Book IV

preface

§1. In sending out to thee,¹¹⁸⁵* dearly-beloved, this fourth Book of our treatise of the Discovery and Refutation of Knowledge falsely so called, we intend, according to our promise, to establish our previous statements by the words of our Lord: that thou also, as thou didst desire, mightest receive from us every way means of confuting all the Heretics; and beating them back altogether, mightest not suffer them to plunge themselves further into the deep of error, nor to be choked in the sea of ignorance; but rather, turning them towards the Harbour of Truth, mightest so cause them to receive their own salvation.

§ 2. But whosoever would convert them, must carefully acquaint himself with their rules or arguments: it being impossible for one to cure any sick persons, not knowing the ailment of the same.

For which cause they who have been before us,¹¹⁸⁶* yea, and much better men than we, were nevertheless unable to dispute against the Valentinians, as not knowing their system: which we in our first Book have very diligently expounded unto thee: wherein also we have shewn how their doctrine gathers up in one all the Heretics.

Wherefore in the second Book again we have used them as a mirror in which the whole of our refutation might be discerned.¹¹⁸⁷* For they who duly dispute with these, dispute with all who have bad views: and the refuters of these refute every heresy.

§ 3. For no creed is so blasphemous as theirs:¹¹⁸⁸* who, as we have shewn, speak of the Maker and Framer, Who is One God, as the produce of decay and defection. And they blaspheme our Lord also, cutting off and dividing Jesus from Christ, and Christ from the Saviour, and the Saviour again from the Word, and the Word from the Only Begotten. And as they affirm the Creator to have been the produce of decay or defection, so Christ also, and the Holy Ghost, by their teaching, were produced because of Decay: and the Saviour is a kind of growth from those Æons, who were the produce of Decay: lest anything of theirs should be without blasphemy.

Accordingly,¹¹⁸⁹* in the book before this we have set forth the sentence of the Apostles upon them all; how that, far from having any such idea,¹¹⁹⁰* they who from the beginning were eye-witnesses and ministers of the Word of Truth, did even proclaim to us to shun the aforesaid opinions, foreseeing by the Spirit the future deceivers of the simpler ones.

§ 4. For as the Serpent beguiled Eve, promising her what he had not himself, so these also, pretending greater knowledge and unspeakable mysteries, and promising that admission which they talk of within the Pleroma, plunge those who trust them into death, rendering them Apostates from their Maker.

And whereas at that time the apostate Angel caused by the Serpent the disobedience of men, and thought himself hidden from the Lord;—on which account God attributes to him the form and title aforesaid;—now, because they are the last times, the evil extends itself to men also, not only causing them to become Apostates, but training them up to be blasphemers of their Maker by many contrivances; I mean by all the aforementioned Heretics.

For all these,¹¹⁹¹* issuing from different places, and teaching different doctrines, concur however in the same blasphemous intent; inflicting a deadly wound, in that they teach blasphemy against God our Maker and Nourisher, and do away with¹¹⁹²¹ Man’s Salvation. By Man, I mean him who is a mixture of soul and flesh, formed after the likeness of God, and moulded by His Hands, to wit, by the Son and the Holy Ghost: unto Whom also He said,¹¹⁹³* Let us make Man.

This then is the purpose of him who grudges us Life: to make men unbelievers in their own salvation, and blasphemers of God Who formed them. For when all Heretics have said all, with their utmost gravity, in the end they come to this, that they blaspheme the Maker and deny the Salvation of God’s work; which work is the Flesh: for the sake whereof the Son of God wrought all His providential purpose, as we have shewn in many ways; and have made it evident that none other is called God by the Scriptures, but only the Father of all, and the Son, and those who have the adoption.

Chap. I. § 1. So much then being firm and fixed, that no other is set forth by the Spirit as God and Lord,¹¹⁹⁴* save Him Who being God rules over all, with His Word, and those who receive the Spirit of adoption, i.e., who believe in the only and true God, and in Jesus Christ the Son of God: and the Apostles in like manner of themselves gave not to any other the Name of God or the surname of Lord; and much less our Lord, Who did even enjoin us to confess none our Father,¹¹⁹⁵* save Him Who is in Heaven, Who is one God and one Father—the falsehood is evidently shewn of what is said by deluders and most perverse sophists, affirming that He is by Nature both God and Father, whom they have themselves invented; but that the Creator is naturally neither God nor Father, but is so called merely by way of speaking, because He rules over the creature—so say the perverse critics, devising thoughts against God. And while they neglect the teaching of Christ, of themselves they divine falsities, arguing against the entire government of God. For their Æons they say are called both Gods and Fathers and Lords, and withal likewise Heavens, with their Mother, whom they entitle both Earth, and Jerusalem; and there are many other names whereby they designate her.

§ 2. But who can help seeing, that if the Lord had known of many Fathers and Gods, He would not have enjoined His Disciples to recognize one God only, and Him, the very same, alone to call Father? Yea, and He hath marked the distinction between those who are Gods in word only, and Him Who is so in deed: that men might not err in His doctrine, nor misunderstand one for another.

But if, while He bade us call One only Father and God, He Himself is confessing meanwhile other Fathers and Gods in the same sense, He will appear to be commanding His disciples one way, and Himself acting the other way. Now this is not conduct for a good Master, but for a deceiver and a grudging person.

And the Apostles too by their account are shewn to be breakers of the commandment, in confessing, as we have shewn, the Creator to be God and Lord and Father, if He is not the only God and Father. They will have transgressed then by the sanction and teaching of Jesus, Who enjoined that one only should be called Father, thus imposing on them, as we have shewn, the need of confessing the Creator as their Proper Father.

Chap. II. § 1. Moses accordingly, summing up in Deuteronomy the whole Law, which he had received from the Creator, thus speaks: Give ear,¹¹⁹⁶* O Heaven, and I will speak, and let the earth hear words from my mouth. Again, David, saying that his help cometh of the Lord,¹¹⁹⁷* My help, saith he, is of the Lord, Who made Heaven and Earth. And Esaias professes that his sayings proceed from the Lord, Who made Heaven and Earth,¹¹⁹⁸* and governs them: Hear, saith he, O Heaven, and give ear, O Earth: for the Lord hath spoken.¹¹⁹⁹* And again, Thus saith the Lord God, Who made the Heaven, and fastened it in its place: Who established the earth, and the things that are therein: and Who giveth breath to the people that is upon it, and spirit to them that tread on it.

§ 2. On the other hand our Lord Jesus Christ professes this same to be His Father,¹²⁰⁰* in that He saith, I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of Heaven and Earth. What Father would these men have us understand,¹²⁰¹* Pandora’s people I mean, the most wrongheaded of Sophists? Is it “The Deep,” whom they have devised of themselves? or their “Mother,” or their “Only Begotten?” or the God whom the Marcionites, or whom the rest, have invented? (although that there is no such God we have proved at large) or, as the truth is, the Maker of Heaven and Earth? Whom both the Prophets did preach, and Christ professes to be His Father, and the Law announces, saying, Hear O Israel:¹²⁰²* the Lord thy God is one God.

§ 3. Moreover,¹²⁰³* that the writings of Moses are the words of Christ, He Himself tells the Jews, as John has recorded in the Gospel:¹²⁰⁴* Had ye believed Moses, ye would have also believed Me, for he wrote of Me. But if ye believe not his writings, neither will ye believe My words: most clearly implying, that Moses’s writings are His own words. If then Moses’s words are His, so without doubt are the other Prophets’ also: as we have demonstrated.

And again the Lord Himself hath declared that Abraham said to the rich man, concerning all those who were yet alive,¹²⁰⁵* If they obey not Moses and the Prophets, neither if one rise from the dead and go to them, will they believe him.

§ 4. Now He did not tell us a mere story of a poor man and a rich:¹²⁰⁶* but first, He taught that no man ought to make pleasure his employment—that men should not so live in worldly luxuries and abundant feasting, as to serve their own pleasures and forget God. For, saith He, there was a rich man,¹²⁰⁷* who was clothed with purple and fine linen, and delighted himself with splendid feasts. And of such the Spirit also spake by Isaiah:¹²⁰⁸* With harps, and timbrels, and psalteries, and pipes they drink wine, but the works of God they look not upon, and the works of His hands they consider not. For fear then of our coming to the same punishment with them, the Lord hath declared their end: implying at the same time, that if they obeyed Moses and the Prophets, they would believe in Him Whom they had preached; on the Son of God, Who rose from the dead, and gives us life. And He points out, how all are of one substance, I mean Abraham and Moses and the Prophets;—yea, even the Lord Himself Who rose again from the dead; in Whom believe many also who are of the circumcision, hearing as they do both Moses and the Prophets, how they preach the coming of the Son of God. But those who scorn Him, teach that they are of another substance, and know not the First-born of the dead: thinking of Christ as apart by Himself, as of one who abides exempt from suffering, and apart by Himself again, Him who did suffer, even Jesus.

§ 5. Because they receive not from the Father the knowledge of the Son,¹²⁰⁹* nor of the Son do they learn the Father, although He teach evidently and without Parables that God, Who truly is.¹²¹⁰* Swear not, saith He, at all; neither by Heaven, for it is the Throne of God: nor by the Earth, for it is the Footstool of His Feet: neither by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. For these words are evidently spoken of the Creator, as Esaias also saith:¹²¹¹* Heaven is My throne, Earth is the footstool of My feet. And besides Him is no other God, else would He not be stiled by our Lord either God or great King; for that saying excludes both comparison and all superiority. Since whosoever hath any superior to himself, and is under the power of another, the same can neither be called God nor the great King.

§ 6. Neither again will they be able to maintain that all this is said ironically, since the words themselves prove to the contrary, that they are uttered in serious truth. For He Who spake was Himself the Truth.

And in truth did He avenge His own House,¹²¹²* when He cast the Money-changers out of it, who were both selling and buying,¹²¹³* saying unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the House of Prayer; but ye have made it a Den of Thieves.¹²¹⁴* And what occasion had He to do and say this, and to avenge His own house, if He was announcing another God?¹²¹⁵* But it was to set a mark on the transgressors of His Father’s Law. For He laid nothing to the charge of the house, neither did He blame the Law, which He had come to fulfil: but He was blaming those who made no good use of the house, and those who were transgressing the Law.

And accordingly the Scribes and Pharisees who began from the times of the Law to despise God, received not His Word, that is, believed not Christ. Of whom Esaias saith,¹²¹⁶* Thy Princes are disobedient, companions of thieves, loving gifts, following after payments, judging not for orphans, and minding not the judgment of widows. And Jeremiah too in like manner,¹²¹⁷* The chiefs of My people, saith he, knew Me not: they are senseless and unwise sons, they are wise in doing evil, but how to do good they have not known.

§ 7. But as many as feared God,¹²¹⁸* and were anxious about His Law, of their own accord hastened unto Christ, and were all saved. For, Go ye, He saith to His disciples, to the sheep which were lost of the House of Israel.¹²¹⁹* And the Samaritans too, we are told, our Lord having remained with them two days,¹²²⁰* did many more of them believe because of His discourses, and said to the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard ourselves; and know that this is truly the Saviour of the world.¹²²¹* And Paul again saith, And so all Israel shall be saved.¹²²²* Yea, and he called the Law, Our School-master unto Jesus Christ.

Let them not then charge the Law with the unbelief of certain persons: for the Law forbade not their believing in the Son of God, but rather urged it on them, saying, that no otherwise are men saved from the old wound of the serpent,¹²²³* except they believe on Him,¹²²⁴* Who in the likeness of sinful flesh is lifted up from the Earth on the wood of martyrdom, and draws all things to Himself, and quickens the dead.

Chap. III. § 1. Whereas they in their evil constructions say, Why, if the Heaven is God’s throne, and the earth His footstool,¹²²⁵* and it is said that Heaven and Earth pass away, and that as they pass,¹²²⁶* this God also, Who sitteth upon them, must needs pass away, and therefore that He is not the God Who is over all:—in the first place they know not the meaning of Heaven being a Throne, and Earth a Footstool. For neither do they know what God is, but think of Him as sitting like a man; and as being comprehended, not as comprehending. And they are ignorant moreover of the passing away of Heaven and Earth.¹²²⁷* But Paul was not ignorant of it, saying, For the Fashion of this world passeth away.

In the next place, David solves their question. For while the fashion of this world passeth away, he saith that not only God endures, but His servants also: thus expressing himself in the 101st.¹²²⁸* Psalm: Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth, and the Heavens are the works of Thy Hands. They shall perish, but Thou shalt remain; and they all shall wax old as a garment; and as a wrapping shalt Thou change them, and they shall be changed; But Thou art the very same, and Thy years shall not fail. The children of Thy servants shall dwell there, and their seed shall be set upright for ever. Plainly declaring what things they are which pass away, and Who it is that endures always, God with His own servants.

And Esaias too in like manner:¹²²⁹* Lift up, saith he, your eyes unto Heaven, and look upon the earth beneath: for the Heaven is settled^1230a like smoke, and the earth shall wax old as a garment: and they that dwell therein shall die as they do. But My Salvation shall be for ever, and My righteousness shall not fail.

Chap. IV. § 1. And of Jerusalem, and of the Lord, they make bold also to say, that if it were the city of the great King, it would not be forsaken.¹²³¹* But this is as if one should say,¹²³²* that if stubble were a creature of God, it would never be forsaken of the corn: and that the refuse twigs of the vineyard, if they were of God’s making, would never be bereaved of the clusters and cut away.

But even as these were made not chiefly for their own sake; but for the fruit growing in them, and when that is ripened and removed, the portions which help not in producing fruit are left to themselves and taken out of the way: so likewise it fares with Jerusalem; which had borne in herself the yoke of slavery, wherewith man was tamed, who before while death reigned, was not in subjection to God, and being tamed was made meet for liberty:—so I say, it fares with her, now that the Fruit of liberty is come, and hath grown up, and been cut down, and gathered into the garner, and there have been carried out from it such as are able to bear fruit, and they have been planted out in the whole world.

As Esaias saith,¹²³³* The children of Jacob shall bud, and Israel shall flourish, and the world shall be filled with his fruit. His fruit then being dispersed in the whole world, naturally there is a forsaking and a removal of what had once borne fruit well; (for of them, as concerning the flesh, Christ was produced, and the Apostles;) but now it is now no more meet for bearing. For all things which have a beginning in time, must needs also have an end in time.

§ 2. Thus, since the Law began from Moses, it ended in due course in John, Christ having come to fulfil it; and therefore the Law and the Prophets were with them even until John.¹²³⁴* Jerusalem also accordingly beginning from David, and completing her proper times, The giving of the Law was to have an end in the revelation of the New Testament.

(For God doeth all things in measure and order,¹²³⁵* and nothing with Him wants measure, since nothing is unnumbered. And well spake he who said that the Immeasurable Father Himself was measured in the Son: for the measure of the Father, is the Son, since He even contains Him).

But that their economy was but for a time, Esaias saith; The daughter of Sion shall be forsaken as a cottage in a vineyard, and as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers.¹²³⁶* Now when shall these be forsaken? Is it not when the fruit is removed, and the leaves alone are to be left, which can now bear no fruit?

§ 3. And why speak we of Jerusalem,¹²³⁷* since the fashion even of the whole world must pass away, when the time of its passing arrives, for the fruit to be gathered into the garner, and the chaff to be left and burned up? For the day of the Lord burneth like an oven,¹²³⁸* and all sinners, who do unrighteously, shell be stubble, and the Day that cometh shall burn them up. Now, who this Lord is, Who bringeth with Him such a Day, John the Baptist signifies,¹²³⁹* saying of Christ, He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire, having the shovel in His Hand for throughly purging His floor; and He shall gather the wheat into the garner, but shall burn up the chaff with fire unquenchable.

For the Maker of the wheat is not one, and the Maker of the chaff another; but one and the same; and He judges, i.e., parts them asunder.

But the wheat indeed and the chaff,¹²⁴⁰* being inanimate and irrational, were naturally made such: whereas man being rational, and therein like unto God, created free in will and in his own power, is the cause unto himself why he should become in one case wheat and in another chaff. Wherefore also he will be justly condemned, because being created rational he hath lost true reason, and living irrationally hath opposed the righteousness of God, giving himself over to every earthly spirit, and serving all kinds of pleasures: as saith the Prophet: Man being in honour hath no understanding: he is compared unto the senseless beasts,¹²⁴¹* and made like unto them.

Chap. V. § 1. It is therefore one only and the same God, Who folds the Heaven like a scroll,¹²⁴²* and renews the face of the earth: Who made things temporal for man’s sake, that ripening among them he might bear the fruit of immortality, and Who brings in over and above eternal things for His own mercy’s sake,¹²⁴³* that He may shew to the ages to come the unutterable riches of His goodness; Who was announced by the Law and the Prophets, Whom Christ avowed to be His Father. Now He and no other is the Maker, and He is God over all.¹²⁴⁴* As Esaias saith: I am witness, saith the Lord God, and My Servant, Whom I have chosen, that ye may know, and believe and understand, that I am He. Before Me there was no other God, and shall not be after Me. I am God, and without Me there is none that saveth.¹²⁴⁵* I have declared and have saved. And again, I am the first God, and over the things to come, I am.

For He saith not these things inconsistently, nor loftily, nor in boasting: but it being impossible without God to learn of God, He teaches men by His Word to know God. You see that to such as are ignorant of these things, and therefore think that they have found another Father,¹²⁴⁶* one justly says, Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God.

§ 2. For our Lord and Master in that answer which He made to the Sadducees,¹²⁴⁷* who say there is no resurrection, and thereby dishonour God and disparage the Law, did at once affirm the Resurrection and reveal the Deity, saying unto them,¹²⁴⁸* Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God.¹²⁴⁹* For concerning the Resurrection saith He, of the dead, have ye not read what is spoken by God, saying, I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob?¹²⁵⁰* And He added, He is not a God of the dead, but of the living: for all live unto Him. Hereby, you see, He made it plain, that He Who spake from the bush to Moses, and manifested Himself to be the God of the Fathers, He is the God of the Living. For who is God of the Living, but the same Who is God, and above Whom is no other God? Whom the Prophet Daniel also proclaimed, when Cyrus King of the Persians had said to him,¹²⁵¹* Why dost thou not worship Bel?¹²⁵²* He said, Because I worship not idols made with hands, but the Living God, Who established Heaven and Earth, and hath power over all flesh. Again he said,¹²⁵³* I will worship the Lord my God, for He is the Living God.

He therefore Who was worshipped by the Prophets as Living God, He is the God of the living, and His Word; Who both spake to Moses, and rebuked the Sadducees, and gave us the Resurrection: to such as are blind making known both: I mean the Resurrection and God. For if He is God not of the dead but of the living, and if in this place He is called the God of the Fathers who are asleep, undoubtedly they live unto God and have not perished,¹²⁵⁴* being children of the Resurrection. But the Resurrection is our Lord Himself:¹²⁵⁵* according to His own words, I am the Resurrection and the Life. And the Fathers are His Sons: for it is said by the Prophet,¹²⁵⁶* Thy Sons are made unto Thee as Thy Fathers. Christ therefore Himself, with the Father, is God of the living, Who spake unto Moses, Who was also manifested to the Fathers.

§ 3. And teaching this same lesson He said to the Jews,¹²⁵⁷* Your Father Abraham rejoiced that he might see My day, and saw it,¹²⁵⁸* and was glad. For why? Abraham believed God, and it was accounted unto him for righteousness. First, indeed, that He is God alone,¹²⁵⁹* the Maker of Heaven and Earth; and next, that He will make his seed as the stars of Heaven. This is that which is spoken of by Paul,¹²⁶⁰* As lights in the world. Justly therefore, leaving his earthly kindred, did he follow the Word; leading here the life of a stranger, that he might have his citizenship with the Word.

§ 4. And justly did the Apostles also, having their birth from Abraham, leave the ship and their Father, and follow the Word.¹²⁶¹* Justly then likewise do we, having the same faith with Abraham, take up our Cross, as Isaac his Wood, and follow.

For in Abraham,¹²⁶²* mankind had learned before, and had been used, to follow the Word of God. Since indeed Abraham,¹²⁶³* according to his faith, having followed the commandment of God’s Word,¹²⁶⁴* did with a ready mind give up his only-begotten and beloved son, for a sacrifice unto God: that God again might be well pleased to afford unto Abraham’s whole seed His only-begotten and dearly beloved Son to be a Sacrifice for our redemption.

§ 5. Abraham therefore did vehemently exult,¹²⁶⁵* being a Prophet, and seeing by the Spirit the day of the Lord’s Advent, and the ordering of His Passion, by whom he also himself, and all who believe in God as he believed, were beginning to be saved.

It follows,¹²⁶⁶* that to Abraham our Lord was not unknown, Whose Day he desired to see: nor yet the Father of our Lord. For he had learned of the Word of the Lord, and believed Him: wherefore also it was accounted unto him by the Lord for righteousness. Seeing it is the Faith which is towards God Most High, which justifies a man:¹²⁶⁷* and therefore he said, I will lift up mine hand unto the Most High God, Who established Heaven and Earth. But all this they try to overturn who are evil-minded, on account of one expression, and that assuredly not well understood among them.

Chap. VI. § 1. I mean, where our Lord, declaring Himself to His Disciples, how He is Himself the Word, Who gives knowledge of the Father,¹²⁶⁸* and reproving the Jews, who thought they had God, even while they make void the Word of Him by Whom God is known,—said,¹²⁶⁹* No one knoweth the Son but the Father, neither knoweth any one the Father but the Son,¹²⁷⁰* and he to whom the Son will reveal Him. Thus both Matthew hath set it down, and Luke also, and Mark, the very same thing; for John omits this passage.

Now they who would fain be more knowing than Apostles, write it thus: “No one hath known the Father but the Son, nor the Son but the Father, and he to whom the Son will reveal Him,” and interpret it as though the true God were known by no one before the Coming of our Lord: and that God, Who was announced by the Prophets, they deny to be the Father of Christ.

§ 2. But even if Christ’s existence began only with His fulfilling His human advent, and if the Father did but from the times of Tiberius Cæsar remember to take thought for men, and if there were no declaration of His Word having been always with the work of His Hands: not even in such case was it necessary that another God should be set forth, but only that the causes of so great inattention and disregard on His part should be sought after. For no controversy ought to be of such sort, or to be allowed such influence, as even to change our God Himself and make void our faith towards our Maker, Who by the things which He hath made sustains us. Yea, as we direct our Faith towards the Son, so towards the Father also it becomes us to retain a firm and immoveable Love.¹²⁷¹* And well saith Justin in his book against Marcion, “I could not have believed the Lord Himself, if He announced another God beside the Creator. But because from the One God, Who both created this world, and formed us, and contains and governs all things, the Only Begotten Son came unto us, gathering together into Himself the work of His Own Hands, my faith in Him is firm, and my love to the Father immoveable; both being God’s gift unto us.”

§ 3. For neither can any one know the Father,¹²⁷²* but by revelation of the Word of God, i.e., of the Son, nor yet the Son, but by the good pleasure of the Father. And the good pleasure of the Father, the Son fulfils: the Father sending, the Son being sent, and coming. And the Father on the one hand, being invisible and illimitable as towards us, is known by His own Word; and being unutterable, is yet uttered by Him to us: on the other hand, the Father again alone knoweth His own Word. And that both these things are as I have said, the Lord hath declared. And therefore the Son by manifestation of Himself reveals the knowledge of the Father. For the manifestation of the Son is the knowledge of the Father: for by the Word all things are made manifest.

Wherefore, to teach us that the Son Who is coming is the same Who makes the Father known to such as believe Him, He said to His Disciples, No man knoweth the Father but the Son, nor the Son but the Father, and those to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him: teaching of Himself and the Father, as the truth is, that we might not receive another Father, save Him Who is revealed by the Son.

§ 4. Now He is the Framer of Heaven and Earth: as is shewn by our Lord’s discourses:¹²⁷³* not the pretended Father who hath been invented by Marcion, or by Valentinus, or by Basilides, or by Carpocrates, or Simon, or the other Gnostics falsely so called. For none of these was the Son of God, but Christ Jesus our Lord was; to Whom the method they practise is even contrary, in that they dare to announce “an unknown God.”¹²⁷⁴* But they ought to listen to this against their own selves. For how is He unknown, who is known by themselves? For whatsoever is known but by a few, is not wholly unknown. But our Lord said not, that the Father and the Son could not be known at all, else were His Advent superfluous. For why came He hither? To say to us, “Think not of seeking God, for He is unknown, and ye shall not find Him?” as the Valentinians feign that Christ also said to their Æons. But this is merely vain. Rather the Lord instructed us, that no one can know God, except upon God’s teaching^1275b: i.e., that without God, God is not known: and that for God to be known is itself the free-will of the Father. For they shall know Him, to whom the Son will reveal Him.

§ 5. And to this end did the Father reveal the Son, that by Him He might be manifested to all men, and that such as believe Him, being righteous, He may receive into incorruption, and into eternal refreshment:¹²⁷⁶* (now to believe Him, is to do His will:) but those who believe not, and therefore fly from His light, He will justly shut up into the darkness which they have chosen for themselves. To all therefore the Father hath revealed Himself, in making His Word visible to all: and the Word again in being seen by all, was shewing to all the Father and the Son. And therefore the judgement of God is just upon all those who have seen alike, but have not believed alike.

§ 6. For so by the creature itself doth the Word reveal God the Creator, and by the world the Lord, the Framer of the World, and by the handy-work the Artificer Who moulded it, and by the Son that Father of Whom the Son is begotten: which things all indeed alike discourse of, but they do not alike believe.

But by the Law and the Prophets in like manner did the Word preach both Himself and the Father: and while the whole people heard alike, all did not alike believe. And by the same Word, made visible and tangible, the Father was declared, though all did not alike believe Him; yet all saw the Father in the Son: for that which is invisible of the Son is the Father, and that which is visible of the Father is the Son.

And for this cause all in His presence spake of Christ,¹²⁷⁷* and used the Name of God. Yea, and demons, seeing the Son,¹²⁷⁸* would say, We know Thee Who Thou art, the Holy One of God. And the Devil tempting Him, when he saw Him, said, If Thou be the Son of God:¹²⁷⁹* all of them seeing and speaking of the Son and of the Father, but not all believing Him.

§ 7. For it was meet that the Truth should receive testimony from all,¹²⁸⁰* and should be a judgement unto salvation of them that believe, and unto condemnation of them that believe not: that all might be justly judged, and that the Faith which is towards the Father and the Son might be approved by all, I mean, confirmed by all; receiving testimony from all; both from its own, in that they are friends, and from aliens, in that they are enemies. For that proof is true and incapable of contradiction, which even from its very adversaries draws out the particulars^1281c of its evidence; while they at first by their own sight are convinced of a thing as actually present, and bear witness, and imply it to be so: but afterwards break out into hostility, and turn accusers, and would fain have their own testimony untrue.

We conclude that it was not One who was known,¹²⁸²* and another who said, No man knoweth the Father; but one and the same, under Whom the Father was putting all things; Who also receiveth testimony from all, that He is truly Man and that He is truly God:—from the Father, from the Spirit, from Angels; from the creature itself, from men, and from apostate spirits and demons; from the Enemy, and last of all from death itself.

And the Son in all things ministering to the Father,¹²⁸³* fulfils them from beginning to end; and without Him no man can know God. For the knowledge of the Father, is the Son; but the knowledge of the Son is in the Father, and is revealed by the Son: and therefore our Lord said, No man knoweth the Son but the Father; nor the Father, but the Son, and to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him: “Will reveal” being not spoken of the future only, as though the Word then began to make known the Father, when He was born of Mary, but set down largely as throughout all time^1284d. Because from the beginning the Son abiding by the work of His own hands, reveals the Father unto all, whom the Father wills, and when He wills, and as He wills. And therefore in all and through all is One God the Father, and one Word, and one Son, and one Spirit, and one salvation to all who believe in Him.

Chap. VII. § 1. Wherefore Abraham also, by the Word knowing the Father, Who made Heaven and Earth, confessed Him to be God. And being taught by vision¹²⁸⁵², that the Son of God would be a man among men, by Whose Advent his seed should become as the stars of Heaven, he desired to see that day, that he also himself might take Christ in his arms: and beholding it by the Spirit of Prophecy, he rejoiced. For which cause Simeon likewise, being of his seed, fulfilled anew the joy of the Patriarch,¹²⁸⁶* and said, Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace; for mine eyes have seen Thy Salvation, which Thou hast prepared before the face of all people; a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of the people of Israel.¹²⁸⁷* And the Angels too told news of great joy to the Shepherds watching by night. Yea, and Mary saith,¹²⁸⁸* My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour: the joy of Abraham, on the one hand, descending on those who were of his seed, watching and beholding Christ, and believing Him: and joy on the other hand mutually returning from the children back towards Abraham, even as he had desired to see the day of Christ’s Advent. Well therefore did our Lord give testimony to him saying,¹²⁸⁹* Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it, and was glad.

§ 2. Since not for Abraham’s sake only did He say this,¹²⁹⁰* but in order to shew that all, who from the beginning knew the Lord, and foretold Christ’s Advent, had their revelation from the Son Himself—the Same Who in the last times was made visible and passible, and spake with mankind, that of the stones He might raise up children to Abraham, and fulfil the promise which God had promised him, to make his seed as the stars of Heaven: as saith John the Baptist,¹²⁹¹* For God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. And this Jesus did, withdrawing us from the worship of stones, and carrying us away from our own hard and unfruitful thoughts, and establishing in us a faith like Abraham’s.

As Paul also testifies, saying, that we are sons of Abraham according to the likeness of his faith,¹²⁹²* and the promise of his inheritance.

§ 3. It is one therefore and the same God, who called Abraham, and gave him the Promise. And this is the Maker,¹²⁹³* the same who through Christ prepares lights in the world,—those who believe from among the Gentiles. Now you,¹²⁹⁴* saith He, are the light of the world: i.e., as the stars of Heaven.¹²⁹⁵*

Him therefore we rightly declare to be known by no man, save the Son, and to whomsoever the Son shall reveal Him. But the Son makes revelation to all, to whom it pleases the Father to be known; and neither without the Father’s good pleasure, nor without the ministry of the Son will any one know God. And therefore the Lord said to the disciples,¹²⁹⁶* I am the way, the truth, and the life. And, No man cometh unto the Father, but by Me. If ye had known Me, ye should have known My Father also: and from henceforth ye have known Him, and seen Him. Whereby it is manifest, that He is known by His Son, i.e., by the Word.

§ 4. Wherefore the Jews are gone out from God, not receiving the Word of God,¹²⁹⁷* but imagining that they may know the Father by Himself without the Word, i.e., without the Son: not knowing that God, Who in human form spake unto Abraham, and again unto Moses, how He saith,¹²⁹⁸* I have surely seen the vexation of My people in Egypt, and I am come down to deliver them. For in these things the Son Who is the Word of God, was making His arrangements from the beginning; the Father having no need of Angels, to make the world, and to form man, for whose sake indeed the world was made: neither again needing any ministry for the shaping out the things which were made, for the settlement of those matters which regarded man, but having an abundant and unspeakable provision for that service. For there ministers to Him in all that is His, His Progeny and the Image thereof, i.e., the Son and the Holy Ghost, His Word and His Wisdom: Whom all the Angels serve, and are their subjects.

Vain therefore are such as introduce another unknown Father, because of this which is said, No man knoweth the Father, but the Son.

Chap. VIII. § 1. Vain too is Marcion, and his set, driving out Abraham from his inheritance; to whom the Spirit bears witness by many,¹²⁹⁹* and especially by Paul, that he believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness, as also the Lord, first of all by raising up sons to him from the stones, and by making his seed as the stars of Heaven, where He says,¹³⁰⁰* That they shall come from the east, and west, and north,¹³⁰¹* and south, and shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of Heaven: again where He says to the Jews,¹³⁰²* When ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the Prophets in the Kingdom of Heaven, and yourselves thrust out.

It is plain therefore, that such as deny his salvation, and devise another God, besides Him who made the promise to Abraham, are without the Kingdom of God, and have lost the heritage of incorruption: annulling and blaspheming God, Who brings into the Kingdom of Heaven Abraham and his seed,¹³⁰³* which is the Church, by Christ Jesus,; to Whom is committed both the adoption, and the inheritance which is promised to Abraham.

§ 2. For the Lord maintained the cause of his seed, releasing them from chains, and calling them to salvation: as He did in the case of the woman who was cured by Him, saying expressly to those, who had not faith like Abraham’s,¹³⁰⁴* Ye hypocrites, doth not each one of you on the Sabbath day loose, and lead away, and water, his ox or his ass? And this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan had bound eighteen years, ought she not to be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?

Plain it is therefore,¹³⁰⁵* that those who like Abraham believed Him, He loosed, and gave them life; doing nothing beyond the Law, though He healed on the Sabbath day. For the Law did not forbid men to be healed on the Sabbath, seeing it both used to circumcise them on that day, and directed the Priests to fulfil their ministries for the people; yea, and forbade not attendance on dumb creatures. Siloa^1306e too often wrought cures on the Sabbath: and therefore many were sitting by it on the Sabbath day.

For the Law bade them abstain from all servile work, i.e., from all desire of gain, which is kept active by trading, and by the other dealings of the world: but works relating to the soul, the instruments whereof are advice and good discourses, in aid of our neighbours,—these He recommended to be done.¹³⁰⁷* And hereby the Lord refuted those who reproached Him unjustly for healing on the Sabbath. For He was not undoing, but fulfilling the Law; performing the work of an High Priest, propitiating God for man, and cleansing the Leprous, curing the sick,¹³⁰⁸* and Himself dying, that banished Man might come out of his condemnation, and return without fear to his own inheritance.

§ 3. Moreover, hungry persons were not forbidden by the Law to take food on the Sabbath of such things as were at hand; although they were forbidden to reap and gather into the barn. And therefore the Lord said to those who were accusing His Disciples, for plucking and eating ears of corn,¹³⁰⁹* Have ye not even read that which David did, when he was an hungred; how he went into the house of God, and did eat the shewbread, and gave unto them that were with him; which it was not lawful to eat, but for the Priests alone?—by the words of the Law excusing His disciples, and implying that Priests are permitted to act freely.¹³¹⁰* And David, in God’s sight, had been decreed to be a Priest, although Saul was persecuting him. For every righteous King hath a priestly station.

Again,¹³¹¹* all the Lord’s Apostles are Priests, such as have not for inheritance either fields or houses here, but are always serving the altar, and God. Concerning whom Moses also saith in Deuteronomy, in the blessing of Levi,¹³¹²* Who saith unto his father and to his mother, I know thee not: and acknowledged not his brethren and cast off his sons; he hath kept Thy precepts, and observed Thy covenant. Now who are these, who left father and mother, and renounced all who are nearest to them, for the Word of God and His covenant, but the disciples of the Lord? Of whom Moses saith again, They shall have no inheritance,¹³¹³* for the Lord Himself is their inheritance.¹³¹⁴* And again, The Priests the Levites in the whole tribe of Levi shall have no portion nor substance with Israel; that which groweth unto the Lord is their substance, they shall eat the same. Wherefore also Paul: I seek not, saith he, a gift, but I seek fruit.¹³¹⁵* The Disciples of the Lord, he saith, having substance such as the Levites, it was lawful for them in their hunger to receive meat of the grain:¹³¹⁶* For the Labourer is worthy of his meat.

The Priests also in the Temple used to profane the Sabbath,¹³¹⁷* and were blameless. Why then were they blameless? Because being in the Temple, they were performing not secular but Divine offices; fulfilling the Law and not transgressing it; as he did, who of himself brought dry sticks into the Lord’s camp,¹³¹⁸* who also was justly stoned.¹³¹⁹* For every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be hewn down and cast into the fire.¹³²⁰* And, Whosoever shall evil entreat¹³²¹³ the Temple of God, him shall God evil entreat.

Chap. IX. § 1. Of one therefore and the same kind of subsistence are all things, i.e., from one and the same God, as the Lord also saith to His Disciples,¹³²²* Therefore every Scribe which is instructed into the Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth out of his treasure things new and old. He taught not of one bringing forth old things, another new, but one and the same. For the Householder is the Lord, who rules over the whole house of his Father: Who to the slaves indeed, and those who are yet undisciplined, delivers the Law, which is suited to them; but to the free and to those justified by faith, giving apt precepts, and to the sons revealing their proper inheritance.

As for the Scribes and Teachers of the Kingdom of Heaven,¹³²³* by them He meant His own disciples: of whom also He elsewhere saith to the Jews,¹³²⁴* Behold, I send to you wise men, and scribes, and teachers, and some of them ye shall kill, and persecute from city to city.

Again,¹³²⁵* by the new and old things which are brought out of the treasure, He means unquestionably the two Testaments: whereof the Old which had existed before, is characterized by the giving of the Law; the New, by a manner of life which becometh the Gospel; concerning which David saith, Sing unto the Lord a new song.¹³²⁶* And Esaias, Sing unto the Lord a new hymn;¹³²⁷* the beginning thereof, glorify His Name from the end of the earth, they declare His virtues in the islands. And Jeremiah saith,¹³²⁸* Behold, saith he, I will make a new testament, not as I made with your fathers in Mount Horeb. Both Testaments however are the revelation of one and the same Householder, the Word of God, our Lord Jesus Christ: Who spake both to Abraham and Moses, and to us in our new estate restored liberty, and multiplied the grace which is of Himself.

§ 2. For More,¹³²⁹* saith He, than the Temple is here. Now more and less are terms used, not of those things which have nothing in common with each other,¹³³⁰* and which are of a contrary nature, and in mutual discord, but of such as are of the same mode of subsistence, and partake of one another, but differ only in number and in greatness; as water from water, and light from light, and grace from grace. Thus, the gift is greater of that Law which is bestowed on us for liberty, than of that which is given for servitude: and therefore it is not for one nation but is diffused over the whole world: yet the Lord is one and the same,¹³³¹* who is more than the Temple, and more than Solomon, and gives men more than Jonas did, i.e., His own Presence, and the Resurrection from the dead: not however changing God, nor preaching another Father, but the Very same; Who always hath a larger measure for those of His own household: And as their love towards God advances, His gifts become more and greater;¹³³²* as the Lord also said to His Disciples, Ye shall see even greater things than these. And Paul saith, Not that I have already received,¹³³³* or am justified, or am already made perfect.¹³³⁴* For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then things which are in part shall be done away.

As then,¹³³⁵* when that which is perfect cometh, we shall see no other Father, but Him Whom we now desire to see; (for Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God:¹³³⁶*) neither are we to wait for another Christ or Son of God, but Him Who is of the Virgin Mary, Who also suffered, and in Whom we believe, and Whom we love:¹³³⁷*—(as Esaias saith, And they shall say in that day, Lo, the Lord our God, in Whom we have hoped, and have rejoiced in our salvation. And Peter saith in his Epistle, Whom seeing not,¹³³⁸* saith he, ye love; in Whom, now not seeing, ye have believed,—ye shall rejoice with joy unspeakable:)—neither do we receive¹³³⁹⁴ another Holy Ghost, besides Him Who is with us, and Who cries, Abba Father:¹³⁴⁰* and in These, the very same, we shall have our growth and increase, so as to enjoy the gifts of God, now no more through a glass and darkly,¹³⁴¹* but face to face:—so now also in receiving somewhat more than the Temple and more than Solomon, that is, the coming of the Son of God, we have not been learning of another God, besides the Maker and Framer of all things, Who was shewn unto us from the beginning; nor another Christ the Son of God, besides Him Who was announced by the Prophets.

§ 3. For in that the New Testament was known and announced by the Prophets, He also was announced, Who was to order the same according to the decree of the Father; being manifested unto men, as God willed, that believing in Him they might make continual progress, and that the perfect work of salvation might come to its maturity by the Testaments.¹³⁴²* For there is one salvation and one God: but the precepts which form man are many, and the steps not few, which lead man unto God. While to an earthly and temporal King, being but a man, it is permitted to bestow from time to time more and more preferment on his subjects; shall not God have the same permission, being the Same, and always willing to grant unto mankind more grace, and with additional gifts continually to honour those who please Him?

But if this is making progress,—to find out another Father, besides Him Who was declared from the beginning, and again besides Him Who is thought to have been found in the second, to find out yet another, a third: it will belong to the same progress, to go on from the third also unto a fourth, and after this again to another and another: and thus the aforesaid view, fancying itself always in progress, will never stay itself in one only God. For being driven from the existing one, and turned backward, he will be always indeed seeking God, but will never find Him: rather he will float perpetually in the abyss of mysteriousness, except he be converted through penitence,¹³⁴³* and return to the place from which he was cast out; confessing and believing one God the Father and Creator, Who was announced by the Law and the Prophets, to Whom Christ bore witness: as He saith Himself to those who were accusing His Disciples as though they kept not the Tradition of the Elders:¹³⁴⁴* Why do ye make void the commandment of the Lord by your tradition? For God said, ‘Honour thy Father and thy Mother,’ and, ‘He that curseth Father or Mother, let him die the death.’ And again He saith unto them,¹³⁴⁵* Ye have made void the word of God by your tradition: Christ most evidently confessing Him as God and Father, Who said in the Law, Honour thy father and mother that it may be well with thee. Thus the God Who speaketh the Truth confessed the precept of the Law to be the word of God: and to none other did He give the Name of God; but to His Own Father.

Chap. X. § 1. Well therefore doth John also make mention of the Lord saying to the Jews, Search the Scriptures, in which ye think ye have eternal life:¹³⁴⁶* they are they which testify of Me. And ye will not come unto Me,¹³⁴⁷* that ye may have life. How then did the Scriptures testify of Him, if they came not of one and the same Father, informing men before of the coming of His Son, and foretelling the salvation which is from Him?¹³⁴⁸* For had ye believed Moses, saith He, ye would have believed Me also: for he wrote of Me: meaning that the Son of God is as seed scattered everywhere in His Scriptures, at one time speaking with Abraham, at another with Noah, giving them His measures: at another time seeking out Adam; at another again bringing judgement upon the Sodomites: as also when He appears and guides Jacob in the way, and speaks out of the Bush with Moses.

Neither can one count the instances wherein the Son of God is set forth by Moses:¹³⁴⁹* and the very day of His Passion he was not ignorant of, but in figure foretold Him, under the name of the Passover: and on the very same day, which was announced by Moses so long before, the Lord suffered, fulfilling the Passover. Nor did he only set down the day, but the place also, and the end of the times, and the token of the going down of the Sun,¹³⁵⁰* saying, Thou mayest not immolate the Passover in any other of thy cities, which the Lord thy God giveth unto thee, except in that place which the Lord thy God shall chuse for His Name to be invoked there: thou shalt immolate the Passover in the evening at the going down of the sun.

§ 2. And he had before marked His Advent by the words,¹³⁵¹* A Prince shall not be wanting in Judah, nor a leader from out of his loins, until He cometh for whom it is laid up, and He is the Gentiles’ Hope, binding his foal unto the vine, and his ass’s colt unto the tendril. He shall wash his robe in wine, and his outer garment in the blood of the grape: his eyes are joyous with wine, and his teeth whiter than milk. Now let these, who are said to search out all things, see what was the time wherein the Prince failed, and the Leader out of Judah, and who is the Hope of the Gentiles, and who the Vine, and who his foal, and what is the garment, and what the eyes, and what the teeth, and what the wine, and every particular above mentioned; and they will find that no other Person, but our Lord Jesus Christ, is proclaimed. Wherefore Moses rebuking the people for their ingratitude,¹³⁵²* saith, In such sort, ye foolish people and unwise, have ye made this return to the Lord? And again where he intimates that the Word Who created and made them from the beginning, in the last times also, when He is redeeming and quickening us, is shewn hanging on a tree, and they will not believe Him.¹³⁵³* For he saith, And thy life shall be hanging before thine eyes and thou wilt not believe thy life. And again,¹³⁵⁴* Did not this same, thy Father, possess thee and make thee and create thee?

Chap. XI. § 1. Moreover, the Lord hath made it manifest that^1355f many Prophets and righteous men, foreknowing His Advent by the Holy Spirit,¹³⁵⁶* prayed that they might come to that time wherein they might see their Lord face to face, and hear His discourses: where He tells His Disciples,¹³⁵⁷* Many Prophets and righteous men have desired to see the things which ye see and have not seen them, and to hear the things which ye hear, and have not heard them. How then did they desire both to hear and to see, if they had not foreknown His future coming? And how could they foreknow without first receiving that foreknowledge from Himself? And how do the Scriptures testify of Him, except it were one and the same God Who at all times had by His Word revealed and shewn all things to them that believe? who at one time discourses with His creature, at another time gives the law, Who sometimes again upbraids, sometimes exhorts, and so eventually frees the slave and adopts him as Son, and in due time bestows the inheritance of incorruption to the perfecting of mankind. Because He formed him for augmentation and growth:¹³⁵⁸* as saith the Scripture, Increase and multiply.

§ 2. And herein God differs from man,¹³⁵⁹* that God indeed maketh, but man is made: and while He that maketh is always the Same, that which is made must be capable of a beginning and of a middle, of addition and of growth. And God indeed doeth good, but to man good is done. And whereas God is perfect in all things, Himself equal and like unto Himself,¹³⁶⁰* being all Light, and all Mind, and all Substance, and the Source of all good things: man on the other hand receives improvement and growth towards God. For just as God is always the Same, so man also, being found in God, will continually get on towards God: since neither doth God ever grow slack in benefitting and enriching man, nor doth man cease to receive the benefit and to be enriched by God. For the receptacle of His Goodness, and the instrument of His glorification^1361g is man grateful to his Maker: and again the receptacle of His just judgement is man unthankful, and scorning his Creator, and not submitting himself to His Word: Who hath promised that He will give always most abundantly to those who bear fruit and have more of their Lord’s money.¹³⁶²* Well done, is His word, good and faithful servant: because thou hast been faithful in a little I will set thee over many things: enter into the joy of thy Lord: the Lord Himself making most abundant promises.

§ 3. As therefore to such as now bear fruit He hath promised to give abundantly,¹³⁶³* in the way of multiplying His Grace, not in the way of changing His instruction (for the Lord Himself abideth, and the same Father is revealed): so accordingly to the people of the later times also did one and the same Lord by His coming vouchsafe^1364h a larger gift of grace than that which was in the Old Testament. For they too by the servants used to hear of a King Who should come, and to rejoice moderately in their hope of His coming: but those who have seen Him before them, and obtained liberty, and have won His Bounty:—these have greater Grace and more overflowing triumph, rejoicing in the coming of their King;¹³⁶⁵* as David also saith, My soul shall triumph in the Lord, it shall delight itself in His Salvation.

And therefore when He was entering Jerusalem,¹³⁶⁶* all that were in the way of David, in grief of soul, recognised their King and spread under Him garments, and adorned the way with green boughs, with great joy and exultation crying out, Hosanna to the Son of David;¹³⁶⁷* blessed is He that cometh in the Name of the Lord, Hosanna in the highest. And when the bad stewards, whose way was to defraud their inferiors, and domineer over them—when they were moved with jealousy, their account not being such as would stand, and they therefore unwilling that their King should have come, on their saying to Him, Hearest thou what these say?¹³⁶⁸* the Lord said, Have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise? pointing out that what David had said of the Son of God was fulfilled in Himself and implying,¹³⁶⁹* that they knew not the force of Scripture, nor the ordained way of God, but that He was Himself the person announced by the Prophets as Christ,¹³⁷⁰* Whose Name is praised in all the earth as perfecting¹³⁷¹ⁱ praise to His Father out of the mouth of babes and sucklings:¹³⁷²* wherefore also His Glory is lifted above the Heavens.

§ 4. If therefore He is present,¹³⁷³* the very same who is announced by the Prophets, our Lord God Jesus Christ, and if His coming bestow on those who have received Him fuller grace and more abundant bounty: plainly the Father too is the very same whom the Prophets had announced; neither did the Son when He came give knowledge of another Father, but of the Same who was declared from the beginning: from Whom also He brought down liberty to those who serve Him lawfully, and with a prostrate mind, and with all their heart. But to despisers, and such as are not subject unto God, but follow after outward cleanness, to have glory of men: (which outward cleanness was delivered to us for a figure of things to come, the Law forming a sort of shadowy outline, and by temporal things delineating eternal, by earthly, heavenly): to such as pretend that they themselves observe more than is commanded, as though they set their own care higher even than God Himself, while they are within full of hypocrisy,¹³⁷⁴* and covetousness, and all wickedness:—to such He brought perdition for ever, severing them from life.

Chap. XII. § 1. For the tradition of those elders, which they pretended to observe according to the Law, was contrary to the Law given by Moses.¹³⁷⁵* Wherefore also Esaias saith, Thy vintners mingle wine with water: signifying that the Elders mingled with the strict commandment of God a diluted tradition: contriving, that is, a law spurious, and contrary to The Law: as also the Lord made manifest, saying unto them,¹³⁷⁶* Why do ye transgress the commandment of God, because of your own tradition? Yea, not only did they by perversion make void the Law of God, mingling water with wine; but they even set up in opposition their own law, which even to this day is called Pharisaical. Wherein they take away some things, some they add, others they expound at their own will: and of these their teachers make special use. And being minded to maintain these traditions, they have no mind to submit themselves to God’s Law, training them up for the coming of Christ: but they called the Lord Himself to account for healing on the Sabbath, which however, as we said before, was not forbidden by the Law. (For themselves too in a manner used to do a work of healing, in that they would circumcise a man on the sabbath.) But with themselves they found no fault, when by their tradition and Pharisaical Law (of which I spake before) they were transgressing the Commandment of God, and not having that which the Law commands, i.e., Love towards God.

§ 2. But that this is the first and greatest commandment, and the next that towards our neighbour, the Lord taught,¹³⁷⁷* when He said that the whole Law and Prophets hang on these commandments.¹³⁷⁸* Nor did even He bring down any other commandment greater than this: but this same one He renewed to His Disciples,¹³⁷⁹* bidding them love God with all their heart, and all others as themselves. But had He come down from another Father, never would He have adopted His first and chief commandment from the Law: rather surely he would have tried at any rate to bring it down as somewhat greater from the perfect Father, instead of using that which had been given by the God of the Law.

And Paul too saith, Love is the fulfilling of the Law:¹³⁸⁰* and that when all other things are done away, there abideth faith,¹³⁸¹* hope, charity, and that the greatest of these is charity: and that neither knowledge without love towards God avails anything:¹³⁸²* nor understanding of mysteries, nor faith, nor prophecy, but that all things are void and in vain without love: and that it is love which completes the perfect man, and that he who loves God is perfect, both in this world and in the future. For we never come to an end in our loving of God, but the more we shall have looked upon Him, so much the more we love Him.

§ 3. Wherefore, since in the Law and in the Gospel the first and greatest precept is,¹³⁸³* to love the Lord our God with all our heart, and next one like unto it, to love his neighbour as himself: one and the same is shewn to be the Founder of the Law and of the Gospel. That is, the precepts of perfect life being the same in both Testaments, shewed their God to be the same: Who while He laid down His precepts of detail as suited each of the two, did in both recommend the very same, as the higher and chiefest, without which is no salvation.

§ 4. And whom would not the Lord put to silence, declaring that the Law is from no other God, where He saith to those whom He was teaching, to the multitude and His disciples,¹³⁸⁴* The Scribes and Pharisees have sate down on Moses’ seat. All things therefore whatsoever they say unto you, observe and do; but do ye not after their works, for they say and do not. For they bind heavy burthens and lay them on men’s shoulders, but themselves are unwilling to move them even with a finger.¹³⁸⁵* He was not then blaming that Law which was given by Moses, which as long as Jerusalem yet stood He recommended to be practised; but He was blaming those men, because, while they uttered the words of the Law, they were destitute of Love, and so were unrighteous towards God and their neighbours.¹³⁸⁶* As Esaias also saith, This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. But in vain do they worship Me, teaching doctrines and precepts of men. He doth not apply the term, Precepts of men, to the Law given by Moses, but to the traditions of their Elders, which they had devised, by maintaining whereof they made void the Law of God,¹³⁸⁷* and therefore neither did they submit themselves to His Word.

For this is what Paul also saith concerning them: For being ignorant of God’s righteousness,¹³⁸⁸* and wanting to establish their own righteousness, they have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the Law, for righteousness to every one that believeth.¹³⁸⁹* And how is Christ the end of the Law, if He were not also its beginning? For He Who brought in the end, the same also wrought the beginning: and He it is Who saith to Moses,¹³⁹⁰* I have surely seen the affliction of My people which is in Egypt and I am come down to deliver them: He Who is the Word of God, accustomed from the beginning to go up and come down, for the health of those who are diseased.

§ 5. Further: that the Law taught before, that mankind ought to follow Christ, Himself makes evident, thus answering the person who asked Him what he should do to inherit eternal life,¹³⁹¹* If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.¹³⁹²* And when he asked, Which, the Lord in reply,¹³⁹³* Thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness, honour thy father and thy mother, and thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: setting forth the precepts of the Law as a sort of steps of the entrance into life, for all who were fain to follow Him. And in saying it then to that one person, He said it unto all. But when the other had said, I have done all (and perhaps he had not done it, else surely it would not be said to him, Keep the commandments); the Lord to reprove his covetousness, said to him,¹³⁹⁴* If thou wilt be perfect, go, sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and come, follow Me; promising the portion of Apostles to such as did so. And no other God the Father did He announce to those who followed Him, besides Him Who from the beginning was announced by the Law: nor any other Son, nor as a Mother, the Idea of that Æon who was in suffering and in decay, nor any Pleroma of thirty Æons, which has been shewn to be void and incongruous; nor the tale which has been feigned by the other heretics; but He taught men to do the things which God commanded from the beginning, and to destroy their old covetousness by good works, and to follow Christ. As to the fact, that distributing men’s possessions to the poor doth make away with their past covetousness, Zacchæus made it evident, saying,¹³⁹⁵* Behold, I give half my goods to the poor, and if I have defrauded any man of aught, I restore fourfold.

Chap. XIII. § 1. And that the Lord did not abolish, but extend and fulfil, the natural precepts of the Law,¹³⁹⁶* by which man is justified—which even before the giving of the Law were kept by such as were justified by Faith, and pleased God:—this is shewn from His Discourses.¹³⁹⁷* For, It was said, saith He, to them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery. But I say unto you, that every one who shall have looked on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. And again,¹³⁹⁸* It was said, Thou shalt not kill. But I say unto you, Every one who is angry with his brother without a cause, shall be in danger of the judgment.¹³⁹⁹* And, It is said, Thou shalt not forswear thyself.¹⁴⁰⁰* But I say unto you, not to swear at all.¹⁴⁰¹* But let your speech be, Yea yea, nay nay; and whatever there is of the same kind. For all these places involve no contrariety or abolition of things past (which is the cry of Marcion’s school), but the fulness and expansion thereof:¹⁴⁰²* as He saith Himself, Except your righteousness abound more than that of the Scribes and pharisees,¹⁴⁰³* ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Now what was this more? First, to believe not in the Father only, but in His Son also, who was now revealed: for He it is Who brings man into communion and union with God.¹⁴⁰⁴* In the next place, not only to say, but also to do: for they used to say without doing; and to abstain, not only from evil works, but also from the desires of the same.

And these things He taught, not as contrary to the Law, but as fulfilling the Law, and rooting within us the means whereby the Law maketh righteous. But that would have been contrary to the Law, if whatever the Law had forbidden to be done, the same He had bidden His disciples to do. And this maxim of His in particular, to abstain not only from things forbidden by the Law, but also from the desires of the same, is not contrary, as we have said: nor is it for one who would abolish the Law, but rather who would fulfil, draw out, and widen it.

§ 2. And that because the Law, as being appointed for slaves, trained up the soul by outward and bodily things,¹⁴⁰⁵* drawing her as by a chain to the obedience of its precepts, that man might learn to serve God: But the Word, delivering the soul, taught also how through it the body might be voluntarily cleansed. Whereupon it followed of course that the chains of slavery should be taken away, to which man had now become accustomed, and that without chains he should follow God; that on the other hand the enactments of liberty should be greatly drawn out, and our submission to our King enhanced; that no person turning backwards, might shew himself unworthy towards his deliverer. Further, that while the same Piety and Obedience towards the Father of the Family, belongs both to the slaves and the children, yet the children have more entire trust, because the working of Liberty is greater and more glorious, than the obedience which goes along with slavery.

§ 3. And therefore the Lord in place of the saying,¹⁴⁰⁶* Thou shalt not commit adultery, commanded not even to desire:¹⁴⁰⁷* and in place of, Thou shalt not kill, not even to be angry:¹⁴⁰⁸* and in place of paying tithe, to distribute all our goods to the Poor; and to love not only our neighbours, but also our enemies; and not only to be good at giving and imparting, but also to meet with free gifts those who take away what is our own.¹⁴⁰⁹* Thus, To him, saith He, that taketh away thy coat spare him also thy cloke: and of him that taketh what is thine ask it not again:¹⁴¹⁰* and as ye would that men should do to you,¹⁴¹¹* do ye unto them, that ye be not sad as persons unwilling to be imposed upon: but let us rejoice as though we had given willingly; rather bestowing a free favour on our neighbours, than serving them by compulsion. And if any man, saith He,¹⁴¹²* compel thee to go a mile, go with him two more; that you may not follow as a slave, but go before as a free man: not considering their badness, but perfecting thine own goodness: conforming thyself to the Father Who maketh His sun to rise on evil and good,¹⁴¹³* and raineth on just and unjust.

Now all these, as we said before, are sayings of one not abolishing the Law, but fulfilling it, and expanding it, and giving it wider scope in us: as though one should say that the working of Liberty is greater, and that we have deeply set in us a fuller submission and affection towards our deliverer. For He did not deliver us to the end we should depart from Him; since no one, if put beyond the reach of the Lord’s blessings, can obtain for himself the nourishment of salvation: but that we should love Him more, the more we obtain of His grace. And the more we love Him, the more glory shall we receive of Him; since we are always in the Father’s sight.

§ 4. All the natural precepts,¹⁴¹⁴* then, being common to us and them, in them they had their beginning and source, but in us they received their increase and completion. For to assent unto God and to follow His Word, and to love Him above all things, and one’s neighbour as oneself (and man is man’s neighbour), and to abstain from every evil work, and all such precepts as are common to both, demonstrate one and the same God. And this is our Lord, the Word of God; Who first indeed drew men as slaves to God, but afterwards liberated those who are subject unto Him: as He Himself saith to His disciples;¹⁴¹⁵* I will not now call you servants, for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth. But I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of the Father I have made known. You see that in the phrase, I will not now call you servants, He most clearly implied that it was Himself, Who first ordained to men by the Law how they should be in servitude to God, afterwards again gave them Liberty. And in that He saith, For the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth, He manifests by His advent the ignorance of the servile people. But in that He calls His disciples Friends of God, He evidently shews Himself to be the Word of God, whom Abraham also followed spontaneously and without any bonds, because of the nobleness of his faith,¹⁴¹⁶* and so became the Friend of God.¹⁴¹⁷* Not that the Word of God for any need took to Himself the friendship of Abraham, being as He is, perfect from the beginning:¹⁴¹⁸* For before Abraham was, saith He, I am: but in order that He, being good, might bestow on Abraham himself everlasting life, because the friendship of God is that which gives immortality to all who endeavour after it.

Chap. XIV. § 1. Thus God formed Adam at first, not as standing in need of man but that He might have one on whom to bestow His favours.¹⁴¹⁹* For, not only before Adam, but even before the whole creation, the Word was giving glory to His Father, abiding in Him, and was Himself glorified by the Father:¹⁴²⁰* according to His own saying, Father, glorify Thou Me with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was made.

Not as wanting our attendance did He give command to follow Him, but in order to bestow on us salvation. For to follow the Saviour is to partake of salvation, and to follow the Light is to receive the Light. But they who are in the light do not themselves enlighten the light, but are enlightened and shone upon by it. They indeed contribute nothing to it, but receiving the benefit, they are enlightened by the light.

So also is absolute subjection to God; to Him indeed it contributes nothing, nor hath God need of the homage of men, but He Himself on such as follow and serve Him bestows life and incorruption and eternal glory; doing good to those who serve Him for their service, and to those who follow Him for their attendance, but not receiving good from them; for He is rich, perfect, and without need of anything. But to this end doth God require service from men, that because He is good and merciful, He may do good to those who abide in His service. For as truly as God is in need of nothing, so truly is man in need of Communion with God: This being the glory of man, to persevere and abide in God’s service. And therefore the Lord said to His Disciples, You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you:¹⁴²¹* intimating that they in following Him were not adding glory to Him, but that in following the Son of God they were receiving glory from Him.¹⁴²²* And again, I will that where I am, there also should these be, that they may behold My glory: not idly glorying in these things, but desiring to impart His glory to His disciples; of whom also Esaias saith,¹⁴²³* I will draw thy seed from the East, and will gather thee from the West; and will say to the North, Bring near, and to the South, Keep not back: draw hither My sons from far, and My daughters from the ends of the earth, all whosoever are called by My Name. For in My glory I have prepared, and formed, and made him.¹⁴²⁴* And this because wheresoever the carcase is, thither will the eagles also be gathered, partaking in the glory of the Lord; Who both formed and prepared us hereunto, that being with Him, we may partake of His Glory.

§ 2. Thus God also from the beginning framed man because of His own bounty;¹⁴²⁵* and chose the Patriarchs for their own salvation; and formed His first people, teaching it, indocile as it was, to follow God; again He provided that there should be Prophets on Earth, accustoming man to bear His Spirit, and to have communion with God. Not as needing any one Himself, but as granting Communion with Him to those who need Him. And to those who pleased Him, He as an architect, delineates the fabric of salvation; and to those who see not in Egypt He gives guidance of Himself: bestowing also on such as were restless in the desert, a Law most suitable for them, and to such as entered into the good Land vouchsafing a meet inheritance: for them also who are converted to the Father He kills the fatted calf,¹⁴²⁶* and gives them the chief robe; in divers modes blending the race of man into a Harmony of salvation. And therefore John in the Revelation saith,¹⁴²⁷* And His voice as the voice of many waters. For the Spirit is truly many waters, because the Father is rich, and because He is great.

Now the Word, passing through all these persons, did without grudging vouchsafe to be profitable to those who were in subjection to It; for every sort of men writing down a becoming and suitable Law.

§ 3. And so He appointed unto the people the making of the Tabernacle,¹⁴²⁸* and the building of the Temple, and the election of the Levites, the sacrifices also and oblations and cautionary precepts, and all the rest of their service by the Law.¹⁴²⁹* It is true, He needs Himself none of these things; for He is alway full of all good things, and hath in Himself all odour of sweetness, and all breathings of pleasant incense, even before Moses was. But He was schooling the people, apt easily to return to idols, by many callings instructing them to persevere and serve God: by things of the second order calling them to things of the first; i.e., by the typical to the true; and by the temporal to the eternal; and by the carnal to the spiritual; and by the earthly to the heavenly;¹⁴³⁰* as was said also to Moses: That thou shalt make all things after the pattern of those things which thou hast seen in the mount. He namely for forty days was learning to hold fast^1431k the words of God and heavenly tokens^1432l and spiritual images, and foreshadowings of things to come:¹⁴³³* as Paul also saith, For they drank of the rock that followed, and the rock was Christ. And again after specifying the things in the Law,¹⁴³⁴* he inferred, Now all these things came unto them in figure: and they are written for our correction, on whom the end of the worlds is come. Thus by types they learned to fear God, and to continue in all kinds of obedience to Him.

Chap. XV. § 1. Therefore the Law was both a discipline to them, and a prophecy of things to come. For God indeed did at first admonish them by the precepts of nature, which He gave at the beginning, fixed in men; i.e., by the Ten commandments (which if a man fulfil not, he hath no salvation): and required no more of them. As Moses saith in Deuteronomy:¹⁴³⁵* These are all the words which the Lord spake unto all the assembly of the children of Israel in the mountain, and He added nothing; and He wrote them in two tables of stone, and gave them unto me; in order that such as will follow Him might keep the commandments.¹⁴³⁶* But when they turned themselves to the making of a calf,¹⁴³⁷* and in their minds turned back into Egypt, desiring to be slaves instead of free, they received, as due to their desire, the rest of that slavery, not indeed cutting them off from God, but ruling them with a yoke of slavery: as also saith the Prophet Ezekiel, rendering the reasons why such a Law was given:¹⁴³⁸* And their eyes were after the desire of their own heart, and I gave them precepts which were not good, and statutes wherein they shall not live. And Luke too wrote concerning Stephen, who was first elected by the Apostles to the Diaconate, and first slain for the testimony of Christ, that he thus spake of Moses:¹⁴³⁹* He indeed received the commandments of the living God, to give unto you; whom your fathers would not obey, but rejected Him, and in their heart turned back into Egypt, saying to Aaron, Make us gods to go before us; for as to Moses who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we know not what has happened to him. And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifices to the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands. And God turned, and gave them up to worship the hosts of Heaven; as it is written in the Book of the Prophets, Have ye offered unto Me sacrifices and oblations forty years in the wilderness, O House of Israel? And ye have received the Tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan, figures which ye made to worship them; evidently implying, that the Law such as it was, was not given them by another god, but by the very same: meet for their condition as slaves. Wherefore also in Exodus He saith unto Moses, I will send out Mine Angel before thee, for I will not go up with thee,¹⁴⁴⁰* for thou art a stiffnecked people.

§ 2. And not this only, but certain precepts also were ordained unto them by Moses because of their hardness, and unwillingness to submit themselves: as the Lord declared, when they had said unto Him,¹⁴⁴¹* Why then did Moses command to give a writing of divorce, and to send away the wife? telling them,¹⁴⁴²* These things he permitted you, because of the hardness of your heart, but from the beginning it was not so done. Wherein He both makes excuse for Moses, as a faithful servant, and confesses one God Who at the beginning created male and female, and rebukes them as hard and disobedient. And accordingly they received from Moses the precept of divorce suited to their hardness.

And why say we this of the Old Testament? since in the New also the Apostles are found doing the same for the aforesaid cause:¹⁴⁴³* as in Paul’s well known expression, But this say I, not the Lord:¹⁴⁴⁴* and again, But this I say by way of indulgence,¹⁴⁴⁵* not by way of commandment. And again,¹⁴⁴⁶* But concerning virgins I have no commandment of the Lord, but I give counsel, as having obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful. Yea, and in another place he saith, Lest Satan tempt you through your incontinence.¹⁴⁴⁷*

If then even in the New Testament we find the Apostles allowing certain precepts, in a way of indulgence, because of the incontinence of certain persons, lest such persons, becoming hardened, entirely despair of their salvation, and fall away from God; we must not wonder, if in the Old Testament also the same God would have something of the same sort practised for the good of His people, enticing them by the aforesaid rules, that so they may keep hold of the salvation which is in the Ten Commandments, and be detained thereby from returning to idolatry, and not fall away from God, but learn to love Him with all their heart.

If again some, because of the disobedient and lost Israelites, call the Teacher of the Law weak; they will find in that calling which appertains to us,¹⁴⁴⁸* that many indeed are called, but few chosen; and that there are wolves within,¹⁴⁴⁹* though outwardly clad with sheepskins: and that the liberty and freewill which always was in man, hath ever been retained by God, as well as His own way of moral suasion: that such as obey Him not, may be justly judged, because they did not obey; and that such as have obeyed and believed Him, may be honoured with incorruption.

Chap. XVI. § 1. As to Circumcision, that God gave it also not as conveying perfect righteousness, but for a sign, that the race of Abraham might remain always distinguishable,¹⁴⁵⁰* we learn from the Scripture itself. For God, it saith, spake unto Abraham,¹⁴⁵¹* Every thing of yours that is male shall be circumcised, and ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, for a sign of a covenant between Me and you. This same the Prophet Ezekiel saith of the Sabbath:¹⁴⁵²* And I gave them My Sabbaths, that they may be for a sign between Me and them, that they may know that I am the Lord, who sanctify them. And in Exodus God saith unto Moses, And ye shall keep My sabbaths;¹⁴⁵³* for it shall be to you a sign with Me through your generation.

These things then were given in sign; but they were not signs without a symbol, i.e., without a subject, nor idle, given as they were by a wise artificer; but the circumcision after the flesh signified the spiritual circumcision.¹⁴⁵⁴* For so saith the Apostle, We are circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands.¹⁴⁵⁵* And the Prophet saith, Circumcise the hardness of your heart.

As for the Sabbath,¹⁴⁵⁶* it taught perseverance in serving God all the day. For we are counted, saith the Apostle Paul,¹⁴⁵⁷* all day as sheep for the slaughter: i.e., consecrated, and ministering the whole time since our belief, and persevering in it, and abstaining from all covetousness; not gaining nor possessing treasures on earth. And there was a revelation made in a manner, even from created things, of the Rest of God, i.e., of the Kingdom wherein that man shall rest, who perseveres in standing by God, and he shall partake of God’s Table.

§ 2. Now that man was not justified by these, but they were given as a sign to the people, is proved in that Abraham himself, without circumcision, and without keeping the Sabbath,¹⁴⁵⁸* believed God, and it was accounted unto him for righteousness, and he was called the Friend of God.¹⁴⁵⁹* Yea, and Lot without circumcision was led out of Sodom, receiving deliverance from God. Also Noe, while he was uncircumcised, pleased God, and received the measures of the world in its second birth. And Enoch too,¹⁴⁶⁰* without circumcision pleasing God, though he was a man, yet did the office of an ambassador unto Angels, and was translated, and is reserved unto this hour as a witness of God’s just judgment; in that, while the Angels that had sinned fell down to earth unto judgment, a Man, being approved, was translated unto salvation. Add to this again all the remaining multitude of those who before Abraham were righteous, and of those Patriarchs who were before Moses, and were justified without the aforesaid things, and without the Law of Moses. As indeed Moses himself tells the people in Deuteronomy:¹⁴⁶¹* The Lord thy God made a covenant in Horeb; and the Lord made not this covenant with your fathers, but with you.

§ 3. Wherefore then did the Lord not make a covenant with the Fathers?¹⁴⁶²* Because the Law was not appointed for righteous men; and the Fathers were righteous, having the meaning of the Decalogue written in their hearts and souls, i.e., loving God who made them, and abstaining from wrong towards their neighbour: and so it was unnecessary for them to be warned by writings of reproof, since they had righteousness in themselves.

But when this righteousness and love towards God passed into oblivion,¹⁴⁶³* and was quenched in Egypt, God, for His great Love’s sake towards men, shewed Himself by a voice in the hour of need, and brought the people out of Egypt by His might, that man might again become a disciple and follower of God: He smote also the disobedient, lest they should despise their Maker; and He fed that people with manna, that they might receive reasonable meat; as Moses also saith in Deuteronomy;¹⁴⁶⁴* And He fed thee with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that thou mightest know that man liveth not by bread alone, but by every word of God, which goeth out of His mouth, doth man live. He both enjoined love towards God, and wrapped up with it righteousness towards our neighbour, that one might neither be unjust, nor unworthy of God; building up man by the Ten Commandments to be friends with Himself, and to all concord with his neighbour: things indeed which were profitable to man himself, God all the while needing nothing from man.

§ 4. Therefore saith the Scripture,¹⁴⁶⁵* These words the Lord spake to all the congregation of the children of Israel in the mountain, and added nothing; for nothing, as we said before, did He need of them.¹⁴⁶⁶* And again Moses saith, And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all His ways, and to love Him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul? Now these things did indeed make man glorious, fulfilling that which was wanting unto him, i.e., that he should be the Friend of God; but on God they bestowed nothing; for God needed not at all the love of man. But unto man the glory of God was wanting, and he could no way receive it, except by obedience to God.¹⁴⁶⁷* And therefore Moses tells them again, Chuse life, that thou mayest live, and thy seed, to love the Lord thy God, to hear His voice, and to hold by Him; for this is thy life, and the length of thy days. And in building up man to that life, the Lord Himself by His own self spake the words of the Decalogue alike unto all: and so they abide equally with us, receiving extension and augmentation, but not abolition, by His Coming in the Flesh.

§ 5. But as to the precepts of the servile state,¹⁴⁶⁸* He enjoined them by Moses exclusively to the people, as suited to their instruction: according to Moses’ own saying,¹⁴⁶⁹* And the Lord enjoined me at that time to speak unto you statutes and judgments.

These things then,¹⁴⁷⁰* which were given them unto bondage, and for a sign, He hath cut off by a New Testament of Liberty. But those which are natural, and savouring of freedom, and common to all, He hath amplified and expanded: in that He bestows upon men, by adoption, bounteously and without grudging, to know God as their Father, and to love Him with their whole heart, and without opposition to follow His Word, abstaining not only from evil deeds, but also from the desires thereof. And He hath increased Fear also: for sons ought to fear more than slaves, and to have greater love towards their Father.¹⁴⁷¹* And therefore saith the Lord, Every idle word which men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment;¹⁴⁷²* and, He that shall have looked on a woman to lust after her, hath already committed adultery with her in his heart;¹⁴⁷³* and, He who is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: to make us aware, that we are to give account unto God not of our deeds only, as slaves, but also of our words and thoughts: even as we have received power to be free: whereby man is more thoroughly tried, whether he reverences, and fears, and loves the Lord. And therefore Peter saith,¹⁴⁷⁴* that we have not liberty as a cloke of wickedness, but to try and manifest Faith.

Chap. XVII. § 1. But that God in the Law commanded certain observances, not as needing their service, but for their own good,¹⁴⁷⁵* is very fully signified by the Prophets. And again that God needs not their offering, but for the offerer’s own sake, i.e., Man’s;—the Lord clearly taught, as we have shewn. For if at any time He saw them careless of righteousness, and keeping back from the Love of God, and thinking that God is propitiated by sacrifices and other typical observances, Samuel in the first place would speak to them thus:¹⁴⁷⁶* God willeth not burnt offerings and sacrifices, but He willeth His Voice to be heard: Behold, hearing is better than sacrifice, and hearkening than the fat of rams:¹⁴⁷⁷* then David saith, Sacrifice and offering Thou wouldest not, but ears hast Thou made for me: Burnt-offerings also for sin Thou hast not required. Teaching them that God will have obedience, which saves them, rather than sacrifices and burnt offerings which avail them nothing to righteousness: and prophesying at the same time of the New Testament. But yet more clearly in the 50th Psalm doth he say of these things,¹⁴⁷⁸* For hadst Thou willed sacrifice, I would have given it of course: with burnt-offerings Thou wilt not be delighted. A sacrifice for God is a troubled spirit: a contrite and humbled heart, the Lord will not despise. That God accordingly hath no need, he saith in the preceding Psalm:¹⁴⁷⁹* I will not receive bullocks out of thine house, nor he goats out of thy flocks. For Mine are all the beasts of the earth, the cattle in the mountains, and the oxen: I know all the fowls of the Heaven, and the beauty of the field is with Me. If I be hungry, I will not tell thee, for the whole earth is Mine, and the fulness thereof. Shall I at all eat bull’s flesh or drink the blood of goats?

Then lest any one should think, that He refuses these things because He is angry, He adds, giving him counsel,¹⁴⁸⁰* Offer unto God the sacrifice of praise, and pay thy vows unto the Most High, and call upon Me in the day of thy trouble, and I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify Me;¹⁴⁸¹* on the one hand, rejecting those things by which they thought to appease God while sinning: on the other, those whereby man is justified, and draws near to God, He makes matter of exhortation and admonition.