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| Sections 24-End translated from the Latin.
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From the Latin.
24. This descent of the holy fathers into
Egypt will appear as granted to this world by the providence of God for
the illumination of others, and for the instruction of the human race,
that so by this means the souls of others might be assisted in the work
of enlightenment. For to them was first granted the privilege of
converse with God, because theirs is the only race which is said to see
God; this being the meaning, by interpretation, of the word
“Israel.”2944
And now it
follows that, agreeably to this view, ought the statement to be
accepted and explained that Egypt was scourged with ten plagues, to
allow the people of God to depart, or the account of what was done with
the people in the wilderness, or of the building of the tabernacle by
means of contributions from all the people, or of the wearing of the
priestly robes, or of the vessels of the public service, because, as it
is written, they truly contain within them the “shadow and form
of heavenly things.” For Paul openly says of them, that
“they serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly
things.”2945
There are,
moreover, contained in this same law the precepts and institutions,
according to which men are to live in the holy land. Threatenings
also are held out as impending over those who shall transgress the law;
different kinds of purifications are moreover prescribed for those who
required purification, as being persons who were liable to frequent
pollution, that by means of these they may arrive at last at that one
purification after which no further pollution is permitted. The
very people are numbered, though not all; for the souls of children are
not yet old enough to be numbered according to the divine
command: nor are those souls who cannot become the head of
another, but are themselves subordinated to others as to a head, who
are called “women,” who certainly are not included in that
numbering which is enjoined by God; but they alone are numbered who are
called “men,” by which it might be shown that the women
could not be counted separately,2946
but were
included in those called men. Those, however, especially belong
to the sacred number, who are prepared to go forth to the battles of
the Israelites, and are able to fight against those public and private
enemies2947
whom the Father
subjects to the Son, who sits on His right hand that He may destroy all
principality and power, and by means of these bands of His soldiery,
who, being engaged in a warfare for God, do not entangle themselves in
secular business, He may overturn the Kingdom of His adversary; by whom
the shields of faith are borne, and the weapons of wisdom brandished;
among whom also the helmet of hope and salvation gleams forth, and the
breastplate of brightness fortifies the breast that is filled with
God. Such soldiers appear to me to be indicated, and to be
prepared for wars of this kind, in those persons who in the sacred
books are ordered by God’s command to be numbered. But of
these, by far the more perfect and distinguished are shown to be those
of whom the very hairs of the head are said to be numbered. Such,
indeed, as were punished for their sins, whose bodies fell in the
wilderness, appear to possess a resemblance to those who had made
indeed no little progress, but who could not at all, for various
reasons, attain to the end of perfection; because they are reported
either to have murmured, or to have worshipped idols, or to have
committed fornication, or to have done some evil work which the mind
ought not even to conceive. I do not consider the following even
to be without some mystical meaning,2948
| 2948 Ne illud quidem
sacramento aliquo vacuum puto. | viz., that
certain (of the Israelites), possessing many flocks and animals, take
possession by anticipation of a country adapted for pasture and the
feeding of cattle, which was the very first that the right hand of the
Hebrews had secured in war.2949
| 2949 Quem primum omnium
Israelitici belli dextra defenderat. | For,
making a request of Moses to receive this region, they are divided off
by the waters of the Jordan, and set apart from any possession in the
holy land. And this Jordan, according to the form of heavenly
things, may appear to water and irrigate thirsty souls, and the senses
that are adjacent to it.2950
| 2950 Rigare et inundare
animas sitientes, et sensus adjacentes sibi. | In connection
with which, even this statement does not appear superfluous, that Moses
indeed hears from God what is described in the book of Leviticus, while
in Deuteronomy it is the people that are the auditors of Moses, and who
learn from him what they could not hear from God. For as
Deuteronomy is called, as it were, the second law, which to some will
appear to convey this signification, that when the first law which was
given through Moses had come to an end, so a second legislation seems
to have been enacted, which was specially transmitted by Moses to his
successor Joshua, who is certainly believed to embody a type2951
of our Saviour, by whose second
law—that is, the precepts of the Gospel—all things are
brought to perfection.
25. We have to see, however, whether this
deeper meaning may not perhaps be indicated, viz., that as in
Deuteronomy the legislation is made known with greater clearness and
distinctness than in those books which were first written, so also by
that advent of the Saviour which He accomplished in His state of
humiliation, when He assumed the form of a servant, that more
celebrated and renowned second advent in the glory of His Father may
not be pointed out, and in it the types of Deuteronomy may be
fulfilled, when in the kingdom of heaven all the saints shall live
according to the laws of the everlasting Gospel; and as in His coming
now He fulfilled that law which has a shadow of good things to come, so
also by that (future) glorious advent will be fulfilled and brought to
perfection the shadows of the present advent. For thus spake the
prophet regarding it: “The breath of our countenance,
Christ the Lord, to whom we said, that under Thy shadow we shall live
among the nations;”2952
at the time, viz.,
when He will more worthily transfer all the saints from a temporal to
an everlasting Gospel, according to the designation, employed by John
in the Apocalypse, of “an everlasting Gospel.”2953
26. But let it be sufficient for us in all
these matters to adapt our understanding to the rule of religion, and
so to think of the words of the Holy Spirit as not to deem the language
the ornate composition of feeble human eloquence, but to hold,
according to the scriptural statement, that “all the glory of the
King is within,”2954
| 2954 Omnis gloria regis
intrinsecus est. Heb., Sept., and Vulgate all read,
“daughter of the king.” Probably the omission of
“filiæ” in the text may be due to an error of the
copyists. [Cf. Ps. xlv.
13.] | and that the
treasure of divine meaning is enclosed within the frail vessel of the
common letter. And if any curious reader were still to ask an
explanation of individual points, let him come and hear, along with
ourselves, how the Apostle Paul, seeking to penetrate by help of the
Holy Spirit, who searches even the “deep things” of God,
into the depths of divine wisdom and knowledge, and yet, unable to
reach the end, so to speak, and to come to a thorough knowledge,
exclaims in despair and amazement, “Oh the depth of the riches of
the knowledge and wisdom of God!”2955
Now, that it was from despair of
attaining a perfect understanding that he uttered this exclamation,
listen to his own words: “How unsearchable are God’s
judgments! and His ways, how past finding out!”2956
For he did not say that God’s
judgments were difficult to discover, but that they were altogether
inscrutable; nor that it was (simply) difficult to trace out His ways,
but that they were altogether past finding out. For however far a
man may advance in his investigations, and how great soever the
progress that he may make by unremitting study, assisted even by the
grace of God, and with his mind enlightened, he will not be able to
attain to the end of those things which are the object of his
inquiries. Nor can any created mind deem it possible in any way
to attain a full comprehension (of things); but after having discovered
certain of the objects of its research, it sees again others which have
still to be sought out. And even if it should succeed in
mastering these, it will see again many others succeeding them which
must form the subject of investigation. And on this account,
therefore, Solomon, the wisest of men, beholding by his wisdom the
nature of things, says, “I said, I will become wise; and wisdom
herself was made far from me, far further than it was; and a profound
depth, who shall find?”2957
| 2957 [Eccles. vii. 23, 24.] The Septuagint reads:
Εἶπα,
Σοφισθήσομαι
· καὶ αὕτη
ἐμακρύνθη
ἀπ᾽ ἐμοῦ,
μακρὰν ὑπέρ
ὃ ἦν, καὶ βαθὺ
βάθος, τίς
εὑρήσει
αὐτό; the Vulgate translates this
literally. | Isaiah also,
knowing that the beginnings of things could not be discovered by a
mortal nature, and not even by those natures which, although more
divine than human, were nevertheless themselves created or formed;
knowing then, that by none of these could either the beginning or the
end be discovered, says, “Tell the former things which have been,
and we know that ye are gods; or announce what are the last things, and
then we shall see that ye are gods.”2958
For my Hebrew teacher also used thus
to teach, that as the beginning or end of all things could be
comprehended by no one, save
only our Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, so under the form of a
vision Isaiah spake of two seraphim alone, who with two wings cover the
countenance of God, and with two His feet, and with two do fly, calling
to each other alternately, and saying, “Holy, holy, holy is the
Lord God of Sabaoth; the whole earth is full of
Thy glory.”2959
That the
seraphim alone have both their wings over the face of God, and over His
feet, we venture to declare as meaning that neither the hosts of holy
angels, nor the “holy seats,” nor the
“dominions,” nor the “principalities,” nor the
“powers,” can fully understand the beginning of all things,
and the limits of the universe. But we are to understand that
those “saints” whom the Spirit has enrolled, and the
“virtues,” approach very closely to those very beginnings,
and attain to a height which the others cannot reach; and yet whatever
it be that these “virtues” have learned through revelation
from the Son of God and from the Holy Spirit—and they will
certainly be able to learn very much, and those of higher rank much
more than those of a lower—nevertheless it is impossible for them
to comprehend all things, according to the statement, “The most
part of the works of God are hid.”2960
And therefore also it is to be desired
that every one, according to his strength, should ever stretch out to
those things that are before, “forgetting the things that are
behind,” both to better works and to a clearer apprehension and
understanding, through Jesus Christ our Saviour, to whom be glory for
ever!
27. Let every one, then, who cares for truth, be
little concerned about words and language, seeing that in every nation
there prevails a different usage of speech; but let him rather direct
his attention to the meaning conveyed by the words, than to the nature
of the words that convey the meaning, especially in matters of such
importance and difficulty: as, e.g., when it is an object of
investigation whether there is any “substance” in which
neither colour, nor form, nor touch, nor magnitude is to be understood
as existing visible to the mind alone, which any one names as he
pleases; for the Greeks call such ἀσώματον, i.e.,
“incorporeal,” while holy Scripture declares it to be
“invisible,” for Paul calls Christ the “image of the
invisible God,” and says again, that by Christ were created all
things “visible and invisible.” And by this it is
declared that there are, among created things, certain
“substances” that are, according to their peculiar nature,
invisible. But although these are not themselves
“corporeal,” they nevertheless make use of bodies, while
they are themselves better than any bodily substances. But that
“substance” of the Trinity which is the beginning and cause
of all things, “from which are all things, and through which are
all things, and in which are all things,” cannot be believed to
be either a body or in a body, but is altogether incorporeal. And
now let it suffice to have spoken briefly on these points (although in
a digression, caused by the nature of the subject), in order to show
that there are certain things, the meaning of which cannot be unfolded
at all by any words of human language, but which are made known more
through simple apprehension than by any properties of words. And
under this rule must be brought also the understanding of the sacred
Scripture, in order that its statements may be judged not according to
the worthlessness of the letter, but according to the divinity of the
Holy Spirit, by whose inspiration they were caused to be written.
Summary (of Doctrine) Regarding the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and the Other Topics Discussed in
the Preceding Pages.
28. It is now time, after the rapid consideration
which to the best of our ability we have given to the topics discussed,
to recapitulate, by way of summing up what we have said in different
places, the individual points, and first of all to restate our
conclusions regarding the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Seeing God the Father is invisible and inseparable
from the Son, the Son is not generated from Him by
“prolation,” as some suppose. For if the Son be a
“prolation” of the Father (the term “prolation”
being used to signify such a generation as that of animals or men
usually is), then, of necessity, both He who “prolated” and
He who was “prolated” are corporeal. For we do
not say, as the heretics suppose, that some part of the substance of
God was converted into the Son, or that the Son was procreated by the
Father out of things non-existent,2961
| 2961 Ex nullis
substantibus. | i.e., beyond
His own substance, so that there once was a time when He did not exist;
but, putting away all corporeal conceptions, we say that the Word and
Wisdom was begotten out of the invisible and incorporeal without any
corporeal feeling, as if it were an act of the will proceeding from the
understanding. Nor, seeing He is called the Son of (His) love,
will it appear absurd if in this way He be called the Son of (His)
will. Nay, John also indicates that “God is
Light,”2962
and Paul also
declares that the Son is the splendour of everlasting light.2963
As light, accordingly, could never
exist without splendour, so neither can the Son be understood to exist without the
Father; for He is called the “express image of His
person,”2964
and the Word and
Wisdom. How, then, can it be asserted that there once was a time
when He was not the Son? For that is nothing else than to say
that there was once a time when He was not the Truth, nor the Wisdom,
nor the Life, although in all these He is judged to be the perfect
essence of God the Father; for these things cannot be severed from Him,
or even be separated from His essence. And although these
qualities are said to be many in understanding,2965
| 2965 Quæ quidem
quamvis intellectu multa esse dicantur. |
yet in their nature and essence they are one, and in them is the
fulness of divinity. Now this expression which we
employ—“that there never was a time when He did not
exist”—is to be understood with an allowance. For
these very words “when” or “never” have a
meaning that relates to time, whereas the statements made regarding
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are to be understood as transcending all
time, all ages, and all eternity. For it is the Trinity alone
which exceeds the comprehension not only of temporal but even of
eternal intelligence; while other things which are not included in
it2966
| 2966 Quæ sunt extra
Trinitatem. | are to be measured by times and ages.
This Son of God, then, in respect of the Word being God, which was in
the beginning with God, no one will logically suppose to be contained
in any place; nor yet in respect of His being “Wisdom,” or
“Truth,” or the “Life,” or
“Righteousness,” or “Sanctification,” or
“Redemption:” for all these properties do not require
space to be able to act or to operate, but each one of them is to be
understood as meaning those individuals who participate in His virtue
and working.
29. Now, if any one were to say that,
through those who are partakers of the “Word” of God, or of
His “Wisdom,” or His “Truth,” or His
“Life,” the Word and Wisdom itself appeared to be contained
in a place, we should have to say to him in answer, that there is no
doubt that Christ, in respect of being the “Word” or
“Wisdom,” or all other things, was in Paul, and that he
therefore said, “Do you seek a proof of Christ speaking in
me?”2967
and again, “I
live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.”2968
Seeing, then, He was in Paul, who will
doubt that He was in a similar manner in Peter and in John, and in each
one of the saints; and not only in those who are upon the earth, but in
those also who are in heaven? For it is absurd to say that Christ
was in Peter and in Paul, but not in Michael the archangel, nor in
Gabriel. And from this it is distinctly shown that the divinity
of the Son of God was not shut up in some place; otherwise it would
have been in it only, and not in another. But since, in
conformity with the majesty of its incorporeal nature, it is confined
to no place; so, again, it cannot be understood to be wanting in
any. But this is understood to be the sole difference, that
although He is in different individuals as we have said—as Peter,
or Paul, or Michael, or Gabriel—He is not in a similar way in all
beings whatever. For He is more fully and clearly, and, so to
speak, more openly in archangels than in other holy men.2969
| 2969 Quam in aliis sanctis
viris. “Aliis” is found in the mss., but is wanting in many editions. | And this is evident from the
statement, that when all who are saints have arrived at the summit of
perfection, they are said to be made like, or equal to, the angels,
agreeably to the declaration in the Gospels.2970
| 2970 Cf. Matt. xxii. 30 and Luke xx. 36. | Whence it is clear that Christ is in
each individual in as great a degree as the amount of his deserts
allows.2971
| 2971 Unde constat in
singulis quibusque tantum effici Christum, quantum ratio indulserit
meritorum. |
30. Having, then, briefly restated these
points regarding the nature of the Trinity, it follows that we notice
shortly this statement also, that “by the Son” are said to
be created “all things that are in heaven, and that are in earth,
visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or
principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him, and
for Him; and He is before all, and all things consist by Him, who is
the Head.”2972
In conformity
with which John also in his Gospel says: “All things were
created by Him; and without Him was not anything made.”2973
And David, intimating that the mystery
of the entire Trinity was (concerned) in the creation of all things,
says: “By the Word of the Lord were
the heavens made; and all the host of them by the Spirit of His
mouth.”2974
After these points we shall appropriately remind (the
reader) of the bodily advent and incarnation of the only-begotten Son
of God, with respect to whom we are not to suppose that all the majesty
of His divinity is confined within the limits of His slender body, so
that all the “word” of God, and His “wisdom,”
and “essential truth,” and “life,” was either
rent asunder from the Father, or restrained and confined within the
narrowness of His bodily person, and is not to be considered to have
operated anywhere besides; but the cautious acknowledgment of a
religious man ought to be between the two, so that it ought neither to
be believed that anything of divinity was wanting in Christ, nor that
any separation at all was made from the essence of the Father, which is
everywhere. For some such meaning seems to be indicated
by John the Baptist, when he
said to the multitude in the bodily absence of Jesus, “There
standeth one among you whom ye know not: He it is who cometh
after me, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to
unloose.”2975
For it
certainly could not be said of Him, who was absent, so far as His
bodily presence is concerned, that He was standing in the midst of
those among whom the Son of God was not bodily present.
31. Let no one, however, suppose that by
this we affirm that some portion of the divinity of the Son of God was
in Christ, and that the remaining portion was elsewhere or everywhere,
which may be the opinion of those who are ignorant of the nature of an
incorporeal and invisible essence. For it is impossible to speak
of the parts of an incorporeal being, or to make any division of them;
but He is in all things, and through all things, and above all things,
in the manner in which we have spoken above, i.e., in the manner in
which He is understood to be either “wisdom,” or the
“word,” or the “life,” or the
“truth,” by which method of understanding all confinement
of a local kind is undoubtedly excluded. The Son of God, then,
desiring for the salvation of the human race to appear unto men, and to
sojourn among them, assumed not only a human body, as some suppose, but
also a soul resembling our souls indeed in nature, but in will and
power2976
| 2976 Proposito vero et
virtute similem sibi. | resembling Himself, and such as might
unfailingly accomplish all the desires and arrangements of the
“word” and “wisdom.” Now, that He had a
soul,2977
is most clearly shown by the Saviour in the
Gospels, when He said, “No man taketh my life from me, but I lay
it down of myself. I have power to lay down my life, and I have
power to take it again.”2978
And again,
“My soul is sorrowful even unto death.”2979
And again, “Now is my soul
troubled.”2980
For the
“Word” of God is not to be understood to be a
“sorrowful and troubled” soul, because with the authority
of divinity He says, “I have power to lay down my
life.” Nor yet do we assert that the Son of God was in that
soul as he was in the soul of Paul or Peter and the other saints, in
whom Christ is believed to speak as He does in Paul. But
regarding all these we are to hold, as Scripture declares, “No
one is clean from filthiness, not even if his life lasted but a single
day.”2981
But this soul
which was in Jesus, before it knew the evil, selected the good; and
because He loved righteousness, and hated iniquity, therefore God
“anointed Him with the oil of gladness above His
fellows.”2982
He is
anointed, then, with the oil of gladness when He is united to the
“word” of God in a stainless union, and by this means alone
of all souls was incapable of sin, because it was capable of
(receiving) well and fully the Son of God; and therefore also it is one
with Him, and is named by His titles, and is called Jesus Christ, by
whom all things are said to be made. Of which soul, seeing it had
received into itself the whole wisdom of God, and the truth, and the
life, I think that the apostle also said this: “Our life is
hidden with Christ in God; but when Christ, who is our life, shall
appear, then shall we also appear with him in glory.”2983
For what other Christ can be here
understood, who is said to be hidden in God, and who is afterwards to
appear, except Him who is related to have been anointed with the oil of
gladness, i.e., to have been filled with God essentially,2984
in whom he is now said to be hidden?
For on this account is Christ proposed as an example to all believers,
because as He always, even before he knew evil at all, selected the
good, and loved righteousness, and hated iniquity, and therefore God
anointed Him with the oil of gladness; so also ought each one, after a
lapse or sin, to cleanse himself from his stains, making Him his
example, and, taking Him as the guide of his journey, enter upon the
steep way of virtue, that so perchance by this means, as far as
possible we may, by imitating Him, be made partakers of the divine
nature, according to the words of Scripture: “He that saith
that he believeth in Christ, ought so to walk, as He also
walked.”2985
This “word,” then, and this
“wisdom,” by the imitation of which we are said to be
either wise or rational (beings), becomes “all things to all men,
that it may gain all;” and because it is made weak, it is
therefore said of it, “Though He was crucified through weakness,
yet He liveth by the power of God.”2986
Finally, to the Corinthians who were
weak, Paul declares that he “knew nothing, save Jesus Christ, and
Him crucified.”2987
32. Some, indeed, would have the following
language of the apostle applied to the soul itself, as soon as it had
assumed flesh from Mary,2988
| 2988 De Maria corpus
assumsit. | viz., “Who,
being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God,
but divested Himself (of His glory)2989
| 2989 Semet ipsum
exinanivit. | taking upon
Himself the form of a servant;”2990
since He undoubtedly restored it to the form of God by means of better
examples and training, and recalled it to that fulness of which He had
divested Himself.
As now by participation in the Son of God one is
adopted as a son,2991
| 2991 In filium
adoptatur. | and by
participating in that wisdom which is in God is rendered wise, so also
by participation in the Holy Spirit is a man rendered holy and
spiritual. For it is one and the same thing to have a share in
the Holy Spirit, which is (the Spirit) of the Father and the Son, since
the nature of the Trinity is one and incorporeal. And what we
have said regarding the participation of the soul is to be understood
of angels and heavenly powers in a similar way as of souls, because
every rational creature needs a participation in the
Trinity.
Respecting also the plan of this visible
world—seeing one of the most important questions usually raised
is as to the manner of its existence—we have spoken to the best
of our ability in the preceding pages, for the sake of those who are
accustomed to seek the grounds of their belief in our religion, and
also for those who stir against us heretical questions, and who are
accustomed to bandy about2992
the word
“matter,” which they have not yet been able to understand;
of which subject I now deem it necessary briefly to remind (the
reader).
33. And, in the first place, it is to be
noted that we have nowhere found in the canonical Scriptures,2993
| 2993 In Scripturis
canonicis. | up to the present time, the word
“matter” used for that substance which is said to underlie
bodies. For in the expression of Isaiah, “And he shall
devour ὕλη,” i.e., matter, “like
hay,”2994
| 2994 Isa. x. 17, καὶ φάγεται
ώσεὶ χόρτον
τὴν ὕλην, Sept. The
Vulgate follows the Masoretic text. | when speaking of
those who were appointed to undergo their punishments, the word
“matter” was used instead of “sins.” And
if this word “matter” should happen to occur in any other
passage, it will never be found, in my opinion, to have the
signification of which we are now in quest, unless perhaps in the book
which is called the Wisdom of Solomon, a work which is certainly not
esteemed authoritative by all.2995
In that book,
however, we find written as follows: “For thy almighty
hand, that made the world out of shapeless matter, wanted not means to
send among them a multitude of bears and fierce lions.”2996
Very many, indeed, are of opinion that
the matter of which things are made is itself signified in the language
used by Moses in the beginning of Genesis: “In the
beginning God made heaven and earth; and the earth was invisible, and
not arranged:”2997
| 2997 Gen. i. 2, “invisibilis et
incomposita;” “inanis et vacua,” Vulg. | for by the
words “invisible and not arranged” Moses would seem to mean
nothing else than shapeless matter. But if this be truly matter,
it is clear then that the original elements of bodies2998
are not incapable of change. For those
who posited “atoms”—either those particles which are
incapable of subdivision, or those which are subdivided into equal
parts—or any one element, as the principles of bodily things,
could not posit the word “matter” in the proper sense of
the term among the first principles of things. For if they will
have it that matter underlies every body—a substance convertible
or changeable, or divisible in all its parts—they will not, as is
proper, assert that it exists without qualities. And with them we
agree, for we altogether deny that matter ought to be spoken of as
“unbegotten” or “uncreated,” agreeably to our
former statements, when we pointed out that from water, and earth, and
air or heat, different kinds of fruits were produced by different kinds
of trees; or when we showed that fire, and air, and water, and earth
were alternately converted into each other, and that one element was
resolved into another by a kind of mutual consanguinity; and also when
we proved that from the food either of men or animals the substance of
the flesh was derived, or that the moisture of the natural seed was
converted into solid flesh and bones;—all which go to prove that
the substance of the body is changeable, and may pass from one quality
into all others.
34. Nevertheless we must not forget that a
substance never exists without a quality, and that it is by an act of
the understanding alone that this (substance) which underlies bodies,
and which is capable of quality, is discovered to be matter. Some
indeed, in their desire to investigate these subjects more profoundly,
have ventured to assert that bodily nature2999
is
nothing else than qualities. For if hardness and softness, heat
and cold, moisture and aridity, be qualities; and if, when these or
other (qualities) of this sort be cut away, nothing else is understood
to remain, then all things will appear to be
“qualities.” And therefore also those persons who
make these assertions have endeavoured to maintain, that since all who
say that matter was uncreated will admit that qualities were created by
God, it may be in this way shown that even according to them matter was
not uncreated; since qualities constitute everything, and these are
declared by all without contradiction to have been made by God.
Those, again, who would make out that qualities are superimposed from
without upon a certain underlying matter, make use of illustrations of
this kind: e.g., Paul undoubtedly is either silent, or speaks, or
watches, or sleeps, or maintains a certain attitude of body; for he is
either in a sitting, or standing, or recumbent position. For
these are “accidents” belonging to men, without which they
are almost never found. And yet our conception of man does not
lay down any of these things as a definition of him; but we so
understand and regard him by their means, that we do not at all take
into account the reason of his (particular) condition either in
watching, or in sleeping, or in speaking, or in keeping silence, or in
any other action that must necessarily happen to men.3000
| 3000 Nec tamen sensus
noster manifeste de eo aliquid horum definit, sed ita eum per hæc
intelligimus, vel consideramus, ut non omnino rationem status ejus
comprehendamus, vel in eo, quod vigilat, vel in eo, quod dormit, aut in
quo loquitur, vel tacet, et si qua alia sunt, quæ accidere necesse
est hominibus. | If any one, then, can regard Paul as
being without all these things which are capable of happening, he will
in the same way also be able to understand this underlying (substance)
without qualities. When, then, our mind puts away all qualities
from its conception, and gazes, so to speak, upon the underlying
element alone, and keeps its attention closely upon it, without any
reference to the softness or hardness, or heat or cold, or humidity or
aridity of the substance, then by means of this somewhat simulated
process of thought3001
| 3001 Tunc simulatâ
quodammodo cogitatione. | it will appear to
behold matter clear from qualities of every kind.
35. But some one will perhaps inquire
whether we can obtain out of Scripture any grounds for such an
understanding of the subject. Now I think some such view is
indicated in the Psalms, when the prophet says, “Mine eyes have
seen thine imperfection;”3002
| 3002 Ps. cxxxix. 16, τὸ
ἀκατέργαστόν
μου εἴδοσαν
οἱ ὀφθαλμοί
σου, Sept.; “Imperfectum meum viderunt
oculi tui,” Vulg. (same as in the text.) ךךינֶיע“
וּארָ
ימִלְגָּ—“Thine
eyes did see my substance, yet being imperfect,” Auth.
Vers. Cf. Gesenius and Fürst, s.v., סלן. | by which the
mind of the prophet, examining with keener glance the first principles
of things, and separating in thought and imagination only between
matter and its qualities, perceived the imperfection of God, which
certainly is understood to be perfected by the addition of
qualities. Enoch also, in his book, speaks as follows:
“I have walked on even to imperfection;”3003
| 3003 Ambulavi usque ad
imperfectum; cf. Enoch 17" id="vi.v.v.iii-p79.1">Book of Enoch, chap. xvii. | which expression I consider may be
understood in a similar manner, viz., that the mind of the prophet
proceeded in its scrutiny and investigation of all visible things,
until it arrived at that first beginning in which it beheld imperfect
matter (existing) without “qualities.” For it is
written in the same book of Enoch, “I beheld the whole of
matter;”3004
| 3004 Universas materias
perspexi; cf. Enoch 17" id="vi.v.v.iii-p80.1">Book of Enoch, chap. xvii. [On this apocryphal book,
see the learned remarks of Dr. Pusey in his reply to Canon Farrar,
What is of Faith as to Everlasting Punishment; pp.
52–59. London, 1881.] | which is so
understood as if he had said: “I have clearly seen all the
divisions of matter which are broken up from one into each individual
species either of men, or animals, or of the sky, or of the sun, or of
all other things in this world.” After these points, now,
we proved to the best of our power in the preceding pages that all
things which exist were made by God, and that there was nothing which
was not made, save the nature of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy
Spirit; and that God, who is by nature good, desiring to have those
upon whom He might confer benefits, and who might rejoice in receiving
His benefits, created creatures worthy (of this), i.e., who were
capable of receiving Him in a worthy manner, who, He says, are also
begotten by Him as his sons. He made all things, moreover, by
number and measure. For there is nothing before God without
either limit or measure. For by His power He comprehends all
things, and He Himself is comprehended by the strength of no created
thing, because that nature is known to itself alone. For the
Father alone knoweth the Son, and the Son alone knoweth the Father, and
the Holy Spirit alone searcheth even the deep things of God. All
created things, therefore, i.e., either the number of rational beings
or the measure of bodily matter, are distinguished by Him as being
within a certain number or measurement; since, as it was necessary for
an intellectual nature to employ bodies, and this nature is shown to be
changeable and convertible by the very condition of its being created
(for what did not exist, but began to exist, is said by this very
circumstance to be of mutable nature), it can have neither goodness nor
wickedness as an essential, but only as an accidental attribute of its
being. Seeing, then, as we have said, that rational nature was
mutable and changeable, so that it made use of a different bodily
covering of this or that sort of quality, according to its merits, it
was necessary, as God foreknew there would be diversities in souls or
spiritual powers, that He should create also a bodily nature the
qualities of which might be changed at the will of the Creator into all
that was required. And this bodily nature must last as long as
those things which require it as a covering: for there will be
always rational natures which need a bodily covering; and there will
therefore always be a bodily nature whose coverings must necessarily be
used by rational creatures, unless some one be able to demonstrate by
arguments that a rational nature can live without a body. But how
difficult—nay, how almost impossible—this is for our
understanding, we have shown in the preceding pages, in our discussion
of the individual topics.
36. It will not, I consider, be opposed to the
nature of our undertaking, if we restate with all possible brevity our
opinions on the immortality of rational natures. Every one who
participates in anything, is unquestionably of one essence and nature
with him who is partaker of the same thing. For example, as all
eyes participate in the light, so accordingly all eyes which partake of
the light are of one nature; but although every eye partakes of the
light, yet, inasmuch as one sees more clearly, and another more
obscurely, every eye does not equally share in the light. And
again, all hearing receives voice or sound, and therefore all hearing
is of one nature; but each one hears more rapidly or more slowly,
according as the quality of his hearing is clear and sound. Let
us pass now from these sensuous illustrations to the consideration of
intellectual things. Every mind which partakes of intellectual
light ought undoubtedly to be of one nature with every mind which
partakes in a similar manner of intellectual light. If the
heavenly virtues, then, partake of intellectual light, i.e., of divine
nature, because they participate in wisdom and holiness, and if human
souls, have partaken of the same light and wisdom, and thus are
mutually of one nature and of one essence,—then, since the
heavenly virtues are incorruptible and immortal, the essence of the
human soul will also be immortal and incorruptible. And not only
so, but because the nature of Father, and Son, and Holy Spirit, whose
intellectual light alone all created things have a share, is
incorruptible and eternal, it is altogether consistent and necessary
that every substance which partakes of that eternal nature should last
for ever, and be incorruptible and eternal, so that the eternity of
divine goodness may be understood also in this respect, that they who
obtain its benefits are also eternal. But as, in the instances
referred to, a diversity in the participation of the light was
observed, when the glance of the beholder was described as being duller
or more acute, so also a diversity is to be noted in the participation
of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, varying with the degree of zeal or
capacity of mind. If such were not the case,3005
we have to consider whether it would not
seem to be an act of impiety to say that the mind which is capable of
(receiving) God should admit of a destruction of its essence;3006
| 3006 Substantialem
interitum. | as if the very fact that it is able to feel
and understand God could not suffice for its perpetual existence,
especially since, if even through neglect the mind fall away from a
pure and complete reception of God, it nevertheless contains within it
certain seeds of restoration and renewal to a better understanding,
seeing the “inner,” which is also called the
“rational” man, is renewed after “the image and
likeness of God, who created him.” And therefore the
prophet says, “All the ends of the earth shall remember, and turn
unto the Lord; and all the kindreds of the
nations shall worship before Thee.”3007
37. If any one, indeed, venture to ascribe
essential corruption to Him who was made after the image and likeness
of God, then, in my opinion, this impious charge extends even to the
Son of God Himself, for He is called in Scripture the image of
God.3008
Or he who holds this opinion would
certainly impugn the authority of Scripture, which says that man was
made in the image of God; and in him are manifestly to be discovered
traces of the divine image, not by any appearance of the bodily frame,
which is corruptible, but by mental wisdom, by justice, moderation,
virtue, wisdom, discipline; in fine, by the whole band of virtues,
which are innate in the essence of God, and which may enter into man by
diligence and imitation of God; as the Lord also intimates in the
Gospel, when He says, “Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father
also is merciful;”3009
and, “Be ye
perfect, even as your Father also is perfect.”3010
From which it is clearly shown that
all these virtues are perpetually in God, and that they can never
approach to or depart from Him, whereas by men they are acquired only
slowly, and one by one. And hence also by these means they seem
to have a kind of relationship with God; and since God knows all
things, and none of things intellectual in themselves can elude His
notice3011
| 3011 Nihil eum rerum
intellectualium ex se lateat. | (for God the Father
alone, and His only-begotten Son, and the Holy Spirit, not only possess
a knowledge of those things which they have created, but also of
themselves), a rational understanding also, advancing from small things
to great, and from things visible to things invisible, may attain to a
more perfect knowledge. For it is placed in the body, and
advances from sensible things themselves, which are corporeal, to
things that are intellectual. But lest our statement that things
intellectual are not cognisable by the senses should appear unbecoming,
we shall employ the instance of Solomon, who says, “You will find
also a divine sense;”3012
| 3012 Cf. Prov. ii. 5, ἐπίγνωσιν
Θεοῦ
εὑρήσεις (Sept.),
Scientiam Dei invenies (Vulg.). אצָמְתִּ
סיהִׁלאֱ
תעַרַּ. | by which he shows
that those things which are intellectual are to be sought out not by
means of a bodily sense, but by a certain other which he calls
“divine.” And with this sense must we look on each of
those rational beings which we have enumerated above; and with this
sense are to be understood those words which we speak, and those
statements to be weighed which we commit to writing. For the divine nature
knows even those thoughts which we revolve within us in silence.
And on those matters of which we have spoken, or on the others which
follow from them, according to the rule above laid down, are our
opinions to be formed.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
|
