If they deny that their prophets have received gifts, let them admit this: that if they are convicted of having received them, they are not prophets. And we shall bring forward a myriad of proofs of these matters. It is absolutely necessary for all the fruits of a prophet to be tested. Tell me, does a prophet dye his hair A? Does a prophet paint his eyes with antimony? Does a prophet strive after adornment? Does a prophet play with boards and dice? Does a prophet lend money at interest? Let them frankly admit and answer whether these things are permitted or not. But I shall show that these things were done among them.
RELIQUIAE OF SEVERAL ANONYMOUS AUTHORS WHO HAD HEARD THE APOSTLES, PRESERVED BY SAINT IRENAEUS.
(ROUTH, *Reliquiae sacrae*, Oxford, 1814, I, 41.)
NOTICE.
There are two things in all that I must advise: the first is that the collected passages which follow are to be attributed to more than one elder; secondly, I do not wish to assert that all these things—especially those which I have excerpted and placed in the fifth position—were expressed by Irenaeus in the very words of the authors. But even suppose it is not so, they were certainly worthy of being gathered here, as rills which we know to be so close to the fountains of Christianity.
I.
For error, Irenaeus says (Preface of the first book of *Against Heresies*, § 2), does not appear itself naked, lest it be exposed and made perceptible; but it is cunningly adorned with a persuasive covering, and it presents itself as more true than the truth itself (it is ridiculous even to say so), in order to deceive the simpler-minded through an outward appearance; just as it has been said by one better than us concerning such things: "since the precious stone, the emerald," B— C
Indeed, error does not exhibit itself as it is, lest it be laid bare and understood, but, cunningly adorned with a persuasive cloak, it presents itself as more true than truth itself (a ridiculous thing to say), so that it may deceive the simpler-minded with an exterior phantasm; just as it has been said by one better than us concerning such things: "since the precious stone, the emerald..."
D
and the highly-prized, is insulted by glass which mimics it through art, whenever there is no one present capable of testing and skillfully exposing what has been cunningly made. But when copper is mixed into silver, who will be able to test it thoroughly A and without corruption?"
II.
For those who speak such things (namely, the heretics) toward the faithful (Irenæus says in book III of the same work, at the very end of chapter 17, otherwise chapter 19, p. 209), as we have said before, not only think things that are dissimilar, but also things that are contrary, and are in all respects full of blasphemies, through which they slay those who, by the similarity of words, draw into themselves the dissimilar venom of their affection; just as one who gives gypsum mixed with water instead of milk, would seduce through the similarity of color; just as a certain person, better than us, said concerning all those who in any way pervert the things of God and adulterate the truth: "into the milk of God, gypsum is evilly mixed."
III.
As the one better than us proceeds concerning such prophets. B "That it is an audacious and shameless soul which is warmed by empty air."
IV.
Because of this, even at the beginning of the transgression of Adam, as Scripture narrates, it did not curse Adam himself, but the ground in his works, as a certain one from among the ancients says, since God transferred the curse onto the ground, so that it might not persist in man. But man received the condemnation of the transgression: weariness and earthly labor, etc., etc. Irenæus brought these points forward in book III of the same work, chap. 23, otherwise chap. 35, p. 221.
V.
1. As I have heard (Irenæus says in book V of the same work, chap. 27, otherwise 45, p. 263) from a certain person who had heard it from those who had seen the apostles, and from those who had learned: that it is sufficient for the ancients, regarding those things which they did without the counsel of the Spirit, that they should have received the reproof which was according to the Scriptures. For since God is not a respecter of persons, upon those things which were done not according to His pleasure, He brought the appropriate reproof. Just as under David, when he was suffering persecution from Saul for the sake of justice, and was fleeing from King Saul, and was not taking revenge on his enemy, and was singing of the coming of Christ, and was instructing the nations with wisdom, and was doing all things according to the counsel of the Spirit, he was pleasing to God. But when, because of desire, he himself took for himself Bersabee, the wife of Uriah, Scripture said concerning him: "But the word which David did wrought, appeared evil in the sight of the Lord"; C and the prophet Nathan is sent to him, showing him his sin...
A so that by passing judgment upon himself and condemning himself, he might obtain mercy and forgiveness from Christ. "And he said to him: There were two men in one city, one rich, and one poor; the rich man had flocks of sheep and oxen very many, and the poor man had nothing at all except one little ewe lamb, which he possessed and nourished, and it had been with him and with his children together; it ate of his bread, and drank of his cup, and was to him as a daughter. And a guest came to the rich man, and he spared to take from B his own flock of sheep, and from the flocks of his oxen, and to make for his guest; and he took the little ewe lamb of the poor man, and set it before the man who had come to him. And David was very angry against that man, and said to Nathan: As the Lord liveth, because the man who did this is a son of death; and he shall restore the lamb fourfold for that he did this deed; and because he spared not the poor man. And Nathan said to him: Thou art the man who hast done this"; and subsequently he carries out the rest, reproaching C him and enumerating the benefits of God toward him, and that he provoked the Lord when he had done this. For such an operation did not please God, but rather that a great wrath was impending over his house. David was pricked at heart at these things, and said: "I have sinned before the Lord"; and he sang the Psalm of confession afterwards, waiting for the advent of the Lord, who cleanses and purifies him, the man who had been bound by sin.
Similarly also concerning Solomon, when he persevered in judging rightly and declaring D wisdom, and was building a type of the true temple, and was explaining the glories of God, and was announcing to the nations the peace that was to come, and was prefiguring the reign of Christ, and was speaking three thousand parables concerning the advent of the Lord, and five thousand songs, giving praise to God, and was explaining the wisdom of God which is in creation (ἐν κτίσει) physiologically—from every tree, and from every herb, and from all birds, and from quadrupeds, and from fishes—and was saying: "If [index: entries preserved] ever God, whom the heavens do not contain, shall dwell upon earth with men?" And he was pleasing to God, and all men admired him, and all the kings of the earth sought his face, so that they might hear his wisdom which God had given him, and the queen of the South came from the ends of the earth to know the wisdom which was in him; which wisdom the Lord also says will rise up in the judgment with the nation of those who hear his words and do not believe in him, and will condemn them; since she indeed was subject to the wisdom announced by the servant of God; but these men despised the wisdom which was to be given by the Son of God. For Solomon was a servant; but Christ is the Son of God and the Lord of Solomon. When, therefore, he served God without offense, and ministered to his dispensations, then he was glorified; but when he took wives from all the nations and allowed them to erect idols in Israel, Scripture said of him: "And king Solomon was a lover of women, and he took to himself foreign women; and it came to pass in the time of the old age of Solomon, his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God. And foreign women turned his heart after foreign gods. And Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord: he did not walk after the Lord, as did David his father. And the Lord was angry with Solomon; for his heart was not perfect in the Lord, according to the heart of David his father." Sufficiently did Scripture rebuke him, as the presbyter said, "that all flesh may not glory in the sight of the Lord."
2. And on account of this, that the Lord descended into those things that are below, evangelizing to them his advent, with the forgiveness of sins existing for those who believe in him. All who hoped in him, that is, who announced his advent and served his dispensations—just men, and prophets, and patriarchs—believed in him; to whom, as to us, he remitted sins, which it is not fitting for us to impute to them, lest we despise the grace of God. For just as they did not impute to us our failings, which we committed before Christ was manifested in us; so also it is not just for us to impute to those who sinned before the advent of Christ. "For all men fall short of the glory of God," but they are justified not by themselves, but by the advent of the Lord, those who look to his light. Moreover, their acts were recorded for our correction, so that we might know, first indeed, that one is our God and theirs, to whom sins are not pleasing, even if they be committed by the renowned; and then that we should abstain from evils.
For if those ancients who preceded us in charisms, for whom the Son of God had not yet suffered, being found delinquent in some matter and serving the lusts of the flesh, were afflicted with such ignominy, what shall they suffer who are now, who have despised the advent of the Lord and have served their own pleasures? And for them indeed the cure and remission of sins was the death of the Lord; but for those who sin now, Christ shall no longer die, for now death shall no longer have dominion over Him 13; but the Son shall come in the glory of the Father, seeking from His stewards and dispensers the money which He entrusted to them with interest 14; and from those to whom He gave much, He will demand much 15. We ought not, therefore, says that elder, to be proud, nor to reprehend the ancients; but to fear ourselves, lest perchance, after having gained the knowledge of Christ, by doing something that is not pleasing to God, we should no longer have remission of our offenses, but be excluded from His kingdom. And therefore Paul said: “For if He spared not the natural branches, take heed lest perhaps He also may not spare thee, who, when thou wast a wild olive tree, wert grafted into the richness of the olive and art become a partaker of the fatness thereof 16.” B 3. Similarly, that the prevarications of the people were written down not for the sake of those who were then transgressing, but for our correction, and that we might know one and the same God, in whom they were blundering and in whom some of those who say they have believed are now blundering. And that the Apostle showed this most manifestly in the Epistle which is to the Corinthians, saying: “I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all in Moses were baptized in the cloud and in the sea, and all did eat the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink; and they drank of the spiritual rock that followed them; and the rock was Christ. But with most of them God was not well pleased; for they were overthrown in the desert. Now these things were done in a figure of us, that we should not covet evil things, as they also coveted; and do not become idolaters, as some of them; as it is written: The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed fornication, and there fell in one day three and twenty thousand. Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them tempted and perished by the serpents. Neither murmur ye, as some of them murmured, and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now all these things happened to them in figure; and they are written for our correction, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore he that thinketh himself to stand, let him take heed lest he fall 17.”
Then, some things intervening, which I shall immediately subjoin, the discourse proceeds thus at the beginning of chapter 28: “Since therefore the justice of God is the same in punishing, both here and there; and there indeed typically, and temporally, and more moderately; here, however, truly, and eternally, and more austerely; for the eternal fire and the wrath of God which shall be revealed from heaven upon the face of the Lord, as also David saith: The countenance of the Lord is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth 18, provides a greater punishment for those who fall into it; the presbyters 23 showed those to be very senseless who, from these things that happened to those who once did not obey God 24, attempt to introduce another father; opposing them on the contrary, how much the Lord had done to save those who received Him, pitying them; but being silent concerning His judgment, and whatever shall come to pass for those who heard His words and did not do them, and that it were better for them if they had not been born 19, and that it shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the judgment, than for that city which did not receive the words of His disciples 20 25.”
Although I would not rashly deny that the intervening words, of which I just spoke, belonged to the same presbyter, I have nevertheless deemed that they should be placed separately here as being less certain.
Without doubt, therefore, and without contradiction, the Apostle showing that one and the same God is He who both judged those former things and searches out those which are now, and demonstrating the cause of the description of them, all are found to be ignorant and bold, and even still imprudent, who, on account of the transgression of those who were once, and because of the ignoring of the hearing by many 26, say that one was their God, and that He is the framer of the world and is in diminution; but that the other is the Father handed down by Christ, and that he is the one who has been conceived in the mind by each of them: not understanding that, just as there God was not well pleased with many of them who sinned; so also here many are called, but few are chosen 21; just as there the unjust, and idolaters, and fornicators lost their life; so also here: both with the Lord preaching that such are to be cast into eternal fire, and with the Apostle saying: Know you not that the unjust shall not possess the kingdom of God? Do not err, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards.
A And because he does not say this to those who are outside, but to us, lest we be cast out of the kingdom of God by doing such things, he added: "And such indeed were some of you, but you are washed, but you are sanctified, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Spirit of our God." And just as there those who were doing evil were condemned and cast out, and they corrupted the others, so here also the eye that scandalizes is gouged out, and the foot, and the hand, lest the remaining body perish likewise. And we have the commandment: "If any brother be named a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner, with such an one not so much as to eat." And again the Apostle says: "Let no man deceive you with vain words; for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disbelief. Be not ye therefore partakers with them." And just as there the condemnation of those who sinned was shared by the others, because they were well-pleased with them and conversed with them, so here also, "a little leaven corrupteth the whole lump." And just as there wrath descended from God against the unjust; so here also the Apostle says: "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all impiety and injustice of those men who restrain the truth in injustice." And just as there against the Egyptians, who unjustly punished Israel, vengeance was taken by God; so here also, with the Lord indeed saying: "And will not God revenge his elect who cry to him day and night? And will have patience in their regard? I say to you, that he will quickly revenge them"; and the Apostle, in the epistle which is to the Thessalonians, preaching these things: "For it is a just thing with God to repay tribulation to them that trouble you, and to you who are troubled, rest with us, in the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ from heaven with the angels of his power, and in a flame of fire, giving vengeance to them who know not God, and who obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall suffer eternal punishment in destruction, from the face of the Lord, and from the glory of his power, when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be made wonderful in all them who have believed in him." B
VI.
Those who reproach and impute that the people about to depart, by the command of God, received vessels of every kind and garments from the Egyptians, and so departed, from which also the tabernacle was made in the wilderness—not knowing the justifications of God and his dispositions—argue against themselves, as the Presbyter said. (Irenæus, Book IV, c. 30, al. 49, p. 267. Then, really, immediately after those things which I have subjoined in the first place to this *phēsei*, he adds these things in the chapter immediately following:) Relating such things about the ancients, the Presbyter refreshed us, and said: Concerning the same faults, for which the Scriptures themselves rebuked the patriarchs and prophets, we ought not C to reproach them, nor become like Cham, who mocked the nakedness of his father and fell into a curse; but to give thanks to God for them, since by the coming of our Lord their sins have been forgiven; for he used to say that they give thanks and are glorified in our salvation. But as for those things for which the Scriptures do not rebuke them, but they are set down simply, we ought not to become accusers, for we are not more diligent than God, nor can we be above the Master, but we should seek the type. For nothing is idle of those things which are set down in the Scriptures as unaccusable. Like Lot, as well, who led his daughters out of Sodom, who conceived by their father, and who left his wife behind in the surrounding territory, a statue of salt unto this very day. (Then the discourse engages in interpreting the history of Lot by a mystical reason, which I have subjoined below to this *phēsai*, until he comes to the beginning of chapter 32, al. 52.) The disciple of the apostles, the Elder, used to dispute in this way also concerning the two testaments, showing both to be from one and the same God; and that there is no other God besides the one who made and fashioned us, nor does the speech of those have any firm foundation who say that this world was made either through angels, or through any virtue, or by another God, which is according to us.
1. He says, Irenæus continues writing: For if God had not consented to this in the typical departure, that is, in the faith in which we are constituted, by which we are exempted from the number of the gentiles, no one could be saved. For we are all followed by a possession, either small or large, which we have acquired out of the Mammon of iniquity. Whence indeed are the houses in which we dwell, and the garments with which we are clothed, and the vessels which we use, and every other utility for our daily life, if not from those things which...
when we were heathens we acquired through greed, or received from heathen parents, or relatives, or friends who acquired them through injustice? A Not to mention that even now, while believers, we continue to acquire them. For who sells and does not wish to gain profit from the one who buys? And who buys and does not desire to be dealt with advantageously by the one who sells? And who in trade does not trade for the sake of being nourished thereby? Furthermore, even those of the faithful who are in the royal court, do they not possess utensils from the things that are Caesar’s, and does not each of them provide from these to those who have none, according to their capacity? The Egyptian people were debtors not only of goods, but of their very lives, on account of the prior kindness of the patriarch Joseph; but in what respect are the heathens debtors to us, from whom we receive both gain and utilities? Whatever they acquire with labor, we, being in the faith, use without labor.
To this end, the people served the Egyptians with the worst of servitude, just as Scripture says: *And the Egyptians exercised their power over the children of Israel with force, and made their life bitter for them in hard labors, in clay and in brick, and in all the works which they performed in the fields, through all the works by which they oppressed them with force* (Exod. 1:13-14); and they built them fortified cities, laboring much, and increasing their substance for many years and through every mode of servitude, while they were not only ungrateful toward them, but even wished to destroy them B entirely. What then was done unjustly, if they took a few things from the many, and those who could have possessed much substance if they had not served them, and could have departed rich, went away as paupers, receiving a very small wage for great servitude? Just as if someone free, abducted by another by force, and serving him for many years, and increasing his substance, afterwards obtaining some assistance, is indeed thought to have some small portion of it, but in reality, receiving little from his own many labors and great acquisition, leaves, and this is imputed to him by someone as if he had not acted rightly; he himself will appear the more unjust judge to him who was led into servitude by force.
So then, likewise, are those who impute to the people the taking of small things from many for themselves; and they do not impute it to themselves, who rendered no gratitude owed for the merit of their parents, nay rather, even while reducing them to the heaviest servitude, obtained the greatest utility from them; and while they say that those people acted unjustly for taking—as we said before—not stamped gold and silver, but things in a few vessels, they themselves—for it must be said what is true, C though it may appear ridiculous to some—say that they act justly while carrying, from the labors of others, the notable gold, and silver, and copper, with the inscription and image of Caesar on their belts.
But if a comparison is made between us and them, who will appear to have received more justly? Whether the people from the Egyptians, who were debtors in all respects; or we from the Romans and the rest of the nations, from whom nothing of this kind is owed to us? But the world has peace through them, and we walk in the streets without fear, and sail wherever we wish. Against such people, therefore, the word of the Lord will be apt: *Hypocrite*, He says, *first cast out the beam from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to cast out the speck from your brother’s eye* (Matt. 7:5). And truly, if he who imputes these things to you and boasts in his own knowledge is separated from the company of the gentiles, and there is nothing of others with him, but he is simply naked, and with naked feet, and dwells in the mountains without a house, like some of those animals that feed on grass, he will deserve pardon, for the reason that he is ignorant of the necessities of our life. D But if he participates in things that are called another’s by men, and critiques their way of life, he shows himself to be most unjust, turning such an accusation back upon himself. For he will be found carrying around what is another's, and coveting things that are not his, and for this reason the Lord said: *Do not judge, so that you may not be judged: for in the judgment you judge, you will be judged* (Matt. 7:2). Not, of course, that we should not rebuke those who sin, nor that we should consent to those things which are done wickedly; but that we should not judge the dispositions of God unjustly, since He has provided all things justly for our benefit.
For because He knew that we would act well with our own substance—which we have while receiving from another—He says: *He who has two tunics, let him give to him who has none; and he who has food, let him do likewise* (Luke 3:11). And: *For I was hungry, and you gave me to eat; and I was naked, and you clothed me* (Matt. 25:35-36). And: *When you do an act of mercy, let not your left hand know what your right hand does* (Matt. 6:3); and the other things whereby, doing good, we are justified, as if redeeming our own with the things of others: and I say "of others" in this way, not as if the world were alien to God, but because we possess these kinds of gifts by receiving them from others, just as they did from the Egyptians who did not know God; and through these very things we erect for ourselves the tabernacle of God: for God dwells in those who do good; even as the Lord says: *Make for yourselves friends from the mammon of iniquity, that when you have been put to flight, they may receive you into eternal tabernacles* (Luke 16:9). Whatever, therefore, we acquired through injustice when we were heathens, these, when we have believed, we convert to the utilities of the Lord, and we are justified.
Necessarily, therefore, these things were meditated upon in a type, and the tabernacle of God is fabricated from them: for them, indeed, receiving justly, as we have shown; but for us, who are being offered up, who would begin to serve God through the things of others. For the whole exodus which was made by the people from Egypt was a type and image of the exodus of the Church, which was to be from the gentiles; for this reason, also, at the end, leading it out from here into its inheritance...
which not Moses, indeed, the servant of God, but Jesus, the Son of God, shall give as an inheritance. If anyone should diligently attend to those things which are said by the prophets concerning the end, and whatever John, the disciple of the Lord, saw in the Apocalypse, he will find that the nations received in a general way the same plagues which Egypt then received in a particular way. Relating such things concerning the ancients, the presbyter, etc., etc., as above.
2. Until this present day. The words which follow are these: "But Lot, not from his own will, nor from his own carnal concupiscence, nor receiving sense or thought of such a kind, completed the type." Just as the Scripture says: "And the elder daughter entered and slept with her father that night; and Lot did not know when she slept with him, nor when she arose." And concerning the younger the same: "And he did not know, it says, when she had slept with him, nor when she had arisen."
A With Lot not knowing, nor serving pleasure, a dispensation was being performed, through which the two synagogues, having become mothers by one and the same father, were made manifest without fleshly desire; for there was no other one who was able to give them vital seed and the fruit of children, as it is written. Therefore, the elder said to the younger: "Our father is old, and there is no one on the earth," etc.
Those daughters, indeed, according to their simplicity and innocence, thinking that all men had perished, just as the Sodomites, and that the wrath of God had come upon the whole earth, were saying these things. Wherefore they themselves are excusable, thinking that they alone were left with their father for the preservation of the human race, and for this reason they circumvented their father. But by their words it was signified that there is no one else who might be able to provide the generation of children for the greater and the lesser Synagogue than our Father. Now the Father of the human race is the Word of God; just as Moses shows, saying: "Is not this thy Father who possessed thee, and made thee, and created thee?" B When, therefore, did He pour into the human race this vital seed, that is, the Spirit of the remission of sins through whom we are vivified? Was it not then, when He was eating with men and drinking wine on the earth? For "The Son of man," He says, "came eating and drinking." And when He had reclined, He slept and took sleep. Just as He Himself says in David: "I slept and took sleep." And because He was passing this life in our communion, He says again: "And my sleep became sweet to me." But the whole was signified through Lot, because the seed of the Father of all, that is, the Spirit of God, through whom all things were made, was mixed and united to flesh, that is, to His own creation; through which commixture and unity the two Synagogues, that is, the two congregations, bring forth living children to the living God.
And when these things were happening, the wife remained in Sodom, no longer corruptible flesh, but a statue of salt remaining always, and through natural things which are of the custom of man, showing that the Church, which is the salt of the earth, is left behind in the boundary of the earth, suffering the things that are human; and while integral members are often taken away from her, the statue of salt persists, which is the firmament of faith, strengthening and sending forth children to their father. The disciple of the apostles, the elder, also says such things concerning the two Testaments, etc., as above.
C VII. Where, then, was the first man placed? In paradise, clearly, as it is written: "And God planted a garden in Eden in the east, and He placed there the man whom He had fashioned." And from thence he was cast out into this world, having disobeyed. Wherefore the presbyters, who are the disciples of the apostles, say that those who were translated were translated thither; for it is to the just and D those who are spirit-bearers that paradise is prepared, in which also the Apostle Paul...
A heard unutterable words, as pertains to us in the present time; and that those who were translated remain there until the consummation, anticipating incorruption. And as one of the elders said, through the divine extension of the hands, the Word of God gathers the two peoples into one God. For there are two hands, because also there are two peoples dispersed to the ends of the earth; but there is one middle head, because there is one God, who is over all, and through all, and in all of us.
VIII.
.... and (as a certain one of the elders said) by the extension of his hands, gathering the two peoples into one God. For the hands are two, because the two peoples are dispersed to the ends of the earth; but the head in the midst is one, because God is one, who is over all, and through all, and in all of us. B
IX.
For the Son, as also a certain one before us said, is understood in a twofold manner; the one indeed according to nature, in that he was born a Son; the other, however, according to that which he was made, is considered a son. Irenæus brings this forward in book v, the last chapter.
X.
For God does all things by measure and order, and there is nothing not measured with him, since there is nothing uncomposed. And well did he who said, C that the immense Father himself is measured in the Son: for the Son is the measure of the Father, because he contains him. Irenæus brought this forward in book iv of his work, ch. 4 or 8.
XI.
Wherefore, both justly and fittingly, to such temerity of yours, the divine elder, and herald of the truth, has cried out against you with measure, saying thus:
Maker of idols, Mark, and inspector of portents, Skilled in astrology and the magic art, By which you strengthen the doctrines of error, Showing signs to those who are led astray by you, Operations of apostate power,