CHAPTER i
THE PROOF OF THE GOSPEL
]]k.
I. it quite plain from his own words that he was cjuite well (7) aware of the failure of the law he had laid down to apply to all nations, and that another prophet would be necessary for the fulfilment of the oracles given to Abraham.
And this was He, of Whom his prophecy proclaimed the good news that one should arise from the tribe of Judah and rule all nations.
CHAPTER i JV/iy it is we reject the Jews'
IVny of Life, tiiougJi we accept their IVrititti^s.
Thesf., then, are the reasons why we have accepted and loved as belonging to ourselves the sacred books of the Hebrews, including as they do prophecies relating to us Gentiles.
And the more so, sifice it was not Moses only who foretold the coming of the Lawgiver of the Gentiles
(c) after him, but really the whole succession of the prophets, who proclaimed the same truth with one voice, as David, when he said " Appoint, O Lord, a Lawgiver over them : let the Ps. ix. 20. nations know that they are but men."
See how he too speaks of a second Lawgiver of the nations.
And in the same spirit in another* (l)salm) he calls on the Gentiles to sing, not the ancient song of Moses, but a new song, when he says :
I .
Sing to the Lord a new song ; | sing to the Lord all the whole earth :
| 3. proclaim among the nations his glory, | among all peoples his wonders :
| 4.
I'or great is the Lord,, and very worthy to be | he is terrible above all gods.
| 5.
For all the gods of the nations are demons, (d) praised, | but it is the Lord that made the heavens.
| 7.
Pring to the Lortl ye families of tlie nations ; | 8, bring to the Lord glory Ps. xcv I. to his name.''
And again " 10
Say amotig the nations. The Lord is King.
| ' ir frtpcf< \f/aXi,iif.
I'liris Coilex.
Ch. 4-
THE TWO COVENANTS
2:, ¥i)T he has established the world, that it shall not be shaken."
^^- ^<^^And again :
" I.
Sing to the Lord a new song, | for he Imth done marvellous things, | 2. The Lord hath made known his salvation ; | Before the nations he hath revealed | 3.
All the ends of the earth have seen righteousness. the salvation of our God." ^ r'sxcviii.
And notice how he ordains the new song not for the '• Jewish race only : the ancient song of Moses suited them, hut for all the nations.
This new song is called by Jeremiah, another Hebrew prophet, "a new covenant " (S) where he says :
"31. Behold the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Juda :
32. not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers, in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt : for they abode not in my covenant, and I disregarded them, saith the Lord.
33.
For this is my covenant which I will make with the house of Israel,saith the Lord, I will put my laws^ in their (1>) minds, and on their hearts I will write (them), and I Jei. xxxi. will be their God, and they shall be my j)eople."
3>You see here that he distinguishes two covenants, the old and the new, and says that the new would not be like the old which was given to the fathers.
For the old covenant was given as a law to the Jews, when they had fallen from the religion of their forefathers, and had embraced the manners and life of the Egyptians, and had declined to the errors of polytheism, and the idolatrous superstitions of the Gentiles.
It was intended to raise up the fallen, and to set on their feet those who were lying (c) on their faces, by suitable teaching.
" For the bw, it is said, is not for the righteous, but for the unjust * and disorderly, for the unrighteous and for sinners, and for those like them." i Tim. i. 9.
But the new covenant leads those who, through our Saviour '
E. shortens ihe passage considerably.
•' E. omits "
I will pive."
- E. omits "after these days."
* \V. H.: f)iKai<f> vofjios ou Kfirai.
E :
5i»faiois yap, <pri<T\, fSfios ou Kf'iTat .
Koi Tois irapairAjjffioii.
THE PROOF OF THE GOSPEL
Bk.
T. by the grace and gift of God are raised up, to a rapid march into the kingdom promised by God.
It summons all men equally to share together the same good things.
This " new covenant "
Isaiah, another of the Hebrew prophets, calls the "new law," when he says:
(d) "3.
For out of Sion shall go forth a law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
And all the nations shall go, and all the peoples shall be gathered together, and ^ shall say. Let us go up to the Mount of the Lord,
Isn. ii.
3. and to the house of the God of Jacob."
This law going forth from Sion, different from the law enacted in the desert by Moses on Mount Sinai, what can it be but the word of the Gospel, "going forth from Sion" through our Saviour Jesus Christ, and going through all the nations ?
For it is plain that it was in Jerusalem and (9) Mount Sion adjacent thereto, where our Lord and vSaviour for the most part lived and taught, that the law of the new covenant began and from thence went forth and shone upon all, according to the commands which He gave his disciples when He said "Go ye, and make disciples of all the nations, teaching them to observe all things, whatsoever
I have commanded you."
What could He mean but the teaching and discipline of the new covenant ?
Since, then, I have j)roved my f;^cts. let us proceed to investigate together the character of the new covenant, and the new song and the new law that were foretold.
(h) CH.\rri:R n T/ie Characit'r of the Nav Covenant of Christ.
I HAVE now proved that the old covenant and the law given by Moses was only applicable to the Jewish race, and only to such of them as lived in their own lantl.
It did (c) not apply to other nations of the workl nor to Jews '
K. gives latter lialf, U yatt 2uW .
'I.,>..,.,ra\v,. fnsl.
:in<l in-,!
)iair Inst, Ka\ fi^nv(Tt 'lasu'd.
Ch.
5- 'I'HK I'ArRlAKClIS' RKLIGION
inhabiting foreign soil.
And I have shown tiial the ideal of the new covenant must be helpful to the life of all nations : the members of its kingdom are to be restricted in no way whatever.
Considerations of country, race or locality, or anything else are not to affect them in any way at all.
The law and life of our Saviour Jesus Christ shows itself to be such, being a renewal of the ancient preMosaic religion, in whicli Abraham, the friend of God, and {<\) his forefathers are shown to have lived.
And if you cared to compare the life of Christians and the worship introduced among all nations by Christ with the lives of the men who with Abraham are witnessed to by Scripture as holy and righteous, you would find one and the same ideal.
For they too turned their backs on the errors of polytheism, they relincpiishcd idolatrous superstition, they looked beyond ^ the whole of thevisible creation and deified neither sun nor moon, nor any part of the whole.
They raised themselves to the Supreme God, Himself the Highest, the Creator of heaven and earth.
And RToses himself bears (lo) this out in his history of ancient times when he records Abraham's saying '' I will stretch forth my hand unto CJod most high. Gen. xiv. who hath created the heaven and the earth."
-2.
And when, before this, he introduces Mclchi/.edek, whom he calls the priest of the Most High God, ble.ssing Abraham as follows :
"Blessed be Abraham by God niost high, who hath Cvn. xiv. created the heaven and the earth."
'9And you would fmd that Enoch and Noah were reckoned ('') just and well pleasing to God in the same way as Abraham.
Job, loo, a just, true, blameless, devout man, averse from everything evil, is recorded as pre-Mosaic.^
He underwent a ' virtpiiViliavTts : " to bend, stretch and peep over "
: of. P.K.
17 A., irepKv\pavr(i rh optifievov.
^ Tlic po^tscl•ipl tt' (3. text confound'^ Job wiili jobab, kin^ of Edom (Gen. xxxvi.
33).
The statement, which is not found in Aquila or Symmachus, and only partly in Theodotion, runs as follows: "This man is described in the .Syriac book as living in the land of Ausis, on the borders of Iduma;a anil Arabia; and his name before was Jobab, and havini; taken a wife from Arabia, he be^at a son whose name was
Ennom." (H.D.B., art. " Jol)," cf. Euc. lUh., Hook of Job).
Jobab is the second in tlie list of eifjlit Kdomite kings who rtit;ncd " before liierc reignefl any king over the children of Israel "
[Ice. cit. v.
30), i.e. up lo date of Saul.
VOL.
THE PROOF OF THE GOSPEL
Bk.
I. trial of his utter devotion to the God of the Universe when he lost everything he had, and left the greatest example of holiness to posterity, when he spoke these philosophic words :
(c) "21.1 myself en me forth naked frf)m my mother's womb, and naked shall I depart.
The Lord gave, the Lord hath taken away.
As the Lord pleased, so it came Job i. 21. to pass.
Blessed be the name of the Lord."
That he said this as a worshipper of the God of the universe is made quite clear when he goes on to say
"4.
For he is wise in mind and mighty and great ;^ 6. Who shakes the (earth) under heaven from its foundation and its pillars totter.
7. Who commands the sun and it rises not, and he seals up the stars ; Job ix. 4.
8. Who alone has stretched out the heaven."
If then the teaching of Christ has bidden all nations now to worship no other God but Him whom the men of (tl) old and the pre-Mosaic saints believed in, we are clearly partakers of the religion of these men of old time.
And if we partake of their religion we shall surely share their blessing.
Yes, and equally with us they knew and bore witness to the ^^'ord of God, Whom we love to call Christ.
They were thought worthy in very remarkable ways of beholding His actual presence and theophany.
Remember how Moses calls the 15eing, Who appeared to 'the patriarchs, and often delivered to them the oracles afterwards written down in Scripture/* sometimes God and Lord, and sometimes the Angel of the Lord.
He clearly implies that this was not the Onmipotent God, but a secondary (b) Being,* rightly called the God and Lord of holy men, but (II) the Angel of the Most High His Father.
Thus he says:
" 10. And Jacob went forth ^ ... to Charran,
1. and came to a certain place, and he slept there.
. .\nd he ^ S. aikls :
Ti?
(Tx^^Vf''^ ytvii/j.ei'os Ivavriov avrov vTfiieiffv : iS TiaXaiihv vpi), o^'k in^omr.
A KarajTpfiptiii' avra ojyy.
* S. ndds : koto bl ayf(\'iiy arT.iv (taoAhV ti ineviir^crev.
^ XpflfxaricTixara ra a.va-)(yi^anfj.fi'a.
The (licek miMns lh.it tlic oracle w.TS given virbiilly .iml written down afterwariN.
It noo^l n^t imply a transcripticn boloie thai of Moses. aAAi Tis 5f i;T€pos, Ofos ftfy Ka\ Kvp:os tcDv Ofo<fti\ci>v afS anavriynptvfjfi'ot : one of the " Arian " pa^snges : cf.
227(1 anil 5<i;Tf' a /ifTck Ttif XlaTfpa ovola. 257a.
See Intr>cliicli<'n, |>.
\xvi.
* y. ail's: "from the well ofthe>>ath,"
Ch.
TTIE ANGEL OF THE LORD
took of the stones of the place, and put it at his head, and lay down to sleep in that place, 12. and he dreamed : and behold, a ladder fixed on the earth whose top reached to heaven, and the anj^els of God ascended and descended f-n it.
13. And the Lord stood upon it, and said, I ^ am the God of Aliraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: fear not, the earth, the land on which thou (1.) liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed:
and Gen. thy seed shall be as the sand of the earth." xxviii.
10.
To which he adds :
" 16. And Jacob arose in the morning, and took the stone, which he had put under his head, and set it up Hen. as a pillar." xxviii. lO Then further on he calls this God and Lord Who appeared to him the Angel of God.
For Jacob says :
" II. For the Angel of God said to me in a dream, f.en.
Jacob.2
And I said, What is it ? " xxxi.
11.
And then :
"12.
I have seen, he says, all that T>aban docs to thee.
I am the God that was seen by thee in the place of(c) God, where thou anointedst for me there a pillar, and r.en.xxxi. thou vowcdst to me there a vow."
12.
This same being who appeared to Abraham is called Lord and God.
He teaches the saint mysteriously of His Father's rule,"* and speaks some things, as it were, of another God, which I will examine in their place.
Then, again, it is impious* to suppose that the Being who answered Job after his severe trial ^ was the same.
For when He shows Himself first in the whirlwind and the clouds He reveals Himself as the God of the Universe, but He goes on to reveal Himself in a way which makes Job say :
" 4. Hear me, O Lord, and I will speak. ^ 5.
I heard (d) of thee before by the hearing of the ears, but now mine eye hath seen thee.'
Job xlii. 4.
And if it is not possible for the Most High God,' the * S. adds:
"the Lord."
S. repeals "Jacob."
' aiiOfVTlas, cf.
P. E.
A., ivOpwirois avBtvrriv vS/iuv elvat koI KVOIOV.
* Paris Codex <Hiiil> ou.
* fitra TTi)v aiiTapK-n Siayvfivaaiav : so oi virtue, Ar.
, Eth i.
* S. adds :
I will ask Thee, and do Thou lell me."
' rhv iirfKetfa Beov-
THE PROOF OF THE GOSPEL
P.k.
Job xlii.
Invisible, the Uncreated, and the Omnipotent to be said to be seen in mortal form, the Being Who was seen must have been the Word of God, Whom we call Lord as we do the Father.
But it is needless for me to labour the point, since it is possible to find instances in Holy Scripture.
These I will collect at leisure in connection with my present work ^ to prove that He Who was seen by the patriarchal saints was none other than the Word of God.
(12) Therefore besides the conception of die Creator of the Universe, we and they have inherited also the conception of Christ in common.
Hence you can find instances of the pre-Mosaic saints being called " Christs," just as we are called Christians.
Hear what the oracle in the Psalms says about them :
" 12.
W'hen they were few in numbers, very few, and strangers in the land, 13. and they went from nation to nation, from (one) kingdom to another people:
14. He suffered no man to wrong them, and he reproved kings Ts. cv. 12. for their sakes, saying:
15.
'Touch not my Christs, and do no evil to my prophets.'"
(b) The whole context shows that this must be referred to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob : they therefore shared the name of Christ with us.
CH.VPTER The Nature of the Life accordingto the New Covenant proelaimed to All Men l>y Christ.
(c) Just as a life of virtue and a system of holiness is through the teaching of Christ iireachcd to all nations without any reference to the Mosaic legislation, so by these men of old time the same independent ideal of holiness was uplicld.
They cared nothing ft)r circumcision, nor do we.
They ilid not abstain from eating certain beasts, neither do we.
For instance, iMoses introduces Mclchi/edek, priest c^f the Most High C.od, uncircumriscd, not anointed with prepared
Ch. 6.
THE PATRIARCHS
ointment according to Moses, knowing naught of the Sabbatli, paying no heed whatever to the commandments afterwards given l)y Moses to the whole Jewish race, but living exactly according to the Gospel of Christ.
And yet Moses says, he was the priest of the Most Migh (k)d, and the superior of Abraham.
For he is introduced as blessing Abraham.
Such too was Noah, a just man in his (13) generation, whom as a kindling seed ^ of the human race Almighty (lod preserved in the destruction by the flood when all men on earth were destroyed.
He again was (jiiite ignorant of Jewish customs, he was uncircumcised, he did not follow the Mosaic law in any point, yet he is recognized as conspicuously just.
And Enoch before him, who is said to have pleased God, and to have been translated, so that his death was not seen, was another like person, uncircumcised, with no part or lot in the law of Moscs, living a distinctly Christian rallier than a Jewish life.
C^) And Abraham himself, coming later than those already named, being younger than they according to the age men reached in those times, though an old man in. reality, was the first to receive circumcision as a seal, for the sake of his descendants, and he left it to those who should be born of him according to the flesh as a sign of their descent from him.
He too before he had a son, and before he was circumcised, by his rejection of idolatry, and his confession of the one omnipotent God, yea, by his virtuous life alone is shown to be one who lived as a Christian, not as a Jew.
For he is represented as having kept the commandments (c) and the precepts and the ordinances of God before the enactments of Moses.
Tiiat is why God giving the oracle to Isaac says :
" And I will give to thy seed all this land, and in thy seed shall all the nations of the eartli be blessed.
Because Abraham thy father heard my voice, and kept (d) my commandments, and my laws, and my judgments, Ckn. xxvi. and my statutes."
4So there were before the Mosaic law other commandments of God, and ordinances not like those of Moses, other laws and precepts of Christ, by which they were justified.
Moses ' itiTTi/po^/ffTrf'/j^a, " kindling. "
Cf. Philo^tratus, 42.
.So Plato, I-eptj.
r..
Fpe.nk.s rjf survivors of the Tloo.! as (Tfatupa ^wvvpa tov tuv avdpJiirwv ytvovs.
THE PROOF OF THE GOSPEL
Bk.
I. clearly shews that these were not the same as his own enactments, when he says to the people :
" Hear, Israel, the ordinances and the judgments, all that I speak in your ears this day, and ye shall learn them, and observe to do them.
The Lord your God , j made a covenant with you in Choreb ; the Lord did Dciu V.
"^"^ make this covenant with your fathers, but with you."
See how distinctly he alludes to this covenant, when he says God did not give the same covenant to their fathers.
For if he had said that absolutely no covenant was given to their fathers it would have been a false statement.
For Holy Scripture testifies that a covenant of some kind was given both to Abraham and Noah.
And so Moses adds that one "not the same" was given to their fathers, implying that other greater and glorious covenant, by which they
(b) were shown forth as friends of God.
So Moses records that Abraham by his faith in Almighty God attained righteousness when he says "Abraham believed in God, and it was counted unto Gen. XV. 6. him for righteousness."
This text shews clearly that he received the sign of circumcision after his attainment of righteousness, and after the witness to his holiness, and that this added nothing at all to his justification.
Again, you would find Jose[)h in pre-Mosaic times in the palaces of the Egyptians living in freedom not burdened (c) by Judaism.
Moses himself, the leader and lawgiver of the Jews, lived from hfs babyhood with the daughter of the King of Egypt, and partook of the Egyptian food without question, ^^'hat is to be said of Job the thrice-blessed, the true, the blameless, the just, the holy, what was the cause of his holiness and justice, was it Moses' commandments?
Certainly not.
Was it the keeping of the Sabbath, (<1) or any other Jewish observance?
How could that be, if Job was earlier than the time of Moses and his legislation ?
For Moses was seventh from Abraham, and Job fifth, preceding him by two generations.^
And if you regard his life, you will see it was untouched by the NFosaic legislation, but not foreign to the teaching of our Saviour.
Thus in reviewing his life in his apology to his friends he says ' See note p.
25.
Ch. 6.
JOB
12.
For I saved the poor from the Iiantl of the powerful, and I helped the orphan who had no helper.^ 'Jlie iiioutii of the widow blessed me, 14. and I was clad in righteousness.
I put on judgment as a cloak. Job xxix.
15. an eye was I to the blind, a foot to the lame, 16.
I 12. was a father of the weak."
(15) This surely is exactly the same teaching which is preached Kom. xii. to us all in the Oospel.
Then again as one well acquainted '5; L"ke with the words, "Weep with those that weep,"'" and " lilessed j (Y^^'xii are they that weep, for they shall laugh"; and "If one 26 member suffer, all the members suffer with it," which are included in the (lospel teaching, he shews his sympathy for (h) the miserable by saying :
"25. And I wept for every weak one— I groaned Job xxx. when I saw a man in difficulties."
25.
Then, again, this holy man forestalls the Gospel teaching, which forbids unseemly laughter, when he says
'' 5. r>ut if I had gone with scorners, and if my foot Job xxxi. has hasted to deceit.
For I am weighed in a just 5balance, and the Lord knows my innocence."
And where the Mosaic law says "Thou shalt not commit adultery," and assigns death as the punishment of adulterers.
He who draws out the law of the Gospel teaching, says : Mnti. v.
" It was said to them of old time, Thou shalt not commit 27adultery ; but I say unto you,' thou shalt not desire at all."
(c) Look well at the man of whom we arc speaking ; he was so good a Christian in his life that he restrained even his looks when they were wayward, and made it his boast so to do for he says :
"9. And if my heart has followed my eye for the wife Job xxxi. of another man."* 9And he gives the reason, as he continues
"11.
For the spirit^ of a man is not to be stayed, in the case of defiling another man's wife.
12. For it is a Job xxxi fire burning on every side, and where it enters, it utterly "• destroys."
S. add> : tvKoyla anoWvixtvJv tV eVe f\Soi.
^ E.
OTi y(\iffovTai ; VV.II. on yf\x(TfTt.
* E. has uri^e rh" ''PX^'' ^'"'iOvuf'iv for on iras o ^Xiiruiv yuvaiKa irphs T?i ^ir.^u/xTJrrai [avrriy].—W. H.
* S. has €1 f^T)Ko\oudri(rev i) rcapSia fxov.
«« 5* Ka\ T(f 6(f>da\u(^ firT}Ko\ov0riff€v t| KapSla.
* S.
: op7")j.
: avipoj.
; :
THE PROOF OF THE GOSPEL
Bk.
Here he shows his incorruptibility :
"7.
If, too, I have touched gifts willi my hands '^"
^^ ™'^ ^'^^'
^"*^ others eat, and let me be Tob xxxi 7. uprooted from the earth."
(d) How he treated his servants we may karn from his teaching here "13. And if I have trifled witli the cause of my Job XXXI. servant, or handmaiden, when they [)leaded with me.''
'^'
And again he gives the reason :
" 14.
What, then, should I do, if the Lord should try me ?
15. Were not they also formed as I was in T"b x.\xi. the womb?
Yea, we were formed in the same womb."'
'4He adds:
" 16.
I did not cause the eye of the widow to fail.
17. And if I did eat my morsel alone, and did not share it with the orj)han,' ...
19. and if I saw the naked Job XXXI. perishing, and did not clothe him."
And again he proceeds:
"24. And if I trusted in a precious stone, 25. and if I rejoiced when my wealth was great, and if
laid my Job xxxi. hand on unnumbered (treasures)."
^^And again he gives the reason :
(16) "26. Do we not see the sun waxing and waning, and Job xxxi. the moon eclipsed ? "
^"So, again, whereas the teaching of the (jospel says :
"43.
It was said to them of okl time,- Thou shalt love thy neighbour and hate thine enemy.
Put I say unto you, Love your enemies": Job wonderfully anticiMait. V. pating the command by his own original teaching ^^' actually carried it out, for he says :
(I)) " 29. And if I, too, was glad at the fall of my enemies, Job xxxi. and said in my heart.
It is well— 30. then let my ear ^9hear my curse."
.\nd he adds :
Iol>xxxi.
" JJut the stranger did not remain oul.side, and my •^~' door was opened to all that < ame," showing himself no stranger in spirit to Him. who said, Malt. XXV. " I was a stranger, and ye took me in."
Then hear what ^5he says about offences done unintentionally '
I", omits V. iS.
S. lia.s inrtpfiSoi> for tlSor.
' W. IF.:
riKoxxtart on i)p(9r).
V..i'p40r} roii ipxaioif.
Ch. 6.
THE LAW INTERPOSED
" S3- ^f '^) ^''O) liaving sinned unintentionally, I hid Job xxxi. my sin.
34.
For I did not stand in awe of a great 33multitude, so as not to speak boldly before them.
And if 1 did not let the poor depart (from my door) with an empty bosom ...
35. And if I had not feared the hand of the Lord.
And as to the written charge which I had against any .
37.
I did not rend it and (c) return it, taking nothing from the debtor."
So and in such ways the pre-Mosaic saints (for from the record of one we may imagine the life of all), waged their renowned contests for good, and were reckoned friends of God, ami prophets.
What need had they of the commandments of ^Ioses, which were given to weak and sinful men ?
From all this it is abundantly proved that the Word (d) of God announced to all nations the ancient form of their ancestors' religic^n, as the new covenant does not differ from the form of holiness, which was very ancient even in the time of Moses, so that it is at the same time both old and new.
It is, as I have shown, very, very old ; and, on the other hand, it is new through having been as it were hidden away from men through a long period between, and now come to life again by the Saviour's teaching.
And it was in this intermediate period, while the ideal of the new covenant was hidden from men, and as it were asleep, that t'.e law of Moses was interposed^ in the interval.
It was like a nurseand governess of childish and imperfect souls.
It was like a doctor to heal the whole Jewish race, (17) worn away by the terrible disease of Egypt.
As such it offered a lower and less perfect way of life to the children of Abraham, who were too weak to follow in the sttps of their forefathers.
For through their long sojourn in Egypt, after the death of their godly forefathers, they adopted Egyptian customs,^ and, as I said, fell into idolatrous superstition.
They aimed no higher than the Egyptians, they became in all respects like them, both in worshipping idols,
' xap(t(Tt\$uy, "coming in Ijcside " with idea of stealth.
Cf. Rom.
20, "came into the side of a slate of things already existing."
San.lay and Headlam, ad loc.
CT. Gal. iii.
24.
' rati Kl'yvTTTia'iali Sfioiorpoiriati.
Cf.
P. E.
B. airo<pvyi)v re Tiij'
<pav\u>v buoTpo-Kias, and if>.
3 1 2, c. 6
; also .Strabo 21, HeroJ (ofjiOTpoirus) ii. 49, viii.
144.
Gai.-ford. "Hocest idolatria."
Cf. p. 8b, &iov AlyinrTiaK6y, and above, AiytrwTtaKi] voaos.
THE PROOF OF THE GOSPEL
Bk.
(h) and in other matters.
Moses tore them from their godless l)olytheism, he led them back to God, the Creator of all things; he drew them up as it were from an abyss of evil, but it was natural for him to build first this step of holiness at the threshold and entrance of the Temple of the more Perfect.
Therefore he forbade them to murder, to commit adultery, to steal, to swear falsely, to work uncleanness, to lie with mother, sister or daughter, to do many actions (c) which till then they had done without restraint.
He rescued them from their wild and savage life, and gave them a polity based on better reason and good law as the times went, and was the first lawgiver to codify his enactments in writing,^ a practice which was not yet known to all men.
He dealt with them as imperfect, and when he forbade idolatry, he commanded them to worship the One Omnipotent God by .sacrifices and bodily ceremonies.
He enacted that they should conduct by certain mystic symbols tl.e ritual that he ordained, which the Holy Spirit taught him in a wonderful (•1) way was only to be temporary : he drew a circle round one place and forbade them to celebrate his ordinances anywhere, except in one place alone, namely nt the Temple in Jerusalem, and never outside it.
And to this day it is forbidden for the children of the Hebrews outside the boundaries of their ruined mother-city to sacrifice according to the law, to build a temple or an altnr, to anoint kings or priests, to celebrate the Mosaic gatherings and feasts,- to be cleansed from pollution, to be loosed from offences, to bear gifts to God, or to propitiate Him according to the legal re(]uirements.
And therefore, of course, they have fallen under Moses'
[fS] curse, attempting to keep it in y)art, but breakin^; it in the whole, as Moses makes absolutely clear Dcit.
"Accursed is he, who does not continue in all the xxvii 26. things written in this law, to do them."
And they have come to this ///i/<(iss(; although Moses himself foresaw by the Holy Sjiirit, that, when the new covenant was revived by Christ and preached to all nation.s, his own legislation would become superfluous, he rightly confined its influence to one place, so that if they were ever deprived '
(-•'. r. K.
305, where similar stress is l:ii«l on Moes cotuniiuing Inws to writing.
Ch. 6.
TIIK LAW ABOLISHED
of it, and shut out of their national freedom, it might not (!>) be possil)le for them to carry out the ordinances of his law in a foreign country, and as of necessity they would have to receive the new covenant announced by Christ.
Moses had foretold this very thing, and in due course Christ sojourned in this life, and the teaching of the new covenant was borne to all nations, and at once^ the Romans besieged
Jerusalem, and destroyed it and the Temple there.
Ai. once the whole f)f the Mosaic law was abolished, wiih all (c) that remained of the old covenant, and the curse passed over to those who became lawbreakers, because they obeyed
Moses' law, when its time had gone by, and still clung ardently to it, for at that very moment the perfect teaching of the new Law was introduced in its place.
And, therefore, our Lord and Saviour rightly says to those who suppose that God ought only to be worshipped in Jerusalem, or in certain mountains, or some definite places
" I. The hour cometh and now is, when the true (il) worshippers shall neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem worship the Father.
For God is a Spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in John iv spirit and in truth."
23.
So He said, and presently, not long after, Jerusalem was besieged, the holy place and the altar by it and the worshij) conducted according to Moses' ordinances were destroyed, and the archetypal holiness of the pre-Mosaic men of God reappeared.
And the blessing assured thereby to all nations came, to lead those who came to it from the first step and (19) from the first elements of the Mosaic worship to a better and more perfect life.Yes, the religion of those blessed and godly men, who did not worship in any one place exclusively, neither by symbols nor types, but as our Lord and Saviour requires "in spirit and in truth,'' by our Saviour's appearance Ijecame the possession of all the nations, as the prophets of old foresaw.
For Zephaniah says the very same thing :
" The Lord shall appear against them, and shall (b) utterly destroy all the gods of the nations of the earth.
' irapaxpvua "immediately," and ai/riKa helow.
Eusebius passes lightly over the space till A.D.
70.
TTJj itpJirr)^ (TTo.xawafiKS.
Cf.
P.E. 4 band 761b. ffTuxfivo-ij is used !i.r "the nlnhnbc' " in Epiphanius.
THE PROOF OF THE GOSPEL
Bk.
Zepli. ii.
And they shall worship him each one from his own "• place."
Malachi as well contends against those of the circumcision, and speaks on behalf of the Gentiles, when he says
" lo.
I have no pleasure (in you),^ saith the Lord Almighty, and I will not accept a sacrifice at your hands.
1 1 .
For from the rising of the sun even to the setting^ my name has been glorified among the Gentiles ; and in every place incense is offered to my Mai. i. II. name, and a pure offering."
(c) By "the incense and offering to be offered to God in e\ery place," what else can he mean, but that no longer in Jerusalem nor exclusively in that (sacred) place, but in every land and among all nations they will offer to the Supreme God the incense of prayer and the sacrifice called
('!) "pure," because it is not a sacrifice of blood but of good works?
And Isaiah literally shouts and cries his propliecy to the same effect " 19. There shall be an altar lo the Lord in the land of Egypt.* .
. And the Lord shall be known to the Egyptians ...
20. And he shall send to them a man who shall save them.
21, and the Egyptians shall know the Lord in that day, and shall offer sacrifice, and vow vows to the Lord and pay (them).^
And they Isa. xix. shall he turned to the Lord, and he shall hear them 19-22. and heal them."
Do we not say truly then that the prophets were inspired to foretell a change of the Mosaic Law, nay its end and conclusion ?
Moses lays down that the altar and the '
E. omits «V vfuv (S.).
IC. omits r)\lov (S. ).
' The "incense" of ilic propliccy is referred to prayer and ilie "sacrifice" to good works ; iLusebius does not regard it directly as a prophecy of the Eucharist.
But see I. 6 c.
^' Owtaar-npiov ai'ainwv waj AoyiKuv Bvfftwi' Kara ra Katva fivariipia."
" An altar of unMoody and reasonable sacrifices according to the new mysteries,"
I).
TJjf TOVTov fivi\u.rjv rov re cruifxaTos avrov Koi tov a'l^aros rijv {nrSixt'tiffiv dariufpai iirneKovi'Tfs (in contrast with Jewish sacrifices) : we are "admitted to a greater sacrilice of the Aiicient Law"
(if>ii/.).
* E. omits Hal ariiKrj trphs rh I'lpiov airrTis Tifi Kvplcf. fcai tarai «lj <T7)fi«'ioi> fts rhv aluva Kvplif if X'^P^ 'Aiyvnrov or: Kespd^nvrai wpbi Kvpiov Stk Toi's OKi&ovras aiirovs, anil inxeils the two following clauses, omitting Kpii'wv (ruxrfi avrovs.
* K. omits /»al iraTa^tt Kvptos Tohi 'AiyvKrioiis ir\y]yti, nal latrtrai ttbrovi.
Ch. 6.
TTTK ALTAR
IN F.GVPT
sacrifices should be nowhere else on earth but in Juchca, and there only in one city.
But this ])rophecy says that an altar to the Lord shall be set up in Egypt,^ and that Egyptians shall celebratetheir sacrifices to the Lord of the prophets and no longer to their ancestral gods.
It foretells that Moses shall not be the medium of their knowledge of God, nor any other of the prophets, but a man fresh and new sent from God.
Now if the altar is changed contrary to the commandment of Moses, it is (20) beyond doubt necessary that the Law of Moses should be changed also.
Then, too, the Egyptians, if they "sacrifice to the Supreme God," must be admittedly worthy of the priesthood.
And if the Egyptians are priests Moses' enactments about the Levitcs and the Aaronic succession would be useless to the Egyptians.
The time, therefore, will have come when a new legislation will be needed for their support.
What follows?
Have I spoken at random?
Or have I proved my contention ?
Behold how to day, yes C^) in our own times, our eyes see not only Egyptians, but every race of nitn who used to be idolaters, whom the prophet meant when he said " Egyptians," released from the errors of polytheism and the dcemons, and calling on ^ The .iltar in K^ypt (cfJer. xliv. i, 15, 24).
Remarkal)le discoveries of papyri in Kgypl were made at As-souan, the ancient Syene, and Kleplianlinc, 400 miles south of Cairo, in 1904, and edited by I'rof.
Sayce and Dr. Cowley in 1906.
They date from 471 B.C. to
r..c., and arc legal documents of a Jewish family.
A house mentioned adjoins a "temple of the God Vahu " (Jehovah).
I'urther papyri came to light in 1907, including a petition dated 40S B.C. to Bagoas (Jo^. An/. Jiid. xvii.
2, 4), llie I'ersian Governor of Judah, to rebuihl this temple, which had been destroyed by the priests of the Egyptian (lod Ciinut.
We are told it had been built for 120 years, had seven gates, and the same apparatus for .sacrifice as the temple on Mount Zion.
Another document is a memorandum of the reply of liagoas that the request is granted.
The point is that this Jewish Colony did not consider itself bound by tiie law of the "single sanctuary."
[See J. R.
Driver, Srfnvenh LecttirtS, 190S, p.
30.
Deissman, I.is^ht J'roin ihc Ancient East, p.
30, giving German editions of and monograph.^ on the papyri, including I.ietzmann's
Klciiic Tcxle^ Nos.
22, 23 (1907), and 32 (190.S).
II. Sayce and A. E. Cowley, Aramai\ Papyri, Oxfonl I90(). and fc-vish Dociimoits of the Time of Ezra, 1919-] * >co\\if()T)<T€t>' Tas OuTiai : cf. P. E. 157 c, a quotation from Clement,
Protrepticus, c. iii. p.
12, Sylb. where vaWiepf?;' means "to yield good onens."
THE PROOF OF THE GOSPEL
Bk.
I. the God of the prophets !
They pray no longer to lords many, but to one Lord according to the sacred oracle they have raised to Him an altar of unbloody and reason- (c) able sacrifices according to the new mysteries of the fresh and new covenant throughout the whole of the inhabited world, and in Egypt itself and among the other nations, Egyptian ^ in their superstitious errors.
Yes, in our own time the knowledge of the Omnipotent God shines forth, and sets a seal of certainty on the forecasts of the proj hets.
You see this actually going on, you no longer only expect to hear of it, and if you ask the moment when the change began, for all your inquiry you will receive no other answer
((]) but the moment of the appearance of the Saviour.
For He it was, of ^^'hom the prophet spoke, when he said that the Supreme God and Lord would send a man to the Egyptians, to save them, as also the Mosaic oracles taught in these words :
" A man shall come forth from his seed, and shall Num.
''"'^ ^^'^^ many nations "; among which nations the Egyptians xxiv.
7. would certainly be numbered.
But a great deal could be said on these points, and with sufficient leisure one could deal with them more exhaustively.
Suffice it to say now, that we must hold to the truth, that the prophecies have only been fulfilled after the coming of fesus our Saviour.
For it is through Him that in our day that old system of Abraham, the most ancient and venerable form of religion, is followed by the Egyptians, the Persians, the Syrians and the Armenians.
The Barbarians from the (21) end f)f the earth, those of them who were of old the most uncivilized and wild, yea, they that inhabit the isles, for prophecy thought well even to mention them, follow it as well.And who would not be struck by the extraordinary change—that men who for ages have paid divine honour to wood and stone and daemons, wild beasts that feed on human flesh, poisonous^ reptiles, animals of every kind, repulsive monsters,* fire and earth, and the lifeless elements of the universe should after our Saviour's coming pray to the ' atyvTiTid(^ovfTi "acting as Efjyptinns," analogous t(.>''F.AA7)r(i*a', and 'louSai^w.
* See note, p.
130. for "the isles,"
/.<•.
Britain; cf.
Terlullian, aifr. Ju<i. vii.
/o/3<{aoii, cf.
P.I". 40<1. "of wil.l lieasts."'
* (iitxOf'iTt kvuHkois, cf. v. v..
370c.
("animals") in l^llcr oj Aristeas, there «|U(it<cl, also 375 1>.
Ch. 6.
THE COVl'XAXT OF ABRAH.NM
.;o MostiHigh God, Creator of Heaven and earth, the actual Lord of the prophets, and the (lod of Abraham and his (b) forefathers?
That men a little while before involved in marriage with mothers and daughters, in unsi)eakable vice and all sorts of vikness, men who lived like wildbeasts, now converted by the divine power of our Saviour, and become like different beings, should crowd the public (c) schools ' and learn lessons of virtue and purity.
That not men only, but women, poor and rich, learned and simple, children even and slaves, should be taught in their daily occupation in town or country the loftiest ethics, which forbids to look with eyes unbridled, to be careless even in words, or to follow the path of custom and fashion.
That they should learn the true ideal of worshipping the Supreme God, and serving Him in every place, according to the prophecy, which says :
" And they shall worship Him each (H) from his own place."
Every one, then, whether (ireek or Zeph. ii.
Barbarian, is worshipping the Supreme God, not running "• to Jerusalem, nor made holy with bloody sacrifice.s, but staying at home in his own land, and offering in spirit and in truth his pure and bloodless oTering.
And theirs is the new covenant, not according to the old.
Do not allow the covenant of the preMosaic Saints to be called "the old covenant," but that which was given to the Jews by the Law of Moses.
For the text whicli says that the new will be quite unlike the old clearly implies which one was the old:
"I will make^ a new covenant, not according to (22) the covenant I made with their fathers, in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out ofjer. xwi Egypt."
31- " Not according to the covenant of the Mosaic Law," he says.
For that was introduced to the Jews at the exodus from Egypt.
!t might have seemed that he was introducing a new covenant opposed to the religious ideals of the Abrahamic Saints, if he had not distinctly said :
(b) " Not according to the covenant, which I made with their fathers, in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt."
* ffvytiiiTfi fls ra KotPa SiSaffKaXfla.
C(.
Thiic. vii.
29.
.Vnlinho '42. i}, and llyperid. Eii.\nt—rk TratS'ia ra ^k twv hihcffKaXfiiiv.
S.:
SiaOrtffofiai rw oXkw \>Tpa\fK koli tuotK'f 'lovha.
THE PROOF OF THE GOSPEL
]5k.
He prophesied that the new covenant would not be according to the one enacted at the time of the Exodus and the wanderings in the wilderness, but according to the ancient one under which the pre-Mosaic saints flourished.
And, therefore, for the future you may confidently classify (c) the ideals ^ of religious worshippers under three b.eads, not two : the completely idolatrous, who have fallen into the errors of polytheism ; those of the circumcision, who by the aid of Moses have reached the first step of holiness ; and thirdly, those who have ascended by the stair of Gospel teaching.
If you regard this as a mean between the other two, you will no longer suppose that perverts from Judaism necessarily fall into Hellenism, nor that those that forsake Hellenism are, therefore, Jews.
Recognizing the third division in the middle, you will see (d; it standing up on high, as if it were set on a very lofty mountain ridge, with the others left below on each side of the height.
For as it has escaped Greek godlessness, error, superstition, unbridled lust and disorder, so it has left behind Jewish unprofitable observances, designed by Moses to meet the needs of those who were like infants and invalids.
And as it stands on high, hear what it says as it proclaims the law, which suits not Jews alone, but (23) Greeks and barbarians, and all nations under the sun :
" O man ! and all the human race ! the Law of Moses, beginning from one race of men, first called the whole race of the Jews, because of the promise given to their holy forefathers, to the knowledge of the one God, and released its servants from bitter slavery to the d;emons.
Ikit I am the herald to all men and to the nations of the whole world of ii, loftier knowledge of God and holiness ; I call tiiem to live according to the ideals of those of Abraham's day, and men still more (!') ancient of pre-Mosaic date, with whom many of all races are recorded to have shone in holiness as lights in the world.
And again :
The Law of Moses required all who desired to be holy to S|)eed from all directions to one definite place ; but I, giving freedom to all, teach men not to look for '
TOV TtfWatp(ff(tS,
Ch. 6.
MOSES AND CHRIST
Clod in a corner of the earth, nor in mountains, nor in temples made with hands, but that each should worship and adore Him at home.
And again :
The old law commanded that God should be (c worshipped by the sacrifice of slain beasts, of incense and fire and divers other similar external purifications.
I)Ut I, introducing the rites of the soul,^ command that God should be glorified with a clean heart and a pure mind, in purity and a life of virtue, and by true and holy teaching.
And again Moses forbade the men of his time who were defiled («1) with blood to kill ; but I lay down a more perfect law for those who have him for a schoolmaster and have kept the earlier commandment— when I ordain that men must not be slaves to anger.
^^alt. v.
And once more :
^^'
The Law of Moses enacted to adulterers and the impure that they must not commit adultery, or indulge in vice, or pursue unnatural pleasures, and made death the penalty of transgression ; but I do not wish my disciples even to look upon a woman with lustful desire.
Matt. v.
And again, it said :
^^• 'I'hou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lordthine oaths ; but I say unto you, Swear Matt. v. not at all,-' but let your communication be Vea, yea
; Nay, 33nay : for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.
And again, it commanded resistance against the unjust, and reprisal, when it said :
An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth ; but (24) I say unto you, That ye resist not evil ; but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.
And he who will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also. ilau.v.
And again, it exhorts to love your friend, and to hate your enemies ; but I in my excess of goodwill and forbearance lay down the law :
Pray for * persecutors, that you may be children ' TO ild'x'js "cyia irapaSiSovs.
* K. omits vv. 35, 36..
3 W. II.: 0fw Kvpl'}!.
* W. II. a-lds ujunj. vol..
THE PROOF OF THE GOSPEL
Bk.
1. of your Father in heaven, who ^ letteth his sun rise on Matt. V. the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the ji st 44and the unjust.
(!') And, moreover, the Mosaic Law was suited to the hardness of heart of the vulgar, gave ordinances corresponding to those under the rule of sense, ^ and provided a form of religion, reduced and inferior to the old.
But I summon all to the holy and godly life of the holy men of the earlier days.
And in fine, it promises, as to children, a land flowing with milk and honey, while I make citizens^ of the Kingdom of Heaven those who are worthy to enter therein.
(c) Such was the message to all nations given by the word of the new covenant by the teaching of Christ.
And the Christ of God bade His disciples teach them to all nations, saying :
"Go ye into all the world, and make disciples of all M^ttthe nations .
. teaching them to observe whatsoever xxviii.
19.
J 1-,-jyg commanded you."
And in giving them to all men both Greeks and iiarbarians to keep He clearly revealed the nature of Christianity, the nature of Christians, and the nature of the Teacher of the words and instruction, our Lord and Saviour the Christ of God Himself.
He set up this new and perfect system throughout the whole world, that such teaching and such wisdom might be the food, not only of men but of women, of rich and poor alike, and of slaves with their masters.
And yet the introducer of this new law is represented as having lived in all ways according to the Law of Moses.
And this is a wonderful fact, that though He was going to come forward as the legislator of a new polity, according to the Gospel of His new covenant, He did not revolt from (25) Moses as opposed to him and contrary.
If He had thought good to conmiand things opposed to Moses, He would have afforded to godless sectaries' against Moses and the prophets material for much scandal, and to those of the circumcision a specious handle for attacking Him, particularly in view of the fart that they actually contrived their j)lot against His life as a transgressor and breaker of the law.
' W.I I.:
oTi.
I'",.:
I'lffTis.
• KaTitAAi),\a €uiraC«V(.
' vpo^nw.
Cf.
I'. K.
2.n, ()0a and 1601I.
* aiptrrtunais