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to set these things forth for us has also been said by name. But for them, who both confess a resurrection and define a just judgment, their ultimate perplexity and foolishness is no ordinary one. For how can there be both judgment and fate? For one of two things is necessary: either, if genesis exists, there is no judgment, because the one who acts does not act of himself, but by the necessity of the prevailing destiny, or that, since judgment exists and is threatened in truth, and laws judge, and those who do evil pay the penalty—with the law being confessed as just and the judgment of God most true—destiny is inactive and has no substance at all; 4. since because of the ability to sin and not to sin, it has been determined for each side differently, for the one to be required to pay the penalty for his sins, and for the other to expect praise for having done well. So as also with one voice † with a just, concise truth 1.213 to say that which was spoken through Isaiah the prophet from the person of the Lord, that 'If you are willing and obey me, you shall eat the good of the land; but if you are not willing and do not obey me, the sword shall devour you. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken these things.' So that it is clear to everyone, and plain, and beyond doubt, that God, who through himself said 'if you are willing and if you are not willing,' has granted free will, so that it is up to man to do good or to desire evil things. Therefore, then, the thought of those who believe there is genesis, and especially the Pharisees, is mistaken; to whom must be declared more frequently and in many ways, not with one voice but many times, the things said to them by the Savior: 'Woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you have neglected the weightier matters of the law, judgment and mercy, and you tithe dill and mint and rue, and you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but the inside is full of impurity and incontinence. And you approve that it is right to swear by what is upon the altar, but the oath by the altar itself is dissolved by you, and you say to swear by heaven is nothing, but if one swears by what is above heaven, this is justified. Does not the altar bear what is placed upon it, and is not heaven the throne of him who sits upon it? Or that you say, if anyone says to his father and mother, 'Corban,' that is, a gift, by which you might have been profited by me, he shall not honor his father, and you have made void the commandment of God by the tradition of your elders. And you travel sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of Gehenna as yourselves.' What more, then, than these holy sayings could one bring forward in opposition to the things said before? But I rather think it is sufficient 1.214 to be content with the wise and true words of the Savior, which they were not able to withstand in the slightest. Against the Hemerobaptists, a heresy from Judaism, 4th, but 17th in the sequence. 1. And there follows upon these a certain heresy of the Hemerobaptists, so-called, differing in no way from the others, but thinking the same as the Scribes and Pharisees, yet not equal to the Sadducees in their denial of the resurrection of the dead, but in their unbelief in other things. But this heresy possessed this peculiarity, that in spring and autumn, winter and summer, they were always baptized daily, from which they have also received the name Hemerobaptists. For this heresy claimed that it was not otherwise possible for a man to live, unless one were baptized every day in water, washing and purifying himself from every cause. 2. And against this heresy itself, our refutation will be made with one argument: that their doctrines are of unbelief rather than of faith. For their conscience convicts them
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ἐκθέσθαι ταῦτα ἡμῖν καὶ ὀνομαστὶ εἴρηται. ἐσχάτη δὲ αὐτοῖς ἀπορία καὶ ἠλιθιότης οὐχ ἡ τυχοῦσα, τοῖς καὶ ἀνάστασιν ὁμολογοῦσιν καὶ κρίσιν δικαίαν ὁριζομένοις. πῶς γὰρ δύναται κρίσις εἶναι καὶ εἱμαρμένη; δυοῖν γὰρ ἀνάγκη θάτερον, ἢ γενέσεως ὑπαρχούσης μὴ εἶναι κρίσιν διὰ τὸ τὸν πράττοντα οὐκ ἀφ' ἑαυτοῦ πράττειν, ἀλλὰ κατὰ ἀνάγκην ἐπικρατείας τῆς πεπρωμένης, ἢ ὅτι κρίσεως ὑπαρχούσης καὶ ἐν ἀληθείᾳ ἐπαπειλουμένης καὶ νόμων δικαζόντων καὶ τῶν τὸ πονηρὸν δρώντων δίκην ὑπεχόντων-νόμου τε ὁμολογουμένου δικαίου καὶ κρίσεως θεοῦ ἀληθεστάτης-ἀργεῖν τὴν πεπρωμένην καὶ μὴ ἔχειν ὅλως σύστασιν τὸ παράπαν· 4. ὁπότε διὰ τὸ δύνασθαι ἁμαρτεῖν καὶ μὴ ἁμαρτεῖν τὸν μὲν διὰ τὰ ἁμαρτήματα δίκην ἀπαιτεῖσθαι, τὸν δὲ ἔπαινον ἀπεκδέχεσθαι διὰ τὸ εὖ πεπραχέναι ὥρισται καθ' ἑκατέρων τὸ διάφορον. ὡς καὶ μιᾷ φωνῇ † δικαίᾳ λέγειν συντόμῳ ἀληθείᾳ 1.213 τῇ διὰ Ἠσαΐου τοῦ προφήτου ἐκ προσώπου κυρίου εἰρημένῃ ὅτι «ἐὰν θέλητε καὶ εἰσακούσητέ μου, τὰ ἀγαθὰ τῆς γῆς φάγεσθε· ἐὰν δὲ μὴ θέλητε μηδὲ εἰσακούσητέ μου, μάχαιρα ὑμᾶς κατέδεται. τὸ γὰρ στόμα κυρίου ἐλάλησε ταῦτα». ὥστε παντί τῳ δῆλόν ἐστι καὶ σαφὲς καὶ ἀναμφίβολον, ὡς τὸ αὐτεξούσιον παρέσχετο ὁ θεὸς ὁ δι' αὑτοῦ φήσας τό «ἐὰν θέλητε καὶ ἐὰν μὴ θέλητε», ὡς περὶ τὸν ἄνθρωπον εἶναι τὸ ἀγαθοεργεῖν ἢ τὸ φαύλων ἐφίεσθαι πραγμάτων. ἄρα τοίνυν ἔσφαλται ἡ διάνοια τῶν γένεσιν εἶναι νομισάντων καὶ μάλιστα Φαρισαίων· οἷς ἐπιφωνητέον ἐστὶ πυκνότερον καὶ πολλαχῶς, οὐ διὰ μιᾶς φωνῆς ἀλλὰ πολλάκις τὰ παρὰ τοῦ σωτῆρος πρὸς αὐτοὺς εἰρημένα «οὐαὶ ὑμῖν, Γραμματεῖς καὶ Φαρισαῖοι ὑποκριταί, ὅτι καταλελοίπατε τὰ βαρέα τοῦ νόμου, τὴν κρίσιν καὶ τὸν ἔλεον, καὶ ἀποδεκατοῦτε τὸ ἄνηθον καὶ τὸ ἡδύοσμον καὶ τὸ πήγανον, καὶ καθαρίζετε τὸ ἐκτὸς τοῦ ποτηρίου καὶ τοῦ πίνακος, τὸ δὲ ἐντός ἐστι μεστὸν ἀκαθαρσίας καὶ ἀκρασίας. καὶ δοκιμάζετε δίκαιον εἶναι ὀμνύναι ἐν τῷ ἐπάνω τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου, τὸ δὲ ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ θυσιαστηρίῳ παρ' ὑμῖν τοῦ ὅρκου λέλυται, καὶ τὸ ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ ὀμνύναι οὐδὲν εἶναί φατε, ἐὰν δέ τις ὀμόσῃ ὑπεράνω τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, τοῦτο δεδικαίωται. οὐχὶ τὸ θυσιαστήριον βαστάζει τὸ ἐπικείμενον καὶ ὁ οὐρανὸς θρόνος ἐστὶ τοῦ ἐπ' αὐτῷ ἐπικαθεζομένου; ἢ ὅτι λέγετε, ἐάν τις εἴπῃ πατρὶ καὶ μητρὶ κορβάν, ὅ ἐστι δῶρον ὃ ἐξ ἐμοῦ ὠφεληθήσῃ, οὐκέτι μὴ τιμήσῃ τὸν πατέρα, καὶ ἠθετήσατε τὴν ἐντολὴν τοῦ θεοῦ διὰ τῆς τῶν πρεσβυτέρων ὑμῶν παραδόσεως. καὶ κυκλεύετε θάλασσαν καὶ ξηρὰν ποιῆσαι ἕνα προσήλυτον, καὶ ὅταν γένηται, ποιεῖτε αὐτὸν υἱὸν γεέννης διπλότερον ὑμῶν». Τί τοίνυν περιττότερον τῶν ἁγίων ῥήσεων προβάλοιτό τις πρὸς ἀντίθεσιν τῶν προειρημένων; ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀρκεῖσθαι μᾶλλον ἡγοῦμαι 1.214 ταῖς τοῦ σωτῆρος σοφαῖς καὶ ἀληθιναῖς λέξεσι, πρὸς ἃς οὐκ ἠδυνήθησαν ἀντωπῆσαι οὔτε πρὸς τὸ βραχύτατον. Κατὰ Ἡμεροβαπτιστῶν, ἀπὸ Ἰουδαϊσμοῦ αἱρέσεως ˉδ, τῆς δὲ ἀκολουθίας ˉιˉζ. 1. Ταύταις δὲ συνέπεταί τις αἵρεσις Ἡμεροβαπτιστῶν οὕτω καλουμένων, μηδὲν μὲν παραλλάττουσα τῶν ἄλλων, ἀλλ' ἴσα τῶν Γραμματέων καὶ Φαρισαίων φρονοῦσα, οὐ μὴν ἐξισουμένη τοῖς Σαδδουκαίοις ἐν τῇ τῶν νεκρῶν ἀναστάσεως ἀρνήσει, ἀλλὰ τῇ ἀπιστίᾳ τῇ ἐν τοῖς ἄλλοις. τοῦτο δὲ περιττὸν ἦν αὕτη κεκτημένη ἡ αἵρεσις, ὥστε ἐν ἔαρί τε καὶ μετοπώρῳ χειμῶνί τε καὶ θέρει πάντοτε καθ' ἡμέραν βαπτίζεσθαι, ὅθεν καὶ Ἡμεροβαπτιστῶν εἴληφε τὴν ἐπωνυμίαν. ἔφασκε γὰρ αὕτη ἡ αἵρεσις ἄλλως μὴ εἶναι ζῆν ἀνθρώπῳ, εἰ μή τι ἄρα καθ' ἑκάστην ἡμέραν βαπτίζοιτό τις ἐν ὕδατι, ἀπολουόμενός τε καὶ ἁγνιζόμενος ἀπὸ πάσης αἰτίας. 2. Πρὸς ταύτην δὲ καὶ αὐτὴν ἐξ ἑνὸς λόγου ἡμῖν ἀνατροπὴ γενήσεται, ὅτι ἀπιστίας παρ' αὐτοῖς μᾶλλον ἢ πίστεως οἱ λόγοι. ἐλέγχει γὰρ αὐτοὺς ἡ συνείδησις