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PARALLEL HISTORY BIBLE - Isaiah 48:8
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LXX- Greek Septuagint - Isaiah 48:8 ουτε 3777 εγνως 1097 5627 ουτε 3777 ηπιστω ουτε 3777 απ 575 ' αρχης 746 ηνοιξα σου 4675 τα 3588 ωτα 3775 εγνων 1097 5627 γαρ 1063 οτι 3754 αθετων 114 5723 αθετησεις και 2532 ανομος 459 ετι 2089 εκ 1537 κοιλιας 2836 κληθηση 2564 5701
Douay Rheims Bible Thou hast neither heard, nor known, neither was thy ear opened of old. For I know that transgressing thou wilt transgress, and I have called thee a transgressor from the womb.
King James Bible - Isaiah 48:8 Yea, thou heardest not; yea, thou knewest not; yea, from that time that thine ear was not opened: for I knew that thou wouldest deal very treacherously, and wast called a transgressor from the womb.
World English Bible Yes, you didn't hear; yes, you didn't know; yes, from of old your ear was not opened: for I knew that you did deal very treacherously, and was called a transgressor from the womb.
World Wide Bible Resources
Isaiah 48:8
Early Christian Commentary - (A.D. 100 - A.D. 325) Anf-03 v.iv.v.xix Pg 7
Isa. vi. 9. —which now claims notice as having furnished to Christ that frequent form of His earnest instruction: “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.”4189 4189
Anf-03 v.viii.xxxiii Pg 5
Matt. xiii. 13; comp. Isa. vi. 9. But since it was to the Jews that He spoke in parables, it was not then to all men; and if not to all, it follows that it was not always and in all things parables with Him, but only in certain things, and when addressing a particular class. But He addressed a particular class when He spoke to the Jews. It is true that He spoke sometimes even to the disciples in parables. But observe how the Scripture relates such a fact: “And He spake a parable unto them.”7499 7499
Anf-03 v.iv.iv.vi Pg 11
Isa. vi. 9, 10. Quoted with some verbal differences. Now this blunting of their sound senses they had brought on themselves, loving God with their lips, but keeping far away from Him in their heart. Since, then, Christ was announced by the Creator, “who formeth the lightning, and createth the wind, and declareth unto man His Christ,” as the prophet Joel says,3166 3166
Npnf-201 iii.vi.xiii Pg 22
Npnf-201 iii.vi.xiii Pg 22
Anf-01 viii.iv.xii Pg 3
Not in Jeremiah; some would insert, in place of Jeremiah, Isaiah or John. [St. John xii. 40; Isa. vi. 10; where see full references in the English margin. But comp. Jer. vii. 24; 26, Jer. xi. 8, and Jer. xvii. 23.] has cried; yet not even then do you listen. The Lawgiver is present, yet you do not see Him; to the poor the Gospel is preached, the blind see, yet you do not understand. You have now need of a second circumcision, though you glory greatly in the flesh. The new law requires you to keep perpetual sabbath, and you, because you are idle for one day, suppose you are pious, not discerning why this has been commanded you: and if you eat unleavened bread, you say the will of God has been fulfilled. The Lord our God does not take pleasure in such observances: if there is any perjured person or a thief among you, let him cease to be so; if any adulterer, let him repent; then he has kept the sweet and true sabbaths of God. If any one has impure hands, let him wash and be pure.
Anf-01 ix.vi.xxx Pg 3
Matt. xiii. 11–16; Isa. vi. 10. For one and the same God [that blesses others] inflicts blindness upon those who do not believe, but who set Him at naught; just as the sun, which is a creature of His, [acts with regard] to those who, by reason of any weakness of the eyes cannot behold his light; but to those who believe in Him and follow Him, He grants a fuller and greater illumination of mind. In accordance with this word, therefore, does the apostle say, in the Second [Epistle] to the Corinthians: “In whom the this world hath blinded the minds of them that believe not, lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ should shine [unto them].”4210 4210
Anf-03 v.iv.iv.vi Pg 11
Isa. vi. 9, 10. Quoted with some verbal differences. Now this blunting of their sound senses they had brought on themselves, loving God with their lips, but keeping far away from Him in their heart. Since, then, Christ was announced by the Creator, “who formeth the lightning, and createth the wind, and declareth unto man His Christ,” as the prophet Joel says,3166 3166
Anf-03 iv.iii.xxi Pg 5
Isa. vi. 10. As, then, under the force of their pre-judgment, they had convinced themselves from His lowly guise that Christ was no more than man, it followed from that, as a necessary consequence, that they should hold Him a magician from the powers which He displayed,—expelling devils from men by a word, restoring vision to the blind, cleansing the leprous, reinvigorating the paralytic, summoning the dead to life again, making the very elements of nature obey Him, stilling the storms and walking on the sea; proving that He was the Logos of God, that primordial first-begotten Word, accompanied by power and reason, and based on Spirit,—that He who was now doing all things by His word, and He who had done that of old, were one and the same. But the Jews were so exasperated by His teaching, by which their rulers and chiefs were convicted of the truth, chiefly because so many turned aside to Him, that at last they brought Him before Pontius Pilate, at that time Roman governor of Syria; and, by the violence of their outcries against Him, extorted a sentence giving Him up to them to be crucified. He Himself had predicted this; which, however, would have signified little had not the prophets of old done it as well. And yet, nailed upon the cross, He exhibited many notable signs, by which His death was distinguished from all others. At His own free-will, He with a word dismissed from Him His spirit, anticipating the executioner’s work. In the same hour, too, the light of day was withdrawn, when the sun at the very time was in his meridian blaze. Those who were not aware that this had been predicted about Christ, no doubt thought it an eclipse. You yourselves have the account of the world-portent still in your archives.107 107 Elucidation V. Then, when His body was taken down from the cross and placed in a sepulchre, the Jews in their eager watchfulness surrounded it with a large military guard, lest, as He had predicted His resurrection from the dead on the third day, His disciples might remove by stealth His body, and deceive even the incredulous. But, lo, on the third day there a was a sudden shock of earthquake, and the stone which sealed the sepulchre was rolled away, and the guard fled off in terror: without a single disciple near, the grave was found empty of all but the clothes of the buried One. But nevertheless, the leaders of the Jews, whom it nearly concerned both to spread abroad a lie, and keep back a people tributary and submissive to them from the faith, gave it out that the body of Christ had been stolen by His followers. For the Lord, you see, did not go forth into the public gaze, lest the wicked should be delivered from their error; that faith also, destined to a great reward, might hold its ground in difficulty. But He spent forty days with some of His disciples down in Galilee, a region of Judea, instructing them in the doctrines they were to teach to others. Thereafter, having given them commission to preach the gospel through the world, He was encompassed with a cloud and taken up to heaven,—a fact more certain far than the assertions of your Proculi concerning Romulus.108 108 Proculus was a Roman senator who affirmed that Romulus had appeared to him after his death. All these things Pilate did to Christ; and now in fact a Christian in his own convictions, he sent word of Him to the reigning Cæsar, who was at the time Tiberius. Yes, and the Cæsars too would have believed on Christ, if either the Cæsars had not been necessary for the world, or if Christians could have been Cæsars. His disciples also, spreading over the world, did as their Divine Master bade them; and after suffering greatly themselves from the persecutions of the Jews, and with no unwilling heart, as having faith undoubting in the truth, at last by Nero’s cruel sword sowed the seed of Christian blood at Rome.109 109 [Chapter l. at close. “The blood of Christians is the seed of the Church.”] Yes, and we shall prove that even your own gods are effective witnesses for Christ. It is a great matter if, to give you faith in Christians, I can bring forward the authority of the very beings on account of whom you refuse them credit. Thus far we have carried out the plan we laid down. We have set forth this origin of our sect and name, with this account of the Founder of Christianity. Let no one henceforth charge us with infamous wickedness; let no one think that it is otherwise than we have represented, for none may give a false account of his religion. For in the very fact that he says he worships another god than he really does, he is guilty of denying the object of his worship, and transferring his worship and homage to another; and, in the transference, he ceases to worship the god he has repudiated. We say, and before all men we say, and torn and bleeding under your tortures, we cry out, “We worship God through Christ.” Count Christ a man, if you please; by Him and in Him God would be known and be adored. If the Jews object, we answer that Moses, who was but a man, taught them their religion; against the Greeks we urge that Orpheus at Pieria, Musæus at Athens, Melampus at Argos, Trophonius in Bœotia, imposed religious rites; turning to yourselves, who exercise sway over the nations, it was the man Numa Pompilius who laid on the Romans a heavy load of costly superstitions. Surely Christ, then, had a right to reveal Deity, which was in fact His own essential possession, not with the object of bringing boors and savages by the dread of multitudinous gods, whose favour must be won into some civilization, as was the case with Numa; but as one who aimed to enlighten men already civilized, and under illusions from their very culture, that they might come to the knowledge of the truth. Search, then, and see if that divinity of Christ be true. If it be of such a nature that the acceptance of it transforms a man, and makes him truly good, there is implied in that the duty of renouncing what is opposed to it as false; especially and on every ground that which, hiding itself under the names and images of dead, the labours to convince men of its divinity by certain signs, and miracles, and oracles.
Anf-03 v.iv.v.xxxi Pg 14
Isa. vi. 10. their calling of God. In a manner most germane4738 4738 Pertinentissime. to this parable, He said by Jeremiah: “Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people; and ye shall walk in all my ways, which I have commanded you.”4739 4739
Anf-03 v.iv.vi.xi Pg 34
Isa. vi. 10 (only adapted). and, “If ye will not believe, ye shall not understand;”5711 5711
Anf-01 viii.iv.cxxiii Pg 4
Deut. xxxii. 20; Isa. xlii. 19 f. Is God’s commendation of you honourable? and is God’s testimony seemly for His servants? You are not ashamed though you often hear these words. You do not tremble at God’s threats, for you are a people foolish and hard-hearted. ‘Therefore, behold, I will proceed to remove this people,’ saith the Lord; ‘and I will remove them, and destroy the wisdom of the wise, and hide the understanding of the prudent.’2426 2426
Anf-03 v.iv.iv.vi Pg 13
Isa. xlii. 19, altered. Also when He upbraids them by the same Isaiah: “I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me. The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel doth not know; my people doth not consider.”3168 3168
Anf-03 v.iv.vi.xvii Pg 18
Isa. xlii. 19 (Sept.). In His gift, too, are “the riches (of the glory) of His inheritance in the saints,”5964 5964
Anf-02 vi.iv.i.vi Pg 2.1
Anf-02 vi.iv.iv.iii Pg 5.1
Anf-02 vi.iv.i.vi Pg 2.1
Anf-02 vi.iv.iv.iii Pg 5.1
Anf-01 viii.ii.lxiii Pg 2
Isa. i. 3. And Jesus the Christ, because the Jews knew not what the Father was, and what the Son, in like manner accused them; and Himself said, “No one knoweth the Father, but the Son; nor the Son, but the Father, and they to whom the Son revealeth Him.”1899 1899
Anf-01 ix.ii.xx Pg 2
Isa. i. 3. they pervert his words to mean ignorance of the invisible Bythus. And that which is spoken by Hosea, “There is no truth in them, nor the knowledge of God,”2907 2907
Anf-01 viii.ii.xxxvii Pg 2
Isa. i. 3. This quotation varies only in one word from that of the LXX. And again elsewhere, when the same prophet speaks in like manner from the person of the Father, “What is the house that ye will build for Me? saith the Lord. The heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool.”1842 1842
Anf-01 viii.ii.lxiii Pg 6
Isa. i. 3. And again, Jesus, as we have already shown, while He was with them, said, “No one knoweth the Father, but the Son; nor the Son but the Father, and those to whom the Son will reveal Him.”1903 1903
Anf-02 vi.iii.i.ix Pg 15.1
Anf-02 vi.ii.x Pg 6.1
1580
Anf-02 vi.iii.ii.viii Pg 36.1
Anf-02 vi.iv.v.viii Pg 32.1
Anf-03 v.iv.iv.vi Pg 14
Isa. i. 2, 3. We indeed, who know for certain that Christ always spoke in the prophets, as the Spirit of the Creator (for so says the prophet: “The person of our Spirit, Christ the Lord,”3169 3169 This seems to be a translation with a slight alteration of the LXX. version of Lam. iv. 20, πνεῦμα προσώπου ἡμῶν Χριστὸς Κύριος . who from the beginning was both heard and seen as the Father’s vicegerent in the name of God), are well aware that His words, when actually upbraiding Israel, were the same as those which it was foretold that He should denounce against him: “Ye have forsaken the Lord, and have provoked the Holy One of Israel to anger.”3170 3170
Anf-03 v.iv.v.xxv Pg 38
Isa. i. 3. nor to the Gentiles: “For, behold,” says He, “of the nations I have no man.”4501 4501
Anf-03 vi.vii.iv Pg 11
Obsequii. For the sentiment, compare Isa. i. 3. Finally, (the creatures) which obey, acknowledge their masters. Do we hesitate to listen diligently to Him to whom alone we are subjected—that is, the Lord? But how unjust is it, how ungrateful likewise, not to repay from yourself the same which, through the indulgence of your neighbour, you obtain from others, to him through whom you obtain it! Nor needs there more words on the exhibition of obedience9040 9040 Obsequii. due from us to the Lord God; for the acknowledgment9041 9041 See above, “the creatures…acknowledge their masters.” of God understands what is incumbent on it. Lest, however, we seem to have inserted remarks on obedience9042 9042 Obsequio. as something irrelevant, (let us remember) that obedience9043 9043 Obsequio. itself is drawn from patience. Never does an impatient man render it, or a patient fail to find pleasure9044 9044 “Oblectatur” Oehler reads with the mss. The editors, as he says, have emended “Obluctatur,” which Mr. Dodgson reads. in it. Who, then, could treat largely (enough) of the good of that patience which the Lord God, the Demonstrator and Acceptor of all good things, carried about in His own self?9045 9045 See the previous chapter. To whom, again, would it be doubtful that every good thing ought, because it pertains9046 9046 See the previous chapter. to God, to be earnestly pursued with the whole mind by such as pertain to God? By means of which (considerations) both commendation and exhortation9047 9047 See chap. i. on the subject of patience are briefly, and as it were in the compendium of a prescriptive rule, established.9048 9048 [All our author’s instances of this principle of the Præscriptio are noteworthy, as interpreting its use in the Advs. Hæreses.]
Anf-03 v.iv.vi.xiv Pg 27
Isa. i. 3. and as to their preferring the establishment of their own righteousness, (the Creator again describes them as) “teaching for doctrines the commandments of men;”5862 5862
Anf-03 v.iv.iv.xxiii Pg 9
Isa. i. 3, 4. So likewise that conditional threat of the sword, “If ye refuse and hear me not, the sword shall devour you,”3423 3423
Anf-03 v.iv.v.xxi Pg 36
Isa. lvii. i. When does this more frequently happen than in the persecution of His saints? This, indeed, is no ordinary matter,4291 4291 We have, by understanding res, treated these adjectives as nouns. Rigalt. applies them to the doctrina of the sentence just previous. Perhaps, however, “persecutione” is the noun. no common casualty of the law of nature; but it is that illustrious devotion, that fighting for the faith, wherein whosoever loses his life for God saves it, so that you may here again recognize the Judge who recompenses the evil gain of life with its destruction, and the good loss thereof with its salvation. It is, however, a jealous God whom He here presents to me; one who returns evil for evil. “For whosoever,” says He, “shall be ashamed of me, of him will I also be ashamed.”4292 4292
Anf-01 viii.viii.v Pg 3
Ps. cxv. 5. ), that they can do all things, though they be but devils, as saith the Scripture, “The gods of the nations are devils,”2621 2621
Anf-03 iv.vi.x Pg 4
Ps. cxv. 4–8. By means of these organs, indeed, we are to enjoy flowers; but if he declares that those who make idols will be like them, they already are so who use anything after the style of idol adornings. “To the pure all things are pure: so, likewise, all things to the impure are impure;”411 411
Anf-03 iv.iv.iv Pg 8
Ps. cxv. 8. In our version, “They that make them are like unto them.” Tertullian again agrees with the LXX. And why should I, a man of limited memory, suggest anything further? Why recall anything more from the Scriptures? As if either the voice of the Holy Spirit were not sufficient; or else any further deliberation were needful, whether the Lord cursed and condemned by priority the artificers of those things, of which He curses and condemns the worshippers!
Anf-01 viii.ii.ix Pg 2
[Isa. xliv. 9–20; Jer. x. 3.] carving and cutting, casting and hammering, fashion the materials? And often out of vessels of dishonour, by merely changing the form, and making an image of the requisite shape, they make what they call a god; which we consider not only senseless, but to be even insulting to God, who, having ineffable glory and form, thus gets His name attached to things that are corruptible, and require constant service. And that the artificers of these are both intemperate, and, not to enter into particulars, are practised in every vice, you very well know; even their own girls who work along with them they corrupt. What infatuation! that dissolute men should be said to fashion and make gods for your worship, and that you should appoint such men the guardians of the temples where they are enshrined; not recognising that it is unlawful even to think or say that men are the guardians of gods.
Anf-03 v.viii.iii Pg 4
Let not those who seem worthy of credit, but teach strange doctrines,1082 1082
Anf-02 vi.iv.v.xi Pg 14.1
Anf-01 viii.ii.ix Pg 2
[Isa. xliv. 9–20; Jer. x. 3.] carving and cutting, casting and hammering, fashion the materials? And often out of vessels of dishonour, by merely changing the form, and making an image of the requisite shape, they make what they call a god; which we consider not only senseless, but to be even insulting to God, who, having ineffable glory and form, thus gets His name attached to things that are corruptible, and require constant service. And that the artificers of these are both intemperate, and, not to enter into particulars, are practised in every vice, you very well know; even their own girls who work along with them they corrupt. What infatuation! that dissolute men should be said to fashion and make gods for your worship, and that you should appoint such men the guardians of the temples where they are enshrined; not recognising that it is unlawful even to think or say that men are the guardians of gods.
Anf-03 v.viii.iii Pg 4
Let not those who seem worthy of credit, but teach strange doctrines,1082 1082
Anf-01 viii.viii.v Pg 3
Ps. cxv. 5. ), that they can do all things, though they be but devils, as saith the Scripture, “The gods of the nations are devils,”2621 2621
Anf-03 iv.vi.x Pg 4
Ps. cxv. 4–8. By means of these organs, indeed, we are to enjoy flowers; but if he declares that those who make idols will be like them, they already are so who use anything after the style of idol adornings. “To the pure all things are pure: so, likewise, all things to the impure are impure;”411 411
Anf-03 iv.iv.iv Pg 8
Ps. cxv. 8. In our version, “They that make them are like unto them.” Tertullian again agrees with the LXX. And why should I, a man of limited memory, suggest anything further? Why recall anything more from the Scriptures? As if either the voice of the Holy Spirit were not sufficient; or else any further deliberation were needful, whether the Lord cursed and condemned by priority the artificers of those things, of which He curses and condemns the worshippers!
Anf-01 viii.ii.ix Pg 2
[Isa. xliv. 9–20; Jer. x. 3.] carving and cutting, casting and hammering, fashion the materials? And often out of vessels of dishonour, by merely changing the form, and making an image of the requisite shape, they make what they call a god; which we consider not only senseless, but to be even insulting to God, who, having ineffable glory and form, thus gets His name attached to things that are corruptible, and require constant service. And that the artificers of these are both intemperate, and, not to enter into particulars, are practised in every vice, you very well know; even their own girls who work along with them they corrupt. What infatuation! that dissolute men should be said to fashion and make gods for your worship, and that you should appoint such men the guardians of the temples where they are enshrined; not recognising that it is unlawful even to think or say that men are the guardians of gods.
Anf-03 v.viii.iii Pg 4
Let not those who seem worthy of credit, but teach strange doctrines,1082 1082
Anf-03 iv.vi.x Pg 4
Ps. cxv. 4–8. By means of these organs, indeed, we are to enjoy flowers; but if he declares that those who make idols will be like them, they already are so who use anything after the style of idol adornings. “To the pure all things are pure: so, likewise, all things to the impure are impure;”411 411
Anf-03 iv.iv.iv Pg 8
Ps. cxv. 8. In our version, “They that make them are like unto them.” Tertullian again agrees with the LXX. And why should I, a man of limited memory, suggest anything further? Why recall anything more from the Scriptures? As if either the voice of the Holy Spirit were not sufficient; or else any further deliberation were needful, whether the Lord cursed and condemned by priority the artificers of those things, of which He curses and condemns the worshippers!
Anf-02 iv.ii.ii.xxxv Pg 11.1
Anf-02 vi.iv.v.xv Pg 5.3
Anf-01 viii.iv.xx Pg 7
Deut. xxxii. 6; 20.
Anf-01 ix.vi.xi Pg 12
Deut. xxxii. 6. And again, he indicates that He who from the beginning founded and created them, the Word, who also redeems and vivifies us in the last times, is shown as hanging on the tree, and they will not believe on Him. For he says, “And thy life shall be hanging before thine eyes, and thou wilt not believe thy life.”3926 3926
Anf-01 ix.vi.xi Pg 14
Deut. xxxii. 6. “Owned thee,” i.e., following the meaning of the Hebrew, “owned thee by generation.”
Anf-01 ix.vi.xxxii Pg 8
Deut. xxxii. 6, LXX. [Let us reflect that this effort to spiritualize this awful passage in the history of Lot is an innocent but unsuccessful attempt to imitate St. Paul’s allegory, Gal. iv. 24.] At what time, then, did He pour out upon the human race the life-giving seed—that is, the Spirit of the remission of sins, through means of whom we are quickened? Was it not then, when He was eating with men, and drinking wine upon the earth? For it is said, “The Son of man came eating and drinking;”4235 4235
Anf-02 vi.iii.i.ix Pg 48.1
Anf-03 v.iv.v.xix Pg 7
Isa. vi. 9. —which now claims notice as having furnished to Christ that frequent form of His earnest instruction: “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.”4189 4189
Anf-03 v.viii.xxxiii Pg 5
Matt. xiii. 13; comp. Isa. vi. 9. But since it was to the Jews that He spoke in parables, it was not then to all men; and if not to all, it follows that it was not always and in all things parables with Him, but only in certain things, and when addressing a particular class. But He addressed a particular class when He spoke to the Jews. It is true that He spoke sometimes even to the disciples in parables. But observe how the Scripture relates such a fact: “And He spake a parable unto them.”7499 7499
Anf-03 v.iv.iv.vi Pg 11
Isa. vi. 9, 10. Quoted with some verbal differences. Now this blunting of their sound senses they had brought on themselves, loving God with their lips, but keeping far away from Him in their heart. Since, then, Christ was announced by the Creator, “who formeth the lightning, and createth the wind, and declareth unto man His Christ,” as the prophet Joel says,3166 3166
Npnf-201 iii.vi.xiii Pg 22
Npnf-201 iii.vi.xiii Pg 22
Anf-01 viii.iv.xii Pg 3
Not in Jeremiah; some would insert, in place of Jeremiah, Isaiah or John. [St. John xii. 40; Isa. vi. 10; where see full references in the English margin. But comp. Jer. vii. 24; 26, Jer. xi. 8, and Jer. xvii. 23.] has cried; yet not even then do you listen. The Lawgiver is present, yet you do not see Him; to the poor the Gospel is preached, the blind see, yet you do not understand. You have now need of a second circumcision, though you glory greatly in the flesh. The new law requires you to keep perpetual sabbath, and you, because you are idle for one day, suppose you are pious, not discerning why this has been commanded you: and if you eat unleavened bread, you say the will of God has been fulfilled. The Lord our God does not take pleasure in such observances: if there is any perjured person or a thief among you, let him cease to be so; if any adulterer, let him repent; then he has kept the sweet and true sabbaths of God. If any one has impure hands, let him wash and be pure.
Anf-01 ix.vi.xxx Pg 3
Matt. xiii. 11–16; Isa. vi. 10. For one and the same God [that blesses others] inflicts blindness upon those who do not believe, but who set Him at naught; just as the sun, which is a creature of His, [acts with regard] to those who, by reason of any weakness of the eyes cannot behold his light; but to those who believe in Him and follow Him, He grants a fuller and greater illumination of mind. In accordance with this word, therefore, does the apostle say, in the Second [Epistle] to the Corinthians: “In whom the this world hath blinded the minds of them that believe not, lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ should shine [unto them].”4210 4210
Anf-03 v.iv.iv.vi Pg 11
Isa. vi. 9, 10. Quoted with some verbal differences. Now this blunting of their sound senses they had brought on themselves, loving God with their lips, but keeping far away from Him in their heart. Since, then, Christ was announced by the Creator, “who formeth the lightning, and createth the wind, and declareth unto man His Christ,” as the prophet Joel says,3166 3166
Anf-03 iv.iii.xxi Pg 5
Isa. vi. 10. As, then, under the force of their pre-judgment, they had convinced themselves from His lowly guise that Christ was no more than man, it followed from that, as a necessary consequence, that they should hold Him a magician from the powers which He displayed,—expelling devils from men by a word, restoring vision to the blind, cleansing the leprous, reinvigorating the paralytic, summoning the dead to life again, making the very elements of nature obey Him, stilling the storms and walking on the sea; proving that He was the Logos of God, that primordial first-begotten Word, accompanied by power and reason, and based on Spirit,—that He who was now doing all things by His word, and He who had done that of old, were one and the same. But the Jews were so exasperated by His teaching, by which their rulers and chiefs were convicted of the truth, chiefly because so many turned aside to Him, that at last they brought Him before Pontius Pilate, at that time Roman governor of Syria; and, by the violence of their outcries against Him, extorted a sentence giving Him up to them to be crucified. He Himself had predicted this; which, however, would have signified little had not the prophets of old done it as well. And yet, nailed upon the cross, He exhibited many notable signs, by which His death was distinguished from all others. At His own free-will, He with a word dismissed from Him His spirit, anticipating the executioner’s work. In the same hour, too, the light of day was withdrawn, when the sun at the very time was in his meridian blaze. Those who were not aware that this had been predicted about Christ, no doubt thought it an eclipse. You yourselves have the account of the world-portent still in your archives.107 107 Elucidation V. Then, when His body was taken down from the cross and placed in a sepulchre, the Jews in their eager watchfulness surrounded it with a large military guard, lest, as He had predicted His resurrection from the dead on the third day, His disciples might remove by stealth His body, and deceive even the incredulous. But, lo, on the third day there a was a sudden shock of earthquake, and the stone which sealed the sepulchre was rolled away, and the guard fled off in terror: without a single disciple near, the grave was found empty of all but the clothes of the buried One. But nevertheless, the leaders of the Jews, whom it nearly concerned both to spread abroad a lie, and keep back a people tributary and submissive to them from the faith, gave it out that the body of Christ had been stolen by His followers. For the Lord, you see, did not go forth into the public gaze, lest the wicked should be delivered from their error; that faith also, destined to a great reward, might hold its ground in difficulty. But He spent forty days with some of His disciples down in Galilee, a region of Judea, instructing them in the doctrines they were to teach to others. Thereafter, having given them commission to preach the gospel through the world, He was encompassed with a cloud and taken up to heaven,—a fact more certain far than the assertions of your Proculi concerning Romulus.108 108 Proculus was a Roman senator who affirmed that Romulus had appeared to him after his death. All these things Pilate did to Christ; and now in fact a Christian in his own convictions, he sent word of Him to the reigning Cæsar, who was at the time Tiberius. Yes, and the Cæsars too would have believed on Christ, if either the Cæsars had not been necessary for the world, or if Christians could have been Cæsars. His disciples also, spreading over the world, did as their Divine Master bade them; and after suffering greatly themselves from the persecutions of the Jews, and with no unwilling heart, as having faith undoubting in the truth, at last by Nero’s cruel sword sowed the seed of Christian blood at Rome.109 109 [Chapter l. at close. “The blood of Christians is the seed of the Church.”] Yes, and we shall prove that even your own gods are effective witnesses for Christ. It is a great matter if, to give you faith in Christians, I can bring forward the authority of the very beings on account of whom you refuse them credit. Thus far we have carried out the plan we laid down. We have set forth this origin of our sect and name, with this account of the Founder of Christianity. Let no one henceforth charge us with infamous wickedness; let no one think that it is otherwise than we have represented, for none may give a false account of his religion. For in the very fact that he says he worships another god than he really does, he is guilty of denying the object of his worship, and transferring his worship and homage to another; and, in the transference, he ceases to worship the god he has repudiated. We say, and before all men we say, and torn and bleeding under your tortures, we cry out, “We worship God through Christ.” Count Christ a man, if you please; by Him and in Him God would be known and be adored. If the Jews object, we answer that Moses, who was but a man, taught them their religion; against the Greeks we urge that Orpheus at Pieria, Musæus at Athens, Melampus at Argos, Trophonius in Bœotia, imposed religious rites; turning to yourselves, who exercise sway over the nations, it was the man Numa Pompilius who laid on the Romans a heavy load of costly superstitions. Surely Christ, then, had a right to reveal Deity, which was in fact His own essential possession, not with the object of bringing boors and savages by the dread of multitudinous gods, whose favour must be won into some civilization, as was the case with Numa; but as one who aimed to enlighten men already civilized, and under illusions from their very culture, that they might come to the knowledge of the truth. Search, then, and see if that divinity of Christ be true. If it be of such a nature that the acceptance of it transforms a man, and makes him truly good, there is implied in that the duty of renouncing what is opposed to it as false; especially and on every ground that which, hiding itself under the names and images of dead, the labours to convince men of its divinity by certain signs, and miracles, and oracles.
Anf-03 v.iv.v.xxxi Pg 14
Isa. vi. 10. their calling of God. In a manner most germane4738 4738 Pertinentissime. to this parable, He said by Jeremiah: “Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people; and ye shall walk in all my ways, which I have commanded you.”4739 4739
Anf-03 v.iv.vi.xi Pg 34
Isa. vi. 10 (only adapted). and, “If ye will not believe, ye shall not understand;”5711 5711
Treasury of Scriptural Knowledge, Chapter 48VERSE (8) - Isa 6:9,10; 26:11; 29:10,11; 42:19,20 Jer 5:21 Mt 13:13-15
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