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| Chapter VI.
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Chapter VI.
After these, and several
others who have discharged for us the duties of instruction, the Son of
God himself will speak thus: “I, certainly, exalted on a lofty
seat, holding heaven in my hand, and the earth in my fist, extended
within and without, in the inside of all things which are produced, and
on the outside of all157
| 157 The divine
omnipresence is here denoted. | things that move,
inconceivable, infinite in the power158
| 158 Or, according to
another punctuation, “inconceivable in nature, infinite in
power.” | of nature,
invisible to sight, inaccessible to touch, in order that I might exist
as the least of you (for the purpose of subduing the hardness of your
heart and for softening your faithlessness by sound doctrines),
condescended to be born in flesh, and, having laid aside the glory of
God, I assumed the form of a servant, so that, sharing with you in
bodily infirmity, I might in turn bring you to a participation in my
glory, through obedience to the precept of salvation. I restored health
to the sick and infirm, hearing to the deaf, sight to the blind, the
power of speech to the dumb, and the use of their feet to the lame;
that I might influence you, by heavenly signs, all the more easily to
believe in me, and in those things which I had announced, I promised
you the kingdom of heaven; I also, in order that you might have an
example of escape from punishment, placed in Paradise the robber who
acknowledged me almost at the moment of his death, that ye might follow
even the faith of him who had been thought worthy of having his sins
forgiven him. And that by my example in your behalf, ye yourselves also
might be able to suffer; I suffered for you, that no man might hesitate
to suffer for himself what God159
| 159 Clericus thinks this
expression unscriptural, and fitted to support heresy. But it may be
justified by such a passage as Acts xx. 28, if θεοῦ can be accepted as the correct
reading, which is now generally agreed upon. | had endured for man.
I showed myself after my resurrection, in order that your faith might
not be overthrown. I admonished the Jews in the person of Peter; I
preached to the Gentiles in the person of Paul; and I do not regret
doing so, for good results followed. The good have understood my work;
the faithful have perfected it; the righteous have completed it; the
merciful have consummated it: there have been a large number of
martyrs, and a large number of saints. Those to whom I thus refer were
undoubtedly in the same body and in the same world as you. Why, then,
do I find no good work in you, ye descendants of vipers? Ye have shown
no repentance for your wicked deeds, even at the very end of your
earthly course. And what does it profit that ye honor me with your
lips, when you deny me by your deeds and works? Where are now your
riches, where your honors, where your powers, and where your pleasures?
I pronounce no new sentence over you: you simply incur the judgment
which I formerly predicted.”E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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