HOMILY V.] HOMILIES ON COLOSSIANS. 283 more unaccountable. If from within we breathe l the air, how did the respiration suffice for two animals? And how did it also vomit him forth unharmed? And how too did he speak? And how too was he self-possessed, and prayed? Are not these things incredible? If we test them by reasonings, they are incredible, if by faith, they are exceeding credible. Shall I say something more than this ? The wheat in the earth s bosom decays, and rises again. Behold marvels, opposite, and each sur passing the other ; marvelous is the not becom ing corrupted, marvelous, after becoming so, is the rising again. Where are they that make sport of such things, and disbelieve the Resur rection and say, This bone how shall it be ce mented to that? and introduce such like silly tales. Tell me, how did Elias ascend in a chariot of fire? Fire is wont to burn, not to carry aloft. How lives he so long a time ? In what place is he ? Why was this done ? Whither was . Enoch translated ? Lives he on like food with us? and what is it hinders him from being here? Nay, but does he not eat? And Where fore was he translated ? Behold howGod school- eth us by little and little. He translated Enoch ; no very great thing that. This instructed us for the taking up of Elias. He shut in Noe into the ark (Gen. vii. 7) ; nor is this either any very great thing. This instructed us for the shutting up of the prophet within the whale. Thus even the things of old stood in need of forerunners and types. For as in a ladder the first step sends on to the second, and from the first it is not possible to step to the fourth, and this sends one on to that, that that may be the way to the next ; and as it is not possible either to get to the second before the first ; so also is it here. And observe the signs of signs, and thou wilt discern this in the ladder which Jacob saw. "Above," it is said, "the Lord stood fast, and underneath Angels were ascending and descend ing." (Gen. xxviii. 13.) It was prophesied that the Father hath a Son ; it was necessary this should be believed. Whence wouldest thou that I show thee the signs of this ? From above, downward? From beneath, upward? Because He begetteth without passion, 2 for this reason did she that was barren first bear. Let us rather go higher. It was necessary to be be lieved, that He begat of Himself. What then? The thing happens obscurely indeed, as in type and shadow, but still it doth happen, and as it goes on it becomes somehow clearer. Awoman is formed out of man alone, and he remains 1 [This is obscure, and was altered by the simplifying text into " For how breathed he the air in that place? How,"&c. J. A. B.] ana-dus, i.e. without being changed. This refers to the Eter nal Generation, as the sequel shows. Compare St. Athanasius against Arianism, Disc. 1. c. 8. whole and entire. Again, it was necessary there should be some sure sign of the Conception of a Virgin. So the barren beareth, not once only, but a second time and a third, and many times. Of His birth then of a Virgin, the barren is a type, and she sends the mind forward to faith. Again, this was a type of God being able to beget alone. For if man is the chief agent,3 and birth takes place without him, in a more excellent way, much rather, is One begotten of the Chiefest Agent. There is still another gen eration, which is a type of the Truth. I mean, ours by the Spirit. Of this again the barren is a type, the fact that it is not of blood (John i. 13) ; this pertains to the generation above. The one as also the types shows that the generation is to be without passion ; the other, that it could proceed from one above. Christ is above, ruling over all things : it was ne cessary this should be believed. The same takes place in the earth with respect to man. " LetUs make man after Our image and likeness " (Gen. i. 26), for dominion of all the brutes. Thus He instructed us, not by words, but by actions. Paradise showed the separateness of his nature, and that man was the best thing of all. Christ was to rise again ; see now how many sure signs there were ; Enoch, Elias, Jonas, the fiery fur nace, the case of Noah, baptism, the seeds, the plants, our own generation, that of all animals. For since on this everything was at stake, it, more than any other, had abundance of types. That the Universe 4 is not without a Providence we may conjecture from things amongst our selves, for nothing will continue to exist, if not provided for ; but even herds, and all other things stand in need of governance. And that the Universe was not made by chance, Hell is a proof, and so was the deluge in Noah s day, the fire, 5 the overwhelming of the Egyptians in the sea, the things which happened in the wil derness. It was necessary too that many things should prepare the way for Baptism; yea, thousands of things ; those, for instance, in the Old Testa ment, those in the Pool, 6 the cleansing of him that was not sound in health, the deluge itself, and all the things that have been done in water, the baptism of John. It was necessary to be believed that God giveth up His Son ; a man did this by anticipa tion, Abraham the Patriarch. Types then of all these things, if we are so inclined, we shall > Kvpiuirepov av6punros. One would have expected a.v i\f>, but avdpta-rros has just been opposed to yvc>j. 4 Ti -ndvTa. s i.e. of Sodom. o Hales suggests that this may be the Laver in the Temple, but it is not called Ko\vnfa6pa. inLXX. The pool of Bethesda is meant, as is evident from the like mention of types increasing in clearness on John v. 2, Horn, xxxvi. init., where this is classed with those of the Old Testament. The following instance refers to the cleansing in Lev. xv. 13.