4. O Lord, Lord, "who didst bow the heavens and didst
descend, who didst touch the mountains and they smoked,"[242] by
what means didst thou find thy way into that breast? He used to
read the Holy Scriptures, as Simplicianus said, and thought out
and studied all the Christian writings most studiously. He said
to Simplicianus -- not openly but secretly as a friend -- "You
must know that I am a Christian." To which Simplicianus replied,
"I shall not believe it, nor shall I count you among the
Christians, until I see you in the Church of Christ." Victorinus
then asked, with mild mockery, "Is it then the walls that make
Christians?" Thus he often would affirm that he was already a
Christian, and as often Simplicianus made the same answer; and
just as often his jest about the walls was repeated. He was
fearful of offending his friends, proud demon worshipers, from the
height of whose Babylonian dignity, as from the tops of the cedars
of Lebanon which the Lord had not yet broken down, he feared that
a storm of enmity would descend upon him.
But he steadily gained strength from reading and inquiry, and
came to fear lest he should be denied by Christ before the holy
angels if he now was afraid to confess him before men.
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