Chapter 36

§ 1.

For which of them does not the Lord refute, to the effect that neither do the Prophets speak as prompted by any other than His Father;¹ nor are they of different substances, but of one and the same Father; nor did any other make the things which are in this world, but His Father,² in that He teaches, There was a certain Householder, and he planted a vineyard, and put a hedge about it, and dug a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went abroad. But when the time of fruits had drawn near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, to receive of his fruits. And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and stoned another, and killed another. Again he sent other servants more than the first; and they did unto them likewise. But last of all he sent unto them his only son, saying, It may be they will reverence my son. But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir: come let us kill him, and we shall have his inheritance. And they took him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him. When therefore the Lord of the vineyard shall come, what shall He do to those husbandmen? And they said unto Him, Those evil ones he shall evilly destroy, and let out his vineyard to other husbandmen, who will render to him the fruits in their seasons. Again the Lord saith, Have ye never read, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is made the head of the corner? By the Lord it is made, and is marvellous in our eyes. Wherefore I say unto you, that the Kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and shall be given to a nation bearing the fruits thereof.

Here He plainly points out to His Disciples that there is one only and the same Householder, i.e., One God the Father, Who by Himself doth all: but different husbandmen;—some abusive, and proud, and unprofitable, and slayers of their Lord; others again with all obedience rendering the fruits in their seasons: and that this same Householder at one time sends His servants, at another His Son. By the same Father then, Who sent the Son to those husbandmen who slew Him, were the servants also sent. Only that, while the Son, as coming from the Father with sovereign authority,³ used to say, But I say unto you; the servants as coming from their Lord spoke servilely, and therefore their saying was, Thus saith the Lord.

§ 2.

Whom therefore they used to set forth as Lord to the unbelieving, Him Christ taught to those who obey Him: and that God who had called the former sort, or in the first instance by enactment as to slaves, the same took to Himself by adoption the later sort, or [the same] afterwards. For God planted the vineyard of mankind, first of all, by the formation of Adam, and the choice of our Fathers: but to the Husbandmen He delivered it by the giving of the Law through Moses: again He put a hedge round them, i.e., He set a limit to their husbandry-work: and He built a tower—chose out Jerusalem: and digged a winepress—prepared a place to receive the Prophetic Spirit: and thus He sent Prophets before the removal into Babylon, and after the removal others again, more than the first, seeking fruit, and saying to them,⁴ Cleanse your ways and your manners; judge righteous judgment,⁵ and use pity and mercy, every one to his brother: to the widow, the orphan, the stranger and the poor practise no oppression, and remember not each one of you in your hearts his brother’s wickedness,⁶ and love no false oath.⁷ Wash ye, be clean, take away wickednesses out of your hearts, learn to do well, seek judgment, protect him that suffereth violence, redress the orphan, and plead for the widow: and come, let us reason together, saith the Lord. And again,⁸ Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips that they speak no guile. Turn aside from evil and do good; seek peace and ensue it. By these messages the Prophets demanded the fruit of righteousness.

But when they believed not, last of all He sent His own Son, sent our Lord Jesus Christ; whom the evil husbandmen slew, and cast out of the vineyard. Wherefore the Lord God gave it over,—now no longer fenced in, but laid open to the whole world,—to other husbandmen, rendering the fruits in their seasons; the tower of His Choice being everywhere exalted and beautiful. For everywhere is the Church glorious, and everywhere the wine-press dug around: since everywhere are some who receive the Spirit: God having justly rejected them, for rejecting the Son of God, and casting Him after they had slain Him, without the vineyard: and to the Gentiles, who were without the vineyard, He hath given fruit, as after cultivation. As saith also the Prophet Jeremiah:⁹ The Lord hath rejected and cast away the nation which doth these things: for the children of Judah have done evil in My sight, saith the Lord. Jeremiah in like manner again: I leave set over you watchers; Hear the sound of the trumpet; and they said, We will not hear.¹⁰ Therefore have the Gentiles heard, and those who feed cattle among them.

It is therefore one and the same God the Father, who planted the vineyard, who led out the people, who sent the Prophets, who sent His own Son, who gave the vineyard to other husbandmen, rendering the fruits in their seasons.

§ 3.

And therefore the Lord said to His disciples, providing for us to be good workmen,¹¹ Take heed to yourselves, and watch always at all times, lest at any time your hearts he over-charged with surfeiting and drunkenness and worldly cares, and that day come suddenly upon you. For as a snare shall it come on all those who abide on the face of the whole earth.¹²—Let your loins then he girded about, and your lights burning, and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their Lord.¹³—For as it was in the days of Noe;—they did eat and drink, they bought and sold, they married and were given in marriage, and knew not until Noe entered into the ark, and the Flood came and destroyed them all. And like as it was in the days of Lot; they ate and drank, they bought and sold, they planted and built, until Lot went forth of Sodom: it rained fire from Heaven and destroyed them all: so shall it be also in the coming of the Son of Man.¹⁴—Watch therefore, for ye know not in what day your Lord will come.

Thus He announces one and the same Lord, who in Noah’s times brought on the deluge because of the disobedience of men, and in Lot’s times rained fire from Heaven because of the many sins of the Sodomites, and at last will bring on the Day of Judgment because of this same disobedience, and of like sins: and in that day He declares, it will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrha than for the city and house which shall not have received the words of His Apostles.¹⁵ And thou, Capernaum, said He, shalt thou be exalted to Heaven? Nay, thou wilt come down to Hell. For if in Sodom the mighty works had been done, which have been done in thee, it would have continued even to this day. But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Sodom in the day of judgment, than for you.

§ 4.

Because the Word of God is always one and the same;¹⁶—to such as believe Him imparting the well of water unto eternal life,¹⁷ but drying up at once the unfruitful fig tree: first, in the times of Noe, bringing in the flood, to extinguish that most evil race of the men at that time, who could now no longer bring forth fruit unto God, the Angels who had transgressed having mingled themselves with them; as also to abate their sins, while He saved the typical ark, the creation of Adam: secondly, in the times of Lot He rained on Sodom and Gomorrha fire and brimstone from Heaven, an example of the righteous judgment of God;¹⁸ for all to know that every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit shall be cut down and cast into the fire: thirdly, in the universal Judgment He deals more gently with Sodom, than with those who saw His miracles which He did, and believed not in Him, nor received His doctrine.

Thus, as by His coming He gave more grace to such as have believed Him and do His will: so He signified that such as believed Him not have a greater punishment in the judgment; being equally just over all, and to whom He gave, from them intending to demand more.¹⁹ And it was more, not because He revealed the knowledge of another Father, (as we have shewn so largely and in so many ways): but because by His coming, He poured forth upon mankind a greater largess of His Father’s grace.

§ 5.

But if any one find our previous sayings insufficient,²⁰ to make him believe that the Prophets were sent by One and the same Father, by whom also our Lord was sent: let him however open the lips of his heart, and call upon Christ Jesus the Lord, and listen to Him saying,²¹ That the Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a King making a marriage for his son, and sending his servants to summon those who were invited to the marriage. And when they would not obey,²² Again, saith He, he sent other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Come, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and all my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready; come to the marriage. But they went away, slighting Him, some to their field, and some to their merchandise: but the rest took his servants, and treated some spitefully, and slew others. But the King when he heard, was angry: and sending his armies, he destroyed those murderers, and set on fire their city, and said to his servants, The wedding indeed is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy. Go ye out therefore to the endings of the ways, and as many as ye shall find, assemble to the marriage. And his servants went out and gathered together as many as they found, both good and bad, and the wedding was filled with guests. But the King coming in to see the guests, saw there a man not having a wedding garment, and saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou hither, not having a wedding garment? But he being speechless, the King said to the servants, Take him by the feet and hands, and cast him into the darkness which is without; there shall he weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called, but few chosen.

For by these words also of His, the Lord hath plainly declared all: first, how that there is one only King and Lord, the Father of all; of Whom also He said before, Neither swear thou by Jerusalem,²³ for it is the city of the great King: Next, how that from the beginning He prepared a marriage for His Son, and because of His immense loving-kindness, did by His servants call the former set to the wedding banquet, and when they would not obey, He convoking them sent again other servants; and when neither so did they obey Him, but rather stoned to death the messengers of their calling: those indeed He destroyed, sending His armies, and burned up their city; and on the other hand from all the ways, i.e., from all nations, He called men to the feast of His Son’s marriage; as also He saith by Jeremiah,²⁴ And I sent to you My servants the Prophets, to say, Turn ye every one from his most evil way, and amend your doings.²⁵ And again by the same, And I sent to you, saith He, all My servants the Prophets during the day and before the day light, and they obeyed Me not, nor inclined their ears.²⁶ And thou shalt say to them this word: As to this kind, because they have not obeyed the Lord’s Voice, nor received discipline, Faith hath failed out of their mouth.

The Lord therefore who called us by the Apostles from all quarters, the same by the Prophets used to call those who were of old: as is shewn by the Lord’s discourses. And it was not, that the Prophets were of one, the Apostles of another, though they acted as heralds to different nations: but from one and the same, did these announce the Lord, those preach the glad tidings of the Father: and whereas these foretold the Advent of the Son of God, those, as Heralds, announced Him as present already, to such as were afar off.

§ 6.

And He also declared that we must be adorned, besides our vocation,²⁷ with works of righteousness, that the Spirit of God may rest upon us. For this is the wedding garment: concerning which the Apostle also saith, We would not be stripped,²⁸ but clothed upon, that the mortal may be swallowed up of immortality. But those who have been called indeed to the Supper of God, and because of their evil conversation have not received the Holy Ghost, shall be cast, He saith, into outer darkness. Distinctly declaring that the very same King, who called the faithful from all sides to the marriage of His Son, and gave them an incorruptible feast, commands to be cast into outer darkness the person who has no wedding garment, i.e., the scorner.

Thus,²⁹ as in the former Testament with many of them He was not well pleased, so also here it is many called, few chosen. The God then who judges is not one, and the Father who invites to salvation another; nor is He who giveth eternal light different from Him who gives command for those to be cast into outer darkness, who have not the wedding garment. But it is one and the same Lord, the Father of our Lord, by whom also the Prophets were sent, first inviting the unworthy because of His unbounded goodness, and afterwards inspecting those who were invited, to see whether they have such apparel as is convenient and suitable to His Son’s marriage: because nothing unsuitable nor evil pleases Him: As the Lord said to him who had been cured,³⁰ Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing happen unto thee. For He who is good and just and pure and undefiled, will not endure in His bridal chamber anything evil, or unjust, or abominable. Now this is the Father of our Lord, by whose providence all things are preserved, and by His command all are ordered. And while He gives freely to whom it is meet, as a most righteous rewarder He makes distribution most worthily according to their merit to the unthankful and such as feel not His kindness: and He saith accordingly, Sending His armies, He destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.

Now he saith, “His army,” because all men belong to God.³¹ For the Earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof; the world, and all that dwell therein. And therefore Paul the Apostle in his Epistle to the Romans saith,³² For there is no power but of God and those which exist are ordained of God. He therefore who resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God; and they that resist obtain to themselves damnation. For rulers are not a terror to the good work, but to the evil. And wouldst thou not fear the Power? Do good, and thou shalt have praise thereof: for he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou have done evil, be afraid. For he beareth not the sword in vain. For he is the minister of God, an avenger for wrath to him that doeth evil. And therefore be ye subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience’ sake. For therefore also do ye pay taxes: for they are God’s ministers, waiting upon this very thing.

And thus you see that both the Lord and the Apostles announce One God the Father, Him Who enacted the Law, Who sent the Prophets, Who made all things: and therefore it is said, Sending His armies, because every man, in that he is a man, is His handy work, though he know not his God. For to all He giveth their being,³³ Who causeth His Sun to arise on evil and good, and raineth on just and unjust.

§ 7.

And not only by what has been said, but also by the parable of the two sons,³⁴ whereof the younger wasted his substance in luxury, living with unchaste persons, hath He taught us of one and the same Father, who to his elder son spares not even a kid, but for his sake who had been lost, his younger son, commands the fatted calf to be slain, and gives him the best robe:—and by the Parable also of those workmen, who at sundry times were sent into the vineyard, one and the same Householder is manifested, who called some immediately, in the beginning of the Creation of the World, others again after this, and after the middle time others, and a fresh set when now the seasons were far advancing, and in the end again another set: so that while there are many workmen in their several generations, there is but one Householder, calling them all together.

For in truth there is but one Vineyard, because there is but one righteousness: and but one steward, because but one Spirit of God, who disposeth all things: and in like manner too but one reward;³⁵ for they all receive each man a penny, having the King’s image and superscription, i.e., the knowledge of the Son of God, which was incorruption. And for this cause He began from the last to give his reward, because in the last times the Lord being manifested did so represent Himself to all.

§ 8.

And the Publican also, who in prayer surpassed the Pharisee,³⁶ had witness from the Lord that he was rather justified, not for worshipping another Father, but for making his confession to the same God with great humility, without self-exaltation and without boasting.

And the Parable again of the two sons,³⁷ those I mean who are sent into the vineyard, of whom the one contradicted his father, and afterwards repents, at a time when his penitence did him no good; whereas the other engaged himself to go, at once promising his father, but went not:—(because every man is a liar;³⁸ and to will indeed lies close at hand to us,³⁹ but it finds not how to perform)—I say, that Parable shews that there is but one and the self-same Father. So also does the Parable of the Fig-tree;⁴⁰ concerning which the Lord saith, Behold now three years I come, seeking fruit on this fig-tree, and find not. Thus in signifying His advent by the Prophets, by whom He came so often requiring of them the fruit of righteousness, which He found not, He openly declared that the fig-tree itself should be cut down for the above mentioned cause. And without a Parable again the Lord spake to Jerusalem,⁴¹ O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who killest the Prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee: how often would I have gathered thy children, as a hen chickens under her wings, and thou wouldest not! Behold your house is left unto you desolate.

For that which had been said by the Parable, Behold I come three years seeking fruit; and openly again, How often would I have gathered thy sons; will be false, if we do not understand that coming of Him, which is by the Prophets; since [in person] He came to them once for all, and then for the first time. But to prove that it is the same Word of God who chose both the Patriarchs and us,—visiting them at all times by His Prophetic Spirit, us who have been convoked from all quarters, by His own Coming,—besides what hath been said, He spake as follows,⁴² according to truth: Many shall come from the East and West, and shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven: but the children of the Kingdom shall go into outer darkness, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. If therefore those who from the East and West shall believe in Him by the preaching of the Apostles shall sit down in the Kingdom of Heaven, sharing in the banquet with them; we discern herein one and the same God, Who first chose the Patriarchs, then visited His People, and afterwards called the Gentiles.