Spirit and Prophecy

The Spirit and Prophets to Be Tried by Their Works; Also of the Two Kinds of Spirit. He pointed out to me some men sitting on a seat, and one man sitting on a chair. And he says to me, Do you see the persons sitting on the seat? I do, sir, said I. These, says he, are the faithful , and he who sits on the chair is a false prophet , ruining the minds of the servants of God . It is the doubters, not the faithful , that he ruins. These doubters then go to him as to a soothsayer, and inquire of him what will happen to them; and he, the false prophet , not having the power of a Divine Spirit in him, answers them according to their inquiries, and according to their wicked desires, and fills their souls with expectations, according to their own wishes.

For being himself empty, he gives empty answers to empty inquirers; for every answer is made to the emptiness of man. Some true words he does occasionally utter; for the devil fills him with his own spirit, in the hope that he may be able to overcome some of the righteous. As many, then, as are strong in the faith of the Lord, and are clothed with truth , have no connection with such spirits, but keep away from them; but as many as are of doubtful minds and frequently repent, betake themselves to soothsaying, even as the heathen , and bring greater sin upon themselves by their idolatry . For he who inquires of a false prophet in regard to any action is an idolater, and devoid of the truth , and foolish.

For no spirit given by God requires to be asked; but such a spirit having the power of Divinity speaks all things of itself, for it proceeds from above from the power of the Divine Spirit. But the spirit which is asked and speaks according to the desires of men is earthly, light, and powerless, and it is altogether silent if it is not questioned. How then, sir, say I, will a man know which of them is the prophet , and which the false prophet ? I will tell you, says he, about both the prophets , and then you can try the true and the false prophet according to my directions. Try the man who has the Divine Spirit by his life.

First, he who has the Divine Spirit proceeding from above is meek, and peaceable, and humble , and refrains from all iniquity and the vain desire of this world, and himself with fewer wants than those of other men, and when asked he makes no reply; nor does he speak privately, nor when man wishes the spirit to speak does the Holy Spirit speak, but it speaks only when God wishes it to speak. When, then, a man having the Divine Spirit comes into an assembly of righteous men who have faith in the Divine Spirit, and this assembly of men offers up prayer to God , then the angel of the prophetic Spirit, who is destined for him, fills the man; and the man being filled with the Holy Spirit , speaks to the multitude as the Lord wishes. Thus, then, will the Spirit of Divinity become manifest.

Justin: As, then, circumcision began with Abraham , and the Sabbath and sacrifices and offerings and feasts with Moses , and it has been proved they were enjoined on account of the hardness of your people's heart, so it was necessary, in accordance with the Father's will, that they should have an end in Him who was born of a virgin , of the family of Abraham and tribe of Judah , and of David; in Christ the Son of God , who was proclaimed as about to come to all the world, to be the everlasting law and the everlasting covenant, even as the forementioned prophecies show. And we, who have approached God through Him, have received not carnal, but spiritual circumcision , which Enoch and those like him observed. And we have received it through baptism , since we were sinners, by God's mercy; and all men may equally obtain it.

But since the mystery of His birth now demands our attention I shall speak of it. Isaiah then asserted in regard to the generation of Christ , that it could not be declared by man, in words already quoted: 'Who shall declare His generation? For His life is taken from the earth: for the transgressions of my people was He led to death.' Isaiah 53:8 The Spirit of prophecy thus affirmed that the generation of Him who was to die, that we sinful men might be healed by His stripes, was such as could not be declared. Furthermore, that the men who believe in Him may possess the knowledge of the manner in which He came into the world, the Spirit of prophecy by the same Isaiah foretold how it would happen thus: And the Lord spoke again to Ahaz, saying, Ask for yourself a sign from the Lord your God , in the depth, or in the height.

And Ahaz said, I will not ask, neither will I tempt the Lord. And Isaiah said, Hear then, O house of David; Is it a small thing for you to contend with men, and how do you contend with the Lord? Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive, and shall bear a son, and his name shall be called Immanuel. Butter and honey shall he eat, before he knows or prefers the evil , and chooses out the good; for before the child knows good or ill, he rejects evil by choosing out the good. For before the child knows how to call father or mother, he shall receive the power of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria in presence of the king of Assyria. And the land shall be forsaken, which you shall with difficulty endure in consequence of the presence of its two kings.

But God shall bring on you, and on your people, and on the house of your father, days which have not yet come upon you since the day in which Ephraim took away from Judah the king of Assyria. Now it is evident to all, that in the race of Abraham according to the flesh no one has been born of a virgin , or is said to have been born [of a virgin ], save this our Christ. But since you and your teachers venture to affirm that in the prophecy of Isaiah it is not said, 'Behold, the virgin shall conceive,' but, 'Behold, the young woman shall conceive, and bear a son;' and [since] you explain the prophecy as if [it referred] to Hezekiah, who was your king, I shall endeavour to discuss shortly this point in opposition to you, and to show that reference is made to Him who is acknowledged by us as Christ.

Trypho: Those who affirm him to have been a man , and to have been anointed by election, and then to have become Christ, appear to me to speak more plausibly than you who hold those opinions which you express. For we all expect that Christ will be a man [born] of men , and that Elijah when he comes will anoint him. But if this man appear to be Christ, he must certainly be known as man [born] of men; but from the circumstance that Elijah has not yet come, I infer that this man is not He [the Christ]. Justin: Does not Scripture, in the book of Zechariah, Malachi 4:5 say that Elijah shall come before the great and terrible day of the Lord? Trypho: Certainly.

Justin: If therefore Scripture compels you to admit that two advents of Christ were predicted to take place — one in which He would appear suffering, and dishonoured, and without comeliness; but the other in which He would come glorious and Judge of all, as has been made manifest in many of the fore-cited passages — shall we not suppose that the word of God has proclaimed that Elijah shall be the precursor of the great and terrible day, that is, of His second advent? Trypho: Certainly. Justin: And, accordingly, our Lord in His teaching proclaimed that this very thing would take place, saying that Elijah would also come.

And we know that this shall take place when our Lord Jesus Christ shall come in glory from heaven; whose first manifestation the Spirit of God who was in Elijah preceded as herald in [the person of] John, a prophet among your nation; after whom no other prophet appeared among you.

He cried, as he sat by the river Jordan: 'I baptize you with water to repentance; but He that is stronger than I shall come, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire: whose fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly purge His floor, and will gather the wheat into the barn; but the chaff He will burn up with unquenchable fire.' Matthew 3:11-12 And this very prophet your king Herod had shut up in prison ; and when his birthday was celebrated, and the niece of the same Herod by her dancing had pleased him, he told her to ask whatever she pleased. Then the mother of the maiden instigated her to ask the head of John, who was in prison ; and having asked it, [ Herod ] sent and ordered the head of John to be brought in on a charger.

Justin: Should any one, then, employ a teacher? Or whence may any one be helped, if not even in them there is truth ? Old Man: There existed , long before this time, certain men more ancient than all those who are esteemed philosophers , both righteous and beloved by God , who spoke by the Divine Spirit, and foretold events which would take place, and which are now taking place. They are called prophets . These alone both saw and announced the truth to men , neither reverencing nor fearing any man, not influenced by a desire for glory , but speaking those things alone which they saw and which they heard, being filled with the Holy Spirit .

Their writings are still extant, and he who has read them is very much helped in his knowledge of the beginning and end of things, and of those matters which the philosopher ought to know , provided he has believed them.

For they did not use demonstration in their treatises, seeing that they were witnesses to the truth above all demonstration, and worthy of belief; and those events which have happened, and those which are happening, compel you to assent to the utterances made by them, although, indeed, they were entitled to credit on account of the miracles which they performed, since they both glorified the Creator, the God and Father of all things, and proclaimed His Son, the Christ [sent] by Him: which, indeed, the false prophets , who are filled with the lying unclean spirit, neither have done nor do, but venture to work certain wonderful deeds for the purpose of astonishing men, and glorify the spirits and demons of error .

But pray that, above all things, the gates of light may be opened to you; for these things cannot be perceived or understood by all, but only by the man to whom God and His Christ have imparted wisdom.

And hear again how Isaiah in express words foretold that He should be born of a virgin ; for he spoke thus: Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bring forth a son, and they shall say for His name, 'God with us.' Isaiah 7:14 For things which were incredible and seemed impossible with men, these God predicted by the Spirit of prophecy as about to come to pass, in order that, when they came to pass, there might be no unbelief, but faith , because of their prediction. But lest some, not understanding the prophecy now cited, should charge us with the very things we have been laying to the charge of the poets who say that Jupiter went in to women through lust , let us try to explain the words. This, then, Behold, a virgin shall conceive, signifies that a virgin should conceive without intercourse.

For if she had had intercourse with any one whatever, she was no longer a virgin ; but the power of God having come upon the virgin, overshadowed her, and caused her while yet a virgin to conceive. And the angel of God who was sent to the same virgin at that time brought her good news, saying, Behold, you shall conceive of the Holy Ghost , and shall bear a Son, and He shall be called the Son of the Highest, and you shall call His name Jesus; for He shall save His people from their sins , Luke 1:32 ; Matthew 1:21 — as they who have recorded all that concerns our Saviour Jesus Christ have taught, whom we believed , since by Isaiah also, whom we have now adduced, the Spirit of prophecy declared that He should be born as we intimated before.

It is wrong, therefore, to understand the Spirit and the power of God as anything else than the Word, who is also the first-born of God , as the foresaid prophet Moses declared; and it was this which, when it came upon the virgin and overshadowed her, caused her to conceive, not by intercourse, but by power. And the name Jesus in the Hebrew language means Σωτήρ (Saviour) in the Greek tongue. Wherefore, too, the angel said to the virgin, You shall call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins . And that the prophets are inspired by no other than the Divine Word, even you, as I fancy, will grant.

And how Christ after He was born was to escape the notice of other men until He grew to man's estate, which also came to pass, hear what was foretold regarding this. There are the following predictions: — Unto us a child is born, and unto us a young man is given, and the government shall be upon His shoulders; Isaiah 9:6 which is significant of the power of the cross , for to it, when He was crucified, He applied His shoulders, as shall be more clearly made out in the ensuing discourse. And again the same prophet Isaiah, being inspired by the prophetic Spirit, said, I have spread out my hands to a disobedient and gainsaying people, to those who walk in a way that is not good. They now ask of me judgment, and dare to draw near to God .

Isaiah 65:2 , Isaiah 58:2 And again in other words, through another prophet , He says, They pierced My hands and My feet, and for My vesture they cast lots. And indeed David, the king and prophet , who uttered these things, suffered none of them; but Jesus Christ stretched forth His hands, being crucified by the Jews speaking against Him, and denying that He was the Christ. And as the prophet spoke, they tormented Him, and set Him on the judgment-seat, and said, Judge us. And the expression, They pierced my hands and my feet, was used in reference to the nails of the cross which were fixed in His hands and feet. And after He was crucified they cast lots upon His vesture, and they that crucified Him parted it among them. And that these things did happen, you can ascertain from the Acts of Pontius Pilate .

And we will cite the prophetic utterances of another prophet , Zephaniah, to the effect that He was foretold expressly as to sit upon the foal of an ass and to enter Jerusalem. The words are these: Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, your King comes unto you; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass. Zechariah 9:9

But when you hear the utterances of the prophets spoken as it were personally, you must not suppose that they are spoken by the inspired themselves, but by the Divine Word who moves them. For sometimes He declares things that are to come to pass, in the manner of one who foretells the future; sometimes He speaks as from the person of God the Lord and Father of all; sometimes as from the person of Christ; sometimes as from the person of the people answering the Lord or His Father, just as you can see even in your own writers, one man being the writer of the whole, but introducing the persons who converse.

And this the Jews who possessed the books of the prophets did not understand, and therefore did not recognise Christ even when He came, but even hate us who say that He has come, and who prove that, as was predicted, He was crucified by them.

And hear how it was foretold concerning those who published His doctrine and proclaimed His appearance, the above-mentioned prophet and king speaking thus by the Spirit of prophecy Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night shows knowledge . There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Their voice has gone out into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world. In the sun has He set His tabernacle, and he as a bridegroom going out of his chamber shall rejoice as a giant to run his course.

And we have thought it right and relevant to mention some other prophetic utterances of David besides these; from which you may learn how the Spirit of prophecy exhorts men to live, and how He foretold the conspiracy which was formed against Christ by Herod the king of the Jews , and the Jews themselves, and Pilate , who was your governor among them, with his soldiers; and how He should be believed on by men of every race; and how God calls Him His Son, and has declared that He will subdue all His enemies under Him; and how the devils, as much as they can, strive to escape the power of God the Father and Lord of all, and the power of Christ Himself; and how God calls all to repentance before the day of judgment comes.

These things were uttered thus: Blessed is the man who has not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stood in the way of sinners, nor sat in the seat of the scornful: but his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in His law will he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of waters, which shall give his fruit in his season; and his leaf shall not wither, and whatsoever he does shall prosper. The ungodly are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind drives away from the face of the earth. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the council of the righteous. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous; but the way of the ungodly shall perish. Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine new things?

The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against His Anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast their yoke from us. He that dwells in the heavens shall laugh at them, and the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall He speak to them in His wrath , and vex them in His sore displeasure. Yet have I been set by Him a King on Zion His holy hill, declaring the decree of the Lord. The Lord said to Me, You are My Son; this day have I begotten You. Ask of Me, and I shall give You the heathen for Your inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth as Your possession. You shall herd them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall You dash them in pieces. Be wise now, therefore, O you kings; be instructed, all you judges of the earth.

And the holy Spirit of prophecy taught us this, telling us by Moses that God spoke thus to the man first created: Behold, before your face are good and evil : choose the good. And again, by the other prophet Isaiah, that the following utterance was made as if from God the Father and Lord of all: Wash you, make you clean; put away evils from your souls ; learn to do well; judge the orphan, and plead for the widow : and come and let us reason together, says the Lord: And if your sins be as scarlet, I will make them white as wool; and if they be red like as crimson, I will make them white as snow. And if you be willing and obey Me, you shall eat the good of the land; but if you do not obey Me, the sword shall devour you: for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it. Isaiah 1:16 , etc.

And that expression, The sword shall devour you, does not mean that the disobedient shall be slain by the sword, but the sword of God is fire, of which they who choose to do wickedly become the fuel. Wherefore He says, The sword shall devour you: for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it. And if He had spoken concerning a sword that cuts and at once dispatches, He would not have said, shall devour . And so, too, Plato , when he says, The blame is his who chooses, and God is blameless, took this from the prophet Moses and uttered it. For Moses is more ancient than all the Greek writers.

And whatever both philosophers and poets have said concerning the immortality of the soul , or punishments after death, or contemplation of things heavenly, or doctrines of the like kind, they have received such suggestions from the prophets as have enabled them to understand and interpret these things. And hence there seem to be seeds of truth among all men ; but they are charged with not accurately understanding [the truth ] when they assert contradictories.

So that what we say about future events being foretold, we do not say it as if they came about by a fatal necessity; but God foreknowing all that shall be done by all men , and it being His decree that the future actions of men shall all be recompensed according to their several value, He foretells by the Spirit of prophecy that He will bestow meet rewards according to the merit of the actions done, always urging the human race to effort and recollection, showing that He cares and provides for men. But by the agency of the devils death has been decreed against those who read the books of Hystaspes, or of the Sibyl, or of the prophets , that through fear they may prevent men who read them from receiving the knowledge of the good , and may retain them in slavery to themselves; which, however, they could not always effect.

And all the Jews even now teach that the nameless God spoke to Moses ; whence the Spirit of prophecy , accusing them by Isaiah the prophet mentioned above, said The ox knows his owner, and the ass his master's crib; but Israel does not know Me, and My people do not understand. Isaiah 1:3 And Jesus the Christ , because the Jews knew not what the Father was, and what the Son , in like manner accused them; and Himself said, No one knows the Father , but the Son; nor the Son , but the Father , and they to whom the Son reveals Him. Matthew 11:27 Now the Word of God is His Son, as we have before said. And He is called Angel and Apostle; for He declares whatever we ought to know , and is sent forth to declare whatever is revealed; as our Lord Himself says, He that hears Me, hears Him that sent Me.

Luke 10:16 From the writings of Moses also this will be manifest; for thus it is written in them, And the Angel of God spoke to Moses , in a flame of fire out of the bush, and said, I am that I am, the God of Abraham , the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, the God of your fathers; go down into Egypt , and bring forth My people. Exodus 3:6 And if you wish to learn what follows, you can do so from the same writings; for it is impossible to relate the whole here.

But so much is written for the sake of proving that Jesus the Christ is the Son of God and His Apostle, being of old the Word, and appearing sometimes in the form of fire, and sometimes in the likeness of angels ; but now, by the will of God , having become man for the human race , He endured all the sufferings which the devils instigated the senseless Jews to inflict upon Him; who, though they have it expressly affirmed in the writings of Moses , And the angel of God spoke to Moses in a flame of fire in a bush, and said, I am that I am, the God of Abraham , and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, yet maintain that He who said this was the Father and Creator of the universe . Whence also the Spirit of prophecy rebukes them, and says, Israel does not know Me, my people have not understood Me.

Isaiah 1:3 And again, Jesus , as we have already shown, while He was with them, said, No one knows the Father , but the Son; nor the Son but the Father , and those to whom the Son will reveal Him. Matthew 11:27 The Jews , accordingly, being throughout of opinion that it was the Father of the universe who spoke to Moses , though He who spoke to him was indeed the Son of God , who is called both Angel and Apostle, are justly charged, both by the Spirit of prophecy and by Christ Himself, with knowing neither the Father nor the Son. For they who affirm that the Son is the Father , are proved neither to have become acquainted with the Father , nor to know that the Father of the universe has a Son; who also, being the first-begotten Word of God , is even God.

That we are not atheists , therefore, seeing that we acknowledge one God , uncreated, eternal , invisible, impassible, incomprehensible, illimitable, who is apprehended by the understanding only and the reason, who is encompassed by light, and beauty, and spirit, and power ineffable, by whom the universe has been created through His Logos , and set in order, and is kept in being — I have sufficiently demonstrated. [I say His Logos ], for we acknowledge also a Son of God . Nor let any one think it ridiculous that God should have a Son. For though the poets, in their fictions, represent the gods as no better than men, our mode of thinking is not the same as theirs, concerning either God the Father or the Son.

But the Son of God is the Logos of the Father , in idea and in operation; for after the pattern of Him and by Him were all things made, the Father and the Son being one. And, the Son being in the Father and the Father in the Son , in oneness and power of spirit, the understanding and reason ( νοῦς καὶ λόγος ) of the Father is the Son of God .

But if, in your surpassing intelligence, it occurs to you to inquire what is meant by the Son , I will state briefly that He is the first product of the Father , not as having been brought into existence (for from the beginning, God , who is the eternal mind [ νοῦς ], had the Logos in Himself, being from eternity instinct with Logos [ λογικός ]); but inasmuch as He came forth to be the idea and energizing power of all material things, which lay like a nature without attributes, and an inactive earth, the grosser particles being mixed up with the lighter. The prophetic Spirit also agrees with our statements. The Lord, it says, made me, the beginning of His ways to His works.

Proverbs 8:22 The Holy Spirit Himself also, which operates in the prophets , we assert to be an effluence of God , flowing from Him, and returning back again like a beam of the sun. Who, then, would not be astonished to hear men who speak of God the Father , and of God the Son , and of the Holy Spirit , and who declare both their power in union and their distinction in order, called atheists ? Nor is our teaching in what relates to the divine nature confined to these points; but we recognise also a multitude of angels and ministers, whom God the Maker and Framer of the world distributed and appointed to their several posts by His Logos , to occupy themselves about the elements, and the heavens, and the world, and the things in it, and the goodly ordering of them all.

Since, therefore, the unity of the Deity is confessed by almost all, even against their will, when they come to treat of the first principles of the universe , and we in our turn likewise assert that He who arranged this universe is God — why is it that they can say and write with impunity what they please concerning the Deity, but that against us a law lies in force, though we are able to demonstrate what we apprehend and justly believe , namely that there is one God , with proofs and reason accordant with truth ?

For poets and philosophers , as to other subjects so also to this, have applied themselves in the way of conjecture, moved, by reason of their affinity with the afflatus from God , each one by his own soul , to try whether he could find out and apprehend the truth ; but they have not been found competent fully to apprehend it, because they thought fit to learn, not from God concerning God , but each one from himself; hence they came each to his own conclusion respecting God , and matter, and forms, and the world. But we have for witnesses of the things we apprehend and believe , prophets , men who have pronounced concerning God and the things of God , guided by the Spirit of God .

And you too will admit, excelling all others as you do in intelligence and in piety towards the true God ( τὸ ὄντως θεῖον ), that it would be irrational for us to cease to believe in the Spirit from God , who moved the mouths of the prophets like musical instruments, and to give heed to mere human opinions.

If we satisfied ourselves with advancing such considerations as these, our doctrines might by some be looked upon as human . But, since the voices of the prophets confirm our arguments — for I think that you also, with your great zeal for knowledge , and your great attainments in learning, cannot be ignorant of the writings either of Moses or of Isaiah and Jeremiah, and the other prophets , who, lifted in ecstasy above the natural operations of their minds by the impulses of the Divine Spirit, uttered the things with which they were inspired, the Spirit making use of them as a flute-player breathes into a flute — what, then, do these men say? The Lord is our God ; no other can be compared with Him. And again: I am God , the first and the last, and besides Me there is no God.

Isaiah 44:6 In like manner: Before Me there was no other God , and after Me there shall be none; I am God , and there is none besides Me. Isaiah 43:10-11 And as to His greatness: Heaven is My throne, and the earth is the footstool of My feet: what house will you build for Me, or what is the place of My rest? Isaiah 66:1 But I leave it to you, when you meet with the books themselves, to examine carefully the prophecies contained in them, that you may on fitting grounds defend us from the abuse cast upon us.

Against Heresies, IV.33 (St. Irenaeus) Search: Home Fathers Bible Library H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z SEARCH Fathers Bible Library --> Home > Fathers of the Church > Against Heresies (St. Irenaeus) > Book IV, Chapter 33 Against Heresies (Book IV, Chapter 33) Whosoever confesses that one God is the author of both Testaments, and diligently reads the Scriptures in company with the presbyters of the Church, is a true spiritual disciple; and he will rightly understand and interpret all that the prophets have declared respecting Christ and the liberty of the New Testament.

1. A spiritual disciple of this sort truly receiving the Spirit of God , who was from the beginning, in all the dispensations of God , present with mankind , and announced things future, revealed things present, and narrated things past — [such a man] does indeed judge all men , but is himself judged by no man. For he judges the Gentiles , who serve the creature more than the Creator, Romans 1:21 and with a reprobate mind spend all their labour on vanity. And he also judges the Jews , who do not accept of the word of liberty, nor are willing to go forth free, although they have a Deliverer present [with them]; but they pretend, at a time unsuitable [for such conduct], to serve, [with observances] beyond [those required by] the law, God who stands in need of nothing, and do not recognise the advent of Christ , which He accomplished for the salvation of men , nor are willing to understand that all the prophets announced His two advents: the one, indeed, in which He became a man subject to stripes, and knowing what it is to bear infirmity, Isaiah 53:3 and sat upon the foal of an ass, Zechariah 9:9 and was a stone rejected by the builders, and was led as a sheep to the slaughter, Isaiah 53:7 and by the stretching forth of His hands destroyed Amalek; Exodus 17:11 while He gathered from the ends of the earth into His Father's fold the children who were scattered abroad, Isaiah 11:12 and remembered His own dead ones who had formerly fallen asleep, and came down to them that He might

2. Moreover, he shall also examine the doctrine of Marcion , [inquiring] how he holds that there are two gods, separated from each other by an infinite distance. Or how can he be good who draws away men that do not belong to him from him who made them, and calls them into his own kingdom? And why is his goodness, which does not save all [thus], defective? Also, why does he, indeed, seem to be good as respects men, but most unjust with regard to him who made men, inasmuch as he deprives him of his possessions? Moreover, how could the Lord, with any justice , if He belonged to another father, have acknowledged the bread to be His body, while He took it from that creation to which we belong, and affirmed the mixed cup to be His blood? And why did He acknowledge Himself to be the Son of man , if He had not gone through that birth which belongs to a human being? How, too, could He forgive us those sins for which we are answerable to our Maker and God? And how, again, supposing that He was not flesh, but was a man merely in appearance, could He have been crucified, and could blood and water have issued from His pierced side? John 19:34 What body, moreover, was it that those who buried Him consigned to the tomb? And what was that which rose again from the dead?

3. [This spiritual man] shall also judge all the followers of Valentinus , because they do indeed confess with the tongue one God the Father , and that all things derive their existence from Him, but do at the same time maintain that He who formed all things is the fruit of an apostasy or defect. [He shall judge them, too, because] they do in like manner confess with the tongue one Lord Jesus Christ , the Son of God , but assign in their [system of] doctrine a production of his own to the Only-begotten, one of his own also to the Word, another to Christ , and yet another to the Saviour; so that, according to them, all these beings are indeed said [in Scripture to be], as it were, one; [while they maintain], notwithstanding, that each one of them should be understood [to exist] separately [from the rest], and to have [had] his own special origin, according to his peculiar conjunction. [It appears], then that their tongues alone, forsooth, have conceded the unity [of God], while their [real] opinion and their understanding (by their habit of investigating profundities) have fallen away from [this doctrine of] unity, and taken up the notion of manifold deities — [this, I say, must appear] when they shall be examined by Christ as to the points [of doctrine] which they have invented. Him, too, they affirm to have been born at a later period than the Pleroma of the Æons , and that His production took place after [the occurrence of] a degeneracy or apostasy ; and they maintain that,

1. John, the disciple of the Lord, preaches this faith , and seeks, by the proclamation of the Gospel , to remove that error which by Cerinthus had been disseminated among men , and a long time previously by those termed Nicolaitans , who are an offset of that knowledge falsely so called, that he might confound them, and persuade them that there is but one God , who made all things by His Word; and not, as they allege, that the Creator was one, but the Father of the Lord another; and that the Son of the Creator was, forsooth, one, but the Christ from above another, who also continued impassible, descending upon Jesus , the Son of the Creator, and flew back again into His Pleroma; and that Monogenes was the beginning, but Logos was the true son of Monogenes; and that this creation to which we belong was not made by the primary God , but by some power lying far below Him, and shut off from communion with the things invisible and ineffable. The disciple of the Lord therefore desiring to put an end to all such doctrines, and to establish the rule of truth in the Church , that there is one Almighty God , who made all things by His Word, both visible and invisible; showing at the same time, that by the Word, through whom God made the creation, He also bestowed salvation on the men included in the creation; thus commenced His teaching in the Gospel : In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God , and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God . All things…

2. John, however, does himself put this matter beyond all controversy on our part, when he says, He was in this world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own [things], and His own [people] received Him not. John 1:10-11 But according to Marcion , and those like him, neither was the world made by Him; nor did He come to His own things, but to those of another. And, according to certain of the Gnostics , this world was made by angels , and not by the Word of God . But according to the followers of Valentinus , the world was not made by Him, but by the Demiurge . For he (Soter) caused such similitudes to be made, after the pattern of things above, as they allege; but the Demiurge accomplished the work of creation. For they say that he, the Lord and Creator of the plan of creation, by whom they hold that this world was made, was produced from the Mother; while the Gospel affirms plainly, that by the Word, which was in the beginning with God , all things were made, which Word, he says, was made flesh, and dwelt among us. John 1:14

3. But, according to these men, neither was the Word made flesh, nor Christ, nor the Saviour (Soter), who was produced from [the joint contributions of] all [the Æons ]. For they will have it, that the Word and Christ never came into this world; that the Saviour , too, never became incarnate, nor suffered, but that He descended like a dove upon the dispensational Jesus; and that, as soon as He had declared the unknown Father, He did again ascend into the Pleroma. Some, however, make the assertion, that this dispensational Jesus did become incarnate, and suffered, whom they represent as having passed through Mary just as water through a tube; but others allege him to be the Son of the Demiurge , upon whom the dispensational Jesus descended; while others, again, say that Jesus was born from Joseph and Mary , and that the Christ from above descended upon him, being without flesh, and impassible. But according to the opinion of no one of the heretics was the Word of God made flesh. For if anyone carefully examines the systems of them all, he will find that the Word of God is brought in by all of them as not having become incarnate ( sine carne ) and impassible, as is also the Christ from above. Others consider Him to have been manifested as a transfigured man; but they maintain Him to have been neither born nor to have become incarnate; while others [hold] that He did not assume a human form at all, but that, as a dove, He did descend upon that Jesus who was born from Mary.…

4. And that we may not have to ask, Of what God was the Word made flesh? He does himself previously teach us, saying, There was a man sent from God , whose name was John. The same came as a witness , that he might bear witness of that Light. He was not that Light, but [came] that he might testify of the Light. John 1:6 By what God , then, was John, the forerunner, who testifies of the Light, sent [into the world]? Truly it was by Him, of whom Gabriel is the angel , who also announced the glad tidings of his birth: [that God] who also had promised by the prophets that He would send His messenger before the face of His Son, Malachi 3:1 who should prepare His way, that is, that he should bear witness of that Light in the spirit and power of Elias. Luke 1:17 But, again, of what God was Elias the servant and the prophet ? Of Him who made heaven and earth, as he does himself confess. John, therefore, having been sent by the founder and maker of this world, how could he testify of that Light, which came down from things unspeakable and invisible? For all the heretics have decided that the Demiurge was ignorant of that Power above him, whose witness and herald John is found to be. Wherefore the Lord said that He deemed him more than a prophet . Matthew 11:9 ; Luke 7:26 For all the other prophets preached the advent of the paternal Light, and desired to be worthy of seeing Him whom they preached; but John did both announce [the advent] beforehand, in a like manner as did the others,…

We have learned from none others the plan of our salvation , than from those through whom the Gospel has come down to us, which they did at one time proclaim in public, and, at a later period, by the will of God , handed down to us in the Scriptures , to be the ground and pillar of our faith . For it is unlawful to assert that they preached before they possessed perfect knowledge , as some do even venture to say, boasting themselves as improvers of the apostles . For, after our Lord rose from the dead, [the apostles ] were invested with power from on high when the Holy Spirit came down [upon them], were filled from all [His gifts], and had perfect knowledge : they departed to the ends of the earth, preaching the glad tidings of the good things [sent] from God to us, and proclaiming the peace of heaven to men , who indeed do all equally and individually possess the Gospel of God . Matthew also issued a written Gospel among the Hebrews in their own dialect, while Peter and Paul were preaching at Rome , and laying the foundations of the Church . After their departure, Mark, the disciple and interpreter of Peter, did also hand down to us in writing what had been preached by Peter. Luke also, the companion of Paul , recorded in a book the Gospel preached by him. Afterwards, John, the disciple of the Lord, who also had leaned upon His breast, did himself publish a Gospel during his residence at Ephesus in Asia.

2. These have all declared to us that there is one God , Creator of heaven and earth, announced by the law and the prophets ; and one Christ the Son of God . If any one do not agree to these truths, he despises the companions of the Lord; nay more, he despises Christ Himself the Lord; yea, he despises the Father also, and stands self-condemned, resisting and opposing his own salvation , as is the case with all heretics .

1. As regards His greatness, therefore, it is not possible to know God , for it is impossible that the Father can be measured; but as regards His love (for this it is which leads us to God by His Word), when we obey Him, we do always learn that there is so great a God , and that it is He who by Himself has established, and selected, and adorned, and contains all things; and among the all things, both ourselves and this our world. We also then were made, along with those things which are contained by Him. And this is He of whom the Scripture says, And God formed man, taking clay of the earth, and breathed into his face the breath of life. Genesis 2:7 It was not angels , therefore, who made us, nor who formed us, neither had angels power to make an image of God , nor any one else, except the Word of the Lord, nor any Power remotely distant from the Father of all things. For God did not stand in need of these [beings], in order to the accomplishing of what He had Himself determined with Himself beforehand should be done, as if He did not possess His own hands. For with Him were always present the Word and Wisdom, the Son and the Spirit , by whom and in whom, freely and spontaneously, He made all things, to whom also He speaks, saying, Let Us make man after Our image and likeness; Genesis 1:26 He taking from Himself the substance of the creatures [formed], and the pattern of things made, and the type of all the adornments in the world.

2. Truly, then, the Scripture declared, which says, First of all believe that there is one God , who has established all things, and completed them, and having caused that from what had no being, all things should come into existence : He who contains all things, and is Himself contained by no one. Rightly also has Malachi said among the prophets : Is it not one God who has established us? Have we not all one Father? Malachi 2:10 In accordance with this, too, does the apostle say, There is one God , the Father , who is above all, and in us all. Ephesians 4:6 Likewise does the Lord also say: All things are delivered to Me by My Father; Matthew 11:27 manifestly by Him who made all things; for He did not deliver to Him the things of another, but His own. But in all things [it is implied that] nothing has been kept back [from Him], and for this reason the same person is the Judge of the living and the dead; having the key of David: He shall open, and no man shall shut: He shall shut, and no man shall open. Revelation 3:7 For no one was able, either in heaven or in earth, or under the earth, to open the book of the Father , or to behold Him, with the exception of the Lamb who was slain, and who redeemed us with His own blood, receiving power over all things from the same God who made all things by the Word, and adorned them by [His] Wisdom, when the Word was made flesh ; that even as the Word of God had the sovereignty in the heavens, so also might He have the sovereignty in…

3. I have also largely demonstrated, that the Word, namely the Son , was always with the Father; and that Wisdom also, which is the Spirit , was present with Him, anterior to all creation, He declares by Solomon: God by Wisdom founded the earth, and by understanding has He established the heaven. By His knowledge the depths burst forth, and the clouds dropped down the dew. Proverbs 3:19-20 And again: The Lord created me the beginning of His ways in His work: He set me up from everlasting, in the beginning, before He made the earth, before He established the depths, and before the fountains of waters gushed forth; before the mountains were made strong, and before all the hills, He brought me forth. And again: When He prepared the heaven, I was with Him, and when He established the fountains of the deep; when He made the foundations of the earth strong, I was with Him preparing [them]. I was He in whom He rejoiced, and throughout all time I was daily glad before His face, when He rejoiced at the completion of the world, and was delighted in the sons of men. Proverbs 8:27-31

4. There is therefore one God , who by the Word and Wisdom created and arranged all things; but this is the Creator ( Demiurge ) who has granted this world to the human race , and who, as regards His greatness, is indeed unknown to all who have been made by Him (for no man has searched out His height, either among the ancients who have gone to their rest, or any of those who are now alive); but as regards His love , He is always known through Him by whose means He ordained all things. Now this is His Word, our Lord Jesus Christ , who in the last times was made a man among men , that He might join the end to the beginning, that is, man to God . Wherefore the prophets , receiving the prophetic gift from the same Word, announced His advent according to the flesh, by which the blending and communion of God and man took place according to the good pleasure of the Father , the Word of God foretelling from the beginning that God should be seen by men , and hold converse with them upon earth, should confer with them, and should be present with His own creation, saving it, and becoming capable of being perceived by it, and freeing us from the hands of all that hate us, that is, from every spirit of wickedness ; and causing us to serve Him in holiness and righteousness all our days, Luke 1:71, 75 in order that man, having embraced the Spirit of God , might pass into the glory of the Father.

1. A spiritual disciple of this sort truly receiving the Spirit of God , who was from the beginning, in all the dispensations of God , present with mankind , and announced things future, revealed things present, and narrated things past — [such a man] does indeed judge all men , but is himself judged by no man. For he judges the Gentiles , who serve the creature more than the Creator, Romans 1:21 and with a reprobate mind spend all their labour on vanity. And he also judges the Jews , who do not accept of the word of liberty, nor are willing to go forth free, although they have a Deliverer present [with them]; but they pretend, at a time unsuitable [for such conduct], to serve, [with observances] beyond [those required by] the law, God who stands in need of nothing, and do not recognise the advent of Christ , which He accomplished for the salvation of men , nor are willing to understand that all the prophets announced His two advents: the one, indeed, in which He became a man subject to stripes, and knowing what it is to bear infirmity, Isaiah 53:3 and sat upon the foal of an ass, Zechariah 9:9 and was a stone rejected by the builders, and was led as a sheep to the slaughter, Isaiah 53:7 and by the stretching forth of His hands destroyed Amalek; Exodus 17:11 while He gathered from the ends of the earth into His Father's fold the children who were scattered abroad, Isaiah 11:12 and remembered His own dead ones who had formerly fallen asleep, and came down to them that He…

2. Moreover, he shall also examine the doctrine of Marcion , [inquiring] how he holds that there are two gods, separated from each other by an infinite distance. Or how can he be good who draws away men that do not belong to him from him who made them, and calls them into his own kingdom? And why is his goodness, which does not save all [thus], defective? Also, why does he, indeed, seem to be good as respects men, but most unjust with regard to him who made men, inasmuch as he deprives him of his possessions? Moreover, how could the Lord, with any justice , if He belonged to another father, have acknowledged the bread to be His body, while He took it from that creation to which we belong, and affirmed the mixed cup to be His blood? And why did He acknowledge Himself to be the Son of man , if He had not gone through that birth which belongs to a human being? How, too, could He forgive us those sins for which we are answerable to our Maker and God? And how, again, supposing that He was not flesh, but was a man merely in appearance, could He have been crucified, and could blood and water have issued from His pierced side? John 19:34 What body, moreover, was it that those who buried Him consigned to the tomb? And what was that which rose again from the dead?

3. [This spiritual man] shall also judge all the followers of Valentinus , because they do indeed confess with the tongue one God the Father , and that all things derive their existence from Him, but do at the same time maintain that He who formed all things is the fruit of an apostasy or defect. [He shall judge them, too, because] they do in like manner confess with the tongue one Lord Jesus Christ , the Son of God , but assign in their [system of] doctrine a production of his own to the Only-begotten, one of his own also to the Word, another to Christ , and yet another to the Saviour; so that, according to them, all these beings are indeed said [in Scripture to be], as it were, one; [while they maintain], notwithstanding, that each one of them should be understood [to exist] separately [from the rest], and to have [had] his own special origin, according to his peculiar conjunction. [It appears], then that their tongues alone, forsooth, have conceded the unity [of God], while their [real] opinion and their understanding (by their habit of investigating profundities) have fallen away from [this doctrine of] unity, and taken up the notion of manifold deities — [this, I say, must appear] when they shall be examined by Christ as to the points [of doctrine] which they have invented. Him, too, they affirm to have been born at a later period than the Pleroma of the Æons , and that His production took place after [the occurrence of] a degeneracy or apostasy ; and they maintain…

4. He will judge also the Ebionites ; [for] how can they be saved unless it was God who wrought out their salvation upon earth? Or how shall man pass into God , unless God has [first] passed into man? And how shall he (man) escape from the generation subject to death, if not by means of a new generation, given in a wonderful and unexpected manner (but as a sign of salvation ) by God — [I mean] that regeneration which flows from the virgin through faith ? Or how shall they receive adoption from God if they remain in this [kind of] generation, which is naturally possessed by man in this world? And how could He (Christ) have been greater than Solomon, Matthew 12:41-42 or greater than Jonah, or have been the Lord of David, Matthew 22:43 who was of the same substance as they were? How, too, could He have subdued Matthew 22:29 ; Luke 11:21-22 him who was stronger than men, who had not only overcome man, but also retained him under his power, and conquered him who had conquered, while he set free mankind who had been conquered, unless He had been greater than man who had thus been vanquished? But who else is superior to, and more eminent than, that man who was formed after the likeness of God , except the Son of God , after whose image man was created? And for this reason He did in these last days exhibit the similitude; [for] the Son of God was made man, assuming the ancient production [of His hands] into His own nature, as I have shown in the immediately preceding book.

1. Now God shall be glorified in His handiwork, fitting it so as to be conformable to, and modelled after, His own Son. For by the hands of the Father , that is, by the Son and the Holy Spirit , man, and not [merely] a part of man , was made in the likeness of God . Now the soul and the spirit are certainly a part of the man, but certainly not the man; for the perfect man consists in the commingling and the union of the soul receiving the spirit of the Father , and the admixture of that fleshly nature which was moulded after the image of God . For this reason does the apostle declare, We speak wisdom among them that are perfect, 1 Corinthians 2:6 terming those persons perfect who have received the Spirit of God , and who through the Spirit of God do speak in all languages, as he used Himself also to speak. In like manner we do also hear many brethren in the Church , who possess prophetic gifts , and who through the Spirit speak all kinds of languages, and bring to light for the general benefit the hidden things of men , and declare the mysteries of God , whom also the apostle terms spiritual, they being spiritual because they partake of the Spirit , and not because their flesh has been stripped off and taken away, and because they have become purely spiritual. For if any one take away the substance of flesh, that is, of the handiwork [of God], and understand that which is purely spiritual, such then would not be a spiritual man but would be the spirit of a man , or the…

2. Whence also he says, that this handiwork is the temple of God , thus declaring: Do you not know that you are the temple of God , and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If any man, therefore, will defile the temple of God , him will God destroy: for the temple of God is holy , which [temple] you are. 1 Corinthians 3:16 Here he manifestly declares the body to be the temple in which the Spirit dwells. As also the Lord speaks in reference to Himself, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. He spoke this, however, it is said, of the temple of His body. John 2:19-21 And not only does he (the apostle) acknowledge our bodies to be a temple, but even the temple of Christ , saying thus to the Corinthians, Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ , and make them the members of an harlot? 1 Corinthians 3:17 He speaks these things, not in reference to some other spiritual man; for a being of such a nature could have nothing to do with an harlot: but he declares our body, that is, the flesh which continues in sanctity and purity, to be the members of Christ; but that when it becomes one with an harlot, it becomes the members of an harlot. And for this reason he said, If any man defile the temple of God , him will God destroy. How then is it not the utmost blasphemy to allege, that the temple of God , in which the Spirit of the Father dwells, and the members of Christ , do not partake of salvation , but are…

But men of God carrying in them a holy spirit and becoming prophets , being inspired and made wise by God , became God-taught, and holy , and righteous. Wherefore they were also deemed worthy of receiving this reward, that they should become instruments of God , and contain the wisdom that is from Him, through which wisdom they uttered both what regarded the creation of the world and all other things. For they predicted also pestilences, and famines, and wars .

And there was not one or two, but many, at various times and seasons among the Hebrews; and also among the Greeks there was the Sibyl; and they all have spoken things consistent and harmonious with each other, both what happened before them and what happened in their own time, and what things are now being fulfilled in our own day: wherefore we are persuaded also concerning the future things that they will fall out, as also the first have been accomplished.

That, then, Pædagogy is the training of children ( παίδων ἀγωγή ), is clear from the word itself. It remains for us to consider the children whom Scripture points to; then to give the pædagogue charge of them. We are the children. In many ways Scripture celebrates us, and describes us in manifold figures of speech, giving variety to the simplicity of the faith by diverse names. Accordingly, in the Gospel , the Lord, standing on the shore, says to the disciples — they happened to be fishing — and called aloud, Children, have you any meat? John 21:4-5 — addressing those that were already in the position of disciples as children.

And they brought to Him, it is said, children, that He might put His hands on them and bless them; and when His disciples hindered them, Jesus said, Suffer the children, and forbid them not to come to Me, for of such is the kingdom of heaven . Matthew 19:14 What the expression means the Lord Himself shall declare, saying, Unless you be converted, and become as little chidren, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven ; Matthew 18:3 not in that place speaking figuratively of regeneration, but setting before us, for our imitation, the simplicity that is in children. The prophetic spirit also distinguishes us as children. Plucking, it is said, branches of olives or palms, the children went forth to meet the Lord, and cried, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David!

Blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord; Matthew 21:9 light, and glory , and praise, with supplication to the Lord: for this is the meaning of the expression Hosanna when rendered in Greek. And the Scripture appears to me, in allusion to the prophecy just mentioned, reproachfully to upbraid the thoughtless: Have you never read, Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings You have perfected praise? In this way the Lord in the Gospels spurs on His disciples , urging them to attend to Him, hastening as He was to the Father; rendering His hearers more eager by the intimation that after a little He was to depart, and showing them that it was requisite that they should take more unsparing advantage of the truth than ever before, as the Word was to ascend to heaven.

Again, therefore, He calls them children; for He says, Children, a little while I am with you. John 13:33 And, again, He likens the kingdom of heaven to children sitting in the market-places and saying, We have piped unto you, and you have not danced; we have mourned, and you have not lamented; and whatever else He added agreeably thereto. And it is not alone the Gospel that holds these sentiments. Prophecy also agrees with it. David accordingly says, Praise, O children, the Lord; praise the name of the Lord . It says also by Esaias, Here am I, and the children that God has given me. Isaiah 8:18 Are you amazed, then, to hear that men who belong to the nations are sons in the Lord's sight?

Now the sacrifice which is acceptable to God is unswerving abstraction from the body and its passions . This is the really true piety . And is not, on this account, philosophy rightly called by Socrates the practice of Death? For he who neither employs his eyes in the exercise of thought, nor draws anything from his other senses, but with pure mind itself applies to objects, practices the true philosophy . This is, then, the import of the silence of five years prescribed by Pythagoras, which he enjoined on his disciples ; that, abstracting themselves from the objects of sense, they might with the mind alone contemplate the Deity. It was from Moses that the chief of the Greeks drew these philosophical tenets. For he commands holocausts to be skinned and divided into parts.

For the gnostic soul must be consecrated to the light, stript of the integuments of matter, devoid of the frivolousness of the body and of all the passions , which are acquired through vain and lying opinions, and divested of the lusts of the flesh. But the most of men , clothed with what is perishable, like cockles, and rolled all round in a ball in their excesses, like hedgehogs, entertain the same ideas of the blessed and incorruptible God as of themselves. But it has escaped their notice, though they be near us, that God has bestowed on us ten thousand things in which He does not share: birth, being Himself unborn; food, He wanting nothing; and growth, He being always equal; and long life and immortality , He being immortal and incapable of growing old.

Wherefore let no one imagine that hands, and feet, and mouth, and eyes, and going in and coming out, and resentments and threats, are said by the Hebrews to be attributes of God . By no means; but that certain of these appellations are used more sacredly in an allegorical sense, which, as the discourse proceeds, we shall explain at the proper time. Wisdom of all medicines is the Panacea, writes Callimachus in the Epigrams . And one becomes wise from another, both in past times and at present, says Bacchylides in the Pœans; for it is not very easy to find the portals of unutterable words. Beautifully, therefore, Isocrates writes in the Panathenaic , having put the question, Who, then, are well trained?

adds, First, those who manage well the things which occur each day, whose opinion jumps with opportunity, and is able for the most part to hit on what is beneficial; then those who behave becomingly and rightly to those who approach them, who take lightly and easily annoyances and molestations offered by others, but conduct themselves as far as possible, to those with whom they have intercourse, with consummate care and moderation; further, those who have the command of their pleasures, and are not too much overcome by misfortunes, but conduct themselves in the midst of them with manliness, and in a way worthy of the nature which we share; fourth — and this is the greatest — those who are not corrupted by prosperity, and are not put beside themselves, or made haughty , but continue in the class of sensible people.

On the plagiarizing of the dogmas of the philosophers from the Hebrews, we shall treat a little afterwards. But first, as due order demands, we must now speak of the epoch of Moses , by which the philosophy of the Hebrews will be demonstrated beyond all contradiction to be the most ancient of all wisdom. This has been discussed with accuracy by Tatian in his book To the Greeks , and by Cassian in the first book of his Exegetics . Nevertheless our commentary demands that we too should run over what has been said on the point.

Apion, then, the grammarian, surnamed Pleistonices, in the fourth book of The Egyptian Histories , although of so hostile a disposition towards the Hebrews, being by race an Egyptian , as to compose a work against the Jews , when referring to Amosis king of the Egyptians , and his exploits, adduces, as a witness , Ptolemy of Mendes. And his remarks are to the following effect: Amosis, who lived in the time of the Argive Inachus, overthrew Athyria, as Ptolemy of Mendes relates in his Chronology . Now this Ptolemy was a priest ; and setting forth the deeds of the Egyptian kings in three entire books, he says, that the exodus of the Jews from Egypt , under the conduct of Moses , took place while Amosis was king of Egypt . Whence it is seen that Moses flourished in the time of Inachus.

And of the Hellenic states, the most ancient is the Argolic, I mean that which took its rise from Inachus, as Dionysius of Halicarnassus teaches in his Times . And younger by forty generations than it was Attica, founded by Cecrops, who was an aboriginal of double race, as Tatian expressly says; and Arcadia, founded by Pelasgus, younger too by nine generations; and he, too, is said to have been an aboriginal. And more recent than this last by fifty-two generations, was Pthiotis, founded by Deucalion. And from the time of Inachus to the Trojan War twenty generations or more are reckoned; let us say, four hundred years and more.

And if Ctesias says that the Assyrian power is many years older than the Greek, the exodus of Moses from Egypt will appear to have taken place in the forty-second year of the Assyrian empire, in the thirty-second year of the reign of Belochus, in the time of Amosis the Egyptian , and of Inachus the Argive. And in Greece, in the time of Phoroneus, who succeeded Inachus, the flood of Ogyges occurred; and monarchy subsisted in Sicyon first in the person of Ægialeus, then of Europs, then of Telches; in Crete, in the person of Cres. For Acusilaus says that Phoroneus was the first man. Whence, too, the author of Phoronis said that he was the father of mortal men.

The head of every man is Christ . 1 Corinthians 11:3 What Christ, if He is not the author of man? The head he has here put for authority ; now authority will accrue to none else than the author. Of what man indeed is He the head? Surely of him concerning whom he adds soon afterwards: The man ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image of God . 1 Corinthians 11:7 Since then he is the image of the Creator (for He , when looking on Christ His Word, who was to become man, said, Let us make man in our own image, after our likeness Genesis 1:26 ), how can I possibly have another head but Him whose image I am? For if I am the image of the Creator there is no room in me for another head. But wherefore ought the woman to have power over her head, because of the angels ?

1 Corinthians 11:10 If it is because she was created for the man, 1 Corinthians 11:9 and taken out of the man, according to the Creator's purpose, then in this way too has the apostle maintained the discipline of that God from whose institution he explains the reasons of His discipline. He adds: Because of the angels . 1 Corinthians 11:10 What angels ? In other words, whose angels ? If he means the fallen angels of the Creator, there is great propriety in his meaning. It is right that that face which was a snare to them should wear some mark of a humble guise and obscured beauty. If, however, the angels of the rival god are referred to, what fear is there for them? For not even Marcion's disciples , (to say nothing of his angels ,) have any desire for women .

We have often shown before now, that the apostle classes heresies as evil 1 Corinthians 11:18-19 among works of the flesh, and that he would have those persons accounted estimable who shun heresies as an evil thing. In like manner, when treating of the gospel, we have proved from the sacrament of the bread and the cup the verity of the Lord's body and blood in opposition to Marcion's phantom; while throughout almost the whole of my work it has been contended that all mention of judicial attributes points conclusively to the Creator as to a God who judges.

Now, on the subject of spiritual gifts, 1 Corinthians 12:1 I have to remark that these also were promised by the Creator through Christ; and I think that we may derive from this a very just conclusion that the bestowal of a gift is not the work of a god other than Him who is proved to have given the promise. Here is a prophecy of Isaiah: There shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a flower shall spring up from his root; and upon Him shall rest the Spirit of the Lord . After which he enumerates the special gifts of the same: The spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of religion. And with the fear of the Lord shall the Spirit fill Him.

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 .

But they roll back an objection from that apostle himself, in that he said, For Christ sent me not to baptize ; 1 Corinthians 1:17 as if by this argument baptism were done away! For if so , why did he baptize Gaius, and Crispus, and the house of Stephanas? However, even if Christ had not sent him to baptize , yet He had given other apostles the precept to baptize . But these words were written to the Corinthians in regard of the circumstances of that particular time; seeing that schisms and dissensions were agitated among them, while one attributes everything to Paul , another to Apollos. For which reason the peace-making apostle, for fear he should seem to claim all gifts for himself, says that he had been sent not to baptize , but to preach. For preaching is the prior thing, baptizing the posterior.

Therefore the preaching came first : but I think baptizing withal was lawful to him to whom preaching was.

I know not whether any further point is mooted to bring baptism into controversy. Permit me to call to mind what I have omitted above, lest I seem to break off the train of impending thoughts in the middle. There is to us one, and but one, baptism ; as well according to the Lord's gospel as according to the apostle's letters, inasmuch as he says , One God , and one baptism , and one church in the heavens. But it must be admitted that the question, What rules are to be observed with regard to heretics ? is worthy of being treated. For it is to us that that assertion refers. Heretics, however, have no fellowship in our discipline, whom the mere fact of their excommunication testifies to be outsiders.

I am not bound to recognize in them a thing which is enjoined on me , because they and we have not the same God , nor one — that is, the same — Christ. And therefore their baptism is not one with ours either, because it is not the same; a baptism which, since they have it not duly, doubtless they have not at all ; nor is that capable of being counted which is not had . Ecclesiastes 1:15 Thus they cannot receive it either, because they have it not . But this point has already received a fuller discussion from us in Greek. We enter, then, the font once: once are sins washed away, because they ought never to be repeated. But the Jewish Israel bathes daily, because he is daily being defiled: and, for fear that defilement should be practised among us also, therefore was the definition touching the one bathing made.

Happy water, which once washes away; which does not mock sinners (with vain hopes); which does not, by being infected with the repetition of impurities, again defile them whom it has washed!

We have indeed, likewise, a second font, (itself withal one with the former ,) of blood , to wit; concerning which the Lord said, I have to be baptized with a baptism , when He had been baptized already. For He had come by means of water and blood, 1 John 5:6 just as John has written; that He might be baptized by the water, glorified by the blood; to make us , in like manner, called by water, chosen by blood . These two baptisms He sent out from the wound in His pierced side, in order that they who believed in His blood might be bathed with the water; they who had been bathed in the water might likewise drink the blood. This is the baptism which both stands in lieu of the fontal bathing when that has not been received, and restores it when lost.

For concluding our brief subject, it remains to put you in mind also of the due observance of giving and receiving baptism . Of giving it, the chief priest (who is the bishop ) has the right: in the next place, the presbyters and deacons , yet not without the bishop's authority, on account of the honour of the Church , which being preserved, peace is preserved. Beside these, even laymen have the right; for what is equally received can be equally given. Unless bishops , or priests , or deacons , be on the spot, other disciples are called i.e. to the work . The word of the Lord ought not to be hidden by any: in like manner, too, baptism , which is equally God's property, can be administered by all.

But how much more is the rule of reverence and modesty incumbent on laymen — seeing that these powers belong to their superiors — lest they assume to themselves the specific function of the bishop ! Emulation of the episcopal office is the mother of schisms. The most holy apostle has said, that all things are lawful , but not all expedient . Let it suffice assuredly, in cases of necessity , to avail yourself (of that rule , if at any time circumstance either of place, or of time, or of person compels you (so to do); for then the steadfast courage of the succourer, when the situation of the endangered one is urgent, is exceptionally admissible; inasmuch as he will be guilty of a human creature's loss if he shall refrain from bestowing what he had free liberty to bestow.

But the woman of pertness, who has usurped the power to teach, will of course not give birth for herself likewise to a right of baptizing , unless some new beast shall arise like the former; so that, just as the one abolished baptism , so some other should in her own right confer it! But if the writings which wrongly go under Paul's name, claim Thecla's example as a licence for women's teaching and baptizing , let them know that, in Asia, the presbyter who composed that writing, as if he were augmenting Paul's fame from his own store, after being convicted, and confessing that he had done it from love of Paul , was removed from his office. For how credible would it seem, that he who has not permitted a woman even to learn with over-boldness, should give a female the power of teaching and of baptizing !

But they whose office it is, know that baptism is not rashly to be administered. Give to every one who begs you, has a reference of its own, appertaining especially to almsgiving. On the contrary, this precept is rather to be looked at carefully: Give not the holy thing to the dogs, nor cast your pearls before swine; Matthew 7:6 and, Lay not hands easily on any ; share not other men's sins . If Philip so easily baptized the chamberlain, let us reflect that a manifest and conspicuous evidence that the Lord deemed him worthy had been interposed.

Acts 8:26-40 The Spirit had enjoined Philip to proceed to that road: the eunuch himself, too, was not found idle, nor as one who was suddenly seized with an eager desire to be baptized ; but, after going up to the temple for prayer's sake, being intently engaged on the divine Scripture , was thus suitably discovered — to whom God had, unasked, sent an apostle , which one, again, the Spirit bade adjoin himself to the chamberlain's chariot. The Scripture which he was reading falls in opportunely with his faith : Philip , being requested, is taken to sit beside him; the Lord is pointed out; faith lingers not; water needs no waiting for; the work is completed, and the apostle snatched away. But Paul too was, in fact, 'speedily' baptized : for Simon, his host, speedily recognized him to be an appointed vessel of election.

God's approbation sends sure premonitory tokens before it; every petition may both deceive and be deceived. And so, according to the circumstances and disposition, and even age, of each individual, the delay of baptism is preferable; principally, however, in the case of little children. For why is it necessary — if ( baptism itself) is not so necessary — that the sponsors likewise should be thrust into danger? Who both themselves, by reason of mortality, may fail to fulfil their promises, and may be disappointed by the development of an evil disposition, in those for whom they stood ? The Lord does indeed say, Forbid them not to come unto me. Let them come, then, while they are growing up; let them come while they are learning, while they are learning whither to come; let them become Christians when they have become able to know Christ.

Why does the innocent period of life hasten to the remission of sins ? More caution will be exercised in worldly matters: so that one who is not trusted with earthly substance is trusted with divine! Let them know how to ask for salvation , that you may seem (at least) to have given to him that asks. For no less cause must the unwedded also be deferred — in whom the ground of temptation is prepared, alike in such as never were wedded by means of their maturity, and in the widowed by means of their freedom — until they either marry, or else be more fully strengthened for continence. If any understand the weighty import of baptism , they will fear its reception more than its delay: sound faith is secure of salvation .

The Passover affords a more than usually solemn day for baptism ; when, withal, the Lord's passion, in which we are baptized , was completed. Nor will it be incongruous to interpret figuratively the fact that, when the Lord was about to celebrate the last Passover , He said to the disciples who were sent to make preparation, You will meet a man bearing water. He points out the place for celebrating the Passover by the sign of water . After that, Pentecost is a most joyous space for conferring baptisms; wherein, too, the resurrection of the Lord was repeatedly proved among the disciples , and the hope of the advent of the Lord indirectly pointed to, in that, at that time, when He had been received back into the heavens, the angels told the apostles that He would so come, as He had withal ascended into the heavens; at Pentecost, of course.

But, moreover, when Jeremiah says, And I will gather them together from the extremities of the land in the feast-day, he signifies the day of the Passover and of Pentecost, which is properly a feast-day. However, every day is the Lord's; every hour, every time, is apt for baptism : if there is a difference in the solemnity , distinction there is none in the grace .

Happy is our sacrament of water, in that, by washing away the sins of our early blindness, we are set free and admitted into eternal life! A treatise on this matter will not be superfluous; instructing not only such as are just becoming formed (in the faith ), but them who, content with having simply believed , without full examination of the grounds of the traditions, carry (in mind), through ignorance , an untried though probable faith . The consequence is, that a viper of the Cainite heresy , lately conversant in this quarter, has carried away a great number with her most venomous doctrine, making it her first aim to destroy baptism . Which is quite in accordance with nature; for vipers and asps and basilisks themselves generally do affect arid and waterless places.

But we, little fishes, after the example of our ΙΧΘΥΣ Jesus Christ , are born in water, nor have we safety in any other way than by permanently abiding in water; so that most monstrous creature, who had no right to teach even sound doctrine, knew full well how to kill the little fishes, by taking them away from the water!

They who are about to enter baptism ought to pray with repeated prayers , fasts , and bendings of the knee, and vigils all the night through, and with the confession of all by- gone sins , that they may express the meaning even of the baptism of John: They were baptized , says (the Scripture ), confessing their own sins . To us it is matter for thankfulness if we do now publicly confess our iniquities or our turpitudes: for we do at the same time both make satisfaction for our former sins , by mortification of our flesh and spirit , and lay beforehand the foundation of defences against the temptations which will closely follow. Watch and pray , says (the Lord), lest you fall into temptation .

Matthew 26:41 And the reason, I believe , why they were tempted was, that they fell asleep; so that they deserted the Lord when apprehended, and he who continued to stand by Him, and used the sword, even denied Him thrice: for withal the word had gone before, that no one un tempted should attain the celestial kingdoms. The Lord Himself immediately after baptism temptations surrounded, when in forty days He had kept fast. Then, some one will say, it becomes us , too, rather to fast after baptism . Well, and who forbids you, unless it be the necessity for joy , and the thanksgiving for salvation ? But so far as I, with my poor powers, understand, the Lord figuratively retorted upon Israel the reproach they had cast on the Lord .

For the people, after crossing the sea, and being carried about in the desert during forty years, although they were there nourished with divine supplies, nevertheless were more mindful of their belly and their gullet than of God . Thereupon the Lord, driven apart into desert places after baptism , showed, by maintaining a fast of forty days, that the man of God lives not by bread alone, but by the word of God ; Matthew 4:1-4 and that temptations incident to fullness or immoderation of appetite are shattered by abstinence.

Therefore, blessed ones , whom the grace of God awaits, when you ascend from that most sacred font of your new birth, and spread your hands for the first time in the house of your mother, together with your brethren, ask from the Father , ask from the Lord, that His own specialties of grace and distributions of gifts 1 Corinthians 12:4-12 may be supplied you. Ask, says He, and you shall receive. Well, you have asked, and have received; you have knocked, and it has been opened to you. Only, I pray that, when you are asking, you be mindful likewise of Tertullian the sinner.

Well, but how great is the force of perversity for so shaking the faith or entirely preventing its reception, that it impugns it on the very principles of which the faith consists! There is absolutely nothing which makes men's minds more obdurate than the simplicity of the divine works which are visible in the act , when compared with the grandeur which is promised thereto in the effect ; so that from the very fact, that with so great simplicity, without pomp, without any considerable novelty of preparation, finally, without expense, a man is dipped in water, and amid the utterance of some few words, is sprinkled, and then rises again, not much (or not at all) the cleaner, the consequent attainment of eternity is esteemed the more incredible.

I am a deceiver if, on the contrary, it is not from their circumstance, and preparation, and expense, that idols ' solemnities or mysteries get their credit and authority built up. Oh, miserable incredulity, which quite denies to God His own properties, simplicity and power! What then? Is it not wonderful, too, that death should be washed away by bathing? But it is the more to be believed if the wonderfulness be the reason why it is not believed . For what does it behoove divine works to be in their quality, except that they be above all wonder? We also ourselves wonder, but it is because we believe . Incredulity, on the other hand, wonders, but does not believe : for the simple acts it wonders at, as if they were vain; the grand results , as if they were impossible.

And grant that it be just as you think sufficient to meet each point is the divine declaration which has forerun: The foolish things of the world has God elected to confound its wisdom; and, The things very difficult with men are easy with God . For if God is wise and powerful (which even they who pass Him by do not deny), it is with good reason that He lays the material causes of His own operation in the contraries of wisdom and of power, that is, in foolishness and impossibility; since every virtue receives its cause from those things by which it is called forth.

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.

Not that in the waters we obtain the Holy Spirit ; but in the water, under (the witness of) the angel , we are cleansed, and prepared for the Holy Spirit . In this case also a type has preceded; for thus was John beforehand the Lord's forerunner, preparing His ways. Luke 1:76 Thus, too, does the angel , the witness of baptism , make the paths straight for the Holy Spirit , who is about to come upon us, by the washing away of sins , which faith , sealed in (the name of) the Father , and the Son , and the Holy Spirit , obtains. For if in the mouth of three witnesses every word shall stand: — while, through the benediction, we have the same (three) as witnesses of our faith whom we have as sureties of our salvation too — how much more does the number of the divine names suffice for the assurance of our hope likewise!

Moreover, after the pledging both of the attestation of faith and the promise of salvation under three witnesses, there is added, of necessity, mention of the Church ; inasmuch as, wherever there are three, (that is, the Father , the Son , and the Holy Spirit ,) there is the Church , which is a body of three.

After this, when we have issued from the font, we are thoroughly anointed with a blessed unction, — (a practice derived) from the old discipline, wherein on entering the priesthood , men were wont to be anointed with oil from a horn, ever since Aaron was anointed by Moses . Whence Aaron is called Christ, from the chrism, which is the unction; which, when made spiritual, furnished an appropriate name to the Lord, because He was anointed with the Spirit by God the Father; as written in the Acts: For truly they were gathered together in this city against Your Holy Son whom You have anointed. Thus, too, in our case, the unction runs carnally, ( i.e. on the body,) but profits spiritually; in the same way as the act of baptism itself too is carnal, in that we are plunged in water, but the effect spiritual, in that we are freed from sins .

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!

24. This descent of the holy fathers into Egypt will appear as granted to this world by the providence of God for the illumination of others, and for the instruction of the human race , that so by this means the souls of others might be assisted in the work of enlightenment. For to them was first granted the privilege of converse with God , because theirs is the only race which is said to see God ; this being the meaning, by interpretation, of the word Israel . And now it follows that, agreeably to this view, ought the statement to be accepted and explained that Egypt was scourged with ten plagues, to allow the people of God to depart, or the account of what was done with the people in the wilderness, or of the building of the tabernacle by means of contributions from all the people, or of the wearing of the priestly robes, or of the vessels of the public service, because, as it is written, they truly contain within them the shadow and form of heavenly things. For Paul openly says of them, that they serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things. There are, moreover, contained in this same law the precepts and institutions, according to which men are to live in the holy land. Threatenings also are held out as impending over those who shall transgress the law; different kinds of purifications are moreover prescribed for those who required purification, as being persons who were liable to frequent pollution, that by means of these they may arrive at last at that one…

25. We have to see, however, whether this deeper meaning may not perhaps be indicated, viz., that as in Deuteronomy the legislation is made known with greater clearness and distinctness than in those books which were first written, so also by that advent of the Saviour which He accomplished in His state of humiliation, when He assumed the form of a servant, that more celebrated and renowned second advent in the glory of His Father may not be pointed out, and in it the types of Deuteronomy may be fulfilled, when in the kingdom of heaven all the saints shall live according to the laws of the everlasting Gospel ; and as in His coming now He fulfilled that law which has a shadow of good things to come, so also by that (future) glorious advent will be fulfilled and brought to perfection the shadows of the present advent. For thus spoke the prophet regarding it: The breath of our countenance, Christ the Lord, to whom we said, that under Your shadow we shall live among the nations; at the time, viz., when He will more worthily transfer all the saints from a temporal to an everlasting Gospel , according to the designation, employed by John in the Apocalypse, of an everlasting Gospel .

26. But let it be sufficient for us in all these matters to adapt our understanding to the rule of religion, and so to think of the words of the Holy Spirit as not to deem the language the ornate composition of feeble human eloquence, but to hold, according to the scriptural statement, that all the glory of the King is within, and that the treasure of divine meaning is enclosed within the frail vessel of the common letter. And if any curious reader were still to ask an explanation of individual points, let him come and hear, along with ourselves, how the Apostle Paul , seeking to penetrate by help of the Holy Spirit , who searches even the deep things of God , into the depths of divine wisdom and knowledge , and yet, unable to reach the end, so to speak, and to come to a thorough knowledge , exclaims in despair and amazement, Oh the depth of the riches of the knowledge and wisdom of God! Now, that it was from despair of attaining a perfect understanding that he uttered this exclamation, listen to his own words: How unsearchable are God's judgments! And His ways, how past finding out! For he did not say that God's judgments were difficult to discover, but that they were altogether inscrutable; nor that it was (simply) difficult to trace out His ways, but that they were altogether past finding out. For however far a man may advance in his investigations, and how great soever the progress that he may make by unremitting study, assisted even by the grace of God , and with his…

27. Let every one, then, who cares for truth , be little concerned about words and language, seeing that in every nation there prevails a different usage of speech; but let him rather direct his attention to the meaning conveyed by the words, than to the nature of the words that convey the meaning, especially in matters of such importance and difficulty: as, e.g., when it is an object of investigation whether there is any substance in which neither color, nor form, nor touch, nor magnitude is to be understood as existing visible to the mind alone, which any one names as he pleases; for the Greeks call such ἀσώματον , i.e., incorporeal, while holy Scripture declares it to be invisible, for Paul calls Christ the image of the invisible God , and says again, that by Christ were created all things visible and invisible. And by this it is declared that there are, among created things, certain substances that are, according to their peculiar nature, invisible. But although these are not themselves corporeal, they nevertheless make use of bodies, while they are themselves better than any bodily substances. But that substance of the Trinity which is the beginning and cause of all things, from which are all things, and through which are all things, and in which are all things, cannot be believed to be either a body or in a body, but is altogether incorporeal. And now let it suffice to have spoken briefly on these points (although in a digression, caused by the nature of the subject),…

1. As, then, after those first discussions which, according to the requirements of the case, we held at the beginning regarding the Father , Son, and Holy Spirit , it seemed right that we should retrace our steps, and show that the same God was the creator and founder of the world, and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ , i.e., that the God of the law and of the prophets and of the Gospel was one and the same; and that, in the next place, it ought to be shown, with respect to Christ , in what manner He who had formerly been demonstrated to be the Word and Wisdom of God became man; it remains that we now return with all possible brevity to the subject of the Holy Spirit . It is time, then, that we say a few words to the best of our ability regarding the Holy Spirit , whom our Lord and Saviour in the Gospel according to John has named the Paraclete. For as it is the same God Himself, and the same Christ, so also is it the same Holy Spirit who was in the prophets and apostles , i.e., either in those who believed in God before the advent of Christ , or in those who by means of Christ have sought refuge in God . We have heard, indeed, that certain heretics have dared to say that there are two Gods and two Christs, but we have never known of the doctrine of two Holy Spirits being preached by any one. For how could they maintain this out of Scripture, or what distinction could they lay down between Holy Spirit and Holy Spirit , if indeed any definition or description of Holy…

2. Now we are of opinion that every rational creature, without any distinction, receives a share of Him in the same way as of the Wisdom and of the Word of God . I observe, however, that the chief advent of the Holy Spirit is declared to men , after the ascension of Christ to heaven, rather than before His coming into the world. For, before that, it was upon the prophets alone, and upon a few individuals — if there happened to be any among the people deserving of it — that the gift of the Holy Spirit was conferred; but after the advent of the Saviour , it is written that the prediction of the prophet Joel was fulfilled, In the last days it shall come to pass, and I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and they shall prophesy, which is similar to the well-known statement, All nations shall serve Him. By the grace , then, of the Holy Spirit , along with numerous other results, this most glorious consequence is clearly demonstrated, that with regard to those things which were written in the prophets or in the law of Moses , it was only a few persons at that time, viz., the prophets themselves, and scarcely another individual out of the whole nation, who were able to look beyond the mere corporeal meaning and discover something greater, i.e., something spiritual, in the law or in the prophets ; but now there are countless multitudes of believers who, although unable to unfold methodically and clearly the results of their spiritual understanding, are nevertheless most firmly…

3. And as there are many ways of apprehending Christ, who, although He is wisdom, does not act the part or possess the power of wisdom in all men , but only in those who give themselves to the study of wisdom in Him; and who, although called a physician, does not act as one towards all, but only towards those who understand their feeble and sickly condition, and flee to His compassion that they may obtain health; so also I think is it with the Holy Spirit , in whom is contained every kind of gifts. For on some is bestowed by the Spirit the word of wisdom, on others the word of knowledge , on others faith ; and so to each individual of those who are capable of receiving Him, is the Spirit Himself made to be that quality, or understood to be that which is needed by the individual who has deserved to participate. These divisions and differences not being perceived by those who hear Him called Paraclete in the Gospel , and not duly considering in consequence of what work or act He is named the Paraclete, they have compared Him to some common spirits or other, and by this means have tried to disturb the Churches of Christ , and so excite dissensions of no small extent among brethren; whereas the Gospel shows Him to be of such power and majesty, that it says the apostles could not yet receive those things which the Saviour wished to teach them until the advent of the Holy Spirit , who, pouring Himself into their souls , might enlighten them regarding the nature and faith of the…

4. We must therefore know that the Paraclete is the Holy Spirit , who teaches truths which cannot be uttered in words, and which are, so to speak, unutterable, and which it is not lawful for a man to utter, i.e., which cannot be indicated by human language. The phrase it is not lawful is, we think, used by the apostle instead of it is not possible; as also is the case in the passage where he says, All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me; but all things edify not. For those things which are in our power because we may have them, he says are lawful for us. But the Paraclete, who is called the Holy Spirit , is so called from His work of consolation, para clesis being termed in Latin consolatio . For if any one has deserved to participate in the Holy Spirit by the knowledge of His ineffable mysteries , he undoubtedly obtains comfort and joy of heart. For since he comes by the teaching of the Spirit to the knowledge of the reasons of all things which happen — how or why they occur — his soul can in no respect be troubled, or admit any feeling of sorrow; nor is he alarmed by anything, since, clinging to the Word of God and His wisdom, he through the Holy Spirit calls Jesus Lord. And since we have made mention of the Paraclete, and have explained as we were able what sentiments ought to be entertained regarding Him; and since our Saviour also is called the Paraclete in the Epistle of John, when he says, If any of us sin , we have…

Celsus goes on to say of us: They set no value on the oracles of the Pythian priestess, of the priests of Dodona, of Clarus, of Branchidæ, of Jupiter Ammon, and of a multitude of others; although under their guidance we may say that colonies were sent forth, and the whole world peopled. But those sayings which were uttered or not uttered in Judea , after the manner of that country, as indeed they are still delivered among the people of Phœnicia and Palestine — these they look upon as marvellous sayings, and unchangeably true . In regard to the oracles here enumerated, we reply that it would be possible for us to gather from the writings of Aristotle and the Peripatetic school not a few things to overthrow the authority of the Pythian and the other oracles.

From Epicurus also, and his followers, we could quote passages to show that even among the Greeks themselves there were some who utterly discredited the oracles which were recognised and admired throughout the whole of Greece. But let it be granted that the responses delivered by the Pythian and other oracles were not the utterances of false men who pretended to a divine inspiration; and let us see if, after all, we cannot convince any sincere inquirers that there is no necessity to attribute these oracular responses to any divinities, but that, on the other hand, they may be traced to wicked demons — to spirits which are at enmity with the human race , and which in this way wish to hinder the soul from rising upwards, from following the path of virtue , and from returning to God in sincere piety .

It is said of the Pythian priestess, whose oracle seems to have been the most celebrated, that when she sat down at the mouth of the Castalian cave, the prophetic Spirit of Apollo entered her private parts; and when she was filled with it, she gave utterance to responses which are regarded with awe as divine truths. Judge by this whether that spirit does not show its profane and impure nature, by choosing to enter the soul of the prophetess not through the more becoming medium of the bodily pores which are both open and invisible, but by means of what no modest man would ever see or speak of. And this occurs not once or twice, which would be more permissible, but as often as she was believed to receive inspiration from Apollo.

Moreover, it is not the part of a divine spirit to drive the prophetess into such a state of ecstasy and madness that she loses control of herself. For he who is under the influence of the Divine Spirit ought to be the first to receive the beneficial effects; and these ought not to be first enjoyed by the persons who consult the oracle about the concerns of natural or civil life, or for purposes of temporal gain or interest; and, moreover, that should be the time of clearest perception, when a person is in close intercourse with the Deity.

First fragment (Preface) As I wish to give an accurate account of the times of the captivity of the children of Israel in Babylon , and to discuss the prophecies contained in the visions of the blessed Daniel, (as well as) his manner of life from his boyhood in Babylon , I too shall proceed to bear my testimony to that holy and righteous man, a prophet and witness of Christ , who not only declared the visions of Nebuchadnezzar the king in those times, but also trained youths of like mind with himself, and raised up faithful witnesses in the world. He is horn, then, in the time of the prophetic ministry of the blessed Jeremiah, and in the reign of Jehoiakim or Eliakim. Along with the other captives, he is carried off a prisoner to Babylon . Now there are born to the blessed Josiah these five sons — Jehoahaz, Eliakim, Johanan, Zedekiah, or Jeconiah, and Sadum. And on his father's death, Jehoahaz is anointed as king by the people at the age of twenty-three years. Against him comes up Pharaoh -Necho, in the third month of his reign; and he takes him (Jehoahaz) prisoner, and carries him into Egypt , and imposes tribute on the land to the extent of one hundred talents of silver and ten talents of gold. And in his stead he sets up his brother Eliakim as king over the land, whose name also he changed to Jehoiakim, and who was then eleven years old. Against him came up Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon , and carries him off prisoner to Babylon , taking with him also some of the vessels…

1. In speaking of a lioness from the sea, he meant the rising of the kingdom of Babylon , and that this was the golden head of the image. And in speaking of its eagle wings, be meant that king Nebuchadnezzar was exalted and that his glory was lifted up against God. Then he says its wings were plucked off, i.e., that his glory was destroyed; for he was driven out of his kingdom. And the words, A man's heart was given it, and it was made stand upon the feet of a man , mean that he came to himself again, and recognised that he was but a man , and gave the glory to God . Then after the lioness he sees a second beast, like a bear, which signified the Persians. For after the Babylonians the Persians obtained the power. And in saying that it had three ribs in its mouth, he pointed to the three nations, Persians , Medes, and Babylonians , which were expressed in the image by the silver after the gold. Then comes the third beast, a leopard, which means the Greeks; for after the Persians , Alexander of Macedon had the power, when Darius was overthrown, which was also indicated by the brass in the image. And in saying that the beast had four wings of a fowl, and four heads, he showed most clearly how the kingdom of Alexander was parted into four divisions. For in speaking of four heads, he meant the four kings that arose out of it. For Alexander, when dying, divided his kingdom into four parts. Then he says, The fourth beast (was) dreadful and terrible: it had iron teeth, and claws of…

2. After this, then, what remains, beloved, but the toes of the feet of the image, in which part shall be of iron and part of clay mixed together? By the toes of the feet he meant, mystically , the ten kings that rise out of that kingdom. As Daniel says, I considered the beast; and, lo, (there were) ten horns behind, among which shall come up another little horn springing from them; by which none other is meant than the antichrist that is to rise; and he shall set up the kingdom of Judah. And in saying that three horns were plucked up by the roots by this one, he indicates the three kings of Egypt , Libya, and Ethiopia , whom this one will slay in the array of war . And when he has conquered all, he will prove himself a terrible and savage tyrant, and will cause tribulation and persecution to the saints , exalting himself against them. And after him, it remains that the stone shall come from heaven which smote the image and shivered it, and subverted all the kingdoms, and gave the kingdom to the saints of the Most High. This became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.

3. As these things, then, are destined to come to pass, and as the toes of the image turn out to be democracies, and the ten horns of the beast are distributed among ten kings, let us look at what is before us more carefully, and scan it, as it were, with open eye. The golden head of the image is identical with the lioness, by which the Babylonians were represented. The golden shoulders and the arms of silver are the same with the bear, by which the Persians and Medes are meant. The belly and thighs of brass are the leopard, by which the Greeks who ruled from Alexander onwards are intended. The legs of iron are the dreadful and terrible beast, by which the Romans who hold the empire now are meant. The toes of clay and iron are the ten horns which are to be. The one other little horn springing up in their midst is the antichrist. The stone that smites the image and breaks it in pieces, and that filled the whole earth, is Christ, who comes from heaven and brings judgment on the world.

Treatise 1 (Cyprian of Carthage) Home > Fathers of the Church > Treatises (Cyprian of Carthage) > Treatise 1 Treatise 1 On the Unity of the Church. Argument.— On the Occasion of the Schism of Novatian , to Keep Back from Him the Carthaginians, Who Already Were Not Averse to Him, on Account of Novatus and Some Other Presbyters of His Church, Who Had Originated the Whole Disturbance, Cyprian Wrote This Treatise. And First of All, Fortifying Them Against the Deceits of These, He Exhorts Them to Constancy, and Instructs Them that Heresies Exist Because Christ, the Head of the Church , is Not Looked To, that the Common Commission First Entrusted to Peter is Contemned, and the One Church and the One Episcopate are Deserted. Then He Proves, as Well by the Scriptures as by the Figures of the Old and New Testament , the Unity of the Church .

1. Since the Lord warns us, saying, You are the salt of the earth, Matthew 5:13 and since He bids us to be simple to harmlessness, and yet with our simplicity to be prudent , what else, beloved brethren, befits us, than to use foresight and watching with an anxious heart, both to perceive and to beware of the wiles of the crafty foe, that we, who have put on Christ the wisdom of God the Father , may not seem to be wanting in wisdom in the matter of providing for our salvation ? For it is not persecution alone that is to be feared; nor those things which advance by open attack to overwhelm and cast down the servants of God . Caution is more easy where danger is manifest, and the mind is prepared beforehand for the contest when the adversary avows himself. The enemy is more to be feared and to be guarded against, when he creeps on us secretly; when, deceiving by the appearance of peace, he steals forward by hidden approaches, whence also he has received the name of the Serpent. That is always his subtlety; that is his dark and stealthy artifice for circumventing man. Thus from the very beginning of the world he deceived; and flattering with lying words, he misled inexperienced souls by an incautious credulity. Thus he endeavoured to tempt the Lord Himself: he secretly approached Him, as if he would creep on Him again, and deceive; yet he was understood, and beaten back, and therefore prostrated, because he was recognised and detected.

2. From which an example is given us to avoid the way of the old man, to stand in the footsteps of a conquering Christ, that we may not again be incautiously turned back into the nets of death, but, foreseeing our danger, may possess the immortality that we have received. But how can we possess immortality , unless we keep those commands of Christ whereby death is driven out and overcome, when He Himself warns us, and says, If you will enter into life, keep the commandments? Matthew 19:17 And again: If you do the things that I command you, henceforth I call you not servants, but friends. John 15:14-15 Finally, these persons He calls strong and steadfast; these He declares to be founded in robust security upon the rock, established with immoveable and unshaken firmness, in opposition to all the tempests and hurricanes of the world. Whosoever, says He, hears my words, and does them, I will liken him unto a wise man, that built his house upon a rock: the rain descended, the floods came, the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. Matthew 7:24 We ought therefore to stand fast on His words, to learn and do whatever He both taught and did. But how can a man say that he believes in Christ , who does not do what Christ commanded him to do? Or whence shall he attain to the reward of faith , who will not keep the faith of the commandment? He must of necessity waver and wander, and, caught away by a spirit of error , like dust which is…

3. But, beloved brethren, not only must we beware of what is open and manifest, but also of what deceives by the craft of subtle fraud. And what can be more crafty, or what more subtle, than for this enemy, detected and cast down by the advent of Christ , after light has come to the nations , and saving rays have shone for the preservation of men , that the deaf might receive the hearing of spiritual grace , the blind might open their eyes to God , the weak might grow strong again with eternal health, the lame might run to the church, the dumb might pray with clear voices and prayers — seeing his idols forsaken, and his lanes and his temples deserted by the numerous concourse of believers — to devise a new fraud, and under the very title of the Christian name to deceive the incautious? He has invented heresies and schisms, whereby he might subvert the faith , might corrupt the truth , might divide the unity. Those whom he cannot keep in the darkness of the old way, he circumvents and deceives by the error of a new way. He snatches men from the Church itself; and while they seem to themselves to have already approached to the light, and to have escaped the night of the world, he pours over them again, in their unconsciousness, new darkness; so that, although they do not stand firm with the Gospel of Christ , and with the observation and law of Christ , they still call themselves Christians , and, walking in darkness, they think that they have the light, while the adversary is…

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.

Treatise 4 (Cyprian of Carthage) Home > Fathers of the Church > Treatises (Cyprian of Carthage) > Treatise 4 Treatise 4 On the Lord's Prayer. Argument.— The Treatise of Cyprian on the Lord's Prayer Comprises Three Portions, in Which Division He Imitates Tertullian in His Book on Prayer, in the First Portion, He Points Out that the Lord's Prayer is the Most Excellent of All Prayers, Profoundly Spiritual, and Most Effectual for Obtaining Our Petitions. In the Second Part, He Undertakes an Explanation of the Lord's Prayer; And, Still Treading in the Footsteps of Tertullian , He Goes Through Its Seven Chief Clauses, Finally, in the Third Part, He Considers the Conditions of Prayer, and Tells Us What Prayer Ought to Be. —

1. The evangelical precepts, beloved brethren, are nothing else than divine teachings — foundations on which hope is to be built, supports to strengthen faith , nourishments for cheering the heart, rudders for guiding our way, guards for obtaining salvation — which, while they instruct the docile minds of believers on the earth, lead them to heavenly kingdoms. God , moreover, willed many things to be said and to be heard by means of the prophets His servants; but how much greater are those which the Son speaks, which the Word of God who was in the prophets testifies with His own voice; not now bidding to prepare the way for His coming, but Himself coming and opening and showing to us the way, so that we who have before been wandering in the darkness of death, without forethought and blind, being enlightened by the light of grace , might keep the way of life, with the Lord for our ruler and guide!

2. He, among the rest of His salutary admonitions and divine precepts wherewith He counsels His people for their salvation , Himself also gave a form of praying — Himself advised and instructed us what we should pray for. He who made us to live, taught us also to pray , with that same benignity, to wit, wherewith He has condescended to give and confer all things else; in order that while we speak to the Father in that prayer and supplication which the Son has taught us, we may be the more easily heard. Already He had foretold that the hour was coming when the true worshippers should worship the Father in spirit and in truth ; John 4:23 and He thus fulfilled what He before promised, so that we who by His sanctification have received the Spirit and truth , may also by His teaching worship truly and spiritually. For what can be a more spiritual prayer than that which was given to us by Christ, by whom also the Holy Spirit was given to us? What praying to the Father can be more truthful than that which was delivered to us by the Son who is the Truth, out of His own mouth? So that to pray otherwise than He taught is not ignorance alone, but also sin ; since He Himself has established, and said, You reject the commandments of God , that you may keep your own traditions.

3. Let us therefore, brethren beloved, pray as God our Teacher has taught us. It is a loving and friendly prayer to beseech God with His own word, to come up to His ears in the prayer of Christ . Let the Father acknowledge the words of His Son when we make our prayer , and let Him also who dwells within in our breast Himself dwell in our voice. And since we have Him as an Advocate with the Father for our sins , let us, when as sinners we petition on behalf of our sins , put forward the words of our Advocate. For since He says, that whatsoever we shall ask of the Father in His name, He will give us, John 16:23 how much more effectually do we obtain what we ask in Christ's name, if we ask for it in His own prayer !

1. Many and great, beloved brethren, are the divine benefits wherewith the large and abundant mercy of God the Father and Christ both has laboured and is always labouring for our salvation : that the Father sent the Son to preserve us and give us life, in order that He might restore us; and that the Son was willing to be sent and to become the Son of man , that He might make us sons of God ; humbled Himself, that He might raise up the people who before were prostrate; was wounded that He might heal our wounds; served, that He might draw out to liberty those who were in bondage; underwent death, that He might set forth immortality to mortals. These are many and great boons of divine compassion. But, moreover, what is that providence , and how great the clemency, that by a plan of salvation it is provided for us, that more abundant care should be taken for preserving man after he is already redeemed! For when the Lord at His advent had cured those wounds which Adam had borne, and had healed the old poisons of the serpent, He gave a law to the sound man and bade him sin no more, lest a worse thing should befall the sinner. We had been limited and shut up into a narrow space by the commandment of innocence. Nor would the infirmity and weakness of human frailty have any resource, unless the divine mercy, coming once more in aid, should open some way of securing salvation by pointing out works of justice and mercy, so that by almsgiving we may wash away whatever foulness we…

2. The Holy Spirit speaks in the sacred Scriptures, and says, By almsgiving and faith sins are purged. Not assuredly those sins which had been previously contracted, for those are purged by the blood and sanctification of Christ . Moreover, He says again, As water extinguishes fire, so almsgiving quenches sin . Sirach 3:30 Here also it is shown and proved , that as in the layer of saving water the fire of Gehenna is extinguished, so by almsgiving and works of righteousness the flame of sins is subdued. And because in baptism remission of sins is granted once for all, constant and ceaseless labour, following the likeness of baptism , once again bestows the mercy of God . The Lord teaches this also in the Gospel . For when the disciples were pointed out, as eating and not first washing their hands, He replied and said, He that made that which is within, made also that which is without. But give alms , and behold all things are clean unto you; Luke 11:41 teaching hereby and showing, that not the hands are to be washed, but the heart, and that the foulness from inside is to be done away rather than that from outside; but that he who shall have cleansed what is within has cleansed also that which is without; and that if the mind is cleansed, a man has begun to be clean also in skin and body. Further, admonishing, and showing whence we may be clean and purged, He added that alms must be given. He who is pitiful teaches and warns us that pity must be shown; and because He seeks to…

3. Let us then acknowledge, beloved brethren, the wholesome gift of the divine mercy; and let us, who cannot be without some wound of conscience , heal our wounds by the spiritual remedies for the cleansing and purging of our sins . Nor let any one so flatter himself with the notion of a pure and immaculate heart, as, in dependence on his own innocence, to think that the medicine needs not to be applied to his wounds; since it is written, Who shall boast that he has a clean heart, or who shall boast that he is pure from sins ? Proverbs 20:9 And again, in his epistle, John lays it down, and says, If we say that we have no sin , we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. But if no one can be without sin , and whoever should say that he is without fault is either proud or foolish, how needful, how kind is the divine mercy, which, knowing that there are still found some wounds in those that have been healed, even after their healing, has given wholesome remedies for the curing and healing of their wounds anew!

4. Finally, beloved brethren, the divine admonition in the Scriptures , as well old as new, has never failed, has never been silent in urging God's people always and everywhere to works of mercy; and in the strain and exhortation of the Holy Spirit , every one who is instructed into the hope of the heavenly kingdom is commanded to give alms . God commands and prescribes to Isaiah: Cry, says He, with strength, and spare not. Lift up your voice as a trumpet, and declare to my people their transgressions, and to the house of Jacob their sins . Isaiah 58:1 And when He had commanded their sins to be charged upon them, and with the full force of His indignation had set forth their iniquities, and had said, that not even though they should use supplications, and prayers , and fastings , should they be able to make atonement for their sins ; nor, if they were clothed in sackcloth and ashes, be able to soften God's anger , yet in the last part showing that God can be appeased by almsgiving alone, he added, saying, Break your bread to the hungry, and bring the poor that are without a home into your house. If you see the naked, clothe him; and despise not the household of your own seed. Then shall your light break forth in season, and your garments shall arise speedily; and righteousness shall go before you, and the glory of God shall surround you. Then shall you cry, and God shall hear you; while yet you are speaking, He shall say, Here I am. Isaiah 58:1-9

He Next Teaches Us that the Authority of the Faith Enjoins, After the Father and the Son, to Believe Also on the Holy Spirit, Whose Operations He Enumerates from Scripture. Moreover, the order of reason, and the authority of the faith in the disposition of the words and in the Scriptures of the Lord, admonish us after these things to believe also on the Holy Spirit , once promised to the Church , and in the appointed occasions of times given. For He was promised by Joel the prophet , but given by Christ. In the last days, says the prophet , I will pour out of my Spirit upon my servants and my handmaids. And the Lord said, Receive the Holy Ghost : whose sins you remit, they shall be remitted; and whose you retain, they shall be retained.

But this Holy Spirit the Lord Christ calls at one time the Paraclete, at another pronounces to be the Spirit of truth . And He is not new in the Gospel , nor yet even newly given; for it was He Himself who accused the people in the prophets , and in the apostles gave them the appeal to the Gentiles . For the former deserved to be accused, because they had contemned the law; and they of the Gentiles who believe deserve to be aided by the defense of the Spirit , because they earnestly desire to attain to the Gospel law.

Assuredly in the Spirit there are different kinds of offices, because in the times there is a different order of occasions; and yet, on this account, He who discharges these offices is not different, nor is He another in so acting, but He is one and the same, distributing His offices according to the times, and the occasions and impulses of things. Moreover, the Apostle Paul says, Having the same Spirit; as it is written, I believed , and therefore have I spoken; we also believe , and therefore speak. He is therefore one and the same Spirit who was in the prophets and apostles , except that in the former He was occasional, in the latter always.

But in the former not as being always in them, in the latter as abiding always in them; and in the former distributed with reserve, in the latter all poured out; in the former given sparingly, in the latter liberally bestowed; not yet manifested before the Lord's resurrection, but conferred after the resurrection. For, said He, I will pray the Father , and He will give you another Advocate, that He may be with you for ever, even the Spirit of truth . And, When He, the Advocate, shall come, whom I shall send unto you from my Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from my Father. And, If I go not away, that Advocate shall not come to you; but if I go away, I will send Him to you. And, When the Spirit of truth shall come, He will direct you into all the truth .