Baptism and BARNABAS. the cross of Christ. and our hearts, that we might, ther prophet: He that does these know these things. CHAP. X. things; shall be like a tree, planted by the currents of water, which shall give its fruit in its Its leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he doth it shall prosper. Baptism and the Cross of Christ fore-season. told in figures under the law. LE ET us now inquire whether the Lord took care to manifest anything beforehand concerning water and the cross. 2 Now for the former of these, it is written to the people of Israel how they shall not receive that baptism which brings to forgiveness of sins; but shall institute another to themselves that cannot. 3 For thus saith the prophet: Be astonished, O Heaven! and let the earth tremble at it, because this people have done two great and wicked things; they have left me, the fountain of living water, and have digged for themselves broken cisterns, that can hold no water. 2 4 Is my holy mountain a Zion, a desolate wilderness ?-3 For ye shall be as a young bird when its nest is taken away. 5 And again the prophet saith, 'I will go before thee, and will make plain the mountains, and will break the gates of brass, and will snap in sunder the bars of iron; and will give thee dark, and hidden, and invisible treasures, that they may know that I am the Lord God. 6 And again: He shall dwell in the high den of the strong rock. And then, what follows in the same prophet? His water is faithful; ye shall see the king with glory, and your soul shall learn the fear of the Lord. 7 And again he saith in ano 8 As for the wicked it is not sowith them; but they are as the Idust which the wind scattereth away from the face of the earth. 9 Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, neither the sinners in the council of the righteous. For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous, and the way of the ungodly shall perish. 10 Consider how he has joined both the cross and the water together. 11 For this he saith: Blessed are they who put their trust in the cross, descend into the water; for they shall have their reward in due time; then, saith he, will I give it them. 12 But as concerning the present time, he saith, their leaves shall not fall; meaning thereby that every word that shall go outof your mouth, shall through faith and charity be to the conversion and hope of many. 13 In like manner doth another prophet speak. And the land of Jacob was the praise of all the earth; magnifying thereby the vessel of his spirit. 9 14 And what follows And there was a river running on the right hand, and beautiful treesgrew up by it; and he that shall eat of them shall live for ever. The signification of which is this: that we go down into the water full of sins and pollutions; but Isaiah, 'Jeremiah, ii. 12. Vid. Annot. Coteler, and Ed. Oxon. in loc. xvi. 1, 2. Isaiah xlv. 2. Isaiah, xxxiii. 16, 17. Psalın i. 'Zeph. iii. 19. · For τετο λέγει and 0, the Old Interpreter did not read; and Clemens Alex. lib. iii. Strom. p. 463, transcribing this passage hath them not i.e., the body of Christ. CHAP. XI. The subject continued. N like manner he determines I concerning the cros in lines ther prophet, saying: And when shall these things be fulfilled? 2 The Lord answers: When the tree that has fallen shall rise, and when blood shall drop down from the tree. Here you have again mention made, both of the cross, and of him that was to be crucified upon it. 3 And yet farther he saith by Moses; (when Israel was fighting with, and beaten by, a strange people; to the end that God might put 3 them in mind how that for their sins they were delivered unto death) yea the holy spirit put it into the heart of Moses, to represent both the sign of the cross, and of him that was to suffer; that so they might know that if they did not believe in him, they should be overcome for ever. 4 Moses therefore piled up armour upon armour in the middle of a rising ground, and standing up high above all of them, stretched forth his arms, and so Israel again conquered. 4 5 But no sooner did he let down his hands, but they were again the lair slain. And why so -To the end they might know, that except they trust in him they cannot be saved. 6 And in another prophet, he saith, I have stretched out my hands all the day long to a people disobedient, and speaking against my righteous way. 7 And again Moses makes a type of Jesus, to show that he was to die, and then that he, whom they thought to be dead, was to give life to others; in the type of those that fell in Israel. 8 7 8 For God caused all sorts of serpents to bite them, and they died; forasmuch as by a serpent transgression began in Eve: that so he might convince them that for their transgressions they shall be delivered into the pain of death. 9 Moses then himself, who had commanded them, saying, 9 Ye shall not make to yourselves any graven or molten image, to be your God; yet now did so himself, that he might represent to them the figure of the Lord Jesus. 10 For he made a brazen serpent, and set it up on high, and called the people together by a proclamation; where being come, they entreated Moses that he would make an atonement for them, and pray that they might be healed. 11 Then Moses spake unto them, saying: when any one among you shall be bitten, let him come unto the serpent that is set upon the pole; and let him assuredly trust in him, that though he be dead, yet he is able to give life, and presently he shall be 1 Vid. Conject. Edit. Oxon. Comp. iv. armed. Lat. Vers. Deut. xvii. 15. 4 Esdr. v. 4, et Obs. Cotel. in loc. Bernard, p. 124, Edit. Oxon. Again set them in array, being So Irenæus, Just. Mart. St. • Israel falling. 7 Sign. 2 saved; and so they did. See therefore how here also you have in this the glory of Jesus; and that 1 in him and to him are all things. 12 Again; What says Moses to Jesus the Son of Nun, when he gave that name unto him, as being a prophet that all the people might hear him alone, because the father did manifest all things concerning his son Jesus, in Jesus the Son of Nun; and gave him that name when he sent him to spy out the land of Canaan; he said: Take a book in thine hands, and write what the Lord saith Forasmuch as Jesus the Son of God shall in the last days cut off by the roots all the house of Amalek. See here again Jesus, not the son of man, but the Son of God, made manifest in a type and in the flesh. : 13 But because it might hereafter be said, that Christ was the Son of David; therefore David fearing and well knowing the errors of the wicked, saith; the Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou on my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool. 14 And again Isaiah speaketh on this wise. The Lord said unto 1 Christ my Lord, I have laid hold on his right hand, that the nations should obey before him, and I will break the strength of kings. 15.Behold, how doth 8 David and Isaiah call him Lord, and the Son of God. made to be the heir, or the former; and whether the covenant be with us or with them. 2 And first, as concerning the people, hear now what the Scripture saith. 3 Isaac prayed for his wife Rebekah, because she was barren; and she conceived. Afterwards Rebekah went forth to inquire of the Lord. 4 And the Lord said unto her; There are two nations in thy womb, and two people shall come from thy body; and the one shall have power over the other, and the greater shall serve the lesser. Understand here who was Isaac; who Rebekah; and of whom it was foretold, this people shall be greater than that. 5 And in another prophecy Jacob speaketh more clearly to his son Joseph saying; 10 Behold the Lord hath not deprived me of seeing thy face, bring me thy sons that I may bless them. And he brought unto his father "Manasseh and Ephraim, desiring that he should bless Manasseh, because he was the elder. 6 Therefore Joseph brought him to the right hand of his father Jacob. But Jacob by the spint foresaw the figure of the people that was to come. 7 And what saith the Scripture? And Jacob crossed his hands, and put his right hand upon Ephraim, his second, and the younger son, and blessed him. And Joseph said unto Jacob; Put thy right hand upon the head of Manasseh, for he is my first-born son. And Jacob said unto Joseph; I know it, my son, I know but the greater shall serve it; Deut. xviii. 15, 18. So the other Fathers. Just. Mart. &c. Vid. Edit. Oxon. page 79. Vid. Interp. Vet. Lat. Exod. xvii. 14. Comp. Vet. Lat. Interp. Psalm cix. 3. 7 Vid. Annot. Coteler, in loc. Edit. Oxon. page 78, c. Isaiah, xlv. 1. 8 Comp. Vet. Lat. Interp. Gen. xxv. 21. Comp. St. Paul, Rom. ix. Just. Mart. Tert. &c. Vid... Oxon. p. 11, a. 10 Gen. xlviii. 11 Vid. Lat. Interp. Vet. the lesser; though he also shall | were be blessed. 8 Ye see of whom he appointed it, that they should be the first people, and heirs of the covenant. 9 If therefore God shall have yet farther taken notice of this by Abraham too; our understanding of it will then be perfectly established. 10 What then saith the Scripture to Abraham, when he believed, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness? Behold I have made thee a father of the nations, which without circumcision believe in the Lord. 11 Let us therefore now inquire whether God has fulfilled the covenant, which he sware to our fathers, that he would give this people? Yes, verily, he gave it: but they were not worthy to receive it by reason of their sins. 12 For thus saith the prophet: 'And Moses continued fasting in mount Sinai, to receive the covenant of the Lord with the people, forty days and forty nights. 13 And he received of the Lord two tables written with the finger of the Lord's hand in the Spirit. And Moses when he had received them brought them down that he might deliver them to the people. 14 And the Lord said unto Moses; Moses, Moses, get thee down quickly, for the people which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt have done wickedly. 15 And Moses understood that they had again set up a molten image and he cast the two tables out of his hands; and the tables of the covenant of the Lord 1 Gen. xv. 17. So St. Paul himself χείν. 18. ix. 12. anto. fulfilled in Christ broken. Moses therefore received them, but they were not worthy. 16 Now then learn how we have received them. Moses, be ing a servant, took them; but the Lord himself has given them unto us, that we might be the people of his inheritance, having suffered for us. 17 He was therefore made manifest; that they should fill up the measure of their sins, and that we being made heirs by him, should receive the covenant of the Lord Jesus. 5 18 And again the prophet saith; Behold, I have set thee for a light unto the Gentiles, to be the saviour of all the ends of the earth, saith the Lord the God who hath redeemed thee. 19 Who for that very end was prepared, that by his own appearing he might redeem our hearts, already devoured by death, and delivered over to the irregularity of error, from darkness; and establish a covenant with us by his word. 20 For so it is written that the father commanded him by delivering us from darkness, to prepare unto himself a holy people. 21 Wherefore the prophet saith: I the Lord thy God have called thee in righteousness, and I will take thee by thy hand and will strengthen thee. And give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles. •To open the eyes of the blind, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house. 22 Consider therefore from whence we have been redeemed. applies this: Rom. iv. 3. Exod. Deut. ix. 10. Exod. xxxi. 12. Exod. xxxii. 7. Deut. Vid. Lat. Interp. Vet. • Isaiah, xlix. 6. 7 For salvation Isaiah xlii. 6. Verse 7. And again the prophet saith: The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me: he hath sent me to preach glad tidings to the lowly; to heal the broken in heart; to preach remission to the captives, and sight unto the blind; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of restitution; to comfort all that mourn. CHAP. XII. That the sabbath of the Jews was but a figure of a more glorious sabbath to come, and their temple, of the spiritual temples of God. F URTHERMORE it is written concerning the sabbath, in the Ten Commandments, which God spake in the Mount Sinai to Moses, face to face; Sanctify the sabbath of the Lord with pure hands, and with a clean heart. 3 | typical. children, in six days, that is, in six thousand years, shall all things be accomplished. 6 And what is that he saith, And he rested the seventh day: he meaneth this; that when his Son shall come, and abolish the season of the 9 Wicked One, and judge the ungodly; and shall change the sun and the moon, and the stars; then he shall gloriously rest in that seventh day. 7 He adds lastly; Thou shalt sanctify it with clean hands and a pure heart. Wherefore we are greatly deceived if we imagine that any one can now sanctify that day which God has made holy, without having a heart pure in all things. 8 Behold therefore he will then truly sanctify it with blessed rest, when we (having received the righteous promise, when iniquity 2 And elsewhere he saith; If shall be no more, all things being thy children shall keep my sab-renewed by the Lord) shall be baths, then will I put my mercy able to sanctify it, being ourselves upon them. first made holy. 3 And even in the beginning of the creation he makes mention of the sabbath. "And God made in six days the works of his hands; and he finished them on the soventh day, and he rested the seventh day, and sanctified it. 4 Consider, my children, what that signifies, he finished them in six days. The meaning of it is this; that in 'six thousand years the Lord God will bring all things to an end. 9 Lastly, he saith unto them: 10 Your new moons and your sabbaths I cannot bear them. Consider what he means by it; the sabbaths, says he, which ye now keep are not acceptable unto me, but those which I have made ; when resting from all things I shall begin the eighth day, that is, the beginning of the other world. 10 For which cause we observe the eighth day with gladness, in which Jesus rose from the dead; and having manifested himself to his disciples, ascended inte 2 Words. Exod. xx. 8. 5 For with him one day is a thousand years; as himself testieth, saying, Behold this day shall be as a thousand years. Therefore, heaven. 1 Isaiah, lxi. 1, 2. Comp. Luke, iv. 18. Jer. xvii. 24. 5 Gen. ii. 2. Exod. xx. 11. xxxi. 17. Annot. in loc. 'How general this tradition then was. See Cotelcr. Annot. in loc. Edit. Oxon, page 90, a. Psalm lxxxix. 4. 8 That is, to the time of the Gospel, says Dr. Bernard, q. v. Annot. p. 127, Ed. Oxon. So the Lat. Vers. Isaiah, i. 13. "So the other Fathers, q. v. apud. Coteler. Annot. in luc 6 Vid. Coteler. |