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Excepting, therefore, all these things as I just now said, there
are some also of another kind; which, although from the same corporeal
substance, are yet brought within reach of our senses in order to
announce something from God, and these are properly called miracles
and signs; yet is not the person of God Himself assumed in all things
which are announced to us by the Lord God. When, however, that
person is assumed, it is sometimes made manifest as art angel;
sometimes in that form which is not an angel in his own proper being,
although it is ordered and ministered by an angel. Again, when it is
assumed in that form which is not an angel in his own proper being;
sometimes in this case it is a body itself already existing, assumed
after some kind of change, in order to make that message manifest;
sometimes it is one that comes into being for the purpose, and that
being accomplished, is discarded. Just as, also, when men are the
messengers, sometimes they speak the words of God in their own
person, as when it is premised, "The Lord said," or, "Thus
saith the Lord," or any other such phrase, but sometimes without any
such prefix, they take upon themselves the very person of God, as
e.g.: "I will instruct time, and teach thee in the way wherein
thou shalt go:" so, not only in word, but also in act, the
signifying of the person of God is imposed upon the prophet, in order
that he may bear that person in the ministering of the prophecy; just
as he, for instance, bore that person who divided his garment into
twelve parts, and gave ten of them to the servant of King Solomon,
to the future king of Israel. Sometimes, also, a thing which was
not a prophet in his own proper self, and which existed already among
earthly things, was assumed in order to signify this; as Jacob, when
he had seen the dream, upon waking up did with the stone, which when
asleep he had under his head. Sometimes a thing is made in the same
kind, for the mere purpose; so as either to continue a little while in
existence, as that brazen serpent was able to do which was lifted up in
the wilderness, and as written records are able to do likewise; or so
as to pass away after having accomplished its ministry, as the bread
made for the purpose is consumed in the receiving of the sacrament.
20. But because these things are known to men, in that they are
done by men, they may well meet with reverence as being holy things,
but they cannot cause wonder as being miracles. And therefore those
things which are done by angels are the more wonderful to us, in that
they are more difficult and more known; but they are known and easy to
them as being their own actions. An angel speaks in the person of God
to man, saying, "I am the God of Abraham, and the God of
Isaac, and the God of Jacob;" the Scripture having said just
before, "The angel of the Lord appeared to him." And a man also
speaks in the person of God, saying, "Hear, O my people, and I
will testify unto thee, O Israel: I am the Lord thy God." A
rod was taken to serve as a sign, and was changed into a serpent by
angelical power; but although that power is wanting to man, yet a
stone was taken also by man for a similar sign. There is a wide
difference between the deed of the angel and the deed of the man. The
former is both to be wondered at and to be understood, the latter only
to be understood. That which is understood from both, is perhaps one
and the same; but those things from which it is understood, are
different. Just as if the name of God were written both in gold and
in ink; the former would be the more precious, the latter the more
worthless; yet that which is signified in both is one and the same.
And although the serpent that came from Moses' rod signified the same
thing as Jacob's stone, yet Jacob's stone signified something
better than did the serpents of the magicians. For as the anointing of
the stone signified Christ in the flesh, in which He was anointed
with the oil of gladness above His fellows; so the rod of Moses,
turned into a serpent, signified Christ Himself made obedient unto
death, even the death of the cross. Whence it is said, "And as
Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son
of man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in Him should not
perish, but have everlasting life;." just as by gazing on that
serpent which was lifted up in the wilderness, they did not perish by
the bites of the serpents. For "our old man is crucified with Him,
that the body of sin might be destroyed." For by the serpent death is
understood, which was wrought by the serpent in paradise, the mode of
speech expressing the effect by the efficient. Therefore the rod
passed into the serpent, Christ into death; and the serpent again
into the rod, whole Christ with His body into the resurrection;
which body is the Church; and this shall be in the end of time,
signified by the tail, which Moses held, in order that it might
return into a rod. But the serpents of the magicians, like those who
are dead in the world, unless by believing in Christ they shall have
been as it were swallowed up by, and have entered into, His body,
will not be able to rise again in Him. Jacob's stone, therefore,
as I said, signified something better than did the serpents of the
magicians; yet the deed of the magicians was much more wonderful. But
these things in this way are no hindrance to the understanding of the
matter; just as if the name of a man were written in gold, and that of
God in ink.
21. What man, again, knows how the angels made or took those
clouds and fires in order to signify the message they were bearing,
even if we supposed that the Lord or the Holy Spirit was manifested
in those corporeal forms? Just as infants do not know of that which is
placed upon the altar and consumed after the performance of the holy
celebration, whence or in what manner it is made, or whence it is
taken for religious use. And if they were never to learn from their
own experience or that of others, and never to see that species of
thing except during the celebration of the sacrament, when it is being
offered and given; and if it were told them by the most weighty
authority whose body and blood it is; they will believe nothing else,
except that the Lord absolutely appeared in this form to the eyes of
mortals, and that that liquid actually flowed from the piercing of a
side which resembled this. But it is certainly a useful caution to
myself, that I should remember what my own powers are, and admonish
my brethren that they also remember what theirs are, lest human
infirmity pass on beyond what is safe. For how the angels do these
things, or rather, how God does these things by His angels, and how
far He wills them to be done even by the bad angels, whether by
permitting, or commanding, or compelling, from the hidden seat of
His own supreme power; this I can neither penetrate by the sight of
the eyes, nor make clear by assurance of reason, nor be carried on to
comprehend it by reach of intellect, so as to speak thereupon to all
questions that may be asked respecting these matters, as certainly as
if I were an angel, or a prophet, or an apostle. "For the thoughts
of mortal men are miserable, and our devices are but uncertain. For
the corruptible body presseth down the soul, and the earthly tabernacle
weigheth down the mind, that museth upon many things. And hardly do
we guess aright at things that are upon earth, and with labor do we
find the things that are before us; but the things that are in heaven,
who hath searched out?"
But because it goes on to say, "And Thy counsel who hath known,
except Thou give wisdom, and send Thy Holy Spirit from above;"
therefore we refrain indeed from searching out the things which are in
heaven, under which kind are contained I both angelical bodies
according to their proper dignity, and any corporeal action of those
bodies; yet, according to the Spirit of God sent to us from above,
and to His grace imparted to our minds, I dare to say confidently,
that neither God the Father, nor His Word, nor His Spirit,
which is the one God, is in any way changeable in regard to that which
He is, and whereby He is that which He is; and much less is in this
regard visible. Since there are no doubt some things changeable, yet
not visible, as are our thoughts, and memories, and wills, and the
whole incorporeal creature; but there is nothing that is visible that
is not also changeable.
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