The Magnificat

//Scripts for Seekers 2 function Magnificat() { myOtherWindow = open("", "secondWindow", "toolbar=no, location=no, directories=no, status=no, menubar=no, scrollbars=yes, resizable=yes, width=300, height=400") if (myOtherWindow != null) { var otherWindowDefinition="The Magnificat" otherWindowDefinition += "" otherWindowDefinition += "My soul doth magnify the Lord,
And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.
For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden:
for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.
For he that is mighty hath done to me great things;
and holy is his name.
And his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation.
He hath shown strength with his arm;
he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree.
He hath filled the hungry with good things;
and the rich he hath sent empty away.
He hath helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy;
As he spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed for ever. " otherWindowDefinition += "" myOtherWindow.document.write(otherWindowDefinition) myOtherWindow.document.close() } } function Benedictus() { myOtherWindow = open("", "secondWindow", "toolbar=no, location=no, directories=no, status=no, menubar=no, scrollbars=yes, resizable=yes, width=300, height=400") if (myOtherWindow != null) { var otherWindowDefinition="The Benedictus" otherWindowDefinition += "" otherWindowDefinition += "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel;
for he hath visited and redeemed his people,
And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David;
As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began:
That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us;
To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant;
The oath which he sware to our father Abraham,
That he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear,
In holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life.
And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest:
for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways;
To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins,
Through the tender mercy of our God;
whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us,
To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace." otherWindowDefinition += "" myOtherWindow.document.write(otherWindowDefinition) myOtherWindow.document.close() } } function Nunc() { myOtherWindow = open("", "secondWindow", "toolbar=no, location=no, directories=no, status=no, menubar=no, scrollbars=yes, resizable=yes, width=300, height=400") if (myOtherWindow != null) { var otherWindowDefinition="The Nunc Dimitis" otherWindowDefinition += "" otherWindowDefinition += "Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word:
For mine eyes have seen thy salvation,
Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people;
A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.
Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel;
and for a sign which shall be spoken against;
(Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also,)
that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed." otherWindowDefinition += "" myOtherWindow.document.write(otherWindowDefinition) myOtherWindow.document.close() } } function Woman() { myOtherWindow = open("", "secondWindow", "toolbar=no, location=no, directories=no, status=no, menubar=no, scrollbars=yes, resizable=yes, width=300, height=400") if (myOtherWindow != null) { var otherWindowDefinition="The woman caught in adultery" otherWindowDefinition += "" otherWindowDefinition += "Then each went to his own home.
But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, 'Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?' They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.
But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, 'If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.' Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.
At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, 'Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?'
'No one, sir,' she said.
'Then neither do I condemn you,' Jesus declared. 'Go now and leave your life of sin.'" otherWindowDefinition += "" myOtherWindow.document.write(otherWindowDefinition) myOtherWindow.document.close() } } function Love() { myOtherWindow = open("", "secondWindow", "toolbar=no, location=no, directories=no, status=no, menubar=no, scrollbars=yes, resizable=yes, width=300, height=400") if (myOtherWindow != null) { var otherWindowDefinition="The hymn to love" otherWindowDefinition += "" otherWindowDefinition += "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity." otherWindowDefinition += "" myOtherWindow.document.write(otherWindowDefinition) myOtherWindow.document.close() } } //Scripts for Seekers 3b function Irenaeus() { myOtherWindow = open("", "secondWindow", "toolbar=no, location=no, directories=no, status=no, menubar=no, scrollbars=yes, resizable=yes, width=300, height=400") if (myOtherWindow != null) { var otherWindowDefinition="Irenaeus, Against Heresies III(1)" otherWindowDefinition += "" otherWindowDefinition += "Matthew also issued a written Gospel among the Hebrews in their own dialect, while Peter and Paul were preaching at Rome, and laying the foundations of the Church. After their departure, Mark, the disciple and interpreter of Peter, did also hand down to us in writing what had been preached by Peter. Luke also, the companion of Paul, recorded in a book the Gospel preached by him. Afterwards, John, the disciple of the Lord, who also had leaned upon His breast, did himself publish a Gospel during his residence at Ephesus in Asia." otherWindowDefinition += "" myOtherWindow.document.write(otherWindowDefinition) myOtherWindow.document.close() } } function Papias() { myOtherWindow = open("", "secondWindow", "toolbar=no, location=no, directories=no, status=no, menubar=no, scrollbars=yes, resizable=yes, width=300, height=400") if (myOtherWindow != null) { var otherWindowDefinition="Papias from Eusebius HEIII(39)" otherWindowDefinition += "" otherWindowDefinition += "And the presbyter said this. Mark having become the interpreter of Peter, wrote down accurately whatsoever he remembered. It was not, however, in exact order that he related the sayings or deeds of Christ. For he neither heard the Lord nor accompanied Him. But afterwards, as I said, he accompanied Peter, who accommodated his instructions to the necessities of his hearers, but with no intention of giving a regular narrative of the Lord's sayings. Wherefore Mark made no mistake in thus writing some things as he remembered them. For of one thing he took especial care, not to omit anything he had heard, and not to put anything fictitious into the statements. Matthew put together the oracles of the Lord in the Hebrew language, and each one interpreted them as best he could." otherWindowDefinition += "" myOtherWindow.document.write(otherWindowDefinition) myOtherWindow.document.close() } } function Pantaenus() { myOtherWindow = open("", "secondWindow", "toolbar=no, location=no, directories=no, status=no, menubar=no, scrollbars=yes, resizable=yes, width=300, height=400") if (myOtherWindow != null) { var otherWindowDefinition="Pantaenus from Eusebius V(10)" otherWindowDefinition += "" otherWindowDefinition += "For indeed there were still many evangelists of the Word who sought earnestly to use their inspired zeal, after the examples of the apostles, for the increase and building up of the Divine Word. Pantaenus was one of these, and is said to have gone to India. It is reported that among persons there who knew of Christ, he found the Gospel according to Matthew, which had anticipated his own arrival. For Bartholomew, one of the apostles, had preached to them, and left with them the writing of Matthew in the Hebrew language, which they had preserved till that time." otherWindowDefinition += "" myOtherWindow.document.write(otherWindowDefinition) myOtherWindow.document.close() } } function Muratorian() { myOtherWindow = open("", "secondWindow", "toolbar=no, location=no, directories=no, status=no, menubar=no, scrollbars=yes, resizable=yes, width=300, height=400") if (myOtherWindow != null) { var otherWindowDefinition="The Muratorian Canon" otherWindowDefinition += "" otherWindowDefinition += "1. ...those things at which he was present he placed thus. The third book of the Gospel, that according to Luke, the well-known physician Luke wrote in his own name in order after the ascension of Christ, and when Paul had associated him with himself as one studious of right. Nor did he himself see the Lord in the flesh; and he, according as he was able to accomplish it, began his narrative with the nativity of John. The fourth Gospel is that of John, one of the disciples. When his fellow-disciples and bishops entreated him, he said, 'Fast ye now with me for the space of three days, and let us recount to each other whatever may be revealed to each of us.' On the same night it was revealed to Andrew, one of the apostles, that John should narrate all things in his own name as they called them to mind. And hence, although different points are taught us in the several books of the Gospels, there is no difference as regards the faith of believers, inasmuch as in all of them all things are related under one imperial Spirit, which concern the Lord's nativity, His passion, His resurrection, His conversation with His disciples, and His twofold advent,-the first in the humiliation of rejection, which is now past, and the second in the glory of royal power, which is yet in the future. What marvel is it, then, that John brings forward these several things so constantly in his epistles also, saying in his own person, 'What we have seen with our eyes, and heard with our ears, and our hands have handled, that have we written.' For thus he professes himself to be not only the eye-witness, but also the hearer; and besides that, the historian of all the wondrous facts concerning the Lord in their order.

" otherWindowDefinition += "2. Moreover, the Acts of all the Apostles are comprised by Luke in one book, and addressed to the most excellent Theophilus, because these different events took place when he was present himself; and he shows this clearly-i.e., that the principle on which he wrote was, to give only what fell under his own notice-by the omission of the passion of Peter, and also of the journey of Paul, when he went from the city-Rome-to Spain.

" otherWindowDefinition += "3. As to the epistles of Paul, again, to those who will understand the matter, they indicate of themselves what they are, and from what place or with what object they were directed. He wrote first of all, and at considerable length, to the Corinthians, to check the schism of heresy; and then to the Galatians, to forbid circumcision; and then to the Romans on the rule of the Oid Testament Scriptures, and also to show them that Christ is the first object in these;-which it is needful for us to discuss severally, as the blessed Apostle Paul, following the rule of his predecessor John, writes to no more than seven churches by name, in this order: the first to the Corinthians, the second to the Ephesians, the third to the Philippians, the fourth to the Colossians, the fifth to the Galatians, the sixth to the Thessalonians, the seventh to the Romans. Moreover, though he writes twice to the Corinthians and Thessalonians for their correction, it is yet shown-i.e., by this sevenfold writing-that there is one Church spread abroad through the whole world. And John too, indeed, in the Apocalypse, although he writes only to seven churches, yet addresses all. He wrote, besides these, one to Philemon, and one to Titus, and two to Timothy, in simple personal affection and love indeed; but yet these are hallowed in the esteem of the Catholic Church, and in the regulation of ecclesiastical discipline. There are also in circulation one to the Laodiceans, and another to the Alexandrians, forged under the name of Paul, and addressed against the heresy of Marcion; and there are also several others which cannot be received into the Catholic Church, for it is not suitable for gall to be mingled with honey.

" otherWindowDefinition += "4. The Epistle of Jude, indeed, and two belonging to the above-named John-or bearing the name of John-are reckoned among the Catholic epistles. And the book of Wisdom, written by the friends of Solomon in his honour. We receive also the Apocalypse of John and that of Peter, though some amongst us will not have this latter read in the Church. The Pastor, moreover, did Hermas write very recently in our times in the city of Rome, while his brother bishop Plus sat in the chair of the Church of Rome. And therefore it also ought to be read; but it cannot be made public in the Church to the people, nor placed among the prophets, as their number is complete, nor among the apostles to the end of time. Of the writings of Arsinous, called also Valentinus, or of Miltiades, we receive nothing at all. Those are rejected too who wrote the new Book of Psalms for Marcion, together with Basilides and the founder of the Asian Cataphrygians." otherWindowDefinition += "" myOtherWindow.document.write(otherWindowDefinition) myOtherWindow.document.close() } } function Mark() { myOtherWindow = open("", "secondWindow", "toolbar=no, location=no, directories=no, status=no, menubar=no, scrollbars=yes, resizable=yes, width=300, height=400") if (myOtherWindow != null) { var otherWindowDefinition="Secret Gospel of Mark" otherWindowDefinition += "" otherWindowDefinition += "From the letters of the most holy Clement, the author of the Stromateis. To Theodore.

You did well in silencing the unspeakable teachings of the Carpocrations. For these are the 'wandering stars' referred to in the prophecy, who wander from the narrow road of the commandments into a boundless abyss of the carnal and bodily sins. For, priding themselves in knowledge, as they say, 'of the deep things of Satan', they do not know that they are casting themselves away into 'the nether world of the darkness' of falsity, and boasting that they are free, they have become slaves of servile desires. Such men are to be opposed in all ways and altogether. For, even if they should say something true, one who loves the truth should not, even so, agree with them. For not all true things are the truth, nor should that truth which merely seems true according to human opinions be preferred to the true truth, that according to the faith.

Now of the things they keep saying about the divinely inspired Gospel according to Mark, some are altogether falsifications, and others, even if they do contain some true elements, nevertheless are not reported truly. For the true things, being mixed with inventions, are falsified, so that, as the saying goes, even the salt loses its savor.

" otherWindowDefinition += "As for Mark, then, during Peter's stay in Rome he wrote an account of the Lord's doings, not, however, declaring all of them, nor yet hinting at the secret ones, but selecting what he thought most useful for increasing the faith of those who were being instructed. But when Peter died a martyr, Mark came over to Alexandria, bringing both his own notes and those of Peter, from which he transferred to his former book the things suitable to whatever makes for progress toward knowledge. Thus he composed a more spiritual Gospel for the use of those who were being perfected. Nevertheless, he yet did not divulge the things not to be uttered, nor did he write down the hierophantic teaching of the Lord, but to the stories already written he added yet others and, moreover, brought in certain sayings of which he knew the interpretation would, as a mystagogue, lead the hearers into the innermost sanctuary of that truth hidden by seven veils. Thus, in sum, he prepared matters, neither grudgingly nor incautiously, in my opinion, and, dying, he left his composition to the church in Alexandria, where it even yet is most carefully guarded, being read only to those who are being initiated into the great mysteries.

" otherWindowDefinition += "But since the foul demons are always devising destruction for the race of men, Carpocrates, instructed by them and using deceitful arts, so enslaved a certain presbyter of the church in Alexandria that he got from him a copy of the secret Gospel, which he both interpreted according to his blasphemous and carnal doctrine and, moreover, polluted, mixing with the spotless and holy words utterly shameless lies. From this mixture is drawn off the teaching of the Carpocratians.

To them, therefore, as I said above, one must never give way; nor, when they put forward their falsifications, should one concede that the secret Gospel is by Mark, but should even deny it on oath. For, 'Not all true things are to be said to all men'. For this reason the Wisdom of God, through Solomon, advises, 'Answer the fool from his folly', teaching that the light of the truth should be hidden from those who are mentally blind. Again it says, 'From him who has not shall be taken away', and 'Let the fool walk in darkness'. But we are 'children of Light', having been illuminated by 'the dayspring' of the spirit of the Lord 'from on high', and 'Where the Spirit of the Lord is', it says, 'there is liberty', for 'All things are pure to the pure'

" otherWindowDefinition += "To you, therefore, I shall not hesitate to answer the questions you have asked, refuting the falsifications by the very words of the Gospel. For example, after 'And they were in the road going up to Jerusalem' and what follows, until 'After three days he shall arise', the secret Gospel brings the following material word for word:

'And they come into Bethany. And a certain woman whose brother had died was there. And, coming, she prostrated herself before Jesus and says to him, 'Son of David, have mercy on me.' But the disciples rebuked her. And Jesus, being angered, went off with her into the garden where the tomb was, and straightway a great cry was heard from the tomb. And going near, Jesus rolled away the stone from the door of the tomb. And straightaway, going in where the youth was, he stretched forth his hand and raised him, seizing his hand. But the youth, looking upon him, loved him and began to beseech him that he might be with him. And going out of the tomb, they came into the house of the youth, for he was rich. And after six days Jesus told him what to do, and in the evening the youth comes to him, wearing a linen cloth over his naked body. And he remained with him that night, for Jesus taught him the mystery of the Kingdom of God. And thence, arising, he returned to the other side of the Jordan.'

" otherWindowDefinition += "After these words follows the text, 'And James and John come to him', and all that section. But 'naked man with naked man,' and the other things about which you wrote, are not found. And after the words, 'And he comes into Jericho,' the secret Gospel adds only, 'And the sister of the youth whom Jesus loved and his mother and Salome were there, and Jesus did not receive them.' But the many other things about which you wrote both seem to be, and are, falsifications.

Now the true explanation, and that which accords with the true philosophy ..." otherWindowDefinition += "" myOtherWindow.document.write(otherWindowDefinition) myOtherWindow.document.close() } } function Dionysius() { myOtherWindow = open("", "secondWindow", "toolbar=no, location=no, directories=no, status=no, menubar=no, scrollbars=yes, resizable=yes, width=300, height=400") if (myOtherWindow != null) { var otherWindowDefinition="Dionysius - On Promises(4)" otherWindowDefinition += "" otherWindowDefinition += "When the prophet now has completed, so to speak, the whole prophecy (of Revelation), he pronounces those blessed who should observe it, and names himself, too, in the number of the same: 'For blessed,' says he, 'is he that keepeth the words of the prophecy of this book; and I John who saw and heard these things.' That this person was called John, therefore, and that this was the writing of a John, I do not deny. And I admit further, that it was also the work of some holy and inspired man. But I could not so easily admit that this was the apostle, the son of Zebedee, the brother of James, and the same person with him who wrote the Gospel which bears the title according to John, and the catholic epistle. But from the character of both, and the forms of expression, and the whole disposition and execution of the book, I draw the conclusion that the authorship is not his. For the evangelist nowhere else subjoins his name, and he never proclaims himself either in the Gospel or in the epistle." otherWindowDefinition += "" myOtherWindow.document.write(otherWindowDefinition) myOtherWindow.document.close() } } //Scripts for Seekers 4 function Julius() { myOtherWindow = open("", "secondWindow", "toolbar=no, location=no, directories=no, status=no, menubar=no, scrollbars=yes, resizable=yes, width=300, height=400") if (myOtherWindow != null) { var otherWindowDefinition="Julius Africanus - Fragments" otherWindowDefinition += "" otherWindowDefinition += "As to His works severally, and His cures effected upon body and soul, and the mysteries of His doctrine, and the resurrection from the dead, these have been most authoritatively set forth by His disciples and apostles before us. On the whole world there pressed a most fearful darkness; and the rocks were rent by an earthquake, and many places in Judea and other districts were thrown down. This darkness Thallus, in the third book of his History, calls, as appears to me without reason, an eclipse of the sun. For the Hebrews celebrate the passover on the 14th day according to the moon, and the passion of our Saviour falls on the day before the passover; but an eclipse of the sun takes place only when the moon comes under the sun." otherWindowDefinition += "And it cannot happen at any other time but in the interval between the first day of the new moon and the last of the old, that is, at their junction: how then should an eclipse be supposed to happen when the moon is almost diametrically opposite the sun? Let that opinion pass however; let it carry the majority with it; and let this portent of the world be deemed an eclipse of the sun, like others a portent only to the eye. Phlegon records that, in the time of Tiberius Caesar, at full moon, there was a full eclipse of the sun from the sixth hour to the ninth-manifestly that one of which we speak. But what has an eclipse in common with an earthquake, the rending rocks, and the resurrection of the dead, and so great a perturbation throughout the universe? Surely no such event as this is recorded for a long period. But it was a darkness induced by God, because the Lord happened then to suffer." otherWindowDefinition += "" myOtherWindow.document.write(otherWindowDefinition) myOtherWindow.document.close() } } function Tacitus() { myOtherWindow = open("", "secondWindow", "toolbar=no, location=no, directories=no, status=no, menubar=no, scrollbars=yes, resizable=yes, width=300, height=400") if (myOtherWindow != null) { var otherWindowDefinition="Tacitus - Annals XV,44" otherWindowDefinition += "" otherWindowDefinition += "But all human efforts, all the lavish gifts of the emperor, and the propitiations of the gods, did not banish the sinister belief that the conflagration was the result of an order. Consequently, to get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judaea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their centre and become popular. Accordingly, an arrest was first made of all who pleaded guilty; then, upon their information, an immense multitude was" otherWindowDefinition += "convicted, not so much of the crime of firing the city, as of hatred against mankind. Mockery of every sort was added to their deaths. Covered with the skins of beasts, they were torn by dogs and perished, or were nailed to crosses, or were doomed to the flames and burnt, to serve as a nightly illumination, when daylight had expired." otherWindowDefinition += "" myOtherWindow.document.write(otherWindowDefinition) myOtherWindow.document.close() } }