Chapter VII.--Avoid the Docetæ, and persevere in fasting and prayer.
"For whosoever does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, is antichrist;" [377] and whosoever does not confess the testimony of the cross, [378] is of the devil; and whosoever perverts the oracles of the Lord to his own lusts, and says that there is neither a resurrection nor a judgment, he is the first-born of Satan. [379] Wherefore, forsaking the vanity of many, and their false doctrines, let us return to the word which has been handed down to us from [380] the beginning; "watching unto prayer," [381] and persevering in fasting; beseeching in our supplications the all-seeing God "not to lead us into temptation," [382] as the Lord has said: "The spirit truly is willing, but the flesh is weak." [383]
[377] 1 John iv. 3.
[378] Literally, "the martyrdom of the cross," which some render, "His suffering on the cross."
[379] [The original, perhaps, of Eusebius (Hist. iv. cap. 14). It became a common-place expression in the Church.]
[380] Comp. Jude 3.
[381] 1 Pet. iv. 7.
[382] Matt. vi. 13; Matt. xxvi. 41.
[383] Matt. xxvi. 41; Mark xiv. 38.
Chapter VIII.--Persevere in hope and patience.
Let us then continually persevere in our hope, and the earnest of our righteousness, which is Jesus Christ, "who bore our sins in His own body on the tree," [384] "who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth," [385] but endured all things for us, that we might live in Him. [386] Let us then be imitators of His patience; and if we suffer [387] for His name's sake, let us glorify Him. [388] For He has set us this example [389] in Himself, and we have believed that such is the case.
[384] 1 Pet. ii. 24.
[385] 1 Pet. ii. 22.
[386] Comp. 1 John iv. 9.
[387] Comp. Acts v. 41; 1 Pet. iv. 16.
[388] Some read, "we glorify Him."
[389] Comp. 1 Pet. ii. 21.
Chapter IX.--Patience inculcated.
I exhort you all, therefore, to yield obedience to the word of righteousness, and to exercise all patience, such as ye have seen [set] before your eyes, not only in the case of the blessed Ignatius, and Zosimus, and Rufus, but also in others among yourselves, and in Paul himself, and the rest of the apostles. [This do] in the assurance that all these have not run [390] in vain, but in faith and righteousness, and that they are [now] in their due place in the presence of the Lord, with whom also they suffered. For they loved not this present world, but Him who died for us, and for our sakes was raised again by God from the dead.
[390] Comp. Phil. ii. 16; Gal. ii. 2.
Chapter X.--Exhortation to the practice of virtue. [391]
Stand fast, therefore, in these things, and follow the example of the Lord, being firm and unchangeable in the faith, loving the brotherhood, [392] and being attached to one another, joined together in the truth, exhibiting the meekness of the Lord in your intercourse with one another, and despising no one. When you can do good, defer it not, because "alms delivers from death." [393] Be all of you subject one to another [394] "having your conduct blameless among the Gentiles," [395] that ye may both receive praise for your good works, and the Lord may not be blasphemed through you. But woe to him by whom the name of the Lord is blasphemed! [396] Teach, therefore, sobriety to all, and manifest it also in your own conduct.
[391] This and the two following chapters are preserved only in a Latin version. [See Jacobson, ad loc.]
[392] Comp. 1 Pet. ii. 17.
[393] Tobit iv. 10, Tobit xii. 9.
[394] Comp. 1 Pet. v. 5.
[395] 1 Pet. ii. 12.
[396] Isa. lii. 5.
Chapter XI.--Expression of grief on account of Valens.
I am greatly grieved for Valens, who was once a presbyter among you, because he so little understands the place that was given him [in the Church]. I exhort you, therefore, that ye abstain from covetousness, [397] and that ye be chaste and truthful. "Abstain from every form of evil." [398] For if a man cannot govern himself in such matters, how shall he enjoin them on others? If a man does not keep himself from covetousness, [399] he shall be defiled by idolatry, and shall be judged as one of the heathen. But who of us are ignorant of the judgment of the Lord? "Do we not know that the saints shall judge the world?" [400] as Paul teaches. But I have neither seen nor heard of any such thing among you, in the midst of whom the blessed Paul laboured, and who are commended [401] in the beginning of his Epistle. For he boasts of you in all those Churches which alone then knew the Lord; but we [of Smyrna] had not yet known Him. I am deeply grieved, therefore, brethren, for him (Valens) and his wife; to whom may the Lord grant true repentance! And be ye then moderate in regard to this matter, and "do not count such as enemies," [402] but call them back as suffering and straying members, that ye may save your whole body. For by so acting ye shall edify yourselves. [403]
[397] Some think that incontinence on the part of the Valens and his wife is referred to. [For many reasons I am glad the translators have preferred the reading pleonexias. The next word, chaste, sufficiently rebukes the example of Valens. For once I venture not to coincide with Jacobson's comment.]
[398] 1 Thess. v. 22.
[399] Some think that incontinence on the part of the Valens and his wife is referred to. [For many reasons I am glad the translators have preferred the reading pleonexias. The next word, chaste, sufficiently rebukes the example of Valens. For once I venture not to coincide with Jacobson's comment.]
[400] 1 Cor. vi. 2.
[401] Some read, "named;" comp. Phil. i. 5.
[402] 2 Thess. iii. 15.
[403] Comp. 1 Cor. xii. 26.