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| Chapter XXXI.—We should not hastily impute as crimes to the men of old time those actions which the Scripture has not condemned, but should rather seek in them types of things to come: an example of this in the incest committed by Lot.
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Chapter XXXI.—We should not hastily
impute as crimes to the men of old time those actions which the Scripture has
not condemned, but should rather seek in them types of things to come: an
example of this in the incest committed by Lot.
1. When
recounting certain matters of this kind respecting them of old time, the
presbyter [before mentioned] was in the habit of instructing us, and
saying: “With respect to those misdeeds for which the Scriptures
themselves blame the patriarchs and prophets, we ought not to inveigh
against them, nor become like Ham, who ridiculed the shame of his father,
and so fell under a curse; but we should [rather] give thanks to God in
their behalf, inasmuch as their sins have been forgiven them through the
advent of our Lord; for He said that they gave thanks [for us], and
gloried in our salvation.4229
| 4229 [Thus far we have a most edifying instruction. The
reader will be less edified with what follows, but it is a very striking
example of what is written: “to the pure all things are
pure.” Tit. i. 15.] | With respect
to those actions, again, on which the Scriptures pass no censure, but
which are simply set down [as having occurred], we ought not to become
the accusers [of those who committed them], for we are not more exact
than God, nor can we be superior to our Master; but we should search for
a type [in them]. For not one of those things which have been set down in
Scripture without being condemned is without significance.” salt" title="504" id="ix.vi.xxxii-p2.3"/>An
example is found in the case of Lot, who led forth his daughters from
Sodom, and these then conceived by their own father; and who left behind
him within the confines [of the land] his wife, [who remains] a pillar of
salt unto this day. For Lot, not acting under the impulse of his own
will, nor at the prompting of carnal concupiscence, nor having any
knowledge or thought of anything of the kind, did [in fact] work out a
type [of future events]. As says the Scripture: “And that night the
elder went in
and lay with her father; and Lot knew not when
she lay down, nor when she arose.”4230
And the
same thing took place in the case of the younger: “And he knew
not,” it is said, “when she slept with him, nor when she
arose.”4231
Since, therefore, Lot knew
not [what he did], nor was a slave to lust [in his actions], the
arrangement [designed by God] was carried out, by which the two daughters
(that is, the two churches4232
| 4232 “Id est duæ synagogæ,” referring to the
Jews and Gentiles. Some regard the words as a marginal gloss which has
crept into the text. | ), who gave birth to children begotten of
one and the same father, were pointed out, apart from [the influence of]
the lust of the flesh. For there was no other person, [as they supposed],
who could impart to them quickening seed, and the means of their giving
birth to children, as it is written: “And the elder said unto the
younger, And there is not a man on the earth to enter in unto us after
the manner of all the earth: come, let us make our father drunk with
wine, and let us lie with him, and raise up seed from our
father.”4233
2. Thus, after their simplicity and innocence, did
these daughters [of Lot] so speak, imagining that all mankind had
perished, even as the Sodomites had done, and that the anger of God had
come down upon the whole earth. Wherefore also they are to be held
excusable, since they supposed that they only, along with their father,
were left for the preservation of the human race; and for this reason it
was that they deceived their father. Moreover, by the words they used
this fact was pointed out—that there is no other one who can
confer upon the elder and younger church the [power of] giving birth to
children, besides our Father. Now the father of the human race is the
Word of God, as Moses points out when he says, “Is not He thy
father who hath obtained thee [by generation], and formed thee, and
created thee?”4234
At what time, then, did He
pour out upon the human race the life-giving seed—that is, the
Spirit of the remission of sins, through means of whom we are quickened?
Was it not then, when He was eating with men, and drinking wine upon the
earth? For it is said, “The Son of man came eating and
drinking;”4235
and when He had lain down,
He fell asleep, and took repose. As He does Himself say in David,
“I slept, and took repose.”4236
And because
He used thus to act while He dwelt and lived among us, He says again,
“And my sleep became sweet unto me.”4237
Now this whole matter was indicated through Lot, that the seed of
the Father of all—that is, of the Spirit of God, by whom all
things were made—was commingled and united with flesh—
that is, with His own workmanship; by which commixture and unity the two
synagogues—that is, the two churches—produced from their
own father living sons to the living God.
3. And while these things were taking place, his wife
remained in [the territory of] Sodore, no longer corruptible flesh, but a
pillar of salt which endures for ever;4238
| 4238 Comp. Clem. Rom., chap. xi. Josephus (Antiq., i.
11, 4) testifies that he had himself seen this pillar. | and by
those natural processes4239
| 4239
The Latin is “per naturalia,” which words, according to
Harvey, correspond to δἰ ἐμμηνοῤῥοίας.
There is a poem entitled Sodoma preserved among the works of
Tertullian and Cyprian which contains the following lines:—
“Dicitur et vivens, alio jam corpore, sexus
Munificos solito dispungere sanguine menses.”
| which appertain to the human race, indicating that the Church
also, which is the salt of the earth,4240
has been
left behind within the confines of the earth, and subject to human
sufferings; and while entire members are often taken away from it, the
pillar of salt still endures,4241
| 4241 The poem just referred to also says in reference to this
pillar:— “Ipsaque imago sibi formam sine
corpore servans Durat adhuc, et enim nuda statione sub æthram
Nec pluviis dilapsa situ, nec diruta ventis. Quin etiam si quis
mutilaverit advena formam, Protinus ex sese suggestu vulnera
complet.” [That a pillar of salt is
still to be seen in this vicinity, is now confirmed by many modern
travellers (report of Lieut. Lynch, United States Navy), which accounts
for the natural inference of Josephus and others on whom our author
relied. The coincidence is noteworthy.] | thus typifying the
foundation of the faith which maketh strong, and sends forward, children
to their Father.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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