Chapter XVII.—Prophecies in Isaiah and the Psalms Respecting Christ’s Humiliation.

Let us compare with Scripture the rest of His dispensation.  Whatever that poor despised body1005    Corpusculum illud. may be, because it was an object of touch1006    Habitum. and sight,1007    Conspectum. it shall be my Christ, be He inglorious, be He ignoble, be He dishonoured; for such was it announced that He should be, both in bodily condition and aspect. Isaiah comes to our help again: “We have announced (His way) before Him,” says he; “He is like a servant,1008    Puerulus, “little child,” perhaps. like a root in a dry ground; He hath no form nor comeliness; we saw Him, and He had neither form nor beauty; but His form was despised, marred above all men.”1009    Sentences out of Isa. lii. 14 and liii. 2, etc. Similarly the Father addressed the Son just before: “Inasmuch as many will be astonished at Thee, so also will Thy beauty be without glory from men.”1010    Isa. lii. 14. For although, in David’s words, He is fairer than the children of men,”1011    Ps. xlv. 2. yet it is in that figurative state of spiritual grace, when He is girded with the sword of the Spirit, which is verily His form, and beauty, and glory. According to the same prophet, however, He is in bodily condition “a very worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and an outcast of the people.”1012    Ps. xxii. 6. But no internal quality of such a kind does He announce as belonging to Him. In Him dwelt the fulness of the Spirit; therefore I acknowledge Him to be “the rod of the stem of Jesse.” His blooming flower shall be my Christ, upon whom hath rested, according to Isaiah, “the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of piety, and of the fear of the Lord.”1013    Isa. xi. 1, 2. Now to no man, except Christ, would the diversity of spiritual proofs suitably apply.  He is indeed like a flower for the Spirit’s grace, reckoned indeed of the stem of Jesse, but thence to derive His descent through Mary. Now I purposely demand of you, whether you grant to Him the destination1014    Intentionem. of all this humiliation, and suffering, and tranquillity, from which He will be the Christ of Isaiah,—a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief, who was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and who, like a lamb before the shearer, opened not His mouth;1015    Isa. liii. 3, 7. who did not struggle nor cry, nor was His voice heard in the street who broke not the bruised reed—that is, the shattered faith of the Jews—nor quenched the smoking flax—that is, the freshly-kindled1016    Momentaneum. ardour of the Gentiles. He can be none other than the Man who was foretold. It is right that His conduct1017    Actum. be investigated according to the rule of Scripture, distinguishable as it is unless I am mistaken, by the twofold operation of preaching1018    Prædicationis. and of miracle. But the treatment of both these topics I shall so arrange as to postpone, to the chapter wherein I have determined to discuss the actual gospel of Marcion, the consideration of His wonderful doctrines and miracles—with a view, however, to our present purpose. Let us here, then, in general terms complete the subject which we had entered upon, by indicating, as we pass on,1019    Interim. how Christ was fore-announced by Isaiah as a preacher: “For who is there among you,” says he, “that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of His Son?”1020    Isa. l. 10. And likewise as a healer: “For,” says he, “He hath taken away our infirmities, and carried our sorrows.”1021    Isa. liii. 4.

CAPUT XVII.

0344B Reliquum ordinem ejus cum Scripturis conferamus. Quodcumque illud corpusculum sit, quoniam habitum, et quoniam conspectum fuit; si inglorius, si ignobilis, si inhonorabilis , meus erit Christus: talis enim habitu et aspectu annuntiabatur. Adest rursus Isaias (Is. LIII, 1-2): Annuntiavimus, inquit, coram ipso; velut puerulus, velut radix in terra sitienti, et non est species ejus neque gloria; et vidimus eum, et non habebat speciem neque decorem; sed species ejus inhonorata, deficiens citra omnes homines. Sicut et supra Patris ad Filium vox, (Is., LII, 14): Quemadmodum expavescent multi super te , sic sine gloria erit ab hominibus forma tua. Nam etsi tempestivus decore , apud David (Ps. XLIV, 3), supra filios hominum; sed in allegorico 0344C Illo statu gratiae spiritalis, cum accingitur ensem sermonis, qui vere species et decor et gloria ipsius est: caeterum habitu incorporabili apud eumdem prophetam (Ps. XXI, 7), vermis etiam et non homo, ignominia hominis et nullificamen populi. Neque interiorem qualitatem ejus, ejuscemodi annuntiant . Si enim plenitudo in illo spiritus constitit, agnosco virgam de radice Jesse flos ejus: meus erit Christus, in quo requievit, secundum Isaiam (Is., XC, 0345A 2), spiritus sapientiae et intellectus, spiritus consilii et vigoris, spiritus agnitionis et pietatis, spiritus timoris Dei. Neque enim ulli hominum diversitas spiritalium documentorum competebat, nisi in Christum: flori quidem ob gratiam spiritus adaequatum; ex stirpe autem Jesse deputatum, per Mariam inde censendum . Expostulo autem de proposito: si das ei omnis humilitatis et patientiae et tranquillitatis intentionem, et ex his Isaiae erit Christus (Is., LIII, 7): Homo in plaga, et sciens ferre imbecillitatem; qui tanquam ovis ad victimam adductus est, et tanquam agnus ante tondentem non aperuit os; qui (Is., XLII, 2) neque contendit, neque clamavit, nec audita est foris vox ejus: qui arundinem contusam, id est, quassam Judaeorum fidem, non comminuit: qui linum ardens, id est, 0345B momentaneum ardorem gentium, non extinxit, sed lucernam magis fecit ortu luminis sui. Non potest alius esse, quam qui praedicebatur. Oportet actum ejus ad Scripturarum regulam recognosci, duplici, nisi fallor, operatione distinctum, praedicationis et virtutis. Sed de utroque titulo sic disponam, ut quoniam ipsum quoque Marcionis Evangelium discuti placuit, de speciebus doctrinarum et signorum illuc differamus quasi in rem praesentem: hic autem generaliter expungamus ordinem coeptum, docentes praedicatorem interim annuntiari Christum per Esaiam (Is., L, 10): Quis enim, inquit, in vobis, qui Deum metuit , et exaudiet vocem filii ejus? Item medicatorem (Is., LIII): Ipse enim, inquit, imbecillitates nostras abstulit, et languores portavit.