28. Lest you fall into the error of supposing that this acknowledgment of the One was a payment of honor to all the three whom Abraham saw in company, mark the words of Lot when he saw the two who had departed; And when Lot saw them, he rose up to meet them, and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground; and he said, Behold, my lords, turn in to your servant’s house208    Ib. xix. 1, 2.. Here the plural lords shews that this was nothing more than a vision of angels; in the other case the faithful patriarch pays the honour due to One only. Thus the sacred narrative makes it clear that two of the three were mere angels; it had previously proclaimed the One as Lord and God by the words, And the Lord said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I then bear a child? But I am grown old. Is anything from God impossible? At this season I will return to thee hereafter, and Sarah shall have a son209    Ib. xviii. 13, 14.. The Scripture is accurate and consistent; we detect no such confusion as the plural used of the One God and Lord, no Divine honours paid to the two angels. Lot, no doubt, calls them lords, while the Scripture calls them angels. The one is human reverence, the other literal truth.

28. Unum ex tribus, non tres in uno Abraham adorat. Discrimen inter visum Lot, et visum Abrahae.---Ac ne forte existimes in unius confessione, trium 0118B omnium virorum, qui simul videbantur, honorem contineri; contuere quid conspectis duobus qui discesserant Lot dixerit: Et ut vidit Lot, exsurrexit obviam illis, et adoravit in faciem in terram: et dixit, Ecce, domini, divertite in domum pueri vestri (Gen. XIX, 1, 2). Hic pluralem retinuit significationem simplex visio angelorum, illic singularem honorem patriarchae fides confitetur. Hic divinae Scripturae historia duos de tribus tantum angelos fuisse significat, illic Dominum et Deum praedicat. Ait enim: Et dixit Dominus Abraham, Quare risit Sara, dicens, Ergo vere paritura sum? ego autem senui. Numquid impossibile est 93 a Deo verbum? In tempore hoc revertar ad te in futurum, et erit Sarae filius (Gen. XVIII, 13 et seqq.). Tenet ergo Scriptura ordinem veritatis, nec 0118C pluralem significationem in eo qui et Deus et Dominus agnoscebatur admiscens, neque angelis duobus honorem, qui Deo tantum fuerat delatus, impertiens. Lot quidem dominos dicit, sed Scriptura angelos nuncupat. Illic hominis officium est, isthic confessio veritatis.