Section 453
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422 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. of his spirit. Again, then, by means of these he cleansed and removed the filth of the souls who a little before had been pol luted, and with the spades and mattocks, the reproving doctrines of the divine word, he removed all the accumulated matter of im pious commands.* And thus when he had made the ground of your mind clear and bright, then he committed it for the future to this f most wise and divinely favoured guide. He, as in other respects, endowed with singular judgment and prudence, well capable of discriminating and discerning the minds of those "com mitted to his charge, from the first day that he began to build, as I may say, has not ceased to the present. In one place he applied the splendid gold, in another, the refined and pure silver, and the valuable and precious stonesj among all, so that a sacred and mystic prophecy is again fulfilled by facts displayed in you, when it is said, Behold, I will lay thy stones with fair carbuncles, and lay thy foundations with sapphires, and thy bulwarks of jasper stone, and thy gates with crystal, and thy walls with chosen stones, and all thy children shall be taught of the Lord, and great shall be the peace of thy children, and thou shalt be built in right eousness.' " Building therefore, in righteousness, he divided the strength and means of the W7hole people, according to a due estimate. With some § indeed, he surrounded only the exterior inclosure, walling it up with an unwavering faith. For such is the great multitude and mass of the people, that they are incapable of bearing any superior structure. But allowing others|| the entrance into the edifice, he directs them to stand at the doors, and to conduct those that are entering, who not improperly are compared to Alluding to the measures pursued by Maximinus and his governors. f Paulinus, the bishop. t An allusion to 1 Cor. iii. 1 2., in which our author plainly understands by the gold, silver, precious stones, &c., the different members, as the materials that con stituted the moral and spiritual structure. § Eusebius now gives an allegorical description of the spiritual temple at Tyre, in which he also gives the different grades of religious attainment. || By these are meant the sub-deacons, whose office was to conduct all that en tered to their proper places, the catechumens, penitents, into the narthex or hall, the faithful, &c. into the nave.