Against the Arians and on Himself (Oration 33)

602 NOTICE ON ORATION XXXIII.

I. In this oration, Gregory oratorically, yet strongly, refutes the arrogance, insults, and cavils of the Arians. He begins almost abruptly: "Where now are those who reproach us with our poverty, who boast insolently of their wealth, who define the Church by numbers, and scorn the little flock, who measure out the divinity, and weigh the people as if on a scale?" From thence he deplores the peace that has been banished, and the ruinous calamities of domestic dissension regarding the faith; and, running through the persecutions, crimes, murders, and sacrileges of the Arians in a long enumeration of their actions, he shows how very far they diverge from the character and gentleness of his own people and the Catholics. He then replies to the childish and inept cavils with which his detractors sought to bring him into contempt. For they objected that he came from an ignoble town (n. 6), that he was neither elegant nor refined, but a foreigner and an outsider (n. 8), and many other things (n. 11), which in truth redounded to the discredit of his adversaries rather than to that of Gregory. Then, comparing their profane multitude with the smallness of his own flock, he extols the latter and brings the former low. "They," he says (n. 15), "have houses, we a host; they temples, we God; they peoples, we angels; they gold and silver, we the purified doctrine;" all of which were deservedly more precious and excellent than the vain and insipid wealth of the heretics. It is, therefore, no wonder if he prefers his beloved flock, however small, to a larger one; inasmuch as he could more easily look after and be able to defend and preserve it from the voracity of wolves. But meanwhile, as if inspired by a prophetic spirit, he does not doubt that he will one day see it increased. "For many," he adds (n. 15), "of those who are now in the number of wolves, I count among the sheep, and perhaps even among the shepherds." Which prediction subsequent events confirmed. Finally, refuting the errors of the Arians and Eunomians, who asserted that the Son and the Holy Spirit were created, he puts an end to a refined and excellent oration.

II. From what we have already said, there is no one who would not admit that this oration was delivered at Constantinople in the year 380. Even more can still be gathered from this oration to confirm that fact. For Theodosius had not yet defeated the Goths, who were gathered and combined by God "as a punishment for the broken Trinity" (n. 2). The churches had not yet been restored to the Catholics, since Gregory himself acknowledges (n. 15), "that the flock is still small and the fold narrow." These things sufficiently indicate the year 380, or, to speak with Tillemont [97], that span of time which intervenes between the twentieth of April of the year 379 and the twenty-sixth of November of the year 380. For there is no controversy among the learned on this matter. But the same consensus of opinion is desired as to who that old man was of whom Gregory speaks thus (n. 5): "I demand my victim of yesterday, that old man who, while returning from exile, in the middle of the day, in the middle of the city, you received with stones." For although mention of this deed is made by writers, it is nevertheless still uncertain to whom this old man can certainly be referred. Elias thinks that Eusebius of Samosata is designated by Gregory here. In truth, Theodoret and Nicephorus [98] relate this about that Eusebius, to whom, "as he was entering Dolicha, a certain woman, stained with the Arian contagion, dropped a tile from the upper part of the houses, and crushed his head." They also add, as is noted by Gregory himself, that Eusebius, while dying, bound those who were present with an oath, that they should not exact any punishment for this deed from the woman. Although Tillemont was not ignorant of these things, yet that learned man conjectured [99] that this old man was Eustathius the presbyter, who was relegated by the Emperor Valens to the town of Bizye in Thrace, because in the year 370 he had managed to have Evagrius appointed bishop of the Constantinopolitan Church. But Socrates and Sozomen [1], who recount the exile of Eustathius, mention nothing, however, of his return to the city of Constantinople or his unexpected death. Baronius also [2], who transcribed this part of the oration thus: "I demand my man, whom you slaughtered yesterday, that old man who, while returning from exile and calling here," etc., seems indeed to have wished to designate Constantinople by these last words; but he pointed out nothing about that old man. Since, therefore, the historical documents best harmonize with Gregory’s narrative, we also agree with Elias that this passage is to be understood as referring to Eusebius of Samosata.

ORATION XXXIII. Against the Arians, and on Himself.

^A Who value sand, and insult the luminaries? Who hoard pebbles, and scorn pearls? ^B For they do not know that, while sand is more abundant than stars, and pebbles are more abundant than translucent stones, the latter are by far purer and more precious than the former. Are you indignant again? Are you arming yourself again? Are you insulting me again? Is this the "new" faith? Wait a little, I pray you, check those threats so that I might speak. We shall not insult, but we shall refute; we shall not threaten, but we shall reproach; we shall not strike, but we shall offer medicine. Does this also seem like an insult to you? O, notable pride! Do you even here force one who is of equal dignity to yourself into a servile station? But if that is not the case, see to it that you bear my freedom of speech with a composed mind. For a brother expostulates with a brother as often as he is defrauded by him of an equal share.

II. Do you wish me to speak to you the words which God addressed to the rebellious and stubborn Israel? ^C "My people, what have I done to you, or wherein have I wronged you, or wherein have I troubled you?" ^D Nay rather, it is to you, who use insults against me, that I myself shall address this discourse. We are wholly wrong in watching for each other's times of weakness, and having dissolved the soul's harmony through the diversity of our opinions, we attack one another with almost greater audacity and cruelty than the barbarians who now make war upon us, whom the divided Trinity has brought together. We have become more inhuman and more bold toward one another—with this exception, that we are not foreigners casting out foreigners, nor do we, as strangers, treat strangers (a fact which would somewhat mitigate the calamity); but rather we plunder and harass one another, as if we were household members against household members; or, if you prefer, we are members of the same body consuming one another and being consumed. And this is not the most grievous and unworthy part, although it is otherwise most grievous; but rather that we are so disposed in our minds that we think our own diminution to be an addition and an increase. Since, however, we are affected in this way, and adapt our faith to the circumstances of the times, come, let us compare the times one with another; you take your king, and I will take mine; you [take] Ahab, and I [take] Josiah. Tell me of your gentleness, and I will [tell you] of my rashness. Nay rather, as to yours, many are the books and...

tongues that bear witness, which all posterity will also receive, and which, if my judgment does not fail me, will brand with a mark of disgrace the, things you have done; but mine I myself shall embrace in my oration.

^B III. What people, puffed up with audacity, did I loose upon you? What soldiers did I draw up in battle array? What general, boiling with rage, did I appoint—one more audacious than those who gave the orders, and one who was not even a Christian, but who brought his own proper religion, that is, his impiety against us, as if it were a fitting offering to his own demons? Whom, while they were applying themselves to prayer and lifting up their hands to God, did I besiege? What songs of psalms did I drown out with the blare of trumpets? Whose mystical blood did I mix with the blood of slaughter? Whose spiritual lamentations, to the weeping of those who were dying, and whose tears of penitence, did I suppress with the tears of tragedy? What house of prayer have I turned into a graveyard? What sacred vessels, not to be touched by the hands of the rabble, have I delivered into the hands of the impious, like Nebuzaradan the chief cook, or Belshazzar who feasted wickedly from the holy cups, and indeed paid the penalty deserved by his madness? Altars beloved, as the divine Scripture says, but now treated with contumely; what impudent youth, twisting and bending his limbs in a shameful manner, has insulted you on our account? ^C Or rather, through whom have I ever made a laughing-stock of the great and divine mystery by means of such a scoundrel? O chair, noble and a seat and resting-place for noble men, which has exchanged many pious priests who long ago taught divine matters; what pagan orator has ascended you and, with an evil tongue, torn apart the religion of the Christians with invective? What modesty and chastity of virgins, which could not even bear the gaze of chaste men, has any of our people shamed and insulted to the point of exposing those parts of the body that it was forbidden to look upon, and presented to the eyes of the impious as a pitiable spectacle, worthy of the fire of Sodom? For I pass over deaths, which are more tolerable than such disgrace.

^D IV. What wild beasts have we let loose against the bodies of the saints, as some have done, who have made a public exhibition of human nature and prostituted it, counting it as the only crime that they did not agree with their impiety?

^A nor to be stained by their communion, which we flee as the poison of a serpent, not that which harms the body, but that which infects the innermost recesses of the soul;—what, to whom has the burial of the dead become a crime, those dead whom even wild beasts have respected? And how great was the crime! It was deserving of another theater and different wild beasts. Whose aged flesh of bishops was mangled by iron claws, while their disciples were present, able to afford them no help beyond tears; flesh which was hung up with Christ, and by its suffering was victorious, and sprinkled the people with precious blood, and was finally led away to death, to be crucified with Christ ^B and buried and glorified with Christ, who through such victims and offerings has triumphed over the world? What presbyters did the contrary elements, fire and water, divide, carrying a strange torch upon the sea, and burning together with the ship in which they had set sail from the harbor? Who (to cover the greater part of our calamities in silence) were accused of cruelty even by the prefects themselves, who were performing such offices toward them? For even if they obeyed their desires, yet they hated the savage purpose of their will. For the one was of the occasion, the latter of their intention; the one was of the emperor’s wickedness, the other of an awareness of what the laws, by whose prescription justice had to be administered, demanded.

V. Furthermore, to recount older events (for these too belong to the same brotherhood), to whom, whether dead or living ^C, did I bring a false charge by cutting off their hands, so as to attack the faith through fraud and calumny? Whose exiles did I recount as benefits, and did not even respect the holy gatherings of those who are philosophers of sacred things, from where I sought the suppliants? On the contrary, I even made them martyrs, undergoing danger for the sake of what is good. Upon whom, I who am accused of petulance of speech, did I bring prostitutes, and of such a kind, ^D as were almost fleshless and bloodless, when I was being accused for the indecency of my words? Whom of the pious did I banish from their fatherland, men who...

were delivered into my hands, so that, being shut up like wild beasts in dark dwellings and separated from one another (which is the most grievous part of this tragedy), they might suffer misery from hunger and thirst, receiving their food in measured amounts, and that too through narrow chinks, and not even allowed to see those who were suffering with them? And these, who were they? Men of whom the world was not worthy. Is this how you honor the faith? Is this how you show hospitality? You are ignorant of most of these things; and with good reason, because of the multitude of your deeds and your pleasure in doing them; but the one who suffers has a more retentive memory. But why do I speak of things long past? Some have even become more violent than the circumstances of the time required, just like boars pushed through fences. I ask for my sacrifice of yesterday, that old man, and Abrahamic father, whom, returning from exile, you greeted with stones in the middle of the day, in the middle of the city. ^B Yet even those who committed the murder, if it is not burdensome to say it, we sought to save from danger. With which of these things shall I be propitious to you? God says somewhere in the Scripture. Which of these shall I praise? Or rather, with what shall I reward you?

^C VI. Since however these are your deeds and such is their nature, tell me also my own iniquities, so that I may either cease from being evil, or be ashamed. For as for me, I would most of all pray not to sin at all; but if that is not granted, then at least, if I commit any iniquity, to be recalled to a better way; this is the second rank of those who are wise. For even if I do not take the first part in my own accusation according to the just man, I rejoice that I am being healed by another. The city is small for you, you say, and not even a city, but a dry and charmless place, inhabited by few. I have suffered this rather than done it, O excellent man, if indeed it is a terrible thing; and if I do it against my will, I endure being wretched (for let it be said in this way); but if willingly, I philosophize. Which of these holds the account of a crime? Unless someone might think to blame the dolphin because it is not a land animal; and the ox, because it does not live in the waters; and the moray eel, because it lives in both elements. But for us, you say, there are walls and theaters, and chariot-races, and palaces, and the beauty and scale of colonnades, and that unbelievable work, the subterranean and aerial river, and this bright and conspicuous column, and the market...

and the surging populace, and the lauded council of well-born men.

^B VII. Why do you not also mention the convenience of the site, and the earth and sea—as it were contending with one another—as to which of them should better receive the queenly city with their own assets? Are we therefore guilty, because you are great and exceedingly bright, while we are small and come from small origins? Many others also offer you this injury, or rather all those whom you surpass; and must we be punished with death because we have not built a city, nor girded ourselves with walls, nor take pride in hippodromes, nor in stadiums and hunts, and the madness surrounding such things, nor in the graces and brightness of baths, and the costliness of marbles, and paintings and gold-gleaming embroideries showing forth multiple forms, almost imitating nature? We have not yet cleft the sea for ourselves, nor blended the seasons (which thou, forsooth, hast wrought, as a new creator), that we might live as pleasantly and as safely as possible. Add, if you please, other accusations, you who say: "Mine is the silver, and mine is the gold," usurping the words of God. We neither boast of wealth—to which, when it abounds, our law forbids us to set our heart—nor do we number annual and daily revenues, nor do we pride ourselves on the heaping up of tables and the allurements of a senseless belly. For we do not praise anything of those things which, once transmitted into the throat, are thereafter of equal honor, or, to speak more correctly, of equal dishonor and ^C cast away. But we live in such a simple and unstudied manner of life, and differ little from the beasts, whose life is bereft of furniture and all equipment.

VIII. Do you also reproach me with my worn-out garment, and the rather inelegant state of my countenance? For I perceive that some of those who are very abject in spirit are puffed up even by these things. What? Will you leave the head itself untouched, and will you not mock at it, as did those boys of old ^D toward Elisha? For I shall be silent about what follows. Or will you accuse me of lack of education, or because I appear to you to speak roughly and like a peasant? But where will you place it—not being glib, or some kind of jester, and being pleasing to those who are present?

Why do you not also insist that I should not purchase many things, nor speak and chatter, or be found with those I happen upon, and in whatever state I happen to be, so as to make my arguments also burdensome? Nor [insist] that I should not visit the new Jerusalem, the Zeuxippus, nor shift from house to house, fawning and gluttonous; but rather that I should for the most part stay at home, gloomy and sullen, and in my quietude have dealings only with myself, the genuine examiner of my own actions, and perhaps one worthy of bonds, as being useless and troublesome? How is it that you grant me these things, and do not find fault? How sweet and humane you are! ^B

IX. But I am so disposed, in the manner of the ancients and philosophically, that I consider one and the same heaven to be common to all, as well as the common revolution of the sun and moon, the common arrangement and position of the stars, and the common equality and utility of day and night; and furthermore, the changes of the seasons, the rains, the fruits, and the vital power of the air; and that the rivers flow as an equally common and abundant wealth for all. I consider also that there is one and the same earth, having the character of both mother and tomb, from which we were taken and to which we shall return, having nothing more than one another. And what is more, before these things, I consider as common the Word, the Law, the prophets, and the very sufferings of Christ, through which we were restored—not one [person] here and another there, but all who have partaken of the same Adam, and were deceived by the serpent, and put to death by sin, and restored to salvation through the heavenly Adam, and led back to the tree of life, from which we had fallen, by means of the tree of ignominy. ^C

X. And does the Ramathaim of Samuel ^D not also escape me—that small native place of a great man, which was not a disgrace to the prophet, nor did it win honor from itself more than it won honor from him? Nor was it an impediment to him in being dedicated to God even before he came into the light, and in uttering oracles and foreseeing the future; and furthermore, in anointing kings and priests, and governing and directing those who came from the illustrious cities. And I used to hear about Saul, how, while seeking his father’s donkeys, he found a kingdom. And David himself too is taken from the flocks of sheep, and shepherds Israel. What of Amos? Was he not a goatherd, and was he not picking sycamore figs, when he was entrusted with prophecy? And how is it that Joseph

had been committed and delegated to him? How have I passed over Joseph, who was a slave, and a distributor of grain in Egypt, and the father of those countless myriads that had been preached to Abraham? And Abraham, to gather greater examples, was he not a ^A wanderer? And Moses, was he not first exposed, and then a legislator, and the commander of those who were striving toward the promised land, about whom so many and such wondrous things are told? Indeed, the Carmel of Elijah, who was taken up in a chariot of fire, also captivated me; and the mantle of Elisha, which had more power than threads of silk and gold forcibly sewn onto garments. Nay, that desert also, in which John, the greatest among those born of women, lived with that food, and garment, and girdle, was no deception to me. Nor shall I hesitate to proceed further, having found God as the patron of my rustic condition. I shall dwell with Bethlehem; I shall be despised with the manger; because of which, since you despise God, what is the wonder if, for the same cause, you despise the herald? I will also bring forward for you fishermen and poor men, to whom the Gospel is announced, and who are preferred before many ^B rich men. Will you never cease to be puffed up with your cities? Will you never hold in veneration the solitude that you despise and consider infamous? I do not yet even speak of gold born in the sands, and transparent stones produced and gifted by the rocks; to which, if I should wish to oppose whatever is vile in cities, I fear lest I should not use the freedom of speech quite conveniently.

XI. But someone of those who are too circumscribed and given to the flesh will perhaps say: "We also have a foreign and external herald." What, then? Were not the apostles foreigners among the many nations and cities into which they were divided, so that the Gospel might run everywhere, and that nothing might be devoid of the triple light and in no way perfused with the light of truth, so that for those who sat in ^C darkness and the shadow of death, the fog of ignorance might be dispelled? Have you heard what Paul says: "As for us," he says, "we go to the Gentiles, but they to the circumcision." Let it be, indeed, that Judea was Peter's. What has Paul in common with the Gentiles, Luke with Achaia, Andrew with Epirus, John with Ephesus, Thomas with India, Mark with Italy? What of all the others, not to speak of them one by one, with those to whom they were sent? Wherefore, either rebuke them also, or grant me pardon too; or show me, while you claim to be establishing the true doctrine most of all, that you are weaving a calumny for yourself out of insipid trifles. But since I have thus far ^D spoken with you humbly and abjectly about these matters, come, I shall now argue more sublimely and magnificently.

^A XII. For all those who are great and exalted, O man, there is one fatherland, the Jerusalem above, in which we store our citizenship. For all, there is one race, if you wish to consider the lower things, dust; but if the higher, that breath of life of which we have become partakers, and which we are commanded to preserve, and with which I must one day stand before the tribunal to render an account of the divinely-implanted nobility and the image. Therefore, everyone who has preserved this through virtue and through inclination toward the Archetype is noble; but everyone who has blurred it with vice and has cast upon himself another form—that of the serpent—is base. These earthly fatherlands, and these distinctions of races, are mere games of our fleeting life and scene. For whatever land each one has occupied beforehand, whether by tyranny or by misfortune, is called a fatherland, of which we are all equally guests and strangers, however much we may play with the labels of words. And a race is considered noble which either previously excelled in wealth and resources, or which now swells with pride; but it is considered obscure and base if it derives from needy parents, whether through calamity or through equity of soul. For in what way can that nobility which is divinely implanted exist, which partly begins now and partly is extinguished, and which is denied to some but granted to others by the rescripts of princes? This is my opinion on these matters. And for this reason, I allow you to think highly of yourself on account of your tombs or fables. But I, as much as I can, strive to purge myself of deceit, so that I may either preserve my nobility or recover it.

[G] XIII. Thus then, and for these reasons, I, who am small and of a wretched country, have come to you, and this not willingly nor self-appointed, as is the case with many of those who now leap upon positions of authority, but having been called and compelled, and having followed out of fear and the Spirit. And may I be fought against here in vain, and deliver no one from error, but may those who pray for the incompetence of my soul achieve their goal, if my word is false. But since I have come, and perhaps with power that is not to be despised (so that I may boast a little of my own folly), which of the greedy have I imitated? What of the time have I coveted—even though I have such examples, of which, apart from the fact that it is a bad thing, it is an arduous and rare thing to avoid? Which of your Churches have we disputed? What money, even though both parties are wealthy beyond necessity, and some are in need of both? What royal doctrine ^D have we distorted and envied? Whose of the rulers have we flattered against you? Whose insolence have we laid bare? And as for the things concerning me, what are they?

^A Lord, lay not this sin to their charge; and then I said (for I remembered in due time the words of Stephen), and now I pray. Being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we endure; being defamed, we entreat.

XIV. But if I do wrong because, being oppressed by tyranny, I bear it patiently, forgive me this wrong, for I have endured being tyrannized over by others too; and thanks be to God, that my forbearance has been charged against me as senselessness. For I reckon thus, using thoughts much higher than those you have: How small a part of the spittings and buffetings of Christ are these, for whom and on whose account the dangers are undergone? I count all these things as nothing compared to the one crown of thorns that crowned our Victor, by which I too learn to be crowned by the ruggedness of life; ^B compared to the one reed by which his weak and feeble empire was taken away; compared to the one gall and the one vinegar, by which the bitterness of our tasting was healed; compared to the one patience in his suffering. If he is betrayed with a kiss, he rebukes, but does not strike. If he is seized suddenly, he chides, but follows. If, inflamed with zeal, you cut off the ear of Malchus with a sword, he will be indignant and will restore it. If any one flees wrapped in a linen cloth, he will cover him. If you ask for Sodomite fire against those who drive him away, he will by no means pour it out. If he has suffered a thief raised on a cross on account of his crime, he will, in his own kindness, ^C introduce him into paradise. In short, let all things of the Friend of Man be friendly, as also the sufferings of Christ; to which what greater or more excellent thing could we offer, if, when God has endured even death for the sake of our salvation, we should not even forgive the slight offenses and injuries of our equals?

XV. Furthermore, I was thinking and still think about these things (see for yourselves how rightly), ^D concerning which I have often discoursed among you. They have the houses, we have the Guest; they have the temples, we have God; and besides, we are the living temples of the living God, living victims, rational burnt offerings, perfect sacrifices, gods, by the worship of the Trinity. They have the crowds,]

we have angels; they have rashness, we have faith; they have threats, we have prayers; they have striking, we have suffering; they have gold and silver, we have refined doctrine. You have made for yourself double and triple stories (recognize the words of Scripture), ^B a house well-built, distinguished by windows? But these things are not yet higher than my faith, and the heavens to which I am being carried. Is my flock small? But it is not being carried over precipices. Is my sheepfold narrow? But it is impassable to wolves, and does not admit a robber, nor is it crossed over by thieves and strangers. I shall see this, I well know, enlarged as well. Many of those who are now in the number of wolves, I must count among the sheep, perhaps even among the shepherds. This ^C is announced to me by the good Shepherd, for whom I lay down my soul for the sheep. I do not fear the little flock, for it is easily seen; because I know my own, and am known by my own. Such are they who know God, and are known by God. My sheep hear my voice, which I have heard from the divine oracles, which I have learned from the holy Fathers, which I have taught at all times equally, not conforming ^D myself to the times, and I shall not cease to teach, with which I was born, and with which I shall depart from here.

XVI. These I call by name (for they are not without a name, just as the stars are not, which are comprehended by number, and are called each by its own name), and they follow me, for I nurture them upon the water of rest; they follow as well every such shepherd, whose voice you see how gladly they have heard; but an ^A alien they will by no means follow, but will flee from him, because they already possess the discerning faculty for a familiar voice versus an alien one. They will flee from the splitting of the one into two by Valentinus, not believing the Creator of things to be different from the Good, and the Bythos, and the Sige, and the mythical Aeons, things indeed worthy of the deep trench and silence. They will flee from the god of Marcion, ^B composite of elements and numbers; from the wicked and effeminate spirit of Montanus; from the matter of Manes together with darkness; from the arrogance of Novatus, and his purity residing only in words; from the resolution and confusion of Sabellius, and, if I may so say, his swallowing up, contracting the three into one, but not defining the one in three persons; from Arius and those under Arius, in the ^C division of natures.

and the new Judaism, ^A limiting the Godhead to the Unbegotten alone; from Photinus, the earthly Christ, and the beginning of existence from Mary. But they worship the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, one Godhead: God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit (if this does not provoke your stomach), ^B one nature in three properties, intellectual, perfect, subsisting by themselves, distinct in number, but not distinct in Godhead.

XVII. Let anyone who threatens me today grant me these words: as for the rest, let those who wish claim them for themselves. The Father does not endure to be deprived of the Son, nor the Son ^C of the Holy Spirit. But it is necessary that this should happen, if they are subjected to time, and if they are created. For that which is created is not God. Nor do I myself endure to suffer the detriment of perfection: *One Lord, one faith, one baptism.* If this should be rendered void for me, from whom then shall I have a second? What say you to this, you who plunge again or re-baptize? Can anyone be spiritual without the Spirit? Does he share in the Spirit who does not honor the Spirit? Or does he honor Him who is baptized into a created being and a fellow-servant? By no means; nor will you be able to persuade me of this, even by pouring forth many words. I will not betray the faith given to you, O Father, ^D You who are without beginning; I will not betray the faith, O Word, only-begotten; I will not betray the faith, O Holy Spirit. I know whom I have confessed, whom I have renounced, and to whom I have joined myself. I do not suffer, having been steeped in the words of a faithful man, that I should become faithless, to learn; that, having confessed the truth, I should be yoked to falsehood; that, having gone down for the sake of attaining perfection, I should come up less perfect; that, having been baptized in order to live, I should die in the waters, just like fetuses which perish in the very pains of labor, and at the same moment in which they are born, are overtaken by death. Why do you make me at once blessed and miserable, steeped in recent light and yet deprived of light, divine and yet bereft of God, so that I should also lose the hope of regeneration as if in a shipwreck? I will speak briefly: keep your confession in memory. In whose name were you baptized? Of the Father? Rightly; but it is still Judaic. Of the Son? Excellently; but it is no longer Judaic, yet not yet perfect. Into the Holy Spirit?

Well done; this is perfect.