5. Let us consider, beloved, how the Lord continually shews us that there shall be a future resurrection, of which He has made our Lord Jesus Christ the first fruits. Let us contemplate the resurrection that takes place every season before our eyes. Day and night declare a resurrection to us. The night lies down, and the day arises; again the day departs, and the night comes on. Let us behold the fruits of the earth. The seed is sown. It fell into the earth dry and naked; in time it dissolves; and from the dissolution the power of the Lord raises it again; and of one single seed many arise and bring forth fruit.

6. We also, being called by the same will in Christ Jesus, are not justified by ourselves, neither by our own wisdom, nor knowledge, nor piety, nor the works which we have done; but by the faith by which God Almighty has justified men from the beginning; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

7. March on, men and brethren, with all earnestness in IIis holy laws.

8. Wherefore are there strifes, and anger, and divisions, and wars amongst us. Have we not all one God and one Christ? Has not one Spirit been poured out upon us? Have we not one calling in Christ?

9. In love did the Lord join Himself to us. For the love He bore toward us, our Lord Jesus Christ gave His own blood for us, by the will of God; His flesh for our flesh, His soul for our souls.

10. Let us every hour expect the kingdom of God, in love and righteousness, because we know not the day of Christ's appearing.

IGNATIUS.

BORN (ABOUT) 40-MARTYRED 107.

1. Let fire and the cross, let wild beasts, let all the malice of the devil, come upon me; only may I enjoy Jesus Christ.

2. It is better for me to die for Christ than to reign over the ends of the earth.

3. Stánd firm and immovable as an anvil when it is beaten upon. It is the part of a brave combatant to be wounded, and yet to overcome. But especially we ought to endure all things for God's sake, that He may bear with us. Be every day better; consider the times; expect Him, who is above all time, eternal; invisible, though, for our sakes, made visible; impalpable and impassible, yet for us subjected to sufferings, enduring all things for our salvation.

4. Him I seek who died for us; Him I desire who rose again for us; He is my gain laid up for me. Suffer me to imitate the passion of my God.

5. I have no delight in the bread that perisheth, nor in the pleasures of this life. I long for the bread of God, the flesh of Jesus Christ, of the seed of David; and the drink that I long for is His blood.

6. If any speak not of Jesus Christ, they are monuments over the dead, on which are written only the names of men.

7. The objects dear to me are Jesus Christ, His cross, His death, His resurrection, and the faith which is in Him, through which I seek to be justified.

8. The last times are come upon us; let us therefore be very reverent, and fear the long-suffering of God, that it be not to us unto condemnation.

9. It is better for a man to be silent, and be a Christian, than to say he is, and not to be.

10. He that has the word of Jesus is able to hear His very silence.

11. Why are we not all wise, seeing we have received the knowledge of God, which is Jesus Christ?

12. It is meet that we should not only be called Christians, but be so.

13. Do not speak with Jesus Christ, and yet covet the world.

14. My love is crucified; and the fire that is within me does not desire any water.

15. A Christian has not the power of himself, but must always be at leisure for God's service.

16. It is meet that you should, by all means, glorify Jesus Christ, who hath glorified you.

17. There is one Physician, both fleshly and spiritual; made, and not made; God incarnate; true life in death; both of Mary and of God, passible and impassible; Jesus Christ our Lord.

18. Ye are the stones of the Father's temple, prepared for His building, and drawn up on high by the cross of Christ.

IRENEUS.

BORN (ABOUT) 130-MARTYRED 202.

1. How could we obtain salvation, if it had not been God who has wrought salvation? Or, how can man come into fellowship with God, if God has not come to man? How was it possible that Christ should overcome the strong one, who held man under his dominion, and let the vanquished go free, if He were not Himself stronger than man, who had been vanquished?

2. What profit is there in that honour, which is so short-lived, as that, perchance, it was not yesterday, neither will it be to-morrow? Such men as labour for it are but like froth, which, though it be uppermost, is yet altogether useless.

3. He united man to God; for, if man had not overcome the adversary of man, the enemy could not have been overcome.

4. If man had not been united to God, he could not have been a partaker of immortality.

5. It behoved the Mediator between God and man, by His relationship to both, to bring both into agreement with each other.

6. The Word of God, almighty as well as perfect in righteousness, set Himself against the apostasy, to redeem His own property from Satan, who had borne rule over us from the beginning, and had seized what was not his own.

This redemption was not effected by violence; but the Lord redeemed us with His own blood, and gave His life for our life, His flesh for our flesh, and so effected our salvation.

7. Our Lord would not have gathered together these things to Himself, and have saved, through Himself, what was lost in Adam, if He had not actually been made flesh and blood. He, therefore, had flesh and blood, not of a kind different from what men have; but He gathered into Himself the very original creation of the Father, and sought that which was lost.

8. The Word of God, Jesus Christ, out of His boundless love, became what we are, that He might make us what He is.

9. Then from the heavens, in clouds, shall the Lord. come, in the glory of his Father, to cast Antichrist, and all who follow him, into the lake of fire. Then shall He introduce the days of the kingdom to the just, that is, the rest, the hallowed seventh day, restoring to Abraham his promised heritage; in which kingdom, many shall come from the east and the west, to sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

10. To those who abide in His love, He gives communion with Himself. And communion with God is life and light; the fruition of all the good that is with Him. On those who stand aloof from Him, He inflicts the separation which they have chosen for themselves. But separation from God is death; and separation from light is darkness. Separation from God is the loss of all good that there is with God. Besides the loss of all good,