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| The tenth book discusses the unattainable and incomprehensible character of the enquiry into entities. And herein he strikingly sets forth the points concerning the nature and formation of the ant, and the passage in the Gospel, “I am the door” and “the way,” and also discusses the attribution and interpretation of the Divine names, and the episode of the children of Benjamin.
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Book
X.
§1. The tenth book
discusses the unattainable and incomprehensible character of the
enquiry into entities. And herein he strikingly sets forth the points
concerning the nature and formation of the ant, and the passage in the
Gospel, “I am the door” and “the way,” and also
discusses the attribution and interpretation of the Divine names, and
the episode of the children of Benjamin.
Let us,
however, keep to our subject. A little further on he contends against
those who acknowledge that human nature is too weak to conceive what
cannot be grasped, and with lofty boasts enlarges on this topic on this
wise, making light of our belief on the matter in these
words:—“For it by no means follows that, if some
one’s mind, blinded by malignity, and for that reason unable to
see anything in front or above its head, is but moderately competent
for the apprehension of truth, we ought on that ground to think that
the discovery of reality is unattainable by the rest of mankind.”
But I should say to him that he who declares that the discovery of
reality is attainable, has of course advanced his own intellect by some
method and logical process through the knowledge of existent things,
and after having been trained in matters that are comparatively small
and easily grasped by way of apprehension, has, when thus prepared,
flung his apprehensive fancy upon those objects which transcend all
conception. Let, then, the man who boasts that he has attained the
knowledge of real existence, interpret to us the real nature of the
most trivial object that is before our eyes, that by what is knowable
he may warrant our belief touching what is secret: let him explain by
reason what is the nature of the ant, whether its life is held together
by breath and respiration, whether it is regulated by vital organs like
other animals, whether its body has a framework of bones, whether the
hollows of the bones are filled with marrow, whether its joints are
united by the tension of sinews and ligaments, whether the position of
the sinews is maintained by enclosures of muscles and glands, whether
the marrow extends along the vertebræ from the sinciput to the
tail, whether it imparts to the limbs that are moved the power of
motion by means of the enclosure of sinewy membrane; whether the
creature has a liver, and in connection with the liver a gall-bladder;
whether it has kidneys and heart, arteries and veins, membranes and
diaphragm; whether it is externally smooth or covered with hair;
whether it is distinguished by the division into male and female; in
what part of its body is located the power of sight and hearing;
whether it enjoys the sense of smell; whether its feet are undivided or
articulated; how long it lives; what is the method in which they derive
generation one from another, and what is the period of gestation; how
it is that all ants do not crawl, nor are all winged, but some belong
to the creatures that move along the ground, while others are borne
aloft in the air. Let him, then, who boasts that he has grasped the
knowledge of real existence, disclose to us awhile the nature of the
ant, and then, and not till then, let him discourse on the nature of
the power that surpasses all understanding. But if he has not yet
ascertained by his knowledge the nature of the tiny ant, how comes he
to vaunt that by the apprehension of reason he has grasped Him Who in
Himself controls all creation, and to say that those who own in
themselves the weakness of human nature, have the perceptions of their
souls darkened, and can neither reach anything in front of them, nor
anything above their head?
But now let us see what
understanding he who has the knowledge of existent things possesses
beyond the rest of the world. Let us listen to his arrogant
utterance:—“Surely it would have been idle for the Lord to
call Himself ‘the door,’ if there were none to pass through
to the understanding and contemplation of the Father, and it would have
been idle for Him to call Himself ‘the way,’ if He gave no
facility to those who wish to come to the Father. And how could He be a
light, without lightening men, without illuminating the eye of their
soul to understand both Himself and the transcendent Light?”
Well, if he were here enumerating some arguments from his own head,
that evade the understanding of the hearers by their subtlety, there
would perhaps be a possibility of being deceived by the
ingenuity of the argument, as his underlying thought frequently escapes
the reader’s notice. But since he alleges the Divine words, of
course no one blames those who believe that their inspired teaching is
the common property of all. “Since then,” he says,
“the Lord was named ‘a door,’ it follows from hence
that the essence of God may be comprehended by man.” But the
Gospel does not admit of this meaning. Let us hear the Divine utterance
itself. “I am the door,” Christ says; “by Me if any
man enter in he shall be saved, and shall go in and out and find
pasture926
.” Which then of these is the knowledge
of the essence? For as several things are here said, and each of them
has its own special meaning, it is impossible to refer them all to the
idea of the essence, lest the Deity should be thought to be compounded
of different elements; and yet it is not easy to find which of the
phrases just quoted can most properly be applied to that subject. The
Lord is “the door,” “By Me,” He says, “if
any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out and shall
find pasture.” Are we to say927
| 927 Reading εἴπωμεν, for which Oehler’s text substitutes εἴπομεν |
“entrance” of which he speaks in place of the essence of
God, or “salvation” of those that enter in, or “going
out,” or “pasture,” or
“finding”?—for each of these is peculiar in its
significance, and does not agree in meaning with the rest. For to get
within appears obviously contrary to “going out,” and so
with the other phrases. For “pasture,” in its proper
meaning, is one thing, and “finding” another thing distinct
from it. Which, then, of these is the essence of the Father supposed to
be? For assuredly one cannot, by uttering all these phrases that
disagree one with another in signification, intend to indicate by
incompatible terms that Essence which is simple and uncompounded. And
how can the word hold good, “No man hath seen God at any time928
” and, “Whom no man hath seen nor
can see929
” and, “There shall no man see the
face of the Lord and live930
” if to be
inside the door, or outside, or the finding pasture, denote the essence
of the Father? For truly He is at the same time a “door of
encompassing931
” and a “house of defence932
” as David calls Him, and through
Himself He receives them that enter, and in Himself He saves those who
have come within, and again by Himself He leads them forth to the
pasture of virtues, and becomes all things to them that are in the way
of salvation, that so He may make Himself that which the needs of each
demand,—both way, and guide, and “door of
encompassing,” and “house of defence,” and
“water of comfort933
” and
“green pasture934
” which in the
Gospel He calls “pasture”: but our new divine says that the
Lord has been called “the door” because of the knowledge of
the essence of the Father. Why then does he not force into the same
significance the titles, “Rock,” and “Stone,”
and “Fountain,” and “Tree,” and the rest, that
so he might obtain evidence for his own theory by the multitude of
strange testimonies, as he is well able to apply to each of these the
same account which he has given of the Way, the Door, and the Light?
But, as I am so taught by the inspired Scripture, I boldly affirm that
He Who is above every name has for us many names, receiving them in
accordance with the variety of His gracious dealings with us935
| 935 This
point has been already discussed by S. Gregory in the second and third
books. See above. pp. 119, 149. It is also dealt with in the short
treatise “On the Faith,” addressed to Simplicius, which
will be found in this volume. | , being called the Light when He disperses the
gloom of ignorance, and the Life when He grants the boon of
immortality, and the Way when He guides us from error to the truth; so
also He is termed a “tower of strength936
,” and a “city of encompassing937
,” and a fountain, and a rock, and a
vine, and a physician, and resurrection, and all the like, with
reference to us, imparting Himself under various aspects by virtue of
His benefits to us-ward. But those who are keen-sighted beyond human
power, who see the incomprehensible, but overlook what may be
comprehended, when they use such titles to expound the essences, are
positive that they not only see, but measure Him Whom no man hath seen
nor can see, but do not with the eye of their soul discern the Faith,
which is the only thing within the compass of our observation, valuing
before this the knowledge which they obtain from ratiocination. Just so
I have heard the sacred record laying blame upon the sons of Benjamin
who did not regard the law, but could shoot within a hair’s
breadth938
, wherein, methinks, the word exhibited their
eager pursuit of an idle object, that they were far-darting and
dexterous aimers at things that were useless and unsubstantial, but
ignorant and regardless of what was manifestly for their benefit. For
after what I have quoted, the history goes on to relate what befel
them, how, when they had run madly after the iniquity of Sodom, and the
people of Israel had taken up arms against them in full force, they
were utterly destroyed. And it seems to me to be a kindly thought to
warn young archers not to wish to shoot within a hair’s-breadth,
while they have no eyes for the door of the faith, but rather to drop
their idle labour about the incomprehensible, and not to lose the gain
that is ready to their hand, which is found by faith alone.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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