XXXVIII.
The [4876] apostles ordained, that "we should not judge any one in respect to meat or drink, or in regard to a feast day, or the new moons, or the sabbaths." [4877] Whence then these contentions? whence these schisms? We keep the feast, but in the leaven of malice and wickedness, cutting in pieces the Church of God; and we preserve what belongs to its exterior, that we may cast away these better things, faith and love. We have heard from the prophetic words that these feasts and fasts are displeasing to the Lord. [4878]
[4876] Taken apparently from the Epistle to Blastus, de Schismate. Compare a similar passage, lib. iv. chap. xxxiii. 7.
[4877] Col. ii. 16.
[4878] Isa. i. 14.
XXXIX.
Christ, [4879] who was called the Son of God before the ages, was manifested in the fulness of time, in order that He might cleanse us through His blood, who were under the power of sin, presenting us as pure sons to His Father, if we yield ourselves obediently to the chastisement of the Spirit. And in the end of time He shall come to do away with all evil, and to reconcile all things, in order that there may be an end of all impurities.
[4879] "From the same collection at Turin. The passage seems to be of cognate matter with the treatise De Resurrec. Pfaff referred it either to the dialexeis diaphoroi or to the epideixis apostolikou kerugmatos." --Harvey.
XL.
"And [4880] he found the jaw-bone of an ass." [4881] It is to be observed that, after [Samson had committed] fornication, the holy Scripture no longer speaks of the things happily accomplished by him in connection with the formula, "The Spirit of the Lord came upon him." [4882] For thus, according to the holy apostle, the sin of fornication is perpetrated against the body, as involving also sin against the temple of God. [4883]
[4880] This and the four following fragments are taken from mss. in the Vatican Library at Rome. They are apparently quoted from the homiletical expositions of the historical books already referred to.
[4881] Judg. xv. 15.
[4882] Judg. xiv. 6-19.
[4883] 1 Cor. iii. 16, 17.
XLI.
This [4884] indicates the persecution against the Church set on foot by the nations who still continue in unbelief. But he (Samson) who suffered those things, trusted that there would be a retaliation against those waging this war. But retaliation through what means? First of all, by his betaking himself to the Rock [4885] not cognizable to the senses; [4886] secondly, by the finding of the jaw-bone of an ass. Now the type of the jaw-bone is the body of Christ.
[4884] These words were evidently written during a season of persecution in Gaul; but what that persecution was, it is useless to conjecture.
[4885] Judg. xv. 11.
[4886] That is, when he fled to the rock Etam, he typified the true believer taking refuge in the spiritual Rock, Christ.
XLII.
Speaking always well of the worthy, but never ill of the unworthy, we also shall attain to the glory and kingdom of God.
XLIII.
In [4887] these things there was signified by prophecy that the people, having become transgressors, shall be bound by the chains of their own sins. But the breaking of the bonds of their own accord indicates that, upon repentance, they shall be again loosed from the shackles of sin.
[4887] Most probably from a homily upon the third and fourth chapters of Ezekiel. It is found repeated in Stieren's and Migne's edition as Fragment xlviii. extracted from a Catena on the Book of Judges.
XLIV.
It [4888] is not an easy thing for a soul, under the influence of error, to be persuaded of the contrary opinion.
[4888] We give this brief fragment as it appears in the editions of Stieren, Migne, and Harvey, who speculate as to its origin. They seem to have overlooked the fact that it is the Greek original of the old Latin, non facile est ab errore apprehensam resipiscere animam,--a sentence found towards the end of book iii. chap. ii.
XLV.
"And [4889] Balaam the son of Beor they slew with the sword." [4890] For, speaking no longer by the Spirit of God, but setting up another law of fornication contrary to the law of God, [4891] this man shall no longer be reckoned as a prophet, but as a soothsayer. For, as he did not continue in the commandment of God, he received the just reward of his evil devices.
[4889] With the exception of the initial text, this fragment is almost identical with No. xxv.
[4890] Num. xxxi. 8.
[4891] Rev. ii. 14.
XLVI.
"The [4892] god of the world;" [4893] that is, Satan, who was designated God to those who believe not.
[4892] From the Catena on St. Paul's Epistles to the Corinthians, edited by Dr. Cramer, and reprinted by Stieren.
[4893] 2 Cor. iv. 4.