(NOTE: The electronic text obtained from The Electronic Bible Society was
not completely corrected. EWTN has corrected all mistakes found.)

Transliteration of Greek words: All phonetical except: w = omega; h serves
three puposes: 1. = Eta; 2. = rough breathing, when appearing intially
before a vowel; 3. = in the aspirated letters theta = th, phi = ph, chi =
ch. Accents are given immediately after their corresponding vowels: acute =
' , grave = `, circumflex = ^. The character ' doubles as an apostrophe,
when necessary.

ORIGEN

DE PRINCIPIIS, BOOKS I-II.

[Translated by the Rev. Frederick Crombie, D.D.]

[NOTE from EWTN:
   Origen is shown by his writings to have been a man of deep
spirituality, wholly devoted to Christ and to His Church. The condemnation
of his entire corpus many years after his death was not only a great
injustice to the man himself, but also to future Christians, who have been
deprived of the great majority of his writings, neglected and lost after
their condemnation. Nevertheless, it remains the case that certain opinions
expressed in some of his works, especially the De Principiis, certainly
fall beyond the pale of orthodoxy, even if this would not nearly as evident
at the time when he was writing. It should be kept in mind, however, that
Origen was the pioneer of systematic theology, and wrote without the
benefit of any preceeding tradition in that field, that the De Principiis
was written early in his life, and that his intentions, at least, are
beyond criticism.
   This said, it will become obvious why, despite its omission from the
Electronic Bible Society's version of the ANF text, I have included in
EWTN's version the prologue of Rufinus, through whose translation into
Latin alone we have received most of the De Principiis. Although Rufinus
endeavors as much as possible to clear Origen's name, he saw it necessary
to subject the De Principiis to a thorough editing, with the result that,
except where the original Greek is available to us, we have no reliable
text of this ground-breaking work. Translations of all passages surviving
in the original were included by Crombie in the ANF translation, along with
fragments translated by Jerome; these are indicated below where they occur.
C.V.M.]

PROLOGUE OF RUFINUS

   I know that very many of the brethren, induced by their thirst for a
knowledge of the Scriptures, have requested some distinguished men, well
versed in Greek learning, to translate Origen into Latin, and so make him
accessible to Roman readers. Among these, when our brother and colleague(1)
had, at the earnest entreaty of Bishop Damasus, translated two of the
Homilies on the Song of Songs out of Greek into Latin, he prefixed so
elegant and noble a preface to that work, as to inspire every one with a
most eager desire to read and study Origen, saying that the expression "The
King hath brought me into his chamber,"(2) was appropriate to his feelings,
and declaring that while Origen in his other works surpassed all writers,
he in the Song of Songs surpassed even himself. He promises, indeed, in
that very preface, that he will present the books on the Song of Songs, and
numerous others of the works of Origen, in a Latin translation, to Roman
readers. But he, finding greater pleasure in compositions of his own,
pursues an end that is attended with greater fame, viz., in being the
author rather than the translator of works. Accordingly we enter upon the
undertaking, which was thus begun and approved of by him, although we
cannot compose in a style of elegance equal to that of a man of such
distinguished eloquence; and therefore I am afraid lest, through my fault,
the result should follow, that that man, whom he deservedly esteems as the
second teacher of knowledge and wisdom in the Church after the apostles,
should, through the poverty of my language, appear far inferior to what he
is. And this consideration, which frequently recurred to my mind, kept me
silent, and prevented me from yielding to the numerous entreaties of my
brethren, until your influence, my very faithful brother Macarius, which is
so great, rendered it impossible for my unskilfulness any longer to offer
resistance. And therefore, that I might not find you too grievous an
exactor, I gave way, even contrary to my resolution; on the condition and
arrangement, however, that in my translation I should follow as far as
possible the rule observed by my predecessors, and especially by that
distinguished man whom I have mentioned above, who, after translating into
Latin more the seventy of those treatises of Origen which are styled
Homilies, and considerable number also of his writings on the apostles, in
which a good many "stumbling-blocks" are found in the original Greek, so
smoothed and corrected them in his translation, that a Latin reader would
meet with nothing which could appear discordant with our belief. His
example, therefore, we follow, to the best of our ability; if not with
equal power of eloquence, yet at least with the same strictness of rule,
taking care not to reproduce those expressions occurring in the works of
Origen which are inconsistent with and opposed to each other. The cause of
these variations we have explained more freely in the Apologeticus, which
Pamphilus wrote in defence of the works of Origen, where we added a brief
tract, in which we showed, I think, by unmistakeable proofs, that his books
had been corrupted in numerous places by heretics and malevolent persons,
and especially those books of which you now require me to undertake the
translation, i.e., the books which may be entitled De Principiis or De
Principatibus, and which are indeed in other respects full of obscurities
and difficulties. For he there discusses those subjects with respect to
which the philosophers, after spending all their lives upon them, have been
unable to discover anything. But here our author strove, as much as in him
lay, to turn to the service of religion the belief in a Creator, and the
rational nature of created beings, which the latter had degraded to
purposes of wickedness. If, therefore, we have found anywhere in his
writings, any statement opposed to the view, which elsewhere in his works
he had himself piously laid down regarding the Trinity, we have either
omitted it, as being corrupt, and not the composition of Origen, or we have
brought it forward, agreeably to the rule which we frequently find affirmed
by himself. If, indeed, in his desire to pass rapidly on, he has, as
speaking to persons of skill and knowledge, sometimes expressed himself
obscurely, we have, in order that the passage might be clearer, added what
we had read more fully stated on the same subject in his other works,
keeping explanation in view, but adding nothing of our own, but simply
restoring to him what was his, although occurring in other portions of his
writings.
   These remarks, therefore, by way of admonition, I have made in the
preface, lest slanderous individuals perhaps should think that they had a
second time discovered matter of accusation. But let perverse and
disputatious men have a care what they are about. For we have in the
meantime undertaken this heavy labour, if God should aid your prayers, not
to shut the mouths of slanderers (which is impossible, although God perhaps
will do it), but to afford material to those who desire to advance in the
knowledge of these things. And, verily, in the presence of God the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, I adjure and beseech every one, by
his belief in the resurrection from the dead, and by that everlasting fire
prepared for the devil and his angels, that, as he would not possess for an
eternal inheritance that place where there is weeping and gnashing of
teeth, and where their fire is not quenched and their worm dieth not, he
add nothing to Scripture, and take nothing away from it, and make no
insertion or alteration, but that he compare his transcript with the copies
from which he made it, and make the emendations and distinctions according
to the letter, and not have his manuscript incorrect or indistinct, lest
the difficulty of ascertaining the sense, from the indistinctness of the
copy, should cause greater difficulties to the readers.]

PREFACE.

   1. ALL who believe and are assured that grace and truth were obtained
through Jesus Christ, and who know Christ to be the truth, agreeably to His
own declaration, "I am the truth," derive the knowledge which incites men
to a good and happy life from no other source than from the very words and
teaching of Christ. And by the words of Christ we do not mean those only
which He spake when He became man and tabernacled in the flesh; for before
that time, Christ, the Word of God, was in Moses and the prophets. For
without the Word of God, how could they have been able to prophesy of
Christ? And were it not our purpose to confine the present treatise within
the limits of all attainable brevity, it would not be difficult to show, in
proof of this statement, out of the Holy Scriptures, how Moses or the
prophets both spake and performed all they did through being filled with
the Spirit of Christ. And therefore I think it sufficient to quote this one
testimony of Paul from the Epistle to the Hebrews,(2) in which he says: "By
faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of
Pharaoh's daughter; choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of
God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; esteeming the
reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of the Egyptians."(3)
Moreover, that after His ascension into heaven He spake in His apostles, is
shown by Paul in these words: "Or do you seek a proof of Christ who
speaketh in me?"(4)

   2. Since many, however, of those who profess to believe in Christ
differ from each other, not only in small and trifling matters, but also on
subjects of the highest importance, as, e.g., regarding God, or the Lord
Jesus Christ, or the Holy Spirit; and not only regarding these, but also
regarding others which are created existences, viz., the powers(5) and the
holy virtues;(6)  it seems on that account necessary first of all to fix a
definite limit and to lay down an unmistakable rule regarding each one of
these, and then to pass to the investigation of other points. For as we
ceased to seek for truth (notwithstanding the professions of many among
Greeks and Barbarians to make it known) among all who claimed it for
erroneous opinions, after we had come to believe that Christ was the Son of
God, and were persuaded that we must learn it from Himself; so, seeing
there are many who think they hold the opinions of Christ, and yet some of
these think differently from their predecessors, yet as the teaching of the
Church, transmitted in orderly succession from the apostles, and remaining
in the Churches to the present day, is still preserved, that alone is to be
accepted as truth which differs in no respect from ecclesiastical and
apostolical tradition.

   3. Now it ought to be known that the holy apostles, in preaching the
faith of Christ, delivered themselves with the utmost clearness on certain
points which they believed to be necessary to every one, even to those who
seemed somewhat dull in the investigation of divine knowledge; leaving,
however, the grounds of their statements to be examined into by those who
should deserve the excellent gifts of the Spirit, and who, especially by
means of the Holy Spirit Himself, should obtain the gift of language, of
wisdom, and of knowledge: while on other subjects they merely stated the
fact that things were so, keeping silence as to the manner or origin of
their existence; clearly in order that the more zealous of their
successors, who should be lovers of wisdom, might have a subject of
exercise on which to display the fruit of their talents, -- those persons,
I mean, who should prepare themselves to be fit and worthy receivers of
wisdom.

4. The particular points(1) clearly delivered in the teaching of the
apostles are as follow:--

   First, That there is one God, who created and arranged all things, and
who, when nothing existed, called all things into being--God from  the
first creation and foundation of the world--the God of all just men, of
Adam, Abel, Seth, Enos, Enoch, Noe, Sere, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the twelve
patriarchs, Moses, and the prophets; and that this God in the last days, as
He had announced beforehand by His prophets, sent our Lord Jesus Christ to
call in the first place Israel to Himself, and in the second place the
Gentiles, after the unfaithfulness of the people of Israel. This just and
good God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Himself gave the law and the
prophets, and the Gospels, being also the God of the apostles and of the
Old and New Testaments.

   Secondly, That Jesus Christ Himself, who came (into the world), was
born of the Father before all creatures; that, after He had been the
servant of the Father in the creation of all things--"For by Him were all
things made"(2)--He in the last times, divesting Himself (of His glory),
became a man, and was incarnate although God, and while made a man remained
the God which He was; that He assumed a body like to our own, differing in
this respect only, that it was born of a virgin and of the Holy Spirit:
that this Jesus Christ was truly born, and did truly suffer, and did not
endure this death common (to man) in appearance only, but did truly die;
that He did truly rise from the dead; and that after His resurrection He
conversed with His disciples, and was taken up (into heaven).

   Then, Thirdly, the apostles related that the Holy Spirit was associated
in honour and dignity with the Father and the Son. But in His case it is
not clearly distinguished whether He is to be regarded as born or
innate,(3) or also as a Son of God or not: for these are points which have
to be inquired into out of sacred Scripture according to the best of our
ability, and which demand careful investigation. And that this Spirit
inspired each one of the saints, whether prophets or apostles; and that
there was not one Spirit in the men of the old dispensation, and another in
those who were inspired at the advent of Christ, is most clearly taught
throughout the Churches.

5. After these points, also, the apostolic teaching is that the soul,
having a substance(4) and life of its own, shall, after its departure from
the world, be rewarded according to its deserts, being destined to obtain
either an inheritance of eternal life and blessedness, if its actions shall
have procured this for it, or to be delivered up to eternal fire and
punishments, if the guilt of its crimes shall have brought it down to this:
and also, that there is to be a time of resurrection from the dead, when
this body, which now "is sown in corruption, shall rise in incorruption,"
and that which "is sown in dishonour will rise in glory."(5) This also is
clearly defined in the teaching of the Church, that every rational soul is
possessed of free-will and volition; that it has a straggle to maintain
with the devil and his angels, and opposing influences,(6) because they
strive to burden it with sins; but if we live rightly and wisely, we should
endeavour to shake ourselves free of a burden of that kind. From which it
follows, also, that we understand ourselves not to be subject to necessity,
so as to be compelled by all means, even against our will, to do either
good or evil. For if we are our own masters, some influences perhaps may
impel us to sin, and others help us to salvation; we are not forced,
however, by any necessity either to act rightly or wrongly, which those
persons think is the case who say that the courses and movements of the
stars are the cause of human actions, not only of those which take place
beyond the influence of the freedom of the will, but also of those which
are placed within our own power. But with respect to the soul, whether it
is derived from the seed by a process of traducianism, so that the reason
or substance of it may be considered as placed in the seminal particles of
the body themselves, or whether it has any other beginning; and this
beginning, itself, whether it be by birth or not, or whether bestowed upon
the body from without or no, is not distinguished with sufficient clearness
in the teaching of the Church.

   6. Regarding the devil and his angels, and the opposing influences, the
teaching of the Church has laid down that these beings exist indeed; but
what they are, or how they exist, it has not explained with sufficient
clearness. This opinion, however, is held by most, that the devil was an
angel, and that, having become an apostate, he induced as many of the
angels as possible to fall away with himself, and these up to the present
time are called his angels.

   7. This also is a part of the Church's teaching, that the world was
made and took its beginning at a certain time, and is to be destroyed on
account of its wickedness. But what existed before this world, or what will
exist after it, has not become certainly known to the many, for there is no
clear statement regarding it in the teaching of the Church.

   8. Then, finally, that the Scriptures were written by the Spirit of
God, and have a meaning, not such only as is apparent at first sight, but
also another, which escapes the notice of most. For those (words) which are
written are the forms of certain mysteries,(1) and the images of divine
things. Respecting which there is one opinion throughout the whole Church,
that the whole law is indeed spiritual; but that the spiritual meaning
which the law conveys is not known to all, but to those only on whom the
grace of the Holy Spirit is bestowed in the word of wisdom and knowledge.

   The term asw'maton, i.e., incorporeal, is disused and unknown, not only
in many other writings, but also in our own Scriptures. And if any one
should quote it to us out of the little treatise entitled The Doctrine of
Peter,(2) in which the Saviour seems to say to His disciples, "I am not an
incorporeal demon,"(3) I have to reply, in the first place, that that work
is not included among ecclesiastical books; for we can show that it was not
composed either by Peter or by any other person inspired by the Spirit of
God. But even if the point were to be conceded, the word asw'maton there
does not convey the same meaning as is intended by Greek and Gentile
authors when incorporeal nature is discussed by philosophers. For in the
little treatise referred to he used the phrase "incorporeal demon" to
denote that that form or outline of demoniacal body, whatever it is, does
not resemble this gross and visible body of ours; but, agreeably to the
intention of the author of the treatise, it must be understood to mean that
He had not such a body as demons have, which is naturally fine,(4) and thin
as if formed of air (and for this reason is either considered or called by
many incorporeal), but that He had a solid and palpable body. Now,
according to human custom, everything which is not of that nature is called
by the simple or ignorant incorporeal; as if one were to say that the air
which we breathe was incorporeal, because it is not a body of such a nature
as can be grasped and held, or can offer resistance to pressure.

   9. We shall inquire, however, whether the thing which Greek
philosophers call asw'maton, or "incorporeal," is found in holy Scripture
under another name. For it is also to be a subject of investigation how God
himself is to be understood,--whether as corporeal, and formed according to
some shape, or of a different nature from bodies,--a point which is not
clearly indicated in our teaching. And the same inquiries have to be made
regarding Christ and the Holy Spirit, as well as respecting every  soul,
and everything possessed of a rational nature.

   10. This also is a part of the teaching of the Church, that there are
certain angels of God, and certain good influences, which are His servants
in accomplishing the salvation of men. When these, however, were created,
or of what nature they are, or how they exist, is not clearly stated.
Regarding the sun, moon, and stars, whether they are living beings or
without life, there is no distinct deliverance.(5)

   Every one, therefore, must make use of elements and foundations of this
sort, according to the precept, "Enlighten yourselves with the light of
knowledge,"(6) if he would desire to form a connected series and body of
truths agreeably to the reason of all these things, that by dear and
necessary statements he may ascertain the truth regarding each individual
topic, and form, as we have said, one body of doctrine, by means of
illustrations and arguments,--either those which he has discovered in holy
Scripture, or which he has deduced by closely tracing out the consequences
and following a correct method.

BOOK I.

CHAP. I.--ON GOD.

   1. I KNOW that some will attempt to say that, even according to the
declarations of our own Scriptures, God is a body, because in the writings
of Moses they find it said, that "our God is a consuming fire;"(1) and in
the Gospel according to John, that "God is a Spirit, and they who worship
Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth."(2) Fire and spirit, according
to them, are to be regarded as nothing else than a body. Now, I should like
to ask these persons what they have to say respecting that passage where it
is declared that God is light; as John writes in his Epistle, "God is
light, and in Him there is no darkness at all."(3) Truly He is that light
which illuminates the whole understanding of those who are capable of
receiving truth, as is said in the thirty-sixth Psalm, "In Thy light we
shall see light."(4) For what other light of God can be named, "in which
any one sees light," save an influence of God, by which a man, being
enlightened, either thoroughly sees the truth of all things, or comes to
know God Himself, who is called the truth? Such is the meaning of the
expression, "In Thy light we shall see light;" i.e., in Thy word and wisdom
which is Thy Son, in Himself we shall see Thee the Father. Because He is
called light, shall He be supposed to have any resemblance to the light of
the sun? Or how should there be the slightest ground for imagining, that
from that corporeal light any one could derive the cause of knowledge, and
come to the understanding of the truth?

   2. If, then, they acquiesce in our assertion, which reason itself has
demonstrated, regarding the nature of light, and acknowledge that God
cannot be understood to be a body in the sense that light is, similar
reasoning will hold true of the expression "a consuming fire." For what
will God consume in respect of His being fire? Shall He be thought to
consume material substance, as wood, or hay, or stubble? And what in this
view can be called worthy of the glory of God, if He be a fire, consuming
materials of that kind? But let us reflect that God does indeed consume and
utterly destroy; that He consumes evil thoughts, wicked actions, and sinful
desires, when they find their way into the minds of believers; and that,
inhabiting along with His Son those souls which are rendered capable of
receiving His word and wisdom, according to His own declaration," I and the
Father shall come, and We shall make our abode with him?"(5) He makes them,
after all their vices and passions have been consumed, a holy temple,
worthy of Himself. Those, moreover, who, on account of the expression "God
is a Spirit," think that He is a body, are to be answered, I think, in the
following manner. It is the custom of sacred Scripture, when it wishes to
designate anything opposed to this gross and solid body, to call it spirit,
as in the expression, "The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life,"(6)
where there can be no doubt that by "letter" are meant bodily things, and
by "spirit" intellectual things, which we also term "spiritual." The
apostle, moreover, says, "Even unto this day, when Moses is read, the veil
is upon their heart: nevertheless, when it shall turn to the Lord, the veil
shall be taken away: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is
liberty."(7) For so long as any one is not converted to a spiritual
understanding, a veil is placed over his heart, with which veil, i.e., a
gross understanding, Scripture itself is said or thought to be covered: and
this is the meaning of the statement that a veil was placed over the
countenance of Moses when he spoke to the people, i.e., when the law was
publicly read aloud. But if we turn to the Lord, where also is the word of
God, and where the Holy Spirit reveals spiritual knowledge, then the veil
is taken away, and with unveiled face we shall behold the glory of the Lord
in the holy Scriptures.

   3. And since many saints participate in the Holy Spirit, He cannot
therefore be understood to be a body, which being divided into corporeal
parts, is partaken of by each one of the saints; but He is manifestly a
sanctifying power, in which all are said to have a share who have deserved
to be sanctified by His grace. And in order that what we say may be more
easily understood, let us take an illustration from things very dissimilar.
There are many persons who take a part in the science s or art of medicine:
are we therefore to suppose that those who do so take to themselves the
particles of some body called medicine, which is placed before them, and in
this way participate in the same? Or must we not rather understand that all
who with quick and trained minds come to understand the art and discipline
itself, may be said to be partaken of the art of healing? But these are not
to be deemed altogether parallel instances in a comparison of medicine to
the Holy Spirit, as they have been adduced only to establish that that is
not necessarily to be considered a body, a share in which is possessed by
many individuals. For the Holy Spirit differs widely from the method or
science of medicine, in respect that the Holy Spirit is an intellectual
existence and subsists and exists in a peculiar manner, whereas medicine is
not at all of that nature.

   4. But we must pass on to the language of the Gospel itself, in which
it is declared that "God is a Spirit," and where we have to show how that
is to be understood agreeably to what we have stated. For let us inquire on
what occasion these words were spoken by the Saviour, before whom He
uttered them, and what was the subject of investigation. We find, without
any doubt, that He spoke these words to the Samaritan woman, saying to her,
who thought, agreeably to the Samaritan view, that God ought to be
worshipped on Mount Gerizim, that "God is a Spirit." For the Samaritan
woman, believing Him to be a Jew, was inquiring of Him whether God ought to
be worshipped in Jerusalem or on this mountain; and her words were, "All
our fathers worshipped on this mountain, and ye say that in Jerusalem is
the place where we ought to worship."(2) To this opinion of the Samaritan
woman, therefore, who imagined that God was less rightly or duly
worshipped, according to the privileges of the different localities, either
by the Jews in Jerusalem or by the Samaritans on Mount Gerizim, the Saviour
answered that he who would follow the Lord must lay aside all preference
for particular places, and thus expressed Himself: "The hour is coming when
neither in Jerusalem nor on this mountain shall the true worshippers
worship the Father. God is a Spirit, and they who worship Him must worship
Him in spirit and in truth."(3) And observe how logically He has joined
together the spirit and the truth: He called God a Spirit, that He might
distinguish Him from bodies; and He named Him the truth, to distinguish Him
from a shadow or an image. For they who worshipped in Jerusalem worshipped
God neither in truth nor in spirit, being in subjection to the shadow or
image of heavenly things; and such also was the case with those who
worshipped on Mount Gerizim.

   5. Having refuted, then, as well as we could, every notion which might
suggest that we were to think of God as in any degree corporeal, we go on
to say that, according to strict truth, God is incomprehensible, and
incapable of being measured.(4) For whatever be the knowledge which we are
able to obtain of God, either by perception or reflection, we must of
necessity believe that He is by many degrees far better than what we
perceive Him to be. For, as if we were to see any one unable to bear a
spark of light, or the flame of a very small lamp, and were desirous to
acquaint such a one, whose vision could not admit a greater degree of light
than what we have stated, with the brightness and splendour of the sun,
would it not be necessary to tell him that the splendour of the sun was
unspeakably and incalculably better and more glorious than all this light
which he saw? So our understanding, when shut in by the fetters of flesh
and blood, and rendered, on account of its participation in such material
substances, duller and more obtuse, although, in comparison with our bodily
nature, it is esteemed to be far superior, yet, in its efforts to examine
and behold incorporeal things, scarcely holds the place of a spark or lamp.
But among all intelligent, that is, incorporeal beings, what is so superior
to all others--so unspeakably and incalculably superior--as God, whose
nature cannot be grasped or seen by the power of any human understanding,
even the purest and brightest?

   6. But it will not appear absurd if we employ another similitude to
make the matter clearer. Our eyes frequently cannot look upon the nature of
the light itself--that is, upon the substance of the sun; but when we
behold his splendour or his rays pouring in, perhaps, through windows or
some small openings to admit the light, we can reflect how great is the
supply and source of the light of the body. So, in like manner. the works
of Divine Providence and the plan of this whole world are a sort of rays,
as it were, of the nature of God, in comparison with His real substance and
being. As, therefore, our understanding is unable of itself to behold God
Himself as He is, it knows the Father of the world from the beauty of His
works and the  comeliness of His creatures. God, therefore, is not to be
thought of as being either a body or as existing in a body, but as an
uncompounded intellectual nature,(5) admitting within Himself no addition
of any kind; so that He cannot be believed to have within him a greater and
a less, but is such that He is in all parts Mona's, and, so to speak,
Hena's, and is the mind and source from which all intellectual nature or
mind takes its beginning. But mind, for its movements or operations, needs
no physical space, nor sensible magnitude, nor bodily shape, nor colour,
nor any other of those adjuncts which are the properties of body or matter.
Wherefore that simple and wholly intellectual nature(1) can admit of no
delay or hesitation in its movements or operations, lest the simplicity of
the divine nature should appear to be circumscribed or in some degree
hampered by such adjuncts, and lest that which is the beginning of all
things should be found composite and differing, and that which ought to be
free from all bodily intermixture, in virtue of being the one sole species
of Deity, so to speak, should prove, instead of being one, to consist of
many things. That mind, moreover, does not require space in order to carry
on its movements agreeably to its nature, is certain from observation of
our own mind. For if the mind abide within its own limits, and sustain no
injury from any cause, it will never, from diversity of situation, be
retarded in the discharge of its functions; nor, on the other hand, does it
gain any addition or increase of mobility from the nature of particular
places. And here, if any one were to object, for example, that among those
who are at sea, and tossed by its waves the mind is considerably less
vigorous than it is wont to be on land, we are to believe that it is in
this state, not from diversity of situation, but from the commotion or
disturbance of the body to which the mind is joined or attached. For it
seems to be contrary to nature, as it were, for a human body to live at
sea; and for that reason it appears, by a sort of inequality of its own, to
enter upon its mental operations in a slovenly and irregular manner, and to
perform the acts of the intellect with a duller sense, in as great degree
as those who on land are prostrated with fever; with respect to whom it is
certain, that if the. mind do not discharge its functions as well as
before, in consequence of the attack of disease, the blame is to be laid
not upon the place, but upon the bodily malady, by which the body, being
disturbed and disordered, renders to the mind its customary services under
by no means the well-known and natural conditions: for we human beings are
animals composed of a union of body and soul, and in this way (only) was it
possible for us to live upon the earth. But God, who is the beginning of
all things, is not to be regarded as a composite being, lest perchance
there should be found to exist elements prior to the beginning itself, out
of which everything is composed, whatever that be which is called
composite. Neither does the mind require bodily magnitude in order to
perform any act or movement; as when the eye by gazing upon bodies of
larger size is dilated, but is compressed and contracted in order to see
smaller objects. The mind, indeed, requires magnitude of an intellectual
kind, because it grows, not after the fashion of a body, but after that of
intelligence. For the mind is not enlarged, together with the body, by
means of corporal additions, up to the twentieth or thirtieth year of life;
but the intellect is sharpened by exercises of learning, and the powers
implanted within it for intelligent purposes are called forth; and it is
rendered capable of greater intellectual efforts, not being increased by
bodily additions, but carefully polished by learned exercises. But these it
cannot receive immediately from boyhood, or from birth, because the
framework of limbs which the mind employs as organs for exercising itself
is weak and feeble; and it is unable to bear the weight of its own
operations, or to exhibit a capacity for receiving training.

   7. If there are any now who think that the mind itself and the soul is
a body, I wish they Would tell me by way of answer how it receives reasons
and assertions on subjects of such importance- of such difficulty and such
subtlety? Whence does it derive the power of memory? and whence comes the
contemplation of invisible(2) things? How does the body possess the faculty
of understanding incorporeal existences? How does a bodily nature
investigate the processes of the various arts, and contemplate the reasons
of things? How, also, is it able to perceive and understand divine truths,
which are manifestly incorporeal? Unless, indeed, some should happen to be
of opinion, that as the very bodily shape and form of the ears or eyes
contributes something to hearing and to sight, and as the individual
members, formed by God, have some adaptation, even from the very quality of
their form, to the end for which they were naturally appointed; so also he
may think that the shape of the soul or mind is to be understood as if
created purposely and designedly for perceiving and understanding
individual things, and for being set in motion by vital movements. I do not
perceive, however, who shall be able to describe or state what is the
colour of the mind, in respect of its being mind, and acting as an
intelligent existence. Moreover, in confirmation and explanation of what we
have already advanced regarding the mind or soul--to the effect that it is
better than the whole bodily nature--the following remarks may be added.
There underlies every bodily sense a certain peculiar sensible
substance,(3) on which the bodily sense exerts itself. For example,
colours, form, size, underlie vision; voices and sound, the sense of
hearing; odours, good or bad, that of smell; savours, that of taste; heat
or cold, hardness or softness, roughness or smoothness, that of touch. Now,
of those senses enumerated above, it is manifest to all that the sense of
mind is much the best. How, then, should it not appear absurd, that under
those senses which are inferior, substances should have been placed on
which to exert their powers, but that under this power, which is far better
than any other, i.e., the sense of mind, nothing at all of the nature of a
substance should be placed, but that a power of an intellectual nature
should be an accident, or consequent upon bodies? Those who assert this,
doubtless do so to the disparagement of that better substance which is
within them; nay, by so doing, they even do wrong to God Himself, when they
imagine He may be understood by means of a bodily nature, so that according
to their view He is a body, and that which may be understood or perceived
by means of a body; and they are unwilling to have it understood that the
mind bears a certain relationship to God, of whom the mind itself is an
intellectual image, and that by means of this it may come to some knowledge
of the nature of divinity, especially if it be purified and separated from
bodily matter.

   8. But perhaps these declarations may seem to have less weight with
those who wish to be instructed in divine things out of the holy
Scriptures, and who seek to have it proved to them from that source how the
nature of God surpasses the nature of bodies. See, therefore, if the
apostle does not say the same thing, when, speaking of Christ, he declares,
that" He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of every
creature."(1) Not, as some suppose, that the nature of God is visible to
some and invisible to others: for the apostle does not say "the image of
God invisible" to men or "invisible" to sinners, but with unvarying
constancy pronounces on the nature of God in these words: "the image of the
invisible God." Moreover, John, in his Gospel, when asserting that "no one
hath seen God at any time,"(2) manifestly declares to all who are capable
of understanding, that there is no nature to which God is visible: not as
if, He were a being who was visible by nature, and merely escaped or
baffled the view of a frailer creature, but because by the nature of His
being it is impossible for Him to be seen. And if you should ask of me what
is my opinion regarding the Only-begotten Himself, whether the nature of
God, which is naturally invisible, be not visible even to Him, let not such
a question appear to you at once to be either absurd or impious, because we
shall give you a logical reason. It is one thing to see, and another to
know: to see and to be seen is a property of bodies; to know and to be
known, an attribute of intellectual being. Whatever, therefore, is a
property of bodies, cannot be predicated either of the Father or of the
Son; but what belongs to the nature of deity is common to the Father and
the Son.(3) Finally, even He Himself, in the Gospel, did not say that no
one has seen the Father, save the Son, nor any one the Son, save the
Father; but His words are: "No one knoweth the Son, save the Father; nor
any one the Father, save the Son."(4) By which it is clearly shown, that
whatever among bodily natures is called seeing and being seen, is termed,
between the Father and the Son, a knowing and being known, by means of the
power of knowledge, not by the frailness of the sense of sight. Because,
then, neither seeing nor being seen can be properly applied to an
incorporeal and invisible nature, neither is the Father, in the Gospel,
said to be seen by the Son, nor the Son by the Father, but the one is said
to be known by the other.

   9. Here, if any one lay before us the passage where it is said,
"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God,"(5) from that very
passage, in my opinion, will our position derive additional strength; for
what else is seeing God in heart, but, according to our exposition as
above, understanding and knowing Him with the mind? For the names of the
organs of sense are frequently applied to the soul, so that it may be said
to see with the eyes of the heart, i.e., to perform an intellectual act by
means of the power of intelligence. So also it is said to hear with the
ears when it perceives the deeper meaning of a statement. So also we say
that it makes use of teeth, when it chews and eats the bread of life which
cometh down from heaven. In like manner, also, it is said to employ the
services of other members, which are transferred from their bodily
appellations, and applied to the powers of the soul, according to the words
of Solomon, "You will find a divine sense."(6) For he knew that there were
within us two kinds of senses: the one mortal, corruptible, human; the
other immortal and intellectual, which he now termed divine. By this divine
sense, therefore, not of the eyes, but of a pure heart, which is the mind,
God may be seen by those who are worthy. For you will certainly find in all
the Scriptures, both old and new, the term "heart" repeatedly used instead
of "mind," i.e., intellectual power. In this manner, therefore, although
far below the dignity of the subject, have we spoken of the nature of God,
as those who understand it under the limitation of the human understanding.
In the next place, let us see what is meant by the name of Christ.

CHAP. II.--ON CHRIST.

   1. In the first place, we must note that the nature of that deity which
is in Christ in respect of His being the only-begotten Son of God is one
thing, and that human nature which He assumed in these last times for the
purposes of the dispensation (of grace) is another. And therefore we have
first to ascertain what the only-begotten Son of God is, seeing He is
called by many different names, according to the circumstances and views of
individuals. For He is termed Wisdom, according to the expression of
Solomon: "The Lord created me--the beginning of His ways, and among His
works, before He made any other thing; He rounded me before the ages. In
the beginning, before He formed the earth, before He brought forth the
fountains of waters, before the mountains were made strong, before all the
hills, He brought me forth.", He is also styled First-born, as the apostle
has declared: "who is the first-born of every creature."(2) The first-born,
however, is not by nature a different person from the Wisdom, but one and
the same. Finally, the Apostle Paul says that "Christ (is) the power of God
and the wisdom of God."(3)

   2. Let no one, however, imagine that we mean anything impersonal(4)
when we call Him the wisdom of God; or suppose, for example, that we
understand Him to be, not a living being endowed with wisdom, but something
which makes men wise, giving itself to, and implanting itself in, the minds
of those who are made capable of receiving His virtues and intelligence.
If, then, it is once rightly understood that the only-begotten Son of God
is His wisdom hypostatically(5) existing, I know not whether our curiosity
ought to advance beyond this, or entertain any suspicion that that
upo'stasis or substantia contains anything of a bodily nature, since
everything that is corporeal is distinguished either by form, or colour, or
magnitude. And who in his sound senses ever sought for form, or colour, or
size, in wisdom, in respect of its being wisdom? And who that is capable of
entertaining reverential thoughts or feelings regarding God, can suppose or
believe that God the Father ever existed, even for a moment of time,(6)
without having generated this Wisdom? For in that case he must say either
that God was unable to generate Wisdom before He produced her, so that He
afterwards called into being her who formerly did not exist, or that He
possessed the power indeed, but--what cannot be said of God without
impiety--was unwilling to use it; both of which suppositions, it is patent
to all, are alike absurd and impious: for they amount to this, either that
God advanced from a condition of inability to one of ability, or that,
although possessed of the power, He concealed it, and delayed the
generation of Wisdom. Wherefore we have always held that God is the Father
of His only-begotten Son, who was born indeed of Him, and derives from Him
what He is, but without any beginning, not only such as may be measured by
any divisions of time, but even that which the mind alone can contemplate
within itself, or behold, so to speak, with the naked powers of the
understanding. And therefore we must believe that Wisdom was generated
before any beginning that can be either comprehended or expressed. And
since all the creative power of the coming creation(7) was included in this
very existence of Wisdom (whether of those things which have an original or
of those which have a derived existence), having been formed beforehand and
arranged by the power of foreknowledge; on account of these very creatures
which had been described, as it were, and prefigured in Wisdom herself,
does Wisdom say, in the words of Solomon, that she was created the
beginning of the ways of God, inasmuch as she contained within herself
either the beginnings, or forms, or species of all creation.

   3. Now, in the same way in which we have understood that Wisdom was the
beginning of the ways of God, and is said to be created, forming beforehand
and containing within herself the species and beginnings of all creatures,
must we understand her to be the Word of God, because of her disclosing to
all other beings, i.e., to universal creation, the nature of the mysteries
and secrets which are contained within the divine wisdom; and on this
account she is called the Word, because she is, as it were, the interpreter
of the secrets of the mind. And therefore that language which is found in
the Acts of Paul,(8) where it is said that "here is the Word a living
being," appears to me to be rightly used. John, however, with more
sublimity and propriety, says in the beginning of his Gospel, when defining
God by a special definition to be the Word, "And God was the Word? and this
was in the beginning with God." Let him, then, who assigns a beginning to
the Word or Wisdom of God, take care that he be not guilty of impiety
against the unbegotten Father Himself, seeing he denies that He had always
been a Father, and had generated the Word, and had possessed wisdom in all
preceding periods, whether they be called times or ages, or anything else
that can be so entitled.

   4. This Son, accordingly, is also the truth and life of all things
which exist. And with reason. For how could those things which were created
live, unless they derived their being from life? or how could those things
which are, truly exist, unless they came down from the truth? or how could
rational beings exist, unless the Word or reason had previously existed? or
how could they be wise, unless there were wisdom? But since it was to come
to pass that some also should fall away from life, and bring death upon
themselves by their declension--for death is nothing else than a departure
from life--and as it was not to follow that those beings which had once
been created by God for the enjoyment of life should utterly perish, it was
necessary that, before death, there should be in existence such a power as
would destroy the coming death, and that there should be a resurrection,
the type of which was in our Lord and Saviour, and that this resurrection
should have its ground in the wisdom and word and life of God. And then, in
the next place, since some of those who were created were not to be always
willing to remain unchangeable and unalterable in the calm and moderate
enjoyment of the blessings which they possessed, but, in consequence of the
good which was in them being theirs not by nature or essence, but by
accident, were to be perverted and changed, and to fall away from their
position, therefore was the Word and Wisdom of God made the Way. And it was
so termed because it leads to the Father those who walk along it.

   Whatever, therefore, we have predicated of the wisdom of God, will be
appropriately applied and understood of the Son of God, in virtue of His
being the Life, and the Word, and the Truth and the Resurrection: for all
these titles are derived from His power and operations, and in none of them
is there the slightest ground for understanding anything of a corporeal
nature which might seem to denote either size, or form, or colour; for
those children of men which appear among us, or those descendants of other
living beings, correspond to the seed of those by whom they were begotten,
or derive from those mothers, in whose wombs they are formed and nourished,
whatever that is, which they bring into this life, and carry with them when
they are born.(1) But it is monstrous and unlawful to compare God the
Father, in the generation of His only-begotten Son, and in the substance(2)
of the same, to any man or other living thing engaged in such an act; for
we must of necessity hold that there is something exceptional and worthy of
God which does not admit of any comparison at all, not merely in things,
but which cannot even be conceived by thought or discovered by perception,
so that a human mind should be able to apprehend how the unbegotten God is
made the Father of the only-begotten Son. Because His generation is as
eternal and everlasting as the brilliancy which is produced from the sun.
For it is not by receiving the s breath of life that He is made a Son, by
any outward act, but by His own nature.

   5. Let us now ascertain how those statements which we have advanced are
supported by the authority of holy Scripture. The Apostle Paul says, that
the only-begotten Son is the "image of the invisible God," and "the first-
born of every creature."(4) And when writing to the Hebrews, he says of Him
that He is "the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His
person."(5) Now, we find in the treatise called the Wisdom of Solomon the
following description of the wisdom of God: "For she is the breath of the
power of God, and the purest efflux(6) of the glory of the Almighty."(7)
Nothing that is polluted can therefore come upon her. For she is the
splendour of the eternal light, and the stainless mirror of God's working,
and the image of His goodness. Now we say, as before, that Wisdom has her
existence nowhere else save in Him who is the beginning of all things: from
whom also is derived everything that is wise, because He Himself is the
only one who is by nature a Son, and is therefore termed the Only-begotten.

   6. Let us now see how we are to understand the expression "invisible
image," that we may in this way perceive how God is rightly called the
Father of His Son; and let us, in the first place, draw our conclusions
from what are customarily called images among men. That is sometimes called
an image which is painted or sculptured on some material substance, such as
wood or stone; and sometimes a child is called the image of his parent,
when the features of the child in no respect belie their resemblance to the
father. I think, therefore, that that man who was formed after the image
and likeness of God may be fittingly compared to the first illustration.
Respecting him, however, we shall see more precisely, God willing, when we
come to expound the passage in Genesis. But the image of the Son of God, of
whom we are now speaking, may be compared to the second of the above
examples, even in respect of this, that He is the invisible image of the
invisible God, in the same manner as we say, according to the sacred
history, that the image of Adam is his son Seth. The words are, "And Adam
begat Seth in his own likeness, and after his own image."(1) Now this image
contains the unity of nature and substance belonging to Father and Son. For
if the Son do, in like manner, all those things which the Father doth,
then, in virtue of the Son doing all things like the Father, is the image
of the Father formed in the Son, who is born of Him, like an act of His
will proceeding from the mind. And I am therefore of opinion that the will
of the Father ought alone to be sufficient for the existence of that which
He wishes to exist. For in the exercise of His wilt He employs no other way
than that which is made known by the counsel of His will. And thus also the
existence(2) of the Son is generated by Him. For this point must above all
others be maintained by those who allow nothing to be unbegotten, i.e.,
unborn, save God the Father only. And we must be careful not to fall into
the absurdities of those who picture to themselves certain emanations, so
as to divide the divine nature into parts, and who divide God the Father as
far as they can, since even to entertain the remotest suspicion of such a
thing regarding an incorporeal being is not only the height of impiety, but
a mark of the greatest folly, it being most remote from any intelligent
conception that there should be any physical division of any incorporeal
nature. Rather, therefore, as an act of the will proceeds from the
understanding, and neither cuts off any part nor is separated or divided
from it, so after some such fashion is the Father to be supposed as having
begotten the Son, His own image; namely, so that, as He is Himself
invisible by nature, He also begat an image that was invisible. For the Son
is the Word, and therefore we are not to understand that anything in Him is
cognisable by the senses. He is wisdom, and in wisdom there can be no
suspicion of anything corporeal. He is the true light, which enlightens
every man that cometh into this world; but He has nothing in common with
the light of this sun. Our Saviour, therefore, is the image of the
invisible God, inasmuch as compared with the Father Himself He is the
truth: and as compared with us, to whom He reveals the Father, He is the
image by which we come to the knowledge of the Father, whom no one knows
save the Son, and he to whom the Son is pleased to reveal Him. And the
method of revealing Him is through the understanding. For He by whom the
Son Himself is understood, understands, as a consequence, the Father also,
according to His own words: "He that hath seen Me, hath seen the Father
also."(3)

   7. But since we quoted the language of Paul regarding Christ, where He
says of Him that He is "the brightness of the glory of God, and the express
figure of His person,"(4) let us see what idea we are to form of this.
According to John, "God is light." The only-begotten Son, therefore, is the
glory of this light, proceeding inseparably from (God) Himself, as
brightness does from light, and illuminating the whole of creation. For,
agreeably to what we have already explained as to the manner in which He is
the Way, and conducts to the Father; and in which He is the Word,
interpreting the secrets of wisdom, and the mysteries of knowledge, making
them known to the rational creation; and is also the Truth, and the Life,
and the Resurrection,--in the same way ought we to understand also the
meaning of His being the brightness: for it is by its splendour that we
understand and feel what light itself is. And this splendour, presenting
itself gently and softly to the frail and weak eyes of mortals, and
gradually training, as it were, and accustoming them to bear the brightness
of the light, when it has put away from them every hindrance and
obstruction to vision, according to the Lord's own precept," Cast forth the
beam out of thine eye," s renders them capable of enduring the splendour of
the light, being made in this respect also a sort of mediator between men
and the light.

   8. But since He is called by the apostle not only the brightness of His
glory, but also the express figure of His person or subsistence,(6) it does
not seem idle to inquire how there can be said to be another figure of that
person besides the person of God Himself, whatever be the meaning of person
and subsistence. Consider, then, whether the Son of God, seeing He is His
Word and Wisdom, and alone knows the Father, and reveals Him to whom He
will (i.e., to those who are capable of receiving His word and wisdom), may
not, in regard of this very point of making God to be understood and
acknowledged, be called the figure of His person and subsistence; that is,
when that Wisdom, which desires to make known to others the means by which
God is acknowledged and understood by them, describes Himself first of all,
it may by so doing be called the express figure of the person of God. In
order, however, to arrive at a fuller understanding of the manner in which
the Saviour is the figure of the person or subsistence of God, let us take
an instance, which, although it does not describe the subject of which we
are treating either fully or appropriately, may nevertheless be seen to be
employed for this purpose only, to show that the Son of God, who was in the
form of God, divesting Himself (of His glory), makes it His object, by this
very divesting of Himself, to demonstrate to us the fulness of His deity.
For instance, suppose that there were a statue of so enormous a size as to
fill the whole world, and which on that account could be seen by no one;
and that another statue were formed altogether resembling it in the shape
of the limbs, and in the features of the countenance, and in form and
material, but without the same immensity of size, so that those who were
unable to behold the one of enormous proportions, should, on seeing the
latter, acknowledge that they had seen the former, because it preserved all
the features of its limbs and countenance, and even the very form and
material, so closely, as to be altogether undistinguishable from it; by
some such similitude, the Son of God, divesting Himself of His equality
with the Father, and showing to us the way to the knowledge of Him, is made
the express image of His person: so that we, who were unable to look upon
the glory of that marvellous light when placed in the greatness of His
Godhead, may, by His being made to us brightness, obtain the means of
beholding the divine light by looking upon the brightness. This comparison,
of course, of statues, as belonging to material things, is employed for no
other purpose than to show that the Son of God, though placed in the very
insignificant form of a human body, in consequence of the resemblance of
His works and power to the Father, showed that there was in Him an immense
and invisible greatness, inasmuch as He said to His disciples, "He who sees
Me, sees the Father also;" and, "I and the Father are one." And to these
belong also the similar expression, "The Father is in Me, and I in the
Father."

   9. Let us see now what is the meaning of the expression which is found
in the Wisdom of Solomon, where it is said of Wisdom that "it is a kind of
breath of the power of God, and the purest efflux of the glory of the
Omnipotent, and the splendour of eternal light, and the spotless mirror of
the working or power of God, and the image of His goodness."(1) These,
then, are the definitions which he gives of God, pointing out by each one
of them certain attributes which belong to the Wisdom of God, calling
wisdom the power, and the glory, and the everlasting light, and the
working, and the goodness of God. He does not say, however, that wisdom is
the breath of the glory of the Almighty, nor of the everlasting light, nor
of the working Of the Father, nor of His goodness, for it was not
appropriate that breath should be ascribed to any one of these; but, with
all propriety, he says that wisdom is the breath of the power of God. Now,
by the power of God is to be understood that by which He is strong; by
which He appoints, restrains, and governs all things visible and invisible;
which is sufficient for all those things which He rules over in His
providence; among all which He is present, as if one individual. And
although the breath of all this mighty and immeasurable power, and the
vigour itself produced, so to speak, by its own existence, proceed from the
power itself, as the will does from the mind, yet even this will of God is
nevertheless made to become the power of God.:

   Another power accordingly is produced, which exists with properties of
its own,--a kind of breath, as Scripture says, of the primal and unbegotten
power of God, deriving from Him its being, and never at any time non-
existent. For if any one were to assert that it did not formerly exist, but
came afterwards into existence, let him explain the reason why the Father,
who gave it being, did not do so before. And if he shall grant that there
was once a beginning, when that breath proceeded from the power of God, we
shall ask him again, why not even before the beginning, which he has
allowed; and in this way, ever demanding an earlier date, and going upwards
with our interrogations, we shall arrive at this conclusion, that as God
was always possessed of power and will, there never was any reason of
propriety or otherwise, why He may not have always possessed that blessing
which He desired. By which it is shown that that breath of God's power
always existed, having no beginning save God Himself. Nor was it fitting
that there should be any other beginning save God Himself, from whom it
derives its birth. And according to the expression of the apostle, that
Christ "is the power of God," a it ought to be termed not only the breath
of the power of God, but power out of power.

   10. Let us now examine the expression, "Wisdom is the purest efflux of
the glory of the Almighty;" and let us first consider what the glory of the
omnipotent God is, and then we shall also understand what is its efflux. As
no one can be a father without having a son, nor a master without
possessing a servant, so even God cannot be called omnipotent unless there
exist those over whom He may exercise His power; and therefore, that God
may be shown to be almighty, it is necessary that all things should exist.
For if any one would have some ages or portions of time, or whatever else
he likes to call them, to have passed away, while those things which were
afterwards made did not yet exist, he would undoubtedly show that during
those ages or periods God was not omnipotent, but became so afterwards,
viz., from the time that He began to have persons over whom to exercise
power; and in this way He will appear to have received a certain increase,
and to have risen from a lower to a higher condition; since there can be no
doubt that it is better for Him to be omnipotent than not to be so. And now
how can it appear otherwise than absurd, that when God possessed none of
those things which it was befitting for Him to possess, He should
afterwards, by a kind of progress, come into the possession of them? But if
there never was a time when He was not omnipotent, of necessity those
things by which He receives that title must also exist; and He must always
have had those over whom He exercised power, and which were governed by Him
either as king or prince, of which we shall speak more fully in the proper
place, when we come to discuss the subject of the creatures. But even now I
think it necessary to drop a word, although cursorily, of warning, since
the question before us is, how wisdom is the purest efflux of the glory of
the Almighty, lest any one should think that the title of Omnipotent was
anterior in God to the birth of Wisdom, through whom He is called Father,
seeing that Wisdom, which is the Son of God, is the purest efflux of the
glory of the Almighty. Let him who is inclined to entertain this suspicion
hear the undoubted declaration of Scripture pronouncing, "In wisdom hast
Thou made them all,"(1) and the teaching of the Gospel, that "by Him were
all things made, and without Him nothing was made;"(2) and let him
understand from this that the title of Omnipotent in God cannot be older
than that of Father; for it is through the Son that the Father is almighty.
But from the expression "glory of the Almighty," of which glory Wisdom is
the efflux, this is to be understood, that Wisdom, through which God is
called omnipotent, has a share in the glory of the Almighty. For through
Wisdom, which is Christ, God has power over all things, not only by the
authority of a ruler, but also by the voluntary obedience of subjects. And
that you may understand that the omnipotence of Father and Son is one and
the same, as God and the Lord are one and the same with the Father, listen
to the manner in which John speaks in the Apocalypse: "Thus saith the Lord
God, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty."(3) For
who else was "He which is to come" than Christ? And as no one ought to be
offended, seeing God is the Father, that the Saviour is also God; so also,
since the Father is called omnipotent, no one ought to be offended that the
Son of God is also cared omnipotent. For in this way will that saying be
true which He utters to the Father, "All Mine are Thine, and Thine are
Mine, and I am glorified in them."(4) Now, if all things which are the
Father's are also Christ's, certainly among those things which exist is the
omnipotence of the Father; and doubtless the only-begotten Son ought to be
omnipotent, that the Son also may have all things which the Father
possesses. "And I am glorified in them," He declares. For "at the name of
Jesus every knee shall bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and
things under the earth; and every tongue shall confess that the Lord Jesus
is in the glory of God the Father."(5) Therefore He is the efflux of the
glory of God in this respect, that He is omnipotent--the pure and limpid
Wisdom herself--glorified as the efflux of omnipotence or of glory. And
that it may be more clearly nnderstood what the glory of omnipotence is, we
shall add the following. God the Father is omnipotent, because He has power
over all things, i.e., over heaven and earth, sun, moon, and stars, and all
things in them. And He exercises His power over them by means of His Word,
because at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, both of things in
heaven, and things on earth, and things under the earth. And if every knee
is bent to Jesus, then, without doubt, it is Jesus to whom all things are
subject, and He it is who exercises power over all things, and through whom
all things are subject to the Father; for through wisdom, i.e., by word and
reason, not by force and necessity, are all things subject. And therefore
His glory consists in this very thing, that He possesses all things, and
this is the purest and most limpid glory of omnipotence, that by reason and
wisdom, not by force and necessity, all things are subject. Now the purest
and most limpid glory of wisdom is a convenient expression to distinguish
it from that glory which cannot be called pure and sincere. But every
nature which is convertible and changeable, although glorified in the works
of righteousness or wisdom, yet by the fact that righteousness or wisdom
are accidental qualifies, and because that which is accidental may also
fall away, its glory cannot be called sincere and pure. But the Wisdom of
God, which is His only-begotten Son, being in all respects incapable of
change or alteration, and every good quality in Him being essential, and
such as cannot be changed and converted, His glory is therefore declared to
be pure and sincere.

   11. In the third place, wisdom is called the splendour of eternal
light. The force of this expression we have explained in the preceding
pages, when we introduced the similitude of the sun and the splendour of
its rays, and showed to the best of our power how this should be
understood. To what we then said we shall add only the following remark.
That is properly termed everlasting or eternal which neither had a
beginning of existence, nor can ever cease to be what it is. And this is
the idea conveyed by John when he says that "God is light." Now His wisdom
is the splendour of that light, not only in respect of its being light, but
also of being everlasting light, so that His wisdom is eternal and
everlasting splendour. If this be fully understood, it clearly shows that
the existence of the Son is derived from the Father but not in time, nor
from any other beginning, except, as we have said, from God Himself.

   12. But wisdom is also called the stainless mirror of the ener'geia or
working of God. We must first understand, then, what the working of the
power of God is. It is a sort of vigour, so to speak, by which God operates
either in creation, or in providence, or in judgment, or in the disposal
and arrangement of individual things, each in its season. For as the image
formed in a mirror unerringly reflects all the acts and movements of him
who gazes on it, so would Wisdom have herself to be understood when she is
called the stainless mirror of the power and working of the Father: as the
Lord Jesus Christ also, who is the Wisdom of God, declares of Himself when
He says, "The works which the Father doeth, these also doeth the Son
likewise."(1) And again He says, that the Son cannot do anything of
Himself, save what He sees the Father do. As therefore the Son in no
respect differs from the Father in the power of His works, and the work of
the Son is not a different thing from that of the Father, but one and the
same movement, so to speak, is in all things, He therefore named Him a
stainless mirror, that by such an expression it might be understood that
them is no dissimilarity whatever between the Son and the Father. How,
indeed, can those things which are said by some to be done after the manner
in which a disciple resembles or imitates his master, or according to the
view that those things are made by the Son in bodily material which were
first formed by the Father in their spiritual essence, agree with the
declarations of Scripture, seeing in the Gospel the Son is said to do not
similar things, but the same things in a similar manner?

   13. It remains that we inquire what is the "image of His goodness;" and
here, I think, we must understand the same thing which we expressed a
little ago, in speaking of the image formed by the mirror. For He is the
primal goodness, doubtless, out of which the Son is born, who, being in all
respects the image of the Father, may certainly also be called with
propriety the image of His goodness. For there is no other second goodness
existing in the Son, save that which is in the Father. And therefore also
the Saviour Himself rightly says in the Gospel, "Them is none good save one
only, God the Father,"(2) that by such an expression it may be understood
that the Son is not of a different goodness, but of that only which exists
in the Father, of whom He is tightly termed the image, because He proceeds
from no other source but from that primal goodness, lest there might appear
to be in the Son a different goodness from that which is in the Father. Nor
is there any dissimilarity or difference of goodness in the Son. And
therefore it is not to be imagined that there is a kind of blasphemy, as it
were, in the words, "There is none good save one only, God the Father," as
if thereby it may be supposed to be denied that either Christ or the Holy
Spirit was good. But, as we have already said, the primal goodness is to be
understood as residing in God the Father, from whom both the Son is born
and the Holy Spirit proceeds, retaining within them, without any doubt, the
nature of that goodness which is in the source whence they are derived. And
if there be any other things which in Scripture are called good, whether
angel, or man, or servant, or treasure, or a good heart, or a good tree,
all these are so termed catachrestically,(3) having in them an accidental,
not an essential goodness. But it would require both much time and labour
to collect together all the titles of the Son of God, such, e.g., as the
true light, or the door, or the righteousness, or the sanctification, or
the redemption, and countless others; and to show if or what reasons each
one of them is so given. Satisfied, therefore, with what we have already
advanced, we go on with our inquiries into those other matters which
follow.

CHAP. III.--ON THE HOLY SPIRIT.

   1. The next point is to investigate as briefly as possible the subject
of the Holy Spirit. All who perceive, in whatever manner, the existence of
Providence, confess that God, who created and disposed all things, is
unbegotten, and recognise Him as the parent of the universe. Now, that to
Him belongs a Son, is a statement not made by us only; although it may seem
a sufficiently marvellous and incredible assertion to those who have a
reputation as philosophers among Greeks and Barbarians, by some of whom,
however, an idea of His existence seems to have been entertained, in their
acknowledging that all things were created by the word or reason of God.
We, however, in conformity with our belief in that doctrine, which we
assuredly hold to be divinely inspired, believe that it is possible in no
other way to explain and bring within the reach of human knowledge this
higher and diviner reason as the Son of God, than by means of those
Scriptures alone which were inspired by the Holy Spirit, i.e., the Gospels
and Epistles, and the law and the prophets, according to the declaration of
Christ Himself. Of the existence of the Holy Spirit no one indeed could
entertain any suspicion, save those who were familiar with the law and the
prophets, or those who profess a belief in Christ. For although no one is
able to speak with certainty of God the Father, it is nevertheless possible
for some knowledge of Him to be gained by means of the visible creation and
the natural feelings of the human mind; and it is possible, moreover, for
such knowledge to be confined from the sacred Scriptures. But with respect
to the Son of God, although no one knoweth the Son save the Father, yet it
is from sacred Scripture also that the human mind is taught how to think of
the Son; and that not only from the New, but also from the Old Testament,
by means of those things which, although done by the saints, are
figuratively referred to Christ, and from which both His divine nature, and
that human nature which was assumed by Him, may be discovered.

   2. Now, what the Holy Spirit is, we are taught in many passages of
Scripture, as by David in the fifty-first Psalm, when he says, "And take
not Thy Holy Spirit from me;"(1) and by Daniel, where it is Said, "The Holy
Spirit which is in thee."(2) And in the New Testament we have abundant
testimonies, as when the Holy Spirit is described as having descended upon
Christ, and when the Lord breathed upon His apostles after His
resurrection, saying, "Receive the Holy Spirit;"(3) and the saying of the
angel to Mary, "The Holy Spirit will come upon thee;"(4) the declaration by
Paul, that no one can call Jesus Lord, save by the Holy Spirit.(5) In the
Acts of the Apostles, the Holy Spirit was given by the imposition of the
apostles' hands in baptism.(6) From all which we learn that the person of
the Holy Spirit was of such authority and dignity, that saving baptism was
not complete except by the authority of the most excellent Trinity of them
all, i.e., by the naming of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and by joining to
the unbegotten God the Father, and to His only-begotten Son, the name also
of the Holy Spirit. Who, then, is not amazed at the exceeding majesty of
the Holy Spirit, when he hears that he who speaks a word against the Son of
man may hope for forgiveness; but that he who is guilty of blasphemy
against the Holy Spirit has not forgiveness, either in the present world or
in that which is to come!(7)

   3. That all things were created by God, and that there is no creature
which exists but has derived from Him its being, is established from many
declarations of Scripture; those assertions being refuted and rejected
which are falsely alleged by some respecting the existence either of a
matter co-eternal with God, or of unbegotten souls, in which they would
have it that God implanted not so much the power of existence, as equality
and order. For even in that little treatise called The Pastor or Angel of
Repentance, composed by Hennas, we have the following: "First of all,
believe that there is one God who created and arranged all things; who,
when nothing formerly existed, caused all things to be; who Himself
contains all things, but Himself is contained by none."(8) And in the book
of Enoch also we have similar descriptions. But up to the present time we
have been able to find no statement in holy .Scripture in which the Holy
Spirit could be said to be made or created? not even in the way in which we
have shown above that the divine wisdom is spoken of by Solomon, or in
which those expressions which we have discussed are to be understood of the
life, or the word, or the other appellations of the Son of God. The Spirit
of God, therefore, which was borne upon the waters, as is written in the
beginning of the creation of the world, is, I am of opinion, no other than
the Holy Spirit, so far as I can understand; as indeed we have shown in our
exposition of the passages themselves, not according to the historical, but
according to the spiritual method of interpretation.

   4. Some indeed of our predecessors have observed, that in the New
Testament, whenever the Spirit is named without that adjunct which denotes
quality, the Holy Spirit is to be understood; as e.g., in the expression,
"Now the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, and peace;"(10) and, "Seeing ye
began in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect in the flesh?"(1) We are of
opinion that this distinction may be observed in the Old Testament also, as
when it is said, "He that giveth His Spirit to the people who are upon the
earth, and Spirit to them who walk thereon."(2) For,   without doubt, every
one who walks upon the earth (i.e., earthly and corporeal beings) is a
partaker also of the Holy Spirit, receiving it from God. My Hebrew master
also used to say that those two seraphim in Isaiah, which are described as
having each six wings, and calling to one another, and saying, "Holy, holy,
holy, is the Loan God of hosts,"(3) were to be understood of the only-
begotten Son of God and of the Holy Spirit. And we think that that
expression also which occurs in the hymn of Habakkuk, "In the midst either
of the two living things, or of the two lives, Thou wilt be known,"(4)
ought to be understood of Christ and of the Holy Spirit. For all knowledge
of the Father is obtained by revelation of the Son through the Holy Spirit,
so that both of these beings which, according to the prophet, are called
either "living things" or "lives," exist as the ground of the knowledge of
God the Father. For as it is said of the Son, that "no one knoweth the
Father but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal Him,"(5) the same
also is said by the apostle of the Holy Spirit, when He declares, "God hath
revealed them to us by His Holy Spirit; for the Spirit searcheth all
things, even the deep things of God;"(6) and again in the Gospel, when the
Saviour, speaking of the divine and profounder parts of His teaching, which
His disciples were not yet able to receive, thus addresses them: "I have
yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now; but when the
Holy Spirit, the Comforter, is come, He will teach you all things, and will
bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you."(7)
We must understand, therefore, that as the Son, who alone knows the Father,
reveals Him to whom He will, so the Holy Spirit, who alone searches the
deep things of God, reveals God to whom He will: "For the Spirit bloweth
where He listeth."(8) We are not, however, to suppose that the Spirit
derives His knowledge through revelation from the Son. For if the Holy
Spirit knows the Father through the Son's revelation, He passes from a
state of ignorance into one of knowledge; but it is alike impious and
foolish to confess the Holy Spirit, and yet to ascribe to Him ignorance.
For even although something else existed before the Holy Spirit, it was not
by progressive advancement that He came to be the Holy Spirit; as if any
one should venture to say, that at the time when He was not yet the Holy
Spirit He was ignorant of the Father, but that after He had received
knowledge He was made the Holy Spirit. For if this were the case, the Holy
Spirit would never be reckoned in the Unity of the Trinity, i.e., along
with the unchangeable Father and His Son, unless He had always been the
Holy Spirit. When we use, indeed, such terms as "always" or "was," or any
other designation of time, they are not to be taken absolutely, but with
due allowance; for while the significations of these words relate to time,
and those subjects of which we speak are spoken of by a stretch of language
as existing in time, they nevertheless surpass in their real nature all
conception of the finite understanding.

   5. Nevertheless it seems proper to inquire what is the reason why he
who is regenerated by God unto salvation has to do both with Father and Son
and Holy Spirit, and does not obtain salvation unless with the co-operation
of the entire Trinity; and why it is impossible to become partaker of the
Father or the Son without the Holy Spirit. And in discussing these
subjects, it will undoubtedly be necessary to describe the special working
of the Holy Spirit, and of the Father and the Son. I am of opinion, then,
that the working of the Father and of the Son takes place as well in saints
as in sinners, in rational beings and in dumb animals; nay, even in those
things which are without life, and in all things universally which exist;
but that the operation of the Holy Spirit does not take place at all in
those things which are without life, or in those which, although living,
are yet dumb; nay, is not found even in those who are endued indeed with
reason, but are engaged in evil courses, and not at all converted to a
better life. In those persons alone do I think that the operation of the
Holy Spirit takes place, who are already turning to a better life, and
walking along the way which leads to Jesus Christ, i.e., who are engaged in
the performance of good actions, and who abide in God.

   6. That the working of the Father and the Son operates both in saints
and in sinners, is manifest from this, that all who are rational beings are
partakers of the word, i.e., of reason, and by this means bear certain
seeds, implanted within them, of wisdom and justice, which is Christ. Now,
in Him who truly exists, and who said by Moses, "I AM WHO I AM,"(9) all
things, whatever they are, participate; which participation in God the
Father is shared both by just men and sinners, by rational and irrational
beings, and by all things universally which exist.

The Apostle Paul also shows truly that all have a share in Christ, when he
says, "Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (i.e., to
bring Christ down from above;) or who shall descend into the deep? (that
is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.) But what saith the Scripture?
The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart."(1) By which he
means that Christ is in the heart of all, in respect of His being the word
or reason, by participating in which they are rational beings. That
declaration also in the Gospel, "If I had not come and spoken unto them,
they had not had sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin,"(2)
renders it manifest and patent to all who have a rational knowledge of how
long a time man is without sin, and from what period he is liable to it,
how, by participating in the word or reason, men are said to have sinned,
viz., from the time they are made capable of understanding and knowledge,
when the reason implanted within has suggested to them the difference
between good and evil; and after they have already begun to know what evil
is, they are made liable to sin, if they commit it. And this is the meaning
of the expression, that "men have no excuse for their sin," viz., that,
from the time the divine word or reason has begun to show them internally
the difference between good and evil, they ought to avoid and guard against
that which is wicked: "For to him who knoweth to do good, and doeth it not,
to him it is sin."(3) Moreover, that all men are not without communion with
God, is taught in the Gospel thus, by the Saviour's words: "The kingdom of
God cometh not with observation; neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo
there! but the kingdom of God is within you."(4) But here we must see
whether this does not bear the same meaning with the expression in Genesis:
"And He breathed into his face the breath of life, and man became a living
soul."(5) For if this be understood as applying generally to all men, then
all men have a share in God.

   7. But if this is to be understood as spoken of the Spirit of God,
since Adam also is found to have prophesied of some things, it may be taken
not as of general application, but as confined to those who are saints.
Finally, also, at the time of the flood, when all flesh had corrupter their
way before God, it is recorded that God spoke thus, as of undeserving men
and sinners: "My Spirit shall not abide with those men for ever, because
they are flesh."(6) By which, it is clearly shown that the Spirit of God is
taken away from all who are unworthy. In the Psalms also it is written:
"Thou wilt take away their spirit, and they will die, and return to their
earth. Thou wilt send forth Thy Spirit, and they shall be created, and Thou
wilt renew the face of the earth;"(7) which is manifestly intended of the
Holy Spirit, who, after sinners and unworthy persons have been taken away
and destroyed, creates for Himself a new people, and renews the face of the
earth, when, laying aside, through the grace of the Spirit, the old map
with his deeds, they begin to walk in newness of life. And therefore the
expression is competently applied to the Holy Spirit, because He will take
up His dwelling, not in all men, nor in those who are flesh, but in those
whose land(8) has been renewed. Lastly, for this reason was the grace and
revelation of the Holy Spirit bestowed by the imposition of the apostles'
hands after baptism. Our Saviour also, after the resurrection, when old
things had already passed away, and all things had become new, Himself a
new man, and the first-born from the dead, His apostles also being renewed
by faith in His resurrection, says, "Receive the Holy Spirit;"(9) This is
doubtless what the Lord the Saviour meant to convey in the Gospel, when He
said that new wine cannot be put into old bottles, but commanded that the
bottles should be made new, i.e., that men should walk in newness of life,
that they might receive the new wine, i.e., the newness of grace of the
Holy Spirit. In this manner, then, is the working of the power of God the
Father and of the Son extended without distinction to every creature; but a
share in the Holy Spirit we find possessed only by the saints. And
therefore it is said, "No man can say that Jesus is Lord, but by the Holy
Ghost."(10) And on one occasion, scarcely even the apostles themselves are
deemed worthy to hear the words, "Ye shall receive the power of the Holy
Ghost coming upon you."(11) For this reason, also, I think it follows that
he who has committed a sin against the Son of man is deserving of
forgiveness; because if he who is a participator of the word or reason of
God cease to live agreeably to reason, he seems to have fallen into a state
of ignorance or folly, and therefore to deserve forgiveness; whereas he who
has been deemed worthy to have a portion of the Holy Spirit, and who has
relapsed, is, by this very act and work, said to be guilty of blasphemy
against the Holy Spirit. Let no one indeed suppose that we, from having
said that the Holy Spirit is conferred upon the saints alone, but that the
benefits or operations of the Father and of the Son extend to good and bad,
to just and unjust, by so doing give a preference to the Holy Spirit over
the Father and the Son, or assert that His dignity is greater, which
certainly would be a very illogical conclusion. For it is the peculiarity
of His grace and operations that we have been describing. Moreover, nothing
in the Trinity can be called greater or less, since the fountain of
divinity alone contains all things by His word and reason, and by the
Spirit of His mouth sanctifies all things which are worthy of
sanctification, as it is written in the Psalm: "By the word of the LORD
were the heavens strengthened, and all their power by the Spirit of His
mouth."(1) There is also a special working of God the Father, besides that
by which He bestowed upon all things the gift of natural life. There is
also a special ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ to those upon whom he
confers by nature the gift of reason, by means of which they are enabled to
be rightly what they are. There is also another grace of the Holy Spirit,
which is bestowed upon the deserving, through the ministry of Christ and
the working of the Father, in proportion to the merits of those who are
rendered capable of receiving it. This is most clearly pointed out by the
Apostle Paul, when demonstrating that the power of the Trinity is one and
the same, in the words, "There are diversities of gifts, but the same
Spirit; there are diversities of administrations, but the same Lord; and
there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God who worketh all
in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to
profit: withal."(2) From which it most clearly follows that there is no
difference in the Trinity, but that which is called the gift of the Spirit
is made known through the Son, and operated by God the Father. "But all
these worketh that one and the self-same Spirit, dividing to every one
severally as He will."(3)

   8. Having made these declarations regarding the Unity of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, let us return to the order in which
we began the discussion. God the Father bestows upon all, existence; and
participation in Christ, in respect of His being the word of reason,
renders them rational beings. From which it follows that they are deserving
either of praise or blame, because capable of virtue and vice. On this
account, therefore, is the grace of the Holy Ghost present, that those
beings which are not holy in their essence may be rendered holy by
participating in it. Seeing, then, that firstly, they derive their
existence from God the Father; secondly, their rational nature from the
Word; thirdly, their holiness from the Holy Spirit,--those who have been
previously sanctified by the Holy Spirit are again made capable of
receiving Christ, in respect that He is the righteousness of God; and those
who have earned advancement to this grade by the sanctification of the Holy
Spirit, will nevertheless obtain the gift of wisdom according to the power
and working of the Spirit of God. And this I consider is Paul's meaning,
when he says that to "some is given the word of wisdom, to others the word
of knowledge, according to the same Spirit." And while pointing out the
individual distinction of gifts, he refers the whole of them to the source
of all things. in the words, "There are diversities of operations, but one
God who worketh all in all."(4) Whence also the working of the Father,
which confers existence upon all things, is found to be more glorious and
magnificent, while each one, by participation in Christ, as being wisdom,
and knowledge, and sanctification, makes progress, and advances to higher
degrees of perfection; and seeing it is by partaking of the Holy Spirit
that any one is made purer and holier, he obtains, when he is made worthy,
the grace of wisdom and knowledge, in order that, after all stains of
pollution and ignorance are cleansed and taken away, he may make so great
an advance in holiness and purity, that the nature which he received from
God may become such as is worthy of Him who gave it to be pure and perfect,
so that the being which exists may be as worthy as He who called it into
existence. For, in this way, he who is such as his Creator wished him to
be, will receive from God power always to exist, and to abide for ever.
That this may be the case, and that those whom He has created may be
unceasingly and inseparably present with HIM, WHO IS, it is the business of
wisdom to instruct and train them, and to bring them to perfection by
confirmation of His Holy Spirit and unceasing sanctification, by which
alone are they capable of receiving God. In this way, then, by the renewal
of the ceaseless working of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in us, in its
various stages of progress, shall we be able at some future time perhaps,
although with difficulty, to behold the holy and the blessed life, in which
(as it is only after many struggles that we are able to reach it) we ought
so to continue, that no satiety of that blessedness should ever seize us;
but the more we perceive its blessedness, the more should be increased and
intensified within us the longing for the same, while we ever more eagerly
and freely receive and hold fast the Father, and the Son, and the Holy
Spirit. But if satiety should ever take hold of any one of those who stand
on the highest and perfect summit of attainment, I do not think that such
an one would suddenly be deposed from his position and fall away, but that
he must decline gradually and little by little, so that it may sometimes
happen that if a brief lapsus take place, and the individual quickly repent
and return to himself, he may not utterly fall away, but may retrace his
steps, and return to his former place, and again make good that which had
been lost by his negligence.

CHAP, IV.--ON DEFECTION, OR FALLING AWAY.

   1. To exhibit the nature of defection or falling away, on the part of
those who conduct themselves carelessly, it will not appear out of place to
employ a similitude by way of illustration. Suppose, then, the case of one
who had become gradually acquainted with the art or science, say of
geometry or medicine, until he had reached perfection, having trained
himself for a lengthened time in its principles and practice, so as to
attain a complete mastery over the art: to such an one it could never
happen, that, when he lay down to sleep in the possession of his skill, he
should awake in a state of ignorance. It is not our purpose to adduce or to
notice here those accidents which are occasioned by any injury or weakness,
for they do not apply to our present illustration. According to our point
of view, then, so long as that geometer or physician continues to exercise
himself in the study of his art and in the practice of its principles, the
knowledge of his profession abides with him; but if he withdraw from its
practice, and lay aside his habits of industry, then, by his neglect, at
first a few things will gradually escape him, then by and by more and more,
until in course of time everything will be forgotten, and be completely
effaced from the memory. It is possible, indeed, that when he has first
begun to fall away, and to yield to the corrupting influence of a
negligence which is small as yet, he may, if he be aroused and return
speedily to his senses, repair those losses which up to that time are only
recent, and recover that knowledge which hitherto had been only slightly
obliterated from his mind. Let us apply this now to the case of those who
have devoted themselves to the knowledge and wisdom of God, whose learning
and diligence incomparably surpass all other training; and let us
contemplate, according to the form of the similitude employed, what is the
acquisition of knowledge, or what is its disappearance, especially when we
hear from the apostle what is said of those who are perfect, that they
shall behold face to face the glory of the Lord in the revelation of His
mysteries.

   2. But in our desire to show the divine benefits bestowed upon us by
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, which Trinity is the fountain of all
holiness, we have fallen, in what we have said, into a digression, having
considered that the subject of the soul, which accidentally came before us,
should be touched on, although cursorily, seeing we were discussing a
cognate topic relating to our rational nature. We shall, however, with the
permission of God through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, more
conveniently consider in the proper place the subject of all rational
beings, which are distinguished into three genera and species.

CHAP. V.--ON RATIONAL NATURES.

   1. After the dissertation, which we have briefly conducted to the best
of our ability, regarding the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, it follows that
we offer a few remarks upon the subject of rational natures, and on their
species and orders, or on the offices as well of holy as of malignant
powers, and also on those which occupy an intermediate position between
these good and evil powers, and as yet are placed in a state of struggle
and trial. For we find in holy Scripture numerous names of certain orders
and offices, not only of holy beings, but also of those of an opposite
description, which we shall bring before us, in the first place; and the
meaning of which we shall endeavour, in the second place, to the best of
our ability, to ascertain. There are certain holy angels of God whom Paul
terms "ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be
heirs of salvation."(1) In the writings also of St. Paul himself we find
him designating them, from some unknown source, as thrones, and dominions,
and principalities, and powers; and after this enumeration, as if knowing
that there were still other rational offices(2) and orders besides those
which he had named, he says of the Saviour: "Who is above all principality,
and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only
in this world, but also in that which is to come."(3) From which he shows
that there were certain beings besides those which he had mentioned, which
may be named indeed in this world, but were not now enumerated by him, and
perhaps were not known by any other individual; and that there were others
which may not be named in this world, but will be named in the world to
come.

   2. Then, in the next place, we must know that every being which is
endowed with reason, and transgresses its statutes and limitations, is
undoubtedly involved in sin by swerving from rectitude and justice. Every
rational creature, therefore, is capable of earning praise and censure: of
praise, if, in conformity to that reason which he possesses, he advance to
better things; of censure, if he fall away from the plan and course of
rectitude, for which reason he is justly liable to pains and penalties. And
this also is to be held as applying to the devil himself, and those who are
with him, and are called his angels. Now the rifles of these beings have to
be explained, that we may know what they are of whom we have to speak. The
name, then, of Devil, and Satan, and Wicked One, who is also described as
Enemy of God, is mentioned in many passages of Scripture. Moreover, certain
angels of the devil are mentioned, and also a prince of this world, who,
whether the devil himself or some one else, is not yet clearly manifest.
There are also certain princes of this world spoken of as possessing a kind
of wisdom which will come to nought; but whether these are those princes
who are also the principalities with whom we have to wrestle, or other
beings, seems to me a point on which it is not easy for any one to
pronounce. After the principalities, certain powers also are named with
whom we have to wrestle, and carry on a struggle even against the princes
of this world and the rulers of this darkness. Certain spiritual powers of
wickedness also, in heavenly places, are spoken of by Paul himself. What,
moreover, are we to say of those wicked and unclean spirits mentioned in
the Gospel? Then we have certain heavenly beings called by a similar name,
but which are said to bend the knee, or to be about to bend the knee, at
the name of Jesus; nay, even things on earth and things under the earth,
which Paul enumerates in order. And certainly, in a place where we have
been discussing the subject of rational natures, it is not proper to be
silent regarding ourselves, who are human beings, and are called rational
animals; nay, even this point is not to be idly passed over, that even of
us human beings certain different orders are mentioned in the words, "The
portion of the Lord is His people Jacob; Israel is the cord of His
inheritance."(1) Other nations, moreover, are called a part of the angels;
since "when the Most High divided the nations, and dispersed the sons of
Adam, He fixed the boundaries of the nations according to the number of the
angels of God."(2) And therefore, with other rational natures, we must also
thoroughly examine the reason of the human soul.

   3. After the enumeration, then, of so many and so important names of
orders and offices, underlying which it is certain that there are personal
existences, let us inquire whether God, the creator and founder of all
things, created certain of them holy and happy, so that they could admit no
element at all of an opposite kind, and certain others so that they were
made capable both of virtue and vice; or whether we are to suppose that He
created some so as to be altogether incapable of virtue, and others again
altogether incapable of wickedness, but with the power of abiding only in a
state of happiness, and others again such as to be capable of either
condition.(3) In order, now, that our first inquiry may begin with the
names themselves, let us consider whether the holy angels, from the period
of their first existence, have always been holy, and axe holy still, and
will be holy, and have never either admitted or had the power to admit any
occasion of sin. Then in the next place, let us consider whether those who
are called holy principalities began from the moment of their creation by
God to exercise power over some who were made subject to them, and whether
these latter were created of such a nature, and formed for the very purpose
of being subject and subordinate. In like manner, also, whether those which
are called powers were created of such a nature and for the express purpose
of exercising power, or whether their arriving at that power and dignity is
a reward and desert of their virtue. Moreover, also, whether those which
are called thrones or seats gained that stability of happiness at the same
time with their coming forth into being? so as to have that possession from
the will of the Creator alone; or whether those which are called dominions
had their dominion conferred on them, not as a reward for their
proficiency, but as the peculiar privilege of their creation,s so that it
is something which is in a certain degree inseparable from them, and
natural. Now, if we adopt the view that the holy angels, and the holy
powers, and the blessed seats, and the glorious virtues, and the
magnificent dominions, are to be regarded as possessing those powers and
dignities and glories in virtue of their nature,(6) it will doubtless
appear to follow that those beings which have been mentioned as holding
offices of an opposite kind must be regarded in the same manner; so that
those principalities with whom we have to struggle are to be viewed, not as
having received that spirit of opposition and resistance to all good at a
later period, or as failing away from good through the freedom of the will,
but as having had it in themselves as the essence of their being from the
beginning of their existence. In like manner also will it be the case with
the powers and virtues, in none of which was wickedness subsequent or
posterior to their first existence. Those also whom the apostle termed
rulers and princes of the darkness of this world, are said, with respect to
their rule and occupation of darkness, to fall not from perversity of
intention, but from the necessity of their creation. Logical reasoning will
compel us to take the same view with regard to wicked and malignant spirits
and unclean demons. But if to entertain this view regarding malignant and
opposing powers seem to be absurd, as it is certainly absurd that the cause
of their wickedness should be removed from the purpose Of their own will,
and ascribed of necessity to their Creator, why should we not also be
obliged to make a similar confession regarding the good and holy powers,
that, viz., the good which is in them is not theirs by essential being,
which we have manifestly shown to be the case with Christ and the Holy
Spirit alone, as undoubtedly with the Father also? For it was proved that
there was nothing compound in the nature of the Trinity, so that these
qualities might seem to belong to it as accidental consequences. From which
it follows, that in the case of every creature it is a result of his own
works and movements, that those powers which appear either to hold sway
over others or to exercise power or dominion, have been preferred to and
placed over those whom they are said to govern or exercise power over, and
not in consequence of a peculiar privilege inherent in their constitutions,
but on account of merit.

   4. But that we may not appear to build our assertions on subjects of
such importance and difficulty on the ground of inference alone, or to
require the assent of our hearers to what is only conjectural, let us see
whether we can obtain any declarations from holy Scripture, by the
authority of which these positions may be more credibly maintained. And,
firstly, we shall adduce what holy Scripture contains regarding wicked
powers; we shall next continue our investigation with regard to the others,
as the Lord shall be pleased to enlighten us, that in matters of such
difficulty we may ascertain what is nearest to the truth, or what ought to
be our opinions agreeably to the standard of religion. Now we find in the
prophet Ezekiel two prophecies written to the prince of Tyre, the former of
which might appear to any one, before he heard the second also, to be
spoken of some man who was prince of the Tyrians. In the meantime,
therefore, we shall take nothing from that first prophecy; but as the
second is manifestly of such a kind as cannot be at all understood of a
man, but of some superior power which had fallen away from a higher
position, and had been reduced to a lower and worse condition, we shall
from it take an illustration, by which it may be demonstrated with the
utmost clearness, that those opposing and malignant powers were not formed
or created so by nature, but fell from a better to a worse position, and
were converted into wicked beings; that those blessed powers also were not
of such a nature as to be unable to admit what was opposed to them if they
were so inclined and became negligent, and did not guard most carefully the
blessedness of their condition. For if it is related that he who is called
the prince of Tyre was amongst the saints, and was without stain, and was
placed in the paradise of God, and adoroed also with a crown of comeliness
and beauty, is it to be supposed that such an one could be in any degree
inferior to any of the saints? For he is described as having been adorned
with a crown of comeliness and beauty, and as having walked stainless in
the paradise of God: and how can any one suppose that such a being was not
one of those holy and blessed powers which, as being placed in a state of
happiness, we must believe to be endowed with no other honour than this?
But let us see what we are taught by the words of the prophecy themselves.
"The word of the LORD." says the prophet, "came to me, saying, Son of man,
take up a lamentation over the prince of Tyre, and say to him, Thus saith
the Lord GOD, Thou, hast been the seal of a similitude, and a crown of
comeliness among the delights of paradise; thou weft odorned with every
good stone or gem, and wert clothed with sardonyx, and topaz, and emerald,
and carbuncle, and sapphire, and jasper, set in gold and silver, and with
agate, amethyst, and chrysolite, and beryl, and onyx: with gold aim didst
thou fill thy treasures, and thy storehouses within thee. From the day when
thou weft created along with the cherubim, I placed thee in the holy mount
of God. Thou weft in the midst of the fiery stones: thou weft stainless in
thy days, from the day when thou weft created, until iniquities were found
in thee: from the greatness of thy trade, thou didst fill thy storehouses
with iniquity, and didst sin, and weft wounded from the mount of God. And a
cherub drove thee forth from the midst of the burning stones; and thy heart
was elated because of thy comeliness, thy discipline was corrupted along
with thy beauty: on account of the multitude of thy sins, I cast thee forth
to the earth before kings; I gave thee for a show and a mockery on account
of the multitude of thy sins, and of thine iniquities: because of thy trade
thou hast polluted thy holy places. And I shall bring forth fire from the
midst of thee, and it shall devour thee, and I shall give thee for ashes
and cinders on the earth in the sight of all who see thee: and all who know
thee among the nations shall mourn over thee. Thou hast been made
destruction, and thou shalt exist no longer for ever."(1) Seeing, then,
that such are the words of the prophet, who is there that on hearing, "Thou
wert a seal of a similitude, and a crown of comeliness among the delights
of paradise," or that "From the day when thou wert created with the
cherubim, I placed thee in the holy mount of God," can so enfeeble the
meaning as to suppose that this language is used of some man or saint, not
to say the prince off Tyre? Or what fiery stones can he imagine in the
midst of which any man could live? Or who could be supposed to be stainless
from the very day of his creation, and wickedness being afterwards
discovered in him, it be said of him then that he was cast forth upon the
earth? For the meaning of this is, that He who was not yet on the earth is
said to be cast forth upon it: whose holy places also are said to be
polluted. We have shown, then, that what we have quoted regarding the
prince of Tyre from the prophet Ezekiel refers to an adverse power, and by
it it is most clearly proved that that power was formerly holy and happy;
from which state of happiness it fell from the time that iniquity was found
in it, and was hurled to the earth, and was not such by nature and
creation. We are of opinion, therefore, that these words are spoken of a
certain angel who had received the office of governing the nation of the
Tyrians, and to whom also their souls had been entrusted to be taken care
of. But what Tyre, or what souls of Tyrians, we ought to understand,
whether that Tyre which is situated within the boundaries of the province
of Phoenicia, or some other of which, this one which we know on earth is
the model; and the souls of the Tyrians, whether they are those of the
former or those which belong to that Tyre which is spiritually understood,
does not seem to be a matter requiting examination in this place; test
perhaps we should appear to investigate subjects of so much mystery and
importance in a cursory manner, whereas they demand a labour and work of
their own.

   5. Again, we are taught as follows by the prophet Isaiah regarding
another opposing power. The prophet says, "How is Lucifer, who used to
arise in the morning, fallen from heaven! He who assailed all nations is
broken and beaten to the ground. Thou indeed saidst in thy heart, I shall
ascend into heaven; above the stars of heaven shall I place my throne; I
shall sit upon a lofty mountain, above the lofty mountains which are
towards the north; I shall ascend above the clouds; I shall be like the
Most High. Now shalt thou be brought down to the lower world, and to the
foundations of the earth. They who see thee shall be amazed at thee, and
shall say, This is the man who harassed the whole earth, who moved kings,
who made the whole world a desert, who destroyed cities, and did not
unloose those who were in chains. All the kings of the nations have slept
in honour, every one in his own house; but thou shalt be cast forth on the
mountains, accursed with the many dead who have been pierced through with
swords, and have descended to the lower world. As a garment cloned with
blood, and stained, will not be clean; neither shall thou be clean, because
thou hast destroyed my land and slain my people: thou shall not remain for
ever, most wicked seed. Prepare thy sons for death on account of the sins
of thy father, lest they rise again and inherit the earth, and fill the
earth with wars. And I shall rise against them, saith the LORD of hosts,
and I shall cause their name to perish, and their remains, and their
seed."(1) Most evidently by these words is he shown to have fallen from
heaven, who formerly was Lucifer, and who used to arise in the morning. For
if, as some think, he was a nature of darkness, how is Lucifer said to have
existed before? Or how could he arise in the morning, who had in himself
nothing of the light? Nay, even the Saviour Himself teaches us, saying of
the devil, "Behold, I see Satan fallen from heaven like lightning."(2) For
at one time he was light. Moreover our Lord, who is the truth, compared the
power of His own glorious advent to lightning, in the words, "For as the
lightning shineth from the height of heaven even to its height again, so
will the coming of the Son of man be."(3) And notwithstanding He compares
him to lightning, and says that he fell from heaven, that He might show by
this that he had been at one time in heaven, and had had a place among the
saints, and had enjoyed a share in that light in which all the saints
participate, by which they are made angels. of light, and by which the
apostles are termed by the Lord the light of the world. In this manner,
then, did that being once exist as light before he went astray, and fell to
this place, and had his glory turned into dust, which is peculiarly the
mark of the wicked, as the prophet also says; whence, too, he was called
the prince of this world, i.e., of an earthly habitation: for he exercised
power over those who were obedient to his wickedness, since "the whole of
this world"-- for I term this place of earth, world--"lieth in the wicked
one,"(4) and in this apostate. That he is an apostate, i.e., a fugitive,
even the Lord in the book of Job says, "Thou wilt take with a hook the
apostate dragon," i.e., a fugitive.(5) Now it is certain that by the dragon
is understood the devil himself. If then they are called opposing powers,
and are said to have been once without stain, while spotless purity exists
in the essential being of none save the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, but
is an accidental quality in every created thing; and since that which is
accidental may also fall away, and since those opposite powers once were
spotless, and were once among those which still remain unstained, it is
evident from all this that no one is pure either by essence or nature, and
that no one was by nature polluted. And the consequence of this is, that it
lies within ourselves and in our own actions to possess either happiness or
holiness; or by sloth and negligence to fall from happiness into wickedness
and ruin, to such a degree that, through too great proficiency, so to
speak, in wickedness (if a man be guilty of so great neglect), he may
descend even to that state in which he will be changed into what is called
an "opposing power."

CHAP. VI.--ON THE END OR CONSUMMATION.

   1. An end or consummation would seem to be an indication of the
perfection and completion of things. And this reminds us here, that if
there be any one imbued with a desire of reading and understanding subjects
of such difficulty and importance, he ought to bring to the effort a
perfect and instructed understanding, lest perhaps, if he has had no
experience in questions of this kind, they may appear to him as vain and
superfluous; or if his mind be full of preconceptions and prejudices on
other points, he may judge these to be heretical and opposed to the faith
of the Church, yielding in so doing not so much to the convictions of
reason as to the dogmatism of prejudice. These subjects, indeed, are
treated by us with great solicitude and caution, in the manner rather of an
investigation and discussion, than in that of fixed and certain decision.
For we have pointed out in the preceding pages those questions which must
be set forth in clear dogmatic propositions, as I think has been done to
the best of my ability when speaking of the Trinity. But on the present
occasion our exercise is to be conducted, as we best may, in the style of a
disputation rather than of strict definition.

   The end of the world, then, and the final consummation, will take place
when every one shall be subjected to punishment for his sins; a time which
God alone knows, when He will bestow on each one what he deserves. We
think, indeed, that the goodness of God, through His Christ, may recall all
His creatures to one end, even His enemies being conquered and subdued. For
thus says holy Scripture, "The LORD said to My Lord, Sit Thou at My right
hand, until I make Thine enemies Thy footstool."(1) And if the meaning of
the prophet's language here be less clear, we may ascertain it from the
Apostle Paul, who speaks more openly, thus: "For Christ must reign until He
has put all enemies under His feet."(2) But if even that unreserved
declaration of the apostle do not sufficiently inform us what is meant by
"enemies being placed under His feet," listen to what he says in the
following words, "For all things must be put under Him." What, then, is
this "putting under" by which all things must be made subject to Christ? I
am of opinion that it is this very subjection by which we also wish to be
subject to Him, by which the apostles also were subject, and all the saints
who have been followers of Christ. For the name "subjection," by which we
are subject to Christ, indicates that the salvation which proceeds from Him
belongs to His subjects, agreeably to the declaration of David, "Shall not
my soul be subject unto God? From Him cometh my salvation."(3)

   2. Seeing, then, that such is the end, when all enemies will be subdued
to Christ, when death--the last enemy--shall be destroyed, and when the
kingdom shall be delivered up by Christ (to whom all things are subject) to
God the Father; let us, I say, from such an end as this, contemplate the
beginnings of things. For the end is always like the beginning: and,
therefore, as there is one end to all things, so ought we to understand
that there was one beginning; and as there is one end to many things, so
there spring from one beginning many differences and varieties, which
again, through the goodness of God, and by subjection to Christ, and
through the unity of the Holy Spirit, are recalled to one end, which is
like unto the beginning: all those, viz., who, bending the knee at the name
of Jesus, make known by so doing their subjection to Him: and these are
they who are in heaven, on earth, and under the earth: by which three
classes the whole universe of things is pointed out, those, viz., who from
that one beginning were arranged, each according to the diversity of his
conduct, among the different orders, in accordance with their desert; for
there was no goodness in them by essential being, as in God and His Christ,
and in the Holy Spirit. For in the Trinity alone, which is the author of
all things, does goodness exist in virtue of essential being; while others
possess it as an accidental and perishable quality, and only then enjoy
blessedness, when they participate in holiness and wisdom, and in divinity
itself. But if they neglect and despise such participation, then is each
one, by fault of his own slothfulness, made, one more rapidly, another more
slowly, one in a greater, another in a less degree, the cause of his own
downfall. And since, as we have remarked, the lapse by which an individual
falls away from his position is characterized by great diversity, according
to the movements of the mind and will, one man falling with greater ease,
another with more difficulty, into a lower condition; in this is to be seen
the just judgment of the providence of God, that it should happen to every
one according to the diversity of his conduct, in proportion to the desert
of his declension and defection. Certain of those, indeed, who remained in
that beginning which we have described as resembling the end which is to
come, obtained, in the ordering and arrangement of the world, the rank of
angels; others that of influences, others of principalities, others of
powers, that they may exercise power over those who need to have power upon
their head. Others, again, received the rank of thrones, having the office
of judging or ruling those who require this; others dominion, doubtless,
over slaves; all of which are conferred by Divine Providence in just and
impartial judgment according to their merits, and to the progress which
they had made in the participation and imitation of God. But those who have
been removed from their primal state of blessedness have not been removed
irrecoverably, but have been placed under the rule of those holy and
blessed orders which we have described; and by availing themselves of the
aid of these, and being remoulded by salutary principles and discipline,
they may recover themselves, and be restored to their condition of
happiness. From all which I am of opinion, so far as I can see, that this
order of the human race has been appointed in order that in the future
world, or in ages to come, when there shall be the new heavens and new
earth, spoken of by Isaiah, it may be restored to that unity promised by
the Lord Jesus in His prayer to God the Father on behalf of His disciples:
"I do not pray for these alone, but for all who shall believe on Me through
their word: that they all. may be one, as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in
Thee, that they also may be one in Us;"(1) and again, when He says: "That
they may be one, even as We are one; I in them, and Thou in Me, that they
may be made perfect in one."(2) And this is further confirmed by the
language of the Apostle Paul: "Until we all come in the unity of the faith
to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fulness of
Christ."(3) And in keeping with this is the declaration of the same
apostle, when he exhorts us, who even in the present life are placed in the
Church, in which is the form of that kingdom which is to come, to this same
similitude of unity: "That ye all speak the same thing, and that there be
no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the
same mind and in the same judgment."(4)

   3. It is to be borne in mind, however, that certain beings who fell
away from that one beginning of which we have spoken, have sunk to such a
depth of unworthiness and wickedness as to be deemed altogether undeserving
of that training and instruction by which the human race, while in the
flesh, are trained and instructed with the assistance of the heavenly
powers; and continue, on the contrary, in a state of enmity and opposition
to those who are receiving this instruction and teaching. And hence it is
that the whole of this mortal life is full of struggles and trials, caused
by the opposition and enmity of those who fell from a better condition
without at all looking back, and who are called the devil and his angels,
and the other orders of evil, which the apostle classed among the opposing
powers. But whether any of these orders who act under the government of the
devil, and obey his wicked commands, will in a future world be converted to
righteousness because of their possessing the faculty of freedom of will,
or whether persistent and inveterate wickedness may be changed by the power
of habit into nature, is a result which you yourself, reader, may approve
of, if neither in these present worlds which are seen and temporal, nor in
those which are unseen and are eternal, that portion is to differ wholly
from the final unity and fitness of things. But in the meantime, both in
those temporal worlds which are seen, as well as in those eternal worlds
which are invisible, all those beings are arranged, according to a regular
plan, in the order and degree of their merits; so that some of them in the
first, others in the second, some even in the last times, after having
undergone heavier and severer punishments, endured for a lengthened period,
and for many ages, so to speak, improved by this stern method of training,
and restored at first by the instruction of the angels, and subsequently by
the powers of a higher grade, and thus advancing through each stage to a
better condition, reach even to that which is invisible and eternal, having
travelled through, by a kind of training, every single office of the
heavenly powers. From which, I think, this will appear to follow as an
inference, that every rational nature may, in passing from one order to
another, go through each to all, and advance from all to each, while made
the subject of various degrees of proficiency and failure according to its
own actions and endeavours, put forth in the enjoyment of its power of
freedom of will.

   4. But since Paul says that certain things are visible and temporal,
and others besides these invisible and eternal, we proceed to inquire how
those things which are seen are temporal--whether because there will be
nothing at all after them in all those periods of the coming world, in
which that dispersion and separation from the one beginning is undergoing a
process of restoration to one and the same end and likeness; or because,
while the form of those things which are seen passes away, their essential
nature is subject to no corruption. And Paul seems to confirm the latter
view, when he says, "For the fashion of this world passeth away."(1) David
also appears to assert the same in the words, "The heavens shall perish,
but Thou shalt endure; and they all shall wax old as a garment, and Thou
shalt change them like a vesture, and like a vestment they shall be
changed."(2) For if the heavens are to be changed, assuredly that which is
changed does not perish, and if the fashion of the world passes away, it is
by no means an annihilation or destruction of their material substance that
is shown to take place, but a kind of change of quality and transformation
of appearance. Isaiah also, in declaring prophetically that there will be a
new heaven and a new earth, undoubtedly suggests a similar view. For this
renewal of heaven and earth, and this transmutation of the form of the
present world, and this changing of the heavens will undoubtedly be
prepared for those who are walking along that way which we have pointed out
above, and are tending to that goal of happiness to which, it is said, even
enemies themselves are to be subjected, and in which God is said to be "all
and in all." And if any one imagine that at the end material, i.e., bodily,
nature will be entirely destroyed, he cannot in may respect meet my view,
how beings so numerous and powerful are able to live and to exist without
bodies, since it is an attribute of the divine nature alone--i.e., of the
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit--to exist without any material substance, and
without partaking in any degree of a bodily adjunct. Another, perhaps, may
say that in the end every bodily substance will be so pure and refined as
to be like the aether, and of a celestial purity and clearness. How things
will be, however, is known with certainty to God alone, and to those who
are His friends through Christ and the Holy Spirit.(3)

CHAP. VII.--ON INCORPOREAL AND CORPOREAL BEINGS.

   1. The subjects considered in the previous chapter have been spoken of
in general language, the nature of rational beings being discussed more by
way of intelligent inference than strict dogmatic definition, with the
exception of the place where we treated, to the best of our ability, of the
persons of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We have now to ascertain what
those matters are which it is proper to treat in the following pages
according to our dogmatic belief, i.e., in agreement with the creed of the
Church. All souls and all rational natures, whether holy or wicked, were
formed or created, and all these, according to their proper nature, are
incorporeal; but although incorporeal, they were nevertheless created,
because all things were made by God through Christ, as John teaches in a
general way in his Gospel, saying, "In the beginning was the Word, and the
Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with
God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was nothing made."(4) The
Apostle Paul, moreover, describing created things by species and numbers
and orders, speaks as follows, when showing that all things were made
through Christ: "And in Him were all things created, that are in heaven,
and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or
dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him,
and in Him: and He is before all, and He is the head."(5) He therefore
manifestly declares that in Christ and through Christ were all things made
and created, whether things visible, which are corporeal, or things
invisible, which I regard as none other than incorporeal and spiritual
powers. But of those things which he had termed generally corporeal or
incorporeal, he seems to me, in the words that follow, to enumerate the
various kinds, viz., thrones, dominions, principalities, powers,
influences.

   These matters now have been previously mentioned by us, as we are
desirous to come in an orderly manner to the investigation of the sun, and
moon, and stab by way of logical inference, and to ascertain whether they
also ought properly to be reckoned among the principalities on account of
their being said to be created in Archa's, i.e., for the government of day
and night; or whether they are to be regarded as having only that
government of day and night which they discharge by performing the office
of illuminating them, and are not in reality chief of that order of
principalities.

   2. Now, when it is said that all things were made by Him, and that in
Him were all things created, both things in heaven and things on earth,
there can be no doubt that also those things which are in the firmament,
which is called heaven, and in which those luminaries are said to be
placed, are included amongst the number of heavenly things. And secondly,
seeing that the course of the discussion has manifestly discovered that all
things were made or created, and that amongst created things there is
nothing which may not admit of good and evil, and be capable of either,
what are we to think of the following opinion which certain of our friends
entertain regarding sun, moon, and stars, viz., that they are unchangeable,
and incapable of becoming the opposite of what they are? Not a few have
held that view even regarding the holy angels, and certain heretics also
regarding souls, which they call spiritual natures.

   In the first place, then, let us see what reason itself can discover
respecting sun, moon, and stars,--whether the opinion, entertained by some,
of their unchangeableness be correct,--and let the declarations of holy
Scripture, as far as possible, be first adduced. For Job appears to assert
that not only may the stars be subject to sin, but even that they are
actually not clean from the contagion of it. The following are his words:
"The stars also are not clean in Thy sight."[1] Nor is this to be
understood of the splendour of their physical substance, as if one were to
say, for example, of a garment, that it is not clean; for if such were the
meaning, then the accusation of a want of cleanness in the splendour of
their bodily substance would imply an injurious reflection upon their
Creator. For if they are unable, through their own diligent efforts, either
to acquire for themselves a body of greater brightness, or through their
sloth to make the one they have less pure, how should they incur censure
for being stars that are not clean, if they receive no praise because they
are so?[2]

   3. But to arrive at a clearer understanding on these matters, we ought
first to inquire after this point, whether it is allowable to suppose that
they are living and rational beings; then, in the  next place, whether
their souls came into existence at the same time with their bodies, or seem
to be anterior to them; and also whether, after the end of the world, we
are to understand that they are to be released from their bodies; and
whether, as we cease to live, so they also will cease from illuminating the
world. Although this inquiry may seem to be somewhat bold, yet, as we are
incited by the desire of ascertaining the truth as far as possible, there
seems no absurdity in attempting an investigation of the subject agreeably
to the grace of the Holy Spirit.

   We think, then, that they may be designated as living beings, for this
reason, that they are said to receive commandments from God, which is
ordinarily the case only with rational beings. "I have given a commandment
to all the stars,"[3] says the Lord. What, now, are these commandments?
Those, namely, that each star, in its order and course, should bestow upon
the world the amount of splendour which has been entrusted to it. For those
which are called "planets" move in orbits of one kind, and those which are
termed aplanei^s are different. Now it manifestly follows from this, that
neither can the movement of that body take place without a soul, nor can
living things be at any time without motion. And seeing that the stars move
with such order and regularity, that their movements never appear to be at
any time subject to derangement, would it not be the height of folly to say
that so orderly an observance of method and plan could be carried out or
accomplished by irrational beings? In the writings of Jeremiah, indeed, the
moon is called the queen of heaven.[4] Yet if the stars are living and
rational beings, there will undoubtedly appear among them both an advance
and a falling back. For the language of Job, "the stars are not dean in His
sight," seems to me to convey some such idea.

   4. And now we have to ascertain whether those beings which in the
course of the discussion we have discovered to possess life and reason,
were endowed with a soul along with their bodies at the time mentioned in
Scripture, when "God made two great lights, the greater light to rule the
day, and the lesser light to rule the night, and the stars also,"[5] or
whether their spirit was implanted in them, not at the creation of their
bodies, but from without, after they had been already made. I, for my part,
suspect that the spirit was implanted in them from without; but it will be
worth while to prove this from Scripture: for it will seem an easy matter
to make the assertion on conjectural grounds, while it is more difficult to
establish it by the testimony of Scripture. Now it may be established
conjecturally as follows. If the soul of a man, which is certainly inferior
while it remains the soul of a man, was not formed along with his body, but
is proved to have been implanted strictly from without, much more must this
be the case with those living beings which are called heavenly. For, as
regards man, how could the soul of him, viz., Jacob, who supplanted his
brother in the womb, appear to be formed along with his body? Or how could
his soul, or its images, be formed along with his body, who, while lying in
his mother's womb, was filled with the Holy Ghost? I refer to John leaping
in his mother's womb, and exulting because the voice of the salutation of
Mary had come to the ears of his mother Elisabeth. How could his soul and
its images be formed along with his body, who, before he was created in the
womb, is said to be known to God, and was sanctified by Him before his
birth? Some, perhaps, may think that God fills individuals with His Holy
Spirit,  and bestows upon them sanctification, not on grounds of justice
and according to their deserts; but undeservedly. And how shall we escape
that declaration: "Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid!"[1] or
this: "Is there respect of persons with God?"[2] For such is the defence of
those who maintain that souls come into existence with bodies. So far,
then, as we can form an opinion from a comparison with the  condition of
man, I think it follows that we must hold the same to hold good with
heavenly beings, which reason itself and scriptural authority show us to be
the case with men.

   5. But let us see whether we can find in holy Scripture any indications
properly applicable to these heavenly existences. The following is the
statement of the Apostle Paul: "The creature was made subject to vanity,
not willingly, but by reason of Him who subjected the same in hope, because
the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption
into the glorious liberty of the children of God."[3] To what vanity, pray,
was the creature made subject, or what creature is referred to, or how is
it said "not willingly," or "in hope of what?" And in what way is the
creature itself to be delivered from the bondage of corruption? Elsewhere,
also, the same apostle says: "For the expectation of the creature waiteth
for the manifestation of the sons of God."[4] And again in another passage,
"And not only we, but the creation itself groaneth together, and is in pain
until now."[5] And hence we have to inquire what are the groanings, and
what are the pains. Let us see then, in the first place, what is the vanity
to which the creature is subject. I apprehend that it is nothing else than
the body; for although the body of the stars is ethereal, it is
nevertheless material. Whence also Solomon appears to characterize the
whole of corporeal nature as a kind of burden which enfeebles the vigour of
the soul in the following language: "Vanity of vanities, saith the
Preacher; all is vanity. I have looked, and seen all the works that are
done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity."[6] To this vanity, then,
is the creature subject, that creature especially which, being assuredly
the greatest in this world, holds also a distinguished principality of
labour, i.e., the sun, and moon, and stars, are said to be subject to
vanity, because they are clothed with bodies, and set apart to the office
of giving light to the human race. "And this creature," he remarks, "was
subjected to vanity not willingly." For it did not undertake a voluntary
service to vanity, but because it was the will of Him who made it subject,
and because of the promise of the Subjector to those who were reduced to
this unwilling obedience, that when the ministry of their great work was
performed, they were to be freed from this bondage of corruption and vanity
when the time of the glorious redemption of God's children should have
arrived. And the whole of creation, receiving this hope, and looking for
the fulfilment of this promise now, in the meantime, as having an affection
for those whom it serves, groans along with them, and patiently suffers
with them, hoping for the fulfilment of the promises. See also whether the
following words of Paul can apply to those who, although not willingly, yet
in accordance with the will of Him who subjected them, and in hope of the
promises, were made subject to vanity, when he says, "For I could wish to
be dissolved," or "to return and be with Christ, which is far better."[7]
For I think that the sun might say in like manner, "I would desire to be
dissolved," or "to return and be with Christ, which is far better." Paul
indeed adds, "Nevertheless, to abide in the flesh is more needful for you;"
while the sun may say, "To abide in this bright and heavenly body is more
necessary, on account of the manifestation of the sons of God." The same
views are to be believed and expressed regarding the moon and stars.

   Let us see now what is the freedom of the creature, or the termination
of its bondage. When Christ shall have delivered up the kingdom to God even
the Father, then also those living things, when they shall have first been
made the kingdom of Christ, shall be delivered, along with the whole of
that kingdom, to the rule of the Father, that when God shall be all in all,
they also, since they are a part of all things, may have God in themselves,
as He is in all things.

CHAP. VIII.--ON THE ANGELS.

   I. A similar method must be followed in treating of the angels; nor are
we to suppose that it is the result of accident that a particular office is
assigned to a particular angel: as to Raphael, e.g., the work of curing and
healing to Gabriel, the conduct of wars; to Michael, the duty of attending
to the prayers and supplications of mortals. For we are not to imagine that
they obtained these offices otherwise than by their own merits, and by the
zeal and excellent qualities which they severally displayed before this
world was formed; so that afterwards in the order of archangels, this or
that office was assigned to each one, while others deserved to be enrolled
in the order of angels, and to act under this or that archangel, or that
leader or head of an order. All of which things were disposed, as I have
said, not indiscriminately and fortuitously, but by a most appropriate and
just decision of God, who arranged them according to deserts, in accordance
with His own approval and judgment: so that to one angel the Church of the
Ephesians was to be entrusted; to another, that of the Smyrnaeans; one
angel was to be Peter's, another Paul's; and so on through every one of the
little ones that are in the Church, for such and such angels as even daily
behold the face of God must be assigned to each one of them;[1] and there
must also be some angel that encampeth round about them that fear God.[2]
All of which things, assuredly, it is to be believed, are not performed by
accident or chance, or because they (the angels) were so created, lest on
that view the Creator should be accused of partiality; but it is to be
believed that they were conferred by God, the just and impartial Ruler of
all things, agreeably to the merits and good qualities and mental vigour of
each individual spirit.

   2. And now let us say something regarding those who maintain the
existence of a diversity of spiritual natures, that we may avoid falling
into the silly and impious fables of such as pretend that there is a
diversity of spiritual natures both among heavenly existences and human
souls, and for that reason allege that they were called into being by
different creators; for while it seems, and is really, absurd that to one
and the same Creator should be ascribed the creation of different natures
of rational beings, they are nevertheless ignorant of the cause of that
diversity. For they say that it seems inconsistent for one and the same
Creator, without any existing ground of merit, to confer upon some beings
the power of dominion, and to subject others again to authority; to bestow
a principality upon some, and to render others subordinate to rulers. Which
opinions indeed, in my judgment, are completely rejected by following out
the reasoning explained above, and by which it was shown that the cause of
the diversity and variety among these beings is due to their conduct, which
has been marked either with greater earnestness or indifference, according
to the goodness or badness of their nature, and not to any partiality on
the part of the Disposer. But that this may more easily be shown to be the
case with heavenly beings, let us borrow an illustration from what either
has been done or is done among men, in order that from visible things we
may, by way of consequence, behold also things invisible.

   Paul and Peter are undoubtedly proved to have been men of a spiritual
nature. When, therefore, Paul is found to have acted contrary to religion,
in having persecuted the Church of God, and Peter to have committed so
grave a sin as, when questioned by the maid-servant, to have asserted with
an oath that he did not know who Christ was, how is it possible that these-
who, according to those persons of whom we speak, were spiritual beings--
should fall into sins of such a nature, especially as they are frequently
in the habit of saying that a good tree cannot bring forth evil fruits? And
if a good tree cannot produce evil fruit, and as, according to them, Peter
and Paul were sprung from the root of a good tree, how should they be
deemed to have brought forth fruits so wicked? And if they should return
the answer which is generally invented, that it was not Paul who
persecuted, but some other person, I know not whom, who was in Paul; and
that it was not Peter who uttered the denial, but some other individual in
him; how should Paul say, if he had not sinned, that "I am not worthy to be
called an apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God? "[3] Or why did
Peter weep most bitterly, if it were another than he who sinned? From which
all their silly assertions will be proved to be baseless.

   3. According to our view, there is no rational creature which is not
capable both of good and evil. But it does not follow, that because we say
there is no nature which may not admit evil, we therefore maintain that
every nature has admitted evil, i.e., has become wicked. As we may say that
the nature of every man admits of his being a sailor, but it does not
follow from that, that every man will become so; or, again, it is possible
for every one to learn grammar or medicine, but it is not therefore proved
that every man is either a physician or a grammarian; so, if we say that
there is no nature which may not admit evil, it is not necessarily
indicated that it has done so. For, in our view, not even the devil himself
was incapable of good; but although capable of admitting good, he did not
therefore also desire it, or make any effort after virtue. For, as we are
taught by those quotations which we adduced from the prophets, there was
once a time when he was good, when he walked in the paradise of God between
the cherubim. As he, then, possessed the power either of receiving good or
evil, but fell away from a virtuous course, and turned to evil with all the
powers of his mind, so also other creatures, as having a capacity for
either condition, in the exercise of the freedom of their will, flee from
evil, and cleave to good. There is no nature, then, which may not admit of
good or evil, except the nature of God--the fountain of all good things--
and of Christ; for it is wisdom, and wisdom assuredly cannot admit folly;
and it is righteousness, and righteousness will never certainly admit of
unrighteousness; and it is the Word, or Reason, which certainly cannot be
made irrational; nay, it is also the light, and it is certain that the
darkness does not receive the light. In like manner, also, the nature of
the Holy Spirit, being holy, does not admit of pollution; for it is holy by
nature, or essential being. If there is any other nature which is holy, it
possesses this property of being made holy by the reception or inspiration
of the Holy Spirit, not having it by nature, but as an accidental quality,
for which reason it may be lost, in consequence of being accidental. So
also a man may possess an accidental righteousness, from which it is
possible for him to fall away. Even the wisdom which a man has is still
accidental, although it be within our own power to become wise, if we
devote ourselves to wisdom with the zeal and effort of our life; and if we
always pursue the study of it, we may always be participators of wisdom:
and that result will follow either in a greater or less degree, according
to the desert of our life or the amount of our zeal. For the goodness of
God, as is worthy of Him, incites and attracts all to that blissful end,
where all pain, and sadness, and sorrow fall away and disappear.

   4. I am of opinion, then, so far as appears to me, that the preceding
discussion has sufficiently proved that it is neither from want of
discrimination, nor from any accidental cause, either that the
"principalities" hold their dominion, or the other orders of spirits have
obtained their respective offices; but that they have received the steps of
their rank on account of their merits, although it is not our privilege to
know or inquire what those acts of theirs were, by which they earned a
place in any particular order. It is sufficient only to know this much, in
order to demonstrate the impartiality and righteousness of God, that,
conformably with the declaration of the Apostle Paul, "there is no
acceptance of persons with Him,"[1] who rather disposes everything
according to the deserts and moral progress of each individual, So, then,
the angelic office does not exist except as a consequence of their desert;
nor do "powers" exercise power except in virtue of their moral progress;
nor do those which are called "seats" i.e., the powers of judging and
ruling, administer their powers unless by merit; nor do "dominions" rule
undeservedly, for that great and distinguished order of rational creatures
among celestial existences is arranged in a glorious variety of offices.
And the same view is to be entertained of those opposing influences which
have given themselves up to such places and offices, that they derive the
property by which they are made "principalities," or "powers," or rulers of
the darkness of the world, or spirits of wickedness, or malignant spirits,
or unclean demons, not from their essential nature, nor from their being so
created, but have obtained these degrees in evil in proportion to their
conduct, and the progress which they made in wickedness. And that is a
second order of rational creatures, who have devoted themselves to
wickedness in so headlong a course, that they are unwilling rather than
unable to recall themselves; the thirst for evil being already a passion,
and imparting to them pleasure. But the third order of rational creatures
is that of those who are judged fit by God to replenish the human race,
i.e., the souls of men, assumed in consequence of their moral progress into
the order of angels; of whom we see some assumed into the number: those,
viz., who have been made the sons of God, or the children of the
resurrection, or who have abandoned the darkness, and have loved the light,
and have been made children of the light; or those who, proving victorious
in every struggle, and being made men of peace, have been the sons of
peace, and the sons of God; or those who, mortifying their members on the
earth, and, rising above not only their corporeal nature, but even the
uncertain and fragile movements of the soul itself, have united themselves
to the Lord, being made altogether spiritual, that they may be for ever one
spirit with Him, discerning along with Him each individual thing, until
they arrive at a condition of perfect spirituality, and discern all things
by their perfect illumination in all holiness through the word and wisdom
of God, and are themselves altogether undistinguishable by any one.

   We think that those views are by no means to be admitted, which some
are wont unnecessarily to advance and maintain, viz., that souls descend to
such a pitch of abasement that they forget their rational nature and
dignity, and sink into the condition of irrational animals, either large or
small; and in support of these assertions they generally quote some
pretended statements of Scripture, such as, that a beast, to which a woman
has unnaturally prostituted herself, shall be deemed equally guilty with
the woman, and shall be ordered to be stoned; or that a bull which strikes
with its horn,[1] shall be put to death in the same way; or even the
speaking of Balaam's ass, when God opened its mouth, and the dumb beast of
burden, answering with human voice, reproved the madness of the prophet.
All of which assertions we not only do not receive, but, as being contrary
to our belief, we refute and reject. After the refutation and rejection of
such perverse opinions, we shall show, at the proper time and place, how
those passages which they quote from the sacred Scriptures ought to be
understood.

FRAGMENT FROM THE FIRST BOOK OF THE DE PRINCIPIIS.

Translated by Jerome in his Epistle to Avitus.

   "It is an evidence of great negligence and sloth, that each one should
fall down to such (a pitch of degradation), and be so emptied, as that, in
coming to evil, he may be fastened to the gross body of irrational beasts
of burden."

ANOTHER FRAGMENT FROM THE SAME.

Translated in the same Epistle to Avitus.

   "At the end and consummation of the world, when souls and rational
creatures shall have been sent forth as from bolts and barriers? some of
them walk slowly on account of their slothful habits, others fly with rapid
flight on account of their diligence. And since all are possessed of free-
will, and may of their own accord admit either of good or evil, the former
will be in a worse condition than they are at present, while the latter
will advance to a better state of things; because different conduct and
varying wills will admit of a different condition in either direction,
i.e., angels may become men or demons, and again from the latter they may
rise to be men or angels."

ORIGEN DE PRINCIPIIS.

BOOK II.

CHAP. I.--ON THE WORLD.

   I. Although all the discussions in the preceding book have had
reference to the world and its arrangements, it now seems to follow mat we
should specially re-discuss a few points respecting the world itself, i.e.,
its beginning and end, or those dispensations of Divine Providence which
have taken place between the beginning and the end, or those events which
are supposed to have occurred before the creation of the world, or are to
take place after the end.

   In this investigation, the first point which clearly appears is, that
the world in all its diversified and varying conditions is composed not
only of rational and diviner natures, and of a diversity of bodies, but of
dumb animals, wild and tame beasts, of birds, and of all things which live
in the waters ;[1] then, secondly, of places, i.e., of the heaven or
heavens, and of the earth or water, as well as of the air, which is
intermediate, and which they term aether, and of everything which proceeds
from the earth or is born in it. Seeing, then,[2] there is so great a
variety in the world, and so great a diversity among rational beings
themselves, on account of which every other variety and diversity also is
supposed to have come into existence, what other cause than  this ought to
be assigned for the existence of the world, especially if we have regard to
that end by means of which it was shown in the preceding book that all
things are to be restored to their original condition? And if this should
seem to be logically stated, what other cause, as we have already said, are
we to imagine for so great a diversity in the world, save the diversity and
variety in the movements and declensions of those who fell from that
primeval unity and harmony in which they were at first created by God, and
who, being driven from that state of goodness, and drawn in various
directions by the harassing influence of different motives and desires,
have changed, according to their different tendencies, the single and
undivided goodness of their nature into minds of various sorts?[3]

   2. But God, by the ineffable skill of His wisdom, transforming and
restoring all things, in whatever manner they are made, to some useful aim,
and to the common advantage of all, recalls those very creatures which
differed so much from each other in mental conformation to one agreement of
labour and purpose; so that, although they are under the influence of
different motives, they nevertheless complete the fulness and perfection of
one world, and the very variety of minds tends to one end of perfection.
For it is one power which grasps and holds together all the diversity of
the world, and leads the different movements towards one work, lest so
immense an undertaking as that of the world should be dissolved by the
dissensions of souls. And for this reason we think that God, the Father of
all things, in order to ensure the salvation of all His creatures through
the ineffable plan of His word and wisdom, so arranged each of these, that
every spirit, whether soul or rational existence, however called, should
not be compelled by force, against the liberty of his own will, to any
other course than that to which the motives of his own mind led him (lest
by so doing the power of exercising free-will should seem to be taken away,
which certainly would produce a change in the nature of the being itself);
and that the varying purposes of these would be suitably and usefully
adapted to the harmony of one world, by some of them requiring help, and
others being able to give it, and others again being the cause of struggle
and contest to those who are making progress, amongst whom their diligence
would be deemed more worthy of approval, and the place of rank obtained
after victory be held with greater certainty, which should be established
by the difficulties of the contest.[1]

   3. Although the whole world is arranged into offices of different
kinds, its condition, nevertheless, is not to be supposed as one of
internal discrepancies and discordances; but as our one body is provided
with many members, and is held together by one soul, so I am of opinion
that the whole world also ought to be regarded as some huge and immense
animal, which is kept together by the power and reason of God as by one
soul. This also, I think, is indicated in sacred Scripture by the
declaration of the prophet, "Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the
Lord;"[2] and again, "The heaven is My throne, and the earth is My
footstool;"[3] and by the Saviour's words, when He says that we are to
swear "neither by heaven, for it is God's throne; nor by the earth, for it
is His footstool:"[4] To the same effect also are the words of Paul, in his
address to the Athenians, when he says, "In Him we live, and move, and have
our being."[5] For how do we live, and move, and have our being in God,
except by His comprehending and holding together the whole world by His
power? And how is heaven the throne of God, and the earth His footstool, as
the Saviour Himself declares, save by His power filling all things both in
heaven and earth, according to the Lord's own words? And that God, the
Father of all things, fills and holds together the world with the fulness
of His power, according to those passages which we have quoted, no one, I
think, will have any difficulty in admitting. And now, since the course of
the preceding discussion has shown that the different movements of rational
beings, and their varying opinions, have brought about the diversity that
is in the world, we must see whether it may not be appropriate that this
world should have a termination like its beginning. For there is no doubt
that its end must be sought amid much diversity and variety; which variety,
being found to exist in the termination of the world, will again furnish
ground and occasion for the diversities of the other world which is to
succeed the present.

   4. If now, in the course of our discussion, it  has been ascertained
that these things are so, it seems to follow that we next consider the
nature of corporeal being, seeing the diversity in the world cannot exist
without bodies. It is evident from the nature of things themselves, that
bodily nature admits of diversity and variety of change, so that it is
capable of undergoing all possible transformations, as, e.g., the
conversion of wood into fire, of fire into smoke, of smoke into air, of oil
into fire. Does not food itself, whether of man or of animals, exhibit the
same ground of change? For whatever we take as food, is converted into the
substance of our body. But how water is changed into earth or into air, and
air again into fire, or fire into air, or air into water, although not
difficult to explain, yet on the present occasion it is enough merely to
mention them, as our object is to discuss the nature of bodily matter. By
matter, therefore, we understand that which is placed under bodies, viz.,
that by which, through the bestowing and implanting of qualities, bodies
exist; and we mention four qualities--heat, cold, dryness, humidity. These
four qualities being implanted in the hu'lh, or matter (for matter is found
to exist in its own nature without those qualities before mentioned),
produce the different kinds of bodies. Although this matter is, as we have
said above, according to its own proper nature without qualities, it is
never found to exist without a quality. And I cannot understand how so many
distinguished men have been of opinion that this matter, which is so great,
and possesses such properties as to enable it to be sufficient for all the
bodies in the world which God willed to exist, and to be the attendant and
slave of the Creator for whatever forms and species He wished in all
things, receiving into itself whatever qualities He desired to bestow upon
it, was uncreated, i.e., not formed by God Himself, who is the Creator of
all things, but that its nature and power were the result of chance. And I
am astonished that they should find fault with those who deny either God's
creative power or His providential administration of the world, and accuse
them of impiety for thinking that so great a work as the world could exist
without an architect or overseer; while they themselves incur a similar
charge of impiety in saying that matter is uncreated, and co-eternal with
the uncreated God. According to this view, then, if we suppose for the sake
of argument that matter did not exist, as these maintain, saying that God
could not create anything when nothing existed, without doubt He would have
been idle, not having matter on which to operate, which matter they say was
furnished Him not by His own arrangement, but by accident; and they think
that this, which was discovered by chance, was able to suffice Him for an
undertaking of so vast an extent, and for the manifestation of the power of
His might, and by admitting the plan of all His wisdom, might be
distinguished and formed into a world. Now this appears to me to be very
absurd, and to be the opinion of those men who are altogether ignorant of
the power and intelligence of un-crested nature. But that we may see the
nature of things a little more clearly, let it be granted that for a little
time matter did not exist, and that God, when nothing formerly existed,
caused those things to come into existence which He desired, why are we to
suppose that God would create matter either better or greater, or of
another kind, than that which He did produce from His own power and wisdom,
in order that that might exist which formerly did not? Would He cream a
worse and inferior matter, or one the same as that which they call
uncreated? Now I think it will very easily appear to any one, that neither
a better nor inferior matter could have assumed the forms and species of
the world, if it had not been such as that which actually did assume them.
And does it not then seem impious to call that uncreated, which, if
believed to be formed by God, would doubtless be found to be such as that
which they call uncreated?

   5. But that we may believe on the authority of holy Scripture that such
is the case, hear how in the book of Maccabees, where the mother of seven
martyrs exhorts her son to endure torture, this truth is confirmed; for she
says, "I ask of thee, my son, to look at the heaven and the earth, and at
all things which are in them, and beholding these, to know that God made
all these things when they did not exist."[1] In the book of the Shepherd
also, in the first commandment, he speaks as follows: "First of all believe
that there is one God who created and arranged all things, and made all
things to come into existence, and out of a state of nothingness."[2]
Perhaps also the expression in the Psalms has reference to this: "He spake,
and they were made; He commanded, and they were created."[3] For the words,
"He spake, and they were made," appear to show that the substance of those
things which exist is meant; while the others, "He commanded, and they were
created," seem spoken of the qualities by which the substance itself has
been moulded.

CHAP. II. -- ON THE PERPETUITY OF BODILY NATURE.

   1. On this topic some are wont to inquire whether, as the Father
generates an uncreated Son, and brings forth a Holy Spirit, not as if He
had no previous existence, but because the Father is the origin and source
of the Son or Holy Spirit, and no anteriority or posteriority can be
understood as existing in them; so also a similar kind of union or
relationship can be understood as subsisting between rational natures and
bodily matter. And that this point may be more fully and thoroughly
examined, the commencement of the discussion is generally directed to the
inquiry whether this very bodily nature, which bears the lives and contains
the movements of spiritual and rational minds, will be equally eternal with
them, or will altogether perish and be destroyed. And that the question may
be determined with greater precision, we have, in the first place, to
inquire if it is possible for rational natures to remain altogether
incorporeal after they have reached the summit of holiness and happiness
(which seems to me a most difficult and almost impossible attainment), or
whether they must always of necessity be united to bodies. If, then, any
one could show a reason why it was possible for them to dispense wholly
with bodies, it will appear to follow,: hat as a bodily nature, created out
of nothing after intervals of time, was produced when it did not exist, so
also it must cease to be when the purposes which it served had no longer an
existence.

   2. If, however, it is impossible for this point to be at all
maintained, viz., that any other nature than the Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit can live without a body, the necessity of logical reasoning compels
us to understand that rational natures were indeed created at the
beginning, but that material substance was separated from them only in
thought and understanding, and appears to have been formed for them, or
after them, and that they never have lived nor do live without it; for an
incorporeal life will rightly be considered a prerogative of the Trinity
alone. As we have remarked above, therefore, that material substance of
this world, possessing a nature admitting of all possible transformations,
is, when dragged down to beings of a lower order, moulded into the crasser
and more solid condition of a body, so as to distinguish those visible and
varying forms of the world; but when it becomes the servant of more perfect
and more blessed beings, it shines in the splendour of celestial bodies,
and adorns either the angels of God or the sons of the resurrection with
the clothing of a spiritual body, out of all which will be filled up the
diverse and varying state of the one world. But if any one should desire to
discuss these matters more fully, it will be necessary, with all reverence
and fear of God, to examine the sacred Scriptures with greater attention
and diligence, to ascertain whether the secret and hidden sense within them
may perhaps reveal anything regarding these matters; and something may be
discovered in their abstruse and mysterious language, through the
demonstration of the Holy Spirit to those who are worthy, after many
testimonies have been collected on this very point.

CHAP. III. -- ON THE BEGINNING OF THE WORLD, AND ITS CAUSES.

   1. The next subject of inquiry is, whether there was any other world
before the one which now exists; and if so, whether it was such as the
present, or somewhat different, or inferior; or whether there was no world
at all, but something like that which we understand will be after the end
of all things, when the kingdom shall be delivered up to God, even the
Father; which nevertheless may have  been the end of another world,--of
that, namely, after which this world took its beginning; and whether the
various lapses of intellectual natures provoked God to produce this diverse
and varying condition of the world. This point also, I think, must be
investigated in a similar way, viz., whether after this world there will be
any (system of) preservation and amendment, severe indeed, and attended
with much pain to those who were unwilling to obey the word of God, but a
process through which, by means of instruction and rational training, those
may arrive at a fuller understanding of the truth who have devoted
themselves in the present life to these pursuits, and who, after having had
their minds purified, have advanced onwards so as to become capable of
attaining divine wisdom; and after this the end of all things will
immediately follow, and there will be again, for the correction and
improvement of those who stand in need of it, another world, either
resembling that which now exists, or better than it, or greatly inferior;
and how long that world, whatever it be that is to come after this, shall
continue; and if there will be a time when no world shall anywhere exist,
or if there has been a time when there was no world at all; or if there
have been, or will be several; or if it shall ever come to pass that there
will be one resembling another, like it in every respect, and
indistinguishable from it.

   2. That it may appear more clearly, then, whether bodily matter can
exist during intervals of time, and whether, as it did not exist before it
was made, so it may again be resolved into non-existence, let us see, first
of all, whether it is possible for any one to live without a body. For if
one person can live without a body, all things also may dispense with them;
seeing our former treatise has shown that all things tend towards one end.
Now, if all things may exist without bodies, there will undoubtedly be no
bodily substance, seeing there will be no use for it. But how shall we
understand the words of the apostle in those passages, in which, discussing
the resurrection of the dead, he says, "This corruptible must put on
incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. When this
corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put
on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying which is written,
Death is swallowed up in victory !Where, O death, is thy victory? O death,
thy sting has been swallowed up: the sting of death is sin, and the
strength of sin is the law."[1] Some such meaning, then, as this, seems to
be suggested by the apostle. For can the expression which he employs, "this
corruptible," and "this mortal," with the gesture, as it were, of one who
touches or points out, apply to anything else than to bodily matter? This
matter of the body, then, which is now corruptible shall put on
incorruption when a perfect soul, and one furnished with the marks[2] of
incorruption, shall have begun to inhabit it. And do not be surprised if we
speak of a perfect soul as the clothing of the body (which, on account of
the Word of God and His wisdom, is now named incorruption), when Jesus
Christ Himself, who is the Lord and Creator of the soul, is said to be the
clothing of the saints, according to the language of the apostle, "Put ye
on the Lord Jesus Christ."[3] As Christ, then, is the clothing of the soul,
so for a kind of reason sufficiently intelligible is the soul said to be
the clothing of the body, seeing it is an ornament to it, covering and
concealing its mortal nature. The expression, then, "This corruptible must
put on incorruption," is as if the apostle had said, "This corruptible
nature of the body must receive the clothing of incorruption--a soul
possessing in itself incorruptibitity," because it has been clothed with
Christ, who is the Wisdom and Word of God. But when this body, which at
some future period we shall possess in a more glorious state, shall have
become a partaker of life, it will then, in addition to being immortal,
become also incorruptible. For whatever is mortal is necessarily also
corruptible; but whatever is corruptible cannot also be said to be mortal.
We say of a stone or a piece of wood that it is corruptible, but we do not
say that it follows that it is also mortal. But as the body partakes of
life, then because life may be, and is, separated from it, we consequently
name it mortal, and according to another sense also we speak of it as
corruptible. The holy apostle therefore, with remarkable insight, referring
to the general first cause of bodily matter, of which (matter), whatever be
the qualities with which it is endowed (now indeed carnal, but by and by
more refined and pure, which are termed spiritual), the soul makes constant
use, says, "This corruptible must put on incorruption." And in the second
place, looking to the special cause of the body, he says, "This mortal must
put on immortality." Now, what else will in-corruption and immortality be,
save the wisdom, and the word, and the righteousness of God, which mould;
and clothe, and adorn the soul? And hence it happens that it is said, "The
corruptible will put on incorruption, and the mortal immortality." For
although we may now make great proficiency, yet as we only know in part,
and prophesy in part, and see through a glass, darkly, those very things
which we seem to understand, this corruptible does not yet put on
incorruption, nor is this mortal yet clothed with immorality; and as this
training of ours in the  body is protracted doubtless to a longer period,
up to the time, viz., when those very bodies of ours with which we are
enveloped may, on account of the word of God, and His wisdom and perfect
righteousness, earn incorruptibility and immortality, therefore is it said,
"This corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on
immortality."

   3. But, nevertheless, those who think that rational creatures can at
any time lead an existence out of the body, may here raise such questions
as the following. If it is true that this corruptible shall put on
incorruption, and this mortal put on immortality, and that death is
swallowed up at the end; this shows that nothing else than a material
nature is to be destroyed, on which death could operate, while the mental
acumen of those who are in the body seems to be blunted by the nature of
corporeal matter. If, however, they are out of the body, then they will
altogether escape the annoyance arising from a disturbance of that kind.
But as they will not be able immediately to escape all bodily clothing,
they are just to be considered as inhabiting more refined and purer bodies,
which possess the property of being no longer overcome by death, or of
being wounded by its sting; so that at last, by the gradual disappearance
of the material nature, death is both swallowed up, and even at the end
exterminated, and all its sting completely blunted by the divine grace
which the soul has been rendered capable of receiving, and has thus
deserved to obtain incorruptibility and immortality. And then it will be
deservedly said by all, "O death, where is thy victory? O death, where is
thy sting? The sting of death is sin." If these conclusions, then, seem to
hold good, it follows that we must believe our condition at some future
time to be incorporeal; and if this is admitted, and all are said to be
subjected to Christ, this (incorporeity) also must necessarily be bestowed
on all to whom the subjection to Christ extends; since all who are subject
to Christ will be in the end subject to God the Father, to whom Christ is
said to deliver up the kingdom; and thus it appears that then also the need
of bodies will cease.[1] And if it ceases, bodily matter returns to
nothing, as formerly also it did not exist.

   Now let us see what can be said in answer to those who make these
assertions. For it will appear to be a necessary consequence that, if
bodily nature be annihilated, it must be again restored and created; since
it seems a possible thing that rational natures, from whom the faculty of
free-will is never taken away, may be again subjected to movements of some
kind, through the special act of the Lord Himself, lest perhaps, if they
were always to occupy a condition that was unchangeable, they should be
ignorant that it is by the grace of God and not by their own merit that
they have been placed in that final state of happiness; and these movements
will undoubtedly again be attended by variety and diversity of bodies, by
which the world is always adorned; nor will it ever be composed (of
anything) save of variety and diversity,--an effect which cannot be
produced without a bodily matter.

   4. And now I do not understand by what proofs they can maintain their
position, who assert that worlds sometimes come into existence which are
not dissimilar to each other, but in all respects equal. For if there is
said to be a world similar in all respects (to the present), then it will
come to pass that Adam and Eve will do the same things which they did
before: there will be a second time the same deluge, and the same Moses
will again lead a nation numbering nearly six hundred thousand out of
Egypt; Judas will also a second time betray the Lord; Paul will a second
time keep the garments of those who stoned Stephen; and everything which
has been done in this life will be said to be repeated,--a state of things
which I think cannot be established by any reasoning, if souls are actuated
by freedom of will, and maintain either their advance or retrogression
according to the power of their will. For souls are not driven on in a
cycle which returns after many ages to the same round, so as either to do
or desire this or that; but at whatever point the freedom of their own will
aims, thither do they direct the course of their actions. For what these
persons say is much the same as if one were to assert that if a medimnus of
grain were to be poured out on the ground, the fall of the grain would be
on the second occasion identically the same as on the first, so that every
individual grain would lie for the second time close beside that grain
where it had been thrown before, and so the medimnus would be scattered in
the same order, and with the same marks as formerly; which certainly is an
impossible result with the countless grains of a medimnus, even if they
were to be poured out without ceasing for many ages. So therefore it seems
to me impossible for a world to be restored for the second time, with the
same order and with the same amount of births, and deaths, and actions; but
that a diversity of worlds may exist with changes of no unimportant kind,
so that the state of another world may be for some unmistakeable reasons
better (than this), and for others worse, and for others again
intermediate. But what may be the number or measure of this I confess
myself ignorant, although, if any one can tell it, I would gladly learn.

   5. But this world, which is itself called an age, is said to be the
conclusion of many ages. Now the holy apostle teaches that in that age
which preceded this, Christ did not suffer, nor even in the age which
preceded that again; and I know not that I am able to enumerate the number
of anterior ages in which He did not suffer. I will show, however, from
what statements of Paul I have arrived at this understanding. He says, "But
now once in the consummation of ages, He was manifested to take away sin by
the sacrifice of Himself."[1] For He says that He was once made a victim,
and in the consummation of ages was manifested to take away sin. Now that
after this age, which is said to be formed for the consummation of other
ages, there will he other ages again to follow, we have clearly learned
from Paul himself, who says, "That in the ages to come He might show the
exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness towards us."[2] He has not
said, "in the age to come," nor "in the two ages to come," whence I infer
that by his language many ages are indicated. Now if there is something
greater than ages, so that among created beings certain ages may be
understood, but among other beings which exceed and surpass visible
creatures, (ages still greater) (which perhaps will be the case at the
restitution of all things, when the whole universe will come to a perfect
termination), perhaps that period in which the consummation of all things
will take place is to be understood as something more than an age. But here
the authority of holy Scripture moves me, which says, "For an age and
more."[3] Now this word "more" undoubtedly means something greater than an
age; and see if that expression of the Saviour, "I will that where I am,
these also may be with Me; and as I and Thou are one, these also may be one
in Us,"[4] may not seem to convey something more than an age and ages,
perhaps even more than ages of ages, -- that period, viz., when all things
are now no longer in an age, but when God is in all.

   6. Having discussed these points regarding the nature of the world to
the best of our ability, it does not seem out of place to inquire what is
the meaning of the term world, which in holy Scripture is shown frequently
to have different significations. For what we call in Latin mundus, is
termed in Greek ko'smos, and ko'smos signifies not only a world, but also
an ornament. Finally, in Isaiah, where the language of reproof is directed
to the chief daughters of Sion, and where he says, "Instead of an ornament
of a golden head, thou wilt have baldness on account of thy works,"[5] he
employs the same term to denote ornament as to denote the world, viz.,
ko'smos. For the plan of the world is said to be contained in the clothing
of the high priest, as we find in the Wisdom of Solomon, where he says,
"For in the long garment was the whole world."[6] That earth of ours, with
its inhabitants, is also termed the world, as when Scripture says, "The
whole world lieth in wickedness."[7] Clement indeed, a disciple of the
apostles, makes mention of those whom the Greeks called Anti'chthones, and
other parts of the earth, to which no one of our people can approach, nor
can any one of those who are there cross over to us, which he also termed
worlds, saying, "The ocean is impassable to men; and those are words which
are on the other side of it, which are governed by these same arrangements
of the ruling God."[8] That universe which is bounded by heaven and earth
is also called a world, as Paul declares: "For the fashion of this world
will pass away."[9] Our Lord and Saviour also points out a certain other
world besides this visible one, which it would indeed be difficult to
describe and make known. He says, "I am not of this world."[10] For, as if
He were of a certain other world, He says, "I am not of this world." Now,
of this world we have said beforehand, that the explanation was difficult;
and for this reason, that there might not be afforded to any an occasion of
entertaining the supposition that we maintain the existence of certain
images which the Greeks call "ideas:" for it is certainly alien to our
(writers) to speak of an incorporeal world existing in the imagination
alone, or in the fleeting. world of thoughts; and how they can assert
either that the Saviour comes from thence, or that the saints will go
thither, I do not see. There is no doubt, however, that something more
illustrious and excellent than this present world is pointed out by the
Saviour, at which He incites and encourages believers to aim. But whether
that world to which He desires to allude be far separated and divided from
this either by situation, or nature, or glory; or whether it be superior in
glory and quality, but confined within the limits of this world (which
seems to me more probable), is nevertheless uncertain, and in my opinion an
unsuitable subject for human thought. But from what Clement seems to
indicate when he says, "The ocean is impassable to men, and those worlds
which are behind it," speaking in the plural number of the worlds which are
behind it, which he intimates are administered and governed by the same
providence of the Most High God, he appears to throw out to us some germs
of that view by which the whole universe of existing things, celestial and
super-celestial, earthly and infernal, is generally called one perfect
world, within which, or by which, other worlds, if any there are, must be
supposed to be contained. For which reason he wished the globe of the sun
or moon, and of the other bodies called planets, to be each termed worlds.
Nay, even that pre-eminent globe itself which they call the non-wandering
(aplanh^), they nevertheless desire to have properly called world. Finally,
they summon the book of Baruch the prophet to bear witness to this
assertion, because in it the seven worlds or heavens are more clearly
pointed out. Nevertheless, above that sphere which they call non-wandering
(aplanh^), they will have another sphere to exist, which they say, exactly
as our heaven contains all things which are under it, comprehends by its
immense size and indescribable extent the spaces of all the spheres
together within its more magnificent circumference; so that all things are
within it, as this earth of ours  is under heaven. And this also is
believed to be called in the holy Scriptures the good land, and the land of
the living, having its own heaven, which is higher, and in which the names
of the saints are said to be written, or to have been written, by the
Saviour; by which heaven that earth is confined and shut in, which the
Saviour in the Gospel promises to the meek and merciful. For they would
have this earth of ours, which formerly was named "Dry," to have derived
its appellation from the name of that earth, as this heaven also was named
firmament from the title of that heaven. But we have treated at greater
length of such opinions in the place where we had to inquire into the
meaning of the declaration, that in the beginning "God made the heavens and
the earth." For another heaven and another earth are shown to exist besides
that "firmanent" which is said to have been made after the second day, or
that "dry land" which was afterwards called "earth." Certainly, what some
say of this world, that it is corruptible because it was made, and yet is
not corrupted, because the will of God, who made it and holds it together
lest corruption should rule over it, is stronger and more powerful than
corruption, may more correctly be supposed of that world which we have
called above a "non-wandering "sphere, since by the will of God it is not
at all subject to corruption, for the reason that it has not admired any
causes of corruption, seeing it is the world of the saints and of the
thoroughly purified, and not of the wicked, like that world of ours. We
must see, moreover, lest perhaps it is with reference to this that the
apostle says, "While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the
things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but
the things which are unseen are eternal. For we know that if our earthly
house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an
house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens."[1] And when he says
elsewhere, "Because I shall see the heavens, the works of Thy fingers,"[2]
and when God said, regarding all things visible, by the mouth of His
prophet, "My hand has formed all these things,"[3] He declares that that
eternal house in the heavens which He promises to His saints was not made
with hands, pointing out, doubtless, the difference of creation in things
which are seen and in those which are not seen. For the same thing is not
to be understood by the expressions, "those things which are not seen," and
"those things which are invisible." For those things which are invisible
are not only not seen, but do not even possess the property of visibility,
being what the Greeks call asw'mata, i.e., incorporeal; whereas those of
which Paul says, "They are not seen," possess indeed the property of being
seen, but, as he explains, are not yet beheld by those to whom they are
promised.

   7. Having sketched, then, so far as we could understand, these three
opinions regarding the end of all things, and the supreme blessedness, let
each one of our readers determine for himself, with care and diligence,
whether any one of them can be approved and adopted.[1] For it has been
said that we must suppose either that an incorporeal existence is possible,
after all things have become subject to Christ, and through Christ to God
the Father, when God, will be all and in all; or that when, notwithstanding
all things have been made subject to Christ, and through Christ to God
(with whom they formed also one spirit, in respect of spirits being
rational natures), then the bodily substance itself also being united to
most pure and excellent spirits, and being changed into an ethereal
condition in proportion to the quality or merits of those who assume it
(according to the apostle's words, "We also shall be changed"), will shine
forth in splendour; or at least that when the fashion of those things which
are seen passes away, and all corruption has been shaken off and cleansed
away, and when the whole of the space occupied by this world, in which the
spheres of the planets are said to be, has been left behind and beneath,[2]
then is reached the fixed abode of the pious and the good situated above
that sphere, which is called non-wandering (aplanh's), as in a good land,
in a land of the living, which will be inherited by the meek and gentle; to
which land belongs that heaven (which, with its more magnificent extent,
surrounds and contains that land itself) which is called truly and chiefly
heaven, in which heaven and earth, the end and perfection of all things,
may be safely and most confidently placed,--where, viz., these, after their
apprehension and their chastisement for the offences which they have
undergone by way of purgation, may, after having fulfilled and discharged
every obligation, deserve a habitation in that land; while those who have
been obedient  to the word of God, and have henceforth by their obedience
shown themselves capable of wisdom, are said to deserve the kingdom of that
heaven or heavens; and thus the prediction is more worthily fulfilled,
"Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth;"[3] and, "Blessed
are the poor in spirit, for they shall inherit the kingdom of heaven;"[4]
and the declaration in the Psalm, "He shall exalt thee, and thou shalt
inherit the land."[5] For it is called a descent to this earth, but an
exaltation to that which is on high. In this way, therefore, does a sort of
road seem to be opened up by the departure of the saints from that earth to
those heavens; so that they do not so much appear to abide in that land, as
to inhabit it with an intention, viz., to pass on to the inheritance of the
kingdom of heaven, when they have reached that degree of perfection also.

CHAP. IV.--THE GOD OF THE LAW AND THE PROPHETS, AND THE FATHER OF OUR LORD
JESUS CHRIST, IS THE SAME GOD.

   1. Having now briefly arranged these points in order as we best could,
it follows that, agreeably to our intention from the first, we refute those
who think that the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is a different God from
Him who gave the answers of the law to Moses, or commissioned the prophets,
who is the God of our fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For in this
article of faith, first of all, we must be firmly grounded. We have to
consider, then, the expression of frequent recurrence in the Gospels, and
subjoined to all the acts of our Lord and Saviour, "that it might be
fulfilled which was spoken by this or that prophet," it being manifest that
the prophets are the prophets of that God who made the world. From this
therefore we draw the conclusion, that He who sent the prophets, Himself
predicted what was to be foretold of Christ. And there is no doubt that the
Father Himself, and not another different from Him, uttered these
predictions. The practice, moreover, of the Saviour or His apostles,
frequently quoting illustrations from the Old Testament, shows that they
attribute authority to the ancients. The injunction also of the Saviour,
when exhorting His disciples to the exercise of kindness, "Be ye perfect,
even as your Father who is in heaven is perfect; for He commands His sun to
rise upon the evil and the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the
unjust,"[6] most evidently suggests even to a person of feeble
understanding, that He is proposing to the imitation of His disciples no
other God than the maker of heaven and the bestower of the rain. Again,
what else does the expression, which ought to be used by those who pray,
"Our Father who art in heaven,"[7] appear to indicate, save that God is to
be sought in the better parts of the world, i.e., of His creation? Further,
do not those admirable principles which He lays down respecting oaths,
saying that we ought not to "swear either by heaven, because it is the
throne of God; nor by the earth, because it is His footstool,"[1] harmonize
most clearly with the words of the prophet, "Heaven is My throne, and the
earth is My footstool?"[2] And also when casting out of the temple those
who sold sheep, and oxen, and doves, and pouring out the tables of the
money-changers, and saying, "Take these things, hence, and do not make My
Father's house a house of merchandise,"[3] He undoubtedly called Him His
Father, to whose name Solomon had raised a magnificent temple. The words,
moreover, "Have you not read what was spoken by God to Moses: I am the God
of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; He is not a God of
the dead, but of the living,"[4] most clearly teach us, that He called the
God of the patriarchs (because they were holy, and were alive) the God of
the living, the same, viz., who had said in the prophets, "I am God, and
besides Me there is no God."[5] For if the Saviour, knowing that He who is
written in the law is the God of Abraham, and that it is the same who says,
"I am God, and besides Me there is no God, acknowledges that very one to be
His Father who is ignorant of the existence of any other God above Himself,
as the heretics suppose, He absurdly declares Him to be His Father who does
not know of a greater God. But if it is not from ignorance, but from
deceit, that He says there is no other God than Himself, then it is a much
greater absurdity to confess that His Father is guilty of falsehood. From
all which this conclusion is arrived at, that He knows of no other Father
than God, the Founder and Creator of all things.

   2. It would be tedious to collect out of all the passages in the
Gospels the proofs by which the God of the law and of the Gospels is shown
to be one and the same. Let us touch briefly upon the Acts of the
Apostles,[6] where Stephen and the other apostles address their prayers to
that God who made heaven and earth, and who spoke by the mouth of His holy
prophets, calling Him the "God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob;" the God
who "brought forth His people out of the land of Egypt." Which expressions
undoubtedly clearly direct our understandings to faith in the Creator, and
implant an affection for Him in those who have learned piously and
faithfully thus to think of Him; according to the words of the Saviour
Himself, who, when He was asked which was the greatest commandment in the
law, replied, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and
with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. And the second is like unto it,
Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." And to these He added: "On these
two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."[7] How is it, then,
that He commends to him whom He was instructing, and was leading to enter
on the office of a disciple, this commandment above all others, by which
undoubtedly love was to be kindled in him towards the God of that law,
inasmuch as such had been declared by the law in these very words? But let
it be granted, notwithstanding all these most evident proofs, that it is of
some other unknown God that the Saviour says, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy
God with all thy heart," etc., etc. How, in that case, if the law and the
prophets are, as they say, from the Creator, i.e., from another God than He
whom He calls good, shall that appear to be logically said which He
subjoins, viz., that "on these two commandments hang the law and the
prophets?" For how shall that which is strange and foreign to God depend
upon Him? And when Paul says, "I thank my God, whom I serve my spirit from
my forefathers with pure conscience,"[8] he clearly shows that he came not
to some new God, but to Christ. For what other forefathers of Paul can be
intended, except those of whom he says, "Are they Hebrews? so am I: are
they Israelites? so am I."[9] Nay, will not the very preface of his Epistle
to the Romans clearly show the same thing to those who know how to
understand the letters of Paul, viz., what God he preaches? For his words
are: "Paul, the servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, set apart
to the Gospel of God, which He had promised afore by His prophets in the
holy Scriptures concerning His Son, who was made of the seed of David
according to the flesh, and who was declared to be the Son of God with
power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the
dead of Christ Jesus our Lord,"[10]etc. Moreover, also the following, "Thou
shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God
take care for oxen? or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes,
no doubt, this is written, that he that plougheth should plough in hope,
and he that thresheth in hope of partaking of the fruits."[11] By which he
manifestly shows that God, who gave the law on our account, i.e., on
account of the apostles, says, "Thou shalt not  muzzle the mouth of the ox
that treadeth out the corn;" whose care was not for oxen, but for the
apostles, who were preaching the Gospel of Christ. In other passages also,
Paul, embracing the promises of the law, says, "Honour thy father and thy
mother, which is the first commandment with promise; that it may be well
with thee, and that thy days may be long upon the land, the good land,
which the Lord thy God will give thee."[1] By which he undoubtedly makes
known that the law, and the God of the law, and His promises, are pleasing
to him.

   3. But as those who uphold this heresy are sometimes accustomed to
mislead the hearts of the simple by certain deceptive sophisms, I do  not
consider it improper to bring forward the assertions which they are in the
habit of making, and to refute their deceit and falsehood. The following,
then, are their declarations. It is written, that "no man hath seen God at
any time."[2] But that God whom Moses preaches was both seen by Moses
himself, and by his fathers before him; whereas He who is announced by the
Saviour has never been seen at all by any one. Let us therefore ask them
and ourselves whether they maintain that He whom they acknowledge to be
God, and allege to be a different God from the Creator, is visible or
invisible. And if they shall say that He is visible, besides being proved
to go against the declaration of Scripture, which says of the Saviour, "He
is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of every creature,"[3]
they will fall also into the absurdity of asserting that God is corporeal.
For nothing can be seen except by help of form, and size, and colour, which
are special properties of bodies. And if God is declared to be a body, then
He will also be found to be material, since every body is composed of
matter. But if He be composed of matter, and matter is undoubtedly
corruptible, then, according to them, God is liable to corruption! We shall
put to them a second question. Is matter made, or is it uncreated, i.e.,
not made? And if they shall answer that it is not made, i.e., uncreated, we
shall ask them if one portion of matter is God, and the other part the
world? But if they shall say of matter that it is made, it will undoubtedly
follow that they confess Him whom they declare to be God to have been
made!--a result which certainly neither their reason nor ours can admit.
But they will say, God is invisible. And what will you do? If you say that
He is invisible by nature, then neither ought He to be visible to the
Saviour. Whereas, on the contrary, God, the Father of Christ, is said to be
seen, because "he who sees the Son," he says, "sees also the Father."[4]
This certainly would press us very hard, were the expression not understood
by us more correctly of understanding, and not of seeing. For he who has
understood the Son will understand the Father also. In this way, then,
Moses too must be supposed to have seen God, not beholding Him with the
bodily eye, but understanding Him with the vision of the heart and the
perception of the mind, and that only in some degree. For it is manifest
that He, viz., who gave answers to Moses, said, "You shall not see My face,
but My hinder parts."[5] These words are, of course, to be understood in
that mystical sense which is befitting divine words, those old wives'
fables being rejected and despised which are invented by ignorant persons
respecting the anterior and posterior parts of God. Let no one indeed
suppose that we have indulged any feeling of impiety in saying that even to
the Saviour the Father is not visible. Let him consider the distinction
which we employ in dealing with heretics. For we have explained that it is
one thing to see and to be seen, and another to know and to be known, or to
understand and to be understood.[6] To see, then, and to be seen, is a
property of bodies, which certainly will not be appropriately applied
either to the Father, or to the Son, or to the Holy Spirit, in their mutual
relations with one another. For the nature of the Trinity surpasses the
measure of vision, granting to those who are in the body, i.e., to all
other creatures, the property of vision in reference to one another. But to
a nature that is incorporeal and for the most part intellectual, no other
attribute is appropriate save that of knowing or being known, as the
Saviour Himself declares when He says, "No man knoweth the Son, save the
Father; nor does any one know the Father, save the Son, and he to whom the
Son will reveal Him."[7] It is clear, then, that He has not said, "No one
has seen the Father, save the Son;" but, "No one knoweth the Father, save
the Son."

   4. And now, if, on account of those expressions which occur in the Old
Testament, as when God is said to be angry or to repent, or when any other
human affection or passion is described, (our opponents) think that they
are furnished with grounds for refuting us, who maintain that God is
altogether impassible, and is to be regarded as wholly free from all
affections of that kind, we have to show them that similar statements are
found even in the parables of the Gospel; as when it is said, that he who
planted a vineyard, and let it out to husbandmen, who slew the servants
that were sent to them, and at last put to death even the son, is said in
anger to have taken away the vineyard from them, and to have delivered over
the wicked husbandmen to destruction, and to have handed over the vineyard
to others, who would yield him the fruit in its season. And so also with
regard to those citizens who, when the head of the household had set out to
receive for himself a kingdom, sent messengers after him, saying, "We will
not have this man to reign over us;''[1] for the head of the household
having obtained the kingdom, returned, and in anger commanded them to be
put to death before him, and burned their city with fire. But when we read
either in the Old Testament or in the New of the anger of God, we do not
take such expressions literally, but seek in them a spiritual meaning, that
we may think of God as He deserves to be thought of. And on these points,
when expounding the verse in the second Psalm, "Then shall He speak to them
in His anger, and trouble them in His fury,''[2] we showed, to the best of
our poor ability, how such an expression ought to be understood.

CHAP. V.--ON JUSTICE AND GOODNESS.

   I. Now, since this consideration has weight with some, that the leaders
of that heresy (of which we have been speaking) think they have established
a kind of division, according to which they have declared that justice is
one thing and goodness another, and have applied this division even to
divine things, maintaining that the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is
indeed a good God, but not a just one, whereas the God of the law and the
prophets is just, but not good; I think it necessary to return, with as
much brevity as possible, an answer to these statements. These persons,
then, consider goodness to be some such affection as would have benefits
conferred on all, although the recipient of them be unworthy and
undeserving of any kindness; but here, in my opinion, they have not rightly
applied their definition, inasmuch as they think that no benefit is
conferred on him who is visited with any suffering or calamity. Justice, on
the other hand, they view as .that quality which rewards every one
according to his deserts. But here,  again, they do not rightly interpret
the meaning  of their own definition. For they think that it is just to
send evils upon the wicked and benefits upon the good; i.e., so that,
according to their view, the just God does not appear to wish well to the
bad, but to be animated by a kind of hatred against them. And they gather
together  instances of this, Wherever they find a history in the Scriptures
of the Old Testament, relating, e.g., the punishment of the deluge, or the
fate of those who are described as perishing in it, or the, destruction of
Sodom and Gomorrah by a shower of fire and brimstone, or the falling of all
the people in the wilderness on account of their sins, so that none of
those who had left Egypt were found to have entered the promised land, with
the exception of Joshua and Caleb. Whereas from the New Testament they
gather together words of compassion and piety, through which the disciples
are trained by the Saviour, and by which it seems to be declared that no
one is good save God the Father only; and by this means they have ventured
to style the Father of the Saviour Jesus Christ a good God, but to say that
the God of the world is a different one, whom they are pleased to term
just, but not also good.

   2. Now I think they must, in the first place, be required to show, if
they can, agreeably to their own definition, that the Creator is just in
punishing according to their deserts, either those who perished at the time
of the deluge, or the inhabitants of Sodom, or those who had quitted Egypt,
seeing we sometimes behold committed crimes more wicked and detestable than
those for which the above-mentioned persons were destroyed, while we do not
yet sere every sinner paying the penalty of his misdeeds. Will they say
that He who at one time was just has been made good? Or will they rather be
of opinion that He is even now just, but is patiently enduring human
offences, while that then He was not even just, inasmuch as He exterminated
innocent and sucking children along with cruel and ungodly giants? Now,
such are their opinions, because they know not how to understand anything
beyond the letter; otherwise they would show how it is literal justice for
sins to be visited upon the heads of children to the third and fourth
generation, and on children's children after them. By us, however, such
things are not understood literally; but, as Ezekiel taught[3] when
relating the parable, we inquire what is the inner meaning contained in the
parable itself. Moreover, they ought to explain this also, how He is just,
and rewards every one according to his merits, who punishes earthly-minded
persons and the devil, seeing they have done nothing worthy of
punishment.[4] For they could not do any good if, according to them, they
were of a wicked and ruined nature. For as they style Him a judge, He
appears to be a judge not so much of actions as of natures; and if a bad
nature cannot do good, neither can a good nature do evil. Then, in the next
place, if He whom the), call good is good to all, He is undoubtedly good
also to those who are destined to perish. And why does He not save them? If
He does not desire to do so, He will be no longer good; if He does desire
it, and cannot effect it, He will not be omnipotent. Why do they not rather
hear the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Gospels, preparing fire for
the devil and his angels? And how shall that proceeding, as penal as it is
sad, appear to be, according to their view, the work of the good God? Even
the Saviour Himself, the Son of the good God, protests in the Gospels, and
declares that "if signs and wonders had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they
would have repented[1] long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes." And when
He had come near to those very cities, and had entered their territory,
why, pray, does He avoid entering those cities, and exhibiting to them
abundance of signs and wonders, if it were certain that they would have
repented, after they had been performed, in sackcloth and ashes? But as He
does not do this, He undoubtedly abandons to destruction those whom the
language of the Gospel shows not to have been of a wicked or mined nature,
inasmuch as it declares they were capable of repentance. Again, in a
certain parable of the Gospel, where the king enters in to see the guests
reclining at the banquet, he beheld a certain individual not clothed with
wedding raiment, and said. to him, "Friend, how camest thou in hither, not
having a wedding garment?" and then ordered his servants, "Bind him hand
and foot, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and
gnashing of teeth."[2] Let them tell us who is that king who entered in to
see the guests, and finding one amongst them with unclean garments,
commanded him to be bound by his servants, and thrust out into outer
darkness. Is he the same whom they call just? How then had he commanded
good and bad alike to be invited, without directing their merits to be
inquired into by his servants? By such procedure would be indicated, not
the character of a just God who rewards according to men's deserts, as they
assert, but of one who displays undiscriminating goodness towards all. Now,
if this must necessarily be understood of the good God, i.e., either of
Christ or of the Father of Christ, what other objection can they bring
against the justice of God's judgment? Nay, what else is there so unjust
charged by them against the God of the law as to order him who had been
invited by His servants, whom He had sent to call good and bad alike, to be
bound hand and foot, and to be thrown into outer darkness, because he had
on unclean garments?

   3. And now, what we have drawn from the authority of Scripture ought to
be sufficient to refute the arguments of the heretics. It will not,
however, appear improper if we discuss the matter with them shortly, on the
grounds of reason itself. We ask them, then, if they know what is regarded
among men as the ground of virtue and wickedness, and if it appears to
follow that we can speak of virtues in God, or, as they think, in these two
Gods. Let them give an answer also to the question, whether they consider
goodness to be a virtue; and as they will undoubtedly admit it to be so,
what will they say of injustice? They will never certainly, in my opinion,
be so foolish as to deny that justice is a virtue. Accordingly, if virtue
is a blessing, and justice is a virtue, then without doubt justice is
goodness. But if they say that justice is not a blessing, it must either be
an evil or an indifferent thing. Now I think it folly to return any answer
to those who say that justice is an evil, for I shall have the appearance
of replying either to senseless words, or to men out of their minds. How
can that appear an evil which is able to reward the good with blessings, as
they themselves also admit? But if they say that it is a thing of
indifference, it follows that since justice is so, sobriety also, and
prudence, and all the other virtues, are things of indifference. And what
answer shall we make to Paul, when he says, "If there be any virtue, and,
if there be any praise, think on these things, which ye have learned, and
received, and heard, and seen in me?"[3] Let them learn, therefore, by
searching the holy Scriptures, what are the individual virtues, and not
deceive themselves by saying that that God who rewards every one according
to his merits, does, through hatred of evil, recompense the wicked with
evil, and not because those who have sinned need to be treated with severer
remedies, and because He applies to them those measures which, with the
prospect of improvement, seem nevertheless, for the present, to produce a
feeling of pain. They do not read what is written respecting the hope of
those who were destroyed in the deluge; of which hope Peter himself thus
speaks in his first Epistle: "That Christ, indeed, was put to death in the
flesh, but quickened by the Spirit, by which He went and preached to the
spirits who were kept in prison, who once were unbelievers, when they
awaited the long-suffering of God in the days of Noah, when the ark was
preparing, in which a few, i.e., eight souls, were saved by water.
Whereunto also baptism by a like figure now saves you."[4] And with regard
to Sodom and Gomorrah, let them tell us whether they believe the prophetic
words to be those of the Creator God--of Him, viz., who is related to have
rained upon them a shower of fire and brimstone. What does Ezekiel the
prophet say of them? "Sodom," he says, "shall be restored to her former
condition."[1] But why, in afflicting those who are deserving of
punishment, does He not afflict them for their good?--who also says to
Chaldea, "Thou hast coals of fire, sit upon them; they will be a help to
thee."[2] And of those also who fell in the desert, let them hear what is
related in the seventy-eighth Psalm, which bears the superscription of
Asaph; for he says, "When He slew them, then they sought Him."[3] He does
not say that some sought Him after others had been slain, but he says that
the destruction of those who were killed was of such a nature that, when
put to death, they sought God. By all which it is established, that the God
of the law and the Gospels is one and the same, a just and good God, and
that He confers benefits justly, and punishes with kindness; since neither
goodness without justice, nor justice without goodness, can display the
(real) dignity of the divine nature.

   We shall add the following remarks, to which we are driven by their
subtleties. If justice is a different thing from goodness, then, since evil
is the opposite of good, and injustice of justice, injustice will doubtless
be something else than an evil; and as, in your opinion, the just man is
not good, so neither will the unjust man be wicked; and again, as the good
man is not just, so the wicked man also will not be unjust. But who does
not see the absurdity, that to a good God one should be opposed that is
evil; while to a just God, whom they allege to be inferior to the good, no
one should be opposed! For there is none who can be called unjust, as there
is a Satan who is called wicked. What, then, are we to do? Let us give up
the position which we defend, for they will not be able to maintain that a
bad man is not also unjust, and an unjust man wicked. And if these
qualities be indissolubly inherent in these opposites, viz., injustice in
wickedness, or wickedness in injustice, then unquestionably the good man
will be inseparable from the just man, and the just from the good; so that,
as we speak of one and the same wickedness in malice and injustice, we may
also hold the virtue of goodness and justice to be one and the same.

   4. They again recall us, however, to the words of Scripture, by
bringing forward that celebrated question of theirs, affirming that it is
written, "A bad tree cannot produce good fruits; for a tree is known by its
fruit."[4] What, then, is their position? What sort of tree the law is, is
shown by its fruits, i.e., by the language of its precepts. For if the law
be found to be good, then undoubtedly He who gave it is believed to be a
good God. But if it be just rather than good, then God also will be
considered a just legislator. The Apostle Paul makes use of no
circumlocution, when he says, "The law is good; and the commandment is
holy, and just, and good."[5] From which it is clear that Paul had not
learned the language of those who separate justice from goodness, but had
been instructed by that God, and illuminated by His Spirit, who is at the
same time both holy, and good, and just; and speaking by whose Spirit he
declared that the commandment of the law was holy, and just, and good. And
that he might show more clearly that goodness was in the commandment to a
greater degree than justice and holiness, repeating his words, he used,
instead of these three epithets, that of goodness alone, saying, "Was then
that which is good made death unto me? God forbid."[6] As he knew that
goodness was the genus of the virtues, and that justice and holiness were
species belonging to the genus, and having in the former verses named genus
and species together, he fell back, when repeating his words, on the genus
alone. But in those which follow he says, "Sin wrought death in me by that
which is good,"[6] where he sums up generically what he had beforehand
explained specifically. And in this way also is to be understood the
declaration, "A good man, out of the good treasure of his heart, bringeth
forth good things; and an evil man, out of the evil treasure, bringeth
forth evil things."[7] For here also he assumed that there was a genus in
good or evil, pointing out unquestionably that in a good man there were
both justice, and temperance, and prudence, and piety, and everything that
can be either called or understood to be good. In like manner also he said
that a man was wicked who should without any doubt be unjust, and impure,
and unholy, and everything which singly makes a bad man. For as no one
considers a man to be wicked without these marks of wickedness (nor indeed
can he be so), so also it is certain that without these virtues no one will
be deemed to be good. There still remains to them, however, that saying of
the Lord in the Gospel, which they think is given them in a special manner
as a shield, viz., "There is none good but one, God the Father."[8] This
word they declare is peculiar to the Father of Christ, who, however, is
different from the God who is Creator of all things, to which Creator he
gave no appellation of goodness. Let us see now if, in the Old Testament,
the God of the prophets and the Creator and Legislator of the word is not
called good. What are the expressions which occur in the Psalms? "How good
is God to Israel, to the upright in heart!"[1] and, "Let Israel now say
that He is good, that His mercy endureth for ever;"[2] the language in the
Lamentations of Jeremiah, "The Lord is good to them that wait for Him, to
the soul that seeketh Him."[3] As therefore God is frequently called good
in the Old Testament, so also the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is styled
just in the Gospels. Finally, in the Gospel according to John, our Lord
Himself, when praying to the Father, says, "O just Father, the world hath
not known Thee."[4] And lest perhaps they should say that it was owing to
His having assumed human flesh that He called the Creator of the world
"Father," and styled Him "Just," they are excluded from such a refuge by
the words that immediately follow, "The world hath not known Thee." But,
according to them, the world is ignorant of the good God alone. For the
word unquestionably recognises its Creator, the Lord Himself saying that
the world loveth what is its own. Clearly, then, He whom they consider to
be the good God, is called just in the Gospels. Any one may at leisure
gather together a greater number of proofs, consisting of those passages,
where in the New Testament the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is called
just, and in the Old also, where the Creator of heaven and earth is called
good; so that the heretics, being convicted by numerous testimonies, may
perhaps some time be put to the blush.

CHAP. VI.--ON THE INCARNATION OF CHRIST.

   1. It is now time, after this cursory notice of these points, to resume
our investigation of the incarnation of our Lord and Saviour, viz., how or
why He became man. Having therefore, to the best of our feeble ability,
considered His divine nature from the contemplation of His own works rather
than from our own feelings, and having nevertheless beheld (with the eye)
His visible creation while the invisible creation is seen by faith, because
human frailty can neither see all things with the bodily eye nor comprehend
them by reason, seeing we men are weaker and frailer than any other
rational beings (for those which are in heaven, or are supposed to exist
above the heaven, are superior), it remains that we seek a being
intermediate between all created things and God, i.e., a Mediator, whom the
Apostle Paul styles the "first-born of every creature."[5] Seeing,
moreover, those declarations regarding His majesty which are contained in
holy Scripture, that He is called the "image of the invisible God, and the
first-born of every creature," and that "in Him were all things created,
visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or
principalities, or powers, all things were created by Him, and in Him: and
He is before all things, and by Him all things consist,"[6] who is the head
of all things, alone having as head God the Father; for it is written, "The
head of Christ is God; "[7] seeing clearly also that it is written, "No one
knoweth the Father, save the Son, nor doth any one know the Son, save the
Father"[8] (for who can know what wisdom is, save He who called it into
being? or, who can understand clearly what truth is, save the Father of
truth? who can investigate with certainty the universal nature of His Word,
and of God Himself, which nature proceeds from God, except God alone, with
whom the Word was), we ought to regard it as certain that this Word, or
Reason (if it is to be so termed), this Wisdom, this Truth, is known to no
other than the Father only; and of Him it is written, that "I do not think
that the world itself could contain the books which might be written,"[9]
regarding, viz., the glory and majesty of the Son of God. For it is
impossible to commit to writing (all) those particulars which belong to the
glory of the Saviour. After the consideration of questions of such
importance concerning the being of the Son of God, we are lost in the
deepest amazement that such a nature, pre-eminent above all others, should
have divested itself of its condition of majesty and become man, and
tabernacled amongst men, as the grace that was poured upon His lips
testifies, and as His heavenly Father bore Him witness, and as is confessed
by the various signs and wonders and miracles[10] that were performed by
Him; who also, before that appearance of His which He manifested in the
body, sent the prophets as His forerunners, and the messengers of His
advent; and after His ascension into heaven, made His holy apostles, men
ignorant and unlearned, taken from the ranks of tax-gatherers or fishermen,
but who were filled with the power of His divinity, to itinerate throughout
the world, that they might gather together out of every race and every
nation a multitude of devout believers in Himself.

   2. But of all the marvellous and mighty acts related of Him, this
altogether surpasses human admiration, and is beyond the power of mortal
frailness to understand or feel, how that mighty power of divine majesty,
that very Word of the Father, and that very wisdom of God, in which were
created all things, visible and invisible, can be believed to have existed
within the limits of that man who appeared in Judea; nay, that the Wisdom
of God can have entered the womb of a woman, and have been born an infant,
and have uttered wailings like the cries of little children! And that
afterwards it should be related that He was greatly troubled in death,
saying, as He Himself; declared, "My soul is sorrowful even unto death;
"[1] and that at the last He was brought to that death which is accounted
the most shameful among men, although He rose again on the third day.
Since, then, we see in Him some things so human that they appear to differ
in no respect from the common frailty of mortals, and some things so divine
that they can appropriately belong to nothing else than to the primal and
ineffable nature of Deity, the narrowness Of human understanding can find
no outlet; but, overcome with the amazement of a mighty admiration, knows
not whither to withdraw, or what to take hold of, or whither to turn. If it
think of a God, it goes a mortal; if it think of a man; it beholds Him
returning from the grave, after overthrowing the empire of death, laden
with its spoils. And therefore the spectacle is to be contemplated with all
fear and reverence, that the truth of both natures may be clearly shown to
exist in one and the same Being; so that nothing unworthy or unbecoming may
be perceived in that divine and ineffable substance nor yet those things
which were done be supposed to be the illusions of imaginary appearances.
To utter these things in human ears, and to explain them in words, far
surpasses the powers either of our rank, or of our intellect and language.
I think that it surpasses the power even of the holy apostles; nay, the
explanation of that mystery may perhaps be beyond the grasp of the entire
creation of celestial powers. Regarding Him, then, we shall state, in the
fewest possible words, the contents of our creed rather than the assertions
which human reason is wont to advance; and this from no spirit of rashness,
but as called for by the nature of our arrangement, laying before you
rather (what may be termed) our suspicions than any clear affirmations.

   3. The Only-begotten of God, therefore, through whom, as the previous
course of the discussion has shown, all things were made, visible and
invisible, according to the view of Scripture, both made all things, and
loves what He made. For since He is Himself the invisible image of the
invisible God, He conveyed invisibly a share in Himself to all His rational
creatures, so that each one obtained a part of Him exactly proportioned to
the amount of affection with which he regarded Him. But since, agreeably to
the faculty of free-will, variety and diversity characterized the
individual souls, so that one was attached with a warmer love to the Author
of its being, and another with a feebler and weaker regard, that soul
(anima) regarding which Jesus said, "No one shall take my life (animam)
from me,"[2] inhering, from the beginning of the creation, and afterwards,
inseparably and indissolubly in Him, as being the Wisdom and Word of God,
and the Truth and the true Light, and receiving Him wholly, and passing
into His light and splendour, was made with Him in a pre-eminent degree[3]
one spirit, according to the promise of the apostle to those who ought to
imitate it, that "he who is joined in the Lord is one spirit."[4] This
substance of a soul, then, being intermediate between God and the flesh--it
being impossible for the nature of God to intermingle with a body without
an intermediate instrument--the God-man is born, as we have said, that
substance being the intermediary to whose nature it was not contrary to
assume a body. But neither, on the other hand, was it opposed to the nature
of that soul, as a rational existence, to receive God, into whom, as stated
above, as into the Word, and the Wisdom, and the Truth, it had already
wholly entered. And therefore deservedly is it also called, along with the
flesh which it had assumed, the Son of God, and the Power of God, the
Christ, and the Wisdom of God, either because it was wholly in the Son of
God, or because it received the Son of God wholly into itself. And again,
the Son of God, through whom all things were created, is named Jesus Christ
and the Son of man. For the Son of God also is said to have died--in
reference, viz., to that nature which could admit of death; and He is
called the Son of man, who is announced as about to come in the glory of
God the Father, with the holy angels. And for this reason, throughout the
whole of Scripture, not only is the divine nature spoken of in human words,
but the human nature is adorned by appellations of divine dignity. More
truly indeed of this than of any other can the statement be affirmed, "They
shall both be in one flesh, and are no longer two, but one flesh."[5] For
the Word of God is to be considered as being more in one flesh with the
soul than a man with his wife. But to whom is it more becoming to be also
one spirit with God, than to this soul which has so joined itself to God by
love as that it may justly be said to be one spirit with Him?

   4. That the perfection of his love and the sincerity of his deserved
affection[1] formed for it this inseparable union with God, so that the
assumption of that soul was not accidental, or the result of a personal
preference, but was conferred as the reward of its virtues, listen to the
prophet addressing it thus: "Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated
wickedness: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of
gladness above thy fellows."[2] As a reward for its love, then, it is
anointed with the oil of gladness; i.e., the soul of Christ along with the
Word of God is made Christ. Because to be anointed with the oil of gladness
means nothing else than to be filled with the Holy Spirit. And when it is
said "above thy fellows," it is meant that the grace of the Spirit was not
given to it as to the prophets, but that the essential fulness of the Word
of God Himself was in it, according to the saying of the apostle, "In whom
dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead bodily."[3] Finally, on this account
he has not only said, "Thou hast loved righteousness;" but he adds, "and
Thou hast hated wickedness." For to have hated wickedness is what the
Scripture says of Him, that "He did no sin, neither was any guile found in
His mouth,"[4] and that "He was tempted in all things like as we are,
without sin."[5] Nay, the Lord Himself also said, "Which of you will
convince Me of sin?"[6] And again He says with reference to Himself, "
Behold, the prince of this world cometh, and findeth nothing in Me."[7] All
which (passages) show that in Him there was no sense of sin; and that the
prophet might show more clearly that no sense of sin had ever entered into
Him, he says, "Before the boy could have knowledge to call upon father or
mother, He turned away from wickedness."[8]

   5. Now, if our having shown above that Christ possessed a rational soul
should cause a difficulty to any one, seeing we have frequently proved
throughout all our discussions that the nature of souls is capable both of
good and evil, the difficulty will be explained in the following way. That
the nature, indeed, of His soul was the same as that of all others cannot
be doubted otherwise it could not be called a soul were it not truly one.
But since the power of choosing good and evil is within the reach of all,
this soul which belonged to Christ elected to love righteousness, so that
in proportion to the immensity of its love it clung to it unchangeably and
inseparably, so that firmness of purpose, and immensity of affection, and
an inextinguishable warmth of love, destroyed all susceptibility (sensum)
for alteration and change; and that which formerly depended upon the will
was changed by the power of long custom into nature; and so we must believe
that there existed in Christ a human and rational soul, without supposing
that it had any feeling or possibility of sin.

   6. To explain the matter more fully, it will not appear absurd to make
use of an illustration, although on a subject of so much difficulty it is
not easy to obtain suitable illustrations. However, if we may speak without
offence, the metal iron is capable of cold and heat. If, then, a mass of
iron be kept constantly in the fire, receiving the heat through all its
pores and veins, and the fire being continuous and the iron never removed
from it, it become wholly converted into the latter; could we at all say of
this, which is by nature a mass of iron, that when placed in the fire, and
incessantly burning, it was at any time capable of admitting cold? On the
contrary, because it is more consistent with truth, do we not rather say,
what we often see happening in furnaces, that it has become wholly fire,
seeing nothing but fire is visible in it? And if any one were to attempt to
touch or handle it, he would experience the action not of iron, but of
fire. In this way, then, that soul which, like an iron in the fire, has
been perpetually placed in the Word, and perpetually in the Wisdom, and
perpetually in God,[9] is God in all that it does, feels, and understands,
and therefore can be called neither convertible nor mutable, inasmuch as,
being incessantly heated, it possessed immutability from its union with the
Word of God. To all the saints, finally, some warmth from the Word of God
must be supposed to have passed; and in this soul the divine fire itself
must be believed to have rested, from which some warmth may have passed to
others. Lastly, the expression, "God, thy God, anointed thee with the oil
of gladness above thy fellows,"[10] shows that that soul is anointed m one
way with the oil of gladness, i.e., with the word of God and wisdom; and
his fellows, i.e., the holy prophets and apostles, in another. For they are
said to have "run in the odour of his ointments;"[11] and that soul was the
vessel which contained that very ointment of whose fragrance all the worthy
prophets and apostles were made partakers. As, then, the substance of an
ointment is one thing and its odour another, so also Christ is one thing
and His fellows another. And as the vessel itself, which contains the
substance of the ointment, can by no means admit any foul smell; whereas it
is possible that those who enjoy its odour may, if they remove a little way
from its fragrance, receive any foul odour which comes upon them: so, in
the same way, was it impossible that Christ, being as it were the vessel
itself, in which was the substance of the ointment, should receive an odour
of an opposite kind, while they who are His "fellows" will be partakers and
receivers of His odour, in proportion to their nearness to the vessel.

   7. I think, indeed, that Jeremiah the prophet, also, understanding what
was the nature of the wisdom of God in him, which was the same also which
he had assumed for the salvation of the world, said, "The breath of our
countenance is Christ the Lord, to whom we said, that under His shadow we
shall live among the nations."[1] And inasmuch as the shadow of our body is
inseparable from the body, and unavoidably performs and repeats its
movements and gestures, I think that he, wishing to point out the work of
Christ's soul, and the movements inseparably belonging to it, and which
accomplished everything according to His movements and will, called this
the shadow of Christ the Lord, under which shadow we were to live among the
nations. For in the mystery of this assumption the nations live, who,
imitating it through faith, come to salvation. David also, when saying, "Be
mindful of my reproach, O Lord, with which they reproached me in exchange
for Thy Christ,''[2] seems to me to indicate the same. And what else does
Paul mean when he says, "Your life is hid with Christ in God;"[3] and again
in another passage, "Do you seek a proof of Christ, who speaketh in
me?''[4] And now he says that Christ was hid in God. The meaning of which
expression, unless it be shown to be something such as we have pointed out
above as intended by the prophet in the words "shadow of Christ," exceeds,
perhaps, the apprehension of the human mind. But we see also very many
other statements in holy Scripture respecting the meaning of the word
"shadow," as that well-known one in the Gospel according to Luke, where
Gabriel says to Mary, "The Spirit of the Lord shall come upon thee, and the
power of the Highest shall overshadow thee."[5] And the apostle says with
reference to the law, that they who have circumcision in the flesh, "serve
for the similitude and shadow of heavenly things."[6] And elsewhere, "Is
not our life upon the earth a shadow?"[7] If, then, not only the law which
is upon the earth is a shadow, but also all our life which is upon the
earth is the same, and we live among the nations under the shadow of
Christ, we must see whether the truth of all these shadows may not come to
be known in that revelation, when no longer through a glass, and darkly,
but face to face, all the saints shall deserve to behold the glory of God,
and the causes and truth of things. And the pledge of this truth being
already received through the Holy Spirit, the apostle said, "Yea, though we
have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we Him no
more.''[8]

   The above, meanwhile, are the thoughts which have occurred to us, when
treating of subjects of such difficulty as the incarnation and deity of
Christ. If there be any one, indeed, who can discover something better, and
who can establish his assertions by clearer proofs from holy Scriptures,
let his opinion be received in preference to mine.

CHAP. VII.--ON THE HOLY SPIRIT.

   1. As, then, after those first discussions which, according to the
requirements of the case, we held at the beginning regarding the Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit, it seemed right that we should retrace our steps, and
show that the same God was the creator and founder of the world, and the
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, i.e., that the God of the law and of the
prophets and of the Gospel was one and the same; and that, in the next
place, it ought to be shown, with respect to Christ, in what manner He who
had formerly been demonstrated to be the Word and Wisdom of God became man;
it remains that we now return with all possible brevity to the subject of
the Holy Spirit.

   It is time, then, that we say a few words to the best of our ability
regarding the Holy Spirit, whom our Lord and Saviour in the Gospel
according to John has named the Paraclete. For as it is the same God
Himself, and the same Christ, so also is it the same Holy Spirit who was in
the prophets and apostles, i.e., either in those who believed in God before
the advent of Christ, or in those who by means of Christ have sought refuge
in God. We have heard, indeed, that certain heretics have dared to say that
there are two Gods and two Christs, but we have never known of the doctrine
of two Holy Spirits being preached by any one.[9] For how could they
maintain this out of Scripture, or what distinction could they lay down
between Holy Spirit and Holy Spirit, if indeed any definition or
description of Holy Spirit can be discovered? For although we should
concede to Marcion or to Valentinus that it is possible to draw
distinctions in the question of Deity, and to describe the nature of the
good God as one, and that of the just God as another, what will he devise,
or what will he discover, to enable him to introduce a distinction in the
Holy Spirit? I consider, then, that they are able to discover nothing which
may indicate a distinction of any kind whatever.

   2. Now we are of opinion that every rational creature, without any
distinction, receives a share of Him in the same way as of the Wisdom and
of the Word of God. I observe, however, that the chief advent of the Holy
Spirit is declared to men, after the ascension of Christ to heaven, rather
than before His coming into the world. For, before that, it was upon the
prophets alone, and upon a few individuals--if there happened to be any
among the people deserving of it--that the gift of the Holy Spirit was
conferred; but after the advent of the Saviour, it is written that the
prediction of the prophet Joel was fulfilled, "In the last days it shall
come to pass, and I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and they shall
prophesy,"[1] which is similar to the well-known statement, "All nations
shall serve Him."[2] By the grace, then, of the Holy Spirit, along with
numerous other results, this most glorious consequence is clearly
demonstrated, that with regard to those things which were written in the
prophets or in the law of Moses, it was only a few persons at that time,
viz., the prophets themselves, and scarcely another individual out of the
whole nation, who were able to look beyond the mere corporeal meaning and
discover something greater, i.e., something spiritual, in the law or in the
prophets; but now there are countless multitudes of believers who, although
unable to unfold methodically and clearly the results of their spiritual
understanding,[3] are nevertheless most firmly persuaded that neither ought
circumcision to be understood literally, nor the rest of the Sabbath, nor
the pouring out of the blood of an animal, nor that answers were given by
God to Moses on these points. And this method of apprehension is
undoubtedly suggested to the minds of all by the power of the Holy Spirit.

   3. And as there are many ways of apprehending Christ, who, although He
is wisdom, does not act the part or possess the power of wisdom in all men,
but only in those who give themselves to the study of wisdom in Him; and
who, although called a physician, does not act as one towards all, but only
towards those who understand their feeble and sickly condition, and flee to
His compassion that they may obtain health; so also I think is it with the
Holy Spirit, in whom is contained every kind of gifts, For on some is
bestowed by the Spirit the word of wisdom, on others the word of knowledge,
on others faith; and so to each individual of those who are capable of
receiving Him, is the Spirit Himself made to be that quality, or understood
to be that which is needed by the individual who has deserved to
participate.[4] These divisions and differences not being perceived by
those who hear Him called Paraclete in the Gospel, and not duly considering
in consequence of what work or act He is named the Paraclete, they have
compared Him to some common spirits or other, and by this means have tried
to disturb the Churches of Christ, and so excite dissensions of no small
extent among brethren; whereas the Gospel shows Him to be of such power and
majesty, that it says the apostles could not yet receive those things which
the Saviour wished to teach them until the advent of the Holy Spirit, who,
pouring Himself into their souls, might enlighten them regarding the nature
and faith of the Trinity. But these persons, because of the ignorance of
their understandings, are not only unable themselves logically to state the
truth, but cannot even give their attention to what is advanced by us; and
entertaining Unworthy ideas of His divinity, have delivered themselves over
to errors and deceits, being depraved by a spirit of error, rather than
instructed by the teaching of the Holy Spirit, according to the declaration
of the apostle, "Following the doctrine of devils, forbidding to marry, to
the destruction and ruin of many, and to abstain from meats, that by an
ostentatious exhibition of stricter observance they may seduce the souls of
the innocent."[5]

   4. We must therefore know that the Paraclete is the Holy Spirit, who
teaches truths which cannot be uttered in words, and which are, so to
speak, unutterable, and "which it is not lawful for a man to utter,"[6]
i.e., which cannot be indicated by human language. The phrase "it is not
lawful" is, we think, used by the apostle instead of "it is not possible;"
as also is the case in the passage where he says, "All things are lawful
for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me; but
all things edify not."[7] For those things which are in our power because
we may have them, he says are lawful for us. But the Paraclete, who is
called the Holy Spirit, is so called from His work of consolation,
paraclesis being termed in Latin consolatio. For if any one has deserved to
participate in the Holy Spirit by the knowledge of His ineffable mysteries,
he undoubtedly obtains comfort and joy of heart. For since he comes by the
teaching of the Spirit to the knowledge of the reasons of all things which
happen--how or why they occur--his soul can in no respect be troubled, or
admit any feeling of sorrow; nor is he alarmed by anything, since, clinging
to the Word of God and His wisdom, he through the Holy Spirit calls Jesus
Lord. And since we have made mention of the Paraclete, and have explained
as we were able what sentiments ought to be entertained regarding Him; and
since our Saviour also is called the Paraclete in the Epistle of John, when
he says, "If any of us sin, we have a Paraclete with the Father, Jesus
Christ the righteous, and He is the propitiation for our sins;"[1] let us
consider whether this term Paraclete should happen to have one meaning when
applied to the Saviour, and another when applied to the Holy Spirit. Now
Paraclete, when spoken of the Saviour, seems to mean intercessor. For in
Greek, Paraclete has both significations--that of intercessor and
comforter. On account, then, of the phrase which follows, when he says,
"And He is the propitiation for our sins," the name  Paraclete seems to be
understood in the case of  our Saviour as meaning intercessor; for He is
said to intercede with the Father because of our sins. In the case of the
Holy Spirit, the Paraclete must be understood in the sense of comforter,
inasmuch as He bestows consolation upon the souls to whom He openly reveals
the apprehension of spiritual knowledge.

CHAP. VIII.--ON THE SOUL (ANIMA).

   1. The order of our arrangement now requires us, after the discussion
of the preceding subjects, to institute a general inquiry regarding the
soul;[2] and, beginning with points of inferior importance, to ascend to
those that are of greater. Now, that there are souls[3] in all living
things, even in those which live in the waters, is, I suppose, doubted by
no one. For the general opinion of all men maintains this; and confirmation
from the authority of holy Scripture is added, when it is said that "God
made great whales, and every living creature[4] that moveth which the
waters brought forth after their kind."[5] It is confirmed also from the
common intelligence of reason, by those who lay down in certain words a
definition of soul. For soul is defined as follows: a substance
phantastikh' and hormhtikh', which may be rendered into Latin, although not
so appropriately, sensibilis et mobilis.[6] This certainly may be said
appropriately of all living beings, even of those which abide in the
waters; and of winged creatures too, this same definition of anima may be
shown to hold good. Scripture also has added its authority to a second
opinion, when it says, "Ye shall not eat the blood, because the life[7] of
all flesh is its blood; and ye shall not eat the life with the flesh; "[8]
in which it intimates most clearly that the blood of every animal is its
life. And if any one now were to ask how it can be said with respect to
bees, wasps, and ants, and those other things which are in the waters,
oysters and cockles, and all others which are without blood, and are most
clearly shown to be living things, that the "life of all flesh is the
blood," we must answer, that in living things of that sort the force which
is exerted in other animals by the power of red blood is exerted in them by
that liquid which is within them, although it be of a different colour; for
colour is a thing of no importance, provided the substance be endowed with
life.[9] That beasts of burden or cattle of smaller size are endowed with
souls,[10] there is, by general assent, no doubt whatever. The opinion of
holy Scripture, however, is manifest, when God says, "Let the earth bring
forth the living creature after its kind, four-footed beasts, and creeping
things, and beasts of the earth after their kind."[11] And now with respect
to man, although no one entertains any doubt, or needs to inquire, yet holy
Scripture declares that "God breathed into his countenance the breath of
life, and man became a living soul."[12] It remains that we inquire
respecting the angelic order whether they also have souls, or are souls;
and also respecting the other divine and celestial powers, as well as those
of an opposite kind. We nowhere, indeed, find any authority in holy
Scripture for asserting that either the angels, or any other divine spirits
that are ministers of God, either possess souls or are called souls, and
yet they are felt by very many persons to be endowed with life. But with
regard to God, we find it written as follows: "And I will put My soul upon
that soul which has eaten blood, and I will root him out from among his
people;"[13] and also in another passage, "Your new moons, and sabbaths,
and great days, I will not accept; your fasts, and holidays, and festal
days, My soul hateth."[1] And in the twenty-second Psalm, regarding Christ-
-for it is certain, as the Gospel bears witness, that this Psalm is spoken
of Him--the following words occur: "O Lord, be not far from helping me;
look to my defence: O God, deliver my soul from the sword, and my beloved
one from the hand of the dog; "[2] although there are also many other
testimonies respecting the soul of Christ when He tabernacled in the flesh.

   2. But the nature of the incarnation will render unnecessary any
inquiry into the soul of Christ. For as He truly possessed flesh, so also
He truly possessed a soul. It is difficult indeed both to feel and to state
how that which is called in Scripture the soul of God is to be understood;
for we acknowledge that nature to be simple, and without any intermixture
or addition. In whatever way, however, it is to be understood, it seems,
meanwhile, to be named the soul of God; whereas regarding Christ there is
no doubt. And therefore there seems to me no absurdity in either
understanding or asserting some such thing regarding the holy angels and
the other heavenly powers, since that definition of soul appears applicable
also to them. For who can rationally deny that they are "sensible and
moveable?" But if that definition appear to be correct, according to which
a soul is said to be a substance rationally "sensible and moveable," the
same definition would seem also to apply to angels. For what else is in
them than rational feeling and motion? Now those beings who are
comprehended under the same definition have undoubtedly the same substance.
Paul indeed intimates that there is a kind of animal-man[3] who, he says,
cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God, but declares that the
doctrine of the Holy Spirit seems to him foolish, and that he cannot
understand what is to be spiritually discerned. In another passage he says
it is sown an animal body, and arises a spiritual body, pointing out that
in the resurrection of the just there will be nothing of an animal nature.
And therefore we inquire whether there happen to be any substance which, in
respect of its being anima, is imperfect. But whether it be imperfect
because it falls away from perfection, or because it was so created by God,
will form the subject of inquiry when each individual topic shall begin to
be discussed in order. For if the animal man receive not the things of the
Spirit of God, and because he is  animal, is unable to admit the
understanding of a  better, i.e., of a divine nature, it is for this reason
perhaps that Paul, wishing to teach us more plainly what that is by means
of which we are able to comprehend those things which are of the Spirit,
i.e., spiritual things, conjoins and associates with the Holy Spirit an
understanding[4] rather than a soul.[5] For this, I think, he indicates
when he says, "I will pray with the spirit, I will pray with the
understanding also; I will sing with the spirit, I will sing with the
understanding also.'[6] And he does not say that "I will pray with the
soul," but with the spirit and the understanding. Nor does he say, "I will
sing with the soul," but with the spirit and the understanding.

   3. But perhaps this question is asked, If it be the understanding which
prays and sings with the spirit, and if it be the same which receives both
perfection and salvation, how is it that Peter says, "Receiving the end of
your faith, even the salvation of your souls?"[7] If the soul neither prays
nor sings with the spirit, how shall it hope for salvation? or when it
attains to blessedness, shall it be no longer called a soul?s Let us see if
perhaps an answer may be given in this way, that as the Saviour came to
save what was lost, that which formerly was said to be lost is not lost
when it is saved; so also, perhaps, this which is saved is called a soul,
and when it has been placed in a state of salvation will receive a name
from the Word that denotes its more perfect condition. But it appears to
some that this also may be added, that as the thing which was lost
undoubtedly existed before it was lost, at which time it was something else
than destroyed, so also will be the case when it is no longer in a ruined
condition. In like manner also, the soul which is said to have perished
will appear to have been something at one time, when as yet it had not
perished, and on that account would be termed soul, and being again freed
from destruction, it may become a second time what it was before it
perished, and be called a soul. But from the very signification of the name
soul which the Greek word conveys, it has appeared to a few curious
inquirers that a meaning of no small importance may be suggested. For in
sacred language God is called a fire, as when Scripture says," Our God is a
consuming fire."[9] Respecting the substance of the angels also it speaks
as follows: "Who maketh His angels spirits, and His ministers a burning
fire;"[1] and in another place, "The angel of the Lord appeared in a flame
of fire in the bush."[2] We have, moreover, received a commandment to be
"fervent in spirit; "[3] by which expression undoubtedly the Word of God is
shown to be hot and fiery. The prophet Jeremiah also hears from Him, who
gave him his answers, "Behold, I have given My words into thy mouth a
fire."[4] As God, then, is a fire, and the angels a flame of fire, and all
the saints are fervent in spirit, so, on the contrary, those who have
fallen away from the love of God are undoubtedly said to have cooled in
their affection for Him, and to have become cold. For the Lord also says,
that, "because iniquity has abounded, the love of many will grow cold."[5]
Nay, all things, whatever they are, which in holy Scripture are compared
with the hostile power, the devil is said to be perpetually finding cold;
and what is found to be colder than he? In the sea also the dragon is said
to reign. For the prophet[6] intimates that the serpent and dragon, which
certainly is referred to one of the wicked spirits, is also in the sea. And
elsewhere the prophet says, "I will draw out my holy sword upon the dragon
the flying serpent, upon the dragon the crooked serpent, and will slay
him."[7] And again he says: "Even though they hide from my eyes, and
descend into the depths of the sea, there will I command the serpent, and
it shall bite them."[8] In the book of Job also, he is said to be the king
of all things in the waters.[9] The prophet[10] threatens that evils will
be kindled by the north wind upon all who inhabit the earth. Now the north
wind is described in holy Scripture as cold, according to the statement in
the book of Wisdom, "That cold north wind;"[11] which same thing also must
undoubtedly be understood of the devil. If, then, those things which are
holy are named fire, and light, and fervent, while those which are of an
opposite nature are said to be cold; and if the love of many is said to wax
cold; we have to inquire whether perhaps the name soul, which in Greek is
termed psuchh', be so termed from growing cold[12] out of a better  and
more divine condition, and be thence derived, because it seems to have
cooled from that  natural and divine warmth, and therefore has been placed
in its present position, and called by its present name. Finally, see if
you can  easily find a place in holy Scripture where the  soul is properly
mentioned in terms of praise: it frequently occurs, on the contrary,
accompanied with expressions of censure, as in the passage, "An evil soul
ruins him who possesses it;"[13] and, "The soul which sinneth, it shall
die."[14] For after it has been said, "All souls are Mine; as the soul of
the father, so also the soul of the son is Mine,"[15] it seemed to follow
that He would say, "The soul that doeth righteousness, it shall be saved,"
and "The soul which sinneth, it shall die." But now we see that He has
associated with the soul what is censurable, and has been silent as to that
which was deserving of praise. We have therefore to see if, perchance, as
we have said is declared by the name itself, it was called psuchh', i.e.,
anima, because it has waxed cold from the fervour of just things,[16] and
from participation in the divine fire, and yet has not lost the power of
restoring itself to that condition of fervour in which it was at the
beginning. Whence the prophet also appears to point out some such state of
things by the words, "Return, O my soul, unto thy rest."[17] From all which
this appears to be made out, that the understanding, falling away from its
status and dignity, was made or named soul; and that, if repaired and
corrected, it returns to the condition of the understanding.[18]

   4. Now, if this be the case, it seems to me that this very decay and
falling away of the understanding is not the same in all, but that this
conversion into a soul is carried to a greater or less degree in different
instances, and that certain understandings retain something even of their
former vigour, and others again either nothing or a very small amount.
Whence some are found from the very commencement of their lives to be of
more active intellect, others again of a slower habit of mind, and some are
born wholly obtuse, and altogether incapable of instruction. Our statement,
however, that the understanding is converted into a soul, or whatever else
seems to have such a meaning, the reader must carefully consider and settle
for himself, as these views are not be regarded as advanced by us in a
dogmatic manner, but simply as opinions, treated in the style of
investigation and discussion. Let the reader take this also into
consideration, that it is observed with regard to the soul of the Saviour,
that of those things which are written in the Gospel, some are ascribed to
it under the name of soul, and others under that of spirit. For when it
wishes to indicate any suffering or perturbation affecting Him, it
indicates it under the name of soul; as when it says, "Now is My soul
troubled; "[1] and, "My soul is sorrowful, even unto death; "[2] and, "No
man taketh My soul[3] from Me, but I lay it down of Myself."[4] Into the
hands of His Father He commends not His soul, but His spirit; and when He
says that the flesh is weak, He does not say that the soul is willing, but
the spirit: whence it appears that the soul is something intermediate
between the weak flesh and the willing spirit.

   5. But perhaps some one may meet us with one of those objections which
we have ourselves warned you of in our statements, and say, "How then is
there said to be also a soul of God?" To which we answer as follows: That
as with respect to everything corporeal which is spoken of God, such as
fingers, or hands, or arms, or eyes, or feet, or mouth, we say that these
are not to be understood as human members, but that certain of His powers
are indicated by these names of members of the body; so also we are to
suppose that it is something else which is pointed out by this title--soul
of God. And if it is allowable for us to venture to say anything more on
such a subject, the soul of God may perhaps be understood to mean the only-
begotten Son of God. For as the soul, when implanted in the body, moves all
things in it, and exerts its force over everything on which it operates; so
also the only-begotten Son of God, who is His Word and Wisdom, stretches
and extends to every power of God, being implanted in it; and perhaps to
indicate this mystery is God either called Or described in Scripture as a
body. We must, indeed, take into consideration whether it is not perhaps on
this account that the soul of God may be understood to mean His only-
begotten Son, because He Himself came into this world of affliction, and
descended into this valley of tears, and into this place of our
humiliation; as He says in the Psalm, "Because Thou hast humiliated us in
the place of affliction."[5] Finally, I am aware that certain critics, in
explaining the words used in the Gospel by the Saviour, "My soul is
sorrowful, even unto death," have interpreted them of the apostles, whom He
termed His soul, as being better than the rest of His body. For as the
multitude of believers is called His body, they say that the apostles, as
being better than the rest of the body, ought to be understood to mean His
soul.

   We have brought forward as we best could these points regarding the
rational soul, as topics of discussion for our readers, rather than as
dogmatic and well-defined propositions. And with respect to the souls of
animals and other dumb creatures, let that suffice which we have stated
above in general terms.

CHAP. IX.--ON THE WORLD AND THE MOVEMENTS OF RATIONAL CREATURES, WHETHER
GOOD OR BAD; AND ON THE CAUSES OF THEM.

   1. But let us now return to the order of our proposed discussion, and
behold the commencement of creation, so far as the understanding can behold
the beginning of the creation of God. In that commencement,[6] then, we are
to suppose that God created so great a number of rational or intellectual
creatures (or by whatever name they are to be called), which we have
formerly termed understandings, as He foresaw would be sufficient. It is
certain that He made them according to some definite number, predetermined
by Himself: for it is not to be imagined, as some would have it, that
creatures have not a limit, because where there is no limit there can
neither be any comprehension nor any limitation. Now if this were the case,
then certainly created things could neither be restrained nor administered
by God. For, naturally, whatever is infinite will also be incomprehensible.
Moreover, as Scripture says, "God has arranged all things in number and
measure; "[7] and therefore number will be correctly applied to rational
creatures or understandings, that they may be so numerous as to admit of
being arranged, governed, and controlled by God. But measure will be
appropriately applied to a material body; and this measure, we are to
believe, was created by God such as He knew would be sufficient for the
adorning of the world. These, then, are the things which we are to believe
were created by God in the beginning, i.e., before all things. And this, we
think, is indicated even in that beginning which Moses has introduced in
terms somewhat ambiguous, when he says, "In the beginning God made the
heaven and the earth."[1] For it is certain that the firmament is not
spoken of, nor the dry land, but that heaven and earth from which this
present heaven and earth which we now see afterwards borrowed their names.

   2. But since those rational natures, which we have said above were made
in the beginning, were created when they did not previously exist, in
consequence of this very fact of their nonexistence and commencement of
being, are they necessarily changeable and mutable; since whatever power
was in their substance was not in it by nature, but was the result of the
goodness of their Maker. What they are, therefore, is neither their own nor
endures for ever, but is bestowed by God. For it did not always exist; and
everything which is a gift may also be taken away, and disappear. And a
reason for removal will consist in the movements of souls not being
conducted according to right and propriety. For the Creator gave, as an
indulgence to the understandings created by Him, the power of free and
voluntary action, by which the good that was in them might become their
own, being preserved by the exertion of their own will; but slothfulness,
and a dislike of labour in preserving what is good, and an aversion to and
a neglect of better things, furnished the beginning of a departure from
goodness. But to depart from good is nothing else than to be made bad. For
it is certain that to want goodness is to be wicked. Whence it happens
that, in proportion as one falls away from goodness, in the same proportion
does he become involved in wickedness. In which condition, according to its
actions, each understanding, neglecting goodness either to a greater or
more limited extent, was dragged into the opposite of good, which
undoubtedly is evil. From which it appears that the Creator of all things
admitted certain seeds and causes of variety and diversity, that He might
create variety and diversity in proportion to the diversity of
understandings, i.e., of rational creatures, which diversity they must be
supposed to have conceived from that cause which we have mentioned above.
And what we mean by variety and diversity is what we now wish to explain.

   3. Now we term world everything which is above the heavens, or in the
heavens, or upon the earth, or in those places which are called the lower
regions, or all places whatever that anywhere exist, together with their
inhabitants. This whole, then, is called world. In which world certain
beings are said to be super-celestial, i.e., placed in happier abodes, and
clothed with heavenly and resplendent bodies; and among these many
distinctions are shown to exist, the apostle, e.g., saying, " That one is
the glory of the sun, another the glory of the moon, another the glory of
the stars; for one star differeth from another star in glory."[2] Certain
beings are called earthly, and among them, i.e., among men, there is no
small difference; for some of them are Barbarians, others Greeks; and of
the Barbarians some are savage and fierce, and others of a milder
disposition. And certain of them live under laws that have been thoroughly
approved; others, again, under laws of a more common or severe kind;[3]
while some, again, possess customs of an inhuman and savage character,
rather than laws. And certain of them, from the hour of their birth, are
reduced to humiliation and subjection, and brought up as slaves, being
placed under the dominion either of masters, or princes, or tyrants.
Others, again,  are brought up in a manner more consonant with freedom and
reason: some with sound bodies, some with bodies diseased from their early
years; some defective in vision, others in hearing and speech; some born in
that condition, others deprived of the use of their senses immediately
after birth, or at least undergoing such misfortune on reaching manhood.
And why should I repeat and enumerate all the horrors of human misery, from
which some have been free, and in which others have been involved, when
each one can weigh and consider them for himself? There are also certain
invisible powers to which earthly things have been entrusted for
administration; and amongst them no small difference must be believed to
exist, as is also found to be the case among men. The Apostle Paul indeed
intimates that there are certain lower powers,[4] and that among them, in
like manner, must undoubtedly be sought a ground of diversity. Regarding
dumb animals, and birds, and those creatures which live in the waters, it
seems superfluous to require; since it is certain that these ought to be
regarded not as of primary, but of subordinate rank.

   4. Seeing, then, that all things which have been created are said to
have been made through Christ, and in Christ, as the Apostle Paul most
clearly indicates, when he says, "For in Him and by Him were all things
created, whether things in heaven or things on earth, visible and
invisible, whether they be thrones, or powers, or principalities, or
dominions; all things were created by Him, and in Him;"[5] and as in his
Gospel John indicates the same thing, saying, "In the beginning was the
Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God: the same was in the
beginning with God: all things were made by Him; and without Him was not
anything made;"[1] and as in the Psalm also it is written," In wisdom hast
Thou made them all;"[2]--seeing, then, Christ is, as it were, the Word and
Wisdom, and so also the Righteousness, it will undoubtedly follow that
those things which were created in the Word and Wisdom are said to be
created also in that righteousness which is Christ; that in created things
there may appear to be nothing unrighteous or accidental, but that all
things may be shown to be in conformity with the law of equity and
righteousness. How, then, so great a variety of things, and so great a
diversity, can be understood to be altogether just and righteous, I am sure
no human power or language can explain, unless as prostrate suppliants we
pray to the Word, and Wisdom, and Righteousness Himself, who is the only-
begotten Son of God, and who, pouring Himself by His  graces into our
senses, may deign to illuminate what is dark, to lay open what is
concealed, and to reveal what is secret; if, indeed, we should be found
either to seek, or ask, or knock so worthily as to deserve to receive when
we ask, or to find when we seek, or to have it opened to us when we knock.
Not relying, then, on our own powers, but on the help of that Wisdom which
made all things, and of that Righteousness which we believe to be in all
His creatures, although we are in the meantime unable to declare it, yet,
trusting in His mercy, we shall endeavour to examine and inquire how that
great variety and diversity in the world may appear to be consistent with
all righteousness and reason. I mean, of course, merely reason in general;
for it would be a mark of ignorance either to seek, or of folly to give, a
special reason for each individual case.

   5. Now, when we say that this world was established in the variety in
which we have above explained that it was created by God, and when we say
that this God is good, and righteous, and most just, there are numerous
individuals, especially those who, coming from the school of Marcion, and
Valentinus, and Basilides, have heard that there are souls of different
natures, who object to us, that it cannot consist with the justice of God
in creating the word to assign to some of His creatures an abode in the
heavens, and not only to give such a better habitation, but also to grant
them a higher and more honourable position; to favour others with the grant
of principalities; to bestow powers upon some, dominions on others; to
confer upon some the most honourable seats in the celestial tribunals; to
enable some to shine with more resplendent glory, and to glitter with a
starry splendour; to give to some the glory of the sun, to others the glory
of the moon, to others the glory of the stars; to cause one star to differ
from another star in glory. And, to speak once for all, and briefly, if the
Creator God wants neither the will to undertake nor the power to complete a
good and perfect work, what reason can there be that, in the creation of
rational natures, i.e., of beings of whose existence He Himself is the
cause, He should make some of higher rank, and others of second, or third,
or of many lower and inferior degrees? In the next place, they object to
us, with regard to terrestrial beings, that a happier lot by birth is the
case with some rather than with others; as one man, e.g., is begotten of
Abraham, and born of the promise; another, too, of Isaac and Rebekah, and
who, while still in the womb, supplants his brother, and is said to be
loved by God before he is born. Nay, this very circumstance,--especially
that one man is born among the Hebrews, with whom he finds instruction in
the divine law; another among the Greeks, themselves also wise, and men of
no small learning; and then another amongst the Ethiopians, who are
accustomed to feed on human flesh; or amongst the Scythians, with whom
parricide is an act sanctioned by law; or amongst the people of Taurus,
where strangers are offered in sacrifice,--is a ground of strong objection.
Their argument accordingly is this: If there be this great diversity of
circumstances, and this diverse and varying condition by birth, in which
the faculty of free-will has no scope (for no one chooses for himself
either where, or with whom, or in what condition he is born); if, then,
this is not caused by the difference in the nature of souls, i.e., that a
soul of an evil nature is destined for a wicked nation, and a good soul for
a righteous nation, what other conclusion remains than that these things
must be supposed to be regulated by accident and chance? And if that be
admitted, then it will be no longer believed that the world was made by
God, or administered by His providence; and as a consequence, a judgment of
God upon the deeds of each individual will appear a thing not to be looked
for. In which matter, indeed, what is dearly the truth of things is the
privilege of Him alone to know who searches all things, even the deep
things of God.

   6. We, however, although but men, not to nourish the insolence of the
heretics by our silence, will return to their objections such answers as
occur to us, so far as our abilities enable us. We have frequently shown,
by those declarations which we were able to produce from the holy
Scriptures, that God, the Creator of all things, is good, and just, and
all-powerful. When He in the beginning created those beings which He
desired to create, i.e., rational natures, He had no other reason for
creating them than on account of Himself, i.e., His own goodness. As He
Himself, then, was the cause of the existence of those things which were to
be created, in whom there was neither any variation nor change, nor want of
power, He created all whom He made equal and alike, because there was in
Himself no reason for producing variety and diversity. But since those
rational creatures themselves, as we have frequently shown, and will yet
show in the proper place, were endowed with the power of free-will, this
freedom of will incited each one either to progress by imitation of God, or
reduced him to failure through negligence. And this, as we have already
stated, is the cause of the diversity among rational creatures, deriving
its origin not from the will or judgment of the Creator, but from the
freedom of the individual will. Now God, who deemed it just to arrange His
creatures according to their merit, brought down these different
understandings into the harmony of one world, that He might adorn, as it
were, one dwelling, in which there ought to be not only vessels of gold and
silver, but also of wood and clay (and some indeed to honour, and others to
dishonour), with those different vessels, or souls, or understandings. And
these are the causes, in my opinion, why that world presents the aspect of
diversity, while Divine Providence continues to regulate each individual
according to the variety of his movements, or of his feelings and purpose.
On which account the Creator will neither appear to be unjust in
distributing (for the causes already mentioned) to every one according to
his merits; nor will the happiness or unhappiness of each one's birth, or
whatever be the condition that falls to his lot, be deemed accidental; nor
will different creators, or souls of different natures, be believed to
exist.

   7. But even holy Scripture does not appear to me to be altogether
silent on the nature of this secret, as when the Apostle Paul, in
discussing the case of Jacob and Esau, says: "For the children being not
yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God
according to election might stand, not of works, but of Him who calleth, it
was said, The elder  shall serve the younger, as it is written, Jacob  have
I loved, but Esau have I hated."[1] And after that, he answers himself, and
says, "What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God?" And that
he might furnish us with an opportunity of inquiring into these matters,
and of ascertaining how these things do not happen without a reason, he
answers himself, and says, "God forbid."[2] For the same question, as it
seems to me, which is raised concerning Jacob and Esau, may be raised
regarding all celestial and terrestrial creatures, and even those of the
lower world as well. And in like manner it  seems to me, that as he there
says, "The children being not yet born, neither having done any good or
evil," so it might also be said of all other things, "When they were not
yet" created, "neither had yet done any good or evil, that the decree of
God according to election may stand," that (as certain think) some things
on the one hand were created heavenly, some on the other earthly, and
others, again, beneath the earth, "not of works" (as they think), "but of
Him who calleth," what shall we say then, if these things are so? "Is there
unrighteousness with God? God forbid." As, therefore, when the Scriptures
are carefully examined regarding Jacob and Esau, it is not found to be
unrighteousness with God that it should be said, before they were born, or
had done anything in this life, "the elder shall serve the younger;" and as
it is found not to be unrighteousness that even in the womb Jacob
supplanted his brother, if we feel that he was worthily beloved by God,
according to the deserts of his previous life, so as to deserve to be
preferred before his brother; so also is it with regard to heavenly
creatures, if we notice that diversity was not the original condition of
the creature, but that, owing to causes that have previously existed, a
different office is prepared by the Creator for each one in proportion to
the degree of his merit, on this ground, indeed, that each one, in respect
of having been created by God an understanding, or a rational spirit, has,
according to the movements of his mind and the feelings of his soul, gained
for himself a greater or less amount of merit, and has become either an
object of love to God, or else one of dislike to Him; while, nevertheless,
some of those who are possessed of greater merit are ordained to suffer
with others for the adorning of the state of the world, and for the
discharge of duty to creatures of a lower grade, in order that by this
means they themselves may be participators in the endurance of the Creator,
according to the words of the apostle: "For the creature was made subject
to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same
in hope."[3] Keeping in view, then, the sentiment expressed by the apostle,
when, speaking of the birth of Esau and Jacob, he says, "Is there
unrighteousness with God? God forbid," I think it fight that this same
sentiment should be carefully applied to the case of all other creatures,
because, as we formerly remarked, the righteousness of the Creator ought to
appear in everything. And this, it appears to me, will be seen more clearly
at last, if each one, whether of celestial or terrestrial or infernal
beings, be said to have the causes of his diversity in himself, and
antecedent to his bodily birth. For all things were created by the Word of
God, and by His Wisdom, and were set in order by His Justice. And by the
grace of His compassion He provides for all men, and encourages all to the
use of whatever remedies may lead to their cure, and incites them to
salvation.

   8. As, then, there is no doubt that at the day of judgment the good
will be separated from the bad, and the just from the unjust, and all by
the sentence of God will be distributed according to their deserts
throughout those places of which they are worthy, so I am of opinion some
such state of things was formerly the case, as, God willing, we shall show
in what follows. For God must be believed to do and order all things and at
all times according to His judgment. For the words which the apostle uses
when he says, "In a great house there are not only vessels of gold and
silver, but also of wood and of earth, and some to honour and some to
dishonour;"[1] and those which he adds, saying, "If a man purge himself, he
will be a vessel unto honour, sanctified and meet for the Master's use,
unto every good work,"[2] undoubtedly point out this, that he who shall
purge himself when he is in this life, will be prepared for every good work
in that  which is to come; while he who does not purge  himself will be,
according to the amount of his  impurity, a vessel unto dishonour, i.e.,
unworthy.  It is therefore possible to understand that there  have been
also formerly rational vessels, whether  purged or not, i.e., which either
purged themselves or did not do so, and that consequently every vessel,
according to the measure of its purity or impurity, received a place, or
region,  or condition by birth, or an office to discharge,  in this world.
All of which, down to the humblest, God providing for and distinguishing by
the power of His wisdom, arranges all things by His controlling judgment,
according to a most impartial retribution, so far as each one ought to be
assisted or cared for in conformity with his deserts. In which certainly
every principle of equity is shown, while the inequality of circumstances
preserves the justice of a retribution according to merit. But the grounds
of the merits in each individual case are only recognised truly and clearly
by God Himself, along with His only-begotten Word, and His Wisdom, and the
Holy Spirit.

CHAP. X.--ON THE RESURRECTION, AND THE JUDGMENT, THE FIRE OF HELL, AND
PUNISHMENTS.

   1. But since the discourse has reminded us of the subjects of a future
judgment and of retribution, and of the punishments of sinners, according
to the threatenings of holy Scripture and the contents of the Church's
teaching--viz., that when the time of judgment comes, everlasting fire, and
outer darkness, and a prison, and a furnace, and other punishments of like.
nature, have been prepared for sinners--let us see what our opinions on
these points ought to be.[3] But that these subjects may be arrived at in
proper order, it seems to me that we ought first to consider the nature of
the resurrection, that we may know what that (body) is which shall come
either to punishment, or to rest, or to happiness; which question in other
treatises which we have composed regarding the resurrection we have
discussed at greater length, and have shown what our opinions were
regarding it. But now, also, for the sake of logical order in our treatise,
there will be no absurdity in restating a few points from such works,
especially since some take offence at the creed of the Church, as if our
belief in the resurrection were foolish, and altogether devoid of sense;
and these are principally heretics, who, I think, are to be answered in the
following manner. If they also admit that there is a resurrection of the
dead, let them answer us this, What is that which died? Was it not a body?
It is of the body, then, that there will be a resurrection. Let them next
tell us if they think that we are to make use of bodies or not. I think
that when the Apostle Paul says, that "it is sown a natural body, it will
arise a spiritual body,"[4] they cannot deny that it is a body which
arises, or that in the resurrection we are to make use of bodies. What
then? If it is certain that we are to make use of bodies, and if the bodies
which have fallen are declared to rise again (for only that which before
has fallen can be properly said to rise again), it can be a matter of doubt
to no one that they rise again, in order that we may be clothed with them a
second time at the resurrection. The one thing is closely connected with
the other. For if bodies rise again, they undoubtedly rise to be coverings
for us; and if it is necessary for us to be invested with bodies, as it is
certainly necessary, we ought to be invested with no other than our own.
But if it is true that these rise again, and that they arise "spiritual"
bodies, there can be no doubt that they are said to rise from the dead,
after casting away corruption and laying aside mortality; otherwise it will
appear vain and superfluous for any one to arise from the dead in order to
die a second time. And this, finally, may be more distinctly comprehended
thus, if one carefully consider what are the qualities of an animal body,
which, when sown into the earth, recovers the qualities of a spiritual
body. For it is out of the animal body that the very power and grace of the
resurrection educe the spiritual body, when it transmutes it from a
condition of indignity to one of glory.

   2. Since the heretics, however, think themselves persons of great
learning and wisdom, we shall ask them if every body has a form of some
kind, i.e., is fashioned according to some shape. And if they shall say
that a body is that which is fashioned according to no shape, they will
show themselves to be the most ignorant and foolish of mankind. For no one
will deny this, save him who is altogether without any learning. But if, as
a matter of course, they say that every body is certainly fashioned
according to some definite shape, we shall ask them if they can point out
and describe to us the shape of a spiritual body; a thing which they can by
no means do. We shall ask them, moreover, about the differences of those
who rise again.  How will they show that statement to be true, that there
is "one flesh of birds, another of fishes; bodies celestial, and bodies
terrestrial; that the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the
terrestrial another; that one is the glory of the sun, another the glory of
the moon, another the glory of the stars; that one star differeth from
another star in glory; and that so is the resurrection of the dead?"[1]
According to that gradation, then, which exists among heavenly bodies, let
them show to us the differences in the glory of those who rise again; and
if they have endeavoured by any means to devise a principle that may be in
accordance with the differences in heavenly bodies, we shall ask them to
assign the differences in the resurrection by a comparison of earthly
bodies. Our understanding of the passage indeed is, that the apostle,
wishing to describe the great difference among those who rise again in
glory, i.e., of the saints, borrowed a comparison from the heavenly bodies,
saying, "One is the glory of the sun, another the glory of the moon,
another the glory of the stars." And wishing again to teach us the
differences among those who shall come to the resurrection, without having
purged themselves in this life, i.e., sinners, he borrowed an illustration
from earthly things, saying, "There is one flesh of birds, another of
fishes." For heavenly things are worthily compared to the saints, and
earthly things to sinners. These statements are made in reply to those who
deny the resurrection of the dead, i.e., the resurrection of bodies.

   3. We now turn our attention to some of our own (believers), who,
either from feebleness of intellect or want of proper instruction, adopt a
very low and abject view of the resurrection of the body. We ask these
persons in what manner they understand that an animal body is to be changed
by the grace of the resurrection, and to become a spiritual one; and how
that which is sown in weakness will arise in power; how that which is
planted in dishonour will arise in glory; and that which was sown in
corruption, will be changed to a state of incorruption. Because if they
believe the apostle, that a body which arises in glory, and power, and
incorruptibility, has already become spiritual, it appears absurd and
contrary to his meaning to say that it can again be entangled with the
passions of flesh and blood, seeing the apostle manifestly declares that
"flesh and blood shall not inherit the kingdom of God, nor shall corruption
inherit incorruption." But how do they understand the declaration of the
apostle, "We shall all be changed?" This transformation certainly is to be
looked for, according to the order which we have taught above; and in it,
undoubtedly, it becomes us to hope for something worthy of divine grace;
and this we believe will take place in the order in which the apostle
describes the sowing in the ground of a "bare grain of corn, or of any
other fruit," to which "God gives a body as it pleases Him," as soon as the
grain of corn is dead. For in the same way also our bodies are to be
supposed to fall into the earth like a grain; and (that germ being
implanted in them which contains the bodily substance) although the bodies
die, and become corrupted, and are scattered abroad, yet by the word of
God, that very germ which is always safe in the substance of the body,
raises them from the earth, and restores and repairs them, as the power
which is in the grain of wheat, after its corruption and death, repairs and
restores the grain into a body having stalk and ear. And so also to those
who shall deserve to obtain an inheritance in the kingdom of heaven, that
germ of the body's restoration, which we have before mentioned, by God's
command restores out of the earthly and animal body a spiritual one,
capable of inhabiting the heavens; while to each one of those who may be of
inferior merit, or of more abject condition, or even the lowest in the
scale, and altogether thrust aside, there is yet given, in proportion to
the dignity of his life and soul, a glory and dignity of body,--
nevertheless in such a way, that even the body which rises again of those
who are to be destined to everlasting fire or to severe punishments, is by
the very change of the resurrection so incorruptible, that it cannot be
corrupted and dissolved even by severe punishments. If, then, such be the
qualities of that body which will arise from the dead, let us now see what
is the meaning of the threatening of eternal fire.

   4. We find in the prophet Isaiah, that the fire with which each one is
punished is described as his own; for he says, "Walk in the light of your
own fire, and in the flame which ye have kindled.''[1] By these words it
seems to be indicated that every sinner kindles for himself the flame of
his own fire, and is not plunged into some fire which has been already
kindled by another, or was in existence before himself. Of this fire the
fuel and food are our sins, which are called by the Apostle Paul wood, and
hay, and stubble.''[2] And I think that, as abundance of food, and
provisions of a contrary kind and amount, breed fevers in the body, and
fevers, too, of different sorts and duration, according to the proportion
in which the collected poison supplies material and fuel for disease (the
quality of this material, gathered together from different poisons, proving
the causes either of a more acute or more lingering disease); so, when the
soul has gathered together a multitude of evil works, and an abundance of
sins against itself, at a suitable time all that assembly of evils boils up
to punishment, and is set on fire to chastisements; when the mind itself,
or conscience, receiving by divine power into the memory all those things
of which it had stamped on itself certain signs and forms at the moment of
sinning, will see a kind of history, as it were, of all the foul, and
shameful, and unholy deeds which it has done, exposed before its eyes: then
is the conscience itself harassed, and, pierced by its own goads, becomes
an accuser and a witness against itself. And this, I think, was the opinion
of the Apostle Paul himself, when he said, "Their thoughts mutually
accusing or excusing them in the day when God will judge the secrets of men
by Jesus Christ, according to my Gospel."[4] From which it is understood
that around the substance of the soul certain tortures are produced by the
hurtful affections of sins themselves.

   5. And that the understanding of this matter may not appear very
difficult, we may draw some considerations from the evil effects of those
passions which are wont to befall some souls, as when a soul is consumed by
the fire of love, or wasted away by zeal or envy, or when the passion of
anger is kindled, or one is consumed by the greatness of his madness or his
sorrow; on which occasions some, finding the excess of these evils
unbearable, have deemed it more tolerable to submit to death than to endure
perpetually torture of such a kind. You will ask indeed whether, in the
case of those who have been entangled in  the evils arising from those
vices above enumerated, and who, while existing in this life, have been
unable to procure any amelioration for themselves, and have in this
condition departed from the world, it be sufficient in the way of
punishment that they be tortured by the remaining in them of these hurtful
affections, i.e., of the anger, or of the fury, or of the madness, or of
the sorrow, whose fatal poison was in this life lessened by no healing
medicine; or whether, these affections being changed, they will be
subjected to the pains of a general punishment. Now I am of opinion that
another species of punishment may be understood to exist; because, as we
feel that when the limbs of the body are loosened and torn away from their
mutual supports, there is produced pain of a most excruciating kind, so,
when the soul shall be found to be beyond the order, and connection, and
harmony in which it was created by God for the purposes of good and useful
action and observation, and not to harmonize with itself in the connection
of its rational movements, it must be deemed to bear the chastisement and
torture of its own dissension, and to feel the punishments of its own
disordered condition. And when this dissolution and rending asunder of soul
shall have been tested by the application of fire, a solidification
undoubtedly into a firmer structure will take place, and a restoration be
effected.

   6. There are also many other things which escape our notice, and are
known to Him alone who is the physician of our souls. For if, on account of
those bad effects which we bring upon ourselves by eating and drinking, we
deem it necessary for the health of the body to make use of some unpleasant
and painful drug, sometimes even, if the nature of the disease demand,
requiring the severe process of the amputating knife; and if the virulence
of the disease shall transcend even these remedies, the evil has at last to
be burned out by fire; how much more is it to be understood that God our
Physician, desiring to remove the defects of our souls, which they had
contracted from their different sins and crimes, should employ penal
measures of this sort, and should apply even, in addition, the punishment
of fire to those who have lost their soundness of mind! Pictures of this
method of procedure are found also in the holy Scriptures. In the book of
Deuteronomy, the divine word threatens sinners with the punishments of
fevers, and colds, and jaundice,[5] and with the pains of feebleness of
vision, and alienation of mind and paralysis, and blindness, and weakness
of the reins. If any one, then, at his leisure gather together out of the
whole of Scripture all the enumerations of diseases which in the
threatenings addressed to sinners are called by the names of bodily
maladies, he will find that either the vices of souls, or their
punishments, are figuratively indicated by them. To understand now, that in
the same way in which physicians apply remedies to the sick, in order that
by careful treatment they may recover their health, God so deals towards
those who have lapsed and fallen into sin, is proved by this, that the cup
of God's fury is ordered, through the agency of the prophet Jeremiah,[1] to
be offered to all nations, that they may drink it, and be in a state of
madness, and vomit it forth. In doing which, He threatens them, saying,
That if any one refuse to drink, he shall not be cleansed.[2] By which
certainly it is understood that the fury of God's vengeance is profitable
for the purgation of souls. That the punishment, also, which is said to be
applied by fire, is understood to be applied with the object of healing, is
taught by Isaiah, who speaks thus of Israel: "The Lord will wash away the
filth of the sons or daughters of Zion, and shall purge away the blood from
the midst of them by the spirit of judgment, and the spirit of burning."[3]
Of the Chaldeans he thus speaks: "Thou hast the coals of fire; sit upon
them: they will be to thee a help."[4] And in other passages he says, "The
Lord will sanctify in a burning fire"[5] and in the prophecies of Malachi
he says, "The Lord sitting will blow, and purify, and will pour forth the
cleansed sons of Judah."[6]

   7. But that fate also which is mentioned in the Gospels as overtaking
unfaithful stewards who, it is said, are to be divided, and a portion of
them placed along with unbelievers, as if that portion which is not their
own were to be sent elsewhere, undoubtedly indicates some kind of
punishment on those whose spirit, as it seems to me, is shown to be
separated from the soul. For if this Spirit is of divine nature, i.e., is
understood to be a Holy Spirit, we shall understand this to be said of the
gift of the Holy Spirit: that when, whether by baptism, or by the grace of
the Spirit, the word of wisdom, or the word of knowledge, or of any other
gift, has been bestowed upon a man, and not rightly administered, i.e.,
either buried in the earth or tied up in a napkin, the gift of the Spirit
will certainly be withdrawn from his soul, and the other portion which
remains, that is, the substance of the soul, will be assigned its place
with unbelievers, being divided and separated from that Spirit with whom,
by joining itself to the Lord, it ought to have been one spirit. Now, if
this is not to be understood of the Spirit of God, but of the nature of the
soul itself, that will be called its better part which was made in the
image and likeness of God; whereas the other part, that which afterwards,
through its fall by the exercise of free-will, was assumed contrary to the
nature of its original condition of purity,--this part, as being the friend
and beloved of matter, is punished with the fate of unbelievers. There is
also a third sense in which that separation may be understood, this viz.,
that as each believer, although the humblest in the Church, is said to be
attended by an angel, who is declared by the Saviour always to behold the
face of God the Father, and as this angel was certainly one with the object
of his guardianship; so, if the latter is rendered unworthy by his want of
obedience, the angel of God is said to be taken from him, and then that
part of him--the part, viz., which belongs to his human nature--being rent
away from the divine part, is assigned a place along with unbelievers,
because it has not faithfully observed the admonitions of the angel
allotted it by God.

   8. But the outer darkness, in nay judgment, is to be understood not so
much of some dark atmosphere without any light, as of those persons who,
being plunged in the darkness of profound ignorance, have been placed
beyond the reach of any light of the understanding. We must see, also, lest
this perhaps should be the meaning of the expression, that as the saints
will receive those bodies in which they have lived in holiness and purity
in the habitations of this life, bright and glorious after the
resurrection, so the wicked also, who in this life have loved the darkness
of error and the night of ignorance, may be clothed with dark and black
bodies after the resurrection, that the very mist of ignorance which had in
this life taken possession of their minds within them, may appear in the
future as the external covering of the body. Similar is the view to be
entertained regarding the prison. Let these remarks, which have been made
as brief as possible, that the order of our discourse in the meantime might
be preserved, suffice for the present occasion.

CHAP. XI.--ON COUNTER PROMISES.[7]

   1. Let us now briefly see what views we are to form regarding promises.

   It is certain that there is no living thing which can be altogether
inactive and immoveable, but delights in motion of every kind, and in
perpetual activity and volition; and this nature, I think it evident, is in
all living things. Much more, then, must a rational animal, i.e., the
nature of man, be in perpetual movement and activity. If, indeed, he is
forgetful of himself, and ignorant of what becomes him, all his efforts are
directed to serve the uses of the body, and in all his movements he is
occupied with his own pleasures and bodily lusts; but if he be one who
studies to care or provide for the general good, then, either by consulting
for the benefit of the state or by obeying the magistrates, he exerts
himself for that, whatever it is, which may seem certainly to promote the
public advantage. And if now any one be of such a nature as to understand
that there is something better than those things which seem to be
corporeal, and so bestow his labour upon wisdom and science, then he will
undoubtedly direct all his attention towards pursuits of that kind, that he
may, by inquiring into the truth, ascertain the causes and reason of
things. As therefore, in this life, one man deems it the highest good to
enjoy bodily pleasures, another to consult for the benefit of the
community, a third to devote attention to study and learning; so let us
inquire whether in that life which is the true one (which is said to be
hidden with Christ in God, i.e., in that eternal life), there will be for
us some such order and condition of existence.

   2. Certain persons, then, refusing the labour of thinking, and adopting
a superficial view of the letter of the law, and yielding rather in some
measure to the indulgence of their own desires and lusts, being disciples
of the letter alone, are of opinion that the fulfilment of the promises of
the future are to be looked for in bodily pleasure and luxury; and
therefore they especially desire to have again, after the resurrection,
such bodily structures[1] as may never be without the power of eating, and
drinking, and performing all the functions of flesh and blood, not
following the opinion of the Apostle Paul regarding the resurrection of a
spiritual body. And consequently  they say, that after the resurrection
there will be marriages, and the begetting of children, imagining to
themselves that the earthly city of Jerusalem is to be rebuilt, its
foundations laid in precious stones, and its walls constructed of jasper,
and its battlements of crystal; that it is to have a wall composed of many
precious stones, as jasper, and sapphire, and chalcedony, and emerald, and
sardonyx, and onyx, and chrysolite, and chrysoprase, and jacinth, and
amethyst. Moreover, they think that the natives of other countries are to
be given them as the ministers of their pleasures, whom they are to employ
either as tillers of the field or builders of walls, and by whom their
ruined and fallen city is again to be raised up; and they think that they
are to receive the wealth of the nations to live on, and that they will
have control over their riches; that even the camels of Midian and Kedar
will come, and bring to them gold, and incense, and precious stones. And
these views they think to establish on the authority of the prophets by
those promises which are written regarding Jerusalem; and by those passages
also where it is said, that they who serve the Lord shall eat and drink,
but that sinners shall hunger and thirst; that the righteous shall be
joyful, but that sorrow shall possess the wicked. And from the New
Testament also they quote the saying of the Saviour, in which He makes a
promise to His disciples concerning the joy of wine, saying, "Henceforth I
shall not drink of this cup, until I drink it with you new in My Father's
kingdom."[2] They add, moreover, that declaration, in which the Saviour
calls those blessed who now hunger and thirst,[3] promising them that they
shall be satisfied; and many other scriptural illustrations are adduced by
them, the meaning of which they do not perceive is to be taken
figuratively. Then, again, agreeably to the form of things in this life,
and according to the gradations of the dignities or ranks in this world, or
the greatness of their powers, they think they are to be kings and princes,
like those earthly monarchs who now exist; chiefly, as it appears, on
account of that expression in the Gospel: "Have thou power over five
cities."[4] And to speak shortly, according to the manner of things in this
life in all similar matters, do they desire the fulfilment of all things
looked for in the promises, viz., that what now is should exist again. Such
are the views of those who, while believing in Christ, understand the
divine Scriptures in a sort of Jewish sense, drawing from them nothing
worthy of the divine promises.

   3. Those, however, who receive the representations of Scripture
according to the understanding of the apostles, entertain the hope that the
saints will eat indeed, but that it will be the bread of life, which may
nourish the soul with the food of truth and wisdom, and enlighten the mind,
and cause it to drink from the cup of divine wisdom, according to the
declaration of holy Scripture: "Wisdom has prepared her table, she has
killed her beasts, she has mingled her wine in her cup, and she cries with
a loud voice, Come to me, eat the bread which I have prepared for you, and
drink the wine which I have mingled."[5] By this food of wisdom, the
understanding, being nourished to an entire and perfect condition like that
in which man was made at the beginning, is restored to the image and
likeness of God; so that, although an individual may depart from this life
less perfectly instructed, but who has done works that are approved of,[1]
he will be capable of receiving instruction in that Jerusalem, the city of
the saints, i.e., he will be educated and moulded, and made a living stone,
a stone elect and precious, because he has undergone with firmness and
constancy the struggles of life and the trials of piety; and will there
come to a truer and clearer knowledge of that which here has been already
predicted, viz., that "man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word
which proceedeth from the mouth of God."[2] And they also are to be
understood to be the princes and rulers who both govern those of lower
rank, and instruct them, and teach them, and train them to divine things.

   4. But if these views should not appear to fill the minds of those who
hope for such results with a becoming desire, let us go back a little, and,
irrespective of the natural and innate longing of the mind for the thing
itself, let us make inquiry so that we may be able at last to describe, as
it were, the very forms of the bread of life, and the quality of that wine,
and the peculiar nature of the principalities, all in conformity with the
spiritual view of things.[3] Now, as in those arts which are usually
performed by means of manual labour, the reason why a thing is done, or why
it is of a special quality, or for a special purpose, is an object of
investigation to the mind,[4] while the actual work itself is unfolded to
view by the agency of the hands; so, in those works of God which were
created by Him, it is to be observed that the reason and understanding of
those things which we see done by Him remains undisclosed. And as, when our
eye beholds the products of an artist's labour, the mind, immediately on
perceiving anything of unusual artistic excellence, burns to know of what
nature it is, or how it was formed, or to what purposes it was fashioned;
so, in a much greater degree, and in one that is beyond all comparison,
does the mind burn with an inexpressible desire to know the reason of those
things which we see done by God. This desire, this longing, we believe to
be unquestionably implanted within us by God; and as the eye naturally
seeks the light and vision, and our body naturally desires food and drink,
so our mind is possessed with a becoming and natural desire to become
acquainted with the truth of God and the causes of things. Now we have
received this desire from God, not in order that it should never be
gratified or be capable of gratification; otherwise the love of truth would
appear to have been implanted by God into our minds to no purpose, if it
were never to have an opportunity of satisfaction. Whence also, even in
this life, those who devote themselves with great labour to the pursuits of
piety and religion, although obtaining only some small fragments from the
numerous and immense treasures of divine knowledge, yet, by the very
circumstance that their mind and soul is engaged in these pursuits, and
that in the eagerness of their desire they outstrip themselves, do they
derive much advantage; and, because their minds are directed to the study
and love of the investigation of truth, are they made fitter for receiving
the instruction that is to come; as if, when one would paint an image, he
were first with a light pencil to trace out the outlines of the coming
picture, and prepare marks for the reception of the features that are to be
afterwards added, this preliminary sketch in outline is found to prepare
the way for the laying on of the true colours of the painting; so, in a
measure, an outline and sketch may be traced on the tablets of our heart by
the pencil of our Lord Jesus Christ. And therefore perhaps is it said,
"Unto every one that hath shall be given, and be added."[5] By which it is
established, that to those who possess in this life a kind of outline of
truth and knowledge, shall be added the beauty of a perfect image in the
future.

   5. Some such desire, I apprehend, was indicated by him who said, "I am
in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ,
which is far better; "[6] knowing that when he should have returned to
Christ he would then know more clearly the reasons of all things which are
done on earth, either respecting man, or the soul of man, or the mind; or
regarding any other subject, such as, for instance, what is the Spirit that
operates, what also is the vital spirit, or what is the grace of the Holy
Spirit that is given to believers. Then also will he understand what Israel
appears to be, or what is meant by the diversity of nations; what the
twelve tribes of Israel mean, and what the individual people of each tribe.
Then, too, will he understand the reason of the priests and Levites, and of
the different priestly orders, the type of which was in Moses, and also
what is the true meaning of the jubilees, and of the weeks of years with
God. He will see also the reasons for the festival days, and holy days, and
for all the sacrifices and purifications. He will perceive also the reason
of the purgation from leprosy, and what the different kinds of leprosy are,
and the reason of the purgation of those who lose their seed. He will come
to know, moreover, what are the good influences,[1] and their greatness,
and their qualities; and those too which are of a contrary kind, and what
the affection of the former, and what the strife-causing emulation of the
latter is towards men. He will behold also the nature of the soul, and the
diversity of animals (whether of those which live in the water, or of
birds, or of wild beasts), and why each of the genera is subdivided into so
many species; and what intention of the Creator, or what purpose of His
wisdom, is concealed in each individual thing. He will become acquainted,
too, with the reason why certain properties are found associated with
certain roots or herbs, and why, on the other hand, evil effects are
averted by other herbs and roots. He will know, moreover, the nature of the
apostate angels, and the reason why they have power to flatter in some
things those who do not despise them with the whole power of faith, and why
they exist for the purpose of deceiving and leading men astray. He will
learn, too, the judgment of Divine Providence on each individual thing; and
that, of those events which happen to men, none occur by accident or
chance, but in accordance with a plan so carefully considered, and so
stupendous, that it does not overlook even the number of the hairs of the
heads, not merely of the saints, but perhaps of all human beings, and the
plan of which providential government extends even to caring for the sale
of two sparrows for a denarius, whether sparrows there be understood
figuratively or literally. Now indeed this providential government is still
a subject of investigation, but then it will be fully manifested. From all
which we are to suppose, that meanwhile not a little time may pass by until
the reason of those things only which are upon the earth be pointed out to
the worthy and deserving after their departure from life, that by the
knowledge of all these things, and by the grace of full knowledge, they may
enjoy an unspeakable joy. Then, if that atmosphere which is between heaven
and earth is not devoid of inhabitants, and those of a rational kind, as
the apostle says, "Wherein in times past ye walked according to the course
of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit
who now worketh in the children of disobedience."[2] And again he says, "We
shall be caught up in the clouds to meet Christ in the air, and so shall we
ever be with the Lord."[3]

   6. We are therefore to suppose that the saints will remain there until
they recognise the twofold mode of government in those things which are
performed in the air. And when I say "twofold mode," I mean this: When we
were upon earth, we saw either animals or trees, and beheld the differences
among them, and also the very great diversity among men; but although we
saw these things, we did not understand the reason of them; and this only
was suggested to us from the visible diversity, that we should examine and
inquire upon what principle these things were either created or diversely
arranged. And a zeal or desire for knowledge of this kind being conceived
by us on earth, the full understanding and comprehension of it will be
granted after death, if indeed the result should follow according to our
expectations. When, therefore, we shall have fury comprehended its nature,
we shall understand in a twofold manner what we saw on earth. Some such
view, then, must we hold regarding this abode in the air. I think,
therefore, that all the saints who depart from this life will remain in
some place situated on the earth, which holy Scripture calls paradise, as
in some place of instruction, and, so to speak, class-room or school of
souls, in which they are to be instructed regarding all the things which
they had seen on earth, and are to receive also some information respecting
things that are to follow in the future, as even when in this life they had
obtained in some degree indications of future events, although "through a
glass darkly," all of which are revealed more clearly and distinctly to the
saints in their proper time and place. If any one indeed be pure in heart,
and holy in mind, and more practised in perception, he will, by making more
rapid progress, quickly ascend to a place in the air, and reach the kingdom
of heaven, through those mansions, so to speak, in the various places which
the Greeks have termed spheres, i.e., globes, but which holy Scripture has
called heavens; in each of which he will first see clearly what is done
there, and in the second place, will discover the reason why things are so
done: and thus he will in order pass through all gradations, following Him
who hath passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, who said, "I will
that where I am, these may be also."[4] And of this diversity of places He
speaks, when He says, "In My Father's house are many mansions." He Himself
is everywhere, and passes swiftly through all things; nor are we any longer
to understand Him as existing in those narrow Limits in which He was once
confined for our sakes, i.e., not in that circumscribed body which He
occupied on earth, when dwelling among men, according to which He might be
considered as enclosed in some one place.

   7. When, then, the saints shall have reached the celestial abodes, they
will clearly see the nature of the stars one by one, and will understand
whether they are endued with life, or their condition, whatever it is. And
they will comprehend also the other reasons for the works of God, which He
Himself will reveal to them. For He will show to them, as to children, the
causes of things and the power of His creation,[1] and will explain why
that star was placed in that particular quarter of the sky, and why it was
separated from another by so great an intervening space; what, e.g., would
have been the consequence if it had been nearer or more remote; or if that
star had been larger than this, how the totality of things would not have
remained the same, but all would have been transformed into a different
condition of being. And so, when they have finished all those matters which
are connected with the stars, and with the heavenly revolutions, they will
come to those which are not seen, or to those whose names only we have
heard, and to things which are invisible, which the Apostle Paul has
informed us are numerous, although what they are, or what difference may
exist among them, we cannot even conjecture by our feeble intellect. And
thus the rational nature, growing by each individual step, not as it grew
in this life in flesh, and body, and soul, but enlarged in understanding
and in power of perception, is raised as a mind already perfect to perfect
knowledge, no longer at all impeded by those carnal senses, but increased
in intellectual growth; and ever gazing purely, and, so to speak, face to
face, on the causes of things, it attains perfection, firstly, viz., that
by which it ascends to (the truth),[2] and secondly, that by which it
abides in it, having problems and the understanding of things, and the
causes of events, as the food on which it may feast. For as in this life
our bodies grow physically to what they are, through a sufficiency of food
in early life supplying the means of increase, but after the due height has
been attained we use food no longer to grow, but to live, and to be
preserved in life by it; so also I think that the mind, when it has
attained perfection, eats and avails itself of suitable and appropriate
food in such a degree, that nothing ought to be either deficient or
superfluous. And in all things this food is to be understood as the
contemplation and understanding of God, which is of a measure appropriate
and suitable to this nature, which was made and created; and this measure
it is proper should be observed by every one of those who are beginning to
see God, i.e., to understand Him through purity of heart.


Taken from "The Early Church Fathers and Other Works" originally published
by Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co. in English in Edinburgh, Scotland beginning in
1867. (ANF 4, Roberts and Donaldson). The digital version is by The
Electronic Bible Society, P.O. Box 701356, Dallas, TX 75370, 214-407-WORD.

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