Theudas said unto him, "Behold, it is evident that our religion was
instituted by many mighty wise men, and interpreters, marvellous in
virtue and learning; and all the kings and rulers of the earth have
received it as good and sure in every point. But that of the Galileans
was preached by some country peasants, poor and common men, a mere
handful, not exceeding twelve in number. How then should one prefer
the preaching of these few obscure countrymen to the ordinance of the
many that are mighty and brilliantly wise? What is the proof that your
teachers be right and the others wrong?"
Again the king's son made answer, "Belike, Theudas, thou art the ass of
the proverb, that heard but heeded not the harp; or rather the adder
that stoppeth her ears, that she may not hear the voice of the
charmers. Well, therefore, spake the prophet concerning thee, If the
Ethiopian can change his skin, or the leopard his spots, then mayest
thou also do good, that hast been taught to do evil. Thou fool and
blind, why doth not the force of truth bring thee to thy senses? The
very fact that your foul idols are commended by many men of marvellous
wisdom, and established by kings, while the Gospel is preached by a few
men of no mark, sheweth the might of our religion and the weakness and
deadliness of your wicked doctrines. Because your side, despite its
having wise advocates and mighty champions, is dying down, and waxing
weak, whilst our religion, though possessed of no human help, shineth
from afar brighter than the sun, and hath won the fulness of the world.
If it had been set up by orators and philosophers, and had had kings
for its succour, thou that art evil wouldst have found occasion to
declare that it was wholly of human power. But now, seeing, as thou
dost, that the holy Gospel, though composed but by common fishermen,
and persecuted by every tyrant, hath after this won the whole world for
its sound hath gone out into all lands, and its words into the ends of
the world--what canst thou say but that it is a divine and
unconquerable power establishing its own cause for the salvation of
mankind? But what proof seekest thou, O fool, that thy prophets are
liars and ours true, better than the truths I have told thee? Except
thy cause had been vain talk and falsehood, it could not, possessing
such human support as it did, have suffered loss and decline. For he
saith, 'I have seen the ungodly in great power, and exalted like the
cedars of Libanus: and I went by and lo, he was gone: and I sought him
but his place could nowhere be found.'
"Concerning you, the defenders of idolatry, were these words spoken by
the prophet. For a very, very little while and your place shall not be
found: but, like as the smoke vanisheth, and like as wax melteth in
face of the fire, so shall ye fail. But, as touching the divine wisdom
of the Gospel, thus saith the Lord, 'Heaven and earth shall pass away,
but my words shall not pass away.' And again the Psalmist saith,
'Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth;
and the heavens are the work of thy hands. They shall perish, but thou
endurest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment, and as a
vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed, but thou
art the same, and thy years shall not fail!' And those divine
preachers of the coming of Christ, those wise fishers of the world,
whose nets drew all men from the depths of deceit, whom thou, in thy
vileness and bondage to sin, dost vilify, did by signs and wonders and
manifold powers shine as the sun in the world, giving sight to the
blind, hearing to the deaf, motion to the lame, and life to the dead.
Their shadows alone healed all the ailments of men. The devils, whom
ye dread as gods, they not only cast forth from men's bodies, but even
drave out of the world itself by the sign of the cross, whereby they
destroyed all sorcery, and rendered witchcraft powerless. And these
men, by curing every disease of man by the power of Christ, and
renewing all creation, are rightly admired as preachers of truth by all
men of sound mind. But what hast thou thyself to say of thy wise men
and orators, whose wisdom God hath made foolish, the advocates of the
devil? What worthy memorial have they bequeathed to the world? Tell
me. And what canst thou tell of them but unreason and shamefulness,
and vain craft that with glosing words concealeth the mire of their
unsavoury worship?
"Moreover such of your poets as have been able to soar a little above
this great madness have said, with more truth, that they, which are
called gods, were men; and because certain of them had been rulers of
regions and cities, and others had done something of no great account
in their lifetime, men were so deceived as to call them gods. It
standeth on record that the man Seruch was the first to bring in the
use of images. For it is said that in the old times he honoured those
who had achieved some memorable deed of courage, friendship, or any
other such virtue with statues and pillars. But after generations
forgat the intention of their ancestors: and, whereas it was only for
remembrance sake that they had set up statues and pillars to the doers
of noble deeds, now they were, little by little, led astray through the
working of the prince of evil, the devil, and treated as immortal gods
men of like passions and corruptible as themselves and further devised
sacrifices and drink-offerings for them,--the devils, thou mayest know,
taking up their abode in these images and diverting to themselves these
honours and sacrifices. Accordingly these devils persuade men, who
refuse to have God in their knowledge, to consider them as gods for two
reasons: first, that they may be glorified by this title (for they are
puffed up with arrogance, and delight to be honoured as gods) next,
that they may drag their poor dupes into the unquenchable fire prepared
for themselves. Hence they teach men all iniquity and filthiness,
seeing that they have once subjected themselves to their deceit. So
when men had arrived at this pinnacle of evil, they, being darkened,
set up every man an idol of his own vice and his own lust, and call it
a god. They were abominable in their error, more abominable in the
absurdity of the objects that they chose to worship, until the Lord
came, and of his tender mercy redeemed us that trust in him from this
wicked and deadly error, and taught men the true knowledge of God. For
there is no salvation except in him, and there is none other God,
neither in heaven, nor in earth, except him only, the Maker of all, who
moveth all things by the word of his power: for he saith, 'By the word
of the Lord were the heavens made stedfast, and all the power of them
by the breath of his mouth,' and, 'All things were made by him, and
without him was not anything made that was made.'"
When Theudas had heard these sayings, and seen that the word was full
of divine wisdom, like one thunder-struck, he was smitten dumb. Now
late in time, and with difficulty, came he to understand his own
misery, for the word of salvation had touched the darkened vision of
his heart, and there fell upon him deep remorse for his past sins. He
renounced the error of his idols, and ran towards the light of
godliness, and from henceforth departed from his miserable life, and
made himself as bitter an enemy of vile affections and sorceries as he
before had pledged himself their devoted friend, For at this season he
stood up in the midst of the assembly, and cried with a loud voice,
saying, "Verily, O king, the Spirit of God dwelleth in thy son.
Verily, we are defeated, and have no further apology, and have no
strength to face the words that he hath uttered. Mighty therefore, in
sooth, is the God of the Christians: mighty is their faith: mighty are
their mysteries."
Then he turned him round toward the king's son and said, "Tell me now,
thou man, whose soul is enlightened, will Christ accept me, if I
forsake my evil deeds and turn to him?" "Yea," said that preacher of
truth; "Yea, he receiveth thee and all that turn to him. And he not
only receiveth thee, but he goeth out to meet thee returning out of the
way of iniquity, as though it were a son returning from a far country.
And he falleth on his neck and kisseth him, and he strippeth him of the
shameful robe of sin, and putteth on him a cloak of brightest glory,
making mystic gladness for the powers on high, keeping feast for the
return of the lost sheep. The Lord himself saith, 'There is exceeding
great joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth': and again, 'I am
not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.' And he saith
also by the Prophet, 'As I live, saith the Lord, I have no pleasure in
the death of the sinner, and the ungodly, but that he should turn from
his way and live. Turn ye, turn ye from your evil way. And why will
ye die, O house of Israel?' For the wickedness of the wicked shall not
hurt him in the day that he turneth from his wickedness, if he do
righteousness and walk in the statutes of life, he shall surely live;
he shall not die. None of his sins which he hath committed shall be
remembered against him. Because he hath done the decree of
righteousness, he shall live thereby. And again he crieth by the mouth
of another prophet, 'Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of
your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil: learn to do well.
Come now, and let us reason together: though your sins be as scarlet, I
will make them white as snow; though they be red like crimson, I will
make them white as wool.' Such therefore being the promises made by
God to them that turn to him, tarry not, O thou man, nor make delay:
but draw nigh to Christ, our loving God, and be enlightened, and thy
face shall not be ashamed. For as soon as thou goest down into the
laver of Holy Baptism, all the defilement of the old man, and all the
burden of thy many sins, is buried in the water, and passeth into
nothingness, and thou comest up from thence a new man, pure from all
pollution, with no spot or wrinkle of sin upon thee; and thenceforward
it is in thy power ever to keep for thyself the purity that thou
gainest hereby through the tender mercy of our God."
When Theudas had been thus instructed, he went out immediately and gat
him to his evil den, and took his magical books, and, because they were
the beginnings of all evil, and the storehouses of devilish mysteries,
burnt them with fire. And he betook himself to the cave of that same
holy man, to whom Nachor also had resorted, and told him that which had
befallen him, casting dust upon his head, and groaning deeply, and
watering himself with his tears, and telling the aged man the full tale
of his loathly deeds. He, well skilled in the saving of a soul and the
snatching it from the jaw of the wily serpent, charmed away his sorrow
with words of salvation, and pledged him forgiveness and promised him a
merciful Judge. Then, after he had instructed and charged him to fast
many days, he cleansed him in Holy Baptism. And all the days of his
life Theudas heartily repented him of his misdeeds, with tears and
sighs seeking the favour of God.