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13. My brethren, I indeed am
a disciple of Christ, and, moreover, an apostle of Jesus; and it is
owing to the exceeding kindness of Marcellus that I have hastened
hither, with the view of showing him clearly in what manner he ought to
keep the system of divine religion, so that the said Marcellus verily,
who at present has put himself, like one who has surrendered himself
prisoner, under the doctrine of Archelaus, may not, like the dumb
animals, which are destitute of intellect and understand not what they
do, be fatally smitten to the ruin of his soul, in consequence of any
failure in the possession of further facilities for setting about the
right observance of divine worship. I know, furthermore, and am
certain, that if Marcellus is once set right,1549
| 1549
Reading emendato. Codex Casinensis gives enim
dato. | it will be quite possible that all of you
may also have your salvation effected; for your city hangs suspended
upon his judgment. If vain presumption is rejected by every one
of you, and if those things which are to be declared by me be heard
with a real love for the truth, ye will receive the inheritance of the
age to come, and the kingdom of heaven. I, in sooth, am the
Paraclete, whose mission was announced of old time by Jesus, and who
was to come to “convince the world of sin and
unrighteousness.”1550
| 1550 John xvi.
8. Injustitia. This reading, de injustitia,
may be due to an error on the part of the scribe, but is more probably
to be referred to the practice pursued by Manes in altering and
corrupting the sacred text to suit his own tenets. See Epiphanius
on this heresy, num. 53, and cap. 53, infra. [“He
introduced much new matter.”] | And even as Paul, who was sent before
me, said of himself, that “he knew in part, and prophesied in
part,”1551
so I reserve the
perfect for myself, in order that I may do away with that which is in
part. Therefore receive ye this third testimony, that I am an
elect apostle of Christ; and if ye choose to accept my words, ye will
find salvation; but if ye refuse them, eternal fire will have you to
consume you. For as Hymenæus and Alexander were
“delivered unto Satan, that they might learn not to
blaspheme,”1552
so will all ye
also be delivered unto the prince of punishments, because ye have done
injury to the Father of Christ, in so far as ye declare Him to be the
cause of all evils, and the founder of unrighteousness, and the creator
of all iniquity. By such doctrine ye do, indeed, bring forth from
the same fountain both sweet water and bitter,—a thing which can
in no possible way be either done or apprehended. For who ought
to be believed? Should it be those masters of yours whose
enjoyment is in the flesh, and who pamper themselves with the richest
delights; or our Saviour Jesus Christ, who says, as it is written in
the book of the Gospels, “A good tree cannot bring forth evil
fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good
fruit,”1553
and who in
another place assures us that the “father of the devil1554
is a liar and a
murderer from the beginning,”1555
and tells us again that men’s desire
was for the darkness,1556
so that they would not follow that Word that had been sent forth in the
beginning from the light,1557
| 1557 The
text gives, “ut insequerentur.…Verbum, et inimicum,”
etc. The sense seems to be as above, supposing either that the
verb insequerentur is used with the meaning of assailing,
persecuting, or that the ut is put for ut ne, as is the
case with the excæcat ut at the close of the sentence. |
and (once more shows us) the man who is the enemy of the same, the
sower of tares,1558
and the god
and prince of the age of this world, who blinds the minds of men that
they may not be obedient to the truth in the Gospel of Christ?1559
Is that God
good who has no wish that the men who are his own should be
saved? And, not to go over a multitude of other matters, and
waste much time, I may defer1560
| 1560 Reading
differens. But Codex Casinensis gives
disserens. |
till another opportunity the exposition of the true doctrine; and
taking it for granted that I have said enough on this subject for the
present, I may revert to the matter immediately before me, and
endeavour satisfactorily to demonstrate the absurdity of these
men’s teaching, and show that none of these things can be
attributed to the God and Father of our Lord and Saviour, but that we
must take Satan to be the cause of all our ills. To him,
certainly, these must be carried back, for all ills of this kind are
generated by him. But those things also which are written in the
prophets and the law are none the less to be ascribed to him; for he it
is who spake then in the prophets, introducing into their minds very
many ignorant notions of God, as well as temptations and
passions. They, too, set forth that devourer of blood and flesh;
and to that Satan and to his prophets all these things properly pertain
which he wished to transfer1561
to the Father of Christ, prepared as he was to write a few things in
the way of truth, that by means of these he might also gain credence
for those other statements of his which are false. Hence it is
well for us to receive nothing at all of all those things which have
been written of old even down to John, and indeed to embrace only the
kingdom of heaven, which has been preached in the Gospel since his
days; for they verily but made a mockery of themselves, introducing as
they did things ridiculous and ludicrous, keeping some small words
given in obscure outline in the law, but not understanding that, if
good things are mixed up with evil, the result is, that by the
corruption of these evil things, even those others which are good are
destroyed. And if, indeed, there is any one who may prove himself
able to demonstrate that the law upholds the right, that law ought to
be kept; but if we can show it to be evil, then it ought to be done
away with and rejected, inasmuch as it contains the ministration of
death, which was graven,1562
which also covered and destroyed the glory on the countenance of
Moses.1563
It is a
thing not without peril, therefore, for any one of you to teach the New
Testament along with the law and the prophets, as if they were of one
and the same origin; for the knowledge of our Saviour renews the
one from day to day, while the other grows old and infirm, and
passes almost into utter destruction.1564
And this is a fact manifest to those
who are capable of exercising discernment. For just as, when the
branches of a tree become aged, or when the trunk ceases to bear fruit
any more, they are cut down; and just as, when the members of the body
suffer mortification, they are amputated, for the poison of the
mortification diffuses itself from these members through the whole
body, and unless some remedy be found for the disease by the skill of
the physician, the whole body will be vitiated; so, too, if ye receive
the law without understanding its origin, ye will ruin your souls, and
lose your salvation. For “the law and the prophets were
until John;”1565
but since John the law of truth, the law of the promises, the law of
heaven, the new law, is made known to the race of man. And, in
sooth, as long as there was no one to exhibit to you this most true
knowledge of our Lord Jesus, ye had not sin. Now, however, ye
both see and hear, and yet ye desire to walk in ignorance,1566
| 1566 In
inscitias ire vultis. It is proposed to read inficias =
and yet ye desire to deny the truth. Routh suggests, et
odistis et in inscitiam ire vultis = and ye hate it, and choose to
take your way into ignorance. | in order that ye
may keep1567
| 1567
Supplying observetis in the clause ut legem, etc. | that law which
has been destroyed and abandoned. And Paul, too, who is held to
be the most approved apostle with us, expresses himself to the
same effect in one of his epistles, when he says: “For if I
build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a
prevaricator.”1568
| 1568
Prævaricatorem. Gal. ii. 18 [Vulgate. But see p. 176]. | And in saying this he pronounces
on them as Gentiles, because they were under the elements of the
world,1569
before the
fulness of faith came, believing then as they did in the law and the
prophets.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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