CHAPTER VII. THE DIVINE DISPENSATIONS. AFTER the introduction of evil into creation, and the agency by which it is propagated in the world, we have next to notice the Divine plans for its counteraction and removal; and as Irenæus was opposing the Gnostic notion that the whole government of the world, prior to the Gospel, was in the hands of beings adverse to the Supreme Being, he was naturally led to show that, on the contrary, the whole history of mankind has been a series of dispensations emanating from one and the same Supreme and only God. We have already1 seen him stating that the whole of these dispensations were planned from the beginning; and he states them to have been carried into execution by God the Son exhibiting himself to mankind under four different aspects, figured by the four faces of the cherubim; first to the Patriarchs, in a kingly and divine character; secondly, under the law, in a priestly and sacrificial aspect ; thirdly, at his nativity, as a man; fourthly, after his ascension, by his Spirit 2. Again, he represents God as having made four covenants with mankind; one with Noah, of which the rainbow was the sanction; a second with Abraham, by circumcision ; a third of the law, by Moses ; a fourth of the Gospel, by Christ. At least this is ;; 2 III. xi. 8. Καὶ γὰρ τὰ Χερουβὶμ τετραπρόσωπα καὶ τὰ πρόσο ωπα αὐτῶν εἰκόνες τῆς πραγματείας τοῦ Υἱοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ. Τὸ μὲν γὰρ πρῶτον ζῶον, φησὶ, ὅμοιον λέοντι, τὸ ἔμπρακτον αὐτοῦ καὶ ἡγεμονικὸν καὶ βασιλικόν χαρακτηρίζον· τὸ δὲ δεύτερον ὅμοιον μόσχῳ, τὴν ἱερουργικὴν καὶ ἱερατικὴν τάξιν ἐμφαῖνον τὸ δὲ τρίτον ἔχον πρόσωπον ἀνθρώπου, τὴν κατὰ ἄνθρωπον αὐτοῦ παρουσίαν φανερώτατα διαγράφον· τὸ δὲ τέταρτον ὅμοιον ἀετῷ πετωμένῳ, τὴν τοῦ Πνεύματος ἐπὶ τὴν ἐκκλησίαν ἐφιπταμένου δόσιν σαφηνίζον.— Καὶ αὐτὸς δὲ ὁ Λόγος τοῦ Θεοῦ τοῖς μὲν πρὸ Μωϋσέως πατριάρχαις, κατὰ τὸ θεϊκὸν καὶ ἔνδοξον ὡμίλει· τοῖς δὲ ἐν τῷ νόμῳ, ἱερατικὴν et ministerialem τάξιν ἀπένεμεν μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ἄνθρωπος γενόμενος, τὴν δωρεὰν τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος εἰς πᾶσαν ἐξέπεμψε τὴν γῆν, σκεπάζων ἡμᾶς ταῖς ἑαυτοῦ πτέρυξιν. Ὁποία οὖν ἡ πραγματεία τοῦ Υἱοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ, τοιαύτη καὶ τῶν ζώων ἡ μορφή· καὶ ὁποία ἡ τῶν ζώων μορφὴ, τοιοῦτος καὶ ὁ χαρακτὴρ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου. Τετράμορφα γὰρ τὰ ζῶα, τετράμορφον καὶ τὸ εὐαγγέλιον, καὶ ἡ πραγματεία τοῦ Κυρίου. καὶ διὰ τοῦτο τέσσαρες ἐδόθησαν καθολικαὶ διαθῆκαι τῇ ἀνθρωπότητι μία μὲν τοῦ κατακλυσμοῦ τοῦ Νῶε, ἐπὶ τοῦ τόξου· δευτέρα δὲ τοῦ ̓Αβραὰμ, ἐπὶ τοῦ σημείου τῆς περιτομῆς· τρίτη δὲ ἡ νομοθεσία ἐπὶ τοῦ Μωϋσέως τετάρτη δὲ ἡ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου, διὰ τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ. 3 Ibid. the enumeration made in the Questions and Answers of Anastasius, and in the Theoria Rerum Ecclesiasticarum of Germanus, where the Greek of Irenæus is transcribed, and from which it was first published by Grabe. But the old Latin version makes a different enumeration, reckoning the first covenant before the deluge with Adam, and the second after that event with Noah *. He thinks that the knowledge of God was kept up amongst the patriarchs by tradition from Adam, and amongst the Jews by the prophets; whilst in heathen nations the tradition has been lost, and men are left to find it out by reason 5: that human governments were providentially ordained to restrain the ferocity and rapacity of mankind after they had given up the fear of God; that the law of Moses was given * Et propter hoc quatuor data sunt testamenta humano generi; unum quidem ante cataclysmum sub Adam; secundum vero, post cataclysmum sub Noë; tertium vero, legislatio sub Moyse; quartum vero, quod renovat hominem, et recapitulat in se omnia, quod est per Evangelium, elevans et pennigerans homines in cœleste regnum. 5 I. ix. 1. See p. 78, note 1. 6 V. xxiv. 2. Quoniam enim absistens a Deo homo in tantum efferavit, ut etiam consanguineum hostem sibi putaret, et in omni inquietudine et homicidio et avaritia sine timore versaretur, imposuit illi Deus humanum timorem, (non enim cognoscebant timorem Dei,) ut potestati hominum subjecti, et lege eorum adstricti, ad aliquid assequantur justitiæ, et moderentur ad invicem, in manifesto propositum gladium timentes. by way of discipline, to recover the Israelites back to that sense of justice, and responsibility, and feeling of love to God and man which they had lost; that 7 IV. xiv. 2. Sic et Deus ab initio hominem quidem plasmavit propter suam munificentiam; Patriarchas vero elegit propter illorum salutem; populum vero præformabat, docens indocibilem, sequi Deum; Prophetas vero præstruebat in terra, assuescens hominem portare ejus Spiritum, et communionem habere cum Deo ipse quidem nullius indigens; his vero qui indigent ejus, suam præbens communionem; et his qui ei complacebant, fabricationem salutis, ut architectus, delineans, et non videntibus in Ægypto a semetipso dans ducationem; et his qui inquieti erant in eremo dans aptissimam legem, et his qui in bonam terram introierunt, dignam præbens hæreditatem; et his qui convertuntur ad Patrem, saginatum occidens vitulum, et primam stolam donans: multis modis componens humanum genus ad consonantiam salutis. Et propter hoc Joannes in Apocalypsi ait: "Et vox ejus quasi vox aquarum multarum." Vere enim aquæ multæ Spiritus, quoniam dives, et quoniam magnus est Pater. Et per omnes illos transiens Verbum, sine invidia utilitatem præstabat eis qui subjecti sibi erant, omni conditioni congruentem et aptam legem conscribens.——xvi. 3. Cum autem hæc justitia et dilectio, quæ erat erga Deum, cessit in oblivionem, et extincta esset in Ægypto, necessario Deus propter multam suam erga homines benevolentiam semetipsum ostendebat per vocem, et eduxit de Ægypto populum in virtute, uti rursus fieret homo discipulus et sectator Dei: et affligebat indictoaudientes, [dicto non audientes, contumaces] ut non contemnerent eum qui se fecit; et manna cibavit eum, uti rationalem acciperent escam, quemadmodum et Moyses in Deuteronomio ait: "Et cibavit te manna, quod non sciebant patres tui, uti cognoscas, quoniam non in pane solo vivit homo, sed in omni verbo Dei, quod procedit de ore ejus, vivit homo." Et erga Deum dilectionem præcipiebat, et eam quæ ad proximum est justitiam insinuabat, ut nec injustus, nec indignus sit Deo; præstruens hominem per Decalogum in suam ami the prophets were inspired in order to accustom man by degrees to bear God's Spirit and to have communion with him: and thus in various ways God prepared mankind for salvation, providing for them laws suited to their various states of preparation. In opposing the notions of the Gnostics, Irenæus had to defend the position that the Old Testament is not contrary to the New; that they both emanated from the same God acting differently under different circumstances. The abolition of the law, he contended, was no proof of a change of mind, but only of a change of circumstances; the law being in its nature symbolical and preparatory, when the Gospel, the reality and the end, was revealed, the office of the law ceased o. citiam, et eam quæ circa proximum est concordiam; (quæ quidem ipsi proderant homini ;) nihil tamen indigente Deo ab homine. 8 IV. xiv. 2. 'This is the argument of the first twenty chapters of the fourth book, and the quotations are too copious and diffuse to be given at length. A few, therefore, must suffice. IV. ii. 7. Non enim Lex prohibebat eos credere in Filium Dei, sed et adhortabatur, dicens non aliter salvari homines ab antiqua serpentis plaga, nisi credant in eum qui secundum similitudinem carnis peccati in ligno martyrii exaltatur a terra, et omnia trahit ad se, et vivificat mortuos.-He alludes to the brazen serpent exhibited on a pole in the wilderness. v. 4. In Abraham enim prædidicerat et assuetus fuerat homo sequi Verbum Dei. Etenim Abraham secundum fidem suam secutus præceptum Verbi Dei, προθύμως τὸν ἴδιον μονογενῆ καὶ αγαπητὸν παραχωρήσας θυσίαν τῷ Θεῷ, ἵνα καὶ ὁ Θεὸς εὐδοκήσῃ ὑπὲρ τοῦ σπέρματος αὐτοῦ πάντως τὸν ἴδιον μονογενῆ καὶ ἀγαπη |