Chapter XXIV.

But possibly one who has given his attention to the course of the preceding remarks may inquire: “wherein is the power of the Deity, wherein is the imperishableness of that Divine power, to be traced in the processes you have described?” In order, therefore, to make this also clear, let us take a survey of the sequel of the Gospel mystery, where that Power conjoined with Love is more especially exhibited. In the first place, then, that the omnipotence of the Divine nature should have had strength to descend to the humiliation of humanity, furnishes a clearer proof of that omnipotence than even the greatness and supernatural character of the miracles. For that something pre-eminently great should be wrought out by Divine power is, in a manner, in accordance with, and consequent upon the Divine nature; nor is it startling to hear it said that the whole of the created world, and all that is understood to be beyond the range of visible things, subsists by the power of God, His will giving it existence according to His good pleasure. But this His descent to the humility of man is a kind of superabundant exercise of power, which thus finds no check even in directions which contravene nature. It is the peculiar property of the essence of fire to tend upwards; no one therefore, deems it wonderful in the case of flame to see that natural operation. But should the flame be seen to stream downwards, like heavy bodies, such a fact would be regarded as a miracle; namely, how fire still remains fire, and yet, by this change of direction in its motion, passes out of its nature by being borne downward. In like manner, it is not the vastness of the heavens, and the bright shining of its constellations, and the order of the universe and the unbroken administration over all existence that so manifestly displays the transcendent power of the Deity, as this condescension to the weakness of our nature; the way, in fact, in which sublimity, existing in lowliness, is actually seen in lowliness, and yet descends not from its height, and in which Deity, entwined as it is with the nature of man, becomes this, and yet still is that. For since, as has been said before, it was not in the nature of the opposing power to come in contact with the undiluted presence of God, and to undergo His unclouded manifestation, therefore, in order to secure that the ransom in our behalf might be easily accepted by him who required it, the Deity was hidden under the veil of our nature, that so, as with ravenous fish67    as with ravenous fish. The same simile is found in John of Damascus (De Fid. iii. 27), speaking of Death. “Therefore Death will advance, and, gulping down the bait of the Body, be transfixed with the hook of the Divinity: tasting that sinless and life-giving Body, he is undone, and disgorges all whom he has ever engulphed: for as darkness vanishes at the letting in of light, so corruption is chased away by the onset of life, and while there is life given to all else, there is corruption only for the Corrupter.”, the hook of the Deity might be gulped down along with the bait of flesh, and thus, life being introduced into the house of death, and light shining in darkness, that which is diametrically opposed to light and life might vanish; for it is not in the nature of darkness to remain when light is present, or of death to exist when life is active. Let us, then, by way of summary take up the train of the arguments for the Gospel mystery, and thus complete our answer to those who question this Dispensation of God, and show them on what ground it is that the Deity by a personal intervention works out the salvation of man. It is certainly most necessary that in every point the conceptions we entertain of the Deity should be such as befit the subject, and not that, while one idea worthy of His sublimity should be retained, another equally belonging to that estimate of Deity should be dismissed from it; on the contrary, every exalted notion, every devout thought, must most surely enter into our belief in God, and each must be made dependent on each in a necessary sequence. Well, then; it has been pointed out that His goodness, wisdom, justice, power, incapability of decay, are all of them in evidence in the doctrine of the Dispensation in which we are. His goodness is caught sight of in His election to save lost man; His wisdom and justice have been displayed in the method of our salvation; His power, in that, though born in the likeness and fashion of a man, on the lowly level of our nature, and in accordance with that likeness raising the expectation that he could be overmastered by death, he, after such a birth, nevertheless produced the effects peculiar and natural to Him. Now it is the peculiar effect of light to make darkness vanish, and of life to destroy death. Since, then, we have been led astray from the right path, and diverted from that life which was ours at the beginning, and brought under the sway of death, what is there improbable in the lesson we are taught by the Gospel mystery, if it be this; that cleansing reaches those who are befouled with sin, and life the dead, and guidance the wanderers, in order that defilement may be cleansed, error corrected, and what was dead restored to life?

[24] Ἀλλ' ἐπιζητεῖν εἰκὸς τὸν τῇ ἀκολουθίᾳ τῶν εἰρημένων προσέχοντα, ποῦ τὸ δυνατὸν τῆς θεότητος, ποῦ ἡ ἀφθαρσία τῆς θείας δυνάμεως ἐν τοῖς εἰρημένοις ὁρᾶται. ἵνα τοίνυν καὶ ταῦτα γένηται καταφανῆ, τὰ ἐφεξῆς τοῦ μυστηρίου διασκοπήσωμεν, ἐν οἷς μάλιστα δείκνυται συγκεκραμένη τῇ φιλανθρωπίᾳ ἡ δύναμις. πρῶτον μὲν οὖν τὸ τὴν παντοδύναμον φύσιν καὶ πρὸς τὸ ταπεινὸν τῆς ἀνθρωπότητος καταβῆναι ἰσχῦσαι πλείονα τῆς δυνάμεως τὴν ἀπόδειξιν ἔχει ἢ τὰ μέγαλά τε καὶ ὑπερφυῆ τῶν θαυμάτων. τὸ μὲν γὰρ μέγα τι καὶ ὑψηλὸν ἐξεργασθῆναι παρὰ τῆς θείας δυνάμεως κατὰ φύσιν πώς ἐστι καὶ ἀκόλουθον. καὶ οὐκ ἄν τινα ξενισμὸν ἐπάγοι τῇ ἀκοῇ τὸ λέγειν πᾶσαν τὴν ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ κτίσιν καὶ πᾶν ὅ τι περ ἔξω τῶν φαινομένων καταλαμβάνεται, ἐν τῇ δυνάμει τοῦ θεοῦ συστῆναι, αὐτοῦ τοῦ θελήματος πρὸς τὸ δοκοῦν οὐσιωθέντος. ἡ δὲ πρὸς τὸ ταπεινὸν κάθοδος περιουσία τίς ἐστι τῆς δυνάμεως οὐδὲν ἐν τοῖς παρὰ φύσιν κωλυομένης. ὡς γὰρ ἴδιόν ἐστι τῆς τοῦ πυρὸς οὐσίας ἡ ἐπὶ τὸ ἄνω φορά, καὶ οὐκ ἄν τις θαύματος ἄξιον ἐπὶ τῆς φλογὸς ἡγήσαιτο τὸ φυσικῶς ἐνεργούμενον: εἰ δὲ ῥέουσαν ἐπὶ τὸ κάτω καθ' ὁμοιότητα τῶν ἐμβριθῶν σωμάτων ἴδοι τὴν φλόγα, τὸ τοιοῦτον ἐν θαύματι ποιεῖται, πῶς τὸ πῦρ καὶ διαμένει πῦρ ὂν καὶ ἐν τῷ τρόπῳ τῆς κινήσεως ἐκβαίνει τὴν φύσιν, ἐπὶ τὸ κάτω φερόμενον: οὕτως καὶ τὴν θείαν τε καὶ ὑπερέχουσαν δύναμιν οὐκ οὐρανῶν μεγέθη καὶ φωστήρων αὐγαὶ καὶ ἡ τοῦ παντὸς διακόσμησις καὶ ἡ διηνεκὴς τῶν ὄντων οἰκονομία τοσοῦτον ὅσον ἡ ἐπὶ τὸ ἀσθενὲς τῆς φύσεως ἡμῶν συγκατάβασις δείκνυσι, πῶς τὸ ὑψηλόν, ἐν τῷ ταπεινῷ γενόμενον, καὶ ἐν τῷ ταπεινῷ καθορᾶται καὶ οὐ καταβαίνει τοῦ ὕψους, πῶς θεότης ἀνθρωπίνῃ συμπλακεῖσα φύσει καὶ τοῦτο γίνεται καὶ ἐκεῖνό ἐστιν. ἐπειδὴ γάρ, καθὼς ἐν τοῖς ἔμπροσθεν εἴρηται, φύσιν οὐκ εἶχεν ἡ ἐναντία δύναμις ἀκράτῳ προσμῖξαι τῇ τοῦ θεοῦ παρουσίᾳ καὶ γυμνὴν ὑποστῆναι αὐτοῦ τὴν ἐμφάνειαν, ὡς ἂν εὔληπτον γένοιτο τῷ ἐπιζητοῦντι ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν τὸ ἀντάλλαγμα, τῷ προκαλύμματι τῆς φύσεως ἡμῶν ἐνεκρύφθη τὸ θεῖον, ἵνα κατὰ τοὺς λίχνους τῶν ἰχθύων τῷ δελέατι τῆς σαρκὸς συγκατασπασθῇ τὸ ἄγκιστρον τῆς θεότητος, καὶ οὕτω τῆς ζωῆς τῷ θανάτῳ εἰσοικισθείσης καὶ τῷ σκότῳ τοῦ φωτὸς ἐπιφανέντος ἐξαφανισθῇ τὸ τῷ φωτὶ καὶ τῇ ζωῇ κατὰ τὸ ἐναντίον νοούμενον: οὐ γὰρ ἔχει φύσιν οὔτε σκότος διαμένειν ἐν φωτὸς παρουσίᾳ, οὔτε θάνατον εἶναι ζωῆς ἐνεργούσης. οὐκοῦν ἐπὶ κεφαλαίων τοῦ μυστηρίου τὴν ἀκολουθίαν ἀναλαβόντες ἐντελῆ ποιησώμεθα τὴν ἀπολογίαν πρὸς τοὺς κατηγοροῦντας τῆς θείας οἰκονομίας, ὅτου χάριν δι' ἑαυτῆς ἡ θεότης τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην κατεργάζεται σωτηρίαν. δεῖ γὰρ διὰ πάντων τὸ θεῖον ἐν ταῖς πρεπούσαις ὑπολήψεσιν εἶναι καὶ μὴ τὸ μὲν ὑψηλῶς ἐπ' αὐτοῦ νοεῖσθαι, τὸ δὲ τῆς θεοπρεποῦς ἀξίας ἐκβάλλεσθαι: ἀλλὰ πᾶν ὑψηλόν τε καὶ εὐσεβὲς νόημα δεῖ πάντως ἐπὶ θεοῦ πιστεύεσθαι, καὶ συνηρτῆσθαι δι' ἀκολουθίας τῷ ἑτέρῳ τὸ ἕτερον. δέδεικται τοίνυν τὸ ἀγαθόν, τὸ σοφόν, τὸ δίκαιον, τὸ δυνατόν, τὸ φθορᾶς ἀνεπίδεκτον, πάντα τῷ λόγῳ τῆς καθ' ἡμᾶς οἰκονομίας ἐπιδεικνύμενα. ἡ ἀγαθότης ἐν τῷ προελέσθαι σῶσαι τὸν ἀπολωλότα καταλαμβάνεται, ἡ σοφία καὶ ἡ δικαιοσύνη ἐν τῷ τρόπῳ τῆς σωτηρίας ἡμῶν διεδείχθη, ἡ δύναμις ἐν τῷ γενέσθαι μὲν αὐτὸν ἐν ὁμοιώματι ἀνθρώπου καὶ σχήματι κατὰ τὸ ταπεινὸν τῆς φύσεως ἡμῶν καὶ ἐλπισθῆναι δύνασθαι αὐτὸν καθ' ὁμοιότητα τῶν ἀνθρώπων τῷ θανάτῳ ἐγκρατηθῆναι, γενόμενον δὲ τὸ οἰκεῖον ἑαυτῷ καὶ κατὰ φύσιν ἐργάσασθαι. οἰκεῖον δὲ φωτὶ μὲν ὁ ἀφανισμὸς τοῦ σκότους, ζωῇ δὲ ἡ τοῦ θανάτου καθαίρεσις. ἐπεὶ οὖν τῆς εὐθείας ὁδοῦ παρενεχθέντες τὸ κατ' ἀρχὰς τῆς ζωῆς ἐξετράπημεν καὶ τῷ θανάτῳ ἐγκατηνέχθημεν, τί τοῦ εἰκότος ἔξω παρὰ τοῦ μυστηρίου μανθάνομεν, εἰ ἡ καθαρότης τῶν ἐξ ἁμαρτίας μολυνθέντων ἐφάπτεται, καὶ ἡ ζωὴ τῶν τεθνηκότων καὶ ἡ ὁδηγία τῶν πεπλανημένων, ὡς ἂν ὅ τε μολυσμὸς καθαρθείη, καὶ ἡ πλάνη θεραπευθείη, καὶ εἰς τὴν ζωὴν τὸ τεθνηκὸς ἐπανέλθοι;