Chapter VI.

But when we refuse to serve any other than God through His word and wisdom, we do so, not as though we would thereby be doing any harm or injury to God, in the same way as injury would be done to a man by his servant entering into the service of another, but we fear that we ourselves should suffer harm by depriving ourselves of our portion in God, through which we live in the participation of the divine blessedness, and are imbued with that excellent spirit of adoption which in the sons of the heavenly Father cries, not with words, but with deep effect in the inmost heart, “Abba, Father.”  The Lacedæmonian ambassadors, when brought before the king of Persia, refused to prostrate themselves before him, when the attendants endeavoured to compel them to do so, out of respect for that which alone had authority and lordship over them, namely, the law of Lycurgus.1779    Herod., vii. 136.  But they who have a much greater and diviner embassy in “being ambassadors for Christ” should not worship any ruler among Persians, or Greeks or Egyptians, or of any nation whatever, even although their officers and ministers, demons and angels of the devil, should seek to compel them to do so, and should urge them to set at nought a law which is mightier than all the laws upon earth.  For the Lord of those who are “ambassadors for Christ” is Christ Himself, whose ambassadors they are, and who is “the Word, who was in the beginning, was with God, and was God.”1780    John i. 1.

Ἀλλ' οὐδ' ὡς βλαπτομένου τοῦ θεοῦ, ὡς δοκεῖ βλάπ τεσθαι ἄνθρωπος ὑπὸ τοῦ καὶ ἄλλῳ παρ' αὐτὸν δουλεύοντος, ἐκκλίνομεν τὸ δουλεύειν ἄλλῳ τινὶ ἢ τῷ θεῷ διὰ τοῦ λόγου αὐτοῦ καὶ τῆς ἀληθείας αὐτοῦ, ἀλλ' ἵνα ἡμεῖς μὴ βλαβῶμεν ἑαυτοὺς χωρίζοντες τῆς τοῦ ἐπὶ πᾶσι θεοῦ μερίδος, ὡς οἰκείως αὐτοῦ τῇ μακαριότητι ζῶντας πνεύματι ἐξαιρέτῳ "υἱοθεσίας"· ὅ ἐστιν ἐν υἱοῖς τοῦ ἐν οὐρανοῖς πατρός, οὐ λεξείδια ἀλλὰ πράγματα μεγαλοφώνως κατὰ τὸ κρυπτὸν φθεγγομένοις τὸ "Ἀββὰ ὁ πατήρ". Λακεδαιμονίων μὲν οὖν οἱ πρέσβεις τὸν Περσῶν βασιλέα, καίτοι προσαναγ καζόντων σφόδρα τῶν δορυφόρων, οὐ προσεκύνησαν φοβού μενοι τὸν ἕνα κύριον αὐτῶν τὸν Λυκούργου νόμον· οἱ δὲ τὴν πολλῷ μείζονα καὶ θειοτέραν πρεσβείαν "ὑπὲρ Χριστοῦ" πρεσβεύοντες οὔτε τὸν Περσῶν ἄρχοντα οὔτε τὸν Ἑλλήνων οὔτε τὸν Αἰγυπτίων οὔτε τὸν οὑτινοσοῦν ἔθνους προσκυνή σαιεν ἄν, κἂν οἱ δορυφόροι τῶν ἀρχόντων δαίμονες καὶ τοῦ διαβόλου ἄγγελοι προσαναγκάζειν αὐτοὺς ἐθέλωσι τοῦτο ποιεῖν καὶ πείθωσι μακρὰν χαίρειν λέγειν τῷ παντὸς νόμου τῶν ἐπὶ γῆς κρείττονι. Κύριος γὰρ τῶν "ὑπὲρ Χριστοῦ" πρεσβευόντων ὁ Χριστός ἐστιν, ὑπὲρ οὗ πρεσβεύουσιν, ὁ "ἐν ἀρχῇ" λόγος ὢν καὶ "πρὸς τὸν θεὸν" ὢν καὶ "θεὸς" ὤν.