Page:Ante-Nicene Fathers volume 1.djvu/249

But to me Jesus Christ is in the place of all that is ancient: His cross, and death, and resurrection, and the faith^[1] which is by Him, are undefiled monuments of antiquity; by which I desire, through your prayers, to be justified.

with it. For the archives ought not to be preferred to the Spirit.^[2] "It is hard to kick against the pricks;"^[3] it is hard to disbelieve Christ; it is hard to reject the preaching of the apostles.

Chap. ix.—The Old Testament is good: the New Testament is better.

The priests^[4] indeed are good, but the High Priest is better; to whom the holy of holies has been committed, and who alone has been entrusted with the secrets of God. He is the door of the Father, by which enter in Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and the prophets, and the apostles, and the church. All these have for their object the attaining to the unity of God. But the gospel possesses

The priests^[4] indeed, and the ministers of the word, are good; but the High Priest is better, to whom the holy of holies has been committed, and who alone has been entrusted with the secrets of God. The ministering powers of God are good. The Comforter is holy, and the Word is holy, the Son of the Father, by whom He made all things, and exercises a providence over them all. This is the Way^[5] which leads to the Father, the Rock,^[6] the Defence,^[7] the Key, the Shepherd,^[8] the Sacrifice, the Door^[9] of knowledge, through which have entered Abraham,

1. i.e. the system of Christian doctrine.
2. Or, "the archives of the Spirit are not exposed to all."
3. Acts xxvi. 14.
4. i.e. the Jewish priests.
5. John xiv. 6.
6. 1 Cor. x. 4.
7. Literally, "the hedge"
8. John x. 11.
9. John x. 9.