RHYTHMS

TRANSLATED

WITH

[LATE] FELLOW OF EXETER COLLEGE, OXFORD.

OXFORD,

MDCCCXLVIT.

v.ii

CONTENTS.

Page

Thirteen Rhythms on the Nativity. (Opp. Syr. t. ii. p. 396.) 1

Rhythm against the Jews, [delivered upon Palm Sunday.]

The Pearl, or Seven Rhythms on the Faith, (t. iii. p. 150.) 84

Eighty Rhythms upon the Faith, against the Disputers.

Three Rhythms concerning the Faith. [cont. Scrut.]

ADVERTISEMENT.

The circumstances under which the present Work appears, seem to require silence rather than explanation. It was commenced several years ago; it was finished and in type before the English Church lost its translator. Immediate duties, and subsequently, long illness, prevented the. present writer from doing what little remained to be done, previous to its publication.

A few words must be said upon two or three passages in the notes.

In a part of the note in p. 236, (which from some circumstance this writer did not see while passing through the press,) he thought one statement perplexing, if unexplained. " As Christ was Very God, and had in Him and was Himself in the Holy Spirit from the moment of His Incarnation, the Spirit, of course, did not really descend upon Christ at the Jordan; it was, for our sakes, that He seemed so to do, He being Himself Omnipresent, and so incapable of motion to a place."

The writer's objections to this passage were two: 1) in itself, in that it seemed, by its mode of statement, (although, of course, no one who knew the mind of its writer could think this,) to put aside the fact related in Holy Scripture, without substituting any explanation; 2) that it blended two different grounds for denying the " reality" of the descent, onederived from the Person of our Lord upon Whom It descended, the other from the Nature of the Godhead. For this last, " that the Holy Spirit is Omnipresent and so incapable of motion to a place," would apply equally to any descent of the Holy Ghost, and would make the descent at Pentecost equally unreal. Whereas the doctrine, really intended to be stated, is, that the Holy Spirit did not, after the Baptism, dwell in our Lord in any other way than before, so as to imply that His Manhood before lacked any thing. To obviate these objections the note, p. 386, was written. It may to some not be without its use to state here the received doctrine of the Church in the language of S. Cyril; 1st, negatively; that our Lord Himself did not then receive any Gift or Presence of the Holy Ghost which He had not before; 2d, positively; that our Blessed Lord, although having the Holy Spirit in Himself, did then, as Man, in a dispensation, receive It, thenceforth in act to overflow to us. One clear statement may suffice, (de recta fide, §. 34. T. 5. p. 2. p. 855. quoted in part by Petav. de Inc. xi. 9. 11.) " We who say that there is but One Emmanuel and endure not those who separate Him into two Christs, what say we, when c the Holy Spirit descended upon Him like a dove and abode upon Him?' Shall we imagine that the Word from God the Father needed to partake of the Holy Spirit? How should it not be most utterly degrading so to think or speak? For The Spirit is His Own, equally as of God the Father. And so the blessed Paul, ' Ye are sons, to whom God hath sent the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father!' It is impious then even to imagine that He too, the Word from God the Father, needed the communication of the Spirit; and it were exceeding foolish to bestow any pains on what is of such manifest proof. How then did the Spirit descend upon Him? He receiveth It according to His Human Nature, the dispensation with the Flesh well admitting that He should without any disparagement receive It, yea rather necessarily leading thereto. For He receiveth

ADVERTISEMENT. Vll

It not so much for Himself as for us; that, since He had withdrawn from those on earth, because the mind of man was diligently set upon evil from his youth, now, descending upon Him, as in a new First-fruit of our race, It might abide, and again rest in us, as having now recovered sinlessness in Christ, and having a life free from all blame. Yet although for us He receives It as Man, see how, as God, He giveth It. For ' on Whom thou seest,' He saith, ' the Spirit descending and abiding upon Him, this is He Who baptizeth with the Holy Ghost.' But this is a Divine inworking. For our Lord Jesus Christ infuseth into the baptized the Spirit of the Father as His Own."

On another passage in the last sheet which this writer had not yet been able to read, although the sheets were with him, some observations have been added in a Note at the end, p. 417. And since the translator declined to be responsible for, or to take part in, any alteration, he has been obliged himself to remove an observation at the end of one note, which did not seem to him well-founded. In p. 402. he enlarged the note. (The insertions have been marked by brackets.) In a previous note, p. 229, 30, whose bearing did not seem clear to the Editor of the Library, he substituted a statement which he imagined to express the writer's meaning, at the same time that he himself wished it to appear that a subject connected with controversy had not been introduced altogether gratuitously. Slight as the change is, he substituted, on this subject, a reference to earlier volumes of the Library for one to Petavius, lest, by connecting the statements of St. Ephrem with a controversial work, he should seem to recognise the existing practice maintained in the chapters referred to. But, in regard to facts, the Editors pledged themselves from the first to withhold none; and the present writer, believing, as he fully does, the truth and Divine mission of the English Church, has here, as elsewhere, acted on the principle that no knowledge of facts as to the Ancient Church, to whom she

rill ADVERTISEMENT.

appeals, can any way injure her. He would have been glad, under other circumstances, to have said something as to the differences between the traces of invocation of Saints in the Ancient Church, and modern practice; the circumstances of the present volume, render any thing approaching to controversy, altogether unseemly.

It remains only to pray that, amid all these sorrows, the reverence and humble awe of St. Ephrem may, by God's mercy, deepen the same spirit in us which He has so mercifully reawakened.

Chrttt Church, Lent, 1847.

PREFACE.

•As the publication of this Volume has been already deferred so long, it has been thought desirable to avoid entering upon any such investigations now, as would necessarily give rise to farther delay. Now to sift and compare and adjust the divergent, if not conflicting, accounts of St. Ephrem's life and actions, to discover by comparison with contemporaneous history what part of those accounts was trustworthy, probable, or altogether to be rejected, to examine what amount of light might be thrown upon them by his own writings, whether as occasionally recording events, or as stating opinions which served in any way as a test of the truth or falsehood of the actions ascribed to him, — to do all this with any thing like the thought and investigation requisite for an honest and thorough execution of it, would have given rise of course to a much farther delay in the publication of the present Volume. Its defects are already too numerous to make the Translator otherwise than highly dissatisfied with it, and that the more so from his consciousness, that few combine the knowledge of Syriac and Theology in such way as to give him hopes of having his errors exposed as they may deserve. This fear is, however, most materially diminished by the kind superintendence of the notes, which has been exercised by Dr. Pusey.

The knowledge of criticism, which would have been necessary for the task of thus discriminating between true

x PREFACE.

and false in the accounts of St. Ephrem's life, is not possessed by the Translator: it cannot be obtained without a habit of working amongst Manuscripts3, and of dealing with historical subjects. This avowal is absolutely necessary, both from the fact, of which most who lead a life of study are aware, that knowledge far greater than they really possess is commonly attributed by others to them, and also from the obligation which the present writer feels himself under, to speak with suspicion of some of the Greek Works attributed to St. Ephrem. His suspicion may eventually prove unfounded; yet as it has been in a good degree the reason why so little use has been made in this Volume of the Greek Works, he is bound to endeavour to shew how it has operated in this way. He hopes this endeavour will shew that no very great value is to be attached to that suspicion at present.

The Works of this Father were translated into Greek, Latin, Arabic, Coptic, Armenian, and Sclavonic, which attests the esteem in which they were held, and also makes it credible that works not his would be put about as his. Things written by Ephraim of Antioch at a much later period, were in fact apparently1* ascribed to him. And if to this probability upon the part of the forgers we add the astounding credulity upon the part of the ancient public, learned as well as unlearned, the probability of such forgeries is materially increased. When the pompous writings (probably) of a Monophysite heretic were believed to be the pro- duction of St. Denys the Areopagitec, we need have no scruple in making allowances for the existence of such credulity. The frauds of the Apollinarians are well known from the

in Regulas et usura Critices, vol. i. 1. learned Dominican Michael Le Quien

2. §. 1. Diss. Damasc. ii. Other writers on

b See Mai Coll. Nov. vol. vii. p. 18. the subject are mentioned in Lumper.

PREFACE. xi

work of Leontius upon the subject, and the labours of the Benedictines have made it evident that several works once quoted as authorities are the forgeries of heretics. Words, of course, can easily have a Catholic meaning forced upon them: and therefore our faith in the Church is not to be the less because of these distasteful facts, even if it were not true that that would be no longer faith, which had demonstration to support itd.

With this general probability before him, the exceeding dissimilarity of thought which appeared to him to exist in some few of the Greek writings he has consulted, induced the translator to confine his attention to the Syriac Works first, upon these grounds :

A suspicion created is a kind of internal evidence against the book which creates it; it ought to be overcome either by external evidence, where this may be had, or by internal evidence, which alone might in many cases be enough to countervail the suspicion. But the external evidence is such as requires considerable reading to master in this case, is such therefore as would have led to considerable delay. It is moreover likely to be unsatisfactory after all, as it could hardly come to more than this, that the Greeks, who were wholly unable, from their having no acquaintance with the Syriac, to judge of the question, believed such and such works to be St. Ephrem's. If it could be shewn that they believed this in the fifth century, it could be shewn that, at the same period, St. Cyril of Alexandria believed an Apollinarian forgery to be the work of his own predecessor St. Athanasius". Whatever disparity exists between the cases, it is plain that such facts materially weaken the external evidence, even were it as early as it has been here assumed for argument's sake to be. Recourse must there-

* St. Clement. Strom, ii. §. 9. fin. ^w^&'^svjj. Ouxin tiitti? ytynrxi h' a-ro$ti?ia>s c Vide Le Qiiien as above.

kii PKEFACE.

fore be had to the internal evidence, if we mean to satisfy the doubts which have been raised. Nor ought it to be forgotten, that a knowledge of the several other languages into which St. Ephrem's works have been translated would be requisite towards a just estimate of the evidence in the matter, whether external or internal. For one's estimate of the latter might be materially altered by the perusal of his Commentaries upon St. Paul's Epistles, which survive only in an Armenian version.

The internal evidence, however, is of course principally to be estimated from his Syriac writings. Had these been studied along with the Greek, it would have been impossible to have gained a clear impression as to what was or was not likely antecedently to be St. Ephrem's. This antecedent likelihood could only be estimated by studying the Syriac works separately, which alone occupy three volumes folio. That the translator's notions of the possibility of many things being St. Ephrem's, after he had read the whole of these volumes, were materially different from what they had been before, is very true; yet he thinks he sees a personal identity, amidst the greatest variety of style, displayed in a simplicity, depth, devotional character, and originality of thought in the Syriac, which he cannot yet perceive in some (not all) of the few of the Greek writings he has read. Two things must be added to qualify this statement: the first is, that he is very sensible that the greatest external improbability may be often overcome by a very small amount of external testimony; the other is, that he does not see any objection to supposing that the Greek was a translation from some Syriac author or other; whereas he has the greatest possible difficulty in persuading himself that Archelaus of Caschara (for instance) wrote his book against Manes originally in Syriac, or that St. Paul's Epistle to the Hebrews was originally composed in the Jews' language. This last con-

PREFACE. xiii

viction is so strong, that be thinks it would require an overwhelming weight of external evidence to disprove it; the very opposite of this is what he feels in regard to the Greek here under consideration.

Thus much then may suffice as an apology for the apparently gratuitous neglect of the Greek writings ascribed to St. Ephrem, which occupy the three remaining volumes of his works in the Roman edition. The present volume has already taken up more time than was originally anticipated; far more time would be required to discuss the points which have here been alluded to in a cursory way. And of course it is necessary to know what his writings are, before we can judge what light they throw upon his life. One material point may be mentioned here, in which the Syriac writings do throw light upon his life. The common story that he was only a Deacon seems to be contradicted by his manner of speaking upon several occasions, but upon one occasion by his plainly stating that God had given to him the talent of the Priesthood, (J.Z.ojou3,) and that he had hidden it in the earth through his idleness f.

The period at which he lived is not known with great exactness, though there can be no doubt that he was born pretty early in the fourth century, and died somewhere about the year 370. His mode of life, upon the whole, may perhaps be fairly represented by his own remarks upon a portion of Elijah's history, which shall be added here.

" Elijah, O Lord, dost Thou command to flee, and to seek the cave, and hide himself in a valley that no one knew! Lo! when Thou wast minded to protect Jeremiah from his enemies no man injured him, notwithstanding the army of the Chaldeans was round about Jerusalem, and Zedekiah within it was persecuting the prophet. Why then hast Thou forced him to drink the scanty waters of the brook, and

xiv PREFACE.

withhold from him the streams of Jordan; and bid him in the time of.famine to look for his nourishment from the ravens? yet it is Thou that preparest nourishment for the young ravens. This was for three causes. First, that he also might taste of that cup that he had mingled, and suffer for some days the famine and the drought, seeing he was not unwilling that the people should be harassed with them for some years: and that by this example he might learn mercifulness, and shew mercy upon mankind, who were afflicted with famine and drought. For by this same suffering was it meet that Elijah should be induced to glorify the grace that arose to the assistance of them in need, and to obey his Lord when He commanded him to go and shew himself to Ahab, in order to give rain upon the earth. The second cause was, that he might learn for the ordering of his own life, how he was to keep and distinguish the times of prayer and labour, and how after the turmoil of his ambassador's office he needed the silence of contemplation in the wilderness. The third was, that he was to offer, along with zeal, entreaty also: for the matter that he had in hand was not to be effected by labour only, and by energy towards men: rather he was to work out the glory of God and the salvation of man, by prayers and supplications to the One Mighty in strength, who turneth the flintstone into a pool of waters, and the hard rock into a fountain of waters, yea, and promised to give to them that seek Him a heart wherewith to know Him."

This passage brings before one, as in a type, a man of mixed life, at one time vigorously contending among other men for Christian doctrine and practice, and at another devoted to contemplation, while before them both he exercised that self-chastisement which he recommended with so much gentleness of speech to others. If he held out to others the Cup of Salvation, i. e. (as antiquity often takes it,) the Cup of suffering self-inflicted, he drank it first himself. * He

PREFACE. xv

that suffereth long with all, by our suffering sufiereth long with us,' was his concise statement of the duty of penance8.

The traces of his active and of his contemplative life abound in his writings. It is the prerogative11 of Christianity to blend and intermingle these two kinds of life, and no wrhere do they seem more thoroughly blended than in the mind of St. Ephrem, so far as his writings exhibit it. His style seems an anticipation of that of St. Bernard, as indeed does his whole way of viewing things. The Eastern way of stating things gradually leavened the West through the influence of Scriptures, which St. Ephrem seems to have had access to in the original and in the translations, both Chaldee and Syriac, which were open to him from his early youth. Left to itself, the Eastern way of putting things runs into exaggeration: guided by the truth, (as in the larger part of the Old Testament, if it may be reverently said,) it is more vivid, and puts facts more before one's eyes than the style, which the West wrould have naturally engendered. Hence a mind like St. Ephrem's, " replete with the law of orthodoxy, which like Moses upon the mount he received from God, and imparted to all of us1," would be likely to anticipate the style of devotional contemplation, which in the West belongs to a later period, [see e. g. p. 28. and 40.] Such a style could not well become common, until questions discussed in the Nestorian controversy were settled, and all might speak with certainty upon such points connected with the Conception, Birth, and Childhood of our Lord and Saviour, as the humble-minded might have felt and yet shrunk from expressing in words antecedently to that period. His character as a Commentator is sufficiently shewn by

\ |mk^y ^yy work, that St. G. had a considerable

* St. Greg. Nyss. in the life of St.

xvi PREFACE.

the passages quoted in these notes, and the reflections occasionally made upon them. It is only necessary to add here, that if any person argued from the minuteness of the explanation in some cases, that ' nothing escaped him' in commenting upon Scripture, and that he followed every word of the text till all was explained, he would have a most entirely false view of his Commentaries — nay, he could not have looked into them at all, as he commences them by stating that they were an abridgment of things he had said in other works. They often give one most valuable hints as to the typical meaning of the whole chapter, but seldom or never leave the reader nothing to do in the way of meditation and deduction.

Although a large portion of this volume is occupied with a work directed in its main drift against a comparatively obscure faction of the Arians, it is confidently hoped that the character here given of St. Ephrem's style of thought and writing will be found sufficiently true to remove any a priori objection to putting such a subject before the English reader. While this portion of the volume may help towards the understanding of some great points of Christian doctrine, it may also have its use in reminding us of this day, that we do not really understand the visible creation, any more than the Anomeans understood it. We have traced, for instance, some of the intervening links between the change of c dust' and c water' into vegetables, but as to the real principle of organization we are greatly in the dark. We then may use the instances urged by St. Ephrem to shew those heretics, from their ignorance of the creature, that they could not understand the Creator, for an end substantially the same, viz. to increase our humility. If we are wiser than the Saint in the mysteries of nature, we may find ourselves new food for humility in his superiority to us in that truer wisdom which relates to the mysteries of grace.

PREFACE. xvii

Now then it only remains that this labour be laid down: it is done; God be praised!

There is one to whom it has given many new and sweetening thoughts, who deserves not to have such thoughts at all, and still less to be the person to publish them to others. If any find that St. Ephrem's native sweetness is not poisoned to themselves by having passed through his mind, he would beg of them, in the words of one who once studied in the same College, to remember him and his in their prayers. Laboris mei pretium (says Bp. Bull) hoc unum abs te peto, hoc vero vehementer expeto, ut in precibus tuis mei peccatoris meorumque interdum memor sis. Vale in Christo Servatore Domino Deoque nostro. Amen.

Exeter College, Tuesday before Christmas, A.D. 1845.

THE RHYTHMS

THE NATIVITY.

This is the day that gladdened them, the Prophets, Kings, and Priests, for in it were their words fulfilled, and thus were the whole of them indeed performed! For the Virgin did today bring forth Immanuel in Bethlehem. The voice that erst Isaiah spake, to-day reality became. He was born ps.87 6. there who in writing should the Gentiles' number tell! The Is. 10, Psalm that David once did sing, by its fulfilment came to- 19' day! The word that Micah once did speak, to-day wasMjc#5 actually done! For there came from Ephrata a Shepherd, 2and His staff swayed over souls. Lo! from Jacob shone 24, 17. the Star, and from Israel rose the Head. The prophecy that?*08* *> Balaam spake had its interpreting to-day! Down also came the hidden Light, and from the Body rose His beauty! The Light that b spake in Zachary, to-day did gleam in Bethlehem!

a The word here used in the Syriac exactly metrical character of them apis frequently employed by the Rabbins pears to justify the adoption of the title (not without great countenance from ' rhythm/ especially as the term has althe use of the root in Holy Writ) to ready been used in other parts of the express ' a mystical commentary' on the Church for devotional compositions of a Text of Scripture. There is much similar cast.

analogous to this in these discourses of b St. E. may probably here have

St. Ephrem; while the more or less intended to imply, that the phrase

/.^I&ifeeh: is; Uiq -Light 'of the kingdom, in Ephrata the city off he King; The blessing wherewith Jacob blessed, to its fulfilment came to-day! That tree likewise, [the tree] of life, Prov. 3, bringeth hope to mortal men! Solomon his hidden proverb had to-day its explanation! To-day was born the Child, and Isa. 9, His name was Wonder called! For a wonder 'tis that God as Ps.22 6.a Babe should shew Himself. By the word Worm0 did the Spirit Him in parable foreshew, because His generation was without marriage. The type the Holy Ghost did figure, today its meaning was [explained.] He came up as a root before Is.53,2. Him, as a root of parched ground. Aught that covertly was infr. R. said, openly to-day was done I The King that was in Judah hidden, Thamar stole Him from his thigh; to-day arose His conlSyr. quering beauty, which in hidden estate she loved1. Ruth at arosethe Booz side fell down, because the Medicine of Life hidden in victory ^jm she perceived. To-day fulfilled was her vow, since beauty, from her seed arose the Quickener of all. Travail Adam on coaled-" the woman brought, that from him had come forth. She to-day ness of her travail ransomed, who to her a Saviour bare! To Eve &c# ' our mother birth a man gave, who had had no birth himself. How much more should Eve's daughter be believed to have borne a Child without a man! The virgin earth, she bare that Adam that was head over the earth! The Virgin bare today the Adam that was Head over the Heavens. The staff of Aaron, it budded, and the dry w- ood yielded fruit! Its mystery is cleared up to-day, for virgin womb a Child hath borne d 1

0")mn"J^Dn, the Angel that spake ™Von with God in Christ which the in me, was the Angel of the covenant, saints enj°y- For to God time is as the Light of Light ; and it seems that a nothing, and those who through grace created being would not so readily be are one with Him> begin to view things conceived of as speaking in a person. as He views them. See Zech. 1,9. c So the hymn in the Salisbury Brev. It maybe well also to notice here, for the feast of the. Name of Jesus, Aug. how St. Ephrem (in common with St. 7. has among the list of His Names, Leo, St. Chrysostom, St. Augustine, ' Vermis.' S. Austin, in Joan. Tr. i. 13. and others) speaks of the celebration of and on Ps. 2 1 , 7. may be also referred to. the day as if it was the day itself, partly d Jt was common anciently to interas exhibiting their intense realization Pret the rod out of the stem of Jesse through faith of the mystery and the °^the B1- Virgin, and the Branch from re-presentation of it, to use the word in ftis roots of the Messiah. Thus Jerome its ancient sense; partly as evincing, on the place: " Jews interpret rod and perhaps, a belief in the unabidingness branch of the Lord Himself, because forof our conceptions of time— a belief re- sootb the power of a ruler is indicated by suiting, it may be, from the mystical tne rod> by the flower (so he renders

and explains them. 3

Shamed is that folk that holdeth the prophets as true; for unless our Saviour did come, falsified their words have been! Blessed be the True One who came from the Father of the Truth and fulfilled the true seers' words, which were accomplished in their truth. From Thy treasure-house put forth, Lord, from the coffers of Thy Scriptures, names of righteous men of old, who did look to see Thy coming! Seth who was in Abel's stead shadowed out the Son as killed, by Whose death dulled was the envy Cain had brought into the world! Noah saw the sons of God, saints that sudden waxed wanton, and the Holy Son he expected, by whom were hallowed whoremongers6. The brothers twain, that covered Noah, saw the only Son of God who should come to hide the nakedness of Adam, who was drunk with pride. Shem and Japhet, being gracious, did the gracious Son expect, Who should come and set free Canaan from the servitude of sin.

Melchizedek expected Him, — as His vicegerent, was looking, that he might see the Priesthood's Lord, whose hys-Lev.14, sop whiteneth the world. Lot beheld the Sodomites how0" they perverted nature's1 course: for nature's Lord he looked lS. right who gave a holiness not natural. Him Aaron looked for, for he saw that if his rod ate serpents up, His cross would eatExod.7, the Serpent up that had eaten Adam and Eve. Moses saw the hanging serpent that the bites of asps had cured, and he looked to see Him who would heal the ancient Serpent's wound. Moses saw that he himself alone retained the gleam from God, and he looked for Him who came and multiplied gods by His teaching f.

Caleb the spy bore the cluster on the staff, and came and longed to see the Cluster, Whose wine should comfort the world. Him did Jesus son of Nun long for, that he might conceive 2 the force of his own surname: for if by His name 2 s. he waxed so mighty, how much more would He by His^jebfi

lift) tne beauty. But let us understand like the Pharisees were acting a religion

the rod of the root of Jesse, of the Holy without feeling it. See also 1 Cor. 6,

Virgin Mary &c." St. E. on the place 10.11.

(after the Ch. Paraph,) interprets the f St. E- refers here to St. John x. 34.

roots of the kin of Joseph and Mary. where the Word Himself teacheth us

• St. E. here alludes apparently that it was by His coming to them that

to the fact, that under our Lord's Saints of old were called Gods. See on

rule impure persons were more likely adv. Scrut. xxix. and Athan. c. Ar.

to come to baptism, than those who I. 39. Aust. in Nat. xi. 3. and ix. 1.

4 The Nativity of Christ fulfils the types

Birth? This Jesus that gathered and carried, and brought with him of the fruit, was longing for the Tree of Life to taste the Fruit that quickeneth all. Rahab too for Him was looking; for when the scarlet thread in type redeemed her from wrath, in type she tasted of the Truth. 'Twas for Him Elijah thrilled, and when Him on earth he saw not, he through faith most throughly cleansed, mounted up in heaven to see Him. Moses saw Him and Elijah, the meek man from the depth ascended, the zealous from on high descended, and in the midst beheld the Song. They figured the mystery of His Advent: Moses was a type of the dead, and Elijah a type J Thess. of the living, that fly to meet Him at His coming. For the ' death the dead have tasted, them He maketh to be first:

and the rest that are not buried are at last caught up to meet Him.

Who is there that can count me up the just that looked for the Son, whose number cannot be determined by the mouth of us weak creatures? Pray ye for me, O beloved, that another time with strength endued, I in another legend may their foretaste so set forth, as I am able. Who is adequate to praising of the Son of the Truth h that hath risen to us? For 'twas for Him the righteous thrilled, that in their generation they might see Him. Adam, he was looking for Him, for He is the Cherub's Lord, and could minister an entrance and a residence hard by the branches of the Tree of life. Abel after Him did thrill, that in his days He might come, that instead of that lamb that he offered, the Lamb of God he might behold. Eve for Him was also looking, for woman's nakedness was sore,

g Elijah and Moses are spoken of And with this the next words seem to

as ascending and descending, as types fall in.

of the faithful quick and dead; but what h St. E. before spoke of the Father

is recorded of their earthly ends had of the Truth, i. e. of Christ; here

also an analogy with their character, he speaks of the Father as the Truth.

Elijah's ascension with his fiery zeal, It is important to notice this, because

Moses' burial in the heart of the earth the Fathers have been sometimes

with his meekness, which was at the accused of denying to the Father cer-

Lord's Coming to be exalted. Perhaps tain attributes, and not allowing these

St. E. also wishes to blend together the to exist except as having a personality

the times of Moses and Elijah,whose pre- not as perfectly God as if there were

sence there always had a typical mean- neither Son nor Holy Ghost, and They

ing attributed to it: and hence introduces again each as perfectly God as if there

Moses as coming from the earth in was no Father. See St. Athan. Orat.

which he died, and was buried; (see iv. 9. St. Aust. de Trin. vii. 2.5. xv. 7.

St. Jude 9.) and Elijah from the Hea- 8. Greg. Nyss. ii. p. 320. b. ven to which without death he ascended.

and explains them. 5

and He capable to clothe them, not with leaves, but with that same glory that they had exchanged away. The tower that the many builded symbolically looked for One, who coming down would build on earth a tower that lifts up to Heaven. Yea the ark of living creatures for our Lord looked in a type; for He should build the Holy Church, wherein souls find a refuge. In Phaleg's days earth was divided into tongues threescore and ten1. He looked for Him who by the tongues, to His Apostles earth divided. Earth which the flood had swallowed up, in silence cried to her Lord. He came down and opened k Baptism, and men were drawn by it to Heaven. Seth and Enos, Cainan too, were surnamed sons of God; for the Son of God they looked, that they His brethren by grace might be1. But little lacking of a thousand years did Methusalah live: He looked for the Son that maketh heirs of life that never ends! Grace itself with mystic instinct1, was beseeching in ' in hidtheir stead that their Lord might come in their age and fill up tery?yS" their fallings short. For the Holy Spirit in them, in their Rom. 8, stead, besought with musing: He stirred them up, and in j6pet 1 Him did they look on that Redeemer, after wrhom they thrilled ll. [with longing.]

The soul of just men in the Son a Medicine of life perceived, and so it felt desires that He might come in its own days, and then His sweetness would it taste. Enoch, he was thrilling for Him, and since on earth the Son he saw not, he wras justified by great faith, and mounted up in Heaven to see Him. Who is there that will spurn at grace, when the Gift2 that2 p. 14. they of old gained not by much labour, freely cometh to men now3? For Him Lamech also looked who might come and3tolatlovingly give Him quiet from his labour, and the toiling of histermen* hands, and from the earth the Just One had cursed. Lamech Gen. 5, then his son beheld, Noah, — him, in whom were figured types

1 This in round numbers is the re- 1 If in Ps. 82, 6. the title | sons of ceived account of the number of Ian- the Most High' seems applied to those guages at the dispersion. See St. before Christ, it must be only by anti- El. in Deut. 33. p. 286. E. and Pot- cipation of the grace to come, and not ter upon St. Clement, Strom, i. §. 142. as though they were <pv<rti vio), an excap. 16. p. 404. Upon the next words pression which was applied of old to compare St. Austin S. 3. in Pentec. 269. Christians. See on Athanas. note k,

k Alluding probably to Gen. 7, 11, p. 56. And on Tertullian, Apol, p.

the windows of Heaven were opened. 54.

(J The vigils of worldlings

relating to the Son. In the stead of Lord afar off, type at hand afforded quiet. Yea Noah also thrilled to see Him, the taste of whose assisting graces he had tasted. For if the type of Him preserved living things, Himself how sure to bestow life upon souls! Noah longed for Him, by trial knowing Him, for through Him had the ark been stablished. For if the type of Him thus saved life, sure much more would He in person.

John 8, Abraham perceived in spirit that the Son's Birth was far off; stead of Him in person even His day he saw with gladness. To see Him Isaac thrilled with longing, as having tasted the

Heb.il, taste of His redemption; for if the sign of Him so gave life, much more would He by the reality.

Dan. 4, Joyous were to-day the watchers, that the Wakeful came to wake us! Who would pass this night in slumber, in which all the world was watching ■ ? Since Adam brought into the world the sleep of death by sins, the Wakeful came down that He might awake us from the drenching sleep of sin. Watch not we as usurers, who, on money put to interest thinking, watch at night so oft, to reckon up their capital, and interest. Waking, full of cool devices, is the thief, who in the earth hath buried and concealed his sleep". His wakefulness all ends in this, that He may cause much wakefulness to them that be asleep. Wakeful likewise is the glut- ton, who hath eaten much and is restless; His watching is to him his torment, because of stint he was impatient. Wakeful likewise is the merchant, of a night he works his fingers telling o'er what pounds are coming, and if his wealth doubles or trebles. Wakeful likewise is the rich man, whose sleep his riches chase away: his dogs are sleeping, he doth

m St. E. probably here views the its own will." And presently he adds,

whole world or creation ("as the word "this hunger indicates that hunger more

literally means) as waiting for the sore than it, wherewith our race before

manifestation of the Son of God, whose the advent of the Lord was vexed, when

further manifestation in them whom He it was in want of the heavenly Bread ;

is not ashamed to call His brethren it which was quenched and passed away

yet waits for. Rom. 8, 19, Hence on by the preaching of the Gospel." It was

Joel 1, 18 — 20. he says, " the groaning usual formerly to usher in all the greater

of the herds is a type of the groaning of feasts with a vigil, which St. E. here

the creation, indicating how it groan- makes the occasion of the practical

eth and waiteth for the manifestation remarks following,

of the sons of God. Hence the divine * This is to us a very strong figure:

Paul saith, that the creature (i. e. ere- Shakspeare's expression, 'Macbeth hath

ation) was subjected to vanity not by murdered sleep,' is not unlike it.

and of Christians contrasted. 7

guard his treasures from the thieves. Wakeful also is the careful, by his care his sleep is swallowed: though his end standeth by his pillow, yet he wakes with cares for years to come. Satan teacheth, O my brethren, in one watching's stead another, that to good deeds we be sleepy, and to ill awake and watchful. Even Judas Iscariot, for the whole night through was wakeful, and he sold the righteous Blood, that did purchase the whole world. The son of the dark one put on darkness, having stripped the Light from off him: and the Creator of silver, for silver did the thief sell. Yea Pharisees, the dark one's sons, all the night through kept awake: the dark ones watched that they might veil the Light which is unlimited. Ye then watch as [heaven's] lights in this night of starry light. For though so dark its colour is, yet in virtue it is clear n.

For whoe'er is like this clear One, wakeful and at prayer in darkness, in this darkness visible him a light unseen envelopes! The bad man that in daylight standeth, yet as a son of darkness dealeth, though with light clad outwardly, inly is with darkness girt. Be we not deceived, beloved, by the fact that we are watching! For whoso doth not rightly watch, his watch is an unrighteous watch. Whoso watcheth not cheerfully, his watching but a sleeping is: whoso also watcheth not innocently, even his waking is his foe. This is the waking of the envious one! a solid mass, compact with harm. That watch is but a trafficking, with scorn and mockery compact. The wrathful man if he doth wake, fretful with wrath his wake will be, and his watching proves to him full of rage and of cursings. If the babbler be waking, then his mouth becomes a passage which for sins is expeditious, but for prayers disrelish shews.

The wise man if so be he that watches, one of two things chooseth him, either takes sweet0, moderate, sleep, or a holy

n i. e. This night, though dark out- hear the earth, &c.) an intercommuwardly, is efficacious in brightening nion between heaven and earth and its

the inward man from what happened joys is promised in Christian times. See

on it. That Christian festivals are sea- St. Cyril on the place, p. 65. The

sons when grace is more fully poured English word wake, originally meant a

out, will be obvious if we reflect that vigil before the feast of a dedication of

blessings are promised to joint prayer, a Church. See Johnson. It is here

and that Angels were of old thought used sometimes for a vigil. to join in them. In Hosea 2, 23. (I ° There is some difficulty in this

will hear the heavens, and they shall passage: the Syriac word means origi-

8 Mercifulness recommended to us

Ps.45, vigil keeps. That night is fair, wherein the Fair One rose

Cant, l t0 come and make us fair. Let not aught that may disturb

J5- it enter into our watch! Fair be kept the ear's approach1,

chaste the seeing of the eye! hallowed the musing of

2S. fil- the heart! speaking of the mouth be cleared2. Mary

tere ' hid in us to-day leaven come from Abraham. Let us

then so pity beggars as did Abraham the needy. To-day

the rennet p fell on us from the gentle David's house. Let a

1 Sam. man shew mercy to his persecutors, as did Jesse's son

2 Kings t° Saul. The prophets' sweet salt is to-day among the Gen- 2^20. tiles scattered. Let us gain a new savour by that, by the 13. 'which the ancient people lost their savour. Let us speak

the speech of wisdom; speak we not of things beside it, lest we be ourselves beside it!

In this night of reconcilement let no man be wroth or gloomy! in this night that stilleth all, none that threateneth or disturbs! This night belongeth to the sweet One; bitter none, nor harsh be in it! Tn this night that is the meek One's, high or haughty none be in it! In this day of pardoning

3 s. not let us not be unforgiving 3 ! In this day of gladnesses tres. let us not spread sadnesses! In this day so sweet, let not passes. us be harsh ! In this day of peaceful rest, let us not be

nally sweetly, then temperately. Bened. of these two modes of keeping the vigil,

renders it somnum suavem, noxiis ac Vigils might be made an occasion of

tristibus vacuum curis, sibi statuit. Per- falling: hence St. Hilary says on the

haps he was influenced in this by the Psalm just quoted, " The nightly

words of the hymn in daily use at Com- vigils may not be made into a dangerpline, Procul recedant somnia, Et ous leisure wherewith to unnerve the

noctium phantasmata &c. Comp. Ps. soul: but it is by prayers and suppli-

119, 56. I have thought upon Thy cations, and confessions of sin, that its

Name, 0 Lord, in the night season, and attention must be arrested ; so that at

have kept Thy law: this I had, be- the very time, when to the vices of the

cause I kept thy commandments, — body an occasion is administered, then

where being able to have God before especially may those very vices by the

us in the night season, is spoken of as a calling to mind of the Law of God be

reward for keeping His commandments, crushed."

See too Aristot. Ethic. Nicom.i.&v. fin. P St. E. here alludes to the early "Better are the dreams (tpuvra.fffjt,ara.) days of David: he brought cheeses of the good than those of ordinary men." to his brethren; these were made by However we find in the Gospel that our separating the curd from the whey with Lord does not stay up late to pray, but rennet, a small quantity of which will either passes the whole night in prayer, curdle much milk, as a little leaven or else rises up very early in the morn- leaveneth the whole lump. As to the ing; and it seems to me that St. E. word |Amio wa^o, which seems unconwhose manner it is to allude tacitly to nected with Semitic languages, it pro- Scripture, wished to lead men not to bably is the same as the Sanscrit ma* throw away His blessed example tu whey, herein, and to recommend taking one

by the mercies Christ has shewn us* 9

wrathful in it! In this clay when God did come to sinners, in his mind uplifted let not just o'er sinner be! In this day in which there came the Lord of all unto the servants, condescending too be masters to their servants lovingly! In this day in which the Rich poor became for our sakes, let the rich man make the poor man at his table with him share. On this day to us came forth the Gift, although we asked it not! Let us therefore alms bestow on them that cry and beg of us. 'Tis to-day that opened for us a gate on high to our prayers. Let us open also gates to supplicants that have transgressed, and of us have asked [forgiveness.] To-day the Lord of nature's self was against His nature changed; let it not to us be irksome our evil wills to turn. Fixed in nature is the body, great or less cannot become: but the will hath such dominion, it can grow to any measure q. To-day r Divinity did seal itself upon Humanity, that so Humanity might be with the Godhead's stamp adorned.

1 This is one of the many passages where the wording would have heen more cautious after the Pelagian controversies ; although the sequel shews what, in St. E.'s mind, was that which gives such strength to the will. An opportunity will occur for pointing out his tenets upon this subject, in the fifth Rhythm against the heretics.

r This again is not technically accurate language, owing to the fact that Nestorianism was subsequent to this period. As we say that a man comes to life at the day of his birth, without thereby meaning to assert that the lifegiving soul did not exist with the body in the womb: so in a loose way of speaking it was open to St. Ephrem to speak as if the divine and human natures were then united, without his really meaning that they were not united in the womb. The words of St. Cyril, ap. Phot. cod. 54. may be advantageously quoted here. " The Nestorian heresy is the same with the Celestian (i. e. Pelagian.) And this is plain — for the Celestians have the boldness to assert, in regard to the body or members of Christ, (that is, the Church,) that it is not God, (that is to say, the Holy Ghost,) that divideth to every man severally as he will, as well faith as also all things necessary to life

and godliness and salvation, but that it is the ordinary nature of man: and that this, though it fell through transgression and sin from happiness, and became estranged from God, is yet that which by the worthiness of its own determinate will both invites and rejects the Holy Spirit. But the Nestorians in regard to the Head itself of the body, even Christ, shew the same kind of mind and boldness. For they say; since Christ is of our nature and God willeth all men alike to be saved, and each by his own determinate will to amend his own short-comings and make himself worthy of Him; that this is the reason why it was not the Word who was brought forth; but rather, He who was gendered of Mary, through the worthiness of His own determinate will, had the Word to go along with Him, while it was from that worthiness only, and in similarity of name, that he shared the title of Son." The two points in St. E's mind here are shewn by this passage of St. Cyril to be so intimately connected, that exact language upon them was not to be expected antecedently to the heresies just mentioned. In the sequel of these Ehythms several passages will occur which shew, how strongly St. E. held the Blessed Virgin to be the Mother of God.

Blessed be that Child, that gladdened Bethlehem to-day!

Blessed be the Babe that made manhood young again top.2.n.d.day! Blessed be the Fruit % that lowered Himself to our

t 13, n* famished state! Blessed be the Good One, who suddenly

enriched our necessitousness and supplied our needs! Blessed

He whose tender mercies made Him condescend to visit

our infirmities! Praise to the Fountain that was sentb for

our propitiation. Praise too to Him that undid the Sabbath

by fulfilling it! Praise be to Him that rebuked the leprosy

and it remained not, whom the fever saw and fled! Praise

to the Merciful, who bore our toil! Glory to Thy coming,

which quickened the sons of men! Glory to Him, who came

to us by His First-born! Glory to the Silence, who spake by

His Voice c. Glory to the One on high, who was seen by

His Day-spring! Glory to the Spiritual, who was pleased to

have a Body, that in it His virtue might be felt, and He

p. 19. n. might by that Body shew mercy on His household's bodies!

Scrut.x. Glory to that Living One, whose Son was made to die! Glory

adv. to that Great One, whose Son descended and was small!

Scrut. xxxii.

a This is a mystical name of the nual abstinence from the wearying toil Messiah which St. E. very often of sin. Their doctrine on this subject is uses, and is perhaps taken from Is. compendiously stated in what Jus- 37, 31. Ps. 72, 16. Ezech. 47, 12. [If tin M. says to Trypho the Jew, c. 12. good men are spoken of as trees yield- " The new Law willeth us to keep coning fruit, it is in so far as they have tinual Sabbath: but ye by idling one Christ in them, and shew His presence day fancy ye are religious." by their deeds.] c This name is given by St. E.

b There is perhaps an allusion here to the Father, to suggest to the mind

to the pool of Siloam, which comes from that there was a period when the Fat>e root employed in the original. S. ther had not begun to work by His

Vers, makes the pool ' a baptistery.' St. Word. It must not be confounded with

Austin, de Doc. Christian. 2. 16. the heretical notion that Sige and Lopnints out the importance of the in- gos (silence and word) coexisted in

terpretation given by the Evangelist: one Pleroma; S. Iren. ii, 12, 3; but

and the term *A<rifro\os is applied is rather to be paralleled with those exto Christ, Heb. 3, 1. The next words pressions in the Psalms, (be not thou

contain the usual teaching of the silent fyc. Ps. 83.) where God's appa-

Fathers upon the Sabbath ; who held rent abstinence from working is called

uno ore, that the Christian Sabbath lay bilence. See adv. Scrut. xi. not in observing days, but in a conti-

Fruits of the Incarnation. 11

Glory to the Power who did stint d His greatness by a form, His unseen nature by a shape! With eye and mind we have beheld Him, yea with both of them. Glory to that Hidden One, who even with the mind cannot be felt at all by them adv. that pry into Him; but by His graciousness was felt by the ia> ^ hand of human beings! The Nature that could not be touched, by His hands was bound and tied, by His feet was pierced and lifted up. Himself of His own will He embodied for them that took Him. Blessed be He whom free will crucified, because He let it: blessed be He whom the wood also did bear, because He did allow it. Blessed be Fie whom the grave bound, that had [thereby] a limit set it. Blessed be He whose own will brought Him to the Womb and Birth, to arms and to increase [in stature]. Blessed He whose alterations6 purchased life for human nature.

Blessed He that sealed our soul, and adorned it and espoused it to Himself. Blessed He who made our Body a tabernacle for His unseen Nature. Blessed He who by our tongue interpreted His secret things. Let us praise that Voice whose glory with our lute is hymned, and His virtue with our harp. The Gentiles have assembled and have come to hear His strains. Glory to the Good One's Son, whom the evil one's sons rejected! Glory to the Just One's Son, whom the sons of wickedness did crucify! Glory to Him that loosed us, and was bound for us all! Glory to Him that gave the pledge, and did redeem it too! Glory to the Beautiful, who conformed us to His image f! Glory to that Fair One

d The original sense of the root here ultimately to decay, the same when

employed appears to be ' to press, to undergone by our Lord tended to life,

compress :' this has two derivative It may be right to remark, that this

senses,— to straiten as in a siege, and to is a passage in which One Person is

shape, probably by pressure. The lexi- contemplated as God, and as taking

cons only give the latter as the sense of our Nature ; both on the Cress and in

the Syriac, but one cannot help think- the Womb. Nestorius, on the other

ing, that the primitive sense is neces- hand, ' believed the blessed Virgin

sarily implied here: hence it has been Mary was the mother of a man only, in

rendered ' stint by a form,' because the such way as to make one Person of the

Syriac seemed to require it. St. E. Flesh and another of the Godhead."

however, of course, did not hold that the Leo. Ep. 83. The very Fathers,

Godhead of Christ was limited by its who seem, if one may theorize on the

union with the Manhood. See adv. subject, divinely permitted tosay in some

Scrut. xviii. It is therefore only a forci- passages things that enable subsequent

of the Divine Nature. seem also divinely commissioned in

e B. renders, commercia. St. E. others to anticipate and meet them, seems to mean, that whereas the alter- f The Syriac here is literally: who

ations man undergoes in his body tend formed us in His likenesses, i. e. who

12 TJie loving condescension to mans needs

Ps. 97, that looked not to our foulnesses! Glory to Him that sowed 11.11N His Light in the darkness, and was chidden g in His hidden ^ state, and covered His secret things. He also stripped and

took off" from us the clothing of our filthincssh. Glory be to Him on high, who mixed His salt1 in our minds, His leaven or ren- in our souls. His Body became Bread, to quicken our deadness. "upr. Praise to the Rich, that paid for us all, that which He borrowed p.8.n.p.no* an(j Wvote ["His bill,] and also became our debtor! By His

Comp'. yoke He brake from us the chains of him that led us captive. ^uk| Glory to the Judge that was judged, and made His Twelve to sit in judgment on the tribes, and by ignorant men condemned |^o*oi the scribes of that nation! Glory to Him that could never be.So J- J- measured by us! Our heart is too small for Him, yea our

4, 13. mind is too feeble. He fooleth our littleness by the riches of His Wisdom. Glory to Him, that lowered Himself, and asked that He might hear and learn that which He knew, that He might by His questions reveal the treasure of His helpful graces ! Let us adore Him that enlightened with His doctrine our mind, and in our hearing sought for a pathway for His words. Praise we Him that grafted into our tree His fruit. Thanks to Him that sent His Heir, that by Him He might draw us to Himself, yea make us heirs with Him ! Thanks to that Good One, the cause of all goods !

Blessed He who did not chide, because that He was good! Blessed He that did not spurn, because that He was just also!

made us likenesses of Himself, probably thority for such a use, I have preferred with allusion to Rom. 8, 29. where the keeping the ordinary sense of the root. Syriac employs the same roots as are As the next words allude to the stripping here used. The restoration, as the con- of Christ, these may allude to the retext shews, is here spoken of, and not proaching of Him, before His cruci- the creation. A restoration however fixion.

implies somewhat to which a person is h Zech. 3, 3. is explained by St.

restored, and this is the likeness to the E. on the place, of Christ taking

Son ; not that we are not made in the upon us the iniquities of us all ; and so

Image of the Trinity, (whose unity is also Origen in Joan. 2, 21. " Having

implied by the unity of man made in borne our infirmities and diseases, He

His Image,) but "because it was neces- owneth that He hath His soul in a very

sary for those who were to be called sorrowing and troubled estate, and is said

sons of God to be made in the likeness in Zachary to be clad with filthy garof the Son rather, that the stamp of ments, which, seeing he should put them

sonship might fittingly belong to us." off, are said to be sins."

S. Cyril, c. Anthrop. vi. > Salt was used in Baptism in the

8 The Syriac root here in its primary "West. Ezek. 16, 4. is thought to have

sense means to cover, then to cover the given rise to the practice. I am not

face as in shame, to be reproached, &c. able to find, however, such a use in the

Probably St. E. intended the pri- East, and therefore St. E. probably almary sense here, but as I have no au- hides to Mark 9, 49.

displayed in the Incarnation. 13

Blessed He that was silent and did chide, that He might quicken us with both! Severe His silence and reproachful. Mild His severity even when He was accusing; for He chode the traitor, and kissed the thief. Glory to the hidden Husbandman of our intellects! His seed fell on to our ground, and made our mind rich. His increase came an hundred-fold into the treasury of our souls! Let us adore Him who sat JohnH, down and took rest, and walked in the way, so that the Way ' 10'9, was in the way, and the Door also for them that go in, by which they go in to the kingdom. Blessed the Shepherd that became a Lamb for our reconcilement! Blessed the Branch that did become the Cup of our Redemption! Blessed also be the Cluster, Fount of medicine of life! Blessed also be the Tilman, that became Wheat, that He might be sown, and a Sheaf1, that He might be cut! [Blessed be] the Architect, that Ps. 61, became a Tower for our place of safety! Blessed He that so p hath tempered the feelings of our mind, that, we with our harp 18, 10. should sing that which the winged creatures' mouth wists not with its strains to sing! Glory to Him, who beheld how we had pleased us to be like to brutes in our rage and our greediness, and came down and was one of us, that we might become heavenly! Glory be to Him, who never felt the need of our praising Him, yet felt the need, as being kind to us and thirsted as loving us, and asketh us to give to Him, and Mat.25, longeth to give to us. His Fruit was mingled with us men, that in Him we might come nigh to Him, who condescended to usk. By the Fruit of His stem He grafted us into His Tree. Let us praise Him, that prevailed and quickened us by His stripes! Praise we Him, that took away the curse by His thorns! Praise we Him, that put death to death by His dying! Praise we Him, that held His peace and justified us! Praise we Him> who rebuked death that had overcome us! Blessed He, whose helpful graces cleansed out the left side1!

1 Alluding to the wave-offering, Levit. to Ezek. 47, 12. of the Eucharist. Supr.

23, 11. which was ordinarily interpreted p. 10.

of Christ. See also on Joseph's sheaf, ' Allusion is here made perhaps to

Ambrose de Jos. 2. §. 7. " Herein is the Eccles. 10, 2. 'a wise man's heart is at

Resurrection of the Lord Jesus re- his right hand, but a fool's heart is at

vealed, whom, when the eleven had his left.' Ezek. 4, 4. ' Lie thou on thy

seen at Jerusalem, they adored Him. left side, and lay the iniquity of the

k This is probably said with reference house of Israel upon it.' And other

14 Tke loving condescension oj Christ.

Praise we Him that watched and put to sleep him that led us captive. Praise we Him that went to sleep, and chased our drenching sleep away. Glory be to God that cured weak humanity! Glory be to Him that was baptized and drowned

See our iniquity in the deep, and choked him that choked us!

33"aend'Let us glorify with all our mouths the Lord of all creatures!

lxx. of Blessed be the Physician who came down and amputated

16, 14. without pain, and healed wounds with a medicine that was not harsh. His Son became a Medicine, that shewed sinners mercy. Blessed be He that dwelt in the womb, and wrought

1 S. per- therein a perfect Temple, that He might dwell in it, a Throne l ae^ that He might be in it, a Garment that He might be arrayed

in it, and a Weapon that He might conquer in it. Blessed be He whom our mouth cannot adequately praise, because His Gift is too great for skill of orators [to tell] ; neither can the faculties adequately praise His goodness. For praise Him as we may, it is too little.

And since it is useless to be silent and to constrain ourselves, may our feebleness excuse such praise as we can

2 s. per- sing 2. How gracious He, that doth not demand more than crar song our strength can give ! How would Thy servant be condemned ofpraise in capital and interest, did he not give such as he could, and

did he refuse that which He owed! Ocean of glory that needest not to have Thy glory sung, take in Thy goodness this drop ofpraise, since by Thy Gift1" Thou hast supplied my tongue a sense for glorifying Thee.

passages where the left side is con- praise/ in the Hebrew runs thus, ' out

nected with the wicked. In the Cle- of &c. Thou hast founded strength;' and

mentines, 7. 2. which abound with in 16, 9. ' ray tongue,5 is put by the

Jewish ways of thought, as written by LXX in the place of ' my glory.' This

an Ebionite, Simon Magus is called the passage of St. E. throws light upon such

left power of God. versions, as reminding us that it is the

,n It may be observed, that the words inward Gift which gives the praise its

Ps. 8, 3. ' out of the mouths of babes character and being, and sucklings Thou hast perfected

Blessed be that first day of thine, Lord, wherewith this day of Thy Feast is stamped! Thy day is like Thee, in that it sheweth mercy unto men, in that it is handed down and cometh with all generations. This is the day that endeth with the aged, and returns that it may begin with the young! a day that by its love refresheneth itself, that it may refresh by its might us decayed creatures*. Thy day when it had visited us and passed and gone away, in its mercy returned and visited us again: for it knoweth that human nature needeth it, in all things like unto Thee as seeking us. The world is in want of its fountain, and for it, Lord, as for Thee, all therein are athirst. This is the day that rules over the seasons! the dominion of Thy day is like Thine, which stretcheth over generations that have come, and are to come! Thy day is like unto Thee, because when it is one, it buddeth and multiplieth itself, that it may be like Thee! in this Thy day, Lord, which is near unto us, we see Thy Birth that is far off! Like to Thee be Thy day to us, Lord, let it be a mediator and warranter of peace. Thy day reconciled Heaven and earth, because therein the Highest came down to the lowest. Thy day was able to reconcile the Just One, who was wroth at our sins; Thy day did forgive thousands of sins, for in it bowels of mercy shone forth upon the guilty! Great, Lord, is Thy day, let it not be small upon us, let it shew mercy according as it useth to do, upon us transgressors! And if every day, Lord, Thy forgiveness welleth forth, how exceeding great should it be upon this day! All the days from the treasure of Thy bright day gain blessings. All the feasts from the stores of this feast have their fairness and their ornaments. Thy bowels

St. E.here views the day of Christ's through the successive ages a separate

Birth, as handed down in the anniver- existence, still the whole sum of the

saries of it, as Christ Himself is in His faithful which by the font of Baptism

members — as having a presence, so to came to birth, as they were crucified

say, in the anniversaries, as Christ has with Christ in His Passion, raised

in them. Thus too St. Leo, Horn. vi. in again in His Resurrection, and placed

Nat. * The generation of Christ is the at the right hand of the Father in His

origin of Christ's people, and the birth- Ascension; so were we born along

day of the Head, is the birth-day of with Him in His Nativity.' See also

the Body. Though each single one of St. Chrysost. Horn. 31. in Nativ. vol. v.

those that are called have his station, p. 418. a. Ed. 1636. and all the children of the Church have

* 16 The Incarnation reversed the

of mercy upon Thy day make Thou to abound unto us, O Lord 1 Make us to distinguish Thy day from all days! for great is the treasurehouse of the day of Thy Birth, let it be the ransomer of debtors! Great is this day above all days, for in it came forth mercy to sinners. A store of medicines is this Thy great day, because on it shone forth the Medicine of Life to the wounded! A treasure of helpful graces is this day, for that on it Light gleamed forth upon our blindness! Yea it also brought a sheaf unto us, and it came, that from it might flow plenty upon our hungriness. This day is that forerunning Cluster, in which the cup of salvation was concealed! This day is the first-born feast, which being born the first, overcometh all the feasts. In the winter which strippeth the see Isa. fruit of the branches off from the barren vine, Fruit sprung V' up unto us; in the cold that bareth all the trees, a shoot was green for us of the house of Jesse. In December when the seed is hidden in the earth, there sprouted forth from the 1 S, Ni- Womb the Ear of Life. In March l when the seed was sprout- Lev. 23 m8 m tne au*> a Sheaf sowed itself in the earth. The harvest 10- thereof, Death devoured it in Hell, which the Medicine of life that is hidden therein did yet burst open! In March when the lambs bleat in the wilderness, into the Womb the Paschal Ezek. Lamb entered! Out of the stream whence the fishers came &c' * up, He was baptized and came up Who incloseth all things in His net; out of the stream the fish whereof Simon took, out of it the Fisher of men came up, and took hiin. With the Cross which catcheth all robbers, He caught up unto life that robber! The Living by His death emptied Hell, He unloosed it and let fly away from it entire multitudes! The publicans and harlots, the impure snares, at the snares of the deceitful fowler did the Holy One catch! The sinful woman, who was a snare for men, He made a mirror for penitent women! The fig that casteth its fruit, that refused fruit b, offered

b St. E. seems to blend here the ac- word rational is here used to express,

count of the withering of the fig-tree mystical: thus on Romans 12, 1. we

and that of Zaccha?us climbing into the have koyixri Xecr^tia, which Origen exwild fig-tree, as the S. V. renders it. plains, of fulfilling in the spirit the

St. Ambrose on St. Luke 19, 15. sacrifices which the law by its types

" Zacchaeus in the sycamore, is, so to prescribes. And in the same way St.

in this there is also a fulfilment of that mystical water. Protrept. $. 9i/. p. 7\i.

verse: The fig-tree pntteth forth her Pott. green figs, Cant. 2, 13. &c." The

wonted course of things. 17

Zacchaeus as fruit; the fruit of its own nature it gave not, but it yielded one rational fruit! The Lord spread His thirst over the well, and caught her that was thirsty with the water that He asked of her. He caught one soul at the well, and again John 4, caught with her the whole city: twelve fishers the Holy One42* caught, and again caught with them the whole world. As for Iscariot, that escaped from His nets, the strangling noose fell upon his neck! His all quickening net catcheth the living, Mat. 13, and he that escapeth from it escapeth from the living.

And who is able, Lord, to tell me up the several succours that are hid in Thee? How shall the parched mouth be able to drink from the Fountain of the Godhead 1 ! Answer ' A than. to-day the voice of our petition, let our prayer which is in words J^te e. take place in deeds. Heal us, O my Master; every time that we see Thy Feast, may it cause the rumour [of wars] that we have heard to pass away c. Our mind wandereth amid these voices. O Voice of the Father, still the voices [of these reports] ; the world is noisy, in Thee let it gain itself quiet, for by Thee the sea was stilled from its storms. The devils rejoiced when they heard the voice of blasphemy: let the Watchers rejoice in us as they are wont2. From amongst Thy fold there 2 see is the voice of sorrowfulness; O Thou that makest all rejoice, 10^ ' ' let Thy flock rejoice! as for our murmur, O my Master, inLuke it reject us not: our mouth murmureth since it is sinful. Let Thy day, O Lord, give us all manner of joy; with the flowers d of peace, let us keep Thy passover. In the day of Thy Ascension we are lifted up: with the new Bread shall John20, be the memorial thereof. O Lord, increase our peace, that we may keep the three feasts of the Godhead? Great is Thy day, Lord, let us not be despised. All men honour the day of Thy birth. Thou righteous One, keep Thou the glory of Thy birth; for even Herod honoured6 the day of His birth! The dances of the impure one pleased the tyrant; to Thee, Lord,

c The fear of an invasion of some Pharaoh and Herod make it a feast,

kind is again alluded to in the last of Joh (3, 3.) and Jeremiah (20, 14.) curse

the three Rhythms, adv. Scrut. further the day of their biith. The reason of

on in the volume. this is, becau.se we are born the child Flowers used at Easter in the dren of wrath. See St. Hilary on Ps.

Churches are here alluded to. 119. §. 12. and St. Aust. c. Jul. Pel. vi.

Origen in Levit. viii. 33. remarks, §. 78. who quotes the same instances,

that none of the Saints is found (in Holy Christ on the contrary was born sinless,

Writ) to have kept his own birthday or and therefore His Birthday is a day of

that of a son or daughter as a feast: yet joy.

let the voice of chaste women be sweet! Thee, Lord, let the voice of chaste women please, whose bodies Thou guardest holily. The day of Herod was like him. Thy day too is like Thee! The day of the troubled one was troubled with sin; and fair as Thou art is Thy fair day! The feast of the tyrant killed the preacher; in Thy feast every man preacheth glory. On the day of the murderer, the Voice' was put to silence, but on Thy day are the voices of the feast. The foul one in his feast put out the Light, that darkness might cover

1 P- 6- the adulterers. The season of the Holy One trimmeth lamps1, An. ' that darkness may flee with the hidden things thereof. The

2 p. 31. day of that fox2 stank like himself, but holy is the feast of the 13u |2. True Lamb&. The day of the transgressor passed3 away like 3S.trans- himself: Thy day like Thyself abideth for ever. The day of

the tyrant raged like himself, because with its chain it 4P- 8- put to silence the righteous Voice. The feast of the Meek4 One is tranquil like Himself, because His sun shineth upon His persecutors. The tyrant was conscious that He was not a king, therefore to the King of kings he gave place. The whole day, Lord, sufficeth me not to balance Thy praise with his blame. May Thy gracious day cause my sin to pass away, seeing that it is with the day of the impure one, that I have weighed Thy day! For great is Thy day beyond comparison! nor can it be compared with our days. The day of man is as of the earthy: the day of* God is as of God! Thy day, Lord, is greater than those of the prophets'1, and I have taken and set it beside that of the murderer! Thou knowest, O Lord, as knowing all things, in what sense to S. how take 5 the comparison that my tongue hath made. Let Thy day grant our requests for life, since his day granted the request for death. The needy king swore on his feast that half his kingdom should be the reward of the dance! Let Thy feast then, O Thou that enrichest all, shed down in mercy a crumb1 of fine

f This was a common name of old h It might seem from this that there

for St. John Baptist, with allusion to were some days kept in their honour in

St. John 1, 23. as is the Light with the East: the Maccabees were honoured

allusion to Ps. 132, 18. John 5, 35. in this way in St. Greg. Naz.'s time.

V. Cyril, de Ador. p. 345. St. Aust. on Orat. 22. the Psalm. ! B. renders buccellse micam. Mi-

8 It may be well to observe once for chaelis gives, on Barbahbul's authority,

all, that true is often used, as in John the sense of panis similagineus. The

15, 1. for ' real,' in opposition to ' typi- word ' parkuko' is scarcely Syriac : poscal,' as in Scripture, so in the Fa- sibly connected with the Persian perthers. kung, dulciarii genus. Meninski.

to hear.

its sacramental fruits, with the miracles. 19

wheat flour! From the dry land gushed the Fountain, which sufficed to satisfy the thirst of the Gentiles! From the Virgin's womb as from a strong rock sprouted up the seed, whence was much fruit! Barns without number did Joseph Gen. 41, fill, and they were emptied and failed in the years of the49* famine. One true Sheaf gave bread, the bread of Heaven, whereof there is no stint. The bread which the First-born John 6, brake in the wilderness failed and passed away though very ' e* good. He returned again and broke the New Bread1 which1 p. 10. ages and generations shall not waste away! The seven Mat. 15, loaves also that He brake failed, and the five loaves too that Mat.H He multiplied were consumed; the Bread that He brake ex- 1?- ceeded the world's needs2, for the more it was divided, the more ^.overit multiplied exceedingly \ With much wine also He filled t^e the waterpots. They drew it out, yet it failed though it was^0^ abundant: though of the Cup that He gave the draught was 7. small, very great was its strength, so that there is no stint thereto. A Cup is He that containeth all strong wines, andPs.16,5. also a Mystery in the midst of which He Himself is! The one Bread that He brake hath no bound, and the one Cup that He mingled3 hath no stint! The Wheat that was sown, 3 p. 25. on the third day came up and filled the Garner of Life. The 5# spiritual Bread, as the Giver of it, quickeneth the spiritual spi- J°hnl2, ritually, and he that receiveth it carnally, receiveth it rashly to Mat. 13, no profit. This Bread of grace let the spirit receive discern-30, ingly, as the medicine of Life. If the dead sacrifices in the 1 Cor. name of Devils were offered, yea eaten, not without a mystery, ' w' in that offering of the holy Sacrifice4, how much more doth it4 s. at behove us that this mystery be circumspectly administered ^J™^ by us. He that eateth of the sacrifice in the name of devils, theofferbecometh devilish without all contradiction. He that eateth &*

k St. E. here applies the miracles to that it is as easy for Christ to multiply

the end for which they were ultimately His own spiritual Body now, as it was

selected, i. e. to teach believers, not to then for Him to multiply a natural body,

convince gainsayers. See St. John St. Hilary de Trin. iii. 6. may be re-

20, 30. 31. So St. Austin in Joann. ferred to, who makes use of the same

Tr. xxiv. §. 2. " As to this miracle, two miracles, to shew our ignorance of

since we have heard how great it is, the mode in which matter is multiplied,

let us also search and see how deep (See too St. Aust. de Trin. iii. §. 10.)

it is." His principle of comparing the The same writer notices on Mat. xv.

miracles of grace with those of nature, (as St. E.) that the disciples continued

in order to shew that the latter are as with Him three days, because ' they

mysterious, is only carried farther here passed the whole time of the Lord's Pasby St. E. while he argues implicitly, sion with Him.' Mat. 15, 32. and 27, 63.

20 Safaris weapons turned against himself.

the Heavenly Bread, becometh Heavenly without doubt!

Wine teacheth us, in that it maketh him that is familiar

therewith like itself: for it hateth much him that is fond of

Prov. it, and is intoxicating and maddening, and a mocker to him!

' ' Light teacheth us, in that it maketh like unto itself the eye

the daughter of the sun : the eye by the light saw the

i above, nakedness, and ran and chastely hid the chaste man. As for

p' that nakedness it was wine that made it, which even to the

chaste skilleth not to shew mercy • !

With the weapon of the deceiver the First-born clad Himself, that with the weapon that killed, He might restore to life again! With the tree wherewith he slew us, He delivered us. With the wine which maddened us, with it we were made chaste! With the rib that was drawn out of Adam, the wicked one Gen. 3, drew out the heart of Adam. There rose from the Rib m a hidden iSam.5 power, which cut off Satan as Dagon: for in that Ark a Book 4- was hidden that cried and proclaimed concerning the Conqueror! There was then a mystery revealed, in that Dagon was brought low in his own place of refuge! The accomplishment came after the type, in that the wicked one was brought low in the place in which he trusted! Blessed be He that came Mat.25, and in Him were accomplished the mysteries of the left2 hand,

2 above au0^ tne "gh^ nanc^- Fulfilled was the mystery that was in the p- 13. Lamb, and fulfilled was the type that was in Dagon. Blessed andCan.is He who by the True Lamb redeemed us, and destroyed Necr. v. our destroyer as He did Dagon ! In December when the

3 below, nights are long3, rose unto us the Day", of Whom there is no p* ' bound! In winter when all the world is gloomy, forth came

1 In bis commentary on tbe place, from the rib of Christ; and from the

p. 152. St. E. excuse," Noah on the score Blood from His side the nations that

of six years' abstinence, which would believe, get them sweetness, being the

of course make the wine take unwonted young of the Heavenly Eagle." It seems

effect. St. Aust. de C. D. xvi. 1. c. necessary to suppose St. E. to have had

Faust, xii. 23. notices Noah's inspired this doctrine in mind here also, in order

knowledge of what had happened in to make his sense connected ; it being

his sleep, as a proof that he was not his object to shew how Christ wielded

deserted then by God, and so not really against Satan the very things Satan had

blameworthy. His nakedness was used to man's destruction. Upon 1 Sam.

thought typical of Christ upon the 5. he says, ' when the Ark, that is,

Cross. Compare also Method. Conv. V. Christ, was taken to a place not its

x. 3 — 5. J. Martyr, p. 368. Cyril, own, that is, to the sepulchre, He forced

Glaph. p. 43. death and hell to give birth to the dead

m On Job 39, 27 — 30. St. E. notices which were bound in the graves.' the flowing of Sacraments from Christ's n So St. Austin, Horn, on Nativ. 6. side: " The Eagle is Christ, the Rock (189.) ' Who is the Day, of the Day His Cross. The young ones that suck (Dies de Die), but the Son, of the Fablood are the saints that are fattened ther, Light of Light.'

The Conception instructive, and to whom. 21

the Fair One that cheered all in the world! In winter that maketh the earth barren, virginity learned to bring forth. In December, that causeth the travails of the earth to cease, in it were the travails of virginity. The early lamb no one ever used to see before the shepherds: and as for the true Lamb, in the season of His birth, the tidings of Him too hasted unto the shepherds. That old wolf saw the sucking Lamb, and he trembled before Him, though He had concealed" l 1 S. who himself; for because the wolf had put on sheep's clothing, J[v' the Shepherd of all became a Lamb in the flocks, in order sc™t. that when the greedy one had been daring against the Meek, the Mighty One might rend that Eaterp. The Holy OneJudg. dwelt bodily2 in the womb; and He dwelt spiritually in theJ^'eW mind. Mary that conceived Him hatedq the marriage bed, p- 36, let not that soul commit whoredom in the which He dwelleth. pe^'rl Because Mary perceived Him, she left her betrothed: He 2. dwelleth in chaste virgins, if they perceive Him. The deaf?iat 5> perceiveth not the mighty thunder, neither doth the heady man the sound of the commandment. For the deaf is bewildered in the time of the thunderclap, the heady man is bewildered also at the voice of instruction; if fearful thunder terrified the deaf, then would fearful wrath stir the unclean! That the deaf heareth not is no blame to him; but whoso trampleth [on the commandments] it is headiness. For from time to time there is thunder: but the voice of the law thundereth every day. Let us not close

0 St. Leo, H. ii. §. 3. in Nat. and §. 4. Jerome to be partly mistaken in quoting

'When our merciful and Almighty Sa- this as St. Ignatius's, it having come

viour did in such sort overrule His from Origen in Luc. Horn. 6. See also

first taking upon Him the manhood, for a similar opinion, St. Justin M. ap.

as to hide that Deity which could not Iren. v. 26. §. 2. and Massuet on the

be severed from His Human Nature place, and Petav. de Aug. i. 8. there

with the veil of our feebleness, the quoted.

craftiness of the enemy, now unobserv- P St. E. on Judges, views Samson

ant, was made a mock of, in that he throughout as a type of Christ, and so

fancied not the Birth of the Child, Who St. Ambrose de Sp. S. ii. cont. Austin

was brought forth for the salvation of on Ps. lxxx. 13. c. Faust, xii. 32. which

mankind, to be more injurious to himself falls in with Heb. 11, 32. 33. See

than that of all other children.' De Pass. R. viii.

Dom. xi. §. 3. S. Jerome on S. Mat. 1. 1 Bp. Bull, Serm. iv. ' The neces-

' The Martyr Ignatius addeth another sary consequence of this dignity of the

reason why Christ was conceived of one Blessed Virgin is, that she remained for

betrothed, viz. that the Offspring might ever a Virgin, as the Catholic Church

be concealed from the Devil while he hath always held and maintained.' The

fancied It born not of a Virgin, but of heresy which denied the ever-virginity

a married woman.' S. Ign. ad Magn. is combated by St. Jerom. adv. Helv.

§. 19. where see Coteler, who shews and St. Epiph. Hser. lxxviii.

22 The Infant Christ is very God,

our ears when their openings, as being opened and not closed against it, accuse us; and the door of hearing is open by nature, that it might reproach us for our headiness against our will. The door of the voice and the door of the mouth our will can open or close. Let us see what the Good One hath given us, and let us hear the mighty Voice, and let not the doors of our ears be closed.

Glory to that Voice which became Body, and to the Word of the High One that became Flesh! Hear Him also, O ears, and see Him, O eyes, and feel Him, O hands, and eat Him,

1 below, O mouth x ! Ye members and senses give praise unto Him,

2 p. 10. that came and quickened the whole 2 body ! Mary bare

the silent Babe, while in Him were hidden all tongues! Joseph bare Him, and in Him was hidden a nature more

3 p. 28, ancient than aught that is old3! The High One became as

a little child, and in Him was hidden a treasure of wisdom sufficing for all! Though Most High, yet He sucked the milk of Mary, and of His goodness all creatures suck! He is the Breast of Life, and the Breath of Life; the dead suck from adv. His life and revive. Without the breath of the air no man liveth, without the Might of the Son no man subsisteth. On His living breath that quickeneth all, depend the spirits that are above and that are beneath. When He sucked the milk of Mary, He was suckling all with Lifer. While He was lying on His Mother's bosom, in

4 below, jjis bosom wrere all creatures lying. He was silent4 as a

Babe, and yet He was making His creatures execute all His commands. For without the First-born no man can approach unto the Essence8, to which He is equal. The thirty years that He was in the earth, who [else] was ordering all creatures, who [else] was receiving all the offerings of praise from those above and those below. He was wholly in the depths and wholly in the highest * ! He

r S. Cyril in Joan. i. 6. p. 52. ' Let * This expression and one or two

them that thrust out the Son from others in these Rhythms, are probably

the Essence of God and the Father, used with reference to the A nomoeans —

tell us, how He can quicken as of which more hereafter,

being Life, this being an attribute l This points to the substantial omniwhich the Divine Nature keepeth unto presence and so Divinity of Christ while

Itself and yieldeth unto none other.. .. in the womb, vide on Athan.p. 18,noten.

Creatures partake of necessity of the Much here said is like what St. Leo, H.

Son as needing Life.' see on Athan. in Pass. vi. §. 4. said after the times of

p. 32. Nestorius.

and retained in the womb His attributes as God. 23

was wholly with all things and wholly with each. While His body was forming within the womb, His power was fashioning all members! While the Conception of the Son Ps. *39, was going on1 in the womb, He Himself was fashioning babes i s" fa_ in the womb. Yet not as His body was weak in the womb, was shioning His power weak in the womb! So too not as His body was feeble by the Cross, was His might also feeble by the Cross. For when on the Cross He quickened the dead, His Body quickened them, yea2, rather His Will; just as when He was dwell- 3 S. or ing wholly in the womb, His hidden Will was visiting all! ^Ji For see how, when He was wholly hanging upon the Cross, His Power was yet making all creatures move! For He darkened the sun and made the earth quake; He rent the graves and brought forth the dead! See how when He was wholly on the Cross, yet again He was wholly every where3 ! 3 s. He Thus was He entirely in the womb, while He was again Jj?!ji - wholly in every thing! While on the Cross He quickened the dead, so while a Babe He was fashioning babes. While Mat. 27, He was slain, He opened the graves, while He was in the 2 womb He opened wombs. Come hearken, my brethren, concerning the Son of the Secret One that was revealed in His Body, while His Power was concealed! For the Power of the Son is a free Power, the womb did not bind it up, asp.ii.n.d. it did the Body! For while His Power was dwelling in the womb, He was fashioning infants in the womb! His Power Jer. 31, compassed her, that compassed Him. For if He drew in22 His Power, all things would fall u: His Power upholdeth all things; while He was within the womb, He left not His hold of all. He in His own Person shaped an Image in the womb, and was shaping in all wombs all countenances. Whilst He was increasing in stature among the poor, from an abundant treasury He was nourishing all! While she that anointed v Him was anointing Him,with His dew and His rain He was dropping4 3 s. anfatness over all! The Magi brought myrrh and gold, while in omtmS Him was hidden a treasure of riches. The myrrh and spices

u St. A ust. c. Jul. Pel. vi. §. 59. ' If it occurs presently. Perhaps it vnere as

God's goodness were withdrawn well to render : ' While she that meathings created would be utterly reduced sured Him was measuring Him, He

to nothing. with His dew and His rain was meav The Syriac word means either suring [supplies] to all.' anointing, or measuring — in which sense

24 Christ being God in St. Mary's womb

which He had prepared and created, did the Magi bring Him

of His own. It was by Power from Him that Mary was able

1 p. 2. to bear1 in Her bosom Him that beareth up all things ! It

was from the great storehouse of all creatures, Mary gave

Him all which she did give Him! She gave Him milk from

Himself that prepared it, she gave Him food from Himself

that made it! He gave milk unto Mary as God: again He

B. viii. sucked it from her, as the Son of Man. Her hands bare Him

2S.emp-in that He had lightened2 His strength, and her arm

adv. measure of His Majesty who hath measured, He caused His

xxxii. measures to shrink into a Raiment. She wove for Him and

clothed Him because He had put off' His glory. She measured

Him and wove for Him, since He had made Himself little.

The sea when it bore Him was still and calmed, and how

4 B. viii. came the lap of Joseph to bear Him? The womb4 of hell

conceived Him and was burst open, and how did the womb

of Mary contain Him? The stone that was over the grave

He broke open by His might, and how could Mary's arm

contain Him? Thou earnest to a low estate, that Thou mightest

raise all to life! Glory be unto Thee from all that are

quickened by Thee! Who is able to speak of the Son of the

Hidden One that came down and clothed Himself with a

Body in the womb? He came forth and sucked milk as a

child, and among little children the Son of the Lord of

all crept about. They saw Him as a little Child in the

street, while there was dwelling in Him the Love of all x.

Visibly children surrounded Him in the street; in secret

Angels surrounded Him in fear. Cheerful was He with the

little ones as a child ; awful was He with the Angels as a

Commander: He was awful to John for him to loose His

shoe's latchet: He was gentle to sinners that kissed His

feet! The Angels as Angels saw Him; according to the

measure of his knowledge each man beheld Him : according

x It may not be out of place to ob- contemplation, be reasonably assumed

serve, that there is a slight resemblance to have taken place as St. E. represents;

in some points here noticed to things in in the Apocryphal Book miracles and

the Apocryphal Evangelium Infantise actions are unwarrantably and childishly

Christi, cap. vi. x. xxi. xl. There imagined by the author. It should be

is however this great difference, that added, that a careful study of the types

St. Ephrem dwells only upon things of Holy Writ often furnishes indirect

which must have taken place somehow, proof that such representations as those

and may, for purposes of devotional in the text are just.

sustains her, and all that minister to Him. 25

to the measure of each man's discernment, thus he perceived Him that is greater than all. The Father and Himself alone are a full measure of knowledge so as know Him as He isyl! * s. how For every creature whether above or below obtaineth each his measure of knowledge; He the Lord of all giveth all to us. He that enricheth all, requireth usury of all. He giveth to all things as wanting nothing, and yet requireth usury of all as if needy. He gave us herds and flocks as Creator, and yet asked sacrifices as though in need, He made the water wine as Maker: and yet He drank of it as a poor man. Of His own He mingled 2 [wine] in the marriage feast, His wine He 2 p. 19. mingled and gave to drink when He was a guest. In His love He multiplied [the days of] the aged Simeon, that he, a mortal, might present Him who quickeneth all. By power from Him did Simeon3 carry Him; he that presented Him,3 p. 7. was by Him presented [to God]. He gave imposition of hands Exod. to Moses in the Mount, and received it in the midst of the ' 22" river from John. In the power of His gifts John was enabled to baptize, though earthy, the Heavenly. By power from Him the earth supported Him: it was nigh to being dissolved, and His might strengthened it. Martha gave Him to eat: viands which He had created she placed before Him. Of His own all that give have made their vows: of His own treasures they placed upon His table.

y St. Iren. iv. 432. quotes one who the Son is a measure of the Father, since said, that ' the immeasurable Father He compriseth Him.' "Vide Damascen. Himself was measured in the Son: for Parall. i. 2.

This is the month which bringeth all manner of joy; is the freedom of the bondsmen, the pride of the free, the crown of the gates, the soothing of the body, that also in its love putteth purple upon us as upon kings. This is the month that bringeth all manner of victories: it freeth the spirit; it subjugateth the body; it bringeth forth life among 1P- 9, mortals; it caused, in its love, Divinity1 to dwell in Huno e r' manity. In this day the Lord exchanged glory for shame, as being humble: because Adam changed the truth for unrighteousness as being a rebel, the Good One had mercy on him, justified and set right them that had turned aside. Let a above, every man chase away his weariness, since that2 Majesty was p* * not wearied with being in the womb nine months for us, and Is. 1,10. in being thirty years in Sodom among the madmen. Because g.ev' 'the Good One saw that the race of man was poor and 3 above, humbled, He made feasts3 as a treasure-house, and opened p* 8* them to the slothful, that the feast might stir up the slothful one to rise and be rich. Lo! the First-born hath opened unto us His feast as a treasure-house a. This one day in the whole year alone openeth that treasure-house: come, let us make gain, let us grow rich from it, ere they shut it up. see Mat. Blessed be the watchful, that have taken by force from it the

spoil of Life. It is a great disgrace, when a man seeth his neighbour take and carry out treasure, and himself sitteth in the treasure-house drowsy, so as to come forth empty. In this feast, let each one of us crown the gates of his heart. The Holy Spirit longeth for the gates thereof, that He may enter in and dwell there, and sanctify it, and He goeth round about to all the gates to see where He may enter. In

a The Syriac runs thus : This one the opening, though he may also wish

day, perfect in the year, openeth alone, to intimate by hyperbole, the inade-

&c. As he had noticed the other feasts quacy of man's language to express the

above, p. 17, the stress is probably on greatness of the day.

The time of Christmas significative.

this feast, the gates are glad before the gates1*, and the Holy One rejoiceth in the holy temple, and the voice resoundeth in the mouth of children, and Christ rejoiceth in His own feast as a mighty man.

At the Birth of the Son the king was enrolling all men for the tribute-money, that they might be debtors to Him: the King came forth to us Who blotted out our bills, and wrote See Col. another bill in His own Name that He might be our debtor.2' 14, The sun gave longer light *, and foreshadowed the mystery i s. preby the degrees which it had gone up. It was twelve daysvails since it had gone up, and to-day is the thirteenth day: a type exact of the Son's Birth c and of His Twelve. Moses shut upExod. a lamb in the month Nisan2 on the tenth day; a type this of2 ' {6m the Son that came into the womb and shut Himself up therein on the tenth dayd. He came forth from the womb in this month in which the sun gives longer light. The darkness was overcome, that it might proclaim that Satan was overcome, and the sun gave light, that it might triumph, because the First-born was victorious. Along with the

b i. e. the gates of the heart, before the gates of the Church.

c The increase of light at the time of the Nativity is noticed by St. Greg. Nyss. iii. p. 340. extr. St. Aust. Horn, Of the dwelling on the number we have another instance in It. vii. As for the precise time St. E. refers to, I am unable to discover what it is, unless, according to the computation which was followed in Syria, the winter solstice was considered to take place upon the 12th of December, when the Sun enters Capricorn: which would give exactly thir- teen days. Macrob. Sat. i. 21. speaks of Capricorn as bringing the Sun back from lower to higher regions, (cf. Censor, Petav. (de Doct. Temp. iv. 5. p. 340.) says, that " such of the ancients as divided the year so, that the months thereof should answer to the signs of the zodiac, always divided them in such way as to adapt the beginnings of each to "the sun's entering into the several signs." See Ideler M. u. T. Chronol. 1. p. 435. The question, however, is involved in several difficulties, the mere statement of which would occupy too much room here; (compare Frolich

Prolegg. ad Annales Syriac. 1. cap. 4. to say nothing of the uncertainty as to the day for which St. E. intended this Rhythm. For this (as the President of Magdalen has kindly suggested) might be Jan. 6, and as several took the 23d or 24 th of December for the winter solstice, (vide Ideler, as above,) Jan. 6. might be the day intended by St. E. which would be the 13th day, if the 25th be called the first day after the solstice. It is to be observed, that St. Chrysostom (in Nativ. init.) speaks of the celebration of the feast in December as newly introduced.

d Nisan. So on Exod. 12, 3. ' The Lamb is a type of our Lord, who on the tenth of Nisan entered into the womb; for from the tenth day of the seventh month when Zachary received the message of John's birth, even to the tenth day of the first month when Mary received the message from the Angel, are six months.' If this be not the usual interpretation, it may be remembered that St. E. draws a parallel between Christ's precious Death and Burial, and the Conception, (R. viii.) which will connect the two interpretations.

viable

28 St. Joseph and St. Mary astonied

darkness the dark one was overcome, and with the greater light our Light conquered!

Joseph caressed the Son as a Babe, he ministered to Him as God. He rejoiced in Him as in the Good One$ and he was awe-struck at Him as the Just One, greatly bewildered. " Who hath given me the Son of the Most High to be a Son to me? I was jealous of Thy Mother, and I thought to put her away, and 1 knew e not that in her womb was hidden a mighty treasure, that should suddenly enrich my poor estate. David the king sprung of my race, and wore the crown: and I have come to a very low estate, who instead of a king am a carpenter. Yet a crown hath come to me, for in my bosom is the Lord of crowns!"

With rival1 words did Mary wrax hot, yea she lulled Him, [saying,] Who hath given me, the barren, that I should conceive and bring forth this One, that is manifold, a little One, that is great; for that He is wholly with me, and wholly every where? The day that Gabriel came in unto my low estate, he made me free instead of a handmaid, of a sudden: for I was the handmaid of Thy Divine Nature, and am also the Mother of Thy human Nature, O Lord and Son! Of a sudden the handmaid became the King's daughter in Thee, Thou Son of the King. Lo, the meanest in the house of David by reason of Thee, Thou Son of David, lo, a daughter of earth hath attained unto Heaven by the Heavenly One! 22. How am I astonied that there is cast before me a Child2, older than all things! His eye is gazing unceasingly upon Heaven. As for the stammering of His mouth, to my seeming it betokens, that with God its silence speaks. Who ever saw a Child the whole of Whom beholdeth

p. 23. every place 3 ? His look is like one that is ordering all creatures that are above and that are below! His visage is like that Commander that commandeth all. How shall

P- 17. I open the fountain of milk to Thee, O Fountain 4 ? Or how shall I give nourishment to Thee that nourishest all from Thy Table f? How shall I bring to swaddling clothes One

e In the Apocryphal History of St. " Him whom the heavens contain not

Joseph's death, cap. xvii. he is intro- the bosom of a single woman bore: our

duced as begging mercy of Christ on his Ruler did she rule : Him in whom we

death-bed ; ' 1 did not understand the are, she carried : to our Bread she gave

mystery of Thy Nativity.' suck." Zeno Veron. in Nat. iv.

ref. 3.

ref. ].

at the Incantation and its attendant signs. 29

wrapped round with glory -rays? My mouth knoweth not how I shall call Thee, O Thou Child of the Living One: for to venture to call Thee as the Child of Joseph, I tremble, since Thou art not his seed: and I am fearful of denying the name of him to whom they have betrothed me. Whiles Thou art the Son of One, then should I be calling Thee the Son of many. For ten thousand names6 would not suffice1 Thee,1 adv. since Thou art the Son of God and also the Son of man, ^ ' yea, David's Son and Mary's Lord. Who hath made the Lord of mouths to be without a mouth? For my pure conception of Thee wicked men have slandered me. Be, O Thou Holy One, a Speaker for Thy Mother. Shew a miracle that they may be persuaded11, from Whom it is that I conceived Thee! For Thy sake too I am hated, Thou Lover of all. Lo! I am persecuted who have conceived and brought forth One House of refuge for men. Adam2 will2 below, rejoice, for Thou art the Key of Paradise. Lo, the sea raged J* g/ against Thy mother as against Jona. Lo, Herod, that raging wave, sought to drown the Lord of the seas. Whither I shall flee Thou shalt teach me, O Lord of Thy Mother. With thee T will flee, that I may gain in Thee life3 in3P-22every place. The prison with Thee is no prison, for in Thee man goeth up unto Heaven: the grave with Thee is no John 11 grave, for Thou art the Resurrection!'

A star of light which was not [in the course of] nature gleamed suddenly; less than the sun and greater than the sun, less than it in its visible light, but greater than it in its hidden might, by reason of its mystery. The Morning Star cast its bright beams among the darknesses, and led them as blind men, and they came and received a great light: they gave offerings and received life, and they worshipped and returned. In the height and the depth two preachers were there to the Son: the bright star shouted above; John also preached below, two preachers, an earthly

s Aretas in Apoc. xix. 14. ' Theun- Invisible, Unchangeable; still His Esknowableness of the Name indicates the sence hath no name, being knowable to

incomprehensibleness of His Essence: Himself alone.'

for although, through His dispensations, h There is some difficulty in the

He be of many names, as, for instance, printed text here: probably we should

Good Shepherd, Sun Light, Life, read^^iu the plural: 'shew miracles,

banctihcation, Redemption : or again ,, , w j r i s >

in negative attributes, as Incorruptible, that the^ may Persuade ^mm^ &C'

30 Holy men and women adore

and a heavenly. That above shewed His Nature to be from the Majesty1 [of God], and that below too shewed his Nature to be from mankind. O great marvel, that His Godhead and His Manhood each was preached by them. Whoso thought Him earthly, the bright star convinced him that He was heavenly, and whoso thought Him spiritual, John convinced him that He was also corporeal.

In the Holy temple Simeon carried Him, and lulled Him, [saying,] ' Thou art come, O Merciful One, shewing mercy on my old age, making my. bones to go into the grave in peace. In Thee shall I be raised from the grave into Paradise!' Anna embraced Him, and put her mouth to His lips, and the Spirit dwelt upon her own lips. As when Isaiah's

1 below, mouth was silent, the coallk which approached his lips opened p' ' his mouth, so Anna waxed hot with the Spirit of His mouth,

yea, she lulled Him, [saying,] " Son of the Kingdom, Son of the lowliness, that hearest and art still, that seest and art hidden, that knowest and art unknown, God, Son of Man, glory be unto Thy Name." The barren also heard, ran, and came with their provisions: the Magi came with their treasures, the barren came with their provisions. Provisions and riches were suddenly accumulated in the house of the poor. The barren woman cried out, as if at a haven l, Who hath granted me this sight of thy Babe, O Blessed One, by Whom

2 p. io, the heaven and earth are filled ! Blessed be thy Fruit2, which ref. l.

1 The Syriac word corresponds to the Eucharist. See Asseman. B. O. i. the Latin ' magnitudo,' greatness. St. p. 79. Cyril c. Nestor, ii. p. 32. has Austin de Trin. v. $. 11. " Seeing that the same application of the text. God is not great by any greatness that 1 The primary sense of the conis not identical with Himself, as if God troverted phrase in the original partook thereof, when He was great, (j^oO* r*|) is probably, < as in an (for at that rate that greatness would opportune', W and accordingly as be greater than God when there is no- /me or ']ace ig gupplied ag the sub. thing greater than God ;) He is therefore stantive to the word opportune/ it may great through that greatness whereby have either the sense 2 ex insperato/ He ts the selfsame greatness. Great- L ^ , g0 opportuneiy as not to have been ness is an attribute ot God and when anticipat£Q > or . in portu/ P. Benedict viewed, not ns we contemplate it, but ives the for and with it Michaelis as it really exists, it (as well as His and Bernstein appear disposed to take other attributes) is identical with Him- Tfae ]atter g a renderi suppiied self. Hence the use of it to mean b£ Asseman B. 0. i.p.24. and Bar-ali God, as in the present passage, so (in Michaeiis) whjeh appears to me to also m many more in the sequel. have most authority for it and lo be

k The force of this word cannot be the senge from whk.h the otherg more

understood without remembering, that naturally flow. it seems to be used unthe Coal in Is. 6. was in the Syrian questionably in this sense in the Carmen

Church an especially frequent type of de Alex Kn0g, Chrestom. p. 72. 4.

the Infant, with the whole creation. 31

made the barren vine to bear a cluster. Zacharias came and opened his venerable mouth and cried, ' Where is the King, for whose sake I have begotten the Voice1 that is to x p. 18, preach before His face? Hail, Son of the King, to whom11' also our Priesthood m shall be given up!' John approached with his parents and worshipped the Son, and He shed glory upon his countenance; and he was not moved as when in the womb! Mighty miracle, that here he was worshipping, there he leaped! Herod also, that contemptible fox, that stalked about like a lion, as a fox crouched down, and howled, when he heard the roaring of the Lion, who came to sit in the kingdom according to the Scriptures. Rev. 5, The fox2 heard that the Lion was a whelp, and as a suckling, 2*p. ig. and sharpened His teeth, that while He was yet a child the fox might lie in wait and devour the Lion ere he had grown up, and the breath of His mouth should destroy him.

The whole creation 3 became mouths to Him, and cried 3 p- 6> concerning Him. The Magi cried by their offerings! the barren cried with their children, the star of light cried in that air, lo! the Son of the King! The Heavens were opened, the waters were calmed, the Dove glorified Him, the voice of the Father, louder than thunder, was instant and said, This is my beloved Son. The Angels proclaim Him, the children shout to Him with their Hosannas. These voices above and below proclaim Him and cry. The slumber of Sion was not dispersed by the voice of the thunders, but she was offended, stood up, and killed Him because He aroused her.

m On Ezech. 21, 27- S. Vers. I will hood, and has heen shewn it only to

abase him that is high : for iniquity [increase] its iniquity and wickedness,

and wickedness will I do this till He is what compelleth it to be shewn, till

come "Whose is the judgment, and unto such time as the Son come, the Mes-

Him will I give it, &c. " [I will abase] siah whose it is, and in the midst of

Zadok the Priest. This long-suffering Jordan by the hand of John will I

which has been shewn to this priest- deliver it up to Him."

At the birth of the Son, there was a great shouting in Bethlehem; for the Angels came down, and gave praise there. Their voices were a great thunder: at that voice of praise the silent ones came, and gave praise to the Son. Blessed be 1 p. 10. that Babe in whom Eve and Adam were restored1 to youth! The shepherds also came laden with the best gifts of their flock: sweet milk, clean flesh, befitting praise! They put a difference, and gave Joseph the flesh, Mary the milk, 2see note and the Son the praise2! They brought and presented a x? p' ' suckling lamb to the Paschal Lamb, a first-born to the Firstborn, a sacrifice to the Sacrifice, a lamb of time to the Lamb of Truth. Fair sight [to see] the lamb offered to The Lamb! The lamb bleated as it was offered before the First-born. It R.xiii. praised the Lamb, that had come to set free the flocks and Ps.50,9.the oxen from sacrifices, yea that Paschal Lamb, Who s* ' 'handed down and made present the Passover" of the Son. The shepherds came near and worshipped Him with their staves. They saluted Him with peace, prophesying the while, ' Peace, O Prince of the Shepherds.' The rod of Moses Exod.4, praiseth Thy Rod0, O Shepherd of all, for Thee Moses praiseth, although his lambs have become wolves, and his flocks as it were dragons, and his sheep fanged beasts. In the fearful wilderness his flock became furious, and attacked him. Thee

is handed down and cometh with explains Ex. 4, 4. &c. of Christ's coming

all generations. The P. Lamb is here down to earth, and making by His

said to hand down the Passover, i. e. Passion Adam, the stem or rod whence

the Holy Eucharist. So on Exodus 12. we come, to flourish again in Paradise.

Standing on your feet, i. e. that they So too St. Austin on Ps. lxxiii. §. 5.

should not receive the living Body ' Death is from the serpent, and if death

sitting, and, no stranger sltall eat there- be from the serpent, the rod in the serof, i. e. no one that is unbaptized, may pent is, Christ in death first it was

eat of the Body. So St. Athan. c. Ar. made a serpent, but being held by the

ii. 9. calls the Sacrifice of Christ ' a tail, it became a rod: first He was

faithful Sacrifice, which abideth ever, killed, afterwards He rose again,' &c. and hath no intermission,' /u.Ucv<rv au

Chrises sanctifying influences. 33

then the Shepherds praise, because Thou hast reconciled the wolves and the lambs within the fold. O Babe, that art older ' below, than Noah and younger than Noah, that reconciled allp'54* within the ark amid the billows! David Thy father for a lamb's sake slaughtered a lion. Thou, O Son of David, hast killed the unseen wolf that murdered Adam, the simple lamb who fed and bleated in Paradise. At that voice of praise, brides were moved to hallow themselves, and virgins to be chaste, and even girls became staid p: they advanced and came in multitudes, and worshipped the Son. Aged women of the city of David came to the daughter of David, they gave thanks and said, ' Blessed be our country, whose streets are lightened with the rays of Jesse! To-day is the throne of David established by Thee, O Son of David.' The old men cried, ' Blessed be that Son Who restored Adam to youth2, Who 2 p. 15. was vexed to see that he was old and worn out, and that the serpent who had killed him, had changed his skin and had gotten himself away. Blessed be the Babe in Whom Adam and Eve were restored to youth3.' The chaste women said, O 3 p- 10. Blessed Fruit, bless the fruit of our wombs4; to Thee may 4 S. our they be given as first-born. They waxed hot and prophesied concerning their children, who, when they were killed for Him, were cut off, as it were first-fruits. The barren also fondled Him, and carried Him5; they rejoiced and said, 5 p. 36. Blessed Fruit born without marriage, bless the wombs of us that are married; have mercy on our barrenness, Thou wonderful Child of Virginity!

P ' Who else among men, after his age profess that virginity which is

death or even when alive, ever gave above the Law.' St. Athan. de Incarn.

lessons in virginity, and shewed this §.51. This was often insisted upon as

virtue not to be impossible among men? a special gift of Christianity and a

But our Saviour and the King of all, mark of its divinity, as by St. Justin,

Christ, hath had so great success in the Mart. Apol. i. §. 15. St. Chrysost. in

giving lessons therein, that children Rom. p. 192. O. T. St. Methodius. C.

that have not come up to the legal Virg. i. 4. St. Aust c. Faust, v, 9, &c.

Blessed be the Messenger that came laden with abundance of peace! ! The Bowels of the Father brought Him i s. was down to us; He did not bring up our debts to Him, but and*1 mao^e a satisfaction to that Divine Person2 with His own came, a goods. Praised be the Wise One, who reconciled and blended peace. tne Divine with the Human Nature. One from above and 2.s. thatone from below, He mingled the Natures as medicines, and ship, see being the Image of God, became man r. That Jealous P* ?°* One when He saw that Adam was dust, and that the cursed

serpent had devoured him, shed soundness into that which

3 p. 58. was tasteless, and made him a 3salt, wherewrith the accursed see Job serpent should be blinded. Blessed be the Merciful One, 6' 6* who saw the weapon by Paradise, that closed the way to the

Tree of Life, and came and took a Body which suffereth, that

4 p. 20, with the Door that was in His side4 He might open the way into n* m' Paradise. Blessed be that Merciful One, who lent not Himself to harshness, but without constraint conquered by wisdom8,

9 The Syriac word here used means but in a derivative one. An explanaliterally to 'mix," upon which word tion of St. E.'s object in using the word

see on Tertullian, p. 49. The word similar to that given by St. Cyril, is

occurs in Isai. 5, 8. of joining field to employed by Philoxenus de Incarn. ap.

field: and in adv. Scrut.liv. of Christ's Assem. B. O. i. p. 80.

familiar intercourse with His servants r The text runs ^^ j^^ |oa|0

and handmaidens. The words of St. . J

adv. Nest. i. p. 15. b. * Though the Word una persona Deus Homo.' What audid become Man, yet doth He not cast thority he has for rendering ]v- \ ,

off His being God, for neither do we say, '.;*

that there was a change of the Flesh persona, does not appear. Perhaps the

into the Nature of the Godhead. . . .for passage is literally—' and the Image

that of the Word remained that which (• e- Christ, see Petav. de Tnn. vi. 5.)

It is, though united to the Flesh.... became God-man. At this rate, the

The expression 'mixture,' some even Ol_is^ would be a shortened form adopted

of the holy Fathers adopted in to express the union ; though the contheir earnest desire to shew the struct form is used for the absolute,

close union of the Natures that had One may suspect it should be read

come together. And we say that the oi^s) (io^, ' and the Image of God

Word, of God, hath come together becam*eman>

with His own Flesh into a union in- , The \yrf doctrine. ^ Chrigt

discerptible and unchangeable. He overcame Satan by justice not by power,

then proceeds to shew how Scripture g E ^ to allude

also used the word not in its strict sense,

through B. renders ' severity.'

Christ as Husbandman and Carpenter. 35

that He might give an ensample unto men, that by virtue and wisdom they might conquer discerningly. Blessed is Thy flock, since Thou art the gate thereof, and Thou art the staff thereof. Thou art the Shepherd thereof, Thou art the Drink thereof, Thou art the Salt thereof, yea, the Visitor thereof. Hail to the Only-Begotten, that bare abundantly all manner of consolations1! The husbandmen came and did1 & asobeisance before the Husbandman of Life. They prophesied to Him as they rejoiced, [saying,] * Blessed be the Husbandman, by Whom the ground of the heart is tilled, Who gathereth His wheat into the Barn of Life.' The husbandmen came and gave glory to the Vineyard that sprung of the root and stem of Jesse, the Virgin Cluster of the glorious Vine. ' May we be vessels for Thy new Wine that reneweth all things. In Thee may the Vineyard of my Well-beloved that yielded wild grapes2 find peace! Graft its vines from Thy stocks; let2S.husks it be laden entirely from Thy blessings with a fruit which may reconcile the Lord of the Vineyard, Who threateneth it.'' Owing to Joseph the workmen came to the Son of Joseph. Blessed be Thy Nativity, Thou Head of Workmen, the impress of which the ark bore, fashioned after which was the Tabernacle of the congregation t that was for a time only! Our craft praiseth Thee, Who art our glory. Mayest thou make the yoke which is light, yea easy, upon them that bear it; make the measure, in which there can be no falseness, which is full of Truth, yea devise and make measures11 by

* St. Cyril de Ad. in S. et V. p. 293. of Immanuel, which is incorruptible, " The ark would be the type and image and not soiled by sin. By the gold of Christ: for if we lookback to the way within and without he indicates the of the Incarnation of the Only-Begotten, Divine Nature of the Word, which was we shall see, that it is in the temple of united unto all the functions (S. vessels) the Virgin as in an ark that the Word of the Soul and the Body in a manof God took up His abode. For in Him ner no discourse can reach, seeing He dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead anointed our manhood with His Godbodily, as the Scripture saith. But the head." See too adv. Scrut. viii. §, 5. testimonies in the ark were a word of and 6. These words appear to make God, and the wood of it was imperish- it plain, that St. E. means the same able, and with pure and choicest gold ark above as in this passage ; he, howwas it beautified within and without, ever, uses a different word, and one For the Body of Christ is incorruptible, which others contend is only applied to being by the power and brightness of Noah's ark.

the indwelling Word, and the nature u St. Mark, 6, 3. intimates that our

and life-giving operation of the Holy Lord was a carpenter Himself, while

Ghost, maintained in incorruption." on earth. We find St. E. here and adv.

And so too St. E. himself upon Exodus Scrut. xvii. fin. dwelling upon it, as

37. " And Bezaleel made an ark of later devotional writers have done, undecaying wood, a type of the Body

36 Present fruition contrasted

righteousness, that he that is vile may be accused thereby, and he that is perfect, may be acquitted thereby. Weigh therewith both mercy and truth, O just one, as a judge.

Bridegrooms with their brides rejoiced. ' Blessed be the

Babe, whose Mother was Bride of the Holy One! Blessed

the marriage feast, whereat Thou wast present, in which when

wine was suddenly wanting, in Thee it abounded again!'

The children cried out, ' Blessed He that hath become unto

us a Brother, and Companion in the midst of the streets.

Blessed be the day which by the Branches x giveth glory to

the Tree of life, that made His Majesty be brought low, to

our childish age!■' Women heard that a Virgin should conceive

and bring forth a Son: honourable women hoped that Thou

wouldest rise from them ; yea noble ladies that Thou mightest

spring up from them! Blessed be Thy Majesty, that humbled

Itself, and rose from the poor! Yea the young girls that

i pp. 33, carried ' Him prophesied, saying, ' Whether I be hated or fair,

^ ' 45- or of low estate, I am without spot for Thee. I have taken

21, 15. Thee in change for the bed of Childbirth.'

Eph?5 Sarah had lulled Isaac as being a slave, that bare the Image

27. of the King his Master on his shoulders, even the sign of His

Cross, yea on his hands were bandages and sufferings, a type

2 p. 44. of the nails2. Rachel cried to her husband, and said, Give me

Gen. 30, sons. Blessed be Mary, in whose womb, though she asked

not, Thou didst dwell holily, O Gift, that poured itself upon

l Sam. them that received it. Hannah with bitter tears asked a child,

Sarah and Rebecca with vows and words, Elisabeth also

with her prayer : after having harassed themselves for a long

time yet so obtained comfort. Blessed be Mary, who without

vows and without prayer y, in her Virginity conceived and

x He alludes to Palm Sunday, on ' 0 blessed womb, which through

which the children carried them. As- its extreme purity drew unto itself

semanni, as above, speaks of this the goods of the soul.' p. 352. b.

Rhythm as if intended for the Annun- l The woman hath made an excuse

ciation, which would bring it nearer for the woman:... .the one through

the time of Palm Sunday. But see R. the wood introduced sin, the other

on Palm Sunday; and on Rhythm xiii. through the wood introduced against

y So above, p. 2. ' She to-day Eve's it a blessing.' St. Greg. Naz. Or.

travail ransomed, who to her a Saviour 38. p. 620. A. ' Conceived of a Virbare.' And p. 8. ' Mary hid in us gin, and her previously purified in

to-day leaven come from Abraham.' soul and body by the Spirit.' St. Leo in

And again, p. 20. ' There rose from the Nat. 1. §. 1. 'A Royal Virgin of the

Rib a hidden power.' See also Rh. viii. stock of David is chosen, who, as inp. 41. St. Greg. Nyss. iii. p. 348. b. tended to be with child with the Holy

with ancient longings for Christ. 37

brought forth the Lord of all the sons of her companions, who have been or shall be chaste and righteous, priests and kings. Who else lulled a son in her bosom as Mary did? who ever dared to call her son, Son of the Maker, Son of the Creator, Son of the Most High? Who ever dared to speak to her son as in prayer? O Trust of Thy Mother as God, her Beloved and her Son as Man, in fear and love it is meet for thy Mother to stand before Thee!

Offspring, conceived the Divine and be the Mother of the living.' And St.

Human Child in her mind before she Irenseus, v. 19. §. 1. 'As the human

did in her body.' S. Epiph. lxxviii. 18. race was fettered to death by a virgin,

(who is speaking of Eve as a type of it is restored by a Virgin, by a re-

St. Mary,) * From Mary the Life Itself adjustment of the balance a virgin's

hath been born into the world: that disobedience [is restored] through a

she might bear a Living One, and Mary Virgin's obedience.'

The Son of the Maker is like unto His Father as Maker I He made Himself a pure body, He clothed Himself with it, and came forth and clothed our weakness with glory, which in His mercy He brought from the Father. From Melchizedek

1 above, the High Priest a hyssop1 came to Thee, a throne and p* ' crown from the house of David, a race and family from

Abraham. Be Thou unto me a Port for Thy own sake, O

2 p. 43. great Sea9. Lo! the Psalms of David Thy Father, and the

words also of the Prophets, came forth unto me, as it were ships. David Thy father, in the hundred and tenth Psalm % twined together two numbers as it were crowns to Thee, and came, O Conqueror! With these shalt Thou be crowned, and unto the throne shalt Thou ascend and sit. A great crown is the number that is twined in the hundred, wherein is crowned Thy Godhead! A little crown is that of the number ten, which crowneth the Head of Thy Humanity, O Victorious One!

For Thy sake women ran after men. Tamar desired him that was widowed, and Ruth loved a man that was old, yea, that Rahab that led men captive was captivated by Gen.38.Thee. Tamar went forth, and in the darkness stole the Light, and in uncleanness stole the Holy One, and by uncovering her nakedness she went in and stole Thee, O glorious One, that bringest the pure out of the impure. Satan saw her and trembled, and ran to trouble her. He brought the judgment to her mind, and she feared not; stoning and the sword, and she trembled not. He that teacheth adultery hindered adultery, because he was a hinderer of Thee. For holy was the adultery of Tamar, for Thy sake. Thee it was she thirsted after, O pure Fountain. Judah defrauded

z Above, p. 27- Jerome on Isai. book not squared to the LXX's division of

xvii.init. finds a mystery in the number tbe Psalms, according to which this is

* seventeen' and used the seventeenth the 109th Ps. For specimens of the mys-

Psalmto illustrate it. The number shews tical meaning of numbers, the Ven.

that the Syriac version at that time was Bede, on Gen. 5, may be referred to.

Tamar and Ruth honourably shameless. 39

her of drinking Thee. The thirsty womb a stole a dew draught of Thee from the spring thereof. She was a widow for Thy sake. Thee did she long for, she hasted and was also an harlot for Thy sake. Thee did she vehemently desire, and was sanctified in that it was Thee she loved. May Tamar rejoice that her Lord hath come and hath made her name known for the son of her adultery! Sure the name she gave Gen. 38, him was calling unto Thee to come to her. For Thee honourable women1 disgraced themselves, Thou that givest1?. 3. chastity to all! Thee she stole away in the midst of the ways, who pavest the way into the kingdom! Because it was life that she stole, the sword was not able to put her to death.

Ruth fell down by a man in the threshingfloor for Thy sake; her love made her unbashful for Thy sake, O Thou that teachest all penitents unbashfulness. Her ears refused [to listen to] any voices for the sake of Thy voice. The living coal that glowed in the bed of Booz went up, fell down there, saw the High Priest, in whose loins was hidden a fire for his incense b! She ran and was a heifer to Booz, that should bring forth Thee, the fatted Calf c. She went a leasing for her love of Thee; she gathered straw. Thou didst quickly pay her the reward of her lowliness; and instead of ears of corn, the Root of Kings, and instead of straws, the Sheaf of Life2, didst Thou make to spring from her. 2 p: 13.

root it comes from, means either a rill Perhaps the words might be rendered,

or a womb : such a play on the word for tkere was hidden in his (Booz s)

was probably designed. It is common loms a F\re for his incense, i. e. Christ,

in Hebrew Scriptures, as well as in who would sanctify the strange fire

pagan writers. A similar interpretation which he offered Him by marrying a

of Gen. 9. to that here given may be Moabitess. I cannot however help susfound in St. Cyril. Glaph. p. 196. St. pectmg that we should read with the

Ambros. in Luc. iii. St. Austin, c. feminine affix— saw the High Priest

Faust, xxii. 68. and 83. It may be that was hidden m his loins, that Fire for

well to consider that this view of Scrip- her incense. Ruth is perhaps called a

ture is the only one which makes the un- coal in allusion to Prov vi. 27. ' Can

qualified praise bestowed in Heb. xi. one go upon hot coals and his feet not

intelligible De burned,' &c. In Gen. 38. p. 90. c.

The introduction of Ruth after he makes Tamar say < Thy Knowledge,

Tamar was doubtless suggested by [O God,] conderaneth me not of a deed

Ruth 4, 12. Mat. I, 3. &c. St. E. of lust, since my having thirsted after

seems to mean, ' Ruth saw by faith that which is hidden in the Hebrews

Christ the High Priest, in whose loins pleadeth lor me, &c. was to be that Fire of Righteousness c Luke 15> 30. See Jerome ad

which alone could make the incense Damasum, and Ongen in Levit. i. $. 2.

(i. e. the child which rose up from Ruth, s- Ambr- m Luc- vn- §• 232-

That Thy Resurrection might be believed among the gain say ers, they sealed Thee up within the sepulchre, and set guards; for it was for Thee that they sealed the sepulchre, and set guards, O Son of the Living One! When they had buried Thee, if they had neglected Thee and left Thee, and gone, there would have been room to lie [and say] that they did steal, O Quickener of all! When they craftily sealed Thy sepulchre, they made Thy Glory greater. A type of Thee therefore was Daniel, and also Lazarus, one in the den, which the Gentiles sealed up, and one in the sepulchre, that the [chosen] people opened. Lo! their signs and their seals reproved them. Their mouth had been open, if they had left Thy sepulchre open. But they went away because they had shut Thy sepulchre and sealed it, and closed up their own mouths. Yea they closed it, and when they had senselessly covered Thy sepulchre, all the slanderers covered their own heads. But in Thy Resurrection Thou persuadest them concerning Thy Birth, since the womb was sealed, and the sepulchre closed up, being alike pure in the womb, and living in

Ps. 88, the sepulchre. The womb and the sepulchre being sealed were witnesses unto Thee. The belly and hell cried aloud of Thy Birth and Thy Resurrection: the belly conceived Thee, which was sealed; hell brought Thee forth which was closed up. Not after nature did either the belly conceive Thee, or hell give Thee up! Sealed was the sepulchre whereto they had entrusted Thee, that it might keep the dead

above, [safe]. Virgin was the womb which no man knew. Virgin womb and sealed sepulchre, like trumpets, proclaimed Him in the ears of a deaf people. The sealed belly and the closed rock were amongst the accusers. For they slandered the Conception as being of the seed of man, and the Resurrection as being of the robbery of man; the seal and the signet convicted them, and pleaded that Thou wert of Heaven.

Marvellousn ess of 'Christ's Birth. 41

The people stood between Thy Birth and Thy Resurrection. They slandered Thy Birth, Thy Death condemned them: they set aside Thy Resurrection, Thy Birth refuted them; they were two wrestlers that stopped the mouth that slandered. For Elijah they went and searched the mountains: as they sought him on earth, they the more confirmed that he was taken up. Their searching bare witness that he was taken up, in that it found him not. If then prophets that had had presension of Elijah's ascension, as it were doubted of his going up, how 2 Kings much more would impure men speak slander of the Son? By 2' 1 ' their own guards He convinced them that He was risen again.

To Thy Mother, Lord, no man knew what name to give. Should he call her Virgin, her Child stood [there], and married no man knew her to be! If then none comprehended Thy Mother, who shall suffice for Thee? For she was, alone, Thy Mother, along with all, Thy Sister. She was Thy Mother, she was Thy Sister. She along with chaste women Ps. 45, was Thy betrothed. With every thing didst Thou adorn14. Her, Thou ornament of Thy Mother. For she was Thy Bride by nature d ere Thou hadst come; she conceived Thee not by nature after Thou wast come, O Holy One, and was a Virgin when she had brought Thee forth holily. Mary gained in Thee, O Lord, the honours of all married women. She conceived [Thee] within her without marriage. There was milk in her teats not after the ordinary way. Thou madest the thirsty land suddenly a fountain of milk. If she carried Thee, Thy mighty look made her burden light; if she gave Thee to eat, it was because Thou wert hungry; if she gave Thee to drink, [it was] because Thou wert thirsty; willingly if she embraced Thee, Thou, the coal1 of mercies, didst l p. 30. keep her bosom safe. A wonder is Thy Mother. The Lordre ' entered her, and became a servant: the Word entered her, and became silent within her2: thunder entered her, and2 p. 22. His voice was still: the Shepherd of all entered her; Here*

l That is, by the established course other women, inasmuch as she was the

of things (as the root of the original holiest of holy women. Seen.y.onp.36.

word would suggest): holy women once The expression Qutrtivlo), as referred to

made holy, though by grace, are natu- in note 1. p. 5. will furnish a further

rally brides, of Christ: only she was illustration of the application of the

' adorned with every thing' above all word in the text.

42 Christ though typified as mighty

became a Lamb in her, and came forth bleating. The Belly of is. or- Thy Mother changed the order1 of things, O Thou that ers* arrangest all! The Rich went in, He came out poor: the High One went in, He came out lowly. Brightness went into her and clothed Himself, and came forth a despised form. The Mighty went in, and clad Himself with fear e from the Belly. He that giveth food to all went in, and gat hunger. He that giveth all to drink went in, and gat thirst. Naked and bare came forth from her the Clother of all.

The daughters of the Hebrews that cried in the Lamentations of Jeremiah, instead of lamentations of their Bibles f, used lulling-songs from their own books: a hidden Power within their words was prophesying. Eve lifted up her eyes from Hell and rejoiced in that day, because the Son 2p.2,36. of her daughter as a medicine of life2 came down to raise up the mother of His mother. Blessed Babe, that bruised the head of the Serpent that smote her! She saw the type of Thee from the youth of Isaac the fair s. For Thee Sarah, as seeing that types of Thee rested on his childhood, called him, saying, O child of my vows, in whom is hidden the Lord of vows. Samson the Nazarite shadowed 3 See forth a type of Thy activity3. He tore the lion, the image of 18 ' death, whom Thou didst destroy, and caused to go forth from his bitterness the sweetness of life for men h. Hannah also

• Fear is here mentioned because it Church, O Father, (speaking of a debelongs to the perfection of man's nature, parted Bishop,) with thy prayers that especially in childhood. See Is. 11, 2. are heard, and pray for it as did Moses, Our Lord is only recorded to have shewn that it may have a priest such as it in the garden. In the same way igno- Joshua. Though David had departed ranee of futurity which belongs to man of a long season, and he was not in in childhood most, is recorded more con- Hezekiah's days, yet his prayer despicuously of Him in His later years, fended and delivered Jerusalem from Mark 13,32. on which passage see adv. Sennacherib." So too on Job xvi. Scrut. lxxvii. p. 7. " ' In heaven are my witnesses, and 1 S. .m.^A-> possibly alluding to tney that know me.' Either it is of God C=JOlS,theHebrewnameforthepart h.e says this, or they are angels that c . , . , . , „„^„j;„„ +„*.!, stand before God, or it is ot spirits of

ThorP m snmP reason for thinking that ho]V Persons> who had fallen asleep, 1 here is some reason tor thinking, that watched the event which in type fore.

iODD, (the other word employed by St. told and ushered in the Coming of our E.) is not used of the Hagiographa. Lord for which thev longed, as the souls g i. e. Eve saw in Isaac a type of of the Martyrs and Apostles and Pro- Christ. St. E.'s habit is to contemplate phets seem to do for His second Advent, the departed as taking an interest in Rev# g 9. 10. 11, 16 sqq. things on earth. Thus in the Necro- h Several of the Fathers view Samsima, 1. vol. iii. p. 227. "Visit Thy gon in this light: which assuredly acveiled His might in poiverlessness. 43

embraced Samuel; for Thy righteousness was hidden in him who hewed in pieces Agag as [a type] of the wicked one. He wept over Saul, because Thy goodness also was shadowed see forth in him. ^s2a6m-

How meek art Thou! How mighty art Thou, O Child! Thy iW 3, judgment is mighty, Thy love is sweet! Who can stand against Thee? Thy Father is in Heaven, Thy Mother is on earth; who shall declare Thee? If a man should seek after Thy Is. 53. Nature, it is hidden in Heaven in the mighty Bosom of the Godhead; and if a man seek after Thy visible Body, it is laid down before their eyes1 in the little bosom of Mary. The l& and mind wandereth between Thy generations, O Thou Rich One! Seene Thick folds2 are upon Thy Godhead. Who can sound Thy or looks. depths, Thou great Sea3 that made itself little? We come to f' 3g see Thee as God, and, lo! Thou art a man: we come to seeref. 2. Thee as man, and there shineth forth the Light of Thy Godhead!

Who would believe that Thou art the Heir of David's Throne? A manger hast Thou inherited out of [all] his beds, a cave has come down to Thee out of all his palaces. Instead of his chariots a common ass's colt perchance cometh down to Thee. How fearless art Thou, O Babe, that dost let all have thee [to carry4] : upon every one that meeteth with4 p. 36, Thee dost Thou smile: to every one that sees Thee, art Thou 3 gladsome! Thy love is as one that hungereth after men. Thou makest no distinction between Thy fathers and strangers, nor Thy Mother and maidservants, nor her that suckled Thee and the unclean. Was it Thy forwardness or Thy love, O Thou that lovest all? What stirreth Thee that Thou didst let all that saw Thee have Thee, both rich and poor? Thou assistedst them that called Thee not. Whence came it that Thou hungeredst so for men? How great was Thy love, that if one rebuked Thee, Thou wert not wrath! if a man threatened Thee, Thou wert not terrified! if one hissed at Thee, Thou

than any other view. See Pseudo-Am- that Scripture uses the word womb Ps.

bros. de Sp. Sauct. ii. init. St. Aust. c. 110. of the incorporeal Father by an ac-

Faust. xii. 32. commodation to our ignorance, to shew

vities of our Lord Jesus Christ be two : but a natural birth of His Only-Begotten

the one without a woman for mother, from Himself, the other without a man for father." St.

44 Christ contrasted with types.

didst not feel vexed! Thou art superior to the laws of the avengers of injuries.

Moses was meek, and [yet] his zeal was harsh, for he

struggled and slew. Elisha also, who restored a child to life,

tore a multitude of children in pieces by bears. Who art

Thou, O Child, whose love is greater than that of the Prophets?

i^and' ^"ne son °^ Hagar who was wild, kicked at Isaac. He bore it

21, 9. and was silent, and his mother was jealous1. Art Thou the

ref! 2. ' mystery of him, or is not he the type of Thee? art Thou like

Isaac, or is it not he that is like Thee ?

Come rest, and be still in the bosom of Thy Mother, Son of the Glorious. Forwardness fitteth not the sons of kings. O Son of David, Thou art glorious, and [yet] the Son of Mary, who dost hide Thy beauty in the inner chamber. To whom art Thou like, glad Babe, fair little One, Whose Mother is a Virgin, Whose Father is hidden, Whom even the Seraphim1 are l p. 24. not able to look upon? Tell us whom Thou art like, O Son gj^t of the Gracious! When the wrathful came to see Thee, Thou R- v. madest them gladsome: they exchanged2 smiles one with2S-min" another: the angry were made gentle in Thfe, O sweet One; Blessed art Thou, little One, for that in Thee even the bitter are made sweet. Who ever saw a Babe that was gladsome when in arms to those that came near him, lo! reached Himself unto them that were far off3? Fair sight [to see] a Child, 3 p. 43, that is thoughtful for every man that they may see Him! He that hath care came and saw Thee, and his care fled away. He that had anxiety, at Thee forgat his anxiety; the hungry by Thee forgat his victuals; and he that had an errand, by Thee was errant and forgat his journey! O still Thyself, and let men go to their works! Thou art a son of the poor, learn from Thyself that all the poor had to leave their work to come. Thou who lovest men, hast bound men together by Thy gladsomeness.

David, that stately king, took branches k, and in the feast amongst the children as he danced, he gave praise. Is

k Scripture does not mention this : the trees of the wood were then spoken

neither am I able to find that the of as rejoicing before the Lord, (see

Rabbins had a tradition to that effect. 1 Chron. 16, 35 and 33.) the assumption

St. E. probably looked upon the entrance maybe considered to ha\e some warof David with the ark into Jerusalem, rant from Scripture. Michal's conduct

as typical of our Lord's entry into that is noticed as typical of that of the

city. Hence he assumed the same synagogue by St. E. on 2 Sam. vi. 6.

things to go on in each; and perhaps and in the "R. on Palm Sunday. St.

as the Hosannah Psalm was used, in Ambros. on Ps. 118. part, by David on that occasion, and as

46 Tfie Synagogue reproved in types ; and laws.

it not the love of David Thy father that is warm in Thee? Lo! the daughter of Saul! her father's devil spake in her: she called the stately [king] a vile fellow, because he gave an ensample to the elders of her people of taking up branches with the children in the day of praise to Thee. Who would not fear to lay it to Thee that Thou art forward? For lo, the daughter of Saul who mocked the child, cut off her 2 Sam. womb from childbearing; because her mouth derided, the

reward of its mouth was barrenness. Let mouths tremble

at blasphemy, lest they be shut up! Keep, O daughter of

Sion, thy mouth from Him, for He is the Son of David, Who

is gladsome before thee. Be not unto Him as the daughter

of Saul, whose race is extinct. The impure people as

whoremongers and jealous1 did God see to be very slanderous,

and He shewed mercy upon the women, in that He enlarged

His revelations among the slanderers for their sakes. If a

^.ifherman shall hate1 his partner, he was to write a [divorcement],

shall*"1 and send her away ; and if he were jealous, the waters used

hateher.to try her, and if he had slandered her, he used to give up

14"m,5'the cloth. All slander was put to shame by Mary, for she

Deut. was sealed; Moses detected them beforehand to be very slan-

22, 17. c|erous# For if while the cloths of virginity were with their

own wives m, they accused them and put them to death, how

much more would they slander the mother of the Son?

With the trying waters and the cloth he taught them alle-

2S.<_& ;g0rically2j that when the Lord of conceptions should come

and they should slander the belly wherein He dwelt, the signs

of pure virginity present after conception, might plead in its

behalf. If then the signs of virginity which have come forth,

used to deliver the wife of man from the sword ; watch and

take earnest heed thou wise man thou, for if thou art found

guilty, it is with her Lord thou next shalt have to fight.

Because Elijah restrained the desire of the body, he with-

1 The meaning perhaps is, that though solubleness of marriage. See St. Matt.

Moses for the hardness of their hearts 19.

allowed them to do what in the spirit m That is, the fact that after their

of jealousy and adultery they abused, accusations, the signs of virginity were

God saw that this led to an oppressive sometimes found, implies that they were

and backbiting temper, and, after wink- oftentimes willing and sometimes would

ing at their sins, at length avenged the succeed in putting innocent wives to

cause of women, and gave further re- death, velations as to the sanctity and indis-

Supernatural powers given to holiness. 47

held rain from the adulterous; because he kept under his body, he kept dew from the whoremongers, who let their fountains be loosely poured out. Because the hidden fire of the lust of the body ruled not in him, to him the fire from on high was obedient. And since he subdued on the earth the lust of the flesh, he went up thither where holiness dwelleth and is at peace. Elisha also who deadened his own body, quickened the dead. The resurrection of the dead was in the usual course by a sanctification not in the usual course; He raised the child, be- cause he purified1 his soul like a weaned child. Moses, who1 5. fildivided and separated himself from his consort, divided tered the sea before the harlot". Zipporah though daughter of a heathen priest kept sanctity: with a calf the daughter" of Abraham went a whoring.

n i. e. the Jewish Church. These that the miracles therewith connected

instances are given, after what has been were hidden types and fore-runners of

said of St. Mary's purity, perhaps, to the exceeding miracle of His Holy

shew the great excellence of Virginity Incarnation, that there was, so to

in God's sight, in that He vouchsafed speak, a certain harmony in the prethese miracles in connection with virgin vious connection of miracles with viror married continency. It may be also, ginity.

Rev. 3, In Thee will I begin to speak, Thou Head that didst begin

14# all created things. I, even I will open my mouth, but it is

Ps. 81, Thou that fillest my mouth. I am the earth to Thee, and

^b 6 Thou art the husbandman. Sow Thy voice in me, Thou

7. ' that sowedst Thyself in the Belly of thy Mother. " All° the

chaste daughters of the Hebrews, and the virgins' daughters

of the chief men, are astonished at me! For Thee doth the

daughter of the poor meet with envy, for Thee, the daughter

of the weak with jealousy. Who hath given Thee to me?

0 Son of the Rich One, that hated the bosom of the rich women, who led Thee to the poor? for Joseph was needy and

1 also in want, yet Thy merchants have come, and brought gold, to the house of the poor.'' She saw the Magi : her songs increased at their offerings ; " Lo ! Thy worshippers have surrounded me, yea thy offerings have encircled me. Blessed

adv. be the Babe who made His Mother a harp for His words:

Scrut. an(j ag tke harp wajteth for its master, my mouth waiteth

i 5# xhy f°r Thee. May the tongue of Thy Mother bring what pleaseth ■

wil1 Thee; and since T have learnt a new Conception by Thee, let

my mouth learn in Thee, O new Son, a new song of praise.

And if hindrances are no hindrances to Thee, since difficulties

are easy to Thee, as a womb without marriage conceived Thee,

and a belly without seed brought Thee forth, it is easy for a

little mouth to multiply Thy great glory. Lo! I am oppressed

and despised, and yet cheerful : mine ears are filled with

reproof and scorn, and it is a small thing to me to bear, for

ten thousand troubles can a single comfort of Thine chase

away, and since I am not despised by Thee, O Son, my

countenance is bright; and I am slandered for having conv St. E. without notice introduces Rhythms, although it has generally the B. V. M. as speaking. Such a been squared to our habits by adding change of persons is frequent in these ' saying' or the like.

St. Mary addresses the Infant Christ.

ceived, and yet have brought forth the Truth p who justifieth me.

For if Tamar was justified by Judah ', how much more shall 1 p- 38.

I be justified by Thee !

David Thy father sung in a psalm of Thee before Thou hadst come, that to Thee should be given the gold ofPs. 72, Sheba. This psalm that he sung of Thee, lo! it, whilst Thou art yet a Child, in reality heapeth before Thee myrrh and gold; and the hundred and fifty Psalms that he wrote, in Thee2 were seasoned*1, because all the sayings of pro-2 p. 8. phecy stood in need of Thy sweetness, for without Thy salt gcrut< all manner of wisdom were tasteless. xxi*

righteousness looked down from Heaven/ i. e. that we might he justified by Divine grace, Truth was born from the

Virgin Mary Truth flourished

out of the earth, and righteousness looked down from Heaven.

shalt thou find in the Psalms aught but the words of Christ and the Church, either of Christ only, or of the Church

only." The next words allude evidently to Job 6, 6. for the word oOSJ occurs in both. One may suspect, however, that St. Eph. had seen the LXX. version of the passage; which is literally rendered in the portions of the Syriac Hexapla published by Middledorpf, and runs thus, ' Can bread be eaten without salt? or is there any savour in empty words?'

I shall not be jealous, my Son, that Thou art with me, and

also with all men. Be Thou God to him that confesseth

Thee, and be Lord to him that serveth Thee, and be Brother

to him that loveth Thee, that Thou mayest gain all! When

1 p. 23. Thou didst dwell in me, Thou didst also dwell out of me *, and

ref. 3.

when I brought Thee forth openly, Thy hidden might was not

removed from me. Thou art within me, and Thou art without

me, O Thou that makest Thy Mother amazed, for I see that

outward form of Thine before mine eyes, the hidden Form is

^St.Leo, shadowed forth r in my mind2, 0 holy One. In Thy visible form

' 1 see Adam, and in Thy hidden Form I see Thy Father, who is

3 & see blended with 3 Thee. Hast Thou then shewn me alone Thy

n. q. Beauty in two Forms? Let Bread shadow forth Thee, and

also the mind; dwell also in Bread and in the eaters thereof.

In secret and openly too may Thy Church see Thee, as well

4seeadv. as Thy Mother4. He that hateth Thy Bread is like unto him

x. 3. ' that hateth Thy Body. He that is far off that desireth Thy

Bread, and he that is near that loveth Thy Image, are alike.

In the Bread and in the Body, the first and also the last have

seen Thees. Yet Thy visible Bread is far more precious than

Thy Body ; for Thy Body even unbelievers have seen, but they

have not seen Thy living Bread. They that were far off

*S. as- rejoiced! their portion utterly scorneth5 that of those that

insults are near- Lo! Thy Image is shadowed forth in the blood

of the grapes4 on the Bread; and it is shadowed forth

r See Adv. Scrut. lxiv. where he

says, " Shadow not forth in thine in- what of the kind, tellect thine own mind's guess-work." * ' This alludes to a rite in the

The word here is used in a merely Syrian Liturgy, in which the officiating

metaphorical sense. Priest is instructed to dip one portion

s St. E. may he here perhaps taken of the consecrated bread into the cup

to conceive that our Lord in His youth and sprinkle the rest with it' Ben.

told the Blessed Virgin how He would By the colours of faith he means the

give His flesh for the life of the world, outward words used to paint it, so to

Her seeming impatience at the marriage say, on the mind. ' Faith' is used adv.

is perhaps indicative, when taken in Scrut. xx. §. 2. for a Creed.

St. Mary's second Birth through her only Son. 51

on the heart with the finger of love, with the colours of faith. Blessed be He that by the Image of His Truth caused the graven images to pass away.

Thou art not [so] the Son of Man that I should sing1 unto l & lull Thee in a common way; for Thy Conception is new, and Thy Birth marvellous. Without the Spirit who shall sing to Thee? A new muttering of prophecy is hot within me. How shall I call Thee a stranger to us, who art from us? Should I call Thee Son? Should I call Thee Brother? see Mat. Husband should I call Thee? Lord should I call Thee,

0 Child that didst give Thy Mother a second birth from the waters ? For I am Thy sister, of the house of David the father of us Both. Again, I am Thy Mother because of Thy Conception, and Thy Bride am 1 because of Thy sane- p. 36. tificationx, Thy handmaid and Thy daughter, from the Blood and Water wherewith Thou hast purchased me and baptized me. The Son of the Most High came and dwelt

in me, and I became His Mother, and as by a second birth **

1 brought Him forth, so did He bring me forth by the regeneration2; because He put His Mother's garment on, she2 S. se- clothed her body with His glory y. birth

Tamar, who was of the house of David, Amnon disgraced, and virginity fell and perished from them both. My pearl is not lost: in Thy treasury it is stored, because Thou hast put it on! The scent of her brother in law stank from Tamar, whose perfume she had stolen away. As for Joseph's Bride, not even his breath exhaled from her garments, since she conceived Cinnamon. A wall of firez was Thy Conception Cant. 4,

* The word used in the original here given to her the making of garments ^f0}"8,

is applied particularly to the dedication for the visible nakedness of the visible 24> 15*

of a Church, and then to four Sundays body; but to Mary was it given by

before Advent. God that she should bring forth to us a

xx The second Birth is His birth of Lamb and Sheep, and that from the

Mary in time, the First, the Eternal glory of the Lamb and Sheep, as from

Generation of The Father, see p. 43. i. a Fleece, by a wise device we should

j) have, through His virtue, a garment

Perhaps, in what follows, for oij-^a of immortality."

r ' m rs^ * St. Thorn, in the Catena quotes

we should read OIL <*>, " because His ft. Hilary as saying that St. Joseph

Body had put on His Mother's gar- was in her womb, she glistened as

ment," i. e. because His Flesh He had Moses did and could not be looked

taken from His Mother. upon. Though this is not now found

y S. Epiphan. Hajr. lxxviii. §. 18. in St. H., St. E. appears to allude to

il Since it was through Eve that the the same belief. Upon Gen. p. 27. c.

she had he notices how Adam when in Paradise

St. Joseph ministers to his Spouse,

unto me, O holy Son. The little flower was faint, because

Cant. 2, the smell of the Lily of Glory was great. The Treasure-

V house of spices stood in no need of flower or its smells!

flesh stood aloof because it saw in the Belly a Conception

from the Spirit.

The woman ministereth before the man, because he is her head. Joseph rose to minister before his Lord, Who was in Mary. The priest * ministered before Thy ark by reason of Thy holiness. Moses carried the tables of stone1 which the Lord wrote, and Joseph bare about the pure Tablet in whom the Son of the Creator was dwelling. The tables had ceased, because the world was filled with Thy doctrine.

had a brightness like to Moses, to overawe the creatures, and at p. 31. f. that Eve after sin, was not immediatelystripped of this glory, that Adam's faith might be tried also, that he might not be frightened at seeing her countenance fallen. This put together with the last note throws a light on the passage. As the sight of Eve bereft of glory would make Adam stand aloof of her, so the sight of St. Mary glistening with glory would make flesh, i.e. St. Joseph, stand aloof of her. It may be added, that on Genesis 19. he notices that Sarah during her supernatural pregnancy had some unwonted external ap- pearance, which made her, even at her age, attractive to Abimelech. [The writer subsequently rejected this note,

because " St. E. would have said

aiOl, not OLkOQjb> had he meant any external brightness." The fact of the Conception which the Angel had declared to St. Joseph, "was itself " the wall of tire." S. Matt. 1, 24. 25.]

a St. E. possibly here looks on St. Joseph as a type of the Priesthood. St. Ambr. in Luc. ii. §. 7. " Haply the reason that St. Mary was married to one and filled by Another is, because individual Churches are filled with the Spirit and grace, but yet are married to a visible temporalpriest" — jungunturad temporalis speciem sacerdotis — where Sacerdos is used for the Bishop, as in St. Cyprian, and St. Austin c. Jul. Pel.

The Babe that I carry carrieth ■ me, saith Mary, and He * l pp. 22, hath lowered His wings, and taken and placed me between His pinions, and mounted into the air, and a promise has been given me that height and depth shall be my Son's. I have seen Gabriel that called him Lord, and the high priest the aged servant, that carried Him and bare Him. I have seen the Magi when they bowed down, and Herod when he was troubled because the King had come. Satan also Ex. 1, who strangled the little ones that Moses might perish, murdered the little ones that the Living One might die. To Egypt He fled, who came to Judea that He might labour and wander there: he sought to catch the man that would catch Himself. In her virginity Eve put on the leaves of shame. Thy Mother put on in her Virginity the garment2 of Glory that sufficeth2p-5i. for all. She gave the little vest of the Body to Him that covereth all. Blessed is she in whose heart and mind3 Thou3 P- 36 wast! A King's palace she was by Thee, O Son of the King,p. 5o.y* and a Holy of Holiesb by Thee, O High Priest! She had not ref- 2the trouble nor vexation of a family, or a husband! Eve, again, was a nest and a cave4 for the accursed serpent, that4& seentered in and dwelt in her5. His evil counsel became bread? a(jv.e to her that she might become dust. Thou art our Bread, and Scrut. 1. Thou art also [of] our race and our garment of glory. He that

* St. Zeno in Nat. iv. " O wonderful any good deed whereby to bring himthing ! Mary conceives of Him Whom self into notice, set the temple of Diana

she bringeth forth. Her womb enlargeth on fire; and when nobody could say

with the Majesty, not with seed; and a whose the sacrilege was, he came

Virgin contains Him Whom the world before the public himself and owned

and the world's largeness containeth that he had done it to gain notoriety,

not. Meantime her limbs carry the But you [Helvidius] have set on fire

Maker of them, and the work clotheth the Temple of the Lord's Body, and

the Workman with its form." defiled the Sanctuary of the Holy

b St. Jerome c. Helvid. M As the Ghost, by making out that brothers

story goes, a man who was unknown and sisters, four in a row, came out from

to the world, and not able to think of it." i. e. from St. Mary.

54 Men in all conditions invited

hath sanctity, if he be in danger, lo! here is his Guardian! He that hath iniquity, lo! here is his Pardoner! He that hath a devil, here is the Pursuer thereof! They that have pains, lo! here is the Binder up of their breaches. He that hath a child, let him come and become a brother to my Well- Mat. 12, beloved! He that hath a daughter or a young woman of his race, let her come and become the bride of my Glorious One! He that hath a servant, let him set him free, that he may come and serve his Lord. The son of free men that beareth Thy yoke, my Son, shall have one reward; and the slave that beareth the burden of the yoke of two masters, that above and that below, there are two blessings for him, and two rewards of the two burdens0. The free woman, my Son, is Thy handmaid: also if she who is in bondage serve Thee, in Thee she is free: in Thee she shall be comforted, because she is Cant. 2, freed; hidden apples in her bosom are stored up, if she love

O chaste women, long ye for my Well-beloved, that He may dwell in you, and ye also that are impure that He may hallow you! ye Churches also, that the Son of the Creator Who came to renew all creatures, may adorn you! He freshened the foolish who worshipped and served all the stars, He freshened the earth which was worn out through Adam, who sinned and waxed old d. The new formation was the creature of its Renewer, and the all-sufficient One repaired the bodies along with their wills. Come ye blind, and without money receive lights. Come ye lame, and receive your feet! ye deaf and dumb, receive your voice; come thou also whose hand is cut off; the maimed also shall receive his hands6. It is the Son of

c This passage is to be observed as whole world might lean upon Him, and

one of the many in which the Fathers be stayed by Him. As he by the breencourage masters to set slaves free, thren and children, so the world, in the

although they pretty uniformly held (as strength of our Lord, was supported by

St. E. here seems to do also) that Prophets and Apostles. For Joseph

slaves, if they had the choice, should was a wall of plenty to his brethren in

use slavery rather. See Justiniani on the time of hunger, and our Lord a

1 Cor. 7, 21. wall of knowledge to the world in the

d See pp. 15, 33. On Gen. 49, 22. time of its errors." p. 113, he says, "As Jacob leaned upon e This passage is to be noticed as

Joseph instead of Reuben his first- shewing that St. E. did not think a

born ; so instead of Adam the first- man with a distorted limb merely could

born, and the embitterer, the world had be meant by the word employed in the

one Son of its old age in the latter time text, of the same, that as upon a pillar the

to come to the great Physician. 55

the Creator Whose treasure-houses are rilled with all manner of helps. Let him that is without eyeballs come to Him that maketh clay and changeth it, that maketh flesh, that enlighteneth eyes. By the small quantity of clay ■ He shews that it was " S.little with His hand that Adam was formed: the soul of the dead0 ay also beareth Him witness, that by Him it was that the breath of man was breathed in; by the last witnesses He was accredited to be the Son of Him Who is the First f. Gather ye together and come, O ye lepers, and receive purification without labour. For He will not wash you as Elisha, who baptized seven times in the river: neither shall He annoy you as the priests did with their sprinklings. Foreigners and also strangers have betaken themselves to the great Physician; the rank of strangers hath no place with the King's Son; the Lord doth not make Himself strange to His servants, [or conceal] that He is Lord of all. For if the Just maketh the body leprous, and Thou purifiest it, then, the Former of the body hateth the body, but Thou lovest it. And if it be not Thy forming, being Just, Thou wouldest not have healed it, and if it were not Thy creature, when in health, Thou wouldest not see have afflicted it. The punishments that Thou hast cast upon 32eU39. it, and the pains which Thou hast healed, proclaim that Thou art the Creator's Son g.

f Ben. renders, Son of the first of tbe word * witnesses' seems further Adam. It seems, however, certain to point to Is. 44, 7. that St. E. alludes to Is. 41, 4. 44, 6. % The argument is this: if God, as 7. &c. St. Athan. c. Ar.iii. §. 6. speak- being just, is obliged to punish His ing of the latter passage, " The Son creatures, no just being, short of God, is in the one and first and only God, as could interfere with such punishments; being the only Word and Wisdom and but Christ is just, as having all judg- Brightness of Him Who is one, and ment committed to Him, and yet interalone, and first. Yet is He also Him- feres with such punishments; therefore self first, &c." see too §. 9. extr. The use He is God and Lord of all.

is.years In the days1 of a King whom they called by the name of

Zemcha, our Lord sprung up among the Hebrews: and

2Bright- Zemcha and Dencha2 ruled, and came, King upon earth,

spring of the king who enrolled3 men in the book of the dead,

our Redeemer came down and enrolled men in the book of

the living. He enrolled, and they also: on high He enrolled

us, on earth they enrolled Him. Glory to His Name! In the

days of the king Caesar Augustus, the type and the Reality met

together, the king and the King, the Zemcha and Dencha. He

bare His Cross upon His shoulders, the sign of His Kingdom.

Thirty years He went in poverty upon the earth! The

sounds of praise in all their varieties let us twine, my

brethren, to the years of the Lord, as thirty crowns to the

thirty years. Blessed be His Birth !

In the first year, that is chieftain over the treasures and

Dispenser of abundant blessings, may the Cherubim who

Ps.99,i.bare up the Son in glory, praise Him with us! He left His

glory, and toiled and found the sheep that was lost. To

Him be thanksgiving !

In the second year, may the Seraphim praise Him yet

Is. 6, 2. more with us. They that had proclaimed the Son Holy, by

be glory !

In the third year, let Michael and his followers, that ministered to the Son in the highest, praise Him with us. They saw Him on the earth when He was ministering, washing feet, cleansing souls. Blessed be His lowliness!

In the fourth year, let the whole earth praise Him with us. It is but small for the Son, and it marvelled because it saw that it entertained Him in its bed that is so very mean. He filled the bed, and filled the Heaven. To Him be Majesty!

The Creatures invoked to praise Christ. 75

In the fifth year, the Sun glistened unto the earth. With its breath let it praise our Sun Who brought His breadth down low, and humbled His mightiness, that the subtle eye p. 27. of the unseen soul might be able to look upon Him. Blessed be His brightness!

In the sixth year again, let the whole air praise Him with us, in whose wide space it is that all things are made glorious, which saw its mighty Lord that had become a little Child in a little bosom. Blessed be His dignity!

In the seventh year, the clouds and winds rejoiced with us and sprinkled the dews over the flowers, for they saw the Son who enslaved His brightness and received disgrace and foul spitting. Blessed be His Redemption!

In the year that is eighth also, let the fields1 give praise,1 S. wilthat suckle their fruits from His fountains. They worshipped because they saw the Son in arms and the pure One sucking pp- 23, pure milk. Blessed be His good pleasure!

In the ninth year, let the earth glorify the might of her Creator, Who laid seed in her in the beginning that she might bring forth all her produce; for it saw Mary, a thirsty p. 2. land, who yielded the fruit of a Child that was a wonder, yea, a marvel. [Then] it praised Him more exceedingly, for that He was a great Sea of all good things. To Him be exaltation!

In the tenth year, let the mount Sinai glorify Him, it which trembled before its Lord. It saw that they took up stones against its Lord; He received stones, Who should build His Church upon a Stone2. Blessed be His building! S. Ce-

In the eleventh year, let the great sea praise the fists of the ^ a^'0 Son that measured it, and it was astonished and saw that He 12. came down, was baptized in a small water, and cleansed the creatures. Blessed be His noble act!

In the twelfth year, let the holy Temple praise Him, that saw the Child when He sat amongst the old men: the priests were silent when the Lamb of the Feast bleated in His feast3. 3 p. 32. Blessed be His propitiation!

In the thirteenth year, let the crowns praise with us the King who conquered, that died and was crowned with a crown of thorns, and bound upon Adam a great crown at His right hand. Blessed be His Apostleship!

58 The Creatures invoked to praise Christ.

In the fourteenth year, let the passover in Egypt praise the Passover that came and passed over all, and instead of Pharaoh sunk the Legion, instead of horses choked the devil. Blessed be His vengeance!

1 p. 32. In the fifteenth year, let the lamb1 of the gluttons f praise

Him: since our Lord was so far from slaughtering it as Moses did, that He even redeemed mankind with His own Blood. He that feedeth all, died for all, Blessed be His Father!

In the sixteenth year, let the wheat praise by its type that Johni2, Husbandman, Who sowed His Body in the barren earth, since it covereth all, spreadeth itself out and yieldeth new Bread. Blessed be the Pure One!

In the seventeenth year, let the Vine praise the Lord that

2 p. 64. garnished it. He planted a vineyard2, souls were as vineplants.

He gave peace to the vineyard, but destroyed the vineyard that brought forth wild grapes. Blessed be its Uprooter!

In the eighteenth year, let the Vine which the wild boar out of the wood had eaten, praise the True Vine which trimmed

4 see Himself, and kept3 His fruit, and brought the fruits to the

9. ' Lord of the Vineyard. Blessed be His Vintage !

In the nineteenth year, let our leaven praise the true leaven which insinuated itself among those that were in error, and drove them all together, and made them one mind by one Doctrine. Blessed be Thy doctrine!

4 p. 34. In the twentieth year, let4 salt praise Thy living Body, wherewith are salted the bodies and the souls of all the

Mark faithful, and faith is the salt of men wherewith they are preserved. Blessed be Thy preserving!

In the twenty-first year, let the waters of the desert praise Thee. They are sweet to them afar off, they are bitter to them

Exod. that are near, who did not minister to Him. The [chosen] ' ' people and the nations were bitter in the desert, and He destroyed them. They were sweetened by the Cross6 which redeemed them. Blessed be Thy pleasantness!

f St. E. seems to wish to express in shewed Moses a wood, and he cast it a very strong way what he had alluded into the waters, andthey were sweetened, to above p. 32. that Christ saved not The wood is a type of the Cross, whereonly man, but also beast from de- by the Gentiles (see Rev. 17, 16.) were struction. sometime to be sweetened.'

s On Exodus he writes thus : ' God

The Creatures invoked to praise Christ. 59

In the twenty-second year, let arms and the sword praise Thee: they sufficed not to kill our adversary. It was Thou that killed him, even Thou who didst fix the ear on, which Simon's sword cut off. Blessed be Thy healing!

In the twenty-third year, let the ass praise Him, that gave its foal for Him to ride on, that loosed the bonds, that Gen. 16, opened the mouth of the dumb, that opened also the mouth wjjd ass' of the wild asses when the race of Hagar gave a shout ofofaman praise. Blessed be the praise of Thee! u* 2?

In the twenty-fourth year, let the Treasury praise the Son. The treasures marvelled at the Lord of treasures, when in the house of the poor He was increasing, Who made Himself poor 2 Cor. 8, that He might enrich all. Blessed be Thy rule!

In the twenty-fifth year, let Isaac praise the Son, for by His goodness he was rescued upon the Mount from the knife, and in his stead there was the victim, the type of the p. 36. Lamb for the slaughter. The mortal escaped, and He that 29^ ' ' quickeneth all died. Blessed be His offering! see Is-

In the twenty-sixth year, let Moses praise Him with us, for that he was afraid and fled from his murderers. Let him praise the Lord that bore, the spear and that received the nails in His hands, in His feet. He entered into hell and Is. 49,

spoiled it, and came forth. Blessed be Thy Resurrection!

In the year which is the twenty-seventh, let the eloquent speakers praise the Son, for they found no cloke to save our cause. He was silent in the judgment-hall, and He carried our cause. Honour be to Him! And in this year let Moses and Joshua praise Him, who, as being just men, killed the ungodly; let them praise the Son who died for the wicked, as being good. Though Son of the Just One, He gave them all manner of good things in abundance. Blessed be His bowels of mercy!

In the eight and twentieth year, let all mighty men of valour praise the Son, because they delivered not from him who took us captive. He only is to be praised, who being Rev. 5, slain shewed us life. Blessed be His delivery!

In the twenty-ninth year, let Job praise Him with us, who bore sufferings for himself, and our Lord bore for us the spitting and the spear, and the crown of thorns, and scourges, contempt and reproach, yea mocking. Blessed be His mercy!

The Creatures invoked to praise Christ.

In the year that is thirtieth, let the dead praise Him with us, because they are quickened, and the living, because they Mal.4,6.have turned to repentance, because height and depth were set at one by Him. Blessed be He and His Father!

b It seems likely that St. Ephr. had in his own mind some principle hy which he determined how each circumstance was to he put to each year: hut what this principle is I am wholly at a loss to discover. It is also worth observing that there are thirteen Homilies; the first of which is evidently for the vespers or vigil; the whole of them

will just supply, as those of St. Austin do, one for each day up to the time of Epiphany. In case this were so it would of course shew a further difficulty in explaining the passage in R. iv. note e. and whatever probability there is that it is so, the same probability there is that R. vi. does not belong to the Annunciation.

A RHYTHM

AGAINST

THE JEWS,

DELIVERED UPON PALM SUNDAY".

1. To the feast full of wise meanings have ye been invited, my beloved. Offer ye the gifts of praise to the Wise One Who invited you. To the marriage supper of all noble things have ye assembled yourselves, ye successful men ; as conquering wrestlers, take the standard upon your hands. Unto the haven of all good things have ye approached to-day: the hidden treasures of the [Divine] Essence are become a spiritual merchandize. Unto the port which is full of peace have ye come as swimmers: spring in and enter into the place where is no danger, since the storms make no eddies b therein.

B S. on the first in the week of Hosannah. S. E. Assemanni (Prsef. ad Vol. iii. p. xix.) after J. S. Assem. (B. O. i. p. 23. and 269 ) notices, that this feast was not kept with the solemn benediction of palms and olives till A.D. 498. This is stated on the authority of Severus of Antioch and Josuah Stylites, a monk of Edessa, who wrote a chronicle of the events of the neighbourhood from A.D. 495 to 507. The title, however, (presently alluded to,) ' of the refuge of the haven' given to the Monday after this Sunday, shews, that the time was a marked one: while the whole language of the Rhythm leads one to think that the events of Palm

Sunday must have been noticed, in some way in the services of the day. There exist several spurious Homilies upon this feast, which confessedly belong to a later date. That attributed by some to St. Methodius has many points of agreement with this of St. Ephrem; a circumstance which ought to be noticed, as favouring the opinion of Combefis and Gallandi, who contend for its genuineness.

b Or dwell therein. The Lexicons give no other sense, but it seems likely that the root as well as the derivatives should be of the same meaning with the

Arabic ii

62 Prayer for restitution of unity and holiness*

2. Lo ! unto joy hath the King's Son who cometh to outplace invited you. Go ye out to meet Him with olive- branches, and sing unto Him with your Hosannahs. It is the Lord of feasts and seasons that hath invited you on this day to come unto this feast, the Lord [it is] of months and years. And Thou hast taught us to sing to Thee in the festival that is dedicated to Thee% and Thou hast shewed us that we should speak unto Thee in the day of the memorial of Thy goodnesses unto us. May the Angels rejoice along with us the while their trumpets sound aloud ; nations and languages exult as joying in their Hosannahs.

3. Let our troubles be wiped away in Thee : let our evildoings also be blotted out by Thy glorious doings for our sakes ! Let our souls be refreshed in Thee, forgetting their straitenings ! Let the creatures also rejoice that were worn

1 p. 54. out, and grown old !, and become corrupt ! Let our glorious [gifts] be fastened up and fitted into their wonted places d; let our Churches be honoured in Thee, Thou Lord of things spiritual ! Let our spirits too be cleansed ! Let our families be blessed in Thee, Thou that art akin to our human nature ! Let our consciences be sanctified in Thee, and let them get their evils corrected ! Let our breaches be builded up in Thee, and let them be holpen against the adversaries ! Let our sound parts also be beautified that we may return to the former fairness ! Let the heaven and the earth and all that is therein glorify Thee, O Lord of those above ! Let the creatures, Lord, praise Thee, [each] in the form wherein

2S. in the Thou didst stablish it2 ! Let all winds rejoice to Thee with

form of

eirsta- c gQ g^ Method, ap. Galland. iii. similarity to the text, which one should

£ p. 821. Come now let us also, beloved, expect to find, if St. E. had the Horn.

with prepared estate of heart hear what of St. M. in his memory when comthe Lord God will speak in us, both in posing.

the Prophets and the Gospels, touching d This looks as if some ornaments

this most godly festival To-day the were fastened up in the Churches on the

trumpets of the prophets have given occasion, although Assemanni renders

airy lightness of heart unto all the it differently, qua3 nobis obtigere bona

world, and have gladdened the counte- rata esse jube et ordinario cursu fiuere.

nances of the Churches of God that be Both the words used are however of a

in everyplace with delight. Now from physical not a moral meaning, in their

the boundary line of holy fasts and the commonest sense ; while the word used

wrestling against their passions, these for ' Churches' is often applied to the

with their faithful ones along with them material building. The word./• *°\* have taught them how to sing the hymn, . . V

of conquest and the new watchword of *jee™s t"J from Levit. xxiii. 40.

peace to Christ the victory-Creator." yr*2x. i-J— ^*j ^-f.|.2>' There seems to be here just that sort of

Creatures invoked to join the Feast. 63

wonderful and nimble1 blasts! Let the ornaments of Heaven i s. the give honour to the gloriousness of Thy Essence! Let the andnimheights rejoice in Thy coming down, the depths also exult bleness and give glory! oftheir

4. Let the sea rejoice at Thy treadings upon it, yea the dry land at Thy footsteps ! Let our nature rejoice and give glory to Thee, because in it Thy Majesty dwelt! Let my weak mind give praise to Thee with words full of discernment ! Let the company of the Prophets rejoice in the voice of the children's praise : let the band of the Apostles exult in the various voices of all measures ! To-day let the heavens rejoice, and all the ghostly companies, when they confess each in his own form Him that bowed His Height and came down ! To-day let the waters that are above6 [the firmament] proclaim glory in Hosannahs ! To-day let the waters that are beneath, yield the fruit of lauds unto Thy high and mighty Name !

5. To-day let the firmament exult and give glory to that Essence that bowed the heavens and came down to the earth, that He might dwell with the earthy ! To-day let the sun rejoice, yea, let his rays make them a joyful countenance, as confessing the Mighty Sun that gave shine to worlds and creatures ! To-day let the moon glisten amid the glorious gleamings of the bright stars, as worshipping in a lofty place the Mighty One, Who at His good pleasure humbled Himself! To-day let all the bright stars in the garnishment oftheir forms send forth the presents of their praises to the Creator that garnished them ! To-day let the earth exult, and the mountains skip like lambs before the King's Son, Who made Himself lowly, Who came that He might visit things below ! To-day let the sea rejoice, and the islands that are in it wear a glad countenance at the Lord, Who came from His place to the vile place of our human nature !

6. To-day let the thickets rejoice and the groves f in their

e Compare $.2. and §.3. at the close, not be confounded with the event al-

The waters above the Firmament may luded to in the text,

mean the Angels. It may be worth ""° *

noticing, that the Jews thought they f S. \(h\ i{ Groves, apparently from were typified by the different branches the context. The place of the name employed. See GroddeckdeFesto Palm, (Eloth, 2 Kings 16, 6.) is named proin Ugolin. xviii. p. 526. Their festival bably from a palm-grove in the neigh- however was in September, and must bourhood. See Strabo, xvi. p. 776.

64 Vineyard of the Lord overthrown.

trees, for lo! their branches have been cut off to be a fair banner! To-day do ye beasts exult; yea, let the wild beasts leap for joy, for lo! borne upon the ass's foal is the Heavenly One, Who hath come unto our abode! To-day let the city of David rejoice exceedingly and be comforted, for lo! Luke 9, the Lord of all creatures hath set His face to come unto her! To-day let the places round about rejoice, and let the cities Mat.2i,be troubled at the cry of the children that cry aloud, Blessed be He that cometh!

7. To-day the vineyard of the well-beloved is barren and

Is. 5, l. scattered among the nations, and lo! the tramplers treat it

contemptuously, for it is made a mock and is broken down!

The hedge thereof that was rejected hath fallen ; to-day it is

removed and destroyed : and its high tower to-day hath the

voice of the cry shaken down as Jericho g, which was ruined

at the voice of their trumpets! Of the vines that were worn

1see out and spoiled, to-day a restoration1 happened, for in their

ref 2 place was planted the Vine that grew among the nations!

p. 58. The great vineyard that was fruitless did the beasts of the

25. clus- forest feed upon: for it yielded not grapes, but wild clusters2,

pq1^0 and the Lord of the vineyard was wrath, and kindled fire in

the branches thereof, and also commanded the clouds that

they give not the rain in its season, that it might be dry and

barren and without fruit or green leaves. He cut off from it

the rain of the Prophets h and the spiritual dew of the Seers,

for the well of Jacob was dried up, and the stream of Israel

had failed.

Zech. 8. The two rods full of fatness He cut away from the portion

8 On Joel 1. St. E. says, ' Evil is on Jerem. 43. p. 145. quoting Is. 19, 1.

typified by evil that is like itself.' " also the holy Prophets are mysti-

It is on this principle that Sodom and cally meant hy the name of clouds, as

Egypt hecome mystical names for in Isaiah it is written, that God said of

Jerusalem after her sin, Rev. 11,8. His people Israel, (which is typified by

and Jericho in the text is paralleled the name of vineyard,) 1 1 will break

with Jerusalem. down,' &c. Clouds then is what He

h He is referring to Is. 5, 6. where here calls the prophets, who have rained

he says, " I will command the clouds that upon us the heavenly rain." So Jerome

they rain no rain upon it, i. e. I will on Is. xix. 1. St. Aust. c. Faust, xii. 22.

prohibit the Prophets from prophesying St. Hil. in Ps. lxvii. §. 36. St. Cyril

to it: for rain is a mystical name of on Esai. p. 82. b. Pseudo-Bas. in Es.

prophecy and the knowledge of God's p. 483. e. Greg. M. Moral, xvii. §. 36. will. The Prophets also He surnameth This was taken from the Jews, who clouds, because they have rained upon us the rain of heaven," quoting

clouds, because they have rained explain Isaiah 5, 6. in the same way. upon us the rain of heaven," quoting v. Chaldee Par.

while the Church is in joy with the departed. 65

of Abraham, and the kingdom and the priesthood' perished from Israel. He cut off the crowns to-day, loosening the crown Ezek. of Judah; and the Lord caused the ruler to pass from His21'2 " people, the prince and him that was of venerable countenance, Is. 3,3. the wise man, and the counsellor, and the prophet, with the chief ruler! To-day the congregation that loved feast-days, See sitteth in sorrow; because she declined the feast-day of the4 ^g1' Son, He hath despised and rejected her feast-days! To-day Hos. 2, the glory passed away from the people of Israel, and they stand Amos 5, among the nations ashamed, as Cain was, at their unnatural21* deed! To-day the breaches are multiplied in the dwellings of Jacob in every quarter, seeing the Workman that builded her walls hath now destroyed her corner-stones! To-day let the synagogue sing this song among the people, He hath Bar. 4, brought upon me a great mourning, the Lord hath left me desolate, and the Lord hath forgotten that I am His heritage, and hath reckoned me as a stranger* and as a widow that is bereaved!

9. To-day let our congregation rejoice with the voice of the sweet things of the Prophets, and let us make the boughs of praise to flourish, and let us flower as the lilies ! To-day let us pluck fruits from the plot of the Prophets, and by the luscious things of their gardens gain we spiritual sweetnesses! Clap your hands, 0 ye people, in this spiritual feast, and sing with your Hosannahs to Him that crowneth your feastdays. Jacob will come and preach to you the foal and the Gen. 49, vine, David will rouse the babes and sucklings1 to praise, Pg'8 2. Zachariah crieth to Jerusalem, ■ Rejoice and be glad, thouls-W8 daughter of Zion.' Jsaiah again will preach unto us as hinting ones the disciples, * Behold upon the mountains the feet of them Zech 9 that proclaim the glad tidings of righteousness.' His entrance is.52,7. into Zion with a great procession of Hosannahs is a type of

1 So on Zachariah 1. c. p. 303. I have Grecian kings; and of the heads of the

destroyed three shepherds in one month, people. For every office of power in

He does not mean, J, even Z, have de- the nation was, in the course of seasons

•stroyed them — but the people of the and years, cut down bit by bit, till our

Hebrews have destroyed them by their Lord came, and by His coming the

sins, to wit, the order of kings, priests, whole of their glory passed away and

and prophets. And perhaps this is to came to an end kings, priests, and

be taken of the iniquitous rulers and prophets, of the ancient people and land,

priests, who sold the priesthood ; and of did the Lord destroy on the day of His

those that trafficked therein, to wit, the Crucifixion.

66 Witnesses of the Prophets

joys, and fulfilleth mysteries and parables. The children ran

before Him with their branches in their hands, and unto

Him with Hosannahs do simple and artless babes sing :

and after a glorious sort there surrounds Him the band

of the Apostles, and holiness cleaveth to Him, and royalty,

i §. 12. yea, and the priesthood. And the Prophets1 with their

t! 27?ee trumpets proclaim before Him their mysteries, and as unto

the King they pour forth to meet Him praise — the gifts they

give Him — and with variety of sounds they picture similitudes

of Him.

Bar. 3, 10. One saith, this is He Whom I said would come in the

Gen.28, endk unto the earth: and another said, that upon the ladder *3- he saw Him standing. One saith, this is He Whom I saw 2. p. 6s! in the bush in the likeness of fire: and another called Him Ezek. i' Wonderful, and Mighty God of the ages1. One saith, This is 13; n, He that came down amid the crashes and the mighty

lightnings, and came in the voice of a trumpet upon the See mountain top, and I saw Him. And another cried and said, 14. ' 'Praise thy God, O Zion, take the harp and the lute, and sing Is. 24, unto Him with thy songs! One said, He is the Remnant that

was plucked off from Israel : and another took Him up and

k This is in the Gr. Lat. Syr. and and Theodotion render *TJT S2K, nr$f

who on Jerem. xw. extr. classes 0f this title with the preceding, that the

together Baruch and Habakkuk as ,Syriac version seems to have originated,

disciples of Jeremiah, quotes the book of gt, g. on t^e piace understands the

Baruch as Scripture here and above, prophet to mean < of the worlds, i. e. of

§. 8. as do St. Athan. de Deer. §. 12. the present, as ordering all, caring for

§. 15. c. Arian. i. §. 12. n. §. 49. them, and giving them life; and of the

Pseudo-Bas. c. Eunom. iv. p. 294. e: future, as being the King, Judge,

see the note, where S. Clemens Alex. Heritage, and Joy of the Saints,' which

S. Cyprian, and S. Ambrose, are cited, Theodoret seems to copy. The title,

who quote him as Jeremiah, as do St. however, appears to imply for the Son

Hilar, de Trin. iv. §. 42. St. Cyr. c. a pre-existence to any, even the great-

Jul. ix. p. 267. Spanh. est duration man can conceive, taking

i4rfis&&ff&;'2: r 7 ?trd not *■*

.. g a* n t?., ;; fio ww In tms case the Synac version would

fames. St Bas. c. Etm.ii. § 13 What be. M fa £ gee

time (xqn) IB to things of ftis world, note * and g

iuc c io auj j„J? \^<,ia~c, w °f ages He saith that He hath to-day

tucu yjyyu v fu„„L„„„ begotten, that by attaching a name inthem tell us. But so long as they have ^ rf / 8

nothing to mention, let them not Generation, the words may bring before

forget that they are making the Esence ong the'Existence be£re ^

of the Only-Begotten posterior to the fc ft Generation in time by the Flesh

ages." The version exists only in the, , saiva0n *'

Syriac, as far as I know. Symmachus,or man s sa,vatl0Dto the Messiah's power and attributes.

proclaimed, For Him it is that the Gentiles wait. One said, He is the Herb that sprung up and sprouted without seed: and another answered and said, This is the Stock of Jesse. One said, This is the Standard which should be lifted up to the peoples of the earth: and another1" likened Him to a sheep before the shearer. One said, doubtless this is He Whom the Gentiles wait to see: and another, that the Lord cometh down and treadeth forth over the top of the mountains. One repeateth the mighty acts and the signs of His visitations; for, lo! He looseth the prisoners and bindeth up the brokenhearted. Another seeketh" for His Name, and anxiously enquires how he shall call Him: He thattaketh the Wind1 in His fists, what is His Name and the Name of His Son. One saith, As a root, so shall a dry land bear Him: and another crieth and saith, that before the sun His Name existed0. One saith, As for this Child, this day was His birth: and another, The Ancient of Days and the Elder of all the creation p. One saith, I saw Him standing against a high

m By ' another' St. E. does not seem to mean more than another prophetic witness or text: for he had just before quoted one of the latter chapters of this prophet as Isaiah, §. 9.

n It may be observed, that St. E. here cites Prov. xxx. as a prophecy, as this confirms our version of the word Nttf DH, ' the prophecy.' However the Chaldee and Syriac render it so.

° The Syriac and Chaldee give the passage this turn, so as to make the former part of the verse assert Christ's existence to, the latter from, all eternity. The LXX give, ' Before the sun His Name will abide,' i. e. probably, if man contemplates Him, His Name will, at the end of such contemplation, be found abiding before the sun. The difficulty arises from the ambiguity of the Hebrew word *3D/, which means 'before,' either in order of time,or of place, — in the presence of. In the latter sense it has been used, v. 5. and this, with the future tense in the Hebrew, confirm the English Version. As, however, we see from Moses Haddarschan, a very ancient commentator, (quoted in the Pugio Fidei, fol. 334.) that the Jews anciently took this verb as a proper name, — Before the Sun ' His Name was Jinnon.' — Whence we may also see how the perfect comes to be supplied in the

Chaldee and Syriac. Names of this kind arenot uncommon in Hebrew. Thesense would then be, Before the existence of the sun, a name indicative of His everabiding posterity was given to Him.

p On Dan. 1. c. "He calls Him the Ancient of Days, as indicating His Eternity from the Father." By this remark, St. E. means to point out that the same name, ' Ancient of Days,' is applied here to the Son, as (in v. 13.) is applied to the Father, of Whom the Son of Man received all power in Heaven and in Earth. This (which he repeats adv. Scrut. xxxi. 1. 2.) seems more accurate and conformable to the description of the appearance in v. 9. and Rev. 11. than the interpretation of St. Cyril de A dor. p. 113. and St. Austin de Trin. ii. §. 33. The other words do not occur in the Old Testament. The passage most like it is Ecclus. 1, 4. ' Wisdom hath been created before all things.' Where, however, the present Syriac is, k Wisdom is greater than all things.' Or he may wish to refer more generally to Prov. 8, 22. &c. The Syriac in Col. 1, 15. is not cJucac, but J.JJDQO; otherwise it appears, that St. E. in the next sentence interprets Zech. 4, 4. 10. and 5, 1. to which he seems to be alluding by a reference

Gen. 49,

Amos 4,

Prov.

lor

Spirit

Dan. 7,

Ecclus.

68 Witness of the Prophets;

Amos 7, wall: and another calleth Him Angel, because the Gospel of

2 Chron. tne Father was in His hand q. One saith, Shall God indeed

6, 18. dwell with men ? and another saith on this wise, He is the

Ze h 3 11. One saith unto Jerusalem, Arise and shine, for thy Light

I4.p.56'.is come: and another, Exult, thou daughter of Zion, rejoice

Z^ech. 3, an^ shout? Jerusalem. One saith, that He is the Day-Spring:

Numb. another calls Him, Star. One saith, He is a Rod: another,

Ps'. no, the Shepherd of Israel. One saith, He is a King: another, a

?i80'1,Head and Counsellor. One saith, He is a Lamb: and

ii. another, a whole Offering. One saith, He is a Stone cut out

53 j ' without hands : and another calleth Him, a Prince of Peace

Mic.5,5. and Righteousness. One saith, it is He Whom I saw

Dan. 7, carried upon the clouds: and another saw Him sitting upon

Is. 6 l. tne chariot of Cherubim. One saith, that I saw Him sitting

upon a high throne, and with the train of His skirts the holy

Temple was filled: others were making wise significations

of secret mysteries. One said, I heard from the Father,

Gen. 11, saying, Come, let us go down unto Babylon and divide the

Dan. 4 tongues there r: another preached and said, To thee They

31* speak, Nebuchadnezzar. Another said, As for me, I was

preached of that I should come forth to preach in the

Gen. l, world that the Lord said to His Only -begotten, Come, let Us

Ps.72 6. make man in Our Image. One shadowed out His coming

down in a shower that cometh down tranquilly, and Mary

again he shadowed forth in a Fleece* comely and pure.

Jer.3i, Another foreshewed His Conception, and shadowed out His

" goes forth," i. e. to destroy the earth ' come let us go down,' were out of place

for the wickedness of its inhabitants, of one. It was to the Son then and to

What he says of the roll points to the Spirit that He spake, inasmuch as

the Incarnation of Emmanuel, Who neither the former nor the latter tongues

was hung upon the Cross. And if any were given without the Son and the

one should say, ' why, he calleth it a Spirit.'' See also adv. Scrut. lx. §. 5.

curse,' let him be persuaded by the In the next words he probably means

Apostle, who says, ' He was made a to insist on the plural verb, ' They

curse for us.' speak' (which the LXX. and Syriac,

<1 It is to be observed, that St. E. following the original literally, preserve) here looks upon the Angel as the Son. as indicating the Trinity. Upon Exodus 3. he observes, that 8 The Fleece is commonly thus ex- Moses at first saw a dim vision of an plained. See J. Lauretus Sylv. Alleg. Angel, but that as he drew nearer, he n. v. St. E. on Judges, p. 317. " The perceived that it was not an Angel, but Fleece of Gideon, in that it was a re- God speaking in an Angel. See upon ceptacle for the dew of heaven, has S. Athanasius, p. 120. prefigured the Virgin in whom the

r On Gen, 11. "In this passage it is Word became Flesh." not one that is spoken to, for the phrase

Christ seemed contemptible to the Jews. 69

Birth. One hinted at the Way [saying], Make straight the is. 40,3. Way of our God.

12. With these voices was He magnified as He went into Jerusalem, and a company of Prophets moved at His entrance into Zion ; and there were gathered together the See §§. children, and Prophets with disciples that they might bring the King in with pomp, and with the grandeur of their Hosannahs. The Church of the Gentiles longed for Him and worshipped Him, the King of kings ; and at Him the harlot synagogue full of stains1 was indignant: she received " below, Him not with exultation, as the Prophets had plainly toldp' her. She saw His Majesty and felt afraid, that the Most High was come to her, and His Holiness, and she burned with vexation. Because she was wanton between the legs, she looked again upon Him rashly, since He was contemptible in His body ; and turned aside from the glory of His Essence, which was hidden in His Godhead. David the son of Jesse cried unto her, because of that hidden glory ; in the beauty ps. no, of holiness was He born from the Bosom of [His Father's] ^ syr- Essence. Him Who rode upon the back of the unharnessed ass's foal, did the Father beget in a hidden way from the beginning* in His2 Essence: from us, however, 2 S. the He was [born] visibly in the limits of times and seasons.

The Lord sware and lieth not as speaking to3 His beloved Son, 3 s. because of

■ ' From the beginning' is paraphrased many different impressions on the mind, by Assem. * ante omne temp us;' which there is a sense in which we assert, that may be allowable enough as a para- the title ' Without a Beginning' is not phrase, but is not a translation. The improper to give to the Son. For when phrase " from the beginning" is probably from the expression ' Without a Beginused as DVD in Is. 43, 13. for before, ning' is intended to imply a Subsistency, literally, from the day, i. e. before having no origin but Itself, we allow time was. St. Hil. de Trin. ii. 13. on that this is an attribute only of the St. John 1,1. ' In the Beginning was Father. But when the discussion is the Word,' says, " Times are passed upon the other significations of ' Beginover, ages are* left out, eras are put ning>' since one may form an idea of aside. Set up in your mind any Begin- the beginning of some creature, or time, ning that you please, you do not grasp or order 5 in respect of these of the Him in time, for He already was at the Only-Begotten also we attest, that He period the reckoning dates from. . . .for is bigh above a beginning, so as to be- He was that which He is, neither is lieve That by Which all things came to there any time whereto He is so bounded exlst> t0 be ab<>ve any beginning of a as to have had a beginning, seeing He creation, or conception of time, or serather in the Beginning was, than came quence of order: and thus He who in re- tobe." See adv.Scrut.l.§. 1 To this may sPect of Hls Subsistency is not without a be added a passage from S. Greg. Nyss.ii. Beginning, in all other respects hath p. 370. Since the word (Z(Xn) Begin- confessedly the title < Without a Beginning has many significations, and makes nmE*

70 The Jews rejected,

Thou art a spiritual Priest like Melchizedek, for ever. For David shadowed out for Him this true image: after the manner of a man he moulded Him in his Psalms discerningly, in that mention is made of His human nature with which He clothed Himself when He came: for in itu it was that the

!p.32, Priesthood was fore-ordained to belong to that High -Priest1

note n- Who is for ever, and to that King Who shall never decease. For Thou, it says, art a Priest for ever, Thy dominion is an

Ps. H5, everlasting dominion, and Thy kingdom is over all generations.

3' 34 13. In these graces which are blended2 with the hidden nature

n. q- of the Godhead, David shadowed forth before the eyes of the daughter of Jerusalem, similitudes of this King of glory, before whom the Prophets cried out, Hearken, and look, and

Ps. 45, incline thine ear to the voice of the children's praise, and forget thine iniquity and thy people's, and the rebellion of thy father's house, because the King is ravished with thy

ss.thy grace, andlongeth exceedingly for thee who art so glorious3.

ness!°US $ne despised the voice of the Prophets and the preaching of the Apostles; and to the youths and the children she inclined not her harlot ear, which listened not, neither went along with the joyousness or praise. He wrote and delivered to her the divorcement as being rejected and polluted. He took the veil from her head, and from her eyes also chastity31: He stripped her of her ornaments, and doubled back and lifted up her covering: He took her necklaces from her neck, and took away her bracelets and her armlets; and as an adulteress and a harlot He drove her out and sent her forth from His chamber; and she sat without a veil, and with her head uncovered and disgraced!

14. Where is the beauty of thy youth, yea, the glory of thy nuptials ? Where are thy days, those former ones that were of

b St. Cyril c. Nestor, iii. p. 86. b. manity with which the estate of Priest-

" Perhaps (Nestorius) you will say this, hood sorteth not 111,*11 &c. It is important

' When affirming that it is the Word of to notice in how many things the tone

God the Father, with His own Flesh, of St. E.'s doctrine bears against Ne-

Who in all things is One Christ and storianism. Comp. note s. Son and Lord, in what sense are you to * This admits of a sense as it stands,

say, that He was appointed High Priest since chastity is of course a gift of God

and Apostle? Will you not in so saying (see 1 Cor. 7, j.) ; yet one cannot help

be doing an insult to the exceeding fancying the word might have had some

dignity of His Divine Glory?' What secondary sense, as ' a veil,' although

I, friend, should say is, that the Only- our imperfect lexicons do not give it.

Begotten Word of God was made Man, Compare Gen. 20, 16. and it is the proportions of His Hudismantled, and chastised. 71

old? Where is thy beauty, and thy glory, and thy garniture, and thy comeliness? Where is the house that Solomon built thee to thy glory? Where is the priest and the ephod which stood and ministered to thee1? Where is the girdle that was lS. stood bound on, and the chain too, and the turban? Where the JjJinis7fine linen, and the purple, and the bells of gold, and the try- pomegranates? where the row of beryls, the clusters of goodly stones? Where is the table of gold, and shew-bread which was thereon? where the fumes of propitiatory sacrifices, and the fat of whole burnt-offerings? Where is the ark itself, and the tables of stone that were therein? Where are the cups, and the dishes, and all the vessels of the ministry? Where are thy feast-days, and thy new moons, and thy observances? Rejoicing hath ceased from thee, and the sound of the dance and of thy chanting! and, lo! wailings are the chants of thy mouth, and of thy children's mouths!

15. What is thine iniquity, O daughter of Jacob, that thy chastisement is so severe ? Thou hast dishonoured the KingPs.72,1. and the King's Son y, thou shameless one and harlot ! The King was dishonoured in the wilderness, and the King's Son again, in Jerusalem. The Father was exchanged for the calf and for sundry similitudes, and the Son also was ex-Luke23, changed for a thief and a blood-shedder ; and the Spirit ofp^ig' the Lord did they vex among the strange nations. The Trinity z 40. 41 .

< He that is King is also the King s Son, Son to be Son and Ki nor the Ho,

seeing that God the Father is King ;' Spirit to be that which He ig b

which is indeed the usual interpretation. Essence.'

Comp. adv. Scrut. lviii. 4. S. Metho- z Th;se words may be rendered, dius, as above, c. v. refers apparently <the Trinity that was from Eternity.' to it, '[He is] a very King from a -\v. v~ tt.ll- -n \ Veri King, having a Kingdom co- ^^^ ^ H™ever, this will not eternal and before the ages, as He alter the passage in one respect, viz. in hath Who begat Him. For the King- this, that St. E. evidently here condom is common to Him, nor is it from templates the generality of the Jews as without that the expression makes the haying access to a knowledge of the Son to inherit the honour of this King- Trinity. This opinion seems expressed ship, or as if it had a beginning, or with some limitation, adv. Scrut. viii. accrued to Him— far from it— but it is §• 2- a°d xliv- §• 3. lix. §. 2. and cont. one natural and His own by a true Scrut. i. §. 37. on which see the notes, possessorship. For there is one King- * think it will be found, that other ship of the Father and of the Son and Fathers agree with St. E. in proportion of the Holy Spirit, as there is also one as they had access to Jewish sources of Essence and one Lordship. Hence also information. Thus Origen in Josh. iii. we do with one adoration worship the §• 2- "I think that those of old who were Trine Essence of the Godhead, which under the Law, attained indeed a knowhath no beginning, creation, boundary, ledge of the Trinity, though not a whole or successiveness. For neither will the ana" perfect, but a partial one, inasmuch

The Jews' adoption of Idols for the Trinity

that was of old she despised, and behaved herself madly, and loved vain gods, devils, and fortunes, and images. For Saturn3 had honour paid to him, and the Word of the Father got dishonoured; Chemosh b too was beloved, and the gracious Son was insulted. Thamuzc was near and dear, and

as in that Trinity there was wanting to them a knowledge of the Incarnation," &c. S. Just. Mart, by his reasoning with Trypho appears to expect them to allow a plurality of Persons, ' do ye admit, he says, that the Holy Ghost ealleth any else God and Lord beside the Father of all,' p. 277. ed. 1686. eomp. p. 274. and St. Athan. below. St. Epiphan. p. 18. ' In the Monarchy the Trinity was ever preached and believed upon by the chiefest men among them, i. e. the Prophets and the Saints.' p. 24. ' In the Pentateuch there is scattered here and there evidence of the Resurrection of the dead, yet it is not preached, so as to be visible to all; and evidence is scattered also concerning the Only-Begotten Son of God and the Holy Spirit, and against idols. But one has the proof of the Monarchy more visible to all, and in the Monarchy the Trinity is spiritually declared,' cf. p. 899. ' The One Godhead is chiefly declared in Moses. More than One (hvus) in the Prophets is fully preached, but in the Gospels the Trinity is made clear, suiting as it does better in respect of the seasons and generations for the justified (3>;x/)mantoknow and believe. S.Bas. Hex. vi. §. 2. ' In every part of the History is the Doctrine of Theology mystically scattered.' Pseudo-B. c. Euu. v. p. 317. ' The Word did the Fathers know, the Word of God they worshipped, and with the Word the Spirit.' What St. B. himself says, p. 258, of the ignorance of the Jews does not necessarily make against this, as it may be observed, that St. Athan. c. Arian. like way of (ral* vuv 'lotdc&iav) the Jews of that day, (see also adv. Scrut. speaks of the Patriarchs worshipping the Son. St. B.'s words are: M though there be many things which separate Christianity off as well from Grecian error as from Jewish ignorance, I think no doctrine more peculiar to itself exists in the Gospel of our salvation than the belief in the Father and the Son." So also Greg. Nys. ii. p. 322. b. Still it must be admitted, that in his Hexaem. ix. §. 6. and Horn. xxiv. p. 189. he holds the

same language without any limitation to the later Jews: and in Hex. vi. as above, seems rather to be looking at the actual contents of Holy Writ than the insight the Jews had into it. St. Chrys. de Incompr. v. " This (the keeping the Jews from Polytheism) was the cause why the Son of God was not clearly or manifestly, but darkly and sparingly, made known to the Jews. For as they were just set free from Polytheism, if they had had to hear of God, and God again, they would have turned back again to this mischief." This may suffice to shew the degree in which the Fathers admit that ji knowledge of the Trinity might have existed under the Old Testament, though it were but obscure and imperfect. ■ — It may be added, that the reference to Barabbas, which seems out of the order one should expect, is perhaps intended to refer to the general character of the Jews: all along they preferred thieves and robbers to the Word, whether speaking in divers ways by the Prophets or in His own Person.

a Syr. Covon. Perhaps the same aa pvD Amos 5, 26. Some make it Saturn, (seeGeseniusinv.)asSt.E.himselfdoes plainly, vol. ii. p. 458. c. and others the same as Hercules. See Mover, die Phonizier, i. p. 425. who cites a Numidian inscription, where he is called, King of Eternity. On Amos, St. E. says, ' Instead of the Pillar of Fire, [i. e. the Spiritual Rock that followed them,] they worshipped a star,' meaning Saturn, see Abarb. ap. Jablonski Opusc. ii. p. 16. and Acts vii. 43. ' the star of your god Rephan.'

'' Chemosh the same as Baal -peor. So S. Ephr. on Jer. xlviii. 7. and St. Jerome on Isai. xv. 2. whose concordant judgment on the question is probably more to be depended on than that of moderns.

c Thamuz, Adonis, see Mover, p. 195. Ashtaroth or Astarte is made by some Venus, by others Juno or Diana, see Mover, p. 600. &c. Cicero de Nat. Deor. iii. 23. mentions that she was the spouse of Adonis. If the Virgo coelestis, as M. thinks, St. E.'s contrast would be clearer.

the cause of their final rejection. 73

the Lord on high was rejected and despised. Astaroth was paraded in every place, and the Heavenly One was put aside. Baal was honoured by sacrifices, and the Messiah was persecuted of the impure. And the bats and ghosts Bar. 6, were worshipped in her chamber, and He on whose nod the ' earth hangeth, was smitten with palms in the streets. Who hath heard the like of this which was done to the Redeemer? Jer. 19 Wherefore I will break you in pieces [it says] and make you*J; 23> a great reproach. These things did Israel hear from the mouth of prophecy, lo! ye are as Ethiopians, children thatis.24,5. have transgressed My law. For the ox knoweth his owner is.i 3. and the ass his master's crib, but My people halh not known their God, and Israel hath not considered. Would thatPs.8i, My people had known Me and Israel had walked in My13* ways, then had their enemies perished in a little while, and I should have turned My hand against them that hated them. For thus He spake with them: with His reproach in severity and in His anger He troubled them, and shame filled their faces. Jer. 51, And He was wroth at Jerusalem and made it also desolate. ' And the Prophet Isaiah cried, intimating [things] concerning it; that as a shed in the midst of a vineyard, and as a hovel is#i §.9. which is let alone, thus hath the Lord left Jerusalem, because of her iniquity. And except the Lord of Hosts had left a small remnant unto the assembly of the house of Israel, which was to shoot up from the stock of Jesse, they would have been as Sodom and would be like unto Gomorrha. 16. Yet now it thinks within itself that a restoration d shall be

d See§ 20.andadv.Scrut.xliv.3. So the warmth of love was gone, and the

too on Isai. fin. ' The interpretation zeal for the Law had waxed cold: the

however [of this passage] which is cer- nakedness of their coldness was covered

tain, and squares in all points with the by the Prophets, yet from the chilling

words of the Prophets and the history of sin they gat no heat ; for evil habits

of the times is, that whatever both had seized them, and as ice that is not

Prophets, Isaiah and Ezekiel, have to be thawed, so did these bind their

said of the delivery and restitution limbs with cold : neither was any mediof the Jews, is to be taken of the cine found for their inveterate chill,

days of the coming of our Lord and of which had entered into the ligaments

the preaching of His Gospel.' And of their body and rotted the marrow of

elsewhere he notices how prophecies their bones. Assistance from heaven

which had a partial fulfilment at the therefore was expected by them : from

fulfilled at Christ's coming, as on Jerem. that is it which Abishag, the youthful

16. and 49. So also on 1 Kings i. p.440. and the fair, shadoweth out to us, and

he writes as follows, David in his old She came to Her own, and lay in the

age " is a type of the way in which, in bosom of the old ; but as this one was

the people of the Jews, when grown old, feeble, there was no cure wrought. For

74 The Jews' infatuation in expecting

again given unto it, this people who hath provoked God with all their perverse tumults; lo! it expecteth, and searcheth into the times when its release shall be. It reads foolishly in the Prophets and understandeth not their words. And, as one that heareth a restoration [coming], with blustering voice it cries that Jerusalem shall be built again. The Hebrew, though hearkening and longing again, yet knows not wherefore it was destroyed. Again it saith, that its glory is waxing great; and how it is to do so, it knoweth not; and it muttereth to itself that its name shall be great; and in whom it shall be great, it knoweth not e. It says, that it is Is. 35, 9; called redeemed, and who hath redeemed it, it skilleth not; ' ' and that it shall be for a [great] name and a glory it goes on to say madly, and in what, and how, it saith not, because its reason f has deserted it, his heart hath waxed gross, and Israel hath made his ears dull of hearing, that he should not hear aught that is written. Lo! at the entering in of our Redeemer prophecy cried aloud with its voice, that this

the Jews turned not from their evil ways, and the Messiah also who came to them, they hanged on the Cross. From that time a gloomy winter came over them and removed that Sun afar from them. After the Messiah was ascended into Heaven, and the disciples were dispersed into the four quarters of the world, there was awaked over the Jews' city a war, the weapon of destruction. Then was the nation of the Jews like unto a tree against which in mid-winter mighty blasts blow with evil whirlwind: for off it letteth fall itsleaves, and within a little while is cast down on the ground." And presently after; " Adonijah depicts the haughtiness and rebelliousness of the elder son, i. e. of the people of Israel. For neither the sword, nor the yoke of bondage, nor the multitude of troubles that encompassed them, sufficed for their humiliation. But their pride is to be seen even in our days, and there is a hope among them that upon the coming of that Messiah, whom they expect, they will obtain the kingdom of the world. This Adonijah saw in his dreams, when he says, I will reign: for the Jews, who idly fancy to themselves these things, behave proudly and extravagantly to every body, and even imagine that they liave the kingdom which in their own silly mind is to

be theirs. The Prophet says, ' they have reigned, but not from Me,' Hos. 8, 4. their kingdom then is from themselves, exists, that is, in the cogitation of their own heart." See also ii. p. 325. a. This is the opinion also of St. Chrysostom, St. Jerome, Origen, (contr. Cels. iv. p. 174. where see Spencer,) St. Epiphanius, Hser. xxix. $.3. Those who, after theology had become more systematic, speak of a return, de Ador. p. 428. on Hos. p. 62. seem to hold only, that they \t ill be absorbed into the Church, not be lords over it. St. E.'s opinion upon the subject may be considered as of especial value, since from his youth he had enjoyed a capacity through his knowledge of the Semitic tongues for entering more deeply than other Fathers into the meaning of the Prophets.

e Possibly there is an allusion here to the processions, &c. which it appears from St. Chrys. adv. Judseos, that the Jews used to be in the habit of making.

f This seems to be the sense: — Syr. 4 Because it is deserted by its own mind,' as though its mind were contemplated as different from itself, and so able to divorce it. Possibly, however, the selfcontempt inwardly felt by the people in spite of its boasting, is intended.

a Messiah, and in denying that He has come. 75

is He of Whom it saith, Lo! He cometh riding upon the foal of an ass. Arise, go forth to meet Him with Hosannahs, and with timbrels rejoice and be glad. But the scornful one, when she heard the voice of His praise in Hosannahs, was burning with grief, and was vexed, and sought to silence the little ones, for the voices of the Apostles, and of the children, were intermingled g. Even the Old [Testament] sung with joy §. 9, &c. to the Redeemer, Prophecy along with the children, and the Apostleship in its own person. Lo! in the Messiah perfected are the Prophets and the Apostles, and both of them at once give praise to the Lord that gave both [Testaments].

17. The Jews, then, not only made themselves strangers to the covenants, but dishonoured the Father, and killed the Son . in envy. The Prophet invites the congregation of the house of Israel to praise Him, but it went about to kill Him, and hastened to do mischiefs. The heavens declare His glory, and the synagogue yielded not obedience. The earth was amazed at His humiliation, and the Jews considered it not. All the types of Him came true, but they impudently assert that He was not true. And the things that were to come, met their accomplishment1, yet they deny that they have ever come nigh XS. were to them. The types also which the Seers foreshewed, ourtered~ Redeemer fulfilled and brought to a close, and the people, P- 79hard-hearted and rebellious, deny impudently with an oath

that hitherto new things have been administered unto them, but say, that they are all still kept a mystery. O fools, how long will ye be unwilling to get wisdom! Come, and let us search aright the sayings of prophecy, and let us see if these types which were spoken have not been fulfilled!

18. Jacob blessed Judah, saying, ' The sceptre shall not depart from thee, nor an interpreter from between his feet, until Gen. 49, the Shepherd come unto him ; Whose is the kingdom, and Whom the nations look for to h redeem them from their errors,

We learn from St. Luke 19, 37. b There is a great variety in the

that it was a multitude of the disciples versions of this passage, although they

that praised God, &c. St. E. through- all give substantially the same sense,

out appears to consider them as distinct The word ' sceptre' is symbolic of a

from the Jews who cried, Crucify Him, king, the word which E. V. renders

— which seems more accurate than the ' lawgiver' and which seems to mean

ordinary use made of the passage as a 'a staff,' may be taken as the symbol

common place against the fickleness of of the law giver or interpreter, and hence

the people. rendered as we find it in the versions.

76 The Jews ought to be ashamed,

He shall bind His foal to the vine, and his ass, my son,

to the vine-branch. In this passage let the Jew that perceiveth not, search and look if there be sceptre in Judah or

interpreter between his feet, then the things that are written

have not been fulfilled, neither have they hitherto met their

accomplishment. But if the sceptre be done away with, and

the prophet too be silenced, let the people of the Jews be put

to shame, however hardy in impudence they be. If He sat not

upon the colt as Zachariah prophesied, and the children did

Ps. 8, 4. not praise Him as David also said, and if He made not the

Zech. 9, kingdom to pass away from Ephraim as it is written, and if He

spake not with the people and things were not accomplished

* as had been said, then let it not be believed on the earth that

He is King for ever.

19. If however He effected these things and accomplished

types and parables, let the Jew be also ashamed when hearing

The people is exchanged for the nations, them that are near for

Jer. 9, them that are far off. Lo! I have scattered thee among the

Ps'.44, nations, saith the Lord to Israel, and have sold thee without

12; 106, monev? neither will I exchange thee any more: because they

were mingled among the nations, and learned their works,

lo! I will remove them far off and call the nations unto Me.

Is. 28, And, in the midst of Zion will I place a choice Stone, [a

stone] of stumbling, and he that trusteth upon His Name

shall not be confounded, saith the Lord. And again the

It appears from 2 Kings 4 , 29. that it was enlarged his kingdom, hut Jesus, David's

usual for prophets, the authorized inter- Son, who is the Lord of the Kingdom,

preters of the law, to carry a staff. King then and prophet shall not depart

St. E.'s words on the place will con- from the house of Judah until He come,

veniently follow: "He spoke of the King- to whom the Kingdom helongs. If this

dom, which, though they were under is not so, let them shew us kings hefore

trials and humiliations, no body was David, who were descended from Judah

able to take from them. For it was for and kept up the crown for him till David,

the Lord of the Kingdom, that a king- And if before David king there was none,

dom was preserved among their tribes, it is plain that it was to descend in the

and to shew that he spoke of the crown line of David and his sons." The word

that was to be derived from him, and ' Kingdom' is added from the Chaldee,

not of his tribe, it is written, the sceptre and is not in the present Syriac text.

shall not depart, i. e. the king; nor the The word Shiloh has been divided by

interpreter, i. e. the prophet who inter- several versions, in order to make it

prets things to come. Until he come, * to whom it belongs,' and ' Kingdom' is

not David, [to whom he had said the is then supplied from the context,

prophecy in its first sense applied,] who ' Shepherd' is St. E.'s own addition.

because the prophecies have been fulfilled. 77

Prophet saith, I saw die Lord standing against a wall of Amos 7, adamant, and in His hand a stone of adamant', and the Lord said unto the Prophet, in a revelation evidently, Lo! I will set an adamant among this people Israel! David also had foretold how He would fulfil all types [saying], The Stone Ps. 118, which the builders rejected hath become the head of the building.

20. Learn, therefore, O Hebrew, that the Lord hathk built Jerusalem, and raised up her walls firm, and blessed her children with peace. The Lord hath remembered His mercy, and in His compassion hath gained many; and as a man whom his Is. 66, mother comforteth that he may forget his sorrows, thus doth ' the Lord comfort Jerusalem, saying unto her, In great fury Is.54,8; have I smitten thee, and with everlasting mercies will I gain Is. 60, thee ; instead of the disgrace of thy rejection and the ignominy ' of thy destruction, I will lift up thy head among the nations, and will increase thy glory and thine honour : because they have called thee unfaithful, and a city full of stains1, I will1 above, sprinkle upon thee My precious Blood', and will make thine s'ee iniquities and thy sins to pass away. And as thou art?fize£* bereaved of Israel, because I have removed him from My Jer. 7] side, I will open thy gates with joy, and the hosts of the \^60 Gentiles shall enter into thee, and shall become in thee anil, elect people, and the Lord shall reign over Zion, and many Is. 24, peoples shall come and shall worship Me in Jerusalem. * And as a land that giveth its fruit, and as a garden that Is. 61, yieldeth its seed, thus shall the Lord cause righteousness to sprout forth among the Gentiles. And they shall say in that day, lo ! our God is the Redeemer ! lo ! the Lord cometh 13.47,4. with power, and shall redeem us from our trouble, and with a new name shall they name thee, which the mouth of the Is.62,2.

This word is adopted by the LXX, ' anach' being tbe Hebr. word here,

Symmachus, and the Syriac as a trans- which perhaps is tbe Rdf, whence •

lation of a somewhat uncertain Hebrew %i%u* 'ad unguem facere' may really

word rendered ' plumbline' by E. V. come.

Possibly the ancients, who used ' ada- k The emphasis is on hath: St. E.

mant' of several hardsubstances, pointed means that the Church is intended by

their plumbs with this — thatis, assuming Jerusalem, above, p. 73, note d.

they had them of a shape now common I Method, fin. ' Christ our Passover

for accurate purposes. Hence in Ecclus. was sacrificed for us, that they who

Herodotus vii. Plin. 37- 15. mentions were the door posts, (see Psalm 141,3.)

the anachitis amongst the adamants, might escape the darts of the destroyer.'

78 The glories given to the Church, the new Jerusalem,

Lord shall set on thee. Then Zion spake weeping dis-

See Is. tractedly, The Lord hath left me because I have provoked

g^m ' Him, and God hath forgotten me, yea, He hath rejected me.

Can a mother forget to shew mercy upon her beloved, or not lull

and love the pleasant fruit whom she brought forth? Yea, she

may forget, yet T will never forget. Lo! upon the palms of

My hands have I graven thy high walls, O Jerusalem! Thine ini-

Is.40,2. quity is forgiven thee then, O thou humbled one, who hast been

Is. 54, exalted suddenly. For, lo! I will make all thy stones beryls,

* c* and thy choice foundations will I make stones of sapphire, and

thy battlements1", I will make them as excellent jaspers, and

thy doors will I make of crystal stone, and thy high wall will

I make of choice stones, and I will fill thee within, O

Jerusalem, with abundance, and treasures, and stores, with

chalcedony, and pearls, and glass", and beryls, and thy

chambers will I fill with sardonyx, and thy palaces with

choice gold! And all thy sons and thy daughters shall be

taught of God, and peace shall abound in thy towers, and

righteousness in thy streets, and before many nations will I

hallow thee, and I will dwell in the midst of thee. Lo! the

Is. 60, 3. nations shall come to thy light, and the Gentiles to meet thy

See Is. rising! I have made thee to be an honour unto Me amongst

43, 4. 7. tjje nations? and to be My boast among the Gentiles. I will

See Is. pitch My tabernacle in thee, and fix My nails in the midst

54> 2' of thee, I will spread out and enlarge thy corners, and will

Ez. 37, also stretch forth in thee My curtains, I will dwell in thee,

23* 26* and be hallowed in thee, I will be thy God for ever ; here

Ps. 132, will I dwell, for 1 have pleasure herein. And I will bless her

14, victuals, and will cause the horn of David to flourish, and

My redemption shall never fail her. Because Jerusalem was

vexed at the cry of the children's voices, the Church shall

gather in children, and they shall praise Me with their

Hosannahs, and as she invited the children to glorify Me

m This word occurs in the Syriac very words of Scripture, as putting to-

Hexapla. see ahove, p. 49, note g. As, gether such portions as, along with

however, St. E. does not keep to the some words of his own, would fill up the

words of the Syr. Hex. it is perhaps an metre.

evidence that he consulted the Greek, n The word used Joh28, 17. for cryfor wig/jSoXtff might either be a wall, or stal, (in E. V.) where Gesenius (Lex.

a hedge, as the Hex. make it. see Biel. in v.) maintains we should render glass,

Thes. in v. It should be observed, how- though more precious than our common

ever, that in this passage, St. E. does glass, not seem so much to be quoting the

because not ashamed of Christ's low estate. 79

in the streets, I will gather unto her the multitude of the nations, and they shall chant to Me with Hosannahs. And Jerusalem and her children shall cry out, Blessed is He that hath come and is to come! Hosannah in the height and in the depth, to the Son of the Father Most High. Blessed He that in His love lowered Himself that He might redeem the human race! Blessed the King that made Himself poor that He might enrich the needy! Blessed He that came to p. 75. fulfil the emblems and types of the Prophets! Blessed He that gladdened the creation 1 with the wealth and treasure ' S. the of His Father! Blessed He Whose glory those dumb by JjJJJJ nature sung in Hosannahs! Blessed He to Whom the little below, children sung a new glory in hymns! Blessed be the new n*. c. King Who came that new [born] babes might glorify Him! Blessed He unto Whom the children stammered songs, and lauded Him amongst the disciples!

21. Who, Lord, would not be astonied at Thy love, how greatly it humbled itself ! When the chariot of Cherubim ° beareth up Thy glory in fear2, a poor colt was bearing Thy 2 p. so. Might and holy Power, which in its mercies came unto us, gJJL that by His peace we might be lifted up on high. Let myiv.andv. mouth proclaim Thy righteousness on this day of joy. And

let my tongue speak Thy glory upon this feast-day of blessings. Let my soul exult in this feast whereby all creatures are gladdened, and let my mind carry boughs of praise instead of Hosannah- [boughs] p which the infants bore before the foal upon which Thy Majesty sat. Let us cry unto Thee with the children, ' Hosannah to the Son of David.' The infant whose tongue faltered, did in the channel for maturer speech gender, with their Hosannahs, such a praise as Prophets had never praised Him withal. The children, who sung to the Son, made aghast the old men, that saw the Son, yet praised Him notq.

22. Let my thoughts, Lord, bear Thee about, not as babes which were without discernment, and let me laud Thee like

0 Method, v. ' They blessed the Lord 1 So Methodius, as above, c. iii.

God sitting upon the colt as upon the ** Sucklings pronounce Him God, and

Cherubim.' elders blaspheme, children piously sa-

P The boughs themselves used in the crifice praise : and unpriestly priests

Jewish festival were termed Hosannahs, impiously shew indignation." see Bartolocci Bibl. Rabbin, in v.

80 The lowliness of Christ's Triumph.

that multitude of disciples who saw Thy power: and let me rejoice in Thee as the children who uttered a voice in joy of heart! On this day our Lord entered Jerusalem the city of kings, and humbled Himself and rode a colt, that He might exalt the low estate of man. He left the Seraphim in a

1 adv. high place, who sing 'holy'1 unto Him with His Father, and ivc™dv. received glory from the babes and the children of Jerusalem.

To-day our Lord entered into Zion, and rode upon a foal, Zech. 9. and Zachary preached this aforetime — Lo! thy King cometh unto thee righteous and meek, and riding upon an unharnessed colt, and the children cried before Him, Hosannah to the Son of David. Blessed He that came and is to come, to Him be glory and to His Father that sent Him. The

2 p. 24. Cherubim2 cried unto His Majesty, Blessed be the Lord from

out of His place, and the children with boughs of olive gave praise before Him in Hosannahs. To-day the Creator of the worlds humbled Himself1, and left the height of the Cherubim, and sat upon a lowly foal! Blessed be the Lord of the Prophets Who came and fulfilled their words; and the children with the disciples yield praise to see His lowliness. Children that as yet knew not the speech of man sung praises from the arms s, because they saw that He rode upon a foal.

r This looks like a reference to the as fuel to the fire that went along the

Epistle for the day. Philipp. 2, 6. &c. ground in the plague of Egypt, &c.

8 St. E. seems to take the words, See also contr. Scrut. iii. §. 18. where

babes and sucklings, in the most na- he assumes these to be foreign children

tural and literal sense, and to assume come to the feast. Methodius suggests

that a miraculous impulse seized even the same view as St. E. has in the text,

the children in arras, the Divine power c. iv. " O ye that be disobedient in the

enabling them to articulate as It did wisdom of the just, turn ye your hearts

Balaam's ass. Where there was amani- to your children, learn the mysteries of

festation of a Divine power adequate to God. The thing itself that is performing

working miracles, it was usual with the bears witness that it is God who is

Fathers to discover them, where others thus hymned by uninstructed tongues,

would pass them over. Thus St. E. on Search the Scriptures, as ye have been

Gen. 21, 13. assumes, that the thicket told by the Lord, for it is they which

on Mount Moriah was miraculously bear witness concerning Him, and be

produced: the question of Isaac imply- not ignorant of the marvel. .. .learn

ing that there was no ram, and his car- from themselves who it was that taught

rying wood that there was no wood in them and if it was not any man that

the place. So too he assumed, p. 82. taught them any of these things, but.

that Jacob had miraculous power to it is a supernatural {m-httpa.™) praise

move the stone given him that he might which they sing, know ye that the work

not espouse himself to Rachel with a is God's We will join in choir with

kiss, until God had espoused him to her these, and with the new glory will sing

with a miracle. And again, on Exod. the song divinely inspired." (add S.

p. 210. that the hail acted supernaturally Chrys. ad loc.)

a stumbling block to the carnal Jews. 81

23. He rode the foal and came lo that Jerusalem that thirsted for blood. She saw Him and was filled with foolish envying, because she saw that He was chaste and pure. Blessed be the King that made Himself lowly and sat upon a lowly colt: and Zion, when she saw His lowliness, despised Him and would not receive Him. Seraphim are abashed at His brightness1, l adv. neither are they able to look upon it; yet the children with 9^/45] disciples sung before Him with Hosannahs. Cherubs at

His brightness tremble, and beneath His chariot serve, yet did the disciples make ready a lowly colt for Him, and He sat thereon. O marvel how the King's Son humbled Himself among the earthy, for instead of fiery chariot He upon a foal was borne! Empyreals haste away from Him in His high place with His Father, and babes in love shout to Him, ' Hosannah to the Son of David.'

24. To David the king did the daughters of Israel sing with 1 Sam. the timbrels, and to the Son of David did the children give & ' ' glory with their Hosannahs, and strawed their garments before the colt of the King of kings, Who rejected horses

and chariots, and chose Him a lowly beast*, that the word of Zachary might be fulfilled, which he prophesied to the daughter of Zion; Lo! thy King cometh riding upon a colt the foal of an ass. Before the Ark of God David the king 2 Sam. sported, and before the colt of David's Son youths with the ' branches yielded praise. Michal despised David, and so above, did the foolish old men the children. They began too J] t ' crying out in churlish mood, let the voices of praise be put to silence, the shout also of the multitudes of disciples who were lauding the coming of the King of kings, Who humbled Himself and sat upon the lowly colt.

25. The King of kings went into the city with the shout of

glory which was fitting, and the contemptuous synagogue

asked, Who is this, and what the report of Him? It saw the

multitudes that were praising Him, with new-cut branches of

palm, and envy2 pricked the contemptuous one to put the2 See

Mat.27,

1 Origen in Matth. xvi. §. 16. " He chariots at the time when He cast above,

came into Zion meek and seated upon Pharaoh's chariots and his host into p. 69.

a beast and a young foal to visit Israel, the sea. He came too to destroy

the while He destroyed the chariots the horse, that warlike animal from

from Ephraim (Zech. 9, 10. comp. Jerusalem, that He might make peace

p. 76.) now become like Pharaoh's for Israel, &c."

82 Chris Vs lowly triumph gladdens the Churchy

children to silence. He went into Zion in lowliness, though Lord of the whole creation, and she started not up from her sleep, that asp that loveth adulterers. Blessed be He that made to be trodden down the haughty one that received Him not, and chose Him an holy Church, and lo! she praiseth Him with Hosannahs. i See 26. Come hither thou troop of Prophets, ye interpreters1 of

5" h. ' t-ne verities ! See ye the King hath not turned aside from the way that ye trod out for Him ! Rise, David", and look closely at the Son of David, as thou hast preached Him ; lo ! the youths and the children sing unto Him in their Hosannahs ! That praise is confirmed to Him which the Elders and the Pharisees tainted, which simple youths might receive from the teachers of verity. Rise, and look closely at thy disciples, a beloved troop of children, for lo ! they cry in simple-hearted tone, Hosannah to the Son of David ! The old men cast aside the great glory which was due unto the way of the King, and the artless ones without spot shouted before Him with Hosannahs. Why sleepest thou, O Son of Jesse ? Rise to-day and rejoice with us, and bring thy haq} with thee, and sing to the holy Church, " Forget thy people Ps. 45, and thy father's house, then shall the King have pleasure in i0* thy beauty." Because the daughter of the Hebrews hated Him, the daughter of the Gentiles hath received Him. Oh ! how sweet is thy lute to me, and how soft are the sounds of thy harp ! which taught the simple babes to sing the sounds of glory. David hasted into Zion, and the voice of his harp sounded lustily, and the children clave to him, and he Ps. 118, dictated to them an holy song. ' Blessed be He that cometh 26, in the Name of the Lord !' David preached by his Psalm, and the simple ones sung after him, Blessed He that came and is to come. Zacharv, thou Prophet, rise and give praise, that thy prophecy was accomplished, for lo ! He rode the colt, as thou saidst, and the ass's foal, as thou didst proclaim ! Cry out to the adulterous city that she come forth to meet the

u St.Method.cap.ii."To-daywithjoy the ark of God, he joineth in their

doth the blessed David rejoice, having music and sweet stammerings, saying,

his harp stolen from him by the babes, Blessed is He that cometh in the Name

the while with the choir of these he of the Lord; and we will ask him,

joins in spirit and keeping feast along saying, Tell us, Psalmist, who is this

with them as of old in the presence of that cometh, &c."

whether visible or invisible. 83

Bridegroom, if she will, or, if not, send children to praise Him in their Hosannahs.

27. Exult and rejoice, thou daughter of Jerusalem, for lo! thy King cometh riding, and shout with praise, thou daughter of Zion, for thy King rideth on an ass's foal ! destroying horses Zech. 9, from Ephraim and the chariot from Israel, and proclaiming 10* glad tidings of peace and quiet unto all the nations that believe in Him. Aged Jacob, rise, give praise, for He hath sealed up x the mysteries of thy blessings; for He hath bound the colt to Gen. 49, the vine, and to the vine -branch the ass's foal. Rise, give10 praise, thou holy Church, and receive the Bridegroom with Hosannahs, and with babes and children hymn praises amongst the nations upon the feast-day of our Redeemer, that hath come and delivered thee from error !

x ' Sealed' is used in the same way in of Jacob, cap. ii. who also refers to

Daniel 9, 24. St. E. here contemplates Gen. 49, 10.) On the interest the Pathe patriarchs and prophets as "keeping triarchs were held to take in the doings

feast on seeing their prophecies brought of the Church, see above, p. 42, note g.

into completion," (to use St. M.'s words and compare §. 9. §. 12. &c.

THE PEARL,

SEVEN RHYTHMS

ON THE FAITH.

1 . On a certain day a pearl a did T take up, my brethren, I saw

1 £. chil- in it mysteries pertaining to the1 Kingdom ; semblances and

p.30,n.i. 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 b. I found out

3 the that the Son3 was incomprehensible, since He is wholly Light.

ingof." In tnat brightness of its 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 c : in its undividedness I saw

Paed. ii. $. 118. p. 241. Pott. Origen in S. Matt, below, note h. Hil. on Ps. 118, l.§. 10. Greg. Thaum. in Combef. Bibl. Concion. vi. p. 331. Cyril, c. Nestor, p. 32. " To a pearl also doth our Lord Jesus Christ compare Himself, saying, The Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a merchantman seeking goodly pearls: who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it." (Mat. 13, 45.) I also hear Him displaying Himself otherwise unto us, and saying, ' I am the Flower of the field, and the Lily of the vallies.' (Cant. 2, 22.) For He hath in His own Nature that Brightness of God and the Father which beseemeth Divinity, and also maketh Himself to savour of sweetness, the spiritual sweetness I mean. Now as in the case of a pearl and of a lily too, a body is conceived of as their subject, but the bright- ness in it or the sweetness as may be,

is conceived on its own proper ground as different from the things in which they are: and, again, their inseparable qualities are proper to themselves, and not diverse from the natures which possess them; — in the same way, I think, are we to reason and feel about Emmanuel also: for in their nature the Godhead and flesh are things diverse: yet the Body was the Word's proper Body, and from the Body the Word which was made one therewith is not separate."

b James of Edessa, (in vol. 1. p. 126. e.) *' The sun is a sphere, and round on all sides, in the semblance of a pearl clear and round, so that it may on all quarters equally give light: and indeed all the shining bodies of heaven are of that semblance."

e S. filtered, above, p. 47 This word occurs also ii. p. 324. f. of Elijah's purifying himself, adv. Scrut. lxxv.§. 1. of the sun 's heat: it is used in theHexapla

Mysteries to be found in a pearl.

the Truth which is undivided. It was so that I saw there its pure conception, — the Church d, and the Son within her. The cloud was the likeness of her that bare Him, and her type the heaven, since there glistened from her His gracious

on Is. xxv. 7- note c. from whence I have taken the word in the text, St. E. as other Fathers, understanding that place of the Lord's Body as given in the Eucharist. Compare Wisdom 8, 20. ' Being good I came into a body undefined,' where however the Syr. has an- other word. In the next words he alludes to 1 Cor. 1, 13. the undivided Truth referring to the form of words used at Baptism, perhaps as well as to Christ. See adv. Scrut. lii. §. 1. fin. lxv. $. 1. fin. and n. h. p. 87.

d Its pure Conception, i. e. the Pearl's, i e. Christ's, the true Pearl's. The passage is rather obscurely worded, its meaning seems to be, I saw His pure Conception of Mary, who, with the Son within her, is a type of the Church. This passage may be illustrated by the following, from Aretas' Catena on the have taken the vision to refer to the Mother of the Lord. . . .whom as being pure and free from things earthly, he describes to be in heaven and not upon earth, being as the Angels: and yet though so highly excelling in purity she partook of our lump: for what is it that David saith of the Lord's conception? 1 He shall descend as rain upon a fleece, and as a drop which droppeth upon the earth;' meaning by 'earth' the. Holy Mother of the Lord, in that she was consubstantial with us earthy beings. But let Eutyches his impious dogma touching the Mother of God and the Lord's Incarnation, be cast forth out of the divine precincts. And that she was clothed with the sun, and had the moon under her feet, Habakkuk is a sufficient voucher in those words of his: ' The sun was lifted up, and the moon stood still in her order,' meaning the Sun of Righteousness, Christ the Saviour, who by the preaching of the Gospel was exalted and set aloft: while the moon, i. e. the Jews' synagogue, no longer received after Christ's manifestation any accession by proselytes

from the Gentiles "With this too

what Gabriel said to the Virgin harmonizeth: ' The Power of the Most High shall overshadow thee:' for to have a covering cast about one, is all one with being overshadowed. Others

again, of whom is S. Methodius (see his Conviv. "Virg. viii. §. 7.) of Patara, adapt the vision to holy Church as considering that this passage does not go well with the Lord's Birth, because He had been brought forth such a long while before it. The Church then is clad with the Sun of Righteousness, and also has the light of the law, that nightly-shining moon." The fact however that two views of the passage existed, shews that it admitted a twofold application.Epiph.Haer.lxxviii.§ 11, inclines to applying it to St. Mary, while St. Austin de Trad. Symboli ad Cat. iv, §. 1. says, that 'the woman signifies Mary, who, being spotless, brought forth our spotless Head, who herself also shewed forth in herself a figure of holy Church, so that as she in bringing forth a Son remained a Virgin, so the Church also should during the whole of time be bringing forth His members, and yet not lose her virgin estate." This view of St. Mary, as the type of the Church, (see above, p. 52, note z.) seems absolutely necessary to reconcile the two interpretations.

he says, ' The Cloud on which the Lord rode, figureth to us the Mother of God the Virgin Mary,' as Jerome takes it also on the place, and so St. Ambr. de Inst. Virg. c. xiii. and Aretas on Apoc. xiv. 14. of Is. xix, 1. 'which cloud the divine Fathers have taken of Mary the Ever- virgin.' Theodoret also, though less distinctly, gives the place the same interpretation. On the words ' her type the heaven,' St. E.'s language de Laud. comment. " She is the new Heaven, wherein the King of kings dwelt: He rose in her, and came out into the world, having framed and put on the likenesses of her;" and a little before, " To us did Mary to-day become the Heaven which bore up God: for into her did there come down and dwell the

Godhead Most High," " from her

there rose to us a Star, and He folded back the darkness of the Gentiles;" and ii. p. 329. e. " Mary is the gate of the (Bright One, i.e.) Star, by whose means were enlightened the world and its in* habitants that were in the dark."

The mysteries of a pearl

Shining f. I saw therein His trophies, arid 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 arkg, for I was astonied thereat: I saw therein folds1 without shadow to them because it was a thing of light2, types vocal without d*"Shter tongues, utterances of mysteries without lips, a silent harp that without voice gave out melodies. The trumpet faltereth, and the thunder muttereth ; be not thou daring then ; leave things hidden, take things revealed. Thou hast seen in the clear sky a second shower": as for the cleft of thine ears,

1 comp iugh light

f See above, p. 61. n. z. The passage here may be looked upon either as a confirmation of the supposition there noticed, or as receiving its meaning from the last note. In vol. ii. p. 328. the following occurs, which perfectly confirms the evidence offered in p. 51. while it throws more particularly light on this passage. After contrasting the use Eve and the Blessed Virgin made of the eye and the ear, he proceeds, u the eye is by the light made bright at the access thereof, and gains splendour by its means, and fairness by its rising, and brilliance by its brilliancy, and comeliness by its beauteousness. Mary is typified by the eye, Light dwelt within her and purified her mind and made her imagination fair, purified her thoughts and cleared her Virginity. The river that baptized Him, was again a type of His Conception; the soft womb of the water conceived Him in purity, and brought him forth in brilliancy, and raised Him up in glory. In the pure bosom mayest thou learn of the daughter of our race, who conceived without a man, and brought forth without seed, and brought up by the Gift the Lord of the Gift. The rising was in His river, the brightness in His sepulchre, and His rays He gave out on the top of the mount, and His rising light in the womb; and He glistened in His lifting up, and was bright in His Ascension. Brightness did Moses put on: he was clad with Him from without. The river wherein He was baptized put on brightness from within. The body in which He dwelt was made brilliant from within, as Moses was from the glory.''

2 Assem. assumes the word here used means Noah's ark, (see above, p. 35.

n. t. and adv. Scrut. xlix. §. 2.) and then renders t m.\ loi n thalamos, to suit Gen. vi. 16. To me it appears much more likely that the same Ark which was above noticed as a type of Christ's Body, should here be put in contrast with the pearl to which he had just compared It; and in the Op. Gr. ii. the same comparison of the pearl occurs, he speaks of the tr<rv%ei) ruv xoy%u>v. See below, iii. §..4.

h V. Athenseus.p. 93. Orig.in Matt, x. § 7. " The production of the pearls in India is said to be brought about in a long time, the animal undergoing sundry changes and vicissitudes till the time it is full-grown. It is narrated farther that the shell of the animal that has the pearl opens itself with a sort of gape, and when in this state receiveth into itself the dew of heaven: and if this be clear and free from turbidness when it gets filled with it, then it proves very bright, and conceives a large and well-shaped gem. But if it be at any time a misty and unequal and stormy dew that it partakes of, then it is impregnated with a pearl clouded, and faulty through blemishes.. . .The Indian pearl is also. . . white in colour, like a transparent silver, and is slightly translucent with a faintly pallid lustre, and has for the most part a round shape. It is of a delicious hue also, and looks too tender for a mineral.'' (See below, iv. §. 4.) Then after saying, §. 8. that Christ is the Pearl of great price, he adds, '* Among all kinds of words which promise the Tra*h and which produce it, the merchant looks for pearls: and let us suppose that the shells which conceive from the dew of heaven, and

rebuke maris rash pretensions.

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 doth 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 too1. Have ye not seen, then, the waves of

are from heaven impregnate with the Word of Truth, are the prophets, those goodly pearls which in the text under consideration the merchant man is seeking. But the Leader of the band of pearls, [upon the finding of which, as he had been saying, the others are likewise found,] the Pearl of great price, is the Christ of God, the Word, Who is above the precious letters and meanings of the Law and of the Prophets, upon the finding of whom all the rest are with facility received." This will perhaps throw a light upon the meaning of the passage, though I am not clear that I understand it. The other or second Rain, perhaps means 'the latter rain,' which he explains on Hosea vi. 3. as follows: "He that believeth upon Christ is enabled from Baptism to embrace as it were by a mystical light the knowledge of God; and after that, His doctrine is as a rain that bedeweth them that are woithy: and, as an antitype of the latter rain, by the revelation of the Spirit He enricheth the soul, and then it beginneth to bring forth green things and to produce heavenly fruit." As if he bad said, In the pearl, this clear sky, this type of heaven, thou hast seen not only the former Rain, or Christ who came from it into us at Baptism, but also His subsequent gifts

and illuminations, which, though elsewhere found, are all from Him and in Him who is the true Pearl of great price. In the next words there is a change of structure not uncommon in Semitic languages: the verb is made to agree with the genitive ' ears' instead of agreeing with ' cleft. ' Im- passioned language even in Holy Writ is obscure, (e. g. 2 Sam. 23.): no wonder then, if St. E. drinking from the second shower only, speaks indistinctly.

5 This is of course said against the Anomffians. A comparison of God with the sea occurs often, as adv. Scrut.xliii. §.1. contr. Scrut.ii.§.4 — Vol. ii. p. 453. " They have not wholesomely observed theboundaries of doctrine: for boundaries Three are set for the faithful, which for man to go beyond it is not open nor yet possible. Within these let us bind up our imagination's roving. Each then with Each is with ungrudging fulness blended, and if man would pass through One, against Them All he trespasseth, and falleth among ten thousand thousand snares. The Generation is His wall, the deepest of the Flood : powerless to reach to it is the fire of burning strife. Upon this wall his adversary impingeth and is vanquished : the silence of that benumbeth our discourse, and letteth it not attain to the searching out of the fountains of the waves of

88 Dispu latiousness dangerous and inconsistent.

1 contr. the sea, which if a ship ■ should struggle with them would 19# ' ' 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 scrutinized 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

comp. prevail? At these uproars the fish in the sea were moved,

Zeph.'i.and Leviathan also. Have ye then a heart of stone that ye

3* read these things and run into these errors ? O thought most

2 5. 0 fearful2 that justice also should be so long silent !"

fear! 4. " Searching is mingled with thanksgiving, and whether

Eceles. 0f the two will prevail? the incense of praise riseth along with

the fume of disputation from the tongue, and unto which

^ee shall we hearken? Prayer and prying [come] from one

3, 10. mouth, 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,] i Who shall

flee from God? Jonah fled, and ye are obstinate at your

scrutiny of Him !' "

His floods, which make it ebb and cast (i. e. the Anomceans,) and speak of the jt down. Let us leave them within, Chaldeans."

RHYTHM THE SECOND.

1. Whereunto art thou like ? let thy stillness speak to one that heareth thee; with silent mouth speak with us: for whoso heareth the stammerings of thy silence, to him thy type uttereth 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 bosom1, though he knew her not; she conceived thee Jab.p.39. near him, though he did not know her. Do thou being a type 2 2 s. Let reproach the Jewish women that have thee hung upon them3. Jjjjjjj Thou art the only progeny of all forms which art like to the3Seeadv. Word on High, Whom singly3 the Most High begot. Thex^/ engraven forms b seem to be the type of created things above. §-2. $.3. This visible offspring of the invisible womb is a type4 of great 4 s. a things. Thy fair conception was without seed, and without j^"®** marriage intercourse was thy pure generation5, and without 5 adv. brethren was thy single birth6. Our Lord had brethren and^** yet not brethren, since He was an Only-Begotten. O solitary §. 4. one, thou type exact of the Only-Begotten ! there is a type of g*bjPthine 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

a The Gnostics represented the Holy at atime, but often glances at others. So

Ghost as the Mother of God the Son, also in treating of the Gnostic heresies

(see Hahn's Bardesanes, p. 62.) a he alludes to the Anomoeans, (see note i.

notion perhaps derived from the Jewish on p. 87. and on adv. Scrat. i.) as also in

Cahhalistical writers, who called Him treating of the Anthropomorphites. It

the Church above. See Molitor Philos. may be well to add, that in the Pearl,

der Trad. ii. §. 269.) and which seems type and antitype are so intermixed as

to have been held by several heretics to create, to our minds, some confusion in

at different periods. See Origen in the word. E.g. the words' Virgin, whom

S. Joan. Tr. ii. §. 6. (who quotes the the sea took not to wife,' allude to a

Gospel according to the Hebrews for title of S. Mary akin to ' Maris Stella:'

it.) Constit. Apost. ii. 26. Aust. de the last syllable of Miriam being taken

Trin. xii. 5. xv. 48. Jeiom. on Isai. xl. as a separate word. See above, p. 86.

v. 1 1 . Epiphan. Hser. xxi. §.2. and xxx. n. f. end

§. 17. At this heresy St. E. is probably b Pearls, be means, have their beauty

here glancing. by nature and.so are like Christ: other

This opportunity may be taken for stones must be graven and so are like

observing, that St.E. does not in these created natures. See iv. §. 4. Rhythms tie himself down to one heresy

The Pearl a type of Christ

1 adv. Scrut. xviii.

ones! When thou earnest 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 stem, so thou art in the crown with princes: and it is a just restoration to thee, as if of a pledge, that from that depth thou shouldest pe exalted to a goodly eminence. Wheat doth the stem bear in the field; thee doth the head of the king upon his chariot carry 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 b is trodden down of mortals: the divers put him off, and put on Christ. In the sacrament of oilc did the i\postles 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, which if a man is to lay hold of, he lifts in a crucial form1 by its ears, as it was on Golgotha. He cast out

b Leviathan; on Job 41, 4. Here ' he shews that in the fulness of time the Messiah will conquer Satan: for these two marvellous beasts (Behemoth and Leviathan) are a type of Satan.' And on Isaiah xxvii. 1. after first interpreting the place of the Assyrian and Babylonian king, he proceeds: "But by a little type the prophet shadoweth out glorious mysteries, pointing out also that day in which God visited and redeemed the world, and destroyed the works of Satan. But to Satan doth the prophet therefore give many names, because his works are manifold." This indeed is the common explanation of Leviathan. See Corderius on Ps. 103,

c The word here used for ' Apostles' means also 'naked,' upon which double meaning St. E. plays throughout, in a manner very common in the Hebrew Scriptures. See Glassii Philol. Sacr. p. 1335. ed. Dathe. The oil is here obviously looked upon as a channel of grace. On Joel ii. p. 252. he writes as follows: ' The presses also shall abound with wine and oil; He promises that He will give an abundance of corn and wine and oil, after that He hath accepted them, and hath destroyed the Assyrians that came against them. Mystically, however, this is fulfilled by the Messiah, "Who gave to His people that He redeemed, i. e. to His Church mystical corn, wine, and oil; that is to say, corn which is type of His Holy Body, and wine His reconciling Blood; and oil again stands for the sweet ointment, whereby the baptized are sealed and clothed with the armour of the Holy Spirit. I will pour My Spirit, Sfc. i. e. on the house of Hezekiah, who have had a prophecy of the Redemption which they were to have, from Sennacherib; and this is a type of the Redemption which took place by our Lord's means from Satan by means of the Holy Spirit, "Who was shed forth upon His servants and handmaidens." See Const. Apost. vii. §. 42. St. Austin (de Trin. xv. 46. and elsewhere) speaks of the visible oil as sig- nifying the invisible Unction. Some think the use of the word Unction, for the gift of the Spirit, implies that Unction was the ordinary channel of it, which view St. E. seems to take with the Eastern Church in general.

as being exalted through suffering. 91

abundantly all His gleams upon them that looked upon Himd.

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 hands6; and because He suffered He reigned, as by thy sufferings thy beauty increased. And if they shewed no pity upon thee, neither did love thee ; still suffer as thou mightest, thou hast come to reign ! Simon Peter2 shewed pity on the Rock ; whoso *sii- • • -. • ,, i i ... i Cephas.

hath smitten it, is himself thereby overcome ; it is by reason

of Its suffering that Its beauty hath adorned things above and

things below3. 3 s.

height and

was acquainted with that tradition merely to Zech. 12, 10. mentioned by Origen in Matt. Comm. e See above, p. 36. ref. 2. where he

Series, §. 100. that our Lord looked notices another, not very obvious, type

differently according to the character of the nails: and below, iv. fin.

RHYTHM THE THIRD.

1. Thou dost not hide thyself in thy bareness, pearl! With 1 S. the love of thee is the merchant ravished 1 also, for he r strippeth off his garments, not to cover thee, [seeing] thy

clothing is thy light, thy garment is thy brightness, O thou 8 p. si, that art bared! Thou art like Eve2 who was clothed with n* z* nakedness. Cursed be he that deceived her and stripped her 3 p. 95. and left her. The serpent cannot strip off thy glory 3. In 4<S'. by the mysteries that thou typifiest4, women are clothed with £je Light in Eden a5.

5 P- 51j 2. Very glistening are the pearls of Ethiopia, as it is written, Job 28 Who gave thee to Ethiopia [the land] of black men. He that 19. S. gave light to the Gentiles, both to the Ethiopians and unto Acts 8, the Indians did His bright beams reach. The eunuch of 2?- Ethiopia upon his chariot saw Philip: the Lamb of Light met the dark man from out of the bath. While he was reading, the Ethiopian was baptized and glistened with joy, and journeyed See Jer. on ! He made disciples and taught, and out of black men Ls.'i 18. he made men white [as snow]. And the dark Ethiopic Ps.ts, women became pearls for the Son; He offered them up to

the Father, as a glistening crown from the Ethiopians.

a I. e. with the mysteries typified in That they are not Joctan's descendants

the pearl, women are clothed with as T. D. Michaelis makes them, is I

light at Baptism, and have the Robe of think plain from what St. E. says,

Righteousness which they lost through i. p. 466. where he speaks of Ophir as

Eve, have Him who is Light, and are a mountain in the East by (or towards

restored to Paradise. /*\) India, where the sons of Joctan

b It is not easy to determine whom dwelt. Indian pearls were celebrated

St. E. means by the Indians. In ii. and known in Alexander's time, see

p. 464. he speaks of them as overcome Arrian Exped. p. 524. ed. Blanc, and

by Asa's prayer, alluding perhaps to Qrigen ab. p. 86. n. h. Lindenbr. ad

the Lubims mentioned in 2 Chron. 16, 8. Aram. Marcellin. xxiii. vi. v. fin.

The Queen of Sheba a precursor of the Gospel. 93

8. The Queen of Sheba was a sheep6 that had come into the 1 King* place of wolves; the lamp of truth did Solomon give her, who * ' " also married d her when he fell away. She was enlightened and went away, but they were dark6 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 f came. The bright spark met with this shining, and illumined the place.

c "Why St. E. contemplates the queen as a sheep appears from his remarks on the place. The following are a part of them: u It was not the fame of Solomon only, hut 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 and long journey,

and Drought 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. Only He calls her not the Queen of Sheba, but of the South. . . . as one who ruled not over the Sabeans only, but other nations of the South," that the people were black.). . . Solomon also taught her, and she abjured idolatry and praised the living God: of which we have a confirmation in Scripture, in that it says, that the queen was induced to take this journey by the fame of Solomon and for the Name of the Lord, as.also from that which this queen said, Blessed be, &c. Mystically — the queen of the south that came to Solomon and was enamoured of his doctrine, is a type of the Holy Bride that came from the country of black men, i. e. of heathendom, unto the Heavenly Solomon. For Gnd, when He came down to the earth and conversed with men, spoke unto the Bride that He espoused to Himself in types and parables: and when she asked interpretations by the Apostles, He interpreted; and now also this queen by her children asketh her riddles to h ave them interpreted, (quoting Rom. xi. 33. Eph. iii. 19.) Emmanuel also sheweth to His Queen all that is right for her to know: for to His queen, i. e. His disciples, He saith, ' Whatsoever I have heard of My Father, I have shewn you.' John 15, 15.

•* This was a tradition of the Jews: see Josephus, (viii.7. $.5. compared with 6. §. 2.) who calls her queen of Egypt and Ethiopia, a tradition based in part on

Canticles 1, 5. I have rendered (after Assemanni) uwQ 1 from the Arabic ^S-J • ** *s not *n our lexicons. *-'e He calls the Jews wolves and dark here, as ' always resisting the Holy Ghost,' Acts 7, 51. The following extract from the Chaldee Paraphrase on Canticles may be worth adding: " When the children of Israel made the calf, their faces were blackened like the children of Ethiopia (Cush) that dwelt in the tents of Kedar (i. e. blackness) : but when they repented and were forgiven, the bright glory of their faces

was like that of the Angels The

synagogue of Israel said: Nevertheless ye Gentiles, despise me not, because I am blacker than you, in that I have done after your doings and have worshipped the sun and the moon, seeing the false prophets have occasioned that the might of the Lord's wrath should fix itself upon me."

f The Bereshith Rabba, cited in the Pugio Fidei, fol. 603. on Gen. 25, 6. says, " This is that which is written, (Job 6, 19.) ' the troops of Tema looked, the companies of Sheba waited for them.' Sheba is none else than the descendants of Abram, as is said Gen. 25, 3. ' Jokshan begat Sheba and Dedan.' And when Solomon was magnified in his kingdom, they said, Haply this is the Messiah, and forthwith they came, as it is said, ' The queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon for the Name of the Lord, and she came to prove him with hard questions.' Read it not 'the queen/ but the { kingdom' of Sheba. ' By the N ame of the Lord' — They had prophets which prophesied unto them by the Name of the Lord our God words that were handed down and came by their means from Abraham. And whence learn we that they would come in the days of the Messiah, and minister to HimP From Is. 60, 6. ' The multitude of the c?mels shall cover thee, the

94 The Pearl by things temporal reflects eternal.

^.fishes 4. There are in the sea various fishes of immense size1, and cubits witn aU their greatness they are very small; but by thy cubits 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 fairness. 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 wordg, 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 art a fruit of light, and to the

2 s. thy womb that bringeth forth Light, thou art a type that pointeth2. pomteth Thee He used as a parable of that kingdom, O pearl ! as He

did the virgins that entered into it, five in number, with the

3 clothed light supplied to their lamps3 ! To thee are those bright ones light of6 like, thou that art clad in light !

their 5 Who would give a pearl to the daughter of the poor? for

7> 6- price that faith, all of which becometh all the limbs of men.

But for no gold would a lady exchange her pearl. It were a

great disgrace if thou shouldest throw thy pearl away into

the mire for nought! In the pearl of time let us behold h that

of eternity, for it is in the purse, or in the seal, or in the

p. 86. treasury. Within the gate there are other gates with their

n# g* locks and keys. Thy pearl hath the High One sealed up as

taking account of all.

dromedaries of Midian and Ephah; all h i. e. let us by the store men set by

they from Sheba shall come : gold and a pearl, learn what store to set by the

incense shall they bring, and they shall l true Pearl,' i. e. Christ. Within tfie

shew forth the praises of the Lord,' gate, fyc. seems to refer to the place in

i. e. the King Messiah as it is said, which the pearl is put, and also to the

and this is the Name which he shall texture of the pearl itself which he is

call Him, the Lord our Righteous- contemplating. The last words may be

paraphrased: Careless as thou mayest who s 5. thee.

* On the word of man as a type of be, it is that God who will judge all, the Word of God, see adv. Scrut. lvii. who sealed Christ the true Pearl upon

RHYTHM THE FOURTH.

1. The thief gained the faith which gained him, and brought Luke23, 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 goeth astray, grazes the faith, as it were ( an See eye, by all manner of questions. The probing of the finger 8ec ' ' blindeth the eye, and much more doth that prying blind the faith. For even the diver prieth 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 Balaam1 was foolish, a foolish beast in the ass1 adv. spoke with him, because he despised God Who spoke with him. x{£u£ 3# 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, forMat.21, lo, a stone heareth words. ' Witness its* work that hath reproved them; and you, ye deaf ones, let the pearl reprove to-day. With the swallow and the crow did He put men to Jer.8,7. shame; with the ox, yea with the ass, did He put them to Is. l. shame; let the pearl reprove now, ye birds and things on earth and things below.

3. Not as the moon doth 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. Oh, 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 artist who can steal2 from 2 p. 92. itB, for its wall is its own beauty, yea, its guard also! It lacketh 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 scrutia Compare St. Clement. Strom, v. cotton wick which men kindle from the §. 29. p. 663. Potter. The Philosophy sun, stealing the light with artist's skill.' of the Greeks is like the lamp with K\i*?otris lvn%vut ro <pZs,

96 The Pearl but an imperfect type of Christ.

n< £ ' ' The spoiler getteth himself mischief by it: the heretic brings ruin on himself thereby. He that chaseth the light from his pupils blindeth himself. Fire and air are divided when

*See adv. intersected. Light alone of all creatures2 as its Creator, is not

xf™ a'nd divided; it is not barren, for that it also begetteth without

lxxv. losing thereby.

4. And if a man thinketh that thou art framed [by art] he erreth greatly; thy nature proclaims that thou, as all

3 P- 89- stones, art not the framing 3 of art ; and so art a type of

the Generation which no making framed. Thy stone fleeth

4 adv. from a comparison4 with the stone of the Son. For thy own xiii.§. 5. generation is from the midst of the deep5, that of the Son of

5 p- 86, tijy Creator is from the highest height ; He is not like thee,

in that He is like His Father. And as the story is, two

6 p. 43, wombs6 bare thee also. Thou earnest down from on high a n'. h. ' fluid nature; thou earnest up from the sea a solid body. By

means of thy second birth thou didst shew thy loveliness to

7P-91> the children of men. Hands fixed7 thee, when thou wert

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

8 s. as if the ears, as if to fill up what was lackingb8; thou extendest

a filling ..

over all.

b i. e. to fill them with wisdom.

RHYTHM THE FIFTH.

1. Oh, gift that earnest up without price with the diver! Thou laidest hold upon this visible light, that without price is#65 1# riseth for the children of men : a parable of the hidden One that without price giveth the hidden Day-spring ! And the painter

too painteth a likeness of thee with colours. Yet by thee is faith painted l in types and emblems for colours, and in the 1 adv. place of the image by thee and thy colours is thy Creator Scru.^ painted. O thou frankincense without smell, who breathest §. 2. 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 who 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 despiseth thee and throweth thee away, he would blame himself for his clownishness, for when he saw thee in a king's crown he wrould be attracted to thee.

3. Men with their clothes off dived and drew thee out, pearl !

Jt was not kings that put thee before men, but those naked2 2 gee

ones who were a type of the poor and the fishers and the note c-

Galileans ; for clothed bodies were not able to come to thee ;

they came that were stript as children ; they buried 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 shewed

the new riches among the merchants : upon the wrists a of men

they put thee as a medicine of life.

■ /Elian. Hist. Ad. x. 13. apparently here seems to be referring to some use

mentions the use of pearls as a charm of them as a charm, though I am not

against incontinence. See also Albertus able to find any use of them in bracelets

M. de Min. ii. 11. Athen. iii. p. 93. for that purpose, mentions their use for bracelets. St. E.

98 Pearl-Jishing typical: a prayer for collectedness.

4. The waked ones in a type saw thy rising again by the seashore ; and by the side of the lake they, the Apostles, truly6 naked, saw the rising again of the Son of thy Creator. By thee and by thy Lord the sea and the lake were ornamented. The diver came up from the sea and put on his clothing !

John2i,and from the lake too Simon Peter came up swimming and put on his coat; clad as with coats, with the love of both of you, were either party.

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

1 vi. §.5. 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 !

\> S. The Apostles of truth, or the naked of a truth. See above, p. 90, n. c.

RHYTHM THE SIXTH.

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 criticising searched for, and came

to the right path. He gave the law1; the mountains melted *contr: away; fools broke through it. By unclean ravens He fed §.39,&c*. Elijah at the desert stream, and moreover gave from theJ7K^ngs skeleton honey unto Samson; they judged not, nor inquired Judg. why it was unclean, why clean a? '

2. And when He undid the sabbaths2, the feeble Gentiles 2p- 1°> were clothed with health. Samson took the daughter of the jb# 4. aliens, and there was no disputing among the righteous3;3 ab. p. the prophet also took a harlot, and the just held their peace. ^ no He blamed the righteous, and He held up and lifted up Hos.1,2. [to view] their delinquencies: He pitied sinners, and restored 13. them without cost: and made low the mountains of their sins: ?lut® 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, their shadows were Cant. 2, enlightened.

3. How strangely perplexed are all the heretics by simple things ! For when He plainly foreshadowed this New Testament by that of the Prophets4, those pitiable men rose, as4 adv. though from sleep, and shouted out and made a disturbance. xxi/4# And as for the Way, wherein the righteous held straight on, and note p by their truths had gone forth therein, that have these broken b

a On Levit. p. 242. He notices in- instances in the text are grouped tostances of violation of the letter of law. gether by St. James of Nisibis, (in

" It is known that of those who are Gallandi v. p. xciii. Serm. xiii. §. 6.)

righteous the bodies are also pure, who was said to be St. E.'s master.

Thus Elisha after his death did glo- He uses them to shew the transitoriness

riously: Moses carried the bones of of the law, St. E. man's obligation to

Joseph, and God covered Moses him- submit to God.

self, and with bones did Samson do b or pierced through — perhaps a word

gloriously, and Elijah also was not of intentionally uncertain meaning, so

polluted when he went close to the body as to suit with l the way' in either sense

of the woman of Zarepta's son." The of it.

100 The beauty of Christ, the true pearl

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.

4. O Gift, which fools have made a poison ! the [Jewish] people was 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 were cut off and scattered abroad the tribes 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

i. §. 1. sides1, it cannot be still and at rest. Make Thyself small Thou that art too great for all, that comest unto all!

5. By this would those who wrangle at our pearl be reproved, because instead of love, strife hath come in and dared to

a p. 89, essay to unveil thy beauty. It was not graven2, since it is a progeny which cannot be interpreted. Thou didst shew thy beauty among the abjects to shew whereto thou art like, thou

3i-§- !'• pearl that art all faces3. 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

4 v. §. 5. consistency4 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 c of thy glistering faces, to them was a covering: they thought that thou wert other [than thou art], O thou mirror of ours! and therefore these blind sectarians 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

c If read with the commas, the words the passage appears to be this: because 'of thy glistering faces' will apply either they did not see the unity of doctrine to the mysteries alluded to in i.§. 1. and (typified by the pearl) in both Testajust above, or to the word covering: the roents, therefore they marred thy beauty, original seems ambiguous. The drift of i. e. maimed the Creed. See p. 85.

ministers strife instead qf peace to heretics 101

Let the Prophets1 be as it were His heralds! Let the Just1 p. 66. 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 beareth Thee about ! In the covenant of Moses is Thy brightness2 shadowed forth: in the new*Seen,f. covenant Thou dartest it forth : from those first Thy light on 1# shineth even unto those last. Blessed be He that gave us Thy gleam as well as Thy bright rays d.

<* This is probably said with reference [Jewish] people, which kept wandering

to the Gnostics, who denied that the Law during the whole way. But our Lord

was from the same God as the Gospel, set up a finished path of Truth to the

See vol. ii. p. 441. b. and c. 471. b. At peoples who came to the way of life."

p. 493. e. he writes thus: " Moses See however the note on adv. Scrut.

tracked out the way in types before the xxi. §. 4.

RHYTHM THE SEVENTH.

1 adv. Scrut.

5 comp adv. Scrut. ii note d. Gen. 15

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, they struggled to make divisions. The Son, Who is too subtle for the mind, did they seek to feel1 : 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 ofa. The sound form of our faith is from Abraham2, and our repentance is from Nineveh and the house

, of Rahab b, and ours are the expectations of the Prophets3, ours of the Apostles.

2. And envy is from Satan: the evil usage of the evil calfc is from the Egyptians. The hateful sight of the hateful image of four faces d is from the Hittites. Accursed disputation, that hidden moth, is from the Greeks4. The bitter [enemy] read

a This was the boast of the Anomoeans. Basil, c. Eun. i. §. 12. " What pride and extravagance is it a sign of, to fancy that they have discovered the Essence of God who is over all! For with their high speaking they well-nigh cast him into the shade, who said, ' Above the stars will I set my throne,' (Is. 14, 13.) seeing it is not against the stars or the heaven that they are so bold, but the Essence of the God of the universe which they proudty pretend to enter into." See adv. Scrut. i. not. a.

b On Josh. 2, 9. For I know that God hath delivered unto you the la?id, fyc. he 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."

c So St. James of Nisibis in Gall. v.

xcii. St. Austin on Ps. lxxiii. §. 16.

The calf might be at once intended for

a symbol of God, and also a copy from

the worship of Apis.

d From vol. ii. p. 384. we learn that St. E. is here casting a glance at the followers of Bardesanes or Manes: " The sun that elsewhere is not worshipped, how cometh he to be honoured here: calves that have elsewhere fallen into dishonour, how come they to be worshipped here: But and if a man say, that l these belong to our country, and so they have taken refuge here' — lo! our country has many that are novel and odious things unnumbered: for here we mean evils that are not indigenous: here sins are visited, that once were not done in our country. Of the idol with four faces Micha did the type invent. The brazen serpent in our country no men offered to or worshipped, &c." It seems that St. E. looked on Micah's Teraphim as an imitation of the Cherubim, a sense which will perhaps suit all places where Teraphim are mentioned as well as any.

Safaris manifold devices against the faith. 103

and saw orthodox teachings6, and subverted them; he saw hateful things, and sowed them; and he saw hope, and he turned upside down and cut it off. The disputation that he planted, lo! it hath yielded a fruit bitter1 to the tooth. l S. bit-

3. Satan saw that the Truth strangled him, and united himself erness to the tares, and secreted his frauds, and spread his snares

for the faith2, and cast upon the priests the darts of the love2 adv. of principality. They made contests for the throne, to see xxxvii. which should first obtain it. There was that meditated in$,2-§-3p. 90.

secret and kept it close: there was that openly combated for n. b. 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 [Jewish] 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 gen- dered 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 sowed 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 [chosen] 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 reed f to write in their tracts

• See §. 4. and Tertulliati's Apol. they cull in the readings which echo

p. 55. O. T. " The counsels of God they them," &c.

both snatched at the time the prophets f Reeds just mentioned are used all

were proclaiming them, and now also over the East to write with.

104 Satan repeals against the Church by heretics,

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 g, wherewith they clothed Him, appellations hath he dyed craftily: with diversity of names i adv. he1 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, vociferous thorns from the mind hath he plaited [now] by the voice, as rhythms, and concealed the spikes amid melodies h that they might not be perceived.

6. 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, scrutinizing 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, apostacy ; the copy 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. Luke23, 7. And as at that time there were judges against them, lo, 1 ' ' 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

8 St. E. assumes that the type of h This alludes probably to Barde-

Joseph was fulfilled in Christ to the sanes, the existence of whose rhythmical

letter: as he (vol. i. p. 109. ii. 286.) compositions induced St. E. to try and

explains Christ's garment of His Body, counteract them by orthodox ones of

the stripes He had received in It, might the same kind. See adv. Scrut. lxv. fin.

occur to him as fulfilling the type. and vol. ii. p. 439. d. Sozom.H.E.iii.16.

what by the Jeivs he had done to Christ.

royalty that wars may cease from among men, subversive wars do they teach which set kings to combat with those contr. round about. O Lord, make the priests and kings peaceful, ^ 13> 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 ' !

1 i. e. Omnipresent in space, but not limited by space. The expression occurs in Epiphan. i. p. 968. The doctrine occurs often in St. E. see adv. Scrut. St. Athan. de Incarn. §. 17. thus explains the manner in which the formula is true. " He is without all things in respect of His Essence, but within all things by His influences." This however is not the usual doctrine, (see O. T. note n. p. 101.) yet perhaps one may suggest, that St. Ath. had some pantheistic system in his eye, which would

represent God as so within all things as the soul is in the body, and that the phrase ' within all things by His influences' may mean, only in such sense within them as by His presence in them to influence them, not in such sense as to be confined by them. See what St. E. says above, p. 22, 3. " He was entirely in the womb while He was again wholly in every thing," an expression which seems to illustrate the text and St. Athanasius. Comp. the passage quoted in note c. on adv. Scrut.

THE RHYTHMS

ST. EPHREM THE SYRIAN

UPON THE FAITH, AGAINST THE DISPUTERS'.

RHYTHM THE FIRST.

Instead of that all- quickening standard15 which He Who

a Or investigators, in which sense it would apply to the Anomceans as affecting to be able to explore the Nature of God. The word however is, I think, used of logicians, and so I have given it a rendering which falls in with the fondness for Aristotelian subtleties ascribed to the Anomceans (against whom these Rhythms are aimed) by St. E. Naz. p. 529. Cyril. Thes. p. 89. Epiphan. Hser. lxxvi. p. 923, d. p.

d. Socrat.

Austin de Trin. xv. §. 20.

h ' Standard' is here used for the substance of the faith irrespectively of the sources of it — Ass. renders ' regula fidei.' Much as we shall see that St. E. insists on the study of Holy Writ, (see xxxv. fin. xlvi. §. 1. lvi. fin. lix. §. 5. lxiv. §. 5. cont. Scr. iii. $. 19.) the following passages will shew that he thought it was the Church who alone could teach the faith. In ii. p. 442. he says, M In the Church is the Truth perfect and perfecting Her. Great is the Church of true [believers], because great is Her bosom, and able to contain the fulness of both Testaments. For broken fountains are convicted of being unable to receive waters in themselves: for the old bottles by its newness doth the strong wine break, which by its roughness cleanseth the new." And presently, after comparing the heretics to those who would cut a body to pieces

and try to give it life again, he adds, " The Church doth that body of Truth rejoice, which is orderly in its limbs, and perfected in its expressions, to be relied upon in its promises, and crowned by its noble acts. The Truth forms a head lift up on high: the two Testaments its wide spread hands, the Apo- stles its senses, the Prophets the righteous and the Just serve for its limbs." On 1 Sam. xiv. p. 324. f. he says, "And that he hid it from his father and mother, and revealed it to bis bride, this is a type of our Lord, who, as was determined, hid from the synagogue the mystery of the Gospel, which was hidden from generations and ages, and revealed the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, and explained it to the Church." Vol. ii. p. 494. f. " The Prophets delivered it to the Apostles. Blessed be the Lord of successions! He handed it down from Adam even to Noah: it reached from Noah to Abraham, and from Abraham on to Moses, and from Moses unto David, and from David to the Captivity, and from Babylon to our Redeemer, O. T.) Then the [Jewish] people was scattered, and cut short and put aside all their traditions. Aside also was the presence of the Apostles put. Blessed He that has kept up their traditions. He that gave commandment concerning the ark, He it was that built the tabernacle of His people. He that did all 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 c generation made for us. He Who knoweth all knoweth what is the cause of their stirrings'1. 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 ite. For one confesses

Church. He that ordereth the successions of natures and creatures, He it is that ordered the successions of Prophets and of Apostles from one age even to another. Blessed be He that begun andperfecteth." If instead of ' traditions' we render successions, as may be done, still he plainly contemplates doctrine as delivered through those successions. Again, vol. i. p. 454, f. he says, " When thou hearestof the well-ordered ministry of Solomon's princes, and the exact arrangement of those who brought the supply of bread to the great congregation of men and women, and pur- veyed hay and barley for the stallions and the horses, bethink thyself of the all-pervading beautiful order which Immanuel has stamped upon His Church. For these spiritual princes nourish all the children of the Church in their order: the chief shepherds, to wit, offer deep things to the perfect, and to penitents and those that stand without the gates they bring hay and barley — not that these mysteries are barley and hay, but that men such as those, have their conversation like the beasts, and consequently are not nourished as rational men. Nourished however they are, seeing we give nourishment even to beasts; as the Prophet says, Thou, Lord, shalt save both man and beast." These passages bring out the force of the first sentence; they shew St. E. to conceive of the faith as somewhat substantive, as held by the Church only, as old, and so opposed to the new doctrine, and lastly, as dispensed by the Church. It may be added that the

word JaaJ is used for a mark or butt to aim at, in which sense it corresponds to the IxxXtioicttrrixos <rxo-ro; of St. Athanasius, c. Arian. iii. §. 28. As the soul may be a standard for the natural reason to aim at, so God is for the reason enlightened by Baptism: see

e TheodoretH. Fab.iv.3. states, that Eunomius was daring enough to say that there was nothing of things divine that he was ignorant of, but that he was acquainted exactly with God's very Essence, and had the same knowledge

of God that God had of Himself

and other things did he devise beside, that he might seem to be a discoverer of new doctrines. So Chrysost. de Incomp. i. and ii. Epiphan. lxxvi. p. 916, b. and Basil quoted p. 102, n. a.

d St. E. (who was called the Prophet of the Syrians) here and elsewhere (see seems to look on heresies as a scourge mysterious in its origin and its tendencies. To him we may apply a re- mark of St. Austin, de Trin. iv. 23. " The minds of some men are so far exalted by the Holy Spirit, that it is not through Angels, but through their own selves, that they behold, in the Sovereign Citadel of all things, the causes of things to come existing."

• Seebelow,lvii.vol.ii.p.47l,d.Greg. Naz. Or. xxxiv. p. 552, a. Nys. c. Eun. where man's ignorance of his own soul is similarly used. Sextus Empiricus urges the same, though with a sceptical

The soul unable to comprehend

that it exists, another [says] that it existeth not. One puts it in subjection to death e, another above the power of death. One maketh it out of something, and another, out of nothing f. He that sees its greatness makes it a small part of somewhat greatg, 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 h. One that seeth its fieriness, says that it JS.spiri-is of fire1, another that seeth its viewlessness *, lays down that ua ^ it is of the wind. One makes it a part of God k, 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 m compounded 2 s. mix- elements2. 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

tures

aim, as follows, ' That the soul is incomprehensible appears from this: of those who have disputed about the soul, (to pass over the rife and endless battling about it,) some have said that it did not exist, some that it did; some have doubted. If then the dogmatists allow that this is a controversy which cannot be settled, they do thereby allow the incomprehensibility of the soul.' Pyrrh. Hyp. ii. 5. p. 74. Fabr.

e This was the case with the Stoics who, according to Numenius, held that the soul was generate and corruptible, and that the soul of the virtuous lasted only till the resolution of all things into fire, (Euseb. P. Evan. xv. 20.) an opinion very similar to one widely maintained in the East.

f Perhaps he means those who define soul to be that which moves itself, although such conceived it to be eternal, see Aristot. de An. ii. 2.

8 This was commonly held in the East, (see Windischm. Philos. in Fortg. der Weltgesch. p. 636. Kleuker zum Zend Av. 1. pt. ii. p. 119.) where the soul was thought to be a part of God, conceived as come out of himself to create. On the next words Stobseus may be cited, (Eel. Phys. p. 93. quoted by Fabric.) 'Anaxagoras, Anaximenes, Archelaus, and Diogenes of Apollonia make the soul of air.' See also S. Empir.

h Aristot. as above mentions some who thought the soul blood. Euseb. P.

E. i. 18. p. 24. mentions Epicurus as believing it to be in the blood. S. Empir. p. 516, and the note.

1 So Parmenides and Leucippus according to Stobaeus, and Democritus, according to him and Aristotle.

in calling the soul an inspiration from God is the calling it so in such sense as to imply He alienated any portion of Himself. A notion like this seems to have prevailed amongst certain Anthropomorphists in the tract against them given to St. Cyril, cap. v. St. E. held the inspiration mentioned in Gen, to be not the substance of the soul, but the supernatural gift. See vol. i. p.

1 Empedocles is mentioned by Aristotle as believing that the soul was made up of the several elements, and that each element was itself a soul. Epicurus thought it made of air, fire, spirit, and a fourth unnamed element. Stobseus. Hahn takes ' essences' of the Mons and refers" to his Bardes. p. 73.

m Plutarch de Plac. Phil. iv. 4. Diog. Laert. vii. §. 1. lxiii. mentions that the Stoics made the soul consist of eight elements, whereof one was the governing faculty. And Philo,deMundi Op. §.40. and elsewhere, notices that the soul has seven divisions, if we do not reckon in that faculty. Any closer approach to St. E.'s statement, I am not able to point out.

its own 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, sufficeth not to feel itself. How should it, which is at a loss what to say of itself1, be able to search out Him by Whose1 s. hands it was created. Though in its proper nature not to be JJjJjjJj seen, its own mirror11 is, to let it see that it exists: in this, [the its gift of] speech, hath the soul been able to see itself, forasmuch on 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 roisseth 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 wTas 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.

n What he means by its own mirror and Hahn differ somewhat in their exis, I believe, the gift of speech which planations. As far as I understand reflects its inward workings. The editor him, I have followed the latter.

RHYTHM THE SECOND.

1. Blessed be he that hath fixed him up the delicate a 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

Jlxx.^i.hath been, Lord, a sailor1 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!

2xx.§.3. Blessed he that hath let the wings of the Spirit grow2 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

3lvii.§.4.hath felt that the language of his mouth was weak3, and the womb of it cannot suffice for that unutterable Generation ! Blessed he that hath withheld his tongue from relating the Procreation b, which is not allowed him [to speak of] ! Blessed he that hath punished0 himself for ought that he has pried into

*s.whose thereof ! Blessed he that hath tuned his harp4 with Psalms

rings 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 every

a This is like the well-known senti- measure, and by bodily organs is conment of St. Austin de Trinitate vii. §. 7. fined."

" God is conceived in the mind more b Procreation. \^ is used of the

truly than He is spoken of, exists more Generation of the Son from the Father,

truly than He is conceived in the xxviij. §. 8. xxxvii. §. 3. fin. contr.

mind." So Epiphan. lxx. 8. " We Scrut. i. §. 13. fin. its ordinary use is

have no other use of the voice than 0f a genealogy.

what God hath given us in measure, c Vol. ii. p. 440, b. he states the theory

even though we conceive more excel- 0f penance which he here commends,

lently of God. Yet it is not as much as thus: He that sheweth mercy to all,

the mind hath, that the mouth can through our suffering sheweth mercy

utter, seeing it is precluded by the to us."

Blessedness of simple-minded fa ith. Ill

day, and hath weighed therein all his questionings that he may not raise superfluous questions! Blessed he that hath made Him a just measure, which is meted with that of the Prophets and Apostles d, 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 investigating 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, so that he thereby communicates a right taste to the foolish who is unleavened ! Blessed he that cleanseth his disputation8 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 l ! >xx. §.

3. Blessed he that knoweth, Lord, that the power of2' 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

d Vol. ii. p. 494. cited above p. 106. Trin. " Hard in very deed to come at,

So St. Epiphanius often speaks of are matters relating to God even for

the faith of the Church as that of the those who are the best practised and

Prophets and Apostles, e. g. i. pp. 728. most ready at the perception of mys-

735. 752. 932, b. 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. . .

e St. E. 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. iii.) 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 speak -

of 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 these subjects to prefer

note g. being silent, still for those who are set

f Cyril. Alex. Pref. to Dial. i. de to teach, not a course free from danger."

Evils of dispuiatiousness.

conduit for the foolish questionings that well forth from glozing 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 Greeks g! Blessed he that hath not let slip the simplicity of the Apostles!

? St. E. means here to condemn the disputatious and wrangling spirit of the Greeks, and the adoption of views, meritorious euough in Pagans, by Christians who had the true light. This ap- pears both from the context here, from Ms speaking vol. ii. pp. 444. 468. d. of Bardesanes as adopting their error of supposing the world created from eternal elements, and from the praise he hestows ii. p. 317. on the Orators, Sophists, Grammarians, Physicians, Astronomers, and Philosophers of the Greeks, some of whom he mentions by name. Of Aristotle, the chief, though innocent, source of disputatiousness, he says, ' Exalted was Aristotle in knowledge above them all, and he surpassed in knowledge all before and after him. He compassed

the whole of logic in concise language, and of philosophy he made one body perfect and entire. Of him is accomplished that which is written of Solomon the wise, that among those before and those after him there was none that was wise as he was.' This is important to notice, (1.) because it qualifies any censure passed upon reasoning on religious matters by St. E.; and (2.) because it shews that it is not absurd to quote from Greek authors in illustration of the theories of the soul, whether it were from translations or originals that he derived his knowledge of them. Of ' disputation in measure' he says, c. Scrut. i. §. 16. that it is ' a medicine of life.'

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. 2, 7. who hath been worthy to believe in simplicity and to call Thee * Son,' as all the Prophets and Apostles1 called Thee!1 ab. p. Blessed he that knoweth, Lord, that Thy Majesty is unsearch- ' able, and hath rebuked his tongue2 speedily that by silence 2P HOhe might honour Thy Generation ! Blessed he, Lord, that hath obtained a hidden eye wherewith to see how the Angels turn abashed from Thee3, and how shamelessly man dealeth!3 See iv- 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 Adonaib 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 among0 the waves [thereof] ! Blessed he, Lord, that

a St. Jerome on Isaiah lx. 5. " ' Be man doth not walk in enlargement,

ye also enlarged,' lest through strait- Enlarged must the heart be, if a man

ness of heart ye be not able to have is to contain Christ walking in it."

Christ for your guest, Who saith in the b The Hebrew word is preserved in

Gospel, l I and My Father will come the Syriac, as it was in Greek often,

and make our abode with him.' " See Coteler. ad Const. Ap. ii. 12. Bas.

St. Meletius in St. Epiphan. i. p. 878. c. Eun. ii. §. 7- and in Latin, Austin.

" Take not the Word of Thy Truth c. Faust. Man. xv. §. 9.

out of my mouth. When does this c or, as the waves were quieted, lit.

take place? When a man does not with the waves, keep the law continually, when a

114 Angels leave what man ooldly prieth into.

hath learnt that the Seraph crieth, ' Holy,' 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 astonied that Thou art sitting at the Right 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 falling 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 i rpjug js a WOnder that it is Thou, Lord, alone that 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 God !

RHYTHM THE FOURTH.

1. A thousand thousands stand, ten thousand ten thousands run : thousands and ten thousands are not able to search into One : for all 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, they had met the Silence, and been restrained. The First-Born entered the belly, and the pure Virgin suffered b not. He went in, and came forth in pangs, and the Fair One perceived 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 c, and clothed1 ! p. 51, Himself with a Body and came forth ! Gabriel gave the Luke 1 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 see John Nature as is His Name. The servant cannot search Him8'36'

a ' Silence' ' tifu%i f a,<p6ty%ia is used ofGodbyPionys. Areop. de Div. Nom. p. 841. which Corderius (p. 848.) says, is used, u because neither can we by speech declare God, nor doth He thereby so declare Himself to us as that we can know Him perfectly as He is."

b ' Suffered,' will apply to mind or body. St. Hil. de Trin. iii. §. 19. ' She begat a perfect Man without having ought that was her's minished.' See on xviii. fin. The received doctrine is, that as Christ entered the house in spite of the doors being shut, so He came forth from the Blessed Virgin without opening the gate of her womb. SeePetav. de Incarn. x. 6. §. 3. and Assem. in Oper. Gr. iii. (p. Pseud.-Orig.Hom. in div.Theod. Dial.2. p. 79. St. Aug. de Civ. D. xxii. 8. §. 21. Jerom. c. Pel. ii. §. 4. St. Ambr. Epist. in Luc. ii. §. 57.) St. Hormisd. Epist. besides several passages from the Opera " Mary neither suffered as a woman, nor had she the pains in bringing forth as a Virgin." See above, p. 40. and 46.

where he speaks of the womb as sealed, an expression used byOrigen and others, and taken from Cant. iv. 12. The 'pangs' he mentions presently (if not those of Compassion) may of course be quite consistent with this, as they may have preceded Child-birth.

c The incomprehensibleness of Christ's Generation from St. Mary is urged as a reason for accepting a fortiori the incomprehensibleness of His Eternal Ge- neration by St. E. here, as by St. Greg. the disgiistingness of these foul and filthy thoughts! how is it that he who talks in this way understandeth not, how that, even when manifested by the flesh, God did not allow of the passions of nature in the formation of His own Body, but it was from the Holy Spirit and the Power of the Most High that the Child was born to us: and neither did the Virgin suffer, nor was the Spiiit minished, nor the Power of the Most

High divided and the Child was

born whole, and to the undefiled estate of His Mother He wrought no scathe," which he again refers to p. 536. c. See also Feuard. on St. Iren. ii. 28.

116 Mysteriousness of God's dealings, even to Angels,

1 p. 121, out, because how great soever the 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 d. 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

2 See R. senses2 of the body, since they much need other senses which

'a'are in the inmost imagination, do not grasp even the smallest things within their search. Let us then ask the

3 See Angels that are near Thy gate. Though the Angels e stand3 19. p. ' before Thee with praises, yet know they not upon what side I37.n.a. to see Thee. They sought Thee above in the height, they

saw Thee in the depth, they searched for Thee in the lPet. i, heaven, they saw Thee in the deep; they looked for Thee l Tim. with the Adorable One, they found Thee amid the creatures, 3' 16* they came down to Thee and gave praise. When they

d i. e. Those attributes whereby He sentiment St. E. is evidently alluding,

shines on us are not in reality different e It must be observed, that St. E. is

from His Essence, though we contem- here combating those who said that they

plate them one by one. See p. 30, n. i. could understand God as He could Himand below, lxii. §. 4. The word ' feel' self: hence it is open for him to hold

which occurs presently and often in the that certain spirits see Him as He is,

original, where ' explore' is necessarily i. e. behold His Essence, though they

substituted in the translation, has a force 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 St.Epiph. illustration,

the knowledge of faith, but as a man lxx. §. 8. See Petav.de Deo. vii. 5. §.6.

would know any thing visible or tangible and on contr. Scrut. i. $. 2. Comp. R.

with his hands, as when he might take v.§.4.and vol.i. p. 268. where he speaks

into his hands a stone or a stick or im- of Apostles and Saints as also brought

plement made of any other matter." "near by Christ to the Majestic 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

they saw Thee in the sepulchre, they saw Thee in the

chamber f, they saw Thee dead, they found Thee a raiser of

the dead : they were amazed, they were astonied, and had

no strength left.

4. In every place is Thy mysterious Presence2, Lord, and8*Thy

from every place Thou art withdrawn. Though Thy myste- See Job

art what Thou art. Though Thy mysterious Presence2 be in

the depth, is it not comprehended what it is. Though Thy

mysterious Presence2 be in the sea, from the sea Thou

art concealed: though Thy mysterious Presence2 be in the

dry land, it knoweth not that Thou art He. Blessed be the

glorious hidden One, since even Thy little mystery g 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 likenesses11 would flow, and to what shall

f S. [jqj^ Q^ Ass. 'inthronosedentem.'Thisparapnrase is truer perhaps than it seems: Anonymus ap. Corder. Cat. in Ps. xix. 6. p. 357- " He being the Sun of Righteousness cometh forth from the Chamber of His Father's Bosom." However, one should rather think St. E. would allude here to Abraham's bosom and the descent into hell. In vol. iii. p. 583. f. he calls it ' the chamber of the just.' The contrast then would lie between the powerlessness of one dead, and the wonders shewn by Christ in the grave.

8 Thy little mystery, i. e. Thy Birth of Mary as contrasted with Thy Birth of God. see p. 38. ' A great crown, &c.'

h Comp. Athanas. p. 29. O. T. and notek. Pseudo-Bas. c Eun. v. p. 301. c. f* If it is impossible that matter should be- made into the shape of a pattern by men, unless they partook of the ideal form thereof, how should the creature ascend up to a likeness unto God, if not partaking of the express image (jCaiK3CT^i) °f God p f}ut the express image of God is not such as man's is, but is living, and is in very deed the likeness productive of likenesses, whereof all things that partake, become likenesses of God." That St. E. conceived there were different degrees of likeness is plain from vol. i. p. 128. d. " That man was created in the Likeness and Image of God, we understand in three ways. For it is not to his external form that the phrase ' image of God' Is* applied, but to his freedom and power over the creatures. This also do we understand as of the Image in three ways — one is, that as the power of God is over all things, so also the lordship of man is established over all: a second, that he obtained a just soul, whereby he is capable of all species of virtues and divine indwellings; and the third is, that by the intellectual and governing faculty of the mind he reacheth unto every place, and carrieth in himself the image of whatsoever he pleaseth.'' And again, p. 147. on ' My Spirit shall not always dwell in man, \cJ he says: " some interpreters take it thus: This is said by reason of the Spirit which was breathed into us and shaped man to a likeness unto God, to express how by their evil doings they had lost the grace of that Divine likeness. We might then think here of the Pagans and Jews, who are not called the image of God,

118 Silence and prayer more becoming than prying,

we be able to look and shadow out Thy Image upon our heart1. 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

p. no, is easier for us than speaking in words1 ; 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 is perplexed and halteth. And if the mind be overcome, how much more the language, whose path is amongst perplexities k.

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 corn- Is. 32, 4. prehend than the rash that is hasty. The weak that search eth

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 rs.tookitto which its audacity led it away2. It had been a gracious cap lve 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 inspiration, At p. 812. c. he says, seeing that the

whence we have become in very truth thoughts which be in us, 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 mankind by reason of the human manifested, it is of necessity that we

soul which is rational and intelligent putcertain names as if signs upon things,

may properly have all of them the name and thereby publish to one another the

of ' image of God' in a certain sense." movements of our minds." The ini 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

save by the coming of the Image of God v. §. 82. §. 83. p. 695. Pott. ' We speak

Itself, even our Saviour Jesus Christ?" (of Lord, &c.) not as though we uttered

k The Anomceans contended that His Name, but in our perplexity we

there was an inherent connection be- use comely Names, that the mind may,

tween words and things, as if God without wandering about over other

Himself had given the names to things, things, have in these whereon to stay

This is combated at great length by itself up.' We shall have to recur to

St. Gregory Nyss. c. Eunom. lib. xii. this subject below.

and 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 us in astonishment feel after Him if He can be comprehended ! Thou art revealed, Lord, to babes and hidden from the cunning; to him that Mat. u, 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 glorify1 Thee within itself. The power that extendeth unto every place1 is able to search for Thee, l i. e. the in the height to shadow Thee forth, and in the depth™1"? 5 to feel after Thee, but though reaching to every place is notandn.h. 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 rest2. 2§-1-

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 m, in reverential silence keeps from search into Thee3.f s. and Woe unto him that is bold, when the Seraph before Thee}^1" with his wings covereth his face! The Cherubs bear thathonoureth

Mighty One4 Who beareth all. Bowing downwards do Thee, the hosts of the Cherubim in fear beneath Thy chariot *s-

Power

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 hath praised and been silent in fear!

1 i. e. perhaps searching as though est ; and the Seraphim say, Holy,

it comprehended Thee in itself would Holy, Holy, and turn away their eyes,

glorify, &c. The Latin version has unable to bear God even in His con-

V • e Z f be His glory from out of His place.. ..

is a misprint for y+Z^L or gee ^ £„ there.g ab(£e> what

m Similar reasoning occurs in St. glory; these are curious, &c.' So

Chrys. de Incompr. i. p. 301. d. * Some p. 317. p. 319. p. 327. See on v. §. 2.

Angels say, Glory to God in the high- See n. d. on R. x.

RHYTHM THE FIFTH.

2 S. nod

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 a 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 even the knowledge of Angels to the knowledge of the Spirit is as a little twinkling. [Yet] the Spirit saith of the Son, s Who hath declared His generation?' Rashness l is for running on and passing over the boundary which the Spirit b came up to and was still.

2. When the Angels searched to learn the Generation2 of the Son, they directed their questions to those that were higher than they, and these great ones learn at the suggestion of3 the Spirit0. As the degrees of the Angels, so are the questions of the Angels d. There is none among them that dareth to

* Vol. ii. p. 486, c. " Plain is the way for the simple, and that way is faith, which metes out inns and milestones from Paradise back to Para- dise, &c." and p. 495. " Prophets and Apostles handed it down, in it are milestones which the Truth did fix, in it are inns which Love did garnish."

b St. E. here conceives the Spirit as setting Himself a limit according to what He saw it to be fitting to disclose to His creatures, according, not to His capacity to reveal, but theirs to receive. On the mysteriousness of such limits he dwells further below,

Basil de Sp. Sancto. xvi. (§. 38.) " Take away from the account the Spirit, and the quires of Angels are disbanded, the prefectures of Archangels come to an end, all things are confounded; of law, order, and boundary will their life be void. For how is it that the Angels say, ' Glory to God in the Highest, if it be not by the Holy Spirit that they are empowered to do

it? I think that Gabriel also foretelleth not things to come by any other way than by the Spirit's foreknowledge, seeing one of the divisions of the gifts

of the Spirit is prophecy, &c How

could the Seraphim say, Holy, Holy,

Holy, unless taught by the Spirit how often they must utter this doxology, to be true to orthodoxy? &c."

d See on 1 Kings in note e. Greg. Naz. Or. xxxiv. p. 539. ' 1 wist not if so great a thing be not incomprehensible even to the intellectual natures above, which through their being near unto God and shone upon by the entire Light, may yet haply clearly see it, if not entirely, yet at least after a more perfect and express sort than we, according to the rank to which they belong, xal atetXeyiav vns vastus — who had been contrasting (p. 538.) God's own knowledge of Himself with that of His creatures. See Dionys. de Ccel. Hier. cap. v. Cyril Thes. p. 266, c. Epiphan. lxiv. 33. quoted in St. Jo. these or any other passages from the Fathers. He shews however that St. Thomas held to the doctrine of St. E. and St. Greg, even after the visibility of God had been authoritatively determined. It should seem difficult to conceive of different orders of Angels, without different degrees of knowledge to be imparted, and of goodness leading them to impart it.

Degrees of knowledge as of created beings different. 121

stretch himself unto aught that is greater than his own 2 Cor. measure. Hereto nature witnesseth by the subordination ' * that is therein6, for rank leadeth unto rank unto that which is the crown: and also the counsels of Jethro made subordinations Ex. 18,

from degree to degree even up to Moses himself. Men, who5 /The are of vile degree, trespass over the degrees of Angels to come vile deup to the First-born and search into Him! man

3. It was not, Lord, from envy f in Thee, that Thy works were less than Thee; the work can never be made equal with itsP- 116 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 workg. There is no

e We have already seen above, n. b. p. 107. St. E.'s way of arguing from analogy upon such subjects: as it is a common habit with him so to argue, an instance or two shall be here added 5 on Numbers xi.25. p. 257- he says, "God took of the Spirit that was on him and gave it to the seventy elders. As the fruits of trees receive the juice that distils from their branches, so the seventy elders felt the Spirit which distilled from Moses and entered into them. And again, the sense (of the text) is not that He minished him, but it explains how it was from Christ that all intellectual Spirits received.'' On Numbers i. he says, p. 250, e. " Here is a ' type of the twelve Apostles, by whose means the chosen below were enrolled in the Church on earth, but those above perhaps by the head of their orders. That he did not number the tribe of Levi with Israel, although he was of Israel, is again a type of the Saints, who although they be of the world, yet are not reckoned of the world: The Archangels too are higher than their companies, as the head is above the members." Again, on Joshua, p. 305, c. "By those that dwell in cities are typified those that stand in the rank of virtues and powers and dominions; those again who have their portion in country places are a semblance of those who stand in a lower contemplation, as Principalities and Angels." And on 1 Kings iv. p. 454. a. Of the different provisions for the king's table he says, " first take thee in the fine flour, a type

of those Angels, that without a veil, see the things.of God, and are counted worthy to see the mysteries from God without the mediation of others. And these be like the fine flour, because it is by a light clear and pure that they are enlightened, and are in their essence pure without spot and without mixture. These are they whom we account Seraphim and Cherubim. But those who eat flower mixed with bran, are those [men] who hitherto have not attained to a capability for the pure light, for hitherto they have not attained a mind pure and perfect every whit, but there is over them a covering like to the bran, &c." See also vol. i. p. 269. We see here that he holds men and Angels to see God in very different ways; and that in spite of his holding as St. Thomas did, that Angels see God without any medium, he also holds in the text, that Angels themselves see Him in different degrees.

f This seems to have been originally suggested by Plato, (Tim. §. 10. " He who established this universe was good, and in him who is good doth no envy ever at any time have place,") and is §. 2. St. Athan. c. Gent. $.41. St. Greg. Eun. p. 372. a. xxi. §. 2. St. Epiphau. i. p. 959. a. If Arianism grew out of Platonism, we should not forget any service the heathen did to orthodoxy, especially when (as Heindorf notices) he is opposing the current heathen notion of the enviousness of the Divinity.

8 i. e. put on our nature.

122 Christ takes our names, gives us His.

work of His that can be compared unto its Maker. For not even are the names of the two equal and more than the names are

lp. 133. they themselves unequal. The Lord willed in His love1 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 our names ;

Mat. 13, even to a grain of mustard seed He condescended to com-

31, pare 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 furnace1 unto us

* p. 133. for the word of truth. Lo, the sun is all of him visible2 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

comp. of him8. In the sun is revealed Thy hidden Generation, and

n*. e. ' who can gaze upon the might thereof4 ?

4 p. 126, 5 Again set thy heart [to think] how the sea5 also is in-

5 p. 87, accessible. It is not hidden by distance. Lo ! though n* 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 falls 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 itk. On one

more proper than surnames; the latter vol. ii. p. 321. e. p. 454. d. p. 476. d. &c.

probably mean such names as Rock, for some such idea as capacity for

Axe,Worm, King of Righteousness, &c. testing — perhaps suggested by Prov.

Joshua is the same as Jesus, in Syriac; 27, 21 .

Moses' being called 'God to Pharaoh' is k The compatibility of God's grace

probably the other thing alluded to. with man's freedom is noticed as a

1 l Furnace' is an expression which wonder again xxv. §.1. It will be right

Breath 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 l; by them hath He shadowed thee out a likeness of the Eternal, Who [Himself] cannot be shadowed out. For He is near us and far 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 quote some passages here to shewhow strongly he (in common with other writers before Pelagian times) expressed himself upon man's freedom, as the weight of the passage in the text cannot otherwise be duly appreciated. Vol. ii. p. 326. b. " If Enoch, that lived, found no way to live without the Tree of Life, who is there that can live without the living Son, "Whose fruit giveth life to all? No man can gain a reward proportioned to his labour save by justice: no man can receive one greater than his labour save by grace. Whose labour then sufnceth for the price of the Kingdom and receiveth in justice so as not to inherit by grace? There is a drop by justice and the rest by grace. The labour of justice (i. e. which in justice requires reward) is the cause to the Giver, to give for the little great riches without measure. Neither is He blameable for adding, who addeth thus to all things. For a mortal man's scant labour in the stead of much persuadeth that he will hereafter work: for were he to prolong his life, then his labours had been great. Wherefore it is justice while it is also grace, for it would have been justice had his life been prolonged." Again ib. p. 461, e. he says, " Thou that art our Healer, heal our free-will: healed may it be by Thee, and by Thee forgiveness gain. Refuse not to assist it, for in Thee its health also standeth. O mighty gift, whereby Thou hast made us greater than the seas that are fettered by their boundaries, than the earth, the heaven, and the mountains that without are very small! May our Lord visit our mind, the will whereof is enfeebled by its wealth, and its thoughts by its possessions, and by its desires enfeebled is its power. For evil, if man willeth not, does not exist, like darkness which

existeth not if it be light, or a forest, if it be let run wild, for want of tilling. Blessed be the Creator of freewill, the handmaid to whom He hath given power over the soul. Who is to hide free-will that is as the sun shining in the firmament? who deny its dominion whereof the power is as God in might? comp. (vol. i. p. 120.) quoted

plaited the commandments that by them free-will might be crowned! Blessed be He that hath made just men numerous, to be witnesses that cry aloud concerning free-will." See xxv. contr. Scrut. i. §. 35. Again, vol. i. p. 143, a. speaking of Cain he says; " if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door of thy heart; these words go to shew, that God wisheth man's repentance and waiteth for him to return, and exciteth and giveth opportunities which are a call thereto. They shew also that man has power over himself and a liberty of willing. Lo, sin lieth at the door of thy mind like to a fanged beast at the door of a house, if thou turn thee to it, it will get it power over thee." St. E., as other Fathers, when arguing with fatalists, insists on the fact of man's freedom, and does not go into the question of the way in which he became free. See his de Lib. Arbitrio, iii. p. 359. Petavius de Deo ix. 4. and 5. notices how the earlier writers have been causelessly impeached, and may yet be defended upon this subject.

I i. e. use the colours in a parallel way to what we have just been using the air: He is near, &c. He here states, what he alludes to, of the prototype instead of the type: otherwise the incom- prehensibility of colour is the point to which he draws our attention.

124 The Son is as unsearchable as the Father,

Ps. 31, no one is able to veil himself in Him, yet He covereth him in

? p. 118, 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

2 See blind man shall touch a living coal2 to explore it, its brightness

3 if 'profiteth him not, but its heat3 burnetii himm. So doth a power 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-born would search into the Father. The

* See searching into the Begotten is a bridge4 which whoso passeth R.vi.fin. oyer^ pagggth on to search into the Father. Bethink thyself, 5§. l. that whoso wisheth to examine and search into the fruit5, his lxxtii! seeking speedily runs into the root that bare it. The Son is §• 4- a treasurehouse wherein is searching and also treasure, for Mat.i3, the daring the searching of Thee, for the merchants6 Thy Pearl treasure. Both of them are to be wondered at. The guilty ™.§-3.R. doth searching into Thee employ7; the good is hidden in

* s! 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

8 vi.§. 2. medicine of life8 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

9vii.§.2. of mercies which He brought, and give works9 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

i° xxix. gave us the Divine Nature10, 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

m Perhaps the mention of colours put it into words, being through the

reminds him of a blind man, and his incomprehensibility of them to themhaving no sense for them. For ' all the selves in a state of ignorance' to apply a

blind do is to persuade their own mind seemingly corrupt passage of Epiphaby talking and deceive those that hear nius,i.p. 991. c. Compare vi. §. 1. where

them, as if they had a perfect know- the same simile is used to suggest the

ledge of their difference, and could even imperfect vision of God given to man.

yet is Light, Life, and Health to the good and humble. 125

interest n with Him, that we may demand it of Him Mat.25,

again.

9. Praise thou the hidden Light by means of the gleaming from Him ; hard is it for the eye of the soul to look at the secret Light. By means of the shining from Him1 it is able to go ' p- 87, to meet Him. He sent forth a brightness from Himself to them that sit in darkness. He turned away their eyes from

the beauty of worthless things to the beauty of Him that sent Him. Wonder is there and astonishment at our age2! for2 p. 107, there are bruises in our bodies, and scars in our souls, and seams in our spirits. Instead then of searching out where there was medicine suited for us, we have probed our Physician, and have searched into His nature and birth. Oh, how bitter is our wound! It is with the Physician that chaseth away our pangs that we have bruised our own selves.

10. May Thy faith be in my mind a curdle which, when poured into it, may thicken my thoughts3 from prying and3 p. 98, 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 from what is Thine own.

n See §. 10. and xxv. §. 3. 4. xxxviii. therewith; the stock for trading is

fin. So of a monk he says, Can. funer. doubled to Him by interest and by usury

xvi. ' The priesthood is the talent which too.' thou didst receive of thy Lord to trade

RHYTHM THE SIXTH.

lor

Eternal

1. How then can a man miss of the True One, when the True 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 Hima, the Father Himself in His Loveb 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 the Essence1 seen which cannot be seenc. In the Ray from

■ The heretics said the Son was created as an instrument to create the creatures: to this the Fathers replied, that would be to make the creatures the final cause of the Creator. See Petav. de Trin. ii.5. §. 16. To some such arguing St. E. is probably alluding: the connection is: the title Father implies the existence of the Son: else God the Father must have been at some time lacking, and have become Father which He once was not. Neither was it any other cause external to the Father, which led to the generation of the Son.

b Assem. renders ' voluntate progenuit, nulla vi coactus:' the last clause is his own, and the whole version is a paraphrase. ' In or by His Love' is the literal rendering, which would imply, though not near so distinctly, that the Father begot the Son ' voluntate:' which mode of expression is of sufficiently frequent occurrence not to require in itself any apology whatever. See Petav. de Trin. vi. 8. the context, therefore, if any thing, must be what gives an awkwardness to the expression. Still, ' in His Love' may bear the paraphrase A. puts upon it, and imply that the Father begot the Son voluntarily in the same sense that He exists Himself voluntarily, that is, not at will, but with His will, since He cannot will Himself to be else than He is. Again, Love is a name used for God, and therefore possibly the expression might mean ' in Himself.'

Thus St. Austin, de Trin. xv. §. 37. u Other Son of God's Love there is none save He, Who of His Substance is begotten;" speaking of Col. 1, 13. see the margin, where our version following the Syriac renders ' beloved.' Possibly, however, the text is corrupt, OIOQjw should be read OlOQ^, 'in His womb or bosom.' See further note at the end of this R.

c See above, p. 68, n. q. It was the doctrine of all the early Fathers that it was the Son and not the Father who manifested Himself. (Vide Petav. de Trin. ii. 9. §. 9.) As St. E. holds Them to be equally incomprehensible, he must here mean to refer to that office of the Son spoken of illustrate the sequel, " By His truth He made us many medicines; He made His greatness little by borrowed names. But that we might not think that this was the whole of Him, He disclosed His Greatness not such as it is, but proportioned to our strength. Even this Greatness is but a littleness, seeing it is a spark from Him which He shewed us: according to our pupils he set before us of the multitude of His mighty rays." St. Justin M art. c. Tryph.p.358. uses the Ray in a similar way as a type of the Incarnate Son. Later writers usually employ it as St. E. does below, Nature. See p. 133.

Himself He softened His wondrous might; for our Strengthener would not weaken. He was pleasing unto us, when He softened 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 Him1. He lets Himself be sha- * R. xlii. dowed forth in similitudes, that according to our strength we Jj*^ may learn Him in His blessed dispensations. Scr. i.

2. For in bread the Strong One that cannot be eaten, is eaten. In strong wine also is drunk the Power which cannot be drunk2. We also anoint ourselves in oil with the Power 2SeeR.x. which cannot be used as ointment3. And as He hath softened L3'^' Himself for the mouth in pleasant meats, and it eateth Him, 3 p. 90, so He hath made the sight of Himself soft to the eye. He n* c* hath softened His might in words, so that the ear may also

hear Him. Amongst those conceived Thou art marvellous: amongst those born Thou art glorious: amongst the baptized Thou art approved: amongst the redeemed Thou art desirable: amongst the sacrificed Thou art slain: amongst pleasant meats Thou art eaten: among the Prophets4 Thou art mingled:4 p. 49, in the Apostles Thou art mixed: the whole of Thee, Lord, is JjJ Jso in all: in the deep Thou art buried: in the height Thou on R. 1. art worshipped!

3. In the beginning then by the First-born 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 different from Gen. l, 1 let it be.' He evidently intended the First-born when He 3' created Adam, [saying,] Let Us make man in Our Image, ib.v.26. according to Our Likeness d. It were blindness to think that

d This text has been already quoted, in all places, when creating? 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 " brought Him the Evangelist said, ' All things

forth cattle in such way as was fitting were by Him, and without Him was not

for the service of him who on that very any thing made.' John 1, 3. Paul also

day transgressed the commandment of setteth to his seal concerning Him, and

his Lord. After having said of the saith, Tn Him was created whatsoever

creeping things, beasts, and cattle, that is in heaven and on earth, all things

they were created on the sixth day, he visible and all things invisible. Col. 1,

proceeds to write of the creation of man 16. In p. 128, b. he explains it as said

who was formed, as it here saith, on by the Father to the Son and Spirit,

that same sixth day. And God said, 8fC. See on Athanas.p. 120. n.p. We see from

To whom then did God say, here and p. 68, the text, and this passage, that the

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 thousand6 years1, Who also formed him sand °U in tne beginning on the sixth day, when2 he provoked Him after the w£th the wood. Whoso thinketh again to say, that He gave

2 P. 127, command to the Angels f, it is a manifest audacity : if it be note. rjght that the servant should be partaker with the Lord and

companion in the work; how much more is it fitting for the ss.min-Son to exercise the commands82 of His Father, who with a IIlSL voice was able to finish His work, and with a word the creation.

voices

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 aw ay the passage bj the artifice of a ' pluralismajestatis'does not enter into the mind of one familiar with a Semitic language.

e On Judg. xiv. fin. he says, " That Samson's riddle was explained on the seventh day shews that in the seventh thousand [of years] all the riddles and types which have been spoken are to be interpreted, before there be seen the table prepared for the spiritual marriage feast of the Bride of Christ." It was a common opinion that the world would last seven thousand years. Of these six were supposed to have gone before Christ. See Bede on Genes. 5. and compare St. Ephrem upon Deut. i. p. 259. where he speaks of five divisions of time before Christ. Perhaps the real meaning of this was, before Christ all was toil, after Christ the giving of rest and an easy yoke began. On Gen. p. 20 and p. 139. St. E. notices the seventh day as the type of the eternal Sabbath in Heaven, and not as here and implicitly, and on Judges more explicitly, of the Kingdom of Christ on earth. The two views are easily reconciled: the same Wood of the Cross which sweetens man's labour upon earth will give a more full rest in Heaven, of which the Church is but the Image.

Grecian error; it is certainly a pagan error, and was thence adopted by the Gnostics, (see Iren.i. §.24. Clem. Strom, §.21. Archel. Caschar. c. Man. cap. x. also bv the Jews, (see Basil Hex. fin. VoisinadR.M.Pug.fidei,fol.392.)This is one of the many instances in which St. E. glances at other heretics than those against whom he is writing. See

however Athan. c. Ar. i. §. 56. p. 262. O. T. where it is pointed out how Arianism would run up into this error. ' Audacity' JZ.Q^;.V> is almost a technical word with St. E. for heresy, heretical boldness.

8 In a passage presently quoted, p. 129. St. E. repeats this, " by Him He works and by Him commands." So p. 118. O. T. quoting as was commonly done Ps.33,9. Others however objected to speaking of the Father commanding the Son, lest an inferiority should thereby be implied. See Petav. de Trin. ii. 7. §• 8. whence it will appear that St. Athan. (c. Ar. Or. ii. 31 . see also on $. 21.) does not differ in doctrine from St. E. on the point ; for in the expression with V?N a voice is implied that there was no interval, as in thel case of human commands, between the command and the creation, the use of the word ' He said' being an accommodation to our mode of thought. See Greg. Nys. c. Eun. p. 470—2. St. E.'s own words to that effect may be added ; vol. i. p. 128. " God said, Let Us make man in Our Image and Our Likeness. It is obvious that the words are addressed by the Father to the Son and the Spirit for the creation of man. By these words preparatory to the production of man it is seen, that God was making for him a glory greater than that of all the sensitive creatures which He created before him. For of these He spake commandingly only : ' Let there be light, let the earth bring forth, let the waters produce,' but of the production of man He speaketh words that have a resemblance to the considering and reconsidering and the preparations which men make in their doings."

to any of the creatures, 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 h? Both these alternatives are untenable1; that's, are which is third is tenable, viz. that it was to the Second °^ Person2 that He gave the command; for if a man should say 2 s. His that God gave the command to the work to be created3, this3^°g"n_ is confuted in Adam, since He said not to him, let Us makeed man in Our image; it was not to His companion5 that He See spake, nor yet to His servant did He give the command, n 3*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 Eternal4 to be as a4 or partaker with Him; servant and associate fail, and the Only on begotten 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 Sonk. For behold the First-born 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-born. The true 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, and 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.

h Epiphan. lxxiii. §. 12. mentions above, mentions that Manes looked on that the insisting on the application of the passage as implying a ruler speak - tbfflx to the Son, originated in the at- ing to other rulers, tempt of Paul of Samosata and Mar- k This must be considered (as the cellus to make the Word a mere spoken immediate mention of Humiliation word. Then quoting * Let there be, &c.' shews) as a transition to the Incarhe says, 'the words which the Father nation. See on §. 1. After considering speaketh to the Son are not Sons,' to that the Son is alone able to hear the which alternative the heretical inter- Father, (so to speak of Him who is all pretation of * God said' must come if fol- hearing,) he breaks off with a thankslowed out. giving for the revelation God made of

1 Companion. Archel. Casch. as Himself by His Son in the flesh.

130 The words of Creation discussed.

6. It is very plain, that if He commanded the earth to bring

forth, it was fitting that He should speak in the way of com-

Gen. 2, mand with the earth also, as He said unto Eve, in sorrow shalt

' '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 it1: by the Tree of Life alone, the Planter

Heb. l, 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. l, said, let them bring forth fruit abundantly, He would have 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

1 p. 127, man1 He should reveal the greatness of the First-born. He note* saw that of all His works the son of Adam was perverted m.

He revealed His Son openly, that whoso denied the Firstborn, him might Adam his father, who by the First-born 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

2 s. sign stand still! in J Thy initial"2 I am detained; be a bridge to

1 The Syriac has the masculine pro- unercate Nature.' Vide Greg. N. ibid,

noun here in the printed text. If this p. 386. d.

be correct, I am unable to understand n It may not be easy to ascertain

it. I have ventured to render, as if it precisely what is here in St. E.'s mind,

were the feminine point, which the St.Barnab.Ep.ix.St.Irenseusfr.[p.345.]

editor appears from his version to have St. Clem.Al. Strom. vi.§.145.p.816. Pott,

intended it to be. St. Jerome in Zechar. viii. fin. Epiphan.

m Vol. ii. p. 479. d. " Of (Adam) viii. 6. 1. 3. lxx. 12. and others cited by

man alone is it written, that ' I have Cotel. ad Const. Ap. ii. 25. notice 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. St.E.

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 of the letters,

very God, implies that He is Ingenerate: (See Matt. v. 18.) Here then he may

therefore there will be two Ingenerates. mean, one jot of Thee is too great for

(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

E. replies; 'Adam, though a created Incarnation a way whereby I may pass

being, was ingenerate, seeing he was over to the Trinity. St. Austin de

not gendered as others are. Still he is Doctr. Christian, ii. §. 25. may perhaps

not unfruitful: he has a son without throw some further light on the passage,

there being thereby another ingenerate. ' The number ten signifieth the tnow-

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,

Passages on the use qf the word 'Bosom?

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 the seven indicates the creature by reason of the life and body. For in the former there are three things, whence it comes that God is to be loved with all the heart, with all the soul, and with all the mind; in the body the four elements, of which it consists, are quite obvious." This meaning of four occurs

Body. As persons of late years found mysteries in the name Latinus, or as alpha and omega are insisted on in Holy Writ, so was Christ's holy name of old. St. E. may refer to what was obvious enough to devotional people of the day. Didymus de Trin. p. 264. treats in a like way of the word •*£<-

The proposed emendation requires the change of a single letter: how far the present letter in the codices may be like the proposed one, in default of any accurate description of the character used in them, (known to me,) I cannot judge; but 1 think there is strong internal evidence in its favour which I proceed to state.

It is a thing very much to be observed, as bearing not only on this, but on other passages, that St. Ephrem's manner is not to quote Scripture, but to allude to it. Now whoever reads over this section, must see, at first sight, that something, supposed to be known, is wanting to make the connection between its parts clear. St. John 1, 18. which has in the Syriac the very word proposed, will supply this want. In the Syriac it runs thus: ' No man hath seen God at any time: God, the Only- Begotten, Who is in the Bosom of His Father, He hath declared Him.' Assume that St. E. is expecting his readers to be familiar with this text, and the passage becomes clear: insist on the present reading, and the allusion is lost.

Next, the word jr^a^, (which it may seem to a Syriac scholar supererogatory to assert,) is in frequent use with St. Ephrem for the Womb, or Bosom of the Father. As the passages in which it occurs, will of course throw light upon the passage in question, it may be useful to put some of them together here.

(§. 1.) One of them has occurred already in R. iii. §. 2. " Blessed, Lord, be he that knoweth that Thou art in the Bosom of the [Divine] Essence, and hath remembered that himself is fast falling into the bosom of the earth, his

mother." See also $. 7. and ix. 45.

unto God Himself the names that He called His Son: He affirmed that He begat Him from His own Bosom, (or Womb,) yetnot after our custom, butin a way above it, and all- wonderful."

[His Name] i Eternal,' is consistent with His Eternity, in [His Name] 1 Just,' with His Justice, in [His N ame] ' Good,' with His Goodness : in these He is consistent; and how comes His Fatherhood to be different, in that it is inconsistent with Itself, if {that is] He has no glorious Son from His Bosom ?' Here besides the |,00\ we have the same epithet of the Son (*jt*04 lr^-*

thou canst find out the Father, then along with Him shalt thou find out the Son? He is with His Mouth when commanding, with His Arm when He ordereth things. By Him He worketh, by Him likewise He commands: the One for the Other alone sufficeth: in His Bosom is He when He embraceth, &c."

Bosom is the Son, alone knoweth, &c.' And iii. §. 10. ' If thou canst measure that Eternal One, then thou hast measured the Son, that is from His Bosom.' Vol. ii. p. 330. a. 'Our Lord Jesus Christ rose unto us from the Bosoyn of His Father.' Ibid. p. 472. ' Praise thou the Son that dwelleth in His Bosom, and possesseth all things.'

(§. 6.) To these passages shallbe added one, in which I suspect there is the same mistake as in the text, as it will serve as an introduction to two or three other

The use of the word * Bosom' illustrated

passages, that will be found to bear upon the doctrine in the text. It occurs contr. Scrut. i. §. 30. u How should a fruit be named so, if in reality it were not so? Name thou the Father ' Root,' surname the Son as His ' Fruit.' He is blended with Him, and distinct from Him. He is in His Bosom, and on His Right Hand. For if He were not blended with Him, then His Beloved were not in His Bosom. If again He were not distinct from Him, He would not be sitting at His Right Hand. Blended with Him is He, seeing He is in His Bosom, distinct from Him, seeing He is on His Right Hand. They are One in one "Will: They are Two in two Names: They hare not two Wills. They have two appellations. The Name of Fatherhood belongeth to the Father: His Name guardeth His Honour. The Name of Generateness belongeth to the Son, His Name guardeth His Generation," &c see the place. Presently he adds, " Fruit and tree also are not one, though they are one. The fruit is known as the fruit, and the tree as the root. In one equal love are they mingled." Perhaps ' bosom' should be substituted here.

As then St. £. so frequently uses the word * Bosom' in the sense here contemplated, as he uses it in a similar connection in (3.) to that of the present context, as a reference to St. John i. 18. will clear up the abrupt transition to the Incarnation; as the phrase the Father Himself seems to have so little force with the present reading; it seems not unlikely that the first letter of the word J^IQa/ is wrong.

The context with the proposed reading would be capable of some such paraphrase as this: Though human eyes cannot gaze at the Son, as He is in the Bosom of the Father, as neither can they at the sun's light in its bosom; still in His Dispensation for man's good, the Son may be beheld.

As St. E. is writing against the Anomceans, it may serve further to illustrate the text, if some passages are put together which tend to shew that his view of doctrine is such as would preclude his sympathizing much with the Semi-arian way of opposing them. To the Anomcean tenet that the Son was unlike the Father, the Semiarians opposed their statement, that He was in all things like {hpoiturw not opoovff/os), and by this rejection of the oftoovfiov precluded the possibility of asserting that They have one "Will except

figuratively, as brethren, who dwell together at unity, have one will. Doubtless the tone of the Semi-arians in many cases was better than their statements implied: still likeness of substance is not sameness, and therefore implies unlikeness, as St. Austin has on another matter observed, (c. Faust. Man. xvi. §. 15.) and as the Semi-arians at Ancyra (ap. Epiphan. i. p. 855. a.) seem to have seen. Neither am I able to see how the Two Persons, if not consubstantial, can possibly be conceived (save figuratively) to have one Will. So Greg. Nys.ii.p.376.d. " The identity of choices (vrgoutgtffiwv) necessarily indicates the community of nature in those that so choose" This (as has been shewn me) was proved by passages from the Fathers to be their usual doctrine, in the Lateran Council in A.D. 649. see Harduin's Cone. vol. iii. p. 858. Petav.

The doctrine of the Perichoresis is taught in the passage just given from St. E., the perfect in-dwelling of One Person in the Other being expressed by the word I have rendered ' blended,' which,asisplainfromthisandotherpassages, (see above, p. 34, n.g. and xl. §. 1.) does not imply any confusion. Vol.ii. p. 471 • d. puts his view on this pointbeyond a doubt. " One Name hath the Eternal, who hath none other that is equal to Him. Butif He (be repeated in His Son, i. e.) is two owing to having a Son, how can He dwell in Him when He is not generate from Him? Great perplexity seeing that if the two eternals dwell in each other, lo! there is confusion with blasphemy. But if it be space in which they dwell, then the space is greater than the eternal, seeing it limiteth the same. It is clear that if Eternal dwell in Eternal, either He is His Son, or of His framing. But if the eternals dwell from everlasting each in his own place, &c.'' Here he is arguing against the Manichsean notion of two eternal principles; he winds up with the passage just quoted $.5. from p. 472, " Praise thou the Son, &c." and assumes the doctrine of the Perichoresis to be known, and that it will at once clash with the Manichsean doctrine. To speak of a co- eternal Son in a co-eternal Father is consistent: to speak of a bad and good principle mutually indwelling in each other is inconsistent, and must lead to the assumption of a space in which they dwell, and which is greater than they. See on St. Austin's Confess, p. 314.

To return to the l one Will.' In vol.

with a view to improving the text.

ii. p. 396. O. G. he says on his deathbed, " Not by the Three Names of Fire, not by their One Movement and Will, have I ever doubted touching the Church or the power of God: If I have magnified the Father more than His Son in my mind, may He shew no mercy on me, or if I have made the Holy Spirit less than God, dark be mine eyes: If I have not confessed according to these words, to outer darkness may I go, or if I am speaking figuratively (jvi.ria^) with the wicked in the fire may I burn." This solemn asseveration is consistent with the above cited passage, as also (as we shall see) with lxxvii. §. 5. and contr.

Again in xlvi. 4. he argues against the heretical dilemma, * if the True One begat, He begat either by His Will or against His Will.' But the reading in the text is not what one should expect from a writer aware of that dilemma, and arguing against it in another part of the same work.

In lii. §. 1. the very term in the present text is used I think unquestionably of the sonship which is by grace. ' As by His Names He is comprehended to be God, and Just and Good, so the Name of Father evinceth Him to be a Generator. For the -very Name of Fatherhood used of Him beareth witness of the Son, and as He was the Father of One, in His Love it is that He is so of many. Praises be to His Grace!' which doctrine of sonship by grace occurs again in xxix.

The epithet ' glorious' seems to me to suggest to St. E.'s mind the idea of the sun shining in his might. Hence he passes off to the giving of ' that Light' to us, through the Incarnation, and the blessings, sacramental or other, attending it. Or he may mean more generally, that we do not grasp the Divine Essence shining in its strength, but only some small part of Its operations. ' For look' (he says, vol. ii. p. 518, c. on another point) ' at the source of this sun which we see, and observe that the fountain-head of its rays is unbearable, but when the shining of it spreads abroad, feeble and dulled does the might of its rays become: heat too and the gleam of it which is from fire is dulled and minished each moment. How much more dulled then will the Brilliance be which from a lengthened

distance extendeth unto us !'

It is quite possible that a scribe who looked over the passage before transcribing might purposely substitute ' love' for ' bosom' to suit the immediate context, if unlearned; and if heterodox to meet the wishes of others. But in §. 3. St. E. seems plainly to return to the coeternity of the Son with the Father, and to be arguing §. 5. that though commanded, He was in no way inferior, as the Homceousian system at least tended to make Him.

It may be noticed also that St. Cyril in Joan. p. 106. d. e. mentions some heretics who got over the text of St. John, to which I suppose St. E. to be referring, by asserting, that ' bosom' meant ' love* in that passage; and not (as St. C. says it should be taken) of the Son's being 1 from the Father and in the Father,' the word bosom being used for ' Essence.' St. Cyril's view of the text of St. John will meet the only further difficulty which seems likely to be made to the proposed reading, viz. that it is usual to speak of the Son being begotten from the Bosom of the Father and not usual to speak of His being begotten in the Bosom of the Father. St. E. however, if alluding to that text would take a word or two, as he found them in that text, especially when the cn"v?\ a ' in the Bosom' also contradicts the heretical notion that the Son was external to the Father. Yet in matter of fact St. Greg. Nys. who had the same reading of St. John thus comments on it in c. Eun. ii. p. 432, b. " Fair, yea beyond all fairness, is God the Only-begotten, Who is in the Bosom of the Father: He that is in the Bosom of the Father, is He not begotten in it? o av It <r£ x'oXtm ol>%i lyytvopivet;"

To conclude: the question here raised is not whether the reading in the text does or does not contain a questionable expression: but, whether that expression does or does not fall in with St. E.'s ordinary teaching. To have illustrated this may be useful, even though the present reading seem to others perfectly satisfactory. I should add, that a similar passage from a Latin translation of St. E. is discussed by Petav. de Trin. vi. 8. §. 24. which, for reasons given in the Preface, I have omitted.

RHYTHM 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 he is not equal to [investigating] himself, be equal to [investigating] his Lord ? Plain is the object before us, great, and open, and at hand : 1 R. i. yet, whoso will hit at it, misses it and fails1. If then the

s* ' object close at hand none be capable of hitting, the Hidden Object that strikes awe what man shall find a way to hit?

2 p. 115, 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.

fggenf From the brilliance of His light the whole of Jordan3 light

p. 86. became. He gleamed a little in the mount; trembling, quivering, and aghast, were those three pillars that the

Gal.2,9. Apostle so accounted: He granted them a sight of His

4 pp. 63, hidden glory commensurate with their strength 4. The sea Mat-H beheld Him and was shaken; though so sturdy with its 25. 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 r 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.

5 ab. pp. They praised and held their peace in fear. The Magi5 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 §* ' silence: not empty strifes, but offerings, were what they gave to Him. Do thou too seek for the First-born, and if thou c R- v. hast found Him in the height6, instead of wrangling disputations open thy treasures before Him, and offer unto Him thy works.

Hie prying and the believing contrasted. 135

8. Come, let us be astonied at the men that saw the King in His low estate, and neither searched nor sought; not one of them made inquiry: there, pure faith was victorious 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 ? Yea, the thief made no enquiries, but believed without searching into Him. The one on the1 lefta hand enquired, and his 1S. the enquiring cut off his hope. The Scribes* that sought felltne with Herod, who asked [after] Him. Satanc tempted Him, Luke23, wishing to know who He was. Unto all these that searched, the Messiah gave Himself not, as He did to the little 2 p- 43, children2. A star rose above Him, to shew without all con-p, 79* troversy that He was indeed the Bright Light of the Gentiles, 80- &c* 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 Mat. 3, 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 prying.

4. These affections have they repressed who have refrained from searching, and have quieted the soul that it might believe without toil3. The Pharisees enquired, Who is this,3 R- ixand Whose Son ? As searching into the Truth they fell from the Truth. On faith all dependeth. When seeking after the Truth Himself, in the seeking of Him they lost Him. The centurion was commended2 when he marvelled at Him as God: 2S.great in faith he honoured Him, and suffered Him not to come in. 8. His coming in he counted a weighty matter: do thou then

a Ab. p. 13. n. 1. and xxxviii. §. 3. or a divine one, wherewith he came to

Can. Necros. v. init. " Above low and our Lord in the mount," &c. Cyril de

middling was his rank exalted: and as Incarn. cap. xiii. ap. Mai, viii. p. 74.

we are perfect in what belongeth to the ° He continued fasting forty days and

left hand, so was he perfect in what be- as many nights. For He would not go

longeth to the right hand. 'With him, beyond the measure of those who had

Lord! may we stand on the right fasted of old, lest the adversary should

hand." For the belief that it was the shun the contest with Him, lest, having

thief on the left hand who blasphemed, recognised that which was hidden, he

see the Catena on the place, p. 751. should shun the struggle with that which

b Scribes, or l learned men' generally, was seen." St. Hil. on Mat. iv. 1.

4 have sought.' The word will recur " There was in the Devil suspicion

below in this sense. from his fear, not knowledge from his

c 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 unp. 21. n. e. St. E. vol. i. p. 28. f. says, derstand God in Man." Chrys. Horn.

" Satan was not permitted to come to xiii. in Mat. iv. 2. p. 147. a. see Petav.

Adam in the garden in a human form, de Trin. iii. 6. §. 13.

St. Thomas blamed for believing sloivly.

think so of searching into Him, because at this day 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 John20, Centurion that believes, and that Thomas d 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 afterwards6?

d The more usual view of St. Thomas' doubt is perhaps to regard it as a dispensation, whereby for l the more con- firmation of the faith' light was for a time withheld from him. It is, however, usual with St. E. to avail himself as well of the moral and literal, as of the deeper and spiritual, lessons of Scripture. Thus in p. 20. he may be said to moralize on Noah's drunkenness, while in vol. i. p. 152. there quoted, and p. 3. he considers of what it was the type: in vol. i. p. 112. d. we find him stating in terms that he gives both interpretations of the Benedictions of Jacob. Thus too in R. ix. §. 3. he speaks of Job as if he had done what (as he notices on Jerem. xx.) ' the Spirit says he did not,' sin or blaspheme with his lips. A large part of the prophecies he refers to Zorobabel, sometimes stating alongwith this, and sometimes not, the ultimate and spiritual sense of them.

e See R. ix. $. 2. and xi. §. 4. St. Meletius in St. Epiph. i. p. 881. " There is reason to fear, lest, if forced to speak upon topics that we are not able to speak

of, we should be no longer allowed to speak upon those whereof we are able. For it is from belief we ought to speak, and not from things spoken to believe; since it says, I believed and therefore did I speak." The Anomceans objected to the Catholics, that they worshipped they knew not what, (V. G. Nys. ii. p. 519. 1.) In observing on this sort of reasoning, St. Bas. Ep. 234. §. 2. says, u A sufficient faith it is that knoweth that God is, without knowing what He the knowledge of the Divine Essence is the perception of Hisincomprehensibleness; and what we worship is not that whereof it is comprehended what the essence is, but that it is."

In this Rhythm St. E. is enforcing the necessity of faith in order to the reception of doctrine of the Eternal Generation of the Son, a doctrine which ' more than any part of the Christian Religion requireth of us mere faith upon authority only.' See Pet. de Trin. v. 5. who gives several passages to this effect from the Greek and Latin Fathers.

RHYTHM THE EIGHTH.

1. O the brightness of Moses which none could behold ! Ex. 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 servant was so powerful, who shall look stedfastly 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 affrighted8. Let stillness and silence be the curtain to thee, Levit. that thou gaze not upon His Brightness. ' 2"

2. There was none that approached the folds1 of the visible 1 s. veil to pry into the brightness of the servant that was dwelling osom 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 wTas hidden, in his stammering wasj JL1' hidden Thy ready-speaking teaching2. Beneath two veils* & Thy Truth was hidden, and Thy speaking. As for the veilTargum Thou didst lift it up, and the stammering Thou didst make 2 Cor. 3, to speak plain. The whole of Thee came forth to sight.16* 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 for3 Thy day Thou wert revealed. The3pp.4.66.

" If this seem contrary to what was shew that he means rather to deny that noticed above, p. 116, n.e. what he says even Angels comprehend God as the in §. 2. of the veil being lifted up, must Anomceans blasphemously pretend to be set against it. Besides St. E.'s state- do. The words rendered a curtain, mentthat God veils Himself in Himself, (literally l faces of the gate,) are corn- It. v. §.5. and the expression living Fire, monly used of the veil of the temple.

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

Deut. openly: let us not grope in darkness: let not searching into

Job 12 Him be unto us another veil. His beauty came forth openly.

25 Liken not thou Him to any things 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-born, 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

1 Acts the Lord of priests who made priests with His own Blood1 b !

See Who would dare to search into Him? Great was the shock, contr. fc^ tke sons 0f Aaron were [so] suddenly burnt up! They §.46. dared to offer up strange fire2, and were burnt up. Who npb ' then will escape that bringeth up into the Church strange 3 p. 112, questioning30? There is indeed in the Church a seeking which p. Hi. examineth things revealed, but not one that prieth into things hidden.

2 Sam. 5. Uzzahd, the chief priest, when he went to stay [the ark], ' ' was taken off. What he was commanded he did not, things

him

b On Levit. viii. he writes thus: His Blood as the general source of all

U Lo, from the fact that it was by the Christian graces, though particularly of

oil of anointing and the blood of sacri- the priestly. See n. d. on R. x.

flees that Aaron and his garments were c This passage is to be observed, as

hallowed, it is plain that it is by the Holy implying that St. E. looked on heresy

Ghost that the Sacrifices are offered on as a species of idolatry, — of which

the mystical and priestly table." So on more hereafter.

Lev. xiv. he looks on the blood of the d So in the Can. Necros. xvi. p. 258.

sparrow as the type of Immanuel, f. a Not like Uzzah hast thou honoured

" the Sacrament ot Whose Incarnation God in the eyes of man, for he ran to

is interwoven and blended with the support the Ark, and the All-subduing

Gentiles, as blood is in the arteries." Power swept him off." Probably he means here then to regard

and histories of the Old Testament.. 139

the Might of Him that stays up all things. He thought the ark was about to fall: when he approached it, it slew him. Do not shew honour to what is holy on a side that they have R.xxviii. not commanded thee e. Uzziah shewed an honour, which was a;" " •;?

dishonour. Do not as avenging the Truth search into and §• '• dishonour the First-born. Think not that the faith is likely 2e, is. to fall. Itself supporteth them that are cast down1 : do not1 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. Dagon2, before it, was2 above, broken off, for it cut off his limbs. How much more should J] m / 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 ark 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 3 ^ab- Pwas 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* ^b. Pthe Ancient of Days4 was sitting in glory. He approached

to the living creatures that he 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 Dan. 8, might search out, Who He is. Daniel saw one of the Angels and was affrighted f. 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 sign5 of Him5i;e-tbp feared and fled back and was moved, it was divided into two heaps. Daniel that asked concerning the words, heard that

e See R. ix. §.3. R. xxxviii. §. 4. Anomoeans affected to honour the

439. b. In vol. ii. p. 439. there is Father, when they denied the Son to

a passage which will illustrate the ex- be like Him. See also Did. de Trin. i.

pression ' they have not, &c.' " In- 35. Reverence was a common pretext

I stead of the meaning of the Church, that with heretics. See on Athanas. p. 222,

I sheep which cheweth the cud of the p. 222. n. f.

\ holy Scriptures, these men are subtle f The same is noticed by St. Chrvs.

:' in mischievous writings." St. Greg, de Incompr. Horn. 5. init. Nys. mentions (ii. p. 340.) that the

Dan. 12, they were sealed, and that it was not seeming to search out the hidden things of the future! Who shall dare to search into the Treasury in Whom dwelleth all knowledge? The Firstborn is the Treasury of the Father, in Whom is all His counsel g; and who is equal to searching into Him?

& Counsel, lit. thought or imagination. St. E. means to imply that the whole of the Father's counsels whether in creating or ruling are in the Son. St. G. Nys. ii. p. 376. urges against the Anomceaus that their theory would exclude the Son from the functions of Providence, a simple Nature having a simple Will (flrg/gsf), which Will displays itself in Providence, in which

Providence the Son doeth whatsoever He seeth the Father do.

St. E. is arguing here, as others have done, that if the judgments of God are past finding out, a fortiori God Himself is incomprehensible. See St. Greg. Naz. i.p.SSl.c. Nyss.ii.p.520. c. St. Epiph. Inc. p. 300. who all refer to Rom. xi.

RHYTHM THE NINTH.

1. Right was once the searching1 which hath been perverted R.i.§.2. in our age. Read and seek [to see] that He is the Son, sovlu"^' that thou seek not how He is so. Jordan fled and turned K. viii. back to do honour to the ark. Thou searchest and goest in s"

to do dishonour to His Majesty. The right-minded [sons]22pp 3, turned themselves so as not to look at Noah, that they might reprove the daring ones. They went backwards to hide what Gen. 9y was uncovered. Do thou 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, strippeth the First-born of His glory, that His whole Nature may be scrutinized a. 3 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 •• n ,

o. that

of it. Walking is very easy, and yet difficult if thou doest it He may backwards. Disputing is throughout difficult, because men J^f0™" dispute not orderly. Rashness hath perverted the Faith in in the our generation, because it is in a perverted way that itHimf° questioneth.

3. God pleaded with Job4; He asked him about things 4S. came before his eyes, and with questions put him to silence. If Job -in aSujt# wTere not able to speak of things before his eyes, who shall

dare to plead about the hidden things of the First-born? ch.

• xxxviii

Weak was Job", who in his scourges overcame, in his&c, questionings was overcome; on the side5 that belonged to bim*R* viii. he overcame, on the side that did not belong to him even he xXXviii.

■ See noted, on the last R.but one. St.E. Job to have been free from actual sins,

would probably regard Job's question- and also to clear him from any imings, as allowed or even divinely ordered putation of taking a mere literal sense

with the purpose ofbringing out a certain of Scripture. St. Greg. M. Mor. xx.

doctrine. As God asks men questions §.56. says concisely/ What parts soever

to carry on His revelations, not because we go through so as to track out the

He is ignorant, so His saints might allegory thereof, throughout the whole

ask of Him. This should be noticed of the same ought we also to hold to

both because on Job i. St. E. conceives 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 riseb, 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

Zech. 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 rash1 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. 2 s. they Because Zachariah scrutinized, his mouth was bridled2 h[g with silence. He afterwards in silence did honour unto mouth that which he had scrutinized. The generation of the Firstborn how much more should we honour in silence! Since he was blamed that scrutinized the generation in the womb of his 3 s. of own wife3, let him fear that hath approached to the [Divine] womb Essence to search out His Well-beloved in His Womb.

thus : " The Spirit by this vision shewed is by His Will without labour that they

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 worketh, 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 testithe spiritual vision, which took place on mony of his senses he will believe a

the plain: and though to the omnipotence certain doctrine, of God the resurrection of a vision and

of those of old during revelations and types. 143

Zachariah by his questionings 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 believing0. 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] Numb. fastened up another serpent that they might look thereon ' and be revived. The sight revived the people [of God] and

faith the nations'1. A type of the First-born [this] ! It was not1 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 cloud2 too, and the rock,2R-xiv* and the pillar, and the rod, these be types of the First-born6. When this gainsaying people did not pry into the glorious types, do not ye Gentiles search into the First-born, that Treasure3 of mysteries, lest the blind rejoice [over you]. 3 p. 140.

6. Though ye were all of one mind, ye have been divided,

c Clem. Alex. Strom, vi. $. 80. p. 780. Pott. " Half the world aie as afraid, as children are of bugbear, of the Grecian philosophy, being apprehensive of its leading them astray. But if faith with them (for call it knowledge I cannot) be of such a sort that it may be by persuasive discourses loosened, let it be loosened at any rate by these discourses of theirs which belong to men that confess that the truth is not to be theirs; for truth, as one says, is invincible, but falsehood it is that gets loosened.5' So too St. Chrys. that is persuaded with words, may have his persuasion altered too by them.

u Moses fixed it in the door of the tabernacle, that they might turn their faces thither, from whence they had turned them away, and that the place whence healing came forth to them might be honourable in their eyes; the while in it were shadowed out types of Him who said, ' As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness for the healing of the children of Israel, so is the Son of Man to be lifted up upon the Cross for the redemption of all nations.' " The same fact he urges vol. ii. p. 483. e. as others have done, against the Jews,

as a proof that their law was typical and to pass away. "How came God who in the wilderness wrote and warned the Jew, saying, ' Thou shalt not make any image or likeness, lest thou die,' to form a serpent, whereon, as upon God, man should look and be healed?"

e Of the blood, see p. 32, note n. and p. 138, note b. of the cloud I do not recollect any other notice in St, E. ; of the rock, on Num. xxi. 17. he says, " They say that that rock, which went with them, (1 Cor. x. 4.) even in the time that they journeyed, sent down twelve streams, but in the time of their encamping did not indeed withdraw them altogether, yet did not altogether send them down;" where he evidently has the Apostles filled from Christ in his mind, as he says plainly on Deut. xxxii. 13. that " the rock is a type of Christ, that true Rock Who is the Head of the eternal Building and Fountain of Life." Of the rod of Aaron which budded, he says on Num. xvii. that " it was a type of the adorable Body of Immanuel, which, although of the same nature with corruptible ones, remained itself alone in the sepulchre incorruptible."

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 It. viii. been minished1, lo! it is altogether strengthened f! 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 proclaimed 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 seag, 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 anathema11, for the Father and the Son to be searched into, and for dust and ashes to be lifted up!

f Hil. de Trin. vii. §. 4. " Great is Fair as are those waves of His and

the strength of the truth, which though pleasant withal, still in the deep they

capahle by itself of being understood, will plunge thee. For if thou make it

yet doth by the very things which op- thy pleasure to search into that Sea,

pose it shine forth, so that while and comest near to a single small and

abiding unmoveable in its own nature gentle wave, it will cast thee into a

it gaineth firmness for its nature while wave that is great, yea, all its waves

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 and 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

S To the passages given, p. 87 n. i. of it, into the inmost depth it plungeth

the following may be here added thee !"

from vol. ii. p. 510, c. " Who hath h Vol. ii. p. 485. f. " An anathema

been able to search out the Nature be on him that surnameth himself by

of the Eternal? who hath been able the name of Apollos and not by the

to measure the Lord of the King- name of Christ. The furnace 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 mouth, Ps. 81, and I shall Jill it. 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 measure1 ;J<S. there to the lowest measure I would approach as being bold, grees^f Within the silence2 is Thy Generation sealed up, and whata11 mea~ mouth is it that dareth to meddle therewith ? Though Thy all men Nature is One, the explanations a thereof are manifold. Lofty * **• iydiscourses are there, and intermediate, and lowly on the part

of the lowly3. Deem me worthy as it were of the crumbs,3 p. 152, that I may gather up the droppings of Thy wisdom4. ?s. wis-

2. Thy visible Generation5 is laid up with Thy Father, doms. Angels are astonied at Thy smaller riches. A small drop, p.nii5. ' O Lord, of Thy history b 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 l, latch ets of Thy shoes,' I will flee as that sinful woman tOjfat.V the shadow of Thy garments, that I may begin from thence ; 20and as she who was affrighted, yet took heart, because she was Mat. 9,

21.Luke

a This word seems intended to ex- on the figures of the natives, it were '

press the same as the Urhmm of the fitting that He should he found fault

Greeks, i. e. our conception of God as with by those infidels, because like a

opposed to what He really is. This spy He hath fraudulently changed His

conception of Him may be compounded dress to deceive the free. But if it be

of the several ideas of goodness, holi- becoming for a stranger to clothe himness, wisdom, and the other positive self with semblances borrowed and not

attributes, as well as the negative ones, his own, how 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. f. "Let beauty of His creatures?" i.e. to display

us enter the lists and question, and Himself under those attributes which

have questions asked us: for one of two adorn them.

things must be established, either they b Syr. rmA2> The printed lexicons are minded to find themselves with no give <■ excusatio,' ' causatio:' the word God, (that which is in fact the case,) occurs xlv.fin.lxv.§.3. in neitherof which or else another God, a stranger, have piaces does this sense suit. Bar Bahlul they, who is clear from, and docs not, __ ^ ,, . ^ t <* . t i-l as being a stranger, fall under the Mss. Bodl. gives J^ j&fc a 'likewords and names descriptive of our nes8> whether in tne mind or outward, nature. If then He borrowed and put or <■ history,' ' narration.'

146 Lessons against prying from Christ's 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 fountain 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 Fire 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, 2 Cor. 5, He created them a new Creation, as in the Angels He

mingled Fire and the Spirit, that they might be of Fire and Spirit in a hidden manner. The Seraph did not bring the living coalc near with his fingers; it did but come close up Is. 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 d.

5. To the Angels which are spiritual Abraham brought bodily Gen. 18, food, and they atee. A new miracle it is, that our mighty

Lord giveth to bodily creatures Fire and the Spirit, as food

c Above, p. 81. he calls the Angels after this Coal hath presented itself to

Empyreals, as in vol. ii. p. 330. f. 334. sight in a Body, lo! it is eaten from

a. The word for ' Spirit,' as in Greek the table of the Godhead. So on Ezek.

and Hebrew, is the same as that for x. v. 2. St. E. says, " These coals, and

' wind.' The idea that Angels consist the man that is clothed in fine linen,

of Fire and Spirit is suggested by Ps. that bringeth them and casteth them

104, 4. ' He maketh His Angels spirits, upon the people, are a type of the priest

and His Ministers a flaming fire,' which by whose mediatorship the living coals

of course does not (as Euseb. Praep. Ev. of the Life-producing Body of our Lord

vii. 15. p. 326. d. notices) imply that are given away. But see there is anthey consist of material fire or wind, other Cherub that reacheth them forth,

but only that the words are used of and placeth them in his fists! this is a

them, as fire and spirit are of God. type, to shew that it is not the priest

St. Greg. Naz. Or. xxxiv. v. fin. p. 560. who is able to make the Body, of the

quoting the same text, says, "Angels bread, but Another, to wit, the Holy

are called fire and spirit, partly as being Ghost: the priest, therefore, doth but

above our senses, and partly as minis- lend his hands as a mediator, and his

tering to our purification, (; xafid^a-ios,) lips offer prayers with supplications, 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

d See above, p. 30, n.k. contr. Scrut. i. copied by St. Chrysost. Horn, lxxxiii.

§.12.St.Jamesof Sarug,A.D.480,quoted in Matt. p. 870. b. See p. 119, n. 1.

in Assemanni's Antirrh. adv. Kohl.p.5. e Greg. Naz. Or. 34. p. 549. "Abra-

" The Seraph took not hold of it with his ham, that great patriarch, was justified

hand, that he might not be burned: by faith, and offered a sacrifice strange

neither did the prophet take it in his and typical of the great One: yet he saw

mouth, that he might 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 th glorified (ember). It was reverenced as far as he did comprebecause it was incorporeal, that it was hend."

not to be taken hold of, nor eaten, but

Generation and the fruits of it in the Eucharist. 147

z Jvings

down and abideth1. Instead of that fire which devoured men, l, 5. ye eat a Fire in bread and are quickened. As fire came down n.pn. ' on the sacrifice of Elijah and consumed it, the Fire of Mercy 1 Kings hath become to us a Living Sacrificed Fire ate up the18'38, oblations, and we, O Lord, have eaten Thy Fire in Thy Oblation.

6. Who hath ever taken hold of the Spirit2 in his fists ? Come Pr°v. and see, O Solomon, what the Lord of thy father hath done. 2orwjn(i For Fire and Spirit against its nature He hath mingled, and

hath poured them into the fists of His disciples. He asked, 1 Who hath bound the waters in a garment?' Lo! the Fountain3 8xii. §.3. in a garment, the lap of Mary! From the Cup of Life the ^f 4" distilling of life in the midst of the garment do Thine handmaids take4! z^Lg,

7. Oh, Might hidden in the veil of the sanctuary, that Might *7 ai*i which the mind never conceives, It hath His love brought ref. 4. down ; and It hath descended and brooded over the veil of the S?mP-... altar of propitiation. Lo ! Fire and Spirit in the bosom5 of her §. 2. that bare Thee ! Lo ! Fire and Spirit in that river wherein nPf2°* Thou wert baptized, Fire and Spirit in our baptism6 ! In the6 p- 86. Bread and the Cup is Fire and the Holy Ghost. Thy Bread ^e Ps. killeth the greedy one who had made us his bread8; Thy 14> 4f In vol. i. p. 497- c. on the place he Moses do (with the calf, Ex. xxxii. 19.)?

says, " Elijah, who in Mount Carmel, Cast it into the fire [says he] that first

put a stop to the priests, the ministers the form itself may be confused and

of vanity, by the perfect sacrifice which lost: break it into small pieces that it

he offered to the living God, gave unto may by degrees be consumed : cast it

us a lively semblance of the whole into water, give it the people to drink.

Burnt- offering which Emmanuel made "What is this to signify, save that the

upon Mount Golgotha, and by the Sa- worshippers of the Devil became the

crifice of His own Own Self which was body of the Devil himself? (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

Gentiles 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

flee in Calvary, what in the text he which they are (Rom. viii. 10, 13.) and

applies by implication to That of the make them that which thou art. In

Altar, we must remember that here, one place itis' Kill 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,

one, abiding, Sacrifice. For it was necessary, yea without

8 See p. 34. p. 53. ref. 4. St. Austin doubt it was, that the body which was

in Ps. lxxiii. §. 16. speaking of that the Devil's, should by believing pass

text, ' Thou breakest the head of the into the Body of Christ." dragon in pieces,' says, " "What did

148 Lessons from those who ministered to Christ on earth.

cup destroyeth death which swallowed us uph. 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 Thee1.

Mark i, 8. The latchet of Thy shoe was a thing fearful to the dis-

Mat. 9 cerning; the hem of Thy garment was fearful to the

20* understanding : our generation is foolish 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

Mat.H great sea didst Thou make obedient beneath Thy feet; to a

26 little stream1 Thy head made itself obedient, in that it con-

Mat. 3, descended to be baptized therein. The stream2 was like John

13. with wjj0 baptized therein. Both of them in littleness mutually

5,12.14. shadow out each other. To the little stream and the weak

John 3 servant tne Lord of them both made Himself obedient.

30. 9. See my folds be filled, Lord, with the dropping of Thy

47, 5. 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 !

h So above, p. 10. he speaks of ' St. Austin in Ps. cxxxi. §. 24.

Christ as shewing mercy by His Body " "Whence is it that the poor are to be

on His household's bodies. See also satisfied? Of what kind is this satisp. 10. and p. 19, n. k. where the same fying, Oh my brethren? God Himself

doctrine of the influence of the Eu- is the Bread : the Bread, that It might

charist on the body as communicating become milk for us, descended into the

a new principle of life is referred to. earth, and said to His own, I am the

So in Param. xxix. he says, u Lo! of Living Bread, &c." It may be added,

dust and ashes 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 Nestorius

Voice of the Raiser to raise in glory argued, that in the Eucharist we parthe departed bodies that have put on take not of God, 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 living to be man-eaters : whereas the thing

Blood. Oh, may they rise, Lord, on the St. E. insists on in this R.is the amazing

Right 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 affrighteth 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 with- out measure; for his own troubled course1 reproacheth him,1 S. runand his vision putteth him to shame. His troubled course ] mng 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 voice2 8 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 1 Corthat are spirits, so might he lift himself up to hear the silence which speaketh between the Father and the Son\ Our

a Ps. xix. 4. in the present S. Vers, represented as taking place by an ac-

(according to Dathe's text,) is, " There commodation. St. Greg. Nyss. ii. p. 8 12.

is no speech, no, nor words, which is a. may be advantageously 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 Faii. p. 775. b. p. 776. d. has the same ther, doth not need any noun 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. 'Silence speak- 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 tongue of Angels is estranged to every [other] tongue. That silence Comp. wherewith the Father speaketh with His Well-beloved, is strange unto the Angels.

3. 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 wjtn usc i. jje alone is able to see His Own Nature, and His suasion, 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

2 R- xx- creature that the offerings of prayers 2 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 bringeth 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 Satan3 brought him thither. p.9.n.s. Him who thought that he sufficed for Thy Godhead, his

neither doth the unembodied nature of Nyssen. ap. Aug. Mai, C. N. viii. p. 2.

the powers above this world name the ' He appeared as man, but God by

Deity with voice and tongue. For in Nature He was and is, having circumthe case of an immaterial and spiritual scribed His illimitable greatness in a

nature, the energy of the mind is a Body, and by Himself, as by a mirror,

language without the use of material having shewn to us the whole greatness

appliances of organs of speech. And of the Godhead, that using this as a

indeed in the case of human nature, no glass we might be beholders of the

need would there be of using verbs and Father also. For being the Image

nouns, if it were possible to expose to of the invisible God according to the

one another the movements of our Apostle, He said, ' He that hath seen

thoughts naked." Me, hath seen the Father;' thus also

c Vol. ii. p. 511. 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 hearing, which yet from the inadefeeble 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 contemthese things, while they are not in it. plate Him proportionably to our under -

Herein is a semblance of that Divine standing. For as God, when circum-

Majesty 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."

unavailable without moral graces. 151

own nature doth reproach, in that he wandereth in Thee, while even it is not acquainted with itself1. Foolish is he thatRi.§.i. thinketh he can overcome death, and he cannot know death xv' ^' 3' nor 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 xo^. mounted up and searched out Thee. He injureth not Thee by all his knowledge, since it is in Thee; and what is his2, 2i.e.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. I™

Matt.

Without bound Thy banquet rejoiceth in ready guests and 22, 3.' their dresses, Thy chamber longeth for the virgins whose lamps ^at*' are furnished with oil. There are many called, that long for p. Ill, Thy door, but since Thy door is narrow 3, they are very few?'Se'e on that have given up and cast away every thing, and haveAthanbeen able to enter m, because it natetn riches. p. 190.

6. Thy furnace exultetb in us, that it may be perfect in the JJa^ assaying, and true in the trial. And since Thou hast lifted

up our mind unto the impress of Thy Image 4, on it, Lord, 4 R- xiimay there be cast the impress of Thy Truth. Thy path toxviii. §• us is long. It is shortened, for in His mercy He cut short2, *nd 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 glory, and also the tribunal of Thy righteousness5, rejoiceth 5P-34? in the victor that put the adversary to shame. Thy mercy also sustaineth the weak, and even Gehenna d would be refreshed with Thy shadow.

d See contr. Scrut. iii. §. 24. where a leviated. It maybe right to add, to presimilar impossibility is noticed; unless vent misconception, that St. E. held

it be thought that St. E. held with St. the fire of hell to be "inextinguishable,

Austin (in a difficult passage in the not consuming that which it devoureth,

Enchir. ad Laur. v. fin.) that the punish- seeing it was not appointed to consume,

ment of the damned, though unalterable but to cause suffering and torment." ii.

as a condition, might, in degree, be al- p. 354, s.

RHYTHM THE TWELFTH.

1. 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 seala and his teaching, whoever hath sealed and taught. The furnace will reveal it, if it be a fraud which hath put on the like- 1 R- .. ness and shape of the Truth1. The balance is suspended, let

§. 3. us 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.

Ps. 85, 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 25. balance directeth the little with small weights, the middling with weights which are like unto them, the perfect with perfect weights b: and even the scrutinizers [it weigheth] with weights of mercy. The bosom of Thy Kingdom

Lukei6, looketh unto the sincere; Thy Paradise also, O Lord, looketh for the pure. The table of Thy Kingdom longeth

a St. E. looks upon the Trinity as a sight of His Majesty; by whom likeseal imparted at Baptism, see xviii.§.2. wise those without are brought near to Vol. ii. p. 486. " Quite despised was the enclosure of the spiritual court: as gold to our King, who sealed not His our Lord said in the Gospel, I am the Image upon silver. Upon man that is door; the door of the inner gate 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 theouter for penitents." P. 232. c. a By believed in the Name of God, hath re- the sacrifices of oxen, rams, and lambs, ceived the seal of God; but if he have he indicateth the three various consurnamed himself by the name of man, versations of the saints, and the re- it i3 a man'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. 230. a. " By these conversation: 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. 252. b.

whom also middling men enter into a 254. b. 255. c. 268. c.

Christ, the Remnant, draweth all men to Him. 153

for Thy Twelve who shall sit thereat. With Thy rain every thing increaseth, with Thy dew every thipg is moistened. Thy doctrine is a hidden dew for the hidden earth c. Gather, O Lord, Thy fruit as a vintager, and offer it to Thy Father as a Sheaf of reconciliation.

3. Thou art a Branch of that Vine1 which is from Egypt, 1 ps.80, which also the wild boar of the forest devoured, when it 8- ste0

sprouted and put forth its twig from it; which bare the 64, 35. blessed Cluster and the Cup of the Medicine of Life. From the family of the circumcised and from the place of tares there came up unto us the Sheaf2 which was full of New Bread, 2 above, from the bitter the sweet Fruit, and from the murderers thep•13>n•,• 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 Is. 53,2. Fountain of mercies. How shall we reject that Fountain 3, 3 R- x. which mercies have poured forth in dry lands? Thy key i*s. 35 manifesteth itself unto him that seeketh it. Thy treasure re- $ 7joiceth in the thief that taketh it by violence, because Thou 22. didst rejoice in that woman who from the hem of Thy garment ]2*L lh took and stole a medicine for her plague. Thy leaven, O Lord, Mark 5, longed for a mass of sinners, that it might change them, and Mat. 13 draw them to repentance.- Thy light maketh the path of33-P-8- Truth even; it cleanseth out and taketh away from it [all]9° n11' stumbling stones. Thy silver, O Lord, sheweth mercy unto Is- 57, the empty, that he may be enriched thereby. Thy pound LukeiV sheweth mercy, since it cometh to the humble with ten 16pounds; Thy talent desireth to come to the indolent with Matt. 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 d, 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 Deut. rebellious, Thy rod rejoiceth in scattering the assembled jer, 28,

c So, in the far west, St. Austin on <* Of the parable here referred to Ps. 1. §. 4. " As this visible earth (Matt. xx. 1.) be gives elsewhere, nourisheth and containeth the visible vol. i. p. 153, a. and p. 269, e. the man, so doth that invisible earth the other and perhaps more exact interinterior man: from the face of which pretation, which refers the different earth it is that the wind scattereth the hours to the different interpositions of ungodly, &c." See also Jerome on Christ for His Church. Esai. lviii. v. fin.

154 Christ desirous of all men's salvation.

Ezet. wolves, and Thy fold in gathering the persecuted sheep into Ps. 2 9. tne Pastui*e. Glory to the Shepherd of all! Thy haven Ez. 34, looketh for our ship, which Thou wilt bring unto it. Direct Ps. 107, ^ Wltn Thy Spirit1; in Thy love with the oars of Thy mercies J°h 10 *e* '* ^e ass^s*e<^ : let ^ S*°P ^De month of the greedy sea. n. ' Glory to Thy assistance! Thy Rock looketh for them that wind build, that the foundations may be builded upon it, and all Mat. 7, that see it may give [Thee] glory. Let not their tower, Lord, Lukei4 De a laughing-stock: in Thee may it be finished! Glory be to 28- Him that perfecteth all! Thy seed looketh for lands that are Mat.i3, to be tilled. In the least may it bring from Thee thirty-fold; noteb6 an^ *n tne Addling may ^ bring sixty, and in the perfect may

it bring an hundred-fold.

5. Thy mirror is clear, and all of it turneth towards Thee.

Thy brightness inciteth the filthy to cleanse themselves

thereon, since no impurity can be joined unto Thee, unless

Oscars. it hath wiped from it its stains2. Thy hyssop3 looketh for us

1 *p' '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 John 15, greatly glorified in our purity.

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 Only-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 Paternity1: I came near to the Son, and He1,s'-Sealhath blended2 Him in His Sonship: as hath the Holy Spirit Pater- also His holiness: in Him then do I also conclude the?^yonlf all-hallowing mystery ! All faith which is not signed b is error. 2 See on Let us prepare ourselves for tribulation if it come, whether 3 ha'vel' our spirit suffer, or our soul depart, or our body be burned4. bou.nd 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. 4 s.!? Who shall cut off the glory -rays that cannot be cut off from§ 2. the Sun of Truth. Upon the Three Names5 our baptism ^°™'98' hangeth. In the Three Mysteries our faith overcometh.5 R. The Three Names our Lord gave to His Twelve, that in them |™u* we might find a refuge. The soul that is not sealed is like a Prov. wandering sheep : and that which is sealed in one name is ' 10* 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. 2,3. voice is the key, and the tongue as it were the treasurer. Never hath the faith ceased to set forth and yield truth unto the hearers6. To silence are the trumpet and the faith6 See strangers. Never did the trumpet mutter low in the secret xx*

a This is a word frequent with St. Nyss. 470, b. &c. and St. Basil, p. 209,

E. for heresy: see vol. ii. p. 490, d. a. of the Anomceans. 533, b. andcomp. below, R. xxxvii. §. 3. *> By 'signed' I believe he means

Deceitfulness is a characteristic of all which has the seal of the Trinity given

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 Anomceans innovated

noticed by St. Epiphanius, p. 923, b. upon the form used at Baptism, as we

Didym. de Trin. ii. 3. p. 131. St. Greg, see presently.

156 The Faith lifts up its voice to all.

chamber, and the faith also did never steal away and mutter

the truth low in secret or in a hidden place0.

2. Who ever saw [before] a tree which produced only a single

fruit with this fruit singly upon it continually? 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

See p. branches speaking or silent my tongue hath gathered it for 79,§.2i.Thee!

c This sentiment occurs again, R. is a beacon to all — as fides is used in xx. §. 2. The faith means probably Latin and iriemt in Greek for a form of 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 banquet hath failed, even the language of praise. Thou Guest, who filledst the waterpots with goodly wine, fill John 2, my mouth with the praise of Thee ! The wine that was in the ' water-pots was near akin to, yea, wTas of the same stock with

this 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 notib'v10- 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§ *4 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 1 took the synagogue up to mount l i. e. Sinai. His body shone with white garments, and [yet] his Ex.32, heart was dark. She played the adulteress with the calf, *• and the High One was displeased at her2 and brake the2S.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 is common to explain the number such a banquet must be prepared : he five of the senses: see Method. C. Virg. must be a member of Thy visible revi. §. 3. Augustin in Ps. xlix. §. 9. presentative.' Or, perhaps it is better Greg. M. in Evang. cap. i. Horn. xii. to take the words 'one Body' of Christ's §. 1. who all consider the five virgins to Body as a newly introduced subject, have reference to the five senses. I be- suggested by the mention of the human lieve St. E. has somewhat of the kind in body, the banquet, again, of the Supper his mind here, and wishes to imply that in which It is eaten, as suggested by the five senses, with the mental faculties the ■ banquet of songs' and the guestthereto corresponding, are to be like the chamber of the visible Church which five virgins admitted to the feast. SeeR. imitates Christ in giving His Body to iv. §. 3. The next words, Ibelieve, mean, her disciples. The passage, however, 1 If one man's body, so filled with is one upon the meaning of which I praises, has thereby become a banquet feel more uncertain the more I look to Thee, still it is in the Church that at it.

158 The Jews' ingratitude warns Christians to be thankful.

1 s. her do wickedly in her chamber and lifts up her voice the while ! ?

was lift- In Egypt she dwelt, she learnt of the mistress of Joseph, who

ed up. crie(j out while she did wickedly. The light2 of the pillar of

13—15.' fire and of the cloud drew in its rays unto itself, so as to be

3.9.withjudged the King, and called for another deed of wickedness \

See ' 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 face 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 c. The highest Angels marvelled [to see] how

ab.p.24. small Thou wert, those below marvelled to see how exalted

Thou art!

b St. E. here doubtless refers to the ing the altar before the calf, it is likely- Jews quoting the very words of the that, when they were instant to perform prophecy they were fulfilling. See Ps. rites before the altar, they had killed xxii. 8. Matt, xxvii. 43. By i another Hur, (because he rebuked them for deed 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, l There is a feast of connection of the whole Rhythm is pro- the Lord to-morrow.' Yet they sacribably this: God showers benefits pro- ficed to it first, and were eating the fusely upon us: the Jews, and after manna and drinking the water that them, the heretics shew us, that no Moses gave them! and underneath the amount of means of grace will alone cloud that was overshadowing them, keep man from sin: how then shall I, they forthwith sported before the calf." who have strength given to praise God c 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. 224. f. may throw some light upon it. of * the adorable Body of Immanuel.' " From Aaron's being afraid and build-

RHYTHM THE FIFTEENTH.

1. Let him that is a man care for the things of a man: let

him who is mortal muse upon what is commanded1; andlconfragain, let him that is a sinner seek medicine fit for his§.C44.' wound. Let the discerning with silence venerate Thy Godhead: let the learned in stillness 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 God. Let us mete our mind and measure also our imagination, and let us know our knowledge2 how2R-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 searchest3 into Him. He that is weak hath no3fonthe

side of

concern with difficulties; nor he that is feeble with per-searchplexities: and let not him who is of the earth lift himself so inS 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 itself1 Corhealed, 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.

3. Every one that questioneth, is a companion of him that is a*>- &• lost, and he that searcheth, is a fellow unto him that is gone astray. For never did one that is lost seek and find himself, like to the scrutinizer. Let him who is a member fix himself firmly upon Christ. Let not his blade be separated Johnis,

160 Tfie disputatious blind, 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 dis- 3 C4*' 4' 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- 1 R- .. sheath his tongue as a sword l, 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.

a See Aristot. Eth. Nic. vi. §. 13. safe, as neither is it for an impaired

Did. de Trin. iii. 1. Greg. Naz. Or. 33. vision to deal with the sun's ray." See

p. 530, c. " For one not pure to meddle Petav. Theol. D. Prol. ix. §. 5 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 Thee I bring forth increase. In Thee I am increased, and shall I refuse Thee, O Thou Giver of all increase ? Blessed be He that sent Thee unto us ! Thy treasure is sweet, and we are Thy treasurers. 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 12a ' ' 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 §.2. Thine will be enriched by Thee, and I from it, and also from Thee, since I 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

162 Faith should shew its inward growth outivardly.

Thee, Lord, it is enhanced; and if even wheat corn is

See enriched in the dust1, let my faith be enriched from Thy

20. ' treasury. It sufficeth then for that [corn] and also for this

* R. xx. faith that it is not we who, as though impostors, give 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 naughty labourers who have turned idle and

fallen asleep! But and if we be watchful, we shall receive the

reward which the prudent receiveth, who hath not been in

2 p. 153, any wise idle2. Yet at this time many smother it entirely,

n. d. £or beneaj;h the veil of the silence of fear have they put it,

Lukei9,whose faith watcheth in their hearts, while their profession

3 p' 173 slumbereth in their mouths. For this is not prayer 3 ministering

n- b- 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.

a A similar complaint occurs ia St. reason of the truth imitating those who

Bas. Ep. xvii. §. 2. l At these things corrupt the word with craftiness. Sithe faithless laugh, and those of little lent are the mouths of those who are

faith are shaken: the faith is doubtful, godly, &c.' ignorance overwhelms men's souls by

RHYTHM THE SEVENTEENTH.

1. He that seeketh after the Truth in a grudging spirit, not even if he meeteth it will he be able to know it. Since envy troubleth his mind, he doth not know it, not even if he graspeth 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 neighbours1 have forsaken and left the1 S. sons contest with them without, and themselves among themselves „j<|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 himself2, yet proudly lifteth 2 See R. himself up above his Creator, though not attaining even unto u n' e* the creatures?

2. God seeing that He was never at any time searched

out, clothed Himself with a body3 that may be searched 3R.xxx. out, that we might cease from searching into His Divine *' Nature, and rest ourselves in the Generation of His Human Nature4. He persuadeth us to ask how the Divine Nature p. 115, came down, and in the Belly was for nine months silent 5. f °'2?> 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, and sought for those that were losta: He left those that were wise6, He chose those that were simple, 6 or cunand by them He spread His simple preaching unto every nmg man: He left the chariot of the four living creatures, and came down: and the Cross He made Him a chariot unto the

■ St. E. alludes, perhaps, to the in Ps. viii. §. 12. St. Greg. Nys. ii. p.

common interpretation which takes 711, b. Naz. p. 621, a. See also Cyril

the ninety and nine sheep of the in Lucam. ap. Ang. Mai, Auct. Class.

Angels, and the lost sheep of man's x. p. 273, 4. Petav. de Angelis, i. 14.

nature. See Method, c. Virg. iii. 6. §. 9. St. Hil. in Matt, xviii. §. 6. St. Austin

Christ the Creator of all things.

See

Mat. 13,

Luke 2,

Mark 6,

four quarters [of the world] b: He left the Seraphim and also the Cherubim, and came down and endured the contempt1 of His crucifiers.

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, who in Thee stablished all things, and also the Son of Joseph, that workman who learnt by Thee. By Thee it was, that the 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 c. And haply even in the house of Joseph, that carpenter, with the Cross2 He was busied all the daw

b As the first chapter of Ezekiel is evidently in St. E.'s mind in the text, it may be allowable to give here a portion of his commentary on the place: p. 166. " The faces of the lion, who is the king of beasts, represent to us the kings and princes of the world, who have come under and been subdued to the yoke of the Church, which is represented by the chariot; or to the Gospel, which self-same Gospel the chariot represents. The faces of the eagle again are, that we may know that it is from above that He, which shall come, is to be. But by the faces of the birds and the beasts, he represents the nations differing in their habits, who have received the Gospel and wrought at its spiritual toils. ... The hand that was beneath the wings of the Cherubs repre- sents to us, that it was the might of Him Who is the Son of Man, which supporteth the chariot that carrieth Him. By this hand also he pointeth out that Christ our Kedeemer put on a man's body. ' The hand of a man beneath the wings,' i.e. the foundations of the Church it is His Right Hand which

supporteth The faces were in the

four corners, though they were upon two sides. One face was that which looked to the West, from one corner, another again, opposite to it to the North, and another to the East, and that opposite to it to the South: and so it was opposite each one of the faces that the quarter to which it looked was, and each observed it whenever they moved. They formed therefore the shape of a plinth, whose breadth does not amount to its length. For the ox was yoked with animals that destroy it, unclean with the clean. Here is a marvel to see three unclean species and one clean: and by this he taught us, that it was out of those that were circumcised that choice was made of those to be Apostles to the Gentiles: by the four corners he hinteth at the four quarters of the world."

c i.e. as having four quarters. See §.2. and xviii. §. 1. In a similar way Eph. 3, 18. is taken of the Cross by St. Greg. Nys. Or. Cat. 32. c. Eun. p. 582. Jerom. in Es. v. 10. Austin, de Doctr.

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.'cx '

faith which is under silence is also imperfect \ Oh perfect

it, Thou that perfectest all things! The race of birds is

brought up by a threefold advance from the belly, to the

egg: from hence to the nest, and when it is perfected, it

flieth in the air : it spreadeth its wings in the mystery of the

Cross. And faith too is perfected by threefold advance b.

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 Cross6.

The Threefold Names are sown in a threefold way, in the R- *!•

i. e. the faith ought to be plainspeaking to all fit to receive it. See says, " Let not him that is entrusted with the word of doctrine lift himself up above the unlearned and humble, but let him instruct each one in meekness, and give unto each of the word of doctrine which he hath received." The text also concisely expresses another truth, viz. that the belief of the Church is rendered fuller by her being forced to cast it into formal statements, comp.

*> S. is threefoldly perfected.' The idea of advance is implied by the simile of the bird's growth ; he seems to refer to the gradual revelation of the Trinity, noticed by St. Epiphan. 1. p. 899. and St. Basil c. Eun. p. 248. quoted above, p. 72. and to the Eunomian rejection of this great badge of Christianity.

c To the mysteries of the Cross St. E. often recurs. See R. lxiii. p. 104, f. are parts of this R. very like the following from St. Just. M. Apol. i. §. 55. " See ye to it if there be aught in the world which without this form hath its orderings or can minister to intercourse between man and man. The sea, for

instance, hath not its waves cut through, unless that ensign, which is called the mast, abide safe in the ship; the earth, again, is not ploughed without it; diggers, too, do not manage their work, nor humble artizans either, save by tools that have this form. The human form, moreover, differs in no other respect from that of animals more than in its being upright and allowing of the

stretching forth of the hands, and

pointeth to nought else than the form of the Cross." St. Method, de Cruce i. §. 3. " The sea, as yielding to this form, alloweth itself to be sailed upon by mankind. Eor the whole creation, as one may say, was invested with this form in order to [its obtaining] liberty. For the birds when they fly aloft darkly intimate the figure of the Cross by the outspreading of their wings: and man himself, &c.'' See on Tertuilian's Apol. cap. xvi. and xxx. and the notes to Min. Felix, cap. xxix. or Gretser de S. Cruc. i. cap. 52. whence it will appear that the same instances as St. E. notices in nature or art, as having the Cross in them, occur all over the world. If by any chance they were all taken from St. Justin, still they must, to have been generally received, commend themselves at once to the Catholic mind.

See R.

166 The manifold occurrence of Holy Cross

spirit and in the soul and in the body, as in the mystery d. When our trinity was perfected by the Threefold One, it reigned unto the ends [of the earth].

2. If the spirit suffer, it is wholly sealed e with the Father ;

d By ' the mystery' probably the Sacrament of Baptism is intended. The connection probably is to be found by recalling the use of the Cross at Baptism; upon which see Gretser de find the following parallel passage: " Grant to us, Lord, that we may kindle three bright-shining lights to Thee, the spirit, the soul, and the body. The spirit let us give to the Father, the soul let us give to the Son, and let us give the body to the Holy Ghost. Oh, Father, hallow Thou our spirit for us! and oh, Son, hallow Thou our soul for us! and oh, Holy Ghost, hallow the feeble body from its spots! Grant to us, Lord, to rejoice in Thee, and that Thou mayt-st rejoice in us, and from spirit, soul, and body, to Thee be glory and on us Thy mercies!" This passage, as well as the text, evidently alludes to 1 Thess. v. 23. the only difference is that paoi supplies the place of fjr^-Qj in the text, as the word for spirit. Of which more in note e. St. E. is probably aiming at furnishing a sort of Creed against some heresy in vogue, although it may be difficult to determine precisely what he alludes to. Two errors, however, seem to deserve notice in this view. Apollinaris is said by St. made the Trinity consist of great, greater, and greatest; Spirit, Son, and Father, as brightness, ray, and sun: — in the text the Three Persons are set before us as working Each alike man's renovation, though in distinct ways; which of course must not be so taken as to militate against the well-known rule, ' that whatever God does externally to himself, that the whole Trinity does.' St. E.'s object seems to be to mark out the distinctness of the Persons, as well as their equality. c. Marcell. ii. 4. Timoth. Pr. ap. Cotel. M. G. iii. p. 395 ) speaks of Apollinaris as restoring Sabellius' doctrine and one form of this, of which we learn from Epiphan. Hser. lxii. init. (who says they abounded in Mesopotamia; and Assem. B. O. i. p. 111.) and

Pseudo-Athan. c. Sabell. Gregales, §. 13. would be obviated by the text. " This man (says St. Epiph.) and the Sabellians after him teach that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, is the same, so that there are three names in one subsistency, as in [the case of j man, body, soul, and spirit; that the body, so to say, is the Father, the soul the Son, and that as the spirit of a man so is the Holy Ghost in the Godhead." The form of Baptism was often urged as telling against Sabellians as well as Arians, (see Petav. de Trin. ii. 12. §. 8.) the singular ' Name' proving the Unity, and the repetition of 1 the' proving the Trinity of Persons. This then would be a heresy at which the passage quoted and the text might be levelled, though it might meet some secret form of Apollinarianism, the maintainers of which had l for disciples of the inner school' more open blasphemies. Vid. Gr. Naz. p. 746, c. Our trinity means man's nature consisting of three things, a mode of speaking to be found in St. Austin de Trin. ix. x. xi. A passage from the author c. Sabell. Greg. §. 8. may be added here. " Let no one who denieth the Three expect to find the Unity, but in the Trinity let him behold the Unity, having the sum of the faith in his Baptism, and in the three holy seals whereby he was regenerated into salvation, remembering what the Apostle says, ' There is one God, &c.' 1 Cor. 8, 6. See also Jerome on Eph. iv. 30. " We are sealed with the Holy Spirit of God, that our spirit and soul may be impressed with the seal of God, and we may recover that image and likeness, after which we were in the begin- ning created."

e It remains to shew why the particular Persons are assigned in the way adopted in both places by St. E. St. Greg. Nyss. ii. p. 602. says that St. Paul often " calleth the mind (rev vev) spirit; for when this hath received the participation of the Spirit, then unto those who have received it, is present the honourable estate of adopted sonship." The word Jjqcji in the passage quoted answers to vavs commonly, and also to this as illuminated. See on

in the things of nature or of art. 107

and if the soul suffer, it is wholly blended with the Sonf; and R. xi. if the body confess and be burned, it communicateth wholly *' 6* with the Holy Ghostg. And if the little bird drew in its wings and refused 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 from 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 voyage. 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 1 the i s. a Body as a sail, the voyage would have halted2. Oh, pure^Yik - bosom [of a sail], sign mysterious of the Body of our Re-nessof deemer, which was filled with the Spirit3, although It in no a^med wise confined Ith. By the [same] Breath which dwelleth in3°r>

breath

the sail do bodies live, in which the soul dwelleth.

Ezech. xxxvii. 1. Levit. 1. xxiii. and falling by the seal upon it.

vol. i. p. 139, e.p. 132, b. p. 398, a. The f The word ' blended' means wholly

spirit then being that part or faculty of penetrated with, united in mystical

the soul which receives the Gift of the communion. See on R. xl. §. 3. It

Spirit, is said to be sealed with the seems likely that this alludes to the

Father, because as the Father is the Apollinarians, Apollinaris being him-

Fount of the Godhead, so the spirit be- self a Syrian, and in the earlier form

comes by that Gift the fountain of a new of his heresy denying Christ to have

life in man. Greg. Naz. p. 742, d. u If a human soul: or rather dwelling upon

it was by sanctifying like by like that this aspect of Ariau and Anomean

Christ would put an end to the con- error. Hence the soul may be said

demnation 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

under condemnation, and a Soul, by Christ delivered souls and dwelleth in

reason of the soul; so did He also need them. See Clem. Rom. ad Cor. c. 49.

a (spirit or) mind, (*,) by reason of A than. Apollin. i. §. 14. and ii. §. 17the (spirit or) mind which not only Greg. Naz. p. 760, c. Petav. de Inc.

stumbled in Adam, but was the seat of iv. 13.

the disease, (*gr?ra^vr,) as the 8 This alludes to passages which speak

physicians 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 from the Comm.

mandment, which also did not keep it on Deut. xiv. 9. may help to connect

. . .and chiefly needed salvation." comp. this sentence with the following. " ' And

Cyril de Incarn.cap. 15. 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 them wings from Bapthe new. The expressions, God of the tism, and by their conversation fly up

spirits, &c. &c. Father of spirits, to share with spiritual beings." See

Heb. xii. should be borne in mind. p. 222, n. c.

It may suffer from weariness, (see h Leontius,c.Nest.p.416.ap. Mai.C.

2 Cor. ii. 13.) though preserved from N. u If in a body less than and circum*

Manifold occurrence of Holy Cross

3. Neither, again, doth the land yield itself to the crucifiera, 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 : he 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 Thee1. 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 fruit 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 himself1. And if

scribed by Himself, He was able to contain Himself as well entire without being aught impeded, as without being aught circumscribed, yet in no way straitened; this is in very deed a sign of a natural Power, that may not by any external force be shut out from its own uncircumscribed condition, or be circumscribed in doing what it pleaseth. This too is what is spoken of as the exceeding wonder by him who saith of Christ after the flesh, that in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." The word rendered sail might also be rendered ' linen cloth.' Comp. note p,

I St. Just. Mart. c. Tryph. p. 259. " The lamb that is roasted, is roasted in a form like to that of the Cross; for one upright spit is passed through it from the nethermost parts to the head, and one again into the back, to which also the shoulders of the lamb are affixed. " This is not precisely like what St. E. says, as he alludes to the slaughter rather than the roasting of the lamb. The directions in the Mischna, Pesach. v. §.9. compared with note 1, may serve to bring out St. E.'s meaning. " How did they hang [the lamb] and skin it P Hooks of iron were

fixed in walls and posts, whereby they hung them and skinned them. And every one that had not where to hang and skin it, got thin smooth staves, and rested them upon his own shoulder and the shoulder of his hung it and skinned it."

says, ' They cut thence a branch with a cluster of grapes, and carried it on a staff between the two. The cluster that was carried on the staff hanging by the branch by which it grew, is a type of the Prophets and Apostles that carried and bore about Tmmanuel. Its form also typifies the Rood, and they that bare it be a type of the two thieves." So on Zech. ix. 17. '"Virgins' signify the souls that be barren in the seed of the devil, and have not corrupted their fair nature; the Wine of the Cluster which was hung upon the Rood, is preserved for their consolations." Here we see the Cluster hanging much as the Lamb in note i: either case suggests the Cross to St. E.'s mind.

1 Asseman. in his lax way of rendering, gives the passage thus : '• Quatit alas clare insinuans viventibus mortuorum reditum, mortuisque prsenuncians, mortem somnum breve (sie)

in the things of nature or of art. 169

in her nest by mere touch her womb conceiveth holily from the warmth of the [male's] cherishing wings1, and hath her1 R- xli. issue without other intercourse2, then, lo! in his own house i& marhe hath a mirror of Marv m!

nage union

futurum." To me the passage is very obscure, but sepulto isto vivo would seem to be the literal rendering of Ol_ik ji*aC frrlV He would then be alluding to Matt. viii. 22. 1 Tim. v. 6. Rev. iii. 1. and the like, and the passage might be paraphrased: the cock says, Awake thou that sleepest, rise from thy death of sin, be buried no more therein, seeing there is a resurrection and a judgment, and that thy drowsiness is therefore thy death in the truest and awfullest sense of death." m The same is noticed of Vultures, by Orig. c. Cels. p. 29. (where see Spencer,) Basil Hex. viii. §. 6. Euseb. P. E. iii. 12. Ambrose, Hex. v. 20. A passage from vol- i. p. 117, f. may be worth adding. " The Father spake, and the Son wrought; and so it was fitting that the Spirit should Himself also exercise operation and shew it in His brooding over it, that hereby it might be revealed that it was by the

Trinity that every thing was perfected and finished. Consider, too, that since the Scripture is speaking of the agency of God, that this Spirit is not a being created and shed forth,which it explains to be brooding over the surface of the water along with Him; but it speaks of the Holy Spirit, how that He rendereth the water hot and boiling, and imparteth thereto generative powers. An image hereof is the hen, that broodeth over the eggs; and by the heat of her brooding warmeth them, and gendereth fruitfulness in them. It is also intended to furnish us at the same time with a type of Holy Baptism, which was, by means of His brooding over it, to gender children of God." This serves to shew how St. E. dwelt over the things of nature, and found in them types of the things of grace, arranged as it were in corresponding series. Compare what he says of Baptism, as typified by the Incarnation in n. f. p. 86.

RHYTHM THE NINETEENTH.

1. Praise becometh the Son Who taught the Truth!

do thou 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 the lowly. Thy

1 P 61> garment seeing it was the covering ! of Thy Human Nature, and

p. 291. coverings twain they were to Thee, Lord, the garment and

3 It. x. the Body that Bread, the Bread of Life 3. Who would not R.xxxi.marvel at Thy changes of garments? Lo ! the Body covers §. 5. Thy glorious fearful brightness b : 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

4 S. for our Maker hath to4 grasp That, in respect of the Invisible

Nature of Which even our mind is as it were a body c? 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

5 P- 22j the Life 5 of our soul which dwelleth in us. Who is not p. 105, astonished that though every thing is in Him6, and He is also in

them all, yet never at any time have they touched Him though

a Habn takes the words W^.J,V> that of their nature; because every

} ".. created thing of necessity existeth in

JOOIJ as if a pleonasm for W^ : this somewhat whence it originates." Greg,

seems an unnecessary assumption; Mor. ii. §. 3. " The spirits of Angels

since WX may be a verb, and there is *n comparison of our bodies are spirits ;

no great difficulty in supposing that Du* m comparison of the Supreme and

1 to come in' might mean in Syriac as Illimitable Spirit, body." Comp. Basil

in English < to be in season,' to be Ep. viii.§.2 fin. Method, ap. Phot. Cod.

come into vogue,' or the like. 234, p. 301. Bekker, Arnob. c. Serap.

b A passage from St. Cyril on St. Joan. Thessalon. ap. Harduin Cone.

Luke, ap. Mai. A. Class, vol. x. p. 375. *v* P- 294. Most of these places are

will throw light upon the connection referred to by Petav. de Ang. i. 2 and

in St. E.'s mind here: " That we might 3 : tney are to be explained, as a strong

not recoil in fear at the sight of the mocle of stating the finiteness of all

Flesh and Blood lying openly upon spirits but God. See R. xxx. §. 2.

the holy Tables of the Churches, God, an(* Bar. Bak. in Michalis Lex.

accommodating Himself to our weak- P* 445. I* should be added that

nesses, sendeth a power of Life into 80me have spoken of our Lord's

what lieth before us, and changeth Body as more subtle than the Angels

them so as that they should have the whom we know to be spirits. Vid.

operation of His own Flesh, that we Petav. de Inc. x. 6. §. 3. This premay have them, so as to partake of mised, the following may be suggested

Life through them," &c. as the drift of the passage. In speakc Hil.in Matt. v. §. 8. " The different ing 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 a mere investiture which may be cast

bodily substance allotted to them as • at pleasure ; on the contrary, it

The Incarnation an economy to meet man'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 would not praise that Hidden One that is hidden from all, Who came openly to manifestations1 the plainest of all P1^. to an When He had clothed Himself with a Body bodies touched JJJJ2- Him, though minds had never at any time felt Him. It is a ness great thing that the little ones pressed upon His Greatness, from all that even It 2 was made little in their form that It might be like 2 r. them. Since it was hard for them to be like unto Him, for *X*U' 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 d. Thou, O Lord, didst clothe Thy Nature with a frail Body, that Thou mightest be able to suffer in it. Divers remedies flowed6 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 truthful3. Thy Love collected stores for our neediness, 3 R. vi. that to each one Thou mightest assign a different gift from * out of Thy Treasury. By little portions Thou didst move our needy estate, Lord, that it might come near to Thy door.

is part of His person and adorable as such; (seep. 158, n.c. p. 199, n. a. and Pet.de Inc. xv.3.) The Fire, i.e. God, though so concealed, is unapproachable even by the mind. True that in the Eucharist the Word of Life is handled and seen, yet it will not follow from this that we can know, and explore, and grasp, as if in our hands, the Invisible Person there present, as the Eunomians fancy. (See p. 116, n. e.) We have not those Hands, (feci. e. those creative energies (it not being the priest who is able to make the Body, p. 146, n. d.) which produce That which, in respect of It's Divine Nature, is such that even our souls are gross and material when compared with it. So far then from our mind being able to grasp It, even the highest Angels, who are ever praising Him, know Him not to the full; so far from having any independent knowledge of Him, He it is Who is the Light and Life of our souls. If then we would argue that we can grasp Him, because in a sense we do so in the Eucharist; let us reflect that we cannot lay hold of our own souls. This interpretation satisfies myself; it

is right to mention that Hahn thinks the text corrupt.

d This alludes to 1 Sam. xvii. 17. where, among other reasons for rejecting Saul's armour, he gives the following: David u was musing in the spirit of prophecy upon the sufferings of his Lord, and contemplating how wholly unbecoming it was for the servant to clothe himself with princely apparel in the place wherein he was to shadow forth a type of the Son of God, Who was to struggle with the king of the proud ones, not in the might of His Power, but in the lowliness of His Cross."

itself He restored the health which it had lost: and lo, the bodies that were raised bear witness thereof! And if He changed the Law and so gave life, it was as a physician that changes medicines. His medicines then are not strange to the world: the physician useth all kinds of medicines to cure, and God all arguments to give life." Comp. R. liii. §. 3. He is there arguing that God is unchanged though He applied the Law, and then the Gospel, to heal us.

RHYTHM THE TWENTIETH.

1. To Thee, Lord, I offer up ray 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 upon 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, destroyeth 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 s Pearl, earth, as looking out for the shock of corn full of mysteries2: R. x\i. ana< faith, whose bosom is filled with goodly fruits, is the shock |* 2- . of glory. The fish3 hath in the sea its conception, and also xiv.§.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-chamber8 is this well -refined entreaty, and if it pass

* It may be right to give here a that were in the den, and the children

longer passage from vol. ii. p. 330, f. of Ananias' company it rescued them

to the same effect as the text. " For too from the fire; and on every ocprayer, my brethren, it is fit that we casion on which it riseth it taketh the

should at all times be ready; for very victory. It taketh and carrieth forth

great is prayer which communeth with its requests from God who giveth to it:

God. When prayer goeth up in love and it bringeth forth and giveth its

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 with God, and speaking with boldness, and

her, vigil-keeping 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 of prayer and of faith contrasted. 173

the door of the mouth, it is as one that wandereth. Truth is its chamber, Love its crown; stillness and silence are the eunuchs 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 believed Johnlf,

on the Lord, whose voice because of danger denied the 3^' '

faith, while the heart within confessed it. With unbelievers

did He count the speechless. Jonah prayed a prayer without Mat. 22,

any voice; the preacher was put to silence in the belly of41#' '

the fish: from the midst of the reptile his prayer crept

forth, and the High One heard, for silence was to Him a

crying. 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 discernment1 in sweetly savoured things! l s- a

4. Truth and Love are wings that cannot be separated, for, p. since Truth without Love cannot fly, neither can Love122'"'1*

and depth and of this world, preserve whoredom hy lusts. 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 Thou, O God, 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." preserving be their hiding-place! Two b See R. ii. §. 2. xi. §. 3. xiii. §. 1.

lids hath 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 itself within the eye, as a modest its internal existence in the mind of

virgin within them, as a beloved one the believer it is the truth which St. E.

in the bridechamber; two gates 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 faith, &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 lusteth after they were thought to be filled with new

aught that belongeth not to it, it is an wine, adulteress to God, and committeth

XXXVI

fin.

174 Natural analogies against severing faith and prayer.

mount without Truth. Their yoke is that of amity. There is one look too and one movement of the eye-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 1 S. steal the other's cognizance K Never did the feet separate into other* etwo [different] paths. His heart is divided who goeth 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 I 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: 2 R. he ploweth error, and instead of wheat he soweth thorns2, while the 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 c!

c Vol. ii. p. 332, f. u He said that out thee it is not. The Kingdom

the Kingdom of God is within you, dwelleth within thee, and without thee

because the Son of God is within thee. hell. "Without thee death standeth,

His kingdom dwelleth in thee: lo! the and sin is the gate thereof. Evils with

riches of Heaven are within thy soul, torments are far off from thee. Go not

if thou he willing! Lo! the Kingdom forth to things without, that thou

of God is within thee, O sinner! Enter perish not with those without. Go not

in, and seek with earnestness, and in 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 corruption 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 members, 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 the

thee there the Kingdom, as our Re- 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 thou dost call. The King- thee, but thou that goest forth from

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- 152> 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 1, 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 a so grudged his fellow servant, that he threw upon him the bit of silence, because he doubted concerning John, as for the mouth that

a Cyril. Alex. Thes. p. 204, d. " If an Angel be a tbing immortal, owing to tbe will and grace of Him that made bim so ordering his estate; still, since he hath a beginning of being, it is also possible for him to have an end. However, what things soever accrue unto any nature, are indeed in relation to their possessors valid, though not in relation to God; as fire is caustic, but not to God, so also an angel is immortal, but not to God; for He only is in His own right immortal, having by nature, not, as things made, by grace, His certainty thereof." Did. de Trin. p. 373. " Souls and angels are immortal in the imperishableness and in- corruptibility of their substance; and mortal, seeing they be sometimes corrupted in their mind;" (speaking of 1 Tim. vi. 17. a passage often quoted in

speaking of the immortality of Angels. See on Ambr. de Fid. iii. §. 19. Pet. de Ang. 1. c. 5.) For as St. Greg. Nys. notices, " Creatures grow in such way, that every thing which they acquire becomes the beginning of an advance to what is greater; ...but if they fall off from the partaking of what is good, then they may, owing to the mutability of their nature, also partake in a worse estate, which is nothing else than a death which hath a kind of analogy to the death of the body." ii. p. 640, 1 . St. G. is also explaining 1 Tim. vi. 16. and shewing how the word ' only' does not exclude the Son, but does exclude the Angels. Probably St. E. meant to glance at the Eunomians by the word rendered ' a mortal being.'

Freedom from Iteretical deceit fulness

1 See R.

xxxix.

xxxi.

not sing faces faces to men

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 prying0, his seed was subjected to bondage. For as a partridge d 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 of them who confess the Son, but own not His Generation1 lead thee astray. There is a fowl that changeth the sounds of its own voice; there is a bird that alters his voice2, and ensnareth his companion ; there is a deceiver3 that alters his words with his hearers, because of advantage to himself.

4. Deal not then, thou harp, deceitfully with thy hearers ; do not respect persons of men in thy song4: whether in secret

b Two passages may be given from St. E. here as expanding the idea in the text. On 2 Kings xix. p. 558. d. he says, " The epistles of the king of Assyria, in which he mocketh the power of the Most High, and urgeth his people to come out into a strange land, are a type of the writings of the wicked, who assail the faith of such as fear God, and try to get them by persuasion or fear to leave the Church of Christ, and turn aside to the synagogues of Satan."

e writes thus: u He is overcome in the members wherewith he blasphemed. For he blasphemed with his lips, and was violent against Jerusalem and her God."

c It is remarkable that St. E. upon Gen. xv. p. 62, e. argues against the notion which he here seems to adopt, as follows: Whereby shall I know, fyc. " There are some that say that it was on account of his doubting about this that it was said to him, ' Know assuredly that thy seed shall be a so- journer in a land that is not theirs.' But let such an one as saith so know, that at that very time he believed in the seed that was as the sand; if he believed in that which was great, (read t)o} )OaOI as in the Latin,) that from

one man and one barren woman who was old his seed should be as numerous as the sand, then would he be doubting about a small piece of ground, who about that great matter doubted not.

. . .If then he had spoken in the way the accusation assumes, God would not have received his sacrifice or have ratified his covenant with him in that same day, nor have promised upon the same day that ten peoples should be subjected to his seed, &c. . .How then come men to say of a man who in that same day was [counted] wrorthy of the greatest rewards for his faith, that his seed was punished for his want of faith in that same day?" This, which accords with the opinion of the Jews, who urged this to shew that Abraham had sinned (see R. Mart. P. Fid. fol. 474.) and is here rejected by St. E., was probably a current opinion, and so urged, in the text, as an argumentum ad hominem; or, as Scripture avails itself of the current views of natural history for illustration.

A Of the partridge he says, on Jerem. xvii. p. 230. d. " The partridge craftily stealeth the eggs from the nests of other partridges, and sitteth over them, and warmeth them, and hatchc-th from them little partridges; and when they are grown, and have put out their wings to fly, and hear the voices of their own mothers, they go after them, and leave the partridge, that bewails itself and calleth craftily after them." Compare note b. See Bochart Hieroz. part iv. lib. i. e. 12. who quotes other instances of the use of this fabulous account. St. Aust. c. Faust, xiii. 12, 16. also compares heretics to the partridge, as do some whom Bochart quotes,

prayed for with love of truth and peace.

or openly, let thy voice set forth the savour of thy Truth. Moses also, with the mystic trumpets made the camp move, 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 tenor1 strings to Thy Humanity, with low2 ones he sang again of Thy Death63. And let Thy Church also be a harp to Thy praise! Appease, Lord, the strifes wherewith its strings are untuned, that upon this harp we may sing of peace, truth, and concord4 !

Numb.

1 middle

2 weak

4pp.l05,

e This division corresponds, if not in terms at least in meaning, to one often insisted upon afterwards against the Nestorians by St. Cyril, from whom Petavius draws his first rule to be observed in speaking of the communica- tion of the attributes of the two Natures in Christ. " Some expressions of Scripture belong to the Divine Nature only, as * I am in the Father, and

the Father in Me,' &c. Others belong to the Human throughout, as ' Now ye seek to kill Me, a Man Who hath told you the truth,' &c. (which corresponds to the last in St. E.) Others are intermediate and belong to both Natures, as l Jesus Christ the Same to-day, yesterday, and for ever,' Sec." Pet. de

RHYTHM THE TWENTY-SECOND.

Praise thou the Lord of all, Who fashioned and strung

1 P- 217, for Himself two lyres1, 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

2 R. xix.be one2. 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. 152, before him that is perfect 3, 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 secured0. Thus therefore in many ways have the notes of the Truth set forth and sealed the Faith. The Father and

4 S. in the Son are my son, true to 4 Their Names. If Jesus is dishonoured by fools, that dishonour [is done to] the Father also, John 5, and His Name is false and not true.

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 d that a man is

a St. Clem. Al. Strom, vi. §. 88. melody which in each Prophet doth acp. 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 occur in these Rhytlims, as b Milk and honey were given at

follows: " The harp in the Psalmist Baptism. See Cotel. on Barn. i. p. 19.

allegoricallysignifiethin its first sense, and on Tertullian de Bapt. p. 163, n.u.

the Lord; and in the second, those c i.e. The comhination of notes is

who continually strike their souls under what gives them the power of sounding

the Lord as Chief Musician: the elect a retreat, &c.

people would also be called a harp d j. 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 lxii. §. 4. Perhaps St. E. may

ledge of God they are heard uttering be thought here to incline to the view

glory notes, and stricken so as to ex- of St. Athanasius, that heretical

press belief in the Word; and you can Baptism was invalid, c. Arian. 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 by

the Law and the Prophets, and the them as altogether empty and unprofit-

Apostles with the Gospel too, and the able, making a show, but in reality

The Son's Generation known to God alone.

baptized! How should thy blasphemy be a song of praise? how should thy deficiency1 be as a superabundant gain?' See How should thy strife, O daring man, be a treasurehouse ofnote ' 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 silence2, and the keeper2 p. lis,

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 above3 when they gaze upon it, seal 3 R. v. up their mouths with the silence of discernment. Whoso- \\^ § 2 ever knoweth not the awfulness 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 §. 43. " as deficient in religious meaning, so that he who is sprinkled by them is rather polluted by irreligion than redeemed." A passage from Didymus de Trin. ii. 15. is worth adding, " Those who come over to orthodoxy, even if they happen to have been baptized, are yet baptized — for rebaptized we do not call it, since they have not the true Baptism, not the Eunomians owing to their making but one immersion and saying that it is only into the Lord's death that they are baptized, and not the Phrygians from their not baptizing into the Three sacred Persons, but believing that Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are the same."

D. also mentions innovations upon the form, p. 294. If the text appears to imply regularity in the use of the Name, it will appearfrom xxviii. §. 7. that the Divine Persons were only mentioned to cheat the unwary, not in the proper way. Hence what Mingarelli says of Didymus may apply to our author, that he looks on heretical Baptism as invalid only in the case of heretics who altered the form as the Eunomians did. See Greg. Nys. ii. p. 295, d. Didym.

E. vi. 26. and Reading's note. Tim. Presb. ap. Cot. M. G. iii. p. 384. mentions, that the Eunomians objected to baptizing the uncomely parts, using but one immersion, and that only partial. See Coustant on Dionys. Alex. Ep. i. ad Sixt. Rom.

the beginning of the creation the first trees came into being with the fruits from them upon them at the time, and it is no absurdity for the fruit to have sprung up along with the root; in what way is it incompetent for the all-competent Father to have had the Fruit of His own Son in Him at the beginning, and for the Brightness to have shone with no interval from the glory of His Substance?" and Cyril of Alex. Thes. p. 304, c. and p. 308, b. "If... -the tree is known by its fruit, and the Fruit of the Father is the Son, such must He of necessity be as that is which is generate from Him." St. C. as well as St. E. frequently applies the name xet^vos to the Son, and pi£x to the the Father. See above, p. 413, e. &c. Vid. Petav. de Trin. v.5. §. 15. Newman on Athan. p. 284, note e.

RHYTHM THE TWENTY-THIRD.

1. Speak oh, harp, for silence is thine enemy; speak then 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

1 5. de- the very edge1 of death the rash standeth, in that he hath gree left the faith in his disputations to go down and search into

2 p. 144, the Ocean2 of hidden things.

2. Marvel not, my child, at what I tell thee. Take them,

3 S.take and compare3 them together discerningly. For the one denieth com- ^*s Divinity, and the other searcheth how to depreciate God. parisons 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 strife4 ! Let it not

sing in thyself from thine own8, 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 Eccles. go astray in vain searchings. Be first, my son, in the presence 5> *■• of the Divinity, and then shalt thou sing the praise of God,

* p. 123, for then art thou a living harp and a reasonable. Liberty5 n- k* 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.

a In R. xxii. to xxiii. adv. Ha^res. Marcion and the like to do, but virtually

Vol. ii. p. 485. St. E. dwells at length Arians and others who do not add to

upon the tendency of heretics to Scripture or take from it professedly,

originate doctrines and to call men Of course St. E. 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 he admits

" body perfect in its members from such an infinite combination of texts

which we may not take away or add a in subordination to these. Vide on

letter;" and this he considers not only Athan. p. 233? a.

Harmony genderedby keeping to revealed order of my sU ries. 1 8 1

Purify thy strains 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 perversely in the stead of praise b, lest thou forget

and sing iniquity. Sing like David to David's Son, andMat.22, call Him Lord and Son as David did! Do not dishonour j0'hn 5 Father and Son at once! Neither again sing thou to the23- 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 third: so that thou shouldest not pervert the order1 ' R. zl. of the Names. * 2#

5. Make ye then disciples2, and baptize in the Three 3 R. xli. Names, that is, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, §* 4* 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 confusion0. But how and why this is so, is encompassed in3 silence. Far off from that silence, without it, be35.with- thou speaking of His praise. Let not thy tongue be a bridge m 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.

'' This seems to allude to the Syriac Petav. de Trin. vii. 6. §. 3. We shall

as if they took the fag* in the5 sense gain wl?at St; E/a belief was as to the

of glory. The word e*, how- Procession of the Holy Spmt, which

ever, occurs in Aristotle Eth. N. and Wl11 be notlced as the7 °™U\™the

lei5A in Plato The*t.§. 116. numerous passages in the Fathers

"See contr. Scrut. ii. §. 8. The which suppose rather than directly

order of the Names of Each Person s ate thfls doctrine, form one of the

RHYTHM THE TWENTY-FOURTH.

1. With the weapons of the guilty wrestler, did the Lord

1 p. 20. prevail 1 ! He clad on a body which was from Adam, and

from David, that with that body which the wicked one had

2 On A- made guilty2, he might be brought low, so that his disgrace 24inn h*. might the more abound. Yea, that littleness of Thine is too

great for the eloquent. For who shall open his mouth [to speak]

3 p. 23. of Him that feedeth3 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 Mary 4R. xvii. wert Thou brought up. Thou hadst a mortal4 father upon earth, the while Thou wert living and 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-

2 Sam. quered the warrior ranks, and a weak riba brought this Num. warrior low. The ass spake, and knew that she was an ass, 2^ 28-. and knew also her master for her master. What sort of

Pc3Xl iv.

§. 2. teacher is he that cannot distinguish the work which is R. xh. macie from the Maker? If Nabal too was overcome because

he thrust forth his scornful b tongue, in that he opened his

* i. e. Bathsheba. David's ten youths and iniquitously

On 1 Sam. xxv. 25. " Nabal scorned them. He then perished by a

at this day there is the expression of iniquity in such sort, that, as he bad

< m'nabel 'no loch,' i.e. ' I scorn thee,' divested himself of mercifulness and

when aman in a passion is chiding vehe- put on the hardness of a rock toward

mently with his neighbour.' 1 his com- his brethren that were importunate

ment illustrates the expression 'wrought with him, so his heart might become

often of acts of open contempt of all whom for his wife's pleading'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, so did He also reward his

unintelligible conduct of David's may wife with good according to her mercibe worth adding. After noticing fulness, and brought her up unto the

that Abigail's words, v. 28. 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 hath said in

from a sin; " Nabal," he proceeds, his heart, &c. Vid. the Choze Zion on

" was smitten justly by the Lord ten the place, days after, because he had rejected

The intended and actual effects of the Incarnation. 183

mouth brutishly, for he esteemed lightly of David the great king, 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 speaketh scornfully, but the Son of David.

3. The Lord humbled Himself and came down, and the Maker became a servant0. 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 ind 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 crucirlers have been bold, and the disputers have been mad !

c On the sense of the word servant, in Matt. xxv. H. ix. §. 1. " Who is

see Petav. de Incarn. vii. §. 7. The that man that travelled into a far

word in the Syriac comes from the country, but our Redeemer, who with

same root 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,

d 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-FIFTH.

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

1 p- 122, £QS treasurers. Glory be to the Gift which lispeth 1 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 fire by its shining draweth the pupils unto itself.

3. The type of the Son of the Creator is sealed upon the creaturesb : through the light, fire, and also water, as with the rest wherein He is, can human nature approach, through the type of His Majesty. By the gift of the sea the

■ Treasurers. Perhaps St. E. here having the keys of His treasures,

alludes to some office in heathen courts, b St. Aust. de Trin. vi. §. 12. St.

like that of the Comes Privatarum in Athan. de Incarn. 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. xxxv.

surer called Apostoli, (see Petav. ad §.3. Of light see R. xi. §. 1. of water

Epiphan. xxx. p. 135.) which in part R. v. §. 5. and R. lxxv. §. 2. would resemble Christ's Apostles, as

The Gift of God not to be idled away. 185

swimmer has strength to swim on the deep, because the power of the water supporteth him. Not incoherent1 are i s. the tides there, the dashings also, and the waves, and themixed murmurings. And as the surface of the sea is on the very verge and confine of2 destruction, whereon thou yet mayest2S. is ride; so there are also those that dwell in the depths 3 of it, be and ^s after the fashion in which these knowing men do in theetluiPPed generations of the Divine Majesty. 3 p. 114>

3. And though the seed be from us, yet is the fruit from11, £• His good pleasure ; that Gift of His doth not teach us sloth- g. fulness. Its thriving strength suggests to us by thriving ComPstrength to seize upon the riches which His mercies have p. 125.' brought unto us. And the rain too which He sprinklethMat-n> over all is His Gift; this doth not teach idleness unto theHos.10, husbandmen. Their labour increaseth their stores; and12, 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 Thee attain, Lord, unto Thee ! Me shall the example of Zacchaeus 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 had4 p. 16, kept aloof of Thee. The fruitless fig tree yielded fruit ; taste- n* b* less insipidity yielded a taste. The sycamore5 by means of its 5 s. infruit became a salt, which cleared away tastelessness. A marvel Slp g 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 Zacchaeus, not that I may distribute possessions as he did, Lord, but that I may make haste, and restore again6R.v.fin. interest6 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 Gift7. Run, my brethren, 7 n. h. and gather along with us all similitudes, for lo ! they are too p* many for our mouth to describe. Be ye then pleased

St. Ephrem prays against unstableness.

I R.xii.

p.S.n.p.

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 from Him the whole lump1 may have it entirely diffused throughout itself. Neither can the curdle thicken milk without the hidden power of the rennet. By the gift that comes from it, it thickens milk's fluid nature into a close mass.

6. Grant unto my unsteady nature Thy straight ascents0! By Thee, Lord, let my vileness ascend unto Thy Majesty ! By Thee let it reach up unto Thy Height, in a large room, that there it may worship Thee !

c |An;^ rZo\oV Ass. recti aditus, as if from Wi. ', the occurrence of j^^ZZi so immediately would alone seem to determine the etymology of the word, which does not occur in the

Lexicon. Ps. lxxxiv. 6. would occur to those acquainted with the Greek and Latin Fathers, as referred to here: and possibly St. E. may have had a version in which the umfZucrut of the LXX was given.

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 Ps. 121, not one, nor was He feeble at the art, for at the nod of His4'40'5, 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 Thought8 was with Him without1 BJ any beginning. He hath no thinking as man hath, that He 3*X1 should be moved in any new way, as is a child of flesh. His movement was not new, 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, 2. 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 isb. 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 Depth2? He that ventureth towards His2 p. 144, Height, stumbleth mightily, and falleth ; and he that ven- n* g*

The Anomceans urged, that an of argument, (suggested probably by- Eternal Creator implied an Eternal Aristot. E. Nic. ii. 3.) was used by Creation, as much as an Eternal Father several fathers, Greek and Latin. See an Eternal Son. To this Catholics Petav. de Trin. ii. 12. §. 18. and Newreplied, that the notion of a father im- man on Ath. p. 65. n. m. p. 201, n. b. plied the co- existence of a son; whereas b To say that the Angels exist in a man is called an architect, ship space, would make them corporeal; to builder, &c. not from his having built say that they have 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 God, gelis, i. §. 13. and His thought or idea. This line

188 The objects and occasions to be considered

tureth to His Depth, drown eth 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, sincfe His Nature is too potent

1 It. iv. for any mouth1, and to all languages wholly strauge, since our

perceptions wist not how to shadow Him out, for there is none of them daring enough to be 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

2 S. should be spoken with after so imperfect a manner2, since, if

y He had essayed to speak according to the marvel and wonder

3 It. xi. of His Divine Nature, it had benumbed their hearing 3, put a

stumbling block before their childishness: the simple man had perished, and the perfect man had fallen short. By p. 205, every similitude4 then He accommodated Himself [to them], that man might according to his power and ability suffice for Him c.

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 d,

5 R. xli. is a danger: for us to frame a shape of It5, 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

8 p. 171, a likeness, that He may help us thereby6. In the time of

e'v' ' ' wrathfulness, in the time of cheerfulness, in the time of

7 S. He fearfulness, in the time of quietness, though His Essence7

Essence cnangeth Himself.

4. Lo ! Moses, when he taught the people, spoke of His

Majesty after our fashion : he overthroweth these same

Deut. 4, [ideas], in that which he says, Ye saw no similitude in the

c St. Chrysostom de Incompr. ii. p. of the shapelessness of spirits, par-

331. has some similar sentiments. He ticularly of God.

quotes Is. vi. Dan. vii. 1 Kings xxii. d This is said with reference to the

Amos ix. as instances, Hos. xii. 10. as Anthropomorphites. v. contr. Scrut. i.

a statement, shewing that the prophets §. 18. See also n. c. p. 150. and n. h.

saw but similitudes. He also speaks p. 210.

when God gives.or withholds similitudes of flimself. 189

fire. 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 profitable1 that He shewed no countenance or1 S. He image in Mount Sinai, that He might not give profaneness epe occasion, to shadow forth Himself in erroneous conceptions to mankind, so was it profitable also that He clothed Himself with the likeness 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. Suher. And when Moses saw the glory of the Majesty, he betook himself to all humble entreaty2, and besought Him2S. he that he might see Him, that He would make Himself known au begto him. The elders falsely said, that they had seen whatsing they declared they saw. And Moses too when he saw, yet v. 7. knew that he saw not, for that discerning person di<& 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 afraid, how then is it possible to stand before the real power of His Essence? Lo! the Son R.xxvii. alone can bear that6 ! contr.

6. Gaze then on Him [and see] that it was^ He, and Scrot. 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, l I will xxxiii. 2. conceives sight to be here

cause to pass, &c.' i. e. glory, such as knowledge; M For there are not the

thine eyes can bear; thou canst not see pupils, eyes, and eyelids, in the incor-

My Face,' 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 haih 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 above, note c. p. 116. that St. yourself to be told this, that no one

Chrysostom, who also refers to Ex. hath known God with entire accuracy."

190 God's language of Himself an economy.

for the benefit of childish creatures. Good and wise was He whose words were clear, so that they might reproach the ears of the foolish. The similitudes of His countenance were wondrous, so that His Beauty might 1 R-. attract the eyes of children1. And though He was wholly xxxi. s- eqUa|3]e> for He did not 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 wras unto usg. 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 w7ent astray amid heathenish sacrifices. Because he enticed them with sacrifices, the simple people thought the fat [of rams] was acceptable to Him.

f Vol. ii. p. 510. in speaking of the 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 passeth, I

adds, " He is high, and it is His love will place thee in the hollow of the rock.'

that makes Him low, and for our sakes u 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 the power of

8 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 Immanuel,

which God asketh questions as if ig- and the face which was not seen indinorant, 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

so much only as might serve a certain to Moses as a type of the manifestation

end in relation to man. See on Athan. in the flesh, and the whole argument is

p. 461, b. For though he is here speak- that in no case can God manifest Himing of the old dispensation, in which self to men while in the flesh, without

God as it were affected not to know an appearance of mutability and imperthat the blood of bulls and of goats fection, which really exist only in the

could not take away sin, yet one cannot recipients. See also below, R. xxxii.

but think from the change of the pronouns §. 3. and §. 4. and on R. lxxvii. and

them,' &c. that the new was in vol. ii. p. 521. a — c.

RHYTHM THE TWENTY-SEVENTH.

1. God Who existeth essentially1, hath a Nature glorious1 S. Who as His Name. And if He be an Entity Who is in His^"^^ Name distinct from all, He is an Entity Who in the know- R- xiledge 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 attributes2, these it is which they 2 ujf, behold instead of Him. Lo! natures fancy that they see Him, [even] Him Whom in them they cannot ever see! For they 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 toucheth 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 Fruit3 that is from Him alone 3R.xxii, knoweth Him in verity. |*xv".

2. Woe to the blind synagogue of disputers ! they stand §• 5 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 father4. 4 R. xli.

192 Correlative?? ess of semes to objects, a lesson against prying.

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 on king1 and the captain of his forces, and all the host of thoughts c '4* u 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 they

2 R. xl. are clad with it, it is removed a boundless distance2; 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 a.

■ St. Ephrem appears to be alluding I am unable to find what it is. to some fable then known in the East;

RHYTHM THE TWENTY-EIGHTH.

1. If clouds and lightnings and meteors, yea, and earthquakes and whirlwinds 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 ^^ } Power all things subsist? Lo! medicines have a different 3. power, which is hurtful to us when they are not mingled, and wine also injureth with its sweetness2, and spices with 2 r. the strength of their odours. Sleep and food without measure *x** Jare harmful. And if the weak things, when not [rightly] Vol. ii. blended, are hard upon us, how much harder shall it gop' ' ' with the man who without restraint prieth into the consuming Fire? ' Heb.12,

2. Therefore the Good One hath appointed us weights, Jjv^ and measures, and rules, that we should approach with 16, u. restraint to the creatures, in order to receive from them u h2Q 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 natural11 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 dumb 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

&c. 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

as a lamb that is 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.

194 The 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 free agency. Who can take away that which belongs to natural things, though our free will goeth astray?

3. Lo ! 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. l, He bounded by the waters which are above it. It is not He

Jer. 5, which is confused, but we that are perturbed. For if by the

?e sand the waves are bounded, marvel1 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 Ps' ^g^ birth [therefrom] 2. Lo! the conception limited him, and 2- birth limited him, and death limiteth him, and the grave, and

$. i. ' the resurrection! lo! by these the rash man is limited, but Butler jjjs own questionings he limiteth "not!

l. p. 40, 4. Lo! we will yet farther rebuke his confusion, since his n* g' will is perturbed by his liberty b. For his nature is overruled

b Vol. iii. p. 361, 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 hitter to him that is he makes weakness his own excuse, hut 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 you a man would 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 mouth that he investigates and proves forth how weak his own strength is, and it, because he is sick. A man in asserteth that the strength of his brohealth is the test (furnace) of savours, ther's will is much stronger than be. 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? If he assume weaksick 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. comp. provoketh his Judge. If a man come Eth. Nic. iii. 6. Again in p. 362, f. to either one of the two, it becomes a there is so ingenious and yet practical, plea common to him and to the man so acute and yet sweetening, a refuta- who is his debtor: for the weakness is tion of fatalism, that 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. E.'s path and leave crooked ways, that we views as to the compatibility of grace may come to orthodoxy. A man with free-will as touched upon in R. beseecheth the forgiving God, and he xxv. §. 3, &c. " If rhy brother offend thereby entreats for his brother; but thee, and thou rebuke him, asking why if he call upon Him as Avenger, then he offend thee, by him thou dost accuse he becomes his own adversary. He thyself of being able to keep from offend- reduceth himself to a strait, choose ingthybrotherorthyGod. Hethathath which ever he will: if he choose God

Scripture to check unbounded disputation. 195

by [Divine] Goodness, that nature might be distinguished from liberty. And if any one was minded to injure his members, yet he hateth those that so injure him, and loveth Eph. 5, his own members: — thus maintaining the order of his bodily ' parts, while loosening and perturbing the order of his mental parts!

5. Lo ! 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 20 ' ' 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 Exod. 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-born 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 Bosom1 K. vi. which is consuming Fire, whence there flame forth lightnings ^bove

to be merciful to his own self, then he his misdeeds, then has he for his debtors

cannot be oppressive to his brother, also lifted up a prayer : if he draw

The alternatives are placed in the nigh to Divine Goodness, then he has

midst: if a man call upon God as let his debtors go: if he draw nigh to

forgiving, then he has set his own debtor Divine Justice, then he has summoned

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 neighbour then is stationed others hurt them outwardly without

along with himself in all aspects, seeking redress; but they will mar

Wherever Divine Goodness is, there their own inward constitution, and sell

are his debtors stationed; and wherever themselves to work wickedness, and

Divine Justice is, there are his misdeeds then complain that they are slaves, stationed. If he seek to supplicate for

Audaciousness in heretic;

Acts 2,

2 Kings

2S.Trine

and Tongues [of fire]? The prying of daring men is as stubble with Him; and the questioner and the contentious like as chaff, and like as thorns, are devoured. Gehazi also who mocked and was mocked, tried to escape his master's notice and was disgraced. The daring1 men try to escape men's notice [when pretending] that they baptize in the Three2 Names c. Now at the mouth of Three the judges

n. f. The words ' try to escape men's notice' seem to refer to 1 John v. 9. ' if we receive the witness of men the witness of God is greater.' As this passage seems to contain an allusion to the controverted text, 1 John v. 7. it maybe well to specify, first, such other pas- sages of Scripture as it may allude to; secondly, such passages of St. E. as will throw light upon his meaning here; and thirdly, any such evidence in favour of the controverted passage as his words here seem to supply. (1) Now the only other text that has ever struck me as likely to be in the Saint's mind is John vi'ii. 17, 18. \ It is written in your law, that the testimony of two men is true: I am One that bear witness of Myself, and the Father that sent Me beareth witness of Me;' which evidently refers to that in the T.aw: ' at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established,' I)eut. xix. 15. The objection to supposing St. E. refers to this is, that there is no mention of three witnesses here, and none of baptism; which seems to me most material. Neither do I think that a reference to this text in conjunction with Matt, xxviii. 19. would account for St. E.'s language. (2) St. E. notices the importance of the Name used at Baptism, (which, as we shall see, is a passage in part parallel to the one before us) so common in antiquity to dwell upon the use of the Name used in Baptism, when speaking of the Trinity, that that might be expected; it is the context which marks the passage as somewhat unusual, and makes it open to consider whether, when the copies of the Scripture were torn to pieces in persecutions, (see contr. Scrut. iii. §. 29.) this passage might by any chance have suffered. For it is certain beyond all doubt that

some texts of the greatest importance are absent from a whole class of Mss. (e. g. Luke xxii. 44. to which text devotion owes so very much, but which is absent from the whole Alexandrine class,) and so it is just possible that the old Syriac version might originally have contained this important text. As time goes on, it is fair, of course, to put down any thing, however slight, which seems to favour such a supposition; if the evidence against it pre- ponderates ever so much, this is no reason why we should neglect what little there is to put in the opposite scale. And hence there does seem to be the strictest moral obligation to attend to any evidence for its existence, and give it its weight. For as it is with remedies existing in nature, (see St. E.'s owrn comparison of the two, p. 171, " they may lie hid a long time, be rejected with scorn, and at last, after much doubt and disputes which seemed to be endless, be received. See Butler, Anal. ii. 3. p. 259. Nor ought we perhaps in this case to forget that the abundance of heresies in Syria might have helped towards the corruption of the text; because St. E. himself again and again complains of this, (see particularly Vol. ii. p. 441, f. p. 485, a. contr. Scrut. i. §. 4b'.) although it must be owned that the best critics are averse to the assumption of such an hypothesis. It is plain, further, from his Comra. on Zech. xiii. 1. that he understood John xix. 34, &c. not only of the Eucharist, For he understands " the fountain of salvation in the spiritual sense and true meaning, of the stream of the holy Blood and sacred Water which flowed from the side of our Lord to sprinkle from uncleanness and to purify from error;" which application is also followed in the Liturgy of St. James of Sarug used by the Maronites, Assem. Cod. Lit. ii.p.309,n.2.p.341. (3) The

will be punished as in Uzziak. 197

decide. See here be Three Witnesses Who put an end to

all strife! And who would doubt about the holy Witnesses Heb. 6,

of His Baptism ? 16'

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 l, lest thou be ' genedestroyed. For Uzziah offered incense, and was smitten; p.°ffo and since he was not ashamed to stretch forth [his hand] ton-bthe glory of the sanctuary, he was ashamed all his days, 26, is— because his leprosy covered him; and since he dishonoured21* the hallowed house, he had to shut himself up in his ownLevit. house, as unclean. The hallowed house which halloweth 13' 46, 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 ^cl^' which profiteth all, by superabundance of it injureth all; and the sun which illuminates all, by the might of it blindeth all. Bread also which quickeneth all2, to him that eateth2§. l. gluttonously is a murderer. p°472e.

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 Numb. priesthood d a fire befriending the sanctuary consumed: it16,1,

drift of the whole passage then would ad- sion, be right to remind the reader, that mitof being stated thus: Those who will it is not St. E.'s usual practice to quote not believe 'the record that God gave of Scripture; he alludes to it in by far His Son' (1 John v. 10.) are ohliged the greater number of instances, to approach the most sacred rites d Comp. Vol. i. p. 357, 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 be seen from the following passage from thought that none would witness the R. xxii. adv. Hser. ii. p. 488, b. sacrilegious 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 upon Aaron, p. 532, c.d.) which was 'by 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 be baptized by thee,' 8ouls,and while they call to witness the (Matt. 3, 15.) that the succession Three that bear record in Heaven, they might not he lost to him. Our Lord thereby constitute all, that keep alive gave it to His Apostles, and behold a religious sense of the honour of hav- in our Church it is continued! Blessed ing had God's Name sealed upon them be He that delivered His succession at Baptism, judges of their own sacri- to us! The saying of our Lord relegious intentions; they summon from strains them, and lo, 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. (Seenoted.)Itmay,inconclu- ceived imposition of hands from our

The wilfulness of false worships.

Levit. devoured the sons of Aaron because they offered up strange ip,' 39^. fire1, as it were a harlot, and the hallowed fire was zealous against the strange fire; and the knowledge of the truth is zealous against the contaminating disputation6. 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. their secrets were openly set forth to shame.

Church, have some of them laid violent hands on the faith which was put into writing in that glorious Council. Memorable is the king that assembled them! — Heads they became in the midst of the Churches! Some too were presbyters and deacons! others doctors and readers! some were even religious: and from the Church they stole ordination of each kind of ministers to act as priests, and to baptize, and to break bread, and to teach that our Lord hath come and will come. Blessed He Who hath restrained them all by His Truth!" And just before: " Let them be distinctly asked from whom it was that they received imposition of hands? if it was from us that they received it and then repudiated it, that sufficeth for the truth; but if they have made themselves priests and done arrogantly, that sufficeth to reprove them, for this very thing is to their shame. For every man is a priest if he please, and lays his hand on his own head. A confusion this which cutteth off hope!" is an implied parallel between heresy and idolatry. See on R. xxxvii. §. 3. St. E.'s words upon Levit. x. 1. may be interesting. " Nadab and Abihu suffered not upon one count only, but upon many, as Scripture hints; one was, because they brought in strange fire

upon the fire which came down and consumed their sacrifices in its time; another was, that they despised Moses and Aaron, and brought incense without having received any permission from them; a third, that they confused the time of beginning their office, and offered incense not in their proper time; a fourth, that they entered into the sanctuary, a place which Aaron their father went into once a year. Now that they offered strange fire is typical. The strange fire he calls the wilfulness of Adam and Eve who were in a haste to become gods." And so on 1 Sam. xiii. p. 357. a. " By this action and the consequences of it he describeth to us a type of the first Adam, because both of them (Saul and Adam) despised God's commandment, and both of them also justified themselves and accused their fellow-crea- tures; both of them harmed both themselves and their sons; both of them dared to lust after a rank of which they were not worthy. Moreover by this they are blamed, who invade the rank of the priesthood, without receiving imposition of hands." Here we see St. E. again dwells on the wilfulness of the act of Nadab and Abihu as its main feature, though he views it as typifying another thing.

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 ita; 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 b 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 lacking1 belonged wholly to the *p- 210, body. Do not ye die by means of the names wherewith the Living One veiled Himself that He might quicken all !

a See above, p. 158, n. c. The, Catholic doctrine is thus given by St. John Damasc. F. O. iv. 3. " The Flesh of Christ in its own nature indeed, if you come to nice mental distinctions of the visible from the intelligible, is not to be adored as being created, but when united to God the Word through Him and in Him is adored." Possibly St. E. wished to give a blow to Apollinarianism by the way: St. Ath. c. Apoll. i. 6. ** It is not a creature which we worship, O insensate men! Why is it that ye do not reflect that the Body of the Lord, made though it be, yet doth not obtain the worship of a creature? for it hath become the Body of the Word uncreate. To Him then Whose Body it hath become, to Him offer ye worship." Cyril Thes. p. 196. b. though speaking against the Eunomian notion, (p. 194.) that the glorification of Christ implied a nature less perfect antecedently to such glorification, has the fol- lowing: ' The Word of God, as God, is most Highest evermore, but has been lifted up on high as Man. Lacking nothing as God, He is as Man said to re- ceive. He was worshipped by all creatures as God, now He receives worship as Man.' Vide Dial. ix. p. 728. e. Petav. de Inc. iv. 14. §. 9. (where he quotes the

Council of Ephesus as prescribing that the Whole Christ is to be worshipped with the Body, but not in respect of the Body;) and more at length, xv. 3. As "the ' two whole and perfect Natures are never to be divided,' of course where the Body is, there we creatures are to adore. It may be right to add another " That rod of Aaron which out of all the rods alone budded, is a type of the adorable Body of Immanuel, Who, though in all things connatural with corruptible creatures, yet remained in the Sepulchre incorruptible; and when capable of unblameable passions (the adtdfiXrira ittkdn of Chrysostom and others. V. Anastas. Sin. p. 116. Gretser.) in Him alone were seen the mysteries of incorruption and impassibility and immortality." From the passages given pri9. and 20, n. m. and p. 146, n.d. 147, that St. E. would regard the Body of Christ as that which gave men the right to be called ' gods.' Upon this name, see further on R. xlvi. §. 6.

as He willed; He chose to submit to the laws of human nature: He could at pleasure suspend them. See on R.

200 Heretics, though puzzled by creatures, pry into 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 Godc. Weak clay hath dared to go down and feel

1 p. 87, into the properties of the sea1. It hath scrutinized the floods

p. 144 thereof to make himself acquainted with the place whence

n'S' they come up and where they settle". That vile one that

prieth cannot even find out from what place the hand which

Eccles. fashioned him took himself and gave him measures which he

' ' yet scorns. Who ever sawf 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.

P ^9 5 '• ^ec^ars are rooted UP> thickets are bared, and yet the chaff

* s. Spi- cometh to pry into the Nature of the Holy Wind2; and from

rit>°r 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 e, put the scrutinizes 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

Bom. 9, potter; he maketh lifeless vessels, a work for his uses: the

20. 21. jyj;aker wno made y0U to be endued with reason and knowledge, Him have ye rejected.

c This passage might be added to Stahr, Aristotelia, i. p. 155. The

those which Petavius adduces, de Fathers commonly regarded the Ano-

Incarn. x. 7- in confutation of the mceans as the disciples of Aristotle, (p.

Eutychian tenet of the Ubiquists, who 106, n. a.) and St. E. may fairly use

maintained the Deification of Christ's the current stories abouthim as at least

Flesh in so literal a sense, as to suppose typifying a truth in regard to human

the attributes of His humsn Nature philosophy, even if in themselves ill

to be annihilated by the Hypostatic authenticated.

Union, and that Christ as Man is e See 1 Pet. 1, 17. which seems to

Omnipresent. See on Athan. p. 477, contradict John 5, 22. But the Fan. a. thers held that Christ is Judge, because

d This (and perhaps R. xxxvi. §. 6.) He is Son: that His eternal generation

seems to allude to the story of Aristotle 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. c. Jul. 3. p. 79, b. Petav. de Inc. xii. 10. who cites prinaccording to which he is made to meet cipally Greek authorities. Ambr. de

his dt atb by a fool-hardy attempt to Fide ii. §. 100. Dedit utique judicium

discover the cause of the ebb and flow generando non largiendo. Hil. de Trin.

of the Euripus. The origin of this story xi. §. 12. Dum judicium datur, Na-

>s unknown, though it doubtless came tivitas non tacetur. from some heathen source. Compare

RHYTHM THE THIRTIETH.

1. God who is the Lord of all, who is not numbered ' l in - 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 a are strangers to His Substance2. For what escapes these2 srebellious men is, that the thing made comprehendeth not

its Maker. The natures of Angels are fire and spirit3: the3P- 146> 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 His 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 thus: Ipsius essentia Ratio est, hanc extra si quid aliud cogitas, ab ejus notione longissime abis. This is a paraphrase, and to me not a very clear one. It migbt be rendered thus: Ipsius essentia scientia est: omnia autem qua? sciunt, ab Ejus Substantia tamen procul absunt; i. e. ' With Him to know and to be are identical: creatures which have knowledge, are yet strangers to all but His doings and attributes. Himself they cannot attain to.' Seep. 191 . The sense here given to j Ao O seems to be required by the context. It means the stem or stock of a tree, and is the Chaldee word used in Isaiah vi. 13. where our version has 1 substance.' It is obvious enough to take some ordinary solid substance as the type of l substance' in its metaphysical sense: uXti in Greek, mula ' a root' in Sanscrit, stoff in German, OSy in Heb. and ^Of.^ in Syr. bone, are similar instances. Basil, c. Eun. i. 12. " How great is the insolence of men that profess to know the substance of God! I should like to ask them what they have to say about the earth on which they stand, and from which they are? What

account they will give us of its substance, because if they can give any unanswerable statement about things on the ground, and close at their feet; then we may trust them when they are so positive about things out of the reach of all thought. What then is the substance of the earth? what the method of comprehending it? Let them tell us in answer, whether it was reason which arrived at this, or sense, and if it is sense that they say, to which of the senses is it comprehensible? Is it to sight? nay, for that graspeth colours. To touch then? why this also discriminates between hardness and softness, hot and cold, and the like, and of these no one would assert any to be substance, unless he was gone into a state of downright derangement." This passage seems almost to have been known to St. E. See §. 2. Either passage supplies us with the ordinary ecclesiastical sense of the word ' Substance/ as somewhat in no case cogni- zable to the senses. See xxxi. §. 1. The ' three things' allude to the common definition of body, rb rpx,* UrnfW (A%ra ettrtrovrixt. Sext. Empir. Pyrrh.

202 God's condescension, though real in His Incarnation,

hard or soft or hot or cold, and also let His place be explained, 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

1 See weight, or touch and colour, or extension and place1. In

JJ' J/0' these three 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 b condescended to every humiliation : the Tree put on condescension so far as

*S. unto to use2 similitudes; the Fruit 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

3 & actions He made the paths3 as clear as if He had taught them.

^>Ai He also was afraid of the contempt0 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

* $. 5- knowledge4, that He might teach those that were puffed up

n' g. ' and proud, that these frantic men might be restrained from

5 S. His explaining Himd5.

genealogy. b On the use of Tree and Fruit for See Jo. Damasc. F. 0. iii. 20. St. E. Father and Son, see n.e. p. 179. St. E. probably conceives 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. xxxi. 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 c Syr. ]oo; i. e. spittle. St. E. Syriac omits the words 'fear— side.' al,udeSprobab,?astothereStofMfth. S^gg^^ST*"*' 5, 22. so in particular to the word pjj, d St. Irenaus, ii. 28. §. 6. " Being which, though from another root, is irrationally puffed up, ye have the aufrom a similar sounding one. This dacity to say, that ye know the un- fear is one of the 'blameless passions,' speakable 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 Jonathan tasted a little plainly ' of that day and hour knoweth 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 only.' If then the Son was not ashamed God, Who when He came into the to refer the knowledge of that 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 either be ashamed to reserve ate and drank as one of flesh, not with to God such matters in discussion as concupiscence, but according to the are too great for us." necessity of the condition of the flesh."

yet not such as Satan's disciples fancy if. 203

4. For the Fruit is blessed, being as His Root. He put on humility in His temptations1. The abysses and the waves of

His wisdom He veiled and concealed though questioned. l p. 135, Scriptures which to us were of small account did He cite to11' the serpent, and lamed him and stopped his disputing and questioning. Our Lord cited from Moses, but the Mat. 4, daring cite from error6; for the serpent, subtle and dispu-4,&c* tatious, 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 f with him who destroy eth all. They that are new and white, in their newness have put on the moth of self-will2 : and, since it lay hid2 p- 103, in their garments, have been corrupted and changed. Put ye on leaves which are strangers to the moth g.

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, thatcomp. he may stamp his own image upon them and dye them with 28^' ' 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 33 $• 3- Pknoweth not. The love of us it was that made Him small, ' that He might not know. For He became small that He

e i. e. from Pagan books; a common 2 This alludes to Adam and Eve

source of heresies. See Yol. ii. p. 444, covering themselves with leaves, and

a. of Manes, p. 490, c. of Eutactus, implies a contrast to that covering

above, p. 128, n. f. In ii. p. 468, c. he drawn from Ezek. xlvii. 12. where he

says. ' They saw that all the children writes as follows: "And by the river

of error were all of them one, who from upon the bank thereof ', fyc. fyc." i. e.

the Greeks all got the hated name of In words and deeds they are perfect by

vkt}.' In i. p. 276. in explaining of reason of their offerings and their tithes,

what the unclean 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 months and in

that labour in the doctrines of Pagan- their feasts, these he means that depend

ism, and read by night continually at upon and are bound up with the strength

the barren fables and mischievous nar- of 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

they ponder not. the sanctuary. And their fruit shall

f J2LQJ See on 1. §. 5. Vol. ii. be for meat, and their leaves for healp. 533. < Error as money did the evil in9- This is by reason of the divine one stamp, and in all ages did he recast laws which yield life and health to them wickedness, and in all times stamp that wash in the stream; i.e. that depart fraud, &c.' St. Austin on Ps. Ivii. not from the law, but are as those lofty notices the serpent's wisdom in the trees uPon the banks of a stream, resame respect, though as part of the J0ic,ng like that tree which is planted, wisdom to be imitated. &c* *s' u

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 iR.xvii. searching into Him Who searcheth all1. For if thou art so j'j weak as to be unable to struggle with wine2, if what is lowly xxviii. overcometh thee, how much more would that Generation lead

RHYTHM THE THIRTY-FIRST.

1 . Let us praise Him that put on the names of the members: who named Himself ears to teach that He heard us, who sumamed 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 l Sam. for our weakness's sake. Let us know, that unless He had put 15' 29' 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 ours1, that 1 r. He might put on us that which is His. For when He asked ? X*V1* fcr 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 Essence2; for the Invisible 2R.XXx. One shadowed that Essence forth in things visible. *' •

■ Greg. Nyss. c. Em. xii. p. 818. people incapable of the truth, He took

" The Divine Power according to the to Himself old age for the instructing

similitude of [the sun] the example just of the faithless : and since king and

mentioned, though infinitely transcend- old man and child were become effeing our nature, and not admitting of minate, He put on old age ; as a veneany approach to it so as to share with rable old man did He judge those iniit, yet like some merciful mother stam- quitous persons who were effeminate in

mering in harmony with the inarticulate sin. The Being that waxeth not old

chatterings 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 receiving." 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, e. " With pleas of saw standing before the Ancient of

all kinds He humb.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 been

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's manifold economies

Ex. 15, of Days: also He became like a Mighty Man active and a

3# Warrior: for judgment He was an Old Man; for battle He was

Hab. 2, an active One. In one place He was as one delaying, and, as

Is. 7 13. He had run, in another place He is weary. In one place

Ps- 44j 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 will1, that we might paint our glory in colours which

194 n!e. our 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.

R.xxi. 3. And he that teacheth speaking to a bird2 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 maj- 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 and by it teaches her,

speaking with herc. 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 sleepeth, Ps. 78, or, that He slumbereth not ; to one of whom it is written 66, that He was weary, or, that He is never weary ; by denying d

he saw not one seat, but seats. He Father, as far as images of any kind shewed that there was an Assessor may be said to make Him visible. See with Him, and a Son to the Ancient of Petav. de Trin. viii. 2. §§. 8, 9. Days. The thousand thousands whom c Xenophon, Cyrop. i. 6. §.39. men- Daniel saw, them alone did he see tlon* birds being educated' for the standing: to the Son of Man he did purpose.

not a minister. If then this Mirror Assem. gives,— iliud quod, &c. quo

putteth on all similitudes and receiveth strinxit, solvit, profuit, et docuit. I

all colours, yet hath it not any colour am not sure what his meaning i3)

stained into it, and is enwrapped in though perhaps it is the same as in the

vestments while it is unrobed at all text, that which Scripture tells us,

times, fair and beauteous, for no bare- that He was weary, &c. in which He

own Nature." Here we see he dwells teach us. Literally it is, in eo quod

principally upon the visibility of the strinxit, solvit, opitulatus est ut instrulo win mankind to Himself, 207

and affirming He profited us to our instruction. In the vision of the sapphire [throne] He gathered Himself up Ex. 24, 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. 105, small that He might be on a level with us, was great that11'1* 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 ns small. Because He was fancied to be weak, therefore He was small, 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 small1, since lS. have 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 littleness2. He was greats p. 144^ we got ourselves bewildered: and He was little; and wen,£- got ourselves into guilt. In all 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,' from form 16 12. to form did He change, in order to teach us that He had no and Eform, and though He departed not from the shape of man, yet in His changes of it He did depart from it.

eret. fJO j is often used, (cf. i. p. 136, e. illustration of this see on the latter place, ii. p. 333, e. iii. p. 529. contr. Scrut. i. The whole passage is to me far from §.42. p. 187, c.) nearly in this sense. In clear.

RHYTHM THE THIRTY-SECOND.

1. Restore me to Thy teaching, 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 1 have mused

upon Thee, I have gained a treasure from Thee ; and when

I pondered upon Thee, a fount trickled down from Thee;

1 R\. and because I was not capable of Thee1, glory be unto Thy

§. 4, 5. fountain! Thy fountain is cut short unto him that thirsteth

not for Thee, and Thy treasury is empty to him that hateth

Ps. 45, 2. That I should not cease from cleaving to Thee, Thy

2.'&c.' Beauty enticeth me: and though I would cleave to Thy

Majesty, Thy glory affrighteth me. Am I to cease, or to

come? 1 am overcome by both of them. I was affrighted,

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 languished,

and was silent; it was not that I had lost [sight of] Thee.

7#ep ' 'In Thee too I was amazed, and held my peace. Glory to

Hab. 2, Thy invisibleness! When I was distressed at my powerlessness, I was silent because 1 sufficed not [for Thee], since

no man comprehendeth Thee, since it is Thou who comprehendest all things. Yet 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 Adam11, 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. James of as that in reference to which all other Nesibis, Serm. xvi. §. 5. as first in the things were made. Comp. R. xxviii. idea or thought of God when creating, §. 1.

The act of creation a condescension.

image, which Thou didst borrow and clad on, made Thee "R.xxvi. small, how much more would the Body make Thee small *' 6' wherewith Thou didst clothe Thyself in reality, not in likeness2? Thou didst make Thyself small when Thou didst 2R.xxvi. 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 itb. He clothed Himself with littleness3 ere He was a Creator. 3 R. Hii. How could He create, unless He could be little? or how else could He do great things? Glory to Thy good-will!

not a condescension in the Father also to create. (Comp. p. 202, n. b.) Hence St. £. goes on to put the Son on a level with the Father byspeaking of the unchangeableness of the Son, which attribute is in Scrip, ture spoken of in one place (James i. 17.) as if exclusively belonging to the Father, as is the case with immortality, goodness, and other attributes. This done, he adds, to prevent all misconception, the doctrines of the Unity and Perichoresis; the very doctrines which Eusebius and the Semiarian school would contravene in speaking of the creation. See on A than, p. 373, n. s. and p. 399, n. a. That act of the Divine Nature by which It directed Its Omnipotence to the creation and sustenance of a definite number out of the whole possible number of subsistences, is what St. E. contemplates as the condescension of the Creator. This definite number of subsistences are conceived of by us as existing in God, and as in the Son in particular, because He is the express Image of the Father's Substance. We must speak of God as if His actions had ' a resemblance to the considering and reconsidering, and the preparations which men make in their doings.' (above, p. 128, n. g. Petav. de Deo, iv. 11.) And in our case the inward word or discourse is what contains the determinate idea or form of things to be made or said; and this word is to the mind as the Word is to the Father in certain respects. Only as we can but shape and modify existing subsistences, and not create new ones as God can, the resemblance is on this ground, as well as on very many others very imperfect. See Petav. de Triu. vi. 2. de Opif. i. 6. This ccnviction St. E. expresses in the words, ' My littleness, &c.' Comp. R. xxxiii. §. 1. $. 4. and the next notes.

rUDob\ \L\Ll L\^Q^\- Assem. renders ' quum creatura potis non esset a propria humilitate surgere,' as if he took J.Z.IZ.] to be the third person feminine, which the word {.kj^OaIo seems to require, as it is not used, that I know of, any more than ' potuit' for ' was not possible/ without a verb infinitive or future alter it. The context, however, seems to require a sense akin to that given in the text; as it stands it might in Greek be rendered,though awkwardly, oh ya.^ txuvk h xrltris tlpb ffvyxurafictrixuf on ri"k6ti, tit vh* titifttougyiav ~2ou) which when left without com mas either at xrUtg or ffwyxaru/Zanxcus admits of the same diversity of rendering as the Syriac: I believe St. E. would put the stop at xria;s, which would give a sense equivalent to that given above, viz. ' since the creation, if it had not been in condescension that Thou didst come, would not have been able to endure Thy plastic hand.' See Newman on Athan. p. 372. where a similar passage is the subject of comment. This passage then would not, as the present writer once thought, give any sanction to Bull's view of the ovyxocr amount, (see ibid, p. 368, n. g.) Rather it would refer to our Lord's archetypal office, (see ibid, p. 279, m.) which is thus concisely described by Didymus, de Trin. " All created things would neither have subsisted nor have continued unimpaired, unless they had had as a basis and foundation the Son of God, the creative Word, and had stayed themselves upon Him." iii. 4. p. 351. As calling the Son Wisdom in Scripture does not imply that the Father is not Wisdom, (the attributes of God being in reality identical with His Essence,) so calling the creative act of that Wisdom (in Whom God made all things) a condescension does not imply that it was

210 The Son immutable as being in Ike Father.

2R.xxxi.

4. From Thine own Thou hast become little ! from Thine own too Thou hast become great1! Thou becamest small, because Thou didst let Thyself down from that Majesty ; and Thou wert great, because Thou shewedst Thyself gracious, and didst create the creatures. Thou becamest small outwardly, and Thou becamest great outwardly : it was not in Thyself c that Thy Glory waned and increased. Thy Nature is equable, and high above those changes2. My littleness hath spoken of Thee, since Thy Majesty hath been willing to fall under words ; and to be beneath voices, that Thou mightest be profitable to the mouth and to the hearing3. The Father and the Son are One, because Their Nature is One. They wander not out of One another4; they are blended with One another; they are distinct from One another. Glory to Thy blending d !

c Syr. A^I^OOLO from >oaiO a word of uncertain origin, probably formed (as a similar word in Hebrew and Cbaldee) from the fut. of }oQO, 'to stand up;' for transpositions similar to the one required here occur in the Syriac proper names, for Jael, Naioth, &c. Etymologically then it would seem to be, ' that which stands firm,' as e. g. for the ' firmament' of Heaven, and vol. i.p. 6, a: in §.31. of the' reality' or 'substance,' as opposed to the ' name' of the and iii. p. 279, b: in vol. iii. p. 249. death is said not to have the ' reality' of speech and silence: ibid. p. 246, a. in our frame is Thy Baptism, and in our ' substance' is Thy living Body. But by far the commonest use of the vol. i. p. 373. Saul having in vain tried to get rid of David by means of the Philistines, 'himself or 'in his own person' rises against him. P. 389, c. "a spirit 'in itself wicked and lying and hostile, and hating God." P. 392, e. " to stretch forth his hand against the king 'himself,' the king's person." P. 497, d. ' by the sacrifice of Himself.' In this sense it seems to answer to one use of hypostasis, in which it was used of essence, considered as subsisting in one person, i. e. of one person, viewed not as person, but as essence. Hence, e. g. when the Son is said to be the express Image of the Father's Essence

in the Syriac, Heb. 1. our version has Person, and above, 'a spirit in itself wicked/ would not in a popular way of speaking differ much from ' a spirit essentially wicked.' See farther on R. i. contr. Scrut. §. 31. and on R. xl. $. 1. In the text the adverb employed is equivalent to ' essentially,' if we view the Son's Human Nature, as an accident to His Essence. (Vide Petav. de Inc. vi. 8. §. 4.) What St. E. means to say is, that the Divine Nature remained what it was, as the following passage from vol. ii. p. 51 6, e. will shew: " It is not possible for the Nature of the [Divine] Majesty to become small or be humbled, except in similitudes." And p. 512, f. "A wonder is the visible sample that meets our eye, even the word [of Christ] that wished to persuade the learned concerning that Majesty, of which fools thought that It was not perfect. For us then it was that It was small when small, and for us that It was great when great; and though it was equable in Itself at all times, all similitudes did It put on in Its mercy, for the Nature of the Divine Essence doth not ever at any

time wane or increase He is One,

that waneth not; He is One, that increaseth not: for the whole of Him is in every place. There is no space within Him for us to enter into, neither is there any room without Him to go out into. How should He expand or be greater, or how contract or wane?" lxxiv.§. 1. contr. Scrut. R. i. $.2. §.30.

RHYTHM THE THIRTY-THIRD.

1. John1 in truth when he saw Thee, shadowed out Thee,1 5. The who art the Word and God who cannot be searched out, jonn in order that every man should shadow Thee out by that R.lii.§.2. type, in his mind, and not dare to shadow2 out aught that is2 p. 50, foreign to Thee. The appearance that the Spirit in John "j^" * 6"# 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 existeth, but concealed in its mode of existence3. Let us3R.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 wind4 in4R.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 unto us, when [He became Son], and though55 R. 1. they preach unto us the Father, yet they preach not unto us how g^ [He begetteth], since these things fall not under investigation, p. 69, And if then the devil b 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 existence6.6 eomp.

■ The ' type in the mind' and this ex- agree or differ,) and on Ath. p. 329, pression probahly refer not loosely to n. m. See on R. xlii. §. 5. the whole view of doctrine so impressed b See below R. 1. §. 5. where a upon the mind, but also the use of similar argumentum a fortiori drawn 'Word' in St. John, which refers to from the difficulty of understanding the the Xeyts in mau's mind as a type, mode of the evil spirits occurs: here See Petav. de Trin. vi. 2. (who points also it is assumed by implication that out wherein the type and antitype he is present, yet unintelligible.

212 Spiritual Essences cannot be represented to sense.

3. And as colours paint not the voice, so thoughts suffice

not for the Son, that mark at which they aim from a subtle

mind. Which of the painters0 gazed upon that brightness in

B. viii. which Moses was enwrapped: neither the painters of faces

86 ik f. nor *ne painters of drapery sufficed to paint him. For those

heavenly tints could not even by the eye be perfectly taken

1 s- in or by the mind, which was not correlative to either of them1.

to both Now if the countenance of an aged man and a mortal, because

2 Etb 34* ^ was ^ut s%ntty suffused with the heavenly tint, put the

29. R. colours to shame2, and perplexed the painters, who then shall

vm.§. -ghadow forth the Nature of that Essence which cannot be

p. 116, seen unto perfection3? 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 d colours of all minds

are not correlative unto the Son, so that we should paint

therewith His likeness to the hearers, or know Him as He is.

4 R,. v. For if that breath4 which may be held and felt, we yet cannot

xiii'.§.i. paint, who shall shadow forth that Generation which is

R.li.§.5. revealed to the Father alone, and withdrawn and hidden

from all [others] ?

c This is only a vivid way of putting d g. j^N^. < intelligible' is here what we are told in Scripture, that the use<i in the sense of the Greek wnri$. Jews could not look on Moses.

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-will1, the i p. 123, Creator rejected them by reason of his sins, though he waspjjh^ 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 a. For$-66like unto beasts and brutes he made himself, as is written. Ps. 32, By them He shadowed forth man's own hideousness, that he ' might see how foul he had made Inmself ; 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 brightness2 which he had lost. 2 p. 51,

2. One mirror serveth to minister unto many in a state ofn' z' 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 here which thereof. For the sake of those who

seem to have been suggested by Philo have liberty of will, He killed the

de Procidentia, lib. ii. portions of which beasts to teach them gravity. "Witness

are given us in Greek by Euseb. Prsep. also is the calf of the Hebrews which

Ev. viii. 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

maybe found at the end of the Leipsig. fine, because of the impure who had

Philo. A.D. 1830. St. E. vol. ii.p.482, contaminated themselves. So too bread

e. ''The Scriptures witness unto liberty and wine are deadly drugs: burnt ofof will, as doth the fire which to be ferings pollute things pure, 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

punishment exacted of the nature that introduced the evil of thewill." See ibid,

has free-will, and of the essence that p. 535, c. and HI. p. 571, b. hath liberty. Witness too is the serpent b Vol. ii. p. 532, b. ' Let us not shape

which in Adam's time was lamed, in our minds another image, an idol

and the beast that was stoned, because unseen! Fraud rejoiceth us more than

the lecher invisible as well as visible Truth, seeing it is ofman's own framing,

hath defiled it. The cause of their Blessed be He whose verity is not

death have man and Satan been. For framed 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 without the graven; like to the adamant is the

man 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. Awaxtflexi-

214 Brutes by their vices instruct men.

is. took, animals1, that we in them might see in what state we are!

over mind can see itself, if it be clear; the body cannot examine its face without a mirror. Since then the mind had itself also become like the body, and could not by its own self behold its essence, He took and prepared a mirror from the beasts, that it might see itself; that by the beasts which he

Philo treats with scorn, man might reproach himself, that he might

1* j'jo' not be ravenous like a wolf, nor be fierce like a beast with fangs, 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

Ps.32,9. rage at his Maker; and, be not ye as a horse and a mule, which have no understanding. He called Herod a fox, since

p.18 and he defiled his chamber at all times with his lasciviousness;

p* he 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 profuse banquet they killed the honourable prophet.

ble to every form is error, and it is like passage and that in the text ; in the

a hideous mirror to him that looks latter, a confused state of things oritherein, and he that is well favoured in ginating in man's sin is viewed as a

it becomes deformed, and he that is mirror, which may be made useful to

fair in it becometh stained. Alas! for him; in the former, another state of

the mirror wherein each that looketh things similarly confused as, in fact,

hath his stains multiplied." There is detrimental to him; yet each serves as

evidently a similarity of thought in this a mirror 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, comp. and by their own arguings their mischiefs. On nature those JJ* ^j23' without looked and stumbled, in Scripture2 those within have2p-i°7, read and have been perplexed. Grant me, Lord, that I may R.xiviii. suffice to plead with them according to Thy will ! One, 6 In §• 2the beginning b,'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 painc3. That the hearers might not be weakened 2£m' ' [in the faith] they wrote their glories in the beginning of3&to 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 d fountain, Ezech. and when they 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 Ps.75,9. upon our wilfulness which first disturbed and then drinks.

a ' Those within' mears heretics, In the next words St. E. contemwho still keep in the Church; those plates creation as a type of the Inwithout, pagans: the same words occur carnation.

contr. Scrut. R. iii. §. 16. in the same c Upon Genesis, however, he does

sense. But they have an indefiniteness 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

the end of this R. Vide also R. lxv. 1. truth of the history of the creation.

b The use of ' In the beginning' by see vol. i. p. 6. a. quoted below in note

St. John and Moses is noticed in a b. p. 24~.

similar way by St. Hil. de Trin. ii. d Allusion to this chapter of Ezekiel

§. 12. 13. Origen in Gen. Horn. i. §. 1. occurs again, R. lix. §. 5. contr. Scrut.

in Jo. ii. §. 4. Austin in Jo. i. §. 11. de iii. §. 13. St. Greg. Nys. ii. p. 609.

Civ. Dei, xi. 5. Jerom. Qusest. in Gen. St. Cyril c. Nest. p. 47. in Hos p. 102.

1. Acacius Cses. in Caten. Gr. p. 7. St. Austin, Serm. xlvii. §. 18. St. Jerome

&c. Chrys. in Jo. H. ii. p. 25. See in loc. Origen, Philoc.xi. Const. Apost.

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 man's fault,

O Fountain of wonder that art clear and disturbed according to S. for the parties using it1. For it is pure to the pure who are purihe two parties.

0 fied in its pure drink ; and to the disturbed it is disturbed,

because it is to the disturbed as sweetness also is bitter to

2 p. 194, the sick 2. Truth is disturbed among the disputers, as sweetn* ' ness among those that are sick. Lord, heal our sicknesses

that we may hear of Thy Generation healthfully!

3. Those without looked on nature the whole of which was

3 R. disturbed for Adam's sake3 ; for in it were the sins from free-will, ?XjXlv* and the fearful stripes from [Divine] justice: they foolishly *B. thought that it was nature that was deformed and confused4. ^XXT1* And 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 e. Because they have disturbed the stream

by searching, they think that it is disturbed and its fountain

5S.Root. too5. Let us go up to the Fountain Head : it is from their own

i79Pn moutns tnat tney tas*ed tneir streams6. Without Adam nature

6 See was free from sin, and Christ also, without His Body, from

re ' " necessitousness. Nature was straitened by reason of Adam;

' p. 202, and Christ became small by reason of the Body7. Blessed be

211. k.6. Thou, O Lord of nature, because it was little and yet great,

and so preached of Thee f!

8 John 4. John, who tasted that Fountain8 before them that drink

' " it, tasted, and was astonished, and cried, and preached, that

John l, < He was God and was with God.' And Moses too who

Gen. l wrote 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 them.

Samson which was shaven, foresheweth f A than, de Incarn. xiv. 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 heauty of the Tr. v. cap. 13. But there is a further

Apostles: and after that, there was in meaning in this passage: St. E. regards

sin a power to humble them and deliver nature, in spite of its being 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 wav as in

devils, as Samson was before the Phi- vol. i. p. 350, a. 353, 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 type

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 drink20, in. It came unto nature, we had corrupted it; and it came unto Scripture, we had confused it1. Clear up, O Lord, the1 R. water-courses which the searchers have disturbed, who have?"/11" 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 34' 18# upon pastures which your heels have trodden down, and they have returned and drank waters w7hich your feet disturbed.' Lo the words, and lo the doings of the proud have disturbed the creation ! Let us give thanks, that before the searchers [came] the fountains were clear to the Apostles. Clear up, Lord, the streams that the shepherds have disturbed before Thy flock. Avenge2 my simplicity, 2s.stand O Lord, from the wise that are very foolish ; for if they hadup for 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 g, and Scripture too Rom. 1, 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-courses of Scripture 3 ! 3 Comp.

R. liii.

S St. E. must not be taken here say,) them who preached the truth in

to mean more than he does: for of the world, whose words were handed

the insufficiency of Natxire to teach down to us, yea, the reports of their

without the Church, he elsewhere mighty deeds. For men were not se-

(vol. ii. p. 529.) speaks as follows : vered from the understanding of know-

" Who is there equal to that universal ledge : reports of the way in which the

harp, which the Lord of the universe just were delivered, went abroad in the

hath made of the universe, that He by world, and the whole of it was filled

it might persuade all men, that whoso therewith, that whoso wrought folly

can make its strings vibrate is from might be condemned: we have heard

Himself. Moses came and played upon also how the wicked did presumptuously,

it, and refuted that party of magicians and were destroyed, and a mirror was

that were overcome. The tares [i. e. set up for any that was daring to be

heretics] were confounded, because they reproved, &c." Comp. R. xxvii. §. 3.

were not able to charm the strings of the R. xlviii. §. 2. Upon the power parallel

harp, &c." He then proceeds to Joshua, to this in the Church, see vol. ii. p.

and to Christ. So too in p. 367, a. he 494. quoted above, p. 106, n. b. p. 219,

speaks of tradition as the channel of Gen- n. c. St. E. wrote a separate work,

tile knowledge: " We have heard from ' de Ecclesia,' which has unfortunately

them of old, (he makes the Ninevites perished.

RHYTHM THE THIRTY-SIXTH.

1. 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. were1 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. of strong wine thought that He was the Head of the pastors

34> l. 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

2 R. slander with2 their own names, — the reward that they paid

xxxi. $. jjjm y^Yio made them great by His own Names b.

R.xxix. 3. Alas, for the clay that should change the Potter in name,

3~See§.i. not in Nature ! the colour of the wool is changed also3 ! Give

not the surname of creatures to the Name of the Son. He

* R. 1. hath distinguished thee from the beasts4; reckon not thou Him

a By the i wolves' he means the Jews, p. 291, n. k. who by crucifying Christ only displayed b i. e. calumniously insisted that He the more the Divine glory they meant was a creature as they were, arguing to hide. See R. viii. p. 40. The veil from the attributes He possessed 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. 51, n. y. R,. *ix. given them. See p. 122, n. h. and B.

Difficulties in nature accredit the Son's Generation. 219

with the creatures. There is freedom attached to thy ownR. bondship: set not thine own yoke upon that Sovereign Nature1 note a". Who freeth all. fndb-

4. Wherein thou art burdened, recount to us, for haply Lordthy bruise is like His. Who shall define what number they shlP 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 Him2, that the smoke of the furnace of thy2R. obstinacy hath come up even unto Him ? ™ .

5. See! with what zeal the Eternal Being is zealous3,3 Sthe

saying, One is not divisible into Three. Let alone His the Be- Name and shew His Nature; for this very Nature giveth jjjjjjjj^ eyes even to the searchers. The nature of stone is divisible, and the other natures are [herein] its fellows: the nature of fire is4 not divisible. See! the assaying of their natures4 R. xl. proves to us as good as eyes5. For they are akin in their I&'jg names, when they are far off 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 indivisible0, thou art greatly in error: the nature of water is one, yet it is divisible also; in fruits and seeds it is even changed6. It is impossible for us toecontr. rise up to Him without experience of His Nature. For the ^cr"\ fact that He is one, doth not give us means of comprehending io. and finding an explanation of His Generation7 which is with- 7 p. 136, drawn from all.

6. There are two different assay-furnaces8, faith and ex-8 p. 122,

c The Fathers held the Godhead, not polluted, and that it is not twain

though said to subsist in Three Per- with evil. That they are not of one

gons, yet to be beyond all number. See nature wise men have seen, evil being

on Athanas. p. 334, y. p. 412, d. and from the will, and night from the course

particularly p. 452, a. where a passage of heaven's lights. The Sun goes down;

from St. Basil exceedingly like this lo! ye have made darkness over every

occurs. The following is taken from 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 in that Eternal Being there is no numto teach us that there is One only ber: for number belongeth to things

eternal, and that the quality of night is created."

The alternatives of faith and experience.

xxxix.

perience; for either man believes the truth, or experience d is able to teach him how it is. The faith of the children of truth needeth not to be investigating1. To us the way of seeking for experience and disputation on every thing comes from the heretic2. Take and cast him among the waves3 that 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 nothing? Plough once and again the land of thorns4, and it will yield thee the word of Truth, though itself ignorant of it.

(lOrfpy Ass. renders * fides et ratiociniumj which suits with the use of the word in combination with disputation just below, and migbt be equi- valent to l*i%ti£iif&a, (each being literally a 'trying, ) which was used chiefly of arguments upon practical matters. See Quintilian in Ernest. Lex. Technolog. Rhet. in v. p. 134. and Stephanus adSext. Empir.p. 202.n. 17. As, however, I know no authority for such a use of the word, and faith and experience may be legitimately opposed, I have kept that word in the text. By ' the land of thorns,' St. E. seems to mean the field of human reasonings and disputations, which itself when carefully examined bears witness to the faith, and to its own inadequacy.

RHYTHM THE THIRTY-SEVENTH.

1. Isaiah darkly describes1 him who put the bridle of error B1S.hints upon the jaws of men, the sign of humiliation which made Is' 30 men brutish. Blessed be He, whose Truth made error to28cease ! When we had made ourselves like the beasts, God came down and made Himself like unto us, that we might be again like Him2. Hail to the Blessed One! for from what a2R.xlvi. 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 j)e'ut and hid and cast away that mercy. O thought most32? is.

2. From being wise and teachers, Satan made men brutish. ing Instead of the yoke that maketh one those that are divided,

he with the yoke of strife divided them by disquisitions4. In4R.xliii. the thickets he made them run into a maze5, among snares,!'^ hard where on one side there were the mountains of guilt6, and on the Place other side again questionings and fearful rocks! In a place full §.'4. of ditches b, where ten thousand eyes were required, with much * c°mPa As St. E. upon the place under- which is represented by the lights, and

stands this ' of the blasphemies of it chased from the nations tbe invisible

the Assyrians and the pride of their darkness which was spread over 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. Athan.

n. b. p. 176. What he says upon v. 26. de Incarn. 47. Cyril c. Jul. p. 198, e.

is to the purpose here: " In that day Spanh. Euseb. P. E. iv. p. 129. Minut.

the Lord shall bind up by the slaughter Fel. xxvi.

of the Assyrians the wound of His b As St. Clem. Strom, v. §. 54. p.

people, the children of Jud ah. But it 678. Pott. S. Greg. Nys. ii. p. 562.

also suiteth to take it of our Lord, c 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. E. may alof Satan, and of death, who are repre- lude to the same text. It 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 heretical

1 streams' of the new Gospel in all artifices for men's souls, for the LXX.

quarters; and abundant light was there, render Ps. 119, 85. (' The proud have

though not that of the sun which was digged pits,) ' the transgressors have

turned into darkness [at the cruci- told me old wives' fables.' fixion], but it is abundant knowledge

222 Heresy has no faith, 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

2Chron.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

1 R- of error and unseen distraction1. Since the eagle lets his

§# 4# ' pinions down under his young ; let down under me, Lord,

Is.' 40,' earth of miserable man, by the Holy Ghost let us wend our

2^ wings0 towards our treasures. Preserve, Lord, our faith from

§. 5. that which is no faith, and also our knowledge from that

pee which is no knowledge! [Mere] names have we gotten:

23, 5. defraud ye not yourselves with their names.

Mat 6 *** r^ne nati°ns 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

3 S. from were the first3. For it was from nature by itself alone that he inhim made idols by the hand of artificers: also it was from

4 R- Scripture by itself alone4, by the hand of the searchers

XXXV.

c See p. 20, n. m. and R. xx. §§. 3, bird which gaineth wings from the holy

4. Upon Ezech. xvii. he writes as water in sacred Baptism, (see above,

follows: " Wherefore thus saith the p. 167, n. g.) which because it behold-

Lord, Because Zedekiah hath despised eth That which above the heaven in its

My oath, and made My covenant of branches dwelleth,flieth from the world

none effect, in Babylon shall he die: by the wings of grace that it hath gained,

Babylonians and put his trust in the R. liii. §.5. and Vol.iii.p. 237, 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

after the Spirit, to bear, not good things into the fraud of these heresies, (Monthat dry away, but commandments tanism and Sabellianism,) he would

sanatory and belonging to a life-giving find that they have a considerable afartof 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 Judaizes 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 those planted on the borders of the the Holy Spirit to a participation of

[holy] land, but one capable of giving the Godhead of the great and first God

shade by its majesty to all reasonable as they make Him. For Him whom

creatures: and for there to dwell in it, Sabellius calls the Three-named, Eunot that bird which tarns down its eyes nomius styleth In-generate : but neither

earthwards to satisfy its needs from of them contemplates the Godhead in

the pickings scattered thereon, but that the Trinity of Persons."

Idolatrous wit en viewed from within.

he made godsd among the unbelievers. To the artificer

d There are several passages in which St. E. points out the real internal identity of heresy and idolatry: the making to one's self an image not authorized by the Church, whether under the Jewish or Christian dispensation, being that which constitutes the sin viewed in regard to the subject of it, and the worship of devils that which constitutes the sin viewed in regard to the object of it. Two passages have been already noticed, (p. upon this: another will occur R. xliv. §. 5. Vol. ii. p. 443, a. " Let us reprove the Apostates under the type of thieves, against whom the wealth that they have stolen crieth out as endued with speech. They have stolen names, and clothed with them that which is nothing in the world. For the Name of God did those idols which of old were honoured, put on; and thus by His appellations beings wrhich had no existence got them honour and a name. For it was not from the Eternal Being that they took a name for the vain powers: for a nature that existeth not, an existence did they make, &e. p. 532, d. The Persians worshipped water and fire and the stars, the Greeks worshipped some things, the Egyptians all things, the Jews the calf, and the generation of Hagar the star. (Alilat. Herod, iii. 8.) All these odious forms did error scatter in diverse nations; before our Lord it scattered them amongst the Gentiles, and in false doctrines after our Lord; and as if they were health itself, it scattered thorns. For one of them [Marcion] set afloat a stranger god without a name, and plain it is that as his name so is himself without existence also, and is wholly null: for he stealeth names, and like a thief hawks them about. Another, again, [Manes] calls wind, fire, and water eternals, and when one eternal was nothing and incapable of any thing, he took and stamped upon it the name of darkness. This he stamped on what he called an eternal. Another [Bardesanes] came stole from his fellows what they had taken before him. His hand was against every one, and every one's hand upon him: he sinned with every one that he might lead every one into sin, like every whit to the generation of Hagar that plundered from all. To these which I have counted up, are all false doctrines brethren also: and though the tare is but one

stem, yet it adopts sundry modifications: it has branches, fruits, and leaves in the four quarters of the world. Error, priests, priests of Baal, and among sacrifices his sacrifices did the devil mingle, and among Prophets deceitful prophets, and among Apostles false apostles, and in our days out of wranglers has he made apostates. Have mercy, Lord, on me, for as I have learnt so have I taught, and to match the countenance and cast wherewith I was sealed, is the resemblance, yea, the likeness I have given. Oh, may this profit pay the interest which my sins have incurred!" The same belief is implied in St. Clement's (Strom, vi. " leave the ecclesiastical and true knowledge'' as well as idolaters, with adul- terers; in Origen, (in Joan. xiii. 16, 17.) when he includes heathen and heterodox under those who worship 'in this mountain' as opposed to spiritual worshippers in the true Jerusalem: in A than.who speaks p.41 1 .0.T. of heathen ' anticipating the folly of these Christopposers;' and p. 422. of ' Ariomaniacs incurring the charge of polytheism or atheism:' in Didymus, who compares the Eunomians to Nebuchadnezzar, (de Trin. p. 43.) and applies (ibid. p. 103.) Deut. xvii. 5. to those who worship God the Son with an Arian Creed (comp. Athan. p. 319. ref. 4. upon which this passage may throw light) : in Cyril, c. of Nestorius as 'having drunken the wine of Sodom, and being besotted with error;' Thes. p. 69, b. of Eunomians as transgressing the command to worship one God. Comp. p. 294, d. 307, d. as does Greg. Nys. ii. p. 450, d. who calls Eunomians idolaters, p. 548, a. and parallels idolatry more at length with their heresy, p. 562 — 3. and 622, a. respect of impiety there is no difference whatever between him who confesses the names of idols and him who clings to the opinions held about them, (as he implies the Eunomians did, p. 719, c.) but abstains from the names;' and speaks of ' their all but openly paying idolatrous worship to their own fancies,' p. 747, c. comp. Bas. c. Eun. ii. 16. who notices the material ideas of God which those heretics had. Epiphan. p. 734. calls Arius an image and statue of the devil, and speaks of Eunomians,

224 Idolatrous nature of heretical attempts

he gave instruction ; with the finger he graved the dumb

1 Pearl idol; with the finger and pen1 he also wrote delusion. He Ex. 31 wished to make this finger like the Finger that wrote the 18, tables; and as he made name like nairie, 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 water6, 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 gorgeousness, so is our haughtiness, and as their strife, so is our

2 Pearl wrestling to see who shall conquer2. Be still ye mouths, be 2!i.&. 4'. silent ye tongues; let amazement fall upon your lips, let

wonderment dwell over your hearts, let the senses with the

3 p. no, limbs shudder at the Generation3 of the Son !

4. O tongue, thou drawn sword, gather thyself into the sheath, O babbler ! Prying has sharpened the speech of thy

4 Iren. mouth : let the silence4 of the Son blunt the edge of that p. 202. questioning of thine. Let not thy lips be spread forth as Jer.9,8.DOWS nor be extended — the threatening onset of the Holy

Ghost, as a whirlwind, shall turn the arrows back upon their

p. 985, d. as having a faith which is e See Kleuker ZumZendav.pt. ii. i.§. rather idolatry than religion. .Ambr.de 142. iii. §.38. §.219. (who confirms what Fide i. §. 6. compares Arianism with St. E. says of Persians,) Assem. ad Act. Gentile Polytheism, comp.§. 85. §.103— Mart. i. p. 40. n. 17. p. 181. Creuzer 4. v. §. 23. Jerome on Isaiah, p. 212, d. Symbolik.ii. p. 238. (who thinks this was Erasm. on Jerem. p. 288, b. 'whatever part of the Egyptian worship.) Movers we say about idols may be applied to Phonizer, p. 604 — 6. That sundry phiall doctrines contrary to the truth/ Josophers held water to be the first Augustin. c. Faust. M. xvi. 10. ' Your principle of all things, see Sext. Empir. own error rather is like paganism, since p. 135. and the notes. Philo. 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 is a lie of your own inventing, and well known to require proof: St. E. gods either visible in this heaven we seems to look on them here as a different 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 quarrels between the make not shrines, but form your own sun-worshippers and moon-worshippers, hearts into temples." So Scripture (both of whom 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. xiv. 3. see however Troyer's Dabistan, ii.p. 235 — also Petav. de Incarn. xv. 5. §. 9. 17. 242. They are credible enough from the §. 9. Perhaps as St. Hilary states the quarrels in more modern 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 cornherd of heretics, in Matt. viii. §. 4. In- mon enough in all parts: for the Syro- deed a similar view occurs in St. E. him- phenicians, see Mover, p. 159.

to investigate and find out God. *225

master1. For He is a Wall of Adamant f, such as the Prophet1 R. saw in the spirit; the dart of words, if one should fling fx4vllR against it, without fastening in it, will turn back and fix xxxviii. itself in those that spoke them. Look at a potter's wheel, Ezek. 4 and then behold ye the wheel of thoughts; for the motion3of the one enhanceth the clay, but that of the other degradeth R.xxix. the Son, though He may not be degraded. Fight not with xXxVi thy Fashioner who made thee a speaking vessel with dis- §• 3course of reason2. As for the potter, his vessels are silent. 21. ' As for that Good One, the vessels which He enhanced strive2 sJrwith Him. The least fragment of searching into Him is aJSr? 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 tostray 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 Walls3 of the Son3 p: 87, which cannot be trodden down. A$ there is no nature which xxxviii. can enter into and feel the bosom of fire 4, outside of which §• 6every man keepeth ; there is no wall to it, neither battle- n. f. g. ' ment5 is there, and yet every man is warned off by it. Who5 s- son

of*£L Weill

will dare to pry into the Bosom of that most fearful Essence?

By the sea6 the rivers are stopped ; and by the investigation 6 p- 144,

of the Generation of the Son all venturesome disputers!

f On the place he speaks of 'the s This probably means, 'that heaven

battering rams' mentioned in v. 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

subdueth 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 R. xxxv. §. 1.

RHYTHM THE THIRTY-EIGHTH.

1. Thy love, Lord, ticeth us and comforteth us, while it rebuketh us. It shaketh and rouseth, restraineth and reproveth, winketh at us and instructeth, since all it quickeneth, as knowing all. Who is he that would keep on still

* R. silence? Is he for making us mute as the beasts1? Who fjjrefli agam refraineth hateful talkativeness, lest we become devils speaking in their blasphemies ? .

2. The wranglers oncea were men of traffic, and when they had met with losses, silence was proper: from those deceived their doctors got rich. Instead of with infidels it is with the faithful that they have come to fight ; they have filled their treasuries from the doctrine, and their storehouses from the interpretations. When they laboured and taught

comp. him that fell into error, they ruined the principal with the 19 23 mterest? because they pried daringly.

3. The persecutor has left the wicked one, and hath begun to pursue his sidesman. The adversary hath blinded the wrestler, and he hath thrown at his own self, and is over-

2 it. come from himself2. 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 3 p. 135, the left3 ; neither let us hate the wicked, Lord, since there is 4 p. 155, but one evil one b which Thou also hatest. The delusion4 which n- a* is a hidden pang with the word of Truth hast Thou cut

a Aetius the founder of the Anomeans 293 — 6. To something of this sort St.

started in life as a tinker, and in that Ephrem probably alludes, as also to the

trade for some time throve by roguery: use 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 b See n. c. on R. xxxvii. St. E.

the latter trade he learnt a volubility of probably contemplates Satan as one

speech, which fitted him to become the 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 the rule of Tichonius given 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. 504, f.

Disputation to he confined to strict limits. 227

and cast it out, Thou hast made it as a confused smoke. Is. 51, 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 likened1 and compared, the doctrines of truth to the l s\ for broad day, and again silence and stillness are as the night; Comand as sleep again is rest abounding in sweetness. parisons

4. For the word of Truth be we labourers, and, as upon ground2, come and let us toil therein ; sow we love and reap2 Comp. we peace. Let a sheaf come up from reconciliation to thescrut.i. Lord of peace. Lo, a breath of the Holy Ghost with its^16fanning3 purifieth the corn-heap; the chaff it winnows, thexxxvi.' pollard it scatters, the wheat it gathers into the Barn of Lifef'^* that hath no tares ! Blessed be that Good One who gave us brooding speech, and blessed be the Just that added silence ! He 12 • 13' gave us sides4 upon which we might search, and keepeth^ others from us that in them we may be silent, as being § 5. 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 only5; neither5 $. in the whole sea to go down to ; neither the whole sun for the wisd!^ eye to exercise lordship over. 16-

5. And how then is it that the mind6 wishes to have that6 R. Hr Majesty, which cannot be thoroughly comprehended, to ex-R.*^ ercise a lordship over It, as though it reckoned It to be less^- 2- 4* 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 7 ? 7 R\..

6. Adam wished to inherit brightness, and the earth became §. 5. and his inheritance. Uzziah wished to take to himself the priest- ^ 8* hood, and a filthy leprosy was caught by him. And who shall venture upon hidden things, the boundaries whereof are stillness and silence8, yea, the walls9 thereof are fire and judg- 8 Comp. ment, and their hedges are wailing, and weeping, and gnashing „] a. ' of teeth ? Who shall make a breach in the rampart walls and9 P: 8?> enter in and take the fearful woes? Whoso maketh a breach xxxvii! in the foundations the hedges and the walls, doth it for gain ; §' 5*

Orthodoxy a subject for thanksgiving*

we, my brethren, should do it for damage. I will praise Thee, O Lordc, who hast held me back from the hidden things, and from those follies which have emptied the treap.125, suries of them that utter them. My debts1 I will pay from things revealed: to Thee be glory!

c See R. xxxvii. §. 2. A similar thanksgiving occurs often in St. E. in vol. iii. p. 239, a. he puts into the mouth of one departed these words: u Disciple have I been, and reverer of all my masters and my fathers: do ye remember me in the prayer at the hour when the Holy Thing is divided; for whatever stains I am guilty of, stain amongst the truth have I not commingled! I have not sown tares in the field of the truth! No seams have I put into the Gospel of Christ! I have not doubted, all my lifelong, touching the Threefold Power! I have not pried boldly into Him that created me in order! X have not scrutinized the Father in my mind, nor have I disparaged the Son in my intellect! no idle thought of doubt about the Holy Ghost hath ever trickled into the body we have enough: add we not aught to our iniquity. In this one thing have I hope and comfort before God, that I have never contemned my Lord, and that blasphemy hath never gone forth of my mouth: for them that hate Thee, Lord, have I hated, and have not loved Thine enemies!" In all these passages he must be taken to regard orthodoxy as in such sense ' before all things necessary' to salvation, as implies that the forfeiture of it is the most terrible consequence of sin.

RHYTHM THE THIRTY-NINTH.

1. If, my son, the crucifiers and the heathen mocked our Lord, because He was the Son of Man1, yet it is true that He l See on is God of glory unsearchable ; and instead of disputers who §,3. 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 against Eunomianism, because Eu> nomius despised them.] Jerome c. author of his [Yigilantius'] heresy,' and [says that he attributes to Satanic agency the miracles wrought at the tombs of the Martyrs, mocked at all reverence paid to their remains, which he spoke of as " common dust," and spoke against the Church for celebrating theHolyEuoharist at theirtombs. All the followers of Eunomius refused, it seems, to enter the Basilicas of the Apostles and Martyrs, c. 9. 11. 7.] The force of this appeal can only be appreciated by recollecting the esteem in which the Martyrs and Confessors were -held in those days. Upon their admission at once to the beatific vision, as believed then, see on Tertullian, p. 120. [On their intercession see on S. Chrys. Horn, on the Statues, p. 134. and on Rom. 16, 24. Horn. 32. p. 504. Oxf Tr.] Tt may be useful here to add passages shewing the esteem in which they were held in St. he says of the censers of Coreh and his company, * If the censers of them that provoked God were sanctified by the men themselves, and became plates before the altar, in the case of Confessors how much more would their bodies be sanctified before their souls.' Yol. ii. p. 349, e. * The soul that liveth in God is able to giye others life, and a testimony of this is (if thou wilt hearken in an enlightened way) Elisha, who himself quickened two dead bodies, one whiles he was in the world, and one after he departed. His soul was living in God, and it gave the body life: and after it went forth from it, it gave life to others. From God did the prophet's soul gain life, and after it went forth from him, he quickened those dead like

himself. Lo! there is life in the Martyrs' bones, for who will assert that they live not? Behold the living monuments, and who would doubt of this? they are fortified strongholds that rescue from robbers, they are cities strong that protect from capturers: towers high and very strong for any one who fleeth to them, which from murderers will rescue: and death to them approacheth not. He that is with envy vanquished, or with fraud, that soul-destroying venom, help shall take from these: that the poison may be stopped, nor have injured him a whit. Let him that hath oppressed ask, that he may oppress no more; the stealer ask no more to steal; him, from whom love is far removed, and who against his brother swells with wrath, from these in prayer demand peace, lo be reconciled to him. Let him to whom hath entered in the demon of adultery, enkindling in him foul desire, with oil wherewith their lights are kindled, anoint himself — forth will it come. Physicians are they that are strenuous after health, with life-drugs laden, healing for the soul and body, a healing spiritual, alike for soul and tody yielding health. Faith of thee do they require, and all thou askest, will they give, if untorn by doubt thy mind. If thou art dead, thou shalt be quick. God is dwelling in their bones, and by Him it is they do all mighty works. Be praise to Thee, and upon us Thy mercies be, Thou God that dwellest in the just.' And in vol. iii. p. 234, c. ' The prophet made a great lamentation over his brother, and over his yoke-fellow. (1 Kings 13,26.29) He buried him, and made him a refuge, and delivered himself from slaughter. Let every man see to it, how he is to rescue himself from wrath! — A great wall were the bones 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

1 R. lii. brightness, by the might of concord1, dissipate errors.

2. The learned know that amongst them who are Gentiles

2 R. themselves, there have been sometime sects 2 ; yet not by §. 3. * them ever, or by their sects, did the world suffer, but it hath contr. fe]t an(j Deen straitened by this. For our dispute have kings iii.§. 13. heard, the nations felt, and all creatures have made a tumult Pearl v, together. Lo, our doctrine has been ridiculed, because they 3 R.viii. thought that it would not stand by itself3 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 this account the * s\ learned4 plunged into it and were bewildered in their prying into it. Whatsoever is utterable and possible to be explained, and easy lo be investigated, and searched into, and expounded, 5 R. that the mouth, its correlative5, explaineth as belonging to its §.2.3. province6. And that which is utterly incapable of being R- x)i- searched into or expounded, silence is its boundary, since e's.' with the hidden Nature thereof our mind hath no correlativehouse. ness# And if the 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 7 Comp. aild perplexity to thee that He begot7, but thou wilt not prove

p. 126. office that thou didst hold be a wall to of your Lord, whom ye have loved, and Athan. our place. To cities and to towns, for whom ye are being sacrificed, that p. 356. walls are made for preservers: and the He would count me worthy in that day assemblies of Christ do priests keep of seeing you, and entering into your sacredly. 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 belitve that if ye the sight of thee hath departed from will request it of my Lord, He will forus, may thy. name get itself glory give my sins." Ibid. p. 173. " I beseech among us! Since thou hast left us Thee, O Lord, in mercy for their sakes, orphans, father, may thy prayer be a (speaking of the Martyrs,) give me a mother to us! May the 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 hplpen p. 250, f. p. 583, c. So also in the Acta by it." A.D. 376. The same reverence Martyr, i. p. 107. a matron in Sapor's for these holy men continued in force persecution, A.D. 344. addresses the long after, as may be seen by the con- Martyrs before suffering: " Ye are temporary acts of St. Simeon Stylites magnifying Him with your blood; but I ibid. ii. p. 393. Assem. Cod. Lit. vol. v. have one request to make to you: per- pp. 218, 219. form it for me: that ye would request

discussing things incomprehensible.

to a certainty that He exists. Rather, let it not be discussed1 whether it be possible for Him to generate, since He1 s- is Master of all possibilities \ For it is not on one side thatsp° en the Godhead is confounding; it is a difficulty on all sides. Who hath been able to measure the grains of seed, and the Ecclus. 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 theEccles. Generation from Its own Bosom?

b Ass. gives; l Atqui si saperes, neque disputares qua ille ratione Pater sit, cui omnes subsunt rationes.' It might perhaps be rendered in Greek nearly word for word as follows: Mn itn clou. %nt\syp,ivov<ro, vorepev fori fitn%av)i abrou ravrov, rod y&vvciv dvkeiSn' Kvgiog <ya£ iKiivo? <ru<rZv (Afifca.vuv. The version in the text amounts to the same as A.'s paraphrase, although there is some difficulty in getting it out of the words. A few words must be added in regard to the connection of this sentence with the foregoing. Aetius was charged with Atheism; see n. k. on Athan. p. 184. where it will be seen that Ath. says that he who denieth the Son, and so hath not the Father, " will in no long time say, as the fool, There- is no God." Perhaps St. E. has in his mind the Anomean tenet, that Tngenerateness is the Essence of the Father. In attempting to explain the Generation of the Son, they hit upon a mere negative, as definitive of the Father's Nature; now this negative did not, with them, imply the positive of which it was the opposite, for they denied that the Son was coeternal with that Ingenerateness. (See Gr. Nyss. ii. p. 419.) The natural consequence of this procedure would be that it would induce others to go a step further, and to argue as follows: Since no negative can be conceived without conceiving a positive opposed to it, and since the particular negative,Ingenerateness,was conceivable only through the positive, Generateness, (i. e. the Son in their view) : it will follow, that as they

admit that there was a time when the

Son had no existence, so they ought to

admit that there was a time when the

Father also had none. This conclusion

is what others might fairly be expected

to draw from their premises. The

same premises, however, may be made

to yield a different conclusion : it may

be said; ye heretics allow God to be

Almighty, and allow that He generates

in some sense or other : if you will

reduce your notions of that Generation

to somewhat intelligible, at all events

adhere in practice to the conceptions

of God, you still hold in theory: ' if

the Son which God generated is less

than Himself, either God willed Him

to be less, or else could not help His

being less : Either therefore He was

envious, or else not omnipotent. (Comp.

R. xlv. §. 4.) By pursuing your own

admissions to the legitimate conclusions you will see that you cannot reduce

what we know of God to a mere intelligible system : God is • a difficulty on

all sides.' This mode of arguing which

is not desirable in itself, (see below,

lii. §. 6.) but served to shew the untenableness of the heretical position, is

adopted by Hilary de Trin. vi. §. 21.

Ambr. de Fid. iv. '§. 78. August. Serm.

139. c. Maxim, ii. cap. 7- Basil c. Eun.

ii. §. 12. upon which see Greg. Nyss.

300. lxi. p. 301. Cyril Alex. Thes.

p. 68, a. with more or less appearance

of going along with it themselves. See

With the sequel Alex. ap. Theodoret,

RHYTHM THE FORTIETH.

1. The sun is our light, and it none is able to know; how

1 p 107, much less to know man1, 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 a. 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

2 p. 210, him, distinguished, blended, and mingled2. Light and also ref' 4* the sun are individual subsistences'" ; there are in them three

3 S. ge- kinds3 mingled in a threefold way, himself, and also the light, 2ons and the heat the third, dwelling one in the other, and agreecomp.n.rng without grudging. Mingled, yet not confused; blended,

*P 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

4 S. the three are one, blended, yet not compounded4, distinct, yet V^£io> not severai ! There is a marvel in all these things which

Heb. putteth us to silence. Thus man also is compounded4 of f¥* three05, and will rise in the resurrection, when he is perfected

xxviii. a The use of the sun as furnishing of the ray, &c.' I mention this because §. 3. by its light a type of the Father the passage in the text struck me as generating the Son is very frequent in- helping to indicate what St. E. held of deed in the Fathers. The use made of the Procession of the Holy Spirit, before it here and R. Ixxiii. §. 1. is much less I had seen this passage in Veccus. frequent: indeed I am not able to b S. ] /! Ij o ' single furnish anv other instance of a passage ff* ' ' exactly parallel, as they speak rather natures.' So Alexander, Alex, in Theod. 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 *" f u*oar.<ru ^iu Qvtrtis, where p. 337. speaks of the Spirit < passing Lowth quotes St. Clement Al. Strom, naturally from the Father through the vii. §. 5. p. 831 : whether St. Cyril also Son to those fitted to receive It as heat used the word <pv<rtf m the sense of Perout of fire would do in a body;' which s°n is too wide a question to enter upon procession of heat from fire he else- here- St- E- of course uses his word where, e. g. 175. uses, as is commonly °nly of the type, and that in a way done, of the Procession of the Son from answering rather to the Greek v*'o<rru<r,s the Father. It may be added that a than to the Latin persona. — jViQip simile of a like kind used by Greg, here rendered ' himself is used of the Naz. p. 612, a. is urged by Yeccus Or. substance of the sun, the light and heat ii. 13. G. Orth. vol. ii. p. 57. to shew being strictly not substances, perhaps, the Procession of the Holy Spirit from in St E.'s view, but rather emanations, the Son. l Who is there with any Still as the word is contrasted in part parts or sense who would deny that the with [Ja:), the passage goes to shew procession of the light through the ray the indefiniteness of the word in St. E.'s is its existence through the same? For time. See n. c. p. 210. if the existence of the light from the c gee r. xviii. §. 1*. " The race of sun were not through the ray, the light birc!s is brought up by a threefold adwould never have been called the light vance &c> and note d# In voi. iit

Mysterious emblems of the Trinity in Nature. 233

entirely. The sun which, though one, is an uniform nature with three mingled in him, distinct yet not divided, and one by one the whole of him is perfect d, 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 conjointly6, 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. 551. there occurs a Rhythm which will throw some light on this passage; the following are parts of it: " Let us reprove Bardesanes, since no man can take away auy one of the forms appertaining to man, any more than he can the form of fire, for if he did, he would annihilate it; since it is by three parts that it liveth in perfection, as man is of

a threefold composition Their own

simile reproveth them: by it they have given the body the surname of ' egg,' and the soul of 'bird,' and do not examine how bones and flesh come forth from the said egg, which is like the earth in which the body is conceived, and rends at the resurrection its earth and its sepulchre, and flieth at the advent. The comparison for the soul does not stand, for the bird has two generations: the first that of copulation, the second that of incubation. The womb generates by copulation, and the earth without it, after the type of the bird, performs the second generation in the Resurrection. Let us notice to what they compare our Saviour's work: (or if He rent the bodies and made the souls to fly, then our Lord has overthrown the type of the unbelievers. But if the tombs were broken open as an egg, and the entombed bodies rose and came to life, then hath our Lord given the cause in

our favour Eggs are reckoned like

the dead by these frantic men, and they are quick in their nests to the wings of the bird. Corpses in their tombs are dead to the heretics, but alive in the grave to the Quickener of all: thus not even as powerful as that wing of the feeble bird have they reckoned the overshadowing of the Good One who raiseth all! Three things in the Resurrection are brought to be one whole, the soul, and the mind,

thing. Distinct are their names, easy are they in their significations, difficult in their primary essences."

d Here that Catholic belief, (which though contradictory not only in the words, but also in the ideas we use, yet is not necessarily so in fact,) that each one Person of the Trinity is as wholly and entirely God as if the Others had no existence, — is contemplated by St. E. as the Archetype which the sun shadows out in its measure. See on

e S. A*j JkAjp (X021D. St. E. probably means to refer to the Perichoresis as one of (what we are obliged to contemplate as) the causes of the Unity of God. The Sun's self, its light and heat, each contain the other, and are contained each by the other. If the mind expands its idea of them, it finds it threefold; if it gathers it up into one, as it does at the moment of contemplating the unity of the sun, it must as it were draw each and all of them up into one at the same time. This cbject of contemplation 'is what it is and not another thing,' and you cannot leave out sun, light, or heat; you must use them all conjointly to contemplate the one sun aright. Thus the impression the sun makes on the mind answers, in its measure, to the reality of the Trinity in Unity, so far as we can conceive of that reality. His design seems to be to set up an explanation of this natural type counter to that of the Sabellians noticed above in note d. on R. xviii. and by Petavius de Trin. i. 6. §. 3., and to assert, that even as far as this type went, there was no reason for heretics to think the Son wras put forth as an emanation from the Father to be absorbed again, the sun, ray, and heat Remaining distinct. Upon the phase

mind (jjooi) dwellethinthehead,the "je the Bened. note on St. Ambr. de

word thereof in the mouth, and the soul Eide v. §. 162. participateth with them both in every

Mysterious emblems of the Trinity

A than. n.h.and oncontr. Scrut. i.

xxxvi.

glorious and awful, and is another hidden and mighty, and another joyous and tranquil? This first one then is entirely gathered into itself1 ; and that which is after it, is another which cometh at its own pleasure.; but the third one is sent forth abundantly f; there are powers that rule in the fire, which though they neither command nor yet are commanded2, yet in the sway are at peace with each other in love and order. 3. For three names are seen in the fire3, and each one standeth singly iu its sway; and each one in its functions is seen distinctly; single powers, and yet they are blended together. The fire marvellously, and the heat distinctly, and the lights gloriously, dwell at unity in one

It is to be noticed, that St. E. here views, through the type, the Spirit as (not coming, but) sent: a view which approximates to that of St. Austin, who make** it the eternal property of the Spirit, so to proceed as to be capable of being given, as being love. See wishes to guard against any such representation of God's relations to man, as should make the Third Person subject to an economy as well as the Second. (See p. 241, n. c. and Fnlg. ad Mon. ii. 6. who considers this question in connection with the Eucharistic Sacrifice.) The only passage supposed to imply such an economy is Rom. viii. 26. which many others (see Justiniani ad loc. and Petav. de Trin. ii. 6. §.5.) understands of the Spirit as shed abroad in our hearts." They puttheirrequests,hesays, into the hands of grace to offer before God," where grace is personified. Whatever is said of the relations of the Third Person to us must be conceived of, then, as flowing from His eternal Properties: whereas the Son has relations to us which flow from Properties not eternal, but consequent upon His Incarnation. (See Petav. de Trin. viii. 3. §. 1.) Now St. E. in this section conceives the fire as a fresh type of God, emitting heat which he now conceives as a type of the Son, (as the Fathers do commonly,) and its light as a type of the Spirit Still he seems in this section first to regard fire as a type of the Triune God, as He is in Himself, since the heat which is ' hidden and mighty,' will not other wise make a type of the Son. Hence the joyous and tranquil light must be understood to be sent, in the sense here given: i. e. the mission must be taken

to flow from eternal Properties. What St. E. meant precisely to be Prototype of the heat ' coming at its own pleasure' is not clear to me, though I believe from the sequel he meant the condescension of the Son in creating, see p. 128, n. g. p. 209, n. b. The ' order' of the Persons has been noticed above, p. 181, n. c.

s This proves the type has changed from the sun to fire, as stated in the last note, but does not suit very well with the sequel: for there the Spirit is plainly compared not to light, but to heat. Perhaps St. E.'s intention is, after mentioning the Trinity, to go off to that special mission of the Second Person implied in His Presence in the Eucharist. The Spirit here compared to the light may then be next viewed as conveying heat (i. e. the Son) to us who were far off. A passage from vol. ii. p. 451. may help to explain his meaning: ' Never did a man ever see a ship in the sea tossed about by itself with no sailor in it, managing itself and steering itself. And as ships, all things that are made, are imperfect: the soul is so,without freewill} the creation, without a Creator; the Church, without a Saviour; and the Altar, without the Holy Ghost.' Compare R. x. §. 3. §. 5. §. 7. and the note d. and vol. i. p. 239, d. from whence it is plain that St. E. held that the change effected in the elements was by the agency of the Holy Spirit, (though in vol. i. p. 460, c. he speaks of the shew bread as ' figuring the mystery of our Sacrifice which is offered by Christ, through the ministers of the Church.) This, of course, is a very different thing indeed from asserting that the Invocation of the Eoly Spirit made in the particular prayer used in the Eastern Churches, was the immediate cause of that change: for the same thing is said

to be found in the properties of light and heat, 235

another. If then this fire is of a miraculous nature, which produceth, 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 thing1, and grudgeth1 R. v. not; that flieth into bread, and blends itself with water, and jj dwelleth in every thing, while the whole thereof dwelleth in n it; a symbol of the Spirit is in it, yea a type of the Holy Spirit, who is mingled in water2 that it may become a pro-2P-87,

pitiation, and is blended'13 with bread that it may become a3R,'x,

not any thing new, but Their Eternal

The

by St. Austin de Trin. iii. 4 element is not consecrated to be so great a Sacrament, save by the Spirit of God working invisibly.' And so in the Missa Leoniana ap. Assem. B. Lit. can be little doubt that the Western Churches held, that the elements were consecrated by our Lord's words then repeated. See Gotti Theol. Scholastico- Dogm. Tr. vii. qu. 2. §. 2. and Le Quien on Damascene, p. 268, n. 2. Bened.xiv. de Miss. Sacr. ii. 15. Orsi de Liturg. Inv. Sp. Set', ii. §. 2. Martene de Bit. cap. 5. who quotes a passage from Theodulus Ben Althib. which will be of service here: ' The power of the Holy Ghost descendeth at this day upon the Bread offered upon the Altar, and consecrates it and makes it the Body of God the Word. For the power of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, and their operation is one. (see p. 166, n. c.) When the Son blesseth and consecrateth, then the Spirit blesseth and consecrateth; and when the Spirit blesseth and consummates, then the Son blesseth and con- summates; when the Father imparteth His Divine power, it do the Son and the Spirit impart in like manner. For albeit the Persons are distinct, yet is the Substance and Nature one. Thus in like way is Their power and operation. Therefore the Bread which we receive is His Body, as He Himself saith; and since He Himself calleth It His own Body, Who will not confess It so to be?" (comp. St. John Maro. cap. xxxiii. Assem. Cod. Lit. v.) on which B. remarks, that Theodulus here conceives (1) the words of Christ to be the efficient cause of the Real Presence, and (2) operation of the Holy Spirit to be not distinct from that of Christ. Here also is perhaps the key to St. E.'s meaning: The Son and the Spirit are said to be sent, and not the Father; and this mission is of course

Procession from the Father considered as affecting us. Vide Petav. de Trin. viii. Hence St. E. passes off from the doctrine of the Trinity to that in which the Mission of the Two Persons (as explained in note f.) is continually brought before us, viz. the Eucharist.

h Comp. xli. §.2. the word 'blended' or ' mingled,' twice used in this section, has been noticed above, p. 210, n. d. as employed to express the Perichoresis: in the former place in this section it is plainly used in this sense, and therefore it is perhaps no great strain on these words to suppose them intended to express concisely, that 'the Holy Spirit by virtue of His coinherence in the Son conceals Himself under the appearance of bread, that it may, &c.' See the passages quoted p. 210, ref. 4. It is plain that a great importance was attached in the Oriental Liturgies (see ' Invocation of the Spirit.' It may be right with a view to throw light on the text, to attempt stating what seems to be the view implied in those Liturgies, as concisely as so intricate and extensive a subject will admit of. Orsi de Lit. Inv. &c. v. 3. owns the truth of Renaudot's assertion, but reconciles it with assertions in the Oriental Church, ascribing the consecration to our Lord's words (see Martene as ab. §. 20.) by supposing that Invocation an accommodation to the weakness of the human intellect, whereby that is represented to take place at intervals with us,which with God takes place in one iustant. Theftwevents of the Descent of the Holy Spirit at the Baptism of Christ in the Jordan and on the day of Pentecost seem to me best calculated to illustrate the Invocation: it is to them and not to the operation of the Holy Ghost at the Conception that the liturgies themselves (as contrasted with later commentators on them) refer almost universally in the form for the Invocation. (See Assem.Cod.

236 Mysterious natural emblems teach man to be reverent.

xxxii

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!R.xiii. shadowed forth at any time1. If then this fire when searched into overwhelms us, how it is one, and how it is also three, and how the threefold dwell in one another2, and how its heat is distinct, yet not divided — that nature1, 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. 39. p. 138. Renaudot. ii. some variations) in a Ms. of the Syriac Liturgies belonging to Mr. Palmer of Magdalen Coll. p. 19. p. 57. p. 140. p. 144. p. 190. As then the words of the Angel to St. Mary are viewed by Irenseus, v. 19. §. 1.) as the cause of har conception, so the words of Christ used by the priest, ' who is not able to make the Body,' (ab. p. 146, n. d.) may

answer to the words of Gabriel, at the time whereof ' He was anointed with the Holy Ghost as if with oil,' vol. i. p. 336, b. p. 228, e. the Holy Spirit in either case working the miracle. But as Christ was very God, and had in Him and was Himself in the Holy Spirit from the moment of His Incarnation, the Spirit of course did not really descend upon Him at the Jordan, (see Petav. de lncarn.xi.9. §.8. Thomassin de Inc. vi. 2. §. 2. Pusey on Bapt. p. 275. &c. Tostatus Abul. on the place, p. 352 — 4.) it was for our sakes that He so seemed to do, He being Himself Omnipresent, [or * dwelling in every thing,' as above,) and so incapable of motion to a place. This accommodation to the weakness of the human intellect would be parallel to that at the Altar according to Orsi's view; while the other event mentioned in the form of Invocation, viz. the descent on the Apostles, fitly symbolizes the influence of the Holy Ghost in sanctifying and uniting men, which is what St. Fulgentius insists upon. This premised it is clear how St. E. may say the Spirit is blended with bread, without asserting thereby that the Invocation is the cause

of the consecration. In R. x. §. 7. we find the operation of the Spirit dwelt upon in all the events here noticed: and St. E. by dwelling here with a seeming disproportionateness upon the operation of the Spirit may have also had the Macedonians in view, and have wished to insist strongly on the doctrine that He doeth what the Father and the Son do. See p. 166, note. As for the use of the Syriac words —i^. and i2lj^. J insisted on by Renaudot. i. p. 241. ii. p. 89. it is plain that they refer as naturally to the brooding of the dove as to any thing, see p. 169, n. m. Perhaps the Greek view of the procession of the Holy Spirit influences the view they now certainly hold of the Invocation, this question running up as it does into the relations of the Spirit to Christ's Humanity. Taking in the next sentence St.E. might also seem to have before his mind a question which was afterwards discussed, viz. in what sense the whole Trinity could be said to be present in that Sacrament. See Yasquez. in Qusest. ibid. Disp. 5. §. 6. Art. i. (referred to by Clericatus Decis. Sacram. de Euch. Sacram. Dec. xxii.) and Samonas Gaz. 4. ap. Galland. xiv.

1 Assem. makes the apodosis begin here: the force of St. E.'s argument seems to require this version, which may be thus paraphrased : We are all agreed, that fire is three yet one, we do not dispute, we do not cease to love each other on this point — about a created nature we are agreed — a fortiori, &o.

JJU 3 is contrasted with God in R. I.

RHYTHM THE FORTY-FIRST.

1. Who bath at any time seen a raven that was not single? or a hornet that ever companied with others? The virgin bee generateth in virginity, and the worm a 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 ■ s*. never scorched in the fire 2, and many are the inventions also c. d. of stones, and roots, and medicinable virtues, and who hath *xi* 4* been equal to defining and distinguishing their natures? stos

2. The solitary procreations which exist without inter- 3 p. 169, course, which have natures too difficult for them that are n* m' 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 all4 ; and in not searching after the place, 4 R. i. and in not saying the causes of It, and in not seeking after ^ 2^ 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 senses5 allied to them they 5 R. may be comprehended; one is smelt, and another is tasted: J™ r but what sense is there akin to His Majesty, by which, as being xxxix. related to Him, we may approach to the investigation of Him? con'tr.

Similar reference to the mysteries to conceive afresh, without further inof nature is made below, R. lviii. §. 1. tercourse. See Schubert Geschichte

R. Ixiv. §. 3. contr. Scrut. i. §. 10. It der Natur. iii. p. 64. Thomass. de Inis held I believe at this day, that the earn. ii. 3. 10. Raynaud. Christus. iii.

copulation of one generation of insects 2. §. 198. furnish similar instances to

produces other generations with the those in the text, organs of the females in such a state as

bcrut.

238 Wonders ordinary and extraordinary, and even

Any thing that is not allied to us and of our race> who is able to search into? and who is able to scrutinize it? 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 1R.xlii.Son with us, and mingle His Spirit with us1, and shew us r. ii. His Love.

\\t'on 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, Numb an^ (as th°ugh tne mouth of the ass had the gift of speech 22, 22. by nature) forgot it, and pleaded with the ass. The x 2# ' Scribes let 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 1# are to thy edification; but if thou be captious, they are for thy

9 p. 128, reproof; but if thou be daring2, all of them are able to put thee n.f. andj.0 sjiame> Search, and look into thy humbled body, and be ashamed at the ducts thereof, since they are all defiled, and

3 contr. let thy blemishes be bridles to thy scrutinizings3 !

R.uis. "** Wlien the wicked one hath made us to overflow4 with

4 S. to thoughts of himself, if he be a stranger to us, how is it that he

as it were makes himself akin to us, so that his movements and spaces assimilate themselves to our mind, yea our intellect15, which is a high [faculty] ? if then our wicked adversary be

*> Vol. ii. p. 316, b. " The intel- intellects. See on R. 1. $. 5.) The

lect in the likeness of God dwelleth in latter is probably St. E.'s meaning, as

the heaven of the brain; the spiritual 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. R. lxxv. §. 4. In either case a

the heart doth this king of thoughts correlativeness or correspondence (such

understanding, and intelligence." Hard atrlo-rgotpev) 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 connection inanother, this passage may yet shew tended by St. E. may be as follows:

what St. E. means by |^?io 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- W *he very thing which constitutes the

ments make themselves such, as to be difficulty before us. For as for the Lord

undistinguishable from those of our own of natures, He is not finite, is not

mind; or, how do Satan's movements capable of being embraced by any other

square themselves to all appearance to mind> has no snaPe as we must ccmthe changes of our mind, so as to meet ceive creatures to have, (see p. 187, n.b.

objections, and start them as it were. and therefore there is no contradiction)

(For some of the Fathers held that involved in supposing Htm to pervade

Satan could see such thoughts as were the substance ot other beings, fully formed, and explicitly before our

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 shape1 of Thy^.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 marvellous mirror, and in it the Threefold are seen without con- Mat. 28, tradiction, since in Them the Apostles went forth and baptized without disputatiousness2. O Lord, let not my searching after2?. 166, Thee make my baptism3 of none effect0 ; for there is that hath 3^ 228 made his baptism of none effect by his scrutinizing. And if n- che 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 d that he abideth.

c Elsewhere he alludes in a similar way to his baptism, e. g. vol. ii. p. 444, e. "I have been taught and believed of Thee, that there is One in Thy Essence, yea, [and that One] coessential! I have heard and asserted, that the Father is One: I was baptized in the third place, in the Name of Thy Holy Spirit. I was taught the truth of them all." At p. 524, f. the following occurs, which also bears on the text. " Rememberme, Lord, Tpray of Thee! If I have searched wantonly into Thee, by prying I have not done so: and daring too as I have been, in examining Thee, still I am not daring really Lord in so doing: and sinner too

Now then what advantage wilt Thou give me over apostates, if like them 1 am to perish. Since Thy truth is greater than error, therefore make Thy Gift to me the greater!"

d St. E. probably means to put a dilemma. ' Either you ought to rebaptize, or to allow you have nothing new to teach, new that is in the sense that the Gospel is a new dispensation, and so remain where you are. Perhaps it was a later development of Eunomianism which induced them to adopt, as they did, the former alternative. See p. 179,

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 in1 our weakness, as it were, our 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 Spirit3 were not suited to our

2 R. pupils2, and strange were the colour thereof for our eyes to gaze 3 Jixli." uPon : and who is there that will by his scrutinizing become §• 2- correlative to the Hidden One, who is in all respects unknown to all ? Who that hath made his mouth correlative to

3 R. x. flaming Fire3 and his taste to that Brilliancy which never was r 3* x lm 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

4 S. of taste of what is dressed4, and in this way it is our profit 01 ing and altogether our gain. So also is the hidden Essence ;

5 R.xli. mingle5 and take Its might in the divers kinds of blessings,

since the investigating of It in Its own self is too arduous

6 R. and difficult6.

^ j /' 2. The sun passing into a transparent1" 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

a Spirit is in the Syriac ambiguous : Theiochalix prismaticus, which readily

no doubt St. E. intended to leave it splits, and is transparent, (the root

ambiguous, whether he used the word ^^ is to lit>) Schubert. Gesch. der

determinately of the Holy Ghost, or of ^7 .. rtoo nv -T TT

the wind, as that which we have no 69' and Isid.or' 0n8' .XV1" f3- there

sense to perceive, and can only discern quoted, mention a species of gypsum

J b 3 A. . , . . snew lts applicability to the uses of a

j Aa*$*3 m speculan vase Ass. burning glass. A similar passage to this

in Matt. xxvi. 1. &c. There is a stone gee the notes, of the same family as alabaster, the

Natural types of the Trinity incomprehensible. 241

chastity, which glisteneth forth in spotlessness. Gold is uniform, a flower is threefold; stone is uniform, fire is threefold; burning, and heat, and light are blended in it1. For it ' R. xl. is not by one comparison2 only that the language of thef' ge'e creation mounteth up; and thus, as They are preached, so Athan. receive ye without gainsaying these Threefold Ones3. For^n. ' they stand not by the ordering of our wills; that nature as it^en-cexists, existeth threefoldly, neither can it be comprehended, n. a, b. wherefore it is found to be such, as without question it really011 .:. is. For who would blame him who said that fire exists threefoldly? No man condemns him, since every one allows him. The passage of fire4 remains a mystery to thee, how4§. l. it is conceived in the sun and hidden therein, and how again §'2.X1 it is concealed in the womb of his brightnesses; and the pang which begot it is inscrutable! This wonderful birth of that miraculous thing5 silenceth thee and refraineth thy 5 S. the thought, since it surpasseth thy mind! tbe mi_

3. The fruit which thou hast never tasted what sort it is,facle of

its TT13.F*

if thou shouldest feel it with thy hand and smell it and also vel. see it, yet because thou hadst not hitherto tasted it and tried it, thou wouldest rely upon another who had tried it6; since6 R.xli. then He is too mighty for thee, even that hidden Essence, p220 believe that Fruit7 whereby His might hath been tasted. n-d- Take wheat, and open it, and examine it, and shew us how n. e. ' the blade, the ear, and the root are hidden [there], which are J;ontreach one of them perfect within it threefoldly, and which is R. i. §. recent, which old, or which afore other: and though they 33# had a beginning, yet this is difficult to comprehend, since their hidden beginning is from themselves unto themselves6.

c i. e. even in this created thing hoQvroi xa.) eTov a,\6n tta) vvsgovcia. <parei7) there are operations which rise in itself, there quoted by Gallandi, though withand have no issue save what is internal out the apology with which Dionys. to itself. St. E. means to imply that introduces it, u oS<ra xqn Quvxt. Cyril, the relations of the Persons of the Ever- in Joan. p. 12. o. 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, ro twin us, comp. n. a. p. 126. n.d. p. 166. n.g. •£#!< ret i£ auruf evu atou^il t rw p.234,f. This passage may be contrasted tragi*. ThisTertullian c. Prax. viii. fin. with Method. Conv. Virg. x. 6. and the does of the root and its stem also, 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. (* htyUov hoTtiret (hXagrti and p. 142.

•242 All similitudes inadequate to the Reality.

4. And since this type faileth, it being inadequate as requiring to be reaped and winnowed to be fit for use, and when the comparison is overborne by strife ; do thou then behold, with sane

1 R. mind, that in the blade there is a type of the body, and the full §.V2. corn is a tyPe °f tne spirit, and the ear of the soul. This is an "xviii. illustrious parable ! For see how that every similitude which is stamped and framed for use would, if it sufficed to depict 2S.tode-the thing intended to perfection2, be found not to be a whole G similitude, but the reality. It is necessary for shadows that perfect- they should pass through the net-work d of time. And a Mark 4 grain of corn did our Redeemer liken to the kingdom for our

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

^Seen.f. of the Divine Majesty. The cloud is higher than the mist3, p* * 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 distance6.

d Aristocles ap. Euseb. P. Evan, others again do not agree: neither does

p. 769, d. in the words, u The senses the mouth 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 was speak-

E. here states explicitly, viz. that they ing] ; let us abide for ever in that City

reach truth not without the intervention of refuge [penitence]. The Hebrews

of a medium which partially obscures have cast aside the types ; come, let us

it. Compare note on R. xli. $. 4. and clothe ourselves in the realities." Upon

St. Austin c. Faust, xvi. 15. " as if when the Heaven of heavens, see St. Austin's

all parts and ways! surely it is not p. 258. Clementin.xi. 22. Clem. Strom,

those 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. Basil, Hex. iii.

like, as, two men but many things also 3. Ambros. in Ps.xxxvi. $.83. Hex. ii.

which are of a different nature, &c." 2. ap. Petav. de Opif. i. 10. A similar

e See on Athan. 326, n. f. and comp. tenet prevailed widely in the East, see

contr. Scrut. R. i. §. 32. Vol. ii. p. 512, Wilson on the Vishnu-Purana, pp. 213.

13. quoted p. 210. Vol. iii. p. 368, a. 635. Windischm. i. p. 177. and the

u Similitudes suit in some points, in Coran, ii. §. 39.

RHYTHM THE FORTY-THIRD.

1. By the little egg1 set the bold disputers at nought, since SR.xviii. 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 Sea2! Blessed2 p. 144, be He who with weak things hath astounded our mind! n' g' 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 visible3, yet it is not; it puts the searcher to3R-xlii. 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 plant4, 4orstem. three are hidden there, and cannot be searched out there ; three that are one, and though one they are three5. Who5R-*lu. 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 Church66 R. i. should not be the abode of strifes, and a sect of divided people7, He shadoweth forth and shewed Himself how He7<S;diis. For He Himself alone sufficeth to teach us concerning r. Himself, seeing that it is open to Himself alone to search ^^ into the mode of His own Existence, and He hath given ii. §. 6. foretastes thereof by His words for His true ones. He then who prieth into Him entangle th himself in Him, seeking

•244 God the only source, 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. Is.65,i.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 1 p. 121, if He led us astray He would be envious1. Yet who is able to lx.§. l. De sure tnat He hath deceived us? who to reveal to us aught that He hath hidden ? His way then is even in all these 2R. xi. things, His path is before children2, but is crooked to the Ps. 18 disputers, His Truth gathereth 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 onea, 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 search3 R2xlii m^° tne father and the Son and the glorious Spirit, or dare §. 5. 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.

a Orthodoxy was commonly repre- going by the royal way to be, is so to

sented as a narrow path intersecting say, nothing else than not turning either

opposite 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. proem 4. and N. on Athanas. Greg. Nys. c Ar. et Sab. init. ap. Mai

p. 190, n. b. St. Cyril, Dial.i. p. 397, b. O. N. vol. viii. " Both opinions are set

"We are not to set a heartless and as if two traps by the aforesaid men,

jaded mind to work upon the Holy (i.e. Arius and Sabellius,) and between

Scriptures, as if we were at some game them there goeth a certain strait and

or other among 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 generality of men go astray and become

aside 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. §. 5. 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; another1 'Itaihi. that He is the Creator: He hath shewed thee that He isj^fxji, also good: He hath informed thee that He is just also.M-4- Father likewise hath He named, and called Himself. The Scriptures are an assay furnace: 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 transient2, which He suddenly 2 R- l& clad on, and suddenly put off, as that ' He repented V andc'ontr.

Scrut.

1 The false

teachers have been deceived by the expression 'He repented,' a sound word which is bitter to the infirm, and they distorted it, while it only explained how great Adam was. Lo! God essayed to persuade him that he was not the vessel of an impotent workman, seeing it was no other Workman that restored him. Dumbness belongs to the [other] creatures, but Adam had discourse by his nature. The seas are spread out, and the mountains are fixed, but Adam commands. Perversely then have men understood the word, and yet it has at this day currency, and it is the way with men to find fault [and say] that ' God exalted one whose character He did not discern; and Saul too beareth witness of His having repented also of having made him king and given him authority, and yet he proved perverse: what is not seen in Adam's case, is plain in Saul's.' It was that He might reprove the slanderers, that He by the kingdom ensnared the freewill, which has full power. He nourished and brought up children, and they corrupted themselves and proved perverse. Which is it that the hearers ought to blame?

God that honoured? or those that disgraced man?" Ibid. p. 506, e. " Whose nature would be made greater by that great One, unless He denied Himself by taking what is not in Him. For this He did when He said He ate, and ate not the sacrifice that the fire ate. (Ps. 50, 13. Levit. 9, 24.) He denied Himself by taking the appear- ance of a man, though He is hidden from all in His Essence: so did He by that repenting which is not in Him, that He might awaken it in our race in which it is. That, however, He might not be as it were divided with Himself as if hating altogether the truth which is with Him; He on the other hand confessed the verity of His Nature, that He might shew of what manner He is. When He stated that He hungered for fat, He on the other hand confessed that He eateth not sacrifices: when He stated that He dwelt in the Sanctuary, He also shewed that the Heavens are filled with Him. He denied His majesty, that He might shew how merciful He was, &c." P. 514, c. u When it was known that His Nature as unchangeable, was far from passions, He feared not to put on repentance; hence He was not ashamed

If the Name of 'Father* he rejected,

1 or asserted

' forgot,' and 6 remembered.' As then thou hast relied upon ■ Him that He is just and good, rely 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 them, 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 airb. If one of them were to

to be as one zealous; hence He did not hesitate to sleep and slumber, yea, and ask for sacrifice. No method did He neglect to assist freewill, that the accuser might shew his madness, and the Merciful One His goodness." And so on 1 Sam. 15, 11. he says: " He said that ' He repented,' not that God changeth His purpose, but because He willed to change what He had done — as Samuel explained it to Saul when he said, ' God is not a man that He should take counsel.' Yet why did God speak thus? That Saul might know that the Lord willed to change the good He had done him, and that Saul himself might also learn that he ought to change his own evil doings. God spake also in this way to the righteous Noah concerning the destruction of Adam's race in the days of the flood, when He said, ' It repenteth Me that I have made them,' not that God Himself, who sinneth not, was capable in His own Nature of repentance, but that He might preach to sinners repentance, &c." These passages shew how often St. E. thought it worth while to insist that such expressions were accommodations to human weakness, and were not (as the Anthropomorphists contended) to be taken as literal. A passage from St. Basil c. Eun. ii. §. 24. will recall us to the more immediate object of St. E.'s allusion in the text to those expressions. " That God then is with the strictest propriety called Father, as also that the name is not one implying impression from without, but relationship (ev%) tMovs ak?J eixsiutrtag lor)* ovofta) either in the way of grace as in men's case, or in the way of nature as in that of the Only-Begotten, has been sufficiently declared, (see on R. xlv. §. 4.) But let us grant this expression too to be figurative, and used by a metaphor as countless others are. As then, when we hear of God being angry and asleep and flying, and of other such expressions which in their obvious sense furnish unbecoming assertions, we neither expunge the expressions of the Spirit, nor take what is said in a corporeal sense; for what possible reason, when this expression is employed so frequently by the Holy Spirit, are we not to look for meanings to it becoming God?"

b By asserting that the denial of one of God's Names entails a denial of all, St. E. seems to assert, that one attribute involves the other, and cannot be contemplated without it: which is the very position of Eunomius that St. Basil and St. Gr. Nyss. combated. For Eunomius contended for this principle in regard to all the attributes, because his theory concerning one, viz. ingenerateness, required it. If ingenerate- ness, he argued, does not imply and involve incorruptibility, then incorruptibility is, in some respect or other, contrary to ingenerateness, and at this rate God is compounded of contraries. But this cannot be so, since He is a simple Essence, and therefore ingenerateness does involve incorruptibility, and by parity of reasoning every other attribute. To this a reply to this effect was made: Our conceptions of God must be carefully distinguished from the Reality, which they inadequately represent. God's attributes are in fact identical with this Reality: but we must not argue from this that the attributes, as they exist in our conceptions, are identical with each other, since this would confound and put an end at once to all reasoning upon the subject. We must keep conceptions distinct which are distinct, and remember that they and not the Reality are all that we can reason upon. See Petav. de Deo i. 6 — 11. No sense then must be put upon the text, which shall subvert this important principle. It may perhaps be only meant to imply that we have exactly the same kind of evidence, viz. God's testimony, of His Fathership and Creatorship, that we have of His Justice, Goodness, &c. ; going by sense only we may find objections to one as

the other Names of God are unavailing.

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 many1. The Names that that people1 Comp. put away and threw aside, in them are the Gentiles baptized. "[ 344 And who is able to untie those Names which have made a trench between us and that people2? One cause alone made2 Basil that people rejected, and he that untieth it, buildeth Jem-J^r^ salem. For it was not because they did not scrutinize, that the Jews were rooted out, but because they did not believe by the Sonc. 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 the latter will soon come to deny the former, they heing in fact, though not in our conception of them, linked one into the other. In regard to the illustration here used, it may be mentioned that in vol. i. p. 12, c. he says, that "the heaven and the earth and fire and wind and water were created out of nothing as Scripture testifies;" and ibid. n. e. " the remnant of other things were made out of these same things which existed." See also p. 7, c. where he shews how the creation of things not specified in Scripture as created, are implied to be created within the six days. Here he omits earth and heaven, because they make up the world of which the others are the pillars. His caution against denying the obvious sense of Gen. 1. is quite to the purpose to add: "By Heaven and earth He means the very Heaven and the very earth. Let no man then suppose that there are allegories (Syr. Targums) on the work of the six days: neither may one say that the things which took place in the days took place in a moment, nor that the names are empty ones, or that other things are intimated to us by the names. But let us know, that as the Heaven and earth which were created in the beginning are in very deed Heaven and earth, and it is not any thing else that is surnamed to us by the name of Heaven and earth; so the remnant of things made, and of the courses which come after are not empty appellations, since the realities of the natures suit closely to the appellations of the names." p. 6. So in the text he

implies that the Name Father has a reality corresponding to it as much as that of 'just,5 'good,' 'creator,' &c.

c Assem. renders in Filium, which is not exact; St. E. means, that the Jews did not believe through or by the Son in " the Three Names which have made a trench, &c."comp.vol.iii.p.592,c. St.Gr. Nyss. ii. p. 339. " If it be only that they may lay themselves a sort of foundation and starting-place for their blasphemy, that they allow an existence to the Son and the Spirit, it may be a bold way of putting it perhaps, but, at that rate, more profitable would it be to them to desert to the Jews' worship and forswear the faith than to do an insult to the title of ' Christians,' by their pretended admission. For they by continuing up to the present time in the rejection of the word, only carry their impiety so far as not to admit that Christ has come, but to be hoping that He will come; but for any conception wicked and subversive of the opinion they hold of Him whom they expect, none such can one hear them utter. (Comp.p.7l,n.z.) But these of the new circumcision, or rather, to use the Apostle's word, of the concision, do not deny that He who was expected, has come, but imitate those who in unbelief and insolence dishonoured the presence of the Lord in the flesh. They essayed to cast stones at the Lord; these with blasphemous words throw stones at the word of truth: they alleged the lowness and ingloriousness of the birth after the flesh, not affecting the Birth before all ages; and these in the same way by denying

248 Imagination a delusive faculty

4. Be ye admonished, O bold disputants ! and be restrained, ye scrutinizes ! and see how no man is able to

1 S. to attain to the things of nature1. See that there are four secret R. lvii! generations in waters ; and some of them are single natures, §• !• and some there are that are two, and some again that are

three; threefold natures, that are conspicuous in three ways.

2 R. xli. As for the Lord of natures2 then, who can at all 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 Interpreter3 to Him.

3 B. xi. 5. If He condescended to thee to shew thee His Son, §. 3. R. q 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.2i, witb Him in their questionings, [saying,] Who is this? whose Mark 6 son is He? and how came He, or will He come? and they **• thought it impossible for a Virgin to bring forth4, and the elders

42. ' and the scribes blasphemed Him, because they had begotten se^ Gal a Christ for themselves which was no Christ; a dream it was of i, 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.

5 R #> Be warned, make not an idol5 in thy scrutinizing, be warned, §.3. that thou shape not in thy intellect a guess6 of thine own

6 •R"... mind, and the offspring of thine own imagining3: let the §. l. Offspring of the true One be shadowed forth in thy imagina-

7 P- 274, tion : for prying is an adulteress, and searching is an harlot7.

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 d See Athan. de Deer. 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.

indulged by the victims of the father of lies. 249

to the Gentiles. The Jews are looking for the dream1 of1 p. 74, their own intellect: it is the guess of their own wisdom thatn* the children of [Gentile] error are worshipping2. 2p.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 e. For he hath broken off his own hope, that his constant abode may be there.

wOlO'*.* Ass. renders, cogita ipsum in animo id versare unum, ut, te accedentem complexus, secum, prsecipi- tem trahat. This, on the whole, appears to give the true sense of the words, (comp. It. xlviii. §. 3.) and their meaning seems to be: ' Ifthoujustifiest thy free enquiry by the pretence, that thou art dragging Satan out of the lurking places which the so called orthodox doctrine (as you would speak) affords him, be assured, that he is only devising meanwhile how to make thee tenfold more the child of hell.' — Zeal for the truth was pretended by Eunomius, Apol. §. 2. as well as Arius, in A than. p. 185. As for the earlier part of the section, its meaning is very obscure: perhaps it may mean, Satan has relinquished his plan of making traps for men's souls below the surface of the earth, (see n. b. p. 221. where however the Syr. word differs,) which traps are types of fables of the mind's own creating, he having observed that to an acute and wrangling spirit they were evident enough: he has now given men a wide waste < a land of thorns' (see p. 220.) to dispute in, which engulphs his victims as successfully as the precipice, while it appears to be open 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, Eccles. the light is fair to the eye, and truth to the mind. Choose itjZj^ .hght for thine eye, the Scriptures1 for thy mind. How §. Land averse the eye is to aught that falleth into it: evil meddlen] a. ' someness however is cast into our imagination. A mote is distressing to the eye, how much more is meddlesomeness 2contr. distressing to the mind 2, 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. 3orEter- 2. His Fatherhood is easier to us than His Essentiality3. It is impossible that another Ever-being should come from space3: but it is possible that 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 4ComP.p. upholdeth all things, yet dwelleth4 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 6 comP- His fulness should be in the mind 5.

* Assem. paraphrases : si a se ex- were, as he goes on here (as there) to

istentem ah alio existere dicas ipse shew, and from which they must he

tecum pugnas. Possibly the words conceived as coming. Yery probably

— 0 - SO mean merely, i from any he means, by the way, to hint that Eu-

- where/But though starred over by ™mia* would, if followed out, lead to

Ass. they would rather seem intended to Manichean error, though his mam obconvey by implication the doctrine of Jict herfe 1S to *ewf *hf ■ lf *£e eternaj

the perichoresis as stated in Vol. ii. Generation is objected to on the ground

p. 471, d. quoted above, p. 132. col. 2. of its incomprehensibility, a fortiori the

To suppose1 two Eternal Beings, would?*"" jf God ought also to be obbe to suppose a space in which they J*ed to. bee n. b. p. 231.

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 out1 of two things15: for lo, it is inconsistent, that l s. that He being One should be in them both. This His little- posS" 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 blasphemy, and hence it is high time for them to say, that He is One from Himself0, 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 void2; and if He could not create, He would be2 On weak in His Essence. Lo, He is wholly perfect in all these A<5|J* things, for He begat without suffering, and created without n. e. labour d, and dwelt without space, and is rich without treasure ! i79P"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

b The "Fathers held God's simplicity He creates without suffering then allow in such sense as to deny that He was that His Generation is without suffering compounded of Essence and Attributes; also.'7 &*a0h. Comp. ibid. v. §. 5. p. 316. our idea of Him is so compounded, He Greg. Nyss. ii. p. 630, d. "Neither the is not. Vide Petav. de Deo, ii. 8. St. making of the creation nor the thing E. here shews what will follow from meant by having a Son admits with it the absurdity of supposing two Eternals time or matter or labour or suffering." inclosed in space, noticed in §. 2. Epiphan. Hser. lxix. §. 26. " If in Assame the Father to have a knowledge begetting He suffered, then He was reaching beyond Himself into the other wearied in creating." Epiph. in H. Eternal, and you make Him ' of a lxxvi. §. 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 Eunoraius in Cyril, Athanasius,p. 334. O. T. and p. 514-15. " can it be other than a necessary ad- Aetius (in Epiphan. i. p. 929. xxxix.) mission that the Father's Essence was argues, that ' if God remained ingene- impaired, if the Son came out 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 desame as the Son's, who is generate.' cline saying that the Son is not a part This is perhaps here retorted on himself, of His Essence, nor from Him, but

c This is the doctrine of the Monarchy; from 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.

252 Creation which is in space, is above maris reason.

as there is no space that sufficeth for His Essence. Whose

1 §. 3. is the mind1 e 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 demonstration2 whereby thou

js/40 mightest search out if it were possible. And since in the dis-

13. H. course of reason3 there is no place where thy mind may rest

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;

4 R. and reflect that to Him, the Lord of all, all is easy4. The pleader 3 ' ing wherewith thou hast silenced investigation into the creatures, oh, clad it on, and silence therewith the investigation

into the Generation !

e Space is an element which enters the Son. Even Angels we conceive to

into a vast majority of our conceptions have relation to space and so compreof things; we explain time and its pro- hend their operations or energies. (See

perties by reference to space, as the p. 187, n. h.) But such dim and vague

primary meanings of prepositions, &c. apprehension of God's Essence as we

would shew. St. E. then probably have, presupposes 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 R. lvii. §. 2. 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 river1, 1R-lxivand 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 fish, the Scriptures2 intelligent creatures. Within them is2R.xlv. life, without them is death. He that dareth to go in", my son, 270/n.d. where there is no air3, dieth, since there is no breath there to 3 ideler. quicken him; that we may learn that we are not at liberty to go Jg °r* into hidden things. That Threefold Breath4 sustaineth thee, 4 r. v.§. and if outside it thou shouldest go forth into scrutinizing, ?*~" lv* the gust from errors will fly to thee, and kill thee.

2. The fool rageth, saying, " Wherefore should God have

a Son5; for if the True One begat a, it was either by His5 p. 133. own Will or not by His own Will that He begat; and if§/3#VR# it was by His Will, then was that which He begot no God;lx-§- 1but 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 say will- God beget willingly (they say) or not ingly we may seem to allow the will to willingly?' But we must first declare have apriority 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 coeternal with the Father, since someraise an objection with the simple- thing anteceded Him: but if we

minded from either alternative. For if answer that it was unwillingly that the

they 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. ii. 549. St. E. meets this cavil

does not will in having begotten the by a practical observation : you question

Son, the necessity of nature bringing (he means) about God's Will in matters

this about with Him;' but 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

sistency upon Him in the way of be God's will that you should believe,

creation.' " Ambros. de Fid. iv. §. what impression He intended to make.

102. " They fabricate another impiety Compare what he says below, R. lxxiv.

when they put the question whether it §. 1. upon another pjint, though with a

was willingly or unwillingly that the similar practical tone.

254 Scripture employs the words ' Father ,'

free." Wherefore is thine eye evil, because it was owing to His i p. 121, being Good1 that He begat? thou art envious of that in which 231 n.b. ^e was no* envi°us- Leave all these things, and seek what

2 contr. His Will is2. 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. liv.of Son were then a borrowed b3 one. Faithful is His Name, Mat. 3 and true is the Name of His Son. Confess and fear not, since !7; 17, His Voice encourage th thee, His Voice is as it were a pledge 2 Pet. l, that gladdeneth thee touching His Son.

17. &c. 3# Xhamarc, inasmuch as her action was hard [to justify],

took, in belief, the 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

4 S. with- He blame thee, His writings are within thy reach4. For it is

J,q * ee* 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 notd, gave place to the

Father, that He might give a tine 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

b i. e. not a Name of Nature, but of whom He wishes to be baptized. When

Grace. See on It. xliv. §. 2. baptized the Lord ascends from the

c See p. 38, n. b. p. 49, r. 1. St. E. water, the heavens are opened, the

means, * If you say the Father will Spirit descends : now it is that John

blame you for believing without being recognises Him. If it is only now

able to state the doctrine in terms of that He recognises Him, why was it

human science, do you deal with Him that he said 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 — Without a before, why is it that he says, I knew

certain devotional affection ateness such Him not, but He thatsent me? &c. &c."

applications of Scripture may appear In Tr. v. §. 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

d St. Austin, in Joan. Tr. iv. §. 15. not know that the ' power of the Lord's

thus 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 coming viz. the distinction between sonship by

still to be baptized, as yet not being so! grace which the Son could give, and

Hear the voice of John : Comest Thou that by Nature which the Son has and

to me? I have need to be baptized of none other. Thee. See he now knows the Lord by

'Son,'' * sotisj with discrimination, and as a guide to us. 255

calleth even the sons of men ' sons,' thou hast refuted that John 1, 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 shewn6. He cried of the Son that He is the Son, and of the Spirit that He is the Holy Ghost. He purifieth 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 f sons of Godf,' 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 g 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,

• Trine.

e See on R. xxi. §. 2. and Bas. de Sp. Sanct. xvi. quoted p. 120, n. c. Probably St. E. alludes to such passages as speak of the Angels being made spirits, and all the host of,them being made by the Breath or Spirit of God's Mouth. In what follows he means to say, that God purposely bestowed the name of l sons' on mortal men and not on angels, that we might learn from the fact of such a name being bestowed on corruptible beings such as men, that the name has a derived sense, in which it does, as well as its true one in which it does not suit servile natures. This the bestowal of such a name upon embodied spirits proves more markedly. Angels on the contrary are not called ' sons,' that men might not confuse their name with that of the Son, which they were more likely to do ' by reason of their natures,' i.e. because they were incorporeal beings, as well as He.

f The older writers (out of respect to the book of Enoch perhaps) applied the term 'sons of God' in Gen. vi. 2. to Angels. In process of time, Christians were led partly by reflection and partly by the necessity of opposing heresies to drop a notion, which is valuable only as a protest in favour of the duty of believing Scripture statements in simplicity, but was found incompatible with a scientific adjustment of such statements with other Scripture statements. No one perhaps was more explicit than St. E. in asserting that the expression must mean the sons of Seth. Thus he takes Gen. iv. 26. to mean the giving of the name of God to Seth's tribes, now separated from those of Cain; he accounts for the dwindled state of Cain's race which made Seth's progeny giants to them by supposing (i. p. 49, d.) that the curse on their ground prevented Cain's race from being else than dwarfed: he urges (ii. p. 456, a.) most ingeniously that if the production of giants requires the intervention of Angels, then the production of dwarfs must be supernatural; and p. 478. that if Angels could make women mothers, then devils could, and so would have imitated the Birth of a "Virgin; that if God had intended the race of Angels to be propagated, He would have made them male and female; that, finally, the name of ' sons of God' may be accounted for, (i. p. 145.) by supposing the family of Seth to have dwelt apart (as some say) on Mount Hermon, and devoted themselves to a life of angelical devotion and contemplation.

imply, that one may argue from one order of creatures to another in some degree, but about God we must depend wholly on what He reveals.

256 The condescension of Grace not the propriety of Nature.

and of all that He speaketh unto thee, look not whether it is

1 R- lii- suiting, since thy appreciation1 [of it] sufficethnot to give aught

unto Him. If thou approvest Him, hitherto it is but a little; and when thy faith is very 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

2 Vol. ii. enhanced it with freewill2, and delivered His Son up for us

nl g. ' to shew unto us His love! But instead of being astonished p. 235. th^ jt was so greatj (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: they are sumamed spirits, but there is a living Spirit. They who are called ' sons,' 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 \

h The Fathers argued that men were are true sons of God,) Orig. c. Cels. not properly fathers, since they attained p. 128. p. 375. where he speaks of those the age at which they hecome so hy honoured by God with the appellation degrees, and lost the power of being so of god, and partaking of His Godship. again, their sons in turn going through Athan. c. Ax. i. 39. and the note c. the same course. See Athan, O. T. p. 236. O. T. Didym. de Trin. p. 139. p. 192, p. 201. Below, R. lxii. §. 4. (" Though there be but one God and Vol. ii. p. 479, e. ' He lifted man above Father, and one true Son, all of us every thing, seeing He was called and through His goodness and profuseness named God.' i. p. 430, a. ' It is plain are called after His Image gods and that Angels and saintly men receive sons, not that we are so in truth, but from God sanctification, illumination, according to that Ps. lxxxii. 6. &c") and godship.' So Clement Al. Strom, and p. 331.§.xlii. Basilde 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 vi. come god,' and above, p. 120, n. c. §. 113. ' The soul having received the c. Eun. iii. 5. G. Nyss. in Or. Dom. Lord's might practises to be a god.' Vol. 1. p. 752. b. c. Ambr. de Fid. v. Comp. §. 140. ' He calls them sons 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. lxxxi. 6. as does Justin M. c. in Jul. p. 59. Spanh. <fec. Tryph. p. 353, b. (we are called and

RHYTHM THE FORTY-SEVENTH.

1. The work of artisans, the weaving of clever workmen* the beams and the cunning 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 men3. 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 thatPs-104> they can scrutinize and search into the Nature of the Creator, wisd.9, and the Generation of the Maker! 16'

2. Let 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 b all ! Our being stopped amid1 the l §. 7. weak boundaries of visible things, shews that the measures of

our thought reach not unto the Son, the Beginning2 of whom2 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 comprehended3. Be awed3R-lvthen at the creatures and honour the Creator, and do not r. v. §. strive to search into the Nature which is greater than all! J xl,ia Comp. R. lvi. §. 5. G. Nyss. ii. was a Gentile notion. See Diod. Sic. i.

p. 765. mentions that Eunomius held 25. Philo Bybl. ap. Eus. P. E. p 31.

the arts to he inspired by God, in such Tert. de Spect. 10. 12. &c. Greg. Naz.

way as to deny the agency of created p. 554. makes a somewhat similar use

wisdom in excogitating and inventing of certain arts.

new things in them. Perhaps the use b This phrase answers to the cO

might have put him upon this, which writers.

258 Moses and Daniel, though learned men, abstained

3. 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 Truth in open c 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

Dn. 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 Divinity0.

5. The bold [disputant] forgets his nature, that he is a man, and leaveth the things pertaining to man and scrutinizeth 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 turneth 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.' F asked the Angels that he might learn simple things: the Dan. 7, foolish seek, each of them, into hidden things and put them

c i. e. not in hieroglyphics which he "soothsayers and Chaldeans proclaimed

mentions vol. ii. p. 145. as used hy the that it was by their soothsaying and

heathen for their mysteries. calculations that they had raised the

d 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 world, of whom they thought that He would

"■ as it is God's world,' rather than to certainly be overcome 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. 259

forth. Moses also a glorious Prophet, asked in fear about His Name, I AMe; 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 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 medicine of life, since they had now of a long time been 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 then thou examinest them who have come to a stand-still1 in things clear, how much more will the foolish men be overwhelmed in the Sea of hidden things. Go again, seek an assembly f which is all still and clear, and cast in amongst them searching and strife, and sit thee down and contemplate the composed persons that are turned frantic, 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 !

Prov. xxxix.

e contr. Scrut. i. §. 48. Vol. ii. p. 554, f. u Moses witnesseth to us that he called no otber by the Name of ' Essence.' They were called gods, but essentials [or ever-beings] were they not called: that by one Name He might teach us the taste of His grace, and by another Name let us us know the mightiness of His Essence, that we might confess both. To Moses did He reveal His Name, since He called Himself, I AM, which is the Name of His Essence. And never at any time did He surname another by this Name, as by His [other] Names He did many; that by the one Name which He left, He might shew us that He alone is the Essential, and that there is no other." It may be just mentioned in justification of the old

translation ' I AM' here preserved, that the force of the Name lies not in the tense employed, but in the fact that Being is all that can be predicated of God. See Maimon. ap. Petav. de Deoi. 6. §.5. So St. Hilary de Trin. i. §.5. says of this passage, (Ex. 3, 14.) " I felt mere wonder at so finished a description touching God, which put the incomprehensible knowledge of the Divine Nature into words the best suited for making It understood to man. For that no one thing is more peculiar to God than Being, is understood, because the very fact that He is, belongeth to One neither ceasing at any time, nor begun, &c."

' The sea and assembly in commotion are compared in Homer, Iliad, ii. 144.

RHYTHM THE FORTY-EIGHTH.

1. Gkant that I may open my senses to Thy Well-beloved,

Mat 11, since He alone is able to tell me of Thee: and he that hath

f7g how not learnt of Him Thy Nature *, 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

us that our congregation may praise Thee without division!

2R.xlvi. If we had attained to [knowing] ourselves3 in everything,

*' ' yet would the Lord of every thing be entirely hidden from us:

3 p. 122, and if we were an assay -furnace3 for these disputations, then n* u no man might deceive us by his words. Our soul is like a

4 Comp. hand which without instruction cannot mark out the letters4. „' a ' 2. For lo, there are many that err as without reason, and

perceive not this which I have taught, to wit, that we are not an assay-furnace for every thing, so as to know of our own selves

5 p. iog, alone that He is One5. For His preachers have taught us our p* 2*i7 make by the type of an eye, which in itself alone is blind, n- 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 j at first it was with visible things and now with

a In Pearl v. §. 1. R. xxxiii. §. 2. to be colours actually." Plato Rep. he speaks of the faith in connection vi. §. 18. — Vol. ii. p. 537, d. " Blessed with colours in a similar way. Such be he that made all things in propassages are not of coarse meant to portion over against the senses. He assert that the faith is subjective only as a discriminating Giver gave us and without any existence save that the earth for the leet; He gave Us in our minds: What they are meant light for the eyes, and for the ears to do, is to contrast the expression sounds and words: by those things of them in words with the impres- which He gave, He is accredited to be sion in the mind of the faithful, which Ruler over all. The mouth He gave is of the two the most accurate re- us was for His Bread and for His Cup: presentative of these objects 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 such lights of the ii. 27. Gr. Naz. xxxvii. p. 605. Nyss. Church as Greg. Naz. who compares ii. p. 853. Jerome ad Damas. Ep. xv. God to the sun, Or. 34. p. 559, b. Or. §. 4. (al. 37.): and see on Athan. 40. p. 639, a. Dionys.de Div. Nom. iv. p. 17. n. m. and p. 328, n. h. Thomassiu de Deo, iii. 5. §. 12, &c.

l) Aristotle de Anima, iii. 3. " After and may he referred to as evidence how

a certain sort the light maketh the received an illustration this was. things which are colours potentially

Nature 8g Grace teach 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 learneth 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 escapes, 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 him1, then is he drawn R. xliv. himself at the will of the fisherman. Since he could not^nt'r explore the sea into which he plunged deep, the air he Scrut. i. wished to pierce into, and the height he wished to explore, though not able to live in a place not his own8. The fish2R.H. whose frolicksomeness leads him astray, leaps and goes aloft ' that it may come up and feel the air3; because the breath 3R.lxi v. 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 4 our 4 $. dwelling-place. Thus our priers are not of a nature adapted <iuite a to, or capable of5, attaining to the things above, or searching to out the natures thereof. 5 s\om

prying is

4. The Gospel in the figure of Gihon breaks forth to give strange us drink; by Euphrates is typified its fruitfulness, because of^leno the abundance of its doctrine ; by Pishon is shadowed forth

the type of it and of the pause put to scrutinizing it. Our

-26*2 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 life c!

c Gifeon means ' breaking forth' — Euphrates he connects with a word signifying fruitfulness, as Simonis ap. Gesen. in v. lias done. See Ecclus. 24, 27—38. which St. E. probably had in his eye. As for Pisboa it seems to a Hebrew scholar connected with ' pause' by the mere accident.of alliteration, though in Syriac the same root is used in the sen*e of stopping. In like way he connects Deklath the Syrian name of the Tigris with a Syriac word signifying * washing,' which is against the wellatteeted etymology.©f the name fxon?

the Persian teger an arrow, though possibly it may be a correcter one for the Semitic name Hiddekel. St. E. on the whole may perhaps be said to be very mwch less open to the charge of nonsensicalness in etymologies, so deservedly brought against the ancients, than his Grecian and Roman cotemporaries: in places he traces accurately and scientifically the ramifications of a word's senses from a common idea, and therefore some weight is to be attached to his opinion in such matters.

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 force1 of chastity2. J S, They were drowned in the Flood who were lacking inf^T* weight: and he that was chaste a and grave was lifted aloft mnn 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 sealed3 up that which3 P 83 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: be 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 offspring should multiply on all sides, and increase in every quarter. Praises to its Redeemer ! It marked out

* Vol. i. p. 146, cl. u My Spirit shall His Spirit have dwelt for the 500 years

not dwell in these men * for ever' — that he preserved his virginity as not

this is because they were created 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 tbey

ever. But they provoked the Spirit should be corrupted by the daughters

by their deeds, and on this account He of Cain. Other interpreters however

said, My Spirit shali not dwell in them interpret it of the Spirit which was

for ever, because they are flesh, for breathed into us, and fashioned man in

their deed He calls the flesh: and [read the likeness of God, &c." (See p. 267,

or\ it is their life that He calls l 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. E. begins with the interpretation

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

man 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 lata and the ark exhausted by Christ.

by its course the standard of its Preserver, the Cross of its Shipman, 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

1 p. 90, instead of the dove was the Minister of her unction1, and of

2 S. Her the Sacrament of the Redemption by her2. Praises to her R- Redeemer ! His mysteries in the law and His types in the

ark bear witness to each other b: 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 c. Glory be to Thy Coming!

3 S. 3. My mind is amazed that it hath embarked upon3 the *a-^* 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 4 pp.228, weakness4: for lo! the foolish are sunken in the depths of 23 >n-c-^eir prying into Thee. Praises to Him that begot Thee 1

b See R. xviii. n. c. and §. 2. ref. 1. andp.5.p.6.p.35.rj.t.InVol.i.p.l49,f. he writes as follows: " The dove that Noah sent from the ark prefigures the Holy Spirit to us: and the circumstance that at the first time it found no resting place, inasmuch as men's conversation was unworthy of the Spirit, indicates the whole time hefore the flood, as is known from God's saying, '.My Spirit shall not dwell for ever in these men, because they are fleshly.' And by the dove's returning and the waters abating, he figureth to us that sin abated by the Baptism in the Jordan, and that the Holy Spirit rested: the leaf of olive figureth the unction and reconcili ation with the Father and the sign of peace. For the going out of the raven will figure to us the fall of the accuser." In reference to note h, p. 236. it may be remarked that the ' abating of sin' here, (asin Vol. i.p. 521, d.) 'the changing of the waters, for the washing of the Divine Regeneration, 'is what St. E. contemplates as the object of Christ's Baptism and not aught gained

c Vol. iii. p. 568. " When the just

ascend to paradise to inherit it according to its degrees, each one accord- ing to his labour doth it advance to the degree which is suited to him: to this each man is kept, since it has degrees enough for them all, its ground is for penitents, the midst of it for the just, its height for those of heroic virtue, and for the Shecinah is its summit. Noah therefore made the beasts to dwell in the lower stories, and in the middle story made he the fowls (see n. g. p. 167.) to dwell, and in the likeness of God Noah dwelt in the highest place. The people on Mount Sinai dwelt below the priests round about it and Aaron in the middle of it: and Moses was on the height of it, and the Glorious One on the summit thereof. The mystery of the division of that Garden of Life did God depict in the Ark and also on Mount Sinai its types; seeing He by its orderings shadowed out to us Paradise, orderly, fair, and goodly in all things. By its height and by its fairness, by its smells and by its diverse tribes that haven of all riches, the Church, is depicted." See above, p. 35,

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 l. His l p. 66, mode of existence cannot be searched out, neither the date^^' 9? of it be comprehended, neither can enquiry discover why2 it2 P- 126> was. ' It hath not been measured out how great He is, norp^o^d. been explored of what quality He is3. Praises to Him thatgR*xxxbegot Him! Who is there whose mouth would not hold its peace at the Begotten, whose glory no mouths are able to utter4? 4R.xlvii. Who is there that would not reprove his own self, and bethink s' 2* himself that if the Begotten could be comprehended, they would have made Him that begot small: and if the Fruit55 p. 179, could be searched out, they would have set bounds6 to thep#'3aQ5 d# Root thereof; for that They are blended7 One with the Other. 6 P- 25> Glory be to Thy Father in Thee! 7/210,

2. Who would not be ashamed for concluding within the Tef# 4* narrow womb of his own imagination8 prying without measure, 8R.xliv. searching out without limit into the Begotten and the Begetter? iHi.*. 5. 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 nature9. Praises to His Greatness! 9§.3.R.

for us: how, is hard for us: that we should feel Him so, is easy for us10: that we should pry into Him, is difficult for us: ior. vii. since from every nature9 is the prying into His Essence con-|- *• *xcealed. To the Father and to Him let us offer up glory by ix. §. 1. means of silence11. Praise be to Him that sent Him I blessed 11 r. jj#

4. Who would not bless the Good One who gave to dust§!e! its soul, that it might feel Him ; who gave to the small dust fen' 2> discourse and reasoning ; who sent His Son, and clothed it,

and brought it up to glory 12. The wicked one envied at His 12 p. 53.

* see R. xxxvii.

Wisd. 2,

^R.xlvii.

*266 The envy of the devil in leading men to disputation,

having made so great the sons of men al, and thrust them into scrutinizing and the depth of strifes. Praises to the goodness of the Trinity! Lord, keep back from us the wicked one who is wicked without a cause. He it was that envied Adam, and he that envied his children; he deceived him with fair words that he might perish, and mocked all generations2. Our generation hath he altogether made light of, for that he hath made us proud, and mocked at us; hath made us drunken3, and hath scorned us; and hath divided us, and made a sport of us. Glory to Him that slew Him 4 !

5. Who is there, however foolish, that would not be ashamed of his own soul, since the wicked one dwelleth in b

a VoLiii.p.339,f.p.673,d. "Agreat elevation did God ordain for men, that fleshly creatures might ascend and be spiritual like the Angels on high. In all degrees did the Good One lift them up, by all devices dad the wicked one bring them down." See on R. xlvi. 4. 6. The end of the §. alludes to Ham's misconduct, or possibly to the well-known artifice of the Spartans with their slaves.

b The received doctrine is, that God only is able to enter the substance of the soul and dwell in it, and that no created spirit is able to do so. See Petav. de Deo iiL8.§.5.deTrin.iLl6.§.7.8.9.de^ng.i.7. Berti de Disc. Theol. x. 10. Thomassin de Deo iii. 8. §.7. v. 5. §.6. Gotti. vol.i. Tr. ix.qu. 5. dub. 3. This was one of the arguments (as P. notices) for the Divinity of the Holy Spirit. Hence such passages as spoke of Satan entering into people were explained of his penetrating not in substance, but by his operations into men's minds. Didymus perhaps may be looked on as the clearest voucher for this doctrine, although there is enough in other fathers to the same effect. (See Natal. Alex. Ssec. iv. diss, xliii. p. 528. The belief in the ignorance of Satan as to Christ's Person and Office noticed above, p. 21, n. o. and p. 135, n. e. would alone confirm it. Now as St. K. qualifies his statement even in the end of this very §. by stating as a doubtful matter there, what he had here stated categorically; this alone would allow us to assume that he was not opposed to the ordinary teaching of his day. But before endeavour- ing to ascertain what positive meaning may be attached to the word * dwelleth,' it will be right to put together some of his statements elsewhere upon the same

subject.Noteb.p.211.andnoteb.p.238. Pv. lviii. §. 5. and R. lxiv. §. 2. may be referred to first. In vol. i. p. 136, a. speaking of Gen. 3, 15. he says, M Let this be taken in another way of interpretation of the accuser, that invisible serpent: for it is he that watcheth for our heel, and of him the head is watched for. As for us, when evil and passionate thoughts are sown in our hearts by him, it behoveth us from the first to watch for the head as it were. (Comp. the next note.) But he inasmuch as our thoughts are not perceptible to him, watcheth for the heel, in our words that is, or in our deeds, in order that when he has discovered by their means what we have in our heart and mind, he may draw nigh to struggle with us and hurry us off, if possible, into the pit of destruction, and destroy us miserably." Vol. ii. p. 332, b. " Let not death rise by thy windows, let him not enter into thy citadels, and dwell in them and defile the form of thy image which is beloved by God. The gates that are in thy head are stamped with the stamp of the Spirit, [a ceremony in Baptism, see Ass. Cod. Lit. i. p. 218. Selvaggi Antiq. Christ, iii. 5. §. 1.] with the seal of unction sealed are all thy limbs. The King has written thee his epistle, and hath set upon it seals of fire: let not strangers read it, and mar its letters. Break not open the signet of the King, lest robbers enter into thee: do not loose the seal, that murderers may not destroy thee. Whatsoever is within is thine own, and without thee is what is not thine. Within thee is God, and without thee 334, a. what he says of God will throw light on this last sentence, and contrast with what he 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 hand, 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. u The creatures are what grotesquely stated by the Schoolnot too straight for Him, and when the heart seeketh for him, the heart though little holdeth Him. He taketh Him but a small space out of a man to dwell therein, that he may be a temple of God, so that He may dwell in him, and abide in him. A temple unto Him is the soul made, the heart is made the holy Altar, that He may be glorified on it, and have worship done Him, and that offerings may be offered on it. And the Spirit is made as it wereapriest(eomp.n.d.p. 146. and n. a. p.282.)that stands thereat,and ministers at it. Let not foul sin come in, and the Spirit go forth from thee, &c." we shall have occasion to quote below, how the devil, who [according to the Manichean theory] was akin to body, came to be more subtle than the mind, and be in one self in dreams, and yet one does not know how? and speaks of it as an inexplicable mystery. (See on R. lvii. §. 4.) Ibid. p. 546, a. " If the soul be an inspiration, angels that are spirituaL, whence be they? If the angels are out of nothing, then the soul is so likewise. If, however, all of them are from the Creator, how is it that angels need not a bodily nature in order to see, while the soul cannot see or hear without the senses? If devils again are the offspring of matter, and the body which cometh from it is vile in their sight, how came the M aker to want to dwell in it by His inspiration; (seen. a. p. 263.)and how is it that the devil is unable to smite the body and dwell in it? or if the body be alien from his properties, how comes he to be ak;n to the soul? Oh what falsehoods these unbelievers utter V* Here he evidently contrasts God's power of dwelling even in men's bodies with Satan's inability to do so, (i. e. without permission,) and implies that into the soul he could not enter. Into this alternative he does not explicitly enter, as his object there is to shew that evil and matter are not identical. Upon this and upon the text the following passage from vol. iii. p. 575, b. will throw light. It treats of a question analogous to the very important question which is said to have been somemen when they asked, ' How many angels could stand upon a needle's point?' "I have also enquired this: whether paradise is sufficiently large for all the just to dwell therein? I enquired things not in Scripture, and He taught me by things in Scripture. Look, He said, to that man in whom a legion dwelt of all the devil*: they were in him, yet not known, since that power is more subtle and fine even than the soul itself. The whole of that power dwelt in one single body. Now an hundred times more subtle is the body of the just after they are risen, and have come to life again 1" Here he is using the power which a number of devils had to dwell in a body, as an illustration of the way in which, it may be, all the just will dwell in one space. — Not being aware of any passages which really affirm the view the text is calculated, at first sight, to give one, one may presume, from the denial of that view implied in what has been quoted, that St. E. means in the text to insist upon what appears to be (but is not really) the case, as a difficulty inexplicable to man. Somewhat also might be said upon the ground that ' souP is used so excessively often in Syriac for ' self,' as to create an indefiniteness in the expressions used, which the context will not allow one to attempt to keep up in the English. The Holy Spirit also is said to dwell in men before Christian times in which only, in a strict sense, He blendeth His Substance (so to speak) with men: which might not only account for, but seem to justify, a less exact use of the word in regard to evii spirits. St. Austin (see Pet. de Angelis. i. 7. §. 10.) at one time thought that devils could see such thoughts as were thrown, in our minds, into explicit reasoning, though unable to search the heart fully. This would go to shew how strongly he, as well as St. E., felt the closeness of Satan's approach and his seeming ubiquity: to explain which, notwithstanding the many damned he has to consult with, may be an impossibility, though it be a duty to submit to the received doctrine in spite of such difficulties to the reason.

The subtlety of Satan inexplicable.

frustrateth 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 access0 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!

c There are several passages in St. E. in which he exhibits no common insight into the subtleties of Satan's temptations. The following which will throw light on the text, may be adduced as a specimen: vol. i. p. 412, b. "From this (the history of Amnon and Thamar) thou mayest learn the craftiness of Satan, and the silliness of the soul that is off its guard: for Satan, when he wishes to obliterate its beauty, and is unable to effeet any thing by force, struggles with it craftily, and persuades its childish simplicity to actions which are notimagined by it to be blameworthy, as those which very many times are by the subtle movements of the thoughts mischievously set in motion, and which, as if not blameworthy, we are negligent of; or as words which are as it were said in mirthfulness and in love— or as

it happeneth in those things, which we without perceiving it, suffer when devils rise up against us, and throw us into a battle of imaginary obscene passions in visions of the night. Now concerning these and the like to these, when their soul repenteth and renecteth in sober thought, how wrong they are, and how much they disturb its brightness and blacken it, and how that they are the beginning of transgression, it bewails itself, and from its weakness pours forth tears, and rendeth its garment, that is, the body, with hard labours, and the heart by the passion of repentance. They cover their head too from their passion and their shame, and go, crying as they go from their whole heart and calling aloud to the Lord to do judgment upon their persecutors."

RHYTHM THE FIFTY-FIRST.

1. Who is able to requite Thee for having humbled Thy Majesty unto all which is little1, and having brought Thy1 p. 209, Highness down to the limits of a lowly estate, and brought n0Je^ Thine own Life down to the rank of mortality8. And Thy Richness came down and dwelt in all necessity, and Thou

hast subjected Thy Lordship to the yoke of service2. Praises2 p. 183, be to Thy goodness! Who, Lord, can gaze upon Thy invi- y£ j sibleness which came down to a visible state, and Thyp.493,b. concealedness which came to the light and to manifestation,1*' "n* and Thy retiredness came forth to boundless openness3, and3R-xix. Thy awfulness came to the hand4 of them that seized Thee.4ft*x. These things happened to Thee, Lord, because Thou wertM-6- 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 investigators5. For 5 p. 115, there is that preacheth that it was a body only that Thou11, c tookest: and there is that teacheth that it was a soul and a body: others have erred in thinking it was a heavenly frameb.

a This passage might be adduced appears himself to have been driven

against the Aphthartodocetse, 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. E.'s own time, that of Apollinaris, de Fraud. Apol. in Mai's Spicil. vol. x.

who held a similar doctrine. Vide for proof, from Apollinarians, of their

G. Nyss. c. Apollin. 15. 24. 30. ('what subtle evasions ofa.de/inite form of error,

we are in essence, that was He who G. Nys. ibid. 6. 13. Petav.de Tnc. i. 5.

its proper nature Flesh, but changed Quien ad Damasc. de Hser. §. 77.

into the seed of Incorruption, as the Coustant ad Hil. de Trin. x. §. 16.

Apostle says in 2 Cor. 5, 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. Reynaud. Cbristus. iv. could not get consistent accounts from

1. jj. 2. Leontius Byz. quoted by Le them, (H. lxxvii. §. 20.) speaks as if

Quien, ad Jo. Damasc. de F. O. iii. 28. what St. E. mentions last was the

and on Athan.p. 241, n. h. p. 243, n. i. latest development, §. 25. "some of

p. 375, n. u. them have dared to say that His Flesh

b These might be called various was consubstantial with the Godhead"

phases of Apollinarian error, though the — a position which would immediately

former 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 docing Christ's Divinity. Apollinaris trine that Christ took His Flesh from

270 The Divine objects of 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 % their are divided into parties about1 Thy Birth;) if also men comdiSded prehended not Thy Humanity, who ever shall be equal to }>• us, Thy Divine Generation? Praises be to Him that begot n'c- 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 ; sComp. neither on harps2 high and spiritual of the highest Angels can j ev. , rjt^y 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. 3 or here- Praises be to Thy teaching ! It is audacity3 in us to call i27Pn f Thee by a Name which is a different one from what Thy It. vii. Father called Thee, who called Thee 'My Son4' alone on the §• 2, 3. rjver Jordan ; and when Thou wert baptized, even Thou, the as. the mystery of the Trinity baptized3 Thy Humanity, the Father T\t~ ky His voice, and the Son by His power, and the Spirit by

mystery His over-shadowingd. Praises to the over-shadowing of Thee?

p. 236. the substance of the Blessed Virgin, pretation the Tongue would be ex-

Th.iii.p. 223. observes that St. E. never at Pentecost. St. E.'s interpretation

mentions Apollinaris by name, yet can- refers it rather (with St.B.) to the Gift

not deny the truth of the story given of the Spirit, as in the following pasin 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 Apollinaris7 book before a truth and verity, not only of what he

conference. This is worth noticing is saying in this Psalm, but also of

here as a proof that Apollinaris was the rest of what he had preached in

personally known to St. E. as well as the Psalms by the Word and Heveto St. Athanasius, 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 tongue

pare on St. Athan. p. 602. Ming, ad of David, and guided it as a writer

Did. iii. as above, and on p. 175, doth his pen [reed]; as David also

n. 1. beareth witness in the Psalms, when

c Ps. xlv. 1 , 2. (to which St. E. here he saith, ' My tongue is the pen of a

refers,) was often explained (as Basil ready Writer.' "

mentions on the place) of the Father, d The word for overshadowing is that

who sends forth the good Word, it being used in Gen. 1,2. compare note m. p. 169.

taken to be spoken in the Person of the (where it is rendered ' brooding,') and

Father: conformably to which inter- n.h.p.236. Here, as there seemed to be an

knoivn only in a limited way. "271

Who could deny the Threefold Names, whose over- shadowing ministered of old, by the Jordan? True is it that by the Names1 wherewith Thy Body was baptized2, that our bodies *ab.ref.4. are baptized; and though there be very many Names of thexx^iii Lord of all, He hath baptized us in the Father and the Son §. Land and the Spirit distinctly e. 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 men3 that by questioning have counted a small thing3 S. that Generation which is not small, and though He is like crl e* 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 Wisd.5, which a fowl wendeth4, or a man walking as upon the back of4 g tiie the wind? The breeze is spread out, and made a path for way, the that which walketh there, and admonisheth not to go at allth/fowL outside of itf, for out of it is death. Praises be to Thy monishing ! Lord, make me also to be fully instructed by

that danger, and to be afraid of going beyond the boundary

allusion to St. Luke 1, 35. (in which personal attributes, the word Power is taken by some of the f St. E. seems here to contemplate Son,) it has been rendered ' oversha- the atmosphere as of definite dimendowing.' For the River that baptized sions, so that life could not be sustained Him was a type 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 by ether, 1 ministered' he means to imply that or the quinta essentia, (the akas'a of this was the beginning of the Christian, the Indians.) See Olearius on Philostr. as the end of the Jewish, dispensation, iii. 34. Sext. 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, mation in the Jordan by means of and is in a continual state of corn- 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.532, 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.] Ass. 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, e LAa^*2*' K. lxv. §.3. The word anc* consuming all that is near it, and. * * "xl ' j j- making all moisture in things that perhaps means with a purposed dis- exigt *q vanish ^ once„ c* R

tmctness, i. e. intending by the use of ^ g> n> f for ft tf *

these Three Names in Baptism to mark.^V, ^ g

272 The received faith rejects novelties.

of my faith. Thy Truth is easy and straight: to them that

R.i.§.3. believe, it is easy; and to them that are perverse, it is difficult.

Scribes The 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 1

6. From those His Names also the might of interpretation

shone forth unto us. The Names of the Servant and Son of

the Lord bear witness ; for the name of servant teach eth

that he is not the Song, as does the name of Son proclaim

jR. vi. tjiat jje is not one of the fellow-servants2. 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 gemh 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!

g 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 by not the Only-begotten 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 meD, 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 h 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. Ap. 40. To this per- rally for a gem, as rendered: for a haps St. E. 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 FIFTY-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 that He is a Generator1. For the very Name of Fatherhood used of Him , R ]x bears witness of the Son ; and as He was the Father of One, §. 5. in His love it is that He is so of many2. Praises be to His2 133 grace ! He is the true Lord ; and lo, His servants stand R. lviii. 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 thinketh3) then by strife are dissolved the 35. kindred names alsoa. Praises be to the True One! Who (which would speak so stoutly against the Father of the Truth, as to Curse) say that He could not beget4, and that that Name of Father- 4 See R hood wherewith He did invest Himself was borrowed ? But *liv. R.

since He is verily Truth, His savour is preserved in Himself; r. \x

* i. e. if you argue, that there is no reason for thinking that ' Father' correality answering to what is implied by responds to some reality, 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 i Creator' do; that the eternal relation-

Creator, that it was only our way of ships 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,

sumed ' Father,' ' Lord,' ' King,' ' Cre- Comp. Petav. de Deo iii. 2. §. 12. The

ator,'tobe kindred names, all indicative following words of St. Austin de Trin.

not of personal attributes, but of relations vii. §. 9. will help to make the text

to us. Hence they argued from Acts ii. intelligible. " If to God it is one thing

36. (hath made Him Lord and Christ,) 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 generating, but) by and to be Father or Lord, another ; for

creating Him j see Basil c. Eun. 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. c. 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.E. incidentally

nature to God, by grace to the Son. denies here, is discussed by Petav. I.e.

St. E. shews, that there is the same See R. lv. §. 6.

274 The Names of Father and Son proclaimed in Scripture,

1 pp. 84, it is by His Salt1 that the foolish have lost their savour.

' ' For who can undo the Name wherein our Baptism standeth

2 R. lix. and our Atonement ? Praises to Thy Atonement2 !

* ' 2. Say thou that the work of man is external to himself, and

3 p. 211, his voice3 is within himself! say that he is God's work, and R.aivii. not nom himself b ! For His Word is His Son, not a word of §-5- 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

4 Svr- stirred, thou wise man4, 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 divided0. The heavens are full of peace,

5 §.6. R. but there is a sword in the Churches5. Praises be to Thy §.Xi?R. Peacemaking !

liii. §. l. 3. What detriment does thy enquiring do to God6? For if

§, 5. ' He crieth aloud that He begat, and is not ashamed of it, and

'pp.139, that He is Father, and is not abashed at it7, who art thou,

'n,e' weak man! that wouldestbe 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

8 R. x. that slew him8 ! The fool hath cast himself down that he may

oomp. penetrate into two Seas9, 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,

b Such is the version of the Editor; Word that our word is not able to but as the two clauses begin similarly declare!' As it stands, the phrase ' this with l Say q/'man' and ' Say o/"God,' the Word' is taken in two 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. 27. so frequent God, as the first does of man. The with St. E. is lost: and the ' His Word' occasional six-syllabled verses inter- comes in in a way one should not exmixed with the five-syllabled lead one pect. But it seemed best to give above to suspect some confusion; and it seems such a version as could be forced out of not impossible that the words,oV the words as tQev stand.

CU_£> Uo OOl should come alter the c ~ a* XT' t. ^ a j. t -u ••

j^ t c >• 1 a e v. • §7. St. E. seems to allude to John xvn.

words ' say of man,' instead of being?, ■wn.„*r'w,+ +u ~„™;, *\,„4.i~c

r, , ? r< a > ti, „,i, i i3 11. What Christ there prays is, that ' as

after < say of God.' The whole would, Fathe_ j b_ _F_tl/_e:1 resvect

then run thus: < Say thou of man that he!h e * w a J- ? f P?

~ ,. iri.- -u - * i other may become one in mind and

from himself; his own work is external „„;„,:*„ „„a i.,.. v^;„„ ; ™ ^c^

to himself, and his voice within him- ™"n™?^ aad % our ^* ™ "° ™

self. Say thou of God that His Word a* va,na°c,e Wlthh f*?^1?"' ^

is His Son, not a word of the voice! ^edwith one bond of holy love as it

This is the Word that is able to declare TS6^*0 ldent,ty- Cynl The8* *

J.U1B is inc nuiu mat jo auic tu ueuiaie l Of) A

all things, (Matt. xi. 27.) this the '

arid the futility of all heretical cavils against them. 275

by their abundant streams become limpid and purified. And if a man pry into them they eddy him1 in and cast him down, " P, 144, seeing that he has died in his scrutinizing. Praises be tog* Thy Righteousness!

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 Pr'ov busieth himself therein. From out of it there may be formed ]7, 14. a passion of a sudden, which is sweet in the beginning thereof, bitter in the end thereof3. Praises be to Him that exhausted it! Who hath persuaded thee to use thy feeble pupils in gazing on the secret and strong Lights2, whose glistenings the2je. the Angels cannot look upon3. Moses wished to pierce through perSons, them and see them there a little while4. And as he did not£omPlook to pry, the glistening was eager to meet him, blinding, 241 jn.c. as it does, them that pry. Praises to Thy Majesty! p' 116'

5. Who would not believe the two Testaments concerning 4R.xlvi. the Father, and the Son, and the Spirit. Comment on them * *3* vu* where you will 5, yet are They not called by the name of5 s; e*- c made,' ' created,' or ' formed.' No affinity to Them have the every names there given to things created. Thus He willed it should fi^?'

00 K. lix.

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 learn as they have taught him6? 6p- 139, 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? and who among deliverers is as He who j0bn 8 giveth all freedom? or who in revelations can compare with 36the Holy Spirit? Praises to Thy teaching! io.

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

d This seems to refer to Prov. v. 4. and the Greek Catena on the place, <fec.

which anciently was commonly under- For as St. E. himself says, vol. iii. p. 670.

stood to contain besides its literal sense " All our souls are together espoused

an account of the wiles and fate of unto God, after the fashion in which

heresy. See R. xliv. §. 5. Jerom. in He took and espoused a wife for the

Ezech. vi. 14. Epiphan. Hgeres. lxxix. son of Abraham His friend." §. 8. Cyril de Ador. xv. p. 524. Bede

276 A prayer for peace and unity.

suppose that he is an ignorant fellow. [The cause] of them 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 i see n.b. speak: for even when a man uses lies1, he is able to overcome p' • ' them. For either it was feebleness that He could not beget, 2 R. lx. and ne concealed His weakness, and made us think2 that He was Father; but if He was able to beget, this is a crown of victory on our side in two things. Why then should we add any new truth 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 Lord, fs.39,8.make quiet in my days in Thy churches, and blend and unite, O Lord, the contentious sects, and still, and rule also 3R.xxi.the conflicting parties3. And may there be at every time one * " true Church, and may her righteous children gather themselves into her bosom to confess Thy graciousness. Praises to Thy reconciliation!

RHYTHM THE FIFTY-THIRD.

1. Who would not wonder ats 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 Irjstory of Gen. 30, the mandrakes ? What chaste women b have spoken, He 37* 15, 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 sword1 and the1 B. lii. scimetar ? Women fall out with women, and men with their comrades, even priests too with kings2; and the whole world2 Pearl is in uproar ! Y1U *'

2. Who would not weep that the earth hath been tossed is. 24, for so long a time, and hath settled again : yet the tossingsp {>jn'c and strivings of the Churches3 are not stilled. Waves and 3R.xiiii. billows are silent in the sea ; yet fools and enquirers are in - 2*

to mean that we are wholly incapable of judging by what laws Divine Revelation is conducted; it discloses to us things relating to Angels or men, which we cannot see the use of till after long study, and withholds so many things which we should desire to know. It is to be observed, that he does not here urge the apparent trivialness of the matter as the proof of a sense below the letter, (as many fathers do,) probably from a wish to state strongly what heretics would be more readily forced to admit, the unsearchableness of God's dealings. If St. Ephrem is replete with allegory, it must be remembered that he insisted strongly on maintaining the truth of the letter also. (See n. b. p. 247.)

The Syriac has \L\

tifco.

for which perhaps should be read

ZZ s^-±j£c\, as the cases which Hoffmann gives, Gr.p. 357 — 8. do not seem parallel to this. The songs of Miriam, Deborah, and Hannah, are probably what St. E. means. Although in 1 Kings 8, 9. we are told that there was nothing in the ark but the two Tables of Stone, it appears from Heb. 9, 4. and Deut. 31, 26. that that statement must refer to a definite time:

possibly it merely means that what Moses had left there, was not removed at the time of the induction of the ark: for that the book in which the Law was written, was taken out from time to time to have additions made to it by proper authorities, is plain from by Eichorn. Einl. i. p. 20.) Hence the whole book of the Old Test, is called in August, de Trin. xv. 30. Asseman. gets over the difficulty by taking the word to mean ' Tabernacle/ which is probably suggested by an interpretation of Heb. 9. given by Junius, A. Lapi de Justiniani, and others. Gretser. Defens. Bellarm. vol. xii. p. 112. and Buxtorf. de Area Fa?d cap. v. may be referred to for a fuller discussion of the matter. It is sufficient here to point out a way in which the clear statement of St. E. that not the Law only, but also other books of Scripture were in the Ark, may be justified by Scripture. The Syr. it should be added, in Deut. has J^miii literally, ' in the side' as our version, and not a latere with the Heb. Sept. and Chald. The text of Epiphanius de M. et P. p. 162. often re- ferred to on the subject, is too uncertain to build any thing upon.

278 Ignorance of Scripture {as of medicines) harmful,

confusion on the dry land. Blessing the sailors have, and the learned woe. Is our battling then altogether pleasing to 1 S. to the merciful One? that be far from us to think1. But leTitnotif it is Satan mocking us, and making us a sport2, why **• was it that the Good One did not remove all difficulty3 by §.4. writing plainly i creature c' distinctly, and doing it a second *?: and a third time that witnesses might abound 4 : since He is the the way God of Truth who erreth not, neither leadeth man into error, ?§"|ht 'since He is Good and Just; and how often hath He made us chaste with His teaching, and hath trodden for the true Deat. ones a path without error! Yea, He hath even made him

5s.'madenigh unto a curse5 that causeth the blind to err in the way. a curse 3 rp}ie reason then, why He had words of secret meaning

nigh un- ' J , -ill

to him. written, was because they are like medicines6, which, though e See vol. not similar, yet are collected and brought to bear for this, !np!i7ijthat all them are [applied] in the hope of healing. But he n.e. andtnat kn0weth not their power, killeth therewith; and he n!a. . again that knoweth their power, by them triumpheth7. From ^290, t^-g same comparison of medicines do thou form an idea of8 s s. draw the Scriptures: for there are men that are very ignorant about

near to

c This way of meeting the difficulty far from the Godhead, since love exists arising from Prov. 8, 22. is a popular, between Him and the creatures;' ' posrather than a scientific, one: i. e. it sessions' here would be a very awkward aims at nothing more, than shewing by word. comp. R. lxiii. §. 3. R. lxxi. §. 2. the confusion the heretical interpreta- R. lxxxii. §. 4. c. Scrut. i. §. 5. vol. ii. tion would introduce, what is not the p. 509, b. where the word may be used sense of the passage; what is the sense for ' creatures' by a process the init does not just at present attempt to verse of that which we go through when decide. It seems, however, to give St. we call the slaves of any man his ' crea- E.'s judgment against another expla- tures/ if made to stand for T^ara, nation of the difficulty, drawn from the which, in a frequent use of it, means, fact, that \*rn<rare is a more accurate not possessions, but slaves. Of course representation of the Hebrew than in §. 4. it becomes plain that He took %)trt<rt, which exposition the present the passage of the Incarnation, probably writer can more readily imagine, com- viewing the assertions throughout 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 words * "Wisdom St. E. from his commentaries does ap- hath built her an house' he apparently pear to be. It may be doubted if H3p takes> vo1- *• P- 434> e- as prophetical of in Hebrew, or in Syriac authors of early the Church. See on St. Austin's Conf. date, when not translating from Greek, P- 130. O. T. and on Athan. p. 342, n. a. can beassiimedto mean simply to 'have;' Assem. B. O. i. p. 111. thinks this rather, it is to acquire possession of what sufficiently accounted for by the fact one once had not: whereas it does seem that the Syriac version has _o J.O: to mean to create in Gen. xiv. 19, 22. but it seems extravagant to assume that where the LXX and Vulgate render St. E. would not consult the Hebrew *•/£*, as the LXX and Chaldee do whereeven Greek and Latin Fathers aphere.— ]±*±D, which is used by the Syr. pealed to it. St. E. then must be added and Chald. in Gen. seems to be used to ' the major part of Antiquity,' which of < creatures' by St. E. in R. lxix. §.2. agreed on taking the passage of the In- ' there is none of the possessions that is carnation. See Petav. de Trin. ii. 1. §. 3.

as shewn by the heretical use of Prov. 8, 22. 279

medicines1, and there are men that are quite strangers to 1S. roots [Scripture] lections; and their words are contradictory in the mouth of foolish clerks2. The Scriptures are full of2& harmony d, and the clerks2 of confusedness. What thenscn es remaineth, 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. Deut. Let us appeal to the great tribunal of Justice, and let both ' sides call witnesses to their accounts.

4. In order that the thing may be made clear, let alone words which proclaim the littleness3 of our Lord, and His3P-209> greatness. For one perceives His Human, and another His Divine, Nature6 in them. Let us leave interpretations, and examine with simplicity the bare words c Son' and ' creation.' They will be able sure to tell us as finished clerks2, learned in the law, ready in the prophecies, that Solomon puts the matter beyond all controversy ; for he felt, and called Him a Prov. 8, creation and a formation. Solomon then forsooth is the great ' stronghold f of all these changelings4! From me that am an4 s.

R. lvi. §. 4. R. lix. §. 5. Ashe here accuses the heretics for being ' strangers to the lections of Scripture,' so in the funeral Rhythms he praises those departed in Christ for 'labouring, toiling, and struggling in the books of the Holy Ghost, in watching, fasting, and §. 2. p. 247, f. " He that loved to read the words of Thy doctrine, and to hear the Spirit's speech, may he hear the voice of the trump. He that marvelled and was astonished at the riches of Thy speech, and whose heart revered the words of the Holy Ghost, O mingle him with the reverent, &c." p. 256, f. above, p. 196, n. c. Of course the habitual study of Scripture would beget impressions in favour of the Church's Creed, which isolated passages however trodden down by heretics (see p. 215, n. d.) could not remove.

e The two principal orthodox interpretations of Prov. 8, 22. are the one noticed in n. c. and that which takes it of created wisdom, or of the Son, as He infuses Himself into His creatures, in order that they may have wisdom. See on Athan. p. 391, n. c. and compare what has been said above, p. 209,

n. b. of the Son as sustaining all creatures. The heretics on the contrary neglected the frequent appellations of ' Son,' &c. and chose to go perversely by this one passage. Gr. Nyss. ii. p. 610, b. 11 There is a vast catalogue of Names, whereby the Only-Begotten is named indifferently with the Father, as Good, Incorruptible, Just, Judge, Long-suffering, Merciful, Eternal, Endless — every thing that can serve to indicate the prerogative both of Nature and of Power, without any diminution in the loftiness of the meaning of one of the Names bestowed upon Him. But this vast number of Divine appellations, he (Eunomius) travels through as if with his eyes hoodwinked, and stares at one point only, generate, to wit, and ingenerate, thus trusting to a slight and strengthless rope, a dogma which is tossed with the waves and carried about with the winds of error." This is similar arguing against a similar error, common to most heretics, viz. that of having some few texts which they dwell on to the disparagement of other Scriptures. See on Athan. p. 178, n. c.

f This §. may remind one of St. Athanasius de Deer. S. N. §. 13. p. 20. O. T. Comp.n.d. p.l 79. Possibly St. A.'s works were early translated into Syriac, as

280 The usual Names of the Son clear up the unusual.

1 comp. unlearned1 man let them hear with conciseness, that all this '"'^ 'littleness in the Scriptures concerneth the Human Nature of

our Saviour. And if thou art able, go beyond His Human Nature, and reach to the Divine, and thou wilt find that He is lifted up above all such things.

2 p. 222, 5. Come, fly unto Him with the wings2 of the mind and the RCxiiv Pmions of the imagination, and therefore wipe out clear the eye *• 5- of thy mind ! and ascend and behold the Son : behold Him,

and behold His Father, and see how like He is throughout to Him that begot Him; since the Father is hidden from all and the Son concealed from all! Count up then how many times hath He been called Son and Begotten, and then calcuaR-.. late3 how often He is called creature; also when the words §, l. ' have been calculated, the names which exceed in number convince the discerning that that is the real Name which at

4 s.Sur-au times is repeated; but the adjoined Name4 comes twice or

R. lxiii. thrice at most !

&• 1* 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

5 S. all the miracles, the Prophets in all expressions5, the Apostles mouths -n a|| vojces> an(j deviis in an the possessed6 alike proclaim plagues Him Son. Who is there that will not believe, and chide §. 3.V* with all this strife ?

on ' ' we know Greek authors were into Latin, not do, and I teach but do not learn,

see Vales, ad Euseb. H. E. ii.2. Ming. Ready am I in books and lections, and

ad Did. de Trin. p. 263. St. Austin de from duty far off am I. T have read in

Trin. iii. 1. c. Jul. Pel. i. 15 ; as were the Scriptures unto others, and not one

St. E.'s works into Greek. Sozom. H.E. of them has entered into my own ears,

iii. 16. 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

(in spite of what some argue from Theo- have not managed to profit myself by

doret, H. E. iv. 29.) likely that St. E. them. I have opened and read and

knew G reek both from the way be speaks sighed over them ; I have comprehended

of Aristotle, Plato, Hippocrates, Galen, it, and then forgotten what was in it.

andothers,(comp. R.lvi.§.5.)asalsofrom "When the books passed from before

the general appearance of great learning me, the memory of them passed from

throughout his works, and the tradition my mind.'' Comp. Para?n. p. 444 — 7.

of his learning it miraculously at his p. 454, d. (See vol. i. p. 470, c. vol. ii.

interview with St. Basil. Of course his p. 33, d.) To this must he added his

profession of being unlearned is nothing frequent reference to other commentabut the effect of humility, as he speaks tors, see vol. i.p. 43, c. p. 45,d.f. p. 147,

differently when a confession of being b. p. 154, c. p. 364, e. p. 421 , d. p. 425,

learned will serve to humble himself, in b. &c. cf. iii. p. 241, f. to say nothing

vol. ii. p. 355, 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 inas with the Chamber of Light and the stances of modesty are noticed on Athan.

Kingdom. And on I read and yet I do p. 52, n. d.

RHYTHM THE FIFTY-FOURTH.

1. The King of Heaven, when His Son1 came down to the ' p. 71,

lviii.

earth, did the people who had not known Him, know from^y

the voices of Them Both. For the Father bare witness2 §• 4to the Son, and the Son called Him Father, and even in §.2.

His low estate He was comprehended to be the Lord ; for

He was honoured by all things; for the sea was His chariot Mat. 8,

and the air His car. Praises be to Him that sent Thee! From 25; *4'

those who ministered to Him learn whose Son He was; for 285, a.

when He was in His low estate the Angels came down and 9. a '

ministered to the Son of their glorious Lord3. And as unto 3p- 24.

handmaids, so gave He orders unto the creatures, and thep*

world in the image of a slave was governed by His nod, after

the type of His Father4, whose silence ordereth all things. 4 R. vi.

2. For since the Lord exalted the children of His house 5, 2'86 n.'c.

and they fools despised themselves, and fell, and wallowed 5R-xlvi-

[in the mire], He came down and drew them up out of that

same wallowing. Error erred because it saw our blots6 upon65-

His garments: knowledge alone knew that He came to the ^Jj

mire that He might bring to the Washing. From Hisn. g.

taking up of this burden it was comprehended that He was jj* ^83'

the King's Son, and as a good Heir, He diligently kept His

Father's House. He saw His servant that was laid; He Mat. 8,

raised him up in healthiness. He saw His handmaid that 7] 7.

was laid; He rebuked her fever. He saw that bread vvas?5a*:8'

lacking, and He satisfied them of His household, and they 1, 30. praised Him that sent Him. Who would not love Him that 17^4? loved them of His household, that was blended and mingled745with His handmaid and servant? They invited Him and §.2! on He despised it not, He went to the feast and made it glad At5*[|* with His Majesty. He also threw in His marriage-gift, then. d. wine in the flagons, since He carried with Him the treasures John 2, of His Kingdom.

282 Heretics are impure and disputatious as

lCor.s, 3. Who would not be afraid and purify his body8? Since John 2 w^en He went into His Father's House, that great Temple, 14. with a cord He chastised them, who were without hope as Is.50,i. having made light of His Temple. To Jerusalem He gave Rom2 f' a writing of divorcement. He also took the vineyard from!• &c. those husbandmen. Who would not fear, and who would

Mat 21

33. ' ' not love Him who praised His merchants, that doubled the

Mat.25,ta]ents they jja(j receive^ and tormented that wicked and

24, 51. harmful servant who had ruined them of His household and

undone his fellow-servants, and rebuked the apostate spirit,

1 R. liii. who when overcome howled out by the mouth of his devils1, Mark l ' What have we to do with Thee, Jesus ?'

24. 4. For it is written that the good Master repented and was

2 p. 245, weary2, and clothed Him with our feebleness, and us also He R xxix clotned again with the Names of His Majesty. The foolish §• l. 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

in love, they passed not judgment on His words. The Mark sectarians deceitfully laid wait for His words: for their

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 heard and questioned, [saying,] ' How can this Man

give us His Body b?' Their questioning kept them deprived

a To the passages given on R. xx. As He for thy sake was Priest and

from vol. ii. p. 330 — 2. the following from Sacrifice and Atonement, be thou also

vol. iii. p. 656. may be here added as for His sake shrine and priest and

shewing farther how St. E. drew the offering. Since thy mind hath beparallel between the living and material come a shrine, leave not filthiness

temples : ' Lo, wrath runneth to and therein ; leave not in the house of God

fro in the earth : the penitent impedes aught that hateful is to God : let the

its course. Let us be husbandmen house of God be garnished with whatto fasting, that seed which yields an ever to God is pleasing!

hundred-fold! Let us be tilsmen to b See above, R. xl. §. 3. Cyril in

prayer, that vine whose wine is conso- Joan. p. 360. after specifying several

lation! Let us be builders of our instances, thus addresses the Jew:

minds, as shrines that shall be meet for " Many mighty works there be which

God! If a great man stayed at thy before thou 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 will disbelieve all

esteemed, if God stayeth in thee. Be divine Scripture, and subvert all the

to Him a temple, yea and a priest! prophets have said, and the sacred

and minister to Him in thy shrine, writings of Moses more than any of

the Jews and the thief on the left hand.

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 furnace. For look at the disciples, 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. John 8, Wherefore we will briefly say, that all scrutinizing belongs5'* to the left hand1. For even the thief that was crucified l P- 135> on the left hand himself scrutinized, that we might learn by his questionings the audacity of the investigators. O thou hopeless one, that when even pierced and crucified Luke23, 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 Cherubim0 that carried Him, persuade us.

them. Rather then we ought to believe in Christ, and by assenting with- out thought to what is said by Him, to be anxious rather to learn how to win the blessing, and not with drunkard recklessness to say, ' How can this man, &c.' " See Athan. p. 326. O. T. and other passages in Petav. de Trin. v. 6. against this use of ' How.' Philo de Abrah. fin. " Touching those things whereof God witnesseth what befitteth men, but with all certainty to believe." c i. e. though the highest angels adore Him in spite of His Flesh, we are not to be persuaded: see on R.xvi.fin. and R. xxix. 1. and n. a. p. 285. Perhaps this passage refers to the interpretation of Is. lxiii. 1. &c. commonly received among the Fathers, (as Antonelli on St. James of Nisibis, p. 298, rightly notices,) and on 1 Sam. xviii. 6. (" In the going out of the damsels and their rejoicings in David's victories, behold by contemplation the victories of Christ, and His return from the place of the dead, and how the Angels and the souls of the just went forth to meet Him,") and plainly adopted by him in vol. ii. p. 307, c. where he writes as follows, on Zech. xiii. 6. " They shall say, What are these wounds in Thy

Hands? and He shall say, These are the wounds wherewith I was subdued in the house of my friends. This is to be taken of Him who above was called a Fountain of life, (quoted note c. p. 196. fin.) and suits with the Son in every respect. For the heavenly powers, the friends of Christ the Bridegroom, and His labourers ask Him about the wounds wherewith He was subdued by the crucifiers, and about the rents of the nails in His hands. And it is they whom He probably answers and says, These are the wounds wherewith I was subdued, not by Mine enemies, but among My friends and My kinsmen: owing to their hatred of the false prophets, they thought that I was a de- ceiver and one of the lying prophets. After this fashion the heavenly powers asked the question also in those words that are written in Isaiah, and say, "Who is this that cometh from Edom, with His garments red from BozrahP when they saw that His Body was mysteriously dyed with the Blood of the sufferings of His own self." Petav. de Angelis i. 8. §. 11. in part disapproves of this interpretation, but does not mention that Orig. in Joan. vi. 39. G. Naz. Horn, in Pasch. Nyss. in Asc. iii. p. 443. Ambr. de Inst. Virg. v.

§. 39. Alex, in loc. et ap. Ang. Mai, A. p. 460. all have this interpretation. All he mentions are Theodoret, Anastasius, Sin. Ambr. de Myst. vii. 36. J. Martyr c. Tryph.§.36. J.Firmicus de Err. prof, rel. 25. Max. ad Dionys. de Csel. Hier. yii. §. 3. p. 91. Petav. however allows

§. 12. which is enough perhaps for the present passage, that the Angels are represented as asking questions, but doubts if we can infer that this is more than an economy to teach us: for St. E. may be taken to imply that they are said to believe what they were told, in order to instruct man.

RHYTHM THE FIFTY-FIFTH.

1. Who, ray 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 fire1 is hard to relate, though quite open to the eye, how much l n. g. more hidden from us is the Fruit2 of our Maker, and the f* j/g Generation of our Creator. Praises to Thy concealedness ! For n- ehe that discourseth of Him who gave all things their nature 3, 3 §. 3. ought to discourse of every nature first. Let us let alone

His Majesty, and speak of His chariota; 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, ' ' c* 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 turneth not itself aside: for the four sides have four heads over the throne. This is' the direction4 of its faces, and the4 s. countenance thereof looketh unto every place. |A^o

2. And since the son of Buzi saw the likeness of a Man upon Ez.1,26. 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 suf- fice 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 spirit5. Wherein is this fire 5 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 its neck the yokeof the stranger,and

in a chariot to be like man in all things becomes a chariot of Immanuel, instead

he speaks, R. lxiii. §. 3. see also R. of what it had been made, that of the adlxxix. §. 2. In vol. i. p. 264. he says, versary's powers." Elsewhere he speaks

the ass of Balaam is a type of human of the Cross as Christ's chariot, R. xvii.

nature, which had become a chariot for §. 2. and speaks vol. i. p. 430, e. of God's

the accuser. But 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 by His revelation the soul is allowed the changes belonging to their natural

the sight of the Bridegroom: it shakes movements.'

The Divine Nature more easily conceived

lvii.§<2.

it may be touched by thee? Who hath gone, upon investigation, out of the world, and beyond it, that he should come and tell thee1? And if there be no boundb to it, 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 Him2.

3. Whatsoever is in the eternal Essence, that is a Nature which Nature03 He never at any time gave at His Will ; and

b i. e. if there is no ascertainable bound, attempt to form an imaginaryone, that when this effort has not suc- ceeded, it, i. e. the world, may by its own infinity convince thee that its Infinite Creator cannot be measured by man's finite intellect.

c This passage might have been noticed above, p. 133. were it not, though sufficiently to the point, a little less so, perhaps, in the original than in the translation. In Scholastic Latin it might be rendered, Quicquid in Essentia seterna est, omne id est natura, quam Ille non voluit ut naturaret, or, non volendo naturavit. The Semiarians, and much more the Anomeans, did not allow the Son to be in the Father's Substance, but made him a second substance: hence St. E. insists that what is in the Eternal Essence is eternal. See on Athan. p. 63, g. p. 485, n. g. By the words * this is to His glory,' he means this doctrine, that He who is in the Father does not depend upon the Father's will for His existence, so far from shewing any im- perfection in the Father, shews that perfection of His whereby all that, in this p. 772, d. " The conjunction we speak of does not indicate in the spiritual Nature any bodily concrescence, but the union and blending together of One Spiritual [Person] with the Other through the identity of wills, (or the acts of Their will, tuutothtos fa\tip,uruv.) Wherefore there is not any diversity of the Son and the Father in respect of will, but as is the Archetypal Beauty of Goodness so is the Image of that Goodness; and as, if any one were to look at himself in a mirror, (for there is no objection to one's using bodily semblances to bring the conception of the mind before one,) in all respects

will the image be like in form to the original, in such way that the form which looks into the mirror is the source of the form in it; and so, that the image neither moves nor turns by itself unless the original commences the turning or moving; and so, that if the principal move, of necessity that which is displayed in the mirror moveth along with it. So say we that the Image of the Invisible God, the Lord, at every motion of His will, without any mean or intervention adjusteth Himself to the Father. If the Father willeth aught, then the Son who is in the Father sees at once the will of the Father, or rather hath Himself become the will of the Father. For He hath all that the Father hath in Himself, and so there is nothing of the Father's that He hath not, But if He hath in Himself all that is the Father's, or rather hath the Father Himself, of necessity with the Father and what is the Father's He hath in Himself the whole of His Father's will." This celebrated passage will serve to make St. E.'s meaning clearer: what he implies is that the will of God is not a personal attribute of the Father's only, but an essential attribute of the Godhead, communicated indeed to the Son by the Father, but in the same sense only as His eternal Subsistency is comtminicated to Him. St. Cyril Thes. p. 211. shews how the Anomeans put their argument. u By will it was that the Father gave the Son His Subsistency; in this way also He made Him Creator; but we deny that it is from out of the Father's Essence that He subsisteth, lest any division or efflux be conceived to appertain to that unspeakable Essence." The following is part of St. C.'s answer: " If according to them the Nature of God is dry and unfruitful,

as generate than as unoriginate.

this is to His glory. For there is one thing which is not in the power1 of that Lord, in whose power1 are all things; and^hands this is His commendation. For His Will, than which there is nothing higher, alone and by 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 words2;2§.6. R. it was the prying that I wished to reprove: for, if His not v* 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 d!

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] 3 is. And see how 3R.xxx. 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 out4 unto perfection. From this itself let us learn what perplexity64 S. the

what is that operative will which proceedeth from Him, which also accord- ing to them gave the Son His,Subsistency, it being able forsooth to create and to make the things that are not? While they avoid saying that the Father's Creative Word was generated from His Essence, in very truth they are driven to the selfsame point — for the Will of the Father which liveth and is in His Essence is the Son, and His Word by whom all things are wrought." Epiphan. i. p. 963, c. " In all things whatsoever thou sayest concerning God, O Aetius, He is wholly very simplicity, incomparable, perfect in Himself, not standing in need of aught. For He is perception itself and will itself. Wherefore in a way incomparable the Only -begotten Son did He beget, yet neither thereby did He deprive Himself of His own Essence, &c." See on contr. Scrut. i. §. 30. where the subject of the one Will in the Trinity will occur.

d i. e. if one cannot conceive an unoriginate Nature in such way as to keep clear of difficulties, then neither can we so conceive His Eternal Essence. It may be said, that if God did not give Himself His own Nature, He cannot alter that Nature, therefore

scruti-

He is not free in the absolute way He HimCan_ ought to be; for a necessity forces. i Him to be what He is and prevents searched Him from being other than He is. This indeed is a case which no pious mind would wish to put, and which the confutation of heretics is the only object which will justify one in putting. Still when men profess to be able to investigate His Eternal Essence, it is allowable to shew, how what we conceive as attributes belonging to that Essence, and so more intelligible than the Essence Itself, are incomprehensible to us. Heretics say God begat at His Will: let them explain that Will, is St. E.'s reply, and then we may think of arguing with them. See R. xliv. §. 2. e Eunomius in his Apology, §. 7. said as follows: " One then going by one's natural sense, as well as by the teaching of the Fathers, is God confessed by us to be, who neither came from Himself nor from any one else; for either of these is alike impossible. But since in truth what makes must needs exist before what is made, <fcc." To this Basil says: (i. §. 5. p. 214, b.) " After he has told us that it is plain to every one's common sense that God is ingenerate, he goes about bringing us demonstrations of this, much as if

288 Human proof inapplicable to things Divine.

is ours, every time 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

1 p. 136, from all eternity1.

n* e# 5. 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 f: so too it is necessary that thou shouldest extol His Fatherhood without searching and scrutiny, seeing it is too high for any search. In 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

2 Comp. is the Essence : after the fashion of the hands2 they assist p* 1'4, one another, since their crown is one.

6. Who is there among ready speakers, whose speaking is equal to speak with all languages the Lord of all languages,

3 §.3. which have never at any time spoken Him3. 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

4 R. lii. servant: since by reason of His Father He is Lord4.

at full mid-day any one were to essay wreath of arguments, and works so to teach men with their eyesight sound suhtly 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. E. seems in this and the next § to plain to sense is ridiculous, how can be alluding to the above-cited 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? For argument only involves himself in consure to men of right mind things like tradictions. this are far better believed than the f The last note will explain his

objects of sight Do we indeed want meaning here. The words ' of necesthe syllogisms of Aristotle and Aristip- sity' may be illustrated by Aristot. pus to learn that the Ingenerate is not Meta. iv. 5. u That which doth not generate either from Himself or from admit of being otherwise we say is any other, and that He is neither older necessarily so. . . .demonstration morenor younger than Himself? What over belongs to the head of ' necessary,' 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 mind, sharp at spying if those from which the syllogism is out an absurdity, and sharper still at made are incapable of being otherconfuting what he detects, and that wise, &c." St. E. uses the word of all this is why he disports himself in a principles we cannot prove.

was

RHYTHM THE FIFTY-SIXTH.

1. Who would not 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 to1 the Godhead. I rejoice in J ^ the simple who have believed and have triumphed. heavy

2. Who could ever comprehend how Noah was silent2, who ia0nwered for a hundred years repressed his questioning within hisfrom heart? When the foolish jeeringly asked how the Flood n.Pa. ' 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 Gen. 22, son, the son of the promise, and upon the altar he placed2, &c* him; he questioned not, he scrutinized not: he disputed not, he asked not, Where is the promise, or where the vouchsafement? 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 Heb.11 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, Gen. 18 and comprehend that he was a questioner. For if he did not23blush 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 conu

290 Unbelief reproved by Scripture examples,

Gen. H, quered [by him], and he went and delivered his brother's son, whom they 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

1 R. liii.the Giver of it, and relied upon the Writer of it, that all1 of it

was edifying. And the children of error heard it with ears of strife: and the mouths of mockers were rejected, because they

2 R. yiii. scorned it. Wherefore both the Testaments2 persuade us that

faithful men at no time ever disputed or scrutinized, since they

believed God. But the learned and the cavillous disputants

3R.liii.§.it is that rest not; the Scriptures are full of peace3: and they

6.6. B.*are m^ °f an8Tmess? their disputing is inveterate in them:

lxv.§.i. their rust fretteth them away.

§.2. 5. Who would not [be led to] fear by Moses, who because

Numb, 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,

' these able to serve as an assay-furnace of their skill, since

5 S. the a point which is above their skill5. Who then can judge which is the words of the Judge of all ? Who can reprove the Voice *00Sreatof 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 every one

6 R. Iiii. believes in the book of medicines6, wherein the physicianb

a Vol. ii. p. 437. " It is by love that some of the pharmaceutical works of

cases, increases the sick man's pangs: p. 317.) which were then in great

he gives pain without wrath, and suffer- repute. The parallel, 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, vol.

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. li The

but bitter in his medicines." See R. lxv. medicines of Thy goodness it is the sick

§. 3. only that need. See them stricken at

b This seems to allude to some defi- Thy door, asking of Thee pardon!

nite book in vogue then, possibly to Whoso needeth not, 0 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- get well of their pains greatly

sician 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 ulcers, in

body to one in health. For what way his own neighbourhood, that he may

should a physician who cometh to the gather from them advantages, yea,

sick, heal one in health? Idly labours praise and gloiy, 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 abunthe reward of his healing. In the sick dant mercies, " &c. the physician triumpheth when they

RHYTHM THE FIFTY-SEVENTH.

soul

1. Who hath searched himself1 out, and felt ever with his hand how and where he gathereth 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 is an empty space in himself for knowledge2, and yet the soul lacketh ? And if the memory be so exceeding great a wonder, seeing it receiveth yet is not full, 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-

1 Behold images in a mirror, which neither is empty nor can be emptied of forms! Behold the Eternal Essence, which is not crowded nor can be crowded by the creatures, like a mirror ! Types from the creatures are we not able to bring that they should shape it before our eyes. It is laden with all things, yet wearieth not ; for though full it be, yet is it as it were empty. A great wonder this! It filleth all things with its Essence, and there is room in It. Who can suffice for all that is within It? How like to It is the mind which though not empty hath in it room for all sciences? Let the mouth confess its own weakness, and not be ashamed that its littleness is overcome by Him. One Name hath the Eternal, &c.' as above, p. 132. Here St. E. evidently contemplates the memory or the mind as capable of retaining a vast multiplicity of impressions or ideas, as a type of the Father. Nyssen c. At. et Sab. Mai C. Nov. viii. p. 8. " Perhaps you will say, ' if the Father as being perfect filleth all things, what sort of remnant is there left for the Son, who is perfect,

to contain?' To this I answer, that it is One Another that They are capable of receiving and containing. For I, He says, am in the Father, and the Father is in Me. But as They that contain Each Other, would be equal in greatness to Each Other, you will certainly be desirous to be told,howThey are to be in Each Other: for the One must be [you will say] comprised by the Other, and consequently that which is comprised, in that which compriseth; but the latter will not be again itself comprised by the former. Fancy not that God hath any void in Himself, wherein that which is comprised is received. For in the case of men this must be allowed, seeing we are not such as to contain

others, or to go into another But

in God's case something of the following sort must be conceived: As in the soul of a man two sciences or more coming together may coexist, medicine say, and philosophy, and as many others as are not straitened in the mind and space of the soul, which though numerous have room enough, and may give up the whole to each other, [the text is corrupt here,] although they

Memory, wherein a type of the Father.

prehended so as to know who He is? And it keepeth

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 and feel where these names of the creatures are,

since neither it nor they can be explored? 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 place1 to be explored1*. l R- lv

portion as it does so, the memory generating thought is a type of God be- getting His Word. St. Aust. de Trin. xi. §. 11. " When we think, from that form which the memory retains, there is in the glance of him that thinketh, expressed and shaped by recollecting,

fill up the soul, and though one does not go beyond the bounds of the other; in such way as to yield to the most enquiring of men the appearance of a single essence, since they are situate and being in one and the same mind — as these differ from each other, inasmuch as medicine is one thing and philosophy another; so the Father and the Sou, being contained in the same place, and capable of receiving one another, and being One, differ One from the Other in Person only and title, but exist in One Another." Pseudo- Athan. c. Sab. Greg. §. 11. " When they see such a multitude of wisdoms about one intellect, let them reflect that these exist not in space; for what must a man have been in magnitude to have sufficed for the reception of so many things, if it was in separate places that he had each of his cognitions....let us then turn our mind to what are above us, and in themselves incorporeal, to wit, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, which need not places, nor are discriminate by places; and let no one on this account venture to suppose that either Father, Son, or

Holy Spirit has no existence Thus

the Trinity, having a real existence, is

inseparably united together and

exhibits one and the same form, of the Father who is seen in the Son, and of the Son who is perceived in the Spirit, &c." These passages will enable us to see what St. E. has before his mind. The memory retains ideas, which make up the sum of its wisdom: if it was able at one moment actually to represent to itself the whole amount of its cognitions, the image of them, when in scientific arrangement, would be a perfect image of itself — would correspond exactly to itself, and match with every part of itself, as if occupying the whole of the same space which it occupies. In prothat form which is, as it were, the offspring of that which the memory retains. But neither is the one a real parent, nor the other a real offspring,'' &c.

b All types of this kind are necessarily very imperfect, and therefore an attempt to draw out the author's meaning, must not be construed into an attempt to understand the thing itself. God's wisdom is nothing else than the contemplation of Himself, (see Thomassin de Trin. ii. 21. §. 4.) which con- templation in reality, and not as we are obliged to conceive of it, is identical with Himself: in begetting the Son, therefore, God begetteth Wisdom; because the whole of the Father's Sub- stance is given to the Son the Son's

Substance may be said, in our gross way of conceiving things, to be coextensive with the Father's. A really scientific arrangement of the objects contained in the memory under i names,' which are oral, or thoughts which are mental words, exhausts those objects entirely: the substance of the memory, and the substance of the thought, or discursive act of the mind, by which they are generated from the memory in a scientific form, are also at the time coextensive, or if perfect, would be so. In this way then the memory, and the thought, or discourse, or word, form a type of the Father and the Son: though the Son is in the Father,and thoughtmthememory,itisnotintheway of a local indwelling that they coinhere in each other. — In the next §. perhaps the Trinity to one of the Incarnation, and takes the memory in a less definite sense,

Mysteriousness of the memory,

3. Who doth not know that his soul 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 I' and though it is in the body, yet the creation is small to it : since the whole of it is in everyplace? Who hath searchedinto one asleep, for lo, although he sleepeth, he goeth to and fro. And if the soul wandereth in dreams0, wherefore should the intellect wrander along with it,

as an energy of the soul, shewing that not even the soul and far less God is circumscribed by a body. See Leontius, charges the Nestorians with deriving their notions of God's uncircumscribed Nature from what is locally uncircumscribed, and so attempting to prove the impossibility of God and Man being compounded in Christ.

c The following passage from E,. xxix. adv. Haeres. will throw light on the text by putting before the reader some of the wonders relating to memory and sleep in other words. u Leave every thing, oh mind unseen, and gather thyself into thyself: do thou enquire of thyself in thyself,where thou art in sleep: with thyself, or, with every thing? Art then thou awake, the thou that wert in the dream? and how is it that thou Knowest not that thou wert in thyself? Did any other clothe thee? then how earnest thou not to perceive it? Or how, if the devil clothed thee in the night, didst thou perceive of what kind he was, when his nature is so subtle? and how is a devil, though akin to the body, (see n. b. p. 267.) more subtle than the mind? "Why [in your theory] the devil is the dregs of that principle of darkness: but if the dregs thereof be more subtle than the mind, who is to be able to grasp a nature so refined as that? Speak and declare, thou intellect, and soul between the two, and body likewise, harmonious three! why have ye not been equal to the force of a single demon? and, instead of one of you prevailing as should have bein the case, see, between you all three ye have not perceived, when he put you asleep, and threw you into slumber, and made you astonied, and scattered your thoughts! Sleep, that vapour when it takes the body, ascends into the mind, and the devil proveth to be awake therein though akin to the body, and the intellect to be asleep therein though alien from it.

But and if it be not the evil one that deludeth you, who then is it that maketh you to sin in what happens at night, which Moses hath written of and reproved also? Who again with multi- tudinous abominations frayeth you? If the wicked one it is not that doth mock you in your dreams, is the Good One therefore never mingled in your visions? and how is it that there have been and still are in the time of your sleep the visions of your dreams? since the body is what resteth, who is it that moveth and goeth forth without a frame, and soweth without a field, and sinneth without free-will, (comp. St. Austin's Confess. x. §. 41.) and when awakened is ashamed? But if no evil is with your dreams mingled, then they are your own, how foul soever. But if ye perceive not who it was that put them there, are we to say that it was Satan who was awake and plunged you into slumber? A body have ye become to him, and he a mind to you, and ye have both of you at once forfeited your own natures! Dregs have become refined! the child of sleep wakeful! the mind asleep! the intellect a dead thing! the corpse hath become a soul! and the living body one not so! and the body hath been found to be awake while it is with Satan, who in its sleep hath made it to sin! and mind and intellect are found to have been put to silence with the soul their sister! But if dreams were Satan's own, who is it that has scattered the memory of the dream away when one is awaked, in the soul, the intellect, and mind? and how comes he not to be satisfied with the former ones wherewith he deluded them, whom though of wakeful and spiritual nature he yet made dead, but to have returned and clothed them again therewith when awaked and alive? By their memories he begins to make them remember their dreams, and by their words their visions he begins to recount, and by

especially in its bearing upon dreams.

which is incapable of sleep l? Who hath been asleep and l S. is seen, after he was waked and remembered, how he saw when a 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 mindd 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 be2>3,&c* 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 interpretations examines and expounds their own dreams to their own selves! Who is it that would not be astounded at this confusion? who that would not be awed at this commix" ture? who that is equal to comprehending this discreteness? how that it is one, and how that it is many; knowing, and yet knowing not; perceiving, and yet discerning not; forgetfulness, yet memory; himself, yet not himself; if asleep, he is awake; if dead, alive; if quiet, yet of wide wandering; if entranced, yet a prophet; the prophecy of his sleep in his awaked estate he expounded; he is with his essence, and is not with his soul; he is in himself, yet not in himself; for lo! while lying down he runneth about! is it he who goeth forth and cometh? or is it another that cometh and entereth into it? What report is to be given of the emotions which take place in a dream, which stirreth the limbs and maketh the eyes weep real tears in a dream real; behold it is not wholly so! if we say it is false; behold it is not wholly lost! Lo, their guilt is the same, because their dream is the same: amidst their great quietness their wrestling is great! &c. &c." Comp. vol. i. p. 412. quoted Leont. c. Nest. i. 14. who notices that matter, unless animate, does not sleep.

passage just quoted will illustrate his meaning here: when he speaks of the soul as between the mind and the body he uses it in the sense which St. Paul gives to it in the phrase eSpx "^v%utbi, 1 Cor. xv. 44. Passages of this kind must not be understood as if the fathers held the animating principle in man to be compounded of two distinct essences, viz. mind or spirit, and soul: the mode of speaking is borrowed from Scripture, e.g. 1 Thess. v.23. and implies only the predominance of earthly or heavenly objects of contemplation in a man's soul, not that the essences which constitute his person themselves are transmuted into any new essence; for, at that rate, 1 Thess. v. 23. would imply the existence of three different essences, of which one (viz. the body) we know cannot be preserved in its integrity, okozXtigov, till Christ's coming. See Greg. Nyss. Antirrh. c. Apoll. 46. Aust. de C. D. xiii. 23. Isid. Pelus. lib. iv. ep. 125. It is observable that St. E.'s language, as quoted in n. c. is less guarded than in the text, the former work being probably written before the times of Apollinaris, as he speaks in it of our Lord's Baptism as having taken place 300 years ago, p. 496, b. from which however no very definite conclusion as to the date of the whole work can be drawn.

296 Maris word inexplicable ', much more the Word.

mind is it that thou dost abide? art thou a portion of the JR.l.^i.soul1, whereto there is yet no bound? art thou the offspring 2R.lxiv.of thy fountain2, which bringeth forth, yet faileth not? And *" 3# where is it in the heart that thy motions beat? From this

mere lowly discourse8 of thine then thou mayest learn

amazedly the glorious Word, the Word of God. For if thy 3 s. word own discourse3 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 !

e Comp. Pearl iii. §. 4. R. xxv. §. 1. R. xxxiii. §. 1. The Syriac word here answers precisely to the Greek Xoyaf, and may mean discourse, either in the mind, or, discourse in words. Thus far then our word 'discourse' sufficiently expresses it; but since the words ptjfi.ec and ' sermo' were dropped as names for the Word of God, because calculated to give a Sabellian impression, it would not be fitting to use the term ' discourse' of the Son. Hence some little confusion arises in the translation, as we do not use the term ' word' of the discourse in the mind. The points of resemblance between the type and Prototype, on which St. E. here dwells, are

its mysterious coinherence in and coextension with the mind, the genera- tion from the mind without passion or partition, and its incomprehensibleness. Numerous passages from the Fathers upon this type will be found in Petav. de Trin. vi. 2. vii. 14. Thomassin ibid. tr. ii. 18—20. The latter well observes, 21. i. 2. ' Hinc lubet admirari stupendam illam consensionem Scripturarum cum ilia sive ratione sive philo- sophia defapcatissima, quae interdum superne nobis allucet, et cujus nonnullas scintillas in Gentilium libris, sed multo magis in sanctorum Patrum monumentis deprehendere est.'

RHYTHM THE FIFTY-EIGHTH.

1. Who hath seen the waters in the womb of a tree, which there undergo a change in a vast multitude of ways1, as the 15. are waters" alter themselves at His command, that they may turn JjJJ*8^ to a body and become wood for buildings, and out of the very pluralitysame there may be made bridges and ships, so that by means Der. 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 it2 has2 & the departed by means of the fire, so as to yield no holding tofrora it 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 b ? 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 ?

a Epiphan. i. p. 889, c. H. lxxiv. 3. as ever; but attention ought to be

** The rain being made of part of the drawn to such ancient theories of physubstance of trees and plants issues in siology, both as justifying questions

being a body and the fruit which afterwards entertained, (e. g. what bebelongs to each of them: and in the came of the water mixed with the wine

olive 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

vine it gets the colour of the sweet wine, real service science maybe of in anand in the fig is sweetened into a fig, swering them less partially than before.

&c." Greg.Nyss.ii.p.518,b.(whouses Comp. R. lxiv. §. 3. c. Scrut. K. i.§. 7.

the simile for the same purpose as St. $.12. These passages are also evidence

E.) u The moisture which is in the vine that St. E. had attended to natural

being drawn up through the bottom of philosophy.

water, but by going in a certain order times by J. Pollux, vi. 91. vii. 109. x.

through the natural channels it changes 110 ; otherwise the context might lead

into the nature of wine, &c." In the last one to suppose St. E. alluded to fragrant

of these passages, as in St. E. water is woods, which yield a smell in burning,

contemplated as changing its substance, It is worth observing, that of the two

whereas the truth is that it is not alternatives, at the end of the §. St. E.

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 burut wood, as wandering

decomposed to form them. The mystery about in the air. of the process of course 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 e 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

JS.nameas at no time would it belong to a thing named1 "' created' or

°tec^e" c made' to rise into comparison with the Name of Creator0 ;

R- lxi- so also would scrutinizing be light in the balance against

lxii.$.5. that Glorious Being by whom all things were created?

?• lx!^* 3. Who can stretch himself to any thing which is greater

lxxi.§.2. than himself, since he hath no wings for his feeble soul? That

JJ 40' they of low estate might attain to His great height, He

2 See humbled Himself unto Zacchaeus2. The short man was on Luke dwelling m *ne 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 R. ix. amine for edification3. Question the unbelievers, and reprove Scrut?i. ^e 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 reward4. Bless His Divine rank*. Essence, who when thou wert not, made thee; magnify His p. 123. Fatherhood, in that He even reckoned thee of His sons5. ^ l\ ' 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 truthful : 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 Son6 had not opened the n- J* treasures of the Kingdom to His labourers ; then was there framed there a mischievous device, whereby they that be

c The Eunomians spoke of the Son things: to this inconsistency St. E. here as an instrument made to create all alludes. See R. vi. §. 1. $. 5.

the guilt of those who are tempted to blaspheme. 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 d.

Our King and the Son of our King1 opened His treasures,' p. 71,

and scattered abroad the good things of His Kingdom. n'y*

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 Son2 and gave Him unto2R. liv.

us as a gift for His beloved, and killed Him and redeemed

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 evils3, envy for love, jealousy3 S. end

for truth4? The wicked one saw the Good One, who freely things.

he also might force us to be ruined. Wherefore let us say 4C.Scrut.

unto Satan e, who worrieth us to pry into our Redeemer, f Get u 29#

thee forth, go, pry into thy devils5, that thou may est find thy5 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.25

d i. e. they make him Son in the e This may mean either directly, or

same sense, that angels or men are by through the heretics, who were regarded

grace, not by Nature. See R. lii. §. 1. as organs of Satan. See on Athanasius,

R. xxi. §. 2. R. xlvi. §. 6. p. 9, n. s. p. 386. and on R. lxvi. §. 2.

RHYTHM THE FIFTY-NINTH.

1. The waters of our expiation and the stream of our

1 It. lxv. Atonement have become to them [the waters] of strife1, *' ' since in them their disputings range themselves on two Gen. 26, sides. The [Jewish] people strove in the wilderness, the 21. Gentiles strive in the Church; they contended angrily 7.' 'concerning the waters of the Red Sea, and now these ?Ssa contend angrily about the waters of the Sanctuary. Praises Ezech. be to Thy Atonement ! Who is there that striveth not, p. 203 w^° *s tnere tnat asketh not his comrade [saying], ' who n. g. baptized thee then, and whence was thy baptism received?'

Who is it that doth not admonish and adjure another [saying],

2 p. 197. let n°t sucn ana" such a schismatic priest's hand baptize thee2 ? p. 178, ail(j so ^ey have come to be waters of strife to parties of

strife.

3 p. 196, 2. The Holy Spirit we called on at Baptism3. The bold n.c.Nat. diSpUters have rejected the truth: they strive, and say that Ssec. iv. it is not right to make Him equal with the Father and the xliii. p. S°n' Who is it that hath despised the Holy Spirit, and 526. hath numbered with the embodied Him who admitteth not

4 R j^ of a body ? Yet in no place4 have the Prophets brought in a §.5. R. charge of weakness against Him, or the Apostles of deficiency. &c. ' '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

tt Some heretics appear to have held, of God and the birth of the Virgin,

that the Holy Spirit was 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

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. 50. Manes uses the

ad Petr. Fullon. in Harduin Condi, ii. expression ( as a dove' as explanatory

p. 844. li The Manichean, like you, of ' being found as man,' to disprove

wholly denying the Only-begotten Son the reality of Christ's Body. It is

Scripture implies^that the Holy Ghost 85 so the Son is God. 301

high above all these. From Him by Himself let us search: for if they must needs 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 J; and, as these l R. h say, wrote of the Son also that He was created, how was it*' that they revealed not unto us, of this Third Person, of what Nature He was?

3. Who knoweth not that he rangeth in his thoughts, and numbereth in orderb 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 giving mankind the life more abundantly. It is not for scrutiny nor for distinctions, that we should

not to me very clear to what heresy the Holy Spirit a creature, and that he St. E. is alluding: [see §. 4.] perhaps asserted that He was created hy the he wishes to shew that Aetius, by Only-begotten, who Himself was cremaking the Spirit finite, approximated ated by the Father, (where see Ductus.) to the Montanists in some respects, To this blasphemy St. E. plainly aland to the Manicheans in others, either hides in the end of the §. of these parties making the Spirit in- b See p. 181, n. c. p. 234, n. f. and carnate in their Paraclete, and thus by p. 219, n. c. St. E. probably means, introducing a duality, obliterating the that if the heretics contend that God Catholic doctrine of the Trinity. St. comes under number, they ought to be Basil de Sp. S. cap. 2. notices a principle able to give some account of the naof Aetius, as that on which the Pneuma- tu res 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 declared in unlike terms, and that, con- taught us of the Son, they ought to versely, what are declaied in unlike infer that the Trinity does not consist terms," are unlike.' From this they of natures, but is One Nature, and that argued, that the Holy Spirit was not in order to suffer, a second Nature was consubstantial with the Son. This will taken by One of the Persons — to shew perhaps serve to shew why St. E. ap- mercy, &c.

pears in this §. to pass from the Mace- c S. ' wished to throw the fulness

donian, to Montanist or Manichean, into.' The same phrase occurs vol. ii.

heresy, and from those again to the p. 461. " Glory to Him who threw the

Anomeans. St. Basil, c. Eun.ii. §. 33. and fulness into our free-will," i. e. gave us

§. 84. says, Eunomius was the first to call a perfect freedom of will.

302 Scripture ministers to strife through man's 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 '

lxvi!§.2. unto a^ : ** *s we tnat nave made war in it, we that have R.lxviii. devised tumults in it. We hate staying over it, we turn aside 279 n*!d. 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

2 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

Ps. 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 a' all things, to use the names ' Generate,' ' Father,' and ' Son ?' " It was because He chose to do so." What, chose to lead us into error1 ? " To adorn Himself was what1 R- U 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 being so, yet prove to be a Generator b ?

a This word is not probably meant to be St. E.'s own, but to give what was an heretical explanation of the term ' Father,' it being a device of the Arian school to confuse generation and creation. See Petav. de Trin. ii. 5. §. 2.

b The text has oiiooa ' his mouth,' a misprint, as the Latin shews, for JVooa ' mouths.' The Latin is a good paraphrase rather than a version of this section, the difficulty of which arises from the rapid change from question to answer, from one person to another, as if the reader were expected to have the thing before him dramatically, as is the case in some of the Psalms, or in Isaiah lxiii. (which Aretas, p. 460, calls 'Hratou ^oaftareu^yix.) The words, which would be those of the heretics, are marked in the text by inverted commas. The whole passage may be paraphrased as follows: The orthodox may fairly ask the heretics, when they want men to confuse generation with creation, why God does not call creatures 'creatures' always, but uses names, which imply Persons whose existence does not depend upon creation. It is idle for them to say, that such terms are merely arbitrary on God's part, as that is tantamount to saying, that He led us purposely into error. Neither is there any use in their saying that His object was to adorn Himself, or (in other words) to commend Himself

to us for His fatherly care of us, though in doing so He used terms which belied His real Nature. For the self-same expression ' Generator' or < Father,' <fcc. if really calculated to commend Himself to us, will prove Him who so belied Himself (in your view) to be a Generator. For since the whole idea that He belied Himself is based upon the assumption, that there was some one who, antecedently to the existence of any creature, could see His secret thoughts and disclose them: and as this is manifestly false of any creature, it proves at once the falsehood of your assertion, and the fact that He who did disclose even to babes and sucklings things hidden from the wise and prudent, was a Son, and did know the Father, and was able to reveal Him. (Matt. xi. 27.) But if the defender of the heretics is shocked at having his words taken as though he made God a liar, and asserts that He ' generated' the worlds, a fact which is ample reason for the title; then we may refer him to Isaiah xl. 12 — 14. and ask how he means to take the account of the creation there given, so as not to deny the plain assertion of Scripture, (Heb. 1, 2.) that God made the worlds by His Son, and that without Him was not any thing made that was made. (John 1 , 3.) For here ' Son' is plainly distinguished from ' creature,' and therefore a relation between Him and the Father ante-

304 The Names of Father and Son intended to

1 Comp. And since this is a thought1 concealed, that was from every

£ „ ' creature2 hidden, who was it, pray, that was too hard for it,

2S. Na-that detected it and disclosed its secret so fully, that even

R.l.§. 3. children in the streets3 proclaim it? — Speak on the heretics'

aef* JJ side again : say, ' Never did He Himself deny in saying He

n. s. 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 surname Him so, and made us believe that

4 R. Hi. He generated Him, then does that ' borrowed4' term ' Father'

shew that He is truly so.

2. Because the bold [disputers] preached that He was not

5 R. lix.the Son, which yet is in the Prophets and in the Apostles5, 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 c, 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?

3. Fear, ye faithful persons : leave unto God the Names which He hath given to His Son. He asserted that He generated

6 or Him from His Womb6, 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 Oned.

cedent to the existence of creatures is Greek use of the words sprung, as in

implied. Such a relation implies also any thing. There is not this confusion

that ' Father' cannot be (as you make in the Semitic languages, or at least

it) a 'borrowed' name, but must be one not to the same extent, which is an

which expressed the reality which Ca- additional reason to account for the

tholics contend it does express. The obscurity of passages such as that beheretics argue a great deal from the fore us.

confusion arising out of the Greek c i. e. the sacred penmen — an exwords, yinaOat and ytnao-Seu, iyivtiros pression equivalent to that of el aytet and ayiwtiTos, xoith ira.l'hts, and the common in Greek writers. like, a confusion based perhaps as much d Or, more literally ' of the Tnon the heathen ideas out of which the visibleness.' The Arians contended

imply a Real if y corresponding to them. 805

4. The Lord that knoweth all6, asked of the devil what his name was ; and the unclean devil denied not his own name ; Mark 5, as neither did the devils deny His Name: and the clerks1 i'^ \v-u are put to shame who have called our Redeemer a creature ;§• ?; s'

serines

for the devils themselves betrayed that He was the Son ofib. 7. God. Of His own self alone Legion taught, that as his own name of Legion agreed with the interpretation of it2, so he^R-lxx^- cried out because he felt that He was the Son of God, whose iii. p. Name implied3 His Father. But if His Name comforted the jj7^' m sick, even His mortal Name, which agreed with His Human p. 267. Nature, how much should that of our God [comfort us] ? agreed

[and not see] that He agreeth with Himself in all, in that of 201,313, ' Eternal' with His Eternity, in that of 'Just' with Hisnc' Justice, in that of e Good' with His Goodness? in these He agreeth, and how comes it that His Fatherhood is different, in that it agreeth not with itself5, if He hath no glorious Son5 R. vi. from His own Womb ! Who is there that does not see whether ^i# §# {m these surnames agree with the [things] themselves ; with dust Adam [agreeth], Eve with ' living,' Phaleg with c division,' and Babel with' confusion.' Since we have touched on this confusion, let us avoid agitation. Receive in order6 the Names threefoldly. 6 p. 301, For from Babel one learns, that even there Three came down G*en' n and confounded. For it says, Come Ye £, let Us go down, and f

that Invisibleness 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. E. then would imply in reading from which he here argues,

the text that the Son is the Fruit and ^H, although de Rossi gives no such

consubstantial with the invisible Fa- reading. There is however the same

ther; the Invisibleness of the Son difference in Gen. xi. 3, 4. and Ex. i.20.

would be implied in that of the Father, 1.^.1 i^n

because < generate from' means < having wh*re the singular H^H occurs again

the same nature from' the Father. Se! w'fh J?}mal verbl??"£ m,8h* be

St. Aust. c. Maxim, ii. cap. 9. ahfen to the age of Chald. and Syr

• The expression < that knoweth all' £* J8 akl" t0 *Je ™e °f T ^ Gl^k might be noticed as bearing upon the (Kuhner Synt^§.430. n. .) and 'age in

i*ti c ion 1 h th T H Latin (Ramshorn 70. 11. 2.) with a

ing of the originalisfar from clear. See Fathers to prove a plurality of Persons,

„ j „ -o 1 •• (see Sabatier on the place, Petav. de

v ' ^ZL insist particularly upon the { Venite.'

have the singular HUH in the present ]t is right to add that this passage

text; the Chaldee and Syriac and the according to the Talmud (see Voisin

Vulgate also have the plural: the a(j r# Martin, fol. 559.) was altered by

LXX. hdrt. As St. E. elsewhere ^e LXX. to the singular to prevent

refers to readiugs found in the Hebr. the heathen from deducing a plurality

JR.lxvi

xxxix.

lxvii. lxxix.

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 thou, let us go down. The wicked one with these tongues that are confused, hath confused in this our day the Church instead of Babel!

6. Who would not marvel that there is now room for error to strengthen itself by reason of our weakness ; now we are very weakly : and if the might of our agreement were to come back to us again, and the love of our concord too2, who is there that would restrain us, since our faith in earth and in heaven would loose and bindg?

g This (as the beginning of the next R. suggests) probably alludes to Matt, xviii. 1 7 — 19- where the power to bind and loose is put in juxtaposition with the promise to united prayer. Some have thought that in a certain way the prayers of the Church as a whole might be looked upon as the cause of those sacramental gifts which yet are more properly said to be dependent upon certain definite forms. See Toutte on St. Cyril Hieros. diss. iii. §. 96. This is objected to by others. See Berti several instances in the Old Testament in which God made blessing dependent upon external forms, and speaks of that dependence as the lesson the churchman ought to derive from such instances, IoZ^a^ V^0^* In Vol. iii. p. 528, e. he has a prayer which seems to ascribe the same effects to incense (which was offered at the Eucharist). " The smoke of the incense that we have offered to the honour of Thy Godhead, do Thou

receive, O Lord, as the frankincense of Aaron; and as the plague was stayed from the people that insulted Thy Name, stay from Thy Church sects and divisions: thereby also may there be commemorated the departed and the holy Fathers that have confessed Thy Name, and are fallen asleep in Thy hope, &c." It is evident that all St. E. means is, that the continuance of the Gifts depends upon the worthiness of the recipients, which, in a certain way, may be called the remote cause of the Gifts themselves. St. Hilary's words on Matt, xviii. 19. are quite parallel to St. E.'s in the text. " To such a degree was Christ zealous for the agreement of peace among mankind, that He asserted that all things to be asked of God in prayer should by the merit of unity be obtained, and that where two or three are gathered together in the same spirit and will, there did He promise Jo be in the midst of them. For Himself being Peace and Charity will take up His abode in wills good and peace-making."

RHYTHM THE SIXTY-FIRST.

1 . 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 have their prying for a millstone, they are drowned by scrutinizing ', and will not emerge l p. 87, again, since they keep not silence from that evil wrangling11" '" of theirs. The word which teacheth patiently3 concerning the Father and the Son2, who are united with Each Other,2 S. is that, which has either lowered the Father as well as^f?6* 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 meaning unuttered or to give a contrary oneb; for if the name of Son be suitable to the creatures, then

a Assem. gives this passage an entirely different turn by rendering, Quisquis proprio spiritu ducitur ad disputandum de Patre et Filio, &c. as if the phrase oi.Kt.o2 jj..* <_J meant 'is long-winded.' This certainly is not the usual sense of the phrase which is exactly parallel to the Hebr. T"!N CD*DN, see Gesen. Lex. Heh. p. 150. clause as ' who are united, &c.' if it was a sentiment which he meant to reprobate. The sense then would rather be: He who with real patience tries to reconcile all Scripture statements, will notexplainthe condescension of the Son, as God, in such way as to deny all condescension in the Father, but instead of arguing a difference of N ature in the Son from passages which speak of His condescension, as Man, will from the terms Father and Son conclude a sameness of Nature. See R. xxxii. and the notes, and comp. p. 372, n. n. ' The spiritual architect, &c.' I have ventured to translate as if — #a/Ajo were a misprint for.^Aig. like ]f^}Aj which occurs in the other

clause.

b S. ' The word whose power is in itself, neither means to be silent, nor means to gainsay,' i.e. the very notion of language implies that certain words shall have a certain sense, and not the opposite — if then you allow the Son to be Creator of all things, and then make Him a creature, you are perverting the use of language, and saying that He did and did not create all thing3. This confusion he proceeds to illustrate in §. 3. by supposing two roots to yield produces the opposite to which their nature would lead one to expect. "What he means by the • two roots' is, the two words creature and Son, which in the heretical system bear meanings just the opposite to what they ought to bear. For the term ' creature' with them includes Him who created, and the term ' Son' includes a creature under it. — See R. lxii. §. 3. Mystery of course is not confusion, nor, consequently, should the statement of it in words (however difficult it may be) be confused: but heresy, as coming from the author of confusion, is confused in its language, a3 well as its conceptions.

308 If ' Father'' and ' /So//1 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 happenethc 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

R. xl. that begot It1 ; and It is not cut off, since It is like to Its

2 p. 179, Root2; neither is It stinted, since It is bound up3 in His Surn. e. p. name anc] Uke Him in all things. From the Father one may

c.Scrut. learn the Son; for if the Generator be akin to the creatures,

!'n12c'onthe Generate also would prove a fellow-servant4 with the

R.lxxiii. creatures. But if the Father be alien from, is His Fruit akin

§. 4. p. 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

5 R. Jii. the Son5, then He hath put strife to silence 1

R. lxv. have lost their own nature and have changed their names;

6R.ivjjj.both of them are bereaved of what are their fruits ! a Root of

K}',.. freedom7 with a Fruit of bondage4 ; and a Tree of bondage

§. i! ' with a produce of Majesty. How, when blossoming, do They

R-jxxvl- blossom? From this very expression thou shalt learn: for if

c.Scrut. 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 Natures8. 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

9 S. its itself, it relinquished it : for the thing intended9 betakes itself iTlxii. *° ' Generate,' as the Name of Son' also assorteth not with §• 2. the creature. For that word c 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

c This is like the use of the word cessory to the Essence of God in our con-

<ruft(ii(itixof in Greek Fathers, (see Petav. ceptions of Him, e g. attributes, whether

de Trin. iv. 10. §. 5. Le Quien on Da- personal or not; here of course permasc. i. p. 37, n. 5.) for whatever is ac- sonal attributes are out of the question.

Reality, the sacred writers 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 |?x 4 of that people went astray in the desert, then he by all methods 16. reproved them in every thing ; and he cried against them, Deut. and called heaven and earth to witness against them. How^'*?' again was the saintly Apostle demeaned and his colleague, when the men began to offer sacrifices unto them and to Acts 14, burn incense to them, and called them gods, because they 13' 18* 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 1, and if the servant had felt that his Lord was his fellow-20, servant, 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 Jo! this preacher's word crieth aloud in the world!

5. Why did not Gabriel deceive Daniel and say he pan. g was God, or the Seraph not deceive Isaiah and say he was J7the 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 end1. The truth i R.viii. alone is able to increase to the East, and to spread to the^6'.^

West, and to lay hold on the North, and to clasp the South2. §. 2. Into the depth It went down and conquered3 ! into the height lxxjv It went up and abode and ruled in all places over all! §• 2.

RHYTHM THE SIXTY-SECOND.

1. From the very beginning our fellow- servant seduced and Rom. l, enslaved us in the service of our fellow-servants1. His Son i ' 223 set us free fr°m an,> aiJd when He liberated us from servants, d- our Lord became our fellow-servant 2 ; and when we had let

272, n.g. 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. 1, not know* that Adam gave those creatures their names, and

a Here Adam is spoken of as giving the creatures names ' from the depths of his own skill.' As the whole discussion about names is of much im- portance in the controversy with the Anomeans, it will be right to mention here some similar statements in other writers, to endeavour to ascertain the sense in which they are to be taken, and to bring forward any passages or principles which may serve to modify them. S. Gregory Nyssen has been alleged by Father Simon (in his Crit. Hist, of O. T. i. 14.) and others after him as calling it a folly and ridiculous vanity of the Jews ' to affirm that God was the Author of the language which Adam and Eve spoke.' St. Greg, ii. p. 761, a. says, " We say that names declarative of entities were invented subsequently to these by human skill;" and p. 768, d. M we refer the invention of words to the rational power implanted by God in man's nature; and this is the most weighty of crimes, on account of which the master of orthodoxy (St. Basil) is accused of going over to the atheists, and of being the inheritor and advocate of a lawless way of life, and is called all sorts of hard names. Well! let the corrector of our blunders say, ' It was God that gave the appellations to entities.' For this is what this novel expounder of the mysterious writings does say, to wit, that to plants, herbs, grass, wood, and the like, God did give names before the formation of man, as He brought

into being the things which were made by His command." p. 778, c. u The power of discourse is the work of Him who made our nature what it is, but the invention of individual words for the purpose of indicating their objects, is quite of our own devising; and a proof of this is that many of the things which are spoken of are allowed on all hands to be base and indecorous, which no one with any sense would suppose " Things being what they are by nature, it was the reasoning power implanted in us by God which invented the words explanatory of them; and if any one refers the authorship of these to Him, who gave the power, neither do we object— as we say that moving and seeing and energizing according to the other senses, comes from Him from whom we have this power" — a parallel which he pursues in the next page. See also intellectual grace is it that Scripture beareth witness to Adam's having had; for there were brought to him by God the animals, but the invention of the names he had full power over, devising for each that which was meet and suitable." We see in the expression ' intellectual grace' what will prove a clue to St. G.'s meaning in the other passages. He views the discourse of reason as a gift of God, and the particular state of illumination in which it was in Paradise, as a grace. This wisdom, supernatural as it would be in

Adam by his wisdom 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

the Xi/£* on the place, p. 75. on the other hand speaks as follows: " Since God made him after His Image, He wished also to bring his honour out to view, and to shew verily that he beareth the Image of Wisdom. And see what a marvel! God prefigured {v^oiriytuatv \uvTcf ra oveftetTct) to Himself the names, and wished it to be shewn by the image that Adam's decisions agreed with the acts of God's will. So Scripture then being minded to shew that God had also foreordained the names which he gave, says, ' and every thing that he called it, that was the name of it' — i. e. this was foreordained, God had decided it." So Eusebius, (whose heretical bias is thought plain by many great divines,) P. E. p. 516, a. where he also is commending Plato, says of the same text, " What else does this prove, than that the names were given according to nature? for the name which was now given, this (it says) was long before comprised in nature, that to each of the things named there should be and preexist this name which the man aforesaid, inspired by a power above him, had given it." To which view Origen also strongly inclines, contr.Cels. (i. §. 24.) p. 18. Spenser, (see his notes) as does Mahomet, Coran ii. 31.) and perhaps others referred to (anonymously) by Moses Bar. Cephas de Parad. i. p. 477- B. P. Max. vol. xvii. It is not meant that there is any Catholic doctrine upon the subject known to the writer, but that the opinions of orthodox writers on the whole run one way; as they did hold Adam to be possessed of supernatural grace and know- ledge, so they seem to hold the need of believing a freedom in the use of the latter, as well as of the former, as if guarding against any depreciation of Adam's supernatural state, — the belief in which the heterodox in all ages seem by some instinct, as it were, led to attempt to obliterate. A supernatural gift of knowledge then freely used in cooperation with the external circumstances in which, by bringing the creatures wonderfully to him, God had placed Adam, seems to be that which originated language. As such a view does not preclude a belief in the continuity of God's enlightenment of the soul, (comp. p. 209, n. b.) during the process, it is not in any way connected with a heathen notion, that men

relation to man's fallen state, and in that state, the result of gradual development, was in Adam from his birth (so to call it) what gave him the power of making and choosing particular names; much as in the gift of miracles (which of course is not without God's agency, comp. p. 68, n. r.) the recipient is not tied down to determinate acts of miraculous power, but uses or even abuses that power in particular acts. Eunomius, on the other hand, spoke as if God had Himself uttered certain words and syllables, i. e. assumed that the phrase ' God said, &c.' was not in any sense an accommodation to man's notions, but a literal fact. St Chrysostom in Gen. Horn. xiv. p. 124, b. speaks in alike way with St. Gr. of Adam's great wisdom being displayed in giving the names; and so Basil of Seleucia, p. 8. (ed. Dausq.) " Go thou up Adam to thy dignity and confirm thy lordship by the names given to the animals; imitate the Creator's dignity! He creates natures, do you give the appellations! And one might see a secret watchword carried orderly through all the animals, and they all flowed together to Adam confessing their subservience to him by their passing before him. For God, it says, brought all the animals, <fec. Be thou a creator of names, Adam, since of creatures thou canst not be, and let them be formed by Me, but when formed be named by thee! Let us share the glory of creative wisdom! Me let them recognise as Creator by the law of nature, thee as master by the word of naming! give the appellation to those, to which I have given the substance. 1 subvert not the name; I reshape not the gift." St. Austin Op. imp. in Julian. P. lib. v. init. notices that Adam's giving ' the names to all kinds of creatures was a proof of most excellent wisdom;' it being so held even by Gentiles, (see from whom Nyssen, p. 815, a. says Eunomius borrowed ' the nonsense which he through poverty of ideas tacked on to his own trash') — St. A. adds, " that we might have most reasonably conjectured, (e^en if we had learnt nothing of the sort about Adam,) what kind of nature was created in that man in whom there was absolutely no fault; which any one can see. . ^.slowness of intellect or memory to be." Seve- /•ian of Gabala, a less saintly author, in

31*2 The Son's Names relative to the creature^ and much more

B. lxi.

B. lxv.

Adam not been ashamed to wage the war of disputation against the names of the Son, which the mouth of God proclaimed in their ears.

2. Our Lord is mystically ' the Way V because He hath led

began with being a ' mutum et turpe pecus.' (See Horace, Sat. i. 3. 100. and Lucret. v. 1027- whom Simon quotes.) It also falls in with the following other passages from St. E. ; vol. i. p. 24, d. on the place. " His saying that He brought them to Adam is to shew his wisdom, and what peace there was betwixt the beasts and Adam before he transgressed the commandment. For they came to him as to a

much loved shepherd Not only

the power over every thing which He had promised did God give to Adam, but He added moreover the right of giving the names which He had not promised. Now if He did for him somewhat over and above, which he asked not, how, without Adam's having sinned, could He withdraw what He had promised? For if a man were to impose names few in number, for them to be kept in the memory is no great thing. But an excellent thing it is, and greater than man can attain to, when in a single hour a man imposed thousands of names without giving the latter the names of the former. For for a man to put forth a multitude of names for a multitude of tribes of creeping things, beasts, and cattle, and fowl, is possible, but to do it so as not to give the names of one tribe to its fellow, this is of God, or of that man to whom this is given by God. If He gave him power and associated him in the creation, (comp. Bas. Sel. above, which forms a scholion upon this seeming misprint for |Zg*OJX> which occurs in p. 24, f.) and clothed him with glory, what was there more that He could do unto him to make him mindful of the commandment, which He did not do for him?" Here the whole drift of the passage is the same as it is in St. Chrysostom, viz. to shew that the fall was not from any want of wisdom in Adam, and St. E. minds not what view is taken of giving the names provided that is admitted; though he seems plainly from the second of the alternatives (of that man, &c.) which he gives, to prefer referring it to the supernatural state of glory in which Adam then was; as he says in p. 22, c. " He clothed him with glory,

and gave him his discourse and intelligence and perception of God." p. 27, c. " He was more subtle than all who had given the names to all; for as the children of Israel without a veil were not able to look upon the face of Moses, so neither were the beasts able to look upon the glory of Adam. With downcast eyes did they pass before him what time they received their names from him." Here again he is arguing to the same purpose, viz. to shew the serpent's own sublety was not greater nor as great as Adam's. So in vol. ii. p. 455, f. speaking of the diverse races of men, he says, " From the wonderful fountain of Adam the common stream of words and of forms flowed;" which implies that he draws a parallel between language and other natural gifts. The sense then in which such passages are to be taken is to be estimated in part by the heresies the Fathers wrere opposing. "When Eunomius wanted to shew an inherent connection between words and the things signified by them, he is plainly talking of words as they now exist: and therefore it is to the purpose to urge against him, as St. G. does, the endless variety of languages as proof that there is now no such connection. When he or others represent Adam as a mere material instrument in God's hand, it is important to insist on his supernatural state of knowledge and grace, and maintain the existence and free operation of created wisdom. This of course is quite another thing from denying, as Eunomius implies St. B. does, all interference of God or dependence of man in such matters. A portion of a fragment of St. Athanasiusap. Leont. in Mai's Coll. N. vii. p. 86. will fitly conclude this note. " Thus did God make man, and God as being good made man so great and goodly. Bo not then consider his present contemptibleness, but imagine to thyself his first constitution, seeing that it was in God's Image that

interpretation, " the drink that came from the Kock, (Deut. 31, 13.) was according to each man's desire; it was as honey to him that desired honey,

those to the Father, have a corresponding reality. 313

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 ], 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 Generate1. From' R. lxi. the name itself by itself may its force be tasted; for there*'3, is a name that may explain itself to us2. The word ' made'*11, °: 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.

3. From the confusion made, a perversion is detected ; c. Scrut. for lo! every name is of a piece with its root3, and agreeth J'i2' with it, ' Made' with w Maker,' \ Creature' with ' Creator,' and $. 3*. X ' Begotten' with ' Begetter.' Is then the name of every thing Jj ^°7' 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 insist5 that, in like manner, s S. it is the Son, our Lord, is the Son, only if He be Son both in?[teion name and in reality : but if the names be empty, then pretend offitness that all things are names0, and nothing else.

and as Oil to another, and as butter, relativeness a connaturalness 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 God of all : but one may as if by some

River, to another the Gate, to another artificial rule make a twofold division

the Way, 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." The Anomeans, His high 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. Hser.

sense in which men are called sons lxix. $. 35. and see on Athan. p. 25.

of light, without making Him capable &c. p. 153, n. d. and abo^e, p. 29, n. g.

of n oral advance, urged that the Son c Vol. i. p. 334, c. " 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 Son are, as they say, many, there their subject matters; but others being

is none which we say implies by its used relatively indicate only the bear-

314 Heretics make bitter sweet and sweet bitter, when they

4. Who is said to be generate, when no generator generated

1 §. 7. R. him ? the names of Generate and Generator then are borrowed ' ! x* ' and so would the Father in His Name be at variance with

2 E,. lx. Himself, and the Son also in His Generateness2. 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 * Son7 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

3 S. are every thing give contradictory impressions3. Yet who shall hervert- ma^e tne Names of the Lord of all contradictory ? Men do edly. R. not, from having a surname by grace4, lose on that account *B*.lii. their natures by the surname, seeing they remain clad with f1- . names unalterably attaching to5 mankind, and their own name clad is an assay-furnace6 to them. If the Son be a servant7, then fixed He is found to be our fellow-servant; if the Son be our Lord, names of then in truth He is our God.

ref.3.R. &• Who would not be astonished to think that if even the lxiii.§.4. gon js a servant, that the Womb of His Generator made Him n. i. 'fellow-servant of all; and that He was more glorious in the I"^'xlvi* birth from Mary8, which did make Him a true Brother of man- Ps. no. kind, than in that from the Womb which did not make Him j^'lxy/ either Angel or man, but made Him the fellow-servant and §• 1- kinsman of creeping things and of brutes d. Who can deny

ing they have to their correlatives, only signify a relative bearing, as

t Man,' e. g. and ' horse/ and ' ox,' helper/ ' shielder/ ' protector/ and

brings before us each of the things as many of this signification as may be

mentioned ; but ' son/ or ' servant/ or met with : from which if you take away

1 friend/ are merely indicative of the that which needs assistance, then the

connection with the cognate word, power indicated by the word comes to

"Whenever, at this rate, a man has naught. But some there are used koth

heard a generate thing mentioned, it is of themselves and with correlatives —

not to some essence that he is carried as ' God/ ' good/ and such like

in mind, but its connection with an- There is no reason why a person, who

other is what he thinks of. For a thing sets before us the Father and Him who

generate is an expression used of that is from Him,. . . .should not at the same

which is generate from some thing." time by the appellation 'Father' signify

And his brother, vol. ii. p. 403, d. "God to us that He begat the Son, and also

is called both Father and King, and by explain by the same word His own Uncountless other names, by Holy 'Writ, originateness." Comp. the next note. Now out of these names some are used d Of this passage 1 am unable to

in this single way, thus absolutely I give any satisfactory explanation :

mean, e. g. ' Incorruptible/ ' Eternal/ perhaps St. E. means, that the heretics

' Immortal/ and the like. For these, allow ' Angel' and ' man' to be names

even if no other conception be under- which have a reality answering to

stood along with them, in themselves them, but that they deny this of ' Son/

comprise a kind of perfect notion of and contend that generation merely

God. But there are other names which means creation. Coasequently, the

confound the names of l Son and ' creature.^ 315

the Names of the True One; he hath 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 deceiver1. But if the name i R. u. 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 fixed2 Names of Father and2 §.4. Son and Spirit tasteless, by which the clerks that lack taste re * * have gained taste ? For every word which may be tasteless hath its force from the adjoined words3. The Names oPS.by Father, Son, and Spirit, since they alone are fixed2, have aCOmP"re force which cannot be made void4 ; for there is nought that is At^' akin to them so as to be adjoined to them. Who could be-ip.316,' baptized in disjoined names ? Who could confess in borrowed5 T6e*' \-

It. lxiii.

title instead of giving the Son any preeminence, expresses no more of Him than what might be said of the brutes, i. e. only expresses that He is a creature as well as they. Nyssen, ii. p. 558. " If the Son be a creature, then the Heaven is a son, and each of the things that are made is, according to this fiction-writer, with propriety called by the name of * son.' For if it is not by sharing the nature of Him who begot Him that He hath the name of Son, but He is called so just because He is created, then this same argument will make a lamb and a dog and a frog, and all things that subsist at the will of the Creator, to have the appellation of ' son.' " St. Austin c. Maxim, lib. i. 6. " In order to shew that the Son is of the same Nature as the Father, I opposed to the monstrousness of your error the progeny even of animals that die, to reprove the heart of you who deny that God the Son is of the same Nature as the Father, though you do not deny that He is a true Son. For God Himself gave to animals the power of gene- rating that which themselves are; in which case I called not only man man's son, but a dog a dog's son, not for their likeness to God, but for the confusion of those who detract from the Son of God; who when they see natures corruptible and mortal, which yet have a unity of nature from their parents, are still unwilling to allow to the Son of God a participation of One Nature from the Father, though He be inseparable from the Father, and incorruptible and eternal with the Father. Whence also I said that, on your theory, the estate of man,- in which such growth is possible that at least thereby the sons may arrive at the parents' strength, is the better: but the Son of God, as ye say and teach, being born less than the Father in such way continued so, that He could not come up to the form of the Father, and did not grow." The heretics of the Arian school generally asserted, that Son had unalterable relations to the Father, as St. A. here assumes. See place he contrasts as was commonly done the Angels' natural capability of moral advancement with the unchangeableness of the Son. This then will throw a light on the word ' Angel;' and the passage from St. A. on the word ' man.' Angels are capable by nature of continual approximation to God, as man is to his parents, or indeed to God: but the Son in the Arian view not being really a true Son, and yetbeing fixed to one unalterable state as they allow, is rather like brutes than rational beings, has a title which, with the heretical explanation of it, concedes to Him whom God bare from all eternity, not so much real advantage as attaches to the nature of man or Angel, to wit, a capacity for indefinite progression towards their Creator.

316 Heretics pervert the use of language.

names? They are essentially indivisible; it is we that have

made a division in the Truth. For the virtue of the Father

1 p. 315, can never be made void1 of Him who is Generate from 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

m.ixxi. Essence 2 in that their names are united, while He divided

c. Scrut. the Name of Father? Every man is clad with names of his as 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 His^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 during1 His Cruci- ' s- uPon fixion it was to His Father He cried, and commended theLuke23>

Flesh2 of His Humanity b? And that they might believe 20r Body

a These words have some little difficulties, yet not such as affect the main sense, which plainly is, That names given for some occasion, as e. g. titles of office and the like in addressing a person, are dropped upon other occasions, such as those mentioned in the text, in which the testator, &c. wishes to designate A or B, not as he happens to be governor or proconsul or the like, Christ when ahoutto make a Testament with His Blood, to be of force after He was dead, did not say, ' "Why callest thou Me good? There is none good hut God/ or use any such economical expression, hut said plainly, ' Father.' The words ' eo tempore quo testamentum signaretur' occur in a form mentioned in Justinian Instit. ii. tit. 10. §. 7- What the particular words testament, &c. mean precisely is not easy to determine; perhaps the word rendered testament means a will generally, that rendered bonds a written codicil, and the remaining one an oral request at death. The ' assay-furnace' mentioned presently probahly means the fury of

Jews and heretics against His title of

b This difficulty is palliated in the Latin translation, which gives carnem et spiritum suum. That something is here asserted which St. E. thought was generally received doctrine is plain from the beginning of the sentence; that those who really or seemingly held the Divine Nature to have been separated from the Body at death were few is certain, (see Petav. de Inc. xii. 19. and Thomassin ibid. iv. 9. §. 27.) and it is not a priori likely that St. E. should mean by this deviation from the statement of Scripture to imply, that he held that the Soul only and not the Body remained united to the Divine Nature during the three days, an impression which the text might at first sight convey. Neither (with the present reading) does it account, satisfactorily, for the change, to assume that ' Flesh' stands for the whole Human Nature of Christ, as in John i. 14.: although considering that l commend' is expressed above by a different word from that in St. Luke, that might not be inadmissible. — St. Athan.de ]nc.

318 The? God the Son veiled Himself in assumed, it is unreal

Mat.27,that He was the Son, His voice rent the graves, and rent the Is'lffs sanctuary i ^ scattered the nation of crucifiers, and gathered Zech. 8, 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 wrote, 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

c. Arian §. 5. has the following remark upon the passage, which will perhaps help to shew St. E.'s ohject here. " He commends all mankind to the Father by Himself, as they are quickened in Him; for they be His members, and the members being many are one Body, which is the Church, &c." quoting Gal. iii. 28. "What St. E. then may mean is, to consider the voice at the Crucifixion in its effects upon the Church, and hence, as He is speaking of the Resurrection, he is led to mention not its effects upon men's souls in the intermediate state, but upon their bodies afterwards. In vol. i. p. 561. we find the following passage, in which there is a reference to the way in which Scripture blends the First-fruits with the effects on the lump. " Isaiah had said, Take a lump of figs, SfC. 2 Kings 20, 7. The lump of figs which was put upon Hezekiah'sboil, and by which being put on it a cure began to be effected, is a type of the Incarnation of Christ out of our nature. For from the time that God condescended to Flesh, and was united with It, the cure of Adam's boils began. But the figs be a type of the generations out of which the lump of healing effect was derived unto us. Beautifully then doth Scripture add, that it was on the third day that Hezekiah's cure was perfected, and he went up to the House of the Lord; because it was not before the third day that Christ healed by His Resurrection our mortality; and He became the First-fruits of them that slept, and made ready for us an ascent to the House not made with hands. For the Apostle Paul saith, Eph. 1, 6. God lifted us up with Him, and made us sit in Heaven in our Lord Jesus Christ." In the same way he may here apply what is said in Scripture of Christ to the orphans and disciples who were, by virtue of His commendation of Himself

to His real Father, to attain to the adoption, to wit, the redemption of the body. So above, p. 23. in a passage throughout parallel to this, he says, 1 When upon the Cross He quickened the dead, His Body quickened them, yea, rather His Will.' Yet the addition here ' yea rather' makes the meaning plain, not to say that ' Body' ought to occupy the place of ' them' to make this clause parallel to the text in this point also. What one would suspect is, that a letter should be altered, and we should read ' Body of our humanity.' Vol. iii. p. 507, b. " O Lord, when Thy mercifulness moved Thee to come down and put on the Flesh [or Body] of our humanity, &c." See R. taken in connexion with the way in which St. E. speaks of the Old Adam, (p. 328, n.c.) would give a good meaning to the passage, the main object of which is to shew Christ called God ' Father' to the last. Didymus, de Trin. iii. 30. is worth quoting, as shewing what use may be made of the text against heretics. " Through His own Person He commends the human nature which is quickened into Him by faith, which also He deigned to call His members, or possibly He partly teaches all to know how much Arius was in error herein, he having supposed Him not to have a soul in the Incarnation; and partly teaches all to pray at their last breath, and use this voice, confessing in a right spirit, that it is from God that the being of us men originates, and to Him that we have to return. And so what took place was a precept." See Dam. F. O. iii. §. 24. The expression, however, in St. E., as it stands, would go the other way; it is so strange that this note cannot pretend to do more than A.'s version, i. e. to palliate the difficulty.

to pretend these are undistinguishable from proper, names. 319

a voice diverse from all voices. The earth beneath it shook, the sun above it darkened, yea, he also cried, and set to his seal p. 23. 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! Essence1, for the Name of Eternal were'R.xlvii.

Neither can the height of His name and His surname be$-12,11,1,

brought down, so that He should invest the creatures with it,

since it is the Name belonging to the [eternal] Essence.

3. Who would not marvel at His Name and at His mercy ? for His Name is inaccessible to all, and His Love condescended even to all. Since He hath other Names which are sweet, and accommodate themselves to creatures, and which 2 p- 273, 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 kings3 of His servants: because He was God, He called them 3 p- 256, also by the name of gods; and because He was Judge, lo, j'ohnio, His servants are judges; and because they were travellers,^5* weary did He call Himself by name4; and by reason of their 6, 3. riding He also made Himself a rider5, that He might in all2 25? things be like unto us. (Hebr.)

4. Who is there that is in such sort wholly unwise and hard- i83,n^d. hearted, as to fancy ever so short a while, that because men were 5 s* . called by His Names, that the nature of man and of God is one p. 285, [and the same] 6 ; or again who, because the Lord was called "^ J., by the Name of His servants, would imagine a thing made §.4. and the Maker to admit of being compared7 together ? For§ 2 when He called us kings by His own Name, the reality was His, & would the likeness ours. Again, when He called Himself by the thing names of His servants, the nature is ours, His is the surname, ^_by in the place of the true name: and the borrowed8 name is plain, parison. both in our case, and in His case. Now by His mercies ^ { wittingly did He set His own Names upon His own creatures9,9 §. 5. p. not for disputation, but for consolation. Let questioning be ' 'n,c' stopped, my brethren, and let us pray more. For when He shineth forth10 unto us, He is as of our race, and though 10p.336, distinct in all things from all things, yet is He with all things"'

m all things ". n> \

5. Wherefore, if He were to separate Himself, He could R. xW.

320 Heretics meet Christ's love with ingratitude.

1 §. 4. not clothe His creatures1 with His Names; and if according

i^wo t0 om 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?

with us. spoke confidingly: and that they might taste His Love, He

tasted of their bitterness.

RHYTHM THE SIXTY-FOURTH.

1. Lord, root out the thorns1, whose sower is the evil one, *P- 220, c.d the husbandman of tares 2. For they saw that we disputed, 2 *p> 217, and they rejoiced that we wrangled, and they agreed together n- &•

at our separation, and they assembled at our dispersion, and they rejoiced that our assay-furnace3 put not their frauds to3p:i22, 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 silence4, there our voice was tumultuous; and were it was4P-118>9right that we should reprove, there we were tongue-tied by the persons of men5. We have gone astray, and have turned 5 P- 162> our eyes away from our own hateful faults. We have warred Athan. and risen up against the High One, for we have pried into the J* * ' hidden things of God, [to see] how He exists. Yet who is able to search throughly into that party6 which disturbeth and6P-326> troubleth us? For if he7 indeed have senses, how then is7R.i.§.5. he formed, and how are his ears and eyes furnished with F"4lxxvr* openings? and if he hath a mouth? for behold he hath no body; and if he hath limbs? for behold he hath no frame8. 8p-238,

2. Who then — [to take] this apostate Satan, who teacheth J^xv. e. us the prying into secret things9 — who hath searched him9P-203> 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, and?*^9?^ his words into our words, and how too he insinuates his willlxvi.§.i. into our heart ? Here is a marvel in his hateful doings ! J* c ' Who would not be ashamed that the wicked one entereth 10 R- L 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 sojourneth in it. While searching into its Lord, let it search into its " Rmurderer11 ! 12 c.' *

3. Who hath explored into the earth12, (which yet appears ?CJ^\ *' to be a thing limited by measures,) to see, whence the ear is R. lviii.

322 Difficulties in nature teach submission to thosein Scripture.

1 p. 19, filled and bringeth up heaps of corn1, and the palm tree ^ c 2| sweetness, the cluster strong wines, and the olives are fruitful

2 p. 324, in oils2, and the trees put forth their branches, flowers and n' ' fruit they bear and sweet smells with spices too. Can any

3 p. 297, man tell us how the waters3 increase the seed and multiply it? ?R.Mi. From it by itself enquire also into the fountain4, who it is §• 5- 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 dry Bochart.land or the Leviathan in the sea? and how without food they Hieroz. fatten and increase? and who ever hath explored the fearful c.15.16. wombs of their caves? How much more hidden from all is the Generation of the Lord of all? and who can explore the

5 P. 131. mighty Womb5 of His Generator ? Who can reckon up how

many natures there are yet removed far from us in the sea a and in the dry land, and our soul knoweth not how to gaze

6 Origenupon them ? Lo, all these difficulties6 cry aloud : ' Since ye i"B^1tler' cannot fly in the air, hush up your disputings, O ye feeble

7 p. 228, 5. I have taken my stand then 7 ! I have not turned aside n' c* 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 b; 1 have left 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! Pie 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.xlviii. tne*r rea^m tney suffer for their leapings; and if men too

§• 3. pull up the boundary9 which is in the Scriptures, their pryings

195. 'are death.

a This is a remark which it is worth mere words went, and of course much

calling attention to, as it seems not to more so in meaning. St. E. however

have struck some of the modern in- is willing, as well as Athanasius, see

vestigators of God's ways. p. 17, m. p. 157, i. p. 178, d. to yield to

b "When Arians objected to the word them in this, and states that he has

' Homoousion' and the like, that they avoided unscriptural terms wherever

were unscriptural, it was usual to retort by using them he would have run

upon them, that the words ' creature,' the risk of losing Scripture 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: Nature1 is before thy hand, Scrip- 1 see p. ture before thine eyes, and nature is hard for us, Scripture261' b* is easy2 for us; for it was not from nature that we learnt 2 p# 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 Birth3. 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 Spirit3, if They of a truth baptize us and give3 Basil us life. He is convicted by himself! for either he denies* ^r the baptism of the heretics to be valid4; or else if he is baptized xiiv.§.3. and asserts their baptism, to be valid, he is like Marcion, who a.P* ' ate the goods of the Maker, and denied the Maker, and though he was conceived and born, yet vilified marriage5. 5Tertuii. A bitter fruit this which denieth its own root6! For who when i.'gg; he baptizeth denies and casts aside That into Which he^R-lxii baptizeth? 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 shape7, thou hast 'Though had trial of those of the heretics! ^d

2. Who hath searched out the ventricles and ducts8 ofstandeth animals, meats and their changes, natures and their vicis- s 5, folds situdes, some whereof are solitary9, and some of them pro-^'3xhductive of others. There is also reason to be greatly astonished 9 p. 232, at the trees, how it is that they put forth and bear leaves and '23^ a ^ranches and yield fruit ; the investigating whereof ends in10 10 s. is stillness, and the searching after them in silence. Whostlllness

* See p; 115, n. c. p. 43, n. i. R. li. Thou Son of time, whose beginning

§. 2. R. lxii. §. 6. vol. iii. p. 610, f. was from the house of David. blessed

" O Son and Fruit, who wert eternally be Thy former Birth, and blessed be

with Thy Root without beginning; Thy second Birth!"

324 Necessity of faith illustrated by the case of the blind.

1 contr. hath searched out the olive1', which, when thought1 to be of §. 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?

2 P- 12_4, 3. In measure the blind man 2 can search into light, lvi. §. 5. though he cannot shadow forth the sun and his ray3 in his Scrut <i'heai't' and imagination; how can he gain any kind of sight of §. is. the ray and offspring4 of that sun save only by putting implicit lxxiv* fa^h in him who hath told him thereof? Hence if a sightless

4 comp. man were minded to raise difficulties in what he was told, and §. l. ' did not believe, he would fall into countless evils; for that he

5 R. pried and would not rest [content with one], but was minded5 | # 2.n" to be found blind in both, in the eye as well as in the mind. 6 p. 136, But had he been willing to believe6, God in His justice had 7 S. the provided a light for his blindness7.

sentence 4 Why do we vex ourselves, even our own selves, with

tice had questionings? why trouble we ourselves, even our own selves,

up his w*tn 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 believe5 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

I96,n!c.the voice of God? for the voice of the Father proclaimed

lxii.§.l.

,0p.i04, jjere end seventeen Rhythms to the tune of Bardesanes'10

% Odes.

b Schubert. G. der Natur, ii. p. 532. or the flesh of the stone-fruit,. . . contains

11 The oleineae with pendent seeds, in some much fat oil, in others the

contain very different growths. . .The seed. The bark and the leaves of most

difference lies principally in the fruit, species are very astringent ; that of the

less in the form of the blossom, which 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 measure1 of Him that formed ' s- t0. him, himself being but dust ? Let him who feels that he is c^mp^R? dust praise that Image2 who fashioned, yea, and ordered him. *"?* f" The seducer3 seduced and bewildered the sons of men. 2 S. Against the invisible Sun4 he incited them and darkened 1^5°) them, not that they should see, but that they should pry. °°n,P- P- By the Trinity, whereby they wTere washed, they have defiled 3 p- 299, themselves, in that they have made divisions5 about Theirixiv".§.2. Names. 4R.lxv.

2. There is wrrangling in the Church, and in the presence R.ixii. of the Truth the heart is divided upon disputation6. In the^'R* Church envy biteth men, and in the Ark there was a treaty 6 R. lix. of peace among the fanged beasts a. Under the pretext ofpg \l 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 put on strife as a coat of mail; they have rent Truth as the garment. Ps. 22, Yet is the Truth itself not divided, for it hath rent them that ' rend it7, and cast them out of the Kingdom. Lo, they have7 R.viii. put on armour, as in war, for that victory in which is con- !' q '^' cealed condemnation! They have worn8 the Scripture toxxxixa "Vol. ii. p. 481, d. " In the Ark He who repented not at the preaching of8 P- 279,

shadowed out the creature to teach the "Noah, and notices the larger number "• d.

same; for in it all families changed of innocuous and clean animals in the P- 196,

their natures. Lo, every nature there Ark as a type of the Church " making n. c.

preached to us that evil is not of nature! priests to God out of the pure and per-

Let them shew us then an evil, the feet in her."

nature whereof admitteth not of change. b R. viii. §.5. R. xxxix. §. 2. R.lxi.

Upon nature and on will look and see §. 5. R. lxviii. §. 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. 52. and p. 148. another in turns, for their own selves

where he dwells on the marvellous con- they make no conquests." See the whole

cord of the beasts as a lesson to those §. and on Athan. p. 8, n. r.

326 It is Satan who allures from the path of Orthodoxy,

2 See p. and p. R. lxix.

pieces, not that they 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 hissing0 amongst their words. Who shall be able to allay them who, when supposed to be searching after the truth, are searching how they may wrangle? The milestones1 set in the King's high road2 have the foolish deserted, and have taken to trackless land, and lo, they go astray in it! He that goeth in the King's high road, he it is that goeth to meet the King and His Gift.

that St. E. joins with the Fathers in general in holding idolatry and heresy to be intrinsically the same thing; here he speaks of heretics, as others also do, as the organs of Satan, inspired by him in what it is their miserable lot to invent and utter. See p. 269, n. e. on 4 init. and p. 17. Ambr. de Fid. ii. §. 134. Damas. c. A poll. Concil. Hard. i. p. 762, b. It may be added, that the apparent contradiction implied in calling orthodoxy at one time a ' narrow path' and at another a ' high road' is parallel to a similar case in Scripture, in which God's way is represented not only as a \ narrow path,' but also as ' a large room,' according as men are seeking it, or have found it. The words of Hesiod,

%a\urq <jn^ lovtru, illustrate the language of Scripture. Ecclus. 4, 15 — 19. Mat. 7, 13. As far as temptations to depart from the road through heterodoxy are concerned, Satan's aim is to tempt men to think that a strict Creed cramps the intellect instead of illuminating it.

RHYTHM THE SIXTY-SEVENTH.

1. The standard3 of truth hath been set in the Scriptures !, i §. 2. the blear-eyed leave it; for they seek to shoot at the Lord of?^P* angels. This standard is that the Father is One, indivisible ;R. ixix. and the Son is One, unsearchable. A visible standard is set^*^11 in the light2, and he who is foolish shooteth darts3 by night p-57,n.l. into the darkness. Let stillness be a boundary to the vain J* a# ' talkers, and let silence be a boundary to the disputers 2 seeRconcerning hidden things ! Let the mouth learn how it xlviii. should speak, and thus let it speak, lest it repent after itf'^ hath spoken ; let it learn first, and thus let it teach, lest it R.xx\ii. become as it were a passage for things not convenient4. |" 260

2. The Scriptures are set as a mirror: he whose eye is clear,11- bseeth the image of truth therein. There is the likeness of on c. the Father set: there is the image of the Son shadowed out,^0^* *• and of the Holy Ghost. The Names of these Three are set

one after another5 in the faith at baptism. Pretence entered 5 p. isi, in to make confusion, [saying,] that we ought to pry into them, n* cin order that we may gain them6. Scrutinizing entered, strife g comp. entered, struggling entered, and truth fled. The right thing P- 136> 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 b 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

a Syr. |A*OQ> La* J. So in the Syri- f32> d- &c- .&c- ' doctrines' in the plural

ac Version of St. Ignatius p. 10. (*p^ what fo]lowg) ^ ia p> 446> e> and f>

;•> J3-elect in the standard of may be referred to; He only is wise vr ■ who raaketh tools wise by his contruth, a kind of phrase by no means un- versation." " The beginning of the common in St. E. (see p. 107, n. b.) for first estate [of life] is from our own ' the true doctrine' or somewhat ot the nature to do what is becoming; the kind. The phrase J.kk*OQ.. Z.O-tZt second, which is also without blame, is

/ 11 a a * v too \ • to know and to do what we know : the

i. o • r t xi. j?j t third, which deserveth stripes, is when

later Synac, for 'orthodoxy' does not, as ,' j j • / ,' 7

far as I recollect, occur in St. Ephrem. Te lea™ J^V^T wha* we har-j

Possibly it originated with the con- |earnt; but toolish and exceedingly dull

troversies about the Trisagion. 1S that' J**™11 we d°t ot„1earn, on

" S. Wisdoms: so in vol. ii. p. 477, b. PU1?0Se that we ma? not do-

328The old Adam restored by r ever en tial faith in the New Adam .

know his father by the sight of him, and not by closely examining him. It is fitting then that one should learn the

1 R.xlvi. truth by the conversation1 of faith without scrutinizing. Be ScrutC'i.th°u then content with these things, O blessed assembly! §. 44. ii.put off strife, and put on love2, and preach the truth.

2 R. lx. 3. He at the first3 opened the store-house of His love and I" 6„ created Adam, when as vet 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

4 R. v. mm His own Essence4! Glory to the Son who is hidden in

lxx.§. ]. His Generation by the seal of silence5! Praise to the Father,

6ormea-with the Holy Spirit cannot be searched into! Increase unto

Sv?§.4 me? Ij0rc^ silence and a voice, that by them I may live to

R. lxvi. rebuke prying into Thee, and to tell Thy glory7.

n* e* Vol. iii. p. 280, f. " When the

comp. p. LiQjj.g -yVhelp roared in hell, then were ' ' its gates hroken open, fallen were the walls of the revelling city, crouched on their knees the mighty ones of the place at ease! "When Christ the Eagle screamed therein, that Nestling of the Mighty God, from that time was death put to shame, and the head of the apostate bowed down \ Because he wished to he God, Christ shouted against Ahaddon, and the apostate crouched and fell. And He called Adam, and raised him up from the darkness on which he was bedridden. Where art thou, Adam the fair, that by thy helpmate's counsel fellest. Rouse thee up then, O thou fair one, image great that wert corrupted? slain is death, and Satan too, and crushed is the dragon's head! Rise, praise the Father in the Son, and the Spirit by the Only-begotten! for in Him are thy children raised again and inherit life in heaven. Lift thee up, Adam the fair, . that by the Father's hand wert formed; lo, Eden looks for thee, thy dwelling, and Paradise whence thou didst go! Rise, be quickened with thy children, by the might of Him who shaped thee from the beginning! The trees that be in Paradise mourning for thy sake have

been! Rise, thou fair one, mock at him, the tyrant who thy flesh tormented! Tread thou on the dragon's head, who thy nestlings would devour! Adam rose, and on his knees worship paid unto his Lord, that in quest of him descended. Worship pay I, O my Lord, with my children, that Thou earnest and hast raised our fallen nature! unto Thee my Lord and God, pay I worship! Thee confess I, O our Saviour, who didst save my life from death, that long had sported with my members, &c." Although St. E. held strongly that our Lord set free the Patriarchs upon His descent into hell, probably the word 1 Adam' in the text rather means human nature — as ibid. p. 312, b. where he says, " The brightness and the glory which by transgressing the commandment Adam lost, that did the Lord come and restore to him by Baptism." p. 499. he speaks as follows: * The King Messias di rected his way to the mountain of Jebus, which is Jerusalem: He fixed His Cross in Adam's tomb, where the Jews too fixed it. He cried with His voice, and the rocks rent, and the dead: arose from their tombs.'

RHYTHM THE SIXTY-EIGHTH.

1. The Scriptures are agreed, men are divided, seeing that

it is about the one truth1, that strifes have risen from free- 1 R. lix. will. Under the pretext of truth vile men have designed the obtaining the mastery, after having called men to their side2.2 R- ... The congregations chose their masters, captains of thousands §. 2. and of hundreds, and captains of tens: because there was?e|am abundance of peace, all the spoilers that spoiled by troops 22, 7. every man his neighbour, were vehement at disputing as at a^th™ contest, so that brothers cast their darts against brothers. P- 19°- Mighty sorrow! The vile drew3 their tongues; they smote, iiiv.§.i! and were smitten: and without blood or danger that sword t,00™.?- though feeble raged. The tongue as a murderer scorneth, §. 2. because it is blinded!

2. Vain-glory troubleth the disputants, as the crown causeth sighs to the wrestlers who smite and are yet overcome4. They 4 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-fall5. 5R-xliv. O great humiliation!

3. One is filled with wrath, another with strife, which [leads to] endless evils6. And what hope is there for them 6R-lviiithat 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, R j— heaven; the earth is disturbed7: disputation fumeth up as a §-2.

smoke. The Heaven and the Heaven of Heavens8 are unpro- n,e. and

ductive of disputation, and the caverns of earth are full of the -p- J11,

330 Disputation dissuaded and prayed jagainst.

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 things of clay

have clashed, by their disputings, with their handiworks, and

have fallen upon the earth and become dust !

1 R. iv. 4. Ten thousand times ten thousand Angels1 are still, and

v* two are prying; -the soul and the body are in disturbance.

Still is Michael and Gabriel too, and dust disputeth and ashes

too. O heavy wrath! Sicknesses pressed on us: their words

3 S. by ceased, as by the prospect of death2 have their scrutinizings

their end an(^ disputings also. Praise3 be to Thee, Lord, because that

disputers use, that I may live before Thee.

a See p. 228, n. c. Vol iii. p. 521. in the which Thou art to judge me!

11 O Lord my God, whom I have con- Have mercy on me, O Lord, after Thy

fessed, do not Thou deny me in that goodness, and make me to stand at Thy

fearful day, when each man will need right hand with the just that have loved

forgiveness! O do not say 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 weak man ! From the beginning to the end there is rest to him that goeth by the King's high-way1. To the Eternal there ^.Scrut. is no beginning nor end, and so He perplexeth him ihat Jjj p*" seeketh into Him. If in the Truth which thou hast laid hold 244, n.a. of, thou lettest thyself be of divided mind, thou wilt pour §.2. thyself out and error will drink thee in, that thirsty land. If with His secret counsel thou let thyself become perplexed, disputing about Him will be a mighty sea2 and will come2PI44, over thee. In the faith as in a ship3 go down to His Scriptures ixx.'§. 1. as a sailor to the port. Save by His Scriptures4 go not thou^R*xllx* down into Him, for He hath made Him many havens5 among 4R.lxvii. His billows. Praise thou His Name ! 5 R *lxx

2. The High One came down in His Love and became Msmall though greater than all, and was little6 unto Him who 6 p- 209 was too weak to go. Again, in His Love He hath become a Sea, that he might trafBck 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 thing7 can search into His God-^,lxhead, when there is a gulph between him and the Creator ? Unto the Godship is naught of the things which are made8 far8 & 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 ™f* 1- One none that is impure partaketh, for that He dwelleth in His entirety 9 in the holy. To that All-knowing One none attaineth nf'u22L that is subtle, for that His Love is with plain men. To thati74,n.e. High One none that is haughty attaineth, since His Love condescendeth to the lowly. He, being God, cannot be measured10 of a man, though very loving unto men. He,*0-^1**1* being Maker, cannot be measured of things made7, how great

No faculties can Jin d out God.

soever the thing made by Him may be. He, as Only Living, cannot be uttered by mortals1, nor His Generation by the disputers. Unto that Majesty who can reach? the spirit is feeble, the soul is little, the flesh weak a. Whoso hath thought that he could search out Him, of him the speech stray eth, of him the heart roameth, of him the whole rebelleth.

a It seems but little to add, that the flesh cannot reach God, which assertion may yet be illustrated by reference to n. d. p. 116. It would however appear more likely, that the word ' flesh' is used (as in Scripture) for the soul considered as acting upon, and acted upon by, the body; and the sentence will then mean, that that one substance, (which we call spirit, soul, or flesh, according to the subject matter which at the time of speaking we conceive of it as acting upon,) cannot by any of its faculties find out God. The oneness of the soul in all these three functions ought to have been noticed above, p. St. E. makes analogous to the oneness of God in Three Persons. It will be

following the example of the Fathers again to remind the reader, that God is not one out of all things and does not come under the laws relating to all things, and that consequently any one of them selected to illustrate His Nature only illustrates It partially. Each of these three functions of the soul seems as we contemplate them to engross its whole substance, and so to correspond to the Trinity in Unity in the rude way in which alone we can contemplate His Adorable Substance. The soul's mode of existence does not, in reality, answer to God's mode of existence: but the two objects, as we con- template them, do (lurm/a, see p. 145, n. a. p. 246, n. b.) exhibit a kind of resemblance. Comp. R. lvii. n. a. b. p. 341,

RHYTHM THE SEVENTIETH.

1. With what eye shall the thing made look upon the Maker, when it is a creature, and He the Creator ? There is no seeing of the soul1 within us, gaze and look as we may,1 R. lvii. either with the mind or with the eyes. For if we enquire after it with the mind one belie veth in it, and the other denieth [its existence]2. Oh, great stumblingblock ! How8R.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 haven3, feeble man ! for if the sea be3R.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 be 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 easy4; disputing4 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-will5. And if the law be not of5R- v. necessity, what disputing can constrain us to be searching ? xxviii. He gave the commandments, and refrained disputing ; in His|- 2- c- Testaments there is no seeking and no prying. He gave the R.i.§.i2. law instead of disputation6, and instead of searching, the6c-Scrutfaith7, unto our feebleness. The natures which He made are' R. not to be comprehended ; how much less the Nature of?*, "* Him who is hidden in Himself8, and is unspeakable ! 8R.lxvii.

2. The Son, which is of Him, knoweth Him without con-^aj. u troversy, as not erring as to the way of searching into Him.2?- Every thing made erreth altogether, whensoever it prieth, for that it cannot reach unto the Maker. If then His Love magnified us9, let us know what we are — that our nature 9R.xxix. cannot pry into His Nature. For every thing which is a^j 3

334 Creatures cannot comprehend the Creator.

creature goeth 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 creatures1 a vessel large ' B.lxu. enough to contain that Majesty ! there cannot be among minds iivi.§.i'. a womb that sufficeth for the knowledge2 of the Godhead ! For ?'2lxlx* the Maker is very wise, so that He would not be at issue with2 §.2. R. Himself, as in sport, about the manner in which He should jfg^J create. For if He were to make a vessel capable of containing i- §• 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 greater than it!

2. If then the Creator be the greater, how can the thing made, which He hath made, be commensurate with His knowledge3? and if He hath made any thing commensurate with Him-3 p. 348, self, this were an amazement not to be believed. Again, since n' a" 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 counter4 to Himself to create aught which should limit 4°r>was

. not at

Himself, neither did the Maker strive against Himself to issue make aught which should set bounds to Him. It was not Wlth any envy5 between the Creator and the creatures, since He is P* 121 clothed with Love toward His subjects6; [but] it is not the lot6or,creaof that which is created that it should be a match with itSs"^. Creator in its knowledge. 278, n.c.

3. Of what is a creature, the Scriptures cry aloud, that?k 8.' great as it may be, it is far less than its Creator. Let no p* \l6> one imagine these things, or the like of these, of the Fruit7 or 7 R. lxi. of the Begetter of Him. The Prophets cry, the Apostles §'3' confess, yea things above, yea things below, that He is the

Son of the Highest. Yea, His noble acts which are rife in

Heretics deaf to God's leaching.

all the creation are enough to convince even the blind; and who is there that will despise the mighty thunder of all His preachers, save the ear of all heretics1 ? As His preachers are many, He giveth witness that His work is mightier than His preachers. Lo, all eyes and minds are very feeble beside the 2 p. 234, power of His Godhead! Lo, the Ray2 that took its rise" from ' g' Him sufficeth for Him; the Fire2 that He begat knoweth Him.

I S. audacious,

a S. u^jj. This, which is of frequent occurrence, is equivalent to the Greek, i%iXup,y]/t, which was used to express the transmission of the whole of the Father's Substance to the Son. See Petav. de Trin. vii. 18. §. 7. Le Quien diss. Dam. i. §. 3. §. 48. As the meaning of this root when applied to the Son is of some importance in what follows, it will be right to illustrate its use in St. E. concisely here. It occurs sometimes of the generation of the Son from the Father, as above, and in R. xl. §. 1. Comp. E,. lxv. §. 3. (where ray and offspring are made synonymous,) p.308,ref. 1. ; next and most frequently of His Birth from St. Mary, as, e. g.

f. &c. The following passage which blends the two ideas (though without using the word) from vol. iii. p. 612, a. may be added: " May the visible light of Thy Manhood, (where the root used in Heb. 1, 3. occurs.) 0 Lord, shine forth! may the invisible light also of Thy Majesty glisten! May light with light be mingled! may it be a Sun of Righteousness!" Lastly, it is used of any manifestation of Christ, whether to individual souls, or to all at the Judgment, with which sense we are not here concerned. The word is transferred to the Trinity from the type of It so often employed, viz. the Sun.

RHYTHM THE SEVENTY-SECOND.

1 . With mighty wonder set thy soul a boundary, O hearer,

and gather in thy mind from distraction! By faith1 He draweth l R.lxx. 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 the 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 running sufficeth not, since without Him thou couldest not even know that He exists8. If thou wert to search for ever and ever, it is He that giveth thee this, to be able to know of His existence only2. And how much soever he that laboureth doth2 p. 136, labour, this he knoweth, and beyond it there is none thatg^tc* knoweth. . K.i.j.34.

2. For He is very manifest to him that seeketh Him, and §. \£ very concealed from him that prieth into Him. Be still, Rom-10 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 3. Instead of His Majesty, seek His Goodness, 3 p. 201,

which may be found of thee. His treasure is open: Himself is n' a*

withdrawn. Instead of thyself, seek the Deep b; instead of

a This is a strong assertion of the in which by God's Providence men are

necessity of Divine illumination, in placed, is essential to, and precedes as

order to the perception of supernatural well as limits, all disputation about

truths. Comp. 255, n. g. It. xxv. §. 5. R. Him.

lv.§.5. p.87,n.h. p. 2l7,n.g.c.Scrut.i. b This passage may be illustrated

§.20. Men argue as if they could generate and almost paraphrased in Hooker's

belief of God's Being and attributes in a words, E. P. i. cap. xi.§. 3." Capable we

their mind by reasoning upon the ere- are of God bojh by understanding and

ation, whereas they can only confirm will: by understanding as He Is that

the belief when it exists. St. E.'s sovereign Truth which comprehendeth

doctrine 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,

tem, i.e. that acting by afaculty (infused whereof whoso tasteth, shall thirst no

in different ways by God,) upon a system more."

338 God infinite, yet present, not merely efficient, 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 quality1 or how great He is.

38ann'pz# And if thou daringly aim at getting before [Him], how much

wilt thou be before Him, who is before all, and cannot have

3 R. xlv. any before Him 2 ? There is no place to pass by Him — go

R. ixxi.oy Him, and where art thou? since by Him and beyond

§• !• 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

3 Comp. wonder in all things3.

J[ b. ' 4. If thou couldest reach all places, He would meet thee,

4 p. 105, though He change not from the place wherein He is4. Little 251 ref.and 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 off, is yet near, because the

body is too weak to approach to it2. He is not as the sun,

which if he withholdeth not his might from the eye, she is

5 p. 260, made abashed by her weakness5. The Lord is blended with bl 5.340 J His creatures far and near, lo ! they seek Him, and He is carry - d 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 6p.87,i. they should measure how great it is. Since even the sea6 is but a drop beside His Greatness, fall not into it, lest thou lose thyself therein!

RHYTHM THE SEVENTY-THIRD.

1. Lo, there is a similitude between the sun1 and the Father, s. are the radiance and the Son, the heat and the Holy Ghost ; P*rabIe9 and though it be onea, 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 his ray is itself also the suna ; yet of two suns no one speaketh, though his ray is also the sun over things below2. We call2 Comp. Them not two Gods, though our Lord be also God over the^T^ creatures b. Who can search oat how and where His Ray is bounden, bounden and yet free His Heat c ? Though not divided,

a This is the doctrine of the Una Res, (see on Athan. p. 404, ref. 6.) it being here manifestly implied, that the Son is the selfsame Substance as the Father; They may not be spoken of as two Beings, as Eusebius (with some who defend him) and the Arians in general do, nor may They be brought under number, or be reasoned of as if subject to the laws by which we reason of all things, seeing They subsisted antecedently, and gave the laws, to all things. For even amongst the ' all things' we find things which involve contradictions in some degree similar to those the Church holds of the Trinity; similar at least as far as our ordinary conceptions and way of speaking of arguing. See R. lxxvi. §. 1.

where there is the same transition from the Son as God to the Son as incarnate, as presently occurs in this Rhythm. Ass. paraphrases, Esto Dominus quoque noster suis per carnem affinis sit creaturis, Deus est. But it seems more likely that St. E. does not mean in this §. to introduce the subject of the Incarnation, but to point out how the Son viewed as the Brightness of the Father's glory, by upholding all things

as He doth by the word of His power, forms an Antitype to the ray in which, and not in person (so to speak), the sun visits the earth. Comp. vol. ii. p. 518. as above.

c The type and Antitype are here, as often, blended together. Ass. takes this passage to mean that the ray's presence necessarily involves the sun's presence, whereas the heat's presence is possible after the ray has departed, as the Holy Ghost was present when Christ was gone; i. e. he takes it to anticipate §. 3. which he is obliged to do owing to his assumption that the Incarnation is meant by the words ' God over the creatures.' This (if T understand him) is to assume that when St. E. says the Ray is bounden, he refers, through the type, to the coinherence or Perichoresis of the Divine in the Human Nature of the Son; whereas in the next clause and the next sentence the word* bounden ' occurs with a reference to the Perichoresis of the Divine Persons in Each Other. In R. xviii. §. 2. the Spirit is spoken of as filling the Redeemer's Body, though in no wise confined in it; which it is right to mention as seemingly confirming A.'s view. May not the text rather mean, "Who can ascertain any

340 Types of the Trinity and the Incarnotion drawn

They are not confused; distinct, yet mingled1; bounden together, yet free. Mighty marvel!

2. Who can search and explore them, though they be thought to be simple and easy of explanation ? Search me the sun from his ray ; fix thine eyes and look upon its heat, if thou art able. Distinguish me the sun from its ray, and from both the heat, if thou canst. And as that sun is with things on high, the heat and light of it are with things below2; this is a visible mystery. That ray ofhisdescendethto the earth3; it dwells in the eye clothed with it as if with a body d,

mode by which, or limits to which, the sun's ray is so confined, as to he else than coextensive with the sun? or any by which the Son is so confined, as to be else than coextensive, so to speak,(seep.293, n.b.) with the Father? who can shew how the heat, which universally accompanies and is coinherent in this ray, is yet free or loose, i. e. has a separate subsistency from it? or who shew how the Spirit well as the Son, is, notwithstanding His coinherence in the Son, yet a distinct Person from the Son? If the pas- sage be so interpreted, the words ' bounden' and ' free' will be taken throughout in one sense; and the thing which St. E. alludes to will be the Procession of Two Persons from the Father, of which Persons One proceeds in and from the Other. Hence he speaks in R. lxxv. §.1. of the heat of the ray; see Veccus, quoted in p. 232, n. a. p. 308, ref. 1. p. 324, ref. 4. where the metaphors are mixed with the reality, as are ' ray' and l fountain' in §. 3. in a way to shew, that St. E. does not conceive the notion of Mission and Eternal Procession as else than combined: see note a. on the next Rhythm, and c. Scrut. ii. fin. Of the two passages adduced in support of the Greek view by Zernikaw on the Procession of the Spirit, in Greek, the second (of which the Syriac is now published) is plainly not to his purpose in the original.

d The object of this type is to shew that our Lord's Divine Nature was not limited or confined by the assumption of the Human Nature ; as light is made available to us by its entry into the eye, although capable of subsisting in its entirety without the eye, which we have proof of in sleep, when light, the soul of the eye, departs and leaves it dead as it were ; so the Son through His

Incarnation benefits us, though He subsists as He did before it, and independently of it, in His Divine Nature unimpaired. See p. 20. p. 42. p. 86, n. f. and St. Greg. Nyss. Or. Catech. cap. 5. where the same type is used with a kindred bearing, p. 51, c. **■ It was fitting that His light should not be unseen, nor His glory without witness, nor His goodness unenjoyed, and that the other attributes beheld in the Divine Nature should not be idle, with no one to participate of and enjoy them. If then the reason why man is brought into being is, that he may be partaker of God's goodness, then is he necessarily formed of such a make as to have an aptitude for the participation of Dbine goodness. For as the eye doth through the brightness naturally implanted in it find itself in communion with the light, through its natural power attracting what it hath affinity withal; so must there needs have been commingled with man's nature that which hath affinity with God, that from such reciprocity it might towards that kindred Thing possess a yearning." St. Greg, is shewing that man's nature, if the effects of the fall were stayed, was not such as to make it unbecoming for the "Word to take it; and therefore is rather comparing (as Basil de Sp. S. §. 61. does) the light in the eye to the indwelling of God in the elect, which has a certain likeness to the Union of the Godhead with the Manhood in Christ, and so is only mediately parallel to the text, on which see R. lxxiv. n. a. It should be added that nothing but meditation will enable us to enter fully into these wonderfully eliminated similitudes between the things of nature and of grace; these notes aim only at explaining some few points in them which, when explained, may help to the understanding of the whole.

from the sun, by their inadequacy teach humility. 341

and when it is shut up in sleep, the ray 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 coraprehendeth, as [neither how] our Redeemer dwelt in the belly *. The light from within the eye putteth on a fair ap- 1 comp. pearance, and goeth forth visiting the whole world, as our p' 'n' Redeemer clothed Himself with this vile body and went forth

and sanctified the whole world. But when that ray passed to the fountain thereof (for it doth not separate2 from its2R.!xxv. 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 one3. 8p. 233,

RHYTHM THE SEVENTY-FOURTH.

See

ref. 4. ref. I.

1. Who shall make me able to gaze and look upon thee, thou great light ! wherein are crowded together types of thy Lord ? Who can search out the heat thereof, which though separate is not cut off, as the Holy Ghost ? The might of his heat dwelleth over every thing : the whole of Him is with every thing, and also with each onea. It is not cut off from the ray which is blended1 in it, neither from the sun as being mingled with it; and when it is spread over the creatures'1, each one

a Comp. Basil de Sp. S. §. 22. fin. In this sentence may be contained an allusion to the doctrine, that the Holy Spirit sanctifies the elect by the application of His Very Substance to their souls, each one of which taketh up that divinely infused Heat according to his ability. Yet it maybe observed, in confirmation of the view taken in n.b. andc. to R. lxxiii. that St. E. here speaks of the heat as spread over the creatures, as he did of the ray in that passage. For as it would be heretical to make the Holy Spirit, (who never took into union with His Person a nature capable of change as the Son did,) to be in any way subject to change; it seems that this passage would shew in what sense the other is intended to be taken. For the mission of the Holy Spirit (of which §. 2. speaks clearly) is His Procession, viewed as influencing those ' who take up the might of His Heat,' i. e. the elect, (see Petav. de Trin. viii. 1. §. 10.) So far then the passage might be taken to allude not to what is eternal only, but also to what is temporal, i. e. to man's part in the matter, inasmuch as it would bedifficultto some to distinguish in words between the Unction of Christ's Human Nature with His Divine, and (what of course in reality is a very different thing) the Unction of the elect with the Holy Spirit. (See however Petav. viii. 7. §. 10. &c.) Yet even the Incarnation of the Son, in spite of the new relations to man to which it gives rise, (p. 234, n. f.) is in such way the result of His eternal Procession from the Father, that neither of the Other Persons could have been incarnate without a confusion of the order of theTrinity. (Petav. de Inc. ii. 15. Thomassin ibid, ii. 1. and 2.) Nor is it else than remarkable, that those who favoured the Nestorian view of Christ's Mission were also opposed to the Latin view of the Holy Spirit's Mission, (vide Le Quien. Diss. D. i. §. 1 3. Petr. Strozza de Dogm.Chald.p.l7.ed.lGl7.Assem.B.O. disputed meaning what makes for A.'s explanation is not concealed; it is hoped that what is done for fairness' sake will not be taken to be done from hesitation as to the explanation here given. For it seems, that had St. E. had before him here only the substantial application of the Spirit to the elect, he would have spoken of His being ' mingled' with them or ' dwelling' in them; and that the clause really alludes to the two constituents of the notion implied by the word ' mission,' the eternal Procession of the Omnipresent Spirit being alluded to by the phrase ' spread over the creatures,' and His union with the elect by the remainder of the sentence. See on c Scrut. ii. §. 8. Calecas (in Petavius) illustrates the Mission of the Spirit much as St. E. does that of the Son in the last R.. as follows; "Although we take the Mission in a sense implying time, referring our own affection to God, yet may we not make it subject to time. For if a blind man were just to recover his sight and enjoy the sun's ray, one should not say that the ray or light then for the first time proceeded from the sun. For it is plain that before the man recovered his sight, <fec." St. E. himself gives such

The operation of 1 teat and the Spirit compared. 343

taketh 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 Adam1 who was unclothed; this it is which is1 See on grateful to all that are naked, while it sendeth them forth, asi#'§# 34/ men invigorated, for all labours.

2. The Spirit also clothed the Apostles and sent them forth to the four quarters of the world b upon labours. By heat all things are ripened, as by the Spirit all things are hallowed ! O visible type I By that is the cold that is in the body overcome, as uncleanness2 by the Holy Spirit. By 2 p. 73, that things which the frost hath bound are loosened ; as n* d* souls which the wicked one hath bound are by the Holy Spirit. By it the calves of Nisan3 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 awakeneth 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 ? ?effif'

3. Heat looseneth the evil bridle, yea, the chilly silence of comp. 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 the3, tongues chased silence away from the Disciples, the evil, yea,

an abundance of illustrations that it re- chose Himself twelve Apostles, and quires some apology for introducing divided to them the four quarters of the thus much from Calecas. But to use world, and set them as stewards of His the words of Petav. viii. 5. §. 8. " rapit household, and ministers of His divine nos ad sese ac sine satietate delectat mysteries, and charged them to give to tantae rei ac tarn suavis jucundseque the Israel of God living and incorruptirecordatio." ble Nourishment, and to bring heavenly b There is the same play upon the Food unto the house of the King of two senses of the word Ji^lA* here peace. But the boundary of their doas in Pearl, R. v. §. 4. A portion of main doth 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 qf vol. i. p. 453, b. "Twelve governors tbem took a notable place to teach, were appointed to bring bread for Solo- Sinion ^ome, John Ephesus, Matthew mon and for his house, because our Lord Palestine, Thomas India, and so forth.'-'

344 The operation of heat and the Spirit compared.

1 p. 74, the chilly silence which, as from the winter1, was scared away

u" d* 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 tongues by the tongues. Satan was condemned in the likeness of winter, and the people

3S. raged, which rage made them all an antitype of February3.

Shebot. jgut tjjere tjje sman birds on high spoke with new voices,

while the hawk and the winter was despised of them. These

be things which the heat foreshadowed out, and these also

3 p. 169, the Holy Ghost accomplished3. Who is sufficient for them ?

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 8 ! 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 rayb

S. fil- is not beheld by the pupils, since it is too refined1, and the

tered e^Q -^ 0vercometh by its heat, and the hands also by its subtle

9 p. 192, nature, for they have not felt or seen it2. The mouth, the ears,

*e 237 an(^ uos^s t°°> these three senses have no sense of these threeref. 5. fold ones. For the mouth hath never eaten that [great] light at

ref. 6. ' any tmie: neither hath the nostril ever snuffed up the radiance;

neither hath the ear at any time heard the voice of light, as

1*8.19,6. it runneth over the world. And if at this little sun which is

* This seems to be an allusion to the n. a. vol, ii. p. 518 in p. 133. but as he

well-known line, ©v*t %£ rev tmrot, here takes the heat throughout as a

&c. which is cited by Aristotle Khet. ii. type of the Spirit, he must imply that

21. Eth.N.x. 7. probably from Euripides, the Spirit proceeds from the Son. See

b Here St. E. distinctly makes the R. lxxi. fin. where the Son is called

heat to proceed from the ray; see p. 232, ' Fire,' which emits heat.

God? s condescension andmarisinadequacy dissuade prying, 845

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 ignorant1 how. to scrutinize the Father and the Son and the i s. are Holy Ghost. *range

2. Again, place water before the sun, and behold there a semblance of the Birth c 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 separation2 from the sun, nor by severance from the water. 2R. Mighty symbol! For while the water and sun are unim-l"111, paired, a generation takes place, wherein a man seeth the Generation of the Sond. He hath shadowed3 out difficult3 p. 245, things by simple ones for our feebleness, that we might knowj1^.11, clearly that He is the Son. By every similitude the Gracious §• 2. c. One came near to our weakly estate, that He might heal it4. . 171"

3. And if that Great One who is God, without semblances11- ep. 205 approacheth not unto mankind, let man who is feeble not seek n". b. '

to bring his own weakness near that Majesty without a medium5. * s. seek

Linger not, O mind, construct spiritual bridges, and pass on to^eahn.s

thy Creator. O son of a servant! serve thyself of the wings6 w. to

of the Holy Scriptures, that thou mayest reach to the Son ofj^j^

thy Lord. And let this soul too avail itself of every medium, n.;.c- Rthat it may reach to the Holy Spirit; and thou body be not and p.

slothful, fly as an eagle 7 unto that Body e which quickeneth all. 2^> d*

R. iii.

c Although St. E. does not distinctly Epiphan. iv. 4. and Greg. Naz. Or. 34. t p# 20, state, it seems plain from the context, d This passage is to be noticed as a n. m.

(especially when taken in connection prophetic protest against Nestorianism.

with the types of the Conception noticed By being in the vessel, i. e. St. Mary,

in n. i. p. 87.) that he here means the (comp. vol. i. p. 317, b. and p. 521, f.)

Son's Birth of St. Mary. The following the Bay in such way modifies its own

passages will illustrate this place and Subsistency, as to be able to transfuse

with "Wisdom and Life, became that the self-same One that it was before,

which the incontaminate Light that Comp.c.Scrut.ii.§.3. In the beginning

impinged upon it itself was." Cyril c. of the next §. we have a wonderfully

Nest. p. 109. ** Water though cold by concise description of that Catholic attinature, changes by fire into what is tudeof mind which is always on the look

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 e Of the communication of a new

God the Father who is by nature Life, principle of life to men's bodies from

rendered the Flesh which was united to Christ's Body mention has been already

Him life-giving P'1 Compare also Leo in made, p. 148, n. h. Some other pas-

346 Satan inscrutable to man, much more God.

and v.

4. And since those senses of man's are too feeble to scrutinize the Godhead, deal not extravagantly. For lo, the 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 2 R. 1. §. these things are relinquished as too pure 2 ; tell us con- ^'2X1V' cerning the unclean things of unclean devils! Let the senses of thy body tell us of the spiritual senses of the foul-smelling 3R. lx. devils, with what nostrils doth Legion snort3? and with what feet runneth the wicked one through the whole world f?

sages maybe added here. Canon liii.fin. " Oh, High Priest, who didst offer Thyself for us a Sacrifice to Thy Father, receive from us, O Lord, our offerings in Thy mercy, and clothe with glory those that have waited for Thee and kept and done Thy commandments." xxiii. §. 3. il Lo! the pillar that did lead Israel, causeth His Light to rise to thee in darkness, for there is hidden in thy limbs His Body that rouseth all, and in the blood of thy spirit is there mingled the Cup of Salvation which leaveth not thy body in destruction." liv. §. 3. " Take Baptism and the Body and Blood of Christ with thee as a passport." lxxTri. " As provision for a journey Thee have I taken unto me, Thou Son of God, and when an hungred Thee have I eaten, O Redeemer of the world! Far be the fire from my limbs, and when the smell of Thy Body and Thy Blood striketh from me, may Baptism be to me a ship that foundereth not!" Param. v, 1. p. 414, c. " O fatted Calf that wert killed to be a Sacrifice for sinners, blot not out me wretched man,

0 Lord, from the number of them redeemed by Thy Blood! Thy Body have

1 eaten, and Thy Blood have I drunken, and by Thy Death believed that I should live." p. 429. " Because

Thou hast given me Thy Body, to eat and Thy living Blood to drink, by Thy Body may I be pardoned, and by Thy Blood have my sins forgiven, and rise to praise Thee among the assemblies of Thy Saints." p. 432. " That sea of fire disturbs me and terrifieth me, and I am in fear by reason of the iniquity I have done. MayThyCross,0 Son ol theLiving God, be to me a bridge, and fiom Thy Body and Thy Blood may Gehenna go away ashamed, and I by Thy mercies be redeemed." p. 452, f. " Leave me not in the enemies' hands, nor give him ground against me; for Thy Body and Thy Blood hast Thou mingled in me, and Thy Rood betwixt mine eyes is stamped." p.480,c.andf. "From hateful lust deliver me by Thy living Body that I have eaten, and I will lay me down and sleep in peace, and guardian be Thy Blood to me, and to the soul that is Thine image." p. 482, c. p. 488, p. 535, c. p. 545, c. (' Thy Body and Thy Blood as an earnest of life is hidden in their members,') p. 551, d.

f The seeming ubiquity of Satan has been already touched upon, p. 238, n. b. Obviously this is one great difficulty to explain in Satan's agency.

RHYTHM THE SEVENTY-SIXTH.

1. By the names of trees, lo, their fruits1 also are named, l R. lx. whether they be sweet or bitter! The names of the trees f^w. then and their fruits are the same ; they are distinct, yet equal. A great type ! Distinct is the fruit from its tree,

and yet the same with it, since one appellation2 is given to2S. surthem both. If the root be sweet, then the fruit is sweet; the"*^ a#

same name men call them both, it and its fruit. Distinguish P- 317the 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 sweet3, and the root how-3 Rever stringent. Distinguish the Names of the Father and §.3. c*

the Son, and also make them equal, since the Father is God?crut- *•

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?*383'

He is distinct in Name, in that He is the Son; and equal in the Name, in that He is God also4. Glory to His Name! 4 R:

2. And if [the names of] trees as well as of their fruits be§. it true, how much more true are [those of] the Father and the

Son. He shadowed forth things hidden5 upon things which 5R.lxxv. are visible, that He might shew the things which are not seen ^0I^ j by the things which are seen: He imprinted His mysteries21upon trees, that He might explain the things which are not comprehended by the things which are comprehended6. For6c.Scrut. He also interpreted difficult things to us by the things which u *' ' 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 just7 feel: 7 p. 372, but the gainsay ers8 feel not that He is His Father. The8*0r'jna- Scriptures cry aloud, that the Father is God and the Sondels is God. Without God is the [Jewish] people who gainsay Him.

RHYTHM THE SEVENTY-SEVENTH.

Mark

It. liii. lxxviii. R.lxxix

9 see p.

1. ■ That Hour knoweth no man;' this the childish have balanced1 with the Son, and it as it were preponderates. For if the First-born does know the Father, who is there that is greater than the Father Himself, whom yet He doth not know*? That hour, forsooth, no man knoweth, not even the First-born, 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 by His own Hand2 have dared to pry, not into, that hour, but

'into the Lord of hours. Would that they would abide by their own word3, that every thing which is a creature might keep silence before its Creator!

a To argue from the Son's knowledge of the Father, that He must have known the hour of the Judgment, was a common way of meeting the Arian use of this text. See Petav. deTrin. ii.3. §. 5. viii.p.4.p.9. Did.deTrin.iii.22. c.Scrut.i. §. 5. Since all argument is necessarily understood imperfectly, unless we bear in mind the thing argued against, it ought very distinctly to be kept in mind, that St. E. is here arguing against those who represent our Lord's Divine Nature, as ignorant of the hour, &c. and that with a view of shewing that it was inferior to the Father's, i. e. was not really Divine. Hence any expression of his opinion upon the extent of Christ's knowledge as Man comes in incidentally; so far as the Arian contro- versy was concerned, the Fathers do not seem to mind what the Arians think of Christ's human knowledge, provided they prove distinctly that such texts as that before us cannot belong to His Divine Nature. Vide Thomassin de Inc. vii. 4. §. 2. The

reason is sufficiently obvious; the Arians virtually made the Son the soul of their Christ, and to disprove this was the first step to be taken against them, and it would not be to the purpose to discuss the dignity of what with the Arians was a non-entity. St. E.'s question in the text may be paraphrased as follows: The Son knows the Father, and therefore all that is in the Father, His knowledge and His Essence being in reality one and the same thing, (see R. xlv.§. 3. and R. lxxi. §. 2.) the knowledge of the hour which the Son does not know, is not part of the Father's knowledge $ therefore it is inherent in some other being greater by this than the Father; and who is this? When they go on to urge that Scripture adds ' but the Father only,' and that the Son being a creature does not know it; this, of course, is in other words assuming that He is (not Son but) a creature, and that the word Father is the correlative not of Son, but of creature. The emphasis must be laid on the word * making,' and then the passage will be plain.

Mark xiii. 8*2. discussed. 349

3. By that knowledge wherewith He knoweth His Father, is that hour also pondered uponb 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 weigh1 and see whether is more excellent.1 §• I. For the Son by the mere fact of Hisknowingthe 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 Him2. And what fruit is2 R there that knoweth0 less than the root thereof, in that the/**'* whole of it is blended3 with the whole. For if in its know-3p# 210, ledge it fell short of its tree, then in name also hath it ceased, ^ 4* .

for it were not its fruit. If then that fruit agreeth with its i. §. 81. root in its name, it agreeth also therewith in knowledge. The sweetness which is in both of them is one: one is the knowledge4, which is in both of them, being they are commingled. * R.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 lov'ed 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 concordant5 one of *s. equal one Will6. They bear as it were one yoke, and come; and as6c.sCrut. They are equal in the illapse at Baptism7, so are They also V *' fgg in Their unanimity. n. d.

b It might seem from the Latin, make it resemble the antitype more

(complectitur et repra^sentat,) though closely. Only St. E. above does this

very loose, that it was intended to be without stating that he is doing so.

printed OlA^-i Q -O Aa^a,Z.|, d This must not be takeD as if StE- ^i held that the Spirit was the essential 1 was comprised in His own know- Love 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 • This is a mode of arguing not un- and all God's attributes, is His Subcommon 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 oniV) as Wisdom may be used of the which do attach to the antitype, and Son. See Petav. de Trin. viii. 12. §. 5. which would, if conferred on the type, an(j p. 359 n# it

Christ' 's seeming ignorance

names of His kindred, that as He even put on our human nature, He might also put on our knowledge for our sakese.

d This squares with the passages noticed above, p. 190, n. g.p. 305, n. e. The words ' for our sakes/ which tally with 1 for our profit,' in Athan. p. 461, n. f. are explained by the next sentence, in which the asking of questions evidently refers not to the real state of our Lord's knowledge as Man, but to what He said and did with a view to carrying out the economy, asking questions when He Himself knew what He would do, as though He did not know. Ha ving put on our nature, He demeaned Himself, so to speak, as though He had all its accidents, some of which He suspended at will, see p. 202, n. c. p. 199, a. So in a Sermon on Lazarus,vol. ii. p. 391 , c. he says, " When the third day of the death had come to the dead, (Lazarus,) and upon the fourth the worm had begun to gnaw his features, the Quickener with His disciples came to the city of the deceased, and asked his buriers that were assembled, ' "Where have ye laid him?' The question about this was owing to the perverse [Jews] ; for it is clearer than the sun that Himself had no need to ask it: it was to attest his burial that He asked.

He did not say, Where is his

sepulchre? but, Where have ye laid him? He knew the haughtiness with which they gainsayed His noble acts, and so by the question tied them down to the place in which they had laid the buried man. He did not ask, Where is Lazarus laid? or, Where is he buried? but, Where have ye laid him? do you shew Me, ye gainsayers! Even of the Father is there a question which is like to this, and what is uttered by many that do I through reverence abstain from, without goirjg into perverse disputings. Truth standeth by itself; it is not a marshalling of words that grapples with faith; simplicity with cheerful look it is which beholdeth truth as it is, and without wordiness

him. He wittingly bound them down to their having laid the buried man there, that when He had called him and raised him up, they might be witnesses of his resurrection. He asked, Where have ye laid him? they say unto Him, Come and see. They were tied by the question, that they might not gain fresh haughtiness. The Son is not inferior to the Father, through His asking concerning the sepulchre, or from His weeping over Lazarus. His Incarnation did He attest; both in His weeping and in His sweating the tears and the sweat were His own, yet do they not minish the Son, seeing He is a Raiser of the dead as His Father. He wept to attest the reality of His Body; He called the dead to shew His power; He put questions to tie down the gainsayers; He prayed to shew His perfectness. Neither doth His prayer over the grave make Him less thanHisFather,andindeedfromHisown language thou learnest, that it was not from any need to do so that He prayed, for what I say, He says, is for the sake of the people of the Jews, that they may believe that Thou hast sent Me. The mind of the people did He heal, seeing their hearing was weak, and they manifestly doubted if He was the Son of the Most High. This was why He referred all His actions to the Father, to shew that it was not from ' robbery' that He was Lord and Quickener of the dead. In lowliness were the things done by Him, done, that the understanding might behold His love. It is beside our purpose to speak of these things here. Clearly shineth truth in its generations, and without our words it gleameth! Perfect is the Generate, as is His Generator! Wonderful the Firstborn, as He that sent Him! a Kaiser of the dead is He, as is His Father also! For He that 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 disputing. Whether of the two is greater to know, where the sepulchre is, or to raise him after he stank? That He was a knower of hidden things He proved before He came, by His revealing to His Apostles that ' our friend Lazarus is fallen asleep;' but the gainsaying buriers did He ask, ' Where have ye laid him?' that Hemighttake a pledge of his burial from them, and then call

many things, if we see that the seed of our word hath budded in your ears. Even if ye reject it, I shall not cease to sow! Be not a rock unto my word, nor the high-way, ucr a place of thorns, <fec.&c." In this passage we see that St. E. used the account of Lazarus' resurrection to establish any thing but a true ignorance of what our Lord asked about, which the Adoptionists afterwards used it for: see on Athan. p. 466, g What St.E. argues

assumed for our sahes.

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 not1, or if they pry, let • §. 2. them confess that the Son knoweth all things. If then they pry when not permitted, this is audacity2; or if it be permitted, 2 p. 128, it is as a gift [of grace]3. He then who gave dust [tbej***^ liberty] to search, how should He hinder His Son from n- a; knowing an hour of time? Grant that He knew not that J*. 0' ' hour: the cause of His not knowing was the Body4 where -WFlesb withal He was clothed6.

from it is, that our Lord's disclosures of His knowledge were made with reference to those whom He was ad- dressing, and also to prove the reality of the Flesh, i. e. to shew that He had a certain Nature, not to describe the state in which that Nature existed in Him. See Eulogius in Phot. p. 284. ed. Bekker. who has many topics in common with St. E. here quoted, and in R. lxx.

e This language is remarkable, as perhaps throwing some light upon the expression commented upon above, p. 317, n. b. It seems intended to suggest that the apparent ignorance was not in the Soul of Christ, but was necessary on account of the Body, which if illuminated with all the graces which the Divine Nature could, through the Soul, have communicated to it, (witness the Transfiguration,) would not have seemed to be a real Body. E. g. Had our Lord in His infancy put forth all His wisdom, He would not have seemed to be Man; as He grew on, He made His advance in wisdom appear to hold some proportion to the years of His Body, and all throughout disclosed it in such way as He deemed congruous to His Body antecedently to its glorification; it being definitely certain that our minds grow with our bodies, though it is not definitely certain

in what proportion the growth even of our minds would be accelerated by sinlessness. Cyril c. Nest. iii. p. 87, a. " We believe that Immanuel, being God from the belly itself and the womb of the Virgin, came forth as Man, full, assuredly, of that wisdom and grace which was in Him by Nature. What increase then could He, in whom are all the treasures of wisdom, who joins with God the Father in giving grace from above, experience? In what sense is He said to increase? I suppose it is said of the Divine Word, proportioning to the growth and age of His own Body the disclosure of the godlike blessings inherent in Him. For we may observe, that though He was made Man like unto us, yet He made it His study to avoid notice in

the beginning Now it would have

been pointed out to" all as a thing unusual and strange and worth curiosity, if, while yet an Infant, He had made a manifestation, suitable to God, of the wisdom He had. But when little by little, and proportion ably with the age of His Body, He made it widen, and set it clearly before all men, He may be said to ■ increase,' and that with good reason." See also Thes. p. 248. and for fuller information, Petav. de Inc. xi. 2.

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 framed8. If it be [an hour] of the year, He

1 R.l.§.i. knoweth it well, for by Him1 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 arteriesb ; and if it be of the days, it escapeth Him not, since

Mark 2, 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 depth, it is in His fists: by His finger are all creatures suspended!

See Is.

a The same argument was used by Gregory the Great, Ep. x. 39. (olim viii. 42.) against the Agnoeta;, as St. E. uses here against the Anomeans. Vide Massuet diss. iii. ad Tren. p. 121. Gamier ad Mercatorem i. p. 118. quoted by Wolf on St. Matt. Thomassin de Inc. vii. 3. §. 5. 4. §. 1 . &c. 5 throughout, and Petav. ibid. xi. 1. §. 15. de Deo iv. 6. §. 6. It is worth remarking that our Lord says the Son of Man is Lord also of the Sabbath-day in a text to which St. E. seems to allude immediately. Texts, such as this, which transfer the attributes of Creatorship to the Manhood owing to the Unity of Person, illustrate the language of the Fathers when they transfer, as St. Greg, does, arguments used against Arians to meet Nestorian heresies.

b There seems to be a reason for thus

lingering over all the divisions of time one by one, in that heretics attempt to represent time as different according as it is heavenly or earthly, i. e. to make it as much as possible a mere mode of thought, not a reality, to which all creatures are subject. The Fathers, on the contrary, speak of it as a created thing, much as they may speak of created wisdom, not as if it had a separate subsistence of its own, but because it is essential to the notion of a creature, and distinguished creatures from the Eternal God who created them. See on L. Coquium, St. Austin de Civ. Dei, xi. 6. Confess, xi. §. 40. p. 265, c. and compare Basil, quoted above, n. c. p. 66. and on c. Scrut. iii. §. 1.

SV. Mark xiii. 3*2. discussed.

2. Compare the hour that He knoweth not with the Holy Ghost whom He cloth know, [and see] whether is greater ! and set forth clearly unto us the reason how and wherefore He concealed from Him the hour1 of His triumph b? If the reason why He concealed it from Him, was that He might be less than Himself, lest He should make Himself like Him by stealth, that conceit is very weak, and see how soon it is solved with a single word. For when that hour shall be revealed, and the trumpet hath sounded, and the triumph c is going on, it shall be solved. Now then compare the two together, and the inequality will have become equality upon their assumption2. One of two things must be : if it be in the fact of His not knowing that He is infeiior, 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 hour3, for when revealed, he will be ruined thereby. A mighty thing then is

1 Cor.

2 as their word.

ref. 1.

b Hil. de Trin. ix. §. 60. " In what way is the Lord of glory (if the day of His coming were a thing He might be ignorant of) to be believed to have a Nature not yet determinate and perfect,which Nature hath not obtained the knowledge of its coming, while yet It is under a necessity of coming? At this rate ignorance of it would be an advantage to God, [i. e. the Father,] as it would take from Him the possession of the excellence of knowledge. And now what a double ground of blasphemy we shall have, if in addition to Christ's shortcoming even to God the Father a fault is to be ascribed, in that He will have defrauded God the Only^begotten and the Son of His Love of the perception of this day, and from a feeling of grudging have envied 11 im the knowledge of the consummation that is to be, and when He was not minded to let the day and the hour of His Passion be a thing He might be ignorant of, yet denied to Him the hour of His excellency and brightening among His saints, and took away the perception of bliss from Him whom He indulged with a foreknowledge of His Death." Pseudo-Dionys.ofAlexandria,Eulogius, Greg, the Great, (as above,) and St. Austin, to whom St. G. refers, all take the ignorance of the day to be spoken of with reference to the Bodv of Christ,

the Head putting His Member's ignorance upon Himself, as if it were His also: upon the principle upon which 1 Cor. 15, 21. is commonly explained. Hence St. Hilary speaks of Christ being glorified in His Saints. This is important to notice, as shewing that the phrase, ' the hour of His triumph,' does not imply any accession to the glory of Christ's Human Nature, even if St. E. were not reasoning on heretical premisses — There seems also to be an allusion here to the Arian notion, that the Son was incapable of if hinting at the inconsistency of that notion, with the necessary deductions from the assumption, they make that the Son really knew not the hour.

c Theroot here used implies any solemn procession, as of a funeral: see vol. i. p. 251, f. 303, f. or of pilgrims coming to celebrate a Saint's day, p. 354, b. — Of the knowledge of men at the Resurrection he says, ibid. p. 636, f. " The Resurrection brings men to birth full grown, and full grown knowledge doth it give them; for he whom his owu iniquity hath not blinded, will know all things as God doth. Whatsoever is in Heaven, and whatsoever is in earth, every thing will he see in that veritable Knowledge which nothing escapeth."

St. Mark xiii. 32. discussed.

*c.Scrut

that hour to conceal from His Well-beloved, when even Satan may know itd!

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 us is His loving-kindness, which endureth for ever ; and the ground of His glory1 in respect of His Son is His Paternity, which also is from eternity to all eternity. Oh, holy grounds, which neither towards creatures nor towards the First-born shall ever cease to act ! Time is the ground of the hour of time6, 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 the ground of His Paternity2, so that His Begotten can never at any time become the Begetter !

4. Of that hour there is yet another question for us to proceed to examine, since that former one hath been exd i. e. the heretics make the Son differ from God (so far as the text in question will help their cause) by the defect of a certain amount of knowledge, which amount of knowledge Satan has as much natural capacity for attaining when the time comes, as any other created being : therefore the difference between Him and Satan is not essential, but accidental. Seep 314,

e A^v^. It is not easy to suggest an English word which will answer to the use of this in all the places it occurs in this §. The word seems etymologically to have a passive and an active sense; i that which is brought in' as fruits and the like; or, { that which brings in' a pretext, or cause, or occasion. Then it is usfd for cause in all the senses in which alriot is used in Greek, amongst which one is that by which the definition (Xoyes or ratio) is said to be the cause of a thing being what it is, the formal cause. The word ' ground' has been kept in all places in the text for uniformity's sake, though not altogether convenient. What St. E. seems to mean by the passage is: That when we speak of God's glory, the conception we form of it must vary with the definition of it we have in the mind; which will be this or that, according as we refer to His relations to us, or to the relations to Himself which He has as

subsisting in Three Persons. The text before us, contemplated in one wray, will refer to God's relations to us, it being the part of loving-kindness to hide from us knowledge which would^ only make us remiss in redeeming the time; contemplated in another way, will refer to the relations of One Divine Person to Another. For the text may be taken to mean, that the Son has no unoriginate knowledge of c the hour,' but only derived with His Subsistency from the Father; (a mode of ex- plaining the text not unknown,seeFetav. de Trin. ii. 3. $.6. and on Athan.p. 459, n.a. and R.lxxix. fin.) which would refer it to the Father's glory. Time (he then proceeds^ is the ground or formal cause of the hour; or in other words, time is the essence of the hour; but the Son is the Maker of time, (see n. b. p. 362.) and the notion of Makership precludes that of equality with a thing made, and so time, which is made, cannot be greater than the Son. In like manner, the notion of Fatherhood precludes that of unoriginateness in the Son also. Perhaps the last words refer to a view not uncommon in antiquity, that the expres- sion, ' My Father is greater than I,' refers for the Father's superiority to His unoriginateness. See Petav. de Trin. ii. 2. §. 2. St. E., however, seems to be referring to some work which he is refuting. See the next §.

The misuse of it by a heretic repented of 355

plained. And he that hath been induced by this gave thanks, and declared that our Redeemer also knew that hour7. He 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 hath ceased, and the crown hath come to the Conqueror!

f St E. here is evidently speaking of some one with whom he had had a controversy, and whom he had won back to the faith. Who it was, I am not able to discover. The two questions which he examines here are, (1) Whether Christ's apparent ignorance of the day of judgment is incon- sistent with His glory viewed as relative to man, or (2) whether that ignorance is inconsistent with the same viewed as relative to God. The latter (if I mistake not) he means to dispatch by saying, that, as He is the Maker of all things, and of time among them, and so cannot be a creature, He must be taken to be teaching in the text in

question, that He derived His knowledge from the Father, and so is a dis- tinct Person from the Father. The former he reserves for the next "Rhythm, merely stating here that he had gotten his adversary to allow that our Redeemer also knew that hour. The words ' our Redeemer' are remarkable, as shewing that they had discussed, whether Christ (see R. lxxix. §. 1.) as such, i. e. considered as Man as well as God, knew that hour, and that St. E. had opposed the view held afterwards by the Agnoetse; at least it is very unlikely that he should use such an expression of the Son, considered as God. Comp. R. lxxix. §. 6.

RHYTHM THE SEVENTY-NINTH.

1. Which, my son, is the most glorious8 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 hour1 He might hinder, yea, that the hour might rebuke thee, bold man, from prying into the Lord of all hours. To Thee be glory, Thou Son Christ,

^ [x 2. By thine own self know that He knoweth, since He has

§.4. See prevented and tied up thy knowledge b: for thy free-will is a

massin defiled handmaid, which, being in wine, spoileth exceedingly

d?Jfc' her Master's treasures. Chains He prepared for her, gyves

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 Greeks3, that J' gm ' are eager after hidden things, were to come to His disci- Mat. 13, pline. For it was the net0 which collected those of every

* This R. probably follows out §. 3. what St. E. does. "All heresies hath our

of the last E,. God's glory, in the first fisher by this short chapter shut out;"

sense there mentioned, is shewn by His and after mentioning Arius, Sahellius,

concealment of the hour more than by Photinus, Eunomius, and the Manithedisclosure of it,whensuch disclosure chees, he adds, " Thus hath our fisher

would do us harm. The sequel is very included them all in one net, to make

like the passage of St. Irenaeus, a part them unwieldy at fraud, though they

of which is given above, p. 202, n. d. were unuseful as a prey." See also Hi!.

hand.' The sentiment intended is. that of the Catholic Faith much as St.E. dots

Christ's foreknowledge is shewn by the here of Christ's discipline or doctrine,

fact, that He did ^disclose the hour; <?, Nq^0/. A great thing is it

by setting bounds, which the very men.. . '- °.

who pretend fully to comprehend God, that B. that °?e faith th,ere are as ™any

cannot but be conscious are set to their remedies as there are diseases and as

knowledge, Christ shews that He knew ma7. doctrines of truth as there are

beforehand the wav in which man's rivals of falsehood. Let the names

wilfulness would exert itself. Comp. of the heretics be drawn together to one

405 ref 5 place, and all their schools step forward;

' • Ambr.de Fid. i. 8. (§. 57.) speaking let!hem, hear of ™e Go* ,theu Father

of < In the Beginning was the Word, made of none, of one On.y-begot'en

&c.' makes a similar use of ' the net' to &on> *cc*

Mart's chief good is God's rule in all He gives him. 357

sort. His leaven1 bridled and brought the wild asses to His1 R. xii. doctrine, and in order that they might not be confused inxxv'^5'# their race, by one yoke of truth2 He taught them one race ofPs- 104> concord. He gave not a place to the light-footed, that by2R. xx. himself he might run apart from others. He gave not him §• 4' 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 themd the one yoke of equality was extended, even the yoke of His chariot3, whereby the divided3 p- 285,

gam concord.

S. 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 wishe. Thus beneath the yoke of love2 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 their guide. If where free-will does not exist, it yet does exist, to wit, in the family of brutes4, how much rather will it4 Comp. be found in its own abode, in man, who hath the motions of!!' |*25. himself within his power5, that is bounden by the truth, yet free n- kin his actions, and by perversion can transgress against the I 's. the things that are good; but if he slip from off the verge 0fv®sse^of truth, to error is he degraded 7. tions of

4. One watcheth and [after] sleepeth, and when he c! Sc?ut. sleepeth yet the reward of his watching6 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 n* care both of them clean and fitting. Truth is single, yet error is the neighbour thereof; and if thou strayest ever so little77 R. xi.

d This passage implies that St. E. 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 commandof opinion, which he alludes to in §. 4. ments However, we allow of every

St. Austin, c. Jul. P. i. §. 22. " There thing, albeit that nothing is left unare some points upon which even the searched out by God. Only let the

most learned and excellent maintainers essentials be secured, and silence the

of the Catholic Rule do occasionally, novelties coined about the Faith. Slight

though without disordering the fabric not the Hypostases: deny not the name

of the faith, fail to agree, and speak of Christ."

one of them better and more agreeably e i. e. as the senses are used 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. Epist 207. " Look well that ye strain

358 Christ, who made all things, and all time among them,

1 p. 244, a twinkling from it, that little is as an abyss1. There are different inclinations in one assembly, yet they are never blamed for being different ; yet in one point they are blamed, if they

*§• 2. are divided by rebelling against the yoke of the faith2.

5. And if even the senses are equally under one yoke ; Ps. 49, David wrote of man himself, that man is likened unto the

3 P*. 325, beasts. Oh, marvel that he should not even be like these3! a- Oh, confused courses amid the congregations ! and disunited

inclinations in the monasteries! divided questionings in the *R. lx. churches, and sickly minds in the assemblies4! To whom

then does the woe belong? for there is raging in the sea and 5R. liii.and shaking5 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!

6. Lo, then the house of the Lord [the world] is fixed as a •p. 150, mirrorff for His servants for instruction, and His creation p! 205, pleadeth, and the number of it cannot be concealed from the n ^q-2 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

7§.i. and type feel restrained from His mighty Generation7 !

J* a ' 7. Look with these eyes of thy imagination at all the

*e.Scrut. creatures8, at every thing, which as a body are framed for that

conip. Stablisher of all things, and cannot be hidden from the

V0449* Creator thereof. How can an image, my brethren, be

in n. b. shadowed forth, the limbs whereof are concealed from the

ixx°fiii 'artificer thereof9: That hour cannot be concealed from the

$. l. Wisdom of the Creator. Look, my brethren, at number

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

10 "B thereof10. Who is there that would go astray, or be proudly

Ixxviii. .

1. 1. ' lifted up, or who would 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 image9 which

kiwueth 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 Foreknowledge, and He prepared a place for it that it might be established therein, and a time when from being secret it should become visible1. When it was not found, yet was it 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 f2.

ref. 3.

f Comp. §. 1. and p. 355, f. and R. xxvi. fin. c. Scrut. i. §. 3. Throughout this discussion St. E. argues as if the whole knowledge of the Father belonged to Christ; he does not make any distinction between the knowledge of His Human Nature and that of His Divine,

but speaks as if he held that the Human Nature by virtue of Its union with ' the Light which lighteneth every man that cometh into this world,' had all knowledge of things to come. See Eulog. ap. Phot. p. 284. 1. 40. Bekk. and J. Damasc. F. 0. iii. 21.

RHYTHM THE EIGHTIETH.

1. Inquire and hearken discriminatingly that faith is a second sonla; and as the body standeth by the soul, 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 dependeth upon the soul, and the soul is dependent upon i p. 374, faith, and faith also itself dependeth upon the Godhead1; for c Scmt. from ^ie Father Himself by the Son the Truth descendeth which R. iii- quickeneth all of them in the Spirit. For by this Truth it is ^* ' that man can link his soul with those aboveb: by the soul he liveth, and by means of the body he seeth and heareth : by Faith and Love and Wisdom0 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 void 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 d quickeneth the body, and whoso ventureth 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. Ezech. 2. I have no pleasure at all in the death of him that dieth, 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 Love, 2 R. x. which thirsteth mightily to kill our death2. The Scripture kab. 2 natn sealed unto us that the just in faith findeth life. He

a §. 3. Anast, Sin. Hodeg. p. 15. c This seems to point to three stages

u 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 yvenrrtxot of St.

keeping of the commandments without Clement Strom, vi. 8.

orthodoxy; for what the soul is to the d Ass. renders, Hujus aeris respiratio

body, that orthodoxy is to the spirit." est vitalis spiritus vitamque corpori

b Vol. iii. p. 581, b. " By love and impertit. This looks as if he meant to

by doctrine when the Truth is mingled have printed HD' < by means of inwith them, enhanced and enriched with, f]i.! -^ ± , i,

new things is that mind that explores Stead^>Ji?C Wlth?ut> u"Iessby ™7

with discrimination the treasury of E^S1* the words 'without living

things unseen." breath °J? mean: spontaneously with

our sensibly drawing in our breath.

Orthodox faith the root of good pork*. 361

hath made the Truth as a glorious root, and works1 as fruits ■ Comp. hath He hung upon faith, and suspendeth them on the branch 2c ^n" of truth. By a visible type, lo! hidden things shew them-2R-xiiiselves to thee as it were to the eyes3; for the body longeths'^ over the gains as a merchant, and let the mind too gather!X|V1# together its treasures as a sailor, into faith the ship4 of Life! 4R.xlix. 3. And as the body standeth by the life of the soul, the^^ry soul too though full of life yet without works is not even §.2. alive; for by the deeds of faith it is able to live, and theJames2, 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 ruin as an heritage to the Scribes that hired him.

THREE RHYTHMS CONCERNING THE FAITH \

RHYTHM THE FIRST.

1. I marvel at our boldness, to such a height hath it mounted ! it is not that it hath reached it, that I marvel, but that it thought that it should reach it. For it is not because a man thinks, that he that comprehendeth aught, that he does comprehend it : it is not from his thinking that he comprei p. 116, hends, for to think is a very easy thing. The scrutinizers1 too n' d* e* thought that they comprehended, yet did they not comprehend, because they thought. For high above every mind is the Creator of all minds : He may not be investigated by man, nor by the Angels ascertained. Nothing made can by

'R.xlv.its knowledge2 describe the Maker, nor even how itself was

a These three Rhythms have been referred to in the margin and notes as contra Scrutatores; the three first of th \ foregoing as adversus Scrutatores, for distinction's sake. Assem. prajf. p. 18. speaks of them as if directed against the Audians or Anthropomorphites: hut as no sufficient internal evidence occurs to lead me to think that they were as a whole directed against them, and as Walchius (Ketzerhist. iii. p. 301.) confirms me in this opinion, they have been treated rather as a continuation of the foregoing Rhythms. The conception of God in the likeness of man is common to many heretics: heresy inJeed may almost be said to consist in attempting to reduce God to what we know of the highest being with which experience makes us acquainted. Hence such passages as §. 1 8. may be explained i s applying directly to Arianism, though with an allusion to the Audians whose heresy lay in inferring from Gen. 1, 26*. that God was like man. Nor ought

even thus much to be assumed overhastily: for, though St. E. does men- tion the Audians, (above, p. 197, n. d.) he may allude to some heathen error, such as the Indian notion, that God in creating assumed the human form, (Purusha,) a notion the Magians are likely to have borrowed in common with many others from India: and from them the Audians may have copied. For the account given of them by Theodoret, (H. K. iv. 10. and H. F. iv. 10. with which Walchius, p. 316. quarrels,) as holding fire, darkness, and water, to be eternal, is perhaps only antecedently improbable from an ignorance of the Oriental systems. The notes and marginal references will shew that there is a sufficientresemblance between these and the foregoing Rhythms, to make Asseman's assertion (for he says nothing to prove it any thing more) highly questionable: in particular see p. 389. n. b.

The Son made all things, is not tuiderstood by any thing. 363

framed, is it adequate to describe. If it be inadequate to [understanding] its own framing1, how shall it be adequate to1 adv. [understanding] its Maker? No mind can reach to thejj0™^ mighty height of its Maker: after this very heightb, and§-4below it, is there the prying of them that pry. They harass themselves to form some likeness of Him, who is like to One alone. They all go astray in the knowing of Him, when the One [Son] which He hath alone knoweth Him0.

2. He is not of the family of things made2, that they should 2 advsearch Him out as if their comrade : He is not of the race ixi."§.2. of things framed, that man3 should describe Him: nor is He3 S. akin to the Angels, that they should pry into Him as if their 3^m kinsman : neither is He fellow of the Cherubim, who bear Him up as Lord: neither flieth He among the Seraphim4,4 R. iii. since His Glory is at the Right Hand: with the ministering ig/aiv. spirits He is not, since He with His Father is ministered ^crut. unto. All the Hosts of Heaven are entrusted unto His§. Land command : they cannot see the Father without the First- 1* 8* born, their Commander : for neither without Him were they framed when they were' made5. The eye sufficeth for the5P-209> light, and with it the whole body is lightened6; the ear6R.'xii. understandeth the voice, and by it do the limbs hear; the$-2* mouth tasteth victuals, and so by it and with it doth the whole body. Thus by the Son who is from His Bosom d do Angels see the Father: by Him also they hear His voice: by Him they receive His Gift6. There is no other brother f

' from,' ' apart from:' i. e. do what the Archangels, &c." iv. 6. §. 7. " The

heretics may,the object which theyassert knowledge of the Father is the Son;

they comprehend is not God, but some- the knowledge of the Son is in the

thing else inferior to Him. R.xxvii.§. 1. Father, and revealed by the Son, and

c Ass. renders, qui unus Ipse sibi this is why the Lord said, No one knownotus est, this seems to me to strain eth the Son but &c." Augustin. de C.

the words, especially as the Person D. xi. 9. de Gen. ad Lit. iv. 39 — 41.

intended by the One is plain enough Comp. Thomassin de Deoiv. 16. Some

from the foregoing clause: not to say of the Arians held the Father only to be

that the allusion to Mat. xi. 27. is so invisible, and not the Son, (see St. Aust.

common with St. E. See adv. Scr. lx. c. Max. i. 3.; against which error the

§. 1. and compare §. 3. below. See text seems to be directed, note i. e ' His Gift' seems to mean ' His

d Iren. ii 30 fin. " By the Son is the Spirit:' compare n. f. p. 86. and It. v. Father revealed and manifested unto §. 1 with Basil de Sp. S. quoted n. c. all those to whom He is revealed, for f Greg. Nyss. ii. p. 492, b. " When it is they to whom the Son hath re- Eunomius severs the Spirit from His vealed Him that know Him. But the unionwiththe Son, he calls Him 'Only- Son ever coexisting with the Father, begotten, not having a brother begotten anciently and from the beginning ever with Him,' not with a view of con-

364 God is revealed by His Son

there to help or be holpen. The senses need each other, and all of them depend upon each other. The creatures

1 adv. also depend all upon all as [one] body l : things above also lxxix are entmsted to the command of things above them that are §• 7. their comrades, for they command and are commanded one by

another according to their degrees g. Those which I have mentioned or omitted, are commanded by the One Firstborn. On Him are all the creatures suspended, while

2 p. 210, He is blended2 with His Father. How wilt thou search ™ * 4* out the Only-Begotten, who is blended2 with the Fatherhood?

If thou canst by searching find out the Father, in Him and along with Him wilt thou find the Son: He was with His mouth when He commanded, and He was with His arm when He framed [things] . By Him He made, yea, by Him commanded h. He alone sufficeth for Him alone. In His Bosom is He when He loveth, and on His Right Hand when sitting. Him He loveth, and on Him He looketh.

3 §.2. 3. His brightness is too great for His servants: Angels3

cannot look upon it. Let Moses convince thee in that lie

4 adv. was made so bright. If of Moses4, though a child of man, cr. vni.^e pe0pje were unable to bear the sight, who would look

xxvi. upon His Essence. The One, of Him5, can look upon Him,

5 n.d. f°r overcoming is the Brightness of the Father. Only He ref- 1- alone beholdeth Him6, onlv He alone is able to see Him1, and

6 S. One sees one

only. ceiving Him as without brethren, but and R. iii. §. 19. Ambr. de Fid. iv.

R.iii. that he may thereby prove a difference §. 2 — 10. Eccles. 5, 8.

§. 19. of substance in the Spirit. To keep h This again is going concisely over

from calling the Holy Spirit ' brother,' the same ground as is gone over in adv.

we have learnt from Scripture, &c." Scr. R. vi. §. 4. §. 5. See on Athan.

Nazianz. Or. 37 p. 596. mentions that p. 31 1 , i. p. 324, b. c. Petav. de Opif. i.

the heretics argued that if the Spirit 6. §. 4. Didym. de Trin. ii. 8. p. 217.

was from the Father as well as the Austin c. Maxim, ii. 14. §.9. "Because

Son, They would be brothers. the Son was perfect at His Birth, the

s See n. d. p. 120. To the passages Father gave Him the commandment

there referred to, one similar to that by begetting Him, and He by being

passage may be here added from St. generate received it." Compare n. e.

Cyril of Jerusalem, (quoted by Petavius p. 200.

de Angelis, ii. 1. § 4.) Catech. xi.§. 11. > Vol. iii. p. 592, c. u If joy ra-

" Jf any one (supposing it possible) visheth thee, and maketh thee fat and

were to go up into the first heaven, well-liking, how much more will the

and upon the view of the constituted soul be so through the floods of joys it

order of Angels there, were to go to will have when its affections suck the

them and ask, How God begat His Breastofall Wisdom. Torrents of delight

Son.;) they will say, perhaps, We have flow down to those that see Him from

above us other superior beings, ask the brightness of the Father, through

them, ' Go into the second heaven, and His First-b.rn, and there they feast

the third, &e.'" Comp. Touttees note, themselves in a pasture of visions.

even Ig the highest Angels. 365

by One alone all the creatures. It is in His graciousness that He is a Pardoner, in His righteousness that He is an Avenger. By that He rewardeth, yea, by this He avenge th1 ; for He is the l p-200, measure2 of His repayments. It is in His wrath that He is in- 2 'p. 25, flamed, and in His mercy that He pardoneth: by His knowledge n* T" it is that He revealeth, and by His teaching that He teacheth: by Him He teacheth, by Him He maketh His creatures3 rich 3 §• *• in His wisdom: and by Him He helpeth them that are in^]c# need to blessings from His treasury. By Him He will give to His wrestlers their crowns, when they are risen again. The whole of Him is mingled4 with the whole of Hiin.4§- 2. Who sufficeth to search into Him?

4. The Angels worship with silence : the Seraphim cry ' Holy' to Him : the Cherubim are laden with [His] glory : the Wheels run with [His] brightness5. All of them afar off,5 P- 164, by the Revealed One, worship the Hidden Father. If there were any other essence [to see Him by], and if it could search into the Son, its power to do so would not be from Him, since it would be unto what was from Him, that it had power to attain. Or if it knew Him, though external to Him, either it were akin to Him, or of the same family. Any other essence if it indeed by itself knew Him, either was far off as external to Him, or near as of the same family6. If there 6 adv. S.

... Ixxvii.

were an essence that was related to Him, it is but a One that ^ 1# is many in names only; and should it not be related, then we are among7 the feeble created beings. Seraphim and Angels7 S. to are not equal to it, and if there be any other nature, as being ereat'. external [to Him], it is far removed. O thou creature of dust here below, to what height art thou mounting8 ? 8 §• 6.

Who hath ever seen the hungry that faces Brilliancy, that ruminate upon are satisfied, and are filled and intoxi- and exhale the fulness of His Gift, cated with the floods of glory that flow with a fount of all wisdom in their from the Beauty of the Eternal Fair- mouth, with peace in their mind, truth ness. The Lord of every thing is a in their knowledge, fear in their searchtreasury of every thing: to every man ing, love in their praises! O grant to according to his strength doth He give my beloved, Lord! that I and they may glimpses of His invisible Beauty, and there light upon the fragments that of the Brightness of His Majesty, remain of Thy Gift. The sight of That Brilliancy giveth shine to all in Thy Well-beloved is a fountain of deits love, to the little with its glimmer- lights, and whoso is worthy to regale ings, to the perfect with its full rays, himself therewith, slighteth food; for The fulness of His Glory is His Son every one that gazeth upon Thee, is

only able to bear! Who hath ever by Thy Beauty filled. Glory be to

seen multitudes whose viands were Thy Fairness!'' See n. c. on p. 353. Glory, whose clothing Light, and their

366 God incomprehensible to man, who

5. It is not as the Heaven is high, that the Lord of Heaven is higher than thee : it is in measure that the Heaven is high, but its Creator is so without measure. For all that is created is

'R.lxxi. greater than its fellow by measure1 : immeasurably high and

§• 2- is the brother servant of its fellow, and removed from it [but]

by a little space. But the Creator is far removed from His

creatures1' in His own Essence. There is One that is near

above all unto Him, He by whom He being One made all

2 adv. things2. The servant cometh not near unto Him, for His Son It. vi! it is who is near unto Him. No fellow-servant is by His §#4, side, since His Begotten sitteth by His side.

6. There is a mighty space betwixt the Creative Essence

3 S. pass and the creature: not that He did not shed His influence3 adv.Scr. on *** since without Him it would not even exist. It It. xl. js wjth Him, not He with it. He is mingled with it and

distinct from it, as the sun is near the earth, the nature ot him far from hers. The nature of the earth is not like the pure nature of light: and gold too though of her, is distinct from her, and yet mingled with her. How much more separate is the Creator from the creature though He be with it? He is too high for aught to search Him out.

4 §• 4. Whither wilt thou mount feeble man4? Thou dust, that art

flung upon dust, let thy conversation be in the dust! Even

5 Wisd. the dust which is beneath thee is above thee5, to search into ! 9' 227 -^ ^at beneath be too high for thee, how wilt thou attain to p. 257. Him Who is above ? If the small dust thy kinsman, from

which thou art, is yet hidden from thee, how wilt thou search

out the Majesty too high for any to search out?

6 adv. 7. That dust is in appearance one6: it is little and yet

R. lxiv. one, since in its severalty it is manifold. One mean bosom

generates tastes that cannot be numbered: one little treasury

sendeth forth ornaments that cannot be reckoned. Dust as

parent gendereth offsprings that are external to itself: they

are not like it in appearance ; neither are they to one

another. From the midst of this little thing is a wonder

bom to us ; from the midst of its poverty many treasures

cannot comprehend the mysteries of the dust. 367

stream forth, from that which is one every thing, for from the earth comes every thing. But the dust in its own self makes no alliance1 with any of our senses; in the hollow of1 S. is the ear it is mischief, and in the eye it is injury2; it stoppeth J0range the gates of hearing, it troubleth the light of seeing. 2R §• 8-

8. To all uses it is foreign : of all assistant means it is a§. 1. fountain. Though it be foreign to use, yet from it are all useful things3. It is opposed to hunger, yet the table of* S. uses hunger. Dust to the mouth is a mischief, for it is the bread of the accursed serpent. It was made bread to the Gen. 3, serpent in wrath, and the table to all in mercies. That which ' the eater hath no acquaintance with, yieldeth us all manner

of victuals. That which hurteth the sight, purchases for us all medicinable roots; that which troubleth the eye4, opened 4§.7.adv. the eyes of the blind. In itself and in its victuals is it r# x{Vt entirely of advantage. Rise and marvel thou that seest! §• *• R

7 xxxii.

at the treasures which the dust sendeth forth; a parched §3. nature has become the fountain of all fat things; this dry g°hn 9> nature sendeth forth moistening streams to us; from that which in its nature is weak, cometh iron and brass; that which is poor in appearance, poureth out gold and silver to us. It hath been appointed treasurer to the birds, and as a steward to the beasts; it is a great treasury feeding all, brutes, creeping things, and mankind.

9. There is a miracle in the fine dust, and it is common yet not looked upon. It reconciles in the earth side by side bitter and sweet5: by the esculent root there is the deadly root. Comp. It giveth increase to the bitterness of the bitter and to the§ "3# sweetness of the esculent. The bitter one gathers in its bitterness, and it is not shed out to the sweet one : the sweet one gathers in its sweetness, and it is not poured out

on those round about it. How much can vile dust do which giveth to each of them its increase! To the fruits it giveth their tastes, and with their tastes their colours! to the flowers it gives their odours, and with their odours their ornaments! flavours it giveth to the fruits, and to the ' roots aromas! it gives beauty to the blossoms, the flowers it clothes with ornament! It is the seed's handicraftsman, it bringeth up the wheat in the ears! the stem is strengthened with knots as a building with bond-timbers,

368 The mysterious changes of the dust.

that it may sustain and bear up the fruit, and hold out against the winds.

10. How many teats hath the earth that it suckles each one with its sap ! A marvel were it if its teats were as numerous as the roots, that both to bitter and sweet, to each it should

1 S. as give suck according to its nature1 ! A marvel is it, if it, being ltse one, is a breast that giveth increase unto all fruits ! From it roots suck sweet fruits and bitter : in one it fostereth sweetness, and in another bitterness. There is nothing to marvel at in those that are distinct, since the wonder is greater in their * p. 324, being blended2. The one juice in one tree becomes many n* ' kinds. The tastes of the fruits are sweet and their leaves are bitter: that very fruit also, when green, was very bitter in its beginning. It shadoweth out a type for penitents ; for sweet and luscious is its last estate.

11. If the dust thou tramplest, perplexeth thee in thy search into it, how wilt thou search out the Majesty of Him who with contemptible things maketh thee perplexed ? Nothing is there which thou despisest more than dust, nor any thing more valueless than a hair. Lo ! the contemptible dust beneath thee, how little thou comprehendest its riches : even the hair upon thy head overcometh thee, for how

3 S. how entirely3 art thou unable to compass it. The seas and the

thou not between two contemptible natures hath the Creator placed thee in the midst. The Most High beateth thee back, that thou mayest not pry into the Most High. Even what is below rebuketh thee, that thou mayest not measure the mighty Height. By a pair of contemptible natures doth the Lord of natures admonish thee. Let me reprove thy bold daring, that thou be not daring in hidden things: the things close

*Wisd.9,at hand which are with thee at all times, refrain thee.

* q Because thy haughtiness is close at hand, close also is that which beateth thee back.

12. Even the horseman without curbs doth not ride at full speed, because there is a difficulty therein ; there is therein obstinacy in the violence of the beast : near to him therefore is the curb. Cast thou bridles upon thy seekings, lest thou run on like a brute beast. There are curbs of self-will, and there are curbs of necessity. Those of thy will are thine own, to refrain

God the Father partaken oj through the Son. 36i7

the violence thy self will; those of necessity1 are thy Lord's,' It. so that even if thou dost grow daring, thou art powerless, f ™ \ Whether thou wiliest, or whether thou wiliest not, the curbs lxx.§.i. of thy Lord are cast upon thee. To what purpose, then, thy running on? still thyself powerless man! The Father 2R.lxhi. is complete in His Essence1, and so is the First-born in His|'nd'R- Generateness, the perfect Father of a perfect Son. Per-lxxviiifeet is the Begotten, as is His Begetter. Complete entirely is the Root, complete is the Fruit as well as He. The savours which are in the Tree, He keepeth not back from His Fruit: the savours of that Root which cannot be 3 adv. meted, dwell in the Offspring thereof. If roots conceal not r™^ their treasures from their fruits, how should the blessed Root §• 3conceal His excellency from His Fruit4? Look at the tree,§.'i. how it concealeth its savours in its bosom from every one! ! R- ..

lxxvii.

the savours which it concealed from all, are poured out in§.3.n.e. the bosom of its fruit! When its fruit hath received them, it divideth them to the eaters: by the means of the fruit is given unto us the sweetness which is in the root. If the fruit had not received it; it were not possible for any to

1 St. E. here speaks as if the Essence all of these, such ascription must not of the Godhead belonged exclusively to be taken in a sense implying the exthe Father, because it does belong un- ternal operations of God to be else than derivedly to Him, because we can con- done by the whole Trinity. Such astemplate it in Him apart from any cription comes in part from our imper- source antecedent (in our way of con- feet way of conceiving the eternal receiving it) to it, which we do not do in lations of the Divine Persons; to con- the case of the Son, as that would be ceive these, we use what goes on in the heresy of those who have been our own mind as a type of the Trinity, called the Autotheani. See Petav. de by enhancing which as best we may by Trin. vi. LL. §. 5. The well-known the addition of attributes that we have saying ascribed to St. Hilary, eeternitas not, we make such faint conceptions of in Patre, species in Imagine, usus in the "Reality as we can. Thus Being is Munere, is explained by St. Austin (de the correlative of the Father, as the Trin. vi. §. 11.) on this principle, as Fountain of the Godhead, Wisdom of follows : " After having investigated the Son, as the Image or Word of the to the best of my ability the latent Divine Mind, conceived as expressed meaning of these words, i. e. Father, and formed as it were into an issue in Image, and Gift, seternitas and species It, Goodness or Love of the Spirit as and usus ; 1 think that in the word That in which These again issue etereternity he meant nothing more than nally and immensely. See Petav. de (non eum secutum arbitror in aeterni- Trin. vi. 9. §. 10. viii. 4. §.4. and comtatis vocabulo nisi) that the Father pare the notes to K. lvii. and p. 349, hath not a Father to be from, but that n. d. The word for Essence in St. E. the Son is from the Father in such is that which occurs in Heb. i. 3. way as to be from Him, and to be co- (where our version renders ' Person,') eternal to Him." If the attributes of and is closely allied to one which he Being, Wisdom, and Goodness are as- uses sometimes for ' eternal,' somecribed at times severally to the Father, times for ' being.' Comp. R. xxvii. the Son, and the Holy Ghost, as though §. 1. where it is used of God not as He the other Persons were not also each and

370 77/6? revelation given to Simon Barjona

attain to it. The root giveth it to its fruit, because it loveth it better than all. The fruit yieldeth its sweetness to them that need it, because it loveth them! How much more doth the Father love His Fruit, and the Fruit love them that eat

1 R. x. Him1! Lo! the hidden things of the Root can be tasted in

the Fruit! Do not thou create out of thine own mind a new

2 adv. doctrine in thy generation2 !

Scrut. -jgt Sufficient for thee is that which hath come down from R. xhv.

§.5. the former fountains3; blessed art thou, if thou be sufficient

p 139 f°r tne streams that come from thence! Four fountains4 flow

n- e- down with Truth for the four quarters [of the world]. Thy

r# e. 'thirst is not greater than Simon's5; sufficient for thee are

Mat. 16, t]le streams he drank. The revelation which came down

s r. ii. from above slaked his strong thirst: the mighty stream that

h ': t, came to him flowed from him 6 and came to thee. Greater

6 p. 57, is it than the flood of Eden ; run not to the streamlets !

Greater than all creatures' need, is that which floweth down from the Lord of the creatures. For that revelation floweth

7 Comp. down until now, and for ever7. Thou lovest not the Son n?455 more tnan Simon that heard and wras silent: he wTas the in n. h. speaker in every place, he was silent only in that place.

Though he was quite silent in the Supper, yet he kept not John 13 fro™ beckoning. But here he was wholly silent: the saint 24- pondered it and kept silence: by silence did he set a

boundary to his tongue: by stillness stilled he his criticising.

The boundary which Simon passed not, lo! this do the bold

disputers trample down. A marvel is there in the Scriptures,

8 R. lix. and to the contentious it maketh not itself visible8. Our Lord *• 5' was not violent m for this, for teaching His own Generation unto

Simon; He became a stranger to Himself, and His Father it was that revealed concerning Him. It was not that our Lord was unable to reveal concerning Himself, but that He

two texts, Matt. xi. 12. and Phil. ii. 6. and the violent take it by force;' it is

which are thus combined in the spurious not so that Christ Jesus, who was not

dria, contr. Paul Sam. B. P. p. 292, d, the being equal to God." There seems

t£ Jesus Christ being, as I said before, to be also an allusion in §. 2. and here

in the form of God. .. .counted it to the widely received view, that our

not robbery (aovruyftbr) to be equal Lord had a certain scope of doctrine to

to God. What he here means is, that teach, and that He did not Himself go

it isnot as they who by virtue, toils, &c. beyond it, but spoke as if He was ig-

< ' &£*ei£oo<ri rob or) take by force the norant of what did not come within

sufficient nourishment to souls that pry not into it. 371

in His Person might set an example to bold disputants1. 'R.xxx. For if He were silent about His own Generation, who would \^x, ' be bold about His Generation? and if He were silent, and §• *• revealed not Himself, who would pry into His Birth? Then Mat.il, did He confirm this saying, 'the Father knoweth the Son;' He became Himself silent, that His Generator might tell of Him.

14. The Father, in whose Bosom2 the Son is, knoweth how 2 P* J32, to declare Him. The One Father of the One First-born beginneth and maketh an end of the declaring of Him, as

also the First-born beejan and made an end of His Will. John 5, The declaring of questions has failed, yet our rash disputing 4> ' ■' is not satisfied. Pride laboureth in new3 things, that it3§-13may not repeat those things which were heretofore: it R.ii.§.5. is a small thing to the haughty man to hand on the truth, as it is written: seeking after things too deep, he strips off the truth of things revealed. Picture to thyself Simon, make a likeness of him: the fisher became a painter. He painted a model for the Churches: let every man paint4 it upon his own *^- '"• heart. Let us all say unto the Son, Thou art the Son of the Pearl living God. This sentence is too great for things above, or JJjjj'^ things below; let it be to thee a constant bread, and do thouxxxi.R. never reject it any day! Blessed he whom alone the Son of™11^. God called so! that blessing which our Lord gave him, made*11^-1him blessed. p. 260,

15. Bring thine eye near the light5, and in it it seethj^* without prying into it, and to sleep also it turneth itself, and xxvii. doth not trouble itself with investigating it. Bring thy mouth r.iWv. nigh unto fruits, yet it does not approximate to an examina-$- *■ tion of them. Upon the face of the earth thou walkcst, and

how far art thou from seeking out the end thereof6. Delightful 6 Rto thee is the whole creation7, without seeking or prying into §.4. it. Thou rejectest measurable things, and seekest after the7R;.. Almighty: with the creation thou keepest in quiet, with the §. 2. Creator in disputing; calm and still altogether art thou with all, but fretful art thou with the Lord of all.

16. In measure dost thou get thyself nourished, and without measure dost thou prv. Small is the womb8 of thy mind:8 adv.

doctrine in measure give thou unto it. According as itsXxviii. womb is, so is its nourishment: let it not take too much,^1*^*8, and die. Be thou fed with doctrine, that table which n. a. fin.

372 God's incomprehensibleness and man's vain

sustaineth all! This is the Table of the Kingdom, take thou a little according as thou canst relish it! let not its pleasantness lead thee to many things which thou canst not relish! Disputation in due measure is a medicine n of life: without 'R.lxvii. measure a medicine of death '. Oh thou that drinkest water in measure, make a measure also for thy searching! over-

2 It- much water2 is more fitting than overmuch questioning. It is §. i.& 8. n°t by a little that He is greater than thee, that thou shouldest n* a- reach thyself out to His Height! By how much the Heaven is

higher than thee, is He higher than the Heaven itself: and a

3 s- hundred times more, in proportion3, is the searching into r01"* Him too high for thee. It is not that He is hard of approach cf 5^ in His high places, that He cannot be tracked out ; He is

easy and visible to His servants, yet withdrawn and hidden

4 p. 366, from His creatures4. He is within every thing : He is without

every thing. As He is near to us in His graciousness, just so far above us is the investigation of Him! Thus much may the knowing know: naught beyond it may he know!

17. The mind laboureth to explore Him, and that He exists

5 p- 337, is all it feeleth 5 ! the reason toileth to attain unto Him, when it

thinketh that it is near, it is far off! the senses and with them the thoughts have hastened, yet have they not compre-

B See on adv. Scrut. It. ii. §. 3. that it may be a place of refuge for the R.viii.§.4.E..ix. §.4. Vol.iii.p.620, a. ear to flee to away from errors. He is a " The colour of wool maybe changed; purveyor of peace to the passages of but the substance ofitcannotbe changed: Scripture, thought by fools to be at neither doth it from putting on all colours, variance. He reconciles them by from its colour lose its nature; it is one, intellect as not at wrath, he makes yet not one, and manifold in its colours, them agree by wisdom as not divided, single in what is its substance. Though The audience too that were at wrath the truth also hath but one subsistence, he reconciles; at wrath they were and (>OQJ.O,) it is uttered in all words, while set at wrath. When the books that had one in its substance. For the substance not been at wrath have reconciled the which is without division is divided by hearers, then are the texts reconciled the heretic's mouth; they force it to one with another." Part of the last be against itself, thev compel one half sentence, which the editor prudently to be against its other half. The abridges in translating, is obscured by a substance in the faithful (p. 260, n. a. . . m " * '' i M * r_t p. 347, ref. 8.) is at peacef clear, still, misprint of \fr20D for j-2>S>. The healthful; it is troubled bv the know- ™e passage, however, plainly coning men; it is by strifes in the mouths ce!ve,s V*e office.of a theologian to be of disputers that the truth wrestles phiefly m exercising itself in measure, with itself. But in the healthful hearer [• e Wlthin. certai° llDllts> 'n reference healthful words agree with their neigh- to a certain standard, unalterable m hours; a prudent disputant is like a *"& th™gh entirely changed outbuilder that maketh sound and bindeth, ward>' ^j1. V?**8 implicitly in the that buildeth and tieth. The spiritual hearts of the faithful, though rt requires architect of scriptural words buildeth an architect's mmd to state it scientifiand finisheth the language like a tower, cal|y- bee P 165> n- aefforts to understand His Nature and attributes. 373

hended aught of Him: when they thought they had made speed and comprehended Him, they came to a stand in the abyss, and in doubtfulness. This the hearing only heard, that it heard not aught of Him. Waves upon waves1 dash1 p. 87, it down, the while it hears the Holy Scriptures. While it examineth at hearing 'He was weary,' it heareth that He wearieth not. One ear heareth that He sleepeth2, and another - adv. that He slumbereth not. It hears that He was little and was r,xxxI* limited, again it hears that He filleth the Heavens. While Mseeking to be small in its presence, He proves greater than all the creatures.

18. It heard that He had members3, and went forth to feel3R.xxvi.

them, and they were not; whilst musing on His frame, ' 245 He proved to it to have no frame; while hearing that n- a- He was in one place, it heard that He was in all places; n. s. while to seek about calling Him Good, He gat Him a name as being Just. The eye looked upon His justice, His goodness seized upon it; the mind looked upon His gracious- ness, His severe rod hastened unto it; the report of pardon rejoiced it, the report of. vengeance affrighted it. Betwixt His goodness and His justice, amazed and astonied is the mind; betwixt election and apostacy, the sight is troubled. When it seeth the wicked that deal violently, it seeth the good that are scourged. His trial seeketh out the true ones: His rod repressed the bold-doers. They are mingled together to Him, but not confounded: one with another, though not indiscriminate. It is owing to its weakness that the mind is amazed at this, in that it sufficeth not for it.

19. While he who seeth the death of an old man, has seen

the death of children also ; in one case he seeth what seems See on

right4, in another its opposite: for one who is just is over-* '££'

come, and his companion, another, is delivered. He seeth 4 s- the

good men that are oppressed, he seeth some of them that are

at peace. These same perversions doth he see also among Eccl. 5,

the wicked. There is one whom in a single murder men8*

seize; another who murders a multitude, yet escapes. As

among the waves slight ships are lost, so between goodness

and justice are feeble minds lost0. Because the conceptions5 ^.genealogies

° St. E. probably has some fatalist volving the question, • How is God's school in his eye here: at all events he mercy to be reconciled witb Hisjustice?' alludes more than once to disputes in- Comp.§. 12.andR.xxviii.§.2.p.l22,n.k.

374 Maiis need of God's preventive and sustaining

of them are confused, they cause the weak to go astray. If

they are not wholly understood, as much as is fitting is

understood. This is enough for us to know, that He who

Gen.i8,judgeth all cannot deal perversely; sufficient this for us to

know, that He may not be reproved by us. For it is a

Rom.9, blasphemy for the vessel to turn and teach its maker1. By

xxix. ' what discriminating skill shall we blame Him who gave

§, 3. R. discrimination? Who shall discriminate without Him who

XXXV11.

§.4. " Himself made him discriminating? What knowledge is there capable of judging Him that knoweth all? Oh, thou that receives! thy knowledge from Him, at least be a man of knowledge in what is thine own! for if it is from Him that thou receivest, with what is His draw nigh to Him I It is the 2 P. 375? Gift of the Giver that brought thee nigh to the Giver *; it is p. 14,' by knowledge that He gave to thee that thou hast found how "• m' to know thyself and thy God. Somewhat it was that came §. 3. from Him that drew thee to Him peaceably; for thine own powers were inadequate to make thee reach unto Him. 20. He gave thee discourse, and made thee great 3 p-225, thereby3; do not make little the Giver of it thereby! And 4 p.' 125, if thou hast trafficked4 and made gain, it was having3 J* n* such a capital that made thy traffick thrive. Thy knowcapital ledge is from Him; thine is the likeness, His the perfection. ereo -^ . ^ .g ^ knowledge from His inspiration p, that rectitude is beheld by thee, how much more would He see it who is the fountain of that knowledge itself? The rectitude which is beheld by thee do thou search it out aright, and thou wilt see

v The belief that knowledge in seeing that they also are plunged in the Spirit

as well as' grace in doing God's will, is not as the Apostles and Prophets, but

a gift of God, is often found in the next to them: but in tbe vessels that

Fathers. Thus in vol. i. p. 267, e. are plunged in water is to be under-

St. E. speaks as if it was the same in stood a type of the middling and lower

kind, though different in degree, with classes of those that are [plunged,]

inspiration properly so called: u The baptized, and made disciples." This

gold and silver and brass and iron and passage will shew how St. E.'s account

tin and lead, and every thing that of a theologian in n. may be made

goeth through the fire, shall be puri- to tally more exactly with the more

fled, (Numb. 31, 22.) As for the recent one: as he holds the doctors of

vessels that are plunged in this fire, the Church to be in their degree inthey have a typical meaning, as the spired, of course we might anticipate

gold means spiritually the Apostles : there would be the same kind of diffiby the silver the mind understands the culties to be reconciled by those who

prophets: by the vessels of brass, iron, systematize the statements of the Fasiher, and lead, is mystically meant thers, as are there chiefly spoken of as

the teachers of the Church, seeing existing in Scriptures.

graces a reason against pride and ingratitude. 375

that it is shortcoming in the understanding of other things. Where then is thy knowledge, since it is not with understanding? For it is a blasphemy to say that the thing made is wiser than its Maker. Let him that hath this knowledge tell thee whence he received it. If it was not from His Lord that he obtained it, then is he neither a servant nor the fellow-servant1.* R- .

tie cannot then be concealed, seeing there is a furnace that §.3. detects him: the need of the Maker convicts him of being a thing made. And if it was his Lord who gave him [the power] to know, how should He be rebuked by him? for he cannot go beyond the gift which he received from Him. However great the gift is in him, he still standeth in need of the Giver: for that He did not perfect the defective creature2 was2ib-§.2. not because the Maker thereof was weak; but He made him subject to need, that he might feel who sustained him. Every thing that the creature hath3, did it receive from One3 See in loving-kindness. John %

21. For if he be great by what is lent unto him, how much ?*• .

greater is the Lord of the creatures4. His goodness constrained 7.

Him exceedingly to make-His gift to thee exceeding abundant ;^R4'lxni"

He made Himself poor that He might make thee rich: be 2 Cor. 8,

not thou poor in His riches; for it were not well-pleasing9,

unto Him, that thou shouldest stay in thy poverty. His

poverty enriched thee ; do not thou impoverish it by thy

prying. He that enriched all is not impoverished; he that

prieth it is that is impoverished. Far better than thee is

the dumb, that speaketh not daring things against His

Creator! better far than thee the deaf, that prieth not into

his Maker. Thy speaking mouth is venturesome; the silent

one is better than thee. The Lord hath exalted thee through

these things, and thou requitest Him perversely5. ?V

22. The First-born made thy littleness great6, do not thou a R. make His greatness little, for He that giveth increase to?"1;^ all, decreaseth not. Thee doth the scrutinizing of Him makexxxii. little: to no purpose7 will His goodnesses have befallen thee, 7'^*. if thou art distorted. By the Enricher of all do not thou make versely thee poor, by the Increaser of all do not thou get brought

low; by the Gatherer in of all be not thou led astray, and by the Finder of all be not thou lost. For if thou priest thou wilt go astray in Him; and if thou measurest out Him thou

376 Man, though afraid of the creatures, fearlessly

1 R.lxvii. wilt be lost in Him. If thou settest bounds1 to Him, thou

wilt get bounds set to thee, for to the end of Him there is no end. Whatsoever can be searched out, he who prieth

2 §.26. into it, is greater than it2.

ixxvii. 23. Thou addressest Him as if He were Maker, and priest

§* L into Him as though He were a thing made; thou callest Him

Most High, and thou bringest Him beneath thy prying, for

that which is pried into is below ; greater than it is that

which prieth into it. If God is to be pried into and have limits

3 Comp. set to Him by man3, if there were there a daysman, he would t 2^3. pronounce him that pried and set bounds to be the greater.

Wherewith shall the mouth earn pardon that hath been

daring to this degree? Servants esteem their masters great,

forces their kings, and thou makest little the First-born who

is greater than all by thy prying. Thou art too feeble to go

4 §.25. B.. near unto fire4, and yet thou art daring against the Creator

§,X5.VU' thereof; the blast of fire affrighteth thee; and yet thou art a

busybody about that Majesty. Because thou wert not burned,

thou art lifted up ; His bowels of mercy pitied thee, feeble

man! See how the lightnings, wherewith He burned up

others, have shewn mercy on thee, bold man! Be informed

about Him that hurled it, by the lightning which is hurled by

Him! Thine eye is afraid at lightning, and thine ear afraid

at thunder : how cometh thy tongue to be swift to pry into

the Lord of these? Things revealed thou comprehendest

not; the Hidden One how shalt thou suffice for? Thou

standest still as a vile thing, and by Him is all creation

p. 105, filled 5 ! thou art in one place, and He is greater than all

170, n.'c. space. In what place wilt thou seek for Him, who cannot

^•xlv- be comprised in space? Lo, in this little bosom q thy mind

cannot fly I Seek the heavens and things below them ; by

things revealed search thine own mind !

6R.lvii. 24. Recount the history of the fountains6, those opened

lxiv.§.3. treasuries that fail not! are they produced out of nothing, or

have been culled together out of something? If by culling

together they were produced, then the Creator was very

poor, since even He culled them together from something;

His treasury was like a man's. But the Creator is not poor,

i This seems to mean, this little Ass. renders " in humili aere." Comp. concavity, this small atmosphere of p. 271, n. f. and p. 371, ref. 6. space, with which we are acquainted.

measures the Creator' by conceptions drawn from them. 377

nay, the disputer it is that is poor. His Will1 is His treasure- * on

house, for from nothing was every thing. If the waters were 3^

wrapped together and turned unto their place, it is in handi-R- Hi.

craftsmanship only that the Creator is greater than man. In

Will is the Maker mighty, for that His Will is His working.

He is not subject to handicraftsman's art to get2 instructed2 S. that

how He should make : it is not possible for it to teach its mate

Creator how He should create; handicraftsman's art com- ^!m?ee

manded not that Will that createth all. For an handicrafts- §. 3. man is as a slave beneath the yoke of handicraftsman's art; not working after his free-will, he is subject to the art. He stands amid doubts, seeing he worketh not according as he willeth. In one case his will has its course, in another his will is ineffective. From the handicraftsman's art doth a pattern3 come to him as to one needing it. As for the3Basilin Creator, it is not upon His art that He is stayed; He Him-^h -•• self created4 the art that it might stay the children of men. 4 p. 352, By it the workman is stayed, and of somewhat maketh some- n* what. If this belong to God, then is He also on a level with man, and however great in His handicraftsmanship, He is very little in His Godship. If God be God, His Will1 hath power to do every thing5. Man maketh out of something, ss.might and God out of nothing. ^vgery

25. As our create nature is in no respect like unto thedothHis Eternal Nature, thus is it in no respect like Him in its r, m. working. This solid Heaven6, narrate to us in what way it |- 2exists, whether it be substantial or subtle, humid or dry ? n. c. Mightier than this fire below is the sun above, and yet it burneth not up the firmament7, because the commandment 1 p. 271, alloweth it not: that commandment refraineth it, that refrained the fire of the furnace. And who would set about Dan. 3, recounting the things created that cannot be comprehended; ' forlo, amid the investigation of them things visible become as the things invisible; and if the things visible are invisible8, how 8 R. Hi. much more are the invisible things invisible ! and if the invisible things are invisible, how much more invisible is the In- visible One in His invisibleness ! Thy timidity is much greater than thy knowledge in thy prying ; thou fleest from the flame9,9 %. 23. thou art swift to pry into the Lord of it ; thou art not so afraid of the fire, as it is afraid of its Lord. If thou fearest the

378 The lust of prying perversely leaves the natural use Is. 33, fire, be afraid of Him that dwelleth in fire. The fire that

ministereth is shining, how much more shining He that is

1 §.23. ministered unto ! From that which ministereth1 thou fleeth ;

into Him who is ministered unto thou priest!

26. With brightness, glorious though borrowed, did the Angels enter into Sodom. They saw the brightness that was

Gen. 19, fairer than all, and they were frantic, old men and young.

2 p. 255 There descended the fire of the Most High to aid the sons2 n. e. f. of the Most High, not that it might deliver the holy, but that

it might burn up the proud doers. The high ones changed their appearance, wherefore those below were bold. If the spiritual ones had lightened, the carnal ones had been prostrated. As of their own nature did they regard the Angels, a spiritual nature; contrary to nature therefore did they lust, though they changed not from their nature. The use which was not accord-

Eom. 1, ing to nature it lusted after with those of its race; it would not have lusted after the high ones, who were foreign to its nature. The nature which is not of our place was foreign to our use2; it is by its will that it can adapt itself entirely, if it be sent. Lust lusted after the high ones, because they had put on the countenance of those below; against nature, and yet in nature, was it, since lust did lust for that which is its own.

scomp. Whoso prieth into God, out of all nature3 is his madness.

p' 275 ^e confesseth His Essence, yet prieth into Him as if a

4§.22.fin. creature4. He exalteth Him much by Name, and by disputatiousness disparageth Him. Either stand to His Name consistently, or stand to disputatiousness.

27. If thou namest Him God, then is there no room for 4 R. hex. prying; between God and man faith5 is the medium required. R lxxx ^ thou believest Him, thou honourest Him ; if thou in- §. l. vestigatest Him, thou dishonourest Him. Betwixt God and

6 R. xx. man is faith and prayer6, that thou mayest believe His truth*- |v2' fulness and pray unto His Godhead. He has had it written

that He created the creatures; thou believest, though thou sawest not. Thou hast not come by experience to believe; if thou

7 S. de- wentestby experience, then thou wilt have denied the faith7. As then experience r is the opposite of faith, so too is examining

this word in p. 220, n. d. is confirmed cannot persuade us! I ain astounded

by this passage. Vol. iii. p. 415, e. that man is so daring: if dead he be-

" I am astounded that we men should comescorrupt,ifleftaliveheisliftedup."

nied it.

of subjects legitimate to it for those illegitimate. 379

the opposite of faith. Examining goes searching and searching on, and if a man is a searcher, then is he no believer1 ; and if1 p. 143, he be searching until now, his finding is far from him. Faith n' c* that goeth not wandering is that which hath found the truth revealed. She hath been found of, and hath found the verity that hath come to her. By those without have they of the household been reproved for bold disputers: by them in error2 too 2 R. hath the knowing one been put to shame, that knew and yet?x^n(j was bold. Hi- §.16.

28. The worshippers of the sun r pry not into him, who is but a creature ; though his servitude be very obvious, yet call they him by the name of his Lord ; neither cloth the heathen pry into the graven image that superstition hath graven, for if he were to pry into it, then could he not' worship it : he could not pray unto it, if he pried into it, which is a dumb [idol]. Experience would teach him that it seeth not nor heareth. Wherefore superstition doth not allow those in error to be prying, but it has brought3 prying into3^29* the house of the true [worshippers] that they may die. Prying4 hindereth that it may blind, and again it giveth that4P- 124, it may hoodwink. For as if thou priest into an idol5, it isR. ixV. edification to thee ; so if thou priest into God, it is a mischief, fv?.

5 Comp.

It gave faith, then, where prying were useful; but prying Bel and came in where faith was required. For if prying cometh in, ^fg11* then faith cometh to a stop, and by both of them did man fall in n. 1. his feebleness; for prying he comprehended not, and faith he possessed not. Pry into the dumb that thou may est understand, since he is bereft of hearing; but pry not into Him that heareth all, how and by whom He heareth; for it is not by any ear that he heareth, since He is wholly hearing throughout; neither is it by eyes that He seeth, since the whole fulness of Him is seeing. It is His Nature that He hears

He be truly God and Son, in His Gene- Him.' "@iovvoftt& (not 'legitime cole' as

ration above, He has a Father and God Mingar. renders, see Herm.ad Aristoph.

He hath none, in that below, He has a Nub. 809. Stalb. ed Plat. Euthyphr.

God but lather He hath none. So §. 2.) xa) trifiou &rn Ti pj. And so in

then that one that is a man ought not to Plato's Apol. §. 2. they think <rovs

all created things wholly inaccessible, men who pry in this way do not believe

even those without have declared in there are gods.' Comp. Jerem. ii.

words like these : ' Believe in God, and 11.

380 Disputation vain, revelation sufficient,

throughout, it is His Nature that He sees throughout*. In faith take refuge, for He is high above prying; it is faith that is able to give life to our feebleness. 1 i. e. 29. Because error l envied the weak it set them upon Comp! PrymS 5 to sharpened them with disputing. It roused p. 203, them to battle, because it saw that Love came to take man 9 p. 266, up to heaven2. Strife made haste to cut off the Root that led n- a- them up to heaven. Be still thou disputing with the apostates! 3 p. 327, and thou wrangling with the [false] doctrines3 ! See, O strife, n* b' how thy partizans are brought down low, as being guilty! It

* p. 249, tried to get itself the face of truth4, that it thereby might steal n* e* away the children of truth ; it sundered them by questioning,

for it urged them against that Majesty, because they that were

s p. 215, without5 were not able to conquer a conquering party.

D# a* Conquered was the side that had conquered, because it struggled with itself. Enough for our feebleness is that

e p. 258, Truth that came in open character6.

n* c* 30. Confess that there is a Father and a Son in reality as

in Names. The root of the name is the subsistency; by it names are bound together. For who ever set a name on aught, when the subsistency belonging to it had no existence? How could fruit have a name given it, if it existed not in reality? Name the Father the Root; surname the Son

* p. 2io, as the Fruit; He is blended7 with Him, and yet distinct from ef" 131 ^*m* ^e *s m ^*s Bosom8, and on His Right Hand. For

if He were not mingled with Him, then His Beloved were

1 This is one of the passages which no natural bearing upon, ?nd incapable

might allude, but only allude, to the of tasting the enjoyment which the

Audians: for in matter of fact similar neighbouring sense gathereth in. But

expressions about the hearing, seeing, there the case is not so, for the whole

tfcc. of God were suggested in contro- Divine Nature is throughout seeing

versy not with Audians, but with and hearing and knowing.' So St. Hil.

Arians. See Petav. de Trin.ii. 4. iii. 8. in Psalm cxxix. §. 3. ' Deus qui et

vi. 4. vii. 5. §. 4. St. Gregory urges ubique et in omnibus est, totus videt,

against Eunomius, p. 772, b. ' that the totus audit, totus efficit, totus incedit.'

Divinity is not divided in the acts of The immediate reference to ' prying'

comprehension, in the way, in which also shews at what St. E. is aiming

with us each of the organs of sense his remarks. Comp. R. xxvii. §. 2.

lays hold of its correlative, vision of R. xli. §. 2. where, however, he urges

what is visible, the sense of hearing of the correlativeness of senses to their

what is audible : and touch does not objects not to shew what God is, but

taste, nor hearing admit of any appre- what man cannot do; what he there

hension of smells or savours, but each by implication denies of man, that he

abides in the one function for which it here asserts of God. Still there is

was appointed by nature, remaining plainly the same current of thought in

senseless, so to speak, to that which it has either case.

The Persons distinct, the Will one in the Trinity. 381

not in His Bosom. And if also He were not distinct from Him, He would not sit at His Right Hand. He is mingled with Him, because He is in His Bosom; He is distinct from Him, because He is on His Right Hand. One They are in one Will u; They are Two by Their two Names.

u The subject of the one Will in the Trinity has occurred already, p. 132. p. 133. (where we see how strongly St. E. asseverates his adherence to the belief in it,) p. 287, n.c. p.349. The importance of this belief is twofold; first as shewing that, as the writers of this earlier period held the Father and the Son to have one "Will, they must have explained all such texts as imply that Christ had another will, of His Human Nature, in which respect passages like those above tell against the Monothelites. See Petav. de Incarn. vi. 13. §. 4. and ix. 7 §. 4. As for the second ground of its importance (the one with which we are here more immediately concerned) the following words of Ana- stasius Sin. Hodeg. p. 13. will introduce us to it: " Christ who is in the form of God according to the Godhead, has a sovereign will which is common to the Father, Himself, and (1. aireS xui) the Holy Spirit, but as having taken the form of a servant He has also the will of His rational and incontaminate Soul, which is according to God's image and likeness that fulfilleth the will of the Sovereign. But if the will of His holy and rational soul be removed, He will be found to be subjected in respect of His Godhead after the manner of a servant, and so to fulfil the Father's Will. And this is the blasphemy thatArius andDiodorus used, who said that there were two wills in the Godhead, one of the Father and one of the Son, that of the Father sovereign, that of the Son servile." (see also p. 131.) This shews us what it is against which Will of the Eternal Being is not His opponent, nor is it His adversary, that it should straighten and struggle in the Eternal Being with His Majesty, and this should be conquered and be changed. Yet never hath the Eternal Being set His Nature and His Will at variance; seeing that in Him His Will is one in His substance, OCOQIOOi which at no time waneth or encreaseth." Vol. iii. p. 612, c. " Thy Will, O Lord, is like Thyself: Thy Will being One amidst its diversities willed and adorned

all the creatures, that Will that no man judgeth. Thy Will, it is Thy Father's Will!" — where He had been speaking of the miracles wrought by Christ, and turns off suddenly to the Divine Will which they attested the operation of. See also §. 32. and ii. §. 8. Didym. de Trin. iii. 12. " ' I came down from Heaven not to do Mine own will, but the will of the Father which sent Me,' means not to do the will of the Human Nature in the Incarnation, but of the Divine. For the will of the Well-beloved Son is not diverse from that of God and the Father, seeing there is but one and the same will in the Trinity." Vide ibid, p. 389, b. where he distinguishes between the unity of will which flows from choice as in men, from that which flows identity of Nature as in God, and does not come from, though it be attended with, choice so to speak. Id. c. Apoll. 29. and31. "Are then the wills of the Father and the Son divided? and how then is there to be a will common to Both of Them? or how is the identity of Nature to shew itself with a difference of wills? Surely it is absolutely necessary that designing should go along with the Nature, as the Lord somewhere says, A good tree cannot, &c. (see n. e. p. 1 79.) If then

the fruit of the will be different in the Father's case from what it is in the Son's, they necessarily admit the Nature of Either to be also different. Why then is any war made upon Arius? and why do they not go over to Eunomius, who when dividing the Nature of the Father and the Son along with the Nature cut in twain the Will also, and by this means chiefly tries to establish the diversity of Essence which the inferior has to the superior, and to sever the definition of Godship at the same time?" Cyril Thes. p. 112, c. to the heretical statement, that "the Father is in the Son and the Son in the Father, after this fashion: since They differ in no sort in Their judgments or senti-

382 Names must have real

They have not two Wills; They have not two Surnames. The Name of Fatherhood belongs to the Father;

1 p. 286, His Name is the keeper of His glory \ : the Name of p'. 354 Generateness belongs to the Son ; His Name is the keeper ref. l. of His Generation. In the Name of Father lieth the manifestation of Him ; in the Name of Son is the distinguishing of Him. In the order of Their Names is kept the orderv of

2 S. Ge- Their Proprieties2. As Their Names may not be hidden so gfeas°" that they become one, thus neither can their Proprieties2 be

concealed so as to become one. The Jews concealed His Generation, which cannot be concealed. The day-spring of

3 p. 145, His Proprieties2 is in the Prophets; the explanations3 of

Sacra- Q\t Not even the fruit and the tree are one, though they

comp. be one; the fruit is known as iruit, and the tree as the root.

5 See p. they distinguished. The name of the fruit belongeth to the lxxvi. naul alone, and the name of the tree to the root alone. Two §.4. andp0wers and two subsistences in one power and love5 are 12. and mingled. For if there be the name of the fruit, and there p. 349, is 110j. the Subsistencyx of the fruit, then hast thou named

n. Ur merits, but the Son wishes whatsoever which he combats. St. Ambr. de Fid. i.

whatever the Son doth, and a certain v. §. 133. also combats the same error,

harmony and sameness of wills and Greg. Naz.Or.29.p.490,b.32.p.520,a.

way that the Father is in the Son, and Conf.ii.p.41.p.85.p. 154. This will suffice

&c.' — replies that at that rate Angels to shew both at what St. E. aims his

and Archangels, &c. would be sons as remark in the text, and his agreement

much as the Son, i. e. he shews that with other writers on the point, no figurative sameness of wills will v The order of the Divine Persons

meet the passage alluded to. (See Da- has been noticed several times, see

mascene de Dub. Yolunt. 24. Maxim, p. 327, n. It should be added here,

C.ii.p.ll.)Inp.l53,b.p.]55,c.p.212,c. that the Syriac word \a>OOl implies

he speaks ot the Son as ' the coessential succession, and it is used in the passage

(befous) and living will of the Father,' quoted p. 197 n. d. of the transmission

and p. 344, c. of the Holy Spirit as 0f holy orders. See Didvm. de Trin.

" being the mind of Christ Who telleth p. 208. who follows G. Nyss. ii. p. 326,

all things which are in Him to His a. jn supposing that the order of the

disciples, not conversing with them by Persons if sometimes altered in Scripany proper will of His own, nor by any tQre js so for tne express purpose of

wish diverse from Him, in whom and marking Their equality. Comp. Ambr.

of whom He is, but as proceeding in de j?t v# r ^jg# the wav of Nature from His Essence, v ~ ., , k^.w,

and as' having the whole of His will * .<>" the word fcoaio see above,

and also of His operation." Epiphan. £ 2l0>, • J-.. T? the Pa^es the,re ™ Z ~a; „ >7QA „ *!,-**!,-, a..•„„„ given the following remarks may be mentions, i. p. 784, c. that the Anans, J, , , , . . f fi, •> ,

p. 860, c. p. 862. p. 868, b. that the Semi- a£ded (h!/e * 'n the,ftrst Place tne arians, and p. 954, d. p. 963, c. that the Phrase' three Persons occurs as far as Anomeans held a diversity of wills I recollect only once or twice in St. E.

Subsist encies corresponding to tit em.

the tree a stock by the name of a fruit that it bare not ; as then the tree exists in name, and likewise in subsistency,

Vol. iii. p. 352, b. in a doxology at the end of a funeral dirge, which might possibly have been a subsequent addition, though in other respects like 1 Praise let us offer to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Three Persons and Names, One God, the Raiser up of Adam's sons.' (Yet compare a very similar case in Athanasius' use of the term hypostasis, in O. T. p. 70.) Ibid. p. 433. Christ addresses a sinner — ' thee who by the Blood ofMyself,i.e.Mine own Blood, art redeemed.' Ibid. p. 422, c. ' I have not been watchful the solidity of a single hour,' i. e. even for one single hour, j^* j^ >ooldj L\3i,. \\

words not without some difficulty, which the elusion of them in the translation would shew. These are the only passages (besides the one in p. 381. bottom) that occur to me to add to those already referred to: the latter, if correctly rendered, answers to the use of it in the text. St. E. again and again speaks of the Names, but does not use the word jic&JX) alone (though even the metre would not iuterfere with his doing so) for Persons. To express this he contends that the Names have a reality to answer to them: this again he illustrates by certain rude similitudes in nature, and in the thing used as a simile he does apply the term j^CQio to the substance which the name indicates, but seems to avoid so applying it to the thing signified by that simile. Now this is jnst what he does with the word jltD (nature) in p. 232, n. b. for a parallel to which in Greek, see Le Quien Diss. Damase. ii. §. 17. and on Dam. Dialect, p. 36, n. 4. This indefiniteness of meaning served to help the cause both of Nestorians and of Monophysires at a subsequent period. See Assem. B. O. iii. pt. 2. p. ccx. &c. Diss, de Monoph. §. 5. and P. Strozza de Dogm. Chald. cap xv.ii. That which St. E. seems to employ the word thus indefinite to express, would answer more nearly to our word 1 reality,' (which he uses, p. 384. as equivalent to it,) than to ' person;' as avwrotrrctrts in Greek would mean unreal, so the Syriac word would ba used of the contrary (comp. p. 372, n. n.) — and St. E. would mean, that apart from the farther question in what the Unity of the Godhead lies,

Each Divine Person has a Substantial Reality answering to it. This was one step to make against the Arians: to shew a Oneness of Substance was another step, which may be done by proving a oneness of operation and of will: to determine precisely what properties must be added to our idea of that Substance, when we would contemplate It as existing in Any One of the Three Persons, was a farther step resulting indeed ft\ m subsequent reflection upon the former two, but upon which St. E. does not seem to enter. So far then the distinct sense of ' person' is not definitely attached by St. E. to j^CQiD- Yet surely the frequent use of the word for 'self,' (as noticed in p. 210.) is an approximation to such use of it. This latter use may be illustrated by another word commonly used in Syriac for ' self viz. the word ' soul.' If it may not be considered as a ruled point, "that the soul alone does not constitute a man's person, St. E.(de Parad.viii.) certainly holds this to be constituted of soul and body. Yet the soul is the source of man's personality, is that which, in our ideas, though not in fact, is prior to the body when we conceive of a definite person in our minds. See Petav. de Inc. iii. 12. And as the soul is to our body, so is the Godhead to Christ's Manhood: His Personality is compounded of these two Natures — only in Him the Godhead had a priority in fact to the Man- hood— He was a Person without the latter, though He is not now. When then the Sacrifice of Himself, or ' the Blood of Himself is spoken of, the word POQJLO used for l self in that case makes a close approximation, though it is only an approximation to the subsequent use of it for ' Person.' As I am not aware of any thing like a scientific treatment of this word, it seemed desirable to put together what was known to me in connection with it. Of course it is quite one thing to acknowledge that the word admitted of being confused with other words, and another to excuse heretics for confounding the things signified. Orthodoxy does not lie in ' the noise of words,' (see p. 260, n. a.) though it is symptomatic of heresy to refuse to attach to words that meaning which the Church chooses to attach to them. St. E. is here writing antecedently to the time when the definite

384 The Names of Father and of Son imply real Persons

the fruit is also like it, in that it also is so in name and in

1 S. reality1. If the fruit be in name, but the stock in its subl}r* sistency, a falsity and a reality is there in thy naming them, R.ii.§.7. smce one exists and the other does not. True then is the

Generator, and True the Generate, in Name and in Reality. 32. As much then as it is fitting that They should not have two Wills, so is it fitting that both of them be found in

2 s. their true Proprieties2. The Father by His Name have we reahties* learnt, and the Son by His Name have we known: without

Names there were no knowledge; by the Name were the manifestations. Take away the Names and the Surnames, and lo, all order is confused! What thou shalt call them, thou skillest not; what thou shalt confess in, thou knowest not; Who begot, thou dost not distinguish, who was begotten, thou skillest not. Because the two Names came, in the figure of two lights They chased away the darkness sComp. that kept the distinction shrouded from the hearers3. The n,z'p,/1. Father thou learnest by His Name, and the Son by His Surname; thou hast heard ' Father,' the Name is enough for thee; and the Son's Name sufficeth for thee. There is no facey there that thou shouldest be informed by the face; their Names are unto us as faces. By their names even men when far off are distinguished; by their names are they learnt. In the place of faces afar off there come in the names near at hand. In the place of faces2 aie

meaning affixed to the Greek terra in their view of it. (See P. Strozza, as

1 hypostasis' was given to jvnnm. before,) which they distinguished from

sentative. For even in Greek writers St. E. in a very indefinite way — as we

near the time, bxoaraeis is used for say in the person of, for in the character

substance, e. g. in the Council of Alex- of. E. g. vol. ii. p. 378, a. 'The

andria in 362, and by Greg. Nyss. c. Spirit spoke in Jona [in] two charac-

Apoll.25.0r.Catech.4.fin. Cyril Thes. ters, that of God and of the Prophet.'

p. 280, a. (comp. Le Quien diss. Dam. ii. Vol. i. p. 3, e. ' The Angels came in the

§. 17.) and the language of the inter- character of strangers.' Vol. iii.p.254,

locutor even as late as in the Dialogues, d. (as in the text,) ' Whom did not thy

p. 408. The word ' subsistency' has face or presence gladden, whom thy

been used in the text in order to avoid decease not sadden?' This only conthe appearance ol prematurely closing firms what has been said in note u,

the question as to the meaning of the and leads to shew that St. E. had no

word; though ' reality' might better distinct word to express ' Person.' agree with the context. ■ Did. de Trin. i. 11. " "Whatsoever

afterwards employed by the Nestorians Jese mus* ^essences of necessity

to indicate Christ, i. e. the whole com- dlver^' For/he word ' F*ther> he

equally omnipresent and uncircumscribed. 385

appellations, and in the place of forms1 are names. The1 or voice riseth instead of the light, and instead of the eye is the hearing. The ear is near unto the names, and distinguisheth them as if images!

33. Yet neither do similitudes2 serve even to shadow forth 2R-xliithe reality. For that fruit of the tree cannot preach of the R.ixxvi. First-born, seeing the fruit is suspended upon its tree, and if ref- 6* they cut it off, it changeth ; it cannot be on its tree when it is with him that taketh it. But the First-born is in the Father; He remaineth with Him and cometh unto us ; He is with Him and with us also3: He cometh and goeth while He3 R , is in every thing. The Creation is filled with Him wholly, §# 1# while the end of Him is in the Father4; neither is there any4P-25> mouth that can tell His going or His coming. Before He came p. 365, He was here, and when He came here He was there. Ere He10^* went to His Father, He was there entirely with Him. He went ref. 4. thither, when He was there. He came hither, when He was here. His going and coming was true1: He came and went

Father.' But let them hear one thing, that if the Divine Subsistencies had not been manifested by an appellation corresponding to each, what symbol would there be for any one to use, (without mentioning the Father's title,) in order to indicate both the Father, and the fact that He has a Son? or again, to speak of the Son and the Spirit, withal, without naming the title of the Son and the Spit it? &c." Didymus is there alluding to Eunomius, who argues (as Mingarelli notices) Apol. §. 18. that diverse names imply diverse essences. The answer is, that names are all we have to distinguish the Subsistencies, even though They be One Essence, and that it is manifestly per-' verse to argue, that the rules which we apply to things in general are to be so absolutely universal as to include the Trinity, as if in this case also separate names implied three separate essences. * We have here a series of statements paradoxical when referred to our ordinary conceptions of motion, yet not necessarily so when considered as the best representatives we have of somewhat, which wholly transcends those conceptions. We speak of God's coming down from Heaven and being made Man, which plainly cannot be

true of local motion, since He is substantially present every where: it is true of His condescension in taking our Human Nature into Himself: it is in this Nature that He goes and comes, inasmuch as having taken It, He took it with all its attributes, except such as sin had added to it. Thus St. Aust. on St. John 16, 28. " In such way when coming into the world did He go forth from the Father, as not to leave the Father, and in such way go to the Father when the world was relinquished by Him, as not to leave the world. He came forth from the Father, because He is of the Father; He came into the world, because He manifested to the world His Body which He took of the Virgin. He left the world by a bodily departure, He went to the Father by the ascension of His Human Nature, and yet did not relinquish the world, seeing that by His presence He governeth it." saith that He came into this world, and departed again out of the world to the Father, not as if He was taken from the Father when He became Man, or from those upon earth when He went away to the Father with the Flesh. For He is very God by power

Adam's boldness and punishment

VJqo

2R.lxxx,

without changing. From God who is in every place His Fruit was not severed: from His First-born again who filleth every thing1 the Father is not far off. If the creatures be suspended on Him 2, how can they be far from Him? His nearness is far; His farness is near. Far off is He, though quite near. Who can tell of Him?

34. O thou boldness of Adam, how hast thou been propagated y in his sons ! Adam boldly aimed at a [higher] rank, and his offspring aimed at the Lord. The sons of Adam thought that by prying they had seized and comprehended God3. O thou that art bold against God, look upon Adam as a mirror: he too thought fit to pry into God, and was by Him condemned to die. It was not because

unspeakable, filling all things, and not having aught that exists relinquished by Him." Comp. Petav. de Deo iii. 8. and 9. de Trin. iii. 8. 16. and Adriani Isagoge, (there referred to,) ed. Pearson, Crit. Sacr. viii. §. ix. This will explain what has been overstated above, n. h. p. 236. where it was said, that the Holy Spirit did not really descend at Christ's Baptism, with a view to remind the reader of the inconsistency of such expressions (when taken literally) with the Omnipresence of the Holy Spirit, and by so reminding the reader, to lead him to look for somewhat deeper. Two things seem to be meant by descending, when used of any of the Divine Persons: one is the employment of Angels, a dove, or voices, or other outward signs of the Presence which is at all times universal and permanent; and the other the application of His very Substance to some created nature, whether that nature subsists antecedently, as in those baptized, or subsists only in hypostatic union with God, as in Christ. In this last sense motion (of coming) is ascribed to God in the text: in the note referred to, there was no need to determine in what real sense the Holy Spirit descended at the Jordan, provided it be remembered that whole fulness of the Godhead was in Christ from the moment of His Conception, and that Divines in general are averse to taking such passages as speak of Christ's growth in wisdom and in grace, as meaning a real growth and not merely the gradual external manifestation of

it. After the notes upon K. lxxvii. and lxxviii. we are in a condition to say what has been now offered in elucidation of the overstatement made in p. 236. Theodorus of Mopsuesta is anathematized by Pope Vigilius, (Harduin. Concil. iii. p. 18. cap. 12.) as holding that ' Christ arrived by degrees at the perfection of unction by the aid of the Spirit,' ' like a mere man,' (comp. cap. 32. and 39. and the fragment of Cyril against Theodorus given ibid. p. 97.) and that is all which it was necessary to make out with a view to the parallel there made between the consecration and the Nativity, the invocation and the Baptism of Christ.

y This passage implies St. E.'s belief in the propagation of the original sin: comp. B.lxxiv.§.l. Canon Necros.lxxix. §. 1. " The fruit that Adam plucked in Eden hath condemned me to die in my sins: and the Son that hath risen from the Virgin Mary hath justified me, that I should live by grace." On nature of man that he here calls water, which he has called evil since the good nature was corrupted by the evil poison of the old serpent, and by the dragon's breath was its beauty wholly extinguished, and it became devoid of savour. Through this corruption then human nature was like a barren field, and it would have continued to be evil waters for ever, and never would its evil savour have been healed, nor its bitterness sweetened, unless our Redeemer had come, and by His Heavenly Salt had healed it, &c." See also n. d. p. 390.

Jind their counterpart in the heretics. 387

he knew that God existed that he was condemned, but because he dared to scrutinize Him. If thou believest that there is an Eternal, to pry into Him is distraction: if then thou knowest that He exists1, into the mode of that existence, R:. search not. For on which side of Him wilt thou look upon§. 2. It. Him that is without end2? If thou wishest to pry into that"^^' Essence, go, begin with it from the bound thereof. And §.4. when thou hast bounded that which is unbounded, from what §.i, ' quarter wilt thou go in to measure Him? If thou wert to dwell in the midst ("of itl, then thou wert far off from the end3^- "£

of Itz; and if in every place thou art feeble, turn thee to theixxii. §. commandment. 4 Look upon Adam, for if he had continued?'* 12 instant in the commandment, then had he reigned; because he daringly transgressed the commandment, he was not honoured with that for which he wished.

35. For when God made him, God made him a thing made, in that He gave him freewill that he might deal after his own will. Adam, however, foolishly wished to lust after that which he already had. But since he was daring as if by necessity5, even that which he now had he lost his hold of. *$.1%.B. To thee then hath God given commandments as school- §# 2. masters, and lo ! they teach thee, that if thou keepest them,

thou wilt be a brother of the Christ. Instead then of seeking to go in, lo! thou seekest how thou mayest come forth. Enter in to the searching of the commandments, and they will be to thee like a mirror! See therein thy labour and thy work; seek therein the reward and the promise!

36. Let the just be also to thee an image of love, and fashion thyself by them ! look, therefore, and grow bright in Enoch ! be like Noah, the second head [of the race] !

z This again is a passage which be circumscribed by this part which is

may glance at the Audians, though less than Him : but if He be everyassuredly it may also be aimed at the where, He will be circumscribed by

Anomeans. Greg. Naz. Or. 34. p. 542, d. another thing, and that much greater.

in writing against the latter, says, but if He be beyond the universe,

11 Is God nowhere, or somewhere ? is there then nothing to separate Him

If nowhere, some of the very enquiring from the universe? And where will

minds may ask, how at that rate He He be beyond this, or how is one to

is to exist? for if what does not exist, conceive that which transcends and

is nowhere, what is nowhere haply that which is transcended, without

does not exist ; and if He exists some- some limit existing to transect and

where, then, as He does, He must be separate them? &c." See R. xlv. and

either in the universe, or beyond it; G. Nyss. ii. p. 319. who points out how

but, if in it, either in some part or else Eunomius makes God local, everywhere. And if in any part, He will

388 Abraham's faith a lesson against prying.

If then thou thinkest that thou surpassest them, how wilt

thou surpass Abraham? However great thy excellencies are,

\s. which his bosom is the haven to which thou wilt come at last1.

haven Our Lord halh taught thee in His Gospel, that it is in him

of thy that thy course is to end. Seek thou then, as one discrimi-

Lukeif "nating, what his conversation was: if then it was by his

23> believing only that his degree was above all, how comest

thou to be minded by prying to rise above his degree? Two

things are taught by him, faith, and not prying. Because he

believed, he received the promise ; because he pried not, he

2 §.27. gained the kingdom. Whoso believeth, prieth not2; if then

*41X' a man pry, he believeth not.

37. Consider how Abraham might have pried into the words that he heard ! for it was not by a commandment that he learnt that there was a God in Heaven, but he judged of his own self a that He was Lord of the creation. He then who saw his thoughts revealed Himself unto him, that he might be confirmed [therein]. When Abram perceived that He

3 §.34. existed, he sought not to find the mode of His existence3. Even after He had revealed it to him, he asked Him not, in what mode dost Thou exist ? And the Messiah too he knew, and yet the mode of His existing did he not enquire into.

John 8, He saw then, and was transported with joy; he wrought the type, and kept silence. How then wilt thou be daring in the investigating of the Only-begotten? Flee away, and hide thee with the commandments! Seek what thou shouldest do, and how thou mayest have life, and which of the commandments may be a key unto life for thee!

38. Consider also which commandment ministered unto its 4 See time 4, and was ministered unto ; but be not deceived, when F^jk* thou shalt hear words like, and yet distinct. There is a voice xv-§-Mhat requireth sacrifices, and there is a voice that rejecteth n.f.&gl burnt-offerings. There is a voice that maketh clean meats, Levit. and there is a voice that confuseth them and eateth. There

1 Sam * a *n v°l- *• P- 15^' **. He mentions a heaven and earth, help me, and drive

15 22 tradition, that Abraham worshipped off these locusts: and immediately God

; ' Cainan, a Chaldean idol, and was sent answered him and said, Abraham, lo!

upon the occasion of a plague of locusts, I, whom thou hast called, have heard

by his father, to drive them off from thee, &c." This tradition only colours

their fields; and that " when Abraham the fact alluded to in the text, that

was very humbled and unable to drive Abraham came to know God first by

these winged creatures off, he cried his natural reason, as far as Scripture

teaches. See Josh. 24, 2.

God's positive laws vary in different ages. 389

is a voice that maketh feast-days; there is a voice that pro-Ps. 50, faneth feast-days: there is a voice that halloweth the day;^ 12 there is a voice that rejecteth sabbaths1. There is a voice Amos 5,

that is for circumcising males; there is a voice that rejecteth i peari circumcision. All these, when thou hast heard, stand Ij-§-2* between them both and question them1'. Be not thou thenio, 16. in error with the rest, whom scrutinizing choked2, but hearf^'j^4, the voice which speaketh with one mouth in all generations. In one generation there was one voice; the generation passed, and the commandment passed: a generation [more] . came in, the voice added yet to command another law. The voices were gathered together and multiplied, since all these generations were in one generation c. Fools came in to distinguish between voice and voice, that from voices that were not like they might establish different Gods3, seeing they saw 3 §. 39. not, that the generations also were unlike one to another; for the dispensations of the generations were distinct one from its comrade.

39. But if the law of one generation extended unto all, wherefore did the flood carry away those who approached not unto the tree ? For if the voice spoken to Adam had passed on unto Noah4, what recompense was there, where the action4 comp.

vol. ii.

b Most of the passages here alluded and seems intended to re-touch and p. 106,

to were used by St. James of Nisibis, as nnfold (perhaps at the request of some n. b.

stated inn. a. p. 98. by Greg. Nyss.Test. friend) some of the points already

in Judaeos Galland. vi. p. 589. Cyril c. treated of. At any rate, the particular

Jul. p. 309. &c. See Antonelli upon point here spoken of cannot be said to

St. James, p. 331. St. E. here applies bear directly upon the Audian heresy:

them apparently in furtherance of an ar- still less can the §§. which treat of the

gument already touched upon: (R. xliv. One Will or of the circumincession of

§. 2. with note a.) he wishes to shew the Fruit in the Root be said to have

that the apparent changeableness of that bearing, whereas they do bear on

God is not real, that any such passages the Anomean.

in the New Testament as seem to c i. e. the whole time before Christ

imply change (and so a created nature) may be looked upon as one generation,

in the Son are fully paralleled by such which included all such ritual observpassages in the Old Testament as would ances, whether of Moses or of the

imply the same in the Father. This Fathers. That explanation of the phrase

would tell against the Anomeans, while ' from one generation to another,' which

it would also, as if by the way, remove makes ' one generation' mean the time

an argument on which Audians and the before Christ, and ' another' the time

heretics of the Manichean school rested, after, will illustrate this. Comp. St.

It is also to be borne in mind, that it was Austin in Ps. ix. §. 7 lxxi. §. 21.

very common with the Fathers to point Cyril de Ador. p. 357, e. " It is the

out the tendency of all heresies to Mani- custom of Scripture to divide the whole

cheism. — If an undue portion of this of time sometimes into two portions,

Rhythm seems given to the particular viz. that in which the Law existed,

point treated of here, it may be observed and that in which Christ was manithat the whole Rhythm is unsystematic, tested, sometimes into three, &c.'*

390 Patriarchal, Jewish, and Christian dispensations had

lS.whichhad no place1 d? It was necessary, then, in all generations stranger tnat according as they are, so should the commandments be; to the for the edification of those of the generation were the voices spoken in the generations. By this economy, then, the voices were added to and increased; the voices that were added caused to err the teachers of error that have erred from One. From the voices that have spoken upon earth

2 §. 38. have they made Gods2 in heaven. For many were the voices

of the Prophets, that they might persuade the weakly ; they

3 It. liii. set forth all manner of medicines3 for the sickliness of the &• 3* infirm. There were some of the commandments that ceased,

because the former malady was no more; there were some of them that were standing ones, because the maladies were standing ones. Both Apostles and Prophets were physicians of souls: according to the suffering of mankind so did they apply their remedies; according to the sicknesses which were in their generations, thus did they set forth their medicines. They administered their medicines to the last and to the first. There are maladies of particular generations, and there are maladies which are in all generations. For the new maladies which came athwart them they gave new medicines: for the maladies constant in all generations they gave constant remedies.

40. They gave the commandment * thou shalt not steal :* constant is the malady, and constant the remedy thereof. They gave a commandment for circumcision : the malady is gone, and gone is the remedy of it. They stablished an instrument

d St. E. of course here means the if in very deed there never was a man

positive law given to Adam not to touch who sinned because he knew that it

the tree. This (which is plain from the was wrong to provoke God, then in

whole drift of the passage before us) very deed it would be clear, that Adam

may be made yet plainer from the fol- being childish did not know that he

lowing words: (Vol. ii. p. 320, f.) really was sinning when he ate. The

" If any man will say, that if Adam serpent mocked Adam when he treshad known it was wrong to eat, he passed, and the Just One judged him

would not have come near even ; he is after be had trespassed ; for as he

blaming that just Judge, as if His knew when he was naked and fled to

judgment was pervertedly executed hide him, so he made excuses when

when He scourged him and tormented he ate the stolen fruit. We are

him. And I would ask this person like Adam, as he is like us; for as he

that defendeth Adam, if when he made excuses, so do we. Cain made

sinned he did so from not knowing excuses, Achan made excuses, Gehazi

better? to learn from his own self, and made excuses, Judas made excuses,

if he sinned though he also knew better, Blessed be the Judge, that findeth us

so Adam also knew when he sinned. But guilty!"

different positive laws, each unsuited to the other. 391

for the circumcised, for maladies that were recently [come]. The instruments then that were stablished were by reason of the former maladies. Since that malady is no more at this day, that instrument hath also ceased, for as the mischief had ceased, the instrument was also supererogatory. At this day the commandments of the sabbath6, of circumcision, and Col. 2, purification, have ceased. They are supererogatory to those of latter days, and those of middle times they were fitting. To those of former days they were not fitting, since they were sound in knowledge: neither to those of latter times were they fitting, because they were sound in the faith. To the middle times alone did they minister, because they had to

struggle with Paganism f.

Whoso now-a-days frames1 his life 1 S. fits

himself

medicines of sacrifices and sabbaths and tithings' are put together as things that have passed away with the maladies. It is remarkable that Eunomius argued from the institution of the Sabbath, that the Son had a ' beginning and end of being begotten,' as if it was a commemoration of His being produced, and not of His having Himself made all things. See G. Nyss. ii. p. 653, b. It is just possible that the Syrian Anomeans may have made a similar endeavour to shew that their system was a key to the types of the Old Testament. The Fathers speak commonly as in the text, as if the whole principle of observing one day more than another was Jewish and blameable. (See Justin Martyr, quoted Barnab. Ep. §. 15. Ignat. ad Magnes. Origen in Jos. viii. 2. c. Cels. p. 61. p. 270. p. 393. Archel. c. Man. xliii. Tertull. c. Jud. 4. Austin in Ps. xxxii. Caten. in Apoc. p. 337. Corder. Cat. such a disparagement of the principle of keeping one day holy (modified as it is in some of these passages by the context) may be intended to exclude

the truly Jewish notion, that things unallowable on the Sabbath were allowable at any other time, as if a sabbath from sin was not always obligatory; and not to exclude the Christian principle of having a fixed time for re- ligious exercises, whether that time be or be not divinely sanctioned. The practice of directly appealing to the Fourth Commandment (now, it is believed, universally so appealed to) as a divine sanction for this principle belongs, perhaps, to ages with the theology of which the writer is not acquainted; it certainly is not common in antiquity as far as he is acquainted with it; the Fathers rather speak of their practice of observing the Lord's day than of God's command. E. g. Athan. de Sabb. et Circ. §. 4. " As He commanded them formerly to keep the day of the Sabbath a memorial of the finishing of the former things; thus do we honour the Lord's day which is a memorial of the beginning of the second re-creation." Cone. Laod. can. 29. " Christians ought not to Judaize and be at ease on the Sabbath, but to work on that day, and, giving the chief honour to the Lord's day, that is to say if able, to be at ease as Christians should be." [see Note A, p. 417.

f This is the reason given by St. Other instances may be found in Spenser de Legg. i. §. 2. This of course is only one aspect of the Jewish ritual; no one who has seen his mode of treating parts of it in these notes, can doubt that St. E. held the law also to be a type of things to come.

392 Sacrifices and ordinances suited to the Jew, having

after the commandments, as after instruments, is akin to the murderer who cutteth off healthy limbs.

1 S. 41. Knives of steel1 are those commandments: let Jeremiah

& 44/ teach thee this g. They were fitting for those that were smitten: put not the reproach of them upon the sound! because of maladies were they instituted; smite not the healthy therewith! It is the wicked who by visible circumcisions harm the

Gal.5, 2. invisible soul: as much as they profited the sickly, so much do they hurt the healthy. Thou wouldest not torture the sound body, because there are medicines in existence; so in their times the commandments ceased in diverse places. Where there was health, binding and medicine were annulled; even natural healing is null among the healthful. If then in the time of malady the medicine ceaseth in this place and that; now that the [Jewish] people hath passed away and its weaknesses, their medicines suit no more.

42. Malady ceased, and malady remained : medicine ceased, and medicine remained. For the maladies and the medicines ceased of sacrifices, sabbaths, and tithings. But there were maladies and medicines — that thou shalt not swear, nor steal, nor commit adultery. Do not thou run after the commandment which hath ceased, and its malady hath ceased 1 Be admonished by that commandment, which

Acts 15, is the medicine of thy stripe! Lay not upon thy comrades medicines that fit not thyself! Malady multiplieth upon malady, because thou hast added fraud unto iniquity. Wroth is the lawgiver, because that He loosened, and thou bindesth. The commandment that He gave has ceased for thee, and

8 Assem. refers to Jerem. xxxvi. 23. akin to that frequent amongst the where Jehudi cuts Jeremiah's roll with Rabbins for to make binding. See a penknife ; what this has to do with Buxtorf. Lex. Chald. in v. Hence the text does not appear. The Syriac the participle has the sense of < not of Jerem. xxiii. 29. (literally), ' Lo, free,' i. p. 136, f. M If a bound nature my words go forth like fire, and like a (the serpent) was punished, how much steel that circumciseth the stones !' is more would a will that is its own much more to the purpose. One can master be ?" Hence ' to bind' is also conceive this being explained in such used of making certain penalties bindway as to make the comparison lie ing or lasting, as probably in that between God's words and the knife of c "Whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth, circumcision, which were both intended &c.' From this it might have the to take away the stony heart from sense of refusing, and so of denying, those to whom they were applied. Un- generally, as in p. 206, n. d. for a fortunately we have no comment of Greek parallel to which, see Gr. Naz.

h To bind is here used in a sense

fulfilled their object, are not binding on Christians. 393

that which He loosed, thou keepest. Inquire a little, foolish one, concerning the observances of the Law! what can circumcision do for that sin which dwelleth within? sin Heb. 9, dvvelleth within thy heart, and thou circumcisest thy foreskin. ' Well wouldest thou speak on this wise: circumcision was fitting in its time: the Shepherd of all made it a seal for the Gen. 17, foolish fold which He had obtained; He that knoweth all Rom> 4 things made it a sign for the flock which killeth its shepherds. n- A fold it was that mingled continually among the folds of the heathen1. With a visible seal did He seal it, that they might l p. 391, be distinguished, though they wished not; that the visible ez2o sign which He set upon them, might repress the violence of 32. their madness. He was bent on keeping the fold, because of Somewhat1 that was in the midst of it. The Somewhat which was hidden in the midst of it came forth, and became a Shepherd to mankind. In a contemptible flock was He hidden, that Prince of shepherds: He left the foolish fold, for the nations had become His pasture.

43. Afflict not thyself then with that circumcision, the time whereof hath passed away. Afflict thyself with circumcision : circumcise the hateful things that are within thee. Thy will is free: it can circumcise thee from iniquity2;2 p. 122, external force3 cannot enter into thy mind and circumcise it. j|* *" ?* See that He who circumcised their bodies, called upon them, 3 P- 193, [saying,] ' circumcise your hearts.' Wherefore did He seek Deut.3'0 another circumcision, for behold, their bodies were circum-6, cised ? and if He seeketh another circumcision, be not thou bound by the visible one !

* The respect to this ' Somewhat' is the same thing of the other of our

made by St. E. above, p. 3. p. 39. p. 49. Lord's female ancestors, mentioned in

that which justified Thamar and Ruth Matt. i. " From the fact that the king

in what else would have been unseemly. wa3 inflamed at the sight of her, the

Vol. i. p. 90, a. " I plead that it was interpreters have found ground for thinkfor that Something which is hidden in ing, that the woman displayed her

this be pleasing or not unto Thee I conceal herself from him, yea, she

wist not! Grant unto me to be seen knew he saw her, and did not go into

by him, that he may not kill me her inner chamber as a modest woman

as having had the word of whoredom ought to have done. This, however,

found in my mouth. It is enough for as they say, was not from folly, but

me to know that it pleaseth Thee, that that she might gain from Him the

the Treasure hidden in those circum- Treasure that was hidden in him — for

cised men should flow down even by every body knew that the Messiah was

means of a daughter of the uncircum- to come from the tribe of Judah,

394 The obstinate perversity of the Jews ought to

iR.xivi. 44. Choose thee then the first commandment, the king1 of § 2.XVn'all commandments; choose thee the second commandment, E- • the captain of the hosts of the commandments. For on the king and on the captain of the hosts are all the hosts hanging! Mat.22, on two commandments are hung the Law and the Prophets. Leave the sabbath and circumcision, because they have left thee and passed by. Thou art guilty in thy inner parts; and thou observest outward things; the soul which is within is lost; and the sabbath that is without gets kept. The commandments which the rebellious [Jews] kept not in the due times thereof, they now force us to keep; even the Law whose season hath passed away. That former weak estate wishes to possess those that are healthful. Cuttings, and cautery, and medicines, which were stablished by reason of their own maladies, with these they seek to lacerate the limbs of 2§.40,4l.the healthful2. Splints, and fillets, and bandages, which were stablished for their slavish selves, they cunningly thought to cast upon them. Amid the freedom given by the Lord's love, the cruel servant is swift to cast bonds upon the free; as though dealing haughtily with that freedom, with the yoke of the bondsman he oppresseth it. Under pretence of honour, it wishes to dishonour the free: while leading us unto Moses, it separateth us from Christ.

45. If he vaunteth who is with the servant, how much more to vaunt of hath he that is with the Lord ? yet is he not with the servant who denieth the servant's Lord. Moses who is dishonoured of them, with us, being ours, is honoured. Honoured is the Lord as Lord : and honoured are the servants as servants. Moses in his time they persecuted:

3 See His Lord in His time they crucified3. In the time when the *' 40, nations were in error He fled unto them : at this day, while

they have denied Him and gone astray, He hath called those nations unto Him. In the Church of the Gentiles is

4 See purity, and amid these Egyptians4 pollution. They would I^Ex. ave returne^ again to Egypt, unless the sea had prevented 16, 3. them. To the place full of sanctity they entered not : to

that full of lying they hastened. After it had tasted that

5 peari mighty Blood, it could not be quiet from slaughter ; then vii. §. 5. it killed openly, now it kills secretly5 ; for they compass sea Mat.23,and land, that they may take the proselyte unto hell. It

make men shrink from adopting their temper. 395

hath no prophets to kill openly as it lusteth. It was scattered amongst kings, that they might tame it by force; so it sawthat the heathens mused over the prophets in the stead of R. Hi. demons. It clad itself with those Prophets, which it then^'8 had killed. It clothed itself with them, and it stripped them off, that it might kill with them while disputing. It killed the bodies of the Prophets, and clothed itself with the voices of the Prophets, that instead of the Prophets it might kill those that read in the Prophets.

46. Flee from it, thou that art feeble ; a light thing is thy death and thy blood to it; it took [upon it] the Blood k of Acts 20, God, will it be scared away from thine ? It feareth not while 28, leading thee astray, since it feared not while letting itself be

led astray. Beneath the pillar of the cloud it made a calf, and was not ashamed; and it placed an image1 of founpeari faces in the sanctuary, and did not feel afraid. It hungvll*§-2- God upou the Cross, and all created shook to see Him2. The 2 p- 23. Spirit rent the veil of the temple in twain, that the un-p* believing people might rend their hearts. Rocks and sepulchres were rent, but- the heart of stone felt not3. When3 p. 40. the [Spirit] saw that they were not scared thereby, He fled away from the mad ones.

47. Then broke forth the curse on them that looked at the p. 70. Presence of the Glorious God ; the Prophet was too abashed

to relate the wantonness of them as it was; abashedly didEzech. Ezechiel speak of their wanton doings. In that they were * delivered by a bashful man, they were spoken abashedly.

k Perhaps this remarkable expres- Magdalen College, has ' Church of

sion is of some weight as indirect Christ.' Though the proper business

evidence that St. E. had the reading, of this note is to mention any thing

the ' Church of God,' in Acts xx. 28. bearing on the Syriac text known to

as it 3eems hardly likely (notwith- me, yet the expressions, • by the might

standing the expression, ' it hung God, of God the Father, by the Blood of

&c.' which is more like 1 Cor. ii. 8.) God the Son and the dew of the Holy

that St. E. would have employed such Spirit,' (Clem. Quis D. salv. §. 34.)

an expression without direct sanction and ' God and the Father, although it

from Scripture. Father Thomas of be not written that He purchased us

Jesus in his book de Procur. Gentium with His own Blood,' (Didym. de Trin.

Salute, p. 355. mentions the fact that p. 236.) are worth noticing, both as

the Nestorians read ' Church of Christ,' parallel to the text and as seeming to

but Adler. de Verss. Syr. p. 17. p. 36. imply the same reading as it does:

notices that the Syrian Codices do not and. as a kind of evidence for readings

all give this reading, as neither do the which ha^e been much neglected. At

Greek. A Syriac Ms. of about 1000 any rate St. E.'s own statement is not

years old, belonging to Mr. Palmer of one which a Nestorian would have made.

396 Safari's devices the proper arena for subtlety,

As what was sacred passed through their mouth, and had See Tit. dishonour done it, thus also did hateful things pass through * the mouth of the bashful, and were handled bashfully. They slaughtered Prophets as simple lambs; the physicians came unto them; they became to them butchers. Flee and rescue thyself from their madness; run and find a port in Christ: that thou mayest not go as one that prieth, draw near as one that worshippeth. If the unbelieving became a crucifier, and the worshipper a disputer, sorely do the discerning weep [to think] that one blasphemed, the other disputeth.

48. He went to the seed of Abraham ; the heirs had become murderers : He went to the Gentiles that were simple ; the plain men became disputers. Be thou a plain man unto thy Lord; and crafty to thine adversary1. Pry, and search, and learn his snares, and how and where he hideth them. Mind well, and look about, and see his hidden and subtle net ! incline thine ear, and look about, and feel where he prepares his pitfalls ! make thee a spy, and learn when he layeth an ambush for thee ! But instead of prying R. lxx. into thy deceiver, thou hast come to grope after thy God. R.ii.§.3. Know that God is God, and cannot be comprehended by thee : know too that the wicked one is a deceiver ; let thy business be with him. Approach them each according as he is, with distinguishing spirit, Satan in hostility, and

1 After a loDg digression upon the at Mary, who questioned even the great Jews, which is not unlike that at the Angel and dreaded not, who asked him end of the Pearl, St. E. returns in this and feared not. Eve was not minded to and the foregoing §. to his old subject, question even the vile serpent that had But this digression is so long as to seem no feet ; the Virgin answered Gabriel, almost to have been foisted in here from Maiy did not question in order to prysome other Homily, as is plainly the case into the Son of the Living One ; it was with a part ofhis last words,O.G.ii.p.405. about a mortal that she asked, since Of the perverseness of heretics in not none knew her. Mary asked about prying just where they ought to pry, he things easy to the True One; Eve had spoken in §. 28. A passage from' received all manner of difficulties of a vol. ii. p. 321, c. maybe added here, promiser. The mother of no discretion "Eve with that vile and worthless is the fountain of our troubles ; and the serpent was not minded, glorious as Sister of understanding is the storeshe was, to turn his words back upon house of our joys. The serpent, who him, although his words were very ought to have been questioned, was not questionable, and should have been pried into, and Christ, who ought to be fused in the assay-furnace, as she had believed, is pried into." Comp. R. iii. splendour, he had vileness. Marvel we §. 16.

God's revelations for simple faith. 897

God as a plain man! Fight with one in the struggle: and believe the other that He is! Be not thou bold to plunge into His great hidden flood1, lest the depth should wax great ' V; 87, before thee, and thy reason be put in jeopardy!

RHYTHM THE SECOND.

1 . I would fain approach, and yet I fear, lest I should be far off, since the bold man that approacheth prying, removeth

* R.i.§. himself very far off1. But he that approacheth in measure,

*E.i. him doth not Equity reject2. Let us not approach, lest we

*• 16# be far off, neither let us stay far off, lest we perish ! Let us

temper with moderation our approach to the Essence that

cannot be measured! since long speaking is not becoming,

let us speak briefly !

2. How can vile dust tell of its Framer? Goodness framed the dust to be an image of its Maker ; let then Justice also

Gen. l, terrify it from being bold against its Creator. The Creator ' ' gave knowledge to the vessel, in order that it might know itself. The thing framed striveth about Him that framed it; by prying it driveth away Goodness. Let us give hearing in [due] weight to him that learneth in measure! Let us put a balance in the midst, and weigh and take and give; let us take therewith from the teachers, and give it therewith unto the learners!

*R.i. 3. Thou hast heard that God is God3, know thyself that thou art man : thou hast heard that God is the Maker. How being clay dost thou pry into Him ? Thou hast heard of God, that He is Father ; by His Fatherhood, know His Begotten. For if the Father begetteth, the Son that is from p. 345, Him did He beget from Himself. That One Offspring4 which is the Only-begotten Son, let not thy questionings sunder! thou hast heard of the Brightness of the Son ; do not thou insult Him by thy questioning ! Thou hast heard of the Spirit, that He is the Holy Spirit; surname Him by the Name that they have called Him. Thou hast heard His Name ; praise [Him] by His Name : to pry into His Nature is not allowed. Thou hast heard of the Father and the Son

Faith realises a meaning in God's Names.

and the Spirit; by the Names hold the Realities8. These Names are not blended1 together: the Three are in truth blended together.

4. If thou confessest Their Names, and confessest not Their Subsistences, thou art in name a worshipper, in deed an unbeliever. Where there is nothing in subsistency, the name which intervenes is an empty one ; whatsoever hath no subsistency, of that the appellation also is void : the word subsistency teacheth us that it is some reality. That then it has this, we know, in what way it has it, we comprehend not. Because thou knowest that it exists, thou dost not therefore comprehend in what mode it exists : neither again do thou deny that it exists, because thou canst not define it. For both are a blasphemy, either for thee to recede [from Him], or for thee to scrutinize2. That mighty sea, if thou shouldest pry into it, the weight of the waves thereof would bewilder thee. A single wave might weigh thee down, and might dash thee against a rock. It sufficeth for thee, O feeble man,

ref. 4.

a The word fSOQIO is used' here and in §. 4. and §. 6. in a sense approximating to ' Person,' as was noticed that obfftoL was used for that to which vvreffrecffis was afterwards applied, (see cannot be argued from this that POQJ.Q had the definite sense of ' Person.7 Indeed it appears from passages already given, to be used for substance in some cases, not to say that he uses ' Nature' of the Spirit in nearly the same way just above. This is confirmed by what he says in §. 4. where he evidently regards (Vioio. there rendered l subsistency,' as the reality which every name implies, and not as that reality viewed in a definite sense, as modified by those properties which constitute its personality. (Comp. f. 7. and i. §.31. where (*?.*> though in the singular, obviously takes the place of JV^qio here.) For what he there says would apply as well to three different substances. A passage from vol. ii. p. 556, a. bearing upon this subject ought not to be omitted here: speaking of the iEons of the Gnostics he says: " It is clear without controversy that the nature of the Essence (or A)ons) is one, and the name of the same is one also; for the

name of every essence defineth its substance (Knumo). The body of men is one, because the name of men is one; allow, without controversy, that the nature of Angels is one, because the name of Angels is one; the nature of souls is one, because the name of souls is one. A genus is proclaimed and explained by the name which belongs to it. If there be other distinctive names which do not answer to the substances, that comes of the Creator's Will; He called His servants by the name of Gods and Lords; by the Son's name did He surname the sons of grace; by the name of the Spirit the family of spiritual beings. Their natures are distinct, and their names the same, that we might confess His grace and adore His Lordship." Here Knumo is plainly used in a loose way for substance, much as • body' is used in the next clause. A little before, p. 564, c. he had said, " If the names be like, then the natures are like." Thus he deprecates investigating into the mode in which the reality or substance is modified in order to make a person, much as St. Greg. Nazianzen and others deprecated discussing the difference between Generation and Procession, which difference was not discussed till afterwards.

400 Man ought to rebuke the tempest of unbelief within .

2 E- i- it : thy faith will not sink, if thy will doth not consent2.

5. Who can make the sea come to the sailor's will ? the sailor intendeth one thing; the billow doeth another.

Matt. 8, Our Lord alone rebuked the sea, and it calmed, and made

itself silent. He gave even unto thee also to rebuke the sea like as He did, and to quiet it. Greater is disputatiousness than the sea, and strifes than the billows: scrutinizing hath troubled thy mind; rebuke it, and still its billows. The whirlwind wrestles with the sea; prying wrestles with thy mind. Our Lord rebuked, and the wind broke off, and the ship went down in quiet to the shore. Rebuke prying, and bridle it; let thy faith make itself calm. Let the creatures then convince thee, the properties whereof thou knowest; when thou

3 R. canst not reach the fountain 3, the draught from it thou dost I*™' not refuse nor think, and yet because thou hast drunk from it,

that thou hast comprehended it. Neither art thou able to reach the sun, and yet thou art not bereaved of the light thereof;

4 R. nor because he cometh down4 to thee, dost thou fly to mount §? L1" UP *° his height. Though the air be too great for thee, yet

5 R- v- the breath from it is that which keepeth thee alive 5 ; and

though a handsel of it be by thee, yet how large the measure

e p. 271, 0f it is thou skillest not6. Thou takest from the creatures

that little that befits thy convenience, and thou leavest

in the storehouses thereof much that is not comprehended ;

the little needed thou dost not refuse, and with what

is much thou dost not quarrel. Lo, the creatures of the

Creator teach thee touching the Creator, to be earnest

after His assistance, and keep thyself far off from scrutinizing

Him 1 Receive life from that Majesty, and forbear to pry

into the Majesty. Embrace the goodness of the Father, and

See n.make no scrutiny concerning His Essence7; love and embrace

p. 369. j-jjg goodness of the Son, and make no scrutiny concerning

His Generation ; love the brooding of the Holy Spirit, and

approach not to pry into Him.

6. The Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost, by Their Names are comprehended ; be not curious about Their Subsistencies, dwell thoughtfully upon Their Names. If thou wilt pry into the Subsistency, thou shalt perish ; and if thou

The Three Persons inscrutable, but in ajixt order. 401

wilt believe upon the Name, thou shaltlive. Let the Name of the Father be a boundary to thee; pass not over to pry into His Nature! Let the Name of the Son be a wall }• unto thee; pass not j^: 8^ over to pry into His Generation! Let the Name of theSpiritbeaxxxvii. hedge to thee; go not within it to pry into Him! Let the Names ^ ' *' be boundaries to thee; with the Names bridle questionings! xxxviii.

7. Since thou hast heard of the Names and the Reality2, a'u\M then turn thee to the commandment ; since thou hast heard

the law and the commandments, turn then to the conversa- R *• * tion therein; since thou art perfect in the commandments, then turn thee to the promises. Do not thou make of none effect that which is commanded, and let thyself run wild in what is not written. Thou hast heard the truth in what is revealed; go not astray upon what is concealed. Simon spake things revealed; the Truth he gave, and a blessing he^ • received. See how with one word Simon spake; do not thou go astray in many [words] ! The Truth is written in concise expressions; do not thou make long investigations! That there is a Father, every man knoweth; in what mode He is so, no man knoweth.. That there is a Son, we all confess; the manner and degree He is so, we cannot define. That there is a Holy Ghost, every man confesseth; for prying into Him, no man sufficeth. That there is a Father then, confess; that He can be defined, do not thou confess! Again, believe that there is a Son; that He can be scrutinized, by no means believe! That there is a Holy Ghost, assert; that He may be pried into, assert not! That They are One, believe and assert; and that They are Three, be not doubtful!

8. That the Father is the First, believe; that the Son is the Second, assert; that the Holy Ghost also is the Third, doubt not ! The First-born never at any time commanded the Father, for He it is who commandeth. Never

at any time did the Spirit send ihe Son, for that the Son * * & He is the Sender thereof15. The Sou that sitteth on the Right

b This passage shews that St. E. 16. is perhaps less obscure in the Syriac

was in one sense not economical, but rtn \ , j ^- na. , n f

... , j, „ f could hardly be the accusative, as in

Flesh be caled His Mission, that was reraarkabl as he must then have un_

wrought by all Three Persons, in so lar j.—x^j ♦*' I „„„„ e n...,, L- ~e

as the creation^ the Body which He ^ Incarnatio£;as6that w&ch 'Cvrus

. , , ii o r> x j rr • ine incarnation, as cnat wnicn v^vrus

• i c ia rri . er i ••• typified, in order to enable him to make

404 God's power not to be measured

not merely these creatures that He did create, and these

1 p. 377, things made which He did make1. It was not that He could

ref. 1.

Petav. not create that He left creating. His will hath no bounds

deDeo, set to jt. j£ jje wjne(j He could create every day. But there would be a confusion if the creatures kept multiplying and departing; neither would the creatures know one another, when numerous; and though He would be adequate to all of them, they would not be adequate to themselves. And to what advantage would He create them to be strange to one another? All that the Creator did create, He did not create to aggrandise Himself; He was not the less, or ever He had created, nor aggrandised after He had created.

2. He wished to aggrandise His works; therefore He created them in measure. For He might have increased this present creation without bounds, but then would the inhabitants thereof have been perplexed ; and with perplexity were mischief also, since they would not have perceived the righteous, nor have acquiesced in the Prophets. If this creation were one hundred-fold larger than it is, the preachers

s°ri would not be able to avail to the whole creation2. He placed Jerusalem b in the midst, that the whole creation2 might perceive it. For when He brought them up from Egypt, and when He took them up from Babylon, when He brought them down, and when He took them up, the whole creation2 perceived it.

3. If it were wider than it now is, it would not then have been able to perceive this : He would have been fully able to [do so], because He is greater than it in all respects. That creation could not be so much advantaged by Him ; for if

p. 320. now that it is small, it is confused by the words of error3, p' ' how much more would it have been confused, if it were greater by much. The sun too could not have come down [upon it] from one end to the other, for a moment would * Comp. become a great [space], a day would have been a year4. It 5; f/ ' had been harm and loss to it that order had perished in it. Winter and summer would be lingering, day and night protracted. When would seed have matured? when would fruit have ripened? He could have made it thus: to us there 6 S. over would have been many hardships. It was not then answerably5

agains b Jerusalem was thought from Ps. p. 480. St. E. here only speaks of it as

lxxiii. 13. Ez. xxxviii. 12. to be in the such in respect of the opportunities it

middle of the earth, see Quaresmius de offered for spreading the Gospel ; which

Terra Sancta, ii. p. 436. Villalpand. ad is one of the opinions these authors

Ezech. vol. iii. p. 13. Lorinus in Ps. ii. mention.

by His actual operations. x 405

to His Power that the Creator created any thing, but answerably1 ' s-over to our own advantage, that He created and made every thing.

4. From that boundless Womb2 came forth the Offspring, 2 or that cannot be searched out. If then thou wishest to search ?°JJ? it out, I will be unto thee a counsellor. Go, first search into

the Father; prove thy powers with His Begetter; make a beginning and an ending of prying into Him; measure Him in length and breadth. If thou canst measure3 that Essence, 3 Comp. then hast thou measured the Son that is from His Bosom; P-25n.y.

if thou art equal to measuring the Father, then art thouref. 5.' equal also to His Only -begotten. Thou then art unequal to the Eternal4, and so neither art thou capable of His Son. p. 369, Go up, feeble man, from the sea! Come, let us turn to what11, "• we have cast aside; let us not let go of aught that is known, and strike off into what is not known.

5. It is not then by the measure of what He is able to do that the Creator createth: it is not as much as He can, that He createth, but as much as is expedient, thus much as He createth. If then He created, and went on without setting a bound to this working, nature would have been an untempered daub5 which was devoid of distinctness. It were s s. like a fountain that flows forth and goes on turbidly. Thefc^** Creator would have been a fountain, which in its nature is restricted, which could not restrain its stream, and hath no power over its will. As without a [fixt] course He could not declare unto us His Will, so, unless He put a restraint6, Hee comp. could not shew us His Power. He began that He might n'g,0Dd stablish, He ended that He might order. If every day He n. b. were creating heaven and earth and creatures, His workman*

ship would be confusedness without arrangement, neither would He be great in His workmanship who was little in His knowledge. Even for the mouth which is vocal, it is befitting that it speak orderly: its ability to speak is not any reason why it should not be fitting to leave off speaking. Words are not so easy to the mouth as creating to the Creator7. Much R. vi. easier than sounds to the ready speakers, are works to the i*04. Maker; yet not on account of His ability to make, doth He G.Nyss. keep on evermore making every thing. For He who gave order SJ,' ^ a * to man as possessed of discourse 8, shall He not much rather P- 31°- be Himself orderly? Though He could create continually, n. b. '

404 God's power not to be measured

not merely these creatures that He did create, and these

1 p- 377, things made which He did make1. It was not that He could

Pe'tav. not create that He left creating. His will hath no bounds

there would be a confusion if the creatures kept multiplying

and departing ; neither would the creatures know one

another, when numerous; and though He would be adequate

to all of them, they would not be adequate to themselves.

And to what advantage would He create them to be strange

to one another? All that the Creator did create, He did not

create to aggrandise Himself; He was not the less, or ever

He had created, nor aggrandised after He had created.

2. He wished to aggrandise His works; therefore He created them in measure. For He might have increased this present creation without bounds, but then would the inhabitants thereof have been perplexed ; and with perplexity were mischief also, since they would not have perceived the righteous, nor have acquiesced in the Prophets. If this creation were one hundred-fold larger than it is, the preachers

s°r> would not be able to avail to the whole creation2. He placed Jerusalem b in the midst, that the whole creation2 might perceive it. For when He brought them up from Egypt, and when He took them up from Babylon, when He brought them down, and when He took them up, the whole creation2 perceived it.

3. If it were wider than it now is, it would not then have been able to perceive this : He would have been fully able to [do so], because He is greater than it in all respects. That creation could not be so much advantaged by Him ; for if

p. 320. now that it is small, it is confused by the words of error3,

p* ' how much more would it have been confused, if it were

greater by much. The sun too could not have come down

[upon it] from one end to the other, for a moment would

* Comp. become a great [space], a day would have been a year4. It D" f ' ' had been harm and loss to it that order had perished in it.

Winter and summer would be lingering, day and night protracted. When would seed have matured? when would fruit have ripened? He could have made it thus: to us there

* S. over would have been many hardships. It was not then answerably 5

a8ains b Jerusalem was thought from Ps. p. 480. St. E. here only speaks of it as

lxxiii. 13. Ez. xxxviii. 12. to be in the such in respect of the opportunities it

middle of the earth, see Quaresmius de offered for spreading the Gospel ; which

Terra Sancta, ii. p. 436. Villalpand. ad is one of the opinions these authors

Ezech. vol. iii. p. 13. Lorinus in Ps. ii. mention.

by His actual operations. v 405

to His Power that the Creator created any thing, but answerably1 ' &over to our own advantage, that He created and made every thing.

4. From that boundless Womb2 came forth the Offspring, 2 or that cannot be searched out. If then thou wishest to search Bo\™ it out, I will be unto thee a counsellor. Go, first search into

the Father; prove thy powers with His Begetter; make a beginning and an ending of prying into Him; measure Him in length and breadth. If thou canst measure3 that Essence, 3 Comp. then hast thou measured the Son that is from His Bosom; P-25>n-yif thou art equal to measuring the Father, then art thouref. 5.' equal also to His Only-begotten. Thou then art unequal to the Eternal4, and so neither art thou capable of His Son. 4 p. 369, Go up, feeble man, from the sea! Come, let us turn to what11, •' we have cast aside; let us not let go of aught that is known, and strike off into what is not known.

5. It is not then by the measure of what He is able to do that the Creator createth: it is not as much as He can, that He createth, but as much as is expedient, thus much as He createth. If then He created, and went on without setting a bound to this working, nature would have been an untempered daub5 which was devoid of distinctness. It were 5 s. like a fountain that flows forth and goes on turbidly. The l^** Creator would have been a fountain, which in its nature is restricted, which could not restrain its stream, and hath no power over its will. As without a [fixt] course He could not declare unto us His Will, so, unless He put a restraint6, Heecomp. could not shew us His Power. He began that He might n,g/j?d stablish, He ended that He might order. If every day He n. b. were creating heaven and earth and creatures, His workmanship would be confusedness without arrangement, neither would He be great in His workmanship who was little in His knowledge. Even for the mouth which is vocal, it is befitting

that it speak orderly: its ability to speak is not any reason why it should not be fitting to leave off speaking. Words are not so easy to the mouth as creating to the Creator7. Much 7 R. vi. easier than sounds to the ready speakers, are works to thei*04. Maker; yet not on account of His ability to make, doth He GNyss. keep on evermore making every thing. For He who gave order jj,' £ a# ' to man as possessed of discourse 8, shall He not much rather P* 31°- be Himself orderly? Though He could create continually, n. b.

406 God's power transcends His actual operations,

He yet left creating that He might set in order what He had created. Who then can ascertain precisely how much more He could have created? Much is that which He created, and much is that which He left [uncreate]. That which He made cannot be ascertained precisely, nor that which He passed over be scrutinized. For He who at His nod made all things out of nothing, is wholly hidden from them that pry. Of His revealed things, as well as His concealed, thou knowest not in what number He made them, nor in what B4.f 3. number He could have made. The Only-begotten1 which is concealed in His Bosom, He knoweth both in what way and jr. number2 [He could make]. For the Son that is concealed lxxix. an(j revealed knoweth the things created and the things 3 Coup, revealed. But how should a learner be capable of fountains $. i,1 ** which are too difficult for Him? It is the weak and the feeble <§. l. that Doctrine is able to profit: for it4 gives them power of *S. leaps doing multiplication by speedy advances5; for ten when multiplied into ten advances5 to the number of a hundred, and ten when multiplied into a hundred reaches to the number of a thousand. It advances5 from thousand to thousand, and from ten thousand to its comrade. From this make trial of that which may be done in all these again as speedily0! •Seen.a. 6. There is a hidden bridge6 whereby the soul passeth comp. over *° things concealed, the key of poverty wherewith it R.vUin. opens the treasurehouse; the glory of old age, whereby it giveth discretion unto little ones; the wall of virginity that keepeth from it those which leadeth it away captive! It is it which subjecteth earth and air to the husbandmen and the

7 Comp. sailors7, which putteth bridles upon ships, and maketh them

B. xviii.

§. 2. c "phe Eunomians argued, that the with capacities for a finite result and

Essence could be known from its for no more. Or, the passage may be

energies, as we see from St. Greg, directed against the Ari an notion, that

Nyss. ii. p. 373 — 7, a part of whose the Incarnation was unnecessary, as

reply is, that if the Son, a work of the God can do all things with a word : to

Father's, (as Eun. says,) is less than the which it is a reply to say, He does not

Father, He cannot make the Father do all things with a word, (see A than,

known, but only such amount of His p. 378.) but is guided by certain rules

energy, as was requisite to produce of fitness unknown to us. The end of

that particular work. It is possible the §. seems to mean, that as number

St. E. is here arguing against some once learnt multiplies into itself and

similar notion, and wishes to say that expands infinitely, so the faith once

the whole creation is not an expression admitted, in spite of heretical objecof the whole of the Son's power, and tions to it, keeps growing and leading

therefore not a proof that He was an the mind from one truth to another, instrument (see n. a. p. 126.) created

His uide-ivorking Wisdom its actual effects in man. 407

to go swiftly in the sea. It hath chariots in the sea; ships of the dry land doth it fashion: it participates with feebleness, and maketh it rich in power: it approacheth wanton- ness, and maketh it the possessor of discretion: it approacheth ordinary men, and teacheth them thousands of wise things. It approacheth silentness, and bringeth to it ready-speaking: it dealeth with strictness with the judge; it maketh itself lowly with the criminal: it teacheth the former how to avenge, and the latter how to beseech. It disputeth with the disputer1, and questioneth with the know-1 Seep, ing ones: it is itself seeking on one side, and on another 'n,n' side it is finding2. To it both of them are bound, for that2 p. 326, itself ministereth to both of them: though not constraining11, c' by necessity3, its lordship is set over all. The same teacheth 3 p. 193, the workman to make aught out of any thing4, for it could teach "' 333 God who out of nothing maketh all things3. For it teacheth "R.xviii. the thing made, that the Maker thereof is greater than itself, p. 209; in that the thing made maketh out of something, and thej,filf' Maker maketh out of nothing6. n. c.

7. My brethren, let us awaken us from our sleep, that, 2' Angels may rejoice in our wakefulness ! Let us arm our-p- 209, selves with faith, and kill the iniquity that killeth us ! The stench of our rottenness smiteth our nostrils, in that we are 2 Cor. 2, not a sweet-smelling savour in Christ. The fighting of our " strifes is awake, and lulleth the Angels to sleep with its fightings. Because priests7 have fallen into disputings, there- 7 Pearl fore kings are thrown into war. War without flaggeth not, vu* ^' '' because war within is in force. Pastor warreth with his comrade, and chief ruler with his yoke-fellow d ; by the strife of the pastors have the flock and the pasture been ruined ; Ezech. while the shepherds wished to feed us with subtleties, r'xxxv they trod down our sweet pasture which sustained us with §2. sincere food. While wishing for our enrichment, they §.5/"

d He describes at length the dis- spreadeth snares continually, to see

honest artifices, which had got into how to acquire interest. Every man

business of all kinds, in Serm. xviii. is framing plans how to acquire inp. 654 : at p. 665, e. he says, " Through terest. Bribery has become our bridge

his satiety the rich man being embit- to pass over, and to be chief men [in

tered, through his hunger the poor the Church], not that we may judge

being rapacious, of late doth not even with justice, but may spoil with greedi-.

choose to be luxurious, in order to ness, &c," See n. h. repay what he had borrowed: so he

408 The heathen more faithful to their light,

bereaved us of all our treasures. They have veiled the lamp of Truth, that they might search in the dark for the Truth.

1 §.8. p. Verity thundereth in the world1, and they seek for it in clefts ' [of the rocks]. Lo, the children of the light make a confusion of questions in the dark ! The Truth is open as the light, and they seek for it as lost. Lo, they are looking for a mighty mountain in slender clefts ! It is too great for the whole world, yet they pry into it as if a glimmering ! Lo, they laboriously grope after the verity which is extended more than any thing ! They will not see it ; they seek for any thing instead of any thing else. Lo, they labour to lose the

"R.lxx. Truth which had found them2!

8. For the questioner to perish is possible : for the Truth

3R. ix. to perish is not possible3. The blind loseth the light, though light is found with him : the deaf is lost to sound,

4 Comp. though sound be near unto him 4 : the boor is far from the

§.3. book, though books are spread before him. Though all sciences be near at hand, yet fools are far from them. The

a R. i. heathen priests felt the truth5; but the Christian keep seeking for it: even the enchanters felt it, when by its power it loosened their powers. The Chaldees also felt it, when it undid their books by its book: the sorcerers also felt it, because its truth made their frauds of none effect. The demons felt it, when by its strains it chased e away the un-

* On l Sam. xvi. 14. p. 367, a. valley; by this type it was fitting that he says of the advice Saul's servants there should be prefigured aforetime gave him: li This they said either the voice of Christ, who on the Cross from the teaching of the Scriptures, or struck the spiritual harp. For our from things they themselves had seen Lord cried twice, and with a loud voice happen before, or that they had heard gave up the spirit, and immediately from their brethren, and we see. For the centurion, a heathen man, gave corporeal natures cannot make devils praise to God, and most clearly forefeel, but are able to effect a change shewed the conversion of the Gentiles, in bodies that are afflicted, and by this seeing that after Christ finished upon change increase or diminish their ma- the wood of the Cross the new song of lady according to their efficaciousness our Redemption, forthwith the founupon those bodies. Bowever, this was tains were opened, and the streams of truly said at all events, and the servants living waters flowed down to the people of Saul did think that there was in of the Gentiles, which is typified by music healing for the afflicted. But the deep and low valley ; as Jesus said according to the right view, the princi- before His Passion, ' Every one that pal cause that healed the king, and believeth on Me,' as the Scripture delivered him from the vexing of the saith,' out of his belly shall flow streams evil spirit, was the Psalms and prayers of living waters ;' that the word of the of David." And of the minstrel Prophet might be fulfilled, and He who brought to Elisha he says, p. 524, c. sung upon the harp might among the " The minstrel played, and the waters nations sing unto the Name of the came down into the depths of the Lord." Ps. cviii. 3.

Jewish or Christian, than those in the Church. 409

clean possessors. The heathen perceived that it brake the graven images by its Divinity f. The Truth * crieth 1 §. 7. aloud in the world, and the disputers are seeking where it is! they that hated the Son felt it, and they that preach Him are seeking for it!

9. Though the [Jewish] people had indeed denied Him, they knew who had rooted them up : they felt, although they owned it not, whence all this came upon them. The Church which He espoused convicted them, that Jerusalem2 through 2p- 77, her was deserted: the priesthood which He had given, taught"' that their priesthood was dissolved by Him. The Prophets that He gave unto us cried aloud, that in Him all things were completed3. Satan in his envy4 set up perversities 3onPaim among the disputers, that by the perversities which he^ ' brought in, perversities might be uttered; outwardly they 4 p- 266, come decorous, inwardly they come designing ill ! p'. 3^

10. With unlearned men is the finding of the Son : and the n> cprying into Him with the learned. They that were far off" came and proved disciples : strangers came in and partook; those without were astonied at those within5, that they kept5R. on prying until now. Like is this which happeneth at the end f"T' unto that which happened at the beginning. The Magi6 from * Rafar perceived the King that was born in Bethlehem ; the Magi being single-hearted, thought thereon more than the Scribes and the Hebrews, on whose hands was borne about the King's Son who was born there. They who were from afar came and found Him whom they that were near perceived not. The King stood among them, and they were raising captious questions ; the King was born as He was born, and they were scrutinizing His Generation. The strangers were astonied, that even until now they were seeking in the books, concerning His Genealogy. The pledge of Him was with

f On the destruction of idolatry by see in our days." The Chaldeans are

Christ's coming into the world, see often mentioned by St. E. as sooth-

Petav.de Incarn.ii. 10. §. 10. St. E. vol. sayers; in vol. ii. p. 383, b. he has a

i. p. 405. takes David's victories over word answering to ' Chaldaismus' for

the Moabites as a type of the way in soothsaying. Indeed they were known

which " the dominion of devils was to all over the world as such, see Cato de

be broken down, so that there should Re. R. p. 14. Gellius i. 9. Olear. ad

be a large number of the houses of Philostr. vi. 41. Fabric, ad Sext. Empir.

idols that were utterly destroyed, those p. 255. p. 338. Diod. Sic. ii. 24. 29.

excepted which were to be left, as we Strabo i. p. 43, a. Cyril c. Jul. p. 341.

410 The laity not to be shaken by disputes among

those without, and the scrutinizing of Him with those within. His ambassador was before the strangers, and the dispute about Him with those of the household. But the Magi were not perplexed at them who kept seeking for Him: they left them, and went straight on in the way with their offerings unto the First-born. The Truth was revealed to the Magi, and to the Pharisees there was questioning!

11. Ye also, O learners, be not disturbed at this, that up to now your teachers keep seeking for the Truth ! As He was found in Bethlehem of the Magi that searched diligently for Him, [so] is He found in Holy Church for him that seeketh Him uprightly. In the Magi compare and weigh their conversation, as also their offerings. Worship the Son as thou hast found Him, healthily, as He was revealed to thee ! For as the Magi at the bright star which was from Him rose up after Him, so may the enquirer at the revelation which

1 R- i- Simon revealed1, find Him. Let not the present time distress

thee, which is like the former time. That coming of the Son wherewith He did come, is like unto that whereby He shall come. For the questionings of the learned were perplexed by that coming, and thus are the questionings per-

2 See on plexed now before His Coming 2.

p. 79, n. 12. He rode upon an asses colt and came in, and the q. and Gentiles cried before Him3. The circumcised from within Trin. p. heard the sound, and began learning from the heathen; Mat 21 ^or tney begun t0 enquire, Who is this that cometh? When io. knowledge had perished with them of the household, they p* ' ' turned to strangers to learn. They asked concerning themselves, that they might hear their own histories from without. The Gentile nations that came up to the feasts of those blind men, in turn have tried to convince the Hebrews. They related to them their own things; the uncircumcised cried unto the circumcised, " This is JESUSg of Nazareth." This

s Our Lord's sacred Name, for some pellation is found in the writings which reason or other, is very rarely used belong to the blind, i. e. the Old Testain these Rhythms; had they been ad- ment, is not easy to say. Assem. dressed to heretics, rather than in- paraphrases, vim hujus vocabulis ex tended as antidotes against them for csecorum libris notam. St. Austin the use of Catholics which they seem often speaks of the Jews in this light; to be, this might be acounted for: in e. g. on Ps. xl. §. 14. "My brethren, his Sermons and Commentaries it is the Jews are our slaves, our chestused very frequently. Where this ap- holders as it were, that carry the books

the learned^ hut to study Scripture and pray. 411

is the Appellation which is written in the Writings that belong to the blind. They began learning the interpretation of it — Hebrews from Gentiles. This spelling of their own books did strangers teach them: the interpretation of their writings did they teach who came from far.

13. Be not perplexed, thou hearer, if the learned get himself entangled ; be not thou unnerved, O learner, if the disputer be distracted. If thy master have turned out of the way, go, get thee understanding in the Scriptures1, for where 'Klxxv. the disputers have gone astray, the discerning have not gotten themselves into error, and where the doctors have gone astray, the hearers have not found themselves perplexed. It is not the word of man that sustaineth the preaching [of the Gospel]. The word of man may be cut

off, and all that hangeth thereby will fall; on the Word of 2fUxxx. God hangeth the preaching of the Truth. By that Word*' L which sustaineth all is thy doctrine hanging, O learner. Whoso perverteth the way, he himself gets perverted by it3;3 p. 325, whoso knoweth not which path to take, the way is lostre* before him: yet is the way for the discerning planted with milestones and with inns4 ! 4n. a.

14. If the whole congregation repented and prayed inp" sackcloth and ashes, the Most High would not wink at the perverseness of the chief men5. Priest was unto Him as5seen.e. people, and people were likened to the priest ; both parties s# ' * alike tore each other in pieces. The lax master hath no peace from his disciples : they are corrupted by him, and he

also is tarnished6 by them. To the sterner ruler, ministers of6 S. quiet temper become a refreshment to himself; they are themselves preserved by him; and he too hath sweet comfort of them. Our masters have neglected us, and we have neglected our masters: they are not pained at our pain, nor we at their sufferings. In the united body are there divisions7, since the7R-l*vi. head and the members are divided: the beasts in the forest are c'onip.

at one: in the Church souls are divided. For who is there P* 325>

for us while we study them. . . ."When their thinking that we have forged these

we deal with pagans, and shew that predictions, and put them together out

that is now coming to pass in the of circumstances which have already

Church of Christ which was predicted happened, as if they had yet to come,

before of the name of Christ, of the we produce in testimony the books of

head and body of Christ, to prevent the Jews."

412 The miserable effects of divisions.

who is pained at this common suffering, that now we have gotten to the way, we turn about to seek for the beginning of it? We have reached to the end of the way, and where the beginning of it is we comprehend not: our course is by the end of it, and our search for the beginning of it. When we had grown old among the doctors we have come to be disciples, after we had worn out the book, we begin to learn the spelling.

15. Youths have lately made themselves disciples; they have blossomed like Jonah's gourd. Lo ! they shadow forth a new picture, instead of the pictures which holy men have

1 p. 371, shadowed out, a picture1 that is full of strifes, a fountain of

contentions and of fightings, which intoxicateth and maddeneth the humble, so that they should keep changing themselves at every word [they speak]. For the mouth he

2 Comp. made a channel and a passage for the hearing2 ; the still J] lt ' and silent looked at it ; they became quarrelsome and contentious. The loving and affectionate looked on it, and they

3§.24.R. unsheathed3 their tongues against one another. They that

haters. They that were friends and equals looked thereon,

and gat sects and divisions. They that were lovers from of

old looked thereon, they broke off their love that was from of

old. Gravity looked upon it, and became by it dissipation;

4 p. 274, discretion looked thereon, and made savourless the salt4 of ref 1

truth ; meekness looked thereon, and gat her the horns of

the butting ram. Again, he that was a mere child looked

thereon, and insulted the old man of threescore ; the old

man of threescore and ten looked thereon, and he became

seventy times seven the more abusive. The pastors looked

thereon, and thereby became lorders [over the heritage] ;

the silent lambs looked thereon, they became leopards in

disputing ; doves also looked thereon, and became serpents

full of gall.

16. There are two sides to the Only-begotten, one concealed and the other revealed. The revealed side is not to

fip.155.be veiled5, and the concealed is not to be searched out.

a. b. ' Satan, who is more crafty than all, took us from the revealed

6 Comp side, and by the concealed side he choked us, that we might

p. 396, not be quickened by the revealed one6. They saw that the

Not only God hit all things have a mysterious side. 413

Father which begat Him had also two sides; for that He exists1 every man comprehended, but His concealed Nature 1R.lxxii. is unsearchable. His revealed side is plainly revealed, sot] 34. * that even fools know that He exists. Concealed is His concealed Side, so that not even Angels2 know the manner of2R.i.§-2. it. And not only is it so with that Majesty incomprehensible, but all creatures have each of them two sides, in that the one side is revealed and the other side is concealed3. They are3 Comp. comprehended themselves, but the ends of them cannot be *' * comprehended.

17. If then even the creatures have these two points, that they are concealed while they are revealed, that they are known while not known, how much more is this so with the Maker and with the Son of the Creator4 ! Two knowledges 4Seen.h. are discovered, one that is revealed and one that is con-p# cealed — a knowledge of His revealed side, and a nol-knowledge of His concealed side ; the more it is known that He exists, the less is it known in what mod:? He exists. There

is a way to His. revealed side, but a maze on His concealed side. If thou askest if the Son exists, thou learnest in the twinkling of an eye; but if thou askest of the mode in which He exists, until He cometh, wilt thou question! Neither yet, when thou hast seen Him, couldest thou know the mode of His existence. And if when there thou shouldest ask of this, thou wouldest not even see when5 thou5 p. 364, hadst seen Him; and if thou wert to pry into the Glory n# g* which thou didst see, thou wouldest not even know that thou hadst seen it.

18. And if thou shouldest, when there, pry into this, lo, [even] in the Kingdom wouldest thou be tormented, since every one would be rejoicing in the Messiah, and thou wouldest torment thyself with prying into Him ! and sooner

is there hope to come out from the midst of hell6 ! Yet that6 p. 151, torment of thine remaineth, if thou dost not lay it aside."' And if thou wert to dispute there in this way, the Kingdom would not receive thee, that thou mightest not go in and cast in division in a place full of concord. That Kingdom then will execute vengeance, and that for Holy Church, seeing that there shall not enter into that Kingdom the troublers that Job 3, troubled it here; there shall not enter into the garden of

414 The judgments of war and the like

peace those that threw in strifes. A likeness of that Kingdom is this true Church!

19. For as it is right that there be harmony in the Kingdom, so is it right that there be concord in Holy Church. If there be no disputing there, wherefore prying here ? If in that there be tranquillity and peace, wherefore smugglings in this ? Upon the One Son they look there, and by Him

If this sufficeth for Angels, why sufficeth it not for outcasts I * p. 146, If spirit and fire2 keepeth peace, let dust and ashes be despised! The Heaven and its children are afraid, the earth and its children are frantic. Blessed be He that brought oppressions because of these transgressions!

20. He brought open capturers, because neighbours spoiled us in tranquillity! He prospered the way of the the heathens, because the learned had distorted the right way ! Heathen polluted the sanctuary, because we had made a lie to join with the truth ! because priests thrust one another, the heathen have lift up their horn ! And what roll would suffice for us to write in concerning our strifes ?

Deut. Since brethren have persecuted one another, lo, one chaseth

Josh.23, 21. Because we have turned from our Helper, He hath

made us a reproach to our neighbours. Because His words

Deut. have been unto us a by-word, we have become a by-word

' ' and a complaint. Let us enquire among the handicrafts; let us take a pattern from them. Whoso laboureth, and gets to be successful, his handicraft is successful; and he that despiseth and disgraceth it, gets himself also disgraced by all. The Creator then blended retribution with the handicrafts, that they might repay the handicraftsmen belonging to them the debasements they have put upon them. With Him then who is just, how much more will equity be administered? Because we have despised our Way, and have used It very reproachfully, He hath made us a reproach unto our neighbours, that we should bring from them contempt. Lo, heathens enquire of us, where is the power of the Truth? Lo, now by our means that Power which conquereth all powers is brought to reproach! Because our free-will hath

the counterparts of the sins they punish. 415

hidden its power and hath not made Verity victorious, the Truth also hath hidden its power, that the heathens might scorn us!

22. Stern avengers have come in, violent spoilers have entered : because we were divided by disputing, they are all agreed in the war. Because we were divided by prying, they are of one accord for leading into captivity. Because we listened not obediently unto the Son, they have listened obediently unlo their head. Because we despised the commandment, there the commandment is urgent. Because the ordinances are dashed down here, there they stand in awe of the orderings [of the army]. There have the laws risen up to life again, which here are defunct. Because we are divided one against one, all of them listen obediently to one. There is none there that asketh of the plan, scrutinizing about the manner and the person : but we keep hourly prying into the Generation of the Lord of all. At the nod of that mortal his hosts tremble : in the Church clerks are raising disturbances, and there is that relateth his own dream. What is here we have let them borrow, it has been repaid us from there. Rapaciousness is extinguished yonder ; here the flame of it blazes : thefts which are sickly there, here have their full health. When they had straitened inordinate gluttony, jollity was what we met it with ; when fraud was there feeble, we gave it twice the power. And if it should come for the Truth, who is there in whom this is really remaining ?

23. Lo ! this also is against us, that Fie judgeth us by heathens. There the sun1 is honoured, and there is none1 p. 379, that pries into it, though made : here we have despised the11, s' Creator, for that every one prieth into the Adorable ! In

the place of that fire which is worshipped, here the Lord of it is scrutinized: there waters2 are honoured; we have2 p. 224, despised our Baptism. They, though in error, have hon-n,e* oured the creatures in the stead of the Creator, and as for us that know the truth, mammon is chosen by us before it. In this we pride ourselves much, and though we know it we go astray. Since there is no hedge3 to our mind, they have3 R. dug down the walls of our city; and because our mind fe& 4. $.' not at peace, those without have destroyed our peace; and because our heart was wholly upon the earth, lo, with mounds

416 Th.e judgments of war and the like

of dust have they hidden us. Because we thirsted not after love, thirst hath taken vengeance of us; and because we went gadding after possessions, our captives straggle among the mountains. Because we were pollard instead of wheat, the iComp. east wind1 hath scattered us: because we went straggling to xxxviii. a^ quarters, we are dispersed to all quarters. Because we §. 4. and hasted not to the one Refuge, forts after forts have they Acta destroyed. Because we were dead in the midst of peace, ^jSmIil we nave keen snut UP amongst the roads. Because we provided not for the poor, the ravenous bird gluts itself from our bodies. Since our pastors behaved themselves proudly, lo, they are scattered in the land of the Magi; the unclean have burnt our Churches, because we prayed not aright in them; they have hewn down the Altar, because we ministered *p. 196, not before it with due solemnity; they have torn to pieces2 n* c* the sacred writings, because we have not kept their commandments.

24. Yet hath He not left us, because we have left Him ! lo, He wisheth to chastise us, and to win ! The united force entered, and came against our union which was divided: the stern generals entered : the rapacious judges came in : distant war came prematurely [upon us] ; lo, there was great fighting among ourselves ! Before the bowmen had *R.lxvi. come, there were invisible bowmen 3 with us ; before the I* 2"_ swords were unsheathed4 to come, tongues were unsheathed4 with us; by hatred, that inward bow, sharp arrows did we shoot out: there was none that shot not at his brother; all of us at all were shooting. The Just One brought in evils, that He might therewith still our evils ; He brought the bowmen, that the bow of envy might be stilled thereby. He shot at us visible arrows, that He might still the unseen arrows. He brought men clad in spangles, that we might put off our hatreds, that by the breastplates of them without we might put on the breastplate of truth. If He brought

h What particular siege is here al- apostate Julian, who confiscated the

luded to I am not able to discover, goods of the Church. See Gibbon, iv.

The Syrians, however, were persecuted p. 121. Milman. St. E. often notices

by Sapor II. from the year 340 to 380. the corruption of the times as the cause

See S. E. Asseman. Pra;f. ad Acta of the evils that have come on the

upon the Edessenes the anger of the and compare p. 445, d. e. and p. 656, d.

the counterparts of the sins they punish. 417

unsheathed swords, [it was] that they might still unsheathed tongues; if He brought the bows of Assyria, [it was] that wrath might not cast [its] arrows, that by the tinkling of the bowstring without, mocking within might grow quiet, and by the fear and mightiness of the elephants we might be not lifted up above the degraded. Penitency and humbleness let us be diligent to sow amongst ourselves, that we may quench on all sides wars hidden or visible.

" The Fathers speak commonly, as in the text, as if the whole principle of observing one day more than another was Jewish and blameable."

This statement appeared to the Editor much too broad. Since the writer did not wish to make any alterations, it seemed best to state more at length what is said by the Fathers in the passages quoted. To the Editor they seemed only to apply the language of Holy Scripture, (Col. ii. 16.) which speaks of the Jewish sabbath, as something past, " a shadow of things to come;" and Heb. iv. 10. which points out, whereof it was a figure, the rest in Christ, ** There remaineth yet a keeping of a sabbath, E. M. {ftt^arta^i) to the people of God," of which resting from sin is a part and a condition. The stress in the above passage should probably be on the words "as if" since the writer must have had in mind that the Lord's Day was kept from the time of the Apostles, and consequently, the Fathers could not have meant to condemn " the principle of observing one day more than another," under which they themselves were acting. Rather, there was the less risk in speaking broadly of the cessation of the Jewish sabbath, or of the rest from sin, or our eternal rest, as its spiritual meaning, without any mention of the Lord's Day, because the Lord's Day was an Apostolic Ordinance, every where observed as a chief part of Christian devotion, and which therefore could not be meant to be disparaged. The Lord's Day is mentioned in the two first passages, which speak of the abolition of the Jewish sabbath. At the end of the seeond century, Tertullian speaks of abstinence from business, as a traditional religious act. " We, as we have received, ought, on the day of the Lord's Resurrection alone, [not on the sabbath,] to keep from not only that, [kneeling,] but every posture of painfulness, and to forbear offices, deferring even our business, that we give no place to the Devil." (de Orat. O. T.) says, " the Lord's day hath rest and immunity from toils." In the fourth

418 Note.

century, continued neglect to attend Divine worship on the Lord's Day was punished by excommunication by the Councils of Eliberis and Sardica, (see Bingham, 16. 8. 1. whom see as to further sanctions;) and the Council of Laodicea A. 361. directs the mode of its observance, much in accordance with modern religious practice, (see p. 391, n. e. end.) The same word is used of the rest which was not to be used with the Jews on the sabbath, and that which was to be used on the Lord's Day, (^eXa^to,) and this Balsamon explains, " they are to abstain from manual labour, and frequent the Churches," and the clause " if able," he explains, " of destitution, or any other necessity." He notes also that agricultural labours were forbidden by Leo Sap. which were expressly prohibited by French Councils in the sixth cent. (The Sermon, formerly attributed to St. Augustine, (Serm. 280. App.) which says, M the holy Doctors of the Church decreed to transfer- all the glory of the Jewish rest (sabbatismi) to the Lord's Day," is later than the eighth cent., since it incorporates a passage of Alcuin.) The Council of Trullo, Can. 66. prohibits raees or any public show in the octave of Easter, being, (Balsamon notes,) " as one Lord's Day." As soon as the Empire became Christian, there were Imperial decrees to secure the rest of the Lord's Day. In the beginning of the fourth cent, were those of Constantine, closing the courts of Law, and prohibiting military exercises, followed by those of the two Valentinians, prohibiting arrest for debt, &c. ; and at its close, (and so contemporary with St. Augustine and St. Jerome,) are the edicts of the two Theodosii, obtained, (there is nodoubt,) by the Bishops, the first prohibiting shows on the Lord's Day, the other on the great Christian Festivals, (see Bingham, 20. 2.) These are, of course, comments on what the Church wished to enforce. In the Council of Orleans (A. 538.) there is a trace of the popular religious feeling, going, in some instances, into excess on the side of strictness. " In as much as the people are persuaded that on the Lord's Day joumies ought not to be made with horses or oxen and carriages, nor ought they to prepare any thing for food, nor in any degree to do any thing appertaining to the cleanliness [or neatness, nitorem] of either house or person, (which thing is approved to belong to Jewish rather than Christian observance,) we decree that on the Lord's Day what was afore lawful to be done, is lawful." The Council then proceeds to forbid all works of agriculture, " in order that coming together to Church they may the more easily give themselves to the grace of prayer." (can. 28.)

It should further be taken into account, that the Jews, while abstaining from work, gave license to all excess and dissoluteness; and this must often be included in what is said against Jewish sabbatizing, at least in the fourth and fifth centuries; (see S. Chrysostome, S. Augustine, Ruffinus, Prudentius, S. Cyril Al., Theodoret quoted by Bingham, 24. 2. 3.) Thus when S. Augustine (in Ps. 91. §. 2.) says, " Our rest is from evil works, their rest is from good works. For it is better to plow than to dance. -They rest from a good work; they do not rest from a frivolous work;" he is contrasting only what the Jews did not and did, not implying that works in the field were allowed to Christians, although the laws of the Church

Note. 419

which we have against them, are later. For such is the contrast in his Serm. 9. de Chordis, §.3. " Thou art commanded to ohserve sahbath (rest) spiritually, not as the Jews observe sabbath with carnal idleness. For they would have full leisure for their toys and luxuries. For better would the Jew do some useful work in his fields, than be seditious in the theatre; and better would their women weave wool on the sabbath-day, than all day dance unchastely on their solars." And again, in Ps. 32. Enarr. 2. §. 6. " Observe sabbath-day, not carnally, not with Jewish luxuries, who abuse leisure to wickedness. For better would they dig all day, than all day dance. But do thou, meditating on rest in thy God, and doing all for that very rest, abstain from all servile work," [i. e. sin."j S. Augustine in Ps. 91. says, that the Jews celebrate the sabbath-day (in praesenti tempore) with a certain sickly and relaxed and luxurious ease, carnally." Bingham (20. 2. 4.) renders this " in our time," as if S. Augustine were speaking of the corrupt state of the Jews in his day; but it is rather, " in this present time," looking to nothing beyond, a temporal instead of an eternal rest, (see in Ps. 22. p. 421.) This profane way of keeping sabbath perhaps Justin M. has in view, (Dial. c. 12. see ab. p. 10.) " Ye by idling one day think ye are religious, not understanding why it [the sabbath] was commanded you."

At all events, however, negatively, the fourth commandment is not alleged by the Fathers as the ground of keeping the Lord's Day holy. It sufficed that it was an Apostolic institution, whereof there are traces in Holy Scripture, received by the whole Church thenceforward.

The bearing of the several passages referred to, p. 391, n. e. is, as follows;

S. Barnabas (Ep. §. 15.) is contrasting the Jewish Sabbath with the Lord's Day. " See how He saith, The sabbaths which now are, are not acceptable to Me, but those which I made, when having closed all, I shall make the beginning of the eighth day, i. e. the beginning of another world. Wherefore also we keep the eighth day in joy, wherein Jesus arose from the dead;" so also S. Tgnat. ad Magnes. §. 9. " no longer keeping sabbath, but living according to the Lord's Day, whereon also our life dawned through Him, and through His death." In the Interpol. Ep. the Jewish mode of observing the Sabbath, " eating things cooked the day before, or lukewarm, walking a certain distance, &c." is specified; and it adds, " And after sabbatizing, let every lover of Christ celebrate the Lord's Day, the Day of the Resurrection, the Royal, the Sovereign of all days, &c."

S. Justin's argument (Dial.c. 12.) is that the Jews, denying the Gospel, fell short of the meaning of their own law. " Ye have need of a second circumcision, and ye think much of that in the flesh. The new law willeth you to keep sabbath always, and ye think ye are godly if ye are idle on one day, not perceiving why it was commanded you." In the Constitt. A p. vi. 23. the expansion of the doctrine of the sabbath is dwelt upon, not the keeping of one day disparaged. "He Who ordained that the sabbath be passed without working, for the meditating on the law, hath now commanded daily considering the law of creation and Providence, to give

4*20 Note.

thanks unto God." St. Clement Alex. Strom, iii. p. 201. iv. p. 204* explains the spiritual meaning of the sabbath to be keeping from sin, " if he keep the sabbath (Is. 56.) by abstaining from sin," " to me the sabbath seems to indicate continence by abstaining from evils." The other passage, strictly taken, would go against the whole principle of keeping any festivals at all, but it is plain that S. Clement means not to speak negatively, but positively that the Christian's devotion should be " at all times and in all places." " We are enjoined to worship and honour Him Whom we believe to be the Word and Saviour and Guide, and through Him, The Father, not doing this on special days, as some others, but continue our whole life through, and in every way. Of a truth the elect race, justified according to the commandment, said, ' Seven times a day have I given praise unto Thee.' Whence the true Gnostic, not in one definite place or chosen temple, or during certain appointed feasts and days, but all his life, in every place, whether he be alone, or have others who believe with him, honoureth God, i. e. giveth thanks for the knowledge of a right life." He contrasts the conduct of one who is unceasingly present with God " by knowledge and life and thanksgiving," with one who thinks of Him as circumscribed by place, so that he may be at times without Him, and day and night give himself to dissoluteness, and sums up, " we then, persuaded that God is present in all places, on all sides, passing all life as a festival, cultivate the ground, praising Him, sail hymning Him, in our whole course of life act according to His rules."

Origen, Horn. 8. in Jos. §. 2. speaks simply of the abolition of the Jewish Sabbath. " Those who follow Jesus seem to flee from legal burdens and precepts, the observation of the sabbath, the circumcision of the flesh, the killing of sacrifices." And so again, c. Cels. ii. 7. (p. 61. ed. Sp.) u Was it unholy to remove men from circumcision of the body, and a sabbath of the body, and bodily feasts, and bodily new moons, and things clean and unclean, and transfer the mind to a law worthy of God, true and spiritual?" in v. 59. (p.270.)noticing what Celsus had said in irony, " that the great Church admitted as true the cosmogony received among the Jews, as to the six days, and the seventh wherein, as Scripture saith, God rested from His works," he says, " as to the making of the world and the period of rest, (sabbatizing,) which after it is reserved for the people of God, it would be a large, deep, mysterious, and difficult discussion." In the remaining passage, viii. 22. 23. (p. 392, 93.) after having in a very eloquent passage (like one in S. Chrys. de Pentecost, i. §. 1.) said, " Now the perfect Christian who is ever in the Words and Works and Thoughts of God the Word, by Nature, His Lord, might ever keep Lord's Day," and the other fasts or festivals, Origen speaks of festivals as necessary for imperfect Christians only, yet allows them to be necessary for these, the greater part being unwilling or unable to keep all days such. " But the great body of those who seem to believe, and not being such, [perfect,] needs, for reminiscence, sensible tokens of these things; and such I think Paul meant, when he named a feast on fixed days above others ' part of a feast,' (Col. 2, 16.) because a life which is ever according to the Divine Word, is not in a partial feast, but in an

Note. 421

entire and unceasing feast." In which passage, Origen rather undervalues* the blessedness of our great festivals for the most perfect, but does not disparage them for ordinary Christians. Elsewhere (Horn. vii. in Exod. §. 5.) he speaks of the Lord's Day as typified in the Old Testament, and even then preferred to the sabbath. " The sabbath is the seventh day. I ask them on what day the manna began to be given from heaven, and would compare our Lord's Day with the sabbath of the Jews. For it appears from the Divine Scriptures, that the manna was first given on the earth on the Lord's Day. For if (as Scripture saith) it was collected on six days continuously, but on the seventh day, which is the sabbath, it ceased, without doubt its beginning was on the first day, which is the Lord's Day. But if this is certain from the Divine Scriptures, that on the Lord's Day God rained manna from heaven, and on the sabbath did not rain it, let the Jews understand that even then our Lord's Day was preferred to the Jewish sabbath, even then it was understood that in their sabbath no grace of God descended to them from heaven, no bread of heaven, which is the word of God, came to them, (coll. Hos. 3, 2.) But on our Lord's Day the Lord ever rained manna from heaven. Yea and on this day I say, that the Lord raineth manna from heaven." Archelaus (c. Man. xliii.) says that the sabbath was not abolished, but fulfilled.

Tertullian, c, Jud. c. 4. speaks strongly, denying (after Justin M Dial. §. 19. and S. Ireneeus, 4. 16 2.) that the sabbath was before Muses, and declaring that it had ceased. " Before this temporal sabbath, the eternal sabbath was foreshewn and foretold, (Gen. 2, 3,) Let them shew* as we have already said, that Adam kept sabbath, or that Abel offering to God a holy sacrifice, pleased Him through the religion of the sabbath, or that Enoch who was translated was an observer of the sabbath, or that Noah the builder of the ark for that universal deluge kept sabbath, or that Abraham, amid the observance of the sabbath, offered his son Isaac, or Melchisedech in his priesthood received the law of the sabbath. But the Jews will say, that from the time this precept was given by Moses thenceforward it was to be observed. It is plain then, that it was not an eternal or spiritual, but a temporal command, which should at some time cease." His argument, however, is directed against the non- employment of the sabbath, rest for its own sake; as he goes on to say, " So far is this solemnity to be kept by the idleness (vacatio) of the sabbath, i. e. the seventh day," that it was broken by God's command in the taking of Jericho, and that afterwards the Maccabees, " fighting by God's command, did servile works." In Apol. c. 16. there is the like contrast of the rejoicing of the Lord's Day with the heathen way of " setting apart the day of Saturn" (the seventh day of the month) " for rest and feasting, themselves also deflecting from the Jewish custom, of which they are ignorant." (see also p. 417.)

a Yet its meaning is much what reckoning of things without, neither

was said above by St. Clement, and requireth places, nor expecteth times,

by a modern holy writer, " He that for performing of religious exercises."

can live inwardly and make small Imit. of Christ, ii. 1 . 7.

422 Note.

S. Augustine (in Ps. 22. Enarr. 2. §. 6.) is speaking against Jewish dissipation, (see the passage above,) and so again de cons. Ev. ii. 157- ¥ that your flight he not on the sabhath-day," for which St. Luke has, " that your hearts be not overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness," he says, " for these drown and overwhelm the heart with carnal joy and luxury, which evil is therefore signified by the name of the sabbath, because such then was, and as it is now also, the most wretched habit of the Jews, on that day to indulge in all luxury, because they know not the spiritual sabbath." On Ps. 37. §• 2. 12. he says that the inscription " for the remembrance of the sabbath must mean not the sabbath which was observed, since we remember things absent, and that ' sabbath* therefore here means our eternal rest." c. Faust, he speaks generally of the cessation of the Jewish Sabbath, with which (18. 5.) he incidentally compares the Lord's Day.

S. Jerome in Is. (as S. Augustine in Ps. 32.) is chiefly speaking of the indolence and self-indulgence of the Jewish sabbath, or again of the strict observance of its literal provisions. On Is. 53 fin. (p. 197.) he instances as supposed practices of a carnal millennium, " to sacrifice, be circumcised, sit still on the sabbath, sleep, eat and drink to the full, and rise up to play;" on Is, 56, 2, " What sabbath He enjoins to be kept, the following verse shews; f keeping his hands that they do no evil.' For it is of no avail to sit still on the sabbath, or sleep, or revel; but if doing good, he resteth from evil and hold an unceasing sabbath, i. e. rest from iniquity, and do those things only which pertain to the health of the soul and undertake no servile work. For he who doeth sin, is the servant of sin;" on c. 58, 13. (p. 220.) " By the law it is commanded, not to do any servile work on the sabbath, not to light a fire, to sit in one place, to do those works only which pertain to the health of the soul. Which, if we take literally, they cannot be fulfilled. For who could sit all day and night on the sabbath, not moving ever so slightly from one place; else to be a transgressor? From one command then, which in the letter is impossible, we are compelled to understand the rest also spiritually, not to do any servile work and lose freedom of soul. For he who doeth sin, is the servant

S. Epiphanius, Hser. 5, 6. p. 19. mentions the typical meaning of the Jewish sabbath. " And then was the Sabbath, keeping us for the great Sabbath, i. e. the rest of Christ, that in Christ we may keep a sabbath from sin." Haer. 2. §. 7. p. 123. he puts together as " Jewish rites, Circumcision and the Sabbath," and p. 124. " that the Lord has bestowed upon us things more perfect." Hser. 30, 32. p. 159. a little enlarges p. 19. In the Expos. Fid. c. 22. he mentions the observance of the Lord's Day as an Apostolic Ordinance.

S. Greg. Nyss. de Vit. Mos. speaks of the cessation of all employment (crgg/*) as something past. k< For one of the days of the week having been, for certain mystic meanings, honoured by abstinence from employment." S. Cyril (de Adorat.) gives the spiritual meaning of the sabbath, and the rest on it, with express reference to Heb. iv. 10. (1. vii. p. 227. 1. x.

Note. 4*23

p. 346. 1. xvi. p. 558, and 600.) p. 619. lie gives the like explanation of the sabbaths, wherewith the Feast of Tabernacles began and closed, as pourtraying the rest in Paradise before the fall, and that in Christ Risen on the eighth day. p. 629, 30. he dwells on the rest in Christ. The first passage will stand for the rest, " The sabbath, being the last day of the week, may signify, I think, the time of the Advent of the Lord, Who appeared at the close, and all but at the very setting of this present world; but to us He became the Beginning, and Door and Way to the washing away of sin, to freedom and remission, to immortality and life and hope to come. But manifoldly doth the faith of the Holy Scriptures hint to us this sabbath-rest X*mf$*rt*nU) in Christ. By faith in Christ, we keep a spiritual sabbath, when, ceasing from the distractions in this world, and resting from a vain whirl, and severed from wickedness, and withdrawing from the yoke of sin, we are released for a free holiness." S. Greg. Mor. xviiL 68. explains the meaning of " the Sabbath" to be " the rest of the spirit." (see t. ii. p. 369. O. T.) Arethas. in Apoc. xi. 2. regards it as a prophecy, that " the Church shall be free from the legal contractedness of the minute ordinances, circumcision, sabbatizings, and other superfluous purifyings." Corderii Cat. in Ps. 91. t. ii. p. 896, 7. preserves the scholia of Diodorus and Timotheus, who give the spiritual meaning; Diodorus, " The sabbath is as it were an image of the life in Christ and the dispensation of the Gospel, which the Saviour of the world formed once for us, changing the shadows of the law into the spiritual service." Timotheus, " By the sabbath-day, he signifies the time of the Divine Incarnation, which they who believe, have as it were the prelude of the sabbath, (foresabbatize,) laying aside the burthens of sin, and taking to them the rest of the future and more perfect sabbath."

It is apparent from this examination, that the Fathers 1) spoke absolutely of the abolition of the Jewish Sabbath; 2) that they did not speak of the Lord's Day as being a transfer of it; (see Dr. Routh, Reliquiae Sacrse, T. Hi. p. 475. ed.) 3) yet that they do speak of it as an Apostolic ordinance; (see also Bingham 16. 2. 1.) and 4) as a substitution for it; displacing it. (see S. Ignat. ; Ep. S. Barn. ; S. Ath. and Concil. Laod. (^or/^wvrtf) above, p. 391, &c.) 5) that abstinence from business on the Lord's Day, as a religious duty, was an early universal tradition, and 6) enforced by the laws of the Church. According to that larger acceptation of the ten Commandments whereby they contain the summary of all moral duty, as the 6th forbids anger or spiritual murder, or the 7th all uncleanness, so the 4th enjoins the hallowing of all days, appointed by authority, whether Apostolic or of the Church. And of these the Lord's Day, of course, with the great Festivals of our Lord, holds the highest place; so that it is still the chief object and intent of the 4th Commandment. The ten Commandments, placed as the commencement of Alfred's code, are a testimony as to the 9th cent.

ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS.

Page 4. note h. This doctrine, though true, is misapplied: the expression may

mean no more than ' the true Son.'

7. for he that watches read that he watches

10. note a. " If good men &c." dele inverted commas.

25. for so as know read so as to know

43. transfer reference to note i to Thy generations'

65. not<* " I have destroyed &c. add inverted commas.

86. note, he was clad with Him read He was clad with it

92. note, see Mingarell. ad Didym. p. 248.

102. note d. This is misapplied : the language is not St. E.'s own, but put

into the mouth of the Ninevites. 106. note a. add Didym. de Trin. i. 9. ii. 3. p. 131. Jerome adv. Vigilant.

108. note m. Vol. ii. p. 553, d. he ascribes this to Bardesanes, who however

probably took it from Heathen sources. 115. note b. to Petav. de Inc. x. 6. §. 3. add §. 9. and xiv. 5. Did. de Trin.

j ii. 9. title. Leont. c. Nest. i. 11.

131/ to note n fin. add See Assem. ad Act. Martyr, i. p. 258, n. 6. Epiphan.

133. for Again on R. xlvi. §. 4. read §. 2. and add a reference to R. lv. §. 3.

134. ref. 5. for c. Scrut. iii. §. 16. read §. 10. N.B. This deduction of 6 must

be made in some other references to this R. 155. See R. 1. fin. add and p. 210. ref. 4.

169. for \*1± read Ja**A

170. for Bar Bak read Bar Bahhlul

185. ref. 3. for p. 114. read 1U.

197. ref. 2. for p. 472. read 482, e. and below, p. 213, n. a.

232. note a. R. Ixxiii. §. 1. R. lxxiii — v.

236. note r. 352 — 4.] omit the bracket, and add below, p. 270, n. d. and

247. for there are allegories, read these are allegories

271. e. fin. read comp. R.xlii. §. 5. and for the antitype here intended, see &c.

280. note. (See vol. I. &c. to 33.) inserted wrongly in the first place.

381. note, for flows identity read from identity

INDEX OF TEXTS.

N.B. As St. Ephrem does not quote texts but rather refers to them, some of tli& allusions in the pages eked may not be obvious without thought.

GENESIS

EXODUS.

iii. 2.

vii. 12.

iii. 14.

xii. 3,

xvi. 3.

xvii. 7.

xviii. 13.

xix. 18.

xxi. 33.

xiv. 16.

xxiv. 10.

xxxii. 1.

xvi. 12.

xvii. 11.

xviii. 8.

xx xiv. 29.

xix. 4.

xxxvii. 1.

xxii. 2.

xxv. 3.

LEVITICUS,

xxvi. 21.

xxviii. 1.

viii. 10.

xxx. 15.

xxxviii. 30.

xiii. 46.

xxxix. 13.

xiv. 51.

xlix. 10.

xvi. 2.

xix. 32.

xxiii. 11.

INDEX OF TEXTS.

NUMBERS.

xii.

xiii, xvi.

xxn. xxiv. xxvii. xxxi.

DEUTERONOMY.

xiv.

xix.

xxvii.

xxviii.

XXX.

xxxi.

xxxii.

xxiv. 27.

xiv. 4.

JOSHUA.

JUDGES.

RUTH.

xvii. 17.

xviii. 6.

xxiv. 1. &c.

xiii. 1.

xxiii. 1.

viii. 9.

xiii. 26.

xvii. 4.

xviii. 38.

xix. 8.

xvi. 8.

xxvi. 18.

iii. 3.

xvi. 19.

xxii. 12.

xxiii.

JOB.

INDEX OF TEXTS.

xxviii. 17.

xxxiii. 23.

xxxix. 27.

xli. 1.

cxxi. 4.

cxxxii. 14.

cxxxix.

cxli. 3.

cxlv. 13.

cxlvii. 3.

PSALMS.

viii. 2.

xiv. 1.

xvi. 5.

xviii. 20.

xxii. 6.

xxix. 5.

xxxii. 9.

xxxviii. 27.

xliv. 12.

xlv. 1,2.

xlix. 12.

lxiv. 3.

lxviii. 31.

lxix. 1.

lxxii. 1.

lxxviii. 40.

lxxxi. 10.

lxxxiv. 6.

lxxxv. 10.

lxxxvii. 6.

lxxxviii. 5.

civ. 4.

cxvi. 10.

ex viii. 22.

cxix. 91.

PROVEKBS.

iii. 18.

viii. 22.

xvii. 14.

xviii. 10.

xxx. 4.

ECCLESIASTES.

CANTICLES.

ISAIAH.

iii. 3.

vii. 13.

xix. 1.

ib.h.

INDEX OF TEXTS.

xxii. 22.

xvii. 11.

xxiv. 5.

xix. 11.

xxiii. 29.

xxv. 7.

xxviii. 14.

xxxi. 22.

xxvii. 1.

xxviii. 7.

xxx. 28.

LAME

xxxi. 18.

xxxii. 4.

xxxiii. 14.

xxxvii. 29.

EZEK]

xliii. 4.7.

viii. 14.

xlvii. 4.

xlviii. 16.

xlix. 14.

xvi. 58.

xvii. 3,

<fcc.

xviii. 23.

xxi. 26.

lii. 7.

liii. 2.

xxii. 7.

xxxiv. 4,

liv. 2.

xxxvii. 1,

xlvii. 10.

lvii. 14.

'

DANII

lxi. 1.

vii. 6.

lxii. 2.

lxiii. 3.

lxv. 1.

viii. 16.

lxvi. 3.

xii. 4.

JEREMIAH.

HOSE

vij. 15.

viii. 7.

xiii. 20.

INDEX OF TEXTS.

JOEL.

WISDOM.

viii. 20.

AMOS.

ECCLES

vii. 7

xxiv. 13.

MICAH.

SUSANNAH.

HABAKKUK.

MATTHEW.

iii. 12.

ZEPHANIAH.

iii. 14.

ZECHARIAH.

iii. 3.

viii* 8.

viii. 22.

xiii. 1.

MALACHI.

BARUCH.

xiv. 17.

INDEX OF TEXTS.

xvi. 22.

xviii. 9.

xvi. 17.

xix. 3.

xvii. 5.

xviii. 6.

xxi. 9.

xxiii. 14,

xxii. 3.

xxiii. 15.

3T. JOHN.

xxiv. 45.

XXV. 1.

xxvi. 53

xxvii. 18.

iii. 27.

sxviii. 19.

ST. MARK.

viii. 5.

xii. 13.

xii. 24.

xvi. 12.

xiii. 24.

ST. LUKE.

xvii. 4*

xix. 38.

viii. 47.

xiii. 32.

xiv. 28.

xxi. 7.

INDEX OF TEXTS.

ACTS.

vii. 22.

xiv. 13.

xvii. 28.

xviii. 27.

GALATIANS.

ROMANS.

viii

iii.

xii.

xiii.

iii. 28.

EPHESIANS.

iii. 18.

COLOSSIANS.

TITUS.

HEBREWS.

xii. 20.

INDEX OF TEXTS.

JAMES.

iii. 10.

REVELATIONS.

iii. 14.

xii. 2.

xiv. 6.

N.B. Matter, which it was thought would he found with sufficient ease by means of the IndeY of Texts, is occasionally omitted here. The numbers with a comma before them refer to the marginal eferences, those in a parenthesis Indicate passages whose doctrine bears on, but is not the same as, that of the one referred to.

Aaron, budding of his rod, 2. 3'. 199, a.

Abishag, a type of heavenly Wisdom,

Abraham, saw Christ's day, 6. held to have been subjected to bondage for his prying, by St. E. 176. but not uniformly, ib. n. c. his unreasoning faith, 289. 388. tradition of his conversion from idolatry, ib. a. his dis- crimination in speaking and being silent, ib, was a wairior, ib. 290. his sacrifice, 80, d.

Adam, his production from the virgin earth a type of Christ's Birth, 2. of God as ingenerate, 130, m. looked for, 4. and was restored to youth by, Christ, 32. 33. 328, c his glory in Paradise, 51, z. 213, 2. fell the first effects of his fall, 213, n. a. 216, 3. his supernatural knowledge before it, 311, n. shewn in inventing language, ib. marvellous act of memory implied therein, ib. 312. beasts obeyed him therein through the glory displayed in him, (ib. 51, z.) did not fall from lack of knowledge, ib. must not be estimated by man's present state, ib. sin of propagated, 386, y. his nature taken by Christ, 318, b. who made it, and brought it from hell, 323. said, as a symbol of human nature, to be raised by Christ on His descent, ib. buried in Calvary, ib. held by St. James of Nisibis to be first in the idea of God when creating, 208, a. and perhaps by St. E. 328, 3.

Adamant, 77, i. God compared to a wall of, 225.

Adonai, 113, b.

Adonijah, a type of Israel, 74, d.

Aetius, his course in life, 226, a. charged with Atheism, 231, b. originated the Macedonian doctrine, 301, a. See Eunomius, Anomeans.

Agag, a type of Satan, 43,

Air, a type of God, 123. 271. necessary

Alabaster, use of, 240, b.

Allegory, abundant in St. E. 277, a. must not exclude the letter, 141, a.

Alphabet, Scripture compared to, 180, a.

Anathema, use of, 144, h.

Ancient of days, used of Father and

Angel of Covenant, G8, g.

Angels, abashed [in awe] at Christ, 1 13. adore His Manhood, 24.32.45, 1.56. marvel at His humiliation, 158, c. and Ascension, 283, c. not therefore necessarily to be accounted ignorant, 284. their knowledge far exceeds man's, 120. different in different ranks the Incarnation, 117. nor God fully, see not His mysteries without a medium, 121, e. see them in the Son, 121.330. have a natural capability of moral advancement, 315, d. difficulty of ascertaining their relations to space, 187, b. incomprehensible to man, 285, 5. consist of fire and

INDEX.

called sons, 255, e. f. in what sense mortal, 175, a. move the heavenly hodies, 285, a.

Anna at the Presentation 30.

Animals, their nature fixed, 193, a. harmony of different kinds in art, 325, a. why unclean prevail in the Cherub, 164, b. solitary generation

Anomeans, pretend to fathom God's deal in Aristotelian subtleties, 106, a. affect reverence for the Father, 139, e. virtually exclude the Son from Providence, 140, g. make Him exist at the Father's will, 286, c. and a Son by grace, 299 d. and in some respects inferior to other creatures, 315, d. deny the Perichoresis, 286, c. and oneness of will in the Trinity, 381, u. affect to prove first principles, 287 — 8, e. their tenets involved in difficulties, ib. lead to Atheism, 231, b. contend that Catholics worship they know not what, 136, e. their theory of language, 118, k. 311, a. argue from God's economical Names against Names implying distinct Persons, 313, b. their founder a tinker, 226, a. greedy of gain, ib.

Anthropomorphists, theory of the soul among, 108,1. alluded to, 188, d. not the subject of the Rhythms contra Scrutatores, 362, a. wherein their heresy lay, ib.

Apocrypha quoted as Scripture, 66, k.

Apocryphal books alluded to, 24, x.

Apostles, judge the twelve tribes, 12. catch the world, 17. types of, 27.

Apostoli, 184, a.

Apollina>'is, shifting character of his tenets, 269, a. probably known to and not mentioned by St. E. 270, c. gradat'nns of being in his Trinity,

Aphthartcdocetee, 269, a.

Aristotle* Anomeans fond of his subtleties, 106, a. 288, e. St. E. com- pares him to Solomon for learning, 112, g. sesms to allude to him, 194, b. 344, a. and thestoryof hisdeath,200,d.

Ark, Noah's, a type of the Church, 5. 263. in what respects, 263—4, b. of Christ, 6. the types of fulfilled in

of covenant, what preserved in,

277, b. its awful sanctity a lesson of Christ 35, t.

Arts, illustration from, 117, h. 377. unintelligible to the ignorant, 257. 290, 4. Eunomius held, with the Gentiles, that they were inspired by God, 257, a.

Asbestos, mention of, 237, 2.

Ascension, day of, 17. See Angels.

Ass, ridden on by Christ, 75. why,

Ashtaroth, 72, c.

Athanasius, St. his works possibly translated early into Syriac, 279, f. speaks of heretical baptism as St. E. does, 179, d.

Atmosphere, held of old to have a limit, 271, f.

Attributes, of the Son blended with Himself, 116, d. they and not the Essence of God seen, 191, 2. 201, a. Eunomian theory of. 246, b. identical with each other in fact, distinct in our conception of them, ib. illustration of from a stranger's conform- ing to dress of the country, 145, a. See God.

Baal, 73.

Babel, confusion of tongues, 68, r. 305, f. the Church made so by heretics,

Balaam, reproved by the ass, 182. why, 95. not affected thereby, 238. his being thrown from, of what a type,

Balance, God's, what, 152. (373, o.)

Baptism, draws to Heaven, 5. gives light for heavenly knowledge, 87, h. 222, c. the stream of Atonement, 300. a type of, at the Creation, 169, m. at the Crucifixion, 196, c. form of, tells against A nan and Sabellian heresies, 166, d. altered by Eunomians, 178 — 9, d. repeated in such cases by Catholics, ib. heretics inconsistent in not repeating, 239, d. waters of strife by heretics, 239. 300. Holy Spirit invoked at, 300.

of Christ, 147. typical of His

Conception, 86, f. 271, d. alluded to in the Liturgical Invocation of Greek Liturgies, 235, h. did not increase Christ's grace, ib. but shewed who He was, 135. Mosaic priesthood ceased at, 271, d.

INDEX.

Bardesanes, hymns of, 104, h. metre of imitated by St. E. ib. believed matter eternal, 112, g. compared the soul See Addenda.

Baruch, quoted as Scripture, 66, k. a disciple of Jeremiah, ib.

Bathsheba, 182. [plea for,] 393, i.

Battering rams, a type of Satan's suggestions, 225, f.

Beasts, type of the nations, 164, b.

Beauty, of God, 208.

Beginning, sense of when applied to

Behemoth, fattens without food, 322. birth of, unknown, ib.

Belief, way to comprehend, 244. must precede searching, 136, e. See Faith, Disputing.

Bible, taken from Christians in persecutions, 196, c.

1 Binding,' sense of, 392, h.

Birds, mocking how taught, 206. perfected by a threefold progress, 165. 232, c. conceive as Mary, without intercourse, 169. a type of nations, 164, b. of Christians, 344.

Birth and Resurrection compared, 40.

Birthdays, Herod's and Christ's contrasted, 17, e. 18.

Blind man, allusion to fable of, 192. his belief in others a type of faith, 290. 324. tvpical of man, as ignorant,

Bliss, three degrees of, 264, c.

Blood, soul thought to be, 108, h. of Christ, in the arteries of the Gentiles, 1 38, b. makes priests, ib. of sprinkling,

Body, definition of, 201, a. anatomy of, puzzles man, 238. evil on the Manichean theory, 267, b. has a new principle sown in it at Eucharist by 345, e. Christ's, compared to a sail, 167. said to be commended to the Father on the Cross, 3 1 7- "Vide Christ.

Bosom, St. E.'s use of the word, 131—3.

Boundaries in nature, a lesson to priers, 194.

Bread, the, sprinkled with wine in the Syrian liturgy, 50, t. See Food.

Cain, 3. the Jews compared to, 65. freewill of implied in God's address to,

Caleb, 3.

Calf, the fatted, Christ, 39, c. the

molten, 157-8. from Egypt, 102, c. Ccesar, Augustus, 56. Chaldees, Daniel learned in the wisdom

of, 258. svnonymous with soothsayers,

Chariots of Christ, 285, a. in Ezechiel,

Chastity, frequency of in Christians,

Chemosh, same as Baalpeor, 72, b.

Cherubim, awed at God, 119. 137. a. why with hands beneath their wings, 164, b. three unclean animals in, ib. guarded Paradise and Mount Sinai, 195, a. lesson against prying,

Christ, God while in the Womb, 22. 50, 1. made His own Body, 38. and those of others while in the Womb, 23. Conception of compared to His concealed from Satan at His Birth, 21, o. as in His temptation, 135, c. 203, 1. Birth of, from Mary without harm to her integrity as Virgin, 1 15,b. came from her as through the closed doors after His Resurrection, ib. (40.) Birth of, from a Virgin not imitable by Satan, 255, f. incomprehensibility of His Birth in time a lesson against prying into His eternal Birth, ib. 163, Him our tainted Nature, 182, 2. 386, g. though it was mortal, 269,

a. wherewith He cured Adam, 318,

b. as the lump of figs made out

of several figs Hezekiah, ib. this

type of explained, ib. took a Body in

Love, 183. to restrain prying into

God, 163, 3. with the blameless

passions, 199, a. though only active

a Brother to servants, 170. in what

sense a servant, 183, c. 272, g. 310,

2. His Body a garment to Him, 104,

170. His forward love in Infancy, 45.

visited by the poor in,ib. gives Himself to babes in mind, 115, e. feared

Mary's address to, 28. carried by

INDEX.

ployed in S. Joseph's house, 164. said

to have a mortal father, ih. 182. flight

of to Egypt, 52. Baptism of, 86, f.

135. See Baptism, by the Trinity,

270, d. why He fasted forty days

and not more, 135,c.in inflicting and

removing punishments is God, 55, g.

miracles of attest His Divine Nature,

281. 350, d. His temptation, 135. conquered Satan with his own weapons,

20. 182. by wisdom, 34. and justice, ih.

n.s. 151,5. His entry into Jerusalem

typical, 65. presence of prophets at,

66. gladdens the Church, 82. fear of,

202, c. His clearance of the Temple

a lesson in regard to the temple of our

bodies, 282. His silence, 13. pleaded

our cause, 59. His Crucifixion, types

at, 22. 318. calls God Father on tie

Cross, 317. in what sense said by

St. E. to commend the Body of His

Humanity to the Father the e, ib.

n. b. door in His Side the Gate of

the sepulchre, 199, a. 317, b. a perfect Pattern in all points, 127. taught

by example, 202. One though seeming manifold. 171. 312, b. (207.)

abstained through love from Names

indicating His real Nature, 319. and

used those which assorted with His

attributes of do not prove Him mere

roan any more than what He gave

Priesthood of in His Human Nature,

70, u. did not grow in grace, 370, m.

386, 2. (235, h.) H is own glory not increased by His final triumph, 353, b.

those who touched His Body touched

the Invisible, 171. See Body. Flesh of

fobe adored, 127. 158,c.l99, a.(283,c.)

Blood of runs in the elect, 138, b.

Human Knowledge of, concealed

by Him, I90,g. 202,4. 203, 3. His professed ignorance of the hour of judg- ment, 348, <fec. intended to check the Head of members ignorant of it, 353, b. bearing of the twofold aspect of His glory upon, 354, e. two questions aris-

• ing out of, discussed by St. E. 355, f. His glory to uswards greater through the concealment of the hour, 356, a. as this displayed His Divine Foreknowledge, ib. n. b. men must not assume that He is a creature because of such concealment, 348, a. inconsistency of heretics in assuming Him

ignorant, and themselves not, 348. they understand the ignorance, of the Divine Nature, ib. in which however He must have known the hour in order tocreate time, 358. knew the HolySpirit, which is a greater thing to know, 353. (300.) clearer than the sun that He had no need to ask the question at the raising of Lazarus, 350, d. attestation of His Incarnation the object of, ib. intended to shew He had our Nature, not in what state that Nature existed in Him, 351, d. His increase in wisdom not real, but only an adjustment of the disclosures of His real Wisdom to the growth of the Body, 351, e. Christ, titles of, 312, b. Lamb, 57, 3.

22, r. Father of Ages, 66, 1. Salt, 35. Drink, ib. Husbandman, ib. Ancient of Days, 67, p. 205, b. King of Kings, 69. King's Son, 71, the Sun, 57- Seed, ib. Cinnamon, Names.

Chrysostome, S. copies from St. E.

Church, founded in Cephas, 57. (370,6.) ark compared with, 325. See Ark. teaching of, 106, b. her bosom contains the fulness of both Testaments, ib. 177- cheweth the cud of both, 139, e. tvpes of, 264, b, c. divisions of healing, 230. 306. prayer for unity

Cinnamon, why Christ so called, 51.

Circumcision, use of the rite of, 393.

Cloud, higher than the mist, 242, 3.

Clouds, tvpes of Apostles and Prophets,

Coal, the burning, a type of Eucharist,

Cockcrowing, notice of, 168, 1. Colours, shadow out God, 97. 123. See

Painting. Commandments, the, man's fittest

Conception, instructiveness of the, 21.

See Christ. Concord, might of, 230. 306. Condescension, of the Godhead, 209-

10. 307, a. See Little. Covon, Saturn or Hercules, 72, a. Counsel, of God, 140, g. Creation, the work of the whole Trinity,

169, m. is not the embodiment of

words, 129, h. account of to be

taken literally, 247, b. did not take

INDEX.

place in one moment, ib. types of

the Creator sealed upon, 184. 241.

condescension of God in, 189. 209, b.

words of to Whom spoken, 127, d.

was no new movement in God, 187, f.

nor commensurate with His power,

Creator, name refers to inherent art or

power, 187, a. Creature, not used of the Son, 275, 5.

Creatures, all capable of advance,

God's love, 335. cannot contain Him

Cross, Christ's Chariot, 163—4, b. all

things created in the form of, 164, c.

Christ employed with in S. Joseph's

house, 164. sundry types of, 6S, p.

marked with in Baptism, 266, b. a

tree of Life, 95. the power of, 58. Crucifixion, the, destroyed the Jewish

Church, 65, i. See Christ.

Devil, Manichean theory of, 267, b.

294, c. body mystical of, 147, g. 226,

b. unintelligible to man, 346, 3. f.

influence of on men in sleep, 294, c.

See Satan. Dew, of doctrine, 153. Discourse, in man, 225, 2. 245, a. a type

293 — 6. is in the memory, though

not locally, 295. Disputation, to be limited, 227. within

limits a medicine of life, 372, n.

what, sanctioned by the Church,

Disputatiousncss, three causes of, 275.

compared to unnatural lust, 378.

incompatible with faith, 143. 290.

379. blinding effects of, 160. evils

of, 299, 3 and passim. See Prying. Dove, a type of the Spirit, 264, b. Doctrine, like broad day, 277 See Faith.

religious sense the test of, 260, a. Dreams, mysteriousness of, 294, c.

real tears in at unreal events, ib.

Satan's power over men in, ib.

memory in, diverse from that out

-Ducts, of the body, 238. 323. Dust, incomprehensibleness of the

Dwarfs, as inexplicable as giants,

Dagon, of what a type, 20, m. 139, 2.

Damned, the state of, 151, d.

Daniel, in the den, of what a type, 40. his vision, 67. his temper to be imitated, 40. 139. though learned, did not pry, 258. meditative above all the just, ib.

Darkness, the miraculous, proof of

David, allusion to early days of, 8, p. author of all the Psalms, 49. division type in slaying the lion, 33. in rejecting Saul's armour, 1/1, d. in his throne, 33. in his entry into Jerusalem, 45, k. in his old age, 73, d. his conduct to Nabal, 182, b. how overcome by Bathsheba, 182. (393, i.) invoked to witness Christ's triumph, 82, u. an example in praising God, 181. a protector of Jerusalem, 42, g. (229, a.) the sceptre of Judah began

Dead, commemorated at the Altar,

Death, the invisible, 360.

Deceit, used of heresy, 155, a. 226, a.

Deklath, the Tigris, 262, c,

Descent of Holy Ghost at Jordan, 385.

Eagle, the, of what a type, 20, m.

376, q. changes of the, into different vegetables, 322. 366. the invisible,

Easter, allusion to 17, d.

Ecclesiastics, ambition of, 103. 407, d.

Economies, for man's profit, 171. 188— to children, 205, a. See God, Christ's Human Knowledge.

Eden, [women baptized, placed anew] in it, 92. its rivers a type of the Church's doctrine, 262. 37o\ See Paradise.

Egg, threefold advance of, 243. See Birds.

Elijah, power given to his holiness, 47. fed by unclean birds, 99. not polluted by a corpse, ib. n. a. a type of the living, 4, g. his silence at the Transfiguration instructive, 254. search for proved his ascension, 41.

INDEX.

Elisha, 557. power given to his holiness, 47.

Elizabeth, prayed for a child, 36.

Empyreals, 81. See Fire and Spirit.

353, b. as Plato observed, 121, f. Satan's caused man's fall, 266, a.

Ephrem, St. called the prophet of the Syrians, 107, d. abstained from scrutinizing God, 228, c. 239, 2. probably knew Greek, 280, f. professes himself learned or unlearned as best subserves humility, ib. his acquaintance with history and philosophy, ib. his reference to older commentators, ib. to Aristotle, 194, b. 200, d. 344, a. and praise of him, 112, g. his etymologies less frivolous than was common in ancient times, 262, c. his attention 322. 366. views nature as a prophecy of

344, 3. probably less guarded before Apollinaris than after in speaking of the human soul, 295,d. acquainted probably with Apollinaris, 270, c. speaks ofsomeheretichehadrecoveredtothe faith, 355, f. agrees with St. Athanasius in his way of speaking of heretical Baptism, 179, d. abounds in allegory, yet maintains the literal meaning of Scripture, 141, a. 247, h. explains prophecies of Cyrus Zorobabel, &c. sometimes without men- tioning Christ, 136, d. studious in Scripture, 280, f. sees miracles in where others would not, 80, s. thanks God that he had kept the faith, 228, c. 330, a. St. James of Nisibis his master, 99, a.

\nlvoiu, 145, a.

Error, Satan's versatility in, 203, f.

Essence, of God, not visible to man,

Eternity, see Father.

Ether, what, 271, f.

Ethiopia, 92. 93, d, e.

more precious than Christ's visible Body, 50. gives a new life to the body, 148,h.345,e. contrasted with miracles, 19. and heathen sacrifices, ib. St. E.'s view of, with Nestorian, 148, i. real Presence in, 170. See Christ, influence on the body, 10. 19, k. 148, h.

345, e. (58.) Spirit and Fire in, 146. coal in Isaiah's vision a type of, 30, k. 146, d. Latin view of consecration of, 235, g. attributed in the East to the operation of the Holy Ghost, 234.

yet not therefore to the form of invocation, ib. Orsi's theory of the meaning of that form, ib. another suggested by the form itself, ib. St. E. attributes the consecration to the priest's hands mediately, 146, d. a viaticum, 346, e.

Eunomius, altered the form of Baptism, 179, d. his course of life, 226, a. studied heathen philosophy, ib. [disparaged martyrs and reverence to their remains], 230, a. affects to prove first principles, 288, e. pretends zeal for the truth, 249, e. follows imagination, 248, d. his followers, wherein worse than the Jews, 247, c. and like Gentiles, 249. his theory of Plato, ib. of the arts, 257, a. was the first to call the Holy Spirit a creature,

Eunuch, of Ethiopia, 92.

Euphrates, type of the Gospel, 262.

Eve, [her travail,] ransomed through St. Mary, [by the birth of her Saviour,] 2. looked for Chi 1st, 4. rejoiced in His day, 42. contrasted with St. Mary, her credulousness, 396, b. her glory in Eden, ib. why not immediately stripped of it, 51, z. pearl compared

Evil, its existence depends on the will, 123, k. is not of nature, 325, a.

Experience, contrasted with faith, 220.

Eye, its curious structure, 173, a. placed in the body to receive wonder, ib. moves in unison with the other, 174. teaches the mind, 250. easily irritated, ib. when receiving light a type of the Incarnation, 340 — 1. 86, f. (20. 42.) union of with light incomprehensible, 34 i. enjoys light without prying into it, 192 344,

Ezechiel, his humility, 142.

Faith, the, cries aloud to all, 155 — 6. 162, a. 165.l73,b.408,l.existsinthe minds of the faithful, 260, a. 347, 7. 372, n. more truly than in words, 260, a. yet is not merely subjective, ib. does not come from experience, 378. is a second soul, 360, a. gives the mind rest, 252. is a yoke for all, 357. sometimes alive in the heart, though not professed, 162, a. requires an architect's mind to analyze it there,

INDEX

111, e. 112. a state of, incompatible with a [prying into] truth, 141. 143. 3/9, 1. unfolded by formal statements, 165, a. (372, n.) truth its own fruit, 156. 361. illustrated from the case of the blind, 324. compared to a ship, and a curdle, 125. unquestioning, blessedness of, 113. in Abraham, offered without works, 161. 361. perfected by a threefold advance, 165. centurion's contrasted with St. Thomas's want of, 136. with credulity, does not lie in the noise of words, necessary, in order to receive the Church's teaching, 337, a.

Fatalists, allusion to, 373, o.

Father, the, a measure of the Son,

354, e. reasons why Being.and Eternity are spoken of, as if Bis Per-

308. 382. applies to God more properly than to man, 256, h. begat

the Son in His Love, 126. 131—3.

in His Love has many sons, 273.

seen by the Son, 126, c. in what sense

commands the Son, 128, d. 129, g.

364, h. not ashamed to confess the

visibility of, 206, b. condescension

of, contrasted with the Son's, 202.

209. Son does not exist at, but is

the Will of, 286, c. Will not a personal attribute of, ib. 380 — 2. A nomeans deny the Son to be of the

Essence of, 286, c. the title used by

Christ at His Death, 317. for what

reason, ib. a. Generation of the Son

glory of, 287. 354. reveals to all

creatures by the Son, 365. alone

declares the Son, 371. See God,

Soti, Root.

Feasts, grace given at Christian, 8.

26. in honour of Christ, 17.

i Feeling' God, blasphemous use of the word by the Anomeans, 116, d.

Finger, of the Spirit, 270.

Fire, bosom of, unsearchable, 225, 4.

Fire and Spirit, angels consist of, 81.

Fish, as not able to live in air, compared to priers, 253. 261, 3. 322, 8.

Five, often alludes to the senses,

Fleece, Gideon's, a type of Mary, 68, s.

Flood, God's seeming repentance at, 246. a type of Baptism. See Ark.

Flowers, threefold, 24. use of, in Church, 17, h.

Flute, sounds of many, 178.

Fountains, perennial stream of, 296, 2.

Freewill, passages from St. E. upon, greater than animals, 123, k. who yet possess it in some degree, 193, a. even in Cain, 123, k. St. E.'s statements of, to be viewed in contrast with fatalism, ib. 373, o. proof of, in man's self, 193, a. power of, not to be investigated in an impure soul, 194, b. soul imperfect without, 234, g. 256, 2. given by God to man, chat he might obey freely, 206, 1 .

382. taste of, taken on credit, 241, c.

Fundamentals, 357, d.

Gabriel, 285. 330. why he calls Christ Lord, 115. smote Zecharias with dumbness, 175.

Gates, of the heart, 26. 174, e. 282, a. of the eye, 173, a.

Gehazi, a type of heretics, 196.

Gehenna, [would be] refreshed by Christ's shadow, 151, d. no escape from, 413,6.

Generation, as proveable as existence, of God, 230, 7. types of, in nature, 237, a. 296, e. futility of Anomean attempts to explain, 231, b. why said to flow from Omnipotence, ib. is not of will in God, 133. 253. heretical dilemma upon, 253. statement thereof, ib. a. met by St. E. practically, ib. 254. reality of, 354. in- of Mary, 115. 145. &c. See Christ, Son, Father, Fruit. Arians would confound, with creation, 303, a. of man incomprehensible, 231. and of

Gentiles, sects among, 230. more zealous in error than Christians in truth, 379, s. 415, i. quarrels of, 224, e. heresies

INDEX.

Giants, not the sons of Angels, 255, f.

Gideon, see Fleece.

Gihon, a type of the Gospel, 261.

God, compared to a mirror, 205—6. incomprehensibility of, 137, a. 149. 150.

389,b. hidden in Himself, 123.206, b.

a. existence of, all man can reach to,

372, 5. and that by His inspiration,

360, b. 374, p. or by His revelation,

yet revealed plainly to them that will

for their good, 301. though not in

His Essence, 239. 245, a. of which

He yet gives foretastes to the worthy,

240. alone comprehends and declares

385. 385. not merely efficiency,

338. illustrated by the air, 122—3.

in which all creatures' move, ib.

for what reason, 251, b. alone per-

\ades the substance of other spirits,

238, b. 266—7, b. not compounded

of Essence and attributes, 30, 1.

209, b. 251, b. 349, d. the latter only

ean be known by man, 201 , a. 337, 3.

our impressions of one of, corrected by

those of another, 372. Personal, more

7. Personal relations as clearly stated

in Scripture as His relations to man,

273, a. glory of, referred sometimes

to one, sometimes to another of these,

354, e. 355, f. would have man

glorious by his own will, 206. rewards

seeming injustice in this world, b73.

Omnipotence of, 352. exceeds His

actual operations, 377, 1.404—6. Generation of the Son, why ascribed to,

369, b. whom He begat without loss,

251, d. speaking and commanding,

in what sense used of, 149, b. 363 —

286, c. 381, u. inexplicable to man,

287, d. beyond all number, 219, c. vrholly in each Person, 233, d. Unity of, 251, c. 338, a. vision of, 137, a. 353, c. Love between Him and His creatures, 331 , 8. creation by, though in space, inscrutable, 252. not by a rule which restrains Him,

377. yet, in order to shew His Power, necessarily limited, 405. preserved by Him from fire, 271, b. 377, 7- See Christ, Father, Son, Holy Ghost, Trinity, Names, Persons.

1 God,' used of men, 256, h.

Gold, uniform, 241.

Grace, a reason against pride and ingratitude, 375. "means of will not alone keep man from sin, 158, b. necessary in order to knowledge, 337, a. 374, p. See Gift, Freewill, Holy Ghost.

Graft, killed by tree closing upon, 172.

Greeks, St. E. not ignorant of their works, 112, g. See St. E. disputatiousness learnt from t 102,4. 112, g. 203, e. 356. See Aristotle, kings of made traffick of Jewish priesthood,

Gypsum, 240, b.

Hannah, her prayer of what a type,

Harp, living, 175. 178, a. 180. how to be tuned, 180.

Hearing, inadequate to perception of sounds too loud or too low, 149. correlative to its object, 192. 344, 2.

Heat, a type of the Spirit, 232 — 5.

Heathen, sects amongst, 230, 2. See Gentiles.

Heaven, toi hea\ens, 242, e. pillars of, silent speech of, 149, a. and earth, why called two words, 225, g.

II ell -fire, eternal, 151, d.

Heretics, mar the truth, 100, c. 372, n. and the faith of Nicsea, 197, d. add to Scripture,276.SeeSm/?£Mr£. originate new doctrines, 180, a. go by a few texts only, 279, e. read Scripture only to inspired by Satan, 299, e. 326, c. their questioning spirit, 282. imitate yet pervert the Church's rites, 197, d. 323. slight ordmations, ib. conquer themselves, not the Church,

Heresy, the same remoulded in different ages, 203, f. compared to strange fire, 198. to adultery, 248, c. 275,d. to unnatural lusts, 378 — 9. to idolatry, 198, e. 222, d. to Judaism,

INDEX.

Herman, Mount, Seth's family ived

Herod, feast of, 18. 31. 214. a type of

Hieroglyphics, use of, for heathen

High Priest, went once a year into the

holiest place, 138. See Christ. Hittites, four faced idol of, 102, d. Holy Ghost. See Spirit. Homer, seeming allusion to, 259, f. Horses, rejected by Christ in His

triumph, 81, t. Hosannahs, use of, 62. 1 How,'' heretical uses of, 282, h. Hypostasis, 232, b. See Person. Hyssop, of Christ, 38, 1.

Jacob, miracle at his espousals, 80, s. called on to witness Christ's triumph,

name of God's Essence, ib. and incommunicable, ib.

James of Nisibis, St. E.'s master, 99, a. his opinion of Adam as first in the idea of God, 208, a.

Idolatry, like heresy, 198, e. 222, d.

Jealousy, waters of, accuse the Jews,

Jericho, its overthrow typical, 64, g.

Jerusalem, prophecies of, fulfilled in the Church, 77, k. situate in the middle of the earth, 404, b.

Jesus, the Name a hidden bridge, 130, Ehythms against Anomeans, 411, g.

Jens, why kept from a full knowledge

of the Trinity, 71, z. reject, and are

rejected by, the Trinity, 247, c. 69.

70. never to be restored, 73, d. 74.

249. refuted by fulfilments of types,

Christ's Baptism, 271, d. sin of, not

a misconception of the nature, but a

denial of the advent of Christ, 247, c.

whom they despise, 81 — 2. and think

His Birth cf Mary impossible, 248.

had, in a measure, God's image, 117,

h. processions of, 74, e. are as slaves

that carry the Christiansbooks,4 10, g.

compared with heretics, 103—5. 137.

obstinacy of, in keeping to what God

Ignorance of Christ, not real, 190, g. See Christ.

Image, used of Christ, 34, r. 325, n. 3f9, 1. of God in man, fits him for

receiving truth, 151, 4. degrees of, in man, 117, h. Pagans and Jews have it, though not as Christians, 117 — 8, h. and all rational beings in some sense, ib. how restored in roan, 118, i. Christ the source of every image,

Images, graven, driven away bv Christ,

Imagination, a delusive faculty, 218, d. unequal to conceiving the Divine

Incarnation, Sacrament of the, 138, b. condescension to man's needs displayed by,l 2— 13. 202. called the little mystery, 117, g. sundry heretical theories of, 269, b. a rule relating to, 177, e. types of, in the eye, 20. 86, f. 340, d. and in light passing through water, 345, c. d. in the sun, 126, c. See Christ.

Incense, mention of, 306, f.

India, pearls of, 86, h. 92, b. not easy to settle what St. E. means by, 92, b.

Ingenerateness, held to be the Essence of the Father by Anomeans, 231, b. is a mere negative in the same sense as other negatives, ib. See Father.

Innocents, murder of, 33. type of in Egypt, 53.

Inn* and milestones in Christ's road,

Intellect, a high faculty, 238. seat of,

Intercession of saints, 229, a.

Job, overcome in his questioning, 141, a. thought by St. E.free from actual sin, ib. suffered for himself, 59.

John the Baptist, 25. 29. the voice, 18, f. 31. his seemingly contiadictory account of himself, 254, d. the light ordained for Christ, 18, f. his reverential awe at Christ, 148.

Jonah, 29. his prayer in the whale's belly, 173. his gourd, 412.

Jonathan, eating honey, of what a tvpe,

Jordan, Christ's Baptism in, 134. 270, d. a type of His Conception, 86, f. descent of Spirit at, 23.: — 6, h.

Joseph, his many-coloured coat a type, 104. how fulfilled in Christ, ib. g.

Joseph, St. ministered to Christ, 52. did not understand the Incarnation at first, 28, e. called Christ's father, 164.

rescued by Christ, 59. .miracle at sacrifice of, 80, s.

Judah, sceptre in tribe of, 76, h. See Thamar.

Judas Iscariot, watchfulness of, 7. hung himself, I 7. of what a type herein, 361 .

INDEX.

Likeness, of God in man, 263, a. See

Kingdom of God within men, 174, c.

King's Son, of Christ, 298, 6. meaning

Knowledge, forfeited by prying, 151. opportunities of, make men responsible, 2 16. 261. proofs from nature that isthegiftofGod,337. God's, identical with His Essence, 251, b. See God, Christ.

Lily of Glory, Christ so called, 52. Lion, a type of kings, 164, b.

Lord, the Son is, 273, a. Lord's Prayer, quoted, 174, c. 194, b. Lot, 3.

360. is heaven's treasurer, 208. used

of the Holy Ghost, 349, d. 369, 1. Lost sheep, explained of man's nature,

Lyre, yields many sounds, 178.

Lamb, paschal, hung in the form of

Lamech, 5.

Language of angels, 149. improperly so called, ib. b. 150. not given without inspiration, 68, r. yet invented by man in a state of innocence, 213. 310, a. not by God when creating as Eunomius supposed, 311, a. after Plato, ib. invention of, why ascribed to Adam, ib. marvellous act of memory implied in, 3i2. parallel to natural and supernatural gifts, ib. no connection between it and the thing signified, ib.

Latter rain, typical meaning of, 87, h.

Law, the, violations of its letter, 99, a. positive changed according to different times, 389 — 92. intended as an antidote to paganism, 391, f. Christ's brightness in it, 101, d.

Lazarus, his resurrection a type of Christ's, 40. and of the Gentiles' conversion, 361. Christ's questions

Leaven, of Christ, 8. of doctrine, 58.

Left-hand, mystical meaning of, 13, 1.

Legion, owned his own, 305. and Christ's name, ib. really means a

Letters, not known by intuition, 260, 4.

Leviathan, a type of Satan, 90, b. fattens without food, 322. birth of unknown, ib.

Light, present though distant, 192. See Senses, makes itself visible, 184. a name of Christ, 1, b. and a type, when in the eye, of His Incarnation, the Son, 232. 339. 344. of the Spirit, 234, g. Scripture compared to 260,

Magdalene, 16.

Man, nature of threefold, 232, 5. 233, c. 341,3. not really so in the one soul of, 332, a. but only in our way of viewing it, ib. his knowledge limited, 260c creation ministers to, 193. approximates to his parents by growth,

Manichees, deny the Incarnation, 300, a. make the Holy Spirit take a body in the Jordan, ib. their theory of the materiality of the devil, 267, b. 294, c. all heresies run up into,

Marcion, vilified meat, 323. and marriage, ib.

Martha, 25.

Martyrs, their faith appealed to, 229. for what cause, ib. n. a. relics of, reverence for, ib. objected to by Eunomius, ib.

Mary, the blessed Virgin, ransomed Eve's travail, 2. hid Abraham's leaven in us, 8. slandered for the Christ bare Christ in her bosom, 23. 53. wove a garment for Him, 24. 50 — 2. received Christ without asking for Him, 36, x. gave to Him [Who covereth all, the little vest of] His Body, 53. (147.) body of, put on paired by Christ's Birth of her in any respect, 115, b. having conceived Him first in her heart. 36, y. 53, 3. Satan unable to imitate the

INDEX.

Birth from, 255, f. made by Christ a palace ana Holy of Holies, 63, b. manifold relationship of to Christ, 51, 1. how said to have a second birth, ib. [purified by the Light indwelling in her,]86,f. is the woman in Apocalypse xii. 2. 85, d. and a type of the Church herein, ib. is the new Heaven, ib. u. e. Birth from, a type of the Eternal the fleece of Gideon, 68, s. and the eye, tvpes of, 86, f. questioned Gabriel, 396, 1.

Medicines, diversity of, compared to God's diverse dispensations, 171, e. 390. injurious when not mixed properly, 193. analogy of to Scripture,

Melchizedek, 3. 38. his priesthood a type of Christ's, 70.

Memory, stores of not palpable or in space, 292. an image of God, ib in what respects, 292, a, b. by containing all sciences a type of the Pericho- resis, ib. ubiquitous in sleep, 294. remembers dreams but in part, 294, c. seems to lose its ident'ty in sleep,

Mercifulness, commended to man by Christ's mercies, 89.

Michael, his silence at God, 115. 285. 330. saw Christ in His humiliation,

Michal, her contempt of David, 45 — 46. 81. typical of the synagogue's contempt of Christ, 45, a.

Middle way, orthodoxy a, 244, a. 326, c.

Milk, thickened by a curdle, 186.

Mind, cannot comprehend itself, 106 — faculties of correspond to the senses, 157, a. extends to every place, 119, 1. room for all sciences in, 292, a, b. See Discourse, Memory, Soul.

Miracles, on what they depend, 47. seen in Scripture by St. E. where not obvious, 80, s.

Miriam, her punishment a lesson against prying, 195.

Mirror, not exhausted by reflecting images, 292, a. God compared to,

Mixing, (or blending,) used by St. E. of two Natures in Christ, 34, q. 349. of the Perichoresis of Persons in the

Monarchy, the doctrine of the, 72, z.

Montanists, (or Phrygians,) altered the form of Baptism, 179, d. held that the Spirit was incarnate, 300, a.

Moses, looked for Christ, 3. a type of the dead, 4, g. on the Mount, 25. rod of, 32, o. meekness of, 44. 59. persecution of typical, 53. discerning amid visions, 189. glistening of his face, 86, f. 137. 188-9. not polluted by carrying a dead man's bones, 99, a. learning of, 258. reverential silence of, 254. 275. asks in fear of God's Name, 259. entered not in from want of faith, 290. was called god, 309.

Mountain, of God, 149. 151.

Naaman, a type, 197, c.

Nabal, his scornful conduct, 182. comment on, ib. n. b. meaning of name,

Nadab and Abihu, reasons of their punishment, 198, e.

399. of Essences define them, ib.

400, a. different of different things, 122. 315, c. distinguished from surnames, 122, n. h. of God imparted to servants, 122. of man to Him, 122. used on solemn occasions, 317, a. of God, 273. different kinds of, 245, a. of the Father, majority of given to the Son, 279, e. Anomeans would make all God's indicate relations to us, 273, a. and of the Son, have corresponding realities, 312, b.313. 347. 381—4. 400—1. not all of, imply connaturalness with the Father, 313. of the Trinity, have corresponding realities, 178, d. 399. used at Baptism, 196, e.

Nativity, Homilies on the, 1. fulfils

Nature, used as typical by St. E., 169, m. a guide to revealed truth, the willing, 261. confounds the prying, 248. difficulties in as in Scrip- ture, 322.

Nature, a simple, has one will, 132. 140, g. 383, x. used for subsistency,

Natural, opposed to free, 193, a. 195.

Necessary, used of principles which admit no proof, 288, f. of what is

INDEX.

Negatives, imply positives, 231, b.

Nestorians, passages which tell against,

Net, Christ's kingdom a, 17. used of text which catches heretics, 356, c.

of, 289. chastity of, 263, a. selfrecollection of in the Ark, 264. See Ark.

Obedience, the way to a right Creed, 254,2. the chief duty of man to study,

Ocean, 180. See Sea.

Oil, sacrament of, 90, c.

Omnipotence, denial of involved, according to some, in denial of the

Omnipresence, mv^tery of God's, 105, i.

Onyx, 77, i.

Ordination, made light of by heretics,

Orthodoxy, a middle way, 244, a. 357 — 8. at once a highway and a narrow path, 151,3. 326, c. not to be obtained without moral graces, 150. possession of, a ground of thanksgiving, 228. 330, a. forfeiture of why held worse than good works, 361. St. E. does not use the later Syriac expression for, 327, a. lies not in the noise of words, 260, a. See Faith, Doctrine.

Palm, branches, allusion to, 36, x. Sunday, rhythm on, 61. when first observed, ib. a. Monday after, how named, ib. branches apparently stuck

Pagans, have God's image in some degree, 117, h. heresies taken from their books, 203, e. object of Judaism to keep from doctrines of, 391, f.

Paradise, virgins in it, 92, a. how so many souls in, 267, note. Noah's

ark a type of, 264, e. itself of the Church, ib. See Eden.

Partridge, its cunning, 176. fable of, ib. d. compared to heretics, ib.

Paschal Lamb, 32, n. See Lamb. Passover, the, 58.

Patriarchs, interested in the Church,

Pearl, Rhythms on, 84. a type of Christ's Body, ib. 86, h. 97. light on all sides, 84, b. 100. the Church seen in it, 85, d. wondrous generation of, 86, h. like Christ's, 89. double birth of, 96. reproaches man's rashness, 87, i. set in king's crowns, type of the Sun, 95. and the Cross, brought up by naked men, 97—8. used in amulets, 97.

Penance, theory of, concisely stated,

Perichoresis, (see Mixing,) doctrine of,

Person, St. E. had no word for, 382, x. 399, a. but used knumo sometimes never for ' person' without ' name,' 383, x. his use of, approximates to subsequent one, 210, c. 382, x. 399, a.

Persons of the Trinity, types of distinctness of, 234. 342, a. mission of,

Peter, St. the Church founded on, 57, 2. confession of, ample enough for all,

Pharaoh, a type of Satan, 58.

Philosophy, seeds of true, in Gentiles,

Pilgrims, 353, c.

Pishon, a rype of the Gospel, 262, c.

Plato, opposed the heathen notion that God was envious, 121, f.

Play on words, 90, c.

Pluralis majestatis, not employed to explain allusions to the Trinity by

Polytheism., law framed to keep Jews

Potter, his power over the clav, 200.

Praise, comes of God's gift, 161.

Prayer, inwrought by the Spirit, 5. 234, f. may be silent with advantage, 172. 173, b. compared to a virgin, 172, a. to a secret taste, 173. force of united, 306, g. might of the Sa-

INDEX.

craments ascribed in a loose sense to, ib. stands, with faith, betwixt God and man, 378, 6.

Priests, consecrate kings, 101. ought to pray for kings, 105. rapaciousness

Priesthood, Jewish, 65. sale of, by- Greeks, ib. i. dress of Aarons, 71. See Christ, Melchizedek.

Procession of Holy Spirit, passages

Proof, human, inapplicable to things divine, 288.

Prophecy, tasteless without Christ, 49. not to be asked for, 184.

Prophets, days of, 18, i. meaning of title, 76, h. heralds of Christ, 82. 100. present at Christ's entry into Jerusalem, 66. 82. faith of, to be

Prov. 8, 22. difficulty from, how practically met, 278, c. not clear that the Hebrew is more accurately rendered ' possessed,' ib. taken by St. E. with most Fathers of the Incarnation, ib. yet by many as a personification of created wisdom, 403, b. the stronghold of heretics, 279.

Prying, akin to unbelief, 176. 180. by heretics where it is a duty, 396, 1. suggested by Satan, 266. 380. compared to unnatural lust, 378. presumes superiority, 376, 2. forbidden even by heathens, 379 s. See Abraham, Faith, Disputing.

Psalms, compared to ships, 38. a charm against sin, 408 , e. seasoned in Christ, 49. threefold division of, 177. See David.

Purity, necessary in order to faith,

Rachel, 36.

Rahab, scarlet thread of, 4. captivated by Christ, 38. (393, i.) an example of repentance, 102, b.

rises from God, 336, a. See Incarnation.

Rays, of the Son, 116, d. 308.

Reason, limited in matters of faith, 112, g. objects of, 238. 374, p. incomprehensibleness of, 252. per- version of, 141. 296. See Disputation, Discourse, Faith.

Relatives, imply correlatives, 313, c.

Rennet, 8, p.

Repentance, of God, 205, b. 245, a.

Resurrection and Birth of Christ compared, 40. Ezechiel's vision of the, 142, b. perfect vision of God after,

Rites, Jewish, wearisomeness of, 55. principle of violations of, 99. the Church's imitated hy heretics, 198, d.

Rock, a type of Christ, 143, e. of the Cross, 20, m.

Rod of Aaron, 2. 143, e.

Rumours of war, 17.

Saba, Queen of, 93. extent of, ib. c. Solomon's teaching kept in up till Christ's coming, ib. f.

Sabbath, done away with by Christ, 10, things, 128, e. Eunomius' view of the meaning of, 391, e. language of the fathers respecting, ib. and note A, p. 417. fourth commandment not usually appealed to by them in defence of the Christian, 391 , e.

Sabellians, akin to Apollinarians, 166, d. form of Baptism tells against, ib. mentioned by St. E. 197, d.

Sacrifice, the Christian, 147, f. is one abiding sacrifice, ib. 32, n. See Eucharist.

Saints, see all things in God, 353, c.

prophets, 8. of faith, 58. to blind

Samson, a type of Christ, 21, p. 42, h. ate honey from a carcase, 99. took a gentile wife, ib. not polluted by the ass's bone, ib. n. a. his riddle, of what a tj'pe, 128, e.

Samuel, a type of Christ, 42.

Sarah, 36. beauty of, 52, z.

honours in the Church, 103. by error coined and recoined, 203, f. by seeming to be part of themselves, 53, 5. duty of prying into devices of, 396. Eve's credulity towards, contrasted with Mary's questioning of Gabriel,

INDEX.

396, 1. is finite, 238, b. and cannot really pervade other spirits, 266, b. St. E. appears to deny this, ib. 321. yet in other places asserts it, 266, b. cannot dwell in bodies even without permission, ib. with it, can dwell there with other spirits, ib. (See Legion.) inexplicableness of his approach, ib. subtlety of his tempta- tions, 268, c. seeming ubiquity of, 238, b. 346, f. dwells in heretics, 164. 326, c. is -a ruling principle of evil, 226, b. inquisitiveness of, 135. compared to Dagon, 20. a cursed husbandman, 174. his weapons turned against himself, 20. 182. tempted Tamar, by fear of judgment to come, not to seek Christ, 38. (393, i.) his ignorance of Christ at the Nativity, temptation, 135, c. did not tempt Adam in a human form, ib. repeats by the hand of heretics against the Church, what by that of Jews he did against our Lord, 103 — 4. bid to pry into his devils, 299. See Legion.

Saturn, 72, a.

Saul, his sin in sacrificing, 198, e. effect

Sceptre of Judah, meaning of, 75, h.

Sciences, mutual coinherence of, in the mind, a type of the Perichoresis,

Scribes, disregarded miracles, 238. inquisitiveness of, 135.

Scripture, study of commended, 106, b.

279,d. compared to light,250,1.260,b.

261. 323. to an alphabet, 180, a. to

medicine, 278. sufficiency of, 322.

without the Church, 222, 4. added to,

180, a. 276. or corrupted by, heretics,

of, 279,d.harmoniousnessof, 279.290,

322. things not in, taught by things

in, 267, b. texts of, seemingly at

variance, to be reconciled by the

theologian, 372, n.

Sea, of Christ, 43,3.of God, 87, i. 118, 2. 360. subject to Christ, 134. unknown creatures in, 322, a.

Seal, of Baptism, 152, a. 155, b. need

Self-will, is death, 180.

Sennacherib, of what a type, 176, b.

Senses, correlative to their objects,

Seraphim, saw Christ in His humiliation, 56. unintelligible to man, 187. cannot find out God, 119. 365. abashed in awe at Christ, 81. cry ' Holy,' 114.

Serpent, changes his skin, 33. 203. subtlety of, 203. brazen, 3. of what a type, 143, d. devoured by Aaron's rod, 3.

' Servant,' in what sense used of Christ,

Seth, progeny of called ' sons of God,'

Shecinah, of God, 264, c.

Shepherds, their offerings to Christ, 32.

Shiloh, 76, h.

Silence, at mysteries recommended, 227- why a name of God, 115, a.

Similitudes, inadequacy of, 242, e. yet with reference to times and persons, 189, e. 190. 245, a.

Sinai, a type of the eternal Generation, 195, 227, 7. of Paradise, 264, c. why no similitude seen on, 189.

Six days, the, a type of six thousand years, 128, e.

Slavery, eligible for slaves, not for the owners, 54, c.

Sleep, harmful in excess, 193. mysteriousness of 294, c. apparent hold of Satan upon men during, ib. (268, c.) mind and memory act inexplicably

Sodom, licked up by fire, 88. men of, inflamed by goodly countenance of the Angels, 378.

Son, is the Word of the Father, 94, g.

274. 296, e. to be glorified with the

Father, 124. unsearchable as the

Father, 124. subordination of refers

to His Human Nature, 300, 4. creation by, 265. 272. 364. yet not as by

an instrument, 126, a. as Eunomius

held, 298, c. not a minister, 121.

206,b. 255,e. 300,4. nor creature, 275.

See Creature, condescension of in

creation, 209, b. no diminution of His

Glory, ib. See Little, in what sense

commanded by the Father in creation,

128, g. 364, h. 366. does not subsist

at the Will of the Father, 131—3.

253. 287, c. See Will, although the

denial of this was said by some to

involve a denial of omnipotence in

being the Image, 34, r. 325, 2. is

the Will of the Father, 286—7, c.

INDEX.

condescension of contrasted with the

Father's 202, a. title of given by Prophets and Apostles, 113, 300. implies

398. alone knows the Father, 179.

303, b. 363. and reveals Him to the

highest creatures, 363— 5. invisibleness of, 269, 3. 363, d. with the Father's Substance, 133. 286,c. as in His

381. knowledge of not unoriginate,

354, e. 359, f. does not advance in

knowledge, I90,g.353,b. not ignorant

of the hour of the Judgment, 398-59.

as having made all times, 66, 1. 69, t.

265, 1. 352 — 5. Divine foreknowledge of shewn by His economic igjudgment given to by Generation,

200, e. is the Thought, 187, 1. or

Counsel, 140, g. or Wisdom of the

but not the Wisdom by which the Father is wise, 209, b. 369, g. magnitude

and quality not to be ascribed to,

sense had a beginning, 69, t. Archetypal office of, 209, b. One with the

Father by circumincession, 210. See

Perichoresis. and by oneness of Nature, ib. 339, a. is the Ancient of

Days, 67, p. 205, b. visits man under

various veils, as he is able to bear it,

See Christ, Father, Ray, God.

Songs, inspired, in the ark, what, 277, b.

298, 5. not confused with ' Son' in so called, 255, e. f. means Seth's race, ib.

Soul, endless theories of, shew man's compounded of two essences, and so a type of the Trinity, 295, d. 332, a. bat threefold in its operations only, intellect and body, 29 i, c. substance of, cannot be entered into by any creature, 266, b. Satan's approaches to, 268, c. cannot learn without instruct^ n, 260, 4. of Christians, is espoused to God, 275, d. a temple to God, 267, b. whole of taken by Christ,

Spirit, use of the word in Scripture, 166, e. why said to be sealed with the Father, ib. 167. taken by Christ, ib. with soul and body impressed

with the Trinity, 166, d. 293, a.

Spirit, the Holy, acts as a Priest in the temple of the soul, 267, b. (146, d.) being able to enter into its substance, 266—7, b. how spoken of, as if inferior and interceding to the Father when in the souls of the faithful, 5. 234, f. yet never spoken of as really subordinate, 300, 4. reveals all knowledge to the highest creatures, 120,b.c.(275.) under such limits as He sees fit, ib. mingled in water, 235. which He brooded over at the first, 169, m. overshadowing of, 270, d. invoked at Baptism, 300. held by some heretics to be hypostatically united to the dove, ib, a. 302. settled on Christ in the form of a dove to shew Christ's office, 135. not to add new graces to Him, 236 h. 386, x- His Presence enables the priest to make Christ's Body, 146, d. invocation of, in the Oriental Liturgies, 234, g. 235, h. Orsi's theory in explanation of, ib. another drawn from the facts mentioned in the form of invocation, ib. compared to heat, air, as pervading all things without hindering their own agency, 122. by which the Father loves the Son, 349, d. yet is called ' Love,' as Christ is ' Wisdom,' 369, 1. not the Brother of the Son, 363, f. no where said to send the Son, 401, b. severed by Eunomius from the Son, 102. 363, f. first called a creature by Eunomius, 30 1 , a See Persons, Pro- cession.

Standard of faith, 108, b. in the Scriptures, 327. (222.)

Substance, origin of words for, 201, a. not clearly distinguished from person

Succession, through Christ from Moses, 197, d. made light of by heretics, ib.

Sun, a type of the Trinity, 126, c. 232, &c. 339, &c. and its rays, 133. in the Pearl, 95. a type of God, 188. in water, of God incarnate, 240. 345, c. d. its pathwav inexplicable,

Susanna, 189.

Tabernacle, a type of Christ, 35, t. and in parts of His elect, 152, b.

INDEX.

Talents, diversity of, 145.

Teachers, duty of submitting to, 275, 6. heretical, laymen not to be bewildered at, 410. should be learners first, 327.

Temple of the body, reflection on,

Temptation, the, 135. 203. Satan's ignorance of, 135, c.

Ten, mystical number, 38, z. 130, n.

Teraphim, what it means, 102, d.

Testament, of force after men are dead, 317, a. Old, denied by Gnostics to be from God, 101, d. the New foreshadowed by, 99, 4. 100, c. the two form bauds to the body of doctrine in the Church, 106, b. who alone is able to contain them both, ib. See Scripture, Ark.

Thamar, her uses of Judah's pledges an example to the wavering, 254. justified for her seeming incest, 2. 38. 393, i. by Judah, 49. covets the Seed hidden in Judah, 393, i.

Thamar, disgraced by Amnon, 51. lesson to be learnt from, 268, c.

Thammuz, the same as Adonis, 72, c.

Theologian, office of, described, 372, n.

Thief on the left hand inquisitive,

Thomas, St. blamed for slowness in believing, 136, d.

Thorns, crown of, a crown to Adam,

57. imitated by Satan in heretics,

104. disputation a land of, 220.

Three, Witnesses, allusion to the text of, 196, c. degrees of bliss, 264, c.

Time, divisions of, 66, 1. 352, b. created,

Tongues, number of, 5, i. division of, 5. 68, r. 305, f. (see Language.) of the Holy Spirit, 270, c.

Tradition, patriarchal, 106, b. 197, d. among the Gentiles, 217- (296, e.) duty of submission to, 139, e. 275, 6.

Transfiguration, the, 4, g. 134.

Treasuries, opened in presence of treasurers, 184, a.

Tree, sap of, 297, a. 325. a type of the only a partial one, 385. of Life, a type of Christ, 130.

Trinity, revealed gradually, 165, b. hints of, in the Old Testament, 68, r. 305, f. some knowledge of, possessed by the Jews, 71, z. passages from Fathers on extent of this, ib. seen in the Gospel, 239. types of, by, 169, m. all God's.external operations done bv the whole, 68, r. 166, t. 381, u. procession of Persons in, 401, b. (see Procession.) connection of, with Baptism. 155. Apollinarian theory of, 166, d.

Trumpets, the sacred, a type of the two Testaments, 177.

Truth, the, maintained in the Church, 106, b. standard of, in Scripture,

327. compared to a body, 106, b. lasting and spreading, 309, 1. needs not man's support when it seems to by grudging spirits, 163. not attainable without illuminating grace, 337, a. 360. 374, p. its substance remains though outwardly changed entirely, 372, n. to be learnt by obedience,

360. is the life of the soul, 360, a. all things hang on it, ib. 411, 2.

Types, imperfections of, 236. 293, b. fulfilled in Christ, 75. not pried into by the Jews, 143. fulfilments of, short of the true often used by St. Ephrem, 1 36, d. in n ature and in Scripture used

Twelve, the, 121, e. See Apostles.

Ubiquists, error of, 200, c.

Veils, of Moses and the Temple, typical, 137—8.

Vigils, rules for keeping, 6.

Vineyard, the, a twofold type, 58.

Ventricles, of the body, 323, 8.

Virginity, a gift of Christianity, 33, p.

Visible things, confound prying, 243. 377. have all a mysterious side,

Vision, beatific, 353, c.

Unction, of the Spirit, 90, c. 264. of the Manhood with the Godhead in Christ, 236, h.

Watchers, Angels, 17.

Water, 184. marvellous changes of,

INDEX.

224, e. and Blood from Christ's Side, 20, m. 186, c. above the firmament, 63.

Wheat, a type of Christ, 58. of the

Wildfowl, of what a type, 283, e.

Will, simple in a simple nature, 133. Trinity, 286, c. 380—3. 402, 1. importance of belief in this, 381, u. denied by Eunomius, <fec. ib. and that with a" view to divide the Nature of the Trinity, ib. flows from identity of Nature, not from sameness of the objects of will as in Angels, 382, u. man's to be weighed by God's, 152. perturbed by wilfulness, 194, b. not to be measured by the impure, ib. freedom of implied in petition for forgiveness, ib. designed to make man glorious, 206, 1. slavery of to Satan, 174.

Wind, invisible and so typical, 240, a. See Spirit.

Wine, intoxicating effects of, 204.

Wings, of the soul, 167, g. 222, 2.

Wisdom, see Son. stages of, 327, b. used in the plural, ib.

Womb, God entered St. Mary's, 16. close on the child two die, 172.

Wood, changes of, 297, b.

Wonder, eye the vehicle of, 173, a.

Word, see Son, Discourse, Language.

World, the, travailing for man's redemption, 6, m. in God's Bosom, J 19. 149. opinion on duration of, 128, e. infinite to man, 286, b.

Zaocheus, lessons from story of, 16. 17.

Zechariah, the Prophet, humbleness

of, 142. contrasted with the priest,

ib. 31. who was punished for prying,

Zorobabel, prophecies partially fulfilled

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