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Cyprian
1. That Christ is the First-born, and that He is the Wisdom of God, by whom all things were made.
2. That Christ is the Wisdom of God; and about the sacrament of His incarnation, and passion, and cup, and altar, and the apostles who were sent and preached.
3. That Christ also is Himself the Word of God.
4. That the same Christ is God’s hand and arm.
5. That the same is Angel and God.
6. That Christ is God.
7. That Christ our God should come as the Illuminator and Saviour of the human race.
8. That although from the beginning He had been Son of God, He had yet to be begotten again according to the flesh.
9. That this should be the sign of His nativity, that He should be born of a virgin—man and God—Son of man and of God.
10. That Christ is man and God, compounded of either nature, that He might be a mediator between us and the Father.
11. That He was to be born of the seed of David after the flesh.
12. That He should be born in Bethlehem.
13. That He should come in lowly condition on His first advent.
14. That He was the righteous One whom the Jews should put to death.
15. That He was called a Sheep and a Lamb who would have to be slain, and concerning the sacrament of the passion.
16. That He is also called a Stone.
17. That subsequently that stone should become a mountain, and should fill the whole earth.
18. That in the last times the same mountain should be manifested, upon which the Gentiles should come, and on which the righteous should go up.
19. That He is the Bridegroom, having the Church as His bride, from whom children should be spiritually born.
20. That the Jews should fasten Him to the Cross.
21. That in the passion and the sign of the cross is all virtue and power.
22. That in this sign of the cross is salvation for all who are marked on their foreheads.
23. That at mid-day, during His passion, there should be darkness.
24. That He should not be overcome of death, nor should remain in hell.
25. That He should rise again from hell on the third day.
26. That when He had risen, He should receive from His Father all power, and His power should be eternal.
27. That it is impossible to attain to God the Father, except through the Son Jesus Christ.
28. That He is to come as a Judge.
29. That He is to reign as a King for ever.
30. That He is both Judge and King.
Testimonies.
In Solomon in the Proverbs: “The Lord established[3929] me in the beginning of His ways, into His works: before the world He founded me. In the beginning, before He made the earth, and before He appointed the abysses, before the fountains of waters gushed forth, before the mountains were settled, before all the hills, the Lord begot me. He made the countries, and the uninhabitable places, and the uninhabitable bounds under heaven. When He prepared the heaven, I was present with Him; and when He set apart His seat. When He made the strong clouds above the winds, and when He placed the strengthened fountains under heaven, when He made the mighty foundations of the earth, I was by His side, ordering them: I was He in whom He delighted: moreover, I daily rejoiced before His face in all time, when He rejoiced in the perfected earth.”[3930] Also in the same in Ecclesiasticus: “I went forth out of the mouth of the Most High, first-born before every creature: I made the unwearying light to rise in the heavens, and I covered the whole earth with a cloud: I dwelt in the high places, and my throne in the pillar of the cloud: I compassed the circle of heaven, and I penetrated into the depth of the abyss, and I walked on the waves of the sea, and I stood in all the earth; and in every people and in every nation I had the pre-eminence, and by my own strength I have trodden the hearts of all the excellent and the humble: in me is all hope of life and virtue: pass over to me, all ye who desire me.”[3931] Also in the eighty-eighth Psalm: “And I will establish Him as my first-born, the highest among the kings of the earth. I will keep my mercy for Him for ever, and my faithful covenant for Him; and I will establish his seed for ever and ever. If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments; if they profane my judgments, and do not observe my precepts, I will visit their wickednesses with a rod, and their sins with scourges; but my mercy will I not scatter away from them.”[3932] Also in the Gospel according to John, the Lord says: “And this is life eternal, that they should know Thee, the only and true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent. I have glorified Thee on the earth: I have finished the work which Thou gavest me to do. And now, do Thou glorify me with Thyself, with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was made.”[3933] Also Paul to the Colossians: “Who is the image of the invisible God, and the first-born of every creature.”[3934] Also in the same place: “The first-born from the dead, that He might in all things become the holder of the pre-eminence.”[3935] In the Apocalypse too: “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto Him that is thirsting from the fountain of the water of life freely.”[3936] That He also is both the wisdom and the power of God, Paul proves in his first Epistle to the Corinthians. “Because the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews indeed a stumbling-block, and to the Gentiles foolishness; but to them that are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.”[3937]
In Solomon in the Proverbs: “Wisdom hath builded herself an house, and she has placed under it seven pillars; she has slain her victims; she hath mingled her wine in the goblet, and hath made ready her table,[3938] and hath sent her servants, calling with a loud announcement to the cup, saying, Let him who is foolish turn to me: and to them that want understanding she has said, Come, eat of my loaves, and drink the wine which I have mingled for you. Forsake foolishness, and seek wisdom, and correct knowledge by understanding.”[3939]
In the forty-fourth Psalm: “My heart hath breathed out a good Word. I tell my works to the King.”[3940] Also in the thirty-second Psalm: “By the Word of God were the heavens made fast; and all their strength by the breath of His mouth.”[3941] Also in Isaiah: “A Word completing and shortening in righteousness, because a shortened word will God make in the whole earth.”[3942] Also in the cvith Psalm: “He sent His Word, and healed them.”[3943] Moreover, in the Gospel according to John: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was nothing made that was made. In Him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.”[3944] Also in the Apocalypse: “And I saw the heaven opened, and lo, a white horse; and he who sate upon him was called Faithful and True, judging rightly and justly; and He made war. And He was covered with a garment sprinkled with blood; and His name is called the Word of God.”[3945]
In Isaiah: “Is God’s Hand not strong to save? or has He made His ear heavy, that He cannot hear? But your sins separate between you and God; and on account of your sins He turns His face away from you, that He may not pity. For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with sins. Moreover, your lips have spoken wickedness, and your tongue meditates unrighteousness. No one speaketh truth, nor is there true judgment: they trust in vanity, and speak emptiness, who conceive sorrow, and bring forth wickedness.”[3947] Also in the same place: “Lord, who hath believed our report? and to whom is the Arm of God revealed?”[3948] Also in the same: “Thus saith the Lord, Heaven is my throne, and the earth is the support of my feet. What house will ye build unto me? or what is the place for my rest? For all these things hath mine hand made.”[3949] Also in the same: “O Lord God, Thine Arm is high, and they knew it not; but when they know it, they shall be confounded.”[3950] Also in the same: “The Lord hath revealed His Arm, that holy Arm, in the sight of all nations; all nations, even the ends of the earth, shall see salvation from God.”[3951] Also in the same place: “Behold, I have made thee as the wheels of a thrashing chariot, new and turned back upon themselves;”[3952] and thou shalt thrash the mountains, and shalt beat the hills small, and shalt make them as chaff, and shall winnow them; and the wind shall seize them, and the whirlwind shall scatter them: but thou shalt rejoice in the saints of Israel; and the poor and needy shall exult. For they shall seek water, and there shall be none. For their tongue shall be dry for thirst. I the Lord God, I the God of Israel, will hear them, and will not forsake them; but I will open rivers in the mountains, and fountains in the midst of the fields. I will make the wildernesses watery groves, and a thirsty land into watercourses. I will establish in the land of drought the cedar-tree and the box-tree, and the myrtle and the cypress, and the elm[3953] and the poplar, that they may see and acknowledge, and know and believe together, that the Hand of the Lord hath done these things, and the Holy One of Israel hath shown them.”[3954]
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