his verily is the counsel of thine
iniquity and senseless mind. But thou thyself shalt be like unto them,
and all such as put their trust in them.

"As for me, I will serve my God, and to him will I wholly sacrifice
myself, to God, the Creator and protector of all things through our
Lord Jesus Christ, my hope, by whom we have access unto the Father of
lights, in the Holy Ghost: by whom we have been redeemed from bitter
slavery by his blood. For if he had not humbled himself so far as to
take the form of a servant, we had not received the adoption of sons.
But he humbled himself for our sake, not considering the Godhead a
thing to be grasped, but he remained that which he was, and took on
himself that which he was not, and conversed with men, and mounted the
Cross in his flesh, and was laid in the sepulchre by the space of three
days; he descended into hell, and brought out from thence them whom the
fierce prince of this world held prisoners, sold into bondage by sin.
What harm then befell him thereby that thou thinkest to make mock of
him? Seest thou not yonder sun, into how many a barren and filthy
place he darteth his rays? Upon how many a stinking corpse doth he
cast his eye? Hath he therefore any stain of reproach? Doth he not
dry and shrivel up filth and rottenness, and give light to dark places,
himself the while unharmed and incapable of receiving any defilement?
And what of fire? Doth it not take iron, which is black and cold in
itself, and work it into white heat and harden it? Doth it receive any
of the properties of the iron? When the iron is smitten and beaten
with hammers is the fire any the worse, or doth it in any way suffer
harm?

"If, then, these created and corruptible things take no hurt from
contact with things commoner than themselves, with what reason dost
thou, O foolish and stony-hearted man, presume to mock at me for saying
that the Son, the Word of God, never departing from the Father's glory,
but remaining the same God, for the salvation of men hath taken upon
him the flesh of man, to the end that he may make men partakers of his
divine and intelligent nature and may lead our substance out of the
nether parts of hell, and honour it with heavenly glory; to the end
that by taking of our flesh he may ensnare and defeat the ruler of the
darkness of this world, and free our race from his tyranny. Wherefore,
I tell thee, without suffering he met the suffering of the Cross,
presenting the