himself, Who is greater than all ? or is it to be without restraint ? How then cometh He to have put restraints upon all, and upon the disputings of the disputers to have put no restraint? Lo! His bounds are stretched forth upon every thing, and His restraints are spread over all. Over natural' things He
* S. Macarius, Horn. xv. §. 24. is loose^ so is free-will loose, and as ^* The nature of irrational animals is the tongue of the damb is bound, so is tied down, that of the serpent, for in- nature bound. He hath not the word of stance, is bitter and venomous, and the mouth ; neither hath the latter freeconsequently all serpents are so,. .. • will. Put thee on some of the things I <^. The dove is guileless and simple, have said to thee ; taste free-will in thine and the whole dove tribe are of the own person ; make trial in thyself of same nature. But man is not so : for thy power over thyself; see whether one man is a rapacious wolf, another is thou hast it or no ! From thy own self ualambthatis the object of rapacious- thou mayest thyself learn about freeness ; both are to be met with from the will." Compare also St. Athan. p. 349. same race of mankind." St. E. vol. iii. O. T. Cyril de Ador. in S. and V. P< 366. fin. ** As the word of the mouth p. 499, a.
O
194 Tke boundaries existing in nature coincide with
sets Him a necessity; over free agents, mind and will. The natural things are fixed ; things unbound are preserved ; the law is a wall that preserveth bee agency. Who can take away that which belongs to natural thingSy though our free will goeth astray ?
3. Lo I the sun is bounded in his course, and the moon
also hath her increases ordered: He hath appointed an
order too for the earth and the heavens : the firmament hath
Gen. 1, He bounded by the waters which are above it. It is not He
Jer. 6, which is confused, but we that are perturbed. For if by the
\^' sand the waves are bounded, marvel ^ at the rash man that
proudly lifts himself up above Him Who is Lord of all ! Lo I
let us from his very self teach, my brethren, to the daring
due restraint For his conception in the belly was bound, as
Eccles. also in the womb of the earth his resurrection is, and his
Pfl. 1*39 ^vc\h [therefrom] *. Lo ! the conception limited him, and
^- birth limited him, and death limiteth him, and the grave, and
f. 1*. ' the resurrection I lo ! by these the rash man is limited, but
5"'^®'. his own questionings he limiteth not !
1. p. 40, 4. Lo ! we will yet farther rebuke his confusion, since h\& "* ^' will is perturbed by his liberty*. For his nature is overruled
^ Vol. iii. p. 361 y d. ''The nature of sinned, as he wills so he changes his
sweetness is sweet to him that is in tone ; for if he has slipped and offended
health ; it tasteth bitter to him that is he makes weakness his own excuse, but
sick : so also free-will is bitter to sin- if he be sinned against, his brother [he
ners ; is sweet to the righteous. When will tell you] utters weak things. If yoa
a man woald investigate the nature of were to go nigh unto his prayer two
sweetness, it is not by an ill man's tastes would be found in him ; hesetteth
month that he investigates and proves forth how weak his own strength is, and
h, because he is sick. A man in asserteth that the strength of his bro-
health is the test (furnace) of savours, ther's will is much stronger tiian he. He
Thus too, when a man would investi- forgetteth his own debts, and accuses his
gate the power of free-will, let it not be debtor. Which of the two would a man
investigated in an impure man : he is wish to come to P If he assume weak*
sick and defiled . Let the pure who is ness, he makes a request for his brother :
in sound health be the furnace for the and if he assume a haughty tone, he
assaying thereof." cf. p. 206. corap. proYoketh his Judge. If a man come
Eth. Nio. iii. 6. Again in p. S62, f. to either one of the two, it becomee a
there is so ingenious and yet practical, plea common to him and to tiie man
so acute and yet sweetening, a refiita- who is his debtor : for the weakness is
tion of fiatalism,tbat it is worth adding, common, and the capability of acting
even if it bore less upon the text, as is common. Let us go in the straight
serving to develope farther St. £.'s path and leave crooked ways, that we
views as to the compatibility of grace may come to orthodoxy. A man
with iree-will as touched upon in B. beseecheth the forgiving Ood^ and he
xzv. §. S, &o. <' If thy bromer offend thereby entreats for his brother ; but
thee, and thou rebuke him, asking why if he call upon Him as Avenger, then
he ofl^d thee, by him thou dost accuse he becomes bis own adversary. He
thyselfof being able to keep from ofiend- reduoeth himself to a strait, choow
iog thy brother or thy God. He that hath which ever he will : if he cboOi« Ood
Scripture to check unbounded di^putaiiofd. 195
bj [Divine] Goodness^ that nature might be distinguished from liberty. And if any one was minded to injure his members, yet he hateih those that so injure him, and loveth Epb. o, his own members : — thus maintaining the order of his bodily parts, while loosening and perturbing the order of his mental parts!
5. ho ! the Cherub was a boundary to Paradise, and an awful barrier to Mount Sinai. Whoso approached, was stoned without mercy: by things visible, He warned us from things Heb.io, invisible. If then He set a bound to that mountain for all|^' ^^* that day, for eternity He setteth a bound to the loftiness of
His invisible Nature. There, there was death for him that was daring : but here, there is Gehenna for the disputatious.
6. Lo ! the leprosy that reproved the talkative, reproveth the insolence of the disputers ; for though it was Miriam who spoke against the meek man, yet he wove his lips into a Numb. garment of leprosy for her. Her love clave to the child in ^'^•*^' the water; on the land she made the heart of Pharaoh's Ezod. daughter swim. For that child who was swimming — from the ' * wages for himself, he nourished his mother also. O miracle
and wonder and amazement ! for if Miriam spake against a mortal, who was indebted to her for the kindness done to him in the waters, although she was also older than Moses ; yet that righteous man who had commanded elders to beLevit. honoured, upon this elder prophetess inflicted a disgrace, a ' disgrace without mercy ; who shall be clear, if he seeks into the First-bom of Him Who punisheth the talkative ?
7. If then the Most High avenged the servant of his sister, a prophetess, who intermeddled with him, who shall meddle with the birth of that Majesty, Who is the Son of a Bosom' i R. ▼!. which is consuming Fire, whence there flame forth lightnings ^[J^^^j
to be meroifiil to hifl own self, then he his misdeeds, then htm he for his debtors
cannot be oppressive to his brother, also lifted up s prayer: if he draw
The altemativee are placed in the nigh to Divine GooiaesSj then he has
midst : if a man call upon God as let his debtors go : if he draw nigh to
foigiviog, then he ha« set his own debtor Divine Justice, then he has sammoned
free; if as Avenger, then he has desired his own misdeeds." This unfolds the
Him to be forgiving to himself. A meaning of the text : men will not let
man's neighboor then is stationed others hart them outwardly without
along with himself in all aspects, seeking redress; but thej will mar
Wherever Divine Goodoess is, there their own inward constitution, and sell
are his debtors stationed ; and wherever themselves to work wickedness, and
Divine Justice is, diere are his misdeeds then complain that they are slaves, ttatioiied. If he seek to supplicate for
o2
196 Audaciousness in heretics
Acts 3, and Tongues [of fire]? The prying of daring men is as
Q
Is. 47 stubble with Him ; and the questioner and the contentious ^^' like as chaffy and like as thorns, are devoured. Gehazi also 2 Kings ^ho mocked and was mocked, tried to escape his master's > p. 138, notice and was disgraced. The daring' men try to escape "• ^' men's notice [when pretending] that they baptize in the «S.Trme Three* Names ^ Now at the mouth of Three the judges
« See above^p. 155, n.b. and p. 128, some texts of the greatest importance
D. f. The words * try to escape men's are absent from a whole clam of Mas.
notice* seem to refer to 1 John ▼. 9. (e. g. Lake xzii. 44. to which text
^ if we receive the witness of men the devotion owes so very much, but which
witness of God is greater.' As this pas- is absent from the whole Alexandrine
sage seems to contain an allusion to the class,) and so it is just possible that
controverted text, 1 John v. 7. it may the old Syriac version might originally
be well to specify, first, such other pas- have containe^l this important texL
sages of Scripture as it may allude to ; As time goes on, it is fair, of course, to
fiecondly,sucnpassagesofSt. E.as will put down any thing, however slight,
throw light upon his meaning here ; which seems to favour such a sup-
and thirdly, any such evidence in position; if the evidence against it pre-
favour of the controverted passage ponderates ever so much, this is no
as his words here seem to supply < reason why we should neglect what
(1) Now the only other text that has little there is to put in the opposite scale,
ever struck me as likely to be in the And hence there does seem to be the
Saint's mind is John viii. 17, 18. ' It strictest moral obligation to attend to
is written in your law, that the testi- any evidence for its existence, and
mony of two men is true : I am One give it its weight. For as it is with
that bear witness of Myself, and the remedies existing in nature, (see St.
Father that sent Me beareth witness £.'s own comparison of the two, p. 1 71,
of Me ;' which evidently refers to that n. e.) so may it be with those in grace;
in the Law : ' at the mouth of two they may lie hid a long time, be re-
witnesses, or at the mouth of three jected with scorn, and at last, after
witnesMes, shall the matter he esta- much doubt and disputes which seemed
bliijhed,' l)eut. xix. 15. The objection to be endless, be received. See Butler,
to supposing St. £. refers to this is. Anal. ii. 3. p. 259. Nor ought we per-
that there is no mention of three wit- haps in thid case to forget that the
nesses here, and none of baptism ; abundance of heresies in Syria might
which seems to me most material, have helped towards the oorruptioQ of
Neither do I think that a reference to the text | because St. £. himself again
this text in conjunction with Matt, and again complains of this, (see
xxviii. 19. would account for St. E.'s particularly Vol. ii. p. 441, f. p. 486, a.
language. (2) St. £. notices the im- b. 491, a. 500, d. iii. p. 239, a. and also on
portanoe of the Name used at Baptism, contr. Scrut i. §. 4(5.) although it must
K. xiii. §. 1. R. Iii. §.1. R. liii. §. 3. be owned that the best critics are averse
(which, as we shall see, is a passage to the assumption of such an hypothesis,
in part parallel to the one before us) It is plain, further, from his Comm. on
R. lix. §§. 1. .3. R. Ixii. §. G. R. Ixv. Zech. xiii. 1. that he understood John
§. 1. R. Ixvi. §. 1. But of coarse it is xix. 34, &c. not only of the Eacharist,
so common in antiquity to dwell upon as in p. 20, n. ro. but also of Baptism,
the use of the Name used in Baptism, For he under^ands *^ the fountain of
when speaking of the Trinity, that that salvation in the spiritual sense and
might be expected ; it is the context true meaning, of the stream of the
which marks the pH swage a< somewhat holy Blood and sacred Water which
unusual, and makes it open to consider flowed from the side of our Lord to
whether, when the copies of the Scripture sprinkle from undeanness and to purify
were torn to pieceM in persecutions, from error ;" which application is also
(see contr. Sorut. iii. §. 29.) this pas- followed in the Liturgy of St. James of
snge might by any chance ha vesufiered. Sarogtuied by the Maronites, Asaero.
For it is certain beyond all doubt that Cod. Lit. il.p. 309, n. 2. p. 341. (3) The
wiil be punished as in Vzziah, 197
decide. See here be Three Witnesses Who put an end to
all strife ! And who would doubt about the holy Witnesses l^eb. 6,
of His Baptism ? ^^
8. If the Temple was avenged, because dishonour was done it, who would raise lowering questions about the Lord
of all? Approach not to His Generation', lest thou be 'genedestroyed. For Uzziah offered incense, and was smitten ;p^^0 and since he was not ashamed to stretch forth [his hand] to ^' ^• the glory of the sanctuary, he was ashamed all his days, 26, is-^ because his leprosy covered him ; and since he dishonoured^^' the hallowed house, he had to shut himself up in his own Levit house, as unclean. The hallowed house which halloweth ^^' *** all, from it he went forth a leper all defiled. And the doctrine which rightly ordereth all things, hath been to us Comp. a fount of questioning disordering all things. The rain^^- which profiteth all, by superabundance of itinjureth all; and the sun which illuminates all, by the might of it blindeth all. Bread also which quickeneth all % to him that eateths§. i. gluttonously is a murderer. p!*47ii'e.
9. His ordering of bounds bringeth the impetuous into order, seeing that it is with fire He hath surrounded His sanctuary. The two hundred men that dared to seize the Nainl>. priesthood ** a fire befriending the sanctuary consumed: it^^>^*
to approach the most sacred riteii ^ Comp. VoU i. p. 367, a. in n. e. with a lie in their right hand ; That this is not a mere illustration may they are worse than Gehazi, who he seen from the following passage from thonght that none woold wimess the R. xxii. adT. Hsr. ii. p. 48Sy h. sacruegioos use he was making of the *' The Most High came down on to type only of the Sacrament of Baptism Mount Sinai and covered Moses with seen in Naaman, (see on the place, His hand ; Moses laid it npon Aaron, p.532, c. d.) which was' hy water only;' and it reached down to John; hence but these daring men make the most our Lord said to him, ' It is righteoussolemn adjuration a mere trap for men's ness for Me to he haptized by thee,' souls, and while they call to witness the (Matt. 3, 15.) that the succession Threethat bearrecord in Heaven, ihey might not be lost to him. Our Lord thereby oonstitnte all, that keep alire ^ave it to His Apostles, and behold a religions sense of the honour of bar- in onr Church it is continued ! Blessed iog had God's Name sealed upon them be He that delivered His succession at B^tism, judges of their own sacri- to us ! The saying of our Lord rel^ous intentions ; they summon from strains them, and To, what they take Heaven Three Witnesses against them- to themselves is taken from them! selves, and prove the Church's doctrine for the Aetians, and Arians, and by the counterfeit of her rites, which Sabellians, and the Cathari, and to save appearances they are compelled Photinians, and Audians, who reto adopt. (See noted.) It may, in condu- ceived imposition of hands from our
198 J%e wilfidneu offaUe war$hips.
Levit. devoured the sons of Aaron because they offered up strange >p!s9 b.fi^^S ^ ^^ yrexe a harlot, and the hallowed fire was zealous against the strange fire ; and the knowledge of the truth b zealous against the contaminating disputation*. Lo! they are both shadowed forth for the wise in the hidden mirror of thought, as having both put on one shape of wilfulness and one stamp of venom from their liberty of will ! Both of them willed to be priests to God. On their visible offering their hidden heart is impressed ; for by occasion of their offerings ) Sam. (heir secrets were openly set forth to shame.
0} 0. 9.
Church, have some of (hem laid Tiolent upon the fire which came down and conhands on the faith which was put sumed their sacrifices in its time ; into writing in that glorious Council, another was, that they despised Moses Memorable is the king that assembled and Aaron, and brought incense withthem! — Heads theybecame in the midst out haying received any permiMsioa of the Churches ! Some too were pres- from them ; a third, that they confused byters and deacons ! others doctors and the time of beginning their office, and readers ! some were cTcn religious : offered incense not in their proper and from the Church they stole ordina- time ; a fourth, that they entered into lion of each kind of ministers to act as the sanctuary, a place which Aaron priests, and to baptize, and to break their father went into once a year, oread, and to teach that our Lord bath Now that tbey offered strange fire ts come and will come. Blessed He typical. The strange fire he calls the Who hath restrained them all by His wnfulness of Adam and Eto who were Troth!" And just before : '^ Let them in a haste to become gods." And so be distinctly asked from whom it was on 1 Sam. xiii. p. 367. a. '' By this that they received imposition of hands? action and the consequences of it he if it was from us that tbey received it describeth to us a type of the first and then repudiated it, that sufficeth Adam, because both of them (Saul and for the truth ; but if they have made Adam) despised Grod*s commandment, themselves priests and done arrogantly, and both of them also justified themthat sufficeth to reprove them, for this selves and accused dieir fellow-creavery thing is to their shame. For tures; both of them harmed bc^ themevery man is a priest if he please, and selves and their sons ; both of them lays his hand on his own bead. A dared to lost after a rank of which they mnfbsion this which cutteth off hope!" were not worthy. Moreover by this * Here again as above, p. 103, n. d. they are blamed, who invade the rank if an implied parallel between heresy of the priesthood, without receiving and idolatry. See on R. zxxvii. (. 3. imposition of hands." Here we see St. E.'s words upon Levit. z. 1. may St. £. again dwells on the wilftilnees be interesting. *' Nadab and Abihu of the act of Nadab and Abihu as suffered not upon one count only, but its main feature, though he views it as upon many, as Scripture hints; one typifying another thing, was, because they brought in strange fire
RHYTHM THE TWENTY-NINTH.
1. God in His mercies called mortals gods through grace ; but they by their scrutinizing have set limits to Him who is God, as though he were man. This Body of yours which He put on. Cherubim bare up and Seraphim are awed before it. Angels are still before it'; but yet ye that are despicable have made light of the generation of the Glorious One. For unto that weak body which He came down and clad Himself with. His names and operations were assimilated. And as it was needful^ for Him to be hungry, thus also it was needful for Him to pray, and as that hunger belonged wholly to the body, so His lacking' belonged wholly to the'p*9io, body. Do not ye die by means of the names wherewith the liring One veiled Himself that He might quicken all !
* See abovei p. 168, n. c. The Ca- Coanoil of Epheeas as prescribing that
tholic doctrine is thiu given by St. John the Whole Christ is to be worshipped
Damasc. F. O. !▼. 3. " The Flesh of with the Body, bat not in respeot of the
Clurist in its own natnre indeed, if yoa Body;) and more at length, xy. 3.
come to nice mental distinctions of the As the ' two whole and perfect Natures
visible from the intelligible, is not to are never to be divided,' of coarse where
be adored as beingcreated, bat when the Body is, there we creatures are to
united to Crod the Word throagh Him adore. It may be right to add another
and in Him is adored." Possibly St. £. passage of St £. here. Vol. i. p. 261. c.
wished to give a blow to Apollinarian- " That rod of Aaron which out of all
ism by the way : St. Ath. o. Apoll. i. 6. the rods alone budded, is a type of the
'Ht is not a creature which we worship, adorable Body of Immanuel, Who,
insensate men t Why is it that ye though in all things connatural with
do not reflect that the Body of the corruptible creatures, yet remained in
Lord, made though it be, yet doth not the Sepulchre incorruptible ; and when
obtain the worship of a creature P (or capable of anblameable passions (the
it hath become the Body of the Word SitdfiXurm wdin of Chrysostom and
unereate. To Him then Whose Body others. Y . Anastas. Sin. p. 1 16. Gretser.)
it hath become, to Him oiTer ye wor- in Him alone were seen the mysteries
ship.'' Cyril Thes. p. 196. b. though of incorruption and impassibility and
speaking against the Eunomian notion, immortality." From the passages given
(p. 194.) that the glorification of Christ p. 19. and 20, n. m. and p. 146, n. d. 147,
implied a nature less perfect antece- n. f. and 148, n. h. there can be no doubt
dentlyto such glorification, has the fol- that St. £. would regard the Body of
lowing: ' The Word of G<^, as God, is Christ as that which gave men the
most Highest evermore, but has been right to be called * gods.' Upon this
Kfted up on high as Man. Lacking no- name, see farther on R. xlvi. §. 6. thing as God, He is as Man said to re- ^ As it was needful, i. e. only so far
eeive. He was worshipped by all crea- as He willed ; He chose to submit to
tares as God, now He receives worship the laws of human nature : He could
asMan.'yideDial.iz.p.728.e. Petav. at pleasure suspend them. See on R.
^9 Ine. iv. 14. §. 9. (where he quotes the zxz. §. 3.
200 Heretics^ though puzzled by creatureSy pry hiio God.
2. For the Mighty One clad Himself with names which
fell short of Him in His pity for you by reason of the body.
On which of them will ye fix as true, honourable, and
glorious ! True is the Name of the Father, Faithful is the
Name of the Son, and to be loved is He as being a Pardoner,
and to be feared is He as being Judge. Because the Son of
man, he was bounded, without bound was He, because His
Nature is God^ Weak clay hath dared to go down and feel
* p* 87, into the properties of the sea^ It hath scrutinized the floods
p. 144 thereof to make himself acquainted with the place whence
^' 8- they come up and where they settle ". That vile one that
prieth cannot even find out from what place the hand which
Ecoles. fashioned him took himself and gave him measures which he lift ' ' yet scorns. Who ever saw dust which dared to assay the
power of the winds with questioning ? The daring shall die Ez. 37, in scrutinizing Him whose Breath quickeneth the dead. Ps^ 6 ®' Cedars are rooted up, thickets are bared, and yet the chaff « 5. Spi- Cometh to pry into the Nature of the Holy Wind*; and from "^ ^^ the blast of His Breath against the furnace-door, lo ! it is scattered ! The Lord and the Father, whom no man ever saw, who also judgeth *, put the scrutinizers to shame, that they might not pry into that Son by whose hand they are and were created. For the clay cannot search into the Rom. 9, potter ; he maketh lifeless vessels, a work for his uses: the 20. 21. Maker who made you to be endued with reason and knowledge, Him have ye rejected.
« This paaoage might be added to Stahr, AriRtotelia, i. p. 155. The
those which Petavias adduces, de Fathers commonly regarded the Ano-
Incam. x, 7* in confutation of the mceans as the disciples of Aristotle, (p.
Eutychian tenet of the Ubiqaists, who 106, n. a.) and St E. may liirly uae
maintained the Deification of Christ's the current stories about him as at least
Flesh in so literal a sense, as to suppose typifying a truth in regard to human
the attributes of His human Nature philosophy, even if in themselves ill
to be annihilated by the Hypostatic authenticated.
Union, and that Christ as Man is * See 1 Pet. 1, 17. which seems to
Omnipresent. See on Athan. p. 477, contradict John 6, 23. But the Fa*
n. a. thers held that Christ is Judge, because
^ This (and perhaps R. xxxvi. §. 6.) He is Son : that His eternal generation
seems to allude to the story of Arintotle communicated to Him all His Father's
mentioned by St. J. Martyr, p. 34. and attributes. See on Athan. p. 404. and
St Greg. Naz. o. Jul. 3. p. 7d, b. Petav. de Inc. xii. 10. who citee prin-
according to which he is made to meet oipaUy Greek authorities. Ambr. <ie
his death by a fool -hardy attempt to Fide ii. §. 100. D^it utique jodiciam
discover the cause of the ebb and flow geuerando non largiendo. Hil. de Trin.
of the Enripus. The origin of this story xi. §. 13. Dum judicium datur, Na*
ill unlEoown, though it doubtless came (i vitas non tacetur. from some heathen source. Compare
RHYTHM THE THIRTIETH.
1. God who is the Lord of all, who is not numbered " >■>- with His works, as if among them, who is not subject to metre, or weight, or touch, or colour, or measure, is not confined in space, for He is not as the spreading forth of the wind or the sunbeams, that any thing comprehend to Him. Knowledge is His Essence; for all that have knowledge* are strangers to His Substance*. For what escapes these' ^' rebellious men is, that the thing made comprehendeth not
its Maker. The natures of Angels are fire and spirit': the'P- ^^^> natures of bodies are dust and water. The Nature of the Lord of all who can perceive ? that Nature which these three natures are inadequate to the explanation of and which it is above them to say how, or where, or in what shape It exists?
2. Explain unto us these three things for instance, how great thou wilt say, when asked, that He is? how great Uis measure is and His weight? or His height and length of whatsoever is His ? or again, how and what His appearance is, if He be
* Asseman. renders thas : Jpsius es- account they will give us of itn sub-
sentia Ratio est, hano extra si quid stance, because if they can give any
aliad cogitas, ab ejus notione longis- nnanifwerable statement about things
si me abis. This is a paraphrase, and on the ground, and close at their feet ;
to me not a very clear one. It might then we may trust them when they are
be rendered thus : Ipsius essentia sci- so positive about things out of the reach
entia est: omnia autem qus sciunt, ab of all thoueht. What then is the sub-
Ejns Substantia tamen procul absunt ; stance of the earth P what the method
i. e. < "With Him to know and to be are of comprehending it? Let them tell
identical : creatures which have know- us in answer, whether it was reanon
ledge, are yet strangers to all but His which arrived at this, or sense, and if
doingsand attributes. Himself they can- it is sense that they say, to which of
not attain to.' Seep. 191. The sense here the senses is it comprehensible? Is it
given to lAo -J seems to be required by ^ ^^^^^ nay, for that graspeth , _> , . . , colours. To touch then ? why this also the context. It means the stem or stock aigcriminates between hardness and pfatTee,andistheChaldeewordiwed ^oftn^ss, hot and cold, and the like, in Isaiah vi. 13. where our version has ^^ ^^ ^^^ „o one would assert any [ substance.' It is obvious enough to j^, ^^^ substance, unless he was gone take some ordinary solid substance as .„^ ^ state of downright derangement.*' the type of * suhrtance in ite metaphy- rpj^.^ passage seems almost to have been sical sense: Jxii in Greek, mula a ^^^^ ^ ^^ E g^^ ^ ^ j..^,,^^ root' in Sanscrit, stuff in German, ^^^ supplies us with the ordinary 03Q^ in Heb. and POr>^ ^° ^7''* ecclesiastical sense of the word < Subbone, are similar instances. Basil, o. stance,' as somewhat in no case cogni- Hun. i. 13. << How great is the zable to the senses. See xxxi. §. 1. insolence of men that profess to know The < three things' allude to the common the substance of God ! I should definition of body, *> r^ix^ Xdtrrmrw like to ask them what they have furk imrvrmf. S«xu hmpir. Pyrrh. to say about the earth on which they H. iii. §. 39, ii. $. 30. &o. ftand, and from which they are? What
202 God^9 candescensiony though real in His Incarnation,
hard or soft or hot or cold, and also let His place be explainedy if He dwelleth in place and in space also ? Every thing which is made, created, or stablished, is liable to these things and the like to them ; for either they have metre and
iSee weight, or touch and colour, or extension and placed In
f. if ^' these Aree things, being threefold types, all are comprised, all subsist, save the Trinity : as for the creatures they have quality, quantity also, and locality.
3. The Glorious One humbled Himself to all similitudes, and He hungered till then for His humiliation* The Tree lowered Itself as much as was fitting; His Fruit ^ condescended to every humiliation : the Tree put on condescension so far as
*s. uDto to use* similitudes; the Prait came down and clothed Himself with suffering in reality. He spoke, and did all that He taught, that He might be a mirror to His hearers. As He taught in words, so He also shewed His teaching in Himself; for by
' ^* actions He made the paths* as clear as if He had taught them.
.nht He also was afraid of the contempt*" that He had taught men
not to practise. They compelled Him to go ; and He went
where He was not called. Thus also He concealed His
^ $. 0- knowledge % that He might teach those that were puffed up
n* g. ' and proud, that these frantic men might be restrained from
• S. His explaining Him**«.
genealogy. t> On the use of Tree and Frnit for See Jo. Damaso. F. O. lil. SO. St E. Father and Son y see n.e. p. 179. St.E. probably conceWes Christ as afraid means, that the Father in condescend- of contempt, because it is natural and ing to ask questions and represent not necessarily blameable for man to Himself as a man, did in a manner be afraid of it ; or from Ps. xxri. humble Himself to our needs. The 14. ' fear is on every side, while they Son did this, and far more also. conspire,* &c. although the present • Syr. joo; i. e. spittle. St. E. Syriac omits the words « fear— side.'
.««.«, probabl? « to th. rest of M jtth. jt^Tr^oTlt- W? ^^"^
5, 23. so in particular to the word j^J, d St. Irenieus, ii. 28. §. 6. " Being
which, though from another root, is irrationally puflfed up, ye haye the an-
from a siroUar sounding one. This dacity to say, that ye know the an-
fear is one of the < blameless passions,' speal^able mysteries of God, although
(see p. 199, n. a) which in us are not the Lord Himself being Son of God
subject to our discretion, as they were admitted the Father only to know the
in Christ. On Sam. i. p. 359. f. he writes day and hour of the judgment, saying
thus : " In that Jonatiian tasted a little plainly ' of that day and hour knowetb
of the honey in his vehement hunger, no man nor yet the Son but the Father
he depicts to us a type of the Son of ooly.' If tiien the Son was not ashamed
God, Who when He came into the to referthe knowledge ofthat day to the
world, and subjected Himself at His Father only, but said what was true,
own will to the weakness of our nature, let not us ei^er be ashamed to reserve
ate and drank as one of flesh, not with to God such matters in disoussion as
ecncopiscenee, but according to the are too great for us." necessity of the condition of the flesh."
yet tioi such as Saiak's disciples fancy it 208
4. For the Fruit is blessed, being as His Root He put on humility in His temptations ^ The abysses and the waves of
His wisdom He veiled and concealed though questioned. ^ p. 1S6, Scriptures which to us were of small account did He cite to"" ^* the serpent, and lamed him and stopped his disputing and questioning. Our Lord cited from Moses, but the Mat 4, daring cite from error*; for the serpent, subtle and dispu-^'^* tations, clothed his disciples with his own cast-off skin. Put off and cast away his cast-off skin, lest thou become corrupt and be destroyed by familiarity ' with him who destroyeth all. They that are new and white, in their newness have put on the moth of self-will* : and, since it lay hid' p< 103, in their garments, have been corrupted and changed. Put ye on leaves which are strangers to the moth '.
5. Since that disputer is subtle and acute, his intricacies overthrow the single-hearted. Put not on the disputatiousness of that servant ; let not thy free-will become a fellow-servant
of his, for that evil servant grindeth his fellow-servants, thatcomphe may stamp his own image upon them and dye them withj^f ' his own stain. Whoso putteth on his likeness, it is not possible for him to see his own deformity. If then thou seest that the All-knowing hath become little, fancy not that He " $• ^* P- knoweth not. The love of us it was that made Him small, * that He might not know. For He became small that He
• S. e. from Pagan books ; a oommoii t This alludes to Adam and Etb ■ooroe of heresies. See Vol. ii. p. 444, oorering tbemseWes with leases, and a. of Manes, p. 490. o. of Entactns, implies a contrast to that cohering above, p. 128, n. f. In ii. p. 468, o. he drawn from Ezek. xWii. 12. where he ■ajs, ' They saw that all the children writes as foUows : **And by the river of error were all of them one, who from wfok the bank thereof y Sfc. 8fcJ* i. e. the Greeks all got the hated name of In words and deeds they are perfect by ZXm* In i. p. 276. in explaioing of reason of their offeriogs and their tithes, what the nnclean birds are types, he which they as it were flower with in says^ ' the wild fowl is a type of those the beginning of their mooths and in that laboar in the doctrines of Pagan- their feasts, these he means that depend ism, and read by night continually at noon and are bound np with the strength the barren fables and misehieToan nar- or God. And at the beginning of all rations of the Greeks, and on the Peace their months they will bring forth first which IS the doctrine of the Crucified fruits, because they drink water from thCT ponder not. the sanctuary. And their Jruit eheUl » Uoj- See on 1. J. 5. Vol. ii. he/or meat, and their leavee for heaip. fiSS. * Error as money did the evil J'V- ^ ^« >» !7,.^*~? J»^ ™ ^'V^^ one stamp, and in all ages did he rteast lf^» ^^^} 7^^^ l»fe and health to them wickedness, and in all times stamp thatwash mAe stream ; i.e. that d«»art fraud, &c.' St Austin on Ps. Ivif. not from the law, but are as those lofty notices the serpent's wisdom in the ??~ ^J^^ *^« »>"*s of a stream, resame reqwct, though as part of the Jj'«»!jp l>ke that tree which is planted, wisdom to be imitated. ««• ^^ '•
204 Christ humbled Himself on purpose to prevent prying.
might measure thee, that thou mightest not be small. The humiliation was that thou mightest turn thyself aside from 1 B.xTii. searching into Him Who searcheth alP. For if thou art so I r' weak as to be unable to struggle with wine', if what is lowly zxriii. overcometh thee, how much more would that Generation lead ^' ' thee into perplexity ?
RHYTHM THE THIRTY-PIRST.
1 . Let us praise Him that put on the names of the members: who named Himself ears to teach that He heard us, who suinamed Himself eyes to shew that He saw us ; the names only of things did He put on. And as there is not in His Essence wrath or repenting. He put on the names of them i Sam. for our weaknesses sake. Let us know, that unless He had put ^^' ^' on the names that belong to such things, it were not possible
for Him to speak with us that were men. By what was ours He approached to us. Names did He put on that were ours ^ that i r. He might put on us that which is His. For when He asked f'?^' for and put on our form, and as a father with his sons% so spake He with us childish creatures ; lo ! that likeness did the Invisible One put on, and yet He put it not on ; He stripped it off, and yet He stripped it not off; and though He had it put on, yet He had it stripped off! He put it on to assist us, He stripped it off when He changed. For as He stripped off or put on every form. He taught that this was not the likeness of His Essence'; for the Invisible *R.xxz. One shadowed that Essence forth in things visible. ^* ^'
2. He was in one place like an Old Man and the Ancient^ Dan. 7,
6.
* Greg. Nyro. c. Euo. xii. p. 818. people incapable of the truth, He took
** The Divioe Power according to the to Himself old age for the instroctiog
similitude of [the bud] the example ju4t of the faithless : and since king and
mentioned, though infinitely transcend- old man and child were become effe-
ing our nature, and not admitting of minate, He put on old age ; as a yene-
any approach to it so as to sbaie with rable old man did He judge those ini-
it, yet like oome merciful mother stam- quitous persons who were effeminate in
mering in harmony with the inarticulate sin. The Being that waxeth not old
cbatterings of her little ones, bestoweth put on old age to teach by parables
upon human nature that which it is concerning His Son and His Beloved,
capable of receiying." By the mask of old age He shewed
^ So the passages given above, p. 67, His Fatherhood to teach that He hath
n. p. the following may be added here a Son, the Son of Man, Whom Daniel
fiom Vol. ii. p. 511, c. '' With pleas of saw standing before the Ancient of
all kinds He hamb.ed Himself to chil- Days, Who did away with mortal kings,
dren, that in His mercy He might lift and made Himself a King in the Son
them to His height. For when [God of the King Immortal. If it had bepn
whom we have called] a mirror was One only that was sitting, then had
incapable of old age, and the (Jewish) there been one seat; but for this reason
206 God*M manifold economiet
Ex. 15, of Days : also He became like a Mighty Man active and a
^' Warrior: for judgment He was an Old Man; forbatde He was
Hab. 2, an active One. In one place He was as one delaying, and, as
Is. 7 13.^^ ^^^ ^^^» ^^ another place He is weaiy. In one place
P«- **» He was asleep ; in another He was empty. In every way
12.' ' He laboured that He might gain us. For that Good One,
when He could have made us glorious by compulsion without
labour, laboured in all ways that we might be glorious by our
1 p. 123, own will', that we might paint our glory in colours which
i94,iLe.o^ own free-will had gathered together. And if He had
adorned us, we had been like unto a picture which another
with his own colours hath shadowed out and beautified.
sR.xxi. 3. And he that teacheth speaking to a bird* hideth himself
behind a mirror to teach it. It then, when it turns towards
the speaking, has its own image before its eyes, and its
master is hidden from it. By it he speaks with her : he
himself instructs the likeness, that by it she may learn
his speech ; though the bird is related to the likeness and
though it is quite her kin, as though it were foreign to
herself, he persuades her by it aud by it teaches her,
speaking with her'. The Essence that is in all respects high
above all — in His love His height was bowed down. Our usage
He gained from us. He laboured in all ways that He might
turn all to Himself.
4. For He is likened only to an Old Man or to a Dan. 7, Giant ; to one of whom it is written that He sleepetfa. Pa. 78, or, that He slumbereth not ; to one of whom it is written ^' that He was weary, or, that He is never weary ; by denying '
he saw not one Beat, but aeats. He Father, as far as images of any Uod shewed that there was an Assessor "^7 be said to make Him risible. See with Him, and a Son to the Ancient of Petav. de Trin. yiii. 3. §§. 8. 9. Days. The thousand thousands whom * Xenophon, Cyrop. i. 6. §.39. men- Daniel saw, them alone did he see ^o°" ^i^^ ^i^m% *■ educated' for the standing: to the Son of Man he did ponxwe.
not ascribe standing, because He is ofc\%f •^ |*^ ^|*^«
not a minister. If then this Mirror Assem^ giTes,— fllud quod, &c. quo
putteth on all similitudes and receiveth ^trinxit, soMt, profuit, et docoU. I
all colours, yet hath it not any colonr am not sure what his meaning is,
stamed into it, and is enwrapped in though perhaps it is the same as in the
Testmento while it is unrobed at all text, * that which Scripture teUs as,
times, fair and beauteous, for no bar^ that He was weary, &o. In which He
ness doth He when naked admit of, binds and looses, 1. e. denies and af-
seeing He is cl^ m the gloiy of His finns, that, I say, was to profit and
own Nature.'' Here we see he dweUs teach us.' Litwiily it is, in eo quod
principally upon the yisibiJity of the strinxit, solWt, opitulatus it ut inim-
to win mankind to Himself. 207
and affinning He profited us to our instruction. In the vision of the sapphire [throne] He gathered Himself up Ex. 94, and sat upon it He unfolded and filled the heavens, though every thing was in His fist. Himself He shewed in space, and shewed Himself every where. We fancied that He was in space, but every thing was filled with Him. He who wasp. 106, small that He might be on a level with us, was great that^'^' He might enrich us. He was small, and great again that He might make us great* Had He been small and not great. He had been small and would have made us small. Because He was fancied to be weak, therefore He was smaU, and great.
5. Let us marvel how that by being small He made our smallness great ! Yet if He had not been great also. He would have made our mind's conception of Him small ^ since > 5. hare it would have thought Him weak, and would have been made ^® less, in that it thought so. He is a Being of Whose greatness mind we are not capable, nor even of His littleness'. He was great ; t p. 144^ we got ourselves bewildered: and He was little; and we"*-*- got ourselves into guilt. In aU things He laboured with us. He willed to teach us two things, that it was He and yet it was not He. He made Himself a countenance in His love, that His servants might look upon Him. Again, that we might comp. not harm ourselves by thinking ' this is His form,' firom form i^^ 13. to form did He change, in order to teach us that He had no ^^ ^- form, and though He departed not from the shape of man, jet in His changes of it He did depart from it.
ereU Lo] 18 often osed, (of. i. p. 136, e. illnstration of thif see on the latter place, ii. p. 333, e. iii. p. 629. coDtr. Somt. i. The whole passage is to me far from §. 43. p. 187,0.) nearly in this sense. In olear.
RHYTHM THE THIRTY-SECOND.
1 . Restore me to Thy teachings for I sought to be at ease^
and saw that I had done myself a harm, since the soul profiteth
not, save in intercourse with Thee. Whensoever I have mused
upon Thee, I have gained a treasure from Thee ; and when
£ pondered upon Thee, a fount trickled down from Thee;
' ^'.. and because [ was not capable of Thee ^ glory be unto Thy
§. 4, 6. fountain ! Thy fountdn is cut short unto him that thirsteth
not for Thee, and Thy treasury is empty to him that hateth
! j"^'Thee. Love is the treasurer of Thy heavenly treasure*.
Pi. 45, 2. That I should not cease from cleaving to Thee, Thy
^Isce! Beauty enticeth me: and though I would cleave to Thy
Majesty, Thy glory affrighteth me. Am I to cease, or to
come ? I am overcome by both of them. I was ajQfrighted,
because I had felt Thee [present]. I am magnified, because
I had magnified Thee. And though Thou wert not magnified
abundantly, yet would he who magnified Thee, be magnified
also in Thee. Glory to Thy Majesty ! I have mused and spoken
of Thee, not that 1 comprehended Thee. Then I langruished,
and was silent ; it was not that I bad lost [sight of] Thee.
^«P • i> In Thee too I was amazed, and held my peace. Glory to
Hab. 2, Thy invisibleness ! When I was distressed at my power-
lessness, I was silent because I sufficed not [for Thee], since
no man comprehendeth Thee, since it is Thou who compre-
hendest all things. Yot had I been sore vexed, if Thou wert
under any bound !
3. Lo ! for our sakes Thou madest Thy glory to abound, that Thou mightest shew us that Thou art great. Indeed Thy Nature is great, and for the children of men Thy Glory became very small. Even before Thou hadst created Adam*, in Thine own self Thou wert great. The sons of men made Thee small, since Thou didst come down to them, and clad Thyself with their form, that they might be made great by Thy humiliation ; and if the likeness of man^s
* Adam is looked on by St. Jame* of as that in reference to whicb all other Nesibisi Serm. xvi. §. 6. as first in the things were made. Comp. R. zxriii. idea or thought of God when creating, §. 1.
The (ict of creation a condescension, 209
image^ which Thou didst borrow and clad on, made Thee*B.xxvi. small, how much more would the Body make Thee small'* ' wherewith Thou didst clothe Thyself in reality, not in likeness'? Thou didst make Thyself small when Thou didst 'B.xx?i. create : for Thou didst come down from Thy Majesty to a low estate, since creation was not possible, unless in a state of condescension Thou hadst come to Thy framing of it\ He clothed Himself with littleness' ere He was a Creator. ' B. Hii. How could He create, unless He could be little? or how else could He do great things ? Glory to Thy good-will !
^ Syr Ui lA^S.3 Kr. *? lfcV Uj "°* * condescension in the Father
-.^ A< 1 J^, AiLtQ:^.!. Assem". "J"° *° ""'f^^^' (^^'^P' ?' 2^2, «• }•) / *^^ l^l^« fc'*i*5'—^i *^«»« Hence St. £. goes on to pat the
renders * qnum creatora potis non esset Son on a level with the Father by
a proDria humilitate snrgere,* as if he speaking of the unchangeableness of
took ^}^j to be the third person femi- tne Son, which attribute is in Scrip,
nine, which the word K^ ->^v^ seems to *"/« ^^^ of '" one place (James i.
require, as it is not used, that I know 4?.) as if exclusively belonging to the
of, any more than « potuif for * was ^**5«^ *» » ^}^ ?*«« with immortality,
not poesible/ without a verb infinitive foodn^s, and other attributes. This
or future after it. The context, however, °°°®> »»e adds, to preven t all miscon-
seems to require a sense akin to that S'PV*?' *^? doctrines of the Unity and
given in the text ; as it stands it might Penchoresis ; the very doctnnes wl.ich
in Greekberendered,though awkwardly, E^w^s and the Semiarian school
•;^r^lnm^liMri0Hai^^,yynm^mfimwmm ^^^^^^ contravene in speaking of the
U. tiJHy d, rh hfumtrUf X«f ; which ^^^^^^' ^ °^t^»^- P- 373' n. s. and
whcn!eftwithoutcom2i8eitherat«rW fc^f^' ?' *\ . TVt^^* ?^*5! R'^™
or 0,,y»mTmBmrm£t admits of the same ^*^^« ^^ ^Z***^^ It directed Its Omni-
diverrity of rendering as the Syrisc : Pjtence to the creation and sustenance
I beUevi St E. would put the stop at ^ » definite number out of the whole
»tU.,, which would give a sense e^ui- E^^jWe number of subsistences, is what
valent to that given above, vix. * shice St. E.c^templates as the condescension
the creation, if it had not been iu con- °J **»« P^""^^' This definite number
desoenaion that Thou didst come, would °^ robmstencies are conceived of by us
not have been able to endure Thy ?• existing in God, and as in the Son
plastic hand.' See Newman on Athan. '° particular, because He is the ex.
p. 373. where a similar passage is the P!?» ^"««® °{*^//,V^*r5^ub8tance.
subject of comment. This passage then J^! '"'"^ «P«^, *>^^^ *f »f ^^^ !«^*^?°» «rAni;i «^* ^- *u-. «-»-^-* i*Z. -^ had ' a resemblance to the considenuff
our Lord's archetypal office, (see ibid. '^- '/> /»» ^° °"^ ?*7 ^°^ ?°^»i« p. 279, m.) which is thus conciselv ^/^ ^f discourse is what contains the described by Didymus, de Trin. " All determinate idea or form of things to created things would neither have sub- ^ "'V^^ °' !?^ie ""/• ^*' T^S- V" "isted nor have continued unimpaired, ^^ "\°^. «» ^^^ ^^^^ " ,^ *^^« ^^^^^"^ imless they had had as a baids Bni »» certain respects. Only as we can foundation the Son of God,the creative ^?^ "^^P® *°^ modify existing sub- Word, and had stayed themselves upon ««tencies, and not create new ones m • Him." iii. 4. p. 361. As calling tbe ^«^ S"' the resemblance is on this Son Wisdom in Scripture does not im- ^^«°^' " J«" «!*'" ^^7 """^ °j?«^» ply that the Father is not Wisdom, ^?^ ^P^^if^f*' . ^V" ^t*""" ** w"°' (the attributes of God being in reality l'' ^i de Opif. i. 6. This conviction
identical with His Essencef) so caUing » ;, ^' "f"?? '° * p ''^'^A \^?
Se creative act of that Wisdom (iS \^^^f«t^ «°- ^omp. R. *«m. §. I.
>Vhom God made aU things) a con- f^"""')*!* "' K* ^- ™- *• ^' ^' *>"•
aescension does not imply that it was *' *• »°^ *^« °«^t notes.
P
210 The Son immutable as being in the Father.
4. From Thine own Thou hast become little ! from Thine
iR.xix.own too Thou hast become great M Thou becamest small,
^* ^' because Thou didst let Thyself down from that Majesty ;
and Thou wert great, because Thou shewedst Thjself
gracious, and didst create the creatures. Thou becamest
small outwardly, and Thou becamest great outwardly: it was
not in Thyself* that Thy Glory waned and increased. Thy
sR.xxii. i^jature is equable, and high above those changes*. My
littleness hath spoken of Thee, since Thy Majesty hath been
willing to fall under words ; and to be beneath voices, that
* H. T. Thou mightest be profitable to the mouth and to the hearing^
' The Father and the Son are One, because Their Nature is
<p.87,n.One. They wander not out of One another^; they are
n.^g. fin! blended with One another; they are distinct from One
p. 235, another. Glory to Thy blending •* !
word
formed v<w « oiui*jai wu^* m AA«;t/iciT —7 .r^" ""C"«:i'"T •"•7'' ''
to the one required here occur m ^e j^ ^ j^^ ^ ^^ emptored b moi.
STTiac proper oameH, for Jael, Naioth, _7i TV. ~"''~7'"""'™i'""j'"»«^"
&c. EtyZlogicaJly then itwould 8eem J^^^^ ~"t?1*"^' ** ^^ ^^^
to be, * that which stands firm,' as e. g. S'? i^^!^ Jt^'kl!! »",^J^'^^* ?
in B. i. contr. Scrot. §.24. it is us& f'I^^^k74^t^J:^^^'^'^J:
for the * firmament' of Heayen, and vol. !;li,^*L^L^- °«^ *? "?^fl' ^^
i.p.6,a:in§.31.ofthe*reality'orUnb. the DiiineNatnreremained what itwas,
stince,' as opposed to the « naW of the "f f ^^'l J'?"^ ???«?• ^ ^*ti*»-JP-
fruit, Bs ahi^ in vol. i. 6, b. ii. p. 632. fv^^d'" '^fTi! rn.""*?K".!^''^ and ii. D. 279. b: in vil. iii. L 249. «»« Nature of the [pmne]_lfaj«rtj to
in our frame is Thy Baptism, and in I'I-'Vu'II'IjT'/AI'^IiXT'""^ YZ!
oor * substance' is Thy*living Body, e^en the word of Chnst] that wished to
But by far the commonest use of the K"^l« *^/ u'?l.?^r^! ^
word in St E. is for * self.' E. g. in }J»J«*y> f ^'"ch fools tli^ght tiiat
vol. i. p. 373. Saul having in vain tried 1^^,*?. ^ ^x' ?*"' "' ^^ 'W^
to get rid of David by means of the '***' \* 7** »"*^ when small, and for
Philistines, 'himself or Mn his own S? *H' ?' ''^ ^*v7'!'^t?5?' "«
person* risi against him. P. 389, c. ?«!!.«''" m^i?!^^^* ?^^?f^ I' "^^
^'a spirit 'in itself wicked and lying f'^Hl "«n»i>t«<^f did It put on
and hostile, and hating God." P.3M,e. i!. ^.*" "^^^y ^^' it® Mature of the
" to stretch forth his hand against the ?'^'"® Essence doth not ever at any
king 'himself,' the kings person." P. *""? ''">« ?r morease. .. .He is One,
497^ d. 'by the sacrifice of Himself.' f""^ ''*5f*** »^*J ,?« " P»S *•*
See also iii. p. 61 , b. 269, d. 269, f. &c. jnc™^*** "^^^ • ^' Jbe whole of Htm
In this senne it seems to answer to one ". ™ 'S'^ $■**• . ^^^ ." ~ "Pf^^
we of hypostasis, in which it was used ?"5?° ^*" **' '*' ^ .«?*®'^'^» "«*^«
of essence, considered as subsisting in " *r^® any ixwm without Him to go
one person, i. e. of one person, viewed ?"* "'*°: ^T ^^""^^^ ^® expand or
not as peraon, but as essence. Hence, ^ grater, or how contract or wane ?" e. g. when the Son is said to be the ^.S- yJu£iJ^QA»< See R. 1. $. 1. R.
exprefM Image of the Father's Essence l^'iv* §• !• contr. Scrut. R. i. $.2. §. 30.
RHYTHM THE THIRTY-THIRD.
1. John ' in troth when he saw Thee, shadowed out TbeeJ S. The who art the Word and God who cannot be searched oat^joim in order that every man should shadow Thee out by thatlUlu.§.2. type, in his mind, and not dare to shadow' out aught that is* p. 60, foreign to Thee. The appearance that the Spirit in John ^iiy' S. sealed upon us, therewith also are our heart and understanding and mind impressed*. His Nature is hidden, yet revealed, though it is entirely hidden ; for it is revealed that
it existelh) but concealed in its mode of existence'* Let us>B.xlii. leave alone what He hath left, and that which He hath given ^ ^' us to hold fast, let us hold fast.
2. If it be too difficult for painters to paint us the wind' in'B.xlii. colours ; whose tongue hath painted the Generation, which
no mouths have painted with their words ? When they paint the body, they paint not the soul ; and when they paint the mouth, they paint not the voice, since these fall not at all under the pencil ; the Scriptures which paint unto us the Son, paint not imto us, when [He became Son], and though^^ R. I. they preach unto us the Father, yet they preach not unto us how |j^^ [He begetteth], since these things fall not under investigation. p« ^> And if then the deviP cannot be shadowed forth with colours, ^' who with his investigations hath shadowed forth the Holy Ghost ? The unclean spirit chideth at their interpretations of Him : for as he concealeth himself from the painters, thus an hundredfold more concealed is the Godhead from their minds which do not comprehend the mode of His existence^^ comp.
IL C. p.
iro.
* The ' type in the mind' and this ex- agree or differ,) and on Ath. p. 329,
pression probably refer not loosely to n. m. See on R. zlii. §. 6. the whole view of doctrine so impressed ^ See below B. 1. §. 5. where a
upon the mind, bat alKo the use of similar argumentnm a fortiori drawn
'Word' in St. John, which refers to from the difficnl^^ of uoderstanding the
the XlyH in man's mind as a type, mode of the eyil spirits oecars : here
See Petay. de Trin. ti. 3. (who points also it is assumed ny implication that
out wherein the type and antitype he is present, yet unintelligible.
p2
212 Spiritual Essences cannot be represented to sense,
3. And as colours paint not the Toice, so thoughts suffice
not for the Son, that mark at which they aim from a subtle
mind* Which of the painters* gazed upon that brightness in
B.yiii. which Moses was enwrapped: neither the painters of &ces
86 J! f.^^' ^^® painters of drapery sufficed to paint him. For those
heavenly tints could not even by the eye be perfectly taken
' ^- in or by the mind, which was not correlative to either of them'.
to both Now if the countenance of an aged man and a mortal, because
^^^ it was but slightly suffiised with the heavenly tint, put the
29< R. ' colours to shame', and perplexed the painters, who then shall
^"'^*^' shadow forth the Nature of that Essence which cannot be
p. 116, seen unto perfection'? And whoever is said in Scripture to
have seen Him, saw not Him, but a shape in which He
wrapped Himself. For lo ! the intelligible** colours of all minds
are not correlative unto the Son, so that we should paint
therewith His Ukeness to the hearers, or know Him as He is.
« B. ▼. For if that breath^ which may be held and felt, we yet cannot
xiii'.§.i. paint, who shall shadow forth that Generation which is
It.li.§.5. revealed to the Father alone, and withdrawn and hidden
from all [others] ?
c This is only a yivid way of patting a s. |V>Vv>- « intelligible' is here what we we told in Scnpture, that the used in the Bense of the Greek Mvrik. Jews coold not look on Moeee.
n. e.
RHYTHM THE THIRTY-FOURTH.
1. Before Adam had sinned, all the creatures were pure; and when he and they were pure, he garnished them with their names. And when the man sinned in his free-will ', the > p. 123, Creator rejected them by reason of his sins, though he wasp^jj'j^- more unclean than they, that by them He might teach him, c. i. §. and bring him unto pureness. Blessed be He Who by means Anim. of beasts taught him not to make himself like them*. For$*^^* like unto beasts and brutes he made himself, as is written. Pa. ss, By them He shadowed forth man's own hideousness, that he ' might see how foul he had made himself; that when he saw
his hideousness, he might be disgusted thereat; and when, he saw the great blot upon him, he might feel ashamed ; and when he saw whereto he was like, he might weep, and seek the brightness' which he had lost. * P- 6ii
2. One mirror servedi to minister unto many in a state of '^' *' concord: but to Adam were many [given], that in them he might see his own manifold stains^. He drew our attention to
■ Some thoughts occur hero which thereof. For the sake of those who
8eem to hare heen suggested by Philo have liberty of will. He killed the
de Procidentia, lib. ii. portions of which beasts to teach them gravity. Witness
ve given ns in Greek by £n8eb.Pr0p. also is the calf of the HebrewH which
£▼. Tiii. 14. and a Latin translation of was made of gold, that was pure and
the whole of which from the Armenian clean to its Maker. Moses stamped it
ma^befoond at theendof theLeipsig. fine, because of the impure who had
Philo. A.D. 1830. St. £. vol. ii. p. 489, contaminated themselves. So too bread
e. '* The Scriptures witness ontoUberty and wine are deadly drugs : burnt of-
of will, as doth the fire which to be ferings pollute thingspore, and charms
with sinners He prepared for Satan as themselves defile. The cause of all
for them, because he was a trans- evils is manifestly liberty of will,
gressor of his own free-will. Thus is Adam and Satan, by their liberty, have
Sunishment exacted of the nature that introduced the evil of the will." See ibid.
as free-will, and of the essence that p. 635^ c. and iii. p. 671, b. ^ath liberty. Witness too is the serpent ^ Vol. ii. p. 633, b. ' Let us not shape
which in Adam's time was lamed, in our minus another image, an idol
ud the beast that was stoned, because unseen I Fraud rejoiceth us more than
the lecher invisible as well as visible Truth, seeing itisofman's own framing,
hath defiled it. The cause of their Blessed be He whose verity is not
death have man and Satan been. For firamed of parts as a fable ! A pearl is
without the wicked one the serpent had the faith, (see p. 89, n. b.) which is not
been sound, and the beast witnout the graven; like to the adamant is the
"^M were faultless. It is the man and Truth, and beneath the chasing tool it
Satan that have made an evil use hath never been subdued. Awazflexi-
SI4 Brmie$ hff (heir vieet imsirmei
Bf^toQ^animabS thai we in them wifjtA wee in what dale we are!
y i^ O wiae Creator, Who in Ihen shewed oa oaradres ! For the mind can aee itaelf, if it be clear; the body cannot examine ita taee withooi a mirror. Since then the mind had itself also become like the bodty, and conld not by its own self behdd its essence. He took and prepared a mirror from the beasts, that it might see itself; that by the beasts which he
PUlo treats with scorn, man might reproach himself that he might
|« no! ^^ ^ rarenons like a wolf, nor be fierce like a beast with fimgs, nor get the hiss of a serpent, nor again the silence of a scorpion, or like it in secret smite his fellow ; nor like a dog
PiJS|f.rage at his Maker; and, be not ye as a horse and a mnle, which hare no understanding. He called Herod a fox, since
fasaodbe defiled his chamber at all times with his lascivioosness;
'''^' be despised the law, and in his impureness he killed the Nazarite, and took a wife who also was like himself, and a damsel came up in the image of them both. In the feast of the profiise banquet they killed the honourable prophet
bU to ertrj form i« error, and it ii like passage and that in the text; in the
s hideooe mirror to him that looks latter, a confbsed state of things ori-
therein, and he that is well favoured in ginating in man's sin is vieweS as a
it beoomes deformed, and he that is mirror, which may be made usefiil to
lUr in It beoometh stained. Alas ! for him ; in the former, another state of
the mirror wherein each that lookeUi things similarly coniased as, in &ct,
bath his stains multiplied." There is detrimental to him; yet each serves as
evidently a similarity of thought in t^is a minor to him.
RHYTHM THE THIRTY-FIFTH.
1. Like is nature unto Scripture, and like are those within
to those without**. In their questionings do their losses come, > oomp. and by their own arguings their mischiefs. On nature those ^] ^' without looked and stumbled, in Scripture' those within have'p*i07, read and have been perplexed. Grant me, Lord, that I may Kzhiii. suffice to plead with them according to Thy will! One, ^ In^* ^- the beginning V is like the other, and John also is like Moses: for in the beginning of their books they have reproved the scribes that searched amiss. For one preached God who came to suffering — and Moses also nature which came to Gen. i. travail in pain ^ \ That the hearers might not be weakened 22. ' [in the faith] they wrote their glories in the beginning of'^'^ their books. Blessed be the Pure One who in pure things ^'^* opened unto us the mouth of pure fountains !
2. For from the words which are written concerning the humiliation of the Son of the Creator, the searchers thought
that He was a creature. They too disturbed the ^ fountain, Ezeeh. and when thej had disturbed it with their strifes they turned ' to prying, and drank the waters that their feet had disturbed, and though that doctrine was clear, yet they were drinking dregs from out of its clearness. O Lord, shew mercy Pt. 75,9. upon our wilfulness which first disturbed and then drinks.
^ ' Th(Me wifcbin' means heretics, In the next words St. £. oontem-
wbo still keep in the Church ; those plates creation as a type of the In-
withoaty pagans : the same words occur carnation.
contr. Scnit. B. iii. $.16. in the same * Upon Genesis, however, he does
•ense. Bat they have an indefinitCDess not notice this, perhaps because in
in the original which gives them a common with St. Basil and St. Austin
larger scope, which is referred to at he was desirous of asserting the literal
^e end of this B. Vide also B. Ixv.l. truth of the history of the creation.
^ The use of ' In the beginning' by see vol. i. p. 6. a. quoted below in note
St. John and Hoses is noticed in a b. p. 24 r.
similar way by St. HiU de Trin. ii. ^ Allusion to this chapter of Ezekiel
k' 13. 13. Origen in Gen. Hom. i. $. 1. oocuis again, B. Ux. §. 6. coutr. Scrut.
in Jo. ii. §. 4. Austin in Jo. i. §. 11. de iii. $. 13. St. Greg. Nys. ii. p. 609.
Civ. Dei, xi. 6. Jerom. Qoiest. in Gen. St. Cyril c. Nest. p. 47. in Hoh. p. 102,
1. Acacius Ca«. in Caten. Gr. p. 7. St. Austin, Serm.xlvii.§. 18. St Jerome
*tc. Chrys. in Jo. H. ii. p. 25. See in loc. Origen, Philoc.xi. Const A post.
Petav. de Mundi Opif. i. 1. de Trin. ii. 18 — 20. all employ the passage in a
ii* 8. §. 3. Lipoman Cat. in Gen. 1 . kindred manner.
216 Nature and Scripture^ save through matCs faulty
O Fountain of wonder that art clear and disturbed according to » S. for the parties using it*. For it is pure to the pure who are puriparti^^ fied in its pure drink ; and to the disturbed it is disturbed, because it is to the disturbed as sweetness also is bitter to > p. 194, the sick '. Truth is disturbed among the disputers> as sweetness among those that are sick. Lord, heal our sicknesses that we may hear of Thy Generation healthfidly !
3. Those without looked on nature the whole of which was
^ B.. disturbed for Adam^s sake ' ; for in i t were the sins from free-will,
"]. ■ and the fearful stripes from [Divine] justice: they foolishly
* B. thought that it was nature that was deformed and conAised^
"cJ* -A-ud those within slandered our Lord for His Human Nature;
they saw His littleness, and were perplexed. The wicked one
mocked both sides. Reprove, Lord, that deceiver who mocketh
us as he did Samson *. Because they have disturbed the stream
by searching, they think that it is disturbed and its fountain
AS.lloot. too^. Let us go up to the Fountain Head : it is from their own
I79^n.e. ™ouths that they tasted their streams^ Without Adam nature
« See was free from sin, and Christ also, without His Body, from
"^ * ' necessitousness. Nature was straitened by reason of Adam ;
7 p. 202, and Christ became small by reason of the Body'. Blessed be 211! V6. Thou, O Lord of nature, because it was little and yet great,
and so preached of Thee M
8 John 4. John, who tasted that Fountain* before them that drink
* ' it, tasted, and was astonished, and cried, and preached, that
John 1, < He was God and was with God.' And Moses too who
Gen. 1, "^oXq of nature at the first, wrote that * God saw all, and it
31 . was good in His sight* Clear is nature, and clear is Scripture ;
cease ye disturbers from the strife. Reprove, Lord, the
strife which disturbeth the clear fountains! Have ye not
• Vol. i. p. 326, a. " The head of mocking Ihcm.
Samson which was 8hayen,fore8heweth ' Athan. de Incarn. xi^. speaks of
the falling off of the crown of the Saints the Son as " moving all things in the
from the head of the Jewish people: creation, and through them manifesting
then was taken from off it the glory of the Father." Vide Thomassin de Adv.
the Prophets, and the heanty of the Tr. ▼. cap. 13. But there is a fiirtber
Apostles : and after that, there was in meaning m this passage : St. E. regards
sin a power to humhle them and deliver nature, in spite of its heing under sin
them up to serve in blindness, while through Adam, as a type of Christ, as
that people was sunk in the mire before in 1 Cor. xv. in the same way as in
devils, as Samson was before the Phi- vol. i. p. 360, a. 363, b. he regards
listines." St. E. views the Philistines Saul, though in wilfulness the emblem
here, as in the text, as a type of Satan, of Adam, (p. 198, n. e.) yet as a tvpe
first blinding his victims, and then of Christ.
instruct with sufficient clearness. 217
disturbed the clear fountains enough, ye searchers ? Our sin hath disturbed nature, and our searching hath confused the Scripture. And for the fair flock that cometh to drink it is Jer. is, perplexed, since we have given to it perplexed sounds to drink ^^' in. It came unto nature, we had corrupted it ; and it came unto Scripture, we had confused it^ Clear up, O Lord, the* B. water-courses which the searchers have disturbed, who have?"/"' been disturbers !
5. That searching which confuseth all, that strife which perplexeth all, Ezechiel had beforehand shadowed outEzek. when he reproved the shepherds, saying, * My sheep fed ^*> ^®' upon pastures which your heels have trodden down, and they have returned and drank waters which your feet disturbed.^ Lo the words, and lo the doings of the proud have disturbed the creation ! Let us g^ve thanks, that before the searchers [came] the fountains were clear to the AposUes. Clear up. Lord, the streams that the shepherds have disturbed before Thy flock. Avenge* my simplicity, ts.8taiid O Lord, from the wise that are very foolish ; for if they had ^^ ^^' known Thy greatness they would not have dared to scrutinize Thee. For if they had cleaved to nature* yea, and to Scripture, they from both would have learned the Lord of both. Nature sheweth by open things', and Scripture too Rom. i, by plain things ! Blessed He who by one quickeneth bodies, and by the other quickeneth souls. By pure Pastors give me to drink from the pure water-cpurses of Scripture ' ! ' Comp.
$.3.
V St. E. must not be taken here say,) them who preached the troth in
to mean more than he does: for of the world, whose words were handed
the insufficiency of Nature to teach down to ns, yea, the reports of dieir
without the Church, he elsewhere mighty deeds, for men were not se-
(▼ol. ii. p. 639.) speaks as follows : Tered from the understanding of know-
** 'Who is there eoual to that universal ledge : reports of the way in which the
liarp, which the Lord of the nniverae just were delivered, went abroad in the
hatn made of the universe, that He by world, and the whole of it was filled
it might persuade all men, that whoso therewith, that whoM wrought folly
can make its strings vibrate is from might be condemned: we have heaid
Himself. Moses came and played upon also how the wicked did presumptuously,
it, and refuted that pArtv of magicians and were destroyed, and a mirror was
that were overcome. The tares [i. e. set up for any tiiat was daring to be
heretics] were confounded, because they reproved, &c." Comp. B. xxvii. §. 3. were not able to charm the strings of the B. xlviii. §. 2. Upon the power parallel harp, &c." He then proceeds to Joshua, to this in the Church, see voi. ii. p.
and* to Christ. So too in p. 367, a. he 494. quoted above, p. 106, n. b. p. 219,
speaks oftradition as the channel of Gen- n. c. St. E. wrote a separate work,
tne knowledge: '^ We have heard from *■ de Ecolesia,' which has unfortunately
them of old, (he makes the Ninevites perished.
RHYTHM THE THIRTY-SIXTH.
L The Son came down to visit the servants, because their
infirmities lingered and delayed, and the physicians had
been forward to come, yet had been wearied of their labour.
They healed but little and left much alone. Blessed be He
that sent Thee ! Since they were not able to see Him, He took
Him clothing from the sheep. The flock approached to
Him, and loathed Him not, since the smell of the sheep
Zeph. 3, breathed from His clothes. The wolves that were crafty
I comp. were' afraid of Him, because He had changed [His garment].
note o, They rent His garments and revealed His glory, and though
they wished it not. His bright-shining glistened forth from
His veil '.
2. The chief pastors of that day, who saw that He was put
See Jer. to great shame for His sheep, as if drunken with the savour
Ezek. ' ^^ strong wine thought that He was the Head of the pastors
^) 1* and shepherds ; and the husbandmen that crucified Him
38. 'felt that He was the Heir and Lord of the Vineyard. The
shepherds thought Him a fellow-servant with the sheep,
because in His love He became the Paschal Lamb. Let
our eyes be opened with fountains of tears, since the Son of
the Maker, by Whom we were made, did they that were made
» K. slander with* their own names, — the reward that they paid
XXXI. 9. gj^ Who made them great by His own Names **.
B.xxiz« 3. Alas, for the clay that should change the Potter in name,
3 See§.i. ^^^ ^^ Nature ! the colour of the wool is changed also' ! Give
not the surname of creatures to the Name of the Son. He
< B. 1. hath distinguished thee from the beasts * ; reckon not thou Him
•
* By the * wolves' he means the Jews, p. SS91 , n* k. who by crucifying Christ only displayed ^ i. e. calamniously insisted that He the more the Divine glory they meant was a creature as they were, arguing to hide. See B. viii. p. 40. The veil from the attributes He posseaied in cornmeans the veil of His Flesh. On the mon with themselves, and forgetting the use of the term garment for Christ's supernatural attributes which He had Body, see above, p. 61, n. y. B. xix. given them. See p. 122| n. h. and B §.1. Newman on Athan. p. 249, n. (*. xxix. §. 1. xlvi. §. 6.
Difficulties in nature accredit the Son'*8 Generation, 219
with the creatures. There is fieedom attached to thy own B. bondship : set not thine own yoke upon that Sovereign Nature' note'iu Who freeth all. f^ b,
4. Wherein thou art burdened, recount to us, for haply Lordthy bruise is like His. Who shall define what number they ^^'^ were, or of what kind they were, which He bare for thee ? What hast thou borne for Him ? If thou doest not honour to Him, yet do not do dishonour. In what fire hast thou been burned for Him', that the smoke of the fiimace of thy'B.^ obstinacy hath come up even unto Him ? 2]""' ^*
5. See! with what zeal the Eternal Being is zealous','^- ^® saying, One is not divisible into Three. Let alone His the Be- Name and shew His Nature; for this very Nature gi^ethj^^'^^ eyes even to the searchers. The nature of stone is divisible,
and the other natures are [herein] its fellows: the nature of fire is^ not divisible. See ! the assaying of their natures « B. xl. proves to us as good as eyes*. For they are akin in their I'^^ij names, when they are far ofi* in their natures ; so then thou eyes to canst not shew us a common name in which things divisible and not divisible are alike contained. Lo ! every single thing that exists has a single name to it, each single body, each single person, each single one, as also every thing which is the subject of number. But if it be [only] from thy having called it so, that one is indivisible % thou art greatly in error : the nature of water is one, yet it is divisible also ; in fruits and seeds it is even changed^. It is impossible for us to^contr. rise up to Him without experience of His Nature. For the r,7.\ fact that He is one, doth not give us means of comprehending 10. and finding an explanation of His Generation^ which is with- '' p. 136, drawn from all. ° *•
6. There are two difierent assay-furnaces% faith and ex- ^p- 122,
n. i.
« The Fatheia held the Godhead, not polluted, and that it is not twain though said to snheist in Three Per- with evil. That they are not of one sons, yet to be beyond all number. See nature wise men have seen, evil being
exceedingly like this lo I ye have made darkness over every
occurs. The following is taken iVom thing. Darkness and night are one
vol. ii. p. 472, d. ** Lo ! the voice of nature. And the body and the serpent
truth preacheth in the Church, and [i. e. Satan] are not one nature. But
from all the Scriptures crieth unto us m that Eternal Being there is no num-
to teach us that there is One only ber: for number belongeth to things
eternal, and that the quality of night is created."
220 The aUernatives of faith and experience.
perience ; for either man believes the truth, or experience'' is
able to teach him how it is. The faith of the children of
1 p. 136, truth needeth not to be investigating^ To us the way of
seeking for experience and disputation on eveiy thing comes
* B. xi. from the heretic*. Take and cast him among the waves' that
> p. 200, he may cease entirely from his questionings. Demand of
°' ^* him an experience of the Divine Essence, how it exists, and
where it exists, and whose it is ? and if the Generation is
explainable from any thing, or the creatures from what is
^R*. nothing? Plough once and again the land of thorns % and it
§. s. ' will yield thee the word of Truth, though itself ignorant of it.
^ ixQ«mj* Am. renders < fides et «^r> ^ ^«>^ »<> aathority for such a use
ratioeintum,' which saits with the use <>' *he word, and faith and experience
of the word in comhination with dis- ™*y ^ legitimately opposed, I have
pntation jnst helow, and might he eqni- f «pt t^^a* ^^^^ in the text. By « the
▼alent to ImxtS^tiftm, (each being bte- 'f"><^ of thorns/ St. E. seems to mean
rally a * trying,') which was used chiefly ™ ^f^^ ^^ human reasonings and dis-
of arguments upon practical matters. Potations, which iteelf when carefully
See Quintilian m Ernest. Lex. Tech- examined bears witness to the faith,
nolog. Bhet. in t. p. 134. and Stephanua «nd to its own inadequacy, ad S^t. iTmpir. p. 202. n. 17* As, how-
RHYTHM THE THIRTY-SEVENTH.
1 . Isaiah darkly describes' him who put the bridle of error' > s.hint« upon the jaws of men, the sign of humiliation which made Jg^ ^ men brutish. Blessed be He, whose Truth made error to 28. cease ! When we had made ourselves like the beasts, God came down and made Himself like unto us, that we might be again like Him^ Hail to the Blessed One! for from what a<R.xlvL place to how different a one have His mercies called me ! But ^' ^ man, who being in his honour understood not, was wroth and Ps. 49, rejected Him. Israel waxed fat, and kicked and rebelled pj^^ and hid and cast away that mercy. O thought most 33, 16.
mournful ' ! ^^.great
2. From being wise and teachers, Satan made men brutish. Z^^g^' Instead of the yoke that maketh one those that are divided,
he with the yoke of strife divided them by disquisitions ^ In ^B.xliii. the thickets he made them run into a maze^, among snares, 1 5)^2^ where on one side there were the mountains of guilty and on the pj^ce other side again questionings and fearful rocks! In a place full (.4. of ditches % where ten thousand eyes were required, with much * ^°™P'
13, 2.'
» As Si. £. upon the place under- which is represented by the lights, and
stands this ' of the blasphemies of it chased from the nations the iuTisible
the Assyrians and the pride of their darkness which was spread oyer the
lips,' we see that he gives a farther hearts of the nations." The cessation
meaning here again by taking the As- of oracles and other means used by
Syrians as a type of the wicked one. Satan to deceive the nations is noticed
See n.d. p. 136. and n. c. p. 98. as also by Clemens Al. Protr. 2. §. 11. Adian.
n. b. p. 176. What he says upon ▼. 36. de Incam. 47* Cyril c. Jul. p. 198, e.
is to the purpose here: *' In that day Spanh. Euseb. P. £. iv. p. 129. Minut.
the Lord shall bind up by the slaughter Fel. xxvi.
of the Assyrians the wound of His ^ As St Clem. Strom. ▼. §. 64. p.
people, the children of Judah. But it 678. Pott. S. Greg. Nys. ii. p. 662.
also suiteth to take it of oar Lord, 0. S. Cyril de Ador. p. 248. all seem to
since in the day of the great slaughter, take Ex. 21, 33. of some trap for the
and the subversion of Jerusalem, and souls of men, possibly St. £. may al-
of Satan, and of death, who are repre- lode to the same text. ft seems
sented by the ^ towers,' there flowed that a ditch or pit was very anciently
down by the Apostles' means the looked upon as a type of heretica]
* streams' of the new Grospel in all artifices tor men's soi^^or the LXX.
anarten; and abundant light was there, render Ps. 119, 86. (' The proud have
liough not that of the son which was digged pit>,) ' the transgressors have
turned into darkness [at the cruci- told me old wives' fables.^ fixion],but it is abundant knowledge
322 Heresy has nofaithy hut is
swiftness they ran [to see] who should snatch at and lay hold
of death before his fellow. With the bridles of Thy mercy,
Lord^ bring our confusion back into order! Seeing Thou
3Chron.that art all eyes, be unto us a Way, that we may come forth
' ' from among the thickets and mazes into a clear place. For
we men, O Lord, need assistances, by reason of our sins, and
our knowledge needeth to be brought into order, by reason
' R. of error and unseen distraction'. Since the eagle lets his
^"/' pinions down under his young ; let down under me, Lord,
Deut. the wings of Thy mercies, and, instead of the air* and the
lg'40, earth of miserable man, by the Holy Ghost let us wend our
f ^ wings* towards our treasures. Preserve, Lord, our faith from
§.5. that which is no faith, and also our knowledge from that
^ which is no knowledge ! [Mere] names have we gotten :
23, 6. defraud ye not yourselves with their names.
^^^ Q 3. The nations worshipped that which is not God, but we
21* have the God of Truth. The wicked one envied us ; a lie
hath he sown in us, that the last might be without God, as
^s. from were the first'. For it was from nature by itself alone that he
j^^jJJ* made idols by the hand of artificers: also it was from
*R- Scripture by itself alone*, by the hand of the searchers
XXXV.
n. g
c See p. 20, n. m. and B. xx. §§. 3, bird which gaineth wings from the h<4y
4. Upon Ezeoh. xvii. he writes as water in sacred Baptism, (see above,
follows: '* Wherefore thus saith the p. 167, n. g.) which oecaase it behold-
Lord, Because Zedekiah hath despised eth That which above the heaven in its
My oath, and made My covenant of branches dwelleth,flieUi from the world
none effect, in Babylon shall he die: by the wings ofgrace that it hath gained,
]. e. beeaose he left speaking with the and gettemitselfawaytoHim." See also
Babylonians and pnt his trust in the B.liii. §.5. andVol.iti.p. 2S7,d.where
Egyptians, he shall die in Babylon, he speaks of good works and prayers as
Again, in a deeper sense : The heart ^ wings.' By ^ mere names' perhaps
and the summit of the tree, which was St E. means to express bis conviction
cut off, that is Immanuel, who was of the Sabellian tendency of Arianism.
taken away from them, and was planted Gr. Nys. ii. p. 676, d. ^* If any body
upon the mystical mountains of Israel were to make a thorough investigation
ailer the Spirit, to bear, not good things into the fraud of these heresies, (Mon-
that dry away, but commandments taninm and Sabellianism,) he would
sanatory and belonging to a life-giving find that they have a considerable af-
art of medicine ; and to yield, not fruits finity with the error of Eunomius*
that nourish the belly that is to be school. For each of them Judaizee in
destroyed, but the cluster of hope and his doctrine, seeing that neither of
the fruit of life ; and to be, not a cedar them admit the Only -begotten God nor
like thoee planted on the borders of the the Holy Spirit to a participation of
[holv] land, but one capable of giving the Godhead of the great and first God
shade by its rostjesty to all reasonable as they make Him. For Him whom
creatures: and for there to dwell in it, SabelHus calls the Three-named, £u-
not that bird which turns down its eyes nomius styleth In-generate : but neither
earthwards to satisfy its needs from of them coo templates the Godhead in
the pickings scattered thereon, but that the Trinity of Persons/'
idolairous when viewed from within. 223 he made gods'* among the unbelievers. To the artificer
' There are Reyeral passages in which stem, yet it adopts sundry modifica-
St. E.point8 out the real internal identity tions : it has branches, fruits, and TeaTee
of heresy and idolatry: the making to inthefourquarters of the world. Error,
one's selfan image not authorized by the &c.asinp.20S,n.f. P. 533, f." Among
Church, whether under the Jewish or priests, priests of Baal, and among sa-
Christian dispensation, being that which criiices hiit sacrifices did the devil
eoDStitntes the sin viewed in regard to mingle, and among Prophets deceitful
the subiect of it, and the worahip of prophets, and among Apostles false
devils that which constitutes the sin apostles, and in our days out of wran-
Tiewedin regard to the object of it. Two glers has he made apostates. Have
passages have been already noticed, (p. mercy, Lord, on me, for as I have
102, n. d. and p. 198, n. e.) as bearing learnt so have I taught, and to match
upon this : another will occur B. xliv. the countenance and cast wherewith I
§. 5. Vol. ii. p. 443, a. '^ Let us re- was sealed, is the resemblance, yea,
prove the Apostates under the type of the likeness I have given. Oh, may
thievesy against whom the wealth that this profit pay the interest which my
they have stolen crieth out as endued sins have incurred !" The same belief
with speech. They have stolen names, is implied in St. Clement's (Strom, vi.
and clothed with them that which is §. 146, 7.) comparison of chose who
nothing in the world. For the Name "leave the ecclesiastical and true know-
of God did those idols which of old ledge" as well as idolaters, with aduU
were honoared, put on; and thus by terers; in Origen, (in Joan. xiii. 16.
His appellations beings which had no 17.) when he includes heathen and
existence got them honour and a name, heterodox under those who worship ' in
For it was not from the Eternal Being this mountain' as opposed to spiritual
that they took a name for the vain worshippers in the true Jerusalem : in
powers: for a nature that existeth not, A than, who speaks p.411.0.T.of heathen
an existence did they make, &o. p. 532, ' anticipating the folly of these Christ-
d. The Persians worshipped water and oppoeers ;' and p. 423. of * Ariomaniacs
fire and the stars, the Greeks wor- incurring the charge of polytheism or
shipped some things, the Egyptians all atheism :' in Didymus, who compares
things, the Jews the calf, and the the Eunomians to Nebuchadnezzar, (de
generation of Hagar the star. (Alilat. Trin. p. 43.) and applies (ibid. p. 103.)
Herod, iii. 8.) All these odious forms did Deut. x vii. 5. to those who worsnip God
error scatter in diverse nations ; before the Son with an Arian Creed (comp.
oar Lord it scattered them amongst the Athan. p. 319. ref. 4. upon which this
Gentiles, and in false doctrines after passage may throw light) : in Cyril, c.
our Lora ; and as if they were health Nest. p. 59, c. p. 72, e. where he speaks
itselfy it scattered thorns. For one of of Nestorius as * having drunken the
thcan [Bfarcion] set afloat a stranger wine of Sodom, and being besotted with
god without a name, and plain it is error;' Thes. p. 69, b. of Eunomians
that at his name so is himself without as transgressing the command to wor-
existence also, and is wholly null : for ship one God. Comp. p. 294, d. 307, d.
he stealeth names, and like a thief as does Greg. Nys. ii. p. 450, d. who
hawks them about. Another, again, calls Eonomians idolaters, p. 548, a.
[Haoes] calls wind, fire, and water and parallels idolatry more at length
eternals, and when one eternal was with their heresy, p. 562 — 3. and 622, a.
nodung and inoanable of any thing, he 623, a. and says, o. 719 — ^20. that ' in
took and stamped upon it the name of respect of impiety there is no difference
darkness. This he stamped on what whatever between him who confesses
he called an eternal. Another [Barde- the names of idols and him who clings
sanes] came stole from his fellows to the opinions held about them, (as he
what they had taken before him. His implies the Eunomians did, p. 719, o.)
hand was against every one, and every but abstains from the names ;' and
one's hand upon him: he sinned with speaks of 'their all but openly paying
every one that he might lead every one iaolatrous worship to their own fancies,'
into ain, like every whit to ihe gene- p. 747, c. comp. Bas. c. Eun. ii. 16.
ration of Hagar that plundered from who notices the material ideas of God
an. To these which I have counted which those heretics had. Epiphan.
up, are all false doctrines brethren p. 734. calls Anus an imaoe and statue
auo: and though the tare is but one of the devil, and speaks of Eunomians,
12124 Idolatrous nature of heretical attempts
he gave instruction ; with the finger he graved the dumb
1 Pearl idol; with the finger and pen' he also wrote delusion. He
Ex. 31 wished to make this finger like the Finger that wrote the
^^' tables; and as he made name like name, since he called the
idols also gods ; on all sides he wished to make them alike,
that man might not distinguish which was the truth and
which the delusion. There was one that honoured water*,
and he made another that honoured fire. There was also that
worshipped the moon ; these eagerly did he gainsay, who did
worship the mighty sun. And as the antitype of these sects
there are at this day also divisions, and as their gorgeous-
ness, so is our haughtiness, and as their strife, so is our
* Pearl wrestling to see who shall conquer *. Be still ye mouths, be
][[ J \* 4 silent ye tongues; let amazement fall upon your lips, let
w*onderment dwell over your hearts, let the senses with the
3 p. 110, limbs shudder at the Greneratiou' of the Son !
^ ' 4. O tongue, thou drawn sword, gather thyself into the
sheath, O babbler ! Prying has sharpened the speech of thy
« Iren. mouth : let the silence^ of the Son blunt the edge of that
p. 202. questioning of thine. Let not thy lips be spread forth as
Jer.9,8.bows nor be extended — the threatening onset of the Holy
Ghost, as a whirlwind, shall turn the arrows back upon their
p. 986, d. as having a faiUi wbich » * SeeKleuker ZumZeDdaY.pt.ii. i.§. rather idolatry than religion, ^mbr. de 3 42. iii. $. 38. §. 219. (who oonfirma what Fide i. §. 6. compares Arianism with St. £• says of Persians,) Aasem. ad Act. Gentile Polytheism, comp.§. 86. §.103 — Mart i. p. 40. n. 17. p. 181. Creoser 4. v. §. 23. J erome on Isaiah, p. 2 12, d. Symbolik. W^ 288. (who thinks this was Erasm. on Jerem. p. 288, b. 'whatever part of the Egyptian worship,) Movers we say aboat idols may be applied to Pb6nizer, p. &)4 — 6. That sundry phi* all doctrines contrary to the truth.' losophers held water to be the first Angnstin. c. Fanst. M. xvi. 10. < Tour principle of all things, see Sezt. Empir. own error rather is like paganism, since p. 136. and the notes. PhUo. de Prov. ye do not worship Christ, but I know not i. §. 22. The worship of fire among the what under the name of Christ which Persians and Indians (as Agni) is too iM a lie of your own inventing, and well known to require proof: St. £. gods either visible in this heaven we seems to look on them here as a diflerent behold, or other countless imaginary sect from the water-worshippers ; about ones. And to these fancies as if to which I can give no information, as some vain and empty images ye neither about the quatrrelt between the make not shrines, but form your own sun^worshippers and moon-worshippers, hearts into temples." So Scripture (both ofwhom are often mentioned in the speaks of those who come to God with acts of the Martyrs, see Ass. 1. c.) See idols in their heart, Ezech. ziv. 3. see however Troyer*s Dabist&n, ii. p. 236 — also Petav. de Incam. xv. 6. §. 9. 17. 242. They are credible enough from the $. 9. Perhaps as St. Hilary states the quarrels in more modem India, hesame devils which were cast out of the tween Saivas and Vaishnavas. Of Gentiles, afterwards entered into the course the worship of them was oomherd of heretics, in Matt. viii. §. 4. In- mon enough in all parts : for the Syrodeed a similar view occurs in St. E. him- phenioians, see Mover, p. 169. self. vol. ii. p. 383, e. &c. oolL p. 636, e.
to investigate and Jin d out God. 2*25
master'. For He is a Wall of Adamant', such as the Prophet > R. saw in the spirit; the dart of words, if one should fling ^V.^R. against it, without fastening in it, will turn back and fix^^^^i"- itself in those that spoke them. Look at a potter's wheel, £zek. 4, and then behold ye the wheel of thoughts ; for the motion ^- of the one enhanceth the clay, but that of the other degradeth R.xxix. the Son, though He may not be degraded. Fight not with ix^^* thy Fashioner who made thee a speaking vessel with dis-§*3. coarse of reason ^ As for the potter, his vessels are silent 21. ' ' As for that Good One, the vessels which He enhanced strive ! ^ywith Him. The least fragment of searching into Him is a ^
hard rock which cannot be made smooth. Two words' to thee out of enquiry into Him are heaven and earth. What a space for thee to stray in !
5. Thy bound. Lord, no man hath passed: Thy great height no man hath lowered. The Nature of the Eternal One and the Bosom of the Father are the Walls' of the Son ' p* 87,
n i R
which cannot be trodden down. As there is no nature which xxxviil. can enter into and feel the bosom of fire*, outside of which f-^-, every man keepeth ; there is no wall to it, neither battle- n. f. g. ' ment* is there, and yet every man is warned off by it. Who * S. aon will dare to pry into the Bosom of that most fearful Essence? By the sea* the rivers are stopped ; and by the investigation * p« !**> of the Generation of the Son all venturesome disputers ! ^' ^'
' Od the place be speaks of Hhe ' This probably means, 'that heaven
battering rams' mentioned in ▼. 2. as and earth are but two only out of ways
* a type of the wheedling and the affec- by which God addresses Himself to
tions of the lusts which Satan soweth man : the enquiry into them alone is
in the thoughts of the soul, and by them enough to bewilder man, if conducted in
subduetfa and destroyeth the building of a rationalizing spirit of self-sufficiency; *
heavenly fairness.' This will bring much more then will a similar spirit
out by contrast his meaning in the mislead in matters not of sight, but of
text. faith. See B. xxxt. §. 1.
Q
RHYTHM THE THIRTY-EIGHTH.
1. Thy love, Lord, ticeth us and comforteth us, while it rebuketh us. It sbaketfa and rouseth, restraineth and reprovetb, winketh at us and instructeth, since all it quickeneth, as knowing all. Who is be tbat would keep on still
»R. silence? Is be for making us mute as tbe beasts*? Who r.4.ref:2.*8^^^ refraineth hateful talkativeness, lest we become devils speaking in their blasphemies ?
2. Tbe wranglers once' were men of traffic, and when they bad met with losses, silence was proper: from those deceived their doctors got rich. Instead of with infidels it is with tbe faithful that they have come to fight; they have filled their treasuries from the doctrine, and their storehouses from tbe interpretations. When they laboured and taught
comp. him that fell into error, they ruined the principal with the 19 23. i^^erest, because they pried daringly.
3. The persecutor has left the wicked one, and hath begun to pursue his sidesman. The adversary hath blinded tbe wrestler, and be hath thrown at bis own self, and is over-
« R. come from himself. Give unto us, Lord, to recognise our ^, 4^ '* side, and the men of our side ! Let not this right hand struggle, Lord, with itself, for that it should struggle with 'p. 135, the left* ; neither let us hate the wicked, Lord, since there is * p. 155, but one evil one^ which Thou also hatest. The delusion^ which "•*• is a bidden pang with tbe word of Truth hast Thou cut
* Aetias the founder of the AnomeaaB 293 — 6. To something of this Bort St.
started io life as a tinker, and in tbat Ephrem probably allades, as also to Uie
trade for some time throve by roguery: Ji^e made by their school of heathen
but on being detected in this he became philosophy. See ab. p. 106, a.
a mountebank and quack doctor. In ^ See n. c. on R. xxxrii. St. E»
the latter trade he learnt a volubility of probably contemplates Satan as one
speech, which fitted him to become tbe abiding principle of evil actuating a
heresiarch : Eunomius was first a la- mystical body of sin. see Athan. p. 9,
bouring man, then be took to being a n. s. and p. 434, ref. 8. and compare
sort of secretary, and became tutor to thenileofTichoniusffiven in St. Austin
his employer's children, and afterwards de Doctr. Christian, iii. §. 42. and St. E.
joined Aetius. V. Greg. Nys. ii. p. vol. ii. p. 604, f.
Dispuiattofi to be confined to strict limits. 227
and cast it out, Thou bast made it as a confused smoke. Is* si ,9. Thy measure weighed silence and speaking that we might do so likewise. And does not even nature teach, my brethren, that by one scale without the twin one we can weigh nothing? Let us avail ourselves of silence and of speaking ; let our speech be as the day, and as the night again let our silence be ; for both the hearing and the tongue require rest : for they may be likened' and compared, the doctrines of truth to the*^-/or broad day, and again silence and stillness are as the night ; comand as sleep again is rest abounding in sweetness. pari«Mis
4. For the word of Truth be we labourers, and, as upon ground*, come and let us toil therein ; sow we love and reap* Comp. we peace. Let a sheaf come up from reconciliation to the scmt. i. Lord of peace. Lo, a breath of the Holy Ghost with its^* ^^j^ fanning' purifieth the corn-heap; the chaff it winnows, thezxxvi. pollard it scatters, the wheat it gathers into the Bam of Lifef'^' that hath no tares ! Blessed be that Good One who gave usl^rooding speech, and blessed be the Just that added silence ! He 12^ 13 gave us sides* upon which we might search, and keepethj^ ... others from us that in them we may be silent, as being § a.n.e! Teacher of all. And it is not the whole earth that He has given us to go up and down, but a portion of it only*; neither* S. in the whole sea to go down to ; neither the whole sun for the Wi8d.9 eye to exercise lordship over. ^^•
6. And how then is it that the mind* wishes to have that* R- »▼. Majesty, which cannot be thoroughly comprehended, to ex- r. iiv. ercise a lordship over It, as though it reckoned 1 1 to be less^- ^' ^• than the creatures ? And if those things which are given unto us are not given unto us fully, how should we search into the hidden Generation which has a bound about it continually, my brethren, as the Mount Sinai ^ ? ^ ^•...
6. Adam wished to inherit brightness, and the earth became §. 5. and his inheritance. Uzziah wished to take to himself the priest- ^* ^' hood, and a filthy leprosy was caught by him. And who shall venture upon hidden things, the boundaries whereof are stillness and silence*, yea, the walls' thereof are fire and judg- * Comp. ment, and their hedges are wailing, and weeping, and gnashing q' a. ' of teeth ? Who shall make a breach in the rampart walls and^P: ^^ enter in and take the fearful woes? Whoso maketh a breach xxxvii! in the foundations the hedges and the walls, doth it for gain ; ^' ^'
Q 2
n. n.
228 Orthodoxy a subject for thanksgiving*
we, my brethreD, should do it for damage. I will praise Thee, O Lord% who hast held me back from the hidden things, and from those follies which have emptied the trea- > p. 125, suries of them that atter them. My debts ^ 1 will pay from things revealed : to Thee be glory !
« See B. xxxvii. §. 3. A similar telleot ! no idle thought of doobt about
thanksgiTing occurs often in St. £• the Holj Ghost hath ever trickled into
in Tol. iii. p. 289, a. he pnts into the me!'' See also p. 344, f. VoL iL p. 444,
month of one departed these words : e. p. 524, f. Op. G, Vol. ii. p, 896.
" Disciple haTe I heen, and reverer (quoted p. 138.) p. 404, d. *' Sins of
of aU mj masters and vaj fathers : the hody we haTe'enoagh : add we not
do ye rememher me in the prayer aught to ^nr iniquity. In this one
at tiie hour when the Holy Thing thing have I hope and comfort hefbre
sown tares in the field of the truth! hate Thee. Lord, haye I hated, and No seams have I put into the Gospel haye not loyed Thine enemies !" In of Christ I I haye not doubted, all my all these passages he must be taken to
, , Of
tinixed the Father in my mind, nor it is the most terrible oonseqnenoe of haye I disparaged the Son in my in« sin.
RHYTHM THE THTRTY-NINTH.
1. If, my son, the cnicifiers and the heathen mocked oar Lord, because He was the Son of Man ', yet it is true that He * See oa is God of glory unsearchable ; and instead of disputers who^/s. pry into His glorious Generation, Martyrs loved Him, who with the blood of their necks preached the Generation of the Son of God'. Discern ye how our strife hath refuted all
* [The faith of Martyrs is urged himself. Lo ! there is life in the Maragainst Eanomianism, hecaase fin* tyrs' hones, for who will assert that nomins despised them.] Jerome o. uey live not P Behold the living moon- Vigilant. §. 9. calls EuDoroius 'the ments, and who would doubt of this P anthor of his [Vigil a&tins'] heresy/ and they are fortified strongholds that resooe [says that he attributes to Satanic from robbers, they are cities strong that agency the miracles wrought at the protect from oapturers: towers high and tombs of the Martyrs, mocked at all very strong for any one who fleeth to rererence paid to their remains, which them .which from murderers will rescue : he spoke of as '' common dust," and and death to them approacheth not. He spokeagainst the Church for celebrating that is with envy Tanquished, or with theHoly Eucharist at theirtombs. All the fraud, that soul-destroying venom, help followers ofEunomius refused, it seems, shall take from these: that the poison to enter the Basilicas of the Apostles may be stopped, nor have injured him and Martyrs, c. 9. 11.7.] The force of a whit. Let him that hath oppressed this appeal can only be appreciated by ask, that he may oppress no more ; the recollecting the esteem in which the stealer ask no more to steal ; him, from Martyrs and Confessors were held in whom love is far removed, and who those days. Upon their admission at against his brother swells with wrath, ODce to the beatific vision, as believed from these in prayer demand peace, to then, see on Tertullian, p. 120. [On be reconciled to him. Let him to whom their intercession see on S. Chrys. Horn, hath entered in the demon of adultery, on the Statues, p. 134. and on Bom. 16, enkindling in him foul desire, with oil 24. Horn. 32. p. 604. Oxf. Tr.] It may wherewith their lights arekind1ed,anoint be nsefbl here to add passages shewing himself— forth will it come. Physicians the esteem in which they were held in St. are they that are strenuous after health, E.*s own Church. In vol. i. p. 260, f. with life-drugs laden, healing for the he says of the censers of Coreh and soul and body, a healing spiritual, alike bis company, < If the censers of them for soul and lody yielding health, that provoked God were sanctified by Faith of thee do they require, and all the men themselves, and became plates thou aakest, will they give, if tntorn before the altar, in the case df Confes- bv doubt thy mind. If thou art dead, ■ors how much more would their bodies thou shalt be quick. God is dwelling be sanctified before their souls.' Vol. ii. in their bones, and by Him it is they p. 349, e. < The soul that liveth in God do all mighty works. Be praise to IS able to give others life, and a testi- Thee, and upon us Thy mercies be, mony of this is (if thou wilt hearken in Thou God that dwellest in the just.' an enlightened way) Elisha, who him- And in vol. iii. p. 234, c. ' The prophet ^elf quickened two dead bodies, one made a great lamentation over his orowhiles he was in the world, and one ther, and over his yoke-fellow. (I Kings after he departed. His soul was liviuff 13, 26. 29 ) He buried him, and made
soul gain life, and after it went forth wrath !— A great wall were the bones from him, he quickened those dead like * of Joseph to the camp. May the sacred
230 The world turned upside down by heretics.
those children of error, so that there is none among them that lifteth his wing in the midst of the streets and muttereth questionings. If in the Church too all the children of light were agreed, then would their peaceful > R. lii. brightness, by the might of concord', dissipate errors.
' 2. The learned know that amongst them who are Gentiles
*R. themselves, there have been sometime sects*; yet not by
§.?/"' them ever, or by their sects, did the world suffer, but it hath
contr. fe]|; and been straitened by this. For our dispute have kings
iii.§. is. heard, the nations felt, and all creatures have made a tumult
F®"*^* together. Lo, our doctrine has been ridiculed, because they
3 R. viil. thought that it would not stand by itself in the contest, and
' that the furnace would give the victory against it ! For
they saw the disputers, that they perplexed themselves
with questionings and divided it and forgot that it is a
Majesty of depth inexplorable, and that on thi^ account the
f^ learned^ plunged into it and were bewildered in their prying
into it. Whatsoever is utterable and possible to be explained,
and easy to be investigated, and searched into, and expounded,
^ R. that the mouth, its coirelative^ explaineth as belonging to its
§.3!! 3. province ^ And that which is utterly incapable of being
R. xji. searched into or expounded, silence is its boundary, since
6*5.' with the bidden Nature thereof our mind hath no correlative-
hoase. nggg. And if ihe fact that He generated be an impossibility,
it is still a possibility that He should convince thee of sin.
For if thou searchest into Him, not only will it be a difficulty
' Comp. and perplexity to thee that He begot^ but thou wilt not prove
p. 126. office that tboa didst bold be a wall to of your Lord,wbom ye^ave loved, and
Athan. ©ur place. To cities aod to towns, for wbom ye are being sacrificed, that
p. 366. walls are made for preservers : and tbe He would count me worthy in that day
assemblies of Christ do priests keep of seeing yon, and entering into your
f acredly. Since thy voice hath ceased place, and being settled near to your
from our congregation, may thy bene- abode, because I know that I am a
dictions to usward be multiplied ! Since sinful woman, and I believe that if ye
the sight of thee hath departed from will requent it of my Lord, He will for-
us, may thy name get itself fflory give my sins." Ibid. p. 173. *' I beseech
among us ! Since thou hast left us Thee, O Lord, in mercy for tbeir sake^,
orphans, father, may thy prayer 'be a (speaking of the Martyrs,) give me a
mother to us! May tiie glorious Trinity little breath of wisdom, not that I may
be a wall to our souls. See also iii. glory in it, but that I may be holpen
S. 250, f. p. 583, c. So also in the i^cta by it." A.D. 376. The same reverence
lartyr. i. p. 107- a matron in Sapor's for these holy men continued in force
have cue request to make t') you: per- . pp. 218, 219. form it for me : that ye would request
di$cu8ting things incomprehensible. 231
to a certainty that He exists. Rather, let it not be discussed' \^hetber it be possible for Him to generate, since He* ^• is Master of all possibilities ^ For it is not on one side that*^ ^^ the Godhead is confounding ; it is a difficulty on all sides. Who hath been able to measure the grains of seed, and the ^ccliu. drops of water, and the herbs of all tribes, seeing it is all ' ' wonder in all these ? For if to us Its motion in our own procreation is incomprehensible, who can comprehend the Secies. Generation from Its own Bosom? '
^ Ass. gives ; *• Atqai m saperes, admit that there was a time when the
noqoe ditpntares qaft ille ratione Pater Son had no existence, ho they ooght to
sit, cui omnes subcnint rationes.' It admit that there was a time when the
might perhaps be rendered in Greek Father also had none. This conclusion
nearly word for word as follows : Mii is what others might fairly he expected
s7ii J««3«i4A<>/tlwvT«, •'•rM«fUT)/cii;^inr to draw from their premises. The
mi^§9 r«vr«v, r«tf yif««f \nXjM' K^fMf same premises, howcTer, may be made
yii^ XmtipH wmtm /Mi;^«piirir. The veRiion to yield a different conciasion : it may
in the text amounts to the same as be said; ye heretics allow God to bie
A.'s paraphrase, althongh there is some Almighty, and allow that He generates
difficulty in getting it out of the words, in some sense or other : if you will
A few words must be added in regard reduce yonr notions of that Generation
to the connection of this sentence with to somewhat intelligible, at all events
the foregoing. Aetius was charged adhere in practice to the conceptions
with Atheism; see n. \, on Athan. of God, you still hold in theory: * if
!>• 184. where it will be seen that Ath. the Son which God generated is \eaA
says that he who denieth the Son, and than Himself, either God willed Him
so hath not the Father, ** ^will in no to be less, or else could not help His
lonff time say, as the fool, There is no being less : Either therefore He was
Goa." Perhaps St £. has in his mind envious, or else not omnipotent. (Comp.
the ADomean tenet, that Ingenerate- R. zlv. §. 4.) By pursuing your own
nesB is the Essence of the Father. In admissions to the legitimate conclu-
attempting to explain the Generation sions you will see that you cannot reduce
of the Son, they hit upon a mere what we know of God to a mere Intel-
negative, as definitive of the Father's ligibie system : God is * a difficulty on
Nature ; now this negative did not, all sides.' This mode of arguing which
with them, imply the positive of which is not desirable in itself, (see below,
it was the opposite, for they denied lii. §. 6.) but served to shew the un-
that the Son was coeternal with that tenableness of the heretical position, is
Ingenerateness. (See Gr. Nyss. ii. adopted by Hilary de Trin. tI. §. 21.
p. 419.) The natural consequence of Ambr. de Fid. iv. §. 78. August. Serm.
this procedure would be that it would 139. c. Maxim, ii. cap. 7. Basil c. Eun.
induce Uhers to go a step further, and ii. §. 12. upon which see Greg. Nyss.
to argue as follows: Since no negative c. Eun. viii. p. 647. P. Chrysol. Ix. p.
can be conceived without conceiving a 300. Ixi. p. 301. Cyril Alex. Thes.
positive opposed to it, and since the p. 68, a. with more or less appearance
particular negative, Ingenerateness, was of going along with it themsetyes. See
conceivable only through the positive, Petav. de Trin. vi. 8. §. 4. and §• 9.
Generateness, (i. e. the Son in their With the sequel Alex. ap. Theodoret,
view) : it will follow, that as they H. £. p. 13. may be compared.
RHYTHM THE FORTIETH.
I. The sun is our light, and it none is able to know; how
* p. 107, much less to know man', and still less God ! The light of the
sun is not subsequent to it, neither was he at any time without it. The light is the second, and the warmth is the third; they depart not from it, nor are they identical with it. Look at the sun in his height, which is thought to be one ; descend, and look, and behold in his light, a second ; try, and feel, and search his heat, a third*. They are like, and yet not like one to another. The second is blended with him, though well distinguished from him ; and the third is mingled with 3 p. 210, him, distinguished, blended, and mingled'. Light and also ^^ ' * the sun are individual subsistences^ ; there are in them three ' S. ge- kinds^ mingled in a threefold way, himself, and also the light, tioDs ^"^ ^^^ ^^^^ ^^^ third, dwelling one in the other, and agreeoomp.n.ing without grudging. Mingled, yet not confused; blended, ' yet not bounden ; assembled, yet not compelled ; yea free, and yet not divergent. Let then the haughty ones ponder the things which are seen, for lo, one are these three, and
* S. the three are one, blended, yet not compounded % distinct, yet ^^f* not several ! There is a marvel in all these things which Heb. putteth us to silence. Thus man also is compounded* of y^* three**, and will rise in the resurrection, when he is perfected
xxriii. » The use of the sun as famishing of the ray, &o.' I mention this because
$> 3. by its light a type of the Father the passage in the text struck me as
ffenerating the Son is very frequent in- helping to indicate what St. £. held of
deed in the Fathers. The use made of the Procession of the Holy Spirit, before
it here and B. Izxiii. §. 1. is much less I had seen this passage in Veccus. frequent: indeed I am not able to *» S. 1 J]^ \ <^ * sinirle furnish any other instance of a passage [ •'*! •**"'• l^^» ^
exactly parallel, as they speak rather °**°' es.* So A iexander, Alex, in Theo<L
of the Holy Spirit as Light of Light, H. E. i. 4 calls the Father and the
than as heat of light. St. Cyril Thes. Son rkg rj iwt^Jint )&» ^vnn^ wbere
p. 337. speaks of the Spirit * passing Lowth quotes St. Clement AL Strom,
naturally from the Father through the ^"' §• ^« P* 831 : whether St. Cyril also
Son to those fitted to receive It as hetU ^ed the word ^6fi$ in the sense of Per-
out of fire would do in a body ;' which ^^^ ^^ '^ ^^^^ * question to enter upon
procession of heat from fire he else- ^^i^^* ^i* £• of courae uses his word
where, e. g. 176. uhcs, as is commonly only of the type, and that in a way
done, of tbe Procession of the Son from answering rather to the Greek i^Urmnt
the Father. It may be added that a than to the Latin persona. jvt ^to
simile of a like kind used by Greg, here rendered * him«elf' is used of the Naz. p. 612, a. is urged by Yeccus Or. substance of the sun, the light and beat ii. 13. G. Orth. vol, ii. p. 67. to shew being strictly not substances, perhaps, the Procession of the Holy Spirit from in St. E.'s view, but rather emanations, tiie Son. * Who is there with any Still as the word is contrasted in part parts or sense who woujd deny that the ^th U:>» the passage goes to shew procession of the light through the ray the indefiniteness of the w5rd in St, E.'s IS ite existence throuffh the same? For ti^e. See n. c. p. 210. If the existence of tTie light from the c See R. xviif. f. 1. " The race of sun were not through the ray, the ight birds is brought up by a threefold adwould never have been called the light ^^nce, «fcc.'' and note d. In vol. ii.
Mysierious emblems of the Trinity in Nature, 238
entirely. The son which, though one, is an unifonn nature with three mingled in him, distinct yet not divided, and one by one the whole of him is perfect', and in one all of them are perfect, and the glory is one, yet is not one. This nature is a marvel ; for it generateth solitarily, and gathereth itself up conjointly*, and unfoldeth itself threefoldly.
2. If then a man dare to think that fire is not threefold, who will be led into error by him, and cleave to his foolishness, and agree with his perverseness, and reject the threefold which are seen to be equal and yet distinct, and this is one
p. &51. there occurs a Bfaythm which thiog. Distinct are their names, easy will throw some light on this passage ; are they in their significations, difficult the following are parts of it: '* Let us in their primary essences." reproTe Bardesanes, since no man can ^ Here that Catholic belief, (which tale away any <me of the forms apper- though contradictory not only in the taining to roan, any more than he can words, but also in the ideas we use, the form of fire, for if he did, he would yet is not necessarily so in fact,) that annihilate it; since it is by three parts each one Person of the Trinity is as that it liTCth in perfection, as man is of wholly and entirely God as if the Others
a threefold composition Their own had no existence, — ^is contemplated by
simile reproveth them : by it they have St. £. as the Archetype which the sun given the body the surname of ' egg,' shadows out in its measure. See on and the soul of 'bird,' and do not ex- Athan. p. 325, n. g. and p. 439 , n. o. amine how bones and flesh come forth e g. A«] A«bl3 dSisxo. St E. probafrom the said egg, which is like the bly means to refer to the Perichoresis earth in which the body is conceived, ^ one of (what we are obliged to conand rends at the resurrection its earth template as) the causes of the Unity of and its wroulchre, and flieth at the God. The Sun's self, its light and advent. The comparison for the soul he^t, each contain the other, and are does not stand, for the bird has two contained each bv the other. If the venerations : the first that of copu- mind expands its 'idea of them, it finds lation, the second that of mcubation. \t threefold; if it gathers it up into The womb generates by copulation, one, as it does at the moment of conand the earth without it, after the type templating the unity of the sun, it must of the bird, performs the second gene- ^ jt were draw each and all of them ration in the Resurrection. Let us ^p into one at the same time. This notice to what they compare our Sa- object of contemplation Ms what it is viour's work : for if He rent the bodit-s and not another thing,' and you cannot and made the souls to fly, then our leave out son, light, or heat; you must Lord has overthrown the type of the ngg them all conjointly to contemplate unbelievers. But if the tombs were the one sun aright Thus the impression broken open as an egg, and the en- the sun makes on the mind answers, in tombed bodies rose and came to life, its measure, to the reality of the Trinity then hath our Lord given the cause in j^ Unity, so far as we can conceive of
our favour Eggs are reckoned like that reality. His design seems to be
the dead by these frantic men, and they to net up an explanation of this natural are quick in their nests to the wings of type counter to that of the Sabellians the bird. Corpses in theirtombs are dead noticed above in note d. on R. xviii. to the heretics, but alive in the grave to and by Petavius de Trin. i. 6. §. 3., and the Quickener of all: thus not even as to assert, that even as far as this type powerful as that wing of the feeble bird ^ent, there was no reason for heretics nave they reckoned the overshadowing of to think the Son was put forth as an the Good One who raiseth all ! Three emanation from the Father to be abthings in the Resurrection are brought gorbed again, the sun, ray, and heat to be one whole, the soul, and the mind, remaining distinct. Upon Uie phase (| lr\j ) and their harp the bi:tdy. The of Sabellianism alluded to by Petav. mind ( jjOOl) dwelleth in the head, the ^ the Bened. note on St. Ambr. de word thereof in the mouth, and the soul ' J^e v. §, 163. participateth with them both in every
284 Mysterious emblems of the Trinity
glorious and awful, and is another hidden and mighty, and another joyous and tranquil ? This first one then is entirely I On gathered into itself ; and that which is after it, is another p. 46, which cometh at its own pleasure ; but the third one is sent "•^•*°^ forth abundantly'; there are powers that rule in the fire, Scrot. i. which though they neither command nor yet are commanded', «* ^28 y®^ ^'^ ^^ sway are at peace with each other in love and order. <fec- 8. For three names are seen in the fireS and each one
xxztL standeth singly in its sway; and each one in its func- ^^' tions is seen distinctly; single powers, and yet they are blended together. The fire marvellously, and the heat distinctly, and the light' gloriously, dwell at unity in one
r See Bom. 5, 6. Til. 3, 6. Acts 2, 33. to flow from eternal Properties. What It 10 to be noticed, that St £. here St. £. meant precisely to he Prototype yiewB, through the type, the Spirit aa of the heat < coming at itR own pleasure' (not coming^ bat) tent: a view which isnotolear tome, though I believe from approximates to that of St. Aastin, the sequel he meant the condescension who make« it the eternal property of of the Son in creating, see p. 128, n. g. the Spirit, so to proceed as to be capa- p. 209, n. b. The * order' of the Persons ble 01 being given, as being love, oee has been noticed above, p. 181, n. c. on Athan. p. 305, g. Perhaps St. £. s This proves the type has changed wishes to guard against any such repro- from the sun to fire, as stated in the sentation of God's relations to man, as last note, but does not suit very well should make the Third Person subject with the sequel : for there the Spirit is to an economy as well as the Second, plainly compared not to light, but to (See p. 241, n. e. andFnlg. ad Mon. ii. heat. Perhaps St. E.'s intention is, 6. who considers this question in con- after mentioning the Trinity, to go off nectlon with the Eucharistic Sacrifice.) to that special mission of the Second The only passage supposed to imply Person implied in His Presence in the such an economy is Rom. viii. 26. which Eucharist. The Spirit here compared St. E. vol. i. p. 413. in common with to the light may then be next viewed as many othen (see Justiniani ad loc. and conveying heat (i. e. the Son) to us who Petav. de Trin. ii. 6. §.6.) understands were far off. A passage from vol. it. of the Spirit as shed abroad in our p. 451. may help to explain his meaning: hearts. *' They put their reque8ts,he8ay8, * Never did a man ever see a ship in the into the hands of grace to offer before sea tossed about by itself with no sailor God,'* where grace is personified. What- in it, managing itself and steering itself, ever is said of the relations of the Third And as ships, all things that aro made, Person to us must be conceived of, then , are i mperfect : the soul is so, wi thout freeas flowing from His eternal Properties: will ; the creation, without a Creator; whereas the Son has relations to us the Church, without a Saviour; and the which flow from Properties not eternal. Altar, without the Holy Ghost.' Combut consequent upon His Incarnation, pare R. x. §. 3. §. 5. §. 7* and the note d. ^See Petav. de Trin. viii. 3. §. 1.) Now and vol. i. p. 239, d. from whence it is St. £. in this section conceives the fire plain that St. £. held that tlie change as a fresh type of God, emitting heat effected in the elemente was by the which he now conceives as a type of agency of the Holy Spirit, (though in the Son, (as the Fathers do commonly,) vol. i. p. 460, c. he speaks of the shew and its light as a type of the Spirit bread as *■ figuring the mystery of our Still he seems in this section first to Sacrifice which is offered by Chriaiy regard fire as a type of the Triune God, through the ministers of the Church.) as He is in Himself, since the heat which This, of course, is a very different is *• hidden and mighty,' will not other thing indeed from asserting that the wise make a type of the Son. Hence Invocation of the Holy Spirit made in the joyous and tranquil light must be tbeparticularprayerusedintbe£ai>tem understood to be sent, in the sense here Churches, was the immediate cause of given : i. e. the mission must be taken that change : for the same diing is said
io be found in the properties of light and heat* 235
another. If then this fire is of a miraculous nature, which producethy yet lacketh not ; which is equable, and doth not chill ; and when its heat is distinct from it, yet it is not cut off from it ; that passeth through every things, and grudgeth* B. ▼. not ; that flieth into bread, and blends itself with water, and p, \^
dwelleth in every thing, while the whole thereof dwelleth in Q* i-
it ; a symbol of the Spirit is in it, yea a type of the Holy Spirit, who is mingled in water' that it may become a pro- ' P- 37» pitiation, and is blended**' with bread that it may become asR. x.
br St. Anstiii de Trin. iii. 4. * The not anj thing new, but Their Eternal
element is not consecrated to be so Procession firom the Father considered
great a Sacrament, save by the Spirit as affecting ns. Vide Petav. de Trin.
of God working invisiblj.' And so in Tiii. Hence St. £. passes off from the
the Missa Leoniana ap. Assem. B. Lit. doctrine of the Trinity to that in which
iv.p.27. Gothie.iy.p.39.dkc. Tetthere the Mission of the Two Persons ^as
can be little doubt that the Western explained in note f.) is continually
Churches held, that the elements were brought before us, yiz. the Eucharist,
consecrated by our Lord's words then ^ Comp. xli. §.2. the word 'blended'
repeated. See Gotti Theol. Scholastico- or ' mingled,' twice used in this section,
Dogm. Tr. vii. qu. 2. §. 2. and Le Quien has been noticed above, p. 210, n. d. as
on Damascene, p. 268, n. 2. Bened.xiv. employed to express ^e Perichoresis :
de Miss. Sacr. li. 15. Orsi de Liturg. in the former place in this section it is
Inv. Sp* Sct^ ii. §. 2. Martene de Bit. plainly used in this sense, and therefore
i. 4. 8.$. 19.Benediut. Antirrheticon, ii. it is perhaps no great strain on these
cap. 5. who quotes a passage from words to suppose them intended to ex-
Tbeodulus Ben Althib. which will press concisely, that 'the Holy Spirit
be of service here : ' The power of by virtue of HIm coinherence in the Son
the Holy Ghost descendeth at this conceals Himself under the appearance
day upon the Bread offered upon the of bread, that it may, &c.' See the
Altar, and consecrates it and makes passages quoted p. 210, ref. 4. It is
it the Body of God the Word. For the plain that a great importance was at-
power of the Father and of the Son and tached in the Oriental Liturgies (see
of the Holy Ghost, and their operation Kenaudot. i. p. 238. ii. p. 88.) to the
is one. (see p. 166, n. c.) 'When the Son ' Invocation of the Spirit.' It may be
blesseth and consecrateth, then the right with a view to throw light on the
Spirit blesseth and consecrateth ; and text, to attempt stating what seems to
when the Spirit blesseth and consum- be tne view implied in chose Liturgies,
mates, then the Son bleeseth and con- as concisely as so intricate and exten-
sammates ; when the Father imparteth sive a subject will admit of. Orsi de
His Divine power, it do the Son and Lit. Inv. &c. v. 3. owns the truth of
the Spirit impart in like manner. For Renaudot's assertion, but reconciles it
albeit the Persons are distinct, yet is with assertions in the Oriental Church,
the Substance and Nature one. Thus ascribing the consecration to our Lord's
in like way is Their power and opera- words (see Martene as ah. $. 20.) by
tion. Therefore the Bread which we supposing that Invocation an accom-
receive is His Body, as He Himself modation to the weakness of the human
saith ; and since He Himself calleth It intellect, whereby that is represented
Hi» own Body, Who will not confess It to take place at intervals with us,whioh
so to beP" (comp. St. John Marc. cap. with God takes place in one instant,
xxxiii. Assem. Cod. Lit. v.) on which The/uweveotsofthe Descent of the Holy
B. remarks, that Tbeodulus here con- Spirit at the Baptism of Christ in the
oeives (1) the words of Christ to be Jordan and on the day of Pentecost seem
the efficient cause of the Real Pre- to me best calculated to illustrate the
senee, and (2) operation of the Holy Invocation : it is to them and not to
Spirit to be not distinct from that of the operation of the Holy Ghost at the
Christ Here also is perhaps the key to Conception that the liturgies themselves
St. E.'s meaning : The Son and the (as contrasted with later commentators
Spirit are said to be sent, and not the on them) refer almost universally in the
Father; and this mission is of course formforthe Invocation. (See As8em.Cod.
^6 Mysterious natural emblems teach man to be reverent.
Sacrifice: and though He seemeth to be entirely in all of them, His fulness is far removed. For it is not possible to shadow forth the mysteries of the Trinity, which cannot be I R.x]ii. shadowed forth at any time^ If then this fire when searched ^' ' into overwhelms us, how it is one, and how it is also three, * B. and how the threefold dwell in one another', and how its heat ?""• is distinct, yet not divided — that nature', that we in love have received as threefold, and that without any distracted disquisition about it; how much more right is it that we should receive those Threefold Ones with simplicity, in love without criticising ! And let not Their Nature have to follow us to teach us by similitudes that They are like Each Other in all things. The natures of creatures are distinct and not like ; how much more is that Nature distinct from all who is greater than all !
Lit. vol. V. p.S9. p. 138. Renaadot. ii. of the consecration. In R. z. §. 7. we
p. 33. p. 290. p. 490. p. 497. or (with find the operation of the Spirit dwelt
tome Tariations) in a M8.of the Syriao upon in all the events here noticed:
liturgies helonging to Mr. Palmer of and Sl E. by dwelling here with a
Magdalen Coll. p. 19. p. 57* p. 140. seeming disproportionateness upon the
p. 144. p. 190. As then the words of operation of the Spirit may have also
the An^el to St. Mair are viewed by had the Macedonians in view, and ha^^e
St E. (ii. p. 328, b. and see Feuand. on wished to insist strungty on the doctrine
IreniBus, v.' 19. §. 1.) as the cause of that He doeth what the Father and the
her conception, so the words of Christ Son do. See p. 166, note. As for the
used bv the priest, * who is not able to ^j^ of t^e Syriac words —l^v and '^ ^^;
make the Body,' (ab. p. 146, n. d.) may • . . j u -o > ^^ ZTT^
answer to the words of Gabriel, at the *°«"^. °° ^y,^°??^°h »' P" 2«- »•
timewhereof'Hewas anointed with the ^\^^\i\'\F^T ^ % 'f""' "
Holy Ghost as if with oil,» vol. i. p. 336, f at"""?. *<> ^^e brooding of the dove as
b. p. 228, e. the Holy Spirit in eithe^ *? *?? *^i°8: ^ee o. 169, n.m. Perhaps
case working the miracle. But as the Greek view of the procession of the
Christ was very God, and bad in Him ^^^^ Spirit influences the view they
and was Himself in the Holy Spirit f °^ certainly hold of the Invocatoon,
from the moment of His Incaraat^on, 1^»* ^^^'°" ^'^S^V. ?f J* <^2f 3"f» the Spirit of course did not reall^ S« relabons of the Smnt to Christ's
descend upon Him at the Jordan, (sei ?,"?*°l^- J*^"« '"^ ^l°®*lT^",5* Petav. de Incarn. xi. 9. §. 8. Thomaksm ^^^- mightalso seem to have before his
de Inc. vi. 2. §. 2. Pusey on Bapt ?1°^ * ^°^.^°° ^'V*^^ ''** *5*''^!!^'
p. 276. Ac. Tostatus Abul. on the plaie, J^f °f *'^> V.^*'* what sense the who e
p. 352-4.) it was for our sakes that He J''^'^^ ^^^^'^ ?««""4 *° ^ Pf^*^* zk
80 seemed to do, He being Himself hatSaCTamentSeeVasquez.^^^^^
Omnipresent, [or' ' dwelling*" in every r^^^'^P'^Pn \^« i'i '"'r^'^^'hTT
thing,*^ as abive,J and so^ incapable »«^d-.I>>y.M-?. Art. i. (referred toby
of m(iion to a place. This accommo. Clencatus Decis. Sacram. de Euch.
dation to Cbe weakness of the human f^^^^ ^^-.""."'^ "*^ Samona- Ga..
intellect would be parallel to that at *•«-?• ^aliand. xiv. , . ^ .
tiie Altar accenting to Orsi's view; >, * f'JTV^'^^^? 3^"*^' ^
while the other event mentioned in the JL . ""'"^.^ ^^ • ' " W™^°*
form of Invocation, viz. the descent on Z^^ *° ""^l^J* *^« ""^'"^^ ^S'''^ ""?
the AposUes, fitly symbolizes the in- ^^ ^«« Paraphnwed : We are all agreed,
fluenceofthe Holy Ghost in sanctifying i^** J^« " three yet one, we do not
and uniting men, which is what St. t?""^' "^1.^° °°'*°^^ '"^^ ""^i
Fulgentius Insists upon. This premised ""^^Z' °° *^" pomt-about a created
it is clear how St. if. may say the Spirit °**°" ''^ "^ agreed— a /orfaori, Ac.
is blended with bread, without asserting jju^ is contrasted with God in R. I.
thereby that the Invocation is the cause k 3, l^f» ^ ^ \\ ^ ^.
RHYTHM THE FORTY-FIRST.
1. Who hath at any time seen a raven that was not single ? or a hornet that ever companied with others? The virgin bee generateth m virginity, and the worm * in solitariness gendereth. The cloud also bringeth forth the lightning gloriously, and the spark from the midst of the flint appeareth marvellously. The pool of waters also swarmeth with insects by means of the sun, and convinceth the infidels, because it gendereth in purity like as the waters brought forth creeping things at the Gen. i, beginning in chastity. Who would not wonder at all these, which are hidden, yet not suffocated ; even the moles in the dust, and fish in the sea, and the babes in the womb. For
by what motion is the iron of its own accord led to the loadstone' ; and another kind of nature hath been found which is' St. never scorched in the fire % and many are the inventions also c. d! of stones, and roots, and medicinable virtues, and who hath™* *•
, , ' asbe-
been equal to defining and distinguishing their natures ? stos
2. The solitary procreations which exist without inter- 'p*i^, course, which have natures too difficult for them that are ^ ™* enquiring, and investigations too subtle for them that pry into them, justify us in not prying into the mode of the Generation of the Lord of all^ ; and in not searching after the place, * B. i. and in not saying the causes of It, and in not seeking after f^^^^^ the time of It. And although there are a smell and a colour
and a taste, which are beautiful and subtle, and cannot be touched by the hand, yet by the senses' aUied to them they ' B. may be comprehended ; one is smelt, and another is tasted : ^.g^'/it. but what sense is there akin to His Majesty, by which, as being nxiz. related to Him, we may approach to the investigation of Him ? conir.
Scrut.
• SimiUr reference to the mysteries to coneeiTe afresh, widiout farther in- ' *
of nature is made below, B. Iviii. §. 1. tereonrse. See Sohobert Geschiehte
B. Ixiv. §. 3. oontr. Sonit. i. §. 10. It der Natar. iii. p. 64. Thomass. de In-
is held I beUoTe at diis day, that the earn. ii. 3. 10. Baynaud. Christus. iii.
oep^ation of one generation of insects 3. $. 198. {nmish similar instances to
prodnces other generations with the those in the text, organs o( the females in such a state as
238 IVonckrs ordinary and extraordinary^ and even
Any thing that is not allied to us and of our race> who is able to search into 7 and who is able to scrotioize it i To Him it seemed good, and He revealed what His own Nature is : to Him it seemed good, and He became little, and humbled Himself, that He might shew Himself to us, and blend His iR.xlii.Son with us, and mingle His Spirit with us^, and shew us R. ii. His Love.
^^* ^° 3. When upon a sudden that ass spake, Balaam saw the p. 250, wonder, yet was slack to marvel at it, and omitted doing so, Namh. ^^^ (^ though the mouth of the ass had the gift of speech 22,22. by nature) forgot it, and pleaded with the ass. The ^eu* IV. g^j.^j^gg Iq^ alone the miracle of the blind men that had Matt 9, their eyes opened on the Sabbath, and of the clay they John 9, mooted questions. If then thou art teachable, these things ^' are to thy edification ; but if thou be captious, they are for thy * p. 128, reproof; but if thou be daring', all of them are able to put thee n. f. and^^ shame. Search, and look into thy humbled body, and be ashamed at the ducts thereof, since they are all defiled, and > oontr. let thy blemishes be bridles to thy scrutinizings ' ! B-^^ts. ^' When the wicked one hath made us to overflow* with r5.^ thoughts of himself, if he be a stranger to us, how is it that he as it were makes himself akii\ to us, so that his movements and spaces assimilate themselves to our mind, yea our intellect ^ which is a high [faculty] ? if then our wicked adversary be
b Vol. ii. p. 316, b. << The intel- intellects. See on R. 1. $. 6.) The
lect in the likeness of God dwelleth in latter is probably St E.'s meaning, as
the heaven of the brain ; the spiritaal he speaks of senses and their objects as
faculties minister to it in the fancy akin to each other in similar language.
which is its helpmate; in the temple of comp. B. Ixxt. §. 4. In either case a
the heart doth this king of thoaghts correladveness or correspondence (soeh
parade; before it run its ambassadors, as is implied by the Greek r« ttmt
understanding, and intelligence.*' Hard ifr/rr^^o) seems intended. The next
as it is to find synonyms for the meta- sentence Ass. renders as if there were
physical words of one language in no 'for;' perhaps the oonnection in-
another, this passage may yet shew tended by St. £. may be as follows:
what St E. means by |2^{^ intellect Satan is a finite being, visible in his en-
The passage above may mean one of two tireness to angels: but that finiteness
things, either, how do Satan's move- >« the very thing which constitates the
ments make themselves such, as to be difl&culty before us. For as for the Lord
undistinguishablefrom those of our own ^^ natures. He is not finite, is not
mind; or, how do Satan's movement capable of being embraced by any other
square themselves to all appearance to mio<l» has no ahape as we most eon-
the changes of our mind, so aa to meet ceivecreaturea tohave,(seep. 187,n.b.
objections, and start them as it were, "^d therefore there is no oootradiotioD)
(For some of the Fathera hdd that involve** w supposing JShn, to pervade
Satan could see such thoaghts as were ^« substoace of other beings, fully formed, and explicitly before our
swarm
Baptism itself made unavailable by prying. 239
without reason, how by our reasons doth he abuse and lead us astray ? For as for the Lord of natures, His Nature is hidden from all. Grant to me to form no shape' of Thy'R.xliv. Nature by the creatures. But if [by any one] it be shaped out so, in order to lead the daring astray, the Gospel is thy marrellous mirror, and in it the Threefold are seen without con- Mat.28, tradiction, since in Them the Apostles went forth and baptized without dispu tatiousness '. O Lord, let not my searching after ' p* i^, Thee make my baptism^ of none effect* ; for there is that hath 3 p. 's^g made his baptism of none effect by his scrutinizing. And if °' ®* he be made a disciple afresh and renewed, then it is right for him to be also baptized afresh; but if one be not so baptized, he sheweth, that it is because he found no new thing** that he abide th.
^ Elsewhere he alludes in a similar as I am, I am not, Lord, an apostate,
way to his baptism, e. g. ▼ol. ii. p. 444, Now then what adyantage wilt Thoa
e. ^* I have been taught and belieyed give me over apostates, if like them I
of Thee, that there is One in Thy am to perish. Since Thy troth it
Essence, yea, [and that One] coes- greater than error, therefore make Thj
sential ! I have beard and asserted. Gift to me the greater !" that the Father is One: I was bap- ^ St. £. probably means to pot a
tized in the third place, in the Name dilemma. * Either you ought to rebap-
of Thy Holy Spirit. I was taught the tize, or to allow you have nothing new
truth of them all.'' At p. 534, f. the to teach, new that is in the sense that
following occurs, which also bears on the Gospel is a new dispensation, and
the text. '^B^memberroe, Lord, Ipray so remain where you are. Perhaps it
of Thee ! If I have searched wantonly was a later development of Eunomianism
into Thee, by prying I have not done which induced tnem to adopt, as they
so: and daring too as I have been, in did, the former alternative. See p« 179,
examining Thee, still I am not daring n. d. really Lord in so doing: and sinner too
RHYTHM THE FORTY-SECOND.
1. Who hath been able to comprise as it were in waterpipes and pass over in his thought the billows of hidden 1 s. to things ? As searching is to us in' our weakness, as it were, ^^ bitter, how much more then is the standard of glorious Might bitter? Who that hath his senses not healthful would be able to bear the might of that Power whose Generation is unsearchable ? The sight of the Spirit* were not suited to our
* B. pupils^ and strange were the colour thereof for our eyes to gaze sfn xlt ^P<>^ ' *°<i ^^^ is there that will by his scrutinizing become §*s* correlative to the Hidden One, who is in all respects unknown to all ? Who that hath made his mouth correlative to
» R. X. flaming Fire' and his taste to that Brilliancy which never was
|. 4. x1»« tasted at any time? Let him learn by this fire, the might of
which cannot be tasted, though the power of it is tasted by the
* 5. of taste of what is dressed^ and in this way it is our profit
°^ and altogether our gain. So also is the hidden Essence ; *B.zli. mingle' and take Its might in the divers kinds of blessings, ^' ' since the investigating of It in Its own self is too arduous
* R. and diflicult«.
zzzui. 2, xhe sun passing into a transparent^ vessel, into water, begetteth in the cold element the hot fire, an offspring that is like itself; marvellously it generateth ; an offspring rises up from it without division, so that his light is not quenched, and the water is not divided. The offspring is one of
* Spirit is in the Syriac ambiguouB : Theiochaliz prismatious, which readily
no doubt St £. inteoded to leave it splits, and is transparent, (the root
ambignons, whether he used the word ^o^K^ jg to split.) Schnbert. Gesob. der
determinately of the Holy Ghoet. or of ^z a ooo dk iit n
Spirit, i. e. God indeteriinately or of JL*'^"-^/:]?®-^^*"^ ^^ ^i "v"^*
the wind, as that which we haVe no '^^.j? J"h°'* ^JL^^' /' ^""
sense tojerceive, and can only discern J^if,!?' Jf°T« * !^^^^
by its e££cts. S^ R. xxxui. §. 2, 3. ^f "^^ .^^ ^*P\" T^ZHiZ ^
' b 1 A ^ ... "i^ew Its applicability to the uses of a
jAa^^ m speculan vase Asu. burning glass. A similar passage to this
The word is used for the alabaster box oocure below, R. Ixxv. f 9. on which
in Matt xxvi. I. &o. There is a stone g^e the notes, of the same family as alabaster, the
Nalnral types of the Trinity incomprehensible. 241
chastity, which glisteneth fortli in spotlessness. Gold is uniforniy a flower is threefold ; stone is unifonn, fire is three* fold ; bumingy and heat, and light are blended in it'. For it ■ R. xl. is not by one comparison' only that the language of the|'^ creation mounteth up ; and thus, as They are preached, so Athan. receive ye without gainsaying these Threefold Ones'. ForJ^n. ' they stand not by the ordering of our wills; that nature as it*^"-^- exists, existeth threefoldly, neither can it be comprehended, n. a, b. wherefore it is found to be such, as without question it really ®" ?.'. is. For who would blame him who said that fire exists threefoldly ? No roan condemns him, since every one allows him. l*he passage of fire^ remains a mystery to thee, ho\v*§. i. it is conceived in the sun and hidden therein, and how again ^2^"' it is concealed in the womb of his brightnesses; and the pang which begot it is inscrutable ! This wonderful birth of tliat miraculous things silenceth thee and refraineth thy ^<S. the thought, since it surpasseth thy mind ! the mr-
8. The fruit which thou hast never tasted what sort it is,r»c>«of if thou shottldest feel it with thy hand and smell it and alsovei. see it, yet because thou hadst not hitherto tasted it and tried it, thou wouldest rely upon another who had tried it ^ ; since ' A. xli. then He is too mighty for thee, even that bidden Essence, ^ 220 believe that Fruit ^ wherebv His might bath been tasted, n-^- Take wheat, and open it, and examine it, and shew us how q. e. ' the blade, the ear, and the root are hidden [there], which are®^°^« each one of them perfect within it threefoldly, and which is R. i. §. recent, which old, or which afore other: and though they • bad a beginning, yet this is difficult to comprehend, since their hidden beginning is from themselves unto themselves*.
* 1. e. even in this created thing hi^vrm ««) •7«ff Mn »«) i^tnv^m pSrm^)
there are operations which rise in itselfl there quoted by Gallandi, tnongh with-
and hare no issue save what is internal out the apology with which Dionys.
to itself. St. £. means to imply that introduces it, •/ tlS^m %^ fdmi. Cyril,
the relations of the Persons of the Ever- in Joan. p. 12. c. points out how, in the
blessed Trinity to Each Other, result case of the type of the sun with its ray
from operations internal to the God- and fire with its heat, the indwelling of
head, (such as Generation and Spira- one in the other does not destroy the
tion,) and notfrom any operations issuing coexistence of one with the other, ri lw<
in us, oomp. n. a. p. 126. n. d. p. 166. n. g. ^rd^x*** ^^ Ml mlfvSf «&» Anu^ i? rjb riw-
p. 234, f. This passage may be contrasted ird^. This TertuUian c. Prax. viii. ftn.
with Method. ConT. Virg. X. 6. and the does of the root and its stem abo,
names bestowed on the Son and the noticing besides the fruit the third. See
Spirit by Pseudo-Dionys. de Div.Nom. also Dionys. in Athan. p. 45, n. g.
ii. §. 7< (*nt H§yif§v hirnTBt fiXm^n) and p. 142.
24*2 All ftimtlttudes inadequate to the RealHi/.
4 . And since this type faileth, it being inadequate as requiring to be reaped and winnowed to be fit for use, and when the com* parison is overbonie by strife ; do thou then behold, with sane
I R. mind, that in the blade there is a type of the body, and the fiill $ Js!* c^^^ ^^ ^ ^JP^ ^^ ^^^ spirit, and the ear of the soul. This is an xxxviii. illugti'ious parable ! For see how that every similitude which is stamped and framed for use would, if it sufficed to depict *S.tode-the thing intended to perfection', be found not to be a whole** similitude, but the reality. It is necessary for shadows that perfect- they should pass through the net-work' of time. And a Mark 4 grain of corn did our Redeemer liken to the kingdom for our ^^' edification.
5. Examples and parables are feeble and inadequate: models and similitudes are weak, and insufficient. They stand in humble semblance to rebuke him that is lifted up and exalteth himself: since if he cannot attain to the similitudes, how came he madly to grasp at the height
3Seen.f.of the Divine Majesty. The cloud is higher than the mist', ^' ' and the heaven than both of these, and the heavens of heavens are again higher; and the low mountains of the creation are high [only] to them that dwell in the dust beneath. Thus also the similitudes, however great they are to us, are but fancied to be near, though they are at a very great distance*.
d Aristocles ap. Easeb. P. Evan, others again do not agree : neitfaer does
p. 769, d. in the words, ^^The senses the moudi eat fruit, because sweet, with
are like meshes and nets, and such like the husks. The Hebrews have left the
hunting implements," implies what St. cities of refuge [of which he waa speak-
E. here states explicitly, riz. that they ing] ; let us abide for eyer in that City
reach truth not without the intervention of refuge [penitence]. The Hebrews
of a medium which partially obscures have cast axide the types; come, let us
it. Compare note on R. xli. $. 4. and clothe ourselves in the realities." Upon
St. Austin 0. Faust, zvi. 15. '* as if when the Heaven of heavens, see St. Austin's
a thing is said to be like it was like in Confess. p.249.Chry80st.ontheRoman«t
all parts and ways ! surely it is not p. 258. Clementin. zi. 22. Clem. Strom.
thoAC things only which are of one and iv. §. 161. v. §. 94, 5. Orig. c. Cels.
the same nature, which are said to be p. 289. J. Mart. p. 29. Basu, Hex. iii.
like, as, two men.. ..but many things also 3. Ambros. in Ps.xzxvi. $.83. Hex. ii.
which are of a different nature, &c." 2. ap. Petav. de Opif. i. 10. A similar
* See on Athan. 326, n. f. and corop. tenet prevailed widely in the East, see
contr. Scrut. R. i. §. 32. Vol. ii. p. 512, 'WiUon on the Vishnu-Purana, pp. 213.
13. quoted p. 210. Vol. iii. p. 368, a. 635. Windischm. i. p. 177. and the
'* Similitudes suit in some points, in Coran, ii. §. 39»
RHYTHM THE FORTY-THIRD.
1. By the little egg' set the bold disputers at nought, since iR.xyiii. the form is hidden in a threefold way in the liquid; ask then ^' ' its head and its feet and its wings, how they are three, that
they may instruct thee. If then he be stifled in an egg by his scrutinizing thereof, how much more will he be whelmed that dareth to feel into the mighty Sea* ! Blessed* p. 144, be He who with weak things hath astounded our mind!"'^' Lo, the wheat when stript yet hath its garment in it; we buried it unclad therewith; we saw it again glorified! That silent body which hath crept into its dust, it is a wonder that it therein hath gotten itself a covering, and its dishonour cannot be understood, now that it is swallowed up in glory, and the whole of it hath become a bride in bridal ornaments. For as in the stalk the wheat is secreted, thereby it amazeth the investigator and causeth wonder in the beholders, since they know not how to feel after it and investigate it It is manifest and visible*, yet it is not; it puts the searcher to'R-xliu shame, and lo, it crieth aloud in its silence, * Be ye ashamed with things visible, ye rude dealers with hidden things !'
2. Yea, there is a hidden treasure in that visible plants ^rstem. three are hidden there, and cannot be searched out there ; three that are one, and though one they are three*, Who*R.xlii. hath penetrated into the midst of a plant and [found] how
the root, and the fruit, a second, and the leaf, a third, are blended one with another ? Therefore, that His true Church** R. ishould not be the abode of strifes, and a sect of divided people', He shadoweth forth and shewed Himself how He'.'S. diis. For He Himself alone suffice tli to teach us concerning r^^ '* Himself, seeing that it is open to Himself alone to search ^j"^ into the mode of His own Existence, and He hath giveni^. §. 6. foretastes thereof by His words for His true ones. He then who prieth into Him entangleth himself in Him, seeking
r2
244 God the only sourcey belief the only apprehender of Truth,
out so as not to know Him, searching so as not to find Him : for he loseth that which is in Him and findeth that which is not in Him. A man may find Him so as to know Him, provided he seek not in order to know Him as He is. 19.65, 1. For if thou hast believed Him, then hast thou comprehended Him.
3. Choose thyself one of two things, of which enquiry shall be made of thee : that if He is true, rely and enquire not ; but if He cause thee to go astray, who shall gather thee in ? It is fit that thou shouldest rely upon Him in these two things. For Rom. 9, if He hath made thee to err, it were evil for thee to reproach ^^' Him with it. How much more should He be believed in that it is the Truth which He hath written and given unto thee ! But > p. 121, if He led us astray He would be envious ^ Yet who is able to lx.§. 1.'^^ sure that He hath deceived us? who to reveal to us aught that He hath hidden ? Bis way then is even in all these < R. xi. things. His path is before children', but is crooked to the Pa. 18 disputers. His Truth gatbereth us in, and error drowneth us. 27. Children look about and are perplexed to have three ways to search into. Since the upper way is toilsome and the lower hard, choose thee the middle one', and walk therein in simplemindedness, and preach the Father and the Son inscrutable; and since two ways wrestle with questionings, go thou forth 3 R. xii. evenly in thy way without strife. Do not thou ever search' R.^xlii. ^^^^ ^^ Father and the Son and the glorious Spirit, or dare §.6. to bring down unto these feeble similitudes the Nature which never at any time was comprehended as to how and what He is. Flee from Him in silence; for whoso searcheth into Him confuseth himself with questionings.
^ Orthodoxy was commonly repro- going by the royal way to be, id so to
sented as a narrow path intersecting say, nothing else than not turoinfi^ either
oppoHite heresies. Vide Petav. de Inc. much to the right, nor yet to the left,
ii. 2. §. 1. or as equally removed from For see with what unconsciousness they
Judaism and Heathenism. Vide ibid, are carried to what they opine, &c."
de Trin. ii.prop'm 4. snd N. on Athanas. Grep. Nys*. c. Ar. et Sab. init. ap. Mai
p. 190, n. b. St. Cyril, Pial.i. p.397, b. O. N. vol. viji. " Both opinions are set
*' A/Ve are not to set a heartless and an if two traps by the aforesaid men,
jaded mind to work upon the Holy (i.e. A rius and Sabellius,) and between
Scriptures, as if we were at some game them there goeth a certain strait and
or other nmong things so to be revered, narrow way which leadeth unto life,
and thus turned, one cannot say how, according to the Gospel: out of this the
out of the straight course and falling ji^enerality of men go astray and become
a>ide and letting ourselves be tossed the prey of one or the other." cf. R.xi.
down into the path that lies on either §. 3. and R. xliv. §. 6. side. Now what I think the duty of
RHYTHM THE FORTY-FOURTH.
1. His Names admonish thee, how and what thou shouldest
call Him. One He hath taught thee, that He is; another' 'R.xM. that He is the Creator: He hath shewed thee that He is^, ixii. also good: He hath informed thee that He is just alsoǤ'9*^- Father Ukewise hath He named, and called Himself. The Scriptures are an assay i'umace : and the fool why should he babble? Assay in the midst of His furnaces His Names and His distinctions. Praises be to Thee from all, who confess Thee without scrutinizing !
2. For He hath Names perfect and appropriated: also
He hath Names borrowed and transient', which He suddenly *B*lii« clad on, and suddenly put off, as that ^He repented V andoi>ntr.
Scmt.
R 1
* See p. 160, n. c. p. 190, d. f. p. 206, God that honoured P or those that dis- c\n n. b. Vol. ii. p. 480, c. "The false graced man ?" Ibid. p. 606, e. " Whose ^ teachers have been deceived by the ex- nature would be maae ereater by that pression ' He repented,' a soond word great One, unless He aenied Himself which is bitter to the infirm, and they by taking what is not in Him. For distorted it, while it only explained how this He did when He said He ate, and great Adam was. Lo ! God essayed ate not the sacrifice that the fire ate. to persaade him that he was not the (Ps. 60, 13. Levit. 9, 24.) He devessel of an impotent workman, seeing nied Himself by taking the appearit was no other Workman that restored ance of a man, though He is hidden him. Dumbness belongs to the [other] from all in His Essence: so did He by ereatnres, but Adam had discourse by that repenting which is not in Him, his nature. The seas are spread out, that He might awaken it in our race in and the mountains are fixed, but Adam which it is. That, however. He might commands. Perversely then have men not be as it were divided with Himself understood the word, and yet it has at as if hating altogether the truth which this day currency, and it is the way is with Him ; He on the other hand with men to find fault [and say] that confessed the verity of His Nature, ' Grod exalted one whose character He that He might shew of what manner did not discern ; and Saul too beareth He is. When He stated that He hunwitness of His having repented also of gered for fat, He on the other hand having made him king and given him confessed that He eateth not sacrifices: authority, and yet he proved perverse : when He stated that He dwelt in the what is not seen in Adam's case, is Sanctuary, He also shewed that the plain in Saul's.' It was that He might Heavens are filled with Him. He reprove the slanderers, that He by the denied His majesty, that He might kingdom ensnared the freewill, which shew how merciful He was, &o." hasfhll power. He nourished and brought P. 614, c. ^' When it was known that ap children, and they corrupted them- His Nature as unchangeable, was far pelves and proved perverse. Which from passions, He feared not to put on is it that the hearers ought to blame ? repentance ; hence He was not ashamed
246 If the Name of ^Fai/ier' be rejected^
< or as- * forgot,' and ' remembered.' As then thou hast relied upon ' wrted Ylim that He is just and good, relj upon Him that He is a
Parent, and believe that He is a Creator. Be warned by His
perfect and holy Names, for if thou deniest one of tliem, they will all have flown away and departed. They are linked one into another, and they bear up all things ; as do the pillars
of the world, water, fire, and air**. If one of them were to
to be 8S one zealous ; bence He did not sertione, we neither expunge tiie ex-
besitate to sleep and slumber, yea^ and pressions of tbe Spirit, nor take what
ask for sacrifice. No metbod dia He is said in a corporeal sense; for wbat
neglect to assist freewill, that tbe ac- possible reason, when this ezpressiGB
cuser might shew bis madnet'S, and tbe is employed so frequently by the Holy
Merciful One His goodness." And so Spirit, are we not to look for meanings
on 1 Sam. 16, 1 1. he says: << He said to it becoming GodP"
that * He repeated,' not that God ** By asserting that the denial of one
chaneeth His purpose, but becaose He of G^d's Names entails a denial of all,
willed to change what He had done — St. £. seems to assert, that one attri-
as Samuel explained it to Saul when bute invoWes the other, and cannot be
he said, * God is not a man that He contemplated without it: which is the
should take counsel.' Yet why did God very position of Eunomius that St Basil
speak thus P That Saul might know and St. Gr. Nyss. combated. For £a-
that the Lord willed to change the good nomius contended for this principle in
He had done him, and that Saul him- regard to all the attributes, because
self might also learn that he ought to his theory concerning one, Tiz. ingene-
change his own evil doings. God spake rateness, required it. If ingenerate-
also in this way to the righteous Noah ness, he argued, does not imply and
concerning the destruction of Adam's inToWe incorruptibility, then incorrop*
race in the days of the flood, when He tibility is, in some respect or other,
said, ' It repenteth Me that I have contrary to ingenerateness, and at Hiis
made them,' not that God Himself, rate (rod is compounded of contraries.
who sinneth not, was capable in His But this cannot be so, since He is s
own Nature of repentance, but that He simple Essence, and therefore ingene-
might preach to sinners repentance, rateness does involTC incorruptibility,
&o." These passages shew how often and by parity of reasoning every other
St. £. thought it worth while to insist attribute. To this a reply to this effect
that such expressions were accommoda- was made: Our conceptions of Grod
tions to human weakness, and were not must be carefully distmgoiahed froni
(as the Anthropomorphists contended) the Reality, which they inadequately
to be taken as literal. A passage from represent. God's attributes are in £aot
St. Basil 0. Eun. ii. §. 24. will recall identical with this Reality : but we
us to the more immediate object of must not argue from this that the altri-
St. E.'s allusion in the text to those butes, at they exist in our conceptions,
expressions. *^ That God then is with are identical with each other, since thia
the strictest propriety called Father, would confound and put an end at onco
as also that the name is not one implying to all reasoning upon the subject We
impression from without, but relation- must keep conceptions distinct which
ship {wx^ T*^§vs AkX' •iiM90nms Ur}» are distinct, and remember that they
nfut) either in the way of grace as in and not the Reality are all that we can
men's case, or in tlie way of nature as reason upon. See Petav. de Deo i. 6—
in that of the Only-Begotten, has been II. No sense then must be put upon
suiBciently declared. (i$ee on R. xlv. the text, which shall subvert this im-
§. 4.) But let us grant this expression portant principle. It may perhaps be
too to be figurative, and used by a only meant to imply that we have
metaphor as countless others are. As exactly tbe same kind of evidence, viz.
then, when we hear of God being God's testimony, of His Fathership
angry and asleep and flying, and of and Creatorship, that we have of His
other such expressions which in their Justice, Goodness, &c. ; going by sense
obvious sense furnish unbecoming as* only we may find objections to one ^'i
the other Names of God are unamiling. 247
cease to exist, then would the world be nigh to falling to ruin.
3. The Jews change the Names of God, yet they are not able to live upon the multitude of [their] surnames [for Him]. Because they rejected the one Name, they have been rejected in the many '. The Names that that people ' Comp. put away and threw aside, in them are the Gentiles baptized. p[ ^4^ And who is able to untie those Names which have made a trench between us and that people'? One cause alone made* Basil that people rejected, and he that untieth it, buildeth Jeru- ^"J^^^^. salem. For it was not because they did not scmtinize, that the Jews were rooted out, but because they did not believe by the Son"". Search for a cause which rooted up Jerusalem, and see that it hangeth over them until they cease to strive.
much as to the other : he who denies implies that the Name Father has a
the latter will soon oome to denv the reaiitj correspondiDg to it as much as
former, they heing in/acif though not that of Must/ 'good/ 'creator,' &o.
in our conception of them, liokra one See B. lii. §. 1. into the other. In regard to the illus- '^ Assem. renders in Filinm, which is
tration here used, it maj he mentioned not exact; St. E. means, that the Jews
that in vol. i. p. 13, c. he says, that '' the did not believe throngh or by the Son in
heayen and the earih and fire and wind '' the Three N ames which have made a
and water were CTbated out of nothing trench. &e."comp.vol.iii.p.593,o.St.Gr.
an Scripture testifies ;" and ihid. n. e. Nyss. li. p. S39. ^* If it be only that they
^* the remnant of other things were made may lay themselTcs a sort of foundation
oat of these same things which existed." and starting-place lor thei r hlanphemy ,
See also p. 7, c. where he shews how that they allow an existence to the
the creation of things not specified in Son and the Spirit, it may be a bold
Scripture as created^ are implied to be way of putting it perhaps, but, at that
created within the six days. Here he rate, more profitable would it be to them
omits earth and heayen, hecaose they to desert to the Jews' worship and for-
make up the world of which the others swear the faith than to do an insult to the
are the pillars. His caudon against title of ' Christians,' by their pretended
denying the ohrious sense of Gen. 1. admission. For they by continuing up
is qoite to the purpose to add : ''By to the present time in the rejection of
Heaven and earth He means the very the word, only carry their impiety so
Heaven and the very earth. Let no ftir as not to admit that Christ has come,
man then suppose that there are alle- but to be hoping that He will come ;
gories (Syr. Targums) on the work bat for any conception wicked and
of the six days : neither may one say sabversive of the opinion they hold of
that the things which took place in Him whom they expect, none such can
the days took place in a moment, nor one hear them utter. (Comp.p.71,n.z.)
that the names are empty ones, or that But these of the new circumcision, or
other things are intimat^ to us by the rather, to use the Apostle's word, of the
names. But let us know, that as the concision, do not deny that He who was
Heaven and earth which were created expected, has come, but imitate those
in the b^inning are in very deed who in unbelief and insolence dis-
Heaven and earth, and it is not any honoured the presence of the Lord in
thing else that is surnamed to us by the flesh. They essayed to cast stones
the name of Heaven and earth ; so the at the Lord ; these with blaspbemoua
remnant of things made, and of the words throw stones at the word of troth:
courses which come after are not empty they alleged the lowness and in-
i^ypellatious, since the realities of the gloriousness of the birth after the flesh,
natures suit closely to the appellations not aflecting the Birth before all ages ;
of the names." p. 6. So in the text he and these in the same way by denying
248 Imagination a delusive faculty
4. Be ye admonished, O bold disputants! and be restrained^ ye scrutinizers ! and see how no man is able to 1 5. to attain to the things of nature ^ See that there are four secret r! Ivh! generations in waters ; and some of them are single natures^ §• 1* and some there are that are two, and some again that are three ; threefold natures, that are conspicuous in three vrays. sR. xli.As for the Lord of natures' then, who can at ail suffice to ^' * search into His Essence, and seek out His Fatherhood ; or explore His Majesty, and say how it exists? For lo! it is concealed from all in all respects. And if He willed not to set Himself plainly forth unto us, there is none among the Job 33, creatures that could serve as Interpreter^ to Him. 'B. xi. ^' If He condescended to thee to shew thee His Son, ^'^•^' O foolish man, adore and praise Him for having deemed ' thee worthy of all this. Believe and rely, and strive not with Him, neither do thou bring Him into a controversy, that He may be examined. For the Nature of His Essence is unutterable : by stillness is the gate thereto sealed up, putting the babbler to silence. It was thus that the [Jewish] people strove Mat.21, with Him in their questionings, [saying,] Who is this ? whose Mark 6, son is He ? and how came He, or will He come ? and they John 6 ^^^^S'^^ ^^ impossible for a Virgin to bring forth % and the elders 42. ' and the scribes blasphemed Him, because they had begotten see Gal. * Christ for themselves which was no Christ; a dream it was of 1, 6. 7. the imagination, and a guess of the mind. Reprove thine own Mat.24; imagination, that it commit not adultery, and gender thyself a Christ which is no Christ, and deny Him who is Christ ^ ^- .. Be warned, make not an idoP in thy scrutinizing, be warned, §.s. that thou shape not in thy intellect a guess ^ of thine own ^'... mind, and the offspring of thine own imagining*^: let the §. 1. Offspring of the true One be shadowed forth in thy imagina- ^p^274,tion : for prying is an adulteress, and searching is an harlots It committeth adultery by its scrutinizing, and conceiveth and bringeth forth unto us a Christ of [its own] framing, and a Child of [its own] shaping, that it may be like in all points
the profession of the glorious and lofty ^ See Athan. de Beer. S. N. §. 24.
and unutterable Birth from the Father, p. 40. O. T. Greg. Nys. ii. p. 299, a.
assert that it was by creation that He *' Eunomius thinks the perverted fancy
has His Being.*' The Eunomians deny of his own mind more worthy of credit
the Father to be properly Father, and than those who in all the whole world
thus do not believe by or through the are glorifying the Name of Christ." Son's means.
n. c.
indulged by the victims of the father of lies. 249
to the Gentiles. The Jews are looking for the dream^ of > p. 74, their own intellect : it is the gaess of their own wisdom that''' ' the children of [Gentile] error are worshipping*. « p. 223,
6. The wicked one has left the pits ; he has cast these into the °' ' midst of a wide waste, since he saw that prying had eluded the pitfall. [Free] enquiry in the place of a precipice engulphed the infidel. And if thou art hanging him to bring him up, this is his device that he may hang himself on to thee in his own place *. For he hath broken off his own hope, that his constant abode may be there.
• U^Aj -0» OI^aQa^ QJOI ^^^^9 ^P°l- §• 2. M well SB Anus, in
^_r . '^~ ' J _SA i Athan. p. 185. As for the earlier pftit
wOlol-,.. Am. renden, cogita ipsuii ^^ ^^^ ^'^^^^ .^ meaning is very ob-
in animo id veraare anaiD| nt, te ao- scare : perhaps it may mean, Satan
cedentem complexn^, secum, precipi- i^tut relinquished his plan of making
tern trahat. This, on the whole, ap- traps for men's souls below the surface
peara to give the true sense of the of the earth, (see n. b. p. 821. where
words, (comp. ILxlviii. §. 3.) and their however the Syr. word diflfers,) which
meaningseems to be : * If thou justifieet traps are types offables of the mind's own
thy free enquiry by the pretence, that creating, he having observed that to an
thou art dragging Satan out of the lurk- acute and wrangling spirit they were
ing places which the so called orthodox evident enough: he has now given men
doctrine (ba you would speak) affords a wide waste ' a land of thorns' (see
him, be assured, that he is only de- p. 220.) to dispute in, which engulphs
visinff meanwhile how to make thee his victims as successfully aa the pre-
teDfoId more the child of helL* — Zeal oipice, while it appears to be open
for the truth was pretended by Euno- ground.
RHYTHM THE FORTY-FIFTH,
1. The eye and the mind teach one another: for any
little thing that falleth into the eye worries and disturbs it ;
and so is thy mind. Scripture and a light, each make thee wise, Ecdes. the light is fair to the eye, and truth to the mind. Choose J^Jj^j^ light for thine eye, the Scriptures* for thy mind. How §. Land averse the eye is to aught that falleth into it: evil meddlen! d. ' someness however is cast into our imagination. A mote is
distressing to the eye, how much more is meddlesomeness > contr. distressing to the mind ', corrupting all things at all times. §. 5? '"' The finger is no assistance to the eye that it should meddle
with it ; nor is searching to the mind that it should fix in it sorEter- 2. His Fatherhood is easier to us than His Essentiality'.
nifv
It is impossible that another Ever-being should come from space': but it is possible Ihat He should generate one Son, that is like unto Himself. Aught that is from aught is an easy thing, but [to conceive] an Everbeing which was not from aught is difficult, which though it
^oomp.^. vipholdeth all things, yet dwelleth* in all things. For if He ' ' 'dwelt in a space He would be small in His greatness, for then there would be a greater than He, since He would be found to dwell in space, and this is subject to a limit. But He that is illimitable, is a space which nothing can comprehend, and as it is not possible that space should be filled with the whole of Him, thus neither is it possible that
*coinp, Hig fulness should be in the mind*.
D. e.
* Assem. paraphrases : si a se ex- were, as he goes on here (aa there) to
istentem ab alio existere dicas ipse shew, and from which they mi»t he
tecum pugnas. Possibly the words conceived as coming. Very probably
•-0> -io mean merely, * from any ^^ means, by the way, to hint that Eu-
whereFBut though slurred over by ^JfJ^L'^r^l!^ ^K^^""'^^^^ ?
Ass. they would rather seem intended to ^J'ltT. f ^' *W -f'^^^Jf ""^
convey by implication the doctrine of ^^1}^'^. " ^ t^^'^'t^' '^!u* ***"1^
the perichoresis as stated in Vol. ii. ST?" " ^i^'^-Kn-^'^ *^1?^
p. 471 , d. quoted above, p. 132. col. 2. ^^ its »ncomprehensibaity, a fortiori ^
iTo suppose two Eternal feeings, would P^*!*"?*^® °^ God ought atoo to be ob-
be to Suppose a space in which they J^*^ ^' ^ ''' *>' P- 231-
AsGodiranicendsspace^HisFatherhoadUincatnprehensiblAbl
3. And if He were commensurate with that which is space in regard to His knowledge, and yet not commensurate with it in regard to His Essence ; then were His knowledge greater than His Essence, and it is found that He is made
up out' of two things^: for lo, it is inconsistent, that ^s. thai He being One should be in them both. This His Uttle-^^^' ness contraries His greatness, while He knoweth not if^of there be in that space entities without limit, and worlds, and creatures. The foolish therefore fall into a maze of bias* phemy, and hence it is high time for them to say, that He is One fix)m Himself % and a Father from Himself, and perfect, and entire, and Self-sufficing in all things.
4. For if He dwelleth in space. He would be little in His Majesty; and if He could not beget, then would His Fatherhood be Yoid'; and if He could not create. He would be* On weak in His Essence. Lo, He is wholly perfect in all these ^^^' things, for He begat without suffering, and created without n-e. labour '^j and dwelt without space, and is rich without treasure ! i79^e. For there is no place that surroundeth and hemmeth Him in, neither is there any scrutiny which searcheth Him out sufficingly. Great is His Essence, as is also His Fatherhood. Space and intellect are cast and condemned, and
^ The Fathers held God's simplicity He creates withoot suffering then allow
in such sense as to deny that He was that His Generation is without suffisring
compoimded of Essence and Attributes ; also.'' k'irmh. Comp. ibid. y. §. 6. p. 316.
our idea of Him is so compounded, He Gre^. Nyss. ii. p. 630, d. ^* Neither the
is not. Vide Petav. de De(K ii. 8. St. makmg of the creation nor the thing
£. here shews what will follow from meant by having a Son admits with it
the abcrardity of supposing two Eternals time or matter or labour or suffering."
inclosed in space, noticed in §. 2. Epiphan. Hsr. Ixix. §. 26. '* Tf in
Assame the Father to have a knowledge begetting He suffered, then He was
reachingbeyondHimself into the other wearied in creating." Epiph. in H.
Eternal, and you make Him ' of a Ixxvi. $. 22. and more at length Cyril
compound nature having* knowledge in Thes. vi. p. 43, a. states and combats
' a constituent or complement of His the Anomoean doctrine here alluded to.
Substance,' to use the words of St. " How," says Eunomius in Cyril,
Athanasius.p. 334. O.T. and p. 514-16. *' can it be other than a necessary ad-
Aetias (in fepiphan. i. p. 929. xxziz.) mission that the Father's Essence was
&rgues, ^at * if God remained ingene- impaired, if the Son came oot of It,
rate, He could have no consciousness being as it were a part of It ? But if
of a generate condition :.... without ye would preserve to the Father His
supposing Him to be ignorant of Him- unchangeableness and superiority to
self; we cannot make His Being the such impairment, then ye will not de-
saroe as the Son's, who is generate.' dine saying that the S<m is not a part
Thisisperhaps here retorted on hinu<elf. of His Essence, nor from Him, but
« This is the doctrine of the Monarchy; Jrom without^ and that he hath His cosee on Athan. p. 45, n. h. which is also existence owing to the power which is the doctrine of the Athanasian Creed, in the Will [of the Father] alone." See < The Father is made of none,' &c. also on Athanas. p. 140, n. n. and Or.
d So Basil c. Eun. ii. §. 23 fin. " If i. §. 28.
252 Creation which is in spacCy in above mau^u reason,
as there is no space that sufficeth for His Essence. Whose 1 f. 3. is the mind' * that sufficeth to search into His Fatherhood? 5. Though it be quite true, yet it is hard to search out how He created any thing when there had not been any » or mo- thing, and there would be no demonstration* whereby thou I, '40^ mightest search out if it were possible. And since in the dis- 13. 14. course of reason' there is no place where thy mind may rest j A\v> and say, ^ lo, thus it was !^ believe and repress the haughtiness of scrutiny. And inasmuch as thy spirit sufficeth not to gaze upon the difficulty of the actual thing, search Him out in another way, that from another side thou mayest rest thyself; < B. and reflect that to Htm, the Lord of all, all is easy \ The plead* t^s!^ ing wherewith thou hast silenced investigation into the creatures, oh, clad it on, and silence therewith the investigation into the Generation !
• Space is an element which enters the Son. Even Angek we conceive to
into a vaet minority of onr conceptions have relation to space and so eompre-
of things ; we explain time and its pro- hend their operations or energies. (See
perties by reference to space, as the p. 187) n.b.) But such dim and vagne
primary meanings of prepositions, &c. apprehension of God'ri Essence as we
would shew. SL £. then probably have, presnpposes Him to transcend
means that, as we cannot bring God's space, and so precludes our reasoning
Essence under space, it is impossible about His operations. See however on
for our mind to conceive how the whole B. Wii. §. S. of that Essence was communicated to
RHYTHM THE FORTY-SIXTH.
1. Be restrained ye daring ones, and go not on with meddling
any more! The fish leaps along the boundary of its river 'y^B.lziv. and passeth not over it : we have passed with our scrutiny the boundary of Him who is the Giver of our life. The Breath of the Gospel sustaineth us, the waters support the fishy the Scriptures' intelligent creatures. Within them is'R.xlr. life, without them is death. He that dareth to go in, my son, ^^9*^^^ where there is no air^, dieth, since there is no breath there tos ideler. quicken him ; that we may learn that we are not at liberty to go J^^j^* into hidden things. That Threefold Breath^ sustaineth thee,* r.t.§. and if outside it thou shouldest go forth into scrutinizing, f' |^* *^* the gust from errors will fly to thee, and kill thee.
2. The fool rageth, saying, " Wherefore should God have
a Son*; for if the True One begat', it was either by His* p. 133. own Will or not by His own Will that He begat; and ifs/a/R. it was by His Will, then was that which He begot no God;l»-f' ibut if it was not of His Will, He denied Himself though
■ Didym. de Trin. i. 9. p. 8. << < Did Father begat,— so that if we gay will-
God beget williogly (they say) or not ingly we may seem to allow the will to
willingly?' Bot we must first declare have a priority to the Generation, and
what their object is and make answer they may reply that the Son was not
accordingly. Now their object is to coetemal with the Father, since some-
rai.4e an objection with the simple- tfiing anteceded Him:.... but if we
minded from either alternative. For if answer that it was unwillingly that the
thcT lay hold of the one, * It was not Father begat, then we may seem to
willingly that He begat,' (not that any have made the Father incompetent."
body does answer them so,) then they Other passages are given by Petav. de
say, * God then submits to what He Trin. li. 649. St. £. meets this cavil
does not will in having begotten the by a practical observation : yon question
Son, the necessity of nature bringing (he means) about God's Will in matters
this about with Him ;' bat if it be con- too high for you ; obey that Will in
ceded to them that it was willingly things plainly declared. Consider in
that He begot, they rejoin, * So then settling your belief not what will satisfy
the Son's Generation depends upon an ambitious philosophy, but what on
the Father's will, which confers sub- the whole it appears from Scripture to
sisteney upon Him in the way of be God's will that you should believe,
creation.' '^ Ambros. de fid. iv. §. what impres^iion He intended to make.
102. *' They fabricate another impiety Compare what he says below, R. Ixziv.
when they put the question whether it $.1. upon another pjint, though with a
was willingly or unwillingly that the similar practical tone.
264 Scripture employs the words ' Father ^^
free.*' Wherefore is thine eye evil, because it was owing to His
1 p. 121, being Good' that He begat? thou art envious of that in which 231* £b. ^^ ^^^ ^^^ envious. Leave all these things, and seek what s oontr. His Will is'. The Father willeth that thou shouldest believe i. §. 44. that the Son is from Him : now if He willed this to be so, the ii. §. 6. Truth of Him agreed with His Name ; and if He did not
will it, it would have been opposed to His Name : the Name 3 R. liT.of Son were then a borrowed^' one. Faithfiil is His Name, Ik at. 8 ^^^ true is the Name of His Son. Confess and fear not, since 17; 17, His Voice encourage th thee, His Voice is as it were a pledge
2 Pet. 1, that gladdeneth thee touching His Son.
17. &c. 3^ Thamar% inasmuch as her action was hard [to justify],
took, in belief, tlie witnesses for her innocence. She took
his pledge, that it might go forth and strive with him ; for
the silent ones went forth and justified her. Let a man learn
then from Judah who was overcome by his own pledges, that if
«5.with-He blame thee. His writings are within thy reach ^ For it is
Jj^^p^p not another man that crieth, that thou shouldest doubt
279, n.d. [thereof] Moses and Elias were still and silent, and even he
who baptized Him, as if he knew Him not**, gave place to the
Father, that He might give a true account of Him. And
if He blameth thee, repeat to Him His own words: He clave
the Heavens open, and cried and clave strife asunder.
4. And if thou were to refute this, [and say,] that He
^ i. e. Dot a Name of Nature, but of whom He wishes to be baptized. Wheo
Grace. See on R. xHt. §. 2. baptized the Lord ancends firom the
^ See p. 38, n. b. p. 49, r« 1. St. £. water, the heaTens are opened, the
means, * If yon say the Father will Spirit descends : now it is that John
blame you for beliering without being recognises Him. If it is only oow
able to state the doctrine in terms of that He recognises Him, why was it
human science, do yon deal with Him that he ^aid before, I have need to be
as Judah with Thamar, and produce baptized of Thee? but if it is not only
against Him His own pledges to shew now, inasmuch as he had known Him
that He is the Father. — Withont a before, why is it that he says, I knew
certain dcTotional aflectionateness such Him not, but He thatsent me P &c. &c."
applications of Scripture may appear In Tr. t. §. 8. $. 11. he makes the main
irreverent : with it such applications answer to this question to be that St
are true to facts, to say the least John knew Him to be Lord, but did
^ St. Austin, in Joan. Tr. It. §. 15. not know that the * power of the Lord'n
ttus states St. John's seemingly con- Baptism would not pass from the Lord
tradictory account of himself. " See, to any man, but that the ministering of
my brethren, John is placed before it would.' This brings to the point
your eyes, John the Baptist standing from which St. E. starts in the next $.
at the river ; see the Lord is ooming riz. the distinction between sonahip by
still to be baptized, as yet not being so! grace which the Son could give, and
Hear the Toice of John : Comest Thou that by Nature which the Son has and
to me ? I ha'v« need to be baptized of none other. Thee. See he now knows the liOrd by
^Son,^ *sonSf mih diseriminaiianj and an a guide to us. 255
calleth even the sons of men ^ sons,' thou hast refuted that John i^ which refuted this : since he shewed the nature of man to ^^* be from the dust, and what the nature of the angels is He hath also shewn*. He cried of the Son that He is the Son, sind of the Spirit that He is the Holy Ghost. He ptuifieth and putteth these very things into our hearts. He wittingly called mortals * sons* (their body convicting them of having a created nature) that we might know that angels are our fellow-servants. Since, however, their nature was high above ours, they were not called at any time ' sons of God V that they might not confuse their name, by reason of their natures.
5. Go and call Adam earthy without questioning, and call Gabriel also spiritual : seal up in silence Those Three K If a ■ & man asketh of thee, there is written for thee the nature of "°^* inferior beings as warranty' for that of higher : but He hath not had it written for thee, that thou art to search into the Three ! Refrain thyself, O foolish one, and follow Him wholly,
• See on B. xxi. §. 2. and Bas. de mentfi with other Scripture statements.
Sp. Sanct. ZTi. quoted p. 120, n. e. No one perhaps was more explicit than
Probahly St. E. alludes to such pas- St. E. in asserting that the expression
sages as speak of the Angels being must mean the sons of Seth. Thus he
made spirits, and all the host of them takes Gen. it. 26. to mean the giving
being made by the Breath or Spirit of of the name of God to Seth's tribes,
God's Mouth. In what follows he now separated from those of Cain ; he
means to say, that God purposely be- accounts for the dwindled state of Cain's
stowed the name of * sons' on mortal men race which made Seth's progeny giants
and not on angels, that we might leam to them by supposing (i. p. 49, d.) that
from the fact of such a name being be- the curse on their ground prevented
stowed on corruptible beings such as Cain's race from oeing else than ^
men, that the name bas a derived sense, dwarfed : he urges (ii. p. 456, a.) most
in which it does, as well as its true one ingeniously that if the production of
in which it does not suit servile natures, giants requires the intervention of
This the bestowal of such a name upon Angels, then the production of dwarfii
embodied spirits proves moremarkealy. must be supernatural ; and p. 478. that
Angels on the contrary are not called if Angels could make women mothers,
*sons,' that men might not confuse then devils could, and so would have
their name with that of the Son, which imitated the Birth of a Virgin ; that if
they were more likely to do * by reason God had intended the race of Angels
of their natures,' i. e. becanse they were to be propagated, He would have made
incorporeal beings, as well as He. them male and female ; that, finally,
' The older writers (out of respect to the name of ^ sons of God' may be ac-
ihe book of Enoch perhaps) applied the counted for, (i. p. 14fi.) by supposing
term 'sons of Go<r in Gen. vi. 2. to the family of Seth to have dwelt apart
Angels. In process of time, Christians (as some say) on Mount Hermon, and
were led partly by reflection and partly devoted themselves to a life of angelical
by the necessity of opposing heresies to devotion and contemplation, drop a notion, whicn is valuable only c See n. e. p. 121. St. £.'s words
as a protest in favour of the duty of imply, that one may argue from one
believing Scripture statements in sim- order of creatures to another in some
plicity , but was found incompatible with degree, but about God we must depend
a scientific adjustment of such state- wholly on what He reveabf.
266 The condescension afGr€u:e voi the propriety ofNalnre.
and of all that He speaketh unto thee, look not whether it is
> R. In. suiting, since thy appreciation ' [of it] snfficeth not to give aught
unto Him. If thou approvest Him, hitherto it is but a little ;
and when thy faith is rery great, worship exceedingly, in that
He hath brought the truth of His words down to the ear that is
of dust. Oh ! wonder, that God should have humbled Himself
to the dust, and should have given it the ornament of life, and
s Vol. iL enhanced it with freewill*, and delivered His Son up for us
nl g. ' to shew imto us His love ! But instead of being astonished
p. 336. x^i^i It ^j^ gQ great, (and if he had wondered and been silent,
still that had been but little,) by the paltriness of their
wranglings they have made light of the Glorious One.
6. They are called gods, but He is God entirely: they are called fathers, but He is the True Father: thev are snmamed spirits, but there is a living Spirit. They who are called * sous,' and * fathers,* have borrowed names, which teach by the grace [given], that He is the One Father in Truth, who hath the Son in Truth \
^ The Fathers argued that men were are troe iona of Grod,) Oriff. e. CeU. not properly fathers, since they attained p. 128. p. 375. where he upeals of thoee Uie age at which they become so by honoured by God with the appellation degrees, and lost the power of being so of god, and partaking of Hia Godsbip. again, their sons in turn going through Athan, c. Ar. i. 39. and the note c. the same coarse. See Athan. O. T. p. 236. O. T. Didym. de Trin. p. 139. p. 192, p. 201. Below, B. Ixii. §. 4. (<< Though there he but one God and V ol. ii. ^. 479, e. ' He lifted man above Father, and one true Scm, all of os every thing, seeing He was called and through His goodnen and profnseneia named God.' i. p. 430, a. *■ It is plain are called after His Image goda and that Angels and saintly men receive sons, not that we are so in truth, but from God sanctification, illumination, according to that Ps. Ixxzii. 6. &c.") and godship.' So Clement Al. Strom, and p. 331 .§. xlii. Basil de S. S. ix. §. 23. ii. §. 104. speaks of a * saint as be- ' the summit of things desired is to becoming God Holy of holies.' And tI. come god,' and above, p. 120, n. c. §. 113. * The soul having received the o. Eun. lii. 6. G. Nyss. in Or. Doou Lord's might practises to be a god.' Vol. 1. p. 752. b. c. Ambr. de Fid. v. Comp. §. 140. ^ He calls them sods and §. 22. Austin in Jo. i. $. 4. in Ps. xlix. gods.^ vii.§. 56. Iren. iv.38. §.4. quoting §. 2. Cyril c. Nest. p. 41, c. p. 121 , b. Ps. Ixxxi. 6. as does Justin M. c. in Jul. p. 59. Spanh. d;c. Tryph. p. 358, b. (we are called and
feHYTHM THE FORTY-SEVENTH.
1. Thb work of artisans^ the weaving of clever workmen, the beams and the t^unning work, bracelets and necklaces, books and calculations, meters and measures^ have men found out by their wisdom, when they measure the earth, and when they weigh the waters — these are things easy to the learned and hard to common men\ Yet if the simple are not able to scrutinize the wise, though it is but a little by which they have surpassed them in advantage of learning, how far short does the wisdom of the wise fall of Him, who created all
in His Wisdom ! and how mad must they be to think that P*- 104, they can scrutinize and search into the Nature of the Creator, wisd.9 and the Generation of the Maker ! ^^*
2. liCt us feel awed to think, how it is by these little and deficient natures, (by which used as types they are not able to attain to the fair Beauty of the Real One, or the Generation of the True One,) that He has perplexed the enquirers into all these. For if they were unable to attain to the creatures by scrutiny, how far short would they be of Him that is far beyond** all ! Our being stopped amid' the > §. 7. weak boundaries of visible things, shews that the measures of
our thought reach not unto the Son, the Beginning' of whom* p. 69, none is able to explore, since His Father is in all things hidden from all. And how much soever a man may reach out his intellect and his mind. He will not have His place explored nor His magnitude comprehended'. Be awed'R-iv. then at the creature? and honour the Creator, and do not^. y. ^. strive to search into the Nature which is greater than all ! f • ^^"•
^ Comp. B. Ivi. $. 5. G. Nyss. ii. was a Gentile notion. See Diod. Sic. i.
p. 766. mentions that Ennomius held 25. Philo Bybi. ap. Eos. P. E. p 31.
the arts to be inspired by God, in such Tert. de Spect. 10. 12. &c. Grepp. Naz.
way as to deny the agency of created p. 654. makes a somewhat similar use
wisdom in excogitating and inventing of certain arts.
new things in them. Perhaps the use ^ This phrase answers to the 'O
of the arts made against him here Mmurm irafrtf common in Greek
might have put him upon this, which writers.
258 Moses and Daniel^ though learned meuy abstained
d. For vain-glory is the cause of thy scrutinizing. Thou weak and feeble nature ! go forth, go see thy shame in the midst of thy contest which thine enemy reproacheth thee with, and along with him do thou [reproach] thyself also, that thou mayest know that haughtiness is the cause of thy strife. For into these things Prophets pried not, and the just men, the Apostles, did not scrutinize. Was it that they Acts 4, were unlearned men ? Moses will put thee to shame, who ' ' ' was learned, and yet cast quite away from him the wisdom of Egypt, and wrote with plainness the Trutli in open"^ characters.
4. Daniel too was learned and had been taught wisdom in Babel, such that she was not to be compared even with a gleaming of it: the bands of the wise men, that came in to the trial, in all sciences all of them did he silence. And since he knew that the treasury of revelations was closed,prayer gave him the key of interpretations ; He was meditative above all the just, and when he heard that the words were sealed up in
T)an. 12, secrecy, he sealed his own mouth with silence, and bounded
' ' ' his questioning, and was yet for the sake of his countrymen
prevailed upon and asked with discretion ; and as he knew
that he was a man he asked things pertaining to men, and
reverenced the things pertaining to the Divinity **.
5. The bold [disputant] forgets his nature, that he is a man, and leaveth the things pertaining to man and scnitinizeth those pertaining to the [Divine] Essence. If then he forget his own nature, whose nature should he search into ? for he forgetteth his own measures and tumeth wanton. If he had
Comp.^ cast up his strong wine and known that he is a mortal, then
'''had he been silent and had kept the measures of mortals. Comp. 6. Look at that Daniel, who, though a Prophet indeed, 120.'^ asked the Angels that he might learn simple things: the Dan. 7, foolish seek, each of them, into hidden things and put them
<: i. e. not in hieroglyphics which he ^'soothsayers and Chaldeans proclaimed
mentions vol. ii. p. 145. as used by the that it was by their soothsaying and
heathen for their mysteries. calculations that they had raised the
•* See R. viii. §. 7. and p. 67, n. p. king of Babylon, Daniel was to come
p. 205, n. b. The prophecies of Daniel in and wrestle with them by his God,
relate chiefly to the affairs of the worUy of whom they thought that He would
'as it is God's world,' rather than to certainly be OTercome by the gods of
any detailed account of God's attributes the Babylonians." (on chap, ii.) and dealings with His Church. As the
from unbidden prying^ which leads to confusion. 2d9
forth. Moses also a glorious Prophet, asked in fear about His Name, I AM*; yet we pry into hidden things in sport. The Apostle was more subtle than these rash [disputers] when he went into the city that was the metropolis of the Act«i7, Greeks, spoke to them of their own that he might shew that he knew it; but when they were overcome, then he cast aside their weapon, and taught them the truth : they rejected the ih. 18. medicine of life, since they had now of a long time beenib. 21. enfeebled with the disease of disputations.
7. Sit thee in the contest that thou mayest see the strifes : for in a clear place before them comes a thing as clear as day, which clear as it is they cannot see, though striving, and struggling, and shouting. If Ihen thou examinest them who have come to a stand-still* in things clear, how much more will the > §. 3. foolish men be overwhelmed in the Sea of hidden things. Go again, seek an assembly' which is all still and clear, andProv. cast in amongst them searching and strife, and sit thee down ^> ^^' and contemplate the composed persons that are turned frantic, f -^^^i^' the quiet that are disturbed and that disturb. If a single one is prostrated there, then all shout together. Searching it is, the smoke whereof hath blinded many !
* cootr. Scnit. i. §. 48. Vol. ii. p. traniilation' I AM' here preserved, that
A64, f. '* Moses witnesseth to us that the force of the Name Ues not in the
he called no other by the Name of tense employed, bat in the fact that
' Essence.' They were called gods, Being is all that can be predicated of
but essentials [or ever-beings] were God.See Maimon.ap.Petav.de Deo i. 6.
they not called: that by odc Name §.6. SoStHilarydeTrin. i. §.5.saysof
fie might teach as the taste of His this passage, (Ex. 3, 14.) '' I felt mere
grace, and by another Name let ns wonder at so finished a description
us know the mightiness of His Essence, touching God, which put the incom-
that we might confess both. To Moses prehensible knowledge of the Divine
did He reveal His Name, since He Nature into words the best suited for
called Himself. I AM, which is the making It understood to man. For
Name of His Essence. And never at that no one thiug is more peculiar to
any time did He surname another by Grod than Beiog, is understood, because
this Name, as by His [other] Names the very fact that He is, belongeth to
He did many; that by the one Name One neither ceasing at any time, nor
which He left, He might shew us that beffun, &c."
He alone i^ the Essential, and that ^ The sea and assembly in commotion
there is no other." It may be just are compared in Homer, Iliad, ii. 144. mentioned in justification of the old
§.2.
S 2
RHYTHM THE PORTY-EIGHTH.
1. Grant that I may opew tny senses to Thy Well-beloved,
Mat 11, since He alone is able to tell me of Thee : and he that hath
? S how ^^^ learnt of Him Thy Nature S hath erred greatly in thinking
Thou that he had found Thee. In the faithful ' are shadowed out
^^^ the Names of the Threefold who have not been searched
out at any time, nor comprehended at any time. Give unto
lis that our congregation may praise Thee without division !
•R.xWi.If we had attained to [knowing] ourselves* in every thing,
^' *■ yet would the Lord of every thing be entirely hidden from us:
9 p. 122, and if we were an assay-fiimace ' for these disputations, then
"' ** no man might deceive us by his words. Our soul is like a
* Comp. hand which without instruction cannot mark out the letters ^
n* a. ' ^' For 'oj there are many that err as without reason, and
perceive not this which I have taught, to wit, that we are not an
assay *fumace for every tiling, so as to know of our own selves
« p. 106, alone that He is One*. For His preachers have taught us our
pi 2*17, make by the type of an eye, which in itself alone is blind,
^8' and without the light cannot distinguish colours'*. He both
22. ' made light to rise up for us, and books too He had written for
us. His light is for things revealed ; His Scripture for things
hidden; at first it was with visible things and now with
• Tn Pearl v. §. 1. R. xxxiii. §.2. to he colours actoally." Plato Rep. he speaks of the faith in connection vi. §. 18. — Vol. ii. p. 637, d. " Blessed with colours in a similar way. Such he he that made all things in propassages are not of course meant to portion over against the senses. He assert that the faith is suhjective only as a discriminating Girer gave us and without any existence save that the earth for the feet; He ga^e lu in our minds: what they aie meant light for the eyes, and for the ean to do, is to contrast the expression sounds and words: hy those things of them in words with the impres- which He gave, He is accredited to be sion in the itiind of the faithful, which Ruler over all. The mouth He eave is of the two the most accurate re- us was for His Bread and for His tlup: presentative of these ohjects of faith, the eyes He created were for His Hence the fathers commonly disparage Scriptures, and for His Church also did in contrast with this impression * the He give us feet." By * preachers* pernoise of the words.' See Basil c. Eun. haps he means stich Lights of the ii. 27. Gt. Naz. xxxvii. p. 606. Nyss. Church as Greg. Naz. who compares ii. p. 863. Jerome ad Damas. £p. xv. God to the sun, Or. 34. p. 659, b. Or. §. 4. (al. 37.): and see on Athan. 40. p. 639, a. Dionys. de Div. Num. iv. p. 17> D. m. and p. 328, n. h. Thomassin de Deo, iii. 6. §. 12, &c
<* Aristotle de Anima, iii. 3. ** Af^er and may be referred to as evidence bow
a certain sort the light maketh the received an illustration this was. things which are colours potentially
Nature 85 Grrace leach the willing ^condemn the unwilling. 261
His Law. His light and His Law are a lamp that, without grudging, with His bright glistenings crieth aloud to them that see it, that by the gleamings of the Law the Truth is to be comprehended. Nature was an instructress to us in every thing, and every man according to his ability learns in proportion his pains ; and he that leameth not is reckoned among the unlearned. Compare one with the other, and be persuaded that he who subjects not himself to the Teacher of all, is justly styled ' one who errs through self-will.'
3. It is hard for one to find fault with a poor or an unlearned person, that he knoweth not how to paint, or that he skills not to chase gold ; yet one might be able to find fault with him who, it may be, did not learn. In the former case he eacapes, and the latter he is condemned. And yet not even on this very score for which he thought to have escaped, could he have escaped, if men had condemned him upon the same. Let go to a full length the fish that he may get himself refreshed; for thee he is struggling, and his labour is against himself; he bringeth the crown to thee by his run though he perceive it not. Despise thou the bold disputer and the erring man, who is overcome by his own weapon ; for when
he thinks that he shall draw with him^, then is he drawn iB.zliT. himself at the will of the fisherman. Since he could i^ot^^^ explore the sea into which he plunged deep, the air he ^cmt. i. wished to pierce into, and the height he wished to explore, though not able to live in a place not his own*. The fish'B.li. whose frolicksomeness leads him astray, leaps and goes aloft ^' ' that it may come up and feel the air'; because the breath >B.lxiT. thereof tosses him away, back into his waters does it send^' * him ; because he is a child of the water he thinks that every thing will give him a watery dwelling-place. His stream persuadeth him that he is not of a nature adapted to a dwelling Ex. 8, in chambers, and that he is not of a nature at all adapted to * our 4 5. dwelling-place. Thus our priers are not of a nature adapted <1^**® * to, or capable of % attaining to the things above, or searching to out the natures thereof. ™5«"L
4. The Gospel in the figure of Gihon breaks forth to give strange us drink; by Euphrates is typified its firuiUulness, because ofJJig*'® the abundance of its doctrine ; by Pishon is shadowed forth
the type of it and of the pause put to scrutinizing it. Our
262 The rivers of Eden types of Gospel graces,
washing, like the Deklath, with its word washeth us, and we come up by it into the lands of Paradise. And let not its fishes pass over the boundaries of Ufe ' !
• Gibon means *• breaking forth'-^ the Persian teger an arrow, tlioaffh
Euphrates he connects with a word possibly it may oe a correcter one tot
signifying fruitfulness, as Simonis ap. the Semitic name Hiddekel. St. £. on
Gesen. in v. has done. See Ecclas. 24, the whole may perhaps be said to lie very
27 — 38. which St. £. probably had in much less open to the charge of nonsen-
bis eye. As for Pisbon it seems to a sicabiess in etymologies, so deservedly
Hebrew scholar connected with ' pause' brought against the ancients, than his
by the mere accident of alliteration, Grecian and Homan cotemporaries: in
though in Syriao the same root is used in places be traces accurately and seien-
the sense of stopping. In like way he tifically the ramifications of a word's
connects Deklath the Syrian name of senses from a oommon idea, and there-
the Tigris with a Syriac word signifying fore some weight is to be attached to
' washing,' which is against the well- his opinion in such matters, attested etymology of the name from
RHYTHM THE FORTY-NINTH.
1. Oh ! how august was Noah, who was above comparison with any of the men of his generation ! They that were weighed by righteousness were found wanting in the balances, and one soul alone was of due weight by the force* of chastity '. * S. They were drowned in the Flood who were lacking inTp^S;" weight : and he that was chaste* and grave was lifted aloft in°- >>• the ark. Glory to Him who was well pleased in him! Noah extended His ministry between both sides [of the flood], and marked out two types. He sealed' up that which ' P- ^^i was passed, and began that which was, and between two generations ministered two types, since he interred the former days, and made preparation for the latter: he buried the old generation, and nursed up the youthful one. Praises to Him that elected him !
2. The Ship of the Lord of all fluttered upon the flood. It went out from the east, and reached nearly to the west : it flew to the south, and reached to the north. Its fluttering over the waters was a prophet to the dry land, and preached that its oflispring should multiply on all sides, and increase in every quarter. Praises to its Redeemer ! It marked out
» Vol. i. p. 146, a. <' My Spirit $haU Hir Spirit have dwelt for the 600 yeani
not dwelt m these men ^/or ever* — that he preserved his virginity an not
this is because they were oreated to being minded to be married, till the
live for ever, and the Spirit breathed Lord bade him, because he was afraid
into them was to dwell in them for lest he should have sons and they
ever. But they provoked the Spirit should be corrupted by the daughters
by their deeds, ana on this account He of Cain. Other interpreters however
said, My Spirit shall not dtoell in them interpret it of the Spirit which was
for every because they are flesh, for breathed into us, and fashioned man in
their deed He calls the flesh : and fread the likeness of God, &c." (See p. 267,
or] it is their life that He calls ^ spirit ;' b.) As the addition of one letter makes
then it would be. that their life shall this passage clear, I have ventured to
not be 900 years like Adam, Seth, and suggest reading *■ or.' It is probable that
Enoch. But man's life shall be 120 St £. begins with the mterpretadon
years, i. e. from the day that Noah which takes it of the Holy Spirit, and
began at the work of the ark until it after passing on to the one which takes
was finished. For the imagination of of the human spirit, returns to the first
fnan is evil from his youth. If then it one. However, the view given us of
had been of His Spirit that He was Noah's chastity is the main point here,
speaking, then neither in Noah would Comp. p. 20, n. 1.
264 The types in the law and the ark exhausted by Christy
by its course the standaxd of its Preserver, the Cross of its
Shipmaii, and the Tree of its Sailor, who should come and
fashion for Himself a Church in the waters, and by the
Name of the Trinity rescue them that dwell in it; and the Spirit
' p,90, instead of the dove was the Minister of her unction*, and of
"•^^'jjgythe Sacrament of the Redemption by her*. Praises to her
R- Redeemer ! His mysteries in the law and His types in the
ark hear witness to each other ^ : for as the recesses of the
ark were emptied, thus also were the types that are in the
Scriptures emptied. He who by His coming brought the
mysteries of the law to a close, fulfilled in the Churches the
types of the ark ^ Glory be to Thy Coming !
3 S. 3. My mind is amazed that it hath embarked upon' the
*^-^l fearful flood of our Redeemer ! Blessed be Noah, since even
though the ship was afloat upon the flood, and the ark also,
he was himself collected. Be my faith. Lord, a ship for my
« pp.228, weakness^: for lo! the foolish are sunken in the deptlis of
239,n.c. ^j^^.jj^ prying into Thee. Praises to Him that begot Thee !
i> See B. xviii. n. c. and §. 2. ref. 1 . ascend to paradise to inherit it accordandp.6.p.6. p.36.n.t.InVol.i.p. 149^f. ing to its degrees, each one accordhe writes as follows: ''The dove that ing to his lahoar doth it advance to the Noah sent from the ark prefigures the degree which is suite<l to him : to Uiis Holy Spirit to us : and the circum- each man is kept, since it has degrees stance that at the first time it found no enough for them all, its ground.is for resting place, inasmuch as men's con- penitents, the mid:<t of it for the just, ▼ersation was unworthy of the Spirit, its height for those of heroic Tirtue, and indicates the whole time before the for the Shecinah is its summit. Noah flood, as is known from God's saying, therefore made the heasc» to dwell in * My Spirit shall not dwell for ever in thelower stories, and in the middle story these men, because they are fleshly.' made he the fowls (see n. g. p. 1670 And by the dove's returning and the to dwell, and in the likeness of God waters abating, he figureth to us that Noah dwelt in the highest place. The sin abated by the Baptism in the Jordan, people on Mount Sinai dwelt below the and that the Holy Spirit rested : the priests round about it and Aaron in the leaf of olive figureth the unction and re- middle of it : and Moses was on the conciliation with the Father and the sign height of it, and the Glorious One on of peace. For the going out of the the summit thereof. The mystery of raven will figure to us the fall of the the division of that Garden of Life did accuser." In reference to note h, p. 236. God depict in the Ark and also on it may be remarked that the * abating Mount Sinai its types ; seeing He by of sin' here, (as in Vol. i.p. 521, d.) ' the its orderings shadowed out to us Parachanging of the waters, for the wash- dise, orderly, fair, and goodly in all ing ofthe Divine Regeneration, 'is what things. By its height and by its fair- St. £. contemplates as the object of ness, by its smcUs and by its diverse Christ's Baptism and not aught gained tribe^ that haven of all riches, the to Himself. See n. d. p. 270. Church, is depicted." See above, p. S6,
Vol. iii. p. 668. " When the just n. t. p. 121, n. e.
RHYTHM THE FIFTIETH.
1. The Son who was with His Father before all things surpasseth also all times, for in Him were created times, and He was before numbers, moments, and seasons'. His 'p- 66, mode of existence cannot be searched out, neither the datCn] t?'^^' of it be comprehended, neither can enquiry discover why" it' P« ^26, was. It hath not been measured out how great He is, norp.305,d. been explored of what quality He is^ Praises to Him thatg-^*^"* begot Him ! Who is there whose mouth would not hold its peace at the Begotten, whose glory no mouths are able to utter ^ ? ^B.zWii. Who is there that would not reprove his own self, and bethink^" ^' himself that if the Begotten could be comprehended, they would have made Him that begot small: and if the Fruit^^p*i79,
n. a.
could be searched out, they would have set bounds^ to thep|305 ^^ Root thereof ; for that They are blended^ One with the Other. ?• ^5, Glory be to Thy Father in Thee ! f/.ho,
8. Who would not be ashamed for concluding within the ^®^* *• narrow womb of his own imagination* prying without measure, «R.xliv. searching out without limit into the Begotten and the Begetter? ijii. $.6. The searchin g out of the creatures even is too great for our minds : the searching out of the Creator there is none that can span, for it is too great for any nature ^ Praises to His Greatness! 9§.3.B.
3. Who would not allay his prying into the Begotten, and be "'^* ^' astonied at Him that begot Him ? That He is Son, is easy
for us : how, is hard for us : that we should feel Him so, is easy for us'®: that we should pry into Him, is difficult for us: io|(.yii, since from every nature* is the prying into His Essence con-|* *• "^* cealed. To the Father and to Him let us offer up gloiy by Ix. §. i. means of silence". Praise be to Him that sent Him ! blessed u b. ii. be His coming ! |- J- j^-
4. Who would not bless the Good One who gave to dust §.6! its soul, that it might feel Him; who gave to the small dust^^^^^' discourse and reasoning ; who sent His Son, and clothed it,
and brought it up to glory ^*. The wicked one envied at His » p. 63.
266 The envy of the devil in leading men to disputation,
> see R. having made so great the sons of men *', and thrust them into f "^"' scrutinizing and the depth of strifes. Praises to the goodness
of the Trinity ! Lord, keep back from us the wicked one who Wud. % is wicked without a cause. He it was that envied Adam, and
he that envied his children ; he deceived him with fair words
s p. 103, that he might perish, and mocked all generations'. Our
' ' ' generation hath he altogether made light of, for that he hath
>B.xlviLmade us proud, and mocked at us; hath made us drunken',
and hath scorned us ; and hath divided us, and made a sport 1 ^* R of us. Glory to Him that slew Him * ! lii. 4. 3*. 5. Who is there, however foolish, that would not be
ashamed of his own soul, since the wicked one dweUeth in ^
• Vol.m.p.339,f.p.673,d. '<A great 8abiect.Noteb.p.211.aoanoteb.p.838. eleratioa did God oraain for men, that R. Iviii. §. 6. and B. Ixiv. §. J. maj be fleshly creatures might ascend and be referred to first. In vol. i. p. 136, a. fpiritaal like the Angels on high. In speaking of Gen. 3, 16. be sajs. *' Let all degrees did the Good One lift them this be taken in another way ot interup, by all devices did the wicked one pretation of the accuser, that invisible bring them down." See on B. zlvi. serpent: for it is he that watcheth for §. 6. The end of the §. alludes to ourheel,andof him the head is watched Ham's misconduct, or possibly to the for. As for ns, when evil and passionate well-known artifice of the Spartans thoughts are sown in our hearts by him, with their slaves. it beboveth us from the first to watch for
*> The received doctrine is, that God the head as it were. (Comp. the next onlv is able to enter the substance of the note.) But he inasmuch as our thoiughts soul and dwell in it, and that no created are not perceptible to him, watcheth for spirit is able to do so. See Petav. de Deo the heel, in our words that is, or in onr iii.8.§.5.deTrin.ii.l6.§.7*8.9.deAng.i.7. deeds, in order that when he has dia- Bertt de Disc. Theol. x. 10. Thomaasin covered by their means what we have in de Deo iii. 8. §.7. v. 6. §.6. Gotti. vol.i. Tr. our heart and mind, he may draw nigh iz.qu.5.dub.3. Thiswasoneoftheargu- to struggle with uh and hurry us off, if ments (as P. notices) for the Divinity possible, into the pit of destruction, and of the Holy Spirit. Hence such pas- destroy us miserably." Vol. ii. p. 333, sageB as spoke of Satan entering into b. *' Let not death rise by thy windows, people were explained of his penetrating let him not enter into thy citadels, and not in substance, bat by liis operations dwell in them and defile the form A thy into men's minus. Didymus perhaps image which is beloved by God. The may be looked on as the clearest gates that are in thy head are stamped voucher for this doctrine, although there with the stamp of the Spirit, [a cereis enough in other fathers to the same mony in Baptism, see Ass. Cod. Lit. effect. (See Natal. Alex. Siec. iv. diss. i. p. 218. Selvaggi Antiq. Christ, iii. xliii.p. 528. The belief in the ignorance 6. §. 1.1 with the seal of unction sealed of Satan as to Chrif^t's Person and are all thy limbs. The King has written Office noticed above, p. 21, n. o. and thee his epistle, and hath set upon it D. 136, n. c. would alone confirm it seals of fire: let not strangers read it, Now as St. £. qualifies his statement and mar its letters. Break not open even in the end of this very §. by the signet of the King, lest robbers stating as a doubtful matter there, what enter into thee : do not loose the sea), he had here stated categorically ; this that murderers may not destroy thee, alone would allow us to anrame that he Whatsoever is within is thine own, and was not opposed to the ordinary teach- without thee is what is not thine, ing of his day. But before endeavour- Withiu thee is God, and without thee ing to ascertain what positive meaning Satan." Comp. p. 174, n. c. In p. may be attached to the word 'dwelleth,' 334, a. what he says of God will it will be right to put together some of throw light on this last sentence, his statements elsewhere upon the same and contrast with what be says in
and his inexplicable subtlety in tempting them. 267
it, and it perceiveth not his intimate access. He is not seen with its eye, neither is he felt with its band, neither is
he tasted by it, that it should know that he is bitter. He is not smelt by it, that it should perceive that he is a stench, since he is wholly bent upon blood. Blessed be He that
vol. i. of Satan. '' The creatarea are what grotesquely stated by the Schoolnot too straight for Him , and when the men when they asked, * How many heart seeketh for him, the heart thoagh aogels could stand upon a needle's ^ Uttle holdeth Him. He taketh Him point P' ^*I have also enquired this: but a small space out of a man to dwell whether paradise is sufficiently large therein, that he may be a temple of for all the just to dwell therein P I God, so that He may dwell in him, enquired things not in Scripture, and and abide in him. A temple unto He taught me by things in Scripture. Him is the sonl made, the heart is Look, He said, to that man in whom a made the holy Altar, that He may be legion dwelt of all the devils: they were
florified on it, and have worship done in him, yet not known, since that power
lim, and that oflferin^s may be offered is more subtle and fine even than the
on it. And the Spine is made as it soul itself. The whole of that power
wereaprie8t(oomp.n.d.p. 146.andn.a. dwelt in one single bod^, "Sow an
I>i282.)that stands tbereat,and ministers hundred times more subtle is the body
at it Let not foul sin come in, and of the just after they are risen, and have
the Spirit go forth from thee, &c." come to life again!" Here he is using
In vol. ii. p. 604 , b. he asks in a Rhythm the power which a number of devils had
we shall have occasion to quote below, to dwell in a body, as an illustration of
how the devil, who [according to the the wav in which, it may be, all the
Manichean theory] was akin to body, jastwilldwell in one space. — Not being
came to be more subtle than the mind, aware of any passage^ which really
and be in one self in dreams, and yet affirm the view the text is calculated,
one does not know how P and speaks of at first sight, to give one, one may pre-
it as an inexplicable mystery. (See on same, from the denial of that view
R. Ivii. §. 4.) Ibid. p. 546, a. ^* If the implied in what has been quoted, that
soul be an inspiration, angels that are St. E. means in the text to insist upon
Hpiritual, whence be they ? If the what appears to be (but is not really)
angels ara ont of nothing, then the the case, as a difficulty inexplicable to
soul is so likewise. , If, however, all man. Somewhat also might be said
of them are from the' Creator, how is it upon the ground that ^ soul' is used so
that angels need not a bodily nature in excessively often in Syriac for * self,' as
order to see, while the soul cannot see to create an indefiniteness in the ex-
or hear withoat the senses? If devils pressioos ased, which the context will
again are the oflbpring of matter, and not allow one to attempt to keep up in ^.^^
the body which cometh from it is vile in the English. The Holy Spirit also is said
their siffht, how came the Maker to want to dwellin men before Christian times
todwellinitbyHi8in.^iration;(8een.a. in which only, in a strict sense. He
p. 263.) and how is it that the devil is un- biendeth His i^ubstance (so to speak)
abletosmitethebody anddwellinit? or with men: which might not only ac«
if the body be alien fit>m his properties, count for, but seem to jastify, a less
how comes he to be akin to the sonl P exact use of the word in regard to evil
Oh what falsehoods these unbelievers spirits. St. Austin (see Pet. de Angelis,
utter!" Here he evidently contrast^* i. 7. §. 10.) at one time thought that
God's power of dwelling even in men's devils could see such thoughts as were
bodies with Satan's inability to do so, thrown, in our minds, into explicit rea*
(i. e. without permission,) and implies soning, though unable to search the
that into the soul he could not enter, heart fully. This would go to shew
Into this alternative he does not expli- how strongly he, as well as St. £., felt
citly enter, as his object there is to the closeness of Satan's approach and
shew that evil and matter are not his seeming ubiquity : to explain which,
identical. Upon this and upon the notwithstanding the many damned he
text the following passage from vol. iii. has to consult with, may be an impoe-
p. 575, b. will throw light. It treats of a nihility, though it l]« a duty to submit
question analogous to the very important to the received doctrine in spite of such
question which is said to have been some- difficulties to the reason.
268 Tfie subtlety of Satan inexplicable.
friistrateth him ! Because the soul perceiveth not the devil, therefore it is that, if he dwelleth in itself, it never toucheth him or creepeth up to him ; and if he encampeth against it from without, that his intimate access* hath never touched it And whether he be in its neighbourhood, or again in its substance, the soul doth not perceive. Let us bewail ourselves that we have been bold towards the Son of our Creator. Praises be to Thee from all !
*^ There are several paseiages in St. £. it happeneth in tbose things, which we in which he exhihits no common insight without perceiving it, suffer when devils into the subtleties of Satan's tempta- rise up against us, and throw us into a tions. The following which will throw battle of imaginary obscene passions in light on the text, may be adduced as a visions of the night. Now concerning specimen: vol. i. p. 412, b. *' From these and the like to these, when their this (the history of Amnon and Tha- soul repenteth and reflecteth in sober mar) thou mayest learn the craftiness thought, how wrong they are, and how of Satan, and the silliness of the soul much they disturb its brightness and that is off its guard : for Satan, when blacken it, and how that they are the he wishes to obliterate its beauty, and beginning of transgression, it bewaib is unable to effect any thing by force, itself, and from its weakness pears struggles with it craftily, and persuades forth tears, and rendeth its garment, its childish simplicity to actions which that is, the body, with hard labours, are notimagioed by it to be blameworthy, and the heart by the passion of repentas those which very many tiroes are by ance. They cover their head too from the subtle movements of the thoughts their passion and their shame, and go, mischievously set in motion, and which, crying as they go from their whole heart as if not blameworthy, we are negligent and calling aloud to the Lord to do judg^ of; or as words which are as it were ment upon their prersecutors," said in mirthfulness and in love— or as
RHYTHM THE FIFTY-FIRST.
1. Who is able to requite Thee for having humbled Thy Majesty unto all which is little*, and having brought Thy»p.209j Highness down to the limits of a lowly estate, and brought ^ot^ Thine own Life down to the rank of mortality'. And Thy Richness came down and dwelt in all necessity, and Thou
hast subjected Thy Lordship to the yoke of service*. Praises* p. iss, be to Thy goodness ! Who, Lord, can gaze upon Thy invi- y^^* . sibleness which came down to a visible state, and Thyp.493,b. concealedness which came to the light and to manifestation,^' and Thy retiredness came forth to boundless openness', and'R-xix. Thy awiiilness came to the hand^ of them that seized Thee.!* r.*x. These things happened to Thee, Lord, because Thou wert§'*-^' Son of Man. Praises to Him that sent Thee !
2. Who would not be afraid, since though Thy rising and Thy Human Birth were so manifest, yet so incomprehensible
is Thy Generation, that it hath baffled the investigators*. For * p. lis, there is that preacheth that it was a body only that Thou°'°* tookest : and there is that teacheth that it was a soul and a body : others have erred in thinking it was a heavenly frame**.
* This passage miKht be adduced appears hiinj>elf to have been driven
against the Aphtha rtodocetee, who held from the first to the second, and from
Christ's Body to be incorruptible, though this perhaps to the third error here
it would also tell against a heresy of mentioned. See the Tract of Leontius
St. £.'8 own time, that of Apollinaris, de Fraud. Apol. in Mai*s Spioil. vol. x.
who held a similar doctrine. Vide for proof, from ApoUinarians, of their
6. Nyss. c. Apollin. 16. 24. 30. (^ what subtle evasions ofa</^ntto form of error,
we are in essence, that was He who G. Nys. ibid. 6. 13. Petav. de Tnc. i. 6. .
died for us,') 42. (^ the Flesh being in and 6. x. 3. §. 1. and xiv. 3. §. 4. Le
its proper nature Flesh, but changed Quien ad Damasc. de Hsr. §. 77^
into the seed of Incorruption, as the Coustant ad Hil. de Trin. x. §. 16.
Apostle says in 2 Cor. 6, 4.') 53. and Mingar. ad Did. de Trin. iii. 8.
the note of Zacagni. Petav. de Inc. Epiphanius, who complains that he
X. 3. Theoph. Beynaud. Christus. iv. could not get consistent accounts from
1. §. 2. Leontius Byz. quoted by Le them, (H. Ixxvii. §. 20.) speaks as if
Quien, ad Jo. Damasc. de F. O. iii. 28. what St. £. mentions last was the
and on A than. p. 241, n. h. p. 243, n.i. latest development, §. 26. ^'some of
p. 376, n. u. them have dared to say that His Flesh
^ These might be called various was consubstantial with the Godhead"
Jihases of ApoUinarian error, though the — a position which would immediately
bnner two were held by those of the follow from the assertion that He
Arian school, and though in the contro- brought His Flesh from Heaven. The
versy with the latter the Fathers chiefly next words allude to this error, which
concerned themselves with establish- of course involves a denial of the doc-
ing Christ's Divinity. Apollinaris trine that Christ took His Flesh from
270 The Divine objects oj faith
Praises to Thy Generation ! Lord, seal our mouth : since, if Thy revealed estate has baffled the wise ; (for they have not been able to grasp Thy Birth of Mary, seeing the learned iby their are divided into parties about' Thy Birth;) if also men comdTd^ prehended not Thy Humanity, who erer shaU be equal to p. 115, Thy Divine Generation? Praises be to Him that begot '"''' Thee!
3* Whatsoever is allowed, let us sing, Lord, upon our harp: let us not utter any thing thereon which is not permitted, seeing it is the harp of frail creatures. Neither are the sounds of it equal to the probing of Thy Generation ; >Coiiip. neither on harps' high and spiritual of the highest Angels can g/ * * Thy Generation be comprehended. Praises to Thy secretness ! Lord, let my tongue be a pen for Thy glory "", and let the Finger of Thy grace mark out and write therewith words of edification. The pen, Lord, cannot, without one to hold it, of itself write at its own will. Let not my tongue slide off into speaking, without Thee, aught which edifieth not. sor here- Praises be to Thy teaching I It is audacity' in us to call ^yP^f Thee by a Name which is a different one from what Thy « R. Tii. Father called Thee, who called Thee 'My Son^^ alone on the §. 3, 3. jj^gy Jordan ; and when Thou wert baptized, even Thou, the • s.the mystery of the Trinity baptized^ Thy Humanity, the Father foid^ by His voice, and the Son by His power, and the Spirit by
mystery His over-shadowing**. Praises to the over-shadowing of Thee I
n. h.
p. 336. the substance of tbe Blessed Virgin, pretatioo the Tongue would be ex-
WalchiuSyinhisHistoriederKetzereien plained of the Spirit as He descended
Th.iii p.333. observes that St. E. never at Pentecost. St. E.'s interpretation
mentions Apollinaris by name, yet can- refers it rather (with St.B.) to tbe Gift
not deny the truth of the story given of the Spirit, as in the following pas-
in St E.'s life by St. G. Nyssen, who sage from his Comm. on 2 Sam. 23, 1.
mentions his sticking the pages to- p. 433. '< David wishes to shew the
gether in Apollinaris' book before a truth and verity, not only of what he
conference. This w worth noticing is saying in this Psalm, bat also of
here as a proof that Apollinaris was the rest of what he had preached in
personally known to St. £. as well as the Psalms by the Word and Beve-
to St. Athanasins, St. Basil, and other lation of God. For all the declarations
great men of the day : which would which are written in the Psalms did he
make St. E. avoid naming him. Com- learn from God, who moved the toogoe
pare on St. Athan. p. 602. Ming, ad of David, and guided it as a wnter
Did. iii. as above, and on p. 175, doth his pen [reed]; as David also
n. 1. bearetii witness in the Psalms, when
* Ps. xlv. 1 , 2. (to which St. E. here he saith, ' My tongue is the pen of a
refers,) was often explained (hs Basil ready Writer.' "
mentions on the place) of the Father, <* The word for overahadowing is that
who sends forth the good Word, it being used in Gen. 1 , 2. compare note m. p. J 69.
taken to be spoken in the Person of the (where it is rendereo *■ brooding,') vui
Father: conformably to which inter- n.h.p.236.Here,asdiereseemedtobean
knoum only in a limited way. 271
Who could deny the Threefold Names, whose over-shadowing ministered of old, by the Jordan? Tnie is it that by the Names^ wherewith Thy Body was baptized', that our bodies iab.ref.4. are baptized ; and though there be very many Names of the^^'yj Iiord of all, He hath baptized us in the Father and the Son§«i-an<l and the Spirit distinctly *. Praises to Thy Majesty !
4* Who would not be amazed at the painter, who if he painted even a common horse, when he should have added a head and the members, out of fear added them not? O foolish wise men^ that by questioning have counted a small thing ^s. that Generation which is not small, and though He is like One, yet have likened Him to many ! Glory to the Son of our King !
5. Who hath seen in the subtle air a way akin to that way Wi8d.59 which a fowl wendeth^, or a man walking as upon the back ofi^' ^.j^^ the wind? The breeze is spread out, and made a path for ^&7) the that which walketh there, and admonisheth not to go at allthe^wl. outside of it', for out of it is death. Praises be to Thy roonishing ! Lord, make me also to be fully instructed by that danger, und to be afraid of going beyond the boundary
allosioD to St. Luke 1, 35. (in which persoDal attribates. the word Power is taken by some of the ' St. E. seems here to contemplate
Son,) it has been rendered 'nversha- the atmosphere ad of definite dimen-
dowing.' For the Ri?er that baptized sions, so that life could not be sustained
Him was a tjrpe of His Conception in beyond it. The ancients commonly
St. E.'s view, p. 86, n. f. Perhaps by held the air to be surrounded bv ether,
*' ministered' be means to imply that or the quinta essentia, (the aka^a of
this was the beginning of the Christian, the Indians.) See Olearius on Philostr.
as the end of the Jewish, dispensation, iii. 34. Sezt. Empir. p. 136. Elias
Vol. ii. p. 185. ** The long-suffering Cretensis ad Naz. p. 541. n. 16. Ideler
which was granted to this priesthood, Meteorol. veterum, p. 18. St James
(the Jewish,) and was granted also to of Edessa, a writer of St. E.'s school,
it unto wickedness and violence, must gives the following account of it in vol.
needs be granted to it until His Son i. p. 120. <' After this is the third circle
the Messiah, whose the priesthood is, of visible air, which is compounded
should come, and bring it to a consum- equally of a mixture of air and of fire,
roation in the Jordan by means of and is in a continual state of com-
John.'* Comp. p. 488, b. (above, p. 197, bustion and ignition, for it is dry
n.d.)and495 — 6. Vol.i.p.526,d.p.d32, and subtle, and entirely devoid of all
e. (Jordan the mother and beginning of moisture : this is that which is called
Baptism.) p. 534, b. The word * minis- by the Greeks * Ether,' a word which
tered' has, however, the technical sense is explained to mean ' ignited air,'
of pouring water upon the hands. See [see Hesychius and Etym. Magn.]
Asa. Cod. Lit. v. p. 221. and the Ch. which if not kept in order by compul-
Paraph. 2 Kings 3, 12. from which this sory boundary by Him who made it,
sense is doubtless taken. what is there to stop its setting on fire.
• LAasU^' R. Ixv. §.3. The word ^^ consuming all that is near it, and
, ' ' .^, J 1*. making all moi2<ture in things that
perhaps mean, with a purpowd d«- ^^^^ », ,^^j^^ ^ „^ „ ^^ ^
t.nctne«, i. e. mtendiDg by the use of ^„. ^ ^ ^ j^^ ^ ^j. ^^^ .
these Three Name, in Baptism to mark i^^^f^^^^ ^ R, t. §. 6.
that they indicated not essential nut
272 Tlie received faith rejects novelties,
of my faith. Thy Truth is easy and straight : to them that
B.l.§.3. believe, it is easy ; and to them that are perverse, it is difficult.
Scribes T^^ simple disentangle themselves, and escape : the learned
err, and fall into the pit of disputatiousness. Oh that the
Lord may lift them out ! Praises to Him who findeth all !
6. From those His Names also the might of interpretation shone forth unto us. The Names of the Servant and Sou of the Lord bear witness ; for the name of servant teacheth that he is not the Son', as does the name of Son proclaim
L^* 5 ' ^^** ^^ ^® ^^* ^"® ^^ ^^® fellow-servants*. Of both their names preach without doubt. Praises to His Majesty ! The bold one then that teacheth aught that is new let us reproach and say, that my faith is perfect. My gem^ is entire, not needing thy grinding. It will not beautify in Thy furnace, since its beauty is from itself; and if it be graven, it is rejected from the crown of the King of Heaven. Praises be to Thy Kingdom !
S i.e. the name of servant shews that rate as it were with the Divine!' ii. the Nature which appears outwardly, is p. 90, c. " He was called a servant hj not the Only-hegotten Son who always the Father when He came to fulfil His is and was and is to come. .The followers will in the salvation of men, and took of Apollinaris made the flesh of Christ the likeness of a servant in that He (as contradistinguished from His mind clothed Himself with our body." and soul) to be eternal and yet that which ^ S. pearl. See Pearl ii. §. 1 . n. b. saved men as being servile in its nature. Probably the word is here used gene- See Greg. Nyss. c. A p. 40. To this per- rally for a gem, as rendered : for a haps St. £. here alludes. Comp. |. 1. pearl would be destroyed by heat, p. 183. n. c. and Vol. i. p. 493, b. *^ Oh whereas it is said to be the practice marvel unspeakable, which Esaias calls with jewellers to get out flaws and a wonder, that unto man his Lord came specks from some gems by exposing down and took the likeness of a servant, them to heat, and made the servile nature commensu-
RHYTHM THE PIFTY-SECOND.
1. From God Himself let us learn God; for as by His
Names it is comprehended that He is God, and is Just, and
also Good ; so the Name of Father evinceth ihat He is a
Generator'. For the very Name of Fatherhood used of Him , j^ j^
bears witness of the Son ; and as He was the Father of One, §. 6.
in His love it is that He is so of many*. Praises be to Hisj ^^
grace ! He is the true Lord ; and lo, His servants stand H. Wiii.
witness; and He is King over His possessions! and that
He is Creator, lo ! His creation standeth [witness] : and
because He is Father of a truth. He hath a Son of a
truth ! But if His Name of Father be borrowed, (which
cursed be he that thinketh ') then by strife are dissolved the 3 ^
kindred names also'. Praises be lo the True One! Who (which
would speak so stoutly against tlie Father of the Truth, as to curse)
say that He could not beget*, and that that Name of Father- 4 g^^ ^
hood wherewith He did invest Himself was borrowed? But'liv. r.
since He is verily Truth, His savour is preserved in Himself; rJix
§.*i. '
* i. e. if you argue, that there is no reason For thinking that * Father* correatity answering to what is implied hy responds to some realify, as there is the Name * Father/ the next step will for thinking that * Lord,* * King,' and be to argue that He was not really a * Creator' do; that the eternal relation- Creator, that it was only our way of «»hips of Person to Person in the Godgetting a first cause which obliged us head are not less distinctly stated in to express ourselves so. Seep.231,n. b. Scripture than the temporal relationp. 247, n. c. For the Anomeans as- ships of the Godhead to His creatures. ifumed » Father,' * Lord,' » King,' * Cre- Comp. Petav. de Deo iii. 2. §. 12. The ator,'tobekindred names, all indicative following words of St. Austin de Trin. Dot ofpersonalattributes,bat of relations vii. §. 9. will help to make the text to «0. Hence they argued from Acts ii. intelligible. '' If to God it is one thing 36. (hath matle Him Lord and Chri.«t,) to be, and another to subsist, in the that God communicated His Lordship same way as to God to be is one thing, to the Son, (not by geneiating, but) by and to be Father or Lord, another ; for creating Him ; see Basil c. £un. ii. §. 3. His being is spoken in respect of Him- G. Nyss. lib. v. vi. Ambr. de F. i. self; but Father He is called in respect §.95. Athan. e. Ar. ii. §. 4. p.397. O.T. of the Son, and Lord in respect of the which the Fathers answered by shewing creation which serves Him; at that that this passage applied, evidently, to rate He subsists relatively. He be- Christ as Man. In so taking the text, getteth relatively, and is Lord relathe Anomeans of course imply that the tively." The question whether God is Name 'Lord' and the like belong by Lord eternally, which St. £. incidentally nature to God, by grace to the Son. denies here, is discussed by Petav. 1. c. St. £. shews, that there is the same See R. It. §. €.
274 1%e Names qf Father and Son proclaimed in Scripture,
^ pp. 84, it is by His Salt' that the foolish have lost their saTOur.
' * For who caD undo the Name wherein our Baptism standeth
3 R. lix. and our Atonement ? Praises to Thy Atonement' !
^' ^* 2. Say thou that the work of man is external to himself, and
>p. 211, his voice^ is within himself! say that he is (rod's work, and
B *lviL °o^ (rom himself** ! For His Word is His Son, not a word of
§*^- the voice. This is the Word that is able to declare all
things, this the Word that our word is not able to declare !
Praises be to Thy concealedness ! Why is thy wordiness
I^Syr. stirred, thou wise man^, to no advantage ? for if the Father
confesseth His Son and abhorreth it not, and if the Son
also confesseth His Father and feareth not, get thee forth
and weep, childish man, that They are Equal and at
Unity, and we are divided*. The heavens are full of peace,
^§.6. Rebut there is a sword in the Churches^ Praises be to Thy
tTjB. Peacemaking !
liii. §. 1. 3. What detriment does thy enquiring do to God*? For if §. 5. ' He crieth aloud that He begat, and is not ashamed of it, and 7pp.l39,that He is Father, and is not abashed at it% who art thou, 249,ii.e. ^QQ^ jj^^^ I ^\^Q^ wouldest be an avenger of Him who avengeth
all ? Get thee forth, go, avenge thyself of thine adversary
who hath slain thee with thy tongue. Praises be to Him
s B. X. that slew him"! The fool hath cast himself down that he may
6 4
• comp. penetrate into two Seas^ calm and holy, which have never
§.4. been troubled at any time. Rivers grow troubled in their
waves and get themselves calm again ; those that are foul,
^ Such is the Tersion of the Editor ; Word that our word is not able to but 98 the two clauses begin similarly declare!' Ah it stands^ the phrase ' this with ' Say q/* man' and *• Say of God,* the Word' is taken in tvro different it is difficult to suppose the second was senses in the Latin, which is awkward ; not meant to predicate something of the reference to Matt xi. 37. so frequenc God, as the first does of man. The with St. £. islost: andthe'^iVVVord' occasional six-syllabled rerses inter- comes in in a way one should not exmixed with the five-!«yllabled lead one pect. But it seemed best to give above to suspect some confusion ; and it seems such a Tersion as could be forced out of not impossible that the words ,'^v the words as they stand. OUlD \k> OOi should come after the , ;^ above, Pearl, fin. and B.lxii.^. 6. words * say of man,' instead of being f/' ^t E. seems to allude to John xrii. after* say of God.' The whole would J 1- WhftChnst there prays w, that* as then run thus : * Say thou of man that he ?^^ Jf ^^' If °°^ ^l °*il'L!? T^u is a work (i. e. a thing made) and not *^,^'« ^^'V** ""^ '"^ respect of each from himself; his own%ork is external ^^^«'". "*y ^^^.^"^ ^^^^^'^ .°""^ ^^ to himself, aid his voice within him- ^^^^^' ^nd by our being in no wise
self. Say thou of God that His Word ** ^*"*°*;« "^'^ ^''X ^'^^^''' •
is His Son, not a word of the voice! ol»«ped with one bond of holy love as it
This is the Word that is able to declare TS[%'''*° identity.' Cyril Tbes. p.
all things, (Matt. xi. 27.) this the ^^y°'
and the/utility of all heretical cavih against them. 275
by their abundant streams become limpid and purified. And if a man pry into them they eddy him' in and cast him down, i p, 144, seeing that he has died in his scrutinizing. Praises be to ^* Thy Bighteousness !
4. Who would not refrain his searching into secret things?
it is a plague which the Apostle calleth a canker. Con-2Tim.2, tentious searching is a fountain of mischiefs for the fool that p^*^^^ busieth himself therein. From out of it there may be formed 17, 14. a passion of a sudden, which is sweet in the beginning thereof, bitter in the end thereof. Praises be to Him that exhausted it! Who hath persuaded thee to use thy feeble pupils in gazing on the secret and strong LightsS whose glistenings the 'i- e. the Angels cannot look upon'. Moses wished to pierce through Pei^ns^ them and see them there a little while*. And as he did not^^""P* look to pry, the glistening was eager to meet him, blinding, 241 Jd.c. as it does, them that pry. Praises to Thy Majesty ! ^P* ^^®>
5. Who would not believe the two Testaments concerning ^R.xlvj. the Father, and the Son, and the Spirit. Comment on them ^, 3^ ^^^ where you will*, yet are They not called by the name o{^s.ex^ * made,' * created," or * formed.' No affinity to Them have the every'" names there given to things created. Thus He willed it should E[^^f * be written, and since He is God, it is meet that we believe §. 2, 3. Him. Praises to His Lordly State ! Who would not submit himself to his teachers and leai*n as they have taught him^?^p-i39,
n e
But if a man hath thought that he has surpassed the measure of his teachers, empty is his vaunting ! O man, whose taste is lost, and who hast raised a quarrel with God, to whom hast thou likened thyself? Who among the wise is as He who giveth Jamesi, wisdom unto all 7 and who among deliverers is as He who jobn g giveth all freedom ? or who in revelations can compare with ^^ the Holy Spirit? Praises to Thy teaching ! 10. *
6. What strong reason then hath he that striveth with us? for the Truth fetters up all their reasonings ! One of three things happeneth unto him that is a bold disputer: either grant that he is an infidel, or grant that he is a deceiver, or
^ This geems to refer to Prov. y. 4. and the Greek Cateoa on the place, 4bc.
which aaoientl J wan commonly onder- For as St £. himself says, vol. iji. p. 670.
stood to contain hesides its literal sense '' All our souls are together espoused
an aeooant of the wiles and fato of nnto God, after the fashion in which
heresy. See B. zliv. §. 6. Jerom. in He took and espoused a wife for the
£zeoh. yi, 14. Epiphan. Hceres. Ixziz. son of Abraham His friend." §• 8. Cyril de Ador. xy. p. 524. Bede
T 2
276 A prayer for peace and unity.
suppose that he is an ignorant fellow. [The cause] of tbeai
that pry is at a stop : [the cause] of them that are faithful is
established. Praises to Thy victory ! What then remaineth
to the side of the vain -babblers ? as they speak, so would I
iieen.b. speak: for even when a man useslies^ he is able to overcome
^' * them. For either it was feebleness that He could not beget,
*B. ix. and He concealed His weakness, and made us think' that
He was Father; but if He was able to beget, this is a
crown of victoiy on our side in two things. Why then
should we add any new {ruth to that which He hath had
written for us ? The Names that we have added, they have
been partizans to the bold disputers. At all hateful additions,
thou hast added questionings, thou hast added strifes, and
changed what is written. — Thou hast quieted those which
were in confusion. Praises to Thy calmness! O Ix>rd,
[8.39,8. make quiet in my days in Thy churches, and blend and
unite, O Lord, the contentious sects, and still, and rule also
'B.zxt.the conflicting parties^ And may there be at every time one
^* ' true Church, and may her righteous children gather them<»
selves into her bosom to confess Thy graciousness. Praises
to Thy reconciliation !
RHYTHM THIJ FIFTY-THIRD.
1. Who would not wonder at* the Just One who omitted not to write the deeds of beings above, and mark out those of beings below, and write those of the creatures, and embrace every thing even to the matter of the rods and the history of Gen. so, the mandrakes? What chaste women* have spoken, He^^'^*' caused to be written by the Holy Ghost, and it was placed in the Ark. Marvellous are Thy appointments whereof the causes are hidden ! Praises be to Thy doctrine ! Who would not be afraid that there are offences on the earth, contentions in the world, disputations in the streets, and in assemblies divisions, and in the midst of Churches the sword' and the' It. lii. scimetar? Women fall out with women, and men with their comrades, even priests too with kings'; and the whole world > Pearl is in uproar ! ""*• ** ^•
2. Who would not weep that the earth hath been tossed Is. 34, for so long a time, and hath settled again : yet the tossings p /y ^ '^^ and strivings of the Churches' are not stilled. Waves and3R.zliii. billows are silent in the sea ; yet fools and enquirers are in ^* ^'
* See above, p. 140, n. g. He ■eems possibly it merely meaiM that what
to mean that we are wholly incapable Moses had left there, was not remoyed
of judging by what laws Divine Reve- at the time of the induction of the
Jation is conducted; it discloses to ub ark: for that the book in which the
things relating to Angels or men, which Law was written, was taken out from
we cannot see the use of till after long time to time to have additions made to
study, and withholds so many things it by proper authorities, is plain from
which we should desire to know. It is Joshua 24, 27* 1 Sam. 10, 26. (quoted
to be observed, that he does not here urge by Eichorn. Einl. i. p. 20.) Hence the
the apparent trivialness of the matter whole book of the Ola Test, is called in
as the proof of a sense below the letter, John 10, 34; 15, 26. the Law. See
(as many fathers do,) probably from August, de Trin. xv. 30. Asseman.
a wish to state strongly what heretics gets over the difficulty by taking the
would be more readily forced to admit, word to mean ' Tabernacle,' which is
the unsearchableness of Grod's dealings, probably suggested by an interpretation
If St. Ephrem is replete with allegory, of Heb. 9. giren by Junius, A. Lapi
it must be remembered that he insistea de Jusdniani, and others. Grctser.
strongly on maintaining the troth of the Defens. Bellarm. vol. xii. p. 112. and
letter also. (See n. b. p. 247.) Buxtorf. de Arc& Feed cap. v. m^ be
•» The Syriac has IZ.;^;o VSi^i referred to for a fuller discussion of the
for which perhaps should' be read °»»««^- It is sufficient here to point « '^ '^ out a way in which the clear statement
^ ^^^! as the cases which Hoff. of St. E. that not the Law only, but
mann gi^es, Gr.p.367— 8. do not seem also other books of Scripture were m
parallel to this. The songs of Miriam, Jje Ark, may be justified by Scripture.
beborah, and Hannah, are probably The Syr. it should be added, in Deut, has
what St. £. means. Although in ^..^O^, literally, * in the side' as our
1 Kings 8, 9. we are told that there version, and not a latere with the Heb,
was nothing in the ark but the two Sept. and Chald. The text of £pi-
Tables of Stone, it appears from Heb. nhanius de M. et P. p. 162. often re-
9, 4. and Deut. 31, 26. that that state- ferred to on the subject, is too uncertaiA
ment must refer to a definite time : to build any thing upon.
278 Ignorance of Scripture (lu of medicines) harmful^
confusion on the dry land. Blessing the sailors baye, and
the learned w<5e. Is our battling tben alU^ther pleasing^ to
■s. to tbe merciful One? that be far from us to thinks Bat
let it not if it is Satan mocking us, and making us a sport*, irhj
«R ^^ '* ^^^* ^^® Good One did not remove all difficulty* by
§. 4*. * writing plainly ^ creature*' distinctly, and doing it a second
rn^e ^"^ ^ third time that witnesses might abound^: since He is the
the way 6od of Truth who erreth not, neither leadeth man into error,
4[^!f, since He is Good and Just; and how often hath He made
us chaste with His teaching, and hath trodden for the trae
^"'« ones a path without error ! Yea, He hath even made him
ftS.'inadenigh unto a curse^ that causeth the blind to err in the way.
*.®°"®_ 3. The reason then, why He had words of secret meaning
to him. written, was because they are like medicinesS which, though
•SecToLnot similar, yet are collected and brought to bear for this,
inp!i7i!that all them are [applied] in the hope of healing. But he
"•«.« that knoweth not their power, killeth therewith; and he
D. a. again that knoweth their power, by them triumpheth^. Front
nfh. ' this same comparison of medicines do thou form an idea of
>&draw the Scriptures : for there are men that are very ignorant about
<^ Thifl way of meeting the difficulty far from the Godhead, since loTe exists
arisiDg from Prov. 8, 22. is a popular, between Him and the creatares ;' * pos-
rather than a scientific, one : i. e. it sessions' here would be a very awkward
aims at nothing more, than shewing by word. comp. R. Ixiii. §. 3. K. Ixxi. §. 3.
the confiiFion the heretical interpreta- B. Ixxxii. §. 4. c. Scmt i. §. 5. t<J. ii.
tion would introduce, what is noi the p. 509, b. where the word may be used
sense of the passage ; what is the sense for ' creatures' by a process the in-
nation of tbe difficulty, drawn from the which, in a frequent use of iff means,
fact, that lsr^«r« is a more accurate not possessions, out slaves. Of course
representation of the Hebrew than in §. 4. it becomes plain that He took
txrm, which exposition the present the passageof the Incarnation, probably
writer can more readily imagine, com- -viewing the assertions througfaoat as
mending itself as safe to one acquainted descriptive of what was done in the
with a word or two of Hebrew, than to counsels of God, in a past tense, just
one who appears as well versed in it as as in chap. ix. the woxds * Wisdom
St. E. from his commentaries does ap- hath built her an house' he apparently
pear to be. It may be doubted if flip takes, vol. i. p. 434, e. as prophetical of
in Hebrew, or in Syriac authors of early ^^^ Church. See on St. Aastin'a Conf.
date, when not translating from Greek, P* l^* O. T. and on Athan. p. 943, n. a.
can bef7«ff/ine^to mean simply to* have;' Assem. B. O. i. p. 111. thinks this
rather, i t is to acquire possession of what aufficiently accounted for by the fact
one once had not : whereas it does seem that the Syriac version has ^^MS^l
to mean to create in Gen. xiv. 19, 22. but it seems extravagant to assume that
where the LXX and Vulgate render St. £. would not consult the Hebrew
»rt^y as the LXX and Chaldee do whereeven Greek and Latin Fatiienap-
here. — |*-*^j which is used by the Syr. pealed to it. St. E. then must be added
and Cbald. in Gen. seems to be used ^^ ' the major part of Antiquity,' whioh
of < creatures' by St. £. in B. Ixix. §. 2. t^greed on taking the passage of the la-
' there is none of the possessions that is carnation. See Petav. de Tnn. ii. 1 . §. 9.
ae tkettm by the lierettcal use of Prov. S, 32. 379
medicines', and there are men that are quite straDgers to'5.rooto f Scripture] lections; and their words are contradictory in the mouth of foolish clerks*. The Scriptures are full of'S. harmony', and the clerks* of confusedness. What then""" remaiDeth, save this alone, that we should establish [our cause] by witnesses, but not by one only, since the Just One did not command that it should be received : for at the mouth of three witnesses (it says) the matter shall be decided. iHut I>et us appeal to the great tribunal of JusUce, and let both ' ' sides call witnesses to their accounts.
4. In order that the thing may he made clear, let alone words which proclaim the littleness* of our Lord, and Hi8*P-8'W, greatness. For one perceives His Human, and another His Divine, Nature* in them. Let us leave interpretations, and examine with simplicity the bare words ' Son' and ' creation.' They will be able sure to tell us as finished clerks', teamed in the law, ready in the prophecies, that Solomon puts the matter beyond all controversy; for he felt, and called Him a Prov. s, creation and a formation. Solomon then forsooth is the great ^* stronghold ' of all these changeliogs* ! From me that am an ' s.
' SeeaboreoDR.i.D.b.R.ilTi.f.l. □. b. of the Sod M RUitftfning ^1 crea-
B.]vi.4.1.ILIix.i6.A8hehei«acciuea tures. The faeretici mi the conlrarr
the heretics Tar being ' etrangen Co the neglected Che f
lections of Soriptnre,' no in the fiina- 'Son,'&o.and <
riU Rhjthms he praises those departed thin one pasflsgc
in Christ for 'laUoDriDg, toiling, and "There is a va
•trogglin^ in tb* books of the Holy whereby the O
Gtioat, la iratohiDg, futiog, and iodiflerently wii
prayer.' B. li. p. 340, e. aad K. ziii. iDcomiptible, .
|. 9. p. 947, r. "He that loted to read feriug, Hercifu
the words of Thy doctrine, and to hear every tiling iha
the Spirit's speech, may he bear the the prerogallTe
Toice of the trump. He Chat mar- Power, without
Telled and was astonished at the riches loftiness of the
otThysneech.andwhoseheartreiered Nuneo bestowed upon Him. But this
the words of the Holy OhosL Ommgle vant nnmber of Divine appellatiooa, he
him with the reverent, ice." p. 366, f. (Eunomins) traiels through u if with
3B7, r. p. 446 - 7. 476. a. 476, t. comp. his eyes hoodwinked, and stares at one
above, p. 196, n. o.' Of coum the point only, generate, to wit, and inge-
habilnal study of Scriptare would beget netale, thos trusting to a slight and
impressions in favour of the Church's strensthless rope, a dogma which i*
Creed, whichisolated passages however toned with Che waves and carried
trodden down I9 heretics (see p. 2tS, about with the winds of error." This is
D. d.) could not remove. similar arguug againit a similar error,
■ The two prinoipai orthodoi inter- common to most heretics, vii. that of
preCatiaas of Prov. 8, 33. are the one having some lew teils which they dwell
noticed inn, 0. and Uiat which takea it on tothe disparageroent of other Scrip-
of created wisdom, or of the Son, as tures. Se« on Athan. p. 17S, n. c.
He infiues Himself into His creatarea, ' This 4. may remind one of St. Atba-
in order that they may have wisdom, nasinsde Deer. S.N. §. 13.p.30. O.T.
See on Athan. p. 891, n. e. and 00m- Comp.n.d.p.l79.PaBHhlyScA.'s works
pare what has been said above, p. 309, were early tianilated into Syriac, as
280 The usual Names of the Son clear up the unusvaL
> comp. unleaiTied* man let thetii hear with conciseness, that all this 'littleness in the Scriptnres concemeth the Human Nature of our Saviour. And if thon art able, go bejond His Hnman Nature, and reach to the Divine, and thou wilt find that He is lifted up above all such things, s p. 232. 5. Come, fly unto Him with the wings' of the mind and the B.^^. pinioiis of the imagination, and therefore wipe out clear the eje §• fi- of thy mind ! and ascend and behold the Son : behold Him, and behold His Father, and see how like Ho is throughout to Him that begot Him ; since the Father is hidden from all and the Son concealed from all ! Count up then how manytimes hath He been called Son and Begotten, and then calcn- 'R*,. late' how often He is called creature; also when the words §. i. ' have been calculated, the names which exceed in number convince the discerning that that is the real Name which at * S.Siir-alI times is repeated; but the adjoined Name* comes twice or R. ixiii. thrice at most !
^' ^* 6. We have counted up and found that it is but in one
Proverb only that Solomon calleth Him a Creature. We have reckoned and have not fallen short, since the Father in ^ S, all the miracles, the Prophets in all expressions^ the Apostles ^^^ in all voices, and devils in all the possessed^ alike proclaim plagues Him Sou. Who is there that will not believe, and chide $.3. ' with all this strife ?
Itfa.tt 8
29. ' ' wo ^"^^vrGreelE authors were into Latin, not do, and I teach )Mt do not learn*
see Vales, ad Easeb. H. £. ii. 2. Ming. Beady am I in books and lections, and
ad Did. de Trin. p. 263. St. Austin de from duty far oif am I. I haye read in
Triu. iii. 1. c. Jul. Pel. i. 15 ; as were the Scriptures unto others, and not one
St. £.'& works into Greek. Sozom. H.£. of them has entered into my own-ears^
iii. )6. and compare p. 119, n. m. 139, I have interpreted them, and shewn
n. f. 146, n. d. &c. It seems, however, the sense of them to the simple, but
(inspiteof what some argue from Theo- have not managed to profit myself hj
doret, H. E. iv. 29.) likely that St. E. them. I have bpened and read and
knew G reek both from the w^ay he speaks sighed over them ; I have comprehended
of Aristotle, Plato, Hippocrates, Galen, it, and then forgotten what was in it.
andother8,(corap. R.lvi.§.5.)a8al8oiTom 'When the books passed from before
the general appearance of great learning me, the memory of them passed from
fehroughout his works, and the tradition my mind." Comp. Parcn. p. 444 — 7«
of hiu learning it miraculously at his p. 464, d. (See vol. i. p. 470, c. vol. ii.
interview with St. Bajiil. Of course his p. 83, d.) To this must be added Itis
profession of being unlearned is nothing irequent referenoe to other commenta^
but the eifect of humility, as he speaks tors, see vol. i.p. 43, c. p. 46, d. f. p. 147,
differently when a confession of being b. p. 164, c. p. 364, e. p. 431, d. p. 435,
learned will serve to humble himself, in b. &c. cf. iii. p. 241, f. to say nothing
vol. ii. p. 366, f. **I read in the books of of the knowledge of Gentile history
the Spirit that be written by the Holy (see vol. i. p. 470, c. ii. p. 33, d.)
Ghost, and they make one acquainted and religious or philosophical systems,
with Judgment and with vengeance, visible in his writings. Similar in*
us with the Chamber of Light and the stances ofmodesty are noticed on Athaa.
Kingdom. And on I read and yet I do p. 62, n. d.
RHYTHM THE FIFTY-FOURTH.
1. The King of Heaven, when His Son' came down to tbe> p. 71, earth, did the people who had not known Him, know from R.^iViJi, the voices of Them Both. For the Father bare witness'^**- to the Son, and the Son called Him Father, and even in §.3, His low estate He was comprehended to be the Lord ; for
He was hononred by all things ; for the sea was His chariot Mat 8, and the air His car. Praises be to Him that sent Thee ! From ^Ij i^' those who ministered to Him learn whose Son He was; for 385, a. when He was in His low estate the Angels came down and 9. ' ministered to the Son of their glorious Lord^ And as unto 'p* 34. handmaids, so gave He orders unto the creatures, and the^' world in the image of a slave was governed by His nod, after the type of His Father*, whose silence ordereth all things. * R. ▼!.
2. For since the Lord exalted the children of His house *,286*n.'c. and they fools despised themselves, and fell, and wallowed ^^-^l^j* [in the mire], He came down and drew them up out of that same wallowing. Error erred because it saw our blots* upon*^- His garments: knowledge alone knew that He came to ^be^Jj mire that He might bring to the Washing. From Hisn. g. taking up of this burden it was comprehended that He was J* ^* the King^s Son, and as a good Heir, lie diligently kept His Father's House. He saw His servant that was laid; HeJ^**«8, raised him up in healthiness. He saw His handmaid that 7! 7. was laid: He rebuked her fever. He saw that bread was?:**;\ lacking, and He satisfied them of His household, and they 1, so. praised Him that sent Him. Who would not love Him thatjy^g^' loved them of His household, that was blended and mingled ^;^* with His handmaid and servant? They invited Him and §.2! on* He despised it not. He went to the feast and made it glad ^*^- with His Majesty. He also threw in His marriage-gift, theo.d. wine in the fiagons, since He carried with Him the treasures John 2, of His Kingdom.
282 Heretics are impure and digpuiaiiaus as
iCor.3, 3. Who woald not be afraid and purify his body' ? Since John 2 "^^^^ H® ^^°* ^^ H^* Father's House, that great Temple, 14- with a cord He chastised ihem, who were without hope as Is.60,1. having made light of His Temple. To Jerusalem He gave 2^7* a writing of divorcement. He also took the vineyard from 1. &c. those husbandmen. Who would not fear, and who would
33. ' 'not love Him who praised His merchants, that doubled the M»t-25, talents they had received, and tormented that wicked and
16. and '' ' • i_ J J
34, 61. harmfril servant who had ruined them of His household and undone his fellow-servants, and rebuked the apostate spirit, > B. Uii. who when overcome howled out by the mouth of his devils', Mark 1 * What have we to do with Thee, Jesus ?'
34. 4. For it is written that the good Master repented and was * p. 346, weary*, and clothed Him with our feebleness, and us also He B xxix.^'^^^^^ again with the Names of His Majesty. The foolish §• 1* . saw what was ours and thought that to be His which was
from us : and they were rebuked, yet they felt not that, at
that rate, we should think also what was His to be ours.
Mat. 7, For when the hearers of Him who is True surrounded Him
39 .
in love, they passed not judgment on His words. The Mark sectarians deceitftilly laid wait for His words: for their
13 13. .
' ' detestable strife was as it were the adversary of that Righteousness, which laboured by fiction to overbear the right
5. The Lord had spoken: plain men were cheered, sullen
men were confused, and the simple heard and relied ; the
John 6, crafty beard and questioned, [saying,] * How can this Man
give us His Body ^ ?' Their questioning kept them deprived
• To the passages ffiven on B. xx. As He for tby sake was Priest and
from ToL ii. p. 830 — ^2. the following from Sacrifice aod Atonement, he thoo also
▼ol. iii. p. 006. may be here added as for His sake shrine and priest and
shewing farther how St. £. drew the offering. Since thy mind hath be-
parallelbetween the liring and material come a shrine, leave not filthiness
temples : * Lo, wrath runneth to and therein ; leave not in the hoose of God
fro m the earth : the penitent impedes aaght that hatehil is to God : let the
its course. Let us be husbandmen house of God be garnished with what-
to fasting, that seed which yields an ever to God is pleasing I
hundred-fold ! Let us be tilsmen to b See above, B. id, §. 3. Cyril in
{trayer, that vine whose wine is conso- Joan. p. 360. after specilying several
ation! Let us be builders of our instances, thus addresses the Jew:
minds, as shrines that shail be meet for *•* Many mighty works there be which
God ! If a great man stayed at thy before thoo art found to have gazed
house, reverence would be at thy door, upon with wonder, upon which if you
How much then should thy door be press your ' how' you vrill disbelieve all
esteemed, if God stayeth in thee. Be divine Soripture, and subvert all the
to Him a temple, yea and a priest 1 prophets have said, and the sacred
and minister to Him in thy shrine, writings of Moses more tiian any of
the Jeufs and ike thief <m the lefl hand, 288
of the Medicine of Life : let not our questionings deprive us also of reliance [on Him]. The words of God ought not to be assayed in our iiimace. For look at the discipleSi and again look at the unbelievers, how confiding the chaste are, and how questioning the furious ! They thought that the Son Himself, who could never at any time have His measure comprehended, was not yet fifty years old. Johns, Wherefore we will briefly say, that all scrutinizing belongs^'* to the left hand'. For even the thief that was crucified ' P* 1^9 on the left hand himself scnitinized, that we might learn by his questionings the audacity of the investigators. O thou hopeless one, that when even pierced and crucified Lnkess, scrutinized His Lord ! Who again would not be astonished ' at that thief on the right hand, who, though he hung, saw and believed that He was the Son of God, and quickened us who have believed that He ascended unto glory and sat down at the Right Hand? Him did the Crucified persuade ; but as for us, not even the Cherubim'' that carried Him, persuade us.
them. Rather then we ought to he- HandisP and He shall say, These arts
lieve in Christ, and by assenting with- the wonnds wherewith I was subdued
out thought to what is said bj Uim, to in the house of my friends. This is to
be anxious rather to learn how to win be taken of Him who above was called
the blessing, and not with drunkard a Fountain of life, (quoted note o. p. 196.
recklessness to say, ^How can this fin.) and suits with the Son in every
man, &c.' " See A than. p. 326. O. T. respect. For the heavenly powers, the
and other passages in Fetav. de Trin. friends of Christ the Bridegroom, and
V. 6. against this use of ' How.* Philo His labourers ask Him about the
de Abrah. fin. *^ Touching those things wounds wherewith He was subdued by
whereof God witnesseth what befitteth the crucifiers, and about the rents ii
men, but with all certainty to believe." the nails in His hands. And it is they
c i. e. though the highest angels adore whom He probably answers and says,
Him in spite of His Flesh, we are not to These are the wounds wherewith I was
be persu Sided : seeon R. xvi.fio.and B. subdued, not by Mine enemies, but
XXIX. 1. and d. a. p. 286. Perhaps this among My friends and My kinsmen :
passage refers to the interpretation of Is. owing to their hatred of the false pro->
Ixiii. 1. &c. commonly received among phets, they thought that I was a de-
the Fathers, (as Antonelli on St James ceiver and one of the lying prophets,
of Nisibin, p. 298, rightly notices,) and After this fashion the heav^ily powers
alluded to ny St. £. vol. i. p. 372, a. asked the question also in those words
on I Sam. xviii. 6. (" In the going that are written in Isaiah, and say,
out of the damsels and their rejoic- Who is this that oometh from Edom,
ings in David's victories, behold by with His garments red from BozrahP
contemplation the victories of Christ, when they saw that His Body was
and His return from the place of the mysteriously dyed with the Blood of the
dead, and how the Angels and the sufferings of His o¥m self." Petav. de
souls of the just went forth to meet Angelis i. 8. §. II. in part disapproves
Him,") and plainly adopted by him in of this interpretation, but does not
voL ii. p. 307, c. where he writes as fol- mention that Orig. in Joan. vi. 39. G.
lows, on Zech. xiii. 6. '^The^ shall Naz. Horn, in Pasch. Nyss. in Aso.
say, What are these wounds m Thy iii. p. 443. Ambr. de Inst. Virg. v.
284 Ckritfs a9cent gazed on by Angels.
§. 39. Alex, in loo. et ap. Aog. Mai, A. ^.13. which is eaoogh perbapa far the
C. X. p. 61. Aretas in Apoc. ed. Oxod. pre«eDt passage, that m^ Angela are
p. 460. all have thia interpretation. All represented as asking qneatioiia, bat
ne mentions are Theodoret, Anastasins, doubts if we can infer that thia is more
Sin. Ambr. de Myst. vii. 36. J. Martyr than an economy to teach us : for St. £.
c. Tryph.§.36. J.FirmicusdeErr.prof. may be taken to imply that they are
rel. 26. Max. ad Dionjs. de Ccel. Hier. said to believe what they were told, in
Yii. §. 3. p. 91. PetaT. however allows order to instmct man.
RHYTHM THE FIFTY-FIFTH.
1. Who, my son, would compare natures which are not like one another in their births: for from all of them is the Nature of Him who created all, different. For if the generation of fire^ is hard to relate, though quite open to the eye, how much > d. g. more hidden from us is the Fruit* of our Maker, and thefpf^tg Generation of our Creator. Praises to Thy concealedness I For ». e. he that discourseth of Him who gave all things their nature ',» §. s. ought to discourse of every nature first. Let us let alone
His Majesty, and speak of His chariot* ; let us shadow forth how it is. Let us also explain the living wheels of it, and if Ezech. too the beasts have reason. Who hath ever seen a chariot, ' whereto the air was made in the place of the earth, and the wind in the place of a road; lo ! it leadeth its own self, and tumeth not itself aside : for the four sides have four heads over the throne. This is the direction^ of its faces, and the^S. countenance thereof looketh unto every place. 1^2^^
2. And since the son of Buzi saw the likeness of a Man upon £z.i,26. the throne, and since that chariot turned not itself aside, was it
the throne therefore that changed its posture that it might explore every side ? But if the throne be a marvel, who can suffice for the Watcher that sitteth upon it? Speak, and shew us the nature of Heavenly Beings, the image of Michael, and the form of Gabriel, who are fire and spirit*. Wherein is this fire » p. 146, seen, wherein is this spirit breathed ? and are they short or"*®' tall? and their cast, of what cast the feel of them is? whether
* See n. b. p. 164. Of Christ's riding from itn neck the yokeof the 8traD^er,aDd
in a chariot to be like man in all things becomes a chariot of Immanuel, instead
he speaks, B. Iziii. §. 3. s«e alMo B. of what it had been made, that of the ad-
Izxiz. §. 2. In vol. i. p. 264. he says, versary's powers." EJsewhere he speaks
the asi* of Balaam is a type of haman of the Cross a^ Christ's chariot, B. xvii.
nature, which had become a chariot for §. 2. and speaks vol. i. p. 430, e. of God's
the accuser. Bat the fact that as soon mounting upon the Cherubim and
as ever as it saw the Angel of God, it flying, as indicating that * the Angels
threw Balaam, this is what takes place move the Heavens round, and produce
when bvHis revelation thesoul is allowed the changes belonging to their natural
the signt of the Bridegroom : it shakes movements.'
286 The Divine Nature more easily conceived
it may be touched by thee? Who hath gone, upon investigation, out of the world, and beyond it, that be should iR.xlu.come and tell thee*? And if there be no bound ^ to it, \"'T^2 so extended is it, go measure it with thy mind, that it may answer thee by the measures of it. There is One who hath measured all things, who may not Himself be measured; and that containeth all things, though nothing may contain « p. 105, Him»,
°' ^ 3. Whatsoever is in the eternal Essence, that is a Nature
> $. ]. which Nature"" He never at any time gave at His Will ; and
^ 1. e« if there is no aMertainable will the image be like in form to the
boand, attempt to form an imaginarj original, in such way that the form
one, that when this effort has not suo- which looks into the mirror is the
ceeded, it, i. e. the world, may by its Mourceof theforminit; and so, that the
own infinity convince thee that ite In- image neither moves nor turns by itself
finite Creator cannot be measured by unless the original oommenoes the
man's finite intellect. turning or moving ; and so, that if the
^ This passage might have been principal move » of necessity that which
noticed above, n. 1S3. were it not, is displayed in the mirror moveth along
though sufi&cientiy to the point, a little with it. So say we that the Image of
less so, perhaps, in the original than in the Invisible Grod, the Lord, at every
the translation. In Scholastic Latin it motion of His will, without any mean
might be rendered, Qaicquid in Es- or intervention adjusteth Himself to
fMntia etemflL est, omne id est natura, the Father. If the Father willetfa
quam Ille non voluit ut naturaret, or, aught, then the Son who is in the
non volendo naturtwit. The Semi- Father sees at once the will of the
arians, and much mom the Anomeana, Father, or rather hath Himself become
did not allow the Son to be in the the will of the Father. For He hath
Father's Substance, but made him a all that the Father hath in Himself,
second substance : hence St. E. insists and so there is nothing of the Father's
that what is in the Eternal Essence is that He hath not. But if He hath in
eternal. See on Athan. p. 63, g. p. 486, Himself all that is the Father's, or
n. g. By the words ' this is to His rather hath the Father Himself, of
glory,' he means this doctrine, that He necessity with the Father and what is
who is in the Father does not depend the Father's He bath in Himself the
upon the Father's will for His exist- whole of His Father's will." This
ence, so far from shewing any im- celebrated passage will serve to make
perfection in the Father, shews that per- St. E.'s meaning clearer : what he im-
fection of His whereby all that, in this plies is that the will of God is not a
sense, is in God is God. St Gr. Nyss. ii. personal attribute of the Father's only,
p. 772, d. " The conjunction we speak but an essential attribute of the God-
of does not indicate in the spiritual head, communicated indeed to the Sou
Nature any hodilv concrescence, but by the Father, but in theaameaenae only
the union and blending together of as His eternal Snbsistency is commnni-
One Spiritual [Person] with the Other cated to Him. St Cyril Thes. p. 211.
through the identity ofwills, (or the acts shews how Ae Anomeans pot their
of Their will, rmmirnTH hXttfUrm,) argument. " By will it was that the
Wherefore there is not any diversity of Father gave the Son His Subsistency;
the Son and the Father in respect of inthis way also He made Him Creator;
will, but as is the Archetypal Beauty but we deny that it is from out of the
of Goodness so is the Image of that Father's Essence that He subaisteth,
Goodness ; and as, if any one were to lest any division or efflux be conceived
look at himself in a mirror, (for there to appertain to that unspeakable Es-
is no objection to one's using bodily sence." The following is part of St
semblances to bring the conception of C.'s answer : '' If according to them
the mind before one,) in all respects theNatureof Godisdry andunfruitfol.
as generate than as unoriginate. 287
this is to His gloiy. For there is one thing which is not in the power* of that Lord, in whose power* are all things; and'<S.hand8 this is His commendation. For His Will, than which there is nothing higher, alone and bj itself is high ; and this is its crown. Seeing that there is no possibility of this being declared in words, if one has been obliged to do so, it is not with a view to that being declared in words, which being hidden, never was at any time spoken or declared in words *;s^.6.r. it was the prying that I wished to reprove : for, if His not ^' ^' ^' having given a nature to Himself, is a thing beyond its reach to attain to, how much more beyond our reach is prying into His Eternal Essence** !
4. Who, my beloved, hath been able to feel or to embrace aught which existeth not ? Even thus difficult and hard is it for thee to search into that which [really]' is. And see how^R-xxz. He sealeth up the searching into Himself, my son, since that which is not, beareth witness unto that which is, in this, that by scrutinizing Him, He cannot be searched out* unto perfection. From this itself let us leani what perplexity'^iS. the
floroti-
what is that operative ivill which pro- He is not free in the absolute war He Ufm^^. ceedeth from Him, which also accord- onght to be ; for a necessity forces ^ v^ ing to them gave the Son His Sob- Him to be what He is, and prevents aa.|>cj|«d sistency, it being able forsooth to create Him from being other than He and to make the things that are not P is. This indeed is a case which no YThile they avoid saying that the Fa- pious mind would wish to put. and tber's Creative Word was generated which the confutation of heretics is the from His Essence, in very truth they only object which will justify one in are driven to the seUsame point^-for putting. Still when men profess to be able ihe Will of the Father which liveth toinvestigate His Eternal Essence, it is and 18 in His Essence is the Son, and allowable to shew, how what we con- His Word by whom all things are ceive as attributes belonging to that wrought.*' Epiphan. i. p. 963, c. ''In Essence, and so more intelligible than all things whatsoever thou say est con- the Essence Itself, are incomprehensible ceming God, O Aetius, He is wholly to us. Heretics say God begat at His very simplicity, incomparable, perfect in Will: let them explain that Will, is Himself^ not standing in need of aught. St. E.'s reply, and then we may think For He is perception itself and will of arguing with them. See B. xliv. §. 3. itself. Wherefore in a way incom- * Eunomius in his Apology, §. 7- parable the Only-begotten Son did He said as follows : ** One then going by beget, yet neither thereby did He de- one's natural sense, as well as by the prive Himself of His own Essence, &c." teaching of the Fathers, is God con- See on contr. Scrut. i. §. SO. where the fessed by us to be, who neither came subiect of the one Will in the Trinity from Himself nor from any one else'; will occur. for either of these is alike impossible. * i. e. if one cannot conceive an un- But since in truth what makes must originate Nature in such way as to needs exist before what is made, dx$." keep clear of difficulties, then neither To this Basil says : (i. §. 6. p. 214, b.) can we so conceive His Eternal Es- '' After he has told us that it is plain sence. It may be said, that if God to every one's common sense that Grod did not give Himself His own Nature, is ingenerate, he goes about bringing He cannot alter that Nature, therefore us demonstrations of this, much as if
288 Human proof inapplicable to things Divine.
is ours, every lirae we gaze upon that first Essence, who when there was nothing, yet is found to have existed, and there is no proof of the mode of His existence. There is also another perplexity, as often as we go into Him, and how He begot from all eternity hath not been comprehended
« p. 136, from all eternity '.
"• *• 6. It is from Him that we say of Him, that as it is necessary
to confess His Essence ; this being matter of necessity, not of proof, since it is too great for any proof: so too it is necessary that thou shouldest extol His Fatherhood without searching and scrutiny, seeing it is too high for any search. Tn prying into His Fatherhood, thou hast pried also into His Essence. Who will not honour in silence both of them? For they are withdrawn from all, and they are blended together. If they dispute, it is together ; and if they overcome, it is together. For gracious is the Fatherhood: fearful
s Comp. is the Essence : after the fashion of the hands' they assist
P* ^^*" one another, since their crown is one.
6. Who is there among ready speakers, whose speaking ie equal to speak with all languages the Lord of all languages,
' §. 3. which have never at any time spoken Him'. For whatever
will allow the whole of itself to be uttered, is also akin to us:
its nature is fellow to ours. He alone it is who is not a
« R. lii. servant : since by reason of His Father He is Lord*- §1.
at full mid-day any one were to eMay wreath of argament^, and works so to teach men with their eyesight sound subtly at a demonstration of the truth, by argument, that the sun is the bright- that the Ingenerate is not generate est of all the heavenly bodies. Now either from Himself or from any else/' if a man who shews by argument things St £. seems in this and the next $ to plain to sense is ridiculous, how can be alluding to the above^ited passage he who so teaches the things admitted of Eunomius, who, as St. Basil goes on by men's common notions be else than to shew, in spite of all his parade of guilty of the same absurdity P For argument only involves himself in coosure to men of right mind things like tradictions. this are far better believed than the ' The last note will explain bis
objects of sight Bo we indeed want meaning here. The words *• of neces-
the syllogisms of Aristotle and Arisdp- sity' may be illustrated by Aristot. pus to learn that the Ingenerate is not Meta. iv. 5. '* That which doth not generate either from Himself or from admit of beiug otherwise we say is any other, and that He is neither older neeestariljf so. . . .demonstration morenor younger than Himself? What uverbelongs to thehead ofneceitsary,' then is he aiming at in all this? I because it cannot be otherwise, if it be suppose he wishes to make a display demonstrated in an absolute sense. But amongst his followers, as a person of a of this the principles will be the cause, deep and piercing mina, sharp at spying if those from which the syllogism is out an absurdity, and sharper stiU at made are incapable of being otherconfuting what he detects, and that wise, &c." St. £. uses the w^ of all this is why he disports himself in a principles we cannot prove.
RHYTHM THE FIFTY-SIXTH.
1. Who would Dot imitate those patriarchs, who have believed in simplicity? They examined not, and scrutinized not ; for they set aside and cast out the disputations
of the subtle one, who made our heart wax gross; and it Mat 13, became too heavy to rise up to' the Godhead. I rejoice in \^a the simple who have believed and have triumphed. heavy
2. Who could ever comprehend how Noah was silent*, whoj^gje^ for a hundred years repressed his questioning within his^^™ heart? When the foolish jeeringly asked how the Flood nfa. ' should be, he questioned not, neither disputed when the surge should slay the ungodly ; for, indeed, it was not revealed
to him that in a hundred years it was to be. Who could look to Abraham and not be silent, for he bound his beloved G«n. 22, son, the son of the promise, and upon the altar he placed^- ^' him ; he questioned not, he scrutinized not : he disputed not, he asked not, Where fs the promise, or where the vouch*- safement? He sheathed his tongue, and drew his knife. Who would not marvel how Abraham was silent, when there was indeed room for him to speak and to enquire ? If that aged man were silent, and asked not concerning his son who was to die, who is there so desperate as to dare to scrutinize HelKii, about the Son of God, by whom Isaac was redeemed ? 17— 19.
3. Lest thou shouldest err, and think that Abraham was
not of the eloquent, thou wilt find that he was both an orator, q^^^ 18 and comprehend that he was a questioner. For if he did not 23. blush to be earnest for the people of Sodom, when he made the Judge of all content with ten instead of fifty ; his speaking was a benefit, his silence was a victory. He spoke, because it was beneficial: and was silent, because it was becoming; he kept [silence] discriminatingly, and answered beneficially. Also, lest thou shouldest think that he was of the weaker sort, in that he avenged not himself, four kings were con<^
u
290 Unbelief reproved by Scripture examples^
6eD.i4,quered [by hiin], and he went and delivered his brother's son, whom ihej had snatched away from him, and was patient so as to be victorious.
4. Let us learn from the Old Testament, which the children
of the truth heard with discriminating love, and believed on
» R.liiLthe Giver of it, and relied upon the Writer of it, that all" of it
was edifying. And the children of error heard it with ears of
strife: and the mouths of mockers were rejected, because they
*R. Tiii. scorned it. Wherefore both the Testaments' persuade us that
faithful men at no time ever disputed or scrutinized, since they
believed God. Bui; the learned and the cavillous disputants
3B.liii.§.it is that rest not; the Scriptures are full of peace ^: and they
§.*5.b!*^^^ full of angriness; their disputing is inveterate in tbena:
)xT.§.i. their rust fretteth them away.
§. 2. * d- Who would not [be led to] fear by Moses, who because Namb. he let himself slip and become doubtful, as to whether a rock ^^ ^ * could bring forth water, was hindered from going into the land of promise ? Who shall be able to enter into the abode of the living, who believeth not upon the Son of Divine Majesty ? From the artificers one may gain wholesome learning, since it is not permitted to, or put in the power of, «BjLWii. those that are uninstructed^ to judge of their works; nor are ^* ' these able to serve as an assay-furnace of their skill, since when skill of all kinds is measured, feeble men cannot make »S. the a point which is above their skill^ Who then can judge which is the words of the Judge of all ? Who can reprove the Voice *f^^***of Him who reproveth all? As the blind searcheth not, but trusteth to the medicines, and confidingly commits his pain to the knife* to be healed, though it excruciate him much; yet he confideth, and this even to cauterizing, though it torture him much: who would not wonder that eveiy one • B. liii. believes in the book of medicines^, wherein the i)hysician*
§• 3.
* Vol. ii. p. 437. '^ It is hy loye that some of the pharmaceutical works of
he who would be a physician in difficult Galen, (whom St £. mentions toI. ii.
cases, increases the sick man's pangs : p. 317.) which were then in great
he gi^es pain withoat wrath, and suffer- repute. The paraUel, here tacitly
ing without anger, for he is no physician alluded to, between the physician
who cuts from hatred. And though his and Christ, is fully drawn out, toK
love be indeed great, his knife is fearful iii. p. 388, e. it may be allowable
and severe, sweet in the relief he gives, to add a portion of it here. ''The
but bitter in his medicines.'^ See R. Izv. medicines of Thy goodness it is the nick
§. 3. only that need. See them stricken at
>* This seems to allude to some defi- Thy door, asking of Thee pardoo •
nite book in vogue then, possibly to Whoso needeth not, O Lord, to him
and by man^s belief in physicians of the body. 291
reads and repeats and instructeth us^ that we should rely on his words, and agree to his medicines, since questioning is not befitting : and yet the books of God have not yet been able to convince men concerning the Son, that He is His Begotten ?
mercy is not beloved. The good phy- set well of their pains greatly
flician also hath no triumph, save in doth the physician rejoice that pains
ulcers : he is not able to give a healthy and sicknesses increase, and nlcers, in
body to one in health. For what way his own neighbonrhood, that he may
should a physician who cometh to the gather from them advantages, yea,
sick, heal one in health ? Idly labours praise and glory, and the triumph of
that physician that would heal a man his art. And Thou so merciful and
in health: it is in ulcers and in pains kind, O bring to me the medicine of
that he shews the triumph of his art, Thy mercies, and triumph in me that
and by merit and with propriety taketh am weak and longing for Thine abuB-
the reward of his healing. In the sick dant mercies," &c. the physician triumpheth when they
tl2
RHYTHM THE FIFTY-SEVENTH.
■ or, hitf 1. Who hath searched himself^ out, and felt ever with his hand how and where he galhereth together and layeth up in himself the stores of learning, emptying out by reiteration books within his heart, assembling them by memory, multiplying them by meditation, diminishing them by indolence ; since in all these there is a miracle. Praises be to Thy Kingdom !
2. Who can enter into himself, and understand that there
' &. 5. is an empty space in himself for knowledge', and yet the soul lacketh ? And if the memory be so exceeding great a wonder, seeing it receiveth yet is not fiiU, and giveth yet falleth not short; every thing is within it, though there is nothing in it : who can gaze upon the brightness of the memory, which is an image " of the Creator, who cannot be com-
^ See B. 1v. §. 2. Vol. ii. p. 471 , c. to contain P' To this I answer, that it * Behold images in a mirror, which is One Another that They are capable neither is empty nor can he emptied of of receiving and containing. For I, forms! Behold the Eternal Essence, He says, am in the Father, and the which is not crowded nor can be Father is in Me. But as They that concrowded hy the creatures, like a mirror! tain Each Other, would be equal in Types from the creatures are we not able greatness to Each Other, yon wiU certo* bring that they should shap^ it before tainly be desirous to be tola,bowThey are our eyes. It is laden with all things, yet to he in Each Other : for the One must wearieth not; for though full it be, yet be [you will say] comprised by the Other, is it as it were empty. A great wonder and consequently that which id comthis! It filleth all things with its prised, in that which compriseth; but the Essence, and there is room in It. Who latter will not be again itself complied can suffice for all that is within ItP by the former. Fancy not tiiat God How like to It is the mind which hath any void in Himself, wherein that though not empty hath in it room for which is comprised is received. For in all sciences ? Let the mouth confess the case of men this must be allowed, its own weakness, and not be ashamed seeing we are not auch as to contain
that its littleness is overcome by Him. others, or to go into another But
One Name hath the Eternal, &c.' as in Goil's case something of the followabove, p. 132. Here St. E. evidently ing sort must be conceiyed: As io the contemplates the memory or the mind soul of a man two sciences* or more as capable of retaining a vast multipli- coming together may coexist, medicine city of impressions or ideas, an a type say,and philosophy, and as many other? of the Father. Nyssen c. Ar. et Sab. as are not straitened in the mind and Mai C. Nov. viii. p. 8. ** Perhaps you space of the soul, which though namewill say, * if the Father as being perfect rous have room enough, and may give filleth all things, what sort of remnant up the whole to each other, is there left for the Son, who is perfect, text is corrupt here,] although
Memof^jfj wherein a type of the Father. 293
prehended so as to know who He is ? And it keepelh hold of the names of the creatures, without labour, and though there be no space in it, yet is there in it space for all. And how is it that by the names all things take up their abode in it, though its vigour wearieth not? Who can enter into the memory aud feel where these names of the creatures are, since neither it nor they can be explored 7 In the mind and in the Essence all things dwell. Thus is the Father of Very Truth: in Him is the Son of Truth ; for neither He nor those things allow their place* to be explored ^ ' R. iv.
iill up the soqI. and though one does portion as it does so, the memory genenot go beyond tne bounds of the other ; rating thought is a type of God bein such way as to yield to the most getting His Word. St. Aust. de Triu. enquiring of men the appearance of a xi. §• 11. *' When we think ^ from that single essence, since they are situate form which the memory retains, there and being in one and the same mind — is in the glance of him that thinketh, as these differ from each other, inas- expressed and shaped by recollecting, much as medicine is one thing and that form which is, as it were, the onphilosophy another; so the Father and springofthatwhich the memory retains, the Son, being contained in the same But neither is the one a real parent, place, and capable of receiving one nor the other a real offspring,"' &c. another, and being One, differ One ^ All types of this kind are neoes* from the Other in Person only and title, sarily very imperfect, and therefore an but exist in One Another." Fseudo- attempt to draw out the author^s mean- Athan. c. Sab. Greg. §. 11. '^ When ing, must not be construed into an they see such a multitude of wisdoms attempt to understand the thing itselfl about one intellect, let them reflect God's wisdom is nothing else than the Uiat these exist not in space ; for what contemplation of Himself, (see Thomust a man have been in magnitude to massin de Trin. ii. 21. §. 4.) which conhave sufficed for the reception of so temptation in reality, and not as we are many things, if it was in separate obliged to conceive of it, is identical places that he had each of his coffni- with Himself: in begetting the Son, tions. ...let us then turn our mind to therefore, God begetteth Wisdom; bewhat are above us, and in themselves cause the whole of the Father's Subincorporeal, to wit, the Father, the stance is given to the Son. . . .the Son's Son, and the Spirit, which need not Substance may be said, in our gross way places, nor are discriminate by places ; of conceiving things, to be coexteruive and let no one on this account venture with the Father's. A really scientific to suppose that either Father, Son, or arrangement of the objects contained in
Holy Spirit has no existence Thus the memory under ' names,' which are
the Trinity, having a real existence, is oral, or tboughtswbich are mental words,
inseparably united together. .... and exhausts those objects entirely : the sub-
exhimts one and the same form, of the stanceofthe memory, an^ the substance
Father who if seen in the Son, and of the of the thought, or discursive act of the
Son who is perceived in the Spirit, &c." mind, by which they are generated from These passages will enable us to see thememory in a scientific form, are also what St. £. has before his mind. The at the time coextensive, or if perfect, memory retains ideas, which make up would be so. In this way then the methe sum of its wisdom : if it was able mory, and the thought, or discourse, or at one moment actually to represent to word, form a type of the Father and the itself the whole amount of its cognitions, Son : though the Son is m the Father,and the image of them, when in scientific thoughttfithememory,itisnotintheway arrangement, would be a perfect image of a local indwelling iliat they coinhere of itself — would correspond exactly to in each other. — In the next §. perhaps itself, and match with every part of he passes (see p. 234, f.g.) from a type of itself, as if occupying the whole of the the Trinity to one of the Incarnation, and same iipace which it occupies. In pro- takes the memory in a less definite sense,
294 Mysteriousness of the memory j
3. Who doth not know that his soal goeth not out [of the body], and that if it did, the body would die with its departure; and still the memory flieth to all quarters, yet it hath no place that thou shouldest say, ^ lo, here it is !' and though it is in the body, yet the creation is small to it : since the whole of it is in every place ? Who hath searched into one asleep, for lo, although he sleepeth, he goeth to and fro. And if the soul wandereth in dreams*, wherefore should the intellect wander along with it,
as an energy of the soul, shewing that But and if it be not the evil one that not even the soul and far less God is cir- deludeth you, who then is it that maketh onmscribed by a body. See Leontius, you to sin in what happens at night, (p. 416, quoted ab. p. 167* n. h.) who which Moses hath written of and reoharges the Nestorians with deriving proved also P Who again with mnltitheir notions of God's uncircamscribed tudinous abominations frayeth yon? If Nature from what is locally nncircum- the wicked one it is not that doth mock scribed, and so attempt! ug to prove the you in your dreams, is the Grood One impossibility of God and Man being therefore never mingled in your visions? oompouuded in Christ. and how is it that there have been and ^ The following passage from R. still are in the time of your sleep the xxiz. adv. Heeres. will throw light visions of your dreams ? since the body on the text by putting before the realder is what resteth, who is it that movetfa Mme of the wonders relating to memory and goeth forth without a frame, and and sleep in other words. ^' Leave soweth without a field, and sinneth every thing, oh mind unseen, and gather without free-will, (comp. St. Austin's thyself into thyself: do thou enquire of Confess. z.§. 41.) and when awakened is thyselfinthyself,where thou art in sleep: ashamed P But if no evil is with your with thyself, or, with everything? Art dreams mingled, then they are your then thou awake, the thou that wert in own, how ibnl soever. Bnt if ye perthe dream? and how is it that thou Know- ceive not who it was that put them est not that thou wert in thyself? Did there, are we to say that it was Satan any other clothe thee? then how camest who was awake and plunged yon into thou not to perceive it? Or how, if the slumber ? A body have ye become to devil clothed thee in the night, didst him, and he a mind to you, and ye have thou perceive of what kind he was, both of you at once forfeited your own when his nature is so subtle P and how natures ! Dregs have become refined ! is a devil, though akin to the body, the child of sleep wakeful ! the mind (see n. b. p. 267*) more subtle than the asleep ! the intellect a dead thing I the mind? "W by [in your theory] the devil corpse hathbecoroeasoul! and the living is the dregs of that principle of dark- body one not so ! and the body hath ness : but if the dregs thereof be more been found to be awake while it is with subtle than the mind, who is to be able Satan, who in its sleep hath made it to to grasp a nature so refined as that ? sin ! and mind and intellect are found Sp^dc and declare, thou intellect, and to have been put to silence with the soul between the two, and body like- soul their sister ! But if dreams were wise, harmonious three ! why have ye Satan's own, who is it that has scattered not oeen equal to the force of a single the memory of the dream away when demon? and, instead of one of you oneisawaked, in the soul, the intellect, prevailing as should have betn the case, and mind? and how comes he not to see, between you all three ye have not be satisfied with the former ones whereperceived, when he put you asleep, and with he deluded them, whom though of threw you into slumber, and made you wakeful and spiritnid nature he yet astonied, and scattered your thoughts ! made dead, but to have returned and Sleep, that vapour when it takes the clothed them again therewith when body, ascends into the mind, and the awaked and alive ? By their memories devil provethtobe awake therein though he begins to make them remember akin to the body, and the intellect to be their dreams, and by dieir words their asleep therein though alien from it. visions he begins to recount, and by
especially in its bearing upon dreams. 295
which is incapable of sleep " ? Who hath been asleep and ' & ii seen, after he was waked and remembered, how he saw when *^^^^ asleep, and how he forgot when awake ? For lo, in all these things is a miracle !
4. How is it that the soul without the mind* from out of its own self seeth a dream against itself; yet if it sees, how is
it that it perceiveth not that it seeth, and in what memory is it SeeDan. that it retained all that it saw, until that [other] half of it be^'^'^''- awakened which also giveth it light ? How cometh that to cause [the soul] to remember which was sunken in sleep along with it ? Who would not marvel at the sun which hath no feet, whose way is above itself, and how it can go therein — by feet ? yet it hath none ; by wings ? yet it hath none ; by motion ? yet it stirreth not. It doth not belong to walking creatures ; it doth not belong to flying ; nor yet to the swimming. Lo, in all these things there is a miracle !
5. Speak thou, and explain to us, thou discourse of mortal man ! where dwelleth thy store, and in what part of the
their ioterpretations examines and ex- ' S. |joai ! see p. 166, n. e. The
pounds their own dreams to their own passage jast qaoted will illostraie his
selves ! Who is it that woald not be meaning here : when he speaks of the
astounded at this confasion ? who that soul as between the mind and the body
would not be awed at this commixture P he uses it in the sense which St. Paul
who that is equal to comprehending gives to it in the phrafte rSftm ^»xi»^9, ^
this discreteness P how that it is one, 1 Cor. xv. 44. Passages of this kind*
and how that it is many ; knowing, and must not be understood as if the fathers
yet knowing not ; perceiving, and yet held the animating principle in man to
discerning not; forgetfulness, y«t me- be compounded of two distinct essences,
mory; himself, yet not himself; if viz. mind or spirit, and soul : the mode of
asleep, he is awake; if dead, alive; speaking is borrowed from Scripture,e.g.
if quiet, yet of wide wandering ; if 1 Thess. v. 23. and implies only the pre-
aud is not with his soul; he is in him- person themselves are transmuted into
self, yet not in himself; for lo ! while any new essence ; for, at that rate,
lying down he runneth about! is it he 1 Thess. v. 23. would imply the exist-
who goeth forth and cometh ? or is it ence of three di£ferent essences, of
another that cometh and entereth into which one (viz. the body) we know
it ? What report is to be given of the cannot be preserved in itn integrity,
emotions which take place in a dream, i^mXn^j till Christ's coming. See
which stirreth the limbs and maketh Greg. Nyss. Antirrh. c. A poll. 46.
the eyes weep real tears in a dream AusL de C. D. xiii. 23. Isid. Pelus.
which is not real ? If we say it is lib. iv. ep. 125. It is observable that
real; behold it is not wholly so! if we St. E.'s language, as quoted in n. c.
say it is false ; behold it is not wholly is less guarded than in the text, the
lost! Lo, their guilt is the same, because former work being probably written
their dream is the same : amidst their before the times of ApoUinaris, as he
great quietness their wrestling is great! speaks in it of our Lord's Baptism as
iic.SccJ* Comp. vol. i. p. 412. quoted having taken place 300 years ago,
in p. 268, n. c. Yol. iii. p. 480, d. e. and p. 496, b. from which however no very
Leont. 0. Nest. i. 14. who notices that definite cronclusion as to the date of the
matter, unless animate, does not sleep, whole work can be drawn.
296 MatCs ward inexplicable^ much more the Word*
mind is it that thou dost abide ? art thou a portion of the >B.l.§.i.soul'9 whereto there is yet no bound ? art thou the offspring <lt.]xiY.of thy fountain', which bringeth forth, yet faileth not ? And ^' ^' where is it in the heart that thy motions beat ? From this mere lowly discourse* of thine then thou mayest learn amazedly the glorious Word, the Word of God. For if thy >S. word own discourse' knoweth not at any time how to relate its own R. lii. history, honour in thy silence the Word of thy Creator, whose ^' ^' glory cannot be searched out !
* Corop. Pearl iii. §. 4. R. xxy. §. 1. its mysterioitB comberence in and co- R. xxxiii. §. 1. The Syriac word here extension with the mind, the generaanswers precisely to the Greek kiyt^ tion ft'om the mind without passion or and may mean discourse, either in the partition, and its incomprehensibleness. mind, or, discourse in words. Thus far Numerous passages from the Fathers then our word * discourse' sufficiently upon this type will be found in Petav. expresses it ; bat since the words fnftm de Trin. vi. 2. v^ii. 14. Thomassin and 'sermo' were dropped as names for ibid. tr. ii. 18 — ^20. The latter well the Word of God, becaase calculated to observes, 21 . $. 2. ^ Hinc lubet admirari give a Sabellian impression, it would stupendam illam consensionem Scripnot be fitting to use tbe term ' dis- turaram cum ilia siverationesivephilocourse" of the Son. Hence some little sophift defircatissimSL, qnee interdum confusion arisen in the translation, as supernenobisalIncet,et cujusnonnnllas we do not use the term * word' of the scintillas in Gendlium libris, sed multo discourse in tbe mind. The points of magis in sanctorum Patnmi moiiumentis resemblance between the type and Pro- deprehendere est.* totype,on which St £. here dwells, are
RHYTHM THE FIFTY-EIGHTH.
1. Who bath seen the waters in the womb of a tree, which there undergo a change in a vast multitude of ways', as thei s. are waters* alter themselves at His command, that they may tum?J'^°J®^ to a body and become wood for buildings, and out of the very plurality same there may be made bridges and ships, so that by means ber. of themselves we prevail over the waters. Praises be to Thy wisdom ! Who hath seen wood which has been consumed in a furnace, how that it is entirely dissolved and wandereth about in the air, so that even the sensible perception of it^ has' s, the departed by means of the fire, so as to yield no holding to ^"^ jj its holder's hand. It began in the sprout and ended in the flame, and wondrously hath it withdrawn itself! Who can search out in what place the smoke of incense is left, the fat of sacrifices, the smell and the fumes of burning woods ^ ? Is it preserved in any thing that it may come to any thing again ? or is it dissolved into nothing, that the Lord of every thing may be magnified in every thing ?
* Epipban. i. p. 889, o. H. Ixxiv. 3. aa ever ; but attention oagbt to be
*' The rain being made of part of the drawn to sncb ancient theories of phy-
substance of trees and plants issues in siology, both as instifying qaestions
being a body and the fmit which afterwards entertained, (e. g. what be-
belongs to each of them : and in the came of the water mixed with the wine
oliya it becometh fat oil, taking up to to be consecrated according to the hint
itself the essentials of oil, and in the in Prov. ix. 2.) and pointing out the
▼ine it gets the colour of the sweet wine, real service science may be of in an-
and in the fig is sweetened into a fig, swering them less partially than before.
&c." Greg. Nyss. ii. p. 518, b. (who uses Comp. B. Ixiv. §. 3. c. Scrut B. i. §. 7.
the simile for the same purpose as St. $.12. These passages are also evidence
£.) *' The moisture which is in the vine that St. E. had attended to natural
being drawn up through the bottom of philosophy.
the root by the pith, in virtue is indeed ^ |vA« um^tftm are mentioned several
water, but by going in a certain order times by J. Pollux, vi. 91. vii. 103. x.
through the natural channels it changes 110; otherwise the context might lead
into the nature of wine, &o." In the last one to suppose St. £. alluded to fragrant
of these passages, as in St. £. water is woods, which yield a smell in burning,
contemplated as changing its substance. It is worth olserving, that of the two
whereas the truth is that it is not alternatives, at the end of the §. St. £.
a simple substance, but enters either seems inclined to the former, as he
as it is, into the juices of plants, or is speaks of the burnt wood, as wandering
decomposed to form them. The mystery about in the air. of the process of coarse is as great now
298 God^s gracious condescension heightens
2. When a servant has searched throughly, he findeth his
fellow-servants ; and if one hath searched the creatures, he
findeth things proximate to himself ; for his Lord is hidden
Gen. 3, from him, and how vile is the name of * dust' compared with
^^* that of God! Yet still more vile is his disputing in His
Maker's eyes ; in name and in truth is it vile, yea in both
of them. Who will not admit this without controversy, that
'5. name as at no time would it belong to a thing named* ' created' or
ated*" * ™ade' to rise into comparison with the Name of Creator* ;
H. ixi. so also would scrutinizing be light in the balance against
lxu.$.6.lhat Glorious Being by whom all things were created?
?' ^*R* ^* W^^ ^^^ stretch himself to any thing which is greater
)xxi.§.2. than himself, since he hath no wings for his feeble soul ? That
Jl'*®' they of low estate might attain to His great height. He
3^ee humbled Himself unto Zacchseus^ The short man was
j^L^^ dwelling in the height of the tree, and the High One in His
19, 3. goodness was walking beneath him. Speak advantageously,
and explain instructively, and interpret profitably, and ex-
3 B. ix. amine for edification ^ Question the unbelievers, and reprove Scrnt?i. ^^ crucifiers, and search their writings and solve their dis- §. 16. putings. Make disciples of children, and be a master to the
simple, and enlighten the innocent ; speak of the grace that nourisheth thee for nought, that giveth thee the due reward of
4 Vol. ii. righteousness, and more than the reward*. Bless His Divine ?n n^k. Essence, who when thou wert not, made thee ; magnify His p. 123. Fatherhood, in that He even reckoned thee of His sons*. ^i\ "' Expect His Kingdom, for lo! He hath invited thee, even
thee, and called thee to His Table !
4. Who will not accuse thee whose wrangling and babbling tongue is unsheathed against Him continually ? There are Scriptures, and they are trutliful : there are seas, and they are rich : there are savory things, and they are pleasant : there are fasts, and they are triumphant. Find thee questions, weak man, among these things that belong to thy comfort and weary not thyself to learn questioning that will prove a •p. 71, torment. For when the King's Son® had not opened the "• y* treasures of the Kingdom to His labourers ; then was there framed there a mischievous device, whereby they that be
^ The Eunomians spoke of the Son thinss: tothisbconsistency St.£.here aA an instrument made to create cUl alludes. See R. ti. $. 1. $. 5.
the guilt of those who are tempted to btaspheine. 299
audacious are not willing to confess even that He is the King's Son. Him they surname fellow-servant, and the crown that He received [they say] exalted Him by grace**. Our King and the Son of our King' opened His treasures, ^ p. 7i, and scattered abroad the good things of His Kingdom."'^' He gave unto us two worlds, that which passeth away, and that which is waiting to come, yet since His love out-passed His gift, the King took the King's Son* and gave Him unto*R. liv. us as a gift for His beloved, and killed Him and redeemed us by Him.
5. Who then hath cast among us strife and harasses and mischievous disputing, the device of harm and the plenitude of blasphemy and the utmost evils^, envy for love, jealousy ' S, end for truth ^? The wicked one saw the Good One, who freely ^^j^^ shewed us mercy; he clothed himself with jealousy, that l^-l^vi"- he also might force us to be ruined. Wherefore let us ^^y *cd<iTVLX. unto Satan % who worrieth us to pry into our Redeemer, ^ Get* ^^• thee forth, go, pry into thy devils*, that thou mayest find thy * R. 1. fellow-servants; and also pry into the spirits, that thou ' mayest be acquainted with thy neighbours; and pry into Gehenna the fire whereof is reserved for thee, and feel after Is. 30, the darkness, the whole whereof is prepared for thee ! Mat.26
41. ' '
^ i. e. they make him Son in the * This may mean either directly, or
same sense, that angels or men are hy through the heretics, who were regarded
grace, not by Nature. See R. Hi. §.1. as organs of Satan. See on Athanasius,
R. xzi. §. 2. R. zlvi. §. 6. p. 9, n. s. p. 386. and on R. Ixvi. $. 2.
RHYTHM THE FIFTY-NINTH.
1. Thb waters of our eipiatiou and the stream of onr >B. 1st. Atonement bave become to them [the waters] of strife % ^'^' since in them their disputings range themselves on two OeD.26 ^^^s* T^^ [Jewish] people strove in the wilderness, the 31- Gentiles strive in the Church; they contended angrily 7. ' * concerning the waters of the Red Sea, and now these 7%2^' contend angrily about the waters of the Sanctuary. Praises Ezecb. be to Thy Atonement ! Who is there that striveth not, p. 203 ^^^ ^^ there that asketh not his comrade [saying], ' who n. g. baptized thee then, and whence was thy baptism received ?'
Wlio is it that doth not admonish and adjure another [saying], fl p. 197. let not such and such a schismatic priest's hand baptize thee' ? P' ^^f and so they have come to be waters of strife to parties of
strife. » p. 196, 2. The Holy Spirit we called on at Baptism*. The bold "•{'•^*'- disputers have rejected the truth: they strive, and say that Seec. iy. it is not right to make Him equal with the Father and the xUH. p. ^°°* Who is it that hath despised the Holy Spirit, and <^36. hath numbered with the embodied Him who admilteth not 4 j^^ jjj of a body ? Yet in no place* have the Prophets brought in a J. 5. R. charge of weakness against Him, or the Apostles of deficiency. ^o, 'As a servant and minister, as a creature and subordinate
person, the Prophets never have preached Him, as they
preached the Son. For He is high above any body, and
* Some heretics appear to have held, of God and the birth of the Virgin,
that the Holy Spirit wa8 hypostatically said that the Holy Spirit, who came
united to the dove at the Jordan, a down from Heaven in the shape of a notion which may first have been sug- ' dove in the river Jordan, took a body
gestedbyTertulliandeCameChristi.d. from the water, and conversed amonff
and is combated by Chrys. in Matt. 3, 16. men, and was nailed to the Cross, ani
and by St. Austin c.Max.i.cap 19:asimi- underwent death for ua." (referred to
lar opinion to which the Manicheans ap- by Petav. de Inc. v. 4. §. 4.) In Archel.
pear to have held. See Acacii Alex. Ep. Caschar. cap. 60. Manes uses the
ad Petr. Fullon. in Harduin Coucil. li. expression *a* b, dove* as explanatory
p. 844. ** The Maniohean, like you, of * being found as man,' to disprow
wholly denying the Only-begotten Son the reality of Christ's fiody. It is
Scripture implieSyihat the Holy Ohost Sf so tfteSon is God. 301
high above all these. From Him bj Himself let us search : for if they must neeils write unto us the Nature of the Father and the Son and the Spirit, and reveal concerning the Maker that when nothing was made, He did make ' ; and, as these ' R. ix. say, wrote of the Son also that He was created, how was it^* ^' that they revealed not unto us, oi this Third Person, of what Nature He was ?
8. Who knoweth not that he rangeth in his thoughts, and numbereth in order *" the Threefold Names of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit ? And it is meet that as he reckoneth up Their Names, so also he should reveal Their Natures. If then it be written, let them read it: if not written, let them confess that their Nature is hidden. Inasmuch as He hath not given a revelation to us concerning the Third [Person], He sheweth most clearly that it is not the Natures of the Father and the Son and the Spirit into which we ought to search ; but the anxious care of the Good One hath been, how by all means and by all occasions He might shew mercy unto the children of men !
4. Wherefore without controversy allow, that every thing which is given in writing, or by word, that names, and appellations, aim at ginng mankind the life more abundantly. It is not for scrutiny nor for distinctions, that we should
not to roe ^ery clear to vrbat heresy the Holy Spirit a creature, and that he St. £. ia alluding: [see $. 4.] perhaps asserted that He was created by the be wisheH to shew that Aetiu8, by Only-begotten, who Himself was eremaking the Spirit finite, approximated ated by the Father, (where see Ducobus.) to the Montanists in some respects, To this blasphemy St. E. plainly aland to the Manicbeans in others, either ludes in the end of the §. of these parties making the Spirit in- >> See p. 181, n. c. p..^, n. f. and camate in their Paraclete, and thus by p. 219, n. c. St £. probably means, introducing a duality, obliterating the that if the heretics contend that God Caiholic doctrine of the Trinity. St. comes under number, they ought to be BasildeSp.S. cap. 2. notices a principle able to give some account of the naof Aetius, as that on which the Pnenma- turest of their gods : if on the contrary tomachi or Macedonians founded their there is no such subjection of the Holy heresy, viz. that things unlike were Spirit taught in prophecy, as there is
argued, that the Holy Spirit was not in order to suffer, a second Nature was consubetantial with the Son. This will taken by One of the Persons — ^to shew perhaps serve to shew why St. E. ap- mercy, &c.
§. 84. says, Eunomius was the first to call a perfect freedom of will.
302 Scripture viinisters to strife through matCs fault.
search into Their Nature, but that we might be instructed in the greatness of Their Love. Say that the Holy Spirit hath not taken flesh. He is high above voices and the odious sounds of voices that have been uttered. Proclaim the Divinity of our Lord and His Humanity, since these are words which the Holy Books have scattered and cast into the ears of men. 1 R. liii. 5. His Word is peaceable, since our Lord giveth peace *
fxvliilk ""^^ ^ • ** ^® ^® ^^^ \i^^^ made war in it, we that have
B.lxviii. devised tumults in it. We hate staying over it, we turn aside
279* n^j^ from it because we have offended against it. We have taken
and disturbed the peace in it, seeing that through it we have
quarrelled with our brethren : we have killed plain men with
it : with it we hate one another : with it too we have invited
ruin into our souls. The fountain of brightness which floweth
down from the Bright One, which had never at any time been
disturbed, their arguings have made turbid, and the peaceful
' R* flock hath drunk disturbance, and hath itself also been dis-
^. 2. ' turbed ; and the uncleanness hath gone into and disturbed
the clearness: the shepherds have drunk it, and the flock
along with them. Strife came in and hath separated the
flocks from the head-shepherds, and they that should feed
the flocks feed them not. They ate the fat ones, and the
weak ones they strengthened not, nor have they healed the
sickly ones : and them that were bruised have they not bound
up, and them that were astray have they not brought back.
Ezech. The evil that the son of Buzi saw, he wrote ; he also pro-
. ' ' ' phesied of what was to come : he shadowed out a type to
us, in what he saw. Doubt not concerning this, as it is a
narration told by many mouths. May the lying mouths be
Pi. 141, put to silence. Lord, and set a watch over my mouth, that my
heart may not go astray into an evil word !
RHYTHM THE SIXTIETH.
1. What was it, pray, that compelled the true Father, who * generated*' all things, to use the names * Generate,' ' Father,' and * Son ?' ** It was because He chose to do so." What, chose to lead us into error* ? " To adorn Himself was what ' R- J"» He chose, and He denied Himself." But if this were the case — but far be this from being so, nor let such things come into the mouths of the faithful — still from this selfsame expression, if it did ' adorn' Him, does He who denied Himself, in spite of His not beiug so, yet prove to be a Generator'* ?
* This word is not probably meant to us for Bis fatherly care of us, thongh to be St. E.'s own, but to give what in doing so He used terms which belied was an heretical explanation of the His real Nature. For the self-same term ' Father,' it being a device of the expression ' Generator' or ' Father,' <fec. Arian school to confuse generation and if really calculated to commend Himself creation. See Petav. de Trin. ii. 5. §. 2. to us, will prove Him who so belied
* The text has OCCOS) 'his mouth,' Himself (in your view) to be a Genea misprint, as the Latin shews, for rator. For since the whole idea that
l2DQa * mouths.' The Latin is a good ^« ^^}^ ^^^^ '" ^"^ «P^° *^«
phrase rather than a veisioS of ^^nSJpn^lv w^
this section, the difficulty of which ^ ' ^*l««^«°*ly ,*P ^^^ e^wtence of
a^! « ^h/ ;^r ;:; =ed fr^ -f -*^y l^^i any creature,
to bav; the tbiog Wo.^m l^/al^dTh: tt't^Sf ^
^oa^ly, ^.'%^f^^''^JP.^^J^l^^^ disclose even to babes and sucklings
Psalms,orinIsaiahlxiii.(which Aret^^ things hidden from the wise and pil-
p.4eo,calls Hr«fo«J#«{^r.ijcym) The ^^J ^^ ^ ^ ^^^ ^.^ know the
words, which wouM be those of Ibe ^^^^ ^^^ was able to reveal Him.
heretics, are marked in the text by (Matt. xi. 27.) But if the defender of
inverted commas. The whole passage ^^^ ^^^^.^,^ j^ ^^^^^ ^^ ^^^ ^,^
iMy be paraphrased as foUows : The ^^^^ ^^^^ ^ ^^^^^ ^^ ^^^ §^ ^
orthodox may fiiirly ask the heretics, ijar, and asserts that fie * generated' the
when they want men to conftwe gene- ^^^j^ ^ ^^^ ^^.^^ ^ ^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^
radon with creation, why God does not ^j,^^^,^ ^j^^„ we may refer him to Isaiah
call creatures « creatures always, but ^, j^Jj^^ ^^^ ^^\^^ ^^ ^^^^^ ^^
OSes names, which imply Person* whose ^^^ ^^^ ^^^^^ ^^ ^^^ ^^^^.^^ ^^^^^
existencedoesnotdepend upon creation. ^ ^ ^ ^^^ ^^ ^ ^^^ 1^.^
It IS idle for them to say, that such ^^^.^^^ of Scripture, (Heb. 1, 2.) that
terms are merely arbitrary on God's ^^ ^^^^ ^^^ worlds by His Son, and
part, M that is tantamount to saying, ^y^^ ^j^^^^^ Him was not any thing
that He led us purposely into error. ^^^^ ^^^^ ^^ ^^^ ^j^^^ , J^ p^^
Neither is there any use id their saying; ^^^^ , g^^, j^ j^.^j distinguished from
that His object was to adorn Himself , ereature/ and therefore a relation
or (in other words) to commend Himself between Him and the Father ante-
304 The Names of Father and Son intended to
1 Comp. And since this is a thought^ concealed, that was from erery
Jll „ ' creature' hidden, who was it, pray, that was too hard for it,
« S. Na- that detected it and disclosed its secret so fully, that even
E.l. §.3. children in the streets' proclaim it? — Speak on the heretics'
J®*" ^' side again : say, ' Never did He Himself deny in saying He
n. B. ' was a Generator/ On what then was it that the worlds were
weighed, if so be He weighed them not ? Or who is to assert
that this was so, if He had not asserted that it was by His
Son that He created every thing ? But if His Son be truly
so, seeing He did suniame Him so, and made us believe that
* R. lii. He generated Him, then does that ' borrowed^' term * Father*
shew that He is truly so.
ti. Because the bold [disputers] preached that He was not « R. lix. the Son, which yet is in the Prophets and in the Apostles*, if these bold men be found true, are then the Prophets in error? And if the Apostles of the True One be true, let us despise the bold ones, since these err, and lead into error. Now who revealed this, which the bold disputers preach with their whole mouths ? for it agreeth not with that which hath been preached unto us by mouths of the faithful % in whom the Spirit spake, whose writings also are like and agree with their words. For they that be faithful are silent, and they that are bold are open-mouthed. Who would not give glory to Him that hath put them to confusion ?
8. Fear,ye faithful persons: leave unto God the Names which He hath given to His Son. He asserted that He generated
* or Him from His Womb^, yet not after our fashion, but in one p. 131.* above it, and wonderful in all respects ; for our offspring
which is born from our womb, is but a shadow of it. Let us
then all maintain of the Son, that He is Generate from His
R.lxxvi. Womb, and is the Fruit of that Hidden One**. §.2.
cedent to the ezinteDce of creatures is Greek Mae of the words ypmng, as in
implied. Sach a relation implies also any thing. There is not this confasion
that ' Father' cannot be (as you make in the Semitic languages, or at leaAt
it) a 'borrowed' name, but must be one not to the same extent, which is an
which ezprefised the reality which Ca- additional reason to account for the
tholics contend it does express. The obscurity of passages such aa that be-
heretics argue a great deal from the fore us.
confusion arising out of the Greek ^ !. e. the sacred penmen — an exwords, yhtfimt and yiwSWiu, Aytmrn pression equivalent to that of •/ Siyut and kyinnrty irtttSt vm)*; , and the common in Greek writers, like, a ooofiision based perhaps as much <> Or, more literally ' of Ae Tnon the heathen ideas out of which the visibleness.' The Arians contended
imply a Reality corresponding to tliem. 805
4. The Lord that knoweth all% asked of the devil what his name was : and the uuclean devil denied not his own name ; Mark 5, as neither did the devils deny His Name: and the clerks^ j(. ivi, are put to shame who have called our Redeemer a creature ; ^' ^; ^'
sen DCS
for the devils themselves betrayed that He was the Son of ib. 7. God. Of His own self alone Legion taught, that as his own name of Legion agreed with the interpretation of it', so he e^;^*"^!* cried out because he felt that He was the Son of God, whose iii. p. Name implied* His Father. But if His Name comforted the^^^' ^ sick, even His mortal Name, which a^eed with His Human p- 267. Nature, how much should that of our God [comfort us] ? agreed
5. For who would compare the Names* of the Holy One,J^*^ [and not see] that He agreeth with Himself in all, in that of 201*313*, 'Eternal' with His Eternity, in that of * Just' with His"'^' Justice, in that of ^ Good' with His Goodness? in these He agreeth, and how comes it that His Fatherhood is different,
in that it agreeth not with itself*, if He hath no glorious Son * B. vi. from His own Womb ! Who is there that does not see whether i{i ^, 1] these surnames agree with the [things] themselves ; with dust Adam [agreeth]. Eve with * living,' Phaleg with * division,' and Sabel with' confusion.' Since we have touched on this confusion^ let us avoid agitation. Receive in order* the Names threefoldly. • p. 301, For from Babel one learns, that even there Three came down^^' |] and confounded. For it says. Come Ye ', let Us go down, and ^*
tliat Invisiblenesd was an attribute of Cethibh in 2 Kings viii. 10.) it seems
the Father's which the Son did not likely that some Codices then had the
possess. St. £. then would imply in reading from which he here argues,
the text that the Son is the Fruit and nn, although de Rossi gives no such
consubstantial with the invisible Fa- reading. There is however the same
ther; the Invisibleness of the Son diflferenceinGen.xi.3, 4.andEx.i.20.
St. Ausl. c. Maxim, ii. can. 9. ?^«° **'v . .T f 1 ^r ^ v
• The expression ' that\noweth all' *>"* Jf »^?^ *° ^l\^?^ °^ ^ V\ ^J^^}"
might be noticed as hearing upon the l^^^^^J^J^ti V' ?^^ ^ ^ "^^ ""
qn«tion,(p.l90,n.g.)whetWourLord ^»^° (^^^^ ^0. ". 2.) w,Ui a
^w,reilly,in;islom; but the mean- E!^??1- ^^^ P*~*f 'l?^^^^ °*^*^
ingoftheoriginalisfarfromdear. See fathers to prove a plurality of Pe^^^^^
n A on "R. w^^i (s®* Sabatier on the place, Petav. de
f %!• « «R ^ J' Tl,« W«K an^ «5«™ Trin. ii. 7. 10.) but they do not seem to
See p. 68, n. r. The Heb. and Sam. .^^.^^ particularly upci the * Venite.'
have the smgular Han in the present it is right to add that this passage
text ; the Chaldee and Syriac and the according to the Talmud (see Voinn
VnlMte ahio have the plural: the ad R. Martin, fol. 669.) i«w altered by
LXX. hifn. As St E. elsewhere the LXX. to the singular to prevent
refera to readiujjs found in the Hebr. the heathen from deducing a plurality
only (e. g. in Vol. i. p. 639, d. to the of Gods from it
306 Prayer against the confusion of tongues in the Churches
this of One only no one could say, for to one it had been. Come thouy let us go down. The wicked one with theso
iR.lxyi. tongues that are confused, hath confused in this our day the
^' ^' Church instead of Babel !
6. Who would not manrel that there is now room for error to strengthen itself by reason of our weakness ; now we axe very weakly : and if the might of our agreement were to come
* ^ back to us again, and the love of our concord too% who ia
xzzix
§. 1. B. there that would restrain us, since our fiedth in earth and in
!*!?*« heaven would loose and bind*? §. 3. B,
Uzix.
|. & g Tbia (m tbe begiiming of the next refieiye, O Lord, as the fraid[iaeeiiae of R. suggests) probably allndes to Matt Aaron; and as tbe plague was fltajed xriii. 17 — 19. where the power to bind from the people that insulted Thy and loose is put in juxtaposition with Name, stay from Thy Chorch sects the promise to united prayer. Some and diTisions : thereby also may there haye thought that in a certain way the be commemorated the departed and the prayers of the Church as a whole might holy Fathers that bare confessed Thy be looked upon as the cause of those Name, and are ftdlen asleep in Thy sacramental gifts which yet are more hope, &o." It is CTident that aU. St. properly said to be dependent upon £. means is, that the oontinuanoe of certain definite forms. See Toutt^ on the Gifts depends upon tiie worthineiv St. Cyril Hieroe. diss. iii. §. 96. This of the recipients, whichy in a certain is obiected to by others. See Berti way, may be caUed the remote oanee de TheoL Disc, xxxiii. 7. ^ 1. of the Gifts themselyes. St. Hilary^ In Vol. i. p. 647, f* St. £. notices words on Matt, xriii. 19. are quite sereral instances in the Old Testament parallel to St E.'s in the text '* To in which God made blessing dependent such a degree was Christ zealooa lor upon external forms, and speaks of that the agreement of peace among mandependence as the lesson the church- kind, that He asserted that all thine* man ought to derire from such instances, to be asked of Grod in prayer shoaSd I ■*/ ^v UOQiP. In Vol. iii. p. 628, e. ^J *^® ™«"* ^ '»>itT be obtained, and u« k— - ^^^^, «-ks^k .<^»«. ♦« ^»^^\^ *^*t where two or uiree are gathered
of toe incense that we nave oirered to pu-_;x_ —.ii ^v-» »« w;- Iw^ji^ :.. «.«ii. th. honoor of Th, Godhead, do Thou Ja'^^^^^^J^g^?.'^ " "^
RHYTHM THE SIXTY-FIRST.
]• Who is there that would not fear, since the Lord threatened a millstone to the neck of him that maketh one Mat 18. of the children of light to stumble ? They that trouble * the simple with questions hare their prj-ing for a millstone, they are drowned by scrutinizing \ and will not emerge > p. 87, again, since they keep not silence from that evil wrangling °* * of theirs. The word which teacheth patiently* concerning the Father and the Son', who are united with Each Other, *& is that, which has either lowered the Father as well as ^^3^ Him to a kinsmanship with the creatures, or else has raised the Son as well as Him to a state different from that of creatures ; since the Son would be like His Father.
2. Any word with a proper meaning in it, is not intended either to leave that meanin'g unutlered or to give a contrary one^; for if the name of Son be suitable to the creatures, then
* AiifleiD. gives thii paflsage an O'^^im.
CDdrely different turn bj rendering, * S. ' The word whose power 10 in
Qnisqnis proprio spiritn dacitur ad dia- ^^^y neither means to he rilent, nor
putandom de Patre et Filio, &o. as if ™«»n« ^ gaiiway,' i.e. the very notion
4^1.0 nK».«. ^ ^m U « ««•«»( s. of language impliee that certain words the phrase ou^, |^^ meant *is ^^^j ^^^^ ^ ^^^ ^ ^^ ^
long-winded.' This certainly is not the opponte-4f then yon aUow the Son to
nsaal sense of the phrase which is be Creator of aU things, and then make
exactly parallel to the Hebr. "flM Him a creature, you are perverting the
CyOH, see Gesen. Lex. Heb. p. 160. ™f of l^ttnage, and saying that He
Nor is it like St. K. to pot in soch a did and did not create aU things. This
clanse as « who are united, «fec.' if it was eonfiwon he proceeds to illustrate in
a sentiment which he meant to re- f- 3- by supposing two roots to yield
probate. The sense then would rather produces the opposite to which their
be : He who with real patience tries to ^^^^ "^^^^ *««« oa® to expect. What
reconcile all Scripture statements, wiU ^e ™«"» •>! "« ^f^ '*'***» "V- *T®
not explain the condescensionofthe Son, ^^ creature and Son, which in the
a$ God, in such way as to deny all con- heretical system bear meanings just the
descension in the Father, but instead of opposite to what they ou^ht to bear,
arguingadifferenceof Natureinthe Son For the term * creature' with them in-
from passages which speak of His con- olaa« Him who created, and the term
desoension, at Man, will from the terms * Son' includes a creature under it.—
Father and Son conclude a sameness of See R. Ixii. §. 3. Mystery of course is
Nature. See R.xxxii. and the notes, and n<* confusion, nor, consequently, should
corop. p. 373, n. n. * The spiritual archi- «»« statement of it m words (however dif-
tect,&c.' I have ventured to translate as ficult it may be) be confused: but heresy,
. . A • • i. r A .• >B coming from the author of confusion,
if ^-jmAjO were a mispnnt for ,-**All, j^ ^j^,^^^ ^ it, language, as weU ai
like j^i^AjS which occurs in the other \ig conceptions.
x2
308 If * Father^ and * SoiC have no corresponding
the name of the creatures is suitable to the Creator ; and if the
name of the creatures is alien from the Creator, then is it alien
also from the Son of the Creator. Whatsoever happeneth * to
the Nature of Him that begot, may also happen to the Son of
Him which begot. The Ray is bright, because bright is He
1 B. xl. that begot It' ; and It is not cut off, since It is like to Its
9 p. 179^ Root' ; neither is It stinted, since It is bound up^ in His Sur-
J- *• P' name and like Him in all things. From the Father one may
c.Scrut. learn the Son; for if the Generator be akin to the creatures,
3n^c. on*^® Generate also would prove a fellow-servant* with the
R.lzxiii. creatures. But if the Father be alien from, is His Fruit akin
§. 4.%?' to, them ? or shall we separate This from Him and say that
272, g- He is not the Son? But if He crieth aloud that He is
^ B. iii. the Son^ then He halh put strife to silence !
IxiU i. ^' W^^ would not marvel at a wedlock of roots* which
B. ixv. have lost their own nature and have changed their names ;
rit.'iTiii.both of them are bereaved of what are their fruits ! a Root of
\^' freedom' with a Fruit of bondage* ; and a Tree of bondage
§.1. with a produce of Majesty. How, when blossoming, do They
^J"^*- blossom? From this very expression thou shalt learn: for if
c. Scrat the Son be verily reckoned so, then is He verily Generate :
He must count for a servant if He be not Generate ; it
must be one of the two. For either both Parties stand good,
Each of Them in His proper place ; or They have undergone a
change, and have loosened Their Names, and fluctuated in
8 comp. Their Natures*. Who would not enquire, whether, if the Name
n. f. ' of the Son is to be made * creature' in his scrutinizing, this
[word] * creature' is not to be Son in the enquiry. Since then
it was impossible for this name of its to be consistent with
5. its itself, it relinquished it : for the thing intended® betakes itself
Srixu. ^ * Generate,' as the Name of Son' also assorteth not with
§• 2. the creature. For that word ^ creature' were no longer like a
creature, as also * Generate' is not like Son. Whence there
arises a great confusion — for the Name of Son will not be
consistent with * creature :' and the word hath forced the
w On wrangler to call the Son * creature,' and the creature * Son ;'
p. 423* and with the Name he hath also destroyed the worship of
* This is like the use of the word cessory to the Essence of God in our con-
riyA/Si/Bii*^ in Greek Fathers, (see Petav. ceptions of Him, e. g. attributes, whether
de Trin. iv. 10. §. 6. Le Quien on Ba* personal or not ; here of coarse per-
masc. i. p«S7y n. 5.) for whatever is ac- sonal attributes are out of the question.
Reality^ the sacred toriters are deceivers. 309
the Son of God, — the which be far from happening ! It is not for any one to abide in what is right, that hath transgressed what is becoming !
4. How was Moses demeaned, who received even the Divine Name and a heavenly glory, yet dared not to say he 2 Cor. was God, and deceived not the people ? When the children ^^'^ of that people went astray in the desert, then he by all methods i^- reproved them in every thing ; and he cried against them, Deut and called heaven and earth to witness against them. How^j'^l* again was the saintly Apostle demeaned and his colleague, when the men began to offer sacrifices unto them and toActoH, bum incense to them, and called them gods, because they ^^' ^^' saw their wondrous works? They rent their inward heart
and their outward garments, and allowed themselves to be stoned rather than to be worshipped. Why did John exempt himself, saying, ^ I am not the Christ whom ye seek?' But John i, and if the servant had felt that his Lord was his fellow-^®' sen^ant, then the Nazarite who lieth not, did on the contrary deceive greatly. For he set to his seal, that He was the Son of God, and lo ! this preacher's word crieth aloud in the worid !
5. Why did not Gabriel deceive Daniel and say hepan. s, was God, or the Seraph not deceive Isaiah and say he was J7. the Son of God ? He was an Angel and he deceived not, a Seraph and he lied not. The Apostle is true and deceived
us not, and he asserted and revealed Him to be greater than all. Hear what I say, — that if this were not the truth, it would have been confuted and come to an end^ The truth i B.Tiii. alone is able to increase to the East, and to spread to the^*^*.^* West, and to lay hold on the North, and to clasp the South ^§. 2. Into the depth It went down and conquered' ! into the height j^^^ It went up and abode and ruled in all places over all ! §• 3.
^ ^ 'p. 338,
D. C.
RHYTHM THE SIXTY-SECOND.
1. Fbom the very beginniDg our fellow-senrant seduced and Bom. 1, enslaved us in the service of our fellow-servants \ His Son 1 p 223 set us free from all; and when He liberated us from servants^ d* our Lord became our fellow-servant ' ; and when we had let S73,n^. go what we had found, the creation was again made our portion. For it is to the adored Father in the adorable Son that we offer our adoration. Praise be to Thy Light ! Who doth Gen. I, not know* that Adam gave those creatures their names* and
90.
* Here Adam is epolen of as giving into being the things which were made
the creatnres names ^ from the depths by His oommand." p. 778, c. ^* The
of bis own skill.' As the whole dis- power of discourse is the work of Him
cussion about names is of much im- who made oar natare what it is, but
portanoe in the controTcrsj with the the invention of individual words for
Anomeans, it wiU be right to mention the purpose of indicating their objects,
here some similar statements in other is quite of our ovm devising; and a
writers, to endeavour to ascertain the proof of this is that many of the things
sense in which tiiey are to be taken, which are spoken of are allowed on all
and to bring forward any passages or hands tobe oaseand indecorous, which
principles which may serve to modify no one with any sense would snppooe
them. S. Gregory Nyssen has been God to be the iuTentor of." p. 813, b.
alleged by Father Simon (in his Crit. <* Things being what they are by nature.
Hist of O. T. i. 14.) and others after it was the reasoning power implutea
him as calling it a folly and ridiculous in us by God which invented the words
vanity of the Jews * to affirm that explanatory of them; and if any one
God was the Author of the language refers the authorship of these to Mim,
which Adam and Eve spoke.' St. Greg, who gave the power, neither do we ob-
ii. p. 761 , a. says, *' We say that ject^as we say that moving and seeing
names declarative of entities were and energizing according to the oUier
inyented subsequently to these by hu- senses, comes from Him from whom
man skill ;" and p. 768, d. " we refer we have this power" — a parallel vriiich
the invention of words to the rational he pursues in the next page. See also
power implanted by God in man's na- p. 847, o. Id. o. ApolL §. x. '' No small
ture; and this is the most weighty of intellectual ffrace is it that Scnptine
crimes, on account of which the master beareth witness to Adam's having had;
of orthodoxy (St. Basil) is accused of for there were brought to him l^ God
going over to the atheists, and of being the animals, but the invention of Ae
the inheritor and advocate of a lawless names he had full power over, devising
way of life, and is called all sorts of for each that which vras meet and
hard names. Well! let the corrector suitable." We see in the expression
of our blunders say, ' It was God that ' intellectual grace' what will prove a
gave the appellations to entities.' For clue to St. G.'s meaning in the other
Siis is what this novel expounder of the passages. He views the disooorse of
mysterious writings does say, to wit. reason as a gift of God, and the parti-
that to plants, herbs, grass, wood, and cular state of illumination in wbidi it
the like, God did give names before was in Paradise, as a grace. This
the formation of man, as He brought wisdom, supernatural as it would be in
Adam by his wUd^m gave names to the creatures. 311
the names which the servant gave pleased the Lord of all, and were written and were believed ? yet have the sons of
relation to man's fallen state, and in that the td^ on the place, p. 75. on the oliher
state, the result of gradaal development, hand speaks as follows: "Since God
was in Adam from his birth (so to call it) made him after His Image, He wished
what gave him the power of making and also to bring his honour out to view,
choosing particular names; mnoh as in and to shew yerily that he beareth the
the gift of miracles (which of coarse is Image of Wisdom. And see what a
not wiUioat God's agency, oomp. p. 68, marrel 1 God. prefigared {v^^Awmnt
!!• r.) tiie recipient is not tied down to Vmmr^ rk Mfu^m) to Himself tie names,
determinate acts of miraculoos power, and wished it to be shewn by the image
but uses or even abuses that power in that Adam's decisions agreed with ue
particular acts. Eunomius, on the acts of God's will. So Scripture then
other hand, spoke as if God had Him- being minded to shew that God had
self uttered certain words and syllables, also foreordained the names which he
i. e. assumed that the phrase *■ God gave, says, ' and every thing that he
said, &o.' was not in any sense an ao- called it, that was the name of it' —
commodation to man's notions, but a i. e. this was foreordained, (rod had
literal fact. St Chrysostom in Gen. decided it." So Eusebins, (whose here-
Honuxiv^. 124, b. speaks in alike way tioal bias is thought plain by many
with St Crr. of Adcun^s great wisdom great divines,) P. £. p. 516, a. where
beingdiiiplayed in giving the names; and he also is commending Plato, says of
so &sil of Seleucia, p. 8. (ed. Dausq.) the same text, <* What else does this
*' Go thou up Adam to thy dignity and prove, than that the names were given
confirm thy lordship by Renames given according to nature? for the name
to the animals ; imitate the Creator's which was now given, this (it says) was
dignity! He creates natures, do you long before comprised in nature, that
give the appellations ! And one might to each of the things named there
see a secret watchword carried orderly should be and preexist this name which
through all the animals, and they all the man aforesaid, inspired by a power
flowed together to Adam confessing above him, had given it." To which view
theirsubeervience to him by their passing Origen also strongly inclines, contr.Cels.
before him. For God, it says, brought (i. §. 34.) p. 18. Spenser, (see hiM notes)
all the animals, ^c. Be thou a creator as does Mahomet, Coran ii. 31.) and
of names, Adam, dnoe of creatures perhapt others referred to (anony-
thoa oanst not be, and let them be mously) by Moses Bar. Cephas de
formed by Me, but when formed be Parad. i. p. 477- B. P. Max. vol. xvii.
named by thee ! Let us share the glory It is not meant that there is any Ca-
of creative wisdom ! Me let them re- tholic doctrine upon the subject known
cogniseasCreator by the law of nature, to the writer, but that the opinions of
thee as master by the word of naming ! orthodox writers on the whole run one
f've the appellation to those, to which way ; as they did hold Adam to be poshaTe given ^e substance* 1 subvert sessed of supernatural grace and knownot the name ; I reshape not the gift." ledp, ho tbey seem to hold the need of St. Austin Op. imp. in Julian. P. lib. bebeving a freedom in the use of the v. init notices that Adam's giving ' tiie latter, as well as of the former, as if names to all kinds of creatures was a guarding against any depreciation of proof of most excellent wisdom ;' it Adam's supernatural state, — ^the belief being so held even by Gentiles, (see in which the heterodox in all ages Plato's Crabrlus, %, 8. %. 14. &o. seem by some instinct, as it were, led from whom Nyssen, p. 815, a. says to attempt to obliterate. A super- Eunomius borrowed * the nonsense natural gift of knowledge then freely -which he throi^ poverty of ideas used in cooperation with the external tacked on to his own trash'>— St A. circumstances in which, by bringing adds, '* that we might have most the creatures wonderfully to him, Qoa reasonably conjectured, (even if we had had placed Adam, seems to be that learnt nothing of the sort about Adam,) which originated language. As such what kind of nature was created in that a view does not preclude a belief in the man in whom tiiere was absolutely no continuity of God's enlightenment of fault; which anyone can see. . «^. slow- the soul, (comp. p. 209, n. b.) during nessofintellectormemory tobe." Seve- the process, it is Dot in any vray connan of GahalA) a less saintiy author, in nected with a heathen notion, that men
3 1 2 The Sons Names relative to the creature^ and much more
Adam not been ashamed to wage the war of dispntajtion B. ixi. against the names of the Son, which the mouth of God pro- R. ix^. claimed in their ears. §• ^' 2. Our Lord is mystically * the Way V because He hath led
began with being a 'mntam et turpe and gave him his dincoDTBe and inpecus.' (See Horace, Sat. i. 3. 100. telligence and perception of Grod." and Lucret. v. 1027« whom Simon p. 27, c. ^' He was more subtle than aU quotes.) It also fallH in with the follow- who had giren the names to all ; for as ing other passage? from St. E.; vol. i. the children of Israel without a veil were p. 24, d. on the place. ^^ His saying not able to look upon the face of Moaea, that He brought them to Adam is to so neither were the beasts able to look shew his wisdom, and what peace there upon the glory of Adam. With downwas betwixt the beasts and Adam cast eyes did they pass before him before he transgressed the command- what time they received their names ment. For they came to him as to a from him." Here again he \9 arguing
much loved shepherd Not only to the same purpose, xiz. to shew the
the power over every thing which He serpent's own sublety was not greater had promised did God give to Adam, nor as great as Adam's. So in voL ii. but He added moreover the right of p. 455. f. speaking of the diverse races of giving the names which He had not men, be says, '* From the wonderful promised. Now if He did for him fountain of Adam the common stream somewhat over and above, which he of words and of forms flowed;" which asked not, how, without Adam's having implies that he draws a parallel between sinned, could He withdraw what He language and other natural gifts. The had promised P For if a man were to sense then in which such passages are impose names few in number, for them to be taken is to be estimated in part to be kept in the memory is no great by the heresies the Fathers were opthing. But an excellent thing it is, posing. When Eunomius wanted to and greater than man can attain to, shew an inherent connection between when in a single hour a man imposed words and the things signified by them, thousands of names without giving the he is plainly talking of words as theynow latter the names of the former. For for a exist : and therefore it is to the purpose man to put forth a multitude of names for to urge against him. as St. G. does^ the a multitude of tribes of creeping things, endless variety of languages as proof beasts, and cattle, and fowl, is possible, that there is now no such connection, but to do it so as not to give the names When he or others represent Adam as of one tribe to its fellow, this is of God, a mere material instrument in God's or of that man to whom this is given by hand, it is important to insist on hjn God. If He gave him power and as- supernatural state of knowledge and sociated him in the creation, (comp. grace, and maintain the existence and Bas. Sel. above, which forms a scholion free operation of created wisdom. This upon this seeming misprint for |Za«OLO of course is quite another thing from dewhich occurs in p. 24, f.) and clothed nyiog, as Eunomius implies St. B. does, him with glory, what was there more «*! interference of God or dependence that He could do unto him to make of man in *uch matters. A portion of him mindful of the commandment, which * fragment of St. Athanasiusap.Leont. He did not do for him.f>" Here the in Mai's Coll. N.vii. p. 86. will fitly conwhole drift of the passage is the same olude this note. " Thus did God make a« it is in St. Chrysostom, viz. to shew ™a°> ^"^ ^od as being good made man that the fall was not from any want of ^ great and goodly. Do not then conwisdom in Adam, and St. E. minds ^^^^^ ^^^ present contemptibleness, but not what view is taken of giving the imagine to thyself his first constitution, names provided that is admitted; though seeing that it was in God's Image that he seems plainly from the second of the He made him, <fec. &c." alternatives (of that man, &c.) which . ' '^ol. i. p. 286, f. In one way of he gives, to prefer referring it to the interpretation, ** the drink that came supernatural state of glory in which from the Rock, (Deut. 31, 13.) was Adam then was; as he says in p. according to each man's desire; it was 22, c. "He clothed him with glory, »» lioney to him that desired honey,
*
those to the Father y have a corresponding reality. 818
us to His Father ; and ^ the Gate' again, because He hath brought us into His Kingdom. They also mystically called Him * the Lamb/ and He was slain to be our reconciliation: and as He John i, was sacrificed and thereby made good His title as Redeemer,^* how much more was His Generator entitled to that Name, seeing that if He was Son, He was also Generated Fromi R. ixK the name itself by itself may its force be tasted; for there ^*^' is a name that may explain itself to us*. The word * made'*"* °t proclaimeth a Maker, * creature' a Creator, * framed' a Framer, §.'3.
* Son' a Father, beyond all controversy. That is a weapon which, through its truth, hath at no time been overcome.
8. From the confusion made, a per^^ersion is detected ; c. Scnit. for lo ! every name is of a piece with its root', and agreeth J'i^* with it, * Made' with * Maker,' * Creature' with * Creator,' and $- 3.
* Begotten' with * Begetter,' Is then the name of every thing J] JJ^^' to stand, and the name of Son only to be lost? It is not lost, since the lost by it were found and returned. From its own mere self alone it appears, that as this word ^ creature' means creature without all controversy, both in name and
in reality ; so one may rightfully insist' that, in like manner,' iS. it if the Sou, our Lord, is the Son, only if He be Son both inqJJ^^n name and in reality : but if the names be empty, then pretend o^ fitae* that all things are names % and nothing else.
and ns oil to another, and as butter, relatiTeness a connatnralness with the
and as the fat of wheat; and this is a Generator. For we do not, as in the
type of Christ that true Rock, the case of the Father's Son, so also in
Head of the Everlasting Building and that of Stone, Resurrection, Shepherd,
the Fountain of Life. To every one or Light, or any of the other names,
that draweth near to Him, is He ac- use the term to imply a relation to the
cording to his desire: to one He is the G-od of all : but one may as if bj some
River, to another the Gate, to another arti6cial rule make a twofold division
the ^'ay, and to this one Wisdom, and in the meaning of God's names. For
all things becometh He to all that He some of them contain a setting forth of
may gain every man." TheAnomeans, His higb and unspeakable glory, and
as it would appear from Gr. Nyssen, others set forth the manifoldness of
p. 525. when told by the orthodox that His providential dispensations.' Comp.
the Son could not be made son in the p. 672, d. p. 792, c. Epiphan. Her.
sense in which men are called sons Ixix. $. S5. and see on Athan. p. 25.
of light, without making Him capable «&c. p. 163, n. d. and abo^e, p. 29, n. g.
of n.oral advance, urged that the Son ^ Vol. i. p. 334, o. *^ The gods of the
had a number of other titles, as Stone, Gentiles are names without meaning."
Axe, Foundation, &c. which plainly The argument in this §. is, that relatives
were not names which really agreed imply their correlatives. See Aristot.
with His Nature; therefore neither Categ.§. 7.p.6. 1. 27.Bekk. St. Bas. c.
does the Name * Son' do so. To this Eun. ii. 9. ** Who doth not know, that
St.G.replits,p 526,c.^ that though the of words some absolutely pronounced,
names which are given by Scripture to and by themselves are significative of
the Sun are, as they say, many, there their subject matters; but others being
in none which we say implies by its used relatively indicate only the bear-
814 HereiicM make UUer sweei and sweei bUter^ whem ikeff
4. Wbo is sdd to be generale, when no geoeffator genenled
*(. 7. B. him ? tbe names of (jenerate and Generator then are bonowed > !
'' ^' ^' and so would the Father in His Name be at ▼ariance with
* B. iz. Himself, and the Son also in His Genenteness*. That the ^ '* Fruit and the Tree are not divided. Their Names proclaim
by their true taste. Who can taste any thing ' made* in the Name * Generate/ or in the Name ' Son' any ' creature/ For the Fruit by itself alone may have its taste comprehended. But if the taste of what is bitter give sweetness, the names of
* 5. an every thing give contradictory impressions'. Yet who shall ^^^ make the Names ofthe Lord of all contradictoiy ? Men do edlj. &. not, from having a surname by grace^, lose on that account 4Birn.'their natures by the surname, seeing they remain clad i%ith foV^ names unalterably attaching to* mankind, and their own name cUd IS an assay-furnace* to them. If the Son be a servant^ then fiz!^ He is found to be our fellow-servant; if the Son be our Lord, naoiMof then in truth He is our God.
nfs. R. ^- Who would not be astonished to think that if even the lziii.M' Son is a servant, that the Womb of His Generator made Him D. i. 'fellow-servant of all ; and that He was more glorious in the ^^'^^^' birth from Mary*, which did make Him a true Brother of nian- Pi. no. kind, than in that from the Womb which did not make Him j^yi^^* either Angel or man, but made Him the fellow-servant and 4* 1* kinsman of creeping things and of brutes ^ Who can deny
iDg tbej have to their oorrelatiyes. only signify a relative bearing, af
' Man,' e. g. and * horse,' and ' ox,' ' helper/ ' shielder,' ' protector/ and
brings before as each of the thingfs as many of this signification as may be
mentioned ; but < son/ or < serrant^' or met wi& : from which if yoa take away
' friend/ are merely indicatiye of the that which needs assistance, then the
connection with the cognate word, power indicated by the word oomes Is
Wheneyer, at this rate, a man has nanght. Bat some there are used bsdi
heard a gsoerate thing mentioned, it is of themselves and with correlatiyes —
not to some essence that he is carried as ' God,' 'good,' and sach like.
In mind, bat its connection with an- There is no reason why a person, who
other is what he thinks of. For a thing sets before as the Father and Him who
generate is an expression ased of that is from Him, • . • .shoald not at the aanie
which is generate from some thing." time by the appelladoD 'Fadier* signify
And his brother, yol. ii. p. 403, d. <' God to as that He begat the Son, and also
is called both Father and King, and by explain by the same word His own Un-
coantless other names, by Holy Writ, originateness.*' Comp. the next note. Now oat of these names some are osed ^ Of this passage I am unable to
in this single way, thas absolately I giye any sads&ctory explanation :
mean, e. g. * Ineorrnptible,' ' Eternal,' perhaps St. £. means, that the berptics
' Immortal,' and the like. For these, allow ^ Angel' and * man' to be names
eyen if no other conception be onder- which have a reality answering to
stood along with them, in tfaemseWes them, bat that they deny this of^Son,*
oomprise a kind of perfect notion of and contend that generation merviy
God. But there are otner names whioh means creation. Conffeqaeotly, the
confound the names qf * Son" and ' creatureJ* 315
the Names of the Trae One ; he bath heard His true Nature in His Name : and if the name of Son and of Generate were found to be untrue, then was He a deceiver \ But if the name > b. iz. of the creature really applies to it, that name is found to ^* '* be true ; yea its appellation is a name of taste and soundness, while that of Son is tasteless. Nay, 'tis we are tasteless, who have made it tasteless !
6. But who would make the fixed' Names of Father and* $.4. Son and Spirit tasteless, by which the clerks that lack taste ^* ^ have gained taste ? For every word which may be tasteless hath its force from the adjoined words'. The Names oP8.hy Father, Son, and Spirit, since they alone are fixed', have a^mp. force which cannot be made void^ ; for there is nought that is '^^•'^ akin to them so as to be adjoined to them. Who could be^p^is/ baptized in disjoined names? Who could confess in borrowed^ I^f* \'
B.lziU.
title instead of giving the Son any pre- parable from the Father, and incor- '* eminence, expretisei no more of Him ruptible and eternal wi^ the Father, than what might be said of the bmtes, WheDce also I said that, on Yoor 1. e. only expresses that He is a orea- theory, the estate of man, in which tnre as well as they. Nyssen, ii. p.658. sooh growth is possible that at least '^ If the Son be a oreatare. then the thereby the sons may arrive at the Heaven is a son, and each or the things parents' strength, is the better: bat that are made is, accordiog to this the Son of God, as ye say and teach, fiction-writer, with proprie^ called by being bom less than the Father in snch the name of ' son.' For if it is not by way continued so, that He could not sharing the nature of Him who begot come up to the form of the Father, and Him mat He hatii the name of Son, did not grow." The heretics of the but He is called so just because He is Arian school generally asserted, that created, then this same argument will Son had unalterable relations to tiie make a lamb and a dog and a frog, and Father, as St. A. here assumes. See all things that subsist at the will of the St. Greg. Nyss. ii. p. 369, c. and p. Creator, to have the appellation of 689-40. (ah. p. 17i^,n. a.) in which latter ' son.' *' St. Austin c. Maxim, lib. i. 6. place he contrasts as was comm<mly ** In order to shew that the Son is of done the Angels' natural capability of the same Nature as the Father, I op- moral advancement with the unchangeposed to the moostroosness of your error ableness of the Son. This then will the progeny even of animals that die, throw a light on the word < Angel ;' to reprove the heart of you who deny and the passage fix)m St. A. on the that God the Son is of the same Nature word ^ man.' Angels are capable by as the Father, though you do not deny nature of cootinuiJ approximation to that He is a true Son. For Grod Him- God, as man is to his parents, or indeed self gave to animals the power of gene- to God : but the Son in the Arian view rating that which themselves are; in notbeingreallyatrue Son, and yet being which case I called not only man man's fixed to oue unalterable state as they son, hot a dog a dog's son, not for their allow, is rather like brutes than ralikeoess to God, but for the confusion tional beings, has a title which, with of those who detract from the Sod of the heretical explanation of it, con- God ; who when they see natures cor- cedes to Him whom God bare from all ruptible and mortal, which yet have a eternity, not so much real advantage as unity of nature from their parents, are attaches to the nature of man or Angel, still unwilling to allow to the Son of to wit, a capacity for indefinite progres- God a participation of One Nature sion towards their Creator, from the Father, though He be inse-
310 Heretics pervert the use of langnage.
names? They are essentially indivisible; it is we that bave
made a division in the Truth. For the virtue of the Father
i p. 315, can never be made void^ of Him who is Generate (rem Him,
'® * ' neither can the Son be severed from Him. Who can sever
the harmonious Names ? Who would not scorn to say that
the Creator made the creatures greater than His own
«R.lxxi. Essence ' in that their names are united, while He divided
0. Sonit. the Name of Father ? Every man is clad with names of his
3& 4 own; and the Father and the Son alone have Their Names
ref. 5. stripped from Them. — They have falsified the names of
every thing in every thing !
RHYTHM THE SIXTY-THIRD.
1. Who doth not perceive, my son, that whatsoever hath surnames, hath had them given from some occasion ; and that when there is very urgent cause, at the time of a testament bonds and loans, they come to an end, and are broken off: and veritable names are requisite at that time, that they may seal the truth ? Who doth not know that when our Lord was crucified. He cried to His Father, and commended His orphans and disciples, saying, ^ Father, take and keep them/ And when John 17, He was raised again. He sealed by His Resurrection HisjJ^m j Sonship to that Father, and made His Name to pass through 4* the assay-furnace, that it might be believed on in all the world. Who doth not confess, that even during' His Cruci-*S.upon fixion it was to His Father He cried, and commended the^^^ss, Flesh" of His Humanity*'? And that they might believe sor Body
* These words have some little dif- Jews and heretics against His tide of
ficolties, yet not such as affect the Son. See p. 122, n. i. main sense, which plainly is, That ^ This difficnlty is palliated in the
names given for some occasion, as e. g. Latin translation, which gives carnem
titles of office and the like in addressing et spiritum sanm. That something is
a person, are dropped upon other oc- here asserted which St. £. thought was
oasions, such as those mentioned in the generally received doctrine is plain from
text, in which the testator, &c. wishes the beginning of the sentence ; that
to designate A or B, not as he happens those who really or seemingly held the
to be governor or proconsul or the like, Divine Nature to have been separated
but as he is i^ or fi. In the same way from the Bo^ at death were few is
Christ when about to make a Testament certain, (see Fetav. de Inc. zii. 19. and
with His Blood, to be of force after He Thomassin ibid. iv. 9. §. 27*) and it is not
was dead, did not say, ' Why callest a priori likely that St. £. should mean
thon Me good ? There is none good but by this deviation from the statement
God,' or use any such eeonomical ex- of Scripture to imply, that he held that
pression, but said plainly, * Father.' theSoul only and not the Body remained
The words * eo tempore quo testa- united to the Divine Nature during the
mentum signaretur' occur in a form three days, an impression which the
mentioned in Justinian Instit. it. tit. 10. text might at first sight convey. Neither
§. 7. "What the particular words testa- (with the present reading) does it ac-
ment, &o. mean precisely is not easy to count, satisfactorily, for the change, to
determine ; perhaps the word rendered assume that ' Flesh' stands for the whole
testament means a will generally, that Human Nature of Christ, as in John i.
rendered bonds a written codicil, and 14. : although considering that ' com-
the remaining one an oro/ request at mend' is expressed above by a different
death. The ' assay-furnace' mentioned word from that in St. Luke, that might
presently probably means the fury of not be inadmissible. — St. A&an.delnc.
318 Thd" Ood the Son veiled Himself in assumed^ it is unreal
Mat37, that He was the Son, His voice rent the graves, and rent the
i^*&^' sanctuary ; it scattered the nation of cnicifiers, and gathered
Zech/s) together the nations; and they believed in His Divinity, and
^' confessed Him the Very God, the Son of Very God. His
Voice was as a witness, shouted, confessed, avouched^ and
wrotCf and sealed, that He was not a servant, who as a Son
fled to His Father.
2. Since the watch was a man of distinguishing mind, who is called ^ centurion,^ he diligently observed how the voices of our Redeemer, who cried unto His Father, were in
0. Arian 4. 6. has the (bllowing remark to Hie real Fatber, to attain to tbe
by Himself, as they are quickened in * When upon the Cross He quickeoed
Him ; for they be His members, and the dead, His Bo^ quickened them,
the members being many are one Body, yea, rather His Will.' Yet the ad-
which is the Church, &c," quoting dition here ' yea rather' makes the
Gal. iii. 28. What St E. then may meaning plain, not to say that ' Body'
mean is, to consider the Toice at the ought to occupy the place of * them' to
Crucifixion in its effects upon the make this clause parallel to the text in
Church, and hence, as He is speaking this point also. What one would ras-
of the Resurrection, he is led to mention pect is, that a letter should be altered,
not its effects upon men's souls in the and we should read *■ Body of our hu-
intermediate state, but upon their bodies manity.' Vol. iii. p. 507^ b. '^O Lord,
afterwards. In toL i. p. 661. we find when Thy mercifulness moved Thee to
the following passage, in which there is come down and put on the Flesh For
a reference to the way in which Scrip* Body] of our humanity, &c." See R.
ture blends the First-fruits with the Ixxiii. §. 2. and B. Ixxrii. §• 1. This
effects on the lump. '' Itaiah had said, taken in connexion with the way in
TeUke a lump offigs^ ^. 3 Kings 20, 7. which St. E. speaks of the Old Adam,
The lump of figs which was put upon (p. 328, n.c.) would sive a good mean-
Hezekiah'sboii, and by which being put ing to uie passage, me mam object of
on it a cure began to be effected, is a type which is to shew Christ called God
of the Incarnation of Christ out of our ' Father' to the last Didymns, de Trin.
nature. For from the time that God con- iii. SO. is worth quotinie, as shewing what
descended to Flesh, and was united with use may be made of the text against
It, the cure of Adam's boils began, heretics. '^ Through His own Person He
But the figs be a type of the genera- commends the human nature which is
tiotts out M which the lump of healiog quickened into Him by faith, which
effect was derived unto us. Beautifully also He deigned to call His members,
then doth Scripture add, that it was on or possibly He partly teaches all to
the third day that Hezekiah's cure was know how much Anus was in error
perfected, and he went up to the House herein, he having supposed Him not to
of the Lord ; because it was not before have a soul ^i the Incarnation ; and
the third day that Christ healed by His partly teaches all to pray at their last
Besnrrection our mortality ; and He oreath, and use this voice, confesnng
became the First-finits of them that in a right spirit, that it is finom God
slept, and made ready for us an asceut tfiat the being of us men originates,
to the House not made with hands. For and to Him that we have to return. And
the Apostle Paul saith, Euh. 1, 6. God so what took place was a precept." See
lifted us up viith Him, ana made us sit also p. 360, n. d. and Le Quien ad J.
in Heaven in our Lord Jesus Christ." Pam. F. O. iii. §. 24. llie expressioo,
In the same way he may here apply however,inSt.£.,asit stands, woold go
what is said in Scripture of Christ to the other way; it is so strange that this
the orphans and disciples who were, by note cannot pretmd to do more than A.'s
virtue of His commendation of Himself version, i. e. to palliate the difficulty.
iopreiend these are undutinguishablefromproper^names. SI 9
a voice diverse from all voices. The earth beneath it shook, the sun above it darkened, jea, he also cried, and set to bis seal p* S8. that He was the Son of God. From the Lord of all Himself one Mat 27, may learn how sweet He is; for He called not Himself by the name of the [eternal] Essence \ for the Name of Eternal were iB.xlTii. great and high in His justice, rather than in graciousness. ScnJt. i* Neither can the height of His name and His surname be$*^^*°*^ brought down, so that He should invest the creatines with it, aince it is the Name belonging to the [eternal] Essence.
8. Who would not marvel at His Name and at His mercy? for His Name is inaccessible to all, and His Love condescendeth even to all. Since He hath other Names which are sweet, and accommodate themselves to creatures, and which * ?• 373, are condescending in order to magnify His works by His surnames, it was in these that He came down, and clothed His own creatures with His Names. The Heavenly King made kings' of His servants: because He was God, He called them ' p* SM, also by the name of gods ; and because He was Judge, lo, johnio,
is servants are judges; and because they were travellers,^* weary did He call Himself by name*; and by reason of theirs, s. * riding He also made Himself a rider', that He might in all JJSI"- things be like unto us. (Hebr.)
4. Who is there that is in such sort wholly unwise and hard- isSyiLd. hearted, as to fancy ever so short a while, that because men were '^ . called by His Names, that the nature of man and of God is one p. 385, [and the same]'; or again who, because the Lord was called ^^^^.^ by the Name of His servants, would imagine a thing made §-4. and the Maker to admit of being compared^ together ? For ^. 3/ ' when He called us kings by His own Name, the reality was His, 5* wrald the likeness ours. Again, when He called Himself by the thinff names of His servants, the nature is ours, His is the surname, ^^^ in the place of the true name : and the borrowed ^ name is plain, Dariron. both in our case, and in His case. Now by His mercies^ j] ^' wittingly did He set His own Names upon His own creatures^* ^ 6, p. not for disputation, but for consolation. Let questioning be^^'*^^* stopped, my brethren, and let us pray more. For when He shineth forth*® unto us. He is as of our race, and though >®p-336, distinct in all things from all things, yet is He with all things °' ^
in all things ". n,^'. *
5. Wherefore, if He were to separate Himself, He could §• ^^-
320 Heretics meet Christ ft love with ingratitude.
■ §. 4. not clothe His creatures' with His Names ; and if according 330 *^ ^"^ wickedness He abhorred us greatly, then had He
ref. 8. made a snare, such as never may be made, of the Scriptures which have eradicated the bristlings of perverse questions, the ulcers of disputation. Who would not be astonied at what evil servants and despisers have done, instead of praising their merciful Lord, who by His Son came to us?
>5. made He shared* His heart with us: Himself dwelt with us, and
with UB. spoke confidingly : and that they might taste His Love, He tasted of their bitterness.
RHYTHM THE SIXTY-FOURTH.
1. Lord, root out the thorns*, whose sower is the evil one, * P« 220, and the husbandman of tares \ For they saw that we disputed, 9 p. 317^ and they rejoiced that we wrangled, and they agreed together °- 8^- at our separation, and they assembled at our dispersion, and
they rejoiced that our assay-furnace' put not their frauds to 'p; 122, the trial, nor our light their spots, nor our voice their disputings. Who would not weep that we have become perverse? For where it was fit that we should keep still silence*, there our voice was tumultuous; and were it was*P-ii8»®« right that we should reprove, there we were tongue-tied by the persons of men*. We have gone astray, and have turned * P- ^^2, our eyes away from our own hateful faults. We have warred Atban. and risen up against the High One, for we have pried into the P" ^^^ hidden things of God, [to see] how He exists. Yet who is able to search throughly into that party ^ which disturbeth and**P-^26, tronbleth us? For if he' indeed have senses, how then is7R.i.§.6. he formed, and how are his ears and eyes furnished with?*^^**^" openings ? and if he hath a mouth ? for behold he hath no body; and if he hath limbs? for behold he hath no frame ^ ^P'238,
2. Who then — [to take] this apostate Satan, who teacheth Jixv. e. us the prying into secret things^ — who hath searched him ^P- 2^3, out, [so as to know] whether the whole of him is any man, p. 104. and how he is able to blend his design with our mind, tuid^'^^ his words into our words, and how too he insinuates his will lxvi.$.i. into our heart ? Here is a marvel in his hatefiil doings ! q[ ^^ ' Who would not be ashamed that the wicked one entercth ^® ^- ^' into his body and maketh a sport of the soul which dwelleth therein ; and how that it feeleth not the intimate access of Satan, who dwelleth in itself, and entereth into it ; neither can
it comprehend how to feel the touch of him that sojoumeth in it. While searching into its Lord, let it search into its *^ ^*
lxxv.§.4.
murderer " ! n c.
3. Who hath explored into the earth", (which yet appears ?^^j j* to be a thing limited by measures,) to see, whence the ear is R. iviii.
t^22Diffic allies in nature teach submission to thosein Scripture.
> p. 19, filled and bringeth up heaps of corn', and the palm tree xTi. Va!'^^^^^^^^^' the cluster strong wines, and the oHves are fruitful s p. 324, in oils^ and the trees put forth their branches, flowers and "' fruit they bear and sweet smells with spices too. Can any ^ p« 297, man tell us bow the waters' increase the seed and multiply it? 4B. ivii.From it by itself enquire also into the fountain % who it is §* ^* that multiplieth it, so that it floweth on and is not cut off.
The Good One that multiplieth the fountains' treasure. He it is that multiplieth all, in order that He may quicken all ! Job 40, 4^ Who hath seen and searched into the Behemoth on the drr
16*41 1* '
Bochart.land or the Leviathan in the sea? and how without food they Hieroz. fatten and increase? and who ever hath explored the fearful
11. lib. V. -II-
c. 16.16. wombs of their caves? How much more hidden from ail is the Oeneration of the Lord of all ? and who can explore the
*p. 131. mighty Womb* of His Generator? Who can reckon up how many natures there are yet removed far from us in the sea * and in the dry land, and our soul knoweth not how to gaze
> Origen upon them ? Lo, all these difficulties' cry aloud : ' Since ye ^^^J[l 'cannot fly in the air, hush up your dispntings, O ye feeble p. 6. men !'
' p. 228, 5. I have taken my stand then ^ ! I have not turned aside
"' ^' after men, to say as they say. Since I have seen the strange
names which are not in Scripture, neither do they suit our
Redeemer**; I have lefl the things that are not in Scripture and
have pleaded with those that are in Scripture, lest for the
sake of those which are not in Scripture I should lose those
which are ! He created the waters, and gave them to the
fishes for their use ; He set His seal to the Scriptures, and
gave them to men for their edification, and they bear witness
•R.xlTi. one to the other. For if the fishes' flee from the boundary of
R.i'lviii. ^^®'^ realm, they suffer for their leapings ; and if men too
§• 3. pull up the boundary * which is in the Scriptures, their pryings
196. 'ai*e death.
* This is a remark which it is worth mere words went, and of coarse much
calling attention to, as it seems not to more so in meaning. St. E. howoTer
have struck some of the modem in- is willing, as well as Athanasins, see
▼estigators of God's ways. p. 17, m. p. 167, i. p. 178, d. to yield to
i> When Arians ohiected to the word them in this, and states that he has
* Bomoousion' and the like, that they avoided unscriptural terms wherever were unscriptural, it was usual to retort hy using them he wonld have run npon them, that the words * creature,' the risk of losing Scriptare promises
* ingenerate,' &c. which they employed, through a neglect of charity to a weak were just as unscriptural, as far as brother.
RHYTHM THE SIXTY-FIFTH,
1. Speak for thy side: Nature* is before thy hand, Scrip- 1 see p. ture before thine eyes, and nature is hard for us, Scripture ^^^»'*' is easy' for us; for it was not from nature that we leamtsp. 272. Christ. It is right and meet that from the same source whence we learnt His Humanity, we should also learn His Divinity. It is right that from the same source whence we learnt His Birth from Mary, we should also learn His other prior Birth '. And though nature is hard to us in every thing,
the Scripture is able to teach us of the Father and the Son and the Spirit', if They of a truth baptize us and give* Basil us life. He is convicted by himself! for either he denies 'l^g^ the baptism of the heretics to be valid ^; or else if be is baptized xliv.$^. and asserts their baptism to be valid, he is like Marcion, who ^f' ' ate the goods of the Maker, and denied the Maker, and though he was conceived and bom, yet vilified marriage*. ^TertniL A bitter fruit this which denieth its own root*! For who when ?.' 29^™* he baptizeth denies and casts aside That into Which liej^-l»»« bapti2;eth ? He cannot then cast them aside, since he cannot baptize without the Names of Father and Son and Spirit. And though every form of words has a fixed shaped thou hast ^Though had trial of those of the heretics ! ^^^
2. Who hath searched out the ventricles and ducts^ of«^d«tli animals, m^ats and their changes, natures and their vicis-a^.foids situdes, some whereof are solitary ^ and some of them pro-^^'g*'^- ductive of others. There is also reason to be greatly astonished ^ p. 232, at the trees, how it is that they put forth and bear leaves and " 237 |^ branches and yield fruit ; the investigating whereof ends in'® w 5. j, stillness, and the searching after them in silence. Who"*^"**"
* See p. 115) n. c. p. 43, n. i. R. 1i. Tboa Son of time, whose beginnioff
§. 3. R. Izii. $. 6. vol. iii. p. 610, f. was from the house of David •...blessed
*^ Son and Fniit, who wert eternally be Thy former Birth, and blessed be
with Thy Root without beginning; Thy second Birth !''
y2
324 Secessily of faith illustrated by the case of the biiad. »contr. hath searched out the olive*', which, when thought* to be ot
Sorut. 1. / # o
§. 10. even texture, yet bringeth forth in wondrous sort leaves that are not like the branches, nor in their colour to the twigs, and are different from the fruit in their taste ; aye, and in each single fruit three are conceived ; and when it is pressed it bringeth forth water and fire and oil. Who again can find out how fire is conceived in the midst of its stone and cometh forth from it at the contact of its fellow, yea, and propagates itself in wood its fellow-servant ?
* p. 124, 3^ III measure the blind man ' can search into light,
n. m. R. o -y
ivi. §. 6. though he cannot shadow forth the sun and his ray' in his ^"^fl^^' heart and imagination; how can he gain any kind of sight of §. 16. the ray and offspring* of that sun save only by putting implicit izxiv. ^^^h in ^im ^bo hath told him thereof? Hence if a sightless < comp. man were minded to raise difficulties in what he was told, and
R. Ixvi. J.J.
§. ]. did not believe, he would fall into coimdess evils; for that he
* R. pried and would not rest [content with one], but was minded^ J, 2, ' to be found blind in both, in the eye as well as in the mind, •p. 136, But had he been willing to believe*, God in His justice had
n. e.
7 5. the provided a light for his blindness ^
of Ju8^ 4. Why do we vex ourselves, even our own selves, with
tice had questionings ? why trouble we ourselves, even our own selves,
np hie ^^^ Scrutinizing? Blind is our mind which would gaze upon
blind- that Generation, and pry into the mode of it ; for there is no
other way for man save only that he believe* implicitly the
words of the True One. Who would not fear — ^if a blind man
is reproved for hearing and not believing the word of man
who wisheth to tell him of light, what the way of it is — that he
» 1 John will be much more judged* who heareth and yet believeth not
I96,n.c.the voice of God? for the voice of the Father proclaimed
9 R. ixi. « This is My Son ^'
$. 2. R. ^
Izii. §. ] .
Wp^i04, Here end seventeen Rhythms to the tune of Bardesanes* *^
Odes,
^ Schubert. G. der Natur, ii. p. 633. or the flesh of the stone-fruit,. . .contaiiw
*' The oleineffi with pendent seeda, in Home much fat oil, in others the
contain very different growths. . .The seed. The bark and the leaves of most
difference lien principally in the fruit, species are very astringent ; that of the
less in the form of the blossom, ^hich olive, as well as of the ash is employed
in many species is fragrant. The fruit, as a febrifuge."
RHYTHM THE SIXTY-SIXTH.
1. Who is he that hath been daring and hath forgotten himself, and hath wished to be a measure ' of Him that formed ' S, to liiin, himself beiog but dust? Let him who feels that he is^mplR? dust praise that Image ^ who fashioned, yea, and ordered him. ^^T* ^* The seducer' seduced and bewildered the sons of men.'S. ' Against the invisible Sun* he incited them and darkened l^5<^ j them, not that they should see, but that they should pry.g^^P'P* By the Trinity, whereby they were washed, they have defiled ' p. 299, themselves, in that they have made divisions* about Theirj^xiv'&g, Names. *R.Ixt.
c a
2. There is wrangling in the Church, and in the presence sr.IxH. of the Truth the heart is divided upon disputation^ In the|" J'J^* Church envy biteth men, and in the Ark there was a treaty ^ R. lix. of peace among the fanged beasts'. Under the pretext ofpj^'jj truth there were bows ; a quiver have they made of wrangling, 2 ; 57, 4 ; and it is full of arrows. The wicked one hath decoyed the ' simple, and introduced them to hopeless questions and crushed them to pieces therewith. He hath irritated men with things which are not convenient, that they might leave off from those which are allowed. Because they were intoxicated, they piit on strife as a coat of mail ; they have rent Truth as the garment. Pb. 22, Yet is the Truth itself not divided, for it hath rent them that
rend it% and cast them out of the Kingdom. Lo, they have' R.viii. put on armour, as in war, for that victory in which is con- f* ^ y^' cealed condemnation! They have worn® the Scripture to^^^ix.
§. 2. R.
Ixi. §. ff.
• Vol.ii. p.481,d. " In the Ark He who repented not at the preaching of* P- 279,
shadowed out the creature to teach the Noah, and notices the larger number n* d.
same; for in it all families changed of innocuous and clean animals in theP* ^96,
their natures. Lo, every nature there Ark as a type of the Church " making n. c.
Coached to us that evil is not of nature ! priests to God out of the pure and per-
t them shew us then an evil, the feet in her." nature whereof admitteth not of change. » R. viii. §. 5. R. zxxix. §. 3. R. Ixi.
Upon nature and on will look and see §. 5. R. Ixviii. §. 2. Hilar, de Trin. vii.
how they were changed, &c." See also §. 4. " While all heretics conquer one
iii. p. 603, b. c. d. i. p. 62. and p. 148. another in turns, for their own selves
where he dwells on the marvellous con- they make no conquests." See the whole
f'ord of the beatttFi as a k'S^ion to those §. and nn Athan. p. H, n. r.
826 // is Satan who allures from the path qf Orthodoxy,
pieces, not that thej might read it, but that they might go
astray and [see] how to pry and wrangle. They are clothed
within with hidden poison, while they are convicted of having
the Serpent hissing** amongst their words. Who shall be able
to allay them who, when supposed to be searching after the
» p. 120, truth, are searching how they may wrangle? The milestones'
s'seep. ^^ ^^ ^^6 Eang's high road* have the foolish deserted, and
249, D.e. have taken to trackless land, and lo, they go astray in it!
244,DjuHe that goeth in the King's high road, he it is that goeth to
J-jl^^^meet the King and His Gift.
^ yfe have seen above, p. 223, n. d. doxy at one time a ' narrow path* and
that St. £. joins with the Fathers in at another a * high road' is parallel to
general in holding idolatry and heresy a similar case in Scriptare, in which
to be intrinsically the same thing ; here (rod's way is represented not only as
he speaks of heretics, as others also do, a ' narrow path,' but also as ' a large
as the organs of Satan, inspired by him room,' according as men are seeking it,
in what it is their miserable lot to in- or have found it. The words of Hesiod,
vent and utter. See p. 269, n. e. on Irhf Ir iM(^ lunrm, fm^m MrMr* miku
Ath&n, p. 9, n. s. p. 386, r. 1. p. 410, a. ;^«A.inf wt^ USm, illustrate the lan-
Iren. v. 26. 2. Epiphan. i. p. 104, a. b. guage of Scripture. Ecclus. 4, 16 — 19.
113, a. 614, c. 923, b. 944, b. &o. Cyril Mat. 7, 13. As far as temptations to
Theti. 118,d. Alex. ap. Theod. H. £. i. depart from the road through hetertK
4 init. and p. 17. Ambr. de Fid. ii. §. 134. doxy are concerned, Satan's aim is to
Damas. c. A poll. Concil. Hard. i. p. 762, tempt men to think that a strict Creed
b. It may be added, that the apparent cramps the intellect instead of iUumi-
contradiction implied in calling ortho* nating it.
RHYTHM THE SIXTY-SEVENTH.
1. The standard* of truth hath been set in the Scriptures', i §. 2. the blear-eyed leave it; for thej seek to shoot at the Lord of|S^P- angels. This standard is that the Father is One, indivisible; B. ixixl and the Son is One, unsearchable. A visible standard is set^^jj*^®** in the Iight% and he who is foolish shooteth darls^ by nightp-37,n.L into the darkness. Let stillness be a boundary to the vain q. ^ ' talkers, and let silence be a boundary to the disputers ' ^^^« concerning hidden things! Let the mouth learn how itxlviii.* should speak, and ihus let it speak, lest it repent after itf'p^ Itath spoken ; let it learn first, and thus let it teach, lest it R.xxvu. become as it were a passage for things not convenient \ p ^eo
2. The Scriptures are set as a mirror: he whose eye is clear, ^' *>. seeth the image of truth therein. There is the likeness of on c. the Father set : there is the image of the Son shadowed out, f^\^' ^' and of the Holy Ghost. The Names of these Three are set
one after another* in the faith at baptism. Pretence entered « p. isi, in to make confusion, [saying,] that we ought to pry into them, °* ®- in order that we may gain them*. Scrutinizing entered, strife 6 comp. entered, struggling entered, and truth fled. The right thing P* ^^^» was then, that they should gain the truth without disputing, and not that we by searching should let go of the whole of it It was fit also that in simplicity we should gain life, and not by much wisdom^ to gain death. It is fitting too in the time of thirst to drink the water, and not in stead of drinking to measure the fountain. It is fitting for a little child to
• Syr. I^OO! U^. So in the Sy ri- ?32, d. &c. &c. « doctrinea' in the plural
_ / .„ i . ,« 1 Jl w used to imply false doctrines. On
ac Version of St. Ignatius p. 10. (^O^ ^i,at follows, vol, iii. p. 446, e. and f.
h%Mt J3-elect in the standard of "^y be referred to; " He only is wise i^r*» -— •^»''»"' ^ " «^u«»« v» ^YiQ maketh fools wise by his contruth, a kind of phrase by no means un- versation." " The beginning of the common in St. £. (see p. 107, n. b.) for fi^st estate [of life] is from our own * the true doctrine' or somewhat of the nature to do what is becoming j the kind. The phrase jh*^ «"v^^ Lo^lZ, second, which is also without blame, is
/ n jt^ * « V lort N ^ ' to know and to do what we know ; the
anoded to »• t. p. 182 ) so common in ^^ ^^.^ deaerveth stripes, is ;hen later Synac, for 'orthodoiy' doe. not, as ^ j j^ i^ wbat we bar-.
for as 1 recoUeot, occur m St Ephrem. , ^ . y^^ ^^ exceedingly dnll
Possibly It onpnated witf. tbe con- j, j^^ ^^^^^j„ ^^ ^ ^^ ^ ^
troTersies about the Tnsagion. „„„™.i »k.» ™. ™.„ _„» j„ »
" S. Wisdoms : so in toI. ii. p. 477, b. P"T~' *»' "" °"y ""* ^-
S2SThe old Adam restored by recereMtial/aith im the Sew Adam.
\ know his father by the sight of hiniy and not bj closely
examining him. It is fitting then that one should learn the
1 B.xWi. truth by the conversation ' of faith without scrutinizing. Be
Scrut? i. *^^^" then content with these things, O blessed assembly!
|. 44. ii.put off strife, and put on love% and preach the truth.
< r'ix. ^* 11^ &^ ^^ first' opened the store-house of His lore and
a ^oAo created Adam, when as yet he was not, out of the dust. He
a. ' also made haste and opened the doors of hell, and brought up
from hence the body of Adam which was dust. He hastened
again and opened the door of Paradise by His promise, and
loosened Adam with the tree of life. Glory to Him who
devised that key^ which, though one and the same, yet opened
all the treasure-houses ! Glory to the Father who is hidden
*^'7^ in His own Essence* ! Glory to the Son who is hidden in
lxx.§. i. His Generation by the seal of silence*! Praise to the Father,
*P' ^^^» because He hath no bounds®; praise to the Son, because He
*ormea-with the Holy Spirit cannot be searched into! Increase unto
Sv!§.4.'™^'> Lord, silence and a voice, that by them I may live to
B. Ixvi. rebuke prying into Thee, and to tell Thy glory'.
' p. 228,
°*m D ' ^°'" "'• P* ^®^» ^' "When the been! Ki»e, thou fair one, mock %t aao ^ ft Lion's Whelp roared in hell, then were him, the tyrant who thy flesh tor- ' * ' its gates broKen open, fallen were the mented ! Tread thou on the dragon's walls of the revelling city, crouched on head, who thy nestlings would derour ! their knees the mighty ones of the Adam rose, and on his kneeft worship place at ease ! When Christ the Eagle paid unto his Lord, that in quest of him screamed therein, that Nestling of the dei^cended. Worship pay I, O my Mighty God, from that time was death Lord, with my children, that Tfaou put to shame, and the head of the apostate earnest and hast raised our fallen nature ! Dowed down I Because he wished to be unto Thee my Lord and God, pay I wor- God, Christ shouted againRt Ahaddon. ship! Thee confess 1,0 our Saviour, who and the npustate crouched and fell. And didst save ray life from death, that long He calleu Adam, and raised him up from had sported with my members, &c." the darkness on which he was bedridden. Although St. E. held strongly that our Where art thou, Adam the fair, that Lord set free the Patriarchs upon Hitt by thy helpmate's counsel fellest. descent into hell, probably the word Ilouse thee up then, O thou fair one, * Adam' in the text rather means image great that wert corrupted P slain human nature — as ibid p.312,b. where is deatli» and Satan too, and crushed is he says, *^ The brightness and the glory the dragon's bend I Rise, praise the which by transgressing the command- Father in the Son, and the Spirit by ment Adam lost, that did the Lord the Only-begotten ! for in Him are thy come and restore to hhn by Baptism.'' children raised again and inherit life in See p. 313, d. e. p. 351, b. p. 512, b. heaven. Lift thee op, Adam the fair, p. 536, f. p. 539, b. p. 672, e. In vol. iii. that by the Father's hand wert formed ; p. 499. he speaks as follows : * The King lo, Eden looks for thee, thy dwelling, and M es^ios directed his way to the mountain Paradise whence thou didst go ! Rise, of Jebas, which is Jerusalem : He fixed be quickened with thy children, by the His Cross in Adam's tomb, where the might of Him who shaped tht-e from Jews too fixed it. He cried with HiJ» the beginning ! The trees that be in voice, ard the rocks rent, and the dead Paradise mourning for thy sake have arose from their tombs.'
RHYTHM THE SIXTY-EIGHTH.
1. The Scriptures are agreed, men are divided, seeing that
it is about the one truth', that strifes have risen from fiee-' R. lix. will. Under the pretext of truth vile men have designed the ' obtaining the mastery, after having called men to their side*.' ^- The congregations chose their masters, captains of thousands §. 2. and of hundreds, and captains of tens : because there was ^^^^ abundance of peace, all the spoilers that spoiled by troops 22, 7. every man his neighbour, were vehement at disputing as at a^^jj^^ contest, so that brothers cast their darts against brothers. P- 1^<>- Mighty sorrow! The vile drew' their tongues; they smote, iiiv.§ji and were smitten: and without blood or danger that sword t.®°"P- though feeble raged. The tongue as a murderer scometh,^. 2. because it is blinded !
2. Vain-glory troubleth the disputants, as the crown causeth sighs to the wrestlers who smite and are yet overcome*. They * P- 325, are much overcome even by that wherewith they conquered, since their excuse was rash boldness. Mighty woe ! In what sense has he conquered, who in having conquered, hath
yet been the more overcome, whom his own pride hath conquered ? How doubly great is the loss of him also that loseth his suit, who by disputing loseth it and by envy too, with perfect loss! Whoso hath entangled his fellow by searchings, him hath haughtiness entangled as in a pit-fall*. *R-^J^^« O great humiliation !
3. One is filled with wrath, another with strife, which [leads to] endless evils^ And what hope is there for them^^-l^*"- that have lost all hope ? Let us weep that they have been daring against God and against men, that they may hoodwink them by vain babbling. The headiness on earth goeth into 7 ^ jj..^ heaven; the earth is disturbed': disputation fumethjup as a §-2. smoke. The Heaven and the Heaven of Heavens® are unpro- ^.e. and ductivo of disputation, and the cavt'rns of earth are full of theJ^'J"*
330 Disputation dissuaded and prayed against,
blasphemy. The Heaven distributeth over things beneath dew
and rain, streams that are full of all good things. The earth
hangs the things above with all sorts of questionings, with
disputation that is full of all blasphemies. The thin^ of claj
have clashed, by their disputings, with their handiworks, and
have fallen upon the earth and become dust !
> R. IT. 4. Ten thousand times ten thousand Angels* are stilly and
^* two are prying; the soul and the body are in disturbanca
Still is Michael and Gabriel too, and dust disputeth and ashes
too. O heavy wrath! Sicknesses pressed on us: their words
• 8. by ceased, as by the prospect of death' have their scrutinizings
^^ir^Q^and disputings also. Praise* be to Thee, Lord, because that
Thou hast restrained me from such scrutinizing as all the bold
disputers use, that I may live before Thee.
*
^ See p. 328, n. c. YoL iii. p. 631. in the which Thou art to judge me!
'< O Lord my God, whom I have con- Have mercy on me, O Lord, aiter Thy
fessed, do not Thou deny me in that goodness, and make me to stand at Thy
fearfal day, when each man will need right hand with the just that have loved
forgiveness! O do not sav unto me, Thee!" I know thee not, in that fearful time
RHYTHM THE SIXTY-NINTH.
1. If thou priest into the Eternal, it is a distraction; where wilt thou begin, and where wilt thou end, O w«ak man ! From the beginning to the end there is rest to him
that goeth by the King's high- way'. To the Eternal there jcScrut. is no beginning nor end, and so He perplexeth him tha^^J^^^* p*' seekcth into Him. If in the Truth which thou hast laid hold3^^>°'<^ of, thou lettest thyself be of divided mind, thou wilt pour §.2. thyself out and error will drink thee ifi, that thirsty land. If with His secret counsel thou let thyself become perplexed, disputing about Him will be a mighty sea' and will come*P«i^» over thee. In the faith as in a ship' go down to His Scriptures izx.V 1'. as a sailor to the port. Save by His Scriptures* go not thou!^^^^* down into Him, for He hath made Him many havens^ among ^BJxTii. His billows. Praise thou His Name ! « rVux.
2. The High One came down in His Love and became §• i* small though greater than all, and was little^ unto Him who ^ P* ^^r was too weak to go. Again, in His Love He hath become
a Sea, that he might traffick therein who was lacking in treasures. But if in His own Nature one should familiarly use Him, neither things above nor things below can go down into Him. What created thing' can search into His God-^^*^** head, when there is a gulph between him and the Creator ? Unto the Godship is naught of the things which are made* far >j^« away ; for Love is between Him and the creatures* Unto God M-^^ there is not a man of the disputers that cometh nigh, though He p! 320^* be very nigh unto them of distinguishing mind. In that H oly JJ^: « One none that is impure partaketh, for that He dwelleth in His entirety • in the holy. To that All-knowing One none attaineth j^f'J^' that is subtle, for that His Love is with plain men. To that 174, d.«. High One none that is haughty attaineth, since His Love condescendeth to the lowly. He, being God, cannot be measured" of a man, though very loving unto men. He,![*^^*^^* being Maker, cannot be measured of things made% how great
•332 No faculties can Jltid out God.
soever the thing made by Him may be. He, as Only Liviug, ' R. iv. cannot be uttered by mortals^ nor His Generation by the disputers. Unto that Majesty who can reach ? the spirit is feeble, the soul is little, the flesh weak*. Whoso bath thought that he could search out Him, of him the speech strayeth, of him the heart roameth, of him the whole rebelleth.
* It seems but little to add, that the following the example of the Father? flesh caonot reach God , which assertion again to remind the reader, that God is may yet be illustrated by reference to not one out of all things and does not n. d. p. 116. It would howerer appear come under the laws relating to all more likely, that the word ' flesh' is tilings, and that consequently any one used (as in Scripture) for the soul eon- of them selected to illustrate His Na> Isidered as acting upon, and acted upon ture only illustrates It partially. Each by, the body; and the sentence will of these three functions of the sool then mean, that that one substance, seems as we contemplate them to en- (which we call spirit, soul, or flesh, gross its whole substance, and so to according to the subject matter which correspond to the Trinity in Unity in at the time of speaking we conceive of the rude way in which alone we can it as acting upon,) cannot by any of its contemplate Bis Adorable Substance, faculties find out God. The oneness The souPs mode of existence doe« not, of the soul in all these three fimctions in reality, answer to God's mode of exought to have been noticed above, p. istence: but the two objects, as we con- 166, n. d. and p. 295, n. d. as what template them, do (ifl-tf»Mf, see p. 145,n. St. £. makes analogous to the oneness a. p. 246, n. b.) exhibit a kind of renemof Grod in Three Persons. It will be blance. Comp. B. Ivii. n. a. b. p. 341.
RHYTHM THE SEVENTIETH.
1. With what eye shall the thing made look upon the Malter, when it is a creature, and He the Creator ? There
is no seeing of the soul' within us, gaze and look as we may, ^ R. Ivii. either with the mind or with the eyes. For if we enquire ' after it with the mind one believeth in it, and the other denieth [its existence]'. Oh, great stumblingblock ! How*R.i.§.i. should the soul that is so blind that it cannot see even itself,"' ^ gaze upon the Godhead? Neither can it feel itself, yet will it with these senses dare to search into the Creator. Get thee down to the haven', feeble man ! for if the sea be^R.lxix. vehement, the haven close at hand is as a place of refuge. ^' ' Draw near to a searching proportioned to thy strength; and then if thy heart l)e amazed and lost, wait thou in silence ! Stillness is not at a distance, nor is it at a dear rate that thy mouth can buy silence. Silence is easy*; disputing* R. li. is hard. It is not by any necessity that prying is thrown upon the bold disputer; and even the commandment, though it seem to be altogether constraining, is not of necessity, since it is of free-will*. And if the law be not of* R- ▼. necessity, what disputing can constrain us to be searching ? ^^vMu He gave the commandments, and refrained disputing ; in His|- 2- c Testaments there is no seeking and no prying. He gave the R.i.§.l2. law instead of disputation*, and instead of searching, thef'^-Sorat. faith', unto our feebleness. The natures which He made are^R. not to be comprehended ; how much less the Nature of ?'j""' Him who is hidden in Himself, and is unspeakable ! •R.lxvii.
2. The Son, which is of Him, knowcth Him without con- j^^t ^ troversy, as not erring as to the way of searching into Him. 27. Every thing made erreth altogether, whensoever it prieth, for
that it cannot reach unto the Maker. If then His Love magnified us^ let us know what we are — that our nature ®R.xxix. cannot pry into His Nature. For every thing which is a|^Jj^3
334 Creatures cannot comprehend the Creator,
creature goeUi altogether astray, if it thinks that it is capable of prying into the Creator. Let not that which is made go astray, since by scrutinizing into Him it goes to a wider distance from the Maker thereof.
RHYTHM THE SEVENTY-FIRST.
1. There cannot be among the creatures^ a vessel large ' ^'l^ii* enough to contain that Majesty ! there cannot be among minds ixvi.§.i'. a womb that sufficeth for the knowledge* of the Godhead ! For J^- ^'*' the Maker is very wise, so that He would not be at issue with >§.2. R. Himself, as in sport, about the manner in which He should o^g^j^t! create. For if He were to make a vessel capable of containing >• 5» 34. Him, then were the thing made greater than its Maker. Folly this, that the thing made should be the greater and more excellent, while the Maker thereof were not gi'eater than it!
2. If then the Creator be the greater, how can the thing made, which He hath made, be commensurate with His know* ledge ' ? and if He hath made any thing commensurate with Him- ^ p. 348, self, this were an amazement not to be believed. Again, since ^' ^' every thing which He hath made is marvellous, it is because
the Creator is great that they be glorious, though created things. Great is the creature, because great is the Creator of it; and little again, since however great it is, it is worthless [compared] to Him. Nothing then is small which He made by reason of His Love, and yet it is small [compared] to Him by reason of His Glory. Yet the Creator acted not counter* to Himself to create aught which should limit***''* ^^ Himself, neither did the Maker strive against Himself toiwue make aught which should set bounds to Him. It was not^'^^ any envy* between the Creator and the creatures, since He is*P;^*^» clothed with Love toward His subjects*; [but] it is not the lot*or,or8». of that which is created that it should be a match with its^^*. Creator in its knowledge. 278, ilo.
3. Of what is a creature, the Scriptures cry aloud, thatref. 8.' great as it may be, it is far less than its Creator. Let no P* i^^> one imagine these things, or the like of these, of the Fruit ^ or ^ R. Izi. of the Begetter of Him. The Prophets cry, the Apostles ^'^" confess, yea things above, yea things below, that He is the
Son of the Highest. Yea, His noble acts which are rife in
33() Heretics deaf to GocTs teaching.
all the creation are enough to convince even the blind ; and who is there that will despise the mighty thunder of all His » S. au- preachers, save the ear of all heretics' ? As His preachers are p*i28*' ™any, He giveth witness that His work is mightier than His ^' f« preachers. Lo, all eyes and minds are very feeble beside the « p. '234, power of His Godhead ! Lo, the Ray • that took its rise " from "• ^' ^' Him sufficeth for Him ; the Fire» that He begat knoweth Him.
* S. uwj;. This, which is of irequent vol. iii. p« 507, d. p. 519, b. p. 601, c.
occurrence, is equivalent to the Greek, f. &c. The following paiisage which
ViiXMfti^j which was used to express hlends the two ideas (thouj^h without
the transmission of the whole oi the using the word) from vol. iii. p. 613, a.
Father's Substance to the Son. See may be added: '* May the visible light
Petav. de Trin. vii. 18. ^. 7. Le of Thy Manhood, (where the root used
Quiea diss. Dam. i. §. 3. §. 48. As the in Heb. 1, 3. occurs.) O Lordy shine
meaning of this root when applied to forth! may the invisible light also of Thy
the Son is of some importance in what Majesty glisten ! May light with lig^b't
follows, it will be right to illustrate its be mingled ! may it be a Sun of Righte-
use in St. E. concisely here. It occurs ousness !" Lastly, it is used of any
sometimes of the generation of the Son manifestation of Chriat, whether to
from the Father, as above, and in B. individual souls, or to all at the Judg-
xl. §. 1. Comp. R. Ixv. §. 3. (where ray ment, with which sense we are not here
and offiipring are made synonymous,) concerned. The word is transferred to
p. 308, ref. 1. ; next and most frequently the Trinity from the type of It m> often
of His Birth from St. Mary, as, e. g. employed, viz. the Sun. p. 319, ref. 8. vol. ii. p. 408, e. p. 519, a.
RHYTHM THE SEVENTY-SECOND.
J . With mighty wonder set thy soul a boundary, O hearer, and gather in thy mind from distraction ! By faith * He draweth ^ R. Ixz. nigh unto thee: but by prying thou removest far off from His^ ^' blessings. Great disputing is not adequate to the exploring of Him, since He is hidden entirely from tlie disputatious. In faith wait thou for Him ; and if thou hide in Him, to Him it is that thou hast come ! how great refreshment hast thou found! Yet even to attain this thine own rurming sufficeth not, since without Him thou couldest not even know that He exists *. If thou wert to search for ever and ever, it is He that giveth thee this, to be able to know of His existence only*. And how much soever he that laboureth doth<p.i36, labour, this he knoweth, and beyond it there is none that^®\®* knoweth. R.i.§.34.
2. For He is very manifest to him that seeketh Him, and ^. 'iq[' very concealed from him that prieth into Him. Be still, ^™-^o, bold disputant ! He is withdrawn from thee ; He is not in the height above, nor beneath. He is lost by thee : yet found Job 22, to thee. Lo ! in both these who can reach unto Him, seeing ^^* He is withdrawn from thee, O searcher ; He is found to thee, O worshipper ? He is revealed in His Goodness : concealed in His Essence \ Instead of His Majesty, seek His Goodness, * p. soi, which may be found of thee. His treasure is open : Himself is °' ^ withdrawn. Instead of thyself, seek the Deep ** ; instead of
* Thit if a stroDg amertion of the in which by God's Providence men are
neceiwity of Diyine Hlomination, in placed, is essential to, and precedes as
order to the perception of supernatural well as limits, all disputation about
troths. Comp. 366, n. g. R. xzv. §. 6. B. Him.
lv.§.6.p.879n.h.p.217)n.g.c.Scrut.i. ^ This passage may he illustrated
§.20. Men argueasifthey could generate and almost paraphrased in Hooker's
belief of God's Being and attributes in a words, £. P. i. cap. li. §. 3. " Capable we
their mind by reasoning upon the ore- are of God both by understanaing and
ation, whereas they can only confirm will : by understanding as He Is that
the belief when it existn. St. £.'s sovereign Truth which comprehendeth
doctrioe is (as the passages referred to the rich treasures of all wisdom, by
will shew) that belief in a traditive sys- will as He is that Sea of goodness,
tern, i.e.tiiatactingbyafacnlty (infused whereof whoso tasteth, shall thirst no
in different ways by G«d,) upon a system more."
338 God iitfinitejyet present^ not merely efficient y every where.
scrutinizing Him, seek His aid. His great mercy calleth unto thee, O weak man, that thou mayest know that His treasury is full of compassion.
3. His mighty Power alloweth thee not to gaze after thine
1 On A- own will, and try to see of what quality^ or how great He is.
ss^n.^z.-^^^ if thou daringly aim at getting before [Him], how much
wilt thou be before Him, who is before all, and cannot have
> R. xW. any before Him ' ? There is no place to pass by Him — go
B. ixxi.^y Him, and where art thou? since by Him and beyond
§. 1. c. there is nothing. There is not even a * without-Him,' and
§.34. to pass beyond is impossible; but neither is there any way
for thee to come up to Him. There is no going before, nor
passing, nor reaching, nor coming to a stop, since He is a
» Comp. wonder in all things ^
5| b. * 4. If thou couldest reach all places, He would meet thee,
* p. 105, though He change not from the place wherein He is\ Little
2fii. ref.^"^^ short is thy measure: He is very far from thee. Though
4.286. He cleave to thee, how wilt thou search Him out? He is
not as fire, which though very far oflT, is yet near, because the
body is too weak to approach to it'. He is not as the sun,
which if he withholdeth not his might from the eye, she is
A p. 260, made abashed by her weakness'. The Lord is blended with
b.p!340* His creatures far and near, lo ! they seek Him, and He is cany-
^ ing them. Lo ! they think on Him as though He were removed
to a great distance, while they are placed as it were in His
fist! The great sea broad vessels cannot so contain, as that
p. 87, i. they should measure how great it is. Since even the sea* is
but a drop beside His Greatness, fall not into it, lest thon
lose thyself therein !
RHYTHM THE SEVENTY-THIRD.
1. LOy there is a similitude between the sun' and the Father, > s. are the radiance and the Son, the heat and the Holy Ghost ;J^'*' and though it be one*, a trinity is beheld in it! That incomprehensible who can explain ? One is many, a one that is three and a three one. Mighty wonder, marvel visible ! The sun is distinct from its ray ; they are distinct, yet alike, since bis ray is itself also the sun * ; yet of two suns no one speaketh, though his ray is also the sun over things below ^ We call^Comp. Them not two Gods, though our Lord be also God over the^^^^J; creatures^. Who can search out how and where His Ray is bounden, bounden and yet free His Heat"* ? Though not divided,
* This 18 the doctrine of tbe Una a« He doth hj the word of His power,
Bes, (see on Athan. p. 404, ref. 6.) it formfi an Antitype to the ray in which,
being here manifestly implied, that the and not in person (so to speak), the son
Son is the sellsame Snostance as the visits the earth. Comp. toI. ii. p. 618.
Father ; Th^ may not be spoken of as in p. 133. and p. 209, n. b. and Athan.
two Beings, as Eusebios (with some as above.
who defend him) and the Arians in < The type and Antitype are here,
general do, nor may They be brought as often, blended together. Ass. taken
under nnmber. or be reasoned of as if this passage to mean tirat the ray*s
anhject to the laws by which we reason presence necessarily involves the son's
of all things, seeing They subsisted presence, whereai the heat's presence
antecedently, and gave the laws, to all is possible after the ray has departed, as
things. For even amonsst the 'all the. Holy Ghost was present when Christ
things' we find things which involve was gone ; i. e. he takes it to anticipate
contradiotiaiis in some degree similar §• 3. which he is obliged to do owing to
to those the Church holds of the Trinity ; his assamption that the Incarnation is
similar at least as far as oar ordinary meant by the words ' God over the
conceptions and way of speaking of creatores.' This (if T understand him)
them go; for it is from these St. £. is is to assume that when St. £. says the
anuing. See B. Ixxvi. §. 1. Bay is boimden^ he refers, through the
> See B. vi. §. 1. n. c. B. zL §. 1. type, to the coinherence or Perichoresis
where there is the same transition of the Divine in the Human Nature of
finom tbe Son as God to the Son as incar- the Son ; whereas in the next clause
nate, as presently occurs in this Bhythm. and the next sentence the word* bounden '
Ass. paraphrases, Esto Dominus quoque occur<« with a reference to the Peri-
noster suis per camem affinis sit crea- choresis of the Divine Persons in Each
tnris, Deus est. But it seems more Other. In B. xviii. §. 2. the Spirit is
likely that St £. does not mean in this spoken of as filling the Bedeemer's
§. to introduce the subject of the In- Body, though in no wise confined in it ;
carnation, but to point out how the which it is right to mention as seemingly
Son viewed as the Brightness of the confirming A. 's view. May not the text
Father's glory, by upholding all things rather mean, Who can ascertain any
z2
340 Types of the Trinity and the Incarnotion drawn
1 p. 810, They are not confused; distinct, yet mingled'^ boimden p* 232 together, yet free. Mighty marvel !
ref. 2. 2. Who can search and explore them, though they be ref. 7.' thought to be simple and easy of explanation ? Search me P' ^^^' the sun from his ray ; fix thine eyes and look upon its heat, p. 349, if thou art able. Distinguish me the sun from its ray, and ref. 3. fYQTox both the heat, if thou canst. And as that sun is with things on high, the heat and light of it are with things « p. 234, below*; this is a visible mystery. Thatray ofhisdescendethto ^R. vi. ^® earth'; it dwells in the eye clothed with it as if with a body', §.1*.
mode by which, or limits to which, the Incarnation benefits as, though He
sun's ray is so confined, as to be else than subsists as He did before it, acd iode-
coextensive with the son ? or any by pendently of it, in His DiTine NatoR
which the Son is so confined, as to be else unimpaired. See p. 20. p. 42. p. S6,
thancoexten8iTe,soto8peaK,(seep.293, n. f. and St. Greg. Nyss. Or. Catecb.
n.b.)withthe Father? who can shew how cap. 5. where the same type is useA
theheat, which universally accompanies with a kindred bearing, p. 51, c. *' It
and is coinherent in this ray, is yet free was fitting that His light sfaoald not be
or loose, i. e. has a separate subsistency unseen, nor His glory without witness,
from it P or who shew how the Spirit nor His goodness unenjoyed^ and that
who is sent, (»ee B. xl. n. f. g.) as the other attributes beheld in the Ih-
well as tiie Son, is, notwithstanding vine Nature should not be idle, with M
His coinherence in the Son, yet a dis- one to participate of and enjoy them,
tinct Person from the Son P If the pas- If then the reason why man is brooght
sage be so interpreted, the words into being is, that he may be partaker
* bounden' and * free' will be taken of God's goodness, then is he neces-
throughout in one sense ; and the thing sarily formed of such a make as to have
which St. £. alludes to will be the Pro- an aptitude for the participation of
cesrion of Two Persons from the Father, Divine goodness. For as the eye doth
of which Persons One proceeds in and through the brightness naturally im-
from the Other. Hence he speaks in planted in it find itself in communioa
B. Ixxv. §. 1. of the heat of the ray ; with the light, through its namral
see Yeccus, quoted in p. 232, n. a. power attracting what it hath affinity
p. 308, ref. 1. p. 324, ref. 4. where the withal ; so must there needs haye been
metaphors are mixed with the reality, commingled with man's natnre that
as are ' ray' and * fountain' in §. 3. m which hath affinity vrith God, that from
a way to shew, that St. E. does not con- such reciprocity it might towards thit
ceive the notion of Mission and Eternal kindred Thing possess a yearning.'*
Procession as else than combined : see St. Greg, is shewing that man*6 nature,
note a. on the next Rhythm, and c. if the effects of the fall were stayed,
Scrut. ii. fin. Of the two passages ad- was not such as to make it unbecoming
duced in support of the Greek view by for the Word to take it ; and therefore
Zernikaw on the Procession of the Spirit, is rather comparing (as Basil de Sp. S.
i. p. 25 — 6. folio ed. from St. F.'s works §. 61. does) the light in the eye to the
in Greek, the second (of which the Syriac indwelling of G^d in the elect, which
is now published) is plainly not to his has a certain likeness to the Union of
purpose in the original. the Godhead with the Manhood in
^ The object of this type is to shew Christ, and so is only mediately parallel
that our Lord's Divine Nature was not to the text, on which see R. Ixxir.
limited or confined by the assumption n. a. It should be added that nothing
of the Human Nature ; as light is made but meditation will enable as to enter
available to us by its entry into the fully into these wonderfiilly eliminated
eye, although capable of subsisting in similitudes between the ^iogs of nature
its entirety without the eye, which we and of grace; these notes aim only at
have proof of in sleep, when light, the explaining some few points in them
soul of the eye, departs and leaves it which, when explained, may help to
^•ad as it were ; so the Son through His the imderstanding of the whole.
from the sun^ by their inadequacy teach humility. 841
and when it is shut up in sleep, the raj putteth it off again, as the dead [body] that is to be raised up again.
3. And how the light pierceth into the eye no man comprehendethy as [neither how] our Redeemer dwelt in the belly '. The light from within the eye putteth on a fair ap- ^ comp. pearance, and goeth forth visiting the whole world, as our ^ '°' * Redeemer clothed Himself with this vile body and went forth
and sanctified the whole world, fiut when that ray passed to the fountain thereof (for it doth not separate' from its'R.lxxr. generator) it leaveth its heat here ; as the Holy Ghost, ' whom our Lord left with His disciples, without changing from His own place.
4. Look at the likenesses among the creatures, and do not thou be divided about the Trinity, lest thou perish ; since thine own life is too hard for thee, being one that is three, a trinity which is one*. >p.233,
c.p.333,
RHYTHM THE SEVENTY-FOURTH.
1 . Who shall make me able to gaze and look upon tbee, thoo
great light ! wherein are crowded together types of thy L<ord ?
Who can search out the heat thereof, which though separate
is not cut off, as the Holy Ghost? The might of his heat
See Ps. dwelleth over every thing : the whole of Him is with every
' ' thing, and also with each one". It is not cut off from the ray
1 p. 210, which is blended ' in it, neither from the sun as being mingled
^^340. ^^^^ ^^' ^^^ when it is spread over the creatures', each one
P
ref. 1.
* Comp. BaMil de Sp, S, §. 2S. fin. outaoonfivionoftheorderoftheXnnitj. In this sentence may be contained an (Petar. de Inc. ii. 15. Thomassin ibid. cUltuion to the doctrine, that the Holj ii. 1. and 2.) Nor is it else than re- Spirit sanctifies the elect by the appli* markable, that those who favoured tiie cation of Bis Very Substance to their Nestorian Tiew of Christ's Midsian souls, each one of which taketh up that were also opposed to the Latin view d divinely iofosed Heat according to his the Holy Spirit's Mission, (vide Le ability. Tet it may be observed, in oon- Qnien. Diss. D. i. §. 13. Petr. Stroszmde firmation of the view taken i n n. b. and c. Dogm.Chald.p.l 7<6d.l61 7* A8sem.B.O. to B. Ixziii. that St. E. here speaks of iii. 3. p. 338.) If then in a passage of the heat as spread over the oreatnrts, disputed meaning what makes for A.'s as he did of the ray in that passage, explanation is not concealed; it is hoped For as it wodd be heretical to make that what is done for fairness' sake will the Holy Spirit, (who never took into not be taken to be done from hesitatioo onion with His Person a nature capable as to the explanation here given. For it of change as the $;on did,) to be in any seems, that had St. £. hxA before Mm way subject to change ; it seems that here only the substantial application of this paraage would shew in what sense the Spirit to the elect, he would have the other is intended to be taken. For spoken of His being ' mingled' with the mission of the Holy Spirit (of them or ' dwelling' in them; aad that which §. 3. speaku clearly) is His Pro- the clause really alludes to the two cession, viewed as influencing those constituents of die notion implied by ' who take up the might of HiH Heat,' the word * mission,' the eternal Proi. e. the elect, (see Petav. de Trin. viii. cession of the Omnipresent Spirit being 1. §. 10.) So far then the passage might alluded to by the phrase ' spread over be taken to allude not to what is eternal the creatures,' and His union vrith the only, but also to what is temporal, i. e. to elect by the remainder of the sent«ioe. man's part in the matter, inasmuch as See on c Scrut. ii. §. 8. Caleeas (in Peitwoulabedifficulttosometodistinguish tavius) illustrates the Mission of the in u;ord!fbetween the Unction of Christ's Spirit much as St. £. does that of the Human Nature with His Divine, and Son in the last B. as follows ;''AUhaiigh (what of course in reality is a very we take the Mission in a sense imdifferent thing) the Unction of the elect plying time, referring our own allbction with the Holy Spirit. (See however to God, yet may we not ma^ it sub- Petav. viii. 7. $. 10. &c.) Yet even the ject to time. For if a blind man were Incarnation of the Son, in spice of the just to recover his sight and enjoy the new relations to man to which it gives sun's ray, one should not say that the rise, (p. 234, n. f.) \9 in such way the ray or l^ht then for the first time pio> result of His eternal Procession from ceeded n-om the sun. For it is plain the Father, that neither of the Other that before the man recovered hi8 Persons could have been incarnate with- sight, d^c." 3t. E. himself gives rack
The operation of heat and (he Spirit compared, 343
takelh up the might of its heat according to its ability. By it the naked getteth him warmth, while patting it on, after the likeness of Adam ^ who was unclothed; this it is which is 'See on grateful to all that are naked, while it sendeth them forth, asf.'^.^^' men invigorated, for all labours.
2. The Spirit also clothed the Apostles and sent them forth to the four quarters of the world ^ upon labours. By heat all things are ripened, as by the Spirit all things are hallowed ! O visible type ! By that is the cold that is in the body overcome, as uncleanness* by the Holy Spirit. By « p. 73, that things which the frost hath bound are loosened; as*^'^' souls which the wicked one hath bound are by the Holy Spirit. By it the calves of Nisan^ dance; as the disciples 3 p. 27. [rejoiced] by the Holy Ghost which dwelt in them. By the heat also are the bridles of winter broken loose, wherewithal it holds back the fruits and the shoots ; by the Holy Spirit again are the bridles of the wicked one broken off, wherewithal he hindered all graces. The warmth awakeueth the bowels of the still earth ; as the Holy Ghost doth holy Church. How much then is it that he will go astray, and how much that he, a feeble man, will be searching the mighty boundless treasury ? and how can he go astray so far as to measure with Him, unto whom whatsoever is in the four corners of $. 1. the world is small ? P;^2f >
8. Heat looseneth the evil bridle, yea, the chilly silence of ^omp. the frost upon the lips, and penetrateth the mouth, yea, and §. 3. '"' the tongue, as did the tongues of the Spirit which settled on the Acts 2, Disciples. The Holy Spirit by His Heat applied by the^' tongues chased silence away from the Disciples, the evil, yea.
anabandance of illuitratioDfltfaatit re- chose Himself twelve Apoetles, a&d
2 aires some apology for iotrodaciog di'vided to them the foar quarterfl of the
iius mnoh from Calecas. But to use world, and set them as stewards of His
the words of Fetav. viii. 6. §. 8. *' rapit housenold, and ministeni of His divine
nos ad sese ac sine satietate delectat mysteries, and charged them to give to
tants rei ac tam soavis jucnndseque the Israel of God living and incormpti-
recordatio." ble N ourishment, and to bring heavenly
^ There is the same play upon the Food unto the house of the King oif
two senses of the word 1—^^ here peace. But the boundary of their do-
as in Pearl, R. v. §. 4. A portion of ™"" ^^^^ Scripture therefore declare,
the places to which the different Apo- because the Apostles divided the four
sties were sent is mentioned by St E. quarters of the world, and each one of
vol. i. p. 463, b. "Twelve governors them took a notable place to teach,
were appointed to bring bread for Solo- Simon Rome, John Ephesus, Matthew
inon and for his house, becauw our Lord PalesUne, Thomas India, and so forth."
344 The operation qf heal and the Spirit compared.
1 p. 74, the chilly silence which, as from the winter*, was scared away
^' ^' that we might speak. For that people being a sign of winter, a type of the frost, was altogether gloomy over the Disciples: the Holy Spirit by the tongues of fire which came, loosened the might of the cold, and chased away fear from the Disciples : and silence fled from their tongaes by the tongues. Satan was condemned in the likeness of winter, and the people
•& ^ raged, which rage made them all an antitype of Febmaiy*.
Sbebot jg^^ there the small birds on high spoke with new voices, while the hawk and the winter was despised of them. Tlfese be things which the heat foreshadowed out, and these also
' p. 169, the Holy Ghost accomplished'. Who is sufficient for them ?
Of IP*
RHYTHM THE SEVENTY-FIFTH.
1. The sun which is thy lamp astoundeth thee, O feeble
man, neither dost thou skill how to search into it ; and how
wilt thou search into the Creator. Being a human being,
know thy human nature, O human being*! The subtle
nature of that [great] light cannot be handled, though it be not
hidden from them that lay hold of it. The heat of that ray^
1 S, ill- is not beheld by the pupils, since it is too refined % and the
*® eye it overcometh by its heat, and the hands also by its subtle
* p. 192, nature, for they have not felt or seen it'. The mouth, the ears,
^^a^;, and nostrils too, these three senses have no sense of these three-
p. 23/, '
ref. 6. fold ones. For the- mouth hath never eaten that [great] light at
ref. 6.' Anytime: neither hath the nostril ever snuffed up the radiance :
neither hath the ear at any time heard the voice of light, as
i^i.19,6. it runneth over the world. And if at this little sun which is
* This seems to be an allusion to the n. a. toI. ii. p. 518 in p. 133. bat as he
well-known line, Bmrk x^ ^^ 0—wh, here takes the heat thronghoat at a
&c, which is cited by Aristotle Bhet ii. type of the Spirit, he must imply that
91 -Eth.N.x.?. probably from Euripides, the Spirit proceeds from the Son. See
^ Here St. £. distinctly makes the R. Ixxi. fin. where the Son is called
heat to proceed from the ray ; see p. 333, ' Fire,' which emits heat.
Go(IPscondescensionandman^8inadequacydi88uadeprying.S4t5
in the firmament, three senses fail, if thy whole body were senses they would not reach to the Godhead that is hidden from all. The three senses that failed at the types of the Threefold, that are the in sun, they cry aloud, that they are ignorant^ how to scrutinize the Father and the Son and thei s, are Holy Ghost. ^«^
2* Again, place water before the sun, and behold there a semblance of the Birth ^ of that Holy One. For without separation and without flowing it generateth a fire, a generate which is chaste as the generator thereof: this is not by separation' from the sun, nor by severance from the water. *R. Mighty symbol! For while the water and sun ai-e unim-1™"' paired, a generation takes place, wherein a man seeth the Generation of the Son''. He hath shadowed' out difficult' p. 246, things by simple ones for our feebleness, that we might know°^^.^' clearly that He is the Son. By every similitude the Gracious §• 2. c. One came near to our weakly estate, that He might heal it^ 4 pTiyi'
8. And if that Great One who is God, without semblances °- ^* approacheth not unto mankind, let man who is feeble not seek u. b. ' to bring his own weakness near that Majesty without a medium ^ « s. seek Linger not, O mind, construct spiritual bridges, and pass on to JJ^^* thy Creator. O son of a servant ! serve thyself of the wings ^ w. to of the Holy Scriptures, that thou mayest reach to the Son od^^ thy Lord. And let this soul too avail itself of every medium, °:.c- R- that it may reach to the Holy Spirit; and thou body be not and p. * slothful, fly as an eagle' unto that Body • which quickeneth all. ^^» *^'
B. iii.
§. 13.
« Althoagh St. E. does not distinctly Epiphan. it. 4. and Greg. Naz. Or. 34. 7 p. 20, state, it seems plain from the context, ^ This passage is to be noticed as a n. m.
(especially when taken in connection prophetic protest against Nestorianism.
wiUi the types of the CoDception noticed By being in the yessel, i. e. St. Mary,
in n. i. p. 87.) Uiat he here means the (comp. vol. i. p. 317, b. and p. 621, f.)
Son's Birth of St. Mary. The following the Ray in sach way modifies its own
passages will illustrate this place and Sabsistency, as to be able to transfiise
it. xlii. §. 3. Method. Canv. v irg. iii. 8. theHeat which exists in itself into things
'*TheManhood like water being mingled beyond, while that subsistency remains
with Wisdom and Life, became that the self-same One that it was before,
which the incontaminate Light that Comp. c.Scnit.ii.§. 3. In the beginning
impinged npon it itself was.'* Cyril c. of the next §. we have a wonderfully
Nest. p. 109. *' Water thongh cold by concise description of that Catholic atti-
nature, changes by fire into what is tndeofmindwhichisalways on thelook
contrary to its nature, and gives off out for sacramental media in its converse
warmth; why should it be strange or with God.
incredible in any way, if the Word of • Of the communication of a new
God the Father who is by nature Life, principle of lifiB to men's bodies from
rendered the Flesh which was united to Christ's Body mention has been already
Him life-giving ?" Compare also Leo in made, p. 148, n. h. Some other pas-
346 Satan inscrutable to man, muck more God,
4. And since those senses of man's are too feeble to sera-
tinize the Godhead, deal not extravagantly. For lo, the
> R. iv. senses of the Angels' on high, subtle though they are, yea
^° ^' spiritual, yet suffice not ! Stay then the coarse senses of the
gross bodies which carry off excretions! from searching
>R.l.§. these things are relinquished as too pure'; tell us con-
§.2.^^^ ceming the unclean things of unclean devils! Let the senses
of thy body tell us of the spiritual senses of the foul-smelling
3 R. ix. devils, with what nostrils doth Legion snort' ? and with what
^' ' feet runneth the wicked one through the whole world'?
Aoges may be added here. Canon liii. fin. Thou hast given me Thy Body to eat
<< Oh, High Priest, who didst offer and Thy living Blood to drink, by Thy
Thyself for ns a Sacrifice to Thy Body may I be pardoned, and by Thy
Father, receive from us, O Lord, our Blood have ray sins forgiven, and rise
offerings in Thy mercy, and clothe to praise Thee among the assemblies of
with ^ory thoee that have waited for Thy Saints." p. 432. « That sea of fire
Thee and kept and done Thy command- disturbs me and terrifieth me, and I am
ments." xxiii. §.3. *^ Lo ! the pillar that in fear by reason of the iniquity I have
did lead Israel, causeth His Light to rise done. May ThyC ross .O Son ol theLi vi ng
to tiiee in darkness, for there is hidden God, be to me a bridge, and fiom Thy
in thy limbs His Body that rouseth all, Body and Thy Blood may Gehenna go
and in the blood of thy spirit is there away ashamed, and I by Thy mercies be
mingled the Cup of Salvation which redeemed." p. 452, f. ^* Leave me not in
leaveth not thy body in destruction." the enemies' hands, nor i^ive him gronnd
liv. §. 3. " Take Baptism and the Body against me; for Thy Body and Thj
and Blood of Chnst with thee as a Blood hast Thou mingled in me, and
passport." IxxTi. '< As provision for Thy Rood betwixt mine eyes is
a journey Thee have I taken unto me, stamped." p.480,c.andf.*<Fromhatefiil
Thou Son of God, and when an hun- lust deliver me by Thy living Body
gred Thee have I eaten, O Redeemer that I have eaten, and I will lay me
of the world ! Far be the fire from my down and sleep in peace, and guardian
limbs, and when the smell of Thy Body be Thy Blood to me. and to the soul
and Thy Blood striketh from me, may that is Thine image." p. 488, e. p. 488,
Baptism be to me a ship that foondereth e. p. 490, f. p. 493, f. p. 494, e. p. 619, d.
not!" Panen.v, l.p.4l4, c. "O fetted p. 686, c. p. 646, o. (* Thy Body and
Calf that wert killea to be a Sacrifice for Thy Blood as an earnest of life is hidden
sinners, blot not out me wretched man, in their members,') p. 661, d.
Lord, from the number of them re- ' The seeming ubiquity of Satan has deemed by Thy Blood ! Thy Body have been already touched upon, p. 938, n. b.
1 eaten, and Thy Blood have I Obviously this is one great difficulty to drunken, and by Thy Death believed explain in Satan's agency.
that I should live." p. 429. " Because
RHYTHM THE SEVENTY-SIXTH.
1. Bv the names of trees, lo, their fruits' also are named, ■ R. ix. whether Ihey be sweet or bitter! The names of the trees [^j*^^^ then and their fruits are the same ; they are distinct, yet equal. A great type ! Distinct is the iruit from its tree,
and yet the same with it, since one appellation* is given to'<Sf. sar- Ihem both. If the root be sweet, then the fruit is sweet; thCg^^^ ^^ same name men call them both, it and its fruit. Distinguish P- 317. the names of the stem and the fruit, and yet make them the same also, and call the fruit by the name of its tree. For if it be sweet, they call the fruit also sweet % and the root how-' R. , ever stringent Distinguish the Names of the Father and^. 3. ^i the Son, and also make them equal, since the Father is God f^V^^ '* and the Son is God. For God is the Name of the Father §.' 31. & and God also is the Name of the Son, as it is written. For?* ^^^» He is distinct in Name, in that He is the Son ; and equal in the Name, in that He is God also*. Glory to His Name ! * B,,
2. And if [the names of] trees as well as of their fruits be|. i^ ' true, how much more true are [those of] the Father and the
Son. He shadowed forth things hidden^ upon things which ^R-lxxv. are visible, that He might shew the things which are not seen Rom. 1, by the things which are seen: He imprinted His mysteries ^^- upon trees, that He might explain the things which are not comprehended by the things which are comprehended*. For^cScmu He also interpreted difficult things to us by the things which '* ^* ' are easy, that we might easily gain a knowledge of Him, and things difficult by things which are clear, He made clear unto us, that we might know clearly that He is the Son. That He is our Lord then, yea, and our God, the just^ feel : • p. 372, but the gainsay ers^ feel not that He is His Father. The?or*{„(|. Scriptures cry aloud, that the Father is God and the Son^«l» is God. Without God is the [Jewish] people who gainsay Him.
RHYTHM THE SEVENTY-SEVENT'H.
Mark 1. < That Hout knoweth no man;' this the childish have /§!a^ balanced* with the Son, and it as it were preponderates. K.liii. For if the First-bom does know the Father, who is there ixxvii.' that is greater than the Father Himself, whom yet He doth 1: }' ^: not know' ? That hour, forsooth, no man knoweth, not even i. 1. the First-bom, for it is the Father only who knoweth it
And if as they think, it is because He is a creature that [the
Son] does not know it; behold fools are making Him a
creature by their pryings.
2. Come, wonder ye how our Lord, because He is a
creature knoweth not that hour, while they which are created s see p. by His own Hand' have dared to piy, not into that hour, but I26,n.a.jjj^ tl,e Lord of hours. Would that they would abide by Ǥ. 6. their own word*, that every thing which is a creature might
keep silence before its Creator !
* To arg^e from the Son's knowledge reason is sofficientlv obvioos ; the of the Father, that He must have known Aiians virtoally made the Son the soul the hour of toe Judgment, was a com- of their Christ, and to disprove this mon way of meeting the Arian use of was the first step to be taken against this text. See Petav.deTrin. ii.S.§. 6. them, and it would not be to the puriii. I. $• 16. Tii. 15. §. 2. on Athan. p. pose to discuss the dignity of what 46S, n. e. Greg. c. Maced. ap. Mai C. N. with the Arians was a non-entity. St. ▼iii.p.4.p.9. Did.deTrin.iii.22. c.Scrut.i. E.'s question in the text may be para- §. 5. Since all argument iH necessarily phraMd as follows : The Son oiovrs understood imperfectly,unless we bear in the Father, and therefore all that is in mind the thing argued against, it ought the Father, His knowledge and His Ea- ▼ery distinctly to be kept in mind, that sence being in reality one and the same St. £. is here arguing against those thing,(seeR.xlv.§.3.andR.lxxi.§.2.) who represent our Lord's Divine Na- the knowledge ofthe hour which the Son ture, as ignorant of the hour, &c. and does not know, is not part ofthe Father's that with a view of shewing that it was knowledge ; therefore it is inherent in inferior to the Father's, i. e. was not some other being greater by this than really Divine. Hence any expression the Father ; and who is this ? When they of his opinion upon the extent of Christ's go on to urge that Scripture adds ^ but knowledge as Man comes in inci- the Father only,' ana that the Son dentally; so far as the Arian contro- being a creature does not know it; this, rersy was ooncemed, the Fathers do of course, is in other words <u9uming not seem to mind what the Arians that He is (not Son but) a creature, and think of Christ's human knowledge, that the word Father is the correlative provided they prove distioctly • that not of Son, but of creature. The emsuch texts as that before us cannot phasis must be laid on the word belong to His Divine Nature. Vide ' making,' and then the passage will Thomassin de Inc. vii. 4. §. 2. The be plain.
Mark xiii. 32. discussed. 349
. 3. By that knowledge wherewith He knoweth His Father, is that hour also pondered upon^ in His knowledge : for if He gave Him to know His glory, and concealed from Him an hour of time, then is it greater than Himself. Set the hour which He knoweth not, along side of the Father whom He knoweth, and weigh* and see whether is more excellent.* §. i. For the Son by the mere fact of Hisknowing the Father knoweth Him entirely : He is not less than Him ; for that He lacketh naught. And since the Root is real, in a real way doth the Fruit which He brought forth know Him*. And what fruit is « B there that knoweth" less than the root thereof, in that the/^]'*' whole of it is blended' with the whole. For if in its know- s p. 210^ ledge it fell short of its tree, then in name also hath it ceased, " s^^„* for it were not its fruit. If then that fruit agreeth with its i. §. si. root in its name, it agreeth also therewith in knowledge. Tlie sweetness which is in both of them is one : one is the knowledge*, which is in both of them, being they are commingled. ^B.xlv.
4. The fruit is mingled into its tree, and so is its root^'^' into the fruit : who can sever them ? They are not divided
in the sweetness; they are not divided either, in the knowledge of perfect truth. The love** of the fruit is amid the root, and amid the fruit that of the tree : who can divide them ? The Names of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, equal are they, and at unity in the illapse at Baptism. The Names are united, the movement is the concordant^ one of^s.eqaai one Will*. They bear as it were one yoke, and come; and as«c.Scnit. They arc equal in the illapse at Baptism', so are They alsoV^*fgg in Their unanimity. n. d.
5. But the Fruit came down and clothed Himself with a Body®, and clothed Himself along with it with the feeble •orFlesh
^ It might seem from the Latin, make it resemble the antitype more (eomplectilur et reprseeentat,) though closely. Only St. £. above does this very loose, that it was intended to be without stating that he is doing so.
printed aiH:^^ Q,^ i^M^^L], f This must not be taken as if St. E. • ^^ held that the Spint was the ensential * waa comprised in His own know- j^ve by which the Father and Son ledge;' which certainly would make love Each Other, which of course would the passage run on more easily. be heretical, since Love, like Wisdom c This is a mode of arguing not un- and aU God's attributes, is His Sabcommon in the Fathers ; viz. to take stance. For a little attention will shew some thing as a type, and conceive it thathe used Love relatively of the Spirit endued with such and such attributes only, as Wisdom m^ be used of the which do attach to the antitype, and Son. See Petav. de Trin. viii. 13. §. 5. which would, if conferred on the type, and p. 369, n. 1.
850 ChriiCs seeming ignorance
names of His kindred, that as He eren put on our human
nature, He might also pot on our knowledge for our sakes*.
* This sqaarefl with the paMages no* him. He wittingij boond diem doim tioedaboTe,p.l90,ii.ff.p.SOd,B.e.Tbe to their baving laid the bnxied man wordu ' for our Hales,' which tally with there, that when He had caTled him < for oar profit,' in Atfaan. p. 461, n. f. and raised him up, they might be witare explained by the next sentence, in nesees of his resnrrection. He aaked, which the asking of questions evidently Where have ye laid him? thej eay refSsm not to the real state of onr Lord'i nnto Him, Come and see. They wer« knowledge as Man, but to what He tied by the Question, that they might said and did witii a -riew to carrying not gain fresh hanghtiness. The Son oat tibe economy, asking oaestions is not ioferior to the Father, throagh when He Himself knew wnat He His asking concerning the sepalchre, would do, as though He did not know, or from His weeping OTor Lamuvs. Havingputon our natore. He demeaned His Incarnation did He attest; both Himself, so to speak, as tnough He had in His weeping and in His swemdng all its accidents, some of which He sus- the tears and the sweat were His ofwo^ pended at will, see p. 203, n. o.p. 199, a. yet do they not minish the Son, seeing 8oinaSermononLazanis,To1.ii.p.39l, He is a Raiser of the dead as His o. he says, *^ VThen the third day of the Father. He wept to attest the reality death had come to the dead, (Lazarus,) of His Body ; He called the deed to and upon the fourth the worm had shew His power; He put qaesttoDs to begun to gnaw his featares,the Quick- tie down the gainsayers; He prayed ener with His disciples came to tbe to shew His perfectness. Neither doth city of the deceased, and asked his HisprayeroYerthegravemake Him leas buriers chat were assembled, ^ Where tbanHi8Father,ana indeed fromHis own haye ye laid him ?* The question language thou leamest, that it was not about this was owing to the perrerse from any need to do so that He prayed, [Jewsl ; for it is clearer than the son for what I say, He says, is for the that Himself had no need to ask it : it sake of the people of the Jews, that was to attest his burial that He asked, they mav belieye that Thon hast sent
He did not say, Where is his Me. The mind of the people did He
sepolchre P but, Where have ye laid heal, seeiDg their bearing was weak,
him 9 He knew the haughtiness with and they manifestly doubted if He
which they gainsayed His noble acts, was the Son of the Most High. This
and so by the question tied them down was why He referred all His aetioDS
to the place in which they had laid tiie to the Father, to shew that it was not
buried man. He did not ask, Where is from ' robbery* that He was Lord and
Lazarus laid ? or. Where is he buried P Quickener of the dead. In lowliness
but. Where have ye laid him P do you were the things done by Him, done,
shew Me, ye gainssyers! Even of the that the understanding might behold
Father is there a question which is His love. It is beside oar purpose to
like to this, and what is uttered by speak of these things here. Clearly
many that do I through reverence ab- shineth troth in its generations, and
stain from, without going into perverse without our words it fflearoeth ! Perfect
disputings. Truth standeth by itself; is the Generate, as is His Generator!
it IS not a marshalling of words that Wonderful the Firstborn, as He that
grapples with faith; simplicity with sent Him ! a Raiser of the dead is He,
cheerful look it is which beholdeth as is His Father also I For He that
truth as it is, and without wordiness wept raised also. Upon this point it is
and strife it standeth on the side of possible for us, if ye asked us, to speak
verity that is without strife and dis- many things, if we see that the seed of
puting. Whether of the two is greater our word bath budded in your ears. Even
to know, where the sepulchre vsj or to if ye reject it, I shall not cease to sow !
raise him after he stank P That He Be not a rock onto my wwd, nor the
wss a knower of hidden thi^s He high-way, nor a place of thorns, Ac&e."
proved before He came, by His re- In this passaffe we see that St. £. used
vealing to His Apostles that * onr friend the account of Lazarus' resurrection to
Lazarus is fallen asleep ;' but the gain- establish any thing but a true ignorance
sayiuff buriers did He ask, < Where have of what our Lord asked about, which the
ye laid himP' that He mighttake a pledge Adoptionists afterwards used it for : see
of his burial from them, and then call on Athan.p.466,g. What St. E. argues
assumed foi' our sakes. 351
He that knew all things became unknowing, He asked and listened, as a man, for man's sake !
6. If feeble men then have pried into the Essence [to see], how He is the Son and yet cannot contain that [Essence], either let them be still, if He knows it not', or if they pry, let > §. 2. them confess that the Son knoweth all things. If then they pry when not permitted, this is audacity'; or if it be permitted, « p. 128, it is as a gift [of grace] '. He then who gave dust [the ?' ^37 liberty] to search, how should He hinder His Son from n. a. knowing an hour of time? Grant that He knew not that J; of ^' hour: the cause of His not knowing was the Body* where ^orFiedi withal He was clothed*.
from it 18, that our Lord's discIosnrM in what proportion the grovrth even of
of His biowledge were made with re- oar mioas wonld be accelerated by sin-
ference to those whom He was ad- lessness. Cyril c. Nest. iii. p. 87) a.
dressing, and also to prove the reality '' We belieTe that Immannel, being
of the Flesb, i. e. to shew that He had God from the belly itself and the womb
a certain Nature, not to describe the of the Virgin, came forth as Man, fall,
state in which that Natnre existed in assuredly, of that wisdom and grace
Him. See Enlogios in Phot p. 284. ed. which was in Him by Nature. What
Bekker. who has many topics in com- increase then could He, in whom are
mon with St. £. here quoted, and in all the treasures of wisdom, who joins
R. Ixx. with God the Father in giving grace
" This language is remarkable, as from aboye, experience? In what
perhaps throwing some light upon the sense is He said to increase ? I
expression commenced upon above, suppose it is said of the Divine Word,
p. 317, n. b. It seems intended to proportioning to the growth and age
suggest that the apparent ignorance of His own Body the disclosure of
was not in the Soul of Christ, but was the godlike blessings inherent in Him.
necessary on account ofthe Body, which For we may observe, that though He
if illuminated with all the graces which was made Man like unto us, yet He
the Divine Nature could, through the made it His study to avoid notice in
Soul, have communicated to it, (wit- the beginning Now it would have
ness the Transfiguration,) would not been pointed out to all as a thing un-
have seemed to be a real Body. E. g. usual and strange and worth curiosity,
Had our Lord in His infancy put if, white yet an Infant, He had made a
forth all His wisdom. He would not manifestation, suitable to God, of the
have seemed to be Man; as He grew wisdom He had. But when little by
on. He made His advance in wi»]om little, and proportionably with the age
appear to hold some proportion to the of His Body, He made it widen, and
years of His Body, and all throughout set it clearly before all men, He mav
disclosed i| in such way as He deemed be said to < increase,' and that with
congruous to His Body antecedently to good reason." See also Thes. p. 848.
its glorification ; it being definitely and for fuller information, Petav. de
certain that our minds grow with our Inc. xi. 2. bodie:!, though it is not definitely certain
RHYTHM THE SEVENTY-EIGHTH.
1. Shouldest thou at any time be minded to say that the Son knoweth not that hour which He does know well, since that hour is from His reckonings, He knoweth it, for by Him were all numbers framed \ If it be [an hour] of the year. He
iR.1.§.i. knoweth it well, for by Him* the months of the year were framed as its limbs ; if it be of the months, He is acquainted with it, since by Him were framed the days of the months as arteries** ; and if it be of the days, it escapeth Him not, since
Hark 3, by Him were divided the hours and the sabbaths and the
^' weeks ; and if it be of the sun. He is acquainted therewith, since it is He that hath trodden out for it the paths of winter and the steps of the summer ; and if it be of the moon, again He knoweth it, for it is He that made the full moons, with the beginnings of the months. If it be in the height or the
See Is. depth, it is in His fists : by His finger are all creatures sus-
*®'^^- pended!
a The same argument was used hj lingering over all the divisiion^ of time
Gregory the Great, £p. z. 39. (olim one by one, in that heretics attempt to
▼iii. 42.) agadnst the AgnoetsB, as St. represent time as different according as
£. uses here against the Anomeans. it is heavenly or earthly , 1. e. to make
Vide Massuet diss. iii. ad Iren. p. 121. it as much as possible a mere mode 6i
Gamier ad Mercatorem i. p. 118. thought, not a reality, to which all
quoted by Wolf on St. Matt. Thomassin creatures are subject. The Fathers,
de Inc. vii. 3. §. 6. 4. §. 1. &c. 5 through- on the contrary, speak of it as a created
out, and Petav. ibid. xi. 1. §. 16. de thing, much as they may speak of
Peo iv. 6. §. 6. It is worth remarking created wisdom, not as if it had a
that our Iiord says the Son of Man is separate subsistence of its own, bat
Lord also of the Sabbath-day in a text because it is essential to the notion of
to which St. £. seems to allude im- a creature, and distinguished creatnres
mediately. Texts, such as this, which from the Eternal £)d who creatod
transfer the attributes of Creatorship them. See on L. Coquiom, St. Austin
to the Manhood owing to tha Unity of de Civ. Dei, xi. 6. Confees. xi. §• 40.
Person, illustrate the language of the p. 30, n. d. A than. c. Arian. i. |. 13.
Fathers when they transfer, an St. Greg, and p. 108, n. h. J. Martyr, p. 34.
does, arguments U84>d against Arians Cyril c. Julian, p. 33, d. p. 71, d.
to meet Nestorian heresies. p. 265, c. and compare Basil, qooted
^ There seems to be a reason for thus aboTe, n. c. p. 66. and on c. Scmt. iii. ^ 1.
Si. Mark xiii. 32. discussed, 853
2. Compare the hour that He knoweth not with the Holy Ghost whom He doth know, [and see] whether is greater ! and set forth clearly unto us the reason how and wherefore He concealed from Him the hour' of His triumph **? If the reason ' See p. tvhy He concealed it from Him, was that He might be less than 4 andT Himself, lest He should make Himself like Him by stealth, P-^^^j that conceit is very weak, and see how soon it is solved with a single word. For when that hour shall foe revealed, and the trampet hath sounded, and the triumph ' is going on, it 1 Cor. shall be solved. Now then compare the two together, and the ' inequality will have become equality upon their assumption '.> as their One of two things must be : if it be in the fact of His not^° ' knowing that He is inferior, then by knowing He will become equal, when He doth perceive it; or else if He be not advantaged when He doth perceive it, then of what advantage is it ? for see though He does know it, He is still inferior, inasmuch as even Satan may know that hour', for when^p.359, revealed, he will be ruined thereby. A mighty thing then is '^ '
^ Hii. deTrio. iz. $. 60. << In what the Head putting His Member's igway is the Lord of glory (if the day of norance upon Himself, as if it were His coming were a thing He might be His also : upon the principle upon ignorant of) to be believed to have a which 1 Cor. 15, 21. is commonly ex- Nature not yet determinate and per- plained. Hence St. Hilary speaks of fect,wbich Nature bath not obtained the Christ being glorified in His Saints, knowledge of its coming, while yet It is This is important to notice, as shewing under a necessity of coming ? At this that the phrase, 'the hour of HiH rate ignorance of it wovdd be an advan- triumph,' aoes not imply any accession tage toGod JTi. e. the Father,] as itwonld to the glory of Christ's Human Nature, tale from Uim the possession of the even if St. £. were not reasoning on excellence of knowledge. And now heretical premisses. — There seems also what a double ground of blasphemy we to be an allusion here to the Arian shall have, if in addition to Christ's notion, that the Son was incapable of shortcoming even to God the Father a advance, (on which see n. d. p. 314.) as fianlt is to ^ ascribed, in that He will if hinting at the inconsistency of that haye defrauded God the Only-begotten notion, with the necensary deductions and the Son of His Love of the per- from the assumption, they make that ception of this day, and from a feeling the Son really knew not the hour, of grudging have envied H im the know- * The root here used implies any solemn ledge of the consummation that is to be, procession, as of a funeral : see vol. i. and when He was not minded to let p.259,c.ii.n.379,d.380,a.p.641,b.iii. the day and the hour of His Passion p. 251, f. 303, f. or of pilgrims coming be a thing He might be ignorant of, to celebrate a Saint's day, p. 364, b. — yet denied to Him the hour of His eic- Of the knowledge of men at the Re- Cellency and brightening among His surrection he says, ibid. p. 636, f. ** The saints, and took away tiie perception Resurrection brings men to birth full of bliss from Him whom He indulged grown, and full grown knowledge doth with a foreknowledge of His Death." it give them ; for he whom his own Pseudo-Dionys.ofAlexandria,EQlogius, iniquity hath not blinded, will know all Greg, the Great, (as above,) and St. things as God doth. Whatsoever is in Austin, to whom St. G. refers, all take Heaven, and whatsoever is in earth, the ignorance of the day to be spoken every thing will he see in that veiitable of with reference to the Body of Christ, Knowledge which nothing escapeth.'*
A a
854 Si. Mark xiii. 32. discuMed.
that hour to conceal from His Well-beloved, when ereo Satan may know it** !
3. Come then and hear the ground of His glory who is Lord of all, who is greater than all, whom all things depend upon! For the ground of the glory of God which has respect to ns is His loviug-kindness, which endareth for ever ; and the
1 B. !▼. ground of His glory' in respect of His Son is His Paternity, whieh also is from eternity to all eternity. Oh, holy grounds, which neither towards creatures nor towards the First-bora shall ever cease to act ! Time is the ground of the hoar of time*, and it is for a time, and with time itself its time passeth away. Mighty is the ground of His Makership, so that nothing made can ever be as great as its Maker! Mighty is
*c.Scnit.the ground of His Paternity*, so that His Begotten can ' never at any time become the Begetter !
4. Of that hour there is yet another question for ns to proceed to examine, since that former one hath been ex-
^ i. e. the heretics make the Son 0abm8tmg in Three Pemons. The tejrt
differ from Grod (so far as the teit in before os, contemplated in one war,
question will help their cause) by the will refer to God's relations to un, it
defect of a certain amount of know- beiug the part of loving-kindne^ to
ledge, which amount of knowledge hide from us knowledge which woold
Satan has as much natural capacity only make us remiss in redeeming the
for attaining when the time comes, m time; contemplated in another way,
any other created being : therefore the will refer to the relations of One Di-
difference between Him and Satan is vine Person to Another. For the text
notessentialjbut accidental. Seep 314, may be taken to mean, that the Soa
n. d. has no unoriginate knowledge of < the
* ^\vv . It is not easy to suggest hour,' but only derived with His Suh-
an English word which will answer to sistency from the Father ; (a mode of cx-
the use of this in all the places it occurs plaining the textnotunknown,seeFetaT.
]nthis§. The word i«eemsetymologically deTnn. U.S. $.6. and on A than. p. 459,
to have a passive and an active sense ; ?•»• ««}" R.lxxix. fin.) which would refer
* that which is brought in' as fruits and i* to the Father's glory. Time (he then
the like ; or, < that which brings in' a proceeds) is the ground or formal cause
pretext, or cause, or occasion. Then of the hour ; or in other words, time is
It is used for cause in all the senses in ^^^ essence of the hour j but the Son is
which •;«'#! is used in Greek, amongst *!»« Maker oftime, (seen. b.n. 362.) and
which one is that by which the de- the notion of Makership precludes that of
finition (Xiyn or ratio) is said to be the eqaahty with a thing made, and so time,
cause of a thing being what it is, the ^*>ic*» is ««!«» cannot be greater thw
formal cause. The word * ground' has the Son. In like manner, the notion
been kept in all places in the text for of Fatherhood precludea that of nn>
uniformity's sake, though not altogether originateness in the Son also. Perhaps
convenient. What St. E. seems to the last words refer to a view not un-
mean speak
we form of it must vary . c o ^ j
finition of it we have in the mind; Hw unongmatenesfc See Petav. de
which will be this or that, according as Trin. n. 3. §. 3. St E., however, seens
we refer to His relations to us, or to the to be referring to some work which be
relations to Himself which He has as " refuting. See the next §.
The misuse of it hy a heretic repented of. 355
plaioed. And he that hath been induced by this gave thanks, and declared that our Redeemer also knew that hour ^ lie as it were whispered to us as in secret, that it was strife that framed it, and spoke it, that it might prevail therewith. Strife hath pleaded guilty, and truth prevailed ! questioning liatb ceased, and the crown hath come to the Conqueror !
' St E. here ie evidently speaking of question, that He derived H:8 know* 0ome one with whom he had bad a ledge from the Father, and so is a discontroversy, and whom he had won tinct Person from the Father. The back to the faith. Who it was, I am /orm^r he reserves for the next "Rhythm, not able to discover. The two ques- merely stating here that he had gotten tions which he examines here are, his adversary to allow that our Re- (1) "Whether Christ's apparent igno<- deemer also knew that hour. The ranee of the day of judgment is incon- words ^ our Redeemer' are remarkable, sistent with His gloryviewed as relative as shewing thnt they had discussed, to man, or (2) whether that ignorance whether Christ (see B. Ixxiz. §. 1.) as 18 inconsistent with the same viewed such, i. e. considered as Man as well as relative to God. The laUer (if I as God, knew that hour, and that St. mistake not) he means to dispatch bv £. had opposed the view held aftersaying, that, as He is the Maser of all wards by the Agnoets; at least it is things, and of time amongthem, and very unlikely that he should use such no cannot be a creature. He must be an expression of the Son, coubidered taken to be teaching in the text in as Goa. Comp. B. Ixxix. §. 6.
A a 2
RHYTHM THE SEVENTY-NINTH.
1. Which, my son, is tbe most glorious* in the comparison, and which, again, is heaviest in the balance, that the Son knoweth not that hour or that He knoweth it ? The Father who is great beyond comparison, He did declare ; yet said that He knew not, and declared that He intended not to »§. 6. pry into, the hour, that by the hour* He might hinder, yea, that the hour might rebuke ihee, bold man, from prying into the Lord of all hours. To Thee be glory, Thou Son Christ, « p. 356, who knowest all" things !
^ jjp 2. By thine own self know that He knoweth, since He has
§. 4. See prevented and tied up thy knowledge * : for thy free-will is a
ma^in defiled handmaid, which, being in wine, spoileth exceedingly
de Inc. jjgj. Master's treasures. Chains He prepared for her, gyres
also He made for her, hedges too, and they surrounded her,
and walls, and they encompassed her; and if these preserved
her not, from all this her madness is made known. He knew
3 p. 102, that the families and tongues, and that the Greeks^ that
J* ]}^' are eager after hidden things, were to come to His disci-
M8t.i3,pline. For it was the net* which collected those of every
47.
> This R. probably follows ont §. 3. what St. £. does. ''All heresies bath oor
of the last R. God's glory, in tbe first fisher by this short chapter shot out ;'*
sense there mentioned, is shewn by His and after mentioning Arius, SabelHoSf
concealment of the hour more than by Photinus, Eunomius, ani the Mani-
the disclosure of it, when such disclosure chees, he adds, '* Thus hath oar fisher
would do us harm. The sequel is very included them all in one net, to make
like the passage of St. Irensus, a part them unwieldy at fraud, though they
of which is given above, p. 202, n. d. were unuseful as a prey.'' See alaoHiL
b Or, ' tied up thy knowledge before- deTrin.ii.§ 13 and §. 22. where he speaks
hsnd.' Tbe sentiment intended is, that of the Catholic Faith much as Sc.E. dots
Christ's foreknowledge is shewn by the here of Christ's discipline or doctrme,
fact,thatHedid«or disclose rhe hour; ^^ y^\ <^/. u /^ great thing is it
by setting bounds ^J'^^l^XZlc^ thit in that one faith there aie as manr
who pretend ^""y t^^y^'^JI^^^^^^^^ remedies as there are diseases, and as
cannot but be conscious srejt^^^ ^^^^^^ ^ ^^^^ „ ^^
knowledge, Christ Phews that He knew ,i,^,Vie8 of falsehood, l^t the names
beforehand the w«:j" wWh mans of the heretics be drawn together to one
wilfulness would exert Itself. Comp. p,.ee, and all their schools rtep forward;
p. 400, ret- o. o re .* V „„«,v;n., 'et t^e™ ^®«'' o^ ^^ ^^^ ™* Father
/.^"^^l^^ \^^'!^'}^^^lrA niade of none, of one Onlv-begot»en of * In the Beginning was the Word, ,, - „ » • "^^
&c.' makes a similar use of ' tbe net* to ^°' **^-
Man's chief good j> GocCs rule in all He gives him. 357
sort. His leaven^ bridled and brought the wild asses to His' R. xii. doctrine, and in order that they might not be confused ini'^y.^jj. their race, by one yoke of truth* He taught them one race ofP^. 104, concord. He gave not a place to the light-footed, that byt r. xx. himself he might run apart from others. He gave not him^*^' that pryeth a place, that he might be loosened from the yoke of the faith ; [upon] clerks and unlearned men, the subtle and the simple, upon all of them^ the one yoke of equality was extended, even the yoke of His chariot', whereby the divided' p» 285, gain concord.
3. That we eat, and drink, and sleep, and rise, is of the free power of our will ; the senses too possess free-will, in that they have power to do as they wish, yet not to do as much as they wish*. Thus beneath the yoke of love* which is put on them, [and] of truth wherewith they are encompassed, is it, that they neither go astray, nor lead astray, seeing they obey the will of tlieir guide. If where free-will does not exist, it yet does exist, to wit, in the family of brutes^, how much rather will it^ Comp. be found in its own abode, in man, who hath the motions of p| ^^b. himself within his power^, that is bounden by the truth, yet free >>• ^ in his actions, and by perversion can transgress against thef's. the things that are good ; but if he slip from off the verge of J?"^' °^ truth, to error is he degraded ^. tionn of
4. One watcheth and [after] sleepeth, and when he^'g^^J^ sleepeth yet the reward of his watching* is reserved for him ; »• §• again, one fasteth and eateth in his season, yet his fast is not comp. by any means lost to him by his eating. For food and fasting "• °- are both of them clean and fitting. Truth is single, yet error
is the neighbour thereof; and if thou stray est ever so little ^^ r. ^\^
\. 3. 4.
' This passage implies that St. £. not at a gnat, with a mighty precision
held the existence of certain funda- ahout the key the psalms are sung in,
mentals, as distinguished from matters while ye violate the chiefest command-
of opinion, which he alludes to in §. 4. ments However, we allow of every
St. Austin, c. Jul. P. i. §. 22. *^ There thing, alheit that nothing is left on-
are some points upon which even the searched ont hy God. Only let the
most learned and excellent maintainers essentials he secured, and silence the
of the Catholic Rule do occasionally, novelties coined ahout the Faith. Slight
though without disordering the fahrio nut the Hypostases: denynot the name
of the fiuth, fail to agree, and speak of Christ.^'
one of them better and more agreeably * i. e. as the senses are nsed in subto truth on such and such a point than jection to our will, and our will again another will do. But this whereof we in subjection to certain limits, so in are now treating, pertaineth unto the revealed matters is the Truth limited very fundamentals of the faith." Basil by God's love. See n. a. Kpist 207. '* Look well that ye strain
358 Chrisif who made all things^ and all time among ihem,
> p. 244, a twinkling from it, that little is as an abyss'. There are dif- "' ^' ferent inclinations in one assembly, yet they are never blamed for bt'ing different ; yet in one point they are blamed, if they '§• ^* are divided by rebelling against the yoke of the faith*.
5. And if even the senses are equally under one yoke;
p8. 49, David wrote of man himself, that man is likened unto the
3 p. 326, beasts. Oh, marvel that he should not even be like these'!
^' Oh, confused courses amid the congregations ! and disunited
inclinations in the monasteries ! divided questionings, in the
^R. Ix. churches, and sickly minds in the assemblies*! To whom
then does the woe belong ? for there is raging in the sea and
^B. liii.and shaking^ in the dry land, because they have pried into
' the Creator, by whose hands they were stablished. Lo, by
searching into Him [all] creatures have been troubled !
0. Lo, then the house of the Lord [the world] is fixed as a
«p. 160, niirror' for His servants for instruction, and His creatioii
p! 206, pleadeth, and the number of it cannot be concealed from the
"• J* Creator ! When they have come to pry into Him they saw
n. a. in ' that hour' His Humiliation shadowed forth, that they
might feel ashamed some little, that they might by His lowly
^§.1. and type feel restrained from His mighty Generation^ !
n.af^' 7. LfOok with these eyes of thy imagination at all the
•c.Scrut. creatures', at every thing, which as a body are framed for that
comp. Stablisher of all things, and cannot be hidden from the
^^442' C^®^^^'^ thereof. How can an image, my brethren, be
inn. b. shadowed forth, the limbs whereof are concealed fi'om the
IxxvjiL**^'^^^®^ thereof*? That hour cannot be concealed from the
<^ 1. Wisdom of the Creator. Look, my brethren, at number
J^'l^ * which is framed as a body by Him that knoweth all things,
and the reckonings thereof are in the type of limbs, and the
times and the seasons are as its joints and bands, the hours
are as it were its pourtraits, the years as its likenesses. And
that hidden hour is the type of its mind, and as the remnant
of its limbs are the months and the weeks and the days
w R. thereof '^ Who is there that would go astray, or be proudly
^xxyui. jjf^gj ^p^ ^y ^jjQ ^ould loose his reason and make himself
like the drunkards that have lost their understanding, so as
to wander thus far, as foolishly to think that the image' which
was garnished by the Very Father with the Finger of His Well-
11 p. 363, beloved, escaped His notice, even as though that glorious" hour
B. b.
hwueth the day and the hour of judgment. 359
could possibly be concealed from His Finger which shaped all things? If then this was impossible, it escaped not His Foi'eknouiedge, and He prepared a place for it that it might be established therein, and a time when from being secret it should become visible'. When it was not found, yet was it > p. 353, found by its Master, seeing it was kept in the treasury of'^' His knowledge. And if it be hidden in the Root, it is not hidden in the Fruit which is in His Bosom''. *p. I3i«
p. 354, n. e. ' Coinp. §. 1. and p. 356, f. and B. but speaks as if he held that the Human xzYi. fin. c. Scrut. i. §. 3. Throuffbout Nature by virtue of Its onion with ' the this diHiCussion St. £. argues as if the Light which lighteneth every man that whole knowledge ofthe Father belonged oometh into this world,' had all knowto Christ ; he does not make any dis- ledge of things to come. See Eulog. tinction between the knowledge of His ap. Phot. p. 284. 1. 40. Bekk. and J. Human Nature and that of His Divine, Bamasc. F. 0. iii. 21.
RHYTHM THE EIGHTIETH.
1. Inquire and hearken discriminatinglj that faith is a second soul * ; and as the body standeth by the sonl, the life of the soul also hangeth on faith, and if it deny it or be divided, it becometh a corpse. That mortal body then dcpcndcth upon the soul, and the soul is dependent upon 1 p. 374, faith, and faith also itself dependeth upon the Godhead'; for c Scnit. ^^^^ ^^^ Father Himself by the Son the Truth descendeth which B. iii. quickeneth all of them in the Spirit For by this Truth it is ^' that man can link his soul with those above ^: by the soul he lireth, and by means of the body he seeth and hearetfa : by Faith and Love and Wisdom ^ he is blended also with the Godhead, and hath His Image formed in him. Let us not then loosen this wondrous fabric, nor let the faith become rend in our souls, lest we should become dead invisibly, whereof the Living One said, * Let the dead bury their dead !' This air is a soul which without living breath' quickeneth the body^and whoso venturetli to cut himself off from it, his life floweth away, and he is visibly a dead man ; and whoso cutteth off himself from the Word of Truth, his soul is invisibly a corpse. Ezecb. 2. I have no pleasure at all in the death of him that dietb, ' ' witnessed the Living One who quickeneth all. As the Sea, is that True One which cannot be deceived, a Fountain of Life! He hath made known His Will and hath certified His Ix)ve, ' R. X. which thirsteth mightily to kill our death*. The Scripture Hab.2 h^^b sealed unto us that the just in fiiith findeth life. He
4.
* §. 3. Anut. Sin. Hodeg. p. 15. ' This seems to point to three stages
" The body when without the soul in the spiritual life, of which the last
hath no life of itself, neither hath the would answer to the ym^ntmH of St
keeping of the eommandments without Clement Strom, yi. 8.
orthodoxy; for what the sou! is to the ^ Ass. renders, Hujus aeris rcspiratio
body, that orthodoxy is to the spirit." est vitalis spiritns Titamqae corpori
^ Vol. iii. p. 681, b. *^ By love and impertit. This looks as if he meant to
by doctrine when the Truth is mingled have printed ^*0» * by means of' io-
with them, enhanced and enriched with . j^rii.,-^. : .*L x » i t
new thiDg^ 1. that mind that explore. !*!!?v^>^/ without^' <nl«>lqraB7
with di^mination the tre«raVr of C.u '*^ *•" ""^ ''"*«'{ l"^."*
thing« an«»n.» ^"^^ "? "•": •pont.neoody wilh
° our sensibly drawing in oar breath.
Orthodox faith the root of good works. 301
hath made the Truth as a glorious root, and works* as fruits * Comp. hath He hung upon faith, and suspendeth them on the branch' cgf^** of truth. By a visible type, lo! hidden things shew them-'R«*"»* selves to thee as it were to the eyes ' ; for the body longeth a'lii over the gains as a merchant, and let the mind too gather i"^' together its treasures as a sailor, into faith the ship^ of Life ! ^R.zl)x. 3. And as the body standeth by the life of the soul, the fiix.^i. soul too though full of life yet without works is not even §• 3. alive; for by the deeds of faith it is able to live, and theJamesS, Scriptures are witnesses. Lazarus the faithful answered and ' came forth ! and sweet was his savour through the voice of Him p.350,n. that called him : and after the type of Lazarus, the Gentiles were quickened with the hidden life ; and as a type of the Jews did the thief die that hung himself, and left his ruiu as an heritage to the Scribes that hired him.
The Pearl: Seven Hymns on the Faith
The Pearl,
Seven Hymns on the Faith.
Hymn I.
1. On a certain day a pearl did I take up, my brethren; I saw in it mysteries pertaining to the Kingdom; semblances and types of the Majesty; it became a fountain, and I drank out of it mysteries of the Son.
I put it, my brethren, upon the palm of my hand, that I might examine it: I went to look at it on one side, and it proved faces on all sides. I found out that the Son was incomprehensible, since He is wholly Light.
In its brightness I beheld the Bright One Who cannot be clouded, and in its pureness a great mystery, even the Body of our Lord which is well-refined: in its undividedness I saw the Truth which is undivided.
It was so that I saw there its pure conception,—the Church, and the Son within her. The cloud was the likeness of her that bare Him, and her type the heaven, since there shone forth from her His gracious Shining.
I saw therein His trophies, and His victories, and His crowns. I saw His helpful and overflowing graces, and His hidden things with His revealed things.
2. It was greater to me than the ark, for I was astonied thereat: I saw therein folds without shadow to them because it was a daughter of light, types vocal without tongues, utterances of mysteries without lips, a silent harp that without voice gave out melodies.
The trumpet falters and the thunder mutters; be not thou daring then; leave things hidden, take things revealed. Thou hast seen in the clear sky a second shower; the clefts of thine ears, as from the clouds, they are filled with interpretations.
And as that manna which alone filled the people, in the place of pleasant meats, with its pleasantnesses, so does this pearl fill me in the place of books, and the reading thereof, and the explanations thereof.
And when I asked if there were yet other mysteries, it had no mouth for me that I might hear from, neither any ears wherewith it might hear me. O thou thing without senses, whence I have gained new senses!
3. It answered me and said, "The daughter of the sea am I, the illimitable sea! And from that sea whence I came up it is that there is a mighty treasury of mysteries in my bosom! Search thou out the sea, but search not out the Lord of the sea!
"I have seen the divers who came down after me, when astonied, so that from the midst of the sea they returned to the dry ground; for a few moments they sustained it not. Who would linger and be searching on into the depths of the Godhead?
"The waves of the Son are full of blessings, and with mischiefs too. Have ye not seen, then, the waves of the sea, which if a ship should struggle with them would break her to pieces, and if she yield herself to them, and rebel not against them, then she is preserved? In the sea all the Egyptians were choked, though they scrutinised it not, and, without prying, the Hebrews too were overcome upon the dry land, and how shall ye be kept alive? And the men of Sodom were licked up by the fire, and how shall ye prevail?
"At these uproars the fish in the sea were moved,519 and Leviathan also. Have ye then a heart of stone that ye read these things and run into these errors? O great fear that justice also should be so long silent!"520
4. "Searching is mingled with thanksgiving, and whether of the two will prevail? The incense of praise riseth along with the fume of disputation from the tongue, and unto which shall we hearken? Prayer and prying [come] from one mouth,521 and which shall we listen to?
"For three days was Jonah a neighbour [of mine] in the sea: the living things that were in the sea were affrighted, [saying,] "Who shall flee from God? Jonah fled, and ye are obstinate at your scrutiny of Him!"
3 notes
- 519 Hos. iv. 3; Zeph. i. 3.
- 520 Eccles. viii. 11.
- 521 James iii. 10.
Hymn II.
1. Whereunto art thou like? Let thy stillness speak to one that hears; with silent mouth speak with us: for whoso hears the stammerings of thy silence, to him thy type utters its silent cry concerning our Redeemer.
Thy mother is a virgin of the sea; though he took her not [to wife]: she fell into his bosom, though he knew her not; she conceived thee near him, though he did not know her. Do thou, that art a type, reproach the Jewish women that have thee hung upon them. Thou art the only progeny of all forms which art like to the Word on High, Whom singly the Most High begot. The engraven forms seem to be the type of created things above. This visible offspring of the invisible womb is a type of great things.522 Thy goodly conception was without seed, and without wedlock was thy pure generation, and without brethren was thy single birth.
Our Lord had brethren and yet not brethren, since He was an Only-Begotten. O solitary one, thou type exact of the Only-Begotten! There is a type of thine in the crown of kings, [wherein] thou hast brothers and sisters.
Goodly gems are thy brethren, with beryls and unions as thy companions: may gold be as it were thy kinsman, may there be unto the King of kings a crown from thy well-beloved ones! When thou camest up from the sea, that living tomb, thou didst cry out. Let me have a goodly assemblage of brethren, relatives, and kinsmen. As the wheat is in the stalk, so thou art in the crown with princes: and it is a just restoration to thee, as if of a pledge,523 that from that depth thou shouldest be exalted to a goodly eminence. Wheat the stalk bears in the field; thee the head of the king upon his chariot carries about.
O daughter of the water, who hast left sea, wherein thou wert born, and art gone up to the dry land, wherein thou art beloved: for men have loved and seized and adorned themselves with thee, like as they did that Offspring Whom the Gentiles loved and crowned themselves withal.
It is by the mystery of truth that Leviathan is trodden down of mortals: the divers put him off, and put on Christ. In the sacrament of oil did the Apostles524 steal Thee away, and came up. They snatched their souls from his mouth, bitter as it was.
Thy Nature is like a silent lamb in its sweetness, of which if a man is to lay hold, he lifts it in a crucial form by its ears, as it was on Golgotha. He cast out abundantly all His gleams upon them that looked upon Him.
2. Shadowed forth in thy beauty is the beauty of the Son, Who clothed Himself with suffering when the nails passed through Him. The awl passed in thee since they handled thee roughly, as they did His hands; and because He suffered He reigned, as by thy sufferings thy beauty increased.
And if they showed no pity upon thee, neither did they love thee: still suffer as thou mightest, thou hast come to reign! Simon Peter525 showed pity on the Rock; whoso hath smitten it, is himself thereby overcome; it is by reason of Its suffering that Its beauty hath adorned the height and the depth.
4 notes
- 522 Pearls, he means, have their beauty by nature and so are like Christ; other stones must be graven and so are like created natures.
- 523 Job xli. 4; Ps. lxxi. 14.
- 524 See Note on Hymn V. 4 (below).
- 525 Cephas; i.e., Rock.
Hymn III.
1. Thou dost not hide thyself in thy bareness, O pearl! With the love of thee is the merchant ravished also, for he strips off his garments; not to cover thee, [seeing] thy clothing is thy light, thy garment is thy brightness, O thou that art bared!
Thou art like Eve who was clothed with nakedness. Cursed be he that deceived her and stripped her and left her. The serpent cannot strip off thy glory. In the mysteries whose type thou art, women are clothed with Light in Eden.526
2. Very glistening are the pearls of Ethiopia, as it is written, Who gave thee to Ethiopia [the land] of black men.527 He that gave light to the Gentiles, both to the Ethiopians and unto the Indians did His bright beams reach.
The eunuch of Ethiopia upon his chariot528 saw Philip: the Lamb of Light met the dark man from out of the water. While he was reading, the Ethiopian was baptised and shone with joy, and journeyed on!
He made disciples and taught, and out of black men he made men white.529 And the dark Ethiopic women530 became pearls for the Son; He offered them up to the Father, as a glistening crown from the Ethiopians.
3. The Queen of Sheba531 was a sheep532 that had come into the place of wolves; the lamp of truth did Solomon give her, who also married533 her when he fell away. She was enlightened and went away, but they were dark as their manner was.
The bright spark which went down home with that blessed [Queen], held on its shining amid the darkness, till the new Day-spring came. The bright spark met with this shining, and illumined the place.
4. There are in the sea divers fishes of many cubits, and with all their greatness they are very small; but by thy littleness the crown is made great, like as the Son, by whose littleness Adam was made great.
For the head is thy crown intended: for the eye thy beauty, for the ear thy goodliness. Come up from the sea, thou neighbour to the dry land, and come and sojourn by the [seat of] hearing. Let the ear love the word of life as it loveth thee!
In the ear is the word, and without it is the pearl. Let it as being warned by thee, by thee get wisdom, and be warned by the word of truth. Be thou its mirror: the beauty of the Word in thine own beauty shall it see: in thee it shall learn how precious is the Word on High! The ear is the leaf: the flesh is the tree, and thou in the midst of it are a fruit of light, and to the womb that brings forth Light, thou art a type that points.
Thee He used as a parable of that kingdom, O pearl! as He did the virgins that entered into it, five in number, clothed with the light of their lamps! To thee are those bright ones like, thou that art clad in light!
5. Who would give a pearl to the daughter of the poor? For when it hangs on her, it becomes her not. Gain without price that faith, all of which becomes all the limbs of men. But for no gold would a lady exchange her pearl.
It were a great disgrace if thou shouldst throw thy pearl away into the mire for nought!
In the pearl of time let us behold that of eternity; for it is in the purse, or in the seal, or in the treasury. Within the gate there are other gates with their locks and keys. Thy pearl hath the High One sealed up as taking account of all.
8 notes
- 526 I.e. with the mysteries typified in the pearl, women are clothed with light at Baptism.
- 527 Job xxviii. 19 (Pesh.).
- 528 Acts viii. 27.
- 529 Jer. xiii. 23; Is. i. 18.
- 530 Ps. lxviii. 31.
- 531 1 Kings x. 1.
- 532 Why St. E. contemplates the queen as a sheep appears from his remarks on the place. The following are a part of them "It was not the fame of Solomon only, but also the Name of the Lord, which called to this queen, who sought to know the God of Solomon, who set out upon a dangerous long journey, and brought presents fit for a king....Our Lord also extolled this queen in the Gospel, and praised her zealousness, when He rebuked the sluggishness of the Jews."
- 533 This was a tradition of the Jews, a tradition based in part on Canticles i. 5.
Hymn IV.
1. The thief gained the faith which gained him,534 and brought him up and placed him in paradise. He saw in the Cross a tree of life; that was the fruit, he was the eater in Adam's stead.
The fool, who goes astray, grazes the faith, as it were an eye,535 by all manner of questions. The probing of the finger blinds the eye, and much more doth that prying blind. the faith.
For even the diver pries not into his pearl. In it do all merchants rejoice without prying into whence it came; even the king who is crowned therewith does not explore it.
2. Because Balaam was foolish, a foolish beast in the ass spoke with him, because he despised God Who spoke with him. Thee too let the pearl reprove in the ass's stead.
The people that had a heart of stone, by a Stone He set at nought,536 for lo, a stone hears words. Witness its work that has reproved them; and you, ye deaf ones, let the pearl reprove today.
With the swallow537 and the crow did He put men to shame; with the ox, yea with the ass,538 did He put them to shame; let the pearl reprove now, O ye birds and things on earth and things below.
3. Not as the moon does thy light fill or wane; the Sun whose light is greater than all, lo! of Him it is that a type is shadowed out in thy little compass. O type of the Son, one spark of Whom is greater than the sun!—
The pearl itself is full, for its light is full; neither is there any cunning worker who can steal from it; for its wall is its own beauty, yea, its guard also! It lacks not, since it is entirely perfect.
And if a man would break thee to take a part from thee, thou art like the faith which with the heretics perishes, seeing they have broken it in pieces and spoiled it: for is it any better than this to have the faith scrutinised?
The faith is an entire nature that may not be corrupted. The spoiler gets himself mischief by it: the heretic brings ruin on himself thereby. He that chases the light from his pupils blinds himself.
Fire and air are divided when sundered. Light alone, of all creatures, as its Creator, is not divided; it is not barren, for that it also begets without losing thereby.
4. And if a man thinks that thou art framed [by art] he errs greatly; thy nature proclaims that thou, as all stones, art not the framing of art; and so thou art a type of the Generation which no making framed.
Thy stone flees from a comparison with the Stone [which is] the Son. For thy own generation is from the midst of the deep, that of the Son of thy Creator is from the highest height; He is not like thee, in that He is like His Father.
And as they tell, two wombs bare thee also. Thou camest down from on high a fluid nature; thou camest up from the sea a solid body. By means of thy second birth thou didst show thy loveliness to the children of men.
Hands fixed thee, when thou wast embodied, into thy receptacles; for thou art in the crown as upon a cross, and in a coronet as in a victory; thou art upon the ears, as if to fill up what was lacking; thou extendest over all.
5 notes
- 534 Luke xxii. 42.
- 535 Zech. ii. 8.
- 536 Matt. xxi. 42.
- 537 Jer. viii. 7.
- 538 Is. i. 3.
Hymn V.
1. O gift that camest up without price539 with the diver! Thou laidest hold upon this visible light, that without price rises for the children of men: a parable of the hidden One that without price gives the hidden Dayspring!
And the painter too paints a likeness of thee with colours. Yet by thee is faith painted in types and emblems for colours, and in the place of the image by thee and thy colours is thy Creator painted.
O thou frankincense without smell, who breathest types from out of thee! thou art not to be eaten, yet thou givest a sweet smell unto them that hear thee! thou art not to be drunk, yet by thy story, a fountain of types art thou made unto the ears!
2. It is thou which art great in thy littleness, O pearl! Small is thy measure and little thy compass with thy weight; but great is thy glory: to that crown alone in which thou art placed, there is none like.
And who hath not perceived of thy littleness, how great it is; if one despises thee and throws thee away, he would blame himself for his clownishness, for when he saw thee in a king's crown he would be attracted to thee.
3. Men stripped their clothes off and dived and drew thee out, pearl! It was not kings that put thee before men, but those naked ones who were a type of the poor and the fishers and the Galileans.
For clothed bodies were not able to come to thee; they came that were stript as children; they plunged their bodies and came down to thee; and thou didst much desire them, and thou didst aid them who thus loved thee.
Glad tidings did they give for thee: their tongues before their bosoms did the poor [fishers] open, and produced and showed the new riches among the merchants: upon the wrists of men they put thee as a medicine of life.
4. The naked ones in a type saw thy rising again by the sea-shore; and by the side of the lake they, the Apostles540 of a truth, saw the rising again of the Son of thy Creator. By thee and by thy Lord the sea and the lake were beautified.
The diver came up from the sea and put on his clothing; and from the lake too Simon Peter came up swimming and put on his coat;541 clad as with coats, with the love of both of you, were these two.
5. And since I have wandered in thee, pearl, I will gather up my mind, and by having contemplated thee, would become like thee, in that thou art all gathered up into thyself; and as thou in all times art one, one let me become by thee!
Pearls have I gathered together that I might make a crown for the Son in the place of stains which are in my members. Receive my offering, not that Thou art shortcoming; it is because of mine own shortcoming that I have offered it to Thee. Whiten my stains!
This crown is all spiritual pearls, which instead of gold are set in love, and instead of ouches in faith; and instead of hands, let praise offer it up to the Highest!
3 notes
- 539 Is. lv. 1.
- 540 The same word in Syriac means naked and Apostle.
- 541 John xxi. 7.
Hymn VI.
1. Would that the memory of the fathers would exhale from the tombs; who were very simple as being wise, and reverend as believing. They without cavilling searched for, and came to the right path.
He gave the law; the mountains melted away; fools broke through it. By unclean ravens He fed Elijah at the desert stream; and moreover gave from the skeleton honey unto Samson. They judged not, nor inquired why it was unclean, why clean.
2. And when He made void the sabbaths, the feeble Gentiles were clothed with health. Samson took the daughter of the aliens, and there was no disputing among the righteous; the prophet also took a harlot, and the just held their peace.
He blamed the righteous,542 and He held up and lifted up [to view] their delinquencies: He pitied sinners,543 and restored them without cost: and made low the mountains of their sins:544 He proved that God is not to be arraigned by men, and as Lord of Truth, that His servants were His shadow; and whatsoever way His will looked, they directed also their own wills; and because Light was in Him,545 their shadows were enlightened.
3. How strangely perplexed are all the heretics by simple things! For when He plainly foreshadowed this New Testament by that of the Prophets, those pitiable men rose, as though from sleep, and shouted out and made a disturbance. And the Way, wherein the righteous held straight on, and by their truths had gone forth therein, that [Way] have these broken546 up, because they were besotted: this they left and went out of; because they pried, an evil searching, [yea,] an evil babbling led them astray.
They saw the ray: they made it darkness, that they might grope therein: they saw the jewel, even the faith: while they pried into it, it fell and was lost. Of the pearl they made a stone, that they might stumble upon it.
4. O Gift, which fools have made a poison! The People were for separating Thy beauteous root from Thy fountain, though they separated it not: [false] teachings estranged Thy beauty also from the stock thereof.
By Thee did they get themselves estranged, who wished to estrange Thee. By Thee the tribes were cut off and scattered abroad from out of Sion, and also the [false] teachings of the seceders.
Bring Thyself within the compass of our littleness, O Thou Gift of ours. For if love cannot find Thee out on all sides, it cannot be still and at rest. Make Thyself small, Thou Who art too great for all, Who comest unto all!
5. By this would those who wrangle against our Pearl be reproved; because instead of love, strife has come in and dared to essay to unveil thy beauty. It was not graven, since it is a progeny which cannot be interpreted.
Thou didst show thy beauty among the abjects to show whereto thou art like, thou Pearl that art all faces. The beholders were astonied and perplexed at thee. The separatists separated thee in two, and were separated in two by thee, thou that art of one substance throughout.
They saw not thy beauty, because there was not in them the eye of truth. For the veil of prophecy, full as it was of the mysteries; to them was a covering of thy glistering faces: they thought that thou wast other [than thou art], O thou mirror of ours! and therefore these blind schismatics defiled thy fair beauty.
6. Since they have extolled thee too much, or have lowered thee too much, bring them to the even level. Come down, descend a little from that height of infidelity and heathendom; and come up from the depth of Judaism, though thou art in the Heaven.
Let our Lord be set between God and men!547 Let the Prophets be as it were His heralds! Let the Just One, as being His Father, rejoice! that Word it is which conquered both Jews and Heathens!
7. Come, Thou Gift of Holy Church, stay, rest in the midst of Her! The circumcised have troubled Thee, in that they are vain babblers, and so have the [false] doctrines in that they are contentious. Blessed be He that gave Thee a goodly company which bears Thee about!
In the covenant of Moses is Thy brightness shadowed forth: in the new covenant Thou dartest it forth: from those first Thy light shineth even unto those last. Blessed be He that gave us Thy gleam as well as Thy bright rays.
6 notes
- 542 Hos. i. 2.
- 543 Matt. ix. 13.
- 544 Luke xviii. 9.
- 545 Cant. ii. 17.
- 546 Or, pierced—perhaps a word of intentionally uncertain meaning, so as to suit with "the way" in either sense of it.
- 547 1 Tim. ii. 5.
Hymn VII.
1. As in a race saw I the disputers, the children of strife, [trying] to taste fire, to see the air, to handle the light: they were troubled at the gleaming, and struggled to make divisions.
The Son, Who is too subtle for the mind, did they seek to feel: and the Holy Ghost Who cannot be explored, they thought to explore with their questionings. The Father, Who never at any time was searched out, have they explained and disputed of.
The sound form of our faith is from Abraham, and our repentance is from Nineveh and the house of Rahab,548 and ours are the expectations of the Prophets,549 ours of the Apostles.
2. And envy is from Satan: the evil usage of the evil calf is from the Egyptians.550 The hateful sight of the hateful image of four faces is from the Hittites.551 Accursed disputation, that hidden moth, is from the Greeks.
The bitter [enemy] read and saw orthodox teachings, and subverted them; he saw hateful things, and sowed them; and he saw hope, and he turned it upside down and cut it off. The disputation that he planted, lo! it has yielded a fruit bitter to the tooth.
3. Satan saw that the Truth strangled him, and united himself to the tares, and secreted his frauds, and spread his snares for the faith, and cast upon the priests the darts of the love of pre-eminence.
They made contests for the throne, to see which should first obtain it. There was that meditated in secret and kept it close: there was that openly combated for it: and there was that with a bribe crept up to it: and there was that with fraud dealt wisely to obtain it.
The paths differed, the scope was one, and they were alike. Him that was young, and could not even think of it, because it was not time for him; and him that was hoary and shaped out dreams for time beyond; all of them by his craftiness did the wicked one persuade and subdue. Old men, youths, and even striplings, aim at rank!
4. His former books did Satan put aside, and put on others: the People who was grown old had the moth and the worm devoured and eaten and left and deserted: the moth came into the new garment of the new peoples:
He saw the crucifiers who were rejected and cast forth as strangers: he made of those of the household, pryers; and of worshippers, they became disputants. From that garment the moth gendered and wound it up and deposited it.
The worm gendered in the storehouse of wheat, and sat and looked on: and lo! the pure wheat was mildewed, and devoured were the garments of glory! He made a mockery of us, and we of ourselves, since we were besotted!
He showed tares, and the bramble shot up in the pure vineyard! He infected the flock, and the leprosy broke out, and the sheep became hired servants of his! He began in the People, and came unto the Gentiles, that he might finish.
5. Instead of the reed which the former people made the Son hold, others have dared with their reed552 to write in their tracts that He is only a Son of man. Reed for reed does the wicked one exchange against our Redeemer, and instead of the coat of many colours,553 wherewith they clothed Him, titles has he dyed craftily. With diversity of names he clothed Him; either that of a creature or of a thing made, when He was the Maker.
And as he plaited for Him by silent men speechless thorns that cry out, thorns from the mind has he plaited [now] by the voice, as hymns; and concealed the spikes amid melodies that they might not be perceived.554
6. When Satan saw that he was detected in his former [frauds]; that the spitting was discovered, and vinegar, and thorns, nails and wood, garments and reed and spear, which smote him, and were hated and openly known; he changed his frauds.
Instead of the blow with the hand, by which our Lord was overcome, he brought in distractions; and instead of the spitting, cavilling entered in; and instead of garments, secret divisions; and instead of the reed, came in strife to smite us on the face.
Haughtiness called for rage its sister, and there answered and came envy, and wrath, and pride, and fraud. They have taken counsel against our Redeemer as on that day when they took counsels at His Passion.
And instead of the cross, a hidden wood hath strife become; and instead of the nails, questionings have come in; and instead of hell, apostasy: the pattern of both Satan would renew again.
Instead of the sponge which was cankered with vinegar and wormwood, he gave prying, the whole of which is cankered with death. The gall which they gave Him did our Lord put away from Him; the subtle questioning, which the rebellious one hath given, to fools is sweet.
7. And at that time there were judges against them,555 lo, the judges are, as it were, against us, and instead of a handwriting are their commands. Priests that consecrate crowns, set snares for kings.
Instead of the priesthood praying for royalty that wars may cease from among men, they teach wars of overthrow, which set kings to combat with those round about.
O Lord, make the priests and kings peaceful; that in one Church priests may pray for their kings, and kings spare those round about them; and may the peace which is within Thee become ours, Lord, Thou that art within and without all things!556
Three Homilies
Translated by
REV. A. Edward Johnston, B.D.,
9 notes
- 548 On Josh. ii. 9, For I know that God hath delivered unto you the land, etc., St. E. makes Rahab say, "This forty years is this land yours; and now it is that we might repent, that we have continued in it up to this day."
- 549 Gen. xv. 6.
- 550 The calf might be at once intended for a symbol of God, and also a copy from the worship of Apis.
- 551 Elsewhere (Opp. Syr. II. 384) St. E. calls the Teraphim of Micah (Judges xviii. 2, 14) "the idol with four faces."
- 552 Reeds are used all over the East to write with.
- 553 St. E. assumes that the type of Joseph was fulfilled in Christ to the letter.
- 554 This alludes probably to Bardesanes, the existence of whose rhythmical compositions induced St. E. to try and counteract them by orthodox ones of the same kind.
- 555 Luke xxiii. 14, 15.
- 556 I.e. Omnipresent in space, but not limited by space.