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TOPIC: Post-Nicene Fathers Vol 07 (Other Topics in this Collection)
SUBJECT: 27.02.05 Oration II Part 4
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93. I hear again that Nadab and Abihu, for having merely offered incense with strange fire, were with strange fire destroyed,hyperlink the instrument of their impiety being used for their punishment, and their destruction following at the very time and place of their sacrilege; and not even their father Aaron, who was next to Moses in the favor of God, could save them. I know also of Eli the priest, and a little later of Uzzah, the former made to pay the penalty for his sons' transgression, in daring to violate the sacrifices by an untimely exaction of the first fruits of the cauldrons, although he did not condone their impiety, but frequently rebuked them;hyperlink the other, because he only touched the ark, which was being thrown off the cart by the ox,hyperlink and though he saved it, was himself destroyed, in God's jealousy for the reverence due to the ark.
94. I know also that not even bodily blemishes in either priestshyperlink or victimshyperlink passed without notice, but that it was required by the law that perfect sacrifices must be offered by perfect men-a symbol, I take it, of integrity of soul. It was not lawful for everyone to touch the priestly vesture, or any of the holy vessels; nor might the sacrifices themselves be consumed except by the proper persons, and at the proper time and place;hyperlink nor might the anointing oil nor the compounded incensehyperlink be imitated; nor might anyone enter the temple who was not in the most minute particular pure in both soul and body; so far was the Holy of holies removed from presumptuous access, that it might be entered by one man only once a year;hyperlink so far were the veil, and the mercy-seat, and the ark, and the Cherubim, from the general gaze and touch.
95. Since then I knew these things, and that no one is worthy of the mightiness of God, and the sacrifice, and priesthood, who has not first presented himself to God, a living, holy sacrifice, and set forth the reasonable, well-pleasing service,hyperlink and sacrificed to God the sacrifice of praise and the contrite spirit,hyperlink which is the only sacrifice required of us by the Giver of all; how could I dare to offer to Him the external sacrifice, the antitype of the great mysteries,hyperlink or clothe myself with the garb and name of priest, before my hands had been consecrated by holy works; before my eyes had been accustomed to gaze safely upon created things, with wonder only for the Creator, and without injury to the creature; before my ear had been sufficiently opened to the instruction of the Lord, and He had opened mine ear to hearhyperlink without heaviness, and had set a golden earring with precious sardius, that is, a wise man's word in an obedient ear;hyperlink before my mouth had been opened to draw in the Spirit,hyperlink and opened wide to be filledhyperlink with the spirit of speaking mysteries and doctrines;hyperlink and my lips bound,hyperlink to use the words of wisdom, by divine knowledge, and, as I would add, loosed in due season: before my tongue had been filled with exultation, and become an instrument of Divine melody, awaking with glory, awaking right early,hyperlink and laboring till it cleave to my jaws:hyperlink before my feet had been set upon the rock,hyperlink made like hart's feet, and my footsteps directed in a godly fashion so that they should not well-night slip,hyperlink nor slip at all; before all my members had become instruments of righteousness,hyperlink and all mortality had been put off, and swallowed up of life,hyperlink and had yielded to the Spirit?
96. Who is the man, whose heart has never been made to burn,hyperlink as the Scriptures have been opened to him, with the pure words of God which have been tried in a furnace;hyperlink who has not, by a triplehyperlink inscriptionhyperlink of them upon the breadth of his heart, attained the mind of Christ;hyperlink nor been admitted to the treasures which to most men remain hidden, secret, and dark, to gaze upon the riches therein?hyperlink and become able to enrich others, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.hyperlink
97. Who is the man who has never beheld, as our duty is to behold it, the fair beauty of the Lord, nor has visited His temple,hyperlink or rather, become the temple of God,hyperlink and the habitation of Christ in the Spirit?hyperlink Who is the man who has never recognized the correlation and distinction between figures and the truth, so that by withdrawing from the former and cleaving to the latter, and by thus escaping from the oldness of the letter and serving the newness of the spirit,hyperlink he may clean pass over to grace from the law, which finds its spiritual fulfilment in the dissolution of the body.hyperlink
98. Who is the man who has never, by experience and contemplation, traversed the entire series of the titleshyperlink and powers of Christ, both those more lofty ones which originally were His, and those more lowly ones which He later assumed for our sake-viz.: God, the Son, the Image, the Word, the Wisdom, the Truth, the Light, the Life, the Power, the Vapour, the Emanation, the Effulgence, the Maker, the King, the Head, the Law, the Way, the Door, the Foundation, the Rock, the Pearl, the Peace, the Righteousness, the Sanctification, the Redemption, the Man, the Servant, the Shepherd, the Lamb, the High Priest, the Victim, the Firstborn before creation, the Firstborn from the dead, the Resurrection: who is the man who hearkens, but pays no heed, to these names so pregnant with reality, and has never yet held communion with, nor been made partaker of, the Word, in any of the real relations signified by each of these names which He bears?
99. Who, in fine, is the man who, although he has never applied himself to, nor learnt to speak, the hidden wisdom of God in a mystery,hyperlink although he is still a babe, still fed with milk,hyperlink still of those who are not numbered in Israel,hyperlink nor enrolled in the army of God, although he is not yet able to take up the Cross of Christ like a man, although he is possibly not yet one of the more honorable members, yet will joyfully and eagerly accept his appointment as head of the fulness of Christ?hyperlink No one, if he will listen to my judgment and accept my advice! This is of all things most to be feared, this is the extremest of dangers in the eyes of everyone who understands the magnitude of success, the utter ruin of failure.
100. Let others sail for merchandise, I used to say, and cross the wide oceans, and constantly contend with winds and waves, to gain great wealth, if so it should chance, and run great risks in their eagerness for sailing and merchandise; but, for my part, I greatly prefer to stay ashore and plough a short but pleasant furrow, saluting at a respectful distance the sea and its gains, to live as best I can upon a poor and scanty store of barley-bread, and drag my life along in safety and calm, rather than expose myself to so long and great a risk for the sake of great gains.
101. For one in high estate, if he fail to make further progress and to disseminate virtue still more widely, and contents himself with slight results, incurs punishment, as having spent a great light upon the illumination of a little house, or girt round the limbs of a boy the full armor of a man. On the contrary, a man of low estate may with safety assume a light burden, and escape the risk of the ridicule and increased danger which would attend him if he attempted a task beyond his powers. For, as we have heard, it is not seemly for a man to build a tower, unless he has sufficient to finish it.hyperlink
102. Such is the defence which I have been able to make, perhaps at immoderate length, for my flight. Such are the reasons which, to my pain and possibly to yours, carried me away from you, my friends and brothers; yet, as it seemed to me at the time, with irresistible force. My longing after you, and the sense of your longing for me, have, more than anything else, led to my return, for nothing inclines us so strongly to love as mutual affection.
103. In the next place there was my care, my duty, the hoar hairs and weakness of my holy parents, who were more greatly distressed on my account than by their advanced age-of this Patriarch Abraham whose person is honored by me, and numbered among the angels, and of Sarah, who travailed in my spiritual birth by instructing me in the truth. Now, I had specially pledged myself to become the stay of their old age and the support of their weakness, a pledge which, to the best of my power, I have fulfilled, even at the expense of philosophy itself, the most precious of possessions and titles to me; or, to speak more truly, although I made it the first object of my philosophy to appear to be no philosopher, I could not bear that my labor in consequence of a single purpose should be wasted, nor yet that blessing should be lost, which one of the saints of old is said to have stolen from his father, whom he deceived by the food which he offered to him, and the hairy appearance he assumed, thus attaining a good object by disgraceful trickery.hyperlink These are the two causes of my submission and tractability. Nor is it, perchance, unreasonable that my arguments should yield and submit to them both, for there is a time to be conquered, as I also think there is for every purpose,hyperlink and it is better to be honorably overcome than to win a dangerous and lawless victory.
104. There is a third reason of the highest importance which I will further mention, and then dismiss the rest. I remembered the days of old,hyperlink and, recurring to one of the ancient histories, drew counsel for myself therefrom as to my present conduct; for let us not suppose these events to have been recorded without a purpose, nor that they are a mere assemblage of words and deeds gathered together for the pastime of those who listen to them, as a kind of bait for the ears, for the sole purpose of giving pleasure. Let us leave such jesting to the legends and the Greeks, who think but little of the truth, and enchant ear and mind by the charm of their fictions and the daintiness of their style.
105. We however, who extend the accuracy of the Spirit to the merest stroke and tittle,hyperlink will never admit the impious assertion that even the smallest matters were dealt with haphazard by those who have recorded them, and have thus been borne in mind down to the present day: on the contrary, their purpose has been to supply memorials and instructions for our consideration under similar circumstances, should such befall us, and that the examples of the past might serve as rules and models, for our warning and imitation.
106. What then is the story, and wherein lies its application? For, perhaps, it would not be amiss to relate it, for the general security. Jonah also was fleeing from the face of God,hyperlink or rather, thought that he was fleeing: but he was overtaken by the sea, and the storm, and the lot, and the whale's belly, and the three days' entombment, the type of a greater mystery. He fled from having to announce the dread and awful message to the Ninevites, and from being subsequently, if the city was saved by repentance, convicted of falsehood: not that he was displeased at the salvation of the wicked, but he was ashamed of being made an instrument of falsehood, and exceedingly zealous for the credit of prophecy, which was in danger of being destroyed in his person, since most men are unable to penetrate the depth of the Divine dispensation in such cases.
107. But, as I have learned from a manhyperlink skilled in these subjects, and able to grasp the depth of the prophet, by means of a reasonable explanation of what seems unreasonable in the history, it was not this which caused Jonah to flee, and carried him to Joppa and again from Joppa to Tarshish, when he entrusted his stolen self to the sea:hyperlink for it was not likely that such a prophet should be ignorant of the design of God, viz., to bring about, by means of the threat, the escape of the Ninerites from the threatened doom, according to His great wisdom, and unsearchable judgments, and according to His ways which are beyond our tracing and finding out;hyperlink nor that, if he knew this he would refuse to co-operate with God in the use of the means which He designed for their salvation. Besides, to imagine that Jonah hoped to hide himself at sea, and escape by his flight the great eye of God, is surely utterly absurd and stupid, and unworthy of credit, not only in the case of a prophet, but even in the case of any sensible man, who has only a slight perception of God, Whose power is over all.
108. On the contrary, as my instructor said, and as I am myself convinced, Jonah knew better than any one the purpose of his message to the Ninevites, and that, in planning his flight, although he changed his place, he did not escape from God. Nor is this possible for any one else, either by concealing himself in the bosom of the earth, or in the depths of the sea, or by soaring on wings, if there be any means of doing so, and rising into the air, or by abiding in the lowest depths of hell,hyperlink or by enveloping himself in a thick cloud, or by any other of the many devices for ensuring escape. For God alone of all things cannot be escaped from or contended with; if He wills to seize and bring them under His hand, He outstrips the swift, He outwits the wise, He overthrows the strong, He abases the lofty, He subdues rashness, He represses power.
109. Jonah then was not ignorant of the mighty hand of God, with which he threatened other men, nor did he imagine that he could utterly escape the Divine power; this we are not to believe: but when he saw the falling away of Israel, and perceived the passing over of the grace of prophecy to the Gentiles-this was the cause of his retirement from preaching and of his delay in fulfilling the command; accordingly he left the watchtower of joy, for this is the meaning of Joppa in Hebrew, I mean his former dignity and reputation, and flung himself into the deep of sorrow: and hence he is tempest-tossed, and falls asleep, and is wrecked, and aroused from sleep, and taken by lot, and confesses his flight, and is cast into sea, and swallowed, but not destroyed, by the whale; but there he calls upon God, and, marvellous as it is, on the third day he, like Christ, is delivered: but my treatment of this topic must stand over, and shall shortly, if God permit, be more deliberately worked out.hyperlink
110. Now however, to return to my original point, the thought and question occurred to me, that although he might possibly meet with some indulgence, if reluctant to prophesy, for the cause which I mentioned-yet, in my own case, what could be said, what defence could be made, if I longer remained restive, and rejected the yoke of ministry, which, though I know not whether to call it light or heavy, had at any rate been laid upon me.
111. For if it be granted, and this alone can be strongly asserted in such matters, that we are far too low to perform the priest's office before God, and that we can only be worthy of the sanctuary after we have become worthy of the Church,hyperlink and worthy of the post of president, after being worthy of the sanctuary, yet some one else may perhaps refuse to acquit us on the charge of disobedience. Now terrible are the threatenings against disobedience, and terrible are the penalties which ensue upon it; as indeed are those on the other side, if, instead of being reluctant, and shrinking back, and concealing ourselves as Saul did among his father's stuffhyperlink -although called to rule but for a short time-if, I say, we come forward readily, as though to a slight and most easy task, whereas it is not safe even to resign it, nor to amend by second thoughts our first.
112. On this account I had much toilsome consideration to discover my duty, being set in the midst betwixt two fears, of which the one held me back, the other urged me on. For a long while I was at a loss between them, and after wavering from side to side, and, like a current driven by inconstant winds, inclining first in this direction, then in that, I at last yielded to the stronger, and the fear of disobedience overcame me, and has carried me off. Pray, mark how accurately and justly I hold the balance between the fears, neither desiring an office not given to me, nor rejecting it when given. The one course marks the rash, the other the disobedient, both the undisciplined. My position lies between those who are too bold, or too timid; more timid than those who rush at every position, more bold than those who avoid them all. This is my judgment on the matter.
113. Moreover, to distinguish still more clearly between them, we have, against the fear of office, a possible help in the law of obedience, inasmuch as God in His goodness rewards our faith, and makes a perfect ruler of the man who has confidence in Him, and places all his hopes in Him; but against the danger of disobedience I know of nothing which can help us, and of no ground to encourage our confidence. For it is to be feared that we shall have to hear these words concerning those who have been entrusted to us: I will require their souls at your hands;hyperlink and, Because ye have rejected me, and not been leaders and rulers of my people, I also will reject you, that I should not be king over you;hyperlink and, As ye refused to hearken to My voice, and turned a stubborn back, and were disobedient, so shall it be when ye call upon Me, and I will not regard nor give ear to your prayer.hyperlink God forbid that these words should come to us from the just Judge, for when we sing of His mercy we must also by all means sing of His judgment.hyperlink
114. I resort once again to history, and on considering the men of best repute in ancient days, who were ever preferred by grace to the office of ruler or prophet, I discover that some readily complied with the call, others deprecated the gift, and that neither those who drew back were blamed for timidity, nor those who came forward for eagerness. The former stood in awe of the greatness of the ministry, the latter trustfully obeyed Him Who called them. Aaron was eager, but Moses resisted,hyperlink Isaiah readily submitted, but Jeremiah was afraid of his youth,hyperlink and did not venture to prophesy until he had received from God a promise and power beyond his years.hyperlink
115. By these arguments I charmed myself, and by degrees my soul relaxed and became ductile, like iron, and time came to the aid of my arguments, and the testimonies of God, to which I had entrusted my whole life, were my counsellors.hyperlink Therefore I was not rebellious, neither turned away back,hyperlink saith my Lord, when, instead of being called to rule, He was led, as a sheep to the slaughter;hyperlink but I fell down and humbled myself under the mighty hand of God,hyperlink and asked pardon for my former idleness and disobedience, if this is at all laid to my charge. I held my peace,hyperlink but I will not hold my peace for ever: I withdrew for a little while,hyperlink till I had considered myself and consoled my grief: but now I am commissioned to exalt Him in the congregation of the people, and praise Him in the seat of the elders.hyperlink If my former conduct deserved blame, my present action merits pardon.
116. What further need is there of words. Here am I, my pastors and fellow-pastors, here am I, thou holy flock, worthy of Christ, the Chief Shepherd,hyperlink here am I, my father, utterly vanquished, and your subject according to the laws of Christ rather than according to those of the land:hyperlink here is my obedience, reward it with your blessing. Lead me with your prayers, guide me with your words, establish me with your spirit. The blessing of the father establisheth the houses of children,hyperlink and would that both I and this spiritual house may be established, the house which I have longed for, which I pray may be my rest for ever,hyperlink when I have been passed on from the church here to the church yonder, the general assembly of the firstborn, who are written in heaven.hyperlink
117. Such is my defence: its reasonableness I have set forth: and may the God of peace,hyperlink Who made both one,hyperlink and has restored us to each other, Who setteth kings upon thrones, and raiseth up the poor out of the dust and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill,hyperlink Who chose David His servant and took him away from the sheepfolds,hyperlink though he was the least and youngest of the sons of Jesse,hyperlink Who gave the wordhyperlink to those who preach the gospel with great power for the perfection of the gospel,-may He Himself hold me by my right hand, and guide me with His counsel, and receive me with glory,hyperlink Who is a Shepherdhyperlink to shepherds and a Guide to guides: that we may feed His flock with knowledge,hyperlink not with the instruments of a foolish shepherd,hyperlink according to the blessing, and not according to the curse pronounced against the men of former days: may He give strength and power unto his people,hyperlink and Himself present to Himselfhyperlink His flock resplendent and spotless and worthy of the fold on high, in the habitation of them that rejoice,hyperlink in the splendour of the saints,hyperlink so that in His temple everyone, both flock and shepherds together may say, Glory, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to Whom be all glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Footnotes
288 1 Sam. ii. 12, 15, 23.
289 2 Sam. vi. 6.
290 Lev. xxi. 17.
291 Ib. xxii. 19.
292 Ib. viii. 31.
293 Exod. xxx. 33, 38.
294 Lev. xvi. 34; Heb. ix. 7.
295 Rom. xii. 1.
296 Ps. I. 14.
297 The great mysteries, i.e., the Sacrificial Death of Christ upon the Cross.
298 Isai. I. 4; vi. 10.
299 Prov. xxv. 12.
300 Ps. cxix. 131.
301 Ib. lxxxi. 10.
302 1 Cor. xiv. 2.
303 Prov. xv. 7 (lxx.).
304 Ps. lvii. 9.
305 Ib. cxxxvii. 6.
306 Ib. xviii. 33; xl. 3.
307 Ib. lxxiii. 2.
308 Rom. vi. 13.
309 2 Cor. v. 4.
310 S. Luke xxiv. 32.
311 Ps. xii. 7.
312 Triple, a quotation from Prov. xxii. 20. The meaning of the Hebrew is doubtful. Clémencet, not noticing this, suggests that the allusion is to the law being twice inscribed on tables of stone, once on the heart by the Spirit.
313 Prov. xxii. 20 (lxx.).
314 1 Cor. ii. 16.
315 Isai. xlv. 3.
316 1 Cor. ii. 13.
317 Ps. xxvii. 4.
318 2 Cor. vi. 16.
319 Eph. ii. 22.
320 Ib. vii. 6.
321 Rom. vi. 6.
322 Titles. These are more fully dealt with Orat. xxx. 17-21.
323 1 Cor. ii. 17.
324 Ib. iii. 2.
325 Numb. I. 3.
326 Eph. i. 23.
327 S. Luke xiv. 28.
328 Gen. xxvii. 21, sq.
329 Eccles. iii. 1.
330 Ps. cxliii. 5.
331 S. Matt. v. 18.
332 Jonah i. 3.
333 A man. A Greek scholiast says that this was Origen (ob. A.D. 235), who gives this interpretation in his commentary on the prophecy of Jonah. Elias says that he had read it in the commentary of Methodius (fl. A.D. 300), who usually combats Origen's interpretations. We know that Origen did comment on the book of Job, and that Methodius wrote on one at least of the Minor Prophets: but both these works have been lost, so that we cannot absolutely decide the question, though the assurance with which both the notes are written makes us hesitate to consider either of them merely a happy guess. Combefis thinks that S. Greg. alludes to one of his own instructors: the gen. with a'ko/nw (cf. Plato, Georg., 503. c.) favours this view, but the interpretation may well have been derived from one of the earlier writers.
334 Jonah i. 3.
335 Rom. xi. 33.
336 Ps. cxxxix. 8 et seq.
337 Shall be worked out. This promise, as Elias tells us, was fulfilled by S. Gregory in his History of Ezekiel the Prophet, a work no longer extant.
338 Of the Church. S. Gregory seems to describe a series of three steps. (1) the Church, of which all should be worthy members, (2) the Sanctuary, reserved for the Priests, (3) the Throne of the Bishop. Clémencet refers both 1 and 2 to the ministry. If we suppose S. Gregory's own position to be referred to, the third would be applicable to his office under his father, which is held by Thomassin to have been that of Vicar-General (Disc. Eccles., I., ii., 7 §§ 2, 3). A similar post was offered to him by S. Basil (Orat., xliii., 39).
339 1 Sam. x. 22.
340 Ezek. iii. 18.
341 1 Sam. xv. 26; cf. Hos. iv. 6.
342 Zech. vii. 11, 13.
343 Ps. ci. 1.
344 Exod. iv. 10, 13, 27
345 Isai. vi. 8.
346 Jer. i. 6.
347 Ps. cxix. 24.
348 Isai. l. 6.
349 Ib. liii. 7.
350 1 Pet. v. 6.
351 Isai. xlii. 14.
352 Ib. xxvi. 20.
353 Ps. cvii. 32.
354 1 Pet. v. 4.
355 Of the land. lit., "external," i.e. the Roman laws, which gave absolute power to a father over his children.
356 Ecclus. iii. 9.
357 Ps. cxxxii. 13. 14.
358 Heb. xii. 23.
359 Heb. xiii. 20.
360 Eph. ii. 14.
361 1 Sam. ii. 8; Ps. cxiii. 7.
362 Ps. lxxviii. 70.
363 1 Sam. xvii. 14.
364 Ps lxviii. 11.
365 Ps. lxxiii. 23, 24.
366 Ezek. xxxiv. 12.
367 Jer. iii. 15.
368 Zech. xi. 15.
369 Ps. lxviii. 35.
370 Eph. v. 27.
371 Ps. lxxxvii. 7 (lxx.).
372 Ps. cx. 3 (lxx.).
373 Ps. xxix. 9.