Ante-Nicene Fathers • VOLUME 9
Gospel of Peter, Diatessaron, Apocalypse of Peter & Other Early Texts
SECTION 81
Chapter XVII.--The Saints as Examples of Humility.
Chapter XVII.--The Saints as Examples of Humility. Let us be imitators also of those who in goat-skins and sheep-skins [4079] went about proclaiming the coming of Christ; I mean Elijah, Elisha, and Ezekiel among the prophets, with those others to whom a like testimony is borne [in Scripture]. Abraham was specially honoured, and…
798 wordsSECTION 82Chapter XX.--The Peace and Harmony of the Universe.
Chapter XX.--The Peace and Harmony of the Universe. The heavens, revolving under His government, are subject to Him in peace. Day and night run the course appointed by Him, in no wise hindering each other. The sun and moon, with the companies of the stars, roll on in harmony according to His command, within their prescribed lim…
874 wordsSECTION 83Chapter XXIII.--Be Humble, and Believe that Christ Will Come Again.
Chapter XXIII.--Be Humble, and Believe that Christ Will Come Again. The all-merciful and beneficent Father has bowels [of compassion] towards those that fear Him, and kindly and lovingly bestows His favours upon those who come to Him with a simple mind. Wherefore let us not be double-minded; neither let our soul be lifted [4109…
736 wordsSECTION 84Chapter XXVI.--We Shall Rise Again, Then, as the Scripture Also Testifies.
Chapter XXVI.--We Shall Rise Again, Then, as the Scripture Also Testifies. Do we then deem it any great and wonderful thing for the Maker of all things to raise up again those that have piously served Him in the assurance of a good faith, when even by a bird He shows us the mightiness of His power to fulfil His promise? [4123] …
765 wordsSECTION 85Chapter XXX.--Let Us Do Those Things that Please God, and Flee from Those He Hates, that We May Be Blessed.
Chapter XXX.--Let Us Do Those Things that Please God, and Flee from Those He Hates, that We May Be Blessed. Seeing, therefore, that we are the portion of the Holy One, [4142] let us do all those things which pertain to holiness, avoiding all evil-speaking, all abominable and impure embraces, together with all drunkenness, seeki…
1,019 wordsSECTION 86Chapter XXXIV.--Great is the Reward of Good Works with God. Joined Together in Harmony, Let Us Implore that Reward from Him.
Chapter XXXIV.--Great is the Reward of Good Works with God. Joined Together in Harmony, Let Us Implore that Reward from Him. The good servant [4168] receives the bread of his labour with confidence; the lazy and slothful cannot look his employer in the face. It is requisite, therefore, that we be prompt in the practice of well-…
794 wordsSECTION 87Chapter XXXVI.--All Blessings are Given to Us Through Christ.
Chapter XXXVI.--All Blessings are Given to Us Through Christ. This is the way, beloved, in which we find our Saviour, [4190] even Jesus Christ, the High Priest of all our offerings, the defender and helper of our infirmity. By Him we look up to the heights of heaven. By Him we behold, as in a glass, His immaculate and most exce…
774 wordsSECTION 88Chapter XXXIX.--There is No Reason for Self-Conceit.
Chapter XXXIX.--There is No Reason for Self-Conceit. Foolish and inconsiderate [4210] men, who have neither wisdom [4211] nor instruction, mock and deride us, being eager to exalt themselves in their own conceits. For what can a mortal man do, or what strength is there in one made out of the dust? For it is written, "There was …
905 wordsSECTION 89Chapter XLIII.--Moses of Old Stilled the Contention Which Arose Concerning the Priestly Dignity.
Chapter XLIII.--Moses of Old Stilled the Contention Which Arose Concerning the Priestly Dignity. And what wonder is it if those in Christ who were entrusted with such a duty by God, appointed those [ministers] before mentioned, when the blessed Moses also, "a faithful servant in all his house," [4229] noted down in the sacred b…
989 wordsSECTION 90Chapter XLVI.--Let Us Cleave to the Righteous: Your Strife is Pernicious.
Chapter XLVI.--Let Us Cleave to the Righteous: Your Strife is Pernicious. Such examples, therefore, brethren, it is right that we should follow; [4244] since it is written, "Cleave to the holy, for those that cleave to them shall [themselves] be made holy." [4245] And again, in another place, [the Scripture] saith, "With a harm…
857 wordsSECTION 91Chapter XLIX--The Praise of Love.
Chapter XLIX--The Praise of Love. Let him who has love in Christ keep the commandments of Christ. Who can describe the [blessed] bond of the love of God? What man is able to tell the excellence of its beauty, as it ought to be told? The height to which love exalts is unspeakable. Love unites us to God. Love covers a multitude o…
847 wordsSECTION 92Chapter LIII.--The Love of Moses Towards His People.
Chapter LIII.--The Love of Moses Towards His People. Ye understand, beloved, ye understand well the sacred Scriptures, and ye have looked very earnestly into the oracles of God. Call then these things to your remembrance. When Moses went up into the mount, and abode there, with fasting and humiliation, forty days and forty nigh…
1,163 wordsSECTION 93Chapter LVII.--Let the Authors of Sedition Submit Themselves.
Chapter LVII.--Let the Authors of Sedition Submit Themselves. Ye therefore, who laid the foundation of this sedition, submit yourselves to the presbyters, and receive correction so as to repent, bending the knees of your hearts. Learn to be subject, laying aside the proud and arrogant self-confidence of your tongue. For it is b…
837 wordsSECTION 94Chapter LX.--Prayer Continued.
Chapter LX.--Prayer Continued. Thou didst make to appear the enduring fabric of the world by the works of Thy hand; Thou, Lord, didst create the earth on which we dwell,--Thou, who art faithful in all generations, just in judgments, wonderful in strength and majesty, with wisdom creating and with understanding fixing the things…
731 wordsSECTION 95Chapter LXIV.--Blessings Sought for All that Call Upon God.
Chapter LXIV.--Blessings Sought for All that Call Upon God. May God, who seeth all things, and who is the Ruler of all spirits and the Lord of all flesh--who chose our Lord Jesus Christ and us through Him to be a peculiar [4325] people--grant to every soul that calleth upon His glorious and holy name, faith, fear, peace, patien…
1,086 wordsSECTION 96Chapter II.--The Church, Formerly Barren, is Now Fruitful.
Chapter II.--The Church, Formerly Barren, is Now Fruitful. "Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not; for she that is desolate hath many more children than she that hath an husband." [4337] In that He said, "Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not," He referred to us, for our church was…
945 wordsSECTION 97Chapter VI.--The Present and Future Worlds are Enemies to Each Other.
Chapter VI.--The Present and Future Worlds are Enemies to Each Other. Now the Lord declares, "No servant can serve two masters." [4360] If we desire, then, to serve both God and mammon, it will be unprofitable for us. "For what will it profit if a man gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" [4361] This world and the next …
825 wordsSECTION 98Chapter IX.--We Shall Be Judged in the Flesh.
Chapter IX.--We Shall Be Judged in the Flesh. And let no one of you say that this very flesh shall not be judged, nor rise again. Consider ye in what [state] ye were saved, in what ye received sight, [4378] if not while ye were in this flesh. We must therefore preserve the flesh as the temple of God. For as ye were called in th…
934 wordsSECTION 99Chapter XIII.--God's Name Not to Be Blasphemed.
Chapter XIII.--God's Name Not to Be Blasphemed. Brethren, then, let us now at length repent, let us soberly turn to that which is good; for we are full of abundant folly and wickedness. Let us wipe out from us our former sins, and repenting from the heart be saved; and let us not be men-pleasers, nor be willing to please one an…
818 wordsSECTION 100Chapter XVI.--Preparation for the Day of Judgment.
Chapter XVI.--Preparation for the Day of Judgment. So, then, brethren, having received no small occasion to repent, while we have opportunity, let us turn to God who called us, while yet we have One to receive us. For if we renounce these indulgences and conquer the soul by not fulfilling its wicked desires, we shall be partake…
866 wordsSECTION 101Chapter XX.--Godliness, Not Gain, the True Riches.
Chapter XX.--Godliness, Not Gain, the True Riches. But let it not even trouble your mind, that we see the unrighteous possessed of riches and the servants of God straitened. Let us, therefore, brothers and sisters, believe; in a trial of the living God we strive and are exercised in the present life, that we may obtain the crow…
2,407 wordsSECTION 102The translation of the Syriac given here is independently made from the Syriac text, edited by Professor Harris [4415] . Full advantage has
The translation of the Syriac given here is independently made from the Syriac text, edited by Professor Harris [4415] . Full advantage has been taken of his notes and apparatus criticus, but no use has been made of his translation. In obscure passages the German translation of Dr. Richard Raabe [4416] has been compared; and the…
2,209 wordsSECTION 103Is he then badly off? But it cannot be admitted that a god should be a cripple, and besides be dependent on mankind.
Is he then badly off? But it cannot be admitted that a god should be a cripple, and besides be dependent on mankind. Then they bring forward Hermes as a god, representing him to be lustful, and a thief, and covetous, and a magician (and maimed) and an interpreter of language. But it cannot be admitted that such an one is a god.…
2,292 wordsSECTION 104XVII. Thus far, O King, extends my discourse to you, which has been dictated in my mind by the Truth. [4426] Wherefore let thy foolish sages
XVII. Thus far, O King, extends my discourse to you, which has been dictated in my mind by the Truth. [4426] Wherefore let thy foolish sages cease their idle talk against the Lord; for it is profitable for you to worship God the Creator, and to give ear to His incorruptible words, that ye may escape from condemnation and punishm…
2,322 wordsSECTION 105VI. So also they erred who believed that the sun is a god. For we see that it is moved by the compulsion of another, and revolves and makes
VI. So also they erred who believed that the sun is a god. For we see that it is moved by the compulsion of another, and revolves and makes its journey, and proceeds from sign to sign, rising and setting every day, so as to give warmth for the growth of plants and trees, and to bring forth into the air where with it (sunlight) i…
2,208 wordsSECTION 106Again they say of Rhea that she is the mother of their gods. And they say that she had once a lover Atys, and that she used to delight in de
Again they say of Rhea that she is the mother of their gods. And they say that she had once a lover Atys, and that she used to delight in depraved men. And at last she raised a lamentation and mourned for Atys her lover. If then the mother of their gods was unable to help her lover and deliver him from death, how can she help ot…
2,265 wordsSECTION 107XVI. Such, O King, is the commandment of the law of the Christians, and such is their manner of life. As men who know God, they ask from Him
XVI. Such, O King, is the commandment of the law of the Christians, and such is their manner of life. As men who know God, they ask from Him petitions which are fitting for Him to grant and for them to receive. And thus they employ their whole lifetime. And since they know the loving-kindnesses of God toward them, behold! for th…
1,463 wordsSECTION 108Introduction.
Introduction. ------------------------ The Scillitan Martyrs were condemned and executed at Carthage on the 17th July, a.d. 180. The martyrs belonged to Scili, a place in that part of Numidia which belonged to proconsular Africa. The proconsul at the time, who is said by Tertullian to have been the first to draw the sword agai…
863 wordsSECTION 109Epistle to Gregory
Epistle to Gregory and Origen's Commentary on the Gospel of John. by Allan Menzies, D.D. Commentaries of Origen. ------------------------ Introduction. ------------------------ For a general account of Origen and of his works we may refer to Dr. Crombie's Life of Origen, in vol. iv. of this series (xxiii. in Clark's i…
2,226 wordsSECTION 110The weakness of Origen as an interpreter is his want of historical feeling or of any conception of such a thing as growth or development in
The weakness of Origen as an interpreter is his want of historical feeling or of any conception of such a thing as growth or development in revelation. His mind slips incessantly away from the real scenes and events recorded in Scripture, to the ideal region where he conceives that the truths reside which these prefigure. Script…
1,069 wordsSECTION 111Letter of Origen to Gregory.
Letter of Origen to Gregory. ------------------------ When and to whom the Learning derived from Philosophy may be of Service for the Exposition of the Holy Scriptures; with a lively Personal Appeal. This letter to Gregory, afterwards bishop of Cæsarea, and called Thaumaturgus, was preserved in the Philocalia, or collection o…
1,480 wordsSECTION 112Book I.
Book I. 1. How Christians are the Spiritual Israel. That people which was called of old the people of God was divided into twelve tribes, and over and above the other tribes it had the levitical order, which itself again carried on the service of God in various priestly and levitical suborders. In the same manner, it appears t…
2,202 wordsSECTION 113[4472] Ephes. iv. 11.
[4472] Ephes. iv. 11. [4473] John ix. 1. [4474] John xi. 39. [4475] Matt. xxiii. 8, 9. [4476] didaskaloi, Ephes. iv. 11. 6. The Fourfold Gospel. John's the First Fruits of the Four. Qualifications Necessary for Interpreting It. Now the Gospels are four. These four are, as it were, the elements of the faith of the Church, o…
2,395 wordsSECTION 11410. How Jesus Himself is the Gospel.
10. How Jesus Himself is the Gospel. The foregoing inquiry into the nature of the Gospel cannot be regarded as useless; it has enabled us to see what distinction there is between a sensible Gospel and an intellectual and spiritual one. What we have now to do is to transform the sensible Gospel into a spiritual one. For what wo…
2,394 wordsSECTION 115[4518] Ps. civ. 4.
[4518] Ps. civ. 4. [4519] Luke ii. 10, 11. [4520] Origen, however, appears also to have read eudokias: "among men of good will." 14. The Old Testament, Typified by John, is the Beginning of the Gospel. In addition to what we have said, there is also this to be considered about the Gospel, that in the first instance it is tha…
2,227 wordsSECTION 116[4540] We must here reproduce the Greek word, as Origen passes to meanings of it which the English "beginning" does not cover.
[4540] We must here reproduce the Greek word, as Origen passes to meanings of it which the English "beginning" does not cover. [4541] Coloss. i. 15. 20. (5) of Elements and What is Formed from Them. There is also an arche in a matter of learning, as when we say that the letters are the arche of grammar. The Apostle accordingl…
1,545 wordsSECTION 117Let us consider, however, a little more carefully what is the Word which is in the beginning. I am often led to wonder when I consider the t
Let us consider, however, a little more carefully what is the Word which is in the beginning. I am often led to wonder when I consider the things that are said about Christ, even by those who are in earnest in their belief in Him. Though there is a countless number of names which can be applied to our Saviour, they omit the most…
2,179 wordsSECTION 118He said, then, that He was the light of the world; and we have to examine, along with this title, those which are parallel to it; and, indee
He said, then, that He was the light of the world; and we have to examine, along with this title, those which are parallel to it; and, indeed, are thought by some to be not merely parallel, but identical with it. He is the true light, and the light of the Gentiles. In the opening of the Gospel now before us He is the light of me…
2,218 wordsSECTION 11928. Christ as Life.
28. Christ as Life. It is clear also that the principle of that life which is pure and unmixed with any other element, resides in Him who is the first-born of all creation, taking from which those who have a share in Christ live the life which is true life, while all those who are thought to live apart from this, as they have n…
2,564 wordsSECTION 120[4611] Ps. cxxxvi. 2.
[4611] Ps. cxxxvi. 2. [4612] Ps. l. 1. [4613] Matt. xx. 2. [4614] 1 Cor. viii. 5. [4615] Ephes. i. 21. [4616] Exod. iii. 2, 6. [4617] Isa. ix. 6. [4618] Ps. lxxxviii. 4, 5. 35. Christ as the Living and the Dead. In what has been said about the first and the last, and about the beginning and the end, we have referred the…
2,321 wordsSource & rights
Historical text source: Christian Classics Ethereal Library. The downloaded text itself records Public Domain.