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" man, made up of each nature, we learn by the pre"dictions of the prophets P."

We find the same doctrine thus expressed in the Epitome (c. 43. p. 32.) "The Almighty Father com" manded him to come down to earth, and put on a " human body he was therefore born again as a " man of a virgin without a father: that like as in "his first spiritual birth he was created and made a "holy Spirit of God alone, so in his second carnal " birth being born of his mother only he might be"come holy flesh, that by him the flesh which had "been subject to sin might be freed from death. "He was with us on earth, when he put on "flesh, and nevertheless he was God in man, and "man in God: but that he was both, was declared "before by the prophets 9."

355. Lactantii Instit. 1. IV. c. 14. р. 308. "Who then would not think that the Jews were "deprived of their understandings, who, when they " read and heard these things, laid wicked hands upon their God?"

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356. Lactantii Instit. 1. IV. c. 18. p. 320.

They met together that they might condemn "their God s."

357. Lactantii Instit. 1. IV. c. 18. p. 322.

" What shall we say of the indignity of this cross, " on which God was suspended and fastened by the "worshippers of God?" It seems very improbable that in so short a sentence the word God should have two different meanings, which it must have, unless we suppose the same God who was worshipped by the Jews to have been nailed to the cross.

358. Lactantii Instit. 1. IV. c. 18. p. 324. "But that it should come to pass, that the Jews " would lay hands upon their God and put him to "death, the following testimonies of the prophets "have shewn "."

359. Lactantii Instit. 1. IV. c. 22. p. 333. Speaking of unbelievers, he says, "They deny " that it could come to pass, that an immortal na"ture should lose any thing. They deny it being "worthy of God, that he should wish to become " man, and to burden himself with the infirmity of "the flesh *."

Quis non igitur captos mentibus tum fuisse Judæos arbitretur, qui cum hæc legerent et audirent, nefandas manus Deo suo intulerunt?

$ Coierunt, ut Deum suum condemnarent.

Quid de hujus crucis indignitate dicemus, in qua Deus a cultoribus Dei suspensus est atque suffixus?

Fore autem ut Judæi manus inferrent Deo suo, eumque interficerent, testimonia prophetarum hæc antecesserunt.

X

Negant fieri potuisse, ut naturæ immortali quidquam decederet. Negant denique Deo dignum, ut homo fieri vellet, seque infirmitate carnis oneraret. The same observation is made in the Epitome, c. 50. p. 37

360. Lactantii Instit. 1. IV. с. 24. р. 338. He argues, that God could not have taught men how to lead a good life, unless he had shewn, by his own example, that the human nature is capable of leading such a life; and he says that he has shewn, " that neither could man have his doctrine perfect, " unless he was also God, that he might lay the " necessity of obedience upon men by authority from "heaven; nor could God, unless he was clothed in a " mortal body, that by fulfilling his own precepts by " actions, he might bind others in the necessity of "obedience y."

361. Lactantii Instit. 1. IV. c. 25. p. 339. "Therefore he came as a Mediator, i. e. God in "the flesh, that the flesh might follow him, and that " he might rescue man from death "."

362. Lactantii Instit. 1. IV. c. 26. p. 343.

" But the following is the reason, why the supreme "Father chose particularly that kind of death, with " which he permitted him to be visited. For perhaps " a person may say, If he was God, and wished to " die, why did he not suffer some honourable kind of "death?" He then gives some reasons why the death of the cross was chosen, and adds, "This also

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was a principal cause, why God preferred the cross, "because by that he would be exalted, and the " sufferings of God would be made known to all "nations a."

neque hominem perfecta doctrina esse posse, nisi sit idem Deus, ut auctoritate cœlesti necessitatem parendi hominibus imponat; neque Deum, nisi mortali corpore induatur,

plendo, cæteros parendi necessitate constringat.

Z

Itaque idcirco Mediator advenit, id est Deus in carne, ut caro eum sequi posset et eriperet morti hominem.

363. Lactantii Instit. 1. IV. c. 29. p. 350. "Perhaps some one may ask, how, when we say " that we worship one God, we yet assert that there " are two Gods, God the Father and God the Son: " which assertion has driven many into the greatest "error: who, although what we say seems to be " probable, yet think that we fail in this one point, " that we acknowledge a second and a mortal God. "Concerning his mortality we have already spoken: " let us now explain his unity. When we speak of "God the Father and God the Son, we do not speak " of a different God, nor do we separate both; be"cause neither can the Father be without the Son, " nor the Son be separated from the Father; since "indeed neither can the Father have His name " without a Son, nor can the Son be begotten with"out a Father. Since therefore the Father makes "the Son, and the Son the Father, both have one " mind, one Spirit, one substance: but the one is as "it were an overflowing fountain, the other like a " stream flowing from it: the one is as the sun, the " other as a ray proceeding from the sun; who, be"cause he is both faithful and dear to the supreme "Father, is not separated from Him, as neither is a " stream from its fountain, nor a ray from the sun, "because the water of the fountain is in the stream, " and the light of the sun is in the ray. In the " same manner neither can the voice be separated " from the mouth, nor the power or the hand from

"the body. Since therefore he is called by the pro"phets the Hand and Power and Word of God, it "follows that there is no distinction, because the

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tongue, the minister of the word, and the hand, " in which is the power, are inseparable parts of the " body. This world is one house of God: and "the Son and the Father, who together inhabit the " earth, are one God, because one is as two, and two

as one. Nor is that to be wondered at, because "the Son is in the Father, (for the Father loveth "the Son ;) and the Father is in the Son, because "he faithfully obeys his Father's will, nor ever does

" or would do any thing, except what his Father " wills or commands. Wherefore since the mind " and will of one is in the other, or rather there is

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one in both, both are properly called one God; " because whatever is in the Father passes to the "Son, and whatever is in the Son descends from the "Father. The supreme and only God therefore "cannot be worshipped except through the Son. " He who thinks that he worships the Father only, " as he does not worship the Son, also does not wor"ship the Father. But he who receives the Son, " and bears his name, together with the Son wor"ships the Father also; since the Son is the Am"bassador, and Messenger, and Spirit of the supreme "Father b."