[508-11.] For, after the fishermen had proclaimed the gospel and caught all the world, the word of truth took teachers of the church from profane wisdom, and seized them like vessels of sanctification (?) , and, having given them to taste of the bowl of true wisdom, and satisfied them with the unintoxicating drinks of the Holy Spirit, it sent them out like fishermen and they caught those who were puffed up with the wisdom of the rulers of this world on all mountains, that is by means of the very thoughts of false knowledge which are supposed to be high and elevated. This was proclaimed beforehand by Jeremiah the prophet when he said thus: «'Lo! I send out the many fishermen', saith the Lord, 'and they shall catch them; and after these things I will send out the many hunters, and they shall catch them on all mountains, and on all high places'» ; though indeed, when a goodly spoil has been caught by the doctrines of divine wisdom, they reveal and expose their own defeat by means of another prophecy, crying to God their Saviour, «Behold us. We will be bondmen to thee, because tho.u art the Lord our God, and truly the high places and the power of the mountains were reduced to falsehood» . But, if the thoughts of profane wisdom are understood to be the low mountains, we shall consequently understand that the gates of bronze which are shattered and the bars of iron that are broken are the snares of argument and the precise questions stated in words from which there is no escape, which have many windings; questions which the truth has refuted and dissolved, being, stronger than everything, which heaven also blesses, as Ezra said ; questions which Jeremiah calls 'holes of the rocks', on account of the secrecy and obscurity and the ambushes hard to see which the same objections contain; for «they shall catch them», he says, «on all mountains, and on all high places and from the holes of the rocks». For the low mountains may be understood in another way also as those who are proud and arrogant in character, but are taught the gospel and made lowly, and are changed so that they cast themselves on their faces on the earth and converted to a humble demeanour by hearing the Teacher say, «Learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest for your souls» , and thereby another prophecy of Isaiah also is fulfilled in addition which says, «All mountains and all high places shall be brought low, and the crooked places shall be made straight, and those that have rough paths smooth, and all flesh shall see God's salvation» . But, if we call the change of the souls of the haughty to a lowly demeanour the low mountains, we shall not receive it as unfitting that the gates of bronze and the bars of iron are the character of wickedness that is very wicked, that has not only set men under the compulsion of nature, but also brought them to such a state that they cannot be reformed, since 'they have been constrained in their will', as Jeremiah says, 'and become pieces of flesh' , so that they are not able to have God's spirit dwelling in them. That character so to speak of gates of bronze and bars of iron was shattered and crushed by the power of the divine Incarnation by him who said, «The kingdom of heaven belongs to violent men, and violent men seize it» , and, «I will give thee hidden and secret treasures, and invisible ones will I open to thee that thou mayst know that I am the Lord God who calleth thy name, the God of Israel, because of Jacob my bondman and Israel my chosen». And we said before at the beginning of the composition that Cyrus searched the very depths of the earth themselves in Babylon, and carried all the riches of the Babylonians into captivity. This therefore God himself promises to Cyrus by word of mouth, saying, «I will give thee hidden and secret treasures, and invisible ones will I open to thee, that thou mayst know that I am the Lord thy God, who called thy name, the God of Israel». But he uses the name 'kingdom', on account of which he also termed him 'anointed' . «These», he says, «you shall find, because of Jacob my bondman and Israel my chosen», whom also Cyrus brought up from captivity: therefore he merited also the aforesaid rewards. It was because of Cyrus therefore that the announcement was put together in this way: but the aforestated words fit Christ the Saviour of us all also; for, if he divested himself and became poor for our; sake while he is rich , he does not refuse to have words used of him which befit his exinanition.