Page:The Nestorians and their rituals, volume 2.djvu/95

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THE INCARNATION.
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earthly, such as were alive, and such as were in the grave, rejoiced, saying: 'He is One to all generations.'" And, again, in par. d. "From these things let us rest assured that the Messiah is One in two Natures and two Persons subsisting in One Parsopa of Filiation, since the Natures did not commingle; and in like manner we believe of the Persons. The Son of the Father clothed Himself with Him of Mary, and was conceived in the womb. But let no man filch a word from this, and wilfully pervert it by specious philosophy so as to conclude that there are two Sons. For there is one Son only, not a Son and a Son making two; but One Son, we repeat, as is most proper to maintain."

That the Nestorians believe the incarnation of the Son of God, and the union of the Divine and human Natures in Him, to be an incomprehensible mystery, the extracts adduced under this article most fully testify. What, for example, can be clearer on this point than the following clause from § 3? "The descent of the Word is inexplicable, and is beyond the examination of all inquirers, and the Union so exalted, that no words can express it." And, again, in § 6, par. l. "Hitherto the law of nature was in force, but in the appearance of the Saviour from a Virgin, the law of birth from [conjugal] union was abrogated, and the mind that would comprehend how this was must lose itself in the inquiry." See also par. k, passim.

That the Nestorians further believe the union of the Divine and Human natures in the Person, or Parsopa of the Son to be indissoluble is equally plain. Thus in § 1 we read, "Therefore, O Lord, we worship Thy Divinity and Thy Humanity without dividing them; for the power of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, is one, the sovereignty is one, and the will is one." And in § 6, par. s. "The life-giving Spirit was the agent in His pure conception, and gave a body and members to the Infant by the power of God, and joined it to Him in one inimitable parsopal dignity, not to be changed for ever and ever." And again in par. v. "O Lord, make us blameless, that we may live in purity, in faith, and in a right spirit, and that we may apprehend salvation by the eye of our minds, close our sight against every earthly lust, and lift up our eyes towards the high and heavenly kingdom, and there behold Him, Who is clothed

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