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| Chapter CV.—The Psalm also predicts the crucifixion and the subject of the last prayers of Christ on Earth.
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Chapter CV.—The Psalm also predicts
the crucifixion and the subject of the last prayers of Christ on Earth.
“And what follows of the
Psalm,—‘But Thou, Lord, do not remove Thine assistance from
me; give heed to help me. Deliver my soul from the sword, and my2351
| 2351 See note on chap. xcviii.
| only-begotten from the hand of the dog; save me from the
lion’s mouth, and my humility from the horns of the
unicorns,’—was also information and prediction of the
events which should befall Him. For I have already proved that He was the
only-begotten of the Father of all things, being begotten in a peculiar
manner Word and Power by Him, and having afterwards become man through
the Virgin, as we have learned from the memoirs. Moreover, it is
similarly foretold that He would die by crucifixion. For the passage,
‘Deliver my soul from the sword, and my2352
only-begotten
from the hand of the dog; save me from the lion’s mouth, and my
humility from the horns of the unicorns,’ is indicative of the
suffering by which He should
die, i.e., by crucifixion. For
the ‘horns of the, unicorns,’ I have already explained to
you, are the figure of the cross only. And the prayer that His soul
should be saved from the sword, and lion’s mouth, and hand of the
dog, was a prayer that no one should take possession of His soul: so
that, when we arrive at the end of life, we may ask the same petition
from God, who is able to turn away every shameless evil angel from taking
our souls. And that the souls survive, I have shown2353
| 2353 This demonstration is not given. [It
could not be. The woman was herself frightened by the direct
interposition of God. 1 Sam. xxviii. 12, 13.]
| to you from the fact that the soul of Samuel was called up by the
witch, as Saul demanded. And it appears also, that all the souls of
similar righteous men and prophets fell under the dominion of such
powers, as is indeed to be inferred from the very facts in the case of
that witch. Hence also God by His Son teaches2354
| 2354 Sylburg proposed δικαίους
γίνεσθαι for δἰ οὔς γίν, “to strive
earnestly to become righteous, and at death to pray.” |
us for whose sake these things seem to have been done, always to strive
earnestly, and at death to pray that our souls may not fall into the
hands of any such power. For when Christ was giving up His spirit on the
cross, He said, ‘Father, into Thy hands I commend my
spirit,’2355
as I have learned also
from the memoirs. For He exhorted His disciples to surpass the pharisaic
way of living, with the warning, that if they did not, they might be sure
they could not be saved; and these words are recorded in the memoirs:
‘Unless your righteousness exceed that of the Scribes and
Pharisees, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.’2356
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