Desires of the Flesh should be Subdued.
1816.
Yet the sole cause of our wanting and being deprived of all these things is ignorance.
1817.
For while men do not know how much good there is in knowledge,
they do not suffer the evil of ignorance to be removed from them;
for they know not how great a difference is involved in the change of one of these things for the other.
1818.
Wherefore I counsel every learner willingly to lend his ear to the word of God, and to hear with love of the truth what we say, that his mind, receiving the best seed, may bring forth joyful fruits by good deeds.
1819.
For if, while I teach the things which pertain to salvation, any one refuses to receive them, and strives to resist them with a mind occupied by evil opinions, he shall have the cause of his perishing, not from us, but from himself.
1820.
For it is his duty to examine with just judgment the things which we say, and to understand that we speak the words of truth, that, knowing how things are, and directing his life in good actions, he may be found a partaker of the kingdom of heaven, subjecting to himself the desires of the flesh, and becoming lord of them, that so at length he himself also may become the pleasant possession of the Ruler of all.
The Two Kingdoms.
1821.
For he who persists in evil, and is the servant of evil, cannot be made a portion of good so long as he persists in evil, because from the beginning, as we have said, God instituted two kingdoms, and has given to each man the power of becoming a portion of that kingdom to which he shall yield himself to obey.
1822.
And since it is decreed by God that no one man can be a servant of both kingdoms, therefore endeavour with all earnestness to betake yourselves to the covenant and laws of the good King.
1823.
Wherefore also the true Prophet, when He was present with us, and saw some rich men negligent with respect to the worship of God, thus unfolded the truth of this matter:
1824.
'No one,' said He, 'can serve two masters;
ye cannot serve God and mammon;' Matthew 6:24
calling riches, in the language of His country, mammon.
Jesus the True Prophet.
1825.
He therefore is the true Prophet, who appeared to us, as you have heard, in Judæa,
who, standing in public places, by a simple command made the blind see, the deaf hear,
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cast out demons, restored health to the sick, and life to the dead;
and since nothing was impossible to Him, He even perceived the thoughts of men,
which is possible for none except God only.
1824.
He proclaimed the kingdom of God; and we believed Him as a true Prophet in all that He spoke, deriving the confirmation of our faith not only from His words, yet also from His works;
and also because the sayings of the law, which many generations before had set forth His coming, were fulfilled in Him;
and the figures of the doings of Moses, and of the patriarch Jacob before him, bore in all respects a type of Him.
1825.
It is evident also that the time of His advent, that is, the very time at which He came, was foretold by them; and, above all, it was contained in the sacred writings, that He was to be waited for by the Gentiles.
1826.
And all these things were equally fulfilled in Him.
The Expectation of the Gentiles.
1827.
Yet that which a prophet of the Jews foretold, that He was to be waited for by the Gentiles, confirms above measure the faith of truth in Him.
1828.
For if he had said that He was to be waited for by the Jews, he would not have seemed to prophesy anything extraordinary, that He whose coming had been promised for the salvation of the world should be the object of hope to the people of the same tribe with Himself, and to His own nation:
for that this would take place, would seem rather to be a matter of natural inference than one requiring the grandeur of a prophetic utterance.
1829.
Yet now, whereas the prophets say that all that hope which is set forth concerning the salvation of the world, and the newness of the kingdom which is to be established by Christ, and all things which are declared concerning Him are to be transferred to the Gentiles;
the grandeur of the prophetic office is confirmed, not according to the sequence of things, but by an incredible fulfillment of the prophecy.
1830.
For the Jews from the beginning had understood by a most certain tradition that this man should at some time come, by whom all things should be restored; and daily meditating and looking out for His coming, when they saw Him among them, and accomplishing the signs and miracles, as had been written of Him, being blinded with envy, they could not recognise Him when present, in the hope of whom they rejoiced while He was absent;
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yet the few of us who were chosen by Him understood it.
Call of the Gentiles.
1831.
Yet this happened by the providence of God, that the knowledge of this good One should be handed over to the Gentiles, and those who had never heard of Him, nor had learned from the prophets, should acknowledge Him, while those who had acknowledged Him in their daily meditations should not know Him.
1832.
For, behold, by you who are now present, and desire to hear the doctrine of His faith, and to know what, and how, and of what sort is His coming, the prophetic truth is fulfilled.
1833.
For this is what the prophets foretold, that He is to be sought for by you, who never heard of Him.
Isaiah 65:1
1834.
And, therefore, seeing that the prophetic sayings are fulfilled even in yourselves,
you rightly believe in Him alone, you rightly wait for Him, you rightly inquire concerning Him, that you not only may wait for Him,
yet also believing, you may obtain the inheritance of His kingdom;
according to what He said, that every one is made the servant of him to whom he yields subjection.
John 8:34
Invitation of the Gentiles.
1835.
Wherefore awake, and take to yourselves our Lord and God, even that Lord who is Lord both of heaven and earth, and conform yourselves to His image and likeness, as the true Prophet Himself teaches, saying,
1836.
'Be merciful, as also your heavenly Father is merciful,
who makes His sun to rise upon the good and the evil, and rains upon the just and the unjust.'
1837.
Imitate Him, therefore, and fear Him, as the commandment is given to men,
'You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve.'
1838.
For it is profitable to you to serve this Lord alone,
that through Him knowing the one God, you may be freed from the many whom you vainly feared.
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1839.
For he who fears not God the Creator of all,
yet fears those whom he himself with his own hands has made,
what does he do but make himself subject to a vain and senseless fear, and render himself more vile and abject than those very things, the fear of which he has conceived in his mind?
1840.
Yet rather, by the goodness of Him who invites you, return to your former nobleness,
and by good deeds show that you bear the image of your Creator,
that by contemplation of His likeness ye may be believed to be even His sons.
Idols Unprofitable.
1841.
Begin, therefore, to cast out of your minds the vain ideas of idols, and your useless and empty fears, that at the same time you may also escape the condition of unrighteous bondage.
1842.
For those have become your lords, who could not even have been profitable servants to you.
1843.
For how should lifeless images seem fit even to serve you, when they can neither hear, nor see, nor feel anything?
1844.
Yea, even the material of which they are made, whether it be gold or silver, or even brass or wood, though it might have profited you for necessary uses, you have rendered wholly inefficient and useless by fashioning gods out of it.
1845.
We therefore declare to you the true worship of God, and at the same time warn and exhort the worshippers, that by good deeds they imitate Him whom they worship, and hasten to return to His image and likeness, as we said before.
The Book of Recognitions CHAPTER SIXTY FOUR
Divisions 1846-1870
Book 5
RECOGNITIONS 5
Folly of Idolatry.
1846.
Yet I should like if those who worship idols would tell me if they wish to become like those whom they worship?
1847.
Does any one of you wish to see in such sort as they see?
Or to hear after the manner of their hearing?
Or to have such understanding as they have?
1848.
Far be this from any of my hearers!
1849.
For this were rather to be thought a curse and a reproach to a man, who bears in himself the image of God, although he has lost the likeness.
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1850.
What sort of gods, then, are they to be reckoned, the imitation of whom would be execrable to their worshippers, and to have whose likeness would be a reproach?
1851.
What then?
1852.
Melt your useless images, and make useful vessels.
1853.
Melt the unserviceable and inactive metal, and make implements fit for the use of men.
1854.
But, says one, human laws do not allow us.
1855.
He says well; for it is human laws, and not their own power, that prevents it.
1856.
What kind of gods, then, are those which are defended by human laws, and not by their own energies?
1857.
And so also they are preserved from thieves by watch-dogs and the protection of bolts, at least if they be of silver, or gold, or even of brass; for those that are of stone and earthenware are protected by their own worthlessness, for no one will steal a stone or a crockery god.
1858.
Hence those seem to be the more miserable whose more precious metal exposes them to the greater danger.
1859.
Since, then, they can be stolen, since they must be guarded by men, since they can be melted, and weighed out, and forged with hammers, ought men possessed of understanding to hold them as gods?
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