Gregory Nazianzen the Theologian In Defence of His Flight to Pontus and His Return, After His Ordination to the Priesthood, with an Exposition of the Character of the Priestly Office (Oration II), Complete

Translated by Ch. Browne and J. Swallow.

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Page 34

74. I know Whose ministers we are, and where we are placed, and whither we are guides. I know the height of God, and the weakness of man, and, on the contrary, his power. Heaven is high, and the earth deep; [2769] and who of those who have been cast down by sin shall ascend? [2770] Who that is as yet surrounded by the gloom here below, and by the grossness of the flesh can purely gaze with his whole mind upon that whole mind, and amid unstable and visible things hold intercourse with the stable and invisible? For hardly may one of those who have been most specially purged, behold here even an image of the Good, as men see the sun in the water. Who hath measured the water with his hand, and the heaven with a span, and the whole earth in a measure? Who hath weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? [2771] What is the place of his rest? [2772] and to whom shall he be likened? [2773]

75. Who is it, Who made all things by His Word, [2774] and formed man by His Wisdom, and gathered into one things scattered abroad, and mingled dust with spirit, and compounded an animal visible and invisible, temporal and immortal, earthly and heavenly, able to attain to God but not to comprehend Him, drawing near and yet afar off. I said, I will be wise, says Solomon, but she (i.e. Wisdom) was far from me beyond what is: [2775] and, Verily, he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow. [2776] For the joy of what we have discovered is no greater than the pain of what escapes us; a pain, I imagine, like that felt by those who are dragged, while yet thirsty, from the water, or are unable to retain what they think they hold, or are suddenly left in the dark by a flash of lightning.

[2769] Ib. xxv. 3.

[2770] Ps. xxiv. 3.

[2771] Isai. xl. 12.

[2772] Ib. lxvi. 1.

[2773] Ib. xl. 18, 25.

[2774] Ps. xxxiii. 6.

[2775] Eccles. vii. 24.

[2776] Ib. i. 18.

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