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Generalis elementaria introductio † Eclogae propheticae 1 Having set forth in word and life the testimonies concerning our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, it confirmed them through clear and faithful and true proofs and arguments, using at the end very brief testimonies from the divine scriptures believed in by both the Jews and us; since no other argument was suitable for those still completely disbelieving the divine scriptures, to set before them copious proofs from them. But the present work has been composed to supply what was lacking in those previous works for those who, from the proof of those things, ought now to believe the holy scriptures as divine and God-inspired, containing a collection altogether ........... a prophecy concerning our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, which it seemed good to gather into one from th........... of the Old Testament; d............ teron; and where also through allegories things were foretold concerning him .........on him and the dispensations concerning him. And not also into ........ mozome what is shown to have reached its fulfillment; But such ............ .... beginning; and sporadically not only prophecy ........... ousa .. stored up in histories; not for a few ........ achtheisa to be useful; since it is not easy, but as from a ..... taden concurrent reading of the scriptures, for all of them to come to mind for those wishing to carry them on their lips and in their memory. It should be known that before the present subject, having composed Chronological Canons, and having set alongside 2 these an epitome of all kinds of history of both Greeks and barbarians, we established through them the antiquity of Moses and the prophets after him; supposing the present scattered work to be a sequel to these, we have reasonably come, after that, to the present treatise; which one might gracefully compare to the natural diligence of the wise bee, to which the sacred word in Proverbs, referring us, says, "Go to the bee, and see how she is a worker, and how she performs her work with dignity; whose labors kings and commoners use for their health; she is desired by all and glorious, and although she is weak in strength, having honored wisdom she has been advanced." For in the manner that worker bee is witnessed to have honored wisdom, gathering what is suitable from the flourishing shoots, from the collection and working of them all she provides for kings and commoners her healthy labors, as the scripture says, in the same way, I think that the Prophetic Eclogues concerning Christ for us, which happen to be an anthology from the rational meadows of God, will contain, preserving the well-formed creation of the waxcombs in the bare words, but the thoughts treasured in it are stored up somewhere within in secret chambers, fittingly in the sweet and most healthy product of that wise creature. For which of the faithful would not confess that the saving expositions concerning the Word of God differ with incomparable superiority from every pleasure and benefit through the body, being suitable for the recovery of the truly beneficial and sound orthodoxy? Which it 3 is necessary to handle, not only for those advanced in their condition, called kings, but also for the subordinates and those who are for the first time just now approaching the divine word; for whom I also think the subject will be especially suitable, so that they may be able to confirm from it the certainty of the words about which they have been instructed; the cable of simple and sincere faith then holding more firmly, whenever someone, having first laid the foundations for reasoning through proof, the precise comprehension and knowledge of what has been believed toward the acquisition ............n for the sake of which I say, but for those still.. elemen.... .............. it seemed necessary after each pro...........in, as by way of an introduction, a narrati.... brachy .......... eni most brief

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Generalis elementaria introductio † Eclogae propheticae 1 λόγου τε καὶ βίου διεξοδευθεῖσα τὰς περὶ τοῦ Κυρίου καὶ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ μαρτυρίας, δι' ἐναργῶν καὶ πιστῶν καὶ ἀληθῶν ἀποδείξεών τε καὶ συλλογισμῶν ἐπιστοῦτο, βραχείαις κομιδῇ ταῖς ἀπὸ τῶν παρά τε Ἰουδαίοις καὶ ἡμῖν πεπιστευμένων θείων γραφῶν ἐπὶ τέλει χρησαμένη μαρτυρίαις· ἐπεὶ μὴ δὲ ἄλλος ᾕρει λόγος τοῖς ἔτι πάντη ταῖς θείαις ἀπιστοῦσιν γραφαῖς δαψιλεῖς ἐξ αὐτῶν παρατίθεσθαι τὰς συστάσεις. Τά γε μὴν ἐν χερσὶν τοῖς ἐκ τῆς ἐκείνων ἀποδείξεως οἷα δὴ θείαις ἤδη καὶ θεοπνεύστοις πιστεύειν ὀφείλουσιν ταῖς ἱεραῖς γραφαῖς τὸ λεῖπον ἐκείναις ἀποπληροῦντα πεπόνητο, συναγωγὴν περιέχοντα συλλήβδην ........... περὶ τοῦ Κυρίου καὶ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ προφητείαν, ἃς ἀπὸ π............. τ . ς . παλαιὰ διαθήκης ὑφ' ἓν συναγεῖν ἔδοξεν· δ............ τερον· πῆ δὲ καὶ δι' ὑπονοιῶν τὰ περὶ αὐτοῦ προειρ .........ον αὐτὸν καὶ τὰς κατ' αὐτὸν οἰκονομίας. οὐχὶ δὲ καὶ εις ........ μόζομε ἃ πέρας εἰληφότα δείκνυται· Τὰς δὲ τοιαύτα ............ .... ἀρχούσας· καὶ σποράδην οὐ μόνον προφητεία ........... ουσα .. ἱστορίαις ἐναποκειμένας· οὐκ ὀλίγοις ........ αχθείσα ἔσεσθαι χρησίμους· ἐπεὶ μὴ ῥάδιον ἀλλ' ὡς ἐκ τῆς ..... τάδην τῶν γραφῶν συναναγνώσεως τὰς πάσας ὑποπίπτειν τοῖς ἀνὰ στόμα καὶ διὰ μνήμης φέρειν αὐτὰς βουλομένοις. Ἰστέον δ' ὡς πρὸ τῆς παρούσης ὑποθέσεως Χρονικοὺς συντάξαντες Κανόνας, ἐπιτομήν τε τούτοις παντοδαπῆς ἱστορίας Ἑλλήνων τε καὶ βαρβάρων ἀντιπαρα 2 θέντες, τὴν Μωσέως καὶ τῶν ἐξ αὐτοῦ προφητῶν ἀρχαιότητα δι' αὐτῶν παρεστήσαμεν· οἷς τὴν μετὰ χεῖρας σποράδην ἀκόλουθον ὑπολαμβάνοντες, εἰκότως μετ' ἐκείνην ἐπὶ τὴν παροῦσαν ἐληλύθαμεν πραγμάτειαν· ἣν καὶ χαριέντως ἄν τις τῷ τῆς σοφῆς μελίττης ἀπεικάσειεν φυσικῷ σπουδάσματι, πρὸς ἣν ἀναπέμπων ἡμᾶς ὁ ἐν Παροιμίαις ἱερὸς λόγος φησὶν, ἢ πορεύθητι πρὸς τὴν μέλιτταν, καὶ ἴδε πῶς ἐργάτις ἐστὶ, τήν τε ἐργασίαν ὡς σεμνὴν ἐμπορεύεται· ἧς τοὺς πόνους βασιλεῖς καὶ ἰδιῶται πρὸς ὑγείαν προσφέρονται· ποθεινή τε ἐστὶν πᾶσιν καὶ ἐπίδοξος, καίπερ οὖσα τῇ ῥώμῃ ἀσθενὴς, τὴν σοφίαν τιμήσασα προήχθη. Ὃν γὰρ ἡ ἐργάτις ἐκείνη τρόπον τὴν σοφίαν τιμῆσαι μαρτυρουμένη, τῶν εὐθαλῶν βλαστῶν ἀναλεγομένη τὰ πρόσφορα, ἐκ τῆς ἁπάντων ἐπισυναγωγῆς τε καὶ ἐργασίας βασιλεῦσι καὶ ἰδιώταις ὑγιεινοὺς, ᾗ φησὶν ἡ γραφὴ, παρέχεται τοὺς ἑαυτῆς πόνους, ταυτόν τι καὶ τὰς περὶ τοῦ Χριστοῦ Προφητικὰς ἡμῖν Ἐκλογὰς, ἀπάνθισμα τῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ λογικῶν λειμώνων τυγχανούσας, περιέξειν ἡγοῦμαι, τὴν μὲν τῶν κηρῶν εὔπλαστον δημιουργίαν ἐν ψιλαῖς ταῖς λέξεσιν ἀποσωζούσας, τὰ δ' ἐν αὐτῷ τεθησαυρισμένα νοήματα καταλλήλῳ τῷ γλυκεῖ καὶ ὑγιεινοτάτῳ τῆς σοφῆς ἐν ἐκείνης γεννήματι εἴσω που ἐν ἀπορρήτοις ταμιευόμενος. Τίς γὰρ δὴ τῶν πιστῶν οὐκ ἂν ὁμολογήσαι πάσης διὰ σωμάτων ἡδονῆς τε καὶ ὠφελείας ἀσυγκρίτῳ διαφέρειν ὑπεροχῇ τὰς σωτηρίους περὶ τοῦ Λόγου τοῦ Θεοῦ παραθέσεις, ἐπιτηδείους πρὸς ἀνάληψιν ὑπαρχούσας τῆς κατὰ ἀλήθειαν ὠφελίμου καὶ ὑγιεινῆς ὀρθοδοξίας; Ἣν 3 περιέπειν ἀναγκαῖον οὐ μόνους τοὺς τὴν ἕξιν προβεβηκότας βασιλεῖς ὀνομαζομένους, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς ὑποβεβηκότας καὶ πρῶτον ἄρτι τῷ θείῳ προσιόντας λόγῳ· οἷς καὶ διαφερόντως ἐπιτηδείαν ἔσεσθαι νομίζω τὴν ὑπόθεσιν, ὡς ἂν ἀκριβοῦν ἐξ αὐτῆς δύναιντο τὴν περὶ ὧν κατηχήθησαν λόγων ἀσφάλειαν· τότε μᾶλλον τῆς ἁπλῆς καὶ ἀκεραίου πίστεως πεῖσμα βέβαιον ἰσχούσης, ἐπειδὰν τῷ λογισμῷ τοὺς δι' ἀποδείξεως προεγκαταβαλὼν τίς θεμελίους τὴν ἀκριβῆ τῶν πεπιστευμένων κατάληψίν τε καὶ γνῶσιν πρὸς ἐπικτη ............ν γοὖν ἕνεκεν φημὶ δὲ τῶν ἐτ.. τοιχειώσε .............. ἀναγκαῖον εἶναι παρέστη μετὰ τὴν ἑκάστης προ...........ιν, ὡς ἐν εἰσαγωγῆς τρόπῳ διήγησιν βραχυ .......... ενὶ μάλιστα συντομωτάτην