Against the Jews and the Gentiles That Christ Is God

Demonstration to both Jews and Gentiles that Christ is God, from the things said about Him in many places by the Prophets

^A α. Since many men, some being naturally slothful, some having given themselves over with great diligence to worldly affairs, and others being held fast by great ignorance, would not easily endure long discourses, I have considered it necessary to cut short the labor of prolixity; so as to remove the reluctance of the slothful by brevity, and to persuade those of them who are exceedingly averse to reading, to listen to the proposed treatise with great eagerness. For this reason, not even embellishing the exposition with words and terms, but setting down the names themselves in such a way—even for a domestic, and a handmaid, and a widow woman, and a shopkeeper, and a sailor, and a husbandman—that they are easy and readily grasped, I shall endeavor everywhere to bring into a small compass, as far as it is possible, and to make the teaching in few words, stirring up the appetite of both these classes of idle hearers to go through what is set before them easily and without any toil, and having fixed them in their memory, to gain thereby.

I shall make the struggle against the Gentiles first. For if the Gentile should say, "Whence is it clear that Christ is God?" (for this must be supposed first, as all other things follow from this) we shall not draw the proof from heaven, nor from other things of that nature. For if I say to him that He created the heaven, that He created the earth, that He created the sea, he will not endure it. If I say that He raised the dead, healed the blind, cast out demons, he will not accept even this. If I say that He promised a kingdom and unspeakable goods, if I discourse about the resurrection, he will not only not endure it, but will even laugh. Whence, then, shall we convince him, and especially if he be an unlearned man? Whence else, but from the things that are commonly and irrefutably acknowledged by me ^B and by him, and about which he has no doubt? For if I were to assume that He made the heaven and the other things I mentioned, he would not easily endure to be convinced. What, then, are the things which even he acknowledges that He has done, and would by no means contradict? That He Himself planted the race of Christians; for he will not dispute even against this, that He Himself established the Churches everywhere in the world. From these things we shall provide the proof of His power, and shall show Him to be God, and shall say that it is not the work of a mere man to traverse the civilized world in a short time, and land and sea, and to call men in such things, and that too when they were preoccupied by perverse habit, or rather, were held fast by such great wickedness. And yet He prevailed to deliver the race of men from all these things—not the Romans only, but the Persians, and simply the races of the barbarians. And these things He achieved, not using arms, not spending money, not moving armies, not stirring up wars, but through eleven men, obscure, mean, ignorant, unlearned, poor, naked, unarmed, unshod, wearing but one tunic. What do I say, "achieved"? He was able to persuade so many tribes of men not only to philosophize about things present, but also about things to come, and to tear up ancestral laws, and to pull up by the roots ancient customs rooted for so long a time, and to plant others in their stead, and having led them away from easy things to cast them into things difficult, and to do these things while being fought against by all, and having endured the cross, being mocked and death marked with ignominy. For they will not even contradict these facts, that He was crucified by the Jews, and suffered ten thousand things from them, and that every day the preaching increases. And the wondrous thing is, not only here, but it flourishes also among the Persians, still even now being fought against among them. For among them also, there are now crowds of martyrs, and yet those who were wilder than wolves themselves, having received the preaching, have become tamer than sheep, and philosophize about immortality, and about the resurrection, and about unspeakable goods.

^C β. Not in the cities only, but these achievements have gone forth even into the desert, and into villages, and into country districts, and into islands, and harbors, and havens; and not only unlearned men, nor only rulers, but even those who are decked with diadems are, with great devotion, subject to the faith in Him who was crucified. And that all these things did not happen simply, but with a prophecy given long before, I shall endeavor to demonstrate at the present; or rather, so that

^A our discourse may not be suspect, it is necessary to bring forward the books of the Jews who crucified Him, and to examine the testimonies concerning Him from the Scriptures kept by them even until now, before the eyes of the unbelievers. That, therefore, God will be man, being God, Jeremiah is the first to say: "This is our God, no other shall be accounted in comparison to Him. He found out all the way of knowledge, and gave it to Jacob his servant, and to Israel the beloved of Him. After these things He appeared on earth, and conversed with men." Do you see how he declared all things in brief words, and that, being God, He became man, and conversed with men, and that He Himself gave the Law of the Old Covenant? For, "He found out," he says, "all the way of knowledge, and gave it to Jacob his servant, and to Israel the beloved of Him." He shows here that even before His incarnate presence, He Himself was ordering all things, and He Himself was doing all things: legislating, providing, caring, and bestowing benefits.

Again, another prophet, ^B that He will not only be man, but that He will also be born of a virgin, hear how he says: "Behold, the virgin shall have in the womb, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel"; which being interpreted is, [560] "God with us." Then, showing that the phenomenon was not a phantasm, but that He was truly man, he added, saying: "Because before the child knows how to call father good or evil, he disobeys iniquity by choosing the good." And that this selfsame one is not only man, nor only from a virgin, but also from the house of David, hear how Isaiah also foretells this from old, using the words tropically and with much metaphor, yet he foretells [it] nonetheless: "There shall come forth a rod from the root of Jesse, and a flower shall arise from the root, and the Spirit of God shall rest upon Him, a spirit of wisdom and understanding, a spirit of counsel and strength, a spirit of knowledge and godliness; a spirit of the fear of God shall fill Him." For this Jesse was the father of David. It is clear from this that He was also of that tribe. And not only that He will come from the tribe, but also from the house of Jesse, this too he announced ^C beforehand, saying: "For a rod shall come forth," he says, "from the root of Jesse"; not speaking of a rod simply, but of Him and His kingdom. And that he did not say this about a rod, he indicated through what follows; for having said, "A rod shall come forth," he added, "and the spirit of wisdom and understanding shall rest upon Him." Now no one, even if he were very foolish, would say this, that the grace of the Spirit was coming upon wood, but it is clear that it was upon that spotless temple. For this reason, he did not even say, "It shall come," but, "It shall rest upon Him," since, having arrived, it remained [there] and did not depart. And the evangelist John also, indicating this, was saying: "I have seen the Spirit descending as a dove, and remaining upon Him."

They did not even pass over the Jewish mindset which was displayed as soon as He was born; for Matthew indeed says: "But Herod having heard, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him." But hear how Isaiah also announced this from old, saying: "They will desire if they have been burnt with fire; because a child has been born to us, a son and has been given to us, and his name is called Messenger of Great Counsel, Wonderful Counselor, God the Mighty, the Potentate, ^D Prince of Peace, Father of the age to come." That one would not say this concerning a mere man is clear even to those wishing to be extremely contentious. For no man from the age has ever been called mighty God, nor prince of such peace. "For of His peace," he says, "there is no limit." And the nature of the facts indicates that He has traversed all the earth, all the sea, all the inhabited world, all the uninhabited, and mountains and glens and hills from that day, from which, being about to ascend, He said to the disciples: "My peace I give unto you; not as the world gives, do I give unto you." Why then did Christ say this? For the peace of men is easily dissolved, and has many changes; but that from Him is firm, unmoved, fixed, lasting, immortal, having no end, and this despite numberless wars being fanned up from everywhere, and numberless machinations happening every day. But His word, accomplishing all things, accomplished this too along with the rest.

γ'. And not only that He will be man, but they also prophesied the manner of His presence. [561] For since He was about to arrive, not launching lightnings, not [launching] thunderbolts from above, not shaking the earth, not agitating the heaven, not producing some terrors, but born silently and with no one knowing in the house of a carpenter, in an obscure and lowly house, hear how even this David did not pass over, saying: "He shall descend as rain upon a fleece," indicating through this the tranquil, the quiet [nature of His coming]. And not only this, but also making clear the gentleness and kindness of His conduct with everyone at that time, see what another prophet says. For since, being insulted, spat upon, reviled, dishonored, whipped, and finally even crucified, He did not take vengeance on any of those who had done these things, but bore everything magnanimously and gently, such as the insults, the machinations, the madness, the untimely rage of that mob, the onsets—declaring all these things [the prophet] was saying: "He shall not crush a broken reed, and a smoking flax He shall not quench, until He shall bring forth judgment unto victory, and in His name shall Gentiles hope." Still another again indicates even the place in which He was about to be born, saying thus: "And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, by no means are you least among the governors of Judah; for from you shall come forth a Leader for me, who shall shepherd my people Israel, and His outgoings are from the beginning, from days of eternity." This shows both the divinity and the humanity; for by saying, "His outgoings are from the beginning, from days of eternity," he declared the pre-eternal existence; by saying, "A leader shall come forth, who shall shepherd my people Israel," [he declared] the birth according to the flesh. And see again also another prophecy shining forth herein. For he did not only say that He will be born, but that the place would also be illustrious, although it being lowly and small: "For by no means are you least among the governors of Judah," he says.

Therefore, the entire inhabited world now hastens to see Bethlehem, where, having been born, He was laid, from nowhere else but from there alone. Another again indicated also the time in which He was about to arrive, saying thus: "A ruler shall not fail from Judah, nor"

^A a leader from his loins, until He comes to whom it is stored up." And He Himself is the expectation of the nations, binding his foal to the vine, and the foal of his ass to the tendril; he shall wash his garment in wine, and his cloak in the blood of the grape; his eyes are gladdening as wine, and his teeth are white as milk. Look also at this prophecy shining forth. For it arrives precisely when the Jewish rulers had finally failed, and they had come under the scepters of the Romans; and thus the prophecy was fulfilled which says that a ruler shall not fail from Judah, nor a leader from his loins, until He arrives to whom it is stored up—referring to Christ. For it was at the very time He was born that that first census took place, when the Romans had mastered the Jewish nation and brought them under the yoke of their own kingdom.

Then he marks out something else by saying, "And He is the expectation of the nations"; for having arrived, He drew all nations to Himself. Herod, seeking Him who was born, was about to destroy the children in that place. And the prophets were not silent about this either, but announced it long before [562] the ages, saying, "A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation and weeping and great mourning; Rachel weeping for her children, and she would not be comforted, because they are not." He was about to come up from Egypt; and they indicated this too, saying, "Out of Egypt I called My Son."

But also, arriving in clear places, He was about to perform signs and teach immediately; and this was announced beforehand. Hear, for Isaiah says, "Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali, the people that sat in darkness saw a great light, and to those sitting in darkness and the shadow of death light has risen for them," indicating His presence from there, and the teaching there, and the recognition that came to them from miracles. Then again, narrating other miracles, and showing how He healed the lame, how He cured the blind, how He made the speechless to speak: "Then," he says, "the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf will hear." And after other things, "Then the lame man shall leap as a deer, and the tongue of the stammerers will be made plain"; which never happened except at His advent. ^B Indeed, they even mentioned certain signs particularly. He entered the temple at one time, and the children, still at the breast and having unformed speech, sang holy hymns to Him, saying thus: "Hosanna in the highest; blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord." The prophet spoke this from above, saying thus: "Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have perfected praise, because of Your enemies, to destroy the enemy and the avenger." See how nature itself, struggling and proclaiming the Creator, the infant age not yet able to form speech, accepted an apostolic proclamation!

4. Since, when speaking elsewhere to the Jews, He spoke about many things in a veiled way because of their ingratitude—as in riddles and parables—this too was spoken of from above: "I will utter problems from the foundation of the world, I will belch out things hidden from the beginning." But also the prophet, announcing the wisdom in His public speaking from above, said, ^C "Grace was poured out on your lips." And another prophet again: "Behold, My servant shall understand, and shall be exalted and glorified and lifted up very high." And narrating his deeds of that time, which took place with signs, as if in short, again he said thus: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me; He has sent Me to preach glad tidings to the poor, to preach deliverance to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind." Because they were about to turn away in vain and for nothing from Him who was doing them such great good, having nothing great or small to charge against Him, this too was announced beforehand. For hear David prophesying this very thing, so saying, "With those who hate peace I was peaceful; when I spoke to them, they made war on me for nothing."

He was also about to enter the city riding on an ass; and this was announced beforehand from above by Zechariah, saying thus: "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; proclaim, O daughter of Jerusalem; behold, your King comes to you, meek and riding on an animal and a young foal." He threw out those who were selling the doves and the money-changers. He was doing this very thing with zeal for the house, and at the same time showing that He is not one who opposes ^D God, but is in agreement with the Father; wherefore He also defended the house, as such huckstering was happening in it. Not even this was left unmarked, but the prophet David himself, foretelling this and the intention with which He was doing the defense, announced beforehand, saying, "The zeal of Your house has eaten Me up." What could be more evident than this?

He was about to be betrayed, and the one sharing the table with Him was to work the betrayal. See how the same prophet also foretold this, saying, "He who ate my bread has magnified his treachery against me." And observe the agreement of the Evangelist: "He who dipped his hand with Me in the bowl," he says, "this one will betray Me." The one betraying Him was not about to betray Him simply, but by selling the precious blood, and receiving money for it. Nor was the prophet silent about this, but revealing even the shameless contracts and the words which they were saying to each other, he said, "O God, do not pass over my praise in silence, because the mouth of the sinner and the mouth of the deceitful were opened against me." The same traitor, repenting later for what he dared, threw down the silver, and running to a noose, thus ended his life, having delivered his wife to her widowhood and his children to orphanage, and his house to desolation. See how the prophet, 563 saying, "Let his children be orphans, and his wife a widow," laments this calamity; "and his children, being shaken, let them migrate, and let them be cast out of their lands." But also in his stead, after him, someone became an apostle, Matthias. And the prophet himself announces this again, saying, "Let another take his office."

He being betrayed and seized willingly, a tribunal is formed full of much lawlessness, of the Jews and of those from the nations. See how the prophet also foretells this, saying, "Why did the nations rage, and the peoples imagine vain things?" And they did not only announce these things beforehand, but also the silence,

^A revealing that Isaiah said: "As a sheep he was led to the slaughter, and as a lamb before his shearer is dumb, so he opens not his mouth." Then, showing the perversion of the judgment, he added: "In his humiliation his judgment was taken away"—that is, no one gave him a fair judgment. Then he also states the cause of the slaughter. For since it was not for any sins that he suffered what he suffered, being blameless and unblemished, but was handed over for the evils of the world, observe how he hinted at both these things by saying: "Who did no sin, nor was guile found in his mouth." For by this he revealed for whose sake he was slain. Then also another cause: "From the sins of my people," he says, "he comes to death." And wishing to show not only the cause of the slaughter, but also what gain came from that cross and slaughter, see how he announces this beforehand, saying: "All we like sheep have gone astray; a man has gone astray in his own way. The instruction of our peace was upon him; by his stripe we are all healed."

Then, since the Jews were also about to render an accounting for these acts of audacity, the same prophet also reveals this in what he says: "I will give the wicked in exchange for his burial, and the rich in exchange for his death." And David, having said again, "Let us cast away their yoke from us," added: "He who dwells in the heavens shall laugh at them; then he will speak to them in his wrath, and in his anger he will disturb them"—speaking of their scattering throughout the whole world. Which Christ himself, declaring in the Gospels, also said: "But those who would not have me reign over them, bring here, and slay them before me."

Then, since they spoke of the slaughter, they did not keep silent about the manner of the slaughter, but David also declared this, saying: "They pierced my hands and my feet; they counted all my bones." Nor did he remain silent about the transgression after the cross, saying again: "They parted my garments among themselves, and for my vesture they cast lots."

Then also that he was to be buried, this too he declared, saying: "They put me in the lowest pit, in darkness and in the shadow of death." And that he was to rise again, see how he also announced this beforehand, saying: "You shall not leave my soul in Hades, nor will you give your holy one to see corruption." Isaiah differently again indicates this same thing, saying: "And the Lord is willing to cleanse him from the wound, to show him light, to justify a righteous one who has served many well." That his slaughter was a release from human sins, he also established this by saying: "And he himself has borne the sins of many." That he released men from the demons, also this: "And of the strong," he says, "he shall divide the spoils." That he did this through his death, he did not remain silent about that either, but says: "For which his soul was delivered to death." That he was to preside over the world, this too he revealed by what he said: "And he himself shall inherit many."

Then, since by descending into Hades he disturbed everything, and filled it with clamor and turmoil, and broke down the citadel, they do not remain silent about this either; but now David cries out thus, saying: ^B "Lift up the gates, you who are your rulers, and be lifted up, you everlasting gates, and the King of glory shall enter in." Now Isaiah says it differently: "I will crush gates of bronze, and I will shatter bars of iron, and I will open to you treasures, dark, hidden, invisible," thus calling Hades a treasure. For even if it were Hades, it held holy souls and precious vessels: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Wherefore he also called them treasures, and dark, because the sun of righteousness had not yet shone there, nor had the words concerning the resurrection been preached.

And that when he rose he was not to stand with angels, nor with archangels, nor with any other ministering power, but to be seated on the royal throne, hear what David says again: "The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet."

After these things he was to send apostles; and Isaiah announced this beforehand, saying: "How beautiful are the ^C feet of those who bring good tidings of peace, of those who bring good tidings of good things." And observe what part of the body he praises: the feet, which carried them everywhere. Then, also when indicating the manner of their overcoming, David says: "The Lord will give a word to those who bring good tidings with great power." For they did not move weapons, nor spend money, nor by strength of body, nor by a multitude of armies, nor by any other such thing did they prevail, but by a bare word—a word possessing great power—the demonstration of signs. For by preaching the crucified one, and working signs, thus they conquered the world. Therefore he says, "The Lord will give a word to those who bring good tidings with great power," calling the signs this. For there was indeed an ineffable power in the fisherman, the tax collector, and the tentmaker, from bare commands to raise the dead, to cast out demons, to push back death, to muzzle the tongues of philosophers, to stitch shut the mouths of rhetoricians, to overcome kings and rulers, to master barbarians, Greeks, and every race. And he rightly said so. For all these things were accomplished by that word, and with great power they were changing the dead into the living, the sinful into the righteous, the blind into those who see, driving away both the diseases of nature and the wickedness of the soul.

Then, from where did this power come to them? That it was from the Holy Spirit, and this is revealed from here: "For they were filled with the Spirit," he says, "and men and women alike were prophesying; tongues of fire appeared and sat upon each one of them." And Joel announced this beforehand from on high, saying thus: "I will pour out from my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. And upon my menservants and upon my maidservants I will pour out, before the coming of the great and manifest day of the Lord"—a great and manifest day, ^D calling this both that of the Holy Spirit and that which is to appear at the end. And this same prophet, also announcing beforehand the salvation through faith (for this too was not left out), says: "And it shall be, that whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."

6. Petrus et Paulus regibus majores

^A has been foretold. For hear David speaking and prophesying this: "Their sound has gone out into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world." Then, showing also that they preached with authority and were more powerful than those clothed with diadems, the same person says elsewhere: "You shall make them rulers over all the earth." That Peter and Paul were effectively superior to kings and rulers, the facts themselves show: the laws of kings are abolished even while they are living, but the laws of those fishermen have stood firm and remain immovable, even though demons and long-standing habit and wickedness and pleasure and countless other things have attempted to uproot them.

And intending to show again that these very men would become leaders, beloved and desired by all, he added, saying, "On account of this, peoples shall give thanks to thee for ever," that is, they will give thee thanks and will be very grateful that thou hast given such leaders.

That the preaching would prevail everywhere has been foretold. See David presenting this to you through what he says: "Ask of me, and I will give thee the nations for thy inheritance, and thy possessions for the ends of the earth." And again elsewhere another prophet says the same thing, declaring: "The whole earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord, as much water as covers the seas." Consider also the ease of obedience: "They shall not teach every man his neighbor and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, because all shall know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them."

The immovability of the Church: "It shall be in the last days that the mountain of the Lord shall be manifest, and the house of the Lord on the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and many peoples and many nations shall come to it." And that it will not only be stable and immovable and firm, but will also provide much peace to the world, and the many rule-ships in the cities and the monarchies will be abolished, and there will be one kingdom raised up for all, and the greater part of it will be in peace, not as it was before; for formerly all craftsmen and rhetoricians laid aside weapons and stood in battle arrays; but with Christ appearing, all those things were dissolved, and what belonged to wars turned into a limited portion.

And some prophet, declaring this, said: "And they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into sickles; and nation shall not take up sword against nation, and they shall not learn to make war any more." For formerly all lived in these things, but now they have even forgotten the craft itself, or rather, the majority have not even tasted its beginning; and if there were any, they were few and not continuous nor many, as in the beginning when countless uprisings occurred in every nation.

Then, showing also from where the Church would be composed, he predicts. Since not only gentle people, but also [people] mild and kind, but also wild and inhuman, and like certain wolves and lions and bulls, were going to be herded together according to their nature, and all were to become one Church, hear how the prophet declared the diversity of this flock, saying: "Then the wolf shall feed together with the lamb," the simple ^B diet of the kingdom being shown by this. But let the Jew say that this is not about wild beasts, when it ever happened; for a wolf never fed with a lamb; and if it were to feed, what would that benefit the race of men? But he speaks of men wild in behavior, about Scythians, about Thracians, about Moors, about Indians, about Sauromatians, about Persians.

That all these nations are being led under one yoke, another prophet also, declaring it, said: "And they shall serve him under one yoke, and each one shall worship him from his own place." No longer, he says, only in Jerusalem, but throughout the whole world; for no longer are men commanded to go to Jerusalem, but each one remaining at home performs this worship.

[567] 7. That the Jews were to be cast out, not even this has been passed over in silence; and see how the prophet also foretold this: "Behold, the doors shall be closed among you, and you shall not kindle my altar of free will." And who are those about to serve, even this has been foretold. "From the rising of the sun," he says, "to the setting, my name has been glorified among the nations; and again, 'In every place incense is offered to me and a pure sacrifice.'" Do you see how he indicated the nobility of the worship? How it is exceptional and altered? And that it will not be in a place, but in a manner, and not in fat and smoke, but in another worship will the matters of service be?

And how, he says, did the apostles drag all these in? He who had one language, the Jewish one, how did he persuade the Scythian and the Indian and the Sauromatian and the Thracian? Having received from the gift of the Spirit the grace of this polyphony. And this concerning the nations; but concerning Israel, [the gift] of tongues. And that not even this dragged in the Jews, hear how the prophet shows it, saying: "For with people of strange tongues and with strange lips I will speak to this people, and not even so will they listen to me, says the Lord." What could one see clearer than this? The Jews were going to disbelieve, but the nations to approach; and this was proclaimed beforehand.

Hear Isaiah declaring this and saying: "I was found by those who did not seek me; I became manifest to those who did not ask for me. I said, Behold I am, to a nation that did not call upon my name." But concerning Israel: "All the day long I spread out my hands to a disobedient and gainsaying people." And again, "We announced to him as a child, as a root in a thirsty land"; and again, "Lord, who has believed our report? And the arm of the Lord to whom has it been revealed?" He did not say, "to our teaching," here showing that they were not speaking anything of their own, but what they heard from God, these things they reported.

That our things must again be preferred to theirs, and be of much higher value, even this Moses indicated by saying: "I will make you jealous by that which is not a nation, by a foolish nation I will provoke you to anger," speaking of the former worthlessness of the people through the [words] "by that which is not a nation"; for it was not even considered a nation because of its great worthlessness, because of the foolishness, because of the lack of sense, but from the faith such a transformation has occurred that they appear much more valuable than those who were honored.

That this very thing was going to sting the Jews, and that from this they were going to become better, even this is shown from here. For he did not simply say, "I will prefer," but

^A *I will make you jealous by that which is no nation;* as if to say: "I will give them so many good things that you will be jealous, that you will be stung." This, therefore, actually made them better. For those who used to see the sea being divided, rocks being rent, the air being changed, and so many wonders—or rather, those who used to sacrifice their own children, and be initiated into Beelphegor, and attend to many sorceries—these very people, when we approached, and when our things became far more preferable than theirs, were so stung by jealousy, and became better, and were restrained, that they succeeded in performing those things [568] which they did not succeed in performing while they were hearing the prophets and seeing the wonders, merely out of jealousy toward us. Thus, none of them now slaughters children, none runs to idols, none worships a calf. The dignity of virginity, in the Old Testament, was not even known by name; but in the New, since it was about to shine forth, see how even this David foretells, saying: *Virgins shall be brought to the king after her, they shall be brought into the temple of the king.* But he did not even pass over the name of the priests, I mean the bishops. *For I will appoint your rulers in peace,* he says, *and your bishops in righteousness.*

^B η΄. He was about to arrive and demand an accounting of the human race, and along with the others, the Jews also. See how both David and Malachi foretell this, the one saying thus: *And he shall enter as a refiner’s fire, and as the herb of launderers, and he shall purify the silver and the gold,* speaking things akin to what Paul writes: *For the day shall reveal it, because it is revealed in fire.* And David says: *God shall come manifestly,* again proclaiming his second coming. For the former had much condescension; but the second, not so, but is full of dread and astonishment, because of the angels running before him, and his coming reaching all things like lightning. *For just as the lightning,* he says, *goes out from the east and appears even to the west, so shall the coming of the Son of man be*; signifying by this the manifest nature of it, that it is self-announced; for it does not need one to proclaim it, but it shows itself. This, then, David also signifying, said: *God shall come manifestly.* Then, also sketching out the future court, he adds and says: *Fire shall burn before him, and a fierce storm round about him.* He has spoken of the punishments; he also speaks of the glorious aspect: *He shall call the heaven above, and the earth to judge his people,* calling the human race "earth" here. Then, numbering the Jewish race along with the whole race (for he is directed toward them also), he again adds, saying: *Gather his saints together to him, those who establish his covenant over sacrifices; and the heavens shall declare his righteousness, for God is judge.* He was about to arrive and cast out the worship through sacrifices, and not accept it, but accept this one of ours. Hear how this too was foretold: *Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me.* Which he, declaring elsewhere, said: *A people whom I did not know served me, by the hearing of their ear they obeyed me*—that ^C is, not seeing the sea being divided, not the rocks being rent, but having heard my apostles. And here again, *But a body you prepared for me.* Having said this, he further adds and says: *Then I said, Behold I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me.* For two things are indeed signified from this: both that he will be present, and that it will be then, when the sacrifices are cast out; which indeed happened when the sovereignty shifted from the Jewish to the Roman. We have found also that Baruch said concerning his coming thus: *He appeared on the earth, and was conversant with men.* And Moses also says: *The Lord God shall raise up for you [569] a prophet from among your brethren like me; you shall hear him in all things. And it shall be, every soul which does not hear that prophet shall be destroyed from among its people.* Do you see this having happened to no one else, but to him alone? For many prophets arose, and they disregarded them all, but suffered nothing; but the Jews, having disregarded this one, wander as homeless and vagrants, and are fugitives and displaced persons everywhere. For look: they were alienated from their polity, from ancestral customs and laws, in disgrace and shame and chastisement and punishment. And what they suffered under Vespasian and Titus, it is impossible even to tell; so much did that tragedy exceed every calamity, and the prophetic word was being fulfilled: *Everyone who does not hear that prophet shall be destroyed.* For this reason their things are desolate, because they disregarded that prophet. That he will raise up all, this too Isaiah indicated, saying: *The dead shall rise again and those who are in the tombs shall be awakened. For the dew which is from you is a healing to them.* And not only these things, but that even after the cross, after the slaughter, the things concerning him will be more glorious, because after the resurrection the preaching will increase all the more. For since he was bound, betrayed by a disciple, spat upon, mocked, scourged, crucified, he was not even deemed worthy of burial, so far as it depended on them, the soldiers divided his clothes among themselves, he ended his life under suspicion of tyranny, as a blasphemer, as a tyrant; *For everyone кто makes himself,* he says, *king, speaks against Caesar*; and again, *Behold, you have heard his blasphemy*; since, therefore, all these things were about to happen, rousing the hearer and preparing him to take heart, "Do not fear," he says, "on account of these; for the things concerning him, who was crucified, who was scourged, who was mocked by thieves, who was put to death on the suspicion of blasphemy, will be such after his departure, after the resurrection, that no one can gainsay that he is filled with great honor." This, therefore, also came to pass. Which indeed the prophet, proclaiming from afar, said: *There shall be the root of Jesse, and he who arises to rule over the nations; in him shall the nations hope, and his rest shall be honor.* As if to say: "This very form of his departure is more honorable than a diadem." For the kings at least, laying aside their diadems, take up the cross, the symbol of his departure; in purple, a cross; in diadems, a cross; on prayers, a cross; on weapons, a cross; on the holy table, a cross; and everywhere in the inhabited world, the cross shines more brightly than the sun. *And his rest shall be honor.*

θ΄. But human things are not like this, but are accustomed to happen the opposite way. For while those who are prosperous are living,

their things flourish; but when they are dead, theirs also perish together with them. And this you might see not only in the case of a rich man or a ruler, but in the case of the king himself. For their laws are abolished, their images grow dim, their memory is extinguished, their name is in oblivion, and those who are connected with them are in contempt—those who used to move armies, those who by a nod would change the state of nations and cities and 370 affairs, those who were masters of life and death, those who were able to recall those being led away to execution. Yet, nevertheless, all things are abolished, even if before this they were flourishing. But in the case of Christ, everything is the opposite. For while before the cross affairs were in gloom—Judas betrayed, Peter denied, the others became fugitives, he alone was left among his enemies, many who had believed went back—after he was slaughtered and had died, in order that you might learn that the one crucified was not some mere man, he became much more brilliant, more radiant, and more exalted. For the chief of the apostles, before the cross, could not even bear the threat of a doorkeeper, but after such great initiation, he said he did not know him; but after the cross, he ran over the whole world. Hence, countless crowds of martyrs have been slaughtered, choosing rather to die than to utter what the chief of the apostles uttered, fearing the threat of a single doorkeeper. Thus, from that time, all countries and all cities, both the wilderness and the inhabited and desolate world, proclaim the crucified one; and kings and generals and rulers and consuls, and slaves and free, and commoners and wise and foolish, and barbarians and the varied races of mankind—in short, as much of the earth as the sun beholds, this indeed has that greatness run through, the name and the worship, so that you might learn what it is: *And his rest shall be honor.* And the place that received that body which was slaughtered, being small and very short, is more venerable than countless royal courts, and more precious to the kings themselves: *And his rest shall be honor.* ^B And the paradox is that this same thing has happened not only in his case, but also in the case of his disciples. For those who were led and dragged about, those who were despised and shackled, those who suffered countless terrible things, once they are dead, they are more precious than those kings. And how? Observe this from the following: In the most royal city of Rome, leaving everything, even kings and consuls and generals hasten to the tombs of the fisherman and the tentmaker. And also in Constantinople, they do not even consider being near the apostles, but those who wear the crowns have thought it a desirable thing for their bodies to be buried just outside the very portals; and the kings have become, in effect, doorkeepers to the fishermen, and in death they are not ashamed, but actually take pride in it—not only the king himself, but also his descendants. *And his rest shall be honor,* he says. Then you will see the magnitude of the honor, when you fully understand the symbol of his death itself—that cursed death, the death of all deaths the most shameful; for only this form of execution lay under a curse. What do I mean? Of those who sinned in ancient times, some were burned, some were stoned, some ended their life by another mode of punishment; but the one who was impaled and hung upon a tree not only endured this terrible thing, that he was punished by such a sentence, but that such a person was also cursed. ^C For, he says, *cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree.* But nevertheless, this cursed thing, this detestable thing, this symbol of the ultimate punishment, has now become desirable and lovely. For not even a royal crown so adorns the head as the cross, being more precious than the whole 571 world. And the thing at which all once trembled, the form of this is now so sought after by all that everywhere it is found—with rulers, with the ruled, with women, with men, with virgins, with those married, with slaves, with free. And indeed, everyone constantly crafts it upon the most prominent part of our members, and like a column upon the forehead, they carry it about, having it traced on them every day. This shines forth on the holy table, this in the ordinations of priests, this again with the body of Christ at the mystical supper; one might see it dancing everywhere: in houses, in marketplaces, in wildernesses, on roads, on mountains, in glens, on hills, on the sea and in ships and on islands, in beds, on clothes, on arms, and in chambers, at banquets, on silver vessels, on gold, on pearls, in wall paintings, on the bodies of beasts that have labored much, on bodies besieged by demons, in wars, in peace, in days, in nights, in the dances of those who are feasting, in the brotherhoods of those who are undergoing hardship. So sought after by all has this wonderful gift become, this ineffable grace. No one is ashamed, no one hides his face, thinking that this is a symbol of a cursed death; but we all adorn ourselves with this more than with crowns and diadems and thousands of strings of pearls. Thus, not only is it not something to be avoided, but it is also desirable and lovely and sought after by all, and everywhere shining forth and scattered on the walls of houses, on roofs, in books, in cities, in settlements, in desolate places and in inhabited ones. I would gladly, then, ask the Greek: Whence is the symbol of this condemnation, of this cursed death, desirable and sought after by all, if not for the great power of the one who was crucified?

10.

it was the focus of such disgrace; but He who does and transforms all things, He who shifted the inhabited world from such great wickedness and made the earth like heaven, He also raised this matter, which was ignominious and the most shameful of all deaths, above the heavens. The prophet, foreseeing all these things, said: *And His resting place shall be honor* (Isa. XI, 10). For this symbol of death (for I shall not cease to say this constantly) became a source of much blessing, and a wall of all-round safety, a timely wound to the devil, a curb for demons, and a muzzle for the power of the adversaries; this destroyed death, this shattered the bronze gates of Hades, broke the iron bars, pulled down the acropolis of the devil, cut the sinews of sin, rescued the entire inhabited world that lay under condemnation, and checked the God-sent plague that was being carried against our nature. What am I saying? The things that not even the sea dividing, rocks splitting, the air being changed, and manna being distributed for forty years to such thousands, and the Law, and other signs that happened even in the desert and in Palestine could achieve, the Cross achieved—not in one nation, but in the whole inhabited world; the Cross, the accursed symbol, the one to be fled by all, the one loathed by all, the one ignominious, achieved, after the Crucified had died, to effect all things easily. And not only these things, but the things after them also demonstrate His power. For the inhabited world, being barren according to the word of virtue, and faring no better than desert land, expecting to bring forth nothing good, He has suddenly made a paradise and a multi-child-bearing mother. And the prophet had declared this from above, saying: *Rejoice, O barren one, who does not bear; break forth and cry out, O you who do not travail, because many more are the children of the desolate than of her who has a husband* (Isa. LIV, 1). That having worked such a thing, He gave her a law far better than the former, not even this did the prophets keep silent about; and see what they have said by foretelling: *I will establish with them a new covenant, not according to the covenant which I established with their fathers in the day that I took hold of their hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they did not remain in My covenant, and I disregarded them, says the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will establish with them, giving My laws into their mind, and on their heart I will write them* (Jer. XXXI, 31-33). Then, hinting at the sudden change and the ease of the instruction, he said: *And they shall no longer teach each man his neighbor, and each man his brother, saying, "Know the Lord," for all shall know Me, from their small to their great* (Jer. XXXI, 34). That He was about to grant the forgiveness of sins to all, having arrived, this also the prophet heralded again, saying: *This is their covenant from Me, when I take away their lawlessness, and of their sins I will no longer remember* (cf. Jer. XXXI, 34). What could be clearer than this? For the calling of the nations, the superiority of the new over the old law, the ease of access, the grace of those who believed, and the gift that came through baptism, through these predictions He disclosed.

573 11. That this same One who worked these things will also Himself be Judge after these things, see how they foretell this too; for not even this did they pass by, some seeing Him in that very form in which He is about to arrive, others foretelling it through their own words. For Daniel, even in the midst of the barbarian Babylonians, sees Him coming upon the clouds; and hear the words of the prophet himself: *I was watching, he says, and behold, as the Son of Man coming upon the clouds, and He attained as far as the Ancient of Days, and He was presented before Him, and to Him was given the dominion and the kingdom, and all the peoples, tribes, and tongues shall serve Him* (Dan. VII, 13-14). And depicting His judgment, he says: *I was watching until thrones were set, and books were opened; and a river of fire was drawing before Him; thousand thousands were serving Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand were standing before Him* (Dan. VII, 10). And not only this, but he also shows the honor which the righteous are about to have, saying: *And the judgment He gave to the saints of the Most High, and the saints possessed the kingdom* (Dan. VII, 22). And Malachi, that that tribunal will be by fire, indicates, saying: *Behold, He enters like a refiner’s fire, and like the lye of the fullers* (Mal. III, 2). Do you see the precision of the prophets, how they, strictly anticipating, proclaimed all the things that were about to happen? How then do you still dare to disbelieve, having received such proofs of His power, words heralded so long before, and seeing deeds occurring according to the words, and nothing at all falling short? And that it is not our inventions that the books testify, which were received first and are now held [by them], and they being enemies and descendants of those who crucified Him, and now keeping and preserving these same things. And how do they not believe, he says, having the books? Because even then, seeing Him working miracles, they did not believe. But this is not the fault of the one being disbelieved, but of those blinded in the middle of noon; since He also set this world in the midst, a perfectly harmonious instrument, emitting sounds from everywhere, and proclaiming the Creator; and yet there are some men who say that all things are automatic, others that visible things are unbegotten, others attributing their creation and providence to demons, others to chance and fate, and birth, and the circuits of the stars. But not even this is the fault of the Creator, but the indictment of those lying in the most extreme diseases after so many remedies. For just as when the soul is well-disposed, it perceives what is necessary, not needing many aids for this; so too, when it is ill-disposed and senseless, even if it has ten thousand guiding it, being preoccupied with passions, it remains blinded. See, therefore, this happening everywhere, not only on this subject, but also elsewhere. For how many, having not heard the laws, remained the most law-abiding, displaying a life [of virtue]? Others, having been raised in them from early childhood until extreme old age, did not cease violating them. These things also happened among the ancients. For the Jews, even having enjoyed ten thousand signs and wonders, did not become better; but the Ninevites, having heard one single voice, changed and were delivered from [574] wickedness. One might see this happening among insignificant men, not the famous only. How much teaching did Judas not enjoy, and yet he became a traitor! And what persuasion did the robber enjoy? Yet on the cross he confessed Him, and heralded His kingdom! Do not, therefore, make judgments about things from those whose minds are corrupted, but from the truth of the things themselves, bring forth the fitting vote concerning those who have been rightly willing.

^C But the Jews did not believe, while those from the Gentiles did believe. And this, too, has not been passed over in silence; but from the one side, David prophesies and cries out: *Alien children have lied to me; alien children have grown old, and have limped away from their paths* (Ps. XVII, 45-46). And from the other side, Isaiah says: *Lord, who has believed our report? and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?* (Is. LIII, 1). And again: *I was found by those who did not seek me; I became manifest to those who did not inquire of me* (Is. LXV, 1). And during His very presence, the Canaanite and the Samaritan woman believed; but the priests and rulers warred and plotted, and blocked the others, and excommunicated those who believed in Him. ^D Let these things, therefore, not alienate you. Our life is filled with many such examples, both in our own time and in those that came before; but otherwise, if not all, yet many—both from among the Jews—believed then and now. And if not all, there is nothing novel or paradoxical in this. For such is willful ignorance, such is the irrational mind, such is the soul conquered by passions.

But since we have spoken of the prophecies concerning Him uttered by the prophets, and proclaimed so many ages before, come, let us also bring into the middle those spoken by Him, when He was wandering about the earth and conversing with men, concerning things that were to happen, so that from this also you might learn His power. For when He had arrived to bring about the salvation of men, He dealt with it in a varied way, both for those who were living at those times and for those who were to be later. ^A And see what He does. He works miracles, and He foretells certain things that would come to pass long ages later, by the things occurring then guaranteeing the truth of the things that would come to pass after a long time to those who were then His hearers, and to those who were to be after these things, by the fulfillments of what was said, showing worthy of belief both the miracles that occurred in that time, and by this twofold demonstration, certifying what concerned the kingdom.

16. For His predictions were twofold: some were to come to pass in the present life, and some after the consummation thereof; and one confirmed the other, and showed it to be true with great abundance. ^B What do I mean? For the discourse is obscure, and for this reason I shall attempt to make it clearer. Twelve were His disciples following Him; but as to the status of a Church, no one then took it into his mind, nor indeed even the name; for the synagogue was still flourishing. What then did He say and proclaim, while almost the entire inhabited world was held captive by impiety? *Upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it* (Matt. XVI, 18). Test this saying as you wish, and you will see His truth shining forth. ^C For it is not only this that is wonderful, that He built it throughout the entire inhabited world, but that He also rendered it unconquerable, and unconquerable when troubled by so many wars; for the phrase, *the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it*, means dangers that lead down to Hades. Have you seen the truth of the prophecy? Have you seen the power of the fulfillment? Have you seen words shining forth in the facts, and an irresistible power making all things easy? For because the phrase, *I will build my Church*, is short, do not pass by it simply, but unfold it in your mind, and consider how great a thing it is to fill the entire world under the sun with Churches in a short time, to change so many nations, ^D to persuade peoples, to abolish ancestral customs, to uproot a deeply-entrenched habit, to drive away the tyranny of pleasure and the power of wickedness like dust, and to cause altars and temples and idols and initiations and impure festivals and the unclean savor of sacrifices to vanish like some smoke, and to raise up altars everywhere—in the land of the Romans, among the Persians, among the Scythians, among the Moors, among the Indians; what am I saying? Beyond the inhabited world known to us. For even the British Isles, which lie outside this sea and are in the very ocean, have felt the power of the word; for there too Churches and altars have been set up. That word, which He uttered then, is planted in the souls of all, and it lies on the tongues of all. And the whole earth, one might say, was cleansed, having been filled with thorns, and it became a pure field, and received the seeds of piety. ^A It is a great thing, then—truly great, and rather having a surfeit of greatness and a demonstration of divine power—that when no one was troubling, but when there was peace, and when many were cooperating, and when no one was opposing, it was possible for Him to at once rid such an inhabited world of the wicked habit that had held it for such a time, and to transfer it to another much more difficult. For He was opposing not only habit, but also pleasure—two tyrannical things. For the things which they had received from their fathers and grandfathers and great-grandfathers and from their ancestors further back, and from philosophers and rhetoricians, these they were persuaded to spit out; although it was most difficult, and to receive another strange habit that had been introduced; and what was more grievous, ^B having much that is burdensome. For it led away from luxury, and ushered into fasting; it led away from love of money, and ushered into poverty; it led away from licentiousness, and ushered into temperance; it led away from anger, and ushering into meekness; it led away from envy, and ushered into friendly affection; it led away from the broad and spacious road, and ushered into the narrow and afflicted and steep one, and ushered those as if they had been raised in the broad one. For He did not take other men outside the inhabited world and this habit, but those very ones who had rotted away in these things and had become softer than mud, these He commanded to walk the narrow and afflicted road—the rough and hard one—and persuaded them. And how many did He persuade? Not twelve and twenty and a hundred, but almost all those dwelling under the sun. And through whom did He persuade? Through twelve men—unlettered, private citizens, speechless, undistinguished, paupers, having no country, 576 no wealth of money, no strength of body, no celebrity of glory, no splendor of ancestors, no power of words, no skill of rhetoric, no patronage from knowledge, but fishermen, tentmakers, of different tongues. For they were not even of the same language as those being persuaded, but possessing a voice that was strange and altered from all languages—I mean the Hebrew [tongue]—and through them He built this Church, extended from ends to ends.

17. And this is not the only thing that is wonderful, but that these very private citizens and paupers and few and undistinguished and unlettered and common and heteroglossal and contemptible men, having been entrusted with the correction of the entire inhabited world, and having been commanded to lead it to things much more difficult, were not even in peace.

^A but were beset by ten thousand wars from every side. For against each nation and against each city—why do I say nation and city? Against each individual house, war was fanned into flame against them. For the teaching entered in and would often sever a child from a father, a bride from a mother-in-law, a brother from a brother, a slave from a master, a subject from a ruler, a husband from a wife, a wife from a husband, and a father from his children (for not all were persuaded at once), and it brought upon them daily hatreds, continuous wars, ten thousand deaths, and caused them to be regarded and turned away from as common enemies and foes. For all men drove them out—kings, rulers, private citizens, free men, slaves, the populace, cities; and not them alone, but, what was more grievous, those who had only just been firmly grounded in the faith, those who were being catechized by them. For the war was common to both the disciples and the teachers, inasmuch as the teaching appeared contrary to royal decrees and to usage and ancestral customs. For they advised them to abstain from idols and to disregard the altars which all their fathers and ancestors had honored, to desist from loathsome dogmas, to mock the festivals, and to spit upon the rites—things which to those men seemed most terrifying and fearful, and for the sake of which they would have surrendered even their lives, rather than choose what was being said by them and believe in Him who was born of Mary, who stood before a judicial tribunal, who was spat upon, who suffered ten thousand terrible things, who endured an accursed death, who was buried, who rose again. And the paradox is that while the things of His sufferings were evident to all—the scourges, the blows on the cheek, the insults to the face through the spitting, the slaps, the cross, the great ridicule, the comedy made by all, the tomb which became a matter of grace—the things of the resurrection were no longer so; for He appeared having risen to them alone. Yet, nevertheless, even by saying these things they persuaded, and thus they built up the Church. How and by what manner? By the power of Him who commanded these things; for He was paving the way, He Himself was making all things, even the difficult, easy. For if it were not some divine power that was bringing these things to completion, not even an opening, not even a beginning would they have taken; for how could they? But He who said, "Let the heaven be," and showed the work; and "Let the earth be founded," and brought substance into being; and "Let the sun shine," and showed the star, and made all things by a word, He it is who also planted these Churches; and that word, "I will build My Church," brought all these things to pass. For such are the words of God: creators of works, of wonderful and paradoxical works. For just as He said, "Let the earth sprout with the vegetation of grass," and immediately all was a paradise, and all was meadows, and the earth which had received the command flourished with ten thousand plants; so also now He said, "I will build My Church," and with great ease this came to pass. And though tyrants armed themselves against it, and soldiers moved their weapons, and multitudes raged more fiercely than fire, and established custom stood in battle array, and rhetoricians and sophists and the wealthy and private citizens and rulers stood up against it, the Word, advancing more fiercely than fire, consumed the thorns, cleared the fields, and sowed the word of the proclamation. And of those who believed, some inhabited the prison, others were being removed to foreign lands, others were being stripped of their property, others were being killed and slaughtered, others were being delivered to the fire, others were being drowned, and while they were undergoing every kind of punishment, being dishonored, hunted down, pursued from everywhere as common enemies, ^B others, more numerous, approached, not only not becoming more sluggish to be persuaded by what they saw others suffering, but even more eager, and leaping all the more into this honorable hunt. And in this way they were fished, not being compelled, not being forced, but running to it, giving thanks to those who led them to this. And seeing torrents of blood flowing from those who had already believed, they became more fervent regarding the faith and more courageous; and not only concerning the disciples, but also concerning the teachers—some being bound, others being driven out, others being scourged, others being subjected to ten thousand other evils—more people became disciples and became even more zealous. And Paul speaks, saying: "So that most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without fear." And elsewhere again, "For you became imitators of the Churches of God which are in Judea, because you suffered the same things by your own countrymen, as they also by the Jews, who both killed the Lord and were hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles, that they might be saved." And writing to others again, he was saying thus: "Recall the former days, in which, after being enlightened, you endured a great struggle of sufferings, knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession in the heavens, and one that abides." Do you see the greatness of the power of Him who brought these things about? For not only were they not despondent, and not only were they not distressed by suffering these things, but they even rejoiced, they leaped for joy, they exulted. And concerning these, he speaks thus, that they received the confiscation of their property with joy; and concerning the teachers, Luke in the book of the Acts [speaks], that they returned from the presence of the council rejoicing that they were counted worthy to be dishonored for the name of Christ. And concerning himself, Paul again: "I rejoice in my sufferings, and I fill up the remnants of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh." And why do you marvel if he rejoiced even in sufferings, where he, about to undergo even death, not only rejoiced, but also invited the disciples into a communion of joy, which ^C was of a soul rejoicing excessively, saying thus: "I rejoice and I congratulate you all, and you yourselves also rejoice and congratulate me." What has happened, tell me, that you were filled with such joy? "I," he says, "am already being poured out, and the time of my departure is at hand."

Caput 14.

for an ally and helper the invincible power of Him who said: *Upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it* (Matt. 16. 18). ^A Count, then, how many tyrants from that time have arrayed themselves against her, how many have stirred up most grievous persecutions, and how all the previous time was situated when the faith was newly planted, when human minds were most tender.

^B 15. The emperors were all Greeks—Augustus, Tiberius, Gaius, Nero, Vespasian, Titus, and all after him until the times of the blessed Emperor Constantine. And all these, some less, some more vehemently, warred against the Church; but all of them nevertheless warred against her. And if some of them seemed to be quiet, this very fact—that the emperors were clearly manifest in impiety—became a pretext for wars, as others flattered them and sought to please them by warring against the Church. But yet all these plots and onsets were broken more easily than spiderwebs, dissolved faster than smoke, passed away quicker than dust. For those through whom they plotted, having created a large choir of martyrs and having left behind those immortal treasures of the Church—the pillars, the towers—became a subject of great utility for those who came after, not only while living but even when they had died. ^C Do you see the strength of the prediction, *And the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it*? From these things believe regarding what is to come, and that none of them shall survive her. For if, when she consisted of a few, when the matter seemed to be an innovation, when the teaching was newly planted, when such wars were present, and so many battles were being fanned from every side, they did not prevail, did not overcome; how much more so now that she has occupied the whole world, and every place, and mountains, and forests, and hills? For indeed, she has occupied the sea, and all the nations that lie under the sun, and impiety—now reduced to a few—along with their altars, and temples, and idols, and all things have been abolished, along with the feasts, and initiations, and the smoke and fat of sacrifices, and profane assemblies. ^D How then did so great and mighty a thing, with so many obstacles, have so brilliant an end, and an outcome testifying to the truth, if there were not some divine and invincible power of Him who foretold and accomplished these things? No one would gainsay these things, unless he were one of the utterly mad and deranged, and bereft of his natural senses.

16. Come then, let us examine another prediction which shines more brightly than the sun, and is clearer than a ray of light, and is set before the eyes of all, and extends to all generations after this, just as the former one did. For such are most of his predictions. They are not completed in a brief time, nor are they fulfilled in one generation, but for all men, both those who are and those who shall be again, those after them, and those again after these, extending even to the consummation, they provide all the possibility of understanding His own truth, of the day it was spoken, until the consummation of the strength, just as the former one did. For indeed, from the age, it has stood firm and immovable, flourishing, shining, growing stronger each day, increasing, giving place to greater power, providing to all who are from that time until the coming of Christ the opportunity to enjoy the greatest goods from it, and to reap unspeakable profit. For indeed those before us, and those before them, and those before these further back, recognized its power, seeing wars coming upon it, and dangers and disturbances, uproars and waves and storms; yet they saw her not being submerged, not being conquered, not being mastered, not being extinguished, but flourishing, increasing, being raised to a greater height.

Chapter 17.

carried for themselves trophies without bloodshed in many places, and set up myriad new and paradoxical trophies, these were unable ^A to build even one temple from that time to this day; and this, with so many kings having come and co-operated with them, and with such a multitude spread throughout the world, and with so much wealth at their disposal. Do you see how no one tore down what He built, and no one built up what He tore down? He built the Church, and no one could tear it down; He destroyed the temple, and no one can set it up again, and that too in such a long time. Although they even attempted to tear down the former, they were unable; and they strove to set up the latter, but they could not.

And this was allowed, so that no one might be able to say that if they had attempted it, they would have succeeded. Behold, therefore, they did attempt it, and they were unable to do anything. For even in our own generation, the emperor who surpassed everyone in impiety gave authority then and contributed his aid, and they set their hands to the work, and were not able to progress even a little, but fire leaping forth from the foundations drove them all away. That they really intended it, a proof of this is the foundations left bare to this day, so that you may know that they attempted to dig up, but were not able to build, with this decree ^B working against them. Although this temple was already destroyed, and after seventy years they returned, it was immediately rebuilt, and became more glorious than the former; and the prophets say this and proclaim it beforehand before it comes to pass. But now the four-hundredth year has passed, and there is not even a thought, nor expectation, nor hope of it ever appearing again. Yet what was the hindrance, if divine power were not that which was opposing them? Was there not a great abundance of wealth among them? Does not the patriarch, gathering tithes from everyone everywhere, possess endless treasures? Is the nation not daring, shameless, contentious, rash, and war-making? Are there not many in Palestine? Are there not many in Phoenicia? Are there not many everywhere? How then were they not able to raise up one temple, and that too while seeing their worship bound everywhere from that source, and the Jewish customs vanished, and those of the sacrifices, and those of the offerings, and those of other such laws abolished and ceased? For it was not permitted to them to set up an altar, nor to offer a sacrifice, nor to pour a libation, nor to place a lamb, nor incense, nor to read the law, nor to perform a feast, nor any other such thing outside those thresholds.

16.

^A they would have remained silent about the gloomy events and the things which seem to many to be ignominious. But now, as those who demonstrate their truth, they have dwelt most of all upon these things, and have told everything with accuracy and great abundance, passing over nothing, neither small nor great; but while they passed over most of the signs and the miracles, they dwelt upon the sufferings and the things that seem ignominious, and all of them have spoken everything with accuracy.

But I, having said nothing to you of these—I mean the miracles and signs—in order that I might stop every shameless tongue from a position of abundance, have brought into the center the things that are now visible, the things now lying before our eyes, clearer than the sun, those which are dispersed everywhere in the inhabited world, those which occupy the whole world and surpass human nature ^B and which were of God alone—these I have brought forward. What do you say? Did He not raise the dead? And do you have this also to say, that the Churches are not throughout the world? Nor that they were not plotted against? Nor that they prevail and overcome? But just as it is not possible to say that the sun does not exist, so neither is it possible to say this of these. What then? Does not the destruction of the Jewish temple lie before the eyes of the whole world? Why do you not reason with yourself: If He were not God, and a strong God, whence would those who worship Him have increased so much and been afflicted, while those who crucified Him and offended Him have been so abased ^C as to have even fallen from their whole political existence, and wander about as vagabonds, impostors, and fugitives, and no length of time has dissolved either condition? And yet, against the Roman Empire, these very people, I say—these Jews—even chose war, and moved weapons, and continued to fight for a long time; and they even succeeded at times, and caused the Augusti of that time no small trouble; such was their power. But yet, those who had fought against so many emperors and had drawn up in battle order, and possessed such a strength of money and weapons and soldiers, and had repelled countless generals, were not able to raise up one temple; but while they built synagogues in many of the cities, the place which had provided them ^D the authority of their own state, and where they were accustomed to perform all things, and from which Judaism was constructed—this alone they were not able to raise up.

ADVERSUS JUDÆOS. — MONITUM.

in the year 386, as we stated in the Note to the homilies *On the Incomprehensible*, and it will be plainer from what is to be said shortly. As to what time of the year he began to deliver these sermons, he himself testifies a little after the beginning of the first homily with these words: "The feasts of the wretched and miserable Jews are about to arrive, continuous and consecutive, the trumpets, the feast of Tabernacles, the fasts." The feasts of the wretched and miserable Jews are continuous and frequent, the trumpets, the feast of Tabernacles, the fasts. By these, undoubtedly, the month of Tisri or September is denoted, on the fifteenth day of which the feast of Tabernacles, or the Feast of Booths, began. In that month, moreover, more feasts occurred among the Jews than in any other of the whole year, as you may see in Buxtorf, Leusden, and others, which Chrysostom also indicates when he says "continuous and consecutive." That the aforementioned words declare, and those to be brought forward immediately testify, that Chrysostom anticipated this solemnity by a few days. Therefore, it appears he delivered the first homily in the month of August.

The second homily, that is, the one which begins thus, "The lawless and impure," he delivered ten or more days having elapsed from the first, five days before the fast of the Jews arrived, as he himself declares at the beginning: "Their lawless fast, then, is upon us in five days; but I, having anticipated it by ten days or more, made my exhortation so as to keep your brothers safe." Their illicit fast therefore presses upon them in five days; but I gave the exhortation to you ten or more days ago, so that I might protect your brothers. But do not doubt that this is the very one he delivered as the second against the Jews; see how he speaks there of the first, no. 3: "Have you not heard in the former discourse the Word clearly proving to us that demons dwell both in the very souls of the Jews and in the places where they gather?" Did you not hear in the former sermon how clearly it was demonstrated in the discourse that the souls of the Jews themselves, and the places where they gather, are inhabited by demons? That very thing—namely, that both the souls of the Jews and the places of the same are inhabited by demons—he proves conspicuously and at length in the first homily against the Jews, no. 6, so that it is certain beyond any doubt that that one is the first against the Jews, and this one the second, which we lament has reached us in a mutilated state. We certainly left nothing undone to edit it sound and whole; we took care for the homily to be sought for by the work of friends in manuscript copies throughout almost all the libraries of Europe, but all attempts were in vain. Savile, as we said above, had placed this homily eighth, but Fronto Ducaeus had banished it to the fifth volume, far from the others, as if its place were uncertain.

We place without hesitation the third homily against those who fast at the first Passover, the beginning of which is: "Again, some necessary and urgent business, interrupting the sequence of what was previously said, draws the discourse to itself and leads us away from the struggles against the heretics. For we were preparing to discourse again to your love concerning the glory of the Only-Begotten." That is: Again, some necessary and urgent business, interrupting the series of things recently said, turns the discourse to itself, and leads us away today from the contests undertaken with the heretics. For we were indeed prepared to speak again to your charity concerning the glory of the Only-Begotten. Furthermore, he declares in these words that he is now interrupting for the second time the course of the Homilies against the Anomoeans, which he said he did for the first time at the beginning of Homily I against the Jews. For when he had delivered his first discourse against the Anomoeans, or *On the Incomprehensible*, he was forced to stop the course, not only to contend against the Jews, which he performed in two homilies, but to receive certain spiritual fathers, as he calls them, who had come to Antioch, and afterwards to celebrate the many feasts of the martyrs that were occurring. By all these things, I say, he was interrupted in the struggle begun against the Anomoeans, so that it was no small interval of time that passed between the first homily against the Anomoeans and the third. Since, however, he delivered the first homily against the Jews in the month of August of the year 386, as we said above, and the second about the beginning of September—ten, he says, and more days after the first—and he spent a great part of September in receiving those spiritual fathers and in celebrating the feasts of the martyrs, and then at the end of the month of September resumed the fight with the Anomoeans, which he interrupted again before September was over or at the beginning of October, urged, as he says, by the necessity of having another contest against the Jews. Whether he delivered this third against the Jews after the second discourse against the Anomoeans, or after the third or after the fourth, is clearly uncertain: nor does it seem anything certain can be established on this matter.

But that we may not assign this third homily against the Jews to long after September, Chrysostom himself seems to prohibit it in the homily on the day of the Nativity of Christ, which he delivered in the year 386, on the twenty-fifth day of December: "But the time then," he says, "was of the feast of Tabernacles and the fast: for those words mean just that, 'Afflict your souls,' and that [happened] from the Jews toward the end of the month of Gorpieus, that is, September."

which you yourselves attest, was celebrated. For at that time we undertook many and lengthy sermons against the Jews, accusing their untimely fast. Therefore, at the time we have established, he held these three sermons against the Jews. Yet he does not say that these many and lengthy homilies were held in the month of September in such a way that he delivered none before and none after September. For when he says, "For then we held many and lengthy sermons against the Jews," he marks the time approximately, and does not restrict all those homilies to the month of September: for Chrysostom is not accustomed to marking the signs of the times with such scruple, as we have observed elsewhere. But when he says, "many and lengthy sermons" (πολλούς καὶ μακροὺς λόγους), he seems to indicate these three homilies, and perhaps others besides, which have perished through the injuries of time: for it almost happened that the second homily also perished, as it was found in only one codex and mutilated in a great part of it. Indeed, it seems certain that some of the homilies he mentions here have perished: for in the third [homily] he says: "As we have demonstrated, when many sermons have been held by me on this subject, πολλούς ἀλλήλους λόγους": he would not have spoken thus if he had only held two sermons on this matter. But beware of thinking with Fronto Ducaeus that the five homilies following are signified by these words of Chrysostom, "long and lengthy sermons," for he held those long after the Homily on the Nativity of Christ, held in the year 386, from which those words are excerpted, as we shall presently make clear with unambiguous arguments.

It remains for us to meet certain doubts proposed by Tillemont regarding the time of this homily. What Chrysostom says in this homily, that the first day of Unleavened Bread happened this year on Sunday, that indeed happened in the year 387. Yet do not infer from that that this homily was pronounced in the same year 387, as we count from the first day of January: for besides the fact that the year in the Greek Church begins from the month of September, nothing is more frequent among Greek Fathers and writers than that they say something occurs "this year" when the interval of time between the events is less than one year. Wherefore, Chrysostom might very well have said in the month of September, 386, that the first day of Unleavened Bread "this year" falls on a Sunday, speaking of the first day of Unleavened Bread of the year 387. Therefore, if Tillemont, who thinks it probable that this sermon was initiated shortly before Lent or in Lent itself of the year 387, relies on this manner of Chrysostom's speaking, he is clearly wandering from the mark. He draws another argument from these words, ταῖς μὲν ταύταις ἡμέραις, "these 40 days," by which he suspects that the homily was held in Lent itself. However, it does not seem that he derives much support from this: for by these words can be signified "these 40 days of which I am speaking," and not "these 40 days in which we are currently living." Certainly, Chrysostom seems to contradict this opinion when, at the beginning of this homily, he says that he is compelled to interrupt again the series of sermons against the Anomoeans, and from the manner of beginning he indicates that he held this third sermon against the Jews a short time after the second, which second [homily] must undoubtedly be referred to the month of September, as we saw above. And indeed, since Chrysostom says in his homily on the Nativity of Christ in the year 386 that he had instituted many long and lengthy sermons against the Jews in the month of September, we assign this third homily more congruously to that time, after he had held either the second one against the Anomoeans, or another one of the following ones: for it is not certain which of them preceded this third one against the Jews.

But besides this, if we posit that this homily was delivered in Lent, it will undoubtedly be the Lent of the year 387; yet in that Lent, why would he have interrupted his course of homilies against the Anomoeans to hold this one against the Jews? And how could these things happen in the Lent of 387, throughout which Chrysostom preached about the overturned statues, being then entirely occupied with describing and lamenting the calamities of the Antiochenes, to which he was attempting to apply a healing hand? To understand the force of this argument better, I would have you consider that in the Lent of 387, twenty-one homilies were delivered, which still survive, and which are entirely concerned with lamenting the calamities of the Antiochenes, and in their introductions, for the most part, the preceding homilies are discussed. Wherefore, if the controversies concerning the glory of the Only-Begotten and against the Anomoeans had been flourishing then, and if this [homily] against the Jews had been held then, he would undoubtedly have mentioned it in some introduction. Moreover, who would think that in the city’s extreme perils and misfortunes, Chrysostom would have stirred up controversies against the Anomoeans and Jews, which required both the leisure and the calm mind of the auditors? [586] Tillemont raises another, much more difficult question, which challenges his own opinion as well as ours, which is of this kind. The title of this homily is, Εἰς τοὺς τὰ πρῶτα πάσχα νηστεύοντας, "In those who fast on the first Passover." But that in this very year those who followed the Jewish calculation for the Passover were to fast during the Passover itself, Chrysostom declares thus in number 5: "For see, the first day of Unleavened Bread falls this year on the Lord’s day, and it is entirely necessary that