II.  The Word recognizes three Births for us; namely, the natural birth, that of Baptism, and that of the Resurrection.  Of these the first is by night, and is servile, and involves passion; but the second is by day, and is destructive of passion, cutting off all the veil2    This Veil is Original Sin, by which the soul is darkened and as it were covered. that is derived from birth, and leading on to the higher life; and the third is more terrible and shorter, bringing together in a moment all mankind,3    All Mankind (πᾶν τὸ πλάσμα).  πλάσμα would not be correctly rendered by Creation.  It is a word belonging solely to Man, who was formed by the Hand of God, and who, alone among creatures, has to give an account of his past life to his Creator at the Last Day.  (Edd. Bened.) to stand before its Creator, and to give an account of its service and conversation here; whether it has followed the flesh, or whether it has mounted up with the spirit, and worshipped the grace of its new creation.  My Lord Jesus Christ has showed that He honoured all these births in His own Person; the first, by that first and quickening Inbreathing;4    Gen. ii. 7. the second by His Incarnation and the Baptism wherewith He Himself was baptized; and the third by the Resurrection of which He was the Firstfruits; condescending, as He became the Firstborn5    Rom. viii. 29. among many brethren, so also to become the Firstborn from the dead.6    Col. i. 18.

Βʹ. Τρισσὴν γέννησιν ἡμῖν οἶδεν ὁ Λόγος: τὴν ἐκ σωμάτων, τὴν ἐκ βαπτίσματος, καὶ τὴν ἐξ ἀναστάσεως. Τούτων δὲ, ἡ μὲν νυκτερινή τέ ἐστι, καὶ δούλη, καὶ ἐμπαθής: ἡ δὲ ἡμερινὴ, καὶ ἐλευθέρα, καὶ λυτικὴ παθῶν, πᾶν τὸ ἀπὸ γενέσεως κάλυμμα περιτέμνουσα, καὶ πρὸς τὴν ἄνω ζωὴν ἐπανάγουσα: ἡ δὲ φοβερωτέρα καὶ συντομωτέρα, πᾶν τὸ πλάσμα συνάγουσα ἐν βραχεῖ τῷ πλάστῃ παραστησόμενον, καὶ λόγον ὑφέξον τῆς ἐνταῦθα δουλείας, καὶ πολιτείας, εἴτε τῇ σαρκὶ μόνον ἐπηκολούθησεν, εἴτε τῷ Πνεύματι συνανῆλθε, καὶ τὴν χάριν ᾐδέσθη τῆς ἀναπλάσεως. Ταύτας δὴ τὰς γεννήσεις ἁπάσας παρ' ἑαυτοῦ τιμήσας ὁ ἐμὸς Χριστὸς φαίνεται: τὴν μὲν, τῷ ἐμφυσήματι τῷ πρώτῳ καὶ ζωτικῷ: τὴν δὲ, τῇ σαρκώσει, καὶ τῷ βαπτίσματι, ὅπερ αὐτὸς ἐβαπτίσατο: τὴν δὲ, τῇ ἀναστάσει, ἧς αὐτὸς ἀπήρξατο: ὡς ἐγένετο πρωτότοκος ἐν πολλοῖς ἀδελφοῖς, οὕτω καὶ πρωτότοκος ἐκ νεκρῶν γενέσθαι καταξιώσας.