Diversarum hereseon liber

Another is the heresy which says that Christians were created later and after Jews and pagans, not knowing that they were created before Jews and pagans by nature and by faith, by life and by time, by sacrifice and by conduct. By faith indeed, because from Adam down to Moses, for three thousand seven hundred years, all the righteous worshipped God and God, Lord and Lord, and also the Holy Spirit, and proclaimed the true Trinity, so that you can recognize that same Trinity entire without difficulty from those blessed earlier and ancient ones, and that this was later manifested to us as well by the Lord. For when Scripture says: "The Lord rained down from the Lord upon Sodom and Gomorrah sulphur and fire," what does it seem to proclaim there? Does it not declare that God the Father accomplished all signs and miracles through his Son, that is, Christ God? Knowing this, David proclaimed the Lord Father and the Lord Christ, that is, his Word, and the Holy Spirit together, and proclaimed the Trinity of persons, yet of one majesty and substance and divinity of equal power.

Yet he demonstrated that the Son is from God the Father as prior, and he properly taught about the Holy Spirit: “The heavens were made firm by the word of the Lord, and all their power by the spirit of his mouth”; and again elsewhere: “The Lord said to my Lord.” And all the prophets announced concerning the Word and the Spirit, everywhere speaking thus: “And the word of the Lord came to me,” and: “The spirit,” he says, “of the Lord was with me.” Therefore, Christianity is not a matter of temporal faith, but it was revealed before Jews and pagans, indeed to those studying and seeking in the law; yet, for those scarcely grasping, the knowledge of the omnipotent Father was announced by those holy and perfect teachers. Moreover, those earlier saints used no other life than this one in which we live. For up to the most blessed Abraham, not having circumcision, not delighting in sacrifices, they pleased God, and were proclaimed just by him in all things. For David said: “A sacrifice to God is a contrite heart”; and: “Offer to God a sacrifice of praise.” And because, under the compulsion of necessity, temporal sacrifices—not perpetual, nor true, nor salutary—had been imposed on the Jews, the prophet says to the Jews: “Behold, I make new things,” and: “Before they come, they have been announced to you.

Therefore, before the Jews, the prophet Isaiah testified: “For who has sought this from your hands?” And again: “Circumcise your hearts, and not your bodies.” Moreover, what kind of sacrifice Melchizedek first offered under Abraham, four hundred and thirty years before the Jews were named or Judah was born, and before they received [the law], you see throughout in the book of Genesis (that is, the mystery of Christianity, so that you may recognize that all things which are in Christianity—whether faith, life, or sacrament—are not temporal, but were established, announced, and rather celebrated from the beginning of the world). In Christ, however, and through Christ, by whom all things were made, it was necessary for us to see and recognize [these things] from him, and to receive from him, more fully completed and consummated, what was the greater mystery in the law announced beforehand concerning him. For that there was a similar chastity in very many prophets is not in doubt, as in the blessed Elijah, the holy Elisha, Daniel, Jeremiah, Ezra, and the three youths, and many other most blessed ones: so that in the presence of Christ, what was above the law and announced beforehand by them might be recognized, and that which was marriage through the law might be confirmed by his divine sentence, and this grace granted to the will and zeal of men might be known.

Therefore, the Lord himself united those earlier saints before the law with us, and us with those earlier ones, according to the faith of righteousness, while rejecting the Jews and the pagans, who were placed in the intermediate time between the commandment and grace: they, with hostile and pernicious will, are found ruined in carnal vices, and as enemies and adversaries of heavenly doctrine, are reserved for the eternal judgment of punishments. There is another heresy which says that pagans are born naturally, not Christians, that is, that the nature of things, the body and soul of man, are not created daily by God through Christ, but they think it proceeds according to pagan vanity, since from Adam up to Abraham, and afterwards up to Judah, who is the fourth in generation after Abraham, they were not pagans, nor were they called Jews, but were named Gentiles from the name and diversity of provinces. Pagans, however, after the Jews, are so called either from *pagus*, that is, a place, or from one province, or from King Paganus, which is shown to be true, as Hesiod, a Greek poet, says. If therefore from *pagus*, it is an indication of place, just as now it is said "from that *pagus*"; but if from idols, *** because those who worshiped carved images were thus named pagans, that is, gentiles.

These idols were not from God, but were discovered by the most depraved will of men, just as both our scripture and very many of the pagans have announced that men discovered these things for the seduction and damnation of souls, because the people, looking upon that, delighted in feasts, in whose vanity they brought destruction upon their own souls. But there is a certain and greater proof, that the pagans themselves relate in their histories that they were called pagans from a king Paganus, as the Greek poet Hesiod says: who afterwards, from King Paganus, the son of Deucalion and Pyrrha, having his name as something plausible and lovable, or rather cultivating his memory even to the present day, they retain this falsehood of a name, continuing to cultivate it up to now. Therefore, Hellen, that is, a Greek man, is so called from the language and from the name of the king, who was the son of Deucalion, who was so named, just as the Italians from Italus, and the Romans from Romulus, and the Latins from Latinus received their name, not from the impiety of idols.

Idols, that is, the forms of sculpted images, were later discovered by the most depraved will of men. Moreover, the Greek language was declared the property of a single province, which a pagan king confirmed from his own name, just as Romulus named the Romans, and as Hesiod says that the Greeks were called after a Greek king, who was the son of Deucalion by name. There is another heresy which says that the number of years from the origin of the world is uncertain, and that men are ignorant of the courses of time, whereas from Adam up to the flood there are ten generations and two thousand two hundred and forty-two years, and from the flood up to the confusion of languages under the holy Heber, who had not consented to the building of the tower, it is the fifth generation, almost six hundred years, when also the names of the provinces were divided, as of seventy-five languages, and from there up to the blessed patriarch Abraham it is the fifth generation, five hundred and forty years.

And from Abraham up to Moses, seven generations, four hundred and thirty years, as the blessed apostle says; and from Moses up to Samuel the judge, six hundred and twenty-nine years; and from Samuel and David up to the captivity of the Jews in Persia, nearly five hundred years; and from the captivity up to the presence of our Lord, nearly five hundred years; and from the Lord up to now, four hundred and thirty years, more or less. Therefore, if this faith was in those earlier holy fathers of ours which is in us, and was handed down and proclaimed before them, that is, the divine knowledge of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, how is it temporal, as some suppose, and not from the origin of the world this Christian knowledge announced to all men, which is shown to have been manifested and proclaimed in commandment and law? But if in the middle of time under Moses something was said less clearly through a shadow, it was not at all due to envy on the part of the Lord, but rather the weakness of the people, incapable of and unequal to the heavenly mystery, and the infirmity of men not able to bear it, will be blamed.

Finally, Christ the Lord Himself, what He had previously announced through the holy prophets, He later commanded, confirming it, saying: “Go, baptize all nations in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” so that He might declare not only that this was the original faith from the beginning of the world, but also that the life in which we today live would be proven in the circumcision of the heart, not in the boastfulness of the flesh. Therefore, those who dare to ascribe the generation of man either to pagan impiety or to Jewish vanity err greatly, since a Jew, unless he has received *** on the eighth day, is not permitted to be called a Jew, nor likewise a pagan, unless he has supposed that false gods made man. Therefore, the nature of things is to be ascribed to God, not to the vanity of any of these; but doctrine, which comes second after nature, if it is true, is to be joined to the faith of God and united to the most salutary service, not departing from it, indeed, but rather, through faith, recognizing its own Lord and naturally remembering its Creator.

Therefore, it is not the weakness of the mind's nature in men that is to be accused, but rather their perverse will, as the Lord says: "And now, if you will and hear me, you will eat the good things of the land; but if you will not, nor hear me, the sword will devour you." For the mouth of the Lord has spoken this. And the Lord: "Come to me, all you who are burdened, and I will lift you up." There is another heresy which says that the names of the days—Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn—were so placed by God from the origin of the world, and not named by the vain presumption of men, whereas from the first origin until the Greek kings and that most deceitful Hermes, who, lying, dared to name these most vain and frivolous names, if you wish to inquire, you will find that much time has flowed, and thus the pagans, that is, the Greeks, placed these names, since these names, also according to the seven stars, they said the generation of men consists, as that same raving man defines. For the number of days—first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh—was named by God, not announced or handed down in this vanity of the most shameful naming at the beginning.

Another heresy is that which says there are infinite and innumerable worlds, according to the empty opinion of certain philosophers, although Scripture has said there is one world and has taught us about one; they also take this from the apocrypha of the prophets, that is, the secret books, as the pagans themselves have called them. Thus also Democritus, who asserted that there are many worlds, and by proclaiming this out of his own wisdom, stirred up the minds and uncertain senses of many with various errors. There is a heresy which, when it reads in Genesis the word of the Lord speaking about Adam: "Behold, Adam has become as one of us, knowing good and evil; and now, lest he stretch out his hand and touch and taste of the tree of life and live forever," it says that the Lord expelled him from paradise out of envy. And first they hold this, that one god made the soul, another the flesh, as the Manichaeans, Gnostics, Nicolaitans, and other lost souls suppose, saying that one indeed is the good god, but the other is evil, they claim, in this world.

And they think that he said this, that the evil god was expelled from paradise, not noticing that the one and same God the Father, through the Son, made Adam our father, and gave him a commandment, so that if he kept it he would remain immortal, and that when the commandment was violated he was expelled from paradise, as it is written; and because he suffered this through the persuasion of the enemy, since they do not attend to the mercy of Christ, they descend into the precipice of perpetual death. Thus God, not being envious, drove our father from paradise, not so that he would not dwell there or not taste of the tree of life, but rather consulting for him, did not spare him when he sinned in a small matter, lest by sparing him he would find him, as he advanced in age and later in a criminal judgment, having become guilty, condemning him more harshly for even greater crimes. For between man and the devil, Christ was both hearer and equally the most just and good judge in all things. Likewise, he did not spare man when he sinned in a small matter, nevertheless giving him a fitting sentence according to the sin he had committed, and equally leaving a place of repentance for the devil.

But the devil, not understanding that he should have felt repentance for the suggestion of such great evil, a greater judgment was being kept for him later. And man, when he is driven from paradise, is found more inclined to repentance: but the devil, since he is seen as harder toward repentance, expects a greater severity of future judgment from Christ the Lord, as it is said: He did not wish to understand, so that he might do good. And again: But he did not hate evil. Therefore, because Adam, sinning in a small matter, having been persuaded by the devil to eat, and immediately felt repentance, he deserved to obtain pardon for his transgression, and to return to paradise in the presence of Christ, even with the procreation of children. But the devil, not feeling repentance, and his satellites, are reserved for a greater judgment, as the Lord said: Go from me into the eternal fire, which my father has prepared for the devil and his angels. There are some heretics who think that our father Adam and our mother Eve were blind before they tasted from the tree, and that afterwards they opened their eyes, and then perceived that they were naked, although Scripture previously said that Eve saw with her own eyes the tree and its fruit, and that it was of good appearance and pleasant to see, and that she reached out her hand and tasted.

It is, therefore, the madness of heretics and rather the blindness of Jews to think this way, since they do not understand the manner of nakedness, and this loss of immortality in the transgression of the commandment taught us, not the nakedness of the body. For the apostle taught us this, saying: "And, if we are clothed in Christ," he says, "let us not be found naked"; and again: "Put on Christ Jesus." And what the Lord in the Gospel rebukes, saying to the one who did not have a wedding garment, who was called to the wedding. There is a heresy which, when it hears in Genesis that the Lord clothed our first parents in leather tunics after the transgression, they suppose that he then made their bodies and so clothed them, although Scripture says that on the seventh day God took earth from the mud and formed their bodies, and afterwards completed the woman's flesh from Adam's rib. Therefore, here he was not announcing that their bodies were leather tunics, but he was declaring that from divine power he gave them wisdom, so that they might make garments for their bodies, as it is written: "Who gave women the wisdom to weave tunics.

If, however, someone wishes to understand that the Lord made tunics for them, and ** the Almighty created from nothing, as it is written: "He who calls from nothing those things which are not as if they are." If, therefore, they made tunics by their own wisdom, as the prophet says, it is reasonable, or if God by his own power provided this to them, it is not invalid. For in the temple, women and virgins worked purple, fine linen, linen, and other implements for the honor of the temple and for covering, as well as various and diverse ornaments of the temple. There is a heresy which, when it hears in Exodus that an angel met Moses in the lodging where they had stopped and wished to kill him, not his son who had not yet been circumcised, takes from this no small scandal. For if someone wishes to feel that the angel was threatening him because, after the appointed days had passed, that is, eight, on which eighth day it was necessary to circumcise a male, they had not done so, and thus had despised God's command *** Therefore, the fault of sons placed at a small age is not theirs, but rather that of their parents, as it is written.

Therefore, since she understood that it was the fault of the parents, not of the infant, immediately, it says, having taken a stone, the mother circumcised the boy, and at the sight of his blood the angel immediately withdrew from him, and the penalty of death, which he was threatening to inflict upon him, he entirely removed. For Moses is not known to have been circumcised at that hour, as some suppose, but his son was circumcised, because what was commanded before under the patriarchs and the law was fulfilled by the people or the parents of some with slow work, not quickly, as it is written. There are some heretics who are disturbed by Deuteronomy, in which Moses, when he was departing from the body and was writing this book by repeating from the four books, in which, as it were, he decrees the confirmations of the earlier law, because they attest more to the carnal presence of Christ, they are led into no small error, thinking otherwise. For in the law, that is, in Exodus, which was written before, in the same and in that book itself, these things are contained:

Only this seems to have been said by him more, because he added: The Lord your God will raise up a prophet for you from among your brothers; you will listen to him as you listen to me. But if anyone does not listen to him, he will be rooted out utterly. For some think that Deuteronomy is so called because in it he received again on the mountain the written stone tablets, although in Exodus he is known to have received them twice and to have ascended the mountain. It is therefore reasonable that what pertained to the law and to grace would be revealed concerning Christ the Lord, so that what was celebrated in the law through shadow would be announced through the carnal presence of Christ, with heavenly grace diffused among believers, and that it would be handed down in the book itself to all as a testimony. There are some heretics who, when they hear that blessed David said in the fiftieth psalm, "I was conceived in iniquity, and my mother bore me in sin," think that the prophet spoke thus because he declared that the lawful right of marriage is iniquity and sin, although God says earlier in the book of Genesis: "Be born and multiply, and fill the earth," and "Marriages are to be honored," and so forth.

For if someone thought in this way, then so many and such great righteous people were conceived in iniquity, even though they were sanctified in the womb, like the patriarchs, prophets, judges, the blessed Jeremiah, and the most blessed John the Baptist, as it is written. But they are ignorant that the blessed prophet David spoke in another way, not about natural generation, but about the transgression of our father Adam and Eve, who after the transgression of the commandment, driven from paradise, had begotten children, and from that point, as if from the mother of all, after the iniquity of the transgression of the commandment, he taught that Eve had conceived in this way and had given birth in this way. For how did David say about himself that he was conceived in iniquity and born in sin, when he was born by legitimate right and was chosen by God for such great glory of the kingdom, as it is written about him? Therefore, he was not teaching here that he was conceived in iniquity or born in sin, but he wanted to show our parents Adam and Eve, that after sin was committed, that is, the transgression of the commandment, they later begot children in this way, and from them all of us likewise are brought forth.

Therefore, after the transgression, "In pain she will bear children," it says, because from our first parents we have that common and general iniquity of transgression of the flesh, descending from the first inheritance to all, as the apostle said: "Just as through one man death entered into all men." For this right of marriage, promulgated by God, is daily praised and customarily blessed. For what was first is shown by sadness, and what the celestial grace of Christ was to bring as great joy to believers, it announced, saying: "If anyone has not been regenerated by water and spirit, he will not enter the kingdom of heaven." Therefore, in that psalm, prescient of future joy, he testified, saying: "You will sprinkle me with hyssop, and I will be cleansed; you will wash me, and I will be made whiter than snow," so that through him we also, believing in the saving baptism, may rejoice together with him. There are certain heretics who do not think rightly about the division of the world and the partition of habitation, arguing that the Greeks or the Egyptians or the Persians began to describe the entire world, and not that the blessed Noah divided, gave, defined, and partitioned it in order among his three sons after the flood.

Afterwards, therefore, the historians, taking up these things as if they were certain paths, have fabricated various falsehoods. So the blessed Noah divided the entire orb of the earth among his three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and he assigned to Shem indeed the eastern parts of India, of the Persians, as far as a certain portion of the south, west, and north, up to Mount Lebanon, and there he confirmed with a fixed decree that his firstborn would have his boundaries. To Ham, the second son, he also distributed all of Syria and the diocese of Egypt, Africa, and the vast breadth of Ethiopia extending near the limits of the ocean and of the Spains, assigning it by census, and he foretold by divine spirit that it would be possessed and inhabited; in the middle, however, he granted that it would have boundaries as far as Cappadocia, that is, Mount Taurus. To the third, however, named Japheth, he attributed by divine command, establishing it for him, the cold regions which are those of Armenia, the Bosporus, Pontus, Thrace, the Pannonias, Illyricum, Italy, and all the western parts, for those entering Cappadocia and departing from Cilicia. And from the first, indeed, he enumerates twenty-five generations as having descended, from the second, thirty-five!

that is, about Ham. But about Japheth, to whom at that time only the fifteenth generation was counted, a greater one was promised by the blessed Noah as destined to come in the future, as Scripture says: “May the Lord enlarge Japheth, and let him dwell in the tents of Shem.” To this younger son a smaller number of generations was granted at that time, but a greater number was later to be increased and to come to him than to his two brothers, so that he would hold the middle and the farthest regions, that is, the empires of the Canaanites, Egyptians, Africans, and Persians. From him the Romans were later descended, victors over the world and rulers of all nations. Hence we know that the Romans, Latins, and Italians trace their lineage from Japheth, and that they hold the world under their dominion daily and have often held it before. But if anything is thought to be ancient by the falsehood of the Greeks, it is proven to be temporal in every way by the testimony of their own authors, as Solon testifies to the Athenians that he heard from an Egyptian priest saying to him:

Solon, Solon, you Greeks are always children and youths. (But a Greek will never be old or ancient, nor do you possess any ancient teaching or knowledge, but you have it snatched and seized from others, and you set it forth altered by various falsehoods, and thus you instruct men. For Plato in the *Timaeus* keeps saying this. For after the confusion of languages, then diverse names began to emerge, and from that point the Greek historiographers, two or three, taking up diverse things as if writing monuments, when they wish to obscure and conceal their own temporality, have been judged and proven by their own witnesses to be most false. For when fifty of them agree concerning our antiquity—that is, Greeks, Egyptians, Chaldeans, Syrians—but two or three disagree, it is just to yield to the many who agree together rather than to two or three discordant historiographers, because those many have spoken more truly than the two.)

Another is the heresy which says that the flood under Deucalion and Pyrrha was more ancient than that which took place under the blessed Noah. The pagans, transferring this and changing the names, assert that the ark was likewise in Greece after the flood, and what is of temporality in the most vain paganism is proclaimed by them as ancient with much falsehood, and what happened in Thessaly, in a small place, is taught by thieving pagans as if it happened everywhere, that is, in the whole world. Indeed, that flood occurs after some years in Thessaly, in a place sometimes small, but that flood happened in the whole age, just as their own Gentile scripture testifies. Another is the heresy which says that men are born according to the twelve zodiac signs, as those most vain astrologers, asserters of total error and wickedness, teach; and the unlearned, hearing these things, sometimes do not hesitate to abandon the law of God and serve the vanities of the astrologers, whereby the apostolic sentence is fulfilled:

They cultivated and served the creature rather than the creator. And again: See that no one deceives you through philosophy and empty fallacy, according to the elements of the world, and not according to Christ; since in him dwells the whole fullness of divinity bodily. Therefore they are ignorant that these twelve zodiac signs, as they are called by them, are diverse climates and diverse regions in the orb of the earth disposed by God, so that they may be inhabited and diverse temperaments of places and times are established, such as hot, cold, dry, and moist from the four corners of the world: from which, as if from springs full of quality, they pour forth winds breathing into one another with excessive innate power and with a wholesome mixture existing, again, when the mixture is diffused everywhere, a pleasant temperateness of health is supplied from there to all inhabitants: and thus the divine power, granted by the Lord to mortals for a sweet and prosperous life, is not unknown.

Another heresy is that which says that the souls of poisoners, criminals, murderers, and others of that sort pass into demons, cattle, beasts, and serpents, not knowing that when the human soul departs from this world, whether good or evil, that is, pious or impious, it is led by an angel to a designated place, so that in the future it may receive according to what it has done while established in this world. If, however, anyone thinks that this happens thus, he seems to have fellowship with paganism and the vanity of philosophers rather than with Christianity, since the apostle says: We must all be brought before the tribunal of Christ, so that each one may receive what he has done in this body. And again: That you will not abandon my soul in hell. And again: But in hell, who will confess to you? Therefore, the nature of the soul is not changed into another nature, but, when by its own will it despises and neglects the precept of God and dissembles from adhering to lawful and salutary pursuits, dedicating itself to future punishment at the judgment, it is known to be comparable to cattle not by nature but by character, as it is written.

Therefore, it is not by the nature of beasts, but by their customs in this world that such men—pagans, Jews, and many others—become similar. For even the Savior, when He said to the Jews, "You are from the devil, your father," revealed that they were similar not by nature, but by their wicked customs and beastly senses, accusing and judging them. And John said to the Jews: "Offspring of vipers." There are other heretics who say that the Lord descended into hell and there announced to all after death, so that those confessing there might be saved, although this is contrary to what the prophet David says: "But who will confess to you in hell?" And the Apostle: "As many as have sinned without the law will perish without the law." But when the Lord says, "It will be more lenient for some than for that city which did not believe," He means, in comparison to the many punishments, that they endure lesser torments than those others, yet He does not affirm that they are saved by this reasoning.

For those who think that the false poets and vain philosophers can be saved, being rebels against God, they err worse than those men and dissent from the truth, since the seeds of pagan impiety were sown into human minds by none other than those vain poets and philosophers with their appellations of gods and goddesses, while the prophet cries out concerning the future judgment, asking that he be granted remission in repentance, saying: "Grant me remission so that I may take a breath, before I go and am no more." If, therefore, even the righteous who sin have scarcely obtained indulgence in this life while repenting, as Solomon says: "And if the just man is scarcely saved, where will the impious and the sinner appear?" For if they had believed in God, they would not have sown the shameful names of gods and goddesses, and they would have obtained pardon at Christ's descent into hell. Since, therefore, the impious and enemies of God are everywhere, how will they be saved after death by confessing there? when the apostle teaches that every man must die and after that be judged, as it is written, before the tribunal of Christ, and receive according to what he has done in this world.

The Saviour, however, confirms, saying of them that they did not even believe the Father; whence he also declared that they are to be judged: but he who believed in the Father before Christ came in the flesh, passed out of the judgment of the impious. In the comparison, moreover, of sinners and the impious, there is a diversity of punishments and plagues; there is not a full absolution of both, but the justice of discrimination, and a recompense fitting according to the sin, even for those who were swallowed up by the water under Noah, as Scripture taught. There is another heresy which doubts concerning the substance of the soul and opines that it consists of the elements, as many most vain philosophers, now of fire, now of water, now of spirit, now of matter, now of a fountain, now of atoms, now suspect the soul of man to be like air, whereas the soul was made by the Lord from nothing, to wit, as it is written: He who made all things from nothing, that they might be which were not.

The soul, therefore, made by God, is called the image of God, namely after the creation of the angels; for man is lesser than the nature of the angels, as it is written: You have diminished him a little less than the angels. But if he has kept the commandments of the law, then he will be like the angels. If, therefore, the angels are servants of God placed under the law, how much more is the soul of man also under the law, which has been proclaimed *** if he has kept what was commanded to him, then he ought to say what the Lord said to the apostles: And if you have done everything, say that we are useless servants: we have fulfilled what was commanded to us. There is another heresy which says concerning the Saviour that he was first with the Father and thus was born, and while they confess this simply, they supply various scandals to men: for to exist before, and afterwards to be born, is contrary in every way. And although his generation is twofold, one of divinity indefinite and eternal, the other of incorporation through the virgin temporal and there is no doubt, nevertheless according to divinity we ought to recognize that he was never absent from being with the Father, nor was he who was always with the Father known to be from himself and not born from the Father, as some suspect, going astray.

If, therefore, each is put forward with a good interpretation, the foundation of right faith is shown, so that we may recognize him as begotten from the Father, this only Son, yet not in time, but before all ages and every creature, we may recognize and believe him to have been properly begotten from the Father, as is fitting, and that he remains with the Father forever, and that he has always remained, we not be ignorant. There is, therefore, no separation or contrariety between 'always being' and 'having been' and 'being begotten'. For 'always being' is said on account of eternity, lest the Son be considered temporal: but 'begotten' is said because the Church, preaching, recognizes that he was born not from himself, but from the Father. Therefore, one is not to be separated from the other, but the eternity of the Son and the generation are to be joined together with eternity, and the confession is to be believed and held from the Father in such a way that we recognize one Father for us, the begetter, and one only Son for us of the Father, properly begotten from the Father.

Therefore, that he always exists and is begotten is consistent with pious faith, so that his eternal generation is not temporal, and the true property and eternity of the only-begotten Son from the Father and with the Father is not ignored. But if anyone first confesses that he is unbegotten, and then afterwards that he was begotten from the Father, he does not know what he confesses. For while he thinks he is escaping one heresy, he falls into another, worse one, by confessing the Son as unbegotten—or rather, by denying both the Father and the Son, and by proclaiming two unbegotten beings, and by denying the proper distinction of one unbegotten Father and one only-begotten Son from the Father. There are some heretics who think that the Lord said through Moses about Pharaoh: "For this I have roused you, to show my power in you," and: "I will harden and harden Pharaoh's heart, so that he does not let you go." And the apostle says: "Therefore it is not of the one willing nor of the one running, but of the merciful God." But the apostle says this not as a definition, but as a disputation and teaching what is true, lest anyone think that God spoke thus; for one ought to attend to what the Lord says: "To show in you, indeed, all my power"—that is, magnanimity, goodness, forbearance, which is certainly poured out upon everyone in the world.

For when he says this to him, he says it to every person placed in a body, announcing it indeed in the prosperity of temporal ability and power: those who attend to riches become more sluggish and negligent regarding the fear and grace of God, and thus they forget the end of their salvation and become unmindful of the fear of God. For when Pharaoh himself was afflicted, he unwillingly acknowledged God, as it is written, and when he was again released by God, he returned like a dog to his vomit. Therefore, the souls of all pagans, Jews, heretics, and the rich, and likewise of sinners, are sometimes found to be despisers of God in prosperity; therefore, discipline is useful to the human race in all things and salutary, as the prophet says: "It is good for me, Lord, that you have humbled me, so that I may learn your justifications"; and again concerning rebuke: "When the Lord was striking them," he says, "the Jews were then seeking him and were watchful toward him." Therefore, the blessed apostle does not say "let us not run" or "let us not wish to serve God"; but first we must run by our own will, then not with presumption and boasting, as if by our own virtue and justice we deservedly merit salvation, and not by the mercy of Christ.

For he who runs with pride and presumption does not hope for help from God, so much as he presumes righteousness from his own conduct. And so the blessed apostle teaches us both to run and to will, and that it lies in our will that we persevere in humility in the very course of good works, and only then hope that salvation can be attained from the Lord himself, as the Lord says: And when you have done everything, say that we are most worthless servants; ** And if a just man is scarcely saved, where will the sinner and impious man appear? Therefore there are certain things in us in which we must run. But there are greater things which are to be hoped for and obtained from God, as the apostle says: You do not know what you ask for, as if someone were to say: 'I can be a martyr, I can be an apostle,' and does not say: 'If God Christ wills it,' because the increase of that gift and grace is conferred by him, not obtained by vain human presumption and boasting. For such a will is that of a man who is tempting and presuming, not of one seeking and supplicating that he might merit to attain such great dignity.

There are certain heretics, such as the Manichaeans, the Gnostics, and the Nicolaitans, and others, who dare to say concerning the blessed David that he was not a prophet of the Lord Christ, nor a teacher and commentator of all the divine scriptures, but that he was a writer of human song and of secular matter, whereas he himself, by the grace of heaven and the saving mystery of the Lord Christ, deserved to proclaim the mysteries to the human race before many others. For just as the Lord Christ granted diverse grace to other saints, so to this one he granted greater knowledge, the Lord saying: "I will give you," he says, "the holy vessels of David"; and: "I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man who will do all that is in my heart," says the Lord. They are ignorant, therefore, that this swift and most powerful commentator of the divine scriptures, King and Prophet David, was sent by the Lord, so that what was spoken before, and what seemed present, and what was announced as future—all these things, gathered briefly, might be proclaimed to the human race by him, and that in three verses of the first psalm he might set forth the entire power of things, the truth of the past, the present, and the future, and announce all the errors of each people and their various crimes, when he says:

Blessed is the man who did not go into the counsel of the impious, that is, of the pagans, and did not stand in the way of sinners, namely of the Jews, and did not sit in the seat of pestilence, that is, of the heretics; and from this, as if from abundant sources and materials, he would teach that diverse seeds of iniquity would come upon the human race, so that with these three evils—paganism, Judaism, and every heresy—despised and condemned, the one true faith, that is, of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, would be believed and venerated by all. For, led by divine zeal, the blessed David at that time, when he saw men sacrificing to demons and not to God, placed in the city of Jerusalem four choirs according to the four entrances of the world, with seventy-two, and also with four men placed and singing, and guarding the area of God from all sides, along with countless others outside. In the midst of this, the most blessed David himself, the patriarch, sang with the people, and as such a great witness and one predestined by the Lord for the incarnation of the Lord Christ, he offered the diverse joys and praises of the psalms, singing not to any other but to the Lord Christ himself; and three times daily, with the sound of the psalms in both prayer and song, he delighted with the people, announcing the divine presence of Christ and promising future joys to the world from that event.

Concerning him the Lord also deigned to say that there were many prophets and wise men who desired to see and hear what the apostles merited to hear and see. For that even the wisdom of the Greeks themselves, which seems to be such, is derived from the Law and from the prophets and especially from the blessed David, is manifest to all according to the time. Therefore also the poets and other wise men, in verses, attempted to feign what they wished to say by imitating him; and since they took these arguments from the Law and the prophets, while they hasten to violate the laws of truth, they sowed various falsehoods of their own perfidy throughout the world. Hence, many secular and unskilled men, ignorant of these matters, prefer to cultivate and follow the pagan falsehoods of temporality rather than the ancient and true foundations of the salutary Christian law. From their vanities, therefore, that is, from the Greek historians, one can recognize how temporal and vain the wisdom of the Greeks is; which, when it is gradually recognized by its own, is without doubt spurned, trampled, and daily condemned.

There are other heretics who suffer no small error concerning the inequality of the Psalter, thinking that the entire book of psalms is not by the most blessed David: and when they seek the history in order, they find inequality, that is, they perceive that what are last are placed first, and what are first are placed last, and they suffer no small scandal. For in the third psalm he suffers persecution from his son, and in the hundredth and beyond it is discussed fighting against the foreigner, when we find that he first fought with Goliath in his youth, but later in his old age endured war from his own son. And although these things are to be understood spiritually concerning Christ, yet those diligently inquiring into the history concerning the same blessed prophet are disturbed by no small stumbling block. Because, therefore, the scripture of the psalms says that David's hymns ceased after seventy-two psalms, and afterwards the title of the same is announced in many psalms, and they complain about this, why it is so placed, not knowing that diverse joys of psalms were rightly granted by the Lord to the blessed king and prophet. If, therefore, titles of others are also found in the psalms, nevertheless the highest credit of praise was afterwards granted to this author and institutor by Christ, both as prophet, king, and patriarch.

Concerning the inequality of the psalms according to history, those who are the most diligent authors have said this: that often, when captivity existed among the Jewish people at the hands of the Gentiles on account of idolatry—because the Jews worshipped idols along with them—and in these circumstances the divine scriptures were also sought out and burned by the Gentiles: if anyone had hidden any of the psalms, when peace later returned, those same divine scriptures were sought out by a few holy men, and when they were found, those who were wise at that time—since there were no longer prophets, but priests—being restrained by fear, composed the text of the psalms and ordered them to be set forth in order just as they received them from certain persons. Therefore, if according to history the inequality, as many have said, this seems to be the cause. For that the spiritual knowledge of Christ is to be recognized in the very inequality of the psalms and is equal, is manifest to the studious, so that what is at the beginning is also in the middle concerning Christ, and what was later to come has been said beforehand about the same everywhere. Hence the apostle says: Christ yesterday and today, the same and for ages, he says, of ages.

For that the psalms were spoken by spiritual power is not in doubt, so that what was previously done through the devil concerning the impiety of idols, this same crime committed under the Jews by his seduction might be shown; and that the perversity of heretics, daily springing up in the end times, is also his, the Catholic Church, of course, preaching, does not ignore. There are heretics who think contrary in the book of Genesis that the Lord said to Cain: "You have sinned, be still, your conversion is to yourself, and you will rule over him." For when it says: "You will rule over him," they think that it said to him: "You will be the lord of your brother." And although, if someone has understood it thus, because Cain was the elder by birth than his most blessed brother Abel, since also in the law the elder by birth were greater in honor, that is, the firstborn, it does not, however, say this: "You will rule over him," because "You will be his lord" is in every way contrary. For if it were so, how would the Lord pass a sentence of death upon him, because he had killed his own brother, as it is written? Therefore, Scripture does not say here that he should rule over his brother, so that he might kill him, but: "You will rule over your evil thought," of course, which is in your own power and in the power and will of every man, so that he either casts out from his heart the evil thought sent by the devil, or, by not casting it out, incurs perpetual crime.

For as Christ the Lord scrutinized the hidden things of a man’s heart and mind, perceiving him, he rebuked what he had thought, and warned him not to do that crime, and in this not to sow the way of parricide in the world. Which is also said in the Gospel: If you have anger against your brother, go, be reconciled, and afterwards offer your gift. And David likewise says: Be angry and do not sin. And what the manner is of “Be angry and do not sin,” he himself subsequently explains, saying: What you say in your hearts and in your chambers, be pricked with compunction. Solomon also: If the spirit of the hostile enemy has risen up in you, do not give him a place to dwell in you. And the Lord says: He who is angry with his brother without cause will be guilty in judgment. Therefore the Lord taught that the thought and suggestion of the enemy should be driven out immediately, lest, when it has been in a man for a long time, it provoke him more readily to commit a crime.

There is a heresy which does not rightly understand concerning Cain, that after the fratricide which he had committed, he asks the Lord to die rather than be dismissed, saying thus: “The cause is greater. If I am dismissed, it will be that everyone who finds me will kill me.” But the Lord, through him alone, as if teaching a general way for the whole human race, was granting through penance the abundant indulgence of his goodness, so that with the crime already ceasing, the fruitfulness of good works might follow, and all might recognize from him a certain thing to be embraced, the Lord saying: “I do not desire the death of the sinner, but rather that he return and live,” so that through him the penance for so great a crime might become clear to all, and in it likewise abundant indulgence, so that the already fruitful goodness of the penitents might be shown to men by the exhortation of God, whereby, perceiving it, they might desire to acquire salvation for themselves rather than death. Whence, as if his own accuser and judge, Cain is partly born, saying that he committed fratricide, and deserved to hear from the Lord that, if the fruit of good works should henceforth follow him, he would without doubt receive remission of so great a crime, and would no longer suspect that any fear of death would be inflicted upon him by anyone.

Moreover, he had also received a sign, so that he would not be killed by anyone, and it was determined by a heavenly decree that if any man should dare to lay hands on him, he would suffer even sevenfold punishments. For in him a feigned, not a true, repentance was found, since he hears from the Lord: “Everyone who kills Cain will pay seven penalties.” Whence he also merited to receive the sign on account of his penitence, if, that is, a worthy fruitfulness of good works were to follow him. But we do not find that any good fruit of repentance was ever in him, so much the more that from his stock all impiety rather sprouted forth. Those who after him existed as heirs of his paternal impiety and of the enormity of such a crime, since they did not wish to bear repentance for their own evils, with the blessed Noah announcing to them, persisting in their crime, perished by a dreadful death through the flood, except for only eight souls at that time, who were of the stock of the saints, and who alone merited to avoid the storm of such great peril.

There is a heresy which thinks that the stars are fixed in the sky, and that they do not proceed forth suddenly from hidden treasuries and places, arranged by God at evening by divine command, and at appointed hours acknowledge the course and ministry imposed upon their own light: which is found to be contrary and alien to the catholic faith, if anyone has thought thus, and it will be shown to have more fellowship with pagan vanity and the empty opinion of philosophers than with Christian knowledge. For Scripture teaches the omnipotence of God in such a way that it has announced that the stars, in a brief time, run together and scatter from various treasuries, and that they are partly provided and lent by God for the ornament of the sky and for the sake of night and light, and that they are appointed to return again to their own places, as it were, at various intervals of hours, so that from which places they are ordered to go forth daily, to those places they may return again, with an angel presiding and compelling, so that they can in no way pass beyond the due course; and thus the clemency of Christ poured out for the human race would be manifested to all mankind, proclaiming that it has granted equal grace of goodness to the just and the unjust in this world:

Who makes his sun rise over the just and the unjust, and rains upon the good and the bad; and: The stars know their treasuries, it says, and the course arranged daily. There are some heretics who reject many things from the Old Testament, that is, Solomon’s Ecclesiastes, a book indeed composed of few sayings, but containing the whole treasury of heavenly knowledge for those who seek it. For that it is wiser than all the earlier books, the Savior himself has testified. When, therefore, they read: All is vanity of vanities, which are under the sun, and: I desired, it says, to have, as it is said, various things, and: God gave to me, it says, and behold all is vanity of vanities, yet only this do they later add to be from God, that if one eats and drinks and does good to his soul. But if he said that this food alone or this drink alone is useful for this age, which is carnal, and announced nothing else of the future immortal life ***, then human labor is spent in vain. Therefore, what the apostle says about some: Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die *

which indeed is a heresy of pagans and Epicureans, comparable to the life of beasts. And so, when man was held in honor, he did not understand, and was compared to senseless beasts. Solomon therefore both announced the carnal life of men granted by God in many riches, and likewise preached the future glory of angels, which is present in few who are zealous, desiring, and believing. For if a rich man has done good works in this world, it is necessary that he also obtain a share in the future life there. For just as this earthly food is given by God, so also that heavenly food is to be desired all the more from the law; indeed, the faith of Christ the Lord, coming from the law and the prophets, is glorious to those who desire it, which Mary chose more than Martha, the Lord saying that Mary had chosen the better portion, which would not be taken away from her. Therefore, if he said: "Vanity of vanities" concerning what is in the world, he certainly proclaimed these as transitory, on account of that future glory which is eminent and perpetual, as the apostle says: "For the figure of this world and its glory pass away." But if the figure, life, honor, and dignity of this world will cease and be destroyed, then that heavenly glory is to be desired, and

angelic dignity, which indeed will come to believers in Christ through the incarnation, passion, and resurrection, and which will not be temporal, carnal, and transitory, as it is for the Jews according to the letter, and for others of that sort who perish, expecting nothing thereafter. For this reason the Lord says: "Work for the food that does not perish," that is, believe in me, whom my Father sent. Therefore Solomon was not speaking only of this carnal food, while omitting that other, but he was announcing a different food and glory of holy men—namely, the carnal one first, the life of men in the present age, and after death that heavenly and angelic dignity which will come to the just and faithful. And this carnal food, as vain and temporal, he announced as the justification of the Jews and others of that sort, and as a life that would perish, so that they might recognize it as a shadow, and not be ignorant that the life of the body, temporal and soon to fall away, is in comparison to that heavenly and perpetual dignity. Concerning which food the prophet says: "Taste and see that the Lord is sweet.

There is a heresy which doubts the Song of Songs, likewise judging it to be not of divine spirit, but to have been proclaimed to men by the same [author] for the sake of human affairs and pleasures, whereas it taught the human race the truth of heavenly things compared to human likeness, as is written in the Gospels and everywhere. And so Christ, long present in the flesh, taught all in such a way that he provoked with divine love, soothed with admonition, moved with mercy, and bent with goodness. For as God he showed, as a father he admonished, as a shepherd he pointed out the pasture, as a king he showed that by conquering the enemy his footsteps were to be followed, so that those following their brother, that is, the Lord Christ coming in the flesh, might rejoice together with him in the triumph of immortal glory and heavenly merit. And therefore it is called the Song of Songs, so that what was formerly spoken in the law in a shadowy manner and in part might, in the light of Christ already present, be opened up to believers for the consummation of the mystery to be celebrated through the passion, so that, with the shadow ceasing, the truth of the heavenly light might shine forth for every age, which would kindle the body and mind of man and stir the senses of man with heavenly love.

Therefore, those vain men who are enslaved to the lusts of the flesh either pretend that they cannot understand, or if it is explained to them, they scorn to learn, and, unwilling to acknowledge the power of the law, they are to be judged no less than Jews or pagans. There is another heresy which says that the commandment which our father Adam received ought not to be accepted, and they think it to be of no virtue or utility, whereas without that commandment neither the law of Moses can be received nor the perpetual and abundant grace of Christ be acknowledged. For every man, constituted in a threefold virtue in the body, is instructed to be taught and admonished by the divine law, so that in the first age he is under commandment, in the second under law, in the third under the grace of the Savior. And therefore the law is rather an admonition, on account of forgetfulness, of the original commandment which our father Adam first received from Christ in paradise; for thus it is written. In the law, moreover, afterwards: 'Be not forgetful,' it says, 'of the commandment of the Lord your God, lest you depart from it and perish.' Therefore the law is an admonition of the commandment and a confirmation of that first one. Again, the commandment and the law of Christ proclaim the full goodness of grace and the salutary presence. And therefore the Lord says: 'Behold, I who spoke in the prophets, I am present.

Those are greater, therefore, who were under the command of old, who did not forget the grace of Christ the Saviour and proclaimed His mystery to their posterity; and when forgetfulness of Him arose among the Jews, a reminder by means of the letter again followed, so that in the letter also the spiritual knowledge of Christ and His carnal presence illuminating the world might be hoped for. Therefore the law of Moses, with one thing in the sound of the voice and another in the hidden meaning, proclaimed the saving mystery of Christ. And so neither the command without the law, nor the law without the command, nor the grace of Christ without the law and the command ought to be accepted or believed by anyone. There are certain heretics who, when they read the Scripture where the Lord says: "Let us make man in our image and likeness," fall into no small madness, not knowing first what the image and what the likeness of God is, and since they do not know what the image of God is by nature of property, and what the grace of position is, they presume for themselves no small pride of dignity.

The image of God, that is, the soul of every human being, was made from nothing; but the likeness, unless it has been known by God in faith and life, cannot be called the image of God similar. And when someone esteems himself to be more, he incurs the charge of presumption rather than acquiring for himself the merit of dignity. For when this soul is found to be sinning and is known to be held subject to judgment, how can this be the natural image of God, which is known to serve various sins? Since no other can be the natural image of God, divine and proper to the Father, not of an angel or a human being, except Christ the Son of God, who is the image of the undivided nature of the paternal substance and eternal, properly begotten, not created from nothing by a position of servitude, as are human beings and angels. And therefore Scripture declared that the image of God can be said of the soul of all pagans, Jews, heretics, and all human beings in common generation, and announced the substance of a nature of one quality; but it declared that the likeness belongs not to all, but only to saints and Christians.

Those who, persevering in faith, life, and good works, are promised to attain in the future the celestial merits of angels—such as patriarchs, prophets, priests, judges, apostles, and evangelists, and martyrs, who, believing in the Trinity and continuing in a life of renown, are announced by the Lord to be joined to the glory of angels. For the likeness is recognized as true through the teaching of the law, faith, life, and study, and work, so that, consenting to the divine law of the God by whom it was made, and fulfilling the established precepts, it may hope to be able to obtain from him the fellowship of the heavenly kingdom, as the apostle says: “But our citizenship is in heaven”; and the Lord again: “Rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.” And that on the day of judgment he would show them to be like angels in the future, the same Lord says again concerning the heavenly kingdom: “Come, receive the kingdom which has been prepared from the beginning of the world.

The likeness, therefore, is shown to exist through faith in the holy Trinity and a good life and the work that follows, so that upon departing they may receive the promised fellowship of angelic dignity, as John says: Then we shall be like him; and the Lord: Be like your father. There are some heretics who say: Why did God not always speak in one way, but preached to the human race in diverse ways and languages? since according to the capacity of men who see and understand, he has spoken and appeared to men in such a way. When man was cast out of paradise and clothed with death, he no longer appeared as before, but spoke from heaven, his voice being heard and preserved; as time went on, however, he deigned to appear, as to the most blessed patriarch Abraham and to others in order. Under Moses, moreover, appearing in various things, he showed what was of fear and error on Mount Sinai,

afterwards, in the likeness of an angel and in human form, with the signs of his future incarnation preceding, he announced a general mercy, and the Lord already showed himself to the righteous in visions through dreams, as it is written. Afterwards, however, appearing in the incarnation, he bore witness to the Jews, proclaiming what he had earlier said through the prophets. Therefore, because the capacity for seeing the Lord was diverse, like a good physician, as the infirmity demanded, he applied different remedies to the infirmities of men, and thus to the ailing world in the end he contributed more medicine, so that both the preeminent virtue of those earlier ones might be shown, and the dangerous infirmity of our own kind might be recognized, as the Lord says: "The healthy have no need of a physician, but those who are sick." Thus those earlier ones are greater, who believed upon hearing, such as Seth, Enoch, Noah, and the rest, than we are, who, both hearing and reading, despise the mercy of Christ the Lord and his abundant goodness.

For also in the case of the Jews and in other tongues he spoke, so that what is said might be fulfilled: 'In other tongues and lips I will speak to this people, and even so they will not believe,' says the Lord. For through Isaiah he says: 'I will send my word into Achaia.' There is another heresy which, when it reads of the four living creatures in the prophets, perceives no small error, thinking that animals endowed with diverse forms have praised God, not knowing that irrational beings, that is, those not capable of reason, cannot offer praise to God as men do. For God does not seek the praise of cattle, because cattle were not made in the image of God, but rational men were created by God and placed for this purpose. But because it is a vision and was proclaimed by the divine spirit of the prophets, here the four diverse virtues and diverse struggles of holy peoples were announced as about to come into the world in diverse teachings and virtues, in the diversity of the sublimity of eminence;

of the lion, the calf, the man, and the eagle, whose diverse teachings and shining merits preceded, so that first in the patriarchs royal authority, then in the prophets the fecundity of heavenly knowledge, in the priests a strong labor and persistent struggle might be discerned: in the apostles a sublime flight into heaven and eminent dignity might be shown, so that what the diversity of forms had previously announced—namely, the heavenly merits of diverse virtues—might be manifested in the world in the presence of Christ, granted by him, the Lord and Savior. For in the lion the kingdom of fortitude is recognized, in the calf surpassing labor, in the man unceasing passion, in the eagle sublime flight—of those, that is, who contend and fight, as the apostle says: "Our contest and our citizenship is in heaven"; and: "We shall be snatched up into heaven and shall always be with Christ," he says. And the Lord deigned to say: "Father, where I am, I wish that they also be with me.

There are some heretics who doubt concerning the day of the Epiphany of the Lord and Saviour, which is celebrated on the eighth day before the Ides of January, saying that they ought to celebrate only the nativity of the Lord on the eighth day before the Kalends of January, but not the day of the Epiphany, not knowing that under the Law and according to [the type?] the Saviour was fulfilling everything in himself and concerning himself in a carnal manner, so that he was both born on the eighth day before the Kalends of January and appeared, as he appeared to the Magi after twelve days ... in the temple, so that the shadow might not appear where the truth was, and thus he might be adored by the Magi. In order, indeed, for our salvation, these four annual days of greater festivity have been established: the first, on which he was born; then, on which he appeared, that is, twelve days after; then, on which he suffered at Easter; and finally, on which he ascended into heaven, around Pentecost, for the consummation belongs to the victor. Therefore, whoever is ignorant of or omits one, can also doubt concerning the other days, not having the fullness of truth, because according to the four seasons of each year, diverse joys have sprung forth for us from Christ the Lord, that is: the day on which he was born; then, on which he appeared; third, on which he suffered and rose again and was seen; fourth, on which he ascended into heaven.

that we may celebrate these throughout the year without interruption, rejoicing generally, and keep them whole and inviolate. Some, however, think that the day of the Epiphany is that of the baptism, others that it is the transformation on the mountain which took place. There are other heretics who, ignorant of the precepts of the law spoken through Moses in Leviticus to the Jews carnally, and in our time revealed spiritually, pass over the sum of the matter, the number of festivals, and their heavenly utility, not knowing what they celebrate, thinking that Moses commanded only about the sabbaths, Passover, and Azymes, and not about the eight festivals which the Catholic Church recognizes and holds. For the blessed Moses speaks thus to the Jewish people: first about the neomenia and sabbaths, second about Passover, third about Azymes, fourth about the sheaves, fifth about the trumpets, which in Greek are called salpinga, which the Jews celebrate solemnly throughout the year; sixth, the fast; seventh, the construction of tabernacles; and eighth, the gathering and consummation of the fullness of fruits and the vintage of the month of October, the final collection of all.

This diversity also occurs over eight months according to the letter, as celebrated by the Jews, and according to spiritual knowledge: for beginning in the month of March, in the eighth month, that is October, all things are conferred in order by Christ the Lord, which are full pledges of eternal salvation to be completed and approved in faith and in the work of Christianity. For even if at that time the Jews were commanded to offer to God the diverse gifts of these months, so that, withdrawing from idols, they might recognize that all these things were to be offered to God, nevertheless they had indications of that spiritual offering, because the number eight signifies the perfection of the virtues, that is, the full grace of fruits of the Lord's day, in the faith of the Lord's resurrection, an immortal reward and a pledge of the angelic dignity to be undertaken, which men were to obtain, no longer offering gifts of an earthly offering, that is, sacrifices of carnal life, but certainly hoping to obtain from Christ the Lord the participation of heavenly glory, the Savior.

Eight times offering annual gifts and recognizing the fullness of the Lord’s Day, that is the eighth day, and girded with the strength of the divine spirit—that is, endowed with the highest perfection of things—and departing from this world, they did not despair that they could attain the promised glory of resurrection there and be joined in the fellowship of heavenly dignity, which the Lord deigned to say: “Then you will be like angels,” proclaiming this to all the just and perfect, which David also said, announcing concerning the eighth. There are heretics who, like the Jews, reject the interpretation of the seventy-two holy and most wise men and instead adopt the edition of a certain single man, Aquila of Pontus, who interpreted after many years. He, when compelled by the pressing necessity of the time to omit certain things, is thought to have dictated discordant passages, and is praised by some, especially the Jews, as having understood more, as if he were superior, although they, like the earlier ones, dictated concerning the law, not concerning the Father and the Son.

For the Seventy-two said: “Against the Lord, and against his Christ”; but Aquila said: “Against the Lord, and against his Anointed.” And again: “Behold, a virgin in the womb will conceive and will bear a son,” the Seventy-two said, “and his name (God with us).” But Aquila said: “Behold, a young woman will conceive and will bear a son, and his name (Powerful with men).” Now if these things are accepted with a pious sense of reading, that no one is strong and powerful except Christ God, the Son of God, one understands rightly; but if one doubts concerning him, such an edition is to be rejected and spurned. Hence the Jews do not have the interpretations of the Seventy-two, who, thinking rightly about the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, proclaimed one substance, divinity, and majesty, but those of that Aquila, because he did not think so rightly about the Son of God, but proclaimed as if about a prophet. Hence his interpretations are never placed in the middle of the books, but are assigned to the right and left, and as contrary and not full of truth they are read by many. But the decrees and consultations of the Seventy-two, the Catholic Church always reads and holds without hesitation. But his, as if superfluous, it so considers and judges.

This, indeed, that is, the translation of the Seventy-two, was published under King Ptolemy of the Egyptians after Alexander the Macedonian, for all, and was sent to the Jewish people in Jerusalem, when not many Jews dwelt there, as they were already placed in subjection to the Egyptian king, and were asked by Ptolemy himself to send translators to Alexandria. When the Seventy-two wise and prudent men, translators, had come, according to the king’s command they translated the Hebrew language into the Greek speech and published it in Greek letters, just as was done. And when King Ptolemy of Egypt had received them, wishing to test whether the divine scripture which the Jews read was of this kind, he ordered each one to be shut separately in a chamber and to see no one else except only the scribe who would take down the translator as he dictated; and afterwards receiving the translation of all each day, when he found the edition of all agreeing as one, he ordered it to be written down and placed in the temple, so that the opportunity to read it would not be denied to philosophers, poets, and historians coming from Achaia, from Greece, and from other provinces who desired to do so.

Hence, philosophers, poets, orators, and historians, taking up arguments especially, as they wished, transferred them to the falsehoods of their own paganism, and, teaching the minds of young boys with other names, hastened to render the divine law of God void for the world, and confirmed the seeds of impiety in the sound of words and in dangerous opinions; because of whom the Lord also said that they had been thieves and robbers, to be recognized in all things and by all. There is a heresy which, after Aquila, again receives the translation of the Thirty Men, not that of the most blessed Seventy-two, who, thinking integrally and inviolately concerning the Trinity, handed down the most certain foundations of the Catholic Church in interpreting the Scriptures. These thirty, because they followed Aquila in many things, their interpretation is not received by the Catholic Church nor is it contained among the authentic books.

There is a heresy which wishes to follow the interpretation of the Seventy-two issued later, not that of the earlier and holy Seventy-two, and they desire to interpret the decrees and consultations of the Seventy-two in other ways, incurring no small error, likewise thinking differently about the Catholic faith. There are other heretics who follow the interpretation of Theodotion and Symmachus, set forth in a different manner, not that of the most blessed earlier ones, which the Catholic Church venerates and preaches. There is another heresy which wishes to follow books found in a jar, brought forth after the captivity and after the burning, and not agreeing with the first interpretation of the holy men, whereas the Catholic Church reads, venerates, and preaches the interpretation of the Seventy-two, but condemns and rejects other superfluous and contrary matter to such an edition. There are some heretics not understanding what Scripture says: "You shall not curse foreign gods"; and they observe this, thinking it was said concerning the vanity of the pagans, and thus thinking, they suffer no small detriment to their salvation.

For when Moses says: "You shall destroy their temples, you shall break their idols," and the most blessed Abraham, breaking idols, was justified, and Gideon, by night burning idols and breaking them, merited to obtain such valor from the Lord Christ that with a few he conquered countless enemies, and all the righteous, like the blessed Elijah and others likewise—how then does this imprudent man think that [Scripture] spoke of the vanity of idols, and that they are not to be cursed? When David says: "Let those who worship them become like them." So when he says that foreign gods are not to be cursed, that is, that the righteous from the beginning of the world who cultivated true piety—that is, angels and other saints dedicated to the true faith—are not to be cursed. For that all the righteous cursed idols and broke them, and thereby merited grace, as Moses did descending from Mount Sinai, and that the messengers of Christ are gods, as Moses was to Pharaoh and the Egyptians, when Scripture cries out:

I said: "They are gods, there is no doubt,") certainly those who worship the holy Trinity to be adored and proclaim it with strong faith; and all the righteous are truly blessed and holy, and are recognized as gods of the unbelievers, as it were, because the Lord says: To those to whom the word of God came *** and was preached through them, they themselves are called gods of the unbelievers, as Paul, Barnabas, and Moses to Pharaoh; they are not to be cursed, but in every way to be praised, honored, and glorified, as David said: "He will glorify those who fear the Lord"; and the Lord: "Those who glorify me, I will glorify." Therefore, those who do not understand the power of the Scriptures agree with paganism according to the letter, and are found to be alien to Christianity. Because the Jewish prophets and others like them did not believe the righteous, these too, like the pagans, were judged alien by the Lord through Scripture, and thus it was announced that they should not curse their own teachers and prophets, the righteous, and others.

There are certain heretics who read in Genesis about Melchisedech, priest and king, who was in the city of Salem, so named at that time under the most blessed patriarch Abraham, of whom Scripture says that he was born without father, without mother, **and with. It is contrary to think this. For Scripture did not deny that he was brought forth from carnal generation, but declared that he was not born of righteous parents, who by natural zeal from the primal commandment merited to arrive at such knowledge of Christ that, what he had not heard from his parents, he would nevertheless by his own study recognize the greater mysteries of Christ to be offered through the commandment, since the Lord says through the prophets: "Behold, I make new things"; and: "Before they come, they are announced to you"; and: "Do not remember the past," which are said carnally in the law. And the Savior says: "What is born of flesh is flesh, and what is born of spirit is spirit." For concerning this, when it says that he was brought forth without father, without mother, Scripture announced that he was an inquirer without tradition and teaching of his parents, and declared him powerful by nature and capable of heavenly wisdom, that is, of the mystery of Christ through the commandment, as one taking heed.

The apostle, knowing that human nature is capable of heavenly knowledge and piety, preached thus in all things: For when the Gentiles, who do not have the law, naturally do those things which are of the law, these, not having the law, are a law unto themselves, who show the work of the law written in their hearts, and so forth. And what the Lord also said to Peter, that flesh and blood had not revealed it to him, but the Father who is in heaven, showing indeed the faith of the Lord and Savior. And therefore the Lord himself again: If anyone has not been reborn from water and spirit, he will not enter, he says, into the kingdom of heaven. And again in the law: Those who said to their father and mother, 'We do not know you,' they have kept my commandment, when the Lord says that not the begetting of parents is to be hated, of course, but their pagan impiety is to be spurned and condemned in every way *** he praised, when he says: If anyone has not renounced all his own, he will not be worthy in the kingdom of heaven. Here therefore the blessed one.

Melchisedech, although he was born from foreigners, that is, from impious Canaanites, having spurned the impiety of his parents, since he was capable of divine law and heavenly knowledge through his own study as the image of God, having investigated the mystery of Christ, having despised his impious parents, not only did he come to know Christ the Lord beforehand by command, but moreover he also merited to behold and understand his heavenly mystery and to celebrate it. And therefore the apostle said to the baptized: "You, however, are not in the flesh, but in the spirit." There was therefore at that time a union of fellowship between two peoples, Melchisedech and Abraham, a fitting rationale of the foreskin and of circumcision, so that Melchisedech indeed would bear the person of Christians, just as we live and celebrate in all things, while the circumcision of the Jews would appear in the figure of Abraham, subject to the faith of Christ and serving his heavenly saving mystery, so that blessed Abraham was subject to the great priest Melchisedech, and moreover did not hesitate to offer tithes from his resources to him as king and priest of God, just as now the unteachableness of the Jews is subject to us, so that it may wish to learn and gradually recognize from us the mysteries of Christ from the law and the prophets, and hope for heavenly knowledge in his passion from the law and the prophets alike.

There are some who read in Zechariah what he says: “The fast of the fourth day, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth will be for the house of Israel for exultation and joy.” What then? If someone wishes to fast every week or for many months, will he fall into prejudice? Far from it. Rather, he will have greater praise; as many prophets did, and as very many righteous men do every day. But when it says four fasts, it decrees, as it were, four days to be fasted, yet it did not tell us of any month or year, but proclaimed it so absolutely that we might recognize the mysteries of Christianity announced in those four fasts. For throughout the year four fasts are celebrated in the Church: first at the Nativity, then at Easter, third at the Ascension, fourth at Pentecost. For at the Nativity of the Lord Savior one must fast, then at the Easter of the forty days equally, at the Ascension likewise into heaven on the fortieth day after Easter, and from there up to Pentecost for ten days or afterwards.

which the blessed apostles did after the Ascension, persisting in fasts and prayers, as it is written, that they merited the fullness of the divine Spirit at Pentecost and the perfection of power, so that, with the outpouring of the divine Spirit flowing in, already armed with heavenly weapons, all doubt set aside in which they had previously been, they afterwards hastened daily to become invincible teachers and glorious martyrs of the Lord himself, teaching Jews and pagans, and proving to them from the Law and the Prophets that Christ is everywhere God coeternal with the Father by the testimonies of the prophets, and announcing his most salutary carnal presence to the whole world. Others, however, think that the Scripture spoke according to the four seasons of each year, others also assert that it was said of Noah, that first, when he heard and believed, then when he built the ark, afterwards when he entered it, fourthly when he came out of the ark. Others, however, think that the Scripture spoke of the Israelites, that, when the people first heard through Moses in Egypt, at that time they believed and were freed from Pharaoh and the Egyptians, then that they came out of Egypt, thirdly that they went to the mountain and received the law from the Lord Savior, fourthly that they entered the land of promise;

but not all entered, as it is written, except only two, Jesus and Caleb, as the scripture said. Others, however, said that these four fasts were imposed on the Church in the four books of Moses, because first God made everything in Genesis and man, as it is written; second, in Exodus, that every man believing in Christ the God will go forth delivered from darkness; third, that in Leviticus he offers various sacrifices, which are there all the mysteries of Christianity; fourth, that after the offering of spiritual gifts in the book of Numbers every faithful person deserves to be enrolled, as the Lord also says: Rejoice, for your names are written in the book of the heavens. Therefore David also says of the Jews: Let them be erased from the book, and not be written with the just. And he himself again: And in your book those believing in you will be enrolled. These fasts we must also take in the four Gospels, from the patriarchs, prophets, priests, and apostles, which are to be fulfilled in us, because first the faith of the patriarchs, then the virtue of the prophets, third the labor of the priests, fourth the perfection of the apostles in invincible struggle are announced: which diverse virtues, intertwined with each other, flourish in their own times, and, teaching men, supply diverse joys of delight to those who desire and receive them.

There are heretics who, when they read in Solomon: "Sixty queens, and eighty concubines, and maidens whose number is not given," think that he set forth the number of women and maidens and concubines for the sake of women. And since they think thus, they are judged unfruitful, or rather impious like pagans and unlearned and untaught like Jews, not knowing that these things are rational and intelligible, announced by the same author, which in the majesty and power of Christ were shown to be coming as diverse gifts of graces to the human race, and at different times were imparted by the same to the will and capacity of those desiring them, not because God denies equal grace, but according to what the will of men was known to be able to receive, the Lord himself bestowing and conferring upon those who seek diligently, as the blessed apostle Peter says: "In truth I have found that God is not a respecter of persons." And the apostle Paul likewise: "God," he says, "does not accept the person of a man." Therefore, according to the will, as each one is capable and desires, so it is bestowed and imparted to him daily by God Christ. Therefore, diverse dignities and diverse glories were announced to us by Solomon: indeed, in the mandate, the law, and the grace of Christ, and for every people, that is, for the first, second, and last time, what diverse gifts of the dignity of merits were conferred, so that to the first people, then to the Jews, thirdly to the Christians;

because, taught by those earlier ones who existed before the Jews, we daily see poured forth, in the presence of Christ and of God Christ, a diverse outpoured grace for those who grasp and seek it. For that some souls are called to governance, some to union, some to the increase of perfection of age in union with the future faith of Christ the Lord, is manifest, as the apostle says: He who coheres with Christ the Lord is one body. For where the name "queen" is spoken, the excellence of nobility of the heavenly kingdom is revealed, which the Lord, while proclaiming the calling of many, announces the future election of the few, in whom a threefold dignity of virtue shines forth. And in the Gospel, when the Lord says to him: If you wish to be perfect, go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and come follow me, and you will have a treasure in heaven, and he was saddened, it says, as it is written.

Therefore, even if it was done generally according to the division of time and peoples, yet in the presence of Christ a threefold grace and dignity shines forth, so that some are shown as perfect, others as following, and others as about to follow afterward—not in one single mode of dignity, that is, of obtaining the heavenly kingdom, but according to their faith and labor and diverse struggles, they will receive a fitting reward, as the Lord says: “There are many mansions in my Father’s house.” For this reason, David also praises the soul called to governance in every way, teaching: “The queen stood at your right hand.” He also exhorts another to follow: “Hear, daughter, and see, and forget your father’s house, and the king will desire your beauty.” Therefore, as is reasonable, it is fitting to recognize that some will be assigned to the kingdom, others to paradise, and others to life and the remission of sins in the future—which is not denied to those who run and desire it now as they ought; but to those who are negligent and do not run rightly, these things will not be granted by the Lord.

There is a heresy which thinks that Jesus son of Nave circumcised the people of the Jews with stone knives; which neither the nature of things admits nor virtue or reason persuades. For the Jews could more easily have been endangered than cured; and although according to the power of God nothing is impossible, yet the nature of things does not allow it nor does reason persuade. Therefore it does not say that the Jews were circumcised with stone knives, but that the pagans, with their very hard and stony minds, which had previously been given over to impiety, afterwards believing in the Lord, having lost their stony mind, deserved, being circumcised by the word of God, to circumcise the Jews with mind and doctrine already celestial, that is, to instill in them the saving knowledge of Christ, announcing and confirming it from the law and the prophets on all sides. For even daily the Jews are circumcised by those who were formerly gentiles, that is, they are taught from the law and the prophets, concerning the faith of Christ the Lord and Savior; who, if they believe, will themselves receive the remedy of salvation: but those persisting in the hardness of a stony mind will be held in eternal judgment.

Therefore the Lord also said, in their stubborn contradiction, that their children—that is, the pagans themselves—would be their judges and teachers, that is, the people of the nations, who previously dwelt in a stony mind, but afterward, through faith in Christ, deserved to attain saving knowledge. But Israel, running according to the law, as it is written, could not attain the virtue of the law, because it hastened to run not from faith but from works. For Jacob says that he himself will be the hope of the nations, not of the Jews. Therefore all the nations must first believe; then, at last, from those nations the Jews are to learn and hear the teaching of Christ the Lord from the law and the prophets, and so acquiesce, so that it may be fulfilled: "Until the fullness of the nations enters, and thus all Israel will be saved," as it is written. And another prophet says: "Take from them a stony heart, O Lord, and give them a heart of flesh." And the Lord says: "If these are silent, the stones will cry out.

Another is the heresy which thinks that the breath which Adam received is only as much as that which was granted to the apostles by Christ after the resurrection, not knowing that the breath is of modest power, a certain grace in hearing the law of God proper to many, but the spirit is the fullness of perfection. Breath, therefore, is given from infancy and to catechumens, but the spirit is, in the increase of doctrine and faith, the full grace of God of saving baptism, so that you may understand and already be able to attain to greater knowledge. Therefore after baptism, one who is baptized into the Trinity receives the spirit, like the apostles, and no longer the breath. For breath is common to all, but the spirit belongs to the few who are faithful and believing and learning, and as it were advancing from honor to honor and from glory to greater and heavenly knowledge and grace, as the apostle says, that we proceed from faith to faith, and hasten to advance from glory to glory.

Therefore he himself says: "The first man from the earth is earthly, the second man from heaven is heavenly," so that nature might be found neither without a share in Christ's gift nor entirely alien, that is, not even a catechumen, and so that faith, teaching, zeal, and a distinguished life might be recognized as abundant in the will of the few faithful and desirous, as the Lord says: "To one who has, it will be given, and more will be added to him; but from one who does not have, even what he seems to have will be taken away." This happened to the Jew, and likewise to many others. There is a heresy which, when it hears in the prophet Zechariah about the surveyor's cord—about which the blessed prophet David also declared, that an angel holding it went to measure Jerusalem—supposes that Scripture said this according to the letter, not understanding that it was not Jerusalem that was to be measured, which was to be handed over to enemies, but that the election of the rightly believing and the few perfect ones was announced as about to come through the angel, as it is said: "Many are called, but few are chosen.

Therefore Jerusalem was measured by the surveyor's cord, that is, both before among a few, and after the faith of Christ, the elect generation of the few of the catholic faith was proclaimed in the world. And the apostle says: "There must be heresies, so that the approved may be made manifest." Because the hereditary cord is woven with a threefold virtue, that is, of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, this conjunction, when it is received in one and the same faith and belief, the unity of equality and truth, to be joined and the power to be cultivated, is recognized by the catholic church, not proclaimed to be believed in a diverse substance of majesty or quality, as some heretics suppose. And the Lord deigned to say: "Do you think the Son of Man, when he comes, will find faith on earth?" Because both the prophet before, what then was among a few, and after Christ's presence, passion and resurrection ... and the divine sentence, that they would be transgressors, was so announced, as are the heretics today who, departing from the Holy Spirit or from the Son, daily assert a diverse majesty and inequality of power.

they preach, erring. Therefore in this we must recognize that the threefold cord, as Solomon says, will not be broken, and that it must be believed by us that the Son and the Holy Spirit are likewise from the divine substance and proper to it, the Spirit indeed connected to the Father in all things, who must be known and worshipped by all. In this conjunction of baptism, therefore, the Savior deigned to confirm us, commanding: "Go, baptize all nations in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." In which, joining the Son to the Father, and the Spirit with the Son and the Father, we are understood to obtain this salvation, because we know that the remedy of salvation comes to the human race from no other source than this faith. Hence we rejoice in this conjunction of the holy and adorable Trinity, in which before Adam our father, Noah, Abraham, Moses and the prophets, priests, judges, apostles, and likewise the evangelists, preaching, merited to attain angelic dignity, in which the Catholic Church also exults, preaching and teaching this daily, and destroying all this pagan impiety and Jewish iniquity daily, it exults in all joy.

For even if the threefold cord is to be understood first as the commandment, then the law in the intervening time, and then the grace of the Savior, it is of no small benefit; or if one wishes to take it as faith, hope, and charity, as the blessed apostle said, even in this there is no small understanding for the more prudent and for very many who desire spiritual things. There are certain heretics who suppose about the blessed Elijah that crows brought him meat in the evening and bread in the morning for food, not noticing that the holy and most blessed prophet did not eat meat at any time, having despised all such food by voluntary abstinence; and for this reason he merited to obtain such great honor from God, that he was snatched up into paradise, where he was placed among all the saints. For if someone has said something about bread, it is sometimes reasonable that crows brought it to him; but concerning meat, it is found incongruous. For in this, the bestial cruelty of men persecuting the most blessed prophet was shown, while in the birds, that is, the crows, such great gentleness and mildness was displayed, that, from these birds which lacked human reason, which were not rational images of God, but birds created only as sensible beasts, yet in these birds, to the shame of men, of the Jews and of the king who with the worst will persecuted the prophet, recognition and gentleness of feeling were shown to be implanted in the work of such great service, which was daily ministered to the blessed prophet, so that in...

For among them a certain rational quality of gentleness would be found to exist, granted by God through a certain motion, as it were rational. For all things of this kind created by the Lord are subject to man, as to a king and rational being, and lord of the earth, of the whole multitude of beasts, birds, and serpents indeed, as is written in the book of Genesis and demonstrated. There is a heresy which, when it reads in the prophet Isaiah that Cherubim and Seraphim, two animals furnished with six wings, covered the face of God with two, the feet with two, and with two cried out with a lofty voice praising God, is greatly disturbed, and now seeking the history, now searching out the intelligible meaning, is wearied by diverse ambiguity, although according to the letter there is no small benefit, and according to the intelligible meaning the heavenly knowledge of Christ resounds. For according to the letter first, that the Scripture, teaching that God is invisible, everywhere condemned the impiety of the pagans, in which their impious scriptures proclaim a visible and composite god, and then also that of the Jews: for lest they too, covered by the same blindness as the impious Gentiles, should perish with corrupted senses, it taught this.

But here also was the future incredulity of the Jews at the time of Christ’s presence and the covering of the mystery to be announced, because, covered by excessive blindness, they were later to believe neither the prophet nor the Lord himself, when he was sent to the people and preached openly: “You will hear with the ear, and you will see with the eye, and you will not pay attention”; for, covered by darkness, they were not to recognize the light of eternal salvation, that is, the carnal presence of Christ, just as indeed happened. And the apostle, teaching that a veil is placed even today in their hearts, affirmed that it will not be removed until they believe in Christ as savior. But when they are converted, that is, believe in the Lord Christ, the veil will be taken away from their hearts. Moreover, that the two living creatures announced are Cherubim and Seraphim—the Law and the Prophets, witnesses of Christ and teachers of the age—is not ambiguous. But they veiled the face and feet of the Lord because the mystery was taught in parables, similitudes, and enigmas, as it is written: “I will open my mouth in a parable”; and David: “Uncover my eyes, and I will consider the wonders of your law”; and the apostle: “The father revealed his Son to me,” he says, that is, showing from the Law and the Prophets.

But they had six wings, and with two they covered the face, and with two the feet, and with two they cried out, lest perhaps the face and feet, covered, as it says, of the Lord, that which is above and below, and the length and breadth, be thought of concerning God, because neither the height nor the depth nor the breadth nor the length of God can be known or worthily found by any creature, and especially by man, or grasped by the human senses of some: who, even in creating such an immense nature of the elements, how much more must he who is known to have made such things surpass in every way? But he is known only through faith; because, it says, "Power is perfected and found in weakness, in likeness and enigmas." And when such an immensity of God is spoken and proclaimed, it is sung and preached by two wings, that is, by Cherubim and Seraphim, by the law and the prophets. The crying out of the two wings also, by day and night, that is, both here and in the future, the credulity of the human heart and the confession of the mouth, never ceasing, is found, resounding daily what was then sung by the angels and preached by men in the world; so that, what they could not see in the height, depth, breadth, and length, they, believing in heart, and confessing with mouth, singing with unceasing voice, might rejoice at all times.

For that the substance of the divine quality of nature is invisible and incomprehensible is shown in the Law and the Prophets, with John saying: No one has ever seen God. He did not say: 'did not believe', but: 'did not see'. Therefore the Lord granted the power of believing and the confidence only of confessing, so that his ineffable power, manifested in carnal frailty, might be known: which the Lord everywhere holds forth his faith to men, which he himself had given before, and afterwards confirmed in his own presence. But the Cherubim and Seraphim, fourfold, that is of lion, ox, man, and eagle, are the diverse contests of the saints and likewise of the virtues, stronger and surpassing their varied dignity, of the patriarchs indeed and prophets, priests and apostles likewise joined with the martyrs, so that, in whom before such great faith and love of Christ abounding was known, but unequal doctrine in some, later compelled by the circumstance of the time, was perceived, yet not unequal the glory of faith and contest in the conjunction of diverse virtue might be shown as granted and conceded by Christ and known among the whole Christian people.

that we, who cannot see nor adequately define with human senses, by believing in our hearts and confessing with our mouths, may not cease, by the powers of these two wings, to proclaim this joy to Jews and Gentiles, and to fly aloft with these sublime virtues, hoping for heavenly things, where Christ is Lord, as the apostle says, and not doubting that in this sentence we can attain perpetual salvation, the same teacher instructing: 'If you have believed in your heart and have confessed Christ the Lord and Savior, crucified in the body, to have risen, you will be saved: for it is by the heart that one believes unto righteousness, and by the mouth that confession is made unto salvation.' Hence it is said of Christ the Lord that the divine substance of his quality does not consist in vision, measure, or any composition, but is abundantly perfected in the faith of his power and in our confession. That we might know what its breadth and length, height and depth are, he taught that the most eminent and incomprehensible grace and power of Christ God cannot be powerfully expressed by human frailty, but can be easily attained in faith and through faith, which the human mind is not able to recount.

There are some who think that the blessed Isaiah, after the confession of the sinful people and the prayer which he, as a suppliant, had poured out to God, that one of the Cherubim came, sent by the Lord to the prophet, and took a coal with tongs, and touched his lips, and said to him: "Behold, you are now cleansed." And they think that either one of the angels came to him, or one of the living creatures, and took fire with tongs and cleansed the most blessed prophet. This is not so much a matter of saving knowledge, since when it says here "one of the Cherubim or Seraphim, a living creature," it speaks of the two testaments, from which patriarchs, priests, prophets, and apostles have flowed forth, who, for the whole world, were showing the grace that was to come, administering the shining gifts of fourfold virtue to those grasping for heavenly contests. For when it says "of the Cherubim" or "of the Seraphim," it means fullness of knowledge and is called the fiery power that traverses all. These, therefore, having the fullness of spiritual knowledge and holding the riches of the mystery of Christ, by the Lord's command send down and convey to us diverse doctrines, likewise announcing them to every age without any interruption. From among them, one was sent to the prophet Isaiah, announcing this doctrine of Christ, the Savior, that he was about to come in the flesh, and that he would bring the abundant grace of the divine Spirit to believers.

Isaiah thus had received from the patriarchs, the law, and his prophetic predecessors a stronger grace, that is, a greater power of the divine spirit, from those before him, so that he might announce the mystery of Christ, that is, his incarnation, to the world as a grace. Therefore the Lord also said to some: O hard of heart and imprudent in mind, why do you not notice that the law and the prophets had previously foretold what was to come concerning the son of man, and that all things had to be fulfilled? For he said that the blessed Isaiah received from the patriarchs and the law, so that, taught by them, he might with a strong spirit preach the carnal presence of Christ. And the fire which he said the angel received and purified his lips, that certainly showed the grace of the divine spirit granted to him by the Lord, as he says: I come to send fire into the world, which I wish to be kindled quickly. But concerning the tongs, that is, the iron, its invincible and divine nature, he indeed said that the power of the body of Christ was created and perfected in the womb of the holy virgin by the divine spirit and divine power, as it is written: The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of God will overshadow you, and in that body appearing, it would conquer all things, but be overcome by none.

Just as all things are tamed and subdued by iron, from which also the sword is born, so, as has been said, the word of the Lord is like a two-edged sword, which can tame all things, but cannot be tamed by anything. And He was about to give to them, after the Passion, in the Resurrection, the invincible power of the divine Spirit to the blessed apostles, as it is written: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me," and so forth. And the blessed Peter, concerning the promise received from the Father, says to the Jews: "He has poured out," he says, "this grace which you see and hear today." Just as we know that fire is shaped by tongs, so also we know that the body of the Lord was formed by the divine Spirit, and that He gave to His followers in that body that promised grace and invincible power, as He says: "I have given you the power to trample upon every power of the enemy." And the Apostle: "Who will separate us from the love of Christ?" Through which, to all those already believing in this age, as has been said, through the laying on of hands by the apostles, the divine Spirit was given to those believing in Christ the Lord as Savior.

And just as two animals are taken to mean these two testaments of the law and the prophets, standing by the Lord, as the apostles saw on the mountain, yet it will be reasonable that the two animals are to be understood: the first commandment, which was given, which can also be understood spiritually, as it is written, which the Savior did not dissolve but rather confirmed; the second animal, however, contained the teaching of Christ, that is, his faith and the grace of the incarnation and the mystery of the testament and his passion and resurrection. Hence the letter is placed in the middle between the commandment and grace; which, if it is understood, is taken as consistent with Christ in many respects; but if someone thinks he can be saved by carnal justification, it is decreed to be rejected, since before the law, that is, before three thousand seven hundred years, the earlier righteous men living under the commandment, worshiping the blessed Trinity and handing it down to their sons and relatives, were preaching to the age and proclaiming the mystery of the Lord Christ from that most ancient commandment itself.

The law, therefore, is an admonition of the commandment, which is both joined according to the faith of the worshipful Trinity, and again certain things of it are separated on account of Jewish and carnal justification, since the prophets had already destroyed those things before, and the Saviour rejected them, and the apostles forbade men to be circumcised. The law, therefore, descended from the commandment, by reason of a compelling carnal cause, for a time; but the grace of Christ, that is, the mystery of the incarnation, passion, resurrection, faith, and ascension into heaven, was known before the law by all the just, and was not hidden from those seeking and grasping it, as Enoch and Noah and Melchizedek, as Jacob and other just and most blessed patriarchs, and others who lived before the law of Moses, being placed under the commandment and justified in all things by the Lord. But the law and the faith of Christ is spoken of, as the apostle says: "Bear the law of the faith of Christ"; the carnal law is the justification of the Jews. The commandment, however, even if it is not thought to be law, yet because it is spoken and decreed by the lord to the servant, it has the nature of law, so that he may choose what he wishes, either to keep it as a friend and faithful one, or to despise it as a servant subject under law.

Hence the Savior gave a command to the apostles, as to our father Adam before he sinned, similarly concerning friends and the faithful; but after the sin, it was no longer a command of fellowship, closeness, love, and brotherhood, but a judgment of fearful severity was decreed, namely in the contempt of the law's sentences, as even Moses says: "Cursed is everyone who does not remain in the statutes of this book." Therefore the Savior both admonished what had been said in the law, and confirmed what had been given before the law under those most blessed ones, so as to join his own teaching with theirs of old, and to unite many thus believing and circumcised together, and likewise to associate the natural ones, that is, the believing Gentiles, and to condemn the disbelief of the unwilling Jews and others, and the combined ignorance of both.