and dignities of this world are not only alien to, but enemies of, God; that through them punishments have been determined against God's servants; through them, too, penalties prepared for the impious are ignored. But "both your birth and your substance are troublesome to you in resisting idolatry. "^ For avoiding it, remedies cannot be lacking; since, even if they be lacking, there remains that one by which you will be made a happier magistrate, not in the earth, but in the heavens.^ CHAP. XIX. CONCERNING MILITARY SERVICE.
In that last section, decision may seem to have been given likewise concerning military service, which is between dignity and power.^ But now inquiry is made about this point, whether a believer may turn himself unto military service, and whether the military may be admitted unto the faith, even the rank and 3 See John xiii. 1-17.
* in baptism.
7 i.e. From your birth and means, you will be expected to fill ottices which are in some way connected with idolatry.
«?..?. Martyrdom (La Cerda, quoted by Oehler). For the idea ot bemg ' a magistrate in the heavens," [sitting on a throne! com- pare such passages as Matt. xix. 28; Luke xxu. 28, 30 • i Cor vi 9 Elucidation II.
file, or each inferior grade, to whom there is no necessity for taking part in sacrifices or capital punishments. There is no agreement between the divine and the human sacrament," the standard of Christ and the standard of the devil, the camp of light and the camp of dark- ness. One soul cannot be due to two jnasters — God and Csesar. And yet Moses carried a rod," and Aaron wore a buckle," and John (Baptist) is girt with leather, "^ and Joshua the son of Nun leads a line of march; and the People warred: if it pleases you to sport with the subject. But how will a Christian man war, nay, how will he serve even in peace, without a sword, which the Lord has taken away? '•' For albeit soldiers had come unto John, and had received the formula of their rule; -^ albeit, likewise, a centurion had be- lieved; '* still the Lord aftenvard, in disarming Peter, unbe >,d every soldier. No dress is lawful among us, if assigned to any unlawful action.
CHAP. XX. CONCERNING IDOLATRY IN WORDS.
But, however, since the conduct according to the divine rule is imperilled, not merely by deeds, but likewise by words, (for, just as it is written, " Behold the man and his deeds; " '^ so, " Out of thy own mouth shalt thou be justified " '^), we ought to remember that, even in words, also the inroad of idolatry must be foreguarded against, either from the defect of custom or of timidity. The law prohibits the gods of the nations from being named, '9 not of course that we are not to pro- nounce their names, the speaking of which common intercourse extorts from us: for this must very frequently be said, " You find him in the temple of ^sculapius; " and, " I live in Isis Street;" and, "He has been made priest of Jupiter; " and much else after this manner, since even on men names of this kind are bestowed. I do not honour Saturnus if I call a man so, by his own name. I honour him no more than I do Marcus, if I call a man Marcus. But it says, " Make not mention of the name of other gods, neither be it heard from thy mouth." ^ The precept it gives is '° " Sacramentum" in Latin is, among other meanings, "a mili- tary oath."
" Virgam." The vine switch, or rod, in the Roman army was a mark of the centurion's (i.e., captain's) rank.
'2 To fasten the ephod; hence the buckle worn by soldiers here referred to would probably be the belt buckle. Buckles were some- times given as military rewards (White and Riddle).
'3 As soldiers with belts.
'4 Matt. xxvi. 52; 2 Cor. x. 4; St. John xviii. 36.
16 Matt. viii. 5, etc; l^:ike vii. i, etc.
'7 Neither Oehler nor any editor seems to have discovered the passage here referred to.
•9 Ex. xxiii. 13 [St. Luke, nevertheless, names Castor and Pol- lux, Acts x.xviii. ii., on our author's principle.]
74 ON IDOLATRY.
[chap. XXII.
this, that we do not call them gods. For in the first part of the law, too, "Thou shalt not," saith He, "use the name of the Lord thy God in a vain thing," ' that is, in an idol.^ Whoever, therefore, honours an idol with the name of God, has fallen into idolatry. But if I speak of them as gods, something must be added to make it appear that / do not call them gods. For even the Scripture names "gods," but adds "their," viz. "of the na- tions: " just as David does when he had named "gods," where he says, "But the gods of the nations are demons." ^ But this has been laid by me rather as a foundation for ensuing observations. However, it is a defect of custom to say, " By Hercules, " So help me the god of faith;"" while to the cusfotn is added the ig?iorance of some, who are ignorant that it is an oath by Hercules. Further, what will an oath be, in the name of gods whom you have forsworn, but a collusion of faith with idolatry? For who does not honour them in whose name he swears?
CHAP. XXI. — OF SILENT ACQUIESCENCE IN HEATHEN FORMULARIES.
But it is a mark of timidity, when some other man binds you in the name of his gods, by the making of an oath, or by some other form of attestation, and you, for fear of dis- covery,= remain quiet. For you equally, by remaining quiet, affirm their majesty, by reason of which majesty you will seem to be bound. What matters it, whether you affirm the gods of the nations by calling them gods, or by hearing them so called? Whether you swear by idols, or, when adjured by another, acquiesce? Why should we not recognize the subtleties of Satan, who makes it his aim, that, what he cannot effect by our mouth, he may effect by the mouth of his servants, in- troducing idolatry into us through our ears? At all events, whoever the adjurer is, he binds you to himself either in friendly or unfriendly conjunction. If in unfriendly, you are now challenged unto battle, and know that you must fight. If in friendly, with how far greater security will you transfer your engagement unto the Lord, that you may dissolve the obli- gation of him through whose means the Evil 2 Because Scripture calls idols "vanities" and "vain things." See 2 Kings xvii. 15, Ps. xxiv. 4, Isa. lix. 4, Deut. xxxii. 21, etc.
3 Ps. xcvi. 5. The LXX. in whose version ed. Tisch. it is Ps. xcv. read iat/xdna, like TertuUian. Our version has "idols."
4 Mehercule. Medius Fidius. I have given the rendering of the latter, which seems preferred by Paley (Ov. Fast. vi. 213, note), ■who considers it = me dius (i.e., Deus) fidius jiivet. Smith (Lat. Diet, s.v.) agrees with him, and explains it, »ie deus fidius servct. White and Riddle (s.ii.) take the me (which appears to be short) as a "demonstrative" particle or prefix, and explain, " By the God of truth! " " As true as heaven," " Most certainly."
5 i.e., for fear of being discovered to be a Christian (Oehler).
One was seeking to annex you to the honour of idols, that is, to idolatry! All sufferance of that kind is idolatry. You honour those to whom, when imposed as authorities, you have rendered respect. I know that one (whom the Lord pardon! ), when it had been said to him in public during a law-suit, " Ju- piter be wroth with you," answered, " On the contrary, withjw^. ' ' What else would a heathen have done who believed Jupiter to be a god? For even had he not retorted the malediction by Jupiter (or other such like), yet, by merely returning a curse, he would have confirmed the divinity of Jove, shewing himself irritated by a malediction in Jove's name. For what is there to be indignant at, (if cursed) in the name of one whom you know to be nothing? For if you rave, you immediately affirm his e.x- istence, and the profession of your fear will be an act of idolatry. How much more, while you are returning the malediction in the name of Jupiter himself, are you doing honour to Jupiter in the same way as he who provoked you! But a believer ought to laugh in such cases, not to rave; nay, according to the pre- cept,* not to return a curse in the name of God even, but clearly to bless in the name of God, that you may both demolish idols and preach God, and fulfil discipline.
CHAP. XXII. — OF ACCEPTING BLESSING IN THE NAME OF IDOLS.
Equally, one who has been initiated into Christ will not endure to be blessed in the name of the gods of the nations, so as not always to reject the unclean benediction, and to cleanse it out for himself by converting it Godward. To be blessed in the name of the gods of the nations is to be cursed in the name of God. If I have given an alms, or shown any other kindness, and the recipient pray that his gods, or the Genius of the colony, may be pro- pitious to me, my oblation or act will im- mediately be an honour to idols, in whose name he returns me the favour of blessing. But why should he not know that I have done it for God's sake; that God may rather be glorified, and demons may not be honoured in that which I have done for the sake of God? If God sees that I have done it for His sake. He equally sees that I have been unwilling to sho^v that I did it for His sake, and have in a manner made His precept ' a sacrifice to idols. Many say, " No one ought to divulge himself;" but I think neither ought he to deny himself. For whoever dissembles in any cause whatever, by being held as a heathen, 6 See Matt. v. 44, i Pet. iii. 9, etc.
7 i.e., the precept which enjoins me to " do good and lend."
CUM'. XXIV.
ON IDOLATRY.
75 does deny; and, of course, all denial is idol- atry, just as all idolatry is denial, whether in deeds or in words.'
CHAP. XXIII. — WRITTEN CONTRACTS IN THE NAME OF IDOLS. TACIT CONSENT.
But there is a certain species of that class, doubly sharpened in deed and word, and mis- chievous on either side, although it flatter you, as if it were free of danger in each; while it does not seem to be a deed, because it is not laid hold of as a 7aord. In borrowing money from heathens under pledged - securities. Christians give a guarantee under oath, and deny themselves to have done so. Of course, the time of the prosecution, and the place of the judgment seat, and the person of the presiding judge, decide that they knew themselves to havesodotie. ^ Christ prescribes that there is to be no swearing. " I wrote," says the debtor, "but I said nothing. It is the tongue, not the written letter, which kills." Here I call Nature and Conscience as my witnesses: Na- ture, because even if the tofigue in dictating remains motionless and quiet, the hand can write nothing which the soul has not dictated; albeit even to the tongue itself the soul may have dictated either something conceived by itself, or else something delivered by another. Now, lest it be said, "Another dictated," I here appeal to Conscience whether, what an- other dictated, the soul entertains,'* and trans- mits unto the hand, whether with the concom- itance or the inaction of the tongue. Enough, that the Lord has said faults are committed in the mind and the conscience. If concupiscence or malice have ascended into a man's heart. He saith it is held as a deed.s You therefore have given a guarantee; which clearly has ' 'as- cended into your heart," which you can neither contend you were ignorant of nor un- willing; for when you gave the guarantee, you knew that you did it; when you knew, of course you were willing: you did it as well in ' Elucidation III.
2 Or, "mortgaged."
3 This is, perhaps, the most obscure and difficult passage in the entire treatise. I have followed Oehler's reading, and given what appears to be his sense; but the readings are widely different, and it is doubtful whether any is correct. I can scarcely, however, help thinking that the " j^ negant" here, and the ^ tamen non negavV^ below, are to be connected with the ^^ puto autem nee negare" at the end of the former chapter; and that the true ren- dering is rather: " And [by so doing] deny themselves," i.e. deny their Chnstian name and faith. " Doubtless a time of persecu- tion," such as the present time is — or "of prosecution, which would make very good sense — "and the place of the tribunal, and the person of the presiding judge, require them to know them- selves," i.e., to have no shuffling or disguise. I submit this ren- dering with diffidence; but it does seem to me to suit the conte-xt better, and to harmonize better with the " Vet I have not denied," i.e., my name and faith, which follows, and with the " denying letters" which are mentioned at the end of the chapter. — Tr.
♦ Mr. Dodgson renders " conceiveth; " and the word is cer- tainly capable of that meaning.
act as in thought; nor can you by the lighter charge exclude the heavier,* so as to say that it is clearly rendered false, by giving a guarantee I for what you do not actually perform. " Yet I have not denied, because I have not sworn." But you hai^e sworn, since, even if you had done no such thing, you would still be said to swear, if you have even consented \.o so doing. Silence of voice is an unavailing plea in a case of 7vriting; and muteness of sound in a case of letters. For Zacharias, when punished with a temporary privation of voice, holds colloquy with his mind, and, passing by his bootless tongue, with the help of his hands dictates from his heart, and without his mouth pro- nounces the name of his son.' Thus, in his pen there speaks a hand clearer than every sound, in his waxen tablet there is heard a letter more vocal that every mouth.* In- quire whether a man have spoken who is binder- stood io have spoken. 5 Pray we the Lord that no necessity for that kind of contract may ever encompass us; and if it should 'ao fall out, may He give our brethren the means of help- ing us, or give us constancy to break off all such necessity, lest those denying letters, the sub- stitutes for our mouth, be brought forward against us in the day of judgment, sealed with the seals, not now of witnesses, but of angels!
CHAP. XXIV. — GENERAL CONCLUSION.
Amid these reefs and inlets, amid these shallows and straits of idolatry. Faith, her sails filled by the Spirit of God, navigates; safe if cautious, secure if intently watchful. But to such as are washed overboard is a deep whence is no out-swimming; to such as are run aground is inextricable shipwreck; to such as are engulphed is a whirlpool, where there is no breathing — even in idolatry. All waves thereof whatsoever suffocate; every eddy thereof sucks down unto Hades. Let no one say, "Who will so safely foreguard himself? We shall have to go out of the world! " '° As if it were not as well worth while to go out, as to stand in the world as an idolater! Nothing can be easier than caution against idolatry, if the fear of it be our leading fear; any " necessity " whatever * Oehler understands " the lighter crime " or " charge " to be "swearing;" the " heavier," to be "denying the Lord Christ."
8 This is how Mr. Dodgson renders, and the rendering agrees with Oehler's punctuation. [So obscure however, is Dodgson's ren- dering that I have slightly changed the punctuation, to clarify it, and subjoin Oehler's text.] But perhaps we may read thus: " He speaks in his pen; he is heard in his waxen tablet: the hand is clearer than every sound; the letter is more vocal than every mouth." [Oehler reads thus: " Cum manibus suis a corde dictat et nomen filii sine ore pronuntiat: loquitur in stilo, auditur in cera manus omni sono clarior, littera omni ore vocalior. I see no dif- ficulty here.]
9 Elucidation IV.
76 ELUCIDATIONS.
is too trifling compared to such a peril. Tiie reason why the Holy Spirit did, when the apostles at that time were consulting, relax the bond and yoke for us,' was that we might be free to devote ourselves to the shunning of idolatry. This shall be our Law, the more fully to be administered the more ready it is to hand; (a Law) peculiar to Chris- tians, by means whereof we are recognised and examined by heathens. This Law must be set before such as approach unto the Faith, and inculcated on such as are entering 't; that, in approaching, they may deliberate; observing it, may persevere; not observing it, may renounce their name.^ We will see to it, if, after the type of the Ark, there shall be in the Church raven, kite, dog, and serpent. At all events, an idolater is not found in the type of the Ark: no animal has been fashioned to represent an idolater. Let not that be in the Church which was not in the Ark.^ 2 i.e., cease to be Christians (Rigalt., referred to by Oehler).
3 [General references to Kaye (3d edition), which will be use- ful to those consulting that author's Tertullian, for Elucidations of the De Idololatria, are as follows: Pre/ace, p. xxiii. Then. pp. 56, 141, 206, 231, 300, 360, 343, 360 and 362.]
ELUCIDATIONS (The Second Commandment, p. 64.)
Tertullian's teaching agrees with that of Clement of Alexandria* and with all the Primitive Fathers. But compare the Trent Catechism, (chapter ii., quest. 17.) — "Nor let any one suppose that this commandment prohibits the arts of painting, modelling or sculp- ture, fo>', in the Scriptures we are informed that God himself commanded images of cherubim, and also of the brazen serpetit, to be made, etc." So far, the comparison is important, because while our author limits any inference from this instance as an exception, this Catechism turns it into a j'ule: and so far, we are only looking at the matter with refer- ence to Art. But, the Catechism, (questt. xxiii, xxiv.), goes on to teach that images of the Saints, etc. ought to be made and honoured "as a holy practice." It affirms, also, that it is a practice which has been attended ^vith the greatest advatitage to the faithful: which admits of a doubt, especially when the hofiour thus mentioned is everywhere turned into worship, precisely like that offered to the Brazen Serpent, when the People " burned incense to it," and often much more. But even this is not my point; for that Catechism, with what verity need not be argued, affirms, also, that this doctrine '"'' derives confirmatio7i from the monuments of the Apostolic age, the general Councils of the Church, and the writings of so many most holy and learned Fathers, who are of one accord upon the subject.'' Doubtless they are " of one accord," but all the other way. ■ II.
(Military service, cap. xix., p. 73.)
This chapter must prepare us for a much more sweeping condemnation of the military profession in the De Spectacnlis and the De Corona; but Neander's judgment seems to me I very just. The Corona, itself, is rather Montanistic than Montanist, in the opinion of some critics, among whom Gibbon is not to count for much, for the reasons given by Kaye (p, 52), and others hardly less obvious. Surely, if this ascetic opinion and some similar instances were enough to mark a man as a heretic, what are we to say of the thousand crotchets maintained by good Christians, in our day?
ELUCIDATIONS 77 III.
(Passive idolatry, cap. xxii., pp. 74, 75.)
Neander's opinion as to the freedom of De Jdololatria from Montanistic taint, is mildly questioned by Bp. Kaye, chiefly on the ground of the agreement of this chapter with the extravagances of the Scorpiace. He thinks "the utmost pitch" of such extravagance is reached in the positions here taken. But Neander's judgment seems to me preferable. Lapsers usually give tokens of the bent of their minds, and unconsciously betray their incli- nations before they themselves see whither they are tending. Thus they become victims of their own plausible self-deceptions.
IV.
IV.
(Tacit consents and reservations, cap. xxiii., p. 75.)
It cannot be doubted that apart from the specific case which Tertullian is here maintain- ing, his appeal to conscience is maintained by reason, by the Morals of the Fathers and by Holy Scripture. Now compare with this the Morality which has been made dogmatic, among Latins, by the elevation of Liguori to the dignities of a " Saint " and a *' Doctor of the Church." Even Cardinal Newman cannot accept it without reservatiotis, so thoroughly does it commit the soul to fraud and hyprocrisy. See Liguori, 0pp. Tom. II., pp. 34-44, and Meyrick, Moral Theology of the Church of Rome, London, 1855. Republished, with an Introduction, by the Editor of this Series, Baltimore, 1857, Also Newman, Apologia, p. 295 et seqq.
Ill THE SHOWS. OR DE SPECTACULIS."
[TRANSLATED BY THE REV. S. THELWALL.J CHAP. I.
Ye Servants of God, about to draw near to God, that you may make solemn consecration of yourselves to Him,^ seek well to under- stand the condition of faith, the reasons of the Truth, the laws of Christian Discipline, which forbid among other sins of the world, the pleasures of the public shows. Ye who have testified and confessed ^ that you have done so already, review the subject, that there may be no sinning whether through real or wilful ignorance. For such is the power of earthly pleasures, that, to retain the opportu- nity of still partaking of them, it contrives to prolong a willing ignorance, and bribes knowl- edge into playing a dishonest part. To both things, perhaps, some among you are allured by the views of the heathens who in this mat- ter are wont to press us with arguments, such as these: (i) That the exquisite enjoyments of ear and eye we have in things external are not in the least opposed to religion in the mind and conscience; and (2) That surely no offence is offered to God, in any human enjoyment, by any of our pleasures, which it is not sinful to partake of in its own time and place, with all due honour and reverence se- cured to Him. But this is precisely what we are ready to prove: That these things are not consistent with true religion and true obedi- ence to the true God. There are some who ' [It is the opinion of Dr. Neander that this treatise proceeded from our author before his lapse: but Bp. Kaye (p. xvi.) finds some exaggerated expressions in it, concerning the military life which savour of Montanism. Probably they do, but had he written the tract as a professed IMontanist, they would have been much less ambiguous,in all probability. At all events, a work so colourless that doctors can disagree about even its shading, must be regarded as practically orthodox. Exaggerated expressions are but the char- acteristics of the author's genius. We find the like in all writers of strongly marked individuality. Neander dates this treatise circa A.D. 197. That it was wiittcn at Carthage is the conviction of Kaye and Dr. Allix- see Kaye, p. 55.]
-■ [He speaks of Catechumens, called elsewhere Novitioli. See Bunsen, Hippol. III. Church and House-book, p. 5.]
3 [Here he addresses the Fideles or Communicants, as we call Ihem.]
imagine that Christians, a sort of people ever ready to die, are trained into the abstinence they practise, with no other object than that of making it less difficult to despise life, the fastenings to it being severed as it were. They regard it as an art of quenching all de- sire for that which, so far as they are con- cerned, they have emptied of all that is de- sirable; and so it is thought to be rather a thing of human planning and foresight, than clearly laid down by divine command. It were a grievous thing, forsooth, for Christians, while continuing in the enjoyment of pleasures so great, to die for God! It is not as they say; though, if it were, even Christian obsti- nacy might well give all submission to a plan so suitable, to a rule so excellent.
CHAP. II.
CHAP. II.
Then, again, every one is ready with the argument* that all things, as we teach, were created by God, and given to man for his use, and that they must be good, as coming all from so good a source; but that among them are found the various constituent elements of the public shows, such as the horse, the lion, bodily strength, and musical voice. It can- not, then, be thought that what exists by God's own creative will is either foreign or hostile to Him; and if it is not opposed to Him, it cannot be regarded as injurious to His worshippers, as certainly it is not foreign to them. Beyond all doubt, too, the very buildings connected with the places of public amusement, composed as they are of rocks, stones, marbles, pillars, are things of God, who has given these various things for the earth's embellishment; nay, the very scenes are enacted under God's own heaven. How skilful a pleader seems human wisdom to her- •» [Kaye (p. 366), declares that all the arguments urged ia this tract are comprised in two sentences of the Apology, cap, 38.]
8o THE SHOWS, OR DE SPECTACULIS.
[CH^P. III.
oelf, especially if she has the fear of losing i\ny of her delights — any of the sweet enjoy- ments of worldly existence! In fact, you will .find not a few whom the imperilling of their pleasures rather than their life holds back from us. For even the weakling has no 3trong dread of death as a debt he knows is due by him; while the wise man does not look with contempt on pleasure, regarding it as a precious gift — in fact, the one blessed- ness of life, whether to philosopher or fool. Now nobody denies what nobody is ignorant of — for Nature herself is teacher of it — that God is the Maker of the universe, and that it ?s good, and that it is man's by free gift of its 'Maker. But having no intimate acquaintance v;ith the Highest, knowing Him only by natu- ral revelation, and not as His " friends " — afar off, and not as those who have been brought nigh to Him — men cannot but be in ignorance alike of what He enjoins and what He forbids in regard to the administration of His world. They must be ignorant, too, of the hostile power which works against Him, and perverts to wrong uses the things His hand has formed; for you cannot know either the will or the adversary of a God you do not know. We must not, then, consider merely by whom all things were made, but by whom