6. Still further did He also make it manifest, that we ought, after our calling, to be also adorned with works of righteousness, so that the Spirit of God may rest upon us; for this is the wedding garment, of which also the apostle speaks, "Not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up by immortality." [4377] But those who have indeed been called to God's supper, yet have not received the Holy Spirit, because of their wicked conduct "shall be," He declares, "cast into outer darkness." [4378] He thus clearly shows that the very same King who gathered from all quarters the faithful to the marriage of His Son, and who grants them the incorruptible banquet, [also] orders that man to be cast into outer darkness who has not on a wedding garment, that is, one who despises it. For as in the former covenant, "with many of them was He not well pleased;" [4379] so also is it the case here, that "many are called, but few chosen." [4380] It is not, then, one God who judges, and another Father who calls us together to salvation; nor one, forsooth, who confers eternal light, but another who orders those who have not on the wedding garment to be sent into outer darkness. But it is one and the same God, the Father of our Lord, from whom also the prophets had their mission, who does indeed, through His infinite kindness, call the unworthy; but He examines those who are called, [to ascertain] if they have on the garment fit and proper for the marriage of His Son, because nothing unbecoming or evil pleases Him. This is in accordance with what the Lord said to the man who had been healed: "Behold, thou art made whole; sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee." [4381] For he who is good, and righteous, and pure, and spotless, will endure nothing evil, nor unjust, nor detestable in His wedding chamber. This is the Father of our Lord, by whose providence all things consist, and all are administered by His command; and He confers His free gifts upon those who should [receive them]; but the most righteous Retributor metes out [punishment] according to their deserts, most deservedly, to the ungrateful and to those that are insensible of His kindness; and therefore does He say, "He sent His armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city." [4382] He says here, "His armies," because all men are the property of God. For "the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof; the world, and all that dwell therein." [4383] Wherefore also the Apostle Paul says in the Epistle to the Romans, "For there is no power but of God; the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God; and they that resist shall receive unto themselves condemnation. For rulers are not for a terror to a good work, but to an evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? Do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same; for he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, the avenger for wrath upon him that doeth evil. Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake. For this cause pay ye tribute also; for they are God's ministers, attending continually upon this very thing." [4384] Both the Lord, then, and the apostles announce as the one only God the Father, Him who gave the law, who sent the prophets, who made all things; and therefore does He say, "He sent His armies," because every man, inasmuch as he is a man, is His workmanship, although he may be ignorant of his God. For He gives existence to all; He, "who maketh His sun to rise upon the evil and the good, and sendeth rain upon the just and unjust." [4385]
7. And not alone by what has been stated, but also by the parable of the two sons, the younger of whom consumed his substance by living luxuriously with harlots, did the Lord teach one and the same Father, who did not even allow a kid to his elder son; but for him who had been lost, [namely] his younger son, he ordered the fatted calf to be killed, and he gave him the best robe. [4386] Also by the parable of the workmen who were sent into the vineyard at different periods of the day, one and the same God is declared [4387] as having called some in the beginning, when the world was first created; but others afterwards, and others during the intermediate period, others after a long lapse of time, and others again in the end of time; so that there are many workmen in their generations, but only one householder who calls them together. For there is but one vineyard, since there is also but one righteousness, and one dispensator, for there is one Spirit of God who arranges all things; and in like manner is there one hire, for they all received a penny each man, having [stamped upon it] the royal image and superscription, the knowledge of the Son of God, which is immortality. And therefore He began by giving the hire to those [who were engaged] last, because in the last times, when the Lord was revealed He presented Himself to all [as their reward].
8. Then, in the case of the publican, who excelled the Pharisee in prayer, [we find] that it was not because he worshipped another Father that he received testimony from the Lord that he was justified rather [than the other]; but because with great humility, apart from all boasting and pride, he made confession to the same God. [4388] The parable of the two sons also: those who are sent into the vineyard, of whom one indeed opposed his father, but afterwards repented, when repentance profited him nothing; the other, however, promised to go, at once assuring his father, but he did not go (for "every man is a liar;" [4389] "to will is present with him, but he finds not means to perform" [4390] ),--[this parable, I say], points out one and the same Father. Then, again, this truth was clearly shown forth by the parable of the fig-tree, of which the Lord says, "Behold, now these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig-tree, but I find none" [4391] (pointing onwards, by the prophets, to His advent, by whom He came from time to time, seeking the fruit of righteousness from them, which he did not find), and also by the circumstance that, for the reason already mentioned, the fig-tree should be hewn down. And, without using a parable, the Lord said to Jerusalem, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest those that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house shall be left unto you desolate." [4392] For that which had been said in the parable, "Behold, for three years I come seeking fruit," and in clear terms, again, [where He says], "How often would I have gathered thy children together," shall be [found] a falsehood, if we do not understand His advent, which is [announced] by the prophets--if, in fact, He came to them but once, and then for the first time. But since He who chose the patriarchs and those [who lived under the first covenant], is the same Word of God who did both visit them through the prophetic Spirit, and us also who have been called together from all quarters by His advent; in addition to what has been already said, He truly declared, "Many shall come from the east and from the west, and shall recline with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom shall go into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." [4393] If, then, those who do believe in Him through the preaching of His apostles throughout the east and west shall recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven, partaking with them of the [heavenly] banquet, one and the same God is set forth as He who did indeed choose the patriarchs, visited also the people, and called the Gentiles.
[4355] Matt. xxi. 33-41.
[4356] Matt. xxi. 42-44.
[4357] Matt. v. 22.
[4358] Jer. vii. 3; Zech. vii. 9, 10, Zech. viii. 17; Isa. i. 17-19.
[4359] Ps. xxxiv. 13, 14.
[4360] Jer. vii. 29, 30.
[4361] Jer. vi. 17, 18.
[4362] Luke xxi. 34, 35.
[4363] Luke xii. 35, 36.
[4364] Luke xvii. 26, etc.
[4365] Matt. xxiv. 42.
[4366] No other of the Greek Fathers quotes this text as above; from which fact Grabe infers that old Latin translator, or his transcribers, altered the words of Irenæus [N.B.--From one example infer the rest] to suit the Latin versions.
[4367] Matt. xi. 23, 24.
[4368] John iv. 14.
[4369] This is Massuet's conjectural emendation of the text, viz., archetypum for arcætypum. Grabe would insert per before arcæ, and he thinks the passage to have a reference to 1 Pet. iii. 20. Irenæus, in common with the other ancient Fathers, believed that the fallen angels were the "sons of God" who commingled with "the daughters of men," and thus produced a race of spurious men. [Gen. vi. 1, 2, 3, and Josephus.]
[4370] Jude 7. [And note "strange flesh" (Gr. sarkos heteras) as to the angels. Gen. xix. 4, 5.]
[4371] Matt. iii. 10.
[4372] Matt. xi. 24; Luke x. 12.
[4373] Matt. xxii. 1, etc.
[4374] Matt. v. 35. Instead of placing a period here, as the editors do, it seems to us preferable to carry on the construction.
[4375] Jer. xxxv. 15.
[4376] Jer. vii. 25, etc.
[4377] 2 Cor. v. 4.
[4378] Matt. xxii. 13.
[4379] 1 Cor. x. 5.
[4380] Matt. xxii. 14.
[4381] John v. 14.
[4382] Matt. xxii. 7.
[4383] Ps. xxiv. 1.
[4384] Rom. xiii. 1-7.
[4385] Matt. v. 45.
[4386] Luke xv. 11.
[4387] Matt. xx. 1, etc.
[4388] Luke xviii. 10.
[4389] Ps. cxvi. 2.
[4390] Rom. vii. 18.
[4391] Luke xiii. 6.
[4392] Luke xiii. 34; Matt. xxiii. 37.
[4393] Matt. viii. 11, 12.