Please help support the mission of New Advent and get the full contents of this website as an instant download. Book II. He begins with the command to baptize all nations Matthew as a summary of the faith ; this by itself would suffice were not explanations rendered necessary by heretical misrepresentations of its meaning. All accept it as literally true , and combine its texts as will best serve their own purposes.
Hilary, regarding all heresies as one combined opposition to the truth , makes the two objections that their arguments are mutually destructive, and that they are modern. The language which he must use is utterly inadequate, and yet he is compelled to use it. The mystery , as it is revealed in St. John i. Believers have always found their satisfaction in that Divine utterance, which our ears heard recited from the Gospel at the moment when that Power, which is its attestation, was bestowed upon us:— Go now and teach all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father , and of the Son , and of the Holy Ghost , teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I command you; and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.
Matthew What element in the mystery of man's salvation is not included in those words? What is forgotten, what left in darkness? All is full, as from the Divine fullness; perfect, as from the Divine perfection. The passage contains the exact words to be used, the essential acts, the sequence of processes, an insight into the Divine nature. He bade them baptize in the Name of the Father , and of the Son , and of the Holy Ghost , that is with confession of the Creator and of the Only-begotten, and of the Gift.
Thus all are ranged according to powers possessed and benefits conferred — the One Power from Whom all, the One Offspring through Whom all, the One Gift Who gives us perfect hope. But the errors of heretics and blasphemers force us to deal with unlawful matters, to scale perilous heights, to speak unutterable words, to trespass on forbidden ground. Faith ought in silence to fulfil the commandments, worshipping the Father , reverencing with Him the Son , abounding in the Holy Ghost , but we must strain the poor resources of our language to express thoughts too great for words.
The error of others compels us to err in daring to embody in human terms truths which ought to be hidden in the silent veneration of the heart. For there have risen many who have given to the plain words of Holy Writ some arbitrary interpretation of their own, instead of its true and only sense, and this in defiance of the clear meaning of words. Heresy lies in the sense assigned, not in the word written; the guilt is that of the expositor, not of the text.
