 Chapters 14 through 16 of Irenaeus Against Heresies, Book 4. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Irenaeus Against Heresies, Book 4, translated by Alexander Roberts and W. H. Rambo. Chapter 14. If God demands obedience from man, if he formed man, called him, and placed him under laws, it was merely for man's welfare, not that God stood in need of man, but that he graciously conferred upon man his favors in every possible manner. 1. In the beginning, therefore, did God form Adam, not as if he stood in need of man, but that he might have someone upon whom to confer his benefits. 4. Not alone antecedently to Adam, but also before all creation, the word glorified his Father, remaining in him, and was himself glorified by the Father, as he did himself declare, Father, glorify thou me with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. 5. Nor did he stand in need of our service when he ordered us to follow him, but he thus bestowed salvation upon ourselves. 6. For to follow the Savior is to be a partaker of salvation, and to follow light is to receive light. 7. But those who are in light do not themselves illumine the light, but are illumined and revealed by it. 8. They do certainly contribute nothing to it, but, receiving the benefit, they are illuminated by the light. 9. Thus also service rendered to God does indeed profit God nothing, nor has God need of human obedience, but he grants to those who follow and serve him life and in corruption and eternal glory, bestowing benefit upon those who serve him, because they do serve him, and on his followers, because they do follow him, but does not receive any benefit from them, for he is rich, perfect, and in need of nothing. 9. But for this reason, does God demand service from him? In order that, since he is good and merciful, he may benefit those who continue in his service. 10. For as much as God is in want of nothing, so much does man stand in need of fellowship with God. 11. For this is the glory of man, to continue and remain permanently in God's service. 12. Wherefore also did the Lord say to his disciples, Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, indicating that they did not glorify him when they followed him, but that, in following the Son of God, they were glorified by him. 13. And again, I will, that where I am, there they also may be, that they may behold my glory. 14. Not vainly boasting because of this, but desiring that his disciples should share in his glory, of whom Isaiah also says, I will bring thy seed from the east, and will gather thee from the west, and I will say to the north, Give up, and to the south, keep not back. Bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth, all as many as have been called in my name, for in my glory I have prepared and formed and made him. 15. Inasmuch then, wheresoever the carcasses, there shall also the eagles be gathered together, do we participate in the glory of the Lord, who has both formed us and prepared us for this, that, when we are with him, we may partake of his glory. 2. Thus it was too, that God formed man at the first, because of his munificence, but chose the patriarchs for the sake of their salvation, and prepared a people beforehand, teaching the headstrong to follow God, and raised up prophets upon earth, a customing man to bear his spirit within him, and to hold communion with God. He himself indeed, having need of nothing, but granting communion with himself to those who stood in need of it, and sketching out, like an architect, the plan of salvation to those that pleased him. And he did himself furnish guidance to those who beheld him not in Egypt, while to those who became unruly in the desert, he promulgated a law very suitable to their condition. Then, on the people who entered into the good land, he bestowed a noble inheritance, and he killed the fatted calf for those converted to the father, and presented them with the finest robe. Thus, in a variety of ways, he adjusted the human race to an agreement with salvation. On this account also, does John declare in the Apocalypse, and his voice as the sound of many waters. For the Spirit of God is truly like many waters, since the Father is both rich and great. And the Word, passing through all those men, did liberally confer benefits upon his subjects, by drawing up in writing a law adapted and applicable to every class among them. 3. Thus, too, he imposed upon the Jewish people the construction of the tabernacle, the building of the temple, the election of the Levites, sacrifices also and oblations, legal munitions, and all the other services of the law. He does himself truly want none of these things, for he is always full of all good, and had in himself all the odor of kindness, and every perfume of sweet smelling savers, even before Moses existed. Moreover, he instructed the people who were prone to turn to idols, instructing them by repeated appeals to persevere and to serve God, calling them to the things of primary importance by means of those which were secondary. That is, to things that are real by means of those that are typical. And by things temporal to eternal, and by the carnal to the spiritual, and by the earthly to the heavenly. As was also said to Moses, thou shalt make all things after the pattern of those things which thou sawst in the mount. For during forty days he was learning to keep in his memory the words of God, and the celestial patterns, and the spiritual images, and the types of things to come, as also Paul says, for they drank of the rock which followed them, and the rock was Christ. And again, having first mentioned what are contained in the law, he goes on to say, now all these things happen to them in a figure, but they were written for our admonition, upon whom the end of the ages is come. For by means of types, they learned to fear God, and to continue devoted to his service. Chapter 15. At first God deemed it sufficient to inscribe the natural law, or the decalogue, upon the hearts of men, but afterwards he found it necessary to bridle with the yoke of the mosaic law the desires of the Jews who were abusing their liberty, and even to add some special commands because of the hardness of their hearts. 1. The Jews had therefore a law, a course of discipline, and a prophecy of future things. For God at the first indeed, warning them by means of natural precepts, which from the beginning he had implanted in mankind, that is, by means of the decalogue, which, if anyone does not observe, he has no salvation, did then demand nothing more of them. As Moses says in Deuteronomy, these are all the words which the Lord spake to the whole assembly of the sons of Israel on the mount, and he added no more, and he wrote them on two tablets of stone, and gave them to me. For this reason he did so, that they who are willing to follow him might keep these commandments, but when they turned themselves to make a calf, and had gone back in their minds to Egypt, desiring to be slaves instead of freemen, they were placed for the future in a state of servitude suited to their wish, a slavery which did not indeed cut them off from God, but subjected them to the yoke of bondage. As Ezekiel the prophet, when stating the reasons for the giving of such a law, declares, and their eyes were after the desire of their heart, and I gave them statutes that were not good, and judgments in which they shall not live. Luke also has recorded that Stephen, who was the first elected into the deaconate by the apostles, and who was the first slain for the testimony of Christ, spoke regarding Moses as follows, This man did indeed receive the commandments of the living God to give to us, whom your fathers would not obey, but thrust him from them, and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt, saying unto Aaron, Make us gods to go before us, for we do not know what has happened to this Moses, who led us from the land of Egypt. And they made a cathan those days, and offered sacrifices to the idol, and were rejoicing in the works of their own hands. But God turned, and gave them up to worship the hosts of heaven, as it is written in the books of the prophets. O ye house of Israel, have ye offered to me sacrifices and oblations for forty years in the wilderness? And ye took up the tabernacle of Molech, and the star of the God Remfan, figures which he made to worship them, pointing out plainly that the law being such was not given to them by another God, but that, adapted to their condition of servitude, it originated from the very same God as we worship. Wherefore also, he says to Moses in Exodus, I will send forth my angel before thee, for I will not go up with thee because thou art a stiff-necked people. 2. And not only so, but the Lord also showed that certain precepts were enacted for them by Moses on account of their hardness of heart, and because of their unwillingness to be obedient, when, on their saying to him, why then did Moses command to give a writing of divorcement and to send away a wife? He said to them, because of the hardness of your hearts he permitted these things to you, but from the beginning it was not so. Thus exculpating Moses as a faithful servant, but acknowledging one God who from the beginning made male and female, and reproving them as hard-hearted and disobedient. And therefore, it was that they received from Moses this law of divorcement, adapted to their hard nature. But why say I these things concerning the Old Testament? For in the New also are the apostles found doing this very thing on the ground which has been mentioned, Paul plainly declaring, but these things I say, not the Lord. And again, but this I speak by permission, not by commandment. And again, now as concerning virgins, I have no commandment from the Lord, yet I give my judgment as one that hath obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful. But further, in another place, he says, that Satan tempt you not for your incontinence. If therefore, even in the New Testament, the apostles are found granting certain precepts in consideration of human infirmity because of the incontinence of some, lest some persons having grown obdurate and despairing altogether of their salvation should become apostates from God. It ought not to be wondered at, if also in the Old Testament, the same God permitted similar indulgences for the benefit of his people, drawing them on by means of the ordinances already mentioned, so that they might obtain the gift of salvation through them. While they obeyed the Decalogue and being restrained by him should not revert to idolatry, nor apostatize from God, but learn to love him with the whole heart. And if certain people, because of the disobedient and ruined Israelites, do assert that the giver of the law was limited in power, they will find in our dispensation that many are called, but few chosen. And that there are those who inwardly are wolves, yet wear sheep's clothing in the eyes of the world. And that God has always preserved freedom and the power of self-government in man, while at the same time, he issued his own exhortations in order that those who do not obey him should be righteously judged because they have not obeyed him. And that those who have obeyed and believed on him should be honored with immortality. Chapter 16 Perfect righteousness was conferred neither by circumcision nor by any other legal ceremonies. The Decalogue, however, was not canceled by Christ, but is always in force. Men were never released from its commandments. 1 Moreover, we learn from the Scripture itself that God gave circumcision, not as the completer of righteousness, but as a sign that the race of Abraham might continue recognizable. For it declares, God said unto Abraham, every male among you shall be circumcised, and ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskins as a token of the Covenant between me and you. This same does Ezekiel the prophet say with regard to the Sabbaths. Also, I gave them my Sabbaths to be a sign between me and them that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them. And in Exodus, God says to Moses, and ye shall observe my Sabbaths, for it shall be a sign between me and you for your generations. These things then were given for a sign, but the signs were not unsymbolical, that is, neither unmeaning, nor to no purpose in as much as they were given by a wise artist. But the circumcision after the flesh typified that after the Spirit. For we, says the apostle, have been circumcised with the circumcision made without hands. And the prophet declares, circumcise the hardness of your heart. But the Sabbaths taught that we should continue day by day in God's service. For we have been counted, says the apostle Paul, all the day long as sheep for the slaughter, that is, consecrated to God and administering continually to our faith and preserving in it and abstaining from all avarice and not acquiring or possessing treasures upon earth. Moreover, the Sabbath of God, that is, the kingdom, was, as it were, indicated by created things in which kingdom the man who shall have persevered in serving God shall, in a state of rest, partake of God's table. Two. And that man was not justified by these things, but that they were given as a sign to the people, this fact shows that Abraham himself, without circumcision and without observance of Sabbaths, believed God and it was imputed unto him for righteousness and he was called the friend of God. Then again, lot without circumcision was brought out from Sodom, receiving salvation from God. So also did Noah, pleasing God, although he was uncircumcised, receive the dimensions of the ark, of the world of the second race of men. Enoch, too, pleasing God without circumcision, discharged the office of God's legate to the angels, although he was a man and was translated and is preserved until now as a witness of the just judgment of God because the angels, when they had transgressed, fell to the earth for judgment, but the man who pleased God was translated for salvation. Moreover, all the rest of the multitude of those righteous men who lived before Abraham and of those patriarchs who preceded Moses were justified independently of the things above mentioned and without the law of Moses. As also Moses himself says to the people in Deuteronomy, The Lord thy God formed a covenant in Horeb. The Lord formed not this covenant with your fathers, but for you. 3. Why then did the Lord not form the covenant for the fathers? Because the law was not established for righteous men, but the righteous fathers had the meaning of the decalogue written in their hearts and souls, that is, they loved the God who made them and did no injury to their neighbor. There was therefore no occasion that they should be cautioned by prohibitory mandates because they had the righteousness of the law in themselves. But when this righteousness and love to God had passed into oblivion and became extinct in Egypt, God did necessarily, because of his great goodwill to men, reveal himself by a voice and led the people with power out of Egypt in order that man might again become the disciple and follower of God. And he afflicted those who were disobedient that they should not condemn their Creator. And he fed them with manna that they might receive food for their souls. As also Moses says in Deuteronomy, And feed thee with manna which thy fathers did not know, that thou mightest know that man doth not live by bread alone, but by every word of God proceeding out of his mouth doth man live. And it enjoined love to God and taught just dealing towards our neighbor that we should neither be unjust nor unworthy of God who prepares man for his friendship through the medium of the decalogue and likewise for agreement with his neighbor matters which did certainly profit man himself. God, however, standing in no need of anything from man. 4. And therefore does the scripture say, These words the Lord spake to all the assembly of the children of Israel in the mount and he added no more. 4, as I have already observed, he stood in need of nothing from them. And again Moses says, 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 by supplying what was wanting to him, namely the friendship of God. But they profited God nothing for God did not at all stand in need of man's love for the glory of God was wanting to man which he could obtain in no other way than by serving God. And therefore Moses says to them again Choose life that thou mayest live and thy seed to love the Lord thy God, to hear his voice, to cling unto him. For this is thy life and the length of thy days. Preparing man for this life, the Lord himself did speak in his own person to all alike the words of the Decalogue, and therefore in like manner do they remain permanently with us, receiving by means of his advent in the flesh extension and increase, but not abrogation. 5, the laws of bondage however were one by one promulgated to the people by Moses, suited for their instruction or for their punishment as Moses himself declared, and the Lord commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments. These things therefore, which were given for bondage and for a sign to them, he canceled by the new covenant of liberty. But he has increased and widened those laws which are natural and noble and common to all, granting to men largely and without grudging by means of adoption, to know God the Father, and to love him with the whole heart and to follow his word unswervingly, while they abstain not only from evil deeds, but even from the desire after them. But he has also increased the feelings of reverence, for sons should have more veneration than slaves and greater love for their Father. And therefore the Lord says, As to every idle word that men have spoken, they shall render an account for it in the jay of judgment. And he who has looked upon a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. And he that is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. All this is declared that we may know that we shall give account to God, not of deeds only as slaves, but even of words and thoughts, as those who have truly received the power of liberty in which condition a man is more severely tested, whether he will reverence and fear and love the Lord. But for this reason, Peter says, That we have not liberty as a cloak of maliciousness, but as a means of testing and evidencing faith. End of Book 4, Chapters 14-16 Chapters 17-18 of Irenaeus Against Heresies, Book 4 This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Irenaeus Against Heresies, Book 4 Translated by Alexander Roberts and W. H. Rombo Chapter 17 Proof that God did not appoint the Levitical dispensation for his own sake, or as requiring such service, for he does, in fact, need nothing from men. 1. Moreover, the prophets indicate in the fullest manner that God stood in no need of their slavish obedience, but that it was upon their own account that he enjoined certain observances in the law. And again, that God needed not their ablation, but merely demanded it on account of man himself who offers it. The Lord taught distinctly, as I have pointed out. For when he perceived them neglecting righteousness and abstaining from the love of God, and imagining that God was to be propitiated by sacrifices and the other typical observances, Samuel did even thus speak to them. God does not desire whole-burnt offerings and sacrifices, but he will have his voice to be hearkened to. Behold, a ready obedience is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. David also says, Sacrifice and oblation thou didst not desire, but mine ears hast thou perfected. Burnt offerings also for sin thou hast not required. He thus teaches them that God desires obedience, which renders them secure, rather than sacrifices and holocausts, which avail them nothing towards righteousness. And by this declaration, he prophesies the new covenant at the same time. Still clearer, too, does he speak of these things in the 50th Psalm. For if thou hadst desired sacrifice, then would I have given it. Thou wilt not delight in burnt offerings. The sacrifice of God is a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart the Lord will not despise. Because, therefore, God stands in need of nothing, he declares in the preceding Psalm, I will take no calves out of thine house, nor he goats out of thy fold. For mine are all the beasts of the earth, the herds and the oxen on the mountains. I know all the fowls of heaven and the various tribes of the field are mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell thee, for the world is mine and the fullness thereof. Shall I eat the flesh of bowls or drink the blood of goats? Then, lest it might be supposed that he refused these things in his anger, he continues giving man counsel. Offer unto God the sacrifice of praise and pay thy vows to the most high and call upon me in the day of thy trouble and I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorify me. Rejecting indeed those things by which sinners imagined they could propitiate God and showing that he does himself stand in need of nothing, but he exhorts and advises them to those things by which man is justified and draws nigh to God. This same declaration does Isaius make. To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? Sayeth the Lord. I am full. And when he had repudiated holocausts and sacrifices and oblations as likewise the new moons and the Sabbaths and the festivals and all the rest of the services accompanying these, he continues exhorting them to what pertained to salvation. Wash you. Make you clean. Take away wickedness from your hearts from before mine eyes. Cease from your evil ways. Learn to do well. Seek judgment. Relieve the oppressed. Judge the fatherless. Plead for the widow. And come. Let us reason together. Sayeth the Lord. Two. For it was not because he was angry like a man has many venture to say that he rejected their sacrifices but out of compassion to their blindness and with the view of suggesting to them the true sacrifice by offering which they shall appease God that they may receive life from him. As he elsewhere declares the sacrifice to God is an afflicted heart. A sweet saver to God is a heart glorifying him who formed it. For if, when angry, he had repudiated these sacrifices of theirs as if they were persons unworthy to obtain his compassion he would not certainly have urged the same things upon them as those by which they might be saved. But in as much as God is merciful he did not cut them off from good counsel. For after he had said by Jeremiah to what purpose bring ye me incense from Sabah and cinnamon from a far country your whole burnt offerings and sacrifices are not acceptable to me. He proceeds Hear the word of the Lord all Judah these things saith the Lord the God of Israel make straight your ways and your doings and I will establish you in this place put not your trust in lying words for they will not at all profit you saying the temple of the Lord the temple of the Lord it is here. Three. And again, when he points out that it was not for this that he led them out of Egypt that they might offer sacrifices to him but that for getting the idolatry of the Egyptians they should be able to hear the voice of the Lord which was to them salvation and glory. He declares by this same Jeremiah thus saith the Lord collect together your burnt offerings with your sacrifices and eat flesh for I spake not unto your fathers nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of Egypt concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices but this word I commanded them saying hear my voice and I will be your God and ye shall be my people and walk in all my ways whatsoever I have commanded you that it may be well with you. But they obeyed not nor hearkened but walked in the imaginations of their own evil heart and went backwards and not forwards. And again, when he declares by the same man but let him that glorious glory in this to understand and know that I am the Lord who doth exercise loving kindness and righteousness and judgment in the earth. He adds for in these things I delight says the Lord but not in sacrifices nor in holocausts nor in oblations for the people did not receive these precepts as of primary importance but as secondary for the same reason already alleged as Isaiah again says thou hast not brought to me the sheep of thy holocaust nor in thy sacrifices hast thou glorified me thou hast not served me in sacrifices nor in the matter of frankincense hast thou done anything laboriously neither hast thou bought for me incense with money nor have I desired the fat of thy sacrifices but thou hast stood before me in thy sins and in thine iniquities. He says therefore upon this man will I look even upon him that is humble and meek and who trembles at my words for the fat and the fat flesh shall not take away from the thine unrighteousness. This is the fast which I have chosen saith the Lord loose every band of wickedness dissolve the connections of violent agreements give rest to those that are shaken and cancel every unjust document deal thy bread to the hungry willingly and lead into thy house the ruthless stranger if thou hast seen the naked cover him and thou shall not despise those of thine own flesh and blood then shall thine morning light break forth and thy health shall spring forth more speedily and righteousness shall go before thee and the glory of the Lord shall surround thee and whilst thou art yet speaking I will say behold here I am and Zachariah also among the twelve prophets pointing out to the people the will of God says these things does the Lord omnipotent declare execute true judgment and show mercy and compassion each one to his brother and oppress not the widow and the orphan and the proselyte and the poor and let none imagine evil against your brother in his heart and again he says these are the words which he shall utter speak ye the truth every man to his neighbor and execute peaceful judgment in your gates and let none of you imagine evil in his heart against his brother and ye shall not love false swearing for all these things I hate sayeth the Lord Almighty moreover David also says in like manner what man is there who desired life and would feign see good days keep thy tongue from evil and thy lips that they speak no guile shun evil and do good seek peace and pursue it for from all these it is evident that God did not seek sacrifices and holocausts from them but faith and obedience and righteousness because of their salvation as God when teaching them his will in Hosea the prophet said I desire mercy rather than sacrifice and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings besides our Lord also exhorted them to the same effect when he said but if ye had known what this meaneth I will have mercy and not sacrifice ye would not have condemned the guiltless thus does he bear witness to the prophets that they preached the truth but accuses these men of being foolish through their own fault 5 again giving directions to his disciples to offer to God the first fruits of his own created things not as if he stood in need of them but that they might be themselves neither unfruitful nor ungrateful he took that created thing bread and gave thanks and said this is my body and the cup likewise which is part of that creation to which we belong he confessed to be his blood and taught the new oblation of the new covenant which the church receiving from the apostles offers to God throughout all the world to him who gives us as the means of subsistence the first fruits of his own gifts in the New Testament concerning which Malachi among the twelve prophets thus spoke beforehand I have no pleasure with you sayeth the Lord omnipotent and I will not accept sacrifice at your hands for from the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same my name is glorified among the Gentiles and in every place incense is offered to my name and a pure sacrifice for great is my name among the Gentiles sayeth the Lord omnipotent indicating in the plainest manner by these words that the former people that is the Jews shall indeed cease to make offerings to God but that in every place sacrifice shall be offered to him and that a pure one and his name is glorified among the Gentiles 6 but what other name is there which is glorified among the Gentiles than that of our Lord by whom the Father is glorified and man also and because it is the name of his own son who was made man by him he calls it his own just as a king if he himself paints a likeness of his son is right in calling this likeness his own for both these reasons because it is the likeness of his son and because it is his own production so also does the Father confess the name of Jesus Christ which is throughout all the world glorified in the church to be his own both because it is that of his son and because he who thus describes it gave him for the salvation of men since therefore the name of the son belongs to the Father and since in the omnipotent God the church makes offerings through Jesus Christ he says well on both these grounds and in every place incense is offered to my name and a pure sacrifice now John in the apocalypse declares that the incense is the prayers of the saints chapter 18 concerning sacrifices and oblations and those who truly offer them 1 the oblation of the church therefore which the Lord gave instructions to be offered throughout all the world is accounted with God a pure sacrifice and is acceptable to him not that he stands in need of a sacrifice from us but that he who offers is himself glorified in what he does offer if his gift be accepted for by the gift both honor and affection are shown forth towards the King and the Lord wishing us to offer it in all simplicity and innocence did express himself thus therefore when thou offerest thy gift upon the altar and shalt remember that thy brother hath ought against thee leave thy gift before the altar and go thy way first be reconciled to thy brother and then return and offer thy gift we are bound therefore to offer to God the first fruits of his creation as Moses also says thou shalt not appear in the presence of the Lord thy God empty so that man being accounted as grateful by those things in which he has shown his gratitude may receive that honor which flows from him 2 and the class of oblations in general has not been set aside for there were both oblations there among the Jews and there were oblations here among the Christians sacrifices there were among the people sacrifices there are too in the church but the species alone has been changed in as much as the offering is now made not by slaves but by freemen for the Lord is ever one and the same but the character of a servile oblation is peculiar to itself as is also that of freemen in order that by the very oblations the indication of liberty may be set forth for with him there is nothing purposeless nor without signification nor without design and for this reason the Jews had indeed the tithes of their goods consecrated to him but those who have received liberty set aside all their possessions for the Lord's purposes bestowing joyfully and freely not the less valuable portions of their property since they have the hope of better things hereafter as that poor widow acted who cast all her living into the treasury of God 3 for at the beginning God had respect to the gifts of Abel because he offered with single-mindedness and righteousness but he had no respect unto the offering of Cain because his heart was divided with envy and malice which he cherished against his brother as God says when approving his hidden thoughts though thou offerest rightly yet if thou dost not divide rightly hast thou not sinned be at rest since God is not appeased by sacrifice for if anyone shall endeavor to offer a sacrifice merely to outward appearance unexceptionally in due order and according to appointment while in his soul he does not assign to his neighbor that fellowship with him which is right and proper nor is under the fear of God he who thus cherishes secret sin does not deceive God by that sacrifice which is offered correctly as to outward appearance nor will such an oblation profit him anything but only the giving up of that evil which has been conceived within him so that sin may not the more by means of the hypocritical action render him the destroyer of himself wherefore did the Lord also declare woe unto you scribes and Pharisees hypocrites for ye are like whited sepulchres for the sepulchre appears beautiful outside but within it is full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men but within ye are full of wickedness and hypocrisy for while they were thought to offer correctly so far as outward appearance went they had in themselves jealousy like to cane therefore they slew the just one sliding the council of the word as did also cane for God said to him be at rest but he did not ascent now what else is it to be at rest then to forego proposed violence and same similar things to these men he declares thou blind Pharisee cleanse that which is within the cup that the outside may be clean also and they did not listen to him for Jeremiah says behold neither thine eyes nor thy heart are good but they are turned to thy covetousness and to shed innocent blood and for injustice and for manslaying that thou mayest do it and again Isaiah sayeth ye have taken counsel but not of me and made covenants but not by my spirit in order therefore that their inner wish and thought being brought to light may show that God is without blame and worketh no evil that God who reveals what is hidden in the heart but who worketh not evil when cane was by no means at rest he sayeth to him to thee shall be his desire and thou shalt rule over him thus did he in like manner speak to pilot thou shouldest have no power at all against me unless it were given thee from above God always giving up the righteous one in this life to suffering that he having been tested by what he suffered and endured may at last be accepted but that the evil doer being judged by the actions he has performed may be rejected sacrifices therefore do not sanctify a man for God stands in no need of sacrifice but it is the conscience of the offerer that sanctifies the sacrifice when it is pure and thus moves God to accept the offering as from a friend but the sinner says he who kills a calf in sacrifice to me is as if he slew a dog for in as much then as the church offers with single-mindedness her gift is justly reckoned a pure sacrifice with God as Paul also says to the Philippians I am full having received from Epaphroditus the things that were sent from you the odor of a sweet smell a sacrifice acceptable pleasing to God for it behooves us to make an oblation to God and in all things to be found grateful to God our maker in a pure mind and in faith without hypocrisy in well-grounded hope in fervent love offering the first fruits of his own created thing and the church alone offers this pure oblation to the creator offering to him with giving of thanks the things taken from his creation but the Jews do not offer thus for their hands are full of blood for they have not received the word through whom it is offered to God nor again do any of the conventicles of the heretics offer this for some by maintaining that the father is different from the creator do when they offer to him what belongs to this creation of ours set him forth as being covetous of another's property and desires of what is not his own those again who maintain that the things around us originated from apostasy ignorance and passion do while offering unto him the fruits of ignorance passion and apostasy sin against their father rather subjecting him to insult than giving him thanks but how can they be consistent with themselves when they say that the bread over which thanks have been given is the body of their Lord and the cup his blood if they do not call himself the son of the creator of the world that is his word through whom the wood fructifies and the fountains gush forth and the earth gives first the blade then the ear then the full corn of the ear five then again how can they say that the flesh which is nourished with the body of the Lord and with his blood goes to corruption and does not partake of life let them therefore either alter their opinion or cease from offering the things just mentioned but our opinion is in accordance with the Eucharist and the Eucharist in turn establishes our opinion for we offer to him his own announcing consistently the fellowship and union of the flesh and spirit for as the bread which is produced from the earth when it receives the invocation of God is no longer common bread but the Eucharist consisting of two realities earthly and heavenly so also our bodies when they receive the Eucharist are no longer corruptible having the hope of the resurrection to eternity 6 now we make offering to him not as though he stood in need of it but rendering thanks for his gift and thus sanctifying what has been created for even as God does not need our possessions so do we need to offer something to God as Solomon says he that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord for God who stands in need of nothing takes our good works to himself for this purpose that he may grant us a recompense of his own good things as our Lord says come, ye blessed of my Father receive the kingdom prepared for you for I was and hungered and ye gave me to eat I was thirsty and ye gave me drink I was a stranger and ye took me in naked and ye clothed me sick and ye visited me in prison and ye came to me as therefore he does not stand in need of these services yet does desire that we should render them for our own benefit lest we be unfruitful so did the Word give to the people that very precept as to the making of oblations although he stood in no need of them that they might learn to serve God thus is it therefore also his will that we too should offer a gift at the altar frequently and without intermission the altar then is in heaven for towards that place are our prayers and oblations directed the temple likewise is there as John says in the Apocalypse and the temple of God was opened and the tabernacle also for behold he says the tabernacle of God in which he will dwell with men end of book 4 chapters 17 through 18 chapters 19 through 20 of Irenaeus against Heresies book 4 this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Irenaeus against Heresies book 4 translated by Alexander Roberts and W. H. Rambo chapter 19 earthly things may be the type of heavenly but the latter cannot be the types of other still superior and unknown nor can we without absolute madness maintain that God is known to us only as the type of a still unknown and superior being 1 now the gifts, oblations and all the sacrifices did the people receive in a figure as was shown to Moses in the mount from one and the same God whose name is now glorified in the church among all nations but it is congruous that those earthly things indeed which are spread all around us should be types of the celestial being both however created by the same God for no other way could he assimilate an image of spiritual things to suit our comprehension but to allege that those things which are super celestial and spiritual and as far as we are concerned invisible and ineffable are in their turn the types of celestial things and of another pleroma and to say that God is the image of another father is to play the part both of wanderers from the truth and of absolutely foolish and stupid persons for as I have repeatedly shown such persons will find it necessary to be continually finding out types of types and images of images and will never be able to fix their minds on one and the true God for their imaginations range beyond God they having in their hearts surpassed the master himself being indeed in idea elated and exalted above him but in reality turning away from the true God 2 to these persons one may with justice say as scripture itself suggests to what distance above God do ye lift up your imaginations oh ye rashly elated men ye have heard that the heavens are meted out in the palm of his hand tell me the measure and recount the endless multitude of cubits explain to me the fullness the breadth the length the height the beginning and end of the measurement things which the heart of man understands not neither does it comprehend them for the heavenly treasuries are indeed great God cannot be measured in the heart and incomprehensible is he in the mind he who holds the earth in the hollow of his hand who perceives the measure of his right hand who knoweth his finger or who doth understand his hand that hand which measures immensity that hand which by its own measure spreads out the measure of the heavens and which comprises in its hollow the earth with the abysses which contains in itself the breadth and length and the depth below and the height above of the whole creation which is seen which is heard and understood and which is invisible and for this reason God is above all principality and power and dominion and every name that is named of all things which have been created and established he is who fills the heavens and views the abysses who is also present with every one of us for he says am I a God at hand and not a God afar off? if any man is hid in secret places shall I not see him? for his hand lays hold of all things and that it is which illumines the heavens and lightens also the things which are under the heavens and trieth the reins and the hearts is also present in hidden things and in our secret thoughts and does openly nourish and preserve us 3 but if man comprehends not the fullness and the greatness of his hand how shall anyone be able to understand or know in his heart so great a God? yet as if they had now measured and thoroughly investigated him and explored him on every side they feign that beyond him there exists another pleroma of Iones and another father certainly not looking up to celestial things but truly descending into a profound abyss of madness maintaining that their father extends only to the border of those things which are beyond the pleroma but that on the other hand the demi-urge does not reach so far as the pleroma and thus they represent neither of them as being perfect and comprehending all things for the former will be defective in regard to the whole world formed outside of the pleroma and the latter in respect of that ideal world which was formed within the pleroma and therefore neither of these can be the God of all but that no one can fully declare the goodness of God from the things made by him is a point evident to all and that his greatness is not defective but contains all things and extends even to us and is with us everyone will confess who entertains worthy conceptions of God Chapter 20 that one God formed all things in the world by means of the word and the Holy Spirit and that although he is to us in this life invisible and incomprehensible nevertheless he is not unknown in as much as his works do declare him and his word has shown that in many modes he may be seen and known 1 as regards his greatness therefore it is not possible to know God for it is impossible that the Father can be measured but as regards his love for this it is which leads us to God by his word when we obey him we do always learn that there is so great a God and that it is he who by himself has established and selected and adorned and contains all things and among all the things both ourselves and this our world we also then were made along with those things which are contained by him and this is he of whom the scripture says and God formed man taking clay of the earth and breathed into his face the breath of life it was not angels therefore who made us nor who formed us neither had angels power to make an image of God nor anyone else except the word of the Lord nor any power remotely distant from the Father of all things for God did not stand in need of these beings in order to the accomplishing of what he had himself determined with himself beforehand should be done as if he did not possess his own hands for with him were always present the word and wisdom the son and the spirit by whom and in whom freely and spontaneously he made all things to whom also he speaks saying let us make man after our image and likeness he taking from himself the substance of the creatures formed and the pattern of things made and the type of all the adornments in the world to truly then the scripture declared which says first of all believe that there is one God who has established all things and completed them and having caused that from what had no being all things should come into existence he who contains all things and his himself contained by no one rightly also has Malachy said among the prophets is it not one God who hath established us have we not all one father in accordance with this to does the apostle say there is one God the father who is above all and in us all likewise does the Lord also say all things are delivered to me by my father manifestly by him who made all things for he did not deliver to him the things of another but his own but in all things it is implied that nothing has been kept back from him and for this reason the same person is the judge of the living and the dead having the key of David he shall open and no man shall shut he shall shut and no man shall open for no one was able either in heaven or in earth or under the earth to open the book of the father or to behold him with the exception of the lamb who was slain and who redeemed us with his own blood receiving power over all things from the same God who made all things by the word and adorned them by his wisdom when the word was made flesh that even as the word of God had the sovereignty in the heavens so also might he have the sovereignty in earth in as much as he was a righteous man who did no sin neither was there found guile in his mouth and that he might have the preeminence over those things which are under the earth he himself being made the first begotten of the dead and that all things as I have already said might behold their king and that the paternal light might meet with and rest upon the flesh of our Lord and come to us from his resplendent flesh and that thus man might attain to immortality having been invested with the paternal light 3 I have also largely demonstrated that the word namely the son was always with the father and that wisdom also which is the spirit was present with him anterior to all creation he declares by Solomon God by wisdom founded the earth and by understanding hath he established the heaven by his knowledge the depths burst forth and the clouds dropped down the dew and again the Lord created me the beginning of his ways and his work he set me up from everlasting in the beginning before he made the earth before he established the depths and before the fountains of waters gushed forth before the mountains were made strong and before all the hills he brought me forth and again when he prepared the heaven I was with him and when he established the fountains of the deep when he made the foundations of the earth strong I was with him preparing them I was he in whom he rejoiced and throughout all time I was daily glad before his face when he rejoiced at the completion of the world and was delighted in the sons of men for there is therefore one God who by the word and wisdom created and arranged all things but this is the creator or demiurge who has granted this world to the human race and who as regards his greatness is indeed unknown to all who have been made by him for no man has searched out his height either among the ancients who have gone to their rest or any of those who are now alive but as regards his love he is always known through him by whose means he ordained all things now this is his word our Lord Jesus Christ who in that last times was made a man among men that he might join the end to the beginning that is man to God where for the prophets receiving the prophetic gift from the same word announced his advent according to the flesh by which the blending and communion of God and man took place according to the good pleasure of the father the word of God for telling from the beginning that God should be seen by men and hold converse with them upon earth should confer with them and should be present with his own creation saving it and becoming capable of being perceived by it and freeing us from the hands of all that hate us that is from every spirit of wickedness and causing us to serve him in holiness and righteousness all our days in order that man having embraced the spirit of God might pass into the glory of the father 5 these things did the prophets set forth in a prophetical manner but they did not as some allege proclaim that he who was seen by the prophets was a different God the father of all being invisible yet this is what those heretics declare who are all together ignorant of the nature of prophecy for prophecy is a prediction of things future that is a setting forth beforehand of those things which shall be afterwards the prophets then indicated beforehand that God should be seen by men as the Lord also says blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God but in respect to his greatness and his wonderful glory no man shall see God and live for the father is incomprehensible but in regard to his love and kindness and as to his infinite power even this he grants to those who love him that is to see God which thing the prophets did also predict for those things which are impossible with men are possible with God for man does not see God by his own powers but when he pleases he is seen by men by whom he wills and when he wills and as he wills for God is powerful in all things having been seen at that time indeed prophetically through the spirit and seen to adoptively through the son and he shall also be seen paternally in the kingdom of heaven the spirit truly preparing man in the son of God as the son leading to the father while the father too confers upon him in corruption for eternal life which comes to everyone from the fact of his seeing God for as those who see the light are within the light and partake of its brilliancy even so those who see God are in God and receive of his splendor but his splendor vivifies them those therefore who see God do receive life and for this reason he, although beyond comprehension and boundless and invisible rendered himself visible and comprehensible and within the capacity of those who believe that he might vivify those who receive and behold him through faith for as his greatness is past finding out so also his goodness is beyond expression by which having been seen he bestows life upon those who see him it is not possible to live apart from life and the means of life is found in fellowship with God but fellowship with God is to know God and to enjoy his goodness 6 men therefore shall see God that they may live being made immortal by that sight and attaining even unto God which, as I have already said was declared figuratively by the prophets that God should be seen by men who bear his spirit in them and do always wait patiently for his coming as also Moses says in Deuteronomy we shall see in that day that God will talk to man and he shall live for certain of these men used to see the prophetic spirit and his active influences poured forth for all kinds of gifts others again beheld the advent of the Lord and that dispensation which obtained from the beginning by which he accomplished the will of the Father with regard to those things both celestial and terrestrial and others beheld paternal glories adapted to the times and to those who saw and who heard them then and to all who were subsequently to hear them thus therefore was God revealed for God the Father is shown forth through all these operations the spirit indeed working and the Son ministering while the Father was approving and man's salvation being accomplished as he also declares through Hosea the prophet I, he says have multiplied visions and have used similitudes by the ministry of the prophets but the apostle expounded this very passage when he said now there are diversities of gifts but the same spirit and there are differences of ministrations but the same Lord and there are diversities of operations but it is the same God which worketh all in all but the manifestation of the spirit is given to every man to profit with all but as he who worketh all things in all is God as to the points of what nature and how great he is God is invisible and indescribable to all things which have been made by him but he is by no means unknown for all things learn through his word that there is one God the Father who contains all things and who grants existence to all as is written in the Gospel no man hath seen God at any time except the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father he has declared him 7 therefore the Son of the Father declares him from the beginning in as much as he was with the Father from the beginning who did also show to the human race prophetic visions and diversities of gifts and his own ministrations and the glory of the Father in regular order and connection at the fitting time for the benefit of mankind for where there is a regular succession there is also fixedness and where fixedness there is suitability to the period and where suitability there also utility and for this reason did the word become the dispenser of the paternal grace for the benefit of men for whom he made such great dispensations revealing God indeed to men but presenting man to God and preserving at the same time the invisibility of the Father lest man should at any time become a dispenser of God and that he should always possess something towards which he might advance but on the other hand revealing God to men through many dispensations lest man falling away from God altogether should cease to exist for the glory of God is a living man and the life of man consists in beholding God for if the manifestation of God which is made by means of the creation affords life to all living in the earth much more does that revelation of the Father which comes through the word give life to those who see God 8 in as much then as the spirit of God pointed out by the prophets things to come forming and adapting us beforehand for the purpose of our being made subject to God but it was still a future thing that man through the good pleasure of the Holy Spirit should see God it necessarily behooved those through whose instrumentality future things were announced to see God whom they intimated as to be seen by men in order that God and the Son of God and the Son and the Father should not only be prophetically announced but that he should also be seen by all his members who are sanctified and instructed in the things of God that man might be disciplined beforehand and previously exercised for a reception into that glory which shall afterwards be revealed in those who love God for the prophets used not to prophesy in word alone but in visions also and in their mode of life and in the actions which they performed according to the suggestions of the Spirit after this invisible manner therefore did they see God as also Isaias says I have seen God with mine eyes the King the Lord of hosts pointing out that man should behold God with his eyes and hear his voice in this manner therefore did they also see the Son of God as a man conversant with men while they prophesied what was to happen saying that he who was not come as yet was present proclaiming all the impassable as subject to suffering and declaring that he who was then in heaven had descended into the dust of death moreover with regard to the other arrangements concerning the summing up that he should make some of these they beheld through visions others they proclaimed by word while others they indicated typically by means of outward action seeing visibly those things which were to be seen heralding by word of mouth those which should be heard and performing by actual operation what should take place by action but at the same time addressing all prophetically where for also Moses declared that God was indeed a consuming fire to the people that transgressed the law and threatened that God would bring upon them a day of fire but to those who had the fear of God he said the Lord God is merciful and gracious and long suffering and of great commissuration and true and keeps justice and mercy for thousands for giving unrighteousness and transgressions and sins 9 and the word spake to Moses appearing before him just as anyone might speak to his friend but Moses desired to see him openly who was speaking with him and was thus addressed stand in the deep place of the rock and with my hand I will cover thee but when my splendor shall pass by then thou shalt see my back parts but my face thou shalt not see for no man sees my face and shall live two facts are thus signified that it is impossible for man to see God and that through the wisdom of God man shall see him in the last times in the depth that is in his coming as a man and for this reason did the Lord confer with him face to face on the top of a mountain Elias being also present as the gospel relates he thus making good in the end the ancient promise 10 the prophets therefore did not openly behold the actual face of God but they saw the dispensations and the mysteries through which man should afterwards see God as was also said to Elias thou shalt go forth tomorrow and stand in the presence of the Lord and behold a wind great and strong which shall rend the mountains and break the rocks and pieces before the Lord and the Lord was not in the wind and after the wind an earthquake but the Lord was not in the earthquake after the earthquake a fire but the Lord was not in the fire and after the fire a scarcely audible voice for by such means was the prophet very indignant because of the transgression of the people and the slaughter of the prophets both taught to act in a more gentle manner and the Lord's advent as a man was pointed out that it should be subsequent to that law which was given by Moses mild and tranquil in which he would neither break the bruised reed nor quench the smoking flax the mild and peaceful repose of his kingdom was indicated likewise for after the wind which rends the mountains and after the earthquake and after the fire come the tranquil and peaceful times of his kingdom which the Lord of God does in the most gentle manner vivify and increase mankind this too was made still clearer by Ezekiel that the prophets saw the dispensations of God in part but not actually God himself for when this man had seen the vision of God and the cherubim and their wheels and when he had recounted the mystery of the whole revolution and had to be held the likeness of a throne above them and upon the throne a likeness as of the figure of a man and the things which were upon his loins as the figure of amber and what was below like the sight of fire and when he set forth all the rest of the visions of the thrones lest anyone might happen to think that in those visions he had actually seen God this was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of God 11 if then neither Moses nor Elias nor Ezekiel who had all many celestial visions did see God but if what they did see were similitudes of the splendor of the Lord and prophecies of things to come Jesus manifest that the Father is indeed invisible of whom also the Lord said no man hath seen God at any time but his word as he himself willed it and for the benefit of those who be held did show the Father's brightness and explained his purposes as also the Lord said the only begotten God which is in the bosom of the Father he hath declared him and he does himself also interpret the word of the Father as being rich and great not in one figure nor in one character did he appear to those seeing him but according to the reasons and effects aimed at in his dispensations as it is written in Daniel for at one time he was seen with those who were around Ananias, Azarias, Misael as present with them in the furnace of fire in the burning and preserving them from the effects of fire and the appearance of the fourth it is said was like to the Son of God at another time he is represented as a stone cut out of the mountain without hands and as smiting all temporal kingdoms and as blowing them away and as himself filling all the earth then too is the same individual beheld as the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven and drawing near to the ancient of days and receiving from him all power and glory and a kingdom his dominion it is said is an everlasting dominion and his kingdom shall not perish John also the Lord's disciple when beholding the sacerdotal and glorious advent of his kingdom says in his apocalypse I turned to see the voice that spake with me and being turned I saw seven golden candlesticks and in the midst of the candlesticks one like unto the Son of Man clothed with a garment reaching to the feet and girt about the papes golden girdle and his head and his hairs were white as white as wool and as snow and his eyes were as a flame of fire and his feet like unto fine brass as if he burned in a furnace and his voice was as the voice of waters and he had in his right hand seven stars and out of his mouth went a sharp two edged sword and the countenance was as the Son shining in his strength for in these words he sets forth something of the glory which he has received from his father as where he makes mention of the head something in reference to the priestly office also as in the case of the long garment reaching to the feet and this was the reason why Moses invested the high priest after this fashion something also alludes to the end of all things as where he speaks of the fine brass burning in the fire which denotes the power of faith and the continuing instant in prayer because of the consuming fire which is to come at the end of time but when John could not endure the sight for he says I fell at his feet as dead that what was written might come to pass no man sees God and shall live and the word reviving him and reminding him that it was he upon whose bosom he had leaned at supper when he put the question as to who should betray him declared I am the first and the last and he who liveth and was dead and behold I am alive for ever more and have the keys of death and of hell and after these things seeing the same Lord in a second vision he says for I saw in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures and in the midst of the elders a lamb standing as it had been slain having seven horns and seven eyes which are the seven spirits of God sent forth into all the earth and again he says and behold a white horse and he that sat upon him was called faithful and true and in righteousness doth he judge and make war and his eyes were as a flame of fire and on his head were many crowns having a name written that no man knoweth but himself and he was girded around and his gesture sprinkled with blood and his name was called the word of God and his armies of heaven followed him upon white horses clothed in pure white linen and out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword that with it he may smite the nations and he shall rule them with a rod of iron and he treadeth the wine press of the fierceness of the wrath of God Almighty and he hath upon his vesture and upon his thigh a name written king of kings and lord of lords thus does the word of God always preserve the outlines as it were of things to come and points out to men the various forms as it were of the dispensations of the father teaching us the things pertaining to God 12 however it was not by means of visions alone which were seen and words which were proclaimed but also in actual works that he was beheld by the prophets in order that through them he might prefigure and show forth future events beforehand for this reason did Hosea the prophet take a wife of the hordoms prophesying by means of the action that in committing fornication the earth should fornicate from the Lord that is the men who are upon the earth and from men of this stamp it will be God's good pleasure to take out a church which shall be sanctified by fellowship with his son just as that woman was sanctified by intercourse with the prophet and for this reason Paul declares that the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the believing husband then again the prophet names his children not having obtained mercy and not a people in order that as says the apostle what was not a people may become a people and she who did not obtain mercy may obtain mercy and it shall come to pass that in the place where it was said this is not a people there shall they be called the children of the living God that which had been done typically through his actions by the prophet the apostle proves to have been done truly by Christ in the church thus too did Moses also take to wife an Ethiopian woman whom he thus made an Israelite ish one in anticipation that the wild olive tree is grafted into a cultivated olive and made to partake of its fatness for as he who was born Christ according to the flesh had indeed to be sought after by the people in order to be slain but was to be set free in Egypt that is among the Gentiles to sanctify those who were in a state of infancy from whom also he perfected his church in that place for Egypt was Gentile from the beginning as was Ethiopia also for this reason by means of the marriage of Moses was shown forth the marriage of the word and by means of the Ethiopian bride the church taken from among the Gentiles was made manifest and those who do detract from accuse and deride it shall not be pure for they shall be full of leprosy and expelled from the camp of the righteous thus also did Rahab the harlot while condemning herself in as much as she was a Gentile guilty of all sins nevertheless received the three spies who were spying out all the land and hid them at her home which three were doubtless a type of the father together with the Holy Spirit and when the entire city in which she lived fell to ruins at the sounding of the southern trumpets Rahab the harlot was preserved when all was over together with all her house through faith of the scarlet sign as the Lord also declared to those who did not receive his advent the Pharisees no doubt nullify the sign of the scarlet thread which meant the Passover and the redemption and exodus of the people from Egypt when he said the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of heaven before you End of book 4 chapters 19 through 20 chapters 21 through 25 of Irenaeus against heresies book 4 this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Irenaeus against heresies book 4 translated by Alexander Roberts and W. H. Rambo chapter 21 Abraham's faith was identical with ours this faith was prefigured by the words and actions of the old patriarchs one but that our faith was also prefigured in Abraham and that he was the patriarch of our faith and as it were the prophet of it the apostle has very fully talked when he says in the epistle to the Galatians he therefore that ministereth to you the spirit and worketh miracles among you doeth he it by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith even as Abraham believed God and it was accounted unto him for righteousness he therefore that they which are of faith the same are the children of Abraham but the scripture foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith announced beforehand unto Abraham that in him all nations should be blessed so then they which be of faith shall be blessed with faithful Abraham for which reason the apostle declared that this man was not only the prophet of faith but also the father of those who from among the Gentiles believe in Jesus Christ because his faith and ours are one and the same for he believed in things future as if they were already accomplished because of the promise of God and in like manner do we also because of the promise of God behold through faith that inheritance laid up for us in the future kingdom 2 the history of Isaac 2 is not without a symbolical character for in the epistle to Romans the apostle declares moreover when Rebekah had conceived by one even by our father Isaac she received answer from the word that the purpose of God according to election might stand not of works that calleth it was said unto her 2 nations are in thy womb and 2 manner of people are in thy body and the one people shall overcome the other and the elder shall serve the younger from which it is evident that not only were there prophecies of the patriarchs but also that the children brought forth by Rebekah were a prediction of the 2 nations and that the one should be the greater but the other the less that the one also should be under bondage but the other free but that both should be of one and the same father our God one and the same is also their God who knows hidden things who knoweth all things before they can come to pass and for this reason 3 If anyone again will look into Jacob's actions he shall find them not destitute of meaning but full of import with regard to the dispensations thus in the first place at his birth since he laid hold on his brother's heel he was called Jacob that is the supplanter one who holds but is not held binding the feet not being bound striving and conquering grasping in his hand his adversaries heel that is victory for to this end was the lord born the type of whose birth he set forth beforehand of whom also John says in the apocalypse he went forth conquering that he should conquer in the next place Jacob received the rights of them with contempt even as also the younger nation received him Christ the first begotten when the elder nation rejected him saying we have no king but Caesar but in Christ every blessing is summed up and therefore the latter people has snatched away the blessings of the former from the father just as Jacob took away the blessings of this Esau for which cause his brothers suffered the plots and persecutions of a brother just as the church suffers this self same thing from the Jews in a foreign country where the twelve tribes born the race of Israel in as much as Christ was also in a strange country to generate the twelve pillard foundation of the church various colored sheep were allotted to this Jacob as his wages and the wages of Christ are common beings who from various and diverse nations come together into one cohort of faith as the father promised him saying ask of me and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance the utter most parts of the earth for thy possession and as from the multitude of his sons the prophets of the Lord afterwards arose there was every necessity to beget sons from the two sisters even as Christ did from the two laws of one and the same father and in like manner also from the handmaids indicating that Christ should raise up sons of God both from freemen and from slaves after the flesh bestowing upon all in the same manner the gift of the spirit who vivifies us but Jacob did all things for the sake of the younger she who had the handsome eyes Rachel who prefigured the church for which Christ endured patiently who at that time indeed by means of his patriarchs and prophets was prefigured and declaring beforehand future things fulfilling his part by anticipation in the dispensations of God and a customing his inheritance to obey God and to pass the world as in a state of pilgrimage to follow his word and to indicate beforehand things to come for with God there is nothing without purpose or do signification Chapter 22 Christ did not come for the sake of the men of one age only but for all who living righteously and piously had believed upon him and for those too shall believe 1 Now in the last days when the fullness of the time of liberty had arrived the word himself did by himself wash away the filth of the daughters of Zion when he washed the disciples feet with his own hands for this is the end of the human race inheriting God that as in the beginning by means of our first parents we were all brought into bondage by being made subject to death so at last by means of the new man all who from the beginning were his disciples having been cleansed and washed from things pertaining to death should come to the life of God for he who washed the feet of the disciples sanctified the entire body and rendered it clean for this reason too he administered food to them in a recumbent posture indicating that those who were lying in the earth were they to whom he came to impart life as Jeremiah declares the Holy Lord remembered his dead Israel who slept in the land of sepulcher and he descended to them to make known to them his salvation that they might be saved for this reason also were the eyes of the disciples way down when Christ's passion was approaching and when in the first instance the Lord found them sleeping he let it pass thus indicating the patience of God in regard to the state of slumber in which men lay but coming the second time he aroused them and made them stand up in token that his passion is the arousing of his sleeping disciples on whose account he also descended into the lower parts of the earth to behold with his eyes the state of those who were resting from their labors in reference to whom he did also declare to the disciples many prophets and righteous men have desire to see and hear what ye do see and hear 2 for it was not merely for those who believed on him in the time of Tiberius Caesar that Christ came nor did the Father exercise his providence for the men only who are now alive but for all men all together who from the beginning according to their capacity in their generation have both feared and loved God and practiced justice and piety towards their neighbors and have earnestly desired to see God and to hear his voice wherefore he shall at his second coming first rouse them from their sleep all persons of this description and shall raise them up as well as the rest who shall be judged and give them a place in his kingdom for is truly one God who directed the patriarchs towards his dispensations and has justified the circumcision by faith and the uncircumcision through faith for as in the first we were prefigured so on the other hand are they represented in us that is in the church and receive and recompense for those things which they accomplished Chapter 23 The patriarchs and prophets by pointing out the advent of Christ fortified thereby as it were the way of posterity to the faith of Christ and so the labors of the apostles as much as they gathered in the fruits of the labors of others 1 For which reason the Lord declared to the disciples behold, I say unto you lift up your eyes and look upon the districts for they are white already to harvest for the harvest man receiveth wages and gathereth fruit unto life eternal that both he that soweth that reapeth may rejoice together for in this is the same true that one soweth and another reapeth for I have sent you forward to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labor other men have labored and ye have entered into their labors Who then are they that have labored and have helped forward the dispensations of God it is clear that they are the patriarchs and prophets who even prefigured our faith and disseminated through the earth the advent of the Son of God who and what he should be so that posterity possessing the fear of God might easily accept the advent of Christ having been instructed by the prophets and for this reason it was that when Joseph became aware that Mary was with child and was minded to put her away privately the angel said to him in sleep fear not to take to thee Mary thy wife for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost for she shall bring forth a son and thou shalt call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins and exhorting him to this he added now all this has been done to be fulfilled which was spoken from the Lord by the prophet saying behold a virgin shall be with child and shall bring forth a son and his name shall be called Emanuel thus influencing him by the words of the prophet and warding off blame from Mary pointing out that it was she who was the virgin mentioned by Isaiah beforehand who should give birth to Emanuel wherefore when Joseph was convinced beyond all doubt he both did take Mary and joyfully yielded obedience in regard to all the rest of the education of Christ undertaking a journey into Egypt and back again and then a removal to Nazareth for this reason those who knew not the scriptures nor the promise of God nor the dispensation of Christ at last called him the father of the child for this reason those who knew not the scriptures nor the promise of God nor the dispensation of Christ at last called him the father of the child for this reason too did the Lord himself read at Capernaum the prophecies of Isaiah the spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor hath he sent me to heal the broken hearted to preach deliverance to the captives and sight to the blind at the same time showing that it was he himself who had been foretold by Isaiah the prophet he said to them this day is the scripture fulfilled in your ears too for this reason also Philip when he had discovered the eunuch of the Ethiopians queen reading these words which had been written he was led as a sheep to the slaughter and as a lamb is dumb before the shearer so he opened not his mouth in his humiliation his judgment was taken away and all the rest which the prophet proceeded to relate in regard to his passion and his coming in the flesh and how he was dishonored by those who did not believe him easily persuaded him that he was Christ Jesus who was crucified under Pontius Pilate and suffered whatsoever the prophet had predicted and that he was the son of God who gives eternal life to men and immediately when Philip had baptized him he departed from him for nothing else but baptism was wanting to him who had been already instructed by the prophets he was not ignorant of God the father nor of the rules as to the proper manner of life but was merely ignorant of the advent of the son of God which when he had become acquainted with in a short space of time he went on his way rejoicing to be the herald in Ethiopia of Christ's advent therefore Philip had no great labor to go through with regard to this man because he was already prepared in the fear of God by the prophets for this reason too did the apostles collecting the sheep which had perished of the house of Israel and discoursing to them from the scriptures prove that this crucified Jesus was the Christ the son of the living God and they persuaded a great multitude who however already possessed the fear of God and there were in one day baptized three and four five thousand men chapter 24 the conversion of the Gentiles was more difficult than that of the Jews the labors of those apostles therefore who engaged in the former task were greater than those who undertook the latter one wherefore also Paul since he was the apostle of the Gentiles says I labored more than they all construction of the former was an easy task because they could allege proofs from the scriptures and because they who were in the habit of hearing Moses and the prophets did also readily receive the first begotten of the dead and the prince of the life of God him who by the spreading forth of hands did destroy Amalek and vivify man from the wound of the serpents by means of faith which was exercised towards him as I have pointed out in the preceding book the apostles did in the first place instruct the Gentiles to depart from the superstition of idols and to worship one God the creator of heaven and earth and the framer of the whole creation and that his son was his word by whom he founded all things and that he in the last times was made a man among men that he formed the human race but destroyed and conquered the enemy of man and gave to his handiwork victory against the adversary but although they who were of the circumcision still did not obey the words of God for they were despisers yet they were previously instructed not to commit adultery nor fornication nor theft nor fraud and that whatsoever things are done those prejudice were evil and detested by God wherefore also they did readily agree to abstain from these things because they had been thus instructed to but they were bound to teach the Gentiles also this very thing that works of such a nature are wicked, prejudicial and useless and destructive to those who engaged in them wherefore he who had received the apostolate to the Gentiles did labor more than those who preached the Son of God among them of the circumcision for they were assisted by the scriptures which the Lord confirmed and fulfilled in coming such as he had been announced but here in the case of the Gentiles there was a certain foreign erudition and a new doctrine to be received namely that the gods of the nations not only were no gods at all but even the idols of demons and that there is one God who is above all principality and dominion and power and every name which is named and that his word invisible by nature was made palpable and visible among men and did descend to death even the death of the cross also that they who believe in him shall be incorruptible and not subject to suffering and shall receive the kingdom of heaven these things too were preached to the Gentiles by word without the aid of the scriptures wherefore also they who preached among the Gentiles underwent greater labor but on the other hand the faith of the Gentiles is proved to be of a more noble description since they followed the word of God the instruction derived from the sacred writings chapter 25 both covenants were prefigured in Abraham and in the labor of Tamar there was however but one and the same God to each covenant one for thus it had behooved the sons of Abraham to be whom God has raised up to him from the stones and caused to take a place beside him who was made the chief and the forerunner of our faith who did also receive the covenant of circumcision after that justification by faith which had pertained to him when he was yet in uncircumcision so that in him both covenants might be prefigured that he might be the father of all who follow the word of God and who sustain a life of pilgrimage in this world that is of those who from among the circumcision and of those from among the uncircumcision are faithful even as also Christ is the chief cornerstone sustaining all things and he gathered into the one faith of Abraham those who from either covenant are eligible for God's building but this faith which is in uncircumcision as connecting the end with the beginning has been made both the first and the last for as I have shown it existed in Abraham antecedently to circumcision as it also did in the rest of the righteous who pleased God and in these last times it again sprang up among mankind through the coming of the Lord but circumcision and the law of works occupied the intervening period to this fact is indeed set forth by many other occurrences but typically by the history of Tamar Judah's daughter-in-law for when she had conceived twins one of them put forth his hand first and as the midwife supposed that he was the first born she bound a scarlet token in his hand but after this had been done and he had drawn his hand his brother ferris came forth the first then after him Zara upon whom was the scarlet line was born the second the scripture clearly pointing out that people which possessed the scarlet sign that is faith in the state of circumcision which was shown beforehand indeed in the patriarch's first but after that withdrawn that his brother might be born and also in like manner him who was the elder was being born in the second place him who was distinguished by the scarlet token which was fastened on him that is the passion of the just one which was prefigured from the beginning in able and descended by the prophets but perfected in the last times in the son of God 3 for it was requisite that certain facts should be announced beforehand by the fathers in a paternal manner and others prefigured by the prophets in a legal one but others described after the form of Christ by those who have received the adoption while in one God are all things shown forth for although Abraham was one he did in himself prefigure the two covenants in which some indeed have shown while others have for it is said in this is the saying true that it is one people who sows but another who shall reap but it is one God who bestows things suitable upon both seed to the sower but bread for the reaper to eat just as it is one that planteth and another who watereth but one God who giveth increase for the patriarchs and prophets sowed the word concerning Christ but the church reaped that is received the fruit for this reason too do these very prophets also pray to have a dwelling place in it as Jeremiah says who will give me in the desert the last dwelling place in order that both the sower and the reaper may rejoice in the kingdom of Christ who is present with all those who were from the beginning approved by God who granted them his word to be present with them End of book 4 chapters 21 through 25