Selections of St. Eusebius of Caesarea’s writings on the Jews

Church History (Book I)

Chapter 1. The Plan of the Work.

3. It is my intention, moreover, to recount the misfortunes that immediately came upon the whole Jewish nation in consequence of their plots against our Saviour, and to record the ways and the times in which the divine word has been attacked by the Gentiles, and to describe the character of those who at various periods have contended for it in the face of blood and of tortures, as well as the confessions which have been made in our own days, and finally the gracious and kindly succor which our Saviour has afforded them all. Since I propose to write of all these things I shall commence my work with the beginning of the dispensation [οἰκονομία] of our Saviour and Lord Jesus Christ. [Several manuscripts, editors and translators read τοῦ θεοῦ after χριστόν. But the best manuscripts and sources, included Rufinus, omit τοῦ θεοῦ.]

Chapter 3. The Name Jesus and also the Name Christ were known from the Beginning, and were honored by the Inspired Prophets.

6. And the prophets that came after also clearly foretold Christ by name, predicting at the same time the plots which the Jewish people would form against him, and the calling of the nations through him. Jeremiah, for instance, speaks as follows: The Spirit before our face, Christ the Lord, was taken in their destructions; of whom we said, under his shadow we shall live among the nations. Lamentations 4:20 And David, in perplexity, says, Why did the nations rage and the people imagine vain things? The kings of the earth set themselves in array, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ; to which he adds, in the person of Christ himself, The Lord said to me, You are my Son, this day have I begotten you. Ask of me, and I will give you the nations for your inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for your possession.

11. He, although he received no symbols and types of high priesthood from any one, although he was not born of a race of priests, although he was not elevated to a kingdom by military guards, although he was not a prophet like those of old, although he obtained no honor nor pre-eminence among the Jews, nevertheless was adorned by the Father with all, if not with the symbols, yet with the truth itself.

17. But this Melchizedek is introduced in the Holy Scriptures as a priest of the most high God, not consecrated by any anointing oil, especially prepared, and not even belonging by descent to the priesthood of the Jews. Wherefore after his order, but not after the order of the others, who received symbols and types, was our Saviour proclaimed, with an appeal to an oath, Christ and priest.

18. History, therefore, does not relate that he was anointed corporeally by the Jews, nor that he belonged to the lineage of priests, but that he came into existence from God himself before the morning star, that is before the organization of the world, and that he obtained an immortal and undecaying priesthood for eternal ages.

Chapter 5. The Time of his Appearance among Men.

3. Flavius Josephus, the most celebrated of Hebrew historians, also mentions this census, which was taken during Cyrenius’ term of office. In the same connection he gives an account of the uprising of the Galileans, which took place at that time, of which also Luke, among our writers, has made mention in the Acts, in the following words: After this man rose up Judas of Galilee in the days of the taxing, and drew away a multitude after him: he also perished; and all, even as many as obeyed him, were dispersed. Acts 5:37

6. And in the second book of his History of the Jewish War, he writes as follows concerning the same man: At this time a certain Galilean, whose name was Judas, persuaded his countrymen to revolt, declaring that they were cowards if they submitted to pay tribute to the Romans, and if they endured, besides God, masters who were mortal. These things are recorded by Josephus.

Chapter 6. About the Time of Christ, in accordance with Prophecy, the Rulers who had governed the Jewish Nation in Regular Succession from the Days of Antiquity came to an End, and Herod, the First Foreigner, Became King

2. This prediction remained unfulfilled so long as it was permitted them to live under rulers from their own nation, that is, from the time of Moses to the reign of Augustus. Under the latter, Herod, the first foreigner, was given the Kingdom of the Jews by the Romans. As Josephus relates, he was an Idumean on his father’s side and an Arabian on his mother’s. But Africanus, who was also no common writer, says that they who were more accurately informed about him report that he was a son of Antipater, and that the latter was the son of a certain Herod of Ascalon, one of the so-called servants of the temple of Apollo.

3. This Antipater, having been taken a prisoner while a boy by Idumean robbers, lived with them, because his father, being a poor man, was unable to pay a ransom for him. Growing up in their practices he was afterward befriended by Hyrcanus, the high priest of the Jews. A son of his was that Herod who lived in the times of our Saviour.

4. When the Kingdom of the Jews had devolved upon such a man the expectation of the nations was, according to prophecy, already at the door. For with him their princes and governors, who had ruled in regular succession from the time of Moses came to an end.

6. After their return from Babylon they continued to have without interruption an aristocratic form of government, with an oligarchy. For the priests had the direction of affairs until Pompey, the Roman general, took Jerusalem by force, and defiled the holy places by entering the very innermost sanctuary of the temple. Aristobulus, who, by the right of ancient succession, had been up to that time both king and high priest, he sent with his children in chains to Rome; and gave to Hyrcanus, brother of Aristobulus, the high priesthood, while the whole nation of the Jews was made tributary to the Romans from that time.

7. But Hyrcanus, who was the last of the regular line of high priests, was very soon afterward taken prisoner by the Parthians, and Herod, the first foreigner, as I have already said, was made King of the Jewish nation by the Roman senate and by Augustus.

8. Under him Christ appeared in bodily shape, and the expected Salvation of the nations and their calling followed in accordance with prophecy. From this time the princes and rulers of Judah, I mean of the Jewish nation, came to an end, and as a natural consequence the order of the high priesthood, which from ancient times had proceeded regularly in closest succession from generation to generation, was immediately thrown into confusion. [Eusebius’ statement is perfectly correct. The high priestly lineage had been kept with great scrupulousness until Hyrcanus II, the last of the regular succession. (His grandson Aristobulus, however, was high priest for a year under Herod, but was then slain by him.) Afterward the high priest was appointed and changed at pleasure by the secular ruler. Herod the Great first established the practice of removing a high priest during his lifetime; and under him there were no less than six different ones.]

11. These things have been recorded by us in order to show that another prophecy has been fulfilled in the appearance of our Saviour Jesus Christ. For the Scripture, in the Book of Daniel, Daniel 9:26 having expressly mentioned a certain number of weeks until the coming of Christ, of which we have treated in other books, most clearly prophesies, that after the completion of those weeks the unction among the Jews should totally perish. And this, it has been clearly shown, was fulfilled at the time of the birth of our Saviour Jesus Christ. This has been necessarily premised by us as a proof of the correctness of the time.

Chapter 7. The Alleged Discrepancy in the Gospels in regard to the Genealogy of Christ.

11. For the relatives of our Lord according to the flesh, whether with the desire of boasting or simply wishing to state the fact, in either case truly, have handed down the following account: Some Idumean robbers, having attacked Ascalon, a city of Palestine, carried away from a temple of Apollo which stood near the walls, in addition to other booty, Antipater, son of a certain temple slave named Herod. And since the priest was not able to pay the ransom for his son, Antipater was brought up in the customs of the Idumeans, and afterward was befriended by Hyrcanus, the high priest of the Jews.

12. And having been sent by Hyrcanus on an embassy to Pompey, and having restored to him the kingdom which had been invaded by his brother Aristobulus, he had the good fortune to be named procurator of Palestine. But Antipater having been slain by those who were envious of his great good fortune was succeeded by his son Herod, who was afterward, by a decree of the senate, made King of the Jews under Antony and Augustus. His sons were Herod and the other tetrarchs. These accounts agree also with those of the Greeks.

Chapter 8. The Cruelty of Herod toward the Infants, and the Manner of his Death.

1. When Christ was born, according to the prophecies, in Bethlehem of Judea, at the time indicated, Herod was not a little disturbed by the enquiry of the magi who came from the east, asking where he who was born King of the Jews was to be found — for they had seen his star, and this was their reason for taking so long a journey; for they earnestly desired to worship the infant as God, — for he imagined that his kingdom might be endangered; and he enquired therefore of the doctors of the law, who belonged to the Jewish nation, where they expected Christ to be born. When he learned that the prophecy of Micah Micah 5:2 announced that Bethlehem was to be his birthplace he commanded, in a single edict, all the male infants in Bethlehem, and all its borders, that were two years of age or less, according to the time which he had accurately ascertained from the magi, to be slain, supposing that Jesus, as was indeed likely, would share the same fate as the others of his own age.

5. How, immediately after his crime against our Saviour and the other infants, the punishment sent by God drove him on to his death, we can best learn from the words of that historian who, in the seventeenth book of his Antiquities of the Jews, writes as follows concerning his end:

13. And having summoned Salome, his sister, and her husband, Alexander, he said: ‘I know that the Jews will rejoice at my death. But I may be lamented by others and have a splendid funeral if you are willing to perform my commands. When I shall expire surround these men, who are now under guard, as quickly as possible with soldiers, and slay them, in order that all Judea and every house may weep for me even against their will.’

Chapter 9. The Times of Pilate.

1. The historian already mentioned agrees with the evangelist in regard to the fact that Archelaus succeeded to the government after Herod. He records the manner in which he received the kingdom of the Jews by the will of his father Herod and by the decree of Cæsar Augustus, and how, after he had reigned ten years, he lost his kingdom, and his brothers Philip and Herod the younger, with Lysanias, still ruled their own tetrarchies. The same writer, in the eighteenth book of his Antiquities, says that about the twelfth year of the reign of Tiberius, who had succeeded to the empire after Augustus had ruled fifty-seven years, Pontius Pilate was entrusted with the government of Judea, and that he remained there ten full years, almost until the death of Tiberius.

Chapter 10. The High Priests of the Jews under whom Christ taught.

1. It was in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius, according to the evangelist, and in the fourth year of the governorship of Pontius Pilate, while Herod and Lysanias and Philip were ruling the rest of Judea, that our Saviour and Lord, Jesus the Christ of God, being about thirty years of age, came to John for baptism and began the promulgation of the Gospel.

2. The Divine Scripture says, moreover, that he passed the entire time of his ministry under the high priests Annas and Caiaphas, showing that in the time which belonged to the priesthood of those two men the whole period of his teaching was completed. Since he began his work during the high priesthood of Annas and taught until Caiaphas held the office, the entire time does not comprise quite four years.

3. For the rites of the law having been already abolished since that time, the customary usages in connection with the worship of God, according to which the high priest acquired his office by hereditary descent and held it for life, were also annulled and there were appointed to the high priesthood by the Roman governors now one and now another person who continued in office not more than one year.

4. Josephus relates that there were four high priests in succession from Annas to Caiaphas. Thus in the same book of the Antiquities he writes as follows: Valerius Gratus having put an end to the priesthood of Ananus appoints Ishmael, the son of Fabi, high priest. And having removed him after a little he appoints Eleazer, the son of Ananus the high priest, to the same office. And having removed him also at the end of a year he gives the high priesthood to Simon, the son of Camithus. But he likewise held the honor no more than a year, when Josephus, called also Caiaphas, succeeded him. Accordingly the whole time of our Saviour’s ministry is shown to have been not quite four full years, four high priests, from Annas to the accession of Caiaphas, having held office a year each. The Gospel therefore has rightly indicated Caiaphas as the high priest under whom the Saviour suffered. From which also we can see that the time of our Saviour’s ministry does not disagree with the foregoing investigation.

5. Our Saviour and Lord, not long after the beginning of his ministry, called the twelve apostles, and these alone of all his disciples he named apostles, as a special honor. And again he appointed seventy others whom he sent out two by two before his face into every place and city whither he himself was about to come.

Chapter 11. Testimonies in Regard to John the Baptist and Christ.

4. He relates these things in the eighteenth book of the Antiquities, where he writes of John in the following words: It seemed to some of the Jews that the army of Herod was destroyed by God, who most justly avenged John called the Baptist.

5. For Herod slew him, a good man and one who exhorted the Jews to come and receive baptism, practicing virtue and exercising righteousness toward each other and toward God; for baptism would appear acceptable unto Him when they employed it, not for the remission of certain sins, but for the purification of the body, as the soul had been already purified in righteousness.

7. After relating these things concerning John, he makes mention of our Saviour in the same work, in the following words: And there lived at that time Jesus, a wise man, if indeed it be proper to call him a man. For he was a doer of wonderful works, and a teacher of such men as receive the truth in gladness. And he attached to himself many of the Jews, and many also of the Greeks. He was the Christ.

Chapter 13. Narrative concerning the Prince of the Edessenes.

Copy of an epistle written by Abgarus the ruler to Jesus, and sent to him at Jerusalem by Ananias the swift courier.

8. I have therefore written to you to ask you if you would take the trouble to come to me and heal the disease which I have. For I have heard that the Jews are murmuring against you and are plotting to injure you. But I have a very small yet noble city which is great enough for us both.

Further accounts

15. And Abgarus said to him, So much have I believed in him that I wished to take an army and destroy those Jews who crucified him, had I not been deterred from it by reason of the dominion of the Romans. And Thaddeus said, Our Lord has fulfilled the will of his Father, and having fulfilled it has been taken up to his Father. And Abgarus said to him, I too have believed in him and in his Father.

Church History (Book II)

Chapter 1. The Course pursued by the Apostles after the Ascension of Christ.

8. These things have been drawn from ancient accounts; but let us now turn again to the divine Scripture. When the first and greatest persecution was instigated by the Jews against the church of Jerusalem in connection with the martyrdom of Stephen, and when all the disciples, except the Twelve, were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria, some, as the divine Scripture says, went as far as Phœnicia and Cyprus and Antioch, but could not yet venture to impart the word of faith to the nations, and therefore preached it to the Jews alone.

Chapter 4. After the Death of Tiberius, Caius appointed Agrippa King of the Jews, having punished Herod with Perpetual Exile.

1. Tiberius died, after having reigned about twenty-two years, and Caius succeeded him in the empire. He immediately gave the government of the Jews to Agrippa, making him king over the tetrarchies of Philip and of Lysanias; in addition to which he bestowed upon him, not long afterward, the tetrarchy of Herod, having punished Herod (the one under whom the Saviour suffered ) and his wife Herodias with perpetual exile on account of numerous crimes. Josephus is a witness to these facts.

2. Under this emperor, Philo became known; a man most celebrated not only among many of our own, but also among many scholars without the Church. He was a Hebrew by birth, but was inferior to none of those who held high dignities in Alexandria. How exceedingly he labored in the Scriptures and in the studies of his nation is plain to all from the work which he has done. How familiar he was with philosophy and with the liberal studies of foreign nations, it is not necessary to say, since he is reported to have surpassed all his contemporaries in the study of Platonic and Pythagorean philosophy, to which he particularly devoted his attention.

Chapter 5. Philo’s Embassy to Caius in Behalf of the Jews.

1. Philo has given us an account, in five books, of the misfortunes of the Jews under Caius. He recounts at the same time the madness of Caius: how he called himself a god, and performed as emperor innumerable acts of tyranny; and he describes further the miseries of the Jews under him, and gives a report of the embassy upon which he himself was sent to Rome in behalf of his fellow-countrymen in Alexandria; how when he appeared before Caius in behalf of the laws of his fathers he received nothing but laughter and ridicule, and almost incurred the risk of his life.

2. Josephus also makes mention of these things in the eighteenth book of his Antiquities, in the following words: A sedition having arisen in Alexandria between the Jews that dwell there and the Greeks, three deputies were chosen from each faction and went to Caius.

3. One of the Alexandrian deputies was Apion, who uttered many slanders against the Jews; among other things saying that they neglected the honors due to Cæsar. For while all other subjects of Rome erected altars and temples to Caius, and in all other respects treated him just as they did the gods, they alone considered it disgraceful to honor him with statues and to swear by his name.

4. And when Apion had uttered many severe charges by which he hoped that Caius would be aroused, as indeed was likely, Philo, the chief of the Jewish embassy, a man celebrated in every respect, a brother of Alexander the Alabarch, and not unskilled in philosophy, was prepared to enter upon a defense in reply to his accusations.

5. But Caius prevented him and ordered him to leave, and being very angry, it was plain that he meditated some severe measure against them. And Philo departed covered with insult and told the Jews that were with him to be of good courage; for while Caius was raging against them he was in fact already contending with God.

6. Thus far Josephus. And Philo himself, in the work On the Embassy which he wrote, describes accurately and in detail the things which were done by him at that time. But I shall omit the most of them and record only those things which will make clearly evident to the reader that the misfortunes of the Jews came upon them not long after their daring deeds against Christ and on account of the same.

7. And in the first place he relates that at Rome in the reign of Tiberius, Sejanus, who at that time enjoyed great influence with the emperor, made every effort to destroy the Jewish nation utterly; and that in Judea, Pilate, under whom the crimes against the Saviour were committed, attempted something contrary to the Jewish law in respect to the temple, which was at that time still standing in Jerusalem, and excited them to the greatest tumults.

Chapter 6. The Misfortunes which overwhelmed the Jews after their Presumption against Christ.

1. After the death of Tiberius, Caius received the empire, and, besides innumerable other acts of tyranny against many people, he greatly afflicted especially the whole nation of the Jews. These things we may learn briefly from the words of Philo, who writes as follows:

2. So great was the caprice of Caius in his conduct toward all, and especially toward the nation of the Jews. The latter he so bitterly hated that he appropriated to himself their places of worship in the other cities, and beginning with Alexandria he filled them with images and statues of himself (for in permitting others to erect them he really erected them himself). The temple in the holy city, which had hitherto been left untouched, and had been regarded as an inviolable asylum, he altered and transformed into a temple of his own, that it might be called the temple of the visible Jupiter, the younger Caius.

3. Innumerable other terrible and almost indescribable calamities which came upon the Jews in Alexandria during the reign of the same emperor, are recorded by the same author in a second work, to which he gave the title, On the Virtues. With him agrees also Josephus, who likewise indicates that the misfortunes of the whole nation began with the time of Pilate, and with their daring crimes against the Saviour.

4. Hear what he says in the second book of his Jewish War, where he writes as follows: Pilate being sent to Judea as procurator by Tiberius, secretly carried veiled images of the emperor, called ensigns, to Jerusalem by night. The following day this caused the greatest disturbance among the Jews. For those who were near were confounded at the sight, beholding their laws, as it were, trampled under foot. For they allow no image to be set up in their city.

5. Comparing these things with the writings of the evangelists, you will see that it was not long before there came upon them the penalty for the exclamation which they had uttered under the same Pilate, when they cried out that they had no other king than Cæsar. John 19:15

6. The same writer further records that after this another calamity overtook them. He writes as follows: After this he stirred up another tumult by making use of the holy treasure, which is called Corban, in the construction of an aqueduct three hundred stadia in length.

7. The multitude were greatly displeased at it, and when Pilate was in Jerusalem they surrounded his tribunal and gave utterance to loud complaints. But he, anticipating the tumult, had distributed through the crowd armed soldiers disguised in citizen’s clothing, forbidding them to use the sword, but commanding them to strike with clubs those who should make an outcry. To them he now gave the preconcerted signal from the tribunal. And the Jews being beaten, many of them perished in consequence of the blows, while many others were trampled under foot by their own countrymen in their flight, and thus lost their lives. But the multitude, overawed by the fate of those who were slain, held their peace.

8. In addition to these the same author records many other tumults which were stirred up in Jerusalem itself, and shows that from that time seditions and wars and mischievous plots followed each other in quick succession, and never ceased in the city and in all Judea until finally the siege of Vespasian overwhelmed them. Thus the divine vengeance overtook the Jews for the crimes which they dared to commit against Christ.

Chapter 9. The Martyrdom of James the Apostle.

4. And then, as the divine Scripture says, Acts 12:3 sqq. Herod, upon the death of James, seeing that the deed pleased the Jews, attacked Peter also and committed him to prison, and would have slain him if he had not, by the divine appearance of an angel who came to him by night, been wonderfully released from his bonds, and thus liberated for the service of the Gospel. Such was the providence of God in respect to Peter.

Chapter 17. Philo’s Account of the Ascetics of Egypt.

2. And since he describes as accurately as possible the life of our ascetics, it is clear that he not only knew, but that he also approved, while he venerated and extolled, the apostolic men of his time, who were as it seems of the Hebrew race, and hence observed, after the manner of the Jews, the most of the customs of the ancients.

Chapter 18. The Works of Philo that have come down to us.

6. In addition to all these there are extant also some single-volumed works of his; as for instance, the work On Providence, and the book composed by him On the Jews, and The Statesman; and still further, Alexander, or On the Possession of Reason by the Irrational Animals. Besides these there is a work On the Proposition that Every Wicked Man is a Slave, to which is subjoined the work On the Proposition that Every Good Man is Free.

9. At this time, while Paul was completing his journey from Jerusalem and round about unto Illyricum, Romans 15:19 Claudius drove the Jews out of Rome; and Aquila and Priscilla, leaving Rome with the other Jews, came to Asia, and there abode with the apostle Paul, who was confirming the churches of that region whose foundations he had newly laid. The sacred book of the Acts informs us also of these things.

Chapter 19. The Calamity which befell the Jews in Jerusalem on the Day of the Passover.

1. While Claudius was still emperor, it happened that so great a tumult and disturbance took place in Jerusalem at the feast of the Passover, that thirty thousand of those Jews alone who were forcibly crowded together at the gate of the temple perished, being trampled under foot by one another. Thus the festival became a season of mourning for all the nation, and there was weeping in every house. These things are related literally by Josephus.

2. But Claudius appointed Agrippa, son of Agrippa, king of the Jews, having sent Felix as procurator of the whole country of Samaria and Galilee, and of the land called Perea. And after he had reigned thirteen years and eight months he died, and left Nero as his successor in the empire.

Chapter 20. The Events which took Place in Jerusalem during the Reign of Nero.

1. Josephus again, in the twentieth book of his Antiquities, relates the quarrel which arose among the priests during the reign of Nero, while Felix was procurator of Judea.

2. His words are as follows : There arose a quarrel between the high priests on the one hand and the priests and leaders of the people of Jerusalem on the other. And each of them collected a body of the boldest and most restless men, and put himself at their head, and whenever they met they hurled invectives and stones at each other. And there was no one that would interpose; but these things were done at will as if in a city destitute of a ruler.

3. And so great was the shamelessness and audacity of the high priests that they dared to send their servants to the threshing-floors to seize the tithes due to the priests; and thus those of the priests that were poor were seen to be perishing of want. In this way did the violence of the factions prevail over all justice.

4. And the same author again relates that about the same time there sprang up in Jerusalem a certain kind of robbers, who by day, as he says, and in the middle of the city slew those who met them.

5. For, especially at the feasts, they mingled with the multitude, and with short swords, which they concealed under their garments, they stabbed the most distinguished men. And when they fell, the murderers themselves were among those who expressed their indignation. And thus on account of the confidence which was reposed in them by all, they remained undiscovered.

6. The first that was slain by them was Jonathan the high priest; and after him many were killed every day, until the fear became worse than the evil itself, each one, as in battle, hourly expecting death.

Chapter 21. The Egyptian, who is mentioned also in the Acts of the Apostles.

1. After other matters he proceeds as follows: But the Jews were afflicted with a greater plague than these by the Egyptian false prophet. For there appeared in the land an impostor who aroused faith in himself as a prophet, and collected about thirty thousand of those whom he had deceived, and led them from the desert to the so-called Mount of Olives whence he was prepared to enter Jerusalem by force and to overpower the Roman garrison and seize the government of the people, using those who made the attack with him as body guards.

3. Josephus relates these events in the second book of his History. But it is worth while comparing the account of the Egyptian given here with that contained in the Acts of the Apostles. In the time of Felix it was said to Paul by the centurion in Jerusalem, when the multitude of the Jews raised a disturbance against the apostle, Are you not he who before these days made an uproar, and led out into the wilderness four thousand men that were murderers? Acts 21:38 These are the events which took place in the time of Felix.

Chapter 23. The Martyrdom of James, who was called the Brother of the Lord.

1. But after Paul, in consequence of his appeal to Cæsar, had been sent to Rome by Festus, the Jews, being frustrated in their hope of entrapping him by the snares which they had laid for him, turned against James, the brother of the Lord, to whom the episcopal seat at Jerusalem had been entrusted by the apostles. The following daring measures were undertaken by them against him.

2. Leading him into their midst they demanded of him that he should renounce faith in Christ in the presence of all the people. But, contrary to the opinion of all, with a clear voice, and with greater boldness than they had anticipated, he spoke out before the whole multitude and confessed that our Saviour and Lord Jesus is the Son of God. But they were unable to bear longer the testimony of the man who, on account of the excellence of ascetic virtue and of piety which he exhibited in his life, was esteemed by all as the most just of men, and consequently they slew him. Opportunity for this deed of violence was furnished by the prevailing anarchy, which was caused by the fact that Festus had died just at this time in Judea, and that the province was thus without a governor and head.

10. Therefore when many even of the rulers believed, there was a commotion among the Jews and Scribes and Pharisees, who said that there was danger that the whole people would be looking for Jesus as the Christ. Coming therefore in a body to James they said, ‘We entreat you, restrain the people; for they are gone astray in regard to Jesus, as if he were the Christ. We entreat you to persuade all that have come to the feast of the Passover concerning Jesus; for we all have confidence in you. For we bear you witness, as do all the people, that you are just, and do not respect persons. Matthew 22:16

18. And one of them, who was a fuller, took the club with which he beat out clothes and struck the just man on the head. And thus he suffered martyrdom. And they buried him on the spot, by the temple, and his monument still remains by the temple. He became a true witness, both to Jews and Greeks, that Jesus is the Christ. And immediately Vespasian besieged them.

19. These things are related at length by Hegesippus, who is in agreement with Clement. James was so admirable a man and so celebrated among all for his justice, that the more sensible even of the Jews were of the opinion that this was the cause of the siege of Jerusalem, which happened to them immediately after his martyrdom for no other reason than their daring act against him.

20. Josephus, at least, has not hesitated to testify this in his writings, where he says, These things happened to the Jews to avenge James the Just, who was a brother of Jesus, that is called the Christ. For the Jews slew him, although he was a most just man.

21. And the same writer records his death also in the twentieth book of his Antiquities in the following words: But the emperor, when he learned of the death of Festus, sent Albinus to be procurator of Judea. But the younger Ananus, who, as we have already said, had obtained the high priesthood, was of an exceedingly bold and reckless disposition. He belonged, moreover, to the sect of the Sadducees, who are the most cruel of all the Jews in the execution of judgment, as we have already shown.

Chapter 26. The Jews, afflicted with Innumerable Evils, commenced the Last War Against the Romans.

1. Josephus again, after relating many things in connection with the calamity which came upon the whole Jewish nation, records, in addition to many other circumstances, that a great many of the most honorable among the Jews were scourged in Jerusalem itself and then crucified by Florus. It happened that he was procurator of Judea when the war began to be kindled, in the twelfth year of Nero.

2. Josephus says that at that time a terrible commotion was stirred up throughout all Syria in consequence of the revolt of the Jews, and that everywhere the latter were destroyed without mercy, like enemies, by the inhabitants of the cities, so that one could see cities filled with unburied corpses, and the dead bodies of the aged scattered about with the bodies of infants, and women without even a covering for their nakedness, and the whole province full of indescribable calamities, while the dread of those things that were threatened was greater than the sufferings themselves which they anywhere endured. Such is the account of Josephus; and such was the condition of the Jews at that time.

Church History (Book III)

Chapter 1. The Parts of the World in which the Apostles preached Christ.

1. Such was the condition of the Jews. Meanwhile the holy apostles and disciples of our Saviour were dispersed throughout the world. Parthia, according to tradition, was allotted to Thomas as his field of labor, Scythia to Andrew, and Asia to John, who, after he had lived some time there, died at Ephesus.

2. Peter appears to have preached in Pontus, Galatia, Bithynia, Cappadocia, and Asia to the Jews of the dispersion. And at last, having come to Rome, he was crucified head-downwards; for he had requested that he might suffer in this way. What do we need to say concerning Paul, who preached the Gospel of Christ from Jerusalem to Illyricum, and afterwards suffered martyrdom in Rome under Nero? These facts are related by Origen in the third volume of his Commentary on Genesis.

Chapter 5. The Last Siege of the Jews after Christ.

1. After Nero had held the power thirteen years, and Galba and Otho had ruled a year and six months, Vespasian, who had become distinguished in the campaigns against the Jews, was proclaimed sovereign in Judea and received the title of Emperor from the armies there. Setting out immediately, therefore, for Rome, he entrusted the conduct of the war against the Jews to his son Titus.

2. For the Jews after the ascension of our Saviour, in addition to their crime against him, had been devising as many plots as they could against his apostles. First Stephen was stoned to death by them, and after him James, the son of Zebedee and the brother of John, was beheaded, and finally James, the first that had obtained the episcopal seat in Jerusalem after the ascension of our Saviour, died in the manner already described. But the rest of the apostles, who had been incessantly plotted against with a view to their destruction, and had been driven out of the land of Judea, went unto all nations to preach the Gospel, relying upon the power of Christ, who had said to them, Go and make disciples of all the nations in my name.

3. But the people of the church in Jerusalem had been commanded by a revelation, vouchsafed to approved men there before the war, to leave the city and to dwell in a certain town of Perea called Pella. And when those that believed in Christ had come there from Jerusalem, then, as if the royal city of the Jews and the whole land of Judea were entirely destitute of holy men, the judgment of God at length overtook those who had committed such outrages against Christ and his apostles, and totally destroyed that generation of impious men.

4. But the number of calamities which everywhere fell upon the nation at that time; the extreme misfortunes to which the inhabitants of Judea were especially subjected, the thousands of men, as well as women and children, that perished by the sword, by famine, and by other forms of death innumerable — all these things, as well as the many great sieges which were carried on against the cities of Judea, and the excessive sufferings endured by those that fled to Jerusalem itself, as to a city of perfect safety, and finally the general course of the whole war, as well as its particular occurrences in detail, and how at last the abomination of desolation, proclaimed by the prophets, Daniel 9:27 stood in the very temple of God, so celebrated of old, the temple which was now awaiting its total and final destruction by fire — all these things any one that wishes may find accurately described in the history written by Josephus.

5. But it is necessary to state that this writer records that the multitude of those who were assembled from all Judea at the time of the Passover, to the number of three million souls, were shut up in Jerusalem as in a prison, to use his own words.

6. For it was right that in the very days in which they had inflicted suffering upon the Saviour and the Benefactor of all, the Christ of God, that in those days, shut up as in a prison, they should meet with destruction at the hands of divine justice.

7. But passing by the particular calamities which they suffered from the attempts made upon them by the sword and by other means, I think it necessary to relate only the misfortunes which the famine caused, that those who read this work may have some means of knowing that God was not long in executing vengeance upon them for their wickedness against the Christ of God.

Chapter 6. The Famine which oppressed them.

1. Taking the fifth book of the History of Josephus again in our hands, let us go through the tragedy of events which then occurred.

2. For the wealthy, he says, it was equally dangerous to remain. For under pretense that they were going to desert, men were put to death for their wealth. The madness of the seditions increased with the famine and both the miseries were inflamed more and more day by day.

3. Nowhere was food to be seen; but, bursting into the houses men searched them thoroughly, and whenever they found anything to eat they tormented the owners on the ground that they had denied that they had anything; but if they found nothing, they tortured them on the ground that they had more carefully concealed it.

4. The proof of their having or not having food was found in the bodies of the poor wretches. Those of them who were still in good condition they assumed were well supplied with food, while those who were already wasted away they passed by, for it seemed absurd to slay those who were on the point of perishing for want.

5. Many, indeed, secretly sold their possessions for one measure of wheat, if they belonged to the wealthier class, of barley if they were poorer. Then shutting themselves up in the innermost parts of their houses, some ate the grain uncooked on account of their terrible want, while others baked it according as necessity and fear dictated.

6. Nowhere were tables set, but, snatching the yet uncooked food from the fire, they tore it in pieces. Wretched was the fare, and a lamentable spectacle it was to see the more powerful secure an abundance while the weaker mourned.

7. Of all evils, indeed, famine is the worst, and it destroys nothing so effectively as shame. For that which under other circumstances is worthy of respect, in the midst of famine is despised. Thus women snatched the food from the very mouths of their husbands and children, from their fathers, and what was most pitiable of all, mothers from their babes. And while their dearest ones were wasting away in their arms, they were not ashamed to take away from them the last drops that supported life.

8. And even while they were eating thus they did not remain undiscovered. But everywhere the rioters appeared, to rob them even of these portions of food. For whenever they saw a house shut up, they regarded it as a sign that those inside were taking food. And immediately bursting open the doors they rushed in and seized what they were eating, almost forcing it out of their very throats.

9. Old men who clung to their food were beaten, and if the women concealed it in their hands, their hair was torn for so doing. There was pity neither for gray hairs nor for infants, but, taking up the babes that clung to their morsels of food, they dashed them to the ground. But to those that anticipated their entrance and swallowed what they were about to seize, they were still more cruel, just as if they had been wronged by them.

10. And they devised the most terrible modes of torture to discover food, stopping up the privy passages of the poor wretches with bitter herbs, and piercing their seats with sharp rods. And men suffered things horrible even to hear of, for the sake of compelling them to confess to the possession of one loaf of bread, or in order that they might be made to disclose a single drachm of barley which they had concealed. But the tormentors themselves did not suffer hunger.

11. Their conduct might indeed have seemed less barbarous if they had been driven to it by necessity; but they did it for the sake of exercising their madness and of providing sustenance for themselves for days to come.

12. And when any one crept out of the city by night as far as the outposts of the Romans to collect wild herbs and grass, they went to meet him; and when he thought he had already escaped the enemy, they seized what he had brought with him, and even though oftentimes the man would entreat them, and, calling upon the most awful name of God, adjure them to give him a portion of what he had obtained at the risk of his life, they would give him nothing back. Indeed, it was fortunate if the one that was plundered was not also slain.

13. To this account Josephus, after relating other things, adds the following: The possibility of going out of the city being brought to an end, all hope of safety for the Jews was cut off. And the famine increased and devoured the people by houses and families. And the rooms were filled with dead women and children, the lanes of the city with the corpses of old men.

14. Children and youths, swollen with the famine, wandered about the marketplaces like shadows, and fell down wherever the death agony overtook them. The sick were not strong enough to bury even their own relatives, and those who had the strength hesitated because of the multitude of the dead and the uncertainty as to their own fate. Many, indeed, died while they were burying others, and many betook themselves to their graves before death came upon them.

15. There was neither weeping nor lamentation under these misfortunes; but the famine stifled the natural affections. Those that were dying a lingering death looked with dry eyes upon those that had gone to their rest before them. Deep silence and death-laden night encircled the city.

16. But the robbers were more terrible than these miseries; for they broke open the houses, which were now mere sepulchres, robbed the dead and stripped the covering from their bodies, and went away with a laugh. They tried the points of their swords in the dead bodies, and some that were lying on the ground still alive they thrust through in order to test their weapons. But those that prayed that they would use their right hand and their sword upon them, they contemptuously left to be destroyed by the famine. Every one of these died with eyes fixed upon the temple; and they left the seditious alive.

17. These at first gave orders that the dead should be buried out of the public treasury, for they could not endure the stench. But afterward, when they were not able to do this, they threw the bodies from the walls into the trenches.

18. And as Titus went around and saw the trenches filled with the dead, and the thick blood oozing out of the putrid bodies, he groaned aloud, and, raising his hands, called God to witness that this was not his doing.

19. After speaking of some other things, Josephus proceeds as follows: I cannot hesitate to declare what my feelings compel me to. I suppose, if the Romans had longer delayed in coming against these guilty wretches, the city would have been swallowed up by a chasm, or overwhelmed with a flood, or struck with such thunderbolts as destroyed Sodom. For it had brought forth a generation of men much more godless than were those that suffered such punishment. By their madness indeed was the whole people brought to destruction.

20. And in the sixth book he writes as follows: Of those that perished by famine in the city the number was countless, and the miseries they underwent unspeakable. For if so much as the shadow of food appeared in any house, there was war, and the dearest friends engaged in hand-to-hand conflict with one another, and snatched from each other the most wretched supports of life.

21. Nor would they believe that even the dying were without food; but the robbers would search them while they were expiring, lest any one should feign death while concealing food in his bosom. With mouths gaping for want of food, they stumbled and staggered along like mad dogs, and beat the doors as if they were drunk, and in their impotence they would rush into the same houses twice or thrice in one hour.

22. Necessity compelled them to eat anything they could find, and they gathered and devoured things that were not fit even for the filthiest of irrational beasts. Finally they did not abstain even from their girdles and shoes, and they stripped the hides off their shields and devoured them. Some used even wisps of old hay for food, and others gathered stubble and sold the smallest weight of it for four Attic drachmæ.

23. But why should I speak of the shamelessness which was displayed during the famine toward inanimate things? For I am going to relate a fact such as is recorded neither by Greeks nor Barbarians; horrible to relate, incredible to hear. And indeed I should gladly have omitted this calamity, that I might not seem to posterity to be a teller of fabulous tales, if I had not innumerable witnesses to it in my own age. And besides, I should render my country poor service if I suppressed the account of the sufferings which she endured.

24. There was a certain woman named Mary that dwelt beyond Jordan, whose father was Eleazer, of the village of Bathezor (which signifies the house of hyssop). She was distinguished for her family and her wealth, and had fled with the rest of the multitude to Jerusalem and was shut up there with them during the siege.

25. The tyrants had robbed her of the rest of the property which she had brought with her into the city from Perea. And the remnants of her possessions and whatever food was to be seen the guards rushed in daily and snatched away from her. This made the woman terribly angry, and by her frequent reproaches and imprecations she aroused the anger of the rapacious villains against herself.

26. But no one either through anger or pity would slay her; and she grew weary of finding food for others to eat. The search, too, was already become everywhere difficult, and the famine was piercing her bowels and marrow, and resentment was raging more violently than famine. Taking, therefore, anger and necessity as her counsellors, she proceeded to do a most unnatural thing.

27. Seizing her child, a boy which was sucking at her breast, she said, Oh, wretched child, in war, in famine, in sedition, for what do I preserve you? Slaves among the Romans we shall be even if we are allowed to live by them. But even slavery is anticipated by the famine, and the rioters are more cruel than both. Come, be food for me, a fury for these rioters, and a bye-word to the world, for this is all that is wanting to complete the calamities of the Jews.

28. And when she had said this she slew her son; and having roasted him, she ate one half herself, and covering up the remainder, she kept it. Very soon the rioters appeared on the scene, and, smelling the nefarious odor, they threatened to slay her immediately unless she should show them what she had prepared. She replied that she had saved an excellent portion for them, and with that she uncovered the remains of the child.

29. They were immediately seized with horror and amazement and stood transfixed at the sight. But she said, This is my own son, and the deed is mine. Eat for I too have eaten. Be not more merciful than a woman, nor more compassionate than a mother. But if you are too pious and shrink from my sacrifice, I have already eaten of it; let the rest also remain for me.

30. At these words the men went out trembling, in this one case being affrighted; yet with difficulty did they yield that food to the mother. Forthwith the whole city was filled with the awful crime, and as all pictured the terrible deed before their own eyes, they trembled as if they had done it themselves.

31. Those that were suffering from the famine now longed for death; and blessed were they that had died before hearing and seeing miseries like these.

32. Such was the reward which the Jews received for their wickedness and impiety, against the Christ of God.

Chapter 7. The Predictions of Christ.

1. It is fitting to add to these accounts the true prediction of our Saviour in which he foretold these very events.

2. His words are as follows: Woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! But pray that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath day. For there shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.

3. The historian, reckoning the whole number of the slain, says that eleven hundred thousand persons perished by famine and sword, and that the rest of the rioters and robbers, being betrayed by each other after the taking of the city, were slain. But the tallest of the youths and those that were distinguished for beauty were preserved for the triumph. Of the rest of the multitude, those that were over seventeen years of age were sent as prisoners to labor in the works of Egypt, while still more were scattered through the provinces to meet their death in the theaters by the sword and by beasts. Those under seventeen years of age were carried away to be sold as slaves, and of these alone the number reached ninety thousand.

4. These things took place in this manner in the second year of the reign of Vespasian, in accordance with the prophecies of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, who by divine power saw them beforehand as if they were already present, and wept and mourned according to the statement of the holy evangelists, who give the very words which he uttered, when, as if addressing Jerusalem herself, he said:

5. If you had known, even you, in this day, the things which belong unto your peace! But now they are hid from your eyes. For the days shall come upon you, that your enemies shall cast a rampart about you, and compass you round, and keep you in on every side, and shall lay you and your children even with the ground.

6. And then, as if speaking concerning the people, he says, For there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people. And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. And again: When you shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is near.

7. If any one compares the words of our Saviour with the other accounts of the historian concerning the whole war, how can one fail to wonder, and to admit that the foreknowledge and the prophecy of our Saviour were truly divine and marvellously strange.

8. Concerning those calamities, then, that befell the whole Jewish nation after the Saviour’s passion and after the words which the multitude of the Jews uttered, when they begged the release of the robber and murderer, but besought that the Prince of Life should be taken from their midst, it is not necessary to add anything to the account of the historian.

9. But it may be proper to mention also those events which exhibited the graciousness of that all-good Providence which held back their destruction full forty years after their crime against Christ — during which time many of the apostles and disciples, and James himself the first bishop there, the one who is called the brother of the Lord, were still alive, and dwelling in Jerusalem itself, remained the surest bulwark of the place. Divine Providence thus still proved itself long-suffering toward them in order to see whether by repentance for what they had done they might obtain pardon and salvation; and in addition to such long-suffering, Providence also furnished wonderful signs of the things which were about to happen to them if they did not repent.

10. Since these matters have been thought worthy of mention by the historian already cited, we cannot do better than to recount them for the benefit of the readers of this work.

Chapter 8. The Signs which preceded the War.

1. Taking, then, the work of this author, read what he records in the sixth book of his History. His words are as follows: Thus were the miserable people won over at this time by the impostors and false prophets; but they did not heed nor give credit to the visions and signs that foretold the approaching desolation. On the contrary, as if struck by lightning, and as if possessing neither eyes nor understanding, they slighted the proclamations of God.

2. At one time a star, in form like a sword, stood over the city, and a comet, which lasted for a whole year; and again before the revolt and before the disturbances that led to the war, when the people were gathered for the feast of unleavened bread, on the eighth of the month Xanthicus, at the ninth hour of the night, so great a light shone about the altar and the temple that it seemed to be bright day; and this continued for half an hour. This seemed to the unskillful a good sign, but was interpreted by the sacred scribes as portending those events which very soon took place.

3. And at the same feast a cow, led by the high priest to be sacrificed, brought forth a lamb in the midst of the temple.

4. And the eastern gate of the inner temple, which was of bronze and very massive, and which at evening was closed with difficulty by twenty men, and rested upon iron-bound beams, and had bars sunk deep in the ground, was seen at the sixth hour of the night to open of itself.

5. And not many days after the feast, on the twenty-first of the month Artemisium, a certain marvelous vision was seen which passes belief. The prodigy might seem fabulous were it not related by those who saw it, and were not the calamities which followed deserving of such signs. For before the setting of the sun chariots and armed troops were seen throughout the whole region in mid-air, wheeling through the clouds and encircling the cities.

6. And at the feast which is called Pentecost, when the priests entered the temple at night, as was their custom, to perform the services, they said that at first they perceived a movement and a noise, and afterward a voice as of a great multitude, saying, ‘Let us go hence.’

7. But what follows is still more terrible; for a certain Jesus, the son of Ananias, a common countryman, four years before the war, when the city was particularly prosperous and peaceful, came to the feast, at which it was customary for all to make tents at the temple to the honor of God, and suddenly began to cry out: ‘A voice from the east, a voice from the west, a voice from the four winds, a voice against Jerusalem and the temple, a voice against bridegrooms and brides, a voice against all the people.’ Day and night he went through all the alleys crying thus.

8. But certain of the more distinguished citizens, vexed at the ominous cry, seized the man and beat him with many stripes. But without uttering a word in his own behalf, or saying anything in particular to those that were present, he continued to cry out in the same words as before.

9. And the rulers, thinking, as was true, that the man was moved by a higher power, brought him before the Roman governor. And then, though he was scourged to the bone, he neither made supplication nor shed tears, but, changing his voice to the most lamentable tone possible, he answered each stroke with the words, ‘Woe, woe unto Jerusalem.’

10. The same historian records another fact still more wonderful than this. He says that a certain oracle was found in their sacred writings which declared that at that time a certain person should go forth from their country to rule the world. He himself understood that this was fulfilled in Vespasian.

11. But Vespasian did not rule the whole world, but only that part of it which was subject to the Romans. With better right could it be applied to Christ; to whom it was said by the Father, Ask of me, and I will give you the heathen for your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for your possession. At that very time, indeed, the voice of his holy apostles went throughout all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.

Chapter 9. Josephus and the Works which he has left.

1. After all this it is fitting that we should know something in regard to the origin and family of Josephus, who has contributed so much to the history in hand. He himself gives us information on this point in the following words: Josephus, the son of Mattathias, a priest of Jerusalem, who himself fought against the Romans in the beginning and was compelled to be present at what happened afterward.

2. He was the most noted of all the Jews of that day, not only among his own people, but also among the Romans, so that he was honored by the erection of a statue in Rome, and his works were deemed worthy of a place in the library.

3. He wrote the whole of the Antiquities of the Jews in twenty books, and a history of the war with the Romans which took place in his time, in seven books. He himself testifies that the latter work was not only written in Greek, but that it was also translated by himself into his native tongue. He is worthy of credit here because of his truthfulness in other matters.

4. There are extant also two other books of his which are worth reading. They treat of the antiquity of the Jews, and in them he replies to Apion the Grammarian, who had at that time written a treatise against the Jews, and also to others who had attempted to vilify the hereditary institutions of the Jewish people.

5. In the first of these books he gives the number of the canonical books of the so-called Old Testament. Apparently drawing his information from ancient tradition, he shows what books were accepted without dispute among the Hebrews. His words are as follows.

Chapter 10. The Manner in which Josephus mentions the Divine Books.

1. We have not, therefore, a multitude of books disagreeing and conflicting with one another; but we have only twenty-two, which contain the record of all time and are justly held to be divine.

2. Of these, five are by Moses, and contain the laws and the tradition respecting the origin of man, and continue the history down to his own death. This period embraces nearly three thousand years.

3. From the death of Moses to the death of Artaxerxes, who succeeded Xerxes as king of Persia, the prophets that followed Moses wrote the history of their own times in thirteen books. The other four books contain hymns to God, and precepts for the regulation of the life of men.

4. From the time of Artaxerxes to our own day all the events have been recorded, but the accounts are not worthy of the same confidence that we repose in those which preceded them, because there has not been during this time an exact succession of prophets.

5. How much we are attached to our own writings is shown plainly by our treatment of them. For although so great a period has already passed by, no one has ventured either to add to or to take from them, but it is inbred in all Jews from their very birth to regard them as the teachings of God, and to abide by them, and, if necessary, cheerfully to die for them.

These remarks of the historian I have thought might advantageously be introduced in this connection.

6. Another work of no little merit has been produced by the same writer, On the Supremacy of Reason, which some have called Maccabaicum, because it contains an account of the struggles of those Hebrews who contended manfully for the true religion, as is related in the books called Maccabees.

7. And at the end of the twentieth book of his Antiquities Josephus himself intimates that he had purposed to write a work in four books concerning God and his existence, according to the traditional opinions of the Jews, and also concerning the laws, why it is that they permit some things while prohibiting others. And the same writer also mentions in his own works other books written by himself.

8. In addition to these things it is proper to quote also the words that are found at the close of his Antiquities, in confirmation of the testimony which we have drawn from his accounts. In that place he attacks Justus of Tiberias, who, like himself, had attempted to write a history of contemporary events, on the ground that he had not written truthfully. Having brought many other accusations against the man, he continues in these words:

9. I indeed was not afraid in respect to my writings as you were, but, on the contrary, I presented my books to the emperors themselves when the events were almost under men’s eyes. For I was conscious that I had preserved the truth in my account, and hence was not disappointed in my expectation of obtaining their attestation.

10. And I presented my history also to many others, some of whom were present at the war, as, for instance, King Agrippa and some of his relatives.

11. For the Emperor Titus desired so much that the knowledge of the events should be communicated to men by my history alone, that he endorsed the books with his own hand and commanded that they should be published. And King Agrippa wrote sixty-two epistles testifying to the truthfulness of my account. Of these epistles Josephus subjoins two. But this will suffice in regard to him. Let us now proceed with our history.

Chapter 11. Symeon rules the Church of Jerusalem after James.

1. After the martyrdom of James and the conquest of Jerusalem which immediately followed, it is said that those of the apostles and disciples of the Lord that were still living came together from all directions with those that were related to the Lord according to the flesh (for the majority of them also were still alive) to take counsel as to who was worthy to succeed James.

2. They all with one consent pronounced Symeon, the son of Clopas, of whom the Gospel also makes mention; to be worthy of the episcopal throne of that parish. He was a cousin, as they say, of the Saviour. For Hegesippus records that Clopas was a brother of Joseph.

Chapter 12. Vespasian commands the Descendants of David to be sought.

He also relates that Vespasian after the conquest of Jerusalem gave orders that all that belonged to the lineage of David should be sought out, in order that none of the royal race might be left among the Jews; and in consequence of this a most terrible persecution again hung over the Jews.

Chapter 27. The Heresy of the Ebionites.

5. The Sabbath and the rest of the discipline of the Jews they observed just like them, but at the same time, like us, they celebrated the Lord’s days as a memorial of the resurrection of the Saviour.

Chapter 35. Justus, the Third Bishop of Jerusalem.

1. But when Symeon also had died in the manner described, a certain Jew by the name of Justus succeeded to the episcopal throne in Jerusalem. He was one of the many thousands of the circumcision who at that time believed in Christ.

Church History (Book IV)

Chapter 2. The Calamities of the Jews during Trajan’s Reign.

1. The teaching and the Church of our Saviour flourished greatly and made progress from day to day; but the calamities of the Jews increased, and they underwent a constant succession of evils. In the eighteenth year of Trajan’s reign there was another disturbance of the Jews, through which a great multitude of them perished.

2. For in Alexandria and in the rest of Egypt, and also in Cyrene, as if incited by some terrible and factious spirit, they rushed into seditious measures against their fellow-inhabitants, the Greeks. The insurrection increased greatly, and in the following year, while Lupus was governor of all Egypt, it developed into a war of no mean magnitude.

3. In the first attack it happened that they were victorious over the Greeks, who fled to Alexandria and imprisoned and slew the Jews that were in the city. But the Jews of Cyrene, although deprived of their aid, continued to plunder the land of Egypt and to devastate its districts, under the leadership of Lucuas. Against them the emperor sent Marcius Turbo with a foot and naval force and also with a force of cavalry.

4. He carried on the war against them for a long time and fought many battles, and slew many thousands of Jews, not only of those of Cyrene, but also of those who dwelt in Egypt and had come to the assistance of their king Lucuas.

5. But the emperor, fearing that the Jews in Mesopotamia would also make an attack upon the inhabitants of that country, commanded Lucius Quintus to clear the province of them. And he having marched against them slew a great multitude of those that dwelt there; and in consequence of his success he was made governor of Judea by the emperor. These events are recorded also in these very words by the Greek historians that have written accounts of those times.

Chapter 5. The Bishops of Jerusalem from the Age of our Saviour to the Period under Consideration

2. But I have learned this much from writings, that until the siege of the Jews, which took place under Adrian, there were fifteen bishops in succession there, all of whom are said to have been of Hebrew descent, and to have received the knowledge of Christ in purity, so that they were approved by those who were able to judge of such matters, and were deemed worthy of the episcopate. For their whole church consisted then of believing Hebrews who continued from the days of the apostles until the siege which took place at this time; in which siege the Jews, having again rebelled against the Romans, were conquered after severe battles.

Chapter 6. The Last Siege of the Jews under Adrian.

1. As the rebellion of the Jews at this time grew much more serious, Rufus, governor of Judea, after an auxiliary force had been sent him by the emperor, using their madness as a pretext, proceeded against them without mercy, and destroyed indiscriminately thousands of men and women and children, and in accordance with the laws of war reduced their country to a state of complete subjection.

2. The leader of the Jews at this time was a man by the name of Barcocheba (which signifies a star), who possessed the character of a robber and a murderer, but nevertheless, relying upon his name, boasted to them, as if they were slaves, that he possessed wonderful powers; and he pretended that he was a star that had come down to them out of heaven to bring them light in the midst of their misfortunes.

3. The war raged most fiercely in the eighteenth year of Adrian, at the city of Bithara, which was a very secure fortress, situated not far from Jerusalem. When the siege had lasted a long time, and the rebels had been driven to the last extremity by hunger and thirst, and the instigator of the rebellion had suffered his just punishment, the whole nation was prohibited from this time on by a decree, and by the commands of Adrian, from ever going up to the country about Jerusalem. For the emperor gave orders that they should not even see from a distance the land of their fathers. Such is the account of Aristo of Pella.

4. And thus, when the city had been emptied of the Jewish nation and had suffered the total destruction of its ancient inhabitants, it was colonized by a different race, and the Roman city which subsequently arose changed its name and was called Ælia, in honor of the emperor Ælius Adrian. And as the church there was now composed of Gentiles, the first one to assume the government of it after the bishops of the circumcision was Marcus.

Chapter 8. Ecclesiastical Writers.

3. At the same time also Justin, a genuine lover of the true philosophy, was still continuing to busy himself with Greek literature. He indicates this time in the Apology which he addressed to Antonine, where he writes as follows: We do not think it out of place to mention here Antinoüs also, who lived in our day, and whom all were driven by fear to worship as a god, although they knew who he was and whence he came.

4. The same writer, speaking of the Jewish war which took place at that time, adds the following: For in the late Jewish war Barcocheba, the leader of the Jewish rebellion, commanded that Christians alone should be visited with terrible punishments unless they would deny and blaspheme Jesus Christ.

Chapter 15. Under Verus, Polycarp with Others suffered Martyrdom at Smyrna.

26. And when this was proclaimed by the herald, the whole multitude, both of Gentiles and of Jews, who dwelt in Smyrna, cried out with ungovernable wrath and with a great shout, ‘This is the teacher of Asia, the father of the Christians, the overthrower of our gods, who teaches many not to sacrifice nor to worship.’

29. These things were done with great speed — more quickly than they were said — the crowds immediately collecting from the workshops and baths timber and fagots, the Jews being especially zealous in the work, as is their wont.

41. Accordingly certain ones secretly suggested to Nicetes, the father of Herod and brother of Alce, that he should plead with the magistrate not to give up his body, ‘lest,’ it was said, ‘they should abandon the crucified One and begin to worship this man.’ They said these things at the suggestion and impulse of the Jews, who also watched as we were about to take it from the fire, not knowing that we shall never be able either to forsake Christ, who suffered for the salvation of the whole world of those that are saved, or to worship any other.

43. The centurion, therefore, when he saw the contentiousness exhibited by the Jews, placed him in the midst and burned him, as was their custom. And so we afterwards gathered up his bones, which were more valuable than precious stones and more to be esteemed than gold, and laid them in a suitable place.

Chapter 18. The Works of Justin which have come down to us.

6. He composed also a dialogue against the Jews, which he held in the city of Ephesus with Trypho, a most distinguished man among the Hebrews of that day. In it he shows how the divine grace urged him on to the doctrine of the faith, and with what earnestness he had formerly pursued philosophical studies, and how ardent a search he had made for the truth.

7. And he records of the Jews in the same work, that they were plotting against the teaching of Christ, asserting the same things against Trypho: Not only did you not repent of the wickedness which you had committed, but you selected at that time chosen men, and you sent them out from Jerusalem through all the land, to announce that the godless heresy of the Christians had made its appearance, and to accuse them of those things which all that are ignorant of us say against us, so that you become the causes not only of your own injustice, but also of all other men’s.

8. He writes also that even down to his time prophetic gifts shone in the Church. And he mentions the Apocalypse of John, saying distinctly that it was the apostle’s. He also refers to certain prophetic declarations, and accuses Trypho on the ground that the Jews had cut them out of the Scripture. A great many other works of his are still in the hands of many of the brethren.

Chapter 22. Hegesippus and the Events which he mentions.

6. The same writer also records the ancient heresies which arose among the Jews, in the following words: There were, moreover, various opinions in the circumcision, among the children of Israel. The following were those that were opposed to the tribe of Judah and the Christ: Essenes, Galileans, Hemerobaptists, Masbothæans, Samaritans, Sadducees, Pharisees.

7. And he wrote of many other matters, which we have in part already mentioned, introducing the accounts in their appropriate places. And from the Syriac Gospel according to the Hebrews he quotes some passages in the Hebrew tongue, showing that he was a convert from the Hebrews, and he mentions other matters as taken from the unwritten tradition of the Jews.

Church History (Book V)

Chapter 5. God sent Rain from Heaven for Marcus Aurelius Cæsar in Answer to the Prayers of our People.

5. Tertullian is a trustworthy witness of these things. In the Apology for the Faith, which he addressed to the Roman Senate, and which work we have already mentioned, he confirms the history with greater and stronger proofs.

6. He writes that there are still extant letters of the most intelligent Emperor Marcus in which he testifies that his army, being on the point of perishing with thirst in Germany, was saved by the prayers of the Christians. And he says also that this emperor threatened death to those who brought accusation against us.

7. He adds further:

What kind of laws are those which impious, unjust, and cruel persons use against us alone? Which Vespasian, though he had conquered the Jews, did not regard; which Trajan partially annulled, forbidding Christians to be sought after; which neither Adrian, though inquisitive in all matters, nor he who was called Pius sanctioned. But let any one treat these things as he chooses; we must pass on to what followed.

Chapter 8. The Statements of Irenæus in regard to the Divine Scriptures.

10. Concerning the translation of the inspired Scriptures by the Seventy, hear the very words which he writes:

God in truth became man, and the Lord himself saved us, giving the sign of the virgin; but not as some say, who now venture to translate the Scripture, ‘Behold, a young woman shall conceive and bring forth a son,’ as Theodotion of Ephesus and Aquila of Pontus, both of them Jewish proselytes, interpreted; following whom, the Ebionites say that he was begotten by Joseph.

15. And this was nothing wonderful for God to do, who, in the captivity of the people under Nebuchadnezzar, when the Scriptures had been destroyed, and the Jews had returned to their own country after seventy years, afterwards, in the time of Artaxerxes, king of the Persians, inspired Ezra the priest, of the tribe of Levi, to relate all the words of the former prophets, and to restore to the people the legislation of Moses.

Chapter 12. The Bishops in Jerusalem.

1. At this time Narcissus was the bishop of the church at Jerusalem, and he is celebrated by many to this day. He was the fifteenth in succession from the siege of the Jews under Adrian. We have shown that from that time first the church in Jerusalem was composed of Gentiles, after those of the circumcision, and that Marcus was the first Gentile bishop that presided over them.

Chapter 16. The Circumstances related of Montanus and his False Prophets.

12. Since, therefore, they called us slayers of the prophets because we did not receive their loquacious prophets, who, they say, are those that the Lord promised to send to the people, Matthew 23:34 let them answer as in God’s presence: Who is there, O friends, of these who began to talk, from Montanus and the women down, that was persecuted by the Jews, or slain by lawless men? None. Or has any of them been seized and crucified for the Name? Truly not. Or has one of these women ever been scourged in the synagogues of the Jews, or stoned? No; never anywhere.

Chapter 17. Miltiades and His Works.

5. He writes thus. But the Miltiades to whom he refers has left other monuments of his own zeal for the Divine Scriptures, in the discourses which he composed against the Greeks and against the Jews, answering each of them separately in two books. And in addition he addresses an apology to the earthly rulers, in behalf of the philosophy which he embraced.

Chapter 23. The Question then agitated concerning the Passover.

1. A question of no small importance arose at that time. For the parishes of all Asia, as from an older tradition, held that the fourteenth day of the moon, on which day the Jews were commanded to sacrifice the lamb, should be observed as the feast of the Saviour’s passover. It was therefore necessary to end their fast on that day, whatever day of the week it should happen to be. But it was not the custom of the churches in the rest of the world to end it at this time, as they observed the practice which, from apostolic tradition, has prevailed to the present time, of terminating the fast on no other day than on that of the resurrection of our Saviour.

Church History (Book VI)

Chapter 12. Serapion and his Extant Works.

1. It is probable that others have preserved other memorials of Serapion’s literary industry, but there have reached us only those addressed to a certain Domninus, who, in the time of persecution, fell away from faith in Christ to the Jewish will-worship; and those addressed to Pontius and Caricus, ecclesiastical men, and other letters to different persons, and still another work composed by him on the so-called Gospel of Peter.

Chapter 13. The Writings of Clement.

7. He mentions also Tatian‘s Discourse to the Greeks, and speaks of Cassianus as the author of a chronological work. He refers to the Jewish authors Philo, Aristobulus, Josephus, Demetrius, and Eupolemus, as showing, all of them, in their works, that Moses and the Jewish race existed before the earliest origin of the Greeks.

Chapter 16. Origen’s Earnest Study of the Divine Scriptures.

1. So earnest and assiduous was Origen’s research into the divine words that he learned the Hebrew language, and procured as his own the original Hebrew Scriptures which were in the hands of the Jews. He investigated also the works of other translators of the Sacred Scriptures besides the Seventy. And in addition to the well-known translations of Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion, he discovered certain others which had been concealed from remote times — in what out-of-the-way corners I know not — and by his search he brought them to light.

Chapter 17. The Translator Symmachus.

As to these translators it should be stated that Symmachus was an Ebionite. But the heresy of the Ebionites, as it is called, asserts that Christ was the son of Joseph and Mary, considering him a mere man, and insists strongly on keeping the law in a Jewish manner, as we have seen already in this history. Commentaries of Symmachus are still extant in which he appears to support this heresy by attacking the Gospel of Matthew. Origen states that he obtained these and other commentaries of Symmachus on the Scriptures from a certain Juliana, who, he says, received the books by inheritance from Symmachus himself.

Chapter 19. Circumstances Related of Origen.

4. Some persons, desiring to find a solution of the baseness of the Jewish Scriptures rather than abandon them, have had recourse to explanations inconsistent and incongruous with the words written, which explanations, instead of supplying a defense of the foreigners, contain rather approval and praise of themselves. For they boast that the plain words of Moses are enigmas, and regard them as oracles full of hidden mysteries; and having bewildered the mental judgment by folly, they make their explanations.

8. For he was continually studying Plato, and he busied himself with the writings of Numenius and Cronius, Apollophanes, Longinus, Moderatus, and Nicomachus, and those famous among the Pythagoreans. And he used the books of Chæremon the Stoic, and of Cornutus. Becoming acquainted through them with the figurative interpretation of the Grecian mysteries, he applied it to the Jewish Scriptures.

Church History (Book VII)

Chapter 24. Nepos and his Schism.

1. Besides all these the two books on the Promises were prepared by him. The occasion of these was Nepos, a bishop in Egypt, who taught that the promises to the holy men in the Divine Scriptures should be understood in a more Jewish manner, and that there would be a certain millennium of bodily luxury upon this earth.

Chapter 32. The Distinguished Ecclesiastics of our Day, and which of them survived until the Destruction of the Churches.

16. And this is not an opinion of our own; but it was known to the Jews of old, even before Christ, and was carefully observed by them. This may be learned from what is said by Philo, Josephus, and Musæus; and not only by them, but also by those yet more ancient, the two Agathobuli, surnamed ‘Masters,’ and the famous Aristobulus, who was chosen among the seventy interpreters of the sacred and divine Hebrew Scriptures by Ptolemy Philadelphus and his father, and who also dedicated his exegetical books on the law of Moses to the same kings.

Church History (Book VIII)

Chapter 8

10. This being granted, he first, in a clear and distinct voice, supplicated God in behalf of his fellow Christians, praying for their pardon, and that freedom might soon be restored to them. Then he asked for the conversion of the Jews to God through Christ; and proceeding in order he requested the same things for the Samaritans, and besought that those Gentiles, who were in error and were ignorant of God, might come to a knowledge of him, and adopt the true religion. Nor did he leave neglected the mixed multitude who were standing around.

Chapter 11

8. Having practised these cruelties upon the leader of all, he asked him first who he was. He heard in reply the name of some prophet instead of his proper name. For it was their custom, in place of the names of idols given them by their fathers, if they had such, to take other names; so that you would hear them calling themselves Elijah or Jeremiah or Isaiah or Samuel or Daniel, thus showing themselves inwardly true Jews, and the genuine Israel of God, not only in deeds, but in the names which they bore. When Firmilianus had heard some such name from the martyr, and did not understand the force of the word, he asked next the name of his country.

Source. New Advent – Translated by Arthur Cushman McGiffert. From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. 1. Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1890.) Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. <http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/2501.htm>.

Life of Constantine (Book III)

Chapter 5. Of the Disagreement respecting the Celebration of Easter.

But before this time another most virulent disorder had existed, and long afflicted the Church; I mean the difference respecting the salutary feast of Easter. For while one party asserted that the Jewish custom should be adhered to, the other affirmed that the exact recurrence of the period should be observed, without following the authority of those who were in error, and strangers to gospel grace.

Chapter 8. That the Assembly was composed, as in the Acts of the Apostles, of Individuals from Various Nations.

For it is said Acts 2:5 sqq. that in the Apostles’ age, there were gathered devout men from every nation under heaven; among whom were Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, in Judea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus and Asia, in Phrygia and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and the parts of Libya about Cyrene; and sojourners from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians. But that assembly was less, in that not all who composed it were ministers of God; but in the present company, the number of bishops exceeded two hundred and fifty, while that of the presbyters and deacons in their train, and the crowd of acolytes and other attendants was altogether beyond computation.

Chapter 18. He speaks of their Unanimity respecting the Feast of Easter, and against the Practice of the Jews.

At this meeting the question concerning the most holy day of Easter was discussed, and it was resolved by the united judgment of all present, that this feast ought to be kept by all and in every place on one and the same day. For what can be more becoming or honorable to us than that this feast from which we date our hopes of immortality, should be observed unfailingly by all alike, according to one ascertained order and arrangement? And first of all, it appeared an unworthy thing that in the celebration of this most holy feast we should follow the practice of the Jews, who have impiously defiled their hands with enormous sin, and are, therefore, deservedly afflicted with blindness of soul. For we have it in our power, if we abandon their custom, to prolong the due observance of this ordinance to future ages, by a truer order, which we have preserved from the very day of the passion until the present time. Let us then have nothing in common with the detestable Jewish crowd; for we have received from our Saviour a different way. A course at once legitimate and honorable lies open to our most holy religion. Beloved brethren, let us with one consent adopt this course, and withdraw ourselves from all participation in their baseness. For their boast is absurd indeed, that it is not in our power without instruction from them to observe these things. For how should they be capable of forming a sound judgment, who, since their parricidal guilt in slaying their Lord, have been subject to the direction, not of reason, but of ungoverned passion, and are swayed by every impulse of the mad spirit that is in them? Hence it is that on this point as well as others they have no perception of the truth, so that, being altogether ignorant of the true adjustment of this question, they sometimes celebrate Easter twice in the same year. Why then should we follow those who are confessedly in grievous error? Surely we shall never consent to keep this feast a second time in the same year. But supposing these reasons were not of sufficient weight, still it would be incumbent on your Sagacities to strive and pray continually that the purity of your souls may not seem in anything to be sullied by fellowship with the customs of these most wicked men. We must consider, too, that a discordant judgment in a case of such importance, and respecting such religious festival, is wrong. For our Saviour has left us one feast in commemoration of the day of our deliverance, I mean the day of his most holy passion; and he has willed that his Catholic Church should be one, the members of which, however scattered in many and diverse places, are yet cherished by one pervading spirit, that is, by the will of God. And let your Holinesses’ sagacity reflect how grievous and scandalous it is that on the self-same days some should be engaged in fasting, others in festive enjoyment; and again, that after the days of Easter some should be present at banquets and amusements, while others are fulfilling the appointed fasts. It is, then, plainly the will of Divine Providence (as I suppose you all clearly see), that this usage should receive fitting correction, and be reduced to one uniform rule.

Chapter 19. Exhortation to follow the Example of the Greater Part of the World.

Since, therefore, it was needful that this matter should be rectified, so that we might have nothing in common with that nation of parricides who slew their Lord: and since that arrangement is consistent with propriety which is observed by all the churches of the western, southern, and northern parts of the world, and by some of the eastern also: for these reasons all are unanimous on this present occasion in thinking it worthy of adoption. And I myself have undertaken that this decision should meet with the approval of your Sagacities, in the hope that your Wisdoms will gladly admit that practice which is observed at once in the city of Rome, and in Africa; throughout Italy, and in Egypt, in Spain, the Gauls, Britain, Libya, and the whole of Greece; in the dioceses of Asia and Pontus, and in Cilicia, with entire unity of judgment. And you will consider not only that the number of churches is far greater in the regions I have enumerated than in any other, but also that it is most fitting that all should unite in desiring that which sound reason appears to demand, and in avoiding all participation in the perjured conduct of the Jews. In fine, that I may express my meaning in as few words as possible, it has been determined by the common judgment of all, that the most holy feast of Easter should be kept on one and the same day. For on the one hand a discrepancy of opinion on so sacred a question is unbecoming, and on the other it is surely best to act on a decision which is free from strange folly and error.

Life of Constantine (Book IV)

Chapter 27. Among Other Enactments, he decrees that no Christianshall slave to a Jew, and affirms the Validity of the Decisions of Councils.

He also passed a law to the effect that no Christian should remain in servitude to a Jewish master, on the ground that it could not be right that those whom the Saviour had ransomed should be subjected to the yoke of slavery by a people who had slain the prophets and the Lord himself. If any were found hereafter in these circumstances, the slave was to be set at liberty, and the master punished by a fine.

He likewise added the sanction of his authority to the decisions of bishops passed at their synods, and forbade the provincial governors to annul any of their decrees: for he rated the priests of God at a higher value than any judge whatever. These and a thousand similar provisions did he enact for the benefit of his subjects; but there is not time now to give a special description of them, such as might convey an accurate idea of his imperial wisdom in these respects: nor need I now relate at length, how, as a devoted servant of the Supreme God, he employed himself from morning until night in seeking objects for his beneficence, and how equally and universally kind he was to all.

Source. New Advent – Translated by Ernest Cushing Richardson. From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. 1. Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1890.) Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. <http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/2502.htm>.

Oration in Praise of Constantine

Chapter 16

5. For before this time the various countries of the world, as Syria, Asia, Macedonia, Egypt, and Arabia, had been severally subject to different rulers. The Jewish people, again, had established their dominion in the land of Palestine. And these nations, in every village, city, and district, actuated by some insane spirit, were engaged in incessant and murderous war and conflict. But two mighty powers, starting from the same point, the Roman empire, which henceforth was swayed by a single sovereign, and the Christian religion, subdued and reconciled these contending elements.

Chapter 17

8. Again, who so present an avenger of crimes against himself; so that, as the immediate consequence of their impiety, the entire Jewish people were scattered by an unseen power, their royal seat utterly removed, and their very temple with its holy things levelled with the ground? Who, like our Saviour, has uttered predictions at once concerning that impious nation and the establishment of his church throughout the world, and has equally verified both by the event? Respecting the temple of these wicked men, our Saviour said: Your house is left unto you desolate: Matthew 23:38 and, There shall not be left one stone upon another in this place, that shall not be thrown down. And again, of his church he says: I will build my church upon a rock, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Matthew 16:18

Source. New Advent – Translated by Ernest Cushing Richardson. From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. 1. Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1890.) Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. <http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/2504.htm>.

THE PROOF OF THE GOSPEL, Book 1

CHAPTER 1

It is possible for you, if you care to take the trouble, to see with your eyes, comprehended in the prophetic writings, all the wonderful miracles of our Saviour Jesus Christ Himself, that are witnessed to by the heavenly Gospels, and to hear His divine and perfect teaching about true holiness. How it must move our wonder, when they unmistakably proclaim the new ideal of religion preached by Him to all men, the call of His disciples, and the teaching of the new Covenant. {5} Yes, and in addition to all this they foretell the Jews‘ disbelief in Him, and disputing, the plots of the rulers, the envy of the Scribes, the treachery of one of His disciples, the schemes of enemies, the accusations of false witnesses, the condemnations of His judges, the shameful violence, unspeakable scourging, ill-omened abuse, and, crowning all, the death of shame. They portray Christ’s wonderful silence, His gentleness and fortitude, and the unimaginable depths of His forbearance and forgiveness.

The most ancient Hebrew oracles present all these things definitely about One Who would come in the last times, and Who would undergo such sufferings among men, and they clearly tell the source of their foreknowledge. They bear witness to the Resurrection from the dead of the Being Whom they revealed, His appearance to His disciples, His gift of the Holy Spirit to them, His return to heaven, His establishment as King on His Father’s throne and His glorious second Advent yet to be at the consummation of the age. In addition to all this you can hear the wailings and lamentations of each of the prophets, wailing and lamenting characteristically over the calamities which will overtake the Jewish people because of their impiety to Him Who had been foretold. {6} How their kingdom, that had continued from the days of a remote ancestry to their own, would be utterly destroyed after their sin against |4 Christ; how their fathers’ Laws would be abrogated, they themselves deprived of their ancient worship, robbed of the independence of their forefathers, and made slaves of their enemies, instead of free men; how their royal metropolis would be burned with fire, their venerable and holy altar undergo the flames and extreme desolation, their city be inhabited no longer by its old possessors but by races of other stock,⁶ while they would be dispersed among the Gentiles through the whole world, with never a hope of any cessation of evil, or breathing-space from troubles. And it is plain even to the blind, that what they saw and foretold is fulfilled in actual facts from the very day the Jews laid godless hands on Christ, and drew down on themselves the beginning of the train of sorrows.

Now I am quite well aware, that it is usual in the case of all who have been properly taught that our Lord and Saviour Jesus is truly the Christ of God to persuade themselves in the first place that their belief is strictly in agreement with what the prophets witness about Him. And secondly, to forewarn all those, with whom they may enter on an argument, that it is by no means easy to establish their position by definite proofs. And this is why in attacking this subject myself I must of course endeavour, with God’s help, to supply a complete treatment of the Proof of the Gospel from these Hebrew theologians. And the importance of my writing does not lie in the fact that it is, as might be suggested, a polemic against the Jews. Perish the thought, far from that! For if they would fairly consider it, it is really on their side. For as it establishes Christianity on the basis of the antecedent prophecies, so it establishes judaism from the complete fulfilment of its prophecies. To the Gentiles too it should appeal, if they would fairly consider it, because of {9} the extraordinary foreknowledge shown in the prophetic writers, and of the actual events that occurred in agreement with their prophecies. It should convince them of the inspired and certain nature of the truth we hold: it should silence the tongues of false accusers by a more logical method of proof, which slanderers contend that we never offer, who in their daily arguments with us keep pounding away with all their might with the implication forsooth that we are unable to give a logical demonstration of our case, but require those who come to us to rest on faith alone. |6 

{10} But I will now cease my Introduction and begin my Proof. As we have such a mob of slanderers flooding us with the accusation that we are unable logically to present a clear demonstration of the truth we hold, and think it enough to retain those who come to us by faith alone, and as they say that we only teach our followers like irrational animals to shut their eyes and staunchly obey what we say without examining it at all, and call them therefore “the faithful” because of their faith as distinct from reason, I made a natural division of the calumnies of our position in my “Preparation” of the subject as a whole. On the one side I placed the attacks of the polytheistic Gentiles, who accuse us of apostasy from our ancestral gods, and make a great point of the implication, that in recognizing the Hebrew oracles we honour the work of Barbarians more |7 than those of the Greeks. And on the other side I set the accusation of the Jews, in which they claim to be justly incensed against us, because we do not embrace their manner of life, though we make use of their sacred writings. Such being the division, I met the first so far as I could in my Preparation for the Gospel by allowing that we were originally Greeks, or men of other nations who had absorbed Greek ideas, and enslaved by ancestral ties in the deceits of polytheism. But I went on to say that our conversion was due not to emotional and unexamined impulse, {11} but to judgment and sober reasoning, and that our devotion to the oracles of the Hebrews thus had the support of judgment and sound reason.

And now I have to defend myself against the second class of opponents, and to embark on the investigation it requires. It has to do with those of the Circumcision, it has not yet been investigated, but I hope in time to dispose of it in the present work on the Proof of the Gospel. And so now with an invocation of the God of Jews and Greeks alike in our Saviour’s Name we will take as our first object of inquiry, what is the character of the religion set before Christians. And in this same inquiry we shall record the solutions of all the points investigated.

CHAPTER 2

Add to these Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, include as is right the patriarch Job, and all the rest who lived according to the ideals of these men; they must, you may think, have been either Jews or Greeks. But yet they could not properly be called Jews, inasmuch as the system of Moses’ Law had not yet been brought into being. {13} For if (as we have admitted) judaism is only the observance of Moses’ Law, and Moses did not appear until long after the date of the men named, it is obvious that those whose holiness he records who lived before him, were not Jews. Neither can we regard them as Greeks, inasmuch as they were not under the dominion of polytheistic superstition. For it is recorded of Abraham that he left his father’s house and his |9 kindred altogether, and cleaved to the One God alone, Whom he confesses when he says:

“I will stretch out(my hand) to the most-high God, who created the heaven and the earth.” 

These men, then, were not involved in the errors of idolatry, moreover they were outside the pale of judaism; yet, though they were neither Jew nor Greek by birth, we know them to have been conspicuously pious, holy, and just. {14} This compels us to conceive some other ideal of religion, by which they must have guided their lives. Would not this be exactly that third form of religion midway between judaism and Hellenism, which I have already deduced, as the most ancient and most venerable of all religions, and which has been preached of late to all nations through our Saviour. Christianity would therefore be not a form of Hellenism nor of judaism, but something between the two, the most ancient organization for holiness, and the most venerable philosophy, only lately codified as the law for all mankind in the whole world. The convert from Hellenism to Christianity does not land in judaism, nor does one who rejects the Jewish worship become ipso facto a Greek. From whichever side they come, whether it be Hellenism or judaism, they find their place in that intermediate law of life preached by the godly and holy men of old lime, which our Lord and Saviour has raised up anew after its long sleep, in accordance with Moses’ own prophecies, and those of the other prophets on the point. Yes, Moses himself writes prophetically in the oracles |10 addressed to Abraham, that in days to come {15} not only Abraham’s descendants, his Jewish seed, but all the tribes and nations of the earth will be counted worthy of God’s blessing on the common basis of a piety like Abraham’s.

If Moses then, who came after Abraham and established a polity for the Jewish race on the basis of the law which he gave them, had laid down the kind of laws which were the guide of godly men before his own time, and such as it was possible for all nations to adopt, so that it should be possible for all the tribes and nations of the world to worship according to Moses’ enactments; {17} which is the same as saying that the oracles foretold that through Moses’ lawgiving men of all nations would worship God and follow judaism, being brought to it by the law, and would be blessed with the blessing of Abraham—then it would have been right for us to be keeping the enactments of Moses. But if the’ polity of Moses was not applicable to the other nations, but only to the Jews and not to all of them, but only to the inhabitants of Judaea, then it was altogether necessary to set up another kind of religion different from the law of Moses, that all the nations of the world might take it as their guide with Abraham, and receive an equal share of blessing with him.

CHAPTER 3 

THAT the enactments of Moses, as I said, were only applicable to the Jews, but not to all of them, and certainly not to the dispersed (among the Gentiles), only in fact to the inhabitants of Palestine, will be plain to you if you reflect thus. For the law of Moses says: |12 

{18} “Thrice in the year shall all thy males appear before the Lord thy God.”

You see that it does not bid them meet in each city, or in any indefinite place, but “in the place which the Lord thy God shall choose.” There thrice a year it enacts that they must assemble together, and it determines the times, when they must meet at the place where the rites of the worship there are to be celebrated. One season is that of the Passover, the second,’ fifty days later, is called the Feast of Pentecost, and the third is in the seventh month after the Passover, on the Day of Atonement, when all the Jews still perform their fast. And a curse is laid on all who do not obey what is enacted. It is plain that all who were to meet at Jerusalem thrice in the year and perform their rites would not be able to live far from Judaea: but they live all round its boundaries. If then it would be impossible even for the lews whose home is the farthest from Palestine to obey their law, {19} it would be absurd to hold that it could be applicable to all nations and to men in the uttermost parts of the earth.

And that this prophet, who is clearly the Christ, should come forth from the Jews and rule all nations, he proclaims again when he says:

“{6d} 5. How fair are thy dwellings, O Jacob, and thy tents, O Israel, 6. as shady groves, and as a garden by a river, and as tents which God pitched. 7. There shall come a man out of his seed, and he shall rule over many nations, and his kingdom shall be exalted.”

He makes it clear from which tribe of all the twelve that comprised the Hebrew race, namely the tribe of Judah, Christ the Lawgiver of the Gentiles according to the prophecy should arise. He is clear as to the date, for it would be after the cessation of the Jewish monarchy which had been handed down from their forefathers.

CHAPTER 4

Why it is we reject the Jews‘ Way of Life, though we accept their Writings.

THESE, then, are the reasons why we have accepted and loved as belonging to ourselves the sacred books of the Hebrews, including as they do prophecies relating to us Gentiles. And the more so, since it was not Moses only who foretold the coming of the Lawgiver of the Gentiles after him, but really the whole succession of the prophets, who proclaimed the same truth with one voice, as David, when he said:

“Appoint, O Lord, a Lawgiver over them: let the nations know that they are but men.”

See how he too speaks of a second Lawgiver of the nations. And in the same spirit in another (psalm) he calls on the Gentiles to sing, not the ancient song of Moses, but a new song, when he says:

“1. Sing to the Lord a new song; | sing to the Lord all the whole earth: | 3. proclaim among the nations his glory, | among all peoples his wonders: | 4. For great is the Lord, and very worthy to be praised, | he is terrible above all gods. | 5. For all the gods of the nations are demons, | but it is the Lord that made the heavens. | 7. Bring to the Lord ye families of the nations; | 8. bring to the Lord glory to his name.”

And again: .

“10. Say among the nations, The Lord is King. | |23 For he has established the world, that it shall not be shaken.”

And again:

“1. Sing to the Lord a new song, | for he hath done marvellous things, | 2. The Lord hath made known his salvation; | Before the nations he hath revealed righteousness. | 3. All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.”

And notice how he ordains the new song not for the Jewish race only; the ancient song of Moses suited them, but for all the nations. This new song is called by Jeremiah, another Hebrew prophet, “a new covenant”where he says:

“31. Behold the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Juda: 32. not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers, in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt: for they abode not in my covenant, and I disregarded them, saith the Lord. 33. For this is my, covenant which I will make with the house of Israel, saith the Lord, I will put my laws in their minds, and on their hearts I will write (them), and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”

You see here that he distinguishes two covenants, the old and the new, and says that the new would not be like the old which was given to the fathers. For the old covenant was given as a law to the Jews, when they had fallen from the religion of their forefathers, and had embraced the manners and life of the Egyptians, and had declined to the errors of polytheism, and the idolatrous superstitions of the Gentiles. It was intended to raise up the fallen, and to set on their feet those who were lying on their faces, by suitable teaching.

“For the law, it is said, is not for the righteous, but for the unjust and disorderly, for the unrighteous and for sinners, and for those like them.”

But the new covenant leads those who, through our Saviour |24 by the grace and gift of God are raised up, to a rapid march into the kingdom promised by God. It summons all men equally to share together the same good things. This “new covenant” Isaiah, another of the Hebrew prophets, calls the “new law,”when he says:

“3. For out of Sion shall go forth a law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And all the nations shall go, and all the peoples shall be gathered together, and shall say, Let us go up to the Mount of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob.”

This law going forth from Sion, different from the law enacted in the desert by Moses on Mount Sinai, what can it be but the word of the Gospel, “going forth from Sion” through our Saviour Jesus Christ, and going through all the nations? For it is plain that it was in Jerusalem and Mount Sion adjacent thereto, where our Lord and Saviour for the most part lived and taught, that the law of the new covenant began and from thence went forth and shone upon all, according to the commands which He gave his disciples when He said:

“Go ye, and make disciples of all the nations, teaching them to observe all things, whatsoever I have commanded you.”

What could He mean but the teaching and discipline of the new covenant? Since, then, I have proved my facts, let us proceed to investigate together the character of the new covenant, and the new song and the new law that were foretold.

CHAPTER 5 

I HAVE now proved that the old covenant and the law given by Moses was only applicable to the Jewish race, and only to such of them as lived in their own land. It did not apply to other nations of the world nor to Jews |25 inhabiting foreign soil. And I have shown that the ideal of the new covenant must be helpful to the life of all nations: the members of its kingdom are to be restricted in no way whatever. Considerations of country, race or locality, or anything else are not to affect them in any way at all. The law and life of our Saviour Jesus Christ shows itself to be such, being a renewal of the ancient pre-Mosaic religion, in which Abraham, the friend of God, and his forefathers are shown to have lived. And if you cared to compare the life of Christians and the worship introduced among all nations by Christ with the lives of the men who with Abraham are witnessed to by Scripture as holy and righteous, you would find cne and the same ideal. For they too turned their backs on the errors of polytheism, they relinquished idolatrous superstition, they looked beyond the whole of the visible creation and deified neither sun nor moon, nor any part of the whole. They raised themselves to the Supreme God, Himself the Highest, the Creator of heaven and earth. And Moses himself bears this out in his history of ancient times when he records Abraham’s saying:

“I will stretch forth my hand unto God most high, who hath created the heaven and the earth.”

CHAPTER 6

JUST as a life of virtue and a system of holiness is through the teaching of Christ preached to all nations without any reference to the Mosaic legislation, so by these men of old time the same independent ideal of holiness was upheld. They cared nothing for circumcision, nor do we. They did not abstain from eating certain beasts, neither do we. For instance, Moses introduces Melchizedek, priest of the Most High God, uncircumdsed, not anointed with prepared |29 ointment according to Moses, knowing naught of the Sabbath, paying no heed whatever to the commandments afterwards given by Moses to the whole Jewish race, hut living exactly according to the Gospel of Christ. And yet Moses says he was the priest of the Most High God, and the superior of Abraham. For he is introduced as blessing Abraham. Such too was Noah, a just man in his generation, whom as a kindling seed of the human race Almighty God preserved in the destruction by the flood when all men on earth were destroyed. He again was quite ignorant of Jewish customs, he was uncircumcised, he did not follow the Mosaic law in any point, yet he is recognized as conspicuously just. And Enoch before him, who is said to have pleased God, and to have been translated, so that his death was not seen, was another like person, uncircumcised, with no part or lot in the law of Moses, living a distinctly Christian rather than a Jewish life.

And Abraham himself, coming later than those already named, being younger than they according to the age men reached in those times, though an old man in reality, was the first to receive circumcision as a seal, for the sake of his descendants, and he left it to those who should be born of him according to the flesh as a sign of their descent from him. He too before he had a son, and before he was circumcised, by his rejection of idolatry, and his confession of the one omnipotent God, yea, by his virtuous life alone is shown to be one who lived as a Christian, not as a Jew. For he is represented as having kept the commandments and the precepts and the ordinances of God before the enactments of Moses. That is why God giving the oracle to Isaac says:

“And I will give to thy seed all this land, and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. Because Abraham thy father heard my voice, and kept my commandments, and my laws, and my judgments, and my statutes.”

THE PROOF OF THE GOSPEL, Book 3

I HAVE now adequately completed the prolegomena¹to (87) my Proof of the Gospel: I have shewn the nature of our Saviour’s Gospel teaching, and given the reason of our regard for the oracles of the Jews, while we reject their rule of life. And I have also made it clear that their (88) prophetic writings in their foresight of the future recorded our own calling through Christ, so that we make use of them not as books alien to us, but as our own property. And now it is time for me to embark on my actual work, and to begin to treat of the promises. How these were actually concerned with the human dispensation of Jesus the Christ of God, and the teaching of the Hebrew prophets on the theology based on His Person, and predictions of His appearance among men, which I shall (b) shew immediately from their clear fulfilment can only apply to Him alone. But I must first of necessity consider the fact that the prophets definitely made mention ² of the Gospel of the Christ.

CHAPTER 1

Our Saviour, after reading this prophecy through in the synagogue one day to a multitude of Jews, shut the book [[Luke iv. 21]] and said: “This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears.” And beginning His own teaching from that point He began to preach the Gospel to the poor, putting in the forefront of His blessings: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs [[Matt. v. 3.]] is the kingdom of heaven.” Yea, and to those who were (d) hampered by evil spirits, and bound for a long time like slaves by daemons, He proclaimed forgiveness, inviting all to be free and to escape from the bonds of sin, when He [[Matt. xi.28.]] said: “Come unto me, all ye that labour, and are heavy laden, and I will refresh you.”

CHAPTER 2 

That the Hebrew Prophets prophesied of Christ.

MOSES was the first of the prophets to tell the good news (90) that another prophet like unto himself would arise. For since his legislation was only applicable to the Jewish race, and only to that part of it resident in the land of Judaea or its neighbourhood, and not to those living far away abroad |104 (as has been seen in my previous book); and as it was surely necessary that He Who was not only the God of the Jews, but also of the Gentiles, should provide helpful means for all the Gentiles to know Him and to become holy in their lives, He makes known by the oracle accordingly (b) that another prophet will arise from the Jewish race, no whit inferior to His own dispensation. And God Himself names him in this manner:

“A prophet will I raise up to them from their brethren like unto thee, and I will put my word in his mouth, and he shall speak to them according to what I command him. And whatsoever man shall not hear that prophet[‘s words], whatsoever he shall speak in [[Deut.xviii.18]] my name, I will take vengeance on him.”

And Moses speaks similar words when interpreting the oracle of God to the people:

(c) “A prophet shall the Lord thy God raise up of your brethren like unto me. Him shall ye hear according to all things that ye asked of the Lord God in Horeb [[Deut.xviii.15]] in the day of the assembly.”

Was then any of the prophets after Moses, Isaiah, say, or Jeremiah, or Ezekiel, or Daniel, or any of the twelve, like Moses in being a lawgiver? Not one. Did any of them behave like Moses? One cannot affirm it. For each of (d) them from the first to the last referred their hearers to Moses, and based their rebukes of the people on their breaches of the Mosaic law, and did nothing but exhort them to hold fast to the Mosaic enactments. You could not say that any of them was like him: and yet Moses speaks definitely of one who should be. Whom then does the oracle prophesy will be a prophet like unto Moses, but our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and none other?

We must consider thoroughly why this was said. Moses was the first leader of the Jewish race. He found them attached to the deceitful polytheism of Egypt, and was the first to turn them from it, by enacting the severest punishment (91) for idolatry. He was the first also to publish the theology of the one God, bidding them worship only the Creator and Maker of all things. He was the first to draw up for the same hearers a scheme of religious life, and is acknowledged to have been the first and only lawgiver of their religious polity. But Jesus Christ too, like Moses, |105 only on a grander stage, was the first to originate the teaching according to holiness for the other nations, and first accomplished the rout of the idolatry that embraced (b) the whole world. He was the first to introduce to all men the knowledge and religion of the one Almighty God. And He is proved to be the first Author and Lawgiver of a new life and of a system adapted to the holy.

And with regard to the other teaching on the genesis of the world, and the immortality of the soul, and other doctrines of philosophy which Moses was the first to teach (c) the Jewish race, Jesus Christ has been the first to publish them to the other nations by His disciples in a far diviner form. So that Moses may properly be called the first and only lawgiver of religion to the Jews, and Jesus Christ the same to all nations, according to the prophecy which says of Him:

“Set, O Lord, a lawgiver over them: that the Gentiles may know themselves to be but men.” ⁵ [[Ps. ix. 20.]] 

Moses again by wonderful works and miracles authenticated (d) the religion that he proclaimed: Christ likewise, using His recorded miracles to inspire faith in those who saw them, established the new discipline of the Gospel teaching. Moses again transferred the Jewish race from the bitterness of Egyptian slavery to freedom: while Jesus Christ summoned the whole human race to freedom from their impious Egyptian idolatry under evil daemons. Moses, too, promised a holy land and a holy life therein under a blessing to those who kept his laws: while Jesus Christ says likewise: “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth,” promising a far better land in truth, and a holy and godly, not the land of Judaea, which in no way excels the rest (of the earth), but the heavenly country which suits souls that (92) love God, to those who follow out the life proclaimed by Him. And that He might make it plainer still, He proclaimed the kingdom of heaven to those blessed by Him. And you will find other works done by our Saviour with greater power than those of Moses, and yet resembling the works which Moses did. As, for example, Moses fasted forty days continuously, as Scripture witnesses, saying: “And (Moses) was there with the Lord forty days and (b) |106 [[Exod. xxxiv. 28.]] forty nights; he did neither eat bread nor drink water.” And Christ likewise: For it is written: “And he was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being forty days tempted of the devil; and in those days he did eat nothing.” [[Luke iv. 1.]]

Now if none other of the kings and rulers of those of the Circumcision has ever at any period been Lord of many Gentiles (and no record suggests it) while truth cries and (b) shouts of our Saviour’s unique rule, that many multitudes from all nations confess Him to be Lord not only with their lips but with the most genuine affection,¹⁵ what can hinder us from saying that He is.the one foretold by the prophet? That Moses’ prediction was not indefinite, and that he did not see his prophecy in the shadows of illimitable and unmeasured time, but circumscribed the fulfilment of his predictions with the greatest accuracy by temporal limits, hear how he speaks prophetically about Him: (c) “There shall not fail a prince from Juda, and a leader from his loins until he come in whom it is laid up,¹⁶ and he is the expectation of the Gentiles”—- [[Gen. xlix.10.]] which means that the order and succession of rulers and leaders of the Jewish race will not fail until the coming of the Prophesied, but that when there is a failure of their |110 rulers the Prophesied will come. By Judah here he does (d) not mean the tribe of Judah, but since in later days the whole race of the Jews came to be called after the kingly tribe, as even now we call them Jews, in a very wonderful and prophetic way he named the whole Jewish race, just as we do when we call them Jews.

Next he says that the rulers and heads of their race will not fail, before the Prophesied appear: and that on his arrival the Jewish state will be at once dissolved, and that he will be no longer the expectation of the Jews, but of the Gentiles. Now you could not apply this prophecy (96) to any of the prophets, but only to our Lord and Saviour. For immediately on his appearance the kingdom of the Jews was taken away. For at once their king in the direct line failed, who ruled them according to their own laws, Augustus then being the first Roman Emperor, and Herod, who was of an alien race, becoming their king.¹⁷ And while they failed, the expectation of the Gentiles throughout the whole world appeared according to the divine prophecy, (b) so that even now all men of all nations who believe in Him place the hope of godly expectation in Him.

In this he shews that Christ, being apart from all sin, will receive the sins of men on Himself. And therefore (99) He will suffer the penalty of sinners, and will be pained on their behalf; and not on His own. And if He shall be wounded by the strokes of blasphemous words, this also will be the result of our sins. For He is weakened through our sins, so that we, when He had taken on Him our faults and the wounds of our wickedness, might be |114 healed by His stripes. And this is the cause why the Sinless shall suffer among men: and the wonderful prophet, (b) in no way shrinking, clearly rebukes the Jews who plotted his death; and complaining bitterly of this very thing he says: “For the transgressions of my people he was led to death.” And then because total destruction overtook them immediately, and not a long time after their evil deed to Christ, when they were besieged by the Romans, he does not pass this over either, but adds: “And I will give the wicked for his tomb, and the rich for his death.”

For it was as a meet return for all this, because of His obedience and long-suffering, that the Father gave Him what we have seen, for He was obedient to the Father even unto death. Wherefore it is prophesied that He should receive the inheritance of many, and should be |116 reckoned with the transgressors not before but after His being delivered to death. For therefore He is said “to receive the inheritance of many, and to share the spoil of the strong.” And I consider that it is beyond doubt that in these words the resurrection from the dead of the (101) subject of the prophecy is shewn. For how else can we regard Him as led as a sheep to the slaughter, and delivered to death for the sins of the Jewish people, numbered with transgressors, and delivered to burial, then cleansed by the Lord, and seeing light with Him, and receiving the inheritance of many, and dividing the spoils with his friends? David, too, prophesying in the Person of Christ says somewhere of His Resurrection after death:

(b) “10. Thou wilt not leave my soul in Hades,
Neither wilt thou give thine Holy one to see corruption.” [[Ps.xvi. 10.]] 

CHAPTER 4

Another, again, had a sick daughter, and he was a chief ruler of a synagogue of the Jews, and He (restored her) though she was even now dead. Why need I tell how (b) a man four days dead was raised up by the power of Jesus? Or how He took His way upon the sea, as upon the earth we tread, while His disciples were sailing? —- and how when they were overtaken by the storm He rebuked the sea, and the waves, and the winds, and they all were still at once, as fearing their Master’s voice?

CHAPTER 5

Is not the answer clear? It was only and altogether the instruction which they carried to other men, when they had learned it from Him. And His precepts were those of a philosopher’s life, which He outlined when He said to them: “Provide neither gold nor silver ⁴⁷ in your girdles, nor a staff for the road,” [[Matt. x. 9.]] and similar words, that they should commit themselves to all-governing Providence, and take no care for their needs, and bade them to aim higher than the Jews under Moses’ commandments, to whom he gave a law as to men prone to murder. “Do (110) not kill,” and likewise, “Thou shalt not commit adultery” as to men who were lascivious and lecherous, and again, “Thou shalt not steal,” as to men of the type of slaves; but our Saviour taught that they must regard such laws as not applying to them, and aim above all at a soul free from passion, cutting away from the depths of their minds as from the roots the shoots of sin: they must try to (b) master anger and every base lust, and more, they must never ruffle the sublime calm of the soul with anger: they must not look upon a woman with unbridled lust, and so far from stealing they must lavish their own property on the needy: they must not be proud of not defrauding one another, but consider rather that they must bear no malice against those who defrauded them. But why should I collect everything that He taught and that they learned? (c) He commanded them besides all this to hold so fast to truth, that so far from swearing falsely they should not need to swear at all, and to contrive to exhibit a life more faithful than any oath, going so far only as Yea and Nay, and using the words with truth.

Now is all this plausible? Does such an account have the ring of truth? Can any one persuade himself that poor and unlettered men could make up such stories, and form a conspiracy to invade the Roman Empire? Or that human nature, whose characteristic clement is self-preservation, would ever be able for the sake of nothing at all to undergo a voluntary death? (or) that our Saviour’s (d) disciples reached such a pitch of madness, that, though they had never seen Him work miracles, they with one consent invented many, and having heaped together a mass of lying words about Him were ready to suffer death to uphold them? What is that you suggest? That they never looked forward to or expected to suffer anything unpleasant because of their witness ⁵⁶ to Jesus, and so they had no fear in going forth to preach about Him? What, you think it unlikely, that men who announced to Romans, Greeks, and Barbarians the total rout of their gods, would expect to undergo extreme sufferings on behalf of their (116) Master? At least the record about them is clear in shewing, that after the Master’s death they were taken by plotters, who first imprisoned them, and afterwards released them, bidding them speak to none about the Name of Jesus. And discovering that after this they had publicly discussed the questions about Him before the multitude, they took them in charge and scourged them as a punishment |134 for their teaching. It was then Peter answered them, and said: “It is right to obey God rather than men.” [[Acts v. 29.]] And after this Stephen was stoned to death for boldly addressing the Jewish populace, and an extraordinary (b) persecution arose against those who preached in Jesus’ Name.

Herod again later on, the King of the Jews, killed James the brother of John with the sword, and cast Peter into prison, as is written in the Acts of the Apostles. [[Acts xii.1-3]] And yet, though they had suffered thus, the rest of the disciples held tenaciously to Jesus, and were still more diligent in preaching to all of Him and His miracles.

Afterwards James, the Lord’s brother, whom of old the people of Jerusalem called “the Just” for his extraordinary (c) virtue, being asked by the chief priests, and teachers of the Jews what he thought about Christ, and answering that He was the Son of God, was also stoned by them.⁵⁷ Peter was crucified head downwards at Rome,⁵⁸ Paul beheaded,⁵⁹ and John exiled to an island. Yet though they suffered thus, not one of the others gave up his intention, (d) but they made their prayer to God that they themselves might suffer a like fate for their religion, and continued to bear witness to Jesus and His marvellous works with yet more boldness.

And surely they who have set no false stamp ⁷⁵ on anything that is true in the incidents of shame and gloom, ought to be regarded as above suspicion in other accounts wherein they have attributed miracles to Him. Their evidence then may be considered sufficient about our (b) Saviour. And here it will not be inappropriate for me to make use of the evidence of the Hebrew Josephus ⁷⁶ as |143 well, who in the eighteenth chapter of The Archaeology of the Jews, in his record of the times of Pilate, mentions our Saviour in these words:

“And Jesus arises at that time, a wise man, if it is befitting to call him a man. For he was a doer of no common works, a teacher of men who reverence truth. And he gathered many of the Jewish and many of the Greek race. This was Christus; and when Pilate (c) condemned him to the Cross on the information of our rulers, his first followers did not cease to revere him. For he appeared to them the third day alive again, the divine prophets having foretold this, and very many other things about him. And from that time to this the tribe of the Christians has not failed.” ⁷⁷

If, then, even the historian’s evidence shews that He attracted to Himself not only the twelve Apostles, nor the seventy disciples, but had in addition many Jews and Greeks, He must evidently have had some extraordinary power beyond that of other men. For how otherwise could (d) He have attracted many Jews and Greeks, except by wonderful miracles and unheard-of teaching? And the evidence of the Acts of the Apostles goes to shew that there were many myriads of Jews who believed Him to be the Christ of God foretold by the prophets. And history also assures us that there was a very important Christian Church in Jerusalem, composed of Jews, which existed until the siege of the city under Hadrian.⁷⁸ The bishops, too, who stand first in the line of succession there are said to have been Jews, whose names are still remembered by |144 (125) the inhabitants.⁷⁹ So that thus the whole slander against His disciples is destroyed, when by their evidence, and apart also from their evidence, it has to be confessed that many myriads of Jews and Greeks were brought under His yoke by Jesus the Christ of God through the miracles that He performed.

CHAPTER 7 

Perhaps you suggest they did not speak in public, but in private to those they met. If so, with what arguments could they have persuaded their hearers?—-for they had (c) a most difficult task, unless they were ready to deny the shameful death of Him they preached. And suppose they concealed it, and passing over the nature and number of His sufferings at the hands of the Jews, retailed simply the noble and the glorious incidents (I mean His miracles and mighty works, and His philosophic teaching), they had even so no light problem to solve in gaining easily the adherence of listeners, who spoke strange tongues, and then for the first time heard novelties talked of by men who brought with them nothing sufficient to authenticate |159 what they said. Yet such a Gospel would, perhaps, have (d) seemed more plausible.

And yet all must wonder, if they consider and reflect, that it was not by mere human accident, that the greater part of the nations of the world were never before under the one empire of Rome, but only from the times of Jesus. For His wonderful sojourn among men synchronized with Rome’s attainment of the acme of power, Augustus then first being supreme ruler over most of the nations, in whose time, Cleopatra being captured, the succession of the Ptolemies was dissolved in Egypt. And from that day (140) to this, the kingdom of Egypt has been destroyed, which had lasted from immemorial time, and so to say from the very beginnings of humanity. Since that day the Jewish people have become subject to the Romans, the Syrians likewise, the Cappadocians and Macedonians, the Bithynians and Greeks, and in a word all the other nations who are under Roman rule. And no one could deny that the synchronizing of this with the beginning of the teaching about our Saviour is of God’s arrangement, if he considered the difficulty of the disciples taking their journey, had the (b) nations been at variance one with another, and not mixing together because of varieties of government. But when these were abolished, they could accomplish their projects quite fearlessly and safely, since the Supreme God had smoothed the way before them, and subdued the spirit of the more superstitious citizens under the fear of a strong central government.

Source. Tertullian.org – Eusebius of Caesarea: Demonstratio Evangelica. Tr. W.J. Ferrar (1920) — Book 3

THE PROOF OF THE GOSPEL, Book 4

CHAPTER 7

That to the Hebrews alone of Old was the Knowledge of the True God revealed, being known by the Manifestation of the Christ.

For the one engaged in the contest of the practice of virtue, even now struggling and contending in the gymnasium of holiness, was called in Hebrew nomenclature Jacob: while he that has won victory and the prize of God is called Israel, one like that actual famed forefather of the whole race of the Hebrews, and his true sons and their descendants, (157) and their forefathers, all prophets and men of God. Do not suppose, I beg you, that the multitude of the Jews are thus referred to, but only those of the distant past, who were made perfect in virtue and piety.

CHAPTER 15

“The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, | till I make thine enemies the footstool of thy feet. | 2. The Lord shall send the rod of power for thee out of Zion, | and thou shalt rule in the midst of thine enemies. | 3. With thee is dominion in the day of thy power, | in the brightness of thy saints. | I begat thee from my womb before the Morning Star. 4. The Lord sware and will not repent, | Thou art a priest for ever, after the order of Melchizedek.” | [[Ps. cix. i.]] 

And note that David in this passage, being king of the (d) whole Hebrew race, and in addition to his kingdom adorned with the Holy Spirit, recognized that the Being of Whom he speaks Who was revealed to him in the spirit, was so great and surpassingly glorious, that he called Him his own Lord. For he said “The Lord said to my Lord.” Yea: for he knows Him as eternal High Priest, and Priest of the Most High God, and throned beside Almighty God, and His Offspring. Now it was impossible for Jewish priests to be consecrated to the service of God without anointing, wherefore it was usual to call them Christs. The Christ, then, mentioned in the Psalm will also be a priest. For how (177) could He have been witnessed to as priest unless He had previously been anointed? And it is also said that He is made a priest forever. Now this would transcend human nature. For it is not in man to last for ever,³ since our race is mortal and frail. Therefore the Priest of God, spoken of in this passage, Who by the confirmation of an oath received a perpetual and limitless priesthood from God, was |198 greater than man. “For the Lord sware,” he said, “and will not repent, Thou art a priest after the order of Melchizedek.” For as Moses relates that this Melchizedek was priest of the Most High God, not anointed with a prepared unguent, since he was priest of the Most High God long before the Institution of the Law, and far above the famous Abraham in virtue—for he says, “And Melchizedek, King of Salem, Priest of the Most High God, blessed Abraham.” “And without any contradiction,” says the apostle, “the less is blessed by the greater.” As therefore, Melchizedek, whoever he was, is introduced as one who acts as priest to the Most High God, without having been anointed with a prepared unguent, He that is prophesied of by David as of the order of Melchizedek. is also spoken of as a great Being surpassing everyone in nature, as being Priest of the supreme God, and sharing the throne of His unbegotten power, and as the Lord of the prophet; and He is not simply “priest,” but “eternal priest of the Father.” And the divine apostle also says, examining the implications of these passages:

“17. Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew to the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath: 18. That of two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation.” 

CHAPTER 16 

In which Scriptures the Christ is foretold by Name as plotted against by Kings and Rulers, Nations and Peoples, being begotten of God Himself, and called the Son of Man, receiving the Inheritance of the Nations and of the Ends of the Earth from His Father.

[Passages quoted, Ps. ii. 1, 2, 7, 8 ]

IN these words the Holy Spirit very clearly addresses (d) Christ, and calls Him the Son of God, as has been said before, and at the same time indicates that there will be a plot against Him, and foretells the calling of the Gentiles as brought about through Him. And all this the course of events has shewn to be exactly fulfilled by the actual |204 facts in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. For even now nations, rulers, peoples and kings have not yet ceased their combined attack on Him and His teaching. And if the Jews prefer to refer these predictions to some time yet to come, they ought to agree that their expected Christ will again be plotted against, according to the present (183) oracle: “The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ.” Which they would never grant, inasmuch as they expect the coming Christ to be a great Ruler, and an eternal King, and their Ransomer. But supposing their Christ should indeed come and suffer the same as He Who has already come, why ought we to believe or disbelieve in theirs rather than ours?

And if they cannot give an answer to this, but proceed (b) to refer the oracle to David or some one of the Jewish kings of his stock, even then we can shew, that neither David nor any other celebrated Hebrew is recorded to have been proclaimed as Son of God by the oracle, nor as begotten of God, as was the subject of the prophecy in the Psalm, nor to have ruled over nations, kings, rulers and people while involved in plots. Wherefore if none of them (c) is found so to have done, whereas all this agrees in actual fact in His case, both in His patience long ago, and in the attack made on Him to-day as the Christ of God by kings and rulers, nations and peoples, what hinders Him from being the subject of the prophecy in the words which said, “The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ”?

Psalm lxxxiv.

Christ described by Name as God the Overseer, and the One Day of His Resurrection, and the One House of God, His Church.

They rightly call on God to look upon the Face of the Christ, dishonoured and insulted for our sake, and to be merciful to us for His sake. “For He bore our sins, and on our behalf is pained.” Thus they beseech, altogether desiring and expressing in their prayer the desire to see the face of the glory of Christ, and to behold the day of His light. And this was the day of His Resurrection from the dead, which they say, as being the one and only truly Holy Day and the Lord’s Day, is better than any number (c) of days as we ordinarily understand them, and better than the days set apart by the Mosaic Law for Feasts, New Moons and Sabbaths, which the Apostle teaches are the shadow of days and not days in reality. And this Lord’s Day of our Saviour is alone said to shew its light not in |208 every place but only in the courts of the Lord. And these must mean the Churches of Christ throughout the world, which are courts of the one House of God, in which he (d) who knows these things loves and chooses to be abased, prizing far more the time spent in them than that spent in the tabernacles of sinners. Unless we are to understand that everyone who chooses the synagogues of the Jews, which deny the Christ of God, or those of godless sectaries and other unbelieving heathen, professes them to be better than the Churches of Christ.

Psalm cxxxi.

Christ named as rising from the Seed of David, called the (c) Horn of David, bringing to Shame the Jews His Enemies, restoring the Sanctuary of the Father.

From Amos.

Christ announced by Name by God, and made known to All Men as liberating the Jewish Race.

[Passage quoted, Amos. iv. 12—v. 2.]

God now proclaiming the Christ by name the seventh time is said to “strengthen the thunder” and “to create the wind,” the proclamation of the Gospel being called thunder from its being heard by all men, and similarly the spirit that Christ breathed on His apostles is meant; and also the Saviour’s sojourn among men has clearly fulfilled the prophecy in which God is said to make “morning” and “mist” together, morning for those that receive salvation, but for the Jews that disbelieve in Him the contrary. On (189) whom also Scripture foretells an extreme curse, adding a lamentation for the Jewish race, which actually overtook them immediately after their impiety against our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. For of a truth from that day to this the House of Israel has fallen, and the vision once shewn by God and the rejection have been brought to pass, concerning the falling of their house in Jerusalem, and against their whole state, that it should not be possible for any one to lift them up, who will never more be lifted up. (b) “There is,” he says, “therefore no one to lift her up.” For since they did not accept the Christ of God when He came, perforce He left them and turned to all the Gentiles, telling the cause of his turning, when He said with tears, as if almost apologizing:

“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killeth the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto her, how often |211 would I have gathered thy children together, even as a bird gathereth her nestlings under her wings, and ye would not: behold, your house is left unto you desolate.”

From the Lamentations of Jeremiah.

Christ is named as plotted against by the Jews, and made known to the Gentiles.

“20. The breath of our countenance, the Lord Christ was taken in their destructions, of whom we said, In his shadow we shall live among the Gentiles.” 

The inspired prophets of God, knowing the future by the Holy Spirit, foretold that they themselves would live, and that their words would work among the Gentiles as the words of living men, but not in Israel. They said again that the Christ (Whom they named) as being He from Whom the prophetic spirit was supplied to them, would be taken in their snares. The snares of whom? Plainly of the Jews who plotted against Him. And notice here that the prophecy says that the Christ will be taken, |212 which would not correspond with the second Coming of Christ, which the prophecies predict will be glorious and bring in the Divine Kingdom. Wherefore it seems that (c) the Jews are wrong in taking the sayings about His second Appearance, as if they were about His first Coming, which the sense will in no way allow. Since it is impossible to regard Him as at one and the same time glorious and without glory, honoured and kingly, and then without form or beauty, but dishonoured more than the sons of men; and again, as the Saviour and Redeemer of Israel, while plotted against by them, and led as a sheep to the (d) slaughter, delivered to death by their sins. The prophecies about the Christ should be divided, as our investigation of the facts shews, into two classes: the first which are the more human and gloomy will be agreed to have been fulfilled at His first Coming, the second the more glorious and divine even now await His second Coming for their fulfilment. And a clear proof of the former is the actual progress of the knowledge of God through Him in all nations, which many prophetic voices foretell in various strains, like the one before us, in which it is said: “Of whom we said, In his shadow we will live among the Gentiles.”

From the 1st Book of Kings [1 Samuel].

Christ is named as receiving a faithful House from His Father, that is the Church, and as a Faithful High Priest for All Time leading His Church.

And we have already shewn that the priests from among men, who in long distant times were consecrated to the service of God, were anointed with a prepared unguent. But he that is spoken of in the prophecy is said to have been anointed with the Divine Spirit. And this passage in its entirety was referred to Jesus the only true Christ of God, Who one day took the prophecy in the Jewish synagogue, and after reading the selected portion, said that what He had read was fulfilled in Himself. For it is written, that having read it:

“And closing the book, and giving it to the minister, he sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened upon him, 21. And he began to say unto them, This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears.”

Source. Tertullian.org – Eusebius of Caesarea: Demonstratio Evangelica. Tr. W.J. Ferrar (1920) — Book 4

THE PROOF OF THE GOSPEL, Book 5

INTRODUCTION

Greeks and Barbarians alike testify to the existence of oracles and oracular responses in all parts of the earth, and they say that they were revealed by the foresight of the Creator for the use and profit of men, so that there need be no essential difference between Hebrew prophecy (203) |222 and the oracles of the other nations. For as the Supreme God gave oracles to the Hebrews through their prophets, and suggested what was to their advantage, so also He gave them to the other nations through their local oracles. For He was not only the God of the Jews, but of the rest of mankind as well; and He cared not more for these than those, but His Providence was over all alike, just as He has given the sun ungrudgingly for all, and not for the Hebrews only, and the supply of needs according to the seasons, and a like bodily constitution for all, and one (b) mode of birth, and one kind of rational soul. And, thus, they say he provided ungrudgingly for all men the science of foretelling the future, to some by prophets, to some by oracles, to some by the flight of birds, or by inspecting entrails, or by dreams, or omens contained in word or sound, or by some other sign. For these they say were bestowed on all men by the Providence of God, so that the prophets of the Hebrews should not seem to have an advantage over the rest of the world.

He is also called “Power of God” and “Wisdom of God.” It is our present task, therefore, to collect these same expressions from the prophetic writings of the Hebrews, so that by their agreement in each separate part the demonstration of the truth may be established. And we must recognize that the sacred oracles include in the Hebrew much that is obscure both in expression and in meaning, and are capable of various interpretations in Greek because of their difficulty. The Seventy Hebrews in concert have translated them together, and I shall pay the greatest attention to them, because it is the custom of the Christian Church to use their work. But wherever necessary, I shall call in the help of the editions of the later translators, which the Jews are accustomed to use to-day, so that my proof may have stronger support from all sources. With this introduction, it now remains for me to treat of the inspired words. |231

CHAPTER 3

(d) That the same Prophet also plainly confesses Two Lords in Ps. cix.: the One, the First and Highest God; the Other, Whom He calls His Own Lord, and that He was begotten by God before the Foundation of the World, and He knows the Second God, and that He is the High Priest Eternal of the Father, shares the Throne of the God of the Universe, holding the same Faith as We about Christ.

[Passage quoted, Ps. cix. 1-5.]

It is therefore plain that it would be wrong to allot to any among begotten beings the sitting at the right hand of the Almighty’s rule and kingdom, except to Him alone Whom I have shewn in many ways, by what I have laid before you, to be God. Understand then, that the Highest and Almighty Lord bestows on one and the same being the words, “Sit thou on my right hand,” and also, “Before the morning-star I have begotten thee,” and He delivers with an oath of confirmation the honour unshakeable and immutable of the continuous priesthood for ever and ever, “The Lord swore and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever.” And who could be supposed—leaving human beings out of account — even of those of the nature of |240 angels, to have been begotten of God, and made a priest for ever, but He alone Who also said in the former (b) prophecy, “The Lord created me as the beginning of the way for his works, before the ages he established me, in the beginning before the mountains were established, before all the hills he begets me.” Give your careful attention to understanding the relations of the present Psalm to the words quoted in the previous passage; in this one the Most High God establishes to share His own throne the Second Lord, who is our Lord, saying, “Sit thou on my right hand,” while in the preceding one the Scripture said that (c) His throne would remain for ever and ever, calling Him at the same time God when it says, “Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever.” Again, in the passage before us, it says, “The Lord shall send the rod of thy power out of Sion,” and in the other, “The sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom”; and once more this passage says, “Sit thou on my right hand, until I make thine enemies the footstool of thy feet, and thou shalt rule in the midst of thine enemies,” and the former one, “Thy arrows are sharp, O mighty one, in the heart of the (d) king’s enemies.” So that what is said about His enemies in both is in agreement. Who, then, seeing with his eyes in the midst of cities, villages and countries throughout the world the Churches of our Saviour, the peoples ruled by Him, and the vast multitudes of those sanctified by Him encircled on all sides by enemies and foes of the teaching of Christ, some visible among men, some invisible and beyond the power of sight, would not wonder at this oracie addressed to the person of the subject of the prophecy, which says, “Rule in the (222) midst of thine enemies”? And while in the previous passage we read, “Anointed with the oil of gladness above thy fellows”—it being the Hebrew custom to anoint priests —the passage before us now pronounces Him priest in clearer terms, adding more teaching about Him, by which we learn that He unlike all previous priests is the Eternal Priest, an idea which cannot be associated with mere (b) humanity. He says that He is made a priest after the order of Melchizedek, in contradistinction to the ordinance of |241 the Mosaic priesthood, held either by Aaron or any of his descendants, none of whom were priests until they had been anointed with a prepared ointment, and so became, as by type and symbol, a kind of shadowy and symbolical Christ. He was one of course that because of his mortality could not extend his priesthood long, and moreover was only consecrated for Jewish people, not for the other nations. He did not enter on his priestly duty under an oath of God, but was only honoured by the judgment of men, so that it was sometimes the case that something unworthy of God’s service was found in them, as is recorded of Eli. And moreover besides all this, that ancient priest of the Mosaic order could only be selected from the tribe of Levi. It was obligatory without exception that he should be of the family descending from Aaron, and do service to God in outward worship with the sacrifices and blood of irrational animals. But he that is named Melchizedek, which in Greek is translated “king of righteousness,” who was king of Salem, which would mean “king of peace,” without father, without mother, without line of descent, not having, according to the account, “beginning of years, nor end of life,” had no characteristics shared by the Aaronic priesthood. For he was not chosen by men, he was not anointed with prepared oil, he was not of the tribe of those who had not yet been born; and strangest of all, he was not even circumcised in his flesh, and yet he blesses Abraham, as if he were far better than he; he did not act as priest to the Most High God with sacrifices and libations, nor did he minister at the Temple in Jerusalem. How could he? it did not yet exist. And he was such of course because there was going to be no similarity between our Saviour Christ and Aaron, for He was neither to be designated priest after a period when He was not priest, nor was He to become priest, but be it. For we should notice carefully in the words, “Thou art a priest for ever,” He does not say, “Thou shalt be what thou wert not before,” any more than, “Thou wert that before, which thou art not now”—but by Him Who said, “I am that I am,” it is said, “Thou art, and remainest, a priest for ever.”

Since, then, Christ neither entered on His priesthood in time, nor sprang from the priestly tribe, nor was anointed with prepared and outward oil, nor will ever reach the |242 end of His priesthood, nor will be established only for the Jews but for all nations, for all these reasons He is rightly said to have forsaken the priesthood after Aaron’s type, and to be a priest after the order of Melchizedek. And the fulfilment of the oracle is truly wondrous, to one who recognizes how our Saviour Jesus the Christ of God even now performs through His ministers even to-day i sacrifices after the manner of Melchizedek’s. For just as he, who was priest of the Gentiles, is not represented as offering outward sacrifices, but as blessing Abraham only with wine and bread, in exactly the same way our Lord and Saviour Himself first, and then all His priests among all nations, perform the spiritual sacrifice according to the customs of the Church, and with wine and bread darkly express the mysteries of His Body and saving Blood. This by the Holy Spirit Melchizedek foresaw, and used the figures of what was to come, as the Scripture of Moses witnesses, when it says:

“And Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine: and he was priest of the Most High God, and he blessed Abraham.”

CHAPTER 23      (250) 

From Amos.

(b) Of Our Saviour as of a Lord, and of His Father as of God, and. of the Destruction of the Jewish People.

[Passage quoted, Amos iv. ii.]

AND here the Lord Himself says that some God has caused the destruction of Sodom, since He Himself must plainly be a different Being from the One of Whom He speaks. Therefore two Lords stands out in the destruction (c) of Sodom and Gomorrah, when the Lord rained the fire of the Lord on them. You also, he says, will suffer a destruction such as Sodom underwent for its unnatural wickedness, and even so did not turn to Me. Scripture generally regards the future as past, so that we must understand the past to be meant in spite of the tense. The future “I will overthrow” must be understood for the past “I overthrew,” and “ye will not turn,” for “ye did turn.” |267 

This is levelled at the Jewish race, and only received its fulfilment in their case, after their plot against our Saviour, (d) Their ancient holy place, at any rate, and their Temple are to this day as much destroyed as Sodom. Yet though they have suffered in accordance with the prediction, they have not hitherto turned to Christ, on Whose account they have suffered so much. And so the prophecy before us is justly inspired to say: “And neither so have ye returned to me, saith the Lord.”

Source. Tertullian.org – Eusebius of Caesarea: Demonstratio Evangelica. Tr. W.J. Ferrar (1920) — Book 5

THE PROOF OF THE GOSPEL, Book 6

So let us now examine any such predictions of the Hebrew oracles, that now the Ford, now God, would descend to men and again ascend in their sight, and the causes of His descent: and you will note that some prophecies are veiled and some clearly expressed. I hold that the secret prophecies were delivered in a disguised form because of the Jews, as the predictions concerning them were unfavourable; because they would most probably have destroyed the writing, if it had plainly foretold their final ruin; just as history shows that they attacked the prophets, because they rebuked them. But the prophecies that are clear include beyond all doubt |2 the call of the Gentiles, and announce the promises of the reward of holiness not only to the Jewish race, but to all men throughout the world. As this is so, we must now hear the divine oracles.

CHAPTER 2

Psalm xlvi.

The Ascent of God Who had First descended, and the Calling of all the Gentiles thereafter, to know the One and Only God.

[Passage quoted, Ps. xlvi. 1-9.]

And you would not err in identifying the sound of the trumpet with the preaching of the Gospel heard in all the world. For as the trumpet is the loudest of all musical instruments, it seems a fit symbol to shew forth that the teaching given to all men about Christ is proclaimed in stronger and louder tones than any other teaching has ever been, by which as by a trumpet for the hearing of all men the Holy Spirit shouts and cries what follows in this Psalm, “Sing to the Lord, sing, sing to our King, sing, That God is King “not only of the Jewish race in the future, he says, but “of all the earth, sing with understanding.”

CHAPTER 3

From Psalm xlix.

How it is said that God will come dearly to Men, and will call all Races of Men io Himself.

[Passage quoted, Ps. xlix. 1-14.]

HERE the divine prediction clearly prophesies that God will come manifestly, meaning none other but the Word of God. And it shews the reason of His coming, again emphasizing the calling of all nations of the world. For it says, “He (d) has called the earth from the rising of the sun to the setting”; and it teaches that the rejection of the outward worship according to the Mosaic Law will follow hard after His Manifestation and the calling of the Gentiles, a worship which actually ceased after the manifestation of the Word of God to all men. For from that day to this all men throughout all the world have been called, and all the nations of the east and west. And the Jewish worship has ceased (262) and been abolished, all men being called to worship according to the new Covenant of the preaching of the Gospel, and not according to the Law of Moses. We might also apply these prophecies to our Saviour’s second and glorious Coming.

CHAPTER 5

From Psalm xcv.

The Coining of Christ on Earth, and His Kingdom over the Gentiles, and the New Song which shall be given, not to Israel but to the Gentiles.

[Passage quoted, Ps. xcv. 1-13.]

(b) HERE again the Coming of the Lord to men is foretold, and that a new song shall be sung at His Coming, by which is meant the new Covenant, by the whole earth, not by the Jewish race; and that the good news will be no longer for Israel, but for all the nations, since it says that the Lord Who is to come will be their King. But who could this be but God the Word, Who, intending to judge the world in righteousness and the human race in truth, reckons all men in the world equally worthy of His call, and of the salvation of God consequent thereon?

(c) CHAPTER 6

From Psalm xcvii.

The New Song, the Knowledge of the Heathen of the Lord’s Righteousness and His Own Coming as Judge of the Universe.

[Passage quoted, Ps. xcvii. 1-8.]

IT is prophesied here that the Coming of the Lord will be the cause of great benefits to the nations, which have been proved to have actually accrued to them, through the manifestation of our Saviour. For of a truth from then and not before the new song of the new Covenant has been sung among all men, and His wonders have been known (264) and heard by all men through the written gospels. Yea, and salvation also, by the Resurrection of the Lord from the dead, has been revealed to all nations, and the true righteousness, by which it has been clearly proved, that God is not the God of the Jews only, but of the Gentiles. “Since there is one God,” in the words of the holy apostle, |7 “who will judge the circumcision from their faith, and the uncircumcision through faith.” And the words, “for he cometh to judge the earth,” might refer also to His second Coming.”

CHAPTER 7

From Psalm cvii.

The Word of God sent forth for the Healing and Salvation of Souls Long Time afflicted with Evil.

[Passages quoted, Ps. cvii. 15-19, 32-36.]

THIS clearly gives the good news of the Descent of God the Word from heaven, Who is named, and of the result of His Coming. For it says, “He sent his Word and healed them.” And we say distinctly that the Word of God was He that was sent as the Saviour of all men, Whom we are taught by the Holy Scriptures to reckon divine. And it (265) darkly suggests that He came down even unto death for the sake of those who had died before Him, and in revealing the redemption of those to be saved by Him it shews the reason of His Coming. For He saved without aid from any one those that had gone before Him even to the gates of death, healed them and rescued them from their destruction. And this He did simply by breaking what are called the gates of death, and crushing the bars of iron. And (b) then the prophecy proceeds to predict the state of desolation of those who rejected Him when He came. For it says, “He turned rivers into a wilderness, and rivers of waters into thirst, a fruitful land into saltness for the wickedness of them that dwell therein”: which you will understand if you behold Jerusalem of old, the famous city of the Jewish race, her glory and her fruitfulness, despoiled now of her holy citizens and pious men. For (c) after the coming of Christ she became as the prophet truly says without fruit or water, and quite deserted, “saltness for the wickedness of them that dwell therein.” |8 

CHAPTER 8 

From Psalms cxvii. and cxviii.

The Calling of the Gentiles, God Manifested, and Pressed is He that cometh in the Name of the Lord.

[Passages quoted, Pss. cxvii. 1 and cxviii. 25.]

(266) HOLY Scripture records that this prophecy was fulfilled when our Lord and Saviour Christ entered Jerusalem, and a great multitude of men and children went before Him (b) crying with joy, “Hosanna to the Son of David, Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord, Hosanna in the highest.” For instead of, “O Lord, save us,” as expressed in the Psalm, they cried out the Hebrew “Hosanna,” which is translated by “save.” And the words, “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord,” explain the words that follow, “The Lord is God and hath appeared to us.” It was, then, one and the same Lord God that appeared to them, that is to say the Word of God, as He Who is therefore blessed, because He came among men in the name of the Lord His Father that sent Him. It was therefore in reproof of the Jews that disbelieved in Him, that He said: “I came in the name of my Father, and ye received me not. But if one come in his own name, him will ye receive.” So the Holy Spirit suitably addresses the opening verses of the Psalm not to the Jewish people, but to all the nations. |9 

CHAPTER 9

From Psalm cxliii.

The Descent of the Lord from Heaven for Men’s Salvation, (d) and the New Song sung thereafter, which is the Song of the New Covenant.

[Passages quoted, Ps. cxliii. 3, 5, 9.]

I CONSIDER this to be connected with my present subject. (267) For in his wonder at the knowledge of God the Word coming to men, the Psalmist is astonished above measure at the love by which He descends from His Divinity, and lessens His natural Majesty, and reckons the human race worthy of bearing Him. So here he prays, saying, “Lord, bow the heavens and descend.” While in the Seventeenth Psalm it is written, “And he bowed the heavens, and descended, and it was dark under his feet. And he rode upon Cherubim, and flew, he flew upon the wings of the winds,” wherein there is a prophecy of His Ascension (b) from earth to heaven. And when there is a fit opportunity I will shew that we must understand the Descent and Ascension of God the Word not as of one moving locally, but in the metaphorical sense which Scripture intends in the use of such conventional terms.

But we should also note here the new Covenant, into which the Coming of Christ was about to invite men. And the new Covenant is that which succeeds the old and is given to all nations. And so the oracle before us says, “O God, I will sing a new song to thee.” The words, (c) “Touch the mountains and they shall smoke,” I think are a veiled prophecy of the burning and abolition of all forms of idolatry, which had its chief seats among the ancients in mountains, it being a common charge against the Jews themselves, that they worshipped idols on every high mountain in imitation of foreign nations. |10 

CHAPTER 11

From the Second Book of Kings [= 2 Samuel].

(c) The Lord descending from Heaven, Leader of the Nations that before knew Him not, and about to cast off the Jewish Nation.

[Passages quoted, 2 Sam. xxii. 1, 10-12, 44-46.]

(d) THE God that bowed the heavens and came down, Who mounted upon the man whom He had chosen, called here Cherubim by Scripture, flew up with Him making His Ascension with the divine spirits as His bodyguard, and these are called the wings of the winds. And it suggests that this was done darkly and in obscurity by some secret and hidden words, when it says, “And he made darkness his secret place.” What follows agrees with the Incarnation of Christ and shews the opposition of the Jewish people to Him, and the obedience of the Gentiles to His teaching. |11 

CHAPTER 13

From Micah.

Concerning the Descent from Heaven to Men, and concerning the Fall of the Jewish Nation at His Coming, and the Incorporation of All the Other Nations.

[Passage quoted, Micah i. 2-5.] (271)

HERE, too, in this passage the Descent of the Lord coming forth from His place is proclaimed plainly. This must mean (b) the Word of God, Whom I have proved in the previous books to be alone God and Lord after the Supreme and Almighty God. His place you would rightly understand to be the kingdom of heaven, and the glorious throne of His Divinity, of which the prophet sang in praise of God, saying, “Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever,” on which the Father bade Him sit as being His Only-begotten Son, saying, “Sit thou on my right hand.” For I have already shewn (c) that these words can only be referred to our Saviour, God the Word. So, then, the prophecy before us says that He conies forth from His place, and will descend upon the high-places of the earth. How are we to understand this? Shall we take it literally of the hills and mountains of Israel, which are the subjects of so many prophecies, Jerusalem itself and Mount Sion, in which our Lord and Saviour spent so much time? If so, their destruction and ruin at (d) the descent of Christ would be prophesied. And it is the fact that after the Saviour’s coming and the treatment He received all the hills mentioned were besieged, and utterly desolated. But the rulers of the Jewish people as well, and their kingdom that existed previously, their sacrificial system and the seats of their teachers, here called Mountains metaphorically, are said to be shaken by the Descent of the Lord from heaven. And who could deny that this was fulfilled after the time of our Saviour Jesus Christ, when he sees all these things not only shaken, but abolished? And the valleys even now melting are the Jewish synagogues established in all cities instead of Jerusalem and Mount (272) Sion, which are full of lamentation and wailing, and melting as wax at the fire with grief and extreme sorrow for the |14 desolation of their homes and their long and lasting slavery. And the coming of the Word of God regarded in another light took place not in chasms and valleys, nor in lowly and earth-bound thoughts, but in exalted souls. And so the Lord Himself is said in a wider metaphor to be about to descend on the high-places of earth. Then the mountains shaken under Him will be those very heights whither He “was led by the spirit to be tempted of the devil,” “when the devil leadeth him to an exceeding high mountain, and he was with the wild beasts.” Or the mountains again might represent in metaphor the idolatry practised formerly on mountains, and the principalities and powers working there invisibly, which our Saviour’s teaching was to shake and overthrow in no small degree. For His inspired word and His miraculous and wondrous strength have insensibly destroyed the powers which from far ages have attacked mankind. In like manner also the hills melting like wax from the presence of the fire would be the infernal and earth-bound daemons, against whom He sent forth fire to consume their lust, saying, “I came to cast fire upon the earth, and what will I if it be already kindled?” Burned by which fire, and unable to bear the torture of its unseen flame, they withdrew from the bodies of men, and acknowledged that which controlled them and drove them out, crying, “Let us alone, what have we to do with thee, Son of God? Hast thou come to torment us before the time? We know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God.” And these He chiefly chastised, and destroyed their princes, because not content with the corruption of the other nations, whereby they had cast them all into the errors of polytheism, they had also plotted against God’s ancient people, those of the Circumcision, and had endeavoured to seduce even them from their God to all manner of impiety. And this was the chief reason why the Lord descended from heaven. Wherefore He says next, “For the iniquity of Jacob is all this done, and for the transgression of my people Israel.” And then He gives an additional reason for the Descent of the Word, recounting the impiety of the Jews, and the destruction falling upon them, and heralding the calling of all nations throughout the world. For these things’ sake the Word of God came down from heaven to earth. Hear this passage: |15 

“5. For the impiety of the House of Jacob is all this done, and for the transgression of the House of Israel. What is the impiety of the House of Jacob? Is it not Samaria? And what is the sin of Judah? Is it not Jerusalem? 6. And I will make Samaria a lodge of the field, and a plantation of a vineyard, and I will draw down to chaos the stones thereof, and will hide the foundations thereof.” 

And He adds:

“12. Evil hath descended from the Lord on the gates of Jerusalem, the noise of chariots and horsemen.” 

And again:

“15. O glory of the daughter of Jerusalem, shave and cut off thy choice children. Enlarge thy widowhood, as an eagle, when thy captives are led from thee.” 

And moreover:

“Sion shall be ploughed as a field, and Jerusalem shall be as a granary, and the mount of the house as a grove of the wood.”

Sion and Jerusalem and the so-called “mount of the house” are what were represented before in, “And the mountains shall be shaken from beneath him, and the valleys shall be melted as wax before the fire for the iniquity of Jacob.” For the mountains and the dwellers thereon were besieged for the iniquity they had wrought against Him soon and not long after Mount Sion was burned and left utterly desolate, and the Mount of the House of God became as a grove of the wood.

If our own observation has any value, we have seen in our own time Sion once so famous ploughed with yokes of oxen by the Romans and utterly devastated, and Jerusalem, as the oracle says, deserted like a lodge. And this has come to pass precisely because of their impieties, for the |16 

sake of which the Heavenly Word has come forth from His own place.

And I have already said that the Word of God came down from heaven and descended on the high places of the earth for other reasons, both that the mountains which of old lifted themselves up and exalted themselves against the knowledge of God might be shaken beneath Him (that is to say the opposing powers, which before His coming enslaved the Hebrew race as well as the rest of mankind in the practice of impiety and idolatry), and also that the evil daemons called valleys (through their living in gloomy chasms, and in the recesses of the body) might melt as wax before the fire and flee away from men by the power of the divine Word. And there was another additional reason by no means fortuitous for the descent of the Lord from heaven, which this prophecy recognizes, namely that all the nations on earth, the daemons being banished and the ruling spirits shaken, recovering from the cruel and ceaseless tyranny which had long afflicted them, might attain the knowledge of Almighty God. And the voice of the same prophet proclaims the same things further on as follows, uniting them in the same manner under one head:

“And in the last days the Mount of the Lord shall be glorious, preparedupon the tops of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills, and peoples shall haste unto it, and many nations shall come and say, Come, let us go up to the Mount of the Lord, and the house of the God of Jacob, and they will shew us his way, and we will walk in his paths. For out of Sion shall come forth a law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem, and he will judge in the midst of the nations.” 

One can learn at one’s leisure in what sense such prophecies of the Call of the Gentiles are to be understood, and that they were only fulfilled after the coining of our Saviour. And the opening of the prophecy is in full agreement with I the truth that the Lord descended not only for the salvation of the Jewish race, but for that of all nations, in proclaiming to all peoples and all the inhabitants of the earth, saying, “Hear all peoples, and let the earth attend, and all that are |17  therein.” And it darkly foretold the witness of the Passion of our Lord, adding, “And the Lord our God shall be for a witness.”

And after this the same prophet, having prepared the way by telling of what related to the fact of the Descent of God the Word from heaven, and foretold what should be the causes of His coining, proceeds to relate His birth among men, and to name the place where He should be born, in the following words:

“2. And thou, Bethlehem, house of Ephratha, art the least to be among the thousands of Judah, out of thee shall come forth for me a leader, to be for a ruler in Israel, and his goings-forth are from the beginning from the days of eternity.”

Note with care how he says that the goings forth of Him that shall appear at Bethlehem are from above and from eternity, by which he shews the pre-existence and essential origin of Him that is to come forth from Bethlehem. Now if any person can apply the oracle to any one but Jesus, let him shew who it is; but if it is impossible to find any one but our Lord Jesus Christ, Who is the only Person after the date of this prophecy Who came forth thence and attained to fame, what should hinder us from acknowledging the truth of the prophecy, which directs its prediction on Him only? For He alone of all men is known to have come forth from the before-named Bethlehem after the date of the prophecy, putting on a human shape, and what had been foretold was fulfilled at His coming. For at once and not after a long time the woes that were foretold fell on the Jewish nation, and blessings in accordance with the prophecies on the nations as well, and He Himself, our Lord and Saviour Who came from Bethlehem, was shewn to be the ruler of the spiritual Israel, such being the name of all people of vision and piety. Note too that it is said that the goings-forth of His Divine Pre-existence are from the beginning and from the days of eternity, which would not agree with mere humanity.

Then the word of the prophet, a little further on, suggests again the curtailing and abolition of the ancient ritual of the Law, speaking in the person of the people: |18 

“6. Wherewithal shall I reach the Lord, and lay hold of my God most high?. Shall I reach him by whole burnt-offerings, by calves a year old? 7. Should I give my firstborn for my ungodliness, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” 

And he makes this answer to them in the person of God:

“8. Has it not been told thee, O man, what is good? And what does the Lord require of thee, but to do judgment, and to love mercy, and to be ready to walk after thy God? “

You have then in this prophecy of the Descent of the Lord among men from heaven, many other things foretold at the same time, the rejection of the Jews, the judgment on their impiety, the destruction of their royal city, the abolition of the worship practised by them of old according to the Law of Moses; and on the other hand, promises of good for the nations, the knowledge of God, a new ideal of holiness, a new law and teaching coming forth from the land of the Jews. I leave you to see, how wonderful a fulfilment, how wonderful a completion, the prophecy has reached after the Coming of our Saviour Jesus Christ.

CHAPTER 15

From the same.

That the Heating about the Descent of the Lord from Heaven is Terrible, and His Works Wonderful, and at His Coming the Whole Earth shall be filed with His Praise, when the Word of His New Covenant shall pervade all Men.

[Passage quoted, Hab. iii. 2-5.]

And who could this be who was known of old, and was to be known afterwards when the time drew near, and (279) was to be shewn forth at the date predicted, but that same Being before shewn to be the second Lord of the Universe, who agreeably to the prophecy at the end of the ages has |21 been proclaimed for all to hear? It was surely His works that are written in the Holy Gospels, and it was clearly His Birth from the Virgin Tabernacle whence he sprang, and how “being in the form of God, he thought it not a thing to be grasped at to be equal with God, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave,” and it was the miracles He performed among men, and the insults offered to Him by the Jewish race that the prophet anticipated with the eyes of his soul; and learning of the Holy Spirit his Teacher what would accrue to minds purified from sin, he confessed that he was astonished and afraid at what he heard, and said, “Lord, I have heard thy report, and I was afraid, I understood thy works, and was astonished.”

CHAPTER 16

From Zechariah.

That the Almighty Lord states that He is sent by Another Almighty Lord for the Destruction of the Wicked.

[Passage quoted, Zech. ii. 8.]

IN these words the Almighty Lord Himself says that He has been sent, and teaches who it was that sent Him, saying, “And ye shall know that the Almighty Lord has sent me.” Here, then, you have clearly two Persons using one Name, the Almighty Lord that sent, and Him that is sent having the same Name as the Sender. And whom else could you suppose Him that is sent to be, but Him that we have so often called God the Word, Who states that He is sent by the Father, and says clearly, “After his glory he has sent me,” shewing that though pre-existing in the glory of the Father He was sent afterwards unto the nations that spoiled you? For the Word of God was sent unto the nations, who before were hostile to the people of God, and subjected them to Himself, making a spoil of them by His disciples, who belonged to the Jewish nation, which the Gentiles had long spoiled enslaving it to their own idolatry. This, then, He says that the nations will suffer, as He ordained. For as they perverted the people of God from their ancestral religion, and made them a spoil for their own daemons, so some day shall they be made spoils from their fathers’ idolatry to them who of old have served them, and be brought under the yoke of the Jewish religion. And the Lord says that this will be done by Himself, as He will be sent by His Father to accomplish it. It might also be said that certain invisible spiritual powers are meant by the nations which spoiled and enslaved the souls of men, which the Word of God here says He loves as the apple of His eye. And the proof of His great love to the human race is that He did not draw back, though He was the Word of God and in the glory of the Father, but agreed to live with men and govern them. |25 

CHAPTER 17

From the same.

How the Lord foretells that He will come from Heaven and dwell among Men, and that the Nations will flee to Him, and He states that the was sent by Another Almighty Lord stronger than Himself.

[Passage quoted, Zech. ii. 10.]

As it is now my object to unfold from the prophets the second cause of our Lord’s living our life on earth, the prophecy before us appears to state it so clearly that it hardly needs any elaboration. You will notice that He gives the cause of His coming, where He says, “And many nations shall flee unto the Lord in that day, and they shall be to me for a people.” And the Word announces this to the daughter of Sion, calling the Church of God by this name, through her seeming to be the daughter of the heavenly Jerusalem, she that is the mother of the Saints, according to the holy apostle. Or the Church of God might be called the daughter of Sion for another reason as one separated from the former congregation of the Jews by the apostles and evangelists, who also were the children of a mother divorced for her own impiety, and a widow because she had driven away her Husband, Who rebuked her by the prophets and said, “Hast thou not called me as a husband, and father, and leader of thy virginity?” And accusing their mothers ways also to them that were born of her He says: “Where is the bill of thy mother’s divorcement, by which I rejected her?” And again: “Judge the cause of your mother, judge it, because she is not my wife, and I am not her husband.”

So, then, this prophecy rightly announces the presence of the Lord to those who had rejected their mother (calling them) the daughter of the Lord. And it is the Church of the Gentiles that is reckoned by the apostles of our Saviour to have taken the place of her that before was daughter. |26 

CHAPTER 18

From the same.

Of the Coming of the Lord, and of the Events of His Passion.

[Passage quoted, Zech. xiv. 1-10.]

AFTER the first siege of Jerusalem, and its total destruction and desolation by the Babylonians, and after the Return of the Jews from their enemies’ land to their own, which came to pass in the time of Cyrus king of Persia, when Jerusalem has just been restored, and the Temple and its Altar renewed by Darius the Persian, the present prophecy foretells a second siege of Jerusalem which is to take place afterwards, which it suffered from the Romans, after its inhabitants had carried through their outrage on our Saviour Jesus Christ. Thus the coming of our Saviour and the events connected therewith are very clearly shewn in this passage—I mean what was done at the time of His Passion, and the siege that came on the Hebrew race directly after, the taking of Jerusalem, the call of the Gentiles also, and the knowledge attained by all nations of the one and only God. But the inspired prophet pathetically bewails the woes of the Jews as those of his own people, and begins his prophecy with a cry against them. He means by “days of the Lord,” here as well as in other places, the time of our Lord’s presence among men. And he clearly shews how the Lord Himself, as being the true Light, will become some day the maker of His own days, and will shine on all men in the world, all the nations receiving Him and the rays of His light, when all nations are enlightened, according to the words, “I have set Thee for a light to the Gentiles, for a covenant of my race,” and the Jewish nation through their unbelief will fall into great trouble.

For such is the meaning of “Behold the days of the Lord come, and thy spoils shall be divided within thee, and I will gather all the Gentiles to Jerusalem to war. And the city shall be taken, the houses plundered, and the women ravished, and half of the city shall go into captivity.” |27 

And after the siege of Jerusalem, and the captivity of the Jews which succeeds it, he next adds a prophecy of good things for all: “And the Lord shall be King over all the earth.” And again: “There shall be one Lord, and his name one, encircling all the earth and the wilderness.”

But who would not be surprised at the fulfilment of a prophecy which revealed that the Jewish people would undergo these sufferings in the days of the Lord? For as soon as Jesus our Lord and Saviour had come and the Jews had outraged Him, everything that had been predicted was fulfilled against them without exception 500 years after the prediction: from the time of Pontius Pilate to the sieges under Nero, Titus and Vespasian they were never free from all kinds of successive calamities, as you may gather from the history of Flavius Josephus. It is probable that half the city at that time perished in the siege, as the prophecy says. And not long after, in the reign of Hadrian, there was another Jewish revolution, and the remaining half of the city was again besieged and driven out, so that from that day to this the whole place has not been trodden by them.

Now if any one supposes that this was fulfilled in the time of Antiochus Epiphanes, let him inquire if the rest of the prophecy can be referred to the times of Antiochus —I mean the captivity undergone by the people, the standing of the Lord’s feet on the Mount of Olives, and whether the Lord became King of all the earth in that day, and whether the name of the Lord encircled the whole earth and the desert during the reign of Antiochus. And how can the fulfilment of the remainder of the prophecy in the days of Antiochus be asserted? But, according to my interpretation, they are fulfilled both literally and also in another sense. For after the coming of our Saviour Jesus Christ, their city, Jerusalem itself, and the whole system and institutions of the Mosaic worship were destroyed; and at once they underwent captivity in mind as well as body, in refusing to accept the Saviour and Ransomer of the souls of men, Him Who came to preach release to those enslaved by evil daemons, and giving of sight to those blind in mind. And while they suffered through their unbelief, those of |28 them who recognized their Ransomer became His own disciples, apostles and evangelists, and many others of the Jews believed on Him, of whom the apostle says, “So also now there is a remnant according to the election of grace.” And “If the Lord of Sabaoth had not left unto us a seed we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorra.” They were preserved safe from the metaphorical siege, and also from the siege literally understood. For the apostles and disciples of our Saviour, and all the Jews that believed on Him, being far from the land of Judaea, and scattered among the other nations, were enabled at that time to escape the ruin of the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And the prophecy anticipated and foretold this where it said, “And the remnant of my people shall not be utterly destroyed.” To which it adds afterwards, “And the Lord shall go forth, and shall fight for those nations, as a day of his battle in the day of war.” For which nations will the Lord fight, but for those that shall besiege Jerusalem? The passage shews that the Lord Himself will fight for the besiegers, being among them and drawn up with them, like their general and commander warring against Jerusalem. For it does not say that the Lord will fight against the nations. With whom and against whom, then, will He fight? Surely against Jerusalem and her inhabitants, concerning whom it is spoken.

What can God’s “valley of mountains” mean here, but the outward Jewish worship according to the Mosaic Law practised for long ages before in Jerusalem, which the present prophecy foretells is to be cut off, as if it were closed up, saying: “And the valley of my mountains shall be closed up, and the cleft of mountains shall be joined unto Asael, and shall be closed up”? Instead of which Symmachus translated: “And the valley of my mountains shall be closed up, and also the cleft of mountains shall approach that which is beside it, and shall be closed up,” shewing the cause of the closing up of the valley. And what was this’, but that it came near and approached what was beside it? And this mount of the Lord was the before-named Mount of Olives, which is called Asael in the Septuagint. And this word means in Hebrew “Work of God.”

This I take from the work of Josephus on Jewish Antiquities. And I found in the beginning of the Prophet Amos the statement that he began to prophesy “in the days of Ozias, king of Judah, two years before the earthquake.” What earthquake he does not clearly say. But I think the same prophet further on suggests this earthquake, when he says: “I saw the Lord standing on the altar. And He said, Strike the altar, and the doors shall be shaken, and strike the heads of all, and the remnant I will slay with the sword.”

Here I understand a prediction of the earthquake, and of the destruction of the ancient solemnities of the Jewish race, and of the worship practised by them in Jerusalem, the ruin that should overtake them after the coming of our Saviour, when, since they rejected the Christ of God, the true High Priest, leprosy infected their souls, as in the days of Ozias, when the Lord Himself standing on the altar gave leave to him that struck, saying: “Strike the altar.” For He shewed this in effect, when He said: “Your house |34 is left unto you desolate.” Concurrently, too, with His Passion “The veil of the Temple was rent from the top to the bottom,” as Josephus records as happening also in the time of Ozias. Then, first the courts were shaken, when the earth was shaken at the time of His Passion, and not long after, they underwent their final ruin, the striker received authority and struck upon the heads of all.

And so we see how at this time the valley of the mountains of God was closed up, as was done in the days of Ozias. Actually and literally in the siege by the Romans, in the course of which I believe such things happened, and figuratively, also, when the outward and lower worship of the Mosaic Law was prevented any longer from activity by the earthquake which according to his prophecy came upon the Jewish race, and by the other causes recorded.

And this day, he says, was known to the Lord, and was not |35 night. It was not day, because, as has been said already, “there shall be no light”; which was fulfilled, when “from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour.” Nor was it night, because “at eventide it shall be light” was added, which also was fulfilled when the day regained its natural light after the ninth hour. And this was fulfilled figuratively as well, generally in the Jewish race, darkness, cold, and frost coming on them after their outrage on the Christ, their understanding being darkened, so that the light of the Gospel should not shine in their hearts, and their love to God waxing cold, and then at eventide the light of the knowledge of the Christ arose, so that they who sat of old in darkness and the shadow of death saw a great light, in the words of the prophet Isaiah.

Then after the refreshing saving spiritual blood has fallen on every race of mankind from Jerusalem, which is more clearly described in another place in the words: “A law shall go forth from Sion, and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem, and it shall judge in the midst of the nations,” it says: “The Lord shall be King.” He shall not be King in Jerusalem, nor of the Jewish race; but, over all the earth in that day. And this agrees with what I have quoted from the Psalms, where it was said: “The Lord reigneth over the nations,” and also: “Tell it among the nations, the Lord reigneth.” The prophecy is that this will be fulfilled in the days of the Lord. For the whole prophecy opens with: “Behold, the days of the Lord come, and these things shall come to pass.” And what is meant by “these things,” but the siege of Jerusalem, and the passing of the Lord to the Mount of Olives, according to the words, “The Lord shall come,” and the events of the day of His Passion, and the living water, flowing in all the world, and to crown all, the Kingdom of the Lord ruling over all the nations, and His One Name, filling all the earth—in short, what I have briefly shown to be fulfilled?

CHAPTER 19

From Baruch.

It is prophesied that the God of the Prophets, having laid down the Complete Way of Knowledge by the Mosaic Law to the Jews, will some Day afterwards be seen on Earth, and mingle among Men.

[Passage quoted, Baruch iii. 29-37.]

I NEED add nothing to these inspired words, which so (295) clearly support my argument. (c)

CHAPTER 20

From Isaiah.

It is prophesied that the Christ will come into Egypt, and What Things will come to pass at His Coming. (d) 

[Passage quoted, Isa. xix. 1-4 and the context.]

HERE the prophecy before us states that the Second after (296) the God and Lord of the Universe, I mean the Word of God, will come into Egypt, and will come not imperceptibly nor invisibly, nor without any bodily vesture, but riding on a light cloud, or better “on light thickness”: for such is said to be the meaning of the Hebrew word. Let the sons of the Hebrews tell us, then, on what occasion after Isaiah’s time the Lord visited Egypt, and what Lord he was. For . the Supreme God is one: let them say how He is said to ride on”light thickness,” and to alight locally on any part of the earth. And let them interpret “light thickness,” and (b) explain why the Lord is said not to visit Egypt without it. And also when the words of the prophecy are recorded to have been fulfilled, the shaking of the idols of Egypt made by hand, I mean, and the warring of Egyptians with Egyptians through the Coming of the Lord. And their gods, that is to say the daemons, that were so mighty of old, when did they have power no more, and refrain from answering their (c) |38 inquirers through fear of the Lord? And into the hands of what cruel lord, let them say, and of what kings was Egypt delivered after the coming of the Lord that was foretold, and why when the Lord came they were delivered to evil rulers? And let him, who likes, interpret the rest of the prophecy in the same way. But I contend that it can only be understood consistently, of the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ to men. For He, being Word of God and (d) Power of God, fulfilled the aforesaid prediction both literally and metaphorically, visiting the land of the Egyptians on a light cloud. The name, “light cloud,” is allegorically given to the visitation He made by means of the Body, which He took of the Virgin and the Holy Spirit, as the Hebrew original and Aquila clearly suggests, when he says, “Behold the Lord rides on light thickness, and conies to Egypt,” naming the body that came from the Holy Spirit, “light thickness.” And surely this part of the prophecy was literally fulfilled, when the Angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph and said: “Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and stay there (297) until I tell thee.” For then, the Lord God the Word, uniting with the child’s growth, and present in the Flesh that had been furnished Him of the Holy Virgin, visited the land of the Egyptians. (His flesh was “thick” as representing bodily substance, “light” again through its being better than ours, and it is called “a light cloud “because it was not formed of the sensuous passions of corruption, but of the Holy Spirit.) But the cause of His journey thither is as follows. When it is remembered that the first origin of idolatrous error was in Egypt, and the Egyptians seemed to (b) be the most superstitious of men, and bitter enemies of the people of God, and as far removed from the prophets as possible, we can see why the Power of God came to them first of all. And therefore the word of Gospel teaching has waxed stronger among the Egyptians than among any other men. Hence this prophecy foretells that the Lord will |39 sojourn among them. But it does not say that the Egyptians will come to the land of the Jews, nor worship him at Jerusalem, nor become Jewish proselytes there according to the enactments of Moses, nor sacrifice at the altar in Jerusalem. It says naught of this, but that the Lord will (c) Himself visit the Egyptians, and will think these men worthy of His Presence, and will be the occasion of great blessings to them. For His sojourn would accomplish those very things, which we see to have been actually fulfilled after the appearance of our Saviour Jesus Christ. Let us see what these were. The evil and noxious daemons who infested Egypt before, inhabiting imagesfor long ages, and enslaving (d) the souls of the Egyptians with all manner of deceitful superstition, when they became aware of a strange divine power sojourning among them, were all at once disturbed and tossed to and fro, and their heart and power of thought was minished within them, yielding to and conquered by the invisible power that drave on them and consumed them with its sacred word as with fire. Yea, the daemons suffered thus invisibly when our Saviour Jesus Christ sojourned in Egypt in flesh and blood; and, again, when afterwards His |40 (298) Gospel was preached openly to the Egyptians as well as to the other nations, for His unseen power was with His Apostles imperceptibly working with them, co-operating, announcing by their tongues His holy teaching, exhorting men to worship only the one and true God, and rescuing the victims from the daemons that of old had been deceived by them. Hence, soon among the Egyptians as among (b) other nations, revolution and civil war arose, between those who gave up polytheistic error and turned to the Word of Christ, and those who warred with them, urged on by their own daemons, so that brothers were parted one from the other, and the dearest fought together because of the Gospel of Christ, for the oracle says, “And Egyptians shall rise against Egyptians, and a man shall fight with his brother, and a (c) man with his neighbour.” And our Saviour Himself confirms the prophet’s prediction, saying in the Gospels: 

“Brother shall deliver brother to death, and father child, and children shall rise up against their parents and slay them.” 

CHAPTER 23

From the same.

How the Lord rebukes the Jewish People, because They will not receive Him when He comes, nor hear His Call, and what He will suffer at Their Hands.

[Passages quoted, Isa. 1. 1, 2 a, b.]

HERE the Lord Himself recording plainly His Coming among (303) men rebukes the Jewish people, because they will not receive Him when He comes, nor hear Him when He calls. And He teaches, as if by way of apology, that this is the cause of their own rejection. “For when I came,” He says, “I was not among you as a man: I called, and there was none that heard: therefore,” He says, “ye were sold for your sins, inasmuch as ye were of yourselves divorced from my call, not that I had given you a bill of divorcement.” This is clearly (b) addressed to the Jews, and at the same time reveals their outrages on Him at His Passion, when it says: “I gave my back to scourges, and my cheeks to blows,” and that which follows. But these words shall be properly interpreted at leisure.

CHAPTER 24

From the same.

How the Same Lord that spake in the Prophets will come Among Men and be seen by Their Eyes, and be known to the Gentiles.

[Passage quoted, Isa. lii. 5-10.]

THE prophecy of Christ’s Passion immediately succeeds this in one and the same passage, which I shall expound at leisure. One and the same Lord, who said in the previous (304) quotation to the Jewish people, “You were sold for your sins, and for your iniquities I sent away your mother, because I came, and there was no man: I called and there was none |45 to hear,” says in the passage before us to the Jews again: “Because of you my name is blasphemed among the Gentiles.”

Then, as though having another people besides them, he adds, “Therefore my people shall know my name,” and teaches that not another, but the same Lord that spoke in the prophets, will sojourn some day in our life, saying, “I am he that speak; I will come.” And the words, “As a season upon the mountains, as the feet of one preaching a message of peace, as one preaching good things, I will make thy salvation known, saying, Sion, thy God reigneth,” the other translators make it clearer. For Aquila says: “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of Him that preacheth the gospel, who publisheth peace, who preacheth the gospel of good things, publishing salvation, saying to Sion, Thy God reigneth.”

And Symmachus says, “How lovely on the mountains are the feet of him that preacheth the gospel, making peace known, publishing good things, making salvation known, saying to Sion, Thy God reigneth”: and instead of “The voice of thy guards is lifted, and they shall rejoice with the voice together, because they shall see eye to eye.” Symmachus translates thus: “The voice of thy guards; they have raised their voice. Together, will they praise: For they will see openly.” By “guards” would here be meant the holy apostles of our Saviour, who also saw openly Him that was foretold, and raised their voice preaching to all the world. Sion and Jerusalem that here have the good news told them the apostle knew to be heavenly, when he said, “But Jerusalem that is above is free, that is the mother of us,” and, “Ye have come to Mount Sion, and the city of the: living God, heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels.” Sion might also mean the Church established by Christ in every part of the world, and Jerusalem the holy constitution which, once established of old time among the ancient Jews alone, was driven into the wilderness by their impiety, and then again was restored far better than before through the coming of our Saviour. Therefore the prophecy says, “Let the waste places of (305) |46 Jerusalem break forth into joy together, for the Lord has pitied her, and saved Jerusalem.”

Source. Tertullian.org – Eusebius of Caesarea: Demonstratio Evangelica. Tr. W.J. Ferrar (1920) — Book 6

THE PROOF OF THE GOSPEL, Book 7

(308)  WE have learned in the preceding Book from the words of the prophets that God would come to men and would live among men on earth, and that the two chief signs of His presence would be the calling of the nations of the world to receive the true knowledge of God, and the ruin and desolation of the Jews through their unbelief in Him ; and we have investigated how the prophecies were fulfilled. (309) We will now attempt in this Seventh Book of The Proof of the Gospel to treat in due order of the way in which He says that He is to make His entrance into humanity. So then our present object is to see what kind of prophecies were made of God’s coming among men, where it was predicted He should be horn, and from what race it was proclaimed that He should come.

A prediction of the Jews‘ unbelief in Christ, and the sign (c) that was given them by the Lord. It was this : A Virgin giving birth to God, at Whose Birth the complete destruction of the Jewish race was foretold, the subjection of their land to foreign enemies, and the flourishing of that, which before was desert, under divine cultivation. Thus the Church of the Gentiles was shewn forth. As the great Evangelist St. John, teaching of our Lord and Saviour as the very Word of God full of supernatural power, begins his holy Gospel, by setting side by side His Divinity and His |49 Humanity in His presence among men, saying, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him,” and adding after this, “and the Word became flesh, and tabernacled among us”; so in the same strain the inspired prophet, about to proclaim God born of a Virgin, tells first the vision of His Divine glory, when he thus describes the Being of God:

“1. I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and exalted. And the house was full of his glory. 2. And Seraphim stood round about him: each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he did fly. 3. And they (310) cried one to another and said, Holy, Holy, Holy, the Lord of Sabaoth, the whole earth is full of his glory.”

In the Hebrew He is here again called Lord of Sabaoth. (312) And since He is the King of glory, and by His sojourn here the whole earth would be filled with His glory, both in the psalm and in the prophecy the fulfilment is rightly placed in the present: in the prophecy in the words, “The whole earth is full of his glory,” in the psalm at the beginning where it says, “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and all that dwell therein.” After this prophecy, the prophet next proceeds to bear witness, that though the whole earth shall be full of His glory, yet the Jewish race shall not participate, where he says, “And the Lord said (that is to say, the Lord of Sabaoth in the vision), Whom shall I send, and who will go to this people? And I said, Behold, here am I. Send me. And He said, Go and say to this people, Ye shall hear, and shall not understand. And ye shall see and not perceive: For this people’s heart is become gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed, lest they should hear with their ears, and see with their eyes, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them.” Here he expressly foretells the opposition of the Jews to Him, and how they will see Him, and not understand Who He is; how they will hear Him, speaking and teaching them, but will be quite unable to grasp Who it is that speaks with them, or the new teaching He offers them. And John the Evangelist witnesses to the fulfilment of these words referring to Our Saviour, where he says, “Though he had done so many signs before them, yet they believed not on Him, that Isaiah the prophet’s words might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report, and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed?

“Therefore they were not able to believe, because again Isaiah said, He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart, so that they should not see with their eyes, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them. These things said Isaiah, when he saw His glory, and bare witness of Him.” Thus the Evangelist |52 most certainly referred the Theophany in Isaiah to Christ, and to the Jews who did not receive the Lord that was seen by (313) the prophet according to the prediction about Him. To the prophet, then, who had seen the Lord of Sabaoth the oracle says that he is to tell the Jewish race, that they shall see Him at some future time, but shall not understand Who He is, and shall hear Him speak and teach among them, but shall not know Him, because of the hardening of their hearts. Then Isaiah, after the prophecy here quoted, describes in the course of his record the enemy’s attack on Ahaz, who at that time held the kingdom of the Jewish people, and declares that the destruction of their visible (b) enemieswill be at no distant date. And he shews that the defeat of their spiritual and unseen foes will be as complete, those daemons and unseen powers, of whom I treated at the beginning of this work, for having involved not only the Jewish race but the whole of mankind in every form of evil, and especially in godless idolatry; and that could only be achieved by the sojourn of the Word of God among men as prophesied, and His receiving His earthly tabernacle (c) from a pure Virgin. Why this was necessary, it is now the time to explain.

“10. And the Lord added to speak unto Ahaz saying, 11. Ask for thyself a sign from the Lord thy God in the depth or in the height. 12. And Ahaz said, I will not ask, neither will I tempt God. 13. And he said, Hear now, house of David; is it a small thing to you to strive with man, and how do ye strive with the Lord? 14. Therefore the Lord shall give you a sign: Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and thou shalt call his name Emmanuel: 15. Butter and honey shall he eat, before he knows to choose the good and refuse the evil. 16. Wherefore before the child know good or evil, he does not obey wickedness, that he should choose the good. And the earth shall be forsaken, on account of that which thou fearest, of her two kings.” 

Such is the prophecy. But the opening of the prophecy (c) is worthy of our study, which bears witness to those that read it, “If ye do not believe, neither will ye understand.” And it is above all necessary to note that the words shew that its readers need not only intellect but faith, and not only faith but intellect. Hence the Jews who do not believe in Christ, though they are even now hearers of these words, have not even yet understood Him of Whom the prophecy was given, so that in their case the prediction has its primary fulfilment. For though they hear daily with their ears the prophecies about Christ, they hear them not (d) with the ears of their mind. And the sole cause of their ignorance is unbelief, as the prophecy truly reveals of them and to them. For it says, “If ye will not believe, neither shall ye understand.”

For in our versions translated by the Seventy, men of Hebrew race, experts in the accuracy of their knowledge of their national language, we find: “Is it a small thing for you to contend with man? And how will ye contend with God also? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, who (b) shall be called God with us.” (For as I said this is the meaning of Emmanuel.) And in the versions of the Jews according to the transcript of Aquila [Aquila was a proselyte, and not a Jew by birth] we have a rendering to the same effect, “Hear then, house of David; is it a small thing with you to weary men that ye would weary my God also? Therefore He will give you this sign: Behold, a young woman shall conceive and bear a son, and thou shalt call His name Emmanuel.” In Symmachus it stands thus— [Symmachus is said to have been an Ebionite. There was a sect of the Jews so designated said to have believed in Christ, to which Symmachus belonged, and his rendering is as follows]—”Hear, house of David, is it not enough for you to weary men, that ye weary my God? “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you this sign: “Behold a young woman conceives and bears a son, and thou shalt call his name Emmanuel.” For since the hardness of the Jewish (d) character and their disinclination for holiness caused sweat and toil, and no common labour and struggle to the prophets of old time, therefore he says, “Is it not enough for you to weary the prophets of God, and to contend with men: but now will ye even weary my God, and contend even with my God also?” Such is Theodotion’s translation. Thus the prophet calls the God, Who is like to be wearied |56 and challenged to contend, his own God, and not the God of those whom he addresses, which he could hardly do if he referred to the Supreme God of the Jews, among whom it had been handed down from their Fathers that they must (317) preserve the worship of God the Creator of all things. And what could the contest and labour or the toil of this God in the prophecy refer to but His entry by human birth, as I and the Septuagint interpret it, of a virgin, or even according to the current Jewish rendering, of a young woman? For you will find in Mosesthe phrase “young woman “used of one who is undoubtedly a virgin, at least he uses the word of one who has been violated by one person after her betrothal to another.

(b) But also Emmanuel, the child of the Virgin, is to be endowed with more than human power, He is to choose the good before He knows evil, and to refuse evil in choosing the good: and this not in manhood but in childhood. Therefore it runs, “Before the child knows good or evil, he shall refuse evil in choosing the good,” which shews that He is completely immune from evil. And He (c) bears a greater than any human name, God with us. And this is why the sign connected with Him is said to have depth, and also height: depth, by reason of His descent to humanity, and His presence here even unto death: height, by reason of the restitution of His divine glory from the depth, or because of the divine nature of His pre-existence. Emmanuel can only be He Who has already |57 been proved to be God the Lord, Who was seen by Abraham in human shape. And if the Jews refer the prophecy to Hezekiah, son of Ahaz, saying that his birth was thus (d) predicted to his father, we answer that Hezekiah was not God with us, nor was any sign shewn forth in him of a divine nature. Nor was there any divine struggle or labour attendant on his birth. Hezekiah, moreover, can be shewn to be excluded by the date of the prophecy. For this prophecy was given about future events when his father Ahaz was actually king, whereas Hezekiah is known to have been born before Ahaz came to the throne. And if the prophecy we are considering has no reference to him, it is still further from referring to any other Jew who lived after its date, except to the birth of the true Emmanuel, that is, (318) God born with us, and to the sojourn among men of our Saviour the Word of God. For the land of the Jews was left desolate by the loss of its two kings, as the oracle said would come to pass as follows: “The land shall be deserted from the face of two kings”; and this actually and literally took place. For in the time of King Ahaz and Isaiah son of Amos at the date of this prophecy, the king of Syria in Damascus, and the king of Israel in Samaria, not the king (b) who ruled at Jerusalem, but the king of the multitude of Jews who revolted from the law of God, made a compact one with another, and besieged them that were under the sovereignty of David’s successors. The prophecy foretells the destruction of both these kings, both the Jew and the one of foreign race, who had combined together against the Lord’s people, and says that they will swiftly be severed and give up the war: and that their kingdom and succession (c) will be completely destroyed and extinguished after the birth of Him who is foretold as “God with us.”

Now recognize at what date the kingdoms of Damascus and Judaea both ceased to exist, and at what period the land of the Jews was left without a king, as well as the land of the Damascenes, once so powerful, formerly the great overlord of all Syria. For the probability is that at the time of their destruction Emmanuel would be born, and He that was foretold would come. If we to-day could see the (d)  kingdoms referred to still in existence, it would be vain to inquire further, we could only extend our hopes into the future; but if their destruction is actually evident, so that |58 our time sees no kingdom either of Damascus or of Judaea, it is clear that the prophecy has been fulfilled which said, “And the land shall be deserted from the face of two kings, whom thou fearest, from their face,”—kings being used for “kingdoms.” For Symmachus says, “The land shall be left, from which you suffer ill, by the face of her two kings.” And Aquila, “The land shall be left, which thou disdainest, from the face of her two kings.” And Theodotion translates thus, “The land shall be left, which thou hatest, from the face of her two kings.” Do you see how it is prophesied that the land shall be left kingless? What land, but that of Damascus, and that of Israel? For the kings to whom the prophecy refers ruled these lands. It was their lands that Ahaz despised or hated, wearied and suffering under their attacks. When then did they fall? For if this part of the prophecy was fulfilled, the foregoing part must have also taken place, and this was, that a Virgin should bear “God with us.”

Now if we inquire of history it is abundantly clear that the line of kings of Damascus was uninterrupted up to the date of the appearance of our Saviour Jesus Christ. The holy apostle mentions Aretas, King of Damascus, and the kingship of the Jews continued untouched even until then, though it was irregular: for Herod and his successors in the time of our Saviour did not inherit the throne as being of David’s line.

That we should understand the passage figuratively can (320) also be seen from what follows, where it is prophesied that in the time of Emmanuel certain flies and bees will attack the Jews, some from Egypt, some from Assyria, and that a man will shave their head and feet and beard, and that a man will nourish a heifer and two sheep, and other things destined to happen at one and the same time, which it is impossible to understand literally, but only figuratively. (b)

It is also said that the same Lord will shave with the razor of the Assyrian king, that is to say with the discipline of the Prince of this world, the head and the feet and the beard of what can only mean the Jewish race. That is to say He will take away their order and beauty by the might (322) of some universal Empire, He disguises the Romans in this way. For I believe that under the name of Assyrians he means the rule of races, that gain Empire at each period |61 of history, because Assyrians in Hebrew means Rulers. And the Romans are now such Rulers.

And in truth the God of the Universe has taken away all the glory of the Jews, which was as their hair, and all their manhood, signified by their beard and the hairs of their feet, by means of the Roman razor, that is to say their (b) statecraft and military power. And it was only after the Birth of our Saviour, Emmanuel Himself, that God took away all their glory through the Roman rule.

Aquila translates, “By the kingdom of Assyria,” for “of the king of Assyria,” Theodotion and Symmachus, “By the king of the Assyrians,” making it clear that there is no threat to shave the head of the king of Assyria, but that by means of his razor and by means of the king of Assyria the things prophesied will fall on the Jewish nation. And the event (c) justified the prophecy. And one could note carefully at leisure many other sayings in the prophecies apparently directed against the Assyrians, which are quite inapplicable to them, since they refer to the rule of the dominant nation at some particular period. We have thus already seen the Persians called Assyrians by the Hebrews; and so we may conclude that the prophecy here refers to the Roman Empire. For (d) we see them as Rulers under the Rule of God in the period after our Saviour’s coming. Yet no one must understand me to say that every reference to the Assyrians in Holy Scripture refers to the Romans; that would be foolish and absurd. But I will shew in the proper place that there are certain prophecies concerned with the witness to Christ, which are to be understood of the Romans under the name of Assyrians, since the meaning of the word always implies the dominant Power of an epoch.

It is then with their razor that it prophesies that after the birth of Emmanuel the whole order of the Jews will be abolished.

And also on that day, I mean the day of Emmanuel, or of Christ’s Appearing, “A man, it says, will rear a heifer, and two sheep. And it shall come to pass from the abundance of milk, he that is left on the land shall eat butter and honey.” By this he suggests the hunger and extreme penury of the Jews, not enjoying their natural food of corn, neither ploughing, sowing, nor reaping, possessing no flocks of sheep nor herds of cattle, but only possessing two sheep and a heifer to provide them with milk. Or perhaps he means figuratively, that those Jews left in the land, the choir of apostles and evangelists of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, each one of whom was a remnant according to the election of grace, and therefore called “he that is left” in the land, will rear a heifer and two sheep, three orders in each church, one of rulers, two of subordinates, since the Church of Christ’s people is divided into two divisions, the faithful, and those not yet admitted to the laver of regeneration, to whom the holy apostle says, “I have fed you with milk, not with strong meat”; while he aptly calls those who are in a state of greater perfection a heifer, because they are the offspring of the more perfect bulls, like the apostle himself, who says of his own labour and that of his fellow-workers, “Does God take care for oxen, or is this said altogether for our sakes?” Thus the whole order of the leaders of the Church is called a heifer, for they are occupied in ploughing and sowing the souls of men, being the offspring of the ways and teaching of the apostles, who are said so to abound in virtue, that they provide of their fruitfulness fruitful and spiritual milk in elementary teaching, and nourish many besides themselves.

And note that everything the prophecy predicts will fall on the Jewish race in the day of Emmanuel, I mean at the time when the spiritual light of our Saviour’s gifts shines on all men. He says that unclean and hostile powers which worked of old among the Gentiles, in Egypt and the land of the Assyrians, when the Lord hisses, and as it were urges them on and encourages them, will come upon their land, because they deserved the visitation. And it says that these powers will rest in valleys, and in caves of the rocks, in caverns, and in all their clefts, both figuratively understood of their souls, their bodily senses, their reason, and their divided minds, and directly in a literal sense of the whole country. Who would not wonder, when he sees how enemies have taken possession of every part of Judaea, and how foreigners and idolaters rest in all their cities and country? And the prophecy says that He will not only treat them thus, but will shave their head, the hairs of their feet and their beard, that is to say the whole order that of old was theirs, with the razor of the king of the Assyrians, as I have interpreted him.

At the same day and at the same time he threatens that he will plunge them into an extreme poverty of godly riches, so that they are devoid of rational bread, and of solid spiritual food, and are all content to be nourished with the milk of infants, and with elementary teaching. And to crown all, their vines will be dry. For when, as the same prophet says, their farmer and master expected them to bring forth a bunch of grapes, and they brought forth thorns, and not justice, but a cry, it is said that he will take away his mound and destroy the wall, and turn the vineyard into a dry place, and will deliver it to enemies, who, he says, will come there with arrow and bow, receiving their authority from God, Who delivers it to them not unjustly, but most justly, because all their land is become dry and thorny. Therefore, then, since they have made themselves dry and thorny, men will come, he says, with arrow and bow, with authority against them. Wonder not if this is expressed in dark and riddling figures. For I have already attributed the cause of such economy of Scripture to the desire to hide the final destruction of the |64 Jewish race, so that they might preserve the Scriptures for our benefit and use. For if the prophets had openly predicted destruction for them, and prosperity for the Gentiles, none of the Jews would have loved them, but they would have destroyed their writings as hostile and opposed to them, and it would have been impossible for us Gentiles to have made use of the prophetic evidence about our Saviour and ourselves. But yet when all this shall have happened to the Jewish race in Emmanuel’s day, according to my interpretation of the prophecy, a scanty remnant of them is said to be left, of which the apostle says: “There was a remnant according to the election of grace.” This it is surely, which shall rear a red heifer and two sheep, and from the abundance of their milk feed on butter and honey. And I have shewed according to my second interpretation that this describes the whole apostolic choir of the disciples of our Saviour Jesus Christ. But as those who are left behind are thus described in the prophecy, so also when the whole land of the Jewish nation and their vineyard has been transformed into sand and thorns, and therefore delivered to the enemy, it is prophesied in direct opposition to this that every arable (326) mountain shall be ploughed. And I think that the Church of our Saviour Jesus Christ is thus suggested, of which He also says: “A city set on a hill cannot be hid.” For I think that the exalted, high, and lofty constitution of the Church is here called a mountain. It is, then, this arable mountain that it says shall be ploughed, so that no fear may attack it, and that it shall be so far changed from its former desolation, aridity, and thorns, as to be fit for “a pasture for sheep, and a place for cattle to tread.”

And notice how the Virgin Birth is prophesied under the same figure, by which at the same time the prophecy says that the land that of old bore fruit worth a thousand shekels will be dry and thorny, and all the land because it is so dry and thorny will be delivered to those that attack it with (d) arrow and bow; while to every mountain the opposite will happen. They will be transformed from their previous dry and thorny state into a pasture of flocks and a place for cattle to tread, and no fear shall enter there. Whereby I think our Saviour’s Virgin Birth is clearly meant, and all that happened after it both to the whole Jewish community and to the other nations. The prophecy plainly foretells the change of each of these divisions to the opposite of what they were before, the change of the Jewish nations from better to worse, and the change of the Gentile Church from its old desolation to a divine fruit-fulness, both of which are to be brought to pass according to the prophecy at the same time, that of the appearance of (327) Emmanuel, and are shewn to have actually been fulfilled after our Saviour’s birth, and at no other time, both by the events in Jewish history which have been clearly told, and by the existence of the Gentile Church.

For if after the coming of our Saviour Jesus Christ Himself the kingdoms of Damascus and Judaea had not come to an end, and if we could not see with our own eyes their lands released from them, and given over to foreign idolaters to inhabit; and, moreover, if the old (b) stately beauty of their very Temple had not become sand and thorns, and if no impure idolaters had come as their enemies to attack them with bow and arrow, urged on by the Lord Himself from abroad, and stayed in their country making every place and every city their own; and on the other side, if by the teaching of our Saviour no nations brought to believe in Him had changed from the sands |66 and thorns of their ancient barrenness and brought forth a holy and godly spiritual harvest; and again, if they who saw Christ with their eyes had not rejected Him, if they who heard Him speak had not turned a deaf ear to Him, and if the rest of the prophecy could not be proved to have been most exactly fulfilled from the days of Jesus our Saviour—then He would not be the subject of the prophecy. But if the fulfilment of the prophecies is. as the saying is, clear to a blind man, as only brought to pass from the period of His coming, why need we any longer be in doubt about the Virgin Birth, or refuse by wise reasoning to base our belief in that which was the beginning of this matter, on the evidence of what we can even now see? And what do we even now see, but the Jews‘ disbelief in Him, so clearly fulfilling the oracle, which said: “Hearing ye shall hear and not understand, and seeing ye shall see and not perceive, for the heart of this people is waxed hard,” and the siege of Jerusalem, and the total desolation of their ancient Temple, and the settling of foreign races on their land, enslaving them with stings, that is to say with harsh enactments—for this is meant by the figures of the flies and bees—and above all the transformation of the heathen world from its former desolation into the field of God. Who would not be struck with astonishment at these spectacles? And who would not agree that the prediction is truly inspired, when he heard that these words were consigned to books and taken care of by our ancestors a thousand years ago, and only brought to a fulfilment after our Saviour’s coming? If, then, the prediction was wonderful, and the result of the prediction yet more wonderful, and beyond all reason, why should we disbelieve that the actual entrance of Him that was foretold was allotted a miraculous and superhuman kind of birth, especially as the clear evidence of the other miracles, as marvellous (as the Birth itself) in their sequence from that Birth compels us to accept the evidence of the other wonders connected with Him. |67 

Concerning a New Writing, that is to say the New Covenant; a Prophetess is said to conceive of the Holy Spirit and bear a Son, Who, conquering Foes and Enemies, shall be rejected by the Jews, and will be a Saviour to the Gentiles. And what the Nation of the Jews will suffer after their Disbelief in Him, is shewn at the Same Time.

[Passage quoted, Isa. viii. 1-4.]

This prophecy is connected with the preceding. For she that was there called a Virgin, and was said to bear God with us, is here called a Prophetess. And if it be asked whence she should conceive being unmarried, the prophecy now gives teaching on this point, for it says: “And I went in to the prophetess; and she conceived and bare a son.” This must be understood of the Holy Spirit, under Whose Divine influence the prophet spoke. The Holy Spirit then Himself confesses that He went in to the prophetess: and this is clearly fulfilled in the birth of our Saviour Jesus Christ, when:

“The angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man, whose name was Joseph, of the house and lineage of David. And he said to her, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women.” 

I have already pointed out that actually in the time of Ahaz two kings made a covenant and attacked those ruled by David’s successors; the one, ruler of the idolatrous Gentiles of Damascus; the other, king of the Jewish people in the city of Palestine called Samaria, which we (330) call Sebaste. Concerning whom God said to Ahaz: “Fear not, let thy heart not be sick, for these two smoking firebrands.” And he foretells that the destruction of these men will be immediate, and proceeds to prophesy that on the birth of God with us, both their kingdoms will be utterly extinguished and destroyed. And we know from history that until the coming of our Saviour Jesus Christ (b) the kingdoms of Judaea and Damascus continued, but that after His appearance to all men, they ceased in accordance with the prophecy, for the Roman Empire absorbed them concurrently with the preaching of our Saviour.

Some say, interpreting otherwise, that the Magi, who came from the East to worship Christ, the young Child, are meant by the “power of Damascus”: and you might say more universally that all who have rejected godless, polytheistic idolatry, and obeyed the word of Christ, especially if they be furnished with this world’s reason and wisdom, are those meant by the “power of Damascus.” And by the “spoils of Samaria” you will in this case understand our Saviour’s Jewish apostles and disciples, (b) whom as it were He took as His spoils from the hostile Jews who attacked Him, and armed for the conflict with the king of the Assyrians, by whom again the Prince of this world is figuratively meant. But as Aquila has translated more clearly: “The adversary of the king of the Assyrians” by “In the face of the king of the Assyrians,” it is worth considering whether here the Roman Empire is not meant, if the translation given a little before of “Assyrians” as “rulers or ruled” be correct. As then (c) here, also, the king of the Assyrians is connected with the appearing of our Saviour, it is probable that here also the Roman Empire is intended, through their being directed by God to subject the nations to themselves. It is therefore prophesied that the child that is born will take the power of Damascus, and the spoils of Samaria, and will deliver them against the face of the Assyrians, and before the eyes of those ruled by God, and that He will do this at the time of His Birth, directing the fate of humanity with secret divine power, while physically still a babe. (d)

Such is my exposition of the passages, and if any of the Jews does not agree with me, let him point out to me who at any time was born in this nation as Emmanuel, and how the prophet, came in to the prophetess, and who she was, and how she conceived immediately, and who was the child that was born of the prophetess, whom the Lord (b) Himself named: “Take the spoil speedily, keenly rob,” and why the child was so called. They must shew, too, that the child, before he called on his father and mother, took the power of Damascus, and the spoils of Samaria against the king of the Assyrians. For we, understanding these sayings both literally and figuratively, hold that they were fulfilled in our Saviour’s Birth, shewing that you must deal with the prophecies first in their literal and (c) obvious sense, and next allegorically. Immediately after the aforesaid words another prophecy follows in disguised language.

And Raashim again was king of the idolatrous Gentiles in Damascus, as was also the son of Romelias of the Jews |71 in Samaria who deserted the Jewish worship of their ancestors. And so God threatens that on those who will not accept Siloam, that is to say Emmanuel, who is sent to them, and the Son born of the prophetess, and His pleasant and fruitful Word, but reject it, though it flows softly and (b) gently, and choose for their own selves the prince of idolatrous Gentiles or the leaders of the apostasy of God’s people, He will bring the strong and full flood of the river, which the word of the prophecy interprets for us to be the king of the Assyrians: meaning here again either figuratively the Prince of this world, or the power of Rome actually dominant, to which they were delivered who rejected the said water of Siloam that went softly, and (c) embraced beliefs utterly hostile to good teaching. At once surely and without delay on those who rejected the Gospel of our Saviour, and refused the water of Siloam that went softly, the Roman army came under God’s direction through all their valleys, trod down all their walls, took away from Judaea every man who could raise his head, or was able to do anything at all, and so great was their camp that it filled the whole breadth of Judrea. (d)

So the prophecy was literally fulfilled against them. Learn why it was if you desire to know. Because Emmanuel, God with us, the Child of the Virgin, was not with them, for if they had had Him, they would not have suffered thus. Wherefore the prophet next cries to the Gentiles, saying, “Emmanuel, God with us: know ye nations and yield.” And this I have interpreted, so as to shew that most prophecies can be explained either literally or figuratively. Hence we must proceed to consider the remainder of the prophecy before us in both ways. And if the Jews say that even now (334) we are to expect the fulfilment in the future, expecting these things to be accomplished actually and literally by the Christ they look for, let us ask them, how he that is to come will take the power of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria against the king of the Assyrians, inasmuch as Samaria at the present time is destroyed, and no longer exists, and the power that bore the name of Damascus is abolished, and so is the Assyrian Empire, which the Medes (b) and Persians destroyed and superseded between them? And as none of these people hold empire, how is it possible to look for their destruction in the future? |72 

And there was therefore written according to the prophecy on His appearing a new book, the word of the new Covenant containing the birth of the Son of the prophetess, (d) Who also has literally by secret and divine power delivered the kingly power of both Damascus and Samaria and their spoils as explained by me into the hands of the Roman Empire: and figuratively of course as well, He has drawn up His Jewish disciples, claiming them as it were for His spoils, girding them with arms of spiritual strength, against the face of the said king of the Assyrians, and made them into heavy-armed soldiers, as His own soldiers. But those who refused the fruitful and life-giving water of His own teaching, which goes softly, and preferred what is hostile and opposed to God, He has handed over to the king of (335) the Assyrians, by whom they are even now enslaved. For verily He has gone up all their valleys, and all their walls, and taken away from Judaea every ruler and king, denominated “head,” and every one capable of doing anything, with the result that from that time to this they have possessed no head, no able man of God, as were their ancient saints, whether eminent for prophecy, or even for righteousness and godliness.

And it is evident that their whole country is even now (b) subject to their enemies, and that this was all completed when Emmanuel came. Thus, then, the Hebrew Scriptures contain the double message that Emmanuel would be rejected by the Jews and cause their great miseries, and that He would be accepted by us Gentiles and prove Himself our source of salvation and of the knowledge of God. Wherefore the next saying is, “God is with us: know ye Gentiles and yield.” How truly do we yield, we Gentiles that believe on Him, vanquished by the truth and power of Him |73 Who is God with us, and conquered we obey Him (c) everywhere alike, even though we dwell in the very ends of the earth, according to the prophecy which says, “Obey even at the ends of the earth.” Yet though we obey Him and hear His call, the prophecy as it proceeds must refer to those nations that do not yet believe, saying, “Ye that were strong be vanquished. For if ye again be strong, ye shall again be vanquished, and whatever word ye take, shall not remain among you, for God is with us. Thus saith the Lord to them that disbelieve with strong hand.” (d)

“Once have I sworn by my holiness, I will not fail David, his seed shall remain for ever, and his throne is as the sun before me, and as- the moon established for ever.”

God promised all this to David in the Psalms, but through the sins of his successors the opposite actually happened— for the kings of David’s seed lasted until Jeremiah, and ceased on the siege of the holy city by the Babylonians, so that from that date neither the throne of David nor his seed ruled the Jewish nation. And the Holy Spirit thus foretells the failure of the promises made to David in the same passage of the Psalm:

“But thou hast rejected, and made of no account, thou hast cast down thy Christ: Thou hast destroyed the covenant of thy servant, and cast his glory to the ground, thou hast broken down all his strongholds.” |76 

And a few verses later:

“Thou hast broken down his throne to the ground, thou hast lessened the days of his time, thou hast proved dishonour upon him”;

a course of events which has been begun and carried to its conclusion from the Babylonian captivity of the Jews up to (339) the Roman Empire and Tiberius. For no one of the seed of David appears to have sat on the throne of the Hebrews in the intervening period up to the coining of Christ. But when our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, Who was of David’s seed, was proclaimed King of all the world, that very throne of David, as though renewed from its degradation and fall, was restored in the divine kingdom of our (b) Saviour, and will last for ever; and even now, like the sun in God’s Presence, is lighting the whole world with the rays of His teaching, according to the witness of the Psalm and the prophecy before us, which says concerning the Child that should be born, on the throne of David (that is to say, the eternal and lasting throne promised to David), He should sit in His kingdom, to guide it, and uphold it in (c) justice and judgment from now even for ever. The Angel Gabriel should be a sufficient teacher that this was fulfilled, when he said in his sacred words to the Virgin:

“Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favour with God; and behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bear a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called Son of the Highest, and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David, and he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end.” [[Luke.i. 30.]]

CHAPTER 2

From Micah.

(341) Of the Place of the Birth of the God fore-announced, and how He will come forth from Bethlehem, a Town of Palestine, being from Eternity, as Governor of the Race of the Holy, and how it is foretold that the Lord will feed them that have believed in Him unto the Ends of the Earth.

[Passage quoted, Micah v. 2-6.]

For eternal existence can be assumed only of God. A person who exists from eternity, then, is predicted as about to come forth from Bethlehem, a Jewish town not far from (c) Jerusalem. And we find that the only famous man who was born there was David, and then later our Lord and Saviour, Jesus the Christ of God, and besides them no other. But David, who came before the date of the prophecy, was dead many years before the prediction: nor were his goings forth from the days of eternity. It only remains that the words were fulfilled in Him that was born afterwards from Bethlehem, the true Emmanuel, God the Word going forth before the whole creation, and called (d) “God with us,” especially as His Birth at Bethlehem undoubtedly shewed God’s Presence, by the wonders connected with it: for St. Luke writes its record thus:

[Passage quoted, Luke ii. 1-18.]

Such is the character of the events at Bethlehem, and of the Coming of the God that was fore-announced. But the account of the Coming from Heaven to men of the Lord and (b) |80 Shepherd Himself I have already quoted from the prophecy we have before us, in which it is said:

“Hear all peoples, and let the earth attend, and all that are therein, and the Lord shall he a witness to you, the Lord from his holy house. Wherefore behold the Lord, the Lord comes forth from his place, and shall descend,”

(and that which follows); to which he adds, “For the sin of Jacob is all this done, and for the transgression of the house of Israel.” But it is clear, from what the same prophet goes (c) on to say, that it was not only because of the sin of the Jews, that the Lord came down, but also for the salvation and calling of all nations. For he proceeds to say:

“And the mountain of the Lord shall be visible to the end of the days, and many peoples shall haste to it, and many nations shall come and say, Come, let us go up to the Mount of the Lord.”

The Christ is called the governor and shepherd of Israel, in accord with the custom of Holy Scripture to give the name of the true Israel figuratively to all who see God and live according to His Will: just as contrariwise it calls the Jews, when they sin, by names that suit their ways, Canaanites, and seed of Canaan not Judah, Rulers of Sodom, and people of Gomorrah. Though, of course, (d) also, all our Saviour’s life was literally passed with the Jewish race, and He was the Leader of many gathered out of Israel, as many of the Jews as knew Him and believed in Him.

Now it might be said that after the expedition of the Assyrians into Judaea, when they overcame the Jews, the number of rebellions against them is shewn by the seven shepherds and the eight “bites”: and that historians of (346) Assyria would know this, and at the end of their rule the one foretold was born at Bethlehem, after the seven shepherds and the eight “bites” had happened to the |82 Assyrians in the period after their expedition against Judaea. But we must not now devote more time to what would entail a long inquiry.

CHAPTER 3

From the Second Book of Chronicles.

From what Race and from what Hebrew Tribe it was foretold that the Christ should come.

[Passages quoted, 1 Chron. xvii. 11-13; Ps. lxxxviii. 26; verses 4, 35, 29; and cxxxi. 11.]

THERE is no doubt that Solomon was the son of David and his successor in the kingdom. And he first built the Temple of God at Jerusalem, and perhaps the Jews understand him to be the subject of the prophecy. But we may fairly ask them whether the oracle applies to Solomon, which says, “And I will set up his throne for ever,” and also where God sware with the affirmation of an oath by his holy one, “The throne of him that is foretold, shall be as the sun, and the days of heaven.” For if the years of the reign of Solomon are reckoned, they will be found to be forty and no more. Even if the reigns of all his successors be added up, they do not altogether come to 500 years. And even if we suppose that their line continued down to the final attack on the Jewish nation by the Romans, how can they fulfil a prophecy which says, “Thy throne shall |87 remain for ever, and be as the sun and the days of heaven “? And the words, “I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son,” how can they refer to Solomon, for his history tells us much about him that is foreign and opposed to the adoption of God? Nay, hear the indictment against him:

“And Solomon loved women, and took many strange wives, even the daughter of Pharaoh, Moabites, Ammonites, and Idumaeans, Syrians and Chatteans, and Amorites, from the nations of whom the Lord said to the children of Israel, that they should not go in to them.” 

Of Solomon and of His Seed that is to come. 

[Passages quoted, Ps. lxxii., i, 5-8, 16b.]

As this Psalm is addressed to Solomon, the first verse of (354) the Psalm must be referred to him, and all the rest to the son of Solomon, not Rehoboam, who was king of Israel after him, but Him that was of his seed according to the flesh, the Christ of God: for all who are acquainted with the Holy Scriptures will agree that it is impossible to connect (c) what is said in this Psalm with him or his successors, because of what they reveal about him. Nay, how is it possible to apply to Solomon, or his son Rehoboam, the burdenof the whole Psalm?—for instance, “He shall rule from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth.” And “He shall remain as long as the sun, and before the moon for ever,” and other similar statements. Yet the words at the beginning of the Psalm are at once seen to apply to Solomon, which say, “O God, thou wilt give judgment to the king.” And the addition, “And thy justice to the king’s son,” to the Son of Solomon, not his (d) firstborn who succeeded him in the kingdom (for he only ruled the Jewish nation seventeen years, being a wicked king), nor any of the successors of Rehoboam, but only to one of the seed of David, who could thus be called the son both of David and Solomon. And this is our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. For His Kingdom and its throne will stand as long as the sun. And He alone of men, as the Word of God, existed before the moon and the creation of (355) the world, and He alone came down like dew from heaven on all the earth: and it was said in our quotation a little above, that He had risen on all men and that His justice would remain even until the consummation of life, which is called the removal of the moon. And our Saviour’s power is supreme from the eastern sea to the west, beginning its |90 (b) activity at the river, which is either the Sacrament of Baptism, or from Jordan, where He first appeared to benefit mankind. Yea, from that time His kingdom has spread and extended through the whole world. And Jerusalem being meant by Libanus, as is made clear by many prophecies, because of its ancient altar and temple, and the offerings thereon to the honour of God like Libanus, the Church of the Gentiles the fruit of Christ is said to be (c) about to be exalted above Libanus. And if the studious consider this Psalm in its literal sense at leisure, they will find that its contents only apply to our Lord, and not to Solomon of old, or any of his successors on the throne of Judaea, who reigned but a few years, and only over the Jewish land.

(d)       From Isaiah.

Of Jesse, and the Seed to be born of Him. 

[Passage quoted, Isa. xi. 1-10.]

(356) This Jesse was David’s father. As, then, in the preceding prophecies it was foretold that one should come forth of the fruit and seed of David, and also of the seed of Solomon, in the same way here it is prophesied that one will come forth of the seed of Jesse, that is to say of David, many years after the death of both David and Solomon. And this (b) passage decides the quibble of the Jews already noticed with regard to Solomon. For Isaiah writes this prophecy about some one other than him many years after the death of Solomon, who should arise from the stem of Jesse, and the seed of David. And I do not think it can be doubted that the words apply only to our Saviour, the Christ of God, considering the promise in the prediction, which says, “And (c) there shall be a root of Jesse, and he that riseth to rule the nations, in him shall the nations trust,” and the way in which our Saviour fulfils them.

For He alone, after His Resurrection from the dead, intended here I think by the word “Arise,” ruled not only the Jews but all nations, so that the prophecy does not lack fulfilment, as it is quite clear that the words, “In Him |91 shall the Gentiles trust,” are fulfilled in Him, as well as the other prophecies.

And Zechariah prophesying of the same Being likewise calls Him “arising,” saying, “Behold I will raise up my servant, the rising,” and also, “Behold a man whose name 8. is ‘The Rising,’ and beneath him springs righteousness.”

But no one, it is certain, arose after the time of Jeremiah among the Jews who could be called “a righteous rising” and “an understanding king doing judgment and righteousness on the earth.” For if it be suggested that Jesus son of Josedec is meant, it must be answered that the (‘-‘) prophecy is inapplicable to him. For he was neither of David’s seed nor did he reign as king. How could this apply to him, “And I will raise up David to be his king,” when he was of the tribe of Levi, and of high-priestly rank, and of another tribe than David, and is never recorded to have been king? We conclude that, as no other can be discovered, we must agree that the subject of this prophecy (c) can only be our Lord and Saviour, called in other places “the light of the world,” and “the light of the nations.” He therefore must be the subject of this prophecy, and the prediction is absolutely true. For He alone of David’s seed and figuratively named after his ancestor, for David means “strong-handed,” preached judgment and justice by His teaching to all men on earth, and alone of all that ever lived is king not of one land only, but of the whole world, and alone has caused righteousness to arise over all the world, according to what is said of Him in the Psalm: “Righteousness shall arise in his days, and abundance of peace.”

And Judah and Israel were to be saved in His days, that (d) is to say all the Jews who through Him reached holiness, His apostles, disciples and evangelists, or perhaps all who represent the Jew mystically understood and the true Israel which sees God spiritually.

“For he is not a Jew,” the apostle says, “that is one outwardly, nor circumcision the outward circumcision in the flesh, but he is a Jew which is one in secret, and circumcision is of the heart in the spirit not the letter, whose praise is not of men, but of God.” |93 

It is these, then, the secret Jew and the true Israel, that he says are through Christ’s calling to be named by a new name, neither Jew nor Israel, but one quite different from these. For He says that the Lord will call them by the (359) name of Josedekeim, which means, “The Lord’s just ones.” 

And I ask you to consider whether this name Josedekeim, by which the disciples of Jesus are called by God, be not formed from Joshua; they would thus be named by men from the name of Christ which is Greek (i. e. Christians), and by the prophets, from Jesus, in the Hebrew tongue, because they are saved by Him, Josedekeim. So it is said, “And this is the name by which the Lord shall call them, (h) Josedekeim among the prophets.” So, then, we see that the people that are to become through the subject of the prophecy the spiritual Jews and the true Israel, will be called Josedekeim from Joshua, and they will be called by this name, he says, not by men, but by God, and by His prophets. For you must note carefully the passage that says, “And this is the name which the Lord shall call them, Josedekeim by his prophets.” And its translation in Greek is. as I said, “God’s just ones.” And God promises that (c) He will break from those who are thus to be saved the old heavy yoke of bitter daemons and shatter the bonds of the sins by which they were held of old, so that they will no more serve strange gods, but bear fruit and please Him only. Compare with this the oracle in the Second Psalm concerning the Coming of Christ and the calling of the Gentiles, which says: “Let us break their bonds asunder, and cast off their yoke from us.” To which, I think, this we are considering is akin when it says:

“In that day, saith the Lord, I will break the yoke from off their necks, and shatter their bonds, and they (d) shall not serve other gods, but shall serve the Lord their God.”

Source. Tertullian.org – Eusebius of Caesarea: Demonstratio Evangelica. Tr. W.J. Ferrar (1920) — Book 7

THE PROOF OF THE GOSPEL, Book 8

INTRODUCTION

(363) The Holy Scriptures foretell that there will be unmistakable signs of the Coming of Christ. Now there were among the Hebrews three outstanding offices of dignity, which made the nation famous, firstly the kingship, secondly that of prophet, and lastly the high priesthood. The prophecies said that the abolition and complete destruction of all these three together would be the sign of the (b) presence of the Christ. And that the proofs that the times had come, would lie in the ceasing of the Mosaic worship, the desolation of Jerusalem and its Temple, and the subjection of the whole Jewish race to its enemies. They suggest other signs of the same times as well, an abundance of peace, the overturning in nation and city of immemorial local and national forms of government, the |97 conquest of polytheistic and daemonic idolatry, the knowledge of the religion of God the one Supreme Creator. The holy oracles foretold that all these changes, which had (c) not been made in the days of the prophets of old, would take place at the coming of the Christ, which I will presently shew to have been fulfilled as never before in accordance with the predictions. I have already, you will remember, accounted for the Christ coming in these last times and not long ago, but I will here shortly repeat myself. In the old days the souls of men were tyrannized over by squalid folly and sin, and a strange godlessness ruled (d) over all human life, so that men were like wild and untamed beasts. They knew nothing of cities, or constitutions, or laws, nor anything honourable or progressive; they set no store on arts and sciences, they had no conception of virtue and philosophy, they lived in lonely deserts, in mountains, caves, and villages; they preyed on their neighbours like robbers, and gained their livelihood mostly by tyrannizing over those weaker than themselves. But though they did not know the Supreme God, nor the path of true religion, yet inspired by conceptions of natural religion they agreed in self-taught principles about the (364) existence of a divine power, regarded it as and called it God, and considered the name one of salvation and beneficence, but they were not yet able to realize anything beyond a Being transcending the world of visible nature. Wherefore some of them—-

25. “worshipped and served the creature rather than the creator; 21. and they became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened; 23. and they changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like unto corruptible man, and to birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things.” 

CHAPTER 1   (366)

Of the Time of His Appearance among Men. How at the Time which the Hebrews fail of their Kingdom, the Expectation of the Gentiles shall approach, which also came to pass at Our Saviour’s Appearing.

From Genesis.

And in the Book of Joshua, son of Nave, when the land of promise was divided by lot among the other tribes, the tribe of Judah took its own portion of the land without casting lots, and first of all. And, moreover, “After the death of Joshua the children of Israel inquired of the Lord, saying, Who shall go up for us against the Canaanite, leading our fighting against him? And the Lord said, Judah shall go up. Behold, I have given the land into his hands.” These words, then, make it clear that God (b) |102 ordained the tribe of Judah to be the head of all Israel, and the account goes on: “And Judah went up, and the Lord delivered the Canaanite and Perizzite into his hand.” And also: “And the children of Judah fought against Jerusalem and took it, and the sons of Judah came down from fighting against the Canaanite.” And again: “And Judah went up with Symeon, his brother.” And then: “And the Lord was with Judah, and gave him the Mount as his portion.” And after this: “And the sons of Joseph went up, they also who were in Bethel, and Judah with (c) them.” And in the Book of Judges, when different men at different times were at the head of the people, though individually the Judges were of different tribes, yet speaking generally the tribe of Judah was head of the whole people, and much more so in the times of David and his successors, who belonged to the tribe of Judah, and continued to rule until the Babylonian Captivity, after which the leader of those who returned from Babylon to their own land was Zerubbabel, the son of Salathiel, of the tribe of Judah, who also built the Temple. Hence, too, the Book of Chronicles, when giving the genealogies of the twelve tribes of Israel, (d) begins with Judah. And you will see it follows from this that, in the days that succeeded, the same tribe had the headship, although different individuals had temporary leadership, whose tribes it is impossible to decide with accuracy, because there is no sacred book handed down to give the history of the period from then to the time of our Saviour. But it is true to say that the tribe of Judah continued so long as the free and autonomous constitution of the whole nation lasted under its own leaders and kings. And this was the case from the beginning until the time of Augustus, (369) when, after our Saviour’s appearance among men, the whole nation became subject to Rome. And then instead of their ancestral and constitutional rulers they were ruled first by Herod, a foreigner, and next by the Emperor Augustus. And so long as there had not yet failed a prince from Judah, nor a leader from his loins, the dates of the prophecies are given from the reigns of the kings. Thus Isaiah prophesies in the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. As did Hosea. Amos, in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah, and in the days of (b) Jeroboam, son of Joash, king of Israel;and Zephaniah |103 in the days of Josiah, son of Amos, king of Judah. And Jeremiah too. But when a prince failed from Judah, and a governor from his loins, when the expectation of the Gentiles foretold in Christ was just about to shine on human life, there were no longer any rulers styled kings in Judah or governors in Israel. And since they had failed at the appointed time in accordance with prophecy, Augustus first, and then Tiberius, was called king of the Jewish nation, in common with the other nations, and under (c) them were procurators and tetrarchs of Judaea, and Herod of course, who, as I have already said, was not a Jew by birth, and received his authority over the Jews from Rome.

For he clearly promises here to predict what will happen to them a long time afterwards, or, in his own words, in the last days. And for other reasons what Jacob said could not apply to the first individual who bore the name of Judah. His brethren did not praise him: for what great deed of his could they have done so? It would have been more applicable, if it had been addressed to Joseph, for (370) we know that Judah himself with his other brethren bowed down to him, except of course that this happened before the prophecy; but afterwards there is no record of anything of the kind connected with Joseph, or Judah. And the words, “Thou didst fall and sleep as a lion and a lion’s whelp,” seem to call for a wider interpretation than one concerning Judah. The words that follow, too: “There shall not fail a prince from Judah, nor a governor from his loins, until that come which is laid up for him, and he is |104 (b) the expectation of nations,” seem to me to give in a disguised form the time of the coming of the subject of the prophecy. For the one event, he says, will not take place, until the other does. The kings and rulers of the Jewish nation, that is, will not cease before the expectation of the nations shall come, and that which is laid up for the subject of the prophecy. Theodotion agrees with this rendering of the Septuagint, but Aquila thus translates:

“The sceptre shall not be removed from Judah, and he who knoweth exactly from between his feet, until also there come to him a congregation of people.”

(c) And this saying, “There shall not fail a prince from Judah,” cannot be referred to Judah as an individual man any more than, “Judah, thy brethren shall praise thee.” For there were rulers and governors of the Jewish nation at many times who were not descended from him. Moses, for instance, its first ruler, was not of the tribe of Judah but of Levi. Joshua was of the tribe of Ephraim; after whom their ruler was Deborah, of the tribe of Ephraim, and Barak

(d).of the tribe of Naphthali, then Gedeon of Manasseh, then Gedeon’s son, and after him Thola of the same tribe, then Esebon of Bethlehem, and then Ailon of Zabulon, Labclon of Ephraim, and Samson of Dan; then there being no regular ruler, Eli the priest, of the tribe of Levi, was their leader, All these Judges judged Israel, not in the line of succession from Judah, but one from one tribe and one from another. And they were followed by the first king, Saul, of the tribe of Benjamin. How, then, can the words, “there shall not fail a prince from Judah, nor a governor (371) from his loins,” be referred, as one would suppose they should be, to rulers and governors of the tribe of Judah, when from the time of Jacob’s death, for nearly a thousand years, they do not appear to have been drawn from the tribe of Judah only, but some from one tribe, some from another, up to the time of David? And if it be true that David and his successors sprung from the tribe of Judah ruled the Jewish nation, after so many others, yet we must remember that they did not continue to rule the (b) whole people for the whole of those five hundred years, but only three tribes, and not the whole of them, for during their reigns other kings governed the larger part of the nation—- that is to say, the whole of the other nine tribes. For after |105 the death of Solomon, since the whole nation was divided from Judah, the successors of David, as I said, did not rule the whole Jewish nation up to the time of the Babylonian Captivity. And in their times the heads of Samaria, which was the name of the State held by the nine tribes, were not drawn from Judah, but now from one tribe, now from (c) another, the first being Jeroboam, of the tribe of Ephraim, and those immediately after him, so that in the period between David and the Babylonian Captivity, kings of the line of Judah never ruled the whole nation.

There is no need to add that after the return from Babylon for more than five hundred years again until the birth of Christ the Jewish constitution was aristocratic, the high priests, for the time being, acting as heads of the State, none of whom came from the tribe of Judah. So from all these reasons it is proved that there is no reference here to Judah the original individual, to his descendants, nor in the oracle that said: “A prince shall not fail from Judah, (d) nor a governor from his loins,” but that the only consistent interpretation of the passage is the one I have already given, that we must understand it of the tribe as a whole. The tribe most certainly was leader of the whole nation from the very beginning, from Moses’ own time. And in accordance with such headship, as being designed by God from the outset, the country is even now called Judaea after the tribe, and the whole race are known as Jews. We must, therefore, understand it to mean what would be expressed more clearly, if it were said that the tribe of Judah would never lose its headship of the whole nation. So Symmachus says: “The power shall not be taken away (372) from Judah,” shewing of course the authority and the royal position of what was afterwards to be the tribe of Judah. From it neither “the sceptre,” as Aquila says, this being the symbol of royal rule, nor “the power,” according to Symmachus, shall be taken away, the prophecy affirms, “until he come,” it says, “for whom it is laid up, and he shall be the expectation of the nations.” What expectation was this, but that of which Abraham and those after him had received the prophecies? First, is it not very striking that (b) though there were twelve Hebrew tribes, the race even now |106 has its name from none but Judah? It can only be explained by the prophetic oracle, which attached the royal position to the tribe, of Judah. And it is for this same reason that their fatherland is called Judaea. For why was not the nation called after the eldest of the twelve, I mean (c) Reuben, according to the divine law of primogeniture? Why not from Levi, who was greater than Judah in order of birth, and also in receiving the priesthood? Why not, even more, was the race and the country not called after Joseph, from his acquiring rule not only over the whole of Egypt, but over his own relations, and because his descendants, long years after, were to rule as many as nine tribes of the nation, on whose account it was far more probable that the whole race and the country would have been named after their ancestor? And who would not agree (d) that they might reasonably have been called from Benjamin, since their famous mother-city and the all-holy Temple of of God was in the portion of his tribe? But yet, in spite of all, the name of the Lord and of the whole nation was . drawn from none of them but Judah, as the prophecy foretold. I have, therefore, referred the words, “A prince shall not fail from Judah,” to the tribe, and only in that sense is the prediction true. For from the time of Moses there has not failed a continued line of rulers of part of the nation, drawn as I said from different tribes, but the tribe of Judah has all along stood forth as the head of the whole (373) nation. An illustration will make what I have said clear. Just as the procurators and governors appointed in the Roman Empire over nations, their praefects and military chiefs, and their highest kings, are not all drawn from |107 Rome nor from the seed of Remus and Romulus, but from many different races, and yet all their kings and the rulers and governors below them are all called Romans, and their power is named Roman, and the rule of them all generally has this appellation, in the same way we (b) should think of the Hebrew state, where you have the name of the tribe of Judah applied generally to the whole nation, though there be kings and governors of divisions from different tribes, but all honoured with the name of Judah. We understand then that the prophet’s words: “Judah, thy brethren shall praise thee,” were to be applied to the whole tribe. For he knew that being marked out for precedence it would be honoured more than the other tribes, and since it was best in warfare, and the sole leader of the whole nation in operations against the enemy, he rightly continues: “Thy hands shall be on the back of thy (c) enemies.” Then for its ruling and royal position he calls it, “a lion’s” whelp.” And as ancestor and prophet, glorying in the reputation of the tribe, he adds: “From a seed, my son, thou hast ascended”; while the words: “Falling down thou hast slept as a lion, and as a lion’s whelp,” shew its character of terror and bravery, its utter fearlessness of external attack, and contempt of its foes. He being such, (d) or rather, his tribe being such, who, he says, shall arouse it? He suggests that the Person who is to remove the tribe in question from its throne, and move it from its royal position, will be some one great, wonderful, unusual, and hard to imagine. Then he tells us who it is to be, telling us that it is He Who is the Expectation of nations, of Whom it is predicted that He will only appear among men, when the ruler fails, and the governor is changed, and the tribe of Judah is removed from its position of power. Who is this, but our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ?—-at Whose birth, as the prophecy before us (374) predicted, the rulers and governors set over their nation from the Jews themselves would fail, the tribe of Judah lose the dominant and royal position that it had held over the nation for so long, and be subject to the Romans, their rulers from that day to this, who overcame the Jewish |108  (b) nation together with the rest of the world, and under whom Herod, a man of alien birth apart from their race, was appointed king by Augustus and the Roman Senate. For Herod was son of Antipater, and Antipater belonged to Ascalon, and was son of some temple-server at the Temple of Apollo, who married a woman named Kuprine, of Arab race, and begat Herod. He, you will remember, being sprung from this family, got rid of and slew Hyrcanus, the last of the line of ruling high-priests, with (c) whom the government of the Jews by native rulers came to an end, Herod being, as I say, the first foreigner to be called the King of the Jews. In his time Jesus Christ was born, and at one and the same time the position of the tribe of Judah was taken away, the authority of the kingdom of the Jews destroyed, and the prophecy preceding this fulfilled: “There shall not fail a prince from Judah, nor a governor from his loins, until there come the things laid up for him,” who, he says, will not only be the expectation of the Jews, but of the Gentiles. As, therefore, the expectation of the call of the Gentiles, prophesied long (d) before to Abraham, was “laid up,” until the rulers and governors of the Jewish race should have ceased, and their independent government should have been changed to submission to Rome, and to the Gentile Herod, the Evangelist Luke, noting the date of the cessation of Jewish rulers, tells us that the teaching of Christ began in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judaea; and Matthew says the same |109 in a disguised form. For having described the birth of our Lord and Saviour, he adds: “And when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judrea, in the days of Herod the king, behold wise men came from the East to Jerusalem, saying, Where is that which is born king of the Jews?” wherein he shews clearly enough both that they were under (375) foreign rule, and also the calling of the foreign nations from the East by God. For foreigners ruled over the Jews, and foreigners coming from the East recognized and worshipped the Christ of God, Who had been prophesied of old. The prophecy of Jacob is thus seen clearly to have been fulfilled, being brought to pass at the end of the national existence of the Jews, even as he predicted to his sons, saying: “Come together, that I may announce to you, what shall happen to you at the end of the days.” (b) For we must understand by the end of the days the end of the national existence of the Jews. What, then, did he say they must look for? The cessation of the rule of Judah, the destruction of their whole race, the failing and ceasing of their governors, and the abolition of the dominant kingly position of the tribe of Judah, and the rule and kingdom of Christ, not over Israel but over all nations, according to the words, “This is the expectation of the nations.”

And who would not agree that all this has been definitely (c) fulfilled in the coming of our Saviour, when they who of old before Christ’s birth, with their native rulers and governors and wise hearers of the holy oracles, prided themselves in their own kings, high priests and prophets, and when the tribe of Judah, being the royal tribe, the conqueror of their enemies, the leader and ruler of the whole nation, with its men of old renown has from that day to this lain under the heel of Rome? For the Christ of God was definitely manifested, and from that day the said expectation of the Gentiles is preached to all nations, (d) Or who can deny, that concurrently with the appearance of our Saviour Jesus the solemnities of the Jews, their city with its Temple and the worship performed therein, have come to an end, together with their native rulers and governors, and that from that time the hope and expectation of the nations through all the world has been made known, since the things laid up in the Lord |110 have come. What are these things, but those set forth by Judah?—-

“Thy brethren shall praise thee, thy hands shall be on the back of thine enemies, lion of the tribe of Judah. O my son, thou hast ascended from a seed, falling thou hast slept as a lion and as a lion’s whelp: who shall awake thee?”

Instead of, “Judah is a lion’s whelp, from a shoot, my (d) son, thou hast ascended, falling down thou hast slept,” Aquila says more plainly, “Judah is a lion’s cub, from destruction, my son, hast thou ascended, bending thou hast laid down.” And Symmachus says, “Judah is a lion’s whelp, from capture, my son, hast thou ascended, having knelt thou hast been established.” By which the Resurrection of the dead is clearly meant, and the escape of our Saviour from Hades, as from a trap for wild beasts. The kneeling and the being established instead of falling, signify death by the kneeling, and not being dragged away like the souls of other men by “being established.” All this then was laid up before for Christ. But while this remained unfulfilled, the Jewish nation lasted, and their rulers and governors and they who were wise interpreters of the sacred oracles about the Christ stood out among them; but when (379) that which had been laid up for Judah had come, and He appeared on earth of Whom it was foretold that He should spring from the seed and shoot of the prophet himself, after falling down and sleeping, or “kneeling,” according to Symmachus, He was established and raised up, laying His hands on the back of His unseen spiritual enemies; and His brothers and disciples first praising Him and wondering, afterwards were convinced that He was God, and worshipped Him as God; then were fulfilled the things laid up for Him, for because of this the answer was given, “Until there come the things laid up for him.” For (b) from that day to this, the things laid up for Him being come, the rulers and governors of the Jewish nation have ceased, the rulers of the Gentiles have been placed at their |114 head, and the nations on the other hand knowing the Christ of God have made Him their Saviour and Hope. After all this there follows:

“Binding his foal to the vine, and the foalof the ass to the branch, he shall wash his robe in wine, and his garment in the blood of the grape. His eyes shall be cheering from wine, and his teeth white as milk.” 

CHAPTER 2

From Daniel.

How after the Period of Seven Times Seventy Years, or 490 Years, the Christ having appeared to Men, the Jewish Prophets and their surpassing Temple Worship will be dissolved, and They Themselves will be taken by Mutual Sieges as by a Flood, and their Holy Temple undergo its Final Desolation.

When the captivity of the Jewish people at Babylon was near its end, the Archangel Gabriel, one of the holy ministers of God, appeared to Daniel as he prayed, and told him that the restoration of Jerusalem was to follow without the slightest delay, and he defines the period after the restoration by numbering the years, and foretells that after the predetermined time it will again be destroyed, and that after the second capture and siege it will no longer have (c) God for its guardian, but will remain desolate, with the worship of the Mosaic Law taken away from it, and another new Covenant with humanity introduced in its place. This was what the Angel Gabriel revealed to the prophet as by secret oracles. So then he says to Daniel:

“I am now come forth to impart to thee understanding, at the beginning of thy supplication the word came forth, and I am come to tell thee, for thou art a man greatly beloved. Consider the matter, understand the vision”; (d) 

clearly urging him to a deeper consideration and understanding of the meaning of his words. He calls it then a vision from its involving deeper consideration, and more |118 than common understanding: wherefore we, too, if we call on Him who gives understanding, and pray that the eyes of our understanding may be enlightened, should trust confidently in the vision of this passage:

“Seven times seventy weeks,” he says, “have been decided on for this people and for thy holy city, for sin to be ended, and to seal up transgression, and to blot out iniquities, and to make atonement for iniquities, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal the vision and the people, and to anoint the most holy.”

(383) It is quite clear that seven times seventy weeks reckoned in years amounts to 490. That was therefore the period determined for Daniel’s people, which limited the total length of the Jewish nation’s existence. And he no longer calls them here “God’s people,” but Daniel’s, saying, “thy people.” Just as when they sinned and worshipped idols in the wilderness, God called them no more His people, but Moses’, saying, “Go, descend, for thy people has sinned.” (b) In the same way here too he explains why the definite limit of time is determined for them. It was that they might know they were no longer worthy to be called the people of God. And he adds, “And for thy holy city”: where we hear again the unusual “thy,” for he says, “for thy people, and for thy holy city,” as much as to say, “the city you think to be holy.” The original Hebrew and the other translators (c) agree in the addition of “thy” both to the people and the city. For Aquila has, “On thy people, and on thy sacred city”; and Symmachus, “Against thy people, and thy holy city”: wherefore in accurate codices of the Septuagint “thy” is added with an asterisk. For since Daniel had often called the people “the people of God “in the words of his prayer, and the place of the city “the holy place of (d) God,” the One who answers in contrast says that neither people nor city are God’s, but “thine,” who hast prayed and spoken thus of the people and the place and the city. Daniel’s words run thus: “16. Let thy anger be turned away, even thy anger from Jerusalem thy city, thy holy mountain.” And, “Thy people is a source of ridicule to all that are round about them.” And again, “17. Shew thy face upon the desolation of thy sanctuary.” And once more, “18. Behold the ruin of thy city, which is called by thy |119 name,” followed by, “19. That thy name may be named upon thy city, and upon thy people.” After this prayer he adds: “20. And while I was yet speaking and praying, behold Gabriel, whom I saw in my vision, came flying, and touched me, and said what is written above.” (384)

The prophet then clearly called the city not a city pure and simple but “God’s city,” and the sanctuary, “God’s sanctuary,” and the people “God’s people,” from his feeling for the people. But Gabriel does not describe them in this way; on the contrary, he says, “for thy people,” and “for thy holy city,” shewing in so many words that city, people, and sanctuary were unworthy to be called God’s.

So, then, he first defines the length of time determined (b) for the people, and then for the city. And it is seen to be the period from the restoration of Jerusalem, which was in the reign of Darius, King of Persia, until the reign of Augustus, Emperor of Rome, and of Herod the foreign King of the Jews, in whose times our Saviour’s Birth is recorded, as the prophecy goes on to shew. And he adds next:

“For sin to be ended, and to seal up transgressions, and to blot out iniquities, and to make atonement for (c) iniquities, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal the vision and the prophet, and to anoint the most holy.”

Instead of, “For sin to be ended, and to seal up transgressions,” Aquila translated, “For ending disobedience, and for completing transgression.” I think that our Saviour’s words to the Jews, “Ye have filled up the measure of your fathers,” are parallel to this. For the transgression of the Jewish nation culminated in the plot they dared to make against Him, and what Aquila calls their “disobedience “to God reached its end. For many times of old the long-suffering of God had borne with their transgressions before the Saviour came, as is shewn by the prophet’s words: but just as in the case of the ancient (d) foreign inhabitants of the land of promise it was said to Abraham, “The sins of the Amorites are not yet fulfilled,” and if they were not yet fulfilled they could not yet be driven from their native land, but when they were fulfilled, they were then destroyed by Joshua, the successor of Moses: so also you will understand in the case of the |120 before-mentioned people. For while their sins were not fulfilled, the patience and long-suffering of God bore with them, calling them many times to repentance by the prophets. (385) But when, as our Saviour said, they had filled up the measure of their fathers, then the whole collected weight worked their destruction at one time, as our Lord taught again when He said:

“All the blood poured forth from the foundation of the world, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zacharias, shall come upon this generation.” 

For presuming last of all to lay their hands on the Son of God they completed their disobedience and completed their sins, according to Aquila’s translation, or according to the Septuagint, “Their sin was bound and sealed.” But since He came not only for the falling but for the rising again of many in Israel, as is said of Him, “Behold, he is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel,” Daniel rightly proceeds to add, “And for the blotting out of (c)  transgressions and for making atonement for iniquities.” For since it was impossible for the blood of bulls and of goats to take away sins, and the whole race of mankind needed a living and true offering, of which the Mosaically designed propitiation was a type, and our Lord and Saviour was this Lamb of God, as it was said of Him, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world; and again, “He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but for those of the whole world “; He brings redemption (d) also, according to Paul’s words, “Who is become wisdom to us from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption”—-he naturally teaches that His coining is at once the fulfilment and the completion of the sin of those who have sinned against Him, at the same time as it is the blotting out and purification of sins, and the propitiation for the transgressions of them that believe in Him.

And Aquila to the words, “For the fulfilling of their disobedience and the completion of their sin,” added, “For the propitiation of their transgression,” clearly suggesting that He would be the propitiation for all transgressions of old time done in ignorance. Next to this comes, “For the bringing in of everlasting righteousness.” The Word of |121 God is in truth Himself eternal Righteousness, Who is made unto us by God Wisdom, and Righteousness, and Sanctification, and Redemption, in the words of the Apostle. But further by His own Presence also He shared Righteousness with all men, shewing by His works that God is not only the God of the Jews, but also of the Gentiles: for (386) there is one God, Who will judge the Circumcision from their faith, and the Uncircumcision by faith. Wherefore Peter wondering at those with Cornelius being thought worthy of receiving the Holy Spirit says, “Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons, but in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness is accepted with him.” And Paul also says that the Gospel is of righteousness, saying, “For it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the Gentile. For the righteousness of God is revealed in it.” And it is said of Christ in the Psalms: (b) “In His days shall arise righteousness, and abundance of peace.” And His coming shewed clearly the righteousness of God, who reckoned the whole of mankind worthy of the calling of God. Such was not the Mosaic dispensation, which was given to the Jews only: wherefore having appeared for a time it has passed away. But the (c) righteousness proclaimed by our Saviour is fitly called eternal righteousness, as Gabriel said, “And to bring in eternal righteousness.”

Instead of “Seal the vision and the prophet,” Aquila gives, I think, a more suitable rendering, viz. “And for fulfilling vision and prophet.” For our Lord Jesus Christ did not come as it were to seal up the visions of the prophets, for He rather opened and explained those that were of old obscure and sealed, tearing away so to say the seals impressed on them, and taught His disciples the meaning of the Holy Scriptures. Hence He says, “Behold, (d) the lion of the tribe of Judah hath prevailed, and he has opened the seals that were set on the book,” in John’s Apocalypse. What are these seals but the obscurities of the prophets? Isaiah knew them well and definitely says too: “And these words shall be as the words of the sealed book.” The Christ of God did not come then to shut up the vision and the prophet, but rather to open them and bring them to the light. Hence I prefer Aquila’s rendering, |122 (387) “For fulfilling the vision and the prophet.” And it agrees also with our Saviour’s words, “I have not come to destroy the law or the prophets, I have not come to destroy but to fulfil.” “For the end of the law is Christ,” and all the prophecies concerning Him we know remained unfulfilled and uncompleted, until He came and brought fulfilment to the prophecies about Himself. It is possible, too, for the version of the Septuagint, “To seal up the vision and the prophet,” to bear this meaning: “For the Law and the prophets continued until John,” and from his day the ancient inspiration of the Jewish race has ceased, and its predictions of the Christ, and they who in the Holy (b) Scriptures saw genuine visions have come to an end, as if divine grace were shut up and bound with seals: and so it is the case that from that day there has been no activity of prophet or seer among them; this has altogether ceased from the time named till our own day.

He proceeds, “And to anoint the Most Holy”; and this also is plain for the same reason, that until the time of our Saviour the Most Holy, the High Priests were anointed (c) following the ritual performed according to the Mosaic Law, but from that date they have ceased to be, as the prophecy foretells. So too the words of Jacob to Judah foretold the cessation of the princes and rulers of the Jewish nation, as I have already stated. Now since the prophets’ and priests’ primacy of the people was very much later than that of the kings, the oracle in the prophecy first quoted foretells the destruction of the princes and governors of the Jewish nation, while the one we are considering predicts (d) the cessation of the prophets and priests as well, who were of old their chief ornament, which the Coming of our Saviour actually fulfilled. And as Aquila translates, “For the anointing the most consecrated,” it might be thought that the ancient Jewish High Priest was meant, since many of the inferior priests were called “holy,” but only the High Priest “Most Holy.” And this idea at first sight is tempting. For up to the times of our Saviour the High Priests in continuous line at the same time ruled the people, (388) as they continuously performed the service of God according to the ritual ordained by Moses; but from our Saviour’s times their order was first thrown into confusion, and shortly afterwards altogether abolished. But as I find |123 nowhere in the Holy Scriptures the High Priest called “Most Holy,” I am of opinion that in this passage only the Only-begotten Word of God is meant, who is properly and truly worthy of that name. For if men excel and reach all attainable virtue they should be content to be called “holy,” sharing and participating in the character of Him Who said, “Be ye holy, for I the Lord am Holy.” But what human being could rightly be called “Most Holy,” except the one Beloved Son of the Father, called Holy of holies as also King of kings and Lord of lords? For to Him only, as excelling whoever of Moses’ ordaining that were anointed with earthly and manufactured oil, was it said, “Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity, therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness beyond thy fellows.”

And all these things were fulfilled when the seventy weeks were completed at the date of our Saviour’s Coming. So when the aforesaid Angel had given this summary prediction to the prophet, he again returns to the subject of the seventy weeks, explaining accurately and in detail at what point the weeks must begin to be counted, and what will happen at the time said. He therefore says: “And thou shalt know and understand, that from the going forth of the command for the answer and for the building of Jerusalem shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks, and then it shall return, and the street and wall shall be built.” (389) And with regard to this I think it right not to leave unknown the studies of a predecessor on this subject, but to quote from them as suitable to my readers. For it is a good saying that “the goods of friends are common.” ¹ And as it is right to use what others have expressed well in a right spirit, and not to deprive fathers of their children, |124 or the first begetters of their own offspring, I will quote his exact words. This extract from Africanus is to be found in the Fifth Book of his Chronography, and it runs as follows:

(b) “The section thus expressed gives much strange information. But here I will make the necessary examination of the times and the matters connected with them. It is clear, then, that the coming of the Christ is foretold as to occur after seventy weeks. For in the time of our Saviour, or after His time, sins are done away and transgressions ended. And by this remission iniquities are blotted out (c) by a propitiation together with unrighteousness, eternal righteousness is published beyond that of the law, visions and prophecies (last) until John, and the Holy of holies is anointed. For these things existed in expectation only before our Saviour’s Coming. And the angel explains we must count the numbers, that is to say the seventy weeks, which are 490 years, from the going forth of the word of answer and from the building of Jerusalem. This took place in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes, King of Persia. For Nehemiah his cup-bearer made the request, (d) and received the answer that Jerusalem should be rebuilt, and the order went forth to carry it out. For till that date the city lay desolate. For when Cyrus after the seventieth year of the Captivity spontaneously allowed every one who wished to return, those with Joshua the High Priest and Zerubbabel went back, and those afterwards with Ezra, and were at first prevented from building the Temple, and the wall of the City, as no order had been given for it; and so |125 there was a delay until Nehemiah and the reign of Artaxerxes and the one hundred and fifteenth year of the Persian Empire. And this was 185 years from the taking of Jerusalem. It was then that King Artaxerxes gave the order (390) for it to be built. And Nehemiah was sent to take charge of the work, and the street and wall were built, as it had been prophesied. And from that date to the coming of Christ is seventy weeks. For if we begin to count from any other point but this, not only the dates will not agree, but many absurdities arise. If, for instance, we begin counting the seventy weeks from Cyrus and the first Mission, the period will be too long by more than a century, if from (b) the day the angel prophesied to Daniel still longer, and longer still if we start from the beginning of the Captivity. For we find the length of the Persian Empire to be 230 years, and of the Macedonian 300, and from then to the sixteenth year of Tiberius Caesar 60 years. And from Artaxerxes to the time of Christ seventy weeks are (c) completed according to Jewish reckoning. For from Nehemiah, who was sent by Artaxerxes to rebuild Jerusalem, in the one hundred and fifteenth year of the Persian Empire, and in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes, and in the fourth year of the eighty-third Olympiad up to that date, which was the second year of the two hundred and second Olympiad, and the sixteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, there are 475 years, or 490 according to Hebrew reckoning. For they reckon years by the course of the moon, I ought to (d) tell you, counting 354 days, while the course of the sun is 365 ¼ days, twelve lunar revolutions, being exceeded by one solar by 11¼ days. Therefore the Greeks and the Jews add three intercalary months to every eighth year. For eight times 11¼ days makes three months. So then 465 years, in eight-year cycles, makes fifty-nine years and three months. Since adding the three intercalary months every eighth year, we have a few days short of fifteen years. And these added (391) to the 475 years complete the seventy weeks.”

At this period, then, is concluded the 483 years, when they came to an end who held, according to the Mosaic Law, the primacy of the nation, and the priesthood, whom I understand the Holy Scriptures to call here “Christ the governor.” And if it be necessary to publish a roll of the succession of the high priests who held office during this (b) intermediate period, I have no objection so to do in |127 confirmation of my statements. First, then, after Daniel’s prophecy, in the reign of Cyrus, King of Persia, after the Return from Babylon, came Joshua son of Josedec, called the Great Priest, with Zerubbabel from captivity, and laid the foundations of the Temple, but since he was hindered in the work by the neighbours, the first seven weeks of years named by the prophet came to an end, during which the building of the Temple remained unfinished. This is why (c) the divine word separates the first seven from the remaining weeks, saying seven weeks, and then after an interval adding, and sixty-two weeks. For from Cyrus to the completion of the building of the Temple are seven weeks of years. Hence the Jews attacking our Saviour said, “Forty and six years was this Temple in building, and wilt thou raise it up in three days?” These men, you say, said that the Temple was built in forty-six years. So they reckoned (d) from the reign of Cyrus first, who first permitted those of the Jews who wished to go up to their own land, to the sixth year of King Darius, in whose reign the Temple was finally completed. But Josephus, a Jewish author, says that three more years were spent in completing the surrounding outside buildings, so that it seems probable that the seven first weeks were divided in the prophet’s words into nine years and forty years, and that the remaining sixty-two were counted from the reign of Darius, in whose time Joshua, son of Josedec, and Zerubbabel, son of Salathiel, who were still alive, were both at the head of the rebuilding of the (393) Temple, when Haggai and Zechariah were prophets, after whom Ezra and Nehemiah, who also came up from Babylon, built the wall of the city, when Joiachim was high priest. He was son of Joshua, son of Josedec, and Eliashib succeeded him in the high-priesthood, then Joiada, after him Jonathan, and after him Jaddua. The books of Ezra record them, saying, “And Jeshua begat Joiakim, Joiakim begat (b) Eliashib, and Eliashib begat Joiada, and Joiada begat Jonathan, and Jonathan begat Jaddua.”

Now after the death of Alexander of Macedon, and after the said High Priest, Onias ruled the nation, also enjoying the high-priestly office: in whose day Seleucus conquered Babylon and put on the crown of Asia, twelve years after Alexander’s death, and the whole period from him to Cyrus is 248 years From that point the Book of Maccabees begins to count the years of the Hellenic Empire. And after Onias, the High Priest Eleazar ruled the Jews, in whose time the Seventy translated the Holy Scriptures and deposited (d) them in the Library of Alexandria. And after him a second Onias, followed by Simon, in whose day flourished Jesus, son of Sirach, who wrote the excellent book called Wisdom. After him a third Onias ruled, in whose time Antiochus besieged the Jews and compelled them to hellenize. After whom Judas, called the Maccabee, was at the head of the State, and cleansed the land of the unholy, being succeeded by his brother Jonathan. And then Simon, to whose death the First Book of Maccabees reckons 177 years from the beginning of the Syrian rule, and ends its history at that date. So that the period from (394) the first year of Cyrus and the Persian Empire up to the end of the record of the Maccabees and the death of Simon is 425 years. And then Jonathan held the high-priesthood, according to Josephus, for twenty-nine years.³ After him Aristobulus ruled for a year, who was the first to assume the royal diadem ⁴ besides the high-priesthood after |129 the return from Babylon. Alexander succeeded him, as both king and high priest, and was at the head of the State for twenty-seven years. To whose date is comprised in all, (b) from the first year of the reign of Cyrus and from the return of the Jews from Babylon, 482 years, in which period the high priests ruled, who I believe are called in the prophecy “Christs and governors.” After whom, when the last of them the High Priest Alexander died, the State of the Jews was left without king or leader, so that the kingdom came to a woman. And when her two sons, Aristobulus nnd Hyrcanus, were quarrelling with each other, Pompey, the (c) Roman general, attacked Jerusalem, and took the city by siege, denied its holy places, and even entered the Holiest of all. And this came to pass in the first year of the 179th Olympiad, 495 years after the empire of Cyrus, who began to rule in the fifty-fifth Olympiad. And Pompey, then, having taken Jerusalem by force, sent the before-named Aristobulus a prisoner to Rome, bestowing the High-Priesthood on his brother Hyrcanus, and the whole nation was from that date subject to Rome. Then after this, Herod, (d) the son of Antipater, destroyed Hyrcanus, and was entrusted with the Jewish kingdom by the Roman senate, being the first ruler of a foreign stock, and he destroyed the order of the Mosaic High-Priesthood. For the divine Law ordained that the most high high-priest should hold office for life; but Herod preferred to the office men who were not of the priestly tribe nor otherwise suitable, who were alien and strange to the priestly line of succession, and he gave the position not even to them for life, but only for a short and limited time, sometimes to one, sometimes to another; so (395) that the first seven weeks must be reckoned from Cyrus to Darius, and the remaining sixty-two from Darius to Pompey the Roman general.

This, then, was the very time that Daniel, inspired by the divine spirit, marked when he said, “I Daniel understood in the books the number of the years, what was the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet, for the fulfilment of the desolation of Jerusalem seventy years, and I turned my face to the Lord my God, to present my prayer and petition.” Then after his prayer the Angel prophesied to (d) him of the seventy weeks, and told him at what point to begin to reckon the time, saying, “And thou shalt know and understand from the going forth of the word of answering and from the building of Jerusalem until Christ the governor.” The first answer allowing Jerusalem to be rebuilt was of course that of Cyrus, but it did not take effect, because the neighbours interfered. But when Darius gave his order afierwards, and the building of the Temple was also completed in his reign, from that date began to be fulfilled the prophecy of Daniel, which said, “From the going forth of the word of answering and from the building (396) of Jerusalem,” and that which said, “I Daniel understood in the books the number of the years, which was the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet, for the fulfilment of the desolation of Jerusalem seventy years.” The completion of the period of seventy years is therefore shewn to have been reached in the second year of Darius, so that we must anyway reckon the seventy weeks from the sixty-sixth Olympiad, and from the second year of Darius, in which the building was completed. And if you reckon the succeeding (b) period from that date up to King Herod and the Roman Emperor Augustus, in whose times our Saviour was born on earth, you will find it amounts to 483 years, which are the seven and sixty-two weeks of the prophecy of Daniel. |131 From the sixty-sixth Olympiad to the 186th Olympiad there are 121 Olympiads, or 484 years, an Olympiad consisting of four years, during which time Augustus the Roman Emperor, in the fifteenth year of his reign, gained the (c) kingdom of Egypt and of the whole world, under whom Herod was the first foreigner to ascend the Jewish throne, and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ was born, the time of His birth synchronizing with the fulfilment of the seven and sixty-two weeks of Daniel’s prophecy.

It says then that Christ shall be cast out after the completion of the said weeks. Who can this be but the |132 governor and ruler of the high-priestly line? He remained therefore until the weeks were fulfilled; and when they came to an end, the ruler of the nation in the line of succession (c) was cut off as the prophecy foretold. And this was Hyrcanus, whom Herod murdered, and seized the kingdom on which he had no special claim, and he was its first king of alien stock. And moreover Hyrcanus was not only personally cut off as the last anointed successor of the ancient high-priests, but the line as well which descended from those ancient high-priests was itself cut off, and the Legal Unction was no longer used according to judgment, but in a confused and disorderly way not according to the Mosaic enactments. And these events happened concurrently and fulfilled the prediction, “The Unction shall (d) be cast out, and there is no judgment in it.” Josephus, himself a Hebrew, is sufficient evidence of this, giving the history of those times in the Eighteenth Book of the Archaeology of the Jews:⁵

“Herod was then made king by the Romans, but did no longer appoint High-Priests out of the family of Asamonaeus, and these were called Maccabeans, but made certain men to be so that were of no eminent families, but only of the Hebrew race, excepting that he gave that dignity to Aristobulus; for he made this Aristobulus, the son of Hyrcanus, high priest, and took his sister Mariamne to wife, aiming at winning the goodwill of the people through their memory of Hyrcanus. Yet did he afterwards, out of his fear lest they should (398) all bend their inclinations to Aristobulus, put him to death in Jericho, and that by contriving to have him suffocated while swimming, as I have already related. But after this man he never entrusted the High Priesthood to the descendants of Hyrcanus. Archelaus also acted like his father Herod in the appointment of the High-Priests, as did also the Romans, who took the government over the Jews into their hands afterwards.”^6 |133 

But after the prophecy of the events that happened to the Jewish nation in the intermediate period between the |135  seven and sixty-two weeks, there follows the prophecy of the new Covenant announced by our Saviour. So when all the intermediate matter between the seven and the sixty-two weeks is finished, there is added, “And he will confirm (b) a Covenant with many one week,” and in half the week the sacrifice and the libation shall be taken away, and on the Holy Place shall come the abomination of desolation, and until the fullness of time fullness shall be given to the desolation. Let us consider how this was fulfilled.

Now the whole period of our Saviour’s Teaching and working of Miracles is said to have been three-and-a-half years, which is half a week. John the Evangelist, in his Gospel, makes this clear to the attentive. One week of years therefore would be represented by the whole period of His association with the Apostles, both the time before His Passion, and the time after His Resurrection. For it is written that before His Passion He shewed Himself for the space of three-and-a-half years to His disciples and also to those who were not His disciples: while by teaching and miracles He revealed the powers of His Godhead to all equally whether Greeks or Jews. But after His Resurrection He was most likely with His disciples a period equal |136 to the years, being seen of them forty days, and eating with them, and speaking of the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God, as the Acts of the Apostles tells us. So that this would be the prophet’s week of years, during which He “confirmed a covenant with many,” confirming that is to say the new Covenant of the Gospel Preaching. And who were the many to whom He confirmed it, but His own disciples and Apostles, and such of the Hebrews who believed in Him? And moreover, half through this week, during which He confirmed the said Covenant with many, the (401) sacrifice and libation was taken away, and the abomination of desolation began, for in the middle of this week after the three-and-a-half days of His Teaching, at the time when He suffered, the Veil of the Temple was torn asunder from the top to the bottom, so that in effect from that time sacrifice and libation were taken away, and the abomination of desolation stood in the holy place, inasmuch as the Being had left them desolate, Who had been from time immemorial till (b) that day the guardian and protector of the place. For it is fitting to believe that up to the Saviour’s Passion there was some Divine Power guarding the Temple and the Holy of Holies. For He could not have attended with the multitude at the Temple to keep the Feasts according to the laws, if He had not known that it still remained a place worthy of God. Therefore there were in the Temple also some that prophesied up to that time, as Anna the (c) Prophetess, daughter of Phanuel, and Simeon, who took Him into his arms when He was an infant, whose prophecies are handed down in Scripture. Nor could our Lord have said to the leper, “Go, shew thyself to the priest, and offer the gift which Moses commanded for a testimony unto thee,” if He had not considered it right for the legal observances to be carried out there as in a holy place worthy of God. Nor would He have thrust out those who bought and sold, saying, “Take these things hence, and make not |137 my Father’s House a house of merchandise,” if He had not thought that the Temple was still to be reckoned sacred. But it was when the hour of their extreme wickedness drew near, that He explained all when He said, “Behold your house is left unto you desolate,” which also was fulfilled, when at his Passion the Veil of the Temple was wholly rent in twain, and from that moment the sacrifice and libation well pleasing to God according to the ordinance of the Law was in effect taken away, and when it was removed, the abomination of desolation, as the prophecy before us says, appeared in its place. And if it be said that the worship of the Sanctuary appeared to continue for a time, yet it was not pleasing to God, being offered without judgment and not according to the Law. For as before of (402) old when the Unction was abolished, and the lawful line of High Priests ceased after the death of Hyrcanus, they who held the office afterwards seemed to perform disordered and illegal rites, since they were breaking the fitting Laws, of whom the prophecy said, “The Unction shall be cast out, and there is no judgment in it,” referring to its illegality and lack of judgment; so here you will rightly say it has happened to the offering and libation, which were rightly and (b) lawfully offered before our Saviour’s Passion, while the Power still guarded the Holy Places, but which were taken away directly after the perfect and supreme Sacrifice which He offered, when He offered Himself for our sins, being the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world, which sacrifice having been delivered to all men in the new Sacraments of the new Covenant, the Sacrifices of the old are taken away. For concurrently with the fulfilment of the oracle which says, “And he shall confirm a covenant (c) with many one week,” all that is connected with the old Covenant is abolished. And when was the new Covenant confirmed, but when our Lord and Saviour, about to consummate the great Mystery of His delivery to death, on the night in which He was betrayed, delivered to His disciples the symbols of the unspeakable words of the new Covenant referring to Him? For concurrently with this celebration, (d) the old Covenant of Moses was abolished, which was shewn by the veil of the Temple being rent at the very time. Sacrifice and libation being from that time abolished and ceasing in effect and truth, any sacrifices that were |138 afterwards thought to be offered there were celebrated in a profane place by profane and unhallowed men. Hear the witness of Josephus about this:

“On the day of Pentecost, the priests going by night into the Temple, as was their custom, for the services, said that they were first conscious of a quaking and a sound, and afterwards of a sudden voice which said, Let us depart hence.”

And he records this to have taken place after the Passion of our Saviour.¹⁰ And the same writer says elsewhere: (403) “Pilate the Governor “(meaning the Pilate of our Saviour’s time) “brought the images of Caesar into the Temple by night, which was unlawful, and caused a great outburst of tumult and disorder among the Jews.” ¹¹ Which Philo ¹² confirms, saying:

“Pilate laid up in the Temple by night the imperial emblems, and from that time the Jews were involved in rebellion and mutual troubles.”

And from that time a succession of all kinds of troubles afflicted the whole nation and their city until the last war against them, and the final siege, in which destruction (b) rushed on them like a flood with all kinds of misery of famine, plague and sword, and all who had conspired against the Saviour in their youth were cut off; then, too, the abomination of desolation stood in the Temple, and it has remained there even till to-day, while they have daily reached deeper depths of desolation. And perhaps this will be so until the end of the world, according to the limit set by the prophet when he said, “And unto the consummation of time a fulfilment shall be given to the desolation.” (c) These words our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ sealed, when He said, “When ye shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the Prophet, standing in the Holy Place, then ye shall know that her desolation draws near.”

And if the Jews are hard to persuade of this, they must be convicted not only of a shameless opposition to truth |139 and clear evidence, but also of misrepresenting, so far as they can, the predictions as falsehoods, if it is to be thought that in the seventy weeks of years some of them include all the time, while they prophesy of what is to happen in the intermediate period, while others, though we are now nearly a thousand years from the date of the prophecy, admit no (d) sign of the fulfilment of what was written, although their Unction has been abolished, as the divine prediction foretold, and their sanctuary, and the former inhabitants destroyed and utterly brought to naught in the flood of the completed war, and strangest thing of all even now to be seen, I mean, the abomination of desolation still standing in the one holy place, concerning which our Lord and Saviour said what I have quoted.

As this is before our eyes even now, it is extraordinary (404) that the Jews are not only so daring as to refuse to see what is clear, but so blind and dark in their minds as well as not to be able to see the clear and evident fulfilment of the Holy Scriptures. But they are in the state now that Isaiah prophesied they should come to, and his words are fulfilled:

“Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand, and seeing ye shall see and not perceive. For the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest at (b) any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.”

But since it was said of old of the nations that believe in Christ, “To whom it has not been announced concerning Him, they shall see, and they who have not heard, shall understand,” I also by His grace and that of the Father that sent Him have given as full an interpretation as I could of this passage, and have quoted also the critical conclusions of Africanus, my predecessor, as germane and accurate, and therefore to be made use of as satisfactory. (c) |140 

CHAPTER 3

From Micah.

The Prophet foretells what will be the Signs of the Coming of the Lord to Men, the Complete Destruction of the Sacred Customs of the Jews, the Knowledge of the God that was announced by the Prophets, the Deepest Peace of All Nations.

(405) [Passages quoted, Micah i. 2-4; iii. 9-12; iv. 1-4.]

(d) I HAVE already considered this prophecy among the passages. And I have pointed out that only from the date of our Saviour Jesus Christ’s Coming among men have the objects of Jewish reverence, the hill called Zion and Jerusalem, the buildings there, that is to say, the Temple, the Holy of Holies, the Altar, and whatever else was there dedicated to the glory of God, been utterly removed or shaken, in fulfilment of the Word which said:

“Behold the Lord, the Lord comes forth from his place, and he shall descend on the high places of the earth, and the mountains shall be shaken under him.”

And when those kings are shaken, the souls of the Jews, called “valleys,” because of the contrast of their wretchedness with their former exaltation, bewailing the passing of (406) the aforesaid glory, will melt like wax before the fire, and be as water rushing down a chasm, through the multitude of those that fall from bad to worse. And all this it says will come to pass because of the sin of the house of Jacob, and the transgression of the house of Israel. And it goes on to describe this sin and transgression, “They that defile judgment and pervert all that is right, who build Sion with blood and Jerusalem with unrighteousness.” With blood! Yes, this was the cause of their final misery, for that they pronounced the impious curse upon themselves, saying, (b) “His blood be on us and on our children.” Therefore, it says this, “Zion shall be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall be as a storehouse of fruit,” a prophecy which was only actually fulfilled after the impious treatment of our Saviour. For from that time to this utter desolation has possessed the land; their once famous Mount Sion, instead |141 of being, as once it was, the centre of study and education based on the divine prophecies, which the children of the (c) Hebrews of old, their godly prophets, priests and national teachers loved to interpret, is a Roman farm like the rest of the country, yea, with my own eyes I have seen the bulls plowing there, and the sacred site sown with seed. And Jerusalem itself is become but a storehouse of its fruit of old days now destroyed, or better, as the Hebrew has it, a stone-quarry.

CHAPTER 4

From Zechariah.

Signs of the Time of the Coming of the Word of God to Men, the Call of the Gentiles, and Final Destruction of Jerusalem.

[Passages quoted, Zech. ii. 10, 11; ix. 9, 10.]

So prophesied Zechariah after the Return from Babylon, in the reign of Darius, King of Persia, when Jerusalem was but just arisen from the desolation which it suffered under the Babylonians. And the whole period from Darius the (c) Persian, in whose time Zechariah prophesied, even to Augustus, Emperor of Rome, amounts to the seven and |144 sixty-two weeks of years in Daniel, which are equivalent to 483 years, as I have shewn in my recent investigations. And neither in the time of the Macedonians from Alexander onwards, not even if you include the reign of Augustus, was (d) anything similar to the words of the prophet fulfilled. For when in those days did the Lord, Whom the prophet speaks of as divine, come among men, and many nations know Him, and confess Him to the only God, and take refuge in Him, and be to Him a people? Or when in the times of the Macedonians or Persians did the king who was foretold come, sitting upon an ass and a young colt? When did He come and utterly destroy the royal array of the Jewish nation, here called Ephraim, and of Jerusalem itself, called chariots and horses, and conquer the army of the Jews? For this is what the oracle revealed, saying:

“Behold thy king cometh to thee, righteous and a saviour, himself meek, and sitting upon an ass and a young colt, and he shall utterly destroy the warlike bow.” (410) 

For so it was prophesied concerning the destruction of the royal glory of the Jewish nation, at the same time, as, on the other hand, the prophecy of peace for the Gentiles was repeated in agreement with those previously quoted, namely, “And abundance of peace shall be from the Gentiles.” In place of which Aquila and the other translators render, “And he shall speak peace to the Gentiles,” which stands specially and literally fulfilled from the reign of Augustus, since from that date varieties of government ceased, and (b) peace enwrapped most of the nations of the world. And before the Roman days under Persians or Macedonians what King of the Jews was there, who “ruled from sea to sea, and from the rivers to the ends of the earth?” And so the other translators have shewn. Therefore Aquila says:

“And he shall speak peace to the Gentiles, and his power shall be from sea to to sea, and from the river to the ends of the world.”

And the figure used by the prophet is also exceedingly (d) strange when he says, “O Libanus, open thy gates, and let fire devour thy cedars.” For he calls the Temple here, as was not unusual, by the name of Libanus (it is so called in other prophecies). To this the Jews themselves now assent, since Isaiah, too, has a similar prophecy to the one before us, namely:

“Behold, the Lord of Sabaoth shall disturb the noble with might, and the lofty shall be crushed in their pride.” And Libanus shall fall with its lofty ones, and there shall come forth a rod from the stem of Jesse, and a flower shall spring up from his roots, and the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him.” 

(d) Yea, in return for their insults to the Lord who thus prophesied, there has not failed for them lamentation, mourning and wailing. And it was only after our Saviour came, and even until our own time, that all the families of the Jewish nation have suffered pain worthy of wailing and lamentation because God’s hand has struck them, delivering their mother-city over to strange nations, laying their Temple low, and driving them from their country, to serve their enemies in a hostile land; wherefore even now every house and every soul is a prey to lamentation. And so the prophecy says, “And family shall mourn by family, the (412) family of the house of David by itself, and their wives by themselves, and all that follows this.”

And which were the days after the age of Zechariah, when the spoils of Jerusalem were divided, and all nations were gathered against them in battle, and the city was taken, their houses looted, their women defiled, and they themselves led into captivity, while the Lord was at the same time aiding the nations warring against Jerusalem and drawn up against them? Or when did His feet stand (b) on the Mount of Olives? Or when was the Lord King of all the earth, when was there one Lord over all men, when did His Name encircle the whole earth and the wilderness? It is impossible to argue that this was fulfilled previously to the period of the Romans, in whose time the Jewish Temple was burnt for the second time after its destruction by the Babylonians, and their city from then till now has been inhabited by foreign nations.

And it was when our Lord Jesus, the Christ of God, had (c) visited the olive-grove over against Jerusalem, since the words of the prophecy were fulfilled which said, “His feet shall stand upon the Mount of Olives opposite to Jerusalem,” that is, the life of holiness having been established |147 throughout all the world, that all the nations, according to the prophecy, kept the Feast of Tabernacles together in every place to the God of the prophets, and the Egyptians from that time recognizing God erected tents in every town and country place, which mean the local Christian Churches. For the power of our Saviour Jesus Christ has pegged them (d) far better than Moses’ tents through the whole world, so that every race of men and all the Gentiles may keep their Feast of Tabernacles to Almighty God.

When, then, we see what was of old foretold for the nations fulfilled in our own day, and when the lamentation and wailing that was predicted for the Jews, and the burning of the Temple and its utter desolation, can also be seen even now to have occurred according to the prediction, surely we must also agree that the King who was prophesied, (413) the Christ of God, has come, since the signs of His coming have been shewn in each instance I have treated to have been clearly fulfilled.

Source. Tertullian.org – Eusebius of Caesarea: Demonstratio Evangelica. Tr. W.J. Ferrar (1920) — Book 8

THE PROOF OF THE GOSPEL, Book 9

CHAPTER 1

Of the Things that happened at the Incarnation, and of the Star that appeared at Our Saviour’s Birth.

We are told that Balaam’s successors moved by this (for the prediction was preserved most likely among them), when they noticed in the heavens a strange star besides the usual ones, fixed above the head, so to say, and, |151 vertically above Judaea, hastened to arrive at Palestine, to (418) inquire about the King announced by the star’s appearance. Matthew the Evangelist witnesses to this as follows:

1. “And when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea, in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem saying, 2. Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east and are come to worship him.” 

This is the account in the Holy Gospel. But the word of the prophecy says that striking events will be heralded by the rising of the star and the birth of our Saviour Jesus Christ, viz., the crushing of the leaders of Moab, and the raid on the sons of Seth, and the inheriting by the Jewish nation of its other enemies, these being Edom and Esau. What could be thus figuratively described by the leaders (c) of Moab, but the destruction of the invisible rulers, I mean the daemons whom the Moabites had of old considered gods? But others were not mentioned, because of Israel‘s idolatry in the wilderness, when “the people were initiated into the rites of Belphegor.” (This daemon was honoured as a god by Balak, King of Moab.)

As, therefore, Israel was conquered on this occasion by the invisible powers of Moab, I mean by those regarded as gods by the Moabites (for they committed idolatry and worshipped idols, as Scripture says, and were initiated into the cult of Belphegor, a Moabitish daemon, and committed |152 adultery with the women of Moab), Balaam in his prophecy appositely paints the picture of a complete reversal and change in days to come: “A star shall rise out of Jacob, and a man shall spring from Israel, and he shall crush the leaders of Moab.” As if he had said, more plainly, that the daemons of Moab who once triumphed over Israel would suffer a crushing defeat on the birth of the subject (419) of the prophecy, and that when these were crushed, the sons of Seth, Edom and Esau, and the other nations, by whom, I think, are meant those that had long been the slaves of daemonic error, would be converted from their superstition to the service of Him that was foretold. For it says: “And Edom shall be an inheritance, and Esau his enemy shall be an inheritance.” So it says that those who were once enemies of God and of Israel will become the inheritance of Him that was prophesied. For He it was to Whom it was said by God and His Father: “Desire of me, and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance.” And while they enter into the inheritance of the (b) saints, the reverse is prophesied for Israel—for it says: “Israel hath wrought in strength.” And it wrought in strength the worst sin of all; wherefore He will be aroused by them, and will drive them out. Who is this but the Word of God that was foretold, Who also “destroyed him that was saved from the city”? And I think that this refers figuratively to Jerusalem, in which all that were saved perished, or perhaps to the whole constitution of the Jewish nation. I need not describe at greater length (c) how this was fulfilled, how, when our Saviour shone forth on mankind, the nations that before were idolaters were converted and became His portion, at the same time that the Jewish nation and their mother-city underwent unexampled sufferings. Thus, I will conclude what I have to say of the agreement of prophetic prediction with Gospel fulfilment. Let us now learn the reason why the star appeared. Now Moses says, that all the stars were set in the firmament by God “for signs and for seasons.” But this was a strange and unusual star, not (d) one of the many known stars, but being new and fresh by its appearance here it portended a new luminary that should shine on all the Universe, the Christ of God, a great and a new Star, whose likeness the star that appeared |153 to the wise men symbolically shewed. For since in all the holy and inspired Scriptures the leading object of the meaning is to give mystic and divine instruction, while preserving as well the obvious meaning in its own sphere of historical facts, so the prediction before us was properly and literally fulfilled in the matter of the star that was prophesied to appear at our Saviour’s Birth.¹

And the prophecy foretells a man as well as a star, for it says: “A star shall rise out of Jacob, and a man shall spring from Israel,” naming first the heavenly light, the Word of God, and next the Humanity. And He is called, as I have shewn in my former books, in other places by the varying names of Rising, Light, and Sun of (c)  Righteousness. And here, by applying to Him the verb from “Rising,” “a star shall rise out of Jacob,” it shews His Diviner aspect, as “giving light to every man that cometh into the world”; while it shews the Humanity, by the suffering that comes to Him, where it foretells that He will fall to rise again, in words like what Isaiah says of Him: “And there shall be a root of Jesse, and he that shall rise to rule the Gentiles; in Him shall the Gentiles |154 trust.” And we see how true it is that the light of our (d) Saviour, which rose from Jacob, that is from the Jews, has shone on all nations but Jacob, from whence it came forth.

CHAPTER 2

From Isaiah.

How the Lord resting in the Sacred Body which He took from the Virgin will come to Egypt, is both Literally and Figuratively foretold, and that all the Superstition of the Heathen will be destroyed at His Advent.

[Passage quoted, Isa. xix. 1.]

I SUPPOSE that the reason why it is foretold that the Lord (d) would come to Egypt is this: The Egyptians are said to have been the first to practise the errors of polytheism |155 and the daemons, and to have introduced superstition to the rest of mankind, and to have been concerned more than others with the activities and meddling of the daemons. And Holy Scripture witnesses that they were the enemies of God’s people from the very beginning, for it is written that their ancient king confessed that he did not know the Lord, when he said: “I do not know the Lord, and I will not let Israel go.” So, then, it is because Scripture wishes to shew the great marvel of the divine power of Christ that it foretells His going to Egypt, in (422) predicting that the Egyptians will undergo an extraordinary conversion, when it goes on to say: “And the Egyptians shall know the Lord, who before knew Him not, and shall pray to the Lord,” and so on. Above in the previous chapter Edom and Esau are called the inheritance of the subject of the prophecy, these names being used for strangers to Israel. Here it is predicted of Egypt and its people that they will not acknowledge idols any more, (b) but the Lord revealed by the Jewish prophets. Now if we cannot see this actually fulfilled before our eyes, we must not say that the Lord’s coming to Egypt has taken place; but if beyond all need of argument the truth is shewn by facts, and reveals clearly to the most unobservant the Egyptians rescued from hereditary superstition, and followers of the God of the prophets who foretold that this would take place, serving Him only, and greeting every (c) form of death for their duty to Him, to what else can we attribute it, but to the Lord coming to Egypt, as the prophecy before us predicted?

CHAPTER 3

From Numbers.

It is foretold that Christ would come into Egypt, and would return from thence again.

[Passage quoted, Num. xxiv. 3-9.]

THE oracle in the previously-quoted prophecy, in saying (d) that the Lord would come into Egypt, foretold the journey of our Lord Jesus Christ, when He went into Egypt with His parents. Here we have the prophecy of His return from Egypt in its natural order, when He came back with His parents into the land of Israel, in the words: “God led him out of Egypt.” For our Lord and Saviour Jesus, the Christ of God, was the only one of the seed of Israel and of the Jewish race, Who has ruled over many nations, so that it is indisputable that He is the fulfilment of the prophecy which says, literally, “that a man will come from (424) the Jewish race, and rule over many nations.” If He be not, let him who will suggest some other famous man among the Hebrews, who has ruled over many nations. But this he cannot do, for such a man never existed. But with regard to our Saviour, truth itself will shout and cry aloud, even if we say nothing, shewing plainly that His Divine Power through the human body He took of the seed of Israel according to the flesh has ruled, yea, and even now will rule many nations.

CHAPTER 4

From Hosea.

Again concerns the Words, Out of Egypt have I Called My Son, and King Herod, and the Destruction of the Kingdom of the Jews.

And if any prefer to apply the prophecy to the people, regarding it as spoken concerning the people of Israel, let him consider the sequence of the argument, which implies that this will take place after the saying addressed as to Jerusalem itself, “And destruction shall be raised up in thy (b) |160 people, and all thy strong places shall depart.” And those things, it says, which such and such a king suffered in a war in which he was involved, when they dashed the mother to the ground on her children, the like will I do unto you because of your wickedness. He must mean by “you” them that are called Israelites, who also were cast away with their king, by whom he implies Herod. “And you have suffered all this,” it says, “because Israel is a child, (c) and I loved him, and out of Egypt have I called my son.” But how can he praise and blame the same people at the same time? The real meaning supplies the explanation. The Christ is called “Israel,” in other prophecies, as He is in this. Since then, it says, being obedient to Me, He took the form of a servant, and became My beloved Son, fulfilling all My will, therefore I called Him back as My (d) true and beloved Son from the Egypt whither He descended when He became man, meaning by Egypt this earthly sphere, or possibly Egypt itself. But you, to whom the prophecy is spoken, shall suffer ruin and destruction, together with your king. Such is the prophecy. And we can see that from our Saviour’s time by the siege of Jerusalem the independence and national power of the Jewish race that existed up till then was destroyed and utterly cast away. This is the third prophecy concerning Egypt, and His sojourn there.

CHAPTER 5

From Isaiah.

Of the Preaching of John in the Wilderness. 

[Passage quoted, Isa. xl. 3.]

Josephus, too, records his story in the Eighteenth Book (431) of the Jewish Archeology, writing as follows:

“Now some of the Jews thought that the destruction of Herod’s army ¹ came from God, and that very justly as a punishment of what he did against John, that was called the Baptist; for Herod slew him, who was a good man, and commanded the Jews to exercise righteousness towards one another, and piety towards God, and so to come to baptism. For so the washing would be (b) acceptable to Him.”^{2      |164} 

CHAPTER 9

From Psalm lxvii. 

Of the Calling of the Apostles. (441) 

[Passage quoted, Ps. Ixvii. 24-27.]

I THINK that here none but the Apostles can be meant by the rulers of Nephthali. For thence our Lord and Saviour called them according to the quotation from Matthew. The Scripture is prophesying the Coming of the Word of God to men, and His Incarnate sojourn here, (c) when it says, “Thy goings, O God, have been seen,” and that which follows. And the prophets of old were like heralds of His Epiphany, and arrived before Him with proclamation and chant, with music of psaltery and choir and all kinds of spiritual instruments, in the midst of damsels playing on timbrels.” For the inspired prophets going in every way into the midst of the Jewish synagogues, heralded the coming of the Christ, and by the Holy Spirit (d) addressed the Apostles of our Saviour saying, “Praise the Lord God in the congregations from the fountains of Israel.” And the “fountains of Israel” must be the words delivered to Israel. “For they first trusted the oracles of God,” whence it will be necessary for us to draw and water the churches of Christ. By “maidens playing on timbrels” he suggested the souls that lived of old by the more external Law of Moses, calling them “maidens” because of their youth and imperfectly developed minds, and “timbrel-players “because of their devotion to external worship.

(442) CHAPTER 10

From Isaiah.

Of the Reading from the Prophecy by Our Lord in the Jewish synagogue.

[Passage quoted, Isa. lxi. 1.]

Now this prediction our Lord Himself claims to be fulfilled in Himself, when He came to Nazareth, where He was brought up: |173 

“He entered, as his custom was on the Sabbath day, into the synagogue, and stood up to read. And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon (c) me, because he hath anointed me, to preach the gospel to the poor: he hath sent me to proclaim deliverance to the captives, and giving of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened upon him. And he began to say unto them, This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears.” 

Our Lord and Saviour is clearly shewn in this passage to (d) have been anointed with another and a better unction than the priests of old days, who were externally anointed, not with oil manufactured, nor by men, as were those others, but with the Divine Spirit of His God and Father, whereby as sharing in His unbegotten Godhead He is called God and Lord by the Holy Scriptures.

And in harmony with the prophecy before us He is introduced by Matthew preaching the Gospel to the poor when—

“Seeing the multitudes he went up into a mountain, and when he had sat down, his disciples came unto him, and he opened his mouth and taught them, saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

And it is recorded that He gave sight to many that were (443) blind, not only enlightening them that were deprived of bodily vision, but also causing them that were before blind in soul to receive spiritual vision and the knowledge of God. And, moreover, He preached freedom and release from their bonds to the prisoners bound and constrained by the unseen daemonic powers, and hampered by the chains of sin, if they, too, would believe His preaching, and run to Him as their Ransom and Saviour, and trust His promises.

The remainder of this oracle I will expound in its place (b) in the section concerning the promises.³  |174

CHAPTER 11

From Deuteronomy.

(c) Of the Lawgiving according to the Gospel of Christ. 

[Passage quoted, Deut. xviii. 15-19.]

IT must be noticed that no prophet like Moses has ever arisen among the Hebrews, who was a lawgiver and a teacher of religion to men, except our Saviour, the Christ of God. Therefore at the end of Deuteronomy it is said: “There has not arisen a prophet in Israel like unto Moses,” though, of course, many prophets succeeded him, but none were like him. And the promise of God recognizes the whole future, that one only, and not many, should arise and be like him. And it implies that he will be a lawgiver and a teacher of religion to men, such as none but our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ has been proved to be, being lawgiver and prophet of the God of the Universe (444) His Father at the same time.

But Moses was leader of but one nation, and his legislation has been proved to be only applicable to that one nation; whereas the Christ of God, receiving the promise from His Father, “Desire of me, and I will give thee the nations for thine inheritance,” as being established by His (b) Father the Giver of the new law of holiness not to the Jews only, but to the whole human race, in calling all nations set before them a legislation that they could obey and that suited them. Thus by a diviner power than that of Moses He ordained through all the world His holy laws by His evangelists, legislating with more than human authority, saying, “Ye have heard that it was said to them of old time, Thou shalt not kill: but I say unto you that ye must not be angry without a cause,” and that which follows this saying, as it is preserved in His written teaching, with regard to which the Evangelist says, “They were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.”

As I have treated of the manner of our Saviour’s teaching and legislation in the beginning of this work, when I |175 explained what Christianity is, I will now refer my readers to that exposition. But it is worthy of notice why the Lord promises that a prophet shall arise. For when He had commanded Moses to sanctify the whole people for three days, that they might see and hear His Divine Appearing, and they were too weak for the favour of God: wherefore when they were at the beginning of the vision they refused and said to Moses: “Speak thou to us, and let not God speak to us, that we die not,” and the Lord, as was meet, was pleased by their caution, and says, “They have rightly spoken all that they have spoken. A prophet will I raise up to them from the midst of their brethren, like unto thee.” Then it was that He gave the reason of His own future Coming to men like a prophet. It was man’s weakness, and his refusal of the greater vision of the greater. You see, too, the reason why the prophet that was foretold should become Incarnate. And so it was natural for the Jews, who expected Him, to inquire of John the Baptist, and say, “Art thou the prophet? and he said, No.” And John spoke the truth, he did not deny that he was a prophet, for he was, but he denied that he was the prophet meant by Moses, because he taught that he was sent before that prophet.

And since the Word predicted that the prophet would be raised up for them of the Circumcision, our Lord and Saviour, being Himself the One foretold, rightly said:

“I am not come but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” “And He commanded His apostles saying, Go not into the road of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not, but rather go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel“;

shewing clearly that He was primarily sent to them as the prophecy required. But when they would not receive His grace, He reproves them elsewhere, saying, “For I came, and there was no man, I called and there was none that heard.” And He says to them, “The kingdom of God shall be taken away from you, and shall be given to a nation bearing the fruits of it.” And He bids His own disciples after their rejection, “Go ye and make disciples of all nations in my name.” So, then, we that are the |176 Gentiles know and receive the prophet that was foretold, and sent by His Father, as being Lawgiver to all men of the religion of the God of the Universe, through His saving Gospel teaching, that other prediction being fulfilled at the same time which says, “Set, Lord, a Lawgiver over them, let the Gentiles know themselves to be men,” while the Jewish nation, not receiving Him that was foretold, has paid the fit penalty according to the divine prediction which said, “And the man who will not hear all things whatsoever the prophet shall speak in My Name, I will exact vengeance on him.” Surely He has avenged on that people all the blood poured out on the earth, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, yea, even to crown all to the Christ Himself, Whose blood they called down not only on themselves but on their children, and even now they pay the penalty of their presumptuous sin.

CHAPTER 13

From Isaiah.

Of the Miracles He Performed. 

[Passage quoted, Isa. xxxv. 3.]

For it is God and the Word of God, not one like Moses or the prophets, that was not only the Worker of the Miracles, but is also the Cause of your own strength. And the strongest confirmation of the Divine Power of the Saviour here foretold, by which He really used to cure the lame, the blind, the lepers and the palsied with a word according to that which is written concerning Him, is the power even now energizing through the whole world from His Godhead, by which is shewn to them that can see what He was while on earth, since after so many years His proclamation of the Word of God is seen to last on invincible and true, overcoming all that have attempted from the beginning until now to withstand His teaching; He attracts to Himself great multitudes from all the world, and releases them that come to Him from all kinds of evil and diseases and troubles of the spirit; He summons to His holy school all races, Greek and Barbarian; He leads countless hosts to the knowledge of the one true God, and to a healthy and pure life, as befits those who promise to worship Almighty God. And He our God, since He is the Word of God, it says, “Gives judgment and will give, He will come and save us.” For, according to the Psalm which says, “Give the King thy judgment, O God,” and, according to the Gospel teaching, in which it is said, “The Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son,” having received the authority to judge from the Father, judging in righteousness, He repays justly to the Jewish people the fit penalty for their presumptuous treatment of Him and His prophets, and ever saves in justice as well those who come to Him, whose spiritual ears and eyes He has opened. Wherefore the divine word calls the time of His Appearance the time of retribution, saying elsewhere, “Call on the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of retribution.” This was the time of retribution in which all |180 the blood poured out from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, yea, even to the precious Blood of Jesus, was required of the generation of them that had sinned against Him, so that from that time they underwent utter destruction and their final siege. And the judgment declared against them wrought this retribution; wherefore the prophecy says, “Behold our God exacts judgment, and will repay.” And the judgment on them that shall be saved by Him is foretold next in the words, “He will come and save us; then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf hear,” and that which follows. And another prophecy also promises that the Christ will bring this saving (450) judgment, saying:

“Behold my Son, I will succour him, my chosen, my Spirit hath accepted him, he shall bear judgment to the nations.”

CHAPTER 15

From the same.

Concerning Christs Reticence about His Miracles. (452) 

[Passage quoted, Isa. xlii. 1-7.]

Notice carefully how Matthew, when he says, “Behold my son, in whom I am well pleased, my beloved in whom my soul delighteth,” mentions neither Jacob nor Israel. He does not say, “Jacob my son and Israel my beloved,” but simply “Behold, my son and my beloved.” Hence the |183 names of Jacob and Israel are obelized in the Septuagint, as if the prophecy were not in the Hebrew. And it is silently omitted by the other translators, as it is not found in the Hebrew. And thus it is not inserted by the Evangelist, (453) who was a Hebrew, and followed the Hebrew text in his quotation. Therefore the prophecy does not apply either actually or figuratively to the Jews, but only to the Christ of God, to Whom the clear evidence and the results bear witness. For He alone prophesied the future judgment to the Gentiles, quietly sojourning in human life, and setting judgment on the earth. And not only did He not break the bruised (b) reed, but so to say bound it up, setting up and strengthening the weak and the bruised in heart. And just as He did not neglect the sick and corrupt, who needed His medicine, nor bruise the repentant with hard judgment, so He did not quench them that continued in evil, and were smoking under the fire of passion, by preventing their following their own choice, nor did He punish any of (c) them before the time, reserving the time of their due chastisement for the general Judgment: therefore it is said, “And the smoking flax He shall not quench.”

CHAPTER 16

(454) From the same.

Of the Disbelief of the Jewish People in Him. 

[Passages quoted, Isa. vi. i; 8-10.]

THIS, too, is fulfilled in our Saviour, according to John, when he says:

“37. But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him: 38. That the (c) saying of Esaias the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed?” 39. Therefore they could not believe, because that Esaias said again, 40. He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them. 41. These things said Esaias, when he saw his glory, and spake of him.” 

Or according to Matthew:

“10. And the disciples came and said to him, Why (d) speaketh thou unto them in parables? 11. He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given … 13. Therefore speak I unto them in parables, because they seeing see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand . . . 15. lest they should be converted, and I should heal them.”

Then was fulfilled in them the prophecy of Isaiah which said, “Go and say to this people, Hearing ye shall hear, and not understand,” and that which follows. Notice how S. John proceeds saying, “These things said Esaias, when he saw his glory, and spake of him.” As the prophet had seen the Christ and the glory of Christ in the vision in (455) which he said, “I saw the Lord of Sabaoth sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up,” and that which follows. And who would not be struck by the prophecy, seeing so clearly |185 even now the unbelief of the Jews? Even so of old, when they saw Him Incarnate and working miracles among them, they did not behold Him with the eyes of their soul and with understanding vision, nor had they any vision of spiritual inspiration, so as to understand what power it was that worked so wondrously and so prodigally among them. Yes, they who were counted worthy to receive with (b) their eyes the words of eternal life, and listened to the voice of divine wisdom, did not hear with the ears of their understanding, and so made themselves an evident fulfilment of the prophecy. And even until now, though the power of Christ, by which every race of mankind, divorced from its ancestral superstition, is being led to the Christian religion, is so obvious to them, yet they do not regard it with their understanding, nor consider that what neither Moses nor his successors among the prophets achieved has been brought to pass by these alone, namely, to give up idolatry and pay no heed to polytheistic error, which has (c) been accomplished among all nations by the power of our Saviour. And so when they read the witness of the prophets concerning Him, they hear with their ears and do not understand, and the prophecy before us is literally even now fulfilled against them.

CHAPTER 17

From Zechariah.

How it is foretold that He should ride into Jerusalem on a Colt.

[Passage quoted, Zech. ix. 9, 10]

As Zechariah prophesied thus after the Return from Babylon towards the conclusion of prophecy, there is no record of a Jewish king, such as the prophecy predicts, (456) except our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, in Whom this prediction was fulfilled, when He literally said to His disciples:

“Go ye into the village over against you, and ye shall find an ass tied and a colt with her; loose them |186 (b) and bring them unto me. And if any man say, What do ye? ye shall say to him, The Lord hath need of them. And they went and did as he commanded them.” 

Such, then, was the prophecy and such the fulfilment. But what was His riding on an ass meant to shew forth but the lowly and humble manner which marked His first Coming? For the second Coming shall be glorious, that of which Daniel speaks unfolding and revealing his vision:

“9. I saw until the thrones were set, and the Ancient (c) of Days did sit. Thousand thousands ministered to him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him. 13. And, behold, one as a son of man coming with the clouds of heaven. And he came even to the Ancient of Days, 14. and there was given to him rule and honour and a kingdom, and all peoples, tribes, and tongues serve him. His power is an everlasting power, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom shall not be destroyed.”

(d) But the first Coming of His Incarnation and humiliation has this great symbol and sign among others, the prophecy that He should be called meek and gentle, and that He should come sitting upon an ass. For this is a proof of His sharing our humanity. Whereas the glory of His second divine Coming is shewn by His being borne on the clouds of heaven, and His eternal rule over all nations. And it is reasonable to quote them both to the Jews, and to ask them to explain how they can save the credit of the prophecies, if they confine them to a reference to a single Coming of Christ: for if they both refer to Christ, as they agree, they are bound to tell us when we ask them, how it is possible for the same person at the same coming to be (457) borne upon the clouds of heaven, and also to ride on an ass and a young colt: for these two things are very different. And if you collect the many similar prophecies concerning Christ, and compare their differences side by side, you will decide that some of them refer to His first Coming, being fulfilled at His first Epiphany, while others apply to His second Coming in glory.

For He utterly destroyed by His Divine Power the chariots and horses and weapons of war at His first Coming from |187 the material Jerusalem and the people of Ephraim: (b) where-fore from that day to this their kingdom has never existed, nor their ancient powerful military array or warlike power. And all the Jewish people are here well called Ephraim, not Israel or Judah, so as not to bring into dishonour names of more dignity. And you will find that other prophets call the whole people Ephraim, when charging and accusing them of great crimes, as here. For after the return from (c) Babylon, when the former division of the people had ceased, who are more likely to be meant by Ephraim than the actual inhabitants of Jerusalem? And it was their warlike and military power, that had lasted until Roman times, that our Saviour’s Coming destroyed with divine secret power, as the prophecy foretold.

The oracle also calls here on the Church of the Gentiles, not simply to rejoice, But to rejoice greatly, in its message of good news, because of the coming of the Word of God (d) to her; and it calls her the daughter of the heavenly Zion and of the former congregation, because all we that are Gentiles, who believe in Christ, are the offspring and children of Christ and His Apostles, as they whose mother is the Jewish synagogue: and that which follows was also fulfilled at our Saviour’s Coming. For unexampled peace has filled all nations from the time of His coming: no longer do states war with states as before, nor nations contend with nations, nor is human life as of old in a state of constant disturbance; Athenians do not attack (458) Lacedaemonians, Syrians Phoenicians, Arabians the inhabitants of Palestine, nor the Egyptians their neighbours. All have been united from that time by God’s help, and it is true that there has been “abundance of peace” among the nations from that day to this, according to the prophecy. Jesus alone, and the word of Gospel teaching preached by Him, have ruled men from sea to sea, from the east to the setting sun. and from the rivers to the bounds of the earth, (b) as the prophecy foretold.

CHAPTER 18 

From Psalm cxvii.

Of the Cry, Hosanna to the Son of David.

[Passage quoted, Ps. cxvii. 22-27.]

WHEN our Saviour Jesus Christ entered Jerusalem, riding on an ass according to the previous prophecy, He fulfilled the prediction of Zechariah, for as the Holy Evangelist tells us, the crowds that went before and followed Him cried, saying, “Hosanna to the Son of David, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord, Hosanna in the highest.” (c) And when He entered Jerusalem, “All the city was moved, saying, Who is this? And the multitudes said, This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.” As, therefore, Hosanna is said in the Psalm we are considering, which is translated “Save us now,” and the Hebrew has “Lord, save |189 us,” and the words, “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord,” are taken from the same Psalm, and these words can only refer to the Christ of God, we naturally apply the rest of the prediction to Him. For He is blessed, (d) Who is named by another prophet, “He that cometh,” in the passage, “Yet a little while, and he that cometh will come, and will not tarry,” Who also came in the Name of the Lord God His Father. And He is the Lord God that appeared for us. For He insists that He has come in the Name of His Father when He says to the Jews, “I have come in my Father’s Name, and ye receive me not. If another come in his own name, him ye will receive.” He, then, that appeared for us, the Lord God, the Blessed, He that cometh in the Name of the Lord, was also the stone, (460) which they who of old built up the people on the foundation of the Mosaic teaching, set at naught, and which, set at naught by them, is become the head of the corner of the Church of the Gentiles, which the oracle says is wonderful, not to all that look on it, but only to the eyes of prophets, when it says, “And it is wonderful in our eyes.”

Source. Tertullian.org – Eusebius of Caesarea: Demonstratio Evangelica. Tr. W.J. Ferrar (1920) — Book 9

THE PROOF OF THE GOSPEL, Book 10

CHAPTER 1

From Psalm xl.

Of Judas the Traitor, and His Fellow-Conspirators against Christ.

[Passage quoted, Ps. xl. 1-12.] (464)

As it has been supposed by some that the Book of Psalms merely consists of hymns to God and sacred songs, and |192 that we shall look in vain in it for predictions and prophecies of the future, let us realize distinctly that it contains many prophecies, far too many to be quoted now, and it must suffice for proof of what I say to make use of two Psalms ascribed to Asaph, written in the time of David. For Asaph was one of the Temple Musicians then, as is stated in the Book of Chronicles, and was inspired by the Divine Spirit to speak the Psalms inscribed with his name. And what do these Psalms include? Predictions of the siege of Jerusalem, the royal city of the Jewish race, which took place nearly five hundred years after the prediction. For we read in the 73rd Psalm, inscribed “A Psalm of understanding for Asaph”:

“Wherefore hast thou rejected us, O God, for ever? | Wherefore is thy wrath kindled against the sheep of thy pasture? | 2. Remember thy congregation, which thou hast possessed of old, | and hast ransomed as the rod of thy inheritance; | this Mount Zion wherein thou hast dwelt. | 3. Lift up thine hands against their pride unto the end: what things hath the enemy done evilly in thy sanctuaries, | 4. and they that hate thee have boasted in the midst of thy Feast: | 5. they have set up their banners for signs, ignorantly as it were in the entrance above. | They cut down its doors at once with axes as in a wood of trees, | they have broken it down with hatchet and stone-cutter. | 7. They have burnt thy sanctuary to the ground with fire, | and have profaned even with the ground the dwelling-place of thy name.”

This is in Psalm lxxiii.; and Psalm lxxviii. of Asaph contains this:

“O God, the Gentiles have entered into thine inheritance, and defiled thy holy temple; they have made Jerusalem a store-house of fruits, they have given the dead bodies of thy servants to be meat for the birds of the air, the flesh of thy saints to the beasts of the fields.” |193 

The first of these passages, I mean the one from Psalm lxxiii., was spoken in David’s reign before the building of (465). Solomon’s Temple, and it was only fulfilled the first time by the siege by the Babylonians, and the second time in the Roman war against the Jews. For what was predicted and proclaimed in the said Psalms by Asaph was brought to pass in the destruction of the first and second Temples. And the second passage, from Psalm lxxviii., was fulfilled in the time of Antiochus, called Epiphanes, who being King of Syria entered Jerusalem, polluted the Temple, destroyed (b) the Altar, and in his endeavour to compel the Jews to hellenize, slew countless men and women who were martyrs for their law and their father’s religion, and he inflicted all sorts of punishments on them. It was therefore to that time, and to Antiochus’ successors who emulated his deeds, that Asaph’s prophecies in Psalm lxxviii. refer. And the Book of those called Maccabees confirms what I say, which has this passage:

“And to Jakeimon and Bacchides there came a (c) deputation of scribes asking for justice.” And it proceeds to say: “And he sware to them saying, We will not bring evil on yourselves and your friends. And they believed him. And he took of them sixty men and slew them in one day, according to the word of Asaph, which he wrote, They gave the dead bodies of thy servants to be meat for the birds of the air, and the flesh of thy saints to the beasts of the land, their (d) blood have they poured out like water on every side of Jerusalem, and there was no man to bury them.” 

And since they attacked Him with the words of guile, attempting to entangle Him, as Holy Writ bears witness, (b) telling us how different charges and accusations were engineered against Him at different times, He therefore adds: “And if he come to see me, his heart speaks vanity, he heaps unrighteousness on himself; he has gone out, and spoken the same against me.” After this, too, He clearly reveals the vile traitor himself, who, after making a covenant with the rulers of the Jews to betray his master, no more (c) went as he used to the school of His holy teaching, nor went as to His teacher, nor like the others passed His time with the Saviour, but awaited and hunted for an opportunity to lay hands on Him. For this is what he is accused of doing by the Holy Evangelists, of whom Matthew says:

“Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests, and said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver. And from that time he sought an opportunity to betray him to them.”

Yes, for he alone went into his master as a friend and a disciple, to spy and search out, while he hid his plot in his own heart. And when he went out, he spake against Him (b) at once with many of the same mind, betraying the Saviour to His enemies, and secretly made a pact with the rulers of the Jews, about other things, but of course about money as well, for which he promised to betray Him, and about which he whispered with them. Wherefore it says:

“He went out and spake at once. All my enemies whispered against me, against me they imagined evils. They determined an evil plan against me.”

And it is quite clear how after His resurrection from the dead immediate judgment, that did not tarry, fell on the conspirators, so that death who was the enemy of His return to life was made ashamed, and they that mocked (b) Him said, “O death, where is thy sting? O death, where is thy victory? “And those who have read the history of the times after our Saviour’s resurrection, in Josephus, will remember what troubles fell on the Jews and their rulers, involved in which they received the right reward for what they did to Him. All this, then, that fell upon them was the fulfilment of the prophecy: but our Saviour’s Resurrection from the dead proved to all that in Him the Father was well pleased, as He tells us when He says:

(c) “Have mercy upon me, and raise me up, and I will reward them. By this I know thou hast favoured me, because my enemy doth not triumph over me.”

CHAPTER 2

From Psalm liv. (471)

Also of Judas, and of them that with Him conspired against Christ.

[Passages quoted, Ps. liv. 2-5, 10-14.]

(c) Thus in prayer He speaks of the time before His death |201 during which Judas hatched his treachery against Him. And it was then that our Lord and Saviour, as one who mourned for the destruction and ruin of His friend, and still more for the casting away of the whole Jewish race, as if in sympathy with friends gone mad who were very dear to Him, calls all His union with (hem and instruction of them wasted, in that it has profited them nothing, saying:

“I was grieved with my wasted efforts, and I was moved by the voice of the enemy, and by the affliction of the sinner. For they fell,” He says, “into iniquity, and reviled me in anger.”

This may either be referred to the Jewish rulers, who (d) attempted to catch Him with enmity and conspiracy, or it may have been spoken of the invisible powers that fought against Him from without, and inspired the plot that was carried through by men. And this I think agrees with His words in the Gospels at the time of the Passion, when He says to His disciples: “My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me.” And again, “Now is my soul troubled.” The words of the Psalm are similar to those, where it said: “My heart is moved within me, and the fear of death is fallen upon (473) me; Fear and trembling have come upon me, and darkness hath covered me,” in which He reveals the attacks of the opposing powers upon Him. As then in the prophets a certain “spirit of adultery “is named, e.g. “They were deceived by a spirit of adultery” and “the spirit of error in the wilderness,” so also the spirit of death would cause fear, just as the spirit of strength would be the source of power and divine bravery. So we should call it “the (b) spirit of fear and trembling,” and, indeed, “the spirit of fear and confusion “as well, which usually comes on nearly all that die as martyrs for their religion, and much more would be laid on Him that underwent death for all. But whether it was the spirit of fear and of death, or of fear and trembling, or any other like power that fell upon Him, at any rate it did not break Him down, for He, like a noble athlete, threw (c) far from Him the fear of death by His assurance of life, for He is the Life. And so He drove far off the spirit of fear and trembling which attacked Him by the power of the spirit of bravery, might, and strength. For according to Isaiah, “There rested on Him (together with the other |202 spirits), the spirit of counsel and strength.” So, too, He puts to flight the spirit of darkness by the power of His own light. For, “The light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not.” You will find similar passages (d) in Psalm xxi., where again, in His person, it is said, “Many oxen have come about me: fat bulls hemmed me in. They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ramping and roaring lion.” And also, “Many dogs have encircled me, the council of the wicked-doers has surrounded me.” And once more:

“Save my soul from the sword, and my only-begotten from the power of the dog. Save me from the lion’s mouth, and my humility from the horns of the unicorns.”

Here He clearly calls the evil powers bulls and calves, lions, dogs and unicorns, who hemmed Him in and surrounded (474) Him at the time of His Passion, but were not able to do aught against Him. And this follows, only if these parts of the Psalm refer to our Lord and Saviour: but if they do not refer to Him, but to some one else, you must yourself reduce the passage to harmony. And immediately after the prediction of the conspiracy against Him, He continues also about the mother-city of the Jews, Jerusalem, ,and says, “I saw iniquity and strife in the city,” and that which (b) follows, the meaning of which there is no time now to expound.

CHAPTER 3

From Psalm cviii.

Still of Judas, and of the Apostle elected in His Room, and of the Jewish Nation.

[Passage quoted, Ps. cviii. 1-8.]

And He says also in the Psalms: “Instead of loving me, they spake evil of me, but I continued to pray.” This, too, was fulfilled, when, as our Saviour prayed with the eleven apostles in the place called Gethsemane, and departed from them a little way, and knelt down to His Father, and prayed a second and a third time, Judas with the Rulers of the Jews matured his conspiracy, collecting and leading the multitude of them that were prepared to take Him with swords and staves.

And the holy apostle, applying this Scripture to the traitor, shewed clearly by anticipation what would be the end of these things. Now you yourself can see, how a sinful ruler and head was given to the Jewish race, after their presumptuous deeds against the Saviour, and how they were forced to serve strangers and idolaters instead of their ancient godly rulers. Who would not be struck by the (477) fulfilment of the prediction? For the oracle says, “Let his days be few,” and there is no doubt that the whole period after their plot against our Saviour was short, during which they appeared to abide, after which they underwent the siege and were utterly destroyed, and then another took office, namely the people founded by Christ.

And you will understand the rest of the Psalm in a similar (b) sense. The words that follow, spoken as of certain children of Judas, “Let his children be orphans,” and the like, may be referred primarily to Judas, and secondarily to all who like him betray the word of salvation. And you may understand in a similar way, his wife, and the sins of his father, and of the Jewish synagogue, which is called his mother. For I think that this is meant by “let not the sin of his mother be done away.” But just as in the preceding (c) prophecy, our Lord and Saviour was called a beggar and a poor man, as I have pointed out in expounding, “Blessed is the man that considereth the poor and needy,” so in the present Psalm He is called by these names.

And all this was fulfilled, when “The passers-by reviled him, wagging their heads and saying, He saved others, himself he cannot save.” And since, even now, the Jews draw down the curse of their fathers upon themselves, and are wont with blasphemy and impious words to anathematize our Lord and Saviour and all that believe on Him, He goes on to say:

“They shall curse, hut thou wilt bless. May they that arise against me be ashamed, but thy servant shall rejoice. Let them who speak evil of me be clothed with shame, and be clothed in confusion as with a cloak. (b) But I will confess the Lord with my mouth, and amid many will I praise him, for he stood by the right hand of the poor, to save my soul from the persecutors.”

CHAPTER 4

From Zechariah.

Still of Judas, and of the Money in Return for which He betrayed the Lord, and of the casting away of the Jewish Race, both Rulers and Ruled.

[Passage quoted, Zech. xi. 7b-14.] (479)

And notice how the Lord Himself confesses that a sum of (480) thirty pieces of silver was given for Him. The meaning of His words implies something like this: I the Lord from the very first day ceased not to give to you Jews proofs of My kindness, and in countless ways I did you good, not only through the earliest prophets, but also by My presence in moral teaching and spiritual education, in signs and wonders, and other miracles, and in cures and attentions: now you (b) that were privileged to receive such benefits, give My price or refuse it, demanding of them, it would seem, the fruits of holiness, and the proof of their faith in Him. But they, as |208 the preceding quotation tells, instead of loving Me spoke evil of Me, and laid evil on Me instead of good, and hatred instead of My love, weighing out thirty pieces of silver, as if they valued at that price Him that was sold. But since the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is, He rightly bids them cast it into the furnace, adding, “As I was tested by them.” Perhaps the House of God is here (c) called a Furnace. For the Lord says, according to the Septuagint, “Cast them into the Furnace,” and adds, “And they cast them into the Furnace, the House of God”; while according to Aquila the Lord says, “Cast it, that is the money, to the potter,” and adds, “And I cast it in the House of the Lord to the potter.” According to Symmachus, the Lord says, “Cast it into the furnace,” (d) and adds, “I cast it into the House of the Lord, into the Furnace.” And was not this fulfilled when Judas—-

“3. that betrayed the Lord, seeing that he was condemned, repented and returned the money to the chief priests and elders, saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood? 4. And they said to him, What is that to us? see thou to that. 5. And he cast down the money in the Temple and went and hanged himself. 6. And the chief priests took the money and said, It is not lawful to put them in the treasury, for it is (481) the price of blood. 7. And they took counsel, and bought with them the potters’ field to bury strangers in: 8. Wherefore that field is called the field of blood unto this day. 9. Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet saying, And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him that was valued, whom they of the children of Israel did value, 10. and gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord appointed me.” 

For from that day the multitude of the nation was cut away from God’s ancient providential guardianship. And I suppose the second rod to mean the whole Jewish nation. It is therefore called a Rope in the words, “The one I called Beauty, and the other I called a Rope.” And he (482) proceeds to speak clearly of the second: “And I cast away the second rod, the Rope, to break my covenant between Judah and Israel.” For they were the Rope and the second rod. But the first rod, called Beauty, was Jerusalem itself, and the Mosaic Worship, and the whole of the old covenant. This is shewn by the prophecy, saying, “And I will take my rod of beauty, and I will cast it away, to break my covenant.” You sec that it says that the first rod was the (b) Covenant, and the second rod the Rope, but He threatens to cast them both away, first saying, “And I will take for myself two rods, the one I called Beauty, and the other I called a Rope”; or with Symmachus, “The one I called (c) glory, and the other I called a Rope.” For thus he rightly |210 styled the glory and beauty of the whole nation the divine Law, and the Covenant, which it included. For the solemnities of Jerusalem, and the high-priestly ritual, and all the ancient observances of the divine Law and old Covenant, were a fair glory to them that lived under their order. And the multitude of the nation is called a Rope by Moses, (d) when he says: “The portion of the Lord is His people Jacob, and Israel is the Rope of His inheritance.”

But here it is prophesied that there will be a complete change of the two rods at the time named, so that the ancient Covenant that was therein of old, and its ancient beauty being destroyed, and the Rope and the whole nation broken through, when they had valued for thirty pieces of silver Him that was valued, they should bear the fit dishonour for their impiety. It therefore says, “And I will take my rod of Beauty, and cast it away, and break my covenant.” And also, “And I cast away the second rod, the Rope.” (483) And when the prophecy goes on to say, “And I will take away three shepherds in one month,” I think that it refers to the three divisions of the ancient leaders of the people of God—-the King, the Prophet, and the High-Priest—-for by those three shepherds all the affairs of the ancients were managed. But since those three offices were destroyed together in our Saviour’s time—-(for their king reigned not in accordance with the Law, being a foreigner and not a member of the Jewish race; their high-priest was appointed to his office by the Romans, and did not attain his rank by the order of succession of the tribe, nor according to lawful (b) custom; and their prophets that had ceased until John arose were no longer active among them, but they had instead a wicked false prophet who led the people astray)—- He rightly threatens that He will take away at one time the three offices of grace, that had of old adorned the whole nation with wondrous glory, and says, “And I will take away three shepherds in one month, and my heart shall be sorrowful for them.” For which Aquila renders, “And my soul was torn asunder for them,” Symmachus, “And my soul perished for them,” and Theodotion, “And my soul (c) perished about them.” And he gives the reason of the perishing of his soul, saying, “For their souls were hardened |211 to me.” Instead of this Aquila has, “For their soul was strong in me”; and Symmachus, “And their soul reached its height in me.” And a similar expression to the words, “Their souls are hardened to me,” of the Septuagint, is found in Jeremiah as spoken by the Lord, namely:

“I have left my home, I have forsaken my inheritance, I have given my beloved soul into the hand of its enemies. My inheritance has become to me as a lion in a forest, it has opened on me its voice. Is not my (d) beloved now to me as a hyaena’s cave? “

CHAPTER 5

From Jeremiah.

Still of Judas, Who is named.

[Passage quoted, Jer. xvii. 1-4.]

THOUGH this passage is not found in the Septuagint, yet it is in the Hebrew and in the editions of the other translators, and is quoted with asterisks in the more accurate copies of the Septuagint. I have necessarily quoted it, (485) because it gives the name of the traitor Judas, and teaches that the sin he committed can never be wiped out. For this I think is implied by the words, “The sin of Judas is written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond.” It could refer also to the whole Jewish nation, as a threat of the utter destruction that would overtake them in the immediate train of their indelible iniquity, an interpretation I have no time now to expound word by word, (b) And now that I have prepared the way by giving so many examples of prophecies concerning him that was to betray our Lord and Saviour, and those that conspired against Him in other ways, let us examine what was foretold in connection with His actual Passion.

CHAPTER 6

From Amos.

Of the Eclipse of the Sun at the Time of Our Saviour’s Passion, and of the Total Destruction of the Jewish Nation.

[Passage quoted, Amos viii. 7-12.]

THIS prophecy foretells the pride, insolence and rebellion of the Jews against our Saviour, and says that the Lord (486) sware against the presumption of Jacob, that their insolence |213 against Him should never be forgotten, and that their land and its inhabitants should undergo suffering and mourning, and that no more as before should they be punished a little while and then restored, but that this judgment should last for ever. For He says, “Complete destruction shall come upon them,” meaning that wrath in the time of the Roman Empire would attack them, that a river should rise on them as on men who before were lifted up.

And then after this anger of God against them, their state, He says, will again “Come down like the river of (b) Egypt.”

By which I think is meant, that the ancient glories of the Jews once so lofty, so prized by God, and as it were exalted on high, will become like the state of the heathen nations, which flow and pass by like a river, and will go from height to depth. And He next tells what will happen at the time of the saving Passion, “In that day,” He says, saith the Lord, “the sun shall set at midday, and the light shall be (c) darkened on the earth at daytime,” and this was plainly fulfilled, when our Lord was lifted up, according to the Gospel:

“And there was darkness over all the earth from the sixth hour even to the ninth hour, and about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani.”  

This prophecy was thus fulfilled, and it goes on to say:

“And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your song into lamentation. And I will bring sackcloth (d) on all loins, and baldness on every head: And I will make him as grief for a dear one, and them with him as a day of pain. Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will send famine upon the earth, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the word of the Lord,” etc.

And all this prophecy of what would result from their insolence against the Christ has been clearly proved to have taken place after their plot against our Saviour. For it was not before it, but afterwards from that day to this that God turned their feasts into mourning, despoiled them of their famous mother-city, and destroyed the holy Temple (487) |214 therein when Titus and Vespasian were Emperors of Rome, so that they could no longer go up to keep their feasts and sacred meetings. I need not say that a famine of hearing the Word of the Lord has overtaken them all, in return for their rejection of the Word of God; since with one voice they refused Him, so He refuses them.

CHAPTER 7

(b) From Zechariah.

Still concerning the Eclipse of the Sun, and of the Time of the Saving Passion.

[Passage quoted, Zech. xiv. 5-9.]

THIS was fulfilled by the coming of our Saviour, accompanied either by His holy apostles and disciples, or by His holy ones, the divine powers and unembodied spirits, His (d) angels and ministers, of whom the holy gospel says, “Angels came and ministered unto him.” In that day (for this is the usual name given in Holy Scripture to the time of His sojourn on earth) the prophecy before us was fulfilled as well as the other predictions, when at the time of His Passion, “From the sixth hour unto the ninth hour there was darkness over all the earth.” Therefore the prophecy says, “In that day there shall be no light.” And also, “It shall not be day nor night: but towards evening it shall be light.” Where we have, I think, an exact description of the time, when, our Lord being lifted up, though it was day, (488) night filled the atmosphere from the sixth to the ninth hour. And afterwards the darkness cleared, and it was bright daylight, until night fell as usual. So the word of the prophecy implies, “And that day is known to the Lord, and it shall be neither day nor night: and towards evening it shall be light.” For it was not day because of the midday darkness; nor was it night because of the returning day, which is shewn by the words, “Towards evening it shall be light.” (b) And the mention of the wintry season is astonishing indeed in the words of the prophecy, which say, “There shall be frost and cold”; for this is supported by the evidence of |215 the Gospel, which tells how Peter following Jesus warmed himself in the Hall of Caiaphas with the others, where a fire was kindled. John actually mentions the cold, saying, “The servants and attendants stood round, having made a fire of coals, for it was cold, and they warmed themselves.” The prophecy was thus literally fulfilled. And figuratively, as well in regard to the whole Jewish nation the reality of which those things were symbols was also fulfilled—-when the light of salvation shone on them, and they chose darkness rather (c) than light, and the light departed from them, and unspeakable night overwhelmed them, and the eyes of their mind were darkened, so that the rays of the Gospel should not shine in their hearts, and when too their love to God waxed cold. And in them too the rest of the prophecy was fulfilled, when on the day of our Saviour’s coming living water came forth from Jerusalem, and the fruitful living word of Gospel Teaching went forth to all nations, beginning from (d) Jerusalem, yea, from Jerusalem itself, and was spread over all the earth, even to the utmost bounds of the world. The Lord and Saviour Himself speaks of this water to the Samaritan woman:

“If thou knewest who it is that asketh thee for drink, thou wouldst have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.”

CHAPTER 8 

From Psalm xxi.

Of What was done at Our Saviour’s Passion. At the End concerning His being succoured in the Morning.

(490) [Passage quoted, Ps. xxi. 2-32.]

And the Hebrew words are taken from this prophecy. So, then, the beginning of the Psalm includes the words “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani” in the same syllables, which (491) Aquila has thus translated: “My strong one, my strong one, why hast thou left me?” And everyone will agree that this is equivalent to our Saviour’s words at the time of His Passion. You may therefore be quite convinced that the Psalm refers to Him and no one else, for its contents harmonize with none other but Him. The other predictions are exactly fulfilled in Him; and especially the words, “They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots.” It also foretells literally the (b) driving in of the nails, when His hands and feet were nailed to the Cross, saying “They pierced my hands and my feet, they numbered all my bones.” And the other predictions apply to Him alone, as my argument will shew. But if any one would apply them to some other person, whether king, prophet, or other godly man among the Jews, let him prove if he can how what is written is in harmony with him. For who of those who were ever born of women has attained such heights of virtue and power, as to embrace the knowledge (c) of God with unchanging reason, with unruffled soul, and with sober mind, and to fasten all his trust on God, so |217 as to say, “Thou art He that took me out of my mother’s womb, my hope from my mother’s breasts. I was cast on thee from my mother, from my mother’s womb Thou art my God.” And who that has ever been so cared for by God, has also become “a reproach of men “and “the outcast of the people”? By what bulls and calves can we (d) suppose such a man to have been surrounded? And in what suffering was he “poured out like water”? How were “all his bones loosened”? How was “he brought into the dust of death,” and being brought into the dust of death how does he say those words still and live and speak? Who are “the dogs “that surround him, that are other than the beforenamed “bulls and calves”? What gathering of evil men pierced his feet as well as his hands, stripped him of his raiment, divided some of it among themselves, and cast lots for the remainder? What was the sword, the dog, and the lion? Who are they that surrounded him that are called Unicorns? And how after (492) a struggle with such numbers, after being brought into the dust of death, can he promise to proclaim His Father’s name, not to all, but only to his brethren?

Who are the brethren, and what church is it of which this sufferer says, “In the midst of the Church I will hymn thee,” adding, not the one Jewish nation but, “All the earth shall understand, and turn to the Lord, and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before him”? It is for you yourself to test every expression in the Psalm, and see if it is possible to apply them to any chance (b) character. You will find them only applicable to our Saviour, Who is most true and most to be trusted, and Who applied the words of the Psalm to Himself, as the Evangelists bear witness: Matthew in the quotations I have given, and Mark in his own record, where he says:

“And at the sixth hour there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour (c) Jesus cried with a loud voice saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani, which is to say, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And certain of them that heard said, He calleth for Elias.”

Wonder not if this was said of and fulfilled by the Passion of our Saviour, for even now He is a reproach among all men who have not yet received faith in Him ! For what is more shameful or worse than any reproach than to be crucified? Yea, He is an outcast of the people of the Jews, for even to-day that whole race loves to mock Him, to set Him at naught, and to spit on Him: wherefore the apostle rightly says:

“We preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling-block, and to the Gentiles foolishness.”

And then, starting again from what was now past, to comfort Himself for what was yet to happen, He describes what He went through when they plotted against Him. “Many dogs surrounded me, the council of the wicked hemmed me in,” meaning probably both the soldiers and the Jews who rose against Him.

“27. Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall and gathered unto him the whole band of soldiers. 28. And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe. 29. And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before him, saying, Hail, Kingof the Jews! 30. And they spit upon him, and took the reed and smote him on the head. 31. And after that they had mocked him, they took the robe off from him, and put his own raiment on him, and led him away to crucify him.” 

This is almost an exact fulfilment of “Many dogs surrounded me, the council of the wicked hemmed me in”; moreover, “They pierced my hands and my feet, they numbered all my bones,” and also, “They came staring and looking upon me,” and “They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots,” were all fulfilled, when they fastened His hands and feet to the Cross with nails, and when they took His garments and divided them among them. For John’s record is:

“23. Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments, and made four parts, to every soldier (b) a part: and also his coat. Now the coat was without seam woven from the top throughout. 24. They said therefore among themselves, Let us not rend it, but cast lots whose it shall be; that the Scripture might be fulfilled, which saith: They parted my garments among them, and for my vesture did they cast lots. These things therefore the soldiers did.” |231 

And Matthew witnesses to what was done as follows:

“And they crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots. And sitting down they watched him.”

The dogs that surrounded Him and the council of the wicked were the rulers of the Jews, the Scribes and High Priests, and the Pharisees, who spurred on the whole multitude to demand His blood against themselves and against their own children. Isaiah clearly calls them dogs, when he says: “Ye are all foolish dogs, unable to bark.” For when it was their duty, even if they could not acquire the character of shepherds, to protect like good sheepdogs their Master’s spiritual flock and the sheep of the house of Israel, and to warn by barking, and to fawn upon their Master and recognize Him, and to guard the flock entrusted to them with all vigilance, and to bark if necessary at enemies outside the fold, they preferred like senseless dogs, yes, like mad dogs, to drive the sheep wild by barking, so that the words aptly describe them, which say: “Many dogs have surrounded me, the council of the wicked have hemmed me in.” And all who even now conduct themselves like them in reviling and barking at the Christ of God in the same way may be reckoned their kin; yea, they who like those impious soldiers crucify the Son of God, and put Him to shame, have a character very like theirs. Yea, all who to-day insult the Body of Christ, that is the Church, and attempt to destroy the hands and feet and very bones, are of their number, if it be true that:

“We are one body in Christ, and all members one of another, and the head must not say to the feet, I have no need of you, nor the eyes to the hands.”

And when He has thus shewn His Resurrection, He (c) again returns to His Father, and says: “From thee is my praise in the great Church,” remembering the great Church of all nations established throughout all the |235 world, in which the Saviour’s praise is for ever sung, by the will and co-operation of His Father. So He says: “From thee is my praise in the great Church.” For of a truth it is great, this Church, gathered of every race of mankind, and above all comparison in gravity and nobility of life, and majesty of belief, while the Jewish nation, and (d) the synagogue of the Circumcision, is so attenuated in the poverty of its teaching, and life, and thought, and conceptions of God.

A FRAGMENT OF THE FIFTEENTH BOOK

Given by A. Majus in the New Collection of Ancient Writers. Rome, 1825, tom. 1, par. 2, p. 173, in the Commentary on Daniel ii. 31.

I THOUGHT it incumbent on me to quote what is said by the famous Eusebius Pamphilus, of Caesarea, in the Fifteenth Book of The Proof of the Gospel; for in expounding the whole vision he says as follows:—-“I believe this in no way differs from the vision of the prophet: for the prophet saw a great sea, just as the King saw a vast image: the prophet again saw four beasts, which he interpreted to mean four kingdoms, just as the King from the gold, silver, brass, and iron, figuratively described four kingdoms: and, once more, as the prophet saw a division of the ten horns of the last beast, and three horns destroyed by one, so the King saw part of the extremities of the image to be iron and part clay. And, moreover, as the prophet, after the vision of the four kings, saw the Son of Man receive universal rule, power and empire, so the King seemed to |237 see a stone destroy the whole of the image, and become a great mountain that filled the sea. And the explanation is easy, for it was natural that the King, deceived as he was by the outward appearances of life, and admiring the beauty of the visible like colours in a picture, to liken the life of all men to a great image, whereas the prophet was rather led to compare the vast and mighty surge of life to a great sea. So the King, who admired the substances of gold, silver, brass, and iron, which are costly among men, likened the dominant empires that succeed one another in the human world to substances, while the prophet described the same empires under the forms of wild beasts, according to the ideals of their rule. Then again the King, who probably was conceited, and prided himself on the empire of his ancestors, the mutability of human things is revealed, and the end of earthly kingdoms, to purify him of his pride, and to make him realize the instability of human things, or at least the final universal Kingdom of God. For after the first, or the Assyrian Empire, signified by the gold, was to come the Persian, shewn forth by the silver; and thirdly, the Macedonian, portrayed by the brass; and after that, the fourth, that of the Romans, would follow, more powerful than its predecessors, and therefore likened to iron. For it is said of it, ‘And the fourth kingdom shall be stronger than iron’: just as iron crushes and subdues everything, so did Rome crush and subdue. And after these four, the Kingdom of God was presented as a stone that destroyed the whole image. And the prophet agrees with this in not seeing the final triumph of the Kingdom of the God of the Universe before he has described the course of the four world-powers under the similitude of the four beasts. I consider, therefore, the visions both of the King and the prophets, that there should be four empires only, and no more, to be proved by the subjection of the Jewish nation to them from the time when the prophet wrote.”

Source. Tertullian.org – Eusebius of Caesarea: Demonstratio Evangelica. Tr. W.J. Ferrar (1920) — Book 10

On the Celebration of the Pascha

6. But no one would dispute the fact that the sacred Gospel-writers reported that the Savior’s passion took place during the days of the Jewish Pascha of the Unleavened Bread.  For the reason for the law that was proclaimed regarding the Pascha by Moses was as follows:  Because the Lamb of God was going to be led to the slaughter among the Jews themselves, and was going to suffer this for the sake of the common salvation of all mankind at no time other than the one now being described, God anticipated the future by means of symbolic images, and commanded that the Jews sacrifice a physical lamb at that very time that was going to be established at some point after the passage of years.  And this was performed by them every year, until the truth in its full completeness put an end to the old images.  Hence, from that time, the true festival of the mysteries has held sway among the nations, whereas among the Jews, not even the memory of the symbols themselves is preserved any longer, since the place in which the Law had prescribed that the festival’s rituals be carried out^[34] has been taken away from them.  Quite rightly then does the divine Scripture of the Gospels say that the Savior suffered at the time of the Jewish festival of Unleavened Bread, since he was indeed at that time led as a sheep to slaughter, in conformity with the words of prophecy.

7. Also, they [i.e., the Jews], following Moses, would sacrifice the sheep of the Pascha once in the whole year, on the fourteenth day of the first month, at evening.  We of the new covenant, on the other hand, who celebrate our own Pascha each Lord’s day, always take our fill of the Savior’s body, always partake of the blood of the Lamb; we have always girded the loins of our souls with chastity and self-control, we have always prepared our feet in readiness for the Gospel;^[35] we always hold the staves in our hands, and rest on the rod that came forth from the root of Jesse;^[36] we are always being set free from Egypt, we are always going in search of the wilderness of human life, we are always setting out on the journey toward God:  We are always celebrating the Passover.  For the Gospel’s word [/ Word] wants us to do this, not once in the year, but always and every day.  For this reason, we celebrate the festival of our Pascha every week, on the day of our Savior and Lord, carrying out the mysteries of the true Lamb, by whom we have been ransomed.  And we do not circumcise our bodies with a blade—rather, we remove every evil of the soul by means of the sharp word [/Word]; nor do we make use of physical unleavened bread—but only the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.  For grace, having freed us from our former habits that had grown old, bestowed on us the new man, the one created in accordance with God, and the new Law, a new circumcision, a new Pascha, and the “Jew in secret.”^[37]  And thus, it also left us free from the old appointed times.

8. When, however, the emperor most beloved of God was presiding in the midst of the holy Synod,^[38] and the question of the Pascha was brought forward, there was said all that was said.  And three [fourths] of the bishops of the whole world had the advantage in numbers as they strove against those of the East:  The peoples of the North, the South, and the Occident together, being fortified by their harmony, pulled in the opposite direction from those of the Orient, who were defending their ancient custom.  But at the end of the discussion, the Orientals yielded, and thus there came to be a single festival of Christ—and thus they stood apart from the killers of the Lord, and were joined to those who hold the same doctrine.^[39]  For nature draws like to like.  And if someone were to say that it is written, “On the first day of [the festival] of Unleavened Bread the disciples approached the Savior and said to him, ‘Where do you want us to make preparations for you to eat the Pascha?’—and he sent them to such-and-such a man, bidding them to say, ‘I am celebrating the Pascha at your house'”^[40]—I will answer that this is not a command, but a historical account of an event that took place at the time of the Savior’s passion.  It is one thing to recount the ancient event, and quite another to make a law and to leave behind commands for posterity.

9. But furthermore, the Savior did not celebrate the Pascha along with the Jews at the time of his passion.  For when they were sacrificing the lamb, at that time he himself was conducting his own Pascha with his disciples.  They [i.e., the Jews] were doing this^[41] on the Preparation day on which the Savior suffered; for this reason, they did not enter the praetorium, but instead Pilate came out to them.  But he [i.e., Jesus] a full day earlier, on the fifth day of the week, was reclining at table with his disciples, and as he ate with them he said, “I have very much desired to eat this Pascha with you.”^[42]  Do you see how the Savior did not eat the Pascha along with the Jews?  Because this was a new custom, and one foreign to the customary Jewish ways, it was necessary for him to institute it by saying, “I have very much desired to eat this Pascha with you before I suffer.”  The one set of practices, being now ancient and indeed antiquated—the [Pascha] which he used to eat along with the Jews—was not desirable; but the new mystery of his new covenant, which he imparted to his disciples, was desirable to him, quite rightly so.  Since many prophets and righteous ones before him desired to see the mysteries of the new covenant, and since the Word himself, who thirsted at all times for the general salvation, was passing down a mystery by which all people would celebrate the festival, he professed that this was desirable to him.  The Pascha of Moses was not suitable for all the nations of all time—of course not, when the Law had stipulated that it be celebrated in a single place, namely Jerusalem.^[43]  And so it was not desirable.  But the Savior’s mystery of the new covenant is suitable for all people, and so it was naturally desirable to him.

10. But he himself, before he suffered, ate the Pascha and celebrated the festival with his disciples, not with the Jews.  But when had celebrated the festival at evening, the chief priests came upon him with the traitor and laid their hands on him; for they were not eating the Pascha [that] evening, otherwise they would not have busied themselves with him.  And then, having seized him, they led him off to the house of Caiaphas, where, after spending the night, they gathered together and conducted the preliminary inquiry.  Then, after that, they arose and led him, in company with the crowd, to Pilate; and at that point, the Scripture says that they did not enter the praetorium, so that they would not become defiled^[44] (so they thought) by coming in under a pagan roof, and would eat the Pascha at evening with their purity intact—those most foul ones—who strained out a gnat but swallowed a camel;^[45] those who had become defiled already in soul and body by their bloodthirstiness against the Savior feared to come in under [Pilate’s] roof!  They, on the one hand, on that very day of the passion, ate the Pascha that was injurious to their own souls, and asked for the Savior’s blood—not on their own behalf, but to their own detriment; our Savior, on the other hand, not then, but the day before, reclined at table with his disciples and conducted the festival that was desirable to himself.

11. Do you see how from that time, he [i.e., Jesus] was separating himself from them and moving away from the Jews‘ bloodthirstiness, but was joining himself with his disciples, celebrating the desirable festival together with them?  So then, we too ought to eat the Pascha with Christ, while purifying our minds from all leaven of evil and wickedness, and taking our fill of the unleavened bread of truth and sincerity, and having within ourselves, in our souls, the “Jew in secret”^[46] and the true circumcision, and anointing the doorposts of our minds with the blood of the Lamb who was sacrificed for us, to ward off our destroyer.  And we do this not only at a single time of the whole year, but every week.  Let our “Preparation” be fasting,^[47] the symbol of mourning, on behalf of our former sins, and for the sake of remembering the Savior’s passion.

12. I assert that the Jews have gone astray from the truth, ever since they plotted against the Truth itself and drove away from themselves the Word of Life.  And the Scriptures of the holy Gospels present this fact clearly.  For they testify that the Lord ate the Pascha on the first day of Unleavened Bread; but they did not eat the Pascha that was customary for them on the day on which, as Luke says, “the Pascha had to be sacrificed,”^[48] but instead on the following day, which was the second day of Unleavened Bread and the fifteenth day of the lunar month, on which, when our Savior was being judged by Pilate, they did not enter the praetorium—and consequently, they did not eat it on the first day of Unleavened Bread, on which it had to be sacrificed, in accordance with the Law.  For in that case they themselves too would have been celebrating the Pascha along with the Savior; instead, they were blinded by their own wickedness from that very time, concurrently with their plot against the Savior, and they wandered from all truth.  We, on the other hand, conduct the same mysteries [as Christ did] all through the year:  On every day before the Sabbath we carry out a remembrance of the Savior’s passion through a fast that the Apostles first engaged in at the time when the bridegroom had been taken away from them; and every Lord’s day we are made alive by the consecrated body of the same Savior, and are sealed in our souls by his precious blood.

Source. Tertullian.org – Eusebius of Caesarea, On the Celebration of Easter; De sollemnitate Paschali (2010) Angelo Mai, Novae Patrum Bibliotheca 4 (1847), pp.209-216 (De sollemnitate paschali)

SELECTIONS FROM THE SYRIAC.–No. II. :
THE ENCOMIUM OF THE MARTYRS. BY EUSEBIUS OF CAESAREA. ENGLISH TRANSLATION.

2. O ye who are dead in appearance,⁸ and alive in reality, for your inferiority to the angels is filled up by the suffering which has happened on behalf of Christ, and through grace victory is vouchsafed to you without much solicitude, and your memory every hour is very full of glory; for ye received in your body the signs of the reproach of Christ, the setting free of your souls; for your death on behalf of Christ assured the hope of your faith; and by the constancy which ye received from above, ye changed the constitution of your former nature, and became the sons and children of desirable wisdom; and by the understanding of knowledge, ye caused your souls to fly to the righteous, and ye ran the race without weariness to the King of truth, and the Lord of the assemblies, which are for ever. Therefore, let labour ⁹ be ashamed, and the stripped ¹⁰ eagerness of the conflicts ¹¹ of men whose labour is not vouchsafed on behalf of Christ; and let them restrain their unprofitable sweat, which is not distilled for the conflict of heaven ; and let the race of the eager horses be accounted vain, and their victory be derided, because they cannot be compared to souls upon the horses of Elijah, on which he has in truth arisen.¹² In these the Lord is; for the righteousness of the soul is the chariot of the Lofty One, and a confession wherein is the keeping of his restraints.¹³ And let the assemblies of worldly festivals slumber,¹⁴ –those to which a place in heaven is not vouchsafed; for all of them are earnest in body, and an increase of the trade of worldly contests.¹⁵ Let them be ashamed in their labour, which maketh void of the grace of Christ. For those who on behalf of our Lord and our God received in exchange the judgment of their body, are in heaven, in glory, and in victory,¹⁶ and in joy. Hananiah is exalted, and Azariah is lauded, and Mishael the strong one is called glorious. The fire of Babel was kindled, and did not |131 ascend ¹⁷ on high, and by the abundance of much wood that was in it, it was deprived of its power, and its destroying nature was shorn of its might, because of the love wherewith it would honour the sons of the law.¹⁸ But it was fierce and it was strong, and it burned and destroyed the slanderers who were spectators of the zealous and the blessed. These were confessors, and when the veil of their suffering was before their eyes for reproach and for praise, they drew near to the confessors’ fire. The den of hungry mountain-lions also was nullified through fear of the servant of God, of Christ; and the lions were appeased in their hunger, so that they were not defiled by the suffering of the righteous. For Noah fed the beasts with flesh according to the former commandment; but Daniel made them abstinent, that they should fast, as he was able to command in the conflict of righteousness. But let another pit shew the reproach and ignominy of Jewish oppressors,–the one which is a testimony to the earnestness and manliness of Jeremiah. The altar and temple bore witness, and the holy place which was between them, where Zechariah received the crown of victory. And let Abel speak after his death, by denouncing the cruel and hateful in the manners of Cain. But the crown of victory in the great contest both for men and for women, who are in confession (or become confessors), the mother of seven sons put on :¹⁹ she who reared her sons by prayer and by the milk of the law and by heavenly food, stood with every one of them in confession of the utterances of the law, in order that not one of her pains might be deprived of grace, and very much rejoiced because of the fruit which there was upon each one of her branches. For she was not crowned on account of one of her sons, while honour was taken away because of another; nor was it over one that she rejoiced in victory, and was in anguish over another because of his fall; but over all of them, and through all of them, she had great rejoicing, because she saw them all that they stood in the commandment of the law; and she was glad and gave praise, because of the righteousness of her branches in the law; and she offered pure praise and righteous prayer to the Most High the Strengthener of his servants. How fair was she in duty,²⁰ and righteous in the law, and blessed in her offspring! A wise mother, thou didst remove indifference far away from thy lovely children, and |132 without blows ²¹ they took their stand in the arena: and this is an evidence ²² of true mothers. For it behoves that more than worldly wealth, and than love to our fellow-men, we should love the love of God, and that we should cleave to Christ and love the prophets according to the divine rule, and in everything be like Abraham.²³ O blessed woman, who didst bring forth with hard pains, and without griefs didst restore, by prayer, the fruit thou didst rear ; thou, without laments, didst send a messenger for thyself before God. For what time is there, or what day, or what godly congregation of the passion of Christ, and glorious day of the memorial of his resurrection,²⁴ when the members of the resurrection of the confessor Christ may not be remembered and honoured by every mouth and by every tongue? So, then, let the new soldiers of his faith, equipped with the glory of his truth, pass in remembrance and in word before our eyes, and before the Lord of victory, and the giver of crowns, the Lord Christ, Peter being second in command after our Lord Jesus, in the heavenly host of the glorious ranks, powerful in heaven and also upon earth, closing and opening without envy, in righteousness, the way of the gate of heaven, and not like the Pharisees, the partakers of his blood and of his race.²⁵Let us cleave to them, and to every one of the apostles, since it is proclaimed in heaven and by observation that their minister shall receive a crown of righteousness.²⁶

Source. Tertullian.org – W. WRIGHT, The Encomium of the Martyrs: Journal of Sacred Literature, 4th series vol. 5 (1864), pp.403-408 (Syriac text with introduction by B.H.COWPER); 4th series vol. 6 (1864-5), pp.129-133 (English translation and introduction by B.H.COWPER).

The History of the Martyrs in Palestine

THE CONFESSION OF PAULUS, AND VALENTINA, AND HATHA,

IN THE SIXTH YEAR OF THE PERSECUTION IN OUR DAYS IN CAESAREA.

There is a large city in the land of Palestine, teeming with population, of which all the inhabitants were Jews. It is called in the Aramaic tongue Lud, and in the Greek it is called Diocaesarea. To this city the governor Firmillianus went, and took thither the whole assembly of those hundred confessors. And this was a great sight which well deserves to be recorded in writing. And the Jews were spectators of this marvellous contest, having surrounded the place of judgment on all sides; and as if it were for a rebuke to themselves, they looked on with their own eyes at what took place, while the whole company of the confessors, with much confidence and immense courage, made their confession of belief in God’s Christ. And they being Jews, to whom the coming of that Christ had been foretold by their prophets, whose coming their fathers looked for, had not received him when he was come; but these Egyptians, who had been of old the enemies of God, confessed, even in the midst of persecutions, their faith in God, the Lord of all, and in the Manifestation from him. And these Egyptians, who had been taught by their fathers to worship idols only, were at that time, from the conviction of their reason, undergoing this conflict, in order that they might avoid the worship of idols; while those Jews, who had always been accused by their prophets on account of their worship of idols, were surrounding them, standing and looking on, and listening as the Egyptians repudiated the gods of their own fathers, and confessed their faith in the same God as they also did; and bare witness for Him whom they had many times denied. And they were still more cut to the heart and rent, when they heard the criers of the governor shouting and calling Egyptians by Hebrew names, and addressing them with the names of the prophets. For the crier, shouting aloud, called to them and said: Elias, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, and other appellations similar to these, which their fathers had chosen from among the Hebrews, [p. 30.] in order that they might call their sons after |28 the names of the prophets. Moreover, it also came to pass that their deeds corresponded with their names; and the Jews greatly wondered both at them and at their names, as well as at their words and their deeds, being rendered despicable themselves both by their own vice and infidelity. And I myself am convinced that these things were not done without the will of God. However, after this trial they were deprived of the use of their left leg, by having the muscles of the knee cauterized with fire, and then again they had their right eyes blinded with the sword, and then destroyed by fire. And not only were they men who endured these things, but really children and many women. And after this they were delivered over to the copper mines to see afflictions there.

And after these things, Paul the confessor was called to the conflict. And he also endured it bravely, and in the same hour was condemned to be put to death, and his sentence was to be beheaded by the sword. When, then, this blessed man came to the place of execution where he was to be put to death, he besought the officer who was to behead him to have patience with him for a little while; and when the officer had granted him this desire, in the first place, with a mild and cheerful voice, he offered up thanksgiving, and worship, and glory, and supplication to God for having accounted him worthy of this victory. Then he prayed for tranquillity and peace for our people, and entreated God speedily to grant them deliverance. After this he offered up prayer for our enemies, the Jews, many of whom at that time were standing around him: then he went on in his supplication, and prayed for the Samaritans, and for those among the Gentiles [p. 33] who were without knowledge; he prayed that they might be converted to the knowledge of the truth. Nor was he unmindful of those who were standing around him, but prayed also for them. And oh, the perfection–which cannot be described–that he prayed even for that judge who had condemned him to death, and for all rulers in every place; and not only for them, but also for that officer who was then going to cut off his head. And as he was offering his supplications to God, the officers heard him with their own ears praying for them, and beseeching God not to lay to their charge that which they did to him. And as he prayed for all with a suppliant voice, he turned the whole multitude that was standing by and looking |31 on to sorrow and tears; and then, of his own accord, he bent down his body, and put out his neck to be cut off by the sword. The conflict of this victorious martyr was consummated on the twenty-fifth of the month Thamuz.

Source. Tertullian.org – Eusebius of Caesarea: The History of the Martyrs in Palestine (1861). Translated by William Cureton.

Preparation for the Gospel, Book 1

CHAPTER II

And what forgiveness shall they be thought to deserve, who have turned away from those who from the earliest time, among all Greeks and Barbarians, both in cities and in the country, are recognized as gods with all kinds of sacrifices, and initiations, and mysteries by all alike, kings law-givers and philosophers, and have chosen all that is impious and atheistical among the doctrines of men? And to what kind of punishments would they not justly be subjected, who deserting the customs of their forefathers have become zealots for the foreign mythologies of the Jews, which are of evil report among all men?

And must it not be a proof of extreme wickedness and levity lightly to put aside the customs of their own kindred, and choose with unreasoning and unquestioning faith the doctrines of the impious enemies of all nations? Nay, not even to adhere to the God who is honoured among the Jews according to their customary rites, but to cut out for themselves a new kind of track in a pathless desert, that keeps neither the ways of the Greeks nor those of the Jews?

These then are questions which any Greek might naturally put to us, having no true understanding either of his own religion or of ours. But sons of the Hebrews also would find fault with us, that being strangers and aliens we misuse their books, which do not belong to us at all, and because in an impudent and shameless way, as they would say, we thrust ourselves in, and try violently to thrust out the true family and kindred from their own ancestral rights.

For if there was a Christ divinely foretold, they were Jewish prophets who proclaimed His advent, and also announced that He would come as Redeemer and King of the Jews, and not of alien nations: or, if the Scriptures contain any more joyful tidings, it is to Jews, they say, that these also are announced, and we do not well to misunderstand them.

Moreover they say that we very absurdly welcome with the greatest eagerness the charges against their nation for the sins they committed, but on the other hand pass over in silence the promises of good things foretold to them; or rather, that we violently pervert and transfer them to ourselves, and so plainly defraud them while we are simply deceiving ourselves. But the most unreasonable thing of all is, that though we do not observe the customs of their Law as they do, but openly break the Law, we assume to ourselves the better rewards which have been promised to those who keep the Law.

CHAPTER III

And in addition to all this, there is no small proof of the truth which we hold in the testimony of the Hebrew Scriptures, in which so vast a number of years beforehand the Hebrew prophets proclaimed the promise of blessings to all mortal life, and mentioned expressly the name of the Christ, and foretold His advent among men, and announced the novel manner of His teaching, which in its course has reached unto all nations. They predicted also the future unbelief in Him, and the gainsaying of the Jewish nation, and the deeds they wrought against Him, and the dismal fate which thereupon immediately and without delay overtook them: I mean the final siege of their royal metropolis, and the entire overthrow of the kingdom, and their own dispersion among all nations, and their bondage in the land of their enemies and adversaries, things which they are seen to have suffered after our Saviour’s advent in accordance with the prophecies.

In addition to this, who can fail to be astonished at hearing the same prophets preach in clear and transparent language, that the advent of Christ and the falling away of the Jews would be followed by the call of the Gentiles? Which call itself also straightway became a fact in accordance with the prophecies, through the teaching of our Saviour.

CHAPTER V

And when you cannot but perceive that man’s whole life depends on these two things—hope and faith—why do you wonder if also the things that are better for the soul are imparted by faith to some, who have not leisure to be taught the particulars in a more logical way, while others have opportunity to pursue the actual arguments, and to learn the proofs of the doctrines advocated? But now that we have made this short introduction, which will not be without advantage, let us go back to the first indictment, and give an answer to those who inquire who we are and whence we come. Well then, that being Greeks by race, and Greeks by sentiment, and gathered out of all sorts of nations, like the chosen men of a newly enlisted army, we have become deserters from the superstition of our ancestors,—this even we ourselves should never deny. But also that, though adhering to the Jewish books and collecting out of their prophecies the greater part of our doctrine, we no longer think it agreeable to live in like manner with those of the Circumcision,—this too we should at once acknowledge.

It is time, therefore, to submit our explanation of these matters. In what other way then can it appear that we have done well in forsaking the customs of our forefathers, except by first setting them forth publicly and bringing them under the view of our readers? For in this way the divine power of the demonstration of the Gospel will become manifest, if it be plainly shown to all men what are the evils that it promises to cure, and of what kind they are. And how can the reasonableness of our pursuing the study of the Jewish Scriptures appear, unless their excellence also be proved? It will be right also to state fully for what reason, though gladly accepting their Scriptures, we decline to follow their mode of life: and, in conclusion, to state what is our own account of the Gospel argument, and what Christianity should properly be called, since it is neither Hellenism nor judaism, but a new and true kind of divine philosophy, bringing evidence of its novelty from its very name.

CHAPTER VI

First, therefore, let us inquire how those of whom we are speaking have judged concerning the first creation of the world; then consider their opinions about the first and most ancient superstition found in human life; and, thirdly, the opinions of the Phoenicians; fourthly, those of the Egyptians; after which, fifthly, making a distinction in the opinions of the Greeks, we will first examine their ancient and more mythical delusion, and then their more serious and, as they say, more natural philosophy concerning the gods: and after this we will travel over the account of their admired oracles; after which we will also take a survey of the serious doctrines of the noble philosophy of the Greeks. So, when these have been thoroughly discussed, we will pass over to the doctrines of the Hebrews—I mean of the original and true Hebrews, and of those who afterwards received the name Jews. And after all these we will add our own doctrines as it were a seal set upon the whole. The history of all these we must necessarily recall, that so by comparison of the doctrines which have been admired in each country the test of the truth may be exhibited, and it may become manifest to our readers from what opinions we have departed, and what that truth is which we have chosen. But now let us pass to the first point.

[PORPHYRY] ‘Of the affairs of the Jews the truest history, because the most in accordance with their places and names, is that of Sanchuniathon of Berytus, who received the records from Hierombalus the priest of the god Ieuo; he dedicated his history to Abibalus king of Berytus, and was approved by him and by the investigators of truth in his time. Now the times of these men fall even before the date of the Trojan war, and approach nearly to the times of Moses, as is shown by the successions of the kings of Phoenicia. And Sanchuniathon, who made a complete collection of ancient history from the records in the various cities and from the registers in the temples, and wrote in the Phoenician language with a love of truth, lived in the reign of Semiramis, the queen of the Assyrians, who is recorded to have lived before the Trojan war or in those very times. And the works of Sanchuniathon were translated into the Greek tongue by Philo of Byblos.’ ²⁰

The same author, in his History of the Jews, further writes thus concerning Kronos:

‘Tauthus, whom the Egyptians call Thoyth, excelled in wisdom among the Phoenicians, and was the first to rescue the worship of the gods from the ignorance of the vulgar, and arrange it in the order of intelligent experience. Many generations after him a god Sourmoubelos and Thuro, whose name was changed to Eusarthis, brought to light the theology of Tauthus which had been hidden and overshadowed, by allegories.’

Source. Tertullian.org – Eusebius of Caesarea: Praeparatio Evangelica (Preparation for the Gospel). Tr. E.H. Gifford (1903) — Book 1

Preparation for the Gospel, Book 6

CHAPTER X

‘The Jews who received a law through Moses all shed the blood of their male children by circumcising them on the eighth day, not waiting for the appearance of a star, nor respecting the influence of clime, nor yielding to any law of a foreign country: but whether they are in Syria, or Gaul, or Italy, or Greece, or Parthia, or wherever they may be, they perform this rite.

‘And this is not dependent on nativity, for all Jews cannot have the same natal stars. Moreover every seventh day, wherever they may be, they abstain from all work, and neither travel nor use fire: nor does his nativity compel a Jew either to build or to demolish a house, to work, to buy or to sell on the sabbath day, although on that same day Jews beget and are begotten, and sicken and die: for these are things not dependent on freewill.

Source. Tertullian.org – Eusebius of Caesarea: Praeparatio Evangelica (Preparation for the Gospel). Tr. E.H. Gifford (1903) — Book 6

Preparation for the Gospel, Book 7

CHAPTER VI

THESE things were known among the forefathers of the Jews from long ages past, far before Moses and the Jewish nation existed. For indeed it is well to make this distinction also clear, that judaism was not yet in existence at that time, but those of whom I speak were Hebrews alike by name and in character, and as yet neither were nor were called Jews.

And you may know the difference between Hebrews and Jews thus: the latter assumed their name from Judah, from whose tribe the kingdom of Judah was long ages afterwards established, but the former from Eber, who was the forefather of Abraham. And that the Hebrews were earlier than the Jews, we are taught by the sacred writings.

But as to the manner of their religion, Moses was the first author of legislation for the Jews, and taught them to observe a certain day of rest, and to keep it with the utmost care for a reminder of the study of the holy scriptures; he taught them also the distinction between animals that might or might not be eaten, and yearly festivals, and certain bodily purifications, another long period also being more religiously observed in accordance with certain covenants.

CHAPTER VIII

For all these there was not one word about bodily circumcision, nor yet about the Jewish commandments of Moses: and therefore it is not right either to call them Jews, nor yet Greeks, because they did not believe in more gods than one like Greeks or the other nations. But they would be more properly called Hebrews, either because of Eber, or rather because of the interpretation of the name.

Such then was the character of this man, from whom arose the Twelve Tribes of the Jewish nation. And countless things might be told concerning the life of these men, and their philosophic endurance and discipline, some things viewed literally, and some in allegorical suggestions: of which things others have spoken, as well as myself in my treatise ‘Concerning the numerous offspring of the men of old.’ Such then were these patriarchs.

Besides them I can tell you of another, whose name was Job, whom the sacred oracles testify to have been a man ‘blameless, true, just, and devout, abstaining from every evil thing.’ ¹¹ Though he did not belong at all to the Jewish race, he has received witness for all right deeds of religion.

Afterwards with sober reasoning he reflects as follows within himself and says: ‘If my master from trusting me knoweth none of the things in his house, and hath given into my hands all that is therein, . . . how then shall I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?’ ¹² For which the God of the universe, crowning him as a victor with the rewards of virtue, gives over to him the royalty and governance over his masters and over Egypt itself. Moreover, he also as a Hebrew of the Hebrews, and not a Jew (because the Jewish nation did not yet exist), has been received among the thrice blessed and most highly favoured friends of God.

But after the Hebrews who have been mentioned, the race of their descendants began to grow into a great multitude, and the Jewish nation, which they constituted, now went on multiplying daily and waxing great, until the influence of the pious conduct of their godly forefathers of old began little by little to be weakened and blunted, while the effects of their intercourse with Egyptians gained so much strength over the multitude of whom I speak, that they forgot the virtue of their forefathers, and came round in their modes of living to like customs with the Egyptians, so that their character seemed to differ in nothing from the Egyptians.

At this point then, when they had turned out such as I have described, the God of their forefathers sends forth Moses as a leader and lawgiver, thus verifying the promises given by the oracles to their progenitors: and then having performed by his hand the wonders that are recorded and the extraordinary signs from heaven, He promulgates a law that was suited to the moral condition of those who heard it. For they were unable through moral weakness to emulate the virtue of their fathers, inasmuch as they were enslaved by passions and sick in soul; so He gave them the polity that corresponded to their condition, ordaining some things openly and clearly, and implying others enigmatically, by suggesting symbols and shadows, but not the naked truth, for them to keep and observe.

And so the Jewish polity began about that time with Moses, and continues in accordance with the voices of their own prophets until the coming of our Saviour Jesus Christ. For this also was a prophecy of Moses himself and the prophets who followed, that the customs and ordinances of Moses should not fail before those of the Christ appeared, the ordinances, that is, of the new covenant, which has been proclaimed to all nations through our Saviour; and thus these ordinances found a fulfilment in the way which had been announced.

But since we have briefly described the life of the Hebrews before Moses, and shown the character of their religion, it is time to consider the method of their doctrine also, from the writings of Moses and the prophets who followed him.

CHAPTER IX

FIRST of all then that admirable theologian and lawgiver himself, in founding by his own writing a polity in accordance with religion for the Jewish people, did not think it fit to employ the common and trite preambles to his books; but after he had collected every law enjoining what ought to be done and forbidding what ought not to be done, and the public and civic arrangements concerning their mutual contracts, he thought it right to make his teaching begin with their ancestral theology, because he considered no other instruction to be proper to laws pertaining to religion, than that theology which had come down to him from their forefathers.

CHAPTER XI

These and the like are the statements of the theologians later than Moses, who were themselves also Hebrews, and spake concerning God in accordance with their earliest forefathers. But listen now to those who were before Moses, men beloved of God and highly blessed, the first Hebrews, and the very first of them all, Abraham, who has been pronounced the forefather of the whole Jewish race.

Source. Tertullian.org – Eusebius of Caesarea: Praeparatio Evangelica (Preparation for the Gospel). Tr. E.H. Gifford (1903) — Book 7

Preparation for the Gospel, Book 8

CONTENTS

I. On the religious polity of Moses	p. 348 a
II. Aristeas on the translation of the Jewish Scriptures	p. 350 a
III. Letter of Demetrius Phalereus to Ptolemy, King of Egypt	p. 351 a
IV. Letter of King Ptolemy, to Eleazar the High Priest of the Jews	p. 352 b
V. Letter of Eleazar the High Priest to King Ptolemy	p. 353 b
VI. Philo on the journey of the Israelites out of Egypt	p. 355 c
VII. The same concerning the religious polity of Moses	p. 357 d
VIII. Josephus on the polity of Moses	p. 361 c
IX. Eleazar the High Priest’s sketch of the thought allegorically expressed in the sacred laws. From the writings of Aristeas	p. 370 c
X. Aristobulus on the mention of limbs as belonging to God	p. 376 a
XI. Philo on the virtuous life of those Jews who of old time studied philosophy, from his Apology for the Jews	p. 379 a
XII. On the same, from the treatise That every good man is free	p. 381 b
XIII. Philo concerning God, and that the earth was created	p. 384 d
XIV. The same author on The government of the world by God’s Providence	p. 386 a

PREFACE

IN the preceding Book, I have traced the lives of the Hebrews of old time before the appearance of Moses, men beloved of God who proved that title true by crowning themselves with the rewards of every virtue. Their pious doctrines also and instructions I described, and moreover their perfectly true and religious beliefs concerning God, which we have confessed that we Christians had come to love and to desire. And now, following the order of succession, I will pass on to the civil polity in the time of Moses, which after that first stage in religion presents a second, namely that which, is provided with legal ordinances quite peculiar to the Jewish nation.

For we shall prove at the proper opportunity that the institutions of Moses were suited to Jews alone, and not to the other nations of the world, nor were possible to be observed by all men, I mean by those who dwelt at a distance from the land of Judaea, whether Greeks or barbarians.

But now I am going to set forth this mode of life, I mean the life in the time of Moses, not in words of my own, but as before only in the words of the very authors who have been approved among the Jews for their hereditary learning: for I think it is proper for me to present the testimonies on which my proofs rest, in the same way as I began, through the authors properly belonging to each subject.

As therefore I called up Phoenicians, and Egyptians, and Greeks as witnesses of the matters well known among themselves in their own country, so it seems to me that the present occasion properly claims these Jewish witnesses, and not that I should myself be supposed to be giving a superficial sketch of matters foreign to me.

But before coming to this point, I think it necessary to set plainly before my readers, how the oracles of the Jews passed to the Greeks, and what was the method settled for the interpretation of the sacred writings entrusted to them; showing also the number and character of the interpreters, and the great zeal of the king, whereby those oracles came to be translated into the Greek language; for the explanation of these matters also will not be unadvisable in regard to my proof of the Preparation for the Gospel.

For when the light of the salutary preaching of our Saviour was all but ready to shine forth unto all men in the Roman empire, more than ordinary reason required that the prophecies concerning Him, and the mode of life of the pious Hebrews of old, and the lessons of their religious teaching, hidden from long ages in their native tongue, should now at length come forth to all the nations, to whom the knowledge of God was about to be introduced; and then God Himself, the author of these blessings, anticipating the future by His foreknowledge as God, arranged that the predictions concerning Him who was to appear before long as the Saviour of all mankind, and to establish Himself as the teacher of the religion of the One Supreme God to all the nations under the sun, should be revealed to them all, and be brought into the light by being accurately translated, and set up in public libraries. So God put it into the mind of King Ptolemy to accomplish this, in preparation, as it seems, for that participation in them by all the nations which was so soon to take place.

For we should not otherwise have got from the Jews those oracles which they would have hidden away for their jealousy of us; but these in consequence of the divinely ordered interpretation were vouchsafed to us in a translation by the men who were approved among them for intelligence and hereditary culture.

These things are described by Aristeas, a man who besides being learned was moreover engaged in the transactions of the time of the second Ptolemy, surnamed Philadelphus, in whose reign the translation of the Jewish Scriptures, made through the zeal of the king, was awarded a place in the libraries of Alexandria. But it is time to listen to the author himself relating the matter word for word in the following manner:

CHAPTER II

[ARISTEAS] ‘WHEN Demetrius Phalereus was appointed over the king’s library, he acquired large sums of money with the view of collecting all the books in the world, and by making purchases and transcriptions brought the king’s purpose to completion, as far as in him lay. 

‘So being asked in our presence how many myriads there are of books, he answered—-“Over twenty myriads, O king: and I shall endeavour to have the rest made up to fifty myriads in a short time. It has also been notified to me that the customs of the Jews are worthy of transcription and of a place in thy library.”

‘”What is there then,” said the king, “to hinder you from doing this? For all that you can require has been assigned to you.” And Demetrius replied—-“An interpretation also is required; for in Judaea they use characters peculiar to themselves, just as the Egyptians use their own position of the letters, inasmuch as they have also a language of their own. And they are supposed to employ Syriac, but that is not so, for it is a different kind of language.”

‘And when the king understood everything, he ordered a letter to be written to the High Priest of the Jews, in order that the aforesaid matters might be completed.’

And further on he adds:

‘And when this was accomplished, the king commanded Demetrius to report on the description of the Jewish books. For all matters were arranged by these kings in ordinances and with great accuracy, and nothing thrown off at random. For this reason also I have given a place to the report and to the copies of the letters, and to the number of the offerings sent, and the manufacture of each, because every one of them was distinguished by the grandeur of the parts and artistic skill. A copy of the report is as follows:’

CHAPTER III 

‘”To THE GREAT KING FROM DEMETRIUS.

‘”IN accordance with thy command, O king, that the books which were wanting to the completion of the library might be collected, and that the parts which had been damaged might be properly restored, I have very carefully given my attention to these matters, and now present my report to thee.

‘”There are wanting the books of the Law of the Jews, together with some few others. For they are expressed in Hebrew characters and language, and are rather carelessly written, and not as they are in the original, according to the report of those who know best, since they have not had the benefit of the king’s providence.

CHAPTER IV

‘”KING PTOLEMY TO THE HIGH PRIEST ELEAZAR, GREETING AND HEALTH.

‘”WHEREAS it happens that many Jews who were carried away from Jerusalem by the Persians in the time of their power, have been settled in our country, and many more have come with my father into Egypt as prisoners of war, of whom he enrolled many in the military class on higher pay, and likewise, when he judged the chief of them to be faithful, built fortresses and entrusted them to their charge, in order that through them the native Egyptians might be intimidated: and whereas we having succeeded to the kingdom deal very kindly with all men, and more especially with your fellow countrymen, for we have released more than ten myriads of them from captivity, by paying their masters the due price in money, and amending whatever wrong was done through the attacks of the mobs, having taken a pious resolution to do this and to dedicate a thank-offering to the Most High God, who has preserved our kingdom in peace and in the highest glory in all the world: we have also enrolled in the army those of the most vigorous age, and appointed those whom we judged capable to be about our person and worthy of trust about the court.

‘”And whereas we wish to show favour to thee also and to all the Jews throughout the world, and to those who shall come after, we have purposed that your Law should be translated in the Greek language out of what you call the Hebrew language, in order that these books also may be kept in our library with the rest of the royal books.

CHAPTER V

Let this abridgement from the writing of the aforesaid author suffice: so now let us take a view of the polity established by the legislation of Moses from authors illustrious among that people. And I will give the first place to the remarks of Philo on the journeying of the Jews from Egypt, which they made under Moses as their leader, quoting from the first book of what he entitled Hypothetica, where, in making his defence of the Jews as against their accusers, he speaks as follows:

CHAPTER VI

After these statements Philo gives an epitome of the civil government founded for the Jewish nation out of the laws of Moses, writing as follows:

CHAPTER VII

So far Philo. A similar account to his is given also by Josephus, in the second Book of his work On the Antiquity of the Jews, where he too writes in the following manner:

CHAPTER VIII

These are the statements of Josephus concerning the political constitution of the Jews established by Moses. But with regard to the allegorical meaning shadowed out in the laws enacted by him, though I might say much, I think it sufficient to mention the narratives of Eleazar and Aristobulus, men originally of Hebrew descent, and, as to date, distinguished in the times of the Ptolemies.

CHAPTER X

Thus far Aristobulus. Now since we have gone through the commandments of the Sacred Laws, and the nature of the idea allegorically expressed in them, it would be next in order to indicate the following point, that the whole Jewish nation is divided into two sections. And while the Lawgiver meant to lead the multitude on gently by the precepts of the laws as enjoined according to the literal sense, the other class, consisting of those who had acquired a habit of virtue, he meant to exempt from this sense, and required them to give attention to a philosophy of a diviner kind too highly exalted for the multitude, and to contemplation of the things signified in the meaning of the laws.

Now this was the class of Jewish philosophers at whose strict course of life thousands even of foreigners were struck with admiration, while the most distinguished of their own countrymen, Josephus and Philo, and many others deemed them worthy of everlasting remembrance. But passing by most of these statements, I will be content at present, just merely for the sake of an example, with the testimony of Philo concerning the said persons, which he has set down in many places of his own memoirs. And of these do you take and read the following from his Apology for the Jews:

CHAPTER XII

[PHILO] ¹⁴ ‘ALSO Syria in Palestine, which is occupied by no small part of the very populous nation of the Jews, is not unproductive of honourable virtue.

It may suffice then that the particulars of the philosophic kind of training and public life among the Jews are set forth by these extracts; and our discourse has previously described the other kind of life, which the divine laws ordained for the mass of the whole nation.

After this then what is left, but to prove also that the theological tenets of the moderns are in harmony with the religious beliefs of their forefathers, so that our discussion of this subject also may be rendered complete?

Since therefore the oracles of the inspired Scripture are set forth in the Book preceding this, let us on the present occasion closely examine the thoughts of the wise men among the Jews, that we may learn what qualities the Hebrews have shown both in theology and in excellence of speech. Again therefore we must have recourse to Philo, from his first Book On the Law.

Source. Tertullian.org – Eusebius of Caesarea: Praeparatio Evangelica (Preparation for the Gospel). Tr. E.H. Gifford (1903) — Book 8

Preparation for the Gospel, Book 9

CONTENTS

I. The Greek historians who mentioned the Jewish nation	p. 403 b
II. Theophrastus concerning the Jews, from Porphyry On Abstinence from Animal Food, Bk. i	p. 404 a
III. Porphyry on the illustrious philosophy of the Jews in ancient times	p. 404 c
IV. Hecataeus concerning the Jews	p. 408 a
V. Clearchus on the same, from Bk. i, On Sleep	p. 409 b
VI. Clement, Strom. i, concerning those who have mentioned the Jewish nation.	p. 410 b
VII. Numenius the Pythagorean philosopher concerning the Jews, from Bk. i, On the Good	p. 411 b
VIII. The same concerning Moses and the Jews, from Bk. iii, On the Good	p. 411 d
IX. Choerilus the poet concerning the Jews	p. 412 a
X. Oracles of Apollo concerning the Hebrews, from the works of our contemporary Porphyry	p. 412 d
XI. The foreign historians who mentioned the Flood described by Moses, from Josephus, Antiquities, Bk. i	p. 414 a
XII. Concerning the Flood, from the writings of Abydenus	p. 414 d
XIII. The long life of the ancients mentioned by many authors, from Josephus, Antiquities	p. 415 b
XIV. On the building of the Tower, from Abydenus	p. 416 a
XV. Mention of the same by many others, from Josephus, Antiquities	p. 416 d
XVI. On Abraham the forefather of all the Hebrews, from the same	p. 417 a
XVII. Eupolemus concerning Abraham, from the work of Alexander Polyhistor On the Jews	p. 418 c
XVIII. Artapanus on the same, from the same work of Polyhistor	p. 420 a
XIX. Molon on the same, from the same work	p. 420 d
XX. Philo on the same	p. 421 c
XXI. Demetrius concerning Jacob	p. 422 d
XXII. Theodotus concerning the same	p. 426 b
XXIII. Artapanus concerning Joseph	p. 429 b
XXIV. Philo concerning Joseph	p. 430 b
XXV. Aristeas concerning Job	p. 430 d
XXVI. Eupolemus concerning Moses	p. 431 c
XXVII. Artapanus concerning the same	p. 431 d
XXVIII. Ezekiel concerning the same	p. 436 d
XXIX. Demetrius concerning the same	p 439 b
XXX. Eupolemus concerning David and Solomon and Jerusalem	p. 447 a
XXXI. Letter of Solomon to Vaphres, King of Egypt	p. 448 a
XXXII. Letter of Vaphres to King Solomon	p. 448 b
XXXIII. Letter of Solomon to Suron (Hiram), King of Phoenicia	p. 448 d
XXXIV. Letter of Suron to Solomon	p. 449 b
XXXV. Timochares concerning Jerusalem	p. 452 b
XXXVI. The Author of The Metrical Survey of Syria on the same	p. 452 d
XXXVII. Philo concerning the waters of Jerusalem	p. 452 d
XXXVIII. Aristeas concerning the same	p. 453 c
XXXIX. Eupolemus concerning the prophet Jeremiah	p. 454 b
XL. Berossus on the Captivity of the Jews by Nabuchodonosor	p. 455 b
XLI. Abydenus concerning Nabuchodonosor	p. 456 d
XLII. Josephus concerning the authors who have mentioned the Jewish nation	p. 458 b

CHAPTER I

Now since we have surveyed the proofs that our acceptance of the Hebrew oracles has not been made without just reasoning, but with carefully tested judgement and thought, it is time to observe that the most illustrious of the Greeks themselves have not been unacquainted with the affairs of the Hebrews; but some of them testified to the truth of the historical narratives current among them as well as to their mode of life, while others treated doctrinal theology also in the same manner as they did.

I will bring forward in the first place the subjects which naturally come first, showing how many of the Greek historians have mentioned by name both Jews and Hebrews, and the philosophy anciently taught and practised among them, as well as the history of their forefathers from the earliest times.

CHAPTER III

ALSO in the fourth book of the same treatise Porphyry narrates concerning the same people such things as the following:

[PORPHYRY] ² ‘The Essenes then are Jews by birth, but united among themselves even more closely than the rest of the Jews.

CHAPTER IV

BUT Hecataeus of Abdera, who was both a philosopher and very competent in active life, devoted a special book to the history of the Jews, and gives very many details concerning them, from which it will for the present suffice to quote the following:

[JOSEPHUS] ³ ‘For most of the strongholds and villages in the country belong to the Jews; and one strong city Jerusalem, about fifty furlongs in circumference, which is inhabited by about a hundred and twenty thousand men, and is called Hierosolyma.

‘And here about the middle of the city is a stone enclosure, about five hundred feet in length, and a hundred cubits wide, with two gates: and herein is a square altar, of unhewn stones collected and just put together in a rough state, twenty cubits long on each side, and the height ten cubits.

‘And beside it is a large building, wherein, is an altar and a candlestick, both of gold, two talents in weight: and upon these is a light which is never extinguished either day or night. But there is no image nor any votive offering at all, nor any plant, absolutely nothing of the nature of a grove or anything of this kind. ‘And there arc priests who pass both their nights and days in the temple, performing certain purifications, and never drinking any wine while there.’

After these statements, lower down:

‘He has borne witness that they also served in the army of king Alexander, and afterwards of his successors. And I will quote what he says was done by a Jew in the expedition when he was himself present: he speaks as follows:

‘When therefore I was marching towards the Red Sea, among the other Jewish horsemen who escorted us, we were accompanied by a man named Mosollam, a person of great spirit, and good strength, and acknowledged by all to be the best archer among either the Greeks or Barbarians.

‘So while many were marching along the road, and a certain soothsayer was taking auguries, and requiring all to halt, this man asked what they were waiting for. And when the soothsayer showed him the bird, and said, that if it remained in the same place, it was expedient for all to halt, but if it rose and flew forward, they should advance, and if it flew back, they must retire again, then this man made no reply, but drew his bow and shot, and hit the bird and killed it.

‘And when the soothsayer and some others were indignant and began to curse him, he said, Why are ye so mad, unhappy men? Then taking the bird into his hands, he said, For how could this bird, which could not foresee how to save itself, have given us any sound information concerning our march? For had it been able to foreknow what would happen, it would not have come to this place, for fear lest Mosollam the Jew should shoot at and kill it. These are the statements of Hecataeus.’

CHAPTER V

[JOSEPHUS] ⁴ ‘BUT Clearchus the Peripatetic philosopher, in his first book Concerning Sleep, attributes to Aristotle the philosopher a statement such as follows concerning the Jews, writing word for word thus:

‘But though it would be too long to tell the greater part, it will not be amiss to go through those of his statements which are alike marvellous and philosophical. Now, said he, understand clearly, Hyperochides, I shall seem to you to relate what is as marvellous as dreams. Then Hyperochides modestly replied, Yes, that is the very reason why we all desire to hear it.

‘Well then, said Aristotle, according to the rule of the rhetoricians, let us first describe the man’s origin, that we may not disobey the teachers of the narrative style.

‘Tell it so, if you please, said Hyperochides.

‘Well then, the man was by origin a Jew, from Coele-Syria. Now these are descendants of the philosophers of India; and philosophers, it is said, are called among the Indians Calani, but among the Syrians they are called Judaeans, having taken their name from the place. For the place which they inhabit is called Judaea: and the name of their city is very awkward, for they call it Hierusalem.

‘This man then, who was hospitably entertained by many on his way down from the inland districts to the sea-coasts, was Greek not only in language but also in spirit. And as at that time we were dwelling in Asia, the man having landed in the same neighbourhood fell into conversation with us and some others of the studious sort, to make trial of their wisdom. And as he had lived in intimacy with many of the learned, he imparted somewhat more than he received.’

Such is the story of Clearchus.

CHAPTER VI

THIS man is mentioned also by our Clement in his first Miscellany, in what he says as follows:

[CLEMENT] ⁵ ‘Clearchus the Peripatetic says that he knew a Jew who associated with Aristotle.’

‘All that has been said about nature among the ancients is said also among the philosophers outside Greece, partly among the Indians by the Brachmans, and partly in Syria by those who are called Jews.’

CHAPTER VII

ALSO from the Pythagorean philosopher himself, I mean Numenius, I will quote as follows from his first book On the Good:

[NUMENIUS] ⁸ ‘But when one has spoken upon this point, and sealed it by the testimonies of Plato, it will be necessary to go back and connect it with the precepts of Pythagoras, and to appeal to the nations of good repute, bringing forward their rites and doctrines, and their institutions which are formed in agreement with those of Plato, all that the Brachmans, and Jews, and Magi, and Egyptians arranged.’

So much then on these points.

CHAPTER VIII

ALSO in his third book the same author makes mention of Moses, speaking as follows: ⁹

‘And next in order came Jannes and Jambres, Egyptian sacred scribes, men judged to have no superiors in the practice of magic, at the time when the Jews were being driven out of Egypt.

‘So then these were the men chosen by the people of Egypt as fit to stand beside Musaeus, who led forth the Jews, a man who was most powerful in prayer to God; and of the plagues which Musaeus brought upon Egypt, these men showed themselves able to disperse the most violent.’

Now by these words Numenius bears witness both to the marvellous wonders performed by Moses, and to Moses himself as having been beloved of God.

CHAPTER IX

[JOSEPHUS] ¹⁰ ‘CHOERILUS also, an ancient poet, has mentioned the Jewish nation, and how they served with king Xerxes in his expedition against Greece. And thus he speaks:

“Next passed a nation wondrous to behold, 
Whose lips pronounced the strange Phoenician tongue; 
Upon the hills of Solyma they dwelt 
By the broad inland sea. Rough and unkempt 
Their close-cropped hair, and on their heads they wore 
The smoke-dried skin flayed from a horse’s face.”

‘Now that he spake this concerning Jews is evident from the fact that Hierosolyma lies on the mountains called by the Greeks Solyma, and that near it is the Asphaltic lake, which is very broad as the poet says, and larger than any of the lakes in Syria.’

CHAPTER X

“With regard then to the name Jews and Hebrews, and their religion and philosophy of old renown, let these extracts suffice: but concerning their ancestral history observe how many writers have agreed.

CHAPTER XI

This is mentioned also by Hieronymus the Egyptian, who wrote The Archaeology of Phoenicia, and by Mnaseas, and several others. Nicolaus also of Damascus gives an account of them in his ninety-sixth book, speaking thus: There is above Minyas a great mountain in Armenia called Baris, to which, as the story goes, many fled for refuge at the time of the deluge and were saved; and a certain man borne on an ark landed on the top of the mountain, and the remains of the timbers were preserved for a long time. Now this must be the same of whom Moses, the Lawgiver of the Jews, wrote.’

So writes Josephus.

CHAPTER XVII

AND with this agrees also Alexander Polyhistor, a man of great intellect and much learning, and very well known to those Greeks who have gathered the fruits of education in no perfunctory manner: for in his compilation, Concerning the Jews, he records the history of this man Abraham in the following manner word for word:

[ALEXANDER POLYHISTOR] ²¹ ‘Eupolemus in his book Concerning the Jews of Assyria says that the city Babylon was first founded by those who escaped from the Deluge; and that they were giants, and built the tower renowned in history.

CHAPTER XVIII

‘ARTABANUS in his Jewish History says that the Jews were called Ermiuth, which when interpreted after the Greek language means Judaeans, and that they were called Hebrews from Abraham. And he, they say, came with all his household into Egypt, to Pharethothes the king of the Egyptians, and taught him astrology; and after remaining there twenty years, removed back again into the regions of Syria: but that many of those who had come with him remained in Egypt because of the prosperity of the country.

‘In certain anonymous works, however, we found that Abraham traced Lack his origin to the giants, and that they dwelling in Babylonia were destroyed by the gods for their impiety; but that one of them, named Belus, escaped death and settled in Babylon, and lived in a tower which he had built, and which was called Belus from the Belus who built it: and that Abraham having been instructed in the science of astrology came first into Phoenicia, and taught astrology to the Phoenicians, and afterwards passed on into Egypt.’

CHAPTER XIX

‘BUT Molon, the author of the collection Against the Jews, says that at the time of the Deluge the man who survived departed from Armenia with his sons, being driven out of his home by the people of the land; and after crossing the intermediate country came into the mountain-district of Syria which was uninhabited.

CHAPTER XX

And my statement is confirmed by Alexander Polyhistor, who speaks thus:

‘”But Cleodemus the prophet, who is also called Malchas, in narrating the history of the Jews even as Moses their Lawgiver has narrated it, says that by Chettura Abraham had many sons: and he also mentions their names, calling three of them Afer, Assur, and Afran.

CHAPTER XXII

[THEODOTUS] ²⁵ ‘Now Theodotus says in his work Concerning the Jews that Sikima took its name from Sikimius son of Emmor; for he was also the founder of the city: and in his book Concerning the Jews he describes its situation as follows:

“Rich was the land, well-watered, browsed by goats, 
Nor far from field to city was the road. 
No leafy copse the weary wanderer found: 
Yet from it two strong mountains close at hand, 
With grass and forest trees abounding, rise. 
Midway a narrow path runs up the vale, 
Beneath whose farther slope the sacred town 
Of Sikima mid sparkling streams is seen 
Deep down the mountain’s side, around whose base 
E’en from the summit runs the well-built wall.”

‘But afterwards he came with his father to Jacob, to ask her fur his partner in marriage; but he said he would not give her, until all the inhabitants of Shechem were circumcised and followed the customs of the Jews: and Emmor said he would persuade them.

CHAPTER XXIII

To this let us add what comes next concerning Joseph out of the same work of Polyhistor:

[ALEXANDER POLYHISTOR] ²⁶ ‘Artapanus says, in his book Concerning the Jews, that Joseph was a descendant of Abraham and son of Jacob: and because he surpassed his brethren in understanding and wisdom, they plotted against him. But he became aware of their conspiracy, and besought the neighbouring Arabs to convey him across to Egypt: and they did what he requested; for the kings of the Arabians are offshoots of Israel, being sons of Abraham, and brethren of Isaac. And when he had come to Egypt and been commended to the king, he was made administrator of the whole country. And whereas the Egyptians previously occupied the laud in an irregular way, because the country was not divided, and the weaker were unjustly treated by the stronger, he was the first to divide the land, and mark it out with boundaries, and much that lay waste he rendered fit for tillage, and allotted certain of the arable lands to the priests.

CHAPTER XXV

BUT hear also what the same author tells concerning Job:

‘Aristeas says, in his book Concerning the Jews, that Esau married Bassara in Edom and begat Job. This man dwelt in the land of Uz, on the borders of Idumaea and Arabia.

CHAPTER XXVI

AND concerning Moses the same author again brings forward many things, which are worth hearing:

[ALEXANDER POLYHISTOR] ‘But Eupolemus says that the first wise man was Moses, and that he was the first to teach the Jews letters, and from the Jews the Phoenicians received them, and from the Phoenicians the Greeks, and that Moses was the first to give written laws to the Jews.’ ²⁹

CHAPTER XXVII

‘AND Artapanus says, in his book Concerning the Jews, that after the death of Abraham, and of his son Mempsasthenoth, and likewise of the king of Egypt, his son Palmanothes succeeded to the sovereignty.

‘This king behaved badly to the Jews; and first he built Kessa, and founded the temple therein, and then built the temple in Heliopolis.

‘He begat a daughter Merris, whom he betrothed to a certain Chenephres, king of the regions above Memphis (for there were at that time many kings in Egypt); and she being barren took a supposititious child from one of the Jews, and called him Mouses (Moses): but by the Greeks he was called, when grown to manhood, Musaeus.

‘About the same time Chenephres died, having been the very first person attacked by elephantiasis; and he is said to have incurred this misfortune because he ordered the Jews to wear linen garments and not to wear woollen clothing, in order that they might be conspicuous, and be punished by him.

‘But Moses prayed to God now at last to put an end to the sufferings of the tribes. And God being propitiated, fire, it is said, suddenly blazed up out of the earth, and went on burning though there was no wood nor any other fuel in the place. And Moses was frightened at the occurrence and took to flight; but a divine voice spake to him, to march against Egypt, and rescue the Jews and lead them into their old country.

‘So he took courage and determined to lead a hostile force against the Egyptians: but first he came to his brother Aaron. And when the king of Egypt heard of the arrival of Moses, he called him before him, and asked what he had come for: and he said, Because the Lord of the world commanded him to deliver the Jews.

‘And the king, being puffed up with pride at what was done, began to maltreat the Jews with every kind of vengeance and punishment. Then Moses, seeing this, both wrought other signs, and also smote the earth with his rod, and brought up a kind of winged animal to harass the Egyptians, and all their bodies broke out in boils. And as the physicians were unable to heal the sufferers, the Jews thus again gained relief.

‘At last after having incurred such calamities the king let the Jews go: and they, after borrowing from the Egyptians many drinking-vessels, and no little raiment, and very much other treasure, crossed the rivers on the Arabian side, and after traversing a wide space came on the third day to the Red Sea.

‘Now the people of Memphis say, that Moses being acquainted with the country waited for the ebb, and took the people across the sea when dry. But the people of Heliopolis say, that the king hastened after them with a great force, having also with him the consecrated animals, because the Jews were carrying off the property which they had borrowed from the Egyptians.

‘There came, however, to Moses a divine voice bidding him to smite the sea with the rod [and that it should divide]: and when Moses heard it, he touched the water with the rod, and so the stream divided, and the force passed over by a dry path.

‘But when the Egyptians went in with them and were pursuing them, a fire, it is said, shone out upon them from the front, and the sea overflowed the path again, and the Egyptians were all destroyed by the fire and the flood: but the Jews having escaped this danger spent forty years in the wilderness, God raining down meal for them like millet, similar in colour to snow. And Moses they say was tall and ruddy, with long white hair, and dignified: and he performed these deeds when he was about eighty-nine years old.’

CHAPTER XXX

‘And again he made an expedition against Suron king of Tyre and Phoenicia; and compelled these nations to pay tribute to the Jews; and contracted a friendly alliance with Vaphres king of Egypt.

CHAPTER XXXIV ‘”SURON TO SOLOMON THE GREAT KING GREETING.

“And as to what thou writest concerning the men in our various peoples, I have sent thee of Tyrians and Phoenicians eighty thousand, and as chief architect I have sent thee a man of Tyre, of a Jewish mother of the tribe of David: on whatsoever thou shalt ask him of all things under heaven, relating to architecture, he will give thee advice, and will carry out the work.

“And with regard to necessary provisions, and to the servants whom I send to thee, thou wilt do well in commanding the local governors, that all things necessary he provided.” ‘

‘When Solomon with his father’s friends had passed over to mount Lebanon with the Sidonians and Tyrians, he transported the timber which had previously been cut by his father to Joppa by sea, and thence by land to Jerusalem. And he began to build the temple of God when he was thirteen years old: and the work was done by the nations before-mentioned, and the twelve tribes of the Jews supplied the hundred and sixty thousand with all things necessary, one tribe each month; and they laid the foundations of the temple of God, sixty cubits in length, and sixty cubits in breadth, but the breadth of the building and of the foundations was ten cubits, for so had Nathan the prophet of God commanded him.

‘He made also a brazen step two cubits high, near the laver, that the king might stand upon it, when praying, so that he might be seen by the Jewish people. Also he built the altar of twenty-five cubits by twenty cubits, and twelve cubits high.

CHAPTER XXXVIII

BUT Aristeas also, in the book which he wrote Concerning the Interpretation of the Law of the Jews, gives the following account of the waters in Jerusalem:

[ARISTEAS] ³³ ‘Now the house looks towards the East, and the back part of it to the West. The whole site is paved with stone, and has slopes towards the proper places for the influx of the waters for the purpose of washing away the blood from the sacrifices: for many myriads of cattle are offered on the several feast-days.

‘And there is an inexhaustible reservoir of water, as would be expected from an abundant spring gushing up naturally from within; there being moreover wonderful and indescribable cisterns under ground, of five furlongs, according to their showing, all round the foundation of the temple, and countless pipes from them, so that the streams on every side met together. And all these works have been fastened with lead at tbe bottom and the side-walls, and over these has been spread a great quantity of plaster, all having been carefully wrought.’

CHAPTER XXXIX

BESIDES this, as Polyhistor has made mention of the prophecy of Jeremiah, it would be a most unreasonable thing for us to pass it over in silence. Let this then also be set down:

[POLYHISTOR] ‘Then Jonachim: in his time prophesied Jeremiah the prophet. He was sent by God, and found the Jews sacrificing to a golden image, the name of which was Baal.

‘And he foreshowed to them the calamity which was to come. Jonachim then attempted to burn him alive: but he said that with that fuel they should cook food for the Babylonians, and as prisoners of war should dig the canals of the Tigris and Euphrates.

‘When Nebuchadnezzar, king of the Babylonians, had heard of the predictions of Jeremiah, he summoned Astibares, the king of the Medes, to join him in an expedition. And having taken with him Babylonians and Medes, and collected a hundred and eighty thousand infantry and a hundred and twenty thousand cavalry, and ten thousand chariots, he first subdued Samaria, and Galilee, and Scythopolis, and the Jews who lived in the region of Gilead; and afterwards took Jerusalem, and made Jonachim, the king of the Jews, a prisoner. And the gold that was in the temple, and the silver and brass, they chose out and sent to Babylon, except the Ark and the tables that were in it: but this Jeremiah retained.’

CHAPTER XL

To this I must necessarily append also the account of the captivity of the Jews under Nebuchadnezzar:

[JOSEPHUS] ³⁴ ‘Nebuchadnezzar having encountered the rebel and joined battle with him, both mastered him, and brought the country at once under his own rule.

‘And it happened that his father Nabopallasar fell sick at this time, and departed from life in the city of Babylon, after having reigned twenty-one years. And when Nebuchadnezzar heard soon after of his father’s death, he set in order the affairs of Egypt and of the rest of the country, and having committed the prisoners of the Jews and Phoenicians and Syrians, the nations near Egypt, to certain of his friends, came to Babylon.’

CHAPTER XLII

BUT after all let me add the statements from the Antiquity of the Jews by Josephus, where, after quoting word for word the sayings of numberless writers, he adds the following:

[JOSEPHUS] ³⁶ ‘Nevertheless the records of the Syrians and Chaldeans and Phoenicians suffice for the proof of our antiquity, and in addition to them so many writers among the Greeks, and yet further in addition to those mentioned Theophilus, and Theodotus, and Mnaseas, and Aristophanes, and Hermogenes, Euemerus also, and: Conon, and Zopyrion, and many others perhaps (for I have not read all the books) have made no slight or passing mention of us.

‘Most, however, of the persons mentioned missed the truth of our earliest history because they had not read our Sacred Books: nevertheless all alike have borne testimony concerning our antiquity, the subject on which I proposed to speak at this time. Demetrius Phalereus, however, and Philo the elder, and Eupolemus, did not go far astray from the truth. And they deserve to be excused, for it was not in their power to follow our scriptures with entire accuracy.’

So says Josephus. And any one who is pleased to read his statements concerning the Antiquity of the Jews will find very many testimonies agreeing with those which I have set forth.

Source. Tertullian.org – Eusebius of Caesarea: Praeparatio Evangelica (Preparation for the Gospel). Tr. E.H. Gifford (1903) — Book 9

Preparation for the Gospel, Book 10

CHAPTER VI

These things Clement states in these very words in the Miscellanies. And to what has now been mentioned I think it well to append also the extracts from the writing of Josephus the Hebrew, which he composed in two books, Of the Antiquity of the Jews, on the point that the Greeks are a young nation, and have received help from the Barbarians, and have dissented from each other in their writings. This too will contribute to the accurate and sure confirmation of my statements. Hear therefore what he also writes, word for word.

CHAPTER IX

WITH regard to Moses and the antiquity of the prophets who came after him, very many others have carefully laid down the evidence in their own writings, from which I shall presently make some few quotations.

But I myself shall take a more novel course than the said authors, and shall adopt the following method. As there is an acknowledged agreement between the times of the Roman emperor Augustus and the birth of our Saviour, and as Christ began to teach the gospel in the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar, any one who may choose to count up the number of the years from this point proceeding to the earlier times, until Darius king of the Persians, and the restoration in his time of the temple in Jerusalem, which took place after the return of the Jewish nation from Babylon, will find that from Tiberius to the second year of Darius there are five hundred and forty-eight years.

[PORPHYRY] ³² ‘The truest history of the Jews, as being that which most perfectly accords with their localities and names, is that of Sanchuniathon of Berytus, who received their records from Hierombalus the priest of the God Jevo; he dedicated his history to Abelbalus king of Berytus, and was approved by him and by his examiners of truth. Now the times of these men fall before the date of the Trojan war, and approach closely to that of Moses, as is shown by the successions of the kings of Phoenicia. And Sanchuniathon, who with careful regard to truth made a collection of all ancient history from the records of each city and the registers of the temples, and wrote it in the language of the Phoenicians, lived in the time of Semiramis queen of Assyria.’

CHAPTER X

‘And Apion the son of Poseidonius, the most inquisitive of grammarians, in his book Against the Jews, and in the fourth Book of his Histories, says that in the time of Inachus king of Argos, when Amosis was reigning in Egypt, the Jews revolted, with Moses as their leader.

‘Herodotus also has made mention of this revolt and of Amosis in his second Book;³⁸ and, in a certain way, of the Jews themselves, enumerating them among those who practise circumcision,³⁹ and calling them the Assyrians in Palestine, perhaps on account of Abraham.

CHAPTER XI

‘Berossus, a Babylonian, a priest of their god Belus, who lived in the time of Alexander, composed the history of the Chaldaeans in three Books for Antiochus the third successor of Seleucus; and in setting forth the account of the kings he mentions the name of one of them Nabuchodonosor, who made an expedition against the Phoenicians and Jews; events which we know to have been announced by our prophets, and which took place long after the age of Moses, and seventy years before the Persian supremacy.

‘In the histories then of the aforesaid authors the rape of Europa is shown to have taken place in the time of one of the kings, also the arrival of Menelaus in Phoenicia, and the story of Hiram, who gave his daughter in marriage to Solomon king of the Jews, and presented him with timber of all kinds for the building of the Temple.

‘Then the Egyptians have accurate registers of dates. And Ptolemy, not the king but a priest of Mendes, the translator of their writings, in narrating the actions of their kings says that the journey of the Jews from Egypt to whatever places they chose, under the leadership of Moses, took place in the time of Amosis king of Egypt.

CHAPTER XII

[CLEMENT] ⁴⁴ ‘THE subject has indeed been carefully discussed by Tatian in his Discourse to the Greeks, and by Cassian in the first book of his Exegetics. But nevertheless my commentary demands that I also should run over what has been said upon the topic.

‘Apion then the grammarian, who was surnamed Pleistonices, in the fourth Book of his Egyptian Histories, although being an Egyptian by birth he was so spitefully disposed towards the Hebrews as to have composed a book Against the Jews, when he mentions Amosis the king of Egypt and the transactions of his time, brings forward Ptolemaeus of Mendes as a witness.

‘And his language is as follows:

‘”But Avaris was demolished by Amosis, who lived in the time of Inachus the Argive, as Ptolemaeus of Mendes recorded in his Chronology.”

‘Now this Ptolemaeus was a priest, who published The Acts of the Kings of Egypt in three whole books, and says that the departure of the Jews out of Egypt under Moses as their leader took place in the time of Amosis king of Egypt; from which, it is clearly seen that Moses flourished in the time of Inachus.

CHAPTER XIV

Next to Moses therefore Jesus ruled the nation of the Jews thirty years, as some say: then, as the Scripture says, foreigners ruled eight years. Then Gothoniel,⁵⁶ fifty years: after whom Eglom king of Moab eighteen years: after whom Ehud eighty years. After him strangers again twenty years: then Debbora and Barak forty years. Then the Madianites seven years: then Gredeon forty years. Abimelech three years. Tola twenty-three years: Jair twenty-two years: the Ammonites eighteen years: Jephtha six years: Esbon seven years: Aealon ten years:⁵⁷ Labdon eight years: strangers forty years: Samson twenty years: then Eli the Priest, as the Hebrew says, forty years; about whose time the capture of Troy occurred. And after Eli the Priest Samuel was the ruler of the people.

Then Jehoahaz three months: after whom Jehoiachim eleven years; and after him last of all Zedekiah twelve years. In his time Jerusalem having been besieged by the Assyrians, and the Temple burned, the whole nation of the Jews is carried away to Babylon, and there Daniel prophesies, and Ezekiel.

And after the number of seventy years Cyrus becomes king of Persia, and he remitted the captivity of the Jews, and allowed those of them who would to return to their own land, and to raise up the Temple again: at which time Jesus the son of Josedek returned, and Zerubbabel the son of Salathiel, and they laid the foundations, when Haggai, and Zechariah, and Malachi prophesied last of all, after whom there has been no more a prophet among them.

He had for his pupil Leucippus, and Leucippus Democritus, and he Protagoras, in whose time Socrates flourished. One may also find scattered here and there other physical philosophers who lived before Socrates: all, however, beginning with Thales appear to have flourished later than Cyrus king of Persia: and it is manifest that Cyrus lived long after the carrying away of the Jewish nation into captivity at Babylon, when the Hebrew prophets had already ceased, and their holy city had been besieged. So you must admit that Greek philosophy was much later than Moses and the Prophets who came after him; and especially the philosophy of Plato, who having been at first a hearer of Socrates, afterwards associated with the Pythagoreans, and shot far beyond all his predecessors both in eloquence and wisdom and in his philosophical doctrines.

Source. Tertullian.org – Eusebius of Caesarea: Praeparatio Evangelica (Preparation for the Gospel). Tr. E.H. Gifford (1903) — Book 10

Preparation for the Gospel, Book 12

CHAPTER VI

And again it says, ‘In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men, . . . who will render to every man according to his works: to them who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life: but unto them that are contentious, and obey not the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there shall be wrath and indignation, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that worketh evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Greek;¹⁹ . . . for there is no difference.’²⁰

CHAPTER XVII

This also Moses had previously enacted, saying, ‘And these words, which I command thee this, day, shall be in thy heart and in thy soul, and thou shalt enforce them upon thy sons.’ ⁴⁶ This the Hebrews are accustomed to do, training up all their young children from a tender age in the precepts of religion: and this is zealously practised to the present time in accordance with an ancestral custom in the Jewish nation.

Source. Tertullian.org – Eusebius of Caesarea: Praeparatio Evangelica (Preparation for the Gospel). Tr. E.H. Gifford (1903) — Book 12

Preparation for the Gospel, Book 13

CHAPTER XIII

‘Whence, he says, it has necessarily come to pass that some embrace and love those things which are objects of knowledge, and others those which are matters of opinion. For perhaps he is prophesying of that elect nature which desires knowledge; unless in assuming three natures he, as some supposed, is describing three forms of polity, that of the Jews silver, that of the Greeks the third, and that of the Christians in whom there has been infused the royal gold, the Holy Spirit.

Source. Tertullian.org – Eusebius of Caesarea: Praeparatio Evangelica (Preparation for the Gospel). Tr. E.H. Gifford (1903) — Book 13

Preparation for the Gospel, Book 15

PREFACE CONCERNING THE WHOLE SUBJECT

Now the fault alleged against us was this, that though we honoured the oracles of the Hebrews above those of our own country, we did not emulate and choose a life like that of the Jews. Against that charge I shall, with the help of God, endeavour to make answer after the completion of my present discourse. For in this way I think that the second part being connected in one bond, as it were, with the first, will unite and complete the general purpose of the whole discussion.

Source. Tertullian.org – Eusebius of Caesarea: Praeparatio Evangelica (Preparation for the Gospel). Tr. E.H. Gifford (1903) — Book 15

THE THEOPHANIA, Book 2

65. And thus, in these (distresses) of soul were all men, in every place : nor, was it enough for them, after these things, to act basely ; but, they were also harassed by innumerable other incurable calamities from without, in every place and city. For, all nations at once, throughout the whole creation, Barbarians and Greeks, were so inflamed by means of the maddening deeds of Demons,—- |126  were so stirred up by the grievous and calamitous disease (of these), that neither intercourse nor agreement existed among men,—-that so far,—-and farther,—-was the great body of (our) common nature forcibly urged on, that, in every corner of the earth in which men lived, they were, both from their usages and laws, in a state of warfare with one another. Nor was it this only, but they were also so fierce in the commotions and wars, in which they opposed each other, that, always and throughout their whole lives, they so engaged themselves that no one who desired (this), could take a voyage for the purpose of merchandize to any place, unless he (first) armed himself as for war. In the villages and fields too, the Agriculturists put on swords, and furnished themselves with an excess of equipment, over and above that of the implements necessary for the cultivation of the earth. Men considered it (also) a virtue to rob, and steal from, their neighbours¹²⁰: and, to our affirmation do all the writings, both of the Greeks and Barbarians, give testimony. The Books also, which are among the Jews, teach (us), that, from times prior to Augustus and Tiberius¹²¹,—-in whose days our Saviour appeared,—-there were in the world, in every city and village, kings and Toparchs fully (established) from the earliest times.

66. The Jews therefore, immediately after the egress from Egypt by Moses, when they had come into Palestine, expelled the Kings, thirty¹²² in number, from their cities. Those however, who were not extirpated, remained and availed themselves of their population, local residences, and |127 kings: those (I say), who resided apart in Gaza, Ashkelon, Joppa, and Azotus, again rebelled among themselves. Scythopolis¹²³ too, and the cities about it, were accordingly so governed, that hence it happened, that their study was in contention and wars with their neighbours. And also, when in Jerusalem the wonderful Temple was built, (and) which Solomon erected, What necessity can there be for saying, how many subsequent wars (happened) and dealt vengeance even on the Jews, on account of their dissimulation in the worship of their God; and on which account, they became divided from each other? They also arose against themselves, and availed themselves of (the aid of) various Kings and enemies ; some of whom took the metropolis formerly called Samaria, but now Sabastia¹²⁴; others again, resided in Jerusalem, and were always engaged in wars with their own people, and these with them¹²⁵.

Source. Tertullian.org – Eusebius of Caesarea: THE THEOPHANIA. Tr. SAMUEL LEE, D.D. (1843) — Book 2

THE THEOPHANIA, Book 3

1. BECAUSE ¹ then, human life had undergone a change, through the things already mentioned, to a state henceforth of peace and rest, and had been prepared to receive the perfect doctrine relating to God; well again, did the common Saviour of all, the only (begotten) WORD OF GOD, the King of all, shew forth the divine revelation of Himself by very deeds, and at the time which was suitable. For, immediately and at once, when He appeared in the world, those things which appertained to the ancient service of Demons, were undone by the overthrow as it were, of (some ruinous) war-engine; tidings announcing good things were preached to all nations, and God who is over all, the Propitiator of the children of men, was announced. The whole error of a plurality of Gods was also overthrown, and all the operations of demons were forthwith cast aside. Men again were no more sacrificed ; nor were the slaughterings of human beings, which from former times had ruined the world, (persevered in). Nor again, were there multitudes of Rulers, Princes, Tyrants, and Governours of |156 the people. Nor again, existed those things, on account of which wars, and the reduction of cities, had been set on foot in every city and place: on the contrary, one God was preached to all men : the one empire too of the Romans had extended itself over all : and the peaceless and uncompromising enmity, which had so long been the portion of the nations, came to an entire end. And, as the knowledge of the one God, and of one just and righteous conduct resulting therefrom, was, by the teaching of our Saviour, delivered to all men; so also one king, at one and the same time, was established over the whole Roman empire, and a profound peace prevailed in every thing. At once too, and at one period, as it were at the intimation of the one God, two singular advantages sprung up among mankind ; the Instruction that was in righteousness, and the Empire of the Romans. For formerly, this error of the Demons had grievously enslaved the nations: and, as the whole had been divided into many (parts), some taking Syria by way of portion; others bearing rule in Asia; others, in Macedonia; others cutting up and seizing upon Egypt; others, in like manner, upon the country of Arabia: the race of the Jews again, had possession of Palestine². And, in every village, city, and place, they were, as from madness (and) like marauders and demoniacs in reality, careful (only) about warfare and contention one against another;–of which enough has already been said.

26. Or, Who so suddenly appeared as an executor of vengeance against those who dared to oppose Him, that, upon the Jews acting (thus) impiously, He forthwith dealt out punishment by means of His unseen power on their whole nation ? and overthrew to the foundations, both their place and rule ?–For He at once levelled to the ground, both their Temple, and their sacred (things) !

27. And Who, like this our Saviour, has clearly foretold the things that respected the impious (Jews), and respecting the Church which was established by Himself throughout the whole creation, and in the very things themselves? and has shewn their confirmation in their effects?–who said of the impious (Jews), “Behold, your house is left desolate²⁵; nor shall stone remain upon |170 stone in this place, which shall not be thrown down²⁶.” And of His Church He said; ” Upon this rock I build my Church, and the gate-bars of Hell shall not prevail against it²⁷ ?”

40. Thus therefore, the ONLY (begotten) WORD or GOD, who availed Himself of a human instrument, and set up His own Interpreter, administered every thing for the healing of men by the will of His Father; still remaining immaterial and incorporeal, just as He formerly was, with His Father⁵⁴. By means of a man also. He shewed forth |181 Godto man, through mighty acts and wonderful works. In the divine Power and in true Wisdom, He scattered His doctrine (as seed); and taught these things, with others allied to them. Nor became He inferior, from what He did: nor, (as so) doing, became He the less dignified from what He taught and delivered.–The doctrines of life and words of light, He laid not down in any book of paper, nor in the perishing skins of animals; but He inscribed on the very souls of His disciples, as upon intellectual tablets, the doctrines respecting the kingdom of God. In the whole of His instructions on heavenly things, hidden enouncements, and which had never before been heard, were delivered. It was also by means of these things, that He taught that the souls which were on the earth, were beloved of God; delivered the memorial of the life that is with God the Father, in heaven; and also, stirred (men) up to cry in prayer and to say, “Our Father who art in heaven,”and, that they should be cognizant of their family which is above. If then, thou art desirous of being a partaker in the contemplation of these things, there is no feeling of jealousy hindering thy approach to the hearing of the Scriptures of His Disciples, and to the knowing of His record in all its parts, both as to His deeds and words ; so that thou mayest in truth, view God, and THE WORD OF GOD ; and see, how He existed by means of an Interpreter with men, in the example of (His) sufferings ; how He, who was immortal, conversed with mortals; how the Image (of God), which is incorporeal, became vested with the nature which is human: and, how the Image of God, which was in Him, moved (Him): how He sent forth enouncements, and made public the Divine teaching; and (how) the Saviour of all, healed every sort of disease and infirmity: and, how ready He was, in whom there was no sin, to good works; and, how those things which eyes had |182 not seen, and which had not entered into the hearing of men, He delivered in mighty deeds; and thus made His Disciples to approach the very summit of excellency with God; made them wise through the power which cannot be described, and constituted them true preachers of His Godhead. Thus again He healed those, whose souls were corrupted by every sort of sin; at one time, inflicting the sufferings (which were) helpful and right⁵⁵; at another, delivering a view of the mystery and doctrine of His Godhead to those who were able to receive it. And, What need is there we should say, how easily and well, and with (what) just rebuke, He received those who were enemies to the truth : at once healing and instructing even these, by the open enouncement of His words ? and, how meekly he presented His person to all as a helper, and as long suffering and passive ? as a Physician also, not of souls only, but also of bodies ? On this account, the name of JESUS was previously imposed on our Saviour⁵⁶;–which is a Hebrew word, designating JESUS as the Physician⁵⁷ of all. Now, the (propriety of the) imposition of the name designating healing on Jesus, He evinced by the works (which He did); for He instructed the souls of men by the Heavenly doctrine, while he healed the Body of all sufferings, pains, and infirmities, by the power of the healing WORD. At one time, He cleansed the leprous in body⁵⁸: at another, He cast out by (His) command the Demons that (possessed) men⁵⁹: and, again at another, He freely healed those who had been reduced by disease ! At one time also, to him– whose body was debilitated, and all his limbs powerless,– |183 He said by word only, “Arise, take up thy bed, and walk⁶⁰;” and this (man) did what He commanded ! And again at another time, He gave the perception of light to the Blind⁶¹! And thus again, at another, a woman⁶²,–who had been afflicted with an issue of blood, and had during the revolution of many years been reduced by her complaint, seeing that great companies were round about Him, and not allowing her to kneel and pray that she might be healed of her complaint,–thought, that if she could but touch the border of His garment, (she should be healed) ; she accordingly pressed in, and touched the border of his garment; and at once, she was both healed of the evil, and immediately became healthy; bearing (away with her) a mighty proof of the power of THE WORD OF GOD ! Another man⁶³ also, the servant of a king,–because his child was grievously afflicted,–fell down before Him, and He forthwith took and healed him ! There was another again, the chief of a synagogue⁶⁴ of the Jews, whose daughter (He restored) ; but this was after she was dead ! And, What need can there be, that we should tell how another arose⁶⁵ by the power of the Saviour of all, who had been dead four days, hearing only the voice of the all life-giving WORD which called him ? Or, how He made His paths upon the sea as upon dry land, causing His Vessel to traverse the back of the waters⁶⁶? Or, how⁶⁷ when His Disciples were sailing and the storm was against them, He rebuked the sea, the storm, and the winds;–gave the commandment by word; and they were instantly silent, so that they were wrought upon, as by the voice of their Lord ? (How) He so filled⁶⁸ and satisfied five thousand men,–when there was with them a company of many women and children,–with five loaves, that they took up an entire remainder which would suffice to fill twelve baskets ! To Whom is not this astonishing ? and Does it (not) likewise challenge the inquiry which relates to his unseen power ? |184 

Source. Tertullian.org – Eusebius of Caesarea: THE THEOPHANIA. Tr. SAMUEL LEE, D.D. (1843) — Book 3

THE THEOPHANIA, Book 4

3. With so much power therefore, did the word of our Saviour go forth, and shewed so much virtue, and so replete was it with power and with so much mercy, and with such ease were the good aids (it afforded given), that He readily promised He would come. And such indeed was the miracle which accompanied the act, that it is impossible to conceive of it as we ought. For this, that He said to the Chiliarch no more than, “As thou hast believed, so shall it be unto thee,” and, with the word, gave health to his son, How effectually does it shew, that it was God who spoke in mortal voice ! But, should any one be persuaded of this with difficulty, on account of the greatness of the miracle; still, such cannot fairly be excused as to His prediction, in which a powerful argument will be afforded in favour of the deed, if any one will consider that at this period, the Roman who drew near to our Saviour, was ONE (only), namely, the Chiliarch, who made a greater and better profession of Him, than (did the whole) Jewish people; and, that our Saviour prophesied that instead of ONE, those, who should like this man draw near to Him, should be MANY ; and, that these should be of those residing in the East, and in the West⁴:–those (I say), who, by means of the |213 knowledge of Him, and of the confession (made) of Him, should be considered worthy of honour with God, equal to that of the Hebrew Fathers:–even of him who is preached of as being the Father of their Fathers, Abraham, who went forth from among his idolatrous forefathers, and changed his manner of life; and, leaving the error of many Gods, recognized the ONE GOD who is over all. He also foretold, that like to this (man), and to his sons Isaac and Jacob, there should be myriads of men throughout the whole creation; and particularly of those who resided both in the East, and the West. To these things He added,–and this (constitutes) the greatness of the prediction,–that these very Jews, the descendants of these Friends of God, who make their boast of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, should, on account of their resistance to Him, and their want of belief in Him,–as if cut off from the light of knowledge,–go forth into outer darkness : and, because of their extreme ignorance and foolishness, (be consigned to) an entire disseverance from the light of salvation. Thus He predicted.–It is now right we should consider the fulfilment of these things, and receive from the testimony of our eyes how these very Jews, who boasted of their descent from the family of those called the Friends of God, have been cast out, not only from the kingdom of God, but also from their own metropolis, the most excellent place of rule, in which the law appointed that their noblest service should be performed ! and (how) those who were formerly free, and the virtuous children of these Fathers, have become slaves; and, being mixed with foreign nations,–a thing unlawful with them,–wander about in lands not their own, and are not permitted to view, even from a distance, the land of their own religious worship! Being moreover, deprived of those princes and kings, who were vested with |214 rule by traditionary right, they now remain in subjection to those who have rased their temple to the ground, and have subdued their whole nation ! Nor is there, as formerly, either prophet or revelation; nor is there help, or act of God. Of all these things, not one existed from ancient times; it was (only) after our Saviour had turned away His face from them that these came upon them, according to His predictions; and such are the things respecting the Jews.

5. Also, how those very persons who confess Him who has arisen from the seed of Abraham, and that He is the Christ of God; and have become, by means of the new birth which is in Him, the children of Abraham ; and have (thus) set their seal to the prophetic Word of our Saviour: and this also, that, in like manner, in the western parts of the world, the whole of Spain and Gaul ⁵, in the countries of the |215 Moors and Africans, in the (Islands of the) Ocean itself, and in Britain⁶, men subscribe to Christ, and even acknowledge the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: upon Him also they call in their prayers, and are looked upon (as) partakers with these same (Fathers) in the worship of God:– If (I say), any one will therefore take these things into his consideration, he will then understand what the power of the prophetic word (was) that declared and said, “Many⁷shall come from the East and the West, and shall sit down in the bosom of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven.” These things therefore, He said, and foretold to the Chiliarch : and, on many other occasions, things not unlike these to the Jewish Doctors. And in this manner He spoke: “When⁸ ye see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the Prophets, in the kingdom of God, and yourselves going out. And they shall come from the East, and from the West, and from the South, and shall sit down in the Kingdom of God.” Of these things an open confirmation is afforded by the fact, of all nations having been converted to the God who is over all. These, He therefore said to them, respecting the conversion of all nations to God, who is over all.

6. Thou wilt learn moreover, from the writings of His Disciples,–that it was by their means He was about soon to call in the nations–which are to this effect: ” When⁹Jesus passed over a part of the sea of Galilee, he saw two brethren, Simon who is called Cephas, and Andrew his brother, casting nets into the sea :–for they were fishers. — He said to them, Follow me; and I will make you fishers of men. And they, in the same hour, left their nets and followed him. And, when he departed thence, He saw two brethren, James the son of Zebedee and John Ms brother, in the ship with Zebedee their Father, and He called them ; and they, in the same hour, left the ship and |216 their Father, and followed Him.” Another writer too has left it on record, that He spoke to Simon on two occasions, a prediction similar to this: “When a great multitude was standing over against Jesus” He (this writer) has said, that ” He went up into one of the ships, which was Simon’s; and, when He had sat down in it, He interpreted to the multitude.” But, after the teaching which was sufficient,–because it was suitable that He should add some Divine work to His words, for the advantage of those who were looking on,–He ¹⁰ commanded Simon to “cast forth his net for a draught: and he said to Him, We have toiled the whole night, and have found nothing ; nevertheless at thy word, I will cast out the net.” And, what He had been commanded, he did. And, when he had taken a great number of fishes, their nets were breaking,–because they were heavy with the many (fishes),–and they called to those who were in the ship at their side, to help them. And thus, when they had drawn up the fishes, they filled both their ships, insomuch that they were pressed to sinking; and, upon these things, Simon was astonished and wondered, confessing that he was not worthy, that our Saviour should come near him¹¹. But, when He had thus shewn him a representation of what |217 was about to take place, He also gave its explanation (thus); “and Jesus said to him, Fear not; Thou shalt henceforth be a fisher of men unto life.” It was to Galileans,–men unacquainted with any thing beyond the Syriac language, and this mean profession and necessity of fishing, by which they were driven,–that our Saviour well promised, that He would “make them fishers of men” and preachers of His doctrine. And, He made them (such). Nor did He belie His promise; but He shewed forth the “POWER OF GOD,” the Doer of a thing, which eclipsed every human excellence! For, had He brought near to Him the Intellectual and the Wise, the Rich, and Illustrious, among the Jews; and had made use of these (as) the Teachers of His words; it would indeed have been likely, that men would have supposed this matter to have been brought about by human means only. For thus are most men usually overcome; (namely), they are either wrought upon by the gifts of the rich, or, they are led astray by excellency of speech, or, by the phantasms of science : or, they fear the power of illustrious personages. But He made use of no such disciples as these: on the contrary, by the poor, the despised ;–by men ignorant as to speech, Syrians in language, and in their character humble and mean,–did He openly manifest His work (of redemption). It was the Divine Power alone, which He made use of;–that which He evinced when He previously called them, and made them go forth ; and so promised that He would make them both “Fishers of men,” and Preachers; that, instead of the nets which they then had, they should receive from Him the net, which should comprehend in its texture, an aggregate of the declarations of both the Law and the Prophets, as well as of those comprehended in (all) the Divine teaching. This they should cast into the sea of mankind as existing in the world, and inclose (therein) as many as they could; filling these their rational nets |218 with every sort of the fish that are rational. But these things, which were then heard by word, were words and sounds, and nothing more: it was an effort of the Divine Power itself, which, at no distant time, brought them to pass; and so fulfilled by deeds the things which had been foretold, that, in a short time, He made His own possession the whole creation of mankind,–congregations innumerable,–by means of these poor and illiterate men; and, that His Churches were every where filled, both with Greeks and Barbarians. For, it was not by that one Divine word of promise, that He would teach His Disciples, but, that He would MAKE them Fishers of men. Nor was it therefore, that He knew only, what should come to pass; nor, that He foretold this; but, that He should also be looked upon (as) the Effectuator of all this knowledge.–He spoke in word, and He performed and established the deed:– that something (I say), which was to be brought about, (He foretold) by demonstration and representation; and of this He gave the fulfilment in the fact itself! For, to them who formerly toiled throughout the lengthened night, which was dark and destitute of the true light and knowledge of God, and could find nothing which they could take, (leading) to salvation, He arose (as the sun) in His brightness, and commanded those who were in the light and the day,–not by their art, but by trusting in his word,–to cast out their nets into the deep. And they so enclosed this great multitude of fish, that their fishing vessels were pressed to breaking, and the ships themselves to remaining in the deep from their weight. And, because these things were so done, astonishment and great fear came upon Simon. But, our Saviour said (as it were) these things to him, Let not these things alarm thee: they are (but as) recitations for the present, and representations of something hereafter to come to pass: for, these are fish unendued with either voice, or reason; these too, are ships and nets, composed of (earthly) material, and are inanimate; but, not as these things, are those of which these are the representations : for shortly afterwards,–that is, immediately, nmv, and forthwith,–thou shall be a fisher of men unto life (eternal). This laborious fishing which returns no profit, thou shalt relinquish; and, thou shall become a |219 fisherman of reasonable creatures, in place of these which are irrational. Nor shalt thou again draw up those whom thou shalt catch from the depths of the sea, but from the bitterness of the life that is hateful; from the chambers of ungodly darkness and from sin, into the light which is intellectual; and to the elevation of purity. That is, thou shalt catch them for life, by means of that which is of life: it is not death that thou preparest for them. These first indeed, which are drawn up out of the sea, and which formerly enjoyed life in darkness and the deep, perish immediately on their ascending and receiving the light. But, those who shall be caught by thee from among men, shall be caught up out of the darkness of ignorance, and shall be changed to the life that is of God. These things therefore, (namely,) ” Thou shalt henceforth catch men unto life,” our Saviour foretold by the Divine power: and the same, our Saviour shewed by very deed, were sure and true. This Syrian fisherman therefore, this net-caster,–did by means of his net,–the texture of which was by the Divine power composed of the words of mystery,–catch innumerable multitudes of men. And, ” The visual perception of something hidden, is something visible¹².” The things therefore, which the long life of the world,– and which from the first experienced not the rising (as of the Sun) of our Saviour,–could not effect:–the things which neither Moses who gave the law to the Hebrews, nor the Prophets who came after Moses, could ; nor yet the multitmdes of others, who from ancient times carried as fishermen the doctrine of God to man, and who toiled throughout the whole night which preceded his manifestation,–could do, this Galilean, this Pauper, this Barbarian, this Simon did, by means of his voice bring to pass. The demonstrations indeed, then given of Simon as to these things, are the Churches which up to this time have arisen, far more in number than the ships (then present), and these, filled with fish that are rational. Such is this of Caesarea of Palestine¹³, and such is that of Antioch of Syria; and such is that of Rome; for, by |220 these Churches–which Simon set up, and by all those near them,–are these things commemorated. Those too that are in Egypt and in Alexandria itself, did he again, not by his own means, but by those of Mark, his disciple, erect. Of those also, that are in Italy and among the nations adjoining, he was the Steward (Dispenser): and he made his disciple Mark the Teacher and Fisherman of those in Egypt. Now, give thy consideration likewise, to the rest of our Saviour’s Disciples, on those whom He said He would make Fishers of men;–and this his word He has shewn forth by deeds. For up to this time He did, and caused, that, forthwith, and throughout the whole creation of man,– His rational net should be filled with every sort of rational fish, Barbarian and Greek ; and that He should draw up from the depths of evil, and the darkness of ungodliness, the souls of men ; turning these daily and hourly to the light and knowledge of God which had been delivered by Himself. Which things, seen as they are with our own eyes, establish,–as it appears to me,–beyond (all) doubt, the Divine manifestation of our Saviour.

8. After his resurrection from the dead, all of them,– being together as they had been commanded,–went to Galilee, as He had said to them. But, when they saw Him, some worshipped Him, but others doubted. But He drew near to them, spoke with them, and said: “All power (both) in heaven and earth, is given to me of my Father. Go ye and make Disciples of all nations, and baptize them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. And teach them to observe all that I have commanded you. And, behold! I am with you always even to the end of the world.” Observe now, in these things, the consideration and caution evinced by the Disciples: (viz.) that they did not all worship Him when they saw Him. Some of them indeed did this faithfully and devotedly, but others refrained for the present. It was not easily and suddenly, that they gave in to this miracle; but, it was after much investigation and with every caution they were so at last persuaded, that they went out to all mankind. They became too, the Preachers of His |224 Resurrection; because it had prophetically said in the Scriptures of the Prophets, in His Person, “Ask of me, and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and (for thy) possessions, the uttermost parts of the earth²¹.” Just as the testimony of this prophecy has now been fulfilled in fact, He said to His Disciples; “All power is given to me, as in heaven, so in earth.” For, He had possessed the sovereignty of the things which are in heaven from eternity²²; but now, He said was given to Him, by His Father, those upon earth, in conformity with this (viz.) “Ask of me, and I will give thee the nations for thy possession. For, from ancient times,–as Moses attests,–” The most High, when dividing the nations, appointed the boundary of the people, according to the number of the angels²³.” |225So that the Angels of God were, from ancient times, Rulers over all that was on the earth. But, when mankind had been perverted to the error of many Gods, and the Angels, who were the Rulers, were unable to afford any remedy for this; the common Saviour of all Himself taught, by means of His Divine manifestation, and after His victory over Death, that the empire of the nations upon earth, should no more be given by his Father to the Angels, but to Himself. And on this account, He commanded his Disciples,–not from ancient times–but now, that they should make the circuit, and make Disciples, of all nations. And He necessarily added the mystery of cleansing. For it was necessary to those, who should be converted from among the heathen, that they should be cleansed by His power from every pollution and uncleanness; because they had been defiled by the error of Demons, and had been holden by the worship of Idols, and by uncleanness of every sort, but had now first been changed from that life of abomination, and of lawless practices. These very persons then, did He direct to teach,–after this cleansing, which is by the mystery of His doctrine,–not, that they should observe the precepts of the Jews, nor yet the Law of Moses, but all those which He commanded them to observe. And these |226 are those which the whole of the Disciples,–making severally the circuit of all the nations,–equally delivered to every Church throughout the whole creation. He necessarily therefore, stirred them up, and made them readily to confide,–to undertake the circuit of all nations, and to make Disciples of all races of men, through the promise by which He counselled them, saying: “Behold, I myself am with you.” To this word of promise, He also superadded the performance. He was present in the Divine Power with each and every one of them; to the whole of them was He at once present, and with them He acted and wrought. He confirmed too, even to victory, (the promise) constituting them Teachers to all nations, of that fear of God²⁴ which was delivered by Himself. In this promise therefore, they trusted; and forthwith, did they fulfil His words by deeds: nor did they in any thing hesitate; hut they (so) went forth with all readiness to the disciplining of all nations, that they engaged in the work. With their eyes they had seen Him who was a little while before dead, then living: and, Him whom they had denied with cursing²⁵,–on account of what then happened to them,–they had seen openly, present, and in his own person; and, as His custom was, He had conversed with them, and promised them the things of which we have already spoken. Nor could they disbelieve His promises, because of His appearing (to them); which (appearing) they bad investigated. Now in this precept, there must have been (much) that was discouraging to them, knowing as they did in themselves the rusticity and illiterate character which they sustained; on account of which, they might indeed have sought to be excused, and have well imagined it impossible that those, whose Language was the Syriac (only), and who knew nothing beyond the art of catching fish, could he Teachers both of the Greeks and Romans, of the Egyptians also, the Persians, and the rest of the barbarous nations : and set about to legislate,–in opposition to all other Legislators and Kings throughout the whole |227 creation,—that which was opposed to the things delivered to them from all ages, respecting the Gods of their Forefathers. But it was not possible for them to think such things, who had heard the voice of God saying to them, “Behold, I myself am with you always.” They had too, openly viewed the Godhead of Him who spoke with them. It had been seen to be superior to Death : respecting which however they had entertained fear. On the contrary they (now) hear, that henceforth they shall, with all their soul, undergo afflictions. They had now taken up from their Master, the certainty of life after death ; they went out tllerefore, with confidence to make the circuit of all nations, that they might confirm by fact, the promises of Him their Lord. But He attached to the promises made to them, a more excellent word ; and,–what exceeds all wonder,– this He shews forth even to this present time; (viz.) ” Behold, I myself am with you always” He added also, “even to the end of the world” And this applies, not only to them, but also to all those who came after them, and from them received His doctrine; and, thenceforward, even to this time, is He present to all those who have become His Disciples. Hence, His Church, which is kept by Himself, is daily increasing and multiplying to myriads; and by His Power shall it be congregated, even to the end of the world !

11. When asking His Disciples on a certain occasion, what men said of Him, and they answering according to the opinion of the many, He asked them the second time, “But³⁰ what say ye?” and, when Simon had said unto Him, “Thou art the Christ of the living God” He answered him, and said : “Blessed art thou Simon son of Jonas, since flesh and blood hath not revealed (this) to thee, but my Father who is in heaven. And I also say to thee, Thou art Cephas: and upon this rock do I build my Church, and the gate-bars of Hell shall not prevail against it.”The (term) “this” He took (as implying) the knowledge, that He was the Messiah, the Son of the living God ; and Cephas (the rock), because it should neither be rent nor moved. It is not unlikely, that He named (in) ” THIS” |231 the whole sense comprised here. On this account too, He designated that same Disciple, who had formerly been called Simon, Cephas (Peter), with reference to this knowledge; (and) of which He afterwards prophesied, and said: “On this rock do I build my Church, and the gate-bars of Hell shall not prevail against it.” He foretold at once something to come to pass, and promised, that Himself would build it (the Church), and bring the work to completion, by the things of this knowledge which had now been |232 given concerning Himself; that it should be made firm as on a confirmed foundation ; and that His Church should be built, solely by means of His own power which is everlasting, and that the gates of Hell should never overcome it. He himself afforded a proof (of this) in the fulfilment, better than any (that) words (can give). For innumerable persecutions, and many forms of death, have sprung up against His Church, but in nothing could they prevail against it. He has therefore, openly confirmed the enouncement of His prediction, by deeds; its truth He has shewn, by the fulfilment. The Church too, which He called the congregation, about to be set up in His name, evinced no small foreknowledge: for the congregations of the Jews had been termed synagogues; and, during the time of His going about among men, He frequented the synagogue of the Jews. Nor was there hitherto, so much as one synagogue only, set apart to Him. And, Who is not astonished, that He so foreknew those congregations which should afterwards be set up, at a great distance of time, in His name, and, that He should not name them, after the Jewish custom, synagogues, but Churches ? He added too, that the gate-bars of Hell should not prevail against them:– things, which we perceive with our own eyes ! Nor should we wonder at the prediction only, but also at His promise, namely, “I build my Church upon the rock, and the gate-bars of Hell shall not prevail against it:” which is (all) so brought near in fact, that we can see it ! For it was not by the power of men, nor yet by the superiority of the Teachers (employed), that His Church was raised ; but, it was He who promised, and in deed fulfilled His promise ! –He (I say) who up to this time has, by the Divine Power, built up, and enlarged, His Church throughout the whole creation of man ! 

On the divisions which are in Houses and Families up to this time, on account of His doctrine. From the Gospel of Matthew.

12. ³¹ Think not, that I am come to send forth peace upon earth : I am not come to send forth peace, but a sword. For I am come to divide a man against his Father, |233 and the Daughter against her Mother, and the Daughter in law against her Mother in law : and the enemies of a man (shall be) those of his own house. (Or), as Luke enounced (it) ; ” ³² Think ye then, that I am come to send forth peace on earth ? I say unto you, No ; but divisions. For, there shall be henceforth five in one house, who (shall be) divided, three against two, and two against three. And the Father shall be divided against his Son, and the Son, against his Father; and the Mother shall be divided against her Daughter, and the Daughter, against her Mother; and the Mother in law, against her Daughter in law ; and the Daughter in law, against her Mother in law.” And, Who is not astonished, that the things which should take place in every individual house, in times far removed (from those of the prediction), and even up to this time, did not remain hidden to the foreknowledge of our Saviour ? For He foretold to His disciples, the things which up to this time are taking place, just as one present to the things themselves, and making the circuit of the dwellings of all the children of men :–things which hitherto have not existed, nor did they at the period in which He enounced these words. Nor, were there yet any such doings; they were then heard only in the ear. But now, that the prediction has in fact come to its completion, and is visible to the eyes, How can any one, who would think justly, but confess that they are in truth the words of God ? And again in these things also,–“For I am come to divide and to send forth a sword, and divisions among the children of men,””–we likewise see with our own eyes, that no word of man, either of philosopher or prophet, whether Greek or Barbarian, ever shewed forth power such as this, that he should so hold the whole creation, that there should be divisions in every house; that he should pass through and distinguish every race, throughout all their families ; and, that of these some should be considered as his own, and others as opposed to these ! But it was our Saviour alone, and this WORD OF GOD, who promised to do this, and He confirmed the promise, in very deed ! The cause therefore, of the divisions of soul that came to |234 pass in houses He Himself taught, as we have found in a place in the Gospel existing among the Jews in the Hebrew language³³, in which it is said: “I will select to myself these things: very very excellent are those whom my Father, who is in heaven, has given to me.” And, one may learn from this, how in every house in which the word of Jesus should prevail, the excellent would be distinguished from the vile. For, if a man make a comparison among brothers, or servants, or in families generally, as to the customs, forms, manner of life, and the purity and meekness of those, who have chosen the doctrine of our Saviour;–for this is |235 what is meant by those who have been selected by Him :– and, of those who have not yet become worthy of Him ; –he will perceive what sort of power that is, of which He has made use; and, that He did not only foretel what should come to pass, but that He has, according to the prediction, also brought the works to pass : and, with other things, these also in which it is written that He said, “I will select to myself the³⁴ very excellent, those whom my Father who is in heaven has given to me.” Nevertheless, (what He) now (said), ” I am not come to send forth peace on earth,” with other things, He explained to the Disciples themselves and said; “I leave peace with you, my own peace give I unto you: it is not as the world giveth peace, that I also so give peace.” It was the knowledge and love of God, which He had prepared for His disciples ; and this, that the soul should not be perturbed. And in this way, He named the light, and confirmation of the mind. These things therefore He foretold, and also respecting these (men) : but, of those which He foreknew and foretold respecting the Jewish People, (the time) is at hand that we should enquire.

On the things which He prophesied against the Jewish people in parables. From the Gospel of Matthew.

13. When the Rulers of the Jewish people, the chief Priests, and the Doctors of the Law, were assembled together in Jerusalem, and He was in the Temple; He foretold covertly and by parable, the things they were about to dare against Him, and the destruction which should overtake them on account of this daring, in this manner : ” There was ³⁵a certain master of a house, (who) planted a vineyard, and surrounded it with a fence, and digged a wine-press therein, and built in it a tower, and delivered it to husbandmen, and departed. And, when the fruit-season drew |236 near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen that they might bring to him the fruit. But these husbandmen seized his servants, and some of them they smote, and some they stoned, and some they killed. And again, he sent other servants, more than the former; and to these, they did in like manner. But at last, he sent his Son, and said, Surely they will reverence my Son. But these husbandmen, when they saw the Son, said among themselves : This is his heir ; come let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours. So they took him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and killed him. When therefore, the Lord of the vineyard shall come, What shall he do to those husbandmen? They say to him, he shall most miserably destroy them; and his vineyard he shall deliver to other husbandmen, who shall render him the fruits in their seasons. Jesus himself said to them, Have ye never read in the Scripture, ‘The stone which the builders rejected, has become the chief corner stone of the building: This is of the Lord, and it is a miracle in our eyes?’ Wherefore I say unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and shall be given to a people which shall render the fruits” (thereof.) And this parable is of a sort with that, which is in the Prophet Isaiah, which is (given) in this manner: “My beloved had a vineyard on the horn of a fat place. And he cultivated it, and surrounded it with a fence, and planted in it vines, and built a Tower within it. He also made a wine-press in it. And he expected that it would produce grapes; but it produced wild grapes.” But this that is in the Prophet, accuses the vineyard; which he thus interprets, as to who was (really) intended, when he says, “For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house that is in Israel, and the men of Judah are (His) one beloved plant. I looked for judgment, but there was rapine; and for righteousness, but behold, howling!” 

14. The parable then, spoken by our Saviour, was so like to that of the Prophet, that it was known to point out those who were present and heard (it). But, it was not of the vineyard that it was spoken, because the Prophet |237 had already made his prediction of this. The things however, which were not mentioned in the Prophet, He supplied in His parable: those, I say, which respected the husbandmen of the vineyard; and these were the Elders of the people, the chief Priests, the Rulers, and Doctors: those, who indeed were the cause to the whole congregation, that they should render evil fruit, and, on whose account, the vineyard itself was left to destruction. That is, the whole of their people, with their fence, was rooted up; those who formerly contended for the people, and watched over the people, together with their place. The Tower that was in it, was the Temple; the wine-press, the Altar. And all these were therefore, wholly taken away, even to their foundations ; because the husbandmen had become polluted with blood ; those (I say), who had openly slain the servants first and last; those Prophets, who had, time after time, been sent unto them. The Old Testament also gives its testimony (otherwise) to this matter; and, of the Prophets, Elias who in his prayer to God says, “Lord, they have slain thy Prophets, and broken down thy Altar: and I am left alone, and they seek to take my life³⁶.” Of these things therefore does this Prophet, by his prayer, accuse the rulers of the Jewish people. These however, the pollution of the Prophets’ blood had not satisfied, and at last they slew the Son himself, that is, the Son of God! Nor was it that they knew Him not; but, when they knew fully and accurately, that He was the heir ! These things then, our Saviour Himself delivered by parable, respecting Himself, before His suffering. He also foretold,–by His foreknowledge, what should come to pass; (viz.) these things when walking in the Temple,–to those husbandmen of the vineyard of His times, the Chief Priests, the Doctors, and the rest of those who were at the head of the people. And much (and) openly did He, in the parable, prepare them to pronounce condemnation against themselves : asking them in the close of the parable, and saying, “What shall the Lord of the vineyard, when He comes, do to those husbandmen?” |238And they, not yet understanding that it had been spoken of themselves, gave judgment against themselves, saying, “He shall most miserably destroy them, and shall give up the vineyard to other husbandmen, who shall render to Him the fruits in their seasons.“Jesus then said to them : ” ³⁷ Have ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, has become the chief corner (stone) of the building: This is from the Lord, and is a miracle in our eyes?” Very consistently after the prediction of His death, He pointed out, from the testimony of the prophets, His own resurrection from the dead. For He had previously taught, that the Son of the Lord of the vineyard should be slain by the wicked husbandmen, and had obtained from themselves (their own) condemnation. After that, He brought this forward : ” The stone which the builders rejected, has become the chief corner (stone) of the building:” which, in the prophecy, had been given by way of parable on His resurrection. For,–after He had been rejected by those husbandmen who were also the builders, He (I say), who was (as) a precious stone, and of whom the Prophet Isaiah says, “³⁸Behold, I lay in Zion a choice and precious stone, the chief corner (stone) of the foundation: And he, who believeth in it, shall not be ashamed,”—He became the chief corner (stone) of another building, of which the (divine) word has said: “³⁹And this is a miracle in our eyes:” by which He meant His Church. And thus deservedly did He, according to their own judgment on themselves, repay them, saying, ” The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and shall be given to a people, that will render the fruits” (thereof) : which corresponds to this declaration (already) mentioned, (viz.) “from them;” that He would ” give the vineyard to other husbandmen, who should render to Him the fruits in their seasons.” For He named the “kingdom of God,” those observances in which the worship of God consisted; and these Hedeclared, should be taken away from those husbandmen: and (this) He has most openly shewn, and brought to effect; |239 giving (the vineyard) to another people, which does bring forth its fruits. And this is the Christian people, which docs, throughout the whole creation, bring forth the fruits, that are both conformable, and suitable, to the observances of God; and shews this daily, both in words and works.

On the rejection of the Jews at once, and the calling of the Gentiles: also on those who should unworthily be gathered into His Church ; and on the end of these, From the Gospel of Matthew.

15. After the Parable which has already been mentioned, the word of the Divine Scripture states, that “⁴⁰When the chief Priests and Pharisees had heard His parables, they knew that He spake against themselves, and they sought to take Him: but they feared the people, because they held Him as a Prophet.“”⁴¹And Jesus answered them, and said again in a parable: The kingdom of heaven is like to a (certain) man, a king, who made a (marriage) feast for his son, and sent his servants to call those who had been bidden to the feast; but they would not come. And again, he sent out other servants, and commanded them to say to those who had been bidden: Behold, my dinner is ready, my fatted oxen are slain, and every thing is prepared for you : Come to the feast. But they disregarded and went away, One to the village (farm), and Another to (his) merchandise. But they who remained seized his servants, and abused and slew (them). And the king was enraged, and sent his army and slew those murderers, and burnt up their city. He then said to his servants, My dinner is ready, but those who were bidden were unworthy of it. Go ye out therefore, into the ways and paths, and every one that ye find, call to the feast. So those servants went out into the ways, and they brought together all they could find, (both) bad and good.” Now, in the former Parable, the Vineyard, the Tower, the Winepress, and the Husbandmen, were evil: and the servants |240 sent, first and last, were killed. And, at last, even the Son of the Lord of the vineyard was himself slain : by which were pointed out, the People, the Temple, the Altar, and the Rulers of the Jews; and also those wicked husbandmen, who, standing at the head of the people, slew both the former and latter Prophets, and at last the Son of God Himself!

16. Now the Parable before our eyes, obviously introduces the familiar feast, and bringing together, of the Bridegroom and Bride, with a marriage-supper: and again the servants also, who are here destroyed and slain, and the former and latter persons bidden. By means of these again, He points out covertly, the things that happened after His resurrection from the dead. For the Bridegroom is, THE WORD OF GOD ; the Bride, the rational soul, which is associated with Him, and receives the Divine seed that is of Him. And (this) Divine and rational association, (represents) that of His Church : and, consequent upon these things, the rational feast and marriage supper, (represent) the Divine and heavenly aliments (so prepared). He does not here speak of the inviting servants, with reference to those who were formerly sent to the vineyard, but, with reference to the latter ones. For those were the Prophets; but these, His own Apostles, who were sent forth to make the call, (and) first, of those who were of the circumcision. For, when He first sent these forth, He charged them, saying, “⁴²Into the way of the Gentiles go ye not; and into a city of the Samaritans enter ye not; but rather go ye to the wandering sheep of the house of Israel.” These same persons therefore, the servants did first invite; but, when they hearkened not to the call, He sent also, the second time, many Evangelists and Preachers of the Gospel ; those whom He chose, after the twelve Apostles, the seventy other Disciples, who also first preached the Gospel to the Jewish people, and called them to the feast of the New Testament. But they availed nothing, because they, who had been bidden, were busied with their merchandise; and who, after they had heard the |241 call of the servants, abused some, and killed others. And it is in our power to find from the Scriptures, how many of the Disciples of our Saviour they afterwards killed, both in Jerusalem and in the rest of Judea. Stephen then was, in the first place, forthwith slain by them by stoning. After him, James the brother of John⁴³. And again after them, he who first chose (to accept) the throne⁴⁴ of the Church of that place, James who was called the Brother of our Lord: whom, on account of his great excellence, they called “the Just⁴⁵.”Him too, the Jews of those times killed by stoning. How they abused the Apostles by stripes, the Book of the Acts relates. And these things did He, by His divine knowledge, foretel before they happened; He also foretold the things which should befall them from the Jews. By means of a parable too, He predicted what should come to pass before these things took place, by these expressions, (viz.) “The king was enraged” at the abuse and slaughter of his servants, ” and sent his army, and slew those murderers, and burnt up their city.”And, What can be more obvious than this foreknowledge, and the fulfilment of the things themselves (so predicted) ? For the army of the Romans came soon after, and took the city, and destroyed the Temple itself by fire. And, of Whom was it, except of Him who is King of all, God over all, that it was thus said, that “the King shall send his army, and shall slay those murderers, and shall burn up their |242 city?” To this very time indeed, the remnants of the conflagration which took place in various parts of the city, are obvious to the sight of those who travel thither. But, how those murderers of the Apostles were taken in the reduction (of the city), and suffered the punishment which they deserved, it is not necessary we should say, as the things which were done to them, may readily be found in the record of the Romans⁴⁶ by Flavius Josephus⁴⁷. After the slaughter of these therefore, and the reduction of the metropolis of their kingdom, they,–who remained of those servants that had first heard it said by their Lord, “They who were first called were not worthy; but go ye out into the ways and paths, and all that ye find, call to the feast”–performed even the thing commanded. Our Saviour said to them therefore, after His resurrection, ” Go ye and make Disciples of all nations in my name,” And these things He said, who formerly had commanded: ” In the way of the Gentiles go ye not” but (enjoined) that they should preach to the Jews only. But, when these had abused (their) Inviters, then He dismissed the servants the second time, and said, ” Those that were called were not worthy. Go ye out into the ways and paths, and all that ye find call to the feast.” And this they fulfilled in deed. They went out into the whole creation, and they preached to all nations, the divine and heavenly calling; and ” they collected together as many as they could find, (both) bad and good.” Let no one therefore wonder, that, of those, who are collected into the Church of Christ, all are not good; but, that in the mixture together with the good, the evil will also be collected. Nor did this escape the foreknowledge of our Saviour. And it is accordingly seen to remain in fact, in conformity with that foreknowledge : and, what the end of those will be, who are brought together unworthily in His Church, He Himself shews; for He afterwards teaches these things in the |243 parable, saying, “And⁴⁸ the feast was filled with guests: but, when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man who had not (on) wedding garments. And he said to him, My friend! how earnest thou in hither not having put on wedding garments ? And he was silent. Then the king said to the ministers: Bind him hands and feet, and cast him out into outer darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are the called, but few the chosen.” He likewise previously rebuked, with these predictive words, those who should conduct themselves unrighteously in His Church. 

Again, on the rejection of the Jewish people. From the Gospel of Matthew.

17. ” Ye⁴⁹ serpents, ye generation of vipers, How shall ye escape hell ? Wherefore, behold, I send unto you Prophets, and Wise men, and Scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify, and some of them ye shall scourge in your synagogues, and shall persecute them from city to city; so that there shall come upon you, all the blood of the Righteous, which has been shed upon the land, from the blood of Abel, even to the blood of Zecharias the son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the steps and the altar. I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.” There is no need we should affirm, that all these things are so plain, as to require no explanation whatever; which, being afterwards fulfilled in very deed, confirmed by (their) open fulfilment, the foreknowledge of our Saviour. For the Apostles were scourged by the Jews at a subsequent period, in Jerusalem itself; when also, they went forth from their synagogues, “rejoicing⁵⁰that they were found worthy to be reproached for his name’s sake that they were found worthy to be reproached for his name’s sake.”Stephen also was stoned by them; and James was slain with the sword⁵¹; and again, the second |244 James was put to death with stones⁵². And Simeon, who after James held the Episcopal chair in Jerusalem⁵³, was given upto crucifixion, as the history reminds (us). And many others again, who were slain by the Jews, have (thus) set their seal to the foreknowledge of our Saviour. On account of all which, the judgment of God took vengeance on the generation that dared to do all this: and, upon it turned back the (just) consequence of all its deeds. For it was of that generation that their Temple and altar were rooted up, and the kingdom, which had, by tradition from their forefathers, been preserved to that very time, was dissolved. And of the same, was their freedom taken away: and, from the effects themselves it was evident, that the avenging of the blood of all the Righteous was on that generation, in conformity with the words of our Saviour. It is necessary then we should see, with what entire power, and by what sort of force, it was said, “Behold I send to you Prophets, and Wise men.” For (this), “Behold I send” is an intimation of the power of God. And, that He called the Rulers of the Jews to their face, a “generation of vipers,” affords no proof of deficiency (in this respect). The prediction too, of the destruction which should overtake them, does, after all the rest, afford ample confirmation as to these declarations; and this their complete fulfilment proves⁵⁴. These things are therefore sufficient (here). Let us then, |245 now enquire accordingly, how it happened to the land which had always been precious to them, and to those glories of the metropolis of the kingdom which had been (so) famous with them; of which, by His divine foreknowledge He attested ;–weeping bitterly as He did over them of his mercy,–that the whole should undergo a change to the extremes of calamity, because of the insolence of its inhabitants against Him.

On the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem.

18. What the end of those things should be, which had been foretold respecting the Jewish people, has (already) been said and shewn. But, as He, THE WORD OF GOD, prophesied also respecting these places themselves, it is necessary we should see His words on them. Now, when the Rulers of the Jews would not bear the purity of His Doctrine, its publication, nor His rebukes, they so acted as to rid their city of Him. He then, leaving Jerusalem, pronounced these words over their city: “⁵⁵Jerusalem, Jerusalem! that hast killed the Prophets, and stoned them that were sent unto thee, How often would I have gathered thy children together, as the hen gathereth her chickens under her wings : but ye would not. Behold I your house is left desolate. For I say unto you, that ye shall not see me henceforth until ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.” Impurity (and) pollution afterwards marked their doings: and this was the sin in which they dared to persist against our Saviour. And it was right, not only that the Inhabitants of the city, but also the land itself,–in which they so greatly boasted.–should be made to suffer the things, which the deeds of its inhabitants deserved. And these they did suffer ! For it was not long, before the Romans came against the city: and, of the inhabitants, some they killed by the law of war; others they destroyed by famine; others they led away captive ; and others they persecuted. The captive⁵⁶ (City) and Temple they burnt, and reduced to utter |246 desolation ! But the things which took place afterwards, did our Saviour, from his foreknowledge as THE WORD or GOD, foretel should come to pass, by means of those which are (now) before us. For He named the whole Jewish people, the children of the City; and the Temple, He styled their House. And thus He testified, that they should, on their own wicked account, bear the vengeance thus to be inflicted. For many times would He have gathered their children together beneath the yoke of the worship of God, just as all formerly was; even as He had from ancient times been careful for them, and had, during all ages, instructed them by one or other of the Prophets, and called them, but they would not hearken to his call;–on this account, He gave judgment against them, and said, “Behold your house is left desolate.” It was therefore with special care that He said, not (only) the City itself should be desolate, but the House that was within it: that is, the Temple; (and) which He was unwilling should again be called His, or yet “the House of God,” but theirs (only). He prophesied too, that it should be desolate in no other way, than as deprived of that providential care, which was formerly exerted over it: hence He said, “Behold your house is left desolate.” And, it is right we should wonder at the fulfilment of this prediction, since at no time did this place undergo such an entire desolation as this was. Not at the time when it was rased to its foundations by the Babylonians, on account of their great wickedness, their worshipping of Idols, and pollution in the blood of the Prophets. For seventy years was the whole period of the desolation of the place in those times: because it was not (thus) fully said to them at that time, “Behold your House is left desolate.” Nor was it (then so) forsaken; an event happening soon after, which dignified it with a renewal much more illustrious than its former state, as one of the Prophets had foretold : (viz.) “The glory of this latter House shall be greater than that of the former⁵⁷.” After the enouncement therefore of our Saviour,–that they should so be left, and their house come, by the judgment of God, to utter desolation ;–to |247 those who visit these places, the sight itself affords the most complete fulfilment of the prediction. The period too has been that of many years, and (of duration) so long, as not only to be double of the desolation of seventy years,– which was that in the time of the Babylonians,–but even to surpass four times (its duration) ; and (thus) confirming the judgment pronounced by our Saviour. Again, on another occasion, our Saviour–walking by the side of the Temple, just mentioned, and His Disciples wondering at the building which surrounded it, and pointing out to Him the greatness and beauty of the same Temple;–returned to them answer and said, “Behold! see ye not all these things ? I say unto you, stone shall not be left here upon stone, which shall not be thrown down.”The Scriptures do moreover shew, that the whole building and the extreme ornamenting of the Temple there, were indeed thus worthy of being considered miraculous: and, for proof (of this), there are preserved, even to this time, some remaining vestiges of these its ancient decorations. But, of these ancient things, the greatest miracle of all is, the Divine word (declaring) the foreknowledge of our Saviour, which fully enounced to those, who were wondering at the buildings (of the Temple), the judgment, that there should not be left in the place at which they were wondering, “one stone upon another which should not be rased” For it was right, that this place should undergo an entire destruction and desolation, on account of the audacity of its Inhabitants; because it was the residence of impious men. And, just as the prediction was, are the results in fact remaining: the whole Temple, and its walls,–as well as those ornamented and beautiful buildings which were within it, and which exceeded all description,–have suffered desolation from that time to this! With time too, this increases : and, so has the power of THE WORD gone on destroying, that, in many places, no vestige of their foundations is now visible! which any one who desires it, may see with his own eyes⁵⁸. And, should any |248 one say, that a few of the places are still existing; we may nevertheless, justly expect the destruction of these also, as their ruin is daily increasing: the predicting word, just mentioned, daily operating by a power which is unseen. I know too–for I have heard it from persons who interpret the passage before us differently,–that this was not said on all the buildings, except only on that place which the Disciples, when expressing their wonder upon it, pointed out to Him ; for it was upon this that He spoke the predicting word. Again, the Scriptures of His Disciples which teach respecting Him, (teach) us these things (following), on the utter destruction of the place.–

On the taking of the City. From the Gospel of Luke.

19. “And⁵⁹, when He saw the city, He wept over it, and said, If thou hadst known, even in this day the things of thy peace.–But now, they are (so) hidden from thine eyes, that the days shall come upon thee, in which thine enemies shall surround thee, and shall press upon thee from every part of thee: and they shall utterly root thee up, and thy children within thee.” The things, prior to these, were predicted respecting the Temple; these, which are now before us, respecting the City itself; which the Jews named the City of God, because of the Temple of God that had been built within it. Over the whole of this then, the compassionate (Saviour) wept. It was not, that He had so much pity on the buildings, nor indeed upon the land, as He had first upon the souls of its inhabitants, and (then) upon (the prospect of) their destruction. He pointed out moreover, the cause of their desolation when He said, “If thou hadst known, even in this day, the things of thy peace:” intimating too His own coming, which should be for the peace of the whole world. For |249 this is He, of whom it was said, “In his days shall righteousness arise (as the sun), and abundance of peace⁶⁰. He came also for this purpose, that “He⁶¹ might preach peace to them that were near, and to them that were afar off.” And, of them who received Him, He said, “Peace⁶²I leave to you I leave to you; my peace give I unto you:” the peace, which all nations who believed on Him throughout the whole creation, have received. But the people, who were of the circumcision and believed not on Him, knew not the things of their peace : and, on this account, He said afterwards, “It is now (so) hidden from thine eyes, that the days shall come upon thee, (in which) thine enemies shall surround thee⁶³.”The things (I say), which were therefore to take hold on them, a short time after, in the reduction (of the city) : (and), because they had no previous perception of the peace, that had been formerly preached to them, it should now be concealed from their eyes. They had therefore, no previous perception of any thing, which should afterwards befall them; He then plainly foretold these things by His foreknowledge, and gave open intimation of the reduction (of the city), which should come upon them through the Romans, (when saying), “The days shall come upon thee…because thou knewest not the things of thy peace.” For, for this cause “there shall come upon thee the days, (in which) thine enemies shall surround thee, and shall go round about thee, and shall press upon thee from every quarter of thee; and they shall root thee out, and thy children within thee⁶⁴.”In these (words) then, has been recorded the form of war which should come upon them. And, how they were fulfilled, we shall presently find from the writings of Josephus, who was himself a Jew, and descended from a tribe of the Jews ;–one of the well known and famous men among that people. At the time of the reduction (of the place), he committed to writing every thing that was done among them; and (so) shewed, that the predictions before us were, in their facts, fulfilled. |250 

Again, on the reduction of the City. From the Gospel of Luke.

20. “⁶⁵When ye shall see Jerusalem surrounded by an army, know ye that its desolation is near. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. And let those that are within it (Jerusalem) give up⁶⁶: and let not those that are in its borders, enter into it. Because these are the days of vengeance, that all which has been written should be fulfilled. But, woe to them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days; for there shall be great tribulation upon the land, and great wrath upon this people. And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led captive into all nations. And Jerusalem shall be trampled on by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles shall be fulfilled.” Previous to this He said, “Behold your house is left desolate.” He now gives by the words before us, the signs of the times of the final destruction of the place; and these He shews, saying, “When ye shall see Jerusalem surrounded by an army, thence know ye that its desolation is near.” Now, let no one imagine, that, after the reduction of the place, and the desolation that should be in it, another renewal of it shall take place, as it was in the times of Cyrus, king of the Persians; and afterwards in those of Antiochus Epiphanes; |251 and again, in those of Pompey. For many times did this place suffer reduction, and was afterwards dignified by a more excellent restoration. But, when ye shall see it reduced by armies, know ye that which comes upon it, to be a final and full desolation and destruction⁶⁷. He designates the desolation of Jerusalem, by the destruction of the Temple, and the laying aside of those services which were, according to the law of Moses, formerly performed within it. You are not to suppose, that the desolation of the city, mentioned in these (words), was to be such that no one should any more reside in it: for He says after this, that the city shall be inhabited, not by the Jews, but by the Gentiles, when speaking thus, “And Jerusalem shall be trampled on by the Gentiles⁶⁸.” It was known therefore to Him, that it should be inhabited by the Gentiles. But He styled this its desolation (viz), because it should no more (be inhabited) |252 by its own children, nor should the service of the law he established within it. And, how these things have been fulfilled, many words are not wanted (to shew) ; because, we can easily see with our own eyes, how the Jews are dispersed into all nations; and, how the inhabitants of that which was formerly Jerusalem,–but is now named Aelia by Aelius Hadrian,–are foreigners, and the descendants of another race. The wonder therefore of the prophecy is this, that He said of the Jews, “they should be led captive into all nations;” and, of the Gentiles, “that Jerusalem should be trampled on by them.” This miracle is then complete : the Jews being now fully (dispersed) throughout the whole creation, so that they are (found) remaining among the Ethiopians, the Scythians, and in the extremities of the earth. It is only their own city, and the place in which their worship formerly was (carried on), that they cannot enter⁶⁹! But, if the city itself had been utterly desolated, and without inhabitants, men would have thought that this was the cause (of their exclusion from it). Now however, that the place is inhabited by foreigners, the descendants of a different race, and that it is not allowed to them alone even to set a foot in it, so that they cannot view even from a distance the land of their forefathers⁷⁰; the things foretold of it are fulfilled, in exact accordance with the prediction: (viz). “They shall be led captive into all nations, and Jerusalem shall be trampled on by the Gentiles“The manner moreover of the captivity, points out the war. of which He spoke; “For (said He) there shall be (great)⁷¹ tribulation upon the land, and great wrath upon this people : and they shall fall by the edge of the sword.” We |253 can learn too, from the writings of Flavius Josephus, how these things took place in their localities, and how those, which had been foretold by our Saviour, were, in fact, fulfilled. He also shews plainly the fulfilment of the prediction of our Saviour, when He said, “Woe to those that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days⁷².”For he has put it on record, how the women roasted their children by the fire and ate them, on account of the pressure of the famine which prevailed in the city. This famine therefore, which took place in the city, our Saviour foresaw, and counselled His Disciples that, in the reduction which was about to come upon the Jews, it was not for them to take refuge in the city as in a place guarded and preserved by God, but in which many should suffer ; but, that they should depart thence, and “flee to the mountains;”and, that those, who should be within Judea, should give up to the Gentiles; and those, who were in its lands, should not take refuge in it as in a fortified place. On this account He said, “Let those who are in its borders⁷³ not enter into it, since these are the days of vengeance, that all may be fulfilled which has been written.”Any one therefore, who desires it, may learn the results of these things from the writings of Josephus. And, if it is right we should lay down a few things from him in this book, by way of testimony, there is nothing that should hinder us from hearing the historian himself, who writes in this manner;–

From the sixth Book of Josephus⁷⁴.

21. “And, How can it be necessary, that I should describe the severity of the famine, as to things inanimate? I come then to the making known of a fact, the like of which has not been recorded, either among the Greeks, or the Barbarians : one which, it is shocking to mention, and, to the hearing, incredible. I myself indeed, would |254 gladly have left this calamity (unmentioned)–that I might not be thought by those who shall come after, to have related falsehoods,–had I not had many witnesses among those of our own times. I should indeed otherwise have rendered but a doubtful good, as to the land of my fathers, had I omitted to mention the things which, it has, in fact, suffered. A certain woman, of those who resided on the other side of the Jordan,–whose name was Mirian, well known on account of her family and wealth,–took refuge with many (others) in Jerusalem, and with them was shut up (in the siege). This woman’s other possessions, as they were after she left the passage (of the Jordan) and came into the city, the Tyrants seized. The residue of her treasures moreover, should it have sufficed for her daily sustenance, was invaded and seized by the attendant soldiers. Grievous indignation therefore, took possession of her; and many times did she excite the robbers against herself, by curses and reproaches. But, when no one put her to death.–either on account of her indignation or in mercy; and she became weary of seeking sustenance for others from every quarter, and (as) suspicion was excited against her, even if she found (it) : hunger, at the same time, remaining in her bowels, and indignation inflaming her more than hunger;–she took for her counsellor impetuosity and necessity, and dared to do that which was contrary to nature. She seized upon her son,–for she had a sucking infant,–and said, “Wretched (babe) ! for Whom do I preserve thee in war, famine, and tumult?– that thou shouldest be a slave to the Romans ? If thou shouldest indeed live happily with them, still famine precedes (this) servitude ; and the seditious are cruel. Come ; be thou thou to me for food; to the seditious, the vengeance;–and to the world, the tale which alone is wanting to (complete) the sufferings of the Jews ! And, saying this, she at once killed her son. She then roasted him, and ate a part of him ! the rest she hid, and kept⁷⁵!” |255 These sufferings out of many, I have here set down on account of the Divine prediction of our Saviour, which declared, “Woe to them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days:” and because it adds this also to the predictive words of our Saviour, “There shall be great tribulation on the land, and great wrath upon this people:”or, as Matthew has said⁷⁶, “For there shall be at that time great tribulation, the like of which has not been since the beginning of the world, even until now ; nor shall be” (hereafter). It will be well therefore, to hear this writer himself, when thus putting on record the fulfilment of these same things.

From the fifth Book of Josephus⁷⁷.

22. “It would be impossible to give an account of each and every of their iniquities singly; we say then summarily, that no (other) city (ever) suffered all these things; and, that there never was a generation so fruitful in vices as this⁷⁸ : for they destroyed the city itself⁷⁹! and (were the cause) that the Romans should be recorded,– as forced by them against their own wills,–to this sad |256 victory ! They accordingly dragged them on forthwith, unopposed, to the Temple ; and viewed from the upper city, the fire that was burning within it.” Nor were they pained, nor did they weep at these things ! Because, “there should be at that time great tribulation, such, that its like existed not since the beginning of the world.” This very thing was foretold by our Saviour, which this writer attests ! the whole of which was fully brought to pass¹ forty years afterwards, in the times of Vespasian the Roman Emperor. Our Saviour moreover, added to His predictions,–determining the time,–how long Jerusalem should be trampled on by the Gentiles; for He said, “Until the times of the Gentiles shall be fulfilled:” intimating by this, the end⁸⁰ of the world.

Again, on the laws of the Jews, (viz.) that they should no more be observed, either on mount Gerizim, or in Jerusalem. And, on the service worthy of God, which should be set up in His Church. From the Gospel of John.

23. On the side of this our neighbouring city Neapolis of Palestine,–which was not small, but is even (now) a city of celebrity,–a woman of Samaria drew near to Him ; and, after other words, said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that thou art a Prophet. Our fathers worshipped in this |257 mountain; but ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where (men) ought to worship.” Upon which, our Saviour returning this answer, said to her, “Believe me woman, the hour cometh (in) which, neither in this mountain, nor in Jerusalem shall they worship the Father.” And, after a few other things, He said : “The hour cometh, and now is, (in) which the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh even such as these to worship Him. God is a, spirit, and it is right that those who worship Him, should worship him in spirit and in truth⁸¹.” And, by these things also, He fully proved that His foreknowledge was not small. For formerly, in the days of Tiberius the Roman Emperor,–in whose times these things were said,–the Jews were particularly collected together in Jerusalem, for the observance of the precepts of their Law; and the Samaritans, on the mount called Gerizim which they honoured, on the side of Neapolis, affirming that it was right the Law of Moses should there be observed. Now, these mounts are, as it were, anathemas of God. With both, certain parts were honoured; and of both, the Scripture of each bears record ; that of Moses, respecting Gerizim ; and those of the Hebrew Prophets, respecting Jerusalem⁸². The sentence of judgment therefore, put forth in the Divine enouncement of our Saviour was, That no more, either in Jerusalem, or on mount Gerizim, should those henceforth worship, who then adhered so pertinaciously to these places : which came to pass soon after. (For), in the days of Titus Vespasian, and in the reduction which happened in those of Hadrian, both these mounts were, according to His words, desolated. That on the side of the city Neapolis, was defiled by unbecoming Images, by Idols, |258 by Sacrifices, and the shedding of blood, and (thus) rendered abominable. The Temple also of Jerusalem was rased to the foundations, and has remained, during the whole of the time mentioned, in utter desolation and (destruction by) burning. And, from that time and even until now, has the prediction of our Saviour been fulfilled, which declared, ” The hour cometh, (in) which neither in this mount, nor in Jerusalem shall they worship,” He terms the time (meant) “the hour;” which was not yet at hand, but was about to be. And, speaking to His Disciples on the rational service to be completed by Himself, He added, ” The hour cometh, and now is, that the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth.”He necessarily added therefore here, It “now is.” For immediately, from the very hour (in) which he said these words, (viz.) ” The true worshippers”–of whom He was the Head and Teacher,–His Disciples, who received the rational service,–from Him, did perform the service of God, “in spirit and in truth.” But the thing, above all (others) prophesied of in these words, implies, that no more on any mount, nor in any distinct corner of the earth, but throughout the whole creation, should those ” true worshippers“worship the God who is above all, and should present to Him the Divine services, which should be performed without blood, “in spirit and truth.” Not by similitude, nor by those things of which He was the antitype, as were those of Moses observed by both Jews and Samaritans, in slaughter, sacrifices, incense, fire, and many other bodily modes;–that all of these should be abolished through the things now before us, did THE WORD OF GOD here predict. He also said, henceforth “in spirit and truth.” That is, “the true worshippers” shall render to God, the service which is worthy of Him, in a manner divine and with both the soul and mind.

On the people which should be set up out of foreign nations, by means of his teaching. From the Gospel of John.

24. “I am⁸³ the good Shepherd, and I know my own, and my own know me. Even as the Father hath |259 known me, so know I the Father….And I lay down my life (lit. self) for my sheep. And I have other sheep, those who were not of this fold; and it is necessary that I should bring in these, and that they should hear my voice. And there shall be one flock and one shepherd.” By other words (too) He taught and said, “I am not come, but to the sheep that have strayed of the house of Israel⁸⁴.” It was the Jewish people then, that He named under this figure; but, by the things before us, He predicted, that it was not those only who had become His disciples from among the Jews, that were considered (as) of the number of His flock; but those also who were without this fold. For thus, the word (Scripture) usually names at one time, the whole Jewish people; at another, Jerusalem, and the service there performed according to the Law of Moses.–That “He would collect other sheep which were not of that fold” implies the whole creation; and He foretold by these things, that out of them (this) rational flock should be so brought together to Him, that to the one and self-same worship of God, all, (both) Jews⁸⁵ and Idolaters believing in Him, should come over; and, that there should be ” one flock and one Shepherd.” This is His Church, which has been established both from among the Jews, and Gentiles. And thus, has it come to pass ! For at once, at the outset of the preaching of the Gospel, great multitudes of the Jews were convinced that He was the Christ of God, who had been preached of by the Prophets. And with these, (those), who believed on Him from among the Gentiles, were brought together in one Church, under the hand of the one Shepherd,–of Him who is THE WORD or GOD. For in Jerusalem itself arose, from among the Jews, one after another fifteen bishops of the Church there, from James who was the first⁸⁶. There were too thousands, at once both of Jews and Gentiles there, who had been brought together, even to the time of |260 its reduction in the days of Hadrian. And, that He was the (good) Shepherd who had been many times preached of in the words of the Prophets, it is obvious to us: the words (I say), which mention THE WORD OF GOD and teach, that He is the Shepherd of the souls of men, as of rational flocks. For it is thus said on one occasion by the Prophets: ” The Lord feedeth me (as a shepherd), and I shall lack nothing⁸⁷.” And on another; “Shepherd of Israel look, (thou) who leadest Joseph as a flock⁸⁸:” and, on another, He introduces (one) saying, “He is the Lord, and the Shepherd of the sheep⁸⁹.” He therefore alone, is truly declared to be the Shepherd of rational souls. For, just as the case is among men, the nature of the sheep is one, and that of the shepherd another; and, (as) the rational nature rules and leads that which is irrational; so also is it with respect to the superiority of the Shepherd (here), THE WORD OF GOD, the nature far excels that of man. We indeed are His flock, and, as compared with His power, we are less rational than any sheep. But He is in truth the good and pure Shepherd, who does not so neglect His flock, that it may be devoured by the wolves; that is to say, by the wicked demons, the corrupters of souls. This constrains us to look to His word which declared, with great power and might, “I am the good Shepherd;” and which also said, “I lay down my life for my sheep.” (This) He said in a mystery respecting His death. He also taught at the same time the cause; viz. that it was for the redemption of the souls of the rational flocks, that He (so) gave His life. And this also: “I have other sheep,” shews, that the Jews were not His only possession; but also, that the whole of the nations had been given to Him of His Father, according to this (declaration), “Ask of me, and I will give thee the nations for thine inheritance.” |261 

How His death was the cause of the redemption of many. From the Gospel of John.

25. He was often with the Jews, because to them were known the predictions of the Prophets respecting Him. But, because the Greeks upon one occasion also approached His Disciples, desiring to see Him,–it is written, that, when they had told Him this, He said: “⁹⁰The hour is come, that the Son of Man should be glorified. I say unto you, that unless the grain of wheat fall into the earth and die, it will remain alone; but if it (so) die, it will bring forth much fruit.” By these things also) He obviously declared in a mystery, that, among the Greeks, among foreign nations and the children of a different generation, those things which comprehended the praises of His Godhead should be embraced. For it was not when He was among the Jews that he said, “His hour had come that He should be glorified,” but, when the Greeks⁹¹ drew near to Him. After this, he necessarily continued shewing of His own death, His resurrection, and of the calling of the people, among whom He then was. For, just as the grain of wheat, before it falls into the earth, remains alone, but contains the life-producing-power, with the energies⁹² of the seed included within it, (and) which the ears shall produce; but, after falling into the earth,–just as that which lives after death,–it will increase, and, from the power vested within it, produce many ears of corn; so did He also declare respecting Himself, that the things should be. And this indeed, the result of them has plainly evinced. |262 For, it was not the Greeks alone who, after His death, received of His power and of the provisions of His Godhead, but also many nations. He was therefore, that seed which fell, and sprang up again, “He who was dead, but is alive⁹³.” He, who after His fall which was by death, increased greatly, is He who has, by His resurrection, filled the lands of the heathen, as it were cultivated fields, with the Divine unutterable power. On this account He said, “The harvest⁹⁴ is great, but the labourers are few.” And again, “Lift⁹⁵ up your eyes and see the fields, that they are white for the harvest.” These things He also foretold (figuratively), of those who should after His death establish themselves in Him, through the pure faith which is by Him; the multitude of whom should, throughout the whole creation both of Greeks and Barbarians, constitute the Church to be established in myriads of congregations ;–collected together, as it were, (the produce of) rational well-cultured fields, into one place ; (that is) the souls of men, into the granaries of His Church. Hence it has been said, “He⁹⁶ whose fan is in His hand, and who will cleanse His floor, and collect the wheat into (His) treasuries: but the straw He will burn with fire unquenchable.”

How Simon the chief of the Disciples, should, like his Master, be given up to crucifixion, and depart this life. From the Gospel of John.

26. “My⁹⁷ children, a little while I am with you; and ye shall seek me: even as I said to the Jews, whither I go, ye cannot come; and thus also I say again unto you. Simon⁹⁸ Peter said unto Him, Whither goest Thou ? And Jesus answered him: Whither I go, thou canst not now come, but, after a time, thou shalt come.” And again, in the latter part of the book, Jesus, after his resurrection from the dead, said to Peter: “⁹⁹I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdedst thy loins, and wentest whither |263 thou wouldest ; but, when thou shalt have become old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and others shall gird thy loins for thee, and shall lead thee whither thou shalt not be willing. And these things which He said (were) to shew, by what death he should glorify God. And, when He had said this, He said to him, Follow me” And, Who is not astonished, that, when He said these things to His Disciples, they should be prepared and ready to adhere to Him even to death ? For He did not deceive them by intimating, or promising to them, the things considered good in this life ; nor did He by any such means, allure them to give their adhesion to Him ; but, He simply foretold those obvious tortures which should, on His account, befall them. And (so) He previously shewed to Simon the mode of crucifixion, by which he afterwards closed his life in the city of Rome, in this which He said, “When thou shalt have become old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and others shall gird thy loins for thee.” And similarly, He also shewed mystically in this which He said, “Whither I go. thou canst not now come; but, after a time, thou shalt come.” Now, these things were not said to them all, but only to Peter ; because it is he alone, who, in the Scripture, (is said) should end his life after the manner of the suffering of our Saviour.

31. “The disciple is not greater than his master, nor the servant than his lord. It is sufficient for the disciple that he be as his master, and for the servant, as his lord. And, if they have called the Lord of the house Beelzebub, How much more the children of his household? Fear them not therefore, for there is nothing hidden that shall not be revealed; nor concealed that shall not be made known¹¹⁸.”The Jews held that Beelzebub was an evil Demon, and prince of the Demons: they blasphemed our Saviour accordingly, (affirming) that by the power of this, He expelled the rest of the Demons from men ¹¹⁹. But, He returned the true answer to those who thought this, which is also written among His words. He foretold too, to His Disciples, that they also should be thought to overcome men, through intercourse with Demons and Magicians: which very thing, now affirmed by the many, has sealed and confirmed the prediction of our Saviour. He also gave His testimony, that this notion, (so) ascribed to them, should come to nothing, from (the consideration) of their lives, and conduct; their purity of doctrine, and that (inculcating) |271 the worship of God. He said therefore, “Fear them not; for there is nothing hidden that shall not be revealed, nor concealed that shall not be made known.” He therefore reproved these (Disciples), for a considerable time, because the things formerly escaping the many, had, on this account, been supposed (by them) to be incapable of publication; as also those, belonging to the doctrines of the (true) worship of God, of being made openly known. But, His ordinances and precepts have now been made known to every man ; and He has extinguished that (injurious) opinion respecting them, (His Disciples) which had formerly been held by the many¹²⁰.

On those who should remain in complete holiness in His Church, and in the life inexperienced (in conjugal) Society. From the Gospel of Matthew.

32. When He determined for them, that (one) should not leave his wife except in the matter of fornication ¹²¹, and His Disciples said to Him, “If the cause of a man with the wife be thus, it is not advantageous to take wives;” It is written, that He said upon these things, “Every man is not sufficient for this matter, except those to whom it is given. There are eunuchs, who were, thus from their mothers’ womb; and there are eunuchs, who were (made) eunuchs by men ; and there are eunuchs, who have made themselves eunuchs, for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. He who can bear (it) let him bear (it).” It is evident from the context of the Scriptures, that there never was among men, and particularly among the Jews, any one who uttered by revelation any thing like this ; or, who did any thing like it: or that, throughout the whole creation and among all nations, whether in the cities or villages, there were multitudes, not of men (only), but also of women, who |272 kept¹²² themselves in perfect holiness, and the state of virginity, through the hope and expectation of the kingdom of heaven. We have seen in the very experiment itself,that they learned they should soon be prepared for this. The fulfilment however, of the claim to foreknowledge, was not simply (realized here); for we have seen many men, well known to us, who (actually) availed themselves of the iron (knife,) and made eunuchs of themselves for no other cause, except that of the hope of the kingdom of heaven: who neither hesitated, nor were weak in the doctrine of our Saviour, but simply and boldly betook themselves to the thing itself¹²³. So that the foreknowledge of our Saviour, even respecting these things, sets to its seal, that His word was in truth the word of God. |273 

35. “When He sat on the mount of Olives, His Disciples drew near, saying between themselves and Him, Tell us, When shall these things be ? and What is the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world ? And Jesus answered them, and said, See that no man deceive you: for many shall come in my name, and shall say, I am the Christ; and shall deceive many” And again, after a few things He said, “¹³⁶If at that time any one say to you, the Christ is here, or there; believe ye not. For false Christs shall arise, and false Prophets, and shall give great signs and wonders, so that if it were possible they should deceive even the elect. Behold, I have foretold (it) to you¹³⁷. If therefore they shall say to you, Behold, He is in the desert, go not forth; or, Behold, He is in the chamber, (it) not. For, as the lightning shineth from the |279 East, and is seen even to the West; so shall the coming of the Son of Man be” And on another occasion, when speaking with the Jews, He added these things and said, “¹³⁸I am come in the name of my Father, and ye receive me not; but, if another come in his own name, him ye will receive.” These things He foretold when warning His Disciples against the lying Antichrist, whom they were expecting: and one (of these) shewed of another in the Epistle to the Thessalonians, who (should be) in (the time of) the end¹³⁹. But, that others also should be before this, our Saviour Himself foretold in several places: “For many,” said He, “shall come in my name, and shall say, I am the Christ, and shall deceive many.” And there were many (such) after (these) His words. And so the Samaritans were forthwith persuaded that Dositheus¹⁴⁰, who was after the times of our Saviour, was the prophet of whom |280 Moses predicted ¹⁴¹. And he so deceived them, that they declared he was the Christ. Others again, in the times of the Apostles, named Simon Magus “the great power of God¹⁴²“and thought that he was the Christ. Others (thought the same) of Montanus¹⁴³ in Phrygia: and others again, of others, in another place. Nor did the deceivers cease. And it is necessary we should suppose, that there were many such as these; so that even from them, testimony may be had, as to the reality of our Saviour’s foreknowledge. Our Saviour taught moreover, that His glorious second coming should not again be, as it was at the first, in some one place, so that it may be supposed to be visible in some corner of the earth: and, that no one should thus think, He said, “If any one shall say to you, Behold, the Christ is here, or is there, believe ye not.” For opinions such as these comport by no means with Him, but with those false Christs and false Prophets. He indeed appeared once in the form of man, and in a certain district. But, of what sort his glorious second coming from heaven should be, He taught and said, “For, as the lightning goeth forth¹⁴⁴ |281 from the East, and is seen even to the West; so also shall the coming of the Son of Man be.”

Source. Tertullian.org – Eusebius of Caesarea: THE THEOPHANIA. Tr. SAMUEL LEE, D.D. (1843) — Book 4

THE THEOPHANIA, Book 5

21. If ²⁷ then (these) should say of Him, that He wrought no complete miracle, nor yet any of those wonderful works of which His disciples bore testimony, but that His disciples have otherwise falsely stated them, and have lied for the purpose of putting forth miraculous relations about Him ; let us see whether the word of these is to be taken as satisfactory: there being no (earthly) cause that they can assign, why they the Disciples, and He their master, went forth into the world. For He who teaches, gives a promise of some doctrine: and they again, the Disciples, love both the precepts and doctrines, as if (conveying) some (valuable) art²⁸, and give themselves up (accordingly) to the Teacher. What ground therefore, can there be for any one to speak against the disciples of our Saviour, on account of their conversation with Him ? And, What could have pressed them to this care respecting Him, and that they should have recorded Him (as) the teacher of such doctrines to themselves ? Or, Is (not) this clear ? For the things which they learned of Him, they also declared fully to others: and these were the appointments of this His philosophy. They²⁹ were too, the first ambassadors of God |303 who is over all, of the providence of God, of the righteous judgment (of God,) of the soul’s being immortal, of the distinction between the life of the good and the bad, and of other things of this kind, which are written in their Scripture. It was also a precept pertaining to the life of this philosophy, which He laid down for them when He said, “Possess ye neither gold nor silver in your purses, neither scrip for the way³⁰,”? with other similar things: but (His great precept was), that they should give up their souls, only to the providential care of the Governour of all, and not be anxious on account of want. And He so instructed them, that they should consider (His precepts) much better than those which Moses delivered to the Jews. For he laid down a law for them, –as for men to whom murder would be easy,–that they should not kill. And in like manner, that they should not commit adultery, as to men dissolute and adulterous. And again, that they should not steal, as to men to whom slavery would be suitable; and, that they should not injure, as to men who were fraudulent³¹. But of these, He knew that it was desirable they should stand in need of no such laws; but that this should above all things be precious in their sight, (viz.) that their soul should be subject to no (evil) passion; and that they should root up and expel from the bottom of their heart, as from its root, the germ of (every) vice; (and,) that they should be superior to wrath, and every base desire: that is to say, that they should not even be angry, because of the superiority of their soul, as being free from passion ; that they should not look upon a woman with evil desire; that they should so labour against theft, that they should give of their own to them that needed; and further, that they should not glory in this, that they injured none, |304 but (rather) in this, that those who wished to injure them, they bore with without anger³². But, What need is there that I should collect together all the things which He, and they, taught ? He also counselled them,–together, with all these things,–that they should be so confirmed in the truth, as not to be under the necessity of giving even a true oath, much less a false one: but that they should so form their character, that in it, apart from every sort of oath, they should appear as true, and should proceed no farther than “yea³³“(yea), and should in their conversation truly apply this.

31. But, How can you say that they neither expected nor hoped, that they should suffer any calamity from this their testimony respecting Him; and, that they therefore went out, even boldly, to the (work of) preaching about Him ? On the contrary, it was impossible they should not have hoped, that they should suffer every sort of calamity: superinducing as they did the destruction of the Gods, at once of the Romans, the Greeks, and the Barbarians. Now the Book itself, which (speaks) of them, shews plainly, that after the death of their Lord certain men, enemies of the word and who lay in wait for it, laid hands on them; delivering them first to imprisonment, and then strictly |315 commanding them, that they should speak to none in the name of Jesus⁴³. And, when they found them afterwards openly teaching the multitudes the things respecting Him, they violently seized, and scourged (them), and forbade them (so) to teach ; Simon Peter answering said to them, “It is right that we should rather hearken to God, and not to men⁴⁴.”After these things too, Stephen was stoned with stones, and died; because he had openly spoken (of Him) in the assembly of the Jews⁴⁵. And there arose no small persecution⁴⁶ against those, who were the ambassadors of the name of Jesus. And again at another time, when Herod the king of the Jews slew James the brother of John with the sword, he, the same, confined Simon Peter in bonds, as it is written in the Acts of the Apostles⁴⁷. And, while these suffered such things, the rest of the Disciples persevered, grew strong, and remained in the doctrine of our Saviour ; and again preached to all men more particularly respecting Him, and His wonderful works. After these things, James–whom those who formerly resided at Jerusalem called “the Just” on account of his great excellence,–was interrogated of the chief priests and doctors of the Jewish people, as to what he thought of Jesus; and, when he returned answer to them, that ” He was the Son of God⁴⁸,” he was also stoned with stones by them⁴⁹. Simon Peter too, was, after his⁵⁰ Head (i.e. Christ), crucified at Rome. Paul also was taken off⁵¹ (slain,) and John was committed to the island (Patmos in banishment). And, while these suffered such things, not so much as one of the |316 rest forsook His (Christ’s) doctrine; and (indeed) all of them prayed, that such things might befall them, in order that they might, for the sake of the worship of God, be like to those already mentioned. And, on this account again, they openly gave their testimony of our Saviour, and of His wonderful works, the more abundantly.

43. If⁸⁶ then, they appear to be lovers of truth in those grievous accounts (which they give) of Him ; much more are they so in those glorious ones. For those, who chose to lie on any one occasion, would the more particularly avoid those things which brought difficulty with them, either by silence or denial of them : because, those who should come after, would not have it in their power to blame the things, which they had (so) kept silent. Why then, did they not lie and say that Judas who betrayed Him, forthwith became a stone, when he dared to give the kiss–the signal of betrayal? And, that he who dared to strike Him on the cheek, had his right hand immediately withered ? And the High Priest of the Jews, because he ran along with those who criminated Him, became blind in his eyes? But, Why did not they all lie, (and say) that, in |329 truth, no grievance (whatsoever) happened to Him ? but, that He concealed Himself from men, and laughed at their judgment-hall? and, that those who accused Him, were deceived by spectres sent from God ; thinking that they were doing something adverse to one who was not near them ? And, Why should not this have been (deemed) more glorious, than their falsely stating that “He raised the dead,” and was the doer of wonderful works ? This, that they should have recorded, that nothing either human or mortal happened to him; but, that He did every thing by the Divine power ?–That He made His ascension to heaven in the Divine glory ? For those, who gave credence to their other accounts, could not have with-holden their belief from these. How then, should those be (deemed) worthy of exemption from every suspicion of vice, who concealed nothing of the truth, as to the difficulties and calamities (so happening); and not also worthy of all credit, as to the other miraculous deeds which they attested respecting Him ? The testimony therefore, of these men respecting our Saviour, is sufficient. There is nevertheless, nothing to prohibit our availing ourselves, even the more abundantly, of the Hebrew witness Josephus; who, in the Eighteenth Book of his Antiquities of the Jews, writing the things that belonged to the times of Pilate, commemorates our Saviour in these words: —

(The testimony) of Josephus respecting the Christ.

44. ” At⁸⁷ this period then was Jesus, a wise man, if it be right to call Him a man; for He was the doer of |330 wonderful works, and the Teacher of those men who, with pleasure, received Him in truth. And He brought together many (both) of the Jews, and many of the profane (Gentiles). And this was the Messiah (Christ). And, when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal ancient men among ourselves, laid on Him the punishment of the Cross, those who formerly loved Him were not reduced to silence. For He appeared again to them, on the third day, alive: things which, with many others, the Prophets had said respecting Him : so that from thence, and even until now, the race of the Christians has not been wanting to Him.” 

45. If⁸⁸ therefore, as (this) author attests of Him, |331 He was the doer of wonderful works, and that He made His Disciples,–not only the twelve Apostles, or the seventy Disciples, but also attached to Himself,–myriads of others both of the Jews and Gentiles; it is clear, that He possessed something excellent beyond the rest of mankind. For, How could He have otherwise attached to Himself the many, both of the Jews and Gentiles, unless He had made use of miracles and astonishing deeds, and of doctrines (till then) unknown ? The Book of the Acts of the Apostles also attests, that there were many thousands of the Jews, who were persuaded that He was that Christ of God, who had been preached of by the Prophets. It is also on record, that there was a great Church of Christ at Jerusalem; which had been collected from among the Jews, even to the times of its reduction by Hadrian. The first Bishops too who were there, are said to have been, one after another, fifteen (in number), who were Jews⁸⁹; the names of whom are published to the men of that place, even until now. So that by these, every accusation against the Disciples may be undone; since, what was prior to them, and independent of their testimony, these attest of Him, (viz.), that He, the Christ of God, did by means of these wondrous works which He performed, reduce many, both of the Jews and of the Gentiles, beneath His power⁹⁰.

47. A man might therefore well stand in doubt, as to what the form of the doctrine of our Saviour’s Disciples was; how they passed on into the midst of cities, and so proclaimed (it) in the middle of the streets; lifting up their voices, calling to those with whom they met, and thence conversing with the people: also, of what sort the language was in which they addressed them, so that we can imagine the hearers were persuaded thereby: and (again), how (such) men, inexperienced in words and far removed from every sort of erudition, could speak before the people ; and (this), if not in large assemblies, still with the few with |335 whom they met, and then addressed: and, of what, and of what sort of terms, they made use for persuading (their) hearers. Nor was their effort small, since they by no means denied the ignominious death of Him, whom they preached. But, even if they concealed this, and did not confess before all, what, and how many, things He suffered of the Jews, but put forth only those splendid and glorious things–I say indeed,–His wondrous works, His miraculous operations, and His doctrines of the (true) Philosophy; still, the matter will not thus be made easy, (viz.) how they could make those who heard them, easily to give in to their declarations: because their diction would be foreign. They would too, now be listening to declarations entirely new, (coming) from men, who possessed nothing worthy of truth, in testimony of the things affirmed by them.

52. And this, and nothing else, is indeed the thing required, (viz.) by what power the Disciples of our Saviour gained credit from those, who had from the first heard them: and how they persuaded both Greeks and Barbarians to think of Him, as of THE WORD OF GOD: and how they set up in the midst of the cities, and in all villages, Houses¹⁰⁷ (appropriated to) the Doctrine of the worship of the supreme God. And, Who is not also astonished at this, when he considers with himself, and feels satisfied, that this could not have been of man ; that never at any former time, were the many nations of the whole creation subject to the one sovereign rule of the Romans, except only since the time of our Saviour? For it happened, immediately upon His passing about among men, that the affairs of the Romans became great¹⁰⁸;–that, at that time, Augustus was primarily the sole Sovereign of many nations; and that in his time Cleopatra was inflamed with love; and the traditionary (kingdom) of the Ptolemies in Egypt was dissolved¹⁰⁹. For, from that time, and until now, that kingdom which was from ancient time; and of it, as one might say, the ancient germ of men which was established in Egypt, have been rooted up. From |339 that period too, have the Jewish people been in subjection to the Romans; as has that, in like manner, of the Syrians, the Cappadocians, the Macedonians, the Bithynians, and the Greeks; and, to speak collectively, all the rest of those subject to the rule of the Romans; and, that this did not come to pass without regard to the Divine teaching of our Saviour, Who will not confess, when He has considered, that it would not have been easy for His Disciples to be sent forth, and to pass into foreign parts, when all the nations were divided one against another ? and when there was no one uniting element among them, on account of the many Satraps (stationed) in every place, and in every city ? But, in the extirpation of these, they immediately, fearlessly, and with pleasure, set about doing that which had been placed before them; because God, who is over all, had previously made their course peaceful, and had restrained the wrath of the worshippers of Demons in the cities, by the fear of the great Empire. Consider then, If there had not been something to restrain those who had been stupified with the error of a plurality of Gods, how they would have contended with the Doctrine of Christ. For, you would doubtless have seen in every city and village, commotions (stirred up) against each other, with persecutions and wars of no mean description ¹¹⁰, had the worshippers of the Demons possessed the sovereign rule over us. But now, this also is a work of the God who is over all, that He might subdue |340 the enemies of His word, by the greater fear of a superior kingdom. For it was His will, that (His word) should daily increase and extend itself to all mankind : and again, so, that it should not be thought, that, it was by the connivance of the Rulers, and not by the superior power of God, it took effect.–When any one of the tyrants was so elated by wickedness, as to set about resisting the word of Christ, the God of all even allowed such at once to do his will; because he would afford proof to those combatants for (establishing) the worship of God, and also that it might be seen clearly by all men, that it was not by the will of man that the word was established, but by the power of God himself. And, Who is not instantly amazed at the things which usually come to pass in times such as these¹¹¹ ? For, those ancient combatants from among men for the worship of God, kept secret¹¹² the nature of their superiority ; at that time they became known and seen by all, when they were adorned with the victories which were from God : while those, who were the enemies of the worship of God, received the punishments which were justly their due: chastized (as they were) by strokes sent from God, and their entire bodies wasted by grievous and incurable diseases, so as to have been speedily driven to confess |341 their wickedness in opposing our Saviour¹¹³! But these, the rest of all those who were worthy of the Divine name (Christian), and who gloried in thinking of the things which belonged to Christ, did in a short time shew,–being brought through trials,–the purity and refining of their minds, and that they had thus also obtained freedom for their souls. And soon did God cause, that, by their means, THE WORD, the Saviour, should arise (as the sun) on tens of thousands. 

Source. Tertullian.org – Eusebius of Caesarea: THE THEOPHANIA. Tr. SAMUEL LEE, D.D. (1843) — Book 5

Eusebius Commentaries

Commentarii in Isaiam (Commentary on Isaiah). ¹³

On Isaiah 3:14: That which had been predicted of all the prophet’s predictions happened: the people were handed over to the mockers of the Lord and their young rulers. And the Word explains anew that the reason why he accuses them of all these things is not their idolatry but because they have given evil counsel against themselves, saying: “Let us bind the just, for he is a nuisance to us,” … You see the reason why the previously mentioned things were taken away. For their own tongues provoked the Lord, at which point in time they vented their wicked voices, saying: “Away with him, away with him,” “His blood be on us and on our children!” For then truly Their tongue and practices were against the Lord and provoked him.

On Isaiah 59:3: Therefore, he teaches that the reason the people have fallen away and been jettisoned so far from God is nothing other than their sins. He recounts their situation when he says next: Your hands have been defiled with blood and your fingers with sins, and your lips have spoken lawlessness. One can see clearly that he does not find fault with them for idolatry or some other lawless practice but rather for the murder of their hands and the lawlessness of their mouths, by which he alludes to their uprising against the Savior and their scheme against righteous people. … They themselves may not have been the murderers of the Savior, but they demanded that “his blood be on them and on their children.” And they proclaimed with godless cries that they indeed had hands that had been defiled with blood, and lips that had spoken lawlessness and a tongue that had plotted unrighteousness.

Source. Roger Pearse – ZIEGLER J., GCS (1975).. § 29 (p.23, l.8) & § 48 (p.362, l.20).  TLG: {2018.019} Book 1 section 29* line 12.

Commentarii in Psalmos (Commentary on the Psalms)(in PG 23). 

¹⁴  These are explanations of the psalms, treating them as predictions of Christ.

On Ps.21:12-14. For tribulation is very near: for there is none to help me. Many calves have surrounded me, strong bulls of Bashan have surrounded me. You will not depart from the truth, if you say the bulls of Bashan means the leaders of the Jewish people; or the leaders of the priests, the scribes, and the elders…  They opened against him their mouths, just like a lion raging and roaring, saying, Away with him, away with him, crucify him.  His blood be upon us and our descendants.  But Aquila reads Just like the lion, seizing and roaring; Symmachus: Just like a lion, coming and roaring.  But those who were thirsting for blood, and procuring that their children be responsible for the blood of the Saviour, were no different from a roaring lion.

On Ps.58:13.  And I’m amazed at the accuracy of the prophecy of the Holy Spirit.  Because in the time of our Saviour, the Jews could not put to death, but it was by the hand of the Romans, when Pilate gave judgement, after the soldiers surrounded and arrested him, and nothing was done by the Jews.  By law they could not put to death, but only prosecute.  For the leaders of the Jews went into council, and conspired to kill him.  And false witnesses and sycophants, eager for their pay, stood in the sight of the Saviour.  And the whole people with their voices and lips demanded his blood upon them and their children.  Remember that by law therefore they could not put to death, what Pilate decreed, his soldiers carried out; but the conspiracy of the leaders of the priests, the testimony of the sycophants, and the voice against him of the multitude. 

Source. Roger Pearse – PG 23 (1857), passim 76-1393. (cols.208, 209, 313, 480, 541, 545, 744, 857). 208-209; “Vers. 12-14.

Commentarii in Psalmos (Via Pitra). ¹⁵

On Ps.17:44-46: (44. Thou wilt deliver me from the contradictions of the people: thou wilt make me head of the Gentiles. 45. A people, which I knew not, hath served me: at the hearing of the ear they have obeyed me. 46. The children that are strangers have lied to me, strange children have faded away, and have halted from their paths.¹⁶) In the character of a prophet, David, looking to the future, sets forth two groups: from one he prays to be delivered, but that he might be admitted to the honour of joined to the other.  Indeed he clearly declares those with whom he seeks to be joined, the gentiles, in these words: You will make me head of the gentiles, and clearly the other class from whom he prays to be rescued, is none other than the circumcised race.  From this chosen people he demands to be removed, from their contradictions.  Notice how he does not attack the superstition of idols, nor the other evils and unjust deeds, but the contradictions.  Meanwhile consider with what prophetic instinct the objections are brought forward, which were made against the Saviour, which the entire people before brought out at the time when Christ was suffering, when meet with Pilate [who said], “Who do you wish that I should release to you, Barabbas or Jesus called Christ?” they asked for Barabbas to be released, but Jesus to be put away, and angrily shouted and yelled,  displaying his contradiction of them, when Pilate was also saying, “I am innocent of his blood.  You can see this!”  responding the people said, “His blood be upon us and our children.”  Which therefore, in the same divine Spirit, David foreseeing, he asked to be rescued from the people with contradictions, lest his soul after death be numbered with those against God in this impiety.  Likewise he said, “Rescue me from the contradictions of the people.”  And going further, he continued, “The children that are strangers have lied to me.  The stranger children have grown hardened, and have wandered from their paths.”

But he addresses them as children, on account of the succession and seed of Abraham; but he calls them strangers on account of their innate character.  Passing however to another order, he eloquently proclaims the calling of the gentiles to outstrip them, and that it will come about that honour will be decreed for the gentiles themselves.  Thus he says… “You will make me head of the Gentiles. A people, who I knew not, have served me: at the hearing of the ear they have obeyed me.“

These oracles have so been fulfilled in effect and execution, by the action of the Holy Spirit, as the prophet foresaw from afar, in order that trust may be established from the prophecy.  For everyone, in the whole world of men, whether among the barbarians or the Greeks, inspecting by eye all peoples, in whatever tongue and voice, above or below, circulates a commendation of the memory of David, and holds his name in  honour, intoning his praises throughout the universal churches of Christ …

Source. Roger Pearse – J.B. Pitra, Analecta sacra, vol. 3, Venetiis 1883.  Online here, PDF p.427. passim 204-515. P.415, l.5.

Generalis elementaria introductio (Eclogae Propheticae.). ¹⁹

All the things which are narrated as physically done by Moses, our Lord and Saviour completed by the spiritual law.  So he came, and now openly, to the Samaritans and the Jews, which the prophet Moses also predicted, about whom God bore testimony, saying, “He who does not hear his words, which he speaks in my name, I will avenge it on him.”  Avenged, therefore, is the blood of all from Abel to Zechariah, killed between the temple and the altar; avenged is the suffering of the Saviour, above all on those who dared to yell at him, “Crucify, crucify him! Away with him from the earth! His blood be upon us and upon our children.”  Which also came about immediately, when God vindicated the blood of Christ upon them and their children.  For the punishment has so followed them, that from then until the present time the whole race [of the Jews] has hardly been able to hold up its head, having filled up and more the prophecy of Amos, saying, “For the wrath of God has come upon them to the uttermost.”

Source. Roger Pearse – PG 22 (1857), 1021-1261; 1272-1273.  The reference is col.1073B.  This is Eclogae Propheticae book 1, chapter 15.