37. Archelaus
said: Those sayings which are put forth by the blessed Paul
were not uttered without the direction of God, and therefore it is
certain that what he has declared to us is that we are to look for our
Lord Jesus Christ as the perfect one, who1836
| 1836
Reading “qui solus,” for the sed, etc., of
the codex. See also Luke
x. 22. |
is the only one that knows the
Father,
with the sole exception of him to whom He has chosen also to
reveal
Him,
1837
as I am able
to demonstrate from His own words. But let it be observed, that
it is said that when that which is
perfect is come, then that which is
in part shall be done away. Now this man (Manes) asserts that he
is the
perfect one. Let him show us, then, what he has done away
with; for what is to be done away with is the ignorance which is in
us. Let him therefore tell us what he has done away with, and
what he has brought into
the sphere of our knowledge. If
he is able to do anything of this
nature, let him do it now, in order
that he may be believed. These very words of
Paul’s, if one
can but understand them in the full
power of their meaning, will only
secure entire credit to the statements made by me. For in that
first
Epistle to the Corinthians,
Paul speaks in the following terms of
the
perfection that is to come: “Whether there be
prophecies, they shall
fail; whether there be
tongues, they shall
cease; whether there be
knowledge, it shall be
destroyed: for we
know in part, and we prophesy in part; but when that which is
perfect
is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.”
1838
Observe now what
virtue that which is
perfect possesses in itself, and
of what order that
perfection is. And let this man, then, tell us
what
prophecy of the
Jews or Hebrews he has done away with; or what
tongues he has caused to cease, whether of the
Greeks or of others who
worship idols; or what
alien dogmas he has
destroyed, whether of a
Valentinian, or a Marcion, or a Tatian, or a Sabellius, or any others
of those who have constructed for themselves their
peculiar systems of
knowledge. Let him tell us which of all these he has already done
away with, or when he is yet to do away with any one of them, in this
character of the
perfect one. Perchance he
seeks some sort of
truce—does he?
1839
| 1839
Inducias fortassis aliquas quærit. |
But not thus inconsiderable, not
thus obscure
1840
| 1840
Reading “non plane, non tam obscure,” etc., instead of the
“non plane nota,” etc., of the Codex Casinensis. |
and ignoble,
will be the manner of the
advent of Him who is the truly
perfect one,
that is to say, our
Lord Jesus Christ. Nay, but as a king, when
he draws near to his city, does first of all send on before him his
life-guardsmen,
1841
| 1841
“Protectores,” on which term consult Ducangius in his
Glossary. |
his ensigns
and standards and banners,
1842
| 1842
Signa, dracones, labaros. |
his generals and chiefs and prefects,
and then forthwith all objects are roused and excited in different
fashions, while some become inspired with
terror and others with
exultation at the prospect of the king’s
advent; so also my
Lord
Jesus Christ, who is the truly
perfect one, at His coming will first
send on before Him His
glory,
and the
consecrated heralds of an
unstained and untainted
kingdom: and then the universal
creation
will be moved and perturbed, uttering prayers and
supplications, until
He
delivers it from its
bondage.
1843
And it must needs be that the
race of man shall then be in
fear and in
vehement agitation on account
of the many offences it has
committed. Then the
righteous alone
will
rejoice, as they look for the things which have been
promised
them; and the subsistence of the affairs of this
world will no longer
be maintained, but all things shall be
destroyed: and whether
they be
prophecies or the books of
prophets,
they shall fail;
whether they be the
tongues of the whole race, they shall cease; for
men will no longer need to feel
anxiety or to think solicitously about
those things which are necessary for
life; whether it be
knowledge, by
what
teachers soever it be
possessed, it shall also be
destroyed:
for none of all these things will be able to
endure the
advent of that
mighty King. For just as a little spark, if
1844
| 1844 The
text gives simply, sicut enim parva. We may adopt, with
Routh, “sicut enim cum parva,” etc. |
taken and put up against the splendour
of the sun, at once
perishes from the view, so the whole
creation, all
prophecy, all
knowledge, all
tongues, as we have said above, shall be
destroyed. But since the capacities of common human nature are
all insufficient to set forth in a few words, and these so weak and so
extremely poor, the coming of this heavenly King,—so much so,
indeed, that perchance it should be the privilege only of the saintly
and the highly worthy to attempt any statement on such a
subject,—it may yet be enough for me to
be able to say that
I have advanced what I have now advanced on that theme on the
ground of simple necessity,—compelled, as I have been, to do thus
much by this person’s importunity, and simply with the view of
showing you what kind of character he is.
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