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| Chapter XLIV.—Not nullified by prophecy.
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Chapter XLIV.—Not nullified by
prophecy.
And the holy Spirit of prophecy taught us this,
telling us by Moses that God spoke thus to the man first created:
“Behold, before thy face are good and evil: choose the
good.”1856
And again, by the
other prophet Isaiah, that the following utterance was made as if from
God the Father and Lord of all: “Wash you, make you clean; put away
evils from your souls; learn to do well; judge the orphan, and plead for
the widow: and come and let us reason together, saith the Lord: And if
your sins be as scarlet, I will make them white as wool; and if they be
red like as crimson, I will make them white as snow. And if ye be willing
and obey Me, ye shall eat the good of the land; but if ye do not obey Me,
the sword shall devour you: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken
it.”1857
And that expression, “The sword
shall devour you,” does not mean that the disobedient shall be
slain by the sword, but the sword of God is fire, of which they who
choose to do wickedly become the fuel. Wherefore He says, “The
sword shall devour you: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.”
And if He had spoken concerning a sword that cuts and at once despatches,
He would not have said, shall devour. And
so, too, Plato, when he says, “The blame is his who chooses, and
God is blameless,”1858
| 1858
Plato, Rep. x. [On this remarkable passage refer to Biog. Note above.
See, also, brilliant note of the sophist De Maistre, Œuvres, ii.
p. 105. Ed. Paris, 1853.] | took this from the prophet Moses
and uttered it. For Moses is more ancient than all the Greek writers.
And whatever both philosophers and poets
have said concerning the immortality of the soul, or punishments after
death, or contemplation of things heavenly, or doctrines of the like
kind, they have received such suggestions from the prophets as have
enabled them to understand and interpret these things. And hence there
seem to be seeds of truth among all men; but they are charged with not
accurately understanding [the truth] when they assert contradictories.
So that what we say about future events being
foretold, we do not say it as if they came about by a fatal necessity;
but God foreknowing all that shall be done by all men, and it being His
decree that the future actions of men shall all be recompensed according
to their several value, He foretells by the Spirit of prophecy that He
will bestow meet rewards according to the merit of the actions done,
always urging the human
race to effort and recollection,
showing that He cares and provides for men. But by the agency of the
devils death has been decreed against those who read the books of
Hystaspes, or of the Sibyl,1859
| 1859 [On the Orphica and Sibyllina, see Bull, Works, vol. vi.
pp. 291–298.] | or of the prophets, that through fear
they may prevent men who read them from receiving the knowledge of the
good, and may retain them in slavery to themselves; which, however, they
could not always effect. For not only do we fearlessly read them, but, as
you see, bring them for your inspection, knowing that their contents will
be pleasing to all. And if we persuade even a few, our gain will be very
great; for, as good husbandmen, we shall receive the reward from the
Master.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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