Rhythms on the Faith

Rhythms on the Faith

continued

Rhythm 51.

1. Who is able to requite Thee for having humbled Thy Majesty unto all which is little, and having brought Thy p. 209, Highness down to the limits of a lowly estate, and brought 10. and 10. and Thine own Life down to the rank of mortality. And Thy Thine own Life down to the rank of mortality. And Thy Richness came down and dwelt in all necessity, and Thou hast subjected Thy Lordship to the yoke of service. Praises p. 183, be to Thy goodness! Who, Lord, can gaze upon Thy invin. c. siblenness which came down to a visible state, and Thy vol. i. concealedness which came to the light and to manifestation, p. 493, b. concealedness which came to the light and to manifestation, p. 305. n. and Thy retiredness came forth to boundless openness, and R. xix. Thy awfulness came to the hand of them that seized Thee. §. 2. R. x. These things happened to Thee, Lord, because Thou wert §. 4. 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 investigators. For p. 115, there is that preacheth that it was a body only that Thou n. c. tookest: and there is that teacheth that it was a soul and a body: others have erred in thinking it was a heavenly frame. 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 are divided into parties about Thy Birth;) if also men comprehended not Thy Humanity, who ever shall be equal to Thy Divine Generation? Praises be to Him that begot Thee! 3. Whatsoever is allowed, let us sing, Lord, upon our harp: let us not utter any thing thereon which is not permitted, seeing it is the harp of frail creatures. Neither are the sounds of it equal to the probing of Thy Generation; neither on harps high and spiritual of the highest Angels can Thy Generation be comprehended. Praises to Thy secretness! Lord, let my tongue be a pen for Thy glory, and let the Finger of Thy grace mark out and write therewith words of edification. The pen, Lord, cannot, without one to hold it, of itself write at its own will. Let not my tongue slide off into speaking, without Thee, aught which edifieth not.

Who could deny the Threefold Names, whose over-shadowing ministered of old, by the Jordan? True is it that by the Names wherewith Thy Body was baptized, that our bodies are baptized; and though there be very many Names of the Lord of all, He hath baptized us in the Father and the Son and the Spirit distinctly. Praises to Thy Majesty! 4. Who would not be amazed at the painter, who if he painted even a common horse, when he should have added a head and the members, out of fear added them not? O foolish wise men that by questioning have counted a small thing that Generation which is not small, and though He is like One, yet have likened Him to many! Glory to the Son of our King! 5. Who hath seen in the subtle air a way akin to that way which a fowl wendeth, or a man walking as upon the back of the wind? The breeze is spread out, and made a path for that which walketh there, and admonisheth not to go at all outside of it, 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 the word Power is taken by some of the Son) it has been rendered 'overshadowing.' For the River that baptized Him was a type of His Conception in St. E.'s view, p. 86, n. f. Perhaps by 'ministered' he means to imply that this was the beginning of the Christian, as the end of the Jewish, dispensation. Vol. ii. p. 185. "The long-suffering which was granted to this priesthood, (the Jewish) and was granted also to it unto wickedness and violence, must needs be granted to it until His Son the Messiah, whose the priesthood is, should come, and bring it to a consummation in the Jordan by means of John." Comp. p. 488, b. (above, p. 197, n. d.) and 495-6. Vol. i. p. 526, d. p. 532, e. (Jordan the mother and beginning of Baptism.) p. 534, b. The word 'ministered' has, however, the technical sense of pouring water upon the hands. See Ass. Cod. Lit. v. p. 221. and the Ch. Paraph. 2 Kings 3, 12. from which this sense is doubtless taken.

The received faith rejects novelties. of my faith. Thy Truth is easy and straight: to them that R. l. §. 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! 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 teacheth that he is not the Son, as does the name of Son proclaim that He is not one of the fellow-servants. Of both their names preach without doubt. Praises to His Majesty! The bold one then that teacheth aught that is new let us reproach and say, that my faith is perfect. My gem is entire, not needing thy grinding. It will not beautify in Thy furnace, since its beauty is from itself; and if it be graven, it is rejected from the crown of the King of Heaven. Praises be to Thy Kingdom!

g i. e. the name of servant shews that the Nature which appears outwardly, is not the Only-begotten Son who always is and was and is to come. The followers of Apollinaris made the flesh of Christ (as contradistinguished from His mind and soul) to be eternal and yet that which saved men as being servile in its nature. See Greg. Nyss. c. Ap. 40. To this perhaps St. E. here alludes. Comp. §. 1. p. 183, n. c. and Vol. i. p. 493, b. "Oh marvel unspeakable, which E-alias calls a wonder, that unto man his Lord came down and took the likeness of a servant, and made the servile nature commensu- rate as it were with the Divine!' ii. p. 90, c. "He was called a servant by the Father when He came to fulfil His will in the salvation of men, and took the likeness of a servant in that He clothed Himself with our body."

h S. pearl. See Pearl ii. §. 1. n. b. Probably the word is here used generally for a gem, as rendered: for a pearl would be destroyed by heat, whereas it is said to be the practice with jewellers to get out flaws and specks from some gems by exposing them to heat.

Rhythm 52.

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 Generator. For the very Name of Fatherhood used of Him bears 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! He is the true Lord; and lo, His servants stand witness; and He is King over His possessions! and that He is Creator, lo! His creation standeth [witness]: and because He is Father of a truth, He hath a Son of a truth! But if His Name of Father be borrowed, (which cursed be he that thinketh) then by strife are dissolved the kindred names also. Praises be to the True One! Who would speak so stoutly against the Father of the Truth, as to say that He could not beget, and that that Name of Fatherhood wherewith He did invest Himself was borrowed? But since He is verily Truth, His savour is preserved in Himself; R. lx. §. 5. p. 133. R. lviii. §. 3. (which hush and curse) See R. xliv. R. xlvi. §. 2. R. lx. §. 1.

274 The Names of Father and Son proclaimed in Scripture, and 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 him in and cast him down, p. 141, seeing that he has died in his scrutinizing. Praises be to Thy Righteousness! 4. Who would not refrain his searching into secret things? it is a plague which the Apostle calleth a canker. Contentious searching is a fountain of mischiefs for the fool that busieth himself therein. From out of it there may be formed a passion of a sudden, which is sweet in the beginning thereof, bitter in the end thereof. Praises be to Him that exhausted it! Who hath persuaded thee to use thy feeble pupils in gazing on the secret and strong Lights, whose glistenings the Angels cannot look upon. Moses wished to pierce through them and see them there a little while. And as he did not look to pry, the glistening was eager to meet him, blinding, as it does, them that pry. Praises to Thy Majesty!

5. Who would not believe the two Testaments concerning the Father, and the Son, and the Spirit. Comment on them where you will, yet are They not called by the name of 'made,' 'created,' or 'formed.' No affinity to Them have the names there given to things created. Thus He willed it should be written, and since He is God, it is meet that we believe Him. Praises to His Lordly State! Who would not submit himself to his teachers and learn as they have taught him? p. 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 wisdom unto all? and who among deliverers is as He who giveth all freedom? or who in revelations can compare with the Holy Spirit? Praises to Thy teaching!

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 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 speak: for even when a man uses lies, he is able to overcome them. For either it was feebleness that He could not beget, and He concealed His weakness, and made us think that He was Father; but if He was able to beget, this is a crown of 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, make quiet in my days in Thy churches, and blend and unite, O Lord, the contentious sects, and still, and rule also the conflicting parties. 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 53.

1. Who would not wonder at the Just One who omitted not to write the deeds of beings above, and mark out those of beings below, and write those of the creatures, and embrace every thing even to the matter of the rods and the history of Gen. 30, the mandrakes? What chaste women have spoken, He caused to be written by the Holy Ghost, and it was placed in the Ark. Marvellous are Thy appointments whereof the causes are hidden! Praises be to Thy doctrine! Who would not be afraid that there are offences on the earth, contentions in the world, disputations in the streets, and in assemblies divisions, and in the midst of Churches the sword and the scimetar? Women fall out with women, and men with their comrades, even priests too with kings; and the whole world is in uproar! 2. Who would not weep that the earth hath been tossed for so long a time, and hath settled again: yet the tossings and strivings of the Churches are not stilled. Waves and billows are silent in the sea; yet fools and enquirers are in medicines, and there are men that are quite strangers to S. roots [Scripture] lections; and their words are contradictory in the mouth of foolish clerks. The Scriptures are full of S. harmony, and the clerks of confusedness. What then remains, 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. 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 littleness of our Lord, and His greatness. For one perceives His Human, and another His Divine, Nature in them. Let us leave interpretations, and examine with simplicity the bare words 'Son' and 'creation.' They will be able sure to tell us as finished clerks, learned in the law, ready in the prophecies, that Solomon puts the matter beyond all controversy; for he felt, and called Him a creation and a formation. Solomon then forsooth is the great stronghold of all these changelings! From me that am an Haza 280 The usual Names of the Son clear up the unusual.

Rhythm 54.

1. THE King of Heaven, when His Son came down to the earth, did the people who had not known Him, know from the voices of Them Both. For the Father bare witness to the Son, and the Son called Him Father, and even in His low estate He was comprehended to be the Lord; for He was honoured by all things; for the sea was His chariot and the air His car. Praises be to Him that sent Thee! From those who ministered to Him learn whose Son He was; for when He was in His low estate the Angels came down and ministered to the Son of their glorious Lord. And as unto handmaids, so gave He orders unto the creatures, and the world in the image of a slave was governed by His nod, after the type of His Father, whose silence ordereth all things. 2. For since the Lord exalted the children of His house, and they fools despised themselves, and fell, and wallowed [in the mire], He came down and drew them up out of that same wallowing. Error erred because it saw our blots upon His garments: knowledge alone knew that He came to the mire that He might bring to the Washing. From His taking up of this burden it was comprehended that He was the King's Son, and as a good Heir, He diligently kept His Father's House. He saw His servant that was laid; He raised him up in healthiness. He saw His handmaid that was laid; He rebuked her fever. He saw that bread was lacking, and He satisfied them of His household, and they praised Him that sent Him. Who would not love Him that loved them of His household, that was blended and mingled with His handmaid and servant? They invited Him and He despised it not, He went to the feast and made it glad with His Majesty. He also threw in His marriage-gift, the wine in the flagons, since He carried with Him the treasures of His Kingdom.

Heretics are impure and disputatious as 29. in love, they passed not judgment on His words. The Mark sectarians deceitfully laid wait for His words: for their 12, 13. detestable strife was as it were the adversary of that Righteousness, which laboured by fiction to overbear the right. 5. The Lord had spoken: plain men were cheered, sullen men were confused, and the simple heard and relied; the John 6, crafty heard and questioned, [saying,] 'How can this Man 52. give us His Body? Their questioning kept them deprived 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, 57. Wherefore we will briefly say, that all scrutinizing belongs to the left hand. For even the thief that was crucified 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 Lake 23, scrutinized His Lord! Who again would not be astonished 39. at that thief on the right hand, who, though he hung, saw and believed that He was the Son of God, and quickened us who have believed that He ascended unto glory and sat down at the Right Hand? Him did the Crucified persuade; but as for us, not even the Cherubim that carried Him, persuade us.

them. Rather then we ought to believe in Christ, and by assenting without 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 befiteth 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 alluded to by St. E. vol. i. p. 372, a. 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 deceiver 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 Bozrah? 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. Hom. in Pasch. Nyss. in Asc. iii. p. 443. Ambr. de Inst. Virg. v.

Christ's ascent gazed on by Angels. §. 39. Alex. in loc. et ap. Ang. Mai, A. C. x. p. 61. Arctas in Apoc. ed. Oxon. 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 Cad. Hier. vii. §. 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 55.

1. Who, my son, would compare natures which are not like one another in their births: for from all of them is the Nature of Him who created all, different. For if the generation of fire is hard to relate, though quite open to the eye, how much more hidden from us is the Fruit of our Maker, and the Generation of our Creator. Praises to Thy concealedness! For he that discourseth of Him who gave all things their nature, §. 3. ought to discourse of every nature first. Let us let alone His Majesty, and speak of His chariot; let us shadow forth how it is. Let us also explain the living wheels of it, and if too the beasts have reason. Who hath ever seen a chariot, whereto the air was made in the place of the earth, and the wind in the place of a road; lo! it leadeth its own self, and turneth not itself aside: for the four sides have four heads over the throne. This is the direction of its faces, and the countenance thereof looketh unto every place.

2. And since the son of Buzi saw the likeness of a Man upon the throne, and since that chariot turned not itself aside, was it the throne therefore that changed its posture that it might explore every side? But if the throne be a marvel, who can suffice for the Watcher that sitteth upon it? Speak, and shew us the nature of Heavenly Beings, the image of Michael, and the form of Gabriel, who are fire and spirit. Wherein is this fire seen, wherein is this spirit breathed? and are they short or tall? and their cast, of what cast the feel of them is? whether The Divine Nature more easily conceived it may be touched by thee? Who hath gone, upon investigation, out of the world, and beyond it, that he should come and tell thee? And if there be no bound 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 Him.

3. this is to His glory. For there is one thing which is not in the power of that Lord, in whose power are all things; and 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 words; it was the prying that I wished to reprove: for, if His not having given a nature to Himself, is a thing beyond its reach to attain to, how much more beyond our reach is prying into His Eternal Essence! 4. Who, my beloved, hath been able to feel or to embrace aught which existeth not? Even thus difficult and hard is it for thee to search into that which [really] is. And see how He sealeth up the searching into Himself, my son, since that which is not, beareth witness unto that which is, in this, that by scrutinizing Him, He cannot be searched out unto perfection. From this itself let us learn what perplexity

what is that operative will which proceedeth from Him, which also according 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 He is not free in the absolute way He ought to be; for a necessity forces Him to be what He is, and prevents 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.

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 from all eternity. 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: 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 is the Essence: after the fashion of the hands they assist 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, which have never at any time spoken Him. For whatever will allow the whole of itself to be uttered, is also akin to us: its nature is fellow to ours. He alone it is who is not a servant: since by reason of His Father He is Lord. at full mid-day any one were to essay to teach men with their eyesight sound by argument, that the sun is the brightest of all the heavenly bodies. Now if a man who shews by argument things plain to sense is ridiculous, how can he who so teaches the things admitted by men's common notions be else than guilty of the same absurdity? For sure to men of right mind things like this are far better believed than the objects of sight...Do we indeed want the syllogisms of Aristotle and Aristippus to learn that the Ingenerate is not generate either from Himself or from any other, and that He is neither older nor younger than Himself? What then is he aiming at in all this? I suppose he wishes to make a display amongst his followers, as a person of a deep and piercing mind, sharp at spying out an absurdity, and sharper still at confuting what he detects, and that this is why he disports himself in a

wreath of arguments, and works so subtly at a demonstration of the truth, that the Ingenerate is not generate either from Himself or from any else." St. E. seems in this and the next § to be alluding to the above-cited passage of Eunomius, who, as St. Basil goes on to shew, in spite of all his parade of argument only involves himself in contradictions. The last note will explain his meaning here. The words 'of necessity' may be illustrated by Aristot. Meta. iv. 5. "That which doth not admit of being otherwise we say is necessarily so...demonstration moreover belongs to the head of 'necessary,' because it cannot be otherwise, if it be demonstrated in an absolute sense. But of this the principles will be the cause, if those from which the syllogism is made are incapable of being otherwise, &c." St. E. uses the word of all principles we cannot prove.

Rhythm 56.

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 became too heavy to rise up to the Godhead. I rejoice in the simple who have believed and have triumphed. 2. Who could ever comprehend how Noah was silent, who for a hundred years repressed his questioning within his heart? When the foolish jeeringly asked how the Flood 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 son, the son of the promise, and upon the altar he placed him; he questioned not, he scrutinized not: he disputed not, he asked not, Where 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 about the Son of God, by whom Isaac was redeemed?

3. Lest thou shouldest err, and think that Abraham was not of the eloquent, thou wilt find that he was both an orator, and comprehend that he was a questioner. For if he did not blush to be earnest for the people of Sodom, when he made the Judge of all content with ten instead of fifty; his speaking was a benefit, his silence was a victory. He spoke, because it was beneficial: and was silent, because it was becoming; he kept [silence] discriminatingly, and answered beneficially. Also, lest thou shouldest think that he was of the weaker sort, in that he avenged not himself, four kings were conUnbelief reproved by Scripture examples, Gen. 14, quered [by him], and he went and delivered his brother's 16. 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 all of it §. 1. was edifying. And the children of error heard it with ears of strife: and the mouths of mockers were rejected, because they 2 R. viii. scorned it. Wherefore both the Testaments persuade us that and ix. faithful men at no time ever disputed or scrutinized, since they believed God. But the learned and the cavilous disputants 3 R. liii. §. it is that rest not; the Scriptures are full of peace: and they

3. R. lix. are full of angriness; their disputing is inveterate in them: §. 5. R. their rust fretteth them away. Ixv. §. 1. R. lxvi. §. 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 27, 14. 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, 4 R. xlvii. those that are uninstructed to judge of their works; nor are §. 1. these able to serve as an assay-furnace of their skill, since when skill of all kinds is measured, feeble men cannot make 5 S. the a point which is above their skill. Who then can judge haven the words of the Judge of all? Who can reprove the Voice which is of Him who reproveth all? As the blind searcheth not, but too great of fir them. 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. liii. believes in the book of medicines, wherein the physician §. 3. Vol. ii. p. 437. "It is by love that he who would be a physician in difficult cases, increases the sick man's pangs: he gives pain without wrath, and suffering without anger, for he is no physician who cuts from hatred. And though his love be indeed great, his knife is fearful and severe, sweet in the relief he gives, but bitter in his medicines." See R. lxv. §. 3. This seems to allude to some definite book in vogue then, possibly to some of the pharmaceutical works of Galen, (whom St. E. mentions vol. ii. p. 317.) which were then in great repute. The parallel, here tacitly alluded to, between the physician and Christ, is fully drawn out, vol. iii. p. 388, e. it may be allowable to add a portion of it here. "The medicines of Thy goodness it is the sick only that need. See them stricken at Thy door, asking of Thee pardon! Whoso needeth not, O Lord, to him and by man's belief in physicians of the body. 291

reads and repeats and instructeth us, that we should rely on his words, and agree to his medicines, since questioning is not befitting: and yet the books of God have not yet been able to convince men concerning the Son, that He is His Begotten? mercy is not beloved. The good physician also hath no triumph, save in ulcers: he is not able to give a healthy body to one in health. For what way should a physician who cometh to the sick, heal one in health? Idly labours that physician that would heal a man in health: it is in ulcers and in pains that he shews the triumph of his art, and by merit and with propriety taketh the reward of his healing. In the sick the physician triumpheth when they get well of their pains...greatly doth the physician rejoice that pains and sicknesses increase, and ulcers, in his own neighbourhood, that he may gather from them advantages, yea, praise and glory, and the triumph of his art. And Thou so merciful and kind, O bring to me the medicine of Thy mercies, and triumph in me that am weak and longing for Thine abundant mercies," &c.

Rhythm 57.

1 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 place to be explored. 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 shouldst say, 'lo, here it is!' and though it is in the body, yet the creation is small to it: since the whole of it is in every place? Who hath searched into one asleep, for lo, although he sleepeth, he goeth to and fro. And if the soul wandereth in dreams, wherefore should the intellect wander along with it,

2 as an energy of the soul, shewing that not even the soul and far less God is circumscribed by a body. See Leontius, (p. 416, quoted ab. p. 167, n. h.) who 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. which is incapable of sleep? Who hath been asleep and seen, after he was waked and remembered, how he saw when asleep, and how he forgot when awake? For lo, in all these things is a miracle! 4. How is it that the soul without the mind from out of its own self seeth a dream against itself; yet if it sees, how is it that it perceiveth not that it seeth, and in what memory is it that it retained all that it saw, until that [other] half of it be awakened which also giveth it light? How cometh that to cause [the soul] to remember which was sunken in sleep along with it? Who would not marvel at the sun which hath no feet, whose way is above itself, and how it can go therein—by feet? yet it hath none; by wings? yet it hath none; by motion? yet it stirreth not. It doth not belong to walking creatures; it doth not belong to flying; nor yet to the swimming. Lo, in all these things there is a miracle!

3 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 commixture? 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 which is not real? If we say it is 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 in p. 268, n. c. Vol. iii. p. 480, d. e. and Leont. c. Nest. i. 14. who notices that matter, unless animate, does not sleep.

4 Man's word inexplicable, much more the Word. mind is it that thou dost abide? art thou a portion of the R.l.§.1. soul, whereto there is yet no bound? art thou the offspring R.lxiv. of thy fountain, which bringeth forth, yet faileth not? And §. 3. where is it in the heart that thy motions beat? From this mere lowly discourse of thine then thou mayest learn amazedly the glorious Word, the Word of God. For if thy S.word own discourse knoweth not at any time how to relate its own R. lii. history, honour in thy silence the Word of thy Creator, whose §. 2. glory cannot be searched out! Comp. Pearl iii. §. 4. R. xxv. §. 1. R. xxxiii. §. 1. The Syriac word here answers precisely to the Greek 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 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

5 its mysterious coinherence in and coextension with the mind, the generation 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. §. 2. 'Hinc lubet admirari stupendam illam consensionem Scripturarum cum illa sive ratione sive philosophiâ defœcatissimâ, quæ interdum superne nobis allucet, et cujus nonnullas scintillas in Gentilium libris, sed multo magis in sanctorum Patrum monumentis deprehendere est.'

Rhythm 58.

1. Who hath seen the waters in the womb of a tree, which there undergo a change in a vast multitude of ways, as the waters alter themselves at His command, that they may turn to a body and become wood for buildings, and out of the very same there may be made bridges and ships, so that by means of themselves we prevail over the waters. Praises be to Thy wisdom! Who hath seen wood which has been consumed in a furnace, how that it is entirely dissolved and wandereth about in the air, so that even the sensible perception of it has departed by means of the fire, so as to yield no holding to its holder's hand. It began in the sprout and ended in the flame, and wondrously hath it withdrawn itself! Who can search out in what place the smoke of incense is left, the fat of sacrifices, the smell and the fumes of burning woods? Is it preserved in any thing that it may come to any thing again? or is it dissolved into nothing, that the Lord of every thing may be magnified in every thing?

2 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 from him, and how vile is the name of 'dust' compared with that of God! Yet still more vile is his disputing in His Maker's eyes; in name and in truth is it vile, yea in both of them. Who will not admit this without controversy, that audacious are not willing to confess even that He is the King's Son. Him they surname fellow-servant, and the crown that He received [they say] exalted Him by grace. Our King and the Son of our King opened His treasures, p. 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

3 His gift, the King took the King's Son and gave Him unto R. liv. us as a gift for His beloved, and killed Him and redeemed us by Him. §. 1. 5. Who then hath cast among us strife and harasses and mischievous disputing, the device of harm and the plenitude of blasphemy and the utmost evils, envy for love, jealousy for truth? The wicked one saw the Good One, who freely shewed us mercy; he clothed himself with jealousy, that he also might force us to be ruined. Wherefore let us say unto Satan, who worried us to pry into our Redeemer, Get thee forth, go, pry into thy devils, that thou mayest find thy 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 the darkness, the whole whereof is prepared for thee!

Rhythm 59.

1. THE waters of our expiation and the stream of our 1 R. lxv. Atonement have become to them [the waters] of strife, §. 1. 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 Ex. 17, concerning the waters of the Red Sea, and now these 7. concerning the waters of the Red Sea, and now these Ps. 106, contend angrily about the waters of the Sanctuary. Praises 7. 32. be to Thy Atonement! Who is there that striveth not, Ezech. 47, 12. who is there that asketh not his comrade [saying], 'who p. 203, baptized thee then, and whence was thy baptism received?' n. g. Who is it that doth not admonish and adjure another [saying], p. 197. let not such and such a schismatic priest's hand baptize thee? p. 178, and so they have come to be waters of strife to parties of n. d. strife. p. 196, 2. The Holy Spirit we called on at Baptism. The bold n.c. Nat. disputers have rejected the truth: they strive, and say that Alex. it is not right to make Him equal with the Father and the diss. Son. Who is it that hath despised the Holy Spirit, and xliii. p. hath numbered with the embodied Him who admitteth not

526. of a body? Yet in no place have the Prophets brought in a 4 R. lii. charge of weakness against Him, or the Apostles of deficiency. §. 5. R. As a servant and minister, as a creature and subordinate liii. §. 2, person, the Prophets never have preached Him, as they &c. preached the Son. For He is high above any body, and Scripture implies, that the Holy Ghost & 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; and, as these R. ix. say, wrote of the Son also that He was created, how was it$^{§, 1}$ 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 order the Threefold Names of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit? And it is meet that as he reckoneth up Their Names, so also he should reveal Their Natures. If then it be written, let them read it: if not written, let them confess that their Nature is hidden. Inasmuch as He hath not given a revelation to us concerning the Third [Person], He sheweth most clearly that it is not the Natures of the Father and the Son and the Spirit into which we ought to search; but the anxious care of the Good One hath been, how by all means and by all occasions He might shew mercy unto the children of men! 4. Wherefore without controversy allow, that every thing which is given in writing, or by word, that names, and appellations, aim at 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 St. E. is alluding: [see §. 4.] perhaps he wishes to shew that Aetius, by making the Spirit finite, approximated to the Montanists in some respects, and to the Manicheans in others, either of these parties making the Spirit incarnate in their Paraclete, and thus by introducing a duality, obliterating the Catholic doctrine of the Trinity. St. Basil de Sp. S. cap. 2. notices a principle of Aetius, as that on which the Pneumatomachi or Macedonians founded their heresy, viz. that things unlike were declared in unlike terms, and that, conversely, what are declared in unlike terms, are unlike. From this they argued, that the Holy Spirit was not consubstantial with the Son. This will perhaps serve to shew why St. E. appears in this §. to pass from the Macedonian, to Montanist or Manichean, heresy, and from those again to the Anemeans. St. Basil, c. Eun. ii. §. 33. and §. 84. says, Eunomius was the first to call

the Holy Spirit a creature, and that he asserted that He was created by the Only-begotten, who Himself was created by the Father. (where see Ducæus.) To this blasphemy St. E. plainly alludes in the end of the §. 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.

Rhythm 60.

1. WHAT was it, pray, that compelled the true Father, who 'generated' all things, to use the names 'Generate,' 'Father,' and 'Son?' "It was because He chose to do so." What, chose to lead us into error? "To adorn Himself was what 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? The Names of Father and Son intended to 4. The Lord that knoweth all, asked of the devil what his name was; and the unclean devil denied not his own name; as neither did the devils deny His Name: and the clerks are put to shame who have called our Redeemer a creature; for the devils themselves betrayed that He was the Son of God. Of His own self alone Legion taught, that as his own name of Legion agreed with the interpretation of it, so he cried out because he felt that He was the Son of God, whose Name implied His Father. But if His Name comforted the sick, even His mortal Name, which agreed with His Human Nature, how much should that of our God [comfort us]?

5. For who would compare the Names of the Holy One, [and not see] that He agreeth with Himself in all, in that of 'Eternal' with His Eternity, in that of 'Just' with His Justice, in that of 'Good' with His Goodness? in these He agreeth, and how comes it that His Fatherhood is different, in that it agreeth not with itself, if He hath no glorious Son from His own Womb! Who is there that does not see whether these surnames agree with the [things] themselves; with dust Adam [agreeth], Eve with 'living,' Phaleg with 'division,' and Babel with 'confusion.' Since we have touched on this confusion, let us avoid agitation. Receive in order the Names threefoldly. For from Babel one learns, that even there Three came down and confounded. For it says, Come Ye, let Us go down, and that Invisibleness was an attribute of the Father's which the Son did not possess. St. E. then would imply in the text that the Son is the Fruit and consubstantial with the invisible Father; the Invisibleness of the Son would be implied in that of the Father, because 'generate from' means 'having the same nature from' the Father. See St. Aust. c. Maxim. ii. cap. 9.

The expression 'that knoweth all' might be noticed as bearing upon the question, (p. 190, n. g.) whether our Lord grew, really, irwisdom; but the meaning of the original is far from clear. See n. d. on R. lxxvii. See p. 68, n. r. The Heb. and Sam. have the singular in the present text; the Chaldee and Syriac and the Vulgate also have the plural: the LXX. 3. As St. E. elsewhere refers to readings found in the Hebr. only (e. g. in Vol. i. p. 539, d. to the Cethibh in 2 Kings viii. 10.) it seems likely that some Codices then had the reading from which he here argues, although de Rossi gives no such reading. There is however the same difference in Gen. xi. 3, 4. and Ex. i. 20. where the singular occurs again with a plural verb, which might be alien to the usage of Chald. and Syr. but is akin to the use of Syr in Greek (Kuhner Synt. §. 430. n. m.) and 'age' in Latin (Ramshorn 70. ii. 2.) with a plural. The passage is used by other Fathers to prove a plurality of Persons, (see Sabatier on the place, Petav. de Trin. ii. 7. 10.) but they do not seem to insist particularly upon the 'Venite.' It is right to add that this passage according to the Talmud (see Voisin ad R. Martin, fol. 559.) was altered by the LXX. to the singular to prevent the heathen from deducing a plurality of Gods from it.

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

Rhythm 61.

1. Who is there that would not fear, since the Lord threatened a millstone to the neck of him that maketh one 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 p. 87, again, since they keep not silence from that evil wrangling of theirs. The word which teacheth patiently concerning the Father and the Son, who are united with Each Other, S. is that, which has either lowered the Father as well as 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 one; for if the name of Son be suitable to the creatures, then If 'Father' and 'Son' have no corresponding

the name of the creatures is suitable to the Creator; and if the name of the creatures is alien from the Creator, then is it alien also from the Son of the Creator. Whatsoever happeneth to the Nature of Him that begot, may also happen to the Son of Him which begot. The Ray is bright, because bright is He 1 R. xl. that begot It; and It is not cut off, since It is like to Its R. lxxv. Root; neither is It stinted, since It is bound up in His Surn. e. p. name and like Him in all things. From the Father one may 339, c. learn the Son; for if the Generator be akin to the creatures, i. 12. the Generate also would prove a fellow-servant with the 3 n. c. on creatures. But if the Father be alien from, is His Fruit akin R. lxxiii. to, them? or shall we separate This from Him and say that 4 R. xlvi. He is not the Son? But if He crieth aloud that He is §. 4. p. the Son, then He hath put strife to silence! 272, g.

5 R. lii. the Son, then He hath put strife to silence! §. 2. R. 3. Who would not marvel at a wedlock of roots which lxii. §. 1. have lost their own nature and have changed their names; R. lxv. both of them are bereaved of what are their fruits! a Root of §. 4. freedom with a Fruit of bondage; and a Tree of bondage 6 R. lviii. with a produce of Majesty. How, when blossoming, do They §. 1. blossom? From this very expression thou shalt learn: for if 7 R. lii. the Son be verily reckoned so, then is He verily Generate: §. 1. He must count for a servant if He be not Generate; it R. lxxvi. must be one of the two. For either both Parties stand good, §. 1. Each of Them in His proper place; or They have undergone a c. Serut. change, and have loosened Their Names, and fluctuated in i. 12. 8 comp. Their Natures. Who would not enquire, whether, if the Name p. 234, of the Son is to be made 'creature' in his scrutinizing, this n. f. [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 intended betakes itself reality to 'Generate,' as the Name of 'Son' also assorteth not with R. lxii. the creature. For that word 'creature' were no longer like a §. 2. 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 9 S. its wrangler to call the Son 'creature,' and the creature 'Son;' reality and with the Name he hath also destroyed the worship of R. lxii. §. 2.

10 On Athan. p. 423, n. m. This is like the use of the word in Greek Fathers, (see Petav. de Trin. iv. 10. §. 5. Le Quien on Damasc. i. p. 37, n. 5.) for whatever is accessory to the Essence of God in our conceptions of Him, e g. attributes, whether personal or not; here of course personal attributes are out of the question. 3. 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 was God, and deceived not the people? When the children of that people went astray in the desert, then he by all methods reproved them in every thing; and he cried against them, 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 burn incense to them, and called them gods, because they saw their wondrous works? They rent their inward heart and their outward garments, and allowed themselves to be stoned rather than to be worshipped. Why did John exempt himself, saying, 'I am not the Christ whom ye seek?' But and if the servant had felt that his Lord was his fellow-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 lo! this preacher's word crieth aloud in the world!

5. Why did not Gabriel deceive Daniel and say he was God, or the Seraph not deceive Isaiah and say he was the Son of God? He was an Angel and he deceived not, a Seraph and he lied not. The Apostle is true and deceived us not, and he asserted and revealed Him to be greater than all. Hear what I say,—that if this were not the truth, it would have been confuted and come to an end. The truth alone is able to increase to the East, and to spread to the West, and to lay hold on the North, and to clasp the South. Into the depth It went down and conquered! into the height It went up and abode and ruled in all places over all! Dan. 8, 17. Is. 6, 6

Rhythm 62.

1. FROM the very beginning our fellow-servant seduced and Rom. 1, enslaved us in the service of our fellow-servants. His Son 25. set us free from all; and when He liberated us from servants, p. 223, our Lord became our fellow-servant; and when we had let d. go what we had found, the creation was again made our portion. See p. 272, n.g. 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 the names which the servant gave pleased the Lord of all, and were written and were believed? yet have the sons of 2 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. Hom. xiv. p. 124, b. speaks in a like 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, &c. 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!

3 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. I 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 Plato's Cratylus, §. 8. §. 14. &c. 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, (even 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. Severian of Gabala, a less saintly author, in

4 the 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 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 commencing 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.

5 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 knowledge, 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 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.

6 2. Our Lord is mystically 'the Way,' because He hath led 7 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.

8 If He gave him power and associated him in the creation, (comp. Bas. Sel. above, which forms a scholion upon this seeming misprint for Lacopo 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,

9 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 subtlety 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 were 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.

10 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. Athanasius ap. 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. Do not then consider his present contemptibleness, but imagine to thyself his first constitution, seeing that it was in God's Image that He made him, &c. &c." 11 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 1, was sacrificed and thereby made good His title as Redeemer, 36. how much more was His Generator entitled to that Name, seeing that if He was Son, He was also Generate. From R. lxi. the name itself by itself may its force be tasted; for there. 3. is a name that may explain itself to us. The word 'made' n. c. 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 root, and agreeth i. 12. with it, 'Made' with 'Maker,' 'Creature' with 'Creator,' and R. lx. 'Begotten' with 'Begetter.' Is then the name of every thing p. 307, to stand, and the name of Son only to be lost? It is not lost, since the lost by it were found and returned. From its own mere self alone it appears, that as this word 'creature' means creature without all controversy, both in name and in reality; so one may rightfully insist that, in like manner, S. it is the Son, our Lord, is the Son, only if He be Son both in the requisition name and in reality: but if the names be empty, then pretend of fitness that all things are names, and nothing else.

12 and as oil to another, and as butter, and as the fat of wheat; and this is a type of Christ that true Rock, the Head of the Everlasting Building and the Fountain of Life. To every one that draweth near to Him, is He according to his desire: to one He is the River, to another the Gate, to another the Way, and to this one Wisdom, and all things becometh He to all that He may gain every man." The Anomeans, as it would appear from Gr. Nyssen, p. 525, when told by the orthodox that the Son could not be made son in the sense in which men are called sons of light, without making Him capable of moral advance, urged that the Son had a number of other titles, as Stone, Axe, Foundation, &c. which plainly were not names which really agreed with His Nature; therefore neither does the Name 'Son' do so. To this St. G. replies, p. 526, c. 'that though the names which are given by Scripture to the Son are, as they say, many, there is none which we say implies by its

13 relativeness a connaturalness with the Generator. For we do not, as in the case of the Father's Son, so also in that of Stone, Resurrection, Shepherd, or Light, or any of the other names, use the term to imply a relation to the God of all: but one may as if by some artificial rule make a twofold division in the meaning of God's names. For some of them contain a setting forth of His high and unspeakable glory, and others set forth the manifoldness of His providential dispensations.' Comp. p. 672, d. p. 792, c. Epiphan. Hier. lxix. §. 35. and see on Athan. p. 25, &c. p. 153, n. d. and above, p. 29, n. g. Vol. i. p. 334, c. "The gods of the Gentiles are names without meaning. The argument in this §. is, that relatives imply their correlatives. See Aristot. Categ. §. 7. p. 6. l. 27. Bekk. St. Bas. c. Eun. ii. 9. "Who doth not know, that of words some absolutely pronounced, and by themselves are significative of their subject matters; but others being used relatively indicate only the bear1 §. 7. R. him? the names of Generate and Generator then are borrowed! lx. §. 1. and so would the Father in His Name be at variance with R. lx. Himself, and the Son also in His Generateness. That the §. 3. Fruit and the Tree are not divided, Their Names proclaim by their true taste.

14 Who can taste any thing 'made' in the Name 'Generate,' or in the Name 'Son' any 'creature.' For the Fruit by itself alone may have its taste comprehended. But if the taste of what is bitter give sweetness, the names of S. are every thing give contradictory impressions. Yet who shall heard make the Names of the Lord of all contradictory? Men do pervertnot, from having a surname by grace, lose on that account edly. R. lxv. §. 1. their natures by the surname, seeing they remain clad with R. lii. §. 1. names unalterably attaching to mankind, and their own name §. 1. is an assay-furnace to them. If the Son be a servant, then S being clad He is found to be our fellow-servant; if the Son be our Lord, with fixed then in truth He is our God. names of p. 316. ref. 3. R. 5. Who would not be astonished to think that if even the lxiii. §. 4. Son is a servant, that the Womb of His Generator made Him p. 122, fellow-servant of all; and that He was more glorious in the n. i. birth from Mary, which did make Him a true Brother of man-R. xlvi. §. 4. kind, than in that from the Womb which did not make Him §. 4. either Angel or man, but made Him the fellow-servant and Ps. 110. kinsman of creeping things and of brutes. Who can deny p. 133. R. lxv. §. 1.

15 ing they have to their correlatives. 'Man,' e. g. and 'horse,' and 'ox,' brings before us each of the things mentioned; but 'son,' or 'servant,' or 'friend,' are merely indicative of the connection with the cognate word. Whenever, at this rate, a man has heard a generate thing mentioned, it is not to some essence that he is carried in mind, but its connection with another is what he thinks of. For a thing generate is an expression used of that which is generate from some thing." And his brother, vol. ii. p. 403, d. "God is called both Father and King, and by countless other names, by Holy Writ. Now out of these names some are used in this single way, thus absolutely I mean, e. g. 'Incorruptible,' 'Eternal,' 'Immortal,' and the like. For these, even if no other conception be understood along with them, in themselves comprise a kind of perfect notion of God. But there are other names which

16 only signify a relative bearing, as 'helper,' 'shielder,' 'protector,' and as many of this signification as may be met with: from which if you take away that which needs assistance, then the power indicated by the word comes to naught. But some there are used both of themselves and with correlatives— as 'God,' 'good,' and such like... There is no reason why a person, who sets before us the Father and Him who is from Him,... should not at the same time by the appellation 'Father' signify to us that He begat the Son, and also explain by the same word His own Unoriginateness." Comp. the next note. 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 deceiver. But if the name R. lx. of the creature really applies to it, that name is found to §. 1. 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!

17 6. But who would make the fixed Names of Father and §. 4. Son and Spirit tasteless, by which the clerks that lack taste ref. 4. have gained taste? For every word which may be tasteless hath its force from the adjoined words. The Names of S. by nature Father, Son, and Spirit, since they alone are fixed, have a comp. force which cannot be made void; for there is nought that is Athan. p. 286-7. akin to them so as to be adjoined to them. Who could be p. 316, baptized in disjoined names? Who could confess in borrowed ref. 1. §. 4. R. lxiii. §. 4. 18 title instead of giving the Son any pre-eminence, 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 generating 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 inse-

19 parable 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 St. Greg. Nyss. ii. p. 369, c. and p. 639-40. (ab. p. 175, n. a.) in which latter 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 yet being 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.

20 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 can never be made void 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 Essence in that their names are united, while He divided the Name of Father? Every man is clad with names of his own; and the Father and the Son alone have Their Names stripped from Them.—They have falsified the names of every thing in every thing!

Rhythm 63.

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 11. R. 4. Sonship to that Father, and made His Name to pass through the assay-furnace, that it might be believed on in all the world. Who doth not confess, that even during His Cruci- 1 S. upon fixion it was to His Father He cried, and commended the Luke 23, 46. Flesh 2 of His Humanity 3? And that they might believe 2 or Body Mat. 27, that He was the Son, His voice rent the graves, and rent the

50. p. 23. sanctuary; it scattered the nation of crucifiers, and gathered Is. 60, 5. together the nations; and they believed in His Divinity, and Zech. 8, confessed Him the Very God, the Son of Very God. His 32. 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 object 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, &c. 2 Kings 20, 7. The lump of figs which was put upon Hezekiah's boil, 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, '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. lxxiii. §. 2. and R. lxxvii. §. 1. This 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 also p. 350, n. d. and Le Quien ad J. 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] Essence, for the Name of Eternal were great and high in His justice, rather than in graciousness. Neither can the height of His name and His surname be 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 condescendeth even to all. Since He hath other Names which are sweet, and accommodate themselves to creatures, and which are condescending in order to magnify His works by His surnames, it was in these that He came down, and clothed His own creatures with His Names. The Heavenly King made kings of His servants: because He was God, He called them also by the name of gods; and because He was Judge, lo, His servants are judges; and because they were travellers, weary did He call Himself by name; and by reason of their riding He also made Himself a rider, that He might in all things be like unto us.

4. Who is there that is in such sort wholly unwise and hard-hearted, as to fancy ever so short a while, that because men were called by His Names, that the nature of man and of God is one [and the same]; or again who, because the Lord was called by the Name of His servants, would imagine a thing made and the Maker to admit of being compared together? For when He called us kings by His own Name, the reality was His, the likeness ours. Again, when He called Himself by the names of His servants, the nature is ours, His is the surname, in the place of the true name: and the borrowed name is plain, both in our case, and in His case. Now by His mercies wittingly did He set His own Names upon His own creatures, not for disputation, but for consolation. Let questioning be stopped, my brethren, and let us pray more. For when He shineth forth unto us, He is as of our race, and though distinct in all things from all things, yet is He with all things in all things.

5. Wherefore, if He were to separate Himself, He could R. xlv. R. lv. §. 2.