354 Dignity of our Lord visible to those worthy to behold it.

NOTE the eyes to which Christ would appear lovely-Those eyes are to be ON DE cleansed, that they may be able to see that light;" which gives a sort of comment on T.'s stronger language de carne Christi, 1. c.

IDOL.

explains Is. 53. 2, 3. of His sufferings (in Ps. 44.)

Theodoret

This passage of S. Aug. further shews that these Fathers did not think of what we should mean by "meanness of countenance" and the like, but only a lowliness of the outward form, which (as is the case often now in such degrees of moral dignity as men may reach unto) had nothing attractive except for those who had a certain sympathy with it, and whose eyes were purified to see the hidden Majesty. Thus Origen, who admitted the durudis imputed by Celsus, says, (Comm. in Matt. §. 100. t. iii. p. 906. ed. de la Rue al. Tr. 35.) " A tradition has come down to us of Him, that there were not only two forms in Him, one according to which all saw Him, another, according to which He was transfigured before His disciples in the mount, when His countenance also shone as the sun, but that He appeared to each according as he was worthy. And being the Same, He appeared as though He were not the Same to all;" (which O. likens to the Manna, Wisd. 16, 20. 21.)" And this tradition does not appear to me incredible, whether as relates to the body, on account of Jesus Himself, that He appeared in different ways to men, or on account of the very nature of the Word, which does not appear alike to all." And S. Jerome (in Ps. 44. Ep. 65. ad Princip. §. 8.) having explained Is. 53, 2. of His sufferings, and Ps. 45. of the "beauty of His excellencies in a sacred and Adorable Body," subjoins, " for had He not had in His countenance and eyes a sort of starry lustre, neither had the Apostles instantly followed Him, nor they who had come to seize Him fallen to the ground," and this, (on S. Matt. 9, 9.) he explains not to belong to the human countenance, but the Divinity gleaming through. O Certainly the very brightness and majesty of the hidden Divinity, which shone through in His human countenance, could at first sight draw beholders to Himself. For if the magnet and amber are said to have the power to join to themselves rings and straws, how much more could the Lord of all creatures draw to Himself whom He would!"

OF BAPTISM.

[The De Baptismo seems to have been written before Tertullian's fall; in that he says, c. 15," the very privation of communion testifieth that they [heretics] are aliens," which he would hardly have said, had he himself been out of communion with the Church. Lumper (c. 3. art. 3. §. 4.) infers the same from the Bishops being placed first, whereas according to S. Jerome (Ep. 41. ol. 213. ad Marcell. c. Montan. §. 3.) the Montanists (like a modern sect) had two orders above them; he notices also a different tone in speaking of Bishops, here and in the de Pudicit. c. i.; and that the Acta Theclæ, against which Tertullian speaks, (c. 17.) were probably written by Leucius, whom Pacian says, (Ep. i. ad Sympr. init.) that the Montanists said falsely that they derived their origin "animatos a Leucio mentiuntur."]

I. HAPPY the Sacrament of our water! whereby being cleansed from the sins of our former blindness, we are made free unto eternal life ! A discussion of this matter will not be idle, as instructing both those who are most perfectly informed, and those also, who content with simply believing, without examining the bearings of traditions, carry about with them through ignorance a belief which recommendeth itself, yet untried. And therefore a certain most venomous serpent of the heresy of the Cainites", lately dwelling in these parts, hath carried away very many with her doctrine, beginning with the overthrow of Baptism; plainly according to her nature; for vipers, and asps, and king-serpents,

a See below, c. 2. 3. 5. Clem. Pæd. i. 6. [p. 41. 2 ed. Sylb.] S. Ambr. de El. et jejun. fin. Ep. [63] ad Verc. Eccl. [§. 11.] S. Chrys. ap Aug. c. Jul. i. . 21. [Pam.] Chrys. in Matt. Hom. 12.

b See on this sect de Præscript. c. 33. adv. omn. Hæret. c. 3. They, as well as the Manichæans, (see S. Aug.

Conf. iv. §. 8. note, Oxf. Transl.) followed out the tenet of the impurity of matter, so as to reject Baptism with water. S. Jerome alludes to this rejection, (Ep. 69. ad Ocean. init.) using the same metaphors. "The Cainite heresy ariseth against me, and the vi

per who had once perished lifteth up her bruised head and overthroweth the Sacrament of Christ, not in part, as formerly, [i. e. as to the matter,] but wholly;" in that it was denied that all sin was forgiven in it. add S. Cypr. Ep. ad Magn. fin.

The Basilisk, basiliscus, regulus, Baciλsùs, Barixiones, o, is a specially deadly serpent, and peculiar to Africa, see Bochart. (Hieroz. ii. l. 3. c. 9. 10.) who identifies it with the YDY, Dy of H. Scr.; add S. Jerome, Ep. 69. ad Ocean. §. 6.

P.

ВАРТ.

VIII.1.

256 Things of God the more to be believed, because beyond belief.

DE themselves mostly seek after places that are dry and without water. But we poor fishes, following after our IXOTE", Jesus Christ, are born in water, nor are we safe, except by abiding in the water. Therefore that most monstrous woman Quintilla, who had not the right to teach' even pure 1 Tim. doctrine, knew excellently well how to kill the fishes, by 2, 12. taking them out of the water.

II. But now how great is the force of perverseness in overthrowing the Faith, or in preventing its being received at all, when it impugneth it by the very arguments by which it is established! In truth there is nothing which so hardeneth the minds of men, as the simplicity of the Divine works as visible in the act, and their greatness promised in the effect: so that in this case also, because a man going down into the water, and being with few words washed therein, with so much simplicity, without pomp, without any novel preparation, and finally without expense, riseth again not much or not a whit the cleaner, therefore his gaining Eternity is thought incredible. I am much mistaken if the rites and mysteries pertaining to idols on the contrary build not their credit and authority on their equipments and their outward show and their sumptuousness. O wretched unbelief! who deniest to God His own proper qualities, simplicity and power! What then? Is it not wonderful that death should be washed away by a mere bath? Yea, but if, because it is wonderful, it be therefore not believed, it ought on that account the rather to be believed". For what else should the works of God be but above all wonder? We ourselves also wonder, but because we believe: while un

note.

See S. Aug. Conf. xiii. c. 21.

e S. Epiphanius mentions a female so named, as the authoress of an obscure subdivision of the Montanists called Quintillians, (Hær. 49. c. 1.2.51. c. 33.) She is not named in Eusebius, v. 16. and 18. nor is there any ground to identify her with this person. The Montanists did not reject Baptism. Tertullian, when a Montanist, says, "Among us also, the heretic too, as on a footing with, yea, worse than a heathen, is admitted, cleansed from the old man of both (heathenism and heresy) by Baptism." The chief prophetess of

g

the Montanists was Maximilla: then Priscilla.

f"A woman is not permitted to speak in the Church; neither to teach nor to baptize, nor to make the oblation, nor dare she claim any single man's, much less any priestly, office." de Virg. vel. c. 9. add inf. c. 17. de Præscr. c. 41.

Below, c. 5. adv. Marc. i. 8.

h Such is, doubtless, the meaning of the saying "Credo, quia impossibile est,' i. e. with man, and in man's sight, and to man's reason. Tertullian speaks, just below, of "impossibilia," as the materials of the Divine working.

Dignity intended for water, marked at the Creation. 257

1, 27.

belief wondereth and believeth not, for it wondereth at simple things, as foolish, and at great things, as impossible. And be it altogether as thou thinkest, yet hath the declaration of God sufficiently prevented thee in both points. God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound 1 Cor. the wisdom thereof, and, the things which are exceeding Luke18, difficult with men, are easy with God. For if God be both 27. wise and powerful, which even those who pass Him by deny not, with good cause placeth He the materials of His operations in the contraries of wisdom and power, that is in foolishness and impossibility, since every excellence taketh its rise from those things by which it is called forth'.

III. Remembering this declaration, as one precluding farther question, let us nevertheless consider this mighty foolishness and impossibility that man should be re-formed by water. How, in fact, hath this material thing deserved an office of so much dignity? We must, I suppose, demand the authority of the liquid element. But of this there is abundance, and that from the beginning. For it is one of those things which, before the world was furnished with any thing, remained as yet in a rude form, quiescent in the hands of God. In the beginning (he saith) God created the Gen. 1, heaven and the earth. And the earth was invisible and1· without form, and darkness was over the deep, and the Spirit of God was borne over the waters. Thou hast first, O man, to reverence the age of the waters, in that they are an ancient substance, next their dignity, in that they were the seat of the Spirit of God, to wit, because more pleasing to Him, even then, than the rest of the elements. For there was as yet a total shapeless darkness', without the adorning of the stars, and there was the gloomy deep, and the earth unprepared, and the heaven unformed: water alone, a matter ever perfect, cheerful, simple, pure of its own nature, supplied a vehicle worthy of God. What shall I say of the disposition of the world having been thereupon based in

DE

BAPT.

VIII.4.

6.7.

v. 20.

258 Water source of life in creation and re-creation.

a manner by God upon water as its regulating principle? For that He might suspend the firmament of Heaven in the Gen. 1, midst, He did so by dividing the waters; and that He might v.9, 10. suspend the dry land, He set it free by separating the waters". When, the world being afterwards disposed according to its elements, inhabitants were given unto it, it was commanded to the waters first to bring forth living creatures; water first brought forth that which had life, so that there might be no wonder, if in Baptism the waters should be able to give life". For even the work of forming man himself was accomplished by the waters joining their aid. The material was formed of the earth, yet not fit for use unless moist and full of juice, which, in fact, the waters, separated before the fourth day to their own place, had, through the moisture which remained behind, made, by their admixture, clay. If after this I were to go on to all or to any more of what I can say of the authority of this element, how great its power or its grace, how many contrivances, how many services, how mighty an instrument. it furnisheth to the world, I am afraid lest I should seem rather to have collected together praises of water than arguments for baptism, although I should thus more fully shew, that we ought not to doubt whether God hath made that matter to obey Him in His own Sacraments also, which He hath disposed through all things and all His works; whether that, which ruleth the earthly life, minister also in the heavenly. IV. But it will be sufficient to have briefly premised these things, among which is also recognized that first notice of 1 qua Baptism, whereby even at that time it was, by the very posture", fore-signified as a figure of Baptism, that the Spirit of God, Which, in the beginning, was borne above the waters, will still abide upon the waters

1

in See Fathers ib. p. 358. note 1. Liturgies ib. p. 364. note.

n ib. p. 358. note 2. S. Cypr. ad Donat. §. 2. p. 2. Oxf. Transl.

if parere (and then it stands in contrast with "gubernat," "ruleth the earthly life," which, however, is more immediately contrasted with "procurat," "minister in,") or if parere, "hath made to be the source of life," as a little before.

as the Baptizer". But an

P See note r, p. 259.

9 Intinctorem; in like way as S. Augustine so frequently insists that all Baptism is not inan's (not Peter's, nor Paul's, as John's was his) but Christ's. (see Scriptural Views, p. 192 sqq. ed. 2.)

Rig. has intinctorum, "abide upon the waters of the baptized," i. e. wherein men are baptized; but this is either conjecture or an erratum. Gel.