Argument
XIX.—Apostrophe to Origen, and Therewith the Leave-Taking, and
the Urgent Utterance of Prayer.
But, O dear soul, arise thou and offer prayer, and
now dismiss us; and as by thy holy instructions thou hast been our
rescuer when we enjoyed thy fellowship, so save us still by thy prayers
in our separation. Commend us and set us constantly
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before thee in prayer. Or rather
commend us continually to that God who brought us to thee, giving
thanks for all that has been granted us in the past, and imploring Him
still to lead us by the hand in the future, and to stand ever by us,
filling our mind with the understanding of His precepts, inspiring us
with the godly fear of Himself, and vouchsafing us henceforward His
choicest guidance.
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For when
we are gone from thee, we shall not have the same liberty for obeying
Him as was ours when we were
with thee.
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Pray, therefore, that some
encouragement may be conveyed to us from Him when we lose thy presence,
and that He may send us a good conductor, some angel to be our comrade
on the way. And entreat Him also to turn our course, for that is
the one thing which above all else will effectually comfort us, and
bring us back to thee again.
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παραδίδου
καὶ
παρατίθεσο
.
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ἐμβάλλοντα
ἡμῖν τὸν
θεῖον φόβον
αὐτοῦ,
παιδαγωγὸν
ἄριστον
ἐσόμενον
. The
Latin version makes the
ἐσόμενον
refer to the
φόβον
:
divinumque nobis
timorem suum, optimum pædagogum immittens
, = and inspiring
with the godly fear of Himself as our choicest guide.
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οὐ γὰρ
ἐν τῇ μετὰ
σοῦ
ἐλευθερίᾳ
καὶ
ἀπελθόντες
ὑπακούσομεν
αὐτῷ
. Bengel paraphrases it
thus:
hac libertate quæ tecum est carebo digressus; quare
vereor ut Deo posthac paream, ni timore saltem munitus
fuero.
[He may probably have been only a
catechumen
at this period. This peroration favours the
suspicion.]