Chapter VIII.
How God has destroyed the pride of the devil by the
virtue of humility, and various passages in proof of this.
And
so God, the Creator
and Healer of all, knowing that pride is the cause and fountain head of
evils, has been careful to heal opposites with opposites, that those
things which were ruined by pride might be restored by humility. For
the one says, “I will ascend into heaven;”
1028
the other, “My soul was brought low
even to the ground.”
1029
The one says,
“And I will be like the most High;” the other,
“Though He was in the form of God, yet He emptied Himself and
took the form of a servant, and humbled Himself and became obedient
unto death.”
1030
The one says,
“I will exalt my throne above the stars of God;” the other,
“Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly of heart.”
1031
The one says, “I know not the Lord
and will not let Israel go;”
1032
the other,
“If I say that I know Him not, I shall be a liar like unto you:
but I know Him, and keep His commandments.”
1033
The one says, “My rivers are mine
and I made them:”
1034
the other:
“I can do nothing of myself, but my Father who abideth in me, He
doeth the works.”
1035
The one says,
“All the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them are mine,
and to whomsoever I will, I give them;”
1036
the other, “Though He were rich yet He became poor, that we
through His poverty might be made rich.”
1037
The one says, “As eggs are gathered together which are left, so
have I gathered all the earth: and there was none that moved the wing
or opened the mouth, or made the least noise;”
1038
the other, “I am become like a
solitary pelican; I watched and became as a sparrow alone upon the
roof.”
1039
The one says,
“I have dried up with the sole of my foot all the rivers shut up
in banks;”
1040
the other,
“Cannot I ask my Father, and He shall presently give me more than
twelve legions of angels?”
1041
If we look at
the reason of our original fall, and the foundations of our salvation,
and consider by whom and in what way the latter were laid and the
former originated, we may learn, either through the fall of the devil,
or through the example of Christ, how to avoid so terrible a death from
pride.
1028
Is. xiv. 13
.
1029
Ps. xliii.
(xliv.) 25
.
1030
Phil. ii. 6–8
.
1031
S.
Matt. xi. 29
.
1032
Exod. v. 2
.
1033
S.
John viii. 55
.
1034
Ezek. xxix. 3
. (LXX.)
1035
S.
John v. 30; xiv. 10
.
1036
S.
Luke iv. 6
.
1037
2 Cor. viii. 9
.
1038
Is. x. 14
.
1039
Ps. ci.
(cii.) 7, 8
.
1040
Is. xxxvii. 25
.
1041
S.
Matt. xxvi. 53
.