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EXTRACTION
TECHNIQUES IN
ANALYTICAL
SCIENCES
Analytical Techniques in the Sciences (AnTS)
Series Editor: David J. Ando, Consultant, Dartford, Kent, UK
A series of open learning/distance learning books which covers all of the major analytical
techniques and their application in the most important areas of physical, life and materials
sciences.

Titles available in the Series

Analytical Instrumentation: Performance Characteristics and Quality
Graham Currell, University of the West of England, Bristol, UK
Fundamentals of Electroanalytical Chemistry
Paul M.S. Monk, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, UK
Introduction to Environmental Analysis
Roger N. Reeve, University of Sunderland, UK
Polymer Analysis
Barbara H. Stuart, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia
Chemical Sensors and Biosensors
Brian R. Eggins, University of Ulster at Jordanstown, Northern Ireland, UK
Methods for Environmental Trace Analysis
John R. Dean, Northumbria University, Newcastle, UK
Liquid Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry: An Introduction
Robert E. Ardrey, University of Huddersfield, UK
Analysis of Controlled Substances
Michael D. Cole, Anglia Polytechnic University, Cambridge, UK
Infrared Spectroscopy: Fundamentals and Applications
Barbara H. Stuart, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia
Practical Inductively Coupled Plasma Spectroscopy
John R. Dean, Northumbria University, Newcastle, UK
Bioavailability, Bioaccessibility and Mobility of Environmental Contaminants
John R. Dean, Northumbria University, Newcastle, UK
Quality Assurance in Analytical Chemistry
Elizabeth Prichard and Vicki Barwick, LGC, Teddington, UK
Extraction Techniques in Analytical Sciences
John R. Dean, Northumbria University, Newcastle, UK

Forthcoming Titles
Practical Raman Spectroscopy: An Introduction
Peter Vandenabeele, Ghent University, Belgium
Techniques of Modern Organic Mass Spectrometry
Bob Ardrey, Alex Allan and Pete Ashton, Triple A Forensics, Ltd, Oldham, UK
Forensic Analysis Techniques
Barbara H. Stuart, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia
EXTRACTION
TECHNIQUES IN
ANALYTICAL
SCIENCES
John R. Dean
The Graduate School and School of Applied Sciences
Northumbria University, Newcastle, UK

A John Wiley and Sons, Ltd., Publication

This edition first published 2009
 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
Registered office
John Wiley & Sons Ltd, The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 8SQ, United Kingdom
For details of our global editorial offices, for customer services and for information about how to apply for
permission to reuse the copyright material in this book please see our website at www.wiley.com.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Record on file
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Cloth – 9780470772850 Paper 9780470772843
Set in 10/12pt Times by Laserwords Private Limited, Chennai, India.
Printed and bound in Great Britain by TJ International Ltd, Padstow, Cornwall
To Lynne, Sam and Naomi (and the border terrier, Emmi) for allowing
me the time to sit and write this book
Contents

Series Preface xiii

Preface xv
Acknowledgements xix
Acronyms, Abbreviations and Symbols xxi
About the Author xxv

1 Pre- and Post-Extraction Considerations 1

1.1 Introduction 2
1.2 Organic Compounds of Interest 2
1.3 Pre-Sampling Issues 2
1.4 Sampling Strategies: Solid, Aqueous and Air Samples 8
1.4.1 Practical Aspects of Sampling Soil and Sediment 11
1.4.2 Practical Aspects of Sampling Water 13
1.4.3 Practical Aspects of Air Sampling 15
1.5 An Introduction to Practical Chromatographic Analysis 15
1.5.1 Gas Chromatography 18
1.5.2 High Performance Liquid Chromatography 22
1.5.3 Sample Pre-Concentration Methods 29
1.6 Quality Assurance Aspects 34
1.7 Health and Safety Considerations 35
References 36
viii Extraction Techniques in Analytical Sciences
AQUEOUS SAMPLES 37

2 Classical Approaches for Aqueous Extraction 39

2.1 Introduction 39
2.2 Liquid–Liquid Extraction 39
2.2.1 Theory of Liquid–Liquid Extraction 40
2.2.2 Selection of Solvents 41
2.2.3 Solvent Extraction 42
2.2.4 Problems with the LLE Process 44
2.3 Purge and Trap for Volatile Organics in Aqueous Samples 45
References 47

3 Solid Phase Extraction 49

3.1 Introduction 49
3.2 Types of SPE Media (Sorbent) 50
3.2.1 Multimodal and Mixed-Phase Extractions 51
3.2.2 Molecularly Imprinted Polymers (MIPs) 51
3.3 SPE Formats and Apparatus 53
3.4 Method of SPE Operation 55
3.5 Solvent Selection 58
3.6 Factors Affecting SPE 59
3.7 Selected Methods of Analysis for SPE 60
3.7.1 Applications of Normal Phase SPE 60
3.7.2 Applications of Reversed Phase SPE 63
3.7.3 Applications of Ion Exchange SPE 65
3.7.4 Applications of Molecularly Imprinted Polymers
(MIPs) 67
3.8 Automation and On-Line SPE 76
3.8.1 Application of Automated On-Line SPE 78
References 84

4 Solid Phase Microextraction 85

4.1 Introduction 85
4.2 Theoretical Considerations 88
4.3 Experimental 89
4.4 Methods of Analysis: SPME–GC 92
4.4.1 Direct Immersion SPME: Semi-Volatile Organic
Compounds in Water 92
4.4.2 Headspace SPME: Volatile Organic Compounds
(VOCs) in Water 92
4.4.3 Analysis of Compounds from Solid Matrices 94
Contents ix

4.4.4 Other SPME–GC Applications 101

4.5 Methods of Analysis: SPME–HPLC–MS 105
4.5.1 Analysis of Abietic Acid and Dehydroabietic Acid in
Food Samples 106
4.5.2 Analysis of Fungicides in Water Samples 107
4.6 Automation of SPME 109
4.6.1 Applications of Automated SPME 110
References 114

5 New Developments in Microextraction 117

5.1 Introduction 117
5.2 Stir-Bar Sorptive Extraction (SBSE) 118
5.3 Liquid-Phase Microextraction 118
5.3.1 Single-Drop Microextraction (SDME) 118
5.4 Membrane Microextraction 119
5.4.1 Semipermeable Membrane Device (SPMD) 120
5.4.2 Polar Organic Chemical Integrative Sampler
(POCIS) 120
5.4.3 ‘Chemcatcher’ 120
5.4.4 Ceramic Dosimeter 120
5.4.5 Membrane Enclosed-Sorptive Coating (MESCO)
Device 120
5.5 Microextraction in a Packed Syringe (MEPS) 121
References 123

SOLID SAMPLES 125

6 Classical Approaches for Solid–Liquid Extraction 127

6.1 Introduction 127
6.2 Soxhlet Extraction 128
6.3 Automated Soxhlet Extraction or ‘Soxtec’ 130
6.4 Other Approaches for Solid–Liquid Extraction 132
References 139

7 Pressurized Fluid Extraction 141

7.1 Introduction 141
7.2 Theoretical Considerations Relating to the Extraction
Process 142
7.2.1 Solubility and Mass Transfer Effects 144
7.2.2 Disruption of Surface Equilibria 144
x Extraction Techniques in Analytical Sciences
7.3 Instrumentation for PFE 146
7.3.1 Dionex System 146
7.3.2 Applied Separations, Inc. 149
7.3.3 Fluid Management Systems, Inc. 149
7.4 Method Development for PFE 149
7.5 Applications of PFE 152
7.5.1 Parameter Optimization 152
7.5.2 In situ Clean-Up or Selective PFE 156
7.5.3 Shape-Selective, Fractionated PFE 158
7.6 Comparative Studies 160
7.7 Miscellaneous 160
References 165

8 Microwave-Assisted Extraction 167

8.1 Introduction 167
8.2 Instrumentation 171
8.2.1 Anton-Parr 173
8.2.2 CEM Corporation 173
8.2.3 Milestone 174
8.3 Applications of MAE 174
References 183

9 Matrix Solid Phase Dispersion 185

9.1 Introduction 185
9.2 Issues on the Comparison of MSPD and SPE 187
9.3 A Review of Selected Applications 188
References 194

10 Supercritical Fluid Extraction 197

10.1 Introduction 197
10.2 Instrumentation for SFE 200
10.3 Applications of SFE 202
10.4 Selection of SFE Operating Parameters 202
References 207

GASEOUS SAMPLES 209

11 Air Sampling 211

11.1 Introduction 211
11.2 Techniques Used for Air Sampling 213
Contents xi

11.2.1 Whole Air Collection 213

11.2.2 Enrichment into Solid Sorbents 214
11.2.3 Desorption Techniques 216
References 219

COMPARISON OF EXTRACTION METHODS 221

12 Comparison of Extraction Methods 223

12.1 Introduction 223
12.2 Role of Certified Reference Materials 225
12.3 Comparison of Extraction Techniques for (Semi)-Solid
Samples 227
12.3.1 A Comparison of Extraction Techniques for Solid
Samples: a Case Study 230
12.4 Comparison of Extraction Techniques for Liquid Samples 233
12.5 Comparison of Extraction Techniques for Air Sampling 233
References 240

RESOURCES 241

13 Resources for Extraction Techniques 243

13.1 Introduction 243
13.1.1 Sources of Data 244
13.2 Role of Worldwide Web 244
Responses to Self-Assessment Questions 249
Glossary of Terms 261
SI Units and Physical Constants 269
Periodic Table 273
General Index 275
Application Index 279
Series Preface

There has been a rapid expansion in the provision of further education in recent
years, which has brought with it the need to provide more flexible methods of
teaching in order to satisfy the requirements of an increasingly more diverse type
of student. In this respect, the open learning approach has proved to be a valuable
and effective teaching method, in particular for those students who for a variety
of reasons cannot pursue full-time traditional courses. As a result, John Wiley
& Sons, Ltd first published the Analytical Chemistry by Open Learning (ACOL)
series of textbooks in the late 1980s. This series, which covers all of the major
analytical techniques, rapidly established itself as a valuable teaching resource,
providing a convenient and flexible means of studying for those people who, on
account of their individual circumstances, were not able to take advantage of
more conventional methods of education in this particular subject area.
Following upon the success of the ACOL series, which by its very name is
predominately concerned with Analytical Chemistry, the Analytical Techniques
in the Sciences (AnTS) series of open learning texts has been introduced with
the aim of providing a broader coverage of the many areas of science in which
analytical techniques and methods are now increasingly applied. With this in
mind, the AnTS series of texts seeks to provide a range of books which will cover
not only the actual techniques themselves, but also those scientific disciplines
which have a necessary requirement for analytical characterization methods.
Analytical instrumentation continues to increase in sophistication, and as a
consequence, the range of materials that can now be almost routinely analysed
has increased accordingly. Books in this series which are concerned with the
techniques themselves will reflect such advances in analytical instrumentation,
while at the same time providing full and detailed discussions of the fundamental
concepts and theories of the particular analytical method being considered. Such
books will cover a variety of techniques, including general instrumental analysis,
spectroscopy, chromatography, electrophoresis, tandem techniques, electroana-
lytical methods, X-ray analysis and other significant topics. In addition, books in
xiv Extraction Techniques in Analytical Sciences

the series will include the application of analytical techniques in areas such as
environmental science, the life sciences, clinical analysis, food science, forensic
analysis, pharmaceutical science, conservation and archaeology, polymer science
and general solid-state materials science.
Written by experts in their own particular fields, the books are presented in
an easy-to-read, user-friendly style, with each chapter including both learning
objectives and summaries of the subject matter being covered. The progress of the
reader can be assessed by the use of frequent self-assessment questions (SAQs)
and discussion questions (DQs), along with their corresponding reinforcing or
remedial responses, which appear regularly throughout the texts. The books are
thus eminently suitable both for self-study applications and for forming the basis
of industrial company in-house training schemes. Each text also contains a large
amount of supplementary material, including bibliographies, lists of acronyms
and abbreviations, and tables of SI Units and important physical constants, plus
where appropriate, glossaries and references to literature sources.
It is therefore hoped that this present series of textbooks will prove to be a
useful and valuable source of teaching material, both for individual students and
for teachers of science courses.

Dave Ando
Dartford, UK
Preface

This book introduces a range of extraction techniques as applied to the recovery

of organic compounds from a variety of matrices. In line with other texts in
the Analytical Techniques in the Sciences (AnTS) Series, discussion and self-
assessment questions provide the reader with the opportunity to assess their own
understanding of aspects of the text. This book has been designed to be ‘user-
friendly’ with illustrations to aid understanding. This text is arranged into thirteen
chapters as follows.
Chapter 1 introduces all the key aspects that need to be considered, pre- and
post-extraction. In particular, it highlights the range of organic compounds that
are extracted in analytical sciences. This chapter then addresses pre-sampling
issues by way of a desk-top study of a contaminated land site using historic
maps. Specific sampling strategies for solid, aqueous and air samples are consid-
ered. The natural progression in any analytical protocol would then be to carry
out the extraction technique. However, as the rest of the book details how to
perform different extractions no details are provided at this point. Post-extraction
details focus on the main chromatographic approaches for analysing organic com-
pounds, i.e. gas chromatography and high performance liquid chromatography.
Both techniques are covered from a practical perspective. Issues around sample
pre-concentration post-extraction are also discussed in terms of the most popular
approaches used. Finally, quality assurance aspects and health and safety issues
are considered.
Chapter 2 considers the classical approaches for extracting organic compounds
from aqueous samples, namely liquid–liquid extraction (LLE). Details of the
basic theory applicable to LLE are explained together with important practical
aspects, including choice of solvents, the apparatus and procedure to undertake
LLE and practical problems and remedies for undertaking LLE. Finally, the
specific extraction technique of purge and trap and its application for recovering
volatile organic compounds from aqueous samples is explained.
xvi Extraction Techniques in Analytical Sciences
Chapter 3 considers the use of solid phase extraction (or SPE) for the recovery
of organic compounds from aqueous samples. The different types of SPE media
are considered as well as the different formats in which SPE can be performed,
solvent selection and factors influencing SPE. The five main aspects of SPE
operation are reviewed both generically and then via a series of applications
using normal phase, reversed phase, ion exchange and molecularly imprinted
polymers. Finally, the use of automated and in-line SPE is considered using a
selected example.
Chapter 4 considers the use of solid phase microextraction (or SPME) for
the recovery of organic compounds from aqueous samples (although mention is
also made of its applicability for headspace sampling), followed by either GC or
HPLC. The practical aspects of using the fibres are described in detail as well as
their applicability for a range of sample types in different modes of operation.
Chapter 5 describes new developments in microextraction. Particular devel-
opments highlighted include stir-bar sorptive extraction (SBSE), liquid phase
microextraction (specifically, single drop microextraction (SDME)), membrane
microextraction (specifically, the semipermeable membrane device (SPMD),
the polar organic chemical integrative sampler (POCIS), ‘Chemcatcher’, the
ceramic dosimeter and membrane enclosed-sorptive coating (MESCO)), as well
as microextraction in a packed syringe (MEPS).
Chapter 6 considers the classical approaches for extracting organic compounds
from solid samples, namely Soxhlet extraction (LLE). Practical guidance on the
use of Soxhlet extraction is provided along with choice of solvent, and the appa-
ratus and procedure to undertake extraction. In addition, automated Soxhlet (or
‘Soxtec’) extraction is discussed alongside other approaches that utilize sonica-
tion or shake-flask extraction for the recovery of organic compounds from solid
matrices.
Chapter 7 describes the use of pressurized fluid extraction (PFE) (also known as
accelerated solvent extraction or pressurized liquid extraction) for the recovery of
organic compounds from solid matrices. The theoretical aspects of the approach
are described, as well as the range of commercial apparatus that is currently
available. Approaches for method development for PFE are described, as well as
a range of applications including approaches for parameter optimization, in situ
clean-up (also known as selective PFE) and shape selective, fractionation PFE.
Chapter 8 describes the use of microwave-assisted extraction (MAE) for the
recovery of organic compounds from solid matrices. Instrumentation for both
atmospheric and pressurized MAE are highlighted, with the latter dominating in
its applicability. A range of applications is considered, as well as some recom-
mendations on the use of MAE in analytical sciences.
Chapter 9 considers developments in matrix solid phase dispersion (MSPD)
for solid samples. The procedure for performing MSPD is highlighted, as well as
its applicability to a range of sample types. A range of factors that can influence
Preface xvii

MSPD is then discussed. Finally, a comparison between MSPD and solid phase
extraction is made.
Chapter 10 describes the technique of supercritical fluid extraction (SFE). After
an initial description of what is a supercritical fluid, the option of carbon dioxide
as the fluid of choice is discussed. A detailed description of the instrumentation
for SFE is outlined, together with the options for adding modifiers to the system.
Finally, a range of applications for SFE in analytical sciences is described.
Chapter 11 considers the analysis of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in
gaseous samples. A discussion on the techniques for air sampling, including
whole air collection in containers, enrichment into solid sorbents (active and
passive sampling), desorption techniques and on-line sampling, is also included.
Chapter 12 includes a detailed discussion on the important extraction method
criteria, namely, sample mass/volume, extraction time, solvent type and consump-
tion, extraction method, sequential or simultaneous extraction, method develop-
ment time, operator skill, equipment cost, level of automation and extraction
method approval. This chapter then considers the above criteria in the context
of comparing extraction techniques for (semi-) solid samples and liquid samples.
A comparison is also made of the approaches for air samples. In addition, this
chapter also considers the role and use of certified reference materials.
The final chapter (Chapter 13) considers the resources available when con-
sidering the use of extraction techniques in analytical sciences. The role of the
Worldwide Web in accessing key sources of information (publishers, compa-
nies supplying instrumentation and consumables, institutions and databases) is
highlighted.

John R. Dean
Northumbria University, Newcastle, UK
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generation had passed away, the Pharisees should not acknowledge
nor receive him. But, all this while, it never so much as entered into
my heart that the Messiah was already sent, and already despised,
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fixed on some deliverance yet to come.
“None the less, yea, rather the more, did I persecute the Church of
Christ, giving my voice ever in favor of violent courses and advising
that the common sort among them should be less regarded, but the
leaders sought out with all diligence and slain. So it came to pass
that by my advice the servants of the chief priests laid hands on the
blessed Stephanus (concerning whom I have often spoken unto thee
in times past) and set him before the Council, and accusation of
blasphemy was brought against him; and I sat with the Council
when he made his defence. The words of his speech were as a two-
edged sword cleaving my heart asunder and strengthening all my
former doubts against me. For he declared unto us how, even as
Israel had rejected other deliverers, so had they rejected Jesus the
Messiah, and that this was fore-ordained by God; as also that the
Temple of the Lord was not to stand for ever, but that there was to
be a new Temple not made with hands. So he showed how Joseph
and Moses had saved the people, albeit they had been at first
rejected; and how Israel had made a calf and turned to idolatry; and
how Moses, being permitted to make the earthly tabernacle for the
hardness of their hearts, had, none the less, made it after the
pattern of a better tabernacle not made with hands; and how the
Temple itself had not been made by David, but only by Solomon
(who in his old age went after other gods); and with that he cried
aloud that no earthly Temple was fit for the Most High, using the
words of the prophet, ‘Heaven is my throne, and earth is my
footstool; what house will ye build me, saith the Lord?’
“Hereat the men of my faction, and especially those from Cilicia and
Asia, cried out that Stephanus blasphemed, and they rent their
garments and would have stopped his mouth with their uproar; but
he rebuked us, saying that as we had persecuted the prophets, so
had we murdered the Holy One. Hereat the uproar waxed still
louder; but I sitting speechless all this time, and not able to take my
eyes off his countenance, perceived that, of a sudden, as if one had
plucked him by the sleeve, he turned round and ceased from
rebuking the multitude, and stood still, looking upward very intently
as if he saw somewhat. Then a great splendor shone upon his face,
and he stretched out his hand towards heaven saying, ‘Behold I see
the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing on the right hand
of God!’ At this I could not forbear turning round also, and gazing
upward to the heaven above me, if perchance I also should see
somewhat there. But I saw naught (for my eyes were not yet
opened) and anon arose another general shout that the prisoner was
worthy of death, and all cast dust in the air and rent their garments
again. So the whole multitude arose, and I with them, not knowing
whither I went, nor do I remember what further happened, till I saw
Stephanus on the ground, covered with blood, in a loud voice
beseeching the Lord that this sin might not be laid to the charge of
us his murderers; and, behold, the clothes of them that stoned him
were lying at my feet, in token that I was the chief doer of this
deed.”

§ 5. HOW THE LORD APPEARED TO PAULUS.

“On the night after the blessed Stephanus died, I had no rest, nor
for many nights after. Dreams and visions visited me in my sleep.
Sacrifices and ablutions I made without ceasing, but they brought
me no peace; neither did my prayers find answer from the Lord.
They that were rich praised me, and I was held in honor by the
rulers of the people, but I said in my own heart, ‘Doth not the Lord,
the God of Israel, cast down the wisdom and power and riches of
this world and raise up the lowly and meek?’ By night methought I
saw the face of Stephanus covered with blood and praying for me;
and the hand of the Lord was heavy on my soul filling me with fears
and thoughts of evil. Yet still, like the stubborn ox, kicking against
the goads of the Lord, I resolved that I would not think on idle
dreams, as I called them, but that I would give myself with a single
heart to the persecution of the Nazarenes. So I gladly obeyed the
High Priest who besought me at this time to go to Damascus,
bearing letters to the chief men of that place, that I might have
power to imprison such of the Nazarenes as I could find there.
“We journeyed slowly; for the burden of the Lord was grievous upon
me, and my eyes (which were infirm by nature) were now, more
than ever, dimmed and dazzled, so that I could scarcely endure the
light of day. Likewise by night evil dreams departed not from me.
Now also, methought (which had not been so before), I began to
hear a strange voice (yet as it were in my heart and not in my ears)
as if some one reasoned with me, accusing me that I had slain
Stephanus without cause; insomuch that sometimes I could endure
no longer to listen in silence, but made answer to the voice aloud;
but presently, it was as if no voice had spoken, and one of my
companions overhearing me, reproached me in jest, because, said
he, I discoursed aloud with myself, preferring my own speech to
theirs. Therefore that I might not hear these voices, I ceased not
speaking with my companions, reasoning with them (though none
reasoned against me) and proving to them from the Scriptures again
and again (though none denied it) that the Law must not be set
aside and that the Temple must abide for ever, and that this Jesus
was a deceiver of the people. But ever and anon there would come
into my ears (yea, even in the midst of my speaking) such words as
these: ‘What if the Law were indeed fore-ordained to prepare the
way for Faith? What if there should be indeed a new Temple,
prepared of God, not made with hands?’ Then would I weary my
companions with the superfluity of my reasonings and disputings,
waxing fiercer and louder than before in defence of the Law and
against the Nazarenes. They that went with me, falling in with my
humor, ceased not to revile the deceivers of the people as they
termed them; and one among them speaking of Stephanus (of
whom all this time I had made no mention) said that he had been a
hypocrite and a deceiver even in his death, gazing up to heaven as if
to persuade us that he saw a vision, and framing his face to assume
a divine appearance of gentleness and peace, and all to delude the
people.
“Hereat my heart was stirred within me and I was moved to say that
I did not feel assured that Stephanus (however deceived) was acting
deceitfully at that moment when he was on the point of death; but
as I feared lest this might cause my companions to suspect that I
favored the Nazarenes, I restrained myself and assented (against my
conscience) to the man that had spoken thus. So I answered, ‘Thou
sayest well; this Stephanus was a deceiver.’ Then, because I felt that
I had lied, straightway there swelled up within me a violent desire to
cry aloud ‘Stephanus was no deceiver;’ but still I rejected it as a
voice from Satan, and strove to turn the discourse to other matters.
But in vain; for now, even as if they were desirous of set purpose to
thwart me, my companions would speak of naught else but
Stephanus, and how he bore himself, and what he said, and of the
manner of his death, and his vision.
“By this time we were come unawares within sight of Damascus; and
I looking afar off upon the pleasant gardens that encompassed the
city, rejoiced greatly because here, I said, I shall have rest from my
weariness, and here these voices of Satan will cease from troubling
me. But even as I spake thus within my soul, the Voice came to me
much louder than before, and not once but many times: ‘Wilt thou
yet continue this course of blood? Wilt thou again shed innocent
blood? Wilt thou yet kick against the goad of the truth?’ Then I
made answer ‘Yes I will continue;’ and these words I repeated again
and again. Then suddenly the hand of the Lord fell on me, my body
seeming on fire as well as my soul, and my eyes not knowing
whither to turn for pain, and at last I could no longer contain myself
for the sore agony of my doubting, but said aloud (yet not so that
my companions could hear), ‘If now that deceiver Stephanus were
no deceiver, if’—and behold, I looked up to heaven as Stephanus
had looked, and lo, a brightness indeed, as of the glory of God; and
a voice no longer in my soul but in my ears also, penetrating to my
soul, and saying, ‘Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?’ Then I fell
upon my face, knowing who it was that spoke, yet constrained to
ask as though I knew not, and I said, ‘Who art thou, Lord?’ And he
said ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth whom thou persecutest. It is hard for
thee to kick against the goad.’ Then said I ‘Lord, what wilt thou have
me to do?’ And he made answer saying, ‘Arise, go into the city, and
there it shall be told thee what thou shalt do.’
“So I arose: but behold, I was wholly blind. Being led into the city by
my companions I lay some days still under the heavy hand of the
Lord, pondering many thoughts and doubting whether it would
please the Lord to restore to me my sight; and during all this time I
spoke many things not according to my own knowledge, for I was
no longer master of myself. Among other matters the Lord caused
me to make mention of one Ananias, one of the chief among the
saints in Damascus (whom I had purposed to have slain) saying that
it was the Lord’s will that he should come to me and make me
whole. Whereof when the rumor came to the ears of Ananias, he,
being also moved by a vision of the Lord which he himself received,
came to me and laid his hands upon me, and straightway my senses
returned to me, and presently I began to see a little, and in no very
long space I was made whole and received my sight as before.”

§ 6. HOW PAULUS WAS PREPARED FOR THE PREACHING OF THE

GOSPEL.

“When I was recovered of my blindness, some of the brethren in

Damascus would have had me go up to Jerusalem that I might be
instructed in the faith by those that had been disciples before me.
But the Lord suffered it not, but bade me go into Arabia; where, for
the space of two years, I remained, giving myself wholly to prayer,
and to the reading of the Scriptures, and pondering the purposes of
God. And here it pleased the Lord to reveal many mysteries unto me
and more especially the mystery of the New Temple and the
heavenly Jerusalem. And the grace of the Lord was poured out upon
me very abundantly, working for me good out of evil, enabling me to
discern the truth the more clearly perchance because I had once
fought against it. For as I had ever been wont to say, ‘If the
Nazarenes be right, then are the Jews wrong, and if Jesus be the
Messiah, then are the Law and the Temple destined to pass away,’ so
now, believing that Jesus was indeed the Messiah, I had the less
difficulty in believing that the Law must needs pass away, and all
things must be changed.
“At the same time it was revealed to me in the spirit that the
outward fashion of all things must change but the will of God
abideth for ever; for in spite of death, and sin, and all the devices of
Satan, the purposes of the Highest are unchangeable; which have
been, and shall be, fulfilled, in many diverse shapes, yet ever remain
the same; and how the redemption of the world through Christ and
the casting away (in part and for a time) of Israel, together with the
bringing in of the Gentiles, were not by chance—as if the purposes
of the Unchangeable were changed—but fore-ordained before the
foundation of the world; even as it was also fore-ordained that Adam
should fall, and Abel should be slain, and that Ishmael and Esau
should be rejected to the intent that Isaac and Jacob might be
chosen; in all these things I now discerned the unchanging purpose
of the Lord triumphing over Satan from the first, and out of sin and
death drawing forth life and righteousness. Also, as regards the
death of the Lord Jesus upon the cross, I no longer felt shame at it,
nor passed lightly over it in my doctrine (as some do still, my
Onesimus); for I perceived that it was a sacrifice fore-ordained, yea,
the only true sacrifice and oblation for the sins of men, whereof all
former sacrifices had been but shadows.
“Likewise it was revealed to me that mankind must rise from the
death of the flesh and be born to the life of the spirit. For as man
was first made and sinned in Adam, so man was afterwards made
again and born to righteousness in the Lord Jesus; the first Adam
was the shadow, the second, the truth; the first Adam was of the
earth and of this world, the second Adam was of the spirit and of
heaven. And as all men are bound to Adam by the bonds of flesh, so
must they be bound to the true Adam by the bonds of the spirit, that
is by trust or faith and by love, whereby men must be so knit to the
Lord Jesus that whatsoever hath befallen him must also befall them.
For all flesh, being redeemed in Christ, is made one with Christ. As
therefore the Lord Jesus suffered and died and rose again and
reigneth in heaven, so must the children of men, even all the nations
of the earth, suffer and die according to the flesh, but rise again
according to the spirit, and reign in spiritual places, perfected with
him. And this hath been the eternal purpose of God from the
foundation of the world.
“Moreover, lest I should despise the past, and reject the Scriptures,
or lightly esteem the Gentiles, or stumble because of the many
generations of darkness which have been since the world was
created, all of which knew not the Lord Jesus, for this cause the Lord
revealed unto me that he for the most part worketh by slow means,
and teacheth by slow degrees; first the elements, or teaching for
babes, then for youths, then for full-grown men; and this is true for
every soul of mankind, yea, and for every nation also. Wherefore I
no longer despised the Gentiles, albeit the Lord had suffered them
for many generations to go astray after idols; nor did I begin to
despise the Law of Israel, although I no longer esteemed it as
before. For it was revealed to me that, though the law had been
ordained only for a time, and because of the hardness of our hearts,
and could make nothing perfect, yet did it prepare the way for
perfection in Christ. For by the grace of the Lord it was given to me
to understand that all things in heaven and earth, whether past or
present, whether among the Jews or the Gentiles, yea, even the
beasts of the field and the very dust of the earth beneath our feet,
were all created for the glory of God, to testify that he, the Highest,
is the Father of men, and that men must be conformed to his divine
image.
“Wherefore, since the will of the Lord standeth fast, take comfort,
dear Onesimus, child of my bonds and heir of my labors, and
overcome evil with good. Shut not thine eyes against evil, but fight
against it with a stout heart. Whensoever thou lookest upon it
triumphing in high places; or setting itself up as having dominion
over the earth; or creeping into the Church, causing therein errors,
and schisms, and deceits; yea, and when also thou lookest upon it in
thine own heart, prompting thee to despair because of thine own ill
courses in old days—then do thou contend against it in the name of
the Lord Jesus, and in his name thou shalt surely overcome it. Say
not in thine heart, ‘Rome is against us,’ but say rather, ‘Rome that
now is, shall be like unto Babylon and Nineveh, which once were,
but now are passed away.’ Look not upon the outward things which
are but for a moment, but upon the things which are not seen,
which are eternal; even as I also look not upon these my manacles
and fetters, and upon this poor wasted flesh nigh unto destruction,
nor upon the filth and foulness of yonder pit; but instead of this
earthly flesh, I see the heavenly body wherewith my Lord shall
shortly clothe me, and instead of this visible darkness, mine eyes
behold the invisible glory of the Eternal Majesty on High, wherein
enfolded, amid the blessed company of the saints above, I shall for
ever magnify the unsearchable riches of the mercies of God.
“And now, since thou knowest whither I go, why wouldst thou,
dearest Onesimus, that I should longer delay my departure? For I
have been these many years like unto a servant making all things
ready for a journey, that, when the master shall knock, he may be
prepared to go forth to a pleasant land. And behold, the Master
knocketh, and the door is now open, and shall I not gladly go?”

§ 7. THE LAST WORDS OF PAULUS.

When the Holy Apostle had made an end of speaking, I was

ashamed of all the questionings which had disturbed me at Colossæ;
and in his presence I felt myself lifted up above all doubts. Yet
again, looking to the future when I should be alone, I said, “One
other question I would gladly ask of thee,” and he bade me “Ask on,”
and I proceeded thus: “Thou saidst, but now, that all men and all
nations, yea, and all created things, are made subject to ignorance,
and error, and death, and sin, to the intent that they may be raised
from the lower to the higher; even as children are led up from the
restraint of nurses and guardians to the freedom and knowledge of
manhood, and as Israel also was led from the law to Christ. Now
therefore I would that thou shouldst resolve me this doubt. As it is
the nature of every child of man to pass through error to the truth,
and as Israel also hath erred, may not we also err, even we the
Saints of God? And certain of the saints who say that they have seen
the Lord Jesus in dreams and visions or other ways, may not they
also sometimes err? Yea and in the Traditions of the Acts and Words
of the Lord, amid much that is true, may there not also be
somewhat that is false?”
Hereat he smiled and said, “Thou hast well questioned me.
Assuredly we, even the Saints, may be, nay, must needs be, in some
error. For whereas hereafter we shall discern all things as they are,
seeing God face to face in heaven, on earth we can but see them
darkly, as it were through a mirror. Yet be thou ever prompt, my
dear Onesimus, to make distinction between those cases where to
err is to lie, and hurtful to the soul, and those where to err is not to
lie, and therefore not in the same way hurtful. For I also, not many
months ago, was in error concerning the time of the coming of the
Lord. For as a peevish child is impatient till the day shall dawn,
though the sun be not risen nor like to rise, even so I desired that
my Lord should come before his time, while I still lived, and that I
should be snatched up into the clouds to him, before this generation
had passed away. But now I perceive that the day of the Lord is not
yet, nor will be perchance during this generation nor the next, nor
perhaps for many generations yet to come. Herein therefore I erred,
but inasmuch as this error was not against my soul, to err in such a
matter was not to sin.
“But now let me tell thee what kind of error corrupteth the soul, and
warreth against righteousness. Whoso supposeth that to abstain
from swine’s flesh maketh expiation for impure thoughts, or that a
man may be envious and a slanderer if he do but observe Sabbaths,
I say unto thee that such a one walketh in the darkness of error that
wholly cloudeth the soul and shutteth out the light of God. For these
opinions or beliefs are against the perfect Law of Love; against
which whatsoever opposeth itself is not of God but of Satan. From
such errors as these flee thou, and fight thou, with all thy power;
but the other errors none can altogether avoid, nor be thou
overmuch troubled concerning them. As I myself was in error
touching the day of the Lord, so doubtless art thou touching some
other matters, and so are and so will be, many others of the saints,
liable severally perchance to several errors. Yea, all earthly
knowledge of heavenly things must needs be, in some sort, error,
because they are seen as it were by reflection through an imperfect
glass; for the perfect God none hath seen nor can see in the flesh.
Wherefore doubt not but thou art assuredly in error; yet be not on
that account disquieted, provided that thou strive to attain more and
more of the truth. Neither forget thou that the Spirit of the Lord
Jesus Christ shall be with thee to guide thee into all truth, and to
turn darkness into Light before the feet of the Saints, from
generation to generation, that all men may grow in the knowledge of
the Lord, and in the understanding of his unsearchable ways.
“Be not thou therefore, O my son, shaken in thy faith, if in the
Traditions of the Acts and Words of the Lord some things be
diversely or inexactly reported; only strive thou earnestly to keep
pure and undefiled that truth which is the source and foundation of
the rest; I mean, that Jesus of Nazareth the Son of God hath
manifested to us the love of the Father through himself, and that he,
having verily risen from the dead, reigneth in heaven and helpeth his
saints on earth, purposing to conform all nations of men to the
Father and to destroy death and sin through his cross. Believe this,
my son, and cause others to believe this; and then thou needest to
concern thyself little with genealogies and minute disputings of
words and diversities of traditions, nor even about sundry visions
and dreams, whether they be of the Lord or no; for the foundation
of the faith consisteth not in knowing how, or to whom, or when, or
in what places, the Lord hath manifested himself or shall manifest
himself, but in believing that he is verily not dead, but liveth. All this
I say, not as if thou shouldst be careless or slothful about the
attainment of the exactness of the truth, so far as lieth in thee; but
place not letters before words, nor words before things, nor any kind
of knowledge of things, no nor even prophecies nor visions
themselves, before Love. For verily I say unto thee, the time shall
come when prophecies shall fail, tongues cease, and knowledge
vanish away, but Faith, Hope, and Love shall never pass away but
shall abide for ever, and the greatest of these is Love.”
The sound of the unloosing of the prison-bars now fell upon my
ears, and presently the jailer entered saying, “The night is spent,
and the guard ready.” I besought him that I might accompany Paulus
to his death, but the jailer would not allow it, saying that I must
remain with him in the prison, for he should lose his place were it
known that I had been with the prisoner. When I would have urged
him further, the Apostle suffered it not, saying to me with a cheerful
countenance, “Nay, my son, tarry thou with our friend here; for
thinkest thou that thy father cannot walk alone, or fearest thou lest
he stumble in the darkness? Nay, but if the night be spent, the day
must needs be at hand; therefore fear not.” The man marvelled, not
understanding that the Apostle spoke of the day beyond the grave;
but he said, “Thou goest to death bravely; however, there is no need
of haste if thou wouldst have meat and drink to be thy viaticum.” “I
thank thee,” replied Paulus, “but I have other viaticum, whereof,
since there is no need of haste, I would gladly partake with my son;
suffer us, therefore, if it may be, to be alone yet a brief space
longer.” Then when the man had retired, Paulus said to me, “Now,
my son, because the time is short, let us make haste to be with
Christ a while, and with all the company of saints, both the blessed
ones that have gone to rest before us and those that have remained
below.” Then he took of the bread and wine which I had brought;
and when he had broken and blessed, we ate and drank, and the
Apostle called on the Lord in prayer. What words he uttered I know
not; for I was as one in a vision, and the walls of the dungeon
seemed to have fled away, and as he continued speaking of the Lord
in heaven, who is above all thrones and powers, and of the glory
that is to come to us with him above, I seemed to pass beyond
earth, and upwards from the lower heaven, even till the highest of
all, even to the region of everlasting joy, where thou, O Eternal, dost
feed Israel for ever.
When I had come to myself, I was still kneeling, but the holy Apostle
standing before me, with his hands upon my head, blessing me; and
he touched me on the shoulder saying, “I go, Onesimus.” “Nay, my
father,” replied I, “let us abide here evermore in heaven.” But he
made answer, and these were his last words—“Thou hast a work yet
to do, Onesimus, and a battle yet to fight for the Lord; yet be
assured of this, my child, that wheresoever thou mayst be on earth,
thou shalt verily abide with me in heaven, for I am Christ’s and
Christ is thine.”
THE END OF THE SEVENTH BOOK.
 THE EIGHTH BOOK.
§ 1. OF THE DEATH OF NERO AND HOW ROME WAS DIVIDED
AGAINST ITSELF.

At thy bidding, dearest Epaphras, I once more take up the pen;

having been minded before to have concluded this book with the
end of the life of the blessed Apostle Paulus upon earth. But indeed
thou sayest well that all unwittingly I have been writing, not so
much the story of mine own life (which had a fit end methinks when
I was first brought to the knowledge of the Lord Jesus and began a
new life in Christ) nor yet the life of the blessed Apostle, but rather
the history of the manifestation of the power of Christ; wherefore
thou biddest me continue this history, passing over smaller matters
in my own life, and speaking of such greater matters as concern the
Church of God; and this, by God’s grace, I will now endeavor to do.
When I returned to Colossæ and to my labors in the Church there,
endeavoring to keep the brethren in the right path, in accordance
with the doctrine of the blessed Apostle, at first I had small success.
For whereas even before, the Jewish brethren had been bitter
against me, now, after my return, their bitterness had increased,
yea, and was daily increasing. Hereof the main cause was the
troubles of their brethren which were in Syria. For now of late the
fires of those discontents which had been as it were smouldering,
even from the time of Cumanus the Proconsul, nearly twenty years
ago, and then in the time of Felix, about ten years ago, broke forth
into flame. During the same year in which I had gone to Rome to
see the Apostle, the Emperor Nero had sent Titus Flavius
Vespasianus to have command over the legions in Syria; and from
that year onward for nearly five years, even to the time when the
Holy City was destroyed, naught but wars and rumors of wars ran all
through the world, and more especially through Syria. Throughout
all that time the Jews were shamefully oppressed, thousands, yea,
tens of thousands, being sold (even before the siege of the Holy
City) to be slaves in Rome, or scattered through the cities of Asia.
These and countless other injuries set the whole nation—yea, even
many of those that believed—against all Gentiles, whether belonging
to the saints or not; and more especially did they rage against the
memory of the beloved Apostle Paulus, some saying that he was no
true Jew, others that he was not really an Apostle as the rest of the
Apostles, and others even calling him “the enemy.” So there was for
five years and more a great battle raging in the Church, whether the
saints should observe the Law of Moses or no; and for some time it
seemed not unlikely that the Jewish faction would prevail and that
the Gentiles would be compelled to submit to the Law.
During all these five years the minds of all men were marvellously
moved, and the empire was divided against itself, and many among
the saints thought that the Lord would daily appear. At first indeed
the Church began to rejoice because their chief adversary, the
Emperor Nero, was taken away. I was in Corinth, as I remember, in
that year, ministering to certain of the saints (whom I had known
formerly in Rome), who had been sent by the Emperor to work at
the great canal, which he desired to have made between the two
seas near that city; and while I was with the prisoners, a trireme
came sailing past within bowshot, decked with flags and garlands.
One of the guard, that kept the prisoners, cried aloud, “What tidings
from Rome?” And answer came back across the water, “Nero is no
more.” Then all held their breath because none could believe such
happy tidings, and when the voice came again from the trireme,
“Nero is dead,” then all the prisoners, yea, and the guards too,
raised a shout for joy, and within a very few hours, they all were free
and the business of the canal at an end. Not unlike the joy of these
prisoners was the gladness of the whole Church of Christ when he
whom they called the Beast was taken out of their path.
But anon came divisions, nation against nation and army against
army fighting who should be emperor; and first one and then
another rose up and passed away, and all was chaos, nothing solid
or sure. But there was heard again the old prophecy that “One from
the East” should come forth and rule over the empire. Some said
that this was Vespasianus; others (and this began to be commonly
believed more especially among the Jews and the Jewish faction of
the saints) that Nero, being raised from the dead, would come again
from the East across Euphrates with all the kings of the East, to
make the rivers run with the blood of his enemies; and this even
from the first, straightway after the death of Nero, was commonly
believed in Rome by the baser sort, insomuch that many deceivers
arose pretending to be Nero, and his effigies were set by unknown
hands in the public places, and the rostra were crowned, and
sacrifices offered in his name; and thence this belief spread quickly
through the empire, and it is commonly believed even to this day,
namely, the fourth year of the Emperor Domitian wherein I now
write. So it came to pass that even after the death of Nero, the
minds of men were still in division and discord; and the Jews of
Syria, yea, and certain of the Jews also among the faithful, had
expectation that still their nation would prevail, because Rome
seemed divided against itself; and as long as this opinion held, so
long the Jewish faction had the upper hand in the Church.

§ 2. OF THE JEWISH FACTION.

But presently came tidings that the legions were gathered together
against Judea, and then that they were encompassing Jerusalem
round about, and afterwards that the Holy City was closely beset,
and that the brethren had fled forth, but that the Jews that stayed
therein were at discord among themselves, and in great straits,
insomuch that they were driven to feed one on the other for lack of
food. But still not many of the Jews among the faithful believed that
the Holy City would be taken; for they supposed that the Lord from
Heaven would stretch out his hand to save the place which he had
chosen. So when the tidings came at last that the Holy City had
been indeed taken and burned, and the Temple also, and that all the
sacred furniture of the Temple had fallen into the hands of the
Romans, at first none would believe it; but when it was no longer
possible to doubt, many began to believe that the end of the world
was now at hand, and to some it seemed as if, with the passing
away of the Holy City and the Temple, the old world were passed
away and a new world already begun.
From this time forth began the Jews to sever themselves into two
distinct parties. Some on the one hand, seeing the will of the Lord in
the taking away of the Old Jerusalem began to fix their thoughts on
Jerusalem that is above, even the spiritual city, the Bride of Christ;
and as they could no more fulfil the Law according to the letter by
offering sacrifice in the Temple, they now began to turn themselves
more from the letter to the spirit, and from the sacrifice of bulls and
goats to the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus; and so it came to pass that
this party joined themselves more closely to the Gentiles that were
in the Church. But upon the other and larger faction of the Jews the
destruction of the Holy City had an effect altogether contrary; for
being embittered against the Gentiles even before, now, in the
extremity of their rage, they made no distinction of Roman or Greek,
believer or unbeliever, but hated all alike. Hereat none could marvel,
that knew how great had been their sufferings and oppressions;
thousands slain with the sword, thousands on the cross, thousands
with famine, tens of thousands sold for slaves or condemned to the
mines and quarries; those that were suffered to live, burdened with
taxes, often dispossessed of their lands, and their lives made
miserable with penalties and insults, so that to be a Jew seemed
now the same thing as to be an outcast and laughing-stock for
mankind.
Hence, among some even of the more honorable of the Jews, now
to cease to be a Jew seemed all one with beginning to be a coward
and a renegade; wherefore they preferred to be more Jewish than
before; and, because they could not now observe the Law in such
matters as appertained to the Temple, on this very account they
observed all other matters of the Law more diligently than before;
and, in a word, the Temple being gone, the Law became unto them
both Law and Temple also. In former times the unbelieving Jews had
spoken against the Church of Christ and blasphemed the brethren,
but only on certain occasions; but now they began to make a rule
and habit of cursing us with formal curses, so that it became a part
of their worship in the synagogue. Of Nero, the deceased Emperor,
they ceased now to speak reproachfully, because they esteemed him
as an enemy to Vespasianus, or at least, to the saints; and Poppæa,
his concubine or wife (a woman of no virtue nor purity) they praised;
but the Emperors Vespasianus and Titus were in their eyes as
monsters, to be smitten with the plagues of God. Such a spirit of
blindness fell upon the greater part of the Jewish nation at this time;
wherefore seeing they saw not, and hearing they could not
understand, nor be converted to the Lord. Such of the Jews as took
a middle course— who were commonly called Ebionites—neither
wholly separating themselves from the Church of Christ, nor yet
desiring to cast in their lot with the Gentiles, were sorely exercised
at this time; and many were the defections and apostasies among
them; and the Gospel with them was a Gospel of sorrow rather than
of joy. Hereof some judgment may be formed, and some knowledge
of the history of the Church in Syria from a certain letter written to
me in the seventh year of the Emperor Vespasianus by one
Menahem, a foremost teacher among the Ebionites, of which letter I
will now set down some parts.

§ 3. OF MENAHEM, THE EBIONITE.

After many lamentations for the evils of Israel, and especially

because the Holy City had been destroyed by “Babylon” (meaning
Rome) whereby the sacrifice had been made to cease, the letter
turns aside to describe the manner of the worship of the Temple in
times past and especially the presence and glory of the High Priest:
“Alas, how was he honored in the midst of the people in his coming
forth from the sanctuary! He was as the morning star before the sun
hath risen, and as the moon at the full, yea as the sun shining upon
the Temple of the Most High, and as the rainbow giving light in the
bright clouds. When he took the portions of the priests’ hands, he
himself stood by the altar compassed round with his brethren, even
as a cedar of Lebanon compassed round with palm-trees. He
stretched out his hand to the cup and poured out the blood of the
grape, a sweet-smelling savor unto the Most High King. Then
shouted the sons of Aaron, then sounded the silver trumpets, to be
heard for a remembrance before the Most High. And the people
besought the Most High by prayer before him that is merciful, till the
solemnity of the Lord was ended. O Lord, if thou didst so much hate
thy people that thou must needs cast them down, yet shouldst thou
at the least destroy them with thine own hands and not give them
over to Babylon. For what are they that inherit Babylon? Are their
deeds more righteous than ours that they should have the dominion
over Sion?”
After this Menahem reproached me in his letter that I had made
myself one with “him” (meaning Paulus) “who professed to be a Jew
and was no Jew;” and he affirmed that Jesus had not come to
destroy the Law but to confirm it, and that we blasphemed God
because we made Jesus to be even as God, whereas he was a man
and of the sons of men, howbeit the deliverer and Messiah. Thence,
passing again to the condition of his nation he added this hope that
“the hand which now had power“—meaning the Emperor
Vespasianus—should be wasted suddenly, and that “Babylon” (that is
to say Rome) should be cast down, and that the spoils that she had
taken from the nations should be carried back to the cities of the
East in the day of vengeance of the Lord. After these things, said he,
a time should come when men should hope much but obtain naught,
and labor, but not prosper; for the world should be turned back
again into the old silence of seven days, even as in the first
beginning, so that no man should remain; and, after that, the
Judgment should come, and the Lord Jesus should judge the earth
and reward his brethren in Israel. But still the strain of trust died
away in sorrow, and the thought of the Deliverer was lost in the
thought of Israel, and the letter came to an end in these words:
“Our psaltery is laid in the ground, our song is put to silence, our
rejoicing is at an end; the light of our candlestick is put out, and the
ark of our covenant is defiled; our priests are burned with fire, our
Levites led captive, our virgins and wives defiled and ravished, our
righteous men are carried away, our little ones destroyed, our young
men brought into bondage, and our strong men become weak; and
the seat of Sion hath now lost her honor, for she is delivered into the
hands of them that hate us.”
After this manner wrote Menahem the Ebionite, a good man and
devout, and one that loved the Lord Jesus and was himself of a
gentle and meek disposition. Wherefore if even in so gentle a nature
the thought of Jesus was swallowed up in the thought of the Holy
City, much more was this likely to happen with others of his
countrymen. And so indeed it was. For each year of troubles now
seemed to cast a new veil of ignorance on the hearts of the Jews so
that they might not understand the Scriptures, nor discern the will of
God, nor be brought into the Church of Christ.

§ 4. HOW THE CHURCH WAS GUIDED AT THIS TIME BY THE SPIRIT

OF GOD.

Out of all these evils and troubles one good at least was gained, that
there was no longer any danger lest the Church of Christ should
become a mere sect of the Jews. For now to all the believers of the
uncircumcision, the destruction of the City of Jerusalem seemed to
be a sign sent from God that the Law was at an end, and that all
things were to be made new in Christ, yea, and wholly new: and it
became a common saying that the vesture of the Church was not to
be made up out of the rags of the vesture of the Law, patched and
botched up to serve new needs; but that it was to be a wholly new
garment, woven afresh in one piece, without seam or rent. As for
the Jews, they that stayed in the Church, finding themselves now
constrained to choose between the old garment and the new, gave
themselves with a more single mind to the Gospel; but the greater
part went out from us, as I have said. They also that were called
Ebionites, who had once had much power in the Church so that they
had persuaded many, began now to be lightly esteemed; and
whereas in former times they alone seemed to be the Church, and
the rest heretics; now the contrary came to pass, and the Ebionites
themselves came to be thought heretics—insomuch that the name
Ebionites became a reproach among the faithful—and the doctrine of
Paulus the Apostle was considered to be the doctrine of all the
Churches. From this time forth therefore there was no more fear lest
the Lord Jesus should be regarded as a mere prince or prophet in
Israel. In old days many had said that he was but as John the
Baptist and some (more especially in Ephesus) had been baptized
with John’s baptism and no other; but now all men believed that
John was far inferior to Jesus, and the traditions of the Church
began to teach this more clearly and fully than before. Also because
men now perceived that the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus was to
include all nations of the earth, and indeed to consist of Gentiles
rather than Jews, for this reason there were sought out such
parables and discourses of the Lord as taught and explained the
calling of the Gentiles into the Church. And all through the Church it
was everywhere believed that Jesus was not a mere prophet, but
King of kings and Lord of lords.
When great multitudes of Greeks and many other nations had now
been brought into the Kingdom of Christ, they began, as was likely
and reasonable, to seek out traditions concerning the nature, birth,
and parentage of the King and Prophet in so great a Kingdom. The
common people among the Gentile brethren believed as a thing of
course, that he was divine and of divine parentage. “For if,” said
they, “Trophonius and Heracles have been called gods, and if we
have been wont to give the name of gods to the emperors, even
such as Caius and Claudius and Nero, how shall we deny it the Lord
Jesus the King of kings?” Herein the minds of the unlearned were
doubtless led to a right conclusion, though a philosopher might justly
find fault with the method of it, and might understand differently the
“divine parentage” of which they spoke. Nevertheless, from this
desire to do honor to the Lord Jesus, there crept into the Church
some error. For some began to deny that he was man at all, or born
as men are born, affirming it to be monstrous and incredible that a
divine being should pass through a mortal womb. Others—but these
were but very few in the Gentile churches—favored the old opinion
of the Ebionites that Jesus was merely human, although superior to
any other of the children of men.
Between these two errors, some denying that the Lord Jesus was
divine, and others denying that he was human, the Church was
marvellously guided by the hand of the Lord, so that the greater part
of the brethren held fast the true belief, namely, that he was both
human and divine. For as the most part of the Gentiles revolted
against the doctrine of the Ebionites, who would have had Jesus to
be a mere prince or prophet of the Jews, so did the common sense
of almost all the brethren perceive, as by a heaven-sent instinct,
that, howsoever he might be divine, he must also needs be human
and able to suffer humanlike, or else be of no avail to bear the sins
and sorrows of the children of men. Thus by the Spirit it was
revealed even to the simplest and meanest of the brethren that in
Christ Jesus, God and man are joined together.
About this time also began the Churches to commit to writing the
traditions of the acts of the Lord; and, not long afterwards, certain
of the longer discourses of the Lord, having been written down in
Greek, were joined to the other tradition and came to be commonly
read in the churches; but this happened for the most part toward
the end of the reign of Vespasianus, or not much before. For as long
as the disciples and apostles of the Lord themselves lived, it had
seemed to the saints that there was no need of books, having as it
were the words of the Lord Jesus among them. Moreover before the
destruction of Jerusalem, the saints for the most part lived in
continual expectation of the coming of the Lord, wherefore, hoping
soon to have heard his voice from heaven, they were the less careful
to record exactly the words he had spoken on earth. But now, during
the reign of Vespasianus, when the Church had rest, and peace was
everywhere, and the Lord seemed to delay his coming, and one by
one the disciples of the Lord fell asleep, and the accounts and
traditions of the words and deeds and especially of the birth and
rising again of the Lord began to be multiplied with great diversities
and not without many errors, then it was revealed to certain of the
saints that the time was come when the traditions must be set forth
in writing. But all this came to pass at a time when I was far away in
Britain; whereof the reason will be set forth in the next chapter.

§ 5. HOW I CAME TO PHILOCHRISTUS, A DISCIPLE OF THE LORD

IN BRITAIN.

About the seventh year of the Emperor Vespasianus, it pleased the

Lord, in a manner altogether unexpected and marvellous, to reveal
to me the names of my parents. There was a certain Philochristus, a
Jew by birth but not one of the Jewish faction, a man of some
learning, who had studied Greek letters at Alexandria; and he had
been a disciple of the Lord Jesus, having himself seen the Lord in
the flesh. This man I had met many years ago at Antioch, and, being
drawn to him by his love of truth and the simplicity of his nature, I
had recounted to him the story of my life, telling him the place and
exact time wherein I had been found as a child at Pergamus, and
withal showing him (for so the Lord would have it) the very token
that had been hung round the neck of my brother Chrestus, which I
then wore. About this time therefore I received a letter from
Philochristus (who was then in Britain or Londinium), telling me that
he had found my former nurse, one Stratonice, who had come to
Britain as a slave in the household of Pomponia the wife of Aulus
Plautius the legate, and who now belonged to the saints that were in
Londinium. This Stratonice, it seemed, had chanced to speak to
Philochristus about her former mistress, how her twin sons were
taken from her by the guile of some runaway slave, she being then
in Asia, in the last year of the Emperor Tiberius (mentioning the
exact year when my brother and I had been found); and when
Philochristus further questioned her whether any sign or token had
been on the children, she replied that one bore round his neck just
such a token, and with the same inscription, as I had shown to
Philochristus. She added that the slave, who had been persuaded
thereto by one that desired to make a way to an inheritance through
our death, had confessed his guilt three or four years after the deed,
and that my mother (whose name was Euelpis the daughter of
Nicomachus, an Athenian by birth) had, since that time, made
continual search for us, at Pergamus and elsewhere, even till the day
of her death, which had happened in the first year of the Emperor
Vespasianus; but my father (whose name was Clinias the son of
Aristodemus, also an Athenian by birth) had died many years before.
Ever since I had spoken with the priest of Asclepius at Pergamus, I
had been assured in my mind that my mother had not willingly
deserted us; yet even now it was joy to know for certain that foul
practice, and not our mother’s fault, had cast my brother Chrestus
and me upon the world; and great desire seized me to have some
speech with my old nurse, Stratonice, concerning my parents before
she died. So finding an occasion when I could conveniently leave
Colossæ, I journeyed to Britain to Philochristus, meaning to return in
a short space. But after I had satisfied my heart’s desire, learning all
the story of the goodness and love and sorrow of my beloved
mother from Stratonice (who lived but three months after my
coming to Britain) Philochristus persuaded me to tarry with him yet
longer, first for a few months, and then for a year; and, in fine, a
door being opened to me of the Lord, I labored with him in the
Church of Londinium for the space of seven years, in peace and
great joy. For I was drawn toward the old man more than I can
describe, because he wholly was given to the Lord Jesus and
abhorred vain quarrels and disputations and (which was not so in all
the saints) he added to his love of Christ such a love of letters and
learning that (next to my beloved master Paulus) he, more than any
other, seemed to join together that which is best both in the Jews
and in the Greeks.
From the lips of this my beloved teacher I received the tradition of
the words and deeds of the Lord pure and uncorrupted; and it was
no small strength and refreshment to hear the very sayings of Christ
himself from one whose love of truth appeared in this saying of his,
a saying often repeated in his doctrine, that “he loved to think of the
Lord Jesus as Son of man, and also as Son of God; but he loved no
less to think of him as the Eternal Truth, whom no lie could serve
nor please.” Moreover, because he discerned the divine nature to
consist not so much in the performance of fleshly wonders as in the
working of spiritual works, for this cause he never was led to
magnify (as I had heard some magnify) the mighty acts of Jesus in
the healing of the diseases of the body; but he spoke the more of
his divine power in casting down mountains of sin, and in the
uprooting of error, and in satisfying the hungry soul with bread, and
in cleansing the spotted soul from all the defilements of Satan.
Therefore in all his discourses, without any straining after new and
convenient traditions, and without any fear and avoidance of old
traditions as being not convenient, he spoke of the Lord Jesus as
being verily a man in all points, sin only excepted; subject, as men
are subject, to birth and pain and death; but, none the less, as being
the Beginning and the Goal of human life, the Eternal Love of God,
spiritually begotten of God before the foundation of the world. In
this doctrine I rejoiced, and this doctrine I strove to teach; and it
was a great delight that here were no Greek factions nor Jewish
factions, nor disputations about traditions, or prophecies, or aught
else; but all was peace and harmony, as if in some haven, shut in
and sheltered by the hills, wherein the mariner, resting from long
tossing on the deeps, can scarce hear the roaring of the sea without.
But after seven years had thus passed away in peace it being now
the second year of the Emperor Domitianus, it came to pass that
new troubles fell upon the Church; and, the Bishop of Berœa having
borne witness for the Lord with his blood in a tumult in that city, I
was called to the charge of the flock there; and the voice of the Lord
bade me go. So bidding farewell to the beloved Elder Philochristus
with much sorrow, well knowing that I should not again behold him
in the flesh, I set forth with his blessing upon my journey, intending
first to go to Rome and there to tarry some days, and so to Berœa.
 § 6. OF THE CHURCH IN ROME, AND OF THE NEW GOSPELS.

When I came to Rome I was well received of the brethren, and I

tarried there two months, observing the manner of their worship,
and the teaching of the catechumens and the discourses of the
elders to the faithful. But I seemed at first to be listening to a new
Gospel; so great a change had fallen on the Church since I had last
tarried in the great city, about fifteen years before. This appeared,
not only in their worship, but also in the pictures and sculptures
wherewith they had begun to adorn the tombs of those that fell
asleep in the Lord; for in these I perceived that those very beliefs
whereof I had written to Artemidorus as being currently reported
among the faithful but not yet added to the Tradition, were now
accepted by all. For example, when I entered into one of the places
where the congregations commonly assemble themselves for
worship—these are quarries, after the manner of galleries, hewn out
of the rock under the earth beneath the city, commonly called
catacombs, and used for entombments by the faithful—I perceived
there the figure of a certain prophet, with a scroll in his hand,
pointing to a Woman which bare a child in her arms, and above the
child was a star; and I questioned my companions whether this was
the Lord Jesus, the Son of the Virgin Mother, and they said “Yes,” but
when I went on to speak of the Virgin as the Spiritual Sion, which is
the Church of God, then they said, “Nay, but it sheweth the mother
of our Lord according to the flesh, according to the saying of the
prophet, ‘Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call
his name Immanuel.’” Then asking concerning the star, I said that I
supposed that it represented the brightness of the Messiah, even as
it was written in the Scriptures that “a star should come out of
Jacob.” To this they assented, “but,” added one, “it is also well-
known that a star, visible to the eyes of men, did verily shine forth in
the days of Herod, being seen of many nations, and especially in the
East, insomuch that then was fulfilled the saying of the Psalms that
the kings of Arabia and Saba should bring gifts.” “Are these things
then,” said I, “contained in the Traditions of the Acts of the Lord?”
Then he that had spoken replied, “No, not in the Tradition, but in a
certain supplement which is now beginning everywhere to be read in
all the churches, and it is said to have been put forth by the
interpreters and disciples of one of the Apostles:” but another
correcting him, said that one of the Apostles himself had written it,
not indeed Petrus nor Jacobus who were unlearned men ignorant of
letters, but in all likelihood Mattheus, as having been in earlier days
a tax-gatherer and therefore ready with his pen.
Going on a little further I saw on the walls another picture of men
supping at a table, and the food two fishes and some loaves. When I
asked what this meant, they told me that it signified the banquet of
the kingdom of God wherein all the faithful partake of the body of
the Lord who, said they, is our Bread of Life, and also our true
ΙΧΘΥΣ; and “of the two fishes,” said they, “the one denoteth
Baptism, whereby the faithful enter into Christ, and the other the
Lord’s Supper, whereby they are made partakers of the Lord’s body,
so that they remain in him and he in them.” “And is this also,” I
asked, “in the Tradition?” “Neither in the Tradition,” said they, “nor in
the Supplement, but it is a symbol.” Then I took courage to speak
concerning that other parable of a banquet, wherein I had been
wont to teach how the Twelve had been bidden by the Lord Jesus to
minister both of the Bread of Life and of the Fishes, asking them
whether they interpreted this also spiritually and not according to
the letter, even as they interpreted that other story of the ΙΧΘΥΣ.
But hereat their countenances changed, and they said, “Nay, but this
story is written according to the letter in the Tradition of the Gospel.”
Then I told them how Philochristus the Elder had related to me that
the Lord Jesus himself, in speaking of these matters, had rebuked
his disciples because they understood him not, saying unto them,
that when he spoke of leaven, and of bread, he spoke not of earthly
bread or leaven, but of spiritual leaven and spiritual bread. But they
replied that “it was not so written in the Tradition now, and that
Philochristus (albeit to be reverenced as a faithful disciple of the
Lord) was not to be too much trusted as a remembrancer of the
Tradition, because he had lived now many years apart from the rest
of the saints, not having experience of that which had been from
year to year newly revealed to the Church, so that he knew naught
save what he himself had heard and seen of the Lord Jesus, and this
in all likelihood faintly and imperfectly remembered by him, as being
well-stricken in years, not much less than fourscore and ten.” It
came into my mind that to be thus all alone, remembering and
teaching the words of Christ which he himself had heard (apart from
controversies and colors and glosses of those who were disputing
rather than remembering) was perhaps rather a help than a harm to
Philochristus. However at that time I said no more.
On the morrow, coming somewhat late into the congregation in the
midst of their worship, I heard them singing a psalm which, because
there arose hence a question afterwards between myself and the
brethren, I will here set down; and as near as I can remember, the
words were these:—
1.
“O Pilot of our bark
What though the night be dark?
What though the tempest rave?
Thou still canst hear and save.
2.
“Tossed by the troubled sea,
O Lord, we cry to thee,
And through the murky night,
What figure meets our sight?
3.
“Lo, pitying our fear
The Lord himself draws near,
Walking upon the wave
His helpless ones to save.
4.
 “In terror of his face
Vanish the clouds apace,
His footsteps on the deep
Lull every wave to sleep.
5.
“The winds obey his will,
The raging storm is still;
Then turn we to adore
And lo, at hand the shore.”
Now these words or others like unto them, had been well-known to
me for a long time, because some such psalm had been brought to
us at Colossæ from Ephesus (from which city many psalms and
hymns had come to divers churches) and it was commonly sung in
the churches of Asia; and indeed, even among the ancient poems of
the Jews, there is a psalm not much unlike this, wherein the
mariners cry unto the Lord in their trouble and he delivereth them
out of their distress, for, saith the psalm, “He maketh the storm to
cease so that the waves thereof are still;” and another psalm saith,
“Thy way is in the sea and thy path on the great waters.” But, often
as I had sung these words, it had never so much as entered my
mind to interpret them according to the letter; for even as the
Greeks or Romans compare the state to a ship and the ruler to a
pilot, even so had we been wont to speak, in a figure, of the Church
as being a ship tossed upon the sea of troubles and persecutions,
and of the Lord Jesus as her pilot in the storm; and I had also heard
mention made, when I was in Britain, of some new hymn showing in
a figure, how the blessed Apostle Petrus denied his Master, and
describing how he adventured to walk, in his own strength, upon the
troubled sea of temptation, but his faith failed him so that he began
to sink, and he had been drowned in the deep waters of sin, but that
the Lord stretched out his hand and saved him; but in this and other
such psalms and hymns there was never a thought of any real boat
nor of a real storm of wind and waves. Therefore, the worship being
now ended, when a certain Philologus, one of the brethren, accosted
me asking my judgment of this psalm, as if I should have censured
it, I replied (not without some wonder at the strangeness of his
question) that the psalm was a good one, and that none could find
any fault in it. But Philologus replied, “If therefore, O Onesimus, you
allow of this miracle of the Lord, why contend you against these
other miracles of which the Gospel makes mention?” I said, “Nay,
but of what miracle do I allow?” He said, “Even that miracle and no
other, which is clearly described in the psalm, how the Lord Jesus
walked upon the waters to save the holy Apostles; yea, and one of
the new Gospels affirms that the blessed Apostle Petrus adventured
himself to walk upon the waves; but his faith failed him so that he
began to sink.”
Hereat I was speechless; and Philologus, as if he were ill at ease by
reason of my silence, bade me follow him and two or three of the
other elders into another chamber in the place where they were
assembled. Here were depicted divers wonders, first, the sending
down of the manna from heaven for Israel, and also the gushing
forth of the water from the rock; and said he, if Moses wrought
these wonders, must not the Lord Jesus have wrought others still
more wonderful? Then said I to them, “Moses not only caused bread
but also water to arise for Israel; and again the prophet Elisha, even
when dead, had power to raise up a dead man; wherefore, if indeed
the Lord Jesus desired to surpass Moses and Elias in wonders
according to the flesh (and not, as I believe, in wonders according to
the spirit) he must needs have caused water, as well as bread, to
spring up for the multitude, or else perchance honey or wine; and he
must needs also have raised up from the dead some one that was
on the point to be buried or already buried; but is any such relation
as either of these to be found in any tradition concerning the Lord
Jesus?” They said there was not; and methought they were
somewhat at a stand. But presently Philologus corrected them
saying, “Nay, my brethren, say not ‘the Tradition containeth not
these things’ but rather ‘These things are not known to us at
present,’ for although it hath not yet been revealed to the Church in
any Tradition that the Lord Jesus hath produced water or wine, or
raised up a dead man from the tomb, yet is it possible that he may
have wrought these very works, and in time they may be made
known to the Church, even as the walking on the waves was not
made known in the first Tradition of the Acts of the Lord, nor were
other mighty works;” and here he made mention of many unknown
to me such as the catching of a mighty draught of fishes, and the
finding of a fish with a coin in the mouth of it.
Hereat I ceased from further speech. For I perceived that my
questioning had the contrary effect to that which I had intended. For
I had hoped to lead Philologus and his companions to see that the
spiritual works of the Lord Jesus were greater than those wonders
according to the flesh, of which they made so much. But instead
thereof, Philologus had been made by my words more greedy than
ever of fresh wonders, and was now ready to believe anything if it
were only wonderful enough. So I held my peace, and only besought
Philologus to lend me copies of the written books of the Gospels
such as were now read in the churches.

§ 7. HOW I LABORED IN BERŒA.

Having given myself during many days to the reading and meditating
in the three books of the Gospels, I found much less addition of
wonders and other doubtful matters than I had expected, and least
of all in that book which was said by most to have been written
according to the teaching of Marcus; only in rendering the Hebrew
into the Greek there had been a few errors; and in some two or
three passages, figures of speech appeared to have been interpreted
according to the letter. But the other two books though they
contained most excellent traditions, very full and ample, of certain
words of the Lord, had added supplements touching the birth of the
Lord Jesus and his childhood and youth, and also concerning his
manifestations after his rising from the dead, which were not known
to me. So, after much debate with myself, I concluded to write to
Philochristus, sending to him the three books and asking his
judgment concerning them. This done, I bade farewell to the
brethren in Rome and betook myself to Berœa where the Lord had
prepared for me an abundant work.
Many days I continued laboring in Berœa and hearing naught from
Philochristus; yet was I not without some guidance from the Lord.
For day by day, ministering to the unlearned among the brethren, I
perceived that the presence and the power of the Lord among them
were not let or hindered by what I deemed their errors. The three
books of the Gospels were beginning at this time to be commonly
read among them, and I saw that the multitude willingly believed all
things written therein, especially concerning the birth of the Lord
Jesus, and concerning his manifesting of himself after death by
divers signs and tokens, as by eating in the presence of the
disciples, and by giving his body to be touched. Now remembering
what the blessed Apostle Paulus had enjoined on me, that I must by
all means seek to attain as much of the truth as possible, though
there must needs be some error, I was minded at first to restrain the
brethren in Berœa from the public reading of these new traditions.
But one of the elders of the Church dissuaded me, saying in the first
place that the truth was uncertain; and in the second place, that, if
the people believed not these traditions, and especially the tradition
concerning the birth of the Lord, they must needs fall into error, not
being able to receive the doctrine that the son of Mary and Joseph
was verily the Son of God begotten before the worlds and taking
flesh as a man for our sakes. “Either therefore;” said he, “they will
believe that he was merely man and not God; or else that he was
not man at all, but a phantom, born of no human father nor mother
either; as certain sects in Asia believe.” And he added that the Lord
seemed to allow this new doctrine if doctrine might be judged by the
fruits thereof; because all that believed it were full of zeal, and
patience, and love for the brethren, and all virtue, ready to lay down
their lives for the Lord. So I, considering that it was one thing to
strive towards certainty, and another thing to restrain others from
their opinions, being also myself uncertain, suffered the new gospels
to be read in Berœa without hindrance, and the more willingly
because the three Gospels now brought in began to drive out many
other writings of Gospels which sprang up about this time, or even
before, full of wonders, and portents, and not preserving the truth of
the life of the Lord Jesus. So in a very short time the three Gospels
were brought in, and multiplied by transcribers, and were read in all
our assemblies, and the catechumens were also instructed in them.
And now, after I had been about one year or more in Berœa, I
received from Britain a letter written by Philochristus, which was
most welcome; but withal another letter most unwelcome, written
by the new Bishop of Londinium, saying that the blessed Elder
Philochristus had fallen asleep in the Lord, and that this his letter,
written some months before, had only of late been found among his
papers, wherefore it had been long delayed in the sending. So, when
I opened and read it, I seemed to be receiving his message from
beyond the grave, guiding me on the path in which I should go; and
these were the words of the letter.

§ 8. THE LAST WORDS OF PHILOCHRISTUS.

“PHILOCHRISTUS TO ONESIMUS, GRACE AND PEACE IN THE

LORD JESUS CHRIST.
“I received with your letter, my dear Onesimus, the three books of
the new Gospels; concerning which having purposed to write to you
some months ago, as soon as I had read them, I was hindered by
long and grievous sickness.
“They contain relations of certain matters whereof I neither saw nor
heard aught, while I followed the Lord Jesus in Galilee; nor have I
heard aught of them from the disciples, nor from the Lord’s
brethren, nor from the mother of the Lord.
“Nevertheless, albeit I heard no such matters, yet is it possible that
they may have been revealed to the disciples after my coming to this
island in the reign of Caius Cæsar. And this, I confess, hath not a
little moved me, that during my sickness the three Gospels have
been very diligently read by those who are here laboring with me,
and by them have been interpreted to the unlearned; and
everywhere they meet with great acceptance, and the Church is
edified by them, insomuch that they had already begun to be read in
the assemblies of certain of the churches when it pleased the Lord
to raise me up for a short time from my sickness. Notwithstanding,
thou sayst truly that in all things we must not willingly consent to
error, though some error be a necessity; and therefore my counsel is
that thou take early occasion to go to Ephesus where thou mayst
question John the Disciple of the Lord. For if neither he nor I know
aught of these new traditions, then it is likely that they are not
according to the truth; but if he consent unto them, then are they,
without doubt, true.
“Not without much prayer and meditation, having striven to put
myself in thy place, my dear Onesimus, have I written these words;
which do thou take to heart, as my last message, because my mind
forebodeth that I shall not write unto you a second time. I know well
thy sincerity and thy unfeigned love of the truth; yet bethink thee
that it is the kernel of the truth that thou shouldst seek and not the
shell; and if the kernel be sound, be not thou troubled over much
though the shell may shew some blemish. For put this case that
John the Disciple of the Lord be no longer in the flesh, or that thou
find no occasion to see him, or that in other ways thou be frustrated
of thine endeavor to search out the truth. What then? Is it needful
or fit that thou shouldst therefore journey from Ephesus to Antioch,
or to Nazareth, or to Bethlehem or to Jerusalem, to inquire of these
matters? Nay, but a pastor of the flock should abide with the flock.
The exact truth, it may be, thou shalt never find out in this life; but
thy duty towards thy brethren thou canst certainly find out. This
therefore find out, and do. I say not that thou, in thy doctrine and
preaching, should teach or even assent to these new traditions; but
what I say is this, that if the worship of the Lord Jesus be
enwrapped (among the unlearned) in some integument of doubtful
tradition which commendeth itself to the brethren—because they
cannot easily believe that he worked mightily in the spirit, except
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