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for a king to be subject to others, was not lawful. But since our struggle and effort is not only to silence them, but also to make your love wise, come, let us prove this very thing from another angle, namely, that their sacrifices and their priesthood have ceased, so as never again to return to their former custom. Who then says these things? The wonderful and great prophet David. For he, showing that one kind of sacrifice is about to be cast out, and another to be introduced, spoke thus: You have done many things, O Lord my God, your wonderful works, and in your thoughts there is none who shall be likened to you: I have declared and have spoken. Behold the prophet's wisdom. Having said, You have done many things, O Lord my God, your wonderful works, and being amazed at God's wonder-working, he discusses nothing concerning the creation visible to us, of heaven and earth and sea and water and fire, nor concerning those extraordinary wonders that occurred in Egypt, nor concerning any other such signs, but what does he say is wonderful? Sacrifice and offering you did not desire. What are you saying? Tell me, is this the extraordinary and wonderful thing? No, he says; for he did not see only this, but having understood from above with prophetic eyes the bringing in of the gentiles, and how those who were devoted to gods, and worshipped stones, and were in a more wretched state than the irrational beasts, suddenly looked up, and recognized the Master of all, and abandoning the defiled worship of demons, they served God purely and without blood; and having further perceived that not only they, but also the Jews who were more imperfectly disposed, abandoning the worship through sacrifices and burnt offerings and the other bodily rites, were also brought to our philosophy; and having considered the ineffable love for humanity of God which surpasses all understanding, and being amazed at how great a change of things has occurred, and how he has refashioned them, and made angels out of men from being demons, and introduced a way of life worthy of the heavens—and all these things came to be when the old sacrifice was abolished and another was brought in, that through the body of Christ—amazed and astonished he said: You have done many things, O Lord my God, your wonderful works. And that he speaks this whole prophecy from the person of Christ, having said, Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, he added, but a body you have prepared for me; meaning the Lord's body, the common sacrifice made for the whole world, which cleansed our souls, and abolished 48.919 sins, and extinguished death, and opened the heavens, and showed us many and great hopes, and established all other things; which things therefore Paul, knowing, cried out, saying: O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! Foreseeing all these things, then, he said: You have done many things, O Lord my God, your wonderful works. Then, having said from the person of Christ that In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you had no pleasure, he added: Then I said, 'Behold, I come.' Then; when? When it is the time for more perfect teachings; for the more imperfect things had to be learned through his servants, but the higher things that surpass human nature from the lawgiver himself; for this reason Paul also said: God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to our fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by his Son, whom he has appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the worlds. And again John, The law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. So this is the greatest encomium of the law, that it prepared human nature for the teacher. Then, lest you should think him to be a recent God, or that he introduces some innovation, hear what he says: In the scroll of the book it is written of me. Long ago, he says, the prophets foretold my coming, and in the beginning of the books they opened up to men the knowledge of my divinity. 3. When therefore God

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βασιλέα ὑποκεῖσθαι ἑτέροις, θέμις οὐκ ἦν. Πλὴν ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ ἀγὼν ἡμῖν ἐστι καὶ σπουδὴ, οὐκ ἐκείνους ἐπιστομίσαι μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν ὑμετέραν ἀγάπην σοφίσαι, φέρε τοῦτο αὐτὸ ἑτέρωθεν ἀποδείξωμεν, οἷον ὅτι καὶ τὰ τῶν θυσιῶν, καὶ τὰ τῆς ἱερωσύνης αὐτῶν πέπαυται, ὡς μηκέτι πάλιν ἐπανελθεῖν ἐπὶ τὸ πρότερον ἔθος. Τίς οὖν ταῦτά φησιν; Ὁ θαυμαστὸς καὶ μέγας προφήτης ∆αυΐδ. Οὗτος γὰρ δηλῶν ὅτι θυσιῶν ἡ μὲν ἐκβάλλεσθαι μέλλει, ἡ δὲ εἰσάγεσθαι, οὕτως ἔλεγε· Πολλὰ ἐποίησας, σὺ, Κύριε ὁ Θεός μου, τὰ θαυμάσιά σου, καὶ τοῖς διαλογισμοῖς σου οὐκ ἔστι τίς ὁμοιωθήσεταί σοι· ἀπήγγειλα καὶ ἐλάλησα. Ὅρα σοφίαν προφήτου. Εἰπὼν, Πολλὰ ἐποίησας σὺ, Κύριε ὁ Θεός μου, τὰ θαυμάσιά σου, καὶ ἐκπλαγεὶς τὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ θαυματουργίαν, οὐδὲν περὶ τῆς ὁρωμένης ἡμῖν διαλέγεται κτίσεως, οὐρανοῦ καὶ γῆς καὶ θαλάττης καὶ ὕδατος καὶ πυρὸς, οὐ περὶ τῶν κατ' Αἴγυπτον γενομένων παραδόξων ἐκείνων θαυμάτων, οὐ περὶ ἄλλων τινῶν τοιούτων σημείων, ἀλλὰ τίνα φησὶ θαυμαστὰ εἶναι; Θυσίαν καὶ προσφορὰν οὐκ ἠθέλησας. Τί λέγεις; εἰπέ μοι· τοῦτό ἐστι τὸ παράδοξον καὶ θαυμαστόν; Οὐχὶ, φησίν· οὐ γὰρ δὴ τοῦτο μόνον εἶδεν, ἀλλὰ προφητικοῖς ἄνωθεν καταμαθὼν ὀφθαλμοῖς τὴν τῶν ἐθνῶν προσαγωγὴν, καὶ πῶς οἱ τοῖς θεοῖς προσηλωμένοι, καὶ θεραπεύοντες λίθους, καὶ τῶν ἀλόγων ἀθλιώτερον διακείμενοι, ἐξαίφνης ἀνέβλεψαν, καὶ τὸν τῶν ἁπάντων ἐπέγνωσαν ∆εσπότην, καὶ τὴν μιαρὰν τῶν δαιμόνων λατρείαν ἀφέντες, καθαρῶς καὶ ἀναιμωτὶ τὸν Θεὸν ἐθεράπευον· καὶ ἔτι συνιδὼν ὅτι οὐκ ἐκεῖνοι μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι οἱ ἀτελέστερον διακείμενοι, τὴν διὰ θυσιῶν καὶ ὁλοκαυτωμάτων καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν σωματικῶν ἀφέντες θεραπείαν, ἐπὶ τὴν ἡμετέραν καὶ οὗτοι φιλοσοφίαν ἤχθησαν· καὶ λογισάμενος τὴν ἄφατον τοῦ Θεοῦ φιλανθρωπίαν τὴν ὑπερβαίνουσαν ἅπαντα νοῦν, καὶ ἐκπλαγεὶς ὅση τῶν πραγμάτων γέγονε μεταβολὴ, καὶ πῶς αὐτὰ μετεῤῥύθμισε, καὶ ἀπὸ δαιμόνων ἀγγέλους τοὺς ἀνθρώπους εἰργάσατο, καὶ πολιτείαν εἰσήγαγε τῶν οὐρανῶν ἀξίαν ταῦτα δὲ ἅπαντα ἐγένετο, τῆς παλαιᾶς καταλυθείσης θυσίας, καὶ ἑτέρας ἐπεισαχθείσης, τῆς διὰ τοῦ σώματος τοῦ Χριστοῦ, ἐκπλαγεὶς καὶ θαυμάσας ἔλεγε· Πολλὰ ἐποίησας σὺ, Κύριε ὁ Θεός μου, τὰ θαυμάσιά σου. Καὶ ὅτι ἐκ προσώπου τοῦ Χριστοῦ τὴν προφητείαν ταύτην ἅπασαν προλέγει, εἰπὼν, Θυσίαν καὶ προσφορὰν οὐκ ἠθέλησας, ἐπήγαγε, Σῶμα δὲ κατηρτίσω μοι· τὸ σῶμα λέγων τὸ δεσποτικὸν, τὴν κοινὴν ὑπὲρ τῆς οἰκουμένης γενομένην θυσίαν, ἣ τὰς ψυχὰς ἡμῶν ἐξεκάθηρε, καὶ τὰς 48.919 ἁμαρτίας κατέλυσε, καὶ τὸν θάνατον ἔσβεσε, καὶ τοὺς οὐρανοὺς ἀνέῳξε, καὶ πολλὰς καὶ μεγάλας ἡμῖν ἐλπίδας ὑπέδειξε, καὶ τὰ ἄλλα πάντα κατεσκεύασεν· ἅπερ οὖν καὶ ὁ Παῦλος εἰδὼς, ἐβόα λέγων· Ὢ βάθος πλούτου καὶ σοφίας καὶ γνώσεως Θεοῦ! ὡς ἀνεξερεύνητα τὰ κρίματα αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἀνεξιχνίαστοι αἱ ὁδοὶ αὐτοῦ! Ταῦτα οὖν ἅπαντα προορῶν ἔλεγε· Πολλὰ ἐποίησας σὺ, Κύριε ὁ Θεός μου, τὰ θαυμάσιά σου. Εἶτα εἰπὼν ἐκ προσώπου τοῦ Χριστοῦ, ὅτι Ὁλοκαυτώματα καὶ περὶ ἁμαρτίας οὐκ ηὐδόκησας, ἐπήγαγε· Τότε εἶπον, ἰδοὺ ἥκω. Τότε· πότε; Ὅτε τῶν τελειοτέρων διδαγμάτων ἐστὶν ὁ καιρός· τὰ μὲν γὰρ ἀτελέστερα διὰ τῶν δούλων αὐτοῦ μαθεῖν ἔδει, τὰ δὲ ὑψηλότερα καὶ ὑπερβαίνοντα τὴν φύσιν τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην παρ' αὐτοῦ τοῦ νομοθέτου· διὰ τοῦτο καὶ ὁ Παῦλος ἔλεγε· Πολυμερῶς καὶ πολυτρόπως πάλαι ὁ Θεὸς λαλήσας τοῖς πατράσιν ἡμῶν ἐν τοῖς προφήταις, ἐπ' ἐσχάτου τῶν ἡμερῶν τούτων ἐλάλησεν ἡμῖν ἐν Υἱῷ, ὃν ἔθηκε κληρονόμον πάντων, δι' οὗ καὶ τοὺς αἰῶνας ἐποίησε. Καὶ πάλιν ὁ Ἰωάννης, Ὁ νόμος διὰ Μωσέως ἐδόθη,ἡ δὲ χάρις καὶ ἡ ἀλήθεια διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐγένετο. Ὥστε τοῦ νόμου μέγιστον καὶ τοῦτο ἐγκώμιον, τὸ παρασκευάσαι τῷ διδασκάλῳ τὴν φύσιν τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην. Εἶτα, ἵνα μὴ νομίσῃς αὐτὸν πρόσφατον εἶναι Θεὸν, μηδὲ καινοτομίαν τινὰ εἰσάγειν, ἄκουσον τί φησιν· Ἐν κεφαλίδι βιβλίου γέγραπται περὶ ἐμοῦ. Πάλαι μου, φησὶ, τὴν παρουσίαν προανεφώνησαν οἱ προφῆται, καὶ ἐν ἀρχῇ τῶν βιβλίων τὴν γνῶσιν τῆς ἐμῆς θεότητος τοῖς ἀνθρώποις παρήνοιξαν. γʹ. Ὅταν οὖν ὁ Θεὸς