often taken away from it, the pillar of salt still endures,[1] thus typifying the foundation of the faith which maketh strong, and sends forward, children to their Father.
Chap. xxxii.—That one God was the author of both testaments, is confirmed hy the authority, of a presbyter who had been taught by the apostles.
1. After this fashion also did a presbyter,[2] a disciple of the apostles, reason with respect to the two testaments, proving that both were truly from one and the same God. For [he maintained] that there was no other God besides Him who made and fashioned us, and that the discourse of those men has no foundation who affirm that this world of ours was made either by angels, or by any other power whatsoever, or by another God. For if a man be once moved away from the Creator of all things, and if he grant that this creation to which we belong was formed by any other or through any other [than the one God], he must of necessity fall into much inconsistency, and many contradictions of this sort; to which he will [be able to] furnish no explanations which can be regarded as either probable or true. And, for this reason, those who introduce other doctrines conceal from us the opinion which they themselves hold respecting God, because they are aware of the untenable[3] and absurd nature of their doctrine, and are afraid lest, should they be vanquished, they should have some difficulty in making good
- ↑ The poem just referred to also says in reference to this pillar:
"Ipsaque imago sibi formam sine corpore servans
Durat adhuc, et enim nuda statione sub æthram
Nec pluviis dilapsa situ, nec diruta ventis.
Quin etiam si quis mutilaverit advena formam,
Protinus ex sese suggestu vulnera complet." - ↑ Harvey remarks here, that this can hardly be the same presbyter mentioned before, "who was only a hearer of those who had heard the apostles. Irenæus may here mean the venerable martyr Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna."
- ↑ "Quassum et futile." The text varies much in the mss.
