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Lactantius
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Introductory Notice To Lactantius.
[552] Ecclus. xxiv. 5-7. This book is attributed to Solomon by many of the Fathers, though it bears the title of the Wisdom of Jesus the son of Sirach.
[554] λόγος.
[555] The boundary of the age. Thus the Scriptures speak of the end of the world, the last days.
[556] Magisterio, “teaching.”
[557] An expression frequently used by the Fathers to denote the assumption of our nature by Christ.
[558] Seminaret, “sow” or “spread.” [I have put “sow” into the text, and brought down “spread,” for an obvious reason.]
[559] The patriarchs. The idea appears to be that Christians from the Gentiles, having succeeded to the privileges of the Jews, are, as it were, their posterity.
[560] The duration of the captivity in Egypt was two hundred and fifteen years. The period of four hundred and thirty years is reckoned from the call of Abram out of Ur of the Chaldees to the final departure from Egypt.
[561] The Angel of the Covenant, who so often presented Himself to the Hebrews. See Ex. xxiii. 20. [The Jehovah-Angel. Compare Justin, vol. i. pp. 223–226, and others passim, this series.]
[562] Virgil, Georg., iv. 361. He describes Aristæus as descending to the chamber of his mother Cyrene, in the depths of the river Peneus. The waters separate on each side to make a way for him, and then close over his head.
[563] Coeuntibus aquis, “meeting together.”
[564] See Ps. lxxviii. 24: “He rained down manna upon them to eat.”
[565] See Num. xi. 31.
[566] Some of the Fathers think, with Lacantius, that it was the head only, and not the whole figure, of a calf which they made.
[567] Apis is the name given by the Egyptians to the calf which they worshipped.
[568] In signo.
[569] The moral law had been already given to Moses on the mount before the making of the golden calf. The law here referred to may well be taken to express the burthensome routine of the ceremonial law, which Peter (Acts xv. 10) describes as a “yoke which neither their fathers nor they were able to bear.” [Our author expresses himself with accuracy: He subjected them by the oppressive ceremonial law to the moral law He had just given.]
[570] The Hebrews are said to have derived their name from Heber the descendant of Noah by Shem; or more probably from Abram the Hebrew, that is, the man who had crossed the river,—a name given to him by the Canaanites. See Gen. xiv. 13.
[571] Examinis.
[572] There seems to be no authority for this derivation of the name. They were doubtless called Jews from Judah. As those who returned from the captivity at Babylon were principally of the tribe of Judah, though some from the other tribes returned with them, they were called Jews after the captivity.
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