Also in Micah: "Alas for me, O my soul, because truth has perished from the earth, and among all there is none that correcteth; all judge in blood. Every one treadeth down his neighbour with tribulation; they prepare their hands for evil." [4927]
Also in the same: "Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy, because I have fallen, but I shall arise: because although I shall sit in darkness, the Lord will give me light: I will bear the Lord's anger, because I have sinned against Him, until He justify my cause." [4928]
Also in Zephaniah: "Come ye together and pray, O undisciplined people; before ye be made as a flower that passeth away, before the anger of the Lord come upon you, before the day of the Lord's fury come upon you, seek ye the Lord, all ye humble ones of the earth; do judgment and seek justice, and seek for gentleness; and answer ye to Him that ye may be protected in the day of the Lord's anger." [4929]
Also in Zechariah: "Be ye converted unto me, and I will be turned unto you." [4930]
Also in Hosea: "Be thou converted, O Israel, to the Lord thy God, because thou art weakened by thine iniquities. Take many with you, and be converted to the Lord your God; worship Him, and say, Thou art mighty to put away our sins; that ye may not receive iniquity, but that ye may receive good things." [4931]
Also in Ecclesiasticus: "Be thou turned to the Lord, and forsake thy sins, and exceedingly hate cursing, and know righteousness and God's judgments, and stand in the lot of the propitiation of the Most High: and go into the portion of life with the living, and those that make confession. Delay not in the error of the wicked. Confession perisheth from the dead man, as if it were nothing. Living and sound, thou shalt confess to the Lord, and thou shalt glory in His mercies; for great is the mercy of the Lord, and His propitiation unto such as turn unto Him." [4932]
Also in the same: "How good is it for a true heart to show forth repentance! For thus shalt thou escape voluntary sin." [4933]
Also in the Acts of the Apostles: "But Peter saith unto him, thy money perish with thee, because thou thinkest to be able to obtain the grace of God by money. Thou hast no part nor lot in this faith, for thy heart is not right with God. Therefore repent of this thy wickedness, and pray the Lord, if haply the thought of thy heart may be forgiven thee. For I see that thou art in the bond of iniquity, and in the bitterness of gall." [4934]
Also in the second Epistle of the blessed [4935] Paul to the Corinthians: "For the sorrow which is according to God worketh a stedfast repentance unto salvation, but the sorrow of the world worketh death." [4936]
Also in the same place of this very matter: "But if ye have forgiven anything to any one, I also forgive him; for I also forgave what I have forgiven for your sakes in the person of Christ, that we may not be circumvented by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his wiles." [4937]
Also in the same: "But I fear lest perchance, when I come to you, God may again humble me among you, and I shall bewail many of those who have sinned before, and have not repented, for that they have committed fornication and lasciviousness." [4938]
Also in the same: "I told you before, and foretell you as I sit present; and absent now from those who before have sinned, and to all others; as, if I shall come again, I will not spare." [4939]
Also in the second to Timothy: "But shun profane novelties of words, for they are of much advantage to impiety. And their word creeps as a cancer: of whom is Hymenæus and Philetus, who have departed from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already happened, and have subverted the faith of certain ones. But the foundation of God standeth firm, having this seal, God knoweth them that are His. And, Every one who nameth the name of the Lord shall depart from all iniquity. But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and of clay; and some indeed for honour, and some for contempt. Therefore if any one shall amend [4940] himself from these things, he shall be a vessel sanctified for honour, and useful for the Lord, prepared for every good work. Moreover, flee youthful lusts: but follow after righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call upon the Lord from a pure heart. But avoid questions that are foolish and without learning, knowing that they beget strifes. And the servant of the Lord ought not to strive; but to be gentle, docile to all men, patient with modesty, correcting those who resist, lest at any time God may give them repentance to the acknowledgment of the truth, and recover themselves from the snares of the devil, by whom they are held captive at his will." [4941]
Also in the Apocalypse: "Remember whence thou hast fallen, and repent; but if not, I will come to thee quickly, and remove thy candlestick out of its place." [4942]
[4886] [Almost wholly made up of Scripture, and useful in any age to all Christians. Whatever its origin, it breathes a truly primitive spirit. Compare Tertullian, vol. iii. p. 657.]
[4887] Ps. lxxxix. 30.
[4888] Isa. xxx. 15, LXX.
[4889] Isa. xxx. 1, LXX.
[4890] Jer. ii. 25, LXX.
[4891] Isa. xxxi. 6, LXX.
[4892] Isa. xliii. 25, LXX.
[4893] Non multum remittit--probably a misprint for "permultum."
[4894] Isa. lv. 6, 7, LXX.
[4895] Isa. xliv. 21, 22, LXX.
[4896] Isa. xlvi. 8, LXX.
[4897] Isa. liv. 7, 8, LXX.
[4898] Isa. lvii. 15 et seq., LXX.
[4899] It is taken for granted that the "ut" of the original is a misprint for "aut."
[4900] Otherwise, "has forgotten me days without number."
[4901] Jer. ii. 32, LXX.
[4902] Here also the emendation of "quæ" for "quod" is obviously necessary.
[4903] Jer. xviii. 7.
[4904] Jer. iii. 12, LXX.
[4905] Jer. iii. 14, LXX.
[4906] Jer. iii. 22, LXX.
[4907] Jer. iv. 14, LXX.
[4908] Jer. viii. 4, LXX.
[4909] Jer. viii. 6, LXX.
[4910] Otherwise "our."
[4911] Jer. xviii. 12, LXX.
[4912] Lam. ii. 18, LXX.
[4913] Lam. iii. 40.
[4914] There is evident confusion here, and no place can be found for the word "vocem."
[4915] It has been taken for granted that "numerosum" is a misprint for "nemorosum."
[4916] Jer. iii. 6, LXX.
[4917] Lam. iii. 31, LXX.
[4918] Trombellius suggests "if" instead of "but."
[4919] Ezek. xxxii. 12, etc., LXX.
[4920] Ezek. xvii. 24, LXX.
[4921] Ezek. xxxiii. 10, LXX.
[4922] Ezek. xxxvi. 36, LXX.
[4923] Ezek. xviii. 21, LXX.
[4924] Ezek. xviii. 30, LXX.
[4925] "In generatione."
[4926] Dan. iv. 34.
[4927] Mic. vii. 1, 2, 3, LXX.
[4928] Mic. vii. 8, LXX.
[4929] Zeph. ii. 1, LXX.
[4930] Zech. i. 3.
[4931] Hos. xiv. 2.
[4932] Ecclus. xvii. 26.
[4933] Ecclus xx. 3.
[4934] Acts viii. 20, etc.
[4935] The original has only "ben," which Trombellius reasonably assumes to be meant for "benedicti."
[4936] 2 Cor. vii. 10.
[4937] 2 Cor. ii. 10.
[4938] 2 Cor. xii. 21.
[4939] 2 Cor. xiii. 2.
[4940] "Emendaverit," probably a mistake for "emundaverit," "shall purge," as in the Vulg.; scil. ekkathare.
[4941] 2 Tim. ii. 16. [On true penitence see Epistle xxv. p. 304 supra.]
[4942] Rev. ii. 5. [This selection of texts seems made on the same principle which dictated the compilation of texts against the Jews: a breviarium, the author calls it,--quædam utilia collecta et digesta,--to be read with readiness, and frequently referred to.]
Elucidations.
------------------------
I.
(Maintained by consent, and caressed by excuses, p. 557.)
The severer discipline of early Christianity must not be discarded by those who claim it for the canon of Scripture; for modes of baptism, confirmation, and other rites; for Church polity, in short; and for the Christian year. Let us note that the whole spirit of antiquity is opposed to worldliness. It reflects the precept, "Be not conformed to this world," and in nothing more emphatically than in hostility to theatrical amusements, which in our days are re-asserting the deadly influence over Christians which Cyprian and Tertullian and other Fathers so solemnly denounced. If they were "maintained by consent, and caressed by excuses," even in the martyr-age, no wonder that in our Laodicean period they baffle all exertions of faithful watchmen, who enforce the baptismal vow against "pomps and vanities," always understood of theatrical shows, and hence part of that "world, the flesh, and the devil" which Christians have renounced.
II.
(Now is the axe laid to the root, p. 586.)
Matt. iii. 10. "Securis ad radicem arboris posita est," says Cyprian, quoting the Old Latin, with which the Vulgate substantially agrees. [4943] A very diligent biblical scholar directs attention to the vulgar abuse of this saying, [4944] which turns upon a confusion of the active verb to lay, with the neuter verb to lie. [4945] It is quoted as if it read, Lay the axe to the root, and is "interpreted, popularly, as of felling a tree, an incumbrance or a nuisance....Hence it often makes radical reformers in Church and State, and becomes the motto of many a reckless leader whose way has been to teach, not upward by elevating the ignoble, but downward by sinking the elevated....There is something similar in Latin: jacio to hurl; and jaceo, to lie, recline, or remain at rest. Beza follows the Vulgate (posita est); but the original is clear,--keitai, [4946] is laid, or lieth....It means, The axe is ready; it lieth near the root, in mercy and in menace....The long-suffering of God waiteth as in the days of Noah...waiteth, i.e., for good fruit."
Compare Luke xiii. 9: "If it bear fruit, well: and if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down." Such is the argument of Cyprian, in view of the approaching "end of time."
III.
(General Note.)
Let me here call attention to the mischievous use of words common among modern Latins, even the best of them. Thus, Pellicia [4947] mentions Cyprian as referring his synodical judgment to "the supreme chair of the Church of Rome." No need to say that his reference proves nothing of the kind. "Supremacy," indeed! Consult Bossuet and the Gallicans on that point, even after Trent. The case cited is evidence of the very reverse. Cyprian and his Carthaginian colleagues wished, also, the conspicuous co-operation of their Italian brethren; and so he writes to "Cornelius, our colleague," who, "with very many comprovincial bishops, having held a council, concurred in the same opinion." It is an instance of fraternal concurrence on grounds of entire equality; and Cyprian's courteous invitation to his "colleague" Cornelius and his comprovincials to co-operate, is a striking illustration of the maxim, "Totus apellandus sit orbis, ubi totum orbem causa spectat." Compare St. Basil's letters to the Western bishops, in which he reminds them that the Gospel came to them from the East. This is a sort of primacy recognised by St. Paul himself, [4948] as it was afterwards, when Jerusalem was recognised as "the mother of all the churches" [4949] by a general council, writing to Damasus, bishop of Rome, himself.
[4943] It has arborum, however, instead of the singular.
[4944] Theopneuston, by Samuel Hanson Cox, D.D., New York, 1842.
[4945] Note, an extraordinary instance, Childe Harold, Canto iv. st. 180.
[4946] Lexicographers give keimai = jaceo.
[4947] Polity, etc., p. 416 (translation). This valuable work, translated and edited by the Rev. J. C. Bellett, M.A. (London, 1883), is useful as to mediæval usages, and as supplementing Bingham. But the learned editor has not been sufficiently prudent in noting his author's perpetual misconceptions of antiquity.
[4948] 1 Cor. xiv. 36.
[4949] Theodoret, book v. cap. ix. a.d. 382. The bishops say "last year" (a.d. 381), speaking of the council in session.
Caius
Caius.
[Translated by the Rev. S. D. F. Salmond, M.A.]
Introductory Notice
to
Caius, Presbyter of Rome.
------------------------
[a.d. 180-217.] During the episcopate of Zephyrinus, Caius, one of his presbyters, acquired much credit by his refutation of Proclus, a Montanist. He became known as an eloquent and erudite doctor, and to him has often been ascribed the Philosophumena of Hippolytus, and also The Labyrinth. He wrote in Greek, and finally seems to have been promoted to an episcopal See, possibly among the Easterns. [4950] To him also has been ascribed the celebrated "Muratorian Canon," which is therefore given in this volume, with other fragments less dubiously associated with his name. He has been supposed by some to have been a pupil of Irenæus, but of this there is no conclusive evidence. If his reputation suffers somewhat from his supposed rejection of the Apocalypse, it is apologized for by Wordsworth, in a paragraph that deserves to be quoted entire: "Let it be remembered that the church of Rome was not eminent for learning at that time. It was induced, by fear of erroneous consequences, to surrender another canonical book,--the Epistle to the Hebrews. The learning of the Church was then mainly in the East. It was by the influence of the East, in the West, that the church of Rome was enabled to recover that epistle. It was also the influence of the Apocalyptic churches of Asia that preserved the Apocalypse as an inspired work of St. John to the church of Rome." By the deference with which the author of the Refutation speaks of the Apocalypse, we are able, among other evidences, to decide that it is not the work of Caius.