contrary

And if ye walk contrary unto me, and will not hearken unto me; I will bring seven times more plagues upon you according to your sins.

And if ye will not be reformed by me by these things, but will walk contrary unto me;

Then will I also walk contrary unto you, and will punish you yet seven times for your sins.

And if ye will not for all this hearken unto me, but walk contrary unto me;

Then I will walk contrary unto you also in fury; and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins.

If they shall confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers, with their trespass which they trespassed against me, and that also they have walked contrary unto me;

And that I also have walked contrary unto them, and have brought them into the land of their enemies; if then their uncircumcised hearts be humbled, and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity:

Now in the twelfth month, that is, the month Adar, on the thirteenth day of the same, when the king’s commandment and his decree drew near to be put in execution, in the day that the enemies of the Jews hoped to have power over them, (though it was turned to the contrary, that the Jews had rule over them that hated them;)

And the contrary is in thee from other women in thy whoredoms, whereas none followeth thee to commit whoredoms: and in that thou givest a reward, and no reward is given unto thee, therefore thou art contrary.

And the contrary is in thee from other women in thy whoredoms, whereas none followeth thee to commit whoredoms: and in that thou givest a reward, and no reward is given unto thee, therefore thou art contrary.

But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves: for the wind was contrary.

And he saw them toiling in rowing; for the wind was contrary unto them: and about the fourth watch of the night he cometh unto them, walking upon the sea, and would have passed by them.

Whom Jason hath received: and these all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, one Jesus.

Saying, This fellow persuadeth men to worship God contrary to the law.

Then said Paul unto him, God shall smite thee, thou whited wall: for sittest thou to judge me after the law, and commandest me to be smitten contrary to the law?

I verily thought with myself, that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth.

And when we had launched from thence, we sailed under Cyprus, because the winds were contrary.

For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive tree?

Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them.

For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.

Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;

Who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men:

For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine;

Sound speech, that cannot be condemned; that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you.

Declared unto us, that in all nations throughout the world there was scattered a certain malicious people, that had laws contrary to all nations, and continually despised the commandments of kings, so as the uniting of our kingdoms, honourably intended by us cannot go forward.

Therefore let us lie in wait for the righteous; because he is not for our turn, and he is clean contrary to our doings: he upbraideth us with our offending the law, and objecteth to our infamy the transgressings of our education.

For the potter, tempering soft earth, fashioneth every vessel with much labour for our service: yea, of the same clay he maketh both the vessels that serve for clean uses, and likewise also all such as serve to the contrary: but what is the use of either sort, the potter himself is the judge.

To the end that, if any thing fell out contrary to expectation, or if any tidings were brought that were grievous, they of the land, knowing to whom the state was left, might not be troubled:

And I beheld, and out of her feathers there grew other contrary feathers; and they became little feathers and small.

And I numbered her contrary feathers, and, behold, there were eight of them.

Stop your ears therefore, as often as any one shall speak contrary to Jesus Christ; who was of the race of David, of the Virgin Mary.

But consider those who are of a different opinion from us, as to what concerns the grace of Jesus Christ which is come unto us, how contrary they are to the design of God.

While he spoke these and many other like things, he was filled with confidence and joy, and his countenance was full of grace, so that not merely did it not fall as if troubled by the things said to him, but, on the contrary, the proconsul was astonished, and sent his herald to proclaim in the midst of the stadium thrice, “Polycarp has confessed that he is a Christian.” This proclamation having been made by the herald, the whole multitude both of the heathen and Jews, who dwelt at Smyrna, cried out with uncontrollable fury, and in a loud voice, “This is the teacher of Asia, the father of the Christians, and the overthrower of our gods, he who has been teaching many not to sacrifice, or to worship the gods.” Speaking thus, they cried out, and besought Philip the Asiarch to let loose a lion upon Polycarp. But Philip answered that it was not lawful for him to do so, seeing the shows of wild beasts were already finished. Then it seemed good to them to cry out with one consent, that Polycarp should be burnt alive. For thus it behoved the vision which was revealed to him in regard to his pillow to be fulfilled, when, seeing it on fire as he was praying, he turned about and said prophetically to the faithful that were with him, “I must be burnt alive.”

If you also desire [to possess] this faith, you likewise shall receive first of all the knowledge of the Father. For God has loved mankind, on whose account He made the world, to whom He rendered subject all the things that are in it, to whom He gave reason and understanding, to whom alone He imparted the privilege of looking upwards to Himself, whom He formed after His own image, to whom He sent His only-begotten Son, to whom He has promised a kingdom in heaven, and will give it to those who have loved Him. And when you have attained this knowledge, with what joy do you think you will be filled? Or, how will you love Him who has first so loved you? And if you love Him, you will be an imitator of His kindness. And do not wonder that a man may become an imitator of God. He can, if he is willing. For it is not by ruling over his neighbours, or by seeking to hold the supremacy over those that are weaker, or by being rich, and showing violence towards those that are inferior, that happiness is found; nor can any one by these things become an imitator of God. But these things do not at all constitute His majesty. On the contrary he who takes upon himself the burden of his neighbour; he who, in whatsoever respect he may be superior, is ready to benefit another who is deficient; he who, whatsoever things he has received from God, by distributing these to the needy, becomes a god to those who receive [his benefits]: he is an imitator of God. Then thou shalt see, while still on earth, that God in the heavens rules over [the universe]; then thou shalt begin to speak the mysteries of God; then shalt thou both love and admire those that suffer punishment because they will not deny God; then shalt thou condemn the deceit and error of the world when thou shalt know what it is to live truly in heaven, when thou shalt despise that which is here esteemed to be death, when thou shalt fear what is truly death, which is reserved for those who shall be condemned to the eternal fire, which shall afflict those even to the end that are committed to it. Then shalt thou admire those who for righteousness’ sake endure the fire that is but for a moment, and shalt count them happy when thou shalt know [the nature of] that fire.

And Pilate, when he heard these words of Annas and Caiaphas, laid them all up amongst the acts of the Lord and Saviour in the public books of his judgement hall, and wrote a letter unto Claudius the king of the city of Rome, saying: Pontius Pilate unto Claudius , greeting. There befell of late a matter which I myself brought to light ( or made trial of): for the Jews through envy have punished themselves and their posterity with fearful judgements of their own fault; for whereas their fathers had promises that their God would send them out of heaven his holy one who should of right be called their king, and did promise that he would send him upon earth by a virgin; he, then ( or this God of the Hebrews, then), came when I was governor of Judaea, and they beheld him enlightening the blind, cleansing lepers, healing the palsied, driving devils out of men, raising the dead, rebuking the winds, walking upon the waves of the sea dry-shod, and doing many other wonders, and all the people of the Jews calling him the Son of God: the chief priests therefore, moved with envy against him, took him and delivered him unto me and brought against him one false accusation after another, saying that he was a sorcerer and did things contrary to their law. But I, believing that these things were so, having scourged him, delivered him unto their will: and they crucified him, and when he was buried they set guards upon him. But while my soldiers watched him he rose again on the third day: yet so much was the malice of the Jews kindled that they gave money to the soldiers, saying: Say ye that his disciples stole away his body. But they, though they took the money, were not able to keep silence concerning that which had come to pass, for they also have testified that they saw him arisen and that they received money from the Jews. And these things have I reported ⟨unto thy mightiness⟩ for this cause, lest some other should lie unto thee and thou shouldest deem right to believe the false tales of the Jews. Greek.

Whence also we have received in inspired writings that children born untimely—even if they be the offspring of adultery—are delivered to care-taking angels. For if they had come into being contrary to the will and ordinance of that blessed nature of God, how could they have been delivered to angels to be nourished up in all repose and tranquillity? And how could they have confidently summoned their parents before the judgement seat of Christ to accuse them? saying: Thou, O Lord, didst not begrudge us this light that is common to all, but these exposed us to death, contemning thy commandment.

Moreover, for the young women the devil prepared a very fierce cow, provided especially for that purpose contrary to custom, rivalling their sex also in that of the beasts. And so, stripped and clothed with nets, they were led forth. The populace shuddered as they saw one young woman of delicate frame, and another with breasts still dropping from her recent childbirth. So, being recalled, they are unbound. Perpetua is first led in. She was tossed, and fell on her loins; and when she saw her tunic torn from her side, she drew it over her as a veil for her middle, rather mindful of her modesty than her suffering. Then she was called for again, and bound up her dishevelled hair; for it was not becoming for a martyr to suffer with dishevelled hair, lest she should appear to be mourning in her glory. So she rose up; and when she saw Felicitas crushed, she approached and gave her her hand, and lifted her up. And both of them stood together; and the brutality of the populace being appeased, they were recalled to the Sanavivarian gate. Then Perpetua was received by a certain one who was still a catechumen, Rusticus by name, who kept close to her; and she, as if aroused from sleep, so deeply had she been in the Spirit and in an ecstasy, began to look round her, and to say to the amazement of all, “I cannot tell when we are to be led out to that cow.” And when she had heard what had already happened, she did not believe it until she had perceived certain signs of injury in her body and in her dress, and had recognised the catechumen. Afterwards causing that catechumen and the brother to approach, she addressed them, saying, “Stand fast in the faith, and love one another, all of you, and be not offended at my sufferings.”

And Philip spoke with Bartholomew in the Hebrew tongue saying: Where is our brother John? For, behold, I am being released from the body; and who is he that has prayed for us? Because they have also laid hands on our sister Mariamme, contrary to what is meet; and, behold, they have set fire to the house of Stachys, saying, Let us burn it, since he entertained them. Do you wish then, Bartholomew, fire to come from heaven, and that we should burn them up?

And having come down to Laodiceia, we sought to cross to Cyprus; and having found a ship going to Cyprus, we embarked. And when we had set sail, the wind was found to be contrary. And we came to Corasium; and having gone down to the shore where there was a fountain, we rested there, showing ourselves to no one, that no one might know that Barnabas had separated from Paul. And having set sail from Corasium, we came to the regions of Isauria, and thence came to a certain island called Pityusa; and a storm having come on, we remained there three days; and a certain pious man entertained us, by name Euphemus, whom also Barnabas instructed in many things in the faith, with all his house.

Pontius Pilate to Claudius, greeting. There has lately happened an event which I myself was concerned in. For the Jews through envy have inflicted on themselves, and those coming after them, dreadful judgments. Their fathers had promises that their God would send them his holy one from heaven, who according to reason should be called their king, and he had promised to send him to the earth by means of a virgin. He, then, when I was procurator, came into Judæa. And they saw him enlightening the blind, cleansing lepers, healing paralytics, expelling demons from men, raising the dead, subduing the winds, walking upon the waves of the sea, and doing many other wonders, and all the people of the Jews calling him Son of God. Then the chief priests, moved with envy against him, seized him, and delivered him to me; and telling one lie after another, they said that he was a wizard, and did contrary to their law. And I, having believed that these things were so, gave him up, after scourging him, to their will; and they crucified him, and after he was buried set guards over him. But he, while my soldiers were guarding him, rose on the third day. And to such a degree was the wickedness of the Jews inflamed against him, that they gave money to the soldiers, saying, Say his disciples have stolen his body. But they, having taken the money, were not able to keep silence as to what had happened; for they have testified that they have seen him (after he was) risen, and that they have received money from the Jews. These things, therefore, have I reported, that no one should falsely speak otherwise, and that you should not suppose that the falsehoods of the Jews are to be believed.

Nero said: What do you say, Peter? He answered and said: All that Paul has said is true. For when he was a persecutor of the faith of Christ, a voice called him out of heaven, and taught him the truth; for he was not an adversary of our faith from hatred, but from ignorance. For there were before us false Christs, like Simon, false apostles, and false prophets, who, contrary to the sacred writings, set themselves to make void the truth; and against these it was necessary to have in readiness this man, who from his youth up set himself to no other thing than to search out the mysteries of the divine law, by which he might become a vindicator of truth and a persecutor of falsehood. Since, then, his persecution was not on account of hatred, but on account of the vindication of the law, the very truth out of heaven held intercourse with him, saying, I am the truth which you persecute; cease persecuting me. When, therefore, he knew that this was so, leaving off that which he was vindicating, he began to vindicate this way of Christ which he was persecuting.

But the youth said unto the apostle with many tears: Wherein have I sinned against thee? for thou art a man that hast two forms, and wheresoever thou wilt, there thou art found, and art restrained of no man, as I behold. For I saw that man that stood by thee and said unto thee: I have many wonders to show forth by thy means and I have great works to accomplish by thee, for which thou shalt receive a reward; and thou shalt make many to live, and they shall be in rest in light eternal as children of God. Do thou then, saith he, speaking unto thee of me, quicken this youth that hath been stricken of the enemy and be at all times his overseer. Well, therefore, art thou come hither, and well shalt thou depart again unto him, and yet he never shall leave thee at any time. But I am become without care or reproach: and he hath enlightened me from the care of the night and I am at rest from the toil of the day: and I am set free from him that provoked me to do thus, sinning against him that taught me to do contrary thereto: and I have lost him that is the kinsman of the night that compelled me to sin by his own deeds, and have found him that is of the light, and is my kinsman. I have lost him that darkeneth and blindeth his own subjects that they may not know what they do and, being ashamed at their own works, may depart from him, and their works come to an end; and have found him whose works are light and his deeds truth, which if a man doeth he repenteth not of them. And I have left him with whom lying abideth, and before whom darkness goeth as a veil, and behind him followeth shame, shameless in indolence; and I have found him that showeth me fair things that I may take hold on them, even the son of the truth that is akin unto concord, who scattereth away the mist and enlighteneth his own creation, and healeth the wounds thereof and overthroweth the enemies thereof. But I beseech thee, O man of God, cause me to behold him again, and to see him that is now become hidden from me, that I may also hear his voice whereof I am not able to express the wonder, for it belongeth not to the nature of this bodily organ.

Now while the apostle Thomas was proclaiming throughout all India the word of God, a certain captain of the king Misdaeus came to him and said unto him: I have heard of thee that thou takest no reward of any man, but even that thou hast thou givest to them that need. For if thou didst receive rewards, I would have sent thee a great sum, and would not have come myself, for the king doeth nought without me: for I have much substance and am rich, even one of the rich men of India. And I have never done wrong to any; but the contrary hath befallen me. I have a wife, and of her I had a daughter and I am well affectioned toward her, as also nature requireth and have never made trial of another wife. Now it chanced that there was a wedding in our city, and they that made the marriage feast were well beloved of me: they came in therefore and bade me to it, bidding also my wife and her daughter. Forasmuch then as they were my good friends I could not refuse: I sent her therefore, though she desired not to go, and with them I sent also many servants: so they departed, both she and her daughter, decked with many ornaments.

And when Misdaeus his friend heard this he saith to him: Be not grieved nor heavy, for I will send for him and avenge thee, and thou shalt have thy wife again, and the others that cannot I will avenge. And the king went forth and sat on the judgement seat, and when he was set he commanded Siphor the captain to be called. They went therefore unto his house and found him sitting on the right hand of the apostle and Mygdonia at his feet, hearkening to him with all the multitude. And they that were sent from the king said unto Siphor: Sittest thou here listening to vain words, and Misdaeus the king in his wrath thinketh to destroy thee because of this sorcerer and deceiver whom thou hast brought into thine house? And Siphor hearing it was cast down, not because of the king's threat against him, but for the apostle, because the king was disposed contrary to him. And he said to the apostle: I am grieved concerning thee: for I told thee at the first that that woman is the wife of Charisius the king's friend and kinsman, and he will not suf'fer her to perform that she hath promised, and all that he asketh of the king he granteth him. But the apostle said unto Siphor: Fear nothing, but believe in Jesus that pleadeth for us all, for unto his refuge are we gathered together. And Siphor, hearing that, put his garment about him and went unto Misdaeus the king,

And thus also I think is it with the faith which each one of us practiseth, that it is then discerned whether it be indeed true, when it continueth like itself even until the end of life. For many obstacles fall into the way, and prepare disturbance for the minds of men: care, children, parents, glory, poverty, flattery, prime of life, beauty, conceit, lust, wealth, anger, uplifting, slackness, envy, jealousy, neglect, fear, insolence, love, deceit, money, pretence, and other such obstacles, as many as there are in this life: as also the pilot sailing a prosperous course is opposed by the onset of contrary winds and a great storm and mighty waves out of calm, and the husbandman by untimely winter and blight and creeping things rising out of the earth, and they that strive in the games 'just do not win', and they that exercise crafts are hindered by the divers difficulties of them.

And yet again unto thee is my speech, Maximilla: I say unto thee, give not thyself over unto Aegeates: withstand his ambushes—for indeed, Maximilla, I have seen my Lord saying unto me: Andrew, Aegeates' father the devil will loose thee from this prison. Thine, therefore, let it be henceforth to keep thyself chaste and pure, holy, unspotted, sincere, free from adultery, not reconciled to the discourses of our enemy, unbent, unbroken, tearless, unwounded, not storm-tossed, undivided, not stumbling without fellow-feeling for the works of Cain. For if thou give not up thyself, Maximilla, to what is contrary to these, I also shall rest, though I be thus forced to leave this life for thy sake that is, for mine own. But if I were thrust out hence, even I, who, it may be, might avail through thee to profit others that are akin to me, and if thou wert persuaded by the discourse of Aegeates and the flatteries of his father the serpent, so that thou didst turn unto thy former works, know thou that on thine account I should be tormented until thou thyself sawest that I had contemned life for the sake of a soul which was not worthy.

But believe ye me, men and brethren, I drove this Simon out of Judaea where he did many evils with his magical charms, lodging in Judaea with a certain woman Eubula, who was of honourable estate in this world, having store of gold and pearls of no small price. Here did Simon enter in by stealth with two others like unto himself, and none of the household saw them two, but Simon only, and by means of a spell they took away all the woman's gold, and disappeared. But Eubula, when she found what was done, began to torture her household, saying: Ye have taken occasion by this man of God and spoiled me, when ye saw him entering in to me to honour a mere woman; but his name is as the name of the Lord. As I fasted for three days and prayed that this matter should be made plain, I saw in a vision Italicus and Antulus (Antyllus) whom I had instructed in the name of the Lord, and a boy naked and chained giving me a wheaten loaf and saying unto me: Peter, endure yet two days and thou shalt see the mighty works of God. As for all that is lost out of the house of Eubula, Simon hath used art magic and hath caused a delusion, and with two others hath stolen it away: whom thou shalt see on the third day at the ninth hour, at the gate which leadeth unto Neapolis, selling unto a goldsmith by name Agrippinus a young satyr of gold of two pound weight, having in it a precious stone. But for thee there is no need that thou touch it, lest thou be defiled; but let there be with thee some of the matron's servants, and thou shalt show them the shop of the goldsmith and depart from them. For by reason of this matter shall many believe on the name of the Lord, and all that which these men by their devices and wickedness have oft-times stolen shall be openly showed. When I heard that, I went unto Eubula and found her sitting with her clothes rent and her hair disordered, mourning; unto whom I said: Eubula, rise up from thy mourning and compose thy face and order thy hair and put on raiment befitting thee, and pray unto the Lord Jesus Christ that judgeth every soul: for he is the invisible Son of God, by whom thou must be saved, if only thou repent with thine whole heart of thy former sins: and receive thou power from him; for behold, by me the Lord saith to thee: Thou shalt find all whatsoever thou hast lost. And after thou hast received them, take thou care that he find thee, that thou mayest renounce this present world and seek for everlasting refreshment. Hearken therefore unto this: Let certain of thy people keep watch at the gate that leadeth to Neapolis on the day after to-morrow at about the ninth hour, and they shall see two young men having a young satyr of gold, of two pound weight, set with gems, as a vision hath shown me: which thing they will offer for sale to one Agrippinus of the household of godliness and of the faith which is in the Lord Jesus Christ: by whom it shall be showed thee that thou shouldest believe in the living God and not on Simon the magician, the unstable devil, who hath desired that thou shouldest remain in sorrow, and thine innocent household be tormented; who by fair words and speech only hath deceived thee, and with his mouth only spake of godliness, whereas he is wholly possessed of ungodliness. For when thou didst think to keep holy-day, and settedst up thine idol and didst veil it and set out all thine ornaments upon a table (round three-legged table), he brought in two young men whom no man of yours saw, by a magic charm, and they stole away thine ornaments and were no more seen. But his device hath had no success (place); for my God hath manifested it unto me, to the end thou shouldest not be deceived, neither perish in hell, for those sins which thou hast committed ungodly and contrary to God, who is full of all truth, and the righteous judge of quick and dead; and there is none other hope of life unto men save through him, by whom those things which thou hast lost are recovered unto thee: and now do thou gain thine own soul. But she cast herself down before my feet, saying: O man, who thou art I know not; but him I received as a servant of God, and whatsoever he asked of me to give it unto the poor, I gave much by his hands, and beside that I did give much unto him. What hurt did I do him, that he should contrive all this against mine house? Unto whom Peter said: There is no faith to be put in words, but in acts and deeds: but we must go on with that we have begun. So I left her and went with two stewards of Eubula and came to Agrippinus and said to him: See that thou take note of these men; for to-morrow two young men will come to thee, desiring to sell thee a young satyr of gold set with jewels, which belongeth to the mistress of these: and thou shalt take it as it were to look upon it, and praise the work of the craftsman, and then when these come in, God will bring the rest to the proof. And on the next day the stewards of the matron came about the ninth hour, and also those young men, willing to sell unto Agrippinus the young satyr of gold. And they being forthwith taken, it was reported unto the matron, and she in distress of mind came to the deputy, and with a loud voice declared all that had befallen her. And when Pompeius the deputy beheld her in distress of mind, who never had come forth abroad, he forthwith rose up from the judgement seat and went unto the praetorium, and bade those men to be brought and tortured; and while they were being tormented they confessed that they did it in the service of Simon, which, said they, persuaded us thereto with money. And being tortured a long time, they confessed that all that Eubula had lost was laid up under the earth in a cave on the other side of the gate, and many other things besides. And when Pompeius heard this, he rose up to go unto the gate, with those two men, each of them bound with two chains. And lo, Simon came in at the gate, seeking them because they tarried long. And he seeth a great multitude coming, and those two bound with chains; and he understood and betook him to flight, and appeared no more in Judaea unto this day. But Eubula, when she had recovered all her goods, gave them for the service of the poor, and believed on the Lord Jesus Christ and was comforted; and despised and renounced this world, and gave unto the widows and fatherless, and clothed the poor. And after a long time she received her rest (sleep). Now these things, dearly beloved brethren, were done in Judaea, whereby he that is called the angel of Satan was driven out thence.

"But, if on the contrary, they still continue hardened in their transgression, they shall be under a curse for ever."

Yea, ye shall bring a curse upon our race, because the light of the law which was given for to lighten every man this ye desire to destroy by teaching commandments contrary to the ordinances of God.

For he is a slave to two contrary passions, and cannot obey God, because they have blinded his soul, and he walketh in the day as in the night.

And the swordsman said unto him, 'O my master! every slave who acts contrary to the word of his master is killed, and I have acted contrary to thy command.'

And the swordsman said unto him, 'O my master! every slave who acts contrary to the word of his master is killed, and I have acted contrary to thy command.'

Then the king said unto him. 'Woe unto thee, O Abu Samik, in what hast thou acted contrary to my command?'

And he said, 'It is not possible for you to fail, for you have sown in all men the seeds of gratitude which produce a harvest of goodwill, and this is mightier than the strongest weapons and guarantees the greatest security. But if any man does fail, he must never again do those things which caused his failure, but he must form friendships and act justly. For it is the gift of God to be able to do good actions and not the contrary.'

And he said, 'The soul is so constituted that it is able by the divine power to receive all the good and reject the contrary.'

The king praised him and asked the next How he could avoid doing anything contrary to law?

Certainly, as soon as a man orders his life according to the Law, if he is miserly he acts contrary to his nature, and lends money to the needy without interest, and at the seventh-year periods cancels the debt.

And you scoff at our philosophy, as if under it we were living in a manner contrary to reason.

He has commanded us to eat the things that will be convenient for our souls, and he has forbidden us to eat meats that would be the contrary.

Contrary to Reason, indeed, were it for us, after living unto the truth till old age, and guarding in lawful guise the repute of so living, now to change and become in our own persons a pattern to the young of impiety, to the end that we should encourage them to eat unclean meat.

But in this cam it was not so; on the contrary by their Reason, which was commended in the sight of God, they rose superior to their passions.

As for what you did say-"To whom will these things be, and how many (will they be)? "-to those who have believed there shall be the good which was spoken of aforetime, and to those who despise there shall be the contrary of these things.

OF THE RIGHT FAITH AND THE HOLY TRINITY WHICH THE APOSTLES PREACHED TO US IN TRUTH. [vi., 11.] But we, (being) children of God and sons of peace, preach this holy word to those who are obedient in uprightness. We believe in One God, the Maker of the whole creation, the Father of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, whose existence is without cause (), even as we said before, but He is existent at all times without beginning or end. and in Him is light unquenchable, and to Him none can approach. He is not two, nor three, nor is He capable of increase, but He is One alone who abideth for ever. Yet He is not a hidden (Being) who cannot be known, but we have known surely by the Law and the prophets that He is Almighty and the Ruler of the whole creation. He is the One God, the Father of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, who was begotten before the world was created, the only-begotten Son, who is equal with Him, the maker of all hosts and powers and dominions; who was pleased to become man in the latter days, and took flesh of the holy Virgin Mary, without seed of man, and grew up” amongst men, without sin, or trespass, nor was there guile in His mouth; and afterwards He suffered and died without sin in the flesh, and rose from the dead on the third day, and ascended into heaven to the Father, who had sent Him, and sat down on the right hand of power; and He sent to us the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, who proceedeth from the Father, and hath saved the world; who is co-existent with the Father and the Son. We say then that every creature of God is good and there is nothing (to be) rejected, but that the spirit, the life of the flesh, is pure and holy in all things. We say that marriage is pure, and the begetting of children not unclean, for God made Adam and Eve that man might be multiplied. We understand then that there is in our body a soul which doth not die, nor perish with the body; but we abhor every deed of apostates from the faith, and all divisions, and transgression of the law, for unto us such are unclean. Again, we believe in the. resurrection of the dead, both of the righteous and sinful in the day of judgment, when every man shall be requited according to his works. Moreover, we believe that Christ was in nothing subjected to loss by His incarnation, but that He is God the Word, who became man in truth, and reconciled the race of man with God, and (that He is) the High-priest of the Father. We do not practise circumcision then like the Jews; we know that He hath come who fulfilled the Law and the prophets, for whose coming all the nations hoped, Jesus Christ who sprang from Judah and from the root of Jesse, and whose government is on His shoulder. [vi., 12.] For in those days ungodliness grew strong, and led many astray, whereby the Church was disturbed. Then we gathered together in Jerusalem, we the twelve apostles, and appointed Matthias in the place of Judas Iscariot, even as it is written, “And his office let another take "; and we were assembled together with James our Lord’s brother, the bishop of Jerusalem, and we took counsel with the presbyters to speak to the people words of admonition. For there were some who set forth from Judaea, and went to Antioch to teach the brethren who were in that place, saying, Unless ye be circumcised according to the law of Moses, and walk according to his ordinance, ye shall not be saved; and there arose enmity and strife. Then the brethren who were in Antioch knew that we were gathered together and had enquired concerning this matter, and they sent unto us faithful men, who had knowledge of the holy Scriptures, to search out this thing. And they came to us in Jerusalem to declare unto us all that had happened in Antioch; and there were some who said unto them, Ye must needs be circumcised, and do what is in the ordinances of the Law. But I Peter rose up and said unto the people, Brethren, ye know that God chose the Gentiles who took heed unto the preaching of the Gospel, and believed, to whom God who knoweth the hearts bare witness. And to Cornelius the centurion an angel of the Lord appeared, and bade him send to me that he might hear from my mouth the word of life. And he sent to me to the city of Joppa, and brought me to Caesarea. And before I came unto him, I stood on a lofty place and prayed; and behold I saw the heaven opened, and a great sheet descend to the earth, held by its corners; and‘in it were creeping things and beasts and birds of the heaven. And heard a voice which said, Arise, Peter, kill and eat; and I said, Never hath there entered into my mouth anything defiled, which was not clean. And again a voice came which said, What God hath cleansed, count thou not unclean, and the whole (sheet) was drawn up again into heaven. And while I thought thus, What thing is this that hath appeared unto me the Holy Spirit said unto me, Behold (certain) men are seeking thee; arise and go with them without doubting, for I have sent (them) to thee. These were they whom the centurion had sent. Then I thought in my heart, and believed what the Scripture saith, Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved"; and again it is said, “Let all the ends of the earth remember and turn unto the Lord, and let all the lands of the nations worship before him; for the kingdom is the Lord’s, and he shall judge the nations.”" Moreover, I remembered that which is written concerning the calling of the Gentiles, and [went with them, and entered into the man’s house, and preached the word. And forthwith the Holy Spirit descended upon him and upon all who were with him, even as He had descended upon us; and there was no distinction between us in faith, and in the purification of our hearts. And I perceived that God respecteth not persons, but that all nations that fear God and do righteousness are well-pleasing before Him. Then the faithful rose up and said, How long tempt ye God, and lay on the shoulders of the Gentiles a heavy burden which they cannot bear? But we believe that we shall be saved by grace even as (they). The Lord hath loosed us from the bond of sin, and lightened (and removed) from off us the heavy burden. And when I had said this, all the people kept silence. Then James the brother of our Lord answered and said unto them, Hearken unto what I say unto you: behold Simeon hath before declared how God chose the Gentiles for His inheritance as it is written, “I will come and build the house of David which is in ruins, and I will raise up those that have fallen, that all the Gentiles on whom my name is named may turn to the Lord, saith the Lord.” Wherefore I say unto you, Lay no burden on the Gentiles who have turned to God, but command them to abstain from all (that is) unclean, and not to eat that which dieth of itself, or which hath been sacrificed to (false) gods, and (to abstain from) fornication, (and from) what is not commanded in the law, and is not written in the book of the fathers, Enosh, Enoch and Noah and Melchizedek and Job and others such as they. Then the apostles, and James, the bishop of Jerusalem, and the presbyters of the Church agreed, and chose from amongst us men whom they should send with Barnabas and Paul the tent-maker, both Judas who was called Barsabbas, and Silas, who were chosen from the brethren. Then we wrote and sent (a letter) to the brethren in the churches of Antioch and Syria, saying, Peace be unto you. Because we have heard (that there arc) some who have troubled your souls with words, to whom we gave no (such) commandment, now also we having agreed together have chosen men to send unto you with our brethren Barnabas and Paul, men who have surrendered their lives for Jesus Christ’s sake. And we have sent Judas and Silas that they may inform you (of these things). For the Holy Spirit agreed with us that we should lay no burden (upon you) nor add any other (charge) save this only, that men should abstain from anything sacrificed to (false) gods, and from that which dieth of itself, and from blood, and from fornication; and that what they hate for themselves they should not do to their neighbours. Take heed to these things and peace be to you. (vi., 13.] This letter we sent, (but) we laboured in Jerusalem for many days, desiring to do what was good for us and you (? ). And after a few days we visited the brethren and confirmed them with the word of admonition, and commanded them to keep far from those who blasphemed against the name of the Lord and against Moses. For these are ravening (wolves), and make themselves like unto sheep, and strive against the Lord and Moses and the prophets, (being) false Christs and false prophets and lying apostles who destroy the nations, and bow down themselves to the earth, and think all (manner of) evil, and spoil the holy vineyard. And by reason of these the love of many shall wax cold; but he who patiently endureth to the end, the same shall be saved. And concerning these our Lord commanded us, saying, “ Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravening wolves, and from their fruit ye shall know them.” [vi., 14.] And because of this we all have assembled in one place—we are the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, Peter and Andrew; James and John, the sons of Zebedee; Philip and Bartholomew; Matthew and Thomas; James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Cananean; Thaddaeus and Matthias who was numbered with us and appointed in place of Judas Iscariot; and James the brother of our Lord Jesus Christ, the bishop of Jerusalem and Paul the chosen (vessel) and teacher of the Gentiles—and being gathered together in one place we have sent unto you this holy message.” Ye also, faithful brethren, have believed in Christ, by whom were all things: and now also we say unto you that there is One God Almighty, and there is no other god besides Him; (and) we teach you to worship Him, and adore Him, and to serve Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, and to read the Holy Scriptures of the Law and the prophets. Honour your parents, and abstain from all that contendeth against the law; and believe in the resurrection and the day of judgment; and wait in hope for that time. when He shall render to every man according to his works. For the whole creation is from God, and not from Satan; but all evil is from Satan. And in lawful marriage there is no defilement nor loss, but rather it is from God, for in the beginning He created (them) male and female; and for this cause it is said “Let a man leave his father and his mother, and cleave unto his wife, and let them two be one flesh.”! And after a man is married, let him not put away his wife, but for fornication only, for “she is thy spirit and thy flesh, for I created them and not another.” Again, it is said, “What God hath joined together let not man separate.” For he that separateth himself from his wife, dividing the one flesh, hath transgressed the commandment of God. le also that hath married one that is divorced hath defiled his flesh; and he that hath cleaved to an adulteress hath quite transgressed the law. Cut off the adulteress from thy flesh, for she is not thine. Defile ye not then your flesh, for circumcision of the heart in a pure spirit is sufficient for the faithful. ([vi., 15.] Make no repetition of baptism: the first baptism which you have received sufficeth for you, for ye were buried into the death of Christ; (a baptism) which hath not been given to the ungodly and unbelieving, but to holy priests who have bestowed it upon you into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the. Holy Spirit. Receive not baptism at the hands of apostates from the faith. For there is one baptism, and one God, the Father, and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit: one is the death of Jesus in the flesh; and in like manner let your baptism which ye have received into His death be one. And he that believeth not, and doeth not thus, his portion shall be with the ungodly in their evil doctrine. To those who do thus, God saith, “ Because ye have rejected my doctrine, also will reject you and forsake you, and not make you priests unto me. - And those who are baptized by them are not cleansed, but are unclean, and have no remission of sin. So are they who receive a second baptism, and make the work of Christ a mockery, and despise holy things, and blaspheme against the Holy Spirit, and count unclean His precious blood, and set at naught His sufferings and His testimony. But those who believe not, and are not baptized into the right faith, are transgressors of the law and condemned, for they reproach Him, and give Him not thanks. Our Lord saith, “He that is not born again of water and the Holy Spirit cannot enter into the Kingdom of heaven,” but he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall be condemned.” And he who saith, Afterwards I will be baptized, and maketh light of baptism, the same shall be condemned and be far from God. Delay not to turn to the Lord for man knoweth not that which shall come upon him. And baptize your children, while they are babes, and feed them with spiritual food, and bring them up with admonition and wisdom, for it is said, “ Suffer the little children (and) forbid them not to come unto me.” [vi., 16.) Behold we have written all this unto you, beloved brethren, that ye may understand wisdom and knowledge, and not receive idle words which the ungodly put forth in our name. Say not, then, We have apostles who will pray for us, but rather see whether their deeds are right. For there are some that do many mighty works, which are full of the poison of death, in the name of Christ, like Simon the Sorcerer and Cleobius, and those with them in every place, who lead men astray. [Ye also are they that have loved Christ (and) we are His servants.] And others also of the ancients have written apocryphal books of Moses, and Enoch, and Adam, and Seth, and Isaiah, and David, and Elijah, and the three patriarchs, who strove against those that were transgressors of the law. Moreover (certain) have written books that are vain; who account themselves elect and pure, and say, Our Scriptures are sure, though they are unclean. From those who do thus keep far away, lest ye be condemned with those that have written to lead astray the faithful—who are blameless, the disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ. [vi., 17-] We said, then, concerning bishops and presbyters that they should live with one wife before ordination, but that after ordination it is net right that they should marry. And again we give commandment concerning the servants who are obedient to the Church, sub-deacons, and readers, and doorkeepers that they should live with one wife, and (in one) marriage. But after they have received baptism and ordination, let them not commit sin, lest they fall into condemnation. Behold we give commandment that they marry not a harlot, nor a servant, nor a woman that is divorced, nor a widow, even as it is written in the law. Moreover let the deaconess be a pure virgin, or a faithful widow who hath been married to one man. (Such) women ought to be appointed. (vi., 18.] Those women also who turn from sin, receive. This is the will of God in Jesus Christ. And as touching the catechumens when they understand the teaching, baptize them into the name to the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit; and command the faithful to separate themselves from those that serve not God, (and not to have fellowship with them) in anything, whether counsel or word or prayer. And put them forth from the Church of God, for they are strangers, and evil, and corrupt, who destroy the sheep of Christ's flock; concerning whom the wise Solomon saith, Woe to the unbelieving who account themselves wise, and their latter end (cometh) unto the condemnation of Sheol." These are they that teach false doctrine, and blaspheme against the Holy Spirit, from whom hath been taken the portion of the inheritance which they received from Him, and who have forgiveness neither in this world, nor in that which is to come. For they have transgressed more grievously than the Jews and the heathen, who have blasphemed against God (who is) the Creator of all things and is above all; and they have risen up against His Son, and denied the Holy Spirit, and made void the holy Scriptures, and made blasphemy their portion,“ and spoiled the Church of Christ. These are the foxes that spoil the vineyard. From such we bid you keep far away. For he that followeth a wise man shall be wise like unto him; but he that followeth a fool shall be a fool like unto him. Ye ought not to dwell with robbers, nor be partakers with adulterers. Hear what the holy David saith, “I have hated, O Lord, them that hate thee, and have been troubled because of thine enemies. I have hated them with a perfect hatred and they are become mine enemies. or God cursed Jehoshaphat because of the love and help of King Ahab; and to King [Uzziah] he said by [Joel] the prophet, “Thou hast been a help to a sinner; wilt thou then save him whom the Lord hath hated?’ “ Wherefore there came on him speedily the anger of the Lord; because his heart was not right with Him, his works were diminished in “ Ps,. the earth. Keep, then, far from them, and receive not their salutation. Concerning them saith the prophet, “The wicked have no rejoicing before God.” These are ravening wolves and dogs that have no mercy And when the day hath drawn nigh and the hour is come, they will be evil, even as our Lord saith in the Gospel, “In the latter days faith and love shall grow less, and sin shall be multiplied, and there shall come false Christs and false prophets, and they shall do signs in heaven and seduce many of the elect. Behold then let us pray to God to save us from their error by Jesus Christ, and to deliver us from the ungodly people, that we may confirm the Church and save many, and heal them by much admonition, and by the word of grace. But those who received not our preaching could not be healed, and have gone forth from the flock, lest they should corrupt other undefiled sheep in whom was no blemish. Thus, then, we have ordained in all lands, and have set forth for you this right doctrine of the Didascalia in truth and in purity as a memorial for those who believed in our Lord Jesus Christ; and we have sent (it) with Clement the beloved and the elect Barnabas, and our beloved son Timothy and the blessed Mark, and with these Titus and Luke, and Jason and Lucius, and Sosipater. [vi., 19.] We beseech you therefore: imitate these and hear their words, and shun your former manner of life, for the former things have passed away; and become new yourselves, for ye have known our Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things; and (who) hath given unto us a pure law (for) the salvation of our souls, wherein He put His own perfect name, which is without division or defect, or change, unspotted and converting souls, When the Hebrews forgot this, He gave them a memorial by Malachi the prophet, who saith, “ Remember the law of Moses the man of God who enjoined on you these commandments of righteousness and holiness.” But our Lord Jesus Christ did not abolish the ordinances of the Law, nor diminish (them), but rather said, “ One word shall not pass from the Law, till all this be fulfilled.” Again, He saith, “I have not come to abolish the Law and the prophets, but to fulfil them.” or Moses the legislator, prophet and king, and Elijah the prophet, who appeared with our Lord when He was transfigured before them, bare testimony concerning His passion and His death and His incarnation as friends, and men of His household, and not as strangers. [vi., 20.] The Lord gave the ordinance, the ten words which are in the Law and the holy prophets, and they heard His voice continuously, before they made for themselves the calf which the Egyptians called Apis. For the ordinance is righteous, and therefore was it called the law; and He judgeth in uprightness. Simon and those with him hate this ordinance, and praise themselves, but they shall go down to Gehenna. But the law is good and holy, for He saith, “If thou wilt make for me an altar, build it for me in the land,” and He saith not, “Build for me,” except (it be) thy pleasure, for God needeth not sacrifices and offerings from us. But Abel, and Noah, and Abraham, the friends of God, offered up sacrifices of incense unto Him according to their pleasure. And in like manner the Hebrews did thus according to their pleasure. And it was not He who commanded them, but they themselves did His good pleasure, and He received their sacrifices which they offered up unto Him with a pure heart. Wherefore He saith, ‘I desire not your incense, nor do I need aught, for the world is mine and all that is therein.” In days of old the people forgat God, and made for themselves a calf as a god instead of the true God. And when they came out of Egypt it is said, “Is this thy god, O Israel, that brought thee forth from the land of Egypt?” They worshipped a calf in (their) ungodliness, and forsook God who had sent Moses, and brought them out of sore affliction. And behold God wrought signs by the hand of Moses his servant, and with the rod which destroyed the Egyptians with the ten plagues, and wherewith he smote the Red Sea, and made them pass through it on dry ground as it were a course for horses; but he overwhelmed his enemies therein; and he made sweet the fountain of bitter water; and he clave the rock and made water to pour forth for them; he overshadowed them by day with a cloud, and by night with a pillar of fire; and he enlightened them and led them—but they knew not whither they were going; he brought down from heaven manna for them to eat and (sent them) flesh as the dust; and he gave them the law in the desert, and made them ready to hear His voice. They forsook him who had done all this, and said to Aaron, “Make us gods who shall go with us.” And (Aaron) made a calf for them, and they bowed down before it. And God knew that they felt no gratitude for all that, He had done for them, so they were bound with bonds that could not be loosed, and were cast into a net, whence was no escape. (And God said unto them), “When ye make an altar, offer up thereon sacrifices at all times.” For He saith, Thou didst forget God who saved thee, and gavest no. thanks to my name. Offer then your offerings that there ye may remember to give thanks to my name. And substitute not an unclean beast for a clean, for if ye do thus, I will bring upon you sore punishment as (on) an evil and slothful and foolish servant, and ye shall [not] be bound with the bonds of the commandment. Take heed then and fall not into the error of (having) many gods, lest there come upon you the word which saith “Where is thy God, O Israel?”' And remember what is written, saying, “Hear, O Israel, the Lord thy God is One.” And abide ye in this ordinance, and know that there is no other god besides Him in heaven or in earth; love Him with all thy heart, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and fear Him alone, and set not in thy heart the name of strange gods, nor make mention of them with thy mouth, for because of the guile of their hearts God bound them. [vi., 21.] But as for you, since ye have known the One God with a pure heart, and a good understanding, and have heard the voice of the Saviour, blessed are your eyes, for they have seen, and your ears for they have heard. Behold ye are loosed from the bonds and are freed from the servitude. Moreover He saith, “I will not call you my servants, for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth unto him; but ye are my friends. Behold I have taught you all that I have heard from my Father.” But as for those who desire not to see nor to hear, their heart hath been hardened, and they are far from Him. (vi., 22.) But blessed are ye from whom God hath taken away His curse. For Christ the Son of God came, (and) established and fulfilled the law; and He removed the heavy burden that was therein, (and) saved us, and freed us from the service of sin, and had mercy on us, and gave us life eternal. And again He saith, “He that will come after me, let him await my second coming.” But He received not the sacrifices and offerings which the nations offered, for oftentimes they offered unto Him; and they thought that it was by multiplying sacrifices that they would be saved, without repentance, from the scourge of God’s anger. Moreover it is said, “ Wherefore bring ye to me incense from Saba, and cinnamon from a far country? I have no pleasure in your sacrifices, and will not receive your incense.” And again Isaiah saith, Wherefore offer ye to me your sacrifices; I am sated with the sacrifices of rams and oxen and with the fat of sheep. I desire not the blood of oxen and goats. If ye bring (them), will ye not show me who hath required this at your hands? Ye shall not again tread the courts of my house. And if ye bring fine flour, it is in vain; your incense, and your feasts, and your sabbaths, and your great day I desire not; your fasts also and your prayers I desire not; my soul hath hated (them) and ye are an abomination unto me.” Moreover the prophet saith, “Remove from me the sound of thine anger.” Again Samuel the prophet said to Saul, when he desired to sacrifice, ‘‘To hearken is better than to sacrifice and knowledge than the fat of sheep, for the Lord desireth not that thou shouldst sacrifice to him, but rather that thou shouldst hearken to his word.” And David also saith, “I will take no oxen from thy house, nor rams from thy flock, for all the beasts of the field are mine; the cattle of the field also, and the oxen; and I know all the birds of the heaven; and the beauty of field also is with me. If I be hungry I will not ask of thee, for the whole world is mine, with the fulness thereof. I will not eat the flesh of oxen, nor drink the blood of goats. Sacrifice to God the sacrifice of praise and send up thy prayer to the Most High.” Moreover it is written in the Scripture that He desireth not the incense of those that have sinned against Him, for unclean before Him is the sacrifice of the ungodly who offer contrary to the law: everyone who eateth of it is unclean. But He desireth above all a meek heart and a humble spirit which are better than sacrifice. Behold, then, He came to bring to an end the sacrifices of blood which they offered. [vi., 23-] For He said in the Law, “The Lord thy God is One”; again He said in the Gospel, ‘This is life eternal that they should know the One true God." Moreover He said, ‘Love thy neighbour as thyself”; (and) repeated (it in the Gospel) and said, “I have given you a commandment that ye love one another, as I have loved you.” For thus He said (in the law) Thou shalt not kill, but He hath commanded us never to hate anyone. He who said Thou shalt not commit adultery nor desire thy neighbour’s wife, behold He hath commanded (us not even to look upon a woman to lust after her). He said (then), Thou shalt not steal, but He hath commanded us to abstain from every evil deed, and to love our enemies. For He who said, Ye shall not render evil to him that doeth you injury, hath commanded us to be at peace with all men; for mercy is better than those who desire vengeance unrighteously (?). He said (then), “Honour your parents; but He hath commanded us to humble ourselves unto all men. He put an end to circumcision, and He Himself fulfilled circumcision: and He fulfilled the hope for which the whole world was hoping. He who said, “Perform unto the Lord thine oath,” hath commanded us not to swear by anything. Instead of sacrifices of blood He hath given us a rational bloodless offering; and instead of sacrifices in one place, He hath commanded us that our offering should be made in all the earth from the rising of the sun even to its setting.”... Moses saith in the law, Read thou the words which I have commanded thee while thou workest, or while thou sittest, or while thou standest, or while thou walkest in the way.” ” And David also saith, “ But the law of the Lord is his delight, and in his law he will meditate day and night.” And everywhere He hath commanded that they should do that which (is written) in the law, and not transgress the ordinance. And again it is said, “Blessed are they that are pure in their way, and that walk in his ways, and seek him with all their heart.” Moreover it is said in the Gospel, “ Blessed are ye, if ye do this.” (vi., 24.] For on account of this is the law manifest in righteousness, and illumineth all the world, (even) those who believe in our Lord, and have forsaken the worship of idols, and kept far from wickedness and received all that is good. And the Jews also, who have rejected the covenants, whose hearts were blinded, and (who) followed the way of those who said, ‘We have no king but Caesar,” and said again, “If we let this man alone, the Romans will come, (and) will take away our nation and our land,” prophesied against Him and said, ‘It is better for us to put one man to death, than that the nation perish.” (Yet) all nations have believed in Him, and the Romans have taken away their authority and all their ordinances; and therefore are they accursed because they have not been able to do His commandment. Moreover it is said, “Cursed is he that doeth not all the commandments which are written in the book of the law.” [vi., 25.] But we follow the way of Christ, that we may receive a blessing: and let us receive the law, and the prophets, and the holy Gospel; and turn aside from those that worship many gods, and let us keep far from the murderers of Christ, and from them that slew the prophets. These are the unbelieving Jews. And let us be humble and firm in faith in Christ the King who hath authority over all things, and is the teacher of the law, and the guardian of the ordinances. ([vi., 26.] Keep far, then, bishops and priests and people, from (those that cause) division (even) from those that account unclean the Law and the prophets, being the enemies of God Almighty; and who believe not in Christ the Son of God, and separate (?) His birth in the flesh, and blaspheme against His sufferings in the flesh, and revile His cross, and mock at His death, and believe not in His resurrection, and make void His generation from the Father before the whole creation, [and say (that in Him) are flesh and soul and not the Godhead]. And there are others who say that Jesus Christ is above the whole creation, and glorify Him and say that He alone is the Father; and again they say that He is the Son and the Paraclete. Are not these then more impious than all? And there are others who say that the resurrection of the dead (is of) souls without bodies. To these He saith, Depart into fire eternal. Keep far (from such men), beloved brethren, lest ye be condemned together with them. [vi., 27.] [And those that watch the stars, and worship the host of heaven, and observe days and hours —as for such, will He accept their prayers, and be pleased with their offerings and will they read the holy Scriptures? These then are void () of the Holy Spirit, which abideth in the heart of the faithful. Solomon saith concerning the saints, “Let them be prepared, if they sleep, to watch; if they sleep and awake, to be wise in truth and love.”] For the Holy Spirit is not far from faithful Christian people from the day of their birth, until they die. Let a woman after her child-bearing remain in her separation seven days. But if she think in her heart, and say, How shall the Holy Spirit abide upon me, while am unclean and if (her) faith grow weak, and she be without good works, the Holy Spirit will not abide upon her. For this matter is not a transgression of the law, but marriage, and the customary separation of women, and nocturnal pollutions hinder not the Holy Spirit. But with the ungodly and unbelieving who have transgressed the law and the ordinances, the Holy Spirit will not abide. And those that have not the Holy Spirit are the habitation of unclean (spirits): but upon those that have believed and (that) hope in His second coming the Holy Spirit abideth. [For the Paraclete hateth lies and every (evil) work; and the devil hateth works of righteousness and goodness. And whosoever is baptized in faith is separated from the spirit of Satan, and is the habitation of the Holy Spirit: and he that doeth His will is filled with wisdom and knowledge, and the unclean spirit cannot come nigh to him. The unclean spirit loveth such as are ungrateful, slothful, and sinners and sorcerers, for the devil by his want of gratitude fell from his throne, and was deprived of the glory of God. And he himself chose to be Satan rather than to be an archangel. Wherefore women ought to beware of every evil and vain thing, and be mindful of God, who created all things, and to follow His law, (and) not work the pleasure of the flesh, except only in lawful wedlock. Beware then of the counsel of evil men, and of union with them. [vi., 28.] Wherefore separate yourselves, beloved brethren, from all the heathen who practise evil, and keep far from them; and count not as an abomination the flesh of men’s dead bodies. We believe that the dead shall live and rise again. And in like manner lawful marriage is not an abomination, for the union of man and woman is righteous (before God) who created man and woman, and blessed them, and said unto them, “Increase and multiply, and fill the earth.” Behold we understand that from God are all these things; without Him was not anything. Howbeit the men of Sodom sinned; they perverted nature and wrought abomination; and in like manner (sin) those who practise bestiality, which is unclean and is a transgression of the law. They that do such things shall not escape from punishment, for they defile pure marriage, and do what is unseemly and what is not commanded in the law; (but as) it is said, ‘They are joined one to another, man with man. But they work their own shame, and their iniquity shall return on their own heads.” For the Scripture saith, “If any man lieth with a man as with a woman; they have wrought uncleanness, let both of them die the death ”’; and, ‘He that lieth with a beast, let him die the death ’’; and, ‘He that committeth adultery with his neighbour's wife, let him die the death,” for it is a shame to Israel. ‘The hire of a harlot, and the price of a dog they shall not offer in the house of the Lord.” This is what is forbidden in the law, but marriage is pure. And God blessed the union of man and woman. And Solomon also saith, ‘The union of man and man is abominable before the Lord.” David saith, “Let thy wife be as a pleasant vine in the chamber of thy house, and thy children also as young olive plants at thy table. Lo, thus shall the man be blessed that feareth the Lord.” For a man that is a lover of God ought not to be subject to lust. [vi., 29.] And let the women also be obedient to their own husbands in love and fear, even as the blessed Sarah was obedient to her husband Abraham, and said to him, My lord. She did not name his name, but said of him, My lord is old. And in like manner, ye men, love your wives, for they are your members and sharers with you in the begetting of children. It is said, “ Love the wife of thy youth, as the hart loveth the fountains of waters; for she is thine and is with thee at all times, and is a member of thine.” For it is said, “Take heed to yourselves and forsake not your wives.” And as touching the lawful union of man and wife, when they rise from sleep let them not give heed to ceremonial washings, but rather take thought for prayer and supplication to God. But if a man lie with the wife of his neighbour, or defile himself with a harlot, and, when he riseth, wash himself in the sea, and in all the waters of the rivers, he shall not be able to cleanse himself; but his portion shall be rather in eternal condemnation. [vi., 30.] Take no heed then of laws relating to the flesh, for lawful marriage is not unclean; nor seek after the way of the Jews, nor use at all times (such ceremonial) washings, nor practise their customary purifications.

OF THE CHRISM. [vii., 27.] Thou shalt give thanks thus: We give thanks to Thee, Creator of all things, for the savour of this chrism, and for this oil of immortality, which Thou hast revealed to us by Jesus Christ Thy Son. For Thine is the glory, and the kingdom, and the power for ever and ever. Amen. [vii., 28.] And whosoever cometh to you, and giveth thanks thus, receive him as a disciple of Christ; and if there be anyone that teacheth contrary to the law which was given unto you by the Lord, receive him not, and let him not have fellowship with you in thanksgiving. Prove everyone that cometh unto you, and examine diligently his deeds, (and) appoint as is fitting for ye have knowledge of those on the right hand and on the left. And judge between those who rule justly and (those who) rule unjustly; and to your neighbour that judgeth justly do good according to his doings; to him also that judgeth unjustly render according to his doing; and pray not with him, lest ye be defiled together with him. And every prophet and teacher that cometh unto you and teacheth truly is worthy of his meat, as a good workman who serveth his lord. [vii., 29.] To the priests also give the first-fruits that they may bless your labours; and give all the tithes to the widows, and to the orphans, and to travellers,” and to strangers. [vii., 30] And on the Sabbath day, which is (the day of) the resurrection of our Lord, gather ye together in one place, and give thanks to God for all the good things that He hath done for you in Christ, that your sacrifice may be perfect and acceptable before God, for it is said concerning the Church that they shall assemble therein, and offer up incense and sacrifice, (for) ‘I, saith the Lord, am a great King upholding all the world, and my name is terrible in all the world, and (among) the Gentiles.” [vii., 31.] Appoint for yourselves bishops, presbyters, and deacons, meek men and humble, who are chosen from the people, pure and tried in every good work; who desire not money, but rather teach the word of the Lord and the doctrine, and discern in uprightness the commandments of Christ... as father and lord in love without anger and impatience, with a humble heart and in meekness. Observe all this that ye have been commanded of the Lord for the life of your souls. Let your loins be girt, and your lamps burning, and be ye ready as men who wait for their Lord when he cometh, whether at the first hour of the night, or at midnight, or at cock-crowing, or at break of day. The Lord will come at a time that thou expectest not. Blessed are those servants whom their Lord, when he cometh, shall find so doing. Behold, He will gird Himself, and go about, and serve them. Pray then and work, lest death come upon you suddenly. [vii., 32-] And when the glory of the Son of Man shall appear in heaven, and the archangel shall blow the trumpet, and the dead shall be raised, and our Lord shall come with His Saints in the clouds of heaven, and all the angels of His power with Him, then shall He sit on the throne of His Kingdom, and destroy the devil, the deceiver, and shall render to every man according to his works; and then shall the sinners go into eternal condemnation, but the righteous into life eternal, and (these) shall rejoice in the Kingdom of heaven through our Lord Jesus Christ. [vii., 33-] Be ye, then, ready that ye may receive His good things. Let us pray and make supplication unto Him, and say, O, our Saviour; Who art before the world (was), God of gods, the Almighty, One God, the Creator of every creature, the Lord of our holy fathers, who were without blame before Thee, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Who art) merciful, and ready to forgive sins, faithful and kind, plenteous in compassion and mercy, from whom nothing is hidden, (but) all is open before Thee: in Thee the souls of the righteous trust, and in Thee the saints hope; (Thou art) the Father of them that are blameless, and hearest the prayer of the pure in heart, and hearkenest to the supplication of them that are silent. Make Thy favour, O Lord, to dwell on every creature, for Thou knowest that which the heart thinketh before the thought (cometh); and in all the ends of the world they offer up to Thee sacrifice and incense with prayer and thanksgiving; Who hast appointed days that men may do righteousness, and the gate of whose mercy is open to everyone that seeketh Thee, and hast appointed laws and ordinances, and caused us to understand that the riches of this world are transitory and that the ornament of beauty abideth not for ever, and that the might of the strong decayeth speedily. For our father Abraham was the first to walk in the way of righteousness, and Thou gavest him honour and riches, and in faith he accomplished his life; and Thou saidst unto him, “I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sand of the sea”; and Thou gavest Isaac unto him; Thou didst bless him and say unto him, “I will be with thy seed after thee.” For we have known Christ in our father Jacob, whom Thou didst send to the land of Egypt, and didst say unto him, “ Behold I will be with thee, and will surely multiply thy seed exceedingly.”' And in like manner Thou didst say unto Moses, Thy holy and faithful servant at the bush, “I am from before the world (was), and my name shall be for ever”; and Thy memorial also is for generations of generations; Who didst bless the seed of Abraham that they might be blessed for ever.; [vii., 34.] Thou didst create man that he might be a rational (creature), and Thou didst say in Thy wisdom, ‘Let us make man in our image and in our likeness ”; and Thou didst set Adam to be ruler over all, and didst give him life eternal. And when he transgressed Thy commandment, Thou didst put him forth from the garden, and didst bring death on him. Then Thou didst send Thy only-begotten Son and didst raise him from his fall, and didst restore him to the garden of delight. [vii., 35-] Thou, O Lord, alone are great, and powerful, and terrible, merciful and kind, the Almighty who doest wonders, and withdrawest not ‘Thy compassion from any of Thy works or creatures, good and a lover of men, and dealing gently with sinners, and bringing them back in the multitude of Thy mercy, and though we are not worthy to look up unto Thee, nor raise our eyes to heaven, Thou in the greatness of Thy power regardest our humility. The heavens are supported by Thy commandment, and by Thy word the earth is established, for Thou, O Lord, art mighty, and the righteousness of Thy judgment hath filled the earth which Thou hast created.

But in the assemblies, and nations, and churches, there shall be many tumults, for there shall arise evil shepherds unjust slothful avaricious, lovers of pleasures, lovers of gains lovers of money, talkative, boastful, haughty, gluttonous, perverse, rash, given to delights, vainglorious opposing the ways of the Gospel and fleeing from the strait gate removing from themselves every humiliation and not sorrowing for My humiliation, rejecting all the words of truth, and despising all the ways of piety, and not mourning for their sins. Therefore there shall be shed abroad among the nations unbelief, hatred of the brotherhood, wickedness, bitterness, slothfulness, envy, hatred, strife, theft, oppression, drunkenness, debauchery, lasciviousness, licentiousness, fornication, and all such works as are contrary to the commandments of life. For from many mourning and gentleness shall flee away, and peace and meekness, and poverty and piety, and tears, because the shepherds heard these things, and did not do them, and moreover did not shew! My commandments, seeing that they [themselves] are examples of wickedness in the nation. But the time shall come when some of them will deny Me, and will stir up confusions in the earth, and put their trust in a corruptible king. But they who in My Name endure unto the end shall be saved. Then they shall ordain commandments for men, [commandments] unlike the book of commandments in which the Father is well pleased; and My elect and My holy ones shall be rejected by them, and called among them, as it were, the polluted. Yet these are the upright ones, pure, sad, merciful, quiet, kind, always knowing Him who is among them at all times, and they shall be called mad for My sake, who have saved them. It shall come to pass also in those days that My Father shall gather together out of that generation the pure ones, even the pure and faithful souls, those to whom I will appear, and with whom I will make My habitation, and I will send to them the understanding of knowledge and of truth, and the understanding of holiness, and they shall not cease praising and giving thanks to their God,! My Father who sent Me; and they shall speak the truth at all times, and they shall teach [others] whose spirit they have tried [and have found] that they are upright and worthy, as for the kingdom, and shall instruct them in knowledge and strength and prudence. And those who suffer persecution because they live in piety shall receive the reward of their praise. And it shall be in those times that all the kingdoms shall be disturbed, and all the world also [shall see] affliction and want; and all this world shall be reputed as nothing; and all its possessions shall be destroyed by many [destroyers], and there shall be great scarcity of crops, and the winter shall be very severe; and the princes shall be few in number and small, who have rule over gold and over silver, and are rich in all those things which are in this world; and the children of this world shall hold their storerooms and barns, and shall have rule over the markets of buying and selling. Many shall be afflicted, and on that account shall call upon their God that they may be delivered. Blessed are they who are not [alive] at that time; and [blessed] they [also] who shall be [alive indeed], but [shall] endure. For when these things shall come to pass, then soon she that travaileth is near to bring forth, for the time is fulfilled.

The Catholic Church is the plantation of God and His beloved vineyard; containing those who have believed in His unerring divine religion; who are the heirs by faith of His everlasting kingdom; who are partakers of His divine influence, and of the communication of the Holy Spirit; who are armed through Jesus, and have received His fear into their hearts; who enjoy the benefit of the sprinkling of the precious and innocent blood of Christ; who have free liberty to call Almighty God, Father; being fellow-heirs and joint-partakers of His beloved Son: hearken to this holy doctrine, you who enjoy His promises, as being delivered by the command of your Saviour, and agreeable to His glorious words. Take care, you children of God, to do all things in obedience to God; and in all things please Christ our Lord. For if any man follows unrighteousness, and does those things that are contrary to the will of God, such a one will be esteemed by God as the disobedient heathen.

Let the husband not be insolent nor arrogant towards his wife; but compassionate, bountiful, willing to please his own wife alone, and treat her honourably and obligingly, endeavouring to be agreeable to her; (III.) not adorning yourself in such a manner as may entice another woman to you. For if you are overcome by her, and sinnest with her, eternal death will overtake you from God; and you will be punished with sensible and bitter torments. Or if you do not perpetrate such a wicked act, but shakest her off, and refusest her, in this case you are not wholly innocent, even though you are not guilty of the crime itself, but only in so far as through your adorning you enticed the woman to desire you. For you are the cause that the woman was so affected, and by her lusting after you was guilty of adultery with you: yet are you not so guilty, because you did not send to her, who was ensnared by you; nor did you desire her. Since, therefore, you did not deliver up yourself to her, you shall find mercy with the Lord your God, who has said, You shall not commit adultery, and, You shall not covet. For if such a woman, upon sight of you, or unseasonable meeting with you, was smitten in her mind, and sent to you, but you as a religious person refused her, if she was wounded in her heart by your beauty, and youth, and adorning, and fell in love with you, you will be found guilty of her transgressions, as having been the occasion of scandal to her, and shall inherit a woe. Wherefore pray to the Lord God that no mischief may befall you upon this account: for you are not to please men, so as to commit sin; but God, so as to attain holiness of life, and be partaker of everlasting rest. That beauty which God and nature has bestowed on you, do not further beautify; but modestly diminish it before men. Thus, do not permit the hair of your head to grow too long, but rather cut it short; lest by a nice combing your hair, and wearing it long, and anointing yourself, you draw upon yourself such ensnared or ensnaring women. Neither do you wear over-fine garments to seduce any; neither do you, with an evil subtlety, affect over-fine stockings or shoes for your feet, but only such as suit the measures of decency and usefulness. Neither do you put a gold ring upon your fingers; for all these ornaments are the signs of lasciviousness, which if you be solicitous about in an indecent manner, you will not act as becomes a good man: for it is not lawful for you, a believer and a man of God, to permit the hair of your head to grow long, and to brush it up together, nor to suffer it to spread abroad, nor to puff it up, nor by nice combing and platting to make it curl and shine; since that is contrary to the law, which says thus, in its additional precepts: You shall not make to yourselves curls and round rasures. Nor may men destroy the hair of their beards, and unnaturally change the form of a man. For the law says: You shall not mar your beards. For God the Creator has made this decent for women, but has determined that it is unsuitable for men. But if you do these things to please men, in contradiction to the law, you will be abominable with God, who created you after His own image. If, therefore, you will be acceptable to God, abstain from all those things which He hates, and do none of those things that are unpleasing to Him.

A bishop must be no accepter of persons; neither revering nor flattering a rich man contrary to what is right, nor overlooking nor domineering over a poor man. For, says God to Moses, You shall not accept the person of the rich, nor shall you pity a poor man in his cause: for the judgment is the Lord's. And again: You shall with exact justice follow that which is right. Let a bishop be frugal, and contented with a little in his meat and drink, that he may be ever in a sober frame, and disposed to instruct and admonish the ignorant; and let him not be costly in his diet, a pamperer of himself, given to pleasure, or fond of delicacies. Let him he patient and gentle in his admonitions, well instructed himself, meditating in and diligently studying the Lord's books, and reading them frequently, that so he may be able carefully to interpret the Scriptures, expounding the Gospel in correspondence with the prophets and with the law; and let the expositions from the law and the prophets correspond to the Gospel. For the Lord Jesus says: Search the Scriptures; for they are those which testify of me. And again: For Moses wrote of me. But, above all, let him carefully distinguish between the original law and the additional precepts, and show which are the laws for believers, and which the bonds for the unbelievers, lest any should fall under those bonds. Be careful, therefore, O bishop, to study the word, that you may be able to explain everything exactly, and that you may copiously nourish your people with much doctrine, and enlighten them with the light of the law; for God says: Enlighten yourselves with the light of knowledge, while we have yet opportunity.

But he who does not consider these things, will, contrary to justice, spare him who deserves punishment; as Saul spared Agag, and Eli his sons, who knew not the Lord. Such a one profanes his own dignity, and that Church of God which is in his parish. Such a one is esteemed unjust before God and holy men, as affording occasion of scandal to many of the newly baptized, and to the catechumens; as also to the youth of both sexes, to whom a woe belongs, add a mill-stone about his neck, and drowning, on account of his guilt. For, observing what a person their governor is, through his wickedness and neglect of justice they will grow sceptical, and, indulging the same disease, will be compelled to perish with him; as was the case of the people joining with Jeroboam, and those which were in the conspiracy with Corah. But if the offender sees that the bishop and deacons are innocent and unblameable, and the flock pure, he will either not venture to despise their authority, and to enter into the Church of God at all, as one smitten by his own conscience: or if he values nothing, and ventures to enter in, either he will be convicted immediately, as Uzza at the ark, when he touched it to support it; and as Achan, when he stole the accursed thing; and as Gehazi, when he coveted the money of Naaman, and so will be immediately punished: or else he will be admonished by the pastor, and drawn to repentance. For when he looks round the whole Church one by one, and can spy no blemish, neither in the bishop nor in the people who are under his care, he will be put to confusion, and pricked at the heart, and in a peaceable manner will go his way with shame and many tears, and the flock will remain pure. He will apply himself to God with tears, and will repent of his sins, and have hope. Nay, the whole flock, at the sight of his tears, will be instructed, because a sinner avoids destruction by repentance.

Have before your eyes the fear of God, and always remember the ten commandments of God — to love the one and only Lord God with all your strength; to give no heed to idols, or any other beings, as being lifeless gods, or irrational beings or dæmons. Consider the manifold workmanship of God, which received its beginning through Christ. You shall observe the Sabbath, on account of Him who ceased from His work of creation, but ceased not from His work of providence: it is a rest for meditation of the law, not for idleness of the hands. Reject every unlawful lust, everything destructive to men, and all anger. Honour your parents, as the authors of your being. Love your neighbour as yourself. Communicate the necessaries of life to the needy. Avoid swearing falsely, and swearing often, and in vain; for you shall not be held guiltless. Do not appear before the priests empty, and offer your free-will offerings continually. Moreover, do not leave the church of Christ; but go there in the morning before all your work, and again meet there in the evening, to return thanks to God that He has preserved your life. Be diligent, and constant, and laborious in your calling. Offer to the Lord your free-will offerings; for says He, Honour the Lord with the fruit of your honest labours. If you are not able to cast anything considerable into the Corban, yet at least bestow upon the strangers one, or two, or five mites. Lay up to yourself heavenly treasure, which neither the moth nor thieves can destroy. And in doing this, do not judge your bishop, or any of your neighbours among the laity; for if you judge your brother, you become a judge, without being constituted such by anybody, for the priests are only entrusted with the power of judging. For to them it is said, Judge righteous judgment; and again Approve yourselves to be exact money-changers. For to you this is not entrusted; for, on the contrary, it is said to those who are not of the dignity of magistrates or ministers: Judge not, and you shall not be judged.

When, therefore, you are set down at your tribunal, and the parties are both of them present (for we will not call them brethren until they receive each other in peace), examine diligently concerning those who appear before you; and first concerning the accuser, whether this be the first person he has accused, or whether he has advanced accusations against some others before, and whether this contest and accusation of theirs does not arise from some quarrel, and what sort of life the accuser leads. Yet, though he be of a good conscience, do not give credit to him alone, for that is contrary to the law; but let him have others to join in his testimony, and those of the same course of life. As the law says: At the mouth of two or three witnesses everything shall be established. But why did we say that the character of the witnesses was to be inquired after, of what sort it is? Because it frequently happens that two and more testify for mischief, and with joint consent prefer a lie; as did the two elders against Susanna in Babylon, and the sons of transgressors against Naboth in Samaria, and the multitude of the Jews against our Lord at Jerusalem, and against Stephen His first martyr. Let the witnesses therefore be meek, free from anger, full of equity, kind, prudent, continent, free from wickedness, faithful, religious; for the testimony of such persons is firm on account of their character, and true on account of their mode of life. But as to those of a different character, do not receive their testimony, although they seem to agree together in their evidence against the accused; for it is ordained in the law: You shall not be with a multitude for wickedness; you shall not receive a vain report; you shall not consent with a multitude to pervert judgment. You ought also particularly to know him that is accused; what he is in his course and mode of life; whether he have a good report as to his life; whether he has been unblameable; whether he has been zealous in holiness; whether he be a lover of the widows, a lover of the strangers, a lover of the poor, and a lover of the brethren; whether he be not given to filthy lucre; whether he be not an extravagant person, or a spendthrift; whether he be sober, and free from luxury, or a drunkard, or a glutton; whether he be compassionate and charitable.

In the same manner, therefore, the ears of the hearts of such widows as these are stopped, that they will not sit within in their cottages to speak to the Lord, but will run about with the design of getting, and by their foolish prattling fulfil the desires of the adversary. Such widows, therefore, are not affixed to the altar of Christ: for there are some widows which esteem gain their business; and since they ask without shame, and receive without being satisfied, render the generality more backward in giving. For when they ought to be content with their subsistence from the Church, as having moderate desires, on the contrary, they run from one of their neighbours' houses to another, and disturb them, heaping up to themselves plenty of money, and lend at bitter usury, and are only solicitous about mammon, whose bag is their god; who prefer eating and drinking before all virtue, saying, Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die; who esteem these things as if they were durable and not perishing things. For she that uses herself to nothing but talking of money, worships mammon instead of God — that is, is a servant to gain, but cannot be pleasing to God, nor resigned to His worship; not being able to intercede with Him continuously on account that her mind and disposition run after money: for where the treasure is, there will the heart be also. For she is thinking in her mind whither she may go to receive, or that a certain woman her friend has forgot her, and she has somewhat to say to her. She that thinks of such things as these will no longer attend to her prayers, but to that thought which offers itself; so that though sometimes she would pray for anybody, she will not be heard, because she does not offer her petition to the Lord with her whole heart, but with a divided mind. But she that will attend to God will sit within, and mind the things of the Lord day and night, offering her sincere petition with a mouth ready to utter the same without ceasing. As therefore Judith, most famous for her wisdom, and of a good report for her modesty, prayed to God night and day for Israel; so also the widow who is like to her will offer her intercession without ceasing for the Church to God. And He will hear her, because her mind is fixed on this thing alone, and is not disposed to be either insatiable, or covetous, or expensive; when her eye is pure, and her hearing clean, and her hands undefiled, and her feet quiet, and her mouth prepared for neither gluttony nor trifling, but speaking the things that are fit, and partaking of only such things as are necessary for her maintenance. So, being grave, and giving no disturbance, she will be pleasing to God; and as soon as she asks anything, the gift will come to her: as He says, While you are speaking, I will say, Behold, I am here. Let such a one also be free from the love of money, free from arrogance, not given to filthy lucre, not insatiable, not gluttonous, but continent, meek, giving nobody disturbance, pious, modest, sitting at home, singing, and praying, and reading, and watching, and fasting; speaking to God continually in songs and hymns. And let her take wool, and rather assist others than herself want from them; being mindful of that widow who is honoured in the Gospel with the Lord's testimony, who, coming into the temple, cast into the treasury two mites, which make a farthing. And Christ our Lord and Master, and Searcher of hearts, saw her, and said, Verily I say unto you, that this widow has cast into the treasury more than they all: for all they have cast in of their abundance, but this woman of her penury has cast in all the living that she had.

Now, as to women's baptizing, we let you know that there is no small peril to those that undertake it. Therefore we do not advise you to it; for it is dangerous, or rather wicked and impious. For if the man be the head of the woman, and he be originally ordained for the priesthood, it is not just to abrogate the order of the creation, and leave the principal to come to the extreme part of the body. For the woman is the body of the man, taken from his side, and subject to him, from whom she was separated for the procreation of children. For says He, He shall rule over you. For the principal part of the woman is the man, as being her head. But if in the foregoing constitutions we have not permitted them to teach, how will any one allow them, contrary to nature, to perform the office of a priest? For this is one of the ignorant practices of the Gentile atheism, to ordain women priests to the female deities, not one of the constitutions of Christ. For if baptism were to be administered by women, certainly our Lord would have been baptized by His own mother, and not by John; or when He sent us to baptize, He would have sent along with us women also for this purpose. But now He has nowhere, either by constitution or by writing, delivered to us any such thing; as knowing the order of nature, and the decency of the action; as being the Creator of nature, and the Legislator of the constitution.

If therefore God inflicted punishment immediately on those that made a schism on account of their ambition, how much rather will He do it upon those who are the leaders of impious heresies! Will not He inflict severer punishment on those that blaspheme His providence or His creation? But you, brethren, who are instructed out of the Scripture, should take care not to make divisions in opinion, nor divisions in unity. For those who set up unlawful opinions are marks of perdition to the people. In like manner, you of the laity should not come near to such as advance doctrines contrary to the mind of God; nor should you be partakers of their impiety. For says God: Separate yourselves from the midst of these men, lest you perish together with them. And again: Depart from the midst of them, and separate yourselves, says the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you.

But when we went forth among the Gentiles to preach the word of life, then the devil wrought in the people to send after us false apostles to the corrupting of the word; and they sent forth one Cleobius, and joined him with Simon, and these became disciples to one Dositheus, whom they despising, put him down from the principality. Afterwards also others were the authors of absurd doctrines: Cerinthus, and Marcus, and Menander, and Basilides, and Saturnilus. Of these some own the doctrine of many gods, some only of three, but contrary to each other, without beginning, and ever with one another, and some of an infinite number of them, and those unknown ones also. And some reject marriage; and their doctrine is, that it is not the appointment of God; and others abhor some kinds of food: some are impudent in uncleanness, such as those who are falsely called Nicolaitans. And Simon meeting me Peter, first at Cæsarea Stratonis (where the faithful Cornelius, a Gentile, believed on the Lord Jesus by me), endeavoured to pervert the word of God; there being with me the holy children, Zacchæus, who was once a publican, and Barnabas; and Nicetas and Aquila, brethren of Clement the bishop and citizen of Rome, who was the disciple of Paul, our fellow-apostle and fellow-helper in the Gospel. I thrice discoursed before them with him concerning the true Prophet, and concerning the monarchy of God; and when I had overcome him by the power of the Lord, and had put him to silence, I drove him away into Italy.

Now if any persons keep to the Jewish customs and observances concerning the natural emission and nocturnal pollutions, and the lawful conjugal acts, let them tell us whether in those hours or days, when they undergo any such thing, they observe not to pray, or to touch a Bible, or to partake of the Eucharist? And if they own it to be so, it is plain they are void of the Holy Spirit, which always continues with the faithful. For concerning holy persons Solomon says: That every one may prepare himself, that so when he sleeps it may keep him, and when he arises it may talk with him. For if you think, O woman, when you are seven days in your separation, that you are void of the Holy Spirit, then if you should die suddenly you will depart void of the Spirit, and without assured hope in God; or else you must imagine that the Spirit always is inseparable from you, as not being in a place. But you stand in need of prayer and the Eucharist, and the coming of the Holy Ghost, as having been guilty of no fault in this matter. For neither lawful mixture, nor child-bearing, nor the menstrual purgation, nor nocturnal pollution, can defile the nature of a man, or separate the Holy Spirit from him. Nothing but impiety and unlawful practice can do that. For the Holy Spirit always abides with those that are possessed of it, so long as they are worthy; and those from whom it is departed, it leaves them desolate, and exposed to the wicked spirit. Now every man is filled either with the holy or with the unclean spirit; and it is not possible to avoid the one or the other, unless they can receive opposite spirits. For the Comforter hates every lie, and the devil hates all truth. But every one that is baptized agreeably to the truth is separated from the diabolical spirit, and is under the Holy Spirit; and the Holy Spirit remains with him so long as he is doing good, and fills him with wisdom and understanding, and suffers not the wicked spirit to approach him, but watches over his goings. You therefore, O woman, if, as you say, in the days of your separation you are void of the Holy Spirit, you are then filled with the unclean one; for by neglecting to pray and to read you will invite him to you, though he were unwilling. For this spirit, of all others, loves the ungrateful, the slothful, the careless, and the drowsy, since he himself by ingratitude was distempered with evil mind, and was thereby deprived by God his dignity; having rather chosen to be a devil than an archangel. Wherefore, O woman, eschew such vain words, and be ever mindful of God that created you, and pray to Him. For He is your Lord, and the Lord of the universe; and meditate in His laws without observing any such things, such as the natural purgation, lawful mixture, child-birth, a miscarriage, or a blemish of the body; since such observations are the vain inventions of foolish men, and such inventions as have no sense in them. Neither the burial of a man, nor a dead man's bone, nor a sepulchre, nor any particular sort of food, nor the nocturnal pollution, can defile the soul of man; but only impiety towards God, and transgression, and injustice towards one's neighbour; I mean rapine, violence, or if there be anything contrary to His righteousness, adultery or fornication. Wherefore, beloved, avoid and eschew such observations, for they are heathenish. For we do not abominate a dead man, as do they, seeing we hope that he will live again. Nor do we hate lawful mixture; for it is their practice to act impiously in such instances. For the conjunction of man and wife, if it be with righteousness, is agreeable to the mind of God. For He that made them at the beginning made them male and female; and He blessed them, and said, Increase and multiply, and fill the earth. If, therefore, the difference of sexes was made by the will of God for the generation of multitudes, then must the conjunction of male and female be also acceptable to His mind.

But we do not say so of that mixture that is contrary to nature, or of any unlawful practice; for such are enmity to God. For the sin of Sodom is contrary to nature, as is also that with brute beasts. But adultery and fornication are against the law; the one whereof is impiety, the other injustice, and, in a word, no other than a great sin. But neither sort of them is without its punishment in its own proper nature. For the practisers of one sort attempt the dissolution of the world, and endeavour to make the natural course of things to change for one that is unnatural; but those of the second sort — the adulterers — are unjust by corrupting others' marriages, and dividing into two what God has made one, rendering the children suspected, and exposing the true husband to the snares of others. And fornication is the destruction of one's own flesh, not being made use of for the procreation of children, but entirely for the sake of pleasure, which is a mark of incontinency, and not a sign of virtue. All these things are forbidden by the laws; for thus say the oracles: You shall not lie with mankind as with womankind. For such a one is accursed, and you shall stone them with stones: they have wrought abomination. Every one that lies with a beast, slay him: he has wrought wickedness in his people. And if any one defile a married woman, slay them both: they have wrought wickedness; they are guilty; let them die. And afterwards: There shall not be a fornicator among the children of Israel, and there shall not be an whore among the daughters of Israel. You shall not offer the hire of an harlot to the Lord your God upon the altar, nor the price of a dog. For the vows arising from the hire of an harlot are not clean. These things the laws have forbidden, but they have honoured marriage, and have called it blessed, since God has blessed it who joined male and female together. And wise Solomon somewhere says: A wife is suited to her husband by the Lord. And David says: Your wife is like a flourishing vine in the sides of your house; your children like olive-branches round about your table. Behold, thus shall the man be blessed that fears the Lord. Wherefore marriage is honourable and comely, and the begetting of children pure, for there is no evil in that which is good. Therefore neither is the natural purgation abominable before God, who has ordered it to happen to women within the space of thirty days for their advantage and healthful state, who do less move about, and keep usually at home in the house. Nay, moreover, even in the Gospel, when the woman with the perpetual purgation of blood touched the saving border of the Lord's garment in hope of being healed, He was not angry at her, nor did complain of her at all; but, on the contrary, He healed her, saying, Your faith has saved you. When the natural purgations do appear in the wives, let not their husbands approach them, out of regard to the children to be begotten; for the law has forbidden it, for it says: You shall not come near your wife when she is in her separation. Nor, indeed, let them frequent their wives' company when they are with child. For they do this not for the begetting of children, but for the sake of pleasure. Now a lover of God ought not to be a lover of pleasure.

But we do not say so of that mixture that is contrary to nature, or of any unlawful practice; for such are enmity to God. For the sin of Sodom is contrary to nature, as is also that with brute beasts. But adultery and fornication are against the law; the one whereof is impiety, the other injustice, and, in a word, no other than a great sin. But neither sort of them is without its punishment in its own proper nature. For the practisers of one sort attempt the dissolution of the world, and endeavour to make the natural course of things to change for one that is unnatural; but those of the second sort — the adulterers — are unjust by corrupting others' marriages, and dividing into two what God has made one, rendering the children suspected, and exposing the true husband to the snares of others. And fornication is the destruction of one's own flesh, not being made use of for the procreation of children, but entirely for the sake of pleasure, which is a mark of incontinency, and not a sign of virtue. All these things are forbidden by the laws; for thus say the oracles: You shall not lie with mankind as with womankind. For such a one is accursed, and you shall stone them with stones: they have wrought abomination. Every one that lies with a beast, slay him: he has wrought wickedness in his people. And if any one defile a married woman, slay them both: they have wrought wickedness; they are guilty; let them die. And afterwards: There shall not be a fornicator among the children of Israel, and there shall not be an whore among the daughters of Israel. You shall not offer the hire of an harlot to the Lord your God upon the altar, nor the price of a dog. For the vows arising from the hire of an harlot are not clean. These things the laws have forbidden, but they have honoured marriage, and have called it blessed, since God has blessed it who joined male and female together. And wise Solomon somewhere says: A wife is suited to her husband by the Lord. And David says: Your wife is like a flourishing vine in the sides of your house; your children like olive-branches round about your table. Behold, thus shall the man be blessed that fears the Lord. Wherefore marriage is honourable and comely, and the begetting of children pure, for there is no evil in that which is good. Therefore neither is the natural purgation abominable before God, who has ordered it to happen to women within the space of thirty days for their advantage and healthful state, who do less move about, and keep usually at home in the house. Nay, moreover, even in the Gospel, when the woman with the perpetual purgation of blood touched the saving border of the Lord's garment in hope of being healed, He was not angry at her, nor did complain of her at all; but, on the contrary, He healed her, saying, Your faith has saved you. When the natural purgations do appear in the wives, let not their husbands approach them, out of regard to the children to be begotten; for the law has forbidden it, for it says: You shall not come near your wife when she is in her separation. Nor, indeed, let them frequent their wives' company when they are with child. For they do this not for the begetting of children, but for the sake of pleasure. Now a lover of God ought not to be a lover of pleasure.

But we do not say so of that mixture that is contrary to nature, or of any unlawful practice; for such are enmity to God. For the sin of Sodom is contrary to nature, as is also that with brute beasts. But adultery and fornication are against the law; the one whereof is impiety, the other injustice, and, in a word, no other than a great sin. But neither sort of them is without its punishment in its own proper nature. For the practisers of one sort attempt the dissolution of the world, and endeavour to make the natural course of things to change for one that is unnatural; but those of the second sort — the adulterers — are unjust by corrupting others' marriages, and dividing into two what God has made one, rendering the children suspected, and exposing the true husband to the snares of others. And fornication is the destruction of one's own flesh, not being made use of for the procreation of children, but entirely for the sake of pleasure, which is a mark of incontinency, and not a sign of virtue. All these things are forbidden by the laws; for thus say the oracles: You shall not lie with mankind as with womankind. For such a one is accursed, and you shall stone them with stones: they have wrought abomination. Every one that lies with a beast, slay him: he has wrought wickedness in his people. And if any one defile a married woman, slay them both: they have wrought wickedness; they are guilty; let them die. And afterwards: There shall not be a fornicator among the children of Israel, and there shall not be an whore among the daughters of Israel. You shall not offer the hire of an harlot to the Lord your God upon the altar, nor the price of a dog. For the vows arising from the hire of an harlot are not clean. These things the laws have forbidden, but they have honoured marriage, and have called it blessed, since God has blessed it who joined male and female together. And wise Solomon somewhere says: A wife is suited to her husband by the Lord. And David says: Your wife is like a flourishing vine in the sides of your house; your children like olive-branches round about your table. Behold, thus shall the man be blessed that fears the Lord. Wherefore marriage is honourable and comely, and the begetting of children pure, for there is no evil in that which is good. Therefore neither is the natural purgation abominable before God, who has ordered it to happen to women within the space of thirty days for their advantage and healthful state, who do less move about, and keep usually at home in the house. Nay, moreover, even in the Gospel, when the woman with the perpetual purgation of blood touched the saving border of the Lord's garment in hope of being healed, He was not angry at her, nor did complain of her at all; but, on the contrary, He healed her, saying, Your faith has saved you. When the natural purgations do appear in the wives, let not their husbands approach them, out of regard to the children to be begotten; for the law has forbidden it, for it says: You shall not come near your wife when she is in her separation. Nor, indeed, let them frequent their wives' company when they are with child. For they do this not for the begetting of children, but for the sake of pleasure. Now a lover of God ought not to be a lover of pleasure.

The first way, therefore, is that of life; and is this, which the law also does appoint: To love the Lord God with all your mind, and with all your soul, who is the one and only God, besides whom there is no other; and your neighbour as yourself. And whatsoever you would not should be done to you, do not do to another. Bless them that curse you; pray for them that despitefully use you. Love your enemies; for what thanks is it if you love those that love you? For even the Gentiles do the same. But love those that hate you, and you shall have no enemy. For says He, You shall not hate any man; no, not an Egyptian, nor an Edomite; for they are all the workmanship of God. Avoid not the persons, but the sentiments, of the wicked. Abstain from fleshly and worldly lusts. If any one gives you a stroke on your right cheek, turn to him the other also. Not that revenge is evil, but that patience is more honourable. For David says, If I have made returns to them that repaid me evil. If anyone compels you to go one mile, go with him two. And, He that will sue you at the law, and take away your coat, let him have your cloak also. And from him that takes your goods, require them not again. Give to him that asks you, and from him that would borrow of you do not shut your hand. For the righteous man is pitiful, and lends. For your Father would have you give to all, who Himself makes His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends His rain on the just and on the unjust. It is therefore reasonable to give to all out of your own labours; for says He, Honour the Lord out of your righteous labours, but so that the saints be preferred. You shall not kill; that is, you shall not destroy a man like yourself: for you dissolve what was well made. Not as if all killing were wicked, but only that of the innocent: but the killing which is just is reserved to the magistrates alone. You shall not commit adultery: for you divide one flesh into two. They two shall be one flesh: for the husband and wife are one in nature, in consent, in union, in disposition, and the conduct of life; but they are separated in sex and number. You shall not corrupt boys: for this wickedness is contrary to nature, and arose from Sodom, which was therefore entirely consumed with fire sent from God. Let such a one be accursed: and all the people shall say, So be it. You shall not commit fornication: for says He, There shall not be a fornicator among the children of Israel. You shall not steal: for Achan, when he had stolen in Israel at Jericho, was stoned to death; and Gehazi, who stole, and told a lie, inherited the leprosy of Naaman; and Judas, who stole the poor's money, betrayed the Lord of glory to the Jews, and repented, and hanged himself, and burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out; and Ananias, and Sapphira his wife, who stole their own goods, and tempted the Spirit of the Lord, were immediately, at the sentence of Peter our fellow-apostle, struck dead.

Now, when you pray, be not as the hypocrites; but as the Lord has appointed us in the Gospel, so pray: Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be Your name; Your kingdom come; Your will be done, as in heaven, so on earth; give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil; for Yours is the kingdom forever. Amen. Pray thus thrice in a day, preparing yourselves beforehand, that you may be worthy of the adoption of the Father; lest, when you call Him Father unworthily, you be reproached by Him, as Israel once His first-born son was told: If I be a Father, where is my glory? And if I be a Lord, where is my fear? For the glory of fathers is the holiness of their children, and the honour of masters is the fear of their servants, as the contrary is dishonour and confusion. For says He: Through you my name is blasphemed among the Gentiles.

And when it remains that the catechumen is to be baptized, let him learn what concerns the renunciation of the devil, and the joining himself with Christ; for it is fit that he should first abstain from things contrary, and then be admitted to the mysteries. He must beforehand purify his heart from all wickedness of disposition, from all spot and wrinkle, and then partake of the holy things; for as the skilfullest husbandman does first purge his ground of the thorns which are grown up therein, and does then sow his wheat, so ought you also to take away all impiety from them, and then to sow the seeds of piety in them, and vouchsafe them baptism. For even our Lord did in this manner exhort us, saying first, Make disciples of all nations; and then He adds this, and baptize them into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Let, therefore, the candidate for baptism declare thus in his renunciation: —

We command that a bishop, or presbyter, or deacon who strikes the faithful that offend, or the unbelievers who do wickedly, and thinks to terrify them by such means, be deprived, for our Lord has nowhere taught us such things. On the contrary, when Himself was stricken, He did not strike again; when He was reviled, He reviled not again; when He suffered, He threatened not.

He (i.e. David) waged war wheresoever he pleased; no man conquered him, on the contrary, whosoever attacked him was conquered.

However, I will not go to the other extreme, out of opposition to those men who extol the Romans nor will I determine to raise the actions of my countrymen too high; but I will prosecute the actions of both parties with accuracy. Yet shall I suit my language to the passions I am under, as to the affairs I describe, and must be allowed to indulge some lamentations upon the miseries undergone by my own country. For that it was a seditious temper of our own that destroyed it, and that they were the tyrants among the Jews who brought the Roman power upon us, who unwillingly attacked us, and occasioned the burning of our holy temple, Titus Caesar, who destroyed it, is himself a witness, who, during the entire war, pitied the people who were kept under by the seditious, and did often voluntarily delay the taking of the city, and allowed time to the siege, in order to let the authors have opportunity for repentance. But if any one makes an unjust accusation against us, when we speak so passionately about the tyrants, or the robbers, or sorely bewail the misfortunes of our country, let him indulge my affections herein, though it be contrary to the rules for writing history; because it had so come to pass, that our city Jerusalem had arrived at a higher degree of felicity than any other city under the Roman government, and yet at last fell into the sorest of calamities again. Accordingly, it appears to me that the misfortunes of all men, from the beginning of the world, if they be compared to these of the Jews are not so considerable as they were; while the authors of them were not foreigners neither. This makes it impossible for me to contain my lamentations. But if any one be inflexible in his censures of me, let him attribute the facts themselves to the historical part, and the lamentations to the writer himself only.

Now when that festival which we call Pentecost was at hand, all the places about the temple, and the whole city, was full of a multitude of people that were come out of the country, and which were the greatest part of them armed also, at which time Phasaelus guarded the wall, and Herod, with a few, guarded the royal palace; and when he made an assault upon his enemies, as they were out of their ranks, on the north quarter of the city, he slew a very great number of them, and put them all to flight; and some of them he shut up within the city, and others within the outward rampart. In the mean time, Antigonus desired that Pacorus might be admitted to be a reconciler between them; and Phasaelus was prevailed upon to admit the Parthian into the city with five hundred horse, and to treat him in an hospitable manner, who pretended that he came to quell the tumult, but in reality he came to assist Antigonus; however, he laid a plot for Phasaelus, and persuaded him to go as an ambassador to Barzapharnes, in order to put an end to the war, although Herod was very earnest with him to the contrary, and exhorted him to kill the plotter, but not expose himself to the snares he had laid for him, because the barbarians are naturally perfidious. However, Pacorus went out and took Hyrcanus with him, that he might be the less suspected; he also left some of the horsemen, called the Freemen, with Herod, and conducted Phasaelus with the rest.

Now when he had pitched his camp on the west side of the city, the guards that were there shot their arrows and threw their darts at them, while others ran out in companies, and attacked those in the forefront; but Herod commanded proclamation to be made at the wall, that he was come for the good of the people and the preservation of the city, without any design to be revenged on his open enemies, but to grant oblivion to them, though they had been the most obstinate against him. Now the soldiers that were for Antigonus made a contrary clamor, and did neither permit any body to hear that proclamation, nor to change their party; so Antigonus gave order to his forces to beat the enemy from the walls; accordingly, they soon threw their darts at them from the towers, and put them to flight.

"The present dread you are under seems to me to have seized upon you very unreasonably. It is true, you might justly be dismayed at that providential chastisement which hath befallen you; but to suffer yourselves to be equally terrified at the invasion of men is unmanly. As for myself, I am so far from being affrighted at our enemies after this earthquake, that I imagine that God hath thereby laid a bait for the Arabians, that we may be avenged on them; for their present invasion proceeds more from our accidental misfortunes, than that they have any great dependence on their weapons, or their own fitness for action. Now that hope which depends not on men's own power, but on others' ill success, is a very ticklish thing; for there is no certainty among men, either in their bad or good fortunes; but we may easily observe that fortune is mutable, and goes from one side to another; and this you may readily learn from examples among yourselves; for when you were once victors in the former fight, your enemies overcame you at last; and very likely it will now happen so, that these who think themselves sure of beating you will themselves be beaten. For when men are very confident, they are not upon their guard, while fear teaches men to act with caution; insomuch that I venture to prove from your very timorousness that you ought to take courage; for when you were more bold than you ought to have been, and than I would have had you, and marched on, Athenio's treachery took place; but your present slowness and seeming dejection of mind is to me a pledge and assurance of victory. And indeed it is proper beforehand to be thus provident; but when we come to action, we ought to erect our minds, and to make our enemies, be they ever so wicked, believe that neither any human, no, nor any providential misfortune, can ever depress the courage of Jews while they are alive; nor will any of them ever overlook an Arabian, or suffer such a one to become lord of his good things, whom he has in a manner taken captive, and that many times also. And do not you disturb yourselves at the quaking of inanimate creatures, nor do you imagine that this earthquake is a sign of another calamity; for such affections of the elements are according to the course of nature, nor does it import any thing further to men, than what mischief it does immediately of itself. Perhaps there may come some short sign beforehand in the case of pestilences, and famines, and earthquakes; but these calamities themselves have their force limited by themselves [without foreboding any other calamity]. And indeed what greater mischief can the war, though it should be a violent one, do to us than the earthquake hath done? Nay, there is a signal of our enemies' destruction visible, and that a very great one also; and this is not a natural one, nor derived from the hand of foreigners neither, but it is this, that they have barbarously murdered our ambassadors, contrary to the common law of mankind; and they have destroyed so many, as if they esteemed them sacrifices for God, in relation to this war. But they will not avoid his great eye, nor his invincible right hand; and we shall be revenged of them presently, in case we still retain any of the courage of our forefathers, and rise up boldly to punish these covenant-breakers. Let every one therefore go on and fight, not so much for his wife or his children, or for the danger his country is in, as for these ambassadors of ours; those dead ambassadors will conduct this war of ours better than we ourselves who are alive. And if you will be ruled by me, I will myself go before you into danger; for you know this well enough, that your courage is irresistible, unless you hurt yourselves by acting rashly."

Upon Arehelaus's saying this, and much more to the same purpose, Herod's displeasure against Pheroras was mollified; yet did he persevere in his own indignation against Alexander, and said he would have his daughter divorced, and taken away from him, and this till he had brought Herod to that pass, that, contrary to his former behavior to him, he petitioned Archelaus for the young man, and that he would let his daughter continue espoused to him: but Archelaus made him strongly believe that he would permit her to be married to any one else, but not to Alexander, because he looked upon it as a very valuable advantage, that the relation they had contracted by that affinity, and the privileges that went along with it, might be preserved. And when the king said that his son would take it for a great favor to him, if he would not dissolve that marriage, especially since they had already children between the young man and her, and since that wife of his was so well beloved by him, and that as while she remains his wife she would be a great preservative to him, and keep him from offending, as he had formerly done; so if she should be once torn away from him, she would be the cause of his falling into despair, because such young men's attempts are best mollified when they are diverted from them by settling their affections at home. So Arehelaus complied with what Herod desired, but not without difficulty, and was both himself reconciled to the young man, and reconciled his father to him also. However, he said he must, by all means, be sent to Rome to discourse with Caesar, because he had already written a full account to him of this whole matter.

But an intolerable hatred fell upon Antipater from the nation, though he had now an indisputable title to the succession, because they all knew that he was the person who contrived all the calumnies against his brethren. However, he began to be in a terrible fear, as he saw the posterity of those that had been slain growing up; for Alexander had two sons by Glaphyra, Tigranes and Alexander; and Aristobulus had Herod, and Agrippa, and Aristobulus, his sons, with Herodias and Mariamne, his daughters, and all by Bernice, Salome's daughter. As for Glaphyra, Herod, as soon as he had killed Alexander, sent her back, together with her portion, to Cappadocia. He married Bernice, Aristobulus's daughter, to Antipater's uncle by his mother, and it was Antipater who, in order to reconcile her to him, when she had been at variance with him, contrived this match; he also got into Pheroras's favor, and into the favor of Caesar's friends, by presents, and other ways of obsequiousness, and sent no small sums of money to Rome; Saturninus also, and his friends in Syria, were all well replenished with the presents he made them; yet the more he gave, the more he was hated, as not making these presents out of generosity, but spending his money out of fear. Accordingly, it so fell out that the receivers bore him no more good-will than before, but that those to whom he gave nothing were his more bitter enemies. However, he bestowed his money every day more and more profusely, on observing that, contrary to his expectations, the king was taking care about the orphans, and discovering at the same time his repentance for killing their fathers, by his commiseration of those that sprang from them.

Now when Antipater had cut off the hopes of the orphans, and had contracted such affinities as would be most for his own advantage, he proceeded briskly, as having a certain expectation of the kingdom; and as he had now assurance added to his wickedness, he became intolerable; for not being able to avoid the hatred of all people, he built his security upon the terror he struck into them. Pheroras also assisted him in his designs, looking upon him as already fixed in the kingdom. There was also a company of women in the court, which excited new disturbances; for Pheroras's wife, together with her mother and sister, as also Antipater's mother, grew very impudent in the palace. She also was so insolent as to affront the king's two daughters, on which account the king hated her to a great degree; yet although these women were hated by him, they domineered over others: there was only Salome who opposed their good agreement, and informed the king of their meetings, as not being for the advantage of his affairs. And when those women knew what calumnies she had raised against them, and how much Herod was displeased, they left off their public meetings, and friendly entertainments of one another; nay, on the contrary, they pretended to quarrel one with another when the king was within hearing. The like dissimulation did Antipater make use of; and when matters were public, he opposed Pheroras; but still they had private cabals and merry meetings in the night time; nor did the observation of others do any more than confirm their mutual agreement. However, Salome knew every thing they did, and told every thing to Herod.

There also now happened to him, among his other calamities, a certain popular sedition. There were two men of learning in the city [Jerusalem,] who were thought the most skillful in the laws of their country, and were on that account had in very great esteem all over the nation; they were, the one Judas, the son of Sepphoris, and the other Matthias, the son of Margalus. There was a great concourse of the young men to these men when they expounded the laws, and there got together every day a kind of an army of such as were growing up to be men. Now when these men were informed that the king was wearing away with melancholy, and with a distemper, they dropped words to their acquaintance, how it was now a very proper time to defend the cause of God, and to pull down what had been erected contrary to the laws of their country; for it was unlawful there should be any such thing in the temple as images, or faces, or the like representation of any animal whatsoever. Now the king had put up a golden eagle over the great gate of the temple, which these learned men exhorted them to cut down; and told them, that if there should any danger arise, it was a glorious thing to die for the laws of their country; because that the soul was immortal, and that an eternal enjoyment of happiness did await such as died on that account; while the mean-spirited, and those that were not wise enough to show a right love of their souls, preferred a death by a disease, before that which is the result of a virtuous behavior.

Then stood up Salome's son, Antipater, [who of all Archelaus's antagonists was the shrewdest pleader,] and accused him in the following speech: That Archelaus did in words contend for the kingdom, but that in deeds he had long exercised royal authority, and so did but insult Caesar in desiring to be now heard on that account, since he had not staid for his determination about the succession, and since he had suborned certain persons, after Herod's death, to move for putting the diadem upon his head; since he had set himself down in the throne, and given answers as a king, and altered the disposition of the army, and granted to some higher dignities; that he had also complied in all things with the people in the requests they had made to him as to their king, and had also dismissed those that had been put into bonds by his father for most important reasons. Now, after all this, he desires the shadow of that royal authority, whose substance he had already seized to himself, and so hath made Caesar lord, not of things, but of words. He also reproached him further, that his mourning for his father was only pretended, while he put on a sad countenance in the day time, but drank to great excess in the night; from which behavior, he said, the late disturbance among the multitude came, while they had an indignation thereat. And indeed the purport of his whole discourse was to aggravate Archelaus's crime in slaying such a multitude about the temple, which multitude came to the festival, but were barbarously slain in the midst of their own sacrifices; and he said there was such a vast number of dead bodies heaped together in the temple, as even a foreign war, that should come upon them [suddenly], before it was denounced, could not have heaped together. And he added, that it was the foresight his father had of that his barbarity which made him never give him any hopes of the kingdom, but when his mind was more infirm than his body, and he was not able to reason soundly, and did not well know what was the character of that son, whom in his second testament he made his successor; and this was done by him at a time when he had no complaints to make of him whom he had named before, when he was sound in body, and when his mind was free from all passion. That, however, if any one should suppose Herod's judgment, when he was sick, was superior to that at another time, yet had Archelaus forfeited his kingdom by his own behavior, and those his actions, which were contrary to the law, and to its disadvantage. Or what sort of a king will this man be, when he hath obtained the government from Caesar, who hath slain so many before he hath obtained it!

But then as to the two other orders at first mentioned, the Pharisees are those who are esteemed most skillful in the exact explication of their laws, and introduce the first sect. These ascribe all to fate [or providence], and to God, and yet allow, that to act what is right, or the contrary, is principally in the power of men, although fate does co-operate in every action. They say that all souls are incorruptible, but that the souls of good men only are removed into other bodies,--but that the souls of bad men are subject to eternal punishment. But the Sadducees are those that compose the second order, and take away fate entirely, and suppose that God is not concerned in our doing or not doing what is evil; and they say, that to act what is good, or what is evil, is at men's own choice, and that the one or the other belongs so to every one, that they may act as they please. They also take away the belief of the immortal duration of the soul, and the punishments and rewards in Hades. Moreover, the Pharisees are friendly to one another, and are for the exercise of concord, and regard for the public; but the behavior of the Sadducees one towards another is in some degree wild, and their conversation with those that are of their own party is as barbarous as if they were strangers to them. And this is what I had to say concerning the philosophic sects among the Jews.

"Had I perceived that you were all zealously disposed to go to war with the Romans, and that the purer and more sincere part of the people did not propose to live in peace, I had not come out to you, nor been so bold as to give you counsel; for all discourses that tend to persuade men to do what they ought to do are superfluous, when the hearers are agreed to do the contrary. But because some are earnest to go to war because they are young, and without experience of the miseries it brings, and because some are for it out of an unreasonable expectation of regaining their liberty, and because others hope to get by it, and are therefore earnestly bent upon it, that in the confusion of your affairs they may gain what belongs to those that are too weak to resist them, I have thought proper to get you all together, and to say to you what I think to be for your advantage; that so the former may grow wiser, and change their minds, and that the best men may come to no harm by the ill conduct of some others. And let not any one be tumultuous against me, in case what they hear me say do not please them; for as to those that admit of no cure, but are resolved upon a revolt, it will still be in their power to retain the same sentiments after my exhortation is over; but still my discourse will fall to the ground, even with a relation to those that have a mind to hear me, unless you will all keep silence. I am well aware that many make a tragical exclamation concerning the injuries that have been offered you by your procurators, and concerning the glorious advantages of liberty; but before I begin the inquiry, who you are that must go to war, and who they are against whom you must fight, I shall first separate those pretenses that are by some connected together; for if you aim at avenging yourselves on those that have done you injury, why do you pretend this to be a war for recovering your liberty? but if you think all servitude intolerable, to what purpose serve your complaint against your particular governors? for if they treated you with moderation, it would still be equally an unworthy thing to be in servitude. Consider now the several cases that may be supposed, how little occasion there is for your going to war. Your first occasion is the accusations you have to make against your procurators; now here you ought to be submissive to those in authority, and not give them any provocation; but when you reproach men greatly for small offenses, you excite those whom you reproach to be your adversaries; for this will only make them leave off hurting you privately, and with some degree of modesty, and to lay what you have waste openly. Now nothing so much damps the force of strokes as bearing them with patience; and the quietness of those who are injured diverts the injurious persons from afflicting. But let us take it for granted that the Roman ministers are injurious to you, and are incurably severe; yet are they not all the Romans who thus injure you; nor hath Caesar, against whom you are going to make war, injured you: it is not by their command that any wicked governor is sent to you; for they who are in the west cannot see those that are in the east; nor indeed is it easy for them there even to hear what is done in these parts. Now it is absurd to make war with a great many for the sake of one, to do so with such mighty people for a small cause; and this when these people are not able to know of what you complain: nay, such crimes as we complain of may soon be corrected, for the same procurator will not continue for ever; and probable it is that the successors will come with more moderate inclinations. But as for war, if it be once begun, it is not easily laid down again, nor borne without calamities coming therewith. However, as to the desire of recovering your liberty, it is unseasonable to indulge it so late; whereas you ought to have labored earnestly in old time that you might never have lost it; for the first experience of slavery was hard to be endured, and the struggle that you might never have been subject to it would have been just; but that slave who hath been once brought into subjection, and then runs away, is rather a refractory slave than a lover of liberty; for it was then the proper time for doing all that was possible, that you might never have admitted the Romans [into your city], when Pompey came first into the country. But so it was, that our ancestors and their kings, who were in much better circumstances than we are, both as to money, and strong bodies, and [valiant] souls, did not bear the onset of a small body of the Roman army. And yet you, who have now accustomed yourselves to obedience from one generation to another, and who are so much inferior to those who first submitted, in your circumstances will venture to oppose the entire empire of the Romans. While those Athenians, who, in order to preserve the liberty of Greece, did once set fire to their own city; who pursued Xerxes, that proud prince, when he sailed upon the land, and walked upon the sea, and could not be contained by the seas, but conducted such an army as was too broad for Europe; and made him run away like a fugitive in a single ship, and brake so great a part of Asia at the Lesser Salamis; are yet at this time servants to the Romans; and those injunctions which are sent from Italy become laws to the principal governing city of Greece. Those Lacedemonians also who got the great victories at Thermopylae and Platea, and had Agesilaus [for their king], and searched every corner of Asia, are contented to admit the same lords. Those Macedonians also, who still fancy what great men their Philip and Alexander were, and see that the latter had promised them the empire over the world, these bear so great a change, and pay their obedience to those whom fortune hath advanced in their stead. Moreover, ten thousand ether nations there are who had greater reason than we to claim their entire liberty, and yet do submit. You are the only people who think it a disgrace to be servants to those to whom all the world hath submitted. What sort of an army do you rely on? What are the arms you depend on? Where is your fleet, that may seize upon the Roman seas? and where are those treasures which may be sufficient for your undertakings? Do you suppose, I pray you, that you are to make war with the Egyptians, and with the Arabians? Will you not carefully reflect upon the Roman empire? Will you not estimate your own weakness? Hath not your army been often beaten even by your neighboring nations, while the power of the Romans is invincible in all parts of the habitable earth? nay, rather they seek for somewhat still beyond that; for all Euphrates is not a sufficient boundary for them on the east side, nor the Danube on the north; and for their southern limit, Libya hath been searched over by them, as far as countries uninhabited, as is Cadiz their limit on the west; nay, indeed, they have sought for another habitable earth beyond the ocean, and have carried their arms as far as such British islands as were never known before. What therefore do you pretend to? Are you richer than the Gauls, stronger than the Germans, wiser than the Greeks, more numerous than all men upon the habitable earth? What confidence is it that elevates you to oppose the Romans? Perhaps it will be said, It is hard to endure slavery. Yes; but how much harder is this to the Greeks, who were esteemed the noblest of all people under the sun! These, though they inhabit in a large country, are in subjection to six bundles of Roman rods. It is the same case with the Macedonians, who have juster reason to claim their liberty than you have. What is the case of five hundred cities of Asia? Do they not submit to a single governor, and to the consular bundle of rods? What need I speak of the Henlochi, and Colchi and the nation of Tauri, those that inhabit the Bosphorus, and the nations about Pontus, and Meotis, who formerly knew not so much as a lord of their own, but are now subject to three thousand armed men, and where forty long ships keep the sea in peace, which before was not navigable, and very tempestuous? How strong a plea may Bithynia, and Cappadocia, and the people of Pamphylia, the Lycians, and Cilicians, put in for liberty! But they are made tributary without an army. What are the circumstances of the Thracians, whose country extends in breadth five days' journey, and in length seven, and is of a much more harsh constitution, and much more defensible, than yours, and by the rigor of its cold sufficient to keep off armies from attacking them? do not they submit to two thousand men of the Roman garrisons? Are not the Illyrlans, who inhabit the country adjoining, as far as Dalmatia and the Danube, governed by barely two legions? by which also they put a stop to the incursions of the Daeians. And for the Dalmatians, who have made such frequent insurrections in order to regain their liberty, and who could never before be so thoroughly subdued, but that they always gathered their forces together again, revolted, yet are they now very quiet under one Roman legion. Moreover, great advantages might provoke any people to revolt, the Gauls might do it best of all, as being so thoroughly walled round by nature; on the east side by the Alps, on the north by the river Rhine, on the south by the Pyrenean mountains, and on the west by the ocean. Now although these Gauls have such obstacles before them to prevent any attack upon them, and have no fewer than three hundred and five nations among them, nay have, as one may say, the fountains of domestic happiness within themselves, and send out plentiful streams of happiness over almost the whole world, these bear to be tributary to the Romans, and derive their prosperous condition from them; and they undergo this, not because they are of effeminate minds, or because they are of an ignoble stock, as having borne a war of eighty years in order to preserve their liberty; but by reason of the great regard they have to the power of the Romans, and their good fortune, which is of greater efficacy than their arms. These Gauls, therefore, are kept in servitude by twelve hundred soldiers, which are hardly so many as are their cities; nor hath the gold dug out of the mines of Spain been sufficient for the support of a war to preserve their liberty, nor could their vast distance from the Romans by land and by sea do it; nor could the martial tribes of the Lusitanians and Spaniards escape; no more could the ocean, with its tide, which yet was terrible to the ancient inhabitants. Nay, the Romans have extended their arms beyond the pillars of Hercules, and have walked among the clouds, upon the Pyrenean mountains, and have subdued these nations. And one legion is a sufficient guard for these people, although they were so hard to be conquered, and at a distance so remote from Rome. Who is there among you that hath not heard of the great number of the Germans? You have, to be sure, yourselves seen them to be strong and tall, and that frequently, since the Romans have them among their captives every where; yet these Germans, who dwell in an immense country, who have minds greater than their bodies, and a soul that despises death, and who are in rage more fierce than wild beasts, have the Rhine for the boundary of their enterprises, and are tamed by eight Roman legions. Such of them as were taken captive became their servants; and the rest of the entire nation were obliged to save themselves by flight. Do you also, who depend on the walls of Jerusalem, consider what a wall the Britons had; for the Romans sailed away to them, an subdued them while they were encompassed by the ocean, and inhabited an island that is not less than the [continent of this] habitable earth; and four legions are a sufficient guard to so large an island And why should I speak much more about this matter, while the Parthians, that most warlike body of men, and lords of so many nations, and encompassed with such mighty forces, send hostages to the Romans? whereby you may see, if you please, even in Italy, the noblest nation of the East, under the notion of peace, submitting to serve them. Now when almost all people under the sun submit to the Roman arms, will you be the only people that make war against them? and this without regarding the fate of the Carthaginians, who, in the midst of their brags of the great Hannibal, and the nobility of their Phoenician original, fell by the hand of Scipio. Nor indeed have the Cyrenians, derived from the Lacedemonians, nor the Marmaridite, a nation extended as far as the regions uninhabitable for want of water, nor have the Syrtes, a place terrible to such as barely hear it described, the Nasamons and Moors, and the immense multitude of the Numidians, been able to put a stop to the Roman valor. And as for the third part of the habitable earth, [Africa,] whose nations are so many that it is not easy to number them, and which is bounded by the Atlantic Sea and the pillars of Hercules, and feeds an innumerable multitude of Ethiopians, as far as the Red Sea, these have the Romans subdued entirely. And besides the annual fruits of the earth, which maintain the multitude of the Romans for eight months in the year, this, over and above, pays all sorts of tribute, and affords revenues suitable to the necessities of the government. Nor do they, like you, esteem such injunctions a disgrace to them, although they have but one Roman legion that abides among them. And indeed what occasion is there for showing you the power of the Romans over remote countries, when it is so easy to learn it from Egypt, in your neighborhood? This country is extended as far as the Ethiopians, and Arabia the Happy, and borders upon India; it hath seven millions five hundred thousand men, besides the inhabitants of Alexandria, as may be learned from the revenue of the poll tax; yet it is not ashamed to submit to the Roman government, although it hath Alexandria as a grand temptation to a revolt, by reason it is so full of people and of riches, and is besides exceeding large, its length being thirty furlongs, and its breadth no less than ten; and it pays more tribute to the Romans in one month than you do in a year; nay, besides what it pays in money, it sends corn to Rome that supports it for four months [in the year]: it is also walled round on all sides, either by almost impassable deserts, or seas that have no havens, or by rivers, or by lakes; yet have none of these things been found too strong for the Roman good fortune; however, two legions that lie in that city are a bridle both for the remoter parts of Egypt, and for the parts inhabited by the more noble Macedonians. Where then are those people whom you are to have for your auxiliaries? Must they come from the parts of the world that are uninhabited? for all that are in the habitable earth are [under the] Romans. Unless any of you extend his hopes as far as beyond the Euphrates, and suppose that those of your own nation that dwell in Adiabene will come to your assistance; but certainly these will not embarrass themselves with an unjustifiable war, nor, if they should follow such ill advice, will the Parthians permit them so to do; for it is their concern to maintain the truce that is between them and the Romans, and they will be supposed to break the covenants between them, if any under their government march against the Romans. What remains, therefore, is this, that you have recourse to Divine assistance; but this is already on the side of the Romans; for it is impossible that so vast an empire should be settled without God's providence. Reflect upon it, how impossible it is for your zealous observations of your religious customs to be here preserved, which are hard to be observed even when you fight with those whom you are able to conquer; and how can you then most of all hope for God's assistance, when, by being forced to transgress his law, you will make him turn his face from you? and if you do observe the custom of the sabbath days, and will not be revealed on to do any thing thereon, you will easily be taken, as were your forefathers by Pompey, who was the busiest in his siege on those days on which the besieged rested. But if in time of war you transgress the law of your country, I cannot tell on whose account you will afterward go to war; for your concern is but one, that you do nothing against any of your forefathers; and how will you call upon God to assist you, when you are voluntarily transgressing against his religion? Now all men that go to war do it either as depending on Divine or on human assistance; but since your going to war will cut off both those assistances, those that are for going to war choose evident destruction. What hinders you from slaying your children and wives with your own hands, and burning this most excellent native city of yours? for by this mad prank you will, however, escape the reproach of being beaten. But it were best, O my friends, it were best, while the vessel is still in the haven, to foresee the impending storm, and not to set sail out of the port into the middle of the hurricanes; for we justly pity those who fall into great misfortunes without fore-seeing them; but for him who rushes into manifest ruin, he gains reproaches [instead of commiseration]. But certainly no one can imagine that you can enter into a war as by agreement, or that when the Romans have got you under their power, they will use you with moderation, or will not rather, for an example to other nations, burn your holy city, and utterly destroy your whole nation; for those of you who shall survive the war will not be able to find a place whither to flee, since all men have the Romans for their lords already, or are afraid they shall have hereafter. Nay, indeed, the danger concerns not those Jews that dwell here only, but those of them which dwell in other cities also; for there is no people upon the habitable earth which have not some portion of you among them, whom your enemies will slay, in case you go to war, and on that account also; and so every city which hath Jews in it will be filled with slaughter for the sake of a few men, and they who slay them will be pardoned; but if that slaughter be not made by them, consider how wicked a thing it is to take arms against those that are so kind to you. Have pity, therefore, if not on your children and wives, yet upon this your metropolis, and its sacred walls; spare the temple, and preserve the holy house, with its holy furniture, for yourselves; for if the Romans get you under their power, they will no longer abstain from them, when their former abstinence shall have been so ungratefully requited. I call to witness your sanctuary, and the holy angels of God, and this country common to us all, that I have not kept back any thing that is for your preservation; and if you will follow that advice which you ought to do, you will have that peace which will be common to you and to me; but if you indulge four passions, you will run those hazards which I shall be free from."

There was also a plot laid against the Jews in Agrippa's kingdom; for he was himself gone to Cestius Gallus, to Antioch, but had left one of his companions, whose name was Noarus, to take care of the public affairs; which Noarus was of kin to king Sohemus. Now there came certain men seventy in number, out of Batanea, who were the most considerable for their families and prudence of the rest of the people; these desired to have an army put into their hands, that if any tumult should happen, they might have about them a guard sufficient to restrain such as might rise up against them. This Noarus sent out some of the king's armed men by night, and slew all those [seventy] men; which bold action he ventured upon without the consent of Agrippa, and was such a lover of money, that he chose to be so wicked to his own countrymen, though he brought ruin on the kingdom thereby; and thus cruelly did he treat that nation, and this contrary to the laws also, until Agrippa was informed of it, who did not indeed dare to put him to death, out of regard to Sohemus; but still he put an end to his procuratorship immediately. But as to the seditious, they took the citadel which was called Cypros, and was above Jericho, and cut the throats of the garrison, and utterly demolished the fortifications. This was about the same time that the multitude of the Jews that were at Machaerus persuaded the Romans who were in garrison to leave the place, and deliver it up to them. These Romans being in great fear, lest the place should be taken by force, made an agreement with them to depart upon certain conditions; and when they had obtained the security they desired, they delivered up the citadel, into which the people of Machaerus put a garrison for their own security, and held it in their own power.

But Vespasian, in order to see the kingdom of Agrippa, while the king persuaded himself so to do, [partly in order to his treating the general and his army in the best and most splendid manner his private affairs would enable him to do, and partly that he might, by their means, correct such things as were amiss in his government,] he removed from that Cesarea which was by the sea-side, and went to that which is called Cesarea Philippi and there he refreshed his army for twenty days, and was himself feasted by king Agrippa, where he also returned public thanks to God for the good success he had had in his undertakings. But as soon as he was informed that Tiberias was fond of innovations, and that Taricheae had revolted, both which cities were parts of the kingdom of Agrippa, and was satisfied within himself that the Jews were every where perverted [from their obedience to their governors], he thought it seasonable to make an expedition against these cities, and that for the sake of Agrippa, and in order to bring his cities to reason. So he sent away his son Titus to [the other] Cesarea, that he might bring the army that lay there to Seythopous, which is the largest city of Decapolis, and in the neighborhood of Tiberias, whither he came, and where he waited for his son. He then came with three legions, and pitched his camp thirty furlongs off Tiberias, at a certain station easily seen by the innovators; it is named Sennabris. He also sent Valerian, a decurion, with fifty horsemen, to speak peaceably to those that were in the city, and to exhort them to give him assurances of their fidelity; for he had heard that the people were desirous of peace, but were obliged by some of the seditious part to join with them, and so were forced to fight for them. When Valerian had marched up to the place, and was near the wall, he alighted off his horse, and made those that were with him to do the same, that they might not be thought to come to skirmish with them; but before they could come to a discourse one with another, the most potent men among the seditious made a sally upon them armed; their leader was one whose name was Jesus, the son of Shaphat, the principal head of a band of robbers. Now Valerian, neither thinking it safe to fight contrary to the commands of the general, though he were secure of a victory, and knowing that it was a very hazardous undertaking for a few to fight with many, for those that were unprovided to fight those that were ready, and being on other accounts surprised at this unexpected onset of the Jews, he ran away on foot, as did five of the rest in like manner, and left their horses behind them; which horses Jesus led away into the city, and rejoiced as if they had taken them in battle, and not by treachery.

And now, when the multitude were gotten together to an assembly, and every one was in indignation at these men's seizing upon the sanctuary, at their rapine and murders, but had not yet begun their attacks upon them, [the reason of which was this, that they imagined it to be a difficult thing to suppress these zealots, as indeed the case was,] Ananus stood in the midst of them, and casting his eyes frequently at the temple, and having a flood of tears in his eyes, he said, "Certainly it had been good for me to die before I had seen the house of God full of so many abominations, or these sacred places, that ought not to be trodden upon at random, filled with the feet of these blood-shedding villains; yet do I, who am clothed with the vestments of the high priesthood, and am called by that most venerable name [of high priest], still live, and am but too fond of living, and cannot endure to undergo a death which would be the glory of my old age; and if I were the only person concerned, and as it were in a desert, I would give up my life, and that alone for God's sake; for to what purpose is it to live among a people insensible of their calamities, and where there is no notion remaining of any remedy for the miseries that are upon them? for when you are seized upon, you bear it! and when you are beaten, you are silent! and when the people are murdered, nobody dare so much as send out a groan openly! O bitter tyranny that we are under! But why do I complain of the tyrants? Was it not you, and your sufferance of them, that have nourished them? Was it not you that overlooked those that first of all got together, for they were then but a few, and by your silence made them grow to be many; and by conniving at them when they took arms, in effect armed them against yourselves? You ought to have then prevented their first attempts, when they fell a reproaching your relations; but by neglecting that care in time, you have encouraged these wretches to plunder men. When houses were pillaged, nobody said a word, which was the occasion why they carried off the owners of those houses; and when they were drawn through the midst of the city, nobody came to their assistance. They then proceeded to put those whom you have betrayed into their hands into bonds. I do not say how many and of what characters those men were whom they thus served; but certainly they were such as were accused by none, and condemned by none; and since nobody succored them when they were put into bonds, the consequence was, that you saw the same persons slain. We have seen this also; so that still the best of the herd of brute animals, as it were, have been still led to be sacrificed, when yet nobody said one word, or moved his right hand for their preservation. Will you bear, therefore, will you bear to see your sanctuary trampled on? and will you lay steps for these profane wretches, upon which they may mount to higher degrees of insolence? Will not you pluck them down from their exaltation? for even by this time they had proceeded to higher enormities, if they had been able to overthrow any thing greater than the sanctuary. They have seized upon the strongest place of the whole city; you may call it the temple, if you please, though it be like a citadel or fortress. Now, while you have tyranny in so great a degree walled in, and see your enemies over your heads, to what purpose is it to take counsel? and what have you to support your minds withal? Perhaps you wait for the Romans, that they may protect our holy places: are our matters then brought to that pass? and are we come to that degree of misery, that our enemies themselves are expected to pity us? O wretched creatures! will not you rise up and turn upon those that strike you? which you may observe in wild beasts themselves, that they will avenge themselves on those that strike them. Will you not call to mind, every one of you, the calamities you yourselves have suffered? nor lay before your eyes what afflictions you yourselves have undergone? and will not such things sharpen your souls to revenge? Is therefore that most honorable and most natural of our passions utterly lost, I mean the desire of liberty? Truly we are in love with slavery, and in love with those that lord it over us, as if we had received that principle of subjection from our ancestors; yet did they undergo many and great wars for the sake of liberty, nor were they so far overcome by the power of the Egyptians, or the Medes, but that still they did what they thought fit, notwithstanding their commands to the contrary. And what occasion is there now for a war with the Romans? [I meddle not with determining whether it be an advantageous and profitable war or not.] What pretense is there for it? Is it not that we may enjoy our liberty? Besides, shall we not bear the lords of the habitable earth to be lords over us, and yet bear tyrants of our own country? Although I must say that submission to foreigners may be borne, because fortune hath already doomed us to it, while submission to wicked people of our own nation is too unmanly, and brought upon us by our own consent. However, since I have had occasion to mention the Romans, I will not conceal a thing that, as I am speaking, comes into my mind, and affects me considerably; it is this, that though we should be taken by them, [God forbid the event should be so!] yet can we undergo nothing that will be harder to be borne than what these men have already brought upon us. How then can we avoid shedding of tears, when we see the Roman donations in our temple, while we withal see those of our own nation taking our spoils, and plundering our glorious metropolis, and slaughtering our men, from which enormities those Romans themselves would have abstained? to see those Romans never going beyond the bounds allotted to profane persons, nor venturing to break in upon any of our sacred customs; nay, having a horror on their minds when they view at a distance those sacred walls; while some that have been born in this very country, and brought up in our customs, and called Jews, do walk about in the midst of the holy places, at the very time when their hands are still warm with the slaughter of their own countrymen. Besides, can any one be afraid of a war abroad, and that with such as will have comparatively much greater moderation than our own people have? For truly, if we may suit our words to the things they represent, it is probable one may hereafter find the Romans to be the supporters of our laws, and those within ourselves the subverters of them. And now I am persuaded that every one of you here comes satisfied before I speak that these overthrowers of our liberties deserve to be destroyed, and that nobody can so much as devise a punishment that they have not deserved by what they have done, and that you are all provoked against them by those their wicked actions, whence you have suffered so greatly. But perhaps many of you are affrighted at the multitude of those zealots, and at their audaciousness, as well as at the advantage they have over us in their being higher in place than we are; for these circumstances, as they have been occasioned by your negligence, so will they become still greater by being still longer neglected; for their multitude is every day augmented, by every ill man's running away to those that are like to themselves, and their audaciousness is therefore inflamed, because they meet with no obstruction to their designs. And for their higher place, they will make use of it for engines also, if we give them time to do so; but be assured of this, that if we go up to fight them, they will be made tamer by their own consciences, and what advantages they have in the height of their situation they will lose by the opposition of their reason; perhaps also God himself, who hath been affronted by them, will make what they throw at us return against themselves, and these impious wretches will be killed by their own darts: let us but make our appearance before them, and they will come to nothing. However, it is a right thing, if there should be any danger in the attempt, to die before these holy gates, and to spend our very lives, if not for the sake of our children and wives, yet for God's sake, and for the sake of his sanctuary. I will assist you both with my counsel and with my hand; nor shall any sagacity of ours be wanting for your support; nor shall you see that I will be sparing of my body neither."

Notwithstanding which, there is a fountain by Jericho, that runs plentifully, and is very fit for watering the ground; it arises near the old city, which Joshua, the son of Naue, the general of the Hebrews, took the first of all the cities of the land of Canaan, by right of war. The report is, that this fountain, at the beginning, caused not only the blasting of the earth and the trees, but of the children born of women, and that it was entirely of a sickly and corruptive nature to all things whatsoever; but that it was made gentle, and very wholesome and fruitful, by the prophet Elisha. This prophet was familiar with Elijah, and was his successor, who, when he once was the guest of the people at Jericho, and the men of the place had treated him very kindly, he both made them amends as well as the country, by a lasting favor; for he went out of the city to this fountain, and threw into the current an earthen vessel full of salt; after which he stretched out his righteous hand unto heaven, and, pouring out a mild drink-offering, he made this supplication, That the current might be mollified, and that the veins of fresh water might be opened; that God also would bring into the place a more temperate and fertile air for the current, and would bestow upon the people of that country plenty of the fruits of the earth, and a succession of children; and that this prolific water might never fail them, while they continued to be righteous. To these prayers Elisha joined proper operations of his hands, after a skillful manner, and changed the fountain; and that water, which had been the occasion of barrenness and famine before, from that time did supply a numerous posterity, and afforded great abundance to the country. Accordingly, the power of it is so great in watering the ground, that if it do but once touch a country, it affords a sweeter nourishment than other waters do, when they lie so long upon them, till they are satiated with them. For which reason, the advantage gained from other waters, when they flow in great plenty, is but small, while that of this water is great when it flows even in little quantities. Accordingly, it waters a larger space of ground than any other waters do, and passes along a plain of seventy furlongs long, and twenty broad; wherein it affords nourishment to those most excellent gardens that are thick set with trees. There are in it many sorts of palm trees that are watered by it, different from each other in taste and name; the better sort of them, when they are pressed, yield an excellent kind of honey, not much inferior in sweetness to other honey. This country withal produces honey from bees; it also bears that balsam which is the most precious of all the fruits in that place, cypress trees also, and those that bear myrobalanum; so that he who should pronounce this place to be divine would not be mistaken, wherein is such plenty of trees produced as are very rare, and of the must excellent sort. And indeed, if we speak of those other fruits, it will not be easy to light on any climate in the habitable earth that can well be compared to it, what is here sown comes up in such clusters; the cause of which seems to me to be the warmth of the air, and the fertility of the waters; the warmth calling forth the sprouts, and making them spread, and the moisture making every one of them take root firmly, and supplying that virtue which it stands in need of in summer time. Now this country is then so sadly burnt up, that nobody cares to come at it; and if the water be drawn up before sun-rising, and after that exposed to the air, it becomes exceeding cold, and becomes of a nature quite contrary to the ambient air; as in winter again it becomes warm; and if you go into it, it appears very gentle. The ambient air is here also of so good a temperature, that the people of the country are clothed in linen-only, even when snow covers the rest of Judea. This place is one hundred and fifty furlongs from Jerusalem, and sixty from Jordan. The country, as far as Jerusalem, is desert and stony; but that as far as Jordan and the lake Asphaltites lies lower indeed, though it be equally desert and barren. But so much shall suffice to have said about Jericho, and of the great happiness of its situation.

After this these Jews, without keeping any decorum, grew insolent upon their good fortune, and jested upon the Romans for being deluded by the trick they had put upon them, and making a noise with beating their shields, leaped for gladness, and made joyful exclamations; while these soldiers were received with threatenings by their officers, and with indignation by Caesar himself, [who spake to them thus]: These Jews, who are only conducted by their madness, do every thing with care and circumspection; they contrive stratagems, and lay ambushes, and fortune gives success to their stratagems, because they are obedient, and preserve their goodwill and fidelity to one another; while the Romans, to whom fortune uses to be ever subservient, by reason of their good order, and ready submission to their commanders, have now had ill success by their contrary behavior, and by not being able to restrain their hands from action, they have been caught; and that which is the most to their reproach, they have gone on without their commanders, in the very presence of Caesar. "Truly," says Titus, "the laws of war cannot but groan heavily, as will my father also himself, when he shall be informed of this wound that hath been given us, since he who is grown old in wars did never make so great a mistake. Our laws of war do also ever inflict capital punishment on those that in the least break into good order, while at this time they have seen an entire army run into disorder. However, those that have been so insolent shall be made immediately sensible, that even they who conquer among the Romans without orders for fighting are to be under disgrace." When Titus had enlarged upon this matter before the commanders, it appeared evident that he would execute the law against all those that were concerned; so these soldiers' minds sunk down in despair, as expecting to be put to death, and that justly and quickly. However, the other legions came round about Titus, and entreated his favor to these their fellow soldiers, and made supplication to him, that he would pardon the rashness of a few, on account of the better obedience of all the rest; and promised for them that they should make amends for their present fault, by their more virtuous behavior for the time to come.