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Cyprian
In Isaiah: “Rejoice, thou barren, that barest not; and break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: because many more are the children of the desolate one than of her who hath an husband. For the Lord hath said, Enlarge the place of thy tabernacle, and of thy curtains, and fasten them: spare not, make long thy measures, and strengthen thy stakes: stretch forth yet to thy right hand and to thy left hand; and thy seed shall possess the nations, and shall inhabit the deserted cities. Fear not; because thou shalt overcome: nor be afraid because thou art cursed; for thou shalt forget thy eternal confusion.”[3892] Thus also to Abraham, when his former son was born of a bond-woman, Sarah remained long barren; and late in old age bare her son Isaac, of promise, who was the type of Christ. Thus also Jacob received two wives: the elder Leah, with weak eyes, a type of the synagogue; the younger the beautiful Rachel, a type of the Church, who also remained long barren, and afterwards brought forth Joseph, who also was himself a type of Christ. And in the first of Kings it is said that Elkanah had two wives: Peninnah, with her sons; and Hannah, barren, from whom is born Samuel, not according to the order of generation, but according to the mercy and promise of God, when she had prayed in the temple; and Samuel being born, was a type of Christ. Also in the first book of Kings: “The barren hath borne seven and she that had many children has grown weak.”[3893] But the seven children are the seven churches. Whence also Paul wrote to seven churches; and the Apocalypse sets forth seven churches, that the number seven may be preserved; as the seven days in which God made the world; as the seven angels who stand and go in and out before the face of God, as Raphael the angel says in Tobit; and the sevenfold lamp in the tabernacle of witness; and the seven eyes of God, which keep watch over the world; and the stone with seven eyes, as Zechariah says; and the seven spirits; and the seven candlesticks in the Apocalypse; and the seven pillars upon which Wisdom hath builded her house in Solomon.
In Genesis: “And the Lord God said unto Abraham, Go out from thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, and go into that land which I shall show thee: and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and I will magnify thy name; and thou shalt be blessed: and I will bless him that blesseth thee, and I will curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all the tribes of the earth be blessed.”[3894] On this same point in Genesis: “And Isaac blessed Jacob.[3895] Behold, the smell of my son is as the smell of a plentiful field which the Lord hath blessed: and God give thee of the dew of heaven, and of the fertility of the earth, abundance of corn, and wine, and oil: and peoples shall obey thee, and princes shall worship thee: and thou shalt be lord over thy brother, and the sons of thy father shall worship thee; and he that curseth thee shall be cursed, and he that blesseth thee shall be blessed.”[3896] On this matter too in Genesis: “But when Joseph saw that his father placed his right hand on the head of Ephraim, it seemed displeasing to him: and Joseph laid hold of his father’s hand, to lift it from the head of Ephraim on to the head of Manasseh. Moreover, Joseph said unto his father, Not so, my father: this is my first-born; place thy right hand upon his head. But he would not, and said, I know it, my son, I know it: and he also shall be a people, and he shall be exalted; but his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude of nations.”[3897] Moreover in Genesis: “Judah, thy brethren shall praise thee: thine hand shall be upon the back of thine enemies; the sons of thy father shall worship thee. Judah is a lion’s whelp: from the slender twig,[3898] my son, thou hast ascended: thou layedst down and sleepedst as a lion, and as a lion’s whelp. Who shall stir him up? There shalt not fail a prince from Judah, and a leader from his loins, until those things entrusted to him shall come; and he is the hope of the nations: binding his foal unto the vine, and his ass’s colt unto the branch of the vine;[3899] he shall wash his garments in wine, and his clothing in the blood of the grape: terrible are his eyes with wine, and his teeth are whiter than milk.”[3900] Hence in Numbers it is written concerning our people: “Behold, the people shall rise up as a lion-like people.”[3901] In Deuteronomy: “Ye Gentiles shall be for the head; but this unbelieving people shall be for the tail.”[3902] Also in Jeremiah: “Hear the sound of the trumpet. And they said, We will not hear: for this cause the nations shall hear, and they who shall feed their cattle among them.”[3903] In the seventeenth Psalm: “Thou shalt establish me the head of the nations: a people whom I have not known have served me: at the hearing of the ear they have obeyed me.”[3904] Concerning this very thing the Lord says in Jeremiah: “Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee; and before thou wentest forth from the womb, I sanctified thee, and established thee as a prophet among the nations.”[3905] Also in Isaiah: “Behold, I have manifested him for a witness to the nations, a prince and a commander to the peoples.”[3906] Also in the same: “Nations which have not known Thee shall call upon Thee; and peoples which were ignorant of Thee shall flee to Thee.”[3907] In the same, moreover: “And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall rise to rule in all the nations; in Him shall the Gentiles hope: and His rest shall be honour.”[3908] In the same again: “The land of Zebulon, and the land of Nephtalim, by the way of the sea, and ye others who inhabit the maritime places, and beyond Jordan[3909] of the nations. People that walk in darkness, behold ye a great light; ye who dwell in the region of the shadow of death, the light shall shine upon you.”[3910] Also in the same: “Thus saith the Lord God to Christ my Lord, whose right hand I hold, that the nations may hear Him; and I will break asunder the strength of kings, I will open before Him gates; and cities shall not be shut.”[3911] Also in the same: “I come to gather together all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see my glory. And I will send out over them a standard, and I will send those that are preserved among them to the nations which are afar off, which have not heard my name nor seen my glory; and they shall declare my glory to the nations.”[3912] Also in the same: “And in all these things they are not converted; therefore He shall lift up a standard to the nations which are afar, and He will draw them from the end of the earth.”[3913] Also in the same: “Those who had not been told of Him shall see, and they who have not heard shall understand.”[3914] Also in the same: “I have been made manifest to those who seek me not: I have been formal of those who asked not after me. I said, Lo, here am I, to a nation that has not called upon my name.”[3915] Of this same thing, in the Acts of the Apostles, Paul says: “It was necessary that the word of God should first be shown to you; but since ye put it from you, and judged yourselves unworthy of eternal life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles: for thus said the Lord by the Scriptures, Behold, I have set Thee a light among the nations, that Thou shouldest be for salvation even to the ends of the earth.”[3916]
In Isaiah: “Thus saith the Lord, Behold, they who serve me shall eat, but ye shall be hungry: behold, they who serve me shall drink, but ye shall be thirsty:[3917] behold, they who serve me shall rejoice, but ye shall be confounded; the Lord shall slay you. But to those who serve me a new name shall be named, which shall be blessed in the earth.”[3918] Also in the same place: “Therefore shall He lift up an ensign to the nations which are afar off, and He will draw them from the end of the earth; and, behold, they shall come swiftly with lightness; they shall not hunger nor thirst.”[3919] Also in the same place: “Behold, therefore, the Ruler, the Lord of Sabaoth, shall take away from Judah and from Jerusalem the healthy man and the strong man, the strength of bread and the strength of water.”[3920] Likewise in the thirty-third Psalm: “O taste and see how sweet is the Lord. Blessed is the man that hopeth in Him. Fear the Lord God, all ye His saints: for there is no want to them that fear Him. Rich men have wanted and have hungered; but they who seek the Lord shall never want any good thing.”[3921] Moreover, in the Gospel according to John, the Lord says: “I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall not hunger, and he that trusteth in me shall never thirst.”[3922] Likewise He saith in that place: “If any one thirst, let him come and drink. He that believeth on me, as the Scripture saith, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.”[3923] Moreover, He says in the same place: “Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, ye shall have no life in you.”[3924]
In the Gospel the Lord says: “Many shall come from the east and from the west, and shall lie down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven; but the children of the kingdom shall go out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”[3925]
In Isaiah the Lord says: “Now I will not release your sins. When ye stretch forth your hands, I will turn away my face from you; and if ye multiply prayers, I will not hear you: for your hands are full of blood. Wash you, make you clean; take away the wickedness from your souls from the sight of mine eyes; cease from your wickedness; learn to do good; seek judgment; keep him who suffers wrong; judge for the orphan, and justify the widow. And come, let us reason together, saith the Lord: and although your sins be as scarlet, I will whiten[3926] them as snow; and although they were as crimson, I will whiten[3927] them as wool. And if ye be willing and listen to me, ye shall eat of the good of the land; but if ye be unwilling, and will not hear me, the sword shall consume you; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken these things.”[3928]
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