LXVIII. When the resurrection comes to pass--this comes to pass as the result of it;--and if every one had been raised . . . -- [p. 161.]
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LXIX. . . . in Adam . . . all . . . were dying--though as yet they were not born,--from the womb . . .
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LXX. * * * * * * *
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LXXI. The Second Adam also-- . . . and was raised up in Sheol,--He brings all that are [there],--in Him they were living secretly,--and when their resurrection drew nigh--there sprang upon them the voice of .... --in that as a dead man made the living die--the voice of resurrection makes them alive. LXXII. For that first Thousand --is the type of that last [P. 162.] Thousand,--in that as the death of Adam put to death--all those that that Thousand [ had brought to life] . . . delivered--one that flew away and one that was rescued.
LXXIII. Our Lord also in the last Thousand--raises the Dead by His resurrection--in that all the Dead are found in His Thousand,--and there comes the Deluge of Fire--in the midst of which the Wicked sink--and the Righteous in it are delivered ;--like Enoch the living [are] snatched away,--in the manner of Noah the Dead are rescued.
LXXIV. But Bardaisan in this has erred--and wishes to make us also err therein,--in this [he has greatly gone astray ;]--he has died, and caused all [his comrades] to die.--" Our Lord also, (says he) Who was raised,--(why) did He not raise all Bodies,--that as their undoing was in Adam--their reconstruction should be by our Lord ? " |lxxvi
[P. 163.] LXXV. Lo, Adam not at the moment -- when he died and fell did he cast down everything. -- but he died in his sin -- and the world died in the sentence on him ; -- our Lord also not at the moment -- when He was raised did He raise everything. -- but He lived by His glorious acts -- and the world lived in the pledge He gave.
LXXVI. In the hour that Adam died and fell -- the earth was full of living beings, -- and on his account only did Death reign ; -- our Lord also gave life now -- when Sheol was full of the dead -- on His account only does Resurrection reign. -- Death spread from one on all, -- from [one also] spread Resurrection.
LXXVII. It did not suffice Bardaisan to look -- upon [ the matter from both (?)] sides ; -- on the one side he looked only -- and not even on that as it is, -- for his eye did not [see] clearly, -- that when he was declaring about Adam, -- he that has slipped in one thing -- has slipped in everything.
LXXVIIL But he does not know that that Body -- which died in Adam the Messiah has made alive. -- The Nails bear witness to His dying. -- the Watchers bear witness to His Resurrection, -- and the Nails that came out of the furnace -- have become furnaces ( i.e. tests) for our Truth ; -- the fixing of them admonished [P. 164.] Thomas that He was not -- raised with [?] His Soul by Himself.
LXXIX. Bardaisan insists that if so be -- that these Bodies died in Adam -- it was right for our Lord Who came -- that He should raise up the Bodies from the grave ; -- but if the Bodies He did not raise, -- it is clear that the death of the Soul -- Adam brought in by his sins, -- for the Souls which he brought down to Sheol -- our Lord brought up with Him.
LXXX. He [finis]hes his word with another, -- "for lo," says he, " our Lord says -- 'Every one that keepeth My word -- death for ever he shall not taste,' -- and lo, all those who kept it have died -- [ . . . ]" -- For he has confused and dissolved words -- to the confusion of the inexperienced ear. |lxxvii
LXXXI. And [the] word the argument of which is something else--he makes into stuff for his argument,--for he considered about this same death--that the Souls which are hindered in every place--in all depths and Limbos -- and that "have kept the word of our Lord,"-- . . . from within the Body,-- are exalted to the Bridal chamber of Light!
LXXXII. According to the doctrine of Bardaisan--the Death that Adam brought in--was a hindrance to Souls--in [P. 165] that they were hindered at the Crossing-place--because the sin of Adam hindered them,--"and the Life," he [says], "that our Lord brought in--is that He taught verity and ascended,--and [brought] them across into the Kingdom."
LXXXIII. "Therefore," he says, "our Lord taught us-- that 'every one that keepeth My Word--death for ever he shall not taste,'--that his Soul is not hindered--when it crosses at the Crossing-place--like the hindrance of old--wherewith the Souls were hindered--before our Saviour had come. LXXXIV. He is caught in one of two things :--in that every one that kept the Word of our Lord--(and) died before our Lord ; . . . --but if he is hindered at the Crossing-place--his soul has tasted Death,--and if he had crossed the Crossing-place--what is that which he said about our Lord.--that He had crossed it first of all ?
LXXXV. For if Lazarus when he died--had gone up to the Bridal-chamber of Light--an injury our Lord did him--in that He turned him back to his body the Prison-house ; --and that which our Lord was saying--to Martha, that "Thy Brother shall rise," --from whence then did He say he [P.166] should rise--from the height, or from the deep ?
LXXXVI. As a Physician He did justly--in that sin the |lxxviii bringer of pains--He was rooting out from mankind ;--for that Primal Serpent--had bitten the Primal Adam--not with teeth but with advice,--He too healed the wound--with commands and not with drugs.
LXXXVIL If the Soul it was He came to teach--according to their word it would be right--that the Souls in Sheol He should teach--that they should not steal nor commit adultery ;--and if in Sheol it is not for Souls--to lend or be in debt, then--to Body-and-Soul in its contest--He comes to conquer and to crown.
LXXXVIII. An example He depicted--and a likeness He impressed--and a mirror He fixed by His Body,--that was victorious and tasted suffering--and was raised and put on glory ;-- and He taught that every one who thus--conducts himself is [P. 167.] thus glorified--and he that fights thus conquers--and he that conquers thus is crowned.
LXXXIX. Adam, too, by him He depicted--an example for every one to look at,--that he sinned and was sorry and brought to confusion--and was cursed and went forth and was brought low--and departed and was undone and destroyed,-- and He taught that every one whose support is wickedness --even his profit is loss.
XC. In both worlds he is mocked at,--in both worlds he carries disgrace :--by the steps that Adam went down,--by them it was our Lord brought him up.--In the beginning He gave him verity--instead of the falsehood that the Serpent gave him,-- in the end He gave him Life--instead of Death that the Tree gave;--He conjoined with him his life,--the equilibrium of which Death had divided.
XCI. Seeing that of all Bodies that die--the Body of our Lord rose only--Bardaisan erred and supposed--that it was the Souls that our Lord raised up,--and he did not consider that the death also of Adam--had reigned in Adam first,-- |lxxix and thus after nine hundred years--the leaven of it had spread in all generations.