The Proof of the Gospel (part 2 of 2)

BOOK VII(308) WE have learned in the preceding Book from the words of the prophets that God would come to men and would live among men on earth, and that the two chief signs of His presence would be the calling of the nations of the world to receive the true knowledge of God, and the ruin and desolation of the Jews through their unbelief in Him ; and we have investigated how the prophecies were fulfilled. (309) We will now attempt in this Seventh Book of The Proof of the Gospel to treat in due order of the way in which He says that He is to make His entrance into humanity. So then our present object is to see what kind of prophecies were made of God's coming among men, where it was predicted He should be horn, and from what race it was proclaimed that He should come.

CHAPTER 1 (b) From Isaiah. The Manner of the Lord's Stay among Men. A prediction of the Jews' unbelief in Christ, and the sign (c) that was given them by the Lord. It was this : A Virgin giving birth to God, at Whose Birth the complete destruction of the Jewish race was foretold, the subjection of their land to foreign enemies, and the flourishing of that, which before was desert, under divine cultivation. Thus the Church of the Gentiles was shewn forth. As the great Evangelist St. John, teaching of our Lord and Saviour as the very Word of God full of supernatural power, begins his holy Gospel, by setting side by side His Divinity and His Humanity in His presence among men, saying, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him," and adding after this, "and the Word became flesh, and tabernacled among us"; so in the same strain the inspired prophet, about to proclaim God born of a Virgin, tells first the vision of His Divine glory, when he thus describes the Being of God:

"1. I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and exalted. And the house was full of his glory. 2. And Seraphim stood round about him: each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he did fly. 3. And they (310) cried one to another and said, Holy, Holy, Holy, the Lord of Sabaoth, the whole earth is full of his glory." And he adds also: "8. And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go to this people? And I said, Behold, Here am I. Send me. 9. And he said, Go and say to this people, Ye shall hear indeed, but shall not understand; and ye shall see indeed, but not perceive. 10. For this people's heart has become gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them. 11. And I said, How long, O Lord? And He said, Until the cities be deserted, by reason of their being uninhabited, and the houses by reason of there being no man."

What Lord may we say the prophet saw but Him Whom we have proved to have been seen and known by the fathers with Abraham in previous days? He, we have already learned, was both God and Lord, and Angel and Captain of the Lord's power as well. So then in approaching the account of His Coming to men the prophecy before us tells first of His divine kingdom, in which it says that the prophet saw Him sitting on a throne high and exalted. This is that throne which is mentioned in the Psalm of the Beloved, "Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever," on which the Most High Creator of the Universe, His God and Father, bade his Only-begotten sit, saying, "Sit thou on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool. John the Evangelist supports my interpretation of this passage, when he quotes the words of Isaiah, where it is said, "For this people's heart is become gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed," referring them to Christ, saying, "This said Isaiah, when he saw his glory, and bare witness of him. The prophet then seeing our Saviour sitting on His Father's throne in the divine and glorious kingdom, and moved by the Holy Spirit, and being about to describe next His coming among men and His Birth of a Virgin, foretells that His knowledge and praise would be over all the earth, by introducing the song of the Seraphim (311) round His throne:

Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord of Sabaoth, the whole earth is full of his glory. And who are the Seraphim around the Christ of God? Perhaps the choirs of angels and divine powers, perhaps the prophets and apostles. For the translation of Seraphim is "Rule of His Mouth. The prophets and apostles would bear this name, because from their mouth were the firstfruits of the preaching of salvation. So also the powers of the Holy Spirit are called (b) "Wings," as hiding the beginning and the end of the knowledge of God, as being secret and inconceivable in nature, but they reveal the central parts of his dispensation, since these alone are knowable by men; that which is beyond and that which comes after them is left unsaid. And the divine and heavenly powers are signified by the Seraphim, according to another rendering of the word, as (c) "fires. As it is said, "He maketh his angels spirits and his ministers a flame of fire. These cry and shout one to another according to their power, shewing forth the holiness of the Being acclaimed as God, and, strangest of all, they do not acclaim His Godhead because heaven and the things of heaven alone are full of His glory, but because all the earth also shares in His power by His Coming from heaven to men as prophesied, in the prediction which follows, announcing His Birth of a Virgin and His glory spread through all the earth.

Lord of Sabaoth is translated "Lord of Powers." And He is the Captain of the Powers of the Lord, Whom also the divine powers salute as Lord of Sabaoth in the 23rd Psalm, foretelling His return from earth to heaven: "Lift up your gates, ye princes, and be lifted up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in. Who is the King of glory? The Lord of Powers, He is the King of glory."

In the Hebrew He is here again called Lord of Sabaoth. (312) And since He is the King of glory, and by His sojourn here the whole earth would be filled with His glory, both in the psalm and in the prophecy the fulfilment is rightly placed in the present: in the prophecy in the words, "The whole earth is full of his glory," in the psalm at the beginning where it says, "The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and all that dwell therein. After this prophecy, the prophet next proceeds to bear witness, that though the whole earth shall be full of His glory, yet the Jewish race shall not participate, where he says, "And the Lord said (that is to say, the Lord of Sabaoth in the vision), Whom shall I send, and who will go to this people? And I said, Behold, here am I. Send me. And He said, Go and say to this people, Ye shall hear, and shall not understand. And ye shall see and not perceive: For this people's heart is become gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed, lest they should hear with their ears, and see with their eyes, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them. Here he expressly foretells the opposition of the Jews to Him, and how they will see Him, and not understand Who He is;

how they will hear Him, speaking and teaching them, but will be quite unable to grasp Who it is that speaks with them, or the new teaching He offers them. And John the Evangelist witnesses to the fulfilment of these words referring to Our Saviour, where he says, "Though he had done so many signs before them, yet they believed not on Him, that Isaiah the prophet's words might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report, and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed?

"Therefore they were not able to believe, because again Isaiah said, He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart, so that they should not see with their eyes, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them. These things said Isaiah, when he saw His glory, and bare witness of Him." Thus the Evangelist most certainly referred the Theophany in Isaiah to Christ, and to the Jews who did not receive the Lord that was seen by (313) the prophet according to the prediction about Him. To the prophet, then, who had seen the Lord of Sabaoth the oracle says that he is to tell the Jewish race, that they shall see Him at some future time, but shall not understand Who He is, and shall hear Him speak and teach among them, but shall not know Him, because of the hardening of their hearts. Then Isaiah, after the prophecy here quoted, describes in the course of his record the enemy's attack on Ahaz, who at that time held the kingdom of the Jewish people, and declares that the destruction of their visible (b) enemies will be at no distant date. And he shews that the defeat of their spiritual and unseen foes will be as complete, those daemons and unseen powers, of whom I treated at the beginning of this work, for having involved not only the Jewish race but the whole of mankind in every form of evil, and especially in godless idolatry; and that could only be achieved by the sojourn of the Word of God among men as prophesied, and His receiving His earthly tabernacle (c) from a pure Virgin. Why this was necessary, it is now the time to explain.

Concerning the Sojourn of Our Saviour.

Since the apostle said, "By man death entered into the world," it was surely essential that the victory over death should be achieved by man as well, and the body of death be shewn to be the body of life, and the reign of sin that before ruled in the mortal body be destroyed, so that it should no longer serve sin but righteousness. And since long ago man fell through the sins of the flesh, the standard of victory over his enemies was rightly upraised again by one that was sinless and undefiled of all evil. And who were these enemies, but they who of old had overcome the human race by the pleasures of the flesh? And moreover men required that the Word of God coming to dwell with them, and to give holy teaching to their earthly ears, and to shew the power of God clearly to their eyes by signs and (314) wonders, should accomplish His work through our natural equipment, for it is only possible for men to see bodily things with their eyes, and to hear that which is spoken by the tongue. It was then in order that we might receive the knowledge of spiritual and unembodied things by our bodily senses that God the Word employed a speech that was akin and familiar to us, and shewed forth all the salvation given through Him to those who themselves could (b) hear and see His divine words and works.

And this He did, not being like ourselves bound down by the limitations of the body, nor experiencing aught below or above His Divinity, nor hampered as a human soul is by the body so as to be unable to act as God, or to be omnipresent as the Word of God, and to fill all things and to extend through all: but He incurred no stain or corruption or pollution from the body He had taken, because, as the Word of God, He remained by nature without body, or substance, or flesh, and went through the whole dispensation of His Incarnation with divine power and in ways unknown to us, sharing (c) what belonged to Him, but not receiving what belonged to others. What, then, was there to fear in the dispensation of the Incarnation, since the undefiled was incapable of defilement, and the pure of being soiled by the flesh, and the passionless Word of God of corruption by the proper nature of the body, any more than the rays of the sun are harmed by touching corpses and all sorts of bodily things? Nay, on the contrary, the corruptible was transformed by the divine Word, and was made holy and immortal, even (d) as He willed: yea, and so it ministered to the divine purpose and works of the Spirit.

And all this was done by a loving God and by the Word of God for the curing and salvation of all men, in accordance with the words of the prophets who had foretold from ancient days His wondrous Birth of a Virgin. And quite necessarily the prophet prefaces Christ's Birth of a Virgin by an exhortation to attention, crying aloud to his hearers, "If ye will not believe, neither (315) shall ye understand."

And then he adds the following words: "10. And the Lord added to speak unto Ahaz saying, 11. Ask for thyself a sign from the Lord thy God in the depth or in the height. 12. And Ahaz said, I will not ask, neither will I tempt God. 13. And he said, Hear now, house of David; is it a small thing to you to strive with man, and how do ye strive with the Lord? 14. Therefore the Lord shall give you a sign: Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and thou shalt call his name Emmanuel: 15. Butter and honey shall he eat, before he knows to choose the good and refuse the evil. 16. Wherefore before the child know good or evil, he does not obey wickedness, that he should choose the good. And the earth shall be forsaken, on account of that which thou fearest, of her two kings."

Such is the prophecy. But the opening of the prophecy (c) is worthy of our study, which bears witness to those that read it, "If ye do not believe, neither will ye understand." And it is above all necessary to note that the words shew that its readers need not only intellect but faith, and not only faith but intellect. Hence the Jews who do not believe in Christ, though they are even now hearers of these words, have not even yet understood Him of Whom the prophecy was given, so that in their case the prediction has its primary fulfilment. For though they hear daily with their ears the prophecies about Christ, they hear them not (d) with the ears of their mind. And the sole cause of their ignorance is unbelief, as the prophecy truly reveals of them and to them. For it says, "If ye will not believe, neither shall ye understand."

And if they say that she who conceived is called not a virgin but a young woman in Scripture (for so it is said it is explained among them) what worthy sign of the promise of God, we answer, would this be, if like all women after union with a man a young woman were naturally to conceive? And how could he that were born of her be God? And not simply God, but "God with us"? For that is the meaning of Emmanuel, which name it says the child is to be called. "For behold a virgin," it says, "shall conceive (316) and bear a son, and thou shalt call his name Emmanuel, which is interpreted God with us." Where would be God's struggle, where His labour and difficulty, if a woman were to bring forth in the accustomed manner?

For in our versions translated by the Seventy, men of Hebrew race, experts in the accuracy of their knowledge of their national language, we find: "Is it a small thing for you to contend with man? And how will ye contend with God also? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, who (b) shall be called God with us. (For as I said this is the meaning of Emmanuel. And in the versions of the Jews according to the transcript of Aquila [Aquila was a proselyte, and not a Jew by birth] we have a rendering to the same effect, "Hear then, house of David; is it a small thing with you to weary men that ye would weary my God also? Therefore He will give you this sign: Behold, a young woman shall conceive and bear a son, and thou shalt call His name Emmanuel. In Symmachus it stands thus— [Symmachus is said to have been an Ebionite. There was a sect of the Jews so designated said to have believed in Christ, to which Symmachus belonged, and his rendering is as follows]—"Hear, house of David, is it not enough for you to weary men, that ye weary my God? "Therefore the Lord Himself will give you this sign: "Behold a young woman conceives and bears a son, and thou shalt call his name Emmanuel.

For since the hardness of the Jewish (d) character and their disinclination for holiness caused sweat and toil, and no common labour and struggle to the prophets of old time, therefore he says, "Is it not enough for you to weary the prophets of God, and to contend with men: but now will ye even weary my God, and contend even with my God also? Such is Theodotion's translation. Thus the prophet calls the God, Who is like to be wearied and challenged to contend, his own God, and not the God of those whom he addresses, which he could hardly do if he referred to the Supreme God of the Jews, among whom it had been handed down from their Fathers that they must (317) preserve the worship of God the Creator of all things. And what could the contest and labour or the toil of this God in the prophecy refer to but His entry by human birth, as I and the Septuagint interpret it, of a virgin, or even according to the current Jewish rendering, of a young woman? For you will find in Moses the phrase "young woman "used of one who is undoubtedly a virgin, at least he uses the word of one who has been violated by one person after her betrothal to another.

(b) But also Emmanuel, the child of the Virgin, is to be endowed with more than human power, He is to choose the good before He knows evil, and to refuse evil in choosing the good: and this not in manhood but in childhood. Therefore it runs, "Before the child knows good or evil, he shall refuse evil in choosing the good," which shews that He is completely immune from evil. And He (c) bears a greater than any human name, God with us. And this is why the sign connected with Him is said to have depth, and also height: depth, by reason of His descent to humanity, and His presence here even unto death: height, by reason of the restitution of His divine glory from the depth, or because of the divine nature of His pre-existence. Emmanuel can only be He Who has already been proved to be God the Lord, Who was seen by Abraham in human shape. And if the Jews refer the prophecy to Hezekiah, son of Ahaz, saying that his birth was thus (d) predicted to his father, we answer that Hezekiah was not God with us, nor was any sign shewn forth in him of a divine nature. Nor was there any divine struggle or labour attendant on his birth. Hezekiah, moreover, can be shewn to be excluded by the date of the prophecy. For this prophecy was given about future events when his father Ahaz was actually king, whereas Hezekiah is known to have been born before Ahaz came to the throne.

And if the prophecy we are considering has no reference to him, it is still further from referring to any other Jew who lived after its date, except to the birth of the true Emmanuel, that is, (318) God born with us, and to the sojourn among men of our Saviour the Word of God. For the land of the Jews was left desolate by the loss of its two kings, as the oracle said would come to pass as follows: "The land shall be deserted from the face of two kings"; and this actually and literally took place. For in the time of King Ahaz and Isaiah son of Amos at the date of this prophecy, the king of Syria in Damascus, and the king of Israel in Samaria, not the king (b) who ruled at Jerusalem, but the king of the multitude of Jews who revolted from the law of God, made a compact one with another, and besieged them that were under the sovereignty of David's successors. The prophecy foretells the destruction of both these kings, both the Jew and the one of foreign race, who had combined together against the Lord's people, and says that they will swiftly be severed and give up the war: and that their kingdom and succession (c) will be completely destroyed and extinguished after the birth of Him who is foretold as "God with us."

Now recognize at what date the kingdoms of Damascus and Judaea both ceased to exist, and at what period the land of the Jews was left without a king, as well as the land of the Damascenes, once so powerful, formerly the great overlord of all Syria. For the probability is that at the time of their destruction Emmanuel would be born, and He that was foretold would come. If we to-day could see the (d) kingdoms referred to still in existence, it would be vain to inquire further, we could only extend our hopes into the future; but if their destruction is actually evident, so that our time sees no kingdom either of Damascus or of Judaea, it is clear that the prophecy has been fulfilled which said, "And the land shall be deserted from the face of two kings, whom thou fearest, from their face,"—kings being used for "kingdoms." For Symmachus says, "The land shall be left, from which you suffer ill, by the face of her two kings." And Aquila, "The land shall be left, which thou disdainest, from the face of her two kings." And Theodotion translates thus, "The land shall be left, which thou hatest, from the face of her two kings." Do you see how it is prophesied that the land shall be left kingless? What land, but that of Damascus, and that of Israel? For the kings to whom the prophecy refers ruled these lands. It was their lands that Ahaz despised or hated, wearied and suffering under their attacks. When then did they fall? For if this part of the prophecy was fulfilled, the foregoing part must have also taken place, and this was, that a Virgin should bear "God with us."

Now if we inquire of history it is abundantly clear that the line of kings of Damascus was uninterrupted up to the date of the appearance of our Saviour Jesus Christ. The holy apostle mentions Aretas, King of Damascus, and the kingship of the Jews continued untouched even until then, though it was irregular: for Herod and his successors in the time of our Saviour did not inherit the throne as being of David's line. And it was after His Appearing, and the preaching of the Gospel of the Virgin's Son to all mankind, that the land was "left of the face of two kings." For from that date by the rule of the Roman Emperor over all nations, all local dominion in city and state ceased, and the prophecy before us in common with the others was fulfilled. Such was the literal fulfilment. But the prophecy also shews figuratively the stability, the calmness and peace of every soul, who receives the God that was born, Emmanuel Himself. For now that the one Christ, and the Word (d) proclaimed by Him, rule as kings over the souls of men, the old enemies have been put to flight, the two forms of sin, the one that leads men into idolatry and into a diversity of varied beliefs, the other that tempts them to moral ruin. Of these I say the earthly kings of old above-named were symbols. Of these the king of Damascus was the picture of the Gentile errors with regard to idols. And the other, of those who had rebelled from Jerusalem, that is to say from the worship of God according to the Law.

That we should understand the passage figuratively can (320) also be seen from what follows, where it is prophesied that in the time of Emmanuel certain flies and bees will attack the Jews, some from Egypt, some from Assyria, and that a man will shave their head and feet and beard, and that a man will nourish a heifer and two sheep, and other things destined to happen at one and the same time, which it is impossible to understand literally, but only figuratively. (b) This, then, is so. And the proof that the Scripture before us foretold the manner of the Birth of our Saviour Jesus Christ, is supported by the Evangelist, who wrote: "18. The birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise. When his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. 19. And Joseph her husband being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly. 20. And while he thus intended, behold the Angel of the Lord appeared to him saying, Joseph, Son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife; for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. 21. And she shall bear a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus. For he shall save his people from their sins. 22. And all this was done that the word of the Lord spoken by the prophet might be fulfilled, saying, Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and thou shalt call his name Emmanuel, which is being interpreted, God with us."

And thus according to our teaching the reality of the divine foreknowledge is confirmed by the course of events, otherwise the truth of the prophecy could not have been shewn. Let us now consider the important things which it is said in the next part of the prophecy will happen in that day, that is to say at the time of Christ's appearing. (321 ) [Passage quoted, Isa. vii. 18-25.] Such are the events included by this prophecy in its prediction of the day of Emmanuel. I will now go through the revelations they give us, epitomizing their meaning. "The Lord," it says, "will hiss for flies in that day, which shall rule over part of the river of Egypt, and for the bee which is in the land of the Assyrians." The souls of the men who before worshipped idols, or the impure and horrid powers, I think, are called flies, and flies of Egypt, as delighting in sacrifices and the blood of idols. And the bee is an animal armed with a sting, that knows how to rule and to obey and to fight, and can defend itself and wound its enemies. These two then combining together, the one from the land of the Rulers (which is the meaning of "Assyrians") the other from the land of the idolaters, will be bidden, it says, as by the hissing of the Lord God of the Universe, to rule the whole of Judaea, because of their unbelief in Christ, in the day of Emmanuel. And it means by this that a foreign military power will occupy Jerusalem and Judaea. This too our Saviour foretold more definitely, when He said, "And Jerusalem shall be trodden by the Gentiles." This was fulfilled not long after our Saviour spoke, when the Romans took the city, and settled strangers there, and established them on its site.

It is also said that the same Lord will shave with the razor of the Assyrian king, that is to say with the discipline of the Prince of this world, the head and the feet and the beard of what can only mean the Jewish race. That is to say He will take away their order and beauty by the might (322) of some universal Empire, He disguises the Romans in this way. For I believe that under the name of Assyrians he means the rule of races, that gain Empire at each period of history, because Assyrians in Hebrew means Rulers. And the Romans are now such Rulers. And in truth the God of the Universe has taken away all the glory of the Jews, which was as their hair, and all their manhood, signified by their beard and the hairs of their feet, by means of the Roman razor, that is to say their (b) statecraft and military power. And it was only after the Birth of our Saviour, Emmanuel Himself, that God took away all their glory through the Roman rule.

Aquila translates, "By the kingdom of Assyria," for "of the king of Assyria," Theodotion and Symmachus, "By the king of the Assyrians," making it clear that there is no threat to shave the head of the king of Assyria, but that by means of his razor and by means of the king of Assyria the things prophesied will fall on the Jewish nation. And the event (c) justified the prophecy. And one could note carefully at leisure many other sayings in the prophecies apparently directed against the Assyrians, which are quite inapplicable to them, since they refer to the rule of the dominant nation at some particular period. We have thus already seen the Persians called Assyrians by the Hebrews; and so we may conclude that the prophecy here refers to the Roman Empire. For (d) we see them as Rulers under the Rule of God in the period after our Saviour's coming. Yet no one must understand me to say that every reference to the Assyrians in Holy Scripture refers to the Romans; that would be foolish and absurd. But I will shew in the proper place that there are certain prophecies concerned with the witness to Christ, which are to be understood of the Romans under the name of Assyrians, since the meaning of the word always implies the dominant Power of an epoch.

For my part, and I have thoroughly reasoned out the grounds of my opinion, I am persuaded that the only (323) reason why the prophetic writings abstain from naming the Romans is that the teaching of our Saviour Jesus Christ was going to shine throughout the Roman Empire on all mankind, and that the books of the prophets would be popular in Rome itself, and among all the nations under Roman rule. It was therefore to prevent any offence being taken by the rulers of the Empire from a too clear reference to them, that the prophecy was cloaked in riddles, in many (b) other contexts, notably in the visions of Daniel, just as in the prophecy we are considering, in which it calls them Assyrians, meaning Rulers. It is then with their razor that it prophesies that after the birth of Emmanuel the whole order of the Jews will be abolished.

And also on that day, I mean the day of Emmanuel, or of Christ's Appearing, "A man, it says, will rear a heifer, and two sheep. And it shall come to pass from the abundance of milk, he that is left on the land shall eat butter and honey." By this he suggests the hunger and extreme penury of the Jews, not enjoying their natural food of corn, neither ploughing, sowing, nor reaping, possessing no flocks of sheep nor herds of cattle, but only possessing two sheep and a heifer to provide them with milk. Or perhaps he means figuratively, that those Jews left in the land, the choir of apostles and evangelists of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, each one of whom was a remnant according to the election of grace, and therefore called "he that is left" in the land, will rear a heifer and two sheep, three orders in each church, one of rulers, two of subordinates, since the Church of Christ's people is divided into two divisions, the faithful, and those not yet admitted to the laver of regeneration, to whom the holy apostle says, "I have fed you with milk, not with strong meat"; while he aptly calls those who are in a state of greater perfection a heifer, because they are the offspring of the more perfect bulls, like the apostle himself, who says of his own labour and that of his fellow-workers, "Does God take care for oxen, or is this said altogether for our sakes?" Thus the whole order of the leaders of the Church is called a heifer, for they are occupied in ploughing and sowing the souls of men, being the offspring of the ways and teaching of the apostles, who are said so to abound in virtue, that they provide of their fruitfulness fruitful and spiritual milk in elementary teaching, and nourish many besides themselves.

And it predicts also of those that shall be left in the land, that something else will happen in that day, that is to say at the time of Emmanuel's presence. What is it? Every place, it says, of the people of the Circumcision, where there were 1000 vines for 1000 shekels, shall be dry and thorny. For with arrow and bow they shall come there (obviously the enemy) and the land shall be dry and thorny. And note that everything the prophecy predicts will fall on the Jewish race in the day of Emmanuel, I mean at the time when the spiritual light of our Saviour's gifts shines on all men. He says that unclean and hostile powers which worked of old among the Gentiles, in Egypt and the land of the Assyrians, when the Lord hisses, and as it were urges them on and encourages them, will come upon their land, because they deserved the visitation. And it says that these powers will rest in valleys, and in caves of the rocks, in caverns, and in all their clefts, both figuratively understood of their souls, their bodily senses, their reason, and their divided minds, and directly in a literal sense of the whole country. Who would not wonder, when he sees how enemies have taken possession of every part of Judaea, and how foreigners and idolaters rest in all their cities and country? And the prophecy says that He will not only treat them thus, but will shave their head, the hairs of their feet and their beard, that is to say the whole order that of old was theirs, with the razor of the king of the Assyrians, as I have interpreted him.

At the same day and at the same time he threatens that he will plunge them into an extreme poverty of godly riches, so that they are devoid of rational bread, and of solid spiritual food, and are all content to be nourished with the milk of infants, and with elementary teaching. And to crown all, their vines will be dry. For when, as the same prophet says, their farmer and master expected them to bring forth a bunch of grapes, and they brought forth thorns, and not justice, but a cry, it is said that he will take away his mound and destroy the wall, and turn the vineyard into a dry place, and will deliver it to enemies, who, he says, will come there with arrow and bow, receiving their authority from God, Who delivers it to them not unjustly, but most justly, because all their land is become dry and thorny. Therefore, then, since they have made themselves dry and thorny, men will come, he says, with arrow and bow, with authority against them. Wonder not if this is expressed in dark and riddling figures. For I have already attributed the cause of such economy of Scripture to the desire to hide the final destruction of the Jewish race, so that they might preserve the Scriptures for our benefit and use.

For if the prophets had openly predicted destruction for them, and prosperity for the Gentiles, none of the Jews would have loved them, but they would have destroyed their writings as hostile and opposed to them, and it would have been impossible for us Gentiles to have made use of the prophetic evidence about our Saviour and ourselves. But yet when all this shall have happened to the Jewish race in Emmanuel's day, according to my interpretation of the prophecy, a scanty remnant of them is said to be left, of which the apostle says: "There was a remnant according to the election of grace. This it is surely, which shall rear a red heifer and two sheep, and from the abundance of their milk feed on butter and honey. And I have shewed according to my second interpretation that this describes the whole apostolic choir of the disciples of our Saviour Jesus Christ. But as those who are left behind are thus described in the prophecy, so also when the whole land of the Jewish nation and their vineyard has been transformed into sand and thorns, and therefore delivered to the enemy, it is prophesied in direct opposition to this that every arable (326) mountain shall be ploughed. And I think that the Church of our Saviour Jesus Christ is thus suggested, of which He also says: "A city set on a hill cannot be hid. For I think that the exalted, high, and lofty constitution of the Church is here called a mountain.

It is, then, this arable mountain that it says shall be ploughed, so that no fear may attack it, and that it shall be so far changed from its former desolation, aridity, and thorns, as to be fit for "a pasture for sheep, and a place for cattle to tread."

(b) And we can remember, that the Church of Christ which of old was dry and thorny, has undergone by His grace such a transformation, that it grows such a crop of the grass and fodder of spiritual harvest, that the sheeplike and simpler souls can delight in it, and that those who have reached a more perfect development, here called bulls, can plough and till it, as I shewed that the holy apostle taught, when he said: "Doth God take care for oxen, or doth he say it altogether for your sakes? For your sakes was it written, that he that plougheth should plough in hope, (c) and he that harroweth in hope to share therein." Thus the land that was before desert and dry has been transformed after the coming of Christ, so that it is fit for those, whom I understand as the bulls, to cultivate suitably.

And notice how the Virgin Birth is prophesied under the same figure, by which at the same time the prophecy says that the land that of old bore fruit worth a thousand shekels will be dry and thorny, and all the land because it is so dry and thorny will be delivered to those that attack it with (d) arrow and bow; while to every mountain the opposite will happen. They will be transformed from their previous dry and thorny state into a pasture of flocks and a place for cattle to tread, and no fear shall enter there. Whereby I think our Saviour's Virgin Birth is clearly meant, and all that happened after it both to the whole Jewish community and to the other nations. The prophecy plainly foretells the change of each of these divisions to the opposite of what they were before, the change of the Jewish nations from better to worse, and the change of the Gentile Church from its old desolation to a divine fruit-fulness, both of which are to be brought to pass according to the prophecy at the same time, that of the appearance of (327) Emmanuel, and are shewn to have actually been fulfilled after our Saviour's birth, and at no other time, both by the events in Jewish history which have been clearly told, and by the existence of the Gentile Church.

For if after the coming of our Saviour Jesus Christ Himself the kingdoms of Damascus and Judaea had not come to an end, and if we could not see with our own eyes their lands released from them, and given over to foreign idolaters to inhabit; and, moreover, if the old (b) stately beauty of their very Temple had not become sand and thorns, and if no impure idolaters had come as their enemies to attack them with bow and arrow, urged on by the Lord Himself from abroad, and stayed in their country making every place and every city their own; and on the other side, if by the teaching of our Saviour no nations brought to believe in Him had changed from the sands and thorns of their ancient barrenness and brought forth a holy and godly spiritual harvest; and again, if they who saw Christ with their eyes had not rejected Him, if they who heard Him speak had not turned a deaf ear to Him, and if the rest of the prophecy could not be proved to have been most exactly fulfilled from the days of Jesus our Saviour—then He would not be the subject of the prophecy. But if the fulfilment of the prophecies is.

as the saying is, clear to a blind man, as only brought to pass from the period of His coming, why need we any longer be in doubt about the Virgin Birth, or refuse by wise reasoning to base our belief in that which was the beginning of this matter, on the evidence of what we can even now see? And what do we even now see, but the Jews' disbelief in Him, so clearly fulfilling the oracle, which said: "Hearing ye shall hear and not understand, and seeing ye shall see and not perceive, for the heart of this people is waxed hard," and the siege of Jerusalem, and the total desolation of their ancient Temple, and the settling of foreign races on their land, enslaving them with stings, that is to say with harsh enactments—for this is meant by the figures of the flies and bees—and above all the transformation of the heathen world from its former desolation into the field of God. Who would not be struck with astonishment at these spectacles? And who would not agree that the prediction is truly inspired, when he heard that these words were consigned to books and taken care of by our ancestors a thousand years ago, and only brought to a fulfilment after our Saviour's coming?

If, then, the prediction was wonderful, and the result of the prediction yet more wonderful, and beyond all reason, why should we disbelieve that the actual entrance of Him that was foretold was allotted a miraculous and superhuman kind of birth, especially as the clear evidence of the other miracles, as marvellous (as the Birth itself) in their sequence from that Birth compels us to accept the evidence of the other wonders connected with Him.

But following this, after, For a pasture of flocks, and a place for cattle to tread, a second prediction is attached, to the foregoing: "And the Lord said to me, Take a book (c) for thyself," which we will consider, when I have quoted it. From the same. Concerning a New Writing, that is to say the New Covenant; a Prophetess is said to conceive of the Holy Spirit and bear a Son, Who, conquering Foes and Enemies, shall be rejected by the Jews, and will be a Saviour to the Gentiles. And what the Nation of the Jews will suffer after their Disbelief in Him, is shewn at the Same Time. [Passage quoted, Isa. viii. 1-4.] This prophecy is connected with the preceding. For she that was there called a Virgin, and was said to bear God with us, is here called a Prophetess. And if it be asked whence she should conceive being unmarried, the prophecy now gives teaching on this point, for it says: "And I went in to the prophetess; and she conceived and bare a son." This must be understood of the Holy Spirit, under Whose Divine influence the prophet spoke. The Holy Spirit then Himself confesses that He went in to the prophetess: and this is clearly fulfilled in the birth of our Saviour Jesus Christ, when:

"The angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man, whose name was Joseph, of the house and lineage of David. And he said to her, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women." And again: "Fear not, for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bear a son, and shall call his name Jesus. And Mary said, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?" He answered, "The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee. Wherefore the holy thing that is born shall be called Son of God." (d) And in the preceding prophecy, coincident with the birth of Emmanuel, before the Child knows good or evil, it is said that the land is forsaken by the two kings that are attacking it, namely the kings of Samaria and Damascus; while in this prophecy it says that before the Child calls on His father or mother, He shall take the power of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria, whose kings He previously prophesied would be destroyed at the birth of Emmanuel.

I have already pointed out that actually in the time of Ahaz two kings made a covenant and attacked those ruled by David's successors; the one, ruler of the idolatrous Gentiles of Damascus; the other, king of the Jewish people in the city of Palestine called Samaria, which we (330) call Sebaste. Concerning whom God said to Ahaz: "Fear not, let thy heart not be sick, for these two smoking firebrands." And he foretells that the destruction of these men will be immediate, and proceeds to prophesy that on the birth of God with us, both their kingdoms will be utterly extinguished and destroyed. And we know from history that until the coming of our Saviour Jesus Christ (b) the kingdoms of Judaea and Damascus continued, but that after His appearance to all men, they ceased in accordance with the prophecy, for the Roman Empire absorbed them concurrently with the preaching of our Saviour.

And after this literal prediction the prophecy passes to a figurative and generally more spiritual form of revelation, and it understands two ranks of invisible enemies and hostile daemons, warring in different ways against humanity, one active always and everywhere in promoting idolatry and false beliefs among mankind, the other occasioning the (c) corruption of morals. And taking the type of idolatrous error in the king of Damascus, and of the decline of the pure and healthy life in the king of Samaria, it says that the earth, meaning thereby the men who inhabit it, will only be released from their power, when God appears on earth as Emmanuel. When He has shone forth and ruled over the soul of man, none of the old tyrants will be left. Thus, then, you will understand that here it refers to the (d) same beings, when it says: "He will take the power of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria," for our Saviour Jesus Christ's power conquers completely all our unseen enemies, who for long ages besieged all men with their aforesaid godless and harmful activities. And in the literal sense as well you may see the power of Damascus destroyed concurrently with the Birth and appearance of our Saviour, and the spoils of Samaria taken, that is to say their kingdoms, which continued up to the time stated, but in the fulfilment of the divine prediction have ceased from then till now. (331)

Some say, interpreting otherwise, that the Magi, who came from the East to worship Christ, the young Child, are meant by the "power of Damascus": and you might say more universally that all who have rejected godless, polytheistic idolatry, and obeyed the word of Christ, especially if they be furnished with this world's reason and wisdom, are those meant by the "power of Damascus." And by the "spoils of Samaria" you will in this case understand our Saviour's Jewish apostles and disciples, (b) whom as it were He took as His spoils from the hostile Jews who attacked Him, and armed for the conflict with the king of the Assyrians, by whom again the Prince of this world is figuratively meant. But as Aquila has translated more clearly: "The adversary of the king of the Assyrians" by "In the face of the king of the Assyrians,'' it is worth considering whether here the Roman Empire is not meant, if the translation given a little before of "Assyrians" as "rulers or ruled" be correct. As then (c) here, also, the king of the Assyrians is connected with the appearing of our Saviour, it is probable that here also the Roman Empire is intended, through their being directed by God to subject the nations to themselves. It is therefore prophesied that the child that is born will take the power of Damascus, and the spoils of Samaria, and will deliver them against the face of the Assyrians, and before the eyes of those ruled by God, and that He will do this at the time of His Birth, directing the fate of humanity with secret divine power, while physically still a babe. (d)

The prophet commands all this to be delivered in a new and great book in the writing of a man, by which is meant the new Covenant. And he adds as witnesses of his sayings a priest and a prophet: his word thus teaching us, of the necessity of using in Christian evidences the witness of the sacrificial system in the law, and of the prophets who succeeded it; and he desires, for other reasons, that there should be eye-witnesses of the Child's birth, that we might be able to understand what is prophesied of Him. For it was said above: "For if ye will not believe, neither will ye understand," and (he writes) that the one should have (332) "the Light of God" (this is the meaning of Uriah), and that the other being "the Son of Blessing" should bear the "memory of God in himself" (this is the meaning of Zachariah son of Barachiah).

Such is my exposition of the passages, and if any of the Jews does not agree with me, let him point out to me who at any time was born in this nation as Emmanuel, and how the prophet, came in to the prophetess, and who she was, and how she conceived immediately, and who was the child that was born of the prophetess, whom the Lord (b) Himself named: "Take the spoil speedily, keenly rob," and why the child was so called. They must shew, too, that the child, before he called on his father and mother, took the power of Damascus, and the spoils of Samaria against the king of the Assyrians. For we, understanding these sayings both literally and figuratively, hold that they were fulfilled in our Saviour's Birth, shewing that you must deal with the prophecies first in their literal and (c) obvious sense, and next allegorically. Immediately after the aforesaid words another prophecy follows in disguised language.

[Passage quoted, Isa. viii. 5-8.] It is clear that the only way to preserve the sense of this passage is to explain it figuratively. Thus it means by the water of Siloam that goes softly, the Gospel teaching of the word of salvation. For Siloam means "sent." And this would be God the Word, sent by the Father, of Whom Moses also says, A ruler shall not fail from Juda, nor a prince from his loins, until he come for whom it is stored up, and he is the expectation of nations. For instead for whom it is stored up, the Hebrew has "Siloam," the word (333) of prophecy using the same word Siloam there and here, which means "the one that is sent."

And Raashim again was king of the idolatrous Gentiles in Damascus, as was also the son of Romelias of the Jews in Samaria who deserted the Jewish worship of their ancestors. And so God threatens that on those who will not accept Siloam, that is to say Emmanuel, who is sent to them, and the Son born of the prophetess, and His pleasant and fruitful Word, but reject it, though it flows softly and (b) gently, and choose for their own selves the prince of idolatrous Gentiles or the leaders of the apostasy of God's people, He will bring the strong and full flood of the river, which the word of the prophecy interprets for us to be the king of the Assyrians: meaning here again either figuratively the Prince of this world, or the power of Rome actually dominant, to which they were delivered who rejected the said water of Siloam that went softly, and (c) embraced beliefs utterly hostile to good teaching. At once surely and without delay on those who rejected the Gospel of our Saviour, and refused the water of Siloam that went softly, the Roman army came under God's direction through all their valleys, trod down all their walls, took away from Judaea every man who could raise his head, or was able to do anything at all, and so great was their camp that it filled the whole breadth of Judrea. (d)

So the prophecy was literally fulfilled against them. Learn why it was if you desire to know. Because Emmanuel, God with us, the Child of the Virgin, was not with them, for if they had had Him, they would not have suffered thus. Wherefore the prophet next cries to the Gentiles, saying, "Emmanuel, God with us: know ye nations and yield." And this I have interpreted, so as to shew that most prophecies can be explained either literally or figuratively. Hence we must proceed to consider the remainder of the prophecy before us in both ways. And if the Jews say that even now (334) we are to expect the fulfilment in the future, expecting these things to be accomplished actually and literally by the Christ they look for, let us ask them, how he that is to come will take the power of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria against the king of the Assyrians, inasmuch as Samaria at the present time is destroyed, and no longer exists, and the power that bore the name of Damascus is abolished, and so is the Assyrian Empire, which the Medes (b) and Persians destroyed and superseded between them? And as none of these people hold empire, how is it possible to look for their destruction in the future?

Neither is it possible to claim that they were fulfilled at any other time in the distant past. No Hebrew sprung from the union of a prophetess with the prophet Isaiah ever (c) took the spoils of Samaria and the power of Damascus warring against the king of Assyria, as the literal sense would imply. So that everything compels us to agree that the fulfilment has only been in the way I have described, and at no other time than that of the appearance of Jesus our Saviour, in Whose day I have proved that the things aforesaid were fulfilled. And there was therefore written according to the prophecy on His appearing a new book, the word of the new Covenant containing the birth of the Son of the prophetess, (d) Who also has literally by secret and divine power delivered the kingly power of both Damascus and Samaria and their spoils as explained by me into the hands of the Roman Empire: and figuratively of course as well, He has drawn up His Jewish disciples, claiming them as it were for His spoils, girding them with arms of spiritual strength, against the face of the said king of the Assyrians, and made them into heavy-armed soldiers, as His own soldiers. But those who refused the fruitful and life-giving water of His own teaching, which goes softly, and preferred what is hostile and opposed to God, He has handed over to the king of (335) the Assyrians, by whom they are even now enslaved. For verily He has gone up all their valleys, and all their walls, and taken away from Judaea every ruler and king, denominated "head," and every one capable of doing anything, with the result that from that time to this they have possessed no head, no able man of God, as were their ancient saints, whether eminent for prophecy, or even for righteousness and godliness.

And it is evident that their whole country is even now (b) subject to their enemies, and that this was all completed when Emmanuel came. Thus, then, the Hebrew Scriptures contain the double message that Emmanuel would be rejected by the Jews and cause their great miseries, and that He would be accepted by us Gentiles and prove Himself our source of salvation and of the knowledge of God. Wherefore the next saying is, "God is with us: know ye Gentiles and yield." How truly do we yield, we Gentiles that believe on Him, vanquished by the truth and power of Him Who is God with us, and conquered we obey Him (c) everywhere alike, even though we dwell in the very ends of the earth, according to the prophecy which says, "Obey even at the ends of the earth." Yet though we obey Him and hear His call, the prophecy as it proceeds must refer to those nations that do not yet believe, saying, "Ye that were strong be vanquished. For if ye again be strong, ye shall again be vanquished, and whatever word ye take, shall not remain among you, for God is with us. Thus saith the Lord to them that disbelieve with strong hand." (d)

In which words the prophecy says clearly to them that are restive under and rebel against Christ's teaching and put no trust in His strong hand, that they will have no strength if they attempt to war with the God with us, and that whatever counsel they take against Him shall not abide with them, because Emmanuel is with us, and it is easy for us who see the threats directed against us and the attacks of rulers in these days, to realize the truth of the conclusion, and that they can never carry out their threats because God is with us. (336) From the same. That the Son to be Born of the Virgin prophesied of, or Prophetess, is Called God, Angel of Great Counsel, and by Other Strange Names, and that His Birth is the Occasion of the Light of Holiness to the Gentiles. [Passage quoted, Isa. ix. 1-7.]

This is the third prophecy of the Child, making known the same thing in different ways. As our present object is to exhibit the manner of God's coming to men, note the number of ways in which He is shewn forth. First, He was set before us under the name of Emmanuel, God born of a Virgin; secondly, as the Child of the prophetess and the Holy Spirit, being none other than the before-named; thirdly, in the present passage, being one and the same as in the former, wherein His Name is said to be, according to the Septuagint, Angel of Great Counsel, and as some of the copies have, "Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, (337) Potentate, Prince of Peace, Father of the World to Come." In the Hebrew, as Aquila says: "For unto us a child is born, to us a son is given, and a measure was upon his shoulders. And his name was called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty, Powerful, Father, even Prince of Peace, and of his peace there is no end."

And as Symmachus: "For a youth is given to us, a son is given us; and his instructions shall be upon his shoulders, and his name shall be called Miraculous, Counselling, Strong, Powerful, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace, and of his (b) peace there is no end." In the Septuagint it is not simply Angel, but that he should be born as Angel of Great Counsel, and Wonderful Counsellor, and Mighty God, and Potentate, and Prince of Peace, and Father of the World to Come, and it was there prophesied that He should be a Child. He is referred to that was previously called differently the Word of God, and God and Lord, and also named the Angel of His Father, and the Captain of the Lord's Host. But who can this be who, in Aquila's version and those even now current among (c) the Hebrews, is "begotten among men, and become a child, Wonderful and Strong, Counsellor, Powerful, and Father, yea even Prince of peace, Whose peace, he says, will never end?" or in that of Symmachus, "Miraculous, Counselling, Strong, Powerful, Eternal Father, Prince of peace, and that endless and infinite"; or in Theodotion's "Counselling wonderfully, Strong, Powerful, Father, Prince of peace, for increasing instruction, of Whose peace there is no end."

And that which follows I leave you to consider by yourself, only remarking that this Being Who is called Eternal Father, (d) and Prince of Endless Peace, and Angel of Great Counsel is prophesied of as being begotten and becoming a child, and on His birth among men wills that they shall be burnt with fire who grudge the salvation He wins for the Gentiles, be they evil daemons, or be they wicked men, of whom He says, "That every garment and raiment wrought by guile, they will repay with interest." And who can these be, but those of whom it was elsewhere spoken in the person of our Saviour, "They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots "? And they who are partakers of their sin, who will also desire, when they shall see their own judgment at some future time, that they had been burnt with fire before they sinned, before the Angel of Great Counsel had been sinned against by them?

Now consider yourself whether it does not overstep the limits of human nature that His peace should be said to be endless, and that He should be called Eternal Father; and also that He should be called not simply Angel, but Angel of Great Counsel, and Mighty God, and the other names in the list. And it says too that the kingdom of David will be restored by Him, which you will understand thus: there were many promises given to David, in which it was said: "And I will set his hand in the sea, and his right hand in the rivers: he shall call upon me, Thou art my father, my God, and the helper of my salvation, And I will make him my firstborn, high above the kings of the earth. For ever I will keep my mercy for him, and my covenant shall stand firm with him, and I will make his seed for ever and ever, and his throne as the days of heaven."

And again: "Once have I sworn by my holiness, I will not fail David, his seed shall remain for ever, and his throne is as the sun before me, and as- the moon established for ever." God promised all this to David in the Psalms, but through the sins of his successors the opposite actually happened— for the kings of David's seed lasted until Jeremiah, and ceased on the siege of the holy city by the Babylonians, so that from that date neither the throne of David nor his seed ruled the Jewish nation. And the Holy Spirit thus foretells the failure of the promises made to David in the same passage of the Psalm: "But thou hast rejected, and made of no account, thou hast cast down thy Christ: Thou hast destroyed the covenant of thy servant, and cast his glory to the ground, thou hast broken down all his strongholds."

And a few verses later: "Thou hast broken down his throne to the ground, thou hast lessened the days of his time, thou hast proved dishonour upon him"; a course of events which has been begun and carried to its conclusion from the Babylonian captivity of the Jews up to (339) the Roman Empire and Tiberius. For no one of the seed of David appears to have sat on the throne of the Hebrews in the intervening period up to the coining of Christ. But when our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, Who was of David's seed, was proclaimed King of all the world, that very throne of David, as though renewed from its degradation and fall, was restored in the divine kingdom of our (b) Saviour, and will last for ever; and even now, like the sun in God's Presence, is lighting the whole world with the rays of His teaching, according to the witness of the Psalm and the prophecy before us, which says concerning the Child that should be born, on the throne of David (that is to say, the eternal and lasting throne promised to David), He should sit in His kingdom, to guide it, and uphold it in (c) justice and judgment from now even for ever. The Angel Gabriel should be a sufficient teacher that this was fulfilled, when he said in his sacred words to the Virgin:

"Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favour with God; and behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bear a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called Son of the Highest, and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David, and he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end." [[Luke.i. 30.]] (d) And the prophet expecting this birth of Christ in the aforesaid Psalm, and regarding its postponement and delay as if it were the cause of the fall of David's throne, cries in disgust, "But thou hast refused, and made of no account, and cast off thy Christ." And he prays as though doubting the Divine Being, that the promise may be somehow swiftly fulfilled: "Where is thine ancient pity, Lord, which thou swarest unto David in thy truth? "which same things his prophecy most clearly says will be fulfilled at the birth of the Angel of Great Counsel. "Wherefore they will wish," he says, "to have been burnt with fire, those before named for unto us a child is born, and to us a son is given, the Angel of Great Counsel." To us, that is, who in Galilee of the Gentiles have believed on Him, to whom He has brought light and joy, and the new and fresh drink of the mystery of the new Covenant: according to the prophecy which says:

"First drink this, drink quickly—land of Zabulon, (340) and land of Nephthalim, and the rest who dwell by the coast, across Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles: O people that sat in darkness, behold a great light, and to them that sat in darkness and the shadow of death a light is risen." These are they who from the Gentiles believed in the Christ of God, and the disciples and apostles of our Saviour, whom He called from the land of Zabulon and Nephthalim, and chose for the preachers of His Gospel. To them therefore who believed, the Angel of Great Counsel is given as a son to bring them salvation, but to them who disbelieved (b) fire and burning. He says that the ground of this whole dispensation is the zeal of the Lord, "The zeal of the Lord of Sabaoth will do this." What is the character of this zeal? Is it not that recorded by Moses, where he says:

"They have provoked me to jealousy, but not according to God. They have angered me with their idols. And I will provoke them to jealousy by a nation which is not. By a foolish nation I will anger them "? [[Deut.xxxii. 21.]] But as I have by God's help solved the problems of the (c) sojourn on earth of Him that was prophesied, and also the character of His coming from prophetic evidence, it is now the time to investigate the place where He should be born, His race, and the Hebrew tribe from which it was predicted He should come. These, then, shall be our next subjects. CHAPTER 2 From Micah. (341) Of the Place of the Birth of the God fore-announced, and how He will come forth from Bethlehem, a Town of Palestine, being from Eternity, as Governor of the Race of the Holy, and how it is foretold that the Lord will feed them that have believed in Him unto the Ends of the Earth.

[Passage quoted, Micah v. 2-6.] EMMANUEL, which is interpreted God with us, has been clearly shewn in the passages quoted to have been born of (b) the Virgin, and the Angel of Great Counsel to have become a child. But the place of His Birth had also to be pointed out. It was therefore prophesied that a ruler would come forth from Bethlehem, whose goings forth were from eternity. And this could not be referred to a human being, but only to the nature of Emmanuel and the Angel of Great Counsel. For eternal existence can be assumed only of God. A person who exists from eternity, then, is predicted as about to come forth from Bethlehem, a Jewish town not far from (c) Jerusalem. And we find that the only famous man who was born there was David, and then later our Lord and Saviour, Jesus the Christ of God, and besides them no other. But David, who came before the date of the prophecy, was dead many years before the prediction: nor were his goings forth from the days of eternity. It only remains that the words were fulfilled in Him that was born afterwards from Bethlehem, the true Emmanuel, God the Word going forth before the whole creation, and called (d) "God with us," especially as His Birth at Bethlehem undoubtedly shewed God's Presence, by the wonders connected with it: for St. Luke writes its record thus:

[Passage quoted, Luke ii. 1-18.] So Luke writes. And Matthew tells the story of our Saviour's birth as follows: [Matt. ii. 1-12.] I have quoted these passages in full to shew that what happened at Bethlehem at the Birth of our Saviour furnishes adequate evidence that He was the Person meant by the prophecy. And to this day the inhabitants of the place, who have received the tradition from their fathers, confirm the truth of the story by shewing to those who visit Bethlehem because of its history the cave in which the (c) Virgin bare and laid her infant, as the prophecy says: "Therefore he shall give them until the time of her that brings forth: She shall bring forth, and the rest of their brethren shall turn to them."

And by "her that brings forth "he means accordingly her that in the former prophecies was called a Virgin, and the prophetess who was delivered of Emmanuel and the Angel of Great Counsel. For until her day and that of Him she bare the old conditions of the nation were unaltered, the prescription being laid down until the time of "her that (d) brings forth, "that is, until the miraculous Birth of Him that was born of the Virgin; but after His day their kingdom was taken away, and the remnant of their brethren, those, that is to say, who believed in the Christ of God, became apostles and disciples and evangelists of our Saviour, whom, when they turn to Him, the Lord Himself is said to feed, not as before by angels or men that served him, but by Himself personally, so that thus they might be glorified to the ends of the earth. For they were glorified when "their voice went into all the earth, and their words to the end of the world." It is clear what a great flock of spiritual human sheep has been won for the Lord throughout the whole world by the apostles: and this flock the Lord Himself is (314) said personally to look after and feed with His strength, being both Shepherd and Lord of the flock, so that the sheep are protected by the strong hand and mighty arm of their Master and Shepherd, from danger of attack from wild and savage beasts.

Such is the character of the events at Bethlehem, and of the Coming of the God that was fore-announced. But the account of the Coming from Heaven to men of the Lord and (b) Shepherd Himself I have already quoted from the prophecy we have before us, in which it is said: "Hear all peoples, and let the earth attend, and all that are therein, and the Lord shall he a witness to you, the Lord from his holy house. Wherefore behold the Lord, the Lord comes forth from his place, and shall descend," (and that which follows); to which he adds, "For the sin of Jacob is all this done, and for the transgression of the house of Israel." But it is clear, from what the same prophet goes (c) on to say, that it was not only because of the sin of the Jews, that the Lord came down, but also for the salvation and calling of all nations. For he proceeds to say:

"And the mountain of the Lord shall be visible to the end of the days, and many peoples shall haste to it, and many nations shall come and say, Come, let us go up to the Mount of the Lord." And therefore, after the proclamation that the Eternal shall come forth from Bethlehem, he says that he will no more rule only over Israel, but over all men together even unto the ends of the earth; for he says: (d) "And he shall stand and see, and shall feed his flock with the strength of the Lord, and they shall live in the glory of the name of the Lord God: wherefore now they shall be glorified even unto the ends of the earth, and this shall be peace." Who shall have this peace, but the earth, in which the flocks of the Lord shall be glorified? And it is plain to all that this was fulfilled after the coming of our Saviour Jesus Christ.

For before Him there was great variety of government, all nations being under tyrannical or democratic constitutions, as for instance, Egypt was ruled by its own king, (345) and so were the Arabs, the Idumueans, the Phoenicians, the Syrians and the other nations; there were risings of nations against nations and cities against cities, there were countless sieges and enslavements carried through in every place and country, until the Lord and Saviour came, and concurrently with His coming, the first Roman Emperor, (b) Augustus, conquered the nations, variety of government was almost completely ended, and peace was spread through all the world, according to the prophecy before us which expressly says of Christ's disciples: "Wherefore they shall be glorified to the ends of the earth, and this shall be peace." And the oracle in the Psalms, which says about Christ, "There shall rise in his days justice and peace," is in agreement with this. And I think that is why He is called "Prince of Peace" in the prophecy that I quoted before this. And I would ask you to notice that the prophet we are considering says at the outset that the Lord will come from heaven, and that the subject of the prophecy will only pasture his flock after His birth at Bethlehem. And (c) the Evangelist, whose words I have cited, furnishes the evidence that this was the case with regard to our Lord and Saviour.

The Christ is called the governor and shepherd of Israel, in accord with the custom of Holy Scripture to give the name of the true Israel figuratively to all who see God and live according to His Will: just as contrariwise it calls the Jews, when they sin, by names that suit their ways, Canaanites, and seed of Canaan not Judah, Rulers of Sodom, and people of Gomorrah. Though, of course, (d) also, all our Saviour's life was literally passed with the Jewish race, and He was the Leader of many gathered out of Israel, as many of the Jews as knew Him and believed in Him. Such, then, was the fulfilment of the prophecy quoted. But one must start fresh in considering that which succeeds it, which runs thus: "When the Assyrian shall attack your land, and come against your country, there shall be raised up against him seven shepherds, and eight 'bites' of men,"

with that which follows, whose meaning we are not now called upon to unfold. Now it might be said that after the expedition of the Assyrians into Judaea, when they overcame the Jews, the number of rebellions against them is shewn by the seven shepherds and the eight "bites": and that historians of (346) Assyria would know this, and at the end of their rule the one foretold was born at Bethlehem, after the seven shepherds and the eight "bites" had happened to the Assyrians in the period after their expedition against Judaea. But we must not now devote more time to what would entail a long inquiry. From Psalm cxxxi. To David, inquiring where should be the Birthplace of the Predicted God, Ephratha, which is Bethlehem, is made known by the Holy Spirit. (c) [Passages quoted, Ps. cxxxi. 1-7, 10, 11, 17.]

This prophecy agrees with the preceding in stating that the God about whom the prophecy is made will come forth from Bethlehem. And it is about this place that David first prays God to teach him, since he does not know it, (347) and then after his prayer he is taught. For when he has received the oracle addressed to him in the Psalm which said: "Of the fruit of thy body I will set upon thy seat," and, "There will I raise up a horn for David, I have prepared a lantern for my Christ," he rightly falls down before God, and there fallen to the earth worships, and with yet greater intensity of prayer swears that he will not enter the tabernacle of his house, nor allow his eyes to sleep, nor his eyelids to slumber, nor ascend the couch of his bed, (b) but will lie on the ground worshipping and adoring, until he finds a place for the Lord, and a tabernacle for the God of Jacob—that is, until he learns by the Lord's revelation to him the birthplace of the Christ.

So having prayed and desired to learn it, not long after he beholds by the Holy Spirit what will be in the future; for God has promised to His people that he will hear them even while they speak. So his prayer being heard he (c) is favoured with an oracle which cries "Bethlehem," that being the place of the Lord, and the tabernacle of the God of Jacob. And so when the Holy Spirit prophesied that this was within him, he, listening to his inner voice, adds: "Lo, we heard of it in Ephratha. And Ephratha is the same as Bethlehem, as is clear from Genesis, where it is said of Rachel, "And they buried her in the Hippodrome of Ephratha,'' and this is Bethlehem. And the previous prophecy ran: "And thou, Bethlehem, house of Ephratha. "Behold," he says, "we have heard it! "—evidently (d) meaning the birth of Christ and the entering of the God of Jacob into His tabernacle. For what else could the tabernacle of the God of Jacob be but the Body of Christ, which was born at Bethlehem, in which, as in a tabernacle, the divinity of the Only-begotten dwelt? And the habitation is not said to be simply of God, but is qualified as of the God of Jacob, that we may know that it is the God that dwells therein, Who was seen by Jacob in human form and shape, wherefore he was deemed worthy of the name, Seer of God, f6r such is the translation of his name.

And I have established in the early part of this work that He that was seen by Jacob was none other than the Word of God. Bethlehem was therefore revealed to David when he prayed and desired to know the place and the habitation of the Lord and God of Jacob, wherefore he said: "Behold, we heard it at Ephiatha," and added: "Let us worship at (348) the place where his feet stood. Therefore in these words the Lord God of Jacob Himself foretold that His own place and habitation would be in Ephratha, which is Bethlehem, agreeing with the prophecy of Micah, which said: "And thou, Bethlehem, house of Ephratha, out of thee shall come a governor, and his goings forth are from eternity," which, when we lately examined, we found could only apply to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, Who was born at Bethlehem according to the predictions. For (b) it is certain that no one else can be shewn to have come forth from there with glory after the date of the prophecy: there was no king, or prophet, or any other Hebrew saint who can be shewn to have been of David's seed, and also born at Bethlehem, except our Lord and Saviour, the Christ of God. We must, therefore, own that He, and no one else, is the subject of this prophecy, and (c) for the additional reason that further on the same Psalm proves it, calling Him Christ by name, where it says:

"For the sake of David thy servant, turn not away the face of thy Christ. And again: "There will I raise up a horn for David, I have prepared a lantern for my Christ, his enemies I will clothe with shame, but upon him my holiness shall flower. Where else does he say: "I will raise up a horn for David," but in Bethlehem—Ephratha? (d) For it was there the horn of David, the Christ according to the flesh, arose like a great light, and there the God of the Universe prepared the lantern of the Christ. And the human tabernacle was the lantern as it were of his spiritual light, through which, like an earthen vessel, as if through a lantern, He poured forth the rays of His own light on all who were oppressed by ignorance of God and thick darkness.

Yes, indeed, I think that it was clearly revealed here that the God of Jacob, from the beginning the Eternal, would dwell among men, and that He would be born nowhere else but in the place at Bethlehem, near Jerusalem, in the spot that is even now pointed out, for there no one is witnessed to by all the inhabitants as having been (349) born there in accordance with the Gospel story, no one remarkable or famous among all men, except Jesus Christ. And Bethlehem is translated, "House of Bread," bearing the name of Him Who came forth from it, our Saviour, the true Word of God, and nourisher of spiritual souls, which He Himself shews by saying: "I am the Bread that came down from heaven." And since it was David's mother-town as well, the Son of David according to the (b) flesh rightly made His entrance from it according to the predictions of the prophets, so that the reason is clear why He chose Bethlehem for His mother-town.

But He is said to have been brought up at Nazara, and also to have been called a Nazarene We know that the Hebrew word "Naziraion" occurs in Leviticus in connection with the ointment which they used for unction. And the ruler there was a kind of image of the great and (c) true High Priest, the Christ of God, being a shadowy type of Christ. So there it is said about the High Priest according to the Septuagint: "And he shall not defile him that is sanctified to his God, because the holy oil of his God hath anointed him": where the Hebrew has nazer for oil. And Aquila reads: "Because the separation, the oil of God's unction, is on him"; and Symmachus: "Because the pure oil of his God's anointing is on him ": and Theodotion: "Because the oil nazer anointed by his God is upon him." So that nazer according to the Septuagint is "holy," according to Aquila "separation," according to Symmachus "pure," and the name Nazarene will therefore mean either holy, or separate, or pure. But the ancient priests, who were anointed with prepared oil, which Moses (d) called Nazer, were called for that reason Nazarenes; while our Lord and Saviour having naturally holiness, purity, and separation from sin, needed no human unguent, yet received the name of Nazarene among men, not because He was a Nazarene in the sense of being anointed with the oil called Nazer, but because He naturally had the qualities it symbolized, and also because He was called Nazarene from Nazara, where He was brought up by His parents according to the flesh and passed His childhood. And so it is said (350) in Matthew:

"Being warned of God in a dream [Joseph is referred to] he departed into the regions of Galilee, and came and lived in a city called Nazara, that the saying of the prophets might be fulfilled, He shall be called a Nazarene." For it was altogether necessary that He Who was a Nazarene naturally and truly, that is holy, and pure and separate from men, should be called by the name. But since, needing no human unction, He did not receive the name from the oil nazer, He acquired it from the place named (b) Nazara. This proof being thus complete, let us now investigate from what race, and from which Hebrew tribe, it was foretold that the Saviour of our souls, the Christ of God, should come. And I will first quote the Gospel passages about it, and then add the prophets' evidence to theirs, like seals that agree together. Matthew thus gives the genealogy of Christ according to the flesh:

"The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham begat Isaac, and Isaac begat Jacob, and Jacob begat Juda," and that which follows. And the apostle agrees with this, when he says: "Separated to the gospel of God, which he had before promised by his prophets in the holy scriptures concerning his son, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh." These words would agree with the corresponding predictions. CHAPTER 3 From the Second Book of Chronicles. From what Race and from what Hebrew Tribe it was foretold that the Christ should come. [Passages quoted, 1 Chron. xvii. 11-13; Ps. lxxxviii. 26; verses 4, 35, 29; and cxxxi. 11.]

THERE is no doubt that Solomon was the son of David and his successor in the kingdom. And he first built the Temple of God at Jerusalem, and perhaps the Jews understand him to be the subject of the prophecy. But we may fairly ask them whether the oracle applies to Solomon, which says, "And I will set up his throne for ever," and also where God sware with the affirmation of an oath by his holy one, "The throne of him that is foretold, shall be as the sun, and the days of heaven." For if the years of the reign of Solomon are reckoned, they will be found to be forty and no more. Even if the reigns of all his successors be added up, they do not altogether come to 500 years. And even if we suppose that their line continued down to the final attack on the Jewish nation by the Romans, how can they fulfil a prophecy which says, "Thy throne shall remain for ever, and be as the sun and the days of heaven "? And the words, "I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son," how can they refer to Solomon, for his history tells us much about him that is foreign and opposed to the adoption of God? Nay, hear the indictment against him:

"And Solomon loved women, and took many strange wives, even the daughter of Pharaoh, Moabites, Ammonites, and Idumaeans, Syrians and Chatteans, and Amorites, from the nations of whom the Lord said to the children of Israel, that they should not go in to them." And in addition to this: "And his heart was not right with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father; and Solomon went after Astarte, the abomination of the Sidonians, and after their king, the idol of the sons of Ammon. And Solomon did evil before the Lord." And again further on he adds: "And the Lord raised Satan against Solomon, Ader the Idumaean."

Now who would venture to call God his father, who, lay under such grievous charges, and to call himself the firstborn son of the God of the Universe? Or how could these sayings apply first to David, and then to his seed? But they do not even apply to David, if you reflect. Therefore we require some one else, here revealed, to arise from the seed of David. But there was no other born of him, as is recorded, save only our Lord and Saviour Jesus the Christ of God, Who alone of the kings of David's line is called through the whole world the Son of David according to His earthly birth, and Whose Kingdom continues and will continue, lasting for endless time. It is attacked by many, but always by its divine superhuman power proves itself inspired and invincible as the prophecy foretold. And if you hear God swear by His holy one, hear Him swear as Father by the Word of God, existing before all ages, His Holy and Only-begotten Son, of Whose divinity the passages I have quoted have spoken in many ways, by Whom His God and Father swears as by His dearly beloved, that He would glorify Him that was of the seed of David for ever.

And this came to pass when the Word became flesh, and took and made divine Him that was of David's seed. Wherefore he calls him Son, saying, "I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son." And again, "And 1 will make him my firstborn." From this it is then clearly explained that the firstborn Son of God will be of the seed of David, so that the Son of David is one and the same as the Son of God, and the Son of God one and the same as the Son of David. And thus it was prophesied that the Firstborn of the whole creation, Himself the Son of God, was to become Son of man. The Scripture of the Gospel sets its seal on this oracle, where it says that the Angel Gabriel, standing by the holy Virgin, spake thus concerning our Saviour:

"He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest, and the Lord God shall give to him the throne of his father David, and he shall rule over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end." And after a little, Zacharias the father of John, prophesies thus concerning Christ in the same gospel: "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he hath visited and wrought redemption for his people, and hath raised a horn of salvation for us in the house of David his son, as he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets from ages past." The fact that our Lord and Saviour Jesus the Christ of God, and none other, has received the throne promised for ever to David, has then been adequately proved by the prophecies quoted, and by the words of Gabriel and Zachariah, in which He is regarded as of the seed of David according to the flesh.

But the reason why the holy evangelists give the genealogy of Joseph, although our Saviour was not His son, but the son of the Holy Ghost and the holy Virgin, and how the mother of our Lord herself is proved to be of the race and seed of David, I have treated fully in the First Book of my Questions and Answers concerning the genealogy of our Saviour, and must refer those interested to that book, as the present subject is now occupying me. From Psalm lxxii. Of Solomon and of His Seed that is to come. [Passages quoted, Ps. lxxii., i, 5-8, 16b.]

As this Psalm is addressed to Solomon, the first verse of (354) the Psalm must be referred to him, and all the rest to the son of Solomon, not Rehoboam, who was king of Israel after him, but Him that was of his seed according to the flesh, the Christ of God: for all who are acquainted with the Holy Scriptures will agree that it is impossible to connect (c) what is said in this Psalm with him or his successors, because of what they reveal about him. Nay, how is it possible to apply to Solomon, or his son Rehoboam, the burden of the whole Psalm?—for instance, "He shall rule from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth. And "He shall remain as long as the sun, and before the moon for ever," and other similar statements. Yet the words at the beginning of the Psalm are at once seen to apply to Solomon, which say, "O God, thou wilt give judgment to the king. And the addition, "And thy justice to the king's son," to the Son of Solomon, not his (d) firstborn who succeeded him in the kingdom (for he only ruled the Jewish nation seventeen years, being a wicked king), nor any of the successors of Rehoboam, but only to one of the seed of David, who could thus be called the son both of David and Solomon. And this is our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. For His Kingdom and its throne will stand as long as the sun.

And He alone of men, as the Word of God, existed before the moon and the creation of (355) the world, and He alone came down like dew from heaven on all the earth: and it was said in our quotation a little above, that He had risen on all men and that His justice would remain even until the consummation of life, which is called the removal of the moon. And our Saviour's power is supreme from the eastern sea to the west, beginning its (b) activity at the river, which is either the Sacrament of Baptism, or from Jordan, where He first appeared to benefit mankind. Yea, from that time His kingdom has spread and extended through the whole world. And Jerusalem being meant by Libanus, as is made clear by many prophecies, because of its ancient altar and temple, and the offerings thereon to the honour of God like Libanus, the Church of the Gentiles the fruit of Christ is said to be (c) about to be exalted above Libanus. And if the studious consider this Psalm in its literal sense at leisure, they will find that its contents only apply to our Lord, and not to Solomon of old, or any of his successors on the throne of Judaea, who reigned but a few years, and only over the Jewish land.

(d) From Isaiah. Of Jesse, and the Seed to be born of Him. [Passage quoted, Isa. xi. 1-10.] (356) This Jesse was David's father. As, then, in the preceding prophecies it was foretold that one should come forth of the fruit and seed of David, and also of the seed of Solomon, in the same way here it is prophesied that one will come forth of the seed of Jesse, that is to say of David, many years after the death of both David and Solomon. And this (b) passage decides the quibble of the Jews already noticed with regard to Solomon. For Isaiah writes this prophecy about some one other than him many years after the death of Solomon, who should arise from the stem of Jesse, and the seed of David. And I do not think it can be doubted that the words apply only to our Saviour, the Christ of God, considering the promise in the prediction, which says, "And (c) there shall be a root of Jesse, and he that riseth to rule the nations, in him shall the nations trust," and the way in which our Saviour fulfils them.

For He alone, after His Resurrection from the dead, intended here I think by the word "Arise," ruled not only the Jews but all nations, so that the prophecy does not lack fulfilment, as it is quite clear that the words, "In Him shall the Gentiles trust," are fulfilled in Him, as well as the other prophecies. And the references to the animals and wild beasts becoming tame and laying aside their fierce and untameable nature through His sojourn here will be allegorically understood of men's rough and wild ways and fierce characters being changed by Christ's teaching from irrational savagery. They must certainly be allegorically understood, especially (d) if one understands the root of Jesse mentioned by the prophet, and the rod, figuratively, and expounds in an intelligible way, "Justice shall be the girdle of his loins, and truth the girdle of his reins." For if one can only interpret this allegorically it follows that one must treat the passages that refer to the animals necessarily in a figurative way as well.

From Jeremiah. (357) A Righteous Rising from the Seed of David upspringing, and the same a King of Men, and a New Name to be given to those ruled by Him, and the Forgiveness of their Former Sins. [Passages quoted, Jer. xxiii. 6-8, xxx. 8, 9.] Jeremiah prophesies thus long after the death of David and even the time of Solomon concerning a king who is to arise from the seed of David, whom he first calls "the rising," not simply but with the adjective "just," as though he were to shine forth from the sun of righteousness, of whom I treated in my evidences about the Second Cause, where I shewed that the pre-existent Word of God besides (d) many other names was called Sun of Righteousness, quoting the prophecy which said, "To them that fear my name shall the sun of righteousness arise." Therefore the prophecy in the present passage is that God will raise up "a righteous rising" to David, in the sense of a sun of righteousness. And he calls the same Being an understanding king, and one who does judgment and justice on the earth. He gives him too the same name as David, who died very long before. For you must note carefully how at the beginning he says, "And I will raise up to David a righteous rising," (358) and adds at the end, "And I will raise up David to be his king." Whose, but David's?—for it was to him that he said He would raise up a righteous rising.

And Zechariah prophesying of the same Being likewise calls Him "arising," saying, "Behold I will raise up my servant, the rising," and also, "Behold a man whose name 8. is 'The Rising,' and beneath him springs righteousness." But no one, it is certain, arose after the time of Jeremiah among the Jews who could be called "a righteous rising" and "an understanding king doing judgment and righteousness on the earth." For if it be suggested that Jesus son of Josedec is meant, it must be answered that the ('-') prophecy is inapplicable to him. For he was neither of David's seed nor did he reign as king. How could this apply to him, "And I will raise up David to be his king," when he was of the tribe of Levi, and of high-priestly rank, and of another tribe than David, and is never recorded to have been king? We conclude that, as no other can be discovered, we must agree that the subject of this prophecy (c) can only be our Lord and Saviour, called in other places "the light of the world," and "the light of the nations." He therefore must be the subject of this prophecy, and the prediction is absolutely true. For He alone of David's seed and figuratively named after his ancestor, for David means "strong-handed," preached judgment and justice by His teaching to all men on earth, and alone of all that ever lived is king not of one land only, but of the whole world, and alone has caused righteousness to arise over all the world, according to what is said of Him in the Psalm: "Righteousness shall arise in his days, and abundance of peace."

And Judah and Israel were to be saved in His days, that (d) is to say all the Jews who through Him reached holiness, His apostles, disciples and evangelists, or perhaps all who represent the Jew mystically understood and the true Israel which sees God spiritually. "For he is not a Jew," the apostle says, "that is one outwardly, nor circumcision the outward circumcision in the flesh, but he is a Jew which is one in secret, and circumcision is of the heart in the spirit not the letter, whose praise is not of men, but of God." It is these, then, the secret Jew and the true Israel, that he says are through Christ's calling to be named by a new name, neither Jew nor Israel, but one quite different from these. For He says that the Lord will call them by the (359) name of Josedekeim, which means, "The Lord's just ones."

And I ask you to consider whether this name Josedekeim, by which the disciples of Jesus are called by God, be not formed from Joshua; they would thus be named by men from the name of Christ which is Greek (i. e. Christians), and by the prophets, from Jesus, in the Hebrew tongue, because they are saved by Him, Josedekeim. So it is said, "And this is the name by which the Lord shall call them, (h) Josedekeim among the prophets." So, then, we see that the people that are to become through the subject of the prophecy the spiritual Jews and the true Israel, will be called Josedekeim from Joshua, and they will be called by this name, he says, not by men, but by God, and by His prophets. For you must note carefully the passage that says, "And this is the name which the Lord shall call them, Josedekeim by his prophets." And its translation in Greek is. as I said, "God's just ones." And God promises that (c) He will break from those who are thus to be saved the old heavy yoke of bitter daemons and shatter the bonds of the sins by which they were held of old, so that they will no more serve strange gods, but bear fruit and please Him only. Compare with this the oracle in the Second Psalm concerning the Coming of Christ and the calling of the Gentiles, which says: "Let us break their bonds asunder, and cast off their yoke from us." To which, I think, this we are considering is akin when it says:

"In that day, saith the Lord, I will break the yoke from off their necks, and shatter their bonds, and they (d) shall not serve other gods, but shall serve the Lord their God." But in proof that it was predicted that the Christ of God should be born of the fruit of David's body, and of the seed of Solomon, as actually was the case, since the Holy Scriptures call Him David as well as by many other names, I have given sufficient confirmation. And it should raise no question, that He is said to come from the tribe of Judah, for that was the tribe to which David belonged. But I will give the oracle of Moses that states this, though it is already proved sufficiently. It runs thus: From Genesis. How from the Tribe of Judah shall be born the Christ of God, and shall be established as the Expectation of Nations.

[Passage quoted, Gen. xlix. 8-10.] The whole Hebrew race consisted of twelve tribes, one of which had Judah for its ancestor and head, to whom the above words were addressed, telling him that the Christ should spring from him. And if you compare with this prophecy the other prophecies I have quoted, you will find all through them that the same Being is proclaimed by a sign common to all. For one said of Him that springs from the root of Jesse, "And there shall be one arising to rule the nations, on him shall the nations trust." Another said of the son of Solomon, "He shall rule from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the world, and in him all nations shall be blessed." And the one before us similarly says, "Until he come for whom it is laid up, and he shall be the expectation of nations."

If, then, the predictions about the nations are in accord, and the previous ones have been proved to refer to our Saviour, nothing prevents us referring this one to Him as well, if these prophecies are agreed to be in harmony, especially with regard to the fact that the kings and rulers of the Jewish nation continued in the same line of succession until the period of Christ's appearing, but failed directly He appeared, and by the prediction of Jacob the expectation of the nations demanded a satisfaction. Christ therefore is foretold here also, as destined to come from the tribe of Judah, and since He has been shewn to have been born of David, Solomon, and the root of Jesse, it is evident He came from the same tribe as they. For David was son of Jesse, and Solomon of David, both of the tribe of Judah. Our Lord and Saviour must therefore spring from it, as the wonderful evangelist Matthew states in his geneaology, "The Book of the generation of Jesus Christ, son of David, son of Abraham. Abraham begat Isaac, Isaac begat Jacob, Jacob begat Judah."

And now that I have adequately proved these points, it is time to consider the period of the fulfilment of the prophecies.

BOOK VIIIINTRODUCTION (362) I HAVE proved by how many prophecies the coming of the Word of God to men was foretold, and that it was announced by the Hebrew prophets whence He should (b) come, and where and how He should be seen by men on earth, and that He was actually the Person, the eternal pre-existent Son of God, Whom we have learned to recognize by the other names of God and Lord and Chief Captain, and Angel of Great Counsel and High Priest. And I begin at this point, in continuance of the preceding proof, to give the evidence with reference to the period of His Appearing drawn again from prophetic predictions.

(363) The Holy Scriptures foretell that there will be unmistakable signs of the Coming of Christ. Now there were among the Hebrews three outstanding offices of dignity, which made the nation famous, firstly the kingship, secondly that of prophet, and lastly the high priesthood. The prophecies said that the abolition and complete destruction of all these three together would be the sign of the (b) presence of the Christ. And that the proofs that the times had come, would lie in the ceasing of the Mosaic worship, the desolation of Jerusalem and its Temple, and the subjection of the whole Jewish race to its enemies. They suggest other signs of the same times as well, an abundance of peace, the overturning in nation and city of immemorial local and national forms of government, the conquest of polytheistic and daemonic idolatry, the knowledge of the religion of God the one Supreme Creator. The holy oracles foretold that all these changes, which had (c) not been made in the days of the prophets of old, would take place at the coming of the Christ, which I will presently shew to have been fulfilled as never before in accordance with the predictions. I have already, you will remember, accounted for the Christ coming in these last times and not long ago, but I will here shortly repeat myself. In the old days the souls of men were tyrannized over by squalid folly and sin, and a strange godlessness ruled (d) over all human life, so that men were like wild and untamed beasts.

They knew nothing of cities, or constitutions, or laws, nor anything honourable or progressive; they set no store on arts and sciences, they had no conception of virtue and philosophy, they lived in lonely deserts, in mountains, caves, and villages; they preyed on their neighbours like robbers, and gained their livelihood mostly by tyrannizing over those weaker than themselves. But though they did not know the Supreme God, nor the path of true religion, yet inspired by conceptions of natural religion they agreed in self-taught principles about the (364) existence of a divine power, regarded it as and called it God, and considered the name one of salvation and beneficence, but they were not yet able to realize anything beyond a Being transcending the world of visible nature. Wherefore some of them----

25. "worshipped and served the creature rather than the creator; 21. and they became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened; 23. and they changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like unto corruptible man, and to birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things." And so they made images of their kings and tyrants long dead, and paid them divine honours, and by imputing divinity to them sanctified their wicked and lustful deeds as works of the gods. How could the wise and good word of Christ, instilling the (c) quintessence of wisdom, be in harmony with men in that condition, and involved in such depths of evil? So that holy and all-seeing Justice, pruning them like a wild and dangerous wood, now afflicted them by floods, now by fire, now delivered them to wars, butchery and sieges at one another's hands, urged on as they were to war against (d) each other by those very daemons whom they regarded as their gods, with the result that human life in those days admitted no neighbourly intercourse, mutual association or union. Those were few, as might be expected in such days, and easily numbered, who, as the Hebrew oracles tell us, were found to be godly; with such, Justice met by the use of oracles and theophanies, she took them by the hand and cared for them with the elementary but helpful Mosaic legislation.

But when at last by the legislation laid down for them, and by the later teaching of the prophets poured out like a sweet smell upon all men, the character of the people became civilized, and constitutions and legal systems were (365) established among most nations, and the name of virtue and philosophy became popularly honoured, as if their old savagery had ceased and their wild and cruel life were transferred to something gentler: then at length, at the fitting time, the perfect and heavenly teacher of perfect and heavenly thoughts and teaching, the leader to the (b) true knowledge of God, God the Word, revealed Himself, at the time announced for His Incarnation, preaching the Gospel of the Father's love, the same for all nations, whether Greeks or Barbarians, to every race of men, moving all to a common salvation in God, promising the truth and light of true religion, the kingdom of Heaven, and eternal life to all.

Such, then, is my account of the reasons why the Christ (c) of God shone forth on all men now and not long ago. We will now, retracing our steps, examine in detail the signs portending His Coming, first noting what is said in the Gospels about the date of His Birth. Matthew then records the date of His appearance in the flesh, thus: "When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judrea, in the days of Herod the king"; and a little later, he says: "Hearing that Archelaus reigned over Judaea, instead of Herod his father." And Luke shewed the date of His teaching and (d) manifestation, saying : "In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judaea, Herod tctrarch of Galilee, and his brother, Philip, tetrarch of Ituraea and the land of Trachonitis; and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, Annas and Caiaphas being High Priests."

With these we shall do well to compare the prophecy of Jacob given by Moses to this effect. CHAPTER 1 (366) Of the Time of His Appearance among Men. How at the Time which the Hebrews fail of their Kingdom, the Expectation of the Gentiles shall approach, which also came to pass at Our Saviour's Appearing. From Genesis. 1. "Jacob called his sons and said, Come together (b) and hear what shall befall you at the end of the days. Come together and hear, ye sons of Jacob, hear your father." Then, after rebuking his elder sons, one for one thing, one for another, as being unworthy because of their sins (c) of the prophecy about to be given, he prophesies thus to his fourth son, as having shewn himself a better man than his brothers: 8. " Judah, thy brethren shall praise the, | thy hands shall be on the back of thy enemies, | the sons of thy father shall bow down to thee. | 9. Judah is a lion's whelp, | Thou hast sprung up, my son, from a slip. | Lying down thou didst sleep as a lion and a whelp, | Who shall arouse thee? | 10. A ruler shall not fail from Judah, | nor a governor from his loins, | until the things laid up for him come, | and he is the expectation of the nations."

First, consider what is meant by "the things laid up for him," and see if they be not the prophecies about the calling of the Gentiles, that God gave to those with Abraham. For it is written, that God said to Abraham : "And thou shalt be blessed, and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse them that curse thee: and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed." And again: "Abraham," he says, "shall become a great and mighty nation, and in him shall all the nations of the earth be blessed." Similar oracles were spoken to Isaac in this wise : "And I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and in thy seed shall all nations of the world be blessed." And also to Jacob this is said : "I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac, fear not."

And then : "And in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed." And at another time God said to him : "I am thy God, increase and multiply: nations and assemblies of nations shall come out of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins." Jacob, who knew the predictions of God concerning the calling of the nations, having twelve sons, called them all together to his deathbed, to discover in the line of which son God's predictions would be fulfilled. And, then, having laid rebukes on the three first for their wrongdoings, he tells them also that the fulfilment of the prophecies will not come about through them because of their wicked deeds. But coming to the fourth, who was Judah, he at once prophesies to him that the oracle, which says, "kings shall come from thy loins," will be fulfilled in his descendants. For it was plain that the kingly family was established in the tribe of Judah: and (c) he shews at the same lime at what period the prophecies of God and the promises to the Gentiles will fall due, and he teaches that one will come forth from him who will cause all nations and tribes to be admitted to the blessings of Abraham. All these things, then, were "the things laid up for him," that is to say, the ancient prophecies concerning the nations, and the words, "kings shall come (d) out of thee," whereby his tribe has precedence of those of his brethren, as royal and pre-eminent.

Directly the whole nation was organized in the time of Moses God gave his tribe the chief rank among the tribes. For it is written: "And the Lord spake to Moses and Aaron, saying, Let the children of Israel encamp fronting one another, every man keeping his own rank, according to their standards, according to the houses of their families before the Lord, around the tabernacle of witness; and they that encamp first towards the east, shall be the order of the camp of Judah with their host." And later in the part that refers to the renewing of the sanctuary: "The Lord said to Moses, One prince each day shall offer their gifts. And he that offered the first day was Naason, son of Aminadab, prince of the tribe of Judah."

And in the Book of Joshua, son of Nave, when the land of promise was divided by lot among the other tribes, the tribe of Judah took its own portion of the land without casting lots, and first of all. And, moreover, "After the death of Joshua the children of Israel inquired of the Lord, saying, Who shall go up for us against the Canaanite, leading our fighting against him? And the Lord said, Judah shall go up. Behold, I have given the land into his hands. These words, then, make it clear that God (b) ordained the tribe of Judah to be the head of all Israel, and the account goes on: "And Judah went up, and the Lord delivered the Canaanite and Perizzite into his hand. And also: "And the children of Judah fought against Jerusalem and took it, and the sons of Judah came down from fighting against the Canaanite. And again: "And Judah went up with Symeon, his brother. And then: "And the Lord was with Judah, and gave him the Mount as his portion. And after this: "And the sons of Joseph went up, they also who were in Bethel, and Judah with (c) them.

And in the Book of Judges, when different men at different times were at the head of the people, though individually the Judges were of different tribes, yet speaking generally the tribe of Judah was head of the whole people, and much more so in the times of David and his successors, who belonged to the tribe of Judah, and continued to rule until the Babylonian Captivity, after which the leader of those who returned from Babylon to their own land was Zerubbabel, the son of Salathiel, of the tribe of Judah, who also built the Temple. Hence, too, the Book of Chronicles, when giving the genealogies of the twelve tribes of Israel, (d) begins with Judah. And you will see it follows from this that, in the days that succeeded, the same tribe had the headship, although different individuals had temporary leadership, whose tribes it is impossible to decide with accuracy, because there is no sacred book handed down to give the history of the period from then to the time of our Saviour. But it is true to say that the tribe of Judah continued so long as the free and autonomous constitution of the whole nation lasted under its own leaders and kings. And this was the case from the beginning until the time of Augustus, (369) when, after our Saviour's appearance among men, the whole nation became subject to Rome. And then instead of their ancestral and constitutional rulers they were ruled first by Herod, a foreigner, and next by the Emperor Augustus.

And so long as there had not yet failed a prince from Judah, nor a leader from his loins, the dates of the prophecies are given from the reigns of the kings. Thus Isaiah prophesies in the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. As did Hosea. Amos, in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah, and in the days of (b) Jeroboam, son of Joash, king of Israel; and Zephaniah in the days of Josiah, son of Amos, king of Judah. And Jeremiah too. But when a prince failed from Judah, and a governor from his loins, when the expectation of the Gentiles foretold in Christ was just about to shine on human life, there were no longer any rulers styled kings in Judah or governors in Israel. And since they had failed at the appointed time in accordance with prophecy, Augustus first, and then Tiberius, was called king of the Jewish nation, in common with the other nations, and under (c) them were procurators and tetrarchs of Judaea, and Herod of course, who, as I have already said, was not a Jew by birth, and received his authority over the Jews from Rome.

After these observations, we will now attempt a consideration of the prophecy: "Judah, thy brethren shall praise thee." Jacob had twelve sons, the fourth being Judah, who as I have said already, was the one and only head of the Hebrew tribes. But it will be evident, that (d) the words addressed to him by his father did not refer to him as an individual man, if we consider the words of Holy Scripture, and especially the speech of Jacob to his sons: "And Jacob called his sons to him, Come together and I will tell you what shall come to pass in the last days. Gather together and hear, ye sons of Jacob, hear Israel your father."

For he clearly promises here to predict what will happen to them a long time afterwards, or, in his own words, in the last days. And for other reasons what Jacob said could not apply to the first individual who bore the name of Judah. His brethren did not praise him: for what great deed of his could they have done so? It would have been more applicable, if it had been addressed to Joseph, for (370) we know that Judah himself with his other brethren bowed down to him, except of course that this happened before the prophecy; but afterwards there is no record of anything of the kind connected with Joseph, or Judah. And the words, "Thou didst fall and sleep as a lion and a lion's whelp," seem to call for a wider interpretation than one concerning Judah. The words that follow, too: "There shall not fail a prince from Judah, nor a governor from his loins, until that come which is laid up for him, and he is (b) the expectation of nations," seem to me to give in a disguised form the time of the coming of the subject of the prophecy. For the one event, he says, will not take place, until the other does. The kings and rulers of the Jewish nation, that is, will not cease before the expectation of the nations shall come, and that which is laid up for the subject of the prophecy. Theodotion agrees with this rendering of the Septuagint, but Aquila thus translates:

"The sceptre shall not be removed from Judah, and he who knoweth exactly from between his feet, until also there come to him a congregation of people." (c) And this saying, "There shall not fail a prince from Judah," cannot be referred to Judah as an individual man any more than, "Judah, thy brethren shall praise thee." For there were rulers and governors of the Jewish nation at many times who were not descended from him. Moses, for instance, its first ruler, was not of the tribe of Judah but of Levi. Joshua was of the tribe of Ephraim; after whom their ruler was Deborah, of the tribe of Ephraim, and Barak

(d).of the tribe of Naphthali, then Gedeon of Manasseh, then Gedeon's son, and after him Thola of the same tribe, then Esebon of Bethlehem, and then Ailon of Zabulon, Labclon of Ephraim, and Samson of Dan; then there being no regular ruler, Eli the priest, of the tribe of Levi, was their leader, All these Judges judged Israel, not in the line of succession from Judah, but one from one tribe and one from another. And they were followed by the first king, Saul, of the tribe of Benjamin. How, then, can the words, "there shall not fail a prince from Judah, nor a governor (371) from his loins," be referred, as one would suppose they should be, to rulers and governors of the tribe of Judah, when from the time of Jacob's death, for nearly a thousand years, they do not appear to have been drawn from the tribe of Judah only, but some from one tribe, some from another, up to the time of David? And if it be true that David and his successors sprung from the tribe of Judah ruled the Jewish nation, after so many others, yet we must remember that they did not continue to rule the (b) whole people for the whole of those five hundred years, but only three tribes, and not the whole of them, for during their reigns other kings governed the larger part of the nation---- that is to say, the whole of the other nine tribes.

For after the death of Solomon, since the whole nation was divided from Judah, the successors of David, as I said, did not rule the whole Jewish nation up to the time of the Babylonian Captivity. And in their times the heads of Samaria, which was the name of the State held by the nine tribes, were not drawn from Judah, but now from one tribe, now from (c) another, the first being Jeroboam, of the tribe of Ephraim, and those immediately after him, so that in the period between David and the Babylonian Captivity, kings of the line of Judah never ruled the whole nation.

There is no need to add that after the return from Babylon for more than five hundred years again until the birth of Christ the Jewish constitution was aristocratic, the high priests, for the time being, acting as heads of the State, none of whom came from the tribe of Judah. So from all these reasons it is proved that there is no reference here to Judah the original individual, to his descendants, nor in the oracle that said: "A prince shall not fail from Judah, (d) nor a governor from his loins," but that the only consistent interpretation of the passage is the one I have already given, that we must understand it of the tribe as a whole. The tribe most certainly was leader of the whole nation from the very beginning, from Moses' own time. And in accordance with such headship, as being designed by God from the outset, the country is even now called Judaea after the tribe, and the whole race are known as Jews. We must, therefore, understand it to mean what would be expressed more clearly, if it were said that the tribe of Judah would never lose its headship of the whole nation. So Symmachus says: "The power shall not be taken away (372) from Judah," shewing of course the authority and the royal position of what was afterwards to be the tribe of Judah.

From it neither "the sceptre," as Aquila says, this being the symbol of royal rule, nor "the power," according to Symmachus, shall be taken away, the prophecy affirms, "until he come," it says, "for whom it is laid up, and he shall be the expectation of the nations. What expectation was this, but that of which Abraham and those after him had received the prophecies? First, is it not very striking that (b) though there were twelve Hebrew tribes, the race even now has its name from none but Judah? It can only be explained by the prophetic oracle, which attached the royal position to the tribe, of Judah. And it is for this same reason that their fatherland is called Judaea. For why was not the nation called after the eldest of the twelve, I mean (c) Reuben, according to the divine law of primogeniture? Why not from Levi, who was greater than Judah in order of birth, and also in receiving the priesthood? Why not, even more, was the race and the country not called after Joseph, from his acquiring rule not only over the whole of Egypt, but over his own relations, and because his descendants, long years after, were to rule as many as nine tribes of the nation, on whose account it was far more probable that the whole race and the country would have been named after their ancestor?

And who would not agree (d) that they might reasonably have been called from Benjamin, since their famous mother-city and the all-holy Temple of of God was in the portion of his tribe? But yet, in spite of all, the name of the Lord and of the whole nation was . drawn from none of them but Judah, as the prophecy foretold. I have, therefore, referred the words, "A prince shall not fail from Judah," to the tribe, and only in that sense is the prediction true. For from the time of Moses there has not failed a continued line of rulers of part of the nation, drawn as I said from different tribes, but the tribe of Judah has all along stood forth as the head of the whole (373) nation. An illustration will make what I have said clear.

Just as the procurators and governors appointed in the Roman Empire over nations, their praefects and military chiefs, and their highest kings, are not all drawn from Rome nor from the seed of Remus and Romulus, but from many different races, and yet all their kings and the rulers and governors below them are all called Romans, and their power is named Roman, and the rule of them all generally has this appellation, in the same way we (b) should think of the Hebrew state, where you have the name of the tribe of Judah applied generally to the whole nation, though there be kings and governors of divisions from different tribes, but all honoured with the name of Judah. We understand then that the prophet's words: "Judah, thy brethren shall praise thee," were to be applied to the whole tribe. For he knew that being marked out for precedence it would be honoured more than the other tribes, and since it was best in warfare, and the sole leader of the whole nation in operations against the enemy, he rightly continues: "Thy hands shall be on the back of thy (c) enemies. Then for its ruling and royal position he calls it, "a lion's" whelp. And as ancestor and prophet, glorying in the reputation of the tribe, he adds: "From a seed, my son, thou hast ascended"; while the words:

"Falling down thou hast slept as a lion, and as a lion's whelp," shew its character of terror and bravery, its utter fearlessness of external attack, and contempt of its foes. He being such, (d) or rather, his tribe being such, who, he says, shall arouse it? He suggests that the Person who is to remove the tribe in question from its throne, and move it from its royal position, will be some one great, wonderful, unusual, and hard to imagine. Then he tells us who it is to be, telling us that it is He Who is the Expectation of nations, of Whom it is predicted that He will only appear among men, when the ruler fails, and the governor is changed, and the tribe of Judah is removed from its position of power. Who is this, but our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ?----at Whose birth, as the prophecy before us (374) predicted, the rulers and governors set over their nation from the Jews themselves would fail, the tribe of Judah lose the dominant and royal position that it had held over the nation for so long, and be subject to the Romans, their rulers from that day to this, who overcame the Jewish (b) nation together with the rest of the world, and under whom Herod, a man of alien birth apart from their race, was appointed king by Augustus and the Roman Senate.

For Herod was son of Antipater, and Antipater belonged to Ascalon, and was son of some temple-server at the Temple of Apollo, who married a woman named Kuprine, of Arab race, and begat Herod. He, you will remember, being sprung from this family, got rid of and slew Hyrcanus, the last of the line of ruling high-priests, with (c) whom the government of the Jews by native rulers came to an end, Herod being, as I say, the first foreigner to be called the King of the Jews. In his time Jesus Christ was born, and at one and the same time the position of the tribe of Judah was taken away, the authority of the kingdom of the Jews destroyed, and the prophecy preceding this fulfilled: "There shall not fail a prince from Judah, nor a governor from his loins, until there come the things laid up for him," who, he says, will not only be the expectation of the Jews, but of the Gentiles. As, therefore, the expectation of the call of the Gentiles, prophesied long (d) before to Abraham, was "laid up," until the rulers and governors of the Jewish race should have ceased, and their independent government should have been changed to submission to Rome, and to the Gentile Herod, the Evangelist Luke, noting the date of the cessation of Jewish rulers, tells us that the teaching of Christ began in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judaea; and Matthew says the same in a disguised form.

For having described the birth of our Lord and Saviour, he adds: "And when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judrea, in the days of Herod the king, behold wise men came from the East to Jerusalem, saying, Where is that which is born king of the Jews? wherein he shews clearly enough both that they were under (375) foreign rule, and also the calling of the foreign nations from the East by God. For foreigners ruled over the Jews, and foreigners coming from the East recognized and worshipped the Christ of God, Who had been prophesied of old. The prophecy of Jacob is thus seen clearly to have been fulfilled, being brought to pass at the end of the national existence of the Jews, even as he predicted to his sons, saying: "Come together, that I may announce to you, what shall happen to you at the end of the days. (b) For we must understand by the end of the days the end of the national existence of the Jews. What, then, did he say they must look for? The cessation of the rule of Judah, the destruction of their whole race, the failing and ceasing of their governors, and the abolition of the dominant kingly position of the tribe of Judah, and the rule and kingdom of Christ, not over Israel but over all nations, according to the words, "This is the expectation of the nations."

And who would not agree that all this has been definitely (c) fulfilled in the coming of our Saviour, when they who of old before Christ's birth, with their native rulers and governors and wise hearers of the holy oracles, prided themselves in their own kings, high priests and prophets, and when the tribe of Judah, being the royal tribe, the conqueror of their enemies, the leader and ruler of the whole nation, with its men of old renown has from that day to this lain under the heel of Rome? For the Christ of God was definitely manifested, and from that day the said expectation of the Gentiles is preached to all nations, (d) Or who can deny, that concurrently with the appearance of our Saviour Jesus the solemnities of the Jews, their city with its Temple and the worship performed therein, have come to an end, together with their native rulers and governors, and that from that time the hope and expectation of the nations through all the world has been made known, since the things laid up in the Lord have come. What are these things, but those set forth by Judah?----

"Thy brethren shall praise thee, thy hands shall be on the back of thine enemies, lion of the tribe of Judah. O my son, thou hast ascended from a seed, falling thou hast slept as a lion and as a lion's whelp: who shall awake thee?" (376) But the words, "The things laid up for him," have another sense; let us now consider them, only premising that the Holy Scriptures are accustomed to give the Christ different names. Sometimes they call Him Jacob: "Jacob, my son, I will help thee; Israel, my chosen, my soul hath received him, he shall bring judgment unto the nations," and that which follows. To which is added, "Till he place judgment on the earth, and in his name shall the Gentiles (b) hope." Sometimes they name Him Solomon or David: Solomon as in the 71st Psalm, inscribed to Solomon, whose contents evidently refer to Christ. For the words, "He shall rule from sea to sea, and from the river to the world's end, and all the nations shall serve him," and the contents of the Psalm that follow, can only apply to the Christ. Christ, again, is called David in the 88th Psalm, for expressions therein are only applicable to Him, and not to David, for instance:

"He shall call me, Thou art my father, and I will make him my firstborn, high above the kings of the earth. I will keep my mercy for him for ever." (c) And again: "His seed shall remain for ever, and his throne is as the sun before me, and as the moon fixed in the heaven."

So, then, besides the many other names given to Christ by the Holy Scriptures, it is possible that He may be called Judah also in the passage before us, especially as He sprang from the tribe of Judah. For the apostle certifies the fact (d) that our Lord and Saviour sprang from the tribe of Judah. For Him, then, were "the things laid up for Judah" figuratively intended in the prophecy. And what were they? First, the praise of His brethren; second, to lay his hands on the back of His enemies; third, to be worshipped by the sons of His Father. And they came to pass, for His performance of miracles and wondrous prodigies aroused wonder, and He was praised and worshipped by His own disciples and apostles, whom He shrank not from calling brethren, saying by the Psalm, "I will declare thy name to my brethren, in the midst of the Church I will praise thee," and also when He bids the women with Mary announce the news to them as His brethren, for He says, "Make known to my brethren that I ascend to my Father, (377) and your Father, and to my God, and your God. Thus then, His brethren at first praised Him only as a remarkable man because of His miracles, believing Him most likely to be one of the prophets;

but when meanwhile they saw His wonderful miracles, and how He destroyed the enemy and the avenger, and death the prince of this world, together with the other unseen hostile powers, thenceforth they (b) believed Him to be God and worshipped Him. And the hands of our Saviour were upon the back of His enemies, when He directed all His deeds and powers and miracles to the destruction of the daemons and evil spirits. Yea, when too He spread out His hands on the Cross, even then His hands were on the back of His enemies, since they fled and turned their backs on Him, and even more, when yielding up His spirit to the Father, disembodied and (c) stripped of that flesh, which He had assumed, He went to the place of His enemies, having life in Himself, to loose death, and the powers arrayed against Him, which perhaps at first conceived that He was an ordinary man and like all men, and so encircled Him and attacked Him as they would any one else, but when they knew that He was superhuman and divine, they turned their backs and fled from Him, so that He laid His hands on them, and drave them on with His divine and sharpened arrows, as is here said, "Thy hands shall be on the backs of thy enemies."

And if to-day many enemies of our Saviour attempt from (d) time to time to war against His Church, these too He routs with invisible hand and divine power, even as it is said of them, "His hands shall be on the back of his enemies." And since also He has received the trophies of victory over His enemies, the words, "The sons of thy father shall worship thee," are also fulfilled: that is to say, all the angels of heaven, and the ministering spirits, and the divine powers, and on earth the apostles and evangelists, and after them those of all nations who through Him are enrolled under the one and only true God and Father, have learned that Christ is God the Word, and have consented to worship (378) Him as God. But as it was necessary for the mysteries of both His Birth and Death to be included in the prophecy concerning Him, Jacob rightly proceeds to add to what has gone before:

"Judah is a lion's whelp. From a seed, my son, thou hast ascended, falling down thou hast slept as a lion and a lion's whelp: who shall arouse thee?" He calls Him then a lion's whelp because of His being born of the royal tribe. For He was of the seed of (b) David according to the flesh. "From a shoot thou hast grown, my son," he says, because He was born of the seed and root of Jacob who foretold it, being primarily God the Word, and becoming secondarily the Son of man, through the dispensation He undertook for us. And the words, "Falling down thou didst sleep as a lion and a whelp," are significant of His Death, because Scripture is accustomed, as is shewn in many other places, from the conviction of their kinship to call death a sleep. And "Who shall awake him?" is a wonderful reference to His Resurrection from the dead. For he who said, "Who will awake him?" (c) knew quite well that He would be awaked. And it is remarkable that he should add, "Who then shall do this and raise him up? "so as to impel us to ask who it was that raised up our Lord Who died on our behalf. For Who else was it, but the God of the Universe, His Father, to Whom the Saviour's Resurrection is solely to be attributed, according to the Scripture which says, "Whom the Father raised from the dead "?

Instead of, "Judah is a lion's whelp, from a shoot, my (d) son, thou hast ascended, falling down thou hast slept," Aquila says more plainly, "Judah is a lion's cub, from destruction, my son, hast thou ascended, bending thou hast laid down." And Symmachus says, "Judah is a lion's whelp, from capture, my son, hast thou ascended, having knelt thou hast been established.'' By which the Resurrection of the dead is clearly meant, and the escape of our Saviour from Hades, as from a trap for wild beasts. The kneeling and the being established instead of falling, signify death by the kneeling, and not being dragged away like the souls of other men by "being established." All this then was laid up before for Christ. But while this remained unfulfilled, the Jewish nation lasted, and their rulers and governors and they who were wise interpreters of the sacred oracles about the Christ stood out among them; but when (379) that which had been laid up for Judah had come, and He appeared on earth of Whom it was foretold that He should spring from the seed and shoot of the prophet himself, after falling down and sleeping, or "kneeling," according to Symmachus, He was established and raised up, laying His hands on the back of His unseen spiritual enemies; and His brothers and disciples first praising Him and wondering, afterwards were convinced that He was God, and worshipped Him as God; then were fulfilled the things laid up for Him, for because of this the answer was given, "Until there come the things laid up for him." For (b) from that day to this, the things laid up for Him being come, the rulers and governors of the Jewish nation have ceased, the rulers of the Gentiles have been placed at their head, and the nations on the other hand knowing the Christ of God have made Him their Saviour and Hope. After all this there follows:

"Binding his foal to the vine, and the foal of the ass to the branch, he shall wash his robe in wine, and his garment in the blood of the grape. His eyes shall be cheering from wine, and his teeth white as milk." Here I should understand by the foal, the choir of apostles and disciples of our Saviour, and by the vine to which the foal is bound, His divine and invisible power, as He Himself taught when He said, "I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman." And the branch of the said vine is the teaching of the Word of God, by which He bound the foal of the ass----that is to say, the new people of the Gentiles, (d) the offspring of His Apostles. And you may say that this was literally fulfilled, when, according to Matthew, the Lord said to His disciples:

"Go into the village over against you, and straightway ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her; loose them and bring them to me." And there is real food for wonder if one studies the account in the prediction of the prophet, that he should have foreseen by the Holy Spirit, that the subject of his prophecy would not come riding on chariots and horses like some distinguished man, but on an ass and a foal, like a poor common man of the people. And this raised another prophet's wonder, who said: (380) "Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion, behold thy King cometh unto thee meek, sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass." And the words, "He will wash his garments in wine, and in the blood of the grape his girdle," will shew you surely how as in a secret way He suggests His mystic Passion, in which He washed His garment and vesture with the washing wherewith He is revealed to wash away the old stains of them that believe in Him. For with the wine which was indeed the symbol of His blood, He cleanses them that are baptized into His death, and believe on His blood, of their old sins, washing them away and purifying (b) their old garments and vesture, so that they, ransomed by the precious blood of the divine spiritual grapes, and with the wine from this vine, "put off the old man with his deeds, and put on the new man which is renewed into knowledge in the image of Him that created him."

The words, "His eyes are cheerful from wine, and his teeth white as milk," again I think secretly reveal the (c) mysteries of the new Covenant of our Saviour. "His eyes are cheerful from wine," seems to me to shew the gladness of the mystic wine which He gave to His disciples, when He said, "Take, drink; this is my blood that is shed for you for the remission of sins: this do in remembrance of me." And, "His teeth are white as milk," shew the brightness and purity of the sacramental food. For again, He gave Himself (d) the symbols of His divine dispensation to His disciples, when He bade them make the likeness of His own Body. For since He no more was to take pleasure in bloody sacrifices, or those ordained by Moses in the slaughter of animals of various kinds, and was to give them bread to use as the symbol of His Body, He taught the purity and brightness of such food by saying, "And his teeth are white as milk." This also another prophet has recorded, where he says, "Sacrifice and offering hast thou not required, but a body hast thou prepared for me."

But these matters should be examined at leisure, for they require deeper criticism and longer interpretation. For the present I must refuse to enter on that great task, in order that I may incorporate in this work the evidence that the time of the Saviour's Coming from above was known to the (381) ancient prophets, and clearly handed down in writing. CHAPTER 2 From Daniel. How after the Period of Seven Times Seventy Years, or 490 Years, the Christ having appeared to Men, the Jewish Prophets and their surpassing Temple Worship will be dissolved, and They Themselves will be taken by Mutual Sieges as by a Flood, and their Holy Temple undergo its Final Desolation. [Passage quoted, Dan. ix. 20-27.] (Given in full on account of wide divergence from S.)

(c) "20. AND while I yet spake and prayed and confessed my sins and the sins of my people Israel, and casting my misery before the holy Mount of my God, 21. and while I yet spake in prayer, behold the man Gabriel, whom I had seen at the beginning came flying, and he touched me about the time of the evening sacrifice. 22. And he instructed me and spake with me, saying, O (d) Daniel, 23. I am now come forth to impart to thee understanding. At the beginning of thy supplication the word came forth, and I am come to tell thee, for thou art a man greatly beloved: therefore consider the matter, understand the vision, for thou art a man greatly beloved. 24. Seventy weeks have been decided on for thy people, and for the holy city, for sin to be ended, and to seal up transgressions, and to blot out iniquities, and to make atonement for iniquities, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal the vision and the prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy. 25. And thou shalt know and understand, that from the going forth of the command for the answer and for the building of Jerusalem until Christ the Prince shall be seven (382) weeks, and sixty-two weeks; and then it shall return, and the street shall be built, and the wall, and the times shall be exhausted. 26.

And after the sixty-two weeks, the Anointing shall be destroyed, and there is no judgment in him, and he shall destroy the city and the sanctuary together with the coming prince; they shall be cut off in a flood, and, to the end of the war which is rapidly completed, in desolations. 27. And one week shall establish the covenant with many: and in the midst of the week my sacrifice and drink-offering shall be taken away: and on the temple shall be an (b) abomination of desolations: and at the end of time shall an end be put to the desolation.

When the captivity of the Jewish people at Babylon was near its end, the Archangel Gabriel, one of the holy ministers of God, appeared to Daniel as he prayed, and told him that the restoration of Jerusalem was to follow without the slightest delay, and he defines the period after the restoration by numbering the years, and foretells that after the predetermined time it will again be destroyed, and that after the second capture and siege it will no longer have (c) God for its guardian, but will remain desolate, with the worship of the Mosaic Law taken away from it, and another new Covenant with humanity introduced in its place. This was what the Angel Gabriel revealed to the prophet as by secret oracles. So then he says to Daniel: "I am now come forth to impart to thee understanding, at the beginning of thy supplication the word came forth, and I am come to tell thee, for thou art a man greatly beloved. Consider the matter, understand the vision"; (d)

clearly urging him to a deeper consideration and understanding of the meaning of his words. He calls it then a vision from its involving deeper consideration, and more than common understanding: wherefore we, too, if we call on Him who gives understanding, and pray that the eyes of our understanding may be enlightened, should trust confidently in the vision of this passage: "Seven times seventy weeks," he says, "have been decided on for this people and for thy holy city, for sin to be ended, and to seal up transgression, and to blot out iniquities, and to make atonement for iniquities, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal the vision and the people, and to anoint the most holy."

(383) It is quite clear that seven times seventy weeks reckoned in years amounts to 490. That was therefore the period determined for Daniel's people, which limited the total length of the Jewish nation's existence. And he no longer calls them here "God's people," but Daniel's, saying, "thy people. Just as when they sinned and worshipped idols in the wilderness, God called them no more His people, but Moses', saying, "Go, descend, for thy people has sinned. (b) In the same way here too he explains why the definite limit of time is determined for them. It was that they might know they were no longer worthy to be called the people of God. And he adds, "And for thy holy city": where we hear again the unusual "thy," for he says, "for thy people, and for thy holy city," as much as to say, "the city you think to be holy. The original Hebrew and the other translators (c) agree in the addition of "thy" both to the people and the city. For Aquila has, "On thy people, and on thy sacred city"; and Symmachus, "Against thy people, and thy holy city": wherefore in accurate codices of the Septuagint "thy" is added with an asterisk.

For since Daniel had often called the people "the people of God "in the words of his prayer, and the place of the city "the holy place of (d) God," the One who answers in contrast says that neither people nor city are God's, but "thine," who hast prayed and spoken thus of the people and the place and the city. Daniel's words run thus: "16. Let thy anger be turned away, even thy anger from Jerusalem thy city, thy holy mountain. And, "Thy people is a source of ridicule to all that are round about them. And again, "17. Shew thy face upon the desolation of thy sanctuary. And once more, "18. Behold the ruin of thy city, which is called by thy name," followed by, "19. That thy name may be named upon thy city, and upon thy people. After this prayer he adds: "20. And while I was yet speaking and praying, behold Gabriel, whom I saw in my vision, came flying, and touched me, and said what is written above. (384)

The prophet then clearly called the city not a city pure and simple but "God's city," and the sanctuary, "God's sanctuary," and the people "God's people," from his feeling for the people. But Gabriel does not describe them in this way; on the contrary, he says, "for thy people," and "for thy holy city," shewing in so many words that city, people, and sanctuary were unworthy to be called God's. So, then, he first defines the length of time determined (b) for the people, and then for the city. And it is seen to be the period from the restoration of Jerusalem, which was in the reign of Darius, King of Persia, until the reign of Augustus, Emperor of Rome, and of Herod the foreign King of the Jews, in whose times our Saviour's Birth is recorded, as the prophecy goes on to shew. And he adds next: "For sin to be ended, and to seal up transgressions, and to blot out iniquities, and to make atonement for (c) iniquities, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal the vision and the prophet, and to anoint the most holy."

Instead of, "For sin to be ended, and to seal up transgressions," Aquila translated, "For ending disobedience, and for completing transgression." I think that our Saviour's words to the Jews, "Ye have filled up the measure of your fathers," are parallel to this. For the transgression of the Jewish nation culminated in the plot they dared to make against Him, and what Aquila calls their "disobedience "to God reached its end. For many times of old the long-suffering of God had borne with their transgressions before the Saviour came, as is shewn by the prophet's words: but just as in the case of the ancient (d) foreign inhabitants of the land of promise it was said to Abraham, "The sins of the Amorites are not yet fulfilled," and if they were not yet fulfilled they could not yet be driven from their native land, but when they were fulfilled, they were then destroyed by Joshua, the successor of Moses: so also you will understand in the case of the before-mentioned people. For while their sins were not fulfilled, the patience and long-suffering of God bore with them, calling them many times to repentance by the prophets. (385) But when, as our Saviour said, they had filled up the measure of their fathers, then the whole collected weight worked their destruction at one time, as our Lord taught again when He said:

"All the blood poured forth from the foundation of the world, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zacharias, shall come upon this generation." For presuming last of all to lay their hands on the Son of God they completed their disobedience and completed their sins, according to Aquila's translation, or according to the Septuagint, "Their sin was bound and sealed." But since He came not only for the falling but for the rising again of many in Israel, as is said of Him, "Behold, he is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel," Daniel rightly proceeds to add, "And for the blotting out of (c) transgressions and for making atonement for iniquities." For since it was impossible for the blood of bulls and of goats to take away sins, and the whole race of mankind needed a living and true offering, of which the Mosaically designed propitiation was a type, and our Lord and Saviour was this Lamb of God, as it was said of Him, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world; and again, "He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but for those of the whole world "; He brings redemption (d) also, according to Paul's words, "Who is become wisdom to us from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption"----he naturally teaches that His coining is at once the fulfilment and the completion of the sin of those who have sinned against Him, at the same time as it is the blotting out and purification of sins, and the propitiation for the transgressions of them that believe in Him.

And Aquila to the words, "For the fulfilling of their disobedience and the completion of their sin," added, "For the propitiation of their transgression," clearly suggesting that He would be the propitiation for all transgressions of old time done in ignorance. Next to this comes, "For the bringing in of everlasting righteousness." The Word of God is in truth Himself eternal Righteousness, Who is made unto us by God Wisdom, and Righteousness, and Sanctification, and Redemption, in the words of the Apostle. But further by His own Presence also He shared Righteousness with all men, shewing by His works that God is not only the God of the Jews, but also of the Gentiles: for (386) there is one God, Who will judge the Circumcision from their faith, and the Uncircumcision by faith. Wherefore Peter wondering at those with Cornelius being thought worthy of receiving the Holy Spirit says, "Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons, but in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness is accepted with him." And Paul also says that the Gospel is of righteousness, saying, "For it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the Gentile. For the righteousness of God is revealed in it." And it is said of Christ in the Psalms: (b) "In His days shall arise righteousness, and abundance of peace." And His coming shewed clearly the righteousness of God, who reckoned the whole of mankind worthy of the calling of God. Such was not the Mosaic dispensation, which was given to the Jews only: wherefore having appeared for a time it has passed away. But the (c) righteousness proclaimed by our Saviour is fitly called eternal righteousness, as Gabriel said, "And to bring in eternal righteousness."

Instead of "Seal the vision and the prophet,'' Aquila gives, I think, a more suitable rendering, viz. "And for fulfilling vision and prophet. For our Lord Jesus Christ did not come as it were to seal up the visions of the prophets, for He rather opened and explained those that were of old obscure and sealed, tearing away so to say the seals impressed on them, and taught His disciples the meaning of the Holy Scriptures. Hence He says, "Behold, (d) the lion of the tribe of Judah hath prevailed, and he has opened the seals that were set on the book," in John's Apocalypse. What are these seals but the obscurities of the prophets? Isaiah knew them well and definitely says too: "And these words shall be as the words of the sealed book. The Christ of God did not come then to shut up the vision and the prophet, but rather to open them and bring them to the light. Hence I prefer Aquila's rendering, (387) "For fulfilling the vision and the prophet. And it agrees also with our Saviour's words, "I have not come to destroy the law or the prophets, I have not come to destroy but to fulfil. "For the end of the law is Christ," and all the prophecies concerning Him we know remained unfulfilled and uncompleted, until He came and brought fulfilment to the prophecies about Himself. It is possible, too, for the version of the Septuagint, "To seal up the vision and the prophet," to bear this meaning:

"For the Law and the prophets continued until John," and from his day the ancient inspiration of the Jewish race has ceased, and its predictions of the Christ, and they who in the Holy (b) Scriptures saw genuine visions have come to an end, as if divine grace were shut up and bound with seals: and so it is the case that from that day there has been no activity of prophet or seer among them; this has altogether ceased from the time named till our own day.

He proceeds, "And to anoint the Most Holy"; and this also is plain for the same reason, that until the time of our Saviour the Most Holy, the High Priests were anointed (c) following the ritual performed according to the Mosaic Law, but from that date they have ceased to be, as the prophecy foretells. So too the words of Jacob to Judah foretold the cessation of the princes and rulers of the Jewish nation, as I have already stated. Now since the prophets' and priests' primacy of the people was very much later than that of the kings, the oracle in the prophecy first quoted foretells the destruction of the princes and governors of the Jewish nation, while the one we are considering predicts (d) the cessation of the prophets and priests as well, who were of old their chief ornament, which the Coming of our Saviour actually fulfilled. And as Aquila translates, "For the anointing the most consecrated," it might be thought that the ancient Jewish High Priest was meant, since many of the inferior priests were called "holy," but only the High Priest "Most Holy. And this idea at first sight is tempting. For up to the times of our Saviour the High Priests in continuous line at the same time ruled the people, (388) as they continuously performed the service of God according to the ritual ordained by Moses; but from our Saviour's times their order was first thrown into confusion, and shortly afterwards altogether abolished.

But as I find nowhere in the Holy Scriptures the High Priest called "Most Holy," I am of opinion that in this passage only the Only-begotten Word of God is meant, who is properly and truly worthy of that name. For if men excel and reach all attainable virtue they should be content to be called "holy," sharing and participating in the character of Him Who said, "Be ye holy, for I the Lord am Holy. But what human being could rightly be called "Most Holy," except the one Beloved Son of the Father, called Holy of holies as also King of kings and Lord of lords? For to Him only, as excelling whoever of Moses' ordaining that were anointed with earthly and manufactured oil, was it said, "Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity, therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness beyond thy fellows."

Being anointed wherewith, He says in His own Person in Isaiah: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me." Since, then, it is evident that our Saviour was anointed uniquely beyond all that ever were with the excellent spiritual, or rather divine unction, He is rightly called "Holy of holies," as one might say, "High Priest of high priests," and "Sanctified of the sanctified" according to the oracle of Gabriel. (d) And all these things were fulfilled when the seventy weeks were completed at the date of our Saviour's Coming. So when the aforesaid Angel had given this summary prediction to the prophet, he again returns to the subject of the seventy weeks, explaining accurately and in detail at what point the weeks must begin to be counted, and what will happen at the time said. He therefore says: "And thou shalt know and understand, that from the going forth of the command for the answer and for the building of Jerusalem shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks, and then it shall return, and the street and wall shall be built." (389) And with regard to this I think it right not to leave unknown the studies of a predecessor on this subject, but to quote from them as suitable to my readers. For it is a good saying that "the goods of friends are common." And as it is right to use what others have expressed well in a right spirit, and not to deprive fathers of their children, or the first begetters of their own offspring, I will quote his exact words. This extract from Africanus is to be found in the Fifth Book of his Chronography, and it runs as follows:

(b) "The section thus expressed gives much strange information. But here I will make the necessary examination of the times and the matters connected with them. It is clear, then, that the coming of the Christ is foretold as to occur after seventy weeks. For in the time of our Saviour, or after His time, sins are done away and transgressions ended. And by this remission iniquities are blotted out (c) by a propitiation together with unrighteousness, eternal righteousness is published beyond that of the law, visions and prophecies (last) until John, and the Holy of holies is anointed. For these things existed in expectation only before our Saviour's Coming. And the angel explains we must count the numbers, that is to say the seventy weeks, which are 490 years, from the going forth of the word of answer and from the building of Jerusalem. This took place in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes, King of Persia. For Nehemiah his cup-bearer made the request, (d) and received the answer that Jerusalem should be rebuilt, and the order went forth to carry it out. For till that date the city lay desolate. For when Cyrus after the seventieth year of the Captivity spontaneously allowed every one who wished to return, those with Joshua the High Priest and Zerubbabel went back, and those afterwards with Ezra, and were at first prevented from building the Temple, and the wall of the City, as no order had been given for it;

and so there was a delay until Nehemiah and the reign of Artaxerxes and the one hundred and fifteenth year of the Persian Empire. And this was 185 years from the taking of Jerusalem. It was then that King Artaxerxes gave the order (390) for it to be built. And Nehemiah was sent to take charge of the work, and the street and wall were built, as it had been prophesied. And from that date to the coming of Christ is seventy weeks. For if we begin to count from any other point but this, not only the dates will not agree, but many absurdities arise. If, for instance, we begin counting the seventy weeks from Cyrus and the first Mission, the period will be too long by more than a century, if from (b) the day the angel prophesied to Daniel still longer, and longer still if we start from the beginning of the Captivity. For we find the length of the Persian Empire to be 230 years, and of the Macedonian 300, and from then to the sixteenth year of Tiberius Caesar 60 years. And from Artaxerxes to the time of Christ seventy weeks are (c) completed according to Jewish reckoning.

For from Nehemiah, who was sent by Artaxerxes to rebuild Jerusalem, in the one hundred and fifteenth year of the Persian Empire, and in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes, and in the fourth year of the eighty-third Olympiad up to that date, which was the second year of the two hundred and second Olympiad, and the sixteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, there are 475 years, or 490 according to Hebrew reckoning. For they reckon years by the course of the moon, I ought to (d) tell you, counting 354 days, while the course of the sun is 365 ¼ days, twelve lunar revolutions, being exceeded by one solar by 11¼ days. Therefore the Greeks and the Jews add three intercalary months to every eighth year. For eight times 11¼ days makes three months. So then 465 years, in eight-year cycles, makes fifty-nine years and three months. Since adding the three intercalary months every eighth year, we have a few days short of fifteen years. And these added (391) to the 475 years complete the seventy weeks."

This, then, is from Africanus. And if I may make an apposite comment myself on the passage, I would say that the prophecy does not make the division of the seventy weeks without an object or haphazard. For having divided them into the first seven, and another sixty-two, it adds the last one after a quantity of intermediate matter, and thus (b) determines the number of seventy weeks. And so it says, "And thou shalt know and understand from the going out of the word of answering and of building Jerusalem until Christ the governor there are seven weeks and sixty-two weeks. Then having interposed other matter, it adds the last saying, "And He shall make a covenant with many one week. I do not think that any one who regards these as the words of God, can suppose that these statements have no object, or are scattered without the divine intention. I thought it was right first to draw attention to this, and then to give a more (c) elaborate solution of the problem to my readers. And if I must reveal what is in my mind, I would say that according to another meaning or interpretation, he that is called in the preceding extract "Christ the governor" (viz. "From the going forth of the word of answering and the building of Jerusalem until Christ the governor"), is none other than the roll of the high priests who governed the people after (d) the prophecy and the Return from Babylon, whom Scripture commonly calls Christs.

For I have shewn that they were the only governors of the nation, beginning with Joshua, son of Josedec, the Great Priest, after the return from Babylon, and up to the date of the Coming of our Saviour Jesus Christ. For I think that the fact that the intermediate period of their primacy, during which they governed, is meant, is shewn by the words, "From the going forth of the answering and the building of Jerusalem, until Christ the governor, is seven weeks and sixty-two weeks. And the weeks of years make 483 years added together from the reign of Cyrus up to the Roman Empire, when Pompeius (392) the Roman general attacked Jerusalem and took the city by siege, and the whole city became subject to Rome, so that thenceforward it paid taxes, and obeyed the Roman enactments.

At this period, then, is concluded the 483 years, when they came to an end who held, according to the Mosaic Law, the primacy of the nation, and the priesthood, whom I understand the Holy Scriptures to call here "Christ the governor. And if it be necessary to publish a roll of the succession of the high priests who held office during this (b) intermediate period, I have no objection so to do in confirmation of my statements. First, then, after Daniel's prophecy, in the reign of Cyrus, King of Persia, after the Return from Babylon, came Joshua son of Josedec, called the Great Priest, with Zerubbabel from captivity, and laid the foundations of the Temple, but since he was hindered in the work by the neighbours, the first seven weeks of years named by the prophet came to an end, during which the building of the Temple remained unfinished. This is why (c) the divine word separates the first seven from the remaining weeks, saying seven weeks, and then after an interval adding, and sixty-two weeks. For from Cyrus to the completion of the building of the Temple are seven weeks of years. Hence the Jews attacking our Saviour said, "Forty and six years was this Temple in building, and wilt thou raise it up in three days?'' These men, you say, said that the Temple was built in forty-six years.

So they reckoned (d) from the reign of Cyrus first, who first permitted those of the Jews who wished to go up to their own land, to the sixth year of King Darius, in whose reign the Temple was finally completed. But Josephus, a Jewish author, says that three more years were spent in completing the surrounding outside buildings, so that it seems probable that the seven first weeks were divided in the prophet's words into nine years and forty years, and that the remaining sixty-two were counted from the reign of Darius, in whose time Joshua, son of Josedec, and Zerubbabel, son of Salathiel, who were still alive, were both at the head of the rebuilding of the (393) Temple, when Haggai and Zechariah were prophets, after whom Ezra and Nehemiah, who also came up from Babylon, built the wall of the city, when Joiachim was high priest. He was son of Joshua, son of Josedec, and Eliashib succeeded him in the high-priesthood, then Joiada, after him Jonathan, and after him Jaddua. The books of Ezra record them, saying, "And Jeshua begat Joiakim, Joiakim begat (b) Eliashib, and Eliashib begat Joiada, and Joiada begat Jonathan, and Jonathan begat Jaddua."

In the time of this Jaddua, Alexander of Macedon conquered Alexandria, and, as Josephus relates, came to Jerusalem and worshipped God. And Alexander died at the beginning of the 114th Olympiad, 236 years after (c) Cyrus, who began to rule over the Persians in the first year of the fifty-fifth Olympiad.

Now after the death of Alexander of Macedon, and after the said High Priest, Onias ruled the nation, also enjoying the high-priestly office: in whose day Seleucus conquered Babylon and put on the crown of Asia, twelve years after Alexander's death, and the whole period from him to Cyrus is 248 years From that point the Book of Maccabees begins to count the years of the Hellenic Empire. And after Onias, the High Priest Eleazar ruled the Jews, in whose time the Seventy translated the Holy Scriptures and deposited (d) them in the Library of Alexandria. And after him a second Onias, followed by Simon, in whose day flourished Jesus, son of Sirach, who wrote the excellent book called Wisdom. After him a third Onias ruled, in whose time Antiochus besieged the Jews and compelled them to hellenize. After whom Judas, called the Maccabee, was at the head of the State, and cleansed the land of the unholy, being succeeded by his brother Jonathan. And then Simon, to whose death the First Book of Maccabees reckons 177 years from the beginning of the Syrian rule, and ends its history at that date. So that the period from (394) the first year of Cyrus and the Persian Empire up to the end of the record of the Maccabees and the death of Simon is 425 years. And then Jonathan held the high-priesthood, according to Josephus, for twenty-nine years.After him Aristobulus ruled for a year, who was the first to assume the royal diadem besides the high-priesthood after the return from Babylon.

Alexander succeeded him, as both king and high priest, and was at the head of the State for twenty-seven years. To whose date is comprised in all, (b) from the first year of the reign of Cyrus and from the return of the Jews from Babylon, 482 years, in which period the high priests ruled, who I believe are called in the prophecy "Christs and governors. After whom, when the last of them the High Priest Alexander died, the State of the Jews was left without king or leader, so that the kingdom came to a woman. And when her two sons, Aristobulus nnd Hyrcanus, were quarrelling with each other, Pompey, the (c) Roman general, attacked Jerusalem, and took the city by siege, denied its holy places, and even entered the Holiest of all. And this came to pass in the first year of the 179th Olympiad, 495 years after the empire of Cyrus, who began to rule in the fifty-fifth Olympiad. And Pompey, then, having taken Jerusalem by force, sent the before-named Aristobulus a prisoner to Rome, bestowing the High-Priesthood on his brother Hyrcanus, and the whole nation was from that date subject to Rome. Then after this, Herod, (d) the son of Antipater, destroyed Hyrcanus, and was entrusted with the Jewish kingdom by the Roman senate, being the first ruler of a foreign stock, and he destroyed the order of the Mosaic High-Priesthood. For the divine Law ordained that the most high high-priest should hold office for life;

but Herod preferred to the office men who were not of the priestly tribe nor otherwise suitable, who were alien and strange to the priestly line of succession, and he gave the position not even to them for life, but only for a short and limited time, sometimes to one, sometimes to another; so (395) that the first seven weeks must be reckoned from Cyrus to Darius, and the remaining sixty-two from Darius to Pompey the Roman general.

And if you reckon the period of the seven and sixty-two weeks in another way a third time, they will comprise 483 years, up to Augustus and Herod, the first king of foreign (b) stock, in whose reign the Birth of our Saviour Jesus Christ is recorded to have occurred, if you begin to reckon from Darius and the completion of the Temple. For the prophet Zechariah shews that the seventy years of the Desolation of Jerusalem were completed in the second year of Darius, when he says: "On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh (c) month (this is the Sabbath), in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah son of Barachiah." And then he adds, "And the Angel of the Lord answered, and said, O Almighty Lord, how long wilt thou not pity Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, which thou hast despised these seventy years past?"

This, then, was the very time that Daniel, inspired by the divine spirit, marked when he said, "I Daniel understood in the books the number of the years, what was the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet, for the fulfilment of the desolation of Jerusalem seventy years, and I turned my face to the Lord my God, to present my prayer and petition. Then after his prayer the Angel prophesied to (d) him of the seventy weeks, and told him at what point to begin to reckon the time, saying, "And thou shalt know and understand from the going forth of the word of answering and from the building of Jerusalem until Christ the governor. The first answer allowing Jerusalem to be rebuilt was of course that of Cyrus, but it did not take effect, because the neighbours interfered. But when Darius gave his order afierwards, and the building of the Temple was also completed in his reign, from that date began to be fulfilled the prophecy of Daniel, which said, "From the going forth of the word of answering and from the building (396) of Jerusalem," and that which said, "I Daniel understood in the books the number of the years, which was the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet, for the fulfilment of the desolation of Jerusalem seventy years.

The completion of the period of seventy years is therefore shewn to have been reached in the second year of Darius, so that we must anyway reckon the seventy weeks from the sixty-sixth Olympiad, and from the second year of Darius, in which the building was completed. And if you reckon the succeeding (b) period from that date up to King Herod and the Roman Emperor Augustus, in whose times our Saviour was born on earth, you will find it amounts to 483 years, which are the seven and sixty-two weeks of the prophecy of Daniel. From the sixty-sixth Olympiad to the 186th Olympiad there are 121 Olympiads, or 484 years, an Olympiad consisting of four years, during which time Augustus the Roman Emperor, in the fifteenth year of his reign, gained the (c) kingdom of Egypt and of the whole world, under whom Herod was the first foreigner to ascend the Jewish throne, and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ was born, the time of His birth synchronizing with the fulfilment of the seven and sixty-two weeks of Daniel's prophecy.

And afterwards comes the one remaining week, separated from them and divided by a long interval, during which occurred all the other events that are predicted in between, all of which being foretold in the middle of the oracle were fulfilled; they run in the following way: "After the seven (d) and sixty-two weeks the Unction shall be cast out, and there is no judgment in it. And he will destroy the city and the Holy Place with the leader that cometh, and they shall be cut off as by a flood, and until the end of the completion of the war by destructions." And this was evidently fulfilled in the time of Augustus and Herod, at whose day I say the seven weeks foretold were summed up. The regular and orderly Unction of the High Priest continued uninterrupted until the time of Herod and Augustus, and the ancient line of the High-Priesthood was ended with Alexander, the Father of Hyr-canus; and Herod, after murdering Hyrcanus, is said to (397) have conferred the office no longer on members of the ancestral line, but on obscure and unknown men. This the oracle foresaw and predicted, when it said, "And after the seven and sixty-two weeks, the Unction shall be cast out, and judgment shall not be in it." And this is made clear by the other translators: for Aquila says, "And after the seven weeks and the sixty-two, he that is anointed shall be cast out, and there is no place for him." And Sym-machus, "And after the weeks the seven and sixty-two the Christ shall be cut off, and shall not belong to him:" which (b) seems strong confirmation of my interpretation of "Christ the Governor."

It says then that Christ shall be cast out after the completion of the said weeks. Who can this be but the governor and ruler of the high-priestly line? He remained therefore until the weeks were fulfilled; and when they came to an end, the ruler of the nation in the line of succession (c) was cut off as the prophecy foretold. And this was Hyrcanus, whom Herod murdered, and seized the kingdom on which he had no special claim, and he was its first king of alien stock. And moreover Hyrcanus was not only personally cut off as the last anointed successor of the ancient high-priests, but the line as well which descended from those ancient high-priests was itself cut off, and the Legal Unction was no longer used according to judgment, but in a confused and disorderly way not according to the Mosaic enactments. And these events happened concurrently and fulfilled the prediction, "The Unction shall (d) be cast out, and there is no judgment in it." Josephus, himself a Hebrew, is sufficient evidence of this, giving the history of those times in the Eighteenth Book of the Archaeology of the Jews:

"Herod was then made king by the Romans, but did no longer appoint High-Priests out of the family of Asamonaeus, and these were called Maccabeans, but made certain men to be so that were of no eminent families, but only of the Hebrew race, excepting that he gave that dignity to Aristobulus; for he made this Aristobulus, the son of Hyrcanus, high priest, and took his sister Mariamne to wife, aiming at winning the goodwill of the people through their memory of Hyrcanus. Yet did he afterwards, out of his fear lest they should (398) all bend their inclinations to Aristobulus, put him to death in Jericho, and that by contriving to have him suffocated while swimming, as I have already related. But after this man he never entrusted the High Priesthood to the descendants of Hyrcanus. Archelaus also acted like his father Herod in the appointment of the High-Priests, as did also the Romans, who took the government over the Jews into their hands afterwards."

And again in another place he says of them: (b) "But when Herod came to be king he rebuilt this tower, which was very conveniently situated, in a magnificent manner, and called it Antonia, and he took the high-priestly vestments, which he found lying there, and kept them, believing that while he had them the people would not revolt against him. And Herod's example was followed by Archelaus his son, who was made king after him, after whom the Romans when they entered on the government took possession of the high-priestly vestments, and had them laid up in a stone chamber under a seal." I think it must be clear to all that this was the fulfilment (c) of the oracle, which said, "And after the seven and sixty-two weeks the Unction shall be cast out, and there is no judgment in it."

And you may see better the meaning of the words, "And there is no judgment in it," if you consider the haphazard appointments of the high-priests after Herod's time and in the time of our Saviour. For whereas by the divine Law (d) it was ordained that a high-priest should hold office all his life and be succeeded by his legitimate son, in the period in question, when the Unction had been cast out as the prophecy foretold, Herod first, and after him the Romans, appointed what high-priests they liked haphazard or not according to the Law, bestowing the dignity on common and unknown men, selling and peddling the office, giving it now to one now to another for a year. And the Evangelist St. Luke seems to imply this, where he says, "In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judaea, and Herod, Philip and Lysanias being tetrarchs, Annas and Caiaphas being high-priests." For how could they both be high-priest at the same time unless the rules of the high-priesthood were disregarded? "In witness whereof Josephus writes: (399)

"Valerius Gratus the Roman General, after closing the high-priesthood of Ananus, appointed Ismael the son of Pheba, and removing him shortly afterwards appointed Eleazar son of Ananus the high-priest. A year later he removed him, and gave the office to Simon son of Gathimus. He did not remain high priest more than a year, when Josephus, son of Caiaphas, took his place." (b) I was obliged to give this quotation because of the words "The Unction shall be cast out, and there is no judgment in it,'' which seem to me proved by it beyond any doubt.

After this the prophecy says, "And the city, and the holy place, he will destroy, with the governor that cometh." Here again I understand the rulers of foreign stock who succeeded him to be meant. For as above he named the High-Priests, Christs and Governors, saying, "Until Christ the Governor," in the same way after their time and after their abolition there was no other ruler to come but the (c) same Herod of foreign stock, and the others ruled the nation in order after them, in whose company and by whose aid, using them as his agents, that hateful bane of good men is said to have destroyed the city and the Holy Place. And indeed he destroyed of a truth the whole nation, now upsetting the established order of the priesthood, now perverting the whole people, and encouraging the city (which (d) stands metaphorically for its people) in impiety. And Aquila agrees with my interpretation of the passage, translating thus, "And the people of the governor that cometh will destroy the city and the holy place." Meaning that the city and the Holy Place arc not only to be ruined by the leader to come, whom I have identified in my interpretation, but also by his people. And you would not be far wrong in saying, too, that the Roman general and his army arc meant by the words before us, where I think the camps of the Roman rulers are meant, who governed the nation from that time, and who destroyed the city of Jerusalem itself, and its ancient venerable Temple. For they were cut off by them as by a flood, and were at once involved in destruction until the war was concluded, so that the prophecy was fulfilled and they suffered utter desolation (400) after their plot against our Saviour, which was followed by their extreme sufferings during the siege. You will find an accurate account of it in the history of Josephus.

But after the prophecy of the events that happened to the Jewish nation in the intermediate period between the seven and sixty-two weeks, there follows the prophecy of the new Covenant announced by our Saviour. So when all the intermediate matter between the seven and the sixty-two weeks is finished, there is added, "And he will confirm (b) a Covenant with many one week," and in half the week the sacrifice and the libation shall be taken away, and on the Holy Place shall come the abomination of desolation, and until the fullness of time fullness shall be given to the desolation. Let us consider how this was fulfilled.

Now the whole period of our Saviour's Teaching and working of Miracles is said to have been three-and-a-half years, which is half a week. John the Evangelist, in his Gospel, makes this clear to the attentive. One week of years therefore would be represented by the whole period of His association with the Apostles, both the time before His Passion, and the time after His Resurrection. For it is written that before His Passion He shewed Himself for the space of three-and-a-half years to His disciples and also to those who were not His disciples: while by teaching and miracles He revealed the powers of His Godhead to all equally whether Greeks or Jews. But after His Resurrection He was most likely with His disciples a period equal to the years, being seen of them forty days, and eating with them, and speaking of the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God, as the Acts of the Apostles tells us. So that this would be the prophet's week of years, during which He "confirmed a covenant with many," confirming that is to say the new Covenant of the Gospel Preaching. And who were the many to whom He confirmed it, but His own disciples and Apostles, and such of the Hebrews who believed in Him?

And moreover, half through this week, during which He confirmed the said Covenant with many, the (401) sacrifice and libation was taken away, and the abomination of desolation began, for in the middle of this week after the three-and-a-half days of His Teaching, at the time when He suffered, the Veil of the Temple was torn asunder from the top to the bottom, so that in effect from that time sacrifice and libation were taken away, and the abomination of desolation stood in the holy place, inasmuch as the Being had left them desolate, Who had been from time immemorial till (b) that day the guardian and protector of the place. For it is fitting to believe that up to the Saviour's Passion there was some Divine Power guarding the Temple and the Holy of Holies. For He could not have attended with the multitude at the Temple to keep the Feasts according to the laws, if He had not known that it still remained a place worthy of God. Therefore there were in the Temple also some that prophesied up to that time, as Anna the (c) Prophetess, daughter of Phanuel, and Simeon, who took Him into his arms when He was an infant, whose prophecies are handed down in Scripture.

Nor could our Lord have said to the leper, "Go, shew thyself to the priest, and offer the gift which Moses commanded for a testimony unto thee," if He had not considered it right for the legal observances to be carried out there as in a holy place worthy of God. Nor would He have thrust out those who bought and sold, saying, "Take these things hence, and make not my Father's House a house of merchandise," if He had not thought that the Temple was still to be reckoned sacred. But it was when the hour of their extreme wickedness drew near, that He explained all when He said, "Behold your house is left unto you desolate," which also was fulfilled, when at his Passion the Veil of the Temple was wholly rent in twain, and from that moment the sacrifice and libation well pleasing to God according to the ordinance of the Law was in effect taken away, and when it was removed, the abomination of desolation, as the prophecy before us says, appeared in its place. And if it be said that the worship of the Sanctuary appeared to continue for a time, yet it was not pleasing to God, being offered without judgment and not according to the Law.

For as before of (402) old when the Unction was abolished, and the lawful line of High Priests ceased after the death of Hyrcanus, they who held the office afterwards seemed to perform disordered and illegal rites, since they were breaking the fitting Laws, of whom the prophecy said, "The Unction shall be cast out, and there is no judgment in it," referring to its illegality and lack of judgment; so here you will rightly say it has happened to the offering and libation, which were rightly and (b) lawfully offered before our Saviour's Passion, while the Power still guarded the Holy Places, but which were taken away directly after the perfect and supreme Sacrifice which He offered, when He offered Himself for our sins, being the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world, which sacrifice having been delivered to all men in the new Sacraments of the new Covenant, the Sacrifices of the old are taken away. For concurrently with the fulfilment of the oracle which says, "And he shall confirm a covenant (c) with many one week," all that is connected with the old Covenant is abolished. And when was the new Covenant confirmed, but when our Lord and Saviour, about to consummate the great Mystery of His delivery to death, on the night in which He was betrayed, delivered to His disciples the symbols of the unspeakable words of the new Covenant referring to Him?

For concurrently with this celebration, (d) the old Covenant of Moses was abolished, which was shewn by the veil of the Temple being rent at the very time. Sacrifice and libation being from that time abolished and ceasing in effect and truth, any sacrifices that were afterwards thought to be offered there were celebrated in a profane place by profane and unhallowed men. Hear the witness of Josephus about this:

"On the day of Pentecost, the priests going by night into the Temple, as was their custom, for the services, said that they were first conscious of a quaking and a sound, and afterwards of a sudden voice which said, Let us depart hence." And he records this to have taken place after the Passion of our Saviour. And the same writer says elsewhere: (403) "Pilate the Governor "(meaning the Pilate of our Saviour's time) "brought the images of Caesar into the Temple by night, which was unlawful, and caused a great outburst of tumult and disorder among the Jews." Which Philo confirms, saying: "Pilate laid up in the Temple by night the imperial emblems, and from that time the Jews were involved in rebellion and mutual troubles." And from that time a succession of all kinds of troubles afflicted the whole nation and their city until the last war against them, and the final siege, in which destruction (b) rushed on them like a flood with all kinds of misery of famine, plague and sword, and all who had conspired against the Saviour in their youth were cut off; then, too, the abomination of desolation stood in the Temple, and it has remained there even till to-day, while they have daily reached deeper depths of desolation. And perhaps this will be so until the end of the world, according to the limit set by the prophet when he said, "And unto the consummation of time a fulfilment shall be given to the desolation." (c) These words our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ sealed, when He said, "When ye shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the Prophet, standing in the Holy Place, then ye shall know that her desolation draws near."

And if the Jews are hard to persuade of this, they must be convicted not only of a shameless opposition to truth and clear evidence, but also of misrepresenting, so far as they can, the predictions as falsehoods, if it is to be thought that in the seventy weeks of years some of them include all the time, while they prophesy of what is to happen in the intermediate period, while others, though we are now nearly a thousand years from the date of the prophecy, admit no (d) sign of the fulfilment of what was written, although their Unction has been abolished, as the divine prediction foretold, and their sanctuary, and the former inhabitants destroyed and utterly brought to naught in the flood of the completed war, and strangest thing of all even now to be seen, I mean, the abomination of desolation still standing in the one holy place, concerning which our Lord and Saviour said what I have quoted.

As this is before our eyes even now, it is extraordinary (404) that the Jews are not only so daring as to refuse to see what is clear, but so blind and dark in their minds as well as not to be able to see the clear and evident fulfilment of the Holy Scriptures. But they are in the state now that Isaiah prophesied they should come to, and his words are fulfilled: "Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand, and seeing ye shall see and not perceive. For the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest at (b) any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them." But since it was said of old of the nations that believe in Christ, "To whom it has not been announced concerning Him, they shall see, and they who have not heard, shall understand," I also by His grace and that of the Father that sent Him have given as full an interpretation as I could of this passage, and have quoted also the critical conclusions of Africanus, my predecessor, as germane and accurate, and therefore to be made use of as satisfactory. (c)

CHAPTER 3 From Micah. The Prophet foretells what will be the Signs of the Coming of the Lord to Men, the Complete Destruction of the Sacred Customs of the Jews, the Knowledge of the God that was announced by the Prophets, the Deepest Peace of All Nations. (405) [Passages quoted, Micah i. 2-4; iii. 9-12; iv. 1-4.] (d) I HAVE already considered this prophecy among the passages. And I have pointed out that only from the date of our Saviour Jesus Christ's Coming among men have the objects of Jewish reverence, the hill called Zion and Jerusalem, the buildings there, that is to say, the Temple, the Holy of Holies, the Altar, and whatever else was there dedicated to the glory of God, been utterly removed or shaken, in fulfilment of the Word which said: "Behold the Lord, the Lord comes forth from his place, and he shall descend on the high places of the earth, and the mountains shall be shaken under him."

And when those kings are shaken, the souls of the Jews, called "valleys," because of the contrast of their wretchedness with their former exaltation, bewailing the passing of (406) the aforesaid glory, will melt like wax before the fire, and be as water rushing down a chasm, through the multitude of those that fall from bad to worse. And all this it says will come to pass because of the sin of the house of Jacob, and the transgression of the house of Israel. And it goes on to describe this sin and transgression, "They that defile judgment and pervert all that is right, who build Sion with blood and Jerusalem with unrighteousness." With blood! Yes, this was the cause of their final misery, for that they pronounced the impious curse upon themselves, saying, (b) "His blood be on us and on our children." Therefore, it says this, "Zion shall be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall be as a storehouse of fruit," a prophecy which was only actually fulfilled after the impious treatment of our Saviour. For from that time to this utter desolation has possessed the land; their once famous Mount Sion, instead of being, as once it was, the centre of study and education based on the divine prophecies, which the children of the (c) Hebrews of old, their godly prophets, priests and national teachers loved to interpret, is a Roman farm like the rest of the country, yea, with my own eyes I have seen the bulls plowing there, and the sacred site sown with seed. And Jerusalem itself is become but a storehouse of its fruit of old days now destroyed, or better, as the Hebrew has it, a stone-quarry.

So Aquila says, "Therefore for your sake the land of Zion shall be ploughed, and Jerusalem shall be a quarry of (d) stone," for being inhabited by men of foreign race it is even now like a quarry, all the inhabitants of the city choosing stores from its ruins as they will for private as well as public buildings. And it is sad for the eyes to see stones from the Temple itself, and from its ancient sanctuary and holy place, used for the building of idol temples, and of theatres for the populace. These things are open for the eyes to see, and it should be clear as well that it is hence that the new law and word of the new Covenant of our Saviour Jesus Christ goes forth. For countless companies (407) of people, races of all kinds deserting their fathers' gods and their old superstitions, call on the Supreme God. And thus it is reckoned the deepest peace, there being no diversity of government or national rule, that nation should not take up sword against nation, and that they should not learn war any more, but that each farmer should rest under his vine and under his fig tree, according to the prophecy, and that none should make him afraid. (b)

As this state of things was never achieved at any other time but during the Roman Empire, from our Saviour's birth till now, I consider the proof irrefutable that the prophet refers to the time of our Saviour's coming among men. CHAPTER 4 From Zechariah. Signs of the Time of the Coming of the Word of God to Men, the Call of the Gentiles, and Final Destruction of Jerusalem. [Passages quoted, Zech. ii. 10, 11; ix. 9, 10.] AFTER this prediction of our Saviour's Coming, the prophecy now goes on, after interposing other matter, to speak of the final desolation of Jerusalem, partly under figurative and disguised forms, and partly quite clearly. Figuratively, for example, when it says: (408) "1. Open thy doors, Libanus, and let the fire devour thy cedars; let the pine howl, because the cedar has fallen: for the mighty men have been greatly afflicted. 2. Howl, ye oaks of the land of Eashan, for the thickly planted forest has been torn down. 3. The voice of shepherds mourning, for their greatness is brought low: The voice of roaring lions, for the pride of Jordan is brought low."

This is figurative. But the same prophet goes on to give a clear interpretation of it. (b) "2. Behold, I will make Jerusalem as shaking doorposts to all the nations round about, and in Judaea there shall be a siege against Jerusalem. 3. And it shall be in that day, I will make Jerusalem a stone trodden under foot by all nations; every one that tramples on it shall utterly mock it, and all the nations of the earth shall be gathered unto her." And shortly after he adds: (c) "10b. And they shall look on me, whom they pierced, because they have mocked me, and shall make lamentation for him as for a beloved, and grief as for a firstborn son. 11. In that day the lamentation of Jerusalem shall be increased, as the mourning for Roon cut down in the plain. 12. And the land shall mourn according to families. The family of the house of David by itself, and its women by themselves; the family of the house of Nathan by itself, and its women by themselves; the family of the house of Levi by itself, and its women by themselves; the family of the house of Simeon by itself, and its women by themselves. 14. All the families that are left, each family by itself and their wives by themselves."

And again, after other matter, he announces yet more (d) clearly the siege of Jerusalem, saying: "1. Behold the days of the Lord come, and thy spoils shall be divided in thee. 2. And I will bring up all nations unto Jerusalem unto war, and the city shall be taken, and its houses plundered, and its women defiled, and half of the city shall go into captivity, and the remnant of my people shall not be cast out of the city. 3. And the Lord shall come forth; and shall fight with those nations, as when he fought in the day of war. 4. And his feet shall stand in that day on the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem." Then, after an interval, he says: "And there shall be one Lord, and his name one, encircling the earth and the wilderness." And again after other matter, concluding the book of His (409) prophecy, He prophesies the calling of the Gentiles:

"And it shall come to pass that whosoever shall be left of all the nations that came against Jerusalem shall even come up every year to worship the King the Lord Almighty, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. 17. And it shall come to pass that whosoever of all the families of the earth shall not come up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord Almighty, even these shall be added to the others. 18. And if the family of Egypt (b) shall not go up nor come thither, then upon them shall come the fall, with which the Lord shall strike all nations, as many as go not up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. 19. This is the transgression of Egypt, and the transgression of all the nations, as many as go not up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles."

So prophesied Zechariah after the Return from Babylon, in the reign of Darius, King of Persia, when Jerusalem was but just arisen from the desolation which it suffered under the Babylonians. And the whole period from Darius the (c) Persian, in whose time Zechariah prophesied, even to Augustus, Emperor of Rome, amounts to the seven and sixty-two weeks of years in Daniel, which are equivalent to 483 years, as I have shewn in my recent investigations. And neither in the time of the Macedonians from Alexander onwards, not even if you include the reign of Augustus, was (d) anything similar to the words of the prophet fulfilled. For when in those days did the Lord, Whom the prophet speaks of as divine, come among men, and many nations know Him, and confess Him to the only God, and take refuge in Him, and be to Him a people? Or when in the times of the Macedonians or Persians did the king who was foretold come, sitting upon an ass and a young colt? When did He come and utterly destroy the royal array of the Jewish nation, here called Ephraim, and of Jerusalem itself, called chariots and horses, and conquer the army of the Jews? For this is what the oracle revealed, saying:

"Behold thy king cometh to thee, righteous and a saviour, himself meek, and sitting upon an ass and a young colt, and he shall utterly destroy the warlike bow." (410) For so it was prophesied concerning the destruction of the royal glory of the Jewish nation, at the same time, as, on the other hand, the prophecy of peace for the Gentiles was repeated in agreement with those previously quoted, namely, "And abundance of peace shall be from the Gentiles." In place of which Aquila and the other translators render, "And he shall speak peace to the Gentiles," which stands specially and literally fulfilled from the reign of Augustus, since from that date varieties of government ceased, and (b) peace enwrapped most of the nations of the world. And before the Roman days under Persians or Macedonians what King of the Jews was there, who "ruled from sea to sea, and from the rivers to the ends of the earth?" And so the other translators have shewn. Therefore Aquila says:

"And he shall speak peace to the Gentiles, and his power shall be from sea to to sea, and from the river to the ends of the world." With this agrees the passage in the 101st Psalm concerning the Christ that is to be born of the seed of Solomon: "In his days righteousness shall arise, and abundance of peace, so long as the moon endureth, and he shall (c) rule from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the world." For these words about the son of Solomon are as exalted as those in the prophet. When, then, this took place and in what way, and in what period, let him that can, inform me. And when did Jerusalem after its siege by the Babylonians undergo a second burning, and have its Temple thrown to the ground? And the figure used by the prophet is also exceedingly (d) strange when he says, "O Libanus, open thy gates, and let fire devour thy cedars." For he calls the Temple here, as was not unusual, by the name of Libanus (it is so called in other prophecies). To this the Jews themselves now assent, since Isaiah, too, has a similar prophecy to the one before us, namely:

"Behold, the Lord of Sabaoth shall disturb the noble with might, and the lofty shall be crushed in their pride." And Libanus shall fall with its lofty ones, and there shall come forth a rod from the stem of Jesse, and a flower shall spring up from his roots, and the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him." To which he adds: "And there shall be a root of Jesse, and he that shall (411) rise to rule the Gentiles, in him shall the Gentiles trust."

Here, too, the destruction of Libanus and the call of the Gentiles is connected with the birth of Christ, of the seed of Jesse and David. And Ezekiel actually calls Jerusalem Libanus when he says, "The great eagle, with great wings, that hath the dominion, cometh to Libanus, and tore off the tender boughs of the cedar." And he goes on to explain this himself, as happening when Nebuchadnezzar shall come to Jerusalem and take her rulers, and that which follows. But Ezekiel's prophecy is about the first siege, and Zechariah's about the second. When, then, after the time of Zechariah in the time of the Macedonian Empire was the Temple burnt? There was no such time. For after its burning by the Babylonians, it was not burned again till in the time of Titus and Vespasian, the Roman Emperors, it was utterly destroyed by fire, and it is in relation to this that the prophet summons the ancient rulers of the nation in a figure to mourn and weep, when he says: "Let the (c) pine weep because the cedar is fallen, because the great ones are in great misery. Let the oaks of Bashan weep, because the wood that is planted is torn down: a voice of shepherds that lament, because their greatness is in misery." Then truly Jerusalem was as a portico shaken by all nations around it, and there was a force encircling Judaea, and their venerated Temple and its Holy Place is even to-day a stone trodden under the feet of all nations, and all that mock are mocked according to the prophecy.

(d) Yea, in return for their insults to the Lord who thus prophesied, there has not failed for them lamentation, mourning and wailing. And it was only after our Saviour came, and even until our own time, that all the families of the Jewish nation have suffered pain worthy of wailing and lamentation because God's hand has struck them, delivering their mother-city over to strange nations, laying their Temple low, and driving them from their country, to serve their enemies in a hostile land; wherefore even now every house and every soul is a prey to lamentation. And so the prophecy says, "And family shall mourn by family, the (412) family of the house of David by itself, and their wives by themselves, and all that follows this." And which were the days after the age of Zechariah, when the spoils of Jerusalem were divided, and all nations were gathered against them in battle, and the city was taken, their houses looted, their women defiled, and they themselves led into captivity, while the Lord was at the same time aiding the nations warring against Jerusalem and drawn up against them? Or when did His feet stand (b) on the Mount of Olives? Or when was the Lord King of all the earth, when was there one Lord over all men, when did His Name encircle the whole earth and the wilderness? It is impossible to argue that this was fulfilled previously to the period of the Romans, in whose time the Jewish Temple was burnt for the second time after its destruction by the Babylonians, and their city from then till now has been inhabited by foreign nations.

And it was when our Lord Jesus, the Christ of God, had (c) visited the olive-grove over against Jerusalem, since the words of the prophecy were fulfilled which said, "His feet shall stand upon the Mount of Olives opposite to Jerusalem," that is, the life of holiness having been established throughout all the world, that all the nations, according to the prophecy, kept the Feast of Tabernacles together in every place to the God of the prophets, and the Egyptians from that time recognizing God erected tents in every town and country place, which mean the local Christian Churches. For the power of our Saviour Jesus Christ has pegged them (d) far better than Moses' tents through the whole world, so that every race of men and all the Gentiles may keep their Feast of Tabernacles to Almighty God. When, then, we see what was of old foretold for the nations fulfilled in our own day, and when the lamentation and wailing that was predicted for the Jews, and the burning of the Temple and its utter desolation, can also be seen even now to have occurred according to the prediction, surely we must also agree that the King who was prophesied, (413) the Christ of God, has come, since the signs of His coming have been shewn in each instance I have treated to have been clearly fulfilled.

CHAPTER 5 From Isaiah. The Signs of the Times of the Lord's Coming, and the Egyptians' Acknowledgment of the God of the Prophets. [Passages quoted, Isa. xix. 1-3; xix. 19-21.] THIS is a passage that I have already partly expounded. Now if the Egyptians are not seen in our own time deserting their ancestral gods and calling upon the God of the prophets; if throughout Egypt in every locality, town and country there are not altars erected to the God that was formerly acknowledged only by the Hebrews; if the idols of (414) Egypt have not been shaken, for that the power of the daemons that hung about them is gone, and the ancient superstition driven from the soul of the Egyptians; and once more, if there is not intestine war arisen through all the households of Egypt, between them that receive the Lord and worship the God of the prophets and reject their immemorial polytheistic error, and them that oppose the (b) converts of the Lord in their adherence to the evil of their fathers; if they do not even now in their efforts to question their own gods and the idols and them that speak out of the ground and the diviners by familiar spirits, make a vain and useless appeal to them because the daemons are no longer able to work in them as they did of old----if all these things are not seen to have been actually fulfilled, why (c) then, you may consider that the prophetic oracle is unfulfilled, and that the Lord that was prophesied has not yet visited our human life.

But if, on the other hand, we can see the people of Egypt far more patently in actual fact than in mere description, some of them acknowledging the God of the prophets, and for His sake renouncing their ancestral gods, some of them raising political dissension against the converts, some of them even now calling upon their gods and images and them that speak from the ground, who no longer can effect aught, and some throughout all Egypt raising an altar to the Lord of the prophets for each local Church, calling no (d) longer in their troubles and persecutions on beasts or reptiles as their gods, nor on wild animals and unreasoning brutes as their fathers did, but on the Supreme God, retaining Him only and the fear of Him in their minds, praying to Him, and not to the daemons, and promising what men should promise God----how can we deny that the prophecies of long ago have at last been fulfilled? And these foretold that the Lord would come to Egypt not in an unembodied state, but in a light cloud, or better "in light thickness," for such is the meaning of the Hebrew, shewing figuratively His Incarnate state. Therefore the prophecy goes on to call Him a man that is a Saviour, saying, "And (415) the Lord shall send to them a man that is a Saviour." Here again the Hebrew is, "And He shall send to them a Saviour, who shall save them." As the proof is now so clear from this, I consider that there is no question of the time at which the prophecies foretold the Lord's Coming.

I have here only briefly collected the evidence for the time of the Advent of our Lord. If the other Scriptures were searched at leisure much more could be discovered. But as I am well satisfied with what I have brought before (b) you, I will now address myself to the other prophecies. And our next task will be to collect from inspired prophecy the predictions about the earthly dispensation of the Incarnation. [A few footnotes renumbered and placed at the end]

BOOK IX(416) IT remains for me now to redeem my promise to go on to expound the dispensation connected with the Incarnation of the very Word of God. My previous labours in the eight books already completed have been concerned (417) with Him. I have now devoted myself to tracing the Theology of His Person, now to considering His Descent to us from heaven, now His Character, His Name, and the time of His Advent. As the treatment of these subjects is complete, it is now time to consider the matters connected with His Coming, and to shew how these also were predicted among the Hebrews. And the fulfilment of the predictions shall be confirmed by the witness of (b) the Holy Evangelists, and their historical account of the actual events. Let us then begin, as the proof about His Birth, tribe, and family is complete, by considering the star which appeared at His Birth, which was new and a stranger among the usual lights of heaven. For this, too, was proclaimed by Moses long before in times far distant in the following words.

CHAPTER 1 Of the Things that happened at the Incarnation, and of the Star that appeared at Our Saviour's Birth. MOSES, in the Book of Numbers, says of the star that appeared at the Birth of our Saviour, as follows. [Passage quoted, Num. xxiv. 15-19.] We are told that Balaam's successors moved by this (for the prediction was preserved most likely among them), when they noticed in the heavens a strange star besides the usual ones, fixed above the head, so to say, and, vertically above Judaea, hastened to arrive at Palestine, to (418) inquire about the King announced by the star's appearance. Matthew the Evangelist witnesses to this as follows: 1. "And when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea, in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem saying, 2. Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east and are come to worship him."

And when they had been sent on their way they reached Bethlehem. 9. "And, behold, again, the (same) star, which they saw before in the east, went before them, until it came and stood over where the young child was. 10. And when they saw the star, they rejoiced with (b) exceeding great joy, and going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and fell down and worshipped him." This is the account in the Holy Gospel. But the word of the prophecy says that striking events will be heralded by the rising of the star and the birth of our Saviour Jesus Christ, viz., the crushing of the leaders of Moab, and the raid on the sons of Seth, and the inheriting by the Jewish nation of its other enemies, these being Edom and Esau. What could be thus figuratively described by the leaders (c) of Moab, but the destruction of the invisible rulers, I mean the daemons whom the Moabites had of old considered gods? But others were not mentioned, because of Israel's idolatry in the wilderness, when "the people were initiated into the rites of Belphegor." (This daemon was honoured as a god by Balak, King of Moab.)

As, therefore, Israel was conquered on this occasion by the invisible powers of Moab, I mean by those regarded as gods by the Moabites (for they committed idolatry and worshipped idols, as Scripture says, and were initiated into the cult of Belphegor, a Moabitish daemon, and committed adultery with the women of Moab), Balaam in his prophecy appositely paints the picture of a complete reversal and change in days to come: "A star shall rise out of Jacob, and a man shall spring from Israel, and he shall crush the leaders of Moab. As if he had said, more plainly, that the daemons of Moab who once triumphed over Israel would suffer a crushing defeat on the birth of the subject (419) of the prophecy, and that when these were crushed, the sons of Seth, Edom and Esau, and the other nations, by whom, I think, are meant those that had long been the slaves of daemonic error, would be converted from their superstition to the service of Him that was foretold. For it says: "And Edom shall be an inheritance, and Esau his enemy shall be an inheritance. So it says that those who were once enemies of God and of Israel will become the inheritance of Him that was prophesied. For He it was to Whom it was said by God and His Father: "Desire of me, and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance. And while they enter into the inheritance of the (b) saints, the reverse is prophesied for Israel—for it says:

"Israel hath wrought in strength. And it wrought in strength the worst sin of all; wherefore He will be aroused by them, and will drive them out. Who is this but the Word of God that was foretold, Who also "destroyed him that was saved from the city"? And I think that this refers figuratively to Jerusalem, in which all that were saved perished, or perhaps to the whole constitution of the Jewish nation. I need not describe at greater length (c) how this was fulfilled, how, when our Saviour shone forth on mankind, the nations that before were idolaters were converted and became His portion, at the same time that the Jewish nation and their mother-city underwent unexampled sufferings. Thus, I will conclude what I have to say of the agreement of prophetic prediction with Gospel fulfilment. Let us now learn the reason why the star appeared. Now Moses says, that all the stars were set in the firmament by God "for signs and for seasons. But this was a strange and unusual star, not (d) one of the many known stars, but being new and fresh by its appearance here it portended a new luminary that should shine on all the Universe, the Christ of God, a great and a new Star, whose likeness the star that appeared to the wise men symbolically shewed.

For since in all the holy and inspired Scriptures the leading object of the meaning is to give mystic and divine instruction, while preserving as well the obvious meaning in its own sphere of historical facts, so the prediction before us was properly and literally fulfilled in the matter of the star that was prophesied to appear at our Saviour's Birth.1

In the case of other remarkable and famous men we (420) know that strange stars have appeared, what some call comets, or meteors, or tails of fire, or similar phenomena that are seen in connection with great unusual events. But what event could be greater or more important for the whole Universe than the spiritual light coming to all (b) men through the Saviour's Advent, bringing to human souls the gift of holiness and true knowledge of God? Wherefore the herald star gave the great sign, telling in symbol that the Christ of God would shine as a great new light on all the world. And the prophecy foretells a man as well as a star, for it says: "A star shall rise out of Jacob, and a man shall spring from Israel," naming first the heavenly light, the Word of God, and next the Humanity. And He is called, as I have shewn in my former books, in other places by the varying names of Rising, Light, and Sun of (c) Righteousness. And here, by applying to Him the verb from "Rising," "a star shall rise out of Jacob," it shews His Diviner aspect, as "giving light to every man that cometh into the world"; while it shews the Humanity, by the suffering that comes to Him, where it foretells that He will fall to rise again, in words like what Isaiah says of Him: "And there shall be a root of Jesse, and he that shall rise to rule the Gentiles; in Him shall the Gentiles trust." And we see how true it is that the light of our (d) Saviour, which rose from Jacob, that is from the Jews, has shone on all nations but Jacob, from whence it came forth.

And while this can be found in many prophecies, which say as it were to Christ Himself: "Behold, I have set thee for a light to the Gentiles, for a covenant of thy race," it is especially obvious in the words of Balaam, when he says: "A man shall come from his seed, and shall rule many nations." Whose seed but Israel's, as the context shews? And thus our Saviour, the Word, as the prophecy foretold, ruling over the nations threw down the invisible noxious powers which had governed them so long, the spirits of evil, and the band of daemons, called figuratively here the princes of Moab, Seth, Edom, and (421) Esau. The words: "I will point to him, but not now, I bless him but he draws not near," which are obscure in the Septuagint, are more clearly rendered by Aquila: "I shall see him, but not now; I expect him, but he is not near." And Symmachus more plainly still says: "I see him but not near." Balaam would speak thus of things revealed to him that would be accomplished a very long time after (b) his own days. And so at the conclusion of two thousand years after his prediction they were fulfilled in our Saviour's Coming among men.

CHAPTER 2 From Isaiah. How the Lord resting in the Sacred Body which He took from the Virgin will come to Egypt, is both Literally and Figuratively foretold, and that all the Superstition of the Heathen will be destroyed at His Advent. [Passage quoted, Isa. xix. 1.]

I SUPPOSE that the reason why it is foretold that the Lord (d) would come to Egypt is this: The Egyptians are said to have been the first to practise the errors of polytheism and the daemons, and to have introduced superstition to the rest of mankind, and to have been concerned more than others with the activities and meddling of the daemons. And Holy Scripture witnesses that they were the enemies of God's people from the very beginning, for it is written that their ancient king confessed that he did not know the Lord, when he said: "I do not know the Lord, and I will not let Israel go." So, then, it is because Scripture wishes to shew the great marvel of the divine power of Christ that it foretells His going to Egypt, in (422) predicting that the Egyptians will undergo an extraordinary conversion, when it goes on to say: "And the Egyptians shall know the Lord, who before knew Him not, and shall pray to the Lord," and so on. Above in the previous chapter Edom and Esau are called the inheritance of the subject of the prophecy, these names being used for strangers to Israel. Here it is predicted of Egypt and its people that they will not acknowledge idols any more, (b) but the Lord revealed by the Jewish prophets. Now if we cannot see this actually fulfilled before our eyes, we must not say that the Lord's coming to Egypt has taken place; but if beyond all need of argument the truth is shewn by facts, and reveals clearly to the most unobservant the Egyptians rescued from hereditary superstition, and followers of the God of the prophets who foretold that this would take place, serving Him only, and greeting every (c) form of death for their duty to Him, to what else can we attribute it, but to the Lord coming to Egypt, as the prophecy before us predicted?

It is, of course, possible that the prophecy from another point of view teaches in a figurative and disguised way about the earthly universe, into which it prophesies that the Lord will come on a light cloud, a figure of the Humanity that He took of the Virgin and the Holy Spirit. And that the idols of Egypt to be shaken, are the idols of (all) nations, while the vanquished Egyptians are all those (d) who were of old distracted by idolatry. This may be so, yet when our Lord in bodily form was carried into Egypt, when Joseph arose in obedience to the oracle, and took Mary and the young Child, and went into Egypt, it is probable that the evil daemons who dwelt there of old were greatly moved by His unspeakable power and might; and most of all when, through His teaching, so many of Egypt's inhabitants afterwards rejected the errors of the daemons, and even now profess to know the God of the Universe alone.

(423) That which immediately follows I will interpret when I have more leisure, for it is figuratively expressed, and would need considerable labour. CHAPTER 3 From Numbers. It is foretold that Christ would come into Egypt, and would return from thence again. [Passage quoted, Num. xxiv. 3-9.] THE oracle in the previously-quoted prophecy, in saying (d) that the Lord would come into Egypt, foretold the journey of our Lord Jesus Christ, when He went into Egypt with His parents. Here we have the prophecy of His return from Egypt in its natural order, when He came back with His parents into the land of Israel, in the words: "God led him out of Egypt." For our Lord and Saviour Jesus, the Christ of God, was the only one of the seed of Israel and of the Jewish race, Who has ruled over many nations, so that it is indisputable that He is the fulfilment of the prophecy which says, literally, "that a man will come from (424) the Jewish race, and rule over many nations." If He be not, let him who will suggest some other famous man among the Hebrews, who has ruled over many nations. But this he cannot do, for such a man never existed. But with regard to our Saviour, truth itself will shout and cry aloud, even if we say nothing, shewing plainly that His Divine Power through the human body He took of the seed of Israel according to the flesh has ruled, yea, and even now will rule many nations.

He it was, then, and none other, Whom the prophecy foretold, in Whose time the kingdom of Gog should be exalted concurrently with the growth of Christ's power. (b) It is said that by this figure the Hebrews disguised the Roman Empire, which grew concurrently with the teaching of Christ. And the Prophet Ezekiel also mentions Gog, naming him Ruler of Ros, Mosoeh, and Thobel, probably disguising the city of Rome under the name of Ros, because empire and power are signified in Hebrew by that word; by Mosoeh, he meant Mysia and the (c) adjacent nations, which are now subject to Rome; and by Thobel Josephus means Iberia, saying that the Thobelian Iberians sprang from Thobel. He says that Gog, the ruler of all of them, will be exalted at the coming of the Christ prophesied, Whom God led out of Egypt, when, as Matthew records, Herod laid a plot against Him when He was a Child, and Joseph informed by God took the young Child and His mother, and afterwards returned into the land (d) of Israel.

And Christ possessed "the glory of an Unicorn," because in Him was pleased "to dwell all the fullness of the Godhead," in the words of the Holy Apostle. And, therefore, as accounting the God of the Universe and His Father to be His Horn, He was called "Unicorn" also in other Scriptures. And He, the Word of God, defeated with shafts of mind and spirit His enemy and opponent the devil, and all the invisible and evil powers around Him with greater invincible might, and even now rules over many nations whose gross fleshly instincts He fines down and makes them fit to tread the narrow way of eternal life. (425)

And moreover He too, the Man who came from Israel, Who ruleth many nations, having lain down, "rested as a lion," he says, plainly indicating the dispensation He had accepted, according to which like a kingly and terrible wild beast He rested, for none were able to remove His rule and His Kingdom, and all who blessed the Christ, glorifying the greatness of their teaching by word and deed, received in return the blessing of God, increasing and multiplying daily, according to the divine commandment, "Increase and multiply and replenish the earth," which in them is fulfilled more truly and divinely. While in contrast (b) to them, they who since their original plot against Him even until now curse Him in their synagogues, have drawn down the curse of God on their heads from that day to this. Wherefore they do not cease to behold the utter desolation and destruction of their kingdom and of their Temple of old so venerable. And it is worth comparing with this prophecy that of Jacob to Judah, which I have already shewn to be most clearly applicable to our Saviour, and to recognize (c) the agreement of the two. For as we have here, "A man shall come forth from his seed," i. e. Jacob's, so we had there, "From a slip, my son, thou hast ascended," said by Jacob to the subject of the prophecy.

As we read too in this prophecy, "And he shall rule many nations," in the other we have similarly, "And he (d) shall be the expectation of nations." Again this one says, "He shall eat the Gentiles his enemies, and with his darts he shall shoot his enemies," just as the other, "Thy hands shall be on the back of thine enemies"; while, "The whelp of the lion of Judah," and, "Falling down thou didst couch as a lion, and as a young lion who shall arouse thee? "in the other prophecy are, I think, identical with the words in the one before us, "Lying down he couched as a lion, and as a lion's whelp, who shall raise him up? "I have set these passages side by side, so that the proof concerning our Saviour may rest on a firmer foundation, established on the agreement "of the mouth of two witnesses."

All therefore that I have deduced from the prediction (426) of Jacob would apply to that of Balaam, because of the similarity of their sayings. And if it was then established by a lengthy demonstration that the former were fulfilled in our Saviour, it follows that this is also true of the latter. CHAPTER 4 From Hosea. Again concerns the Words, Out of Egypt have I Called My Son, and King Herod, and the Destruction of the Kingdom of the Jews. [Passages quoted, Hos. x. 14; xi. 1.]

FOLLOWING the Hebrew slavishly, Aquila translates, "Out (c) of Egypt have I called my son." But I have noted the exact words, because Matthew quoted the prophecy, when he recorded that Jesus was carried into Egypt, and returned thence to the land of Israel. And if any one objects to the idea of our Saviour's going into Egypt, let him know that He went for good reasons. For neither was it fitting for (d) Him to restrain Herod from his self-chosen wickedness, nor that our Saviour while still an infant should begin to shew His Divine Power by working miracles before the time, which would have been the case, if He had punished Herod miraculously for plotting against Him, and had not submitted to go down to Egypt with His parents. For it was surely the note of a better dispensation that He should wait till the fitting time to begin the miracles of His Divinity, Whose whole life is known to have been gentle and patient, ready to do good deeds and acts of kindly service, and not to defend Himself from them that would not hear Him, even when "He was led as a Lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers was dumb." Where then is the (427) improbability that one like Him when a child should give way before Herod's wickedness, Who we know when a man yielded and submitted to evil men, hid Himself and shrank from the glory of His miraculous works? For He used to bid those He had healed tell no one.

And if any prefer to apply the prophecy to the people, regarding it as spoken concerning the people of Israel, let him consider the sequence of the argument, which implies that this will take place after the saying addressed as to Jerusalem itself, "And destruction shall be raised up in thy (b) people, and all thy strong places shall depart." And those things, it says, which such and such a king suffered in a war in which he was involved, when they dashed the mother to the ground on her children, the like will I do unto you because of your wickedness. He must mean by "you" them that are called Israelites, who also were cast away with their king, by whom he implies Herod. "And you have suffered all this," it says, "because Israel is a child, (c) and I loved him, and out of Egypt have I called my son." But how can he praise and blame the same people at the same time? The real meaning supplies the explanation. The Christ is called "Israel," in other prophecies, as He is in this. Since then, it says, being obedient to Me, He took the form of a servant, and became My beloved Son, fulfilling all My will, therefore I called Him back as My (d) true and beloved Son from the Egypt whither He descended when He became man, meaning by Egypt this earthly sphere, or possibly Egypt itself. But you, to whom the prophecy is spoken, shall suffer ruin and destruction, together with your king. Such is the prophecy. And we can see that from our Saviour's time by the siege of Jerusalem the independence and national power of the Jewish race that existed up till then was destroyed and utterly cast away. This is the third prophecy concerning Egypt, and His sojourn there.

But if any one say that it does not apply to our Saviour, yet let him not deny that the words quoted by Matthew were taken by him from the witness of Moses, which I have lately expounded, when explaining the words, '' God led (428) him out of Egypt," and as the evangelist himself never says that the oracle was quoted from the prophecy of Hosea, he can seek for it and find it laid up in any place, whence it is probable that the evangelist quoted it. CHAPTER 5 From Isaiah. Of the Preaching of John in the Wilderness. [Passage quoted, Isa. xl. 3.]

THIS prophecy too was necessarily to be fulfilled in the (c) times of our Saviour. And according to the Evangelist Luke, in the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judaea, and those numbered with him, the Word of God came to John, the son of Zachariah, in the wilderness, "And he went into all the country around Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins." To this the evangelist adds the witness, saying, "As it is written in the books of the words of Isaiah the prophet, 'The Voice of One crying in the wilderness, Prepare the way of the Lord,'" and that which follows. What then did John's voice shout in its preaching in the (d) wilderness, but an invitation to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, as to reptiles of the wilderness, akin to his "generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? "And he changed too the crooked souls into straight, and the rough roads into smooth by saying to them, "Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance." And this was fulfilled when John had prepared them to behold the glory of the Lord, and what is called "the salvation of our God," which is the Christ, as he bore witness, saying:

"I indeed baptize you with water, but there cometh (429) one after me that is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire." Who also seeing Jesus coming cried: "Behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world: This is he of whom I spake, a man cometh after me, who was before me." And Symeon also bare witness that the same Jesus was "the salvation of God," who took Him in his arms when He was still an infant, and said: "Now thou art letting thy servant, O Lord, depart in peace, according to thy word: For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face (b) of all people, a light to lighten the Gentiles." With which the prophet agrees, saying, "And all flesh shall see the salvation of God." For "all flesh" stands for "all the nations." And I need not say this was fulfilled, and that all nations knew the Christ of God. Such was the literal fulfilment of the prophecy.

(c) But why did John go forth to preach in the wilderness, and not in cities, or in Jerusalem itself? It might be answered that he did so in fulfilment of the prophecy. But a critical questioner will at once inquire, what this prophecy meant to teach when it spoke of the wilderness and the things to do with it. And I should reply to him that it is a symbol of the destruction of Jerusalem, and the Altar there, and of the Mosaic worship, because the forgiveness of sins was no longer extended to them by the legal (d) sacrifices, but by the cleansing and washing delivered to her that was before thirsty and deserted; I mean the Gentile Church, in which also the prophetic voice bids to prepare the way of the Lord, foretelling that the souls which are lying deep in sin as in a valley will be raised up, and that the old heights of Jerusalem, and of her rulers and kings, called "mountains and hills," shall be laid low, which being completed, he says, "All flesh shall see the salvation of God," meaning every soul united with a body, both Greek and Barbarian, of every nation without exception, and this is seen to have been fulfilled according to the prophecy.

(430) Now let me ask myself what it was in John that struck the multitude with fear, so that they marvelled at him and put trust in his baptism of repentance, and all from every side left their homes, and flowed in one stream into the wilderness, having regard to the fact that the records give no account of anything he did; for we are not told that he raised the dead, or worked other miracles. What then was it that struck the multitude? Surely it was his manner of life so strange and different to that of the people; for he came forth from the desert clad in a strange (b) garment, refusing all social human intercourse, he went not into village or city or the human haunts of men, he did not even share their common food; for it is written that from childhood he was in the deserts, until the day of his shewing forth, to Israel, yes, and his raiment was made of camels' hair, and his food locusts and wild honey.

How, then, should they not have been naturally alarmed, when they saw a man, with the hair of a Nazarite of God, (c) and a divine face, suddenly appearing from the lonely wilderness clothed in a strange kind of dress, and after preaching to them going back again into the wilderness, without eating or drinking or mingling with the people, and must they not have suspected that he was more than human? For how could a man not need food? And so they understood him to be an angel, the very angel foretold by the prophet, in the words, "Behold, I send my angel before (d) thy face, who shall prepare thy way before thee," a passage of Scripture which is quoted by the Evangelist Mark. And the Saviour also bears witness in the words, "John came neither eating nor drinking, and you say, He hath a devil." For it was just as natural that unbelievers, with minds hardened and shut against the truth, should thus blaspheme John because of his living as he did, as that those who were in accord with his noble character should reckon him an angel. Such, then, I understand to be the reasons why John was a marvel to those who saw him; and therefore they hastened from all sides to the cleansing of the soul, of which he preached.

Josephus, too, records his story in the Eighteenth Book (431) of the Jewish Archeology, writing as follows: "Now some of the Jews thought that the destruction of Herod's army came from God, and that very justly as a punishment of what he did against John, that was called the Baptist; for Herod slew him, who was a good man, and commanded the Jews to exercise righteousness towards one another, and piety towards God, and so to come to baptism. For so the washing would be (b) acceptable to Him." CHAPTER 6 From the same. Still concerning the Wilderness, and the River called Jordan, by which John baptized. [Passage quoted, Isa. xxxv. 3-6.] THIS, too, was fulfilled, was clearly fulfilled, by our Saviour's miraculous works after John's preaching. Notice therefore how He bears good tidings to the desert, not generally, or to any desert, but to one particular desert by the bank of Jordan. This was because John lived there and baptized there, as Scripture says:

"John was in the desert baptizing, and there went out unto him all the land of Judaea, and all they of Jerusalem, and were baptized of him in Jordan." I think the desert here is a symbol of that which of old was void of all God's good things, I mean the Church of the (432) Gentiles, and the river by the desert that cleanses all that are bathed therein is a figure of some cleansing spiritual power, of which the Scriptures speak, saying, "The movements of the river make glad the city of God." And this means the ever-flowing stream of the Holy Spirit welling from above and watering the city of God, which is the (b) name for life according to God. This river of God, then, has reached even unto the desert, that is the Gentile Church, and even now supplies it with the living water that it bears.

Moreover, it is said in this prophecy that the glory of Lebanon and the honour of Carmel shall be given to this wilderness. What is the glory of Lebanon, but the worship performed through the sacrifices of the Mosaic Law, which God refused in the prophecy which says, "Why do you bring me Libanus from Saba? And of what service to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?" He has transferred (c) the glory of Jerusalem to the desert of Jordan, since, from the times of John, the ritual of holiness began to be performed not at Jerusalem but in the desert. In like manner, too, the honour of the Law and of its more external ordinances, was transferred to the wilderness of Jordan for the same reason, viz. that they who need the healing of their souls no longer hastened to Jerusalem but to that which was called the wilderness, because there the forgiveness of (d) sins was preached. And I think our Saviour's own Presence at the Baptism is meant by, "And my people shall see the glory of the Lord, and the majesty of God." For then it was that the glory of our Saviour was seen, when:

"Being baptized he went up from the water, and the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove, and staying upon him.": When also there was heard "A voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved son, in whom I am well-pleased." Yea, and every one that rightly approaches the Sacrament of Baptism, and accepts the teaching of Christ's Divinity, shall see His glory, and shall say with Paul, "Even we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now we know him not." CHAPTER 7 From Psalm xc. (433) Of the Temptation of Our Lord After His Baptism. [Passage quoted, Ps. xc. 1-13.] Our Lord and Saviour Jesus the Christ, so far as He is (d) regarded as Man, is said "to dwell under the succour of the Most High, and to rest under the shelter of his God and Father." We know that, by making His Father His only refuge in the time of His Temptation by the devil, He was saved from the nets of the powers opposed to Him, here called "hunters," when, like an ordinary human being, He was driven into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil, and was in the wilderness forty days and forty nights tempted of Satan, and was, as the evangelist tells us, "with the wild beasts." These were the same, as those this Psalm mentions, when it says to Him that dwells under the protection of the Most High, "Thou shalt go upon the asp and the basilisk, and shalt trample on the lion and dragon." And it not only says that He shall be saved from them, but (434) from "the troubling word" also. What can this mean, but the words which according to the Holy Gospel were directed against Him by the tempter?

It is worth our consideration why our Saviour, being what He was, should undergo temptation. He came to expel from man every disease and sickness, and the spirits that hampered him, and the unclean daemons which had ruled all men on earth from immemorial time by means of polytheistic superstition. He did not attack them secretly as one who hides himself, but He marched against their leaders who (b) surrounded Him and were before invisible, in the Humanity that He had assumed, He charged into the midst of the devil and his array of daemons, trod upon asp and basilisk, trampled on lion and dragon, and destroyed the thousands and ten thousands of enemies that had ruled so long, some fighting on His right hand, some on His left, rulers and powers, and those too who are called "World-rulers of this darkness," and spiritual powers of (c) evil; He proved thus, that they were quite powerless, and finally frightened away, far from Him, with the word of His mouth the devil himself, their instigator to evil. He went through and trampled on every power opposed to Him, He offered Himself as a target to those who wished to attack and tempt Him, and as none were able to resist Him, He won salvation for mankind. Wherefore, when the (d) daemons saw Him, they recognized Him, because of the aforesaid sojourn in the wilderness, and said to Him, "What have we to do with thee, Jesus, Son of God? "Let this suffice on this matter. What follows in the Psalm is an address to the Christ, beginning at—

"With his shoulders he [that is the highest] shall overshadow thee, and under his wings shalt thou hope, and his truth shall surround thee with a shield." And whereas His Temptation lasted forty days, and as many nights, it is said of those that attacked Him by night, "Thou shalt not fear the terror by night"; and of those that warred against Him by day, "From the arrow that flieth by day." And also of the foe of night, "From the thing that vvalketh in darkness," and of those of daytime, "From the attack and the demon of mid-day." Then, as in (435) the Temptation, the evil powers encircled Him, some on His right side, and some on His left; the right being the stronger side, it is naturally said to Him, "A thousand shall fall at Thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand, but they shall not come near Thee." "At thy side" is used for "on thy left hand," in order, perhaps, not to utter the word "left," because nothing ill omened or left-handed was found in Him. And since a myriad and a thousand are (b) said to fall at His side and on His right hand, the next sentence comes naturally, "Yea, with thine eyes shalt thou behold, and see the reward of sinners." And this shall take place, it says, "About thee, the Christ of God," for, "Thou Thyself O Lord, who art my hope, hast made the Highest thy refuge." Here, too, you will observe how the prophet, in saying to the Lord Himself, "Thou, Lord, art my hope, thou hast made the Highest Thy refuge," discriminates carefully between One who is Lord in a special sense, and His Father, God Most High. And, therefore, as Christ (c) has made His Father, God Most High, His refuge, it is said to Him:

" Evil shall not attack thee, and no scourge shall approach thy dwelling, for he shall charge his angels concerning thee, to keep thee in all thy ways: They shall bear thee in their hands, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone." And note, carefully, how in, "For thou, Lord, art my hope, Thou hast made the Highest thy refuge," the equivalent for "Lord" in Hebrew is the Tetragram, which the sons of the Hebrews say must not be spoken and reserve for God alone; but I have previously shewn that it is also used for (d) the Godhead of the Word in many places of Scripture, as in this Psalm which says, as speaking to the person of the Lord Himself, "For Thou, Lord, art my hope, thou hast set the Most High for thy refuge "; as much as to say: "For thou thyself, O Lord, who art the hope of me that utter this prophecy, knowest a greater than thyself, God Most High, and thou hast made Him thy refuge."

So in the opening of the Psalm it was said of Him: (436) "He that dwelleth under the protection of the Most High, shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. He shall say to the Lord, Thou art my helper and my refuge, my God, my Succour, and I will trust on him." "Since then, thou, O Lord, hast made the Most High thy refuge." the Psalmist therefore says: "He shall save thee from the snares of the hunters, and from the troubling word and with his shoulders he shall overshadow thee. Therefore, having such fatherly succour from the Highest, Thou shalt not fear the terror by night, nor any of the evils that are mentioned before, (b) or added after. For thou, O Lord, hast made the highest thy refuge, therefore evil shall not attack thee, and no scourge shall come nigh thy dwelling." You will find the activities of the daemons, also called scourges, in the Gospels, which the Psalmist says are incapable of daring to approach Christ's dwelling, that is His Body. How could they, when He could drive them out of men by a mere word? Of this dwelling, David also once sware an oath to the Lord, and prayed to the God of Jacob, saying:

(c) "I will not climb up into my bed, I will not suffer mine eyes to sleep, or my eyelids to slumber, nor the temples of my head to take any rest, until I find out a place for the Lord, an habitation for the God of Jacob." And it was on account of this tabernacle that it was said: "Thou shalt not fear any terror by night, and He shall save thee from the snares of the hunters, and from the troubling word, and evils shall not attack thee, and a scourge shall not come nigh thy dwelling." And other things that regard Him more from the side of His Humanity, such as: "He shall charge his angels concerning thee, and in their hands they shall bear thee, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone." For such words would not apply to God, but only to the tabernacle, which He assumed for our sake, when the Word became flesh and tabernacled amongst us. Here I think it will be well to quote the words of the other translators, to put what I have said on an exact foundation. Of whom, Aquila said:

"For thou, Lord, my hope, hast set thy dwelling (437) very high. Evils shall not affect thee, and no touch shall come near to thy shelter: for he gave command to his angels to guard thee in all thy ways.'' And Symmachus has: "Thou, Lord, art my security, thou hast set thy dwelling very high. Evil shall have no power over thee, and no touch shall draw near thy tent. For he gave charge to his angels concerning thee to keep thee in all thy ways." The Lord, then, is here addressed about some one greater than Himself, Who "has charged his angels concerning thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. In their hands they shall bear thee (i.e., The Lord) lest at any time thou, O Lord, dash thy foot against a stone." And the devil used these words in his Temptation of our (b) Saviour, when he took Him into the holy city, and set Him upon the wing of the Temple and said to Him:

"If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down hence, for it is written, he shall give his angels charge over thee, and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone," To whom the Lord answered and said: "It is written, Thou shall not tempt the Lord thy God." Then, though the evangelist tells that, during the Temptation, He was with the wild beasts, we are not told what they were, but the prophecy in the Psalm tells us more clearly in a disguised way the kinds of beasts, viz.: "Thou shalt (c) step on the asp and the basilisk, and shalt trample on the lion and dragon." It is thus said that he will trample on the kingliest of the wild beasts of the spirit, the lion and dragon, as well as the asp and the basilisk, that is to say, the devil himself, and the ruling evil powers that follow him.

And He bestows the power on His disciples and apostles who possess goodness like His own of walking upon serpents and scorpions, not allowing them to be tempted above that (d) they are able; for it was for Him alone to destroy the most evil powers, and the chief of them all, the prince of this world, by His Divine Power. CHAPTER 8 From Isaiah. Of Galilee of the Gentiles, where our Saviour worked most of His Miracles, and of the Call of His Apostles. (438) [Passage quoted, Isa. ix. 1-6.] (c) THIS also was fulfilled in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ besides all the other prophecies, when according to the wondrous Evangelist— (439) [Passage quoted, Matt. iv. 12-25.]

I have quoted this passage in its entirety, because the (b) prophecy promised that there would be a great light in Galilee, or in the land of Zabulon and Nephthalim, which are the same as Galilee. Now why did He pass most of His life in Galilee of the Gentiles? Surely that He might make a beginning of the calling of the Gentiles, for He called His disciples from thence. Wherefore, shortly after, in the same Gospel you will find that Matthew was called from Galilee, and in another Gospel, Levi also. And Philip, according to John, came from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew (c) and Peter, which was in Galilee. The marriage too, in the same Gospel, was in Cana of Galilee, when the Lord miraculously transformed the water into wine. "There he made a beginning of signs, when also he manifested his glory, and his disciples believed on him. Consider whether this first miracle of our Saviour that took place in Cana of Galilee, of the transformation of the water into wine, is not foretold in the beginning of this prophecy, where it says: "Drink this first. Act quickly, land of Zabulon and (d) Nephthalim, Galilee of the Gentiles.

And if this miracle were a sign of the mystic wine, that wine of the faith of the new Covenant that is transformed from bodily joy to a joy of mind and spirit, consider whether this too was not suggested in what follows about Galilee, in the prophecy that the inhabitants of Zabulon and Nephthalim would be the first to come into the presence of Christ, to partake of the draught of Gospel preaching. It says, too, that the spring of their joy will be the shining of a great light, for them who before His Coming sat continually in darkness and the shadow of death. But that when the light of salvation has sprung up, they will rejoice as men rejoice in harvest, and as they who (440) divide the spoils. And this was actually fulfilled, when our Lord and Saviour, calling His Apostles from Galilee, shewed forth to them His miracles and His teaching. The prophecy says that they will rejoice before Him, "as men rejoice in harvest. In what harvest, 1 ask, but that of which He spake in His teaching, "Lift up your eyes and behold the lands, that they are already white unto harvest"? By this He meant the gathering in of the Gentiles: of whom it is also said, "They shall rejoice, as they who divide the spoils.

(b) Therefore the disciples and evangelists of our Saviour, dividing between them the lands of the nations, and all the earth under heaven, despoiled the countless princes of this world, who were before rulers of the nations. And we should also recognize that He says there will be another reason for their joy, viz.: their relief from the external yoke of the law, that of old was laid on them, which neither they nor their fathers were able to bear. And not only was this (c) yoke removed from them, but the rod of the exactors which before pressed on their neck. He shews who the exactors are in another passage, where He says: "My people, your factors take your corn, and the exactors rule over you. But these men of Zabulon and Nephthalim will rejoice having seen the great light for these reasons, and they who exacted of them of old will be required to repay even to the last farthing, and repaying every garment and vestment they will be burned with fire in the day of retribution. And all this, (d) He says, they will suffer, because "Unto us a child is born, a son is given to us, the Angel of Great Counsel.'' Who are meant by "us," but we who have believed in Him, and all Galilee of the Gentiles, on whom the great light is sprung up?

And what is this light but the Child that was born, and the Son that was given us by God, Who is named the Angel of Great Counsel, and the Prince of Peace, the Potentate, the Mighty God, and the Father of the world to come? But I have already shewn in its right place that these words can only be referred to our Lord and Saviour.

CHAPTER 9 From Psalm lxvii. Of the Calling of the Apostles. (441) [Passage quoted, Ps. Ixvii. 24-27.] I THINK that here none but the Apostles can be meant by the rulers of Nephthali. For thence our Lord and Saviour called them according to the quotation from Matthew. The Scripture is prophesying the Coming of the Word of God to men, and His Incarnate sojourn here, (c) when it says, "Thy goings, O God, have been seen," and that which follows. And the prophets of old were like heralds of His Epiphany, and arrived before Him with proclamation and chant, with music of psaltery and choir and all kinds of spiritual instruments, in the midst of damsels playing on timbrels." For the inspired prophets going in every way into the midst of the Jewish synagogues, heralded the coming of the Christ, and by the Holy Spirit (d) addressed the Apostles of our Saviour saying, "Praise the Lord God in the congregations from the fountains of Israel." And the "fountains of Israel" must be the words delivered to Israel. "For they first trusted the oracles of God," whence it will be necessary for us to draw and water the churches of Christ. By "maidens playing on timbrels" he suggested the souls that lived of old by the more external Law of Moses, calling them "maidens" because of their youth and imperfectly developed minds, and "timbrel-players "because of their devotion to external worship.

(442) CHAPTER 10 From Isaiah. Of the Reading from the Prophecy by Our Lord in the Jewish Synagogue. [Passage quoted, Isa. lxi. 1.] Now this prediction our Lord Himself claims to be fulfilled in Himself, when He came to Nazareth, where He was brought up: "He entered, as his custom was on the Sabbath day, into the synagogue, and stood up to read. And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon (c) me, because he hath anointed me, to preach the gospel to the poor: he hath sent me to proclaim deliverance to the captives, and giving of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened upon him. And he began to say unto them, This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears."

Our Lord and Saviour is clearly shewn in this passage to (d) have been anointed with another and a better unction than the priests of old days, who were externally anointed, not with oil manufactured, nor by men, as were those others, but with the Divine Spirit of His God and Father, whereby as sharing in His unbegotten Godhead He is called God and Lord by the Holy Scriptures. And in harmony with the prophecy before us He is introduced by Matthew preaching the Gospel to the poor when— "Seeing the multitudes he went up into a mountain, and when he had sat down, his disciples came unto him, and he opened his mouth and taught them, saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." And it is recorded that He gave sight to many that were (443) blind, not only enlightening them that were deprived of bodily vision, but also causing them that were before blind in soul to receive spiritual vision and the knowledge of God. And, moreover, He preached freedom and release from their bonds to the prisoners bound and constrained by the unseen daemonic powers, and hampered by the chains of sin, if they, too, would believe His preaching, and run to Him as their Ransom and Saviour, and trust His promises.

The remainder of this oracle I will expound in its place (b) in the section concerning the promises. CHAPTER 11 From Deuteronomy. (c) Of the Lawgiving according to the Gospel of Christ. [Passage quoted, Deut. xviii. 15-19.] IT must be noticed that no prophet like Moses has ever arisen among the Hebrews, who was a lawgiver and a teacher of religion to men, except our Saviour, the Christ of God. Therefore at the end of Deuteronomy it is said: "There has not arisen a prophet in Israel like unto Moses," though, of course, many prophets succeeded him, but none were like him. And the promise of God recognizes the whole future, that one only, and not many, should arise and be like him. And it implies that he will be a lawgiver and a teacher of religion to men, such as none but our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ has been proved to be, being lawgiver and prophet of the God of the Universe (444) His Father at the same time.

But Moses was leader of but one nation, and his legislation has been proved to be only applicable to that one nation; whereas the Christ of God, receiving the promise from His Father, "Desire of me, and I will give thee the nations for thine inheritance," as being established by His (b) Father the Giver of the new law of holiness not to the Jews only, but to the whole human race, in calling all nations set before them a legislation that they could obey and that suited them. Thus by a diviner power than that of Moses He ordained through all the world His holy laws by His evangelists, legislating with more than human authority, saying, "Ye have heard that it was said to them of old time, Thou shalt not kill: but I say unto you that ye must not be angry without a cause," and that which follows this saying, as it is preserved in His written teaching, with regard to which the Evangelist says, "They were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as their scribes."

As I have treated of the manner of our Saviour's teaching and legislation in the beginning of this work, when I explained what Christianity is, I will now refer my readers to that exposition. But it is worthy of notice why the Lord promises that a prophet shall arise. For when He had commanded Moses to sanctify the whole people for three days, that they might see and hear His Divine Appearing, and they were too weak for the favour of God: wherefore when they were at the beginning of the vision they refused and said to Moses: "Speak thou to us, and let not God speak to us, that we die not," and the Lord, as was meet, was pleased by their caution, and says, "They have rightly spoken all that they have spoken. A prophet will I raise up to them from the midst of their brethren, like unto thee." Then it was that He gave the reason of His own future Coming to men like a prophet. It was man's weakness, and his refusal of the greater vision of the greater. You see, too, the reason why the prophet that was foretold should become Incarnate. And so it was natural for the Jews, who expected Him, to inquire of John the Baptist, and say, "Art thou the prophet? and he said, No." And John spoke the truth, he did not deny that he was a prophet, for he was, but he denied that he was the prophet meant by Moses, because he taught that he was sent before that prophet.

And since the Word predicted that the prophet would be raised up for them of the Circumcision, our Lord and Saviour, being Himself the One foretold, rightly said: "I am not come but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." "And He commanded His apostles saying, Go not into the road of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not, but rather go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel";

shewing clearly that He was primarily sent to them as the prophecy required. But when they would not receive His grace, He reproves them elsewhere, saying, "For I came, and there was no man, I called and there was none that heard." And He says to them, "The kingdom of God shall be taken away from you, and shall be given to a nation bearing the fruits of it." And He bids His own disciples after their rejection, "Go ye and make disciples of all nations in my name.'' So, then, we that are the Gentiles know and receive the prophet that was foretold, and sent by His Father, as being Lawgiver to all men of the religion of the God of the Universe, through His saving Gospel teaching, that other prediction being fulfilled at the same time which says, "Set, Lord, a Lawgiver over them, let the Gentiles know themselves to be men," while the Jewish nation, not receiving Him that was foretold, has paid the fit penalty according to the divine prediction which said, "And the man who will not hear all things whatsoever the prophet shall speak in My Name, I will exact vengeance on him." Surely He has avenged on that people all the blood poured out on the earth, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, yea, even to crown all to the Christ Himself, Whose blood they called down not only on themselves but on their children, and even now they pay the penalty of their presumptuous sin.

(446) CHAPTER 12 From Job. Of Christ walking on the Sea. [Passage quoted, Job ix. 7.] (b) THESE words also can only apply to our Lord and Saviour, as the Creator of the Universe, God's Word. For He is the only One ever said to have walked on the sea, which He did when Incarnate, having taken the body and form of man, when He— "22. constrained his disciples to get into a ship, and to go before him unto the other side, while he sent the multitudes away. 23. And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come he was there alone. 24. But the ship was now in the midst of the (c) sea. ... 26. And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear. 27. But straightway he spake unto them saying, Be of good cheer: It is I; be not afraid."

Now it would not appear to agree with orthodox theology to understand the oracle as referring to God Most High and the Father of the Universe. For what reverence or propriety is there in talking of the God of the Universe walking on the sea? How could He be thought to walk on the sea Who includes all things, and fills heaven and earth, and says, "The heaven is my throne and the earth my footstool?" And "I fill heaven and earth, saith the Lord?" But our Lord and Saviour "emptied himself and took the form of a slave, and being found in fashion as a man," offering a proof to His disciples of His Divine Power which eluded the multitude, is described as having walked on the waves of the sea, and to have rebuked the storm and the winds, when they who saw Him were astonished and said, "What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him? "And this was a symbol of something greater, that other spiritual sea, in which a dragon is said to have been made to be mocked by the angels of God, on which also our Lord and Saviour walked and is said to have crushed the head of the dragon (447) therein and of the other subject dragons, according to the words, "Thou hast bruised the heads of the dragons in the water, and thou hast bruised the heads of the dragon": clearly of another spiritual sea of which He says again in the Psalms, "I went into the depths of the sea." And recounting to Job the things concerning himself:

" Hast thou gone to the spring of the sea, and hast thou walked in the steps of the depth? The gates of (b) death did they open to thee in fear, and did the porters of Hades fear when they saw thee?" Thus when He walked on the sea in our human life, and rebuked the winds and the waves, He performed a natural symbolism of something unspeakable. CHAPTER 13 From Isaiah. Of the Miracles He Performed. [Passage quoted, Isa. xxxv. 3.] Now we have this prophecy fulfilled in the Gospels, partly, when they brought to our Lord and Saviour a paralytic lying on a bed, whom He made whole with a word; and partly, when many that were blind and possessed with (d) daemons, yea, labouring under various diseases and weaknesses, were released from their sufferings by His saving power. Nor should we forget how even now throughout the whole world multitudes bound by all forms of evil, full of ignorance of Almighty God in their souls, are healed and cured miraculously and beyond all argument by the medicine of His teaching. Except that now we call Him God as we should, as One Who can work thus, as I have already shewn in the evidence of His Divinity. Yea, surely (448) it is right now to acknowledge Him to be God, since He has given proof of power divine and truly inspired.

For it was specifically God's work to give strength to the paralysed, to give life to the dead, to supply health to the sick, to open the eyes of the blind, to restore the lame, and to make the tongue-tied speak plain, all of which things were done by our Saviour Jesus Christ, because He was God, and they have been witnessed to by many throughout (b) all the world that preach Him—whose evidence unvarnished and veritable is confirmed by trial of torture, and by persistence even unto death, which they have shewn forth before kings and rulers and all nations, witnessing to the truth of what they preach. And I think that the spirit of prophecy addresses to these apostles and evangelists the words that begin with, "Lift up the hands that hang down, and the palsied knees." For when they had grown weary (c) in their hands and powers of action, in their feet and walking with the long circuit of Mosaic observance, He awaked them to the life of the Gospel, and said, "Be strong, ye hands that hang down, and feeble knees," to prepare them, that is to say, for the Gospel race. And be strong, too, to encourage others, and to urge them to cling to the salvation of the Gospel, ye that before were low in spirit, and let not any fear take you of them that oppose the Gospel preaching, but against them be strong and of a good courage.

For it is God and the Word of God, not one like Moses or the prophets, that was not only the Worker of the Miracles, but is also the Cause of your own strength. And the strongest confirmation of the Divine Power of the Saviour here foretold, by which He really used to cure the lame, the blind, the lepers and the palsied with a word according to that which is written concerning Him, is the power even now energizing through the whole world from His Godhead, by which is shewn to them that can see what He was while on earth, since after so many years His proclamation of the Word of God is seen to last on invincible and true, overcoming all that have attempted from the beginning until now to withstand His teaching; He attracts to Himself great multitudes from all the world, and releases them that come to Him from all kinds of evil and diseases and troubles of the spirit; He summons to His holy school all races, Greek and Barbarian; He leads countless hosts to the knowledge of the one true God, and to a healthy and pure life, as befits those who promise to worship Almighty God. And He our God, since He is the Word of God, it says, "Gives judgment and will give, He will come and save us.

For, according to the Psalm which says, "Give the King thy judgment, O God," and, according to the Gospel teaching, in which it is said, "The Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son," having received the authority to judge from the Father, judging in righteousness, He repays justly to the Jewish people the fit penalty for their presumptuous treatment of Him and His prophets, and ever saves in justice as well those who come to Him, whose spiritual ears and eyes He has opened. Wherefore the divine word calls the time of His Appearance the time of retribution, saying elsewhere, "Call on the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of retribution. This was the time of retribution in which all the blood poured out from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, yea, even to the precious Blood of Jesus, was required of the generation of them that had sinned against Him, so that from that time they underwent utter destruction and their final siege. And the judgment declared against them wrought this retribution; wherefore the prophecy says, "Behold our God exacts judgment, and will repay. And the judgment on them that shall be saved by Him is foretold next in the words, "He will come and save us; then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf hear," and that which follows. And another prophecy also promises that the Christ will bring this saving (450) judgment, saying:

"Behold my Son, I will succour him, my chosen, my Spirit hath accepted him, he shall bear judgment to the nations." Wherefore it is also said concerning the Word of the new covenant: "For out of Zion shall come forth a law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem, and he shall judge in the midst of the nations." For there is little doubt that He effects the calling of them that turn to Him with divine justice and ineffable counsels. And, moreover, as teaching us of the divine judgment, and instructing us always to act as under judgment, He is said "to bear judgment to the nations." CHAPTER 11 From the same. Of the Signs and Wonders which He worked. [Passage quoted, Isa. viii. 16-20 a.] IN the Epistle to the Hebrews, the apostle, quoting the (d) above passage, "Behold, I and the children which God has given me," expounds it of the Christ, saying, "Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself took part of the same, that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death."

And here the prophet calls God's children the Apostles, through whom he teaches that the Lord of Sabaoth, Who dwells in Mount Zion, will do signs and wonders in the house of Jacob, and that they will be manifest if sealed, as is our custom, with the seal of Christ on their foreheads, and taught no more to learn the Law of Moses, since it stands no longer, and since that which is called the house of Jacob is deserted by God. This is rendered obscurely in the Septuagint: "Then they shall be manifest who seal up the law, so (451) as not to learn. And he will say, I await God, who turns his face away from the house of Jacob, and I will trust in him." Symmachus translates more clearly, thus: "Bind the testimony, seal the law in my ordinances. And I will expect the Lord that hides his face from the house of Jacob, and I will await him."

And Aquila also translates in this way: "Bind up the witness, seal the law in my teachings. And I will expect God that hideth his face from the house of Jacob, and I will await him." This, then, the apostles of our Saviour are taught to do. (b) And He proceeds to say to them: "Behold, I and the children, which God has given me. And they shall be for signs and wonders in Israel from the Lord of Sabaoth who dwells in Mount Sion." And the Lord of Sabaoth, the Word of God dwelling in the Humanity He has taken, and sojourning in Mount Zion, working signs and wonders, commands both His disciples and all those that believe on Him, sprung from all those who before were idolaters, to fear idolatrous error no longer: (c) therefore if idolaters of the Gentiles would sap their foundations and induce them to inquire of pythons and the daemon oracles, as if they were equal to the prophetic inspiration of inspired and godly men, they ought to answer and say, "Wherefore do they inquire of the dead concerning the living? For he has given a law for succour," and the rest of the passage. For they that have once taken the law and the commandments of salvation for succour and help (d) in their individual life have little need to trouble themselves about the prophecy that springs from daemonic deceit.

CHAPTER 15 From the same. Concerning Christs Reticence about His Miracles. (452) [Passage quoted, Isa. xlii. 1-7.] THE Evangelist alludes to this passage, when the Pharisees went out and took counsel against our Saviour to put Him (c) to death, when He healed the sick on the Sabbath day. But Jesus, knowing, as He says, this conspiracy against Him, departed thence, and great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them all, and He straitly charged them that they should not make Him known. And lie adds to this the words, "All this was done" (that is to say His departure, and His yielding to those that plotted, and His effort to escape notice in the miracles that He did, and His pledging those that were healed not to make Him known), in order that what was said by the prophet might be fulfilled, when He said: "Behold, my son, in whom I am well pleased, my beloved in whom my soul delighteth; I will put my spirit upon him, and he shall bear forth judgment to the Gentiles; he shall not strive nor cry, neither shall his (d) voice be heard in the streets. A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench, until he bring forth judgment to victory, and on his name shall the Gentiles trust."

Notice carefully how Matthew, when he says, "Behold my son, in whom I am well pleased, my beloved in whom my soul delighteth," mentions neither Jacob nor Israel. He does not say, "Jacob my son and Israel my beloved," but simply "Behold, my son and my beloved." Hence the names of Jacob and Israel are obelized in the Septuagint, as if the prophecy were not in the Hebrew. And it is silently omitted by the other translators, as it is not found in the Hebrew. And thus it is not inserted by the Evangelist, (453) who was a Hebrew, and followed the Hebrew text in his quotation. Therefore the prophecy does not apply either actually or figuratively to the Jews, but only to the Christ of God, to Whom the clear evidence and the results bear witness. For He alone prophesied the future judgment to the Gentiles, quietly sojourning in human life, and setting judgment on the earth. And not only did He not break the bruised (b) reed, but so to say bound it up, setting up and strengthening the weak and the bruised in heart. And just as He did not neglect the sick and corrupt, who needed His medicine, nor bruise the repentant with hard judgment, so He did not quench them that continued in evil, and were smoking under the fire of passion, by preventing their following their own choice, nor did He punish any of (c) them before the time, reserving the time of their due chastisement for the general Judgment: therefore it is said, "And the smoking flax He shall not quench."

The words, "And in his name shall the Gentiles trust," have also been exactly fulfilled. For the nations of Christians trust only in the Name of our Saviour Jesus Christ, and are marked with His Name as that of the Father of the religion with which they are associated. For it was foretold that He should be given for a Light to none but the Gentiles. And by Him in accordance with the prediction, the eyes of the blind—those that had long been impaired in understanding, and not only of these but of (d) those who had lost their very bodies, and those who before were involved, bound and chained in sin, in darkness and ignorance of true religion, by Him freed from their sins— were accounted worthy of the light of knowledge and of the freedom of God. And if you at your leisure test the rest of the passage, as I have so far done, you will find each one of its predictions fulfilled in our Lord and Saviour, and in Him alone.

CHAPTER 16 (454) From the same. Of the Disbelief of the Jewish People in Him. [Passages quoted, Isa. vi. i; 8-10.] THIS, too, is fulfilled in our Saviour, according to John, when he says: "37. But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him: 38. That the (c) saying of Esaias the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed?" 39. Therefore they could not believe, because that Esaias said again, 40. He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them. 41. These things said Esaias, when he saw his glory, and spake of him." Or according to Matthew: "10. And the disciples came and said to him, Why (d) speaketh thou unto them in parables? 11. He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given ... 13. Therefore speak I unto them in parables, because they seeing see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand . . . 15. lest they should be converted, and I should heal them."

Then was fulfilled in them the prophecy of Isaiah which said, "Go and say to this people, Hearing ye shall hear, and not understand," and that which follows. Notice how S. John proceeds saying, "These things said Esaias, when he saw his glory, and spake of him." As the prophet had seen the Christ and the glory of Christ in the vision in (455) which he said, "I saw the Lord of Sabaoth sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up," and that which follows. And who would not be struck by the prophecy, seeing so clearly even now the unbelief of the Jews? Even so of old, when they saw Him Incarnate and working miracles among them, they did not behold Him with the eyes of their soul and with understanding vision, nor had they any vision of spiritual inspiration, so as to understand what power it was that worked so wondrously and so prodigally among them. Yes, they who were counted worthy to receive with (b) their eyes the words of eternal life, and listened to the voice of divine wisdom, did not hear with the ears of their understanding, and so made themselves an evident fulfilment of the prophecy. And even until now, though the power of Christ, by which every race of mankind, divorced from its ancestral superstition, is being led to the Christian religion, is so obvious to them, yet they do not regard it with their understanding, nor consider that what neither Moses nor his successors among the prophets achieved has been brought to pass by these alone, namely, to give up idolatry and pay no heed to polytheistic error, which has (c) been accomplished among all nations by the power of our Saviour. And so when they read the witness of the prophets concerning Him, they hear with their ears and do not understand, and the prophecy before us is literally even now fulfilled against them.

CHAPTER 17 From Zechariah. How it is foretold that He should ride into Jerusalem on a Colt. [Passage quoted, Zech. ix. 9, 10] As Zechariah prophesied thus after the Return from Babylon towards the conclusion of prophecy, there is no record of a Jewish king, such as the prophecy predicts, (456) except our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, in Whom this prediction was fulfilled, when He literally said to His disciples: "Go ye into the village over against you, and ye shall find an ass tied and a colt with her; loose them (b) and bring them unto me. And if any man say, What do ye? ye shall say to him, The Lord hath need of them. And they went and did as he commanded them." Such, then, was the prophecy and such the fulfilment. But what was His riding on an ass meant to shew forth but the lowly and humble manner which marked His first Coming? For the second Coming shall be glorious, that of which Daniel speaks unfolding and revealing his vision:

"9. I saw until the thrones were set, and the Ancient (c) of Days did sit. Thousand thousands ministered to him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him. 13. And, behold, one as a son of man coming with the clouds of heaven. And he came even to the Ancient of Days, 14. and there was given to him rule and honour and a kingdom, and all peoples, tribes, and tongues serve him. His power is an everlasting power, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom shall not be destroyed." (d) But the first Coming of His Incarnation and humiliation has this great symbol and sign among others, the prophecy that He should be called meek and gentle, and that He should come sitting upon an ass. For this is a proof of His sharing our humanity. Whereas the glory of His second divine Coming is shewn by His being borne on the clouds of heaven, and His eternal rule over all nations. And it is reasonable to quote them both to the Jews, and to ask them to explain how they can save the credit of the prophecies, if they confine them to a reference to a single Coming of Christ: for if they both refer to Christ, as they agree, they are bound to tell us when we ask them, how it is possible for the same person at the same coming to be (457) borne upon the clouds of heaven, and also to ride on an ass and a young colt: for these two things are very different. And if you collect the many similar prophecies concerning Christ, and compare their differences side by side, you will decide that some of them refer to His first Coming, being fulfilled at His first Epiphany, while others apply to His second Coming in glory.

For He utterly destroyed by His Divine Power the chariots and horses and weapons of war at His first Coming from the material Jerusalem and the people of Ephraim: (b) where-fore from that day to this their kingdom has never existed, nor their ancient powerful military array or warlike power. And all the Jewish people are here well called Ephraim, not Israel or Judah, so as not to bring into dishonour names of more dignity. And you will find that other prophets call the whole people Ephraim, when charging and accusing them of great crimes, as here. For after the return from (c) Babylon, when the former division of the people had ceased, who are more likely to be meant by Ephraim than the actual inhabitants of Jerusalem? And it was their warlike and military power, that had lasted until Roman times, that our Saviour's Coming destroyed with divine secret power, as the prophecy foretold.

The oracle also calls here on the Church of the Gentiles, not simply to rejoice, But to rejoice greatly, in its message of good news, because of the coming of the Word of God (d) to her; and it calls her the daughter of the heavenly Zion and of the former congregation, because all we that are Gentiles, who believe in Christ, are the offspring and children of Christ and His Apostles, as they whose mother is the Jewish synagogue: and that which follows was also fulfilled at our Saviour's Coming. For unexampled peace has filled all nations from the time of His coming: no longer do states war with states as before, nor nations contend with nations, nor is human life as of old in a state of constant disturbance; Athenians do not attack (458) Lacedaemonians, Syrians Phoenicians, Arabians the inhabitants of Palestine, nor the Egyptians their neighbours. All have been united from that time by God's help, and it is true that there has been "abundance of peace" among the nations from that day to this, according to the prophecy. Jesus alone, and the word of Gospel teaching preached by Him, have ruled men from sea to sea, from the east to the setting sun. and from the rivers to the bounds of the earth, (b) as the prophecy foretold.

Aquila's rendering of this is as follows: "He shall speak peace among the nations, and his power shall be from sea to sea, and from the rivers to the ends of the earth." Compare with this what occurs in the Psalm, inscribed "To Solomon, of the King's Son," that is to say, of Him that will spring from Solomon's seed, of Whom the Psalm (c) says, "And he shall rule from sea to sea, and from the rivers to the ends of the world." And the same Psalm refers to the peace here described, when it says, "In his days righteousness shall arise, and abundance of peace." Isaiah, too, agrees with this when he says, "And they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their lances into (d) pruning-hooks; nation shall not take up sword against nation, and they shall not learn war any more." You will find Micah in agreement with this, and many other prophets. And if you note, as I said, the dates, you will be able to appreciate that from the time of Augustus, and of the Epiphany of our Saviour that shone forth in his day, during the period of the Roman Empire the old dissensions and varieties of national government have ceased, and thus from that date the peace of the prophecy began. Just as it then began, a day will come when the prophecy will be fulfilled in all its fullness, when, as the apostle says, "the fullness of the Gentiles shall come in."

CHAPTER 18 From Psalm cxvii. Of the Cry, Hosanna to the Son of David. [Passage quoted, Ps. cxvii. 22-27.]

WHEN our Saviour Jesus Christ entered Jerusalem, riding on an ass according to the previous prophecy, He fulfilled the prediction of Zechariah, for as the Holy Evangelist tells us, the crowds that went before and followed Him cried, saying, "Hosanna to the Son of David, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord, Hosanna in the highest. (c) And when He entered Jerusalem, "All the city was moved, saying, Who is this? And the multitudes said, This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee. As, therefore, Hosanna is said in the Psalm we are considering, which is translated "Save us now," and the Hebrew has "Lord, save us," and the words, "Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord," are taken from the same Psalm, and these words can only refer to the Christ of God, we naturally apply the rest of the prediction to Him. For He is blessed, (d) Who is named by another prophet, "He that cometh," in the passage, "Yet a little while, and he that cometh will come, and will not tarry," Who also came in the Name of the Lord God His Father. And He is the Lord God that appeared for us. For He insists that He has come in the Name of His Father when He says to the Jews, "I have come in my Father's Name, and ye receive me not. If another come in his own name, him ye will receive.

He, then, that appeared for us, the Lord God, the Blessed, He that cometh in the Name of the Lord, was also the stone, (460) which they who of old built up the people on the foundation of the Mosaic teaching, set at naught, and which, set at naught by them, is become the head of the corner of the Church of the Gentiles, which the oracle says is wonderful, not to all that look on it, but only to the eyes of prophets, when it says, "And it is wonderful in our eyes."

And it calls His Epiphany also "the day which the Lord hath made," for He was the true Light, and the Sun of Righteousness, and the Day of God, in which we may also (b) say, "This is the day which the Lord hath made, we will rejoice and be glad in it." Now that this part is thus concluded, I will proceed to consider the prophecies concerning the Passion. [A few of the footnotes have been renumbered and placed here]

BOOK XINTRODUCTION (461) HAVING considered the passages that predict the Coming among men of the God that was foretold, we are now called to expound those that refer to His departure from this life, and to study what the prophets said would (462) happen to Him from the earliest days of prophecy. And I will begin by expounding those which have to do with the men that plotted His Death, which will occupy no small part of the present Book. But before beginning my argument let me repeat what I have often said about the dispensation of Christ, that we must strictly distinguish what belongs to His Divinity from what belongs to His Humanity. As Divine we recognize Him as the Word of God, the Power of God, the Wisdom of God, the Angel of Great Counsel, and the Great Eternal High Priest, offering sacrifice for the existence and preservation of all, and propitiating the Father. (b) And as Human we know Him as the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world, and as a sheep led to the slaughter. And this was the human body, which as a high priest He took like a lamb or sheep from the flock of humanity, and offering the firstfruits of the human (c) race, sacrificed them to the Father. By it He entered into human nature, which could only thus perceive the Word of God, and His spiritual unembodied power, being able with eyes of flesh to see nothing higher than flesh and physical things. So that everything that follows, which may seem to lower His glory, must be taken as conceived of the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world, and of His human body.

For He was the Lamb that takes away sin, according to John the Baptist, when he said: "Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world," and He was the Lamb led to the slaughter in the oracle of Isaiah, which said: "He was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before her shearers is dumb." And of Him as of a lamb was it said: "For the sins of my people he was led to death." For it was necessary that the Lamb of God, taken by the great High-Priest on behalf of the other kindred lambs, for all the flock of mankind, should be offered as a sacrifice to God: "For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead," says the apostle; "and as by the offence of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation: even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life." Hence, also, He taught His disciples that He was life and light and truth, and the other conceptions of His Divinity, whereas to them that were not initiated into the secrets of His nature, He said: "Why do ye seek to kill me, a man that has told you the truth?"

As then in what has gone before I have dealt with what specially concerns His Divinity, so now in like manner I will shew the human sufferings of the Lamb of God, since what occurred before His Passion lies between the two, partaking both of the nature of His Divinity and His Humanity. With this necessary proviso, let us now consider the oracles which concern the traitor Judas, and his fellow-conspirators against Christ, and the events at the time of His Passion. CHAPTER 1 From Psalm xl. Of Judas the Traitor, and His Fellow-Conspirators against Christ. [Passage quoted, Ps. xl. 1-12.] (464) As it has been supposed by some that the Book of Psalms merely consists of hymns to God and sacred songs, and that we shall look in vain in it for predictions and prophecies of the future, let us realize distinctly that it contains many prophecies, far too many to be quoted now, and it must suffice for proof of what I say to make use of two Psalms ascribed to Asaph, written in the time of David. For Asaph was one of the Temple Musicians then, as is stated in the Book of Chronicles, and was inspired by the Divine Spirit to speak the Psalms inscribed with his name. And what do these Psalms include? Predictions of the siege of Jerusalem, the royal city of the Jewish race, which took place nearly five hundred years after the prediction. For we read in the 73rd Psalm, inscribed "A Psalm of understanding for Asaph":

"Wherefore hast thou rejected us, O God, for ever? | Wherefore is thy wrath kindled against the sheep of thy pasture? | 2. Remember thy congregation, which thou hast possessed of old, | and hast ransomed as the rod of thy inheritance; | this Mount Zion wherein thou hast dwelt. | 3. Lift up thine hands against their pride unto the end: what things hath the enemy done evilly in thy sanctuaries, | 4. and they that hate thee have boasted in the midst of thy Feast: | 5. they have set up their banners for signs, ignorantly as it were in the entrance above. | They cut down its doors at once with axes as in a wood of trees, | they have broken it down with hatchet and stone-cutter. | 7. They have burnt thy sanctuary to the ground with fire, | and have profaned even with the ground the dwelling-place of thy name."

This is in Psalm lxxiii.; and Psalm lxxviii. of Asaph contains this: "O God, the Gentiles have entered into thine inheritance, and defiled thy holy temple; they have made Jerusalem a store-house of fruits, they have given the dead bodies of thy servants to be meat for the birds of the air, the flesh of thy saints to the beasts of the fields." The first of these passages, I mean the one from Psalm lxxiii., was spoken in David's reign before the building of (465). Solomon's Temple, and it was only fulfilled the first time by the siege by the Babylonians, and the second time in the Roman war against the Jews. For what was predicted and proclaimed in the said Psalms by Asaph was brought to pass in the destruction of the first and second Temples. And the second passage, from Psalm lxxviii., was fulfilled in the time of Antiochus, called Epiphanes, who being King of Syria entered Jerusalem, polluted the Temple, destroyed (b) the Altar, and in his endeavour to compel the Jews to hellenize, slew countless men and women who were martyrs for their law and their father's religion, and he inflicted all sorts of punishments on them. It was therefore to that time, and to Antiochus' successors who emulated his deeds, that Asaph's prophecies in Psalm lxxviii. refer. And the Book of those called Maccabees confirms what I say, which has this passage:

"And to Jakeimon and Bacchides there came a (c) deputation of scribes asking for justice." And it proceeds to say: "And he sware to them saying, We will not bring evil on yourselves and your friends. And they believed him. And he took of them sixty men and slew them in one day, according to the word of Asaph, which he wrote, They gave the dead bodies of thy servants to be meat for the birds of the air, and the flesh of thy saints to the beasts of the land, their (d) blood have they poured out like water on every side of Jerusalem, and there was no man to bury them." If these events were thus predicted and fulfilled, it is not surprising that in the same way the oracle quoted from Psalm xl. should announce what would happen in connection with the plot on our Saviour, though not all men should understand, that He being the Word of God, Wisdom, Life, and the True Light, and possessing all the wealth of the good, for our sakes became poor, taking our flesh, and being made like in kind to mortal man and beggars, taking on Him the form of a slave and a poor man, and most of all when He fulfilled the Psalmist's prophecy. He that understands these sayings to refer to Himself, naturally is blessed at the beginning of the Psalm, as receiving the written promise.

(466) So it proceeds in the rest to speak in the person of a poor man and a beggar, that is to say of our Saviour Who for our sakes became poor: "I said, Lord, have mercy on me." And John, the Evangelist, is an independent witness that the words of this Psalm are spoken in the Person of our Saviour. For he records, that: "Jesus once took a towel and girded himself, and washed the feet of his disciples and said, I know whom I have chosen. But that the Scripture may be fulfilled, He that eateth with me, the same hath lifted his heel against me." For He made it clear there that the Scripture referred (b) to was the Psalm before us, in which it is said: "For the man of my peace, in whom I trusted, he that ate of my bread hath raised his heel against me." He it is, then, Who says at the beginning: "I said, Lord, have pity on me, heal my soul, for I have sinned against thee," and speaks through the whole Psalm. Symmachus gives a clearer rendering of these words, as follows:

"When I said, O Lord, have pity on me, heal my soul, even if I have sinned against thee, my enemies have spoken evil against me, when shall he die and (c) his name perish? And when he comes to gaze on me his heart speaks vanity, it gathers unrighteousness on itself: and when he goes out he tells it. All they that hate me have whispered against me with one consent, conceiving evil concerning me. An unrighteous word is poured out within them, and when he fall may he never rise up. Yea, even the man who was at peace with me, in whom I trusted, who did eat of my bread, has magnified himself against me accordingly. But thou, O Lord, pity me, and raise (d) me, that I may reward them. By this I shall know that thou wishest it, if my enemy does not revile me. Thou hast defended me because of my innocence, and shall set me before thee for ever."

And Aquila is in exact agreement with Symmachus. With regard first to the words which are apparently said in the Person of our Saviour: "Heal my soul, for I have sinned against thee," you will notice in Symmachus they are not so rendered, but thus: "Heal my soul, even if I have sinned against thee." And He speaks thus, since He shares our sins. So it is said: "And the Lord hath laid on him our iniquities, and he bears our sins." Thus the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sins of the world, (467) became a curse on our behalf: "Whom, though he knew no sin, God made sin for our sake, giving him as redemption for all, that we might become the righteousness of God in him."

But since being in the likeness of sinful flesh He condemned sin in the flesh, the words quoted are rightly used. And in that He made our sins His own from His love and benevolence towards us, He says these words, adding further on in the same Psalm: "Thou hast (b) protected me because of my innocence," clearly shewing the impeccability of the Lamb of God. And how can He make our sins His own, and be said to bear our iniquities, except by our being regarded as His body, according to the apostle, who says: "Now ye are the body of Christ, and severally members? And by the rule that "if one member suffer all the members suffer with it," so when the many members suffer and sin, He too by the laws of (c) sympathy (since the Word of God was pleased to take the form of a slave and to be knit into the common tabernacle of us all) takes into Himself the labours of the suffering members, and makes our sicknesses His, and suffers all our woes and labours by the laws of love. And the Lamb of God not only did this, but was chastised on our behalf, (d) and suffered a penalty He did not owe, but which we owed because of the multitude of our sins;

and so He became the cause of the forgiveness of our sins, because He received death for us, and transferred to Himself the scourging, the insults, and the dishonour, which were due to us, and drew down on Himself the apportioned curse, being made a curse for us. And what is that but the price of our souls? And so the oracle says in our person: "By his stripes we were healed," and "The Lord delivered him for our sins," with the result that uniting Himself to us and us to Himself, and appropriating our sufferings, He can say, "I said, Lord, have mercy on me, heal my soul, (468) for I have sinned against thee," and can cry that they who plot against Him, not men only but invisible daemons as well, when they see the surpassing power of His Holy Name and title, by means of which He filled the world full of Christians a little after, think that they will be able to extinguish it, if they plot His death. This is what is proved by His saying: "My enemies have spoken evil of me, saying, When shall he die and his name perish?"

And since they attacked Him with the words of guile, attempting to entangle Him, as Holy Writ bears witness, (b) telling us how different charges and accusations were engineered against Him at different times, He therefore adds: "And if he come to see me, his heart speaks vanity, he heaps unrighteousness on himself; he has gone out, and spoken the same against me." After this, too, He clearly reveals the vile traitor himself, who, after making a covenant with the rulers of the Jews to betray his master, no more (c) went as he used to the school of His holy teaching, nor went as to His teacher, nor like the others passed His time with the Saviour, but awaited and hunted for an opportunity to lay hands on Him. For this is what he is accused of doing by the Holy Evangelists, of whom Matthew says: "Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests, and said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver. And from that time he sought an opportunity to betray him to them."

(d) And Mark says: "And Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went unto the chief priests, to betray him unto them. And when they heard it they were glad, and promised to give him money: and he sought how he might conveniently betray him." And Luke writes thus: "And Satan entered into Judas that was called Iscariot, being of the number of the twelve, and he departed and spake with the chief priests and scribes, and the captains of the Temple, that he might betray him unto them, and they were glad, and covenanted to give him money. And he sought opportunity to betray him unto them apart from the multitude." So the prophecy before us prophesies the same things, when it says: "And if he came to see me his heart spake vanity, he gathered iniquity on himself. He went out, and spake the same. Against me all my enemies whispered";

where Symmachus renders: "Coming in to spy on me, his heart spake vanity, he heaped unrighteousness upon it: and when he went out he spake against me. All they that hate me (469) whispered with one voice against me." Yes, for he alone went into his master as a friend and a disciple, to spy and search out, while he hid his plot in his own heart. And when he went out, he spake against Him (b) at once with many of the same mind, betraying the Saviour to His enemies, and secretly made a pact with the rulers of the Jews, about other things, but of course about money as well, for which he promised to betray Him, and about which he whispered with them. Wherefore it says: "He went out and spake at once. All my enemies whispered against me, against me they imagined evils. They determined an evil plan against me."

Perhaps the covenant for the money is meant by the "unjust word" of the prophecy, or perhaps the impious (c) and unjust intentions they had against Him, supposing that He would be extinguished and destroyed after death, and would no longer be reckoned among the living. For such is the meaning of: "When he sleepeth he shall surely never rise up again," which Symmachus has expressed more clearly: "And falling he will not arise"; where Aquila says: "And whosoever sleep, he shall not rise again." So far it has spoken generally about all those who conspired (d) against Him at the time of His Passion; but it goes on now to speak of the traitor particularly, as of one of His disciples: "For the man of my peace also, in whom I trusted, who ate of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me." Instead of which Symmachus again renders: "And a man, who was at peace with me, in whom I had confidence, who ate of my bread with me, hath magnified himself against me." For of a truth it is the lowest and most accursed of men who after sharing a master's table, and the nurture of his instruction, goes wrong and treats his benefactor in the opposite way to which he has been treated himself.

And since the enemies in their plotting said: "When shall he die, and his name perish?" and thought that if he lay down he would never rise up again, therefore (470) our Lord and Saviour praying for the reverse of this, and assured of an unhindered resurrection by His Father, says: "Lord, have mercy upon me, and raise me up, and I will reward them. In this I know that thou hast favoured me, because my enemy shall not triumph over me." And it is quite clear how after His resurrection from the dead immediate judgment, that did not tarry, fell on the conspirators, so that death who was the enemy of His return to life was made ashamed, and they that mocked (b) Him said, "O death, where is thy sting? O death, where is thy victory? "And those who have read the history of the times after our Saviour's resurrection, in Josephus, will remember what troubles fell on the Jews and their rulers, involved in which they received the right reward for what they did to Him. All this, then, that fell upon them was the fulfilment of the prophecy: but our Saviour's Resurrection from the dead proved to all that in Him the Father was well pleased, as He tells us when He says:

(c) "Have mercy upon me, and raise me up, and I will reward them. By this I know thou hast favoured me, because my enemy doth not triumph over me." And notice how in pouring forth this prayer to His God and Father, with what confidence He witnesses boldly to His own sinlessness, although He had said before, "Heal my soul, for I have sinned against thee." But I have (d) already shewn that the words, "I have sinned against thee," are not to be taken literally, and Symmachus interprets them more clearly when he says, "Heal my soul, even if I have sinned against thee," as could well be said of our sins, which our Lord and Saviour took upon Himself. Whereas the words, "Thou hast protected me for my innocence," exhibit the absolute integrity of His nature, to which He traces in His teaching the stability and sureness of His life and His preservation after His Resurrection, when He adds, "Thou hast established me before thee for ever": or, "And thou wilt establish me before thee for ever," according to Symmachus.

CHAPTER 2 From Psalm liv. (471) Also of Judas, and of them that with Him conspired against Christ. [Passages quoted, Ps. liv. 2-5, 10-14.] "2. HEAR my prayer, O God, | and do not despise my supplication. | 3. Attend to me and hearken to me: | I was grieved in my meditation, and troubled | 4. by the voice of the enemy, and by the affliction of the sinner. [ For they brought iniquity against me, and (b) in wrath reviled me. | 5. My heart was troubled within me, and the fear of death fell upon me. | Fear and trembling came upon me, and darkness covered me." And that which follows, to which he adds: "10. Destroy, O Lord, and divide their tongues, | for I have seen iniquity and strife in the city. | 11. Day and night it shall go round it upon its walls, | and iniquity and sorrow 12. and unrighteousness are in the midst of it, | and usury and craft have not left its streets, (c) 13. For if an enemy had reproached me, I would have borne it: | And if he that hated me had magnified himself against me, I would have hid myself from him: | 14. but it was even thou, O man like-minded, my guide, and my friend, | who in companionship with me sweetened my food: | we walked in the house of God in unity." (d)

The words: "If an enemy had reproached me, I could have borne it, and if he that hated me had magnified himself against me, I would have hid myself from him: but it was even thou, O man like-minded, my guide and my friend, who in companionship with me sweetened my food," resemble----"For the man of my peace, in whom I trusted, he that ate of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me," said of Judas in the previous prophecy. As then there he was shewn to be a man of peace, when he was the Saviour's disciple and numbered among the apostles, so here he is called like-minded, His guide and His friend. And as there it was said of him, "He that eateth with me hath lifted up his heel against me," so also here it is said to the same person, "Who in companionship with me sweetened my food." Yea, for he was privileged to be one of them that partook of the secret companionship and spiritual food that (472) our Saviour gave His disciples. For to the crowds and multitudes without He spoke in parables, but only to His disciples, of whom Judas was reckoned one, did He unfold all things. So it is said, "He that ate my bread hath lifted up his heel against me," and, "who in companionship sweetened my bread." This Aquila interprets more clearly, "We together (b) supped sweetly on mysteries," and Symmachus, "We joined together in sweet companionship." And instead of, "Thou, O man like-minded, my guide and friend," Symmachus renders, "Thou, O man of like disposition, my guide and my friend." Now if he was privileged to stand so high among the friends of our Saviour, His words about him are natural, "If an enemy had reviled me, I would have borne it," and that which follows.

Then after this prophecy about Judas, He proceeds to foretell His own preservation and escape from death, in the words: "I cried unto God, and the Lord saved me. At evening and morning and at noon I will tell and proclaim, and he shall hear my voice, and shall ransom my soul in peace." (c) Thus in prayer He speaks of the time before His death during which Judas hatched his treachery against Him. And it was then that our Lord and Saviour, as one who mourned for the destruction and ruin of His friend, and still more for the casting away of the whole Jewish race, as if in sympathy with friends gone mad who were very dear to Him, calls all His union with (hem and instruction of them wasted, in that it has profited them nothing, saying: "I was grieved with my wasted efforts, and I was moved by the voice of the enemy, and by the affliction of the sinner. For they fell," He says, "into iniquity, and reviled me in anger."

This may either be referred to the Jewish rulers, who (d) attempted to catch Him with enmity and conspiracy, or it may have been spoken of the invisible powers that fought against Him from without, and inspired the plot that was carried through by men. And this I think agrees with His words in the Gospels at the time of the Passion, when He says to His disciples: "My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me.'' And again, "Now is my soul troubled. The words of the Psalm are similar to those, where it said: "My heart is moved within me, and the fear of death is fallen upon (473) me; Fear and trembling have come upon me, and darkness hath covered me," in which He reveals the attacks of the opposing powers upon Him. As then in the prophets a certain "spirit of adultery "is named, e.g. "They were deceived by a spirit of adultery" and "the spirit of error in the wilderness," so also the spirit of death would cause fear, just as the spirit of strength would be the source of power and divine bravery. So we should call it "the (b) spirit of fear and trembling," and, indeed, "the spirit of fear and confusion "as well, which usually comes on nearly all that die as martyrs for their religion, and much more would be laid on Him that underwent death for all.

But whether it was the spirit of fear and of death, or of fear and trembling, or any other like power that fell upon Him, at any rate it did not break Him down, for He, like a noble athlete, threw (c) far from Him the fear of death by His assurance of life, for He is the Life. And so He drove far off the spirit of fear and trembling which attacked Him by the power of the spirit of bravery, might, and strength. For according to Isaiah, "There rested on Him (together with the other spirits), the spirit of counsel and strength. So, too, He puts to flight the spirit of darkness by the power of His own light. For, "The light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. You will find similar passages (d) in Psalm xxi., where again, in His person, it is said, "Many oxen have come about me: fat bulls hemmed me in. They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ramping and roaring lion. And also, "Many dogs have encircled me, the council of the wicked-doers has surrounded me. And once more:

"Save my soul from the sword, and my only-begotten from the power of the dog. Save me from the lion's mouth, and my humility from the horns of the unicorns." Here He clearly calls the evil powers bulls and calves, lions, dogs and unicorns, who hemmed Him in and surrounded (474) Him at the time of His Passion, but were not able to do aught against Him. And this follows, only if these parts of the Psalm refer to our Lord and Saviour: but if they do not refer to Him, but to some one else, you must yourself reduce the passage to harmony. And immediately after the prediction of the conspiracy against Him, He continues also about the mother-city of the Jews, Jerusalem, ,and says, "I saw iniquity and strife in the city," and that which (b) follows, the meaning of which there is no time now to expound.

CHAPTER 3 From Psalm cviii. Still of Judas, and of the Apostle elected in His Room, and of the Jewish Nation. [Passage quoted, Ps. cviii. 1-8.] AND the Apostle Peter is a sufficient witness that this prophecy refers to the traitor Judas, when, after the Saviour's Ascension, all the apostles being gathered together with many of the brethren, he stood up in the midst, and said: "Men and brethren, this Scripture must needs have been fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost spake before by the mouth of David concerning Judas, which was guide to them that took Jesus. For he was numbered with us, and had obtained part of this ministry. Now this man purchased a field with the reward of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out. And it was known unto all the (475) dwellers at Jerusalem, insomuch as that field is called in their proper tongue Aceldama, that is to say, The field of blood. For it is written in the Book of Psalms, Let his habitation be desolate, and let no man dwell therein: and his bishopric let another take."

Peter, then, in saying thus, suggested that another must be chosen in place of Judas, to fill up the deficient number of the twelve apostles, so that the prophecy might be fulfilled. And when the lot had been cast, it fell upon Matthias, and he was numbered with the twelve apostles. Since this was (b) thus fulfilled, it follows that the person who speaks in this Psalm can only be our Saviour, Who thought good to anticipate by the record of the Holy Spirit the very prayer that was sent up by Him to the Father at the time of His Passion, foretelling what would happen to Him in the future. He says, then, "O God, pass not over my praise in silence," praying that the instruction delivered by Him to His disciples and the praise of the new Covenant might not be lost in silence, but might live to the end of time. "The (c) mouth of the sinner and the mouth of the crafty "would have special application to Judas, who went to the Chief Priests and said to them:

"What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver. And from that time he sought opportunity to betray him unto them." And after making this covenant against Him, he was one of those that sat down with Him at the Feast of the Passover, when our Saviour---- "sat down with the twelve, and as they were eating, (d) said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me. And being very sorry they began to say unto him, Lord, is it I?" Among whom was Judas, who opened that mouth of his, full of deceit and irony, and answered, "Is it I, Rabbi? "a crafty mouth indeed, with which he gave the signal to the conspirators against our Saviour, saying, "Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he." And he fulfilled his words by acts, when he went to Jesus, and said to Him, "Hail, Rabbi, and kissed him." And Jesus said to him, "Friend, wherefore art thou come? "and "Judas, betrayest thou the son of man with a kiss? "So then in anticipation, he says by the Psalm:

"The mouth of the crafty is opened upon me. They have spoken against me with crafty tongue, and have encircled me with words of hatred, and have fought against me without a cause." Here He has in mind not only Judas, but the other conspirators against Him. For the Gospel relates, that even while the Saviour was still speaking to His disciples---- "behold, Judas, one of the twelve, came, and with him a great multitude with swords and staves from the chief priests and elders of the people! To whom the Lord said, Are ye come out as against a thief with swords and staves to take me? I sat daily with you teaching in the Temple, and ye laid no hold on me. But this is all come to pass, that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled." And He says also in the Psalms: "Instead of loving me, they spake evil of me, but I continued to pray." This, too, was fulfilled, when, as our Saviour prayed with the eleven apostles in the place called Gethsemane, and departed from them a little way, and knelt down to His Father, and prayed a second and a third time, Judas with the Rulers of the Jews matured his conspiracy, collecting and leading the multitude of them that were prepared to take Him with swords and staves.

And they did evil to Him instead of good, and gave Him hate in return for His love, when they were ill-disposed towards the Saviour, and Benefactor and Teacher, Who had given them such healing and treatment by His words and teaching and all sorts of benefits. In return for which, since they did evil to Him instead of good, and gave Him hatred for love, He rightly adds: "Set a sinner over him, and let Satan stand at his right hand. When he is judged let him go forth condemned, and let his prayer be turned into sin; let his days be few, and another take his office." And the holy apostle, applying this Scripture to the traitor, shewed clearly by anticipation what would be the end of these things. Now you yourself can see, how a sinful ruler and head was given to the Jewish race, after their presumptuous deeds against the Saviour, and how they were forced to serve strangers and idolaters instead of their ancient godly rulers. Who would not be struck by the (477) fulfilment of the prediction? For the oracle says, "Let his days be few," and there is no doubt that the whole period after their plot against our Saviour was short, during which they appeared to abide, after which they underwent the siege and were utterly destroyed, and then another took office, namely the people founded by Christ.

And you will understand the rest of the Psalm in a similar (b) sense. The words that follow, spoken as of certain children of Judas, "Let his children be orphans," and the like, may be referred primarily to Judas, and secondarily to all who like him betray the word of salvation. And you may understand in a similar way, his wife, and the sins of his father, and of the Jewish Synagogue, which is called his mother. For I think that this is meant by "let not the sin of his mother be done away." But just as in the preceding (c) prophecy, our Lord and Saviour was called a beggar and a poor man, as I have pointed out in expounding, "Blessed is the man that considereth the poor and needy," so in the present Psalm He is called by these names. May such and such judgments fall on Judas, He says, and those who have like desires to his. What those judgments are He adds in these words:

"Because he remembered not to do mercy, and persecuted the poor and the beggar and the stricken in spirit even unto death. He loved cursing and it shall come to him; he wished not blessing, and it shall be far off from him." And a little lower down He again calls Himself a poor man (d) and a beggar, and says: "And thou, Lord most high, have mercy on me, for thy name's sake, for good is thy mercy. Save me, for I am poor and a beggar." And he adds after an interval: "My knees were weak through fasting, and my flesh was changed for lack of oil, and I become a jest to them. They saw me, and shaked their heads at me." (478) And all this was fulfilled, when "The passers-by reviled him, wagging their heads and saying, He saved others, himself he cannot save." And since, even now, the Jews draw down the curse of their fathers upon themselves, and are wont with blasphemy and impious words to anathematize our Lord and Saviour and all that believe on Him, He goes on to say:

"They shall curse, hut thou wilt bless. May they that arise against me be ashamed, but thy servant shall rejoice. Let them who speak evil of me be clothed with shame, and be clothed in confusion as with a cloak. (b) But I will confess the Lord with my mouth, and amid many will I praise him, for he stood by the right hand of the poor, to save my soul from the persecutors." And it is quite clear, even now, to what evils they that invoke curses in their synagogues have grown accustomed, never at all being able to recover from those same times, while He offers to His Father in the midst of many nations the praise of His new Covenant, having the Father working with Him, Who sits at His own right hand. "Wherefore," (c) He says, "in the midst of many will I praise him, for he stood at the right hand of the poor." And He assures of His own preservation after death in the words: "To save my soul from the persecutors." For after He had said above, "He persecuted the poor man and the beggar and him that was stricken in heart even unto death," and had shewed forth His own death outlining the prophecy, He said figuratively, "For he stood at the right hand of the poor, to save his soul from the persecutors."

CHAPTER 4 From Zechariah. Still of Judas, and of the Money in Return for which He betrayed the Lord, and of the casting away of the Jewish Race, both Rulers and Ruled. [Passage quoted, Zech. xi. 7b-14.] (479) THIS was fulfilled when, according to Luke: "Judas went away, and spoke with the chief priests (c) and scribes and captains of the Temple, that he might betray him unto them. And they were glad, and covenanted to give him money;" or, according to Mark when, "he went to the chief priests to betray him; and they were glad and promised to give him money." In each case it is simply money that is named. But in Matthew the amount is recorded, and it agrees with the quotation from Zechariah. For Matthew says: "Then went one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, (d) to the chief priests, and said to them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? and they weighed unto him thirty staters."

And this agrees with, "And they weighed my price thirty pieces of silver," spoken by the Lord in the prophecy. And there is added to this, "And the Lord said to me, Drop them into the furnace, and see if it is good metal, as I was tested by them." For which Aquila renders: "And the Lord said to me, Drop them into the furnace, cast them to the potter: very great is the price, at which I was valued by them."

And notice how the Lord Himself confesses that a sum of (480) thirty pieces of silver was given for Him. The meaning of His words implies something like this: I the Lord from the very first day ceased not to give to you Jews proofs of My kindness, and in countless ways I did you good, not only through the earliest prophets, but also by My presence in moral teaching and spiritual education, in signs and wonders, and other miracles, and in cures and attentions: now you (b) that were privileged to receive such benefits, give My price or refuse it, demanding of them, it would seem, the fruits of holiness, and the proof of their faith in Him. But they, as the preceding quotation tells, instead of loving Me spoke evil of Me, and laid evil on Me instead of good, and hatred instead of My love, weighing out thirty pieces of silver, as if they valued at that price Him that was sold. But since the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is, He rightly bids them cast it into the furnace, adding, "As I was tested by them." Perhaps the House of God is here (c) called a Furnace. For the Lord says, according to the Septuagint, "Cast them into the Furnace," and adds, "And they cast them into the Furnace, the House of God"; while according to Aquila the Lord says, "Cast it, that is the money, to the potter," and adds, "And I cast it in the House of the Lord to the potter." According to Symmachus, the Lord says, "Cast it into the furnace," (d) and adds, "I cast it into the House of the Lord, into the Furnace." And was not this fulfilled when Judas----

"3. that betrayed the Lord, seeing that he was condemned, repented and returned the money to the chief priests and elders, saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood? 4. And they said to him, What is that to us? see thou to that. 5. And he cast down the money in the Temple and went and hanged himself. 6. And the chief priests took the money and said, It is not lawful to put them in the treasury, for it is (481) the price of blood. 7. And they took counsel, and bought with them the potters' field to bury strangers in: 8. Wherefore that field is called the field of blood unto this day. 9. Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet saying, And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him that was valued, whom they of the children of Israel did value, 10. and gave them for the potter's field, as the Lord appointed me."

But as this passage is not found in the prophecy of Jeremiah, you must consider whether it is to be supposed that they have been removed through any evil intention, or whether there has been an error in copying, through the mistake of some careless transcriber of the Holy Gospels, who wrote Jeremiah instead of Zechariah, where he ought to have copied, "Then was fulfilled that which was written by Zechariah the prophet," and instead of, "And they cast them into the house of the Lord, into the furnace," wrote in error, "And they bought with them the field of the potter." For the prophecy explicitly states that the money was cast into the Temple of the Lord, so does the Gospel: for, "Judas," it (c) says, "cast the money into the Temple, and departed." And perhaps it was through this money that the Temple was rendered profane, and the words, "Behold, your house is left unto you desolate," were fulfilled. And you may well ask whether the House of God was called a Furnace, because it is there that the souls of men are fashioned as in a crucible by the fire of divine teaching, or convicted of impurity, as if they were fired and tried in a furnace. Hence Aquila says, "I cast the money in the house of the (d) Lord to the potter," clearly teaching that the Divine Word dwells like a potter in the House of the Lord, and moulds and renews the souls of them that enter.

But if the price of Him that was valued, there cast down rendered the House profane, it is natural for Him to proceed to say, "And I cast the second rod, the Rope, to break the covenant between Judah and Israel."

For from that day the multitude of the nation was cut away from God's ancient providential guardianship. And I suppose the second rod to mean the whole Jewish nation. It is therefore called a Rope in the words, "The one I called Beauty, and the other I called a Rope." And he (482) proceeds to speak clearly of the second: "And I cast away the second rod, the Rope, to break my covenant between Judah and Israel." For they were the Rope and the second rod. But the first rod, called Beauty, was Jerusalem itself, and the Mosaic Worship, and the whole of the old covenant. This is shewn by the prophecy, saying, "And I will take my rod of beauty, and I will cast it away, to break my covenant." You sec that it says that the first rod was the (b) Covenant, and the second rod the Rope, but He threatens to cast them both away, first saying, "And I will take for myself two rods, the one I called Beauty, and the other I called a Rope"; or with Symmachus, "The one I called (c) glory, and the other I called a Rope." For thus he rightly styled the glory and beauty of the whole nation the divine Law, and the Covenant, which it included. For the solemnities of Jerusalem, and the high-priestly ritual, and all the ancient observances of the divine Law and old Covenant, were a fair glory to them that lived under their order. And the multitude of the nation is called a Rope by Moses, (d) when he says: "The portion of the Lord is His people Jacob, and Israel is the Rope of His inheritance."

But here it is prophesied that there will be a complete change of the two rods at the time named, so that the ancient Covenant that was therein of old, and its ancient beauty being destroyed, and the Rope and the whole nation broken through, when they had valued for thirty pieces of silver Him that was valued, they should bear the fit dishonour for their impiety. It therefore says, "And I will take my rod of Beauty, and cast it away, and break my covenant. And also, "And I cast away the second rod, the Rope. (483) And when the prophecy goes on to say, "And I will take away three shepherds in one month," I think that it refers to the three divisions of the ancient leaders of the people of God----the King, the Prophet, and the High-Priest----for by those three shepherds all the affairs of the ancients were managed. But since those three offices were destroyed together in our Saviour's time----(for their king reigned not in accordance with the Law, being a foreigner and not a member of the Jewish race; their high-priest was appointed to his office by the Romans, and did not attain his rank by the order of succession of the tribe, nor according to lawful (b) custom;

and their prophets that had ceased until John arose were no longer active among them, but they had instead a wicked false prophet who led the people astray)---- He rightly threatens that He will take away at one time the three offices of grace, that had of old adorned the whole nation with wondrous glory, and says, "And I will take away three shepherds in one month, and my heart shall be sorrowful for them. For which Aquila renders, "And my soul was torn asunder for them," Symmachus, "And my soul perished for them," and Theodotion, "And my soul (c) perished about them. And he gives the reason of the perishing of his soul, saying, "For their souls were hardened to me. Instead of this Aquila has, "For their soul was strong in me"; and Symmachus, "And their soul reached its height in me. And a similar expression to the words, "Their souls are hardened to me," of the Septuagint, is found in Jeremiah as spoken by the Lord, namely:

"I have left my home, I have forsaken my inheritance, I have given my beloved soul into the hand of its enemies. My inheritance has become to me as a lion in a forest, it has opened on me its voice. Is not my (d) beloved now to me as a hyaena's cave? " And then He naturally goes on to say: "I will not shepherd you, that which is dying may die, that which is failing may fail, and let the remnant eat each one the flesh of his neighbour." And after this He says, "I will take my rod of beauty and cast it away." For which Aquila renders: "And I took my rod, the Glory, and cut it off," meaning the Mosaic Worship. Thus the first rod mentioned in the beginning of the passage is said to be the first to be broken and cast away. But when the price of Him that was valued and the (484) money paid for Him to the traitor was cast into the House of the Lord as into a furnace, then we see what is prophesied will happen to the second rod, that is to say to the whole nation in the words, "And I cast away the second rod, the Rope, to break my covenant between Judah and Israel."

And as the oracle intended clearly their destruction by this, it naturally goes on to say that they shall no longer recognize the power of things prophesied, but the Canaanites will, when He says, "And the Canaanites shall know, my (b) sheep kept for me, because it is the Word of the Lord." Who are meant by the Canaanites but ourselves, who once were foreigners, and sheep kept for Christ from all the old heathen and sinful nations? We that have been converted by His grace, and understanding the things prophesied, have received the true knowledge of the word of the Lord; yea, we Canaanites know and understand what was meant; but they that boasted of Israel, and gloried in being of the (c) seed of Abraham, neither knew nor understood. CHAPTER 5 From Jeremiah. Still of Judas, Who is named. [Passage quoted, Jer. xvii. 1-4.]

THOUGH this passage is not found in the Septuagint, yet it is in the Hebrew and in the editions of the other translators, and is quoted with asterisks in the more accurate copies of the Septuagint. I have necessarily quoted it, (485) because it gives the name of the traitor Judas, and teaches that the sin he committed can never be wiped out. For this I think is implied by the words, "The sin of Judas is written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond." It could refer also to the whole Jewish nation, as a threat of the utter destruction that would overtake them in the immediate train of their indelible iniquity, an interpretation I have no time now to expound word by word, (b) And now that I have prepared the way by giving so many examples of prophecies concerning him that was to betray our Lord and Saviour, and those that conspired against Him in other ways, let us examine what was foretold in connection with His actual Passion.

CHAPTER 6 From Amos. Of the Eclipse of the Sun at the Time of Our Saviour's Passion, and of the Total Destruction of the Jewish Nation. [Passage quoted, Amos viii. 7-12.] THIS prophecy foretells the pride, insolence and rebellion of the Jews against our Saviour, and says that the Lord (486) sware against the presumption of Jacob, that their insolence against Him should never be forgotten, and that their land and its inhabitants should undergo suffering and mourning, and that no more as before should they be punished a little while and then restored, but that this judgment should last for ever. For He says, "Complete destruction shall come upon them," meaning that wrath in the time of the Roman Empire would attack them, that a river should rise on them as on men who before were lifted up. And then after this anger of God against them, their state, He says, will again "Come down like the river of (b) Egypt."

By which I think is meant, that the ancient glories of the Jews once so lofty, so prized by God, and as it were exalted on high, will become like the state of the heathen nations, which flow and pass by like a river, and will go from height to depth. And He next tells what will happen at the time of the saving Passion, "In that day," He says, saith the Lord, "the sun shall set at midday, and the light shall be (c) darkened on the earth at daytime," and this was plainly fulfilled, when our Lord was lifted up, according to the Gospel: "And there was darkness over all the earth from the sixth hour even to the ninth hour, and about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani." This prophecy was thus fulfilled, and it goes on to say: "And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your song into lamentation. And I will bring sackcloth (d) on all loins, and baldness on every head: And I will make him as grief for a dear one, and them with him as a day of pain. Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will send famine upon the earth, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the word of the Lord," etc.

And all this prophecy of what would result from their insolence against the Christ has been clearly proved to have taken place after their plot against our Saviour. For it was not before it, but afterwards from that day to this that God turned their feasts into mourning, despoiled them of their famous mother-city, and destroyed the holy Temple (487) therein when Titus and Vespasian were Emperors of Rome, so that they could no longer go up to keep their feasts and sacred meetings. I need not say that a famine of hearing the Word of the Lord has overtaken them all, in return for their rejection of the Word of God; since with one voice they refused Him, so He refuses them. CHAPTER 7 (b) From Zechariah. Still concerning the Eclipse of the Sun, and of the Time of the Saving Passion. [Passage quoted, Zech. xiv. 5-9.]

THIS was fulfilled by the coming of our Saviour, accompanied either by His holy apostles and disciples, or by His holy ones, the divine powers and unembodied spirits, His (d) angels and ministers, of whom the holy gospel says, "Angels came and ministered unto him. In that day (for this is the usual name given in Holy Scripture to the time of His sojourn on earth) the prophecy before us was fulfilled as well as the other predictions, when at the time of His Passion, "From the sixth hour unto the ninth hour there was darkness over all the earth. Therefore the prophecy says, "In that day there shall be no light. And also, "It shall not be day nor night: but towards evening it shall be light. Where we have, I think, an exact description of the time, when, our Lord being lifted up, though it was day, (488) night filled the atmosphere from the sixth to the ninth hour. And afterwards the darkness cleared, and it was bright daylight, until night fell as usual. So the word of the prophecy implies, "And that day is known to the Lord, and it shall be neither day nor night: and towards evening it shall be light. For it was not day because of the midday darkness; nor was it night because of the returning day, which is shewn by the words, "Towards evening it shall be light.

(b) And the mention of the wintry season is astonishing indeed in the words of the prophecy, which say, "There shall be frost and cold"; for this is supported by the evidence of the Gospel, which tells how Peter following Jesus warmed himself in the Hall of Caiaphas with the others, where a fire was kindled. John actually mentions the cold, saying, "The servants and attendants stood round, having made a fire of coals, for it was cold, and they warmed themselves. The prophecy was thus literally fulfilled. And figuratively, as well in regard to the whole Jewish nation the reality of which those things were symbols was also fulfilled----when the light of salvation shone on them, and they chose darkness rather (c) than light, and the light departed from them, and unspeakable night overwhelmed them, and the eyes of their mind were darkened, so that the rays of the Gospel should not shine in their hearts, and when too their love to God waxed cold. And in them too the rest of the prophecy was fulfilled, when on the day of our Saviour's coming living water came forth from Jerusalem, and the fruitful living word of Gospel Teaching went forth to all nations, beginning from (d) Jerusalem, yea, from Jerusalem itself, and was spread over all the earth, even to the utmost bounds of the world. The Lord and Saviour Himself speaks of this water to the Samaritan woman:

"If thou knewest who it is that asketh thee for drink, thou wouldst have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water." And He goes on to teach what advantage would accrue to all that taste of the living spiritual spring, saying that they that drink thereof, denying the many evil daemons who ruled them of old, will confess their one Lord and King, and that the Lord, that once was known only to the Hebrews, will become King of all nations that believe in (489) Him from all the earth, and that His Name will be one, encircling all the earth and the wilderness. And who is not struck at seeing this fulfilled? For the Christian name, derived from the Name of Christ (and Christ was indeed the Lord) has encircled every place and city and land, and the very nations that dwell in the wilderness and at the ends of the earth, as the prophecy foretold.

CHAPTER 8 From Psalm xxi. Of What was done at Our Saviour's Passion. At the End concerning His being succoured in the Morning. (490) [Passage quoted, Ps. xxi. 2-32.] THE words, "My God, give ear to me, why hast thou forsaken me?" spoken at the opening of the Psalm, are recorded by Matthew to have been said by our Saviour at the time of the Passion: "And at the sixth hour, there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour, and at the ninth hour Jesus called with a loud voice, Eloim, Eloim, lama sabachthani, that is to say, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"

And the Hebrew words are taken from this prophecy. So, then, the beginning of the Psalm includes the words "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani" in the same syllables, which (491) Aquila has thus translated: "My strong one, my strong one, why hast thou left me? And everyone will agree that this is equivalent to our Saviour's words at the time of His Passion. You may therefore be quite convinced that the Psalm refers to Him and no one else, for its contents harmonize with none other but Him. The other predictions are exactly fulfilled in Him; and especially the words, "They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots. It also foretells literally the (b) driving in of the nails, when His hands and feet were nailed to the Cross, saying "They pierced my hands and my feet, they numbered all my bones. And the other predictions apply to Him alone, as my argument will shew. But if any one would apply them to some other person, whether king, prophet, or other godly man among the Jews, let him prove if he can how what is written is in harmony with him.

For who of those who were ever born of women has attained such heights of virtue and power, as to embrace the knowledge (c) of God with unchanging reason, with unruffled soul, and with sober mind, and to fasten all his trust on God, so as to say, "Thou art He that took me out of my mother's womb, my hope from my mother's breasts. I was cast on thee from my mother, from my mother's womb Thou art my God. And who that has ever been so cared for by God, has also become "a reproach of men "and "the outcast of the people''? By what bulls and calves can we (d) suppose such a man to have been surrounded? And in what suffering was he "poured out like water"? How were "all his bones loosened"? How was "he brought into the dust of death," and being brought into the dust of death how does he say those words still and live and speak? Who are "the dogs "that surround him, that are other than the beforenamed "bulls and calves"? What gathering of evil men pierced his feet as well as his hands, stripped him of his raiment, divided some of it among themselves, and cast lots for the remainder? What was the sword, the dog, and the lion? Who are they that surrounded him that are called Unicorns?

And how after (492) a struggle with such numbers, after being brought into the dust of death, can he promise to proclaim His Father's name, not to all, but only to his brethren?

Who are the brethren, and what church is it of which this sufferer says, "In the midst of the Church I will hymn thee," adding, not the one Jewish nation but, "All the earth shall understand, and turn to the Lord, and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before him"? It is for you yourself to test every expression in the Psalm, and see if it is possible to apply them to any chance (b) character. You will find them only applicable to our Saviour, Who is most true and most to be trusted, and Who applied the words of the Psalm to Himself, as the Evangelists bear witness: Matthew in the quotations I have given, and Mark in his own record, where he says: "And at the sixth hour there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour (c) Jesus cried with a loud voice saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani, which is to say, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And certain of them that heard said, He calleth for Elias.''

Let us now proceed to investigate, in what way the expressions of the Psalm must be referred to Him. And first we will deal with the inscription which says, "To the end," or according to Aquila, "To the Conqueror," or according to Symmachus, "Ode of Victory concerning the Succour." I have an idea, based on the words of the Evangelists, "There was darkness from the sixth hour unto the ninth hour," that our Saviour's Passion was concluded about the ninth hour, when with a loud voice He spake the words quoted a little before, and that we should consider that His Passion was past at eventide on the approach of night. Then His Resurrection from the dead, which was the Succour of the Father Who succoured Him, and drew Him to Himself, from the land of death, and received Him, must have taken place at dawn, as we learn from the Evangelists. For Luke says, "On the first day of the week at the break of dawn they came [that is the women], to the sepulchre, bearing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them. And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre. And going in they did not find the Body, because our Saviour was already risen from the dead." Mark also tells the same story, saying:

"And very early in the morning, on the first day of the week they went to the sepulchre, at the rising of the sun, and said to one another, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the Sepulchre? for it was very great."

They went, and found it rolled away. And He was already risen. There is the same witness in John: "On the first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene to the sepulchre, while it was still dark, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre. And Matthew too, although he had said, "late on the Sabbath," adds, "As it began to dawn on the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary to see the sepulchre, and behold there was a great earthquake. For the Angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone from the door of the sepulchre. I have necessarily given these quotations to shew the meaning of the "succour at dawn "predicted in the Psalm. For since it tells of our Saviour's Passion, and since the dispensation concerning Him was in no way hindered by the Passion, and the end of the Passion was His Resurrection from the dead and "the succour at dawn," the oracle crowns its description with the final miracle, as if the whole account and the sufferings before the end were incidental to the Resurrection from the dead, and the succour at dawn. For our Lord and Saviour said, (d) "My God, my God, give ear to me, why hast thou forsaken me? "And then added, "I am a worm and no man, a reproach of men, and the outcast of the people"; and in addition to this, "Many oxen have encircled me, fat bulls have hemmed me in";

and gave a clear prediction of His Death in the verse, "Thou hast brought me into the dust of death, for many dogs have surrounded me, the council of the wicked has hemmed me in, they pierced my hands and my feet; and He gave still further details of His Passion in the words, "They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots. And having given those and similar predictions He did not cease there, but added: "Ye that fear the Lord praise (494) him, for he hath not despised, nor been angered at the prayer of the poor, nor turned his face from him, but when I cried unto him he heard me. How could He claim to have been heard, unless He had had a complete answer to the prayers which He had just uttered, when He said, "Thou hast brought me into the dust of death. Save my soul from the sword, and my only-begotten from the power of the dog"? Nay, having prayed thus, and asked that He might be rescued and saved from these enemies, He adds, '' He hath not despised, nor been angry at the prayer of the poor, nor turned away his face from him: but when I cried unto him, he heard me. He evidently means His Return to life after death, which came to pass through the Succour at dawn, which the Psalm goes on to shew, saying, "But thou, O Lord, do not remove thy help, come to my succour. And it is.

this succour that is referred to by the Inscription of the Psalm.

So much about the Inscription of the Psalm. Let us now (c) sound the deeper studies of the Hebrews on the words, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani," which were said by. our Saviour in the hour of His Passion in the actual Hebrew words, and which are enshrined in the Psalm. Now Eloeim is a name for God. And you will find it throughout nearly all the Scriptures: and even now in the Septuagint He is called properly by the Hebrew name. Though of course the Hebrews had other expressions for the divine Name----such as Saddai, Jao, El, and the like. This Psalm then uses "Eli, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani," as our Lord Himself does, and not Eloeim. And so Aquila, aware of the distinct meaning of God's Hebrew name of Eloeim, did not, like the other translators, think good to render them "My God, my God"----but "My strong one, my strong one," or more accurately, "My strength, my strength." So that taking this sense the Lamb of God our Saviour, when he said, "Eli, Eli," to His Father, meant, "My strong one, my strong one, why hast thou forsaken me?" And may.be He was crucified, because His Strong One had left Him, as the apostle says, "For he was crucified in weakness, but he liveth by the power of God," implying that He would not have been crucified, unless His Strong One had left Him. And surely it befits the Lamb of God, Who was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before its shearers is dumb, to attribute His own powers to God, and to reckon He had nothing of His own except His Father: wherefore He calls His Father His Strength, just as in Psalm xviii. He gives Him the names of Strength and Refuge, saying:

"I will love thee, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my foundation, and my refuge, and saviour. My God, my helper, and I will trust in him; my protector, the horn also of my refuge, and my succour.

His Strong One forsook Him then, because He wished Him to go unto death, even "the death of the cross," and to be set forth as the ransom and sacrifice for the whole world, and to be the purification of the life of them that believe in Him. And He, since he understood at once His Father's Divine counsel, and because He discerned better than any other why He was forsaken by the Father, humbled Himself even more, and embraced death for us with all willingness, and "became a curse for us," holy and all-blessed though He was, and "He that knew no sin, became sin, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." Yea more----to wash away our sins He was crucified, suffering what we who were sinful should have suffered, as our sacrifice and ransom, so that we may well say with the prophet, He bears our sins, and is pained for us, and he was wounded for our sins, and bruised for our iniquities, so that by His stripes we might be healed, for the Lord hath given Him for our sins. So, as delivered up by the Father, as bruised, as bearing our sins, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter. With this the apostle agrees when he says, "Who spared not his own Son, but delivered him for us all." And it is to impel us to ask why the Father forsook Him, that He says, "Why hast thou forsaken me? "The answer is, to ransom the whole human race, buying them with His precious Blood from their former slavery to their invisible tyrants, the unclean daemons, and the rulers and spirits of evil.

And the Father forsook Him for another reason, namely, that the love of Christ Himself for men might be set forth. For no one had power over His life, but He gave it willingly for men, as He teaches us Himself in the words, "No one taketh my life from me: I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again." After this He says, "Far from my salvation are the words of my sins." Instead of which Aquila translates, "Far from my salvation are the words of my complaint"; and Symmachus, "The words of my lamentations are removed from my salvation." And in yet a fifth translation it is rendered, "Far from my salvation are the words of my requests." It I is to be especially remarked that in neither of these translations does the expression "of my sins "appear, as it sometimes happens that similar alterations are made in a text by the error of a copyist. And we must accept the version given by the majority of the translators, unless we can understand Him to mean that the sins are ours, but that He has made them His own.

He next says, "My God, I will cry by day, and thou (d) wilt not hear, and by night, and it shall not be folly for me." Instead of which Symmachus has, "My God, I will call by day, and thou wilt not hear, and by night, and there is no silence." He is surely shewing His surprise here that the Father does not hear Him, He regards it as something strange and unusual. But that Father reserved His hearing till the fit time that He should be heard. That time was the hour of dawn, of the Resurrection from the dead, when to Him it could be more justly said than to any, "In a time accepted I heard thee, and in a day of salvation I succoured thee. Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation." This, of course, could be said in another sense by our Saviour, as one always accustomed to be heard by the Father, as if He said, to put it more clearly: "Is it possible, O Father, that I, Thine only and beloved Son, should not be heard, when I cry and call to my Father? "For this is the very point He dwells on in John's Gospel at the raising of Lazarus, when He says, "Take away the stone from the sepulchre," and "raised his eyes to heaven and said, Father, 1 thank thee that thou hast heard me. And I knew that thou hearest me always." If, then, He heareth Him always, it is not in doubt but in absolute assurance that He will be heard, as if it were impossible for Him not to be heard, that He speaks in the form of a question the words: "My God, shall I cry in the day, and thou not hear?" And we must put a note of interrogation after "hear," and understand that the answer to the question is a negative.

And He shews that this is right a little further on in the Psalm, when He says: "He hath not despised, nor been angry at the prayer of the poor, nor turned his face from him, but when he cried unto him he heard him."

For how could He say negatively, "My God, I will cry by day, and thou wilt not hear," except in the sense I (c) have suggested? And I think He implies this sense when He says, "My God, shall I cry by day, and wilt thou not hear? and by night, and it is not folly for me. "For I do not cry 'Thou wilt not hear,' He says, 'in folly': for I know that I say this inspired by the conviction that it is Thy nature to help and to hear not only me, but all Thy saints. For Thou ever 'dwellest in Thy saints' continually, and art 'the praise' of every godly man that is called 'Israel.' For Thy sake to every one that worships Thee no (d) common praise accrues; in Thee our fathers hoped, and by their trust were saved from the evils that attacked them, 'Unto Thee they cried, and were saved.' Since, then, all Thy saints have had this blessing of Thee, to cry unto Thee and be heard and not be ashamed, how much more readily and specially wilt Thou hear Thy beloved Son that cries? And, if I ask as one who wonders, 'Shall I cry and Thou wilt not hear?' yet shall not My words be regarded as folly. For I know that I utter My prayer, not as one that glories or as one that boasts, but as one of lowly mind.

For being gentle and lowly in heart, My words are humble and spoken in humility like My own gentleness, even as I call Myself a worm. For what could be more lowly than a worm? Hence I call Myself 'no man,' since I have descended from (498) My own majesty to such lowliness, that I seem to be no more than a worm, so that I may undergo even death and the destruction of My body. For how else can worms be generated but from the destruction of bodies, and I going to such destruction recognize Myself rightly as a worm and no man. So, too, have I become a reproach of men and the outcast of the people, and I should have become neither unless I had reached the state of a worm at the time of My Passion. For it was then that they who saw Me hanging (b) on the Cross mocked Me, and spake with their lips, and shook their heads saying, 'He trusted in God, let Him deliver him, let Him save him if He desires him.'"

This was the clear prophecy of the Psalmist of what was (c) to come to pass a long time after him, and it was fulfilled when, according to Matthew---- "Two thieves being crucified with him, one on the right of the Saviour and one on the left, the passers-by reviled him, wagging their heads and saying, Woe, Thou that destroyest the temple and buildest it in three days, save thyself; if thou art the Son of God, come down from the cross. Likewise the chief priests mocking him with the elders and scribes said, he saved others, himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him. If he trusted in God, let him deliver him now if he will have him, for he said, I am the Son of God." And according to Luke: "The people stood beholding, and the rulers with them mocked him saying, He saved others, let him save himself if he is the Christ, the Son of God, the chosen."

And according to Mark: "And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads, and saying, Ah, thou that destroyest the temple and buildest it in three days, save thyself and come down from the cross. Likewise the chief priests, mocking between themselves with the scribes, said, He saved others, himself he cannot save. Let Christ the King of Israel descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe in him." Where is the discrepancy between this and the prophecies in the Psalm, "I am a worm and no man, a reproach of men and the outcast of the people. All they that saw me reviled me, they spoke with their lips, they shook their heads, saying, he trusted in the Lord, let him deliver him, let him save him if he desires him"? Wonder not if this was said of and fulfilled by the Passion of our Saviour, for even now He is a reproach among all men who have not yet received faith in Him ! For what is more shameful or worse than any reproach than to be crucified? Yea, He is an outcast of the people of the Jews, for even to-day that whole race loves to mock Him, to set Him at naught, and to spit on Him: wherefore the apostle rightly says:

"We preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling-block, and to the Gentiles foolishness." And that which follows in the Psalm you will find even now said of Him by the multitude. Such, then, was His prayer concerning the affliction that overtook Him. And since He knew that His original union with our flesh, and His birth of a woman that was a Virgin was no worse experience than the suffering of death, while He speaks of His death He also mentions His birth, saying to the Father: "Thou art he that took me out of my mother's womb: Thou wast my hope even from my mother's breasts. On thee was I cast from my mother: from my mother's womb thou art my God." Thus He naturally remembers this to comfort Him in His present affliction.

"For just as Thou wert My Succour," He says, "when I took the body of man, when Thou, my God and Father, like a midwife didst draw the body that had been prepared for Me by the Holy Spirit from My travailing mother, putting (d) forth Thy power, to prevent any attempt or plan of hostile powers, envious of My entry into humanity. And since at the very Conception Thou didst overshadow that which was in the womb, so that the rulers of this world might not be aware of the Conception of the Holy Virgin by the Holy Spirit; which mighty mystery thy Archangel Gabriel did reveal to Mary, saying: 'The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee.' Just as the power of the Highest overshadowed Me when I was conceived, and took Me out of My mother's womb when I was born, so it is now My sure consolation, that Thou wilt much more save Me from death. And in this hope I put My trust in Thee, My God, My Lord, My Father: I put My trust not as now first beginning My hope in Thee, for I trusted Thee even when I drew My infant food from My mother's breasts, and was thought to be like human babes powerless and without reason. Such I was not, though I had a human body:

it was not like in power or (b) substance to other bodies, I was free and unfettered, as Thy Lamb, O God, though at that age nourished with milk, I mean from My mother's breasts. And no one will think this impossible, if he remembers that even before I was cast on Thee from My mother, and from the womb of My mother Thou art My God. For while still carried in the treasury of her that brought Me forth I saw Thee, My God, (c) as one who continued separate and untroubled though in such close contact with things of flesh, yea, as one who had no body yet and was free of all bonds. And so was I cast on Thee from My mother, on Thee, My God, from My mother's breasts, so that My power was felt while I was still borne in the womb of the Holy Virgin by My forerunner John, while he was yet in the womb of Elizabeth, so that, stirred by My divinity, he leapt for joy, and was filled with (d) the Holy Spirit.

"Bearing such memories in My mind, and ever setting My God and Father before My eyes, it is not strange that in this present hour of supreme suffering I should do the same, when in My obedience to Thee, My Father, of My own will and consent I became a worm and no man, a reproach of men and the outcast of the people. And now when all who gaze on My body nailed to the Cross think they see a sight of ill omen and mock Me, pouring such a flood of reviling and satire upon Me, shewing that they not only think evil of Me and harbour it in their minds, but speak it without fear and say it openly: for 'They spoke with their lips, and shook their heads, saying, He (501) trusted in the Lord, let Him deliver him.'

"So now when such troubles hem Me in, I call upon Thee, My Father, who drew Me out of My mother's womb, on Whom I was cast from My mother, in Whom I trusted from her breasts, made known to Me and acknowledged as My God even from My mother's womb, and I beseech Thee not to depart from Me, for affliction is near. For there comes, He says, yea, is all but come and at the door, afflicting Me and pressing upon Me the last cloud of all, the cloud of My surpassing trouble. I do not mean this (b) trouble which now enfolds Me, nor the Cross, nor the jeers of men, nor the mockery, nor anything at all that I underwent before the Cross, scourging, insults, nor all My vile treatment from the sons of men; but I look to the dissolution of the body in death itself, and the descent into Hades next thereto, and the onset of the hostile powers opposed to God. And I therefore say, 'Trouble is near, and there is no helper.'"

It is surely the very climax of affliction to have no helper. For Christ went thither for the salvation of the souls in (c) Hades that had so long awaited His arrival, He went down to shatter the gates of brass, and to break the iron bonds, and to let them go free that before were prisoners in Hades. Which was indeed done, when many bodies of the saints that slept arose and entered with Him into the true Holy City of God. But the opposing powers, added to mere human evil, attacked Him, grieving and afflicting Him sorely, though in His excess of goodness He lamented even over them. (d) But observe how all this is said, as in the person of Him that was carried in a mother's womb, and born of a mother, Whom we called the Lamb of God. For the words about the Passion apply to Him, just as did those about the Incarnate Birth. For that which is born must die, and that which dies can only travel the road to death which starts from birth.

This, then, our Lord and Saviour unfolds, not as being in nature without flesh and body, nor in so far as He is regarded as the Word of God and Divine, but in so far as He was able to say in His prayer to His Father: "Thou didst draw me out of my mother's womb, (502) thou wast my hope from my mother's breasts. I was cast on thee from my mother, thou art my God from my mother's womb." He then in His Passion prays such a prayer to His Father, and says: "Many hostile forces will surround Me, unclean daemons, and spirits of wickedness, and above all the prince of this world himself the vilest of them all, who because of their wickedness may well be called after evil beasts, be it savage (b) bulls, or calves, or lions, or dogs. And as I essay to withstand them all, but to do them no good, because from the intense evil of their nature they are incapable of receiving good from Me, with none of them for My helper or fellow-worker in My contest on behalf of the souls in Hades, am I not right in saying, 'Trouble is near, and there is no helper'?"

Of course it was not to be expected that any of the evil and hostile powers would have worked with Him, or aided (c) Him in His mission of good. But surely the bitterest element in the cup of pain that was His, was that none of the good and favouring angels, and none of the divine powers, dared to venture to the halls of Death and help Him in succouring the souls there. For in Him alone was there courage, since to Him only were the gates of death opened, Him only the janitors of Hades saw and feared, and He that has the power of death, descending from His royal throne, as recognizing Him only for His Lord, spoke gently (d) to Him with prayer and supplication, as Job relates. Yet He, seeing the impious realm of the tyrant so strong that no heavenly being dared to accompany Him to that bourne, or to help Him in saving the souls there, cries naturally, "Trouble is near, and there is ho helper," since the only Being from heaven who could have helped Him had forsaken Him, so that the glory and independence of His own choice and of His own victory might be proclaimed to all. And since the only Being that could help Him was not then His helper, it is natural that His first words should be, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is, "My God, My God, why (503) hast thou forsaken me?

For when He was conceived, and when He was brought forth by the Holy Virgin His Father's power was with Him, when the Holy Spirit came upon the maiden, and the Power of the Highest overshadowed her, and the Father Himself, as the oracle shews, drew forth Him that was begotten from her womb. But when in the hour of His Passion He entered on His struggle with Death, the Helper was no longer with Him. Yea, I (b) believe His own witness of this. For the words, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? which He spoke on the Cross, and which were prophetically foretold in the Psalm, what else do they mean but that like a great athlete He was matched against all these adversaries, while Almighty God ordered the contest and gave the decision? Thus He summons His Father as the overseer of what is being done, and as the adviser, like a clever Anointer, to come to Him, especially as He has no other helper, but only Him that governs (c) the content. And so He says in prayer, "Be not thou far from me, for trouble is near, and there is no helper."

And when with divine eyes He saw His body being suspended on the tree, the unembodied and invisible powers without in the air hovering around Him like voracious birds and wild beasts, and knew that almost at once His body would be a corpse, and fell the powers and rulers of the air surging around Him on every side, the spirit which now worketh in the children of disobedience, and the (d) daemons flying over the earth wherever men inhabit, and perhaps also the wild and dreadful beasts of Tartarus, of which Isaiah said, addressing Lucifer that had fallen from heaven: "Hades beneath was disturbed to meet thee, all the giants rose before thee." When, then, He saw all those without surrounding His crucified body, and preparing to attack Him, He describes their array when He says: "Many oxen have surrounded me, fat bulls hem me in. They have (504) opened their mouths against Me, as a lion voracious and roaring." For most likely they thought that the soul which dwelt in the body of Jesus was human and like other human souls; and opened their mouths as if to devour it like the other human souls. So He says, "They opened their mouths on me, like a lion voracious and roaring." And next He adds, "I am poured out like water." This may be said to have been fulfilled outwardly and historically, when One of the soldiers, according to the Evangelist John, (b) "pierced the side "of the Lamb of God "with a spear, and forthwith came there out blood and water." But He rather seems to refer to the dying of His entire spiritual being when He says:

"I am poured out like water, and all my bones are loosened, my heart in the midst of my body is like melting wax. My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue has cleaved to my throat." For this is surely a description of a dead body. So, too, He adds, "And thou hast brought me to the dust of death." And then, starting again from what was now past, to comfort Himself for what was yet to happen, He describes what He went through when they plotted against Him. "Many dogs surrounded me, the council of the wicked hemmed me in," meaning probably both the soldiers and the Jews who rose against Him. "27. Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall and gathered unto him the whole band of soldiers. 28. And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe. 29. And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews! 30. And they spit upon him, and took the reed and smote him on the head. 31. And after that they had mocked him, they took the robe off from him, and put his own raiment on him, and led him away to crucify him."

This is almost an exact fulfilment of "Many dogs surrounded me, the council of the wicked hemmed me in"; moreover, "They pierced my hands and my feet, they numbered all my bones," and also, "They came staring and looking upon me," and "They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots," were all fulfilled, when they fastened His hands and feet to the Cross with nails, and when they took His garments and divided them among them. For John's record is: "23. Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments, and made four parts, to every soldier (b) a part: and also his coat. Now the coat was without seam woven from the top throughout. 24. They said therefore among themselves, Let us not rend it, but cast lots whose it shall be; that the Scripture might be fulfilled, which saith: They parted my garments among them, and for my vesture did they cast lots. These things therefore the soldiers did."

And Matthew witnesses to what was done as follows: "And they crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots. And sitting down they watched him." The dogs that surrounded Him and the council of the wicked were the rulers of the Jews, the Scribes and High Priests, and the Pharisees, who spurred on the whole multitude to demand His blood against themselves and against their own children. Isaiah clearly calls them dogs, when he says: "Ye are all foolish dogs, unable to bark." For when it was their duty, even if they could not acquire the character of shepherds, to protect like good sheepdogs their Master's spiritual flock and the sheep of the house of Israel, and to warn by barking, and to fawn upon their Master and recognize Him, and to guard the flock entrusted to them with all vigilance, and to bark if necessary at enemies outside the fold, they preferred like senseless dogs, yes, like mad dogs, to drive the sheep wild by barking, so that the words aptly describe them, which say: "Many dogs have surrounded me, the council of the wicked have hemmed me in." And all who even now conduct themselves like them in reviling and barking at the Christ of God in the same way may be reckoned their kin; yea, they who like those impious soldiers crucify the Son of God, and put Him to shame, have a character very like theirs. Yea, all who to-day insult the Body of Christ, that is the Church, and attempt to destroy the hands and feet and very bones, are of their number, if it be true that:

"We are one body in Christ, and all members one of another, and the head must not say to the feet, I have no need of you, nor the eyes to the hands." Thus in times of persecution, it may be aptly said of those who work against the members of Christ on the side of their enemies: "They pierced my hands and my feet, they numbered all my bones." Then, too, they divide His garments among them, and cast lots upon His vesture, when each individual tears and destroys the glory of His Word, I mean the words of the Holy Scriptures, now this way, now that, and when they take up opinions about (c) Him from misleading schools of thought such as godless heretics invent. To crown all this He addresses the following prayer to His God and Lord and Father: "But thou, O Lord, take not far off thy help." Left for a little while alone for the shewing forth of the contest, and stripped to contend with Death without a helper, well aware that His only succour from His Father will be by the Resurrection from the dead, He naturally now prays to escape from the (d) array of His adversaries. So He says: "Thou, O Lord, remove not far thy help, afford me succour. For my succour will come from thy help," and it is perhaps in reference to His succour that the whole Psalm is entitled "Concerning the succour at dawn."

"Have regard then to My succour, extending to Me as soon as dawn conies the succour of the Resurrection from the dead, which I know that I shall receive, if thou remove it not from Me. Save My soul from the sword, My Only-begotten from the power of the dog. Thou wilt save Me from the mouth of the lion, and (507) my lowliness from the horns of the unicorns." By which I understand Him to mean the powers of the under-world, which it is not in my power to distinguish and divide into classes, shewing which was the sword that threatened our Saviour's life, or which one like a dog of death stretched forth its death-fraught paw, to capture it. For He says: "Save my soul from the sword, my Only-begotten from the power of the dog." And another evil (b) power reckoned as one of the wild beasts there, called a lion, opening wide its vast and yawning mouth of death, essays to devour His soul with the others of them that go down to Hades, just as long before mighty Death devoured them, being none other than the lion that opened his mouth before our Saviour, from which He prayed to His Father to deliver Him, saying: "Save me from the lion's mouth."

And there were other evil and impious powers working (c) against the Unicorn of God, and attempting to seduce Him from His purpose, from whom too the Unicorn of God, our Lord having His Father as His only horn, prays that His lowliness may be saved, saying: "And my lowliness from the horns of the unicorn." What lowliness, but that wherewith, being in the form of God, He humbled Himself and emptied Himself, being obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross. Yea, so low descending, and coming even to this, I mean even to the sword in Hades, and to the hand of Him that is called its dog. (Whence, perhaps, the Greeks hearing of some such dog of death, painted it with three heads): and coming to the throat of the said lion, and subjecting His lowliness to the attacks of the impious Unicorns, and thus having completed the whole dispensation of His self-emptying and humiliation, and prayed that now at last He may receive help and the succour of His Father, He adds: "Thou, O Lord, remove not thy help far off, attend to my succour." And though He says this, His Father is not too far off to hear Him, He is not removed far off, He is not separated by the smallest space, but is actually saying to Him: "While thou speakest, I will say, I am here."

And He, well aware of this, and receiving succour from His Father, as He had prayed, begins from that point to chant the Hymn of Triumph, making the Psalm, "Concerning the succour at dawn," in which He says: "I will recite thy name with my brethren, in the midst of the Church I will hymn thee." First, of course, to the disciples and apostles, whom He calls His brethren, He promises to announce the good news of joy and gladness in Him, And in accordance with this, Matthew teaches, saying; "And, behold, Jesus met them, that is to say, those with Mary Magdalene, saying, All Hail. And they came to him and clasped his feet, and worshipped him. Then Jesus saith to them, Fear not, go tell my brethren, that they must go before me into Galilee. And there shall they see me." And John, too, after the Resurrection from the dead, introduces Jesus saying to Mary:

"Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to my Father. Go to my brethren and say to them, I ascend to my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God."

Thus He says that He will tell the Name of His Father first to the apostles, whom He calls His brethren. And after them, with swift progress, He promises that He will teach the Hymn of His Father to the Church founded in His (d) Name throughout all the world. It is just as if some supreme teacher of philosophy should give a course of instruction in the midst of his pupils for them to hear and and understand, that He in the midst of the Church says: "I will hymn thy praise," that the Church, learning and hearing His words, might in fit manner sing back the praises, no longer of the daemons, but of the One Almighty God, by Him that preached Him. He promises so to do, and from that very point earnestly bids the Church, and His brethren to hymn the Father's praise. Wherefore He says: "Ye that fear the Lord praise him, glorify him all ye seed of Jacob. And: "Let all the seed of Jacob fear him, for he hath not despised, nor been angered at the (509) prayer of the poor, nor turned away his face from him, but when he cried unto him he heard him. And thus he clearly shewed His release from the evils that were named before.

For if God heard Him when He cried to Him, when He prayed for His life to be delivered from the sword, and His Only-begotten from the dog, and His lowliness from the mouth of the lion, and the horns of the unicorn, it follows that we must understand Him to be released from them, when He says: "For God was not (b) angered by his prayer, and turned not his face from him, but when he called unto him, he heard him. And so it came to pass that being rescued from His woes, and escaping from death, He sojourned with His disciples and brethren, and sang His Father's praise "in the midst of the Church. And notice how He calls Himself "poor," in harmony with the prophecies already quoted, in which He was called poor and a beggar.

And when He has thus shewn His Resurrection, He (c) again returns to His Father, and says: "From thee is my praise in the great Church," remembering the great Church of all nations established throughout all the world, in which the Saviour's praise is for ever sung, by the will and co-operation of His Father. So He says: "From thee is my praise in the great Church." For of a truth it is great, this Church, gathered of every race of mankind, and above all comparison in gravity and nobility of life, and majesty of belief, while the Jewish nation, and (d) the synagogue of the Circumcision, is so attenuated in the poverty of its teaching, and life, and thought, and conceptions of God. Then He adds: "I will pay my vows in the sight of all that fear him," meaning by "all that fear him," the aforesaid great Church, to which He said: "Ye that fear the Lord, praise him." And what vows does He mean that He will pay, but those which He promised? And what did He promise, but those, of which He said: "I will tell thy Name to my brethren. In the midst of the Church I will praise thee? "And He proceeds: "The poor shall (510) eat and be satisfied, and they that seek the Lord shall praise him----their heart shall live for ever. All the ends of the earth shall remember and shall turn to the Lord, and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before him. For the Kingdom is the Lord's, and he rules over the nations."

In these words He very aptly proclaims the glorious works after His Resurrection, which are fulfilled in the calling of men from all nations, and by the election of men from the ends of the earth, the results of which being visible to all eyes afford evidence of the truth of the words of (b) the Psalm. And we, too, are the poor, whom like beggars in the things of God, the word of salvation nourishes with spiritual bread, the life-giving food of the soul, and affords eternal life. So the Psalm says: "The poor shall eat and be satisfied, and they that seek the Lord shall praise him, their heart shall live for ever." And the peroration of the (c) whole prophecy crowning all----"The generation that cometh shall be announced to the Lord, and they shall announce his righteousness to a people that shall be born, whom the Lord has made"----specifically foretells the Church of the Gentiles, and the generation established on the earth, through our Saviour Jesus Christ. For what could this people be which, it is here said, will be born for God after these things, which did not exist of old, and did not appear among men, but will be hereafter? What was the generation, which was not then, but which it is said will come, but the Church established by our Saviour in all the world, and the new people from the Gentiles, of which the Holy Spirit wonderfully spake by Isaiah, saying, "Who hath heard such things, and who hath seen them thus? The earth was in travail for one day, and a nation was born at once."

In this exposition I have but touched the fringe of the subject, but I must now pass on in haste to other topics, since time presses. But whoever cares for the Saviour's bidding, "Search the Scriptures, in which ye think to have eternal life, and those are they that witness of me," let him plunge his mind in each word of the Psalm, and hunt for the exact sense of the truth expressed. A FRAGMENT OF THE FIFTEENTH BOOK Given by A. Majus in the New Collection of Ancient Writers. Rome, 1825, tom. 1, par. 2, p. 173, in the Commentary on Daniel ii. 31.

I THOUGHT it incumbent on me to quote what is said by the famous Eusebius Pamphilus, of Caesarea, in the Fifteenth Book of The Proof of the Gospel; for in expounding the whole vision he says as follows:----"I believe this in no way differs from the vision of the prophet: for the prophet saw a great sea, just as the King saw a vast image: the prophet again saw four beasts, which he interpreted to mean four kingdoms, just as the King from the gold, silver, brass, and iron, figuratively described four kingdoms: and, once more, as the prophet saw a division of the ten horns of the last beast, and three horns destroyed by one, so the King saw part of the extremities of the image to be iron and part clay. And, moreover, as the prophet, after the vision of the four kings, saw the Son of Man receive universal rule, power and empire, so the King seemed to see a stone destroy the whole of the image, and become a great mountain that filled the sea. And the explanation is easy, for it was natural that the King, deceived as he was by the outward appearances of life, and admiring the beauty of the visible like colours in a picture, to liken the life of all men to a great image, whereas the prophet was rather led to compare the vast and mighty surge of life to a great sea.

So the King, who admired the substances of gold, silver, brass, and iron, which are costly among men, likened the dominant empires that succeed one another in the human world to substances, while the prophet described the same empires under the forms of wild beasts, according to the ideals of their rule. Then again the King, who probably was conceited, and prided himself on the empire of his ancestors, the mutability of human things is revealed, and the end of earthly kingdoms, to purify him of his pride, and to make him realize the instability of human things, or at least the final universal Kingdom of God. For after the first, or the Assyrian Empire, signified by the gold, was to come the Persian, shewn forth by the silver; and thirdly, the Macedonian, portrayed by the brass; and after that, the fourth, that of the Romans, would follow, more powerful than its predecessors, and therefore likened to iron. For it is said of it, 'And the fourth kingdom shall be stronger than iron': just as iron crushes and subdues everything, so did Rome crush and subdue. And after these four, the Kingdom of God was presented as a stone that destroyed the whole image. And the prophet agrees with this in not seeing the final triumph of the Kingdom of the God of the Universe before he has described the course of the four world-powers under the similitude of the four beasts.

I consider, therefore, the visions both of the King and the prophets, that there should be four empires only, and no more, to be proved by the subjection of the Jewish nation to them from the time when the prophet wrote."

[Note to the online text: the remainder of books 11-20 is lost.] [A footnote has been renumbered and moved here]

INTRODUCTION§ I. OBJECT AND OCCASION The Demonstratio Evangelica (Ευαγγελικης Αποδειξεως δεκα λογοι) originally consisted of twenty books, of which only ten remain. It was the concluding portion of the complete work, which included the Praeparatio. At the beginning of the latter Eusebius stated his object to be "to shew the nature of Christianity to those who know not what it means" the purpose of its pages was to give an answer to all reasonable questions both from Jewish or Greek inquirers about Christianity, and its relation to other religions. Thus the Praeparatio was intended to be "a guide, by occupying the place of elementary instruction and introduction, and suiting itself to our recent converts from among the heathen."

The Demonstratio, Eusebius promises in the same passage, will go further. It will adapt itself "to those who have passed beyond this, and are already in a state prepared for the reception of the higher truths." It will "convey the exact knowledge of the most stringent proofs of God's mysterious dispensation in regard to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." All apologetics, no doubt, have a double object, to convince the unbeliever and to strengthen the faithful. And it would certainly be an error to discriminate the stress on either of these objects too sharply in the case of any particular work. It is true from Justin to Butler that evidential works circulate as widely (or indeed more widely) in the Church as manuals of teaching than in the world as weapons of defence. But we can recognize a difference of emphasis in the tone and scope of apologetic works, dependent on the circumstances and environment of the age of their production, which inclines the balance perceptibly either in the direction of apology proper, or in that of dogmatic instruction. The Demonstratio then would seem to be of the latter class, rather than of the former. It is a manual of instruction for the faithful, rather than a challenge to the unbelieving.

This impression, however, must be balanced by the fact that certain sections of the argument seem to be deliberately planned to convince the unbeliever, notably where Eusebius restricts himself to unfolding the unique beauty of our Lord's Humanity in His Life and Work; and while reserving his "prophetic" arguments for the edification of the faithful, speaks of Him from the human and historic level, ως περι ανδρος κοινου, και τοις λοιποις παραπλησιου (102 b). Or when in the same book he constructs his powerful reductio ad absurdum of the suggestion that Christ was a wizard or a charlatan. The studied statements at the opening of the whole work give then the impression that the central object of Eusebius, in relation to the circumstances of his time, differed materially from that of the earlier Apologists like Justin and Aristides. They provided a reasoned defence of Christianity for the consideration of the rulers of the heathen world, and endeavoured to meet the. subtle criticism of pagan philosophers with convincing force. He aims primarily at strengthening the convictions of those already convinced. He desires to provide a completer enlightenment for those who are already members of the Church of Christ.

Though certain passages both in the Praeparatio and the Demonstratio speak of pagan persecution in the present tense (Praep. Ev. 584 a, b, Dem. 82 c), and if the tense is pressed must have been written before the close of the Diocletian and Galerian Terror by the Edict of Milan, A.D. 312 (Eus., H.E. x. 5), other passages present the picture, frequent in the earlier apologies, of a Church at peace and developing in all parts of the Empire (Praep. Ev. 9 d, Dem. 103 c, 138 b). This discrepancy we will examine below. But assuming that the work appeared after the persecution it will be recognized that the moment was opportune for the publication of a book, "shewing what Christianity is to them that do not know," and for offering a deep and sound foundation for the faith of the half-convinced. For years the martyrs had been prominent in the world's eyes. The Church as a whole had been super naturally loyal. The future seemed to be with the no longer despised Christians. There must have been many thoughtful people ready to examine their claims, and to inquire into the secret of their constancy. Many again, conquered by the bright spectacle of their endurance, had already entered the Church's gate led chiefly by faith and hope, and were now ripe to sit at the feet of teachers who could philosophically unveil her heavenly knowledge.

Nor should we suppose that, though the Imperial Government had decided that the coercion of so powerful a mass of conviction was impossible, the prejudice of pagan priest hoods and of the leaders of philosophy was inclined to yield without every effort that criticism, ridicule, and conservative tradition could exert. Celsus had been followed as protagonist against Christianity by Porphyry, and it was against him that the polemical weapons of the Demonstratio were forged. Porphyry had a very intimate knowledge of the Christian faith. He had possibly been a convert (Soc., H.E. iii. 23) and a pupil of Origen (Eus., H.E. vi. 19). He had written a book, Contra Christianos, full of acute criticisms, some of which the mind of the later Church has justified and accepted. There are quotations from this work in Praep. Ev. 28 c, 29 b, 179 d, 237 a to 241 b; and allusions to Porphyry in Praep. Ev. 143 c, 144 b, 190 a; Dem. Ev. 134. The high level of the attack would account for the comprehensiveness, the massive learning, and the dignity of the rejoinder, which gathers together and sums up the labours of previous Apologists. But, as we shall see, Eusebius did not set out to refute the arguments of Porphyry point by point, as Origen dealt with Celsus, or Justin with the Jew Trypho. He preferred to confront followers of the acute critic with the fact of Christianity as a blessed and growing power. He aimed at showing the supernatural agreement of its Founder's life and death with the prophecies.

He felt that on the flowing tide of divine power he could afford to disregard the eddying currents that ran impotently across it. Eusebius indeed wrote a definite rejoinder to Porphyry, the κατὰ Πορφορίου, a work in twenty-five books; this in all probability was later in his life. In this book it is quite likely that he attempted to meet the objections of Porphyry seriatim. His aim in the Demonstraiio was of a more general character.

To sum up, it was the cessation of persecution, the profound impression made on the educated and uneducated alike by the imperial change of front, the proud sense within the Church itself that its patience had triumphed, combined with the presence of the opposing criticism of the cultured, which may be said to have been the occasion for the great literary effort, which is called by Lightfoot "probably the most important apologetic work of the Early Church." § 2. THE DATE This question is involved in conflicting internal evidence. Is the Demonstratio earlier or later than the History, which is generally dated A.D. 325? The passage ει γουν τι δυναται η ημετερα ιστοπια (Dem. 273 d) proves nothing, for we must translate with Lightfoot, not "my history," but "my personal observation." Neither can the passage in the History (H.E. i. 2 ad fin.) be safely regarded as referring to the Demonstratio. There is a direct reference to the Quaestiones ad Stephanum in Dem. 353 c, but this does not prove that the whole of the latter work was anterior to the Demonstratio, for the Quaestiones have a cross-reference to the Demonstratio in col. 912 - ωσπερ ουν συνεστησαμεν εν ταις ευαγγελικαις αποδειξεσιν. It is suggested by Lightfoot that this part of the Quaestiones, the epitome or εκλογη εν συντομω, was added at a later date, in which case the Demonstratio would come between the Quaestiones and the Epitome.

Evidence from the mention of contemporary events is again conflicting, if we are seeking the date of the work as a whole. There is an obvious contrast between passages that speak of the Church as still undergoing persecution, e. g. Dem. 119 b, ο και εστιν εις δευρο θεωρουντας ενεργουμενον, ef. 182 d (εισετι και νυν) and 82 c, and those which in the manner of the earlier Apologists represent it as progressing and flourishing - e.g. Dem. 103 c and Praep. Ev. 9 d. The usual explanation of these discrepancies is to suppose that different sections of the work took shape at different times, the former towards the end of the Terror, the latter after its conclusion. (Gifford, Praeparatio, Tom. iii. pars. i. p. xii.) But there seems nothing unreasonable in supposing that an historical writer, engaged in defending Christianity on the ground of its endurance and success, while surveying in one coup d'oeil the three centuries of its past struggle, might very naturally refer to a persecution, that had but recently relaxed its pressure, as present. If this be thought probable we may consider the whole work to have been written between A.D. 314 and A.D. 318. For the more than probable allusion in Praep. Ev. 135 c to the punishment by Licinius of the Antiochene theosophical impostors, described in H.E. ix. 11, would place the date after A.D. 314, whereas the theological language would seem to be too unguarded to allow it to be likely that it was penned near the time when the decision of the Arian controversy was imminent. And Arius was already attracting attention in A.D. 319. (Bright: Church of the Fathers, i. 56.)

§ 3. CONTENTS Books I and II form an Introduction, for the opening of Book III regards them as "prolegomena." They describe the simplicity of Christian teaching, challenge the assumption that Christianity rests not on reason but on faith, and in claiming to use the Jewish scriptures, while rejecting the Jewish religion, establish the thesis that Christianity is a republication of the primitive religion of the patriarchs, from which the Mosaic religion was a declension, allowed by God because of the deterioration of the Jews under the assaults of the daemons during their exile in Egypt. Abundant prophetic evidence is given in Book II, that the coming of Messiah would synchronize with the downfall of the Jewish state, and the preaching of the Gospel to the Gentiles. Book III treats of Christ's Humanity, and is perhaps the most modern part of the argument. By an elaborate rc.ditdio ul. absitrdum the impossibility of Jesus Christ being aught but Perfect Man and Divine also is dramatically and cogently shown.

Books IV and V deal with the Divinity of Christ as Son and Logos, and it is in them that passages of an Arian ring have roused the anger of orthodox commentators. Book VI and the following books deal with our Lord's Incarnate life as the fulfilment of prophecy. Book X reaches the Passion and is especially occupied with Judas and the Betrayal. We may suppose with Lightfoot that the remainder of the work shewed the agreement of the Resurrection and Ascension of our Lord, the gift of the Holy Spirit, and the foundation and growth of the Church with the predictions of the Jewish prophets. A fragment of Book XV relates to the four kingdoms of the Book of Daniel, and suggests that that section of the work dealt with the doctrine of the Holy Catholic Church. § 4. RELATION TO EARLIER APOLOGIES The Demonstratio comes at the end of a long series of apologetical works, and embodies and codifies their results. It is the work of a man of extraordinarily wide scholarship, which marshals and buttresses with additional support the "loci communes" of his predecessors. Eusebius is no adventurer breaking fresh ground.

A comparison of the Demonstratio with the Trypho or the contra Celsum reveals only a more systematic application of the argument from prophecy used by Justin and Origen. In some cases the prophecies are explained in almost identical language. We may instance the exegesis of Psalm xxii. in Book X with that of Justin, in Trypho, cc. 98-106, the references to Isaiah vii. 14, where he uses the language of Origen, contra Celsum, i. 35, points out that Jesus Christ alone suits the passage, and quotes Deut. xxii. 23, 24 in support of the translation of νεανις. The question of the Christian's rejection of the Jewish Law and his acceptance of the Jewish scriptures had been handled by Justin, and the most striking portion of the Demonstratio, the argument in Book III, that Christ was no sorcerer, may be said to have been suggested by Origen, contra Celsum, ii. 48, and Justin, 1st Apol. c. 30. His explanation of the Old Testament Theophanies is that of the earlier Apologists, his insistence that Christianity rests on reason as well as faith, and his allegorical method, are plainly those of Origen and the Alexandrian school. It could hardly have been otherwise. After two centuries of defensive warfare against Jews and Greeks, the lines of controversy were clearly defined, and the apologetic writer but reiterated in a new form against the critics of his own day, what his predecessors hud said against a previous generation of critics. His "loci communes" were well known to the Catechist, just as the ordinary course of instruction to candidates for Confirmation follows a definite line to-day. The most he could achieve was to present in a systematic form such a codification of existing arguments as the circle around him required.

Yet the Praeparatio opens with a remarkable claim to originality of method. Eusebius contrasts the "more logical" nature of his proofs with "refutations and contradictions of opposing arguments, exegesis of scripture, and controversial advocacy" (Praep. Ev. i. 3). Here alluding to a mass of evidential literature he proposes to reject "all deceitful and sophistical plausibilities" in favour of the evidence of the fulfilment of the Jewish prophecies in Christ, and the developing life of His Church. But this is very much what the earlier Apologists set out to do. In what sense can Eusebius say: "The purpose, however, which we have in hand is to be worked out in a way of our own" (Praep. Ev. 7 a)? Lightfoot argues that Eusebius is referring to the use of lengthy quotations, by means of which religious ideals, that clash with Christianity, may be allowed to speak for themselves, as is stated in Praep. Ev. 16 d. "I shall not set down my own words, but those of the very persons who have taken the deepest interest in the worship of them whom they call Gods." But he admits that there was little originality in this method of controversy. It had been employed by the earlier Apologists.

The real claim of Eusebius seems to be made clear by the context. He quotes 1 Cor. ii. 14; iii. 6; and 2 Cor. iii. 5 as guides for avoiding "deceitful and sophistical plausibilities" and for the use of proofs free from ambiguity. And he contrasts the value of "words" with that of the evidence of "works" on which he prefers to rely. By "works" he means the power of Christ as a living, moving energy in human life. The exact fulfilment of Christ's anticipations, the triumph of His Church as foretold in Matt. xvi. 18, the fate of the Jews, and the wonderful fulfilment of the predictions of the Hebrew prophets are the "works" upon which Eusebius proposes to base his "demonstration."

But even so it can hardly be said that there was anything novel in such an intention, looking back to the apologies of Justin, Athenagoras, Aristides and Tatian. There is a series of chapters in Justin which reads almost like an outline sketch of the Demonstratio. Eusebius, therefore, can hardly have meant that the method which he adopted was new in the sense that it had not been used before. What then did he mean? Surely he must have had in his mind the methods or evidential writers of his own day. He must have been thinking of dialectical encounters with literary opponents. He may only have intended to stress his determination to abstain in the Demonstratio from meeting the objections of Porphyry and his followers point by point, as Origen had dealt with Celsus. If the method of Origen had made a deep impression on the educated world, and if Eusebius was regarded in any sense as belonging to the school of Origen, it was natural for him to state definitely that he proposed in his new work to follow a different course from Origen's. Origen's method was to follow every turn of the trail of a slippery foe: his opponent, so to say, made the game. Eusebius wished it to be understood that he started with a well-ordered programme of Scriptural exposition, and did not intend to be drawn aside into detailed controversy on points that had been raised by individual controversialists.

This intention, however fitfully and diffusely it is carried through, can never be said to be lost sight of in the Demonstratio. We have a constant recurrence to the massive evidence of a growing and flourishing Church, a changed society, a converted character. The heart of the argument is the connection of this external evidence with the Divine and Human Person of Christ. The lever that is intended to move the mind to realize the uniqueness of Christ is the exposition of a series of prophecies, whose selection, systematic arrangement and treatment confers on Eusebius, if not the crown of originality, at least the praise of having carefully codified the work of his predecessors. The Demonstratio then, like all the best apologetic work of the early Church, is based on the continuous living evidence of the action of a Divine Power. "The help," says Eusebius, "which comes down from the God of the Universe supplies to the teaching and Name of our Saviour its irresistible and invincible force, and its victorious power against its enemies" (Praep. Ev. 9 d).

Compared with the Octavius, the Trypho, or the contra Celsum the Demonstratio may seem cold and academic, for it lacks the charm and interest of the dialogue-form. Where they are redolent of the open air, and the marketplace, it suggests the lecture-hall and the pulpit. Much of the warmth, directness, and reality has evaporated from the appeal of Eusebius. These are obvious criticisms. But it must be remembered that Eusebius wrote for the cultured people of his own age. His method and manner are less perhaps the result of his own temperament than the production of a stately and courtly entourage. As the heir of the apologetic of the market-place, and of a struggling sect of believers, he was called by the genius of his own time to reproduce in a polished and rhetorical style, for an educated circle, the old arguments which had welled forth from the lips of the infant Church in spontaneous freedom and life. There can be no doubt that the world for which they were intended received in the Praeparatio and the Demonstratio what was for it the most unanswerable defence of the Christian Religion.

§ 5. THE ARGUMENT OF THE THIRD BOOK The Third Book of the Demonstratio seems to claim special consideration. As a piece of apologetic it is extraordinarily full and to the point. It seizes the real salients in the evidential controversy, and is occupied with topics which must always come foremost in the defence of Christianity. It is no argument in the air, it comes down to meet the ordinary unbeliever in the crowd, and begins by speaking to him of Christ as "one bearing ordinary humanity and like the rest." Upon the acknowledged basis of the beauty of His human life, and the perfection of His ethical teaching better understood and more universally acknowledged by non-Christians in the modern world than they were then except by a few thinkers like Porphyry, the argument passes to the Miracles, which are the evidence that Christ is something more than human, to hypotheses which professed to account for them, viz. invention and sorcery, and to the question of the credibility of the witnesses to our Lord's abnormal acts. It is remarkable that one who could be so diffuse should, in so short a space, have combined so many arguments in one connected scheme; and still more that he should have made central the points that are central, viz. the historical Person of Christ, His Ethics, His miraculous Power, and the credibility of the Gospel-writers, treated as involving generally all belief in witness to historical facts.

The great mass of the Demonstratio is an elaborate rechauffee of past apologetics, but in this book we feel the touch of something fresh, free, original, something that springs from keen, personal interest, warm perception, and ardent conviction. It is not sword-play, but actual warfare, and there are rapier-strokes of satire, which the hand of Swift might have dealt. In literary quality, as well as in appositeness to the subject discussed, the book is remarkable. Its finish, completeness in itself, and contrast with the Demonstratio as a whole might suggest that it was a separate essay, written in actual controversy with an opponent who drew out Eusebius' keenest logic and dialectical skill, and that this essay was eventually incorporated in the greater but more academic work. Its argument may be summarized as follows: [[87-102]] Jesus claimed in the synagogue at Nazareth (Luke iv. 21) to be the fulfilment of the prophecy of a Saviour (Isa. lxi. i). Moses' prophecy of a successor "like himself" (Deut. xviii. 15), who should come at the fall of the Jewish kingdom (Gen. xlix. 10), Isaiah's "Root of Jesse" (Isa. xi. 1), Micah's prediction of Bethlehem (Micah v. 2), Isaiah's "suffering servant" (Isa. liii. 3-8), who died that He might rise to rule over the world through His Church, are only fulfilled in Christ.

[[102-107c]] Reply to attacks upon Christ as (i) deceiver; (ii) wizard.- First on the basis of mere humanity (ως περι κοινου και τοις λοιποις παραβλησιου) Christ must be realized as the best man who ever lived. Consider the ethical outcome of His teaching, in purity, meekness, sanity of mind, benevolence, love of truth. He called back the lost ideals of Abraham, and gave them to the whole world; their value is admitted, for even the Greek oracles praise Abraham's monotheism. He abjured a sacrificial worship, but so did Porphyry (de Abst. ii. 34) and Apollonius of Tyana. He taught that the world was created and would one day be destroyed, even as Plato did, and also the doctrine of the Immortality of the Soul, and thus made His poor disciples wiser than supercilious philosophers, who seem proud to claim identity with the flea, the worm, and the fly. He stressed a divine judgment, punishment, and an eternal life with God. He recognized angels and daemons, helpers and foes of the soul just as the Hebrews did. All this is ethically sound.

[[107d-125b]] But there was a divine side to Christ, as is shown by His Miracles of mercy and love; He died voluntarily, rose again, and ascended to heaven. The miraculous in the life of Christ is in line with the miraculous in Christianity. Those who deny it must either prove that it was invented, or the result of sorcery. Now the type of teaching Christ gave His disciples is utterly opposed to their inventing falsehoods. It was ascetic, and made truth and purity the first essentials of conduct. If you admit the fanciful hypothesis that He really taught them fraud and specious lying you are landed in absurdities. Deceit could afford no corporate cohesion, κακω κακος ου φιλος, ουδε αγαθω: and again, what had they to expect but a death like His? After His death, too, they only honoured Him the more! They were even ready to die for Him. It is inconceivable that they knew Him to be really vicious. And equally impossible that, if they were, they should propose to convert the whole world, and actually do so, poor and uneducated as they were. You must imagine them meeting secretly after the Crucifixion, admitting Christ's deceit, and yet conspiring to propagate the Gospel-story: "Let us see," they say, "that our freak lasts even to death. There is nothing ridiculous in dying for nothing at all. "What could be finer than to make both gods and men our enemies for no possible reason? . . . And suppose we convince no one.

we shall have the satisfaction of drawing down upon ourselves in return for our inventions the retribution for our deceit. Such theories are ridiculous, for there is no doubt that persecution and death faced the Apostles. Yet there was no traitor among them after the Ascension. And they actually succeeded in their adventure. Now this hypothesis of a conspiracy to deceive might be used with equal force with regard to Moses, or the Greek philosophers, and indeed all those whose lives history records.

The simplicity, devotion, and ascetic lives of the Apostles guarantee their honesty. They faced all for truth and the Name of Christ. The Gospels reveal their modesty and straightforwardness in unexpected ways. It has been well said: "We must put complete confidence in the disciples of Jesus, or none at all"; distrust of them logically means distrust of all writers. Why allow invidious distinctions? The Passion is the crowning crux, how could they have invented a story which would handicap all their efforts? That they gave a true account of it really authenticates their accounts of the Miracles, and glorious manifestations of Christ. The evidence of Josephus, too, may be called in with good effect. (See note on this passage.) [[125b-141a]] Against the alternative view that Christ was a sorcerer.- The suggestion is opposed to the whole trend of His teaching and manner of life. He was unworldly, pure, and retiring; sorcerers are the reverse. If He had been one His followers would have resembled Him, but the great mark of the whole Christian Church is its abhorrence of magic. No Christian has ever admitted himself to be a sorcerer even to escape death. And this argument may be extended-in all ways the virtues of Christians vouch for the character of their Master. They afford "clear evidence of the nurture of His words." The Greeks boast of the self-sacrifice of Democritus and Krates, but Christian zealots can be counted by the myriad. They know what Plato alone knew about God, but he was confessedly unable to make God known, whereas it is the common task of the Christians.

But was Christ's sorcery self-taught, or learned from others ? If the former then it showed something of the nature of supernatural power, if the latter, meaning that He was taught it in Egypt, what a strange thing that Christ should so utterly outstrip His teachers, and institute a new nation and new laws, as He has done. Once more note that He paid no court to the daemons, and that they even now shudder at His Name. Think of His union with the Father, His purity, justice and truth, His perfect character, and you will laugh at the suggestion. The very drumons hear witness to him in the Oracles quoted by Porphyry as "a man signal in holiness." His grandeur is shown by His choice of poor men for apostles, "because maybe he had in mind to do the most unlikely things." And what a design it was-to rule the whole world! And His followers were to do the work simply "in His Name." That alone explains their success. They had to preach the paradox, that God came on an embassy in a human body, and died on a Cross! The only explanation of their success is His co-operation with them, for the Gospel in itself is not plausible. The Power He gave them to work miracles amazed their hearers, and induced them to yield to the message: without His Power they could never have succeeded.

And you may add to this the providential preparation of the world for the preaching of the Gospel through the establishment of the Roman Empire, whose Heads both by their leniency and severity have assisted the divine purpose of spreading the Gospel. [[141a]] Such a summary as the above is but a sorry skeleton. It is void of all the life and vividness, the subtle turns, the satirical touches of the argument. But it reveals on what ground the writer really rested in his defence of Christianity. His apology is seen to be not abstract and a priori, but almost modern in its hold on historical fact. Let us consider the points that stand out. (i) There is the argument from Prophecy. It is fashionable to say that the Apologists were deluded in their persistent efforts to link the Gospel facts with prophetic predictions. No doubt they were in a sense deluded, and the greater part of the Demonstratio is a monument to the delusion. But yet, though the method is changed, there is still an argument from prophecy. The lines of optimistic hope for mankind that run through the Hebrew prophets do meet at the feet of Christ. He alone satisfies their majestic anticipations.

"We may say," writes Prof. W. E. Barnes, in his essay On the Permanent Value of the Old Testament, "that the prophets saw, each under a form suited to his own age, a vision of God's presence with men, realised to a new degree, and 'specialised' (if the word may be used) in Israel through the instrumentality of a visible leader of Israel. The ideas of a chosen people and of a chosen leader upon whom the Spirit of God rests are found in those prophetic passages." The prophecies to which he alludes are Micah iv. 8 to v. 6; Isa. ix. 1-7, xi. i-io, Hi. 13 to liii. 12; Jer. xxiii. 15, 16. It is worthy of remark that in selecting five passages of typical Messianic prophecy, the fourth-century and the twentieth-century scholar choose three out of the five the same. (ii) The historical Personality of Jesus as perfect Man stands out in a very modern way. The εν ανθρωποις πολιτευσαμενον και παθοντα of the Creed of Caesarea, upon which Eusebius had been brought up, had not failed of its effect; neither had his patient study of the Gospels. Whatever his theory of the union of the Divinity with the Humanity, he had a very clear and a very true conception of the Humanity of our Lord. He speaks of the Man Christ Jesus almost as One Whom he has known. Ho follows Him on His works of mercy. He catches the spirit of His words. He feels their supreme truth, their unexampled beauty, their divine audacity, their kingly authority. He imagines correctly Christ's effect upon His followers, he argues back from the ideals of the followers to the uniqueness of the Master.

It is quite remarkable that Eusebius should start with the human Christ, and describe him as the best man that ever lived, before introducing the conception forced upon him by the Miracles that He was divine as well. It was the method of the Master Himself, and therefore the right one. (iii) Eusebius' view of the value of the witness of the writers of the Gospels, and of the first teachers of Christianity, has been a feature of many volumes of evidences to the days of Butler and Paley and our own time. But it may be doubted whether the argument from the simplicity and transparent honesty of these "unlearned and ignorant men" has ever been more cogently put, their bravery, their persistence, their devotion, their facing the certainty of "labours, dangers and sufferings," the magnificence of the design with which they set out, the paradox they were called to preach, the divine power that made them triumph.

In the last fifty years of New Testament criticism how often has it been evident that these books and their writers were being put to tests, from which all other records were exempt. This, too, Eusebius deprecated. Criticism should treat all alike, and to treat all as the Gospels have been treated would leave history a mass of questionable documents and disputed statements.

(iv) There is an ethical stress of deep significance in the whole book. The Humanity of Christ and His teaching are made to challenge the unbeliever first of all by their moral value; it is claimed for them that they satisfy, and more than satisfy, human aspirations after goodness. The Miracles are presented as worked for moral ends. It is the ethical interest that gives the fire of indignation and the sting of satire to the arguments that Christ is neither charlatan nor sorcerer. Again and again the purity and self-control, the justice and love of truth, the unselfishness and benevolence of the Christian teaching, and of its result in countless lives that philosophy would have been powerless to affect, are dwelt upon. As we have seen, Eusebius reads back from the lives of Christians the character of Christ - that is to say, he finds in actual life around him something of the moral ideal that he knows to be summed up in Christ from Whom the life of men around receives it. He shews throughout a very real appreciation of the bearing of faith on conduct. The life of the Christian is the ultimate Court of Appeal for the reality of Christ. Ethical value demonstrates a divine power as its spring and source. They that overcome the world prove the truth of the Gospel. Eusebius is defending the Gospel of a divine Christ; the merely human Christ is One Whose character implies the divine as well; and He is the source and stay of moral progress. Eusebius realized this; the world of our day doubts it. But as has been well said: "There is no proof that the ethical principles have existed effectively in the past except in connection with Christian doctrine, so there is little probability that they can ever exist in the future, for the mass of men at least, except in dependence on a living Christ."

§ 6. THE CHRISTOLOGY OF EUSEBIUS

Eusebius was in his day the leading representative of ecclesiastical conservatism. That is to say, his theology was, allowing for the difference of period, almost precisely that of Origen. For as Dr. Bigg has remarked : "What struck later ages as the novelty and audacity of Origen's doctrine was in truth its archaism and conservatism. This system of doctrine had captured the Eastern Church, and men like Eusebius had absorbed it from the lips of those who had sat at the feet of Origen himself. It was in accord with the general outlook of cultured men. It appeared to be the logical development of orthodox thought. It is true that elements that had been prominent in heretical teaching were included in it, but they were the good elements, and their carefully limited position in the system made them innocuous. It was the unfolding of the Logos-doctrine on a basis loyal to Scripture and the Rule of Faith. The Logos-theology was the natural way then to think about the immanence of God. It had been appropriated for the Christian Religion long ago by the Apologists. The theology based upon it stood not only for a fascinating idealistic faith, but also for (the strongest bulwark against what orthodoxy dreaded most-the heresies which tended to make the divine Persons but temporary manifestations of one Godhead, viz. Modalism or Sabellianism. The Logos-theology stressed the unchangeable-ness of the Father, and His distinction from the Son, one in essence though They might be.

For the moment the distinction of the Son from the Father was more important to the Church than the question how far such a distinction implied subordination and inferiority. Justin had not shirked the phrase δευτερος θεος, neither did Origen. As Dr. Sanday has said: "The reaction against Sabellianism (which became a general term including all forms of Monarchianism) had not a little to do with the exaggerations on the other side; and in particular the dread of this form of error contributed to the rapid rise and spread of Arianism. The point where Arianism touched this established and somewhat quiescent theology was exactly where Origen had discouraged speculation. He had given to the Church the doctrine of the eternal generation, but pronounced its comprehension beyond human reason. Arians claimed the right to open a door that was shut. But the disciples of Origen were not perhaps so much disposed to quarrel with adventurers into the uncharted realms "of the ineffable relations of the Godhead before the remotest beginnings of time," provided they held some form of the Logos-doctrine, as they were to withstand those who rejected it altogether. And their own language is to a later age sometimes indistinguishable from Arianism. Of such a theology the doctrinal parts of the Demonstratio may be considered representative. Let us briefly examine it.

As Harnack says : "Eusebius was more convinced than Origen that the idea of deity was completely exhausted in that of the strictly one and unchangeable ον the πρωτη ουσια; he separated the δευτερος θεος much further from God than the Apologists." We therefore find the utmost emphasis laid on the Absolute Character of Cod the Unbegotten. He is "the One αρχη born before the first, earlier than the Monad" (745 b). He precedes the Son in existence (147), is "the greater God, and as such alone holds the name in His own right" (κυριως) (226). He is as the Sun to the world, too mighty to mingle with created things directly, requiring a Mediator, through whom to create and govern the created world (154). Therefore by His own will He begets the Logos, "the first-born Wisdom altogether formed of Wisdom, and Reason and Mind, or rather Wisdom itself, Reason itself, and Mind itself" (146,1). He "alone bears the inconceivable image in Himself through which He is God, and also because of His appointment to guide the Universe" (146 c); i.e. He is divine by essence as well as by office.

Eusebius uses the well-worn similes of the Apologists: the relation of the Father to the Son is as light to its ray, as myrrh to its scent, as a king to his portrait. But there is the important difference sufficiently stressed, that having been begotten the Son exists apart from the Father in His own essence (147). Yet worship is due to Him as δευτερος θεος because the greater God dwells in Him (226 d), as the image of a king is honoured not for its own sake, but for the sake of the king. So the words, "They shall know Thee the only true God" cannot be referred to the Logos or Holy Spirit, but only to the Unbegotten (231). In the work of creation He stands "midway between the begotten and the Unbegotten." As with Origen and the Neoplatonists He is the "idea of the world," the basis (θεμελιος) for all created things (213). And it is because of His connection with the world that lower predicates are attached to Him - He is now God's δημιουργημα (146 b) and υπουργος (257 b) ; the "second cause " (216 b); "a second Lord" (227 d), and is said "to have attained secondary honours" (δευτερειων ηξιωσθαι) (227 d). So the Father is "Lord and God" of the Son (233 a).

In the Incarnation Eusebius teaches the distinctive doctrine of Origen that the Logos associates Himself with a pure, unfallen human soul. "He remains Himself immaterial and unembodied as He was before with the Father" (169 b). "No evil deed can harm Him, because He is not really embodied" (168). "He shared His own gifts with men, and received nothing in return" (ib.). His Body is hut the earthen lamp through which His light shines (188). He comes to republish the true doctrine, from which man has fallen away through the deceptions of the dnemons, to establish a Church to preach it, and to bring man back to God. Once Eusebius uses the word συναποθεοω, "to deify men with Himself" as the object of the Incarnation (170). Five reasons are given for the Death on the Cross (167). It is chiefly the decisive triumph over the daemons, but it is also an expiatory sacrifice for the sins of men. "He offered Himself and the Humanity He assumed to the higher and greater God." In His earthly life Christ now revealed the Humanity and now the Divinity (165); and it is possible for Eusebius, leaving the Logos in the background, to devote part of a Book to meeting the common man on his own ground, and to treat of the perfection of Christ's life and teaching as merely human.

The missing Books no doubt dealt with the Risen and Ascended Christ, and the Holy Spirit. There are only hints on these topics in the Books before us. He is "Priest of the obedient to the Father" (164 d). There is a passage (220 a) which especially rouses the anger of de Billy, a famous student of the Greek Fathers in the sixteenth century. It is the interpretation of Ps. cix. : "The Lord said unto My Lord," where the first Lord is said to mean the Father, and the second the Son, Who is thus confessed by the Holy Spirit in David, to be his Lord: "Quod quidem credere quid aliud est quam horrendae impietatis crimine se astringere!" (Billius, Obs. Sac. I. 29, p. 48).

It is clear that the theology of Origen is presented here either directly or by implication: Origen taught that God is the only real essence, that by the necessity of His Nature He reveals Himself; that by an act of will He eternally begets the Logos, which is His Consciousness, and also the Idea of the World; that the Logos being the Image of God is essentially God, not begotten in time nor out of the nonexistent; that He is no impersonal Force, but a Second Person in the Godhead. That as the Idea of the World He is subordinate, and in His office to creation both κτισμα and δημιουργημα; that His Incarnation is a Union (almost docetic) with an unfallen soul, with which He lives and which He draws up to Himself by bonds of mutual love; that His work on earth is chiefly the republication of truth to enlighten men blinded by daemons; that His Death was complete Victory over them, and also sacrificial; that the Humanity was gradually deified until at last the man Jesus passed into the Logos, and that this deification is the destiny of all who share the Logos now.

Such is a bald summary of perhaps the greatest theological system of antiquity, and it is obvious how it lies behind and beneath all that Eusebius says. Like Origen, he rests on Biblical exegesis and is dominated by the Rule of Faith; like Origen, he refrains from speculation on the mystery of the coming-into-being (ουσιωσις) of the Logos. He expresses the point-of-view of a dominant theology in an assured tone. He speaks as one who voices the opinion of the great mass of cultured believers; for Origen was in possession, and Arius and the Homoousians were alike innovators. The Creed of the Church of Caesarea, which Eusehius presented at Nicaea as an eirenicon to be accepted by both parties, embodied this theology. "It bears," says Dr. Bright, "a considerable resemblance to that which the Council ultimately framed: it was emphatic on the personal distinctions in the Holy Trinity, asserting each Person to be and to exist as truly Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; it recognizes "One Lord Jesus Christ as 'the Word of God, God from God, Light from Light, Life from Life, Only-begotten Son, First-born of all Creation, Begotten before all ages, and through Whom all things come into being,' and it mentioned also His becoming 'incarnate for our salvation, His Life among men, His Passion, Resurrection on the third day, Ascension to the Father, and future Coming in glory to judge (the) quick and dead,' and concluded as then quoted, with 'We believe also in one Holy Spirit'; yet it was not sufficiently explicit as to the main point at stake, His eternal relation to the Father."

This deficiency was to be supplied by the inclusion of the Homoousion. The Son must be defined as "of the same essence" as the Father. No statement that He was begotten before time was adequate. The Logos must be distinctly separated from the created Universe. And this the Homoousion alone would effect for minds of that day. But it was unfortunately a suspected term. It had been anathematized at the Council of Antioch (A.D. 269) when employed by Paul of Samosata. Athanasius used it sparingly in its hour of victory. Later on the Semi-Arians rejected it as savouring of Sabellianism. No wonder it seemed to steady conservatives like Eusebius, who did not wish to define the ineffable, to head straight for Modalistic views. How could two "of the same essence" be aught but one under different aspects? The doctrinal trend of Eusebius, as Harnack recognizes, was to widen the gulf between the πρωτη αιτια and the Logos, rather than to lessen it. The Homoousion seemed perilously like filling it up. But with the necessary limitations he could conscientiously sign it. Safeguarded from Sabellian implications it was harmless. The theology of the Demonstratio shows quite clearly how and in what sense the word could be used credally by an exponent of the Origenic theology without any violence to conscience. It makes his attitude throughout the momentous days at Nicea intelligible and creditable to him as a peacemaker. The letter he wrote to his diocese becomes no mere shuffling apology, but an honest statement.

He makes it perfectly clear in what sense he understands the Homoousion. He explains that he has signed on the representation of the Emperor that "consubstantial" implied nothing physical, but must be regarded as having "a divine and mysterious signification. Thus, he says that it does not imply that the Son is "a part of the Father," nor does "Begotten, not made," mean more than that the Son does not form part of the created Universe, and "does not resemble in any respect the creatures which He has made, but that to the Father alone, Who begat Him, He is in all points perfectly like; for He is of the essence and of the substance of none save the Father."

He also said that he agreed to the anathemas on those who said that the Son "came out of the non-existent," or that "there was a time when He was not," because of the un-Scriptural nature of such expressions. Finally, he definitely asserted that the new formula was in agreement with the Creed that he had originally proposed. Acquaintance with the Demonstratio guarantees the sincerity of the statement. If the Homoousion was to be understood as explained by Constantine, signing it involved no violent wrench with the past. It was capable of being transplanted into the creed of Eusebius. Even Origen had used the word in the sense now applied to it. If Eusebius signed with reluctance, he signed with sincerity.

There is a statement of Harnack's that the Logos-doctrine as held by Eusebius "effaced the historical Christ." It would give the impression that theologians of the school of Origen necessarily followed the Gnostics in all their flights. If Hellenic speculation had been the only wing of their theology, they might logically have held a faith of mere abstractions. But the school, like its master, was marked by its devotion to Scriptural exegesis. It was Biblical to the core. Hence such a statement as Harnack's in the face of the earlier part of the Demonstratio appears grotesque and exaggerated. At any rate Eusebius' hold on the Gospel history was firm and sure. No one can read the third Book without realizing that Eusebius had an interest in the earthly life of our Lord that effectually neutralized the dangers of Gnostic abstract speculation. He had an evangelical sense of the value of all the words and deeds of the Incarnate Christ. His picture of Jesus Christ is not a mass of high-sounding phrases and Biblical images, it is the work of a pastor of souls, who, however abstract his formal theology may be, understands quite well, that it is the concrete historical facts that move men, not the philosophical theories that underlie them, and that the Word took flesh and wrought the Creed of Creeds, that He might enter in at the doors, not only of the lowly, but of all who are formed of human elements.

§7. THE REFERENCES TO THE EUCHARIST IN THE DEMONSTRATIO It will be useful, perhaps, to bring together here the passages in the Demonstratio which allude to the Eucharist. They are all incidental to the argument, and therefore doctrinally all the more interesting. They express the common sense of the Eastern Church on the subject in a spontaneous way. (i) 37 b. sqq.-Jesus the Lamb of God by His sacrifice frees us from the Mosaic Law. "We are therefore right in celebrating daily His memory, and the Memorial of His Body and Blood (την τουτου μνημην του τε σωματος αυτου και του αιματος την υπομνησιν οσημεραι επιτελουντες)." "Thus we enter on a greater sacrifice and priestly act (θυσια and ιερουργια) than that of the ancients." The earlier sacrifices were "weak and beggarly elements," mere symbols and images (συμβολα και εικονες), not embracing truth itself. We notice here the use of the words μνημη, υπομνησις, θυσια and ιερουργια, and the application of συμβολα και εικονες in a depreciatory sense to the Jewish sacrifices, as not "embracing the truth." The words are later on applied to the Sacraments, in the sense that they do embrace truth. (See Note on passage.)

A little lower it proceeds - "We have received through Christ's mystic dispensation the symbols that are true, and archetypal of the images that preceded them" (τα αληθη και των εικονων τα αρχετυπα). For Christ offered to the Father "a wonderful sacrifice and unique victim" (θυμα και σφαγιον), and "delivered us a memory (μνημη) to offgr continually to God in place of a sacrifice (προσφερειν αντι θυσιας)." This (μνημη is "celebrated on a table by means of the symbols of His Body and His saving Blood (επι τραπεζης δια συμβολων του τε σωματος αυτου και του σωτηριου αιματος)." It fulfils Ps. xxiii. 5. "Thus in our rites we have been taught to offer through our whole lives bloodless and reasonable and acceptable sacrifices through His Supreme High Priest." (Cf. Pss. 1. 14, 15; cxli. 2; li. 17; Mal. i. 11.) It is our sacrifice of praise: "we sacrifice in a new way according to the new covenant, the pure sacrifice." "A contrite heart" has been called a sacrifice to God (Ps. li. 17). And we burn the incense, "the sweet-smelling fruit of excellent theology, offering it by means of our prayers." "So we sacrifice and burn incense, celebrating the memory of the great sacrifice in the mysteries which He has delivered to us, and bringing to God our Thanksgiving for our Salvation (την υπερ σωτηριας ημων ευχαριστιαν) by means of pious hymns and prayers, dedicating ourselves wholly to Him and His High Priest, the Word Himself, making our offering in body and soul (ανακειμενοι)."

Here we have συμβολον used in the sacramental sense; and the inner nature of the sacrifice is stressed; the real sacrifice is the contrite heart offered through the Great High Priest, and the incense (non-existent materially in the service then) is the θεολογια of the worshipper. It is a choral, prayerful self-dedication and Eucharist. (ii) 223 b. - Christ fulfilled the priesthood of Melchizedek, not Aaron. "And our Saviour Jesus, the Christ of God, after the manner of Melchizedek still even now accomplishes by means of His ministers the rites of His priestly work amongst men." Like Melchizedek, Christ first and His priests after Him "accomplishing their spiritual sacrificial work according to the laws of the Church, represent with wine and bread the mysteries of His Body and saving Blood" (οινω και αρτω του τε σωματος αυτου και του σωτηριου αιματος αινιττονται τα μυστηρια). (iii) 380 d. - The expressions in Zech. ix. 9 and 15, are allusions to the Eucharist, and point to the joy given by the mystic wine, and the glory and purity of the mystic food. "For He delivered the symbols (συμβολα) of His divine dispensation to his disciples, bidding them make the image of His own Body (την εικονα του ιδιου σωματος ποιεσθαι)." Rejecting the Mosaic sacrifices, He delivered them bread to use as a symbol of His Body (αρτω χρησθαι συμβολω του ιδιου σωματος).

This further illustrates the use of συμβολον. We gather from these passages: - (i) That the Mosaic Sacrifice, the Sacrifice on the Cross, and the Eucharistic Sacrifice are intimately related. The latter is a Memorial of the Sacrifice of the Cross in a far higher sense than the Jewish sacrifices were foreshadowings uf it. They were but symbols that were unreal, the Eucharist is a symbol but it "embraces reality," i.e. it includes what it represents. It is the archetype of which they were symbols. (ii) The Eucharist is nothing, if it is not inward. It is a means for the offering of a contrite heart, and the incense of true knowledge of God. It is no mere outward act; in and through the outward act is the inner oblation. (iii) Though in line with the Mosaic system the Eucharist is far more in line with the primeval offering of blessing made by Melehizedek with bread and wine, not with animal victims.

(iv) The Eucharist we gather was celebrated daily, and with music. [Cf. Darwell Stone, A History of the Doctrine of the Eucharist, London, 1909, vol. i 109-111. A. Harnack, History of Dogma, iv. 291.] § 8. MSS., ETC. The earliest MS. of the Demonstratio is the Codex known as the Medicean or "Parisinus 469," of the twelfth century, registered in the Catalogue of the Library of Paris, vol. ii. p. 65. It is deficient at the beginning and end, beginning with the words η παιδισκη σοι, p. 17, and ending at της σωτηρος ημων παρακελευσεως, p. 688. These deficiencies were supplied by J. A. Fabricius in his Delectus argumentorum et syllabus scriptorum, qui veritatem religionis Christianae adversos atheos . . . asseruerunt, who used a copy that had been made by Stephen Bergler, at Hamburg, in 1725, from a MS. in the possession of Nicholas Mavrocordato, Prince of Wallachia, who collected many Greek MSS. from Mount Athos and other monasteries. The MS. was unfortunately lost at the death of the Prince. Bergler gave no information about its age or condition. It was almost certain that it was either derived from Parisinus 469 before its mutilation, or from a MS. of the same family.

There are four other MSS. of the Demonstratio at Paris, parchments of the sixteenth century numbered 470, 471, 472 and 473 in the Catalogue, vol. ii. pp. 65, 66. And there is at St. John's College, Oxford, a parchment MS. of the fifteenth century (No. 41 in the Catalogue of O. Coxius, p. 12). As all these have the same deficiencies, there is little doubt that they come from the common source, Parisinus 469. There is a sixth MS. in the Ambrosian Library, at Milan, of the fifteenth century, of the same family (Montfaucon in Bibliothcca Bibliothecarum, vol. i. p. 527). And a seventh was possessed by T. F. Mirandola, and was used by Donatus of Verona for his Latin version, first published at Rome in 1498. Of the four later Paris MSS., 473 bears the date 1543, and was written at Venice (or 1533 according to Montfaucon, Diario Italico, p. 408) by Valeriano of Forli. One of the four was no doubt the foundation of Stephen's Paris edition of 1548.

The Oxford MS. was collated by Gaisford with this edition of Robert Stephen in 1548 with the minutest care. But in the opinion of Dindorf his work added little to the elucidation of the text, beyond the correction of a few slight mistakes of copying, the divergencies in the quotations from the LXX being probably changes made by later scribes in order to bring the quotations into agreement with the accepted text. Dindorf's conclusion is that a satisfactory text is secured by the use of the Parisinus 469, on which his own edition (Teubner series) is based. It is, he says, comparatively free from the errors of transcribers, with the exception of some lacunae; (pp. 195 d, 210 a, 217 b), and from the frequent interpolations of the Praeparatio and the History, because the Demonstratio, having fewer readers, was seldom copied. There is, therefore, little room in the study of the text for conjectural emendation.

The first Edition of the Greek was that of Robert Stephen, 1548. Viguier's Praeparatio was published at Paris in 1628, with the Demonstratio and other works of Eusebius, and the Latin translation of Donatus. Gaisford's edition (2 vols., Oxford) appeared in 1852 with critical apparatus and the same Latin translation. The Demonstratio forms vol. xxii. of the Greek Patrology of Migne (1857), who uses the Paris edition of 1628 with the same translation. The most recent text is W. Dindorf's in the Teubner Series (Leipzig, 1867), from whose Preface the data of the above are drawn. The Latin version of Donatus (Rome, 1498) was reprinted at Basle in 1542, 1549, 1559 and 1570, and with the Scholia of J. J. Grynaeus at Paris in 1587. It is remarkable for its omissions and alterations of passages doctrinally suspected. The present translation is made from the text of Gaisford (Oxford, 1852), with reference to Migne.

LIST OF CHAPTERS The Contents of the First Book of the Proof of the Gospel of Our Saviour 1. The Object and Contents of the Work. 2. The Character of the Christian Religion. 3. That the System of Moses was not Suitable for All Nations. 4. Why is it we reject the Jews' Way of Life, though we accept their Writings? 5. The Character of the New Covenant of Christ. 6. The Nature of the Life according to the New Covenant proclaimed by Christ. 7. How Christ having first fulfilled the Law of Moses became the Introducer of a New and Fresh System. 8. That the Christian Life is of Two Distinct Characters. 9. Why a Numerous Offspring is not as Great a Concern to us as it was to them of Old Time. 10. Why we are not bidden to burn Incense and to sacrifice the Fruits of the Earth to God, as were the Men of Old Time.

The Contents of Book II 1. That we have not embraced the Prophetic Hooks of the Hebrews without Aim and Object. 2. That their Prophets gave their Host Predictions for us of the Foreign Nations. 1, 2, 3. From Genesis. 4. From Deuteronomy. 5. From Psalm xxi. 6. From Psalm xlvi. 7. From Psalm lxxxv. 8. From Psalm xcv. 9. From Zechariah. 10, 11. From Isaiah. 3. That the same Prophets foretold that at the Coming of Christ All Nations would learn the Knowledge and Holiness of the God, Who formerly was only known to the Hebrews. 12. From Psalm ii. 13. From Psalm lxxi. 14. From Psalm xcvii. 15. From Genesis. 16, 17. From Zephaniah. 18. From Zecheriah. 19, 20, 21, 22, 23. From Isaiah. 4. That the Call of the Gentiles coming to pass through Christ, there would be a Decline in the Jewish Nation from its Godly Holiness.

24, 25. From Jeremiah. 26. From Amos. 27. From Mienh. 28. From Zecheriah. 29. From Malachi. 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35. From Isaiah. 5. That the Divine Promises did not extend to the whole Jewish Nation, but only to a few of them. 36, 37, 38, 39, 40,41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49. From Isaiah. 50, 51. From Micah. 52. From Zephaniah. 53. From Zechariah. 54, 55. From Jeremiah. 56, 57, 58, 59, 60. From Ezekiel. The Contents of Book III 1. That the Prophets made Mention of the Gospel of Christ. 2. That they prophesied of Christ. 3. How we should reply to those who suppose Him to have been a Deceiver. 4. Of His Diviner Works. 5. Against those that disbelieve the Account of our Saviour's Miracles, given by His Disciples. 6. That He worked not His Miracles by Sorcery, but by Divine Virtue and Power. 7. That from this Working they who love Truth perceive also the Power of His Divinity.

The Contents of Book IV 1. Of the Mystical Dispensation of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus the Son of God. 2. That we hold that the Son of God was before the Whole Creation. 3. That we rightly teach that there are not many Sons of the Supreme God, but One only, God of God. 4. That the Only-begotten Son of God must be considered necessarily anterior to the Whole Universe. 5. That we hold that there are Numberless Divine Created Powers, but One alone of the Son, whereby we describe Him as the Image of God the Father. 6. That from the First Constitution of the Universe, the Christ of God has been the Invisible Guardian of Godly Souls. 7. That to the Hebrews alone of Old was the Knowledge of the True God revealed, being known by the Manifestation of Christ. 8. That the Other Nations assigned to Certain Angels, worshipped the Stars of Heaven. 9. Of the Hostile Power opposed to God, and of its Ruler, and how the Whole Race of Mankind was in Subjection thereto. 10. That the Only-Begotten Son of God of Necessity made His Entry among Mankind. 11. That He passed through the Life of Men. 12. That the Laws of Loving-kindness called Him even to them that had been long Dead. 13. That even when He was made Man He continued in the Nature that cannot suffer, nor be harmed, nor be embodied. 14. That renewing Humanity He afforded to us all the Hope of Eternal Good. 15. What the Advent of Christ is meant to shew forth, and that He is called God and Lord, and High Priest of the God of the Universe by the Hebrew Prophets. 16. In which Prophetic Scriptures the Christ is foretold by Name.

From Psalm ii. From Psalm xix. From Psalm xxvii. From Psalm lxxxiii. From Psalm lxxxviii. From Psalm cxxxi. From Amos. From Habakkuk. From the Lamentations of Jeremiah. From the First Hook of Kings. From Psalm xlv. 17. That the Name of Jesus was also honoured among the Ancient Saints. From Exodus. From Zechariah. The Contents of Book V How the Hebrew Prophets predicted the Future, and shed the Light of True Theology. And how many Prophetic Voices made Mention of the Divine Pre-existence of the Saviour. 1. From the Proverbs. 2. From Psalm xlv. 3. Psalm cix. 4. Isaiah. 5. Psalm xxxii. 6. Isaiah. 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12. Genesis. 13, 14, 15, 16, 17. Exodus. 18. From Numbers. 19. Joshua, son of Nave. 20. Job. 21. Psalm xc. 22. Hosea. 23. Amos. 24. Obadiah. 25, 26, 27. Zechariah. 28, 29. Malachi. Jeremiah The Contents of Book VI Of His Sojourn among Men from the following Scriptures.

1. From Psalm xvii. 2. From Psalm xlvi. 3. From Psalm xlix. 4. From Psalm lxxxiii. 5. From Psalm xcv. 6. From Psalm xcvii. 7. From Psalm cvi. 8. From Psalms cxvi. and cxvii. 9. From Psalm cxliii. 10. From Psalm cxlvii. 11. From the Second Book of Kings. 12. From the Third Book of Kings. 13. From Micah. 14. From Habakkuk. 15. From the same. 16, 17, 18. From Zechariah. 19. From Baruch. 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25. From Isaiah. The Contents of Book VII 1. What the Character of God's Sojourn among Men was from the following Scriptures. 1, 2, 3. From Isaiah. 2. Where it was prophesied that Christ should be horn. 4. From Micah. 5. From Psalm cxxxi. 3. From what Tribe it was announced that He should spring from the following Scriptures. 6. From the Second Book of Chronicles. 7. From Psalm lxxi. 8. From Isaiah. 9. From Jeremiah. 10. From Genesis.

The Contents of Book VIII Of the Date of His appearing among Men from the following Scriptures. 1. From Genesis. 2. From Daniel. 3. From Micah. 4. From Zechariah. 5. From Isaiah. The Contents of Book IX Of the Things to be done in Connection with His Incarnation from the following Scriptures. 1. From Numbers. 2. From Isaiah. 3. From Numbers. 4. From Hosea. 5, 6. From Isaiah. 7. From Psalm xc. 8. From Isaiah. 9. From Psalm lxvii. 10. From Isaiah. 11. From Deuteronomy. 12. From Job. 13, 14, 15, 16. From Isaiah. 17. From Zechariah. 18. From Psalm cxvii. The Contents of Book X Of the Conspiracy of Judas the Traitor and those with Him. to be formed against Christ, from the following Scriptures. 1. From Psalm xl. 2. From Psalm liv. 3. From Psalm cviii. 4. From Zechariah. 5. From Jeremiah. Of the Events at the Time of His Passion.

6. From Amos. 7. From Zechariah. 8. From Psalm xxi. The above list of chapters was given at the beginning of each book. It was lost from the Paris Codex for Book I together with the first pages of that book, and from the copies, one of which Robert Stephen used in his edition of 1545. In the Paris edition of 1628, the editor composed the headings of the first three chapters, and supplied the others from a second catalogue, which is given at the head of each chapter throughout the work. Though no doubt the catalogue was complete in the Mavrocordato Codex, Stephen Bergler omitted to give it in the portion of the work which he supplied for the edition of Fabricius. The headings of the separate chapters, which are in our translation given in their places and form a second catalogue, are much fuller than the introductory list, being enriched by outlines of the prophetic passages that are used.

[Footnotes have been renumbered and moved to the end]

TRANSLATIONS OF CHRISTIAN LITERATURE GENERAL EDITORS : W. J. SPARROW-SIMPSON, D.D., W. K. LOWTHER CLARKE, B.D. SERIES I GREEK TEXTS THE PROOF OF THE GOSPEL VOL. I [Blank page] TRANSLATIONS OF CHRISTIAN LITERATURE. SERIES I. GREEK TEXTS THE PROOF OF THE GOSPEL BEING THE DEMONSTRATIO EVANGELICA OF EUSEBIUS OF CAESAREA VOL. I By W.J. FERRAR SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE. London. The Macmillan Company. New York 1920 [Blank page]

PREFACEIt is a high privilege to have been allowed to provide a translation of the Demonstratio; for in default of a better it must for some time fill the vacant place in English bookshelves beside the noble edition of the Praeparatio, which was the work of Archdeacon Gifford's declining years. Yet it is an appalling thought that this translation, continuing as it does the work of Gifford, should in any sense be thought to seek comparison with it. The writer has but endeavoured according to his powers, and amid other absorbing duties, to fill a recognized gap, by giving a faithful rendering of the words of Eusebius, so that it may be possible for the English student to become acquainted with all that remains of the work to which the Praeparation was the Introduction. He has erred perhaps rather in the direction of literal exactness than of free paraphrase, especially in doctrinal sections, thinking it primarily necessary to make it clear what Eusebius actually said.

Limitations of space have made it impossible to reproduce the long passages from the Old Testament upon which Eusebius based his arguments. To have retained them in full would have been interesting because of their variations from the text of the LXX : but this consideration was hardly important enough to make their inclusion essential. The translator would gratefully record his indebtedness to the Rev. W. K. Lowther Clarke, the Secretary of S.P.C.K., for his constant interest, scholarly guidance, and invaluable suggestions during the progress of the work: but for his help it would be far more imperfect than it is. W. J. FERRAR. East Finchley. Easter, 1920. [Blank page]

CONTENTSPREFACE INTRODUCTION ---- § 1. OBJECT AND OCCASION § 2. THE DATE § 3. CONTENTS § 4. RELATION TO EARLIER APOLOGIES § 5. THE ARGUMENT OF THE THIRD BOOK § 6. THE CHRISTOLOGY OF EUSEBIUS § 7. THE REFERENCES TO THE EUCHARIST § 8. MSS., ETC LIST OF CHAPTERS TRANSLATION AND NOTES INDEX OF QUOTATIONS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE INDEX OF OTHER QUOTATIONS INDEX OF GREEK WORDS GENERAL INDEX

ABBREVIATIONSD.C.B. Smith and Wace, Dictionary of Christian Biography, 1877-1887. D.C.A. Smith and Cheetham, Dictionary of Christian Antiquities, 1875-1880. D.A.C. Hastings' Dictionary of the Apostolic Church, 1915-1918. H.D.B. Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible, 1898-1906. E.R.E. Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics. Enc. Bib. Encyclopedia Biblica. S. Swete's Old Testament in Greek according to the Septuagint, vols. i., ii., and iii. 4th edn. 1912. W.H. Westcott and Hort's New Testament in Greek, 1882. G.P.E. E. H. Gifford's edition of Praeparatio Evangelica. Text, Translation, and Notes. (Oxford, 1903.) Eus., H.E. The Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius.