Chapter V.—Simon
Appeals to Scripture in Support of His System.
And this, he says, is what has been written in
Scripture: “For the vineyard of the Lord of Sabaoth is the
house of Israel, and the man of Judah is His beloved
plant.” If, however, the man of Judah (is) the beloved
plant, it has been proved, he says, that there is not any other tree
but that man. But concerning the secretion and dissolution of
this (tree), Scripture, he says, has spoken sufficiently. And as
regards instruction for those who have been fashioned after the image
(of him), that statement is enough which is made (in Scripture), that
“all flesh is grass, and all the glory of flesh, as it were, a
flower of grass. The grass withereth, and its flower falleth; but
the word of the Lord abideth for ever.” The word of the Lord, he says, is that
word which is produced in the mouth, and (is) a Logos, but nowhere else
exists there a place of generation.