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Page:Ante-Nicene Christian Library Vol 2.djvu/188

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174
DIALOGUE WITH TRYPHO.

ever, after the order of Melchizedek,'[1] does this not declare to you[2] that [He was] from of old,[3] and that the God and Father of all things intended Him to be begotten by a human womb? And speaking in other words, which also have been already quoted, [he says]: 'Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of rectitude is the sceptre of Thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness, and hast hated iniquity: therefore God, even Thy God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows. [He hath anointed Thee] with myrrh, and oil, and cassia from Thy garments, from the ivory palaces, whereby they made Thee glad. Kings daughters are in Thy honour. The queen stood at Thy right hand, clad in garments embroidered with gold.[4] Hearken, O daughter, and behold, and incline thine ear, and forget thy people and the house of thy father; and the King shall desire thy beauty: because He is thy Lord, and thou shalt worship Him.'[5] Therefore these words testify explicitly that He is witnessed to by Him who established these things,[6] as deserving to be worshipped, as God and as Christ. Moreover, that the word of God speaks to those who believe in Him as being one soul, and one synagogue, and one church, as to a daughter; that it thus addresses the church which has sprung from His name and partakes of His name (for we are all called Christians), is distinctly proclaimed in like manner in the following words, which teach us also to forget [our] old ancestral customs, when they speak thus:[7] 'Hearken, O daughter, and behold, and incline thine ear; forget thy people and the house of thy father, and the King shall desire thy beauty: because He is thy Lord, and thou shalt worship Him.'"


  1. Ps. cx. 3, 4.
  2. Or, "to us."
  3. ἄνωθεν; in Lat. vers. antiquitus, which Maranus prefers.
  4. Literally, "garments of gold, variegated."
  5. Ps. xlv. 6–11.
  6. The incarnation, etc.
  7. "Being so" literally.