22. Great indeed, and all-powerful in gifts,
and wonderful, is the Holy Ghost. Consider, how many of you are
now sitting here, how many souls of us are present. He is working
suitably for each, and being present in the midst, beholds the temper
of each, beholds also his reasoning and his conscience, and what we
say, and think, and believe Codd. Monac. Vind.
Roe. Casaub. add καὶ
τί
πιστεύομεν.. Great indeed
is what I have now said, and yet is it small. For consider, I
pray, with mind enlightened by Him, how many Christians there are in
all this diocese, and how many in the whole province The terms παροικία, the See
of a Bishop, and ἐπαρχία,
the Province of a Metropolitan, were both adopted from the
corresponding divisions of the Roman Empire. See Bingham,
Antt. Book IX. i. §§ 2–6. of Palestine, and carry forward thy mind
from this province, to the whole Roman Empire; and after this, consider
the whole world; races of Persians, and nations of Indians, Garbs and
Sarmatians, Gauls and Spaniards, and Moors, Libyans and Ethiopians, and
the rest for whom we have no names; for of many of the nations not even
the names have reached us. Consider, I pray, of each nation,
Bishops, Presbyters, Deacons, Solitaries, Virgins, and laity besides;
and then behold their great Protector, and the Dispenser of their
gifts;—how throughout the world He gives to one chastity, to
another perpetual virginity, to another almsgiving, to another
voluntary poverty, to another power of repelling hostile spirits.
And as the light, with one touch of its radiance sheds brightness on
all things, so also the Holy Ghost enlightens those who have eyes; for
if any from blindness is not vouchsafed His grace, let him not blame
the Spirit, but his own unbelief.