53. Cease in your ignorance
to receive such great deeds with abusive language, which will in no
wise injure him who did them, but which will bring danger to
yourselves—danger, I say, by no means small, but one dealing with
matters of great,33473347 aye, even
the greatest importance, since beyond a doubt the soul is a precious
thing, and nothing can be found dearer to a man than himself.
There was nothing magical, as you suppose, nothing human, delusive, or
crafty in Christ; no deceit lurked in Him,33483348 although you smile in derision, as
your wont is, and though you split with roars of laughter. He was
God on high, God in His inmost nature, God from unknown realms, and was
sent by the Ruler of all as a Saviour God; whom neither the sun
himself, nor any stars, if they have powers of perception, not the
rulers and princes of the world, nor, in fine, the great gods, or those
who, feigning themselves so, terrify the whole human race, were able to
know or to guess whence and who He was—and naturally so.
But33493349 when, freed
from the body, which He carried about as but a very small part of
Himself, He allowed Himself to be seen, and let it be known how
great He was, all the elements of the universe bewildered by the
strange events were thrown into confusion. An earthquake shook
the world, the sea was heaved up from its depths, the heaven was
shrouded in darkness, the sun’s fiery blaze was checked, and his
heat became moderate;33503350
for what else could occur when He was discovered to be God who
heretofore was reckoned one of us?