Chapter V
The subject continued.
And when he had fulfilled the
commandment of God, What
says he? Who will contend with
me? Let him stand against me
or who is he that will implead
me? Let him draw near to the
servant of the Lord. Woe be to
you! Because ye shall all wax
old as a garment, the moth
shall eat you up.
2 And again adds the prophet,
He is put for a stone of
stumbling. Behold I lay in Zion
for a foundation, a precious
stone a choice corner-stone;
an honourable stone. And what
follows? And he that hopeth
in him shall live for ever.
3 What then? Is our hope built
upon a stone? God forbid. But
because the Lord hath hardened
his flesh against sufferings, he
saith, I have put me as a firm
rock.
4 And again the prophet adds;
The stone which the builders
refused has become the head of
the corner. And again he saith
This is the great and wonderful
day which the Lord hath made.
I write these things the more
plainly to you that ye may
understand: I For indeed I
could be content even to die
for your sakes.
5 But what saith the prophet
again; The counsel of the wicked
encompassed me about. They
came about me, as bees about the
honey-comb: and, Upon my vesture
they cast lots.
6 Forasmuch then as our Saviour
was to appear in the flesh and
suffer, his passion was hereby
foretold.
7 For thus saith the prophet
against Israel: “Woe be to their
soul because they have taken
wicked counsel against themselves,
saying; let us lay snares for the
righteous, because he is
unprofitable to us.”
8 Moses also in like manner
speaketh to them; Behold thus
saith the Lord God; Enter ye
into the good land of which the
Lord hath sworn to Abraham, and
Isaac, and Jacob, that he would
give it you, and possess it; a land
flowing with milk and honey.
9 Now what the spiritual meaning
of this is, learn; It is as if it
had been said, Put your trust in
Jesus, who shall be manifested to
you in the flesh. For man is the
earth which suffers: forasmuch
as out of the substance of the
earth Adam was formed.
10 What therefore does he mean
when he says, Into a good land
flowing with milk and honey?
Blessed be our Lord, who has
given us wisdom, and a heart to
understand his secrets. For so
says the prophet, “Who shall
understand the hard sayings of the
Lord? But he that is wise, and
intelligent, and that loves his
Lord.”
11 Seeing therefore he has
renewed us by the remission of our
sins, he has put us into another
frame, that we should have souls
like those of children, forming
us again himself by the spirit.
12 For thus the Scripture saith
concerning us, where it introduceth
the Father speaking to the Son;
Let us make man after our likeness
and similitude; and let them have
dominion over the beasts of the
earth, and over the fowls of the
air, and the fish of the sea.
13 And when the Lord saw the
man which he had formed, that
behold he was very good; he said,
Increase and multiply, and
replenish the earth. And this
he spake to his son.
14 I will now show you, how he
made us a new creature, in the
latter days.
15 The Lord saith; Behold I
will make the last as the first.
Wherefore the prophet thus spake,
Enter into the land flowing with
milk and honey, and have dominion
over it.
16 Wherefore ye see how we
are again formed anew; as also
he speaks by another prophet;
Behold saith the Lord, I will take
from them; that is, from those
whom the spirit I of the Lord
foresaw, their hearts of stone,
and I will put into them hearts
of flesh.
17 Because he was about to be
made manifest in the flesh and to
dwell in us.
18 For, my brethren, the
habitation of our heart is a ‘holy
temple unto the Lord. For the prophet
saith again, In what place shall I
appear before the Lord my God,
and be glorified?
19 He answers I will confess
unto thee in the congregation in
the midst of my brethren; and will
sing unto thee in the church of
the saints:
20 Wherefore we are they whom
he has brought into that good land.
21 But what signifies the milk
and honey? Because as the child
is nourished first with milk, and
then with honey; so we being
kept alive by the belief of his
promises and his word, shall live
and have dominion over the land.
22 For he foretold before, saying,
increase and multiply, and have
dominion over the beasts, fishes,
and birds.
23 But who is there that is now
able to have this dominion over
the wild beasts, or fishes, or fowls
of the air? For you know that to
rule, is to have power; that a man
should be set over what he rules.
24 But forasmuch as this we
have not now, he tells us when we
shall have it; namely, when we
shall become perfect, that we may
be made the inheritors of the
covenant of the Lord.