"And the Lord spoke again unto Ahaz, saying, Ask thee a sign, &c.:" and "Behold! a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call His name Emmanuel&c."
1. Nurslings of purity and disciples of chastity, raise we our hymn to the Virgin-born Godhyperlink with lips full of purity. Deemedhyperlink worthy to partake of the flesh of the Spiritual Lambhyperlink , let us take the head together with the feethyperlink , the Deity being understood as the head, and the Manhood taken as the feet. Hearers of the Holy Gospels, let us listen to John the Divinehyperlink . For he who said, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was Godhyperlink , went on to say, and the Word was made fleshhyperlink . For neither is it holy to worship the mere man, nor religious to say that He is God only without the Manhood. For if Christ is God, as indeed He is, but took not human nature upon Him, we are strangers to salvation. Let us then worship Him as God, but believe that He also was made Man. For neither is there any profit in calling Him man without Godhead nor any salvation in refusing to confess the Manhood together with the Godhead. Let us confess the presence of Him who is both King and Physician. For Jesus the King when about to become our Physician, girded Himself with the linen of humanityhyperlink , and healed that which was sick. The perfect Teacher of babeshyperlink became a babe among babes, that He might give wisdom to the foolish. The Bread of heaven came down on earthhyperlink that He might feed the hungry.
2. But the sons of the Jews by setting at nought Him that came, and looking for him who cometh in wickedness, rejected the true Messiah, and wait for the deceiver, themselves deceived; herein also the Saviour being found true, who said, I am come in My Father's name, and ye receive Me not: but if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receivehyperlink . It is well also to put a question to the Jews. Is the Prophet Esaias, who saith that Emmanuel shall be born of a virgin, true or falsehyperlink ? For if they charge him with falsehood, no wonder: for their custom is not only to charge with falsehood, but also to stone the Prophets. But if the Prophet is true, point to the Emmanuel, and say, Whether is He who is to come, for whom ye are looking, to be born of a virgin or not? For if He is not to be born of a virgin, ye accuse the Prophet of falsehood: but if in Him that is to come ye expect this, why do ye reject that which has come to pass already?
3. Let the Jews, then, be led astray, since they so will: but let the Church of God be glorified. For we receive God the Word made Man in truth, not, as heretics sayhyperlink , of the will of man and woman, but of The Virgin and the Holy Ghosthyperlink according to the Gospel, Made Manhyperlink , not in seeming but in truth. And that He was truly Man made, of the Virgin, wait for the proper time of instruction in this Lecture, and thou shalt receive the proofshyperlink : for the error of the heretics is manifold. And some have said that He has not been born at all of a virginhyperlink : others that He has been born, not of a virgin, but of a wife dwelling with a husband. Others say that the Christ is not God made Man, but a man made Godhyperlink . For they dared to say that not He-the pre-existent Word-was made Man; but a certain man was by advancement crowned.
4. But remember thou what was said yesterday concerning His Godhead. Believe that He the Only-begotten Son of God-He Himself was again begotten of a Virgin. Believe the Evangelist John when he says, And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among ushyperlink . For the Word is eternal, Begotten of the Father Before All Worlds: but the flesh He took on Him recently for our sake. Many contradict this, and say: "What cause was there so great, for God to come down into humanity? And, is it at all God's nature to hold intercourse with men? And, is it possible for a virgin to bear, without man?" Since then there is much controversy, and the battle has many forms, come, let us by the grace of Christ, and the prayers of those who are present, resolve each question.
5. And first let us inquire for what cause Jesus came down. Now mind not my argumentations, for perhaps thou mayest be misled but unless thou receive testimony of the Prophets on each matter, believe not what I say: unless thou learn from the Holy Scriptures concerning the Virgin, and the place, the time, and the manner, receive not testimony from manhyperlink . For one who at present thus teaches may possibly be suspected: but what man of sense will suspect one that prophesied a thousand and more years beforehand? If then thou seekest the cause of Christ's coming, go back to the first book of the Scriptures. In six days God made the world: but the world was for man. The sun however resplendent with bright beams, yet was made to give light to man, yea, and all living creatures were formed to serve us: herbs and trees were created for our enjoyment. All the works of creation were good, but none of these was an image of God, save man only. The sun was formed by a mere command, but man by God's hands: Let us make man after our image, and after our likenesshyperlink . A wooden image of an earthly king is held in honour; how much more a rational image of God?
But when this the greatest of the works of creation was disporting himself in Paradise, the envy of the Devil cast him out. The enemy was rejoicing over the fall of him whom he had envied: wouldest thou have had the enemy continue to rejoice? Not daring to accost the man because of his strength, he accosted as being weaker the woman, still a virgin: for it was after the expulsion from Paradise that Adam knew live his wifehyperlink .
6. Cain and Abel succeeded in the second generation of mankind: and Cain was the first murderer. Afterwards a deluge was poured abroad because of the great wickedness of men: fire came down from heaven upon the people of Sodom because of their transgression. After a time God chose out Israel: but Israel also turned aside, and the chosen race was wounded. For while Moses stood before God in the mount, the people were worshipping a calf instead of God. In the lifetime of Moses, the law-giver who had said, Thou shalt not commit adultery, a man dared to enter a place of harlotry and transgresshyperlink . After Moses, Prophets were sent to cure Israel: but in their healing office they lamented that they were not able to overcome the disease, so that one of them says, Woe is me! for the godly man is perished out of the earth, and there is none that doeth right among menhyperlink : and again, They are all gone out of the way, they are together became unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not onehyperlink : and again, Cursing and stealing, and adultery, and murder are poured out upon the landhyperlink . Their sons and their daughtersthey sacrificed unto devilshyperlink . They used auguries, and enchantments, and divinationshyperlink . And again, they fastened their garments with cords, and shade hangings attached to the altarhyperlink .
7. Very great was the wound of man's nature; from the feet to the had there was no soundness in it; none could apply mollifying ointment, neither oil, nor bandageshyperlink . Then bewailing and wearying themselves, the Prophets said, Who shall give salvation out of Sionhyperlink ? And again, Let Thy hand be upon the man of Thy right hand, and upon the son of man whom Thou madest strong for Thyself: so will not we go back from Theehyperlink . And another of the Prophets entreated, saying, Bow the heavens, O Lord and come downhyperlink . The wounds of man's nature pass our healing. They slew Thy Prophets, and cast down Thine altarshyperlink . The evil is irretrievable by us, and needs thee to retrieve it.
8. The Lord heard the prayer of the Prophets. The Father disregarded not the perishing of our race; He sent forth His Son, the Lord from heaven, as healer: and one of the Prophets saith, The Lord whom ye seek, cometh, and shall suddenly comehyperlink . Whither? The Lord shall come to His own temple, where ye stoned Him. Then another of the Prophets, on hearing this, saith to him: In speaking of the salvation of God, speakest thou quietly? In preaching the good tidings of God's coming for salvation, speakest thou in secret? O thou that bringest good tidings to Zion, get thee up into the high mountain. Speak to the cities of Judah. What am I to speak? Behold our God! Behold! the Lord cometh with strengthhyperlink ! Again the Lord Himself saith, Behold! I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith the Lord. And many nations shall flee unto the Lordhyperlink . The Israelites rejected salvation through Me: I come to gather all nations and tongueshyperlink . For He came to His own and His own received Him nothyperlink . Thou comest and what dost Thou bestow on the nations? I come to gather all nations, and I will leave on them a signhyperlink . For from My conflict upon the Cross I give to each of My soldiers a royal seal to bear upon his forehead. Another also of the Prophets said, He bowed the heavens also, and came down; and darkness was under His feethyperlink . For His coming down from heaven was not known by men.
9. Afterwards Solomon hearing his father David speak these things, built a wondrous house, and foreseeing Him who was to come into it, said in astonishment, Will God in very deed dwell with men on the earthhyperlink ? Yea, saith David by anticipation in the Psalm inscribed For Solomon, wherein is this, He shall come down like rain into a fleecehyperlink : rain, because of His heavenly nature, and into a fleece, because of His humanity. For rain, coming down into a fleece, comes down noiselessly: so that the Magi, not knowing the mystery of the Nativity, say, Where is He that is born King of the Jewshyperlink ? and Herod being troubled inquired concerning Him who was born, and said, Where is the Christ to be bornhyperlink ?
10. But who is this that cometh down? He says in what follows, And with the sun He endureth, and before the moon generations of generationshyperlink . And again another of the Prophets saith, Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Sion, shout, O daughter of Jerusalem. Behold! thy King cometh unto thee, just and having salvationhyperlink . Kings are many; of which speakest thou, O Prophet? Give us a sign which other Kings have not. If thou say, A king clad in purple, the dignity of the apparel has been anticipated. If thou say, Guarded by spear-men, and sitting in a golden chariot, this also has been anticipated by others. Give us a sign peculiar to the King whose coming thou announcest. And the Prophet maketh answer and saith, Behold! thy King cometh unto thee, just, and having salvation: He is meek, and riding upon an ass and a young foal, not on a chariot. Thou hast a unique sign of the King who came. Jesus alone of kings sat upon an unyokedhyperlink foal, entering into Jerusalem with acclamations as a king. And when this King is come, what doth He? Thou also by the blood of the covenant hast sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no waterhyperlink .
11. But He might perchance even sit upon a foal: give us rather a sign, where the King that entereth shall stand. And give the sign not far from the city, that it may not be unknown to us: and give us the sign plain before our eyes, that even when in the city we may behold the place. And the Prophet again makes answer, saying: And His feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives which is before Jerusalem on the easthyperlink . Does any one standing within the city fail to behold the place?
12. We have two signs, and we desire to learn a third. Tell us what the Lord cloth when He is come. Another Prophet saith, Behold! our God, and afterwards, He will come and save us. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall hear: then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the stammerers shall be distincthyperlink . But let yet another testimony be told us. Thou sayest, O Prophet, that the Lord cometh, and doeth signs such as never were: what other clear sign tellest thou? The Lord Himself entereth into judgment with the elders of His people, and with the princes thereofhyperlink . A notable sign! The Master judged by His servants, the eiders, and submitting to it.
13. These things the Jews read, but hear not: for they have stopped the ears of their heart, that they may not hear. But let us believe in Jesus Christ, as having come in the flesh and been made Man, because we could not receive Him otherwise. For since we could not look upon or enjoy Him as He was, He became what we are, that so we might be permitted to enjoy Him. For if we cannot look full on the sun, which was made on the fourth day, could we behold God its Creatorhyperlink ? Th-Lord came down in fire on Mount Sinai, and the people could not bear it, but said to Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear; and let not God speak to us, lest we diehyperlink : and again, For who is there of all flesh that hath heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of the fire, and shall livehyperlink ? If to hear the voice of God speaking is a cause of death, how shall not the sight of God Himself bring death? And what wonder? Even Moses himself saith, I exceedingly fear and quakehyperlink .
14. What wouldest thou then? That He who came for our salvation should become a minister of destruction because men could not bear Him? or that He should suit His grace to our measure? Daniel could not bear the vision of an Angel, and were thou capable of the sight of the Lord of Angels? Gabriel appeared, and Daniel fell down: and of what nature or in what guise was he that appeared? His countenance was like lightninghyperlink ; not like the sun: and his eyes as lamps of fire, not as a furnace of fire: and the voice of his words as the voice of a multitude, not as the voice of twelve legions of angels; nevertheless the Prophet fell down. And the Angel cometh unto him, saying, Fear not, Daniel, stand upright: be of good courage, thy words are heardhyperlink . And Daniel says, I stood up tremblinghyperlink : and not even so did he make answer, until the likeness of a man's hand touched him. And when he that appeared was changed into the appearance of a man, then Daniel spoke: and what saith he? O my Lord, at the vision of Thee my inward parts were turned within me, and no strength remaineth in me, neither is there breath left in mehyperlink . If an Angel appearing took away the Prophet's voice and strength, would the appearance of God have allowed him to breathe? And until there touched me as it were a vision of a manhyperlink , saith the Scripture, Daniel took not courage. So then after trial shewn of our weakness, the Lord assumed that which man required: for since man required to hear from one of like countenance, the Saviour took on Him the nature of like affections, that men might be the more easily instructed.
15. Learn also another cause. Christ came that He might be baptized, and might sanctify Baptism: He came that He might work wonders, walking upon the waters of the sea. Since then before His appearance in flesh, the sea saw Him and fled, and Jordan was turned backhyperlink , the Lord took to Himself His body, that the sea might endure the sight, and Jordan receive Him without fear. This then is one cause; but there is also a second. Through Eve yet virgin came death; through a virgin, or rather from a virgin, must the Life appear: that as the serpent beguiled the one, so to the other Gabriel might bring good tidingshyperlink . Men forsook God, and made carved images of men. Since therefore an image of man was falsely worshipped as God, God became truly Man, that the falsehood might be done away. The Devil had used the flesh as an instrument against us; and Paul knowing this, saith, But l see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivityhyperlink , and the rest. By the very same weapons, therefore, wherewith the Devil used to vanquish us, have we been saved. The Lord took on Him from us our likeness, that He might save man's nature: He took our likeness, that He might give greater grace to that which lacked; that sinful humanity might become partaker of God. For where sin abounded, grace did much more aboundhyperlink . It behoved the Lord to suffer for us; but if the Devil had known Him, he would not have dared to approach Him. For had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of Gloryhyperlink . His body therefore was made a bait to death that the dragonhyperlink , hoping to devour it, might disgorge those also who had been already devouredhyperlink . For Death prevailed and devoured; and again, God wiped away every tear from off every facehyperlink .
16. Was it without reason that Christ was made Man? Are our teachings ingenious phrases and human subtleties? Are not the Holy Scriptures our salvation? Are not the predictions of the Prophets? Keep then, I pray thee, this deposithyperlink undisturbed, and let none remove thee: believe that God became Man. But though it has been proved possible for Him to be made Man, yet if the Jews still disbelieve, let us hold this forth to them What strange thing do we announce in saying that God was made Man, when yourselves say that Abraham received the Lord as a guesthyperlink ? What strange thing do we announce, when Jacob says, For I have seen God face to face, and my life is preservedhyperlink ? The Lord, who ate with Abraham, ate also with us. What strange thing then do we announce? Nay more, we produce two witnesses, those who stood before Lord on Mount Sinai: Moses was in a clift of the rockhyperlink , and Elias was once in a clift of the rockhyperlink : they being present with Him at His Transfiguration on Mount Tabor, spoke to the Disciples of His decease which fire should accomplish at Jerusalemhyperlink . But, as I said before, it has been proved possible for Him to be made man: and the rest of the proofs may be left for the studious to collect.
17. My statement, however, promised to declarehyperlink also the time of the Saviour's and the place: and I must not go away convicted of falsehood, but rather send away the Church's noviceshyperlink well assured. Let us therefore inquire the time when our Lord came: because His coming is recent, and is disputed: and because Christ Jesus is the same yesterday, and to-day, and for everhyperlink . Moses then, the prophet, saith, A Prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto mehyperlink : but let that "like unto me" be reserved awhile to be examined in its proper placehyperlink . But when cometh this Prophet that is expected? Recur, he says, to what has been written by me: examine carefully Jacob's prophecy addressed to Judah: Judah, thee may thy brethren praise, and afterwards, not to quote the whole, A prince shall not fail out of Judah, nor a ruler from his loins, until He come, for whom it is reserved; and He is the expectation, not of the Jews but of the Gentileshyperlink . He gave, therefore, as a sign of Christ's advent the cessation of the Jewish rule. If they are not now under the Romans, the Christ is not yet come: if they still have a prince of the race of Judah and of Davidhyperlink , he is not yet come that was expected. For I am ashamed to tell of their recent doings concerning those who are now called Patriarchshyperlink among them, and what their descent is, and who their mother: but I leave it to those who know. But He that cometh as the expectation of the Gentiles, what further sign then hath He? He says next, Binding his foal unto the vinehyperlink . Thou seest that foal which was clearly announced by Zachariahhyperlink .
18. But again thou askest yet another testimony of the time. The Lord said unto Me, Thou art My Son; this day have I begotten Thee: and a few words further on, Thou shalt rule them with a rod of ironhyperlink . I have said before that the kingdom of the Romans is clearly called a rod of iron; but what is wanting concerning this let us further call to mind out of Daniel. For in relating and interpreting to Nebuchadnezzar the image of the statue, he tells also his whole vision concerning it: and that a stone cut out of a mountain without hands, that is, not set up by human contrivance, should overpower the whole world: and he speaks most clearly thus; And in the days ofthose kingdoms the God of heaven shall set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed, and His kingdom shall not be left to another peoplehyperlink .
19. But we seek still more clearly the proof of the time of His coming. For man being hard to persuade, unless he gets the very years fear a clear calculation, does not believe what is stated. What then is the season, and what the manner of the time? It is when, on the failure of the kings descended from Judah, Herod a foreigner succeeds to the kingdom? The Angel, therefore, who converses with Daniel says, and do thou now mark the words, And thou shalt know and understand: From the going forth of the word for making answerhyperlink , and for the building of Jerusalem, until Messiah the Prince are seven weeks and three score and two weekshyperlink . Now three score and nine weeks of years contain four hundred and eighty-three years. He said, therefore, that after the building of Jerusalem, four hundred and eighty-three years having passed, and the rulers having failed, then cometh a certain king of another race, in whose time the Christ is to be born. Now Darius the Medehyperlink built the city in the sixth year of his own reign, and first year of the 66th Olympiad according to the Greeks. Olympiad is the name among the Greeks of the games celebrated after four years, because of the day which in every four years of the sun's courses is made up of the threehyperlink (supernumerary) hours in each year. And Herod is king in the 186th Olympiad, in the 4th year thereof. Now from the 66th to the 186th Olympiad there are 120 Olympiads intervening, and a little over. So then the 120 Olympiads make up 480 years: for the other three years remaining are perhaps taken up in the interval between the first and fourth years. And there thou hast the proof according to the Scripture which saith, From the going forth of the word that Jerusalem be restored and built until Messiah the Prince are seven weeks and sixty-two weeks. Of the times, therefore, thou hast for the present this proof, although there are also other different interpretations concerning the aforesaid weeks of years in Daniel.
Footnotes
1 On Christ's descent into Hades compare iv. 11: xiv. 19; and Eusebius (Dem. Evang. x. 50), and Athanasius (c. Arian. Or. iii. 56): "The Lord, at Whom the keepers of hell's gates shuddered and set open hell. The Lord, Whom death as a dragon flees."
2 The Present Participle (kataciou/menoi) means that the Candidates for Baptism were already on the way to be admitted to Holy Communion. Compare Cat. i. 1, where the same Candidates are addressed as "partakers of the mysteries of Christ, as yet by calling only, but ere long by grace also."
3 Aubertin remarks on this passage that "this spiritual Lamb, consisting of head and feet, can be received only by the spiritual mouth." this explanation, however true in itself, cannot fairly be held to express fully the meaning of Cyril. See the section of the Introduction referred to in the Index, "Eucharist."
4 Ex. xii. 9: the head with the feet. The same figurative interpretation is given by Eusebius (Eccl. Hist. I. ii. § 1): "In Christ thee is a twofold nature; and the one - in so far as He is thought of as God - resembles the head of the body, while the other may be compared with the feet, - in so far as He, for the sake of our salvation, put on human nature with the same passions as our own."
5 0Iwa/nnh tw= Qeolo/gw. The title is given to Moses by Philo Judaeus (Vita Mos. III. § 11), to Prophets by Eusebius (Demostr. Evang.. ii. 9), to Apostles by Athanasius (de Incarn. § 10: tw=n au'tou= tou= Swth=roj qeolo/gwn a'ndrw=n ), and especially to St. John, because the chief purpose of his Gospel was to set forth the Deity of Christ. See note on Revel. i. 1, in Speaker's Commentary, and Suicer, Thesaurus, Qeolo/goj.
6 John i. 1.
7 Ib. i. 14.
8 Ib. xiii. 4.
9 Rom ii. 20.
10 John vi. 32, 33, 50.
11 Ib. v. 43. Cf. 2 John 7.
12 Isa. vii. 14.
13 Carpocrates, Cerinthus, the Ebionites, &c. See Irenaeus (Haer I. xxv. §§ 1, 2).
14 Dr. Swainson (Creeds, Chap. vii. § 7), speaking of the Creed of Cyril of Jerusalem, says that "the words sarkwqe/nta kai\ e'nanqrwph/santa are found in it, but no reference whatever is made to the birth from the Virgin." The present passage, and that in Cat. iv. § 9, "begotten of the Holy Virgin and the Holy Ghost," seems to shew that such a clause formed part of the Creed which Cyril was expounding. The genuineness of both passages is attested by all the Mss. and Dr. Swainson was mistaken in charging the Editors of the Oxford Translation with having omitted to "mention that Touttée was himself doubtful as to the words within the brackets" [e'k Parqe/non kai\ Pneu/matoj 9agi/ou]. The brackets are added by Dr. Swainson himself, and Touttée had no doubt of the genuineness of the words: on the contrary he believed them to be part of the Creed itself. His note is as follows: "The words of the Virgin and Holy Ghost I have caused to be printed in larger letters as if taken from the Symbol: although they are wanting in the Title of this Lecture and in § 13, where the third Article of the Creed is referred to. But they are read in nearly all the Latin and Greek Symbols, and are referred to in Cat. iv. § 9."
15 e'nanqrwph/santa. The word occurs in the true Nicene formula, where, as Dr. Swainson thinks, it is "scarcely ambiguous," "it is defective." Both the Verb and the Substantive e'nanqrw/phoij are constantly used by Athanasius to denote the Incarnation in a perfectly general way, without any indication of ambiguity or defect. In the Creed proposed by Eusebius of Caesarea instead of e'nanqrwph/santa we find e'nqrw/poij politeusa/menon; and in the Expositio Fidei ascribed to Athanasius, but of somewhat doubtful authenticity, the Incarnation is described thus e'k th=j a'xra/ntou parqe/nou Mari/aj to\n h 9me/teron a'nei/lhqen a!nqrwponCristo\n 0Ihsou=n. In the Apollinarian controversy the attempt was made to interpret e'nhnqrw/phsen as meaning not that "He became Man," but that "He assumed a man," i.e. that "the man was first formed and then assumed" (Gregory, Epsit. ad Cledon, quoted by Swainson, p. 83), or else merely that "He dwelt among men." But the context of the passages in which Cyril uses the word (iv. 9; xii. 3) clearly shews that he employed it in the perfectly orthodox sense which it has in the Nicene Formula and in Athanasius.
16 See below, § 21 ff. Cyril means that the direct proof cannot be given at once, because there are many errors to be set aside first. Compare the end of § 4.
17 See Cat. iv. 9, notes 3, 4.
18 Athanasius (contra Arian. Or. I. § 9) quotes as from Arius, Thalia, "Christ is not Very God, but He, as others, was mad God (e'qeopoih/qh) by participation." The Eusebians in the Confession of Faith called Macrostichos (A.D. 344) condemned this view as being held by the disciples of Paul of Samosata, "who say that after the incarnation He was by advance made God, from being made by nature a mere man." The orthodox use of the word Qeopoiei=sqai is seen in Athan. de Incarnat § 54: au'to\j e'nhnqrw/phsen, i!na h 9mei!j qeopoihQw=men.
19 John i. 14.
20 John v. 34.
21 Gen. i. 26.
22 Ib. iv. 1.
23 Numb. xxv. 6.
24 Micah vii. 2.
25 Ps. xiv. 3. Rom. iii. 12.
26 Hosea iv. 2.
27 Ps. cvi. 37.
28 2 Chron. xxxiii. 6.
29 Amos ii. 8: they lay themselves down beside every altar upon clothes taken in pledge (R. V.).
30 Isa. i. 6.
31 Ps. xiv. 7.
32 Ib. lxxx. 17, 18.
33 Ps. cxliv. 5.
34 1 Kings xix. 10.
35 Mal. iii. 1.
36 Isa. xl. 9, 10.
37 Zech. ii. 10, 11.
38 Isa. lxvi. 18.
39 John i. 11.
40 Isa. lxvi. 19, a passage interpreted by the Fathers of the sign of the Cross. Eusebius (Demonstr. Evang. vi. 25): "Who, on seeing that all who have believed in Christ use as a seal the symbol of salvation, would not reasonably be astonished at hearing the Lord's saying of old time, And they shall come, and see My glory, and I will leave a sign upon them?" Cf. Cat. iv. 14; xiii. 36.
41 Ps. xviii. 9. The "feet," interpreted allegorically, mean the Humanity, and the "darkness" they mystery of the Incarnation. See Euseb. Demonstr. Evang. vi. 1, § 2.
42 1 Kings viii. 27; 2 Chron. vi 18.
43 Ps. lxxii. Title, and v. 6.
44 Matt. ii. 2.
45 Ib. ii. 4.
46 Ps. lxxii. 5.
47 Zech. ix. 9.
48 a'sagh=, a rare word, formed from sagh, "harness."
49 Zech. ix. 11.
50 Zech. xiv. 4. "There is an excellent view from the city of the Mount of Olives which stands up over against it, especially form the height of Golgotha where Cyril was delivering his Lectures" (Cleopas).
51 Isa. xxxv. 4-6.
52 Ib. iii. 14.
53 Cf. Epist. Barnab. § 13: "For had He not come in flesh, how could we men have been safe in beholding Him? For in beholding the Sun, which being the work of His hands shall cease to be, men have no strength to fix their eyes upon him."
54 Exod. xx. 19.
55 Deut. v. 26.
56 Heb. xii. 21.
57 Dan. x. 6.
58 Dan. x. 12.
59 Ib. x. 11.
60 Ib. x. 16, 17.
61 Ib. x. 18.
62 Ps. cxiv. 3.
63 Justin M. (Tryph. § 100) : "Eve, when she was a virgin and undefiled, having conceived the word of the serpent, brought forth disobedience and death: but the Virgin Mary received faith and joy, when the Angel Gabriel announced the good tidings to her."
64 Rom. vii. 23.
65 Ib. v. 20.
66 1 Cor. ii. 8.
67 Death is here called "the dragon," as in xiv. 17 he is called "the invisible whale," in allusion to the case of Jonah.
68 Isa. xxv. 8. The first clasue, He hath swallowed up death for ever (R. V.), is mistranslated in the Septuagint.
69 tau/thn th\n parakataqhkataqhkhn. 1 Tim. vi. 20; 2 Tim. i. 14.
70 Gen. xviii. 1 ff.
71 Ib. xxxii. 30.
72 Ex. xxxiii. 22.
73 1 Kings xix. 8.
74 Luke ix. 30, 31. On the tradition that Mt. Tabor was the place of the Transfiguration, accepted by S. Jerome and other Fathers, compare Lightfoot (Hor. Hebr. in Marc. ix. 2).
75 Cat. xii. 5. For eu 9rei=n the recent Editors with Mss. A.r.C. and Grodecq. have neh/ludaj:
76 Heb. xiii. 8. Cyril is supposed to refer to two objections to the Incarnation one founded on the lateness of Christ's coming, the other on the Divine immutability. But the meaning of the passage is not clear, and the construction of the second sentence is incomplete.
77 Deut. xviii. 15; Acts vii. 37.
78 e'cetado/menon, a clear instance of the Gerundive, or quasi-Future, sense of the Present Participle, common in Cyril. "This intention is not fulfilled in the sequel of these Lectures" (R. W. C.).
79 Gen. xlix. 8, 10.
80 According to Cyril (§ 19, below) and other Fathers, the continuance of Jewish rulers ceased on the accession of Herod an Idumean. Compare Justin M. (Tryphon. §§ 52, 120): Eusebius (Demonstr. Evang. VIII. 1). On modern interpretations of the passage see Delitzsch (New Commentary on Genesis), , Briggs (Messianic Prophecy, p. 93), Cheyne (Isaiah, Vol. II. p. 189), Driver (Journal of Philology, No. 27, 1885).
81 A full and interesting account of the Jewish Patriarchs of the West established at Tiberias form the time of Antoninus Pius till the close of the 4th century is contained in Dean Milman's History of the Jews, Vol. III. Compare Epiphanius (Hoeres. xxx. 0/00 3 ff.).
82 Gen. xlix. 11.
83 Gen. xlix. 11.
84 Zechar. ix. 9, quoted above, § 10.
85 Ps. ii. 7, 9. The passage is interpreted by Cyril (xi. 5) of the eternal generation of the Son: here it refers to His Incarnation, or perhaps is meant only to identify the Son of God with him who "shall rule with a rod of iron."
86 Dan. ii. 44.
87 Sep. tou= a'pokriqh=nai, a frequent meaning f the Hebrew by#$% h/l;
, by which the Greek Translators understood the answer of Darius to the Letter of Tatnai and his companions. Both A. V. and R. V. render the word "to restore."
88 Dan. ix. 25.
89 Darius the Mede (Dan. v. 31) succeeded Belshazzar as king in Babylon B.C. 538, the date assigned in Dan. ix. 1 to the prophecy of the 70 years. But "Darius the king" in whose 6th year (B.C. 516) the Temple was finished (Ezra vi. 15) was Darius Hystaspis, king of Persia, whom Cyril here confounds with "Darius the Mede." He also fails to distinguish the rebuilding of the Temple, B.C. 516, from the rebuilding of the City by permission of Artaxerxes Longimanus, B.C. 444 (Nehemiah, ii. 1).
90 In speaking of three supernumeracy hours in the year instead of nearly six, Cyril seems to follow the division of the diurnal period into twelve parts, not twenty-four. The Jews had derived this division either from the Egyptians, or more probably from the Babylonians: see Herodotus, II. 109.
91 Micah v. 2, quoted also in Cat. xi. 20, where see note.
