48 Ib. xliv. 19 (lxx.); lxix. 2.
57 S. Luke xv. 9; 1 Cor. xv. 49.
2 His father's gods. These words, together with the reference to idols and idolators in § 5 and the lines (Poem, Hist. I. i. 123-4, tome 2. p. 636) u 9p0 ei 9dw/loij pa/roj h\en zw/wn have led some writers (esp. Ullmann and Clericus) to attribute the worship of idols to the Hypsistarii, and Clémencet points out that zw/wn is only the Ep. and Ion. partic. of za/w, and does not mean "of animals." The weakness of a reliance on a poetical expression is shown in Dict. Christ. Biog. Here the words are the mystical application of the actual experience of Abraham, and e'idwlon does not necessarily connote material idols. It is applied by S. Greg. Nyssen, Orat. funebr. de Placilla, p. 965. B (ed. 1615) to the worship of Jesus Christ by the Arians. Cf. Introd. to Orat. xviii.
14 O best, &c. Faustinus, bishop of Iconium, must have been present, and S. Gregory, having asked his permission to relate the incident, looks towards him awaiting some sign of his assent.
17 Antitypes, i.e. the reserved Sacrament.
7 The Cross. The stretching out of Moses' hands was a type of the outstretched hands of our Lord Jesus, and His "intercession for the transgressors," upon the Cross.