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he himself and Irenaeus do not say that the first of Peter and the first of John are by the apostles, while others say that not even these are by the apostles, but by the presbyters; for first and second and third of John are written, so it is clear that the three are by one person. 7.70 Others also accept the epistle of James along with the other two; others accept all of them; but among the Syrians, unless it be only the three previously mentioned, are not found, I mean that of James and the first of Peter and the first of John; for the others are not even found among them. Therefore the perfect Christian ought not to be confirmed by the disputed writings, since the canonical and commonly acknowledged Scriptures sufficiently reveal all things concerning the heavens and the earth and the elements and every dogma of the Christians. 7.71 Therefore, the inventors of new dogmas, who think the heavens will be dissolved, seem to me to be foolish and completely uninitiated in the divine Scriptures. For from above and from the beginning God, knowing and foreknowing, and always knowing and never admitting an addition of knowledge, wishing to impart to others being and to fill them with his own goodness and knowledge and wisdom, made the whole world, circumscribing it in heaven and earth; and placing the firmament in the middle and binding it to the first heaven and making the one place two places, he assigned this place to the mortal and changeable state, having also prepared the higher one for the future state, just as the drawing of the figure at the end shows, and the construction of the tabernacle, it itself having become a copy of the whole world. 7.72 And in this state, he has seen fit for us to live now as in a useful school which has sorrows and pleasures, so that through sorrows we might be disciplined, and through pleasures we might not despair, being taught and led up to the full knowledge of the one who made us through the variety of created things and the all-wise harmony and the difference of beings, who also has given us laws, appearing from time to time to help our weakness, leading rational beings, as has been said, to the full knowledge of his all-good love for humanity, which is the chief point of all rational beings; for since we are created and have our being from another, we always have need of him for our existence and our knowledge; for it was not possible for us, upon coming into being, to immediately have all knowledge; for this is a property of the unbegotten God. 7.73 Since, therefore, out of goodness God ineffably made animate and inanimate things, which are without knowledge, for the instruction and help of us rational beings, God made rational beings as intermediates, as it were, between himself and these things, as was possible, so that by the variety of the universe, and also by the laws delivered to us, by the toil of learning, through the experience of sorrows and pleasures, we might desire and be led up part by part to the knowledge of him. "For his invisible attributes," says the divine Apostle, "from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, both his eternal power and deity, so that they are without excuse," which is to say: His invisible attributes, the power and wisdom and providence and goodness of God and his eternal deity itself, from existing and visible things we understand and see the creator proportionately through all created things, so that we may not put forward any pretext of ignorance—for this is what "without excuse" means—having it in our hands to know proportionately from all these things the creator of ourselves and of the universe. 7.74 Likewise again he says: "In many parts and in many ways God spoke of old to the fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son," dividing his word into parts and ways, into prophets and a Son; by 'parts' he meant the difference of the places in which God appeared and spoke to the ancient men through the prophets, and by 'ways' the variety of the very visions which he showed, appearing from time to time according to the immediate needs,

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τὴν πρώτην Πέτρου καὶ τὴν πρώτην Ἰωάννου οὐ λέγει αὐτὸς καὶ Εἰρηναῖος εἶναι τῶν ἀποστόλων, ἕτεροι δὲ οὔτε αὐτὰς λέγουσι τῶν ἀποστόλων εἶναι, ἀλλὰ τῶν πρεσβυτέρων· πρώτη γὰρ καὶ δευτέρα καὶ τρίτη Ἰωάννου γέγραπται, ὡς δῆλον ἑνὸς προσώπου εἶναι τὰς τρεῖς. 7.70 Ἕτεροι δὲ καὶ τὴν Ἰακώβου σὺν ταῖς ἄλλαις δυσὶ δέχονται· ἕτεροι πάσας δέχονται· παρὰ Σύροις δέ, εἰ μὴ τρεῖς μόναι αἱ προγεγραμμέναι, οὐχ εὑρίσκονται, λέγω δὴ ἡ Ἰακώβου καὶ ἡ πρώτη Πέτρου καὶ ἡ Ἰωάννου πρώτη· αἱ ἄλλαι γὰρ οὔτε κεῖνται παρ' αὐτοῖς. Οὐ χρὴ οὖν τὸν τέλειον χριστιανὸν ἐκ τῶν ἀμφιβαλλομένων ἐπιστηρίζεσθαι, τῶν ἐνδιαθέτων καὶ κοινῶς ὡμολογημένων Γραφῶν ἱκανῶς πάντα μηνυόντων περί τε τῶν οὐρανῶν καὶ τῆς γῆς καὶ τῶν στοιχείων καὶ παντὸς τοῦ δόγματος τῶν χριστιανῶν. 7.71 Ἠλίθιοι τοιγαροῦν εἶναί μοι δοκοῦσι καὶ τῶν θείων Γραφῶν παντελῶς ἀμύητοι οἱ τῶν καινῶν δογμάτων εὑρεταί, οἱ τοὺς οὐρανοὺς καταλύεσθαι οἰόμενοι. Ἄνωθεν γὰρ καὶ ἐξ ἀρχῆς εἰδὼς καὶ προειδὼς ὁ Θεός, καὶ ἀεὶ γινώσκων καὶ μηδέποτε πρόσληψιν γνώσεως ἐπιδεχόμενος, βουλόμενος καὶ ἑτέροις μεταδοῦναι τοῦ εἶναι καὶ τῆς ἰδίας αὐτοῦ ἀγαθότητος καὶ γνώσεως καὶ σοφίας ἐμπλῆσαι, πεποίηκε τὸν σύμπαντα κόσμον περιγράψας ἐν οὐρανῷ καὶ γῇ· θεὶς δὲ μέσον τὸ στερέωμα καὶ συνδήσας τῷ πρώτῳ οὐρανῷ καὶ ποιήσας τὸν ἕνα χῶρον δύο χώρους ἀπένειμε τῇ θνητῇ καὶ τρεπτῇ καταστάσει τὸν χῶρον τοῦτον, προετοιμάσας καὶ τῇ μελλούσῃ καταστάσει τὸν ἀνώτερον, καθὰ καὶ ἡ καταγραφὴ τοῦ σχήματος ἐπὶ τέλει δείκνυσι, καὶ ἡ τῆς σκηνῆς κατασκευή, ἐκμαγεῖον καὶ αὐτὴ γεγονυῖα παντὸς τοῦ κόσμου. 7.72 Καὶ ἐν μὲν ταύτῃ τῇ καταστάσει ἐδοκίμασεν ἡμᾶς νῦν διάγειν ὡς ἐν παιδευτηρίῳ χρησίμῳ ἔχοντι λυπηρὰ καὶ ἡδέα, ἵνα διὰ μὲν τῶν λυπηρῶν παιδευώμεθα, διὰ δὲ τῶν ἡδέων μὴ ἀπείπωμεν, διδασκόμενοι καὶ ἀναγόμενοι πρὸς ἐπίγνωσιν τοῦ πεποιηκότος διὰ τῆς ποικιλίας τῶν κτισμάτων καὶ τῆς πανσόφου ἁρμονίας καὶ τῆς διαφορᾶς τῶν ὄντων, ὅστις καὶ νόμους ἡμῖν δέδωκε κατὰ καιροὺς ὀπτανόμενος πρὸς βοήθειαν τῆς ἡμετέρας ἀσθενείας, ἀνάγων τοὺς λογικούς, ὡς εἴρηται, εἰς ἐπίγνωσιν τῆς αὑτοῦ παναγάθου φιλανθρωπίας, ὅπερ ἐστὶ κεφάλαιον πάντων τῶν λογικῶν· κτιστῶν γὰρ ἡμῶν ὄντων καὶ ἐξ ἑτέρου ἐχόντων τὸ εἶναι, ἐκείνου αὐτοῦ ἀεὶ δεόμεθα πρὸς σύστασιν καὶ γνῶσιν ἡμετέραν· οὐκ ἐνῆν γὰρ ἡμᾶς εὐθέως γενομένους πᾶσαν τὴν γνῶσιν ἔχειν· τοῦτο γὰρ ἴδιον τοῦ ἀγενήτου Θεοῦ. 7.73 Ἐπειδὴ οὖν ἐξ ἀγαθότητος ὁ Θεὸς ἀπορρήτως ἐποίησε τὰ ἔμψυχα καὶ τὰ ἄψυχα, ἄμοιρα γνώσεως ὄντα, πρὸς διδασκαλίαν καὶ βοήθειαν ἡμῶν τῶν λογικῶν, μέσους τινὰς ἑαυτοῦ τε καὶ τούτων, ὡς ἐνεδέχετο, πεποίηκεν ὁ Θεὸς τοὺς λογικούς, ἵνα τῇ ποικιλίᾳ τοῦ παντός, ἔτι τε καὶ τοῖς παραδεδομένοις ἡμῖν νόμοις, τῇ συντριβῇ τῆς μαθήσεως, διὰ πείρας λυπηρῶν καὶ ἡδέων ποθοῦντες, κατὰ μέρος ἀναγώμεθα ἐπὶ τὴν αὐτοῦ γνῶσιν. "Τὰ γὰρ ἀόρατα αὐτοῦ, φησὶν ὁ θεῖος Ἀπόστολος, ἀπὸ κτίσεως κόσμου τοῖς ποιήμασι νοούμενα καθορᾶται, ἥ τε ἀΐδιος αὐτοῦ δύναμις καὶ θειότης, εἰς τὸ εἶναι αὐτοὺς ἀναπολογήτους", ἵνα εἴπῃ· Τὰ ἀόρατα αὐτοῦ, τὴν δύναμιν καὶ τὴν σοφίαν καὶ τὴν πρόνοιαν καὶ τὴν ἀγαθότητα τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ αὐτὴν τὴν ἀΐδιον αὐτοῦ θεότητα ἐκ τῶν ὄντων καὶ τῶν ὁρωμένων νοοῦμέν τε καὶ ὁρῶμεν διὰ πάντων τῶν κτισμάτων ἀναλόγως τὸν δημιουργόν, ὥστε ἡμᾶς ἀφορμήν τινα ἀγνωσίας μὴ προβάλλεσθαιτοῦτο γὰρ δηλοῖ τὸ "ἀναπολογήτους" ἔχοντες ἐν χερσὶν ἐκ τούτων ἁπάντων ἀναλόγως γινώσκειν τὸν ἑαυτῶν τε καὶ τοῦ παντὸς δημιουργόν. 7.74 Ὁμοίως πάλιν λέγει· "Πολυμερῶς καὶ πολυτρόπως πάλαι ὁ Θεὸς λαλήσας τοῖς πατράσιν ἐν τοῖς προφήταις ἐπ' ἐσχάτου τῶν ἡμερῶν τούτων ἐλάλησεν ἡμῖν ἐν Υἱῷ", εἰς μέρη καὶ τρόπους, εἰς προφήτας καὶ Υἱὸν διελὼν τὸν λόγον· μέρη μὲν εἰπὼν τὴν διαφορὰν τῶν τόπων, ἐν οἷς ἐφαίνετό τε καὶ ἐλάλει τοῖς ἀρχαίοις ἀνθρώποις ὁ Θεὸς διὰ τῶν προφητῶν, τρόπους δὲ τὴν ποικιλίαν αὐτῶν τῶν ὀπτασιῶν, ὧν κατὰ καιρὸν ὀπτανόμενος πρὸς τὰς παρακειμένας χρείας ἐδείκνυεν,