Oration II.

 In Defence of His Flight to Pontus, and His Return, After His Ordination to the Priesthood, with an Exposition of the Character of the Priestly Office

 1.  I have been defeated, and own my defeat.  I subjected myself to the Lord, and prayed unto Him.   Let the most blessed David supply my exordium, or

 2.  Accordingly, that my speech may proceed in due order, I apply myself to the question which arose first, that of cowardice.  For I cannot endure th

 3.  For my present position is due, my good people, not to inexperience and ignorance, nay indeed, that I may boast myself a little, neither is it due

 4.  I am aware then that anarchy and disorder cannot be more advantageous than order and rule, either to other creatures or to men nay, this is true

 5.  Nor indeed is it strange or inconsistent for the majority of those who are devoted to the study of divine things, to ascend to rule from being rul

 6.  What then were my feelings, and what was the reason of my disobedience?  For to most men I did not at the time seem consistent with myself, or to

 7.  For nothing seemed to me so desirable as to close the doors of my senses, and, escaping from the flesh and the world, collected within myself, hav

 8.  I was influenced besides by another feeling, whether base or noble I do not know, but I will speak out to you all my secrets.  I was ashamed of al

 9.  Lastly, there is a matter more serious than any which I have mentioned, for I am now coming to the finale of the question:  and I will not deceive

 10.  But in the case of man, hard as it is for him to learn how to submit to rule, it seems far harder to know how to rule over men, and hardest of al

 11.  For it is not so easy to dye deeply a piece of cloth, or to impregnate with odours, foul or the reverse, whatever comes near to them nor is it s

 12.  What does he mean by this?  As I take it, that goodness can with difficulty gain a hold upon human nature, like fire upon green wood while most

 13.  This then is the first point in what we have said, which it is right for us to guard against, viz.:  being found to be bad painters of the charms

 14.  In the second place, although a man has kept himself pure from sin, even in a very high degree I do not know that even this is sufficient for on

 15.  Nor must he suppose that the same things are suitable to all, just as all have not the same stature, nor are the features of the face, nor the na

 16.  But granted that a man is free from vice, and has reached the greatest heights of virtue:  I do not see what knowledge or power would justify him

 17.  The other is concerned with the soul, which comes from God and is divine, and partakes of the heavenly nobility, and presses on to it, even if it

 18.  Place and time and age and season and the like are the subjects of a physician’s scrutiny he will prescribe medicines and diet, and guard agains

 19.  This further point does not escape me, that the nature of all these objects of the watchfulness of the physician remains the same, and does not e

 20.  For we either hide away our sin, cloaking it over in the depth of our soul, like some festering and malignant disease, as if by escaping the noti

 21.  For these reasons I allege that our office as physicians far exceeds in toilsomeness, and consequently in worth, that which is confined to the bo

 22.  To turn however to the ends in view in each of these forms of healing, for this point is still left to be considered, the one preserves, if it al

 23.  This is the wish of our schoolmaster the law, of the prophets who intervened between Christ and the law, of Christ who is the fulfiller and end

 24.  This is why the new was substituted for the old, why He Who suffered was for suffering recalled to life, why each property of His, Who was above

 25.  This is why the heathen rage and the peoples imagine vain things why tree

 26.  Of this healing we, who are set over others, are the ministers and fellow-labourers for whom it is a great thing to recognise and heal their own

 27.  Again, the healers of our bodies will have their labours and vigils and cares, of which we are aware and will reap a harvest of pain for themsel

 28.  But we, upon whose efforts is staked the salvation of a soul, a being blessed and immortal, and destined for undying chastisement or praise, for

 29.  And if you examine more closely, how great is the distinction between the married and the unmarried, and among the latter between hermits and tho

 30.  As then the same medicine and the same food are not in every case administered to men’s bodies, but a difference is made according to their degre

 31.  Some are benefited by praise, others by blame, both being applied in season while if out of season, or unreasonable, they are injurious some ar

 32.  Upon some it is needful to keep a close watch, even in the minutest details, because if they think they are unperceived (as they would contrive t

 33.  For our treatment does not correspond with virtue and vice, one of which is most excellent and beneficial at all times and in all cases, and the

 34.  This, however, I take to be generally admitted—that just as it is not safe for those who walk on a lofty tight rope to lean to either side, for e

 35.  In regard to the distribution of the word, to mention last the first of our duties, of that divine and exalted word, which everyone now is ready

 36.  Again, they are concerned with our original constitution, and final restoration, the types of the truth, the covenants, the first and second comi

 37.  For, amid the three infirmities in regard to theology, atheism, Judaism, and polytheism, one of which is patronised by Sabellius the Libyan, anot

 38.  It is necessary neither to be so devoted to the Father, as to rob Him of His Fatherhood, for whose Father would He be, if the Son were separated

 39.  A suitable and worthy comprehension and exposition of this subject demands a discussion of greater length than the present occasion, or even our

 40.  For having undertaken to contend on behalf of God, the Supreme Being, and of salvation, and of the primary hope of us all, the more fervent they

 41.  But what is to be said of those who, from vain glory or arrogance, speak unrighteousness against the most High, arming themselves with the insole

 42.  What again of those who come with no private idea, or form of words, better or worse, in regard to God, but listen to all kinds of doctrines and

 43.  Accordingly, to impress the truth upon a soul when it is still fresh, like wax not yet subjected to the seal, is an easier task than inscribing p

 44.  If anyone were to undertake to tame and train an animal of many forms and shapes, compounded of many animals of various sizes and degrees of tame

 45.  For some need to be fed with the milk of the most simple and elementary doctrines, viz., those who are in habit babes and, so to say, new-made, a

 46.  And who is sufficient for these things?  For we are not as the many, able to corrupt the word of truth, and mix the wine,

 47.  Besides, we are aware that it is better to offer our own reins to others more skilful than ourselves, than, while inexperienced, to guide the cou

 48.  Nay, the wiser of the Hebrews tell us that there was of old among the Hebrews a most excellent and praiseworthy law, that every age was not entru

 49.  Among us, however, there is no boundary line between giving and receiving instruction, like the stones of old between the tribes within and beyon

 50.  Now, if we were to speak gently to one of them, advancing, as follows, step by step in argument:  “Tell me, my good sir, do you call dancing anyt

 51.  This is a state of mind which demands, in special degree, our tears and groans, and has often stirred my pity, from the conviction that imaginati

 52.  Since, however, I have mentioned Paul, and men like him, I will, with your permission, pass by all others who have been foremost as lawgivers, pr

 53.  I say nothing of his labours, his watchings, his sufferings in hunger and thirst, in cold and nakedness, his assailants from without, his adversa

 54.  What of the laboriousness of his teaching?  The manifold character of his ministry?  His loving kindness?  And on the other hand his strictness? 

 55.  He glories in his infirmities and distresses.  He takes pleasure in the dying of Jesus, as if it were a kind of ornament.  He is lofty in carnal

 56.  Why should I enter into detail?  He lived not to himself, but to Christ and his preaching.  He crucified the world to himself, and being crucifie

 57.  Is the undertaking then so serious and laborious to a sensitive and sad heart—a very rottenness to the bones of a sensible man:  while the danger

 58.  Hence again the divine Micah, unable to brook the building of Zion with blood, however you interpret the phrase, and of Jerusalem with iniquity,

 59.  Joel again summons us to wailing, and will have the ministers of the altar lament under the presence of famine:  so far is he from allowing us to

 60.  What of Habakkuk?  He utters more heated words, and is impatient with God Himself, and cries down, as it were our good Lord, because of the injus

 61.  How can it be right to pass by Malachi, who at one time brings bitter charges against the priests, and reproaches them with despising the name of

 62.  Whenever I remember Zechariah, I shudder at the reaping-hook, and likewise at his testimony against the priests, his hints in reference to the ce

 63.  Who is so bold and adamantine of soul as not to tremble and be abashed at the charges and reproaches deliberately urged against the rest of the s

 64.  Passing by the elders in the book of Daniel for it is better to pass them by, together with the Lord’s righteous sentence and declaration concer

 65.  What of his further invective against the shepherds, Woe shall come upon woe, and rumour upon rumour, then shall they seek a vision of the prophe

 66.  I also refrain from entering into his discussion of those who feed themselves, devour the milk, clothe themselves with the wool, kill them that a

 67.  However, to avoid unreasonably prolonging my discourse, by an enumeration of all the prophets, and of the words of them all, I will mention but o

 68.  God speaks to him in reproof of the priests:  The priests said not, Where is the Lord, and they that handled the law knew Me not the pastors als

 69.  Why need I speak of the things of ancient days?  Who can test himself by the rules and standards which Paul laid down for bishops and presbyters,

 70.  I am alarmed by the reproaches of the Pharisees, the conviction of the Scribes.  For it is disgraceful for us, who ought greatly surpass them, as

 71.  With these thoughts I am occupied night and day:  they waste my marrow, and feed upon my flesh, and will not allow me to be confident or to look

 72.  When will this be, say they who are swift but not sure in every thing, readily building up, readily throwing down.  When will the lamp be upon it

 73.  But this speed, in its untrustworthiness and excessive haste, is in danger of being like the seeds which fell upon the rock, and, because they ha

 74.  I know Whose ministers we are, and where we are placed, and whither we are guides.  I know the height of God, and the weakness of man, and, on th

 75.  Who is it, Who made all things by His Word, and formed man by His Wisdom, and gathered into one things scattered abroad, and mingled dust with sp

 76.  This depressed and kept me humble, and persuaded me that it was better to hear the voice of praise than to be an expounder of truths beyond my po

 77.  Such and so great is the object of our longing zeal, and such a man should he be, who prepares and conducts souls to their espousals.  For myself

 78.  One branch of philosophy is, however, too high for me, the commission to guide and govern souls—and before I have rightly learned to submit to a

 79.  Would that it were merely empty!  And now may their blasphemy fall upon the head of the ungodly!  All fear has been banished from souls, shameles

 80.  We observe each other’s sins, not to bewail them, but to make them subjects of reproach, not to heal them, but to aggravate them, and excuse our

 81.  Everything has reverted to the original state of things before the world, with its present fair order and form, came into being.  The general con

 82.  Nor indeed is there any distinction between the state of the people and that of the priesthood:  but it seems to me to be a simple fulfilment of

 83.  But at the present time there are some who go to war even about small matters and to no purpose, and, with great ignorance and audacity, accept,

 84.  Sinners are planning upon our backs and what we devise against each other, they turn against us all:  and we have become a new spectacle, not to

 85.  These are the results of our intestine warfare, and our extreme readiness to strive about goodness and gentleness, and our inexpedient excess of

 86.  Yea, even now, when Christ is invoked, the devils tremble, and not even by our ill-doing has the power of this Name been extinguished, while we a

 87.  Of external warfare I am not afraid, nor of that wild beast, and fulness of evil, who has now arisen against the churches, though he may threaten

 88.  For my own warfare, however, I am at a loss what course to pursue, what alliance, what word of wisdom, what grace to devise, with what panoply to

 89.  Who will cry aloud, Spare Thy People, O Lord, and give not Thine heritage to reproach, that the nations should rule over them?   What Noah, and J

 90.  For I own that I am too weak for this warfare, and therefore turned my back, hiding my face in the rout, and sat solitary, because I was filled w

 91.  I have said nothing yet of the internal warfare within ourselves, and in our passions, in which we are engaged night and day against the body of

 92.  What is it that has induced this fear in me, that, instead of supposing me to be needlessly afraid, you may highly commend my foresight?  I hear

 93.  I hear again that Nadab and Abihu, for having merely offered incense with strange fire, were with strange fire destroyed, the instrument of their

 94.  I know also that not even bodily blemishes in either priests or victims

 95.  Since then I knew these things, and that no one is worthy of the mightiness of God, and the sacrifice, and priesthood, who has not first presente

 96.  Who is the man, whose heart has never been made to burn, as the Scriptures have been opened to him, with the pure words of God which have been tr

 97.  Who is the man who has never beheld, as our duty is to behold it, the fair beauty of the Lord, nor has visited His temple, or rather, become the

 98.  Who is the man who has never, by experience and contemplation, traversed the entire series of the titles and powers of Christ, both those more lo

 99.  Who, in fine, is the man who, although he has never applied himself to, nor learnt to speak, the hidden wisdom of God in a mystery, although he i

 100.  Let others sail for merchandise, I used to say, and cross the wide oceans, and constantly contend with winds and waves, to gain great wealth, if

 101.  For one in high estate, if he fail to make further progress and to disseminate virtue still more widely, and contents himself with slight result

 102.  Such is the defence which I have been able to make, perhaps at immoderate length, for my flight.  Such are the reasons which, to my pain and pos

 103.  In the next place there was my care, my duty, the hoar hairs and weakness of my holy parents, who were more greatly distressed on my account tha

 104.  There is a third reason of the highest importance which I will further mention, and then dismiss the rest.  I remembered the days of old, and, r

 105.  We however, who extend the accuracy of the Spirit to the merest stroke and tittle, will never admit the impious assertion that even the smallest

 106.  What then is the story, and wherein lies its application?  For, perhaps, it would not be amiss to relate it, for the general security.  Jonah al

 107.  But, as I have learned from a man skilled in these subjects, and able to grasp the depth of the prophet, by means of a reasonable explanation of

 108.  On the contrary, as my instructor said, and as I am myself convinced, Jonah knew better than any one the purpose of his message to the Ninevites

 109.  Jonah then was not ignorant of the mighty hand of God, with which he threatened other men, nor did he imagine that he could utterly escape the D

 110.  Now however, to return to my original point, the thought and question occurred to me, that although he might possibly meet with some indulgence,

 111.  For if it be granted, and this alone can be strongly asserted in such matters, that we are far too low to perform the priest’s office before God

 112.  On this account I had much toilsome consideration to discover my duty, being set in the midst betwixt two fears, of which the one held me back,

 113.  Moreover, to distinguish still more clearly between them, we have, against the fear of office, a possible help in the law of obedience, inasmuch

 114.  I resort once again to history, and on considering the men of best repute in ancient days, who were ever preferred by grace to the office of rul

 115.  By these arguments I charmed myself, and by degrees my soul relaxed and became ductile, like iron, and time came to the aid of my arguments, and

 116.  What further need is there of words.  Here am I, my pastors and fellow-pastors, here am I, thou holy flock, worthy of Christ, the Chief Shepherd

 117.  Such is my defence:  its reasonableness I have set forth:  and may the God of peace, Who made both one,

90.  For I own that I am too weak for this warfare, and therefore turned my back, hiding my face in the rout, and sat solitary,271 because I was filled with bitterness272 and sought to be silent, understanding that it is an evil time,273 that the beloved had kicked,274 that we were become backsliding children,275 who are the luxuriant vine,276 the true vine, all fruitful, all beautiful,277 springing up splendidly with showers from on high.278  For the diadem of beauty,279 the signet of glory,280 the crown of magnificence281 has been changed for me into shame; and if anyone, in face of these things, is daring and courageous, he has my blessing on his daring and courage.

Ϟʹ. Ἐγὼ μὲν γὰρ ἀσθενέστερος εἶναι τοῦ πολέμου τούτου ὁμολογῶ, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἔδωκα τὰ νῶτα, καλύψας τὸ πρόσωπον ἐν τροπῇ, καὶ καταμόνας καθεσθῆναι, ὅτι πικρίας ἐνεπλήσθην, ἐζήτησα καὶ σιωπῆσαι, συνιὼν, ὅτι ὁ καιρὸς πονηρός ἐστιν: ὅτι ἀπελάκτισαν οἱ ἠγαπημένοι, ὅτι γεγόναμεν υἱοὶ ἀφεστηκότες, ἡ ἄμπελος ἡ εὐκληματοῦσα, ἡ ἄμπελος ἡ ἀληθινὴ, πᾶσα καρποφόρος, ὡραία πᾶσα, καλῶς ταῖς σταγόσι ταῖς ἄνωθεν ἀνατέλλουσα: ὅτι ἐστράφη εἰς ἀτιμίαν ἐμοὶ τὸ διάδημα τοῦ κάλλους, τὸ ἀποσφράγισμα τῆς ἐμῆς δόξης, ὁ τῆς καυχήσεως στέφανος: εἰ δέ τις πρὸς ταῦτα τολμηρὸς καὶ γενναῖος, μακάριος οὗτος ἐμοὶ τοῦ θάρσους καὶ τῆς γενναιότητος.