18. Let us draw near then, my beloved, to faith, since its powers are so many. For faith raised up to the heavens (Enoch), and conquered the Deluge. It caused the barren to bring forth. It delivered from the sword. It raised up from the pit. It enriched the poor. It released the captives. It delivered the persecuted. It brought down the fire. It divided the sea. It cleft the rock, and gave to the thirsty water to drink. It satisfied the hungry. It raised the dead, and brought them up from Sheol. It stilled the billows. It healed the sick. It conquered hosts. It overthrew walls. It stopped the mouths of lions, and quenched the flame of fire. It humiliated the proud, and brought the humble to honour. All these mighty works were wrought by faith.
19. Now thus is faith; when a man believes in God the Lord of all, Who made the heavens and the earth and the seas and all that is in them; and He made Adam in His image; and He gave the Law to Moses; He sent of His Spirit upon the prophets; He sent moreover His Christ into the world. Furthermore that a man should believe in the resurrection of the dead; and should furthermore also believe in the sacrament of baptism. This is the faith of the Church of God. And (it is necessary) that a man should separate himself from the observance of hours and Sabbaths and moons and seasons, and divinations and sorceries and Chaldæan arts and magic, from fornication and from festive music, from vain doctrines, which are instruments of the Evil One, from the blandishment of honeyed words, from blasphemy and from adultery. And that a man should not bear false witness, and that a man should not speak with double tongue. These then are the works of the faith which is based on the true Stone which is Christ, on Whom the whole building is reared up.
20. Furthermore, my beloved, there is much besides in the Holy Books about faith. But these few things out of the much have I written to recall them to thy love that thou mayest know and make known and believe and also be believed. And when thou hast read and learned the works of faith, thou mayest be made like unto that tilled land upon which the good seed fell, and produced fruit a hundred-fold and sixty-fold and thirty-fold. And when thou comest to thy Lord, He may call thee a good servant and prudent and faithful, who on account of His faith, that abounded, is to enter into the Kingdom of his Lord.
[648] S. Matt x. 8.
[649] Jer. vii. 4, 5.
[650] Levit. xxvi. 12.
[651] 1 Cor. iii. 16, etc.
[652] John xiv. 20.
[653] 1 Cor. iii. 10.
[654] 1 Cor. iii. 11.
[655] 1 Cor. iii. 16.
[656] John x. 30.
[657] Ps. cxviii. 22.
[658] Luke xix. 14.
[659] John xix. 15.
[660] Luke xix. 13, 14.
[661] Ez. xiii. 10.
[662] Ez. xxii. 30.
[663] Is. xxviii. 16.
[664] Is. xxviii. 16.
[665] Matt. xxi. 44.
[666] Dan. ii. 34.
[667] Ps. lxxxv. 12.
[668] Dan. ii. 34, 35.
[669] Ps. xix. 4.
[670] Matt. xxviii. 19.
[671] Zach. iv. 2.
[672] The words for chief and for beginning are almost identical in the Syriac.
[673] John xv. 12.
[674] John xv. 15.
[675] Cf. Eph. ii. 4. 5.
[676] Cf. Eph. v. 2.
[677] Zech. iii. 9.
[678] Is. xi. 1, 2.
[679] Zech. iv. 10.
[680] Is. xlix. 6.
[681] Ps. cxix. 105.
[682] John i. 1.
[683] John i. 5.
[684] John i. 11.
[685] Matt. x. 27.
[686] Cf. Matt. v. 16.
[687] Matt. v. 14.
[688] Matt. v. 16.
[689] John xii. 35.
[690] John xii. 36.
[691] John viii. 12.
[692] Matt. v. 15; Mark iv. 21; Luke viii. 16.
[693] Ps. cxix. 105.
[694] Hos. x. 12.
[695] Luke xv. 8.
[696] Ex. xx. 2.
[697] Hos. x. 12.
[698] Is. lv. 6, 7.
[699] Am. viii. 9. (Cf. the commentary ascribed to Ephrem in loco.) Cf. Zech. xiv. 6, 7.
[700] 1 Cor. iii. 10, 12, sqq.
[701] Is. lxvi. 16.
[702] Is. lxvi. 24.
[703] 1 Cor. iii. 11.
[704] 1 Cor. xiii. 13.
[705] The allusion is to Heb. xi. This sentence, connecting sections 13 (which relates to 1 Corinthians iii. and xiii.) and 14 (which echoes Hebrews xi.), seems to imply ("he showed") that they are written by the same author,--in other words, to ascribe Hebrews to St. Paul.
[706] Ps. lxxxi. 6.
[707] Ex. xvii. 12. (Pesh.)
[708] Ps. xxiv. 7, 9.
[709] 2 Kings ii. 8-15.
[710] Jos. iii. 17.
[711] Jos. x. 13.
[712] Heb. xi. 33.
[713] Prov. xx. 6.
[714] Job xxvii. 5, 6.
[715] e. q. Matt. ix. 29.
[716] Matt. ix. 28.
[717] Mark ix. 22, 26.
[718] Lit. "king's servant," John iv. 46, which is here confused with Matt. viii. 8.
[719] Matt. viii. 8, 10.
[720] Mark v. 23-36.
[721] John xi. 23-27.
[722] Kipha--rock.
[723] Mark xvi. 16. Note that Aphrahat here cites the disputed conclusion of St. Mark's Gospel.
[724] Matt. xxi. 22.
[725] Matt. xiv. 31.
[726] Luke xvii. 5, and Matt. xvii. 19; xxi. 21.
[727] (Apocryphal.)
[728] Mark xvi. 17, 18.
Demonstration V.--Of Wars.
1. This reflection has befallen me at this time concerning the shaking that is to take place at this time, and the host that has assembled itself for the sword. The times were disposed beforehand by God. The times of peace are fulfilled in the days of the good and just; and the times of many evils are fulfilled in the days of the evil and transgressors. For it is thus written:--Good must happen and blessed is he through whom it shall come to pass; and evil must happen, but woe to him through whom it shall come to pass. [729] Good has come to the people of God, and blessedness awaits that man through whom the good came. And evil is stirred up as regards the host that is gathered together by means of the evil and arrogant one who glories; and woe also is there reserved for him through whom the evil is stirred up. But do not, my beloved, reproach the evil person who has inflicted evil upon many; because the times were beforehand disposed and the time of their accomplishment has arrived.
2. Therefore because it is the time of the Evil One, hear in mystery that which I am writing for thee. For thus it is written:--Whatsoever is exalted amongst men is despicable before God. [730] And again it is written:--Everyone who exalteth himself shall be abased, and everyone who humbleth himself shall be exalted. [731] Also Jeremiah said:--Let not the mighty glory in his might, nor the rich in his riches. [732] And again the blessed Apostle said:--Whosoever glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. [733] And David said:--I saw the wicked exalted and lifted up as the cedar of Lebanon; and when I passed by he was not, and I sought him and found him not. [734]
3. For every one that glories shall be humbled. Cain gloried over Abel his brother and slew him. And he was cursed and became a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth. Again the Sodomites gloried over Lot, and there fell upon them fire from heaven and burned them up and their city was overthrown upon them. And Esau gloried over Jacob and persecuted him, and Jacob received the birthright and blessings of Esau. And the children of Jacob gloried over Joseph, and (afterwards) fell down and worshipped him in Egypt. And Pharaoh gloried over Moses and over his people; and Pharaoh and his host were drowned in the sea. And Dathan and Abiram gloried over Moses, and they went down alive to Sheol. And Goliath threatened David, and he fell before him and was crushed. And again Saul persecuted David, and he fell by the sword of the Philistines. And Absalom exalted himself against him, and Joab slew him in the battle. Again Benhadad gloried over Ahab, and he was delivered into the hand of Israel. And Sennacherib blasphemed against Hezekiah and his God, and his host became dead carcases when one of the Watchers went forth and slew in the camp one hundred and eighty-five thousand at the prayer of Hezekiah and at the prayer of Prophet Isaiah, most glorious of the Prophets. Ahab exalted himself over Micah, and he went up and fell in Ramoth Gilead. Jezebel gloried over Elijah, and the dogs devoured her in the portion of Jezreel. Haman gloried over Mordecai, and his iniquity turned back upon his own head. The Babylonians gloried over Daniel and cast him into the den of lions, and Daniel came up victorious, and they were cast instead of him into the den. Again the Babylonians gloried and accused Hananiah and his companions, and they were cast into the furnace of fire; and they came up victorious and the flame devoured the accusers.
4. Now Nebuchadnezzar said:--I will ascend to heaven and exalt my throne above the stars of God and sit in the lofty mountains that are in the borders of the North. [735] Isaiah said concerning him:--Because thy heart has thus exalted thee, therefore thou shalt be brought down to Sheol, and all that look upon thee shall be astonished at thee. [736] And Sennacherib also said thus:--I will go up to the summit of the mountains and to the shoulders of Lebanon. [737] I will dig and drink water and will dry up with my horses' hoofs all the deep rivers. And because he thus exalted himself, Isaiah again said concerning him:--Why does the axe boast itself against him that cutteth with it, or the saw exalt itself against him that saweth with it, or the rod lift itself up against him that wieldeth it? [738] For thou, Sennacherib, art the axe in the hands of Him that cuts, and thou art the saw in the hands of Him that saws, and the rod in the hand of Him that wields thee for chastisement, and thou art the staff for smiting. Thou art sent against the fickle people, and again thou art ordained against the stubborn people, that thou mayest carry away the captivity and take the spoil; and thou hast made them as the mire of the streets for all men and for all the Gentiles. And when thou hast done all these things, why art thou exalted against Him Who holds thee, and why dost thou boast against Him Who saws with thee, and why hast thou reviled the holy city? and hast said to the children of Jerusalem:--Can your God deliver you from my hand? [739] And thou hast dared to say:--Who is the Lord that He shall deliver you from my hands? Because of this, hear the word of the Lord, saying:--I will crush the Assyrian in My land, and on My mountains will I tread him down. [740] And when he shall have been crushed and trodden down, the Virgin, the daughter of Zion, will despise him, and the daughter of Jerusalem will shake her head and say:--Whom hast thou reviled and blasphemed, and against whom hast thou lifted up thy voice? Thou hast lifted up thine eyes towards heaven against the Holy One of Israel, and by the hands of thy messengers thou hast reviled the Lord. Now see that the hook has been forced into thy nostrils, and the bridle into thy lips, and thou hast turned back with thine heart crushed, who camest with thine heart uplifted. [741] And his slaying was by the hands of his loved ones; and in the house of his confidence, [742] there was he overthrown, and fell before his god. And truly it was right, my beloved, that his body should thus become a sacrifice and offering before that god on whom he relied, and in his temple, as a memorial for his idol.
5. Again the ram was lifted up and exalted, and pushed with its horns towards the west, and towards the north, and towards the south, and humbled many beasts. And they could not stand before him, until the he-goat came from the west and smote the ram and broke his horns and humbled the ram completely. But the ram was the King of Media and Persia, that is, Darius; and the he-goat was Alexander, the son of Philip, the Macedonian. For Daniel saw the ram when he was in the East before the gate of Shushan the fortress that is in the province of Elam, upon the river Ulai. And he was pushing towards the West and towards the North and towards the South. And none of the beasts could stand before him. [743] And the he-goat of the goats came up from the region of the Greeks, and exalted himself against the ram. And he smote him and broke both his horns, the greater and the lesser. And why did he say that he broke both his horns? Clearly because he humbled both the kingdoms which he ruled; the lesser, that of the Medes, and the greater, that of the Persians. But when Alexander the Greek came, he slew Darius, King of Media and Persia. For thus the angel said to Daniel, when he was explaining the vision to him:--The ram that thou sawest was the King of Media and Persia, and the he-goat the King of the Greeks. [744] Now, from the time that the two horns of the ram were broken, until this time, there have been six hundred and forty-eight years. [745]