Chapter VII.—Avoid the Docetæ, and persevere in fasting and prayer.

“For whosoever does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, is antichrist;”³⁷⁷³⁷⁷    1 John iv. 3. and whosoever does not confess the testimony of the cross,³⁷⁸³⁷⁸    Literally, “the martyrdom of the cross,” which some render, “His suffering on the cross.” is of the devil; and whosoever perverts the oracles of the Lord to his own lusts, and says that there is neither a resurrection nor a judgment, he is the first-born of Satan.³⁷⁹³⁷⁹    [The original, perhaps, of Eusebius (Hist. iv. cap. 14). It became a common-place expression in the Church.] Wherefore, forsaking the vanity of many, and their false doctrines, let us return to the word which has been handed down to us from³⁸⁰³⁸⁰    Comp. Jude 3. the beginning; “watching unto prayer,”³⁸¹³⁸¹    1 Pet. iv. 7. and persevering in fasting; beseeching in our supplications the all-seeing God “not to lead us into temptation,”³⁸²³⁸²    Matt. vi. 13; Matt. xxvi. 41. as the Lord has said: “The spirit truly is willing, but the flesh is weak.”³⁸³³⁸³    Matt. xxvi. 41; Mark xiv. 38.