Book IV

Book IV

preface

§1. In sending out to thee,¹¹⁸⁵* dearly-beloved, this fourth Book of our treatise of the Discovery and Refutation of Knowledge falsely so called, we intend, according to our promise, to establish our previous statements by the words of our Lord: that thou also, as thou didst desire, mightest receive from us every way means of confuting all the Heretics; and beating them back altogether, mightest not suffer them to plunge themselves further into the deep of error, nor to be choked in the sea of ignorance; but rather, turning them towards the Harbour of Truth, mightest so cause them to receive their own salvation.

§ 2. But whosoever would convert them, must carefully acquaint himself with their rules or arguments: it being impossible for one to cure any sick persons, not knowing the ailment of the same.

For which cause they who have been before us,¹¹⁸⁶* yea, and much better men than we, were nevertheless unable to dispute against the Valentinians, as not knowing their system: which we in our first Book have very diligently expounded unto thee: wherein also we have shewn how their doctrine gathers up in one all the Heretics.

Wherefore in the second Book again we have used them as a mirror in which the whole of our refutation might be discerned.¹¹⁸⁷* For they who duly dispute with these, dispute with all who have bad views: and the refuters of these refute every heresy.

§ 3. For no creed is so blasphemous as theirs:¹¹⁸⁸* who, as we have shewn, speak of the Maker and Framer, Who is One God, as the produce of decay and defection. And they blaspheme our Lord also, cutting off and dividing Jesus from Christ, and Christ from the Saviour, and the Saviour again from the Word, and the Word from the Only Begotten. And as they affirm the Creator to have been the produce of decay or defection, so Christ also, and the Holy Ghost, by their teaching, were produced because of Decay: and the Saviour is a kind of growth from those Æons, who were the produce of Decay: lest anything of theirs should be without blasphemy.

Accordingly,¹¹⁸⁹* in the book before this we have set forth the sentence of the Apostles upon them all; how that, far from having any such idea,¹¹⁹⁰* they who from the beginning were eye-witnesses and ministers of the Word of Truth, did even proclaim to us to shun the aforesaid opinions, foreseeing by the Spirit the future deceivers of the simpler ones.

§ 4. For as the Serpent beguiled Eve, promising her what he had not himself, so these also, pretending greater knowledge and unspeakable mysteries, and promising that admission which they talk of within the Pleroma, plunge those who trust them into death, rendering them Apostates from their Maker.

And whereas at that time the apostate Angel caused by the Serpent the disobedience of men, and thought himself hidden from the Lord;—on which account God attributes to him the form and title aforesaid;—now, because they are the last times, the evil extends itself to men also, not only causing them to become Apostates, but training them up to be blasphemers of their Maker by many contrivances; I mean by all the aforementioned Heretics.

For all these,¹¹⁹¹* issuing from different places, and teaching different doctrines, concur however in the same blasphemous intent; inflicting a deadly wound, in that they teach blasphemy against God our Maker and Nourisher, and do away with¹¹⁹²¹ Man’s Salvation. By Man, I mean him who is a mixture of soul and flesh, formed after the likeness of God, and moulded by His Hands, to wit, by the Son and the Holy Ghost: unto Whom also He said,¹¹⁹³* Let us make Man.

This then is the purpose of him who grudges us Life: to make men unbelievers in their own salvation, and blasphemers of God Who formed them. For when all Heretics have said all, with their utmost gravity, in the end they come to this, that they blaspheme the Maker and deny the Salvation of God’s work; which work is the Flesh: for the sake whereof the Son of God wrought all His providential purpose, as we have shewn in many ways; and have made it evident that none other is called God by the Scriptures, but only the Father of all, and the Son, and those who have the adoption.

Chap. I. § 1. So much then being firm and fixed, that no other is set forth by the Spirit as God and Lord,¹¹⁹⁴* save Him Who being God rules over all, with His Word, and those who receive the Spirit of adoption, i.e., who believe in the only and true God, and in Jesus Christ the Son of God: and the Apostles in like manner of themselves gave not to any other the Name of God or the surname of Lord; and much less our Lord, Who did even enjoin us to confess none our Father,¹¹⁹⁵* save Him Who is in Heaven, Who is one God and one Father—the falsehood is evidently shewn of what is said by deluders and most perverse sophists, affirming that He is by Nature both God and Father, whom they have themselves invented; but that the Creator is naturally neither God nor Father, but is so called merely by way of speaking, because He rules over the creature—so say the perverse critics, devising thoughts against God. And while they neglect the teaching of Christ, of themselves they divine falsities, arguing against the entire government of God. For their Æons they say are called both Gods and Fathers and Lords, and withal likewise Heavens, with their Mother, whom they entitle both Earth, and Jerusalem; and there are many other names whereby they designate her.

§ 2. But who can help seeing, that if the Lord had known of many Fathers and Gods, He would not have enjoined His Disciples to recognize one God only, and Him, the very same, alone to call Father? Yea, and He hath marked the distinction between those who are Gods in word only, and Him Who is so in deed: that men might not err in His doctrine, nor misunderstand one for another.

But if, while He bade us call One only Father and God, He Himself is confessing meanwhile other Fathers and Gods in the same sense, He will appear to be commanding His disciples one way, and Himself acting the other way. Now this is not conduct for a good Master, but for a deceiver and a grudging person.

And the Apostles too by their account are shewn to be breakers of the commandment, in confessing, as we have shewn, the Creator to be God and Lord and Father, if He is not the only God and Father. They will have transgressed then by the sanction and teaching of Jesus, Who enjoined that one only should be called Father, thus imposing on them, as we have shewn, the need of confessing the Creator as their Proper Father.

Chap. II. § 1. Moses accordingly, summing up in Deuteronomy the whole Law, which he had received from the Creator, thus speaks: Give ear,¹¹⁹⁶* O Heaven, and I will speak, and let the earth hear words from my mouth. Again, David, saying that his help cometh of the Lord,¹¹⁹⁷* My help, saith he, is of the Lord, Who made Heaven and Earth. And Esaias professes that his sayings proceed from the Lord, Who made Heaven and Earth,¹¹⁹⁸* and governs them: Hear, saith he, O Heaven, and give ear, O Earth: for the Lord hath spoken.¹¹⁹⁹* And again, Thus saith the Lord God, Who made the Heaven, and fastened it in its place: Who established the earth, and the things that are therein: and Who giveth breath to the people that is upon it, and spirit to them that tread on it.

§ 2. On the other hand our Lord Jesus Christ professes this same to be His Father,¹²⁰⁰* in that He saith, I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of Heaven and Earth. What Father would these men have us understand,¹²⁰¹* Pandora’s people I mean, the most wrongheaded of Sophists? Is it “The Deep,” whom they have devised of themselves? or their “Mother,” or their “Only Begotten?” or the God whom the Marcionites, or whom the rest, have invented? (although that there is no such God we have proved at large) or, as the truth is, the Maker of Heaven and Earth? Whom both the Prophets did preach, and Christ professes to be His Father, and the Law announces, saying, Hear O Israel:¹²⁰²* the Lord thy God is one God.

§ 3. Moreover,¹²⁰³* that the writings of Moses are the words of Christ, He Himself tells the Jews, as John has recorded in the Gospel:¹²⁰⁴* Had ye believed Moses, ye would have also believed Me, for he wrote of Me. But if ye believe not his writings, neither will ye believe My words: most clearly implying, that Moses’s writings are His own words. If then Moses’s words are His, so without doubt are the other Prophets’ also: as we have demonstrated.

And again the Lord Himself hath declared that Abraham said to the rich man, concerning all those who were yet alive,¹²⁰⁵* If they obey not Moses and the Prophets, neither if one rise from the dead and go to them, will they believe him.

§ 4. Now He did not tell us a mere story of a poor man and a rich:¹²⁰⁶* but first, He taught that no man ought to make pleasure his employment—that men should not so live in worldly luxuries and abundant feasting, as to serve their own pleasures and forget God. For, saith He, there was a rich man,¹²⁰⁷* who was clothed with purple and fine linen, and delighted himself with splendid feasts. And of such the Spirit also spake by Isaiah:¹²⁰⁸* With harps, and timbrels, and psalteries, and pipes they drink wine, but the works of God they look not upon, and the works of His hands they consider not. For fear then of our coming to the same punishment with them, the Lord hath declared their end: implying at the same time, that if they obeyed Moses and the Prophets, they would believe in Him Whom they had preached; on the Son of God, Who rose from the dead, and gives us life. And He points out, how all are of one substance, I mean Abraham and Moses and the Prophets;—yea, even the Lord Himself Who rose again from the dead; in Whom believe many also who are of the circumcision, hearing as they do both Moses and the Prophets, how they preach the coming of the Son of God. But those who scorn Him, teach that they are of another substance, and know not the First-born of the dead: thinking of Christ as apart by Himself, as of one who abides exempt from suffering, and apart by Himself again, Him who did suffer, even Jesus.

§ 5. Because they receive not from the Father the knowledge of the Son,¹²⁰⁹* nor of the Son do they learn the Father, although He teach evidently and without Parables that God, Who truly is.¹²¹⁰* Swear not, saith He, at all; neither by Heaven, for it is the Throne of God: nor by the Earth, for it is the Footstool of His Feet: neither by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. For these words are evidently spoken of the Creator, as Esaias also saith:¹²¹¹* Heaven is My throne, Earth is the footstool of My feet. And besides Him is no other God, else would He not be stiled by our Lord either God or great King; for that saying excludes both comparison and all superiority. Since whosoever hath any superior to himself, and is under the power of another, the same can neither be called God nor the great King.

§ 6. Neither again will they be able to maintain that all this is said ironically, since the words themselves prove to the contrary, that they are uttered in serious truth. For He Who spake was Himself the Truth.

And in truth did He avenge His own House,¹²¹²* when He cast the Money-changers out of it, who were both selling and buying,¹²¹³* saying unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the House of Prayer; but ye have made it a Den of Thieves.¹²¹⁴* And what occasion had He to do and say this, and to avenge His own house, if He was announcing another God?¹²¹⁵* But it was to set a mark on the transgressors of His Father’s Law. For He laid nothing to the charge of the house, neither did He blame the Law, which He had come to fulfil: but He was blaming those who made no good use of the house, and those who were transgressing the Law.

And accordingly the Scribes and Pharisees who began from the times of the Law to despise God, received not His Word, that is, believed not Christ. Of whom Esaias saith,¹²¹⁶* Thy Princes are disobedient, companions of thieves, loving gifts, following after payments, judging not for orphans, and minding not the judgment of widows. And Jeremiah too in like manner,¹²¹⁷* The chiefs of My people, saith he, knew Me not: they are senseless and unwise sons, they are wise in doing evil, but how to do good they have not known.

§ 7. But as many as feared God,¹²¹⁸* and were anxious about His Law, of their own accord hastened unto Christ, and were all saved. For, Go ye, He saith to His disciples, to the sheep which were lost of the House of Israel.¹²¹⁹* And the Samaritans too, we are told, our Lord having remained with them two days,¹²²⁰* did many more of them believe because of His discourses, and said to the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard ourselves; and know that this is truly the Saviour of the world.¹²²¹* And Paul again saith, And so all Israel shall be saved.¹²²²* Yea, and he called the Law, Our School-master unto Jesus Christ.

Let them not then charge the Law with the unbelief of certain persons: for the Law forbade not their believing in the Son of God, but rather urged it on them, saying, that no otherwise are men saved from the old wound of the serpent,¹²²³* except they believe on Him,¹²²⁴* Who in the likeness of sinful flesh is lifted up from the Earth on the wood of martyrdom, and draws all things to Himself, and quickens the dead.

Chap. III. § 1. Whereas they in their evil constructions say, Why, if the Heaven is God’s throne, and the earth His footstool,¹²²⁵* and it is said that Heaven and Earth pass away, and that as they pass,¹²²⁶* this God also, Who sitteth upon them, must needs pass away, and therefore that He is not the God Who is over all:—in the first place they know not the meaning of Heaven being a Throne, and Earth a Footstool. For neither do they know what God is, but think of Him as sitting like a man; and as being comprehended, not as comprehending. And they are ignorant moreover of the passing away of Heaven and Earth.¹²²⁷* But Paul was not ignorant of it, saying, For the Fashion of this world passeth away.

In the next place, David solves their question. For while the fashion of this world passeth away, he saith that not only God endures, but His servants also: thus expressing himself in the 101st.¹²²⁸* Psalm: Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth, and the Heavens are the works of Thy Hands. They shall perish, but Thou shalt remain; and they all shall wax old as a garment; and as a wrapping shalt Thou change them, and they shall be changed; But Thou art the very same, and Thy years shall not fail. The children of Thy servants shall dwell there, and their seed shall be set upright for ever. Plainly declaring what things they are which pass away, and Who it is that endures always, God with His own servants.

And Esaias too in like manner:¹²²⁹* Lift up, saith he, your eyes unto Heaven, and look upon the earth beneath: for the Heaven is settled^1230a like smoke, and the earth shall wax old as a garment: and they that dwell therein shall die as they do. But My Salvation shall be for ever, and My righteousness shall not fail.

Chap. IV. § 1. And of Jerusalem, and of the Lord, they make bold also to say, that if it were the city of the great King, it would not be forsaken.¹²³¹* But this is as if one should say,¹²³²* that if stubble were a creature of God, it would never be forsaken of the corn: and that the refuse twigs of the vineyard, if they were of God’s making, would never be bereaved of the clusters and cut away.

But even as these were made not chiefly for their own sake; but for the fruit growing in them, and when that is ripened and removed, the portions which help not in producing fruit are left to themselves and taken out of the way: so likewise it fares with Jerusalem; which had borne in herself the yoke of slavery, wherewith man was tamed, who before while death reigned, was not in subjection to God, and being tamed was made meet for liberty:—so I say, it fares with her, now that the Fruit of liberty is come, and hath grown up, and been cut down, and gathered into the garner, and there have been carried out from it such as are able to bear fruit, and they have been planted out in the whole world.

As Esaias saith,¹²³³* The children of Jacob shall bud, and Israel shall flourish, and the world shall be filled with his fruit. His fruit then being dispersed in the whole world, naturally there is a forsaking and a removal of what had once borne fruit well; (for of them, as concerning the flesh, Christ was produced, and the Apostles;) but now it is now no more meet for bearing. For all things which have a beginning in time, must needs also have an end in time.

§ 2. Thus, since the Law began from Moses, it ended in due course in John, Christ having come to fulfil it; and therefore the Law and the Prophets were with them even until John.¹²³⁴* Jerusalem also accordingly beginning from David, and completing her proper times, The giving of the Law was to have an end in the revelation of the New Testament.

(For God doeth all things in measure and order,¹²³⁵* and nothing with Him wants measure, since nothing is unnumbered. And well spake he who said that the Immeasurable Father Himself was measured in the Son: for the measure of the Father, is the Son, since He even contains Him).

But that their economy was but for a time, Esaias saith; The daughter of Sion shall be forsaken as a cottage in a vineyard, and as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers.¹²³⁶* Now when shall these be forsaken? Is it not when the fruit is removed, and the leaves alone are to be left, which can now bear no fruit?

§ 3. And why speak we of Jerusalem,¹²³⁷* since the fashion even of the whole world must pass away, when the time of its passing arrives, for the fruit to be gathered into the garner, and the chaff to be left and burned up? For the day of the Lord burneth like an oven,¹²³⁸* and all sinners, who do unrighteously, shell be stubble, and the Day that cometh shall burn them up. Now, who this Lord is, Who bringeth with Him such a Day, John the Baptist signifies,¹²³⁹* saying of Christ, He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire, having the shovel in His Hand for throughly purging His floor; and He shall gather the wheat into the garner, but shall burn up the chaff with fire unquenchable.

For the Maker of the wheat is not one, and the Maker of the chaff another; but one and the same; and He judges, i.e., parts them asunder.

But the wheat indeed and the chaff,¹²⁴⁰* being inanimate and irrational, were naturally made such: whereas man being rational, and therein like unto God, created free in will and in his own power, is the cause unto himself why he should become in one case wheat and in another chaff. Wherefore also he will be justly condemned, because being created rational he hath lost true reason, and living irrationally hath opposed the righteousness of God, giving himself over to every earthly spirit, and serving all kinds of pleasures: as saith the Prophet: Man being in honour hath no understanding: he is compared unto the senseless beasts,¹²⁴¹* and made like unto them.

Chap. V. § 1. It is therefore one only and the same God, Who folds the Heaven like a scroll,¹²⁴²* and renews the face of the earth: Who made things temporal for man’s sake, that ripening among them he might bear the fruit of immortality, and Who brings in over and above eternal things for His own mercy’s sake,¹²⁴³* that He may shew to the ages to come the unutterable riches of His goodness; Who was announced by the Law and the Prophets, Whom Christ avowed to be His Father. Now He and no other is the Maker, and He is God over all.¹²⁴⁴* As Esaias saith: I am witness, saith the Lord God, and My Servant, Whom I have chosen, that ye may know, and believe and understand, that I am He. Before Me there was no other God, and shall not be after Me. I am God, and without Me there is none that saveth.¹²⁴⁵* I have declared and have saved. And again, I am the first God, and over the things to come, I am.

For He saith not these things inconsistently, nor loftily, nor in boasting: but it being impossible without God to learn of God, He teaches men by His Word to know God. You see that to such as are ignorant of these things, and therefore think that they have found another Father,¹²⁴⁶* one justly says, Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God.

§ 2. For our Lord and Master in that answer which He made to the Sadducees,¹²⁴⁷* who say there is no resurrection, and thereby dishonour God and disparage the Law, did at once affirm the Resurrection and reveal the Deity, saying unto them,¹²⁴⁸* Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God.¹²⁴⁹* For concerning the Resurrection saith He, of the dead, have ye not read what is spoken by God, saying, I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob?¹²⁵⁰* And He added, He is not a God of the dead, but of the living: for all live unto Him. Hereby, you see, He made it plain, that He Who spake from the bush to Moses, and manifested Himself to be the God of the Fathers, He is the God of the Living. For who is God of the Living, but the same Who is God, and above Whom is no other God? Whom the Prophet Daniel also proclaimed, when Cyrus King of the Persians had said to him,¹²⁵¹* Why dost thou not worship Bel?¹²⁵²* He said, Because I worship not idols made with hands, but the Living God, Who established Heaven and Earth, and hath power over all flesh. Again he said,¹²⁵³* I will worship the Lord my God, for He is the Living God.

He therefore Who was worshipped by the Prophets as Living God, He is the God of the living, and His Word; Who both spake to Moses, and rebuked the Sadducees, and gave us the Resurrection: to such as are blind making known both: I mean the Resurrection and God. For if He is God not of the dead but of the living, and if in this place He is called the God of the Fathers who are asleep, undoubtedly they live unto God and have not perished,¹²⁵⁴* being children of the Resurrection. But the Resurrection is our Lord Himself:¹²⁵⁵* according to His own words, I am the Resurrection and the Life. And the Fathers are His Sons: for it is said by the Prophet,¹²⁵⁶* Thy Sons are made unto Thee as Thy Fathers. Christ therefore Himself, with the Father, is God of the living, Who spake unto Moses, Who was also manifested to the Fathers.

§ 3. And teaching this same lesson He said to the Jews,¹²⁵⁷* Your Father Abraham rejoiced that he might see My day, and saw it,¹²⁵⁸* and was glad. For why? Abraham believed God, and it was accounted unto him for righteousness. First, indeed, that He is God alone,¹²⁵⁹* the Maker of Heaven and Earth; and next, that He will make his seed as the stars of Heaven. This is that which is spoken of by Paul,¹²⁶⁰* As lights in the world. Justly therefore, leaving his earthly kindred, did he follow the Word; leading here the life of a stranger, that he might have his citizenship with the Word.

§ 4. And justly did the Apostles also, having their birth from Abraham, leave the ship and their Father, and follow the Word.¹²⁶¹* Justly then likewise do we, having the same faith with Abraham, take up our Cross, as Isaac his Wood, and follow.

For in Abraham,¹²⁶²* mankind had learned before, and had been used, to follow the Word of God. Since indeed Abraham,¹²⁶³* according to his faith, having followed the commandment of God’s Word,¹²⁶⁴* did with a ready mind give up his only-begotten and beloved son, for a sacrifice unto God: that God again might be well pleased to afford unto Abraham’s whole seed His only-begotten and dearly beloved Son to be a Sacrifice for our redemption.

§ 5. Abraham therefore did vehemently exult,¹²⁶⁵* being a Prophet, and seeing by the Spirit the day of the Lord’s Advent, and the ordering of His Passion, by whom he also himself, and all who believe in God as he believed, were beginning to be saved.

It follows,¹²⁶⁶* that to Abraham our Lord was not unknown, Whose Day he desired to see: nor yet the Father of our Lord. For he had learned of the Word of the Lord, and believed Him: wherefore also it was accounted unto him by the Lord for righteousness. Seeing it is the Faith which is towards God Most High, which justifies a man:¹²⁶⁷* and therefore he said, I will lift up mine hand unto the Most High God, Who established Heaven and Earth. But all this they try to overturn who are evil-minded, on account of one expression, and that assuredly not well understood among them.

Chap. VI. § 1. I mean, where our Lord, declaring Himself to His Disciples, how He is Himself the Word, Who gives knowledge of the Father,¹²⁶⁸* and reproving the Jews, who thought they had God, even while they make void the Word of Him by Whom God is known,—said,¹²⁶⁹* No one knoweth the Son but the Father, neither knoweth any one the Father but the Son,¹²⁷⁰* and he to whom the Son will reveal Him. Thus both Matthew hath set it down, and Luke also, and Mark, the very same thing; for John omits this passage.

Now they who would fain be more knowing than Apostles, write it thus: “No one hath known the Father but the Son, nor the Son but the Father, and he to whom the Son will reveal Him,” and interpret it as though the true God were known by no one before the Coming of our Lord: and that God, Who was announced by the Prophets, they deny to be the Father of Christ.

§ 2. But even if Christ’s existence began only with His fulfilling His human advent, and if the Father did but from the times of Tiberius Cæsar remember to take thought for men, and if there were no declaration of His Word having been always with the work of His Hands: not even in such case was it necessary that another God should be set forth, but only that the causes of so great inattention and disregard on His part should be sought after. For no controversy ought to be of such sort, or to be allowed such influence, as even to change our God Himself and make void our faith towards our Maker, Who by the things which He hath made sustains us. Yea, as we direct our Faith towards the Son, so towards the Father also it becomes us to retain a firm and immoveable Love.¹²⁷¹* And well saith Justin in his book against Marcion, “I could not have believed the Lord Himself, if He announced another God beside the Creator. But because from the One God, Who both created this world, and formed us, and contains and governs all things, the Only Begotten Son came unto us, gathering together into Himself the work of His Own Hands, my faith in Him is firm, and my love to the Father immoveable; both being God’s gift unto us.”

§ 3. For neither can any one know the Father,¹²⁷²* but by revelation of the Word of God, i.e., of the Son, nor yet the Son, but by the good pleasure of the Father. And the good pleasure of the Father, the Son fulfils: the Father sending, the Son being sent, and coming. And the Father on the one hand, being invisible and illimitable as towards us, is known by His own Word; and being unutterable, is yet uttered by Him to us: on the other hand, the Father again alone knoweth His own Word. And that both these things are as I have said, the Lord hath declared. And therefore the Son by manifestation of Himself reveals the knowledge of the Father. For the manifestation of the Son is the knowledge of the Father: for by the Word all things are made manifest.

Wherefore, to teach us that the Son Who is coming is the same Who makes the Father known to such as believe Him, He said to His Disciples, No man knoweth the Father but the Son, nor the Son but the Father, and those to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him: teaching of Himself and the Father, as the truth is, that we might not receive another Father, save Him Who is revealed by the Son.

§ 4. Now He is the Framer of Heaven and Earth: as is shewn by our Lord’s discourses:¹²⁷³* not the pretended Father who hath been invented by Marcion, or by Valentinus, or by Basilides, or by Carpocrates, or Simon, or the other Gnostics falsely so called. For none of these was the Son of God, but Christ Jesus our Lord was; to Whom the method they practise is even contrary, in that they dare to announce “an unknown God.”¹²⁷⁴* But they ought to listen to this against their own selves. For how is He unknown, who is known by themselves? For whatsoever is known but by a few, is not wholly unknown. But our Lord said not, that the Father and the Son could not be known at all, else were His Advent superfluous. For why came He hither? To say to us, “Think not of seeking God, for He is unknown, and ye shall not find Him?” as the Valentinians feign that Christ also said to their Æons. But this is merely vain. Rather the Lord instructed us, that no one can know God, except upon God’s teaching^1275b: i.e., that without God, God is not known: and that for God to be known is itself the free-will of the Father. For they shall know Him, to whom the Son will reveal Him.

§ 5. And to this end did the Father reveal the Son, that by Him He might be manifested to all men, and that such as believe Him, being righteous, He may receive into incorruption, and into eternal refreshment:¹²⁷⁶* (now to believe Him, is to do His will:) but those who believe not, and therefore fly from His light, He will justly shut up into the darkness which they have chosen for themselves. To all therefore the Father hath revealed Himself, in making His Word visible to all: and the Word again in being seen by all, was shewing to all the Father and the Son. And therefore the judgement of God is just upon all those who have seen alike, but have not believed alike.

§ 6. For so by the creature itself doth the Word reveal God the Creator, and by the world the Lord, the Framer of the World, and by the handy-work the Artificer Who moulded it, and by the Son that Father of Whom the Son is begotten: which things all indeed alike discourse of, but they do not alike believe.

But by the Law and the Prophets in like manner did the Word preach both Himself and the Father: and while the whole people heard alike, all did not alike believe. And by the same Word, made visible and tangible, the Father was declared, though all did not alike believe Him; yet all saw the Father in the Son: for that which is invisible of the Son is the Father, and that which is visible of the Father is the Son.

And for this cause all in His presence spake of Christ,¹²⁷⁷* and used the Name of God. Yea, and demons, seeing the Son,¹²⁷⁸* would say, We know Thee Who Thou art, the Holy One of God. And the Devil tempting Him, when he saw Him, said, If Thou be the Son of God:¹²⁷⁹* all of them seeing and speaking of the Son and of the Father, but not all believing Him.

§ 7. For it was meet that the Truth should receive testimony from all,¹²⁸⁰* and should be a judgement unto salvation of them that believe, and unto condemnation of them that believe not: that all might be justly judged, and that the Faith which is towards the Father and the Son might be approved by all, I mean, confirmed by all; receiving testimony from all; both from its own, in that they are friends, and from aliens, in that they are enemies. For that proof is true and incapable of contradiction, which even from its very adversaries draws out the particulars^1281c of its evidence; while they at first by their own sight are convinced of a thing as actually present, and bear witness, and imply it to be so: but afterwards break out into hostility, and turn accusers, and would fain have their own testimony untrue.

We conclude that it was not One who was known,¹²⁸²* and another who said, No man knoweth the Father; but one and the same, under Whom the Father was putting all things; Who also receiveth testimony from all, that He is truly Man and that He is truly God:—from the Father, from the Spirit, from Angels; from the creature itself, from men, and from apostate spirits and demons; from the Enemy, and last of all from death itself.

And the Son in all things ministering to the Father,¹²⁸³* fulfils them from beginning to end; and without Him no man can know God. For the knowledge of the Father, is the Son; but the knowledge of the Son is in the Father, and is revealed by the Son: and therefore our Lord said, No man knoweth the Son but the Father; nor the Father, but the Son, and to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him: “Will reveal” being not spoken of the future only, as though the Word then began to make known the Father, when He was born of Mary, but set down largely as throughout all time^1284d. Because from the beginning the Son abiding by the work of His own hands, reveals the Father unto all, whom the Father wills, and when He wills, and as He wills. And therefore in all and through all is One God the Father, and one Word, and one Son, and one Spirit, and one salvation to all who believe in Him.

Chap. VII. § 1. Wherefore Abraham also, by the Word knowing the Father, Who made Heaven and Earth, confessed Him to be God. And being taught by vision¹²⁸⁵², that the Son of God would be a man among men, by Whose Advent his seed should become as the stars of Heaven, he desired to see that day, that he also himself might take Christ in his arms: and beholding it by the Spirit of Prophecy, he rejoiced. For which cause Simeon likewise, being of his seed, fulfilled anew the joy of the Patriarch,¹²⁸⁶* and said, Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace; for mine eyes have seen Thy Salvation, which Thou hast prepared before the face of all people; a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of the people of Israel.¹²⁸⁷* And the Angels too told news of great joy to the Shepherds watching by night. Yea, and Mary saith,¹²⁸⁸* My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour: the joy of Abraham, on the one hand, descending on those who were of his seed, watching and beholding Christ, and believing Him: and joy on the other hand mutually returning from the children back towards Abraham, even as he had desired to see the day of Christ’s Advent. Well therefore did our Lord give testimony to him saying,¹²⁸⁹* Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it, and was glad.

§ 2. Since not for Abraham’s sake only did He say this,¹²⁹⁰* but in order to shew that all, who from the beginning knew the Lord, and foretold Christ’s Advent, had their revelation from the Son Himself—the Same Who in the last times was made visible and passible, and spake with mankind, that of the stones He might raise up children to Abraham, and fulfil the promise which God had promised him, to make his seed as the stars of Heaven: as saith John the Baptist,¹²⁹¹* For God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. And this Jesus did, withdrawing us from the worship of stones, and carrying us away from our own hard and unfruitful thoughts, and establishing in us a faith like Abraham’s.

As Paul also testifies, saying, that we are sons of Abraham according to the likeness of his faith,¹²⁹²* and the promise of his inheritance.

§ 3. It is one therefore and the same God, who called Abraham, and gave him the Promise. And this is the Maker,¹²⁹³* the same who through Christ prepares lights in the world,—those who believe from among the Gentiles. Now you,¹²⁹⁴* saith He, are the light of the world: i.e., as the stars of Heaven.¹²⁹⁵*

Him therefore we rightly declare to be known by no man, save the Son, and to whomsoever the Son shall reveal Him. But the Son makes revelation to all, to whom it pleases the Father to be known; and neither without the Father’s good pleasure, nor without the ministry of the Son will any one know God. And therefore the Lord said to the disciples,¹²⁹⁶* I am the way, the truth, and the life. And, No man cometh unto the Father, but by Me. If ye had known Me, ye should have known My Father also: and from henceforth ye have known Him, and seen Him. Whereby it is manifest, that He is known by His Son, i.e., by the Word.

§ 4. Wherefore the Jews are gone out from God, not receiving the Word of God,¹²⁹⁷* but imagining that they may know the Father by Himself without the Word, i.e., without the Son: not knowing that God, Who in human form spake unto Abraham, and again unto Moses, how He saith,¹²⁹⁸* I have surely seen the vexation of My people in Egypt, and I am come down to deliver them. For in these things the Son Who is the Word of God, was making His arrangements from the beginning; the Father having no need of Angels, to make the world, and to form man, for whose sake indeed the world was made: neither again needing any ministry for the shaping out the things which were made, for the settlement of those matters which regarded man, but having an abundant and unspeakable provision for that service. For there ministers to Him in all that is His, His Progeny and the Image thereof, i.e., the Son and the Holy Ghost, His Word and His Wisdom: Whom all the Angels serve, and are their subjects.

Vain therefore are such as introduce another unknown Father, because of this which is said, No man knoweth the Father, but the Son.

Chap. VIII. § 1. Vain too is Marcion, and his set, driving out Abraham from his inheritance; to whom the Spirit bears witness by many,¹²⁹⁹* and especially by Paul, that he believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness, as also the Lord, first of all by raising up sons to him from the stones, and by making his seed as the stars of Heaven, where He says,¹³⁰⁰* That they shall come from the east, and west, and north,¹³⁰¹* and south, and shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of Heaven: again where He says to the Jews,¹³⁰²* When ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the Prophets in the Kingdom of Heaven, and yourselves thrust out.

It is plain therefore, that such as deny his salvation, and devise another God, besides Him who made the promise to Abraham, are without the Kingdom of God, and have lost the heritage of incorruption: annulling and blaspheming God, Who brings into the Kingdom of Heaven Abraham and his seed,¹³⁰³* which is the Church, by Christ Jesus,; to Whom is committed both the adoption, and the inheritance which is promised to Abraham.

§ 2. For the Lord maintained the cause of his seed, releasing them from chains, and calling them to salvation: as He did in the case of the woman who was cured by Him, saying expressly to those, who had not faith like Abraham’s,¹³⁰⁴* Ye hypocrites, doth not each one of you on the Sabbath day loose, and lead away, and water, his ox or his ass? And this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan had bound eighteen years, ought she not to be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?

Plain it is therefore,¹³⁰⁵* that those who like Abraham believed Him, He loosed, and gave them life; doing nothing beyond the Law, though He healed on the Sabbath day. For the Law did not forbid men to be healed on the Sabbath, seeing it both used to circumcise them on that day, and directed the Priests to fulfil their ministries for the people; yea, and forbade not attendance on dumb creatures. Siloa^1306e too often wrought cures on the Sabbath: and therefore many were sitting by it on the Sabbath day.

For the Law bade them abstain from all servile work, i.e., from all desire of gain, which is kept active by trading, and by the other dealings of the world: but works relating to the soul, the instruments whereof are advice and good discourses, in aid of our neighbours,—these He recommended to be done.¹³⁰⁷* And hereby the Lord refuted those who reproached Him unjustly for healing on the Sabbath. For He was not undoing, but fulfilling the Law; performing the work of an High Priest, propitiating God for man, and cleansing the Leprous, curing the sick,¹³⁰⁸* and Himself dying, that banished Man might come out of his condemnation, and return without fear to his own inheritance.

§ 3. Moreover, hungry persons were not forbidden by the Law to take food on the Sabbath of such things as were at hand; although they were forbidden to reap and gather into the barn. And therefore the Lord said to those who were accusing His Disciples, for plucking and eating ears of corn,¹³⁰⁹* Have ye not even read that which David did, when he was an hungred; how he went into the house of God, and did eat the shewbread, and gave unto them that were with him; which it was not lawful to eat, but for the Priests alone?—by the words of the Law excusing His disciples, and implying that Priests are permitted to act freely.¹³¹⁰* And David, in God’s sight, had been decreed to be a Priest, although Saul was persecuting him. For every righteous King hath a priestly station.

Again,¹³¹¹* all the Lord’s Apostles are Priests, such as have not for inheritance either fields or houses here, but are always serving the altar, and God. Concerning whom Moses also saith in Deuteronomy, in the blessing of Levi,¹³¹²* Who saith unto his father and to his mother, I know thee not: and acknowledged not his brethren and cast off his sons; he hath kept Thy precepts, and observed Thy covenant. Now who are these, who left father and mother, and renounced all who are nearest to them, for the Word of God and His covenant, but the disciples of the Lord? Of whom Moses saith again, They shall have no inheritance,¹³¹³* for the Lord Himself is their inheritance.¹³¹⁴* And again, The Priests the Levites in the whole tribe of Levi shall have no portion nor substance with Israel; that which groweth unto the Lord is their substance, they shall eat the same. Wherefore also Paul: I seek not, saith he, a gift, but I seek fruit.¹³¹⁵* The Disciples of the Lord, he saith, having substance such as the Levites, it was lawful for them in their hunger to receive meat of the grain:¹³¹⁶* For the Labourer is worthy of his meat.

The Priests also in the Temple used to profane the Sabbath,¹³¹⁷* and were blameless. Why then were they blameless? Because being in the Temple, they were performing not secular but Divine offices; fulfilling the Law and not transgressing it; as he did, who of himself brought dry sticks into the Lord’s camp,¹³¹⁸* who also was justly stoned.¹³¹⁹* For every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be hewn down and cast into the fire.¹³²⁰* And, Whosoever shall evil entreat¹³²¹³ the Temple of God, him shall God evil entreat.

Chap. IX. § 1. Of one therefore and the same kind of subsistence are all things, i.e., from one and the same God, as the Lord also saith to His Disciples,¹³²²* Therefore every Scribe which is instructed into the Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth out of his treasure things new and old. He taught not of one bringing forth old things, another new, but one and the same. For the Householder is the Lord, who rules over the whole house of his Father: Who to the slaves indeed, and those who are yet undisciplined, delivers the Law, which is suited to them; but to the free and to those justified by faith, giving apt precepts, and to the sons revealing their proper inheritance.

As for the Scribes and Teachers of the Kingdom of Heaven,¹³²³* by them He meant His own disciples: of whom also He elsewhere saith to the Jews,¹³²⁴* Behold, I send to you wise men, and scribes, and teachers, and some of them ye shall kill, and persecute from city to city.

Again,¹³²⁵* by the new and old things which are brought out of the treasure, He means unquestionably the two Testaments: whereof the Old which had existed before, is characterized by the giving of the Law; the New, by a manner of life which becometh the Gospel; concerning which David saith, Sing unto the Lord a new song.¹³²⁶* And Esaias, Sing unto the Lord a new hymn;¹³²⁷* the beginning thereof, glorify His Name from the end of the earth, they declare His virtues in the islands. And Jeremiah saith,¹³²⁸* Behold, saith he, I will make a new testament, not as I made with your fathers in Mount Horeb. Both Testaments however are the revelation of one and the same Householder, the Word of God, our Lord Jesus Christ: Who spake both to Abraham and Moses, and to us in our new estate restored liberty, and multiplied the grace which is of Himself.

§ 2. For More,¹³²⁹* saith He, than the Temple is here. Now more and less are terms used, not of those things which have nothing in common with each other,¹³³⁰* and which are of a contrary nature, and in mutual discord, but of such as are of the same mode of subsistence, and partake of one another, but differ only in number and in greatness; as water from water, and light from light, and grace from grace. Thus, the gift is greater of that Law which is bestowed on us for liberty, than of that which is given for servitude: and therefore it is not for one nation but is diffused over the whole world: yet the Lord is one and the same,¹³³¹* who is more than the Temple, and more than Solomon, and gives men more than Jonas did, i.e., His own Presence, and the Resurrection from the dead: not however changing God, nor preaching another Father, but the Very same; Who always hath a larger measure for those of His own household: And as their love towards God advances, His gifts become more and greater;¹³³²* as the Lord also said to His Disciples, Ye shall see even greater things than these. And Paul saith, Not that I have already received,¹³³³* or am justified, or am already made perfect.¹³³⁴* For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then things which are in part shall be done away.

As then,¹³³⁵* when that which is perfect cometh, we shall see no other Father, but Him Whom we now desire to see; (for Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God:¹³³⁶*) neither are we to wait for another Christ or Son of God, but Him Who is of the Virgin Mary, Who also suffered, and in Whom we believe, and Whom we love:¹³³⁷*—(as Esaias saith, And they shall say in that day, Lo, the Lord our God, in Whom we have hoped, and have rejoiced in our salvation. And Peter saith in his Epistle, Whom seeing not,¹³³⁸* saith he, ye love; in Whom, now not seeing, ye have believed,—ye shall rejoice with joy unspeakable:)—neither do we receive¹³³⁹⁴ another Holy Ghost, besides Him Who is with us, and Who cries, Abba Father:¹³⁴⁰* and in These, the very same, we shall have our growth and increase, so as to enjoy the gifts of God, now no more through a glass and darkly,¹³⁴¹* but face to face:—so now also in receiving somewhat more than the Temple and more than Solomon, that is, the coming of the Son of God, we have not been learning of another God, besides the Maker and Framer of all things, Who was shewn unto us from the beginning; nor another Christ the Son of God, besides Him Who was announced by the Prophets.

§ 3. For in that the New Testament was known and announced by the Prophets, He also was announced, Who was to order the same according to the decree of the Father; being manifested unto men, as God willed, that believing in Him they might make continual progress, and that the perfect work of salvation might come to its maturity by the Testaments.¹³⁴²* For there is one salvation and one God: but the precepts which form man are many, and the steps not few, which lead man unto God. While to an earthly and temporal King, being but a man, it is permitted to bestow from time to time more and more preferment on his subjects; shall not God have the same permission, being the Same, and always willing to grant unto mankind more grace, and with additional gifts continually to honour those who please Him?

But if this is making progress,—to find out another Father, besides Him Who was declared from the beginning, and again besides Him Who is thought to have been found in the second, to find out yet another, a third: it will belong to the same progress, to go on from the third also unto a fourth, and after this again to another and another: and thus the aforesaid view, fancying itself always in progress, will never stay itself in one only God. For being driven from the existing one, and turned backward, he will be always indeed seeking God, but will never find Him: rather he will float perpetually in the abyss of mysteriousness, except he be converted through penitence,¹³⁴³* and return to the place from which he was cast out; confessing and believing one God the Father and Creator, Who was announced by the Law and the Prophets, to Whom Christ bore witness: as He saith Himself to those who were accusing His Disciples as though they kept not the Tradition of the Elders:¹³⁴⁴* Why do ye make void the commandment of the Lord by your tradition? For God said, ‘Honour thy Father and thy Mother,’ and, ‘He that curseth Father or Mother, let him die the death.’ And again He saith unto them,¹³⁴⁵* Ye have made void the word of God by your tradition: Christ most evidently confessing Him as God and Father, Who said in the Law, Honour thy father and mother that it may be well with thee. Thus the God Who speaketh the Truth confessed the precept of the Law to be the word of God: and to none other did He give the Name of God; but to His Own Father.

Chap. X. § 1. Well therefore doth John also make mention of the Lord saying to the Jews, Search the Scriptures, in which ye think ye have eternal life:¹³⁴⁶* they are they which testify of Me. And ye will not come unto Me,¹³⁴⁷* that ye may have life. How then did the Scriptures testify of Him, if they came not of one and the same Father, informing men before of the coming of His Son, and foretelling the salvation which is from Him?¹³⁴⁸* For had ye believed Moses, saith He, ye would have believed Me also: for he wrote of Me: meaning that the Son of God is as seed scattered everywhere in His Scriptures, at one time speaking with Abraham, at another with Noah, giving them His measures: at another time seeking out Adam; at another again bringing judgement upon the Sodomites: as also when He appears and guides Jacob in the way, and speaks out of the Bush with Moses.

Neither can one count the instances wherein the Son of God is set forth by Moses:¹³⁴⁹* and the very day of His Passion he was not ignorant of, but in figure foretold Him, under the name of the Passover: and on the very same day, which was announced by Moses so long before, the Lord suffered, fulfilling the Passover. Nor did he only set down the day, but the place also, and the end of the times, and the token of the going down of the Sun,¹³⁵⁰* saying, Thou mayest not immolate the Passover in any other of thy cities, which the Lord thy God giveth unto thee, except in that place which the Lord thy God shall chuse for His Name to be invoked there: thou shalt immolate the Passover in the evening at the going down of the sun.

§ 2. And he had before marked His Advent by the words,¹³⁵¹* A Prince shall not be wanting in Judah, nor a leader from out of his loins, until He cometh for whom it is laid up, and He is the Gentiles’ Hope, binding his foal unto the vine, and his ass’s colt unto the tendril. He shall wash his robe in wine, and his outer garment in the blood of the grape: his eyes are joyous with wine, and his teeth whiter than milk. Now let these, who are said to search out all things, see what was the time wherein the Prince failed, and the Leader out of Judah, and who is the Hope of the Gentiles, and who the Vine, and who his foal, and what is the garment, and what the eyes, and what the teeth, and what the wine, and every particular above mentioned; and they will find that no other Person, but our Lord Jesus Christ, is proclaimed. Wherefore Moses rebuking the people for their ingratitude,¹³⁵²* saith, In such sort, ye foolish people and unwise, have ye made this return to the Lord? And again where he intimates that the Word Who created and made them from the beginning, in the last times also, when He is redeeming and quickening us, is shewn hanging on a tree, and they will not believe Him.¹³⁵³* For he saith, And thy life shall be hanging before thine eyes and thou wilt not believe thy life. And again,¹³⁵⁴* Did not this same, thy Father, possess thee and make thee and create thee?

Chap. XI. § 1. Moreover, the Lord hath made it manifest that^1355f many Prophets and righteous men, foreknowing His Advent by the Holy Spirit,¹³⁵⁶* prayed that they might come to that time wherein they might see their Lord face to face, and hear His discourses: where He tells His Disciples,¹³⁵⁷* Many Prophets and righteous men have desired to see the things which ye see and have not seen them, and to hear the things which ye hear, and have not heard them. How then did they desire both to hear and to see, if they had not foreknown His future coming? And how could they foreknow without first receiving that foreknowledge from Himself? And how do the Scriptures testify of Him, except it were one and the same God Who at all times had by His Word revealed and shewn all things to them that believe? who at one time discourses with His creature, at another time gives the law, Who sometimes again upbraids, sometimes exhorts, and so eventually frees the slave and adopts him as Son, and in due time bestows the inheritance of incorruption to the perfecting of mankind. Because He formed him for augmentation and growth:¹³⁵⁸* as saith the Scripture, Increase and multiply.

§ 2. And herein God differs from man,¹³⁵⁹* that God indeed maketh, but man is made: and while He that maketh is always the Same, that which is made must be capable of a beginning and of a middle, of addition and of growth. And God indeed doeth good, but to man good is done. And whereas God is perfect in all things, Himself equal and like unto Himself,¹³⁶⁰* being all Light, and all Mind, and all Substance, and the Source of all good things: man on the other hand receives improvement and growth towards God. For just as God is always the Same, so man also, being found in God, will continually get on towards God: since neither doth God ever grow slack in benefitting and enriching man, nor doth man cease to receive the benefit and to be enriched by God. For the receptacle of His Goodness, and the instrument of His glorification^1361g is man grateful to his Maker: and again the receptacle of His just judgement is man unthankful, and scorning his Creator, and not submitting himself to His Word: Who hath promised that He will give always most abundantly to those who bear fruit and have more of their Lord’s money.¹³⁶²* Well done, is His word, good and faithful servant: because thou hast been faithful in a little I will set thee over many things: enter into the joy of thy Lord: the Lord Himself making most abundant promises.

§ 3. As therefore to such as now bear fruit He hath promised to give abundantly,¹³⁶³* in the way of multiplying His Grace, not in the way of changing His instruction (for the Lord Himself abideth, and the same Father is revealed): so accordingly to the people of the later times also did one and the same Lord by His coming vouchsafe^1364h a larger gift of grace than that which was in the Old Testament. For they too by the servants used to hear of a King Who should come, and to rejoice moderately in their hope of His coming: but those who have seen Him before them, and obtained liberty, and have won His Bounty:—these have greater Grace and more overflowing triumph, rejoicing in the coming of their King;¹³⁶⁵* as David also saith, My soul shall triumph in the Lord, it shall delight itself in His Salvation.

And therefore when He was entering Jerusalem,¹³⁶⁶* all that were in the way of David, in grief of soul, recognised their King and spread under Him garments, and adorned the way with green boughs, with great joy and exultation crying out, Hosanna to the Son of David;¹³⁶⁷* blessed is He that cometh in the Name of the Lord, Hosanna in the highest. And when the bad stewards, whose way was to defraud their inferiors, and domineer over them—when they were moved with jealousy, their account not being such as would stand, and they therefore unwilling that their King should have come, on their saying to Him, Hearest thou what these say?¹³⁶⁸* the Lord said, Have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise? pointing out that what David had said of the Son of God was fulfilled in Himself and implying,¹³⁶⁹* that they knew not the force of Scripture, nor the ordained way of God, but that He was Himself the person announced by the Prophets as Christ,¹³⁷⁰* Whose Name is praised in all the earth as perfecting¹³⁷¹ⁱ praise to His Father out of the mouth of babes and sucklings:¹³⁷²* wherefore also His Glory is lifted above the Heavens.

§ 4. If therefore He is present,¹³⁷³* the very same who is announced by the Prophets, our Lord God Jesus Christ, and if His coming bestow on those who have received Him fuller grace and more abundant bounty: plainly the Father too is the very same whom the Prophets had announced; neither did the Son when He came give knowledge of another Father, but of the Same who was declared from the beginning: from Whom also He brought down liberty to those who serve Him lawfully, and with a prostrate mind, and with all their heart. But to despisers, and such as are not subject unto God, but follow after outward cleanness, to have glory of men: (which outward cleanness was delivered to us for a figure of things to come, the Law forming a sort of shadowy outline, and by temporal things delineating eternal, by earthly, heavenly): to such as pretend that they themselves observe more than is commanded, as though they set their own care higher even than God Himself, while they are within full of hypocrisy,¹³⁷⁴* and covetousness, and all wickedness:—to such He brought perdition for ever, severing them from life.

Chap. XII. § 1. For the tradition of those elders, which they pretended to observe according to the Law, was contrary to the Law given by Moses.¹³⁷⁵* Wherefore also Esaias saith, Thy vintners mingle wine with water: signifying that the Elders mingled with the strict commandment of God a diluted tradition: contriving, that is, a law spurious, and contrary to The Law: as also the Lord made manifest, saying unto them,¹³⁷⁶* Why do ye transgress the commandment of God, because of your own tradition? Yea, not only did they by perversion make void the Law of God, mingling water with wine; but they even set up in opposition their own law, which even to this day is called Pharisaical. Wherein they take away some things, some they add, others they expound at their own will: and of these their teachers make special use. And being minded to maintain these traditions, they have no mind to submit themselves to God’s Law, training them up for the coming of Christ: but they called the Lord Himself to account for healing on the Sabbath, which however, as we said before, was not forbidden by the Law. (For themselves too in a manner used to do a work of healing, in that they would circumcise a man on the sabbath.) But with themselves they found no fault, when by their tradition and Pharisaical Law (of which I spake before) they were transgressing the Commandment of God, and not having that which the Law commands, i.e., Love towards God.

§ 2. But that this is the first and greatest commandment, and the next that towards our neighbour, the Lord taught,¹³⁷⁷* when He said that the whole Law and Prophets hang on these commandments.¹³⁷⁸* Nor did even He bring down any other commandment greater than this: but this same one He renewed to His Disciples,¹³⁷⁹* bidding them love God with all their heart, and all others as themselves. But had He come down from another Father, never would He have adopted His first and chief commandment from the Law: rather surely he would have tried at any rate to bring it down as somewhat greater from the perfect Father, instead of using that which had been given by the God of the Law.

And Paul too saith, Love is the fulfilling of the Law:¹³⁸⁰* and that when all other things are done away, there abideth faith,¹³⁸¹* hope, charity, and that the greatest of these is charity: and that neither knowledge without love towards God avails anything:¹³⁸²* nor understanding of mysteries, nor faith, nor prophecy, but that all things are void and in vain without love: and that it is love which completes the perfect man, and that he who loves God is perfect, both in this world and in the future. For we never come to an end in our loving of God, but the more we shall have looked upon Him, so much the more we love Him.

§ 3. Wherefore, since in the Law and in the Gospel the first and greatest precept is,¹³⁸³* to love the Lord our God with all our heart, and next one like unto it, to love his neighbour as himself: one and the same is shewn to be the Founder of the Law and of the Gospel. That is, the precepts of perfect life being the same in both Testaments, shewed their God to be the same: Who while He laid down His precepts of detail as suited each of the two, did in both recommend the very same, as the higher and chiefest, without which is no salvation.

§ 4. And whom would not the Lord put to silence, declaring that the Law is from no other God, where He saith to those whom He was teaching, to the multitude and His disciples,¹³⁸⁴* The Scribes and Pharisees have sate down on Moses’ seat. All things therefore whatsoever they say unto you, observe and do; but do ye not after their works, for they say and do not. For they bind heavy burthens and lay them on men’s shoulders, but themselves are unwilling to move them even with a finger.¹³⁸⁵* He was not then blaming that Law which was given by Moses, which as long as Jerusalem yet stood He recommended to be practised; but He was blaming those men, because, while they uttered the words of the Law, they were destitute of Love, and so were unrighteous towards God and their neighbours.¹³⁸⁶* As Esaias also saith, This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. But in vain do they worship Me, teaching doctrines and precepts of men. He doth not apply the term, Precepts of men, to the Law given by Moses, but to the traditions of their Elders, which they had devised, by maintaining whereof they made void the Law of God,¹³⁸⁷* and therefore neither did they submit themselves to His Word.

For this is what Paul also saith concerning them: For being ignorant of God’s righteousness,¹³⁸⁸* and wanting to establish their own righteousness, they have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the Law, for righteousness to every one that believeth.¹³⁸⁹* And how is Christ the end of the Law, if He were not also its beginning? For He Who brought in the end, the same also wrought the beginning: and He it is Who saith to Moses,¹³⁹⁰* I have surely seen the affliction of My people which is in Egypt and I am come down to deliver them: He Who is the Word of God, accustomed from the beginning to go up and come down, for the health of those who are diseased.

§ 5. Further: that the Law taught before, that mankind ought to follow Christ, Himself makes evident, thus answering the person who asked Him what he should do to inherit eternal life,¹³⁹¹* If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.¹³⁹²* And when he asked, Which, the Lord in reply,¹³⁹³* Thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness, honour thy father and thy mother, and thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: setting forth the precepts of the Law as a sort of steps of the entrance into life, for all who were fain to follow Him. And in saying it then to that one person, He said it unto all. But when the other had said, I have done all (and perhaps he had not done it, else surely it would not be said to him, Keep the commandments); the Lord to reprove his covetousness, said to him,¹³⁹⁴* If thou wilt be perfect, go, sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and come, follow Me; promising the portion of Apostles to such as did so. And no other God the Father did He announce to those who followed Him, besides Him Who from the beginning was announced by the Law: nor any other Son, nor as a Mother, the Idea of that Æon who was in suffering and in decay, nor any Pleroma of thirty Æons, which has been shewn to be void and incongruous; nor the tale which has been feigned by the other heretics; but He taught men to do the things which God commanded from the beginning, and to destroy their old covetousness by good works, and to follow Christ. As to the fact, that distributing men’s possessions to the poor doth make away with their past covetousness, Zacchæus made it evident, saying,¹³⁹⁵* Behold, I give half my goods to the poor, and if I have defrauded any man of aught, I restore fourfold.

Chap. XIII. § 1. And that the Lord did not abolish, but extend and fulfil, the natural precepts of the Law,¹³⁹⁶* by which man is justified—which even before the giving of the Law were kept by such as were justified by Faith, and pleased God:—this is shewn from His Discourses.¹³⁹⁷* For, It was said, saith He, to them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery. But I say unto you, that every one who shall have looked on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. And again,¹³⁹⁸* It was said, Thou shalt not kill. But I say unto you, Every one who is angry with his brother without a cause, shall be in danger of the judgment.¹³⁹⁹* And, It is said, Thou shalt not forswear thyself.¹⁴⁰⁰* But I say unto you, not to swear at all.¹⁴⁰¹* But let your speech be, Yea yea, nay nay; and whatever there is of the same kind. For all these places involve no contrariety or abolition of things past (which is the cry of Marcion’s school), but the fulness and expansion thereof:¹⁴⁰²* as He saith Himself, Except your righteousness abound more than that of the Scribes and pharisees,¹⁴⁰³* ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Now what was this more? First, to believe not in the Father only, but in His Son also, who was now revealed: for He it is Who brings man into communion and union with God.¹⁴⁰⁴* In the next place, not only to say, but also to do: for they used to say without doing; and to abstain, not only from evil works, but also from the desires of the same.

And these things He taught, not as contrary to the Law, but as fulfilling the Law, and rooting within us the means whereby the Law maketh righteous. But that would have been contrary to the Law, if whatever the Law had forbidden to be done, the same He had bidden His disciples to do. And this maxim of His in particular, to abstain not only from things forbidden by the Law, but also from the desires of the same, is not contrary, as we have said: nor is it for one who would abolish the Law, but rather who would fulfil, draw out, and widen it.

§ 2. And that because the Law, as being appointed for slaves, trained up the soul by outward and bodily things,¹⁴⁰⁵* drawing her as by a chain to the obedience of its precepts, that man might learn to serve God: But the Word, delivering the soul, taught also how through it the body might be voluntarily cleansed. Whereupon it followed of course that the chains of slavery should be taken away, to which man had now become accustomed, and that without chains he should follow God; that on the other hand the enactments of liberty should be greatly drawn out, and our submission to our King enhanced; that no person turning backwards, might shew himself unworthy towards his deliverer. Further, that while the same Piety and Obedience towards the Father of the Family, belongs both to the slaves and the children, yet the children have more entire trust, because the working of Liberty is greater and more glorious, than the obedience which goes along with slavery.

§ 3. And therefore the Lord in place of the saying,¹⁴⁰⁶* Thou shalt not commit adultery, commanded not even to desire:¹⁴⁰⁷* and in place of, Thou shalt not kill, not even to be angry:¹⁴⁰⁸* and in place of paying tithe, to distribute all our goods to the Poor; and to love not only our neighbours, but also our enemies; and not only to be good at giving and imparting, but also to meet with free gifts those who take away what is our own.¹⁴⁰⁹* Thus, To him, saith He, that taketh away thy coat spare him also thy cloke: and of him that taketh what is thine ask it not again:¹⁴¹⁰* and as ye would that men should do to you,¹⁴¹¹* do ye unto them, that ye be not sad as persons unwilling to be imposed upon: but let us rejoice as though we had given willingly; rather bestowing a free favour on our neighbours, than serving them by compulsion. And if any man, saith He,¹⁴¹²* compel thee to go a mile, go with him two more; that you may not follow as a slave, but go before as a free man: not considering their badness, but perfecting thine own goodness: conforming thyself to the Father Who maketh His sun to rise on evil and good,¹⁴¹³* and raineth on just and unjust.

Now all these, as we said before, are sayings of one not abolishing the Law, but fulfilling it, and expanding it, and giving it wider scope in us: as though one should say that the working of Liberty is greater, and that we have deeply set in us a fuller submission and affection towards our deliverer. For He did not deliver us to the end we should depart from Him; since no one, if put beyond the reach of the Lord’s blessings, can obtain for himself the nourishment of salvation: but that we should love Him more, the more we obtain of His grace. And the more we love Him, the more glory shall we receive of Him; since we are always in the Father’s sight.

§ 4. All the natural precepts,¹⁴¹⁴* then, being common to us and them, in them they had their beginning and source, but in us they received their increase and completion. For to assent unto God and to follow His Word, and to love Him above all things, and one’s neighbour as oneself (and man is man’s neighbour), and to abstain from every evil work, and all such precepts as are common to both, demonstrate one and the same God. And this is our Lord, the Word of God; Who first indeed drew men as slaves to God, but afterwards liberated those who are subject unto Him: as He Himself saith to His disciples;¹⁴¹⁵* I will not now call you servants, for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth. But I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of the Father I have made known. You see that in the phrase, I will not now call you servants, He most clearly implied that it was Himself, Who first ordained to men by the Law how they should be in servitude to God, afterwards again gave them Liberty. And in that He saith, For the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth, He manifests by His advent the ignorance of the servile people. But in that He calls His disciples Friends of God, He evidently shews Himself to be the Word of God, whom Abraham also followed spontaneously and without any bonds, because of the nobleness of his faith,¹⁴¹⁶* and so became the Friend of God.¹⁴¹⁷* Not that the Word of God for any need took to Himself the friendship of Abraham, being as He is, perfect from the beginning:¹⁴¹⁸* For before Abraham was, saith He, I am: but in order that He, being good, might bestow on Abraham himself everlasting life, because the friendship of God is that which gives immortality to all who endeavour after it.

Chap. XIV. § 1. Thus God formed Adam at first, not as standing in need of man but that He might have one on whom to bestow His favours.¹⁴¹⁹* For, not only before Adam, but even before the whole creation, the Word was giving glory to His Father, abiding in Him, and was Himself glorified by the Father:¹⁴²⁰* according to His own saying, Father, glorify Thou Me with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was made.

Not as wanting our attendance did He give command to follow Him, but in order to bestow on us salvation. For to follow the Saviour is to partake of salvation, and to follow the Light is to receive the Light. But they who are in the light do not themselves enlighten the light, but are enlightened and shone upon by it. They indeed contribute nothing to it, but receiving the benefit, they are enlightened by the light.

So also is absolute subjection to God; to Him indeed it contributes nothing, nor hath God need of the homage of men, but He Himself on such as follow and serve Him bestows life and incorruption and eternal glory; doing good to those who serve Him for their service, and to those who follow Him for their attendance, but not receiving good from them; for He is rich, perfect, and without need of anything. But to this end doth God require service from men, that because He is good and merciful, He may do good to those who abide in His service. For as truly as God is in need of nothing, so truly is man in need of Communion with God: This being the glory of man, to persevere and abide in God’s service. And therefore the Lord said to His Disciples, You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you:¹⁴²¹* intimating that they in following Him were not adding glory to Him, but that in following the Son of God they were receiving glory from Him.¹⁴²²* And again, I will that where I am, there also should these be, that they may behold My glory: not idly glorying in these things, but desiring to impart His glory to His disciples; of whom also Esaias saith,¹⁴²³* I will draw thy seed from the East, and will gather thee from the West; and will say to the North, Bring near, and to the South, Keep not back: draw hither My sons from far, and My daughters from the ends of the earth, all whosoever are called by My Name. For in My glory I have prepared, and formed, and made him.¹⁴²⁴* And this because wheresoever the carcase is, thither will the eagles also be gathered, partaking in the glory of the Lord; Who both formed and prepared us hereunto, that being with Him, we may partake of His Glory.

§ 2. Thus God also from the beginning framed man because of His own bounty;¹⁴²⁵* and chose the Patriarchs for their own salvation; and formed His first people, teaching it, indocile as it was, to follow God; again He provided that there should be Prophets on Earth, accustoming man to bear His Spirit, and to have communion with God. Not as needing any one Himself, but as granting Communion with Him to those who need Him. And to those who pleased Him, He as an architect, delineates the fabric of salvation; and to those who see not in Egypt He gives guidance of Himself: bestowing also on such as were restless in the desert, a Law most suitable for them, and to such as entered into the good Land vouchsafing a meet inheritance: for them also who are converted to the Father He kills the fatted calf,¹⁴²⁶* and gives them the chief robe; in divers modes blending the race of man into a Harmony of salvation. And therefore John in the Revelation saith,¹⁴²⁷* And His voice as the voice of many waters. For the Spirit is truly many waters, because the Father is rich, and because He is great.

Now the Word, passing through all these persons, did without grudging vouchsafe to be profitable to those who were in subjection to It; for every sort of men writing down a becoming and suitable Law.

§ 3. And so He appointed unto the people the making of the Tabernacle,¹⁴²⁸* and the building of the Temple, and the election of the Levites, the sacrifices also and oblations and cautionary precepts, and all the rest of their service by the Law.¹⁴²⁹* It is true, He needs Himself none of these things; for He is alway full of all good things, and hath in Himself all odour of sweetness, and all breathings of pleasant incense, even before Moses was. But He was schooling the people, apt easily to return to idols, by many callings instructing them to persevere and serve God: by things of the second order calling them to things of the first; i.e., by the typical to the true; and by the temporal to the eternal; and by the carnal to the spiritual; and by the earthly to the heavenly;¹⁴³⁰* as was said also to Moses: That thou shalt make all things after the pattern of those things which thou hast seen in the mount. He namely for forty days was learning to hold fast^1431k the words of God and heavenly tokens^1432l and spiritual images, and foreshadowings of things to come:¹⁴³³* as Paul also saith, For they drank of the rock that followed, and the rock was Christ. And again after specifying the things in the Law,¹⁴³⁴* he inferred, Now all these things came unto them in figure: and they are written for our correction, on whom the end of the worlds is come. Thus by types they learned to fear God, and to continue in all kinds of obedience to Him.

Chap. XV. § 1. Therefore the Law was both a discipline to them, and a prophecy of things to come. For God indeed did at first admonish them by the precepts of nature, which He gave at the beginning, fixed in men; i.e., by the Ten commandments (which if a man fulfil not, he hath no salvation): and required no more of them. As Moses saith in Deuteronomy:¹⁴³⁵* These are all the words which the Lord spake unto all the assembly of the children of Israel in the mountain, and He added nothing; and He wrote them in two tables of stone, and gave them unto me; in order that such as will follow Him might keep the commandments.¹⁴³⁶* But when they turned themselves to the making of a calf,¹⁴³⁷* and in their minds turned back into Egypt, desiring to be slaves instead of free, they received, as due to their desire, the rest of that slavery, not indeed cutting them off from God, but ruling them with a yoke of slavery: as also saith the Prophet Ezekiel, rendering the reasons why such a Law was given:¹⁴³⁸* And their eyes were after the desire of their own heart, and I gave them precepts which were not good, and statutes wherein they shall not live. And Luke too wrote concerning Stephen, who was first elected by the Apostles to the Diaconate, and first slain for the testimony of Christ, that he thus spake of Moses:¹⁴³⁹* He indeed received the commandments of the living God, to give unto you; whom your fathers would not obey, but rejected Him, and in their heart turned back into Egypt, saying to Aaron, Make us gods to go before us; for as to Moses who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we know not what has happened to him. And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifices to the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands. And God turned, and gave them up to worship the hosts of Heaven; as it is written in the Book of the Prophets, Have ye offered unto Me sacrifices and oblations forty years in the wilderness, O House of Israel? And ye have received the Tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan, figures which ye made to worship them; evidently implying, that the Law such as it was, was not given them by another god, but by the very same: meet for their condition as slaves. Wherefore also in Exodus He saith unto Moses, I will send out Mine Angel before thee, for I will not go up with thee,¹⁴⁴⁰* for thou art a stiffnecked people.

§ 2. And not this only, but certain precepts also were ordained unto them by Moses because of their hardness, and unwillingness to submit themselves: as the Lord declared, when they had said unto Him,¹⁴⁴¹* Why then did Moses command to give a writing of divorce, and to send away the wife? telling them,¹⁴⁴²* These things he permitted you, because of the hardness of your heart, but from the beginning it was not so done. Wherein He both makes excuse for Moses, as a faithful servant, and confesses one God Who at the beginning created male and female, and rebukes them as hard and disobedient. And accordingly they received from Moses the precept of divorce suited to their hardness.

And why say we this of the Old Testament? since in the New also the Apostles are found doing the same for the aforesaid cause:¹⁴⁴³* as in Paul’s well known expression, But this say I, not the Lord:¹⁴⁴⁴* and again, But this I say by way of indulgence,¹⁴⁴⁵* not by way of commandment. And again,¹⁴⁴⁶* But concerning virgins I have no commandment of the Lord, but I give counsel, as having obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful. Yea, and in another place he saith, Lest Satan tempt you through your incontinence.¹⁴⁴⁷*

If then even in the New Testament we find the Apostles allowing certain precepts, in a way of indulgence, because of the incontinence of certain persons, lest such persons, becoming hardened, entirely despair of their salvation, and fall away from God; we must not wonder, if in the Old Testament also the same God would have something of the same sort practised for the good of His people, enticing them by the aforesaid rules, that so they may keep hold of the salvation which is in the Ten Commandments, and be detained thereby from returning to idolatry, and not fall away from God, but learn to love Him with all their heart.

If again some, because of the disobedient and lost Israelites, call the Teacher of the Law weak; they will find in that calling which appertains to us,¹⁴⁴⁸* that many indeed are called, but few chosen; and that there are wolves within,¹⁴⁴⁹* though outwardly clad with sheepskins: and that the liberty and freewill which always was in man, hath ever been retained by God, as well as His own way of moral suasion: that such as obey Him not, may be justly judged, because they did not obey; and that such as have obeyed and believed Him, may be honoured with incorruption.

Chap. XVI. § 1. As to Circumcision, that God gave it also not as conveying perfect righteousness, but for a sign, that the race of Abraham might remain always distinguishable,¹⁴⁵⁰* we learn from the Scripture itself. For God, it saith, spake unto Abraham,¹⁴⁵¹* Every thing of yours that is male shall be circumcised, and ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, for a sign of a covenant between Me and you. This same the Prophet Ezekiel saith of the Sabbath:¹⁴⁵²* And I gave them My Sabbaths, that they may be for a sign between Me and them, that they may know that I am the Lord, who sanctify them. And in Exodus God saith unto Moses, And ye shall keep My sabbaths;¹⁴⁵³* for it shall be to you a sign with Me through your generation.

These things then were given in sign; but they were not signs without a symbol, i.e., without a subject, nor idle, given as they were by a wise artificer; but the circumcision after the flesh signified the spiritual circumcision.¹⁴⁵⁴* For so saith the Apostle, We are circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands.¹⁴⁵⁵* And the Prophet saith, Circumcise the hardness of your heart.

As for the Sabbath,¹⁴⁵⁶* it taught perseverance in serving God all the day. For we are counted, saith the Apostle Paul,¹⁴⁵⁷* all day as sheep for the slaughter: i.e., consecrated, and ministering the whole time since our belief, and persevering in it, and abstaining from all covetousness; not gaining nor possessing treasures on earth. And there was a revelation made in a manner, even from created things, of the Rest of God, i.e., of the Kingdom wherein that man shall rest, who perseveres in standing by God, and he shall partake of God’s Table.

§ 2. Now that man was not justified by these, but they were given as a sign to the people, is proved in that Abraham himself, without circumcision, and without keeping the Sabbath,¹⁴⁵⁸* believed God, and it was accounted unto him for righteousness, and he was called the Friend of God.¹⁴⁵⁹* Yea, and Lot without circumcision was led out of Sodom, receiving deliverance from God. Also Noe, while he was uncircumcised, pleased God, and received the measures of the world in its second birth. And Enoch too,¹⁴⁶⁰* without circumcision pleasing God, though he was a man, yet did the office of an ambassador unto Angels, and was translated, and is reserved unto this hour as a witness of God’s just judgment; in that, while the Angels that had sinned fell down to earth unto judgment, a Man, being approved, was translated unto salvation. Add to this again all the remaining multitude of those who before Abraham were righteous, and of those Patriarchs who were before Moses, and were justified without the aforesaid things, and without the Law of Moses. As indeed Moses himself tells the people in Deuteronomy:¹⁴⁶¹* The Lord thy God made a covenant in Horeb; and the Lord made not this covenant with your fathers, but with you.

§ 3. Wherefore then did the Lord not make a covenant with the Fathers?¹⁴⁶²* Because the Law was not appointed for righteous men; and the Fathers were righteous, having the meaning of the Decalogue written in their hearts and souls, i.e., loving God who made them, and abstaining from wrong towards their neighbour: and so it was unnecessary for them to be warned by writings of reproof, since they had righteousness in themselves.

But when this righteousness and love towards God passed into oblivion,¹⁴⁶³* and was quenched in Egypt, God, for His great Love’s sake towards men, shewed Himself by a voice in the hour of need, and brought the people out of Egypt by His might, that man might again become a disciple and follower of God: He smote also the disobedient, lest they should despise their Maker; and He fed that people with manna, that they might receive reasonable meat; as Moses also saith in Deuteronomy;¹⁴⁶⁴* And He fed thee with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that thou mightest know that man liveth not by bread alone, but by every word of God, which goeth out of His mouth, doth man live. He both enjoined love towards God, and wrapped up with it righteousness towards our neighbour, that one might neither be unjust, nor unworthy of God; building up man by the Ten Commandments to be friends with Himself, and to all concord with his neighbour: things indeed which were profitable to man himself, God all the while needing nothing from man.

§ 4. Therefore saith the Scripture,¹⁴⁶⁵* These words the Lord spake to all the congregation of the children of Israel in the mountain, and added nothing; for nothing, as we said before, did He need of them.¹⁴⁶⁶* And again Moses saith, And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all His ways, and to love Him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul? Now these things did indeed make man glorious, fulfilling that which was wanting unto him, i.e., that he should be the Friend of God; but on God they bestowed nothing; for God needed not at all the love of man. But unto man the glory of God was wanting, and he could no way receive it, except by obedience to God.¹⁴⁶⁷* And therefore Moses tells them again, Chuse life, that thou mayest live, and thy seed, to love the Lord thy God, to hear His voice, and to hold by Him; for this is thy life, and the length of thy days. And in building up man to that life, the Lord Himself by His own self spake the words of the Decalogue alike unto all: and so they abide equally with us, receiving extension and augmentation, but not abolition, by His Coming in the Flesh.

§ 5. But as to the precepts of the servile state,¹⁴⁶⁸* He enjoined them by Moses exclusively to the people, as suited to their instruction: according to Moses’ own saying,¹⁴⁶⁹* And the Lord enjoined me at that time to speak unto you statutes and judgments.

These things then,¹⁴⁷⁰* which were given them unto bondage, and for a sign, He hath cut off by a New Testament of Liberty. But those which are natural, and savouring of freedom, and common to all, He hath amplified and expanded: in that He bestows upon men, by adoption, bounteously and without grudging, to know God as their Father, and to love Him with their whole heart, and without opposition to follow His Word, abstaining not only from evil deeds, but also from the desires thereof. And He hath increased Fear also: for sons ought to fear more than slaves, and to have greater love towards their Father.¹⁴⁷¹* And therefore saith the Lord, Every idle word which men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment;¹⁴⁷²* and, He that shall have looked on a woman to lust after her, hath already committed adultery with her in his heart;¹⁴⁷³* and, He who is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: to make us aware, that we are to give account unto God not of our deeds only, as slaves, but also of our words and thoughts: even as we have received power to be free: whereby man is more thoroughly tried, whether he reverences, and fears, and loves the Lord. And therefore Peter saith,¹⁴⁷⁴* that we have not liberty as a cloke of wickedness, but to try and manifest Faith.

Chap. XVII. § 1. But that God in the Law commanded certain observances, not as needing their service, but for their own good,¹⁴⁷⁵* is very fully signified by the Prophets. And again that God needs not their offering, but for the offerer’s own sake, i.e., Man’s;—the Lord clearly taught, as we have shewn. For if at any time He saw them careless of righteousness, and keeping back from the Love of God, and thinking that God is propitiated by sacrifices and other typical observances, Samuel in the first place would speak to them thus:¹⁴⁷⁶* God willeth not burnt offerings and sacrifices, but He willeth His Voice to be heard: Behold, hearing is better than sacrifice, and hearkening than the fat of rams:¹⁴⁷⁷* then David saith, Sacrifice and offering Thou wouldest not, but ears hast Thou made for me: Burnt-offerings also for sin Thou hast not required. Teaching them that God will have obedience, which saves them, rather than sacrifices and burnt offerings which avail them nothing to righteousness: and prophesying at the same time of the New Testament. But yet more clearly in the 50th Psalm doth he say of these things,¹⁴⁷⁸* For hadst Thou willed sacrifice, I would have given it of course: with burnt-offerings Thou wilt not be delighted. A sacrifice for God is a troubled spirit: a contrite and humbled heart, the Lord will not despise. That God accordingly hath no need, he saith in the preceding Psalm:¹⁴⁷⁹* I will not receive bullocks out of thine house, nor he goats out of thy flocks. For Mine are all the beasts of the earth, the cattle in the mountains, and the oxen: I know all the fowls of the Heaven, and the beauty of the field is with Me. If I be hungry, I will not tell thee, for the whole earth is Mine, and the fulness thereof. Shall I at all eat bull’s flesh or drink the blood of goats?

Then lest any one should think, that He refuses these things because He is angry, He adds, giving him counsel,¹⁴⁸⁰* Offer unto God the sacrifice of praise, and pay thy vows unto the Most High, and call upon Me in the day of thy trouble, and I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify Me;¹⁴⁸¹* on the one hand, rejecting those things by which they thought to appease God while sinning: on the other, those whereby man is justified, and draws near to God, He makes matter of exhortation and admonition.

And this same also Esaias saith,¹⁴⁸²* To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto Me? saith the Lord. I am full. And having rejected burnt offerings and sacrifices and oblations, as also new moons and sabbaths and holidays and all the rest of the ceremonial attendant on them, He concluded with recommending to them the things which tend to salvation.¹⁴⁸³* Wash yourselves, be clean, take away wickednesses from your hearts out of My sight, cease from your evil doings, learn to do well, seek judgment, deliver the wronged, judge for the fatherless and redress the widow, and come, let us reason together, saith the Lord.

§ 2. For not through emotion as a man (according to the bold saying of many), did He put from Him the sacrifices, but in pity to their blindness, and giving an intimation of the True Sacrifice, which those who offer will appease God, to the receiving of life from Him. As He saith elsewhere:¹⁴⁸⁴* A sacrifice for God is a troubled heart: an odour of sweetness unto God, is a heart glorifying Him Who made it. For if it were in anger that He rejected these their sacrifices, as though they were unworthy to obtain His mercy, of course He would not recommend to these same persons the means by which they might be saved. But because He is a Merciful God, He did not cut them off from good counsel. Thus,¹⁴⁸⁵* having said by Jeremiah, To what end do ye bring Me frankincense from Saba, and cinnamon from a far country? your burnt offerings and sacrifices have not delighted Me,¹⁴⁸⁶* He added, Hear the word of the Lord, thou whole Judah. Thus saith the Lord God of Israel: Make straight your ways and pursuits, and I will settle you in this place. Trust ye not in lying words, for they shall not at all profit you, saying, It is the Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord.

§ 3. And again signifying that not to this end did He bring them out of Egypt, that they might offer Him sacrifices, but that forgetting the idolatry of the Egyptians, they might hearken to the Voice of the Lord, which was their salvation and glory,¹⁴⁸⁷* He saith by the same Jeremiah, Thus saith the Lord, Gather your burnt offerings with your sacrifices, and eat flesh. For I spake not to your fathers, nor did I command them, concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices, in the day that I brought them out of Egypt, but this word I commanded them, saying, Hearken unto My voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be My people; and walk ye in all My ways, whatsoever I shall command you, that it may be well with you. And they hearkened not nor gave heed, but walked in the thoughts of their own evil heart, and were turned backward, and not forward. And again, where He saith by the very same,¹⁴⁸⁸* But let him that glorieth, glory that he understandeth and knoweth that I am the Lord, Who work mercy and righteousness and judgment in the earth, He added, For in these things is My will, saith the Lord; but not in sacrifices, nor in burnt offerings, nor in oblations.

For the people had these not as the principal thing, but by way of consequence, and for the aforesaid cause: as Esaias saith again:¹⁴⁸⁹* Not for Me were the sheep of thy burnt offering, neither didst thou honour Me in thy sacrifices; thou servedst Me not in sacrifices, nor didst thou offer¹⁴⁹⁰⁵ anything after toil in frankincense; nor didst thou buy incense for Me with money, nor did I desire the fat of thy sacrifices; but in thy sins and thine iniquities didst thou stand before Me.¹⁴⁹¹* Upon whom then, saith He, shall I look, but on the humble and quiet man, and on him that trembleth at My words?¹⁴⁹²* For fat and rich flesh in abundance will not take away thine iniquities from thee.¹⁴⁹³* This is the fast which I have chosen, saith the Lord. Loose every knot of unrighteousness, undo the bands of violent dealings, send away those who are shaken to their rest, and annul every unjust writing. Break thy bread to the hungry with good will, and bring the stranger without shelter into thine house. If thou seest the naked, cover him, and thou shalt not despise the inmates of thine own seed. Then shall thy light break forth in the morning, and the ways of thine health shall arise very speedily, and righteousness shall go before thee, and the glory of the Lord shall be around thee, and whilst thou art yet speaking, I will say, Here I am.

And Zacharias too in the twelve Prophets, signifying unto them God’s will,¹⁴⁹⁴* saith: Thus speaketh the Lord Almighty, Judge ye righteous judgment, practise loving-kindness and mercy every one towards his brother. The widow, and the orphan, and the stranger, and the poor do ye not oppress, nor remember every man his brother’s wickedness in his heart.¹⁴⁹⁵* And again, These, saith he, are the words that ye shall practise. Speak ye truth every one with his neighbour, and judge reconciling judgment in your gates, nor let each remember his brother’s wickedness in his heart, and love ye no false oath: for all these things I hate, saith the Lord Almighty.

And David again in like manner:¹⁴⁹⁶* Who, saith he, is the man that will have life, and loveth to see good days? Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips that they speak no guile. Eschew evil and do good: seek peace and ensue it.

§ 4. From all which it is plain, that God sought not of them sacrifices and burnt offerings, but faith and obedience and righteousness, for their salvation. As in Hosea the Prophet God teaching them His Will said,¹⁴⁹⁷* I will have mercy rather than sacrifice, and the knowledge of God above burnt offerings. Yea, and our Lord gave them the same admonition,¹⁴⁹⁸* saying, For if ye had known what this is, I will have mercy and not sacrifice, ye would never have condemned the guiltless: at once giving testimony to the Prophets, that they preached the truth and convicting them of folly which came by their own fault.

§ 5. Yea, and giving counsel to His Disciples, to offer unto God the first-fruits of His creatures,¹⁴⁹⁹* not as though He were in want, but in order that themselves might be neither unfruitful nor ungrateful,—He took that which is part of the creation, viz. bread, and gave thanks, saying, This is My Body. And the Cup likewise, which is of that Creation which appertains unto us, He professed to be His own Blood, and taught men the new oblation of the New Testament; which the Church receiving from the Apostles offers unto God in the whole world:—unto Him who giveth us nourishment, the first-fruits of His own gifts, in the New Testament; of which in the twelve Prophets Malachi gave beforehand this intimation;¹⁵⁰⁰* My pleasure is not in you, saith the Lord Almighty, and I will not receive sacrifice at your hands. For from the rising of the sun unto the going down My name is glorified among the Gentiles^1501m, and in every place incense is offered unto My Name, and a pure sacrifice: for My Name is great among the Gentiles, saith the Lord Almighty; most evidently intimating hereby, that while the former people should cease to make offerings to God, in every place sacrifice shall be offered unto Him, and that in pureness; His Name also is glorified among the Gentiles.

§ 6. Now what other name is there, which is glorified among the Gentiles than that which belongs to our Lord, by whom the Father is glorified, and man is glorified? And because man belongs to His Own Son, and is made by Him, He calls him His own. Much as if some King were himself to paint an image of his own son, he justly calls it his own image, on both accounts, first that it is his son’s, next that he himself made it: so also the Name of Jesus Christ, which is glorified in the Church throughout the whole world, the Father professes to be His own, both because it is His Son’s, and because He Himself wrote and gave it for the salvation of men.

Because therefore the Name of the Son properly belongs to the Father, and in God Almighty through Jesus Christ the Church makes her offering, well saith He on both accounts,¹⁵⁰²* And in every place incense is offered unto My Name, and a pure sacrifice. And incense, John in the Apocalypse declares to be the prayers of the Saints.¹⁵⁰³*

Chap. XVIII. § 1. Therefore the offering of the Church, which the Lord hath taught to be offered in the whole world, is accounted with God as a pure sacrifice, and accepted of Him: not that He needs a sacrifice from us, but because he who offers receives glory in that he offers, if his gift is accepted. For by a gift to a King both honour and affection are signified: and this gift our Lord willing us to offer in all simplicity and innocence, declared as follows:¹⁵⁰⁴* When therefore thou offerest thy gift at the altar, and hast remembered that thy brother hath something against thee, leave thy gift before the altar, and first go to be reconciled to thy brother, and then thou shalt return and offer thy gift.

We must therefore offer unto God the first-fruits of His creation, as Moses also saith,¹⁵⁰⁵* Thou shalt not appear empty before the Lord thy God; so that, wherein man hath been grateful, therein and thereby being counted acceptable to Him, he may receive the honour that cometh of Him.

§ 2. And the whole kind of oblations is not rejected,¹⁵⁰⁶* for as there are oblations there, so also there are oblations here: there are sacrifices among the people, there are sacrifices in the Church; but the special sort only is changed, as being now offered not by slaves but by freemen. For there is one and the same Lord, but a special token is, the mark of a servile oblation, and a special token, that of free persons; oblations also having their note of liberty to shew. For with Him nothing is idle, nor without symbolical meaning, nor without special purpose. And therefore, while they had the tenths of their goods consecrated, those on the other hand who have received freedom, assign all that themselves have to the uses of the Lord, cheerfully and freely giving them, and not in lesser portions only, as become men possessing the hope of greater things; as she who both in widowhood and in poverty did¹⁵⁰⁷ⁿ here cast all her sustenance into the Treasury of God.¹⁵⁰⁸*

§ 3. For God from the beginning had respect unto the gifts of Abel, because he offered with simplicity and justice; but to the sacrifice of Cain He had not respect,¹⁵⁰⁹* because through envy and malice towards his brother he had a division^1510o in his heart,¹⁵¹¹* as God saith, exposing his secrets, If thou rightly offer, but dividest not rightly, hast thou not sinned? O be at rest: because God is not appeased by sacrifice.

For if a man according to that which is seen only, shall have tried to offer purely, and rightly, and lawfully, but in his own soul distributes not rightly his communion with his neighbour, neither hath fear of God; he deceives not God by that sacrifice which is rightly offered without, while he hath sin within him; nor will such an oblation profit him at all; but the ceasing from the evil which is conceived within, lest by corresponding practice, or rather by the sin itself [of such thoughts] it make man a murderer to himself.

For which cause also the Lord said,¹⁵¹²* Woe unto you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for ye are like unto whited sepulchres. For without the sepulchre appeareth beautiful,¹⁵¹³* but within it is full of dead men’s bones and of all uncleanness: so also ye indeed outwardly appear unto men as righteous, but within ye are full of wickedness and hypocrisy. For while in outward shew they were thought to offer rightly, they had in themselves a jealousy like Cain’s; wherefore also they killed the Just Man, passing by the counsel of the Word, as also did Cain. For to him He said, Be at rest, and he assented not. Now “being at rest,” what is it, but ceasing from his purposed assault?

And in like words to these,¹⁵¹⁴* Thou blind Pharisee, saith He, cleanse what is within the cup, that the outside may be made clean also.¹⁵¹⁵* And they hearkened not. For behold, saith Jeremiah, thine eyes and thine heart are not good, but in thy covetousness, and for righteous blood, that thou mayest shed it, and for unrighteousness and for murder, to do it.¹⁵¹⁶* And again Esaias saith, Ye have wrought counsel, but not by Me, and a testament, not by My spirit.

In order therefore that their inward will and thought, being brought into open sight, might shew that the fault was not in God, nor the evil wrought by Him:—God Who reveals things hidden, but worketh not evil:—when Cain would by no means rest,¹⁵¹⁷* He saith unto him, Unto thee shall be his regard and thou shalt rule over him. To Pilate also in like manner He said,¹⁵¹⁸* Thou couldest have no power over Me, unless it were given thee from above: God in each instance surrendering the Righteous Man, that while the one is admitted after trial, by what he suffered and endured,^1519p he who was spiteful¹⁵²⁰⁶ may be driven out, condemned by his doings.

It follows that sacrifices sanctify not a man;¹⁵²¹* for God needs not sacrifice: but the conscience of him who offers sanctifies the sacrifice, being pure, and causes God to accept it as from a friend. But the sinner, saith He, who slays for Me a calf,¹⁵²²* is as if he slew a dog.

§ 4. Since then the Church offers with simplicity, justly is her gift accounted of God a pure sacrifice. As Paul also saith to the Philippians,¹⁵²³* I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the things which were sent by you, an odour of sweetness, a sacrifice acceptable, pleasing unto God. For we must make our oblation to God and in all things be found grateful unto God our Creator, offering the first-fruits of those creatures which are His in a pure mind and faith unfeigned, in firm hope, in fervent love.

And this offering the Church alone offers pure unto the Creator,¹⁵²⁴* presenting it unto Him with thanksgiving from the things which He has made. But the Jews offer it not, for their hands are full of blood:¹⁵²⁵* for they have not received the Word, which is offered unto God. No, nor yet any of the congregations of the heretics. For some of them, who say that there is another Father besides the Creator, in offering unto Him things which appertain to our creation, make Him out desirous of that which is another’s, and covetous of other’s goods. And those who say that the things which pertain to us were made through decay and ignorance and passion, sin against their own Father, in offering to Him the fruits of ignorance, passion and decay: rather insulting than giving Him thanks.

And how can they be assured that the Bread whereon thanks have been given is the Body of their Lord,¹⁵²⁶* and the Cup that of His Blood, if they do not acknowledge Him the Son of the Creator of the world; i.e., His Word, whereby the tree bears fruit, and the fountains flow down,¹⁵²⁷* and the earth yields first the blade, then afterwards the ear, then the full corn^1528q in the ear?

§ 5. And how say they that the flesh passes into corruption and partakes not of life,¹⁵²⁹* which is nourished by the Lord’s Body and by His Blood? Either let them change their opinion, or decline to make the offerings which I have mentioned. But our opinion is in harmony with the Eucharist, and the Eucharist again confirms our opinion. And we offer to Him the things which are His own, shewing forth accordingly^1530r our communion and union, and professing a Resurrection of flesh and spirit: viz. that as Bread from the earth, receiving the summons of God, is no longer common Bread, but an Eucharist composed of two things, both an earthly and an heavenly one; so also our bodies, partaking of the Eucharist, are no longer corruptible, having the hope of Eternal Resurrection.

§ 6. For we offer unto Him, not as though He had need,¹⁵³¹* but as giving thanks to His Sovereignty, and sanctifying His Creation. For surely as God needs not the things which are of us, so surely have we need to offer something to God;¹⁵³²* as saith Solomon, He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto God. For God Who stands in need of nothing, takes to Himself our good works, in order that He may grant unto us a return of the good things which belong to Him; as our Lord saith; Come ye blessed of My Father,¹⁵³³* receive the Kingdom prepared for you. For I was hungry, and ye gave Me to eat; I was thirsty, and ye gave Me to drink; I was a stranger and ye took Me in: naked, and ye covered Me, sick and ye visited Me; in prison and ye came unto Me. In the same way then as He, being in no need of those things, yet wills them to be done by us for our own sake, that we be not unfruitful: so this same Word gave unto the people the precept of making oblations, though He needed them not; that they might learn to serve God; and so accordingly He will have us also to offer our gift at the Altar very often without ceasing.

The Altar then is in Heaven (for thither our prayers and oblations are directed), and the Temple: as John saith in the Revelation, And the temple of God was opened,¹⁵³⁴* and the Tabernacle:¹⁵³⁵* For behold, saith he, the tabernacle of God, wherein He will dwell with men.

Chap. XIX. § 1. But all gifts, and oblations, and sacrifices, the People received by way of type, as it was shewn to Moses in the Mount, from one and the same God, Whose name is now also glorified in the Church in all nations. And as for the earthly things, which are ordered with a view to us, it suits well that they should be types of the things which are heavenly, made however by the same God. For in no other way could He represent¹⁵³⁶⁷ the image of things spiritual. But for those which are higher than the Heaven, and spiritual, and as far as we are concerned, invisible and unspeakable:—to call them again types of other heavenly things, and of another Pleroma, and God the image of another Father:—is the part of persons who both err from the Truth, and are altogether foolish and dull. For these, doing so, will be forced, as we have often shewn above, to be continually inventing types of types, and images of images, and never to fix their mind upon the One True God. Because their thoughts have come to be higher than God, they in their hearts transcending their Master Himself, and while in their fancy they are greatly lifted up, and over-passing, in deed they are sinking away from the True God.

§ 2. And to them one might justly say,¹⁵³⁷* as the Word itself suggests, How long lift ye up your imaginations above God, O ye thoughtlessly elate? Ye have heard that the Heavens are measured out with the hand; tell me the measure and declare that countless number of cubits: expound to me the fulness,—breadth, length, and height, the beginning and end of that measured circumference, things which the heart of man understands not, nor doth he comprehend them. For truly great are the repositories of the heavenly treasure: God is immeasurable in heart, and incomprehensible in mind, holding the earth in His grasp. Who tells over the measure of His Right Hand? Who knoweth His Finger, or who understands His Hand, that Hand which measures the unmeasured, that which by its own measure stretches out the span of the Heavens, and presses the earth with its deep places in its hold; which contains in itself the breadth, and length, and depth beneath, and height above, of that whole Creation which is seen and heard and understood; and which is itself invisible?¹⁵³⁸* And therefore God, being above all beginning, and power, and dominion, and every name that is named, of all things made and created;—He it is Who fills the Heavens and searches out the deeps; Who is also with every one of us.¹⁵³⁹* For I, saith He, am a God drawing near, and not a God afar off. Shall a man hide himself in hidden places, and I not see him? For His Hand holds all things; and it is that which while it enlightens the heavens, enlightens also the things under the Heavens, and searches out the reins and the hearts, and is in our hidden and secret things, while it openly nourishes and preserves us.

§ 3. But if man comprehend not the fulness and greatness of His Hand, how shall any one have power to understand or know in his heart so great a God? Yet as if they had now measured and seen through Him, and had traced Him out entirely, they feign that there is above Him another Pleroma of Æons, and another Father:—not looking up to heavenly things, but in reality descending into the deep Abyss of madness; in that they say of Him whom they call Father, that He is limited by the things which are without the Pleroma, but that the Creator^1540s on the contrary, attains not to the Pleroma: and so they lay it down, that neither of the two is perfect and all-comprehending. For the one will want the whole fabric of the world outside the Pleroma; the other the fabric^1541t which is within the Pleroma; and neither of these two will be God of all.

But that no one can express the greatness of God by the things which are made, this is evident unto all: and that His greatness fails not, but contains all, and reaches even to us, and is with us,—every one will allow who is minded worthily of God.

Chap. XX. § 1. In respect of His Greatness, then, one cannot know God, for it is impossible to measure the Father. But in respect of His Love (for this it is which by His Word leads us to God) we, obeying Him, are ever learning, that God is so great, and that it is He who by His Own Self, created, and elected, and beautified, and preserved all things: and among them also both ourselves and this world, to which we appertain. We therefore were also made, with the things which are contained therein. And it is He of whom Scripture saith,¹⁵⁴²* And God formed man, taking clay of the earth, and breathed into his face the breath of life.

Angels therefore did not make us, nor form us, neither could Angels make an image of God: nor any other but the Word of the Lord,—no Virtue, far distant from the Father of all.¹⁵⁴³* For neither did God stand in need of these, to do the things which He had in Himself determined before to do, as though He had no Hands of His own: since to Him is ever present His Word and Wisdom,¹⁵⁴⁴* the Son and the Spirit, by whom and in whom He made all things freely and voluntarily: to whom also He speaks,¹⁵⁴⁵* saying, Let us make man after our Image and Likeness; Himself receiving from Himself the being of His creatures, and the pattern of His works, and the form of the things wherewith the world is furnished.

§ 2. Well therefore spake the Scripture which saith,¹⁵⁴⁶* First of all believe thou that there is One God, Who created and perfected all things,¹⁵⁴⁷* and caused all to come out of non-existence into existence: comprehending all, and comprehended by none. Well again in the Prophets also saith Malachi,¹⁵⁴⁸* Is there not One God Who created us? is there not one Father of us all? And agreeably the Apostle too speaks,¹⁵⁴⁹* There is one God, saith he, the Father, who is above all, and in us all. And the Lord also in like manner,¹⁵⁵⁰* All things, saith He, are delivered unto Me of My Father; plainly, of Him who made all things.

(For not that which is another’s,¹⁵⁵¹* but His Own, did He deliver unto Him. And in all nothing is excepted: and for this same cause He is judge of quick and dead, having the Key of David:¹⁵⁵²* He will open, and none shall shut; He will shut and none shall open. For no one besides was able, neither in Heaven, nor in earth,¹⁵⁵³* nor under the earth, to open the Father’s Book,¹⁵⁵⁴* nor to see it, but the Lamb which was slain and redeemed us by His Blood.)

From the same, I repeat, who made all things by His Word,¹⁵⁵⁵* and adorned them by His Wisdom, He receiveth all power, when the Word was made flesh: that even as the Word of God had the first place in the Heavens,¹⁵⁵⁶* so He might also have the first place in the earth,¹⁵⁵⁷* because He is the Just Man, who did no sin, neither was guile found in His Mouth: and again, that He should have the chief place of the things which are under the earth,¹⁵⁵⁸* as having been Himself made the First-born from the dead:¹⁵⁵⁹* and that all things (as we said before) might behold their King: and the Father’s Light might meet us in the Flesh of our Lord, and might come to us from His glorious Body¹⁵⁶⁰⁸, and so man might arrive at incorruption, being compassed about with the brightness of the Father.

§ 3. Now that the Word, i.e., the Son, always was with the Father, we have proved at large.¹⁵⁶¹* But that Wisdom also, which is the Spirit, was with Him before all Creation, He saith by Solomon; The Lord by Wisdom founded the earth, and by prudence prepared Heaven.¹⁵⁶²* By His Knowledge the Deeps brake forth, and the clouds dropped down dew.¹⁵⁶³* And again, The Lord created Me the beginning of His ways over His Works, before the worlds He founded Me, in the beginning before He made the earth, before He established the Deeps, and before the fountains of waters came forth, before the mountains were strengthened: and before all the hills He begat me. And again, When He prepared the Heaven,¹⁵⁶⁴* I was with Him, and when He made firm the fountains of the deep,¹⁵⁶⁵* when He made strong the foundations of the earth, I was with Him, putting things together. It was I with whom He was glad, and I rejoiced daily at all times before His Face, when He was rejoicing in the finished world, and delighting Himself in the sons of men.

§ 4. There is therefore One God, Who by His Word and Wisdom made and arranged all things: and this is the Creator, Who also assigned this world to the race of man. In respect indeed of His greatness He is unknown to all them that were made by Him, (for no one hath traced out His highness, neither among the ancients who are gone to rest, nor among those who now are:) but in respect of His Love He is known always, by Him, through whom He created all things. And this is His Word, our Lord Jesus Christ, Who in the last times was made a man among men, that He might join the end unto the beginning, i.e., man unto God. And therefore the Prophets, having received from the same Word the gift of Prophecy, announced His coming in the flesh, whereby was wrought the commixture and communion of God and Man according to the Father’s good pleasure;¹⁵⁶⁶* the Word of God announcing before from the beginning, that God shall be seen of men,¹⁵⁶⁷* and converse with them on earth, and that He should discourse, and be present with that which He had formed, saving it, and having become such as to be received by it; delivering us also from the hands of all that hate us,¹⁵⁶⁸* i.e., from the whole spirit of transgression; and causing us to serve Him in holiness and righteousness all our days;¹⁵⁶⁹* that man, having welcomed¹⁵⁷⁰⁹ God’s Spirit, may tend to the glory of the Father.

§ 5. These things the Prophets intimated in a prophetical manner; not however, as some say, that the Father of all being invisible, He who was seen by the Prophets was another. These are altogether ignorant what Prophecy is. For Prophecy is the foretelling of things future, i.e., the foreshewing of what shall be hereafter. The Prophets therefore foreshewed how that God should be seen of men;¹⁵⁷¹* as also saith the Lord, Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

I grant that in respect of His greatness and marvellous glory,¹⁵⁷²* no man shall see God and live;¹⁵⁷³* For the Father is incomprehensible: But in respect of His Love and mercifulness, and of His Almightiness, He grants even this to such as love Him, I mean, to see God; which also the Prophets foretold.¹⁵⁷⁴* Because the things which are impossible with men are possible with God.

For what if man of himself beholdeth not God? yet He of His own Will appears unto men, to whom He will, and when He will, and as He will. For God is mighty in all things; having been then first seen by the Spirit of Prophecy; next, seen again through the Son in the way of adoption; and lastly He shall be seen in the Kingdom of Heaven as a Father: the Spirit first preparing man in the Son of God, then the Son leading him to the Father, the Father lastly bestowing incorruption unto eternal life, which ensues unto every one from his beholding God.

For as those who see the light are in the light,¹⁵⁷⁵* and partake of its splendour, so those who see God are in God, partaking of His splendour. And the brightness quickens them: those therefore who see God will partake of life. And therefore the Unlimited and Incomprehensible and Invisible exhibited Himself to the faithful as seen and comprehended and limited: that He might quicken those who receive Him and see Him by faith. Because as His greatness is unsearched, so is His Goodness also untold: whereby being seen, He gives life to them that see Him. Because to live without life was a thing impossible, and the possession of life accrues from the participation of God. And the Participation of God is to know God and enjoy His goodness.

§ 6. Men therefore will see God so as to live: by the vision made immortal, and reaching even unto God.¹⁵⁷⁶* Which thing, as I said before, was set forth by the Prophets in figures: how that God shall be seen of those Men who carry His Spirit and continually await His coming. As Moses saith also in Deuteronomy,¹⁵⁷⁷* In that day we shall see that God will speak to man, and he shall live. For some of them saw the Prophetic Spirit, and His operations lavished on every kind of gift: others again the coming of the Lord, and the Economy which is from the beginning, whereby He did the will of His Father, which is in Heaven, and which is in earth: others again saw also the glories of the Father, such as were suited to the seasons; both to the persons who were seeing and hearing at the time, and to the men who afterwards should hear in their turn.

And so God was manifested:¹⁵⁷⁸* for in all this God the Father is shewn forth, the Spirit first working, then the Son ministering, the Father again approving, and man lastly made perfect unto salvation. As He saith also by the Prophet Hosea:¹⁵⁷⁹* I, saith He, have multiplied visions, and by the hands of the Prophets I have been made the subject of similitudes. But the Apostle hath expounded the same,¹⁵⁸⁰* saying, Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are diversities of ministries, but the same Lord; and there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God who worketh all in all. But unto every one is given the manifestation of the Spirit unto profit.

But since He who worketh all in all,¹⁵⁸¹* is God, in quality and in quantity He is invisible and unutterable by all the things which He made, yet by no means unknown: for they all learn by His Word, that there is one God the Father, who comprehends all things, and imparts being to all things: as it is written in the Gospel,¹⁵⁸²* No man hath seen God at any time, except the only begotten Son, who is in the Bosom of the Father: He hath declared Him.

§ 7. He declares therefore, from the beginning,¹⁵⁸³* Who is the Son of the Father: by whom both the prophetical visions, and the diversities of gifts, and his own ministries, and his Father’s glorification, have been orderly and systematically revealed unto mankind, in meet time to profit withal. For where order is, there is also consistency, and where consistency, there also is reference to the time: and where there is reference to the time, there is profitableness. And so the Word became the dispenser of the Father’s grace for the good of men, and for their sake He wrought such mighty and manifold works; on the one side revealing God to men, on the other, presenting man unto God: and as He guards the invisibility of the Father, lest at any time man should become a despiser of God, and that he might always have something to grow towards, so on the other hand in many and manifold ways He reveals God unto men, lest men altogether falling away from God, should cease to be at all. For the glory of God is a living Man^1584u, and the life of man is to see God^1585v. For if that revelation of God which is by the creature imparts life to all who live on the earth, much more that manifestation of the Father which is by the Word imparts life to such as see God.

§ 8. We see that as the Spirit of God did by the Prophets foreshew things to come,¹⁵⁸⁶* forming and fitting us beforehand to be subject unto God, and so it was to be, that man should have sight by the good pleasure of the Holy Ghost: it followed of course that those, through whom things future were announced, should have sight of God, whom they were themselves suggesting to men as an object of sight: and so not only should prophetic mention be made of God, and the Son of God, of the Son and the Father: but that He should even be seen of all His members, sanctified, and taught the things which belong unto God: that man might be formed beforehand and exercised in appropriating to himself¹⁵⁸⁷¹ that glory which shall be hereafter revealed unto them that love God.

For not by discourse alone did the Prophets prophesy, but by vision also, and conversation, and acts which they did, according to the suggestion of the Spirit.

In this invisible sense then, they had sight of God: as saith Esaias, The King, the Lord of Hosts,¹⁵⁸⁸* I have seen with mine eyes: signifying that man shall see God with his eyes, and shall hear His voice. In this sense I say, they did also see the Son of God, as man, conversing with men, when they were prophesying what should be; saying that He was present, Who was not yet present: and declaring the Impassible to be capable of suffering, and affirming that He who was then in Heaven had gone down to the clay of death^1589w. And the other provisions too of that crowning work of His,—some of them indeed they saw in visions, some they announced by word, some again by deed they typically signified: and what things were to be seen, they saw with their eyes: what to be heard, they proclaimed in their discourse: what to be done they fulfilled in deed: and in all they were making prophetic announcements.

Wherefore also Moses, while to the people who violated the Law he said that God was a Fire, threatening that a Day of fire should be brought upon them by God; to those on the contrary who had fear towards God he said,¹⁵⁹⁰* The Lord God is merciful and gracious and longsuffering; and of great pity and a lover of truth; keeping righteousness and mercy for thousands, taking away iniquities and transgressions and sins.

§ 9. And to Moses indeed the Word spake, appearing in his sight,¹⁵⁹¹* as if one should speak to one’s own friend. But Moses desired to see openly Him who was speaking with him,¹⁵⁹²* and it was said unto him, Stand in the high place of the rock,¹⁵⁹³* and with My Hand I will cover over thee. And when My glory shall have passed by, then shalt thou see clearly My back parts; but My face shall not be seen by thee:¹⁵⁹⁴* for no man seeth My face and shall live: signifying both points; as well that man is incapable of seeing God, as that by the Wisdom of God in the last times man shall see Him in the height of the rock, i.e., in His coming as Man. And therefore He spake face to face with him in the top of the mountain, Elias also standing by, as the Gospel hath related,¹⁵⁹⁵* making good in the end the promise of old time.

§ 10. Not openly then did the Prophets see the very Face of God, but certain preparations and mysteries^1596x, whereby man was beginning to see God. As was said to Elias also:¹⁵⁹⁷* To morrow thou shalt go forth, and stand in the sight of the Lord, and behold the Lord shall pass by, and behold, a great and strong wind, which shall melt the mountains, and shatter the rocks before the Lord; and the Lord is not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake: and the Lord is not in the earthquake, and after the earthquake a fire, and the Lord is not in the fire: and after the fire a slight voice of a breeze.¹⁵⁹⁸* For both the Prophet himself, full of indignation at the sin of the people and the slaughter of the Prophets, was hereby taught to deal more gently: and the coming of the Lord as Man was intimated, to take place after that Law which was given by Moses:—a mild and tranquil coming, wherein He neither brake bruised reed,¹⁵⁹⁹* nor quenched smoking flax. Yea, and the repose of that Kingdom, mild and peaceful, was shewn forth: in that after the wind which shatters the mountains, and after the earthquake and after the fire, the tranquil and peaceful times of His Kingdom approach: wherein with all gentleness the Spirit of God gives life and increase unto man.

And it was made even still more evident by Ezechiel,¹⁶⁰⁰* that the Prophets had a partial sight of God’s providential doings, but saw not properly God Himself. For Ezekiel, having seen the vision and the cherubim and their wheels, and having related the whole mystery of His going forth, and having seen the likeness of a throne above them, and on the throne the likeness and figure of a man: and the parts indeed above His Loins as a figure of Amber, but below, as a vision of fire; declaring also all the rest of that vision of the Thrones:—lest any one haply should think that herein he had properly seen God, subjoined, This is the vision of the likeness of the glory of the Lord.¹⁶⁰¹*

§ 11. Therefore if neither Moses saw God, nor Elias, nor Ezekiel, who did see many of the heavenly things, and if the things which they did see were resemblances of the Lord’s glory and prophecies of things to come; it is plain that the Father indeed is invisible, concerning whom also the Lord Said,¹⁶⁰²* No man hath seen God at any time. But His Word,¹⁶⁰³* at His own pleasure, and for the profit of such as behold, revealed the brightness of the Father, and explained His Providences (as the Lord also said, The Only Begotten God, who is in the Bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him:—and as for the word He, it means the Word of the Father): He as rich and manifold in His Being, was seen by those who beheld Him not in one figure only, nor in one character, but according to the occasions, or to the working, of His several economies: as it is written in Daniel. For at one time He appeared unto Ananias, Azarias, Misael, standing by them in the furnace of fire, and in the oven, and delivering them from the flame.¹⁶⁰⁴* And the vision, saith he, of the Fourth was like the Son of God.¹⁶⁰⁵* At another time, a stone cut out of a mountain without hands, and smiting the temporal kingdoms, and fanning them, and itself filling the whole earth.¹⁶⁰⁶* Again This same Person appears as the Son of Man coming in the clouds of Heaven, and drawing near to the Ancient of Days, and taking from Him all Power and glory and Royalty.¹⁶⁰⁷* And His Power, saith he, is Eternal Power, and His Kingdom shall not perish. Yea, and John the Lord’s disciple, in the Apocalypse beholding the priestly and glorious coming of His Kingdom saith,¹⁶⁰⁸* I turned to see the Voice which spake with me, and being turned I saw seven golden candlesticks, and among the candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clad with a garment reaching to the feet, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. But His Head and hairs were white, as white wool, as snow: and His eyes as a flame of fire, and His feet like unto fine brass, as it is kindled in the furnace. And His Voice as the voice of waters; and He hath seven stars in His right Hand, and from His mouth went out a sword sharp on both edges, and His Face as the sun shining in its strength. Now in these words some part intimates His brightness from the Father; as the Head: some again is priestly;¹⁶⁰⁹* as the Long Robe; (and therefore Moses clothed the chief Priest by this Pattern:)¹⁶¹⁰* and some relates to the End, as the fine brass heated in the furnace; which is the strength of Faith, and the persevering might of prayers: therefore it is the fire which is to blaze out, which cometh in the end of the times. But when John endured not the vision (For he saith,¹⁶¹¹* I fell at His feet as dead; that it might be fulfilled which is written, No man seeth God and shall live),¹⁶¹²* the Word, both to quicken him and remind him that it is He on Whose Bosom he lay at supper, inquiring who it was that was beginning to betray Him,¹⁶¹³* said, I am the First and I am the Last, Who am both living, and was dead, and behold I live for ever and ever, and have the keys of death and hell.

And afterwards in the second vision seeing the same Lord;¹⁶¹⁴* For I saw, saith he, in the midst of the Throne, and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the Elders, a Lamb standing as it were slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent out into the whole earth. And again of the self-same Lamb he saith, And behold a white horse, and He that sate on him was called faithful and true, and in righteousness doth He judge and make war, and His eyes as a flame of fire, and on His Head many crowns; having a name written which no man knoweth but Himself; and clad with a garment died in blood, and His name is called, The Word of God. And the armies of Heaven followed on white horses,¹⁶¹⁵* clothed in fine linen, white and clean; and from His Mouth issueth a sharp sword, that with it He may smite the nations; and He shall feed them with a rod of iron, and He Himself treadeth the winefat of the fury of the wrath of Almighty God; and He hath on His vesture and on His thigh a name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Thus in each instance the Word of God hath a sort of outline of things to come, and hath manifested unto men as it were the special features of the Father’s providences, teaching us the things of God.

§ 12. And not only by visions which were seen and by Discourses which were preached,¹⁶¹⁶* but in deeds also He appeared to the Prophets, that by them He might prefigure and foreshew things to come. For which cause also Hosea the Prophet received a wife of whoredom,¹⁶¹⁷* by his act prophesying that the earth should utterly go a whoring from the Lord; i.e., the men who are on the earth: and of this sort of men shall God be pleased to take to Himself a Church to be sanctified by partaking of His Son, even as she was sanctified by the Prophet’s communion.¹⁶¹⁸* And therefore Paul saith that the unbelieving wife was sanctified in the believing husband. Moreover also the Prophet named his sons,¹⁶¹⁹* Not-obtaining-mercy, and Not a people:¹⁶²⁰* that as the Apostle saith, That which was not a people might be made a people, and she that had not obtained mercy might have obtained mercy: and being delivered in the place, where she was called Not a people, there shall they be called sons of the living God.

That which the Prophet in his act did typically, the Apostle shews to have been truly done by Christ in the Church.¹⁶²¹*

And so Moses too took an Ethiopian woman to wife, whom he made an Israelite: foreshewing how the wild olive is graffed into the good olive,¹⁶²²* and shall partake of its fatness. For because the Christ Who was born after the flesh, had to be sought out by the people to be slain, but to be delivered in Egypt, i.e., among the Gentiles, so as to sanctify the young children who were there, from among whom also He formed a church there (for Egypt from the beginning is Gentile, as well as Ethiopia): therefore by the marriage of Moses, the spiritual marriage of Jesus was pointed out, and by the Ethiopian bride, the Church from among the Gentiles was manifested: which whosoever speaks against, and calumniates, and derides, shall not be clean:¹⁶²³* for they shall be leprous, and shall be banished from the camp of the righteous.

And so too Rahab the harlot,¹⁶²⁴* while she condemned herself as a Gentile, guilty of all sins, did nevertheless receive the three explorers who were exploring the whole earth, and hide them in her house, the Father I mean and the Son, with the Holy Ghost. And when the whole city wherein she dwelt had fallen into ruin at the sound of the seven trumpeters, Rahab the harlot was saved at the last,¹⁶²⁵* with her whole house by faith in the sign of scarlet: as the Lord also said to those, who did not receive His coming, I mean to the Pharisees: who also make void the sign of scarlet, which was the Passover, the redemption and going forth of the people from Egypt;¹⁶²⁶* where He says, The Publicans and the harlots go before you in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Chap. XXI. § 1. Now that in Abraham also our faith was prefigured, and that he was Patriarch, and as it were Prophet of our faith, the Apostle hath taught very fully in the Epistle to the Galatians saying,¹⁶²⁷* He therefore who giveth you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you;—is it of the works of the law, or of the hearing of faith? As Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are sons of Abraham. And the Scripture foreseeing that God justifieth the Gentiles by faith, foretold unto Abraham that in him all nations shall be blessed. Therefore they who are of faith, shall be blessed with faithful Abraham.

For which cause He entitled him not merely Prophet of the Faith,¹⁶²⁸* but Father also of those who of the Gentiles believe in Christ Jesus, his faith and ours being one and the same, in that he indeed believes in things future as already done, because of the promise of God, and we in like manner by faith contemplate the inheritance which is in the Kingdom.

§ 2. And the circumstances too of Isaac are not without meaning.¹⁶²⁹* For in the Epistle to the Romans the Apostle saith, Yea, and Rebekah after one conception by our father Isaac received an answer from the Word; that the purpose of God according to Election might stand,¹⁶³⁰* not of works,¹⁶³¹* but of Him that calleth, it was said unto her, Two people are in thy womb,¹⁶³²* and two nations in thy bowels, and one people shall overcome the other, and the elder shall serve the younger. Whereby it is plain that not only the predictions of the Patriarchs, but the travail pains also of Rebekah were a prophecy of two peoples; and that one is greater, the other less; one under servitude, the other free; yet of one and the same father. Our God and theirs is one and the same, Who is cognizant of hidden things,¹⁶³³* Who knoweth all before it come to pass;¹⁶³⁴* and therefore He said, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.

§ 3. And if any man acquaint himself also with the acts of Jacob, he will find them not empty, but full of providential turns:¹⁶³⁵* and first in his birth, how he seized his brother’s heel,¹⁶³⁶* and was called Jacob, i.e., supplanter: holding, and not holden: binding the feet, and not bound; wrestling and overcoming: holding in hand his adversary’s heel, i.e., victory. For to that end the Lord was born, of whose generation he was exhibiting the type; of Whom John also saith in the Revelation, He went forth conquering, to conquer.¹⁶³⁷* And afterwards in receiving the rights of the first-born,¹⁶³⁸* when his brother spake reproachfully of them: even as the younger people received that First-born Who is Christ, on his being rejected by the elder people with the words,¹⁶³⁹* We have no King but Cæsar. Again in Christ is all blessing: and therefore the later people stole from the Father the blessings of the former people, as Jacob took away the blessing of this Esau. For which cause he endured the plots and persecutions of his brother, though he were his own brother: even as the Church endures the same from the Jews. In his sojourning were born the twelve tribes, the family of Israel, because Christ also as a sojourner began to produce the twelve-pillared firmament^1640y of the Church.¹⁶⁴¹* There were many coloured sheep, who became the hire of this Jacob: and the hire of Christ are the men who become so on assembling from various and different nations into one troop of faith; as the Father promised Him, saying,¹⁶⁴²* Desire of Me and I will give Thee the Gentiles for Thine inheritance, and the ends of the earth for Thy possession. And because they were born to Jacob as Prophet of the number of the Lord’s children,¹⁶⁴³* it was quite necessary that he should have sons of two sisters, as Christ us of the two Laws which were of one and the same Father: and in like manner too of the handmaids: signifying that Christ would raise up sons to God of free men after the flesh, and of slaves, bestowing upon all alike the gift of the Spirit which quickens us.¹⁶⁴⁴* But he did all for the sake of that younger one, having good eyes, Rachel; the figure of the Church, for which Christ suffered.

And so far indeed He was by His Patriarchs and Prophets prefiguring and foretelling things future, exercising beforehand His part in God’s ordained ways, and training His heritage to obey God, and to be strangers in the world, and to follow His Word, and to fore-signify what is to come. For with God nothing is void, nor without significancy.

Chap. XXII. § 1. But in the last times, when the fulness of the time of liberty arrived, the Word Himself by His own Self washed away the filth of the daughter of Sion,¹⁶⁴⁵* with His own Hands washing the feet of His Disciples. For this is the end of mankind inheriting God: that as in the beginning by the first men we were all brought into slavery through the debt of death, so in the last time by the Last Man all who from the beginning are disciples, being cleansed and washed from that which is of death,¹⁶⁴⁶* may come to the life of God. Since He Who washed His Disciples’ feet sanctified the whole body and brought it unto cleanness.

Wherefore also to them as they lay He ministered meat, signifying such as lay in the earth, to whom He came to minister life. As saith Jeremiah, The holy Lord of Israel remembered His Dead, who were before asleep in the land of sepulture; and went down to them, that He might tell them the good news of His Salvation, to save them.

And for the same cause the Disciples also were heavy when Christ was coming to His Passion, and the Lord finding them asleep, at first indeed let it pass, signifying God’s patience in the slumbering of men; but coming the second time He awakened and raised them up, intimating that His Passion is the awakening of the sleeping Disciples,¹⁶⁴⁷* for whom also He went down into the lower parts of the earth,¹⁶⁴⁸* to behold with His eyes the unfinished part of Creation; of whom also He said to the disciples,¹⁶⁴⁹* Many Prophets and just men have desired to see and hear the things which ye see and hear.

§ 2. For Christ came not on their account only, who believed on Him in the times of Tiberius Cæsar, neither did the Father make provision for those men alone, who now exist; but for all men altogether who from the beginning, because of their excellency in their generation, have both feared and loved God, and conversed justly and piously with their neighbours, and desired to see Christ and to hear His Voice. Wherefore all such He will raise from their sleep before the rest in His second coming, and will awaken both them, and the rest who shall be judged, and will give them a part in His Kingdom. Since undoubtedly there is one God, Who as He guided the Patriarchs along His own providential ways,¹⁶⁵⁰* so He justified the circumcision by faith, and the uncircumcision through faith. For as in those who came first we were prefigured and foretold, so they in their turn are completely drawn out^1651z in us; i.e., in the Church; and receive their reward for their labours.

Chap. XXIII. § 1. Therefore the Lord said to the disciples, Behold, 1 say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and see the countries, that they are white unto the harvest.¹⁶⁵²* For the reaper receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together. For herein is the true saying, One soweth and another reapeth. For I sent you on to reap that on which ye laboured not: others laboured, and ye entered into their labour.

Who then are those that laboured,¹⁶⁵³* who ministered to the providences of God? Clearly, the Patriarchs and Prophets; who also prefigured our faith, and spread abroad in the earth the coming of the Son of God, Who and of what sort He shall be: that the men who were to come afterwards, having the fear of God, might easily receive the coming of Christ, instructed as they were by the Prophets.

And therefore when Joseph had come to know that Mary was with child,¹⁶⁵⁴* and was minded to put her away privily, an Angel in sleep said unto him,¹⁶⁵⁵* Fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which she hath in the womb is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a Son and thou shalt call His Name Jesus: for He shall save His people from their sins. And he added, to persuade him,¹⁶⁵⁶* Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the Prophet, saying, Behold a Virgin shall conceive in the womb, and bring forth a Son, and His Name shall be called Emmanuel:—by the words of the Prophet reasoning with him,¹⁶⁵⁷* and pleading for Mary: pointing out her as the very person who had been foretold by Isaiah, the Virgin who should bring forth Emmanuel. Whereby Joseph being moved, did both take unto him Mary without hesitation, and joyfully shew himself obedient in all the subsequent bringing up of Christ: undertaking the journey into Egypt, and the return thence, and the removal to Nazareth. We may add that such as knew not the Scriptures, and the promise of God, and the method of Christ’s proceeding^1658a, used to call him the father of the boy.

For this cause again, the Lord also Himself in Capernaum read the prophecies of Isaiah;¹⁶⁵⁹* The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, wherefore He hath anointed Me, He sent Me to preach the Gospel to the poor, to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance^1660b to captives, and sight to the blind. Declaring also Himself to be foretold by the prophecy of Isaiah,¹⁶⁶¹* He said unto them, To day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears.

§ 2. On this account also Philip,¹⁶⁶²* having found the Eunuch of the Queen of the Ethiopians reading that which is written,¹⁶⁶³* He was led as a sheep for a victim, and as a lamb without voice before the shearer, so He opened not His mouth: in humility His judgment was taken away;—and whatever else the Prophet hath gone over concerning His Passion, and His coming in the flesh, and how He was dishonoured by those who believed Him not:—readily prevailed on him to believe this is that Christ Jesus who under Pontius Pilate was crucified, and suffered, and whatever the Prophet foretold: and that He is the Son of God, who gives eternal life unto men. And as soon as he had baptized him, he departed from him. For nothing else was wanting to him, who had been previously instructed by the Prophets. He was not ignorant of God the Father, nor of the right preparation of life, but only of the coming of the Son of God; which being made known to him in short space of time,¹⁶⁶⁴* he went on his way rejoicing, to be herald of Christ’s coming in Ethiopia. And therefore Philip had no great trouble with him, he having been made ready to his hand in the fear of God by the Prophets.

And on this account again the Apostles, in gathering the lost sheep of the house of Israel,¹⁶⁶⁵* addressed them out of the Scriptures, to prove that this crucified Jesus is Christ the Son of the living God, and wrought on a great multitude—of such,¹⁶⁶⁶* that is, as had fear towards God—and in one day were baptized 3, and 4, and 5, 000.

Chap. XXIV. § 1. On this account also Paul, being the Apostle of the Gentiles, saith, I laboured more than they all. For to them the elementary teaching was easy,¹⁶⁶⁷* because, you see, they had Scripture proofs and the hearers of Moses and the Prophets did also readily receive as first-born from the dead,¹⁶⁶⁸* and as Prince of the Divine Life, Him Who by stretching out His Hands destroyed^1669c Amalek, and brought man to life from the serpent’s wound by faith which was in Him. Now the Gentiles had first indeed to be instructed by the Apostle (as we have explained in the preceding Book) how they should depart from the superstition of idols, and worship one God, the Maker of Heaven and Earth, and framer of the whole creation: and how He hath His Son, His Word, by Whom He established all things; and that He in the last time becoming a man among men, did both reform mankind, and destroy and vanquish man’s enemy, and give to His own creature the victory over him, for all his struggles. But besides this, those who were of the circumcision, although they did not the words of God, as being despisers, yet were they warned not to commit adultery, not to fornicate, not to steal nor cheat: and that whatever is done to the ruin¹⁶⁷⁰² of our neighbours is bad and is hated by God. Wherefore also they readily agreed to keep from such things, because they had been so taught.

§ 2. But the Gentiles had to learn even this very thing, that such works are bad, and ruinous, and unprofitable, and hurtful to the doers of them. Wherefore it was harder work for him who had received the Apostleship of the Gentiles, than for such as preached the Son of God in the Circumcision. For they were helped by the Scriptures, which the Lord confirmed and fulfilled, being, when He came, such as He was announced. But here it was a strange sort of teaching, and a new doctrine, that the Gods of the nations,¹⁶⁷¹* so far from being Gods, are rather images of demons;¹⁶⁷²* and that there is but one God, who is above all princedom and dominion and power and every name that is named; and that His Word, a Person naturally invisible, had become such as to be touched and seen among men,¹⁶⁷³* and descended even unto death, and that the death of the Cross;^1674d and that such as believe in Him shall be incorruptible and impassive, and receive the Kingdom of Heaven. And these things were preached to the Gentiles in discourse without scriptures: wherefore they did work harder who preached to the Gentiles. And again the faith of the Gentiles is shewn to be the more noble, in that they attain the word of God without instruction in letters.

Chap. XXV. § 1. For so it behoved the sons of Abraham, whom God raised up unto him from the stones, and created, to stand by him, made as he was the chief and harbinger of our faith;¹⁶⁷⁵* who also received the Testament of Circumcision,¹⁶⁷⁶* after that justification of faith which had been in his uncircumcision: that both Testaments might be prefigured in him;¹⁶⁷⁷*—that he might become the father of all who follow the Word of God, and endure to be strangers in this world, i.e., of those who from among the circumcision, and of those who from the uncircumcision are faithful:¹⁶⁷⁸* as Christ also is the chief Corner Stone, upholding all things, and gathering into the one faith of Abraham those who out of either Testament are meet for the building of God.

But whereas this faith which exists in the state of uncircumcision was made both the first and the last, as uniting the end with the beginning: for before circumcision it was in Abraham, and in the other just men who pleased God, as we have pointed out; and again in the last times it arose among mankind by the coming of the Lord:—Circumcision on the other hand and the Law of works, occupied the intermediate times.

§ 2. This is shewn typically, as by many other things, so also especially by Thamar, Judas’ son’s wife, in that, when she had conceived twins, one of them first put forth his hand, and the midwife thinking it the firstborn, bound some scarlet for a token on his hand.¹⁶⁷⁹* This being done, and he having drawn away his hand, his brother Phares came out first; and so, second in order, he on whom the scarlet was,¹⁶⁸⁰* Zarah: the Scripture clearly revealing both that people which hath the scarlet sign, namely the faith which is in uncircumcision, first shewn prophetically in the Patriarchs, afterwards withdrawn that his brother might be born; and so afterwards in the second place him that was firstborn: who was known by the token of scarlet that was upon him, which is the Passion of the Just One figured from the beginning in Abel, and described by the Prophets, but perfected in the last times in the Son of God.

§ 3. For it was meet that while some things should be foretold in a fatherly way by the Fathers, others should be typified in a legal way by the Prophets, others again should be fully traced after the delineation of Christ, by those who have received adoption. But all are shewn forth in one God. For Abraham being one, figured in himself the two Testaments, wherein some sowed and others reaped:¹⁶⁸¹* For herein, saith He, is the saying true, It is one people who soweth, and another which shall reap; yet one only God, vouchsafing unto each what is fitting, to the sower seed, to the reaper bread for eating. Just as it is one who plants and another who waters,¹⁶⁸²* but one who giveth the increase, even God. Thus the Patriarchs and Prophets sowed abroad the word concerning Christ; but the Church reaped, i.e., gathered in the fruit.

Wherefore they also themselves pray to have a tabernacle within her;¹⁶⁸³* as Jeremiah saith, Who will give me in the wilderness the last habitation? that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together in the Kingdom of Christ, Who is present with all those, in whom God hath been well pleased from the beginning, granting unto them the Presence of His Word.

Chap. XXVI. § 1. If a man therefore read the Scriptures attentively, he will find in the same the word concerning Christ, and the prefiguring of the New Calling. For Christ is the treasure hid in the field—i.e., in this world:¹⁶⁸⁴* for the field is the world:—and Christ in the Scriptures is a hidden treasure,¹⁶⁸⁵* because He was indicated by types and parables. Wherefore what relates to Him as Man could not be understood, before the fulfilment of the predictions had arrived; which is the Coming of the Lord. And therefore it was said to the Prophet Daniel,¹⁶⁸⁶* Hide away the discourses, and seal the Book until the time of the consummation:—until many shall learn, and knowledge be completed.¹⁶⁸⁷* For in the time when the dispersion shall be accomplished, they shall know all these things.¹⁶⁸⁸* Yea, and Jeremiah saith, In the last days they shall know them.

Because every prophecy, before the event,¹⁶⁸⁹* is a riddle and a strife unto men: but when the time is come, and the thing foretold takes place, then it admits of the most exact commentary. And therefore the Law at this present time, when read by Jews, is like a mere legend, for they have not that which is the comment on all that is there, viz., the coming of the Son of God as Man. But when read by Christians,¹⁶⁹⁰* it is a treasure, hidden indeed in a field, but to them disclosed by Christ’s Cross, and made plain; which also enriches the minds of men, and sets forth the wisdom of God, and declares His providential dealings with man, and shadows beforehand the Kingdom of Christ, and anticipates the preaching^1691e of the heritage of the holy Jerusalem; it announces also, that man loving God shall improve^1692f so far, as even to see God, and hear His speech, and from the hearing of what He saith come to be so highly glorified, that others shall not be able to look steadily on the face of his glory: as is said by Daniel,¹⁶⁹³* That men of understanding shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and there shall be of many righteous men as it were stars for ever and ever.

Therefore, as we have shewn, if a man read the Scriptures (for so the Lord also discoursed unto His Disciples after His resurrection from the dead, shewing them from the same Scriptures, that Christ should suffer,¹⁶⁹⁴* and enter into His Glory,¹⁶⁹⁵* and that in His Name remission of sins should be preached in the whole world): he will be even a perfect disciple,¹⁶⁹⁶* and like unto a householder, who bringeth out of his treasure things new and old.

§ 2. Wherefore we should hearken to those Presbyters who are in the Church;¹⁶⁹⁷* those who have their succession from the Apostles, as we have pointed out; who with their succession in the Episcopate received a sure gift of the Truth, at the good pleasure of the Father: but the rest, who withdraw from the primitive succession, and gather in any place whatever, we must hold in suspicion, either as heretics and evil minded^1698g; or as making division, and lifted up, and pleasing themselves; or again as hypocrites, so behaving for gain and vain glory’s sake. But all these have fallen from the truth.

And as for the Heretics, offering as they do strange fire at the Altar of God, i.e., strange doctrines, they shall be burned up by fire from Heaven, as Nadab and Abihu.¹⁶⁹⁹* But such as rise up against the Truth,¹⁷⁰⁰* and stir up others to oppose the Church of God, remain in the lower regions, swallowed by an eddy of the earth: as Korah, Dathan and Abiron and their party. And such as rend and part in sunder the unity of the Church receive from God the same punishment as Jeroboam.

§ 3. But those who are counted indeed by many as Presbyters,¹⁷⁰¹* yet are slaves to their own pleasures, and prefer not the fear of God in their hearts, but harass others with reproaches, and are elated with the pomp of that original grant, and do ill in secret and say, No man seeth us; will be rebuked by the Word, Who judges not by fair shew, nor looks to the countenance, but upon the heart: and they will have those words said to them which were spoken by the Prophet Daniel:¹⁷⁰²* O seed of Canaan, and not of Judah, beauty hath beguiled thee, and lust hath turned thy heart upside down:¹⁷⁰³* O thou grown old in evil days, now are thy sins come upon thee which thou didst work before, in judging unrighteous judgments; and the innocent thou didst condemn, but didst free the guilty, whereas the Lord saith, The innocent and righteous shalt thou not slay. Of whom the Lord also said, But if the evil servant say in his heart, My Lord delayeth,¹⁷⁰⁴* and begin to beat the servants and handmaids, and to eat and drink and to be drunken: the Lord of that servant will come in a day when he knoweth not, and in an hour when he doth not expect; and will cut him asunder, and set his portion with the unbelievers.

§ 4. From all such then we must withdraw;¹⁷⁰⁵* and cleave to those who both guard, as we said before, the doctrine of the Apostles, and with their order as Presbyters exhibit sound speech and conversation without offence, for the confirmation and reproof of the rest. As Moses, to whom was entrusted so high a command, relying on a good conscience,¹⁷⁰⁶* purged himself before God, saying, I have not in inordinate desire taken anything of any one of them, neither have I done harm to any of them.

As Samuel, so many years a judge of the people, and governing Israel without any arrogance, did in the end clear himself,¹⁷⁰⁷* saying, I have had my conversation in your sight from my first age until now: answer me before God and before His Anointed, of which of you have I received ox or ass, or whom have I domineered over, or whom have I oppressed; or if I have received from any man’s hand a gift to win favour, or a sandal, say it against me, and I will restore it unto you. And when the people had said, Thou hast neither domineered nor oppressed us,¹⁷⁰⁸* nor hast thou received aught from any man’s hand; he called the Lord to witness,¹⁷⁰⁹* saying, The Lord is witness, and His Anointed is witness this day, that ye have found nothing in my hand. And they said unto him, He is witness.

As Paul also the Apostle, being of good conscience, made his plea to the Corinthians,¹⁷¹⁰* For we are not as the many, making merchandise of the word of God, but of sincerity, but of God, before God speak we in Christ:¹⁷¹¹* we have wronged no man, we have corrupted no man, we have defrauded no man.

§ 5. Of such Presbyters the Church is the nurse; of whom also a Prophet saith,¹⁷¹²* I will give thy princes in peace, and thy Bishops in righteousness. Of whom also the Lord said, Who then will be a faithful steward^1713h, good,¹⁷¹⁴* and wise, whom the Lord will set over his household, to give them portions of meat in season? Blessed is that servant whom the Lord when He cometh shall find so doing.

Now where one may find such, Paul teaches, saying, God hath set in the church, first Apostles,¹⁷¹⁵* then Prophets, thirdly Teachers. Then, where the Lord’s free gifts are set, there we must learn the Truth:¹⁷¹⁶* with those who have the Church succession from the Apostles, and what makes up a sound and irreproachable conversation; and purity and incorruption of discourse is known to abide. For these both guard that Faith of ours, the object of which is one God, Who made all things: and increase that love which points to the Son of God, Who hath done so great works of providence for us: and expound to us the Scriptures without any danger, neither blaspheming God, nor dishonouring Patriarchs, nor despising Prophets.

Chap. XXVII. § 1. As I have heard from a certain Presbyter, who had heard from those who had seen the Apostles,¹⁷¹⁷* and from their scholars:—that it is enough for the ancients to be reproved as they are by the Scriptures for what they did without counsel from the Spirit. For God being no respecter of persons, upon things not done to His pleasure, He brings such reproof¹⁷¹⁸ⁱ as is suitable. In the reign of David, e.g. when on the one hand he suffered persecution from Saul for righteousness’ sake, and was flying from King Saul, and avenged not himself on his enemy, and sang of Christ’s Advent, and taught the nations wisdom, and did all by the suggestion of the Spirit, he pleased God. But when for lust he took to his own self Bersheba Uriah’s wife, the Scripture hath said of him,¹⁷¹⁹* But the thing which David did was evil in the eyes of the Lord: and Nathan the Prophet is sent unto him, shewing him his sin, that he passing sentence on himself, and judging himself, may find mercy and forgiveness from Christ.

And he said unto him,¹⁷²⁰* There were two men in one city, one rich and one poor: the rich had very many herds of oxen and sheep, and the poor none but one little ewe lamb, which he had and fed, and it had been with him and with his children as well; it eat of his own bread, and drank of his cup, and was to him as a daughter. And there came a traveller to the rich man; and he spared to take of the flock of his own ewe lambs and of the herds of his own oxen, and to dress it for the stranger: and he took the poor man’s lamb, and set it before the man who had come unto him. And David was very angry with that man: and he said unto Nathan, As the Lord liveth, the man who did this is guilty of death; and he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this deed, and because he spared not the poor man. And Nathan said unto him, Thou art the man who didst this; and goes over the rest in order, upbraiding him, and reckoning up God’s favours towards him, and how he had provoked the Lord in having done this. For that such conduct pleases not God, rather great anger is hanging over his house.

And hereupon David was pricked to the heart, and said,¹⁷²¹* I have sinned against the Lord, and afterwards he chanted the Psalm of confession, waiting for the coming of the Lord, who washes and cleanses the man who had been bound in sin.

And so it is also concerning Solomon, as long as he went on to judge rightly, and to declare wisdom, and was building the figure of the true Temple, and setting forth the glories of God, and announcing the peace which should come to the Gentiles, and prefiguring the Kingdom of Christ,¹⁷²²* and was speaking his three thousand parables on the coming of the Lord,¹⁷²³* and his five thousand songs, by way of hymn to God, and gathering accounts of God’s wisdom in the Creation, after the manner of a natural philosopher, from every tree, and from every herb, and from all fowls and quadrupeds, and fishes:—and he said, Will God indeed,¹⁷²⁴* whom the Heavens contain not, dwell on the earth with men? And he pleased God, and was admired by all, and all the Kings of the Earth sought his face, to hear his wisdom which God had given him, and the Queen of the South came to him from the ends of the Earth, to know the wisdom which was in him;—who also, as the Lord saith, will rise again in the judgment with the generation¹⁷²⁵³ of those who hear His words and believe not in Him,¹⁷²⁶* and will pass sentence upon them: because, while she submitted herself to the wisdom declared by the servant of God, they despised that wisdom which was given by the Son of God. For Solomon was a servant, but Christ the Son of God, and the Lord of Solomon. Well then: as long as he served God without offence, and ministered to His purposes, so long he was glorified: but when he took wives of all nations, and permitted them to set up idols in Israel,¹⁷²⁷* the Scripture hath said of him, And King Solomon was a lover of women,¹⁷²⁸* and took to himself foreign wives: and it came to pass in the time of Solomon’s old age, that his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God. And the strange women turned aside his heart after strange gods. And Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord:¹⁷²⁹* he went not after the Lord as did David his father.¹⁷³⁰* And the Lord was angry with Solomon: for his heart was not perfect in the Lord as the heart of David his father. The rebuke laid on him by Scripture was sufficient, as that Presbyter affirmed, that no flesh might glory before the Lord.

§ 2. And therefore, he said, the Lord descended to the parts under the earth, announcing to them also the good news of His coming; there being remission of sins for such as believe in Him. And those all believed in Him, who were hoping for Him: i.e., who foretold His coming and ministered to His purposes, righteous men and Prophets and Patriarchs: whose sins He forgave, even as He did us, neither ought we to impute the same unto them, if there be any who despised the grace of God more than we do. For as they did not use to charge us with our irregularities, wrought before Christ was manifested in us; so neither is it just for us to charge the like, before the coming of Christ, on such as sinned. For all men need the glory of God,¹⁷³¹* and are justified not of themselves, but by the coming of the Lord:—those I mean who look steadily on His Light.

And their deeds,¹⁷³²* he said, were written for our admonition: to teach us, first of all, that our God and theirs is One;—whom sins please not, though wrought by renowned persons:—and next that we should abstain from evils. For if those elders who went before us in God’s special graces, for whom the Son of God had not yet suffered, were visited with such disgrace, if they transgressed in some one thing, and became slaves to fleshly concupiscence; what shall this generation suffer, as many as have despised the coming of the Lord, and turned utter slaves to their own pleasures?

And they indeed had our Lord’s death for the healing and remission of their sins: but for those who now sin,¹⁷³³* Christ shall no more die, for death shall no more have dominion over Him; but the Son shall come in the glory of the Father,¹⁷³⁴* exacting from His agents and stewards the money which He lent them, with usury: and to whom He gave most,¹⁷³⁵* of him will He require most.

We ought not therefore, said that Elder, to be proud, nor to reproach the ancients, but ourselves to fear, lest haply, after the knowledge of Christ, if we do anything which pleases not God, we no longer have remission of our sins, but find ourselves shut out of His Kingdom.¹⁷³⁶* And to this he referred Paul’s saying, For if He spared not the natural branches, lest haply He spare not either thee,¹⁷³⁷* who being a wild olive tree, wast grafted into the fatness of the olive, and made partner in the fatness thereof.

§ 3. In like manner again the transgressions of the people, you see, are written down, not for their sake who did then transgress, but for our rebuke, and that we might know that it is one and the same God, against whom they sinned, and against whom sin even now certain of those who say they have believed. And this again, he said, the Apostle did most clearly point out, saying in the Epistle to the Corinthians,¹⁷³⁸* For I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that our Fathers were all under the cloud, and all were baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; all did eat the same spiritual meat, and all drank the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock which attended on them, and the Rock was Christ. But with the greater part of them God was not well pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. These things were for a figure of us, that we should not be lusters after evil things, as they also lusted: neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them: as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them tempted, and perished by serpents. Neither murmur ye, as some of them murmured, and perished by the destroyer. Now all these things happened unto them in figure; and they were written for our admonition, on whom the end of the ages^1739j hath come. Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.

§ 4. Whereas therefore the Apostle declares, in a way which admits not of doubt or gainsaying, that it is one and the same God, who both judged the things which then were, and searches out those which now are, and since he tells us the purpose of their being set down: unlearned and daring and senseless withal are all those proved to be, who take occasion from the sin of them of old time, and the disobedience of the greater part of them, to affirm that their God (who is also the Maker of the world, and is in decay) is a different Being from the Father taught by Christ, and that it is this latter who is mentally received by every one of them. Because they consider not, that as in that case God was not well pleased with the greater part of them, being sinners,¹⁷⁴⁰* so also in this case many are called but few chosen: as among them the unjust and idolaters and fornicators lost their life, so also among us. For both the Lord proclaims that such are sent into the eternal fire,¹⁷⁴¹* and the Apostle saith, Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor such as defile themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall possess the Kingdom of God.

And in proof that he said this not to those who are without, but to us, lest we be cast out of the Kingdom of God, for doing some such thing, he hath subjoined, And these things ye indeed were:¹⁷⁴²* but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

And as in that case those were condemned and cast out,¹⁷⁴³* who did evil, and led the rest astray, so in this case also the very eye is dug out which gives offence, and the foot, and the hand, that the rest of the body perish not alike.¹⁷⁴⁴* And we have it ordained, If any is named a brother who is a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a calumniator, or drunken, or an extortioner, with such an one not even to take food. And again the Apostle saith,¹⁷⁴⁵* Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of unbelief. Be not ye then partakers in them.

And as then the condemnation of them that sinned imparted itself also to the rest, in that they were pleased with them, and they held converse together: so here also a little leaven corrupteth the whole mass.¹⁷⁴⁶*

And as there God’s anger came down against the unrighteous, here also saith the Apostle in like manner,¹⁷⁴⁷* For the Wrath of God shall be revealed from heaven upon all the impiety and unrighteousness of those who hold the truth in unrighteousness.

And as there upon the Egyptians, who were punishing Israel unjustly, vengeance from God took place, so here also; since both the Lord saith,¹⁷⁴⁸* And shall not God avenge His own elect, whosoever cry unto Him day and night? Yea I say unto you, He will avenge them speedily:—and the Apostle in the Epistle to the Thessalonians declares as follows:¹⁷⁴⁹* Since it is a righteous thing with God to repay recompence to them that trouble you, and to you who are troubled, rest with us, in the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ from Heaven with the Angels of His Might, and in a flame of fire, to take vengeance on those who know not God, and on those who obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who also will pay eternal penalties of destruction from the face of the Lord, and from the glory of His Power, when He shall have come to be magnified in His Saints, and to be admirable in all who have believed in Him.

Chap. XXVIII. § 1. Both here therefore and there is the same righteousness of God in maintaining God’s cause.¹⁷⁵⁰* There indeed it is done typically, and for a certain time, and with comparative moderation, but here truly, and for ever, and more severely. For the fire is eternal; and the anger of God which shall be revealed from Heaven from the Countenance of our Lord brings a greater penalty on those who incur it:¹⁷⁵¹* as David also saith, But the countenance of the Lord is upon them that do evil, to destroy the memory of them from the earth. This being so, the Elders used to declare those persons to be very senseless, who upon what befel God’s disobedient people of old try to bring in another Father: objecting the great things which the Lord when He came had done to save those who received Him, in His pity for them; but saying nothing of His judgment and of all that is to happen to such as have heard His Words and not done them;¹⁷⁵²* and how it were good for them if they had not been born:¹⁷⁵³* and how it shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the judgment than for that city which received not the words of His Disciples.

§ 2. For as in the New Testament the faith of men towards God is amplified, receiving as an additional object¹⁷⁵⁴⁴ the Son of God, that man may even become partaker of God: so is the exactness also of his behaviour amplified, in that we are bidden to abstain not only from evil deeds, but from the very thoughts, and from idle words, and empty discourses, and scurrilous sayings. So again the punishment of such as believe not the Word of God, and despise His coming and turn backward, is extended: in that it is made not only temporal, but likewise eternal. For to whomsoever the Lord shall say, Depart from Me,¹⁷⁵⁵* ye oursed, into perpetual fire,—those will be for ever condemned: and to whomsoever He shall say, Come, ye blessed of My Father,¹⁷⁵⁶* receive the inheritance of the Kingdom which is prepared for you for ever, these receive the Kingdom, and go on profiting for ever; there being one and the same God the Father, and His Word, always present with mankind, though His arrangements be various, and His doings many: who both saves from the beginning those who are saved (for they are such as love God, and in their several kinds follow the Word of God), and passes judgment on those who are judged, on such, I mean, as forget God, and are blasphemers and transgressors of His Word.

§ 3. And in fact these very heretics,¹⁷⁵⁷* whom we have before mentioned, have forgotten themselves: accusing the Lord, in whom they say they believe. For what things they stigmatize in God, in His temporal judgment at that time on the unbelieving—how He smote the Egyptians, and saved the obedient:—these same will fall back on our Lord just as much, in His judging, and that for ever, those whom He judges, and forgiving for ever those whom He forgives; and it will be found, according to their way of speaking, that He became the cause of extreme sin to those who laid hands on Him and pierced Him. For, had He not so come, of course they had not become the murderers of their Lord; and had He not sent Prophets to them, they had not of course killed them; and Apostles too in like manner.

Those therefore who cast in our teeth and say, God could not save His people without the Egyptians being smitten, and drowned in the sea as they were following after Israel:—will be met by this answer: We then could not be saved, without the Jews becoming murderers of the Lord (which was to themselves the loss of eternal life); nor without their slaying the Apostles and persecuting the Church, and so falling into the abyss of wrath. For as they by the Egyptians’, so we too by the Jews’ blindness have received salvation; the Lord’s death being surely the condemnation of those who crucified Him, and believed not His coming, but the salvation of such as believe in Him. And so the Apostle speaks in the 2nd Epistle to the Corinthians,¹⁷⁵⁸* For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, both in them that are saved and in them that perish; to some indeed a savour of death unto death, and unto some a savour of life unto life. To whom then is He a savour of death unto death, but to those who believe not, and are not subject to the Word of God?

And who are those who in that other time also gave themselves over unto death? Those of course who believe not, and are not subject to God. And again; Who are saved, and have received their inheritance? Those surely who believe God, and keep their love towards Him; as Caleb the son of Jephone, and Jesus the son of Nave, and the harmless children, who had no thought even of wickedness. Who again in our case are those who are saved, and who receive eternal life? Is it not the lovers of God, and believers of His promises, and such as have become children in malice?

Chap. XXIX. § 1. But “God,” say they, “hardened the heart of Pharaoh and of his servants.” Plainly they who bring this as a charge do not read in the Gospel,¹⁷⁵⁹* where upon the disciples asking our Lord, Why speakest Thou to them in parables,¹⁷⁶⁰* the Lord answered, Because unto you it is given to know the mystery of the Kingdom of Heaven; but to them I speak in parables, that seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not hear,¹⁷⁶¹* understanding may not understand:¹⁷⁶²* that in respect of them may be fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias which saith, Make the heart of this people fat, and stop their ears, and blind their eyes.¹⁷⁶³* But blessed are your eyes, which see the things that ye see; and your ears which hear the things which ye hear. For it is one and the same God, who brings indeed blindness on such as believe not, but set Him at nought;—(as the Sun, who is His creature, doth to those who through some infirmity of their eyes cannot look steadily on his light);—but to such as believe and follow Him, He vouchsafes fuller and larger illumination of mind.

According then to this way of speaking, the Apostle also saith in the 2nd to the Corinthians,¹⁷⁶⁴* In whom God hath blinded the minds of the unbelievers of this world, that the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ may not shine.¹⁷⁶⁵* And again in that to the Romans: And as they did not think meet to have God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient. But in the 2nd to the Thessalonians he saith expressly,¹⁷⁶⁶* speaking of Antichrist, And therefore God shall send them a working of error, that they may believe a lie; that they may all be condemned^1767k who believed not the truth, but consented unto iniquity.

§ 2. If therefore even in our time, all those of whom God knoweth that they will not believe (as He knoweth all beforehand) are given over by Him to their own unbelief, and if He turn away His Face from that sort of people, leaving them in the darkness which they have chosen for themselves; what wonder if at that time also, whereas Pharaoh with those around him would never believe,¹⁷⁶⁸* He gave them over to their own infidelity? As the Word speaks from the Bush to Moses:¹⁷⁶⁹* But I know that Pharaoh King of Egypt will not let you go, except with a strong hand. And in what sense the Lord spake in parables, and caused blindness to Israel, that seeing they might not see, because He knew their unbelief, in the same sense He likewise hardened the heart of Pharaoh,¹⁷⁷⁰* so that he, seeing that it is the finger of God which leads out the people, might not believe, but be cast headlong into the sea of infidelity; imagining that their departure takes place by magical efficacy, and that the Red Sea did not by the power of God furnish the people with a way across, but that it is so ordered by Nature.

Chap. XXX. § 1. Those again who upbraid and charge us with the circumstance, that the people by command of God, on point of departure, received of the Egyptians vessels of all sorts and apparel,¹⁷⁷¹* and so went away; of which stores the Tabernacle also was made in the wilderness,¹⁷⁷²* prove themselves ignorant of God’s ways of justification, and of His providences; as that Elder likewise used to say. Since, had not God permitted this in the typical journey, no man could at this day be saved in our real journey, i.e., in the faith wherein we are established, whereby we are taken out of the number of the Gentiles. For we are all accompanied by some property, moderate or large, which we have gotten out of the Mammon of iniquity. For whence are the houses in which we dwell, and the garments which we put on, and the furniture which we use, and all the rest of what serves us for our daily^1773l life, but out of what in our Gentile state we gained by avarice; or what we have received from Gentile parents, or kinsmen, or friends, who acquired it by injustice? Not to say that even now, while we are in the Faith, we gain. For who sells, and desires not to gain from the buyer? And who buys, and would not fain be dealt with by the seller to his profit? Again, what person in business does not therefore carry on his business, that he may get his bread thereby? And how is it with those believers who are in the royal court? have they not goods from among the things which are Cæsar’s, and doth not each one of them according to his ability impart unto such as have not? The Egyptians were debtors to the people not only for their goods but for their life also, through the former kindness of the Patriarch Joseph: but in what respect are the Gentiles debtors to us, from whom we receive both profit and the commodities of life? Whatsoever they gain with toil, that we, being in the Faith, use without toil.

§ 2. Besides, the people were serving the Egyptians in the worst of servitude,¹⁷⁷⁴* as saith the Scripture, And the Egyptians violently oppressed the children of Israel, and made life hateful to them by hard labours, in clay and in brick, and all the works which they did in the fields, in all the tasks wherein they crushed them by violence; and with much toil they built them fortified cities, adding to their stores for many years, and in every kind of servitude; whereas the others, besides their ingratitude toward them, were fain even to destroy them utterly.

What then was unrighteously done, if they took a little out of much, and if those who might have had much property, and gone away rich, had they not served them, went away poor, receiving for their heavy servitude very scanty wages? So, if any free person, carried away violently by some one, and serving him many years and increasing his goods, should afterwards, upon gaining some little support, be suspected of having some small portions of his master’s (whereas in fact he goes off with a very little, out of his own many toils and of his great gain) and if this were charged on him by any one as a wrong; the judge himself will rather appear unjust towards him who had been reduced to slavery by force. Now of like sort are the aforesaid, who blame the people for taking to themselves a little out of much, yet blame not themselves,¹⁷⁷⁵* who have made no due return according to the merit of their parents, but rather, reducing them into most heavy servitude, have obtained from them very great advantage. And while they charge the Jews with unjust dealings, for receiving, as we said before, in a few little vessels some uncoined gold and silver [of their own toils]; of themselves (for the truth shall be spoken, ridiculous as it may appear to some) they say that they do justly in bearing about in their girdles stamped gold and silver and copper from others’ toils, with the inscription and image of Cæsar.

§ 3. But if we and they are compared, which will seem to have received more honestly? the people from the Egyptians, who were in all their debtors,¹⁷⁷⁶* or we from the Romans and other nations, those even who owe us no such debt? Rather the world hath peace by them, and we walk in the ways without fear, and sail whithersoever we will. Against this sort of objector then, our Lord’s saying will be applicable, viz.¹⁷⁷⁷* Thou hypocrite, take first the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to take away the mote from thy brother’s eye.

¹⁷⁷⁸*For so, if he who lays this to thy charge, and glories in his knowledge, is cut off from the assembly of the Gentiles, and there is nothing of others’ property with him; if he be simply naked and barefoot, and haunt the mountains without a home, like some of those animals which eat grass: he will obtain pardon, as not knowing what is needed in our manner of life. But if he take from men his share in the property (so called) of others, while he finds fault with the Type of the same: he proves himself to be most unjust, turning back on himself the aforesaid accusation. For he will be convicted of carrying about what is another’s, and of desiring what is not his own: and with a view to this, they report, the Lord said, Judge not that ye be not judged:¹⁷⁷⁹* for with whatsoever judgment ye shall judge, it shall be judged concerning you. Not of course that we rebuke not sinners, or consent to things done amiss, but that we judge not unfairly God’s ways of ordering things, whereas He hath provided in righteousness whatsoever shall be profitable. Thus, because He knew that we would make a good use of our substance, which we should have, receiving it from another,¹⁷⁸⁰* He that hath two coats, saith He, let him impart to him that hath not: and he that hath meat, let him do likewise.¹⁷⁸¹* Again, For I was an hungred, and ye gave Me to eat,¹⁷⁸²* and I was naked and ye clothed Me. Again, When thou doest alms,¹⁷⁸³* let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: and all other acts of bounty upon which we are justified, redeeming our own as it were by what was another’s. And when I say, Another’s, I do not mean that the world is alien from God, but that we receive from others and possess the aforesaid gifts, even as they from the Egyptians who knew not God; and by the same we build up for ourselves the Tabernacle of God. For with doers of good, God dwelleth: as saith the Lord,¹⁷⁸⁴* Make to yourselves friends of the Mammon of iniquity, that they, when ye are put to flight, may receive you into everlasting tabernacles. For look what things we had acquired, when we were Heathens, by unrighteousness; those same, now we have believed, we turn to the Lord’s service, and so are justified.

§ 4. These things were then of necessity practised in type beforehand, and out of those materials the Tabernacle of God is wrought; in which matter, as we have explained, both they received justly, and we were prophetically indicated, how we should begin to wait on God with things not our own. For all that journey of the people, whereby God brought them out of Egypt, was the type and image of the Church’s journey, which was to take place from among the Gentiles; which journey accordingly ends also with leading her hence into her inheritance, which not indeed Moses the servant of God, but Jesus the Son of God, will give her to inherit. And if any one will look more carefully at what the Prophets say of the end, and at all that John the Lord’s disciple saw in the Apocalypse, he will find the Gentiles generally enduring the same plagues, which at that time Egypt in particular had to endure.

Chap. XXXI. § 1. By statements of this kind touching the ancients did that Elder console us, and say, Concerning those faults, which the Scriptures themselves have laid to the charge of Patriarchs and Prophets,¹⁷⁸⁵* we must not reproach them, nor be like Ham, who scoffed at the disgrace of his father, and fell into the curse; but we must give thanks to God for them, inasmuch as their sins were forgiven them in the coming of our Lord. For that (his word it is) they give thanks and exult in our salvation.

But in respect of those things, which the Scriptures reprove them not for, but are indifferently worded, we must not, he said, become accusers (for we are not more exact than God, nor can we be above our master) but look out for the typical meaning. For none of all the things, which are set down in the Scriptures without definite censure, is without its force.

As it is also in the case of Lot who led forth from Sodom his daughters, who conceived of their father; and who left in the neighbourhood his wife, a statue of salt, even unto this day. For indeed Lot, not of his own will, nor of his own carnal desire, giving way to no sense nor thought of that kind, completed a Type. As saith the Scripture:¹⁷⁸⁶* And the elder came in and slept with her father that night: and Lot knew not when she slept, and when she arose.¹⁷⁸⁷* And in the younger the very same: And he knew not, it saith, when she had slept with him, not when she had arisen. Without Lot’s knowing it, and without his being the slave of pleasure, a Dispensation was fulfilled, whereby the two daughters, i.e., the two synagogues, were signified to have had children by one and the same father without pleasure of the flesh. For there was no one besides able to give unto them vital seed and fruit of children:¹⁷⁸⁸* as it is written, But the elder said unto the younger, Our Father is old, and there is none upon earth to come in unto us, as is meet for the whole earth: come let us drug our father with wine, and sleep with him, that we may raise up seed of our father.

§ 2. These daughters indeed spake thus in their simplicity and innocence, thinking that all men had perished, as the Sodomites, and that God’s anger had come over all the earth. And therefore even they may possibly be excused, imagining that they were left alone with their father for the preservation of the race of man; and to this end they deceived their father.

But the meaning of their words was,¹⁷⁸⁹* that there is no other who can vouchsafe generation of children to the greater and the lesser synagogue, except our Father. But the Father of mankind is the Word of God: as Moses points out,¹⁷⁹⁰* sayings, Is not this thy very own Father, Who possessed thee, and made thee and created thee? When then did He pour out on mankind the seed of life, i.e., the Spirit of the Remission of sins, by which Spirit we are quickened? Was it not at that time when He partook of meat with men, and drank wine in the earth? For the Son of man, we read, came eating and drinking:¹⁷⁹¹* and when He had laid down, He slumbered, and took His sleep. As He saith Himself in David: I slumbered and took my sleep.¹⁷⁹²* And to signify that He did this in the fellowship and life which belongs to us, He saith again, And My sleep became sweet unto Me.¹⁷⁹³* Now it was all signified by Lot, how that the seed of the Father of all, i.e., the Spirit of God, by whom all things were made, was mingled and united with Flesh, that is, with His own creature: and by that commingling and unity are two synagogues, i.e., two congregations, bearing fruit of their Father, living sons unto a Living God.

3. Meanwhile his wife remained in Sodom, now no more corruptible flesh, but a statue of salt abiding always, and by those natural effects which are customary with mankind,¹⁷⁹⁴* denoting that the Church too, which is the salt of the earth, is left on the border of the Earth, in human sufferings: and though entire limbs are many times taken away from her, she continues a statue of salt, which is the ground of the faith, strengthening her sons, and sending them before her to their Father.

Chap. XXXII. § 1. In the same way also did that Elder, the Apostles’ disciple, reason about the two Testaments: declaring that surely they are both of one and the same God: and that there is no other God, besides Him Who made and formed us; nor any strength in their discourse, who say that this World of ours was made either by Angels, or by any kind of Power, or by some other God. For if a person once withdraw himself from the Creator of all things, and grant that the world with which we are concerned is made by some other, or through another, such an one must needs fall into much absurdity and many contradictions; for which he will render no reasons with either appearance or substance of truth. And therefore such as introduce other doctrines, hide from us the opinion which themselves have concerning God; knowing the unsoundness and futility of their own doctrine, and fearing to be overcome, and so have a chance of salvation^1795m.

But if a man believe one God, Who also made all by His Word,¹⁷⁹⁶* even as Moses too saith, God said, Let there be Light, and there was Light; and we read in the Gospel,¹⁷⁹⁷* All things were made by Him, and without Him was nothing made; and the Apostle Paul in like manner,¹⁷⁹⁸* One Lord, one Faith, one Baptism, one God and Father, Who is above all, and in us all:—this man in the first place will be holding the Head,¹⁷⁹⁹* whereby all the body being joined and knit together,¹⁸⁰⁰* doth also, through every joint which serveth to supply each part in its measure, make increase of the body to the edification of itself in love. In the next place again all his statements will be consistent, if he have likewise read the Scriptures diligently, with those who are Elders in the Church, with whom is the doctrine of the Apostles, as we have pointed out.

§ 2. For as all the Apostles taught that there were two Testaments in the two peoples, so, that there is but one and the same God, Who ordered them both for the good of those men in whose time the Testaments were given, and who were beginning to believe God,—this we have made plain from the very doctrine of the Apostles in our third Book: as also that not without purpose, nor vainly, nor at random, was the former Testament given;¹⁸⁰¹* but first, to bow down those to whom it was given in slavery to God, for their own good (for God needs not to be served by man): in the next place, to make manifest a figure of heavenly things, because man could not yet by his own sight behold the things which are of God: again, to prefigure the likenesses of what things are in the Church, that the Faith which belongs to ourselves may be made strong: lastly, to contain a prophecy of the future, that man might learn God’s universal foreknowledge.

Chap. XXXIII. § 1. Such a truly spiritual disciple, receiving the Spirit of God, Who from the beginning was present with men in all the arrangements which God made, Who announced things future, and declares things present, and relates things past—such an one,¹⁸⁰²* I say, while he judges all men, is himself judged of none.

Thus he judges the Gentiles,¹⁸⁰³* who serve the creature more than the Creator, and with a reprobate mind waste all His work upon vanity.

Again,¹⁸⁰⁴* he judges also the Jews, who discern not the Word of liberty, and are unwilling to go away free, though they have their deliverer at hand, but feign to serve God, Who needs nothing, out of season, without the pale of the Law; who know not the coming of Christ, which He wrought for the salvation of man, and will not understand that the Prophets announced two advents of His: the one in which He became a Man in affliction,¹⁸⁰⁵* knowing how to bear weakness, and sitting on the fole of an ass;¹⁸⁰⁶* the stone set at nought by the builders,¹⁸⁰⁷* and as a sheep led to the slaughter, and by the stretching out of His hands scattering Amalek,¹⁸⁰⁸* and gathering His dispersed sons from the ends of the earth into His Father’s sheep-fold,¹⁸⁰⁹* and calling to mind His dead who had before fallen asleep, and going down to them, to deliver them and save them:—the second, again, in which He will come on the clouds,¹⁸¹⁰* bringing on the Day which is as a burning oven,¹⁸¹¹* and smiting the earth with the Word of His Mouth, and with the Spirit from His lips slaying the wicked;¹⁸¹²* and having the fan in His Hand, and throughly purging His floor, and gathering the wheat into the garner, but burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.

§ 2. And he will weigh also the doctrine of Marcion, in what sense he holds that there are two Gods, by an infinite distance separated one from another: Or how He is to be good, who draws away from their Maker men who are not His own, and calls them into His own Kingdom: or how His goodness fails, in not saving all: and why towards men indeed He seems good, but towards the Maker of Men Himself most unjust, taking from Him what is His own. And how, if this creation with which we are concerned belongs to another Father, did the Lord deal justly,¹⁸¹³* in taking Bread which is part of it, and professing it to be His own Body; or in declaring the mixture in the Chalice to be His own Blood?¹⁸¹⁴* And why did He avow Himself the Son of Man, if He had not undergone the generation which is of man? And how again could He forgive us our sins, which are debts due to our own Maker and God? And how again, if He were not flesh, but appeared as it were a man,¹⁸¹⁵* was He crucified, the blood and water flowing out of His pierced Side? And what Body did those inter, who were concerned in the Burial? And what was His rising from the Dead?

§ 3. Again he will also judge all those who belong to Valentinus, because while with tongue they confess one God the Father, and all things of Him, they nevertheless say that this Maker of all things is Himself the fruit of defection or decay: and in like manner, confessing with their tongue One Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God, while yet in their doctrine they allow one special emanation to the Only Begotten, another to the Word, one to the Christ, another to the Saviour; so that by their account all things are said indeed to be as one, yet each of these beings is considered as apart from the rest, and has its own emanation, answering to the union from which it springs.¹⁸¹⁶* It follows, that their tongues alone tended towards Unity, while their view and thought, searching out all deep things, falls away from Unity, and incurs God’s manifold judgment, when they shall be enquired of by Christ about their own inventions:—by Him who they say was born after the Pleroma of the Æons, and that his Emanation took place after diminution or decay, and that the cause of their being themselves brought, as by a midwife, into the light, was that which happened to Wisdom. But they shall be accused by a Prophet of their own, even Homer, by whom they were trained to such inventions:¹⁸¹⁷* his words are, For he is hateful to me even as the gates of Hell, who hides one thing in his heart, and utters another.

And he will also judge the vain talk of the wicked Gnostics, shewing them to be disciples of Simon the Sorcerer.

§ 4. And he will also judge the Ebionites:¹⁸¹⁸* how can they be saved, if He was not God, who wrought their salvation upon earth?¹⁸¹⁹* And how shall man pass into God, if God had not been caused to pass into man¹⁸²⁰ⁿ? And how shall he leave his birth, which is unto death, but for a new birth, wondrously and unexpectedly given by God, and that in sign of salvation: I mean the birth¹⁸²¹⁵ which is of the Virgin by faith? Or what adoption will they receive from God, so long as they abide in this birth, which is after the manner of man in this world? And how had He more than Solomon,¹⁸²²* and more than Jonah, and was Lord of David, being of the same substance with them? And how obtained He the victory over him who was strong against men,¹⁸²³*—him who not only overcame man, but also kept him under his power,—and how did He conquer him who had conquered, and set free that Man who had been conquered, except he were superior to that man who had been conquered? But who other can be better and more excellent, than that man who was made in the likeness of God, besides the Son of God, in whose likeness man was created? and therefore in the end He Himself declared the resemblance; the Son of God was made man, taking upon Himself the old way of Creation: as we have explained in the Book before this.

§ 5. And he shall judge those also who bring in an unreal Christ.¹⁸²⁴* For how think they to argue truly themselves, when their Master was unreal? Or how can they have from Him any thing to be depended on, if He was imaginary, and not the Truth? And how can they themselves truly partake of salvation, if He in whom they say they believe, exhibited Himself in appearance only? With them, therefore, all is unreal, and not the Truth: and the question shall now be added, whether haply they are bearing about in the sight of the many shadows of men, being themselves not men, but dumb creatures?

§ 6. Again, he will judge also the false Prophets, who not having received of God prophetic grace, and not in the fear of God, but either through vain glory, or for some profit, or in some other way by the operation of an evil spirit, pretend to prophesy, lying against God.

§ 7. Again, he will judge also all the workers of schisms, as void of the Love of God,¹⁸²⁵* and seeking their own profit, not the union of the Church; who moreover, for light and ordinary causes, sever and distract Christ’s great and glorious Body, and as far as in them lies, make away with it:¹⁸²⁶* who speak peace and work war, truly straining at the gnat, and swallowing the camel. But no Reformation can ensue by their means, so great as the mischief of the Schism.

Again, he will judge also all those who are outside of the Truth, i.e., outside of the Church. But he himself will be judged of no man.¹⁸²⁷* For to him all is consistent: in one God Almighty, of whom are all things, his faith is entire; and in the Son of God, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom are all things; and in His Dispensations, whereby the Son of God became Man, his reliance is sure; and in the Spirit of God, Who vouchsafes the knowledge of the Truth; Who in every generation, according to the Father’s will, displays among men the Dispensations both of the Father and of the Son.

§ 8. True knowledge, is the teaching of the Apostles, and the original system of the Church in the whole world, and the mark of Christ’s Body in the several successions of the Bishops,¹⁸²⁸* to whom they committed that Church, which is in each several place: a very full mode of teaching of the Scriptures, which has come down to us by uncorrupt guardianship, admitting neither of addition nor diminution, and reading without adulteration, and exposition according to the Scriptures, legitimate, and diligent, without peril and without blasphemy; and the most eminent gift of Love,¹⁸²⁹* which is more precious than knowledge, and more glorious than prophecy, and more exalted than all other gifts.

§ 9. Wherefore the Church in every place, by reason of the love which she hath toward God,¹⁸³⁰* is at all times sending forward a multitude of martyrs to the Father; while all the rest on the other hand are so far from having such a thing to shew among themselves, that they do not even allow that such martyrdom is necessary; for true martyrdom, they say, is being of their mind: except that one or two now and then, in all the time since the Lord appeared in the earth, have together with our martyrs, as though they too had obtained mercy, borne the reproach of the Name, and have been led out with them, as it were a kind of appendage granted unto them. For the reproach of those who suffer persecution for righteousness’ sake,¹⁸³¹* and endure all punishments, and are put to death for their love towards God and their confession of His Son—this the Church alone purely sustains, (often maimed, and straightway putting forth new members, and becoming entire; even as her type, the wife of the aforesaid Lot, the statue of salt);¹⁸³²* like the old Prophets enduring persecution,¹⁸³³* according to the Lord’s saying, For so persecuted they the Prophets which were before you: implying that although the manner be new, yet it is the same Spirit resting upon her, and suffering persecution from those who receive not the Word of God.

§ 10. And we may observe that the Prophets, with the rest of their predictions foretold this also: that they upon whomsoever the Spirit of God shall have rested, and who shall have obeyed the Word of the Father, and served Him with their might, shall suffer persecution, and be stoned, and slain.¹⁸³⁴* The Prophets, I say, typified all these things in themselves, for the love of God, and for His Word’s sake. That is, being themselves also members of Christ, each one of them according to the kind of member that he was, exhibited a corresponding mode of prophecy: they all, many as they were, shadowing out One beforehand, and announcing matters which relate to One. Thus, as by our limbs the operation of the whole body is discerned, yet is not the form of the whole man discerned by one only member, but by all: so the Prophets did all indeed typify One, yet each of them, according to the particular member that he was, had a corresponding purpose to fulfil, and a particular operation of Christ to typify, corresponding with that member.

§ 11. For some of those who beheld Him in glory, saw His glorious abode on the Right Hand of the Father; others saw Him coming in the clouds, as the Son of man, and saying of Him,¹⁸³⁵* They shall see Him Whom they have pierced, gave signification of His coming, concerning which He saith Himself, When the Son of man cometh,¹⁸³⁶* thinkest thou He will find faith on the earth? Of which Paul also saith, If however it is just with God,¹⁸³⁷* to recompense tribulation to them which trouble you, and to you who are troubled, rest with us, in the revelation of the Lord Jesus from Heaven with the Angels of His might, and in a flame of Fire.

Others again speaking of Him as a Judge, and of the day of the Lord as of a burning oven;¹⁸³⁸*—Who gathereth the wheat into garners,¹⁸³⁹* but the chaff He will burn with fire unquenchable;—threatened such as were unbelieving: of whom the Lord also saith Himself,¹⁸⁴⁰* Depart from Me, ye cursed, into the everlasting fire, which My Father hath prepared for the Devil and his angels. And the Apostle too in like manner saith,¹⁸⁴¹* Who shall be punished with destruction for ever from the face of the Lord, and the glory of His power, when He shall have come to be glorified in His Saints, and to become admirable to those who believe in Him.

And those who say, He is beautiful in form before the children of men,¹⁸⁴²*¹⁸⁴³* and, God hath anointed Thee, even Thy God, with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows;¹⁸⁴⁴* and, Gird Thee with Thy sword upon Thy thigh, O Thou most mighty: in Thy fairness and in Thy beauty do Thou both press on, and ride prosperously, and reign, for truth’s sake, and meekness and righteousness: and all other such things as are said concerning Him:—signified that beauty of His, and grace, which is in His Kingdom, and His joy most dazzling, and most eminent above all that are governed by Him: to make the Hearers desire to be there found, doing what pleases God.

They again who say,¹⁸⁴⁵* He is a Man, and who shall know Him?¹⁸⁴⁶* and, I came unto the Prophetess, and she bare a Son,¹⁸⁴⁷* and His name is called Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God; and who announce Emmanuel born of a Virgin; they were signifying the union of the Word of God with His creature: how that the Word shall be flesh, and the Son of God the Son of Man; pure, and in pureness opening a pure womb, that same womb which gives men a new birth into God, which womb Himself made pure: and that, being made what we too are, He is the mighty God, and hath a generation which cannot be declared^1848o.

And those who say,¹⁸⁴⁹* The Lord spake in Sion, and uttered His voice from Jerusalem, and, In Jewry is God known:—they who said, In Judea,¹⁸⁵⁰* were signifying His advent. Those again who say that God comes from the South,¹⁸⁵¹* and from the shady and thick mountain, were speaking of His coming from Bethlehem, (as we have shewn in the Book before this): whence also He comes, Who rules and feeds the people of His Father.

Those again who say that at His coming the lame man shall leap as a hart,¹⁸⁵²* and the tongue of the dumb shall he plain,¹⁸⁵³* and the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall hear,¹⁸⁵⁴* and the dissolved hands, and the feeble knees shall be strengthened: and, The dead who are in the tomb shall rise again:¹⁸⁵⁵* and, Himself shall take our infirmities,¹⁸⁵⁶* and bear our sicknesses:—these announced the cures that were wrought by Him.

§ 12. Some again prophesied of a man weak and inglorious, and knowing how to bear infirmity,¹⁸⁵⁷* and sitting on an Ass’s colt, how that He should come to Jerusalem; offering His back to the stripes,¹⁸⁵⁸* and His jaws to the palms of the hands—how that He is led as a sheep to the slaughter,¹⁸⁵⁹* and hath vinegar and gall given Him to drink,¹⁸⁶⁰* and is forsaken by His friends,¹⁸⁶¹* and by those who are nearest, and that, while He stretches out His Hands through the whole day;¹⁸⁶²* and is scorned and reproached by those who looked on Him,¹⁸⁶³* and His garments divided, and the lot cast upon His clothing,¹⁸⁶⁴* and that He is brought down into the dust of death;¹⁸⁶⁵* and all such things. All these spake of His coming as man, how He entered into Jerusalem, wherein by His suffering and crucifixion He endured all that was foretold.

Others again saying, The Holy Lord hath remembered His that be dead, who slumbered before Him in the clay earth, and He went down to them, to raise them up and save them.

But those who said,¹⁸⁶⁶* In that day, saith the Lord, shall the sun set at noonday, and there shall be darkness over the earth in the day of light, and I will turn your feast days into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; evidently announced that sunset, which ensued on His crucifixion from the sixth hour: and how that after this was done, their feast days which they held after the Law, and their songs, would be turned into mourning and lamentation, on their beginning to be delivered to the Gentiles. Yet more manifestly, again, doth Jeremias also signify the same,¹⁸⁶⁷* thus speaking: She who travaileth is made void, her soul was weary: her sun hath set while it is yet noon, she was confounded, and hath suffered reproach: the rest of them will I give to the sword in the sight of their enemies.

§ 13. And those who said that He slumbered and slept and rose up again, for the Lord sustained Him:¹⁸⁶⁸* bidding also the princes of the Heavens to open the eternal gates,¹⁸⁶⁹* that the King of Glory may enter:—these were heralds of His Resurrection from the dead through the Father, and of His reception into Heaven.¹⁸⁷⁰* And in saying, His going forth is from the highest Heaven; and His running about unto the height of Heaven, and there is none who hideth himself from the heat thereof:—because He was taken up to that place from which also He came down, and there is none who can escape His just judgment: this was the very subject of their message. And they who said,¹⁸⁷¹* The Lord hath reigned, let the people be angry: He who sitteth on the Cherubim, let the earth be moved:—were prophesying partly of the wrath of all people, excited after His Ascension against those who believed in Him, and of the movement of the whole Earth against the Church: partly again of the whole earth being shaken, when He cometh from Heaven with the Angels of His might;¹⁸⁷²* as He saith Himself, There shall be a great earthquake, such as was not from the beginning.¹⁸⁷³* And again, in that He saith,¹⁸⁷⁴* Whoso is judged, let him stand against Me: and whoso is justified, let him draw near the Child of God:¹⁸⁷⁵* and, Woe unto you, for ye all shall wax old as a garment, and the moth shall eat you up:¹⁸⁷⁶* And, All flesh shall be brought low, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in the highest:—the meaning is that after His Passion, God shall put under His feet those who have been against Him, and He shall be exalted above all, and there shall be none to be justified or compared unto Him.

§ 14. And they who say that God will appoint unto men a new Testament,¹⁸⁷⁷* not as He appointed unto our Fathers in Horeb;¹⁸⁷⁸* and that He giveth men a new heart and a new spirit;¹⁸⁷⁹* and again, And see that ye make no account of the old things: behold, I make new things, which shall now spring up, that ye may know them, and I will make a way in the desert, and rivers in the dry land, to give drink to a chosen race, My people whom I have won, that they may declare Mine excellencies; they were evidently setting forth the liberty of the New Testament,¹⁸⁸⁰* and the new wine, which is poured into new wine-skins, even the faith which is in Christ, whereby He hath announced the way of righteousness, how it hath arisen in the wilderness: and the rivers of the Holy Spirit in a dry land, to give water to God’s elect race, which He hath won that His excellencies may be shewn forth, and not for them to speak evil of Him Who made these things, being God.

§ 15. And all the rest which the Prophets, as we have shewn, said in all that long course of Scripture, he who is truly spiritual will interpret; pointing out to which aspect^1881p of the Lord’s providential work each one of the things which have been said appertains, and exhibiting the entire Body of the work of the Son of God: always knowing the same God: and always acknowledging the same Word of God, (though He be but now made manifest unto us): and always recognising the same Spirit of God, though in the last times He be newly poured out upon us, and upon mankind itself from the creation to the end of the world: from whom such as believe God, and follow His Word, obtain the salvation which is of Him. But such as depart from Him, and despise His precepts, and by their works dishonour Him Who made them, and by their views blaspheme Him Who nourishes them,—heap up a most righteous judgment against themselves.

This man then searches out all,¹⁸⁸²* but is himself searched out of no man; neither speaking evil of his Father, nor making His arrangements void, nor accusing Fathers, nor dishonouring Prophets, either by saying that they are of another God, or that there have been prophecies over and over of this and that material.

Chap. XXXIV. § 1. But we will say in reply to all Heretics, and first to those who are on Marcion’s side, and to such as resemble them in saying that the Prophets are of another God: Read more carefully the Gospel given us by the Apostles, and read the Prophets more carefully, and you will find therein foretold all the doings and all the doctrines and all the Passion of our Lord.

But if this thought occurs to you, to say, What then hath the Lord’s coming brought us?—know ye, that He brought all newness,¹⁸⁸³* in that He brought Himself, Who had been foretold: this being the very thing announced, that a new state should come, to renew and quicken man. For the King’s advent is indeed announced by the Servants who are sent, to furnish and disencumber such as are beginning to receive their Lord. But after that the King hath come, and His subjects are filled with the joy before announced, and have tasted the liberty which comes from Him, and share His vision, and have heard His words, and enjoyed gifts from Him; it will be no longer asked, “What the new King^1884q brought with Him, more than those who foretold His coming;”—at least among those who have understanding. For He brought Himself, and bestowed on men the good things which were foretold,¹⁸⁸⁵* which the Angels were desiring to look into.

§ 2. But in the other case they would have been lying slaves, and without mission from the Lord, had Christ not come such as He was announced, and fulfilled their words.¹⁸⁸⁶* Wherefore He said, Think not that I am come to destroy the Law or the Prophets: I came not to destroy but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till Heaven and Earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall not pass from the Law and the Prophets, until all be fulfilled. For Himself at His coming fulfilled all, and yet fulfils in the Church unto the end the New Testament foretold by the Law. As Paul also His Apostle saith in the Epistle to the Romans,¹⁸⁸⁷* But now the Righteousness of God without the Law is made manifest, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets:¹⁸⁸⁸* For the Just shall live by faith.¹⁸⁸⁹* But this point, that the Just shall live by faith, had been foretold by the Prophets.

§ 3. But whence could the Prophets foretell the Coming of the King, and preach before the good news of the liberty which He was giving, and announce all Christ’s doings, both His discourse, and His works, and His Passion—and predict the New Testament; if they received prophetical inspiration from another God: being, as you say, ignorant of the unutterable Father, and of His Kingdom, and of His Ordinances, which the Son of God, when He came, fulfilled in the earth?

For you cannot surely say that all this happened by some chance, as though, while the Prophets had spoken of some other, the like had nevertheless befallen the Lord. For all the Prophets prophesied the same: but they happened not to any of the ancients. For had they happened to any of the ancients, of course those who came afterwards would not have foretold their happening in the last times. Even until now there is no one, either among Fathers, or Prophets, or ancient Kings, in whom any one of these things hath properly and specially come to pass. Thus all of them foretold indeed the sufferings of Christ, but themselves were far from suffering according to those predictions.

Neither were the tokens foretold of the Lord’s Passion fulfilled in any other. For neither did the sun set at noonday, upon the death of any one of the ancients, nor was the vail of the Temple rent, nor did the earth quake, nor were the rocks cleft, nor did the dead, arise, nor did either one of them arise on the third day, neither was he taken up into Heaven, nor when he was taken up was the Heaven opened, nor did Gentiles believe on the name of any other, nor did any one of them, dead and rising again, open the New Testament of Liberty. Of no other then, but of the Lord, in Whom met all the signs foretold, were the Prophets speaking.

§ 4. But if any one, pleading for the Jews, should say of the raising of the Temple, which took place under Zorobabel after their migration into Babylon, and of the departure of the people which took place after seventy years, that this is the New Testament; let him know, that the Temple of stone indeed was at that time rebuilt, (for as yet that law was in force which had been made in tables of stone,) but no new Testament was given; rather the law which was given by Moses was their rule until the coming of the Lord: but from the coming of the Lord there went forth into the whole Earth the New Testament, reconciling men unto peace, and the Law which gives life.

For out of Sion shall go forth the Law,¹⁸⁹⁰* and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem, and shall rebuke much people: and they shall break their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning-hooks, and they shall no more learn warfare. If then any other law and word going out of Jerusalem wrought so great peace among the nations which received it, and by them convicted much people of inconsideration: it seems to follow that the Prophets spake of some other. But if the Law of Liberty, i.e.,¹⁸⁹¹* the Word of God by the Apostles who went out from Jerusalem, being proclaimed in the whole Earth, wrought a change to such an extent, that swords and war-spears were thereby forged into plough-shares, and converted into pruning-hooks,—into instruments of peace, given for reaping corn:—and now they know not how to fight,¹⁸⁹²* but when smitten offer also the other cheek:—not of some other did the Prophets so speak, but of Him who did all this. Now this is our Lord, and in Him is the saying true; for it is He who made the plough, and applied the pruning hook¹⁸⁹³⁵, i.e., the first sowing of man, his formation in Adam; and the gathered fruitful crop of him in the last times by the Word. And accordingly He, conjoining the beginning with the end, as being Lord even of both, as in the end He manifested His plough, wood joined with iron, and thereby hath purged Earth, which is His:—in that, being the strong Word united to the Flesh, and formed in meet shape^1894r, He cleared the over-grown earth:—so in the beginning He typified the hook by Abel, signifying how the righteous kind should be gathered from among men.¹⁸⁹⁵* For see, He saith, how the righteous perisheth, and no man looketh on; and just men are taken away, and no man receiveth it in heart. Now these things were exemplified indeed in Abel, but by the Prophets they were announced, and by the Lord fulfilled: and in us too the same thing takes place, the Body following its Head.

§ 5. In reply then to such as say, that the Prophets are of one God, our Lord of another, the Father, considerations of this kind are pertinent, if haply they may some time cease from so great an absurdity. For this indeed is why we take pains to adduce the proofs which the Scriptures supply; that confuting them by the very words, we may to the best of our power restrain them from their great blasphemy, and senseless fabrication of many gods.

Chap. XXXV. § 1. Again, in reply to the Valentinians and the other Gnostics falsely so called, who say sometimes, that certain of the statements of Scripture are uttered from the Highest place, because of the seed which is from thence; sometimes again from the middle space, because of the bold mother Prunica; many again from the Maker of the world, by whom also the Prophets were sent:—we say that it is very irrational to reduce the Father of all to so great poverty, as though He had not instruments of His own, whereby the things in the Pleroma might be set forth in their genuineness. For whom did He fear, that He should not peculiarly and distinctly make known His own will, freely and without admixture of that spirit, who has his beginning in decay and ignorance? Was He afraid lest very many should be saved, as more came to hear uncorruptly all parts of the truth? Or again had He no power in His own person to provide for Himself such as should announce the coming of the Saviour?

§ 2. Whereas if the Saviour on His coming hither sent His Apostles into the world, purely setting forth His Advent, and teaching the Father’s will, in nothing partaking of the doctrine either of Gentiles or Jews; much more, while He was in the Pleroma, would He have marked out preachers of His own, announcing His future coming into this world, having nought to do with those Prophecies which are of the Demiurge. If on the other hand, when He was within the Pleroma, He employed the Prophets who belonged to the Law, and by them revealed the things which belong to Himself: much more, after He had come hither, would He have employed the same Teachers, and by them declared the Gospel to us. Here then they must needs affirm, that the Truth was not announced by Peter and Paul and the other Apostles, but by the Scribes and Pharisees and the rest, by whom the Law was set forth. But if at His coming He sent forth His own proper Apostles, in the Spirit of Truth, and not in the spirit of Error, this very same thing He did also in the Prophets; for the Word of God is always the very same. And if there was really a spirit from the highest place, according to their rule;—a spirit of light, and a spirit of truth, and a spirit of perfection, and a spirit of knowledge:—but he who was of the Demiurge was a spirit of ignorance, and decay, and error, and the offspring of a shadow^1896s; how could there be in one and the same, perfection and decay, knowledge and ignorance, error and truth, light and darkness? But if in the Prophets these things could not be so, rather they from one God made proclamation of the word of the Lord, and announced the coming of His Son: much less would the Lord Himself ever have made His discourses, sometimes according to the original, sometimes according to the subsequent Decay, becoming a Teacher of knowledge and ignorance at once: nor would He ever have glorified, now the maker of the world, now again the Father who is above him;¹⁸⁹⁷* as He saith Himself: No man letteth piece of a new garment into an old one,¹⁸⁹⁸* nor do they put new wine into old bottles. Therefore let these also either in every way keep themselves from the Prophets as being old; instead of saying that they, sent before by the Demiurge, uttered some things according to that new system which belongs to the highest place: or again they are convicted by the Lord when He says, New wine is not put into old bottles.

§ 3. And how could the offspring of that Mother of theirs know those mysteries which were within the Pleroma, and give an account of them? For the Mother, when she produced the aforesaid offspring, was outside of the Pleroma; and all that is so, they say, is without knowledge: i.e., it is Ignorance. How then could that offspring, which from its conception was ignorance, proclaim knowledge? Or how did that Mother know the mysteries which appertained to the Pleroma, being as she was without form or figure, cast out as an abortion, and there constructed and shaped, and forbidden by Horus to enter in; and even to the end abiding without the Pleroma, i.e., without knowledge? And again, whereas they say that our Lord’s Passion is a figure of the “Extension” of the Christ who is above,¹⁸⁹⁹* whereby, being “extended” upon Horus, He formed their Mother: in the other circumstances they are refuted, not having anything to shew which answers to the type. For where in those upper regions had Christ gall and vinegar given Him to drink? or where were His garments divided? or where was He pierced, so that there came out blood and water? or where did He sweat drops of blood? And so of the rest of what befel the Lord, having been spoken of by the Prophets. By what means then did either the Mother or her seed make conjecture of those things, which then had not as yet taken place, but were only just beginning to take place?

§ 4. And over and above all this; when they are confuted by the relation given in Scripture of the coming of Christ,¹⁹⁰⁰* they affirm that certain things indeed are uttered from the highest place; but what they are, they by no means agree, but answer variously on the same subjects. Thus, if any one wishing to make trial of them, should ask the eminent among them severally concerning any passage, he will find that one will say the passage inquired about relates to the first father, i.e., the Deep; another, to the beginning of all, i.e., the Only Begotten: but another, to the Father of all, i.e., the Word: another again will say that the discourse is of one of those Æons, who are in the Pleroma, and others of Christ, and another of the Saviour. Then some one more clever than the former set, after long silence and delay, says, It is all spoken about Horus: and another, that it means that Wisdom which is within the Pleroma; a third that it sets forth the Mother who is without the Pleroma; and a fourth will assert that it is the God who made the world.

So many diversities are there amongst them concerning one and the same thing,¹⁹⁰¹* maintaining as they do different meanings for the same Scriptures: and at the reading of one and the same passage, they all contract their eyebrows and shake their heads, and say that they themselves indeed perfectly comprehend the passage, in its exceeding depth, but that all cannot receive the greatness of the meaning therein contained: and therefore that silence is a main point with the wise: it being meet that the Sige who is above should be delineated by the Silence which is among them. And so they go their ways, all of them; and whatever their number, so many opinions do they take with them on one and the same subject: they bear about with them unseen their own sharp thoughts.

When therefore they have agreed among themselves about the things foretold in the Scriptures, then shall they be also confuted by us. For erroneous as their views are,¹⁹⁰²* yet for the present they refute themselves, by their not having the same thoughts about the same subjects. But we, following as our teacher One only, and Him the only true God, and having His sayings for the rule of truth, say all of us always the same words about the same things, knowing but one God, the Maker of this Universe; Him who sent the Prophets; Who brought the people out of the Land of Egypt; Who in the last times revealed His Son, to confound the unbelievers, and demand the fruit of righteousness.¹⁹⁰³*

Chap. XXXVI. § 1. For which of them does not the Lord refute, to the effect that neither do the Prophets speak as prompted by any other than His Father;¹⁹⁰⁴* nor are they of different substances, but of one and the same Father; nor did any other make the things which are in this world, but His Father,¹⁹⁰⁵* in that He teaches, There was a certain Householder, and he planted a vineyard, and put a hedge about it, and dug a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went abroad. But when the time of fruits had drawn near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, to receive of his fruits. And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and stoned another, and killed another. Again he sent other servants more than the first; and they did unto them likewise. But last of all he sent unto them his only son, saying, It may be they will reverence my son. But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir: come let us kill him, and we shall have his inheritance. And they took him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him. When therefore the Lord of the vineyard shall come, what shall He do to those husbandmen? And they said unto Him, Those evil ones he shall evilly destroy, and let out his vineyard to other husbandmen, who will render to him the fruits in their seasons. Again the Lord saith, Have ye never read, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is made the head of the corner? By the Lord it is made, and is marvellous in our eyes. Wherefore I say unto you, that the Kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and shall be given to a nation bearing the fruits thereof.

Here He plainly points out to His Disciples that there is one only and the same Householder, i.e., One God the Father, Who by Himself doth all: but different husbandmen;—some abusive, and proud, and unprofitable, and slayers of their Lord; others again with all obedience rendering the fruits in their seasons: and that this same Householder at one time sends His servants, at another His Son. By the same Father then, Who sent the Son to those husbandmen who slew Him, were the servants also sent. Only that, while the Son, as coming from the Father with sovereign authority,¹⁹⁰⁶* used to say, But I say unto you; the servants as coming from their Lord spoke servilely, and therefore their saying was, Thus saith the Lord.

§ 2. Whom therefore they used to set forth as Lord to the unbelieving, Him Christ taught to those who obey Him: and that God who had called the former sort, or in the first instance by enactment as to slaves, the same took to Himself by adoption the later sort, or [the same] afterwards. For God planted the vineyard of mankind, first of all, by the formation of Adam, and the choice of our Fathers: but to the Husbandmen He delivered it by the giving of the Law through Moses: again He put a hedge round them, i.e., He set a limit to their husbandry-work: and He built a tower—chose out Jerusalem: and digged a winepress—prepared a place to receive the Prophetic Spirit: and thus He sent Prophets before the removal into Babylon, and after the removal others again, more than the first, seeking fruit, and saying to them,¹⁹⁰⁷* Cleanse your ways and your manners; judge righteous judgment,¹⁹⁰⁸* and use pity and mercy, every one to his brother: to the widow, the orphan, the stranger and the poor practise no oppression, and remember not each one of you in your hearts his brother’s wickedness,¹⁹⁰⁹* and love no false oath.¹⁹¹⁰* Wash ye, be clean, take away wickednesses out of your hearts, learn to do well, seek judgment, protect him that suffereth violence, redress the orphan, and plead for the widow: and come, let us reason together, saith the Lord. And again,¹⁹¹¹* Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips that they speak no guile. Turn aside from evil and do good; seek peace and ensue it. By these messages the Prophets demanded the fruit of righteousness.

But when they believed not, last of all He sent His own Son, sent our Lord Jesus Christ; whom the evil husbandmen slew, and cast out of the vineyard. Wherefore the Lord God gave it over,—now no longer fenced in, but laid open to the whole world,—to other husbandmen, rendering the fruits in their seasons; the tower of His Choice being everywhere exalted and beautiful. For everywhere is the Church glorious, and everywhere the wine-press dug around: since everywhere are some who receive the Spirit: God having justly rejected them, for rejecting the Son of God, and casting Him after they had slain Him, without the vineyard: and to the Gentiles, who were without the vineyard, He hath given fruit, as after cultivation. As saith also the Prophet Jeremiah:¹⁹¹²* The Lord hath rejected and cast away the nation which doth these things: for the children of Judah have done evil in My sight, saith the Lord. Jeremiah in like manner again: I leave set over you watchers; Hear the sound of the trumpet; and they said, We will not hear.¹⁹¹³* Therefore have the Gentiles heard, and those who feed cattle among them.

It is therefore one and the same God the Father, who planted the vineyard, who led out the people, who sent the Prophets, who sent His own Son, who gave the vineyard to other husbandmen, rendering the fruits in their seasons.

§ 3. And therefore the Lord said to His disciples, providing for us to be good workmen,¹⁹¹⁴* Take heed to yourselves, and watch always at all times, lest at any time your hearts he over-charged with surfeiting and drunkenness and worldly cares, and that day come suddenly upon you. For as a snare shall it come on all those who abide on the face of the whole earth.¹⁹¹⁵*—Let your loins then he girded about, and your lights burning, and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their Lord.¹⁹¹⁶*—For as it was in the days of Noe;—they did eat and drink, they bought and sold, they married and were given in marriage, and knew not until Noe entered into the ark, and the Flood came and destroyed them all. And like as it was in the days of Lot; they ate and drank, they bought and sold, they planted and built, until Lot went forth of Sodom: it rained fire from Heaven and destroyed them all: so shall it be also in the coming of the Son of Man.¹⁹¹⁷*—Watch therefore, for ye know not in what day your Lord will come.

Thus He announces one and the same Lord, who in Noah’s times brought on the deluge because of the disobedience of men, and in Lot’s times rained fire from Heaven because of the many sins of the Sodomites, and at last will bring on the Day of Judgment because of this same disobedience, and of like sins: and in that day He declares, it will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrha than for the city and house which shall not have received the words of His Apostles.¹⁹¹⁸* And thou, Capernaum, said He, shalt thou be exalted to Heaven? Nay, thou wilt come down to Hell. For if in Sodom the mighty works had been done, which have been done in thee, it would have continued even to this day. But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Sodom in the day of judgment, than for you.

§ 4. Because the Word of God is always one and the same;¹⁹¹⁹*—to such as believe Him imparting the well of water unto eternal life,¹⁹²⁰* but drying up at once the unfruitful fig tree: first, in the times of Noe, bringing in the flood, to extinguish that most evil race of the men at that time, who could now no longer bring forth fruit unto God, the Angels who had transgressed having mingled themselves with them; as also to abate their sins, while He saved the typical ark, the creation of Adam: secondly, in the times of Lot He rained on Sodom and Gomorrha fire and brimstone from Heaven, an example of the righteous judgment of God;¹⁹²¹* for all to know that every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit shall be cut down and cast into the fire: thirdly, in the universal Judgment He deals more gently with Sodom, than with those who saw His miracles which He did, and believed not in Him, nor received His doctrine.

Thus, as by His coming He gave more grace to such as have believed Him and do His will: so He signified that such as believed Him not have a greater punishment in the judgment; being equally just over all, and to whom He gave, from them intending to demand more.¹⁹²²* And it was more, not because He revealed the knowledge of another Father, (as we have shewn so largely and in so many ways): but because by His coming, He poured forth upon mankind a greater largess of His Father’s grace.

§ 5. But if any one find our previous sayings insufficient,¹⁹²³* to make him believe that the Prophets were sent by One and the same Father, by whom also our Lord was sent: let him however open the lips of his heart, and call upon Christ Jesus the Lord, and listen to Him saying,¹⁹²⁴* That the Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a King making a marriage for his son, and sending his servants to summon those who were invited to the marriage. And when they would not obey,¹⁹²⁵* Again, saith He, he sent other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Come, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and all my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready; come to the marriage. But they went away, slighting Him, some to their field, and some to their merchandise: but the rest took his servants, and treated some spitefully, and slew others. But the King when he heard, was angry: and sending his armies, he destroyed those murderers, and set on fire their city, and said to his servants, The wedding indeed is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy. Go ye out therefore to the endings of the ways, and as many as ye shall find, assemble to the marriage. And his servants went out and gathered together as many as they found, both good and bad, and the wedding was filled with guests. But the King coming in to see the guests, saw there a man not having a wedding garment, and saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou hither, not having a wedding garment? But he being speechless, the King said to the servants, Take him by the feet and hands, and cast him into the darkness which is without; there shall he weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called, but few chosen.

For by these words also of His, the Lord hath plainly declared all: first, how that there is one only King and Lord, the Father of all; of Whom also He said before, Neither swear thou by Jerusalem,¹⁹²⁶* for it is the city of the great King: Next, how that from the beginning He prepared a marriage for His Son, and because of His immense loving-kindness, did by His servants call the former set to the wedding banquet, and when they would not obey, He convoking them sent again other servants; and when neither so did they obey Him, but rather stoned to death the messengers of their calling: those indeed He destroyed, sending His armies, and burned up their city; and on the other hand from all the ways, i.e., from all nations, He called men to the feast of His Son’s marriage; as also He saith by Jeremiah,¹⁹²⁷* And I sent to you My servants the Prophets, to say, Turn ye every one from his most evil way, and amend your doings.¹⁹²⁸* And again by the same, And I sent to you, saith He, all My servants the Prophets during the day and before the day light, and they obeyed Me not, nor inclined their ears.¹⁹²⁹* And thou shalt say to them this word: As to this kind, because they have not obeyed the Lord’s Voice, nor received discipline, Faith hath failed out of their mouth.

The Lord therefore who called us by the Apostles from all quarters, the same by the Prophets used to call those who were of old: as is shewn by the Lord’s discourses. And it was not, that the Prophets were of one, the Apostles of another, though they acted as heralds to different nations: but from one and the same, did these announce the Lord, those preach the glad tidings of the Father: and whereas these foretold the Advent of the Son of God, those, as Heralds, announced Him as present already, to such as were afar off.

§ 6. And He also declared that we must be adorned, besides our vocation,¹⁹³⁰* with works of righteousness, that the Spirit of God may rest upon us. For this is the wedding garment: concerning which the Apostle also saith, We would not be stripped,¹⁹³¹* but clothed upon, that the mortal may be swallowed up of immortality. But those who have been called indeed to the Supper of God, and because of their evil conversation have not received the Holy Ghost, shall be cast, He saith, into outer darkness. Distinctly declaring that the very same King, who called the faithful from all sides to the marriage of His Son, and gave them an incorruptible feast, commands to be cast into outer darkness the person who has no wedding garment, i.e., the scorner.

Thus,¹⁹³²* as in the former Testament with many of them He was not well pleased, so also here it is many called, few chosen. The God then who judges is not one, and the Father who invites to salvation another; nor is He who giveth eternal light different from Him who gives command for those to be cast into outer darkness, who have not the wedding garment. But it is one and the same Lord, the Father of our Lord, by whom also the Prophets were sent, first inviting the unworthy because of His unbounded goodness, and afterwards inspecting those who were invited, to see whether they have such apparel as is convenient and suitable to His Son’s marriage: because nothing unsuitable nor evil pleases Him: As the Lord said to him who had been cured,¹⁹³³* Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing happen unto thee. For He who is good and just and pure and undefiled, will not endure in His bridal chamber anything evil, or unjust, or abominable. Now this is the Father of our Lord, by whose providence all things are preserved, and by His command all are ordered. And while He gives freely to whom it is meet, as a most righteous rewarder He makes distribution most worthily according to their merit to the unthankful and such as feel not His kindness: and He saith accordingly, Sending His armies, He destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.

Now he saith, “His army,” because all men belong to God.¹⁹³⁴* For the Earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof; the world, and all that dwell therein. And therefore Paul the Apostle in his Epistle to the Romans saith,¹⁹³⁵* For there is no power but of God and those which exist are ordained of God. He therefore who resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God; and they that resist obtain to themselves damnation. For rulers are not a terror to the good work, but to the evil. And wouldst thou not fear the Power? Do good, and thou shalt have praise thereof: for he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou have done evil, be afraid. For he beareth not the sword in vain. For he is the minister of God, an avenger for wrath to him that doeth evil. And therefore be ye subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience’ sake. For therefore also do ye pay taxes: for they are God’s ministers, waiting upon this very thing.

And thus you see that both the Lord and the Apostles announce One God the Father, Him Who enacted the Law, Who sent the Prophets, Who made all things: and therefore it is said, Sending His armies, because every man, in that he is a man, is His handy work, though he know not his God. For to all He giveth their being,¹⁹³⁶* Who causeth His Sun to arise on evil and good, and raineth on just and unjust.

§ 7. And not only by what has been said, but also by the parable of the two sons,¹⁹³⁷* whereof the younger wasted his substance in luxury, living with unchaste persons, hath He taught us of one and the same Father, who to his elder son spares not even a kid, but for his sake who had been lost, his younger son, commands the fatted calf to be slain, and gives him the best robe:—and by the Parable also of those workmen, who at sundry times were sent into the vineyard, one and the same Householder is manifested, who called some immediately, in the beginning of the Creation of the World, others again after this, and after the middle time others, and a fresh set when now the seasons were far advancing, and in the end again another set: so that while there are many workmen in their several generations, there is but one Householder, calling them all together.

For in truth there is but one Vineyard, because there is but one righteousness: and but one steward, because but one Spirit of God, who disposeth all things: and in like manner too but one reward;¹⁹³⁸* for they all receive each man a penny, having the King’s image and superscription, i.e., the knowledge of the Son of God, which was incorruption. And for this cause He began from the last to give his reward, because in the last times the Lord being manifested did so represent Himself to all.

§ 8. And the Publican also, who in prayer surpassed the Pharisee,¹⁹³⁹* had witness from the Lord that he was rather justified, not for worshipping another Father, but for making his confession to the same God with great humility, without self-exaltation and without boasting.

And the Parable again of the two sons,¹⁹⁴⁰* those I mean who are sent into the vineyard, of whom the one contradicted his father, and afterwards repents, at a time when his penitence did him no good; whereas the other engaged himself to go, at once promising his father, but went not:—(because every man is a liar;¹⁹⁴¹* and to will indeed lies close at hand to us,¹⁹⁴²* but it finds not how to perform)—I say, that Parable shews that there is but one and the self-same Father. So also does the Parable of the Fig-tree;¹⁹⁴³* concerning which the Lord saith, Behold now three years I come, seeking fruit on this fig-tree, and find not. Thus in signifying His advent by the Prophets, by whom He came so often requiring of them the fruit of righteousness, which He found not, He openly declared that the fig-tree itself should be cut down for the above mentioned cause. And without a Parable again the Lord spake to Jerusalem,¹⁹⁴⁴* O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who killest the Prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee: how often would I have gathered thy children, as a hen chickens under her wings, and thou wouldest not! Behold your house is left unto you desolate.

For that which had been said by the Parable, Behold I come three years seeking fruit; and openly again, How often would I have gathered thy sons; will be false, if we do not understand that coming of Him, which is by the Prophets; since [in person] He came to them once for all, and then for the first time. But to prove that it is the same Word of God who chose both the Patriarchs and us,—visiting them at all times by His Prophetic Spirit, us who have been convoked from all quarters, by His own Coming,—besides what hath been said, He spake as follows,¹⁹⁴⁵* according to truth: Many shall come from the East and West, and shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven: but the children of the Kingdom shall go into outer darkness, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. If therefore those who from the East and West shall believe in Him by the preaching of the Apostles shall sit down in the Kingdom of Heaven, sharing in the banquet with them; we discern herein one and the same God, Who first chose the Patriarchs, then visited His People, and afterwards called the Gentiles.

Chap. XXXVII. § 1. And in that He saith, How often would I have gathered thy children and thou wouldst not: He declared the ancient law of man’s liberty: how that God made him free from the beginning, having power of himself,¹⁹⁴⁶* as he had a soul of his own, to act upon God’s decree voluntarily, and not upon compulsion from God. For in God is no violence: but a good mind is always where He is. And therefore, while He gives good counsel to all, He hath set in man the power of choice, as also in the Angels (for the Angels have reason): so that on the one side they who have been obedient, may deservedly keep the good thing which they have, God’s gift, but preserved by themselves:¹⁹⁴⁷* but those who have not obeyed, will deservedly be found far from good, and will receive condign punishment: because that when God mercifully gave what was good, they did not diligently keep it, nor count it precious, but despised His excess of bounty. Therefore casting away what is good, and in a manner spewing it out, they will all of them deservedly incur the just judgment of God, as also the Apostle Paul testified in his Epistle to the Romans, saying thus:¹⁹⁴⁸* Despisest thou the riches of His goodness and forbearance and long-suffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? But after thy hardness and impenitent heart thou treasurest up unto thyself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.¹⁹⁴⁹*—But glory and peace, saith he, to every one that worketh good. God then gave what is good, as the Apostle also testifieth in the same epistle: and such as work it shall receive glory and honour, for working good, when they might have declined working it: but such as work it not, shall receive the just judgment of God for not having wrought good when they had the power to work it.

§ 2. If some are by nature born bad and others good,¹⁹⁵⁰* neither are these praised for being good, since they were framed such; nor the others blamed, being so born. But because they are all of the same nature, and able to retain and do what is good, and able on the contrary to reject it and do it not: justly even among men who are well governed, and much more with God, are the one praised, and meet witness borne unto them, of their general choice of what is good, and perseverance in it; the others blamed, and due punishment set upon them, for rejecting what is right and good. And therefore the Prophets (as we have shewn at large) used to exhort men to do righteously, and to fulfil what is good: as though that kind of thing were in our own power, and men’s great carelessness were the cause of their falling into forgetfulness, and being destitute of that sound judgment, which the good God by His Prophets hath enabled men to form.

§ 3. Therefore also saith the Lord, Let your light shine (such was His expression) before men,¹⁹⁵¹* that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in Heaven. And,¹⁹⁵²* Take heed to yourselves lest haply your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness and cares of this life. And,¹⁹⁵³* Be your loins girded and your lights burning, and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their Lord, when he shall return from the wedding, that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him. Blessed is that servant, whom, when his Lord cometh, he shall find so doing. And again,¹⁹⁵⁴* The slave who knoweth his Lord’s will, and doeth it not, shall be beaten with many stripes.¹⁹⁵⁵* And, Why say ye to Me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?¹⁹⁵⁶* And again, But if the slave say in his heart, My Lord delayeth, and begin to beat his fellow servants,¹⁹⁵⁷* and to eat and drink and be drunken: his Lord shall come in a day when he expecteth not, and divide him, and set his portion with the hypocrites.

For all these sayings set forth the free will of man, and how God is a counsellor to us, exhorting us to submit to Him, and turning us aside^1958t from disobeying Him, but not using any compulsion.

§ 4. Since even with regard to the Gospel itself, if a man be unwilling to follow it, it is free for him, though not good. For disobedience to God and loss of what is good is indeed in a man’s power, but it brings no ordinary harm and loss.¹⁹⁵⁹* And therefore Paul saith, All things are permitted, but all things are not expedient; both rehearsing man’s liberty,¹⁹⁶⁰* by reason of which even all things are permitted, God using no compulsion towards him, and declaring the sense of the phrase, It is not expedient, that we may not abuse ourliberty for a cloak of malitiousness:¹⁹⁶¹* for this is not expedient.¹⁹⁶²* And again he saith, Speak ye the truth every man with his neighbour;¹⁹⁶³* And, Let no evil speech come out of your mouth, nor filthiness,¹⁹⁶⁴* nor foolish talking, nor buffoonery, which is nothing to the purpose: but rather giving of thanks.¹⁹⁶⁵* And, For ye were at one time darkness, but now light in the Lord: As children of light walk honestly;¹⁹⁶⁶* not in riotings and drunkennesses, not in chamberings and wantonnesses, not in strife and envying.¹⁹⁶⁷* And these things some of you were, but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified in the name of our Lord.

If then it were not in us to do these things or not to do them, what cause had the Apostle, and long before the Lord Himself, to give counsel that one should do some things and abstain from some other? But because man from the beginning has his determination free, and God, in whose likeness he is made, hath free determination, in every instance advice is given him, to retain that good thing which is perfected by obedience towards God.

§ 5. And not in works only, but also in faith the Lord hath kept man’s choice free and independent: saying, According to thy faith be it unto thee:¹⁹⁶⁸* signifying that it is a man’s own faith, because he hath his own proper judgment.¹⁹⁶⁹* And again, All things are possible to him that believeth; and, Go, as thou hast believed, be it unto thee.¹⁹⁷⁰* And all such places shew that Man is in his own power concerning faith.¹⁹⁷¹* And for this cause he that believeth Him hath everlasting life; but he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God shall abide on him. On this principle then the Lord, at once declaring His own goodness, and implying that man is in the hand of his own will and his own power, said to Jerusalem, How often would I have gathered thy sons,¹⁹⁷²* as a hen her chickens under her wings, and thou wouldst not! Wherefore your house shall he left unto you desolate.

§ 6. But they who maintain the contrary,¹⁹⁷³* bring in a Lord without power, as if, forsooth, He could not accomplish what He would: or again, as though He discerned not those who by nature are earthly (so these men speak), and those who cannot receive His incorruption. “Yea, He ought not, it is said, to have made either Angels such as to have power to transgress, nor men, who presently would prove ungrateful to Him.” Because they were made reasonable, with faculties to examine and to judge, and not—(like irrational or inanimate things, which can do nought of their own will, but are drawn towards good by necessity and force; who have one only thought, and one only way)—these are not, I say, made unchangeable, and without judgment, so as not to be capable of being anything but what they were made, And so to them neither would that which is good be pleasant, nor the communion of God precious, nor good greatly desirable, seeing that it grew up to them without any movement, care, or study of their own, yea, as a spontaneous and untended plant. Thus there would be no energy in their goodness, they being what they are rather by nature than by will, and having good of itself, not by choice, and consequently not realizing so much as this, That what is good, is fair, and not enjoying it. For what enjoyment is there of Good in those who know it not? And what glory to those who have not exerted themselves for it? And what crown to those who have not won the same as conquerors in a struggle?

§ 7. Wherefore also the Lord said that the Kingdom of Heaven was subject to violence,¹⁹⁷⁴* and the violent, saith He, despoil it; i.e., they take its spoils, who watch earnestly, with might and intense struggling. And so again Paul the Apostle saith to the Corinthians:¹⁹⁷⁵* Know ye not, that they which run in a race, run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run that ye may obtain. And every one who striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things: they indeed to receive a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible. Now I so run, not for an uncertainty; so I fight, not as beating the air; but I bruise my body, and bring it into slavery, lest haply preaching to others I myself become reprobate.¹⁹⁷⁶* The good Champion, you see, exhorts us to the fight of incorruption, that we may be crowned, and may account the crown precious, I mean that acquired for us by struggling, not one which grew on us of its own accord. And so much the more precious is it, as it comes to us by struggling; and the more precious it is, the more let us always love it. But by no means is the same fondness felt when things come of their own accord as when they are found with much anxious toil. Because therefore it was for our good to love God more, the Lord taught us to obtain this with labour, and the Apostle handed on the lesson. Moreover, on the other supposition our good would be unfelt, from not being exerted. Yea, and sight would not be so desirable to us, had we not learned how bad it is not to see; and good health too is rendered more precious by the sick man’s experience; and light, by comparison with darkness; and life, with death. So too is the heavenly Kingdom more precious to those who have known the earthly one. But the more precious, so much the more we love it; and the more we love it, the more glorious shall we be with God.

The Lord therefore on our behalf endured all these things, that we being by all disciplined,¹⁹⁷⁷* might in all be on our guard for the time to come, and might persevere in all love towards Him, being taught by reason to love God: God for His part exhibiting longsuffering in the revolt of man, and man being disciplined by the same: even as the Prophet speaks;¹⁹⁷⁸* Thy departure shall correct thee; God predetermining all for man’s perfection, and for the efficacy and manifestation of His arrangements; that so both Goodness may be exhibited, and Righteousness perfected, and the Church be framed after the fashion of His Son’s image, and so at the last Man may attain his full growth, ripening as he is by so great means for the sight and comprehension of God.

Chap. XXXVIII. § 1. But if a man say “How is this? Could not God render man perfect from the beginning?” let him know,¹⁹⁷⁹* that although unto God, who is always just the same, and Unoriginated, in respect of Himself all things are possible; yet the things which were made by Him, so far as that, coming afterwards, they have each its own beginning of generation, so far they must also fall short of Him who made them; for the things just brought into being could not be unoriginated; and so far as they are not unoriginated, so far also they fall short of Perfection. And in respect that they are younger, they are also childish, and in the same respect also unpractised^1980u, and unexercised for the perfect training. As then the Mother is able indeed to bestow perfect nourishment on her babe, but the Babe is as yet incapable of receiving the nourishment which is too old for itself: so God also was indeed able Himself to bestow on man perfection from the beginning, but man was incapable of receiving it: for he was a babe.

For which cause also our Lord in the last times came unto us,¹⁹⁸¹* having summed up all things in Himself; not as He could, but as we were able to receive Him. For He indeed could have come to us in His own incorruptible glory, but we as yet had no power to endure the greatness of His glory. And therefore to us, as to babes, the perfect Bread of the Father communicates Himself as milk: (For that kind of thing was His human Presence:) in order that we, nourished by His Flesh as by the breast, and accustomed, by this sort of milk diet, to eat and drink the Word of God, might be able to retain in ourselves the Bread of Immortality, which is the Spirit of the Father.

§ 2. And therefore Paul saith to the Corinthians, I have fed you with milk, not with meat;¹⁹⁸²* for neither were ye able to bear it: i.e., The human Presence indeed of the Lord you have been taught, but not yet doth the Spirit of the Father rest upon you, by reason of your weakness.¹⁹⁸³* For where there is among you, saith he, envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as man? i.e.,—that as yet the Spirit of the Father was not with them, because of the imperfection¹⁹⁸⁴v and weakness of their conversation. As then the Apostle was able indeed to give them the meat (for on whom they laid hands,¹⁹⁸⁵* they received the Holy Ghost, which is the meat of life), but they for their part were incapable of receiving it, because they had the organs of their soul’s sensation as yet weak and unpractised in divine exercise: so also at the beginning, God indeed was able to give perfection unto man, but he having just begun to be, was unable to receive it; or rather, to comprehend it received; or again, comprehending, to retain it. And for this cause the Son of God became a babe with man,¹⁹⁸⁶* perfect as He was: not on His own account, but because of man’s childishness, being so comprehended, as man was able to comprehend Him. Not with God was the weakness and defect, but with the newly formed man, because he was not uncreated^1987w.

§ 3. But in God are together manifested Power, and Wisdom, and Goodness: Power and Goodness in that, when things do not yet exist, He both createth and maketh them of His own Will: Wisdom, again, in His having made what was made in good time and harmony, and well fitted in: which also by His exceeding goodness obtaining increase, and enduring longer, shall receive the glory of the Uncreated One, God ungrudgingly vouchsafing that which is good. While in respect of their production^1988x, they are not unoriginate,¹⁹⁸⁹* yet in respect of their enduring through long ages, they will receive the power of the Unoriginate, God freely bestowing upon them everlasting continuance. And so God for His part is first in all things, Who is alone Unoriginate, and first of all, and to all the cause of their being: while all other things remain in subjection to God. Now subjection to God is incorruption, and the continuance of incorruption is the glory of the Unoriginate.

By this order then, and by measures such as these, and by this kind of training, Man being originated and formed comes to be in the image and likeness of the Unoriginate God: The Father approving and commanding, The Son performing and creating, The Spirit giving nourishment and growth, and Man for his part silently advancing, and going onward to perfection; i.e., coming near the Unoriginate. For the Unoriginate is perfect; and this is God. And it was needful that Man should first be brought into being, and being made should grow, and having grown should come to Manhood, and after Manhood should be multiplied, and being multiplied should grow in strength, and after such growth should be glorified, and being glorified should see his own Lord. For He who is to be seen, is God: and the Vision of God produces incorruption, and incorruption makes one to be near unto God.

§ 4. These then are every way unreasonable,¹⁹⁹⁰* who not waiting for the time of growth, charge God with the infirmity of their own nature. They know neither God nor themselves, insatiable and ungrateful. They are even unwilling to be that which they are made, i.e., men capable of passions. But they, overstepping the law of mankind, already even before they are made men want to be like unto God their Maker, and that there shall be no difference between the Uncreated God and Man who is just now created. And they are more irrational than the dumb animals: for they do not blame God for not making them men, but each one of them, accordding as he is made gives thanks to God for that he is made. Whereas we blame Him, for that we are not from the beginning made Gods, but first Men and then Gods. And yet God did this in the singleness^1991y of His bounty, that no one might account Him grudging or incommunicative.¹⁹⁹²* His Word is, I said, Ye are gods, and all of you sons of the Most High. But to us, not enduring to bear the power of His Godhead, He saith,¹⁹⁹³* Ye for your part shall die like men: stating both points; the benignity of His own gift, and our infirmity, and how that we are in our own power. For while according to His own benignity He bestowed good in good measure, and made men, like Himself, endowed with free-will; yet in His foreknowledge He was aware of man’s infirmity, and of what would come thereof; and in His love and might He will overcome that which we are by our created nature. Now it was necessary that first nature should be manifested, then afterwards that the mortal should be overcome and absorbed by immortality,¹⁹⁹⁴* and the corruptible by incorruption, and that man should be made in the image and likeness of God, receiving the knowledge of Good and Evil.

Chap. XXXIX. § 1. And man did receive the knowledge of good and evil, how it is good to obey God, and to believe Him and to keep His Commandment:¹⁹⁹⁵* and this is the life of man: even as not to obey God, is bad; and this is man’s death. God therefore shewing Longsuffering, man knew both the good of obedience, and the evil of disobedience: that the mind’s eye receiving trial of both, might with judgment make its choice of the better, and might never become slothful, nor negligent of God’s command: and as to that which deprives it of life, i.e., disobedience to God,—learning by experiment how evil it is, one might never even so much as try it: while as to obeying God, which is the preservative of his life, knowing how good it is, he may diligently keep it with all earnestness. And to this end he had also double senses, having the cognizance of both kinds: that with discipline [i.e., regular training] he might make choice of the best. But how could he have had a training for good, knowing not what is contrary thereto? For our notion of things actually brought within reach is stronger and more undoubted, than the guess which comes of mere suspicion. For as the tongue by taste receives trial of sweet and bitter, and the eye by sight discerns what is black from the white, and the ear by hearing knows the differences of sounds: so also the mind, by experiment of both, receiving a lesson in good, is made stronger to keep the same by obeying God:—first by penitency rejecting disobedience, as a thing bitter and evil; then learning by reflection what sort of thing it must be which is contrary to goodness and sweetness:—so as never even to make trial of the taste of disobedience to God. But if a man shrink from the knowledge of both kinds, and from the two sorts of impressions arising from that knowledge, without knowing it he destroys his own human being.

§ 2. How then shall he be God, who is not yet made man? how made perfect,¹⁹⁹⁶* who is but just made at all? how immortal, who in mortal nature was not obedient to his Maker? Nay, thou must first guard well thy position as man, and then at length partake of the glory of God. For thou makest not God, but God maketh thee. If then thou art God’s handywork, stay for the hand of thine artificer, which doeth¹⁹⁹⁷⁶ all things in season; and when I say, “in season,” I mean as to thee who art in making^1998z. But do thou yield thine heart to Him soft and tractable, and keep well the shape in which the Workmaster hath shaped thee, having in thyself moisture, lest thou be hardened, and so lose the print of His fingers. But by guarding the assigned structure, thou will mount up to perfection: for by the workmanship of God, the clay which is in thee disappears^1999a. The substance which is in thee His Hand hath wrought: He will overlay thee within and without with pure gold and silver, and will so greatly adorn thee,²⁰⁰⁰* that even the King Himself shall desire thy beauty.

But if thou, speedily hardened, reject His skill, and prove ungrateful to Him, because thou art made [but] a man, by thus becoming unthankful to God, thou hast lost both His skill, and thine own life together. For to make, is proper to God’s benignity: and to be made, is proper to man’s nature.

If therefore thou present unto Him what is thine, i.e., faith towards Him, and allegiance; thou wilt receive His skill, and wilt be a perfect work of God.

§ 3. If on the contrary thou believe Him not, and shrink from His Hands,²⁰⁰¹* the cause of imperfection will be in thyself, who didst not obey, not in Him Who did call. For He sent some to call men to the marriage: but those who obeyed Him not,²⁰⁰²* deprived themselves of the King’s Supper. It is not therefore God’s skill which fails;²⁰⁰³* for He is able of stones to raise up sons unto Abraham; but he who doth not follow it up, causes himself his own imperfection.

Thus, neither doth Light fail, because of them who of themselves are blind. But while it remains whatever it is, such as are blinded are in darkness through their own fault. The Light deals with no one as with a slave, in a way of compulsion: so neither doth God force any one, if unwilling, to retain [the effect of] His skill. Wherefore those beings which have fallen away from the Paternal Light, and have transgressed the Law of Liberty, have fallen away by their own fault, since they were made free, and with authority over themselves.

§ 4. But God, foreknowing all, hath prepared for both meet habitations: to them who seek after the Light of incorruption, and hasten back unto it, bountifully giving the Light which they desire: but for others who despise it, and turn themselves away from it, and avoid it, and in a manner blind themselves, He hath prepared darkness, suitable to the opposers of the Light; and for such as shrink from being subject thereunto, He hath supplied a due penalty.²⁰⁰⁴* Now submission to God is eternal rest: so that those who fly from the Light, may have a place worthy of such their flight: and those who fly from eternal rest, may have an abode suitable to their flight also. And since all good things are with God, those who of their own judgment fly from God, defraud themselves of all good things: and being defrauded of all that is good in God’s sight, they will fell of course into God’s just judgment. Because such as fly from rest, will justly have their conversation in punishment; and such as have fled from the light shall justly dwell in darkness. But as in this temporal light, such as shrink from it enslave themselves to darkness, so as to be themselves the cause why they are forsaken of the Light, and inhabit darkness, instead of the Light being the cause of such their condition, (as we said before:) so they who fly from the eternal Light of God, which contains in itself all good, are themselves the cause of their dwelling in eternal darkness, forsaken of all good: [I say] they are made unto themselves the cause of their so abiding.

Chap. XL. § 1. There is then one and the same Father, who for those who thirst after communion with Him, and persevere in His Obedience,²⁰⁰⁵* hath prepared the good things which are with Himself: but for the Prince of Apostasy, the Devil, and for those who shared in his revolt, hath prepared the everlasting fire,²⁰⁰⁶* into which the Lord said those should be sent, who are severed off towards the left hand.²⁰⁰⁷* And this is that which was spoken by the Prophet, I am God, even the Avenger, forming peace and creating evil things: with those who repent and turn to Him forming peace and friendship, and contracting union; but for those who repent not, and fly from His light, He hath prepared everlasting fire and outer darkness: which sort of things are evil to all who fall into them.

§ 2. But if the Father who gives rest were one, and the God who hath prepared the fire another, they would have had sons equally different: the one sending [man] into His Father’s Kingdom, the other into eternal fire. Inasmuch however as one and the same Lord hath declared to us the separation of all mankind in the Judgment,²⁰⁰⁸* as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats; and will say to the one sort,²⁰⁰⁹* Come, ye blessed of My Father, receive the Kingdom which is prepared for you; and to the other,²⁰¹⁰* Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, which My Father hath prepared for the Devil and his Angels: most plainly there is indicated one and the same, making peace and creating evil,²⁰¹¹* preparing for each sort that which will suit it; as also one only Judge, to send away each into the suitable place. As in the Parable of the Tares and of the Wheat the Lord declared, saying, As the tares are gathered and burnt in the fire,²⁰¹²* so shall it be in the end of the world. The Son of Man will send His Angels, and they shall gather out of His Kingdom all offences, and them which work iniquity, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine as the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father. The same Father then who hath prepared a Kingdom for the righteous, into which His Son hath taken such as are worthy; He hath also prepared a furnace of fire, whereinto those who are worthy will be cast, by the Messengers of the Son of man, the Angels, according to the commandment of God.

§ 3. For the Lord for His part sowed good seed in His own field.²⁰¹³* (Now the field is the world). But while men slept, the enemy came, and sowed tares among the wheat, and departed. Because from that time forward this Angel is an Apostate and an Enemy, wherein he grudged against God’s work, and tried to set it at enmity with God. Wherefore also God’s way with him who secretly sowed the crop of tares, i.e., brought in the transgression, was to separate him from partaking of Himself: but him who in thoughtlessness, however wrongly, admitted the disobedience, even the man, He pitied. And He converted against the said [Serpent] the enmity whereby he had made us enemies: in that He repelled from Himself our enmity against Him, and retorted it, and aimed it back at the serpent:²⁰¹⁴* as the Scripture reports the words of God to the serpent: And I will put enmity between thee and the Woman, and between thy seed and the woman’s Seed. He shall bruise thy head, and thou shall bruise His heel. And this enmity the Lord hath gathered together in one against Himself, by being made Man of a woman, and by trampling on his head: as we shewed in the preceding book.

Chap. XLI. § 1. In that He hath called some, Angels of the Devil, for whom eternal fire is prepared; and again saith of the tares, The tares are the children of the evil one;²⁰¹⁵* we must needs say that all who belong to the Apostasy are ascribed by Him to that being who is head in that transgression. Not that he did at all make either Angels or men in respect of nature. For we find not that the Devil made anything at all, being of course himself too the creature of God, just as other Angels are.²⁰¹⁶* For God made all things: as David also saith, That He spake and they were made; He commanded, and they were created.

§ 2. All things then being made by God, and the devil having become to himself and the rest the cause of Apostasy: justly hath the Scripture always called such as persist in Apostasy sons of the Devil,²⁰¹⁷* and Angels of the Wicked one. For the word son, as a certain person also before us hath said, has two meanings: One is naturally such, as being born a son; while another is counted for a son, because he is made such: notwithstanding the difference between the born and the made: which consists in the one having actual birth of such a person, while the other is made by the same person, either in the way of physical creation, or in the way of learning and teaching: since he who is instructed by a man, is called the son of his instructor, and the other, his father. In the nature then which we have by creation, we are, so to speak, all children of God, because we are all created by God. But in respect of obedience and learning, not all are God’s children, but such as believe Him and do His Will. As for such as believe not, and do not His Will, they are the children and Angels of the Devil. And because such is the case, He said in Esaias,²⁰¹⁸* I have begotten and brought up sons, but they have scorned Me. And again, where He calls them sons of others, thus,²⁰¹⁹* The sons of others have lied unto Me. Thus in nature they are Sons, because they were made by Him, but in regard of their works they are not sons.

§ 3. For as among men, sons disowned for disobedience to their fathers are indeed their sons by nature, but by law are alienated, not being made heirs to their natural parents: in like manner with God, such as obey Him not, disowned by Him, cease to be His sons. Whence also they cannot receive His inheritance;²⁰²⁰* as David saith, They are alienated, sinning from the womb:²⁰²¹* their wrath is in the likeness of a serpent. And therefore the Lord in this sense called those the progeny of vipers, whom He knew to be the progeny of men; because after the likeness of those animals they walk in craft, and hurt others. Take heed, saith He,²⁰²²* of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.²⁰²³* Yea, and speaking of Herod He saith, Tell that fox: indicating his wicked cunning and deceit. Wherefore the Prophet David saith,²⁰²⁴* Man being in honour is likened unto beasts of burthen. And Jeremiah again, They became wild horses in regard of women,²⁰²⁵* every one was neighing after his neighbour’s wife. And Esaias preaching in Judæa,²⁰²⁶* and disputing with Israel, called them rulers of Sodoṃ ạnd people of Gomorrah: signifying a transgression like the Sodomites, and that there were with these the same sins which they had; because of their like doings calling them by the same name. And that they were not in nature so made by God, but such as might also do rightly, the same Prophet said (giving them good counsel),²⁰²⁷* Wash ye, he clean, take away wickednesses from your souls before Mine eyes, rest from your iniquities. That is, because these same persons on account of their transgression and sin received the same reproof as the Sodomites. For upon being converted, and doing penitency, and resting from their evil way, they might be sons of God; and win that inheritance of incorruption, which is bestowed by Him. You see that in this sense He called them Angels of the Devil and sons of the Wicked one, who believe the Devil, and do his works. And yet from the beginning these all were made by one and the same God. But as long as they believe, and persevere in allegiance to God, and keep His doctrine, they are sons of God. But on falling away by transgressing, they are enrolled under the devil as their prince, under him who first to himself and afterwards to the rest became the cause of Apostasy.

§ 4. Now because our Lord’s discourses, many as they are, do all of them set forth one and the same Father as Maker of this world, we too were obliged, for the sake of those who are holden fast in many errors, to refute them in many ways; if haply they might by those many ways be refuted, and converted to the truth, and saved. But it is requisite in this treatise, to subjoin next after our Lord’s discourses the teaching also of Paul, and to weigh well his opinion^2028b, and to expound the Apostle, and to explain whatever has received from the heretics other interpretations (they not at all understanding the sayings of Paul), and to shew the wildness of their folly: and out of the same Paul, from whom they start difficulties for us, to shew that they are given to lying, while the Apostle is a Preacher of the truth, and that he taught all things in agreement with the proclamation of the Truth—that there is one only God and Father, He Who spake unto Abraham, Who gave the Law, Who sent the Prophets before Him, Who in the last times sent His Son, and Who giveth salvation to the work of His own Hands, which is the substance of the Flesh.

The other discourses therefore of the Lord, those I mean wherein He taught of the Father not in Parables but simply in literal words, as also the Exposition of the Blessed Apostle’s Epistles, we will arrange in another Book, so by God’s help furnishing thee with the work completed of reproof and overthrow of the Knowledge falsely so called: thus in five Books training both ourselves and thee to the refutation of all Heretics.

BOOK V

preface

In the four Books which before this I have set forth unto thee,²⁰²⁹* dearly beloved, I have exposed^2030a all the Heretics, and have declared their doctrines. I have also overthrown the inventors of impious opinions, partly by each one’s own teaching, left in their writings, partly by reason proceeding upon general premisses. I have exhibited the truth, and have declared the preaching of the Church, proclaimed first by the Prophets (as we have shewn), then completed by Christ, and handed on by the Apostles, from whom the Church receiving it, and alone guarding it well throughout the whole world, hath delivered it on to her children. I have solved all the questions which the Heretics press us with. I have explained the Apostles’ doctrine, and have cleared up many things, which the Lord by way of Parable both said and did.²⁰³¹* Now in this 5th Book of our whole work (which treats of detection and overthrow of Knowledge falsely so called) we will endeavour to form arguments from the remainder of our Lord’s teaching, and from the Apostolical Epistles. For so thou didst desire; and we obey thy direction, (placed as we are in the office of dispensing the Word,) and labour every way according to our ability, to furnish unto thee very much help against the gainsayings of the Heretics, and to draw back them that err, and convert them to the Church of God; to confirm also the mind of the Novices, that they may keep unshaken the faith, which they have received throughly guarded from the Church; that in no wise may they be perverted by such as endeavour to teach them amiss, and to lead them away from the truth.

It will be necessary both for thee, and for all who are to read this book, very carefully to read what we have said before; that thou mayest know the exact arguments, for which we are framing refutations. For so wilt thou regularly refute them, and find answers to them ready for thee to take up; their opinions thou wilt cast away, as dung, by the faith which comes from Heaven, and Him alone thou wilt follow, Who is the True and Strong Teacher, The Word of God, Jesus Christ our Lord:²⁰³²* Who for His immense love’s sake was made that which we are, in order that He might perfect us to be what He is.

Chap. I. § 1. For in no other way could we learn the things of God, except our Master, being the Word, had been made Man. Because no other but His own Word could declare unto us the things of the Father.²⁰³³* For who besides hath known the mind of the Lord? or who besides hath been made His counsellor?

And on the other hand, neither could we learn any other way, than by seeing our teacher, and discerning His voice by our hearing:²⁰³⁴* that so we might have communion with Him, becoming both imitators of His deeds, and doers of His words; receiving growth from Him Who is perfect, and Who is before the whole creation: we, I say, who are now but lately made, by Him Who alone is most excellent and good;—made by Him Who hath power to give incorruption, to be after His own likeness; first pre-ordained to be, when as yet we were not, according to the foreknowledge of the Father; afterwards made, at such time as we received the beginning of our creation, in the season before appointed, by the ministration of the Word, Who is perfect in all things; in that He Who is the mighty Word, and true Man, redeeming us by His blood, by a reasonable service, gave Himself to be a ransom for those who were led into captivity.

And because Apostasy was ruling unrighteously over us, and we who by nature belonged to God Almighty, were thereby alienated contrary to nature, and made disciples to the same [Apostasy]; the Word of God, Who is Mighty in all things, and faileth not in His own righteousness, did also righteously set^2035b Himself against the aforesaid Apostasy, ransoming from it the things which are His own:²⁰³⁶* not with violence, as it ruled over us originally, seizing insatiably what did not belong to Him; but in a way of persuasion, as it became God to take to Him what He would by persuading, and not using force: that so neither that which is just might be broken through, nor God’s old Creation utterly perish.

Thus,²⁰³⁷* the Lord having redeemed us with His own Blood, and given His soul for our souls, and His own Flesh for our Flesh, and pouring out the Spirit of the Father for the union and communion of God and man;—both bringing down God unto man by the Spirit, and again bringing in^2038c man unto God by His Incarnation, and in might and in truth, by His coming, bestowing upon us incorruption, by our Communion with Him:—all the doctrines of the Heretics are come to nought.

§ 2. Thus, they are vain, who say that He appeared but in fancy^2039d: for these things took place, not in fancy^2040d, but in substance of truth. But if, not being Man, He appeared Man, neither did He continue that which He was in reality, a Divine Spirit, (because the Spirit is invisible); nor was there any truth in Him, for He was not those things which He appeared to be.

And we said before,²⁰⁴¹* that Abraham and the other Prophets saw Him prophetically, by their sight prophesying what was afterwards to be. Now if in the present instance also He appeared in such sort, not being that which He seemed to be, it was a sort of prophetic vision happening unto men, and we must even expect another coming of His, wherein He shall be such as He is now prophetically seen.

And we have shewn that it is the same thing to say that He appeared but in fancy^2042d,²⁰⁴³* and that He took nothing of Mary. For He could not have had even flesh and blood in reality, (whereby He redeemed us,) except by gathering up into Himself that old creation of Adam. Vain therefore are they of Valentinus’ part, who hold this doctrine, that they may cast out the life of the flesh, and cast away the Creation of God.

§ 3. Again, the Ebionites too are vain, not receiving by faith into their soul the union of God and Man,²⁰⁴⁴* but abide in the old leaven of their [natural] generation^2045e: and will not understand that the Holy Ghost came upon Mary, and the power of the Highest overshadowed her;²⁰⁴⁶* wherefore also that which is born^2047f is holy, even the Son of the Most High God, the Father of all, Who wrought His Incarnation, and exhibited a new sort of generation: that as by the former generation we inherited death, so by this generation we might inherit life.²⁰⁴⁸* These therefore reject the infusion of the Heavenly Wine, and will have it to be earthly water alone, not receiving God into that which they mingle, but abiding in him who was overcome, and cast out of Paradise, even in Adam. They do not consider, that, as from the beginning of our formation in Adam, the inspiration of life which was of God, being united to that which He had moulded animated^2049g man, and exhibited him a rational animal; so in the end the Word of the Father, and the Spirit of God, being united to the old substance of Adam’s formation, wrought out a living and perfect Man, comprehending the perfect Father: so that as in the Animal we are all dead, so in the spiritual we are all made alive.²⁰⁵⁰* For at no time did Adam escape from under the Hands of God, to which Hands the Father was speaking when He said,²⁰⁵¹* Let us make man after our image and likeness. And therefore in the end,²⁰⁵²* not of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of the good pleasure of the Father, did His Hands work out a Living Man, to be an Adam, after the Image and Likeness of God.

Chap. II. § 1. Vain also are those who say that God came into what was not His own, like one coveting other men’s goods;²⁰⁵³* in order to present that man who had been made by another, unto that God who neither made nor created him, but rather from the beginning was without any human creation of His own. His coming therefore was not just, who by their account came into what was not His own; neither did He truly redeem us with His own Blood, if He was not truly made Man, making restitution unto His creature, of that which was spoken of in the beginning, how that Man was made after the Image and Likeness of God; not spoiling another of his own by fraud, but righteously and mercifully assuming what belonged to Himself: on the one hand, as regards the Apostasy, righteously redeeming us therefrom by His own Blood, on the other hand, as regards us who are redeemed, mercifully. For we gave Him nothing before, nor does He desire aught of us, as one in need: but we are in need of communion with Him: and therefore He mercifully poured Himself out, that He might gather us into the Bosom of the Father.²⁰⁵⁴*

§ 2. And vain^2055h altogether are they,²⁰⁵⁶* who despise God’s entire plan, and deny the salvation of the flesh, and scorn its new Birth, saying that it cannot receive incorruption. But if the flesh may not be saved, of course neither did the Lord redeem us by His own Blood,²⁰⁵⁷* nor is the Cup of the Eucharist the Communion of His Blood, nor the Bread which we break the Communion of His Body. For Blood is not, except by veins and flesh, and the rest of that human substance, wherein the Word of God was truly created. By His own Blood He redeemed us: as also saith His Apostle,²⁰⁵⁸*In whom we have redemption through His Blood, the Forgiveness of sins.

And because we are members of Him, and are nourished by the Creature, which creature is His gift unto us, in that He causeth His sun to rise,²⁰⁵⁹* and raineth, according to His will:—that chalice which is of the creature,²⁰⁶⁰* He professed to be His own Blood, wherewith He imbueth²⁰⁶¹ⁱ our blood; and the bread which is of the creature, He affirmed to be His own Body, from which He nourisheth our bodies.

§ 3. Since therefore both the cup which is mingled and the bread which is made received the Word of God,²⁰⁶²* and the Eucharist becometh the Body of Christ, and of these the substance of our flesh groweth and subsisteth:—how say they that the Flesh is not capable of the gift of God, which is eternal life?—that flesh which is nourished by the Body and Blood of the Lord, and is a member of Him: as blessed Paul saith in his Epistle to the Ephesians, We are members of His Body, of His Flesh,²⁰⁶³* and of His Bones. He saith not this of a spiritual and invisible sort of man (for the spirit hath not flesh and bones): but of that dispensation which relates^2064k to the true Man, consisting as it does of flesh and nerves and bones: which both receives nourishment from His cup, which is His Blood, and growth from the bread, which is His Body. And even as the wood of the vine arched down into the ground beareth fruit in its due time, and the corn of wheat falling into the earth, and mouldering, is raised up manifold by the Spirit of God, Who upholdeth all things: and afterwards by the Wisdom of God cometh to be used by men, and haying received to itself the Word of God, becometh an Eucharist, i.e., the Body and Blood of Christ: so also our bodies, nourished thereby, and put into the ground, and dissolved therein, shall rise again in their own time, the Word of God giving them resurrection to the glory of God and His Father: who in very deed wins immortality for that which is mortal, and on that which is corruptible freely bestoweth incorruption: because the power of God is made perfect in weakness: lest we, as having our life of ourselves, should at any time be puffed up and exalted against God,²⁰⁶⁵* bearing an ungrateful mind: and that, being taught by experience, how that we have our everlasting continuance of His excellency, not of our own nature, we might neither miss of God’s glory, such as it really is, nor be ignorant of our own nature: but might behold what God can do, and what benefits man is receiving: and might never fail of the true idea of things that are, as they are; I mean to say, both of God and man. May it not be, as we said before, that on this very account God permitted us to be dissolved into earth, that we going through all kinds of discipline, might be in all things exact for the time to come, misunderstanding neither God nor ourselves?

Chap. III. § 1. Certainly Paul hath most clearly shewn, that Man was given over to his own infirmity, lest being lifted up he might at some time miss of the truth: saying in the second Epistle to the Corinthians,²⁰⁶⁶* And lest I should be exalted above measure by the sublimity of the revelations, there was given me a spur of the flesh, an Angel of Satan, to buffet me. And for these things I besought the Lord thrice that it might depart from me: and He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee; for strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in mine infirmities, that the power of Christ may abide in me.

“What then?” (for so some one may speak): “was it then the Lord’s will that His servant should be so buffeted, and endure such infirmity?” “Yes,” saith the Word. For strength is made perfect in weakness, making him better, who by his own infirmity comes to know the power of God.

For how could man have learned, that he himself is weak and mortal by nature, while God is immortal and strong; had he not learned by trial what is in both?

(For by endurance to learn one’s own infirmity,²⁰⁶⁷* is nothing evil; rather it is even actual good, not to be far to seek in one’s own nature. But that which was bringing much harm upon man by making him unthankful, was his being lifted up against God, and taking upon him to help himself to His own glory.)

Thus he need neither deprive himself of Truth nor of Love, I mean, the love of Him that made him. But the true²⁰⁶⁸¹ trial of both sorts endowed him with the knowledge of God and man, and increased his love towards God. And where there is increase of love, there by the power of God is more abundant glory wrought out for them who love Him.

§ 2. Wherefore those who look upon the weakness of the flesh without considering His virtue Who raiseth it from the dead, contradict the Power of God, and consider not what His Word is. For if God quickeneth not that which is mortal, and bringeth not the corruptible to incorruption, He is no longer Mighty. But that in all such things He is Mighty, we ought to understand from our own beginning:²⁰⁶⁹* how that God taking dust of the earth, made Man. Yet surely it was far more difficult and incredible, out of bones, and nerves, and veins, and the rest of the human frame, not existing, to produce into being, and to work out, a living creature animate and reasonable;—than, when it had begun to be, and was in course of time dissolved into earth for the aforesaid causes, to restore it again; after retiring into those principles, out of which man, not yet formed, had in the first instance begun to be. For He who at first made us when we were not, at such time as He willed, much more will He, if He pleases, restore again those who are already brought into existence to the life which was given by Him.

And we shall find that the flesh is both capable of God’s power and impressible by it:²⁰⁷⁰* as being that which in the beginning was subject to the skill of God, and became, one portion of it, an eye to see withal; another, an ear to hear; another, a hand to feel and to work; another, nerves bound in bundles on all sides, and keeping the limbs in their places; another, arteries and veins, for the blood and breath to pass through; another, various parts of the entrails; another, blood, to combine the soul and the Body. Yea, and the variety is unspeakable of man’s whole frame of members, such as came not into being without great skill. But what things partake of God’s wisdom and skill, the same partake also of His Power.

§ 3. The flesh therefore is not without part in the artistical skill and power of God: but His Strength, which is life-giving, is made perfect in weakness, i.e., in the flesh.

Let those who deny that the flesh is capable of the life which is given from God say,²⁰⁷¹* whether they say this, now living and partaking of life, or having no participation at all of life, but professing themselves even now to be dead men? But if indeed they are dead men, how do they both move, and speak, and do all the rest, which are works not of the dead but of the living? If on the other hand they are now alive, and their whole body partaketh of the life, how dare they say that the flesh is not capable of life, and apt to participate therein, allowing as they do that they have life at this moment? It is as if one holding a sponge full of water, or a lighted lamp, should say of the sponge that it cannot partake of water, nor the lamp of fire. Just so these also, saying that they live, and bear life in their own members, go on to contradict themselves, by saying that their members cannot receive life. Whereas if the temporal sort of life, far weaker than that eternal life, hath yet such power as to quicken our mortal members; why may not the life of more energy^2072l than it,—eternal life—why may it not quicken the flesh, practised already as that is and accustomed to carry about life in itself?

Thus, that the flesh is capable of life, is shewn by its living. And it liveth, so long time as God willeth it to live. And that God also hath power to bestow life upon it, is evident: for by His bestowing upon us our life, we live.

Since then both God is able to quicken that which He hath Himself formed, and the flesh is capable of being quickened; what, I ask, hinders it from partaking of incorruption, which is a blessed and unending life, bestowed by God?

Chap. IV. § 1. Moreover, such as devise another Father besides the Creator, and call Him good, do without knowing it make Him out to be weak, and useless, and careless;²⁰⁷³* not to say, grudging and envious; in saying that our bodies are not quickened by Him. For whereas they say that those things, the enduring immortality whereof is manifest to all men, such as the spirit and soul, and other such things, are quickened by the Father: but that some other thing which is quickened no other way than by God’s special gift, is quite forsaken of life:—it exhibits their Father as either powerless and weak, or envious and grudging. For since the Creator both quickens our mortal bodies here, and by the Prophets promises resurrection, as we have shewn: which appears the more powerful and stronger and more truly good? the Creator, Who quickens the whole man, or their Father falsely so called; who pretends indeed to quicken what is by nature immortal, what of its own nature has life in it, but what things need help from Him in order to live, those He doth not kindly endue with life, but carelessly leaves them to die. I ask then, Whether the Father (as they call him) declines giving life to these also, it being in his power to do so, or not having it in his power? If, not having it in his power, it follows that he is not mightier nor more perfect than the Creator; for the Creator bestows, as we may see, what this one cannot bestow. If on the other hand, being able to give, he giveth not, then he is proved not a good but a grudging and malicious Father.

§ 2. But if again they allege any cause, on account of which their (so-called) Father doth not give life to bodies, that cause must needs appear greater than the Father, seeing it restrains His loving-kindness; and His benignity will be weakened, through the said cause alleged by them.

But, that bodies may receive life, all may see. For they live so long as God willeth them to live; and after that men cannot say that they have no power to receive life. If therefore things are not quickened, through necessity, or some other cause, though they have power to partake of life, this Father of theirs will be the slave of necessity and of that cause; and He will no longer be free and independent in His decisions.

Chap. V. § 1. As to the fact, of the long continuance of bodies, so long as it hath pleased God that they should be in health: let men read the Scriptures, and they will find that our predecessors have got beyond 700, and 800, and 900 years;²⁰⁷⁴* and their bodies attained length of days, and partook of life, so long as God willed them to live. And why should we speak of them?²⁰⁷⁵* since Enoch, pleasing God, was even translated in the body, foreshewing the translation of the just:²⁰⁷⁶* and Elias was taken up, as he was, in the substance wherein he was formed, prophesying the Assumption of them that are spiritual; and the body was no impediment to them in regard of their translation and assumption. For by what hands they were originally moulded, by the same they received their translation and assumption. For in Adam the Hands of God were accustomed to adjust, and keep together, and to carry and bear that which Themselves had formed, to set it where Themselves will. Where then was the first man set? of course in Paradise;²⁰⁷⁷* as it is written, God planted a Paradise in Eden towards the east, and set there the Man whom He formed. And from thence he was cast out into this world, having been disobedient. Wherefore also the Elders, the pupils of the Apostles, say, that those who are translated are translated thither:—(inasmuch as for righteous men, and such as have the Spirit within them, is Paradise prepared; wherein also Paul the Apostle having been introduced heard words unspeakable,²⁰⁷⁸* to us at least in this present:)—and there those who are translated remain unto the consummation, making a beginning of our Incorruption.

§ 2. But if any one surmise, first, that it is impossible for the men to abide so long spaces of time: next, that Elias was not taken up in the flesh, but that his flesh was wasted away in the fiery chariot;—let him consider, that Jonas being cast into the deep, and swallowed up in the belly of the whale,²⁰⁷⁹* was vomited out safe upon the Earth, at the bidding of God. And Ananias, Azarias, and Misael, being cast into the furnace of the fire which had been heated sevenfold,²⁰⁸⁰* were neither hurt at all, nor was the smell of fire found in them.²⁰⁸¹* The Hand therefore of God which was with them, and which wrought upon them things strange and to man’s nature impossible:—what wonder, if in those also who were translated it effected an extraordinary thing, ministering unto the will of God and the Father? But This is The Son of God; as the Scripture relates King Nabuchodonosor to have said,²⁰⁸²* Did we not cast three men into the furnace?²⁰⁸³* and lo, I see four men walking in the midst of the fire, and the fourth is like the Son of God.

Wherefore, neither the nature of any of the things that are made, nor yet any infirmity of the flesh, availeth more than the counsel of God. For God is not subject to the creatures, but the creatures to God, and all things wait upon His Will.²⁰⁸⁴* For which cause also the Lord saith, The things that are impossible with men are possible with God.

In the same manner therefore as the men of our days, not knowing God’s way of ordering things, account it incredible and impossible, for any man to be capable of living so many years, and yet those did so live, who were before us, and those who were translated live now, for an example of the future length of days:—and that men should have gone safe out of the whale’s belly, and from the furnace of fire,—and yet they did go out, led forth as it were by the Hand of God, to declare His Power:—so now also, albeit some men, ignorant of the power and promise of God, contradict their own salvation, deeming it impossible that God should have power to raise up bodies and give them perseverance for ever; yet the unbelief of such persons will not make void the faith of God.

Chap. VI. § 1. But God will be glorified in His own creature, moulding it in conformity and correspondence with His own Son.²⁰⁸⁵* For by the Hands of the Father, i.e., by the Son and the Spirit, Man is made after the Image of God: man, not a part of man. Now the Soul and Spirit may be part of man, but man they cannot be: the Perfect Man being a certain mingling and uniting of the soul, receiving the Spirit of the Father: which mixture is blended also with that flesh, which is moulded according to the Image of God. For which cause the Apostle also saith, We speak wisdom among the Perfect:²⁰⁸⁶*—calling those perfect who have received the Spirit of God, and who speak in all languages by the Spirit of God, as he himself used to speak: as we hear brethren in the Church, and those not a few, who have prophetic gifts, and speak by the Spirit in all kinds of tongues, and bring to light the secrets of men as expediency may require, and expound the mysteries of God; such as the Apostle calls also spiritual men: being as they are spiritual in regard of their partaking of the Spirit, but not in regard of any privation or withholding of the flesh, nor as being barely that one thing alone.²⁰⁸⁷* For if one take away the substance of the flesh, i.e., of God’s formation, and consider barely the Spirit itself alone: that which results is no longer the spiritual man, but a spirit of man, or the Spirit of God. But when this Spirit, mingled with the Soul, is united to that which God formed; then by the effusion of the Spirit the spiritual and perfect Man is made: and this is he who was made after the image and likeness of God. If on the other hand the spirit is wanting to the soul, such an one is truly an Animal Man, and as being left carnal, will be imperfect; having indeed the Image in his form, but not assuming the Likeness by the Spirit. But as he is imperfect, so again if any one take away the image, and scorn the form, it can no longer be the man whom he is thinking of, but either some part of man, as we said before, or something else beside man. For neither is the formation of the flesh itself by itself a perfect man, but it is the body of man, and a part of man:—even as the soul for its part is not the man, itself by itself, but it is the soul of man, and a part of man:—nor is the spirit the man, for it is called spirit, and not man:—but the blending and union of all these makes out the perfect Man.

And therefore the Apostle explaining himself, hath delineated the perfect and spiritual Man of salvation, in his first Epistle to the Thessalonians, thus speaking,²⁰⁸⁸* But may the God of Peace sanctify you to be perfect, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.²⁰⁸⁹* Now what cause in the world had he to ask for these three, i.e., soul and body and spirit, entire and perfect perseverance to the coming of the Lord, except he knew that the restoration and union of the three was their only salvation, and that the same for them all? For which cause also he calleth those perfect, who present unto the Lord all three without blame. Perfect then are they, who both have had the Spirit of God remaining in them, and have kept their souls and bodies without reproach; keeping God’s faith, i.e., their faith towards God and guarding also that righteousness which hath respect unto their neighbour.

§ 2. Whence also he saith that the Form is the Temple of God: thus speaking,²⁰⁹⁰* Know ye not that ye are the Temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man profane the Temple of God, him shall God destroy.²⁰⁹¹* For the Temple of God is holy: which temple ye are: expressly calling the Body the Temple, in which the Spirit dwelleth.²⁰⁹²* As also the Lord saith of Himself, Destroy this Temple,²⁰⁹³* and in three days I will raise it up. And this, it saith, He spake of His own Body. And he regards our bodies as not only a temple, but also as the Temple of Christ,²⁰⁹⁴* speaking thus to the Corinthians, Know ye not that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then, taking the members of Christ, make them members of an harlot? speaking thus, not of some other kind of spiritual man, (for it is not he who embraceth the harlot) but our body, i.e., the flesh which perseveres in holiness and purity, he hath affirmed to be the members of Christ; and that when one embraceth an harlot, it becomes the members of an harlot.²⁰⁹⁵* And therefore he said, If any man profane the Temple of God, him shall God destroy.

Well then:²⁰⁹⁶* to say that the Temples of God, in which the Spirit of the Father dwells, and that the Members of Christ, do not partake of salvation, but are brought to destruction^2097m, how is it not of the greatest blasphemy? But as to the fact, that our bodies are raised up, not by their own substance, but by the Power of God, he saith to the Corinthians,²⁰⁹⁸* Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord: and the Lord for the body. And God hath both raised up the Lord, and will raise up us by His own power.

Chap. VII. § 1. As therefore Christ arose in the Substance of His Flesh, and shewed to His Disciples the marks of the nails,²⁰⁹⁹* and the opening in His Side (now these are the tokens of His Flesh, which rose again from the dead); so, “Us too,” it is said, “He will raise by His own Power.” And again to the Romans he saith,²¹⁰⁰* But if the Spirit of Him who raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you; He that raised up Christ from the dead shall quicken also your mortal bodies. What then are their mortal bodies? Is it their souls? Nay, the souls are incorporeal, as compared with mortal bodies.²¹⁰¹* For God breathed into man’s face the breath of life, and man became a living soul; but the breath of life is incorporeal. Moreover, they cannot at all term that mortal, which is the very breath of life. And therefore David saith,²¹⁰²* And my soul shall live to Him: as though the substance thereof were immortal. Neither again can they call the spirit, a mortal body. What then remains, to call a mortal body, except the moulded form, i.e., the flesh, (of which also we are discoursing,) how that God will quicken it? For this it is which dies, and is dissolved, and not the soul, nor the spirit. For to die, is to lose the faculty of life, and to become for the future breathless, and inanimate, and forgotten, and to moulder away into those things from which one had also the origin of one’s substance. But this befals neither the soul; for it is the breath of life: nor the spirit, for a spirit is uncompounded and simple, such as cannot be dissolved, and is itself the life of those who receive it. It remains therefore that Death be declared to relate to the flesh: which after the soul hath gone out, becomes breathless and inanimate, and is gradually resolved into the earth out of which it was taken. This therefore is the mortal part. And this also it is whereof he saith, He shall quicken also our mortal bodies.²¹⁰³* And therefore he saith of it in the first Epistle to the Corinthians,²¹⁰⁴* So also is the resurrection of the Dead. It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption. For so,²¹⁰⁵* saith he, what thou also sowest is not quickened except it first die.

§ 2. But what is it, which is sown like a grain of wheat, and rots in the earth,²¹⁰⁶* except bodies which are laid in the earth, wherein also seeds are cast? And therefore he said, It is sown in dishonour, it will rise in glory.²¹⁰⁷* For what more dishonoured than dead flesh? or what again more glorious than it, rising and receiving immortality? It is sown in weakness, it riseth in power:—in weakness indeed of its own,²¹⁰⁸* because being earth it departeth into earth; but in the power of God, Who raiseth it up from the dead.²¹⁰⁹* It is sown a natural body, it will arise a spiritual body. He gives us to understand without all question, that neither of soul nor spirit is he discoursing, but of bodies overtaken by death. For these are animated bodies, i.e., bodies partaking of the soul; which when they have lost, they are done to death: afterwards rising by the Spirit, they are made spiritual bodies, so as to have by the Spirit a life which abides for ever.²¹¹⁰* For now, saith he, we know in part, and we prophesy in part:²¹¹¹* but then face to face. This is what Peter also speaks of:²¹¹²* Whom, not having seen, ye love: in Whom now also not seeing ye believe; and believing shall rejoice with joy unspeakable. For our face shall behold the Face of the Living God, and shall rejoice with joy unspeakable: of course, upon beholding its own proper delight.

Chap. VIII. § 1. But now we receive a part from His Spirit, towards the perfecting and preparing of incorruption, practising by little how to receive and bear God:²¹¹³* which thing also the Apostle hath called on earnest, (which is a portion of that honour which is promised to us by God), saying in his Epistle to the Ephesians,²¹¹⁴* In whom ye also,—having heard the word of truth, the Gospel of your salvation—in whom believing ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of Promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance. This Earnest, therefore, so abiding in us, maketh us already spiritual, and the mortal is swallowed up of immortality. For you,²¹¹⁵* saith he, are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit: if indeed the Spirit of God dwelleth in you: And this takes place, not by our losing the flesh, but by our partaking of the Spirit. For not without flesh were they to whom he was writing, but they were such as had received the Spirit of God,²¹¹⁶* in whom we cry, Abba, Father. If then we, having the pledge, cry out now, Abba, Father;²¹¹⁷* what will it be, when rising again we shall see Him face to face? when all the members shall most abundantly utter the hymn of exultation, glorifying Him who will have raised them from the dead, and given them eternal life? I say, if that which is but an earnest, wrapping the man up in itself, even now causes us to say, Abba, Father; what will be the effect of the entire grace of the Spirit, which God shall give unto men? It will render us like unto Him, and perfect us, by the will of the Father: for it will make man to be after the image and likeness of God.

§ 2. Those then who have the earnest of the Spirit, and serve not the lusts of the flesh, but submit themselves to the Spirit, and walk reasonably in all things; the Apostle rightly calleth Spiritual, because the Spirit of God dwelleth in them. But incorporeal spirits will not be spiritual men; rather our substance, i.e., the combination of soul and flesh, receiving the Spirit of God, maketh up the full spiritual man. Those on the other hand who cast away the counsel of the Spirit, and serve the lusts of the Flesh, and live without reason, and without restraint, and are carried headlong after their own desires,²¹¹⁸* having no desire of God’s Spirit, but living after the fashion of swine and of dogs, those the Apostle justly calls carnal, because they have no other but carnal ideas. And the Prophets too for this same reason compare them to irrational animals, because of their irrational demeanour, saying,²¹¹⁹* They are become horses raging after females, each one of them neighing after the wife of his neighbour. And again,²¹²⁰* Man being in honour, is likened unto the beasts: in this respect emulating the life without reason, that in any matter of his own he likeneth himself to beasts. Yea, we too in an ordinary way call that sort of men beasts and irrational Cattle.

§ 3. Now all these things the Law in figure foretold, from animals drawing the outline of man: as thus;²¹²¹* Whatever things have a double hoof and chew the cud, it pronounceth clean:²¹²²* but whichever lack either both or one of these, it separateth as unclean. Who then are clean? Those who by faith take their way steadily towards the Father and the Son;²¹²³* for this is the steadiness of those who are of the double hoof:—and who muse on the sayings of God day and night, that they may be adorned with good works: for this is the excellency of them that chew the cud.²¹²⁴* But those are unclean, who have neither a double hoof, nor chew the cud; i.e., who neither have faith in God, nor muse on His words; and this is the abomination of the Heathen. Those again who chew the cud,²¹²⁵* but have not the hoof double, and are also unclean:—this is a description by imagery of the Jews, who although they have the words of God in their mouth, fix not in the Father and the Son any strength of their root: and therefore also their race is slippery. For so the animals with undivided hoof easily slide, but those are firmer which have a double hoof, the cleft hoofs taking each others’ place along the road: and with one part of the hoof they support the other. And equally unclean are those,²¹²⁶* who have indeed a double hoof, but do not chew the cud: and this, you see, is a representation of all Heretics, and of those who do not muse on the words of God, neither are adorned with works of righteousness; to whom also the Lord saith,²¹²⁷* Wherefore say ye to Me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say to you? For they who are such, say indeed that they believe in the Father and the Son, but never muse on the words of God as they ought, neither are adorned with works of righteousness: rather, as I said before, they have laid hold on the life of swine and dogs, giving themselves over to uncleanness, and gluttony, and to other disorder. Justly therefore to all such, who through their unbelief and luxury fail to attain the Spirit of God, and by divers marks which they bear cast out the Word which giveth them life, and walk irrationally in their own lusts, the Apostle first hath given the name of carnal and animal²¹²⁸ⁿ; while the Prophets have termed them beasts of burden and wild beasts, custom again hath explained this by the words “cattle” and “senseless;” lastly, the Law hath pronounced them unclean.

Chap. IX. § 1. And this is what the Apostle also saith among other things, That flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.²¹²⁹* It is the same which all the Heretics allege for their own madness: whereby they strive both to impede us, and to prove that God’s Creation is not saved: not perceiving that there are three things, of which, as we have shewn, the perfect Man consists:²¹³⁰* i.e., of Flesh, Soul, and Spirit: and that, while the one of these, which is the spirit, saves and gives form: another, which is the Flesh, is united and formed:—that which is between these two is the Soul, which now followeth the Spirit, and is by it exalted; now consenting unto the Flesh, sinks down into earthly lusts.

As many therefore as have not That which saves and forms, and Unity,—these accordingly will be, and will be called, Flesh and Blood: as not having within them the Spirit of God. And therefore such are by our Lord also called “dead men:” for saith He,²¹³¹* Let the dead bury their dead: because they have not the Spirit which quickeneth man.

§ 2. But as many as fear God, and believe in the Advent of His Son, and by faith settle in their hearts the Spirit of God:—such as these are justly called Men, and pure, and spiritual, and living unto God: because they have the Spirit of the Father, Which purifieth man, and raiseth him to the life of God.²¹³²* For as the “weak flesh,” so also the “willing spirit” had witness borne to it by the Lord. Such an one is powerful to effect whatever it hath in^2133o hand.²¹³⁴* If then this readiness of the Spirit be used by any one to temper the weakness of the flesh, as a kind of spur; the strong must of absolute necessity overcome the weak, until the weakness of the flesh be swallowed up by the strength of the Spirit; and such an one must be no more carnal but spiritual, because of his participation of the Spirit. Just so the Martyrs bear their witness, and despise death, not according to the infirmity of the flesh, but according to the readiness of the spirit. For the weakness of the flesh being swallowed up sheweth the Power of the Spirit;²¹³⁵* and the Spirit on the other hand swallowing up weakness, hath the flesh in itself by inheritance: and out of the two is made up the living man: living, by his participation of the Spirit, and a man, by the substance of his flesh.

§ 3. Therefore the flesh without God’s Spirit is dead; not having life, it cannot possess the Kingdom of God: the irrational blood is as water poured out on the earth. And therefore he saith,²¹³⁶* As is the earthy, such are they that are earthy. But where the Spirit of the Father is, there is a living man, rational blood kept by God to be avenged, the Flesh possessed by the Spirit, so as to have forgotten itself, and to assume the quality of the Spirit, being made conformable to the Word of God. And therefore it saith,²¹³⁷* As we have borne the image of him who is of the Earth, let us bear also the Image of Him Who is from Heaven.

What then is the earthly thing? The created form. What again the Heavenly? The Spirit. As then, saith he, we have had our conversation sometime without the heavenly Spirit, in the oldness of the flesh, not obeying God; so now receiving the Spirit, let us walk in newness of life, obeying God.

And so, because without the Spirit of God we cannot be saved, the Apostle exhorting us to keep well the Spirit of God by faith and a pure conversation, that we may not become without portion in God’s Spirit, and fail of the Kingdom of Heaven—cried out that the Flesh in itself cannot in the blood inherit the Kingdom of God.

§ 4. For, if the truth must be told, the Flesh doth not inherit but is inherited: as also the Lord saith,²¹³⁸* Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the Earth: as though in the Kingdom that earth were inherited, whereof also is the substance of our flesh: and therefore He willeth the temple to be pure, that the Spirit of God may be delighted therewith, as the Bridegroom with the Bride.²¹³⁹* As then the Bride cannot marry, but may be married, when the Bridegroom shall come and take her to himself; so also the Flesh of itself cannot inherit the Kingdom of God, but may by inheritance be admitted into the Kingdom of God. For the living inheriteth the goods of the dead: and it is one thing to inherit, another to be inherited. For while the one takes the lead, and rules, and disposes of the inherited goods as he himself willeth; the others are in subjection, and obedience, and are ruled by the inheritor. What is it then that liveth? The Spirit of God. And what are the goods of the dead? The Members of Man, which decay in this earth. But these become the inheritance of the Spirit, when they are translated into the Kingdom of Heaven.

Yea,²¹⁴⁰* and for this cause Christ died, that the Testament of the Gospel being opened, and read to the whole world, might first of all make His servants free, and then constitute them heirs of all that He hath, the Spirit possessing it by inheritance, as we have explained. For he that liveth, possesseth by inheritance; but the Flesh is acquired by inheritance. Lest we, losing the Spirit which possesseth us, should lose our life, the Apostle exhorting us to participation of the Spirit, said with reason, what I have before quoted, That flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. As if He should say, Be not deceived; for except the Word of God inhabit you, and the Spirit of the Father be in you;—and if you have had your conversation foolishly, and at random, as though you were this only, i.e., Flesh and Blood—you will not be capable of possessing the Kingdom of God.

Chap. X. § 1. This, in order that we may not, to please the flesh, reject the ingrafting of the Spirit. But thou, saith he, being a wild olive, wast graffed into the good olive tree,²¹⁴¹* and hast been made partaker of the fatness of the Olive. As therefore the ingraffed wild olive, if it continue to be what it was before, a wild olive, is cut off and cast into the fire: if on the other hand it have kept its ingrafting, and is changed into a good olive, it becometh a fruitful olive tree, planted as it were in the King’s garden: so also men, if by faith they have gone on towards the better, and have received the Spirit of God, and have put forth the fruitful buds formed by Him, will be spiritual, as planted in the garden of God. If on the other hand they have rejected the Spirit, and have continued in what they were before, chusing rather to be of the Flesh than of the Spirit: most justly is it said of such, that “Flesh and blood inherit not the Kingdom of God:” as if one should say, that the wild olive is not taken into the Paradise of God.

Wonderfully then doth the Apostle set forth our nature,²¹⁴²* and the whole dispensation of God, in his discourse concerning flesh and blood, and the wild olive. For as an olive tree neglected, left for a while in the desert, and producing wild fruits, in itself becomes a wild olive; or on the other hand a wild olive receiving culture, and graffed in, returns quickly to the old fruitfulness of its nature:—so also men in a neglected condition, and bearing the desires of the flesh as a sort of wild fruits, become for their part^2143p unfruitful in righteousness. For while men sleep,²¹⁴⁴* the Enemy puts in seed which produces tares. And therefore the Lord bade His Disciples “watch.”²¹⁴⁵* And those on the contrary who are unfruitful in righteousness, and all wrapped as it were in briars, if they meet with attention, and receive God’s Word as an ingrafting, arrive at the old Nature of man, I mean that which was made in God’s image and likeness.

§ 2. But as the ingraffed wild olive loses not indeed the substance of Wood, but changes the quality of its fruit, and receives another name—is declared to be no longer a wild olive, but a fruitful Olive tree;—so also man, by faith ingraffed,²¹⁴⁶* and receiving the Spirit of God, loseth not indeed the substance of flesh, but changeth the quality of his fruit, i.e., of his works, and receiveth another name, significative of the change for the better. He is declared to be no longer “flesh and blood,” but “a spiritual man.” And as on the other hand the wild olive, if it receive no ingraffing, continueth useless to its owner by its quality of wildness, and as unfruitful wood is cut down and cast into the fire; so also Man, if he receive not by faith the ingraffing of the Spirit, continues to be what he was before: being flesh and blood, he cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. Well therefore saith the Apostle, “Flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God:” and, “They that are in the flesh cannot please God:” not casting away the substance of the flesh, but drawing to it the infusion of the Spirit. And therefore he saith, This mortal must put on immortality,²¹⁴⁷* and this corruptible must put on incorruption. And again he saith,²¹⁴⁸* But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God abideth in you. And yet more evidently doth he set forth that truth, saying,²¹⁴⁹* The Body indeed is dead, because of sin, but the Spirit is life, because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him Who raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall quicken also your mortal bodies through His Spirit that dwelleth in you. And again in the Epistle to the Romans he saith, For if ye live after the flesh,²¹⁵⁰* ye will begin to die; not driving from them altogether that mode of life which is in the flesh, since he too was in the flesh, when he so wrote unto them,—but cutting away the lusts of the flesh, which are the death of man. And therefore he hath inferred,²¹⁵¹* But if by the Spirit ye mortify the works of the flesh ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God^2152q.

Chap. XI. § 1. And he hath indicated the works too themselves, which he calleth carnal, what they are: foreseeing the cavils of the unbelieving, and himself expounding himself,²¹⁵³* that no question might be left to such as dispute of him unfaithfully: for thus he speaks in the Epistle to the Galatians,²¹⁵⁴* Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are, Adulteries, fornications, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcrafts, hatreds, contentions, jealousies, angers, emulations, animosities, irritations, dissensions, heresies, envyings, drunkennesses, revellings, and such like: of which I foretell you, as I have also foretold, that they who do such things shall not possess the Kingdom of God: more clearly setting forth to his hearers the meaning of, “Flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God.” For they who do so, truly walking after the flesh, cannot live unto God.

And on the other hand he hath brought in the spiritual doings which give life to the man,²¹⁵⁵* i.e.,²¹⁵⁶* the ingraffing of the Spirit, thus speaking, But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, fidelity, meekness, continence, chastity: against these there is no law. As therefore he who hath gone on to the better, and hath wrought the fruit of the Spirit, is by all means saved through the Communion of the Spirit:²¹⁵⁷* so also he who shall have remained in the aforesaid works of the flesh, being truly esteemed Carnal, because he receiveth not the Spirit of God, shall not be able to possess the Kingdom of Heaven. Even as the Apostle himself again testifieth,²¹⁵⁸* saying to the Corinthians, Know ye not that the unjust shall not inherit the Kingdom of God? Be not deceived, saith he: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor those who defile themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the Kingdom of God. And these things, saith he, ye indeed were; but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God. He most clearly sheweth by what things man perisheth, if he go on living after the flesh; and by what on the other hand he is saved. And the things which save,²¹⁵⁹* he saith, are the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Spirit of our God.

§ 2. As therefore in this place he hath enumerated those deeds of the flesh which are without the Spirit, which bring death: in agreement with these previous sayings of his, he hath finally exclaimed at the end of the Epistle, As we have borne the image of him who is of the clay,²¹⁶⁰* let us also bear the Image of Him Who is from Heaven. For this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot possess the Kingdom of God. Now this which he saith, “As we have borne the image of him who is of the clay,” is like that other saying, “And these things ye indeed were, but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God.” When did we then bear the image of him who is of the clay? Of course, when the aforesaid works of the flesh were wrought in us. And when on the other hand the image of the heavenly? Of course, when he saith, Ye were washed, believing in the Name of the Lord, and receiving His Spirit. But we were washed, not from the substance of our body, nor from the image of the first mould, but from our old conversation in vanity. In the same members, then, wherein we were perishing, doing what is of corruption, in the very same are we quickened, doing what is of the Spirit.

Chap. XII. § 1. For as the flesh is susceptible of corruption, so is it also of incorruption, and as of death, so also of life.²¹⁶¹* But these things give way to each other, nor does either of them continue in one stay, but the one is thrust out by the other, and in the presence of the one the other is annihilated. If then death, prevailing against the man, hath expelled his life, and exhibited him a corpse, much more doth life, getting hold of him, drive away Death, that it may present the man living before God. For if Death have made the man a corpse, why shall not Life come and quicken the man? as saith the Prophet Esaias,²¹⁶²* Death in his might swallowed up: and again God hath taken away every tear from every face. But the old life is done away with, because it had been given, not by the Spirit, but by the inbreathing.

§ 2. For the breath of life, the result of which is the natural man, is one thing, and the quickening Spirit, which makes him also spiritual, is another thing. And therefore Esaias saith,²¹⁶³* Thus saith the Lord Who made the Heaven and strengthened it, Who fixed the earth and all things therein; and giveth breath to the people thereon, and spirit to them that tread on it: wherein he affirms that breath indeed was given in common to all the people upon the earth, but the Spirit especially to those who tread down their earthly desires. Wherefore again also the same Esaias distinguishing the aforesaid things saith,²¹⁶⁴* For Spirit shall go forth from Me, and all breath I have made: wherein he set down the word “spirit” with especial reference to God, Who poureth it out on mankind in the last times by the adoption of sons:²¹⁶⁵* but the word Breath in a general sense with reference to the creature, which also he termed a thing made. But that which is made is different from the maker. The breath therefore is for a time, but the Spirit is eternal. And the breath indeed having for a short space been at its height, and having remained for a time, afterwards departeth, leaving that breathless, to which before it had appertained: but the other, encompassing the man from within and from without, as being apt always to abide, never forsaketh him.²¹⁶⁶* But not first cometh that which is spiritual, saith the Apostle, (uttering this as to us men,) but first that which is animal, then that which is spiritual: according to reason. For it was meet that men should first be formed, and being formed should receive a soul, and so afterwards receive the Communion of the Spirit.²¹⁶⁷* Wherefore also the first Adam was made by the Lord a living soul, the second Adam a quickening spirit. As therefore he who was made a living soul, lost his life, casting it away to the worse: so on the other hand that same person, on returning to the better part, and acquiring the quickening Spirit, will attain life.

§ 3. For it is not one thing that dies, and another that is quickened: as neither is it one thing that is lost, and another that is found,²¹⁶⁸* but that very sheep which was lost, did the Lord come seeking again. What then was it that was dying?²¹⁶⁹* Of course, the substance of the flesh, which had thrown away the breath of life, and had become breathless and dead. This, then, our Lord came to quicken:²¹⁷⁰* that as in Adam we all die, as being merely animal, so in Christ we may live, as being spiritual,—putting off, not the form in which God moulded us, but the lusts of the flesh,—and receiving the Holy Ghost: as saith the Apostle in the Epistle to the Colossians;²¹⁷¹* Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth. And what these are, he hath himself explained: Fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry. The putting off these things, the Apostle proclaims; and they who do such things, as being merely flesh and blood, cannot, he saith, possess the Kingdom of Heaven. For their soul verging towards the worse, and sinking down to earthly desires, hath partaken of the same title which is applied to such things: which things bidding us to put off, he saith again in the same Epistle,²¹⁷²* Ye, putting off the old man with his deeds. Now in saying this he was not extirpating our original formation: else we ought to slay ourselves, and so be parted from all conversation in this world.

§ 4. Yea, and the Apostle himself, when he wrote to us,²¹⁷³* was the same as when he was formed in the womb, and had gone out therefrom; in the Epistle to the Philippians he made confession, and saith,²¹⁷⁴* And to live in the flesh is the fruit of my work: and the fruit of the work of the Spirit, is the salvation of the flesh. For what other apparent fruit is there of the Spirit, which appeareth not, than to render the flesh mature, and capable of incorruption?

If then “to live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labour,” of course he was not contemning the substance of the flesh, in that former saying, “Ye, stripping off the old man with his deeds;” but he set forth the putting off of our old conversation, that which groweth old and decayeth: and for this cause he added,²¹⁷⁵* And putting on the New Man, him who is renewed unto knowledge after the image of Him that created him. Thus in saying, Who is renewed unto knowledge, he was shewing how that the very same person who was before a man of ignorance, i.e., not knowing God, is renewed by the knowledge of Him. For the knowledge of God reneweth man. And in saying, “After the image of his Creator,” he declared our gathering into that Man, who in the beginning was made after the image of God.

§ 5. And that the Apostle was the very same person as he had been born from the womb,—that is, the old substance of the Flesh,—he said himself in the Epistle to the Galatians;²¹⁷⁶* But when it pleased God, Who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by His grace, to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles. As we said before, he who had been born of the womb, and he who was preaching the Son of God were not two persons; but the very same who was before ignorant, and persecuted the Church, when a revelation was made to him from Heaven, and the Lord spake with him (as we shewed in the third Book) was now preaching Jesus Christ the Son of God, Who was crucified under Pontius Pilate:—his past ignorance being expelled by his after knowledge: even as the blind men whom our Lord cured, lost indeed their blindness, but won the substance of their eyes in perfection; and with the same eyes which they saw not with before, received sight,—the darkness only being expelled from their vision, but the substance of the eyes preserved:—that seeing again through those eyes, through which they had ceased to see, they might give thanks to Him, Who wholly renewed their sight again. And he who had his withered hand healed, and generally all whom He cured, changed not those limbs which had been originally produced from the womb: but received back the very same, perfectly whole.

§ 6. For the Maker of all, the Word of God, Who also moulded Man at first,²¹⁷⁷*—when He found His own work shattered by wickedness, healed it in every way: both in each particular member, even as it exists in His original mould; and also in that once for all He renewed the whole man, sound and entire, preparing him perfect for Himself against the Resurrection. Yea: for what reason had He to heal the fleshly members, and restore them to their original type, if those which had been healed by Him were not to be saved? For if the benefit from Him was limited by time, it was no great thing which He vouchsafed to those who were healed by Him. Or how say they, that the flesh is incapable of life, which is of Him, which hath received healing from Him? For life is wrought by healing, incorruption by life. He therefore who giveth healing, giveth also life: and He who life, He doth also clothe with incorruption that which He hath framed.

Chap. XIII. § 1. For, let those who maintain the contrary, i.e., who speak against their own salvation—let them say of the High-Priest’s daughter who died,²¹⁷⁸* and of the widow’s son who after death was being carried out near the gate, and of Lazarus who lay now the fourth day in the grave,—in what bodies did they rise again? Of course in the very same wherein also they had died. For if the bodies were not the very same, plainly neither did the same persons who had been dead rise again. And yet we read, The Lord took the hand of the dead man, and said unto him,²¹⁷⁹* Young man, I say unto thee, Arise: and he that was dead sat up, and He commanded to be given him to eat, and gave him to his mother. And Lazarus He called with a loud voice, saying,²¹⁸⁰* Lazarus, come forth: and the dead, we read, came forth,²¹⁸¹* bound hand and foot with grave clothes. This is the symbol of the man who had been bound in his sins. And therefore said the Lord,²¹⁸²* Loose him, and let him go.

As therefore those who were healed, were healed in the limbs which had before suffered; and the Dead rose in the same bodies, their own limbs and bodies receiving the cure, and such life as the Lord then gave:—the Lord who by things of time was forming beforehand things of eternity, and shewing that He is the Very One Who can bestow on His own work both life and healing,²¹⁸³* that His saying also about the Resurrection might be credited:—so likewise in the end,²¹⁸⁴*at the last trump, the Lord calling, the dead will rise again: as He saith Himself,²¹⁸⁵* The hour shall come, wherein all the dead which are in the graves, shall hear the voice of the Son of Man, and shall come forth; they that have done good unto the Resurrection of Life, and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgment.

§ 2. Foolish then in very deed and miserable are they, who will not discern things so clear and manifest,²¹⁸⁶* but fly from the light of Truth: who like Œdipus in the Tragedy make themselves blind. And as untrained wrestlers, provoking others, holding as with claws some one part of the body, fall by means of that which they hold, and falling, think they are victorious, because they doggedly keep hold of the limb which at first they seized; and so besides their fall became ridiculous:—so also the Heretics, taking from Paul two words,²¹⁸⁷* “Flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God,” did neither discern the Apostle, nor make any previous search into the meaning of his words, but only making themselves perfect in the bare words, they die upon them; overturning, as far as in them lies, the whole Œconomy of God.

§ 3. For to this effect they will affirm that those words mean the flesh,²¹⁸⁸* and not the works of the flesh, as we have shewn—convicting the Apostle of contradicting himself. For he saith immediately in the same epistle, evidently concerning the flesh,²¹⁸⁹* the following words: For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal put on immortality. But when this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. Where, O Death, is thy sting? where, O Death, is thy victory? Now all this will be justly said then, when this mortal and corruptible flesh, to which also death relates, which is even pressed down by a certain tyranny of death, shall have put on incorruption and immortality. For then shall death be truly overcome, when the flesh which is holden by it shall have gone out from under its sway.

And again to the Philippians he saith,²¹⁹⁰* But our conversation is in Heaven; whence also we look for a Saviour, the Lord Jesus, who shall transfigure the body of our lowliness to be conformed to the Body of His glory, so that it may be able according to the Power of His working. What then is the body of humility, which the Lord will transfigure to be conformed to the body of His glory? Plainly, the body which is flesh: the same which is humbled by falling to earth. And the transformation of it is, that being mortal and corruptible, it becomes immortal and incorruptible: not of its own substance, but through the Lord’s working, His power of winning immortality for the mortal, and for the corrupt incorruption. And therefore he saith,²¹⁹¹* That death may be swallowed up of life. But He that hath wrought us for this very thing is God, Who also giveth us the earnest of the Spirit:—most evidently using these expressions of the Flesh. For neither is the soul a thing mortal, nor the spirit. But mortality is swallowed up of life, in that the flesh is no longer dead, but abideth living and incorruptible, singing hymns to God, who hath wrought us for this very purpose. For us then to be perfected within, well saith he to the Corinthians, Glorify God in your Body.²¹⁹²* Now God is the worker of incorruption.

§ 4. But as to his speaking thus of the body of the flesh, not of some other body, plainly and unquestionably and without any ambiguity, he saith to the Corinthians,²¹⁹³* Always bearing about in our body the dying of Jesus, that the life of Jesus Christ may be manifested in our body. For always we who live^2194r are delivered unto death by Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh. And as to the Spirit’s embracing the flesh, in the same Epistle he saith,²¹⁹⁵* That ye are the Epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the Living God, not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart. If then even now hearts of flesh become capable of the Spirit; what wonder if in the resurrection they receive that life which is given by the Spirit? Of which Resurrection the Apostle in the Epistle to the Philippians saith,²¹⁹⁶* Conformable to His death, if by any means I may attain to the Resurrection from the dead. In what other mortal flesh then can we understand the life to be manifested, except in this substance, which is also delivered unto death for its confession concerning God?²¹⁹⁷* As he saith himself, If according to man I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what doth it profit me,²¹⁹⁸* if the dead rise not? For if the dead rise not, neither did Christ rise: and if Christ did not rise, our preaching is vain, and your faith also is vain. Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we bare witness that He raised up Christ, whom He raised not up. For if the dead rise not, neither did Christ rise. And if Christ did not rise, your faith is vain: because ye are yet in your sins. Then they also who have slept in Christ, have perished. If in this life only we are hoping in Christ, we are more miserable than all men. But now hath Christ risen from the dead, the first-fruits of them that sleep; for since by man is death, by man also is the resurrection of the dead.

§ 5. Wherefore in all this, as we have said before, they will either affirm the Apostle to be of two contrary minds,²¹⁹⁹* in respect of that saying, Flesh and blood not having power to possess the Kingdom of God: or again will be constrained to make malicious and forced explanations of all that is said, inverting and changing the meaning of it. For what sound thing will they have to say, if they shall endeavour to interpret otherwise what he writes, For this corruptible must put on incorruption,²²⁰⁰* and this mortal put on immortality; And,²²⁰¹* That the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh; and all the other places, in which the Apostle openly and clearly preaches the Resurrection and Incorruption of the flesh? And so these passages, many as they are, must needs be ill interpreted by those, who refuse rightly to understand that one.

Chap. XIV. § 1. Moreover, that not in opposition to the very substance of flesh and blood did the Apostle say that it inherits not the Kingdom of God,²²⁰²* we know, in that the same Apostle has every where used the term Flesh and Blood in regard of the Lord Jesus Christ, partly to establish His human nature (for He called Himself Son of Man:) partly again to confirm the salvation of our flesh. For if the flesh could not be saved, by no means had the Word of God been made flesh. And if the blood of the just were not to be required, by no means would the Lord have had blood. But because from the beginning blood hath a voice, the Lord said unto Cain, when he had slain his brother,²²⁰³* The voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto Me. And that their blood was to be required, He told Noe and the rest: For your blood also,²²⁰⁴* the blood of your souls, it will I require at the hand of all beasts. And again, He who shall shed^2205s a man’s blood,²²⁰⁶* for his blood shall he be shed. And in like manner the Lord also said unto those who were to shed His blood,²²⁰⁷* There shall be required all the righteous blood which is shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel, unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the Temple and the Altar: verily I say unto you, all these things shall come upon this generation. Here He signifies, that there would be a gathering up of the bloodshedding of all the righteous men and Prophets from the beginning into His own self, and an inquisition for their blood by Himself. But this would not be required, except it were also to be saved: neither would the Lord have gathered all this up into Himself, unless He Himself also had been made Flesh and Blood in that archetypal formation of His, saving finally in Himself that which originally had perished in Adam.

§ 2. But if the Lord was incarnate with a view to some other purpose,^2208t and took flesh of another substance, it follows that He did not gather up [Himself as^2209t] Man into Himself; moreover He cannot even be called flesh at all. For that was truly made flesh, which was derived from the first formation out of clay. But if He was to have His material of another substance, then the Father would from the beginning have so wrought, that the mass thereof should be formed of another substance. But now, that which he was who had perished, namely Man, that the saving Word became; by His own Self effecting Communion with him, and diligent search after his salvation. But that which had perished, had blood and flesh. For the Lord, taking clay out of the earth, formed Man: and for his sake was the whole arrangement about the Lord’s coming. He therefore had Himself also Flesh and Blood: gathering up as He was in Himself not some other creation, but that original one of the Father; seeking out that which had perished. And therefore the Apostle in the Epistle to the Colossians saith,²²¹⁰* And ye having been some time alienated, and enemies to His mind in wicked works, but now reconciled in the Body of His Flesh by His Death, to present you holy and chaste and without blame in His sight.—“Reconciled,” saith he, “in the Body of His Flesh:” i.e., the Righteous Flesh hath reconciled that flesh which was holden in sin, and hath brought it into friendship with God.

§ 3. Whoever then saith that so far was the Lord’s flesh different from our flesh, in that It sinned not, neither was guile found in His Soul,²²¹¹* whereas we are sinners;—he saith true. But if he devise another substance of our Lord’s Flesh, then will his statement about Reconciliation no longer hang together. For that only is reconciled, which at one time was in enmity. But if our Lord brought with Him flesh of another substance, then no longer was the same thing reconciled to God, which by transgression had become hostile. But now by Man’s participation of Himself our Lord hath reconciled him to God the Father: reconciling us unto Himself by the Body of His Flesh, and redeeming us by His own Blood; as saith the Apostle to the Ephesians,²²¹²* In whom we have had redemption through His Blood, the Remission of sins: And again to the same, Ye,²²¹³* saith he, who were sometime afar off, are made nigh by the Blood of Christ.²²¹⁴* And again, In His own flesh abolishing enmities, the Law of Commandments^2215u in ordinances. And in the whole Epistle too the Apostle clearly beareth witness, that by the Flesh of our Lord and His Blood we are saved.

§ 4. Wherefore, if Flesh and Blood are the things which cause us to have life, not literally concerning flesh and blood is it affirmed, that they cannot possess the Kingdom of God; but of the aforesaid carnal doings, which turning man away towards sin, deprive him of life. And therefore in the Epistle to the Romans he saith,²²¹⁶* Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it; neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but yield yourselves unto God, as persons alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. With the same members then, wherewith we were serving sin, and bringing forth fruit unto death,—with those same members he willeth us to serve righteousness, to bring forth fruit unto life.

Remembering then, dearly beloved, that by the Flesh of our Lord thou art redeemed, and by His Blood reclaimed²²¹⁷²; and holding the Head,²²¹⁸* from which the whole body of the Church, being framed together,²²¹⁹* hath increase,—i.e., the coming of the Son of God in the Flesh:²²²⁰*—both owning Him God, and steadily receiving His Human Nature:—using moreover these proofs which are of the Scriptures;—thou dost with ease overturn, as we have shewn, all the heretical opinions, since invented.

Chap. XV. § 1. Moreover, that He Who created man at first, hath promised him a second birth after his falling away into earth, Isaiah first speaketh thus: The dead shall rise, and they shall rise who are in the graves,²²²¹* and they shall rejoice who are in the earth. For the dew which is from Thee, is health unto them.²²²²* And again, I will summon you, and unto Jerusalem shall ye be summoned, and ye shall see, and your heart shall rejoice^2223v, and your bones shall rise up as a herb, and the Hand of the Lord shall be known of them that worship Him.²²²⁴* And Ezekiel also thus, And the Hand of the Lord came upon me, and the Lord led me out in the Spirit, and set me in the midst of a field, and it was full of bones, and He led me round over them in a circuit round about, and behold, many on the face of the field, exceeding dry. And He said unto me, Son of Man, do these bones live? And I said, Lord, Thou knowest, Who madest them. And He said unto me, Prophesy over these bones, and thou shalt say unto them, Ye dry boneu, hear the Word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord unto these bones: Behold, I bring upon you the breath of life, and I will put sinews upon you, and I bring back flesh upon you, and I will spread over you skin, and I will put My spirit into you, and ye shall live, and ye shall know that I am the Lord. And I prophesied as the Lord commanded me. And it came to pass when I prophesied, and behold an earthquake, and the bones were brought each one into his frame, and I saw, and behold over them sinews and flesh were in birth, and the skin of each was coming up over them: and there was no breath in them. And He said unto me, Prophesy unto the breath, son of man, and say to the breath, Thus saith the Lord, Come from the four breaths, and breathe on these dead, that they may live. And I prophesied as the Lord commanded me, and the breath entered into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, a very large assembly. And again the same saith,²²²⁵* Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will open your graves, and will bring you out of your graves, and will bring you into the Land of Israel, and ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall open your sepulchres, to bring My people back from the sepulchres, and I shall put My Spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I will put you in your own land, and ye shall know that I am the Lord. I have spoken, and I will do it, saith the Lord.

Since therefore the Framer here also quickeneth our dead bodies, as we may see, and promiseth them resurrection, and awakening out of the sepulchres and graves, and giveth them incorruption:²²²⁶* (For their days, saith He, shall be as the Tree of Life;) it is shewn that He is the only God, Who maketh these things: and the same is the Good Father, graciously bestowing life on those who of themselves may not have life.

§ 2. And for this cause the Lord most openly shewed Himself, and the Father too, to His disciples: i.e., lest they should seek another God, besides Him Who formed man, and bestowed on him the breath of life; and should go on to so great madness, as to devise another Father besides the Creator. And therefore with regard to all the rest, whomsoever sicknesses had befallen because of their transgressions, He used to cure them by His word; to whom also He would say,²²²⁷* Behold, thou art made whole; sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee; shewing that for the sin of disobedience sicknesses came on upon men: But to him who had been blind from the birth, no longer by word but by work He gave sight:²²²⁸* He did it not vainly, nor at random, but in order to shew forth the Hand of God, the Hand which originally formed man. And therefore when the disciples asked Him for what cause he was born blind, whether by his own fault or his parents’,²²²⁹* He saith, Neither did he sin, nor his parents, but that the works of God might be manifested in him. But the works of God is the formation of Man. For this He effected by His working, as saith the Scripture:²²³⁰* And the Lord took clay of the Earth, and formed man. Wherefore the Lord also spit on the earth, and made clay, and smeared it over his eyes: exhibiting the old formation how it took place, and displaying to those who may understand the Hand of God, whereby Man was formed out of the clay. For that which the Word, as an Artificer, omitted to form in the womb, that He supplied in men’s sight; that the works of God might be manifest in him, and that we might not go on to look for another hand, whereby man was formed, nor another Father: knowing that that which formed us in the beginning, and now formeth us in the womb, The Hand of God,—the same in the last times sought us out when we were lost, gaining His own lost sheep,²²³¹* and taking it on His Shoulders, and with gratulation restoring it to the troop of life.

§ 3. But as to the Word of God forming us in the womb, He saith to Jeremiah,²²³²* Before I formed thee in the womb I knew thee, and before thou camest out of the belly, I sanctified thee, and set thee a Prophet among the nations. Yea, and Paul saith in like manner,²²³³* But when it pleased Him, who separated me from my mother’s womb,²²³⁴* that I should preach Him among the Gentiles. As then by the Word we are formed in the womb, so the same Word formed sight for him who had been blind from the birth:²²³⁵* openly shewing Him, Who in secret is our Maker, how that that same Word had become manifest unto men: and explaining the old formation of Adam—both how he was made, and by what Hand he was formed; by a part shewing forth the whole. For the Lord Who formed sight, He it is Who formed the whole man, ministering to the Father’s Will. And to shew that, in that formation which was according to Adam,²²³⁶* Man being made,—in transgression,—needed the Laver of Regeneration:—after He smeared the clay upon his eyes,²²³⁷* He said to him, Go to Siloam and wash: giving him back together both his first form and the new birth which is by the Font. And therefore he being washed came seeing; that both he might know Him that formed him, and man might learn Him that gave him life.

§ 4. It follows that the Valentinians fail also in saying,²²³⁸* that Man was not formed of this earth, but of some fluid poured out. Since it is plain, that of the same earth, out of which the Lord formed his eyes, man also was formed from the beginning. For it was not suitable that the eyes should be formed of one material and the rest of the body of another: as neither is it suitable that one should have formed the body and another the eyes. But the very same Who formed Adam in the beginning, with Whom also the Father was speaking when He said,²²³⁹* Let Us make man after our own image and similitude:—He in the last times manifesting Himself unto men,²²⁴⁰* formed sight for him who was blind from Adam.

Therefore also the Scriptures signifying what was to come, saith that when Adam was hidden because of disobedience the Lord came to him in the Evening,²²⁴¹* and called him out,²²⁴²* and said unto him, Where art thou? That is to say, that in the last times the very same Word of God came to call man unto Him, reminding him of his works, wherein while he lived he had been hidden from the Lord. For as then to Adam God spake in the evening time, seeking him out; so in the last times by the same voice He came to see and to search out Adam’s race.

Chap. XVI. § 1. And to shew that Adam was formed of this earth which we have to do with, the Scripture relates that God said unto him,²²⁴³* In the sweat of thy face thou shalt eat thy bread, until thou return unto the earth, out of which thou wast taken.²²⁴⁴* If then it is some other earth, into which our bodies return after death, it follows that of the same they have also their substance. But if it be this very earth, evidently out of it also was their frame created: as the Lord also shewed, forming eyes out of it and no other. Wherefore, since both the Hand of God is truly and plainly exhibited, whereby Adam first and afterwards we are framed;²²⁴⁵* there being also but one and the same Father, Whose Voice from the beginning to the end is present with His Creature; and the substance of our frame being clearly indicated by the Gospel: we are not now to seek for any other Father than This; nor for any other substance of our frame, but that before mentioned, and indicated by the Lord: nor any other Hand of God, but this, which from beginning to end fashions and frames us unto life, and is present with Its own creature, and completes it after the Image and Likeness of God.

§ 2. But then was this Word revealed,²²⁴⁶* when the Word of God was made Man, likening Himself to Man and Man to Himself: that through the likeness to the Son which he hath, Man may become dear to the Father. For in the former times it was said indeed that Man was made in the Image²²⁴⁷³ of God, but it was not revealed. For the Word was yet invisible, after Whose Image Man had been made. And for this cause, you see, he easily cast off also the resemblance²²⁴⁸⁴ of Him. But when the Word of God became flesh, He made both good. For He both truly revealed the Image, Himself having become that very Thing, which the Image of Him was: and He firmly established the resemblance, by causing man to partake of His own complete likeness to the Invisible Father, through the Visible Word.

§ 3. And not only by the aforesaid means did the Lord manifest both the Father and Himself,²²⁴⁹* but also by His very Passion. For doing away with that disobedience of man which at first was wrought at the tree,²²⁵⁰* He became obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross: healing the disobedience which had been wrought at the tree, by the Obedience which was also at the Tree. But He would not have come to cancel that disobedience the object whereof was our Creator, had He been declaring another Father. And since by the very same things wherein we refused to hear God and believe His Word, He brought in Obedience and Assent unto God’s Word: most²²⁵¹⁵ manifestly hath He revealed That very God, Whom as we offended in the first Adam, not having wrought His Commandment, so in the second Adam were we reconciled, hating become obedient unto death. For to no other, surely, were we debtors, but to Him, Whose commandment also we transgressed originally.

Chap. XVII. § 1. And this is the Creator, Who in love is our Father, in power our Lord, in wisdom our Maker and Framer: whose commandment also disobeying, we have become enemies to Him. And therefore in the last times the Lord restored us to friendship by His Incarnation,²²⁵²* being made Mediator of God and men: on the one hand, appeasing the Father in our behalf, against whom we had sinned, and assuaging^2253w our disobedience by His own obedience; on the other hand, granting unto us to be on terms of citizenship and dutifulness with our Maker. For which cause in prayer also He taught us to say,²²⁵⁴* And forgive us our debts; implying of course that This is our Father, Whose debtors we were, as having transgressed His commandment. And who is This? Some unknown Father, and such as never giveth precept to any? Or rather the God Who is proclaimed by the Scriptures, to Whom also we were debtors, transgressing His Commandment? For indeed Commandment was given unto man by the Word; For Adam,²²⁵⁵* saith He, heard the voice of the Lord God. Well therefore saith His Word unto Man,²²⁵⁶* Thy sins are forgiven; that same, against Whom we had sinned at first, bestowing remission of sins at last.²²⁵⁷* Else, if it was one being’s command which we transgressed, and it was another who said, Thy sins be forgiven thee: this one is neither good, nor truthful, nor just. For how is he good, who giveth, not of His own? or how just, who seizes what is another’s? and how are sins truly forgiven, except He Himself whom we sinned against granted the forgiveness,²²⁵⁸* for the bowels of mercy of our God, in which He hath visited us by His Son?

§ 2. Wherefore also,²²⁵⁹* on the healing of the Paralytic, The people, saith He, seeing it, glorified God, Who had given such power unto men. What God, I ask, did the people then present glorify? Was it at all one discovered by the heretics, an unknown Father? and how did they glorify Him, Who before in the beginning was not known by them? Plain it is then, that the Israelites were glorifying Him, who was proclaimed God by the Law and the Prophets, who is also the Father of our Lord: and therefore He was teaching men sensibly by those signs which He wrought to give glory to God. Whereas if He had Himself come from one Father, and men on sight of His miracles were glorifying another Father; He was rendering them ungrateful to that Father who had sent them healing. But to shew that from Him Who is God, the Only-Begotten Son had come for the salvation of man, and He by the miracles which He wrought was summoning the Unbelievers to give glory to the Father; and that what He was even now saying to the Pharisees,²²⁶⁰* That ye may know that the Son of Man hath power to forgive sins: He said to them as not receiving the advent of His Son, and therefore not believing the pardon which was being wrought by Him:—He also, having so spoken, commanded the man sick of the palsy to take up the bed on which he lay, and to go to his own house: by this His act confounding the Unbelievers, and signifying that He is Himself the Voice of God, by which man received precepts which he transgressed and became a sinner. For the palsy was the result of sins.

§ 3. Therefore in forgiving sins,²²⁶¹* while He cured the man, He also manifestly declared Himself, Who He is. For if no man can forgive sins but God only, and if our Lord did forgive them, and heal man; plain it is, that He was the very Word of God, made Son of Man, receiving from the Father the power of remitting sins, in that He is Man, and in that He is God: so that even as being Man, He sympathized with us, so being God He may have mercy on us, and forgive us our debts, which we owe to God our Creator. And therefore David said before,²²⁶²* Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord hath not imputed sin; foreshewing that remission which is by His Coming,²²⁶³* whereby He hath blotted out the handwriting of our debt, and hath fastened it to the Cross: that as by the Tree we were made debtors to God, so by the Tree we may receive remission of our debt.

§ 4. This, as it was shewn typically²²⁶⁴⁶ by many others, so also especially by the Prophet Elisha.²²⁶⁵* For when the Prophets with him were cutting wood to make a Tabernacle, and the iron shaken off from an axe had fallen into Jordan, and was not found of them, and Elisha coming to the same place, had been told what had happened; he cast wood into the water; and upon his doing this, the iron of the axe floated,²²⁶⁶* and from the surface of the water they took it, who before had lost it: and so the Prophet by deed signified, that by the Dispensation of the wood we were to receive again the solid Word of God, which by the Wood we had negligently lost, and were not in a way to find.²²⁶⁷* But to shew that the Word of God is like unto an axe, John the Baptist saith concerning Him,²²⁶⁸* But now the axe is laid unto the root of the trees. And Jeremiah saith in like manner, The Word of the Lord is as an axe cleaving a rock.²²⁶⁹* Him then, hidden from us, the dispensation of the Wood, as we said before, revealed. For since by Wood we lost Him, by Wood again He was made manifest unto all, shewing forth the length and height and depth and breadth in Himself; and as one of those who have gone before said, “by the divine extension of His Hands gathering the two peoples together unto one God. For the Hands indeed are two, because there are also two peoples dispersed unto the ends of the earth: but the Head in the midst is one, because God is One,²²⁷⁰* Who is above all, and through all, and in us all.”

Chap. XVIII. § 1. Which order of things, such and so great, He effected through means created not by another but by Himself: and not by such as were made out of ignorance and decay,²²⁷¹* but by such as had their being from the Wisdom and Virtue of His Father. For neither is He unjust, to covet what is another’s; nor needy, so as not by His own means to work out life for His own people, employing for man’s salvation what He Himself had created. For indeed the creature would not have sustained Him, had He merely put forth what came of ignorance and decay. For, that the very Word of God Incarnate was hung upon the wood, we have shewn at large^2272x: yea, and the very heretics own Him crucified. How then could a being put forth of Ignorance and decay sustain Him Who hath in Him the knowledge of all things, and is true and perfect? Or how did that creation, which is hidden from the Father, and far and wide separated from Him, become the vehicle²²⁷³⁷ of His Word? And if moreover it was created by Angels, either ignorant of the God Who is above all, or knowing Him;²²⁷⁴* since our Lord said, That I am in the Father and the Father in Me;—how could the handy-work of Angels endure to be the vehicle both of the Father and the Son? And how did that Creation which is without the Pleroma receive Him Who containeth the whole Pleroma?

Wherefore, since these things are all impossible, and admit of no proof; that alone is true which the Church proclaims, That it was His own creation, subsisting by the power and skill and wisdom of God, which became the vehicle of Him: which creation while it is invisibly sustained by the Father, doth on the other hand visibly sustain His Word: and this is The Word.

§ 2. For the Father underlying²²⁷⁵⁸ both the creation and the Word, and the Word upholden²²⁷⁶⁹ of the Father, impart the Spirit unto all, at the Father’s good pleasure: to some in the Way of creation, (which sort of thing is made): to others in the way of Adoption, which kind is of God; and this is Birth.²²⁷⁷* And thus is shewn forth the One God and Father, Who is above all and through all and in all. Above all, first, is the Father; and He is the Head of Christ: then, through all is the Word, and He is the Head of the Church: in us all, again, is the Spirit, and He is the Living Water, which the Lord imparts to all that rightly believe in Him, and love Him, and know that there is One Father Who is above all,²²⁷⁸* and through all, and in you all. Witness is borne to this by John also the Lord’s disciple,²²⁷⁹* saying in his Gospel as follows: In the beginning was the Word,²²⁸⁰* and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made. Afterwards of the same Word he saith,²²⁸¹* He was in this world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become sons of God, to them which believe in His Name. And again, meaning His Economy as Man,²²⁸²* he said, And the Word was made Flesh, and dwelt among us. And again he inserted,²²⁸³* (And we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father,) full of Grace and Truth. Evidently declaring to each as will hear, i.e., who have ears, That there is one God the Father over all, and one Word of God which is through all, by Whom all things were made; and that this world is His very own, and made by Him at His Father’s Will, and not by Angels, neither in the way of revolt and decay and ignorance: nor by I know not what virtue of “Prunicus,” whom some also call Mother; nor by some other world-maker not knowing the Father.

§ 3. For the Maker of the world in deed is the Word of God;²²⁸⁴* and this is our Lord, Who in the last times was made man, existing in this world: Who invisibly contaius all things that were made, and is established^2285y in the whole creation, as being God’s Word, governing and disposing all things: and therefore into His own He came invisibly²²⁸⁶¹, and was made flesh and hung upon the Tree, that He might sum up all into Himself. And His own, even Men, received Him not; as Moses declared the same among the people:²²⁸⁷* And thy Life shall be hanging before thine eyes, and thou wilt not believe thine own Life. Whoso then received not Him, received not life. But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become sons of God. For it is He who hath power over all from the Father, as being the Word of God, and true Man, with invisible beings holding reasonable communion, and appointing them a law after an intellectual fashion²²⁸⁸², all and each to abide in their own order: while over things visible and human He reigns openly, and bringeth upon all meetly His just judgment: as David also plainly intimating saith,²²⁸⁹* Our God will come openly and will not keep silence. Then also he declared the judgment which He is bringing upon us,²²⁹⁰* saying, A fire shall burn in His eight, and around Him a mighty tempest. He shall summon the Heaven from above, and the earth to discern His people.

Chap. XIX. § 1. Evidently therefore the coming of the Lord to His own,²²⁹¹* (at which time also His own creation bare Him, which is borne by Him) and the summing up which He made of the disobedience at the former tree by the obedience at the present tree, and His undoing the perversion, the evil perversion of Eve, that Virgin now espoused to a man:²²⁹²*—all this news was well and truly preached by the Angel to the Virgin Mary, now under a husband. For as the former was led astray by an Angel’s discourse to fly from God after transgressing His Word, so the latter by an Angel’s discourse had the Gospel preached unto her, that she might bear God, obeying His Word. And if the former had disobeyed God, yet the other was persuaded to obey God: that the Virgin Mary might become an Advocate for the Virgin Eve. And as mankind was bound unto death through a Virgin, it is saved through a Virgin: by the obedience of a virgin the disobedience of a virgin is compensated. For while the sin of the First-made man is yet receiving correction by the rebuke of the First-born, the Serpent’s craft being overcome by the simplicity of the Dove, we are freed from those Chains whereby we had been bound unto death.

§ 2. All heretics being unlearned,²²⁹³* and ignorant of God’s ways of ordering things, and uninstructed in the dispensation concerning Man, as being blind to the truth, contradict their own salvation. Some, introducing another Father, besides the Creator. Others again saying that the world and its substance are made by certain Angels. Some indeed, that the same substance,²²⁹⁴* far and wide separated from Him, Who in their account is the Father, flourished of itself, and is born of itself. But others, that in those things which are kept together by the Father, it [the world] had its substance, of decay and ignorance. Others again scorn the manifest advent of the Lord, not receiving His Incarnation. And others moreover, not knowing the dispensation of the Virgin, say that He was begotten of Joseph. And while some affirm that neither soul nor body can receive eternal life, but only “the inner man”: (and this they will have to be the Mind which is in them, which also alone they decree to ascend into perfection:) others say that the soul being saved, their body shares not in the salvation which is of God: as we said in the first book: wherein also we stated the arguments of them all, and in the Second shewed their weakness and inconsistency.

Chap. XX. § 1. For all these are far later than the Bishops to whom the Apostles delivered the churches; and this in the Third Book we manifested with all diligence. Therefore the aforesaid Heretics, being blind to the truth, must needs walk this way and that, out of the right track; and so the traces of their doctrine are scattered here and there in a discordant and illogical way. But those who are of the Church have a regular path, encircling the whole world, the tradition thereof from the Apostles being secure: which path grants us to behold that all have one and the same faith, since all teach one and the same God and Father, believe the same Economy of the Son of God’s Incarnation,²²⁹⁵* and know the same gift of the Spirit, and meditate on the same precepts, and maintain the same form of government over the Church, and wait for the same coming of the Lord, and maintain the same salvation of the whole man,²²⁹⁶* i.e., of the soul and body. And as for the Church, her preaching is true and stable, and in her through the whole world one and the same way of salvation is declared. For to her is entrusted the Light of God;²²⁹⁷* and therefore the Wisdom of God, whereby He saveth all men, is sung in the place of going forth, and in the streets dealeth fearlessly, is preached on the top of the walls, and speaketh boldly in the gates of the city.²²⁹⁸* For the Church everywhere preaches The Truth:²²⁹⁹* and this is the candlestick with seven wicks bearing the light of Christ.

§ 2. Those then who forsake the preaching of the Church, impute unskilfulness to the holy Elders, not considering how much worthier is a devout but untaught person than a blaspheming and shameless Sophist.²³⁰⁰* But such are all Heretics, and they who imagine themselves to be discoverers of something more besides the Truth; following what has been foretold, performing their journey in many ways and in many forms, and in much weakness, not having always the same opinions on the same subjects, they are led about as blind men by the blind: justly they will fall into the hidden pit of ignorance,²³⁰¹* always seeking, and never finding the Truth. We must therefore fly from their views, and watch very carefully lest at any time we be disturbed by them. And we must fly for refuge to the Church, and be trained in her bosom, and be nourished up in the Scriptures of the Lord.²³⁰²* For the Church is planted, a Paradise in this world. Of every tree then of Paradise ye shall eat morsels,²³⁰³* saith the Spirit of God: i.e., feed ye on all the Lord’s Scripture: but ye shall not eat of a mind that is lifted up, neither touch any where the contentiousness of Heretics. For they profess themselves to have the knowledge of good and evil, and upon the God Who made them they hurl their own impious thoughts. And so they carry their thoughts on high, beyond the just measure of thinking. For which cause the Apostle also saith,²³⁰⁴* Not to be wise more than one ought to be wise, but to be wise unto soberness; lest feeding upon their knowledge,²³⁰⁵* that which is wise more than it ought to be, we be cast out of the Paradise of life: into which the Lord bringeth those who obey His instruction,²³⁰⁶* gathering up into Himself all things which are in Heaven and which are in earth. Now the things in Heaven are spiritual things, but the things in earth, is the dispensation relating to man. These accordingly He hath gathered up into Himself; uniting man to spirit and placing spirit in man, He became Himself the Head of the spirit, giving at the same time the spirit to be the Head of man: for through him we have seen, and heard, and speak.

Chap. XXI. § 1. Thus gathering all into one, He was Himself gathered into one—both stirring up warfare against our enemy, and forcing him out,²³⁰⁷* who at first had led us captive in Adam, and trampling on his head: as thou hast it in Genesis, how that God said to the Serpent, And I will put enmity between thee and the woman,²³⁰⁸* and between thy seed and her seed: he shall mark thy head, and thou shalt mark His heel. For of Him Who had to be born of a Virgin woman in the likeness of Adam, it [her seed] was announced as “marking the Serpent’s head.” And this is the seed, of which the Apostle in the Epistle to the Galatians saith,²³⁰⁹* That the Law of works was appointed, until the Seed should come to Whom the promise was made. And yet more clearly hath he set it forth in the same Epistle, thus saying,²³¹⁰* But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent His Son, made of a woman. For the enemy would not have been fairly overcome, had not his conqueror been a man born of a woman. For by a woman he ruled over man from the beginning, when he set himself against mankind. For this cause the Lord also professes Himself the Son of Man; gathering up into Himself that original man, of whom the formation of the woman took place: that as by a conquered man our race went down unto death, so by a conquering Man again we might go up into life: and that as by a man Death received the palm against us, so we on the other hand by a Man might receive the palm against Death.

§ 2. But the Lord would not have gathered up into Himself that old and original enmity against the Serpent fulfilling the promise of the Creator,²³¹¹* and accomplishing His Command, had He come of another Father. But because He is one and the same, Who in the beginning formed us, and Who sent His Son in the end; the Lord fulfilled His Command, being born of a woman; both destroying our adversary, and perfecting Man according to the image and likeness of God. And therefore He destroyed him no other way, than by the sayings of the Law, using also the Father’s precept as His helper to the destruction and exposure of the apostate Angel. In the first place, fasting forty days, like as did Moses and Elias, He was afterwards an hungered, that we might understand Him to be a true and substantial Man: for it belongeth to man to be hungry after fasting. And next, that the Adversary might have a ground, whereon to wage battle with Him. For because in the beginning it was by meat that he seduced man, not being hungry, to transgress the commandment of God; in the end, though He were hungry, he could not prevail on Him not to wait for the meat which should come from God. For when the other tempted Him,²³¹²* and said, If Thou art the Son of God, command that these stones be made loaves, the Lord on the other hand repulsed him by the precept of the Law,²³¹³* saying, It is written, Man liveth not by bread alone. Thus to his saying, If Thou art the Son of God, He employed for the blinding of him the avowal of His Manhood, and by a saying of His Father’s made void his first attack. The surfeiting therefore of man, which took place in Paradise upon both of them indulging their taste, was done away with by that craving, which was in this world.

But he being by the Law baffled^2314z, tried himself too by a falsehood, to come in conflict again according to the Law.²³¹⁵* For leading Him to the highest pinnacle of the Temple,²³¹⁶* he said, If Thou be the Son of God, cast Thyself down: For it is written, that He hath commanded His Angels concerning Thee, and in their hands they shall bear Thee up, lest haply Thou dash Thy foot against a stone; hiding his falsehood by means of Scripture, as do all the Heretics. For the saying, He gave His Angels charge concerning him, was written; but no Scripture said, Cast Thyself down; but the Devil brought in this exhortation of himself. Accordingly the Lord refuted him out of the Law,²³¹⁷* saying, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God: by that saying, which is in the Law, signifying, first, that as to Man, Man ought not to tempt God: and as to Himself, that He, in that Man who was in sight would not tempt the Lord His God. The high thoughts then which were in the Serpent, were done away with by the humility which was in the Man: and now was the Devil twice vanquished out of the Scripture, in that he was exposed as recommending things contrary to the Commandment of God, and proved to be in his purpose the enemy of God. And so being greatly confuted, and as it were gathering himself up, arraying all the power in deceit which he had,²³¹⁸* he, thirdly, shewed unto Him all the Kingdoms of the world,²³¹⁹* saying, as Luke records, All these things will I give thee,²³²⁰* (for to me are they delivered, and to whom I will I give them,) if thou wilt fall down and worship me. The Lord therefore, exposing him as he was, saith Be gone Satan:²³²¹* for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve. Laying him bare by that name, and shewing Himself, who He was. For Satana, a Hebrew word, signifieth Apostate. And thus overcoming him the third time, for the future He drave him away from Himself, as fairly overcome: and the transgression of God’s commandment which had been in Adam was done away, by the precept of the Law which the Son of Man observed, not transgressing the Commandment of God.

§ 3. Who then is the Lord God, to whom Christ beareth witness; whom no one shall tempt, and whom all ought to adore, and to serve Him alone? Without any doubt at all it is that God who gave also the Law. For these things had been foretold in the Law, and by the sentence of the Law the Lord on the one hand sheweth, that the Law announces the Word of God from the Father; on the other, the apostate Angel of God is overthrown by its voice, his Being exposed, and he vanquished by the Son of man keeping the Command of God. For since he at first persuaded man to break the precept of his Maker,²³²²* he had him accordingly in his own Power: which Power is transgression and Apostasy, and by these he bound the Man—it was also meet that he on the contrary should through Man be overcome and bound with the same chains, wherewith he bound the man: that Man, being loosed, might return unto the Lord, leaving to him the chains wherewith he had been himself bound, i.e., transgression. For the binding of him was the loosing of man,²³²³* since no man can enter into a strong man’s house and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man. On the other hand therefore the Lord, by the Word of that God who made all, exposing and overcoming him by the commandment, (And the Commandment of God is the Law); that of Him which was man shewing him to be a fugitive, and breaker of the Law, and apostate from God:—the Word afterwards with a strong hand bound him, as His own runaway slave, and divided his spoils, i.e., the men who were detained by him, whom he was unjustly making use of. And while he was justly led captive, who had led man captive unjustly; man, who had before been led captive, was withdrawn from his possessor’s power, by the Mercy of God the Father: who pitied His own handy work, and gave it salvation, renewing it by the Word, i.e., by Christ: that man might learn by actual trial, how that not of himself but by free gift of God he receiveth incorruption.

Chap. XXII. § 1. Accordingly, the Lord thus clearly shewing that He is the true Lord and the only God, who had been declared by the Law—(for whom the Law had proclaimed as God, Him Christ manifested as Father, whom also alone the Disciples of Christ are bound to serve:) and our adversary being discomfited by Him, through those sentences which occur in the Law:—(now the Law bids us to praise the Creator as God,²³²⁴* and to serve Him only:—) we ought not now to seek any other Father, besides or above This one:²³²⁵* seeing there is one God who justifieth the Circumcision by Fatih, and the Uncircumcision through Faith. For had there been any other perfect Father above This one, in no wise would He [Christ] have overthrown Satan by His discourses and precepts. For Ignorance cannot be done away by another ignorance:²³²⁶* even as neither can decay be abolished by decay. If then the Law is of ignorance and decay, how could the sentences which are therein set any free from diabolical ignorance, and overcome the Strong Man? For it is not the less, nor the equal that can overcome the Strong Man, but he who hath more power. And He who hath more power over all things is the Word of God, Who both in the Law crieth aloud, Hear, O Israel, the Lord thy God is one God;²³²⁷* and, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy soul;²³²⁸* and, Him shalt thou worship,²³²⁹* and Him only shalt thou serve:—and in the Gospel by the very same sentences putting down apostasy, did at once by His Father’s Voice subdue the strong man, and avow the precept of the Law to be His own sentences;²³³⁰* saying, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. For by sentence not of another but properly belonging to His own Father He put down the adversary and overcame the Strong Man.

§ 2. And us,²³³¹* who are released by the commandment itself, He hath taught, First, In our hunger to await the food which is given by God: Secondly, when we are set on the high places of God’s universal free gift; or trusting in works of righteousness, or honoured with great eminency of office; then in no wise to be lifted up, nor to tempt God, but in every thing to be lowly-minded, and to have ready for use the saying, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God: As the Apostle also taught, in the words,²³³²* Not minding high things, but sympathizing with the lowly:—neither to be taken with riches, nor worldly glory, nor present pomp: but to be aware, that thou must worship the Lord thy God, and serve Him only; and not believe that being who falsely promises what is not his own,²³³³* in that he saith, All these things will I give thee if thou wilt fall down and worship me. For he himself confesseth,²³³⁴* that to worship him and to do his will is to fall from the glory of God. And what that is either sweet or good can he partake of who hath fallen? Or what other thing can such an one hope or expect, besides death? For to him who hath fallen, death is close at hand. Moreover, neither will he in course fulfil that which he hath promised. For how shall he fulfil it to him that hath fallen? Further, [he confesseth] that God is Lord over men, and over himself;²³³⁵* and without the will of our Father which is in heaven, not a sparrow shall fall to the earth.²³³⁶* Therefore, in that he saith, All these things are delivered unto me; and unto whomsoever I will I give them—he saith it, as one lifted up unto Pride. Since indeed the Creation is not under his power, he being himself one of the creatures—nor will he of himself give unto men royalty over other men: but according to the ordinance of God the Father both all other things are set in order, and those which relate to men. But the Lord saith, That the Devil is a Liar from the beginning,²³³⁷* and abode not in the truth: If then he is a liar, and not abiding in the truth, of course he was not truly saying, “All these things are delivered unto me, and to whom I will I give them:” but he was telling a Lie.

Chap. XXIII. § 1. For he had before used himself, for the deceiving of men, to tell lies against God. Thus, whereas God at the beginning had given to man abundance of food,²³³⁸* and had commanded him concerning one tree alone, not to eat of it;—(as the Scripture relates that God said unto Adam,²³³⁹* Of every tree that is in the garden thou shalt eat food, but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, ye shall not eat of it; but in the day that ye shall eat thereof ye shall surely die;)—he, lying against the Lord, tempted man:²³⁴⁰* as the Scripture saith that the Serpent said unto the woman, And why did God say, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And when she had exposed the lie,²³⁴¹* and simply repeated the commandment, in saying, Of every tree of the garden we may eat; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die: he having been told by the woman the commandment of God, used craft and deceived her anew by a false tale, saying, Ye shall not surely die.²³⁴²* For God did know, that in the day ye shall eat thereof your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods knowing good and evil. First, you see, in God’s own Paradise he was disputing about God; as though He were absent; for he knew not the greatness of God. Then afterwards, learning from herself that the Lord had said, that if they tasted of the afore said tree they would die, the third thing was his telling a lie, and saying, Ye shall not surely die. But that God was true, and the serpent a liar, was shewn by the event, when death followed close upon those who had eaten. For together with the food they made death also their own, since they ate in disobedience, and disobedience to God bringeth death. For therefore of Him were they given over thereunto, having become liable to the debt of death.

§ 2. In the same day accordingly they died,²³⁴³* in which also they did eat, and became liable to the debt of death; because the day of the creature is one.²³⁴⁴* For the evening and the morning, it saith, was made one day. And in that same day they did eat, and in the same also they died. But according to the round and course of the days, according to which one is called first, another second, another third; if any will diligently learn, he will find by the Lord’s Œconomy on what day of the seven days Adam died. For in gathering up the whole of man into Himself from the beginning to the end, He gathered also his death. It is plain then, that the Lord in obedience to the Father, endured death on the same day, in which Adam died, disobeying God. Now in what day he died, in the same he also did eat;²³⁴⁵* because God said, In the day that ye shall eat thereof, ye shall surely die. This day accordingly our Lord would go over again with the rest, in His own person, and so came to His Passion the day before the Sabbath, which is the sixth-day of Creation, on which day man was formed: by His Passion conferring on man a second formation, that which is out of death. But some on the other hand refer Adam’s Death to the thousandth year:²³⁴⁶* for (say they) a day of the Lord is as a thousand years, but Adam did not add on the thousand years, but died within them, fulfilling the sentence upon his transgression.

Whether then in respect of disobedience, which is death; or because from that time they were given over and made debtors to death:—whether on one and the same day on which they did eat, they also died, because there is but one day of Creation; or whether it were in respect of our own round of days, that they died in the same day in which also they did eat: (i.e., on the Preparation-day, which is called The pure supper, I mean the sixth day of the week, which our Lord also pointed out by suffering in it):—or in regard of his not having overpassed a thousand years, but died within them:—In regard, I say, of all the significations, both God is true (for they are dead who tasted of the tree); and the Serpent is proved to be a Liar and a Murderer, as our Lord saith of him,²³⁴⁷* That he is a murderer from the beginning and abode not in the truth.

Chap. XXIV. § 1. As then he lied in the beginning, so also in the end he was lying, when he said,²³⁴⁸* All these things are delivered unto me, and to whom I will I give them. For not he appointed the bounds of the Kingdoms of this world, but God.²³⁴⁹* For The King’s heart is in the hand of God. And by Solomon too the Word saith,²³⁵⁰* By Me kings reign, and mighty men hold righteousness. By Me Princes shall be exalted, and tyrants by Me govern the earth. And Paul also the Apostle to the same effect saith,²³⁵¹* To all the higher powers be ye subject; for there is no power but of God: and the Powers which be are ordained of God. And again he saith of the same,²³⁵²* For not without cause beareth he the sword; for he is a minister of God, an avenger for wrath upon him that doeth evil. And to shew that he said this not of Angelical Powers, nor of invisible Princes, as some venture to expound it, but of those Powers which are after the manner of man,²³⁵³* he saith, For, for this cause pay ye tribute also, for they are ministers of God, serving altogether to this very end. And this too the Lord confirmed both by not doing what the Devil would persuade Him,²³⁵⁴* and by bidding tribute to be given to the Collectors of the tributes for Himself and for Peter: because they are ministers of God, serving unto this very thing.

§ 2. For because man,²³⁵⁵* standing off from God, became so like a wild beast, as to account his very kindred an enemy, and to pass his time without fear in all restlessness^2356a, and in murder, and in covetousness: God set over him the fear of man (for they knew not the fear of God), that they being subject unto men’s power, and bound by their law, might attain unto some degree of justice, and mutual moderation, fearing the sword openly set forth; as saith the Apostle: For not without cause he beareth the sword; for he is the minister of God, an avenger for wrath unto him that doeth evil. And therefore the magistrates also themselves, having the Laws, which are the clothing of Justice, shall be asked no questions nor suffer penalties, for whatever they may have done justly and lawfully: But in such things as they may have practised to the overthrow of the Just, unfairly, and impiously, and against law, and in tyrannical sort;—in those they shall also perish: the just judgment of God reaching unto all alike, and in none failing. For the benefit, then, of the Gentiles is earthly Royalty established by God; (and not by the Devil, who is never at all at rest: yea, neither will he have the very Gentiles to go on quietly:)—that men, fearing the Royalty of men, may not, like fishes, consume one another, but by legal enactments may ward off the blows of the manifold injustice of the Gentiles. And so they are ministers of God, who exact tribute from us, waiting upon this very thing.

§ 3. “The Powers that be,²³⁵⁷* are ordained of God.” It is plain that the Devil lies, in saying, “To me things are delivered, and to whom I will, I give them.” For by whose command men are born, by His command Kings also are established, meet for those who at the particular time are ruled by them. For some of them are given for the correction and benefit of their subjects, and the maintenance of justice: others again unto fear, and punishment, and rebuke: and yet others unto mockery, and reproach, and pride, even as men deserve: the just judgment of God, as we said before, passing onwards equally over all. As to the Devil, he as being an Apostate Angel, hath that power only, which he discloses in the beginning—to seduce and withdraw man’s mind unto transgression of God’s commandments, and gradually to blind the hearts of such as make it their business to serve him, to the forgetting of the true God, and the worshipping of Satan himself as God.

§ 4. And even as any rebel,²³⁵⁸* occupying a land as an enemy, would disturb the inhabitants, that with those who know no better, he may claim to himself the King’s glory, because he is a Rebel and a Thief:—so also the Devil,²³⁵⁹* being one of those Angels who are set over the breath of the air (as the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Ephesians hath declared) envying man, became a rebel against the Divine Law: For Envy is alien from God. And because through Man was his rebellion exposed, and Man became the test whereby his mind was reproved; he did accordingly frame himself more and more contrary to man, envying his life, and wishing to shut him up under his own rebellious power.²³⁶⁰* On the other hand, the Framer of all, the Word of God, by Man overcoming him and proving him a rebel, made him subject unto Man: for, Behold,²³⁶¹* saith He, I give you power to tread on serpents and scorpions and on all the might of the Enemy;—that, as he ruled over man by rebellion, so again by man hastening back unto God his rebellion may be brought to nought.

Chap. XXV. § 1. And not only by what has been said,²³⁶²* but also by the things which shall be under Antichrist, it is shewn that the Devil being a rebel and a thief desires to be adored as God; and being a slave, wants himself to be proclaimed King. For he, taking to himself all the Might of the Devil, will come not as a just King, nor as one in God’s Obedience, sanctioned by law; but being impious and unjust and lawless, [he will come] as a rebel, and unrighteous, and a murderer, [he will come] as a thief, summing up the rebellion of the Devil in himself: and while he setteth aside idols, to persuade men that he himself is God, he will exalt himself the one Idol, containing in himself the various error of all other idols: that those who by many abominations adore the Devil, may by this one Idol become slaves to him: of whom the Apostle in the 2nd Epistle to the Thessalonians thus speaketh: For except there have come a departure first,²³⁶³* and the Man of Sin shall have been revealed, the Son of Perdition, who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God or is worshipped: so that he sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself as if he were God. The Apostle you see plainly declareth his apostasy, and that he is exalted above all that is called God, or that is worshipped: i.e., above every idol (for it is these who are called of men gods, but are not such) and that he after the manner of tyrants^2364b will endeavour to shew himself God.

§ 2. And besides these things he hath manifested that also,²³⁶⁵* which in many ways hath been proved by us, That the Temple in Jerusalem was made by direction of the true God. For the Apostle himself in his own Person hath called it distinctly, “The Temple of God.” But we have shewn in the third Book, that no one by the Apostles in their own person is called God, but Him who is truly God, the Father of our Lord: by whose command this Temple in Jerusalem was made, for the causes which we have alleged: in which Temple the Adversary will sit, trying to exhibit himself as Christ: as the Lord also saith,²³⁶⁶* But when ye shall see the abomination of desolation, that which is spoken of by Daniel the Prophet, standing in the holy place (he that readeth, let him understand), then let them which be in Judæa flee unto the mountains: and he that is in the housetop, let him not come down to take anything out of the house.²³⁶⁷* For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not from the beginning of the world even until now, no, nor shall be.

§ 3. Daniel too, with an eye referring to the end of the last Kingdom,²³⁶⁸* i.e., the last ten Kings, among whom is divided the Kingdom of those, upon whom the Son of Perdition will come,²³⁶⁹* saith that ten horns spring up unto the Beast,²³⁷⁰* and that another little horn springeth up in the middle of them, and that three horns of the former are uprooted before it.²³⁷¹* And behold, saith he, eyes as it were the eyes of a man in this horn, and a mouth speaking great things, and his aspect of more greatness than the rest.²³⁷²* I beheld, and that horn was making war against the Saints, and was strong against them: until the Ancient of Days did come, and gave the judgment unto the Saints of the most high God, and the time was come, and the Saints obtained the Kingdom. Afterwards in the explanation of the visions it was said unto him,²³⁷³* The fourth Beast shall be the fourth Kingdom in the Earth, which shall stand high above the other Kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and trample on it, and cut it in pieces. And its ten horns, ten Kings shall arise; and after them shall rise up another, who shall surpass in evil things all who have been before him, and shall do away with three Kings, and shall speak words against the Most High God, and shall crush the Saints of the Most High God, and shall think to change times and the Law, and it shall be given into his hands unto a time of times and half a time, i.e., for three years and six months, wherein at his coming, he shall reign upon the earth. And of him again the Apostle Paul also in the 2nd to the Thessalonians announcing at the same time also the cause of his coming, saith thus:²³⁷⁴* And then shall the unrighteous one be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus shall slay with the breath of His Mouth and destroy with the presence of His coming; whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of wickedness, to them that perish, because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved. And therefore shall God send unto them a working of error that they should believe a lie, that they all may be judged who believed not the truth, but agreed unto iniquity.

§ 4. And the Lord for His part said this also^2375c unto those who believed Him not:²³⁷⁶* I am come in My Father’s Name, and ye received Me not: when another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive: by “another” meaning Antichrist, who is alien from the Lord; and the same is the unjust judge,²³⁷⁷* spoken of by the Lord, as one who feared not God nor revered man;²³⁷⁸* to whom a widow had recourse^2379d, forgetful of God, (i.e., the earthly Jerusalem) for redress upon her enemy.²³⁸⁰* Which thing also he will do in the time of his Kingdom: he will transfer the Kingdom unto her, and will sit in the Temple of God, beguiling those who adore him, as though he himself were Christ.²³⁸¹* Wherefore Daniel saith again, And the holy place shall be desolated: and sin is given for sacrifice, and righteousness is cast down upon earth, and he practised, and it prospered. And Gabriel the Angel explaining his vision said of this same Being^2382e;²³⁸³* And in the last time of their Kingdom shall arise a King very stubborn in countenance, and understanding questions, and strong shall be his might, and wonderful, and he shall corrupt, and direct, and act, and banish the strong men and the holy people, and the yoke of his collar shall be straightened: in his hand shall be deceit, and in his heart he shall be lifted up; and by guile he shall destroy many, and shall stand for the destruction of many, and as eggs shall he bruise them with his hand. And he proceeds to signify the duration of his tyranny, in which time the Saints shall be exiled, who offer to the Lord a pure Sacrifice.²³⁸⁴* And in half the week, saith he, the sacrifice and the drink offering shall be taken away, and into the Temple [shall come] the abomination of desolation, and even to the completion of the time shall a completion be given over the desolation; now the half of the week is three years and six months.

§ 5. From all which not only the circumstances of the Apostasy are revealed, and the circumstances of that Being, who sums up in himself all diabolical error; but also that it is one and the same God the Father, who was announced by the Prophets and manifested by Christ. For if the Lord gave His approbation to Daniel’s predictions about the end,²³⁸⁵* in the words, When ye shall see the abomination of desolation which was spoken of by Daniel the Prophet; (now to Daniel the Angel Gabriel made an exposition of the visions: and he is an Archangel of the Creator, and the same who brought the good news to Mary of the visible Advent and Incarnation of Christ:) most evidently is one and the same God indicated, Who sent the Prophets, and sent forth His Son, and called us to the knowledge of Himself.

Chap. XXVI. § 1. Again, yet more expressly, hath John the Lord’s Disciple in the Apocalypse signified concerning the Last time, and the 10 Kings which shall be therein, among whom will be parted the Empire which now reigneth: expounding the 10 horns which were seen by Daniel: when he saith that thus it was spoken unto him:²³⁸⁶* And the ten horns which thou hast seen are 10 Kings, which have not yet received the Kingdom, but they shall receive power as Kings for one hour with the Beast. These have one mind, and they give their might and power to the Beast. These shall fight with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them, for He is Lord of Lords and King of Kings. Evident therefore it is that of these he that shall come will slay Three, and the rest shall be subject unto him, and he himself the eighth among them; and they shall waste Babylon and burn her with fire, and give their Kingdom unto the Beast, and drive out the Church: then afterwards they shall be destroyed by the coming of our Lord. For that the Kingdom must be divided, and so perish, the Lord saith,²³⁸⁷* Every Kingdom divided against itself shall be laid waste; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand. Both the Kingdom then and the City and the House must be divided into Ten: and therefore he already prefigured partition and division. And Daniel saith with exactness, that the end of the fourth Kingdom is the toes of the feet of that Image, which was seen by Nebuchadnezzar, upon which came the Stone cut out without hands,²³⁸⁸* and as he saith himself, The feet, [were] some part iron and some part clay, until a stone was cut out without hands, and smote the Image on the feet of iron and clay, and ground them small unto the end. Then afterwards in the explanation he saith,²³⁸⁹* And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of iron and part of clay, the Kingdom shall be divided, and there shall be in it of the iron root, as thou sawest the iron mingled with the potsherd. And the toes, some part of iron and some part of clay—(therefore as to the ten Toes, they are ten Kings, among whom the Kingdom shall be divided, of whom some will be strong and active or energetic, others again will be slothful and good for nothing, and they will not agree: as Daniel also saith:—) Some part of the Kingdom shall be strong,²³⁹⁰* and from that very portion part will be withdrawn. Whereas thou sawest iron mingled with earthen ware, there shall be mixtures in the seed of the men, and they shall not be joined one with another, as iron is not mingled with clay. And because there shall be an end,²³⁹¹* he saith, And in the days of those Kings shall the God of Heaven raise up a Kingdom which shall suffer no decay for ever, and the Kingdom thereof shall not be left unto another people. It shall crush and winnow all Kingdoms, and itself shall be exalted for ever. As thou sawest, that out of a Mountain was hewn a stone without hands, and it crushed clay, iron, and brass, and silver and gold: The Great God hath signified to the King the things that shall be hereafter: and the dream is true and the interpretation thereof faithful.

§ 2. If therefore the great God signified by Daniel things to come,²³⁹²* and confirmed them by His Son; and Christ is the Stone cut out without hands, which shall destroy temporal Kingdoms and bring in the Eternal One (which is the Resurrection of the just: The God of Heaven, saith he, will raise up again a Kingdom, which shall never be decayed for ever:)—let those repent, as they are confuted, who reject the Creator, and allow not that the Prophets are sent by that Father, from Whom the Lord also came, but affirm that the Prophecies were made by different Powers. For what things were foretold by the Creator through all the Prophets alike, those Christ fulfilled in the end, ministering to the will of His Father, and accomplishing what He had ordained touching mankind. Such therefore as blaspheme the Creator, either in express words and openly, as the party of Marcion, or by overthrowing His decree^2393f, as the Valentinians, and all who are falsely called Gnostics;—let all worshippers of God know them to be the instruments of Satan, by whom Satan now, and not before, hath been seen to reproach God, Who hath prepared everlasting fire for all apostasy. For he himself by himself openly dareth not to blaspheme his Lord: as also in the beginning he beguiled man by the Serpent, as though God saw him not.²³⁹⁴* Well said Justin, Before the Lord’s coming Satan never durst blaspheme God, as not yet knowing his own condemnation: how that both in parables and in allegories, it is so affirmed of him in the Prophets. But since the Coming of the Lord, he plainly learning from Christ’s and His Apostles’ discourses, that everlasting fire is prepared for him, departing as he doth from God of his own will;—as also for all who abide without penitence in their apostasy;—by men of that kind he blasphemes that God Who is bringing in the judgment, as one already condemned; and the sin of his own revolt he imputeth to his Maker, and not to his own will and mind: even as they also, who break laws and suffer penalties complain of the legislators and not of themselves. And so these also, full of a diabolical spirit, bring endless charges against our Maker, Who both gave us the Spirit of Life, and appointed a law meet for all: and they will have it that the judgment of God is not just. For which cause they imagine I know not what other Father, neither ordering nor taking thought for the matters which concern us, or even consenting to all sins.

Chap. XXVII. § 1. For if the Father judgeth not,²³⁹⁵* either it is nothing to Him, or He consenteth to all that is done here: and if He judgeth not, all persons will be on a level, and will be counted in the same lot. Therefore the Advent of Christ will be nugatory, and inconsistent with itself, in respect of His not judging.²³⁹⁶* For He came to divide a man against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law: and where two are in one bed, to take the one and leave the other:²³⁹⁷* and where two women are grinding in the mill, to take the one and leave the other:²³⁹⁸* in the end to bid the reapers gather together first the tares, and bind up bundles, and consume^2399g them with unquenchable fire, but gather the wheat into the barn:²⁴⁰⁰* and to call the lambs into the Kingdom prepared, while He dismisses the kids^2401h into fire everlasting, which is prepared by His Father for the Devil and his Angels.²⁴⁰²* And for why? The Word is come for the fall and rising again of many: for the fall of those who believe Him not, to whom also He hath threatened a greater condemnation in the judgment than that of Sodom and Gomorrha; but to the rising again of believeres, and of such as do the Will of His Father which is in Heaven.

If then the Advent of the Son cometh indeed upon all alike, yet is judicial, and a separater of believers and unbelievers, because of their own purpose believers do His Will, and of their own purpose the disobedient draw not nigh unto His teaching: plain it is, that His Father also made indeed all alike, having every one his own purpose, and free way of thinking; yet He looketh upon all, and provideth for all,²⁴⁰³* causing His Sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and raining on the just and unjust.

§ 2. And whatever beings keep their love towards God, to them He affords communion with Himself.²⁴⁰⁴* Now Communion with God is life and light, and enjoyment of the good things which are from Him. But whosoever in their purpose withdraw from God, upon them He bringeth separation from Himself. Now separation from God is Death; and separation from light is darkness, and separation from God is casting away all the good things which come from Him.²⁴⁰⁵* Those then, who by rebellion have cast away the things aforesaid, as being deprived of all good things, come to be in all manner of punishment. For though God punish them not by express dispensation, yet that punishment followeth after them, because they are deprived of all good things: and the good things from God being eternal and endless, the privation of them also is of course eternal and endless.²⁴⁰⁶* Just as Light being perpetual, those who have blinded themselves, or have been blinded by others, are in perpetuity deprived of the enjoyment of light; not that the Light inflicteth on them that penalty of blindness, but that the blindness of itself bringeth the distress upon them. And therefore our Lord said,²⁴⁰⁷* He that believeth in Me is not judged, i.e., is not separated from God: for by Faith he is united unto God. But he that believeth not, saith He, is already judged, because he hath not believed in the Name of the Only Begotten Son of God: i.e., he hath separated himself from God by a voluntary sentence.²⁴⁰⁸* For this is the judgment, that light is come into this world, and men loved Darkness rather than Light. For every one that doeth ill hateth the light and cometh not to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth His Will, cometh to the Light, that his deeds may be made manifest that he hath wrought them in God.

Chap. XXVIII. § 1. Since then in this world some run unto the light and by faith unite themselves unto God, others withdraw from the light and separate themselves from God; the Word of God taketh them up, bringing upon²⁴⁰⁹ⁱ all a meet [law of] habitation: upon those in the light, for their fruition of the good things which are in it^2410k; upon those in the darkness, for their partaking of the evil which is therein. Therefore He saith, that them on the Right Hand He hath summoned into the Kingdom of Heaven; those on the left He will send into the fire everlasting. For by themselves are they deprived of all good things.

§ 2. And therefore saith the Apostle,²⁴¹¹* For that they received not the love of God that they might be saved, therefore also God shall send them into a working of error, that they may believe a lie: that they all may be judged who believed not the truth, but consented unto iniquity. For when he cometh, and of his own purpose²⁴¹²³ summeth up the Apostasy into himself, and by his own will and decree doeth whatsoever he shall do,²⁴¹³* and sitteth in the Temple of God, that as Christ they may adore him who shall be seduced by him:²⁴¹⁴*—therefore also shall he be justly cast into the lake of fire: God for His part foreknowing all according to His Providence, and in due time sending him upon us who was to be such: that men might believe what is false^2415l, and be judged, even all who believed not the truth, but consented unto iniquity. Whose coming John in the Apocalypse hath thus intimated:²⁴¹⁶* And the beast which I saw^2417m was like unto a Leopard, and his feet as of a Bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a Lion; and the Dragon gave him his power and his throne and great authority, and one of his heads as it were wounded unto death, and the stroke of his death was healed, and the whole world wondered after the beast; and they worshipped the Dragon because he gave power unto the beast; and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto this beast, and who can fight with him? And there was given him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemy, and power was given him for forty two months. And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, blaspheming His Name and His Tabernacle, and them that dwell in Heaven. And power was given him over every tribe and people and tongue and nation. And all adored him who dwell on the earth, whose name is not written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. If any man hath ears let him hear. Whosoever shall lead into captivity shall go into captivity. Whosoever shall kill with the sword he must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and faith of the Saints.²⁴¹⁸* Then afterwards concerning his armour bearer whom he also calleth “the false Prophet,” He spake,²⁴¹⁹* saith he, like a dragon, and he did all the power of the first beast before him: and he maketh the Earth and them that dwell therein to adore the first beast, the stroke of whose death was healed. And he shall do great signs, so as to make even fire to come down from Heaven to earth before men: and he shall seduce them that dwell on the earth. These things he saith, that no man may think him to do signs by the power of God, but by magical working. And no wonder, if when demons and apostate spirits minister unto him, he work signs by them, whereby he may deceive them that dwell on the earth.

And an Image,²⁴²⁰* saith he, will he command to be made for the beast, and he will give breath to the image, so that the Image may even speak; and those who will not worship it, he will cause to be slain. And a mark too, saith he, he will cause to be put upon the forehead and in the right hand, that no man may buy or sell, unless he have the mark of the beast’s name, or the number of his name, and that the number is 666, i.e.,²⁴²¹* six hundreds and ten sixes and six Individuals, for the summing up of all his apostacy which took place in 6,000 years.

§ 3. For in what number of days the world was made, in the same number of thousands of years is it brought to its consummation.²⁴²²* And therefore saith the Scripture, And the Heaven and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And God ended on the sixth day His works which He made, and God rested on the seventh day from all His works. Now this is a narrative of the past, and a prophecy of the future.²⁴²³* For the day of the Lord is as 1000 years. In six days then were completed the things which were made: evidently then, their consummation is the 6000th year.

§ 4. And for this cause in all time, Man who was framed in the beginning by the hands of God, i.e.,²⁴²⁴* of the Son and Spirit, is being made after the Image and Similitude of God, by the casting away of the chaff, that is the Apostasy, and by the gathering into the garner of the Wheat, that is of such as by faith bear fruit unto God. And therefore is tribulation necessary for such as are saved, that being in a manner bruised, and beaten small, and by patience kneaded up²⁴²⁵ⁿ with the Word of God, and put into the fire, they may be meet for the King’s Banquet: as said one of our people, condemned to the Wild Beasts for his witness unto God: “I am God’s corn and by teeth of wild beasts am being ground, that I may be found a pure loaf²⁴²⁶⁴.”

Chap. XXIX. § 1. As to the causes why God permitted these things so to take place we have rendered them in the former books: and have shewn that all such things are wrought for him who is saved, even man: [God] ripening for immortality that [in him] which hath free will and power of its own, and preparing him to be more meet for everlasting submission unto God. And to this end the Creation is all laid out upon man: for not man for it, but the creature is made for Man. But as to the nations which did not so much as lift up their eyes unto Heaven, nor give thanks to their Maker, nor would see the light of Truth, but are as blind mice hidden in the deep of Folly: justly hath the Word accounted them as a drop from the cask,²⁴²⁷* and as the make-weight of the balance and as nothing;²⁴²⁸* to be so far useful and meet for the righteous, as the stubble is of use for the growth of the wheat, and the chaff thereof for burning, for the working of gold. And therefore, when in the end the Church shall be suddenly taken up from hence,²⁴²⁹* There shall be, saith He, tribulation such as was not from the beginning, neither shall be. For this is the last struggle of the righteous, wherein they who overcome are crowned with incorruption.

§ 2. And therefore, in the Beast, when he cometh, there ensues a summing up of all iniquity and all deceit;²⁴³⁰* that in him all the power of rebellion, running into one and shut up in one, may slip down the furnace of fire. Suitably then will his name also have the number 666: he summing up in himself all the wickedness which was before the Flood, the commixture caused by the Angels’ revolt. I mean that Noe was 600 years old, when the Flood came upon the earth for the blotting out of the rebellion of the earth caused by that most wicked generation which was in the times of Noe:—summing up also all the error which hath been since the flood, devising of idols; and the slaughter of the Prophets; and the burning of the just.²⁴³¹* For the Image of Nabuchodonosor which was set up, was in height sixty cubits and in width six cubits: because of which also Ananias and Azarias and Misael, not adoring it, were cast into the furnace of fire: by that which happened unto them prophesying the burning of the righteous, which is to take place towards the end. For that Image was altogether a prefiguring of the coming of Antichrist, decreeing that he himself alone should be worshipped by all men altogether.

The 600 years then of Noe,²⁴³²* in whose time the Flood happened because of the Apostasy, and the number of cubits of the Image, on account of which the righteous were thrown into the furnace of fire, signify, as was said, the number of the name, into which number is summed up out of the 6000 years all apostasy, and iniquity, and wickedness, and false prophecy, and deceit, because of which also the Flood of Fire will come on.

Chap. XXX. § 1. Now such being the state of the case, and this number being set down in all the good and old copies, and testimony being given by the persons themselves who had seen John with their eyes,²⁴³³* and reason teaching us that the number of the name of the Beast, according to the Greeks’ reckoning, by the letters therein, will have 600, and 60, and 6: i.e., as many tens as hundreds, and as many hundreds as units; (for the number or digit six, being retained in all alike, indicates the summings up of his whole apostacy, which shall be both in the beginning, and in the intermediate times, and in the end;) some, I know not how, have erred, following a particular reading²⁴³⁴⁵, and have taken liberties with the middle number of the name, subtracting the value of fifty, and choosing to have one decade instead of six. And this I suppose to have been the fault of the transcribers, as often happens, since numbers also are expressed by letters;—that the Greek letter which expresses the number sixty was spread out into the Grecians’ letter Iota; and others receiving this without enquiry, some indeed simply and unseasonably dwelt upon it; others in mistaken subtlety ventured also to seek out a name having the mistaken and erroneous number.²⁴³⁵* Now those who did so simply and innocently will in all likelihood find pardon from God: but all who through vain glory lay it down that names of a mistaken number are enacted by law, and define the Name contrived by themselves as being that of him who is to come:—these will not go away guiltless, having moreover deceived both themselves and those who put confidence in them. Wherein, first, there is damage in their missing the Truth and receiving that which is not as though it had being:²⁴³⁶* Next, whereas he that addeth to or taketh from the Scripture, hath no small penalty laid on him; such an one must needs incur the penalty. And another, no ordinary danger, will attend on those who have falsely assumed that they know the Name of Antichrist, viz., that if they think it one, and he shall come having another, they will be easily seduced by him: as though the Being whom they ought to watch against were not yet present.

§ 2. Such then must learn, and quickly turn back to the true number of the Name;²⁴³⁷* that they may not be accounted as false Prophets. But knowing the fixed number which has been declared by Scripture, i.e., 666, let them await first the division of the Kingdom into ten: then afterwards while they are reigning, and beginning to amend their own affairs and to increase their Kingdom; he that shall come suddenly claiming the Kingdom for himself, and shall alarm those whom I have spoken of, having the name in which is the aforesaid number; him they must know to be truly the Abomination of Desolation. As also saith the Apostle,²⁴³⁸* When they shall say, Peace and Defence, then sudden destruction shall come upon them. And Jeremias hath signified not only his sudden approach, but also the tribe of which he shall come,²⁴³⁹* saying, From Dan we heard the sound of the swiftness of his horses: at the voice of the neighing of the finishing course of his horses shall the whole earth be moved: and he shall come and devour the earth, and the fulness thereof, and the city, and them that dwell therein. And therefore the aforesaid Tribe is not named in the Apocalypse among those which are saved.

§ 3. It is then safer and less perilous to await the event of the prophecy,²⁴⁴⁰* than to make aims and auguries about the name. And it being perhaps possible for the same number to be found in many names, this same question will nevertheless continue. For if many names are found having the same number, it will be asked which of them he that cometh will bear.

Now to shew that not for lack of names having the number of this name do we so speak, bat in fear of God and jealousy for the truth: I say that the name ΕΥΑΝΘΑΣ hath the number of which we are enquiring: but we affirm nothing of it. Yea, and the name ΛΑΤΕΙΝΟΣ hath the number of 666: and it is very probable that the last Kingdom hath this Word. For they who now reign are Latini. But not in this will we boast ourselves. Yea, and TEITAN also, if you write the first syllable by the two Greek vowels E and J, is msot worthy of credit of all the names which we have. For it both contains in itself the aforesaid number, and is of six letters, each syllable consisting of three letters, and it is old, and withdrawn [from use]; for neither of our own Kings hath any one been called Titan,²⁴⁴¹* nor any one of the idols which are publicly adored among Greeks or Barbarians hath this name; and this name is thought among many to be divine, so that even the Sun is called Titan by those who now prevail: and it hath in it a certain shew of revenge, and of one inflicting a penalty: in that he of whom we speak feigns himself the avenger of the wronged. And for the rest, it is also ancient, and trustworthy, and a royal, or rather even a tyrannical Name. Since therefore this name of Titan hath such a store of plausibilities, it hath however just so much likelihood, as that we may many ways infer that he who shall come may possibly be called Titan. We, you see, do not venture anything as concerning the name of Antichrist, in the way of positive affirmation. For if it were meet that at this time his name should be expressly proclaimed, it would have been spoken by him who also saw the Apocalypse.²⁴⁴²* For at no long time ago was it seen, but almost in our generation, in the end of Domitian’s reign.

§ 4. But this number of his name he shewed,²⁴⁴³* that we should be on our guard against him when he cometh, as knowing who he is: though of his name he was silent, for it is not worthy to be proclaimed by the Holy Ghost. For had it been proclaimed by Him, perhaps also it would be of long endurance. But now since he was and is not, and shall come up from the abyss,²⁴⁴⁴* and go to destruction, as though he were not; so neither is his name proclaimed: for of him who is not, neither is the name proclaimed. However, when this Antichrist shall have wasted all things in this world, reigning three years and six months, and shall have sat in the Temple of Jerusalem:²⁴⁴⁵* then shall the Lord come from Heaven in the clouds, in the glory of the Father, on the one hand sending him and his subjects into the lake of fire; on the other bringing with Him to the Just, the times of the Kingdom, i.e., the rest, the seventh day sanctified; and restoring to Abraham the promise of the inheritance: in which Kingdom the Lord saith,²⁴⁴⁶* that many coming from the East and West, sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Chap. XXXI. § 1. But because some of those who are thought to have believed aright overpass the order of the advancement of the just, and know not of the movements which train them for incorruption, having in themselves heretical thoughts: (For the heretics despising God’s handywork and not accepting the salvation of their own flesh; scorning also the promise of God, and in thought overpassing God altogether; say that as soon as they are dead they overpass the Heavens and the Creator, and go to their Mother, or to that Father whom they feign to themselves.²⁴⁴⁷* Those accordingly who reject the whole truth of the Resurrection, and as far as in them lies take it out of the way, no wonder if neither do they know the order of the Resurrection; not chusing to understand, that if these things were as they say, of course neither would the Lord Himself, in Whom they profess to believe, have wrought His Resurrection on the third day: but expiring on the Cross, of course He would presently have departed on high, leaving His Body to the earth. But now for three days, He abode in the place of the dead as the Prophet saith of Him: The Lord remembered His holy dead, those who before slept in the land of burial; and He went down unto them, to draw them out, and save them. And the Lord also Himself:²⁴⁴⁸* Even, saith He, as Jonas abode in the whale’s belly three days and three nights, so shall also the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth. Yea, and the Apostle saith,²⁴⁴⁹* But that He ascended, what is it but that He also descended into the lower parts of the Earth? This also saith David, prophesying of Him:²⁴⁵⁰* And Thou hast delivered my soul from the nethermost Hell. And rising again on the third day, to Mary also, who first saw and adored Him,²⁴⁵¹* He said, Touch Me not, for I am not yet ascended unto the Father, but go to the Disciples, and say unto them, I ascend unto My Father and your Father.

§ 2. If therefore the Lord observed the Law of the Dead, that He might he made the First-born from the dead, and lodged unto the third day in the lower parts of the earth; then afterwards, rising in the Flesh, that He might shew also the prints of the nails to His Disciples, did thereupon ascend to the Father: how should they not be confounded, who say, first, that “the lower region” is this world with which we are concerned: secondly, that their own Inner Man, leaving the Body here, ascends into the higher place? For the Lord having departed in the midst of the Shadow of Death, where the souls of the dead were, afterwards in course He rose again in the Body, and after His Resurrection was taken up: evidently the souls of His disciples also, for whose sake indeed the Lord wrought these things, go away into the invisible place which is appointed for them by God, and there come and go, awaiting the Resurrection; afterwards receiving back their bodies, and rising again entirely, i.e., bodily, as the Lord Himself arose, so will they come unto the Vision of God.²⁴⁵²* For none that is a disciple is above his Master, but every one that is perfect shall be as his Master. As therefore our Master did not straightway soar away and depart, but awaiting the time of His Resurrection appointed by the Father (which also was shewn by Jonas), and after three days arising, was taken up: so must we also await the time of our Resurrection appointed by God, foretold by the Prophets, and after that arise and be taken up, as many as our Lord shall account worthy thereof.)

Chap. XXXII. § 1. Because, I say, certain men have opinions imported from the discourses of heretics, and know not the counsels of God, and the mystery of the Resurrection of the Just, and of the Kingdom which is the beginning of incorruption, by which Kingdom such as have been worthy by little and little are used to comprehend God—therefore it is needful too to speak of them,²⁴⁵³* how that it is appointed that the righteous first, in this creation which is being renewed, rising again at the appearance of God, should receive the promise of the inheritance which God promised unto the Fathers, and reign therein: then in course the judgment take place. For in that Creation wherein they laboured, or were afflicted, being in all ways proved by suffering, in the same it is meet for them to receive the fruits of Suffering: and in what creation they were slain for the love of God, in the same to be brought to life: and in what creation they endured slavery, in the same they should reign. For God is rich in all things, and all things are His. The Creation therefore itself must be renewed to its old condition, and without hindrance serve the righteous: and this the Apostle hath made evident in the Epistle to the Romans thus speaking,²⁴⁵⁴* For the expectation of the creature waiteth for the revelation of the sons of God. For the creature is made subject unto vanity, not willingly, but because of him who hath subjected it in hope: because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the sons of God.

§ 2. Thus then also the promise of God, which He made unto Abraham, remaineth firm.²⁴⁵⁵* For He said, Look upward with thine eyes, and behold from this place, where thou now art, to the North, and South, and East, and West, for all the Land which thou seest, unto thee will I give and to thy seed for ever.²⁴⁵⁶* And again He saith, Arise, go into the Land in its length and in its breadth: for I will give it thee. And he received not inheritance in it, not even a Foot step: but was always a pilgrim and a stranger therein.²⁴⁵⁷* And when Sarah his wife died, the Hittites consenting to grant him for nothing a place to bury her, he would not accept it; but bought the sepulchre, giving forty double pieces of silver,²⁴⁵⁸* from Effron son of Seor the Hittite; awaiting God’s Promise, and unwilling to seem to receive of men what God had engaged to give him, saying to him thus a second time,²⁴⁵⁹* To thy seed will I give this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river Euphrates. If then to him God promised the inheritance of the Land, and he did not receive it in all his own time of habitation there; it must be received by him and his seed, i.e., by them that fear God, and believe in Him in the resurrection of the just.²⁴⁶⁰* But his seed is the Church, receiving by the Lord the Adoption unto God; as said John Baptist,²⁴⁶¹* That God is able of stones to raise up sons unto Abraham. Yea, and the Apostle saith in the Epistle to the Galatians,²⁴⁶²* But ye, brethren, as Isaac, are children of Promise. And again in the same he saith plainly, that those who have believed in Christ receive Christ, the Promise of Abraham;²⁴⁶³* thus speaking, To Abraham and his seed were the Promises made. And he saith not, And to seeds, as of many, but as of one, ‘And to thy seed;’ which is Christ. And again, confirming what hath been said, he saith, As Abraham believed God,²⁴⁶⁴* and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Ye know then that they which are of faith are sons of Abraham. And the Scripture foreseeing that God justifieth the Gentiles by Faith, preached before unto Abraham, ‘In thee shall all nations be blessed.’ So then they which are of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. You see then how they which are of faith shall be blessed with faithful Abraham, and these are Abraham’s sons. Now God promised the inheritance of the Land^2465o to Abraham and his seed; and neither Abraham nor his seed, i.e., those who are justified by faith, now receive an inheritance therein: but they shall receive it in the Resurrection of the Just. For God is true and stedfast: and therefore He said that the meek are blessed,²⁴⁶⁶* for they shall inherit the earth.

Chap. XXXIII. § 1. And with a view to this, when coming to His Passion, that He might preach to Abraham, and those who were with him, that Gospel which revealed their inheritance;—when with the Cup in His Hands He had given thanks, and had drunk of it, and given it to His Disciples, He said to them, Drink ye all of it;²⁴⁶⁷* This is My Blood of the New Testament, which shall be shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say unto you, I will not henceforth drink of the fruit of this vine,²⁴⁶⁸* until that day in which I shall drink it new with you in My Father’s Kingdom. That is, He it is who shall renew the inheritance of the Earth, and shall perfect afresh the mystery of the glory of the sons, as David saith, Who renewed the face of the earth.²⁴⁶⁹* He promised to drink of the fruit of the vine with His disciples, intimating both the inheritance of the Earth wherein is drunk the new fruit of the vine, and the bodily Resurrection of His Disciples. For the flesh which ariseth new, that it is which received the Cup which is also new: since neither can we understand Him as drinking the fruit of the vine when He hath taken His place with His own on high in the region above all Heavens; neither again are they who drink it without flesh: for the drink which is received of the vine is a thing belonging to the flesh and not to the spirit.

§ 2. And therefore said our Lord,²⁴⁷⁰* When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not rich men, nor friends and neighbours and kinsmen, lest they in turn call thee, and a recompense be made from them: but call the lame, the blind, the beggars; and thou shalt be blessed, for they have not wherewith to recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed in the resurrection of the just.²⁴⁷¹* And again He saith, Whosoever shall put away fields, or houses, or parents, or brethren, or children for My sake, shall receive a hundred fold in this world, and in the world to come shall inherit eternal life. For what are in this world the hundred fold recompenses,²⁴⁷²* and dinners which are given to the poor, and suppers which are repaid? All this is in the times of the Kingdom, i.e., in the seventh day, which is sanctified, wherein God rested from all His works which He made, which is the true Sabbath of the just, wherein they shall do no earthly work, but shall have set by them a Table prepared of God, feeding them with a perfect feast.

§ 3. As the blessing also of Isaac hath it, wherewith he blessed his younger son Jacob:²⁴⁷³* See, saith he, the smell of my son is as the smell of a full field, which God hath blessed. but “the field is the world;”²⁴⁷⁴* and therefore he added, God give thee of the dew of Heaven,²⁴⁷⁵* and of the fatness of the Earth, plenty of wheat and wine. And let nations serve thee and princes worship thee, and be Lord of thy brother, and thy father’s sons shall worship thee. He that curseth thee shall be cursed, and he that blesseth thee shall be blessed. You see that if one receive not all this as of the foreordained things of the Kingdom,²⁴⁷⁶* he will fall into great contradiction and inconsistency, even as the Jews fall, and find themselves in entire perplexity. For so far from the nations serving Jacob in this life, he himself after the blessing went out and served his uncle Laban the Syrian for twenty years: and so far from his being made Lord of his brother,²⁴⁷⁷* he himself worshipped his brother Esau, when he returned from Mesopotamia to his father;²⁴⁷⁸* and offered him many gifts. And how did he here inherit plenty of corn and wine, who through the famine which took place in the land where he dwelt, emigrated into Egypt, being made subject unto Pharaoh, who then reigned in Egypt? Wherefore the aforesaid blessing relates unquestionably to the times of the Kingdom, when the Just shall reign, rising again from the dead; when^2479p also the creature, being renewed and delivered, shall bring forth plenty of all kind of nourishment, of the dew of Heaven, and of the fatness of the earth: as the Presbyters who had seen John the Lord’s disciple remembered that they had heard of him, how the Lord used to teach concerning those times, and to say, “Days shall come, wherein vineyards shall grow, having each 10000 main shoots: and in one main shoot 10000 branches and in one main shoot^2480q again 10000 sprigs, and upon every sprig 10000 clusters, and in every cluster 10000 grapes, and every grape when pressed shall yield twenty five measures of wine. And when any one of those saints shall lay hold of a cluster, another cluster shall exclaim, I am a better cluster, take me, by me bless the Lord.” In like manner also that a grain of wheat would bear 10000 ears, and that every ear would have 10000 grains, and every grain ten pounds of clear and clean flour: and the fruits too, and seeds, and the grass, in the proportion following on this: and that all animals using as food the things which are received from the earth, should come to be at peace and agreement one with another, submitting themselves to men with entire submission.

§ 4. And these things Papias also, who was a hearer of John and companion of Polycarp, an ancient man, testifies in writing in the fourth of his books: for there are five books compiled by him. And he added and said, For these things are such as believers may believe. And “when Judas,” saith he, “the traitor, did not believe, and enquired, How then shall produce^2481r such as these be brought to pass by the Lord? the Lord said, They shall see who shall come to that state of things.” These times therefore Isaiah is foretelling when he says,²⁴⁸²* And the wolf shall feed with the lamb, and the leopard shall rest with the kid, and the calf and the bull and the lion shall feed together, and a little boy shall lead them! And the ox and the bear shall feed together, and their little ones shall be together: and the lion and the ox shall eat chaff. And the infant boy shall put his hand on the hole of asps, and on the lair of the asp’s brood, and they shall not hurt, nor be able to destroy any one in My holy mountain.²⁴⁸³* And again, summing up, he saith, Then wolves and lambs shall feed together, and the lion shall eat chaff like the ox, and the serpent earth as it were bread, and they shall not hurt nor vex in My holy mountain, saith the Lord.

Now I am aware that some endeavour to transfer all this to wild persons,²⁴⁸⁴* and to such as believe out of diverse nations and diverse doings, and having believed, are of one mind with the righteous. But although this be now the case among some men, coming out of various nations to one mind concerning the Faith: nevertheless in the resurrection of the Just [it will be so] with those animals, as was said: For God is rich in all things. And it is meet that the creature being recalled, all living things should obey and be subject unto Man, and that, as they were subject unto Adam in their obedience, they should return to the food which was first given of God, i.e., the fruit of the Earth. And besides this, we cannot now point out how that a Lion eateth chaff. Now this was to intimate the greatness and richness of the produce. For if the Lion, the [literal] animal, feedeth on chaff, of what sort will the wheat itself be,²⁴⁸⁵* whose chaff shall be meet for the food of lions?

Chap. XXXIV. § 1. But Esaias himself hath distinctly declared that such joy shall be in the Resurrection of the Just, thus speaking:²⁴⁸⁶* The dead shall rise again, and they who are in the graves shall arise, and they who are in the earth shall rejoice. For the dew which is of thee, is health unto them. This same Ezekiel also saith,²⁴⁸⁷* And behold I will open your graves, and bring you out of your graves; in the time when I shall bring My people from the graves, I will both put My Spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I will place you upon your own land, and ye shall know that I am the Lord. And again the same speaketh thus:²⁴⁸⁸* Thus saith the Lord, I will gather Israel from all nations, where they are scattered, and I will be sanctified in them in the sight of the children of the Heathen: and they shall dwell in their own land which I have given to My servant Jacob, and they shall dwell on the same in hope, and shall build houses, and plant vineyards, and dwell in hope, when I shall execute judgment on all who have dishonoured them, on those who are around them, and they shall know that I am the Lord their God and the God of their Fathers. Now we shewed a little before that the Church is the seed of Abraham; and therefore, that we might know how that in the New Testament after^2489s the Old, [there will be] one who shall gather out of all nations such as shall be saved, raising from the stones children unto Abraham, Jeremiah saith, Behold,²⁴⁹⁰* the days come, saith the Lord, that they shall say no more, The Lord liveth, Who brought the children of Israel^2491t from the North, and from every region whither they had been driven; He shall restore them into their own land, which He gave unto their fathers.

§ 2. That the whole creature shall be at men’s will for increase and growth unto the bearing and nourishing of such fruits,²⁴⁹²* Esaias saith, And there shall be upon every high mountain, and upon every lofty hill, water passing through in that day, when many shall perish, when walls shall fall down. And the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, seven times that of day, when He shall heal the bruise of His people, and heal the grief of their wound. But the grief is of that wound whereby man disobedient in Adam, was smitten at first:²⁴⁹³* i.e., death, which God shall heal, raising us from the dead, and restoring us to the fathers’ inheritance:²⁴⁹⁴* as Esaias saith again: And thou shalt be trusting in the Lord, and He will make thee to enter in upon the whole earth, and feed thee with the inheritance of Jacob thy father.²⁴⁹⁵* This is what the Lord spake of: Blessed are those servants, whom the Lord when He cometh shall find watching. Verily I say unto you that He shall gird Himself and make them sit down, and pass along and minister unto them. And if He shall come in the evening watch, and find it so, blessed are they, for He shall make them sit down and minister unto them; though it be in the second, and though it be in the third, blessed are they. And this same John also saith in the Apocalypse,²⁴⁹⁶* Blessed and holy is he who hath part in the first resurrection. And the time also is announced by Esaias when these things shall be:²⁴⁹⁷* And I said, saith he, For how long, Lord? Until the cities be desolate not to be inhabited, and the houses that there be no men, and the land^2498u shall he left desolate. And after this God shall make us men to be afar off, and those who shall have remained shall be multiplied in²⁴⁹⁹⁶ the earth. Yea, and Daniel too saith the very same:²⁵⁰⁰* And the Kingdom and the Power and the greatness of the things which are under Heaven is given to the Saints of the Most High God, and His Kingdom is everlasting, and all principalities shall serve and obey Him. And that the Promise may not be thought to be spoken of this time, it was said to the Prophet,²⁵⁰¹* And do thou come and stand in thy lot in the end of the days.

§ 3. And to shew that the promises were announced not to the Prophets only and Fathers,²⁵⁰²* but to the Churches also gathered from among the Gentiles, which also the Spirit ealleth Islands; and that they are established in the midst of confusion and endure the storms of blasphemies, and are a saving harbour to those in danger, and a refuge to those who love what is on high and endeavour to escape the Abyss²⁵⁰³⁷, i.e., the deep of error, Jeremiah saith thus:²⁵⁰⁴* Hear the Word of the Lord, ye Gentiles, and tell it unto the Islands which are afar off: say ye, that the Lord will winnow Israel, He will gather him and will keep him, as one feeding the flock of his sheep: for the Lord hath redeemed Jacob, and delivered him from the hand of him that is stronger than he. And they shall come and rejoice in Mount Sion, and shall come unto good things, and to a land of wheat and wine and fruits and cattle and sheep, and their soul shall he as a fruitful tree, and they shall not hunger any more. And then shall the virgins rejoice in the congregation of the young men, and the elders shall be glad, and I will turn their mourning into joy, and will make them to be in exultation, and will magnify them, and I will satisfy as with drink the soul of the Priests the sons of Levi, and My people shall be filled with My good things. Now we have shewn in the former book, how the Levites and Priests are all the Lord’s disciples:²⁵⁰⁵* who did also profane the Sabbath in the Temple, and are blameless. And so such promises most evidently signify the feasting of the righteous in the Kingdom on that creation, which God engages Himself to minister [unto them.]

§ 4. Further: of Jerusalem and of him that reigneth in her, Esaias saith, Thus saith the Lord:²⁵⁰⁶* blessed is he that hath his seed in Sion and them of his house^2507v in Jerusalem.²⁵⁰⁸* Behold, the Just King shall reign and princes shall rule with judgment. And of the material prepared for its rebuilding he saith,²⁵⁰⁹* Behold, I will prepare for thee for stone carbuncle, and the foundations [to be] sapphire, and I will make thy bulwarks Jasper, and thy gates a chrystal stone, and thy rampart choice stones, and all thy sons to be taught of God, and thy sons in much peace, and in justice shalt thou be builded.²⁵¹⁰* And again this same saith, Behold I make Jerusalem and My people a joy: also there shall not be heard in her the voice of weeping, nor the voice of crying; also there shall not become there immature or aged, so as not to fulfil his time. For the young man shall be an hundred years old: but the sinner dying an hundred years old shall be also accursed. And they shall build houses and themselves inhabit; and they shall plant vineyards and themselves eat the fruits of them, and drink the wine. And they shall not build and others inhabit: neither shall prop and others eat. For as the days of the tree of life shall be the days of the people in thee; for the works of their labours will grow old.

Chap. XXXV. § 1. But if some should have endeavoured to allegorize the sayings which are of this kind; first they will not be able to be found consistent with themselves in all things,²⁵¹¹* and next they will be refuted by the sayings themselves, expressing the case of the cities of the Gentiles being laid waste, and not inhabited, and the house, because there are no persons,²⁵¹²* and the land shall he left desert.²⁵¹³* For behold, saith Isaiah, the incurable day of the Lord cometh, full of fury and anger, to make the city of the land desolate, and to destroy the sinners out of it.²⁵¹⁴* And again he saith, Let her be taken away, that she may not see the glory of the Lord; and when this shall have happened,²⁵¹⁵* God, saith he, shall remove men to a distance, and the forsaken shall be multiplied in the earth. And they shall build houses and themselves inhabit them,²⁵¹⁶* and shall prop vines and themselves eat. For all these other passages are unquestionably spoken of a Resurrection of the just, which happeneth after the coming of Antichrist and the perdition of all the nations subsisting under him: in which [Resurrection] the just shall reign upon earth, growing by their sight of the Lord, and by Him shall be accustomed to comprehend the glory of God the Father, and shall receive conversation and communion with the holy Angels and unity of spiritual things in the Kingdom. Also [they are spoken of] those whom the Lord will find in the flesh, awaiting Him from Heaven, and having suffered tribulation—who also shall have escaped the hands of the Unjust one. And these are they of whom the Prophet saith, And the forsaken^2517w shall be multiplied in the earth. And as many of the believers as God hath prepared for this, that they are made to multiply the remnant in the earth and under the Kingdom of the Saints, and that they minister to this Jerusalem, and are a Kingdom in it,²⁵¹⁸* Jeremiah the Prophet signified, saying, Look around towards the East, O Jerusalem, and see the gladness which cometh unto thee from God Himself. Behold, thy sons shall come, whom thou didst send out, gathered from the East even unto the West by the Word of that Holy one, rejoicing in the brightness which cometh of thy God. Put off, O Jerusalem, the dress of thy mourning and affliction, and put on the beauty of that glory which is of thy God for ever: wrap thyself in a double garment of the righteousness which is of thy God: put on thy head the mitre of everlasting glory. For God will shew thy brightness to the whole of her which is under Heaven. For thy name shall be called by God Himself for ever, The Peace of Righteousness and of glory to God who careth for thee^2519x. Arise, O Jerusalem, and stand on high, and look around towards the East, and see thy sons gathered from the rising of the Sun unto the West by the Word of That Holy One, rejoicing in their being so remembered of God. For they went out of thee on foot, being led by their enemies to be theirs. God shall bring them in unto thee, borne [by them] with glory, as the Throne of a Kingdom. For God hath decreed that every high mountain should be humbled, and the everlasting heaps, and that the vallies should be filled, to the levelling the surface of the earth, that Israel may walk safely in the glory of God. And by precept of God the woods have woven their canopies for him, even Israel; yea, every tree of sweet savour^2520y. For God will go before with joy in the light of His brightness with the mercy and justice which is of Him.

§ 2. Now all these Sayings, being such as they are,²⁵²¹* cannot be understood of things above the Heavens; (For God saith he, will shew thy brightness to the whole of her which is under Heaven;) but of the times of the Kingdom, when the earth is again summoned by Christ, and Jerusalem rebuilt, after the pattern of the Jerusalem which is above, whereof the Prophet Esaias saith,²⁵²²* Behold, I have painted thy Walls upon My hands, and thou art in My sight for ever. And the Apostle also writing to the Galatians saith likewise,²⁵²³* But that Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all; saying this not as having in his mind some wandering Æon, or Virtue departed from the Pleroma, or some “Prunicus;” but a Jerusalem which is delineated by hands. And the descending upon the new earth was seen by John in the Apocalypse. For after the times of the Kingdom,²⁵²⁴* I saw, saith he, a great white Throne and Him that sat on it, from whose face earth and Heaven fled away, and there is no place for them. And he proceeds to set forth the details of the general Resurrection and Judgment, saying that he saw the dead,²⁵²⁵* great and lesser. The Sea,²⁵²⁶* he saith, gave up the dead which she had in her, and death and hell gave up the dead which they had in them; and the Books were opened.²⁵²⁷* Yea and the Book of Life also, he saith, was opened, and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the Books, according to their works:²⁵²⁸* and death and hell were cast into the lake of fire, the second death.²⁵²⁹* Now this is what is called Gehenna, which the Lord called eternal fire. And if any one, saith he, was not found written in the Book of Life, he was cast into the Lake of Fire.²⁵³⁰* And after this he Saith, I saw a new Heaven and a new earth; for the first Heaven and earth went away; also there is no sea. And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from Heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her Husband. And I heard, saith he, a great voice out of the Throne, saying, Behold, the Tabernacle of God is with men, and He shall dwell with them, and they shall be His peoples, and God Himself shall be with them, their God. And He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes, and Death shall be no more, nor grief, not crying, neither shall pain be any more, for the first things have passed away. And Esaias too saith the very Same:²⁵³¹* For there shall be a new Heaven and a new Earth, and they shall not be mindful of the former ones, neither shall it come into their heart, but joy and gladness shall they find therein. This again is what was said by the Apostle,²⁵³²* For the fashion of this world passeth away.²⁵³³* Likewise also the Lord saith, Earth and Heaven shall pass away.

So then, these passing away, the Lord’s Disciple John saith that the higher Jerusalem descends upon the new Earth, as a bride adorned for her husband; and that this is the tabernacle of God, wherein God will dwell with men. An Image of this Jerusalem is that Jerusalem which is in the former earth: wherein the Just rehearse Incorruption, and are prepared for salvation. And a Type of this Tabernacle Moses received in the Mount: and nothing can be allegorized, but it is all firm and true and substantial, which God hath wrought for the fruition of righteous men. For as He is truly God, who raiseth up man; so also man truly riseth from the dead, and not in a figure: as we have shewn at such length^2534a. And as he truly riseth, so will he likewise truly rehearse incorruption, and will be increased and flourish in the times of the Kingdom, that he may be made capable of the glory of the Father. After that, all^2535b being made new, he shall truly dwell^2536c in the city of God. For it is said, He that sitteth on the Throne saith,²⁵³⁷* Behold, I make all things new. And the Lord saith, Write it all, for these sayings are faithful and true. And He said unto me, They are done. And that with all reason.

Chap. XXXVI. § 1. For since men are real, the plantation^2538d also of them must be real; yea, and it must not go out into things which are not, but go forward in things which are. For it is not that the subsistence nor the essence of the Creation is annihilated (seeing that He who framed it is true and constant) but the fashion of this world passeth away, i.e., in those things in which transgression hath taken place, for in them man hath waxed old. And therefore was this fashion made temporary, God knowing all beforehand; as we have explained in the preceding Book: and have set forth as we might the cause of the formation of the temporal things of the world.

Now when this fashion has passed away, and Man is made young again, and hath become ripe for incorruption, so as never more to be susceptible of decay from age²⁵³⁹⁸, there shall be the new Heaven and the new Earth: in them, being new, shall man abide always new, and in Communion with God. And to shew that this will always continue,²⁵⁴⁰* without end, Esaias saith, For as the new Heaven and the new Earth, which I make, abide before Me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name stand. And as the Elders say,²⁵⁴¹* then also both those who are deemed meet for the heavenly abode shall depart thither, and others shall enjoy the deliciousness of Paradise, and others possess the brightness of the city; for in every place shall the Saviour be seen, according as they who see Him shall be worthy.

§ 2. And that this is the distinction of the abode of those who bear fruit,²⁵⁴²* some a hundred fold, some sixty, some thirty: whereof the one sort shall be taken up into the Heavens, the next shall abide in Paradise, others again shall inherit the city: and that on this account the Lord said, In My Father’s House are many mansions.²⁵⁴³* For all things belong to God, who bestoweth on all their proper habitation: as His Word saith, that to all distribution is made by the Father, according as each one is or shall be worthy. And this is the couch with three compartments, on which shall recline all who feast having been invited to the marriage.

That such is the order and arrangement of those who are saved, we are told by Elders, disciples of the Apostles; and that by the aforesaid degrees they advance, and first by the Spirit ascend unto the Son, then by the Son unto the Father; The Son in process of time, yielding up His work to the Father; as also was said by the Apostle:²⁵⁴⁴* That He must reign, until He shall put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. (For in the times of the Kingdom the just man being upon earth, shall for the future forget to die.) But when,²⁵⁴⁵* saith he, He affirmeth, ‘All things are subject,’ of course it is besides Him who subjected all. But when all things shall have been subdued unto Him, then the Son Himself shall be subject unto Him that put all things under Him, that God may be all in all.

§3. Attentively then did John foresee the first Resurrection of the just, and their inheritance of the earth in the Kingdom: and with one Voice did the Prophets also prophesy of it. For this Lesson the Lord also taught,²⁵⁴⁶* promising that in the Kingdom He would solemnize with His Disciples a new mixture of the Cup.²⁵⁴⁷* And the Apostle too made profession that the Creature should be free from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the sons of God.

And in all these things, and by all, the same God and Father is manifested who framed man, and promised to the Fathers the inheritance of the earth, who brought forth²⁵⁴⁸⁹ the aforesaid Creation in the resurrection of the just, and accomplisheth the promises to [perfect] His Son’s Kingdom: afterwards, as a Father, vouchsafing those things,²⁵⁴⁹* which neither eye hath seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man. For indeed there is One Son, Who fulfilled all the Father’s Will; and one race of mankind, in which are fully accomplished the mysteries of God, Whom the Angels desire to see, and are not able to trace out God’s Wisdom, whereby His handy-work is perfected, being made of one Form and Body with His Son: that His offspring, the Firstborn, the Word, may descend upon His work, i.e., upon what His Hands have framed, and may be received thereby; and that His work again may receive the Word, and ascend unto Him, overpassing the Angels; and it shall be made according to the Image and Likeness of GOD.

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