Chapter VIII.—The True Doctrine is to Be Sought in the Prophets.

It is now time, as we have despatched in order the other points, to go to the prophetic Scriptures; for the oracles present us with the appliances necessary for the attainment of piety, and so establish the truth. The divine Scriptures and institutions of wisdom form the short road to salvation. Devoid of embellishment, of outward beauty of diction, of wordiness and seductiveness, they raise up humanity strangled by wickedness, teaching men to despise the casualties of life; and with one and the same voice remedying many evils, they at once dissuade us from pernicious deceit, and clearly exhort us to the attainment of the salvation set before us. Let the Sibyl74    [Note her remarkable accord with inspiration, clearly distinguishing between such and the oracles of God. But see, supra, p. 132 and p. 145.] prophetess, then, be the first to sing to us the song of salvation:—

where, in remarkable accordance with inspiration75    [Having shown what truth there is to be found in heathen poets, he ascends to the Sibyl, and thus comes to the prophets; showing them how to climb upward in this way, and cleverly inducing them to make the best use of their own prophets and poets, by following them to the sources of their noblest ideas.] she compares delusion to darkness, and the knowledge of God to the sun and light, and subjecting both to comparison, shows the choice we ought to make. For falsehood is not dissipated by the bare presentation of the truth, but by the practical improvement of the truth it is ejected and put to flight.

Jeremiah the prophet, gifted with consummate wisdom,76    [How sublimely he now introduces the oracles of truth.] or rather the Holy Spirit in Jeremiah, exhibits God. “Am I a God at hand,” he says, “and not a God afar off? Shall a man do ought in secret, and I not see him? Do I not fill heaven and earth? Saith the Lord.”77    Jer. xxiii. 23.

And again by Isaiah, “Who shall measure heaven with a span, and the whole earth with his hand?”78    Isa. xl. 12. Behold God’s greatness, and be filled with amazement. Let us worship Him of whom the prophet says, “Before Thy face the hills shall melt, as wax melteth before the fire!”79    Isa. lxiv. 1, 2. This, says he, is the God “whose throne is heaven, and His footstool the earth; and if He open heaven, quaking will seize thee.”80    Isa. lxvi. 1. Will you hear, too, what this prophet says of idols? “And they shall be made a spectacle of in the face of the sun, and their carcases shall be meat for the fowls of heaven and the wild beasts of the earth; and they shall putrefy before the sun and the moon, which they have loved and served; and their city shall be burned down.”81    Jer. viii. 2, xxx. 20, iv. 6. He says, too, that the elements and the world shall be destroyed. “The earth,” he says, “shall grow old, and the heaven shall pass away; but the word of the Lord endureth for ever.” What, then, when again God wishes to show Himself by Moses: “Behold ye, behold ye, that I Am, and there is no other God beside Me. I will kill, and I will make to live; I will strike, and I will heal; and there is none who shall deliver out of My hands.”82    Deut. xxxii. 39. But do you wish to hear another seer? You have the whole prophetic choir, the associates of Moses. What the Holy Spirit says by Hosea, I will not shrink from quoting: “Lo, I am He that appointeth the thunder, and createth spirit; and His hands have established the host of heaven.”83    Amos iv. 13. And once more by Isaiah. And this utterance I will repeat: “I am,” he says, “I am the Lord; I who speak righteousness, announce truth. Gather yourselves together, and come. Take counsel together, ye that are saved from the nations. They have not known, they who set up the block of wood, their carved work, and pray to gods who will not save them.”84    Isa. xlv. 19, 20. Then proceeding: “I am God, and there is not beside Me a just God, and a Saviour: there is none except Me. Turn to Me, and ye will be saved, ye that are from the end of the earth. I am God, and there is no other; by Myself I swear.”85    Isa. xlv. 21–23. But against the worshippers of idols he is exasperated, saying, “To whom will ye liken the Lord, or to what likeness will ye compare Him? Has not the artificer made the image, or the goldsmith melted the gold and plated it with gold?”86    Isa. xl. 18, 19.—and so on. Be not therefore idolaters, but even now beware of the threatenings; “for the graven images and the works of men’s hands shall wail, or rather they that trust in them,”87    Isa. x. 10, 11. for matter is devoid of sensation. Once more he says, “The Lord will shake the cities that are inhabited, and grasp the world in His hand like a nest.”88    Isa. x. 14. Why repeat to you the mysteries of wisdom, and sayings from the writings of the son of the Hebrews, the master of wisdom? “The Lord created me the beginning of His ways, in order to His works.”89    Prov. viii. 22. And, “The Lord giveth wisdom, and from His face proceed knowledge and understanding.”90    Prov. ii. 6. “How long wilt thou lie in bed, O sluggard; and when wilt thou be aroused from sleep?”91    Prov. vi. 9. “but if thou show thyself no sluggard, as a fountain thy harvest shall come,”92    Prov. vi. 11. the “Word of the Father, the benign light, the Lord that bringeth light, faith to all, and salvation.”93    Prov. vi. 23. For “the Lord who created the earth by His power,” as Jeremiah says, “has raised up the world by His wisdom;”94    Jer. x. 12. for wisdom, which is His word, raises us up to the truth, who have fallen prostrate before idols, and is itself the first resurrection from our fall. Whence Moses, the man of God, dissuading from all idolatry, beautifully exclaims, “Hear, O Israel, the Lord thy God is one Lord; and thou shall worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shall thou serve.”95    Deut. vi. 4, 13, x. 20. “Now therefore be wise, O men,” according to that blessed psalmist David; “lay hold on instruction, lest the Lord be angry, and ye perish from the way of righteousness, when His wrath has quickly kindled. Blessed are all they who put their trust in Him.”96    Ps. ii. 10, 12. But already the Lord, in His surpassing pity, has inspired the song of salvation, sounding like a battle march, “Sons of men, how long will ye be slow of heart? Why do you love vanity, and seek after a lie?”97    Ps. iv. 2. What, then, is the vanity, and what the lie? The holy apostle of the Lord, reprehending the Greeks, will show thee: “Because that, when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and changed the glory of God into the likeness of corruptible man, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator.”98    Rom. i. 21, 23, 25. And verily this is the God who “in the beginning made the heaven and the earth.”99    Gen. i. 1. But you do not know God, and worship the heaven, and how shall you escape the guilt of impiety? Hear again the prophet speaking: “The sun, shall suffer eclipse, and the heaven be darkened; but the Almighty shall shine for ever: while the powers of the heavens shall be shaken, and the heavens stretched out and drawn together shall be rolled as a parchment-skin (for these are the prophetic expressions), and the earth shall flee away from before the face of the Lord.”100    This is made up of several passages, as Isa. xiii. 10, Ezek. xxxii. 7, Joel ii. 10, 31, iii. 15.

Ὥρα τοίνυν τῶν ἄλλων ἡμῖν τῇ τάξει προδιηνυσμένων ἐπὶ τὰς προφητικὰς ἰέναι γραφάς· καὶ γὰρ οἱ χρησμοὶ τὰς εἰς τὴν θεοσέβειαν ἡμῖν ἀφορμὰς ἐναργέστατα προτείνοντες θεμελιοῦσι τὴν ἀλήθειαν· γραφαὶ δὲ αἱ θεῖαι καὶ πολιτεῖαι σώφρονες σύντομοι σωτηρίας ὁδοί· γυμναὶ κομμωτικῆς καὶ τῆς ἐκτὸς καλλιφωνίας καὶ στωμυλίας καὶ κολακείας ὑπάρχουσαι ἀνιστῶσιν ἀγχόμενον ὑπὸ κακίας τὸν ἄνθρωπον, ὑπερείδουσαι τὸν ὄλισθον τὸν βιωτικόν, μιᾷ καὶ τῇ αὐτῇ φωνῇ πολλὰ θεραπεύουσαι, ἀποτρέπουσαι μὲν ἡμᾶς τῆς ἐπιζημίου ἀπάτης, προτρέπουσαι δὲ ἐμφανῶς εἰς προὖπτον σωτηρίαν. Αὐτίκα γοῦν ἡ προφῆτις ἡμῖν ᾀσάτω πρώτη Σίβυλλα τὸ ᾆσμα τὸ σωτήριον· οὗτος ἰδοὺ πάντ' ἐστὶ σαφής, ἀπλάνητος ὑπάρχει· ἔλθετε, μὴ σκοτίην δὲ διώκετε καὶ ζόφον αἰεί. Ἠελίου γλυκυδερκές, ἰδού, φάος ἔξοχα λάμπει. Γνῶτε δὲ κατθέμενοι σοφίην ἐν στήθεσιν ὑμῶν. Εἷς θεός ἐστι βροχάς, ἀνέμους, σεισμούς τ' ἐπιπέμπων, ἀστεροπάς, λιμούς, λοιμοὺς καὶ κήδεα λυγρὰ καὶ νιφετούς, κρύσταλλα· τί δὴ καθ' ἓν ἐξαγορεύω; Οὐρανοῦ ἡγεῖται, γαίης κρατεῖ, αὐτὸς ὑπάρχει. ἐνθέως σφόδρα τὴν μὲν ἀπάτην ἀπεικάζουσα τῷ σκότει, τὴν δὲ τοῦ θεοῦ γνῶσιν ἡλίῳ καὶ φωτί, ἄμφω δὲ παραθεμένη τῇ συγκρίσει τὴν ἐκλογὴν διδάσκει· τὸ γὰρ ψεῦδος οὐ ψιλῇ τῇ παραθέσει τἀληθοῦς διασκεδάννυται, τῇ δὲ χρήσει τῆς ἀληθείας ἐκβιαζόμενον φυγαδεύεται. Ἱερεμίας δὲ ὁ προφήτης ὁ πάνσοφος, μᾶλλον δὲ ἐν Ἱερεμίᾳ τὸ ἅγιον πνεῦμα ἐπιδείκνυσι τὸν θεόν. "Θεὸς ἐγγίζων ἐγώ εἰμι", φησί, "καὶ οὐχὶ θεὸς πόρρωθεν. Εἰ ποιήσει τι ἄνθρωπος ἐν κρυφαίοις, καὶ ἐγὼ οὐκ ὄψομαι αὐτόν; Οὐχὶ τοὺς οὐρανοὺς καὶ τὴν γῆν ἐγὼ πληρῶ; Λέγει κύριος." Πάλιν δὲ αὖ διὰ Ἡσαΐου "Τίς μετρήσει", φησί, "τὸν οὐρανὸν σπιθαμῇ καὶ πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν δρακί;" Ὅρα τὸ μέγεθος τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ καταπλάγηθι. Τοῦτον προσκυνήσωμεν, ἐφ' οὗ φησιν ὁ προφήτης "ἀπὸ προσώπου σου ὄρη τακή σονται, ὡς ἀπὸ προσώπου πυρὸς τήκεται κηρός." Οὗτος, φησίν, ἐστὶν ὁ θεός, "οὗ θρόνος μέν ἐστιν ὁ οὐρανός, ὑποπό διον δὲ ἡ γῆ", "ὃς ἐὰν ἀνοίξῃ τὸν οὐρανόν, τρόμος σε λήψε ται." Βούλει καὶ περὶ τῶν εἰδώλων ἀκοῦσαι τί φησὶν προφή της οὗτος; "Παραδειγματισθήσονται ἔμπροσθεν τοῦ ἡλίου καὶ ἔσται τὰ θνησιμαῖα αὐτῶν βρώματα τοῖς πετεινοῖς τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καὶ τοῖς θηρίοις τῆς γῆς, καὶ σαπήσεται ὑπὸ τοῦ ἡλίου καὶ τῆς σελήνης, ἃ αὐτοὶ ἠγάπησαν καὶ οἷς αὐτοὶ ἐδούλευσαν, καὶ ἐμπρησθήσεται ἡ πόλις αὐτῶν. "Φθαρή σεσθαι δὲ καὶ τὰ στοιχεῖα καὶ τὸν κόσμον σὺν καὶ αὐτοῖς λέγει· "ἡ γῆ", φησί, "παλαιωθήσεται καὶ ὁ οὐρανὸς παρελεύσεται", "τὸ δὲ ῥῆμα κυρίου μένει εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα." Τί δὲ ὅταν πάλιν ἑαυτὸν δεικνύναι ὁ θεὸς βουληθῇ διὰ Μωυσέως; "Ἴδετε ἴδετε ὅτι ἐγώ εἰμι καὶ οὐκ ἔστι θεὸς ἕτερος πλὴν ἐμοῦ. Ἐγὼ ἀποκτενῶ καὶ ζῆν ποιήσω· πατάξω κἀγὼ ἰάσομαι, καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν ὃς ἐξελεῖται ἐκ τῶν χειρῶν μου." Ἀλλὰ καὶ ἑτέρου ἐπακοῦσαι θέλεις χρησμῳδοῦ; Ἔχεις τὸν χορὸν πάντα τὸν προφητικόν, τοὺς συνθιασώτας τοῦ Μωυσέως. Τί φησὶν αὐτοῖς τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον διὰ Ὠσηέ; Οὐκ ὀκνήσω λέγειν "ἰδού, ἐγὼ στερεῶν βροντὴν καὶ κτίζων πνεῦμα", οὗ αἱ χεῖρες τὴν στρατιὰν τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ἐθεμελίωσαν. Ἔτι δὲ καὶ διὰ Ἡσαΐου (καὶ ταύτην ἀπομνημονεύσω σοι τὴν φωνήν)· "ἐγώ εἰμι, ἐγώ εἰμι", φησίν, "ὁ κύριος ὁ λαλῶν δικαιοσύνην καὶ ἀναγγέλλων ἀλήθειαν· συνάχθητε καὶ ἥκετε· βουλεύσασθε ἅμα, οἱ σῳζόμενοι ἀπὸ τῶν ἐθνῶν. Οὐκ ἔγνωσαν οἱ αἴροντες τὸ ξύλον γλύμμα αὐτῶν, καὶ προσευχόμενοι θεοῖς οἳ οὐ σώσουσιν αὐτούς." Εἶθ' ὑποβάς "ἐγώ", φησίν, "ὁ θεός, καὶ οὐκ ἔστι πλὴν ἐμοῦ δίκαιος, καὶ σωτὴρ οὐκ ἔστι πάρεξ ἐμοῦ· ἐπιστράφητε πρός με καὶ σωθήσεσθε οἱ ἀπ' ἐσχάτου τῆς γῆς. Ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ θεὸς καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν ἄλλος· κατ' ἐμαυτοῦ ὀμνύω." Τοῖς δὲ εἰδωλολάτραις δυσχεραίνει λέγων "τίνι ὡμοιώσατε κύριον; ἢ τίνι ὁμοιώματι ὡμοιώσατε αὐτόν; Μὴ εἰκόνα ἐποίησεν τέκτων, ἢ χρυσοχόος χωνεύσας χρυσίον περιεχρύσωσεν αὐτόν;" Καὶ τὰ ἐπὶ τούτοις. Μὴ οὖν ἔτι ὑμεῖς εἰδωλολάτραι; Ἀλλὰ κἂν νῦν φυλάξασθε τὰς ἀπειλάς· ὀλολύξει γὰρ τὰ γλυπτὰ καὶ τὰ χειροποίητα, μᾶλλον δὲ οἱ ἐπ' αὐτοῖς πεποι θότες, ἀναίσθητος γὰρ ἡ ὕλη. Ἔτι φησίν· "ὁ κύριος σείσει πόλεις κατοικουμένας καὶ τὴν οἰκουμένην ὅλην καταλήψεται τῇ χειρὶ ὡς νοσσιάν." Τί σοι σοφίας ἀναγγέλλω μυστήρια καὶ ῥήσεις ἐκ παιδὸς Ἑβραίου σεσοφισμένου; "Κύριος ἔκτισέν με ἀρχὴν ὁδῶν αὐτοῦ εἰς ἔργα αὐτοῦ", καὶ "Κύριος δίδωσι σοφίαν καὶ ἀπὸ προσώπου αὐτοῦ γνῶσις καὶ σύνεσις". "Ἕως πότε, ὀκνηρέ, κατάκεισαι; Πότε δὲ ἐξ ὕπνου ἐγερθήσῃ; Ἐὰν δὲ ἄοκνος ᾖς, ἥξει σοι ὥσπερ πηγὴ ὁ ἄμητός σου", ὁ λόγος ὁ πατρικός, ὁ ἀγαθὸς λύχνος, ὁ κύριος ἐπάγων τὸ φῶς, τὴν πίστιν πᾶσι καὶ σωτηρίαν. "Κύριος" γὰρ "ὁ ποιήσας τὴν γῆν ἐν τῇ ἰσχύι αὐτοῦ," ὥς φησιν Ἱερεμίας, "ἀνώρθωσεν τὴν οἰκουμένην ἐν τῇ σοφίᾳ αὐτοῦ." Ἀποπε σόντας γὰρ ἡμᾶς ἐπὶ τὰ εἴδωλα ἡ σοφία, ἥ ἐστιν ὁ λόγος αὐτοῦ, ἀνορθοῖ ἐπὶ τὴν ἀλήθειαν. Καὶ αὕτη πρώτη τοῦ παραπτώματος ἀνάστασις· ὅθεν ἀποτρέπων εἰδωλολατρείας ἁπάσης ὁ θεσπέσιος παγκάλως ἀνακέκραγε Μωυσῆς· "Ἄκουε Ἰσραήλ· κύριος ὁ θεός σου, κύριος εἷς ἐστι", καὶ "κύριον τὸν θεόν σου προσκυνήσεις καὶ αὐτῷ μόνῳ λατρεύ σεις"· νῦν δὴ οὖν σύνετε, ὦ ἄνθρωποι, κατὰ τὸν μακάριον ψαλμῳδὸν ἐκεῖνον τὸν ∆αβίδ· "∆ράξασθε παιδείας, μή ποτε ὀργισθῇ κύριος, καὶ ἀπολεῖσθε ἐξ ὁδοῦ δικαίας, ὅταν ἐκκαυθῇ ἐν τάχει ὁ θυμὸς αὐτοῦ. Μακάριοι πάντες οἱ πεποιθότες ἐπ' αὐτῷ." Ἤδη δὲ ὑπεροικτείρων ἡμᾶς ὁ κύριος τὸ σωτήριον ἐνδίδωσι μέλος, οἷον ἐμβατήριον ῥυθμόν· "Υἱοὶ ἀνθρώπων, ἕως πότε βαρυκάρδιοι; Ἵνα τί ἀγαπᾶτε ματαιότητα καὶ ζητεῖτε ψεῦδος;" Τίς οὖν ἡ ματαιότης καὶ τί τὸ ψεῦδος; Ὁ ἅγιος ἀπόστολος τοῦ κυρίου τοὺς Ἕλληνας αἰτιώμενος ἐξηγήσεταί σοι· "ὅτι γνόντες τὸν θεὸν οὐχ ὡς θεὸν ἐδόξασαν ἢ ηὐχαρίστησαν, ἀλλ' ἐματαιώθησαν ἐν τοῖς διαλογισμοῖς αὐτῶν, καὶ ἤλλαξαν τὴν δόξαν τοῦ θεοῦ ἐν ὁμοιώματι εἰκόνος φθαρτοῦ ἀνθρώπου, καὶ ἐλάτρευσαν τῇ κτίσει παρὰ τὸν κτίσαντα." Καὶ μὴν ὅ γε θεὸς οὗτος, ὃς "ἐν ἀρχῇ ἐποίησε τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν"· σὺ δὲ τὸν μὲν θεὸν οὐ νοεῖς, τὸν δὲ οὐρανὸν προσκυνεῖς, καὶ πῶς οὐκ ἀσεβεῖς; Ἄκουε πάλιν προφήτου λέγοντος "ἐκλείψει μὲν ὁ ἥλιος καὶ ὁ οὐρανὸς σκοτισθήσεται, λάμψει δὲ ὁ παντοκράτωρ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα, καὶ δυνάμεις τῶν οὐρανῶν σαλευθήσονται καὶ οἱ οὐρανοὶ εἱλιγήσονται ὡς δέρρις ἐκτεινόμενοι καὶ συστελλό μενοι" (αὗται γὰρ αἱ προφητικαὶ φωναί) "καὶ ἡ γῆ φεύξεται ἀπὸ προσώπου κυρίου."