38. To this Trypho replied, " It would be well for us, Trypho's
Tryplios charge of blasphemy answered from Prophecy.
Moses and Aaron among his priests, and Samuel among them Dial. that call upon His Name.
They called upon the Lord, saith —— the Scripture, and He heard them: He spake unto them in the pillar of cloud, they kept His testimonies, and the ordinance that He gave them.
Thou heardest them, O Lord our God:
Thou wast placable toward them, O God, and tookest vengeance on all their inveyitions.
Exalt the Lord our God, and worship at His holy hill: for the Lord our God is holy.''
38. To this Trypho replied, " It would be well for us, Trypho's Sir, to obey our teachers, who direct us to give ear to none ^^uj^*^ of your sect, and not to hold any communication with you phemy gj^^^*^' on these subjects, for you have now spoken many biasphemies, endeavouring to persuade us that that man who was crucified was with Moses and Aaron, and spoke with them in the pillar of the cloud; then that He was made man, was crucified, and went up into Heaven, and will again return to the earth, and is to be worshipped."
" I know,"
I answered, " that, according to the Word of God, this great wisdom of the Maker of all things, the Almighty God, is Ts. 29, hidden from you.
Hence my feelings for you cause me to strive anxiously to induce you to understand these marvels of our?, and if this is not to be, that I at least may be blameless in the day of judgment.
You shall hear, moreover, other doctrines which may appear yet more wonderful to you ; but be not troubled, but rather continue more diligent hearers and enquirers, disregarding the tradition of your teachers, who are convicted by the spirit of prophecy of being unable to comprehend what God has spoken, and rather preierring to teach their own doctrines.
In the fortyfourth Psalm, it is also spoken of Christ thus ; My heart Ps.45,i. hath poured out a good tvord; L speak of my works to the King.
My tongue is the pen of a ready writer.
Thou art fairer than the children of men.
Grace hath been poured outifi Thy lips; therefore God hath blessed Theefor ever.
Gird Thy sword upon Thy thigh, O Thou Most Mighty, With Thy beauty and Thy comeliness go forward, and ride prosperously, and reign, because of Thy truth, and meekness, and righteousness : and Thy right hand shall lead Thee wonderfully.
Thine arrows are sharp, O Thou Mighty One ,• the
; :
The Jews spared for future conversions.
— in the heart of the King's _^AKr.
Just, people shall fall under Thee gjriQjj^igs, Xhy throne^ O God, is for ever and ever : the sceptre of Thy kingdom is a right sceptre.
Thou lovedst righteousness^ and hatedst wickedness : therefore God, Thy God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows.
All Thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of the ivory palaces, whereby they have made Thee glad.
Kings'' daughters were in Thine honour: upon Thy right hand did stand the queen in a vesture of gold, wrought about of divers colours.
Hearhen, O daughter, and consider, arid incline thine ear ; forget also thine own people, and thy father s house.
And the King shall desire thy beauty : for He is thy Lord God, and they shall worship Him.
And the daughter of Tyre [shall be there'] with gifts the rich among the people shall supplicate Thy face.
All the glory of the King'^s daughter is from within ; she is clothed with golden fri?iges, and with various colours.
The virgins her followers shall be brought unto the King, her companions shall be brought unto Thee.
With joy and gladness shall they be brought, they shall be brought into the King's temple.
Instead of Thy fathers have been born to Thee sons :
Thou shalt make them princes over all the earth.
I ivill remember Thy Name from one generation! to another : therefore shall the people confess Thee for ever and ever.
Enmity 39.
" Nor is it wonderful," 1 added, " that you hate us ^^^'who understand these sayings, and even upbraid you with your hard-hearted prejudice.
For Elias, when interceding 1 Kings with God about you, spoke thus; Lord, they have slain Thy '
* prophets, and thrown down Thine altars, and I only am left, ver. 18. and they seek my life.
And God answered him, There are yet left Me sevefi thousand men, which have not bowed the knee to Baal.
As therefore, for the sake of those seven thousand, God did not then execute His wrath, so in the same manner even now He has not yet brought, nor does He bring down
His judgment; for He knows that some \viTr every day become disciples unto the Name of His Christ, and leave the error of their ways, who also receive gifts each as he is worthy, being enlightened through the Nan>e of this same Christ.
One receives the spirit of wisdom, another of counsel, another of strength, another of healing, another of fore-
Christ's humiliation admitted, yet "is this He?"
knowledge, another of teaching, another of the fear of Dial.
God'."
Tav^.
' Conf.
"To this," Trypho replied, "I would have you know, Is. 11,2. that you must surely be out of your senses to speak thus." jg g"^* "But listen to me, you here,"
I said, "and learn that I am not mad, nor beside myself; but it was foretold, that after His Ascension into Heaven, Christ should rescue us like captives from our former errors, and give us gifts.
These are the words ; He has gone up on high, He hath led Ps. 68, captivity captive, He hath given gifts to men.
We then ^^' who have received these gifts from Christ, Who has gone up on high, prove from the words of the prophets, that you, who Is.5,2i. are wise in your own e^yes and prudent in your own sight, are
13'^ ' but fools, and honour God and His Christ with your lips only ; Mat. 15, whilst we, who have been instructed from all His truth, Mark 7, honour Him with our works, our knowledge, and our hearts,
^' even unto death.
You, however, for this reason hesitate perhaps to confess that this is the Christ, as the Scriptures declare, and the things that are before your eyes, and the works that are done in His Name, shew, that you may not be persecuted by those in authority, who, from the busy working of the serpent, that spirit of wickedness and deceit, will not cease to persecute and destroy those who confess the Name of Christ, until He shall come again, and put an end to them all, rewarding every one according to his deserts."
Trypho then said, " Now give us proof that this man, whom you affirm to have been crucified and to have ascended again into Heaven, is the Christ of God ; for that it is foretold by the Scriptures, that Christ should both suffer, and that He should come again with glory, and receive the everlasting kingdom over all nations, and that every government should be subjected to Him, has been sufficiently proved already by the Scriptures which you have cited but prove to us that this is He."
" It has been proved," I replied, " already to those who have ears, and that even by what you yourselves confess.
But that you may not think that I am at a loss, and unable to offer those proofs which you demand, I will, as I promised, produce them in a proper place.
I now turn, however, to a continuation of the subject of which I was previously treating.
1^0 Sacrifices now done away were fulfilled in Christ.
Just.
40. "The m3'stery of the lamb, then, which God com_ilL£: nianded vou to sacrifice as a Passover, was a type of Christ, lypes of "^ .
^ . / Christ with Whose blood, according to the measure of their faith Law^ i" Him, they who believe in Him anoint their houses, i. e. themselves ; for that the image which God made, viz.
• oTkos.
Adam, was the 'abode of His inspiration, you are all able to understand : which commandment 1 thus prove to be temporary.
God permits the lamb to be sacrificed no where Deut.16, except in the spot on which His Name is called, for He knew that the days would come after Christ had suffered, when the place of Jerusalem should be given up to your enemies, and all sacrifices should entirely cease : moreover, that lamb, which was commanded to be roasted whole, was a symbol of the Passion of the Cross, by which Christ should suffer.
For the lamb in roasting bears a resemblance to the figure of a cross ; one spit pierces it horizontally from the lower extremities to the head, and another across the 2aiX"-back, on which hang its forelegs^.
In like manner, the Levit. two goats during the fast,—which are commanded to be ^^' ^* alike*, of which one w^as to be a scape-goat, but the other was for an offering,—are also prefigurations of Christ's two
Advents ; of the first on which your elders and priests sent Him away as a scape-goat, laying their hands on Him, and putting Him to death ; and of the second, because in the same place of Jerusalem ye shall know Him Whom ye have put to dishonour, and Who was an offering for all sinners who wish to repent, and who fast the fast of which Isaiah Is. 58, 6. speaks, tindoing the knots of violent contracts, and observing the other precepts there laid down, which I have now recounted, and which all those who believe in Jesus do.
"You know too, that the offering of these two goats, which was commanded to be made during the fast, was similarly allowed to be performed no where but in Jerusalem.
Offering 41. " In like manner the oblation of the flour, my friends," a type I continued, *' which was commanded to be offered for those of the Eucharist.
' So the Epistle of Barnabas, §. 7. torn; for we learn from the Talmudists, Cotflerius, i. p. 21.
It is not ordered that " it was directed that they should in Scripture, that the goats should rebe alike in size, colour, and value." bemble each other, a-^ St. Barnabas and See Cotelerius, note C8, on the above St Justin state, but such seems to section of St. Barnabas; and Otto, have been the Jewish traditional eusp. 132. note 10.
Various typical ordinances,
who were cleansed from leprosy, was a type of the bread of Dial. the Eucharist, which Jesus Christ our Lord commanded us to ^ offer, in remembrance of the Passion which he under- ' Troie?;'. went for those who purify their souls from all sin, and that we should at the same time give thanks to God both for His having created the world and all that is therein for the sake of man, and for His having delivered us from the sin in which we were born, and overthrown with an utter destruction the principalities and powers of evil, through Him Who was made to undergo suffering according to His will.
Hence God speaks thus, as I said before, by Malachi, one of the twelve prophets, of the sacrifices then offered by you; / have no pleasure in you, saith the Lord, neither will /Mai. l, accept your offerijigs at your hands: for from the rising of the ~ sun even unto the going down of the same, My Name hath been glorified among the Gentiles ; and in every place incense is offered unto My Name, and a pure offering : for My Name is great among the heathen, saith the Lord, hut ye profane it.
With regard to those sacrifices which are offered to Him in every place by us Gentiles, that is, of the Eucharistical Bread and equally of the Eucharistical Cup, He then foretold that we should glorify His Name, but that you should profane it.
And the commandment of circumcision, by which you were strictly commanded to circumcise your children on the eighth day, was a type of that true circumcision by which we have been circumcised from sin and error, through Him Who rose from the dead on the first day of the week, Jesus Christ our Lord.
For the first day of the week, while it remains the first of all the days, yet in the numbering again of all the days in their revolution, is called the eighth, and still it remains as it is, the first.
42. "The twelve bells again, which were directed to be The suspended from the ephod, which reached to the feet ofi^pi^/^j^e the high priest, were a symbol of the twelve Apostles, Apostles who depended on the powder of the Eternal High Priest 28, 33.
Christ, and through whose voices the whole world is filled with the glory and grace of God and His Christ.
Hence David speaks thus ; Their sound hath gone out into all the Ps.19,4. earth, and their words unto the ends of the world.
And Isaiah says, as from the ^person of the Apostles telling' 7rpo<rcoTToy.
Preach'mg of the Gospel^ S^c, foresheton in the Law.
Just. Christ that men believe not their report, but the power _^.^of Himself that sent them, Lord, who hath believed our Isa. 53, .
, 1 . 2. report f and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed f we have declared before Him as a little child, as a root in a dry ground; with the remainder of the prophecy as before cited.
But to speak thus, " We have declared before Him" as in » irpoffd}- the • person of many, and then to add, as a little child, proves
'^°^' that the wicked should become His servants, and obey His commands, and that all should be as it v/ere one child ; as indeed we may see in the case of a body which consists of 1 Cor. many members, and yet is called, and is, one body, so the 12, 12.
(^i^^v^h and people, being many men in number, yet, as forming but one thing, are called and described by one term.
So, I continued, if I were to sum up all the ordinances which were commanded by Moses, I could prove them to be types and symbols and presignifications of what was afterwards to happen to Christ, and of those who were foreknown as believers in Him, as well as of the actions which should subsequently be performed by Himself; but since the things which I have already enumerated, seem to me sufficient, I omit them, and pass on to the next point in order.
Christ 43. *^As then circumcision began from Abraham, and of the the sabbath, sacrifices, offerings, and feasts, from Moses, ^^^* and I have proved that these were commanded on account of the hardness of your people's hearts ; so it was requisite that they should cease in Him, Who, according to the will of the Father, was born of the Virgin of the race of Abraham, of the tribe of Judah, and of the family of David, Christ the Son of God, Who it was preached should come as the future everlasting Law and New Covenant for the whole world, according to the meaning of the forementioned prophecies.
We too, who through Him have come to God, receive not this fleshly circumcision, but the spiritual one, which Enoch and those who were like him observed.
This^ since we had been sinners, we received by means of Baptism, through the mercy of God, and it would be good" for all to receive it "
€<pfT6v.
Perhaps 'it is enjoined phanus ; that in the text is found in upon all.'
This sense is nearer to that Aristotle, cited by Passow. of the word in Polybius, cited by Ste-
Christ's birth of a Virgin foretold by Isaiah.
\2S likewise.
I now come to speak of the mystery of His Dial. generation, which presses itself upon our attention.
"^^" '
" Isaiah then, in proof that the generation of Christ is not to be declared by man, speaks thus, as I have already stated; Who shall declare His generation?
His life is cut offis.53,8. from the earth : for the sins of My people was He brought to death.
The generation then of Him Who was about to die, that by His stripes we sinful men might be healed, the Spirit of prophecy here declares to be indescribable
; moreover, that they who believe in Him might be able to know hov/ He was to be born and to come into the world, the Spirit of prophecy has thus spoken, by the same
Isaiah, how it was to come to pass ; And the Lord spake again unto Is. 7, AhaZj saying, Ask thee a sign of the Lord thy God, in the ~~ depth, or in the height above.
And Aha% said, I will not ask, neither will I tempt the Lord.
And Isaiah said, Hear ye now, O house of David!
Is it a small thiiig for you to weary men, but will you weary my God also f Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign.
Behold, a Virgin shall conceive\ and bear a Son, and His Name shall be called Emmianuel, j Butter and honey shall He eat, before He shall know either ^ to refuse the evil, or choose the good.
For before the Child shall know good or evil, He refuses evil to choose the good.
For before the Child shall have knowledge to say Father or is. 8, 4.
Mother, He shall take away the strength of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria before the king ofAssyria.
And the land'^^'l, 16. shall be abandoned^ which thou shalt hardly endure on account i ^^^^, of theface of the two kings. But God shall bring upon thee, and ^vfpo-fiupon thy people, and upon thy father s house, days that have read
' not yet come upon theCy from the day that He took away'^"-'^"-'
Ephraim from Judah, even the king of Assyria.
Now that cr^rai. no one in the generation of Abraham according to the flesh was ever born, or said to have been born, of a virgin, except this our Christ, is plain to all ; but since you and your teachers presume to assert, that it is not said in Isaiah, behold, a virgin shall conceive, but, behold, a young woman shall conceive, and bear a son ; and explain the prophecy of Hezekiah your king, I will endeavour briefly to interpret it against this view, and to siiew that it is spoken of Him Whom we confess to be Christ.
\24f The Jews will not he saved hy their descentfrom Abraham.
Just.
44.
" In so doing, I shall be entirely guiltless as far as ^^~ you are concerned, if by the proofs which I offer, I strive tion earnestly to persuade you to obey the truth.
But if you Chri"? remain in your hardness of heart, or if you hesitate in your alone, decision through fear of the death which is decreed for Christians, and decline to adopt the truth, you will have yourselves to blame.
And you deceive yourselves, if you think that because you are of the seed of Abraham according to the flesh, you will certainly inherit those good gifts, which God has promised to bestow through Christ.
For no one will receive any of them, from any source, except such as in their minds have resembled the faith of Abraham, and who have made acknowledgment of all the mysteries.
I mean, that some commandments were given for holiness and righteous living, and other commandments and practices in like manner were laid down either in relation to the mystery of Christ, [or] on account of the hardness of heart of your people.
To shew that it is so, God speaks thus in Ezekiel Ezek.
Jf Noah, Daniel, or Jacoh^, should ask the deliverance of
20.
UnSept. either sons or daughters, they shall not he given unto them :
'idj^ and in Isaiah to the same effect. The Lord God said, And 24.
' they shall go forth, and look upo7i the carcases of the men that have transgressed against Me : for their worm shall not die, 7ieither shall theirfire he quenched, and they shall he for a s'pectacle unto all fiesh.
But you should earnestly seek to know, as men who have cut off from your souls this hope, how you may obtain remission of your sins, and hope of the inheritance of the promised blessings
: and there is no other but this, that, having become acquainted with this Christ of ours, and washed in that laver of forgiveness of sins which Is. 1,16. Isaiah proclaims, you should henceforth live without sin."
Saints 45. Trypho now spoke :
" Though I appear to interrupt cThrS these arguments which you say are necessary to be closely saved pursued, suffer me first to put a question which presses on Him.^ niy mind, and on which I desire information."
'* Ask what you wish,"
I said, " as it occurs to you ; and after your questions have been answered, I will endeavour to resume and complete my arguments."
'' Tell me then," he said, '* shall they who have directed their lives according to the law laid down by Moses, live
Saints before Christ saved, hut through Him, 1^5 equally with Jacob, Enoch, and Noah, in the resurrection Dial. of the dead, or no ?" i'^ypn.
" When I quoted that passage," I replied, " from Ezekiel, which says, * although Noah, Daniel, and Jacob, should Ezek.
^^* ask the deliverance of sons and. daughters, it should not be^^' given them,' but each should be saved by his own righteousness, I said that those who lived according to the i Law of Moses, should be equally saved : for in that Law, whatever is naturally good, holy, and just, is commanded to be practised by those who were obedient to it ; and in like manner, things which were enjoined to be done on account of the hardness of the people's hearts were put in writing, which those under the Law were also accustomed to perform.
Since they who did such things as are by" nature universally and eternally good, are well-pleasing to God, and through this Christ of ours shall be saved in the resurrection equally w4tli their righteous forefathers, Noah,
Enoch, Jacob, and others, together with those who acknowledge Christ as the Son of God, Who, being before the Ps. no, morning star and the moon, yet condescended to take flesh,
* and be born of this Virgin, who was of the race of David, that through this dispensation, the serpent who wrought wickedness from the beginning, and the angels w^ho resemble him, might be overthrown, and death set at nought, that at the second coming of Christ it might henceforth be utterly deprived of all power over those who believe in Him, and have lived in a manner that is pleasing to Him ; having no longer any being, when the one sort shall be sent into the judgment and condemnation of the eternal fire to be tormented, but the others shall live together free from suflering, and corruption, and sorrow, and in immortality."
46.
'^ But if any even now wish to live in the observance Is the of the Law of Moses, and yet believe on Jesus Who was be^J^e't crucified, and acknowledge that He is the Christ of God, to under Whom it is given to judge all men universally, and whose is Gospel, the everlasting kingdom; can they too be saved?" he asked.
To which I replied as follows:
" Let us consider together if it be now permitted to observe every ordinance of the Law of Moses ?"
To this he answered, '* It is not : for we know that, as you say, the Paschal lamb cannot be sacrificed in
Saints of old saved without the Law.
Just, other than the appointed place'', nor the goats that are '- commanded to be offered at the fast, nor any other of the oblations whatever."
*' Tell me yourself then, I beg," said I, " what are the commandments which it is possible to observe? for then you shall be convinced, that one who has not practised nor observed these same eternal ordinances of yours, can yet assuredly be saved."
"We can keep the sabbath," he said, "and be circumcised, and observe the months, and wash when we have touched any thing forbidden by Moses, or after sexual connexion."
" Then," I replied, " can Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Noah, Job, and others who were before them, or after them, and who were also righteous like them, I mean, Sarah the wife of Abraham, and Rebekah of Isaac, and Rachel the wife of Jacob, and Leah, and other women of the same kind, down to the mother of God's faithful servant Moses, but who kept none of these laws, in your opinion be sayed ?"
To this Trypho answered, " Was not Abraham and his posterity circumcised ?"
" I know that they were," I replied, " but I have stated at length in the previous part of my discourse, for what reason circumcision v/as enjoined on them; and unless what has been already said put you to shame, let us again examine the subject.
You know well, that none of those righteous men who lived before Moses observed, or was commanded to observe, any one of the ordinances about which we are now enquiring, except circumcision, which received its commencement from Abraham."
" We know it," he said, " and we confess that they were saved."
" Then," said I again, " consider that for the hardness of your hearts, God gave you all such commandments by Moses, that you might by these numerous ordinances in every act have Him before your eyes, and not begin to act either unjustly or impiously.
Hence He commanded you Numb, to wear a scarlet ribband, that through it you might not 4^; ^^' forget Him: and to gird yourselves with a phylactery, made of very small strips of parchment, and inscribed with * The Jews were not permitted to do it at Jerusalem, as the Law required.