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| Chapter XXXIV
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Chapter
XXXIV.
But they ask for proof of this presence of the Deity when invoked for
the sanctification of the baptismal process2022
.
Let the person who requires this evidence recall to mind the result of
our inquiries further back. The reasoning by which we established that
the power which was manifested to us through the flesh was really a
Divine power, is the defence of that which we now say. For when it has
been shown that He Who was manifested in the flesh, and then exhibited
His nature by the miracles which He wrought, was God, it is also at the
same time shown that He is present in that process, as often as He is
invoked. For, as of everything that exists there is some peculiarity
which indicates its nature, so truth is the distinctive peculiarity of
the Divine nature. Well, then, He has promised that He will always be
present with those that call upon Him, that He is in the midst of those
that believe, that He remains among them collectively and has special
intercourse with each one. We can no longer, then, need any other proof
of the presence of the Deity in the things that are done in Baptism,
believing as we do that He is God by reason of the miracles which He
wrought, and knowing as we do that it is the peculiarity of the Godhead
to be free from any touch of falsehood, and confidently holding as we
do that the thing promised was involved in the truthfulness of its
announcement. The invocation by prayer, then, which precedes this
Divine Dispensation constitutes an abundance of proof that what is
effected is done by God. For if in the case of that other kind of
man-formation the impulses of the parents, even though they
do not invoke the
Deity, yet by the power of God, as we have before said, mould the
embryo, and if this power is withheld their eagerness is ineffectual
and useless, how much more will the object be accomplished in that
spiritual mode of generation, where both God has promised that He will
be present in the process and, as we have believed, has put power from
Himself into the work, and, besides, our own will is bent upon that
object; supposing, that is, that the aid which comes through prayer has
at the same time been duly called in? For as they who pray God that the
sun may shine on them in no way blunt the promptitude of that which is
actually going to take place, yet no one will say that the zeal of
those who thus pray is useless on the ground that they pray God for
what must happen, in the same way they who, resting on the truthfulness
of His promise, are firmly persuaded that His grace is surely present
in those who are regenerate in this mystical Dispensation, either
themselves make2023
| 2023 ποιοῦνται
(middle), i.e. by their prayers. | an actual addition
to that grace, or at all events do not cause the existing grace to
miscarry. For that the grace is there is a matter of faith, on account
of Him Who has promised to give it being Divine; while the testimony as
to His Divinity comes through the Miracles2024
| 2024 ἡ δε
τῆς θεότητος
μαρτυρία διὰ
τῶν θαυμάτων
ἐστίν: a noteworthy
sentence. | .
Thus, then, that the Deity is present in all the baptismal process2025
| 2025 τῶν
γινομένων (cf. above) being understood. | admits of no question.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
|
