{"collection":"chr","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/chr/ecf/002/0020441.htm","path":"chr/ecf/002/0020441.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/chr/ecf/002/0020441.htm","text":"[Translated by Rev. William Wilson, M.A.]\np. 570 p. 571\nChap. i. 3. \u201cBlessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who by His great mercy hath regenerated us.\u201d For if God generated us of matter, He afterwards, by progress in life, regenerated us.\n\u201cThe Father of our Lord, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:\u201d who, according to your faith, rises again in us; as, on the other hand, He dies in us, through the operation of our unbelief. For He said again, that the soul never returns a second time to the body in this life; and that which has become angelic does not become unrighteous or evil, so as not to have the opportunity of again sinning by the assumption of flesh; but that in the resurrection the soul 3714 returns to the body, and both are joined to one another according to their peculiar nature, adapting themselves, through the composition of each, by a kind of congruity like 3715 a building of stones.\nBesides, Peter says, 3716 \u201cYe also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house;\u201d meaning the place of the angelic abode, guarded in heaven 3717 . \u201cFor you,\u201d he says, \u201cwho are kept by the power of God, by faith and contemplation, to receive the end of your faith, the salvation of your souls.\u201d\nHence it appears that the soul is not naturally immortal; but is made immortal by the grace of God, through faith and righteousness, and by knowledge. \u201cOf which salvation,\u201d he says, 3718 \u201cthe prophets have inquired and searched diligently,\u201d and what follows. It is declared by this that the prophets spake with wisdom, and that the Spirit of Christ was in them, according to the possession of Christ, and in subjection to Christ. For God works through archangels and kindred angels, who are called spirits of Christ.\n\u201cWhich are now,\u201d he says, 3719 \u201creported unto you by them that have preached the Gospel unto you.\u201d The old things which were done by the prophets and escape the observation of most, are now revealed to you by the evangelists. \u201cFor to you,\u201d he says, 3720 \u201cthey are manifested by the Holy Ghost, who was sent;\u201d that is the Paraclete, of whom the Lord said, \u201cIf I go not away, He will not come.\u201d 3721 \u201cUnto whom,\u201d 3722 it is said, \u201cthe angels desire to look;\u201d not the apostate angels, as most suspect, but, what is a divine truth, angels who desire to obtain the advantage of that perfection.\n\u201cBy precious blood,\u201d he says, 3723 \u201cas of a lamb without blemish and without spot.\u201d Here he touches on the ancient Levitical and sacerdotal celebrations; but means a soul pure through righteousness which is offered to God.\n\u201cVerily foreknown before the foundation of the world.\u201d 3724 Inasmuch as He was foreknown before every creature, because He was Christ. p. 572 \u201cBut manifested in the last times\u201d by the generation of a body. \u201cBeing born again, not of corruptible seed.\u201d 3725 The soul, then, which is produced along with the body is corruptible, as some think.\n\u201cBut the word of the Lord,\u201d he says, 3726 \u201cendureth for ever:\u201d as well prophecy as divine doctrine.\n\u201cBut ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood.\u201d 3727 That we are a chosen race by the election of God is abundantly clear. He says royal, because we are called to sovereignty and belong to Christ; and priesthood on account of the oblation which is made by prayers and instructions, by which are gained the souls which are offered to God.\n\u201cWho, when He was reviled,\u201d he says, 3728 \u201creviled not; when He suffered, threatened not.\u201d The Lord acted so in His goodness and patience. \u201cBut committed Himself to him that judged Him unrighteously:\u201d 3729 whether Himself, so that, regarding Himself in this way, there is a transposition. 3730 He indeed gave Himself up to those who judged according to an unjust law; because He was unserviceable to them, inasmuch as He was righteous: or, He committed to God those who judged unrighteously, and without cause insisted on His death, so that they might be instructed by suffering punishment.\n\u201cFor he that will love life, and see good days;\u201d 3731 that is, who wishes to become eternal and immortal. And He calls the Lord life, and the days good, that is holy.\n\u201cFor the eyes of the Lord,\u201d he says, \u201care upon the righteous, and His ears on their prayers:\u201d he means the manifold inspection of the Holy Spirit. \u201cThe face of the Lord is on them that do evil;\u201d 3732 that is, whether judgment, or vengeance, or manifestation.\n\u201cBut sanctify the Lord Christ,\u201d he says, \u201cin your hearts.\u201d 3733 For so you have in the Lord\u2019s prayer, \u201cHallowed be Thy name.\u201d 3734\n\u201cFor Christ,\u201d he says, 3735 \u201chath once suffered for our sins, the just for the unjust, that he might present 3736 us to God; being put to death in the flesh, but quickened in the spirit.\u201d He says these things, reducing them to their faith. That is, He became alive in our spirits.\n\u201cComing,\u201d he says, 3737 \u201cHe preached to those who were once unbelieving.\u201d They saw not His form, but they heard His voice.\n\u201cWhen the long-suffering of God\u201d 3738 holds out. God is so good, as to work the result by the teaching of salvation.\n\u201cBy the resurrection,\u201d it is said, 3739 \u201cof Jesus Christ:\u201d that, namely, which is effected in us by faith.\n\u201cAngels being subjected to Him,\u201d 3740 which are the first order; and \u201cprincipalities\u201d being subject, who are of the second order; and \u201cpowers\u201d being also subject, which are said to belong to the third order.\n\u201cWho shall give account,\u201d he says, 3741 \u201cto Him who is ready to judge the quick and the dead.\u201d\nThese are trained through previous judgments. 3742 Therefore he adds, \u201cFor this cause was the Gospel preached also to the dead\u201d\u2014to us, namely, who were at one time unbelievers. \u201cThat they might be judged according to men,\u201d he says, 3743 \u201cin the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.\u201d Because, that is, they have fallen away from faith; whilst they are still in the flesh they are judged according to preceding judgments, that they might repent. Accordingly, he also adds, saying, \u201cThat they might live according to God in the spirit.\u201d So Paul also; for he, too, states something of this nature when he says, \u201cWhom I have delivered to Satan, that he might live in the spirit;\u201d 3744 that is, \u201cas good stewards of the manifold grace of God.\u201d Similarly also Paul says, \u201cVariously, and in many ways, God of old spake to our fathers.\u201d 3745\n\u201cRejoice,\u201d it is said, 3746 \u201cthat ye are partakers in the sufferings of Christ:\u201d that is, if ye are righteous, ye suffer for righteousness\u2019 sake, as Christ suffered for righteousness. \u201cHappy are ye, for the Spirit of God, who is the Spirit of His glory and virtue, resteth on you.\u201d This possessive \u201cHis\u201d signifies also an an angelic spirit: inasmuch as the glory of God those are, through whom, according to faith and righteousness, He is glorified, to honourable glory, according to the advancement of the saints who are brought in. \u201cThe Spirit of God on us,\u201d may be thus understood; that is, who through faith comes on the soul, like a gracefulness of mind and beauty of soul.\n\u201cSince,\u201d it is said, 3747 \u201cit is time for judgment beginning at the house of God.\u201d For judgment will overtake these in the appointed persecutions.\n\u201cBut the God of all grace,\u201d he says. 3748 \u201cOf all grace,\u201d he says, because He is good, and the giver of all good things.\np. 573\n\u201cMarcus, my son, saluteth you.\u201d 3749 Mark, the follower of Peter, while Peter publicly preached the Gospel at Rome before some of C\u00e6sar\u2019s equites, and adduced many testimonies to Christ, in order that thereby they might be able to commit to memory what was spoken, of what was spoken by Peter, wrote entirely what is called the Gospel according to Mark. As Luke also may be recognised 3750 by the style, both to have composed the Acts of the Apostles, and to have translated Paul\u2019s Epistle to the Hebrews.\nJude, who wrote the Catholic Epistle, the brother of the sons of Joseph, and very religious, whilst knowing the near relationship of the Lord, yet did not say that he himself was His brother. But what said he? 3751 \u201cJude, a servant of Jesus Christ,\u201d\u2014of Him as Lord; but \u201cthe brother of James.\u201d For this is true; he was His brother, (the son) 3752 of Joseph. \u201cFor 3753 certain men have entered unawares, ungodly men, who had been of old ordained and predestined to the judgment of our God;\u201d not that they might become impious, but that, being now impious, they were ordained to judgment. \u201cFor the Lord God,\u201d he says, 3754 \u201cwho once delivered a people out of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not;\u201d that is, that He might train them through punishment. For they were indeed punished, and they perished on account of those that are saved, until they turn to the Lord. \u201cBut the angels,\u201d he says, 3755 \u201cthat kept not their own pre-eminence,\u201d that, namely, which they received through advancement, \u201cbut left their own habitation,\u201d meaning, that is, the heaven and the stars, became, and are called apostates. \u201cHe hath reserved these to the judgment of the great day, in chains, under darkness.\u201d He means the place near the earth, 3756 that is, the dark air. Now he called \u201cchains\u201d the loss of the honour in which they had stood, and the lust of feeble things; since, bound by their own lust, they cannot be converted. \u201cAs Sodom and Gomorrha,\u201d he says. 3757 \u2026 By which the Lord signifies that pardon had been granted; 3758 and that on being disciplined they had repented. \u201cSimilarly 3759 to the same,\u201d he says, 3760 \u201calso those dreamers,\u201d\u2014that is, who dream in their imagination lusts and wicked desires, regarding as good not that which is truly good, and superior to all good,\u2014\u201cdefile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of majesty,\u201d that is, the only Lord, 3761 who is truly our Lord, Jesus Christ, and alone worthy of praise. They \u201cspeak evil of majesty,\u201d that is, of the angels.\n\u201cWhen Michael, the archangel, 3762 disputing with the devil, debated about the body of Moses.\u201d Here he confirms the assumption of Moses. He is here called Michael, who through an angel near to us debated with the devil.\n\u201cBut these,\u201d he says, 3763 \u201cspeak evil of those things which they know not; but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in these things they corrupt themselves.\u201d He means that they eat, and drink, and indulge in uncleanness, and says that they do other things that are common to them with animals, devoid of reason.\n\u201cWoe unto them!\u201d he says, 3764 \u201cfor they have gone in the way of Cain.\u201d For so also we lie under Adam\u2019s sin through similarity of sin. \u201cClouds,\u201d he says, 3765 \u201cwithout water; who do not possess in themselves the divine and fruitful word.\u201d Wherefore, he says, \u201cmen of this kind are carried about both by winds and violent blasts.\u201d 3766 \u201cTrees,\u201d he says, \u201cof autumn, without fruit,\u201d\u2014unbelievers, that is, who bear no fruit of fidelity. \u201cTwice dead,\u201d he says: once, namely, when they sinned by transgressing, and a second time when delivered up to punishment, according to the predestined judgments of God; inasmuch as it is to be reckoned death, even when each one does not forthwith deserve the inheritance. \u201cWaves,\u201d he says, 3767 \u201cof a raging sea.\u201d By these words he signifies the life of the Gentiles, whose end is abominable ambition. 3768 \u201cWandering stars,\u201d\u2014that is, he means those who err and are apostates are of that kind of stars which fell from the seats of the angels\u2014\u201cto whom,\u201d for their apostasy, \u201cthe blackness of darkness is reserved for ever. Enoch also, the seventh from Adam,\u201d he says, 3769 \u201cprophesied of these.\u201d In these words he verities the prophecy.\n\u201cThose,\u201d he says, 3770 \u201cseparating\u201d the faithful from the unfaithful, be convicted according to their own unbelief. And again those separating from the flesh. 3771 He says, \u201cAnimal 3772 not having p. 574 the spirit;\u201d that is, the spirit which is by faith, which supervenes through the practice of righteousness.\n\u201cBut ye, beloved,\u201d he says, 3773 \u201cbuilding up yourselves on your most holy faith, in the Holy Spirit.\u201d \u201cBut some,\u201d he says, 3774 \u201csave, plucking them from the fire;\u201d 3775 \u201cbut of some have compassion in fear,\u201d that is, teach those who fall into the fire to free themselves. \u201cHating,\u201d he says, 3776 \u201cthat spotted garment, which is carnal:\u201d that of the soul, namely; the spotted garment is a spirit polluternal lusts. 3777\n\u201cNow to Him,\u201d he says, 3778 \u201cwho is able to keep you without stumbling, and present you faultless before the presence of His glory in joy.\u201d In the presence of His glory: he means in the presence of the angels, to be presented faultless, having become angels. 3779 When Daniel speaks of the people and comes into the presence of the Lord, he does not say this, because he saw God: for it is impossible that any one whose heart is not pure should see God; but he says this, that everything that the people did was in the sight of God, and was manifest to Him; that is, that nothing is hid from the Lord.\nNow, in the Gospel according to Mark, the Lord being interrogated by the chief of the priests if He was the Christ, the Son of the blessed God, answering, said, \u201cI am; 3780 and ye shall see the Son of man sitting at the right hand of power.\u201d 3781 But powers 3782 mean the holy angels. Further, when He says \u201cat the right hand of God,\u201d He means the self-same [beings], by reason of the equality and likeness of the angelic and holy powers, which are called by the name of God. He says, therefore, that He sits at the right hand; that is, that He rests in pre-eminent honour. In the other Gospels, however, He is said not to have replied to the high priest, on his asking if He was the Son of God. But what said He? \u201cYou say.\u201d 3783 Answering sufficiently well. For had He said, It is as you understand, he would have said what was not true, not confessing Himself to be the Son of God; [for] they did not entertain this opinion of Him; but by saying \u201cYou say,\u201d 3784 He spake truly. For what they had no knowledge of, but expressed in words, that he confessed to be true.\n1 John 1:1. \u201cThat which was from the beginning; which we have seen with our eyes; which we have heard.\u201d\nFollowing the Gospel according to John, and in accordance with it, this Epistle also contains the spiritual principle.\nWhat therefore he says, \u201cfrom the beginning,\u201d the Presbyter explained to this effect, that the beginning of generation is not separated from the beginning of the Creator. For when he says, \u201cThat which was from the beginning,\u201d he touches upon the generation without beginning of the Son, who is co-existent with the Father. There was; then, a Word importing an unbeginning eternity; as also the Word itself, that is, the Son of God, who being, by equality of substance, one with the Father, is eternal and uncreate. That He was always the Word, is signified by saying, \u201cIn the beginning was the Word.\u201d But by the expression, \u201cwe have seen with our eyes,\u201d he signifies the Lord\u2019s presence in the flesh, \u201cand our hands have handled,\u201d he says, \u201cof the Word of life.\u201d He means not only His flesh, but the virtues of the Son, like the sunbeam which penetrates to the lowest places,\u2014this sunbeam coming in the flesh became palpable to the disciples. It is accordingly related in traditions, that John, touching the outward body itself, sent his hand deep down into it, and that the solidity of the flesh offered no obstacle, but gave way to the hand of the disciple.\n\u201cAnd our hands have handled of the Word of life;\u201d that is, He who came in the flesh became capable of being touched. As also,\n1 John 1:2. \u201cThe life was manifested.\u201d For in the Gospel he thus speaks: \u201cAnd what was made, in Him was life, and the life was the light of men.\u201d 3785\n\u201cAnd we show unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto you.\u201d\nHe signifies by the appellation of Father, that the Son also existed always, without beginning.\n1 John 1:5. \u201cFor God,\u201d he says, \u201cis light.\u201d\nHe does not express the divine essence, but wishing to declare the majesty of God, he has applied to the Divinity what is best and most excellent in the view of men. Thus also Paul, when he speaks of \u201clight inaccessible.\u201d 3786 But John himself also in this same Epistle says, \u201cGod is love:\u201d 3787 pointing out the excellences of God, that He is kind and merciful; and because He is light, makes men righteous, according to the advancement of the soul, p. 575 through charity. God, then, who is ineffable in respect of His substance, is light.\n\u201cAnd in Him is no darkness at all,\u201d\u2014that is, no passion, no keeping up of evil respecting any one, [He] destroys no one, but gives salvation to all. Light moreover signifies, either the precepts of the Law, or faith, or doctrine. Darkness is the opposite of these things. Not as if there were another way; since there is only one way according to the divine precepts. For the work of God is unity. Duality and all else that exists, except unity, arises from perversity of life.\n1 John 1:7. \u201cAnd the blood of Jesus Christ His Son,\u201d he says, \u201ccleanses us.\u201d For the doctrine of the Lord, which is very powerful, is called His blood.\n1 John 1:10. \u201cIf we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.\u201d His doctrine, that is, or word is truth.\n1 John 2:1. \u201cAnd if any man sin,\u201d he says, \u201cwe have an advocate 3788 with the Father, Jesus Christ.\u201d For so the Lord is an advocate with the Father for us. So also is there, an advocate, whom, after His assumption, He vouchsafed to send. For these primitive and first-created virtues are unchangeable as to substance, and along with subordinate angels and archangels, whose names they share, effect divine operations. Thus also Moses names the virtue of the angel Michael, by an angel near to himself and of lowest grade. The like also we find in the holy prophets; but to Moses an angel appeared near and at hand. Moses heard him and spoke to him manifestly, face to face. On the other prophets, through the agency of angels, an impression was made, as of beings hearing and seeing.\nOn this account also, they alone heard, and they alone saw; as also is seen in the case of Samuel. 3789 Elis\u00e6us also alone heard the voice by which he was called. 3790 If the voice had been open and common, it would have been heard by all. In this instance it was heard by him alone in whom the impression made by the angel worked.\n1 John 2:2. \u201cAnd not only for our sins,\u201d\u2014that is for those of the faithful,\u2014is the Lord the propitiator, does he say, \u201cbut also for the whole world.\u201d He, indeed, saves all; but some [He saves], converting them by punishments; others, however, who follow voluntarily [He saves] with dignity of honour; so \u201cthat every knee should bow to Him, of things in heaven, and things on earth, and things under the earth;\u201d 3791 that is, angels, men, and souls that before His advent have departed from this temporal life.\n1 John 2:3. \u201cAnd by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments.\u201d For the Gnostic 3792 [he who knows] also does the Works which pertain to the province of virtue. But he who performs the works is not necessarily also a Gnostic. For a man may be a doer of right works, and yet not a knower of the mysteries of science. Finally, knowing that some works are performed from fear of punishment, and some on account of the promise of reward, he shows the perfection of the man gifted with knowledge, who fulfils his works by love. Further, he adds, and says:\u2014\n1 John 2:5. \u201cBut whoso keepeth His word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in Him,\u201d\u2014by faith and love.\n1 John 2:7. \u201cI write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment, which ye had from the beginning,\u201d\u2014through the Law, that is, and the prophets; where it is said, God is one. Accordingly, also, he infers, \u201cFor the old commandment is the word which ye have heard.\u201d\n1 John 2:8. \u201cThis is the commandment; for the darkness\u201d of perversion, that is, \u201chas passed away, and, lo, the true light hath already shone,\u201d\u2014that is, through faith, through knowledge, through the Covenant working in men, through prepared judgments.\n1 John 2:9. \u201cHe that saith he is in the light,\u201d\u2014in the light, he means in the truth,\u2014\u201cand hateth,\u201d he says, \u201chis brother.\u201d By his brother, he means not only his neighbour, but also the Lord. For unbelievers hate Him and do not keep His commandments. Therefore also he infers:\u2014\n1 John 2:10. \u201cHe that loveth his brother abideth in the light; and there is none occasion of stumbling in him.\u201d\n1 John 2:12-14. He then indicates the stages of advancement and progress of souls that are still located in the flesh; and calls those whose sins have been forgiven, for the Lord\u2019s name\u2019s sake, \u201clittle children,\u201d for many believe on account of the name only. He styles \u201cfathers\u201d the perfect, \u201cwho have known what was from the beginning,\u201d and received with understanding,\u2014the Son, that is, of whom he said above, \u201cthat which was from the beginning.\u201d\n\u201cI write,\u201d says he, \u201cto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one.\u201d Young man strong in despising pleasures. \u201cThe wicked one\u201d points out the eminence of the devil. \u201cThe children,\u201d moreover, know the Father; having fled from idols and gathered together to the one God.\n1 John 2:15. \u201cFor the world,\u201d he says, \u201cis in the p. 576 wicked one.\u201d Is not the world, and all that is in the world, called God\u2019s creation and very good? Yes. But,\n1 John 2:16. \u201cThe lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the ambition of the world,\u201d which arise from the perversion of life, \u201care not of the Father, but of the world,\u201d and of you.\n1 John 2:17. \u201cTherefore also the world shall pass away, and the lust thereof; but he that doeth the will of God\u201d and His commandments \u201cabideth for ever.\u201d\n1 John 2:19. \u201cThey went out from us; but they were not of us\u201d\u2014neither the apostate angels, nor men falling away;\u2014\u201cbut that they may be manifested that they are not of us.\u201d With sufficient clearness he distinguishes the class of the elect and that of the lost, and that which remaining in faith \u201chas an unction from the Holy One,\u201d which comes through faith. He that abideth not in faith.\n1 John 2:22. \u201cA liar\u201d and \u201can antichrist, who denieth that Jesus is the Christ.\u201d For Jesus, Saviour and Redeemer, is also Christ the King.\n1 John 2:23. \u201cHe who denies the Son,\u201d by ignoring Him, \u201chas not the Father, nor does he know Him.\u201d But he who knoweth the Son and the Father, knows according to knowledge, and when the Lord shall be manifested at His second advent, shall have confidence and not be confounded. Which confusion is heavy punishment.\n1 John 2:29. \u201cEvery one,\u201d he says, \u201cwho doeth righteousness is born of God;\u201d being regenerated, that is, according to faith.\n1 John 3:1. \u201cFor the world knoweth us not, as it knew Him not.\u201d He means by the world those who live a worldly life in pleasures.\n1 John 3:2. \u201cBeloved,\u201d says he, \u201cnow are we the sons of God,\u201d not by natural affection, but because we have God as our Father. For it is the greater love that, seeing we have no relationship to God, He nevertheless loves us and calls us His sons. \u201cAnd it hath not yet appeared what we shall be;\u201d that is, to what kind of glory we shall attain. \u201cFor if He shall be manifested,\u201d\u2014that is, if we are made perfect,\u2014\u201cwe shall be like Him,\u201d as reposing and justified, pure in virtue, \u201cso that we may see Him\u201d (His countenance) \u201cas He is,\u201d by comprehension.\n1 John 3:8. \u201cHe that doeth unrighteousness is of the devil,\u201d that is, of the devil as his father, following and choosing the same things. \u201cThe devil sinneth from the beginning,\u201d he says. From the beginning from which he began to sin, incorrigibly persevering in sinning.\n1 John 3:9. He says, \u201cWhosoever is born of God does not commit sin, for His seed remaineth in him;\u201d that is, His word in him who is born again through faith.\n1 John 3:10. \u201cThus we know the children of God, as likewise the children of the devil,\u201d who choose things like the devil; for so also they are said to be of the wicked one.\n1 John 3:15. \u201cEvery one who hateth his brother is a murderer.\u201d For in him through unbelief Christ dies. Rightly, therefore, he continues, \u201cAnd ye know that no murderer and unbeliever hath eternal life abiding in him.\u201d For the living Christ 3793 abides in the believing soul.\n1 John 3:16. \u201cFor He Himself laid down His life for us;\u201d that is, for those who believe; that is, for the apostles. If then He laid down His life for the apostles, he means His apostles themselves: us if he said, We, I say, the apostles, for whom He laid down His life, \u201cought to lay down our lives for the brethren;\u201d for the salvation of their neighbours was the glory of the apostles.\n1 John 3:20. He says, \u201cFor God is greater than our heart;\u201d that is, the virtue of God [is greater] than conscience, which will follow the soul. Wherefore he continues, and says, \u201cand knoweth all things.\u201d\n1 John 3:21. \u201cBeloved, if our heart condemn us not, it will have confidence before God.\u201d\n1 John 3:24. \u201cAnd hereby we know that He dwelleth in us by His Spirit, which He hath given us;\u201d that is, by superintendence and foresight of future events.\n1 John 4:18. He says, \u201cPerfect love casteth out fear.\u201d For the perfection of a believing man is love.\n1 John 5:6. He says, \u201cThis is He who came by water and blood;\u201d and again,\u2014\n1 John 5:8. \u201cFor there are three that bear witness, the spirit,\u201d which is life, \u201cand the water,\u201d which is regeneration and faith, \u201cand the blood,\u201d which is knowledge; \u201cand these three are one.\u201d For in the Saviour are those saving virtues, and life itself exists in His own Son.\n1 John 5:14. \u201cAnd this is the confidence which we have towards Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He will hear us.\u201d He does not say absolutely what we shall ask, but what we ought to ask.\n1 John 5:19. \u201cAnd the whole word lieth in the wicked one;\u201d not the creation, but worldly men, and those who live according to their lusts.\n1 John 5:20. \u201cAnd the Son of God hath come and given us understanding,\u201d which comes to us, that is, by faith, and is also called the Holy Spirit.\nThe second Epistle of John, which is written to Virgins, is very simple. It was written to a Babylonian lady, by name Electa, and indicates p. 577 the election of the holy Church. He establishes in this Epistle that the following out of the faith is not without charity, and so that no one divide Jesus Christ; but only to believe that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. For he who has the Son by apprehension in his intellect knows also the Father, and grasps with his mind intelligibly the greatness of His power working without beginning of time.\n2 John 10. He says, \u201cIf any come unto you and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed; for he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.\u201d He forbids us to salute such, and to receive them to our hospitality. For this is not harsh in the case of a man of this sort. But he admonishes them neither to confer nor dispute with such as are not able to handle divine things with intelligence, lest through them they be seduced from the doctrine of truth, influenced by plausible reasons. Now, I think that we are not even to pray with such, because in the prayer which is made at home, after rising from prayer, the salutation of joy is also the token of peace.\nBut Job\u2019s words may be more elegantly understood of evil and sin thus: \u201cNaked\u201d was formed from the earth at the beginning, as if from a \u201cmother\u2019s womb: naked to the earth shall I also depart;\u201d naked, 3795 not of possessions, for that were a trivial and common thing, but of evil and sin, and of the unsightly shape which follows those who have led bad lives. Obviously, all of us human beings are born naked, and again are buried naked, swathed only in grave-clothes. For God hath provided for us another life, and made the present life the way for the course which leads to it; appointing the supplies derived from what we possess merely as provisions for the way; and on our quitting this way, the wealth, consisting of the things which we possessed, journeys no farther with us. For not a single thing that we possess is properly our own: of one possession alone, that is godliness, are we properly owners. Of this, death, when it overtakes us, will not rob us; but from all else it will eject us, though against our will. For it is for the support of life that we all have received what we possess; and after enjoying merely the use of it, each one departs, obtaining from life a brief remembrance. For this is the end of all prosperity; this is the conclusion of the good things of this life. Well, then, does the infant, on opening its eyes, after issuing from the womb, immediately begin with crying, not with laughter. For it weeps, as if bewailing life, at whose hands from the outset it tastes of deadly gifts. For immediately on being born its hands and feet are swaddled; and swathed in bonds it takes the breast. O introduction to life, precursor of death! The child has but just entered on life, and straightway there is put upon it the raiment of the dead: for nature reminds those that are born of their end. Wherefore also the child, on being born, wails, as if crying plaintively to its mother. Why, O mother, didst thou bring me forth to this life, in which prolongation of life is progress to death? Why hast thou brought me into this troubled world, in which, on being born, swaddling bands are my first experience? Why hast thou delivered me to such a life as this, in which both a pitiable youth wastes away before old age, and old age is shunned as under the doom of death? Dreadful, O mother, is the course of life, which has death as the goal of the runner. Bitter is the road of life we travel, with the grave as the wayfarer\u2019s inn. Perilous the sea of life we sail; for it has Hades as a pirate to attack us. Man alone is born in all respects naked, without a weapon or clothing born with him; not as being inferior to the other animals, but that nakedness and your bringing nothing with you may produce thought; and that thought may bring out dexterity, expel sloth, introduce the arts for the supply of our needs, and beget variety of contrivances. For, naked, man is full of contrivances, being pricked on by his necessity, as by a goad, how to escape rains, how to elude cold, how to fence off blows, how to till the earth, how to terrify wild beasts, how to subdue the more powerful of them. Wetted with rain, he contrived a roof; having suffered from cold, he invented clothing; being struck, he constructed a breastplate; bleeding his hands with the thorns in tilling the ground, he availed himself of the help of tools; in his naked state liable to become a prey to wild beasts, he discovered from his fear an art which frightened what frightened him. Nakedness begat one accomplishment after another; so that even his nakedness was a gift and a master-favour. Accordingly, Job also being made naked of wealth, possessions, of the blessing of children, of a numerous offspring, and having lost everything in a short time, uttered this grateful exclamation: \u201cNaked came I out of the womb, naked also shall I depart thither;\u201d\u2014to God, that is, and to that blessed lot and rest.\nJob v. 7. Calmness is a thing which, of all other things, is most to be prized. As an example p. 578 of this, the word proposes to us the blessed Job. For it is said of him, \u201cWhat man is like Job, who drinketh up scorning like water?\u201d For truly enviable, and, in my judgment, worthy of all admiration, a man is, if he has attained to such a degree of long-suffering as to be able with ease to grapple with the pain, truly keen, and not easily conquered by everybody, which arises from being wronged.\nMatt. v. 42. Alms are to be given, but with judgment, and to the deserving, that we may obtain a recompense from the Most High. But woe to those who have and who take under false pretences, or who are able to help themselves and want to take from others. For he who has, and, to carry out false pretences or out of laziness, takes, shall be condemned.\nMatt. xiii. 31. The word which proclaims the kingdom of heaven is sharp and pungent as mustard, and represses bile, that is, anger, and checks inflammation, that is, pride; and from this word the soul\u2019s true health and eternal soundness 3796 flow. To such increased size did the growth of the word come, that the tree which sprang from it (that is the Church of Christ established over the whole earth) filled the world, so that the fowls of the air\u2014that is, divine angels and lofty souls\u2014dwelt in its branches.\nMatt. xiii. 46. A pearl, and that pellucid and of purest ray, is Jesus, whom of the lightning flash of Divinity the Virgin bore. For as the pearl, produced in flesh and the oyster-shell and moisture, appears to be a body moist and transparent, full of light and spirit; so also God the Word, incarnate, is intellectual light, 3797 sending His rays, through a body luminous and moist.\nLuke iii. 22. God here assumed the \u201clikeness\u201d not of a man, but \u201cof a dove,\u201d because He wished, by a new apparition of the Spirit in the likeness of a dove, to declare His simplicity and majesty.\nLuke xvi. 17. Perhaps by the iota and tittle His righteousness cries, \u201cIf ye come right unto Me, I will also come right to you; but if crooked, I also will come crooked, saith the Lord of hosts;\u201d intimating that the ways of sinners are intricate and crooked. For the way right and agreeable to nature which is intimated by the iota of Jesus, is His goodness, which constantly directs those who believe from hearing. \u201cThere shall not, therefore, pass from the law one iota or one tittle,\u201d neither from the right and good the mutual promises, nor from the crooked and unjust the punishment assigned to them. \u201cFor the Lord doeth good to the good, but those who turn aside into crooked ways God will lead with the workers of iniquity.\u201d 3798\n\u201cBecause of the angels.\u201d By the angels he means righteous and virtuous men. Let her be veiled then, that she may not lead them to stumble into fornication. For the real angels in heaven see her though veiled.\n\u201cAnd if we have known Christ after the flesh.\u201d As \u201cafter the flesh\u201d in our case is being in the midst of sins, and being out of them is \u201cnot after the flesh;\u201d so also \u201cafter the flesh\u201d in the case of Christ was His subjection to natural affections, and His not being subject to them is to be \u201cnot after the flesh.\u201d But, he says, as He was released, so also are we.\n\u201cOur heart is enlarged,\u201d to teach you all things. But ye are straitened in your own bowels, that is, in love to God, in which ye ought to love me.\n\u201cAnd they that are Christ\u2019s [have crucified] the flesh.\u201d And why mention one aspect of virtue after another? For there are some who have crucified themselves as far as the passions are concerned, and the passions as far as respects themselves. According to this interpretation the \u201cand\u201d is not superfluous. \u201cAnd they that are Christ\u2019s\u201d\u2014that is, striving after Him\u2014\u201chave crucified their own flesh.\u201d\nYes, truly, the apostles were baptised, as Clement the Stromatist relates in the fifth book of the Hypotyposes. For, in explaining the apostolic statement, \u201cI thank God that I baptised none of you,\u201d he says, Christ is said to have baptised Peter alone, and Peter Andrew, and Andrew John, and they James and the rest. 3799\np. 579\nNow Clement, writing in the sixth book of the Hypotyposes, makes this statement. For he says that Peter and James and John, after the Saviour\u2019s ascension, though pre-eminently honoured by the Lord, did not contend for glory, but made James the Just, bishop of Jerusalem.\nSo, then, through the visit of the divine word to them, the power of Simon was extinguished, and immediately was destroyed along with the man himself. And such a ray of godliness shone forth on the minds of Peter\u2019s hearers, that they were not satisfied with the once hearing or with the unwritten teaching of the divine proclamation, but with all manner of entreaties importuned Mark, to whom the Gospel is ascribed, he being the companion of Peter, that he would leave in writing a record of the teaching which had been delivered to them verbally; and did not let the man alone till they prevailed upon him; and so to them we owe the Scripture called the \u201cGospel by Mark.\u201d On learning what had been done, through the revelation of the Spirit, it is said that the apostle was delighted with the enthusiasm of the men, and sanctioned the composition for reading in the Churches. Clemens gives the narrative in the sixth book of the Hypotyposes.\nThen, also, as the divine Scripture says, Herod, on the execution of James, seeing that what was done pleased the Jews, laid hands also on Peter; and having put him in chains, would have presently put him to death, had not an angel in a divine vision appeared to him by night, and wondrously releasing him from his bonds, sent him away to the ministry of preaching.\nAnd in the Hypotyposes, in a word, he has made abbreviated narratives of the whole testamentary Scripture; and has not passed over the disputed books,\u2014I mean Jude and the rest of the Catholic Epistles and Barnabas, and what is called the Revelation of Peter. And he says that the Epistle to the Hebrews is Paul\u2019s, and was written to the Hebrews in the Hebrew language; but that Luke, having carefully translated it, gave it to the Greeks, and hence the same colouring in the expression is discoverable in this Epistle and the Acts; and that the name \u201cPaul an Apostle\u201d was very properly not prefixed, for, he says, that writing to the Hebrews, who were prejudiced against him and suspected, he with great wisdom did not repel them in the beginning by putting down his name.\n1 Tim. ii. 6. \u201cIn his times;\u201d that is, when men were in a condition of fitness for faith.\n1 Tim. iii. 16. \u201cWas seen of angels.\u201d O mystery! The angels saw Christ while He was with us, not having seen Him before. Not as by men.\n1 Tim. v. 8. \u201cAnd especially those of his own house.\u201d He provides for his own and those of his own house, who not only provides for his relatives, but also for himself, by extirpating the passions.\n1 Tim. v. 10. \u201cIf she have washed the feet of saints;\u201d that is, if she has performed without shame the meanest offices for the saints.\n1 Tim. v. 21. \u201cWithout prejudice;\u201d 3800 that is, without falling under the doom and punishment of disobedience through making any false step.\n1 Tim. vi. 13. \u201cWho witnessed before Pontius Pilate.\u201d For He testified by what he did that He was Christ the Son of God.\n2 Tim. ii. 2. \u201cBy many witnesses;\u201d 3801 that is, the law and the prophets. For these the apostle made witnesses of his own preaching.\nTo James the Just, and John and Peter, the Lord after His resurrection imparted knowledge (\u03c4\u1f74\u03bd \u03b3\u03bd\u1ff6\u03c3\u03b9\u03bd.) These imparted it to the rest of the apostles, and the rest of the apostles to the Seventy, of whom Barnabas was one.\nAnd of this James, Clement also relates an anecdote worthy of remembrance in the seventh book of the Hypotyposes, from a tradition of his predecessors. He says that the man who brought him to trial, on seeing him bear his testimony, was moved, and confessed that he was a Christian himself. Accordingly, he says, they were both led away together, and on the way the other asked James to forgive him. And he, considering a little, said, \u201cPeace be to thee\u201d and kissed him. And so both were beheaded together.\nAnd now, as the blessed Presbyter used to say, since the Lord, as the Apostle of the Almighty, was sent to the Hebrews, Paul, as having been sent to the Gentiles, did not subscribe himself apostle of the Hebrews, out of modesty and reverence for the Lord, and because, being the herald and apostle of the Gentiles, his writing to the Hebrews was something over and above [his assigned function.]\np. 580\nAgain, in the same books Clement has set down a tradition which he had received from the elders before him, in regard to the order of the Gospels, to the following effect. He says that the Gospels containing the genealogies were written first, and that the Gospel according to Mark was composed in the following circumstances:\u2014\nPeter having preached the word publicly at Rome, and by the Spirit proclaimed the Gospel, those who were present, who were numerous, entreated Mark, inasmuch as he had attended him from an early period, and remembered what had been said, to write down what had been spoken. On his composing the Gospel, he handed it to those who had made the request to him; which coming to Peter\u2019s knowledge, he neither hindered nor encouraged. But John, the last of all, seeing that what was corporeal was set forth in the Gospels, on the entreaty of his intimate friends, and inspired by the Spirit, composed a spiritual Gospel.\nBeing is in God. God is divine being, eternal and without beginning, incorporeal and illimitable, and the cause of what exists. Being is that which wholly subsists. Nature is the truth of things, or the inner reality of them. According to others, it is the production of what has come to existence; and according to others, again, it is the providence of God, causing the being, and the manner of being, in the things which are produced.\nWilling is a natural power, which desires what is in accordance with nature. Willing is a natural appetency, corresponding with the nature of the rational creature. Willing is a natural spontaneous movement of the self-determining mind, or the mind voluntarily moved about anything. Spontaneity is the mind moved naturally, or an intellectual self-determining movement of the soul.\nSouls that breathe free of all things, possess life, and though separated from the body, and found possessed of a longing for it, are borne immortal to the bosom of God: as in the winter season the vapours of the earth attracted by the sun\u2019s rays rise to him.\nAll souls are immortal, even those of the wicked, for whom it were better that they were not deathless. For, punished with the endless vengeance of quenchless fire, and not dying, it is impossible for them to have a period put to their misery.\nNever be afraid of the slanderer who addresses you. But rather say, Stop, brother; I daily commit more grievous errors, and how can I judge him? For you will gain two things, healing with one plaster both yourself and your neighbour. He shows what is really evil. Whence, by these arguments, God has contrived to make each one\u2019s disposition manifest.\nIt is not abstaining from deeds that justifies the believer, but purity and sincerity of thoughts.\nRepentance then becomes capable of wiping out every sin, when on the occurrence of the soul\u2019s fault it admits no delay, and does not let the impulse pass on to a long space of time. For it is in this way that evil will be unable to leave a trace in us, being plucked away at the moment of its assault like a newly planted plant.\nAs the creatures called crabs are easy to catch, from their going sometimes forward and sometimes backward; so also the soul, which at one time is laughing, at another weeping, and at another giving way to luxury, can do no good.\nHe who is sometimes grieving, and is sometimes enjoying himself and laughing, is like a man pelting the dog of voluptuousness with bread, who chases it in appearance, but in fact invites it to remain near him.\nSome flatterers were congratulating a wise man. He said to them, If you stop praising me, I think myself something great after your departure; but if you do not stop praising me, I guess my own impurity.\nFeigned praise is worth less than true censure.\np. 581\nTo the weak and infirm, what is moderate appears excessive.\nThe reproof that is given with knowledge is very faithful. Sometimes also the knowledge of those who are condemned is found to be the most perfect demonstration.\nTo the man who exalts and magnifies himself is attached the quick transition and the fall to low estate, as the divine word teaches.\nPure speech and a spotless life are the throne and true temple of God.\nIt is not only fornication, but also the giving in marriage prematurely, that is called fornication; when, so to speak, one not of ripe age is given to a husband, either of her own accord or by her parents.\nFlattery is the bane of friendship. Most men are accustomed to pay court to the good fortune of princes, rather than to the princes themselves.\nThe lovers of frugality shun luxury as the bane of soul and body. The possession and use of necessaries has nothing injurious in quality, but it has in quantity above measure. Scarcity of food is a necessary benefit.\nThe vivid remembrance of death is a check upon diet; and when the diet is lessened, the passions are diminished along with it.\nAbove all, Christians are not allowed to correct with violence the delinquencies of sins. For it is not those that abstain from wickedness from compulsion, but those that abstain from choice, that God crowns. It is impossible for a man to be steadily good except by his own choice. For he that is made good by compulsion of another is not good; for he is not what he is by his own choice. For it is the freedom of each one that makes true goodness and reveals real wickedness. Whence through these dispositions God contrived to make His own disposition manifest.\nAccordingly, in the years gone by, Jesus went to eat the passover sacrificed by the Jews, keeping the feast. But when he had preached He who was the Passover, the Lamb of God, led as a sheep to the slaughter, presently taught His disciples the mystery of the type on the thirteenth day, on which also they inquired, \u201cWhere wilt Thou that we prepare for Thee to eat the passover?\u201d 3805 It was on this day, then, that both the consecration of the unleavened bread and the preparation for the feast took place. Whence John naturally describes the disciples as already previously prepared to have their feet washed by the Lord. And on the following day our Saviour suffered, He who was the Passover, propitiously sacrificed by the Jews.\nSuitably, therefore, to the fourteenth day, on which He also suffered, in the morning, the chief priests and the scribes, who brought Him to Pilate, did not enter the Pr\u00e6torium, that they might not be defiled, but might freely eat the passover in the evening. With this precise determination of the days both the whole Scriptures agree, and the Gospels harmonize. The resurrection also attests it. He certainly rose on the third day, which fell on the first day of the weeks of harvest, on which the law prescribed that the priest should offer up the sheaf.\n1. What choral dance and high festival is held in heaven, if there is one that has become an exile and a fugitive from the life led under the Father, knowing not that those who put themselves p. 582 far from Him shall perish; if he has squandered the gift, and substance, and inheritance of the Father; if there is one whose faith has failed, and whose hope is spent, by rushing along with the Gentiles into the same profligacy of debauchery; and then, famished and destitute, and not even filled with what the swine eat, has arisen and come to his Father!\nBut the kind Father waits not till the son comes to Him. For perchance he would never be able or venture to approach, did he not find Him gracious. Wherefore, when he merely wishing, when he straightway made a beginning, when he took the first step, while he was yet a great way off, He [the Father] was moved with compassion, and ran, and fell upon his neck and kissed him. And then the son, taking courage, confessed what he had done.\nWherefore the Father bestows on him the glory and honour that was due and meet, putting on him the best robe, the robe of immortality; and a ring, a royal signet and divine seal,\u2014impress of consecration, signature of glory, pledge of testimony (for it is said, \u201cHe hath set to his seal that God is true,\u201d) 3806 and shoes, not those perishable ones which he hath set his foot on holy ground is bidden take off, nor such as he who is sent to preach the kingdom of heaven is forbidden to put on, but such as wear not, and are suited for the journey to heaven, becoming and adorning the heavenly path, such as unwashed feet never put on, but those which are washed by our Teacher and Lord.\nMany, truly, are the shoes of the sinful soul, by which it is bound and cramped. For each man is cramped by the cords of his own sins. Accordingly, Abraham swears to the king of Sodom, \u201cI will not take of all that is thine, from a thread to a shoe-latchet.\u201d 3807 On account of these being defiled and polluted on the earth, every kind of wrong and selfishness engrosses life. As the Lord reproves Israel by Amos, saying, \u201cFor three iniquities of Israel, yea, for four, I will not turn him back; because they have given away the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes, which tread upon the dust of the ground.\u201d 3808\n2. Now the shoes which the Father bids the servant give to the repentant son who has betaken himself to Him, do not impede or drag to the earth (for the earthly tabernacle weighs down the anxious mind); but they are buoyant, and ascending, and waft to heaven, and serve as such a ladder and chariot as he requires who has turned his mind towards the Father. For, beautiful after being first beautifully adorned with all these things without, he enters into the gladness within. For \u201cBring out\u201d was said by Him who had first said, \u201cWhile he was yet a great way off, he ran and fell upon his neck.\u201d For it is here 3809 that all the preparation for entrance to the marriage to which we are invited must be accomplished. He, then, who has been made ready to enter will say, \u201cThis my joy is fulfilled.\u201d 3810 But the unlovely and unsightly man will hear, \u201cFriend, how camest thou in here, without having a wedding garment?\u201d 3811 And the fat and unctuous food,\u2014the delicacies abundant and sufficing of the blessed,\u2014the fatted calf is killed; which is also again spoken of as a lamb (not literally); that no one may suppose it small; but it is the great and greatest. For not small is \u201cthe Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world,\u201d 3812 who \u201cwas led as a sheep to the slaughter,\u201d the sacrifice full of marrow, all whose fat, according to the sacred law, was the Lord\u2019s. For He was wholly devoted and consecrated to the Lord; so well grown, and to such excessive size, as to reach and extend over all, and to fill those who eat Him and feed upon Him. For He is both flesh and bread, and has given Himself as both to us to be eaten.\nTo the sons, then, who come to Him, the Father gives the calf, and it is slain and eaten. But those who do not come to Him He pursues and disinherits, and is found to be a most powerful bull. Here, by reason of His size and prowess, it is said of Him, \u201cHis glory is as that of an unicorn.\u201d 3813 And the prophet Habakkuk sees Him bearing horns, and celebrates His defensive attitude\u2014\u201chorns in His hands.\u201d 3814 Wherefore the sign shows His power and authority,\u2014horns that pierce on both sides, or rather, on all sides, and through everything. And those who eat are so strengthened, and retain such strength from the life-giving food in them, that they themselves are stronger than their enemies, and are all but armed with the horns of a bull; as it is said, \u201cIn thee shall we butt our enemies.\u201d 3815\n3. Gladness there is, and music, and dances; although the elder son, who had ever been with and ever obedient to the Father, takes it ill, when he who never had himself been dissipated or profligate sees the guilty one made happy.\nAccordingly the Father calls him, saying, \u201cSon, thou art ever with me.\u201d And what greater joy and feast and festivity can be than being continually with God, standing by His side and serving Him? \u201cAnd all that is mine is thine.\u201d And blessed is the heir of God, for whom the p. 583 Father holds possession,\u2014the faithful, to whom the whole world of possessions belongs.\n\u201cIt was meet that we should be glad, and rejoice; for thy brother was dead, and is alive again.\u201d Kind Father, who givest all things life, and raisest the dead. \u201cAnd was lost, and is found.\u201d And \u201cblessed is the man whom Thou hast chosen and accepted,\u201d 3816 and whom having sought, Thou dost find. \u201cBlessed are those whose iniquities are forgiven, whose sins are covered.\u201d 3817 It is for man to repent of sins; but let this be accompanied with a change that will not be checked. For he who does not act so shall be put to shame, because he has acted not with his whole heart, but in haste.\nAnd it is ours to flee to God. And let us endeavour after this ceaselessly and energetically. For He says, \u201cCome unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.\u201d 3818 And prayer and confession with humility are voluntary acts. Wherefore it is enjoined, \u201cFirst tell thy sins, that thou mayest be justified.\u201d 3819 What afterwards we shall obtain, and what we shall be, it is not for us to judge.\n4. Such is the strict meaning of the parable. 3820 The repentant son came to the pitying Father, never hoping for these things,\u2014the best robe, and the ring, and the shoes,\u2014or to taste the fatted calf, or to share in gladness, or enjoy music and dances; but he would have been contented with obtaining what in his own estimation he deemed himself worth. \u201cMake me,\u201d he had made up his mind to say, \u201cas one of thy hired servants.\u201d But when he saw the Father\u2019s welcome meeting him, he did not say this, but said what he had in his mind to say first, \u201cFather, I have sinned against Heaven, and before thee.\u201d And so both his humility and his accusation became the cause of justification and glory. For the righteous man condemns himself in his first words. So also the publican departed justified rather than the Pharisee. The son, then, knew not either what he was to obtain, or how to take or use or put on himself the things given him; since he did not take the robe himself, and put it on. But it is said, \u201cPut it on him.\u201d He did not himself put the ring on his finger, but those who were bidden \u201cPut a ring on his hand.\u201d Nor did he put the shoes on himself, but it was they who heard, \u201cand shoes on his feet.\u201d\nAnd these things were perhaps incredible to him and to others, and unexpected before they took place; but gladly received and praised were the gifts with which he was presented.\n5. The parable exhibits this thought, that the exercise of the faculty of reason has been accorded to each man. Wherefore the prodigal is introduced, demanding from his father his portion, that is, of the state of mind, endowed by reason. For the possession of reason is granted to all, in order to the pursuit of what is good, and the avoidance of what is bad. But many who are furnished by God with this make a bad use of the knowledge that has been given them, and land in the profligacy of evil practices, and wickedly waste the substance of reason,\u2014the eye on disgraceful sights, the tongue on blasphemous words, the smell on f\u0153tid licentious excesses of pleasures, the mouth on swinish gluttony, the hands on thefts, the feet on running into plots, the thoughts on impious counsels, the inclinations on indulgence on the love of ease, the mind on brutish pastime. They preserve nothing of the substance of reason unsquandered. Such an one, therefore, Christ represents in the parable,\u2014as a rational creature, with his reason darkened, and asking from the Divine Being what is suitable to reason; then as obtaining from God, and making a wicked use of what had been given, and especially of the benefits of baptism, which had been vouchsafed to him; whence also He calls him a prodigal; and then, after the dissipation of what had been given him, and again his restoration by repentance, [He represents] the love of God shown to him.\n6. For He says, \u201cBring hither the fatted calf, kill it, and let us eat and be merry; for this my son\u201d\u2014a name of nearest relationship, and significative of what is given to the faithful\u2014\u201cwas dead and lost,\u201d\u2014an expression of extremest alienation; for what is more alien to the living than the lost and dead? For neither can be possessed any more. But having from the nearest relationship fallen to extremest alienation, again by repentance he returned to near relationship. For it is said, \u201cPut on him the best robe,\u201d which was his the moment he obtained baptism. I mean the glory of baptism, the remission of sins, and the communication of the other blessings, which he obtained immediately he had touched the font.\n\u201cAnd put a ring on his hand.\u201d Here is the mystery of the Trinity; which is the seal impressed on those who believe.\n\u201cAnd put shoes on his feet,\u201d for \u201cthe preparation of the Gospel of peace,\u201d 3821 and the whole course that leads to good actions.\n7. But whom Christ finds lost, after sin committed since baptism, those Novatus, enemy of God, resigns to destruction. Do not let us then reckon any fault if we repent; guarding against falling, let us, if we have fallen, retrace our steps. And while dreading to offend, let us, after offending, p. 584 avoid despair, and be eager to be confirmed; and on sinking, let us haste to rise up again. Let us obey the Lord, who calls to us, \u201cCome unto Me, all ye that labour, and I will give you rest.\u201d 3822 Let us employ the gift of reason for actions of prudence. Let us learn now abstinence from what is wicked, that we may not be forced to learn in the future. Let us employ life as a training school for what is good; and let us be roused to the hatred of sin. Let us bear about a deep love for the Creator; let us cleave to Him with our whole heart; let us not wickedly waste the substance of reason, like the prodigal. Let us obtain the joy laid up, in which Paul exulting, exclaimed, \u201cWho shall separate us from the love of Christ?\u201d 3823 To Him belongs glory and honour, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, world without end. Amen.\nTherefore God does not here take the semblance of man, but of a dove, because He wished to show the simplicity and gentleness of the new manifestation of the Spirit by the likeness of the dove. For the law was stern, and punished with the sword; but grace is joyous, and trains by the word of meekness. Hence the Lord also says to the apostles, who said that He should punish with fire those who would not receive Him, after the manner of Elias: \u201cYe know not what manner of spirit ye are of.\u201d 3824\nPossibly by the \u201ciota and the tittle\u201d His righteousness exclaims, \u201cIf ye come right to me, I also will come right to you; if ye walk crooked, I also will walk crooked, saith the Lord of hosts,\u201d 3825 alluding to the offences of sinners under the name of crooked ways. For the straight way, and that according to nature, which is pointed out by the iota of Jesus, is His goodness, which is immoveable towards those who have obediently believed. There shall not then pass away from the law neither the iota nor the tittle; that is, neither the promise that applies to the straight in the way, nor the punishment threatened against those that diverge. For the Lord is good to the straight in the way; but \u201cthose that turn aside after their crooked ways He shall lead forth with those that work iniquity.\u201d 3826 \u201cAnd with the innocent He is innocent, and with the froward He is froward;\u201d 3827 and to the crooked He sends crooked ways.\nHis own luminous image God impressed as with a seal, even the greatest,\u2014on man made in His likeness, that he might be ruler and lord over all things, and that all things might serve him. Wherefore God judges man to be wholly His, and His own image. He is invisible; but His image, man, is visible. Whatever one, then, does to man, whether good or bad, is referred to Himself. Wherefore from Him judgment shall proceed, appointing to all according to desert; for He will avenge His own image.\nAs it is possible even now for man to form men, according to the original formation of Adam, He no longer now creates, on account of His having granted once for all to man the power of generating men, saying to our nature, \u201cIncrease, and multiply, and replenish the earth.\u201d 3828 So also, by His omnipotent and omniscient power, He arranged that the dissolution and death of our bodies should be effected by a natural sequence and order, through the change of their elements, in accordance with His divine knowledge and comprehension.\nFurther, Clement the Stromatist, in the various definitions which he framed, that they might guide the man desirous of studying theology in every dogma of religion, defining what spirit is, and how it is called spirit, says: \u201cSpirit is a substance, subtle, immaterial, and which issues forth without form.\u201d\nSolomon the son of David, in the books styled \u201cThe Reigns of the Kings,\u201d comprehending not only that the structure of the true temple was celestial and spiritual, but had also a reference to the flesh, which He who was both the son and Lord of David was to build up, both for His own presence, where, as a living image, He resolved to make His shrine, and for the church that was to rise up through the union of faith, says expressly, \u201cWill God in very deed dwell with men on the earth?\u201d 3829\np. 585\nHe dwells on the earth clothed in flesh, and His abode with men is effected by the conjunction and harmony which obtains among the righteous, and which build and rear a new temple. For the righteous are the earth, being still encompassed with the earth; and earth, too, in comparison with the greatness of the Lord. Thus also the blessed Peter hesitates not to say, \u201cYe also, as living stones, are built up, a spiritual house, a holy temple, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.\u201d 3830\nAnd with reference to the body, which by circumscription He consecrated as a hallowed place for Himself upon earth, He said, \u201cDestroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up again. The Jews therefore said, In forty-six years was this temple built, and wilt thou raise it up in three days? But He spake of the temple of His body.\u201d 3831\nWhat is God? \u201cGod,\u201d as the Lord saith, \u201cis a Spirit.\u201d Now spirit is properly substance, incorporeal, and uncircumscribed. And that is incorporeal which does not consist of a body, or whose existence is not according to breadth, length, and depth. And that is uncircumscribed 3832 which has no place, which is wholly in all, and in each entire, and the same in itself.\n\u03a6\u03cd\u03c3\u03b9\u03c2 (nature) is so called from \u03c4\u1f78 \u03c0\u03b5\u03c6\u03c5\u03ba\u03ad\u03bd\u03b1\u03b9 (to be born). The first substance is everything which subsists by itself, as a stone is called a substance. The second is a substance capable of increase, as a plant grows and decays. The third is animated and sentient substance, as animal, horse. The fourth is animate, sentient, rational substance, as man. Wherefore each one of us is made as consisting of all, having an immaterial soul and a mind, which is the image of God.\nThe fear of God, who is impassible, is free of perturbation. For it is not God that one dreads, but the falling away from God. He who dreads this, dreads falling into what is evil, and dreads what is evil. And he that fears a fall wishes himself to be immortal and passionless.\nLet there be a law against those who dare to look at things sacred and divine irreverently, and in a way unworthy of God, to inflict on them the punishment of blindness.\nUniversally, the Christian is friendly to solitude, and quiet, and tranquillity, and peace.\nThat mystic name which is called the Tetragrammaton, by which alone they who had access to the Holy of Holies were protected, is pronounced Jehovah, which means, \u201cWho is, and who shall be.\u201d The candlestick which stood at the south of the altar signified the seven planets, which seem to us to revolve around the meridian, 3833 on either side of which rise three branches; since the sun also like the lamp, balanced in the midst of the planets by divine wisdom, illumines by its light those above and below. On the other side of the altar was situated the table on which the loaves were displayed, because from that quarter of the heaven vital and nourishing breezes blow.\nOn Acts vii. 24. The mystics say that it was by his word alone that Moses slew the Egyptian; as certainly afterwards it is related in the Acts that [Peter] slew with his word those who kept back part of the price of the land, and lied.\nOn Rom. viii. 38. \u201cOr life, that of our present existence,\u201d and \u201cdeath,\u201d\u2014that caused by the assault of persecutors, and \u201cangels, and principalities, and powers,\u201d apostate spirits.\nAnd having neither known nor done the requirement of the law, what they conceived, that they also thought that the law required. And they did not believe the law, as prophesying, but the bare word; and followed it from fear, but not with their disposition and in faith.\nOn 2 Cor. v. 16. \u201cAnd if we have known Christ after the flesh.\u201d\np. 586\nAnd so far, he says, no one any longer lives after the flesh. For that is not life, but death. For Christ also, that He might show this, 3834 ceased to live after the flesh. How? Not by putting off the body! Far be it! For with it as His own He shall come, the Judge of all. But by divesting Himself of physical affections, such as hunger, and thirst, and sleep, and weariness. For now He has a body incapable of suffering and of injury.\nAs \u201cafter the flesh\u201d in our case is being in the midst of sins, and being out of them is to be \u201cnot after the flesh;\u201d so also after the flesh, in the case of Christ, was His subjection to natural affections, and not to be subject to them was not to be \u201cafter the flesh.\u201d \u201cBut,\u201d he says, \u201cas He was released, so also are we.\u201d 3835 Let there be no longer, he says, subjection to the influences of the flesh. Thus Clement, the fourth book of the Hypotyposes.\nOn 2 Cor. vi. 11. \u201cOur heart is enlarged.\u201d\nFor as heat is wont to expand, so also love. For love is a thing of warmth. As if he would say, I love you not only with mouth, but with heart, and have you all within. Wherefore he says: \u201cye are not straitened in us, since desire itself expands the soul.\u201d \u201cOur heart is enlarged\u201d to teach you all things; \u201cbut ye are straitened in your own bowels,\u201d that is, in love to God, in which you ought to love me.\nThus Clement, in the fourth book of the Hypotyposes.\nHeb. i. 1. \u201cAt sundry times and divers manners.\u201d\nSince the Lord, being the Apostle of the Almighty, was sent to the Hebrews, it was out of modesty that Paul did not subscribe himself apostle of the Hebrews, from reverence for the Lord, and because he was the herald and apostle of the Gentiles, and wrote the Epistle to the Hebrews in addition [to his proper work]. 3836\nThe same work contains a passage from The Instructor, book i. chap. vi. 3837 The passage is that beginning, \u201cFor the blood is found to be,\u201d down to \u201cpotent charms of affection.\u201d Portions, however, are omitted. There are a good many various readings; but although the passage in question, as found in Cramer\u2019s work, is printed in full in Migne\u2019s edition, on the alleged ground of the considerable variation from the text of Clement, the variation is not such as to make a translation of the passage as found in Cramer of any special interest or value.\nWe have noted the following readings:\u2014\n\u03b3\u03b9\u03bd\u03b5\u03c4\u03b1\u03b9, where, the verb being omitted, we have inserted is: There is an obstruction, etc.\n\u03c3\u03cd\u03c1\u03b9\u03b3\u03b3\u03b1\u03c2, tubes, instead of \u03c3\u03ae\u03c1\u03b1\u03b3\u03b3\u03b1\u03c2 (hollows), hollows of the breasts.\n\u03b3\u03b5\u03b9\u03c4\u03bd\u03b9\u03b1\u03b6\u03bf\u03c5\u03c3\u1ff6\u03bd, for \u03b3\u03b5\u03b9\u03c4\u03bd\u03b9\u03bf\u03c5\u03c3\u1ff6\u03bd, neighbouring (arteries).\n\u1f10\u03c0\u03b9\u03bb\u03ae\u03c8\u03b5\u03b9, for \u1f10\u03bc\u03c0\u03b5\u03c1\u03b9\u03bb\u03ae\u03c8\u03b5\u03b9, interruption (such as this).\n\u1f00\u03c0\u03bf\u03ba\u03bb\u03ae\u03c1\u03c9\u03c3\u03b9\u03c2 occurs as in the text, for which the emendation \u1f00\u03c0\u03bf\u03bb\u03ae\u03c1\u03b7\u03c3\u03b9\u03c2, as specified in the note, has been adopted.\n\u1f25\u03c4\u03b9\u03c2 \u1f10\u03c3\u03c4\u03af, omitted here, which is \u201csweet through grace,\u201d is supplied.\n\u03b3\u03ac\u03bb\u03b1, milk, instead of \u03bc\u03ac\u03bd\u03bd\u03b1, manna, (that food) manna.\n\u03c7\u03c1\u1f74 \u03b4\u1f72 \u03ba\u03b1\u03c4\u03b1\u03bd\u03bf\u1fc6\u03c3\u03b1\u03b9 \u03c4\u1f74\u03bd \u03c6\u03cd\u03c3\u03b9\u03bd (but it is necessary to consider nature), for \u03bf\u1f50 \u03ba\u03b1\u03c4\u03b1\u03bd\u03b5\u03bd\u03bf\u03b7\u03ba\u03cc\u03c4\u03b5\u03c2, \u03c4. \u03c6., through want of consideration of nature.\n\u03ba\u03b1\u03c4\u03b1\u03ba\u03bb\u03b5\u03b9\u03bf\u03bc\u03ad\u03bd\u1ff3, agreeing with food, for \u03ba\u03b1\u03c4\u03b1\u03ba\u03bb\u03b5\u03b9\u03bf\u03bc\u03ad\u03bd\u03c9, agreeing with heat (enclosed within).\n\u03b3\u03af\u03bd\u03b5\u03c4\u03b1\u03b9 for \u03b3\u1f70\u03c1 (which is untranslated), (the blood) is (a preparation) for milk.\n\u03c4\u03bf\u03af\u03bd\u03c5\u03bd \u03c4\u1f78\u03bd \u03bb\u03cc\u03b3\u03bf\u03bd is supplied, and \u03b5\u1f30\u03ba\u03cc\u03c4\u03c9\u03c2 omitted in the clause, Paul using appropriate figurative language.\n\u03c0\u03bb\u1f74 \u03bd is supplied before \u1f00\u03bb\u03bb\u1f70 \u03c4\u1f78 \u03ad\u03bd \u03b1\u1f50\u03c4\u1fc7, and the blood in it, etc., is omitted.\n\u201cFor Diogenes Apolloniates will have it\u201d is omitted.\n\u03c0\u03ac\u03bd\u03c4\u03b7, rendered \u201cin all respects,\u201d is connected with the preceding sentence.\n\u1f45\u03c4\u03b9 \u03c4\u03bf\u03af\u03bd\u03c5\u03bd, for \u1f69\u03c2 \u03b4\u1fbd. And that (milk is produced).\n\u03c4\u03b7\u03bd\u03b9\u03ba\u03b1\u1fe6\u03c4\u03b1 for \u03c4\u03b7\u03bd\u03b9\u03ba\u03ac\u03b4\u03b5 in the clause, \u201cand the p. 587 grass and meadows are juicy and moist,\u201d not translated.\n\u03c0\u03c1\u03bf\u03b5\u03b9\u03c1\u03b7\u03bc\u03ad\u03bd\u1ff3, above mentioned (milk), omitted.\n\u03c4\u03c1\u03c5\u03c6\u1fc6\u03c2 for \u03c4\u03c1\u03bf\u03c6\u1fc6\u03c2, (sweet) nutriment.\n\u03c4\u1ff7 omitted before \u03b3\u03bb\u03c5\u03ba\u03b5\u1fd6, sweet (wine), and \u03ba\u03b1\u03b8\u03ac\u03c0\u03b5\u03c1, \u201cas, when suffering.\u201d\n\u03c4\u1f78 \u03bb\u03b9\u03c0\u03b1\u03c1\u03cc\u03bd for \u03c4\u1ff7 \u03bb\u03b9\u03c0\u03b1\u03c1\u1ff7, and \u1f00\u03c1\u03b9\u03b4\u03ae\u03bb\u03c9\u03c2 for \u1f00\u03c1\u03b9\u03b4\u03ae\u03bb\u03bf\u03c5, in the sentence: \u201cFurther, many use the fat of milk, called butter, for the lamp, plainly,\u201d etc.\n[Le Nourry decides that the Adumbrations were not translated from the Hypotyposes, but Kaye (p. 473) thinks on insufficient grounds. See, also (p. 5), Kaye\u2019s learned note.]\np. 588\n[M. Aurelius Cassiodorus (whose name is also Senator) was an author and public man of the sixth century, and a very voluminous writer. He would shine with a greater lustre were he not so nearly lost in the brighter light of Bo\u00ebthius, his illustrious contemporary. After the death of his patron, Theodoric, he continued for a time in the public service, and in high positions, but, at seventy years of age, began another career, and for twenty years devoted himself to letters and the practice of piety in a monastery which he established in the Neopolitan kingdom, near his native Squillace. Died about a.d. 560.]\n571:3713\nComments, i.e., Adumbrationes. Cassiodorus says that he had in his translation corrected what he considered erroneous in the original. So Fell states: and he is also inclined to believe that these fragments are from Clement\u2019s lost work, the \u1f59\u03c0\u03bf\u03c4\u03c5\u03c0\u03ce\u03c3\u03b5\u03b9\u03c2, of which he believes The Adumbrationes of Cassiodorus to be a translation.\n571:3714\n\u201cUtramque\u201d is the reading, which is plainly corrupt. We have conjectured \u201canimam.\u201d The rest of the sentence is so ungrammatical and impracticable as it stands, that it is only by taking considerable liberties with it that it is translateable at all.\n571:3715\nThe text here has like a drag-net or (sicut sagena vel), which we have omitted, being utterly incapable of divining any conceivable resemblance or analogy which a drag-net can afford for the re-union of the soul and body. \u201cSagena\u201d is either a blunder for something else which we cannot conjecture, or the sentence is here, as elsewhere, mutilated. But it is possible that it may have been the union of the blessed to each other, and their conjunction with one another according to their affinities, which was the point handled in the original sentences, of which we have only these obscure and confusing remains. [A very good conjecture, on the strength of which the text might have been let as it stood.]\n571:3716 571:3717\n\u201cC\u0153li,\u201d plainly a mistake for \u201cc\u0153lo\u201d or \u201cc\u0153lis.\u201d There is apparently a hiatus here. \u201cThe angelic abode, guarded in heaven,\u201d most probably is the explanation of \u201can inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, reserved in heaven.\u201d\n571:3718 571:3719 571:3720 571:3721 571:3722 571:3723 571:3724 572:3725 572:3726 572:3727 572:3728 572:3729 572:3730 572:3731 572:3732 572:3733 572:3734 572:3735 572:3736 572:3737 572:3738 572:3739 572:3740 572:3741 572:3742 572:3743 572:3744 572:3745 572:3746 572:3747 572:3748 573:3749 573:3750\nThe reading is \u201cagnosceret.\u201d To yield any sense it must have been \u201cagnoscatur\u201d or \u201cagnosceretur.\u201d\n573:3751 573:3752 573:3753 573:3754 573:3755 573:3756 573:3757 573:3758\n\u201cQuibus significat Dominus remissius esse,\u201d the reading here, defies translation and emendation. We suppose a hiatus here, and change \u201cremissius\u201d into \u201cremissum\u201d to get the above sense. The statement cannot apply to Sodom and Gomorrha.\n573:3759 573:3760 573:3761\nDominus\u2014Dominium, referring to the clause \u201cdespise dominion.\u201d [Jude 8.]\n573:3762 573:3763 573:3764 573:3765 573:3766 573:3767 573:3768\nThe reading is \u201cagnosceret.\u201d To yield any sense it myst have been \u201cagnoscatur\u201d or \u201cagnosceretur.\u201d\n573:3769 573:3770 573:3771\n\u201cDiscernentes a carnibus,\u201d\u2014a sentence which has got either displaced or corrupted, or both.\n573:3772 574:3773 574:3774 574:3775 574:3776 574:3777\nBy a slight change of punctuation, and by substituting \u201cmaculata\u201d for \u201cmacula,\u201d we get the sense as above. Anim\u00e6 videlicet tunica macula est\u201d is the reading of the text.\n574:3778 574:3779\nWe have here with some hesitation altered the punctuation. In the text, \u201cTo be presented\u201d begins a new sentence.\n574:3780\nMark xiv. 62. There is blundering here as to the differences between the evangelists\u2019 accounts, as a comparison of them shows.\n574:3781 574:3782 574:3783\nMatt. xxvi. 64: \u201cThou has said: nevertheless, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.\u201d\n574:3784 574:3785 574:3786 574:3787 575:3788 575:3789\n1 Sam. 3:3, 4.\n575:3790 575:3791 575:3792\n\u201cIntellector\u201d in Latin translation. [See p. 607, footnote.]\n576:3793\nThe text reads \u201cChristi,\u201d which yields no suitable sense, and or which we have substituted \u201cChristus.\u201d\n577:3794\n[His Catena on Job was edited by Patrick Young, London, 1637.]\n577:3795\nThis down to \u201clives\u201d is quoted in Strom., book iv. ch. xxv. p. 439, supra.\n578:3796 578:3797\n\u03a6\u03c9\u03c4\u03cc\u03c2 here has probably taken the place of \u03c6\u03c9\u03c4\u03b5\u03b9\u03bd\u03bf\u1fe6. [This passage is in the Stromata; and also a similar figure, p. 347, this series.]\n578:3798 578:3799\n[See Kaye, p. 442, and the eleventh chapter entire.]\n579:3800\n\u03c0\u03c1\u03bf\u03ba\u03c1\u03af\u03bc\u03b1\u03c4\u03bf\u03c2, \u201cwithout preferring one before another.\u201d\u2014A.V.\n579:3801 580:3802\nSermon 53. On The Soul, p. 156. [Anton. Melissa, a Greek monk of the twelfth century, has left works not infrequently referred to by modern authors. Flourished a.d. 1140.]\n580:3803\n143, fol. 181, p. 1, chapter On Care For The Soul.\n580:3804\nOn Slanderers and Insult. The evidence on which this is ascribed to Clement is very slender.\n581:3805 582:3806 582:3807 582:3808 582:3809\nWe have ventured to substitute \u1f10\u03bd\u03c4\u03b1\u1fe6\u03b8\u03b1 instead of \u1f10\u03bd\u03c4\u03b5\u1f7a\u03b8\u03b5\u03bd. He is showing that the preparation must be made before we go in.\n582:3810 582:3811 582:3812 582:3813 582:3814 582:3815 583:3816 583:3817 583:3818 583:3819 583:3820\nHere Grabe notes that what follows is a new exposition of the parable, and is by another and a later hand, as is shown by the refutation of Novatus towards the end.\n583:3821 584:3822 584:3823 584:3824 584:3825 584:3826 584:3827 584:3828 584:3829 585:3830 585:3831 585:3832\nWith an exclamation of surprise at the Latin translator giving a translation which is utterly unintelligible, Capperonn amends the text, substituting \u03bf\u1f57 \u03c4\u03cc\u03c0\u03bf\u03c2 \u03bf\u1f50\u03b4\u03b5\u1f76\u03c2 \u03c4\u1ff7, etc., for \u03bf\u1faa \u03c4\u03cc\u03c0\u03bf\u03c2 \u03bf\u1faa\u03b4\u03b5\u1f76\u03c2 \u03c4\u03cc\u03c0\u03bf\u03c2 \u03c4\u03cc, etc., and translates accordingly. The emendation is adopted, with the exception of the \u03c4\u1ff7, instead of which \u03c4\u03cc is retained.\n585:3833\nSee Stromata, book v. chap. vi. p. 452, which is plainly the source from which this extract is taken.\n586:3834\nWe omit \u1f45\u03c4\u03b9, which the text has after \u03b4\u03b5\u03af\u03be\u1fc3, which seems to indicate the omission of a clause, but as it stands is superfluous. The Latin translator retains it; and according to the rendering, the translation would be, \u201cshowed that He ceased.\u201d\n586:3835\nThis extract, down to \u201care we,\u201d has already been given among the extracts from the Hypotyposes, p. 578.\n586:3836\nThis extract, almost verbatim, has been already given from Eusebius, among the extracts from the Hypotyposes, p. 579.\n586:3837\nSee p. 219, and the argument following, supra.","title":"Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol II: CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: Fragments of Clemens Alexandrinus","type":"page"}