Spirit and Baptism

Let us further inquire whether the Lord took any care to foreshadow the water [of baptism ] and the cross. Concerning the water, indeed, it is written, in reference to the Israelites , that they should not receive that baptism which leads to the remission of sins , but should procure another for themselves. The prophet therefore declares, Be astonished, O heaven, and let the earth tremble at this, because this people has committed two great evils : they have forsaken Me, a living fountain, and have hewn out for themselves broken cisterns. Is my holy hill Zion a desolate rock? For you shall be as the fledglings of a bird, which fly away when the nest is removed.

Isaiah 16:1-2 And again says the prophet , I will go before you and make level the mountains, and will break the brazen gates, and bruise in pieces the iron bars; and I will give you the secret, hidden, invisible treasures, that they may know that I am the Lord God. Isaiah 45:2-3 And He shall dwell in a lofty cave of the strong rock. Furthermore, what says He in reference to the Son? His water is sure; you shall see the King in His glory , and your soul shall meditate on the fear of the Lord. Isaiah 33:16-18 And again He says in another prophet , The man who does these things shall be like a tree planted by the courses of waters, which shall yield its fruit in due season; and his leaf shall not fade, and all that he does shall prosper. Not so are the ungodly, not so, but even as chaff, which the wind sweeps away from the face of the earth.

Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in judgment, nor sinners in the counsel of the just; for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish. Mark how He has described at once both the water and the cross. For these words imply, Blessed are they who, placing their trust in the cross , have gone down into the water; for, says He, they shall receive their reward in due time: then He declares, I will recompense them. But now He says, Their leaves shall not fade. This means, that every word which proceeds out of your mouth in faith and love shall tend to bring conversion and hope to many. Again, another prophet says, And the land of Jacob shall be extolled above every land. Zephaniah 3:19 This means the vessel of His Spirit, which He shall glorify. Further, what says He?

And there was a river flowing on the right, and from it arose beautiful trees; and whosoever shall eat of them shall live forever. Ezekiel 47:12 This means, that we indeed descend into the water full of sins and defilement, but come up, bearing fruit in our heart, having the fear [of God] and trust in Jesus in our spirit. And whosoever shall eat of these shall live for ever, This means: Whosoever, He declares, shall hear you speaking, and believe , shall live forever.

And concerning baptism , baptize this way: Having first said all these things, baptize into the name of the Father , and of the Son , and of the Holy Spirit , Matthew 28:19 in living water. But if you have not living water, baptize into other water; and if you can not in cold, in warm. But if you have not either, pour out water thrice upon the head into the name of Father and Son and Holy Spirit . But before the baptism let the baptizer fast, and the baptized , and whatever others can; but you shall order the baptized to fast one or two days before.

Let my spirit be counted as nothing for the sake of the cross , which is a stumbling-block 1 Corinthians 1:18 to those that do not believe , but to us salvation and life eternal. Where is the wise man? Where the disputer? 1 Corinthians 1:20 Where is the boasting of those who are styled prudent ? For our God , Jesus Christ , was, according to the appointment of God , conceived in the womb by Mary , of the seed of David , but by the Holy Ghost . He was born and baptized , that by His passion He might purify the water.

Justin: Say no evil thing, my brothers, against Him that was crucified, and treat not scornfully the stripes wherewith all may be healed, even as we are healed. For it will be well if, persuaded by the Scriptures , you are circumcised from hard-heartedness: not that circumcision which you have from the tenets that are put into you; for that was given for a sign, and not for a work of righteousness, as the Scriptures compel you [to admit]. Assent, therefore, and pour no ridicule on the Son of God ; obey not the Pharisaic teachers, and scoff not at the King of Israel , as the rulers of your synagogues teach you to do after your prayers : for if he that touches those who are not pleasing Zechariah 2:8 to God , is as one that touches the apple of God's eye, how much more so is he that touches His beloved! And that this is He, has been sufficiently demonstrated. And as they kept silence, I continued: My friends, I now refer to the Scriptures as the Seventy have interpreted them; for when I quoted them formerly as you possess them, I made proof of you [to ascertain] how you were disposed. For, mentioning the Scripture which says, 'Woe unto them! For they have devised evil counsel against themselves, saying' Isaiah 3:9 (as the Seventy have translated, I continued): 'Let us take away the righteous, for he is distasteful to us;' whereas at the commencement of the discussion I added what your version has: 'Let us bind the righteous, for he is distasteful to us.' But you had been busy…

138. Noah is a figure of Christ, who has regenerated us by water, and faith, and wood: [i.e., the cross .] Justin: You know , then, sirs, that God has said in Isaiah to Jerusalem: 'I saved you in the deluge of Noah .' By this which God said was meant that the mystery of saved men appeared in the deluge. For righteous Noah , along with the other mortals at the deluge, i.e., with his own wife, his three sons and their wives, being eight in number, were a symbol of the eighth day, wherein Christ appeared when He rose from the dead, for ever the first in power. For Christ, being the first-born of every creature, became again the chief of another race regenerated by Himself through water, and faith , and wood, containing the mystery of the cross; even as Noah was saved by wood when he rode over the waters with his household. Accordingly, when the prophet says, 'I saved you in the times of Noah ,' as I have already remarked, he addresses the people who are equally faithful to God , and possess the same signs. For when Moses had the rod in his hands, he led your nation through the sea. And you believe that this was spoken to your nation only, or to the land. But the whole earth, as the Scripture says, was inundated, and the water rose in height fifteen cubits above all the mountains: so that it is evident this was not spoken to the land, but to the people who obeyed Him: for whom also He had before prepared a resting-place in Jerusalem, as was previously demonstrated by all the…

I will also relate the manner in which we dedicated ourselves to God when we had been made new through Christ; lest, if we omit this, we seem to be unfair in the explanation we are making. As many as are persuaded and believe that what we teach and say is true , and undertake to be able to live accordingly, are instructed to pray and to entreat God with fasting , for the remission of their sins that are past, we praying and fasting with them. Then they are brought by us where there is water, and are regenerated in the same manner in which we were ourselves regenerated. For, in the name of God , the Father and Lord of the universe , and of our Saviour Jesus Christ , and of the Holy Spirit , they then receive the washing with water. For Christ also said, Unless you be born again, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven .

John 3:5 Now, that it is impossible for those who have once been born to enter into their mothers' wombs, is manifest to all. And how those who have sinned and repent shall escape their sins , is declared by Esaias the prophet , as I wrote above; he thus speaks: Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from your souls ; learn to do well; judge the fatherless, and plead for the widow : and come and let us reason together, says the Lord. And though your sins be as scarlet, I will make them white like wool; and though they be as crimson, I will make them white as snow. But if you refuse and rebel, the sword shall devour you: for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it. Isaiah 1:16-20 And for this [rite] we have learned from the apostles this reason.

Since at our birth we were born without our own knowledge or choice, by our parents coming together, and were brought up in bad habits and wicked training; in order that we may not remain the children of necessity and of ignorance , but may become the children of choice and knowledge , and may obtain in the water the remission of sins formerly committed, there is pronounced over him who chooses to be born again, and has repented of his sins , the name of God the Father and Lord of the universe ; he who leads to the laver the person that is to be washed calling him by this name alone. For no one can utter the name of the ineffable God ; and if any one dare to say that there is a name, he raves with a hopeless madness . And this washing is called illumination, because they who learn these things are illuminated in their understandings.

And in the name of Jesus Christ , who was crucified under Pontius Pilate , and in the name of the Holy Ghost , who through the prophets foretold all things about Jesus , he who is illuminated is washed.

But we, after we have thus washed him who has been convinced and has assented to our teaching, bring him to the place where those who are called brethren are assembled, in order that we may offer hearty prayers in common for ourselves and for the baptized [illuminated] person, and for all others in every place, that we may be counted worthy, now that we have learned the truth , by our works also to be found good citizens and keepers of the commandments, so that we may be saved with an everlasting salvation . Having ended the prayers , we salute one another with a kiss .

There is then brought to the president of the brethren bread and a cup of wine mixed with water; and he taking them, gives praise and glory to the Father of the universe , through the name of the Son and of the Holy Ghost , and offers thanks at considerable length for our being counted worthy to receive these things at His hands. And when he has concluded the prayers and thanksgivings, all the people present express their assent by saying Amen . This word Amen answers in the Hebrew language to γένοιτο [so be it]. And when the president has given thanks, and all the people have expressed their assent, those who are called by us deacons give to each of those present to partake of the bread and wine mixed with water over which the thanksgiving was pronounced, and to those who are absent they carry away a portion.

1. The Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus - Christian Classics Ethereal Library Contents loading… ANF01. The Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus Theme Font Aa Aa Text Size A A Bible Version Disable scripture popups King James Version American Standard Version World English Bible Show footnotes When clicked On the bottom On the side Reader Width Tags: « Prev Chapter VII.—Inasmuch as Christ did rise in our… Next » Chapter VII.—Inasmuch as Christ did rise in our flesh, it follows that we shall be also raised in the same; since the resurrection promised to us should not be referred to spirits naturally immortal, but to bodies in themselves mortal.

1. In the same manner, therefore, as Christ did rise in the substance of flesh, and pointed out to His disciples the mark of the nails and the opening in His side 4483 4483 John xx. 20, 25–27 . (now these are the tokens of that flesh which rose from the dead), so “shall He also,” it is said, “raise us up by His own power.” 4484 4484 1 Cor. vi. 14 . And again to the Romans he says, “But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies.” 4485 4485 Rom. viii. 11 . What, then, are mortal bodies? Can they be souls? Nay, for souls are incorporeal when put in comparison with mortal bodies; for God “breathed into the face of man the breath of life, and man became a living soul.” Now the breath of life is an incorporeal 533 thing. And certainly they cannot maintain that the very breath of life is mortal. Therefore David says, “My soul also shall live to Him,” 4486 4486 Ps. xxii. 31 , LXX. just as if its substance were immortal. Neither, on the other hand, can they say that the spirit is the mortal body. What therefore is there left to which we may apply the term “mortal body,” unless it be the thing that was moulded, that is, the flesh, of which it is also said that God will vivify it? For this it is which dies and is decomposed, but not the soul or the spirit. For to die is to lose vital power, and to become henceforth breathless, inanimate, and devoid of motion, and to melt away into th

2. But what is that which, like a grain of wheat, is sown in the earth and decays, unless it be the bodies which are laid in the earth, into which seeds are also cast? And for this reason he said, “It is sown in dishonour, it rises in glory.” 4489 4489 1 Cor. xv. 43 . For what is more ignoble than dead flesh? Or, on the other hand, what is more glorious than the same when it arises and partakes of incorruption? “It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power:” 4490 4490 1 Cor. xv. 43 . in its own weakness certainly, because since it is earth it goes to earth; but [it is quickened] by the power of God, who raises it from the dead. “It is sown an animal body, it rises a spiritual body.” 4491 4491 1 Cor. xv. 44 . He has taught, beyond all doubt, that such language was not used by him, either with reference to the soul or to the spirit, but to bodies that have become corpses. For these are animal bodies, that is, [bodies] which partake of life, which when they have lost, they succumb to death; then, rising through the Spirit’s instrumentality, they become spiritual bodies, so that by the Spirit they possess a perpetual life. “For now,” he says, “we know in part, and we prophesy in part, but then face to face.” 4492 4492 1 Cor. xiii. 9, 12 . And this it is which has been said also by Peter: “Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom now also, not seeing, ye believe; and believing, ye shall rejoice with joy unspeakable.” 4493 4493 1 Pet. i. 8 . For our face shall see the face of the Lo

1. But we do now receive a certain portion of His Spirit, tending towards perfection, and preparing us for incorruption, being little by little accustomed to receive and bear God ; which also the apostle terms an earnest, that is, a part of the honour which has been promised us by God , where he says in the Epistle to the Ephesians, In which you also, having heard the word of truth , the Gospel of your salvation , believing in which we have been sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance. Ephesians 1:13 , etc. This earnest, therefore, thus dwelling in us, renders us spiritual even now, and the mortal is swallowed up by immortality . 2 Corinthians 5:4 For you, he declares, are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit , if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Romans 8:9 This, however does not take place by a casting away of the flesh, but by the impartation of the Spirit. For those to whom he was writing were not without flesh, but they were those who had received the Spirit of God , by which we cry, Abba, Father. Romans 8:15 If therefore, at the present time, having the earnest, we do cry, Abba, Father, what shall it be when, on rising again, we behold Him face to face; when all the members shall burst out into a continuous hymn of triumph, glorifying Him who raised them from the dead, and gave the gift of eternal life? For if the earnest, gathering man into itself, does even now cause him to cry, Abba, Father, what shall the complete…

2. Those persons , then, who possess the earnest of the Spirit , and who are not enslaved by the lusts of the flesh, but are subject to the Spirit , and who in all things walk according to the light of reason, does the apostle properly term spiritual, because the Spirit of God dwells in them. Now, spiritual men shall not be incorporeal spirits; but our substance, that is, the union of flesh and spirit , receiving the Spirit of God , makes up the spiritual man. But those who do indeed reject the Spirit's counsel, and are the slaves of fleshly lusts , and lead lives contrary to reason, and who, without restraint, plunge headlong into their own desires, having no longing after the Divine Spirit, do live after the manner of swine and of dogs; these men, [I say], does the apostle very properly term carnal, because they have no thought of anything else except carnal things.

3. For the same reason, too, do the prophets compare them to irrational animals, on account of the irrationality of their conduct, saying, They have become as horses raging for the females ; each one of them neighing after his neighbour's wife. Jeremiah 5:3 And again, Man, when he was in honour , was made like cattle. This denotes that, for his own fault, he is likened to cattle, by rivalling their irrational life. And we also, as the custom is, do designate men of this stamp as cattle and irrational beasts.

4. Now the law has figuratively predicted all these, delineating man by the [various] animals: Leviticus 11:2 ; Deuteronomy 14:3 , etc. whatsoever of these, says [the Scripture ], have a double hoof and ruminate, it proclaims as clean; but whatsoever of them do not possess one or other of these [properties], it sets aside by themselves as unclean. Who then are the clean? Those who make their way by faith steadily towards the Father and the Son ; for this is denoted by the steadiness of those which divide the hoof; and they meditate day and night upon the words of God , that they may be adorned with good works: for this is the meaning of the ruminants. The unclean, however, are those which do neither divide the hoof nor ruminate; that is, those persons who have neither faith in God , nor do meditate on His words: and such is the abomination of the Gentiles . But as to those animals which do indeed chew the cud, but have not the double hoof, and are themselves unclean, we have in them a figurative description of the Jews , who certainly have the words of God in their mouth, but who do not fix their rooted steadfastness in the Father and in the Son; wherefore they are an unstable generation. For those animals which have the hoof all in one piece easily slip; but those which have it divided are more sure-footed, their cleft hoofs succeeding each other as they advance, and the one hoof supporting the other. In like manner, too, those are unclean which have the double hoof but do…

Now, the beginning of the creation is light; since light manifests the things that are created. Wherefore it is said: And God said, Let light be, and light was; and God saw the light, that it was good , manifestly made good for man. And God divided the light from the darkness; and God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters: and it was so. And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament. And God called the firmament Heaven : and God saw that it was good . And the evening and the morning were the second day.

And God said, Let the water under the heaven be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so. And the waters were gathered together into their places, and the dry land appeared. And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas: and God saw that it was good . And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed after his kind and in his likeness, and the fruit-tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, in his likeness: and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, the herb yielding seed after his kind, and the fruit-tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind, on the earth: and God saw that it was good . And the evening and the morning were the third day.

And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven, to give light on earth, to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and for years; and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven, to give light upon the earth: and it was so. And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: He made the stars also. And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good . And the evening and the morning were the fourth day. And God said, Let the waters bring forth the creeping things that have life, and fowl flying over the earth in the firmament of heaven: and it was so.

And God created great whales, and every living creature that creeps, which the waters brought forth after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good . And God blessed them, saying, Increase and multiply, and fill the waters of the sea, and let fowl multiply in the earth. And the evening and the morning were the fifth day. And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so. And God made the beasts of the earth after their kind, and the cattle after their kind, and all the creeping things of the earth.

Moreover, his [Hesiod's] human , and mean, and very weak conception, so far as regards God , is discovered in his beginning to relate the creation of all things from the earthly things here below. For man, being below, begins to build from the earth, and cannot in order make the roof, unless he has first laid the foundation. But the power of God is shown in this, that, first of all, He creates out of nothing, according to His will , the things that are made. For the things which are impossible with men are possible with God . Luke 18:27 Wherefore, also, the prophet mentioned that the creation of the heavens first of all took place, as a kind of roof, saying: At the first God created the heavens — that is, that by means of the first principle the heavens were made, as we have already shown.

And by earth he means the ground and foundation, as by the deep he means the multitude of waters; and darkness he speaks of, on account of the heaven which God made covering the waters and the earth like a lid. And by the Spirit which is borne above the waters, he means that which God gave for animating the creation, as he gave life to man , mixing what is fine with what is fine. For the Spirit is fine, and the water is fine, that the Spirit may nourish the water, and the water penetrating everywhere along with the Spirit , may nourish creation. For the Spirit being one, and holding the place of light, was between the water and the heaven, in order that the darkness might not in any way communicate with the heaven, which was nearer God , before God said, Let there be light.

The heaven, therefore, being like a dome-shaped covering, comprehended matter which was like a clod. And so another prophet , Isaiah by name, spoke in these words: It is God who made the heavens as a vault, and stretched them as a tent to dwell in. Isaiah 40:22 The command, then, of God , that is, His Word, shining as a lamp in an enclosed chamber, lit up all that was under heaven, when He had made light apart from the world. And the light God called Day, and the darkness Night. Since man would not have been able to call the light Day, or the darkness Night, nor, indeed, to have given names to the other things, had not he received the nomenclature from God , who made the things themselves.

In the very beginning, therefore, of the history and genesis of the world, the holy Scripture spoke not concerning this firmament [which we see], but concerning another heaven, which is to us invisible, after which this heaven which we see has been called firmament, and to which half the water was taken up that it might serve for rains, and showers, and dews to mankind . And half the water was left on earth for rivers, and fountains, and seas. The water, then, covering all the earth, and specially its hollow places, God , through His Word, next caused the waters to be collected into one collection, and the dry land to become visible, which formerly had been invisible. The earth thus becoming visible, was yet without form . God therefore formed and adorned it with all kinds of herbs, and seeds and plants.

We have ample means of encountering those who are given to carping. For we are not termed children and infants with reference to the childish and contemptible character of our education, as those who are inflated on account of knowledge have calumniously alleged. Straightway, on our regeneration, we attained that perfection after which we aspired. For we were illuminated, which is to know God. He is not then imperfect who knows what is perfect. And do not reprehend me when I profess to know God ; for so it was deemed right to speak to the Word, and He is free. For at the moment of the Lord's baptism there sounded a voice from heaven, as a testimony to the Beloved, You are My beloved Son , today have I begotten You. Let us then ask the wise, Is Christ, begotten today, already perfect, or — what were most monstrous — imperfect?

If the latter, there is some addition He requires yet to make. But for Him to make any addition to His knowledge is absurd, since He is God . For none can be superior to the Word, or the teacher of the only Teacher. Will they not then own, though reluctant, that the perfect Word born of the perfect Father was begotten in perfection, according to œconomic fore-ordination? And if He was perfect, why was He, the perfect one, baptized ? It was necessary, they say, to fulfil the profession that pertained to humanity. Most excellent. Well, I assert, simultaneously with His baptism by John, He becomes perfect? Manifestly. He did not then learn anything more from him? Certainly not. But He is perfected by the washing — of baptism — alone, and is sanctified by the descent of the Spirit? Such is the case.

The same also takes place in our case, whose exemplar Christ became. Being baptized , we are illuminated; illuminated, we become sons; being made sons, we are made perfect; being made perfect, we are made immortal . I, says He, have said that you are gods, and all sons of the Highest. This work is variously called grace , and illumination, and perfection, and washing: washing, by which we cleanse away our sins ; grace , by which the penalties accruing to transgressions are remitted; and illumination, by which that holy light of salvation is beheld, that is, by which we see God clearly. Now we call that perfect which wants nothing. For what is yet wanting to him who knows God? For it were truly monstrous that that which is not complete should be called a gift (or act) of God's grace . Being perfect, He consequently bestows perfect gifts.

As at His command all things were made, so on His bare wishing to bestow grace , ensues the perfecting of His grace . For the future of time is anticipated by the power of His volition. Further release from evils is the beginning of salvation . We then alone, who first have touched the confines of life, are already perfect; and we already live who are separated from death. Salvation, accordingly, is the following of Christ: For that which is in Him is life. John 1:4 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that hears My words, and believes in Him that sent Me, has eternal life, and comes not into condemnation, but has passed from death to life. John 5:24 Thus believing alone, and regeneration, is perfection in life; for God is never weak.

Before handling the point proposed, we must, by way of preface, add to the close of the fifth book what is wanting. For since we have shown that the symbolic style was ancient, and was employed not only by our prophets , but also by the majority of the ancient Greeks, and by not a few of the rest of the Gentile Barbarians, it was requisite to proceed to the mysteries of the initiated. I postpone the elucidation of these till we advance to the confutation of what is said by the Greeks on first principles; for we shall show that the mysteries belong to the same branch of speculation. And having proved that the declaration of Hellenic thought is illuminated all round by the truth , bestowed on us in the Scriptures , taking it according to the sense, we have proved , not to say what is invidious, that the theft of the truth passed to them.

Come, and let us adduce the Greeks as witnesses against themselves to the theft. For, inasmuch as they pilfer from one another, they establish the fact that they are thieves; and although against their will, they are detected, clandestinely appropriating to those of their own race the truth which belongs to us. For if they do not keep their hands from each other, they will hardly do it from our authors. I shall say nothing of philosophic dogmas , since the very persons who are the authors of the divisions into sects , confess in writing, so as not to be convicted of ingratitude, that they have received from Socrates the most important of their dogmas .

But after availing myself of a few testimonies of men most talked of, and of repute among the Greeks, and exposing their plagiarizing style, and selecting them from various periods, I shall turn to what follows. Orpheus, then, having composed the line:— Since nothing else is more shameless and wretched than woman , Homer plainly says:— Since nothing else is more dreadful and shameless than a woman . And Musæus having written:— Since art is greatly superior to strength, — Homer says:— By art rather than strength is the woodcutter greatly superior. Again, Musæus having composed the lines:— And as the fruitful field produces leaves, And on the ash trees some fade, others grow, So whirls the race of man its leaf, — Homer transcribes:— Some of the leaves the wind scatters on the ground. The budding wood bears some; in time of spring, They come.

So springs one race of men , and one departs. Again, Homer having said:— It is unholy to exult over dead men, Archilochus and Cratinus write, the former:— It is not noble at dead men to sneer; and Cratinus in the Lacones: — For men 'tis dreadful to exult Much o'er the stalwart dead. Again, Archilochus, transferring that Homeric line:— I erred, nor say I nay: instead of many — writes thus:— I erred, and this mischief has somehow seized another. As certainly also that line:— Even-handed war the slayer slays. He also, altering, has given forth thus:— I will do it. For Mars to men in truth is evenhanded. Also, translating the following:— The issues of victory among men depend on the gods, he openly encourages youth, in the following iambic: — Victory's issues on the gods depend.

But as to those who think that not here, that is, not within this environment of earth, nor during this period of existence , nor before men possessing this nature shared by us all, has confession been appointed to be made, what a supposition is theirs, being at variance with the whole order of things of which we have experience in these lands, and in this life, and under human authorities! Doubtless, when the souls have departed from their bodies, and begun to be put upon trial in the several stories of the heavens, with reference to the engagement (under which they have come to Jesus), and to be questioned about those hidden mysteries of the heretics , they must then confess before the real powers and the real men, — the Teleti, to wit, and the Abascanti, and the Acineti of Valentinus !

For, say they , even the Demiurge himself did not uniformly approve of the men of our world, whom he counted as a drop of a bucket, Isaiah 40:15 and the dust of the threshing-floor, and spittle and locusts, and put on a level even with brute beasts. Clearly, it is so written. Yet not therefore must we understand that there is, besides us, another kind of man , which — for it is evidently thus (in the case proposed)— has been able to assume without invalidating a comparison between the two kinds , both the characteristics of the race and a unique property. For even if the life was tainted, so that condemned to contempt it might be likened to objects held in contempt, the nature was not immediately taken away, so that there might be supposed to be another under its name.

Rather is the nature preserved, though the life blushes; nor does Christ know other men than those with reference to whom He says, Whom do men say that I am? Matthew 16:13 And, As you would that men should do to you, do likewise so to them. Consider whether He may not have preserved a race such that He is looking for a testimony to Himself from them, as well as consisting of those on whom He enjoins the interchange of righteous dealing. But if I should urgently demand that those heavenly men be described to me, Aratus will sketch more easily Perseus and Cepheus, and Erigone, and Ariadne, among the constellations.

But who prevented the Lord from clearly prescribing that confession by men likewise has to be made where He plainly announced that His own would be; so that the statement might have run thus: Whosoever shall confess in me before men in heaven, I also will confess in him before my Father who is in heaven? He ought to have saved me from this mistake about confession on earth, which He would not have wished me to take part in, if He had commanded one in heaven; for I knew no other men but the inhabitants of the earth, man himself even not having up to that time been observed in heaven.

In the same manner, therefore, we maintain that the other announcements too refer to the condition of martyrdom . He, says Jesus, who will value his own life also more than me, is not worthy of me, Luke 14:26 — that is, he who will rather live by denying, than die by confessing, me; and he who finds his life shall lose it; but he who loses it for my sake shall find it. Matthew 10:39 Therefore indeed he finds it, who, in winning life, denies; but he who thinks that he wins it by denying, will lose it in hell . On the other hand, he who, through confessing, is killed, will lose it for the present, but is also about to find it unto everlasting life. In fine, governors themselves, when they urge men to deny, say, Save your life; and, Do not lose your life.

How would Christ speak, but in accordance with the treatment to which the Christian would be subjected? But when He forbids thinking about what answer to make at a judgment-seat, Matthew 10:19 He is preparing His own servants for what awaited them , He gives the assurance that the Holy Spirit will answer by them ; and when He wishes a brother to be visited in prison , Matthew 25:36 He is commanding that those about to confess be the object of solicitude; and He is soothing their sufferings when He asserts that God will avenge His own elect. Luke 18:7 In the parable also of the withering of the word Matthew 13:3 after the green blade had sprung up, He is drawing a picture with reference to the burning heat of persecutions .

If these announcements are not understood as they are made, without doubt they signify something else than the sound indicates; and there will be one thing in the words, another in their meanings, as is the case with allegories, with parables , with riddles. Whatever wind of reasoning, therefore, these scorpions may catch (in their sails), with whatever subtlety they may attack, there is now one line of defense: an appeal will be made to the facts themselves, whether they occur as the Scriptures represent that they would; since another thing will then be meant in the Scriptures if that very one (which seems to be so) is not found in actual facts. For what is written, must needs come to pass. Besides, what is written will then come to pass, if something different does not. But, lo!

We are both regarded as persons to be hated by all men for the sake of the name, as it is written; and are delivered up by our nearest of kin also, as it is written; and are brought before magistrates, and examined, and tortured, and make confession, and are ruthlessly killed, as it is written. So the Lord ordained. If He ordained these events otherwise, why do they not come to pass otherwise than He ordained them, that is, as He ordained them? And yet they do not come to pass otherwise than He ordained. Therefore, as they come to pass, so He ordained; and as He ordained, so they come to pass. For neither would they have been permitted to occur otherwise than He ordained, nor for His part would He have ordained otherwise than He would wish them to occur.

Who, now, should know better the marrow of the Scriptures than the school of Christ itself?— the persons whom the Lord both chose for Himself as scholars, certainly to be fully instructed in all points, and appointed to us for masters to instruct us in all points. To whom would He have rather made known the veiled import of His own language, than to him to whom He disclosed the likeness of His own glory — to Peter, John, and James, and afterwards to Paul , to whom He granted participation in (the joys of) paradise too, prior to his martyrdom ? Or do they also write differently from what they think — teachers using deceit, not truth ? Addressing the Christians of Pontus , Peter, at all events, says, How great indeed is the glory , if you suffer patiently, without being punished as evildoers!

For this is a lovely feature, and even hereunto were you called, since Christ also suffered for us, leaving you Himself as an example, that you should follow His own steps. 1 Peter 2:20 And again: Beloved, be not alarmed by the fiery trial which is taking place among you, as though some strange thing happened unto you. For, inasmuch as you are partakers of Christ's sufferings, do you rejoice ; that, when His glory shall be revealed, you may be glad also with exceeding joy . If you are reproached for the name of Christ , happy are you; because glory and the Spirit of God rest upon you: if only none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evil-doer, or as a busybody in other men's matters; yet (if any man suffer) as a Christian , let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God on this behalf.

1 Peter 4:12 John, in fact, exhorts us to lay down our lives even for our brethren, 1 John 3:16 affirming that there is no fear in love : For perfect love casts out fear , since fear has punishment; and he who fears is not perfect in love . 1 John 4:18 What fear would it be better to understand (as here meant), than that which gives rise to denial? What love does he assert to be perfect, but that which puts fear to flight, and gives courage to confess? What penalty will he appoint as the punishment of fear , but that which he who denies is about to pay, who has to be slain, body and soul , in hell ? And if he teaches that we must die for the brethren, how much more for the Lord, — he being sufficiently prepared, by his own Revelation too, for giving such advice!

For indeed the Spirit had sent the injunction to the angel of the church in Smyrna : Behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison , that you may be tried ten days. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you a crown of life. Revelation 2:10 Also to the angel of the church in Pergamus (mention was made) of Antipas, Revelation 2:13 the very faithful martyr , who was slain where Satan dwells. Also to the angel of the church in Philadelphia Revelation 3:10 (it was signified) that he who had not denied the name of the Lord was delivered from the last trial.

But how Paul , an apostle , from being a persecutor, who first of all shed the blood of the church, though afterwards he exchanged the sword for the pen, and turned the dagger into a plough, being first a ravening wolf of Benjamin, then himself supplying food as did Jacob, — how he, (I say,) speaks in favour of martyrdoms , now to be chosen by himself also, when, rejoicing over the Thessalonians, he says, So that we glory in you in the churches of God , for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations, in which you endure a manifestation of the righteous judgment of God , that you may be accounted worthy of His kingdom, for which you also suffer!

2 Thessalonians 1:4 As also in his Epistle to the Romans: And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also, being sure that tribulation works patience, and patience experience, and experience hope; and hope makes not ashamed. Romans 5:3 And again: And if children, then heirs, heirs indeed of God , and joint-heirs with Christ: if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. Romans 8:17 And therefore he afterward says: Who shall separate us from the love of God? Shall tribulation, or distress, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

(As it is written: For Your sake we are killed all the day long; we have been counted as sheep for the slaughter.) Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors, through Him who loved us. For we are persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor power, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God , which is in Christ Jesus our Lord . Romans 8:35 But further, in recounting his own sufferings to the Corinthians, he certainly decided that suffering must be borne: In labours, (he says,) more abundant, in prisons very frequent, in deaths oft. Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes, save one; thrice was I beaten with rods; once was I stoned , 2 Corinthians 11:23 and the rest.

And if these severities will seem to be more grievous than martyrdoms , yet once more he says: Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions , in distresses for Christ's sake. 2 Corinthians 12:10 He also says, in verses occurring in a previous part of the epistle: Our condition is such, that we are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; and are in need, but not in utter want; since we are harassed by persecutions , but not forsaken; it is such that we are cast down, but not destroyed; always bearing about in our body the dying of Christ . 2 Corinthians 4:8 But though, says he, our outward man perishes — the flesh doubtless, by the violence of persecutions — yet the inward man is renewed day by day — the soul , doubtless, by hope in the promises.

No doubt the apostle admonishes the Romans Romans 13:1 to be subject to all power, because there is no power but of God , and because (the ruler) does not carry the sword without reason, and is the servant of God , nay also, says he, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that does evil . For he had also previously spoken thus: For rulers are not a terror to a good work, but to an evil . Will you then not be afraid of the power? Do that which is good , and you shall have praise of it. Therefore he is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do that which is evil , be afraid.

Thus he bids you be subject to the powers, not on an opportunity occurring for his avoiding martyrdom , but when he is making an appeal in behalf of a good life, under the view also of their being as it were assistants bestowed upon righteousness, as it were handmaids of the divine court of justice , which even here pronounces sentence beforehand upon the guilty. Then he goes on also to show how he wishes you to be subject to the powers, bidding you pay tribute to whom tribute is due, custom to whom custom, Romans 13:6 that is, the things which are Cæsar's to Cæsar, and the things which are God's to God ; Matthew 22:21 but man is the property of God alone.

Peter, 1 Peter 2:13 no doubt , had likewise said that the king indeed must be honoured, yet so that the king be honoured only when he keeps to his own sphere, when he is far from assuming divine honours; because both father and mother will be loved along with God , not put on an equality with Him. Besides, one will not be permitted to love even life more than God.

Now, then, the epistles of the apostles also are well known. And do we , (you say), in all respects guileless souls and doves merely, love to go astray? I should think from eagerness to live. But let it be so, that meaning departs from their epistles. And yet, that the apostles endured such sufferings, we know : the teaching is clear. This only I perceive in running through the Acts. I am not at all on the search. The prisons there, and the bonds, and the scourges, and the big stones, and the swords, and the onsets by the Jews , and the assemblies of the heathen , and the indictments by tribunes, and the hearing of causes by kings, and the judgment-seats of proconsuls and the name of Cæsar, do not need an interpreter.

That Peter is struck, that Stephen is overwhelmed by stones , Acts 7:59 that James is slain as is a victim at the altar, that Paul is beheaded has been written in their own blood. And if a heretic wishes his confidence to rest upon a public record, the archives of the empire will speak, as would the stones of Jerusalem. We read the lives of the Cæsars: At Rome Nero was the first who stained with blood the rising faith . Then is Peter girt by another, John 21:18 when he is made fast to the cross. Then does Paul obtain a birth suited to Roman citizenship, when in Rome he springs to life again ennobled by martyrdom .

Wherever I read of these occurrences, so soon as I do so, I learn to suffer; nor does it signify to me which I follow as teachers of martyrdom , whether the declarations or the deaths of the apostles , save that in their deaths I recall their declarations also. For they would not have suffered ought of a kind they had not previously known they had to suffer. When Agabus , making use of corresponding action too, had foretold that bonds awaited Paul , the disciples , weeping and entreating that he would not venture upon going to Jerusalem, entreated in vain. Acts 21:11 As for him, having a mind to illustrate what he had always taught, he says, Why do you weep, and grieve my heart? But for my part, I could wish not only to suffer bonds, but also to die at Jerusalem, for the name of my Lord Jesus Christ .

And so they yielded by saying, Let the will of the Lord be done; feeling sure, doubtless, that sufferings are included in the will of God . For they had tried to keep him back with the intention not of dissuading, but to show love for him; as yearning for (the preservation of) the apostle, not as counselling against martyrdom . And if even then a Prodicus or Valentinus stood by, suggesting that one must not confess on the earth before men, and must do so the less in truth , that God may not (seem to) thirst for blood, and Christ for a repayment of suffering, as though He besought it with the view of obtaining salvation by it for Himself also, he would have immediately heard from the servant of God what the devil had from the Lord: Get behind me, Satan ; you are an offense unto me.

The earth brings forth, as if by suppuration, great evil from the diminutive scorpion. The poisons are as many as are the kinds of it, the disasters as many as are also the species of it, the pains as many as are also the colors of it. Nicander writes on the subject of scorpions , and depicts them. And yet to smite with the tail — which tail will be whatever is prolonged from the hindmost part of the body, and scourges — is the one movement which they all use when making an assault. Wherefore that succession of knots in the scorpion, which in the inside is a thin poisoned veinlet, rising up with a bow-like bound, draws tight a barbed sting at the end, after the manner of an engine for shooting missiles.

From which circumstance they also call after the scorpion, the warlike implement which, by its being drawn back, gives an impetus to the arrows. The point in their case is also a duct of extreme minuteness, to inflict the wound; and where it penetrates, it pours out poison. The usual time of danger is the summer season: fierceness hoists the sail when the wind is from the south and the south-west. Among cures, certain substances supplied by nature have very great efficacy; magic also puts on some bandage; the art of healing counteracts with lancet and cup. For some, making haste, take also beforehand a protecting draught; but sexual intercourse drains it off, and they are dry again.

We have faith for a defense, if we are not smitten with distrust itself also, in immediately making the sign and adjuring, and besmearing the heel with the beast. Finally, we often aid in this way even the heathen , seeing we have been endowed by God with that power which the apostle first used when he despised the viper's bite. Acts 28:3 What, then, does this pen of yours offer, if faith is safe by what it has of its own? That it may be safe by what it has of its own also at other times, when it is subjected to scorpions of its own. These, too, have a troublesome littleness, and are of different sorts, and are armed in one manner, and are stirred up at a definite time, and that not another than one of burning heat. This among Christians is a season of persecution .

When, therefore, faith is greatly agitated, and the Church burning, as represented by the bush, Exodus 3:2 then the Gnostics break out, then the Valentinians creep forth, then all the opponents of martyrdom bubble up, being themselves also hot to strike, penetrate, kill. For, because they know that many are artless and also inexperienced, and weak moreover, that a very great number in truth are Christians who veer about with the wind and conform to its moods, they perceive that they are never to be approached more than when fear has opened the entrances to the soul , especially when some display of ferocity has already arrayed with a crown the faith of martyrs . Therefore, drawing along the tail hitherto, they first of all apply it to the feelings, or whip with it as if on empty space. Innocent persons undergo such suffering.

But not yet about the good to be got from martyrdom must we learn, without our having first heard about the duty of suffering it; nor must we learn the usefulness of it, before we have heard about the necessity for it. The (question of the) divine warrant goes first — whether God has willed and also commanded ought of the kind, so that they who assert that it is not good are not plied with arguments for thinking it profitable save when they have been subdued. It is proper that heretics be driven to duty, not enticed. Obstinacy must be conquered, not coaxed. And, certainly, that will be pronounced beforehand quite good enough, which will be shown to have been instituted and also enjoined by God .

Let the Gospels wait a little, while I set forth their root the Law, while I ascertain the will of God from those writings from which I recall to mind Himself also: I am, says He, God , your God , who have brought you out of the land of Egypt . You shall have no other gods besides me. You shall not make unto you a likeness of those things which are in heaven, and which are in the earth beneath, and which are in the sea under the earth. You shall not worship them, nor serve them. For I am the Lord your God. Exodus 20:2 Likewise in the same book of Exodus: You yourselves have seen that I have talked with you from heaven. You shall not make unto you gods of silver, neither shall you make unto you gods of gold.

Exodus 20:22-23 To the following effect also, in Deuteronomy: Hear, O Israel ; The Lord your God is one: and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your might, and with all your soul . Deuteronomy 6:4 And again: Neither do you forget the Lord your God , who brought you forth from the land of Egypt , out of the house of bondage. You shall fear the Lord your God , and serve Him only, and cleave to Him, and swear by His name. You shall not go after strange gods, and the gods of the nations which are round about you, because the Lord your God is also a jealous God among you, and lest His anger should be kindled against you, and destroy you from off the face of the earth.

Deuteronomy 6:12 But setting before them blessings and curses, He also says: Blessings shall be yours, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God , whatsoever I command you this day, and do not wander from the way which I have commanded you, to go and serve other gods whom you know not. Deuteronomy 11:27 And as to rooting them out in every way: You shall utterly destroy all the places wherein the nations , which you shall possess by inheritance, served their gods, upon mountains and hills, and under shady trees. You shall overthrow all their altars, you shall overturn and break in pieces their pillars, and cut down their groves, and burn with fire the graven images of the gods themselves, and destroy the names of them out of that place.

Nor should I think it needful to discuss whether God pursues a worthy course in forbidding His own name and honour to be given over to a lie , or does so in not consenting that such as He has plucked from the maze of false religion should return again to Egypt , or does so in not suffering to depart from Him them whom He has chosen for Himself. Thus that, too, will not require to be treated by us, whether He has wished to be kept the rule which He has chosen to appoint, and whether He justly avenges the abandonment of the rule which He has wished to be kept; since He would have appointed it to no purpose if He had not wished it kept, and would have to no purpose wished it kept if He had been unwilling to uphold it.

My next step, indeed, is to put to the test these appointments of God in opposition to false religions , the completely vanquished as well as also the punished, since on these will depend the entire argument for martyrdoms . Moses was apart with God on the mountain, when the people, not brooking his absence, which was so needful, seek to make gods for themselves, which, for his own part, he will prefer to destroy. Exodus xxxii Aaron is importuned, and commands that the earrings of their women be brought together, that they may be thrown into the fire. For the people were about to lose, as a judgment upon themselves, the true ornaments for the ears, the words of God .

The wise fire makes for them the molten likeness of a calf, reproaching them with having the heart where they have their treasure also — in Egypt , to wit, which clothed with sacredness, among the other animals, a certain ox likewise. Therefore the slaughter of three thousand by their nearest relatives , because they had displeased their so very near relative God , solemnly marked both the commencement and the deserts of the trespass. Israel having, as we are told in Numbers, Numbers 25:1 turned aside at Sethim, the people go to the daughters of Moab to gratify their lust : they are allured to the idols , so that they committed whoredom with the spirit also: finally, they eat of their defiled sacrifices ; then they both worship the gods of the nation, and are admitted to the rites of Beelphegor.

For this lapse, too, into idolatry , sister to adultery , it took the slaughter of twenty-three thousand by the swords of their countrymen to appease the divine anger . After the death of Joshua the son of Nave they forsake the God of their fathers, and serve idols , Baalim and Ashtaroth; Judges 2:8-13 and the Lord in anger delivered them up to the hands of spoilers, and they continued to be spoiled by them, and to be sold to their adversaries, and could not at all stand before their enemies. Whithersoever they went forth, His hand was upon them for evil , and they were greatly distressed. And after this God sets judges ( critas ), the same as our censors, over them. But not even these did they continue steadfastly to obey .

If, therefore, it is evident that from the beginning this kind of worship has both been forbidden — witness the commands so numerous and weighty — and that it has never been engaged in without punishment following, as examples so numerous and impressive show, and that no offense is counted by God so presumptuous as a trespass of this sort, we ought further to perceive the purport of both the divine threatenings and their fulfilments, which was even then commended not only by the not calling in question, but also by the enduring of martyrdoms , for which certainly He had given occasion by forbidding idolatry . For otherwise martyrdoms would not take place. And certainly He had supplied, as a warrant for these, His own authority, willing those events to come to pass for the occurrence of which He had given occasion.

At present (it is important), for we are getting severely stung concerning the will of God , and the scorpion repeats the prick, denying the existence of this will, finding fault with it, so that he either insinuates that there is another god, such that this is not his will, or none the less overthrows ours, seeing such is his will, or altogether denies this will of God , if he cannot deny Himself. But, for our part, contending elsewhere about God , and about all the rest of the body of heretical teaching, we now draw before us definite lines for one form of encounter, maintaining that this will, such as to have given occasion for martyrdoms , is that of not another god than the God of Israel , on the ground of the commandments relating to an always forbidden, as well as of the judgments upon a punished, idolatry .

For if the keeping of a command involves the suffering of violence , this will be, so to speak, a command about keeping the command, requiring me to suffer that through which I shall be able to keep the command, violence namely, whatever of it threatens me when on my guard against idolatry . And certainly (in the case supposed) the Author of the command extorts compliance with it. He could not, therefore, have been unwilling that those events should come to pass by means of which the compliance will be manifest.

The injunction is given me not to make mention of any other god, not even by speaking — as little by the tongue as by the hand — to fashion a god, and not to worship or in any way show reverence to another than Him only who thus commands me, whom I am both bid fear that I may not be forsaken by Him, and love with my whole being, that I may die for Him. Serving as a soldier under this oath , I am challenged by the enemy. If I surrender to them, I am as they are. In maintaining this oath , I fight furiously in battle, am wounded, hewn in pieces, slain. Who wished this fatal issue to his soldier, but he who sealed him by such an oath ?

You have therefore the will of my God. We have cured this prick. Let us give good heed to another thrust touching the character of His will . It would be tedious to show that my God is good — a truth with which the Marcionites have now been made acquainted by us. Meanwhile it is enough that He is called God for its being necessary that He should be believed to be good. For if any one make the supposition that God is evil , he will not be able to take his stand on both the constituents thereof: he will be bound either to affirm that he whom he has thought to be evil is not God , or that he whom he has proclaimed to be God is good . Good, therefore, will be the will also of him who, unless he is good , will not be God.

The goodness of the thing itself also which God has willed — of martyrdom , I mean — will show this, because only one who is good has willed what is good . I stoutly maintain that martyrdom is good , as required by the God by whom likewise idolatry is forbidden and punished. For martyrdom strives against and opposes idolatry . But to strive against and oppose evil cannot be ought but good. Not as if I denied that there is a rivalry in evil things with one another, as well as in good also; but this ground for it requires a different state of matters. For martyrdom contends with idolatry , not from some malice which they share, but from its own kindness; for it delivers from idolatry . Who will not proclaim that to be good which delivers from idolatry ?

What else is the opposition between idolatry and martyrdom , than that between life and death? Life will be counted to be martyrdom as much as idolatry to be death. He who will call life an evil , has death to speak of as a good. This frowardness also appertains to men — to discard what is wholesome, to accept what is baleful, to avoid all dangerous cures, or, in short, to be eager to die rather than to be healed. For they are many who flee from the aid of physic also, many in folly, many from fear and false modesty.

And the healing art has manifestly an apparent cruelty, by reason of the lancet, and of the burning iron, and of the great heat of the mustard; yet to be cut and burned, and pulled and bitten, is not on that account an evil , for it occasions helpful pains; nor will it be refused merely because it afflicts, but because it afflicts inevitably will it be applied. The good accruing is the apology for the frightfulness of the work. In short, that man who is howling and groaning and bellowing in the hands of a physician will presently load the same hands with a fee, and proclaim that they are the best operators, and no longer affirm that they are cruel. Thus martyrdoms also rage furiously, but for salvation . God also will be at liberty to heal for everlasting life by means of fires and swords, and all that is painful.

But if, for the contest's sake, God had appointed martyrdoms for us, that thereby we might make trial with our opponent, in order that He may now keep bruising him by whom man chose to be bruised, here too generosity rather than harshness in God holds sway. For He wished to make man, now plucked from the devil's throat by faith , trample upon him likewise by courage , that he might not merely have escaped from, but also completely vanquished, his enemy. He who had called to salvation has been pleased to summon to glory also, that they who were rejoicing in consequence of their deliverance may be in transports when they are crowned likewise.

With what good-will the world celebrates those games, the combative festivals and superstitious contests of the Greeks, involving forms both of worship and of pleasure, has now become clear in Africa also. As yet cities, by sending their congratulations severally, annoy Carthage , which was presented with the Pythian game after the racecourse had attained to an old age. Thus, by the world it has been believed to be a most proper mode of testing proficiency in studies, to put in competition the forms of skill, to elicit the existing condition of bodies and of voices, the reward being the informer, the public exhibition the judge, and pleasure the decision. Where there are mere contests, there are some wounds: fists make reel, heels kick like butting rams, boxing-gloves mangle, whips leave gashes.

Yet there will be no one reproaching the superintendent of the contest for exposing men to outrage. Suits for injuries lie outside the racecourse. But to the extent that those persons deal in discoloration, and gore, and swellings, he will design for them crowns, doubtless, and glory , and a present, political privileges, contributions by the citizens, images, statues , and — of such sort as the world can give — an eternity of fame, a resurrection by being kept in remembrance. The pugilist himself does not complain of feeling pain, for he wishes it; the crown closes the wounds, the palm hides the blood: he is excited more by victory than by injury. Will you count this man hurt whom you see happy ? But not even the vanquished himself will reproach the superintendent of the contest for his misfortune.

Shall it be unbecoming in God to bring forth kinds of skill and rules of His own into public view, into this open ground of the world, to be seen by men , and angels , and all powers?— to test flesh and spirit as to steadfastness and endurance?— to give to this one the palm, to this one distinction, to that one the privilege of citizenship, to that one pay?— to reject some also, and after punishing to remove them with disgrace? You dictate to God , forsooth, the times, or the ways, or the places in which to institute a trial concerning His own troop (of competitors) as if it were not proper for the Judge to pronounce the preliminary decision also.

If the scorpion, swinging his tail in the air, still reproach us with having a murderer for our God , I shall shudder at the altogether foul breath of blasphemy which comes stinking from his heretical mouth; but I will embrace even such a God , with assurance derived from reason, by which reason even He Himself has, in the person of His own Wisdom, by the lips of Solomon, proclaimed Himself to be more than a murderer: Wisdom ( Sophia ), says He has slain her own children. Sophia is Wisdom. She has certainly slain them wisely if only into life, and reasonably if only into glory . Of murder by a parent, oh the clever form! Oh the dexterity of crime! Oh the proof of cruelty, which has slain for this reason, that he whom it may have slain may not die! And therefore what follows?

Wisdom is praised in hymns , in the places of egress; for the death of martyrs also is praised in song. Wisdom behaves with firmness in the streets, for with good results does she murder her own sons. Nay, on the top of the walls she speaks with assurance, when indeed, according to Esaias, this one calls out, I am God's; and this one shouts, In the name of Jacob; and another writes, In the name of Israel . Isaiah 44:5 O good mother! I myself also wish to be put among the number of her sons, that I may be slain by her; I wish to be slain, that I may become a son. But does she merely murder her sons, or also torture them? For I hear God also, in another passage, say, I will burn them as gold is burned, and will try them as silver is tried.

Zechariah 13:9 Certainly by the means of torture which fires and punishments supply, by the testing martyrdoms of faith . The apostle also knows what kind of God he has ascribed to us, when he writes: If God spared not His own Son, but gave Him up for us, how did He not with Him also give us all things? Romans 8:32 You see how divine Wisdom has murdered even her own proper, first-born and only Son, who is certainly about to live, nay, to bring back the others also into life. I can say with the Wisdom of God ; It is Christ who gave Himself up for our offenses. Romans 4:25 Already has Wisdom butchered herself also. The character of words depends not on the sound only, but on the meaning also, and they must be heard not merely by ears, but also by minds.

He who does not understand, believes God to be cruel; although for him also who does not understand, an announcement has been made to restrain his harshness in understanding otherwise than aright . For who, says the apostle , has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been His counsellor, to teach Him? Or who has pointed out to Him the way of understanding? Romans 11:34 But, indeed, the world has held it lawful for Diana of the Scythians, or Mercury of the Gauls, or Saturn of the Africans, to be appeased by human sacrifices ; and in Latium to this day Jupiter has human blood given him to taste in the midst of the city; and no one makes it a matter of discussion, or imagines that it does not occur for some reason, or that it occurs by the will of his God , without having value.

We keep therefore the one position, and, in respect of this question only, summon to an encounter, whether martyrdoms have been commanded by God , that you may believe that they have been commanded by reason, if you know that they have been commanded by Him, because God will not command ought without reason. Since the death of His own saints is precious is His sight, as David sings, it is not, I think, that one which falls to the lot of men generally, and is a debt due by all (rather is that one even disgraceful on account of the trespass, and the desert of condemnation to which it is to be traced ), but that other which is met in this very work — in bearing witness for religion, and maintaining the fight of confession in behalf of righteousness and the sacrament.

As says Esaias, See how the righteous man perishes, and no one lays it to heart; and righteous men are taken away, and no one considers it: for from before the face of unrighteousness the righteous man perishes, and he shall have honour at his burial. Here, too, you have both an announcement of martyrdoms , and of the recompense they bring. From the beginning, indeed, righteousness suffers violence . Forthwith, as soon as God has begun to be worshipped, religion has got ill-will for her portion. He who had pleased God is slain, and that by his brother. Beginning with kindred blood, in order that it might the more easily go in quest of that of strangers, ungodliness made the object of its pursuit, finally, that not only of righteous persons , but even of prophets also.

David is persecuted ; Elias put to flight; Jeremias stoned ; Esaias cut asunder; Zacharias butchered between the altar and the temple, imparting to the hard stones lasting marks of his blood. Matthew 14:3 That person himself, at the close of the law and the prophets , and called not a prophet , but a messenger, is, suffering an ignominious death, beheaded to reward a dancing-girl. And certainly they who were wont to be led by the Spirit of God used to be guided by Himself to martyrdoms ; so that they had even already to endure what they had also proclaimed as requiring to be borne.

Wherefore the brotherhood of the three also, when the dedication of the royal image was the occasion of the citizens being pressed to offer worship, knew well what faith , which alone in them had not been taken captive, required — namely, that they must resist idolatry to the death. Daniel 3:12 For they remembered also the words of Jeremias writing to those over whom that captivity was impending: And now you shall see borne upon (men's) shoulders the gods of the Babylonians , of gold and silver and wood, causing fear to the Gentiles . Beware, therefore, that you also do not be altogether like the foreigners, and be seized with fear while you behold crowds worshipping those gods before and behind, but say in your mind , Our duty is to worship You, O Lord.

It remains for us, lest ancient times may perhaps have had the sacrament (exclusively) their own, to review the modern Christian system, as though, being also from God , it might be different from what preceded , and besides, therefore, opposed thereto in its code of rules likewise, so that its Wisdom knows not to murder her own sons! Evidently, in the case of Christ both the divine nature and the will and the sect are different from any previously known !

He will have commanded either no martyrdoms at all, or those which must be understood in a sense different from the ordinary, being such a person as to urge no one to a risk of this kind as to promise no reward to them who suffer for Him, because He does not wish them to suffer; and therefore does He say, when setting forth His chief commands, Blessed are they who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven . The following statement, indeed, applies first to all without restriction, then specially to the apostles themselves: Blessed shall you be when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you, for my sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad, since very great is your reward in heaven; for so used their fathers to do even to the prophets .

So that He likewise foretold their having to be themselves also slain, after the example of the prophets . Though, even if He had appointed all this persecution in case He were obeyed for those only who were then apostles , assuredly through them along with the entire sacrament, with the shoot of the name, with the layer of the Holy Spirit , the rule about enduring persecution also would have had respect to us too, as to disciples by inheritance, and, (as it were,) bushes from the apostolic seed.

For even thus again does He address words of guidance to the apostles : Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves; and, Beware of men , for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues ; and you shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles , etc. Matthew 10:16 Now when He adds, But the brother will deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child; and the children shall rise up against their parents , and cause them to be put to death , He has clearly announced with reference to the others, (that they would be subjected to) this form of unrighteous conduct, which we do not find exemplified in the case of the apostles . For none of them had experience of a father or a brother as a betrayer, which very many of us have.

Whatever, then, our poor ability has attempted to suggest with reference to laying hold of repentance once for all, and perpetually retaining it, does indeed bear upon all who are given up to the Lord, as being all competitors for salvation in earning the favour of God ; but is chiefly urgent in the case of those young novices who are only just beginning to bedew Deuteronomy 32:2 their ears with divine discourses, and who, as whelps in yet early infancy, and with eyes not yet perfect, creep about uncertainly, and say indeed that they renounce their former deed, and assume (the profession of) repentance, but neglect to complete it.

For the very end of desiring importunes them to desire somewhat of their former deeds ; just as fruits, when they are already beginning to turn into the sourness or bitterness of age, do yet still in some part flatter their own loveliness. Moreover, a presumptuous confidence in baptism introduces all kind of vicious delay and tergiversation with regard to repentance; for, feeling sure of undoubted pardon of their sins , men meanwhile steal the intervening time, and make it for themselves into a holiday-time for sinning, rather than a time for learning not to sin . Further, how inconsistent is it to expect pardon of sins (to be granted) to a repentance which they have not fulfilled! This is to hold out your hand for merchandise, but not produce the price.

For repentance is the price at which the Lord has determined to award pardon: He proposes the redemption of release from penalty at this compensating exchange of repentance. If, then, sellers first examine the coin with which they make their bargains, to see whether it be cut, or scraped, or adulterated, we believe likewise that the Lord, when about to make us the grant of so costly merchandise, even of eternal life, first institutes a probation of our repentance. But meanwhile let us defer the reality of our repentance: it will then, I suppose, be clear that we are amended when we are absolved.

By no means; (but our amendment should be manifested) while, pardon being in abeyance, there is still a prospect of penalty; while the penitent does not yet merit — so far as merit we can — his liberation; while God is threatening, not while He is forgiving. For what slave, after his position has been changed by reception of freedom, charges himself with his (past) thefts and desertions? What soldier, after his discharge, makes satisfaction for his (former) brands? A sinner is bound to bemoan himself before receiving pardon, because the time of repentance is coincident with that of peril and of fear .

We have spoken, so far as our moderate ability permitted, of the generals which form the groundwork of the sanctity of baptism . I will now, equally to the best of my power, proceed to the rest of its character, touching certain minor questions. The baptism announced by John formed the subject, even at that time, of a question, proposed by the Lord Himself indeed to the Pharisees , whether that baptism were heavenly, or truly earthly: about which they were unable to give a consistent answer, inasmuch as they understood not, because they believed not. But we , with but as poor a measure of understanding as of faith , are able to determine that that baptism was divine indeed, (yet in respect of the command, not in respect of efficacy too, in that we read that John was sent by the Lord to perform this duty,) but human in its nature: for it conveyed nothing celestial, but it fore-ministered to things celestial; being, to wit, appointed over repentance , which is in man's power. In fact, the doctors of the law and the Pharisees , who were unwilling to believe , did not repent either. But if repentance is a thing human , its baptism must necessarily be of the same nature: else, if it had been celestial, it would have given both the Holy Spirit and remission of sins . But none either pardons sins or freely grants the Spirit save God only. Even the Lord Himself said that the Spirit would not descend on any other condition, but that He should first ascend to the Father. John 16:6-7…

11. Answer to the Objection that The Lord Did Not Baptize. But behold, say some, the Lord came, and baptized not; for we read, 'And yet He used not to baptize , but His disciples !' John 4:2 As if, in truth , John had preached that He would baptize with His own hands! Of course, his words are not so to be understood, but as simply spoken after an ordinary manner; just as, for instance, we say, The emperor set forth an edict, or, The prefect cudgelled him. Pray does the emperor in person set forth, or the prefect in person cudgel? One whose ministers do a thing is always said to do it. So He will baptize you will have to be understood as standing for, Through Him, or Into Him, you will be baptized . But let not (the fact) that He Himself baptized not trouble any. For into whom should He baptize ? Into repentance? Of what use, then, do you make His forerunner? Into remission of sins , which He used to give by a word? Into Himself, whom by humility He was concealing? Into the Holy Spirit , who had not yet descended from the Father? Into the Church , which His apostles had not yet founded? And thus it was with the selfsame baptism of John that His disciples used to baptize , as ministers, with which John before had baptized as forerunner. Let none think it was with some other, because no other exists, except that of Christ subsequently; which at that time, of course, could not be given by His disciples , inasmuch as the glory of the Lord had not yet been fully attained, nor the…

When, however, the prescript is laid down that without baptism , salvation is attainable by none (chiefly on the ground of that declaration of the Lord, who says, Unless one be born of water, he has not life ), there arise immediately scrupulous, nay rather audacious, doubts on the part of some, how, in accordance with that prescript, salvation is attainable by the apostles , whom — Paul excepted — we do not find baptized in the Lord? Nay, since Paul is the only one of them who has put on the garment of Christ's baptism , either the peril of all the others who lack the water of Christ is prejudged, that the prescript may be maintained, or else the prescript is rescinded if salvation has been ordained even for the unbaptized.

I have heard — the Lord is my witness — doubts of that kind: that none may imagine me so abandoned as to excogitate, unprovoked, in the licence of my pen, ideas which would inspire others with scruple. And now, as far as I shall be able, I will reply to them who affirm that the apostles were unbaptized. For if they had undergone the human baptism of John, and were longing for that of the Lord, then since the Lord Himself had defined baptism to be one ; (saying to Peter, who was desirous of being thoroughly bathed, He who has once bathed has no necessity to wash a second time; John 13:9-10 which, of course, He would not have said at all to one not baptized ;) even here we have a conspicuous proof against those who, in order to destroy the sacrament of water, deprive the apostles even of John's baptism .

Can it seem credible that the way of the Lord, that is, the baptism of John, had not then been prepared in those persons who were being destined to open the way of the Lord throughout the whole world? The Lord Himself, though no repentance was due from Him , was baptized : was baptism not necessary for sinners ? As for the fact, then, that others were not baptized — they, however, were not companions of Christ , but enemies of the faith , doctors of the law and Pharisees .

From which fact is gathered an additional suggestion, that, since the opposers of the Lord refused to be baptized , they who followed the Lord were baptized , and were not like-minded with their own rivals: especially when, if there were any one to whom they clave, the Lord had exalted John above him (by the testimony) saying, Among them who are born of women there is none greater than John the Baptist. Others make the suggestion (forced enough, clearly that the apostles then served the turn of baptism when in their little ship, were sprinkled and covered with the waves: that Peter himself also was immersed enough when he walked on the sea. It is, however, as I think, one thing to be sprinkled or intercepted by the violence of the sea; another thing to be baptized in obedience to the discipline of religion.

Here, then, those miscreants provoke questions. And so they say, Baptism is not necessary for them to whom faith is sufficient; for withal, Abraham pleased God by a sacrament of no water, but of faith . But in all cases it is the later things which have a conclusive force, and the subsequent which prevail over the antecedent. Grant that, in days gone by, there was salvation by means of bare faith , before the passion and resurrection of the Lord. But now that faith has been enlarged, and has become a faith which believes in His nativity, passion, and resurrection, there has been an amplification added to the sacrament, viz., the sealing act of baptism ; the clothing, in some sense, of the faith which before was bare, and which cannot exist now without its proper law.

For the law of baptizing has been imposed , and the formula prescribed: Go, He says, teach the nations , baptizing them into the name of the Father , and of the Son , and of the Holy Spirit . The comparison with this law of that definition, Unless a man have been reborn of water and Spirit, he shall not enter into the kingdom of the heavens, has tied faith to the necessity of baptism . Accordingly, all thereafter who became believers used to be baptized . Then it was, too, that Paul , when he believed , was baptized ; and this is the meaning of the precept which the Lord had given him when smitten with the plague of loss of sight , saying, Arise, and enter Damascus; there shall be demonstrated to you what you ought to do, to wit — be baptized , which was the only thing lacking to him.

That point excepted, he had sufficiently learned and believed the Nazarene to be the Lord, the Son of God .

Mindful of this declaration as of a conclusive prescript, we nevertheless proceed to treat the question , How foolish and impossible it is to be formed anew by water. In what respect, pray , has this material substance merited an office of so high dignity? The authority, I suppose, of the liquid element has to be examined. This however, is found in abundance, and that from the very beginning. For water is one of those things which, before all the furnishing of the world, were quiescent with God in a yet unshapen state. In the first beginning, says Scripture , God made the heaven and the earth. But the earth was invisible, and unorganized, and darkness was over the abyss; and the Spirit of the Lord was hovering over the waters.

The first thing, O man, which you have to venerate, is the age of the waters in that their substance is ancient; the second, their dignity , in that they were the seat of the Divine Spirit, more pleasing to Him , no doubt , than all the other then existing elements. For the darkness was total thus far, shapeless, without the ornament of stars; and the abyss gloomy; and the earth unfurnished; and the heaven unwrought: water alone — always a perfect, gladsome, simple material substance, pure in itself — supplied a worthy vehicle to God . What of the fact that waters were in some way the regulating powers by which the disposition of the world thenceforward was constituted by God ?

For the suspension of the celestial firmament in the midst He caused by dividing the waters; the suspension of the dry land He accomplished by separating the waters. After the world had been hereupon set in order through its elements, when inhabitants were given it, the waters were the first to receive the precept to bring forth living creatures. Water was the first to produce that which had life, that it might be no wonder in baptism if waters know how to give life. For was not the work of fashioning man himself also achieved with the aid of waters? Suitable material is found in the earth , yet not apt for the purpose unless it be moist and juicy; which (earth) the waters, separated the fourth day before into their own place, temper with their remaining moisture to a clayey consistency.

If, from that time onward, I go forward in recounting universally, or at more length, the evidences of the authority of this element which I can adduce to show how great is its power or its grace ; how many ingenious devices, how many functions, how useful an instrumentality, it affords the world, I fear I may seem to have collected rather the praises of water than the reasons of baptism ; although I should thereby teach all the more fully, that it is not to be doubted that God has made the material substance which He has disposed throughout all His products and works, obey Him also in His own peculiar sacraments ; that the material substance which governs terrestrial life acts as agent likewise in the celestial.

But it will suffice to have thus called at the outset those points in which withal is recognised that primary principle of baptism — which was even then fore-noted by the very attitude assumed for a type of baptism — that the Spirit of God , who hovered over (the waters) from the beginning, would continue to linger over the waters of the baptized . But a holy thing, of course, hovered over a holy ; or else, from that which hovered over that which was hovered over borrowed a holiness , since it is necessary that in every case an underlying material substance should catch the quality of that which overhangs it, most of all a corporeal of a spiritual, adapted (as the spiritual is) through the subtleness of its substance, both for penetrating and insinuating.

Thus the nature of the waters, sanctified by the Holy One, itself conceived withal the power of sanctifying. Let no one say, Why then, are we, pray , baptized with the very waters which then existed in the first beginning? Not with those waters, of course, except in so far as the genus indeed is one, but the species very many. But what is an attribute to the genus reappears likewise in the species . And accordingly it makes no difference whether a man be washed in a sea or a pool, a stream or a fount, a lake or a trough; nor is there any distinction between those whom John baptized in the Jordan and those whom Peter baptized in the Tiber, unless withal the eunuch whom Philip baptized in the midst of his journeys with chance water, derived (therefrom) more or less of salvation than others .

Acts 8:26-40 All waters, therefore, in virtue of the pristine privilege of their origin, do, after invocation of God , attain the sacramental power of sanctification; for the Spirit immediately supervenes from the heavens, and rests over the waters, sanctifying them from Himself; and being thus sanctified, they imbibe at the same time the power of sanctifying. Albeit the similitude may be admitted to be suitable to the simple act; that, since we are defiled by sins , as it were by dirt, we should be washed from those stains in waters. But as sins do not show themselves in our flesh (inasmuch as no one carries on his skin the spot of idolatry , or fornication, or fraud), so persons of that kind are foul in the spirit , which is the author of the sin ; for the spirit is lord, the flesh servant.

Yet they each mutually share the guilt: the spirit, on the ground of command; the flesh, of subservience. Therefore, after the waters have been in a manner endued with medicinal virtue through the intervention of the angel , the spirit is corporeally washed in the waters, and the flesh is in the same spiritually cleansed.

Well, but the nations , who are strangers to all understanding of spiritual powers, ascribe to their idols the imbuing of waters with the self-same efficacy. (So they do) but they cheat themselves with waters which are widowed. For washing is the channel through which they are initiated into some sacred rites — of some notorious Isis or Mithras . The gods themselves likewise they honour by washings. Moreover, by carrying water around, and sprinkling it, they everywhere expiate country-seats, houses, temples, and whole cities: at all events, at the Apollinarian and Eleusinian games they are baptized ; and they presume that the effect of their doing that is their regeneration and the remission of the penalties due to their perjuries .

Among the ancients, again, whoever had defiled himself with murder , was wont to go in quest of purifying waters. Therefore, if the mere nature of water, in that it is the appropriate material for washing away, leads men to flatter themselves with a belief in omens of purification, how much more truly will waters render that service through the authority of God , by whom all their nature has been constituted! If men think that water is endued with a medicinal virtue by religion, what religion is more effectual than that of the living God? Which fact being acknowledged, we recognise here also the zeal of the devil rivalling the things of God , while we find him, too, practising baptism in his subjects . What similarity is there? The unclean cleanses! The ruiner sets free! The damned absolves!

He will, forsooth, destroy his own work, by washing away the sins which himself inspires! These (remarks) have been set down by way of testimony against such as reject the faith ; if they put no trust in the things of God , the spurious imitations of which, in the case of God's rival, they do trust in. Are there not other cases too, in which, without any sacrament, unclean spirits brood on waters, in spurious imitation of that brooding of the Divine Spirit in the very beginning? Witness all shady founts, and all unfrequented brooks, and the ponds in the baths, and the conduits in private houses, or the cisterns and wells which are said to have the property of spiriting away, through the power, that is, of a hurtful spirit.

Men whom waters have drowned or affected with madness or with fear , they call nymph-caught, or lymphatic, or hydro-phobic. Why have we adduced these instances? Lest any think it too hard for belief that a holy angel of God should grant his presence to waters, to temper them to man's salvation ; while the evil angel holds frequent profane commerce with the selfsame element to man's ruin. If it seems a novelty for an angel to be present in waters, an example of what was to come to pass has forerun. An angel , by his intervention, was wont to stir the pool at Bethsaida . They who were complaining of ill-health used to watch for him; for whoever had been the first to descend into them, after his washing, ceased to complain.

In the next place the hand is laid on us, invoking and inviting the Holy Spirit through benediction. Shall it be granted possible for human ingenuity to summon a spirit into water, and, by the application of hands from above, to animate their union into one body with another spirit of so clear sound; and shall it not be possible for God , in the case of His own organ, to produce, by means of holy hands, a sublime spiritual modulation? But this, as well as the former, is derived from the old sacramental rite in which Jacob blessed his grandsons, born of Joseph, Ephrem and Manasses; with his hands laid on them and interchanged, and indeed so transversely slanted one over the other, that, by delineating Christ, they even portended the future benediction into Christ.

Then, over our cleansed and blessed bodies willingly descends from the Father that Holiest Spirit. Over the waters of baptism , recognising as it were His primeval seat, He reposes: (He who) glided down on the Lord in the shape of a dove, in order that the nature of the Holy Spirit might be declared by means of the creature (the emblem) of simplicity and innocence, because even in her bodily structure the dove is without literal gall. And accordingly He says, Be simple as doves. Even this is not without the supporting evidence of a preceding figure.

For just as, after the waters of the deluge, by which the old iniquity was purged — after the baptism , so to say, of the world — a dove was the herald which announced to the earth the assuagement of celestial wrath , when she had been sent her way out of the ark, and had returned with the olive-branch, a sign which even among the nations is the fore-token of peace ; so by the self-same law of heavenly effect, to earth — that is, to our flesh — as it emerges from the font, after its old sins flies the dove of the Holy Spirit , bringing us the peace of God , sent out from the heavens where is the Church , the typified ark. But the world returned unto sin ; in which point baptism would ill be compared to the deluge.

And so it is destined to fire; just as the man too is, who after baptism renews his sins : so that this also ought to be accepted as a sign for our admonition.

How many, therefore, are the pleas of nature, how many the privileges of grace , how many the solemnities of discipline, the figures, the preparations, the prayers , which have ordained the sanctity of water? First, indeed, when the people, set unconditionally free, escaped the violence of the Egyptian king by crossing over through water , it was water that extinguished the king himself, with his entire forces. Exodus 14:27-30 What figure more manifestly fulfilled in the sacrament of baptism ? The nations are set free from the world by means of water , to wit: and the devil , their old tyrant, they leave quite behind, overwhelmed in the water . Again, water is restored from its defect of bitterness to its native grace of sweetness by the tree of Moses .

That tree was Christ, restoring, to wit, of Himself, the veins of sometime envenomed and bitter nature into the all-salutary waters of baptism . This is the water which flowed continuously down for the people from the accompanying rock; for if Christ is the Rock, without doubt we see baptism blessed by the water in Christ . How mighty is the grace of water , in the sight of God and His Christ, for the confirmation of baptism !

Never is Christ without water : if, that is, He is Himself baptized in water ; Matthew 3:13-17 inaugurates in water the first rudimentary displays of His power, when invited to the nuptials; John 2:1-11 invites the thirsty, when He makes a discourse, to His own sempiternal water ; John 7:37-38 approves, when teaching concerning love , among works of charity, the cup of water offered to a poor (child); Matthew 10:42 recruits His strength at a well ; John 4:6 walks over the water ; Matthew 14:25 willingly crosses the sea ; Mark 4:36 ministers water to His disciples . John 13:1-12 Onward even to the passion does the witness of baptism last: while He is being surrendered to the cross , water intervenes; witness Pilate's hands: when He is wounded, forth from His side bursts water ; witness the soldier's lance!

Preface In the name of the Father , and the Son , and the Holy Spirit , one God. This is a transcript of the excellent law. But before beginning to give the transcript of the book of the law, it will be worth while to instruct you, O brother, as to its excellence, and the dignity of its disposition. Its first excellence is, that God delivered it by the hand of our most blessed ruler, the chief of the prophets , and first of the apostles , or those who were sent to the children of Israel , viz. Moses the son of Amram, the son of Kohath, of the sons of Levi. Now he was adorned with all manner of wisdom, and endowed with the best genius. Illustrious in dignity, remarkable for the integrity of his disposition, distinguished for power of reason, he talked with God . And He chose him as an instrument of value. By His leader and prophet , God Most High sent it clown to us, and committed it to us (blessed be His name) in the Syriac tongue of the Targum, which the Seventy translated into the Hebrew tongue, to wit, into the tongue of the nation, and the idiom of the common people. Moses . therefore, received it from the eternal Lord, and was the first to whom it was entrusted, and who obeyed its rules and ordinances. Then he taught it to the children of Israel , who also embraced it. And he explained to them its profound mysteries and dark places. And he expounded to them those things which were less easy, as God permitted him, and concealed from them those secrets of the law, as God…

6. Hippolytus, the Syrian expositor of the Targum, has said: We find in an ancient Hebrew copy that God commanded Noah to range the wild beasts in order in the lower floor or storey, and to separate the males from the females by putting wooden stakes between them. And thus, too, he did with all the cattle, and also with the birds in the middle storey. And God ordered the males thus to be separated from the females for the sake of decency and purity, lest they should perchance get intermingled with each other. Moreover, God said to Moses : Provide victuals for yourself and your children. And let them be of wheat, ground, pounded, kneaded with water, and dried. And Noah there and then bade his wife, and his sons' wives, diligently attend to kneading dough and laying it in the oven. They kneaded dough accordingly, and prepared just about as much as might be sufficient for them, so that nothing should remain over but the very least. And God charged Noah , saying to him: Whosoever shall first announce to you the approach of the deluge, him you shall destroy that very moment. In the meantime, moreover, the wife of Cham was standing by, about to put a large piece of bread into the oven. And suddenly, according to the word of the Lord, water rushed forth from the oven, and the flow of water penetrated and destroyed the bread. Therefore the wife of Cham exclaimed, addressing herself to Noah : Oh, sir, the word of God has come good: that which God foretold has come to pass; execute,…

First fragment From the Commentary of St. Hippolytus on Proverbs. Proverbs, therefore, are words of exhortation serviceable for the whole path of life; for to those who seek their way to God , these serve as guides and signs to revive them when wearied with the length of the road. These, moreover, are the proverbs of Solomon, that is to say, the peacemaker, who, in truth , is Christ the Saviour.

And since we understand the words of the Lord without offense, as being the words of the Lord, that no one may mislead us by likeness of name, he tells us who wrote these things, and of what people he was king, in order that the credit of the speaker may make the discourse acceptable and the hearers attentive; for they are the words of that Solomon to whom the Lord said: I will give you a wise and an understanding heart; so that there has been none like you upon the earth, and after you there shall not arise any like you, 1 Kings 3:12 and as follows in what is written of him. Now he was the wise son of a wise father; wherefore there is added the name of David, by whom Solomon was begotten.

From a child he was instructed in the sacred Scriptures, and obtained his dominion not by lot, nor by force, but by the judgment of the Spirit and the decree of God . To know wisdom and instruction. He who knows the wisdom of God , receives from Him also instruction, and learns by it the mysteries of the Word; and they who know the true heavenly wisdom will easily understand the words of these mysteries . Wherefore he says: To understand the difficulties of words; for things spoken in strange language by the Holy Spirit become intelligible to those who have their hearts right with God . These things he understands of the people of the Jews , and their guilt in the blood of Christ; for they thought that He had His conversation (citizenship) on earth only. They will not simply obtain, but inherit.

The wicked , again, even though they are exalted, are exalted only so as to have greater dishonour. For as one does not honour an ugly and mis-shapen fellow, if he exalts him, but only dishonours him the more, by making his shame manifest to a larger number; so also God exalts the wicked , in order that He may make their disgrace patent. For Pharaoh was exalted, but only to have the world as his accuser. Proverbs 4:2 It must be noted, that he names the law a good gift, on account of the man who takes gifts into his bosom unrighteously. And he forsakes the law who transgresses it; the law, namely, of which he speaks, or which he has kept. And what is meant by exalt (fortify) her? Surround her with holy thoughts; for you have need of large defense, since there are many things to imperil such a possession.

Treatise 3 (Cyprian of Carthage) Home > Fathers of the Church > Treatises (Cyprian of Carthage) > Treatise 3 Treatise 3 On the Lapsed. Argument.— Having Enlarged Upon the Unlooked-for Peace of the Church , and the Constancy of the Confessors and Those Who Had Stood Fast in the Faith; And Then with Extreme Grief Having Pointed to the Downfall of the Lapsed, and Unfolded the Causes of the Bygone Persecution, Namely, the Neglect of Discipline, and the Sins of the Faithful; Our Author Severely Reproaches the Lapsed, That, at the Very First Words of the Enemy Threatening Them, They Had Sacrificed to Idols, and Had Not Rather Withdrawn, According to Christ's Counsel. Lastly, He Warns His Readers to Avoid the Novatians, Confuting Their Heresy with Many Scriptures.

1. Behold, beloved brethren, peace is restored to the Church ; and although it lately seemed to incredulous people difficult, and to traitors impossible, our security is by divine aid and retribution re-established. Our minds return to gladness ; and the season of affliction and the cloud being dispersed, tranquillity and serenity have shone forth once more. Praises must be given to God , and His benefits and gifts must be celebrated with giving of thanks, although even in the time of persecution our voice has not ceased to give thanks. For not even an enemy has so much power as to prevent us, who love the Lord with our whole heart, and life, and strength, from declaring His blessings and praises always and everywhere with glory . The day earnestly desired, by the prayers of all has come; and after the dreadful and loathsome darkness of a long night, the world has shone forth irradiated by the light of the Lord.

2. We look with glad countenances upon confessors illustrious with the heraldry of a good name, and glorious with the praises of virtue and of faith ; clinging to them with holy kisses, we embrace them long desired with insatiable eagerness. The white-robed cohort of Christ's soldiers is here, who in the fierce conflict have broken the ferocious turbulence of an urgent persecution , having been prepared for the suffering of the dungeon, armed for the endurance of death. Bravely you have resisted the world: you have afforded a glorious spectacle in the sight of God ; you have been an example to your brethren that shall follow you. That religious voice has named the name of Christ , in whom it has once confessed that it believed ; those illustrious hands, which had only been accustomed to divine works, have resisted the sacrilegious sacrifices ; those lips, sanctified by heavenly food after the body and blood of the Lord, have rejected the profane contacts and the leavings of the idols . Your head has remained free from the impious and wicked veil with which the captive heads of those who sacrificed were there veiled; your brow, pure with the sign of God , could not bear the crown of the devil , but reserved itself for the Lord's crown. How joyously does your Mother Church receive you in her bosom, as you return from the battle! How blissfully, how gladly, does she open her gates, that in united bands you may enter, bearing the trophies from a prostrate enemy! With the…

3. Let none, my beloved brethren, let none depreciate this glory ; let none by malignant dispraise detract from the uncorrupted steadfastness of those who have stood. When the day appointed for denying had gone by, every one who had not professed within that time not to be a Christian , confessed that he was a Christian . It is the first title to victory to confess the Lord under the violence of the hands of the Gentiles . It is the second step to glory to be withdrawn by a cautious retirement, and to be reserved for the Lord. The former is a public, the latter is a private confession. The former overcomes the judge of this world; the latter, content with God as its judge, keeps a pure conscience in integrity of heart. In the former case there is a readier fortitude ; in the latter, solicitude is more secure. The former, as his hour approached, was already found mature; the latter perhaps was delayed, who, leaving his estate, withdrew for a while, because he would not deny, but would certainly confess if he too had been apprehended.