Part III — Under Grace

Part Three: Under Grace

First English translation. Made by Claude, 2026-07-12, from the Latin of the 1744 Roman edition of the Opera Omnia of Prosper of Aquitaine (public domain), where the work still stands under Prosper's name; it was reassigned to Quodvultdeus, bishop of Carthage, in 1711.

Editorial conventions: scripture references in brackets; uncertain renderings are flagged in the numbered footnotes; [...] marks a gap. Where the 1744 columns are jumbled, readings are resolved from context.

PART THREE — OF THE TIME OF GRACE

Preface

Since the world, now illumined, has shone out with the grace of Christ the Lord glittering upon it, I do not judge it right to go on — as was done above — sifting figured promises and predictions, and consigning them to this third part under chapter-headings set out beforehand.

Above all because all the Law and the Prophecy has sounded of Christ the Lord and of the Church.

The coming of which heavenly King and Judge the heraldings of all spirits announced, in such an order that the truth should cry out even through the tongues of his enemies. Since even the demons believe, and tremble [Jas 2:19]; and they confessed him when he was present: We know who you are — why have you come to torment us before the time? [Luke 4:34].

Wherefore, with the Lord's help, it has seemed good to bring into this work not only the oracles of those who were moved by the Spirit of God, but also of those who, deceived by the seduction of erring spirits, knowing God, did not glorify him as God [Rom 1:21].

Weighing out, therefore, a few things from among many, and subjoining certain sayings of the Sibyl — or of whomsoever else — that agree concerning Christ the Lord, I shall bring in, in the first place, John: the herald and forerunner of that singular King and true Judge. To whom the Truth himself bore witness, that among those born of women none has arisen greater than John the Baptist [Matt 11:11] — in whom all the Law and the Prophecy ceased [Matt 11:13].

The Argument of the Third Part

1. PROMISE: Of John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ.
2. PROMISE: Of Christ, the King and Judge who was to come from heaven.
3. PROMISE: Of the Word, God and man.
4. PROMISE: Of Christ born of a Virgin.
5. PROMISE: Of Christ laid in a manger.
6. PROMISE: Of the sign of the star.
7. PROMISE: Of the peace and salvation of his Nativity.
8. PROMISE: Of the flight into Egypt.
9. PROMISE: Of the little ones slain for Christ.
10. PROMISE: Of Christ, that in the temple he convicted the Jews out of Isaiah.
11. PROMISE: Of Christ anointed by the dove.
12. PROMISE: Of the choosing of the Disciples.
13. PROMISE: Of the miracles of Christ.
14. PROMISE: Of Christ, that he walked upon the sea with his feet.
15. PROMISE: Of Christ, that he marvelously fed the peoples in the wilderness.
16. PROMISE: Of Christ, that he was carried upon an ass.
17. PROMISE: Of Christ, that he drove the merchants out of the temple.
18. PROMISE: Of the betrayer of Christ made manifest.
19. PROMISE: Of Jesus outraged.
20. PROMISE: Of Christ crowned with thorns.
21. PROMISE: Of the Cross and the wounds of Christ.
22. PROMISE: Of this — that he was crucified between robbers.
23. PROMISE: Of the garments divided by lot.
24. PROMISE: Of the gall and the vinegar.
25. PROMISE: Of Christ struck in the side with a lance.
26. PROMISE: Of the sun darkened in the Passion.
27. PROMISE: Of the burial of Christ the Lord.
28. PROMISE: Of the bodies of the Saints raised at the Lord's death.
29. PROMISE: Of the Resurrection on the third day.
30. PROMISE: Of the unbelieving Disciples rebuked.
31. PROMISE: Of the Ascension of Christ into heaven, and [what follows].

(The list continues in the manuscript; further chapters follow in the body of the text.)

Chapter 1 — Promise: John the Baptist, the Forerunner of Christ

Believed and seen.

Isaiah the prophet: A voice, he says, of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight the paths of our God. Every valley²⁷ shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low. And the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways plain. And all flesh shall see the salvation of God [Isa 40:3–5].

John the Evangelist confirms these things, saying: This is the testimony of John concerning Christ [John 1:19ff] — when the chief priests sent to him, asking whether he himself were the Christ. And he confessed, and denied not, saying: I am not. They said to him: Art thou Elias? And he said: No. Who art thou then? they say: tell us, that we may bring back an answer to them that sent us: what sayest thou of thyself? And he said: I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare the way of the Lord, as saith Isaiah the prophet.

Peter also testifies in the Acts of the Apostles, saying: When his course was being fulfilled, John kept saying: Whom ye suppose me to be, I am not; but behold, there cometh one after me, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to loose [Acts 13:25].

And the Erythraean Sibyl confesses it too, saying:

The sign of judgment: the earth shall grow moist with sweat. Now the mountains are levelled with the plains, and the blue depths of the sea.

And expounding her own words she added:

There shall be nothing lofty or high among the affairs of men.

Which we ourselves know and see to have been fulfilled through Christ the Lord.¹

Chapter 2 — Promise: Christ, the King and Judge who is to come from heaven

Believed and seen.

David the prophet: His going forth, he says, is from the highest heaven [Ps 19:6]. And again: Thy kingdom is a kingdom of all ages [Ps 145:13]. Likewise he: The Lord hath reigned over all the nations [Ps 47:8].

And Isaiah: Ye shall see the King in his glory [Isa 33:17]. Likewise: Behold thy King, he says, cometh, sitting upon a swift cloud [Isa 19:1] — that is to say, upon flesh that bears no weight of sin.

The Gospel of Matthew confirms these things, saying: Wise men came from the East, saying: Where is he that is born King of the Jews? [Matt 2:1–2].

Paul also testifies: To the King of the ages [1 Tim 1:17]. And again: The blessed and only Potentate shall show him, the King of kings and Lord of lords [1 Tim 6:15].

And the Sibyl confesses it:

From heaven shall come a King who shall reign through the ages.

Chapter 3 — Promise: The Word, God and man

Believed and seen.

David the prophet: He sent, he says, his Word, and healed them [Ps 107:20].

And Jeremiah²⁸: This is our God, and there is none other beside him: who found out all the way of understanding, and gave it to Jacob his servant, and to Israel his beloved. Afterward he was seen upon earth, and conversed with men [Baruch 3:36–38 — the 1744 margin assigns it to Jeremiah, as the ancients regularly did, Baruch being reckoned with Jeremiah].

And Habakkuk the prophet: The Word went forth, he says, and marched out into the plains [Hab 3:5, LXX].

John the Evangelist confirms these things, saying: The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us [John 1:14].

Paul also testifies: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God; but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men, and found in habit as a man [Phil 2:6–7].

And the Sibyl confesses it:

Namely — present in the flesh, that he may judge the world.

Chapter 4 — Promise: Christ born of a Virgin

Believed and seen.

Isaiah the prophet: Behold, he says, a Virgin shall conceive in the womb, and shall bear a son, and ye shall call his name Emmanuel [Isa 7:14] — which is interpreted, God with us.

Luke the Evangelist confirms this, saying: The angel Gabriel was sent to a Virgin espoused, whose name was Mary: and he came in unto her and saluted her: Hail, he said, full of grace, the Lord is with thee [Luke 1:26–28]. And a little after: The Holy Spirit, he says, shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God [Luke 1:35].

Paul also testifies, saying: But when the fulness of time was come, God sent his Son, made of a woman [Gal 4:4] — following the Hebrew idiom, which calls all females "women."

And the Sibyl confesses it:

While they shall behold him — the unbeliever, and the faithful.

Maro says:

Now a new generation is sent down from high heaven. Now the Virgin returns.

Returns, he said — because a virgin still, Eve brought death into the world; and returning as a virgin, Mary brought forth the Saviour.²

Chapter 5 — Promise: Christ laid in a manger

Believed and seen.

Isaiah the prophet: The ox knew, he says, his owner, and the ass his master's crib [Isa 1:3].

And Habakkuk: In the midst, he says, of two living creatures thou shalt be known [Hab 3:2, LXX — the "two animals" reading].

Luke the Evangelist confirms these things, saying: And when the days of Mary were fulfilled, she brought forth a son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn [Luke 2:6–7]. And the angel to the shepherds: Unto you is born, he says, Christ the Lord, in the city of David: and this shall be a sign unto you. Ye shall find the infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger [Luke 2:11–12].

Paul also testifies, saying: He became poor, when he was rich, that by his poverty we might be made rich [2 Cor 8:9].

And the Sibyl confesses it:

When he lies untended amid the thick brambles of the world.²⁹

Chapter 6 — Promise: The sign of the star

Believed and seen.

Balaam, a prophet from among the Gentiles, says: There shall arise a star out of Jacob, and a man shall spring up out of Israel, and he shall break in pieces all the kingdoms of the earth [Num 24:17].

And Isaiah the prophet: The people of the Gentiles, he says, that sat in darkness saw a great light [Isa 9:2].

And David said: The kings of Tharsis and the isles shall offer presents, the kings of the Arabians and of Saba shall bring gifts [Ps 72:10].

Likewise Isaiah: All they from Saba shall come, bringing gold and frankincense and precious stone, and they shall proclaim the good news of the salvation of the Lord [Isa 60:6].

Matthew the Evangelist confirms these things, saying: Behold, the star which the wise men had seen in the East went before them, until it came and stood over the place where the child was. And when they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. And going in, they found the child and his mother. And opening their treasures, they offered him gifts: gold, as to a King; frankincense, as to a Priest; and myrrh, as to one who was to die for us [Matt 2:9–11].

Paul also testifies: God, he says, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, unto the illumination of the knowledge of his glory in the face of Christ Jesus [2 Cor 4:6].

And the Sibyl confesses it, saying:

Fire shall burn up the lands, and the sea, and the sky.

And Maro says certain things that fit:

A star, trailing a torch, ran on with much light. They heap him with gifts, and adore the holy luminary.³

Chapter 7 — Promise: The peace and salvation of his Nativity

Believed and seen.

By Isaiah the prophet: Unto us, he says, a son is given [Isa 9:6]. And a little after: I will bring peace upon his government; his peace and his salvation is great, and of his power and of his peace there shall be no end [Isa 9:7].

Luke the Evangelist confirms these things, saying: Suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising and saying: Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good will [Luke 2:13–14].

And he himself says: My peace I give unto you, my peace I leave with you [John 14:27].

And Paul the apostle testifies, saying: For he is our peace, who hath made both one [Eph 2:14].

And Maro confesses it:

And he shall rule a world made peaceful by his father's virtues.⁴

Chapter 8 — Promise: The flight into Egypt

Believed and seen.

By Hosea the prophet: Out of Egypt, he says, have I called my Son [Hos 11:1].

Matthew the Evangelist confirms this: The angel of the Lord, he says, appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying: Arise, take the child and his mother, and flee into Egypt. For Herod will seek the child to destroy him [Matt 2:13].

For Christ was brought into Egypt for this reason — that, as the apostle Paul says: Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound [Rom 5:20].

Chapter 9 — Promise: The little ones slain for Christ

Believed and seen.

In Jeremiah the prophet: A voice, he says, was heard in Rama, weeping and wailing, Rachel bewailing her sons, and she would not be comforted, because they are not [Jer 31:15].

And by David, saying: The innocent and the upright have cleaved unto me [Ps 25:21]. Likewise elsewhere: Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise [Ps 8:2].

Matthew the Evangelist confirms these things. But Herod, he says, when he saw that he was mocked by the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem and in all the borders thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men [Matt 2:16].

John also testifies in the Apocalypse: These are they, it was said, which came out of great tribulation, and washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb [Rev 7:14]. And their number out of every tribe of Israel was shown to be a hundred forty and four thousand sealed [Rev 7:4] — whom also Christ joined to his own number out of an unwilling Jerusalem, because, as Paul says: Whom he predestinated, them he also called [Rom 8:30].

To this, Maro:

And the souls of infants, weeping on the very threshold.

Likewise:

The cradle itself shall pour out caressing flowers for thee.⁵

Chapter 10 — Promise: The boy Jesus, who in the Temple confuted the elders of the Jews out of Isaiah the prophet

Isaiah the prophet, in the person of Christ the Lord: The Spirit of the Lord, he says, is upon me. Wherefore he hath anointed me, he hath sent me to preach the gospel to the poor, to heal the broken in heart, to preach deliverance to the captives, and sight to the blind [Isa 61:1].

The Gospel of Luke confirms this, saying: Jesus came into the temple, and took the book of Isaiah. And when he had read the words set down above, he said unto them: Verily I say unto you, this day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears [Luke 4:16–21].

And all that were in the temple marvelled, saying: How doth this man read, who hath never learned letters? [John 7:15].

The apostle Peter testifies: For prophecy, he says, came not at any time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit [2 Pet 1:21].

And Paul says: Built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone [Eph 2:20].

Chapter 11 — Promise: Christ anointed by the dove, after John had baptized him in the Jordan

Isaiah the prophet: The deserts of Jordan, he says, shall be exalted [Isa 35:1–2, LXX]. And there follows: My people shall see the height of God, and the glory of the Lord.

And David says: The rushing of the river maketh glad the city of God [Ps 46:4]. Likewise he: God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows [Ps 45:7].

The Gospel of Matthew confirms these things, saying: Jesus came from Galilee to Jordan, to be baptized of John. And John forbade him, saying: I ought to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me? Jesus answered him: Suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him: and Jesus being baptized, went up straightway out of the water, and the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending from heaven like a dove, and abiding upon him. And a voice came from heaven, saying: This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased [Matt 3:13–17].

Peter the apostle testifies to this, saying: And this voice we heard borne from heaven, when we were with him in the holy mount [2 Pet 1:18]. For three times did this voice sound from heaven, as they know who read or hear the Gospels attentively.

But by the dove he means the anointing — as anyone knows who remembers that after the flood the dove carried an olive branch to the ark [Gen 8:11].⁶

Chapter 12 — Promise: The choosing of the disciples

By Jeremiah the prophet: I will send, he says, fishers unto them, and they shall fish them; and hunters, and they shall hunt them [Jer 16:16].

The Gospel of Mark confirms this: Jesus found, he says, Simon Peter and Andrew his brother by the sea of Galilee mending their nets, and said unto them: Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men [Mark 1:16–17].

To the hunters he gave the highest mountains for the harts, and the rock for a refuge for the hedgehogs and the hares [Ps 104:18]; but to the fishers, the birds of the air and the fishes of the sea, which walk through the paths of the seas [Ps 8:8].

Which David briefly expounds, saying: The princes of the peoples are gathered together with the God of Abraham [Ps 47:9].

And the Sibyl confesses it:

The lofty one with his saints, now at the end of the age.³⁰

Chapter 13 — Promise: The miracles of Christ

Believed and seen.

Isaiah the prophet: Take courage, he says, ye that are fainthearted, be strong, and fear not now. For behold, our God will render judgment; he himself shall come, and shall save us. Then shall the eyes of the blind be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall hear. Then shall the lame man leap as a hart, and the tongue of the dumb shall be made plain [Isa 35:3–6].

The Gospel confirms this, saying: The disciples of John came, sent by him to Jesus, and say unto him: The master saith this: Art thou he that should come, or look we for another? Jesus answered them: Go, tell John what ye have seen and heard. The blind see, the lame walk, the deaf hear, the lepers are cleansed, the poor have the gospel preached to them: and blessed is he who shall not be offended in me [Matt 11:2–6].

Peter also testifies in the Acts of the Apostles: Jesus, he says, who went about doing good and healing among the people every infirmity, because God was with him [Acts 10:38].

And to this Maro also says:

He himself shall receive the life of gods.⁷

Chapter 14 — Promise: That Christ walked upon the sea with his feet

Believed and seen.

David the prophet: Thy way is in the sea, and thy paths in many waters [Ps 77:19].

And Habakkuk says: Scattering the waters of his passage, the deep uttered its voice [Hab 3:10].

The Gospel of Matthew confirms these things, saying: And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus came unto his disciples, walking upon the sea. But when the disciples saw him, they were afraid, saying: It is a phantasm. But Jesus, drawing near to them, said unto them: It is I, be not afraid [Matt 14:25–27].

Solomon also says: Thou hast given a way in the sea, and a most sure path among the waves: showing that thou art able to save even out of any peril³¹ them that cross the sea [Wis 14:3–4] — which is known to have been done by Jesus in Peter's case too [Matt 14:29–31].

Paul also testifies that in the shipwreck Jesus stood by him saying: Fear not, Paul: for behold, God hath given thee all them that sail with thee [Acts 27:24]. Of whom not one man perished — only the ship.

But the Sibyl already quoted answers to both:

Fire shall burn up the lands, and the sea, and the sky.

Chapter 15 — Promise: That Jesus wondrously fed the peoples in the desert

Believed and seen.

David the prophet: He satisfied, he says, the empty soul, and filled the hungry soul with good things [Ps 107:9].

And Isaiah says: He shall feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father [Isa 58:14].

The Evangelists confirm these things: that Jesus commanded his disciples to make the people sit down by fifties on the grass; and out of five loaves and two fishes he fed five thousand men in the wilderness, and of the fragments twelve baskets were filled [Luke 9:14–17].

Paul also testifies: For we are all, he says, partakers of that one bread [1 Cor 10:17]. And again: Everything is sanctified by the word of God and prayer [1 Tim 4:5].

And to this sign the Sibyl already quoted resounds.

Chapter 16 — Promise: That Jesus was carried by a young ass

Believed and seen.

Zechariah the prophet: Tell ye, he says, the daughter of Sion: Behold thy King cometh unto thee, just and saving, himself meek, sitting upon an ass under the yoke, and upon a young colt [Zech 9:9].

All the Evangelists confirm these things — that Jesus sat upon the colt of an ass, and the people spread their garments before him [Matt 21:7; Mark 11:7; Luke 19:35; John 12:14].

In this deed Jesus showed forth Cornelius, coming to the faith from among the Gentiles, upon whom sat the grace of him that calls. For in that same place the Lord showed to Peter that the Gentiles were cleansed, when Cornelius believed [Acts 10; 11:18].⁸

Chapter 17 — Promise: That Jesus drove the merchants out of the temple of God

Believed and seen.

By David the prophet, he himself says: The zeal of thy house hath eaten me up: because mine enemies have forgotten thy words [Ps 69:9; 119:139].

Likewise there: Because I have not known trafficking, I will enter into the power of the Lord [Ps 71:15–16, LXX].

And the Evangelists confirm these things: that the Lord Jesus with a scourge of cords drove out of the temple them that bought and sold doves, and overthrew the tables of the money-changers, saying: My house shall be called the house of prayer, but ye have made it a den of thieves [Matt 21:12–13; John 2:15].

Paul also testifies: If any man, he says, defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy [1 Cor 3:17]. And again: Now these things were written for our correction, upon whom the ends of the ages are come [1 Cor 10:11].

In which passage he also marks, among the rest, the lovers of money — and the betrayers, who by betraying the innocent sell them off like doves.

Hence this too, from Maro:

Little by little a tarnished age came on, and the madness of war, and the love of possessing.⁹

Chapter 18 — Promise: Christ the Lord, who pointed out his own betrayer

Believed and seen.

By David the prophet, he himself says: He that did eat my bread hath lifted up his heel against me [Ps 41:9].

Likewise there: He went forth abroad, and spake in the same way: all mine enemies whispered against me, against me they devised evil [Ps 41:6–7].

And again: If mine enemy had reviled me, I would surely have borne it: and if he that hated me had spoken great words against me, I would surely have hid myself from him. But thou, a man of one mind with me, my guide and mine acquaintance, who together with me didst take sweet meats [Ps 55:12–14].

And more openly: I was betrayed, he says, and I went not forth [Ps 88:8].

He says also by Zechariah: They gave for my price thirty pieces of silver [Zech 11:12].

All the Evangelists confirm these things: that the Lord Jesus said to the disciples as they reclined: Know ye that one of you shall betray me? And when each of them said: Is it I, Rabbi? he said: He to whom I shall dip and give the morsel, he it is. And when Judas said: Is it I, Master? Jesus saith to him: Thou hast said. And immediately, when he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him. And he went out, and went abroad, to betray him to the Jews [Matt 26:21–25; John 13:21–27].

And again Judas went, and brought back the silver to the chief priests, saying: I have sinned in betraying innocent blood [Matt 27:3–4].

Paul also testifies: The Lord Jesus, he says, in the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread [1 Cor 11:23] — and the rest that was done up to the betrayal.

And the Sibyl confesses it:

He shall be betrayed; the flame shall burn the guilty everlastingly.

Chapter 19 — Promise: The insults done to Jesus

By Isaiah the prophet: I gave my back, he says, to the scourges, and my cheeks to the palms of the hand, and I turned not away my face from the foulness of spitting [Isa 50:6].

And Jeremiah says: He shall give his cheek to him that smiteth him; he shall be filled full with reproaches [Lam 3:30].

And all the Evangelists confirm these things — how Pilate, having scourged Jesus, delivered him to them to be crucified, and they gave him blows with the palm and buffets, saying: Prophesy unto us, O Christ, who is he that struck thee? [Matt 26:67–68].

Peter the apostle also testifies in these matters, saying: Christ suffered for us, leaving you an example, that ye should follow his steps. Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously [1 Pet 2:21–23].

And ANOTHER SIBYL confesses it. "Afterward," she says,

"he shall come into the hands of the wicked; they shall give buffets to God with unclean hands, and with a defiled mouth they shall spit out poisoned spittle. But he himself shall give his holy back to the stripes, and taking the blows he shall hold his peace, that no man may know what Word he is, or whence he comes."

All which things, fulfilled in Christ the Lord, the whole world now acknowledges.¹⁰

Chapter 20 — Promise: Christ crowned with thorns

By David, he himself says: I was turned into anguish, while the thorn was fastened in [Ps 32:4, LXX].

And this the Evangelists confirm — that they put a crown of thorns upon his head, and bearing his own Cross he went out [Mark 15:17; John 19:2, 17].

This also that ram signified, which was held fast by his horns in the thorns and was offered up in Isaac's stead [Gen 22:13].

And the Sibyl confesses it:

That he may speak to those below, and be crowned with a crown of thorns.¹¹

Chapter 21 — Promise: The Cross and wounds of Christ

Isaiah the prophet: As a sheep, he says, he was led to the slaughter, and as a lamb before his shearer, he opened not his mouth [Isa 53:7]. And again: For the iniquity of my people was he led to death [Isa 53:8].

He says also by David: They pierced my hands and my feet; they numbered all my bones [Ps 22:16–17].

Jeremiah also says: Before our face Christ the Lord was seized for our corruption³² [Lam 4:20]. Likewise he: Come, he says, let us cast wood upon his bread [Jer 11:19].

All the Evangelists confirm these things — that coming to the place which is called Golgotha, which is the place of Calvary, there they crucified him.

Peter the apostle testifies in these things, saying: He bore our sins in his own body upon the tree [1 Pet 2:24].

And Paul says: Though he was crucified through weakness, yet he liveth by the power of God [2 Cor 13:4].¹²

Chapter 22 — Promise: That Christ was crucified in the midst of robbers

Isaiah the prophet: He was reckoned, he says, among the wicked [Isa 53:12] — he who did no sin, by whose bruises we are all healed [Isa 53:5].

The Gospel of John confirms this, saying: With him they crucified two others, on this side and on that, but Jesus in the midst [John 19:18].

To this Peter the apostle says: But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or a thief, or an evil-speaker: but if as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this name [1 Pet 4:15–16].

Chapter 23 — Promise: That his garments were divided, and they cast lots upon his tunic

By David the prophet: They parted my garments among them, he says, and upon my vesture they cast lots [Ps 22:18].

John the Evangelist confirms these things: And the soldiers, he says, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments, and made four parts. Likewise also the tunic — which was woven from the top throughout — they said: Let us not rend it, but let us cast lots for it, whose it shall be [John 19:23–24].

That this tunic is the one Catholic Church, the apostle Paul shows, saying: Christ loved the Church, and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify it, cleansing it with the washing of water by the word: that he might present it to himself a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish [Eph 5:25–27].¹³

Chapter 24 — Promise: Christ, who was given gall and vinegar to drink

By David the prophet, he himself: They gave me gall for my meat, he says, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink [Ps 69:21].

And all the Evangelists confirm these things. Jesus, knowing, says John, that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, saith: I thirst. There was set a vessel full of vinegar, and a sponge full of vinegar: and putting hyssop about it, they offered it to his mouth. When therefore Jesus had received the vinegar full of gall, he said: It is finished; and bowing his head, he gave up the spirit [John 19:28–30].

And by David he did not pass over this herb in silence, saying: Thou shalt sprinkle me with hyssop, and I shall be cleansed [Ps 51:7].

And the Sibyl confesses it. "For meat," she says,

"they gave gall, and for thirst vinegar; this is the table of inhospitality that they shall display."

And to these things that line of Virgil answers too:

The serpent also shall die, and the treacherous poison-herb.

He shall die — for then was the devil conquered.¹⁴

Chapter 25 — Promise: Christ, who was struck with a lance, and from whose side flowed blood and water

Zechariah the prophet: They shall look on him whom they pierced [Zech 12:10].

And again it was said in the law: Ye shall not break a bone of him [Exod 12:46; Num 9:12].

But Jeremiah says: He shall give his mouth³³ into the pit [Lam 3:29–30].

The Evangelists confirm these things, John saying: But when the soldiers came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs, as they did the robbers'; but one of the soldiers with a lance opened his side, and forthwith came out blood and water [John 19:33–34].

Peter the apostle testifies in these things: Knowing, he says, that ye were not redeemed with gold or silver from your vain manner of life received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of the Lamb without blemish [1 Pet 1:18–19].

And John the apostle says: There are three that bear witness: the spirit, the blood, and the water [1 John 5:8]. And there follows: If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater [1 John 5:9].

And the Sibyl confesses it, upbraiding the Jewish nation:

"For thou thyself, O foolish one, didst not understand thy God, who sported with the senses of mortals; and thou didst crown him with thorns, and didst mix the dreadful gall."

Chapter 26 — Promise: That in the Passion of Christ the sun and moon were darkened

Joel the prophet: Before his face, he says, the earth shall be confounded and the heaven shall be moved; the sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their light [Joel 2:10; cf. Isa 13:10].

And the Evangelists confirm these things, saying: After Jesus was crucified, there was darkness over all the earth from the sixth hour until the ninth [Matt 27:45]. And again: After Jesus gave up the spirit, the veil of the temple was rent in two parts, from the top to the bottom [Matt 27:51].

And Paul the apostle says: When they shall have turned to Christ, the veil shall be taken away [2 Cor 3:16].

And the Sibyl confesses it:

"But the veil of the temple," she says, "shall be rent; and at midday there shall be dark night, with storm-clouds, for three hours."¹⁵

Chapter 27 — Promise: The burial of Christ the Lord

By David the prophet, he himself: I am become, he says, as a man without help, free among the dead, and like the wounded that sleep, cast out in the graves [Ps 88:4–5].

Likewise in the same: Thou wilt not leave my soul among the dead, neither wilt thou suffer thy Holy One to see corruption [Ps 16:10].

Here also Matthew and the rest of the Evangelists testify that Joseph of Arimathea, with Pilate's permission, received the body of Jesus, and wrapped it in linen cloths and laid it in a new tomb [Matt 27:57–60; Mark 15:46; Luke 23:50–53].

Paul also testifies, saying to the Corinthians: For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures [1 Cor 15:3–4].

And the Sibyl confesses it:

"And he shall die a death," she says, "for three days, having taken on sleep."

Chapter 28 — Promise: That at Christ's death the bodies of the saints rose

Isaiah the prophet says: The dead shall rise up, and they that are in the graves shall be raised, and all that are in the earth shall exult. For thy dew is a healing to them [Isa 26:19].

Matthew the Evangelist confirms these things, saying: The earth quaked, and the rocks were rent, and the tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who slept arose. And coming out of the tombs after his Resurrection, they came into the holy city and appeared to many [Matt 27:51–53].

And Paul says: If ye be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God [Col 3:1].

And Peter the apostle testifies, saying: For this cause was the gospel preached also to the dead [1 Pet 4:6].

And the Sibyl confesses it:

And the earth, gaping open, showed the Tartarean chaos. Seeking out the gates of foul Avernus, he shall break them in. And light unbound³⁴ shall be for all the flesh of the saints.¹⁶

Chapter 29 — Promise: That on the third day he rose from the dead

Hosea the prophet says: After two days he shall heal us. On the third day we shall rise, and before the light we shall find him ready [Hos 6:2–3].

He says also by David: I myself will rise before the light [Ps 57:8]. Likewise there: The Lord rose up as one that sleepeth, as a mighty man who has been overcome³⁵ with wine [Ps 78:65].

Matthew and the rest of the Evangelists confirm these things — that the chief priests came and said to Pilate: Lord, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive: After the third day I will rise again. Command therefore that the sepulchre be guarded [Matt 27:62–64].

For he had said to them: This generation is an evil generation; it seeketh a sign, and no sign shall be given it, but the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights, so must the Son of man also be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights [Matt 12:39–40].

And in the evening of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre. And behold, there was a great earthquake. For an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and coming, rolled back the stone and sat upon it. And his countenance was fearful, and his garments as snow: and for fear of him the keepers trembled and became as dead men. And the angel said to the women: Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, who was crucified: he is not here; for he is risen, as he said [Matt 28:1–6].

Paul also testifies to Timothy: Remember, he says, that Jesus Christ rose from the dead, according to my gospel [2 Tim 2:8]. And to the Corinthians: Christ, he says, is risen from the dead, the firstfruits of them that sleep [1 Cor 15:20].

Here it is asked how he is called the firstfruits, since he himself raised the dead, and Elijah and Elisha also raised men from the dead. The answer is that those who were raised died again, and rest today with them that sleep; but Paul the apostle calls Christ the firstfruits of them that sleep for this reason — that rising from the dead, he dieth no more, and death shall have no more dominion over him [Rom 6:9].

And the Sibyl confesses it:

Then, returning from the dead, he shall come first to the light, showing to them that are called back the beginning of the resurrection.

Chapter 30 — Promise: The unbelieving disciples rebuked

Hosea the prophet says: The Lord hath roared as a lion, for he himself shall roar, and the sons of the eagles shall be astonished [Hos 11:10] — according to that saying of Jacob: Thou wentest up and layest down; thou didst sleep as a lion [Gen 49:9].

The Gospel of Mark confirms this: As the eleven sat at meat, he says, Jesus appeared unto them, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them who had seen him after he was risen [Mark 16:14].

And Thomas, in John, was told: Put in thy finger hither, and behold my hands: and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing [John 20:27].

John also testifies in his Epistle, saying: That which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, and our hands have handled, of the word of life — and the life was made manifest unto us [1 John 1:1–2].

And Paul says: He appeared to Cephas, then to the eleven. After that he appeared to more than five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain unto this present [1 Cor 15:5–6].

Likewise: If Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? [1 Cor 15:12].

And Maro says:

Under thy leadership, if any traces of our guilt remain, they shall be made void, and shall free the earth from perpetual dread.¹⁷

Chapter 31 — Promise: The Ascension of Christ into heaven, and the gift of the Holy Spirit

David the prophet says: He ascended on high, he led captivity captive, he gave gifts to men [Ps 68:18; Eph 4:8].

Likewise he: He ascended upon the Cherubim and flew; he flew upon the wings of the winds [Ps 18:10].

And again: Of the Lord is the taking up, and of the Holy One of Israel our kingdom [Ps 89:18].

Likewise he says: Send forth thy Spirit, and they shall be created, and thou shalt renew the face of the earth [Ps 104:30].

The Evangelists confirm these things, he himself saying in Mark: And these signs shall follow them that believe: in my name they shall cast out devils, they shall speak with new tongues [Mark 16:17].

And elsewhere: I, he says, will send you the promise of my Father; but tarry ye in the city, until ye be endued with power from on high [Luke 24:49].

And after he had spoken these things, he ascended into heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God [Mark 16:19].

The Acts of the Apostles also testify. A cloud, it says, received him, and he was taken up from the disciples. And while they were gazing up into heaven, two men stood by them in white, who also said: Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This Jesus, who is taken up from you, shall so come as ye have seen him going into heaven [Acts 1:9–11].

And again: And on the day of Pentecost all the disciples were together with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a mighty rushing wind, and it filled all that place where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues as of fire, and it sat upon each one of them, and they began to speak with divers tongues, as the Spirit gave them to utter [Acts 2:1–4].

And again: The Holy Spirit, he says, sent from heaven, whom he poured out most richly upon us, and upon all that believe [Titus 3:6].

Chapter 32 — Promise: The rise of the Church

David the prophet says: Who maketh the barren woman to dwell in a house, a joyful mother of children [Ps 113:9].

And Isaiah: Rejoice, he says, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry aloud, thou that travailest not: for many are the children of the desolate, more than of her that hath a husband [Isa 54:1; Gal 4:27].

And how she bears these children, the Lord himself shows in the Gospel: Go ye, he says to the disciples, and baptize all nations in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit [Matt 28:19].

Likewise he says: Unless a man be born again of water and the Spirit, he shall not enter into the kingdom of God [John 3:5].

And in the Acts of the Apostles: Ye shall be, he says, my witnesses in all Judaea and Samaria, and unto the ends of the earth [Acts 1:8].

Peter also says: As newborn babes, desire the rational milk without guile, that ye may grow thereby unto salvation [1 Pet 2:2].

And Paul testifies: Though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers. For in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel [1 Cor 4:15].

Chapter 33 — Promise: The new Covenant, the new song, the new man

Jeremiah the prophet: Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, and I will make a new Covenant upon the house of Israel and upon the house of Judah — not according to the Covenant that I gave to their fathers [Jer 31:31–32; Heb 8:8].

And a little after: This is the Covenant that I will make with them: giving my laws in their minds, and I will write them upon their hearts. And every man shall not teach his brother, saying: Know the Lord. For all shall know me, from the greatest to the least of them [Jer 31:33–34; Heb 10:16].

And by Isaiah: Behold, I make new things, which shall now spring forth [Isa 43:19]. And again: But to those who serve me a new name shall be named [Isa 65:15] — which is understood, of course, to be "Christian," which name has taken possession of the earth.

And David says: Sing unto the Lord a new song: sing unto the Lord, all the earth [Ps 96:1]. Who but a man blind in heart could fail to see these things fulfilled?

The Lord confirms these things in the Gospel of Matthew. Every scribe, he says, instructed in the kingdom of God is like unto a man bringing forth out of his treasure things new and old [Matt 13:52].

And again: That which is born of the Spirit is spirit [John 3:6].

Paul testifies: The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second man is from heaven, heavenly. As we have borne the image of the earthy, let us also put on the image of him that is from heaven [1 Cor 15:47, 49].

And again: Be renewed, he says, in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new man, who is created according to God [Eph 4:23–24].

Likewise: If any man, he says, be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away, and behold, all things are become new [2 Cor 5:17].

And Maro says:

Whereby the iron age first ceases, and a golden race rises in all the world.¹⁸

Chapter 34 — Promise: The Martyrs

By David the prophet they say: For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter [Ps 44:22].

And again: Thou hast given us as sheep for meat [Ps 44:11].

Likewise there: Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints [Ps 116:15].

He himself confirms these things in the Gospel, saying: Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves [Matt 10:16].

And again: He that shall lose his life for my sake shall keep it unto life eternal [Matt 10:39].

Likewise: Ye shall be betrayed by brethren, and kinsfolk, and friends, and some of you shall they put to death: and ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved [Luke 21:16–19].

And in John: Except, he says, a grain of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit [John 12:24–25].

John the apostle also testifies, saying: As Christ laid down his life for us, so ought we also to lay down our lives for the brethren [1 John 3:16].

And Paul says: For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come — and he concludes — nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord [Rom 8:38–39].

To these things, that saying of Maro:

And he shall see the heroes mingled with the gods, and shall himself be seen by them.¹⁹

Now Orosius the historian wrote that there were ten persecutions, from Nero down to Diocletian and Maximian — like the ten Egyptian plagues. And Augustine, of blessed memory, inserted a good many others into his own writings. These he both felt and saw not far from us, and handed down to us the memorials of their martyrdom, consecrated and to be venerated — himself also believing in the increase of the Church, which we see fulfilled.

In our own times, indeed, we have known a persecution made among the Persians, in the reign of Arcadius, a religious and Christian prince: who, rather than hand over the Armenians who had fled to him, brought on a war with the Persians. And by this sign — before he had gained the victory, while the soldiers were already coming together into battle — crosses of the air appeared upon their garments. Whence also the victor commanded that gold coin be struck with that same sign of the Cross, which remains in use throughout the whole world, and especially in Asia, to this day.²⁰

Chapter 35 — Promise: The Calling of the Gentiles

David the prophet said: The Lord God of gods hath spoken, and hath called the earth: from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof [Ps 50:1].

And Isaiah: Many nations shall marvel at him, and kings shall shut their mouths. They to whom it was not told of him shall see; and they that have not heard shall understand [Isa 52:15].

Likewise: They shall declare his powers in the isles [Isa 42:12].

Likewise Isaiah says: Nations that knew thee not shall call upon thee, and peoples that were ignorant of thee shall flee unto thee [Isa 55:5].

Likewise he, of the apostles: Who are these, that fly as clouds, to bring thy sons from a far land? [Isa 60:8–9]. And again: Behold, these come from far; and these from the north and from the sea; and these from the land of the Persians [Isa 49:12].

And by David it is said: A people whom I knew not hath served me; at the hearing of the ear it hath obeyed me [Ps 18:43–44].

The Lord confirms these things in the Gospel: Many, he says, shall come from the East and from the West, and shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of my Father [Matt 8:11].

Peter also testifies: Who in time past, he says, were not a people, but are now the people of God [1 Pet 2:10].

And Paul says: I speak to you Gentiles: inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I will glorify my ministry, if by any means I may provoke to emulation my own flesh, and may save some of them [Rom 11:13–14].

And again: Blindness, he says, in part is happened to Israel [Rom 11:25].

Everyone, he says, who is written in the book of life of the Lamb, who was slain from the foundation of the world [Rev 13:8].

Chapter 36 — Promise: That the kings who persecute Christ in the Church shall be brought humbled to her

In David the prophet: All the kings of the earth shall adore him, all nations shall serve him [Ps 72:11].

And Isaiah the prophet: The nations, he says, and the kingdoms that will not serve thee shall perish [Isa 60:12].

And again: Behold, saith the Lord, I will lift up my hand to the Gentiles, and I will set up my standard to the peoples: and they shall bring thy sons in their bosom, and thy daughters shall they carry upon their shoulders. And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their princesses thy nurses. And they shall bow down to thee with their face toward the earth, and shall lick up the dust of thy feet [Isa 49:22–23].

The Lord confirms these things in the Gospel, saying: The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it. For she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon. And behold, a greater than Solomon is here [Matt 12:42; Luke 11:31].

Therefore, "a greater here" — because to Solomon came ONE; but to this one, ALL the kingdoms have come. Just as we now, who have believed and do believe such great things, both perceive and have seen these things fulfilled.

And the Sibyl confesses it, saying:

And before this Lord shall the kings be set, down to the last man.²¹

Chapter 37 — Promise: That even kings have taken up the yoke of the law of Christ

David the prophet says: Now therefore, O ye kings, understand; be instructed, all ye that judge the earth. Serve the Lord in fear, and rejoice unto him with trembling. Hold fast discipline, lest at any time the Lord be angry, and ye perish from the just way [Ps 2:10–12].

And again: When the peoples are gathered together in one, and the kings, that they may serve the Lord [Ps 102:22].

And Solomon says: Love justice, ye that judge the earth [Wis 1:1].

The Lord confirms these things in the Gospel: Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly of heart [Matt 11:29].

And again: With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again [Matt 7:2].

James the apostle testifies in these things: Judgment, he says, without mercy to him that hath shown no mercy. For mercy exalteth itself above judgment [Jas 2:13].

Paul also judges that we must pray for kings, and for all that are in high places, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life [1 Tim 2:1–2].

To these things Maro says:

Be warned, learn justice, and despise not the gods.²²

Chapter 38 — Promise: The overthrow of the idols and of the temples

In his law the Lord says by Moses: Ye shall overthrow their altars, and cut down their groves, and burn their graven images with fire [Deut 7:5].

And Isaiah the prophet: All the things made by hand of Egypt shall flee [Isa 19:1]. Likewise he: They shall hide their gods in the caves and the clefts of the rocks, nor shall they conceal them even there [Isa 2:10, LXX].

Jeremiah also says: The gods that have not made heaven and earth, let them perish from under heaven and earth [Jer 10:11].

And by Zechariah the Lord says: I will destroy the names of the idols out of the land [Zech 13:2].

David also says: All the gods of the nations are demons [Ps 96:5].

The Lord confirms these things in the Gospel of Luke, saying: Every kingdom divided against itself shall be brought to desolation. And if Satan also be divided against himself, how shall his kingdom stand? — because ye say that I cast out devils by Beelzebub. And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges [Luke 11:17–19].

Paul also testifies, saying: We know that an idol is nothing in this world, and that there is no God but one [1 Cor 8:4].

And the Sibyl confesses it:

Men shall cast away their images, and every treasure too.

2. These many things, therefore, which were spoken of Christ and done in Christ, we believe; which the people before us, seeing them, believed; which we see fulfilled.

For — to say something of our own times: under the reign of the Christian Emperor Constantine, the Donatist schism was confuted by his judgment, and Arius was punished by divine authority. And under the rule of Theodosius, that religious prince, through the counts Jovius and Gaudentius, all the temples were closed and the empty figments stripped bare — who of us is permitted not to know it?

To whom that famous Symmachus — a man endowed with marvellous eloquence and learning, yet a pagan — having recited a panegyric of praises in the consistory, hinted with all the subtle art at his command that the Altar of Victory should be restored in the Senate — to a Christian prince, as he well knew. Whom the Emperor at once drove from his sight, and commanded him to remain that day at the hundredth milestone, set upon an unfurnished carriage.

Eutropius, too, the most powerful patrician, a pagan in soul and mind, when he had wheedled out of Arcadius the Christian Emperor, by stealth, an edict to the Church's dishonour — that if anyone fled to her for refuge, he should be dragged even from the altar and pay a heavier penalty — by the judgment of God he was himself the first to drink his own sentence. For, incurring the offence of the said Emperor, he fled headlong to the refuge of the very thing he had hated. And the holy Mother took her own enemy into the bosom of her mercy. And obtaining pardon for him through the venerable priest John [Chrysostom], she conferred life and safety upon her hater and despiser; by his example warning all her enemies that it is vain for them to kick against the goad [Acts 9:5].

Honorius also, the younger son of Theodosius, a man endowed with Christian religion and devotion, granted all the temples with their adjoining precincts to the Churches, and at the same time gave their images into their power to be broken up.

3. But as to what was done under that same reign in this promise of God — as far as divine grace shall aid my memory, I will run briefly through two or three places from recollection.

At Alexandria, in the temple of Serapis, this was the demon's device. A chariot of iron, propped on no base, fastened by no hooks driven into the walls, hanging in the air, presented to all a stupefaction, and seemed to mortal eyes a very support from the gods. Yet it was a lodestone — the stone which holds up iron assigned³⁶ to itself — fixed at that spot in the vaulting, that bore up the whole contraption. And so, when a certain servant of God, being inspired, had understood it — as soon as he pulled the lodestone from the vault, that whole portent fell, shattered and ground to bits, and showed that it was not divine, which a mortal man had rigged.

4. At the city of Rome there was a certain cave, in which a dragon of wondrous size, made by mechanical art, bearing a sword in its mouth, with glowing eyes, dreadful with gems, appeared terrible.

To this thing, every year, consecrated virgins, adorned with flowers, were given in sacrifice in this manner: as the unsuspecting girls carried up their gifts, they would tread on a step of the stair — the very step by which that dragon hung by the devil's art — and the thrust of the oncoming sword would kill them, that it might shed innocent blood.

And a certain monk, well known for his merit to Stilicho, then patrician, overthrew it in this way. With a staff, feeling each step with his hand, examining as he went — as soon as he touched it, he found out the diabolical fraud; and passing beyond it, he went down, cut the dragon apart, and hacked it in pieces — showing here too that they are not gods, which are made by hand.

5. In Africa, at Carthage, they used to say there was a temple of Caelestis, exceedingly large, walled about with the shrines of all their gods. Its forecourt — paved with stone mosaic, adorned with pavement and with precious columns and walls — stretched out nearly two miles.

When it had long stood shut up in neglect, and thorny thickets had grown up and overwhelmed its enclosure, and the Christian people wished to claim it for the use of the true religion, the heathen populace kept shouting that there were dragons and asps in there, guarding the temple. At which the Christians, kindled all the more with zeal, removed everything unharmed, and with such ease, that they consecrated the temple to their own true heavenly King and Lord.

For when the holy solemn feast of Easter was being kept, a multitude gathered there — coming from every quarter, out of every kind of curiosity — with many priests; and the father and bishop who must be named with worthy remembrance, Aurelius, now a citizen of the heavenly fatherland, both had and sat upon a chair in that place, in the place of Caelestis.

I MYSELF WAS THERE AT THE TIME, with my companions and friends. And as the restless age of youths turns itself this way and that, while we were curiously inspecting each thing according to its grandeur, something wondrous and incredible thrust itself upon our sight: an inscription, in bronze letters and of the larger sort, written across the front of the temple —

AURELIUS PONTIFEX DEDICAVIT

("AURELIUS THE PONTIFF DEDICATED THIS")

The people, reading this, were astounded. For things had then been done by a foreseeing Spirit, which God, who knew beforehand, had shut up in this certain end.

And when a certain pagan brought forward a false prophecy — as though from that same Caelestis — that the road and the temples would be given back again to the ancient rite of the sacrifices: HE, HE, I say, the true God, whose prophetic oracles know not at all how to lie or to deceive — under Constantius and the Augusta Placidia, whose son Valentinian, pious and Christian, now reigns, with the tribune Ursus pressing it on — brought all those temples level with the ground, and left the field for the burial of the dead; and that very road, without a memorial of itself, the Vandal hand has now overturned.²³

6. I myself also came to know, in a certain part of the province of Mauretania, ancient images brought out of caves and caverns, where they had been hidden — so that that whole city, clergy included, was held guilty in the sacrilege of perjury. But what was done in this matter throughout the other provinces is known to all, and the outcomes themselves show it.

These things to come were a grief to that Hermes Trismegistus; and mourning, he wrote among other things, saying:

"Then shall that land, the most holy seat of shrines and temples, be utterly full of the dead and of corpses."

But the Spirit of God foretold it beforehand; and the spirits of the demons could not keep silence from confessing it — and especially they who themselves said to the Lord: Why art thou come to destroy us before the time? [Mark 1:24].

Here, that great throng of gods, certain and uncertain, whom Varro sets forth — those chieftains too, the select gods, with their king Jove himself brandishing his thunderbolts, dreadful (as their worshippers report) in counsel and in power, and terrible in arms — HERE, here, they ought to have done something, if not for the world, at least for themselves — lest one Crucified man should destroy them.

But that they have perished, we know; and David the prophet confirms it, saying: Their memory is perished with a crash, and the Lord endureth for ever [Ps 9:6–7].²⁴

Chapter 39 — Promise: That kings, middling men, and the poor shall come together alike to the one table of Christ

Isaiah the prophet: Then, he says, the wolf shall feed together with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the ox and the lion and the lamb shall eat straw together, and a little child shall feed them [Isa 11:6–7].

And David says: For lo, the kings of the earth were gathered together, and came together in one; and they, seeing it, marvelled so [Ps 48:4–5].

Likewise he: Who is, he says, like the Lord our God, who dwelleth on high, and looketh down on the lowly? Who raiseth up the needy from the earth, and lifteth the poor out of the dunghill — that he may set him with princes, with the princes of his people [Ps 113:5–8].

And Solomon says: He made the small and the great, and he careth equally for all [Wis 6:7].

And again: Wisdom, he says, hath built her a house, and hath set up seven pillars; she hath slain her victims, she hath mingled her wine in the bowl, and hath prepared her table; she hath sent her servants, calling together and saying: Come, eat of my bread, and drink the wine which I have mingled for you [Prov 9:1–5].

The Lord confirms these things in the Gospel, in that supper which the rich man himself, the great one, prepared for his son. He sent, he says, his servants, that the invited should come, and they made excuse in this manner. One said: I have bought a farm, I go to see it, have me excused. Another said: I have bought five yoke of oxen. Another said: I have married a wife [Luke 14:16–20].

In these three excuses is the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the ambition of the world [1 John 2:16] — held by which, the Jews, being called, would not come to the supper of Christ.

Go out, says the master of the house, into the streets and lanes, and whom ye shall find, bring in. — Out of these the Gentiles were brought in. Yet there is room, he says. Go out, he says, into the hedges and the highways, and whom ye find, COMPEL to come in [Luke 14:21–23].

And out of these he brings in, compelled, the rich, the kings, and certain heretics (whom he has outside his own fold) — he who says: No man cometh unto me, except the Father who sent me draw him [John 6:44]. And even to those who come, he says: He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day [John 6:54].

And who these are, the apostle Paul shows: There is, he says, neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female. For ye are all one in Christ Jesus [Gal 3:28].

To this chapter too the words of the Sibyl, which we set down above, agree, when she says:

He shall bring down the hills, he shall lift up the valleys from the depth. There shall be nothing lofty or high among the affairs of men.

With whom Maro sounds in concord, saying:

Nor shall the herds fear great lions.²⁵

Chapter 40 — Promise: That when all the nations have believed, the end shall come

Isaiah³⁷ the prophet: They shall adore him, he says, from their own places, all the isles of the nations [Zeph 2:11, LXX — the 1744 editor notes the author has misremembered; the words are Zephaniah's, not Isaiah's].

And by Malachi the prophet: From the rising of the sun unto the going down, my name shall be glorious among the nations, saith the Lord. And a pure sacrifice shall be offered to my name in every place [Mal 1:11].

Likewise Isaiah: For the earth is filled with the knowledge of God, as many waters covering the sea [Isa 11:9].

The Lord confirms these things in the Gospel of Matthew, saying: And this gospel shall be preached for a testimony to all nations, and THEN SHALL THE END COME [Matt 24:14].

Concerning the end of the world, these signs are given by Haggai the prophet: Behold, I, saith the Lord, will yet once more shake the heaven and the earth; and I will make the world of the earth a desert, and the cities so that they be not inhabited [Hag 2:6, LXX + Isa 13:9].

And Habakkuk says: The consummation shall come upon the wicked [Hab 1:?, LXX]. And again: The fig trees, he says, shall not give their fruit, and there shall be no growth in the vineyards. The labour of the olive shall lie, and the fields shall bring forth no food. The sheep shall fail from the pasture, there shall be no oxen in the stalls. But I, he says, will exult in the Lord [Hab 3:17–18].

The wise men of the world also bore witness to these things — as that of Sallust:

"It must needs be that all things which have risen shall set, and that things which have grown shall grow old."

The Academics too, we know, held that all things tending to destruction are uncertain. And Plato:

"If he gave the world a beginning, he gave it also an end."

Whence another [Cicero] says:

"What is this? — that in which there is anything last."

Which things the Lord himself, giving the signs of all things, confirms: When ye shall see all these things come to pass, know ye that the end is nigh [Matt 24:33].

And John the apostle says: The world passeth away, and the lust thereof [1 John 2:17].

But the last things that are to come, the HALF OF TIME which follows, the chapters appended hereafter shall show forth:

so that this third age — as it were the third day — rising out of the four Evangelists as out of the four hinges of the world (John the Evangelist passing across as the eastern ray, and Matthew, Mark, and Luke set in the three remaining quarters), and in the twelvefold number of the disciples as of the hours — we may bring to a close at the evening in which the Lord suffered.

So that the Day himself, who rose from the dead, when he shall have come eternal in his majesty, may make us eternal, to live with him, and may grant us to praise God for ever without end.

END OF PART THREE — THE TIME UNDER GRACE. 40 chapters.²⁶