Chapter 5

1The 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 impede me? Let him draw near to the servant of the Lord. Wo be to you! Because ye shall all wax old as a garment, the moth shall eat you up.
2And again the prophet adds, He is put for a stone for 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.
3What 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.
4And 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: For indeed I could be content even to die for your sakes.
5But 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.
6Forasmuch then as our Saviour was to appear in the flesh and suffer, his passion was hereby foretold.
7For thus saith the prophet against Israel: Wo 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.
8Moses 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.
9Now 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.
10What 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.
11Seeing 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.
12For 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.
13And 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.
14I will now shew you, how he made us a new creature, in the latter days.
15The 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.
16Wherefore 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 of the Lord foresaw, their hearts of stone, and I will put into them hearts of flesh.
17Because he was about to be made manifest in the flesh and to dwell in us.
18For, my brethren, the habitation of our heart is a holy temple unto the Lord. For the Lord saith again. In what place shall I appear before the Lord my God, and be glorified?
19He 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.
20Wherefore we are they whom he has brought into that good land.
21But 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.
22For he foretold above, saying, increase and multiply, and have dominion over the fishes, etc.
23But 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.
24But 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.