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| Of the Six Ages of the World.
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Chapter 22.—Of the Six Ages of the World.
39. “Five ages of the world,
accordingly, having been now completed (there has entered the
sixth). Of these ages the first is from the beginning of the human
race, that is, from Adam, who was the first man that was made, down
to Noah, who constructed the ark at the time of the flood.1464
Then the
second extends from that period on to Abraham, who was called1465
| 1465 Instead of dictus est the
mss. give also electus est = was
chosen to be. | the father
indeed of all nations1466
which should follow the example of
his faith, but who at the same time in the way of natural descent
from his own flesh was the father of the destined people of the
Jews; which people, previous to the entrance of the Gentiles into
the Christian faith, was the one people among all the nations of
all lands that worshipped the one true God: from which people also
Christ the Saviour was decreed to come according to the flesh. For
these turning-points1467
| 1467 articuli = articles. | of those two ages occupy an
eminent place in the ancient books. On the other hand, those of the
other three ages are also declared in the Gospel,1468
where the
descent of the Lord Jesus Christ according to the flesh is likewise
mentioned. For the third age extends from Abraham on to David the
king; the fourth from David on to that captivity whereby the people
of God passed over into Babylonia; and the fifth from that
transmigration down to the advent of our Lord Jesus Christ. With
His coming the sixth age has entered on its process; so that now
the spiritual grace, which in previous times was known to a few
patriarchs and prophets, may be made manifest to all nations; to
the intent that no man should worship God but freely,1469
fondly
desiring of Him not the visible rewards of His services and the
happiness of this present life, but that eternal life alone in
which he is to enjoy God Himself: in order that in this sixth age
the mind of man may be renewed after the image of God, even as on
the sixth day man was made after the image of God.1470
For then,
too, is the law fulfilled, when all that it has commanded is done,
not in the strong desire for things temporal, but in the love of
Him who has given the commandment. Who is there, moreover, who
should not be earnestly disposed to give the return of love to a
God of supreme righteousness and also of supreme mercy, who has
first loved men of the greatest unrighteousness and the loftiest
pride, and that, too, so deeply as to have sent in their behalf His
only Son, by whom He made all things, and who being made man, not
by any change of Himself, but by the assumption of human nature,
was designed thus to become capable not only of living with them,
but also of dying at once for them and by their hands?
40. “Thus, then, showing forth
the New Testament of our everlasting inheritance, wherein man was
to be renewed by the grace of God and lead a new life, that is, a
spiritual life; and with the view of exhibiting the first one as an
old dispensation, wherein a carnal people acting out the old man
(with the exception of a few patriarchs and prophets, who had
understanding, and some hidden saints), and leading a carnal life,
desiderated carnal rewards at the hands of the Lord God, and
received in that fashion but the figures of spiritual
blessings;—with this intent, I say, the Lord Christ, when made
man, despised all earthly good things, in order that He might show
us how these things ought to be despised; and He endured all
earthly ills which He was inculcating as things needful to be
endured; so that neither might our happiness be sought for in the
former class, nor our unhappiness be apprehended in the latter. For
being born of a mother who, although she conceived without being
touched by man and always remained thus untouched, in virginity
conceiving, in virginity bringing forth, in virginity dying, had
nevertheless been espoused to a handicraftsman, He extinguished all
the inflated pride of carnal nobility. Moreover, being born in the
city of Bethlehem, which among all the cities of Judæa was so
insignificant that even in our own day it is designated a village,
He willed not that any one should glory in the exalted position of
any city of earth. He, too, whose are all things and by whom all
things were created, was made poor, in order that no one, while
believing in Him, might venture to boast himself in earthly riches.
He refused to be made by men a king, because He displayed the
pathway of humility to those unhappy ones whom pride had separated
from Him;1471
| 1471 Reading ab eo; for which
some editions give ab ea = from that humility. | and yet
universal creation attests the fact of His everlasting kingdom. An
hungered was He who feeds all men; athirst was He by whom is
created whatsoever is drunk, and who in a spiritual manner is
the bread of the hungry and the fountain of the thirsty; in
journeying on earth, wearied was He who has made Himself the way
for us into heaven; as like one dumb and deaf in the presence of
His revilers was He by whom the dumb spoke and the deaf heard;
bound was He who freed us from the bonds of infirmities; scourged
was He who expelled from the bodies of man the scourges of all
distresses; crucified was He who put an end to our crucial pains;1472
| 1472 There is a play in the words
here: crucifixus est qui cruciatus nostros
finivit. | dead did
He become who raised the dead. But He also rose again, no more to
die, so that no one should from Him learn so to contemn death as if
he were never to live again.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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