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| Chapter V.—All Who Walk According to Truth are Children of God.
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Chapter V.—All Who Walk According to Truth are Children of God.
That, then, Pædagogy is the
training of children (παίδων
ἀγωγή), is clear from the word
itself. It remains for us to consider the children whom Scripture
points to; then to give the pædagogue charge of them. We are the
children. In many ways Scripture celebrates us, and describes us in
manifold figures of speech, giving variety to the simplicity of the
faith by diverse names. Accordingly, in the Gospel, “the Lord,
standing on the shore, says to the disciples”—they happened
to be fishing—“and called aloud, Children, have ye any
meat?”1049
—addressing those that were already in the position
of disciples as children. “And they brought to Him,”
it is said, “children, that He might put His hands on them and
bless them; and when His disciples hindered them, Jesus said, Suffer
the children, and forbid them not to come to Me, for of such is the
kingdom of heaven.”1050
What the expression means the Lord Himself shall
declare, saying, “Except ye be converted, and become as little
chidren, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven;”1051
not in that place speaking figuratively of regeneration, but setting
before us, for our imitation, the simplicity that is in children.1052
The prophetic spirit also distinguishes us as
children. “Plucking,” it is said, “branches of
olives or palms, the children went forth to meet the Lord, and cried,
saying, Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He that cometh in the
name of the Lord;”1053
light, and glory, and praise, with supplication
to the Lord: for this is the meaning of the expression Hosanna when
rendered in Greek. And the Scripture appears to me, in allusion to
the prophecy just mentioned, reproachfully to upbraid the thoughtless:
“Have ye never read, Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings Thou
hast perfected praise?”1054
In this way the Lord in
the Gospels spurs on His disciples, urging them to attend to Him,
hastening as He was to the Father; rendering His hearers more eager by
the intimation that after a little He was to depart, and showing them
that it was requisite that they should take more unsparing advantage of
the truth than ever before, as the Word was to ascend to heaven. Again,
therefore, He calls them children; for He says, “Children, a little
while I am with you.”1055
And, again, He likens the kingdom of heaven
to children sitting in the market-places and saying, “We have
piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned, and ye
have not lamented;”1056
| 1056
Matt. xi. 16, 17. [In the Peshitoi-Syraic version, where are probably
found the very words our Saviour thus quotes from children in Nazareth,
this saying is seen to be metrical and alliterative.] |
and whatever else He added agreeably thereto. And it is not alone
the Gospel that holds these sentiments. Prophecy also agrees with
it. David accordingly says, “Praise, O children, the
Lord; praise the name of
the Lord.”1057
It says also by Esaias, “Here am I, and the children
that God hath given me.”1058
Are you amazed,
then, to hear that men who belong to the nations are sons in the
Lord’s sight? You do not in that case appear to give ear to
the Attic dialect, from which you may learn that beautiful, comely,
and freeborn young maidens are still called παιδίσκαι,
and servant-girls παιδισκάρια;
and that those last also are, on account of the bloom of youth, called
by the flattering name of young maidens.
And when He says, “Let my lambs stand
on my right,”1059
He alludes to the simple children, as
if they were sheep and lambs in nature, not men; and the lambs He
counts worthy of preference, from the superior regard He has to that
tenderness and simplicity of disposition in men which constitutes
innocence. Again, when He says, “as suckling calves,”
He again alludes figuratively to us; and “as an innocent
and gentle dove,”1060
the reference is again to us. Again, by Moses,
He commands “two young pigeons or a pair of turtles to be offered
for sin;”1061
thus saying, that the harmlessness and
innocence and placable nature of these tender young birds are acceptable
to God, and explaining that like is an expiation for like. Further, the
timorousness of the turtle-doves typifies fear in reference to sin.
And that He calls us chickens the Scripture testifies:
“As a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings.”1062
Thus are we the Lord’s chickens; the Word thus marvellously and
mystically describing the simplicity of childhood. For sometimes He calls
us children, sometimes chickens, sometimes infants, and at other times
sons, and “a new people,” and “a recent people.”
“And my servants shall be called by a new name”1063
(a
new name, He says, fresh and eternal, pure and simple, and childlike and
true), which shall be blessed on the earth. And again, He figuratively
calls us colts unyoked to vice, not broken in by wickedness; but simple,
and bounding joyously to the Father alone; not such horses “as
neigh after their neighbours’ wives,
that are under the yoke, and
are female-mad;”1064
but free and new-born, jubilant by means of faith,
ready to run to the truth, swift to speed to salvation, that tread and
stamp under foot the things of the world.
“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Sion; tell
aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh, just, meek, and
bringing salvation; meek truly is He, and riding on a beast of burden,
and a young colt.”1065
It was not enough to have said
colt alone, but He added to it also young, to show the youth of
humanity in Christ, and the eternity of simplicity, which shall know no
old age. And we who are little ones being such colts, are reared up by
our divine colt-tamer. But if the new man in Scripture is represented
by the ass, this ass is also a colt. “And he bound,” it
is said, “the colt to the vine,” having bound this simple
and childlike people to the word, whom He figuratively represents as a
vine. For the vine produces wine, as the Word produces blood, and both
drink for health to men—wine for the body, blood for the spirit.
And that He also calls us lambs, the Spirit by the
mouth of Isaiah is an unimpeachable witness: “He will feed His
flock like a shepherd, He will gather the lambs with His arm,”1066
—using
the figurative appellation of lambs, which are still more tender than
sheep, to express simplicity. And we also in truth, honouring the
fairest and most perfect objects in life with an appellation derived
from the word child, have named training παιδεία,
and discipline παιδαγωγία.
Discipline (παιδαγωγία)
we declare to be right guiding from childhood to virtue. Accordingly, our
Lord revealed more distinctly to us what is signified by the appellation
of children. On the question arising among the apostles, “which
of them should be the greater,” Jesus placed a little child in
the midst, saying, “Whosoever, shall humble himself as this little
child, the same shall be the greater in the kingdom of heaven.”1067
He does
not then use the appellation of children on account of their very limited
amount of understanding from their age, as some have thought. Nor, if
He says, “Except ye become as these children, ye shall not enter
into the kingdom of God,” are His words to be understood as meaning
“without learning.” We, then, who are infants, no longer roll
on the ground, nor creep on the earth like serpents as before, crawling
with the whole body about senseless lusts; but, stretching upwards in
soul, loosed from the world and our sins, touching the earth on tiptoe
so as to appear to be in the world, we pursue holy wisdom, although this
seems folly to those whose wits are whetted for wickedness. Rightly, then,
are those called children who know Him who is God alone as their Father,
who are simple, and infants, and guileless, who are lovers of the horns
of the unicorns.1068
| 1068 Theodoret
explains this to mean that, as the animal referred to has only one horn,
so those brought up in the practice of piety worship only one God. [It
might mean lovers of those promises which are introduced by these words
in the marvellous twenty-second Psalm.] |
To those, therefore, that have made progress in the
word, He has proclaimed this utterance, bidding them dismiss anxious
care of the things of this world, and exhorting them to adhere to the
Father alone, in imitation of children. Wherefore also in what follows
He says: “Take no anxious thought for the morrow; sufficient
unto the day is the evil thereof.”1069
Thus He enjoins them to lay
aside the cares of this life, and depend on the Father alone. And he who
fulfils this commandment is in reality a child and a son to God and to
the world,—to the one as deceived, to the other as beloved. And
if we have one Master in heaven, as the Scripture says, then by common
consent those on the earth will be rightly called disciples. For so is
the truth, that perfection is with the Lord, who is always teaching,
and infancy and childishness with us, who are always learning. Thus
prophecy hath honoured perfection, by applying to it the
appellation man. For instance, by David, He says of the devil:
“The Lord abhors
the man of blood;”1070
he calls him man, as perfect in wickedness. And the
Lord is called man, because He is perfect in righteousness. Directly
in point is the instance of the apostle, who says, writing the
Corinthians: “For I have espoused you to one man, that I may
present you as a chaste virgin to Christ,”1071
whether as children or saints,
but to the Lord alone. And writing to the Ephesians, he has unfolded in
the clearest manner the point in question, speaking to the following
effect: “Till we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of
the knowledge of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature
of the fulness of Christ: that we be no longer children, tossed to and
fro by every wind of doctrine, by the craft of men, by their cunning
in stratagems of deceit; but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up
to Him in all things,”1072
—saying these things in order to
the edification of the body of Christ, who is the head and man, the only
one perfect in righteousness; and we who are children guarding against
the blasts of heresies, which blow to our inflation; and not putting our
trust in fathers who teach us otherwise, are then made perfect when we are
the church, having received Christ the head. Then it is right to notice,
with respect to the appellation of infant (νήπιος), that
τὸ
νήπιον is not predicated
of the silly: for the silly man is called νηπύτιος:
and νήπιος
is νεήπιος
(since he that is tender-hearted is called ἤπιος), as being one
that has newly become gentle and meek in conduct. This the blessed Paul
most clearly pointed out when he said, “When we might have been
burdensome as the apostles of Christ, we were gentle (ἤπιοι)
among you, as a nurse cherisheth her children.”1073
The child (νήπιος)
is therefore gentle (ἤπιος), and therefore
more tender, delicate, and simple, guileless, and destitute of hypocrisy,
straightforward and upright in mind, which is the basis of simplicity
and truth. For He says, “Upon whom shall I look, but upon him who
is gentle and quiet?”1074
For such is the virgin speech, tender, and
free of fraud; whence also a virgin is wont to be called “a
tender bride,” and a child “tender-hearted.” And we
are tender who are pliant to the power of persuasion, and are easily
drawn to goodness, and are mild, and free of the stain of malice and
perverseness, for the ancient race was perverse and hard-hearted;
but the band of infants, the new people which we are, is delicate
as a child. On account of the hearts of the innocent, the apostle,
in the Epistle to the Romans, owns that he rejoices, and furnishes a
kind of definition of children, so to speak, when he says, “I
would have you wise toward good, but simple towards evil.”1075
For the name of child, νήπιος, is
not understood by us privatively, though the sons of the grammarians make
the νη
a privative particle. For if they call us who follow after childhood
foolish, see how they utter blasphemy against the Lord, in regarding those
as foolish who have betaken themselves to God. But if, which is rather
the true sense, they themselves understand the designation children of
simple ones, we glory in the name. For the new minds, which have newly
become wise, which have sprung into being according to the new covenant,
are infantile in the old folly. Of late, then, God was known by the coming
of Christ: “For no man knoweth God but the Son, and he to whom the
Son shall reveal Him.”1076
In contradistinction, therefore, to the older people,
the new people are called young, having learned the new blessings;
and we have the exuberance of life’s morning prime in this youth
which knows no old age, in which we are always growing to maturity
in intelligence, are always young, always mild, always new: for those
must necessarily be new, who have become partakers of the new Word. And
that which participates in eternity is wont to be assimilated to the
incorruptible: so that to us appertains the designation of the age of
childhood, a lifelong spring-time, because the truth that is in us,
and our habits saturated with the truth, cannot be touched by old age;
but Wisdom is ever blooming, ever remains consistent and the same, and
never changes. “Their children,” it is said, “shall
be borne upon their shoulders, and fondled on their knees; as one
whom his mother comforteth, so also shall I comfort you.”1077
The mother draws the children to herself; and we seek our mother the
Church. Whatever is feeble and tender, as needing help on account
of its feebleness, is kindly looked on, and is sweet and pleasant,
anger changing into help in the case of such: for thus horses’
colts, and the little calves of cows, and the lion’s whelp,
and the stag’s fawn, and the child of man, are looked upon with
pleasure by their fathers and mothers. Thus also the Father of the
universe cherishes affection towards those who have fled to Him; and
having begotten them again by His Spirit to the adoption of children,
knows them as gentle, and loves those alone, and aids and fights for them;
and therefore He bestows on them the name of child. The word Isaac I also
connect with child. Isaac means laughter. He was seen sporting with his
wife and helpmeet Rebecca by the prying king.1078
The king, whose name was
Abimelech, appears to me to represent a supramundane wisdom contemplating
the mystery of sport. They interpret Rebecca to mean endurance. O wise
sport, laughter also assisted by endurance, and the king as spectator! The
spirit of those that are children in Christ, whose lives are ordered in
endurance, rejoice. And this is the divine sport. “Such a sport, of
his own, Jove sports,” says Heraclitus. For what other employment
is seemly for a wise and perfect man, than to sport and be glad in the
endurance of what is good—and, in the administration of what is
good, holding festival with God? That which is signified by the prophet
may be interpreted differently,—namely, of our rejoicing for
salvation, as Isaac. He also, delivered from death, laughed, sporting
and rejoicing with his spouse, who was the type of the Helper of our
salvation, the Church, to whom the stable name of endurance is given;
for this cause surely, because she alone remains to all generations,
rejoicing ever, subsisting as she does by the endurance of us believers,
who are the members of Christ. And the witness of those that have endured
to the end, and the rejoicing on their account, is the mystic sport, and
the salvation accompanied with decorous solace which brings us aid.
The King, then, who is Christ, beholds from above our
laughter, and looking through the window, as the Scripture says, views
the thanksgiving, and the blessing, and the rejoicing, and the gladness,
and furthermore the endurance which works together with them and their
embrace: views His Church, showing only His face, which was wanting to
the Church, which is made perfect by her royal Head. And where, then,
was the door by which the Lord showed Himself? The flesh by which
He was manifested. He is Isaac (for the narrative may be interpreted
otherwise), who is a type of the Lord, a child as a son; for he was the
son of Abraham, as Christ the Son of God, and a sacrifice as the Lord,
but he was not immolated as the Lord. Isaac only bore the wood of the
sacrifice, as the Lord the wood of the cross. And he laughed mystically,
prophesying that the Lord should fill us with joy, who have been redeemed
from corruption by the blood of the Lord. Isaac did everything but
suffer, as was right, yielding the precedence in suffering to the
Word. Furthermore, there is an intimation of the divinity of the Lord
in His not being slain. For Jesus rose again after His burial, having
suffered no harm, like Isaac released from sacrifice. And in defence
of the point to be established, I shall adduce another consideration
of the greatest weight. The Spirit calls the Lord Himself a child,
thus prophesying by Esaias: “Lo, to us a child has been born,
to us a son has been given, on whose own shoulder the government shall
be; and His name has been called the Angel of great Counsel.”
Who, then, is this infant child? He according to whose image we are
made little children. By the same prophet is declared His greatness:
“Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince
of Peace; that He might fulfil His discipline: and of His peace there
shall be no end.”1079
O the great God! O the perfect child! The
Son in the Father, and the Father in the Son. And how shall not
the discipline of this child be perfect, which extends to all,
leading as a schoolmaster us as children who are His little ones? He
has stretched forth to us those hands of His that are conspicuously
worthy of trust. To this child additional testimony is borne by John,
“the greatest prophet among those born of women:”1080
Behold the
Lamb of God!”1081
For since Scripture calls the infant children lambs, it
has also called Him—God the Word—who became man for our sakes,
and who wished in all points to be made like to us—“the Lamb
of God”—Him, namely, that is the Son of God, the child of
the Father.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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