Fragment 47

belongs to Book III. x. 4. as Mr. Harvey notes.

The Syriac fragments collected by Mr. Harvey from British Museum Mss. begin here.

From the 1st Book of Kings, about Elkanah and Samuel which begins**

In the Book before this, I gave the History of blessed Ruth.

a

Since¹ therefore seventy tongues were indicated by the number [of the young men with David] which by David were gathered into one tongue, need is it that it be shewn besides that the Ark was a type of the Body of Christ; and it is pure and without spot. For as the Ark was gilded with pure gold both within and without, so was the Body of Christ too pure and resplendent: within adorned by the Word, and without kept by the Spirit; for by Both will its² Glory be manifested.

b

From the Interpretation of the Song of Songs.

But³ haply through these things which have been produced did the Word receive from of old His interpretation: we being assured that in each one of us are two men, for they are conceived of as being one hidden, the other manifest: one corporeal, the other spiritual: in that their generation is twin, for as one do they two enter the world, for the soul does not precede the body in its existence, and the body does not precede the soul in its formation; but the two are co-eval: their food is purity and a sweet-smelling savour.

c

Written to a certain Alexandrian, that we ought to keep the feast of the Resurrection on a Sunday.

For⁴ then in truth will there be universal joy in all its fulness to all those who have believed the Life: and in every man hath been confirmed the Mystery of the Resurrection and the Hope of Incorruption and the beginning of the Eternal Kingdom; in that the Lord overcame⁵ Death, Man’s foe, and the flesh which rose from the dead dieth no more, but being changed unto Incorruption and blended with the Spirit, the Heavens having been opened, He has offered it glorified to the Father.

d

From S. Irenæus’ Letter to Victor Bishop of Rome about a Priest Florinus who was eager after the madness (ܫܥܝܘܬܐ is an error for ܫܢܝܘܬܐ) of Valentinus and put forth an abominable book.⁶

And⁷ now since haply the writings of those who have come as far as to us, escape your notice, I tell you [of them] that you for your dignity may remove out of the way the writings which bring blame upon you (because he who wrote them boasts that he is one of you) and do harm to the many who in their simplicity and without question receive as from a Priest this blasphemy against God. Rebuke⁸ also him who wrote these things whereby he doth harm not only to those that are about him, whose mind is ready for blasphemy against God, but hurts our people likewise who have through his writing conceived within them false notions about God.

e

The⁹ Law and the Prophets and Evangelists preached of Christ that He was born of a Virgin, and that He suffered upon the Wood, and that He appeared from the dead and ascended into Heaven and was glorified of the Father and is King for ever; and that this is the Perfect Mind, the Word of God begotten before the light, Who is with Him, the Creator of all, the Framer of Man, He Who is All in all, in the Patriarchs a Patriarch, among Laws a Law, among Priests an High Priest, among Kings a Ruler, among Prophets a Prophet, among Angels an Angel, among Men a Man, with the Father the Son, with God God, King for evermore.

For this is He Who was with Noe a Sailor¹⁰, and Who led Abraham,¹¹ Who with Isaac was bound and with Jacob was in exile, [with Moses was Leader and Lawgiver to the people, preached in the Prophets, Incarnate of the Virgin, born in Bethlehem, received of John, and baptized in Jordan, tempted in the wilderness and found [to be] the Lord. He it was that gathered the Apostles and preached the kingdom of Heaven, enlightened the blind and raised the dead, seen of the People in the Temple and holden not worthy of their faith, seized by the Priests and led before Herod, doomed in the Presence of Pilate; He shewed Himself in the Body, hung on the Wood and was raised from the dead, shewn to the Apostles and borne into Heaven, sitteth at the Right Hand of the Father and by Him glorified as the Resurrection of the Dead: Salvation of the lost, Light of them that live in darkness and Redemption of them that are born] Shepherd of them who were delivered and Spouse of the Church, Ruler of the Cherubin, Chief Captain of the Angels, God of God, Son of the Father, Jesus Christ, King for ever and ever. Amen.

f

The holy Books know Christ, that as He is Man so also is He not Man, and as He is Flesh, so also is He Spirit and Word of God and God. And as in the last times He was born of Mary, so also as the First-born of the whole Creation proceeded He forth of God: and as He hungered so also did He fill, as He thirsted, so also gave He drink both of old to the Jews,¹² in that Christ was the Rock, and now to believers does Jesus give to drink spiritual waters which well forth unto everlasting Life.¹³ And as the Son of David, so too the Lord of David, and as of Abraham, so too ere Abraham, and as the Servant of God,¹⁴ so also Son of God and Lord of all, and as He was spat on in scorn,¹⁵ so breathed He the Holy Ghost on His Disciples, and as He suffered anguish, so also giveth He joy to His People, and as He was holden and was subject to the touch,¹⁶ so again passed He through the midst of them that would hurt Him,¹⁷ untaken, and through the closed doors He entered and was not hindered; and as He slept, so also commanded He the sea and the blasts and the winds.¹⁸ And as He suffered, so also He liveth and quickeneth and healeth from every sickness: and as He died, as also is He the Resurrection of the Dead; a Scorn upon earth, and in Heaven high above all honour and Praise.¹⁹ Who was crucified of weakness, but liveth of the Might of God, Who went down to the under parts of the earth, and ascended above the Heaven; for Whom the Manger sufficed and Who filled all;²⁰ Who was dead and is alive for evermore, Amen.

g

Then came to Him the mother of Zebedee’s children with her sons worshipping and asking somewhat of Him.²¹

No empty²² thoughts are these nor purposeless words, here proposed; the words Then came prefixed as a preface have a correspondence with those before explained.

Sometimes virtue is to be by us admired not only for the example, but also in regard to the time; like (I would say) the early fruit of the grape or fig-tree or other fruit, whence being still young no one looketh for ripeness or fullness; notwithstanding one see something imperfect, yet doth he not contemn the plucked grape as useless, but gladly seizes it appearing before its time nor looks whether the grape have perfect delight, yea rather he takes pleasure herefrom that it appears before the rest. In like manner God also, when He seeth that the faithful have wisdom albeit imperfect and a small faith, by no means regarding a defect of this kind, does not therefore reject them, yea rather as fruits before their time, He welcomes and receives them, and honours any soul which is adorned with virtue, even though not complete. He pardons it as being yet praemature and loves it because, more ready than the rest,²³ it seized on the blessing beforehand for itself.

Wherefore Abraham,²⁴ Isaac and Jacob our fathers are to be had in admiration above all, in that they were first in setting forth ensamples of virtue. How many Martyrs are there like unto Daniel?²⁵ how many martyrs (I say) are imitators of the Three Children in Babylon, and yet their memory has not been commended like unto theirs: for they were first-fruits and beginnings of fruitfulness. Therefore did God bid their life to be related, for imitation of those who should come after.

But that virtue is accepted with God, as the first beginnings of fruits, hear Himself.²⁶ As the grape, He says, I found Israel, and as the early fig, your fathers. Therefore do not proclaim that the faith of Abraham is blessed only in that he believed: would you wonder at Abraham? Look how that one man, when six hundred in the world had been infected with error, alone did recognize his allegiance. Wouldest thou marvel at Daniel? Look at Babylon haughty in the prime and luxury of ungodliness, and hence all men everywhere given up to sin: yet did he, uprising from the very depths, spue forth the brine of sins and rejoice to be plunged in the pure fountains of godliness. In like wise now too in respect of that mother of Zebedee’s children, do not only wonder at the things which she said but at the time when she said them. For when came she to the Redeemer?²⁷ Not after the Resurrection, not after the preaching of His Name,²⁸ nor the restoration of His Kingdom, but on the Lord’s saying,²⁹ Behold we go up to Jerusalem and the Son of Man shall be delivered to the chief priests and scribes and they shall kill Him and the third day He shall rise again. These things the Saviour told of His Passion and Cross, in them He was foretelling His Passion nor did He deny that it would be most full of shame through the Chief Priests. But she had heard in other terms of the œconomy of the Passion: the Saviour was foretelling Death, she was asking for the glory of immortality: the Lord was telling that He must stand before wicked Judges, she all unmindful of that judgment was sueing as of a Judge,³⁰ Grant (says she) that those my sons may sit, one on thy Right Hand and the other at Thy Left, in Thy glory. In the one suffering is spoken of, in the other a Kingdom is understood. The Saviour was speaking of the Cross, she was viewing the glory that knows no suffering. She therefore (as I said) is to be admired, not only as to what she asks, but also as to the time at which she asks.

She indeed was affected, not only in that she was godly, but as a woman also. And verily she considered and believed, instructed by His words, that Christ’s Kingdom would flourish in glory and march through the breadth of the earth and be increased by the preaching of godliness. She understood (as the truth was) that He who was seen in lowly guise, delivered and received every promise.

I will enquire another time when our discourse is about that abasement whether our Lord refused the petition about the Kingdom. But she thought that she would not have the same confidence, when with Angel guards, He should be attended by Angels and receive the service of the whole Host of Heaven. Taking therefore the Saviour apart in a retired place,³¹ she was with all earnestness suing of Him things which transcend all human nature.³²

Thanks be to God.