OTHER FRAGMENTS FROM THE LOST WRITINGS OF JUSTIN
[TRANSLATED BY THE REV. A. ROBERTS, D.D.]
I.
THE most admirable Justin rightly declared that the aforesaid demons(1)
resembled robbers.--TATIAN'S Address to the Greeks, chap. xviii.
II.
And Justin well said in his book against Marcion, that he would not have
believed the Lord Himself, if He had announced any other God than the Fashioner
and Maker [of the world], and our Nourisher. But since, from the one God, who
both made this world and formed us and contains as tell as administers all
things, there came to us the only-begotten Son, summing up His own workmanship in
Himself, my faith in Him is stedfast, and my love towards the Father is
immoveable, God bestowing both upon us.--IRENAEUS: Heresies, iv. 6.
III.
Justin well said: Before the advent of the Lord, Satan never ventured to
blaspheme God, inasmuch as he was not yet sure of his own damnation, since that
was announced concerning him by the prophets only in parables and allegories.
But after the advent of the Lord learning plainly from the discourses of Christ
and His apostles that eternal fire was prepared for him who voluntarily
departed from God and for all who, without repentance, persevere in apostasy, then, by
means of a man of this sort, he, as if already condemned, blasphemes that God
who inflicts judgment upon him, and imputes the sin of his apostasy to his
Maker, instead of to his own will and predilection.--IRENAEUS: Heresies, v. 26.
IV.
Expounding the reason of the incessant plotting of the devil against us,
he declares: Before the advent of the Lord, the devil did not so plainly know
the measure of his own punishment, inasmuch as the divine prophets had but
enigmatically announced it; as, for instance, Isaiah, who in the person of the
Assyrian tragically revealed the course to be followed against the devil. But when
the Lord appeared, and the devil clearly understood that eternal fire was laid up
and prepared for him and his angels, he then began to plot without ceasing
against the faithful, being desirous to have many companions in his apostasy, that
he might not by himself endure the shame of condemnation, comforting himself
by this cold and malicious consolation.--From the writings of JOHN OF ANTIOCH.
V.
And Justin of Neapolis, a man who was not far separated from the apostles
either in age or excellence, says that that which is mortal is inherited, but
that which is immortal inherits; and that the flesh indeed dies, but the kingdom
of heaven lives.--From METHODIUS On the Resurrection, in Photius.
VI.
Neither is there straitness with God, nor anything that is not absolutely
perfect.--From manuscript of the writings of JUSTIN.
VII.
We shall not injure God by remaining ignorant of Him, but shall deprive
ourselves of His friendship.
VIII.
The unskilfulness of the teacher proves destructive to his disciples, and
the carelessness of the disciples entails danger on the teacher, and especially
should they owe their negligence to his want of knowledge.
IX.
The soul can with difficulty be recalled to those good things from which
it has fallen, and is with difficulty dragged away from those evils to which it
has become accustomed. If at any time thou showest a disposition to blame
thyself, then perhaps, through the medicine of repentance, I should cherish good
hopes regarding thee. But when thou altogether despisest fear, and rejectest with
scorn the very faith of Christ, it were better for thee that thou hadst never
been born from the womb.--From the writings of JOHN OF DAMASCUS.
X.
By the two birds(1) Christ is denoted, both dead as man, and living as
God. He is likened to a bird, because He is understood and declared to be from
above, and from heaven. And the living bird, having been dipped in the blood of
the dead one, was afterwards let go. For the living and divine Word was in the
crucified and dead temple [of the body], as being a partaker of the passion, and
yet impossible to God.
By that which took place in the running(2) water, in which the wood and
the hyssop and the scarlet were dipped, is set forth the bloody passion of Christ
on the cross for the salvation of those who are sprinkled with the Spirit, and
the water, and the blood. Wherefore the material for purification was not
provided chiefly with reference to leprosy, but with regard to the forgiveness of
sins, that both leprosy might be understood to be an emblem of sin, and the
things which were sacrificed an emblem of Him who was to be sacrificed for sins.
For this reason, consequently, he ordered that the scarlet should be
dipped at the same time in the water, thus predicting that the flesh should no
longer possess its natural [evil] properties. For this reason, also, were there the
two birds, the one being sacrificed in the water, and the other dipped both in
the blood and in the water and then sent away, just as is narrated also
respecting the goats.
The goat that was sent away presented a type of Him who taketh away the
sins of men. But the two contained a representation of the one economy of God
incarnate. For He was wounded for our transgressions, and He bare the sins of
many, and He was delivered for our iniquities.--From manuscript of writings of
JUSTIN.
XI.
When God formed man at the beginning, He suspended the things of nature on
his will, and made an experiment by means of one commandment. For He ordained
that, if he kept this, he should partake of immortal existence; but if he
transgressed it, the contrary should be his lot. Man having been thus made, and
immediately looking towards transgression, naturally became subject to corruption.
Corruption then becoming inherent in nature, it was necessary that He who
wished to save should be one who destroyed the efficient cause of corruption. And
this could not otherwise be done than by the life which is according to nature
being united to that which had received the corruption, and so destroying the
corruption, while preserving as immortal for the future that which had received
it. It was therefore necessary that the Word should become possessed of a body,
that He might deliver us from the death of natural corruption. For if, as ye(3)
say, He had simply by a nod warded off death from us, death indeed would not
have approached us on account of the expression of His will; but none the less
would we again have become corruptible, inasmuch as we carried about in ourselves
that natural corruption.--LEONTIUS against Eutychians, etc., book ii.
XII.
As it is inherent in all bodies formed by God to have a shadow, so it is
fitting that God, who is just, should render to those who choose what is good,
and to those who prefer what is evil, to every one according to his
deserts.--From the writings of JOHN OF DAMASCUS.
XIII.
He speaks not of the Gentiles in foreign lands, but concerning [the
people] who agree with the Gentiles, according to that which is spoken by Jeremiah:
"It is a bitter thing for thee, that thou hast forsaken me, saith the Lord thy
God, that of old thou hast broken thy yoke, and torn asunder thy bands, and
said, I will not serve Thee, but will go to every high hill, and underneath every
tree, and there shall I become dissolute in my fornication."(4)--From manuscript
of the writings of JUSTIN.
XIV.
Neither shall light ever be darkness as long as light exists, nor shall
the truth of the things pertaining to us be controverted. For truth is that than
which nothing is more powerful. Every one who might speak the truth, and speaks
it not, shall be judged by God.--Manuscript and works of JOHN OF DAMASCUS.
XV.
And the fact that it was not said of the seventh day equally with the
other days, "And there was evening, and there was morning," is a distinct
indication of the consummation which is to take place in it before it is finished, as
the fathers declare, especially St. Clement, and Irenaeus, and Justin the martyr
and philosopher, who, commenting with exceeding wisdom on the number six of the
sixth day, affirms that the intelligent soul of man and his five susceptible
senses were the six works of the sixth day. Whence also, having discoursed at
length on the number six, he declares that all things which have been framed by
God are divided into six classes,--viz., into things intelligent and immortal,
such as are the angels; into things reasonable and mortal, such as mankind; into
things sensitive and irrational, such as cattle, and birds, and fishes; into
things that can advance, and move, and are insensible, such as the winds, and
the clouds, and the waters, and the stars; into things which increase and are
immoveable, such as the trees; and into things which are insensible and
immoveable, such as the mountains, the earth, and such like. For all the creatures of
God, in heaven and on earth, fall under one or other of these divisions, and are
circumscribed by them.--From the writings of ANASTASIUS.
XVI.
Sound doctrine does not enter into the hard and disobedient heart; but, as
if beaten back, enters anew into itself.
XVII.
As the good of the body is health, so the good of the soul is knowledge,
which is indeed a kind of health of soul, by which a likeness to God is
attained.--From the writings of JOHN OF DAMASCUS.
XVIII.
To yield and give way to our passions is the lowest slavery, even as to
rule over them is the only liberty.
The greatest of all good is to be free from sin, the next is to be
justified; but he must be reckoned the most unfortunate of men, who, while living
unrighteously, remains for a long time unpunished.
Animals in harness cannot but be carried over a precipice by the
inexperience and badness of their driver, even as by his skilfulness and excellence they
will be saved.
The end contemplated by a philosopher is likeness to God, so far as that
is possible.--From the writings of ANTONIUS MELISSA.
XIX.
[The words] of St. Justin, philosopher and martyr, from the fifth part of
his Apology:(1)--I reckon prosperity, O men, to consist in nothing else than in
living according to truth. But we do not live properly, or according to truth,
unless we understand the nature of things.
It escapes them apparently, that he who has by a true faith come forth
from error to the truth, has truly known himself, not, as they say, as being in a
state of frenzy, but as free from the unstable and (as to every variety of
error) changeable corruption, by the simple and ever identical truth.--From the
writings of JOHN OF DAMASCUS.