[3894] Gen. xi. 1-3.
[3895] The quotation in the Oxford edition begins from this point.
[3896] Gen. xxvii. 27-29.
[3897] Gen. xlviii. 17-19. The whole of this quotation is wanting in more than one codex.
[3898] "Frutice." The Oxford translator has here, without any authority as it appears, from the text, adopted the reading of the Vulgate, "ad prædam." Cyprian has used the LXX., reading apparently, ek blastou. The Hebrew mtrph gives a colour to either reading. See Gesenius, Lex. in voce mrph. [Elucidation X.]
[3899] Original, "ad cilicium;" LXX. te heliki, "the tendril of the vine;" Oxford trans. "the choice vine."
[3900] Gen. xlix. 8-12.
[3901] Num. xxiii. 14.
[3902] Deut. xxviii. 44.
[3903] Jer. vi. 18.
[3904] Ps. xviii. 43, 44.
[3905] Jer. i. 5.
[3906] Isa. lv. 4.
[3907] Isa. lv. 5.
[3908] Isa. xi. 10.
[3909] Oxford edition adds "Galilee."
[3910] Isa. ix. 1, 2.
[3911] Isa. xlv. 1.
[3912] Isa. lxvi. 18, 19.
[3913] Isa. v. 25, 26.
[3914] Isa. lii. 15.
[3915] Isa. lxv. 1.
[3916] Acts xiii. 46, 47.
22. That the Jews would lose while we should receive the bread and the cup of Christ and all His grace, and that the new name of Christians should be blessed in the earth.
In Isaiah: "Thus saith the Lord, Behold, they who serve me shall eat, but ye shall be hungry: behold, they who serve me shall drink, but ye shall be thirsty: [3917] behold, they who serve me shall rejoice, but ye shall be confounded; the Lord shall slay you. But to those who serve me a new name shall be named, which shall be blessed in the earth." [3918] Also in the same place: "Therefore shall He lift up an ensign to the nations which are afar off, and He will draw them from the end of the earth; and, behold, they shall come swiftly with lightness; they shall not hunger nor thirst." [3919] Also in the same place: "Behold, therefore, the Ruler, the Lord of Sabaoth, shall take away from Judah and from Jerusalem the healthy man and the strong man, the strength of bread and the strength of water." [3920] Likewise in the thirty-third Psalm: "O taste and see how sweet is the Lord. Blessed is the man that hopeth in Him. Fear the Lord God, all ye His saints: for there is no want to them that fear Him. Rich men have wanted and have hungered; but they who seek the Lord shall never want any good thing." [3921] Moreover, in the Gospel according to John, the Lord says: "I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall not hunger, and he that trusteth in me shall never thirst." [3922] Likewise He saith in that place: "If any one thirst, let him come and drink. He that believeth on me, as the Scripture saith, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." [3923] Moreover, He says in the same place: "Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, ye shall have no life in you." [3924]
[3917] This second clause, "Behold, they who serve me shall drink," is wanting in some editions.
[3918] Isa. lxv. 13-15.
[3919] Isa. v. 26, 27.
[3920] Isa. iii. 1, 2.
[3921] Ps. xxxiv. 8-10.
[3922] John vi. 35.
[3923] John vii. 37, 38.
[3924] John vi. 53.
23. That the Gentiles rather than the Jews attain to the kingdom of heaven.
In the Gospel the Lord says: "Many shall come from the east and from the west, and shall lie down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven; but the children of the kingdom shall go out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." [3925]
[3925] Matt. viii. 11, 12.
24. That by this alone the Jews can receive pardon of their sins, if they wash away the blood of Christ slain, in His baptism, and, passing over into His Church, obey His precepts.
In Isaiah the Lord says: "Now I will not release your sins. When ye stretch forth your hands, I will turn away my face from you; and if ye multiply prayers, I will not hear you: for your hands are full of blood. Wash you, make you clean; take away the wickedness from your souls from the sight of mine eyes; cease from your wickedness; learn to do good; seek judgment; keep him who suffers wrong; judge for the orphan, and justify the widow. And come, let us reason together, saith the Lord: and although your sins be as scarlet, I will whiten [3926] them as snow; and although they were as crimson, I will whiten [3927] them as wool. And if ye be willing and listen to me, ye shall eat of the good of the land; but if ye be unwilling, and will not hear me, the sword shall consume you; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken these things." [3928]
[3926] "Exalbabo."
[3927] "Inalbabo."
[3928] Isa. i. 15-20.
Second Book.
Heads.
1. That Christ is the First-born, and that He is the Wisdom of God, by whom all things were made.
2. That Christ is the Wisdom of God; and about the sacrament of His incarnation, and passion, and cup, and altar, and the apostles who were sent and preached.
3. That Christ also is Himself the Word of God.
4. That the same Christ is God's hand and arm.
5. That the same is Angel and God.
6. That Christ is God.
7. That Christ our God should come as the Illuminator and Saviour of the human race.
8. That although from the beginning He had been Son of God, He had yet to be begotten again according to the flesh.
9. That this should be the sign of His nativity, that He should be born of a virgin--man and God--Son of man and of God.
10. That Christ is man and God, compounded of either nature, that He might be a mediator between us and the Father.
11. That He was to be born of the seed of David after the flesh.
12. That He should be born in Bethlehem.
13. That He should come in lowly condition on His first advent.
14. That He was the righteous One whom the Jews should put to death.
15. That He was called a Sheep and a Lamb who would have to be slain, and concerning the sacrament of the passion.
16. That He is also called a Stone.
17. That subsequently that stone should become a mountain, and should fill the whole earth.
18. That in the last times the same mountain should be manifested, upon which the Gentiles should come, and on which the righteous should go up.
19. That He is the Bridegroom, having the Church as His bride, from whom children should be spiritually born.
20. That the Jews should fasten Him to the Cross.
21. That in the passion and the sign of the cross is all virtue and power.
22. That in this sign of the cross is salvation for all who are marked on their foreheads.
23. That at mid-day, during His passion, there should be darkness.
24. That He should not be overcome of death, nor should remain in hell.
25. That He should rise again from hell on the third day.
26. That when He had risen, He should receive from His Father all power, and His power should be eternal.
27. That it is impossible to attain to God the Father, except through the Son Jesus Christ.
28. That He is to come as a Judge.
29. That He is to reign as a King for ever.
30. That He is both Judge and King.
Testimonies.
1. That Christ is the First-born, and that He is the Wisdom of God, by whom all things were made.
In Solomon in the Proverbs: "The Lord established [3929] me in the beginning of His ways, into His works: before the world He founded me. In the beginning, before He made the earth, and before He appointed the abysses, before the fountains of waters gushed forth, before the mountains were settled, before all the hills, the Lord begot me. He made the countries, and the uninhabitable places, and the uninhabitable bounds under heaven. When He prepared the heaven, I was present with Him; and when He set apart His seat. When He made the strong clouds above the winds, and when He placed the strengthened fountains under heaven, when He made the mighty foundations of the earth, I was by His side, ordering them: I was He in whom He delighted: moreover, I daily rejoiced before His face in all time, when He rejoiced in the perfected earth." [3930] Also in the same in Ecclesiasticus: "I went forth out of the mouth of the Most High, first-born before every creature: I made the unwearying light to rise in the heavens, and I covered the whole earth with a cloud: I dwelt in the high places, and my throne in the pillar of the cloud: I compassed the circle of heaven, and I penetrated into the depth of the abyss, and I walked on the waves of the sea, and I stood in all the earth; and in every people and in every nation I had the pre-eminence, and by my own strength I have trodden the hearts of all the excellent and the humble: in me is all hope of life and virtue: pass over to me, all ye who desire me." [3931] Also in the eighty-eighth Psalm: "And I will establish Him as my first-born, the highest among the kings of the earth. I will keep my mercy for Him for ever, and my faithful covenant for Him; and I will establish his seed for ever and ever. If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments; if they profane my judgments, and do not observe my precepts, I will visit their wickednesses with a rod, and their sins with scourges; but my mercy will I not scatter away from them." [3932] Also in the Gospel according to John, the Lord says: "And this is life eternal, that they should know Thee, the only and true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent. I have glorified Thee on the earth: I have finished the work which Thou gavest me to do. And now, do Thou glorify me with Thyself, with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was made." [3933] Also Paul to the Colossians: "Who is the image of the invisible God, and the first-born of every creature." [3934] Also in the same place: "The first-born from the dead, that He might in all things become the holder of the pre-eminence." [3935] In the Apocalypse too: "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto Him that is thirsting from the fountain of the water of life freely." [3936] That He also is both the wisdom and the power of God, Paul proves in his first Epistle to the Corinthians. "Because the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews indeed a stumbling-block, and to the Gentiles foolishness; but to them that are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God." [3937]
[3929] [Condidit. Bull, Opp., v. p. 515. ektesato, Jerome; ektise, alii. See Justin, vol. i. p. 264; Athenagoras, vol. ii. p. 133; Clement, ib., p. 194; and see note, Oxford translation. See Irenæus, vol. i. p. 488.]
[3930] Prov. viii. 22-31.
[3931] Ecclus. xxiv. 3-7.
[3932] Ps. lxxxix. 27-33.
[3933] John xvii. 3-5.
[3934] Col. i. 15.
[3935] Col. i. 18.
[3936] Rev. xxi. 6.
[3937] 1 Cor. i. 22-24.
2. That Christ is the Wisdom of God; and concerning the sacrament of His incarnation and of His passion, and cup and altar; and of the apostles who were sent, and preached.
In Solomon in the Proverbs: "Wisdom hath builded herself an house, and she has placed under it seven pillars; she has slain her victims; she hath mingled her wine in the goblet, and hath made ready her table, [3938] and hath sent her servants, calling with a loud announcement to the cup, saying, Let him who is foolish turn to me: and to them that want understanding she has said, Come, eat of my loaves, and drink the wine which I have mingled for you. Forsake foolishness, and seek wisdom, and correct knowledge by understanding." [3939]
[3938] [The house = the Church; the seven pillars = Isa. xi. 2, 3; her table = the Lord's table; her cup = the sacrament of the Blood; her loaves = of the Body. Then her servants = preachers. So old authors.]
[3939] Prov. ix. 1-6.
3. That the same Christ is the Word of God.
In the forty-fourth Psalm: "My heart hath breathed out a good Word. I tell my works to the King." [3940] Also in the thirty-second Psalm: "By the Word of God were the heavens made fast; and all their strength by the breath of His mouth." [3941] Also in Isaiah: "A Word completing and shortening in righteousness, because a shortened word will God make in the whole earth." [3942] Also in the cvith Psalm: "He sent His Word, and healed them." [3943] Moreover, in the Gospel according to John: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was nothing made that was made. In Him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not." [3944] Also in the Apocalypse: "And I saw the heaven opened, and lo, a white horse; and he who sate upon him was called Faithful and True, judging rightly and justly; and He made war. And He was covered with a garment sprinkled with blood; and His name is called the Word of God." [3945]