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TOPIC: Post-Nicene Fathers Vol 07 (Other Topics in this Collection)
SUBJECT: 27.02.03 Oration II Part 2
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33. For our treatment does not correspond with virtue and vice, one of which is most excellent and beneficial at all times and in all cases, and the other most evil and harmful; and, instead of one and the same of our medicines invariably proving either most wholesome or most dangerous in the same cases-be it severity or gentleness, or any of the others which we have enumerated-in some cases it proves good and useful, in others again it has the contrary effect, according, I suppose, as time and circumstance and the disposition of the patient admit. Now to set before you the distinction between all these things, and give you a perfectly exact view of them, so that you may in brief comprehend the medical art, is quite impossible, even for one in the highest degree qualified by care and skill: but actual experience and practice are requisite to formhyperlink a medical system and a medical man.
34. This, however, I take to be generally admitted-that just as it is not safe for those who walk on a lofty tight rope to lean to either side, for even though the inclination seems slight, it has no slight consequences, but their safety depends upon their perfect balance: so in be case of one of us, if he leans to either side, whether from vice or ignorance, no slight danger of a fail into sin is incurred, both for himself and those who are led by him. But we must really walk in the King's highway,hyperlink and take care not to turn aside from it either to the right hand or to the left,hyperlink as the Proverbs say. For such is the case with our passions, and such in this matter is the task of the good shepherd, if he is to know properly the souls of his flock, and to guide them according to the methods of a pastoral care which is fight and just, and worthy of our true Shepherd.
35. In regard to the distribution of the word, to mention last the first of our duties, of that divine and exalted word, which everyone now is ready to discourse upon; if anyone else boldly undertakes it and supposes it within the power of every man's intellect, I am amazed at his intelligence, not to say his folly. To me indeed it seems no slight task, and one requiring no little spiritual power, to give in due seasonhyperlink to each his portion of the word, and to regulate with judgment the truth of our opinions, which are concerned with such subjects as the world or worlds,hyperlink matter, soul, mind, intelligent natures, better or worse, providence which holds together and guides the universe, and seems in our experience of it to be governed according to some principle, but one which is at variance with those of earth and of men.
36. Again, they are concerned with our original constitution, and final restoration, the types of the truth, the covenants, the first and second coming of Christ, His incarnation, sufferings and dissolution,hyperlink with the resurrection, the last day, the judgment and recompense, whether sad or glorious; I, to crown all, with what we are to think of the originalhyperlink and blessed Trinity. Now this involves a very great risk to those who are charged with the illuminationhyperlink of others, if they are to avoid contractinghyperlink their doctrine to a single Person, from fear of polytheism, and so leave us empty terms, if we suppose the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit to be one and the same Person only: or, on the other hand, severing It into three, either foreign and diverse, or disordered and unprincipled, and, so to say, opposed divinities, thus falling from the opposite side into an equally dangerous error: like some distorted plant if bent far back in the opposite direction.
37. For, amid the three infirmities in regard to theology, atheism, Judaism, and polytheism, one of which is patronised by Sabellius the Libyan, another by Arius of Alexandria, and the third by some of the ultra-orthodox among us, what is my position, can I avoid whatever in these three is noxious, and remain within the limits of piety; neither being led astray by the new analysis and synthesis into the atheismhyperlink of Sabellius, to assert not so much that all are one as that each is nothing, for things which are transferred and pass into each other cease to be that which each one of them is, of that we have an unnaturally compound deity, like those mythical creatures, the subject of a picturesque imagination: nor again, by alleging a plurality of severed natures, according to the well named madnesshyperlink of Arius, becoming involved in a Jewish poverty, and introducing envy into the divine nature, by imiting the Godhead to the Unbegotten One alone, as if afraid that our God would perish, if He were the Father of a real God of equal nature: nor again, by arraying three principles in opposition to, or in alliance with, each other, introducing the Gentile plurality of principles from which we have escaped?
38. It is necessary neither to be so devoted to the Father, as to rob Him of His Fatherhood, for whose Father would He be, if the Son were separated and estranged from Him, by being ranked with the creation, (for an alien being, or one which is combined and confounded with his father, and, for the sense is the same, throws him into confusion, is not a son); nor to be so devoted to Christ, as to neglect to preserve both His Sonship, (for whose son would He be, if His origin were not referred to the Father?) and the rank of the Father as origin, inasmuch as He is the Father and Generator; for He would be the origin of petty and Unworthy beings, or rather the term would be used in a petty and unworthy sense, if He were not the origin of Godhead and goodness, which are contemplated in the Son and the Spirit: the former being the Son and the Word, the latter the proceeding and indissoluble Spirit. For both the Unity of the Godhead must be preserved, and the Trinity of Persons confessed, each with His own property.
39. A suitable and worthy comprehension and exposition of this subject demands a discussion of greater length than the present occasion, or even our life, as I suppose, allows, and, what is more, both now and at all times, the aid of the Spirit, by Whom alone we are able to perceive, to expound, or to embrace, the truth in regard to God. For the pure alone can grasp. Him Who is pure and of the same disposition as himself; and I have now briefly dwelt upon the subject, to show how difficult it is to discuss such important questions, especially before a large audience, composed of every age and condition, and needing like an instrument of many strings, to be played upon in various ways; or to find any form of words able to edify them all, and illuminate them with the light of knowledge. For it is not only that there are three sources from which danger springs, understanding, speech, and hearing, so that failure in one, if not in all, is infallibly certain; for either the mind is not illuminated, or the language is feeble, or the hearing, not having been cleansed, fails to comprehend, and accordingly, in one or all respects, the truth must be maimed: but further, what makes the instruction of those who profess to teach any other subject so easy and acceptable-viz. the pietyhyperlink of the audience-on this subject involves difficulty and danger.
40. For having undertaken to contend on behalf of God, the Supreme Being, and of salvation, and of the primary hopehyperlink of us all, the more fervent they are in the faith, the more hostile are they to what is said, supposing that a submissive spirit indicates, not piety, but treason to the truth, and therefore they would sacrifice anything rather than their private convictions, and the accustomed doctrines in which they have been educated. I am now referring to those who are moderate and not utterly depraved in disposition, who, if they have erred in regard to the truth, have erred from piety, who have zeal, though not according to knowledge,hyperlink who will possibly be of the number of those not excessively condemned, and not beaten with many stripes,hyperlink because it is not through vice or depravity that they have failed to do the will of their Lord; and these perchance would be persuaded and forsake the pious opinion which is the cause of their hostility, if some reason either from their own minds, or from others, were to take hold of them, and at a critical moment, like iron from flint, strike fire from a mind which is pregnant and worthy of the light, for thus a little spark would quickly kindle the torch of truth within it.
41. But what is to be said of those who, from vain glory or arrogance, speak unrighteousness against the most High,hyperlink arming themselves with the insolence of Jannes and Jambres,hyperlink not against Moses, but against the truth, and rising in opposition to sound doctrine? Or of the third class, who through ignorance and, its consequence, temerity, rush headlong against every form of doctrine in swinish fashion, and trample under foot the fair pearlshyperlink of the truth?
42. What again of those who come with no private idea, or form of words, better or worse, in regard to God, but listen to all kinds of doctrines and teachers, with the intention of selecting from all what is best and safest, in reliance upon no better judges of the truth than themselves? They are, in consequence, borne and turned about hither and thither by one plausible idea after another, and, after being deluged and trodden down by all kinds of doctrine,hyperlink and having rung the changes on a long succession of teachers and formul, which they throw to the winds as readily as dust, their ears and minds at last are wearied out, and, O what folly! they become equally disgusted with all forms of doctrine, and assume the wretched character of deriding and despising our faith as unstable and unsound; passing in their ignorance from the teachers to the doctrine: as if anyone whose eyes were diseased, or whose ears had been injured, were to complain of the sun for being dim and not shining, or of sounds for being inharmonious and feeble.
43. Accordingly, to impress the truth upon a soul when it is still fresh, like wax not yet subjected to the seal, is an easier task than inscribing pious doctrine on the top of inscriptions-I mean wrong doctrines and dogmashyperlink -with the result that the former are confused and thrown into disorder by the latter. It is better indeed to tread a road which is smooth and well trodden than one which is untrodden and rough, or to plough land which has often been cleft and broken up by the plough: but a soul to be written upon should be free from the inscription of harmful doctrines, or the deeply cut marks of vice: otherwise the pious inscriber would have a twofold task, the erasure of the former impressions and the substitution of others which are more excellent, and more worthy to abide. So numerous are they whose wickedness is shown, not only by yielding to their passions, but even by their utterances, and so numerous the forms and characters of wickedness, and so considerable the task of one who has been intrusted with this office of educating and taking charge of souls. Indeed I have omitted the majority of the details, lest my speech should be unnecessarily burdensome.
44. If anyone were to undertake to tame and train an animal of many forms and shapes, compounded of many animals of various sizes and degrees of tameness and wildness, his principal task, involving a considerable struggle, would be the government of so extraordinary and heterogeneous a nature, since each of the animals of which it is compounded would, according to its nature or habit, be differently affected with joy, pleasure or dislike, by the same words, or food, or stroking with the hand, or whistling, or other modes of treatment. And what must the master of such an animal do, but show himself manifold and various in his knowledge, and apply to each a treatment suitable for it, so as successfully to lead and preserve the beast? And since the common body of the church is composed of many different characters and minds, like a single animal compounded of discordant parts, it is absolutely necessary that its ruler should be at once simple in his uprightness in all respects, and as far as possible manifold and varied in his treatment of individuals, and in dealing with all in an appropriate and suitable manner.
45. For some need to be fed with the milkhyperlink of the most simple and elementary doctrines, viz., those who are in habit babes and, so to say, new-made, and unable to bear the manly food of the word: nay, if it were presented to them beyond their strength, they would probably be overwhelmed and oppressed, owing to the inability of their mind, as is the case with our material bodies, to digest and appropriate what is offered to it, and so would lose even their original power. Others require the wisdom which is spoken among the perfect,hyperlink and the higher and more solid food, since their senses have been sufficiently exercised to discernhyperlink truth and falsehood, and if they were made to drink milk, and fed on the vegetable diet of invalids,hyperlink they would be annoyed. And with good reason, for they would not be strengthenedhyperlink according to Christ, nor make that laudable increase, which the Word produces in one who is rightly feel, by making him a perfect man, and bringing him to the measure of spiritual stature.hyperlink
46. And who is sufficient for these things? For we are not as the many, able to corrupthyperlink the word of truth, and mix the wine,hyperlink which maketh glad the heart of man,hyperlink with water, mix, that is, our doctrine with what is common and cheap, and debased, and stale, and tasteless, in order to turn the adulteration to our profit, and accommodate ourselves to those who meet us, and curry favor with everyone, becoming ventriloquistshyperlink and chatterers, who serve their own pleasures by words uttered from the earth, and sinking into the earth, and, to gain the special good will of the multitude, injuring in the highest degree, nay, ruining ourselves, and shedding the innocent blood of simpler souls, which will be required at our hands.hyperlink
47. Besides, we are aware that it is better to offer our own reins to others more skilful than ourselves, than, while inexperienced, to guide the course of others, and rather to give a kindly hearing than stir an untrained tongue; and after a discussion of these points with advisers who are, I fancy, of no mean worth, and, at any rate, wish us well, we preferred to learn those canons of speech and action which we did not know, rather than undertake to teach them in our ignorance. For it is delightful to have the reasoninghyperlink of the aged come to one even until the depth of old age, able, as it is, to aid a soul new to piety. Accordingly, to undertake the training of others before being sufficiently trained oneself, and to learn, as men say, the potter's art on a wine-jar, that is, to practise ourselves in piety at the expense of others' souls seems to me to be excessive folly or excessive rashness-folly, if we are not even aware of our own ignorance; rashness, if in spite of this knowledge we venture on the task.
48. Nay, the wiser of the Hebrews tell us that there was of old among the Hebrews a most excellent and praiseworthy law,hyperlink that every age was not entrusted with the whole of Scripture, inasmuch as this would not be the more profitable course, since the whole of it is not at once intelligible to everyone, and its more recondite parts would, by their apparent meaning, do a very great injury to most people. Some portions therefore, whose exteriorhyperlink is unexceptionable, are from the first permitted and common to all; while others are only en-trusted to those who have attained their twenty-fifth year, viz., such as hide their mystical beauty under a mean-looking cloak, to be the reward of diligence and an illustrious life; flashing forth and presenting itself only to those whose mind has been purified, on the ground that this age alonehyperlink can be superior to the body, and properly rise from the letter to the spirit.
49. Among us, however, there is no boundary line between giving and receiving instruction, like the stones of old between the tribes within and beyond the Jordan: nor is a certain part entrusted to some, another to others; nor any rule for degreeshyperlink of experience; but the matter has been so disturbed and thrown into confusion, that most of us, not to say all, almost before we have lost our childish curls and lisp, before we have entered the house of God, before we know even the names of the Sacred Books, before we have learnt the character and authors of the Old and New Testaments: (for my present point is not our want of cleansing from the mire and marks of spiritual shame which our viciousness has contracted) if, I say, we have furnished ourselves with two or three expressions of pious authors, and that by hearsay, not by study; if we have had a brief experience of David, or clad ourselves properly in a cloak-let, or are wearing at least a philosopher's girdle, or have girt about us some form and appearance of piety-phew! how we take the chair and show our spirit! Samuel was holy even in his swaddling-clothes:hyperlink we are at once wise teachers, of high estimation in Divine things, the first of scribes and lawyers; we ordain ourselves men of heaven and seek to be called Rabbi by men;hyperlink the letter is nowhere, everything is to be understood spiritually, and our dreams are utter drivel, and we should be annoyed if we were not lauded to excess. This is the case with the better and more simple of us: what of those who are more spiritual and noble?hyperlink After frequently condemning us, as men of no account, they have forsaken us, and abhor fellowship with impious people such as we are.
50. Now, if we were to speak gently to one of them, advancing, as follows, step by step in argument: "Tell me, my good sir, do you call dancing anything, and flute-playing?" "Certainly," they would say. "What then of wisdom and being wise, which we venture to define as a knowledge of things divine and human?" This also they will admit. "Are then these accomplishments better than and superior to wisdom, or wisdom by far better than these?" "Better even than all things," I know well that they will say. Up to this point they are judicious. "Well, dancing and flute-playing require to be taught and learnt, a process which takes time, and much toil in the sweat of the brow, and sometimes the payment of fees, and entreaties for initiation, and long absence from home, and all else which must be done and borne for the acquisition of experience: but as for wisdom, which is chief of all things, and holds in her embrace everything which is good, so that even God himself prefers this title to all the names which He is called; are we to suppose that it is a matter of such slight consequence, and so accessible, that we need but wish, and we would be wise?" "It would be utter folly to do so." If we, or any learned and prudent man, were to say this to them, and try by degrees to cleanse them from their error, it would be sowing upon rocks,hyperlink and speaking to ears of men who will not hear:hyperlink so far are they from being even wise enough to perceive their own ignorance. And we may rightly, in my opinion, apply to them the saying of Solomon: There is an evil which I have seen under the sun,hyperlink a man wise in his own conceit;hyperlink and a still greater evil is to charge with the instruction of others a man who is not even aware of his own ignorance.
51. This is a state of mind which demands, in special degree, our tears and groans, and has often stirred my pity, from the conviction that imagination robs us in great measure of reality, and that vain glory is a great hindrance to men's attainment of virtue. To heal and stay this disease needs a Peter or Paul, those great disciples of Christ, who in addition to guidance in word and deed, received their grace,hyperlink and became all things to all men, that they might gain all.hyperlink But for other men like ourselves, it is a great thing to be rightly guided and led by those who have been charged with the correction and setting right of things such as these.
52. Since, however, I have mentioned Paul, and men like him, I will, with your permission, pass by all others who have been foremost as lawgivers, prophets, or leaders, or in any similar office-for instance, Moses, Aaron, Joshua, Elijah, Elisha, the Judges, Samuel, David, the company of Prophets, John, the Twelve Apostles, and their successors, who with many toils and labors exercised their authority, each in his own time; all these I pass by, to set forth Paul as the witness to my assertions, and for us to consider by his example how important a matter is the care of souls, and whether it requires slight attention and little judgment. But that we may recognize and perceive this, let us hear what Paul himself says of Paul.
53. I say nothing of his labours, his watchings, his sufferings in hunger and thirst, in cold and nakedness, his assailants from without, his adversaries within.hyperlink I pass over the persecutions, councils, prisons, bonds, accusers, tribunals, the daily and hourly deaths, the basket, the stonings, beatings with rods, the travelling about, the perils by land and sea, the deep, the shipwrecks, the perils of rivers, perils of robbers, perils from his countrymen, perils among false brethren, the living by his own hands, the gospel without charge,hyperlink the being a spectacle to both angels and men,hyperlink set in the midst between God and men to champion His cause,hyperlink and to unite them to Him, and make them His own peculiar people,hyperlink beside those things that are without.hyperlink For who could worthily detail these matters, the daily pressure,hyperlink the individual solicitude, the care of all the churches, the universal sympathy, and brotherly love? Did anyone stumble, Paul also was weak; did another suffer scandal, it was Paul who was on fire.
54. What of the laboriousness of his teaching? The manifold character of his ministry? His loving kindness? And on the other hand his strictness? And the combination and blending of the two; in such wise that his gentleness should not enervate, nor his severity exasperate? He gives laws for slaves and masters,hyperlink rulers and ruled,hyperlink husbands and wives,hyperlink parents and children,hyperlink marriage and celibacy,hyperlink self-discipline and indulgence,hyperlink wisdom and ignorance,hyperlink circumcision and uncircumcision,hyperlink Christ and the world, the flesh and the spirit.hyperlink On behalf of some he gives thanks, others he upbraids. Some he names his joy and crown,hyperlink others he charges with folly.hyperlink Some who hold a straight course he accompanies, sharing in their zeal; others he checks, who are going wrong. At one time he excommunicates,hyperlink at another he confirms his love;hyperlink at one time he grieves, at another rejoices; at one time he feeds with milk, at another he handles mysteries;hyperlink at one time he condescends, at another he raises to his own level; at one time he threatens a rod,hyperlink at another he offers the spirit of meekness; at one time he is haughty toward the lofty, at another lowly toward the lowly. Now he is least of the apostles,hyperlink now he offers a proof of Christ speaking in him;hyperlink now he longs for departure and is being poured forth as a libation,hyperlink now he thinks it more necessary for their sakes to abide in the flesh. For he seeks not his own interests, but those of his children,hyperlink whom he has begotten in Christ by the gospel.hyperlink This is the aim of all his spiritual authority, in everything to neglect his own in comparison with the advantage of others.
55. He glories in his infirmities and distresses. He takes pleasure in the dying of Jesus,hyperlink as if it were a kind of ornament. He is lofty in carnal things,hyperlink he rejoices in things spiritual; he is not rude in knowledge,hyperlink and claims to see in a mirror, darkly.hyperlink He is bold in spirit, and buffets his body,hyperlink throwing it as an antagonist. What is the lesson and instruction he would thus impress upon us? Not to be proud of earthly things, or puffed up by knowledge, or excite the flesh against the spirit. He fights for all, prays for all, is jealous for all, is kindled on behalf of all, whether without law, or under the law; a preacher of the Gentiles,hyperlink a patron of the Jews. He even was exceedingly bold on behalf of his brethren according to the flesh,hyperlink if I may myself be bold enough to say so, in his loving prayer that they might in his stead be brought to Christ. What magnanimity! what fervor of spirit! He imitates Christ, who became a curse for us,hyperlink who took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses;hyperlink or, to use more measured terms, he is ready, next to Christ, to suffer anything, even as one of the ungodly, for them, if only they be saved.
56. Why should I enter into detail? He lived not to himself, but to Christ and his preaching. He crucified the world to himself,hyperlink and being crucified to the world and the things which are seen, he thought all things little,hyperlink and too small to be desired; even though from Jerusalem and round about unto Illyricumhyperlink he had fully preached the Gospel, even though he had been prematurely caught up to the third heaven, and had a vision of Paradise, and had heard unspeakable words.hyperlink Such was Paul, and everyone of like spirit with him. But we fear that, in comparison with them, we may be foolish princes of Zoan,hyperlink or extortioners, who exact the fruits of the ground, or falsely bless the people:hyperlink and further make themselves happy, and confuse the way of your feet,hyperlink or mockers ruling over you, or children in authority,hyperlink immature in mind, not even having bread and clothing enough to be rulers over any;hyperlink or prophets teaching lies,hyperlink or rebellious princes,hyperlink deserving to share the reproach of their elders for the straitness of the famine,hyperlink or priests very far from speaking comfortablyhyperlink to Jerusalem, according to the reproaches and protests urged by Isaiah, who was purged by the Seraphim with a live coal.hyperlink
57. Is the undertaking then so serious and laborious to a sensitive and sad heart-a very rottenness to the boneshyperlink of a sensible man: while the danger is slight, and a fall not worth consideration? Nay the blessed Hosea inspires me with serious alarm, where he says that to us priests and rulers pertaineth the judgment,hyperlink because we have been a snare to the watchtower; and as a net spread upon Tabor, which has been firmly fixed by the hunters of men's souls, and he threatens to cut off the wicked prophets,hyperlink and devour their judges with fire, and to cease for a while from anointing a king and princes,hyperlink because they ruled for themselves, and not by Him.hyperlink
58. Hence again the divine Micah, unable to brook the building of Zion with blood, however you interpret the phrase, and of Jerusalem with iniquity, while the heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests teach for hire, and the prophets divine for money-what does he say will be the result of this? Zion shall be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem be as a lodge in a garden, and the mountain of the house be reckoned as a glade in a thicket.hyperlink He bewails also the scarcity of the upright, there being scarcely a stalk or a gleaning grape left, since both the prince asketh, and the judge curries favour,hyperlink so that his language is almost the same as the mighty David's: Save me, O Lord, for the godly man ceaseth:hyperlink and says that therefore their blessings shall fail them, as if wasted by the moth.
59. Joel again summons us to wailing, and will have the ministers of the altar lament under the presence of famine: so far is he from allowing us to revel in the misfortunes of others: and, after sanctifying a fast, calling a solemn assembly, and gathering the old men, the children, and those of tender age,hyperlink we ourselves must further haunt the temple in sackcloth and ashes,hyperlink prostrated right humbly on the ground, because the field is wasted, and the meat-offering and the drink-offering is cut off from the house of the Lord, till we draw down mercy by our humiliation.
60. What of Habakkuk? He utters more heated words, and is impatient with God Himself, and cries down, as it were our good Lord, because of the injustice of the judges. O Lord, how long shall I cry and Thou wilt not hear? Shall I cry out unto Thee of violence, and Thou wilt not save? Why dost Thou show me toil and labour, causing me to look upon perverseness and impiety? Judgment has been given against me, and the judge is a spoiler. Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth. Then comes the denunciation, and what follows upon it. Behold, ye despisers, and regard, and wonder marvellously, and vanish away, for I work a work.hyperlink But why need I quote the whole of the denunciation? A little further on, however, for I think it best to add this to what has been said, after upbraiding and lamenting many of those who are in some respect unjust or depraved, he upbraids the leaders and teachers of wickedness, stigmatising vice as a foul disorder, and an intoxication and aberration of mind; charging them with giving their neighbours drink in order to look upon the darkness of their soul,hyperlink and the dens of creeping things and wild beasts, viz.: the dwelling places of wicked thoughts. Such indeed they are, and such teachings do they discuss with us.
Footnotes
76 Are requisite to form, lit., by 'actual. . . they become clear to.'
77 Numb. xx. 17.
78 Prov. iv. 27.
79 S. Luke xii. 42.
80 Worlds, i.e. the invisible and visible. of which S. Greg. held that the former was created before the latter. cf. Orat. xviii. 3; xxvii. 10; xxviii. 31; xxxviii. 10; xl. 45.
81 Dissolution; some translate `return
0' - i.e. of the Ascension; referring the `'resurrection. &c.
0'to mankind in general.
82 Origninal. Perhaps better 'supreme.'
83 illumination. Some apply this to Holy Baptism, with its preliminary instruction.
84 Contracting, i.e. by the Sabellian heresy. A parallel passage in almost identical terms is Orat. xx. 6.
85 Atheism. This term is used of Sabellianism xviii. 16. xx. 6. xxi. 13. xliii. 30, in the sense in which it is here explained. Cf. Petav. de Trin. I. vi. 3, sqq.
86 Madness of Arianism, xxi. 13. xxxiv. 8. xliii. 30.. This term is applied in a letter of Constantine after the Council of Nicaea. It is called Judaism also Orat. xx. 6 as frequently by S. Athanasius. Cf. Petav. de Trin. I. ix. 8.
87 Piety, eu'la/beta. i. e. The pious readily and attentively receive instruction in morality or generally received truth, but are more suspicious and intolerant than ordinary people, if, at a time when any theological question is hotly debated, a preacher touches upon any point connected with it, and so stirs party feeling or personal prejudice.
88 The primary hope. This term is used of the full knowledge and confession of the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, Orat. xxxii. 23; where its necessary connection with Christianity and the life of the soul is insisted on. For its vital importance cf. Liddon, Bamp. Lect. pp. 435, 6, and its bearing on the Mediatorial Work of Christ, and so on our salvation. Ibid. Lect. VIII. esp. pp. 472-9 (5th ed.). S. Cyr. Hier. Catech. 13. 2. S. Cyr. Alex. de S. Trin. dial. 4. tom v. pp. 508, 509. S. Proclus Hom. in Icarn. 5. 6. 0. Bright. Hist. of the Church. p. 149.
89 Rom. x. 2.
90 Luke xii. 47.
91 Ps. lxxiii. 8. (lxx).
92 2 Tim. iii. 8.
93 S. Matt. vii. 6; viii. 32.
94 Eph. iv 14.
95 Doctrines and dogmas. Elias takes the former to refer to morality and the latter to belief.
96 1 Cor. iii. 1, 2; Heb. v. 12-14.
97 1 Cor. ii. 6.
98 Heb. v. 14.
99 Rom. xiv. 2.
100 Col. i. 11. 16, 17.
101 Eph. iv. 13.
102 2 Cor. ii. 16,17.
103 Isai. i. 27.
104 Ps. civ. 15.
105 Ventriloquists. Isai viii. 19, "Wizards."
106 Ezek. iii. 20; xxxiii. 8.
107 I. e., venerable for wisdom due to experience.
108 Law. Not definitely enacted, but a custom constantly observed. It applied to the earlier and later chapters of Ezekiel and the Song of Solomon.
109 Exterior, Origen, Hom. 5, in Levit., speaks of the 'body, soul, and spirit of Scripture.'
110 Alone. If, as many Mss. we read mo/lij, "with difficulty." This is preferred by the Bened. note.
111 Degrees, etc. Heb. v. 14 V. "use" (in the singular), the sense is "any rule for confining the use of difficult passages of Holy Scripture to those whose experience is a guarantee against their abuse."
112 1 Sam. ii. 11.
113 S. Matt. xxiii. 7.
114 "More spiritual and noble." - This is ironical.
115 S. Luke viii. 6.
116 Ecclus. xxv. 9.
117 Eccles. x. 5.
118 Prov. xxvi. 12.
119 Their grace, to\ xa/sisma. Elias takes this of the power to heal diseases. Tillemont of miracles in general. Perhaps better of the special position as Apostles to the Jews and to the Gentiles (Gal. ii. 8, 9) where the term is xa/rij.
120 1 Cor. ix. 22.
121 2 Cor. xi. 23 et seq.
122 1 Cor. iv. 12; ix. 18.
123 Ib. iv. 9.
124 His cause reading tou=: v. 1. tw=n.
125 Tit. ii. 14.
126 2 Cor. xi. 28, 29.
127 Pressure e'pistasi/an, 2 Cor. xi. 28, e'pi/stasin.
128 Eph. vi. 5, 9.
129 Rom. xiii. 1-3.
130 Eph. v. 25, 22.
131 Eph. vi. 1-4.
132 1 Cor. vii. 3, 8, 25, 31.
133 Rom. xiv. 3, 6.
134 1 Cor. i. 27; iii. 18.
135 Rom. ii. 25, 29.
136 Gal. v. 16.
137 Phil. iv. 1.
138 Gal. iii. 1.
139 1 Cor. v. 5.
140 2 Cor. ii. 8.
141 1 Cor. ii. 7; iii. 2.
142 Ib. iv. 21.
143 Ib. xv. 9.
144 2 Cor. xiii. 3.
145 Phil. i. 23; ii. 17.
146 1 Cor. x. 33.
147 Ib. iv. 15.
148 2 Cor. iv. 10; xii. 9, 10.
149 Rom. v. 3; Phil. iii. 4.
150 2 Cor. xi. 6.
151 1 Cor. xiii. 12.
152 Ib. ix. 27.
153 2 Tim. i. 11.
154 Rom. ix. 3.
155 Gal. iii. 13.
156 S. Matt. viii. 17.
157 Gal. vi. 14.
158 Phil. iii. 8.
159 Rom. xv. 19.
160 2 Cor. xii. 2, 4.
161 Isa. xix. 11.
162 Ib. ix. 16.
163 Ib. iii. 12.
164 Ib. iii. 4.
165 Ib. iii. 7.
166 Ib. ix. 15.
167 Ib. i. 23.
168 Ib. viii. 21.
169 Ib. xl. 2.
170 Ib. vi. 6, 7.
171 Prov. xiv. 30.
172 Hos. v. 1, 2.
173 Ib. vi. 5.
174 Ib. vii. 7.
175 Ib. viii. 4.
176 Mic. iii. 10-12.
177 Ib. vii. 1-4.
178 Ps. xii. 1.
179 Joel I. 13, seq.
180 Isa. lviii. 5.
181 Hab. i. 2 et seq.
182 Ib. ii. 15.