|
Thanks for all things be given unto God the Omnipotent Ruler and
King of the universe, and the greatest thanks to Jesus Christ the
Saviour and Redeemer of our souls, through whom we pray that peace
may be always preserved for us firm and undisturbed by external troubles
and by troubles of the mind. Since in accordance with thy wishes, my
most holy Paulinus, we have added the tenth book of the Church
History to those which have preceded, we will inscribe it to thee,
proclaiming thee as the seal of the whole work; and we will fitly add
in a perfect number the perfect panegyric upon the restoration of the
churches, obeying the Divine Spirit which exhorts us in the following
words:
"Sing unto the Lord a new song, for he hath done marvelous things.
His right hand and his holy arm hath saved him. The Lord hath made
known his salvation, his righteousness hath he revealed in the presence
of the nations."
And in accordance with the utterance which commands us to sing the new
song, let us proceed to show that, after those terrible and gloomy
spectacles which we have described, we are now permitted to see and
celebrate such things as many truly righteous men and martyrs of God
before us desired to see upon earth and did not see, and to hear and
did not hear. But they, hastening on, obtained far better things,
being carried to heaven and the paradise of divine pleasure. But,
acknowledging that even these things are greater than we deserve, we
have been astonished at the grace manifested by the author of the great
gifts, and rightly do we admire him, worshiping him with the whole
power of our souls, and testifying to the truth of those recorded
utterances, in which it is said, "Come and see the works of the
Lord, the wonders which he hath done upon the earth; he removeth wars
to the ends of the world, he shall break the bow and snap the spear in
sunder, and shall burn the shields with fire." Rejoicing in these
things which have been clearly fulfilled in our day, let us proceed
with our account.
The whole race of God's enemies was destroyed in the manner
indicated, and was thus suddenly swept from the sight of men. So that
again a divine utterance had its fulfillment: "I have seen the
impious highly exalted and raising himself like the cedars of Lebanon
and I have passed by, and behold, he was not and I have sought his
place, and it could not be found." And finally a bright and splendid
day, overshadowed by no cloud, illuminated with beams of heavenly
light the churches of Christ throughout the entire world. And not
even those without our communion were prevented from sharing in the same
blessings, or at least from coming under their influence and enjoying a
part of the benefits bestowed upon us by God.
|
|