Τί τοῦτο ἔπαθον, ὦ φίλοι καὶ μύσται καὶ τῆς ἀληθείας συνερασταί; ἔτρεχον μὲν ὡς θεὸν καταληψόμενος, μένος, καὶ οὕτως ἀνῆλθον ἐπὶ τὸ ὄρος, καὶ τὴν νεφέλην διέσχον, εἴσω γενόμενος ἀπὸ τῆς ὕλης καὶ τῶν ὑλικῶν, καὶ εἰς ἐμαυτὸν ὡς οἷόν τε συστραφείς. ῥαφείς. ἐπεὶ δὲ προσέβλεψα, μόλις εἶδον θεοῦ τὰ ὀπίσθια· καὶ τοῦτο τῆ πέτρᾳ σκεπασθείς, 3. 8 om μύσται καὶ d || 9 ἔτρεχον] εἶχον ac ‘ Reg. a tres Colb. Or. I ’ ǁ 10 ἀνῆλθον] ἀπῆλθον e 1. ὠμοβόρων] = ὠμηστής ‘devouring raw flesh,’ The Law does expressly forbid the eating of such animals on that ground; but it appears to be the reason for the prohibition of most of the birds enumerated in Lev. xi, Deut. xiv. 4. οὕτω] resumes the preceding clause—like sic demum; ’not it has got rid of these.’ ib. πλαξὶ...λιθίναις] Ex. xxiv 12. Α somewhat difficult turn in the application of the narrative. Gr., or rather his λόγος as identified with him, has ascended the mountain, with a view to having impressed upon him, or upon it, the teaching of God, as the Commandments were upon the tables of stone. The epithets στερραῖς κ. θ. are intended to convey the thought of something — no transient impression. 5. ἀμφοτέρωθεν] Ex. xxxii 15. Again a somewhat fantastic application. One side of the tables is seen—one part of the λόγος is —by every one; but there is a reverse which only few can read, viz. those who succeed in reaching the mountain top φθάνουσιν). This use of φθάνειν is familiar in the Ν. T. 3. When he has reached the appointed spot, he can only see the ‘back parts’ of God. 8. μύσται] Those who are initiated into the mysteries. 9. καταληψόμενος] ‘as if I were about to apprehend God.’ 11. διέσχον] ‘penetrated’: cf. Horn. Il. v 99 ἀντικρὺ δὲ διέσχε. Gr. uses it § 31 of penetrating through the veil of the Tabernacle. ib. ὕλης] ’matter.’ 12. συστραφείς] ‘having gathered myself up’: cp. Plat. Rep. 1 p. 336 συστρέψας ἑαυτὸν ὥσπερ θηρίον ἧκεν ἐφ’ ἡμᾶς. 13. τὰ ὀπίσθια] Ex. xxxiii 23. ib. τῇ πέτρᾳ σκεπασθείς] Ex. xxxiii 23 σκ. τῇ χειρί μου. This interpretation of the ‘ cleft in the rock,’ made familiar to Englishmen by ’s hymn, is very ancient. Cp. Iren. IV xx 9 ‘uidebit...in altitudine petrae, hoc est, in eo qui est secundum hominem eius aduentu,’ The Incarnation gives an assured point from which we may observe and study God, without being overwelmed by the greatness of the revelation. The glories of the Divine Nature are tempered for us, as it were, by the Human Life which encompasses us as we look out from it to the Divine. By the Incarnation, our field of contemplation is at once restricted and made clear. τῷ σαρκωθέντι δι’ ἡμᾶς θεῷ Λόγῳ· καὶ μικρὸν διακύψας, οὐ τὴν πρώτην τε καὶ ἀκήρατον φύσιν, καὶ ἑαυτῇ, λέγω δὴ τῆ τριάδι, γινωσκομένην, καὶ ὅση τοῦ πρώτου καταπετάσματος εἴσω μένει καὶ ὑπὸ τῶν Χερουβὶμ συγκαλύπτεται, ἀλλ’ ὅση τελευταία καὶ εἰς ἡμᾶς φθάνουσα. ἡ δέ ἐστιν, ὅσα ἐμὲ γινώσκειν, ἡ ἐν τοῖς κτίσμασι καὶ τοῖς ὑπ’ αὐτοῦ προβεβλημένοις καὶ διοικουμένοις μεγαλειότης, ἤ, ὡς ὁ θεῖος Δαβὶδ ὀνομάζει, μεγαλοπρέπεια. ταῦτα γὰρ θεοῦ τὰ ὀπίσθια, ὅσα μετ’ ἐκεῖνον ἐκείνου γνωρίσματα, ὥσπερ αἱ καθ’ ὑδάτων ἡλίου σκιαὶ καὶ εἰκόνες ταῖς σαθραῖς ὄψεσι 1 om θέω acd ǁ 6 ὅσα] ὡς ‘Reg. a’ 1. διακύψας] ‘peering through the aperture,’ Εἶδον must be again before φύσιν. 2. τὴν πρώτην] In ref. to Ex. xxxiii 20 οὐ δυνήσῃ ἰδεῖν μου τὸ πρόσωπον. Ἀκήρατος practically, if not etymologically, = ἀκέραιος ‘pure,’ ‘unmixed.’ Cp. Arist. de Mundo ii 5 στοιχεῖον ἅκ. τε καὶ θεῖον. Gr. adds λ. δ. τῇ τριάδι lest he should suggest the Sabellian notion of a self-conscious Nature distinct from the Persons in whom it resides. 3. τ. πρώτου καταπ.] i.e. as reckoned from the seat of the Divine Presence, not as in Heb. ix 3 in the order of human approach. 4. ὁ. τ. χερουβὶμ σηκ.] It seems more natural to suppose that Gr. refers to the Cherubim covering the Mercy Seat (Ex. xxv 20 [19]), than to the decoration of the veil (Ex. xxvi 31). Cp. Ezek. xxviii 14, 16, where, however, there is nothing in most texts of the LXX. to represent ’covering.’ 5. τελευταία] to recall τὰ ὀπίσθια. Φθάνουσα as above. id. ἢ δέ] Gr. does not of course mean to distinguish sharply between the πρώτη and τελευταία φύσις, as if they were separate natures. He means the expressed and unexpressed parts or aspects of the same nature. The danger of misunderstanding is not felt in Greek, where words like πρῶτος, μέσος and the like, are commonly monly used in a partitive sense; e.g. ὁ πρῶτος ποὺς ’the front of the foot.’ 6. ὅσα ἐμὲ γινώσκειν] sc. πάρεστι. ib. ὑπ’ αὐτοῦ] sc. τοῦ θεοῦ, to be supplied from θεοῦ τὰ ὀπίσθια above. 8. μεγαλοπρέπεια] used of God nine times in the Pss.; μεγαλειότης is not. Prob. Gr. refers esp. to Ps. viii 2 (1), ciii (civ) 1 (in some texts), cx (cxi) 3, or cxliv (cxlv) 5, 12, where the word is used in connexion with God's works. Gr. prefers the word because it expresses Dot the abstract quality, like μεγαλειότης, but the impression produced by its manifesta- tion. 9. ὅσα μετ’ ἐκεῖνον ἐκ. γνωρ.] ‘all the indications of Himself which He has lift behind Him,’ Elias pares Wisd. xiii 5. 10. σαθραῖς ὄψεσι] Cp. i 3. παραδεικνῦσαι τὸν ἥλιον, ἐπεὶ μὴ αὐτὸν προσβλέπειν οἷόν τε, τῷ ἀκραιφνεῖ τοῦ φωτὸς νικῶντα τὴν αἴσθησιν. οὕτως οὖν θεολογήσεις, κἂν ἦς Μωυσῆς καὶ Φαραὼ θεός, κἂν μέχρι τρίτου κατὰ τὸν Παῦλον οὐρανοῦ φθάσῃς, καὶ ἀκούσῃς ἄρρητα ῥήματα· κἂν ὑπὲρ ἐκεῖνον γένη, ἀγγελικῆς τινὸς ἢ ἀρχαγγελικῆς στάσεως τε καὶ τάξεως ἠξιωμένος. κἂν γὰρ οὐράνιον ἅπαν, κἂν ὑπερουράνιόν τι, καὶ πολὺ τὴν φύσιν ὑψηλότερον ἡμῶν ἦ, καὶ ἐγγυτέρω θεοῦ, πλέον ἀπέχει θεοῦ καὶ τῆς τελείας καταλήψεως, ἢ ὅσον ἡμῶν ὑπεραίρει τοῦ συνθέτου καὶ ταπεινοῦ καὶ κάτω βρίθοντος κράματος.