By Justin Martyr, from The Ante-Nicene Fathers

The demons cannot persuade people that there will be no burning for the

This is all they can do: cause those who live irrationally, who were brought up

We do not fear death, since it is acknowledged we must surely die, and there is

But if they believe there is nothing after death and declare that those who die

As we said before, the demons put forward Marcion of Pontus, who is even now

Many have believed this man, as if he alone knew the truth, and they laugh at

For those who are called demons attempt nothing other than to draw people away

By Justin Martyr, from The Ante-Nicene Fathers

Since we prove that all things which have already happened had been predicted by

Just as the things which have already taken place came to pass when foretold,

The prophets proclaimed two comings of Christ: the one that is already past,

That these things also have been foretold as yet to be, we will prove. By

In what kind of feeling and punishment the wicked are to be, hear from what was

What the Jewish people shall say and do when they see him coming in glory has

"And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of

Though we could bring forward many other prophecies, we refrain, judging these

For why should we believe that a crucified man is the firstborn of the

All other human races are called Gentiles by the Spirit of prophecy, but the

The prophecy predicting that there should be more believers from the Gentiles

All the Gentiles were "desolate" of the true God, serving works of their own

Sodom and Gomorrah, according to Moses, were cities of ungodly people which God

Those who care may yet see their whole country desolate and burned and remaining

When so many things as these are seen with the eye, they are enough to produce

By Justin Martyr, from The Ante-Nicene Fathers

But in case anyone thinks from what we have said that whatever happens is

We have learned from the prophets and hold it to be true that punishments,

If it were fated that one person would be good and another evil, the first would

That people both walk uprightly and stumble by free choice, we demonstrate this

Furthermore, if people were simply fated to be good or bad, fate would be the

But we maintain that this is unavoidable fate: those who choose good receive

The holy Spirit of prophecy taught us this by telling us through Moses that God

And again, through the prophet Isaiah, the following was spoken as if from God

That expression, "The sword shall devour you," does not mean the disobedient

So too, when Plato says, "The blame is his who chooses, and God is blameless,"

Whatever philosophers and poets have said about the immortality of the soul,

So when we say that future events were foretold, we do not say they came about

But through the demons' agency, death has been decreed against those who read

By Justin Martyr, from The Ante-Nicene Fathers

Hear how those who would publish Christ's teaching and proclaim His appearance

We thought it right to mention other prophetic words of David to show how the

These things were said thus: "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the

"Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the

"Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I shall give

"Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth.

Again, in another prophecy, the Spirit of prophecy through David indicated that

"O sing unto the LORD a new song: sing unto the LORD, all the earth. Sing unto

"Give unto the LORD, O ye kindreds of the people, give unto the LORD glory and

When the Spirit of prophecy speaks of things about to happen as if they had

The things God absolutely knows will happen, He predicts as if they had already

David spoke the words quoted above 1,500 years before Christ became a man and

But our Jesus Christ, after being crucified and dying, rose again and ascended

By Justin Martyr, from The Ante-Nicene Fathers

So that this may be clear to you, here are words spoken from the person of the

"The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel doth not

And elsewhere, the same prophet speaks similarly from the person of the Father:

And again, in another place: "Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul

What kind of things are taught through the prophets from the person of God, you

When the Spirit of prophecy speaks from the person of Christ, the words are like

And again: "I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked

And again, when he says: "They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon

And again, when he says: "All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot

All these things happened to Christ at the hands of the Jews, as you can verify.

When the Spirit of prophecy speaks as predicting things to come, he speaks this

That this did happen, we can convince you. From Jerusalem, twelve men went out

We who formerly murdered one another not only now refuse to make war on our

By Justin Martyr, from The Ante-Nicene Fathers

Hear what part of earth He was to be born in, as another prophet, Micah,

There is a village in the land of the Jews, thirty-five stadia from Jerusalem,

How Christ after His birth was to remain unnoticed by other people until He grew

Again the prophet Isaiah, inspired by the prophetic Spirit, said: "I have

And again through another prophet, he says: "They pierced my hands and my feet.

David, the king and prophet who said these things, did not experience any of

As the prophet said, they tormented Him and set Him on the judgment seat and

That these things happened, you can verify from the Acts of Pontius Pilate.

We will also quote the prophetic words of another prophet, Zechariah, who

When you hear the prophets' words spoken as if personally, do not think they are

You can see the same pattern in your own writers: one person writes the whole

By Justin Martyr, from The Ante-Nicene Fathers

But someone might ask: What prevents the one we call Christ from being just a

We will now offer proof, not relying on mere claims but being convinced by those

There were among the Jews certain men who were prophets of God. Through them,

When Ptolemy, king of Egypt, was building a library and trying to collect the

All Jews throughout the world also have these books. But though they read them,

In the recent Jewish war, Barchochebas, the leader of the Jewish revolt, ordered

In these books of the prophets, we found Jesus our Christ foretold as coming:

He was predicted before He appeared - first 5,000 years before, then 3,000

Moses, the first of the prophets, spoke these very words: "The sceptre shall

You can investigate and determine until whose time the Jews had their own ruler

Judah was the ancestor of the Jews, from whom they get their name. After Christ

The prophecy "He shall be the desire of the nations" meant that some from all

The prophecy about "binding his foal to the vine, and washing his robe in the

The foal of a donkey stood tied to a vine at the entrance of a village. He

After this, He was crucified, fulfilling the rest of the prophecy. "Washing His

The first power after God the Father and Lord of all is the Word, who is also

Isaiah, another prophet, foretold the same things differently: "There shall

By Justin Martyr, from The Ante-Nicene Fathers

Consider how every previous king died the common death. If death led to

Consider the evidence: fortune-telling, divinations using innocent children,

Grant us the same consideration you give to these. We believe in God no less

To any thoughtful person: would anything seem more incredible than this - if we

In the same way, you now disbelieve because you have never seen a dead person

Those who say everything simply returns to what it came from, and that even God

We have learned that our Master Jesus Christ said, "The things which are

By Justin Martyr, from The Ante-Nicene Fathers

About being patient with wrongs, ready to serve everyone, and free from anger,

We should not fight. He did not want us to imitate wicked people but to lead

About not swearing and always telling the truth, He commanded: "Swear not at

About worshiping God alone, He persuaded us this way: "Thou shalt worship the

Those who do not live as He taught should not be considered Christians, even if

As for those who are Christians in name only and do not live by these teachings,

Everywhere we try harder than anyone to pay our taxes - both regular and

So we worship God alone, but in other matters we gladly serve you, acknowledging

From Evidence, by Samuel Froehlich

Precious and in Jesus Christ our Lord beloved Brothers and Sisters!

May the faithful God and Father of mercy bless you with grace and peace,

We have learned from the letter of our dear sister of your present predicament

But your present trial consists in this, whether you wish to keep your faith or

What think you, dear children, if you pay the imposed fine, do you not thereby

You should pay by the 4th or else and that frightens you. But I say to you: Look

If your battle were with men only, who are flesh and blood, then I would say to

If you have faith in God, then simply take the risk of seeing how far men will

See if your anxiety is not about what you have, in order to keep it, by your

I see it beforehand, if you pay, the devil will gain an advantage over you; if

That is the art of faith, otherwise it would not be faith. But faith would be an

What I read in our dear sister’s letter is of great significance to me: "The

It now lies with you, beloved, that these souls together with you may be

This is my brotherly advice to you, beloved in the Lord, so that you may not

I greet you along with all the other members as your faithful brother in the

S. H. Froehlich