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As it happens to those who having escaped the perils of the sea, are in
terror of the sands that stretch before the harbour, or the rocks that line
the shore, so it is in my case that, -as I have kept to the last some of
the slanders of the heretics, -- although I have reached the limit of the
work which I set myself, yet I am beginning to dread the close, which I had
longed to reach. But, as the Prophet says, "The Lord is my helper; I will
not fear what man can do to me," so we will not fear the pitfalls which
crafty heretics have dug in front of us, nor the paths thickly strewn with
horrid thorns. For as they make our road difficult but do not close it,
there is before us the trouble of clearing them away, rather than the fear
of not being able to do so. For when, as we are walking feebly along the
right road, they come in our way, and frighten the walkers rather than hurt
them, our work and business has more to do in clearing them away, than to
fear from the difficulty of this: And so, laying our hands upon that
monstrous head of the deadly serpent, and longing to lay hold of all the
limbs that are entangled in the huge folds and coils of his body, again and
again do we pray to Thee, O Lord Jesus, to whom we have ever prayed, that
Thou wouldst give us words by opening our mouth "to the pulling down of
strongholds, destroying counsels, and every height that exalteth itself
against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every
understanding unto Thine obedience:" for he is indeed free, who has
begun to be led captive by Thee. Do Thou then be present to this work of
thine, and to those of Thine who are striving for Thee above the measure of
their strength. Grant us to bruise the gaping mouths of this new serpent,
and its neck that swells with deadly poison, O Thou who makest the feet of
believers to tread unharmed on serpents and scorpions, and to go upon the
adder and basilisk, to tread under foot the lion and the dragon. And
grant that through the fearless boldness of steadfast innocence, the
sucking child may play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child thrust
his hand into the den of the basilisk. Grant then to us also that we
may thrust our hands unharmed into the den of this monstrous and most
wicked basilisk; and if it has in any holes, i.e., in the human heart, a
lurking or resting place, or has laid its eggs there, or left a trace of
its slimy course, do Thou remove from them all the foul and deadly
pollution of this most noxious serpent. Take away the uncleanness their
blasphemy has brought on them, and purify with the fan of Thy sacred
cleansing the souls that are plunged in stinking mud, so that the "dens
of thieves" may become "houses of prayer:" and that in those which are
now, as is written, the dwellings where hedgehogs and monsters, and
satyrs, and all kinds of strange creatures dwell, there the gifts of Thy
Holy Spirit, namely the beauty of faith and holiness may shine forth. And
as once Thou didst destroy idolatry and cast out images, and make shrines
of virtue out of the temples of devils, and let into the dens of serpents
and scorpions the rays of shining light, and make out of the dens of error
and shame the homes of beauty and splendour, so do Thou pour upon all whose
eyes the darkness of heretical obstinacy has blinded, the light of Thy
compassion and truth, that they may at length with clear and unveiled sight
behold the great and life-giving mystery of Thine Incarnation, and so come
to know Thee to have been born as Very man of that sacred womb of a pure
Virgin, and yet to acknowledge that Thou wast always Very God.
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