60. But, say my opponents, if
Christ was God, why did He appear in human shape, and why was He cut
off by death after the manner of men? Could that power which is
invisible, and which has no bodily substance, have come upon earth and
adapted itself to the world and mixed in human society, otherwise than
by taking to itself some covering of a more solid substance, which
might bear the gaze of the eyes, and on which the look of the least
observant might fix itself? For what mortal is there who could
have seen Him, who could have distinguished Him, if He had decreed to
come upon the earth such as He is in His own primitive nature, and such
as He has chosen to be in His own proper character and divinity?
He took upon Him, therefore, the form of man; and under the guise of
our race He imprisoned His power, so that He could be seen and
carefully 431regarded, might speak and
teach, and without encroaching on the sovereignty and government of the
King Supreme, might carry out all those objects for the accomplishment
of which He had come into the world.