CHAPTER 9
THE PROOF OF THE GOSPEL
131:. I as well as for religion : and it is for them that times of (I>) retreat and instruction, and days for hearing sacred things are set apart.^ And a kind of secondary grade of piety is attributed to them, giving just such help as such lives require, so that all men, whether Greeks or barbarians, have their part in the coming of salvation, and profit by the teaching of the Gospel.
CHAPTER
Il'Vtv a ^'it//ieroi(S Offspring is not as Great a Concern to us as it was to them of Old Time.
(c) This being so, the question naturally arises, if we claim that the Gospel teaching of our Saviour Christ bids us worship God as did the men of old, and the prc-Mosaic men of God, and that our religion is the same as theirs, and our knowledge of God the same, why were they keenly concerned with marriage and reproduction, while we to (d) some extent disregard it?
And again, why are thev recorded as propitiating God with animal sacrifices, while we are forbidden to do so, and are told to regard it as impious.
For those two things alone, which are by no means unimportant, would seem to conflict with what I have said ; they would imply that in these matters we have not preserved, the ancient ideal of religion.
But it is possible for us to refute this charge by a study of the Hebrewwritings.
The men renowned for piety before Moses are recorded as having lived when human life was first beginning and organizing itself, while we live when it is nearing its end.
And so they were anxious for the increase of their descendants, that men might multiply, that the human race might grow and flourish at that time, and reach iK (31) height ; but these things are of little moment to us, wlv. believe the world to be perishing and running down -and reaching its last end, since it is expressly said that the gospel teaching will be at the door before the consumma- * Common Christianity ailmils marriage, family-life, war, ngiiculture. tr.nde, politics : and is Mi-tained by periods of retreat for spiritual instruction.
(T.T.»ATj')oi'Ta»'.
Ch. 9-
ESCHATOLOGY AND MARRIAGE
lion of life, while a new creation and tlie birth of another age at no distant time is foretold.
Such is one reply, and this is a second.
The men of old days lived an easier and C') a freer life, and their care of home and family did not compete with their leisure for religion ; they were able to worship (iod without distraction from their wives and children and domestic cares, and were in no way drawn by external things from the things that mattered most.^ But in our days there are many external interests that draw us away, and involve us in uncongenial thoughts, and seduce us from our zeal for the things which please God.
The word of the Gospel teaching certainly gives this as the cause of the limitation of marriage,- when it says :
(c) 29.
But this I say, brethren, the time is short : it remaineth that they who have wives be as though they had none.
30. And liiose that wept as though they wept not, and they that rejoice as though they rejoiced not ; and they that buy as though they possessed not ; 31. and they that use this world as not abusing it, for the fashion of this world passeth away.
32.
But I would have you without carefulness.
He that is unmarried careth for the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord ; but he that is married careth for the things of the world, how he may please his wife, and is divided.
34. And the unmarried woman and the virgin careth for the things of the Lord ( how she may please (d) the Lord), ^ that she may be holy both in body and in spirit ; but she that is married careth for the things of the world, how she may i)lease her husliand.
35. And this I speak for your profit ; not that I may cast a cord upon you, but for that which is comely, and that i Cor. vii. ye may attend upon the Lord without distraction.
29-35.
' rns irtpl to Kptlrrw irpoOffffccs.
• rris riiiv yduwy truffToXfjs.
Cf.
I'.E.
c. of a "limiialion" ol God in creation.
It is interesting to find the escliatological motive of I Cor. vii.
29 adduced as the justification for cclilxicy in the fourth century.
It w.ts no doubt a more potent factor in the rise of Egyptian monasticism than has l>een recoj^nized.
Joined with the terror of the Decian Persecution, c.
250, and the pressure of taxation whicli drove men into the desert, were the spiritual causes, amoni::; which were the sense of the small value of earthly things in face of the specdv coniint;
( f the end.
J \V. H. Qni t iVa o^tVf) rif Kupi(f>.
THE PROOF OF THE GOSPEL
Bk.
This expressly attributes tlic decrease of marriage to the evils of the time and of external circumstances, such as did not affect the ancients.
And I might give this third reason why the godly men of old were so devoted to the procreation of children.
'J'he rest of mankind were increasing in evil, they had fallen into an uncivilized, inhuman, and savage mode of life, they had '32) given themselves up completely to godlessness and impiety,
\vhile they themselves, a very scanty remnant, had divorced themselves from the life of the many, and from common association with other men.
They were living apart from other nations and in isolation, and were organizing a new kind of polity ; they were evolving a life of true wisdom and (b) religion, unmingled with other men.
They wished to hand on to posterity the fiery seed of their own religion ; they did not intend that their piety should fail and perish when they themselves died, and so they had foresight for producing and rearing children.
They knew they could be the teachers and guides of their fiimilies, and considered it their object to hand on to posterity the inheritance of their own good qualities.
TIcnce many prophets and righteous men, (c) yea, even our Lord and Saviour Himself, with His apostles and disciples, have come from their line.'
And if some of them turned out wicked, like straw growing up with the corn, we must not blame the sowers, nor those who tended the crop, just as we should admit that even some of our Saviour's disciples have erred from the right way through self-will.
And this explanation of the ancient men of Clod begetting children cann(.)t be said to (il) ap|)ly to the Christians to-day, when by CJod's help thri)Ugh our Saviours Oospel teaching we can see with our own eyes many peojjlcs and nations in city and country and field all hastening together, and united in running to learn the gcdly course of the teaching of the Gospel,- for whom lam glad to say we are al)le to provide teachers and preachers of the wonl of holiness, free from all ties of life and anxious thoughts.
And in our day these men are necessarily devoted to '
Oxford cixlcx, 5io5i)\f|s Gaisfonl reads with 1*. SiSax^t, " lumi llicir tcacliin,!^.
* One of several pasaqcs eiviphasinnt; tlullnurishing slate of ilie Church poncrally : impoilant as evidence lor the date of the Di'noHfinitio.
Cf.
: i.^S b.
Ch. 9-
FAMILIES OF rATRIARCIIS
celibacy^ that they may have leisure for higher things; they have undertaken to bring up not one or two children but a prodigious number, and to educate them in godliness, and to care for their life generally.- On the top of all this, if we carei;^^) fully examine the lives of the ancient men of whom I am speaking, we shall find that they had children in early life, but later on abstained and ceased from having them.
For it is written that " Enoch pleased God after Methusaleh was Gen. v. 22 born."
Scripture expressly records that he pleased God a//ir the birth of his son, and tells nothing of his having children afterwards.
And Noah, that just man, who was .saved alone with his family when the whole world was destroyed, after the birth of his children, though he lived many years more, is not related to have begotten more children.
And Isaac is said, after becoming the father (b) of twins by one wife, to have ceased cohabitation with her.
Joseph again (and this was when he lived among the Egyptians) was only the father of two sons, and married to their mother only, while Moses himself and Aaron his (c) brother are recorded as having had chiklren before the appearance of God, but after the giving of the divine oracles as having begotten no more children.
What must I say of Melchiscdek ?
He had no son at all, no family, no descendants.
And the same is true of Joshua, the successor of Moses, and many other prophets.
If there is any question about the families of Abraham and Jacob, ^ longer discu.ssion will be found in the book I wrote about the polygamy and large families of the ancient men of God.^ To this I must refer the student, only warning him that according to the laws of the new (d) covenant the producing of children is certainly not forbidden, but the provisions are similar to those followed by the ancient men of God.
" For a bishop," says the Scripture, " must be the husband of one wife."
Yet it is fitting that i 'lim iii.
T) ToJr yafiwv avaX'^'pT^i^- " A further jusiific.ition of cclilwcy on grounds familiir to-day.
' The title of thi^ lost work w.is irtpl ttjs rwv ira\aiuv avSpuv iroXviraiSias.
Sec V.l.. vii.
8, 29.
It is referred to l)y Basil (tie S/.
Snitit. 29), as " DitTiculties resj-ecting the Polygamy of tlie Ancients."
The justification of the marri.nge customs of anti(]uity is a frequent topic in Kusebius: the growing asceticism of iheChuich and the criticism of opponents called for a statement accounting for the primitive freedom shewn in Genesis.
THE
PROOF OF THE GOSPEL
Bk. T those in the priesthood and occupied in the service of God, should abstain after ordination from the intercourse of marriage To all who have not undertaken this wondrous priesthood, Scripture almost completely gives way, when it says:
"Marriage is honourable, and the bed undefiled, but Ilcb. whoremongers and adulterers God will judge."
This, then, is xiii.
4. my answer to the first question.
CH.APTER
JV/iy we are not bidden to burn Incense and io sacrifice the Fruits of the Earth to God as were the Men of Old Time.
(34) I SHOULD
give the following reply to those who ask why we do not sacrifice animals to Almighty God, as the men of God of old did, whom we claim to imitate.
Greek ideas, and what is actually found in the sacred books of the (1>) Hebrews, do not agree about the cultus of the ancient primitive men.
The Greeks say that early men did not ever sacrifice animals, nor burn incense to the gods, but "herbage, which they lifted up in their hands as the bloom of the productive ])Ower of nature,"
^ and burnt grass and leaves and roots in the fire to the sun and the stars of heaven.
And that in the next stage men launching far into wickedness stained the altars with the sacrifice of animals, and that (c) this was a sacrifice sinful, unrighteous, and quite displeasing to God.
For man and beast in no way differ in their reasonable soul.
So they said that those who oflTer animals are open to the charge of murder, the soul being one and the same in man and brute.
This was the view of the ancient Greeks, but it does not agree with the Hebrew Scriptures.
They record that the first men, as soon as they * Eiisebius is rcprtsciitini; llie ^i.•\^s of Porpliyiy. ami ho repiiKluccs the phrases of the jiassn^c (pioted in V. I", from i/V Ahst. ii.
.iiul ii.
(Nauck) :
" Of those ihey made 110 oft'ciings formerly, l)Ut of herl>.ni:;c, which lliey lifted up in their hands as the hhioni (x«'oi'j) of the productive power of nature " (rf/i •yov'iu.av tftvirtwi)
: for I'orplivry see notes jip. 120 and 155. lie was )iioliaMv iheopi iMienl tl1.1l the thuioiifttn/io chiefly had in \ie\v.
Ch. lo.
AXIMAL SACRIFICES
were created, honoured God with animal sacrifices at the very creation of their life.
For they say":
(d) "And it came to pass after some days that Cain brought of the fruits of the earth a sacrifice to the Lord.
And Abel also brought of the first-born of his sheep.
. And God looked upon Abel and his gifts.
But Cain and his sacrifices he regarded not." f"^'"Here you will understand that he who sacrificed an animal is said to have been more accepted by God than he who brought an offering of the fruits of the eartli.
Noah again brought to the altar his first-fruits of all clean cattle, and of all clean fowls ; Abraham also is described as sacrificing : so that if we accept the evidence of Holy Scripture, the first (35) sacrifices thought of by the ancient men of God were those of animals.
And this thought, I hold, was not due to accident, nor was its source in man, but it was divinely suggested.
For when they saw since they were holy, brought nigh to God, and enlightened by the Divine Spirit in their souls that there was need of great stress on the cleansing of the sons of men, they thought that a ransom was due to the source ^ of life and soul in return for their own salvation.
And then as they had nothing better or more valuable than their own lifeto sacrifice, in place of it they brought a sacrifice (b) through that of the unreasoning beasts, providing a life instead of their own life.
They did not consider this was sinful or unrighteous.
They had not been taught that the soul of the brutes was like man's, which has discourse of reason : they had only learned that it was the animal's blood, and that in the blood is the principle of life, which they offered themselves, sacrificing as it were to God one life instead of another.
- For the viciiioiis n.ilure of sncrillce see J G.
I-'r.iser, Folklore in the O.
T. i. 426, e.Q. f>f prnclice of .\ial>s of Moab :
" It is a siihslitutc which the deity deigns to accept instead of human an<l animal life."'
IVof. S. I. Ciirtiss' researches into Syrian customs to-d.iy show that the essence of their domestic sacrifices is vicari us, sec S.
Curtiss.
Prititili-iuSciHtlii h'eli^ion To-itay (Chicago, 1902), pji. 195
.ry.
I>ut if sacrificis vicarious, there is also, notably in tlie Bloml Covenant, a process of iden'ilicalion of ihe worshipper wiih the tliiniij offered, as is shown bv W. Robertson Smith, Rt-lit^i 'ti of the Seniites, pp. 4S0 Si/. and C.
II.
Trumbull, The Blood Covenant.
THE PROOF OF THE GOSPEL
Bk. I.
Moses makes this abundantly clear, when he says :
(c) " For the life of all flesh is the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your sins : for the blood shall make atonement for the Le%-it. soul.
Therefore I said to the children of Israel, No xvii.
II. soul of you shall eat blood."
Note carefully in the above the words, " I gave to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls ; for the blood shall make atonement for the soul."
(d) He says clearly that the blood of the victims slain is a propitiation in the place of human life.
And the law about sacrifices suggests that it should be so regarded, if it is carefully considered.
For it requires him who is sacrificing always to lay his hands on the head of the victim, and to bear the animal to tlie priest held by its head, as one offering a sacrifice on behalf of himself.
Thus he says in each case Levit. iii.
"He shall bring it before the Lord.
And he shall Ilay his hands on the head of the gift."
Such is the ritual in every case, no sacrifice is ever brought up otherwise.
And so the argument holds that the victims are brought in place of the lives of them who bring them.
In teaching that the blood of the brutes is their life, it in no way implies that they share in the essence of (3^') thought and reason, for they are composed of matter and body, in the same way as the vegetation of the earth and ])lants.
Thus Moses tells that God said in one creative woi (1 :
" Let the earth bring forth herb of grass and the Gen. i.
II. fruit tree."
And again in like manner "Let the earth bring forth foiu-footed things, and creeping things, and wild beasts of the earth after tlieir kind."
We must, therefore, regard the brutes as akin in kind and (1>) nature and essence to the vegetation of the earth and tlie plants, and conclude that those who sacrifice them ccMiimit no sin Noah indeed w.is told to eat flesh, as the herb of the field.
While then the better, the great and worthy ami divine sacrifice was not yet available for men, it was necessary for
Ch. lo.
THE ONE SACRIFICE
them by the offering of animals to pay a ransom for their own Hfe, and this was fitly a life that represented their own nature.
Thus did the holy men of old, anticipating by the Holy S{)irit that a holy victim, dear to God and great, would one day come for men, as the offering for the sins of the world, believing that as prophets they must perform in symbol his sacrifice, and shew forth in type what was yet (c) to be.
But when that which was perfect was come, in accordance with the predictions of the prophets, the former sacrifices ceased at once because of the better and true Sacrifice.
This Sacrifice was the Christ of God, from far distant times foretold as coming to men, to be sacrificed Hke a sheep for the whole human race.
As Isaiah the prophet says of him :
"As a sheep he was led to slaughter, and as a lamb dumb before her shearers."
Is. liii.
And he adds :
" 4. He bears our sins and is pained for us ; yet we (d) accounted him to be in trouble, and in suffering and in affliction.
But he was wounded on account of our sins, and he was made sick on account of our ini(|uities, the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripe we are healed. ...
6. And the Lord hath given him up for our iniquities ...
.9 for he did no sin himself, nor was guile found in his is. liii. 4mouth."'
Jeremiah, another Hebrew prophet, speaks similarly in the person of Christ :
" I was led as a lamb to the slaughter." jer. xi.
19.
John Baptist sets the seal on their predictions at the appearance of our Saviour.
For beholding Him, and point- (37) ing Him out to those present as the one foretold by the prophets, he cried:
"Behold the Lamb of Ciod, which taketh away the sin of the world."
John i.
29.
Since then according to the witness of the prophets the great and precious ransom has been found for Jews and fireeks alike, the propitiation for the whole world, the life given for the life of all men, the pure offering for every stain and sin, the Lamb of God, the holy sheep dertr to (iod, the Lamb that was foretold, by Whose in'^pired and (b) mystic teaching all we Gentiles have procured the forgive ness of our former sins, and such Jews as hope in Him NOL.
TME proof of the GOSPEL Bk. 1 are freed from the curse of Moses, daily celebrating^ His memorial, the remembrance of His Body and Blood, and are admitted to a greater sacrifice than that of the ancient law,- we do not reckon it right to fall backupon the first (ci beggarly elements, which are symbols and likenesses but do not contain the truth itself.
And any Jews, of course, who have taken refuge in Christ, even if they attend no longer to the ordinances of Moses, but live according to the new covenant, are free from the curse ordained by Moses, for the Lamb of God has surely not only taken on Himself the sin of the world, but also the curse involved in the breach of the commandments of Moses as well.
The (<1) Lamb of God is made thus both sin and curse— sin for the sinners in the world, and curse for those remaining in all the things written in Moses' law.
And so the Apostle Gal.iii. 13. says :
"Christ has redeemed us from the. curse of the law, 2 Cor. V. being made a curse for us"; and " Him that knew no sin, 21. for our sakes he made sin."
For what is there that the Offering for the whole world could not effect, the Life given for the life of sinners. Who was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a lamb to the sacrifice, and all this for us and on our behalf?
And this was why those ancient men of God, as they had not yet the reality, held fast to their symbols.
(3^) This is exactly what our Saviour teaches, saying :
" Many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them
; Matt. xiii.
^"<J to hear those things which ye hear, antl have not 17. heard them."
And we, who have received both the truth, and the archety[)es of the early copies through the mysterious dispensation of Christ, can have no further need for the things of old.
Acts ii. 46 seems to imply a daily ("Dinnuinion.
In Acts xx.
7, the (lay is the Lord's Day.
In Hiiliyiiia the Christians meet "stato die"
(i'liny, E/. x.
97), i.e.
«.'/ daily.
Justin, ,•//<'/. i. 67, mentions .Sunday as the day for the Kucharist.
Wednesd.iy and Friday are addtd later (Terlullim, /V Orationi\ c.
14), and Saturday (Basil, /'.'/.
2S<), but cf.
Kpijihanius, K.xfosilio /'i,/i/\ c.
22, p.
1104).
In Chrysostoni's time, the celebration was daily in the Church of Consiantin()|ile (/// E/'/irs. Horn. iii. p. 23).
S. Augustine (A/.
I iS) states for Afri( an Church, " in some |)laces no day jiasses without an olTering
; in others olTcrinp; ii made on the Sahhalh only and the Lord's Day : in others on the Lord's Day (mly."
Jerome (Ep. 71) seems to imply that the rclchralion was daily in the Churclics of Rome and Spain.
Cf.
I. 6c.
Ch.
10.
SACRIFICE AND MEMORIAL
He then that was alone of those who ever existed, the Word of God/ before all worlds, and High Priest of every creature that has mind and reason, separated One of like passions with us, as a sheep or lamb from the human flock, branded on Him all our sins, and fastened on Him as well the curse that was adjudged by Moses' law, as Moses foretells: "Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree." (b) Gal. iii.
This He suffered " being made a curse for us : and making '3himself sin for our sakes."
And then "He made him sin for our sakes who knew no sin," and laid on Him all the (c) 2 Cor. punishments due to us for our sins, bonds, insults, con- ^'- 21. tumelies, scourging, and shameful blows, and the crowning trophy of the Cross.
And after all this when He had offered such a wondrous offering and choice victim to the Father, and sacrificed for the salvation of us all, He delivered a memorial to us to offer to God continually instead of a sacrifice.
This also the wondrous David inspired by the Holy Spirit to foresee the future, foretold in these words :
"I waited patiently for the Lord, and he inclined unto me , and heard my calling .
2. And he brought (<i) me up out of a pit of misery , and from miry clay !
And he set my feet on a rock and ordered my steps aright .
3. And he hath put a new song in my mouth , i>s. xl. 1-3. a hymn to our God.
And he shews clearly what "the new song" is when he goes on to say :
" 7.
Sacrifice and offering thou wouldcst not ; but | * The Logos as Hijjh Priest of Ilunianiiy sets aside for sacrifice the human Jesus, laying on Him our sins ar.cl Moses' curse.
For this view of tiie Logos, cf. Origen, de I'liii. ii. 6
; iv.
; <.
Cc/s.
II. 9, It is Origen 's solution of the prohlem of tlie Incarnation, and, according to Harnack, aims at guarding the truth from Docelism and hhionilism.
"The Logos could unite itself with the l)ody only througli the medium of a human soul.
This soul was a pure, unfallen spirit, which had destined itself for the soul in order to serve the purposes of redemption.
It was a pure spirit fundamentally united with llie Logos, and became then by reason of its moral worthiness, a medium for the incarnation of the Logos (clo.sest inner union, l)Ul really perfect only through incessant exercise of will from both sides
; therefore no mingling).
The Logos remains unchangeable ; only the soul hungers and suffers, inasmuch as it, like the body,i s truly human."
Outlines of the Hiitory of Dogma (E.T.
1893), P- '^iL7. History of Dog"i,i {E.T.), vol. ii. 371.
THE PROOF OF THE GOSPEL
Bk. I. a body hast thou prepared me I ; whole burnt-offering; and sin offering thou didst take no pleasure in .
8. Then j,g jj, Q said I, Lo, I come :
| in the volume of the book it is , to do thy will, O God, I desired, " written of me j And he adds :
" I have preached righteousness in the great I Ps. xl. 9. congregation."
He plainly teaches that in place of the (39) ancient sacrifices and whole burnt-offerings the incarnate presence of Christ that was prepared was offered.
And this very thing He proclaims to his Church as a great mystery expressed with prophetic voice in the volume of the book.
As we have received a memorial of this offering which we celebrate on a table- ^ by means of symbols of His Body and saving Blood according to the laws of the new covenant, we are taught again by the prophet David to say
/|j\ "5. Thou hast prepared a table before me in the face of my persecutors | .
Thou hast anointed my head with oil , and thy cup cheers me as the strongest Ps. xxii.
(wine).
; "
Here it is plainly the mystic Chrism - and the holy Sacrifices ^ Psalm xxii. is referred to the Memorial (jLn/^yujj) of Christ's Sacrifice which is perfoniied, " e'lrl Tpairf^r)s 5ia (rvn$6\(i>v rov re adftaros ainov
Kol Tov (TooTTjf'Lov a'i/j.aros.''
Sia ffvfi&iXuiv is cmiihalic.
K. has indeed said (37 c) that the Jewish sacrifices A\a av^^oXa koX flK6uei, but that they do not eml)race truth (irepUxovai a.\r)6eiav).
Tiie Euchatistic "symbols" do embrace truth, /. e. they i^ive what they represent.
So, 355 d, tlie elements are to (Tv/xPoXa rrjs ivdeov olKovofiias .
. rifv eiKova rov ISiov ffwfxaros.
So Ilarnack says, " What we nowadays understand by a symbol is a tiling which is nt)t that which it represents ; at that time (in the second centuiy) symbol denoted a thini^ which, in some kind of way, is what it represents" {History 0/ Dajyi/ia, vol. ii. p.
144).
The ihini; was behind the symbol, but not itientical with it, Cf. W. R. Inge, Christian iMysfirisnt, pp. 252-261.
J-'or sacramental symbolism as an integral part of all early Clentile Christianity, see llarnack, Ex/>ansion of Christianity, vol. i. pp. 2S5 200, ^..j,'. " The Christian religion was intelligible and impressive owing to llie fact that it oft'ered men sacraments."
^ ro fitiffriKov xP'<^/"n- '''^^ the unction of the whole body with exorcized oil t'f/on' liaplism, wn'ch was very early in the East and is continued in the Cireek Church, cf. Cyril, Catdh. Afyst. ii. 3, 4 ; .Ipost.
Const, vii. 22
; Clirys.
//."//.
/'/ /;; A/, ati Coloss.
<. 4.
It was much later in the West.
Eor unction after Bapli-.m, ihcic is evidence from the early Coptic Church, cf.
Tatham's .//('.»/. Const. Copt. 50, and abundant references in Western Fathers from Terluliian (/'<• A'.?//.
7, A.l>.
192) onwards.
This was on the head.
Wc do not hear of I' mi ion at Contirniation till the fifth unlury.
Ch. lo.
ISAIAH'S WONDERS
6i of Christ's Table that are meant, by which we arc taught to offer to Almighty God through our great High
Priest all through our life the celebration of our sacrifices, bloodless, reasonable, and well-pleasing to Him.
And this very thing the great prophet Isaiah wonderfully foreknew by the Holy Spirit, and foretold.
And he therefore says thus :
(c) "O Lord, my Ciod,
will glorify thee, I will hymn thy name, for thou hast done marvellous things."
Isa..\xv. i And he goes on to explain what these things so truly " wonderful "' arc :
"And the Lord of Sabaoth shall make a feast for all the nations.
They shall drink joy, they shall drink . wine, they shall be anointed with myrrh (on this mountain).
Impart thou all these things to the nations.
For this is God's counsel upon all the nations."
Isa xxv. 6.
These were Isaiah's "wonders," the [)romise of the anointing with ointment of a good smell, and with myrrh made not to Israel but to all nations.
Whence not unnaturally (<i) through the chrism of myrrh they gained the name of Christians.
But he also prophesies the " wine of joy " to the nations, darkly alluding to the sacrament of the new covenant of Christ, which is now openly celebrated among the nations.
And these unembodicd and spiritual sacrifices the oracle of the prophet also proclaims, in a certain place :
"Offer to God the sacrifice of praise, and give the Highest thy vows : And call upon me in the day of thy affliction, and I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me."
I's.
14.
And again:
"The lifting up of my hands is an evening I's. cxli.
2. sacrifice."
And once more: "The sacrifice of God is a contrite spirit."
I's. li.
17.
And so all the.se predictions of immemorial prophecy ^40) are being fulfilled at this present time through the teaching of our Saviour among all nations.
Truth bears witness with the prophetic voice with which God, rejecting the Mosaic sacrifices, foretells that the future lies with us :
The comjioiind fxvpop, which came to he used instead of pure oil, was .similar to the " Unguentuin retjale " of the Parlhians, ihe recipe for which is given by I'liny, jVa/.
//is/, xiii. i.
(See D.C..I., art.
" Unction.")
THE PROOF OF THE GOSPEL
Bk.
"Wherefore from the rising of the sun unto the setting my name shall be glorified among' the nations.
And in every place intense shall be offered to my Ma!, i.
II. name, and a pure offering."
We sacrifice, therefore, to Almighty God a sacrifice of praise.
We sacrifice the divine and holy and sacred (h) offering.
We sacrifice anew according to the new covenant the pure sacrifice.
But the sacrifice to Clod is called "a contrite heart."
"A humble and a contrite heart thou i's.
17. wilt not despise."
Yes, and we offer the incense of the prophet, in every place bringing to Him the sweet-smelling fruit of the sincere W'ord of God, offering it in our prayers to Him.
This yet another prophet teaches, who says Ps. cxl.
" Let my prayer be as incense in thy sight."
So, then, we sacrifice and offer incense :
^ On the one (c) hand when we celebrate the Memorial of His great Sacrifice according to the Mysteries He delivered to us, and bring to God the Eucharist for our .salvation with holy hymns and prayers ; while on the other we consecrate ourselves to Him alone and to the Word His High Priest, devoted to Him in body and soul.
Therefore we are careful to keep our bodies pure and undefiled from all evil, and we bring our hearts purified from every passion and stain of sin, and worship Him with sincere thoughts, real intention, antl true beliefs.
For these are more acceptable to Him, so we are taught, than a multitude of sacrifices offered with blood and smoke and fat.
^ There is no trace of incense in Christian worsliip duriiii:; the first four centuries.
In the Pilgrimage of Elliciia (see edition in this series, p.
49) it seems to be used as a funiigatory before llie service, cf.
Tcrluliian, dc Cor. c.
10.
See Clem.
Alex. (a.h.
192), Strom. VII. c. vi. §32.
Lactantius (a.d. 320), Divin. fust.
Epit.
St. Augustine (a.1). 396), Eitarr, in Ps. xlix. § 21.
BOOK II PREFACE That we have not embraced the Prophetic Books of the(-M) Hebreii'S with so much Zeal without Aim or Ol^ject.
In my survey of the ideal of true religion brought before all men by the Gospel teaching and of the Life in (rhrist in the previous book, I have argued and I (b) believe demonstrated the impossibility of all the nations living by the Jewish law, even if they wished.
My present object is to resume the argument at a point further back,^ to return to the evidence of the prophetic books, and to give a more complete answer to the charges of those of the Circumcision, who say that we have no (c) share whatever in the promises of their Scriptures.
They hold that the prophets were theirs, that the Christ, \N'hom they love to call Saviour and Redeemer, was foretold to them, and that it is to be expected that the written promises will be fulfilled for them.
They despise us as being of alien races, about which the prophets are unanimous in foretelling evil.
I propose to meet these attacks by evidence derived straight from their own prophetic books, (il) With regard to the Christ of God having been promised in their land, and Ilis advent preaching salvation to Israel, we should be the last to deny it ; all would agree that this is the plain teaching of all their writings.
But with regard to the Gentiles being debarred from the expected benefits in Christ, on the ground that the promise was limited to Israel, it is quite impossible to yield to what they advance against the evidence of Holy Scripture.
* SfttiOev lita.va.Ka.&mv rhv \6yov, indvfifjit itri.
Cf. iirava.&(&-r}Kii, P.F.. 130 b.