The Promise of His coming.
His commands to prepare and be worthy.
Statement of what is happening in the world in connection with the Second Coming of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.


Nuzul i Isa, Qiyamah, the Parousia of Jesus Christ Our Lord.


Rv:22:7

Behold I come quickly. Blessed is he that keepeth the words of the prophecy of this book.

Blog List

Eucharist in house churches Commanded by God

Eucharist in house churches Commanded by God - HE COMMANDS TO NOT HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH THE VATICAN WHICH HAS ALREADY BECOME TOTALLY APOSTATE AND DIABOLIC AT THIS POINT.

GO HERE:Traditional Catholic Prayers: Eucharist in house churches Commanded by God. To rise above the concerns of the world to the service of God.

The Justice of God: New Testament Prayer, Psalms Hymns and Canticles, and first century Communion in full




Traditional Catholic Prayers: Office of the Hours for the Week

Sayyidah Parousia

Watch and Pray Always

Watch and Pray Always as Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ commanded



Morning Prayer and through the day.







In the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Our Father Who are in heaven,
hallowed be your name,


O Lord Jesus Christ our only Lord and Saviour, living and reigning and ruling with God Our Father in the unity and power and bond of love of the Holy Spirit our Paraclete from heaven



your kingdom come,
your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.


with and by the prayer and company and presence of the same all your elect angels and saints for and with us unceasingly,

especially Saint Michael and Saint Gabriel truly present with us, Saint Enoch in the flesh and Saint Elijah in the flesh your holy prophets yet to return their holy angels truly present with us,

the Holy Family especially blessed St. Joseph and the most Blessed Virgin Mary your mother Christ Jesus our only Lord and Saviour your half brothers and sisters in the flesh Christ Jesus our only Lord and Saviour the only mediator between God and man in the flesh most holy angel of almighty counsel, captain of the hosts of the Lord, going before us with all of your elect doxas, especially St. Michael and St. Gabriel truly present with us, unto all salvation and victory totally protecting and delivering us in all things at all times immediately unceasingly and now and always and unto the endless ages of ages to come;

with all thanksgiving, we love you for you first loved us, with all thanksgiving, thank you for You, for all your gifts and mercies to us, unceasingly: especially your all holy, almighty, gifts of our creation, your redemption of us, your gifts of your creation to us, Christ Jesus our only Lord and Saviour,

your life and teaching, your Incarnation, Conception, Birth in the flesh, your Epiphany, your Transfiguration, your most Holy Cross, Holy Blood, Holy Spirit, of you the Immortal son of the Father, Christ Jesus our only Lord and Saviour, your Resurrection, the only first born from the dead in the flesh, your Ascension, Assumption, in the same flesh, back to the Father’s bosom in the third heaven at his right hand in the unity and power and bond of love of the Holy Spirit our Paraclete, the gift of your Holy Spirit our Paraclete at Pentecost, and throughout all time and creation, indwelling us, bringing with him, you God Our Father and the Son Jesus Christ our only Lord and Saviour, unceasingly and now and always and unto the endless ages of ages to come,

your most holy Eucharist, which you alone God Our Father and the Son Jesus Christ our only Lord and Saviour and the Holy Spirit our Paraclete give to us,

Jesus Christ our only Lord and Saviour, infinitely pure and undefiled, truly made manifest again in the bread the wine and the water whom we receive in faith with all thanksgiving,

your Parousia, in the same flesh in which you came in your Incarnation and suffered for us and rose again in, in the future, at the end of this age, at the time known to you alone O Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God almighty, Blessed Trinity, Holy Unity, with all your elect angels, our resurrection in the flesh at the first resurrection of the just, our same spirits, souls and bodies reunited, we with all your elect angels and saints worshipping you, Jesus Christ our only Lord and Saviour, in the glory of God Our Father, in the unity and power and bond of love of the Holy Spirit our Paraclete, face to face unceasingly unto the endless ages of ages to come, for your spiritual gifts of food and drink,

for your simple gifts of food and drink, for all your gifts and mercies and this new day with all thanksgiving, we love you for you first loved us with all thanksgiving, blessed are You in all Your elect angels and saints, unceasingly and now and always and unto the endless ages of ages to come.



Your Holy Spirit come upon us and cleanse us,
Give us today our Supersubstantial bread,
and forgive us our debt,
as, in You Holy Spirit, we also forgive, those in Your body Jesus Christ Our Only Lord and Saviour, our debtors,




+

Against you, you alone, Jesus Christ our Only Lord and Saviour, have we sinned and done what is evil in your sight, forgive us our sins, purge us with hyssop and we shall be cleansed, wash us and we shall be made whiter than snow, make the bones you have numbered to rejoice. Come Holy Spirit cleanse us from all stain of spirit, soul, flesh, make us only one in You, as you are one in God Our Father, in You, You in us, Most Holy Lord God Pantocrator, Christ Jesus our Only Lord and Saviour, Who alone bought us in the flesh by Your most Holy Cross, Holy Blood, Holy Spirit, of You the Immortal Son of the Father, Christ Jesus Our only Lord and Saviour, infinitely pure and undefiled covering the whole world and cleansing the whole universe, Jesus Christ our Only Lord and Saviour the only first born from the dead in the flesh the only one Resurrected Ascended Assumed Bodily in the flesh and sitteth on the right hand of God Our Father in the third heaven in the unity and power and bond of love of the Holy Spirit our Paraclete Holy Holy Holy Lord God Pantocrator, with and by the prayer and company of the same all Your elect angels and saints for and with us unceasingly:



By Your most Holy Blood and Holy Spirit and this Your Most Holy Shield of You Christ Jesus Our Only Lord and Saviour invincible and inpenetrable, only-begotten Son of the Immortal Father covering the whole world cleansing the whole universe, in the Holy Spirit the Unity and Power and Bond of Love of the Father and the Son Jesus Christ, our only Lord and Saviour, covering, shielding, delivering, us unceasingly, save us, and now and always and unto the endless ages of ages to come: cleanse, shield, heal, guide, guard, keep, deliver and bless our households, your faithful departed blessed in Your bosom unceasingly with especially all of our faithful departed kinsmen after the flesh, and all of Your faithful throughout the earth; especially by Your Most Holy Eucharist, infinitely pure and undefiled, whom You alone Christ Jesus Our Only Lord and Saviour, God Our Father, Holy Spirit Our Paraclete give to us, Whom we alone receive in faith with all thanksgiving, indwelling us: our households, all of Your faithful upon earth and upon salvific confession in You God Our Father and the Son Jesus Christ Our Lord and Saviour and the Holy Spirit Our Paraclete all of Your lost sheep – unto all salvation eternal and temporal, Your presence God Our Father and the Son Jesus Christ Our Only Lord and Saviour and the Holy Spirit our Paraclete; Holy Blood of Christ Jesus, Holy Energy Holy Spirit Holy Wisdom of God Our Father and the Son Jesus Christ Our Only Lord and Saviour and the Holy Spirit Our Paraclete, indwelling us in our spirits souls bodies truly present with us and for us everywhere with and by the prayer and company and presence, especially St. Michael and St. Gabriel and St. Enoch and St. Elijah in the flesh – their holy angels, truly present with us and all of Your faithful, of all your elect angels and saints for and with us in all places, utterly perfectly forevermore in everything, everywhere in every detail, blessed here on earth in long life and good health, totally protected and delivered in all things at all times and totally cleansed, sanctified, strengthened, purified, vindicated in spirit soul body, our households totally delivered in all things at all times, all Your faithful and upon salvific confession in You God Our Father and the Son Jesus Christ Our Lord and Saviour and the Holy Spirit Our Paraclete all of Your lost sheep, totally delivered in all things at all times, Holy Blood of Christ Jesus – Jesus Christ Our Lord and Saviour, Most Holy Lord God Pantocrator in the flesh, Most Holy Angel of Almighty Counsel, Captain of the Hosts of the Lord, the Divine Almighty Warrior – St. Michael – St. Gabriel – with all your elect angels surrounding us, shielding us, going forth before us, no one interfering with us in anyway, absolutely nothing at all, all times past present future, totally delivered from all evil immediately forever.



and do not lead us into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one and all it’s minions visible and invisible;
for yours is the power and the glory unto the endless ages of ages to come.



Leading us forth O Lord,

Drive far away our preternatural foe,

And Your abiding peace bestow;

If You be our preventing Guide,

No evil can our steps betide.





Bless our meetings, O Lord.
Utterly uproot all idolatry from the world.
Crush under our feet Satan.
Humble now, as at all times, the enemies of Your Church, You and us.

Lay bare their pride.
Speedily show them their weakness.
Bring to naught the wicked plots they contrive against us.
Arise, O Lord, and let Your enemies be scattered, and let all who hate Your holy name be put to flight.







with and by the prayer and company and presence of the same all your elect angels and saints for and with us unceasingly and now and always and unto the endless ages of ages to come cover, cleanse, shield, heal, guide, guard, keep, deliver and bless Your sheep, faithful and in salvific confession of You Christ Jesus Our Only Lord and Saviour, Your lost sheep, unto all salvation eternal and temporal, absolutely immediately utterly forevermore unceasingly and now and always and unto the endless ages of ages to come, save us.



Your good Spirit shall lead me in the land of uprightness; for Your Name's sake, O Lord, shall You quicken me.



In Your righteousness shall You bring my soul out of affliction, and in Your mercy shall You utterly destroy mine enemies. And You shall cut off all them that afflict my soul, for I am Your servant. For as You have been sanctified in us in their sight, so you shall be magnified among them in our presence, make them fall back as those did before You by Your presence unceasingly and never come near us everything and everybody in every way that means us any harm at all times and now and always and unto the endless ages of ages to come forevermore.



Come Holy Spirit Wisdom Energy Sanctifier Our Paraclete throughout the entire earth for the salvation of all of Your lost sheep and the deliverance of all of Your innocent and faithful, especially those in the worst of distress. Most Holy Lord God Almighty Abba Our Father, through You, beloved and Only Son of God, Our Only Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, send forth Your Most Holy Spirit Our Paraclete, enkindle in our hearts the fire of Your love and we shall be created and You shall renew the face of the earth. Through Our Only Lord God Saviour King most Holy Pantocrator in the flesh Jesus Christ, the Divine warrior, Glory be to God Our Father and to the Son Jesus Christ Our Only Lord and Saviour and to the Holy Spirit Our Paraclete as it was before all time and creation, Creator and ruler over all, at the beginning of all time and creation, past present future and now and always unceasingly unto the endless ages of ages to come.





Prevented preventing from before all time and creation utterly invisible passing through the midst of all evil and all of our enemies thereof unharmed and untouched all of it bound and gone from us unceasingly for you LORD are not in any of that, neither are we, forevermore from before all time and creation: God Our Father and the Son Jesus Christ Our Only Lord and Saviour and the Holy Spirit Our Paraclete

Holy Blood of Jesus Christ, Holy Holy Holy Lord God Pantocrator, forevermore unceasingly, Olam Olam, Creator and Ruler over all, with and by the prayer and company and presence of all Your elect angels and saints for and with us unceasingly, at the beginning of all time and creation past present future and now and always and unto the endless ages of ages to come.





In the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.


The final Prayer before Communion

Especially for all of those in the vineyard of the Lord devastated by Ecumenism and Latin and Byzantine and Protestant Freemasonic irruptions of church and all the false gnostic nonsense permeating the Evangelical community and all other opposition to the True Gospel, all are welcome here on this site and to pray with us: Parousia of Jesus Christ Our Lord: Eternal faith and beliefs: Jesus Christ is the Truth




Holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty, Who is and Who was and Who is to come

Let us praise and glorify Him forever.

Lord our God, You are worthy to receive praise and glory and honor and blessing

Let us praise and glorify Him forever.

The Lamb Who was slain is worthy to receive power and divinity and wisdom and strength, and honor and glory and blessing

Let us praise and glorify Him forever.

Let us bless the Father and the Son with the Holy Spirit:

Let us praise and glorify Him forever.

Bless the Lord, all you works of the Lord

Let us praise and glorify Him forever.

Sing praise to our God, all you His servants and you who fear God, the small and the great.

Let us praise and glorify Him forever.

Let heaven and earth praise Him Who is glorious

Let us praise and glorify Him forever.

And every creature that is in heaven and on earth and under earth and in the sea and those which are in them.

Let us praise and glorify Him forever.

Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit:

Let us praise and glorify Him forever.

As it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.

Let us praise and glorify Him forever.

Let us pray:

All-powerful, most holy, most high, and supreme God:

all good,

supreme good,

totally good,

You Who alone are good; may we give You all praise, all glory, all thanks, all honor:

all blessing,

and all good things.

So be it.

So be it.

Amen.

O OUR most holy FATHER,

Our Creator, Redeemer, Consoler, and Savior

WHO ARE IN HEAVEN:

In the angels and in the saints,

Enlightening them to love, because You, Lord, are light

Inflaming them to love, because You, Lord, are love

Indwelling and filling them with happiness, because You, Lord, are the Supreme Good,

the Eternal Good

from Whom comes all good

without Whom there is no good.

HALLOWED BE YOUR NAME:

May our knowledge of You become ever clearer that we may know the breadth of Your blessings

the length of Your promises

the height of Your majesty

the depth of Your judgments.

YOUR KINGDOM COME:

So that You may rule in us through Your grace

and enable us to come to Your kingdom

where there is an unclouded vision of You

a perfect love of You

a blessed companionship with You

an eternal enjoyment of You.

YOUR WILL BE DONE ON EARTH AS IT IS IN

HEAVEN:

That we may love You with our whole heart by always thinking

of You

with our whole soul by always desiring You

with our whole mind by directing all our

intentions to You and by seeking Your

glory in everything

and with our whole strength by spending all our energies and affections

of soul and body

in the service of Your love

and of nothing else

and may we love our neighbors as ourselves

by drawing them all with our whole strength to Your love

by rejoicing in the good fortunes of others as well as our

own

and by sympathizing with the misfortunes of others

and by giving offense to no one.

GIVE US THIS DAY:

in memory and understanding and reverence

of the love which You in our Lord Jesus Christ had for us

and of those things which He said and did and suffered for us.

OUR DAILY BREAD:

Your own Beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.

AND FORGIVE US OUR TRESPASSES:

Through Your ineffable mercy

through the power of the Passion of Your Beloved Son together with the merits and intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary and all Your chosen ones.

AS WE FORGIVE THOSE WHO TRESPASS AGAINST

US:

And whatever we do not forgive perfectly, do you, Lord, enable us to forgive to the full

so that we may truly love our enemies and fervently intercede for them before You

returning no one evil for evil

and striving to help everyone in You.

AND LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION

Hidden or obvious

Sudden or persistent.

BUT DELIVER US FROM EVIL

Past, present and to come.

Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit

As it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.

Christmas the Birth of the Son of God Jesus Christ in the Flesh

Christmas the Birth of the Son of God Jesus Christ in the Flesh
Seek the Immortal Son of God the Messiah Jesus Christ - click on picture

Monday, December 19, 2011

Book 5, St. Irenaeus

    Chapter I.-Christ Alone is Able to Teach Divine Things, and to Redeem Us: He, the Same, Took Flesh of the Virgin Mary, Not Merely in Appearance, But Actually, by the Operation of the Holy Spirit, in Order to Renovate Us. Strictures on the Conceits of Valentinus and Ebion.

1. For in no other way could we have learned the things of God, unless our Master, existing as the Word, had become man. For no other being had the power of revealing to us the things of the Father, except His own proper Word. For what other person "knew the mind of the Lord," or who else "has become His counsellor? "2 Again, we could have learned in no other way than by seeing our Teacher, and hearing His voice with our own ears, that, having become imitators of His works as well as doers of His words, we may have communion with Him, receiving increase from the perfect One, and from Him who is prior to all creation. We-who were but lately created by the only best and good Being, by Him also who has the gift of immortality, having been formed after His likeness (predestinated, according to the prescience of the Father, that we, who had as yet no existence, might come into being), and made the first-fruits of creation3 -have received, in the times known beforehand, [the blessings of salvation] according to the ministration of the Word, who is perfect in all things, as the mighty Word, and very man, who, redeeming us by His own blood in a manner consonant to reason, gave Himself as a redemption for those who had been led into captivity. And since the apostasy tyrannized over us unjustly, and, though we were by nature the property of the omnipotent God, alienated us contrary to nature, rendering us its own disciples, the Word of God, powerful in all things, and not defective with regard to His own justice, did righteously turn against that apostasy, and redeem from it His own property, not by violent means, as the [apostasy] had obtained dominion over us at the beginning, when it insatiably snatched away what was not its own, but by means of persuasion, as became a God of counsel, who does not use violent means to obtain what He desires; so that neither should justice be infringed upon, nor the ancient handiwork of God go to destruction. Since the Lord thus has redeemed us through His own blood, giving His soul for our souls, and His flesh for our flesh,4 and has also poured out the Spirit of the Father for the union and communion of God and man, imparting indeed God to men by means of the Spirit, and, on the other hand, attaching man to God by His own incarnation, and bestowing upon us at His coming immortality durably and truly, by means of communion with God,-all the doctrines of the heretics fall to ruin.

2. Vain indeed are those who allege that He appeared in mere seeming. For these things were not done in appearance only, but in actual reality. But if He did appear as a man, when He was not a man, neither could the Holy Spirit have rested upon Him,-an occurrence which did actually take place-as the Spirit is invisible; nor, [in that case], was there any degree of truth in Him, for He was not that which He seemed to be. But I have already remarked that Abraham and the other prophets beheld Him after a prophetical manner, foretelling in vision what should come to pass. If, then, such a being has now appeared in outward semblance different from what he was in reality, there has been a certain prophetical vision made to men; and another advent of His must be looked forward to, in which He shall be such as He has now been seen in a prophetic manner. And I have proved already, that it is the same thing to say that He appeared merely to outward seeming, and [to affirm] that He received nothing from Mary. For He would not have been one truly possessing flesh and blood, by which He redeemed us, unless He had summed up in Himself the ancient formation of Adam. Vain therefore are the disciples of Valentinus who put forth this opinion, in order that they my exclude the flesh from salvation, and cast aside what God has fashioned.

3. Vain also are the Ebionites, who do not receive by faith into their soul the union of God and man, but who remain in the old leaven of [the natural] birth, and who do not choose to understand that the Holy Ghost came upon Mary, and the power of the Most High did overshadow her:5 wherefore also what was generated is a holy thing, and the Son of the Most High God the Father of all, who effected the incarnation of this being, and showed forth a new [kind of] generation; that as by the former generation we inherited death, so by this new generation we might inherit life. Therefore do these men reject the commixture of the heavenly wine,6 and wish it to be water of the world only, not receiving God so as to have union with Him, but they remain in that Adam who had been conquered and was expelled from Paradise: not considering that as, at the beginning of our formation in Adam, that breath of life which proceeded from God, having been united to what had been fashioned, animated the man, and manifested him as a being endowed with reason; so also, in [the times of] the end, the Word of the Father and the Spirit of God, having become united with the ancient substance of Adam's formation, rendered man living and perfect, receptive of the perfect Father, in order that as in the natural [Adam] we all were dead, so in the spiritual we may all be made alive.7 For never at any time did Adam escape the hands8 of God, to whom the Father speaking, said, "Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness." And for this reason in the last times (fine), not by the will of the flesh, nor by the will of man, but by the good pleasure of the Father,9 His hands formed a living man, in order that Adam might be created [again] after the image and likeness of God.

    Chapter II.-When Christ Visited Us in His Grace, He Did Not Come to What Did Not Belong to Him: Also, by Shedding His True Blood for Us, and Exhibiting to Us His True Flesh in the Eucharist, He Conferred Upon Our Flesh the Capacity of Salvation.

1. And vain likewise are those who say that God came to those things which did not belong to Him, as if covetous of another's property; in order that He might deliver up that man who had been created by another, to that God who had neither made nor formed anything, but who also was deprived from the beginning of His own proper formation of men. The advent, therefore, of Him whom these men represent as coming to the things of others, was not righteous; nor did He truly redeem us by His own blood, if He did not really become man, restoring to His own handiwork what was said [of it] in the beginning, that man was made after the image and likeness of God; not snatching away by stratagem the property of another, but taking possession of His own in a righteous and gracious manner. As far as concerned the apostasy, indeed, He redeems us righteously from it by His own blood; but as regards us who have been redeemed, [He does this] graciously. For we have given nothing to Him previously, nor does He desire anything from us, as if He stood in need of it; but we do stand in need of fellowship with Him. And for this reason it was that He graciously poured Himself out, that He might gather us into the bosom of the Father.

2. But vain in every respect are they who despise the entire dispensation of God, and disallow the salvation of the flesh, and treat with contempt its regeneration, maintaining that it is not capable of incorruption. But if this indeed do not attain salvation, then neither did the Lord redeem us with His blood, nor is the cup of the Eucharist the communion of His blood, nor the bread which we break the communion of His body.10 For blood can only come from veins and flesh, and whatsoever else makes up the substance of man, such as the Word of God was actually made. By His own blood he redeemed us, as also His apostle declares, "In whom we have redemption through His blood, even the remission of sins."11 And as we are His members, we are also nourished by means of the creation (and He Himself grants the creation to us, for He causes His sun to rise, and sends rain when He wills12 ). He has acknowledged the cup (which is a part of the creation) as His own blood, from which He bedews our blood; and the bread (also a part of the creation) He has established as His own body, from which He gives increase to our bodies.13

3. When, therefore, the mingled cup and the manufactured bread receives the Word of God, and the Eucharist of the blood and the body of Christ is made,14 from which things the substance of our flesh is increased and supported, how can they affirm that the flesh is incapable of receiving the gift of God, which is life eternal, which [flesh] is nourished from the body and blood of the Lord, and is a member of Him?-even as the blessed Paul declares in his Epistle to the Ephesians, that "we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones."15He does not speak these words of some spiritual and invisible man, for a spirit has not bones nor flesh;16 but [he refers to] that dispensation [by which the Lord became] an actual man, consisting of flesh, and nerves, and bones,-that [flesh] which is nourished by the cup which is His blood, and receives increase from the bread which is His body. And just as a cutting from the vine planted in the ground fructifies in its season, or as a corn of wheat falling into the earth and becoming decomposed, rises with manifold increase by the Spirit of God, who contains all things, and then, through the wisdom of God, serves for the use of men, and having received the Word of God, becomes the Eucharist, which is the body and blood of Christ; so also our bodies, being nourished by it, and deposited in the earth, and suffering decomposition there, shall rise at their appointed time, the Word of God granting them resurrection to the glory of God, even the Father, who freely gives to this mortal immortality, and to this corruptible incorruption,17 because the strength of God is made perfect in weakness,18 in order that we may never become puffed up, as if we had life from ourselves, and exalted against God, our minds becoming ungrateful; but learning by experience that we possess eternal duration from the excelling power of this Being, not from our own nature, we may neither undervalue that glory which surrounds God as He is, nor be ignorant of our own nature, but that we may know what God can effect, and what benefits man receives, and thus never wander from the true comprehension of things as they are, that is, both with regard to God and with regard to man. And might it not be the case, perhaps, as I have already observed, that for this purpose God permitted our resolution into the common dust of mortality,19 that we, being instructed by every mode, may be accurate in all things for the future, being ignorant neither of God nor of ourselves?

    Chapter III.-He Power and Glory of God Shine Forth in the Weakness of Human Flesh, as He Will Render Our Body a Participator of the Resurrection and of Immortality, Although He Has Formed It from the Dust of the Earth; He Will Also Bestow Upon It the Enjoyment of Immortality, Just as He Grants It This Short Life in Common with the Soul.

1. The Apostle Paul has, moreover, in the most lucid manner, pointed out that man has been delivered over to his own infirmity, lest, being uplifted, he might fall away from the truth. Thus he says in the second [Epistle] to the Corinthians: "And lest I should be lifted up by the sublimity of the revelations, there was given unto me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me. And upon this I besought the Lord three times, that it might depart from me. But he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee; for strength is made perfect in weakness. Gladly therefore shall I rather glory in infirmities, that the power of Christ may dwell in me."20 What, therefore? (as some may exclaim: ) did the Lord wish, in that case, that His apostles should thus undergo buffering, and that he should endure such infirmity? Even so it was; the word says it. For strength is made perfect in weakness, rendering him a better man who by means of his infirmity becomes acquainted with the power of God. For how could a man have learned that he is himself an infirm being, and mortal by nature, but that God is immortal and powerful, unless he had learned by experience what is in both? For there is nothing evil in learning one's infirmities by endurance; yea, rather, it has even the beneficial effect of preventing him from forming an undue opinion of his own nature (non aberrare in natura sua). But the being lifted up against God, and taking His glory to one's self, rendering man ungrateful, has brought much evil upon him. [And thus, I say, man must learn both things by experience], that he may not be destitute of truth and love either towards himself or his Creator.21 But the experience of both confers upon him the true knowledge as to God and man, and increases his love towards God. Now, where there exists an increase of love, there a greater glory is wrought out by the power of God for those who love Him.

2. Those men, therefore, set aside the power of God, and do not consider what the word declares, when they dwell upon the infirmity of the flesh, but do not take into consideration the power of Him who raises it up from the dead. For if He does not vivify what is mortal, and does not bring back the corruptible to incorruption, He is not a God of power. But that He is powerful in all these respects, we ought to perceive from our origin, inasmuch as God, taking dust from the earth, formed man. And surely it is much more difficult and incredible, from non-existent bones, and nerves, and veins, and the rest of man's organization, to bring it about that all this should be, and to make man an animated and rational creature, than to re-integrate again that which had been created and then afterwards decomposed into earth (for the reasons already mentioned), having thus passed into those [elements] from which man, who had no previous existence, was formed. For He who in the beginning caused him to have being who as yet was not, just when He pleased, shall much more reinstate again those who had a former existence, when it is His will [that they should inherit] the life granted by Him. And that flesh shall also be found fit for and capable of receiving the power of God, which at the beginning received the skilful touches of God; so that one part became the eye for seeing; another, the ear for hearing; another, the hand for feeling and working; another, the sinews stretched out everywhere, and holding the limbs together; another, arteries and veins, passages for the blood and the air;22 another, the various internal organs; another, the blood, which is the bond of union between soul and body. But why go [on in this strain]? Numbers would fail to express the multiplicity of parts in the human frame, which was made in no other way than by the great wisdom of God. But those things which partake of the skill and wisdom of God, do also partake of His power.

3. The flesh, therefore, is not destitute [of participation] in the constructive wisdom and power of God. But if the power of Him who is the bestower of life is made perfect in weakness-that is, in the flesh-let them inform us, when they maintain the incapacity of flesh to receive the life granted by God, whether they do say these things as being living men at present, and partakers of life, or acknowledge that, having no part in life whatever, they are at the present moment dead men. And if they really are dead men, how is it that they move about, and speak, and perform those other functions which are not the actions of the dead, but of the living? But if they are now alive, and if their whole body partakes of life, how can they venture the assertion that the flesh is not qualified to be a partaker of life, when they do confess that they have life at the present moment? It is just as if anybody were to take up a sponge full of water, or a torch on fire, and to declare that the sponge could not possibly partake of the water, or the torch of the fire. In this very manner do those men, by alleging that they are alive and bear life about in their members, contradict themselves afterwards, when they represent these members as not being capable of [receiving] life. But if the present temporal life, which is of such an inferior nature to eternal life, can nevertheless effect so much as to quicken our mortal members, why should not eternal life, being much more powerful than this, vivify the flesh, which has already held converse with, and been accustomed to sustain, life? For that the flesh can really partake of life, is shown from the fact of it; being alive; for it lives on, as long as it is God's purpose that it should do so. It is manifest, too, that God has the power to confer life upon it, inasmuch as He grants life to us who are in existence. And, therefore, since the Lord has power to infuse life into what He has fashioned, and since the flesh is capable of being quickened, what remains to prevent its participating in incorruption, which is a blissful and never-ending life granted by God?

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