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33. I do not know in what manner these men understand that the
Ancient of Days appeared to Daniel, from whom the Son of man,
which He deigned to be for our sakes, is understood to have received
the kingdom; namely, from Him who says to Him in the Psalms,
"Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten Thee; ask of me, and
I shall give Thee the heathen for Thine inheritance; and who has
"put all things under His feet." If, however, both the Father
giving the kingdom, and the Son receiving it, appeared to Daniel in
bodily form, how can those men say that the Father never appeared to
the prophets, and, therefore, that He only ought to be understood to
be invisible whom no man has seen, nor can see? For Daniel has told
us thus: "I beheld," he says, "till the thrones were set, and
the Ancient of Days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and
the hair of His head like the pure wool: His throne was like the
fiery flame, and His wheels as burning fire; a fiery stream issued
and came forth from before Him: thousand thousands ministered unto
Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him: the
judgment was set, and the books were opened," etc. And a little
after, "I saw," he says, "in the night visions, and behold, one
like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the
Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him. And there
was given Him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all peoples,
nations, and languages should serve Him: His dominion is an
everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom that
which shall not be destroyed." Behold the Father giving, and the
Son receiving, an eternal kingdom; and both are in the sight of him
who prophesies, in a visible form. It is not, therefore, unsuitably
believed that God the Father also was wont to appear in that manner to
mortals.
34. Unless, perhaps, some one shall say, that the Father is
therefore not visible, because He appeared within the sight of one who
was dreaming; but that therefore the Son and the Holy Spirit are
visible, because Moses saw all those things being awake; as if,
forsooth, Moses saw the Word and the Wisdom of God with fleshly
eyes, or that even the human spirit which quickens that flesh can be
seen, or even that corporeal thing which is called wind; how much less
can that Spirit of God be seen, who transcends the minds of all men,
and of angels, by the ineffable excellence of the divine substance?
Or can any one fall headlong into such an error as to dare to say,
that the Son and the Holy Spirit are visible also to men who are
awake, but that the Father is not visible except to those who dream?
How, then, do they understand that of the Father alone, "Whom no
man hath seen, nor can see."? When men sleep, are they then not
men? Or cannot He, who can fashion the likeness of a body to signify
Himself through the visions of dreamers, also fashion that same bodily
creature to signify Himself to the eyes of those who are awake?
Whereas His own very substance, whereby He Himself is that which
He is, cannot be shown by any bodily likeness to one who sleeps, or
by any bodily appearance to one who is awake; but this not of the
Father only, but also of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. And
certainly, as to those who are moved by the visions of waking men to
believe that not the Father, but only the Son, or the Holy
Spirit, appeared to the corporeal sight of men, to omit the great
extent of the sacred pages, and their manifold interpretation, such
that no one of sound reason ought to affirm that the person of the
Father was nowhere shown to the eyes of waking men by any corporeal
appearance; but, as I said, to omit this, what do they say of our
father Abraham, who was certainly awake and ministering, when, after
Scripture had premised, "The Lord appeared unto Abraham," not
one, or two, but three men appeared to him; no one of whom is said to
have stood prominently above the others, no one more than the others to
have shone with greater glory, or to have acted more authoritatively?
35. Wherefore, since in that our threefold division we determined
to inquire, first, whether the Father, or the Son, or the Holy
Spirit; or whether sometimes the Father, sometimes the Son,
sometimes the Holy Spirit; or whether, without any distinction of
persons, as it is said, the one and only God, that is, the Trinity
itself, appeared to the fathers through those forms of the creature:
now that we have examined, so far as appeared to be sufficient what
places of the Holy Scriptures we could, a modest and cautious
consideration of divine mysteries leads, as far as I can judge, to no
other conclusion, unless that we may not rashly affirm which person of
the Trinity appeared to this or that of the fathers or the prophets in
some body or likeness of body, unless when the context attaches to the
narrative some probable intimations on the subject. For the nature
itself, or substance, or essence, or by whatever other name that very
thing, which is God, whatever it be, is to be called, cannot be
seen corporeally: but we must believe that by means of the creature
made subject to Him, not only the Son, or the Holy Spirit, but
also the Father, may have given intimations of Himself to mortal
senses by a corporeal form or likeness. And since the case stands
thus, that this second book may not extend to an immoderate length,
let us consider what remains in those which follow.
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