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Ante-Nicene Fathers

Preface
Introductory Notice
Introductory Note to the First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians
Chapter I.—The salutation. Praise of the Corinthians before the breaking forth of schism among them.
Chapter II.—Praise of the Corinthians continued.
Chapter III.—The sad state of the Corinthian church after sedition arose in it from envy and emulation.
Chapter IV.—Many evils have already flowed from this source in ancient times.
Chapter V.—No less evils have arisen from the same source in the most recent times. The martyrdom of Peter and Paul.
Chapter VI.—Continuation. Several other martyrs.
Chapter VII.—An exhortation to repentance.
Chapter VIII.—Continuation respecting repentance.
Chapter IX.—Examples of the saints.
Chapter X.—Continuation of the above.
Chapter XI.—Continuation. Lot.
Chapter XII.—The rewards of faith and hospitality. Rahab.
Chapter XIII.—An exhortation to humility.
Chapter XIV.—We should obey God rather than the authors of sedition.
Chapter XV.—We must adhere to those who cultivate peace, not to those who merely pretend to do so.
Chapter XVI.—Christ as an example of humility.
Chapter XVII.—The saints as examples of humility.
Chapter XVIII.—David as an example of humility.
Chapter XIX.—Imitating these examples, let us seek after peace.
Chapter XX.—The peace and harmony of the universe.
Chapter XXI.—Let us obey God, and not the authors of sedition.
Chapter XXII.—These exhortations are confirmed by the Christian faith, which proclaims the misery of sinful conduct.
Chapter XXIII.—Be humble, and believe that Christ will come again.
Chapter XXIV.—God continually shows us in nature that there will be a resurrection.
Chapter XXV.—The phœnix an emblem of our resurrection.
Chapter XXVI.—We shall rise again, then, as the Scripture also testifies.
1 Chapter XXVII.—In the hope of the resurrection, let us cleave to the omnipotent and omniscient God.
Chapter XXVIII.—God sees all things: therefore let us avoid transgression.
Chapter XXIX.—Let us also draw near to God in purity of heart.
Chapter XXX.—Let us do those things that please God, and flee from those He hates, that we may be blessed.
Chapter XXXI.—Let us see by what means we may obtain the divine blessing.
Chapter XXXII.—We are justified not by our own works, but by faith.
Chapter XXXIII.—But let us not give up the practice of good works and love. God Himself is an example to us of good works.
Chapter XXXIV.—Great is the reward of good works with God. Joined together in harmony, let us implore that reward from Him.
Chapter XXXV.—Immense is this reward. How shall we obtain it?
Chapter XXXVI.—All blessings are given to us through Christ.
Chapter XXXVII.—Christ is our leader, and we His soldiers.
Chapter XXXVIII.—Let the members of the Church submit themselves, and no one exalt himself above another.
Chapter XXXIX.—There is no reason for self-conceit.
Chapter XL.—Let us preserve in the Church the order appointed by God.
Chapter XLI.—Continuation of the same subject.
Chapter XLII.—The order of ministers in the Church.
Chapter XLIII.—Moses of old stilled the contention which arose concerning the priestly dignity.
Chapter XLIV.—The ordinances of the apostles, that there might be no contention respecting the priestly office.
Chapter XLV.—It is the part of the wicked to vex the righteous.
Chapter XLVI.—Let us cleave to the righteous: your strife is pernicious.
Chapter XLVII.—Your recent discord is worse than the former which took place in the times of Paul.
Chapter XLVIII.—Let us return to the practice of brotherly love.
Chapter XLIX.—The praise of love.
Chapter L.—Let us pray to be thought worthy of love.
Chapter LI.—Let the partakers in strife acknowledge their sins.
Chapter LII.—Such a confession is pleasing to God.
Chapter LIII.—The love of Moses towards his people.
Chapter LIV.—He who is full of love will incur every loss, that peace may be restored to the Church.
Chapter LV.—Examples of such love.
Chapter LVI.—Let us admonish and correct one another.
Chapter LVII.—Let the authors of sedition submit themselves.
Chapter LVIII.—Blessings sought for all that call upon God.
Chapter LIX.—The Corinthians are exhorted speedily to send back word that peace has been restored. The benediction.
Introductory Note to the Epistles of Ignatius
Introductory Note to the Syriac Version of the Ignatian Epistles
Introductory Note to the Spurious Epistles of Ignatius
Introductory Note to the Writings of Justin Martyr
1 Chapter I.—Address.
1 Chapter II.—Justice demanded.
Chapter III.—Claim of judicial investigation.
Chapter IV.—Christians unjustly condemned for their mere name.
Chapter V.—Christians charged with atheism.
Chapter VI.—Charge of atheism refuted.
Chapter VII.—Each Christian must be tried by his own life.
Chapter VIII.—Christians confess their faith in God.
Chapter IX.—Folly of idol worship.
Chapter X.—How God is to be served.
Chapter XI.—What kingdom Christians look for.
Chapter XII.—Christians live as under God’s eye.
Chapter XIII.—Christians serve God rationally.
Chapter XIV.—The demons misrepresent Christian doctrine.
Chapter XV.—What Christ himself taught.
Chapter XVI.—Concerning patience and swearing.
Chapter XVII.—Christ taught civil obedience.
Chapter XVIII.—Proof of immortality and the resurrection.
Chapter XIX.—The resurrection possible.
Chapter XX.—Heathen analogies to Christian doctrine.
Chapter XXI.—Analogies to the history of Christ.
Chapter XXII.—Analogies to the sonship of Christ.
Chapter XXIII.—The argument.
Chapter XXIV.—Varieties of heathen worship.
Chapter XXV.—False Gods abandoned by Christians.
Chapter XXVI.—Magicians not trusted by Christians.
Chapter XXVII.—Guilt of exposing children.
Chapter XXVIII.—God’s care for men.
Chapter XXIX.—Continence of Christians.
Chapter XXX.—Was Christ not a magician?
Chapter XXXI.—Of the Hebrew prophets.
Chapter XXXII.—Christ predicted by Moses.
Chapter XXXIII.—Manner of Christ’s birth predicted.
Chapter XXXIV.—Place of Christ’s birth foretold.
Chapter XXXV.—Other fulfilled prophecies.
Chapter XXXVI.—Different modes of prophecy.
Chapter XXXVII.—Utterances of the Father.
Chapter XXXVIII.—Utterances of the Son.
Chapter XXXIX.—Direct predictions by the Spirit.
Chapter XL.—Christ’s advent foretold.
Chapter XLI.—The crucifixion predicted.
Chapter XLII.—Prophecy using the past tense.
Chapter XLIII.—Responsibility asserted.
Chapter XLIV.—Not nullified by prophecy.
Chapter XLV.—Christ’s session in heaven foretold.
Chapter XLVI.—The Word in the world before Christ.
Chapter XLVII.—Desolation of Judæa foretold.
Chapter XLVIII.—Christ’s work and death foretold.
Chapter XLIX.—His rejection by the Jews foretold.
Chapter L.—His humiliation predicted.
Chapter LI.—The majesty of Christ.
Chapter LII.—Certain fulfilment of prophecy.
Chapter LIII.—Summary of the prophecies.
Chapter LIV.—Origin of heathen mythology.
Chapter LV.—Symbols of the cross.
Chapter LVI.—The demons still mislead men.
Chapter LVII.—And cause persecution.
Chapter LVIII.—And raise up heretics.
Chapter LIX.—Plato’s obligation to Moses.
Chapter LX.—Plato’s doctrine of the cross.
Chapter LXI.—Christian baptism.
Chapter LXII.—Its imitation by demons.
Chapter LXIII.—How God appeared to Moses.
Chapter LXIV.—Further misrepresentations of the truth.
Chapter LXV.—Administration of the sacraments.
Chapter LXVI.—Of the Eucharist.
Chapter LXVII.—Weekly worship of the Christians.
Chapter LXVIII.—Conclusion.
Chapter I.—Introduction.
Chapter II.—Justin describes his studies in philosophy.
Chapter III.—Justin narrates the manner of his conversion.
Chapter IV.—The soul of itself cannot see God.
Chapter V.—The soul is not in its own nature immortal.
Chapter VI.—These things were unknown to Plato and other philosophers.
Chapter VII.—The knowledge of truth to be sought from the prophets alone.
Chapter VIII.—Justin by his colloquy is kindled with love to Christ.
Chapter IX.—The Christians have not believed groundless stories.
Chapter X.—Trypho blames the Christians for this alone—the non-observance of the law.
Chapter XI.—The law abrogated; the New Testament promised and given by God.
Chapter XII.—The Jews violate the eternal law, and interpret ill that of Moses.
Chapter XIII.—Isaiah teaches that sins are forgiven through Christ’s blood.
Chapter XIV.—Righteousness is not placed in Jewish rites, but in the conversion of the heart given in baptism by Christ.
Chapter XV.—In what the true fasting consists.
Chapter XVI.—Circumcision given as a sign, that the Jews might be driven away for their evil deeds done to Christ and the Christians.
Chapter XVII.—The Jews sent persons through the whole earth to spread calumnies on Christians.
Chapter XVIII.—Christians would observe the law, if they did not know why it was instituted.
Chapter XIX.—Circumcision unknown before Abraham. The law was given by Moses on account of the hardness of their hearts.
Chapter XX.—Why choice of meats was prescribed.
Chapter XXI.—Sabbaths were instituted on account of the people’s sins, and not for a work of righteousness.
Chapter XXII.—So also were sacrifices and oblations.
Chapter XXIII.—The opinion of the Jews regarding the law does an injury to God.
Chapter XXIV.—The Christians’ circumcision far more excellent.
Chapter XXV.—The Jews boast in vain that they are sons of Abraham.
Chapter XXVI.—No salvation to the Jews except through Christ.
Chapter XXVII.—Why God taught the same things by the prophets as by Moses.
Chapter XXVIII.—True righteousness is obtained by Christ.
Chapter XXIX.—Christ is useless to those who observe the law.
Chapter XXX.—Christians possess the true righteousness.
Chapter XXXI.—If Christ’s power be now so great, how much greater at the second advent!
Chapter XXXII.—Trypho objecting that Christ is described as glorious by Daniel, Justin distinguishes two advents.
Chapter XXXIII.—Ps. cx. is not spoken of Hezekiah. He proves that Christ was first humble, then shall be glorious.
Chapter XXXIV.—Nor does Ps. lxxii. apply to Solomon, whose faults Christians shudder at.
Chapter XXXV.—Heretics confirm the Catholics in the faith.
Chapter XXXVI.—He proves that Christ is called Lord of Hosts.
Chapter XXXVII.—The same is proved from other Psalms.
Chapter XXXVIII.—It is an annoyance to the Jew that Christ is said to be adored. Justin confirms it, however, from Ps. xlv.
Chapter XXXIX.—The Jews hate the Christians who believe this. How great the distinction is between both!
Chapter XL.—He returns to the Mosaic laws, and proves that they were figures of the things which pertain to Christ.
Chapter XLI.—The oblation of fine flour was a figure of the Eucharist.
Chapter XLII.—The bells on the priest’s robe were a figure of the apostles.
Chapter XLIII.—He concludes that the law had an end in Christ, who was born of the Virgin.
Chapter XLIV.—The Jews in vain promise themselves salvation, which cannot be obtained except through Christ.
Chapter XLV.—Those who were righteous before and under the law shall be saved by Christ.
Chapter XLVI.—Trypho asks whether a man who keeps the law even now will be saved. Justin proves that it contributes nothing to righteousness.
Chapter XLVII.—Justin communicates with Christians who observe the law. Not a few Catholics do otherwise.
Chapter XLVIII.—Before the divinity of Christ is proved, he [Trypho] demands that it be settled that He is Christ.
Chapter XLIX.—To those who object that Elijah has not yet come, he replies that he is the precursor of the first advent.
Chapter L.—It is proved from Isaiah that John is the precursor of Christ.
Chapter LI.—It is proved that this prophecy has been fulfilled.
Chapter LII.—Jacob predicted two advents of Christ.
Chapter LIII.—Jacob predicted that Christ would ride on an ass, and Zechariah confirms it.
Chapter LIV.—What the blood of the grape signifies.
Chapter LV.—Trypho asks that Christ be proved God, but without metaphor. Justin promises to do so.
Chapter LVI.—God who appeared to Moses is distinguished from God the Father.
Chapter LVII.—The Jew objects, why is He said to have eaten, if He be God? Answer of Justin.
Chapter LVIII.—The same is proved from the visions which appeared to Jacob.
Chapter LIX.—God distinct from the Father conversed with Moses.
Chapter LX.—Opinions of the Jews with regard to Him who appeared in the bush.
Chapter LXI—Wisdom is begotten of the Father, as fire from fire.
Chapter LXII.—The words “Let Us make man” agree with the testimony of Proverbs.
Chapter LXIII.—It is proved that this God was incarnate.
Chapter LXIV.—Justin adduces other proofs to the Jew, who denies that he needs this Christ.
Chapter LXV.—The Jew objects that God does not give His glory to another. Justin explains the passage.
Chapter LXVI.—He proves from Isaiah that God was born from a virgin.
Chapter LXVII.—Trypho compares Jesus with Perseus; and would prefer [to say] that He was elected [to be Christ] on account of observance of the law. Justin speaks of the law as formerly.
Chapter LXVIII.—He complains of the obstinacy of Trypho; he answers his objection; he convicts the Jews of bad faith.
Chapter LXIX.—The devil, since he emulates the truth, has invented fables about Bacchus, Hercules, and Æsculapius.
Chapter LXX.—So also the mysteries of Mithras are distorted from the prophecies of Daniel and Isaiah.
Chapter LXXI.—The Jews reject the interpretation of the LXX., from which, moreover, they have taken away some passages.
Chapter LXXII.—Passages have been removed by the Jews from Esdras and Jeremiah.
Chapter LXXIII.—[The words] “From the wood” have been cut out of Ps. xcvi.
Chapter LXXIV.—The beginning of Ps. xcvi. is attributed to the Father [by Trypho]. But [it refers] to Christ by these words: “Tell ye among the nations that the Lord,” etc.
Chapter LXXV.—It is proved that Jesus was the name of God in the book of Exodus.
Chapter LXXVI.—From other passages the same majesty and government of Christ are proved.
Chapter LXXVII.—He returns to explain the prophecy of Isaiah.
Chapter LXXVIII.—He proves that this prophecy harmonizes with Christ alone, from what is afterwards written.
Chapter LXXIX.—He proves against Trypho that the wicked angels have revolted from God.
1 Chapter LXXX.—The opinion of Justin with regard to the reign of a thousand years. Several Catholics reject it.
Chapter LXXXI.—He endeavours to prove this opinion from Isaiah and the Apocalypse.
Chapter LXXXII.—The prophetical gifts of the Jews were transferred to the Christians.
Chapter LXXXIII.—It is proved that the Psalm, “The Lord said to My Lord,” etc., does not suit Hezekiah.
Chapter LXXXIV.—That prophecy, “Behold, a virgin,” etc., suits Christ alone.
Chapter LXXXV.—He proves that Christ is the Lord of Hosts from Ps. xxiv., and from his authority over demons.
Chapter LXXXVI.—There are various figures in the Old Testament of the wood of the cross by which Christ reigned.
Chapter LXXXVII.—Trypho maintains in objection these words: “And shall rest on Him,” etc. They are explained by Justin.
Chapter LXXXVIII.—Christ has not received the Holy Spirit on account of poverty.
Chapter LXXXIX.—The cross alone is offensive to Trypho on account of the curse, yet it proves that Jesus is Christ.
Chapter XC.—The stretched-out hands of Moses signified beforehand the cross.
Chapter XCI.—The cross was foretold in the blessings of Joseph, and in the serpent that was lifted up.
Chapter XCII.—Unless the scriptures be understood through God’s great grace, God will not appear to have taught always the same righteousness.
Chapter XCIII.—The same kind of righteousness is bestowed on all. Christ comprehends it in two precepts.
Chapter XCIV.—In what sense he who hangs on a tree is cursed.
Chapter XCV.—Christ took upon Himself the curse due to us.
Chapter XCVI.—That curse was a prediction of the things which the Jews would do.
Chapter XCVII.—Other predictions of the cross of Christ.
Chapter XCVIII.—Predictions of Christ in Ps. xxii.
Chapter XCIX.—In the commencement of the Psalm are Christ’s dying words.
Chapter C.—In what sense Christ is [called] Jacob, and Israel, and Son of Man.
Chapter CI.—Christ refers all things to the Father
Chapter CII.—The prediction of the events which happened to Christ when He was born. Why God permitted it.
Chapter CIII.—The Pharisees are the bulls: the roaring lion is Herod or the devil.
Chapter CIV.—Circumstances of Christ’s death are predicted in this Psalm.
Chapter CV.—The Psalm also predicts the crucifixion and the subject of the last prayers of Christ on Earth.
Chapter CVI.—Christ’s resurrection is foretold in the conclusion of the Psalm.
Chapter CVII.—The same is taught from the history of Jonah.
Chapter CVIII.—The resurrection of Christ did not convert the Jews. But through the whole world they have sent men to accuse Christ.
Chapter CIX.—The conversion of the Gentiles has been predicted by Micah.
Chapter CX.—A portion of the prophecy already fulfilled in the Christians: the rest shall be fulfilled at the second advent.
Chapter CXI.—The two advents were signified by the two goats. Other figures of the first advent, in which the Gentiles are freed by the blood of Christ.
Chapter CXII.—The Jews expound these signs jejunely and feebly, and take up their attention only with insignificant matters.
Chapter CXIII.—Joshua was a figure of Christ.
Chapter CXIV.—Some rules for discerning what is said about Christ. The circumcision of the Jews is very different from that which Christians receive.
Chapter CXV.—Prediction about the Christians in Zechariah. The malignant way which the Jews have in disputations.
Chapter CXVI.—It is shown how this prophecy suits the Christians.
Chapter CXVII.—Malachi’s prophecy concerning the sacrifices of the Christians. It cannot be taken as referring to the prayers of Jews of the dispersion.
Chapter CXVIII.—He exhorts to repentance before Christ comes; in whom Christians, since they believe, are far more religious than Jews.
Chapter CXIX.—Christians are the holy people promised to Abraham. They have been called like Abraham.
Chapter CXX.—Christians were promised to Isaac, Jacob, and Judah.
Chapter CXXI.—From the fact that the Gentiles believe in Jesus, it is evident that He is Christ.
Chapter CXXII.—The Jews understand this of the proselytes without reason.
Chapter CXXIII.—Ridiculous interpretations of the Jews. Christians are the true Israel.
Chapter CXXIV.—Christians are the sons of God.
Chapter CXXV.—He explains what force the word Israel has, and how it suits Christ.
Chapter CXXVI.—The various names of Christ according to both natures. It is shown that He is God, and appeared to the patriarchs.
Chapter CXXVII.—These passages of Scripture do not apply to the Father, but to the Word.
Chapter CXXVIII.—The Word is sent not as an inanimate power, but as a person begotten of the Father’s substance.
Chapter CXXIX.—That is confirmed from other passages of Scripture.
Chapter CXXX.—He returns to the conversion of the Gentiles, and shows that it was foretold.
Chapter CXXXI.—How much more faithful to God the Gentiles are who are converted to Christ than the Jews.
Chapter CXXXII.—How great the power was of the name of Jesus in the Old Testament.
Chapter CXXXIII.—The hard-heartedness of the Jews, for whom the Christians pray.
Chapter CXXXIV.—The marriages of Jacob are a figure of the Church.
Chapter CXXXV.—Christ is king of Israel, and Christians are the Israelitic race.
Chapter CXXXVI.—The Jews, in rejecting Christ, rejected God who sent him.
Chapter CXXXVII.—He exhorts the Jews to be converted.
Chapter CXXXVIII.—Noah is a figure of Christ, who has regenerated us by water, and faith, and wood: [i.e., the cross.]
Chapter CXXXIX.—The blessings, and also the curse, pronounced by Noah were prophecies of the future.
Chapter CXL.—In Christ all are free. The Jews hope for salvation in vain because they are sons of Abraham.
Chapter CXLI.—Free-will in men and angels.
Chapter CXLII.—The Jews return thanks, and leave Justin.
Chapter I.—Reasons for addressing the Greeks.
Chapter II—The poets are unfit to be religious teachers.
Chapter III.—Opinions of the school of Thales.
Chapter IV.—Opinions of Pythagoras and Epicurus.
Chapter V.—Opinions of Plato and Aristotle.
Chapter VI.—Further disagreements between Plato and Aristotle.
Chapter VII.—Inconsistencies of Plato’s doctrine.
Chapter VIII.—Antiquity, inspiration, and harmony of Christian teachers.
Chapter IX.—The antiquity of Moses proved by Greek writers.
Chapter X—Training and inspiration of Moses.
Chapter XI.—Heathen oracles testify of Moses.
Chapter XII.—Antiquity of Moses proved.
Chapter XIII.—History of the Septuagint.
Chapter XIV.—A warning appeal to the Greeks.
Chapter XV.—Testimony of Orpheus to monotheism.
Chapter XVI.—Testimony of the Sibyl.
Chapter XVII.—Testimony of Homer.
Chapter XVIII.—Testimony of Sophocles.
Chapter XIX.—Testimony of Pythagoras.
Chapter XX.—Testimony of Plato.
Chapter XXI.—The namelessness of God.
Chapter XXII.—Studied ambiguity of Plato.
Chapter XXIII.—Plato’s self-contradiction.
Chapter XXIV.—Agreement of Plato and Homer.
Chapter XXV.—Plato’s knowledge of God’s eternity.
Chapter XXVI.—Plato indebted to the prophets.
Chapter XXVII.—Plato’s knowledge of the judgment.
Chapter XXVIII.—Homer’s obligations to the sacred writers.
Chapter XXIX.—Origin of Plato’s doctrine of form.
Chapter XXX.—Homer’s knowledge of man’s origin.
Chapter XXXI.—Further proof of Plato’s acquaintance with Scripture.
Chapter XXXII.—Plato’s doctrine of the heavenly gift.
Chapter XXXIII.—Plato’s idea of the beginning of time drawn from Moses.
Chapter XXXIV.—Whence men attributed to God human form.
Chapter XXXV.—Appeal to the Greeks.
Chapter XXXVI.—True knowledge not held by the philosophers.
Chapter XXXVII.—Of the Sibyl.
Chapter XXXVIII.—Concluding appeal.
Introductory Note to Irenæus Against Heresies
Preface.
Chapter I.—Absurd ideas of the disciples of Valentinus as to the origin, name, order, and conjugal productions of their fancied Æons, with the passages of Scripture which they adapt to their opinions.
Chapter II.—The Propator was known to Monogenes alone. Ambition, disturbance, and danger into which Sophia fell; her shapeless offspring: she is restored by Horos. The production of Christ and of the Holy Spirit, in order to the completion of the Æons. Manner of the production of Jesus.
Chapter III.—Texts of Holy Scripture used by these heretics to support their opinions.
Chapter IV.—Account given by the heretics of the formation of Achamoth; origin of the visible world from her disturbances.
Chapter V.—Formation of the Demiurge; description of him. He is the creator of everything outside of the Pleroma.
Chapter VI.—The threefold kind of man feigned by these heretics: good works needless for them, though necessary to others: their abandoned morals.
Chapter VII.—The mother Achamoth, when all her seed are perfected, shall pass into the Pleroma, accompanied by those men who are spiritual; the Demiurge, with animal men, shall pass into the intermediate habitation; but all material men shall go into corruption. Their blasphemous opinions against the true incarnation of Christ by the Virgin Mary. Their views as to the prophecies. Stupid ignorance of the Demiurge.
Chapter VIII.—How the Valentinians pervert the Scriptures to support their own pious opinions.
Chapter IX.—Refutation of the impious interpretations of these heretics.
Chapter X.—Unity of the faith of the Church throughout the whole world.
Chapter XI.—The opinions of Valentinus, with those of his disciples and others.
Chapter XII.—The doctrines of the followers of Ptolemy and Colorbasus.
Chapter XIII.—The deceitful arts and nefarious practices of Marcus.
Chapter XIV.—The various hypotheses of Marcus and others. Theories respecting letters and syllables.
Chapter XV.—Sige relates to Marcus the generation of the twenty-four elements and of Jesus. Exposure of these absurdities.
Chapter XVI.—Absurd interpretations of the Marcosians.
Chapter XVII.—The theory of the Marcosians, that created things were made after the image of things invisible.
Chapter XVIII.—Passages from Moses, which the heretics pervert to the support of their hypothesis.
Chapter XIX.—Passages of Scripture by which they attempt to prove that the Supreme Father was unknown before the coming of Christ.
Chapter XX.—The apocryphal and spurious Scriptures of the Marcosians, with passages of the Gospels which they pervert.
Chapter XXI.—The views of redemption entertained by these heretics.
Chapter XXII.—Deviations of heretics from the truth.
Chapter XXIII.—Doctrines and practices of Simon Magus and Menander.
Chapter XXIV.—Doctrines of Saturninus and Basilides.
Chapter XXV.—Doctrines of Carpocrates.
Chapter XXVI.—Doctrines of Cerinthus, the Ebionites, and Nicolaitanes.
Chapter XXVII.—Doctrines of Cerdo and Marcion.
Chapter XXVIII.—Doctrines of Tatian, the Encratites, and others.
Chapter XXIX.—Doctrines of various other Gnostic sects, and especially of the Barbeliotes or Borborians.
Chapter XXX.—Doctrines of the Ophites and Sethians.
Chapter XXXI.—Doctrines of the Cainites.
Preface.
Chapter I.—There is but one God: the impossibility of its being otherwise.
Chapter II.—The world was not formed by angels, or by any other being, contrary to the will of the most high God, but was made by the Father through the Word.
Chapter III.—The Bythus and Pleroma of the Valentinians, as well as the God of Marcion, shown to be absurd; the world was actually created by the same Being who had conceived the idea of it, and was not the fruit of defect or ignorance.
Chapter IV.—The absurdity of the supposed vacuum and defect of the heretics is demonstrated.
Chapter V.—This world was not formed by any other beings within the territory which is contained by the Father.
Chapter VI.—The angels and the Creator of the world could not have been ignorant of the Supreme God.
Chapter VII.—Created things are not the images of those Æons who are within the Pleroma.
Chapter VIII.—Created things are not a shadow of the Pleroma.
Chapter IX.—There is but one Creator of the world, God the Father: this the constant belief of the Church.
Chapter X.—Perverse interpretations of Scripture by the heretics: God created all things out of nothing, and not from pre-existent matter.
Chapter XI.—The heretics, from their disbelief of the truth, have fallen into an abyss of error: reasons for investigating their systems.
Chapter XII.—The Triacontad of the heretics errs both by defect and excess: Sophia could never have produced anything apart from her consort; Logos and Sige could not have been contemporaries.
Chapter XIII.—The first order of production maintained by the heretics is altogether indefensible.
Chapter XIV.—Valentinus and his followers derived the principles of their system from the heathen; the names only are changed.
Chapter XV.—No account can be given of these productions.
Chapter XVI.—The Creator of the world either produced of Himself the images of things to be made, or the Pleroma was formed after the image of some previous system; and so on ad infinitum.
Chapter XVII.—Inquiry into the production of the Æons: whatever its supposed nature, it is in every respect inconsistent; and on the hypothesis of the heretics, even Nous and the Father Himself would be stained with ignorance.
Chapter XVIII.—Sophia was never really in ignorance or passion; her Enthymesis could not have been separated from herself, or exhibited special tendencies of its own.
Chapter XIX.—Absurdities of the heretics as to their own origin: their opinions respecting the Demiurge shown to be equally untenable and ridiculous.
Chapter XX.—Futility of the arguments adduced to demonstrate the sufferings of the twelfth Æon, from the parables, the treachery of Judas, and the passion of our Saviour.
Chapter XXI.—The twelve apostles were not a type of the Æons.
Chapter XXII.—The thirty Æons are not typified by the fact that Christ was baptized in His thirtieth year: He did not suffer in the twelfth month after His baptism, but was more than fifty years old when He died.
Chapter XXIII.—The woman who suffered from an issue of blood was no type of the suffering Æon.
Chapter XXIV.—Folly of the arguments derived by the heretics from numbers, letters, and syllables.
Chapter XXV.—God is not to be sought after by means of letters, syllables, and numbers; necessity of humility in such investigations.
Chapter XXVI.—“Knowledge puffeth up, but love edifieth.”
Chapter XXVII.—Proper mode of interpreting parables and obscure passages of Scripture.
Chapter XXVIII.—Perfect knowledge cannot be attained in the present life: many questions must be submissively left in the hands of God.
Chapter XXIX.—Refutation of the views of the heretics as to the future destiny of the soul and body.
Chapter XXX.—Absurdity of their styling themselves spiritual, while the Demiurge is declared to be animal.
Chapter XXXI.—Recapitulation and application of the foregoing arguments.
Chapter XXXII.—Further exposure of the wicked and blasphemous doctrines of the heretics.
Chapter XXXIII.—Absurdity of the doctrine of the transmigration of souls.
Chapter XXXIV.—Souls can be recognised in the separate state, and are immortal although they once had a beginning.
Chapter XXXV.—Refutation of Basilides, and of the opinion that the prophets uttered their predictions under the inspiration of different gods.
Preface.
Chapter I.—The apostles did not commence to preach the Gospel, or to place anything on record until they were endowed with the gifts and power of the Holy Spirit. They preached one God alone, Maker of heaven and earth.
Chapter II.—The heretics follow neither Scripture nor tradition.
Chapter III.—A refutation of the heretics, from the fact that, in the various Churches, a perpetual succession of bishops was kept up.
Chapter IV.—The truth is to be found nowhere else but in the Catholic Church, the sole depository of apostolical doctrine. Heresies are of recent formation, and cannot trace their origin up to the apostles.
Chapter V.—Christ and His apostles, without any fraud, deception, or hypocrisy, preached that one God, the Father, was the founder of all things. They did not accommodate their doctrine to the prepossessions of their hearers.
Chapter VI—The Holy Ghost, throughout the Old Testament Scriptures, made mention of no other God or Lord, save him who is the true God.
Chapter VII.—Reply to an objection founded on the words of St. Paul (2 Cor. iv. 4). St. Paul occasionally uses words not in their grammatical sequence.
Chapter VIII.—Answer to an objection, arising from the words of Christ (Matt. vi. 24). God alone is to be really called God and Lord, for He is without beginning and end.
Chapter IX.—One and the same God, the Creator of heaven and earth, is He whom the prophets foretold, and who was declared by the Gospel. Proof of this, at the outset, from St. Matthew’s Gospel.
Chapter X.—Proofs of the foregoing, drawn from the Gospels of Mark and Luke.
Chapter XI—Proofs in continuation, extracted from St. John’s Gospel. The Gospels are four in number, neither more nor less. Mystic reasons for this.
Chapter XII.—Doctrine of the rest of the apostles.
Chapter XIII—Refutation of the opinion, that Paul was the only apostle who had knowledge of the truth.
Chapter XIV.—If Paul had known any mysteries unrevealed to the other apostles, Luke, his constant companion and fellow-traveller, could not have been ignorant of them; neither could the truth have possibly lain hid from him, through whom alone we learn many and most important particulars of the Gospel history.
Chapter XV.—Refutation of the Ebionites, who disparaged the authority of St. Paul, from the writings of St. Luke, which must be received as a whole. Exposure of the hypocrisy, deceit, and pride of the Gnostics. The apostles and their disciples knew and preached one God, the Creator of the world.
Chapter XVI.—Proofs from the apostolic writings, that Jesus Christ was one and the same, the only begotten Son of God, perfect God and perfect man.
Chapter XVII.—The apostles teach that it was neither Christ nor the Saviour, but the Holy Spirit, who did descend upon Jesus. The reason for this descent.
Chapter XVIII.—Continuation of the foregoing argument. Proofs from the writings of St. Paul, and from the words of Our Lord, that Christ and Jesus cannot be considered as distinct beings; neither can it be alleged that the Son of God became man merely in appearance, but that He did so truly and actually.
Chapter XIX.—Jesus Christ was not a mere man, begotten from Joseph in the ordinary course of nature, but was very God, begotten of the Father most high, and very man, born of the Virgin.
Chapter XX.—God showed himself, by the fall of man, as patient, benign, merciful, mighty to save. Man is therefore most ungrateful, if, unmindful of his own lot, and of the benefits held out to him, he do not acknowledge divine grace.
Chapter XXI.—A vindication of the prophecy in Isa. vii. 14 against the misinterpretations of Theodotion, Aquila, the Ebionites, and the Jews. Authority of the Septuagint version. Arguments in proof that Christ was born of a virgin.
Chapter XXII.—Christ assumed actual flesh, conceived and born of the Virgin.
2 Chapter XXIII.—Arguments in opposition to Tatian, showing that it was consonant to divine justice and mercy that the first Adam should first partake in that salvation offered to all by Christ.
Chapter XXIV.—Recapitulation of the various arguments adduced against Gnostic impiety under all its aspects. The heretics, tossed about by every blast of doctrine, are opposed by the uniform teaching of the Church, which remains so always, and is consistent with itself.
Chapter XXV.—This world is ruled by the providence of one God, who is both endowed with infinite justice to punish the wicked, and with infinite goodness to bless the pious, and impart to them salvation.
Elucidation
Preface.
Chapter I.—The Lord acknowledged but one God and Father.
Chapter II.—Proofs from the plain testimony of Moses, and of the other prophets, whose words are the words of Christ, that there is but one God, the founder of the world, whom Our Lord preached, and whom He called His Father.
Chapter III.—Answer to the cavils of the Gnostics. We are not to suppose that the true God can be changed, or come to an end because the heavens, which are His throne and the earth, His footstool, shall pass away.
Chapter IV.—Answer to another objection, showing that the destruction of Jerusalem, which was the city of the great King, diminished nothing from the supreme majesty and power of God, for that this destruction was put in execution by the most wise counsel of the same God.
Chapter V.—The author returns to his former argument, and shows that there was but one God announced by the law and prophets, whom Christ confesses as His Father, and who, through His word, one living God with Him, made Himself known to men in both covenants.
Chapter VI.—Explanation of the words of Christ, “No man knoweth the Father, but the Son,” etc.; which words the heretics misinterpret. Proof that, by the Father revealing the Son, and by the Son being revealed, the Father was never unknown.
Chapter VII.—Recapitulation of the foregoing argument, showing that Abraham, through the revelation of the Word, knew the Father, and the coming of the Son of God. For this cause, he rejoiced to see the day of Christ, when the promises made to him should be fulfilled. The fruit of this rejoicing has flowed to posterity, viz., to those who are partakers in the faith of Abraham, but not to the Jews who reject the Word of God.
Chapter VIII.—Vain attempts of Marcion and his followers, who exclude Abraham from the salvation bestowed by Christ, who liberated not only Abraham, but the seed of Abraham, by fulfilling and not destroying the law when He healed on the Sabbath-day.
Chapter IX.—There is but one author, and one end to both covenants.
Chapter X.—The Old Testament Scriptures, and those written by Moses in particular, do everywhere make mention of the Son of God, and foretell His advent and passion. From this fact it follows that they were inspired by one and the same God.
Chapter XI.—The old prophets and righteous men knew beforehand of the advent of Christ, and earnestly desired to see and hear Him, He revealing himself in the Scriptures by the Holy Ghost, and without any change in Himself, enriching men day by day with benefits, but conferring them in greater abundance on later than on former generations.
Chapter XII.—It clearly appears that there was but one author of both the old and the new law, from the fact that Christ condemned traditions and customs repugnant to the former, while He confirmed its most important precepts, and taught that He was Himself the end of the Mosaic law.
Chapter XIII.—Christ did not abrogate the natural precepts of the law, but rather fulfilled and extended them. He removed the yoke and bondage of the old law, so that mankind, being now set free, might serve God with that trustful piety which becometh sons.
Chapter XIV.—If God demands obedience from man, if He formed man, called him and placed him under laws, it was merely for man’s welfare; not that God stood in need of man, but that He graciously conferred upon man His favours in every possible manner.
Chapter XV.—At first God deemed it sufficient to inscribe the natural law, or the Decalogue, upon the hearts of men; but afterwards He found it necessary to bridle, with the yoke of the Mosaic law, the desires of the Jews, who were abusing their liberty; and even to add some special commands, because of the hardness of their hearts.
Chapter XVI.—Perfect righteousness was conferred neither by circumcision nor by any other legal ceremonies. The Decalogue, however, was not cancelled by Christ, but is always in force: men were never released from its commandments.
Chapter XVII.—Proof that God did not appoint the Levitical dispensation for His own sake, or as requiring such service; for He does, in fact, need nothing from men.
Chapter XVIII.—Concerning sacrifices and oblations, and those who truly offer them.
Chapter XIX.—Earthly things may be the type of heavenly, but the latter cannot be the types of others still superior and unknown; nor can we, without absolute madness, maintain that God is known to us only as the type of a still unknown and superior being.
Chapter XX.—That one God formed all things in the world, by means of the Word and the Holy Spirit: and that although He is to us in this life invisible and incomprehensible, nevertheless He is not unknown; inasmuch as His works do declare Him, and His Word has shown that in many modes He may be seen and known.
Chapter XXI.—Abraham’s faith was identical with ours; this faith was prefigured by the words and actions of the old patriarchs.
Chapter XXII.—Christ did not come for the sake of the men of one age only, but for all who, living righteously and piously, had believed upon Him; and for those, too, who shall believe.
Chapter XXIII.—The patriarchs and prophets by pointing out the advent of Christ, fortified thereby, as it were, the way of posterity to the faith of Christ; and so the labours of the apostles were lessened inasmuch as they gathered in the fruits of the labours of others.
Chapter XXIV.—The conversion of the Gentiles was more difficult than that of the Jews; the labours of those apostles, therefore who engaged in the former task, were greater than those who undertook the latter.
Chapter XXV.—Both covenants were prefigured in Abraham, and in the labour of Tamar; there was, however, but one and the same God to each covenant.
Chapter XXVI.—The treasure hid in the Scriptures is Christ; the true exposition of the Scriptures is to be found in the Church alone.
Chapter XXVII—The sins of the men of old time, which incurred the displeasure of God, were, by His providence, committed to writing, that we might derive instruction thereby, and not be filled with pride. We must not, therefore, infer that there was another God than He whom Christ preached; we should rather fear, lest the one and the same God who inflicted punishment on the ancients, should bring down heavier upon us.
Chapter XXVIII.—Those persons prove themselves senseless who exaggerate the mercy of Christ, but are silent as to the judgment, and look only at the more abundant grace of the New Testament; but, forgetful of the greater degree of perfection which it demands from us, they endeavour to show that there is another God beyond Him who created the world.
Chapter XXIX.—Refutation of the arguments of the Marcionites, who attempted to show that God was the author of sin, because He blinded Pharaoh and his servants.
Chapter XXX.—Refutation of another argument adduced by the Marcionites, that God directed the Hebrews to spoil the Egyptians.
Chapter XXXI.—We should not hastily impute as crimes to the men of old time those actions which the Scripture has not condemned, but should rather seek in them types of things to come: an example of this in the incest committed by Lot.
Chapter XXXII.—That one God was the author of both Testaments, is confirmed by the authority of a presbyter who had been taught by the apostles.
Chapter XXXIII.—Whosoever confesses that one God is the author of both Testaments, and diligently reads the Scriptures in company with the presbyters of the Church, is a true spiritual disciple; and he will rightly understand and interpret all that the prophets have declared respecting Christ and the liberty of the New Testament.
Chapter XXXIV.—Proof against the Marcionites, that the prophets referred in all their predictions to our Christ.
Chapter XXXV.—A refutation of those who allege that the prophets uttered some predictions under the inspiration of the highest, others from the Demiurge. Disagreements of the Valentinians among themselves with regard to these same predictions.
Chapter XXXVI.—The prophets were sent from one and the same Father from whom the Son was sent.
Chapter XXXVII.—Men are possessed of free will, and endowed with the faculty of making a choice. It is not true, therefore, that some are by nature good, and others bad.
Chapter XXXVIII.—Why man was not made perfect from the beginning.
Chapter XXXIX.—Man is endowed with the faculty of distinguishing good and evil; so that, without compulsion, he has the power, by his own will and choice, to perform God’s commandments, by doing which he avoids the evils prepared for the rebellious.
Chapter XL.—One and the same God the Father inflicts punishment on the reprobate, and bestows rewards on the elect.
Chapter XLI.—Those persons who do not believe in God, but who are disobedient, are angels and sons of the devil, not indeed by nature, but by imitation. Close of this book, and scope of the succeeding one.
Preface.
Chapter I.—Christ alone is able to teach divine things, and to redeem us: He, the same, took flesh of the Virgin Mary, not merely in appearance, but actually, by the operation of the Holy Spirit, in order to renovate us. Strictures on the conceits of Valentinus and Ebion.
Chapter II.—When Christ visited us in His grace, He did not come to what did not belong to Him: also, by shedding His true blood for us, and exhibiting to us His true flesh in the Eucharist, He conferred upon our flesh the capacity of salvation.
Chapter III.—The power and glory of God shine forth in the weakness of human flesh, as He will render our body a participator of the resurrection and of immortality, although He has formed it from the dust of the earth; He will also bestow upon it the enjoyment of immortality, just as He grants it this short life in common with the soul.
Chapter IV.—Those persons are deceived who feign another God the Father besides the Creator of the world; for he must have been feeble and useless, or else malignant and full of envy, if he be either unable or unwilling to extend external life to our bodies.
Chapter V.—The prolonged life of the ancients, the translation of Elijah and of Enoch in their own bodies, as well as the preservation of Jonah, of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, in the midst of extreme peril, are clear demonstrations that God can raise up our bodies to life eternal.
Chapter VI.—God will bestow salvation upon the whole nature of man, consisting of body and soul in close union, since the Word took it upon Him, and adorned with the gifts of the Holy Spirit, of whom our bodies are, and are termed, the temples.
Chapter VII.—Inasmuch as Christ did rise in our flesh, it follows that we shall be also raised in the same; since the resurrection promised to us should not be referred to spirits naturally immortal, but to bodies in themselves mortal.
Chapter VIII.—The gifts of the Holy Spirit which we receive prepare us for incorruption, render us spiritual, and separate us from carnal men. These two classes are signified by the clean and unclean animals in the legal dispensation.
Chapter IX.—Showing how that passage of the apostle which the heretics pervert, should be understood; viz., “Flesh and blood shall not possess the kingdom of God.”
Chapter X.—By a comparison drawn from the wild olive-tree, whose quality but not whose nature is changed by grafting, he proves more important things; he points out also that man without the Spirit is not capable of bringing forth fruit, or of inheriting the kingdom of God.
Chapter XI.—Treats upon the actions of carnal and of spiritual persons; also, that the spiritual cleansing is not to be referred to the substance of our bodies, but to the manner of our former life.
Chapter XII.—Of the difference between life and death; of the breath of life and the vivifying Spirit: also how it is that the substance of flesh revives which once was dead.
Chapter XIII.—In the dead who were raised by Christ we possess the highest proof of the resurrection; and our hearts are shown to be capable of life eternal, because they can now receive the Spirit of God.
Chapter XIV.—Unless the flesh were to be saved, the Word would not have taken upon Him flesh of the same substance as ours: from this it would follow that neither should we have been reconciled by Him.
Chapter XV.—Proofs of the resurrection from Isaiah and Ezekiel; the same God who created us will also raise us up.
Chapter XVI.—Since our bodies return to the earth, it follows that they have their substance from it; also, by the advent of the Word, the image of God in us appeared in a clearer light.
Chapter XVII.—There is but one Lord and one God, the Father and Creator of all things, who has loved us in Christ, given us commandments, and remitted our sins; whose Son and Word Christ proved Himself to be, when He forgave our sins.
Chapter XVIII.—God the Father and His Word have formed all created things (which They use) by Their own power and wisdom, not out of defect or ignorance. The Son of God, who received all power from the Father, would otherwise never have taken flesh upon Him.
Chapter XIX.—A comparison is instituted between the disobedient and sinning Eve and the Virgin Mary, her patroness. Various and discordant heresies are mentioned.
Chapter XX.—Those pastors are to be heard to whom the apostles committed the Churches, possessing one and the same doctrine of salvation; the heretics, on the other hand, are to be avoided. We must think soberly with regard to the mysteries of the faith.
1 Chapter XXI.—Christ is the head of all things already mentioned. It was fitting that He should be sent by the Father, the Creator of all things, to assume human nature, and should be tempted by Satan, that He might fulfil the promises, and carry off a glorious and perfect victory.
Chapter XXII.—The true Lord and the one God is declared by the law, and manifested by Christ His Son in the Gospel; whom alone we should adore, and from Him we must look for all good things, not from Satan.
Chapter XXIII.—The devil is well practised in falsehood, by which Adam having been led astray, sinned on the sixth day of the creation, in which day also he has been renewed by Christ.
Chapter XXIV.—Of the constant falsehood of the devil, and of the powers and governments of the world, which we ought to obey, inasmuch as they are appointed of God, not of the devil.
Chapter XXV.—The fraud, pride, and tyrannical kingdom of Antichrist, as described by Daniel and Paul.
Chapter XXVI.—John and Daniel have predicted the dissolution and desolation of the Roman Empire, which shall precede the end of the world and the eternal kingdom of Christ. The Gnostics are refuted, those tools of Satan, who invent another Father different from the Creator.
Chapter XXVII.—The future judgment by Christ. Communion with and separation from the divine being. The eternal punishment of unbelievers.
Chapter XXVIII.—The distinction to be made between the righteous and the wicked. The future apostasy in the time of Antichrist, and the end of the world.
Chapter XXIX.—All things have been created for the service of man. The deceits, wickedness, and apostate power of Antichrist. This was prefigured at the deluge, as afterwards by the persecution of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
Chapter XXX.—Although certain as to the number of the name of Antichrist, yet we should come to no rash conclusions as to the name itself, because this number is capable of being fitted to many names. Reasons for this point being reserved by the Holy Spirit. Antichrist’s reign and death.
Chapter XXXI.—The preservation of our bodies is confirmed by the resurrection and ascension of Christ: the souls of the saints during the intermediate period are in a state of expectation of that time when they shall receive their perfect and consummated glory.
Chapter XXXII.—In that flesh in which the saints have suffered so many afflictions, they shall receive the fruits of their labours; especially since all creation waits for this, and God promises it to Abraham and his seed.
Chapter XXXIII.—Further proofs of the same proposition, drawn from the promises made by Christ, when He declared that He would drink of the fruit of the vine with His disciples in His Father’s kingdom, while at the same time He promised to reward them an hundred-fold, and to make them partake of banquets. The blessing pronounced by Jacob had pointed out this already, as Papias and the elders have interpreted it.
Chapter XXXIV.—He fortifies his opinions with regard to the temporal and earthly kingdom of the saints after their resurrection, by the various testimonies of Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, and Daniel; also by the parable of the servants watching, to whom the Lord promised that He would minister.
Chapter XXXV.—He contends that these testimonies already alleged cannot be understood allegorically of celestial blessings, but that they shall have their fulfilment after the coming of Antichrist, and the resurrection, in the terrestrial Jerusalem. To the former prophecies he subjoins others drawn from Isaiah, Jeremiah, and the Apocalypse of John.
Chapter XXXVI.—Men shall be actually raised: the world shall not be annihilated; but there shall be various mansions for the saints, according to the rank allotted to each individual. All things shall be subject to God the Father, and so shall He be all in all.
Introductory Note
Elucidations
Introductory Note
Chapter I.—The Greeks Claim, Without Reason, the Invention of the Arts.
Chapter II.—The Vices and Errors of the Philosophers.
Chapter III.—Ridicule of the Philosophers.
Chapter IV.—The Christians Worship God Alone.
Chapter V.—The Doctrine of the Christians as to the Creation of the World.
Chapter VI.—Christians’ Belief in the Resurrection.
Chapter VII.—Concerning the Fall of Man.
Chapter VIII.—The Demons Sin Among Mankind.
Chapter IX.—They Give Rise to Superstitions.
Chapter X.—Ridicule of the Heathen Divinities.
Chapter XI.—The Sin of Men Due Not to Fate, But to Free-Will.
Chapter XII.—The Two Kinds of Spirits.
Chapter XIII.—Theory of the Soul’s Immortality.
Chapter XIV.—The Demons Shall Be Punished More Severely Than Men.
Chapter XV.—Necessity of a Union with the Holy Spirit.
Chapter XVI.—Vain Display of Power by the Demons.
Chapter XVII.—They Falsely Promise Health to Their Votaries.
Chapter XVIII.—They Deceive, Instead of Healing.
Chapter XIX.—Depravity Lies at the Bottom of Demon-Worship.
Chapter XX.—Thanks are Ever Due to God.
Chapter XXI.—Doctrines of the Christians and Greeks Respecting God Compared.
Chapter XXII.—Ridicule of the Solemnities of the Greeks.
Chapter XXIII.—Of the Pugilists and Gladiators.
Chapter XXIV.—Of the Other Public Amusements.
Chapter XXV.—Boastings and Quarrels of the Philosophers.
Chapter XXVI.—Ridicule of the Studies of the Greeks.
Chapter XXVII.—The Christians are Hated Unjustly.
Chapter XXVIII.—Condemnation of the Greek Legislation.
Chapter XXIX.—Account of Tatian’s Conversion.
Chapter XXX.—How He Resolved to Resist the Devil.
Chapter XXXI.—The Philosophy of the Christians More Ancient Than that of the Greeks.
Chapter XXXII.—The Doctrine of the Christians, is Opposed to Dissensions, and Fitted for All.
Chapter XXXIII.—Vindication of Christian Women.
Chapter XXXIV.—Ridicule of the Statues Erected by the Greeks.
Chapter XXXV.—Tatian Speaks as an Eye-Witness.
Chapter XXXVI.—Testimony of the Chaldeans to the Antiquity of Moses.
Chapter XXXVII.—Testimony of the Phœnicians.
Chapter XXXVIII.—The Egyptians Place Moses in the Reign of Inachus.
Chapter XXXIX.—Catalogue of the Argive Kings.
Chapter XL.—Moses More Ancient and Credible Than the Heathen Heroes.
Chapter XLI.
Chapter XLII.—Concluding Statement as to the Author.
Introductory Note
Theophilus to Autolycus
Chapter I.—Occasion of Writing This Book.
Chapter II.—The Gods are Despised When They are Made; But Become Valuable When Bought.
Chapter III.—What Has Become of the Gods?
Chapter IV.—Absurd Opinions of the Philosophers Concerning God.
Chapter V.—Opinions of Homer and Hesiod Concerning the Gods.
Chapter VI.—Hesiod on the Origin of the World.
Chapter VII.—Fabulous Heathen Genealogies.
Chapter VIII.— Opinions Concerning Providence.
Chapter IX.—The Prophets Inspired by the Holy Ghost.
Chapter X.—The World Created by God Through the Word.
Chapter XI.—The Six Days’ Work Described.
Chapter XII.—The Glory of the Six Days’ Work.
Chapter XIII.—Remarks on the Creation of the World.
Chapter XIV.—The World Compared to the Sea.
Chapter XV.—Of the Fourth Day.
Chapter XVI.—Of the Fifth Day.
Chapter XVII.—Of the Sixth Day.
Chapter XVIII.—The Creation of Man.
Chapter XIX.—Man is Placed in Paradise.
Chapter XX.—The Scriptural Account of Paradise.
Chapter XXI.—Of the Fall of Man.
Chapter XXII.—Why God is Said to Have Walked.
Chapter XXIII.—The Truth of the Account in Genesis.
Chapter XXIV.—The Beauty of Paradise.
Chapter XXV.—God Was Justified in Forbidding Man to Eat of the Tree of Knowledge.
Chapter XXVI.—God’s Goodness in Expelling Man from Paradise.
Chapter XXVII.—The Nature of Man.
Chapter XXVIII.—Why Eve Was Formed of Adam’s Rib.
Chapter XXIX.—Cain’s Crime.
Chapter XXX.—Cain’s Family and Their Inventions.
Chapter XXXI.—The History After the Flood.
Chapter XXXII.—How the Human Race Was Dispersed.
Chapter XXXIII.—Profane History Gives No Account of These Matters.
Chapter XXXIV.—The Prophets Enjoined Holiness of Life.
Chapter XXXV.—Precepts from the Prophetic Books.
Chapter XXXVI.—Prophecies of the Sibyl.
Chapter XXXVII.—The Testimonies of the Poets.
Chapter XXXVIII.—The Teachings of the Greek Poets and Philosophers Confirmatory of Those of the Hebrew Prophets.
Introductory Note
Chapter I.—Injustice Shown Towards the Christians.
Chapter II.—Claim to Be Treated as Others are When Accused.
Chapter III.—Charges Brought Against the Christians.
Chapter IV.—The Christians are Not Atheists, But Acknowledge One Only God.
Chapter V.—Testimony of the Poets to the Unity of God.
Chapter VI.—Opinions of the Philosophers as to the One God.
Chapter VII.—Superiority of the Christian Doctrine Respecting God.
Chapter VIII.—Absurdities of Polytheism.
Chapter IX.—The Testimony of the Prophets.
Chapter X.—The Christians Worship the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
Chapter XI.—The Moral Teaching of the Christians Repels the Charge Brought Against Them.
Chapter XII.—Consequent Absurdity of the Charge of Atheism.
Chapter XIII.—Why the Christians Do Not Offer Sacrifices.
Chapter XIV.—Inconsistency of Those Who Accuse the Christians.
Chapter XV.—The Christians Distinguish God from Matter.
Chapter XVI.—The Christians Do Not Worship the Universe.
Chapter XVII.—The Names of the Gods and Their Images are But of Recent Date.
Chapter XVIII.—The Gods Themselves Have Been Created, as the Poets Confess.
Chapter XIX.—The Philosophers Agree with the Poets Respecting the Gods.
Chapter XX.—Absurd Representations of the Gods.
Chapter XXI.—Impure Loves Ascribed to the Gods.
Chapter XXII.—Pretended Symbolical Explanations.
Chapter XXIII.—Opinions of Thales and Plato.
Chapter XXIV.—Concerning the Angels and Giants.
Chapter XXV.—The Poets and Philosophers Have Denied a Divine Providence.
Chapter XXVI.—The Demons Allure Men to the Worship of Images.
Chapter XXVII.—Artifices of the Demons.
Chapter XXVIII.—The Heathen Gods Were Simply Men.
Chapter XXIX.—Proof of the Same from the Poets.
Chapter XXX.—Reasons Why Divinity Has Been Ascribed to Men.
Chapter XXXI.—Confutation of the Other Charges Brought Against the Christians.
Chapter XXXII.—Elevated Morality of the Christians.
Chapter XXXIII.—Chastity of the Christians with Respect to Marriage.
Chapter XXXIV.—The Vast Difference in Morals Between the Christians and Their Accusers.
Chapter XXXV.—The Christians Condemn and Detest All Cruelty.
Chapter XXXVI.—Bearing of the Doctrine of the Resurrection on the Practices of the Christians.
Chapter XXXVII.—Entreaty to Be Fairly Judged.
Chapter I.—Defence of the Truth Should Precede Discussions Regarding It.
Chapter II.—A Resurrection is Not Impossible.
Chapter III.—He Who Could Create, Can Also Raise Up the Dead.
Chapter IV.—Objection from the Fact that Some Human Bodies Have Become Part of Others.
Chapter V.—Reference to the Processes of Digestion and Nutrition.
Chapter VI.—Everything that is Useless or Hurtful is Rejected.
Chapter VII.—The Resurrection-Body Different from the Present.
Chapter VIII.—Human Flesh Not the Proper or Natural Food of Men.
Chapter IX.—Absurdity of Arguing from Man’s Impotency.
Chapter X.—It Cannot Be Shown that God Does Not Will a Resurrection.
Chapter XI.—Recapitulation.
Chapter XII.—Argument for the Resurrection from the Purpose Contemplated in Man’s Creation.
Chapter XIII.—Continuation of the Argument.
Chapter XIV.—The Resurrection Does Not Rest Solely on the Fact of a Future Judgment.
Chapter XV.—Argument for the Resurrection from the Nature of Man.
Chapter XVI—Analogy of Death and Sleep, and Consequent Argument for the Resurrection.
Chapter XVII.—The Series of Changes We Can Now Trace in Man Renders a Resurrection Probable.
Chapter XVIII.—Judgment Must Have Reference Both to Soul and Body: There Will Therefore Be a Resurrection.
Chapter XIX.—Man Would Be More Unfavourably Situated Than the Beasts If There Were No Resurrection.
Chapter XX.—Man Must Be Possessed Both of a Body and Soul Hereafter, that the Judgment Passed Upon Him May Be Just.
Chapter XXI.—Continuation of the Argument.
Chapter XXII.—Continuation of the Argument.
Chapter XXIII.—Continuation of the Argument.
Chapter XXIV.—Argument for the Resurrection from the Chief End of Man.
Chapter XXV.—Argument Continued and Concluded.
Introductory Note
The Instructor
Elucidations
The Stromata, or Miscellanies
Chapter I.—Preface—The Author’s Object—The Utility of Written Compositions.
Chapter II.—Objection to the Number of Extracts from Philosophical Writings in These Books Anticipated and Answered.
Chapter III.—Against the Sophists.
Chapter IV.—Human Arts as Well as Divine Knowledge Proceed from God.
Chapter V.—Philosophy the Handmaid of Theology.
Chapter VI.—The Benefit of Culture.
Chapter VII.—The Eclectic Philosophy Paves the Way for Divine Virtue.
Chapter VIII.—The Sophistical Arts Useless.
Chapter IX.—Human Knowledge Necessary for the Understanding of the Scriptures.
Chapter X.—To Act Well of Greater Consequence Than to Speak Well.
Chapter XI.—What is the Philosophy Which the Apostle Bids Us Shun?
Chapter XII.—The Mysteries of the Faith Not to Be Divulged to All.
Chapter XIII.—All Sects of Philosophy Contain a Germ of Truth.
Chapter XIV.—Succession of Philosophers in Greece.
Chapter XV.—The Greek Philosophy in Great Part Derived from the Barbarians.
Chapter XVI.—That the Inventors of Other Arts Were Mostly Barbarians.
Chapter XVII.—On the Saying of the Saviour, “All that Came Before Me Were Thieves and Robbers.”
Chapter XVIII.—He Illustrates the Apostle’s Saying, “I Will Destroy the Wisdom of the Wise.”
Chapter XIX.—That the Philosophers Have Attained to Some Portion of Truth.
Chapter XX.—In What Respect Philosophy Contributes to the Comprehension of Divine Truth.
Chapter XXI.—The Jewish Institutions and Laws of Far Higher Antiquity Than the Philosophy of the Greeks.
Chapter XXII.—On the Greek Translation of the Old Testament.
Chapter XXIII.—The Age, Birth, and Life of Moses.
Chapter XXIV.—How Moses Discharged the Part of a Military Leader.
Chapter XXV.—Plato an Imitator of Moses in Framing Laws.
Chapter XXVI.—Moses Rightly Called a Divine Legislator, And, Though Inferior to Christ, Far Superior to the Great Legislators of the Greeks, Minos and Lycurgus.
Chapter XXVII.—The Law, Even in Correcting and Punishing, Aims at the Good of Men.
Chapter XXVIII.—The Fourfold Division of the Mosaic Law.
Chapter XXIX.—The Greeks But Children Compared with the Hebrews.
Elucidations
Chapter I.—Introductory.
Chapter II.—The Knowledge of God Can Be Attained Only Through Faith.
Chapter III.—Faith Not a Product of Nature.
Chapter IV.—Faith the Foundation of All Knowledge.
Chapter V.—He Proves by Several Examples that the Greeks Drew from the Sacred Writers.
Chapter VI.—The Excellence and Utility of Faith.
Chapter VII.—The Utility of Fear. Objections Answered.
Chapter VIII.—The Vagaries of Basilides and Valentinus as to Fear Being the Cause of Things.
Chapter IX.—The Connection of the Christian Virtues.
Chapter X.—To What the Philosopher Applies Himself.
Chapter XI.—The Knowledge Which Comes Through Faith the Surest of All.
Chapter XII.—Twofold Faith.
Chapter XIII.—On First and Second Repentance.
Chapter XIV.—How a Thing May Be Involuntary.
Chapter XV.—On the Different Kinds of Voluntary Actions, and the Sins Thence Proceeding.
Chapter XVI.—How We are to Explain the Passages of Scripture Which Ascribe to God Human Affections.
Chapter XVII.—On the Various Kinds of Knowledge.
Chapter XVIII.—The Mosaic Law the Fountain of All Ethics, and the Source from Which the Greeks Drew Theirs.
Chapter XIX.—The True Gnostic is an Imitator of God, Especially in Beneficence.
Chapter XX.—The True Gnostic Exercises Patience and Self-Restraint.
Chapter XXI.—Opinions of Various Philosophers on the Chief Good.
Chapter XXII.—Plato’s Opinion, that the Chief Good Consists in Assimilation to God, and Its Agreement with Scripture.
Chapter XXIII.—On Marriage.
Elucidations
Chapter I.—Order of Contents.
Chapter II.—The Meaning of the Name Stromata or Miscellanies.
Chapter III.—The True Excellence of Man.
Chapter IV.—The Praises of Martyrdom.
Chapter V.—On Contempt for Pain, Poverty, and Other External Things.
Chapter VI.—Some Points in the Beatitudes.
Chapter VII.—The Blessedness of the Martyr.
Chapter VIII.—Women as Well as Men, Slaves as Well as Freemen, Candidates for the Martyr’s Crown.
Chapter IX.—Christ’s Sayings Respecting Martyrdom.
Chapter X.—Those Who Offered Themselves for Martyrdom Reproved.
Chapter XI.—The Objection, Why Do You Suffer If God Cares for You, Answered.
Chapter XII.—Basilides’ Idea of Martyrdom Refuted.
Chapter XIII.—Valentinian’s Vagaries About the Abolition of Death Refuted.
Chapter XIV.—The Love of All, Even of Our Enemies.
Chapter XV.—On Avoiding Offence.
Chapter XVI.—Passages of Scripture Respecting the Constancy, Patience, and Love of the Martyrs.
Chapter XVII.—Passages from Clement’s Epistle to the Corinthians on Martyrdom.
Chapter XVIII.—On Love, and the Repressing of Our Desires.
Chapter XIX.—Women as well as Men Capable of Perfection.
Chapter XX.—A Good Wife.
Chapter XXI.—Description of the Perfect Man, or Gnostic.
Chapter XXII.—The True Gnostic Does Good, Not from Fear of Punishment or Hope of Reward, But Only for the Sake of Good Itself.
Chapter XXIII.—The Same Subject Continued.
Chapter XXIV.—The Reason and End of Divine Punishments.
Chapter XXV.—True Perfection Consists in the Knowledge and Love of God.
Chapter XXVI.—How the Perfect Man Treats the Body and the Things of the World.
Elucidations
Elucidations
Preface.
Apologetic.
Introductory Note.
The Hatred Felt by the Heathen Against the Christians is Unjust, Because Based on Culpable Ignorance.
The Heathen Perverted Judgment in the Trial of Christians. They Would Be More Consistent If They Dispensed with All Form of Trial. Tertullian Urges This with Much Indignation.
The Great Offence in the Christians Lies in Their Very Name. The Name Vindicated.
The Truth Hated in the Christians; So in Measure Was It, of Old, in Socrates. The Virtues of the Christians.
The Inconsistent Life of Any False Christian No More Condemns True Disciples of Christ, Than a Passing Cloud Obscures a Summer Sky.
The Innocence of the Christians Not Compromised by the Iniquitous Laws Which Were Made Against Them.
The Christians Defamed. A Sarcastic Description of Fame; Its Deception and Atrocious Slanders of the Christians Lengthily Described.
The Calumny Against the Christians Illustrated in the Discovery of Psammetichus. Refutation of the Story.
The Christians are Not the Cause of Public Calamities: There Were Such Troubles Before Christianity.
The Christians are Not the Only Contemners of the Gods. Contempt of Them Often Displayed by Heathen Official Persons. Homer Made the Gods Contemptible.
The Absurd Cavil of the Ass's Head Disposed of.
The Charge of Worshipping a Cross. The Heathens Themselves Made Much of Crosses in Sacred Things; Nay, Their Very Idols Were Formed on a Crucial Frame.
The Charge of Worshipping the Sun Met by a Retort.
The Vile Calumny About Onocoetes Retorted on the Heathen by Tertullian.
The Charge of Infanticide Retorted on the Heathen.
Other Charges Repelled by the Same Method. The Story of the Noble Roman Youth and His Parents.
The Christian Refusal to Swear by the Genius of Cæsar. Flippancy and Irreverence Retorted on the Heathen.
Christians Charged with an Obstinate Contempt of Death. Instances of the Same are Found Amongst the Heathen.
If Christians and the Heathen Thus Resemble Each Other, There is Great Difference in the Grounds and Nature of Their Apparently Similar Conduct.
Truth and Reality Pertain to Christians Alone. The Heathen Counselled to Examine and Embrace It.
The Heathen Gods from Heathen Authorities. Varro Has Written a Work on the Subject. His Threefold Classification. The Changeable Character of that Which Ought to Be Fixed and Certain.
Philosophers Had Not Succeeded in Discovering God. The Uncertainty and Confusion of Their Speculations.
The Physical Philosophers Maintained the Divinity of the Elements; The Absurdity of the Tenet Exposed.
Wrong Derivation of the Word Qeός. The Name Indicative of the True Deity. God Without Shape and Immaterial. Anecdote of Thales.
The Physical Theory Continued. Further Reasons Advanced Against the Divinity of the Elements.
The Changes of the Heavenly Bodies, Proof that They are Not Divine. Transition from the Physical to the Mythic Class of Gods.
The Gods of the Mythic Class. The Poets a Very Poor Authority in Such Matters. Homer and the Mythic Poets. Why Irreligious.
The Gods of the Different Nations. Varro's Gentile Class. Their Inferiority. A Good Deal of This Perverse Theology Taken from Scripture. Serapis a Perversion of Joseph.
The Power of Rome. Romanized Aspect of All the Heathen Mythology. Varro's Threefold Distribution Criticised. Roman Heroes (Æneas Included,) Unfavourably Reviewed.
A Disgraceful Feature of the Roman Mythology. It Honours Such Infamous Characters as Larentina.
The Romans Provided Gods for Birth, Nay, Even Before Birth, to Death. Much Indelicacy in This System.
The Original Deities Were Human—With Some Very Questionable Characteristics. Saturn or Time Was Human. Inconsistencies of Opinion About Him.
The Gods Human at First. Who Had the Authority to Make Them Divine? Jupiter Not Only Human, But Immoral.
Gods, Those Which Were Confessedly Elevated to the Divine Condition, What Pre-Eminent Right Had They to Such Honour? Hercules an Inferior Character.
The Constellations and the Genii Very Indifferent Gods. The Roman Monopoly of Gods Unsatisfactory. Other Nations Require Deities Quite as Much.
Inventors of Useful Arts Unworthy of Deification. They Would Be the First to Acknowledge a Creator. The Arts Changeable from Time to Time, and Some Become Obsolete.
Conclusion, the Romans Owe Not Their Imperial Power to Their Gods. The Great God Alone Dispenses Kingdoms, He is the God of the Christians.
It is Not to the Philosophers that We Resort for Information About the Soul But to God.
The Christian Has Sure and Simple Knowledge Concerning the Subject Before Us.
The Soul's Origin Defined Out of the Simple Words of Scripture.
In Opposition to Plato, the Soul Was Created and Originated at Birth.
Probable View of the Stoics, that the Soul Has a Corporeal Nature.
The Arguments of the Platonists for the Soul's Incorporeality, Opposed, Perhaps Frivolously.
The Soul's Corporeality Demonstrated Out of the Gospels.
Other Platonist Arguments Considered.
Particulars of the Alleged Communication to a Montanist Sister.
The Simple Nature of the Soul is Asserted with Plato. The Identity of Spirit and Soul.
Spirit—A Term Expressive of an Operation of the Soul, Not of Its Nature. To Be Carefully Distinguished from the Spirit of God.
Difference Between the Mind and the Soul, and the Relation Between Them.
The Soul's Supremacy.
The Soul Variously Divided by the Philosophers; This Division is Not a Material Dissection.
The Soul's Vitality and Intelligence. Its Character and Seat in Man.
The Soul's Parts. Elements of the Rational Soul.
The Fidelity of the Senses, Impugned by Plato, Vindicated by Christ Himself.
Plato Suggested Certain Errors to the Gnostics. Functions of the Soul.
The Intellect Coeval with the Soul in the Human Being. An Example from Aristotle Converted into Evidence Favourable to These Views.
The Soul, as to Its Nature Uniform, But Its Faculties Variously Developed. Varieties Only Accidental.
As Free-Will Actuates an Individual So May His Character Change.
Recapitulation. Definition of the Soul.
The Opinions of Sundry Heretics Which Originate Ultimately with Plato.
Plato's Inconsistency. He Supposes the Soul Self-Existent, Yet Capable of Forgetting What Passed in a Previous State.
Tertullian Refutes, Physiologically, the Notion that the Soul is Introduced After Birth.
Scripture Alone Offers Clear Knowledge on the Questions We Have Been Controverting.
Soul and Body Conceived, Formed and Perfected in Element Simultaneously.
The Pythagorean Doctrine of Transmigration Sketched and Censured.
The Pythagorean Doctrine Refuted by Its Own First Principle, that Living Men are Formed from the Dead.
Further Refutation of the Pythagorean Theory. The State of Contemporary Civilisation.
Further Exposure of Transmigration, Its Inextricable Embarrassment.
Empedocles Increased the Absurdity of Pythagoras by Developing the Posthumous Change of Men into Various Animals.
The Judicial Retribution of These Migrations Refuted with Raillery.
These Vagaries Stimulated Some Profane Corruptions of Christianity. The Profanity of Simon Magus Condemned.
The Opinions of Carpocrates, Another Offset from the Pythagorean Dogmas, Stated and Confuted.
The Main Points of Our Author's Subject. On the Sexes of the Human Race.
On the Formation and State of the Embryo. Its Relation with the Subject of This Treatise.
On the Growth of the Soul. Its Maturity Coincident with the Maturity of the Flesh in Man.
The Evil Spirit Has Marred the Purity of the Soul from the Very Birth.
The Body of Man Only Ancillary to the Soul in the Commission of Evil.
Notwithstanding the Depravity of Man's Soul by Original Sin, There is Yet Left a Basis Whereon Divine Grace Can Work for Its Recovery by Spiritual Regeneration.
Sleep, the Mirror of Death, as Introductory to the Consideration of Death.
Sleep a Natural Function as Shown by Other Considerations, and by the Testimony of Scripture.
The Story of Hermotimus, and the Sleeplessness of the Emperor Nero. No Separation of the Soul from the Body Until Death.
Dreams, an Incidental Effect of the Soul's Activity. Ecstasy.
Diversity of Dreams and Visions. Epicurus Thought Lightly of Them, Though Generally Most Highly Valued. Instances of Dreams.
Dreams Variously Classified. Some are God-Sent, as the Dreams of Nebuchadnezzar; Others Simply Products of Nature.
Causes and Circumstances of Dreams. What Best Contributes to Efficient Dreaming.
No Soul Naturally Exempt from Dreams.
The Absurd Opinion of Epicurus and the Profane Conceits of the Heretic Menander on Death, Even Enoch and Elijah Reserved for Death.
Death Entirely Separates the Soul from the Body.
All Kinds of Death a Violence to Nature, Arising from Sin.—Sin an Intrusion Upon Nature as God Created It.
The Entire Soul Being Indivisible Remains to the Last Act of Vitality; Never Partially or Fractionally Withdrawn from the Body.
Whither Does the Soul Retire When It Quits the Body? Opinions of Philosophers All More or Less Absurd. The Hades of Plato.
The Christian Idea of the Position of Hades; The Blessedness of Paradise Immediately After Death. The Privilege of the Martyrs.
Refutation of the Homeric View of the Soul's Detention from Hades Owing to the Body's Being Unburied. That Souls Prematurely Separated from the Body Had to Wait for Admission into Hades Also Refuted.
Magic and Sorcery Only Apparent in Their Effects. God Alone Can Raise the Dead.
Conclusion. Points Postponed. All Souls are Kept in Hades Until the Resurrection, Anticipating Their Ultimate Misery or Bliss.
Anti-Marcion.
Introduction, by the American Editor.
Introductory. Heresies Must Exist, and Even Abound; They are a Probation to Faith.
Analogy Between Fevers and Heresies. Heresies Not to Be Wondered At: Their Strength Derived from Weakness of Men's Faith. They Have Not the Truth. Simile of Pugilists and Gladiators in Illustration.
Weak People Fall an Easy Prey to Heresy, Which Derives Strength from the General Frailty of Mankind. Eminent Men Have Fallen from Faith; Saul, David, Solomon. The Constancy of Christ.
Warnings Against Heresy Given Us in the New Testament. Sundry Passages Adduced. These Imply the Possibility of Falling into Heresy.
Heresy, as Well as Schism and Dissension, Disapproved by St. Paul, Who Speaks of the Necessity of Heresies, Not as a Good, But, by the Will of God, Salutary Trials for Training and Approving the Faith of Christians.
Heretics are Self-Condemned. Heresy is Self-Will, Whilst Faith is Submission of Our Will to the Divine Authority. The Heresy of Apelles.
Pagan Philosophy the Parent of Heresies. The Connection Between Deflections from Christian Faith and the Old Systems of Pagan Philosophy.
Christ's Word, Seek, and Ye Shall Find, No Warrant for Heretical Deviations from the Faith. All Christ's Words to the Jews are for Us, Not Indeed as Specific Commands, But as Principles to Be Applied.
The Research After Definite Truth Enjoined on Us. When We Have Discovered This, We Should Be Content.
One Has Succeeded in Finding Definite Truth, When He Believes. Heretical Wits are Always Offering Many Things for Vain Discussion, But We are Not to Be Always Seeking.
After We Have Believed, Search Should Cease; Otherwise It Must End in a Denial of What We Have Believed. No Other Object Proposed for Our Faith.
A Proper Seeking After Divine Knowledge, Which Will Never Be Out of Place or Excessive, is Always Within the Rule of Faith.
Summary of the Creed, or Rule of Faith. No Questions Ever Raised About It by Believers. Heretics Encourage and Perpetuate Thought Independent of Christ's Teaching.
Curiosity Ought Not Range Beyond the Rule of Faith. Restless Curiosity, the Feature of Heresy.
Heretics Not to Be Allowed to Argue Out of the Scriptures. The Scriptures, in Fact, Do Not Belong to Them.
Apostolic Sanction to This Exclusion of Heretics from the Use of the Scriptures. Heretics, According to the Apostle, are Not to Be Disputed With, But to Be Admonished.
Heretics, in Fact, Do Not Use, But Only Abuse, Scripture. No Common Ground Between Them and You.
Great Evil Ensues to the Weak in Faith, from Any Discussion Out of the Scriptures. Conviction Never Comes to the Heretic from Such a Process.
Appeal, in Discussion of Heresy, Lies Not to the Scriptures. The Scriptures Belong Only to Those Who Have the Rule of Faith.
1 Christ First Delivered the Faith. The Apostles Spread It; They Founded Churches as the Depositories Thereof. That Faith, Therefore, is Apostolic, Which Descended from the Apostles, Through Apostolic Churches.
All Doctrine True Which Comes Through the Church from the Apostles, Who Were Taught by God Through Christ. All Opinion Which Has No Such Divine Origin and Apostolic Tradition to Show, is Ipso Facto False.
Attempt to Invalidate This Rule of Faith Rebutted. The Apostles Safe Transmitters of the Truth. Sufficiently Taught at First, and Faithful in the Transmission.
The Apostles Not Ignorant. The Heretical Pretence of St. Peter's Imperfection Because He Was Rebuked by St. Paul. St. Peter Not Rebuked for Error in Teaching.
St. Peter's Further Vindication. St. Paul Not Superior to St. Peter in Teaching. Nothing Imparted to the Former in the Third Heaven Enabled Him to Add to the Faith. Heretics Boast as If Favoured with Some of the Secrets Imparted to Him.
The Apostles Did Not Keep Back Any of the Deposit of Doctrine Which Christ Had Entrusted to Them. St. Paul Openly Committed His Whole Doctrine to Timothy.
The Apostles Did in All Cases Teach the Whole Truth to the Whole Church. No Reservation, Nor Partial Communication to Favourite Friends.
Granted that the Apostles Transmitted the Whole Doctrine of Truth, May Not the Churches Have Been Unfaithful in Handing It On? Inconceivable that This Can Have Been the Case.
The One Tradition of the Faith, Which is Substantially Alike in the Churches Everywhere, a Good Proof that the Transmission Has Been True and Honest in the Main.
The Truth Not Indebted to the Care of the Heretics; It Had Free Course Before They Appeared. Priority of the Church's Doctrine a Mark of Its Truth.
Comparative Lateness of Heresies. Marcion's Heresy. Some Personal Facts About Him. The Heresy of Apelles. Character of This Man; Philumene; Valentinus; Nigidius, and Hermogenes.
Truth First, Falsehood Afterwards, as Its Perversion. Christ's Parable Puts the Sowing of the Good Seed Before the Useless Tares.
None of the Heretics Claim Succession from the Apostles. New Churches Still Apostolic, Because Their Faith is that Which the Apostles Taught and Handed Down. The Heretics Challenged to Show Any Apostolic Credentials.
Present Heresies (Seedlings of the Tares Noted by the Sacred Writers) Already Condemned in Scripture. This Descent of Later Heresy from the Earlier Traced in Several Instances.
No Early Controversy Respecting the Divine Creator; No Second God Introduced at First. Heresies Condemned Alike by the Sentence and the Silence of Holy Scripture.
Let Heretics Maintain Their Claims by a Definite and Intelligible Evidence. This the Only Method of Solving Their Questions. Catholics Appeal Always to Evidence Traceable to Apostolic Sources.
The Apostolic Churches the Voice of the Apostles. Let the Heretics Examine Their Apostolic Claims, in Each Case, Indisputable. The Church of Rome Doubly Apostolic; Its Early Eminence and Excellence. Heresy, as Perverting the Truth, is Connected Therewith.
Heretics Not Being Christians, But Rather Perverters of Christ's Teaching, May Not Claim the Christian Scriptures. These are a Deposit, Committed to and Carefully Kept by the Church.
Harmony of the Church and the Scriptures. Heretics Have Tampered with the Scriptures, and Mutilated, and Altered Them. Catholics Never Change the Scriptures, Which Always Testify for Them.
What St. Paul Calls Spiritual Wickednesses Displayed by Pagan Authors, and by Heretics, in No Dissimilar Manner. Holy Scripture Especially Liable to Heretical Manipulation. Affords Material for Heresies, Just as Virgil Has Been the Groundwork of Literary Plagiarisms, Different in Purport from the Original.
No Difference in the Spirit of Idolatry and of Heresy. In the Rites of Idolatry, Satan Imitated and Distorted the Divine Institutions of the Older Scriptures. The Christian Scriptures Corrupted by Him in the Perversions of the Various Heretics.
The Conduct of Heretics: Its Frivolity, Worldliness, and Irregularity. The Notorious Wantonness of Their Women.
Heretics Work to Pull Down and to Destroy, Not to Edify and Elevate. Heretics Do Not Adhere Even to Their Own Traditions, But Harbour Dissent Even from Their Own Founders.
Loose Company Preferred by Heretics. Ungodliness the Effect of Their Teaching the Very Opposite of Catholic Truth, Which Promotes the Fear of God, Both in Religious Ordinances and Practical Life.
Heresy Lowers Respect for Christ, and Destroys All Fear of His Great Judgment. The Tendency of Heretical Teaching on This Solemn Article of the Faith. The Present Treatise an Introduction to Certain Other Anti-Heretical Works of Our Author.
Elucidations.
The Five Books Against Marcion.
Introductory Notes.
Preface. Reason for a New Work. Pontus Lends Its Rough Character to the Heretic Marcion, a Native. His Heresy Characterized in a Brief Invective.
Marcion, Aided by Cerdon, Teaches a Duality of Gods; How He Constructed This Heresy of an Evil and a Good God.
The Unity of God. He is the Supreme Being, and There Cannot Be a Second Supreme.
Defence of the Divine Unity Against Objection. No Analogy Between Human Powers and God's Sovereignty. The Objection Otherwise Untenable, for Why Stop at Two Gods?
The Dual Principle Falls to the Ground; Plurality of Gods, of Whatever Number, More Consistent. Absurdity and Injury to Piety Resulting from Marcion's Duality.
Marcion Untrue to His Theory. He Pretends that His Gods are Equal, But He Really Makes Them Diverse. Then, Allowing Their Divinity, Denies This Diversity.
Other Beings Besides God are in Scripture Called God. This Objection Frivolous, for It is Not a Question of Names. The Divine Essence is the Thing at Issue. Heresy, in Its General Terms, Thus Far Treated.
Specific Points. The Novelty of Marcion's God Fatal to His Pretensions. God is from Everlasting, He Cannot Be in Any Wise New.
Marcion's Gnostic Pretensions Vain, for the True God is Neither Unknown Nor Uncertain. The Creator, Whom He Owns to Be God, Alone Supplies an Induction, by Which to Judge of the True God.
The Creator Was Known as the True God from the First by His Creation. Acknowledged by the Soul and Conscience of Man Before He Was Revealed by Moses.
The Evidence for God External to Him; But the External Creation Which Yields This Evidence is Really Not Extraneous, for All Things are God's. Marcion's God, Having Nothing to Show for Himself, No God at All. Marcion's Scheme Absurdly Defective, Not Furnishing Evidence for His New God's Existence, Which Should at Least Be Able to Compete with the Full Evidence of the Creator.
Impossibility of Acknowledging God Without This External Evidence Of His Existence. Marcion's Rejection of Such Evidence for His God Savours of Impudence and Malignity.
The Marcionites Depreciate the Creation, Which, However, is a Worthy Witness of God. This Worthiness Illustrated by References to the Heathen Philosophers, Who Were Apt to Invest the Several Parts of Creation with Divine Attributes.
All Portions of Creation Attest the Excellence of the Creator, Whom Marcion Vilifies. His Inconsistency Herein Exposed. Marcion's Own God Did Not Hesitate to Use the Creator's Works in Instituting His Own Religion.
The Lateness of the Revelation of Marcion's God. The Question of the Place Occupied by the Rival Deities. Instead of Two Gods, Marcion Really (Although, as It Would Seem, Unconsciously) Had Nine Gods in His System.
Marcion Assumes the Existence of Two Gods from the Antithesis Between Things Visible and Things Invisible. This Antithetical Principle in Fact Characteristic of the Works of the Creator, the One God—Maker of All Things Visible and Invisible.
Not Enough, as the Marcionites Pretend, that the Supreme God Should Rescue Man; He Must Also Have Created Him. The Existence of God Proved by His Creation, a Prior Consideration to His Character.
Notwithstanding Their Conceits, the God of the Marcionites Fails in the Vouchers Both of Created Evidence and of Adequate Revelation.
Jesus Christ, the Revealer of the Creator, Could Not Be the Same as Marcion's God, Who Was Only Made Known by the Heretic Some CXV. Years After Christ, and That, Too, on a Principle Utterly Unsuited to the Teaching of Jesus Christ, I.e., the Opposition Between the Law and the Gospels.
Marcion, Justifying His Antithesis Between the Law and the Gospel by the Contention of St. Paul with St. Peter, Shown to Have Mistaken St. Paul's Position and Argument. Marcion's Doctrine Confuted Out of St. Paul's Teaching, Which Agrees Wholly with the Creator's Decrees.
St. Paul Preached No New God, When He Announced the Repeal of Some of God's Ancient Ordinances. Never Any Hesitation About Belief in the Creator, as the God Whom Christ Revealed, Until Marcion's Heresy.
God's Attribute of Goodness Considered as Natural; The God of Marcion Found Wanting Herein. It Came Not to Man's Rescue When First Wanted.
God's Attribute of Goodness Considered as Rational. Marcion's God Defective Here Also; His Goodness Irrational and Misapplied.
The Goodness of Marcion's God Only Imperfectly Manifested; It Saves But Few, and the Souls Merely of These. Marcion's Contempt of the Body Absurd.
God is Not a Being of Simple Goodness; Other Attributes Belong to Him. Marcion Shows Inconsistency in the Portraiture of His Simply Good and Emotionless God.
In the Attribute of Justice, Marcion's God is Hopelessly Weak and Ungodlike. He Dislikes Evil, But Does Not Punish Its Perpetration.
Dangerous Effects to Religion and Morality of the Doctrine of So Weak a God.
This Perverse Doctrine Deprives Baptism of All Its Grace. If Marcion Be Right, the Sacrament Would Confer No Remission of Sins, No Regeneration, No Gift of the Spirit.
Marcion Forbids Marriage. Tertullian Eloquently Defends It as Holy, and Carefully Discriminates Between Marcion's Doctrine and His Own Montanism.
The Methods of Marcion's Argument Incorrect and Absurd. The Proper Course of the Argument.
The True Doctrine of God the Creator. The Heretics Pretended to a Knowledge of the Divine Being, Opposed to and Subversive of Revelation. God's Nature and Ways Past Human Discovery. Adam's Heresy.
God Known by His Works. His Goodness Shown in His Creative Energy; But Everlasting in Its Nature; Inherent in God, Previous to All Exhibition of It. The First Stage of This Goodness Prior to Man.
The Next Stage Occurs in the Creation of Man by the Eternal Word. Spiritual as Well as Physical Gifts to Man. The Blessings of Man's Free-Will.
Marcion's Cavils Considered. His Objection Refuted, I.e., Man's Fall Showed Failure in God. The Perfection of Man's Being Lay in His Liberty, Which God Purposely Bestowed on Him. The Fall Imputable to Man's Own Choice.
This Liberty Vindicated in Respect of Its Original Creation; Suitable Also for Exhibiting the Goodness and the Purpose of God. Reward and Punishment Impossible If Man Were Good or Evil Through Necessity and Not Choice.
If God Had Anyhow Checked Man's Liberty, Marcion Would Have Been Ready with Another and Opposite Cavil. Man's Fall Foreseen by God. Provision Made for It Remedially and Consistently with His Truth and Goodness.
Man, Endued with Liberty, Superior to the Angels, Overcomes Even the Angel Which Lured Him to His Fall, When Repentant and Resuming Obedience to God.
Another Cavil Answered, I.e., the Fall Imputable to God, Because Man's Soul is a Portion of the Spiritual Essence of the Creator. The Divine Afflatus Not in Fault in the Sin of Man, But the Human Will Which Was Additional to It.
Another Cavil Met, I.e., the Devil Who Instigated Man to Sin Himself the Creature of God. Nay, the Primeval Cherub Only Was God's Work. The Devilish Nature Superadded by Wilfulness. In Man's Recovery the Devil is Vanquished in a Conflict on His Own Ground.
If, After Man's Sin, God Exercised His Attribute of Justice and Judgment, This Was Compatible with His Goodness, and Enhances the True Idea of the Perfection of God's Character.
The Attributes of Goodness and Justice Should Not Be Separated. They are Compatible in the True God. The Function of Justice in the Divine Being Described.
Further Description of the Divine Justice; Since the Fall of Man It Has Regulated the Divine Goodness. God's Claims on Our Love and Our Fear Reconciled.
Evil of Two Kinds, Penal and Criminal. It is Not of the Latter Sort that God is the Author, But Only of the Former, Which are Penal, and Included in His Justice.
The Severity of God Compatible with Reason and Justice. When Inflicted, Not Meant to Be Arbitrary, But Remedial.
To the Severity of God There Belong Accessory Qualities, Compatible with Justice. If Human Passions are Predicated of God, They Must Not Be Measured on the Scale of Human Imperfection.
Trace God's Government in History and in His Precepts, and You Will Find It Full of His Goodness.
Some of God's Laws Defended as Good, Which the Marcionites Impeached, Such as the Lex Talionis. Useful Purposes in a Social and Moral Point of View of This, and Sundry Other Enactments.
The Minute Prescriptions of the Law Meant to Keep the People Dependent on God. The Prophets Sent by God in Pursuance of His Goodness. Many Beautiful Passages from Them Quoted in Illustration of This Attribute.
The Marcionites Charged God with Having Instigated the Hebrews to Spoil the Egyptians. Defence of the Divine Dispensation in that Matter.
The Law of the Sabbath-Day Explained. The Eight Days' Procession Around Jericho. The Gathering of Sticks a Violation.
The Brazen Serpent and the Golden Cherubim Were Not Violations of the Second Commandment. Their Meaning.
God's Purposes in Election and Rejection of the Same Men, Such as King Saul, Explained, in Answer to the Marcionite Cavil.
Instances of God's Repentance, and Notably in the Case of the Ninevites, Accounted for and Vindicated.
God's Dealings with Adam at the Fall, and with Cain After His Crime, Admirably Explained and Defended.
The Oath of God: Its Meaning. Moses, When Deprecating God's Wrath Against Israel, a Type of Christ.
Other Objections Considered. God's Condescension in the Incarnation. Nothing Derogatory to the Divine Being in This Economy. The Divine Majesty Worthily Sustained by the Almighty Father, Never Visible to Man. Perverseness of the Marcionite Cavils.
The Tables Turned Upon Marcion, by Contrasts, in Favour of the True God.
Marcion's Own Antitheses, If Only the Title and Object of the Work Be Excepted, Afford Proofs of the Consistent Attributes of the True God.
Introductory; A Brief Statement of the Preceding Argument in Connection with the Subject of This Book.
Why Christ's Coming Should Be Previously Announced.
Miracles Alone, Without Prophecy, an Insufficient Evidence of Christ's Mission.
Marcion's Christ Not the Subject of Prophecy. The Absurd Consequences of This Theory of the Heretic.
Sundry Features of the Prophetic Style: Principles of Its Interpretation.
Community in Certain Points of Marcionite and Jewish Error. Prophecies of Christ's Rejection Examined.
Prophecy Sets Forth Two Different Conditions of Christ, One Lowly, the Other Majestic. This Fact Points to Two Advents of Christ.
Absurdity of Marcion's Docetic Opinions; Reality of Christ's Incarnation.
Refutation of Marcion's Objections Derived from the Cases of the Angels, and the Pre-Incarnate Manifestations of the Son of God.
The Truly Incarnate State More Worthy of God Than Marcion's Fantastic Flesh.
Christ Was Truly Born; Marcion's Absurd Cavil in Defence of a Putative Nativity.
Isaiah's Prophecy of Emmanuel. Christ Entitled to that Name.
Isaiah's Prophecies Considered. The Virginity of Christ's Mother a Sign. Other Prophecies Also Signs. Metaphorical Sense of Proper Names in Sundry Passages of the Prophets.
Figurative Style of Certain Messianic Prophecies in the Psalms. Military Metaphors Applied to Christ.
The Title Christ Suitable as a Name of the Creator's Son, But Unsuited to Marcion's Christ.
The Sacred Name Jesus Most Suited to the Christ of the Creator. Joshua a Type of Him.
Prophecies in Isaiah and the Psalms Respecting Christ's Humiliation.
Types of the Death of Christ. Isaac; Joseph; Jacob Against Simeon and Levi; Moses Praying Against Amalek; The Brazen Serpent.
Prophecies of the Death of Christ.
The Subsequent Influence of Christ's Death in the World Predicted. The Sure Mercies of David. What These are.
The Call of the Gentiles Under the Influence of the Gospel Foretold.
The Success of the Apostles, and Their Sufferings in the Cause of the Gospel, Foretold.
The Dispersion of the Jews, and Their Desolate Condition for Rejecting Christ, Foretold.
Christ's Millennial and Heavenly Glory in Company with His Saints.
Examination of the Antitheses of Marcion, Bringing Them to the Test of Marcion's Own Gospel. Certain True Antitheses in the Dispensations of the Old and the New Testaments. These Variations Quite Compatible with One and the Same God, Who Ordered Them.
St. Luke's Gospel, Selected by Marcion as His Authority, and Mutilated by Him. The Other Gospels Equally Authoritative. Marcion's Terms of Discussion, However, Accepted, and Grappled with on the Footing of St. Luke's Gospel Alone.
Marcion Insinuated the Untrustworthiness of Certain Apostles Whom St. Paul Rebuked. The Rebuke Shows that It Cannot Be Regarded as Derogating from Their Authority. The Apostolic Gospels Perfectly Authentic.
Each Side Claims to Possess the True Gospel. Antiquity the Criterion of Truth in Such a Matter. Marcion's Pretensions as an Amender of the Gospel.
By the Rule of Antiquity, the Catholic Gospels are Found to Be True, Including the Real St. Luke's. Marcion's Only a Mutilated Edition. The Heretic's Weakness and Inconsistency in Ignoring the Other Gospels.
Marcion's Object in Adulterating the Gospel. No Difference Between the Christ of the Creator and the Christ of the Gospel. No Rival Christ Admissible. The Connection of the True Christ with the Dispensation of the Old Testament Asserted.
Marcion Rejected the Preceding Portion of St. Luke's Gospel. Therefore This Review Opens with an Examination of the Case of the Evil Spirit in the Synagogue of Capernaum. He Whom the Demon Acknowledged Was the Creator's Christ.
Other Proofs from the Same Chapter, that Jesus, Who Preached at Nazareth, and Was Acknowledged by Certain Demons as Christ the Son of God, Was the Creator's Christ. As Occasion Offers, the Docetic Errors of Marcion are Exposed.
Out of St. Luke's Fifth Chapter are Found Proofs of Christ's Belonging to the Creator, E.g. In the Call of Fishermen to the Apostolic Office, and in the Cleansing of the Leper. Christ Compared with the Prophet Elisha.
Further Proofs of the Same Truth in the Same Chapter, from the Healing of the Paralytic, and from the Designation Son of Man Which Jesus Gives Himself. Tertullian Sustains His Argument by Several Quotations from the Prophets.
The Call of Levi the Publican. Christ in Relation to the Baptist. Christ as the Bridegroom. The Parable of the Old Wine and the New. Arguments Connecting Christ with the Creator.
Christ's Authority Over the Sabbath. As Its Lord He Recalled It from Pharisaic Neglect to the Original Purpose of Its Institution by the Creator the Case of the Disciples Who Plucked the Ears of Corn on the Sabbath. The Withered Hand Healed on the Sabbath.
Christ's Connection with the Creator Shown. Many Quotations Out of the Old Testament Prophetically Bear on Certain Events of the Life of Jesus—Such as His Ascent to Praying on the Mountain; His Selection of Twelve Apostles; His Changing Simon's Name to Peter, and Gentiles from Tyre and Sidon Resorting to Him.
Christ's Sermon on the Mount. In Manner and Contents It So Resembles the Creator's Dispensational Words and Deeds. It Suggests Therefore the Conclusion that Jesus is the Creator's Christ. The Beatitudes.
Sermon on the Mount Continued. Its Woes in Strict Agreement with the Creator's Disposition. Many Quotations Out of the Old Testament in Proof of This.
The Precept of Loving One's Enemies. It is as Much Taught in the Creator's Scriptures of the Old Testament as in Christ's Sermon. The Lex Talionis of Moses Admirably Explained in Consistency with the Kindness and Love Which Jesus Christ Came to Proclaim and Enforce in Behalf of the Creator. Sundry Precepts of Charity Explained.
Concerning Loans. Prohibition of Usury and the Usurious Spirit. The Law Preparatory to the Gospel in Its Provisions; So in the Present Instance. On Reprisals. Christ's Teaching Throughout Proves Him to Be Sent by the Creator.
Concerning the Centurion's Faith. The Raising of the Widow's Son. John Baptist, and His Message to Christ; And the Woman Who Was a Sinner. Proofs Extracted from All of the Relation of Christ to the Creator.
The Rich Women of Piety Who Followed Jesus Christ's Teaching by Parables. The Marcionite Cavil Derived from Christ's Remark, When Told of His Mother and His Brethren. Explanation of Christ's Apparent Rejection Them.
Comparison of Christ's Power Over Winds and Waves with Moses' Command of the Waters of the Red Sea and the Jordan. Christ's Power Over Unclean Spirits. The Case of the Legion. The Cure of the Issue of Blood. The Mosaic Uncleanness on This Point Explained.
Christ's Connection with the Creator Shown from Several Incidents in the Old Testament, Compared with St. Luke's Narrative of the Mission of the Disciples. The Feeding of the Multitude. The Confession of St. Peter. Being Ashamed of Christ. This Shame is Only Possible of the True Christ. Marcionite Pretensions Absurd.
The Same Conclusion Supported by the Transfiguration. Marcion Inconsistent in Associating with Christ in Glory Two Such Eminent Servants of the Creator as Moses and Elijah. St. Peter's Ignorance Accounted for on Montanist Principle.
Impossible that Marcion's Christ Should Reprove the Faithless Generation. Such Loving Consideration for Infants as the True Christ Was Apt to Shew, Also Impossible for the Other. On the Three Different Characters Confronted and Instructed by Christ in Samaria.
On the Mission of the Seventy Disciples, and Christ's Charge to Them. Precedents Drawn from the Old Testament. Absurdity of Supposing that Marcion's Christ Could Have Given the Power of Treading on Serpents and Scorpions.
Christ Thanks the Father for Revealing to Babes What He Had Concealed from the Wise. This Concealment Judiciously Effected by the Creator. Other Points in St. Luke's Chap. X. Shown to Be Only Possible to the Creator's Christ.
From St. Luke's Eleventh Chapter Other Evidence that Christ Comes from the Creator. The Lord's Prayer and Other Words of Christ. The Dumb Spirit and Christ's Discourse on Occasion of the Expulsion. The Exclamation of the Woman in the Crowd.
Christ's Reprehension of the Pharisees Seeking a Sign. His Censure of Their Love of Outward Show Rather Than Inward Holiness. Scripture Abounds with Admonitions of a Similar Purport. Proofs of His Mission from the Creator.
Examples from the Old Testament, Balaam, Moses, and Hezekiah, to Show How Completely the Instruction and Conduct of Christ Are in Keeping with the Will and Purpose of the Creator.
Parallels from the Prophets to Illustrate Christ's Teaching in the Rest of This Chapter of St. Luke. The Sterner Attributes of Christ, in His Judicial Capacity, Show Him to Have Come from the Creator. Incidental Rebukes of Marcion's Doctrine of Celibacy, and of His Altering of the Text of the Gospel.
Parables of the Mustard-Seed, and of the Leaven. Transition to the Solemn Exclusion Which Will Ensue When the Master of the House Has Shut the Door. This Judicial Exclusion Will Be Administered by Christ, Who is Shown Thereby to Possess the Attribute of the Creator.
Christ's Advice to Invite the Poor in Accordance with Isaiah. The Parable of the Great Supper a Pictorial Sketch of the Creator's Own Dispensations of Mercy and Grace. The Rejections of the Invitation Paralleled by Quotations from the Old Testament. Marcion's Christ Could Not Fulfil the Conditions Indicated in This Parable. The Absurdity of the Marcionite Interpretation.
A Sort of Sorites, as the Logicians Call It, to Show that the Parables of the Lost Sheep and the Lost Drachma Have No Suitable Application to the Christ of Marcion.
The Marcionite Interpretation of God and Mammon Refuted. The Prophets Justify Christ's Admonition Against Covetousness and Pride. John Baptist the Link Between the Old and the New Dispensations of the Creator. So Said Christ—But So Also Had Isaiah Said Long Before. One Only God, the Creator, by His Own Will Changed the Dispensations. No New God Had a Hand in the Change.
Moses, Allowing Divorce, and Christ Prohibiting It, Explained. John Baptist and Herod. Marcion's Attempt to Discover an Antithesis in the Parable of the Rich Man and the Poor Man in Hades Confuted. The Creator's Appointment Manifested in Both States.
The Judicial Severity of Christ and the Tenderness of the Creator, Asserted in Contradiction to Marcion. The Cure of the Ten Lepers. Old Testament Analogies. The Kingdom of God Within You; This Teaching Similar to that of Moses. Christ, the Stone Rejected by the Builders. Indications of Severity in the Coming of Christ. Proofs that He is Not the Impassible Being Marcion Imagined.
The Parables of the Importunate Widow, and of the Pharisee and the Publican. Christ's Answer to the Rich Ruler, the Cure of the Blind Man. His Salutation—Son of David. All Proofs of Christ's Relation to the Creator, Marcion's Antithesis Between David and Christ Confuted.
Christ and Zacchæus. The Salvation of the Body as Denied by Marcion. The Parable of the Ten Servants Entrusted with Ten Pounds. Christ a Judge, Who is to Administer the Will of the Austere Man, I.e. The Creator.
Christ's Refutations of the Pharisees. Rendering Dues to Cæsar and to God. Next of the Sadducees, Respecting Marriage in the Resurrection. These Prove Him Not to Be Marcion's But the Creator's Christ. Marcion's Tamperings in Order to Make Room for His Second God, Exposed and Confuted.
Concerning Those Who Come in the Name of Christ. The Terrible Signs of His Coming. He Whose Coming is So Grandly Described Both in the Old Testament and the New Testament, is None Other Than the Christ of the Creator. This Proof Enhanced by the Parable of the Fig-Tree and All the Trees. Parallel Passages of Prophecy.
How the Steps in the Passion of the Saviour Were Predetermined in Prophecy. The Passover. The Treachery of Judas. The Institution of the Lord's Supper. The Docetic Error of Marcion Confuted by the Body and the Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Woe Pronounced on the Traitor a Judicial Act, Which Disproves Christ to Be Such as Marcion Would Have Him to Be. Christ's Conduct Before the Council Explained. Christ Even Then Directs the Minds of His Judges to the Prophetic Evidences of His Own Mission. The Moral Responsibility of These Men Asserted.
Other Incidents of the Passion Minutely Compared with Prophecy. Pilate and Herod. Barabbas Preferred to Jesus. Details of the Crucifixion. The Earthquake and the Mid-Day Darkness. All Wonderfully Foretold in the Scriptures of the Creator. Christ's Giving Up the Ghost No Evidence of Marcion's Docetic Opinions. In His Sepulture There is a Refutation Thereof.
Conclusions. Jesus as the Christ of the Creator Proved from the Events of the Last Chapter of St. Luke. The Pious Women at the Sepulchre. The Angels at the Resurrection. The Manifold Appearances of Christ After the Resurrection. His Mission of the Apostles Amongst All Nations. All Shown to Be in Accordance with the Wisdom of the Almighty Father, as Indicated in Prophecy. The Body of Christ After Death No Mere Phantom. Marcion's Manipulation of the Gospel on This Point.
Dr. Holmes' Note.
Elucidations.
Additional Note.
Introductory. The Apostle Paul Himself Not the Preacher of a New God. Called by Jesus Christ, Although After the Other Apostles, His Mission Was from the Creator. States How. The Argument, as in the Case of the Gospel, Confining Proofs to Such Portions of St. Paul's Writings as Marcion Allowed.
On the Epistle to the Galatians. The Abolition of the Ordinances of the Mosaic Law No Proof of Another God. The Divine Lawgiver, the Creator Himself, Was the Abrogator. The Apostle's Doctrine in the First Chapter Shown to Accord with the Teaching of the Old Testament. The Acts of the Apostles Shown to Be Genuine Against Marcion. This Book Agrees with the Pauline Epistles.
St. Paul Quite in Accordance with St. Peter and Other Apostles of the Circumcision. His Censure of St. Peter Explained, and Rescued from Marcion's Misapplication. The Strong Protests of This Epistle Against Judaizers. Yet Its Teaching is Shown to Be in Keeping with the Law and the Prophets. Marcion's Tampering with St. Paul's Writings Censured.
Another Instance of Marcion's Tampering with St. Paul's Text. The Fulness of Time, Announced by the Apostle, Foretold by the Prophets. Mosaic Rites Abrogated by the Creator Himself. Marcion's Tricks About Abraham's Name. The Creator, by His Christ, the Fountain of the Grace and the Liberty Which St. Paul Announced. Marcion's Docetism Refuted.
The First Epistle to the Corinthians. The Pauline Salutation of Grace and Peace Shown to Be Anti-Marcionite. The Cross of Christ Purposed by the Creator. Marcion Only Perpetuates the Offence and Foolishness of Christ's Cross by His Impious Severance of the Gospel from the Creator. Analogies Between the Law and the Gospel in the Matter of Weak Things, and Foolish Things and Base Things.
The Divine Way of Wisdom, and Greatness, and Might. God's Hiding of Himself, and Subsequent Revelation. To Marcion's God Such a Concealment and Manifestation Impossible. God's Predestination. No Such Prior System of Intention Possible to a God Previously Unknown as Was Marcion's. The Powers of the World Which Crucified Christ. St. Paul, as a Wise Master-Builder, Associated with Prophecy. Sundry Injunctions of the Apostle Parallel with the Teaching of the Old Testament.
St. Paul's Phraseology Often Suggested by the Jewish Scriptures. Christ Our Passover—A Phrase Which Introduces Us to the Very Heart of the Ancient Dispensation. Christ's True Corporeity. Married and Unmarried States. Meaning of the Time is Short. In His Exhortations and Doctrine, the Apostle Wholly Teaches According to the Mind and Purposes of the God of the Old Testament. Prohibition of Meats and Drinks Withdrawn by the Creator.
Man the Image of the Creator, and Christ the Head of the Man. Spiritual Gifts. The Sevenfold Spirit Described by Isaiah. The Apostle and the Prophet Compared. Marcion Challenged to Produce Anything Like These Gifts of the Spirit Foretold in Prophecy in His God.
The Doctrine of the Resurrection. The Body Will Rise Again. Christ's Judicial Character. Jewish Perversions of Prophecy Exposed and Confuted. Messianic Psalms Vindicated. Jewish and Rationalistic Interpretations on This Point Similar. Jesus—Not Hezekiah or Solomon—The Subject of These Prophecies in the Psalms. None But He is the Christ of the Old and the New Testaments.
Doctrine of the Resurrection of the Body, Continued. How are the Dead Raised? and with What Body Do They Come? These Questions Answered in Such a Sense as to Maintain the Truth of the Raised Body, Against Marcion. Christ as the Second Adam Connected with the Creator of the First Man. Let Us Bear the Image of the Heavenly. The Triumph Over Death in Accordance with the Prophets. Hosea and St. Paul Compared.
The Second Epistle to the Corinthians. The Creator the Father of Mercies. Shown to Be Such in the Old Testament, and Also in Christ. The Newness of the New Testament. The Veil of Obdurate Blindness Upon Israel, Not Reprehensible on Marcion's Principles. The Jews Guilty in Rejecting the Christ of the Creator. Satan, the God of This World. The Treasure in Earthen Vessels Explained Against Marcion. The Creator's Relation to These Vessels, I.e. Our Bodies.
The Eternal Home in Heaven. Beautiful Exposition by Tertullian of the Apostle's Consolatory Teaching Against the Fear of Death, So Apt to Arise Under Anti-Christian Oppression. The Judgment-Seat of Christ—The Idea, Anti-Marcionite. Paradise. Judicial Characteristics of Christ Which are Inconsistent with the Heretical Views About Him; The Apostle's Sharpness, or Severity, Shows Him to Be a Fit Preacher of the Creator's Christ.
The Epistle to the Romans. St. Paul Cannot Help Using Phrases Which Bespeak the Justice of God, Even When He is Eulogizing the Mercies of the Gospel. Marcion Particularly Hard in Mutilation of This Epistle. Yet Our Author Argues on Common Ground. The Judgment at Last Will Be in Accordance with the Gospel. The Justified by Faith Exhorted to Have Peace with God. The Administration of the Old and the New Dispensations in One and the Same Hand.
The Divine Power Shown in Christ's Incarnation. Meaning of St. Paul's Phrase. Likeness of Sinful Flesh. No Docetism in It. Resurrection of Our Real Bodies. A Wide Chasm Made in the Epistle by Marcion's Erasure. When the Jews are Upbraided by the Apostle for Their Misconduct to God; Inasmuch as that God Was the Creator, a Proof is in Fact Given that St. Paul's God Was the Creator. The Precepts at the End of the Epistle, Which Marcion Allowed, Shown to Be in Exact Accordance with the Creator's Scriptures.
The First Epistle to the Thessalonians. The Shorter Epistles Pungent in Sense and Very Valuable. St. Paul Upbraids the Jews for the Death First of Their Prophets and Then of Christ. This a Presumption that Both Christ and the Prophets Pertained to the Same God. The Law of Nature, Which is in Fact the Creator's Discipline, and the Gospel of Christ Both Enjoin Chastity. The Resurrection Provided for in the Old Testament by Christ. Man's Compound Nature.
The Second Epistle to the Thessalonians. An Absurd Erasure of Marcion; Its Object Transparent. The Final Judgment on the Heathen as Well as the Jews Could Not Be Administered by Marcion's Christ. The Man of Sin—What? Inconsistency of Marcion's View. The Antichrist. The Great Events of the Last Apostasy Within the Providence and Intention of the Creator, Whose are All Things from the Beginning. Similarity of the Pauline Precepts with Those of the Creator.
The Epistle to the Laodiceans. The Proper Designation is to the Ephesians. Recapitulation of All Things in Christ from the Beginning of the Creation. No Room for Marcion's Christ Here. Numerous Parallels Between This Epistle and Passages in the Old Testament. The Prince of the Power of the Air, and the God of This World—Who? Creation and Regeneration the Work of One God. How Christ Has Made the Law Obsolete. A Vain Erasure of Marcion's. The Apostles as Well as the Prophets from the Creator.
Another Foolish Erasure of Marcion's Exposed. Certain Figurative Expressions of the Apostle, Suggested by the Language of the Old Testament. Collation of Many Passages of This Epistle, with Precepts and Statements in the Pentateuch, the Psalms, and the Prophets. All Alike Teach Us the Will and Purpose of the Creator.
The Epistle to the Colossians. Time the Criterion of Truth and Heresy. Application of the Canon. The Image of the Invisible God Explained. Pre-Existence of Our Christ in the Creator's Ancient Dispensations. What is Included in the Fulness of Christ. The Epicurean Character of Marcion's God. The Catholic Truth in Opposition Thereto. The Law is to Christ What the Shadow is to the Substance.
The Epistle to the Philippians. The Variances Amongst the Preachers of Christ No Argument that There Was More Than One Only Christ. St. Paul's Phrases—Form of a Servant, Likeness, and Fashion of a Man—No Sanction of Docetism. No Antithesis (Such as Marcion Alleged) in the God of Judaism and the God of the Gospel Deducible from Certain Contrasts Mentioned in This Epistle. A Parallel with a Passage in Genesis. The Resurrection of the Body, and the Change Thereof.
The Epistle to Philemon. This Epistle Not Mutilated. Marcion's Inconsistency in Accepting This, and Rejecting Three Other Epistles Addressed to Individuals. Conclusions. Tertullian Vindicates the Symmetry and Deliberate Purpose of His Work Against Marcion.
Elucidations.
Other Anti-Heretical
The Opinions of Hermogenes, by the Prescriptive Rule of Antiquity Shown to Be Heretical. Not Derived from Christianity, But from Heathen Philosophy. Some of the Tenets Mentioned.
Hermogenes, After a Perverse Induction from Mere Heretical Assumptions, Concludes that God Created All Things Out of Pre-Existing Matter.
An Argument of Hermogenes. The Answer: While God is a Title Eternally Applicable to the Divine Being, Lord and Father are Only Relative Appellations, Not Eternally Applicable. An Inconsistency in the Argument of Hermogenes Pointed Out.
Hermogenes Gives Divine Attributes to Matter, and So Makes Two Gods.
Hermogenes Coquets with His Own Argument, as If Rather Afraid of It. After Investing Matter with Divine Qualities, He Tries to Make It Somehow Inferior to God.
The Shifts to Which Hermogenes is Reduced, Who Deifies Matter, and Yet is Unwilling to Hold Him Equal with the Divine Creator.
Hermogenes Held to His Theory in Order that Its Absurdity May Be Exposed on His Own Principles.
On His Own Principles, Hermogenes Makes Matter, on the Whole, Superior to God.
Sundry Inevitable But Intolerable Conclusions from the Principles of Hermogenes.
To What Straits Hermogenes Absurdly Reduces the Divine Being. He Does Nothing Short of Making Him the Author of Evil.
Hermogenes Makes Great Efforts to Remove Evil from God to Matter. How He Fails to Do This Consistently with His Own Argument.
The Mode of Controversy Changed. The Premisses of Hermogenes Accepted, in Order to Show into What Confusion They Lead Him.
Another Ground of Hermogenes that Matter Has Some Good in It. Its Absurdity.
Tertullian Pushes His Opponent into a Dilemma.
The Truth, that God Made All Things from Nothing, Rescued from the Opponent's Flounderings.
A Series of Dilemmas. They Show that Hermogenes Cannot Escape from the Orthodox Conclusion.
The Truth of God's Work in Creation. You Cannot Depart in the Least from It, Without Landing Yourself in an Absurdity.
An Eulogy on the Wisdom and Word of God, by Which God Made All Things of Nothing.
An Appeal to the History of Creation. True Meaning of the Term Beginning, Which the Heretic Curiously Wrests to an Absurd Sense.
Meaning of the Phrase—In the Beginning. Tertullian Connects It with the Wisdom of God, and Elicits from It the Truth that the Creation Was Not Out of Pre-Existent Matter.
A Retort of Heresy Answered. That Scripture Should in So Many Words Tell Us that the World Was Made of Nothing is Superfluous.
This Conclusion Confirmed by the Usage of Holy Scripture in Its History of the Creation. Hermogenes in Danger of the Woe Pronounced Against Adding to Scripture.
Hermogenes Pursued to Another Passage of Scripture. The Absurdity of His Interpretation Exposed.
Earth Does Not Mean Matter as Hermogenes Would Have It.
The Assumption that There are Two Earths Mentioned in the History of the Creation, Refuted.
The Method Observed in the History of the Creation, in Reply to the Perverse Interpretation of Hermogenes.
Some Hair-Splitting Use of Words in Which His Opponent Had Indulged.
A Curious Inconsistency in Hermogenes Exposed. Certain Expressions in The History of Creation Vindicated in The True Sense.
The Gradual Development of Cosmical Order Out of Chaos in the Creation, Beautifully Stated.
Another Passage in the Sacred History of the Creation, Released from the Mishandling of Hermogenes.
A Further Vindication of the Scripture Narrative of the Creation, Against a Futile View of Hermogenes.
The Account of the Creation in Genesis a General One, Corroborated, However, by Many Other Passages of the Old Testament, Which Give Account of Specific Creations. Further Cavillings Confuted.
Statement of the True Doctrine Concerning Matter. Its Relation to God's Creation of the World.
A Presumption that All Things Were Created by God Out of Nothing Afforded by the Ultimate Reduction of All Things to Nothing. Scriptures Proving This Reduction Vindicated from Hermogenes' Charge of Being Merely Figurative.
Contradictory Propositions Advanced by Hermogenes Respecting Matter and Its Qualities.
Other Absurd Theories Respecting Matter and Its Incidents Exposed in an Ironical Strain. Motion in Matter. Hermogenes' Conceits Respecting It.
Ironical Dilemmas Respecting Matter, and Sundry Moral Qualities Fancifully Attributed to It.
Other Speculations of Hermogenes, About Matter and Some of Its Adjuncts, Shown to Be Absurd. For Instance, Its Alleged Infinity.
These Latter Speculations Shown to Be Contradictory to the First Principles Respecting Matter, Formerly Laid Down by Hermogenes.
Shapeless Matter an Incongruous Origin for God's Beautiful Cosmos. Hermogenes Does Not Mend His Argument by Supposing that Only a Portion of Matter Was Used in the Creation.
Sundry Quotations from Hermogenes. Now Uncertain and Vague are His Speculations Respecting Motion in Matter, and the Material Qualities of Good and Evil.
Further Exposure of Inconsistencies in the Opinions of Hermogenes Respecting the Divine Qualities of Matter.
Other Discrepancies Exposed and Refuted Respecting the Evil in Matter Being Changed to Good.
Curious Views Respecting God's Method of Working with Matter Exposed. Discrepancies in the Heretic's Opinion About God's Local Relation to Matter.
Conclusion. Contrast Between the Statements of Hermogenes and the Testimony of Holy Scripture Respecting the Creation. Creation Out of Nothing, Not Out of Matter.
Introductory. Tertullian Compares the Heresy to the Old Eleusinian Mysteries. Both Systems Alike in Preferring Concealment of Error and Sin to Proclamation of Truth and Virtue.
These Heretics Brand the Christians as Simple Persons. The Charge Accepted, and Simplicity Eulogized Out of the Scriptures.
The Folly of This Heresy. It Dissects and Mutilates the Deity. Contrasted with the Simple Wisdom of True Religion. To Expose the Absurdities of the Valentinian System is to Destroy It.
The Heresy Traceable to Valentinus, an Able But Restless Man. Many Schismatical Leaders of the School Mentioned. Only One of Them Shows Respect to the Man Whose Name Designates the Entire School.
Many Eminent Christian Writers Have Carefully and Fully Refuted the Heresy. These the Author Makes His Own Guides.
Although Writing in Latin He Proposes to Retain the Greek Names of the Valentinian Emanations of Deity. Not to Discuss the Heresy But Only to Expose It. This with the Raillery Which Its Absurdity Merits.
The First Eight Emanations, or Æons, Called the Ogdoad, are the Fountain of All the Others. Their Names and Descent Recorded.
The Names and Descent of Other Æons; First Half a Score, Then Two More, and Ultimately a Dozen Besides. These Thirty Constitute the Pleroma. But Why Be So Capricious as to Stop at Thirty?
Other Capricious Features in the System. The Æons Unequal in Attributes. The Superiority of Nus; The Vagaries of Sophia Restrained by Horos. Grand Titles Borne by This Last Power.
Another Account of the Strange Aberrations of Sophia, and the Restraining Services of Horus. Sophia Was Not Herself, After All, Ejected from the Pleroma, But Only Her Enthymesis.
The Profane Account Given of the Origin of Christ and the Holy Ghost Sternly Rebuked. An Absurdity Respecting the Attainment of the Knowledge of God Ably Exposed.
The Strange Jumble of the Pleroma. The Frantic Delight of the Members Thereof. Their Joint Contribution of Parts Set Forth with Humorous Irony.
First Part of the Subject, Touching the Constitution of the Pleroma, Briefly Recapitulated. Transition to the Other Part, Which is Like a Play Outside the Curtain.
The Adventures of Achamoth Outside the Pleroma. The Mission of Christ in Pursuit of Her. Her Longing for Christ. Horos' Hostility to Her. Her Continued Suffering.
Strange Account of the Origin of Matter, from the Various Affections of Achamoth. The Waters from Her Tears; Light from Her Smile.
Achamoth Purified from All Impurities of Her Passion by the Paraclete, Acting Through Soter, Who Out of the Above-Mentioned Impurities Arranges Matter, Separating Its Evil from the Better Qualities.
Achamoth in Love with the Angels. A Protest Against the Lascivious Features of Valentinianism. Achamoth Becomes the Mother of Three Natures.
Blasphemous Opinion Concerning the Origin of the Demiurge, Supposed to Be the Creator of the Universe.
Palpable Absurdities and Contradictions in the System Respecting Achamoth and the Demiurge.
The Demiurge Works Away at Creation, as the Drudge of His Mother Achamoth, in Ignorance All the While of the Nature of His Occupation.
The Vanity as Well as Ignorance of the Demiurge. Absurd Results from So Imperfect a Condition.
Origin of the Devil, in the Criminal Excess of the Sorrow of Achamoth. The Devil, Called Also Munditenens, Actually Wiser Than the Demiurge, Although His Work.
The Relative Positions of the Pleroma. The Region of Achamoth, and the Creation of the Demiurge. The Addition of Fire to the Various Elements and Bodies of Nature.
The Formation of Man by the Demiurge. Human Flesh Not Made of the Ground, But of a Nondescript Philosophic Substance.
An Extravagant Way of Accounting for the Communication of the Spiritual Nature to Man. It Was Furtively Managed by Achamoth, Through the Unconscious Agency of Her Son.
The Three Several Natures—The Material, the Animal, and the Spiritual, and Their Several Destinations. The Strange Valentinian Opinion About the Structure of Soter's Nature.
The Christ of the Demiurge, Sent into the World by the Virgin. Not of Her. He Found in Her, Not a Mother, But Only a Passage or Channel. Jesus Descended Upon Christ, at His Baptism, Like a Dove; But, Being Incapable of Suffering, He Left Christ to Die on the Cross Alone.
The Demiurge Cured of His Ignorance by the Saviour's Advent, from Whom He Hears of the Great Future in Store for Himself.
The Three Natures Again Adverted to. They are All Exemplified Amongst Men. For Instance, by Cain, and Abel, and Seth.
The Lax and Dangerous Views of This Sect Respecting Good Works. That These are Unnecessary to the Spiritual Man.
At the Last Day Great Changes Take Place Amongst the Æons as Well as Among Men. How Achamoth and the Demiurge are Affected Then. Irony on the Subject.
Indignant Irony Exposing the Valentinian Fable About the Judicial Treatment of Mankind at the Last Judgment. The Immorality of the Doctrine.
These Remaining Chapters an Appendix to the Main Work. In This Chapter Tertullian Notices a Difference Among Sundry Followers of Ptolemy, a Disciple of Valentinus.
Other Varying Opinions Among the Valentinians Respecting the Deity, Characteristic Raillery.
Yet More Discrepancies. Just Now the Sex of Bythus Was an Object of Dispute; Now His Rank Comes in Question. Absurd Substitutes for Bythus Criticised by Tertullian.
Less Reprehensible Theories in the Heresy. Bad is the Best of Valentinianism.
Other Turgid and Ridiculous Theories About the Origin of the Æons and Creation, Stated and Condemned.
Diversity in the Opinions of Secundus, as Compared with the General Doctrine of Valentinus.
Their Diversity of Sentiment Affects the Very Central Doctrine of Christianity, Even the Person and Character of the Lord Jesus. This Diversity Vitiates Every Gnostic School.
The General Purport of This Work. The Heretics, Marcion, Apelles, and Valentinus, Wishing to Impugn the Doctrine of the Resurrection, Deprive Christ of All Capacity for Such a Change by Denying His Flesh.
Marcion, Who Would Blot Out the Record of Christ's Nativity, is Rebuked for So Startling a Heresy.
Christ's Nativity Both Possible and Becoming. The Heretical Opinion of Christ's Apparent Flesh Deceptive and Dishonourable to God, Even on Marcion's Principles.
God's Honour in the Incarnation of His Son Vindicated. Marcion's Disparagement of Human Flesh Inconsistent as Well as Impious. Christ Has Cleansed the Flesh. The Foolishness of God is Most Wise.
Christ Truly Lived and Died in Human Flesh. Incidents of His Human Life on Earth, and Refutation of Marcion's Docetic Parody of the Same.
The Doctrine of Apelles Refuted, that Christ's Body Was of Sidereal Substance, Not Born. Nativity and Mortality are Correlative Circumstances, and in Christ's Case His Death Proves His Birth.
Explanation of the Lord's Question About His Mother and His Brethren. Answer to the Cavils of Apelles and Marcion, Who Support Their Denial of Christ's Nativity by It.
Apelles and His Followers, Displeased with Our Earthly Bodies, Attributed to Christ a Body of a Purer Sort. How Christ Was Heavenly Even in His Earthly Flesh.
Christ's Flesh Perfectly Natural, Like Our Own. None of the Supernatural Features Which the Heretics Ascribed to It Discoverable, on a Careful View.
Another Class of Heretics Refuted. They Alleged that Christ's Flesh Was of a Finer Texture, Animalis, Composed of Soul.
The Opposite Extravagance Exposed. That is Christ with a Soul Composed of Flesh—Corporeal, Though Invisible. Christ's Soul, Like Ours, Distinct from Flesh, Though Clothed in It.
The True Functions of the Soul. Christ Assumed It in His Perfect Human Nature, Not to Reveal and Explain It, But to Save It. Its Resurrection with the Body Assured by Christ.
Christ's Human Nature. The Flesh and the Soul Both Fully and Unconfusedly Contained in It.
Christ Took Not on Him an Angelic Nature, But the Human. It Was Men, Not Angels, Whom He Came to Save.
The Valentinian Figment of Christ's Flesh Being of a Spiritual Nature, Examined and Refuted Out of Scripture.
Christ's Flesh in Nature, the Same as Ours, Only Sinless. The Difference Between Carnem Peccati and Peccatum Carnis: It is the Latter Which Christ Abolished. The Flesh of the First Adam, No Less Than that of the Second Adam, Not Received from Human Seed, Although as Entirely Human as Our Own, Which is Derived from It.
The Similarity of Circumstances Between the First and the Second Adam, as to the Derivation of Their Flesh. An Analogy Also Pleasantly Traced Between Eve and the Virgin Mary.
The Mystery of the Assumption of Our Perfect Human Nature by the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity. He is Here Called, as Often Elsewhere, the Spirit.
Christ, as to His Divine Nature, as the Word of God, Became Flesh, Not by Carnal Conception, Nor by the Will of the Flesh and of Man, But by the Will of God. Christ's Divine Nature, of Its Own Accord, Descended into the Virgin's Womb.
Christ Born of a Virgin, of Her Substance. The Physiological Facts of His Real and Exact Birth of a Human Mother, as Suggested by Certain Passages of Scripture.
The Word of God Did Not Become Flesh Except in the Virgin's Womb and of Her Substance. Through His Mother He is Descended from Her Great Ancestor David. He is Described Both in the Old and in the New Testament as “The Fruit of David's Loins.”
Holy Scripture in the New Testament, Even in Its Very First Verse, Testifies to Christ's True Flesh. In Virtue of Which He is Incorporated in the Human Stock of David, and Abraham, and Adam.
Simeon's “Sign that Should Be Contradicted,” Applied to the Heretical Gainsaying of the True Birth of Christ. One of the Heretics' Paradoxes Turned in Support of Catholic Truth.
Divine Strictures on Various Heretics Descried in Various Passages of Prophetical Scripture. Those Who Assail the True Doctrine of the One Lord Jesus Christ, Both God and Man, Thus Condemned.
Conclusion. This Treatise Forms a Preface to the Other Work, “On the Resurrection of the Flesh,” Proving the Reality of the Flesh Which Was Truly Born, and Died, and Rose Again.
Elucidations.
The Doctrine of the Resurrection of the Body Brought to Light by the Gospel. The Faintest Glimpses of Something Like It Occasionally Met with in Heathenism. Inconsistencies of Pagan Teaching.
The Jewish Sadducees a Link Between the Pagan Philosophers and the Heretics on This Doctrine. Its Fundamental Importance Asserted. The Soul Fares Better Than the Body, in Heretical Estimation, as to Its Future State. Its Extinction, However, Was Held by One Lucan.
Some Truths Held Even by the Heathen. They Were, However, More Often Wrong Both in Religious Opinions and in Moral Practice. The Heathen Not to Be Followed in Their Ignorance of the Christian Mystery. The Heretics Perversely Prone to Follow Them.
Heathens and Heretics Alike in Their Vilification of the Flesh and Its Functions, the Ordinary Cavils Against the Final Restitution of So Weak and Ignoble a Substance.
Some Considerations in Reply Eulogistic of the Flesh. It Was Created by God. The Body of Man Was, in Fact, Previous to His Soul.
Not the Lowliness of the Material, But the Dignity and Skill of the Maker, Must Be Remembered, in Gauging the Excellence of the Flesh. Christ Partook of Our Flesh.
The Earthy Material of Which Flesh is Created Wonderfully Improved by God's Manipulation. By the Addition of the Soul in Man's Constitution It Became the Chief Work in the Creation.
Christianity, by Its Provision for the Flesh, Has Put on It the Greatest Honour. The Privileges of Our Religion in Closest Connection with Our Flesh. Which Also Bears a Large Share in the Duties and Sacrifices of Religion.
God's Love for the Flesh of Man, as Developed in the Grace of Christ Towards It. The Flesh the Best Means of Displaying the Bounty and Power of God.
Holy Scripture Magnifies the Flesh, as to Its Nature and Its Prospects.
The Power of God Fully Competent to Effect the Resurrection of the Flesh.
Some Analogies in Nature Which Corroborate the Resurrection of the Flesh.
From Our Author's View of a Verse in the Ninety-Second Psalm, the Phœnix is Made a Symbol of the Resurrection of Our Bodies.
A Sufficient Cause for the Resurrection of the Flesh Occurs in the Future Judgment of Man. It Will Take Cognisance of the Works of the Body No Less Than of the Soul.
As the Flesh is a Partaker with the Soul in All Human Conduct, So Will It Be in the Recompense of Eternity.
The Heretics Called the Flesh “The Vessel of the Soul,” In Order to Destroy the Responsibility of the Body. Their Cavil Turns Upon Themselves and Shows the Flesh to Be a Sharer in Human Actions.
The Flesh Will Be Associated with the Soul in Enduring the Penal Sentences of the Final Judgment.
Scripture Phrases and Passages Clearly Assert “The Resurrection of the Dead.” The Force of This Very Phrase Explained as Indicating the Prominent Place of the Flesh in the General Resurrection.
The Sophistical Sense Put by Heretics on the Phrase “Resurrection of the Dead,” As If It Meant the Moral Change of a New Life.
Figurative Senses Have Their Foundation in Literal Fact. Besides, the Allegorical Style is by No Means the Only One Found in the Prophetic Scriptures, as Alleged by the Heretics.
No Mere Metaphor in the Phrase Resurrection of the Dead. In Proportion to the Importance of Eternal Truths, is the Clearness of Their Scriptural Enunciation.
The Scriptures Forbid Our Supposing Either that the Resurrection is Already Past, or that It Takes Place Immediately at Death. Our Hopes and Prayers Point to the Last Great Day as the Period of Its Accomplishment.
Sundry Passages of St. Paul, Which Speak of a Spiritual Resurrection, Compatible with the Future Resurrection of the Body, Which is Even Assumed in Them.
Other Passages Quoted from St. Paul, Which Categorically Assert the Resurrection of the Flesh at the Final Judgment.
St. John, in the Apocalypse, Equally Explicit in Asserting the Same Great Doctrine.
Even the Metaphorical Descriptions of This Subject in the Scriptures Point to the Bodily Resurrection, the Only Sense Which Secures Their Consistency and Dignity.
Certain Metaphorical Terms Explained of the Resurrection of the Flesh.
Prophetic Things and Actions, as Well as Words, Attest This Great Doctrine.
Ezekiel's Vision of the Dry Bones Quoted.
This Vision Interpreted by Tertullian of the Resurrection of the Bodies of the Dead. A Chronological Error of Our Author, Who Supposes that Ezekiel in His Ch. XXXI. Prophesied Before the Captivity.
Other Passages Out of the Prophets Applied to the Resurrection of the Flesh.
Even Unburied Bodies Will Be Raised Again. Whatever Befalls Them God Will Restore Them Again. Jonah's Case Quoted in Illustration of God's Power.
So Much for the Prophetic Scriptures. In the Gospels, Christ's Parables, as Explained by Himself, Have a Clear Reference to the Resurrection of the Flesh.
Christ Plainly Testifies to the Resurrection of the Entire Man. Not in His Soul Only, Without the Body.
Explanation of What is Meant by the Body, Which is to Be Raised Again. Not the Corporeality of the Soul.
Christ's Refutation of the Sadducees, and Affirmation of Catholic Doctrine.
Christ's Assertion About the Unprofitableness of the Flesh Explained Consistently with Our Doctrine.
Christ, by Raising the Dead, Attested in a Practical Way the Doctrine of the Resurrection of the Flesh.
Additional Evidence Afforded to Us in the Acts of the Apostles.
Sundry Passages of St. Paul Which Attest Our Doctrine Rescued from the Perversions of Heresy.
The Dissolution of Our Tabernacle Consistent with the Resurrection of Our Bodies.
Death Changes, Without Destroying, Our Mortal Bodies. Remains of the Giants.
No Disparagement of Our Doctrine in St. Paul's Phrase, Which Calls Our Residence in the Flesh Absence from the Lord.
Sundry Other Passages of St. Paul Explained in a Sentence Confirmatory of Our Doctrine.
The Old Man and the New Man of St. Paul Explained.
It is the Works of the Flesh, Not the Substance of the Flesh, Which St. Paul Always Condemns.
St. Paul, All Through, Promises Eternal Life to the Body.
Sundry Passages in the Great Chapter of the Resurrection of the Dead Explained in Defence of Our Doctrine.
The Same Subject Continued. What Does the Apostle Exclude from the Dead? Certainly Not the Substance of the Flesh.
In What Sense Flesh and Blood are Excluded from the Kingdom of God.
The Session of Jesus in His Incarnate Nature at the Right Hand of God a Guarantee of the Resurrection of Our Flesh.
From St. Paul's Analogy of the Seed We Learn that the Body Which Died Will Rise Again, Garnished with the Appliances of Eternal Life.
Not the Soul, But the Natural Body Which Died, is that Which is to Rise Again. The Resurrection of Lazarus Commented on. Christ's Resurrection, as the Second Adam, Guarantees Our Own.
Death Swallowed Up of Life. Meaning of This Phrase in Relation to the Resurrection of the Body.
The Change of a Thing's Condition is Not the Destruction of Its Substance. The Application of This Principle to Our Subject.
The Procedure of the Last Judgment, and Its Awards, Only Possible on the Identity of the Risen Body with Our Present Flesh.
Our Bodies, However Mutilated Before or After Death, Shall Recover Their Perfect Integrity in the Resurrection. Illustration of the Enfranchised Slave.
From This Perfection of Our Restored Bodies Will Flow the Consciousness of Undisturbed Joy and Peace.
Our Flesh in the Resurrection Capable, Without Losing Its Essential Identity, of Bearing the Changed Conditions of Eternal Life, or of Death Eternal.
All the Characteristics of Our Bodies—Sex, Various Limbs, Etc.—Will Be Retained, Whatever Change of Functions These May Have, of Which Point, However, We are No Judges. Analogy of the Repaired Ship.
The Details of Our Bodily Sex, and of the Functions of Our Various Members. Apology for the Necessity Which Heresy Imposes of Hunting Up All Its Unblushing Cavils.
Our Destined Likeness to the Angels in the Glorious Life of the Resurrection.
Conclusion. The Resurrection of the Flesh in Its Absolute Identity and Perfection. Belief of This Had Become Weak. Hopes for Its Refreshing Restoration Under the Influences of the Paraclete.
Elucidations.
Satan's Wiles Against the Truth. How They Take the Form of the Praxean Heresy. Account of the Publication of This Heresy.
1 The Catholic Doctrine of the Trinity and Unity, Sometimes Called the Divine Economy, or Dispensation of the Personal Relations of the Godhead.
Sundry Popular Fears and Prejudices. The Doctrine of the Trinity in Unity Rescued from These Misapprehensions.
The Unity of the Godhead and the Supremacy and Sole Government of the Divine Being. The Monarchy Not at All Impaired by the Catholic Doctrine.
The Evolution of the Son or Word of God from the Father by a Divine Procession. Illustrated by the Operation of the Human Thought and Consciousness.
The Word of God is Also the Wisdom of God. The Going Forth of Wisdom to Create the Universe, According to the Divine Plan.
The Son by Being Designated Word and Wisdom, (According to the Imperfection of Human Thought and Language) Liable to Be Deemed a Mere Attribute. He is Shown to Be a Personal Being.
Though the Son or Word of God Emanates from the Father, He is Not, Like the Emanations of Valentinus, Separable from the Father. Nor is the Holy Ghost Separable from Either. Illustrations from Nature.
The Catholic Rule of Faith Expounded in Some of Its Points. Especially in the Unconfused Distinction of the Several Persons of the Blessed Trinity.
The Very Names of Father and Son Prove the Personal Distinction of the Two. They Cannot Possibly Be Identical, Nor is Their Identity Necessary to Preserve the Divine Monarchy.
The Identity of the Father and the Son, as Praxeas Held It, Shown to Be Full of Perplexity and Absurdity. Many Scriptures Quoted in Proof of the Distinction of the Divine Persons of the Trinity.
Other Quotations from Holy Scripture Adduced in Proof of the Plurality of Persons in the Godhead.
The Force of Sundry Passages of Scripture Illustrated in Relation to the Plurality of Persons and Unity of Substance. There is No Polytheism Here, Since the Unity is Insisted on as a Remedy Against Polytheism.
The Natural Invisibility of the Father, and the Visibility of the Son Witnessed in Many Passages of the Old Testament. Arguments of Their Distinctness, Thus Supplied.
New Testament Passages Quoted. They Attest the Same Truth of the Son's Visibility Contrasted with the Father's Invisibility.
Early Manifestations of the Son of God, as Recorded in the Old Testament; Rehearsals of His Subsequent Incarnation.
Sundry August Titles, Descriptive of Deity, Applied to the Son, Not, as Praxeas Would Have It, Only to the Father.
The Designation of the One God in the Prophetic Scriptures. Intended as a Protest Against Heathen Idolatry, It Does Not Preclude the Correlative Idea of the Son of God. The Son is in the Father.
The Son in Union with the Father in the Creation of All Things. This Union of the Two in Co-Operation is Not Opposed to the True Unity of God. It is Opposed Only to Praxeas' Identification Theory.
The Scriptures Relied on by Praxeas to Support His Heresy But Few. They are Mentioned by Tertullian.
In This and the Four Following Chapters It is Shewn, by a Minute Analysis of St. John's Gospel, that the Father and Son are Constantly Spoken of as Distinct Persons.
Sundry Passages of St. John Quoted, to Show the Distinction Between the Father and the Son. Even Praxeas' Classic Text—I and My Father are One—Shown to Be Against Him.
More Passages from the Same Gospel in Proof of the Same Portion of the Catholic Faith. Praxeas' Taunt of Worshipping Two Gods Repudiated.
On St. Philip's Conversation with Christ. He that Hath Seen Me, Hath Seen the Father. This Text Explained in an Anti-Praxean Sense.
The Paraclete, or Holy Ghost. He is Distinct from the Father and the Son as to Their Personal Existence. One and Inseparable from Them as to Their Divine Nature. Other Quotations Out of St. John's Gospel.
A Brief Reference to the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Luke. Their Agreement with St. John, in Respect to the Distinct Personality of the Father and the Son.
The Distinction of the Father and the Son, Thus Established, He Now Proves the Distinction of the Two Natures, Which Were, Without Confusion, United in the Person of the Son. The Subterfuges of Praxeas Thus Exposed.
Christ Not the Father, as Praxeas Said. The Inconsistency of This Opinion, No Less Than Its Absurdity, Exposed. The True Doctrine of Jesus Christ According to St. Paul, Who Agrees with Other Sacred Writers.
It Was Christ that Died. The Father is Incapable of Suffering Either Solely or with Another. Blasphemous Conclusions Spring from Praxeas' Premises.
How the Son Was Forsaken by the Father Upon the Cross. The True Meaning Thereof Fatal to Praxeas. So Too, the Resurrection of Christ, His Ascension, Session at the Father's Right Hand, and Mission of the Holy Ghost.
Retrograde Character of the Heresy of Praxeas. The Doctrine of the Blessed Trinity Constitutes the Great Difference Between Judaism and Christianity.
Postscript.
Elucidations.
Ethical.
Introductory Notice.
Preface.
Argument.—When the Saints Were Apprehended, St. Perpetua Successfully Resisted Her Father's Pleading, Was Baptized with the Others, Was Thrust into a Filthy Dungeon. Anxious About Her Infant, by a Vision Granted to Her, She Understood that Her Martyrdom Would Take Place Very Shortly.
Argument. Perpetua, When Besieged by Her Father, Comforts Him. When Led with Others to the Tribunal, She Avows Herself a Christian, and is Condemned with the Rest to the Wild Beasts. She Prays for Her Brother Dinocrates, Who Was Dead.
Argument. Perpetua is Again Tempted by Her Father. Her Third Vision, Wherein She is Led Away to Struggle Against an Egyptian. She Fights, Conquers, and Receives the Reward.
Argument. Saturus, in a Vision, and Perpetua Being Carried by Angels into the Great Light, Behold the Martyrs. Being Brought to the Throne of God, are Received with a Kiss. They Reconcile Optatus the Bishop and Aspasius the Presbyter.
Argument. Secundulus Dies in the Prison. Felicitas is Pregnant, But with Many Prayers She Brings Forth in the Eighth Month Without Suffering, the Courage of Perpetua and of Saturus Unbroken.
Argument. From the Prison They are Led Forth with Joy into the Amphitheatre, Especially Perpetua and Felicitas. All Refuse to Put on Profane Garments. They are Scourged, They are Thrown to the Wild Beasts. Saturus Twice is Unhurt. Perpetua and Felicitas are Thrown Down; They are Called Back to the Sanavivarian Gate. Saturus Wounded by a Leopard, Exhorts the Soldier. They Kiss One Another, and are Slain with the Sword.
Elucidations.
Elucidations.
Introductory Notice.
Appendix
Introductory Note.
Argument: Minucius Relates How Delightful to Him is the Recollection of the Things that Had Happened to Him with Octavius While He Was Associated with Him at Rome, and Especially of This Disputation.
Argument: The Arrival of Octavius at Rome During the Time of the Public Holidays Was Very Agreeable to Minucius. Both of Them Were Desirous of Going to the Marine Baths of Ostia, with Cæcilius Associated with Them as a Companion of Minucius. On Their Way Together to the Sea, Cæcillus, Seeing an Image of Serapis, Raises His Hand to His Mouth, and Worships It.
Argument: Octavius, Displeased at the Act of This Superstitious Man, Sharply Reproaches Minucius, on the Ground that the Disgrace of This Wicked Deed is Reflected Not Less on Himself, as Cæcilius' Host, Than on Cæcilius.
Argument: Cæcilius, Somewhat Grieved at This Kind of Rebuke Which for His Sake Minucius Had Had to Bear from Octavius, Begs to Argue with Octavius on the Truth of His Religion. Octavius with His Companion Consents, and Minucius Sits in the Middle Between Cæcilius and Octavius.
Argument: Cæcilius Begins His Argument First of All by Reminding Them that in Human Affairs All Things are Doubtful and Uncertain, and that Therefore It is to Be Lamented that Christians, Who for the Most Part are Untrained and Illiterate Persons, Should Dare to Determine on Anything with Certainty Concerning the Chief of Things and the Divine Majesty: Hence He Argues that the World is Governed by No Providence, and Concludes that It is Better to Abide by the Received Forms of Religion.
Argument: The Object of All Nations, and Especially of the Romans, in Worshipping Their Divinities, Has Been to Attain for Their Worship the Supreme Dominion Over the Whole Earth.
Argument: That the Roman Auspices and Auguries Have Been Neglected with Ill Consequences, But Have Been Observed with Good Fortune.
Argument: The Impious Temerity of Theodorus, Diagoras, and Protagoras is Not at All to Be Acquiesced In, Who Wished Either Altogether to Get Rid of the Religion of the Gods, or at Least to Weaken It. But Infinitely Less to Be Endured is that Skulking and Light-Shunning People of the Christians, Who Reject the Gods, and Who, Fearing to Die After Death, Do Not in the Meantime Fear to Die.
Argument: The Religion of the Christians is Foolish, Inasmuch as They Worship a Crucified Man, and Even the Instrument Itself of His Punishment. They are Said to Worship the Head of an Ass, and Even the Nature of Their Father. They are Initiated by the Slaughter and the Blood of an Infant, and in Shameless Darkness They are All Mixed Up in an Uncertain Medley.
Argument: Whatever the Christians Worship, They Strive in Every Way to Conceal: They Have No Altars, No Temples, No Acknowledged Images. Their God, Like that of the Jews, is Said to Be One, Whom, Although They are Neither Able to See Nor to Show, They Think Nevertheless to Be Mischievous, Restless, and Unseasonably Inquisitive.
Argument: Besides Asserting the Future Conflagration of the Whole World, They Promise Afterwards the Resurrection of Our Bodies: and to the Righteous an Eternity of Most Blessed Life; To the Unrighteous, of Extreme Punishment.
Argument: Moreover, What Will Happen to the Christians Themselves After Death, May Be Anticipated from the Fact that Even Now They are Destitute of All Means, and are Afflicted with the Heaviest Calamities and Miseries.
Argument: Cæcilius at Length Concludes that the New Religion is to Be Repudiated; And that We Must Not Rashly Pronounce Upon Doubtful Matters.
Argument: With Something of the Pride of Self-Satisfaction, Cæcilius Urges Octavius to Reply to His Arguments; And Minucius with Modesty Answers Him, that He Must Not Exult at His Own by No Means Ordinary Eloquence, and at the Harmonious Variety of His Address.
Argument: Cæcilius Retorts Upon Minucius, with Some Little Appearance of Being Hurt, that He is Foregoing the Office of a Religious Umpire, When He is Weakening the Force of His Argument. He Says that It Should Be Left to Octavius to Confute All that He Had Advanced.
Argument: Octavius Arranges His Reply, and Trusts that He Shall Be Able to Dilute the Bitterness of Reproach with the River of Truthful Words. He Proceeds to Weaken the Individual Arguments of Cæcilius. Nobody Need Complain that the Christians, Unlearned Though They May Be, Dispute About Heavenly Things Because It is Not the Authority of Him Who Argues, But the Truth of the Argument Itself, that Should Be Considered.
Argument: Man Ought Indeed to Know Himself, But This Knowledge Cannot Be Attained by Him Unless He First of All Acknowledges the Entire Scope of Things, and God Himself. And from the Constitution and Furniture of the World Itself, Every One Endowed with Reason Holds that It Was Established by God, and is Governed and Administered by Him.
Argument: Moreover, God Not Only Takes Care of the Universal World, But of Its Individual Parts. That by the Decree of the One God All Things are Governed, is Proved by the Illustration of Earthly Empires. But Although He, Being Infinite and Immense—And How Great He Is, is Known to Himself Alone—Cannot Either Be Seen or Named by Us, Yet His Glory is Beheld Most Clearly When the Use of All Titles is Laid Aside.
Argument: Moreover, the Poets Have Called Him the Parent of Gods and Men, the Creator of All Things, and Their Mind and Spirit. And, Besides, Even the More Excellent Philosophers Have Come Almost to the Same Conclusion as the Christians About the Unity of God.
Argument: But If the World is Ruled by Providence and Governed by the Will of One God, an Ignorant Antipathy Ought Not to Carry Us Away into the Error of Agreement with It: Although Delighted with Its Own Fables, It Has Brought in Ridiculous Traditions. Nor is It Shown Less Plainly that the Worship of the Gods Has Always Been Silly and Impious, in that the Most Ancient of Men Have Venerated Their Kings, Their Illustrious Generals, and Inventors of Arts, on Account of Their Remarkable Deeds, No Otherwise Than as Gods.
Argument: Octavius Attests the Fact that Men Were Adopted as Gods, by the Testimony of Euhemerus, Prodicus, Persæus, and Alexander the Great, Who Enumerate the Country, the Birthdays, and the Burial-Places of the Gods. Moreover He Sets Forth the Mournful Endings, Misfortunes, and Deaths of the Gods. And, in Addition, He Laughs at the Ridiculous and Disgusting Absurdities Which the Heathens Continually Allege About the Form and Appearance of Their Gods.
Argument: Moreover, These Fables, Which at First Were Invented by Ignorant Men, Were Afterwards Celebrated by Others, and Chiefly by Poets, Who Did No Little Mischief to the Truth by Their Authority. By Fictions of This Kind, and by Falsehoods of a Yet More Attractive Nature, the Minds of Young People are Corrupted, and Thence They Miserably Grow Old in These Beliefs, Although, on the Other Hand, the Truth is Obvious to Them If They Will Only Seek After It.
Argument: Although the Heathens Acknowledge Their Kings to Be Mortal, Yet They Feign that They are Gods Even Against Their Own Will, Not Because of Their Belief in Their Divinity, But in Honour of the Power that They Have Exerted. Yet a True God Has Neither Rising Nor Setting. Thence Octavius Criticises the Images and Shrines of the Gods.
Argument: He Briefly Shows, Moreover, What Ridiculous, Obscene, and Cruel Rites Were Observed in Celebrating the Mysteries of Certain Gods.
Argument: Then He Shows that Cæcilius Had Been Wrong in Asserting that the Romans Had Gained Their Power Over the Whole World by Means of the Due Observance of Superstitions of This Kind. Rather the Romans in Their Origin Were Collected by Crime, and Grew by the Terrors of Their Ferocity. And Therefore the Romans Were Not So Great Because They Were Religious, But Because They Were Sacrilegious with Impunity.
Argument: The Weapon that Cæcilius Had Slightly Brandished Against Him, Taken from the Auspices and Auguries of Birds, Octavius Retorts by Instancing the Cases of Regulus, Mancinus, Paulus, and Cæsar. And He Shows by Other Examples, that the Argument from the Oracles is of No Greater Force Than the Others.
Argument: Recapitulation. Doubtless Here is a Source of Error: Demons Lurk Under the Statues and Images, They Haunt the Fanes, They Animate the Fibres of the Entrails, Direct the Flights of Birds, Govern the Lots, Pour Forth Oracles Involved in False Responses. These Things Not from God; But They are Constrained to Confess When They are Adjured in the Name of the True God, and are Driven from the Possessed Bodies. Hence They Flee Hastily from the Neighbourhood of Christians, and Stir Up a Hatred Against Them in the Minds of the Gentiles Who Begin to Hate Them Before They Know Them.
Argument: Nor is It Only Hatred that They Arouse Against the Christians, But They Charge Against Them Horrid Crimes, Which Up to This Time Have Been Proved by Nobody. This is the Work of Demons. For by Them a False Report is Both Set on Foot and Propagated. The Christians are Falsely Accused of Sacrilege, of Incest, of Adultery, of Parricide; And, Moreover, It is Certain and True that the Very Same Crimes, or Crimes Like to or Greater Than These, are in Fact Committed by the Gentiles Themselves.
Argument: Nor is It More True that a Man Fastened to a Cross on Account of His Crimes is Worshipped by Christians, for They Believe Not Only that He Was Innocent, But with Reason that He Was God. But, on the Other Hand, the Heathens Invoke the Divine Powers of Kings Raised into Gods by Themselves; They Pray to Images, and Beseech Their Genii.
Argument: The Story About Christians Drinking the Blood of an Infant that They Have Murdered, is a Barefaced Calumny. But the Gentiles, Both Cruelly Expose Their Children Newly Born, and Before They are Born Destroy Them by a Cruel Abortion. Christians are Neither Allowed to See Nor to Hear of Manslaughter.
Argument: The Charge of Our Entertainments Being Polluted with Incest, is Entirely Opposed to All Probability, While It is Plain that Gentiles are Actually Guilty of Incest. The Banquets of Christians are Not Only Modest, But Temperate. In Fact, Incestuous Lust is So Unheard Of, that with Many Even the Modest Association of the Sexes Gives Rise to a Blush.
Argument: Nor Can It Be Said that the Christians Conceal What They Worship Because They Have No Temples and No Altars, Inasmuch as They are Persuaded that God Can Be Circumscribed by No Temple, and that No Likeness of Him Can Be Made. But He is Everywhere Present, Sees All Things, Even the Most Secret Thoughts of Our Hearts; And We Live Near to Him, and in His Protection.
Argument: That Even If God Be Said to Have Nothing Availed the Jews, Certainly the Writers of the Jewish Annals are the Most Sufficient Witnesses that They Forsook God Before They Were Forsaken by Him.
Argument: Moreover, It is Not at All to Be Wondered at If This World is to Be Consumed by Fire, Since Everything Which Has a Beginning Has Also an End. And the Ancient Philosophers are Not Averse from the Opinion of the Probable Burning Up of the World. Yet It is Evident that God, Having Made Man from Nothing, Can Raise Him Up from Death into Life. And All Nature Suggests a Future Resurrection.
Argument: Righteous and Pious Men Shall Be Rewarded with Never-Ending Felicity, But Unrighteous Men Shall Be Visited with Eternal Punishment. The Morals of Christians are Far More Holy Than Those of the Gentiles.
Argument: Fate is Nothing, Except So Far as Fate is God. Man's Mind is Free, and Therefore So is His Action: His Birth is Not Brought into Judgment. It is Not a Matter of Infamy, But of Glory, that Christians are Reproached for Their Poverty; And the Fact that They Suffer Bodily Evils is Not as a Penalty, But as a Discipline.
Argument: Tortures Most Unjustly Inflicted for the Confession of Christ's Name are Spectacles Worthy of God. A Comparison Instituted Between Some of the Bravest of the Heathens and the Holy Martyrs. He Declares that Christians Do Not Present Themselves at Public Shows and Processions, Because They Know Them, with the Greatest Certainty, to Be No Less Impious Than Cruel.
Argument: Christians Abstain from Things Connected with Idol Sacrifices, Lest Any One Should Think Either that They Yield to Demons, or that They are Ashamed of Their Religion. They Do Not Indeed Despise All the Colour and Scent of Flowers, for They are Accustomed to Use Them Scattered About Loosely and Negligently, as Well as to Entwine Their Necks with Garlands; But to Crown the Head of a Corpse They Think Superfluous and Useless. Moreover, with the Same Tranquillity with Which They Live They Bury Their Dead, Waiting with a Very Certain Hope the Crown of Eternal Felicity. Therefore Their Religion, Rejecting All the Superstitions of the Gentiles, Should Be Adopted as True by All Men.
Argument: When Octavius Had Finished This Address, Minucius and Cæcilius Sate for Some Time in Attentive and Silent Wonder. And Minucius Indeed Kept Silence in Admiration of Octavius, Silently Revolving What He Had Heard.
Argument: Then Cæcilius Exclaims that He is Vanquished by Octavius; And That, Being Now Conqueror Over Error, He Professes the Christian Religion. He Postpones, However, Till the Morrow His Training in the Fuller Belief of Its Mysteries.
Argument: Finally, All are Pleased, and Joyfully Depart: Cæcilius, that He Had Believed; Octavius, that He Had Conquered; And Minucius, that the Former Had Believed, and the Latter Had Conquered.
Elucidations.
Introductory Note.
Preface.
God's Indignation.
The Worship of Demons.
Saturn.
Jupiter.
Of the Same Jupiter's Thunderbolt.
Of the Septizonium and the Stars.
Of the Sun and Moon.
Mercury.
Neptune.
Apollo the Soothsaying and False.
Father Liber—Bacchus.
The Unconquered One.
Sylvanus.
Hercules.
Of the Gods and Goddesses.
Of Their Images.
Of Ammydates and the Great God.
Of the Vain Nemesiaci.
The Titans.
The Montesiani.
The Dulness of the Age.
Of Those Who are Everywhere Ready.
Of Those Who Live Between the Two.
They Who Fear and Will Not Believe.
To Those Who Resist the Law of Christ the Living God.
O Fool, Thou Dost Not Die to God.
The Righteous Rise Again.
To the Wicked and Unbelieving Rich Man.
Rich Men, Be Humble.
To Judges.
To Self-Pleasers.
To the Gentiles.
Moreover, to Ignorant Gentiles.
Of the Tree of Life and Death.
Of the Foolishness of the Cross.
The Fanatics Who Judaize.
To the Jews.
Also to the Jews.
Again to the Same.
Of the Time of Antichrist.
Of the Hidden and Holy People of the Almighty Christ, the Living God.
Of the End of This Age.
Of the First Resurrection.
Of the Day of Judgment.
To Catechumens.
To the Faithful.
O Faithful, Beware of Evil.
To Penitents.
Who Have Apostatized from God.
Of Infants.
Deserters.
To the Soldiers of Christ.
Of Fugitives.
Of the Seed of the Tares.
To the Dissembler.
That Worldly Things are Absolutely to Be Avoided.
That the Christian Should Be Such.
To the Matrons of the Church of the Living God.
To the Same Again.
In the Church to All the People of God.
To Him Who Wishes for Martyrdom.
The Daily War.
Of the Zeal of Concupiscence.
They Who Give from Evil.
Of a Deceitful Peace.
To Ministers.
To God's Shepherds.
I Speak to the Elder-Born.
To Visit the Sick.
To the Poor in Health.
That Sons are Not to Be Bewailed.
Of Funeral Pomp.
To the Clerks.
Of Those Who Gossip, and of Silence.
To the Drunkards.
To the Pastors.
To the Petitioners.
The Name of the Man of Gaza.
Elucidation.
Introductory Note.
Preface.
Life.
Exegetical Works.
Critical Works.
Apologetical Works.
Dogmatic Works.
Practical Works.
Editions of Origin.
Prefatory Notice.
Origen De Principiis.
Letters
Origen Against Celsus.
Preface.
Introductory Notice.
The Refutation of All Heresies.
Contents.
The Proœmium.—Motives for Undertaking the Refutation; Exposure of the Ancient Mysteries; Plan of the Work; Completeness of the Refutation; Value of the Treatise to Future Ages.
Thales; His Physics and Theology; Founder of Greek Astronomy.
Pythagoras; His Cosmogony; Rules of His Sect; Discoverer of Physiognomy; His Philosophy of Numbers; His System of the Transmigration of Souls; Zaratas on Demons; Why Pythagoras Forbade the Eating of Beans; The Mode of Living Adopted by His Disciples.
Empedocles; His Twofold Cause; Tenet of Transmigration.
Heraclitus; His Universal Dogmatism; His Theory of Flux; Other Systems.
Anaximander; His Theory of the Infinite; His Astronomic Opinions; His Physics.
Anaximenes; His System of “An Infinite Air;” His Views of Astronomy and Natural Phenomena.
Anaxagoras; His Theory of Mind; Recognises an Efficient Cause; His Cosmogony and Astronomy.
Archelaus; System Akin to that of Anaxagoras; His Origin of the Earth and of Animals; Other Systems.
Parmenides; His Theory of “Unity;” His Eschatology.
Leucippus; His Atomic Theory.
Democritus; His Duality of Principles; His Cosmogony.
Xenophanes; His Scepticism; His Notions of God and Nature; Believes in a Flood.
Ecphantus; His Scepticism; Tenet of Infinity.
Hippo; His Duality of Principles; His Psychology.
Socrates; His Philosophy Reproduced by Plato.
Plato; Threefold Classification of Principles; His Idea of God; Different Opinions Regarding His Theology and Psychology; His Eschatology and System of Metempsychosis; His Ethical Doctrines; Notions on the Free-Will Question.
Aristotle; Duality of Principles; His Categories; His Psychology; His Ethical Doctrines; Origin of the Epithet “Peripatetic.”
The Stoics; Their Superiority in Logic; Fatalists; Their Doctrine of Conflagrations.
Epicurus; Adopts the Democritic Atomism; Denial of Divine Providence; The Principle of His Ethical System.
The Academics; Difference of Opinion Among Them.
The Brachmans; Their Mode of Life; Ideas of Deity; Different Sorts Of; Their Ethical Notions.
The Druids; Progenitors of Their System.
Hesiod; The Nine Muses; The Hesiodic Cosmogony; The Ancient Speculators, Materialists; Derivative Character of the Heresies from Heathen Philosophy.
System of the Astrologers; Sidereal Influence; Configuration of the Stars.
Doctrines Concerning Æons; The Chaldean Astrology; Heresy Derivable from It.
The Horoscope the Foundation of Astrology; Indiscoverability of the Horoscope; Therefore the Futility of the Chaldean Art.
Impossibility of Fixing the Horoscope; Failure of an Attempt to Do This at the Period of Birth.
Another Method of Fixing the Horoscope at Birth; Equally Futile; Use of the Clepsydra in Astrology; The Predictions of the Chaldeans Not Verified.
Zodiacal Influence; Origin of Sidereal Names.
Practical Absurdity of the Chaldaic Art; Development of the Art.
Prodigies of the Astrologers; System of the Astronomers; Chaldean Doctrine of Circles; Distances of the Heavenly Bodies.
Further Astronomic Calculations.
Theory of Stellar Motion and Distance in Accordance with Harmony.
Theory of the Size of the Heavenly Bodies in Accordance with Numerical Harmonies.
Waste of Mental Energy in the Systems of the Astrologers.
Mention of the Heretic Colarbasus; Alliance Between Heresy and the Pythagorean Philosophy.
System of the Arithmeticians; Predictions Through Calculations; Numerical Roots; Transference of These Doctrines to Letters; Examples in Particular Names; Different Methods of Calculation; Prescience Possible by These.
Quibbles of the Numerical Theorists; The Art of the Frontispicists (Physiognomy); Connection of This Art with Astrology; Type of Those Born Under Aries.
Type of Those Born Under Taurus.
Type of Those Born Under Gemini.
Type of Those Born Under Cancer.
Type of Those Born Under Leo.
Type of Those Born Under Virgo.
Type of Those Born Under Libra.
Type of Those Born Under Scorpio.
Type of Those Born Under Sagittarius.
Type of Those Born Under Capricorn.
Type of Those Born Under Aquarius.
Type of Those Born Under Pisces.
Futility of This Theory of Stellar Influence.
System of the Magicians; Incantations of Demons; Secret Magical Rites.
Display of Different Eggs.
Self-Slaughter of Sheep.
Method of Poisoning Goats.
Imitations of Thunder, and Other Illusions.
The Burning Æsculapius; Tricks with Fire.
The Illusion of the Sealed Letters; Object in Detailing These Juggleries.
The Divination by a Cauldron; Illusion of Fiery Demons; Specimen of a Magical Invocation.
Mode of Managing an Apparition.
Illusive Appearance of the Moon.
Illusive Appearance of the Stars.
Imitation of an Earthquake.
Trick with the Liver.
Making a Skull Speak.
The Fraud of the Foregoing Practices; Their Connection with Heresy.
Recapitulation of Theologies and Cosmogonies; System of the Persians; Of the Babylonians; The Egyptian Notion of Deity; Their Theology Based on a Theory of Numbers; Their System of Cosmogony.
Egyptian Theory of Nature; Their Amulets.
Use of the Foregoing Discussions.
The Astrotheosophists; Aratus Imitated by the Heresiarchs; His System of the Disposition of the Stars.
Opinions of the Heretics Borrowed from Aratus.
Invention of the Lyre; Allegorizing the Appearance and Position of the Stars; Origin of the Phœnicians; The Logos Identified by Aratus with the Constellation Canis; Influence of Canis on Fertility and Life Generally.
Symbol of the Creature; And of Spirit; And of the Different Orders of Animals.
Folly of Astrology.
The Hebdomadarii; System of the Arithmeticians; Pressed into the Service of Heresy; Instances Of, in Simon and Valentinus; The Nature of the Universe Deducible from the Physiology of the Brain.
Note.