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| The Author's Concluding Address.
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Chapter XXX.—The Author’s Concluding
Address.
Such is the true doctrine in regard of the divine
nature, O ye men, Greeks and Barbarians, Chaldeans and Assyrians,
Egyptians and Libyans, Indians and Ethiopians, Celts, and ye Latins,
who lead armies, and all ye that inhabit Europe, and Asia, and
Libya.1098
| 1098 [The
translator’s excessive interpolations sometimes needlessly dilute
the terse characteristics of the author. Thus, with confusing
brackets, the Edinburgh reads: “who so often lead your
armies to victory.” This is not Hippolytus, and, in such
instances, I feel bound to reduce a plethoric text.] | And to you
I am become an adviser, inasmuch as I am a disciple of the
benevolent Logos, and hence humane, in order that you may hasten
and by us may be taught who the true God is, and what is His
well-ordered creation. Do not devote your attention to the
fallacies of artificial discourses, nor the vain promises of
plagiarizing heretics,1099
| 1099
[Here the practical idea of the Philosophumena comes out;
and compare vol. iv. pp. 469 and 570.] |
but to the venerable simplicity of unassuming truth. And by means of this
knowledge you shall escape the approaching threat of the fire of
judgment, and the rayless scenery of gloomy Tartarus,1100
| 1100 Dr.
Wordsworth justifies Hippolytus’ use of the pagan word
“Tartarus,” by citing the passage (2 Pet. ii. 4), “For if God spared not the
angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into
chains of darkness (σειραῖς
ζόφου
ταρταρώσας),
to be reserved unto judgment,” etc. [Elucidation XVII. and
vol. iv. 140.] | where never shines a beam from the irradiating
voice of the Word!
You shall escape the boiling flood of
hell’s1101
| 1101
Schneidewin suggests a comparison of this passage with
Hippolytus’ fragment, Against Plato, concerning the Cause of
the Universe (p. 220, ed. Fabricii; p. 68, ed. de
Lagarde). | eternal lake of fire
and the eye ever fixed in menacing glare of fallen angels
chained in Tartarus as punishment for their sins; and you shall
escape the worm that ceaselessly coils for food around the body
whose scum1102
| 1102 The
different renderings of this passage, according to different readings,
are as follow: “And the worm the scum of the body, turning
to the Body that foamed it forth as to that which nourisheth it”
(Wordsworth). “The worm which winds itself without rest
round the mouldering body, to feed upon it” (Bunsen and
Scott). “The worm wriggling as over the filth of the
(putrescent) flesh towards the exhaling body” (Roeper).
“The worm turning itself towards the substance of the body,
towards, (I say,) the exhalations of the decaying frame, as to
food” (Schneidewin). The words chiefly altered are:
ἀπουσίαν, into (1)
ἐπ᾽ οὐσίαν, (2)
ἐπ᾽
ἀλουσίᾳ (3) ἀπαύστως; and
ἐπιστρεφόμενον
into (1) ἐπιστρέφον,
(2) ἐπὶ τροφήν. | has bred
it. Now such (torments) as these shalt thou avoid by being
instructed in a knowledge of the true God. And thou shalt possess
an immortal body, even one placed beyond the possibility of corruption,
just like the soul. And thou shalt receive the kingdom of heaven,
thou who, whilst thou didst sojourn in this life, didst know the
Celestial King. And thou shalt be a companion of the Deity, and a
co-heir with Christ, no longer enslaved by lusts or passions, and
never again wasted by disease. For thou hast become
God:1103
| 1103 [This
startling expression is justified by such texts as 2 Pet. i. 4 compared with John xvii. 22, 23, and
Rev. iii. 21. Thus,
Christ overrules the Tempter (Gen. iii. 5), and gives more than was offered by the
“Father of Lies.”] | for whatever
sufferings thou didst undergo while being a man, these He gave to thee,
because thou wast of mortal mould, but whatever it is consistent with
God to impart, these God has promised to bestow upon thee,
because thou hast been deified, and begotten unto immortality.1104
| 1104 [Compare
John x. 34 with Rev. v. 10. Kings of the earth may be
called “gods,” in a sense; ergo, etc.] | This
constitutes the import of the proverb, “Know
thyself;” i.e., discover God within thyself, for He has
formed thee after His own image. For with the knowledge of
self is conjoined the being an object of God’s knowledge, for
thou art called by the Deity Himself. Be not therefore
inflamed, O ye men, with enmity one towards another, nor hesitate to
retrace1105
| 1105 Bunsen
translates thus: “Doubt not that you will exist
again,” a rendering which Dr. Wordsworth controverts in favour of
the one adopted above. | with all speed your
steps. For Christ is the God above all, and He has arranged to
wash away sin from human beings,1106
| 1106 Bunsen
translates thus: “For Christ is He whom the God of all has
ordered to wash away the sins,” etc. Dr. Wordsworth
severely censures this rendering in a lengthened note. | rendering regenerate the old man. And
God called man His likeness from the beginning, and has evinced in a
figure His love towards thee. And provided thou obeyest His
solemn injunctions, and becomest a faithful follower of Him who is
good, thou shalt resemble Him, inasmuch as thou shalt have honour
conferred upon thee by Him. For the Deity, (by condescension,)
does not diminish aught of the divinity of His divine1107
| 1107
πτωχευει.
Bunsen translates, “for God acts the beggar towards thee,”
which is literal, though rather unintelligible. Dr. Wordsworth
renders the word thus: “God has a longing for
thee.” | perfection; having made thee even God unto
His glory!1108
| 1108
Hippolytus, by his argument, recognises the duty not merely of
overthrowing error but substantiating truth, or in other words, the
negative and positive aspect of theology. His brief statement
(chap. xxviii.–xxx.) in the latter department, along with being
eminently reflective, constitutes a noble specimen of patristic
eloquence. [This is most just: and it must be observed,
that having summed up his argument against the heresies derived from
carnal and inferior sources, and shown the primal truth, he advances
(in chap. xxviii.) to the Nicene position, and proves himself one of
the witnesses on whose traditive testimony that sublime formulary was
given to the whole Church as the κτῆμα ἐς
ἀεὶ of Christendom,—a formal countersign
of apostolic doctrine.] | E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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