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| That he ordered a Church to be built at Mambre.
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Chapter
LI.—That he ordered a Church to be
built at Mambre.
Such was the principal sacred edifices erected by the emperor’s
command. But having heard that the self-same Saviour who erewhile had
appeared on earth3284
| 3284 This doctrine, which appears again and again in Eusebius and in
Constantine, has a curiously interesting bearing at present theological
controversies in America, and England for that matter. It may be called
the doctrine of the “eternal Christ,” as over against the
doctrine of the “essential Christ,” or that which seems to
make his existence begin with his incarnation—the
“historical Christ.” He had historical existence from the
beginning, both as the indwelling and as the objective, and one might
venture to think that advocates of these two views could find a
meeting-ground, or solution of difficulty at least, in this phrase
which represents him who was in the beginning with God and is and ever
shall be, who has made all things which have been made, and is in all
parts of the universe and the world, among Jews and
Gentiles. | had in ages
long since past afforded a manifestation of his Divine presence to holy
men of Palestine near the oak of Mambre,3285
| 3285 [The English version in this passage (Gen. xviii. 1), and others,
has “plains,” though the Septuagint and ancient
interpreters generally render it, as here, by “oak,” some
by “terebinth” (turpentine tree), the Vulgate by
“convallis.”—Bag.] The Revised Version
(1881–1885) has “oaks.” | he ordered that a house of prayer
should be built there also in honor of the God who had thus appeared.
Accordingly the imperial commission was transmitted to the provincial
governors by letters addressed to them individually, enjoining a speedy
completion of the appointed work. He sent moreover to the writer of
this history an eloquent admonition, a copy of which I think it well to
insert in the present work, in order to convey a just idea of his pious
diligence and zeal. To express, then, his displeasure at the evil
practices which he had heard were usual in the place just referred to,
he addressed me in the following terms.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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