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THIS then all the saints wished for: for this they prayed. This they
longed to see with their eyes in proportion as they were wise in heart and
mind. And so the prophet Isaiah says: "O that Thou wouldst rend the heavens
and come down." But Habakkuk too declaring the same thing which the
other was wishing for, says: "When the years draw nigh, Thou wilt show
Thyself: at the coming of the times Thou wilt be manifested: God will come
from Teman," or "God will come from the south." David also: "God will
clearly come:" and again: "Thou that sittest above the Cherubim, show
Thyself." Some declared His advent which He presented to the world:
others prayed for it. Some in different forms but all with equal longing:
understanding up to a certain point how great a thing they were praying
for, that God dwelling in God, and continuing in the form and bosom of God,
might "empty Himself," and take the form of a servant and submit Himself
to endure all the bitterness and insults of the passion, and undergo
punishment for His goodness, and what is hardest, and the most disgraceful
thing of all, meet with death at the hands of those very persons for whom
He would die. All the saints then understanding this up to a certain point-
-up to a certain point, I say, for how vast it is none can understand--with
concordant voice and (so to speak) by mutual consent all prayed for the
advent of God: for indeed they knew that the hope of all men lay therein,
and that the salvation of all was bound up in this, because no one could
loose the prisoners except one who was Himself free from chains: no one
could release sinners, save one Himself without sin: for no one can in any
case set free anyone, unless he is himself free in that particular, in
which another is freed by him. And so when death had passed on all, all
were wanting in life, that, dying in Adam, they might live in Christ. For
though there were many saints, many elect and even friends of God, yet none
could ever of themselves be saved, had they not been saved by the advent of
the Lord and His redemption.
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