Chapter XLII.—The bells on the priest’s robe were a figure of the apostles.

“Moreover, the prescription that twelve bells115    Ex. xxviii. 33 gives no definite number of bells. Otto presumes Justin to have confounded the bells and gems, which were twelve in number. be attached to the [robe] of the high priest, which hung down to the feet, was a symbol of the twelve apostles, who depend on the power of Christ, the eternal Priest; and through their voice it is that all the earth has been filled with the glory and grace of God and of His Christ. Wherefore David also says: ‘Their sound has gone forth into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.’116    Ps. xix. 4. And Isaiah speaks as if he were personating the apostles, when they say to Christ that they believe not in their own report, but in the power of Him who sent them. And so he says: ‘Lord, who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? We have preached before Him as if [He were] a child, as if a root in a dry ground.’117    Isa. liii. 1, 2. (And what follows in order of the prophecy already quoted.118    Chap. xiii. ) But when the passage speaks as from the lips of many, ‘We have preached before Him,’ and adds, ‘as if a child,’ it signifies that the wicked shall become subject to Him, and shall obey His command, and that all shall become as one child. Such a thing as you may witness in the body: although the members are enumerated as many, all are called one, and are a body. For, indeed, a commonwealth and a church,119    ἐκκλησία Lat. vers. has conventus. though many individuals in number, are in fact as one, called and addressed by one appellation. And in short, sirs,” said I, “by enumerating all the other appointments of Moses, I can demonstrate that they were types, and symbols, and declarations of those things which would happen to Christ, of those who it was foreknown were to believe in Him, and of those things which would also be done by Christ Himself. But since what I have now enumerated appears to me to be sufficient, I revert again to the order of the discourse.120    Literally, “to the discourse in order.”

[42] Ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ δώδεκα κώδωνας ἐξῆφθαι τοῦ ποδήρους τοῦ ἀρχιερέως παραδεδόσθαι τῶν δώδεκα ἀποστόλων τῶν ἐξαφθέντων ἀπὸ τῆς δυνάμεως τοῦ αἰωνίου ἱερέως Χριστοῦ, δι' ὧν τῆς φωνῆς ἡ πᾶσα γῆ τῆς δόξης καὶ χάριτος τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ τοῦ Χριστοῦ αὐτοῦ ἐπληρώθη, σύμβολον ἦν. διὸ καὶ ὁ Δαυεὶδ λέγει: Εἰς πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν ἐξῆλθεν ὁ φθόγγος αὐτῶν καὶ εἰς τὰ πέρατα τῆς οἰκουμένης τὰ ῥήματα αὐτῶν. καὶ ὁ Ἠσαίας ὡς ἀπὸ προσώπου τῶν ἀποστόλων, λεγόντων τῷ Χριστῷ ὅτι οὐχὶ τῇ ἀκοῇ αὐτῶν πιστεύουσιν ἀλλὰ τῇ αὐτοῦ τοῦ πέμψαντος αὐτοὺς δυνάμει, διὸ λέγει οὕτως: Κύριε, τίς ἐπίστευσε τῇ ἀκοῇ ἡμῶν; καὶ ὁ βραχίων κυρίου τίνι ἀπεκαλύφθη; ἀνηγγείλαμεν ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ ὡς παιδίον, ὡς ῥίζα ἐν γῇ διψώσῃ, καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς τῆς προφητείας προλελεγμένα. τὸ δὲ εἰπεῖν τὸν λόγον ὡς ἀπὸ προσώπου πολλῶν Ἀνηγγείλαμεν ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐπαγαγεῖν Ὡς παιδίον, δηλωτικὸν τοῦ τοὺς πονηροὺς ὑπηκόους αὐτοῦ γενομένους ὑπηρετῆσαι τῇ κελεύσει αὐτοῦ καὶ πάντας ὡς ἓν παιδίον γεγενῆσθαι. ὁποῖον καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ σώματος ἔστιν ἰδεῖν: πολλῶν ἀριθμουμένων μελῶν τὰ σύμπαντα ἓν καλεῖται καὶ ἔστι σῶμα: καὶ γὰρ δῆμος καὶ ἐκκλησία, πολλοὶ τὸν ἀριθμὸν ὄντες ἄνθρωποι, ὡς ἓν ὄντες πρᾶγμα τῇ μιᾷ κλήσει καλοῦνται καὶ προσαγορεύονται. καὶ τὰ ἄλλα δὲ πάντα ἁπλῶς, ὦ ἄνδρες, ἔφην, τὰ ὑπὸ Μωυσέως διαταχθέντα δύναμαι καταριθμῶν ἀποδεικνύναι τύπους καὶ σύμβολα καὶ καταγγελίας τῶν τῷ Χριστῷ γίνεσθαι μελλόντων καὶ τῶν εἰς αὐτὸν πιστεύειν προεγνωσμένων καὶ τῶν ὑπ' αὐτοῦ Χριστοῦ ὁμοίως γίνεσθαι μελλόντων. ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ καὶ ἃ κατηριθμησάμην τὰ νῦν ἱκανὰ δοκεῖ μοι εἶναι, ἐπὶ τὸν λόγον τῇ τάξει παριὼν ἔρχομαι.