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angel, and Meomo the minister of a drsad mystery Which a been hept hid, and bo thou tho agent in the miraclo. Iam moved by my compassiona to descend to earth in ordor toreoovis sto tost Adam. Sin hath made him decv who Was
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heaven on earth; proceed to the light cloud, and anno eoto it the sho er os my coming; proceed to the sanctuaryprepared for me; proceed to the hali of the incarnation; proceed to the pure chamber of my generation aster inofesh. Speah in the ears of my rationat ark, so as to prepare for me the accesses of hearing. But neither disturb nor vexilio foul of the virgin . Manifest thyseis in a manner besttingstat sanctuary, and hail her first With the voice of gladness.
her depravation.' The archanget heard these things, and considered them Within himself, as Was reason te, and saide Strange is this matter; passing comprehension is thisthing that is spolien. Ho Who is the object os dread to thocherubim, He who cannot be looked upon by the seraphim, Ho who is incomprehensibie to ali the heavenly or, angelic poWers, does He giVe the assurance of His connection mitti a maiden ' does ΗΕ announce His own personat coming 3 yeamore, does He hold out an access by hearingi and is He
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What is sto angel's ansmor to this ' o Lord,' he says, to remedy the defecta os nature, to do a V With the blastos eviis, is recati the dead membere to the po er of lite, toenjoin on nature the potency of generation, to remove barrennem in the case of members that have passed the common limit λαρορίοις μέλεσιν , to change the old and witherodstath into the appearance of verdant vigour, to set sortii thesmittem soli suddenly as the producer of sheaves of cora, in do ali this is a Work which, as it is ever the case, demands Thy po er. And Sarali is a Witness thereio, andalong mith her or, and aster her) also Rebecca, and again Anna, Who ali, though bound by the dread ill of barrenness, uere astematas otted by Thoo with deliveranco from that malady. But that a virgin aliould bring forth, Without ha ing intercourae missi a man, is something that goes beyondali the laws of natura; and dost Thou yet announce Thyeoming to tho maiden Τ Tho bounds of heaven and earth donot contain Thee, and hoW shali the womb os a virgin con
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142 GREGORY THAUMATURGUS fidit os ali does the Physician apply the salve os deliverance. Whors death camo forin, there has lite noW preparod ita
ever, and unto ali the ages of the ages. Amen.
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has dono so muta sor us in tho Way of condeseension. For
ho notas no baptism, and yet submits to the rite in ordis that m may besto laeely upon us the grace of baptism. me, let us vis the imago of our regeneration, as it is emblematicalty presentod in these Watera. Then cometh
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144 GREGORY THAUMATURGUS recognised and worshipped, and discerning clearly that this
Was He on Whoso account, in a manner surpassing the
natural time, he had leaped in the womb os his mother, inviolation of the limita ot naturo, ho dreW his right hand within his double cloah, and bowing his head like a servant fuit os love to his master, addressed Him in these morti: I have noed in bo baptized os Thoe, and comest Thou to
Thou reverso the ordor of things Τ Why seehest Thou alongmith the servanis, at the hand os Thy servant, tho thinga that are proper to servandi My dost Thou destre is r ceive What Thou requirest noti Why dost Thou burden me, Thy servitor, Willi Thy mighty condescensioni I have noedio be baptized of Τheo, but Thou hast no need to bo baptigedos me. The lora is blessed by the greater, and the greateris not blessed and sanctified by tho lem. Tho light is hindled by the sun, and the sun is not made to shine by the ruin-lamp. The clay is Wrought by the potier, and tho potier isnot moulded by the clay. The creature is made me the Creator, and the Creator is not restored by the creatum. The infirm is healed by the physician, and the physician is not cured by tha infirm. The poor man receives contrib tions from the rich, and the rich borro not iram the mori I havo need in bo baptized of Theo, and comest Thou tomel Can I bo ignorant who Thou ari, and Imm What fourco Thou hast Thy light, and whenco Thou ari come Or, because Thou hast been bora even as I have been or,because sor my salie Thou hast been bom as I have been , amI, then, to deny the greatness of Thy divini or, Meauso Thou hast condescended so far to me as to have approached my body, and dost bear me wholly in Thysoli in ordis to effect the salvation of the whole man, am L on account of
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UT M they produce a cortain composition is Nepos,' on Which they insist very strongly, asis it demonstrated incontestably that there Willbe a temporal) reim of Christ upon the earth, I have to say, that in many other respecta I accepi the opiniones Nepos, and love him at once for his salth, and his lab
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Housness, and his patient study in the Scriptures, as also forhis meat efforis in psalmody, by Which even noW many of the brothren ars delighted. I hold the man, tοο, in deeprespect stili more, in much he has gone to his rest be oreus. Neverthelem the truth is to be prigod and reverenced
no less proper to examine and correct anything which may appear to have been written unsoundi' Ii he had beon present then himself, and had Men stating his opinions orally, it Would have been sussicient to discuss the questiontogether Without the use of Wriling, and to endemour toconvince the opponendi, and caro them along is interrogation and reply. But the work is published, and is, as it seemato Some, os a Very persuasive character; and them are um
composed against Irenaeus os Lyona. Irenaeus Ma certainly of thonumber of thoso Who held millenniat viems, and who had been persuaded to embrace such by Papias, as Jeromo himself teda ua in tho talogus, and as Eusebius explaina toWarda the closo of tho intes book of his Histom. But that this book by Dionysius mas initten not againMIrenaeus, but against Nepos, ta evident, not only iram thia Pasago in Eusebius, hut iam hom Jerome himself, in his mois On Ecclesiarii i
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propheta ars of no importance, and who declino in soliomtho sospeis, and who depreciate the episties of the apostles,
doctrino of this composition, as though it Were Ume greatand hidden mystery, and who, at tho fame time, do not allo that our simplar brothren havo any sublimo and elevate leonceptions either of our Lord's appearing in His glory and His true divinitri or of our oWn resurrection hom the dead,
2. Aser eertain other mattera, he adda the following aist mene: eing then in tho Arsinoitic' prefecture-Where, as Fou arct amare, this doctrine mas current long ago, and
ea ed suta division, stat schisms and apostasies toOh placein .holo churches cassed together tho presbyters and thoteachere among the brethren in the villages, and thom of thebrethren also Who Wished to attend were present. I exhortedinem to maho an investigation into stat dogma in public. Aecordinori When they had brought this book before us, asthough it Wero a Und of weapon or impregnabis batilement, I sat missi them for three dvs in succession, from momingilli evening, and attempted to set them right on the subjecis
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propounded in the composition. Then, toο, Ι Was greatly gratified by observing the constancy of the brethren, and thela love os tho truth, and their docili and intelligence, as
We proceeded, in an orderly method, and in a spirit os moderation, to deat with questiolis, and dissiculties, and concessions. For me took care not to press, in every Way and with je Ious urgency, opinions Which had Once been adopted, evenalthough they might appear to be correct. Neither did wo evade objections alleged by othera; but me endeavoured assar as possibis to heep by the subject in haud, and to est listi tho positions pertinent to it. Nor, again, Were meashamed to chango our opinions, is reason convinced us, andio acknowledge the fact; but rather With a good conscience, and in ali sinceri , and with open hearis ' before God, wo accepted ali that could bo established by the demonstrations and teachings of tho holy Scriptures. And at last tho authorand introducor of this doctrine, Whose name Was Coracion, iuste hearing os ali tho brethren present, made achnoWledg-ment of his position, and engaged to us that he would nolonger hold by his opinion, nor discuss it, nor mention it, nor Dach it, as he had been completely convinced by the arguments of those opposed in it. The rest of the brothron, also, Who mere present, Wero delighted With the conferenco,
and with the conciliatoo spirit and tho harmony exhibitin by all. 3. Then, a littis further on, he speasts of the Remelation of
this book, and repudiated it entiret' criticising it chapter
false; for they dony that Jolin is the authori Nari further,
λ εἰ καὶ φαυοιντο. There is mother reading, εἰ καὶ μη φαένοι-ο. although they might not appear to be correet. Christophorsonua renderait: no illis quae fuerant ante ab ipsis decreta, at quidquam in eis veristati repugnare videretur, mordicua adhaererent priminebant. ἡπλωμέναις ταῖς καρδίως. Christophorsonus rendere it, puris ema Deum ac simplietibus animis; Musculus oves, cordibus ad Deum evansis; and Rufinus, patefactis cordibustDj0jtigod by L OOOle