as to That Flesh; something thou seest, and something thou seest not. Lo, in this very Birth,
there are at once two things, one which thou mayest see, and another thou mayest not see;
but so that by this which thou seest, thou mayest believe that which thou seest not. Thou
hadst begun to despise, because thou seest Him who was born; believe what thou dost not
see, that He was born of a virgin. “How trifling a person,” says one, “is he who was born!”
But how great is He who was of a virgin born! And He who was born of a virgin brought
thee a temporal miracle; He was not born of a father, of any man, I mean, His father, yet
was He born of the flesh. But let it not seem impossible to thee, that He was born by His
mother only, Who made man before father and mother.
6. He brought thee then a temporal miracle, that thou mayest seek and admire Him
who is Eternal. For He “who came forth as a Bridegroom out of His chamber,”3757 that is,
out of the virgin’s womb, where the holy nuptials were celebrated of the Word and the Flesh:
He brought, I say, a temporal miracle; but He is Himself eternal, He is coeternal with the
Father, He it is, who “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God.”3758 He did for thee whereby thou mightest be cured, that thou mightest
be able to see what thou didst not see. What thou despisest in Christ, is not yet the contem-
plation of him that is made whole, but the medicine of the sick. Do not hasten to the vision
of the whole. The Angels see, the Angels rejoice, the Angels feed Thereon and live; Whereon
they feed faileth not, nor is their food minished. In the thrones of glory, in the regions of
the heavens, in the parts which are above the heavens, the Word is seen by the Angels, and
is their Joy; is their Food, and endureth. But in order that man might eat Angel’s Bread, the
Lord of Angels became Man. This is our Salvation, the Medicine of the infirm, the Food of
the whole.
7. And He spake to men, and said what ye have now heard, “The Son can do nothing
of Himself, but what He seeth the Father do.”3759 Is there now any one, think we, that un-
derstandeth this? Is there any one, think we, in whom the eye-salve of the flesh hath now
its effect to the discerning in any fashion the brightness of the Divinity? He hath spoken,
let us speak too; He, because the Word; we, because of the Word. And why speak we, how-
soever we do it, of the Word? Because we were made by the Word after the likeness of the
Word. As far then as we are capable of, as far as we can be partakers of that ineffableness,
let us also speak, and let us not be contradicted. For our faith hath gone before, so that we
may say, “I believed, therefore have I spoken.”3760 I speak then that which I believe;
whether or no I also see, or howsoever I see; He seeth rather; ye cannot see it. But when I
3757 Ps. xix. 5.
3758 John i. 1.
3759 John v. 19.
3760 Ps. cxvi. 10.
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On the words of the Gospel, John v. 19, ‘The Son can do nothing of Himself,…