perishing

He keepeth back his soul from the pit, and his life from perishing by the sword.

“Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not; for she that is desolate hath many more children than she that hath an husband.” In that He said, “Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not,” He referred to us, for our church was barren before that children were given to her. But when He said, “Cry out, thou that travailest not,” He means this, that we should sincerely offer up our prayers to God, and should not, like women in travail, show signs of weakness. And in that He said, “For she that is desolate hath many more children than she that hath an husband,” [He means] that our people seemed to be outcast from God, but now, through believing, have become more numerous than those who are reckoned to possess God. And another Scripture saith, “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” This means that those who are perishing must be saved. For it is indeed a great and admirable thing to establish not the things which are standing, but those that are falling. Thus also did Christ desire to save the things which were perishing, and has saved many by coming and calling us when hastening to destruction.

“Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not; for she that is desolate hath many more children than she that hath an husband.” In that He said, “Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not,” He referred to us, for our church was barren before that children were given to her. But when He said, “Cry out, thou that travailest not,” He means this, that we should sincerely offer up our prayers to God, and should not, like women in travail, show signs of weakness. And in that He said, “For she that is desolate hath many more children than she that hath an husband,” [He means] that our people seemed to be outcast from God, but now, through believing, have become more numerous than those who are reckoned to possess God. And another Scripture saith, “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” This means that those who are perishing must be saved. For it is indeed a great and admirable thing to establish not the things which are standing, but those that are falling. Thus also did Christ desire to save the things which were perishing, and has saved many by coming and calling us when hastening to destruction.

I think not that I counted trivial counsel concerning continence; following it, a man will not repent thereof, but will save both himself and me who counselled. For it is no small reward to turn back a wandering and perishing soul for its salvation. For this recompense we are able to render to the God who created us, if he who speaks and hears both speak and hear with faith and love. Let us, therefore, continue in that course in which we, righteous and holy, believed, that with confidence we may ask God who says, Whilst you are still speaking, I will say, Here I am. For these words are a token of a great promise, for the Lord says that He is more ready to give than he who asks. So great, then, being the goodness of which we are partakers, let us not grudge one another the attainment of so great blessings. For in proportion to the pleasure with which these words are fraught to those who shall follow them, in that proportion is the condemnation with which they are fraught to those who shall refuse to hear.

For men were created exactly like the angels, to the intent that they should continue pure and righteous, and death, which destroys everything, could not have taken hold of them, but through this their knowledge they are perishing, and through this power it is consuming me.

And we said unto him again: Lord, so many great things hast thou told us and revealed unto us as never yet were spoken, and in all hast thou given us rest and been gracious unto us. After thy resurrection thou didst reveal unto us all things that we might be saved indeed; but thou saidst unto us only: There shall be wonders and strange appearances in heaven and on earth before the end of the world come. Tell us now, how shall we perceive it? And he answered us: I will teach it you; and not that which shall befall you only, but them also whom ye shall teach and who shall believe, as well as them who shall hear that man and believe on me. In those years and days shall it come to pass. And we said again unto him: Lord, what shall come to pass? And he said unto us: Then shall they that believe and they that believe not hear a trumpet in the heaven, a vision of great stars which shall be seen in the day, wonderful sights in heaven reaching down to the earth; stars which fall upon the earth like fire, and a great and mighty hail of fire. The sun and the moon fighting one with the other, a continual rolling and noise of thunders and lightnings, thunder and earthquake; cities falling and men perishing in their overthrow, a continual dearth for lack of rain, a terrible pestilence and great mortality, mighty and untimely, so that they that die lack burial: and the bearing forth of brethren and sisters and kinsfolk shall be upon one bier. The kinsman shall show no favour to his kinsman, nor any man to his neighbour. And they that were overthrown shall rise up and behold them that overthrew them, that they lack burial, for the pestilence shall be full of hatred and pain and envy: and men shall take from one and give to another. And thereafter shall it wax yet worse than before.

For after these things time will come when your people shall fall into distress, so that they shall all run the risk of perishing together.

Shall be at once a shout of perishing men;

Of the perishing, and beasts be gorged with flesh.

Perishing thou shalt then cry out and boil

Are perishing. And then the wretched ones,

Souls perishing with famine then supply;

From heaven down on the king while perishing

And leave the royal power, and perishing

Stripping all earth while men are perishing,

Shall wail . . . while men are perishing

Men perishing by pestilence and war.

After that let the bishop teach the mysteries to the people. But if he be not present, let a presbyter speak so that the faithful may know to whom they are approaching and who is their God and Father. Then let the teaching of the mysteries be said thus: [We confess] Him who is pre-existent, and was present, and is, and cometh; who suffered and was buried, and rose, and was glorified by the Father; who loosed our cords from death, who rose from the dead; who is not only Man but therewith also God; who by the Holy Ghost restored the flesh of Adam with [his] soul to immortality, because He preserved Adam by the Spirit; who clothed Himself with dead Adam and made him to live; who ascended into heaven; under whom, after the cross, Death fell, and was conquered, when its bonds, whereby the Devil sometimes waxed strong and prevailed against us, were dissolved; [and] through whose passion [Death] was manifested useless and weak when [Jesus] cut his cords and his power, when his snares were cut, and He struck him on his face, [even Death] who was filled with darkness and was shaken, and feared, beholding the Only-begotten Son; who in His [human] soul descended in the Godhead into Sheol; who descended from the pure heights above the heavens; Him [we confess] the indivisible Thought who is from the Father, and [is] of one will with Him; Him the Maker, with His Father, of heaven; who is the Angels’ Crown, the Archangels’ Strength, the Raiment of the Hosts and the Spirit of the Dominions; Him, the Ruler of the everlasting Kingdom, and Prince of the Saints, the unfathomable Intelligence of the Father; Him who is the Wisdom, the Power, the Lord, the Thought, Intelligence, Hand, Arm of the Father. As we believe, we confess Him who is our Light, Salvation, Saviour, Protector, Helper, Teacher, Deliverer, Rewarder, Assister, Strength, Wall; our Shepherd, Entrance, Door, Way, Life, Medicine, Provision, Drink, [and] Judge. We confess Him passible [yet] not passible, Son [yet] not created, dead [yet] alive, the Son of the Father, incomprehensible [yet] comprehensible; who, [Himself] sinless, hath borne our sins when He left the Father’s heaven; whose Body being broken becometh our salvation, and [His] Blood and Spirit [our] life and holiness, and the water our cleansing; who giveth light to the hearts of those who fear Him, being with them in all things; who hath made us strangers to the whole way of the Devil; the Renewer of souls, in whom we all have put our trust. He, being God, and before the worlds with the Father, eternal God, when He saw the world perishing in the bonds of sin, and trodden down by the power of a crafty wild beast, and made subject to death through ignorance and error, determining to heal the race of mankind, came to a virgin womb, though hidden from all the camps of the heavenly ones, and cast into ignorance [the] opposing hosts. But when [He], the Incorruptible, clothed Himself with corruptible fiesh, making flesh which was under death to be incorruptible, He thus showed in the flesh of dead Adam, wherewith He clothed Himself, an example of incorruptibility, by which example the things of corruption were abolished. He delivered indeed holy commandments through the Gospel, which is the fore-proclaiming of the kingdom; by which Gospel as a figure of the kingdom we learned to live; through which Gospel the bonds of the Devil have been cut, so that we may attain immortality instead of death, and instead of ignorance may receive [the grace] of watchfulness. He, then, having become Man, the Son of God, the Lord, who took [on Him] the dead race of Adam in all its kinds, by emptying [Himself!], He who is the First, came to birth, as Man, though He is God; He who was foreknown by the prophets, and preached by the apostles, and lauded by angels, and glorified by the Father of all He was crucified for us; and His cross is our life, our strength, [our] salvation, for it is the hidden mystery, the ineffable joy, and through it the whole nature of mankind, always bearing it, is made inseparable from God, for it is the virtue benign and inseparable from God, that cannot be spoken as is meet by these lips, [and] that was hidden from the beginning; but now the mystery which is revealed, which is for the faithful, shall be, not as it seemeth to be, but as it is. This cross in which we boast, so that we may be glorified, [and] the bearers whereof, the faithful and perfect, separate their souls from everything that can be felt, from everything that is seen, as from a thing which is not true —by this ask for yourselves, O ye who quit you like men; make deaf your visible ears; make blind your bodily eyes; so that ye may know the will of Christ and all the mystery of your salvation. Holy men and women, whose property it is to make your boast in the Lord, listen to the inward man. Our Lord, when He taught us and appointed to us a covenant, and made us of [His] household, and came, after His passion, into Sheol, made captive all the earth—He who made the nature of death captive to life, and Death when it saw Him descending in His soul to Sheol, was deceived, and hoped that He was food for him, as was his custom. But when he saw in Him the beauty of the Godhead, he cried out with [his] voice, saying: Who is this that hath clothed Himself with Man who [was] under me, and hath conquered me? Who is this that snatcheth from destruction flesh which was bound by me? Who is this that hath clothed Himself with earth but [Himself] is heaven? Who is this that was born in corruptibility, but suffereth no corruption? Who is this [that is] a stranger to my laws? Who is this that maketh captive those that are mine? Who is this that striveth with the power of burning Death, and conquereth darkness? What is this new glory which [is] in this vision that preventeth me from doing the things which I would? Who is this new dead One without sin? Who is this that by the abundance of light extinguisheth darkness, and doth not allow me to have rule over those that are mine, but draweth to heaven the souls which were given unto me? What is this glory which preventeth the body from being corruptible? Who is this whom I cannot touch? What is this glory unsearchable to its surroundings? Woe isme! I am put to flight by Him and by those things which are His, for I cannot injure them. He, being the Christ, who was crucified, by whom the [things] that were on the left hand were [placed] on the right hand, and those which were beneath [were] as those which [were] above, and those which [were] behind as those which [were] before, when He rose from the dead, and trod down Sheol, and by death slew Death; after He rose on the third day He gave thanks to the Father, saying: I give thanks to Thee, O My Father, not with these lips which are fixed together, nor yet with a corporeal tongue through which truth and lying go out, nor with this created and material word; but I give thanks to Thee, the King, with that Voice which through Thee understandeth all [things], which cometh not by a bodily organ, which falleth not on carnal ears, which After the people are taught the Initiation into the mysteries, let the Eucharist be offered; but let not the Initiation into the mysteries be said each time, but only at Pascha, on Saturday, and on the first day of the week, and on the days of the Epiphany and of Pentecost.

After he is [ordained] let him be constant at the altar, making prayers laboriously without ceasing. But sometimes alone in some house let him take a rest from the things which belong to the house of the Lord; but not ceasing, or diminishing [one] hour, from prayers. Let him fast three days each [week] all the year, [on the] one [hand] that he may be perfected in intelligence; and moreover [let him fast] according to his strength, not wandering about and going hither and thither with every spirit, but doing everything with energy. If it be revealed to a presbyter or bishop to speak, let him speak; but if not, let him not neglect and despise his work, Tf it be revealed to a presbyter to visit his parishes and speak the word, let him go; but if not, let him entreat God with supplication; and if it be revealed to him to speak to them, let him speak to them, always taking the burden and load of Him who was crucified for him, and praying for all the people. Let not a presbyter or bishop be anxious about food or raiment. God taketh thought and careth for His own in the [things] which He knoweth. But if, when he receiveth from any one food or clothing, it be said to him that he should receive also from another, let it suffice him to receive from [the first] alone, and that [only] in so far as is fitting, and as he needeth, and not to excess. In respect of firmness of faith, let a presbyter always be unchangeable; for it is such as these that God desireth; and let him prove the heart of each one; lest evil) kept and buried within, make him a stranger to the grace of God. Let him not allow tares to grow in the good wheat, but let him take them away from it, and cut off, those who bring [them] into it. Let not darkness cover his light. Let him teach all the faithful at all times that they accomplish their course, as it were, in the day; because the children of light walk not in darkness. Let the teaching of the presbyter be fitting, and quiet and moderate, coupled with fear and trembling; and that of the bishop also in like manner. And in teaching let them not speak vain things; but let him say such things as the hearers when they hear may keep [in memory]. Let the presbyter be mindful of all the things that he teacheth. For in the day of the Lord the Word, it will be demanded [of him] that he should testify to the people the things which he spake, so that those who did not hear may be reproved. For he must stand before the glory of God speaking those things which he hath taught. Thus, then, let him teach, that he perish not. Let him pray for those who hear, that the Lord may give them understanding of the Spirit, of knowledge, of truth; and let him not vainly cast pearls before swine; but let him search out [those] who are worthy, those who have heard and have performed; lest if the Word have not brought forth fruit in them, but have perished, he himself should prove the cause of its perishing. Let him not give the holy things to dogs. Let him discern the signs of those who hear the word and bring forth good fruits. But in all things let him, without anxiety, keep [the matter] for the bishop. Let him not neglect nor despise those who do good works through teaching! But let him watch for signs in them; [and] of those [signs appearing] in them let him judge spiritually by [their] sighs, weeping, earnest conversations, silence, sadness, patience, humble bowing of the head. But that which best traineth and causeth suffering is weeping and groaning. But the work [these do] is watching, continence, fasting, quietness, unceasing prayer, meditation, faith, meekness, philanthropy, labour, weariness, love, subjection, goodness, gravity, and every [work of] light. [On the other hand], the signs of those who do not bring forth the fruits of life are [these]:—-sloth, love of pleasure, eyes wandering in all directions, disobedience, complaining, restlessness, a laziness that will not move, wandering about. But the work [these do] is gluttony, debauchery, anger, unbelief, idle and unseasonable laughter, confusion, neglect, error, disturbance, wantonness, love of gains, love of money, envy, contention, drunkenness, high-mindedness, vain talking, love of praise, and every [work of] darkness. Let him recognise products such as these, and let him speak to those who are worthy. But let him not waste time upon those who do not receive [his teaching]. For those who sow on earth without fruits shall reap miseries. Let the presbyter, as is right and fitting, go about to the houses of those who are sick with the deacon, and visit them; let him consider and say to them those things that are fitting and proper, especially to the faithful. Let him exhort that the sick who are poor be helped by the Church, so that they also who do [deeds] of kindness may enter into the joy of their Lord Let him confirm those who have newly become catechumens with prophetical and evangelical utterances, with the word of teaching. Let him not neglect his prayers, for he is the figure of the archangels: but let him know that God did not spare the angels who sinned. Let him fast; and if it is proper, let him receive of the cup. Let wine suffice him, as much as, in his judgment, profiteth and helpeth him, lest that drink which was for [his] healing he receive to [his] loss) In sickness, let him eat herbs and fish, and also that he may have care for his work. In everything let the priest be an example to the faithful of the work of holiness. Let the presbyter praise and give thanks in the same way as the bishop.

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.

And she said unto them, Surely this happened to you in the moment that you looked at him, and you could not contain yourselves from him; how then can I refrain when he is constantly in my house, and I see him day after day going in and out of my house? how then can I keep from declining or even from perishing on account of this?

And Pharaoh ordered the children of Israel to be sent away, and all the Egyptians strengthened themselves to send them, for they said, We are all perishing.

Now the opinion of the Idumeans and of the citizens was one and the same. The Idumeans thought that God was angry at their taking arms, and that they would not escape punishment for their making war upon their metropolis. Ananus and his party thought that they had conquered without fighting, and that God acted as a general for them; but truly they proved both ill conjectures at what was to come, and made those events to be ominous to their enemies, while they were themselves to undergo the ill effects of them; for the Idumeans fenced one another by uniting their bodies into one band, and thereby kept themselves warm, and connecting their shields over their heads, were not so much hurt by the rain. But the zealots were more deeply concerned for the danger these men were in than they were for themselves, and got together, and looked about them to see whether they could devise any means of assisting them. The hotter sort of them thought it best to force their guards with their arms, and after that to fall into the midst of the city, and publicly open the gates to those that came to their assistance; as supposing the guards would be in disorder, and give way at such an unexpected attempt of theirs, especially as the greater part of them were unarmed and unskilled in the affairs of war; and that besides the multitude of the citizens would not be easily gathered together, but confined to their houses by the storm: and that if there were any hazard in their undertaking, it became them to suffer any thing whatsoever themselves, rather than to overlook so great a multitude as were miserably perishing on their account. But the more prudent part of them disapproved of this forcible method, because they saw not only the guards about them very numerous, but the walls of the city itself carefully watched, by reason of the Idumeans. They also supposed that Ananus would be every where, and visit the guards every hour; which indeed was done upon other nights, but was omitted that night, not by reason of any slothfulness of Ananus, but by the overbearing appointment of fate, that so both he might himself perish, and the multitude of the guards might perish with him; for truly, as the night was far gone, and the storm very terrible, Ananus gave the guards in the cloisters leave to go to sleep; while it came into the heads of the zealots to make use of the saws belonging to the temple, and to cut the bars of the gates to pieces. The noise of the wind, and that not inferior sound of the thunder, did here also conspire with their designs, that the noise of the saws was not heard by the others.

It was now a miserable case, and a sight that would justly bring tears into our eyes, how men stood as to their food, while the more powerful had more than enough, and the weaker were lamenting [for want of it.] But the famine was too hard for all other passions, and it is destructive to nothing so much as to modesty; for what was otherwise worthy of reverence was in this case despised; insomuch that children pulled the very morsels that their fathers were eating out of their very mouths, and what was still more to be pitied, so did the mothers do as to their infants; and when those that were most dear were perishing under their hands, they were not ashamed to take from them the very last drops that might preserve their lives: and while they ate after this manner, yet were they not concealed in so doing; but the seditious every where came upon them immediately, and snatched away from them what they had gotten from others; for when they saw any house shut up, this was to them a signal that the people within had gotten some food; whereupon they broke open the doors, and ran in, and took pieces of what they were eating almost up out of their very throats, and this by force: the old men, who held their food fast, were beaten; and if the women hid what they had within their hands, their hair was torn for so doing; nor was there any commiseration shown either to the aged or to the infants, but they lifted up children from the ground as they hung upon the morsels they had gotten, and shook them down upon the floor. But still they were more barbarously cruel to those that had prevented their coming in, and had actually swallowed down what they were going to seize upon, as if they had been unjustly defrauded of their right. They also invented terrible methods of torments to discover where any food was, and they were these to stop up the passages of the privy parts of the miserable wretches, and to drive sharp stakes up their fundaments; and a man was forced to bear what it is terrible even to hear, in order to make him confess that he had but one loaf of bread, or that he might discover a handful of barley-meal that was concealed; and this was done when these tormentors were not themselves hungry; for the thing had been less barbarous had necessity forced them to it; but this was done to keep their madness in exercise, and as making preparation of provisions for themselves for the following days. These men went also to meet those that had crept out of the city by night, as far as the Roman guards, to gather some plants and herbs that grew wild; and when those people thought they had got clear of the enemy, they snatched from them what they had brought with them, even while they had frequently entreated them, and that by calling upon the tremendous name of God, to give them back some part of what they had brought; though these would not give them the least crumb, and they were to be well contented that they were only spoiled, and not slain at the same time.

So Titus retired into the tower of Antonia, and resolved to storm the temple the next day, early in the morning, with his whole army, and to encamp round about the holy house. But as for that house, God had, for certain, long ago doomed it to the fire; and now that fatal day was come, according to the revolution of ages; it was the tenth day of the month Lous, [Ab,] upon which it was formerly burnt by the king of Babylon; although these flames took their rise from the Jews themselves, and were occasioned by them; for upon Titus's retiring, the seditious lay still for a little while, and then attacked the Romans again, when those that guarded the holy house fought with those that quenched the fire that was burning the inner [court of the] temple; but these Romans put the Jews to flight, and proceeded as far as the holy house itself. At which time one of the soldiers, without staying for any orders, and without any concern or dread upon him at so great an undertaking, and being hurried on by a certain divine fury, snatched somewhat out of the materials that were on fire, and being lifted up by another soldier, he set fire to a golden window, through which there was a passage to the rooms that were round about the holy house, on the north side of it. As the flames went upward, the Jews made a great clamor, such as so mighty an affliction required, and ran together to prevent it; and now they spared not their lives any longer, nor suffered any thing to restrain their force, since that holy house was perishing, for whose sake it was that they kept such a guard about it.

It happened also about this time, that the Jews who remained at Antioch were under accusations, and in danger of perishing, from the disturbances that were raised against them by the Antiochians; and this both on account of the slanders spread abroad at this time against them, and on account of what pranks they had played not long before; which I am obliged to describe without fail, though briefly, that I may the better connect my narration of future actions with those that went before.

Now, since this consideration has weight with some, that the leaders of that heresy (of which we have been speaking) think they have established a kind of division, according to which they have declared that justice is one thing and goodness another, and have applied this division even to divine things, maintaining that the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is indeed a good God, but not a just one, whereas the God of the law and the prophets is just, but not good; I think it necessary to return, with as much brevity as possible, an answer to these statements. These persons, then, consider goodness to be some such affection as would have benefits conferred on all, although the recipient of them be unworthy and undeserving of any kindness; but here, in my opinion, they have not rightly applied their definition, inasmuch as they think that no benefit is conferred on him who is visited with any suffering or calamity. Justice, on the other hand, they view as that quality which rewards every one according to his deserts. But here, again, they do not rightly interpret the meaning of their own definition. For they think that it is just to send evils upon the wicked and benefits upon the good; i.e. so that, according to their view, the just God does not appear to wish well to the bad, but to be animated by a kind of hatred against them. And they gather together instances of this, wherever they find a history in the Scriptures of the Old Testament, relating, e.g., the punishment of the deluge, or the fate of those who are described as perishing in it, or the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrha by a shower of fire and brimstone, or the falling of all the people in the wilderness on account of their sins, so that none of those who had left Egypt were found to have entered the promised land, with the exception of Joshua and Caleb. Whereas from the New Testament they gather together words of compassion and piety, through which the disciples are trained by the Saviour, and by which it seems to be declared that no one is good save God the Father only; and by this means they have ventured to style the Father of the Saviour Jesus Christ a good God, but to say that the God of the world is a different one, whom they are pleased to term just, but not also good.

Let us look next at the passage: “So, then, it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.” For they who find fault say: If “it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy,” salvation does not depend upon ourselves, but upon the arrangement made by Him who has formed us such as we are, or on the purpose of Him who showeth mercy when He pleases. Now we must ask these persons the following questions: Whether to desire what is good is virtuous or vicious; and whether the desire to run in order to reach the goal in the pursuit of what is good be worthy of praise or censure? And if they shall say that it is worthy of censure, they will return an absurd answer; since the saints desire and run, and manifestly in so acting do nothing that is blameworthy. But if they shall say that it is virtuous to desire what is good, and to run after what is good, we shall ask them how a perishing nature desires better things; for it is like an evil tree producing good fruit, since it is a virtuous act to desire better things. They will give [perhaps] a third answer, that to desire and run after what is good is one of those things that are indifferent, and neither beautiful nor wicked. Now to this we must say, that if to desire and to run after what is good be a thing of indifference, then the opposite also is a thing of indifference, viz. to desire what is evil, and to run after it. But it is not a thing of indifference to desire what is evil, and to run after it. And therefore also, to desire what is good, and to run after it, is not a thing of indifference. Such, then, is the defence which I think we can offer to the statement, that “it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.” Solomon says in the book of Psalms (for the song of Degrees is his, from which we shall quote the words): “Unless the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it; except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh in vain:” not dissuading us from building, nor teaching us not to keep watch in order to guard the city in our soul, but showing that what is built without God, and does not receive a guard from Him, is built in vain and watched to no purpose, because God might reasonably be entitled the Lord of the building; and the Governor of all things, the Ruler of the guard of the city. As, then, if we were to say that such a building is not the work of the builder, but of God, and that it was not owing to the successful effort of the watcher, but of the God who is over all, that such a city suffered no injury from its enemies, we should not be wrong, it being understood that something also had been done by human means, but the benefit being gratefully referred to God who brought it to pass; so, seeing that the [mere] human desire is not sufficient to attain the end, and that the running of those who are, as it were, athletes, does not enable them to gain the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus—for these things are accomplished with the assistance of God—it is well said that “it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.” As if also it were said with regard to husbandry what also is actually recorded: “I planted, Apollos watered; and God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.” Now we could not piously assert that the production of full crops was the work of the husbandman, or of him that watered, but the work of God. So also our own perfection is brought about, not as if we ourselves did nothing; for it is not completed by us, but God produces the greater part of it. And that this assertion may be more clearly believed, we shall take an illustration from the art of navigation. For in comparison with the effect of the winds, and the mildness of the air, and the light of the stars, all co-operating in the preservation of the crew, what proportion could the art of navigation be said to bear in the bringing of the ship into harbour?—since even the sailors themselves, from piety, do not venture to assert often that they had saved the ship, but refer all to God; not as if they had done nothing, but because what had been done by Providence was infinitely greater than what had been effected by their art. And in the matter of our salvation, what is done by God is infinitely greater than what is done by ourselves; and therefore, I think, is it said that “it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.” For if in the manner which they imagine we must explain the statement, that “it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy,” the commandments are superfluous; and it is in vain that Paul himself blames some for having fallen away, and approves of others as having remained upright, and enacts laws for the churches: it is in vain also that we give ourselves up to desire better things, and in vain also [to attempt] to run. But it is not in vain that Paul gives such advice, censuring some and approving of others; nor in vain that we give ourselves up to the desire of better things, and to the chase after things that are pre-eminent. They have accordingly not well explained the meaning of the passage.

He maintains, moreover, that “no product of matter is immortal.” Now, in answer to this it may be said, that if no product of matter is immortal, then either the whole world is immortal, and thus not a product of matter, or it is not immortal. If, accordingly, the world is immortal (which is agreeable to the view of those who say that the soul alone is the work of God, and was produced from a certain bowl), let Celsus show that the world was not produced from a matter devoid of qualities, remembering his own assertion that “no product of matter is immortal.” If, however, the world is not immortal (seeing it is a product of matter), but mortal, does it also perish, or does it not? For if it perish, it will perish as being a work of God; and then, in the event of the world perishing, what will become of the soul, which is also a work of God? Let Celsus answer this! But if, perverting the notion of immortality, he will assert that, although perishable, it is immortal, because it does not really perish; that it is capable of dying, but does not actually die,—it is evident that, according to him, there will exist something which is at the same time mortal and immortal, by being capable of both conditions; and that which does not die will be mortal, and that which is not immortal by nature will be termed in a peculiar sense immortal, because it does not die! According to what distinction, then, in the meaning of words, will he maintain that no product of matter is immortal? And thus you see that the ideas contained in his writings, when closely examined and tested, are proved not to be sound and incontrovertible. And after making these assertions he adds: “On this point these remarks are sufficient; and if any one is capable of hearing and examining further, he will come to know [the truth].” Let us, then, who in his opinion are unintelligent individuals, see what will result from our being able to listen to him for a little, and so continue our investigation.

Celsus accordingly, as not understanding the doctrine relating to the Spirit of God (“for the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned”), weaves together [such a web] as pleases himself, imagining that we, in calling God a Spirit, differ in no respect in this particular from the Stoics among the Greeks, who maintain that “God is a Spirit, diffused through all things, and containing all things within Himself.” Now the superintendence and providence of God does extend through all things, but not in the way that spirit does, according to the Stoics. Providence indeed contains all things that are its objects, and comprehends them all, but not as a containing body includes its contents, because they also are “body,” but as a divine power does it comprehend what it contains. According to the philosophers of the Porch, indeed, who assert that principles are “corporeal,” and who on that account make all things perishable, and who venture even to make the God of all things capable of perishing, the very Word of God, who descends even to the lowest of mankind, would be—did it not appear to them to be too gross an incongruity—nothing else than a “corporeal” spirit; whereas, in our opinion,—who endeavour to demonstrate that the rational soul is superior to all “corporeal” nature, and that it is an invisible substance, and incorporeal,—God the Word, by whom all things were made, who came, in order that all things might be made by the Word, not to men only, but to what are deemed the very lowest of things, under the dominion of nature alone, would be no body. The Stoics, then, may consign all things to destruction by fire; we, however, know of no incorporeal substance that is destructible by fire, nor [do we believe] that the soul of man, or the substance of “angels,” or of “thrones,” or “dominions,” or “principalities,” or “powers,” can be dissolved by fire.

But as Celsus promises to give an account of the manner in which prophecies are delivered in Phœnicia and Palestine, speaking as though it were a matter with which he had a full and personal acquaintance, let us see what he has to say on the subject. First he lays it down that there are several kinds of prophecies, but he does not specify what they are; indeed, he could not do so, and the statement is a piece of pure ostentation. However, let us see what he considers the most perfect kind of prophecy among these nations. “There are many,” he says, “who, although of no name, with the greatest facility and on the slightest occasion, whether within or without temples, assume the motions and gestures of inspired persons; while others do it in cities or among armies, for the purpose of attracting attention and exciting surprise. These are accustomed to say, each for himself, ‘I am God; I am the Son of God; or, I am the Divine Spirit; I have come because the world is perishing, and you, O men, are perishing for your iniquities. But I wish to save you, and you shall see me returning again with heavenly power. Blessed is he who now does me homage. On all the rest I will send down eternal fire, both on cities and on countries. And those who know not the punishments which await them shall repent and grieve in vain; while those who are faithful to me I will preserve eternally.’” Then he goes on to say: “To these promises are added strange, fanatical, and quite unintelligible words, of which no rational person can find the meaning: for so dark are they, as to have no meaning at all; but they give occasion to every fool or impostor to apply them to suit his own purposes.”

But as Celsus promises to give an account of the manner in which prophecies are delivered in Phœnicia and Palestine, speaking as though it were a matter with which he had a full and personal acquaintance, let us see what he has to say on the subject. First he lays it down that there are several kinds of prophecies, but he does not specify what they are; indeed, he could not do so, and the statement is a piece of pure ostentation. However, let us see what he considers the most perfect kind of prophecy among these nations. “There are many,” he says, “who, although of no name, with the greatest facility and on the slightest occasion, whether within or without temples, assume the motions and gestures of inspired persons; while others do it in cities or among armies, for the purpose of attracting attention and exciting surprise. These are accustomed to say, each for himself, ‘I am God; I am the Son of God; or, I am the Divine Spirit; I have come because the world is perishing, and you, O men, are perishing for your iniquities. But I wish to save you, and you shall see me returning again with heavenly power. Blessed is he who now does me homage. On all the rest I will send down eternal fire, both on cities and on countries. And those who know not the punishments which await them shall repent and grieve in vain; while those who are faithful to me I will preserve eternally.’” Then he goes on to say: “To these promises are added strange, fanatical, and quite unintelligible words, of which no rational person can find the meaning: for so dark are they, as to have no meaning at all; but they give occasion to every fool or impostor to apply them to suit his own purposes.”