Epistle of Polycarp to the Philippians Let us then continually persevere in our hope, and the earnest of our righteousness, which is Jesus Christ, "who bore our sins in His own body on the tree,"[48] Fragments from the Lost Writings of Irenaeus The ass was the type of the body of Christ, upon whom all men, resting from their labours, are borne as in a chariot. For the Saviour has taken up the burden of our sins.[39] Clement of Alexandria Stromata Book II Addressing those who have believed, he says, "For by His stripes we were healed."[145]