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BOOK 13 (from: _Christian Fathers,_ E. H. Bickersteth, 1838 translation)

                                TO Diognetus

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CHAPTER 1
 1:1  |Since I perceive thee, most excellent Diognetus,
to be exceedingly desirous to understand the religion
of the Christians, and very openly and anxiously
inquiring concerning them, in what God reposing their
trust, and in what manner serving him, they all look
beyond the world, and despise death; and neither
reverence those who are reputed gods by the Greeks, nor
observe the superstition of the Jews; and what is the
source of the strong affection they hear each other;
and why this new society or institution entered the
world now only and not earlier; -- I praise thee for
this zeal of thine, and entreat of God, who enables us
both to speak and to hear, that I may so speak, as that
thou mayest receive benefit in hearing, and that thou
mayest so hear, as that the speaker may not be grieved.

CHAPTER 2
 2:1  |Come, then, and cleansing thyself from all the
reasonings that pre-occupy thy mind, and laying aside
the prejudice that deceives thee, and becoming, as
from the first, a new man, since thou art about to
listen, as thou thyself hast confessed, to a new
doctrine, behold not only with thine eyes, but also
with thy understanding, of what substance or of what
nature those are, whom you call and esteem to be gods.
 2:2  Is not one a stone, like that which is trampled
under our feet? Is not another brass, not better than
that we use in brazen vessels? Another wood, and that
already rotten? Another silver, needing a man to guard
it lest it be stolen? Another iron, corroded with rust?
Another earthen, not more comely than that used for the
meanest service?
 2:3  Are not all these of perishable material? Are not
they fashioned with tools and with fire? Did not the
stone-cutter frame one, and the brazier another, and
the silversmith another, and the potter another? And
before by the art of these they were fashioned into
their present shape, did not each of them change its
shape according to the will of each workman, and might
still change it? Might not the vessels that are now
formed of the same material become like these, if they
gained the same workman?
 2:4  Might not these again, which are now adored by
you, be made by the hand of men like the rest? Are they
not all dumb? Are they not blind? Are they not
lifeless? Are they not senseless? Are they not
motionless? Do they not all corrupt? Do they not all
perish?
 2:5  These you call gods! These you serve! These you
worship! Finally, into the likeness of these you are
turned!
 2:6  For this cause do you hate the Christians,
because they do not esteem those to be gods?
 2:7  And do not you yourselves, who so account and
esteem them, despise them much worse? Do not you scorn
them much more who worship those of stone and earth
without a guard, but lock up by night those of silver
and gold, and by day set guards over them lest they be
stolen?
 2:8  But as to the offerings you seem to render them
-- if they have sense you rather punish them; but if
they are senseless, as if to convict them, you
reverence them with blood and incense.
 2:9  Would any of you endure these? Would any of you
suffer them to be presented to himself? Nay, there is
no man who willingly would endure this punishment; for
he has sense and reason: but the stone endures it for
it is senseless. You convict them, therefore,
yourselves, as void of sense.
 2:10  |I have many other reasons besides to mention,
why Christians should not serve such gods as these; but
if there be any to whom even these do not appear
enough, I count it useless to mention others.

CHAPTER 3
 3:1  |But further, why they do not worship in the same
manner with the Jews, I suppose thou art mainly
desirous to learn.
 3:2  The Jews, therefore, though they refrain from the
above-mentioned worship, and are willing to reverence
one God overall, and to account him Lord, yet if they
offer to him the same worship, of such kind as is
offered to those mentioned above, themselves too are
deceived.
 3:3  For, if the Greeks in presenting these offerings
to the senseless and the deaf are an example of folly,
these in judging it fit to present the same to God, as
though he needed them, might still more justly account
it folly and not worship.
 3:4  For, he who has made the heaven, and the earth,
and all things therein, and who provides for us all
whatever we need, can himself need none of those things
which he himself furnishes to those who fancy they are
giving to him.
 3:5  And those who judge it meet to present to him
sacrifices of blood, and smoke, and whole burnt
offerings, and to dignify him by such honours as these,
seem to me not at all to differ from those who shew the
same honour to deaf idols which cannot perceive the
honour rendered, since they fancy they render something
to him who needs nothing.

CHAPTER 4
 4:1  But indeed as to their anxiety about meats, and
their superstition about the sabbaths, and their boasts
of circumcision, and their pride in their fasts and new
moons, ridiculous and not worthy of mention, I think it
needless for thee to learn from me.
 4:2  For of the things created by God for the use of
men, to receive some as created well, and to reject
others as useless and superfluous, how can it but be
unreasonable? ^1
 4:3  And to belie God as though forbidding to do a
good work on the sabbath days, how can it be other than
profane?
 4:4  And to boast in the diminution of the flesh, as a
proof of election, as though on this account in some
distinguished manner beloved by God, how can it be
other than ridiculous?
 4:5  But that they should, watching the stars and the
moon, bend their anxious diligence upon months and
days, and accommodate the dispensations of God, and the
changing seasons, to their own affections; that some
should be for feasts, and others for days of sorrow,
who would judge to be a proof of religion, and not much
rather of folly?
 4:6  |That Christians, then, with reason refrain from
the common idolatry and deceit, and from the busy
superstition and pride of the Jews, I conceive thou
hast been taught sufficiently: but the mystery of their
own peculiar worship do not expect that thou canst be
taught by man.

== small type on ==
 ^1  See Isaiah 1:10-20; 66:1-4; and Jeremiah 7:21-24, for similar views.
== small type off ==

CHAPTER 5
 5:1  |For Christians, neither by country nor by
speech, nor by civil customs, are distinguished from
the rest of men.
 5:2  For they neither inhabit cities of their own, nor
use any modified dialect, nor practise a distinct
manner of life.
 5:3  Nor is this any code of instruction invented for
them by the skill and care of busy-minded men, nor are
they patrons of human doctrine as is the case with
some.
 5:4  But inhabiting both Grecian and barbarian cities,
and, as each was called, following their native customs
in apparel and food, and in the other circumstances of
life, they exhibit the condition of their own polity as
admirable, and without controversy marvellous.
 5:5  They inhabit countries where they are natives,
yet as strangers; they share in all things as citizens,
and endure all things as aliens. Every foreign land is
to them as a native country, and every native country
as a foreign land.
 5:6  They marry like all others, they have children,
and do not cast off their offspring.
 5:7  They have a common table,
 5:8  they live in the flesh, but they do not live
according to the flesh.
 5:9  They pass their life upon earth, but their
citizenship is in heaven.
 5:10  They obey the appointed laws, and by their own
lives excel those laws.
 5:11  They love all men, and are persecuted by all
men.
 5:12  They are unknown, and are condemned. They are
put to death, and spring to life.
 5:13  They are poor, and make many rich. They are in
need of all things, and they abound in all things.
 5:14  They are dishonoured, and in those dishonours
they are glorified. They are blasphemed by men, and are
justified by God.
 5:15  They are reviled, and bless. They are
reproached, and pay reverence.
 5:16  For doing good they are punished as evil. When
punished they rejoice as quickened to life.
 5:17  They are warred upon by Jews as aliens, and are
persecuted by Greeks; and those who hate them have no
cause to give for their hatred.

CHAPTER 6
 6:1  |But to speak plainly, what the soul is in the
body, these Christians are in the world.
 6:2  The soul is spread through all the members of the
body, and Christians through the cities of the world.
 6:3  The soul dwells in the body, yet is not of the
body; and Christians dwell in the world, yet are not of
the world.
 6:4  The soul, invisible itself, is kept in the body
which is visible; and Christians are known as dwelling
in the world, but their worship remains invisible.
 6:5  The flesh hates the soul, and wars against it
though not injured by it, because it is hindered from
indulging its lusts. The world also hates Christians
though injured by them in nothing, because they are
arrayed against its pleasures.
 6:6  The soul loves the flesh that hates it, and its
members, and Christians love those who hate them.
 6:7  The soul has been shut up in the body, and itself
restrains the body; and Christians are shut up in the
world as in a prison, but they themselves restrain the
world.
 6:8  The immortal soul dwells in a mortal tabernacle,
and Christians sojourn among things corruptible,
awaiting the immortality in the heavens.
 6:9  The soul when straitened in meats and drinks is
made better, and Christians being persecuted daily
increase the more.
 6:10  So noble a station has God appointed them, which
it is not lawful for them to refuse.

CHAPTER 7
 7:1  For this, as I said, is no earthly invention that
has been delivered to them; nor is it the judgment of a
mortal which they deem it right to guard so carefully;
nor are they entrusted with a charge of human
mysteries;
 7:2  but the Almighty, and all-creating, and invisible
God himself, has from the heavens himself planted among
men the truth, and the holy and incomprehensible word,
and has rooted it firmly within their hearts. Not
sending to men, as one might have supposed, some
servant, or angel, or ruler, either any of those that
order earthly things, or any of those exercising
principality in heaven, but the very framer and
artificer of all things, by whom he created the
heavens, by whom he shut in the sea within its own
bounds, whose mysterious appointments all the elements
faithfully obey; from whom they received, to keep them,
the measures of their daily courses; whom the moon
obeys while he bids her to shine by night; whom the
stars obey which follow the pathway of the moon; by
whom all things have been appointed, and distributed,
and ordered; the heavens and the things in the heavens;
earth and the things in the earth; the sea and the
things in the sea; fire, air, the deep; the things in
the height, the things in the depth, the things
between.
 7:3  Did he therefore send him to them as any man
might suppose, for tyranny, and fear, and
consternation?
 7:4  No, truly, but in meekness, in gentleness. He
sent him, as a king sending a son who is a king. He
sent him as God, he sent him as to men, he sent him as
a Saviour. As obeying, not as compelled; for to be
compelled pertains not to God.
 7:5  He sent him in love and not in judgment,
 7:6  for he will hereafter send him to judge, and who
shall abide his coming?
 7:7  |Dost thou not see them cast to the wild beasts,
that they may deny the Lord, and not overcome?
 7:8  and that the more numerous their persecutors, so
much the more do the others increase?
 7:9  These things do not appear like the works of men,
these things are the power of God; these things are
proofs of his presence.

CHAPTER 8
 8:1  For who at all among men knew what God he is,
before he himself came?
 8:2  Dost thou receive the vain and childish
discourses of those trustworthy philosophers, of whom
some said that fire was God? whither they shall go
themselves, this they style God; some, water; some,
others of the elements created by God.
 8:3  Yet if any one is disposed to receive these
accounts, he might equally exhibit each of the other
creatures as God.
 8:4  But these are the lies and errors of deceivers,
 8:5  and no one among men hath either seen or known
him.
 8:6  But he has revealed himself, and revealed himself
through faith, by which alone it has been permitted us
to see God.
 8:7  For God the Lord and framer of the universe, who
has made all things, and assigned their courses, not
only was full of love to mankind, but also
long-suffering.
 8:8  Nay indeed he was always such, and is, and will
be kind, and good, and passionless, and true, and he
only is good.
 8:9  But having planned a vast and unutterable design,
which he communicated to his Son alone;
 8:10  so long as he kept in mystery and concealed his
wise counsel, he appeared to be careless and regardless
of us;
 8:11  but after that he revealed and manifested by his
beloved Son the things prepared from the beginning, he
granted us all things at once, both to partake of his
benefits, and to behold those glories which who among
us could ever have expected?

CHAPTER 9
 9:1  He knew therefore all things within himself,
together with his Son, after the order of his
dispensations. Throughout then the course of former
times he suffered us to be hurried on as we chose in
lawless courses, led away by pleasures and lusts; not
by any means delighted with our sins, but forbearing;
nor having pleasure in that time of unrighteousness,
but creating the discernment of righteousness, that
being convicted in that time by our own works, as
unworthy of life, we might now, by the kindness of God,
be made worthy; and having manifested our powerlessness
in ourselves to enter into the kingdom of God, we might
be made able by the power of God.
 9:2  But when our wickedness had been filled up, and
it had been perfectly manifested that the wages of sin
was punishment, and death was looked for, and the time
came which God fore-appointed as remaining to manifest
his own kindness and power, he, as being ONE LOVE, of
surpassing good will to man, hated us not, nor thrust
us away, nor remembered our offences. But he was
long-suffering, bore with us, himself took upon him our
sins, himself gave his own Son a ransom for us, the
Holy for the lawless, the harmless for the wicked, the
just for the unjust, the uncorruptible for the
corruptible, the immortal for the mortal.
 9:3  For what else could cover our sins besides his
righteousness?
 9:4  In whom was it possible that we, the lawless and
the unholy, could be justified, save by the Son of God
alone?
 9:5  O sweet exchange! O unsearchable wisdom! O
unexpected benefits! that the sin of many should be
hidden by one righteous, and the righteousness of one
justify many sinners!
 9:6  Having then proved in the former time the
inability of our nature to obtain life, and now having
revealed the Saviour who is able to save, even what
seemed incapable of salvation, in both ways he sought
that we might trust in his goodness, account him our
nourisher, father, teacher, counsellor, physician,
wisdom, light, honour, glory, strength and life; and
not be anxious concerning raiment and food.

CHAPTER 10
 10:1  |This faith shouldest thou also then desire and
receive, first thou wilt obtain the knowledge of the
Father.
 10:2  For God loved men, for whose sake he made the
world, to whom he subjected all things therein, to whom
he gave reason, to whom judgment, to whom alone he
granted to turn their gaze upon himself, whom he framed
after his own image, to whom he sent forth his only
begotten Son, to whom he promised the kingdom in
heaven, and will bestow it on those who have loved him.
 10:3  And when thou knowest him, with what joy
supposest thou thou wilt be filled, or how wilt thou
love him who has so loved thee before!
 10:4  And loving him, thou wilt be a copier of his
goodness. And wonder not that man can become a copier
of God; he can, God himself willing it.
 10:5  For neither to lord it over our neighbours, nor
to seek to have more than the weaker, nor to be rich
and oppress the more needy, is to be happy: nor can any
one in these things imitate God, nay these things are
foreign from his majesty.
 10:6  But whoever bears the burden of his neighbour;
who, in whatever he is superior, seeks to benefit
another who is beneath him; who, in whatever he
possesses, receiving it from God, becomes as a god to
those who receive from him, this man is an imitator of
God.
 10:7  Then thou wilt behold, though sojourning on
earth, that God is ruling in the heavens; then wilt
thou begin to utter the mysteries of God; then wilt
thou both love and admire those who are punished,
because they refuse to deny God. Then wilt thou condemn
the deceit and error of the world, when thou shalt have
learned truly to live in heaven. When thou shalt
despise what here seems death; when thou shalt fear the
true death, which is reserved for those condemned to
that everlasting fire which shall endlessly torment
those delivered to it,
 10:8  then wilt thou admire those who suffer for
righteousness, and wilt count the fire they suffer
blessed, when thou hast learned the other.

CHAPTER 11
 11:1  These are not strange things that I discourse
of. Nor do I make inquiry unreasonably, but having been
a disciple of apostles, I am become a teacher of the
Gentiles. The truths delivered to the saints I minister
to those who become disciples of the truth.
 11:2  For who that has been rightly instructed, and
born again by the lovely Word, does not seek clearly to
learn the things which by the Word have been evidently
shown to the disciples, to whom the Word himself having
appeared has manifested it, speaking with boldness, not
apprehended by the faithless, but declaring it to the
disciples; who being accounted faithful by him, learn
the mysteries of the Father?
 11:3  For which cause he sent forth the Word, that he
might appear to the world. Who being dishonoured by the
people, but proclaimed by apostles, was believed on
among the Gentiles.
 11:4  This is he who was from the beginning; who
yesterday appeared, and is found to be eternal, and yet
ever born afresh in the hearts of saints.
 11:5  He is the eternal One, to-day accounted a Son;
by whom the church is enriched, and grace, freely
bestowed, is multiplied among the saints, furnishing
wisdom, revealing mysteries, announcing times,
rejoicing over the faithful, freely given to those who
seek it. By whom the boundaries of faith are not
broken, nor the boundaries of the fathers transgressed.
 11:6  |Then, farther, the fear of the law is soothed
to rest, and the grace of the prophets is understood,
and the faith of the gospel is established, and the
tradition of the apostles is preserved, and the church
exults in the abundance of grace;
 11:7  which grace if thou grieve not, thou wilt learn
those things which the Word teaches, by whom he will,
and whenever he will.
 11:8  For whatever things, by the will of the Word who
commands us, we have been stirred up to utter
laboriously, we are out of love become communicators to
you of the things revealed to ourselves.

CHAPTER 12
 12:1  |And when you have met with these things, and
listened with earnestness, you will know what great
things God bestows on those who love him aright, who
become a paradise of delights, bringing forth within
themselves all manner of flourishing and fruitful
trees, adorned with manifold fruits.
 12:2  For in this field are planted a tree of
knowledge and a tree of life, yet the tree of knowledge
destroys not, but disobedience destroys.
 12:3  For the things recorded are not unmeaning, how
that God from the beginning planted a tree of life in
the midst of paradise, revealing life through
knowledge, which our first parents not using rightly,
were stripped naked by the deceit of the serpent.
 12:4  For neither is there life without knowledge, nor
is knowledge safe without the true life. Wherefore each
was planted side by side;
 12:5  which property the apostle beholding, and
blaming a knowledge pursued without the truth ordained
for life, says knowledge puffeth up, but love edifieth.
 12:6  For he who fancies that he knows any thing,
without a true knowledge, and one which is witnessed by
an inward life, knows not that he is deceived by the
serpent, not having chosen life. But he who has learned
with reverence, and seeking for life, plants in hope,
waiting for the fruit.
 12:7  Let thy heart be knowledge, and thy life the
true Word received within,
 12:8  of which, if thou bring forth the tree and
retain the fruit, thou wilt reap continually the things
desired by God, which the serpent cannot touch and
error cannot approach. Nor is this life corrupted like
Eve, but is preserved as a virgin;
 12:9  and salvation is revealed, and the apostles are
instructed, and the passover of the Lord is spread, and
songs of praise are united and harmoniously combined,
and the Word himself takes delight in the instruction
of his saints, through whom the Father is glorified, to
whom be glory for ever. Amen.