The new covenant which brings back peace, and the law which gives life,
has gone forth over the whole earth, as the prophets said: “For out of Zion
shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem; and He shall
rebuke many people; and they shall break down their swords into ploughshares,
and their spears into pruning-hooks, and they shall no longer learn to fight.” If
therefore another law and word, going forth from Jerusalem, brought in such a
[reign of] peace among the Gentiles which received it (the word), and
convinced, through them, many a nation of its folly, then [only] it appears
that the prophets spoke of some other person.
But if the law of liberty, that is, the word of God, preached by the
apostles (who went forth from Jerusalem) throughout all the earth, caused such
a change in the state of things, that these [nations] did form the swords and
war-lances into ploughshares, and changed them into pruning-hooks for reaping
the corn, [that is], into instruments used for peaceful purposes, and that they
are now unaccustomed to fighting, but when smitten, offer also the other cheek,
then the prophets have not spoken these things of any other person, but of Him
who effected them. …
In
the beginning, He figured forth the pruning-hook by means of Abel, pointing out
that there should be a gathering in of a righteous race of men. He says, “For
behold how the just man perishes, and no man considers it; and righteous men are
taken away, and no man takes it to heart.” These things were acted beforehand
in Abel, were also previously declared by the prophets, but were accomplished
in the Lord’s person; and the same [is still true] with regard to us, the body
following the example of the Head.
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