“Wherefore it (the law) was only temporary; but eternal grace and truth were by Jesus Christ.  Mark the expressions of Scripture; of the law only is it is said ‘was given;’ but truth, being the grace of the Father, is the eternal work of the Word, and it is not said to be given, but to be by Jesus, without whom nothing was.”  (Instructor, i. 7.)

“The divine Instructor is trustworthy, adorned as He is with three of the fairest ornaments ... with authority of utterance, for He is God and Creator; for all things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made:  and with benevolence, for He alone gave Himself a sacrifice for us, ’For the Good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep.’” (John x. 11.) (Instructor, i. 11.)

    “For the darkness, it is said, comprehendeth it not.” (Instructor,
    ii. 10.)

    “Having through righteousness attained to adoption, and therefore
    ‘have received power to become the sons of God.’” (Miscellanies, iv.
    6.)

    “For of the prophets it is said, ’We have all received of His
    fulness,’ that is, of Christ’s.” (Miscellanies, i. 17.)

    “And John the apostle says, ’No man hath seen God at any time.  The
    only begotten God,’ [oldest reading,] ’who is in the bosom of the
    Father, He hath declared Him.” (Miscellanies, v. 12.) John, iii.

    “He that believeth not is, according to the utterance of the
    Saviour, condemned already.” (Miscellanies, iv. 16.)

“Enslaved as you are to evil custom, and clinging to it voluntarily till your last breath, you are hurried to destruction; because light has come into the world, and men have loved the darkness rather than the light.” (Exhortation to Heathen, 10.)

    “‘I must decrease,’ said the prophet John.” (Miscellanies, vi.  II.)

TERTULLIAN.

Matthew, i.

“There is, first of all, Matthew, that most faithful chronicler of the Gospel, because the companion of the Lord; for no other reason in the world than to show us clearly the fleshy original of Christ, he thus begins, ’The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David the son of Abraham.’” (On the Flesh of Christ, ch. xxii.)

“It is, however, a fortunate circumstance that Matthew also, when tracing down the Lord’s descent from Abraham to Mary, says, ’Jacob begat Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus.” (On the Flesh of Christ, ch. xx.)

“You [the heretic] say that He was born through a virgin, not of a virgin, and in a womb, not of a womb; because the angel in the dream said to Joseph, ’That which is born in her is of the Holy Ghost.’” (Ibid. ch. xx.)

Matthew, ii.

“For they therefore offered to the then infant Lord that frankincense, and myrrh, and gold, to be, as it were, the close of worldly sacrifice and glory, which Christ was about to do away.” (On Idolatry, ch. ix.)

Mark i. 4.