(NOTE: The electronic text obtained from The Electronic Bible Society was
not completely corrected. EWTN has corrected all discovered errors. If you
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Transliteration of Greek words: All phonetical except: w = omega; h serves
three puposes: 1. = Eta; 2. = rough breathing, when appearing initially
before a vowel; 3. = in the aspirated letters theta = th, phi = ph, chi =
ch. Accents are given immediately after their corresponding vowels: acute =
' , grave = `, circumflex = ^. The character ' doubles as an apostrophe,
when necessary.

RUFINUS

A COMMENTARY ON THE APOSTLES' CREED.

[Translated by the Hon. and Rev. William Henry Fremantle, M.A., Canon of
Canterbury, Fellow and Tutor of Baliol College, Oxford.]


   My mind has as little inclination for writing as sufficiency, most
faithful Bishop (Papa) Laurentius,(1) for I well know that it is a matter
of no little peril to submit a slender ability to general criticism. But,
since in your letter you rashly (forgive my saying so) require me, by
Christ's sacraments, which I hold in the greatest reverence, to compose
something for you concerning the Faith, in accordance with the traditional
and natural meaning of the Creed. although in so doing you impose a burthen
upon me beyond my strength to bear (for I do not forget the opinion of the
wise, which so justly says, that "to speak of God even what is true is
perilous"); still, if you will aid with your prayers the necessity which
your requisition has laid upon me, I will try to say something, moved
rather by a reverential regard for your injunction than by presumptuous
confidence in my ability. What I write, however, will hardly seem worthy of
the consideration of persons of mature understanding, but suited rather to
the capacity of children and young beginners in Christ.

   I find, indeed, that some eminent writers have published treatises on
these matters piously and briefly written. Moreover, I know that the
heretic Photinus has written on the same; but with the object, not of
explaining the meaning of the text to his readers. but of wresting things
simply and truthfully said in support of his own dogma, while yet the Holy
Spirit has taken care that in these words nothing should be set down which
is ambiguous or obscure, or inconsistent with other truths: for therein is
that prophecy verified, "Finishing and cutting short the word in equity:
because a short word will the Lord make upon the earth."(2) It shall be our
endeavour, then, first to restore and emphasize the words of the Apostles
in their native simplicity; and, secondly, to supply such things as seem to
have been omitted by former expositors. But that the scope of this "short
word," as we have called it, may be made more plain, we will enquire from
the beginning how it came to be given to the Churches.

   2. Our forefathers have handed down to us the tradition, that, after
the Lord's ascension, when, through the coming of the Holy Ghost, tongues
of flame had settled upon each of the Apostles, that they might speak
diverse languages, so that no race however foreign, no tongue however
barbarous, might be inaccessible to them and beyond their reach, they were
commanded by the Lord to go severally to the several nations to preach the
word of God. Being on the eve therefore of departing from one another, they
first mutually agreed upon a standard of their future preaching, lest
haply, when separated, they might in any instance vary in the statements
which they should make to those whom they should invite to believe in
Christ. Being all therefore met together, and being filled with the Holy
Ghost, they composed, as we have said, this brief formulary of their future
preaching, each contributing his several sentence to one common summary:
and they ordained that the rule thus framed should be given to those who
believe.

   To this formulary, for many and most sufficient reasons, they gave the
name or Symbol. For Symbol (ku'mbolon) in Greek answers to both "Indicium"
(a sign or token) and "Collatio" (a joint contribution made by several) in
Latin. For this the Apostles did in these words, each contributing his
several sentence. It is called "Indicium" or "Signum," a sign or token,
because, at that time, as the Apostle Paul says, and as is related in the
Acts of the Apostles, many of the vagabond Jews, pretending to be apostles
of Christ, went about preaching for gain's sake or their belly's sake,
naming the name of Christ indeed, but not delivering their message
according to the exact traditional lines. The Apostles therefore prescribed
this formulary as a sign or token by which he who preached Christ truly,
according to Apostolic rule, might be recognised. Finally, they say that in
civil wars, since the armour of both sides is alike, and the language the
same, and the custom and mode of warfare the same, each general, to guard
against treachery, is wont to deliver to his soldiers a distinct symbol or
watchword--in Latin "signum" or "indicium"--so that if one is met with, of
whom it is doubtful to which side he belongs, being asked the symbol
(watchword), he discloses whether he is friend or foe. And for this reason,
the tradition continues, the Creed is not written on paper or parchment,
but is retained in the hearts of the faithful, that it may be certain that
no one has learnt it by reading, as is sometimes the case with unbelievers,
but by tradition from the Apostles.

   The Apostles therefore, as we have said, being about to separate in
order to preach the Gospel, settled upon this sign or token of their
agreement in the faith; and, unlike the sons of Noah, who, when they were
about to separate from one another, builded a tower of baked bricks and
pitch, whose top might reach to heaven, they raised a monument of faith,
which might withstand the enemy, composed of living stones and pearls of
the Lord, such that neither winds might overthrow it, nor floods undermine
it, nor the force of storms and tempests shake it. Right justly, then, were
the former, when, on the eve of separation, they builded a tower of pride,
condemned to the confusion of tongues, so that no one might understand his
neighbour's speech; while the latter, who were building a tower of faith,
were endowed with the knowledge and understanding of all languages; so that
the one might prove a sign and token of sin, the other of faith.

   But it is time now that we should say something about these same
pearls, among which is placed first the fountain and source of all, when it
is said,--

   3. I BELIEVE IN GOD THE FATHER ALMIGHTY.

   But before I begin to discuss the meaning of the words, I think it well
to mention that in different Churches some additions are found in this
article. This is not the case, however, in the Church of the city of Rome;
the reason being, as I suppose, that, on the one hand, no heresy has had
its origin there, and, on the other, that the ancient custom is there kept
up, that those who are going to be baptized should rehearse the Creed
publicly, that is, in the audience of the people; the consequence of which
is that the ears of those who are already believers will not admit the
addition of a single word. But in other places, as I understand, additions
appear to have been made, on account of certain heretics, by means of which
it was hoped that novelty in doctrine would be excluded. We, however,
follow that order which we received when we were baptized in the Church of
Aquileia.

   I BELIEVE, therefore, is placed in the forefront, as the Apostle Paul,
writing to the Hebrews, says, "He that cometh to God must first of all
believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who believe on
Him."(1) The Prophet also says, "Except ye believe,(2) ye shall not
understand." That the way to understand, therefore, may be open to you, you
do rightly first of all, in professing that you believe; for no one embarks
upon the sea, and trusts himself to the deep and liquid element, unless he
first believes it possible that he will have a safe voyage; neither does
the husbandman commit his seed to the furrows and scatter his grain on the
earth, but in the belief that the showers will come, together with the
sun's warmth, through whose fostering influence, aided by favouring winds,
the earth will produce and multiply and ripen its fruits. In fine, nothing
in life can be transacted if there be not first a readiness to believe.
What wonder then, if, coming to God, we first of all profess that we
believe, seeing that, without this, not even common life can be lived. We
have premised these remarks at the outset, since the Pagans are wont to
object to us that our religion, because it lacks reasons, rests solely on
belief. We have shewn, therefore, that nothing can possibly be done or
remain stable unless belief precede. Finally, marriages are contracted in
the belief that children will be born; and children are committed to the
care of masters in the belief that the teaching of the masters will be
transferred to the pupils; and one man assumes the ensigns of empire,
believing that peoples and cities and a well-equipped army also will obey
him. But if no one enters upon any one of these several undertakings except
in the belief that the results spoken of will follow, must not belief be
much more requisite if one would come to the knowledge of God? But let us
see what this "short word" of the Creed sets forth.

   4. "I BELIEVE IN GOD THE FATHER ALMIGHTY." The Eastern Churches almost
universally deliver the article thus, "I believe in ONE God the Father
Almighty;" and again in the next article, where we say, "And in Christ
Jesus, His only Son, our Lord," they deliver it., "And in ONE (Lord) our
Lord Jesus Christ, His only Son;" confessing, that is, "one Gods" and "one
Lord," in accordance with the authority of the Apostle Paul. But we shall
return to this by-and-by. For the present, let us turn our attention to the
words, "In God the Father Almighty."

   "God," so far as the human mind can form an idea, is the name of that
nature or substance which is above all things. "Father" is a word
expressive of a secret and ineffable mystery. When you hear the word "God,"
you must understand thereby a substance without beginning, without end
simple, uncompounded, invisible, incorporeal, ineffable, inappreciable,
which has in it nothing which has been either added or created. For He is
without cause who is absolutely the cause of all things. When you hear the
word "Father," you must understand by this the Father of a Son, which Son
is the image of the aforesaid substance. For as no one is called "Lord"
unless he have a possession or a servant whose lord he is, and as no one is
called "master" unless he have a disciple, so no one can possibly be called
"father" unless he have a son. This very name of "Father," therefore, shews
plainly that, together with the Father there subsists a Son also.

   But I would not have you discuss how God the Father begat the Son, nor
intrude too curiously into the profound mystery, lest haply, by prying too
eagerly into the brightness of light inaccessible, you should lose the
faint glimpse which, by the gift of God, has been vouchsafed to mortals.
Or, if you suppose that this is a subject to be investigated with all
possible scrutiny, first propose to yourself questions which concern
ourselves, and then, if you are able to deal satisfactorily with them,
speed on from earthly things to heavenly, from visible to invisible.
Determine first, if you can, how the mind, which is within you, generates a
word, and what is the spirit of the memory which is in it; and how these,
though diverse in reality and in operation, are yet one in substance or
nature; and though they proceed from the mind, yet are never separated from
it. And if these, though they are in us and in the substance of our own
soul, yet seem to be hidden from us in proportion as they are invisible to
our bodily sight, let us take for our enquiry things which are more open to
view. How does a spring generate a river from itself? By what spirit is it
borne into a rapidly flowing stream? How happens it that, while the river
and the spring are one and inseparable, yet neither can the river be
understood to be, or can be called, the spring, nor the spring the river,
and yet he who has seen the river has seen the spring also? Exercise
yourself first in explaining these, and explain, if you are able, things
which you have trader your hands; and then you may come to loftier matters.
Do not think, however, that I would have you ascend all at once from the
earth above the heavens: I would first, with your leave, draw your
attention to this firmament which our eyes behold, and ask you to explain,
if you can, the nature of this visible luminary,--how that celestial fire
generates from itself the brightness of light, how it also produces heat;
and though these are three in reality, how they are yet one in substance.
And if you are capable of investigating each of these, even then you must
acknowledge that the mystery of the Divine generation is by so much the
more diverse and the more transcendent as the Creator is more powerful than
the creatures, as the artificer is more excellent than his work, as He who
ever is more noble than that which had its beginning out of nothing.

   That God then is the Father of His only Son our Lord is to be believed,
not discussed; for it is not lawful for a servant to dispute about the
nativity of his lord. The Father hath borne witness from heaven, saying,(1)
"This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased: hear Him." The Father
saith that He is His Son and bids us hear Him. The Son saith, "He who seeth
Me seeth the Father also,"(2) and "I and the Father are one,"(3) and "I
came forth from God and am come into the world."(4) Where is the man who
can thrust himself as a disputant between these words of Father and Son,
who cart divide the Godhead, separate its volition, break asunder the
substance, cut the spirit in parts, and deny that what the Truth speaks is
true? God then is a true Father as the Father of the Truth, not begetting
extrinsically, but generating the Son from that which Himself is; that is,
as the All-wise He generates Wisdom, as the Just Justice, as the
Everlasting the Everlasting, as the Immortal Immortality, as the Invisible
the Invisible; because He is Light, He generates Brightness, because He is
Mind, He generates the Word.

   5. Now whereas we said that the Eastern Churches, in their delivery. of
the Creed, say, "In one God(5) the Father Almighty," and "in one Lord," the
"one" is not to be understood numerically but absolutely. For example, if
one should say, "one man" or "one horse," here "one" is used numerically.
For there may be a second man and a third, or a second horse and a third.
But where a second or a third cannot be added, if we say "one" we mean one
not numerically but absolutely. For example, if we say, "one Sun," here the
meaning is that a second or a third cannot be added, for there is but one
Sun. Much more then is God, when He is said to be "one," called "one." not
numerically but absolutely, that is, He is therefore said to be one because
there is no other. In like manner, also, it is to be understood of the
Lord, that He is one Lord, Jesus Christ, by or through Whom God the Father
possesses dominion over all, whence also, in the next clause, God is called
"Almighty."

   God is called ALMIGHTY because He possesses rule and dominion over all
things.(1) But the Father possesses all things by His Son, as the Apostle
says, "By Him were created all things, visible and invisible, whether they
be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers."(2) And again,
writing to the Hebrews, he says, "By Him also He made the worlds," and "He
appointed Him heir of all things."(3) By "appointed" we are to understand
"generated." Now if the Father made the worlds by Him, and all things were
created by Him, and He is heir of all things, then by Him He possesses rule
also over all things. Because, as light is born of light, and truth of
truth, so. Almighty is born of Almighty. As it is written of the Seraphim
in the Revelation of John, "And they have no rest day and night, crying
Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Sabaoth, which was and which is and which is
to come, the Almighty."(4) He then who "is to come" is called "Almighty."
And what other is there who "is to come" but Christ, the Son of God?

   To the foregoing is added "INVISIBLE AND IMPASSIBLE." I should mention
that these two words are not in the Creed of the Roman Church. They were
added in our Church, as is well known, on account of the Sabellian heresy,
called by us "the Patripassian," that, namely, which says that the Father
Himself was born of the Virgin and  became visible, or affirms that He
suffered in the flesh. To exclude such impiety, therefore, concerning the
Father, our forefathers seem to have added these words, calling the Father
"invisible and impassible." For it is evident that the Son, not the Father,
became incarnate and was born in the flesh, and that from that nativity in
the flesh the Son became "visible and passible." Yet so far as regards that
immortal substance of the Godhead, which He possesses, and which is one and
the same with that of the Father, we must believe that neither the Father,
nor the Son, nor the Holy Ghost is "visible or passible." But the Son, in
that He condescended to assume flesh, was both seen and also suffered in
the flesh. Which also the Prophet fore told when he said, "This is our God:
no  other shah be accounted of in comparison of Him. He hath found out all
the way of knowledge, and hath given it unto Jacob His servant and to
Israel His beloved. Afterward He shewed Himself upon the earth, and
conversed with men."(1)

   6. Next there follows, "AND IN CHRIST JESUS, HIS ONLY SON, OUR LORD."
"Jesus" is a Hebrew word meaning "Saviour." "Christ" is so called from
"Chrism," i.e. unction. For we read in the Books of Moses, that Auses, the
son of Nave,(2) when he was chosen to lead the people, had his name changed
from "Auses" to "Jesus," to shew that this was a name proper for princes
and generals, for those, namely, who should "save" the people who followed
them. Therefore, both were called "Jesus," both the one who conducted the
people, who had been brought forth out of the land of Egypt, and freed from
the wanderings of the wilderness, into the land of promise, and the other,
who conducted the people, who had been brought forth from the darkness of
ignorance, and recalled from the errors of the world, into the kingdom of
heaven.

   "Christ" is a name proper either to High Priests or Kings. For formerly
both high priests and kings were consecrated with the ointment of chrism:
but these, as mortal and corruptible, with material and corruptible
ointment. Jesus is made Christ, being anointed with tile Holy Spirit, as
the Scripture saith of Him "Whom the Father hath anointed with the Holy
Spirit sent down from heaven."(3) And Isaiah had prefigured the same,
saying in the person of the Son, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,
because He hath anointed Me, He hath sent Me to preach good tidings to the
poor."(4)

  Having shewn their what Jesus" is, Who saves His people, and what
"Christ" is, Who is made a High Priest for ever, let us now see in what
follows, of Whom these things are said, "His only Son, our Lord." Here we
are taught that this Jesus, of whom we have spoken, and this Christ, the
meaning of whose name we have expounded, is "the only Son of God" and "our
Lord." Lest, perchance, you should think that these human names have an
earthly significance, therefore it is added that He is "the only Son of
God, our Lord." For He is born One of One, because there is one brightness
of light, and there is one word of the understanding. Neither does an
incorporeal generation degenerate into the plural number, or suffer
division, where He Who is born is in no wise separated from Him Who begets.
He is "only" (unique), as thought is to the mind, as wisdom is to the wise,
as a word is to the understanding, as valour is to the brave. For as the
Father is said by the Apostle to be "alone wise,"(1) so likewise the Son
alone is called wisdom. He is then the "only Son." And, although in glory,
everlastingness, virtue, dominion, power, He is what the Father is, vet all
these He hath not unoriginately as the Father, but from the Father, as the
Son, without beginning and equal; and although He is the Head of all
things, yet the Father is the Head of Him. For so it is written, "The Head
of Christ is God."(2)

   7. When you hear the word "Son," you must not think of a nativity after
the flesh; but remember that it is spoken of an incorporeal substance, and
a simple and uncompounded nature. For if, as we said above, whether when
the understanding generates a word, or the mind sense, or light brings
forth brightness from itself, nothing  of this sort is sought for, or any
manner of weakness and imperfection imagined in this kind of generation,
how much purer and more sacred ought to be our conception of the Creator of
all these!

   But perhaps you say, "The generation of which you speak is an
unsubstantial generation. For light does not produce substantial
brightness, nor the understanding generate a substantial word, but the Son
of God, it is affirmed, was generated substantially." To this we reply,
first, When in other things examples or illustrations are used, the
resemblance cannot hold in every particular, but only in some one point for
which the illustration is employed. For instance, When it is said in the
Gospel, "The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman hid in three
measures of meal,"(3) are we to imagine that the kingdom of heaven is in
all respects like leaven, so that like leaven it is palpable and perishable
so as to become sour and unfit for use? Obviously the illustration was
employed simply for this object--to shew how, through the preaching of
God's word which seems so small a thing, men's minds could be imbued with
the leaven of faith. So likewise, when it is said, "The kingdom of heaven
is like unto a net cast into the sea, which draws in fishes of every
kind,"(1) are we to suppose that the substance of the kingdom of heaven is
likened in all respects to the nature of twine of which a net is made, and
to the knots with which the meshes are tied? No; the sole object of the
comparison is to shew that, as a net brings fishes to the shore from the
depths of the sea, so by the preaching of the kingdom of heaven men's souls
are liberated from the depth of the error of this world. From whence it is
evident that examples or illustrations do not answer in every particular to
the things which they are brought to exemplify or illustrate. Otherwise, if
they were the same in all respects, they would no longer be called examples
or illustrations, but rather would be the things themselves.

   8. Then further it is to be observed that no creature can be such as
its Creator. And therefore, as the divine substance or essence admits of no
comparison, so neither does the Divinity. Moreover, every creature is of
nothing. If therefore a spark which is so unsubstantial but vet is fire,
begets of itself a creature which is of nothing, and maintains in it the
essential nature of that from which it springs, (i.e. the fire of the
parent spark), why could not the substance of that eternal Light which ever
has been because it has in itself nothing which is not substantial, produce
froth itself substantial brightness? Rightly, therefore, is the Son called
"only," "unique." For He who hath been so born is "only" and "unique." That
which is unique can admit of no comparison. Nor can He who made all things
be like in substance to the things which He has made. This then is Christ
Jesus, the only Son of God, who is also our Lord. "Only" may be referred
both to Son and to Lord. For Jesus Christ is "only" both as truly Son and
as one Lord. For all other sons, though they are called sons, are so called
by the grace of adoption, not by verity of nature; and if there be others
who are called lords, they are called so from an authority bestowed not
inherent. But Christ alone is the only Sonand the only Lord. as the Apostle
saith, "One Lord Jesus Christ, by Whom are all things."(2) Therefore, after
the Creed has in due order set forth the ineffable mystery of the nativity
of the Son froth the Father, it now descends to the dispensation which He
vouchsafed to enter upon for man's salvation. And of Him whom just now it
called the "only Son of God" and "our Lord," it now says.

   9. "WHO WAS BORN BY (de) THE HOLY GHOST OF THE VIRGIN MARY." This
nativity among men is in the way of dispensation,(1) whereas the former
nativity is of the divine substance; the one results from his
condescension, the other from his essential nature. He is born by the Holy
Ghost of the Virgin. Here a chaste ear and a pure mind is required. For you
must understand that now a temple hath been built within the secret
recesses of a Virgin's womb for Him of Whom erewhile you learnt that He was
born ineffably of the Father. And just as in the sanctification of the Holy
Ghost no thought of imperfection is to be admitted, so in the Virgin-birth
no defilement is to be imagined. For this birth was a new birth given to
this world, and rightly new. For He Who is the only Son in heaven is by
consequence the only Son on earth, and was uniquely born, born as no other
ever was or can be.

   The words of the Prophets concerning Him, "A Virgin shall conceive and
bring forth a Son,"(2) are known to all, and are cited in the Gospels again
and again. The Prophet Ezekiel too had predicted the miraculous manner of
that birth, calling Mary figuratively "the Gate of the Lord," the gate,
namely, through which the Lord entered the world. For he saith, "The gate
which looks towards the East shall be closed, and shall not be opened, and
no one shall pass through it, because the Lord God of Israel shall pass
through it, and it shall be closed."(3) What could be said with such
evident reference to the inviolate preservation of the Virgin's condition?
That Gate of Virginity was closed; through it the Lord God of Israel
entered; through it He came forth from the Virgin's womb into this world;
and the Virgin-state being preserved inviolate, the gate of the Virgin
remained closed for ever. Therefore the Holy Ghost is spoken of as the
Creator of the Lord's flesh and of His temple.

   10. Starting from this point you may understand the majesty of the Holy
Ghost also. For the Gospel witnesses of Him that when the angel said to the
Virgin, "Thou shalt bring forth a Son and shalt call His name Jesus, for He
shall save His people from their sins,"(4) she replied, " How shall this
be, seeing I know not a man?" on which the angel said to her, "The Holy
Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow
thee. Wherefore that holy Thing which shall be born of Thee shall be called
the Son of God."(1) See here the Trinity mutually cooperating with each
other. The Holy Ghost is spoken of as coming upon the Virgin, and the Power
of the Highest as overshadowing her. What is the Power of the Highest but
Christ Himself, Who is the Power of God and the Wisdom of God? Whose is
this Power? The Power of the Highest. There is here then the Highest, there
is also the Power of the Highest, there is also the Holy Ghost. This is the
Trinity, everywhere latent, and everywhere apparent, distinct in names and
persons, but inseparable in the substance of the Godhead. And although the
Son alone is born of the Virgin, yet there is present also the Highest,
there is present also the Holy Ghost, that both the conception and the
bringing forth of the Virgin may be sanctified.

   11. These things, since they are asserted upon the warrant of the
Prophetical Scriptures, may possibly silence the Jews, infidel and
incredulous though they be. But the Pagans are wont to ridicule us when
they hear us speak of a Virgin-birth. We must, therefore, say a few words
in reply to their cavils. Every birth, I suppose, depends upon three
conditions. There must be a woman of mature age, she must have intercourse
with a man, her womb must not be barren. Of these three conditions, in the
birth of which we are speaking, one was wanting, the man. And this,
forasmuch as He of Whose birth we speak was not an earthly but a heavenly
man, was supplied by the Heavenly Spirit, the virginity of the mother being
preserved inviolate. And yet why should it be thought marvellous for a
virgin to conceive, when it is well known that the Eastern bird, which they
call the Phoenix, is in such wise born, or born again, without the
intervention of a mate, that it remains continually one, and continually by
being born or born again succeeds itself?(2) That bees know no wedlock, and
no bringing forth of young, is notorious. There are also other things which
are found to be subject to some such law of birth. Shall it be thought
incredible, then, that was done by divine power, for the renewal and
restoration of the whole world, of which instances are observed in the
nativity of animals? And yet it is strange that the Gentiles should think
this impossible, who believe their own Minerva to have been born from the
brain of Jupiter. What is more difficult to believe, or what more contrary
to nature? Here, there is a woman, the order of nature is kept, there is
conception, and in due time birth; there, there is no female, but a man
alone, and--birth! Why does he who believes the one marvel at the other?
Again, they say that Father Bacchus was born from Jupiter's thigh. Here is
another portent, yet it is believed. Venus also, whom they call Aphrodite,
was born, they believe, of the foam of the sea, as her compounded name
shews. They affirm that Castor and Pollux were born of an egg, the
Myrmidons of ants. There are a thousand other things which, though contrary
to nature, find credit with them, such as the stones thrown by Deucalion
and Pyrrha, and the crop of men sprung from thence. And when they believe
such myths and so many of them, does one thing seem impossible to them,
that a woman of mature age, not defiled by man but impregnated by the Holy
Ghost, should conceive a divine progeny? who, forsooth, if they are hard of
belief, ought in no wise to have given credence to those prodigies, being,
as they are, so many and so degrading; but if they do believe them, they
ought much more readily to receive these beliefs of ours, so honourable and
so holy, than theirs so discreditable and so vile.

   12. But they say, perhaps, If it was possible to God that a virgin
should conceive, it was possible also that she should bring forth, but they
think it unmeet that a being of so great majesty should enter the world in
such wise, that even though there had been no defilement from intercourse
with man, there should yet be the unseemliness attendant upon the act of
delivery. To which let us reply briefly, meeting them on their own level.
If a person should see a little child in the act of being suffocated in a
quagmire, and himself, a great man and powerful, should go into the mire,
just at its verge, so to say, to rescue the dying child; would you blame
this than as defiled for having stepped into a little mire, or would you
praise him as merciful, for having preserved the life of one that was
perishing? But the case supposed is that of an ordinary man. Let us return
to the nature of Him Who was born. How much, think you, is the nature of
the Sun inferior to him? How much beyond doubt, the Creature to the
Creator? Consider now if a ray of the sun alights upon a quagmire, does it
receive any pollution from it? or is the sun the worse for shedding his
light upon foul objects? Fire, too, how far inferior is its nature to the
things of which we are speaking? Yet no substance, whether foul or vile, is
believed to pollute fire if applied to it. When the case is plainly thus
with regard to material things, do you suppose that aught of pollution and
defilement can befall that supereminent and incorporeal nature, which is
above all fire and all light? Then, lastly, note this also: we say that man
was created by God out of the clay of the earth. But if God is thought to
be defiled in seeking to recover His own work, much more must He be thought
so in making that work originally. And it is idle to ask why He passed
through what is repugnant to our sense of modesty, when you cannot tell why
He made what is so repugnant. And therefore it is not nature but general
estimation that has made us think these things to be such. Otherwise, all
things that are in the body, being formed from one and the same clay, are
distinguished from one another only in their uses. and natural offices.

   13. But there is another consideration which we must not leave out in
the solution of this question, namely, that the substance of God, which is
wholly incorporeal, cannot be introduced into bodies or be received by them
in the first instance, unless there be some spiritual substance as a
medium, which is capable of receiving the divine Spirit. For instance, if
we say that light is able to irradiate all the members of the body, yet by
none of them can it be received except by the eye. For it is the eve alone
which is receptive of light. So the Son of God is horn of a virgin, not
associated with the flesh alone in the first instance, but begotten with a
soul as a medium between the flesh and God. With the soul, then, serving as
a medium, and receiving the Word of God in the secret citadel of the
rational spirit, God was born of the Virgin without any such disparagement
as you imagine. And therefore nothing is to be esteemed base or unseemly
wherein was the sanctification of the Spirit, and where the soul which was
capable of God became also a partaker of flesh. Account nothing impossible
where the power of the Most High was present. Have no thought of human
weakness where there was the plenitude of Divinity.

   14. HE WAS CRUCIFIED UNDER PONTIUS PILATE AND WAS BURIED: HE DESCENDED
INTO HELL.  The Apostle Paul teaches us that we ought to have "the eyes of
our understanding enlightened"(1) "that we may understand what is the
height and breadth and depth."(2) "The height and breadth and depth" is a
description of the Cross, of which that part which is fixed in the earth he
calls the depth, the height that which is erected upon the earth and
reaches upward, the breadth that which is spread out to the right hand and
to the left. Since, therefore, there are so many kinds of death by which it
is given to men to depart this life, why does the Apostle wish us to have
our understanding enlightened so as to know the reason why, of all of them,
the Cross was chosen in preference for the death of the Saviour. We must
know, then, that Cross was a triumph. It was a signal trophy. A triumph is
a token of victory over an enemy. Since then Christ, when He came, brought
three kingdoms at once into subjection under His sway (for this He
signifies when he says, "That in tile name of Jesus every knee should bow,
of things in heaven, and things on earth, and things under the earth"),(3)
and conquered all of these by His death, a death was sought answerable to
the mystery, so that being lifted up in the air, and subduing the powers of
the air, He might make a display of His victory over these supernatural and
celestial powers. Moreover the holy Prophet says that "all the day long He
stretched out His hands"(4) to the people on the earth, that He might both
make protestation to unbelievers and invite believers: finally, by that
part which is sunk under the earth, He signified His bringing into
subjection to Himself the kingdoms of the nether world.

   15. Moreover,--to touch briefly some of the more recondite topics,--
when God made the world in the beginning, He set over it and appointed
certain powers of celestial virtues by whom the race of mortal men might be
governed and directed. That this was so done Moses signifies in the Song in
Deuteronomy, "When the Most High divided the nations, He appointed the
bounds of the nations according to the number of the angels of God."(5) But
some of these, as he who is called the Prince of this world, did not
exercise the power which God had committed to them according to the laws by
which they had received it, nor did they teach mankind to obey God's
commandments, but taught them rather to follow their own perverse guidance.
Thus we were brought under the bonds of sin, because, as the Prophet saith,
"We were sold under our sins."(6) For every man, when he yields to lust, is
receiving the purchase-money of his soul. Under that bond then every man
was held by those most wicked rulers, which same bond Christ, when the
came, tore down and stripped them of this their power. This Paul signifies
under a great mystery, when he says of Him, "He destroyed the hand-writing
which was against us, nailing it to His cross, and led away principalities
and powers, triumphing over them in Himself."(1) Those rulers, then, whom
God had set over mankind, having become contumacious and tyrannical, took
in hand to assail the men who had been committed to their charge and to
rout them utterly in the conflicts of sin, as the Prophet Ezekiel
mystically intimates when he says, "In that day angels(2) shall come forth
hastening to exterminate Ethiopia, and there shall he perturbation among
them in the day of Egypt; for behold He comes."(3) Having stript them then
of their almighty power, Christ is said to have triumphed, and to have
delivered to men the power which was taken from them, as also Himself saith
to His disciples in the Gospel, "Behold I have given you power to tread
upon serpents and scorpions, and upon all the might of the enemy."(4) The
Cross of Christ, then, brought those who had wrongfully abused the
authority which they had received into subjection to those who had before
been in subjection to them. But us, that is, mankind, it teaches first of
all to resist sin even unto death, and willingly to die for the sake of
religion. Next, this same Cross sets before us an example of obedience, in
like manner as it hath punished the contumacy of those who were once oar
rulers. Hear, therefore, how the Apostle would teach us obedience by the
Cross of Christ: "Let this mind be in you, which was in Christ Jesus, Who,
being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but
made Himself of no reputation, taking upon Him the form of a servant, being
made in the likeness of men; and, being found in fashion as a man, He
became obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross."(5) As, then, a
consummate master teaches both by example and precept, so Christ taught the
obedience, which good men are to render even at the cost of death, by
Himself first dying in rendering it.

   16. But perhaps some one is alarmed at hearing us discourse of the
death of Him of Whom, a short while since, we said that He is everlasting
with God the Father, and that He was begotten of the Father's substance,
and is one with God the Father, in dominion, majesty, and eternity. But be
not alarmed, O faithful hearer. Presently thou wilt see Him of Whose death
thou hearest once more immortal; for the death to which He submits is about
to spoil death. For the object of that mystery of the Incarnation which we
expounded just now was that the divine virtue of the Son of God, as though
it were a hook concealed beneath the form and fashion of human flesh (He
being, as the Apostle Paul says, "found in fashion as a man"),(1) might
lure on the Prince of this world to a conflict, to whom offering His flesh
as a bait, His divinity underneath might catch him and hold him fast with
its hook, through the shedding of His immaculate blood. For He alone Who
knows no stain of sin hath destroyed the sins of all, of those, at least,
who have marked the door-posts of their faith with His blood. As,
therefore, if a fish seizes a baited hook, it not only does not take the
bait off the hook, but is drawn out of the water to be itself food for
others, so He Who had the power of death seized the body of Jesus in death,
not being aware of the hook of Divinity inclosed within it, but having
swallowed it he was caught forthwith, and the bars of hell being burst
asunder, he was drawn forth as it were from the abyss to become food for
others. Which result the Prophet Ezekiel long ago foretold under this same
figure, saying, "I will draw thee out with My hook, and stretch thee out
upon the earth: the plains shall be filled with thee, and I will set all
the fowls of the air over thee, and I will satiate all the beasts of the
earth with thee."(2) The Prophet David also says, "Thou hast broken the
heads of the great dragon, Thou hast given him to be meat to the people of
Ethiopia."(3) And Job in like manner witnesses of the same mystery, for he
says in the person of the Lord speaking to him, "Wilt thou draw forth the
dragon with a hook, and wilt thou put thy bit in his nostrils?"(4)

   17. It is with no loss or disparagement therefore of His Divine nature
that Christ suffers in the flesh, but His Divine nature through the flesh
descended into death, that by the infirmity of the flesh He might effect
salvation; not that He might be detained by death according to the law of
mortality, but that He might by Himself in his resurrection open the gates
of death. It is as if a king were to proceed to a prison, and to go in and
open the doors, undo the fetters, break in pieces the chains, the bars, and
the bolts, and bring forth and set at liberty the prisoners, and restore
those who are sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death to light and
life. The king, therefore, is said indeed to have been in prison, but not
under the same condition as the prisoners who were detained there. They
were in prison to be punished, He to free them from punishment.

   18. They who have handed down the Creed to us have with much
forethought specified the time when these things were done--"under Pontius
Pilate,"--lest in any respect the tradition should falter, as though vague
and uncertain. But it should be known that the clause, "He descended into
Hell," is not added in the Creed of the Roman Church, neither is it in that
of the Oriental Churches. It seems to be implied, however, when it is said
that "He was buried." But in the love and zeal for the Divine Scriptures
which possess you, you say to me, I doubt not, "These things ought to be
proved by more evident testimonies from the Divine Scriptures. For the more
important the things are which are to be believed, so much the more do they
need apt and undoubted witness." True. But we, as speaking to those who
know the law, have left unnoticed, for the sake of brevity, a whole forest
of testimonies. But if this also be required, let us cite a few out of
many, knowing, as we do, that to those who are acquainted with the
Scriptures, a very ample sea of testimonies lies open.

   19. First of all, then, we must know that the doctrine of the Cross is
not regarded by all in the same light. It is one thing to the Gentiles, to
the Jews another, to Christians another; as also the Apostle says. "We
preach Christ crucified,--to the Jews a stumbling-block, to the Gentiles
foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the
power of God and the wisdom of God;"(1) and, in the same place, "For the
preaching of the Cross is to those who perish foolishness, but to those who
are saved," that is, to us, it is "the Power of God."(2) The Jews, to whom
it had been delivered out of the Law, that Christ should abide for ever,
were offended by His Cross, because they were unwilling to believe His
resurrection. To the Gentiles it seemed foolishness that God should have
submitted to death, because they were ignorant of the mystery of the
Incarnation. But Christians, who had accepted His birth and passion in the
flesh and His resurrection from the dead, of course believed that it was
the power of God which had overcome death.

   First, therefore, hear how this very thing is prophetically declared by
Isaiah, that the Jews, to whom the Prophets had foretold these things,
would not believe, bat that they who had never heard them from the
Prophets, would believe them. "To whom He was not spoken of they shall see,
and they that have not heard shall understand."(1) Moreover, this same
Isaiah foretells that, while those who were engaged in the study of the Law
from childhood to old age believed not, to the Gentiles every mystery
should be transferred. His words are: "And the Lord of Hosts shall make a
feast on this mountain unto all nations: they shall drink joy, they shall
drink wine, they shall be anointed with ointment on this mountain. Deliver
all these things to the nations."(2) This was the counsel of the Almighty
respecting all the nations. But they who boast themselves of their
knowledge of the Law will, perhaps, say to us, "You blaspheme in saying
that the Lord was subjected to the corruption of death and to the suffering
of the Cross." Read, therefore, what you find written in the Lamentations
of Jeremiah: "The Spirit of our countenance, Christ the Lord, was taken in
our(3) corruptions, of whom we said, we shall live under His shadow among
the nations."(4) Thou hearest how the Prophet gays that Christ the Lord was
taken, and for us, that is, for our sins, delivered to corruption. Under
whose shadow, since the people of the Jews have continued in unbelief, he
says the Gentiles lie, because we live not in Israel, but among the
Gentiles.

   20. But, if it does not weary you, let the point out as briefly as
possible, specific references to prophecy in the Gospels, that those who
are being instructed in the first elements of the faith may have these
testimonies written on their hearts, test any doubt concerning the things
which they believe should at any time take them by surprise. We are told in
the Gospel that Judas, one of Christ's friends and associates at table,
betrayed Him. Let the show you how this is foretold in the Psalms: "He who
hath eaten My bread hath lifted up his heel against Me:"(5) and in another
place; "My friends and My neighbours drew near and set themselves against
Me:"(6) and again; "His words were made softer than oil and yet be they
very darts."(7) What then is meant by his words were made soft? "Judas came
to Jesus and said unto Him, Hail, Master, and kissed Him."(1) Thus through
the soft blandishment of a kiss he implanted the execrable dart of
betrayal. On which the Lord said to him, "Judas, betrayest thou the Son of
Man with a kiss?"(2) You observe that He was appraised by the traitor's
covetousness at thirty pieces of silver. Of this also the Prophet speaks,
"And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my price, or if not,
forbear;" and presently, "I received from them," he says, "thirty pieces of
silver, and I cast them into the house of the Lord, into the foundry."(3)
Is not this what is written in the Gospels, that Judas, "repenting of what
he had done, brought back the money, and threw it down in the temple and
departed?"(4) Well did He call it His price, as though blaming and
upbraiding. For He had done so many good works among them, He had given
sight to the blind, feet to the lame, the power of walking to the palsied,
life also to the dead; for all these good works they paid Him death as His
price, appraised at thirty pieces of silver. It is related also in the
Gospels that He was bound. This also the word of prophecy had foretold by
Isaiah, saying, "Woe unto their soul, who have devised a most evil device
against themselves, saying, Let us bind the just One, seeing that He is
unprofitable to us."(5)

   21. But, says some one, "Are these things to be understood of the Lord?
Could the Lord be held prisoner by men and dragged to judgment?" Of this
also the same Prophet shall convince you. For he says, "The Lord Himself
shall come into judgment with the elders and princes of the people."(6) The
Lord is judged then according to the Prophet's testimony, and not only
judged, but scourged, and smitten on the face with the palms (of men's
bands), and spitted on, and suffers every insult and indignity for our
sake. And because all who should hear these things preached by the Apostles
would be perfectly amazed, therefore also the Prophet speaking in their
person exclaims, "Lord, who hath believed our report?"(7) For it is
incredible that God, the Son of God, should be spoken of and preached as
having suffered these things. For this reason they are foretold by the
Prophets, lest any doubt should spring up in those who are about to
believe. Christ the Lord Himself therefore in His own person, says, "I gave
My back to the scourges, and My cheeks to the palms,(1) I turned not away
My face from shame and spitting."(2) This also is written among His other
sufferings, that they bound Him, and led Him away to Pilate. This also the
Prophet foretold, saying, "And they bound him and conducted Him as a pledge
of friendship (xenium) to King Jarim."(3) But some one objects, "But Pilate
was not a king." Hear then what the Gospel relates next, "Pilate hearing
that He was from Galilee, sent Him to Herod, who was king in Israel at that
time."(4)And rightly does the Prophet add the name "Jarim," which means "a
wild-vine, for Herod was not of the house of Israel, nor of that
Israelitish vine which the Lord had brought out of Egypt, and "planted in a
very fruitful hill,"(5) but was a wild vine, i.e. of an alien stock.
Rightly, therefore, was he called "a wild-vine," because he in nowise
sprung from the shoots of the vine of Israel. And whereas the Prophet used
the phrase "xenium," "A pledge of friendship," this also corresponds, "For
Herod and Pilate," as the Gospel witnesses, "from being enemies were made
friends,"(6) and, as though in token of their reconciliation, each sent
Jesus bound to the other. What matter, so long as Jesus, as Saviour,
reconciles those who were at variance, and restores peace, and also brings
back concord! Wherefore of this also it is written in Job, "May the Lord
reconcile the hearts of the princes of the earth."(7)

   22. It is related that when Pilate would fain have released Him all the
people cried out, "Crucify Him, Crucify Him!"(8) This also the Prophet
Jeremiah foretells, saying, in the person of the Lord Himself, "My
inheritance is become to Me as a lion in the forest. He hath uttered his
voice against Me, wherefore I have hated it. And therefore (saith He) I
have forsaken and left My house."(9) And again in another place, "Against
whom have ye opened your mouth, and against whom have ye let loose your
tongues?"(10) When He stood before His judge, it is written that "He held
His peace."(11) Many Scriptures testify of this. In the Psalms it is
written, "I became as a man that beareth not, and in whose mouth are no
reproofs."(12) And again, "I was as a deaf man, and heard not, and as one
that is dumb and openeth not his mouth." And again another Prophet saith,
"As a lamb before her shearer, so He opened not Ills mouth. In His
humiliation His judgment  was taken away."(1) It is written that there was
put on Him a crown of thorns. Of this  hear in the Canticles the voice of
God the Father marvelling at the iniquity of Jerusalem in the insult done
to His Son: "Go forth and see, ye daughters of Jerusalem, the crown
wherewith His mother hath crowned Him"(2) Moreover, of the thorns another
Prophet makes mention: "I looked that she should bring forth grapes, and
she brought forth thorns, and instead of righteousness a cry."(3) But that
thou mayest know the secrets of the mystery, it behoved Him, Who came to
take away the sins of the world, to free the earth also from the curse,
which it had received through the sin of the first man, when the Lord said
"Cursed be the earth in thy labours: thorns: and thistles shall it bring
forth to thee."(4) For this cause, therefore, is Jesus crowned with thorns,
that first sentence of condemnation might be remitted. He is led to the
cross, and the life of the whole word is suspended on the wood of which it
is made. I would point out how this also is confirmed by testimony from the
Prophets. You find Jeremiah speaking of it thus, "Come and let us cast wood
into His bread, and crush Him out of the land of the living."(5) And again,
Moses, mourning over them, says, "Thy life shall be suspended before thine
eyes, and thou shall fear day and night, and shall not believe thy
life."(6) But we must pass on, for already we are exceeding our proposed
measure of brevity, and are lengthening out our "short word" by a long
dissertation. Yet we will add a few words more, test we should seem
altogether to have passed over what we undertook.

   23. It is written that when the side of Jesus was pierced "He shed
thereout blood and water."(7) This has a mystical meaning. For Himself had
said, "Out of His belly shall flow rivers of living water."(8) But He shed
forth blood also, of which the Jews sought that it might be upon themselves
and upon their children. He shed forth water, therefore, which might wash
believers; He shed forth blood also which might condemn unbelievers. Yet it
might be understood also as prefiguring the twofold grace of baptism, one
that which is given by the baptism of water, the other that which is sought
through martyrdom in the outpouring of blood, for both are called baptism.
But if you ask further why our Lord is said to have poured forth blood and
water from His side rather than from any other member, I imagine that by
the rib in the side the woman is signified. Since the fountain of sin and
death proceeded from the first woman, who was the rib of the first Adam,
the fountain of redemption and life is drawn from the rib of the second
Adam.

   24. It is written that in our Lord's passion there was darkness over
the earth from the sixth hour until the ninth. To this also you will find
the Prophet witnessing, "Thy Sun shall go down at mid-day."(1) And again,
the Prophet Zechariah, "In that day there shall be no more light. There
shall be cold and frost in one day, and that day known to the Lord; and it
shall be neither day nor night, hut at evening time there shall be
light"(2) What plainer language could the Prophet have used for his words
to seem not so much a prophecy of the future as a narrative of the past? He
foretold both the cold and the frost. For Peter was warming himself at the
fire because it was cold: and he was suffering cold not only in respect of
the time (the early hour), but also of his faith. There is added, (2)"and
that day shall be known to the Lord; and it shall be neither day nor
night." What is "neither day nor night?" Did he not plainly speak of the
darkness interposed in the day, and then the light afterwards restored?
That was not day, for it did not begin with sun-rise, neither was it
complete night, for it did not, when the day was ended, receive its due
space from the beginning or prolong it to the end; but the light which had
been driven away by the crime of wicked men is restored at evening time.
For after the ninth hour, the darkness is driven away, and the sun is
restored to the world. Again, another Prophet witnesses of the same, "The
light shall be darkened upon the earth in the day-time."(3)

   25. The Gospel further relates that the soldiers parted the garments of
Jesus among themselves, and cast lots upon His vesture. The Holy Spirit
provided that this also should be witnessed beforehand by the Prophets, for
David says, "They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture they
did cast lots."(4) Nor were the Prophets silent even as to the robe, the
scarlet robe, which the soldiers are said to have put upon Him in mockery.
Listen to Isaiah, "Who is this that cometh from Edom, red in his garments
from Bozrah? Wherefore are thy garments red, and thy raiment as though thou
hadst trodden in the wine-press?" To which Himself replies, "I have trodden
the wine-press alone, O daughter of Sion."(1) For He alone it is Who hath
not sinned, and hath taken away the sins of the world. For if by one man
death could enter into the world, how much more by one man. Who was God
also, could life be restored!

   26. It is related also that vinegar was given Him to drink, or wine
mingled with myrrh which is bitterer than gall. Hear what the Prophet has
foretold of this: "They gave Me gall to eat, and when I was thirsty they
gave Me vinegar to drink."(2) Agreeably with which Moses, even in his day,
said to the people, "Their vine is of the vineyards of Sodom, and their
branch of Gomorrah; their grape is a grape of gall, and their cluster a
cluster of bitterness."(3) And again, the Prophet upbraiding them says, "Oh
foolish people and unwise, have ye thus requited the Lord?"(4) Moreover, in
the Canticles the same things are foretold, where even the garden in which
the Lord was crucified is indicated: "I have come into my garden, my
sister, my spouse, and have gathered in my myrrh."(5) Here the Prophet has
plainly set forth the wine mingled with myrrh which the Lord has given Him
to drink.

  27. Next it is written that "He gave up the ghost."(6) This also had
been foretold, by the Prophet, who says, addressing the Father in the
Person of the Son. "Into Thy hands I commend My Spirit."(7) He is related
also to have been buried, and a great stone laid at the door of the
sepulchre. Hear what the word of prophecy foretold  by Jeremiah concerning
this also, "They have cut off my life in the pit, and have laid a stone
upon Me."(8) These words of the Prophet point most plainly to His burial.
Here are yet others, "The righteous hath been taken away from beholding
iniquity, and his place is in peace."(9) And in another place, "I will give
the malignant for his burial;"(10) and yet once more, "He hath lain down
and slept as a lion, and as a lion's whelp; who shall rouse Him tip?"(11)

   28. That He descended into hell is also evidently foretold in the
Psalms, where it is said, "Thou hast brought Me also into the dust of the
death."(12) And again, "What profit is there in my blood, when I shall have
descended into corruption?"(13) And again, "I descended into the deep mire,
where there is no bottom."(1) Moreover, John says, "Art Thou He that shall
come (into hell, without doubt), or do we look for another?"(2) Whence also
Peter says that "Christ being put to death in the flesh, but quickened in
the Spirit which dwells in Him, descended to the spirits who were shut up
in prison, who in the days of Noah believed not, to preach unto them;"(3)
where also what He did in hell is declared. Moreover, the Lord says by the
Prophet, as though speaking of the future, "Thou wilt not leave my soul in
hell, neither wilt Thou stiffer Thy Holy One to see corruption."(4) Which
again, in prophetic language he speaks of as actually fulfilled, "O Lord,
Thou hast brought my soul out of hell: Thou hast saved me from them that go
down into the pit."(5) There follows next,--

   29. THE THIRD DAY HE ROSE AGAIN FROM THE DEAD. The glory of Christ's
resurrection threw a lustre upon everything which before had the appearance
of weakness and frailty. If a while since it seemed to you impossible that
an immortal Being could die, you see now that He who has overcome death and
is risen again cannot be mortal. But understand herein the goodness of the
Creator, that so far as you by sinning have cast yourself down, so far has
He descended in following you. And do not impute lack of power to God, the
Creator of all things, by imagining his work to have ended in the fall into
an abyss which He in His redemptive purpose was unable to reach. We speak
of infernal and supernal, because we are bounded by the definite
circumference of the body, and are confined within the limits of the region
prescribed to us. But to God, Who is present everywhere and absent nowhere,
what is infernal and what supernal? Notwithstanding, through the assumption
of a body there is room for these also. The flesh which had been deposited
in the sepulchre, is raised, that might be fulfilled which was spoken by
the Prophet, "Thou wilt not suffer Thy Holy One to see corruption."(6) He
returned, therefore, a victor from the dead, leading with Him the spoils of
hell. For He led forth those who were held in captivity by death, as He
Himself had foretold, when He said, "When I shall be lifted up from the
earth I shall draw all unto Me." To this the Gospel bears witness, when it
says, "The graves were opened, and many bodies of saints which slept arose,
and appeared unto many, and entered into the holy City,"(1) that city,
doubtless, of which the Apostle says, "Jerusalem which is above is free,
which is the Mother of us all."(2) As also he says again to the Hebrews,
"It became Him, for Whom are all things, and by Whom are all things, Who
had brought many sons into glory, to make the Author of their salvation
perfect through suffering."(3) Sitting, therefore, on the right hand of God
in the highest heavens, He placed there that human flesh, made perfect
through sufferings, which had fallen to death by the lapse of the first
man, but was now restored by the virtue of the resurrection. Whence also
the Apostle says, "Who hath raised us up together and made us sit together
in the heavenly places."(4) For He was the potter, Who, as the Prophet
Jeremiah teaches, "took up again with His hands, and formed anew, as it
seemed good to Him, the vessel which had fallen from His hands and was
broken in pieces."(6) And it seemed good to Him that the mortal and
corruptible body which He had assumed, this body raised from the rocky
sepulchre and rendered immortal and incorruptible, He should now place not
on the earth but in heaven, and at His Father's right hand. The Scriptures
of the Old Testament are full of these mysteries. No Prophet, no Lawgiver,
no Psalmist is silent, but almost every one of the sacred pages speaks of
them. It seems superfluous, therefore, to linger in collecting testimonies;
vet we will cite some few, remitting those who desire to drink more largely
to the well-springs of the divine volumes themselves.

   30. It is said then in the Psalms, "I laid me down and slept, and rose
up again, because the Lord sustained me."(6) Again, in another place,
"Because of the wretchedness of the needy and the groaning of the poor, now
will I arise, saith the Lord."(7) And elsewhere, as we have said above, "O
Lord, thou hast brought my soul out of hell; Thou hast saved me from them
that go down into the pit."(8) And in another place, "Because Thou hast
turned and quickened me, and brought me out of the deep of the earth
again."(9) In the 87th Psalm He is most evidently spoken of: "He became as
a man without help, free among the dead."(10) It is not said "a man," but
"as a man." For in that He descended into hell, He was "as a man:" but He
was "free among the dead." because He could not be detained by death. And
therefore in the one nature the power of human weakness, in the other the
power of divine majesty is exhibited. The Prophet Hosea also speaks most
manifestly of the third day in this wise," After two days He will heal us;
but on the third day we shall rise and shall live in His presence."(1) This
he says in the person of those who, rising with Him on the third day, are
recalled from death to life. And they are the same persons who say, "On the
third day we shall rise again, and shall live in His presence." But Isaiah
says plainly, "Who brought forth from the earth the great Shepherd of the
sheep."(2) Then, that the women were to see His resurrection, while the
Scribes and Pharisees and the people disbelieved, this also Isaiah foretold
in these words, "Ye women, who come from beholding, come: for it is a
people that hath no understanding."(3) But as to the women who are related
to have gone to the sepulchre after the resurrection, and to have sought
Him without finding, as Mary Magdalene, who is related to have come to the
sepulchre before it was light, and not finding Him, to have said, weeping,
to the angels who were there, "They have taken away the Lord, and I know
not where they have laid Him"(4)--even this is foretold in the Canticles:
"On my bed I sought Him Whom my soul loveth; I sought Him in the night, and
found Him not."(5) Of those also who found Him, and held Him by the feet,
it is foretold, in the same book, "I will hold Him Whom my soul loveth, and
will not let Him go."(6) Take these passages, a few of many; for being
intent on brevity we cannot heap together more.

   31. HE ASCENDED INTO HEAVEN, AND SITTETH ON THE RIGHT HAND OF THE
FATHER: FROM THENCE HE SHALL COME TO JUDGE THE QUICK AND THE DEAD. These
clauses follow with suitable brevity at the end of this part of the Creed
which treats of the Son. What is said is plain, but the question is how and
in what sense it is to be understood. For to "ascend," and to "sit," and to
"come," unless you understand the words in accordance with the dignity of
the divine nature, appear to point to something of human weakness. For
having consummated what was to be done on earth, and having recalled souls
from the captivity of hell, He is spoken of as ascending up to heaven, as
the Prophet had foretold, "Ascending up on high He led captivity captive,
and gave gifts unto men,"(1) those gifts, namely, which Peter, in the Acts
of the Apostles, spoke of concerning the Holy Ghost, "Being therefore by
the right hand of God exalted, He hath shed forth this gift which ye do see
and hear."(2) He gave the gift of the Holy Ghost to men, because the
captives, whom the devil had before carried into hell through sin, Christ
by His resurrection from death recalled to heaven. He ascended therefore
into heaven, not where God the Word had not been before, for He was always
in heaven, and abode in the Father, but where the Word made flesh had not
been seated before. Lastly, since this entrance within the gates of heaven
seemed new to its ministers and princes, they say to one another, on seeing
the nature of flesh penetrating into the secret recesses of heaven, as
David full of the Holy Ghost, declares, "Lift up your gates, ye princes,
and be ye lift up ye everlasting gates, and the King of glory shall enter
in. Who is the King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord might in
battle."(3) Which words are spoken not with reference to the power of the
divine nature, but with reference to the novelty of flesh ascending to the
right hand of God. The same David says elsewhere, "God hath ascended
jubilantly, and the Lord with the sound of the trumpet."(4) For conquerors
are wont to return from battle with the sound of the trumpet. Of Him also
it is said, "Who buildeth up His ascent in heaven."(5) And again, "Who hath
ascended above the cherubims, flying upon the wings of the winds."(6)

   32. To sit at the right hand of the Father is a mystery belonging to
the Incarnation. For it does not befit that incorporeal nature without the
assumption of flesh; neither is the excellency of a heavenly seat sought
for the divine nature, but for the human. Whence it is said of Him, "Thy
seat, O God, is prepared from thence forward; Thou art from
everlasting."(7) The seat, then, whereon the Lord Jesus was to sit, was
prepared from everlasting, "in whose name every knee should bow, of things
in heaven and things on earth, and things tinder the earth; and every
tongue shall confess to Him that Jesus is Lord in the glory of God the
Father;"(8) of Whom also David thus speaks, "The Lord said unto my Lord.
Sit Thou on my right hand until I make Thine enemies Thy footstool."(9)
Referring to which words the Lord in the Gospel said to the Pharisees, "If
therefore David in spirit calleth Him Lord, how is He his Son?"(1) By which
He shewed that according to the Spirit He was the Lord, according to the
flesh He was the Son, of David. Whence also the Lord Himself says in
another place, "Verily I say unto you, henceforth ye shall see the Son of
Man sitting at the right hand of the power of God."(2) And the Apostle
Peter says of Christ, "Who is on the right hand of God, seated in the
heavens."(3) And Paul also, writing to the Ephesians, "According to the
working of the might of His power, which He wrought in Christ, when He
raised Him froth the dead, and seated Him on His right hand."(4)

   33. That He shall come to judge the quick and the dead we are taught by
many testimonies of the divine Scriptures. But before we cite what the
Prophets say on this point, we think it necessary to remind you that this
doctrine of the faith would have us daily solicitous concerning the coming
of the Judge, that we may so frame our conduct as having to give account to
the Judge who is at hand. For this is what the Prophet said of the than who
is blessed, that, "He ordereth his words in judgment."(5) When, however, He
is said to judge the quick and the dead. this does not mean that some will
come to judgment who are still living, others who are already dead; but
that He will judge both souls and bodies, where, by souls are meant "the
quick," and the bodies "the dead;" as also the Lord Himself saith in the
Gospel, "Fear not them who are able to kill the body, but are not able to
hurt the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and
body in Gehenna."(6)

   34. Now let us shew briefly, if you will, that these things were
foretold by the Prophets. You will yourself, since you are so minded,
gather together more from the ample range of the Scriptures. The Prophet
Malachi says, "Behold the Lord Almighty shall come, and who shall abide the
day of His coming, or who shall abide the sight of Him? For He doth come as
the fire of a furnace and as fuller's soap: and He shall sit, refining and
purifying as it were gold and silver."(7) But that thou mayest know more
certainly Who this Lord is of Whom these things are said, hear what the
Prophet Daniel also foretells: "I saw," saith he, "in the vision of the
night, and, behold, One like the Son of Man coming with the clouds of
heaven, and He came nigh to the Ancient of days, and was brought near
before Him; and there was given to Him dominion, and honour, and a kingdom.
And all peoples, tribes, and languages shall serve Him. And His dominion is
an eternal dominion which shall not pass away, and His kingdom shall not be
destroyed."(1) By these words we are taught not only of His coming and
judgment, but of His dominion and kingdom, that His dominion is eternal,
and His kingdom indestructible, without end; as it is said in the Creed,(2)
"and of His kingdom there shall be no end." So that one who says that
Christ's kingdom shall one day have an end is very far from the faith. Yet
it behoves us to know that the enemy is wont to counterfeit this salutary
advent of Christ with cunning  fraud in order to deceive the faithful, and
in the place of the Son of Man, Who is looked for as coming in the majesty
of His Father, to prepare the Son of Perdition with prodigies and lying
signs, that instead of Christ he may introduce Antichrist into the world;
of whom the Lord Himself warned the Jews beforehand in the Gospels,
"Because I am come in My Father's Name, and ye received Me not, another
will come in his own name, and him ye will receive."(3) And again, "When ye
shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the Prophet,
standing in the holy place, let him that readeth understand."(4) Daniel,
therefore, in his visions speaks very fully and amply of the coming of that
delusion: but it is not worth while to cite instances, for we have enlarged
enough already; we therefore refer any one who may wish to know more
concerning these matters to the visions themselves. The Apostle also
himself says, "Let no than deceive you by any means, for that day shall not
come except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be
revealed, the Son of Perdition, who opposeth and exalteth himself above
everything that is called God, or that is worshipped, so that he sitteth in
the temple of God, shewing himself as though himself were God."(5) And soon
afterwards, "Then shall that wicked one be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus
shall slay with the breath of His mouth, and shall destroy with the
brightness of His coming: whose coming is after the working of Satan with
all power and signs and lying wonders."(6) And again, shortly afterwards,
"And therefore the Lord shall send unto them strong delusion, that they may
believe a lie, that all may be judged who have not believed the truth."'
For this reason, therefore, is this "delusion" foretold unto us by the
words of Prophets, Evangelists, and Apostles, lest any one should mistake
the coming of Antichrist for the coming of Christ. But as the Lord Himself
says, " When they shall say unto you, lo, here is Christ, or lo, He is
there, believe it not. For many false Christs and false prophets shall come
and shall seduce many."(8) But let us see how He hath pointed out the
judgment of the true Christ: "As the lightning shineth from the east unto
the west, so shall the coming of the Son of Man be."(2) When, therefore,
the true Lord Jesus Christ shall come, He will sit and set up his throne of
judgment. As also He says in the Gospel, "He shall separate the sheep from
the goats,"(4) that is, the righteous from the unrighteous; as the Apostle
writes, "We must all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ, that every
man may receive the awards due to the body, according as he hath done,
whether they be good or evil."(5) Moreover, the judgment will be not only
for deeds, but for thoughts also, as the same Apostle saith, "Their
thoughts mutually accusing or else excusing One another, in the day when
God shall judge the secrets of men."(6) But on these points let this
suffice. Next follows in the order of the faith,--

   35. AND IN THE HOLY GHOST. What has been delivered above somewhat at
large concerning Christ relates to the mystery of His Incarnation and of
His Passion, and, by thus intervening, as belonging to His Person, has
somewhat delayed the mention of the Holy Spirit. Otherwise, if the divine
nature alone be taken into account, as in the beginning of the Creed we say
"I believe in God the Father Almighty," and afterwards, "In Jesus Christ
His only Son our Lord," so in like manner we add, " And in the Holy Ghost."
But all of these particulars which are spoken of above concerning Christ
relate, as we have said, to the dispensation of the flesh (to His
Incarnation). By the mention of the Holy Spirit, the mystery of the Trinity
is completed. For as one Father is mentioned, and there is no other Father,
and one only-begotten Son is mentioned, and there is no other only-begot-
ten Son, so also there is one Holy Ghost, and there cannot be another Holy
Ghost. In order, therefore, that the Persons may be distinguished, the
terms expressing relationship (the properties) are varied, whereby the
first is understood to be the Father, of Whom are all things, Who Himself
also hath no Father, the second the Son, as born of the Father, and the
third the Holy Ghost, as proceeding from both,(1) and sanctifying all
things. But that in the Trinity one and the same Godhead may be set forth,
since, prefixing the preposition "in" we say that we believe " in God the
Father," so also we say, "in Christ His Son," so also "in the Holy Ghost."
But our meaning will be made more plain in what follows. For the Creed
proceeds,--

   36. "THE HOLY CHURCH; THE FORGIVENESS OF SIN, THE RESURRECTION OF THIS
FLESH." It is not said, "In the holy Church," nor"In the forgiveness of
sins," nor " In the resurrection of the flesh." For if the preposition "in"
had been added, it would have had the same force as in the preceding
articles. But now in those clauses in which the faith concerning the
Godhead is declared, we say " In God the Father," and " In Jesus Christ His
Son," and "In the Holy Ghost," but in the rest, where we speak not of the
Godhead but of creatures and mysteries, the preposition "in" is not added.
We do not say "We believe in the holy Church," but "We believe the holy
Church," not as God, but as the Church gathered together to God: and we
believe that there is "forgiveness of sins;" we do not say "We believe in
the forgiveness of sins;" and we believe that there will be a "Resurrection
of the flesh;" we do not say "We believe in the resurrection of the flesh."
By this monosyllabic preposition, therefore, the Creator is distinguished
from the creatures, and things divine are separated from things human.

   This then is the Holy Ghost, who in the Old Testament inspired the Law
and the Prophets, in the New the Gospels and the Epistles. Whence also the
Apostle says, " All Scripture given by inspiration of God is profitable for
instruction."(2) And therefore it seems proper in this place to enumerate,
as we have learnt from the tradition of the Fathers, the books of the New
and of the Old Testament, which, according to the tradition of our
forefathers, are believed to have been inspired by the Holy Ghost, and have
been handed down to the Churches of Christ.

   37. Of the Old Testament, therefore, first of all there have been
handed down five books of Moses, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers,
Deuteronomy; Then Jesus Nave, (Joshua the son of Nun), The Book of Judges
together with Ruth; then four  books of Kings (Reigns), which the Hebrews
reckon two; the Book of Omissions, which is entitled the Book of Days
(Chronicles), and two books of Ezra (Ezra and Nehemiah), which the Hebrews
reckon one, and Esther; of the Prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and
Daniel; moreover of the twelve (minor) Prophets, one hook; Job also and the
Psalms of David, each one book. Solomon gave three books to the Churches,
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Canticles. These comprise the books of the Old
Testament.

   Of the New there are four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John; the Acts
of the Apostles, written by Luke; fourteen Epistles of the Apostle Paul,
two of the Apostle Pete, one of James, brother of the Lord and Apostle, one
of Jude, three of John, the Revelation of John. These are the books which
the Fathers have comprised within the Canon, and from which they would have
us deduce the proofs of our faith.

   38. But it should be known that there are also other books which our
fathers call not "Canonical" but "Ecclesiastical:" that is to say, Wisdom,
called the Wisdom of Solomon, and another Wisdom, called the Wisdom of the
Son of Syrach, which last-mentioned the Latins called by the general title
Ecclesiasticus, designating not the author of the book, but the character
of the writing. To the same class belong the Book of Tobit, and the Book of
Judith, and the Books of the Maccabees. In the New Testament the little
book which is called the Book of the Pastor of Hermas, [and that] which is
called The Two Ways,(1) or the Judgment of Peter; all of which they would
have read in the Churches, but not appealed to for the confirmation of
doctrine. The other writings they have named "Apocrypha." These they would
not have read in the Churches.

   These are the traditions which the Fathers have handed down to us,
which, as I said, I have thought it opportune to set forth in this place,
for the instruction of those who  are being taught the first elements of
the Church and of the Faith, that they may know from what fountains of the
Word of God their draughts must be taken.

   39. We come next in the order of belief to the HOLY CHURCH. We have
mentioned above why the Creed does not say here, as in the preceding
article, " In the Holy Church."  They, therefore, who were taught above to
believe in one God, under the mystery of the Trinity, must believe this
also, that there is one holy Church in which there is one faith and one
baptism, in which is believed one God the Father, and one Lord Jesus
Christ, His Son, and one Holy Ghost. This is that holy Church which is
without spot or wrinkle. For many others have gathered together Churches,
as Marcion, and Valentinus, and Ebion, and Manichaeus, and Arius, and all
the other heretics. But those Churches are not without spot or wrinkle of
unfaithfulness. And therefore the Prophet said of them, "I hate the Church
of the malignants, and I will not sit with the ungodly."(1) But of this
Church which keeps tim faith of Christ entire, hear what the Holy Spirit
says in the Canticles, "My Glove is one; the perfect one of her mother is
one."(2) He then who receives this faith in the Church let him not turn
aside in the Council of vanity, and let him not enter in with those who
practise iniquity.

   For Marcion's assembly is a Council of vanity in that he denies that
the Father of Christ is God, the Creator, who by His Son made the world.
Ebion's is a Council of vanity since he teaches that, while we believe in
Christ, we are withal to observe the circumcision of the flesh, the keeping
of the Sabbath, the accustomed sacrifices, and all the other ordinances
according to the letter of the Law. Manichaeus' is a Council of vanity in
regard of his teaching; first in that he calls himself the Paraclete, then
that he says that the world was made by an evil God, denies God the
Creator, rejects the Old Testament, asserts two natures, one good the other
evil, mutually opposing one another, affirms that men's souls are co-
eternal with God, that, according to the Pythagoreans, they return through
divers circles of nativity into cattle and animals and beasts, denies the
resurrection of our flesh, maintains that the passion and nativity of the
Lord were not in the verity of flesh, but only in appearance. It was the
Council of vanity when Paul of Samosata and his successor Photinus
afterwards taught, that Christ was not born of the Father before the world,
but had His beginning from Mary, and believed not that being God He was
born man, but that of man He was made God. It was the Council of vanity
when Arius and Eunomius taught as their determinate opinion that the Son of
God was not born of the very substance of the Father, but was created out
of nothing, and that the Son of God had a beginning, and is inferior to the
Father: moreover they affirm that the Holy Ghost is not only inferior to
the Son, but is also a ministering Spirit.(1) Theirs also is a Council of
vanity who confess indeed that the Son is of the substance of the Father,
but distinguish and separate the Holy Spirit, while yet the Saviour shews
in the Gospel that the power and Godhead of the Trinity are one and the
same, saying, "Baptize all nations in the Name of the Father, and of the
Son, and of the Holy Ghost."(2) and it is plainly impious for man to put
asunder what God bath joined together. That also is the Council of vanity
which a pertinacious and wicked contention formerly gathered together,
affirming that Christ assumed human flesh indeed, but not a rational soul
withal, since Christ conferred one and the same salvation on the flesh, and
the animal soul, and the reason and mind of man. That also is the Council
of vanity which Donatus drew together throughout Africa, by charging the
Church with traditorship (delivering up the sacred books), and with which
Novatus disturbed men's minds by denying the grant of repentance to the
lapsed, and condemning second marriages, though contracted possibly of
necessity. All of these then avoid as congregations of malignants. Those
also, if such there be, who are said to assert that the Son of God does not
see or know the Father, as Himself is known and seen by the Father; or that
the kingdom of Christ will have an end; or that the flesh will not be
raised in the complete restoration of its substance; these also who deny
that there will be a just judgment of God in respect of all, and affirm
that the devil will be absolved from the punishment of damnation due to
him. To all these, I say, let the believer turn a deaf ear. But hold fast
by the holy Church, which confesses God the Father Almighty, and His only
Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, and the Holy Ghost, of one concordant and
harmonious substance, believes that the Son of God was born of the Virgin,
suffered for man's salvation, rose again from the dead in the same flesh in
which he was born; and, lastly, hopes that He will come the Judge of all,
through Whom also both the FORGIVENESS OF SINS AND THE RESURRECTION OF THE
FLESH are preached.

   40. As to the FORGIVENESS OF SINS, it ought to be enough simple to
believe. For who would ask the cause or the reason when a Prince grants
indulgence? When the liberality of an earthly sovereign is no fit subject
for discussion, shall man's temerity discuss God's largess? For the Pagans
are wont to ridicule us, saying that we deceive ourselves, fancying that
crimes committed in deed can be purged by words. And they say, "Can he who
has committed murder be no murderer, and he who has committed adultery be
accounted no adulterer? How then shall one guilty of crimes of this sort
all of a sudden be made holy?" But to this, as I said, we answer better by
faith than by reason. For he is King of all who hath promised it: He is
Lord of heaven and earth who assures us of it. Would you have me refuse to
believe that He who made me a man of the dust of the earth can of a guilty
person make me innocent? And that He who when I was blind made me see, or
when I was deaf made me bear, or lame walk, can recover for me my lost
innocence? And to come to the witness of Nature--to kill a man is not
always criminal, but to kill of malice, not by law, is criminal. It is not
the deed then, in such mailers, that condemns me, because sometimes it is
rightly done, but the evil intention of the mind. If then my mind which had
been rendered criminal, and in which the sin originated, is corrected, why
should I seem to you incapable of being made innocent, who before was
criminal? For if it is plain, as I have shewn, that crime consists not in
the deed but in the will, as an evil will, prompted by an evil demon, has
made me obnoxious to sin and death, so the will prompted by the good God,
being changed to good, hath restored me to innocence and life. It is the
same also in all other crimes. In this way there is found to be no
opposition between our faith and natural reason, while forgiveness of sins
is imputed not to deeds, which when once done cannot be changed, but to the
mind, which it is certain can be converted from bad to good.

   41. This last article, which affirms the RESURRECTION OF THE FLESH,
concludes the sum of all perfection with succinct brevity. Although on this
point also the faith of the Church is impugned, not only by Gentiles, but
by heretics likewise. For Valentinus altogether denies the resurrection of
the flesh, so do the Manicheans, as we shewed above. But they refuse to
listen to the Prophet Isaiah when he says, "The dead shall rise, and they
who are in the graves shall be raised,"(1) or to most wise Daniel, when he
declares, "Then they who are in the dust of the earth shall arise, these to
eternal life, but those to shame and confusion."(2) Yet even in the
Gospels, which they appear to receive, they ought to learn from our Lord
and Saviour, Who says, when instructing the Sadducees, " As touching the
resurrection of the dead: have ye not read how He saith to Moses in the
Bush, I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob? Now God
is not the God of the dead but of the living."(3) Where in what goes before
He declares what and how great is the glory of the resurrection, saying, "
But in the resurrection of the dead they will neither marry or be given in
marriage, but will be as the angels of God."(4) But the virtue of the
resurrection confers on men an angelical state, so that they who have risen
from the earth shall not live again on the earth with the brute animals but
with angels in heaven--yet those only whose purer life has fitted them for
this--those, namely, who even now preserving the flesh of their soul in
chastity, have brought it into subjection to the Holy Spirit, and thus with
every stain of sins done away and changed into spiritual glory by the
virtue of santification, have been counted worthy to have it admitted into
the society of angels.

   42. But unbelievers cry, "How can the flesh, which has been putrified
and dissolved, or changed into dust, sometimes also swallowed up by the
sea, and dispersed by the waves, be gathered up again, and again made one,
and a man's body formed anew out of it?" To whom our first answer is in
Paul's words: " Thou feel, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except
it die. And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not the body, which shall
be, but bare grain of wheat or of some other seed: but God giveth it a body
as seemeth good to Him."(5) Did you not believe that which you see taking
place every year in the seeds which you cast into the ground will come to
pass in your flesh which by the law of God is sown in the earth? Why, pray,
have you so mean an opinion of God's power that you do not believe it
possible for the scattered dust of which each man's flesh was composed to
be re-collected and restored to its own original fabric? Do you refuse to
admit the fact  when you see mortal ingenuity search for veins of metal
deeply buried in the ground, and the experienced eye discover gold where
the inexperienced thinks there is nothing but earth? Why should we refuse
to grant these things to Him who made man, when he whom He made can do so
much? And when mortal ingenuity discovers that gold has its own proper
vein, and silver another, and that a far different vein of copper, and
diverse and distinct veins of iron and lead lie concealed beneath what has
the appearance of earth, shall divine power be thought unable to discover
and distinguish the component particles belonging to each man's flesh, even
though they seem to be dispersed?

   43. But let us endeavour to assist those souls which fail in their
faith through reasons drawn from nature. If one should mix different sorts
of seeds together and sow them indiscriminately in the earth, will not the
grain of each several kind, wherever it may have been thrown, shoot forth
at the proper time in accordance with its own specific nature so as to
reproduce the condition of its own form and its own body.

   Thus then the substance of each individual flesh, though its particles
have been variously and diversely scattered, has within it an immortal
principle, since it is the flesh of an immortal soul, and at the time which
God in His good pleasure shall appoint, there will be collected from the
earth and drawn to it, its own component particles, which will be restored
to that form which death had formerly dissolved. And thus it will come to
pass that to each soul will be restored, not a confused or foreign body but
its own which it had when alive, in order that the flesh together with its
own soul may for the conflicts of the present life either be crowned if
undefiled, or punished if defiled. And accordingly our Church.(1) in
teaching the faith instead of "the Resurrection of the flesh," as the Creed
is delivered in other Churches, guardedly adds the pronoun "this"--" the
resurrection of this flesh." " Of this," that is, no doubt, of the person
who rehearses the Creed, making the sign of the cross upon his forehead,
while he says the word, that each believer may know that his flesh, if he
have kept it clean from sin, will be a vessel of honour, useful to the
Lord, prepared for every good work; but, if defiled by sins, that it will
be a vessel of wrath destined to destruction.

   But now, concerning the glory of the resurrection and the greatness of
the promise by which God has bound Himself, if any one desires to be more
fully informed, he will find notices in almost all the divine volumes, out
of which, simply by way of bringing them to remembrance, we will mention a
few passages in the present place, and then make an end of the work which
you have enjoined. The Apostle Paul makes use of such arguments as the
following in asserting that mortal flesh will rise again. "But if there be
no resurrection of the dead, then is not Christ risen. And if Christ be not
risen, our preaching is vain and your faith is vain."(1) And presently
afterwards, "But now is Christ risen from the dead, the first-fruits of
them that sleep. For since by man came death, by man came also the
resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall
all be made alive. But every man in his own order. Christ the first-fruits,
afterwards they that are Christ's at His coming, then cometh the end."(2)
And afterways he adds, "Behold I shew you a mystery: We shall all rise
indeed, but we shall not(3) all be changed;" or as other copies read, "We
shall all sleep, indeed but we shall not all be changed; in a moment, in
the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump; for the trumpet shall sound,
and the dead shall rise incorruptible, and we shall be changed."(4)
However, whichever be the true text, writing to the Thessalonians, he says,
"I would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning those who are asleep,
that ye sorrow not, as the others who have no hope. For if we believe that
Jesus died and rose again, so those also who sleep through Jesus shall God
bring with Him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we
who are alive and remain at the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them
that sleep. For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout,
with the voice of the archangel, with the trump of God, and the dead who
are in Christ shall rise first: then we who are alive and remain shall be
caught up together with them in the clouds to meet Christ in the air, and
so shall we ever be with the Lord."(5)

   44. But that you may not suppose this to be a novel doctrine peculiar
to Paul, I will adduce also what the Prophet Ezekiel foretold by the Holy
Ghost. "Behold," saith he, "I will open your graves and bring you forth out
of your graves."(1) Let me recall, further, how Job, who abounds in
mystical language, plainly predicts the resurrection of the dead. "There is
hope for a tree; for if it be cut down it will sprout again, and its shoot
shall never fail. But if its root have waxed old in the earth, and the
stock thereof be dead in the dust, yet through the scent of water it will
flourish again, and put forth shoots as a young plant. But man, if he be
dead, is he departed and gone? And mortal man, if he have fallen, shall he
be no more?"(2) Dost thou not see, that in these words he is appealing to
men's sense of shame, as it were, and saying, "Is mankind so foolish, that
when they see the stock of a tree which has been cut down shooting forth
again from the ground, and dead wood again restored to life, they imagine
their own case. to have no likeness to that of wood or trees?" But convince
you that Job's words are to be read as a question, when he says, "But
mortal man when he hath fallen shall he not rise again?" take this proof
from what follows; for he adds immediately, "But if a man be dead, shall he
live?"(3) And presently afterwards he says, "I will wait till I be made
again;"(4) and afterwards he repeats the same: "Who shall raise again upon
the earth my skin, which is now draining this cup of suffering?"(5)

   45. Thus much in proof of the profession which we make in the Creed
when we say "The resurrection of this flesh." As to the addition "this" see
how consonant it is with all that we have cited from the divine books. What
else does Job signify in the place which we explained above, "He will raise
again my skin, which is now draining this cup of suffering," that is, which
is undergoing these torments? Does he not plainly say that there will be a
resurrection of this flesh, this, I mean, which is now undergoing the
extremity of trials and tribulations? Moreover, when the Apostle says,
"This corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on
immortality,"(6) are not his words those of one who in a manner touches his
body and places his finger upon it? This body then, which is now
corruptible, will by the grace of the resurrection be incorruptible, and
this which is now mortal will be clothed with virtues of immortality, that,
as "Christ rising from the dead dieth no more, death hath no more dominion
over Him,"(7) so those who shall rise in Christ shall never again feel
corruption or death, not because the nature of flesh will have been cast
off, but because its condition and quality will have been changed. There
will be a body, therefore, which will rise from the dead incorruptible and
immortal, not only of the righteous, but also of sinners; of the righteous
that they may be able ever to abide with Christ, of sinners that they may
undergo without end the punishment due to them.

   46. That the righteous shall ever abide with Christ our Lord we have
proved above, where we have shewn that the Apostle says, "Then we which are
alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to
meet Christ in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord."(1) And do
not marvel that the flesh of the saints is to be changed into such a
glorious condition at the resurrection as to be caught up to meet God,
suspended in the clouds and borne in the air, since the same Apostle,
setting forth the great things which God bestows on them that love Him,
says, "Who shall change our vile body that it may be made like unto His
glorious body."(2) It is nowise absurd then, if the bodies of the saints
are said to be raised up into the air, seeing that they are said to be
renewed after the image of Christ's body, which is seated at God's right
hand. But this also the holy Apostle adds, speaking either of himself or of
others of his own place or merit, "He will raise us up together with Christ
and make us sit together in the heavenly places."(3) Whence,  since God's
saints bare these promises and an infinite number like them respecting the
resurrection of the righteous, it will now not be difficult to believe
those also which the Prophets have foretold, namely, that "the righteous
shall shine as the sun and as the brightness of the firmament in the
kingdom of God."(4) For who will think it difficult that they should have
the brightness of the sun, and be adorned with the splendour of the stars
and of this firmament, for whom the life and conversation of God's angels
are being prepared in heaven, or who are represented as being hereafter to
be conformed to the glory of Christ's body? In reference to which glory,
promised by the Saviour's mouth, the holy Apostle says, "It is sown as an
animal body; it will rise a spiritual body."(3) For if it is true, as it
certainly is true, that God will vouchsafe to associate every one of the
righteous and of the saints in companionship with the angels, it is certain
that He will change their bodies also into the glory of a spiritual body.

   47. Nor let this promise seem to you contrary to the natural structure
of the body. For if we believe, according to what is written, that God took
clay of the earth and made man, and that the origin of our body was this,
that, by the will of God, earth was changed into flesh, why does it seem
absurd to you or contrary to reason if, on the same principles on which
earth is said to be advanced to all animal body, an animal body in turn
should be believed to be advanced to a spiritual body? These things anti
many like these you will find in the divine Scriptures concerning the
resurrection of the righteous. There will be given to sinners also, as we
said above, a condition of incorruption and immortality at the
resurrection, that, as God assigns this state to the righteous for
perpetuity of glory, so He may assign the same to sinners for prolongation
of confusion and punishment. For this also the Prophet's words, which we
referred to above, state clearly: "Many shall rise froth the dust of the
earth, some to life eternal, and others to confusion and eternal shame."(1)

   48. If then we have understood in what august significance God Almighty
is called Father, and in what mysterious sense our Lord Jesus Christ is
held to be His only Son, and with what entire perfection of meaning His
Spirit is called the Holy Spirit, and how the Holy Trinity is one in
substance but has distinctions of relation and of Persons, what also is the
birth from a Virgin, what the nativity of the Word in the flesh, what the
mystery of the Cross, what the purpose of our Lord's descent into hell,
what the glory of the Resurrection, and the delivery of souls from their
captivity in the infernal regions, what also His ascension into heaven, and
the expected advent of the Judge; moreover how the holy Church ought to be
acknowledged as opposed to the congregations of vanity, what is the number
of the sacred Volume, what conventicles of heretics ought to be avoided,
and how in the forgiveness of sins there is no opposition whatever between
the divine freedom and natural reason, and how not only the sacred oracles
but also the example of Lord and Saviour Himself, and the conclusions of
natural reason, confirm the truth of the resurrection of our flesh;--if, I
say, we have intelligently followed these in succession in accordance with
the rule of the tradition hereinbefore expounded, we pray that the Lord
will grant to us, and to all who hear these words, that having kept the
faith which we have received, having finished our course, we may await the
crown of righteousness laid up for us, and be found among those who shall
rise again to eternal life, and be delivered from confusion and eternal
shame, through Christ our Lord, through Whom to God the Father Almighty
with the Holy Ghost is glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.


Taken from "The Early Church Fathers and Other Works" originally published
by Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co. in English in Edinburgh, Scotland, beginning in
1867. (LNPF II/III, Schaff and Wace). The digital version is by The
Electronic
Bible Society, P.O. Box 701356, Dallas, TX 75370, 214-407-WORD.

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