easier than its first formation.
CHAP. XII. — SOME ANALOGIES IN NATURE WHICH CORROBORATE THE RESURRECTION OF THE FLESH.
Consider now those very analogies of the » Oehler explains " devoratum" by " interceptum."
divine power (to which we have just alluded). Day dies into night, and is buried everywhere in tlarkness. The glory of the world is ob- scured in the shadow of death; its entire substance is tarnished with blackness; all things become sordid, silent, stupid; every- where business ceases, and occupations rest. And so over the loss of the light there is mourning. But yet it again revives, with its own beauty, its own dowry, is own sun, the same as ever, whole and entire, over all the world, slaying its own death, night — opening its own sepulchre, the darkness — coming forth the heir to itself, until the night also revives— it, too, accompanied with a r-etinue of its own. For the stellar rays are rekindled, which had been quenched in the morning glow; the dis- tant groups of the constellations are again brought back to view, which the days temporary interval had removed out of sight. Readorned also are the mirrors of the moon, which her monthly course had worn away. Winters and summers return, as do the spring- tide and autumn, with their resources, their routines, their fruits. Forasmuch as earth receives its instruction from heaven to clothe the trees which had been stripped, to colour the flowers afresh, to spread the grass again, to reproduce the seed which had been con- sumed, and not to reproduce them until con- sumed. Wondrous method! from a defrauder to be a preserver, in order to restore, it takes away; in order to guard, it destroys; that it may make whole, it injures; and that it may enlarge, it first lessens. (This process) in- deed, renders back to us richer and fuller blessings than it deprived us of — by a destruc- tion which is profit, by an injury which is ad- vantage, and by a loss which is gain. In a word, I would say, all creation is instinct with renewal. Whatever you may chance upon, has already existed; whatever you have lost, returns again without fail. All things return\ to their former state, after having gone cut of sight; all things begin after they have ended; they come to an end for the very purpose of coming into existence again. Nothing perishes but with a view to salvation. The whole, therefore, of this revolving order of things bears witness to the resurrection of the dead.
In His works did God write it, before He wrote it in the Scriptures; He proclaimed it in His mighty deeds earlier than in His in- spired words. He first sent Nature to you as a teacher, meaning to send Prophecy also as a supplemental instructor, that, being Nature's disciple, you may more easily believe Proph- ecy, and without hesitation accept (its testi- mony) when you come to hear what you have seen already on every side; nor doubt that l^ ON THE RESURRECTION OF THE FLESH.
[chap. XIV.
God, whom you have discovered to be the re- storer of all things, is likewise the reviver of the flesh. And surely, as all things rise again for man, for whose use they have been pro- vided— but not for man except for his flesh also — how happens it that (the flesh) itself can perish utterly, because of which and for the service of which nothing comes to nought?
CHAP. XIII. — FROM OUR AUTHOR'S VIEW OF A VERSE IN THE NINETY-SECOND PSALM, THE PHCENIX IS MADE A SYMBOL OF THE RESUR- RECTION OF OUR BODIES.
If, however, all nature but faintly figures our resurrection; if creation affords no sign precisely like it, inasmuch as its several phe- nomena can hardly be said to die so much as to come to an end, nor again be deemed to be reanimated, but only re-formed; then take a most complete and unassailable symbol of our hope, for it shall be an animated being, and subject alike to life and death. I refer to the bird which is peculiar to the East, famous for its singularity, marvellous from its posthu- mous life, which renews its life in a voluntary death; its dying day is its birthday, for on it it departs and returns; once more a phoenix where just now there was none; once more himself, but just now out of existence; another, yet the same. What can be more express and more significant for our subject; or to what other thing can such a phenomenon bear wit- ness? God even in His own Scripture says: " The righteous shall flourish like the phoe- nix; " ' that is, shall flourish or revive, from death, from the grave — to teach you to believe that a bodily substance may be recovered even from the fire. Our Lord has declared that we are " better than many sparrows: " ^ well, if not better than many a phoenix too, it were no great thing. But must men die once for all, while birds in Arabia are sure of a resur- rection?
CHAP. XIV. — 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.
Such, then, being the outlines of the divine energies which God has displayed as much in the parables of nature as in His spoken word, let us now approach His very edicts and decrees, since this is the division which we mainly adopt in our subject-matter. We began with the dignity of the flesh, whether it were ' Ac'icaiot ut (^otfil avfl^o-et, Sept. Ps. xcii. 12, — "like a palm tree " (A. V.). We have here a characteristic way of 'I'ertullian's cjuotinK a scriptur" which has even the least bearinf; on his sub- icct. [See Vol. I. (this series) p. 12, and same volume, p. viii.]
of such a nature that when once destroyed it was capable of being restored. Then we pur- sued an inquiry touching the power of God, whether it was sufficiently great to be habitually able to confer this restoration on a thing which had been destroyed. Now, if we have proved these two points, I should like you to inquire into the [question of) cause, whether it be one of sufticientweight to claim the resurrection of the flesh as necessary and as conformable in every way to reason; because there underlies this de- murrer: the flesh may be quite capable of being restored, and the Deity be perfectly able to effect the restoration, but a cause for such recovery must needs pre-exist. Admit then a sufficient one, you who learn of a God who is both supremely good as well as just^ — supremely good from His own (character), just in consequence of ours. For if man had never sinned, he would simply and solely have known God in His superlative goodness, from the attribute of His nature. But now he ex- periences Him to be a just God also, from the necessity of a cause; still, however, re- taining under this very circumstance His excellent goodness, at the same time that He is also just. For, by both succouring the good and punishing the evil, He displays His justice, and at the same time makes both proc- esses contribute proofs of His goodness, whilst on the one hand He deals vengeance, and on the other dispenses reward. But with Marcion" you will have the opportunity of more fully learning whether this be the whole character of God. Meanwhile, so perfect is our (God), that He is rightly Judge, because He is the Lord; rightly the Lord, because the Creator; rightly the Creator, because He is God. Whence it happens that that heretic, whose name I know not, holds that He properly is not a Judge, since He is not Lord; properly not Lord, since He is not the Creator. And so I am at a loss to know how He is God, who is neither the Creator, which God is; nor the Lord, which the Creator is. Inasmuch, then, as it is most suitable for the great Being who is God, and Lord, and Creator to summon man to a judgment on this very question, whether he has taken care or not to acknowledge and honour his Lord and Creator, this is just sucli a judgment as the resurrection shall achieve.
The entire cause, then, or rather necessity of the resurrection, will be this, namely, that arrangement of the final judgment which shall be most suitable to God. Now, in effecting this arrangement, you must consider whether the divine censure superintends a judicial ex- 3 He here refers to Marcion.
4 He here refers his reader to what he has written against M» lion, especially in his books i. and ii.
CHAl'. XVI.]
ON THE RESURRECTION OF THE FLESH.
ODD amination of the two natures of man — both his soul and his flesh. For that which is a \ suitable object to be judged, is also a com- I patent one to be raised. Our position is, that the judgment of God must be believed first of all to be plenary, and then absolute, so as to be final, and therefore irrevocable; to be also righteous, not bearing less heavily on any particular part; to be moreover worthy of God, being complete and definite, in keeping witii His great patience. Thus it follows that the fulness and perfection of the judgment consists simply in representing the interests of the entire human being. Now, since the entire man consists of the union of the two natures, he must therefore appear in both, as it is right that he should be judged in his entirety; nor, of course, did he pass through life except in his entire state. As therefore he lived, so also must he be judged, because he has to be judged concerning the way in which he lived. • For life is the cause of judgment, and it must undergo investigation in as many natures as it possessed when it discharged its vital func- tions.
CHAP. XV. AS THE FLESH IS A PARTAKER WITH THE SOUL IN ALL HUMAN CONDUCT, SO WILL IT BE IN THE RECOMPENSE OF ETERNITY.
Come now, let our opponents sever the connection of the flesh with the soul in the affairs of life, that they may be emboldened to sunder it also in the recompense of life. Let them deny their association in acts, that they may be fairly able to deny also their partici- pation in rewards. The flesh ought not to have any share in the sentence, if it had none in the cause of it. Let the soul alone be called back, if it alone went away. But (nothing of the kind ever happened); for the soul alone no more departed from life, than it ran through alone the course from which it departed — I mean this present life. Indeed, the soul alone is so far from conducting (the affairs of) life, that we do not withdraw from community with the flesh even our thoughts, however isolated they be, however unprecipi- tated into act by means of the flesh; since whatever is done in man's heart is done by the soul in the flesh, and with the flesh, and through the flesh. The Lord Himself, in short, when rebuking our thoughts, includes m His censures this aspect of the flesh, (man's heart), the citadel of the soul: "Why think ye evil in your hearts?"' and again: "Whosoever looketh on a woman, to lust after her, hath already committed adultery with her in his heart. "^ So that even the I Matt. ix. 4.
thought, without operation and without effect, is an act of the flesh. But if you allow that the faculty which rules the senses, and which they call Hegeinotiikon,^ has its sanctuary in the brain, or in the interval between the eyebrows, or wheresoever the philosophers are pleased to locate it, the flesh will still be the thinking place of the soul. The soul is never without the flesh, as long as it is in the flesh. There is nothing which the flesh does not transact in company with the soul, when without it it does not exist. Consider carefully, too, whether the thoughts are not administered by the flesh, since it is through the flesh that they are distinguished and known externally. Let the soul only meditate some design, the face gives the indication — the face being the mirror of all our intentions. They may deny all com- bination in acts, but they cannot gainsay their co-operation in thoughts. Still they enumerate the sitis of the flesh; surely, then, for its sinful conduct it must be consigned to punishment.. But we, moreover, allege against them /he- virtues of the flesh; surely also for its virtuous conduct it deserves a future reward. Again, as it is the soul which acts and impels us in all we do, so it is the function of the flesh to render obedience. Now we are not permitted to suppose that God is either unjust or idle. Unjust, (however He would be,) were He to exclude from reward the flesh which is asso- ciated in good works; and idle, were He to exempt it from punishment, when it has been an accomplice in evil deeds: whereas human judgment is deemed to be the more perfect, when it discovers the agents in every deed, and neither spares the guilty nor grudges the virtuous their full share of either punishment or praise with the principals who employed their services.
CHAP. XVI. 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.
When, however, we attribute to the soul authority, and to the flesh submission, we must see to it that (our opponents) do not turn our position by another argument, In- insisting on so placing the flesh in the ser\'ice of the soul, that it be not (considered as) its servant, lest they should be compelled, if it were so regarded, to admit its companionship (to the soul). For they would argue that servants and companions possess a discretion in discharging the functions of their respective 3 The leading power.
ON THE RESURRECTION OF THE FLESH.
[chap. XVII.
'offices, and a power over their will in both re- lations: in short, (they would claim to be) men themselves, and therefore (would expect) to share the credit with their principals, to whom they voluntarily yielded their assistance; whereas the flesh had no discretion, no senti- ment in itself, but possessing no power of its own of willing or refusing, it, in fact, appears to stand to the soul in the stead of a vessel, as an instrument rather than a servant. The soul alone, therefore, will have to be judged (at the last day) pre-eminently as to how it has employed the vessel of the flesh; the ves- sel itself, of course, not being amenable to a judicial award: for who condemns the cup if any man has mixed poison in it? or who sen- tences the sword to the beasts, if a man has perpetrated with it the atrocities of a brigand? Well, now, we will grant that the flesh is in- nocent, in so far as bad actions will not be charged upon it: what, then, is there to hinder its being saved on the score of its innocence? For although it is free from all imputation of good works, as it is of evil ones, yet it is more consistent w'ith the divine goodness to deliver the innocent. A beneficent man, indeed, is bound to do so: it suits then the character of the Most Bountiful to bestow even gratuitously such a favour. And yet, as to the cup, I will not take the poisoned one, into which some certain death is injected, but one which has l>een infected with the breath of a lascivious Avoman,' or of Cybele's priest, or of a gladia- tor, or of a hangman: then I want to know whether you would pass a milder condemna- tion on it than on the kisses of such persons? One indeed which is soiled with our own filth, or one which is not mingled to our own mind, we are apt to dash to pieces, and then to in- crease our anger with our servant. As for the su'ord, which is drunk with the blood of the l^rigand's victims, who would not banish it entirely from his house, much more from his bed-room, or from his pillow, from the pre- sumption that he would be sure to dream of nothing but the apparitions of the souls which were pursuing and disquieting him for lying down with the blade which shed their own blood? Take, however, tlie cup which has no reproach on it, and which deserves the credit of a faithful ministration, it will be adorned by its drinking-master with chaplets, or be honoured with a handful of flowers. The sword also which has received honourable stains in war, and has been thus engaged in a better manslaughter, will secure its own praise by consecration. It is quite possible, then, to pass decisive sentences even on ves- sels and on ins>truments, that so they too may • " Frictricis" is Oehler's rending.
participate in the merits of their proprietors and employers. Thus much do I say from a desire to meet even this argument, although there is a failure in the example, owing to the diversity in the nature of the objects. For every vessel or every instrument becomes use- ful from without, consisting as it does of ma- terial perfectly extraneous to the substance of the human owner or employer; whereas the flesh, being conceived, formed, and generated along with the soul from its earliest existence in the womb, is mixed up with it likewise in all its operations. For although it is called " a vessel " by the apostle, such as he enjoins to be treated " with honour," - it is yet desig- nated by the same apostle as "the outward man," 3 — that clay, of course, which at the first was inscribed with the title of.. '_ a man, not of a cup or a sword, or any paltry vessel. Now it is called a ''''vessel" in con- sideration of its capacity, whereby it receives and contains the soul; but '''' }na?i," from its community of nature, which renders it in all operations a servant and not an instrument.- Accordingly, in the judgment it will be held to be a servant (even though it may have no independent discretion of its own), on the ground of its being an integral portion of that which possesses such discretion, and is not a mere chattel. And although the apostle is well aware that the flesh does nothing of itself which is not also imputed to the soul, he yet deems the flesh to be 'SV//////.- " •* lest it should be supposed to be free from all re- sponsibility by the mere fact of its seeming to be impelled by the soul. So, again, when he is ascribing certain praiseworthy actions to the flesh, he says, " Therefore glorify and exalt God in your body,"^ — being certain that such efforts are actuated by the soul; but still he ascribes them to the flesh, because it is to it that he also promises the recompense. Besides, neither rebuke, (on the one hand), would have been suitable to it, if free from blame; nor, (on the other hand), would ex- hortation, if it were incapable of glory. In- deed, both rebuke and exhortation would be alike idle towards the flesh, if it were an improper object for that recompence which is certainly received in the resurrection.
CHAP. XVII. THE FI.KSH WILL I'.K ASSOCIATED WITH THE SOUL IN ENDURING THE PENAL SENTENCES OF THE FINAL JUDGMENT.
"Every uneducated* person who agrees with our opinion will be apt to suppose that o Siinplicior.
rilAT. XVIII.]
ON THE RESURRECTION OF THE FLESH.
the flesh will have to be present at ihefinirl judgment even on this account, because other- wise the soul would be incapable of suffering jxiin or pleasure, as being incorporeal; for this is the common opinion. We on our part, however, do here maintain, and in a special treatise on the subject prove, that the soul is corporeal, possessing a peculiar kind of solid- ity in its nature, such as enables it both to ^' perceive and suffer. That souls are even now susceptible of torment and of blessing in Hades, though they are disembodied, and not- withstanding their banishment from the flesh, is proved by the case of Lazarus. I have no doubt given to my opponent room to say: Since, then, the soul has a bodily substance of its own, it will be sufficiently endowed with the faculty of suffering and sense, so as not to require the presence of the flesh. No, no, (is my reply): it will still need the flesh; not as being unable to feel anything without the help of the flesh, but because it is necessary that it should possess such a faculty along with the flesh. For in as far as it has a sufficiency of its own for action, in so far has it likewise a capacity for suffering. But the truth is, in respect of action, it labours under some amount of incapacity; for in its own nature it has simply the ability to think, to will, to desire, to dispose: for fully carrying out the purpose, it looks for the assistance of the flesh. In like manner, it also requires the conjunction of the flesh to endure suffering, in order that by its aid it may be as fully able to suffer, as without its assistance it was not fully able to act. In respect, indeed, of those sins, such as concupiscence, and thought, and wish, which it has a competency of its own to commit, it at once ' pays the penalty of them. Now, no doubt, if these were alone sufficient to con- stitute absolute desert without requiring the addition of acts, the soul would suffice in itself to encounter the full responsibility of the judgment, being to be judged for those things in the doing of which it alone had possessed a sufficiency. Since, however, acts too are in- dissolubly attached to deserts; since also acts are ministerially effected by the flesh, it is no longer enough that the soul apart from the flesh be requited with pleasure or pain for what are actually works of the flesh, although it has a body (of its own), although it has mem- bers (of its own), which in like manner are in- sufficient for its full perception, just as they are also for its perfect action. Therefore as it has acted in each several instance, so pro- portionably does it suffer in Hades, being the first to taste of judgment as it was the first to