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154
IRENÆUS AGAINST HERESIES.
[Book v.

says, "the book of life was opened, and the dead were judged out of those things that were written in the books, according to their works; and death and hell were sent into the lake of fire, the second death."[1] Now this is what is called Gehenna, which the Lord styled eternal fire.[2] "And if any one," it is said, "was not found written in the book of life, he was sent into the lake of fire."[3] And after this, he says, "I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and earth have passed away; also there was no more sea. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from heaven, as a bride adorned for her husband." "And I heard," it is said, "a great voice from the throne, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them; and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them as their God. And He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and death shall be no more, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, because the former things have passed away."[4] Isaiah also declares the very same: "For there shall be a new heaven and a new earth; and there shall be no remembrance of the former, neither shall the heart think about them, but they shall find in it joy and exultation."[5] Now this is what has been said by the apostle: "For the fashion of this world passeth away."[6] To the same purpose did the Lord also declare, "Heaven and earth shall pass away."[7] When these things, therefore, pass away above the earth, John, the Lord's disciple, says that the new Jerusalem above shall [then] descend, as a bride adorned for her husband; and that this is the tabernacle of God, in which God will dwell with men. Of this Jerusalem the former one is an image—that Jerusalem of the former earth in which the righteous are disciplined beforehand for incorruption and prepared for salvation. And of this tabernacle Moses received the pattern in the mount;[8] and nothing is capable of being allegorized, but all things are stedfast, and true, and substantial, having

  1. ↑ Rev. xx. 12–14.
  2. ↑ Matt. xxv. 41.
  3. ↑ Rev. xx. 15.
  4. ↑ Rev. xxi. 1–4.
  5. ↑ Isa. lxv. 17, 18.
  6. ↑ 1 Cor. vii. 31.
  7. ↑ Matt. xxvi. 35.
  8. ↑ Ex. xxv. 40.
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