Sacred Texts Christianity Early Church Fathers Index Previous Next
Chapter XVI.—Man’s Ways Opposite to God’s.
“As in the beginning God, who is one, like a right hand and a left, made the heavens first and then the earth, so also He constituted all the combinations in order; but upon men He no more does this, but varies all the combinations. For whereas from Him the greater things come first, and the inferior second, we find the opposite in men—the first worse, and the second superior. Therefore from Adam, who was made after the image of God, there sprang first the unrighteous Cain, and then the righteous Abel. Again, from him who amongst you is called Deucalion, 924 two forms of spirits were sent forth, the impure namely, and the pure, first the black raven, and then the white dove. From Abraham also, the patriarchs of our nation, two firsts 925 sprang—Ishmael first, then Isaac, who was blessed of God. And from Isaac himself, in like manner, there were again two—Esau the profane, and Jacob the pious. So, first in birth, as the first born in the world, was the high priest Aaron, then the lawgiver Moses.
For “first” Wieseler conjectures “different,”—two different persons.