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| Chapter XXIV. He supports this doctrine by the authority of the blessed Hilary.
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Chapter XXIV.
He supports this doctrine by the authority of the
blessed Hilary.
But it is quite time to
finish the book, aye and the whole work, if I may however add the
sayings of a few saintly men and illustrious priests, to support by the
faith of the present day what we have already proved by the authority
of holy Scripture. Hilary, a man endowed with all virtues and graces,
and famous for his life as well as for his eloquence, who also, as a
teacher of the churches and a priest, advanced not only by his own
merits but also by the progress of others, and remained so steadfast
during the storms of persecution that through the fortitude of his
unconquered faith he attained the dignity of being a
Confessor,2661
| 2661 S. Hilary of
Poictiers (ob. a.d. 368). The reference
is of course to his banishment to Phrygia by the Emperor Constantius in
356, because of his resolute defense of the Nicene faith against
Arianism. | —he
testifies in the First book on the faith that the Lord Jesus Christ,
Very God of Very God, was both begotten before the world, and
afterwards born as man. Again in the Second book: “One only
Begotten God grew in the womb of the holy Virgin into the form of a
human body; He who contains all things, and in whose power all things
are, is brought forth according to the law of human birth.” Again
in the same book: “An angel is witness that He who is born is God
with us.” Again in the Tenth book: “We have taught the
mystery of God born as man by the birth from the Virgin.” Again
in the same book: “For when God was born as man, He was not born
on purpose not to remain God.”2662
| 2662 De Trinitate II.
xxv., xxvii.; X. vii. | Again in
the same writer’s preface to his exposition of the gospel
according to Matthew:2663
| 2663 This preface to
Hilary’s work on S. Matthew is now lost, though the commentary
itself still exists. See Opera S. Hilarii Pictav: (Verona, 1730). Vol.
i. 658. | “For to
begin with it was needful for us that for our sakes the only Begotten
God should be known to be born as man.” Again in what follows:
“that besides being God, He should be born as man, which He was
not yet.” Again in the same place: “Then this third matter
was fitting: that as God was born as man in the world” etc.: Here
are a few passages out of any number. But still you see even from these
which we have quoted, how clearly and plainly he asserts that God was
born of Mary. And where then is this saying of yours: “The
creature could not bring forth the Creator: and that which is born of
the flesh, is flesh.” It would take too long to quote passages
bearing on this point from each separate writer. I must try to
enumerate them rather than to explain them: for they will sufficiently
explain themselves.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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