XXVII. You see lights breaking upon us,
gradually; and the order of Theology, which it is better for us to
keep, neither proclaiming things too suddenly, nor yet keeping them
hidden to the end. For the former course would be unscientific,
the latter atheistical; and the former would be calculated to startle
outsiders, the latter to alienate our own people. I will add
another point to what I have said; one which may readily have come into
the mind of some others, but which I think a fruit of my own
thought. Our Saviour had some things which, He said, could not be
borne at that time by His disciples Ib. xvi.
12. (though they
were filled with many teachings), perhaps for the reasons I have
mentioned; and therefore they were hidden. And again He said that
all things should be taught us by the Spirit when He should come to
dwell amongst us. Ib. xiv.
26. Of these
things one, I take it, was the Deity of the Spirit Himself, made clear
later on when such knowledge should be seasonable and capable of being
received after our Saviour’s restoration, when it would no longer
be received with incredulity because of its marvellous character.
For what greater thing than this did either He promise, or the Spirit
teach. If indeed anything is to be considered great and worthy of
the Majesty of God, which was either promised or taught.