2 [This is said not absolutely but in contrast with extreme li- cense; but it shows the Supremacy of Scripture. Compare De MonogaiH, cap. 4.]
3 [Elucidation 1, and see Bunsen's C/z«>v// nuif House Book^ 4 [There is here an allusion to the Roman form of recognizing a lawful child. The father, taking up the new-born infant, gave him adoption into the family, and recognized liim as a legitimate son and heir.]
5 [Men and women, rich and poor.]
CHAP, v.]
THE CHAPLET, OR DE CORONA.
95 seat, in all the ordinary actions of daily life, we trace upon the forehead the sign.'
CHAP. IV.
If, for these and other such rules, you insist upon having positive Scripture injunction, you will find none. Tradition will be held forth to you as the originator of them, custom as their strengthener, and faith as their ob- server. That reason will support tradition, and custom, and faith, you will either your- self perceive, or learn from some one who has. Meanwhile you will believe that there is some reason to which submission is due. I add still one case more, as it will be proper to show you how it was among the ancients also. Among the Jews, so usual is it for their women to have the head veiled, that they may thereby be recognised. I ask in this in- stance for the law. I put the apostle aside. If Rebecca at once drew down her veil, when in the distance she saw her betrothed, this modesty of a mere private individual could not have made a law, or it will have made it only for those who have the reason which she had. Let virgins alone be veiled, and this when they are coming to be married, and not till they have recognised their destined hus- band. If Susanna also, who was subjected to unveiling on her trial, ^ furnishes an argu- ment for the veiling of women, I can say here also, the veil was a voluntary thing. She had come accused, ashamed of the disgrace she had brought on herself, properly concealing her beauty, even because now she feared to please. But I should not suppose that, when it was her aim to please, she took walks with a veil on in her husband's avenue. Grant, now, that she was always veiled. In this particular case, too, or, in fact, in that of any other, I demand the dress-law. If I nowhere find a law, it follows that tradition has given the fashion in question to custom, to find sub- sequently (its authorization in) the apostle's sanction, from the true interpretation of rea- son. This instances, therefore, will make it sufficiently plain that you can vindicate the keeping of even unwritten tradition established by custom; the proper witness for tradition when demonstrated by long-continued observ- ance.' But even in civil matters custom is accepted as law, when positive legal enact- ment is wanting; and it is the same thing whether it depends on writing or on reason, since reason is, in fact, the basis of law. But, (you say), if reason is the ground of law, all I i.e., of the Cross.
3 [Observe it must (i.) be based on Apostolic grounds; (2.)
must not be a novelty, but derived from a time " to which the memory of men runnetn not contrary."]
will now henceforth have to be counted law, whoever brings it forward, which shall have reason as its ground.'' Or do you think that every believer is entitled to originate and es- tablish a law, if only it be such as is agreeable to God, as is helpful to discipline, as promotes salvation, when the Lord says, " But why do you not even of your own selves judge what is right? "s And not merely in regard to a judicial sentence, but in regard to every de- cision in matters we are called on to consider, the apostle also says, "If of anything you are ignorant, God shall reveal it unto you;"^ he himself, too, being accustomed to afford counsel though he had not the command of the Lord, and to dictate of himself ^ as possess- ing the Spirit of God who guides into all truth. Therefore his advice has, by the warrant of divine reason, become equivalent to nothing less than a divine command. Earnestly now inquire of this teacher,^ keeping intact your regard for tradition, from whomsoever it origi- nally sprang; nor have regard to the author, but to the authority, and especially that of custom itself, which on this very account we should revere, that we may not want an in- terpreter; so that if reason too is God's gift, you may then learn, not whether custom has to be followed by you, but why.
CHAP. V.
The argument for Christian practices be- comes all the stronger, when also nature, which is the first rule of all, supports them. Well, she is the first who lays it down that a crown does not become the head. But I think ours is the God of nature, who fashioned man; and, that he might desire, (appreciate, become partaker of) the pleasures afforded by His creatures, endowed him with certain senses, (acting) through members, which, so to speak, are their peculiar instruments. The sense of hearing he has planted in the ears; that of sight, lighted up in the eyes; that of taste, shut up in the mouth; that of smell, wafted into the nose; that of touch, fixed in the tips of the fingers. By means of these organs of the outer man doing duty to the inner man, the enjoyments of the divine gifts are conveyed by the senses to the soul.' What, then, in flowers affords you enjoyment?
4 [I slightly amend the translation to bring out the force of an objection to which our author gives a Montanistic reply.]
7 [See luminous remarks in Kaye, pp. 371-373-] 8 [This teacher, i.e., right reason, under the guidance of the Holy Ghost. He is here foisting in a plea for the " New Prophecy," apparently, and this is one of the most decided instances in the Treatise.]
9 Kaye [p. i87,]^has some valuable remarks on this testimony to the senses in Christian Philosophy, aod compares Cicero, I. Tuic. cap. XX. or xlvi.]
96 THE CHAPLET, OR DE CORONA.
[chap. VII.
For it is the flowers of the field which are the peculiar, at least the chief, material of crowns. Either smell, you say, or colour, or both together. What will be the senses of colour and smell? Those of seeing and smell- ing, I suppose. What members have had these senses allotted to them? The eyes and the nose, if I am not mistaken. With sight and smell, then, make use of flowers, for these are the senses by which they are meant to be enjoyed; use them by means of the eyes and nose, which are the members to which these senses belong. You have got the thing from God, the mode of it from the world; but an extraordinary mode does not prevent the use of the thing in the common way. Let flowers, then, both when fastened into each other and tied together in thread and rush, be what they are when free, when loose — things to be looked at and smelt. You count it a crown, let us say, when you have a bunch of them bound together in a series, that you may carry many at one time, that you may enjoy them all at once. Well, lay them in your bosom if they are so singu- larly pure, and strew them on your couch if they are so exquisitely soft, and consign them to your cup if they are so perfectly harm- less. Have the pleasure of them in as many ways as they appeal to your senses. But what taste for a flower, what sense for anything belonging to a crown but its band, have you in the head, which is able neither to distin- guish colour, nor to inhale sweet perfumes, nor to appreciate softness? It is as much against nature to long after a flower with the head, as it is to crave food with the ear, or sound with the nostril. But everything which is against nature deserves to be branded as monstrous among all men; but with us it is to be condemned also as sacrilege against God, the Lord and Creator of nature.
CHAP. VI, Demanding then a law of God, you have that common one prevailing all over the world, engraven on the natural tables to which the apostle too is wont to appeal, as when in respect of the woman's veil he says, " Does not even Nature teach you? " ' — as when to the Romans, affirming that the heathen do by nature those things which the law requires,* he suggests both natural law and a law-reveal- ing nature. Yes, and also in the first chapter of the epistle he authenticates nature, when he asserts that males and females changed among themselves the natural use of the creature into that which is unnatural, 3 by way of penal retribution for their error. We first of all indeed know God Himself by the teach- ing of Nature, calling Him God of gods, taking for granted that He is good, and in- voking Him as Judge. Is it a question with you whether for the enjoyment of His creat- ures. Nature should be our guide, that we may not be carried away in the direction in which the rival of God has corrupted, along with man himself, the entire creation which had been made over to our race for certain uses, whence the apostle says that it too unwillingly became subject to vanity, completely bereft of its original character, first by vain, then by base, unrighteous, and ungodly uses? It is thus, accordingly, in the pleasures of the shows, that the creature is dishonoured by those who by nature indeed perceive that all the ma- terials of which shows are got up belong to God, but lack the knowledge to perceive as well that they have all been changed by the devil. But with this topic we have, for the. sake of our own play-lovers, sufficiently dealt, and that, too, in a work in Greek.'* CHAP, VII.
Let these dealers in cro\vns then recognize in the meantime the authority of Nature, on the ground of a common sense as human beings, and the certifications of their peculiar religion, as, according to the last chapter, worshippers of the God of nature; and, as it were, thus over and above what is required, let them consider those other reasons too which forbid us wearing crowns, especially on the head, and indeed crowns of every sort. For we are obliged to turn from the rule of Nature, which we share with mankind in general, that we may maintain the whole peculiarity of our Christian discipline, in relation also to other kinds of crowns which seem to have been pro- vided for different uses, as being composed of different substances, lest, because they do not consist of flowers, the use of which nature has indicated (as it does in the case of this military laurel one itself), they may be thought not to come under the prohibition of our sect, since they have escaped any objections of nature. I see, then, that we must go into the matter both with more research, and more fully, from its beginnings on through its suc- cessive stages of growth to its more erratic de- velopments. For this we need to turn to heathen literature, for things belonging to the heathen must be proved from their own ■1 [Plays were regarded a& pomps renounced in Baptism.]
CHAP. VIII.]
THE CHAPLET, OR DE CORONA.
97 documents. The little of this I have acquired, will, I believe, be enough. If there really was a Pandora, whom Hesiod mentions as the first of women, hers was the first head the graces crowned, for she received gifts from all the gods whence she got her fiame Pandora. But Moses, a prophet, not a poet-shepherd, shows us the first woman Eve having her loins more naturally girt about with leaves than her temples with flowers. Pandora, then, is a myth. And so we have to blush for the origin of the crown, even on the ground of the falsehood connected with it; and, as will soon appear, on the ground no less of its re- alities. For it is an undoubted fact that cer- tain, persons either originated the thing, or shed lustre on it. Pherecydes relates that Saturn was the first who wore a crown; Diod- orus, that Jupiter, after conquering the Titans, was honoured with this gift by the rest of the gods. To Priapus also the same author assigns fillets; and to Ariadne a garland of gold and of Indian gems, the gift of Vulcan, afterwards of Bacchus, and subsequently turned into a constellation. Callimachus has put a vine crown upon Juno. So too at Argos, her statue, vine-wreathed, with a lion's skin placed beneath her feet, exhibits the step- mother exulting over the spoils of her two step-sons. Hercules displays upon his head sometimes poplar, sometimes wild-olive, sometimes parsley. You have the tragedy of Cerberus; you have Pindar; and besides Cal- limachus, who mentions that Apollo, too, when he had killed the Delphic serpent, as a sup- pliant, put on a laurel garland; for among the ancients suppliants were wont to be crowned. Harpocration argues that Bacchus, the same as Osiris among the Egyptians, was designedly crowned with ivy, because it is the nature of ivy to protect the brain against drowsiness. But that in another way also Bacchus was the originator of the laurel crown, (the crown) in which he celebrated his triumph over the Indians, even the rabble acknowledge, when they call the days dedicated to him the "great crown." If you open, again, the writings of the Egyptian Leo, you learn that Isis was the first who discovered and wore ears of corn upon her head — a thing more suited to the belly. Those who want addi- tional information will find an ample expo- sition of the subject in Claudius Saturninus, a writer of distinguished talent who treats this question also, for he has a book on crowns, so explaining their beginnings as well as causes, and kinds, and rites, that you find all that is charming in the flower, all that is beautiful in the leafy branch, and every sod or vine-shoot has been dedicated to some head or other; 7 making it abundantly clear how foreign to us we should judge the custom of the crowned head, introduced as it was by, and thereafter constantly managed for the honour of, those whom the world has believed to be gods. If the devil, a liar from the beginning, is even in this matter working for his false system of godhead (idolatry), he had himself also with- out doubt provided for his god-lie being car- ried out. What sort of thing, then, must that be counted among the people of the true God, which was brought in by the nations in honour of the devil's candidates, and was set apart from the beginning to no other than these; and which even then received its consecration to idolatry by idols and in idols yet alive? Not as if an idol were anything, but since the things which others offer up to idols belong to demons. But if the things which others offer to them belong to demons how much more what idols offered to themselves, when they were in life! The demons themselves, doubtless, had made provision for themselves by means of those whom they had possessed, while in a state of desire and craving, before provision had been actually made.
CHAP. VIII.
Hold fast in the meantime this persuasion, while I examine a question which comes in our way. For I already hear it is said, that many other things as well as crowns have been invent- ed by those whom the world believes to be gods, and that they are notwithstanding to be met with both in our present usages and in those of early saints, and in the service of God, and in Christ Himself, who did His work as man by no other than these ordinary instru- mentalities of human life. Well, let it be so; nor shall I inquire any further back into the or- igin of this things. Let Mercury have been the first who taught the knowledge of letters; I will own that they are requisite both for the business and commerce of life, and for per- forming our devotion to God. Nay, if he also first strung the chord to give forth melody, I will not deny, when listening to David, that this invention has been in use with the saints, and has ministered to God. Let ^sculapius have been the first who sought and discovered cures: Esaias' mentions that he ordered Hez- ekiah medicine when he was sick. Paul, too, knows that a little wine does the stomach good.= Let Minerva have been the first who built a ship: I shall see Jonah and the apostles sailing. Nay, there is more than this: for even Christ, we shall find, has ordinary rai- > Isa. xxxviii. 21.
98 THE CHAPLET, OR DE CORONA.
[chap. X.
ment; Paul, too, has his cloak.' If at once, of every article of furniture and each household vessel, you name some god of the world as the originator, well, I must recognise Christ, both as He re- clines on a couch, and when He presents a basin for the feet of His disciples, and when He pours water into it from a ewer, and when He is girt about with a linen towel ' — a garment specially sacred to Osiris. It is thus in general I reply upon the point, admitting indeed that we use along with others these articles, but challenging that this be judged in the light of the distinction between things agreeable and things opposed to reason, because the promis- cuous employment of them is deceptive, con- cealing the corruption of the creature, by which it has been made subject to vanity. For we affirm that those things only are proper to be used, whether by ourselves or by those who lived before us, and alone befit the service of God and Christ Himself, which to meet the ne- cessities of human life supply what is simply useful and affords real assistance and hon- ourable comfort, so that they may be well be- lieved to have come from God's own inspira- tion, who first of all no doubt provided for, and taught and ministered to the enjoyment, I should suppose, of His own man. As for the things which are out of this class, they are not fit to be used among us, especially those which on that account indeed are not to be found either with the world, or in the ways of Christ.
CHAP. IX.
In short, what patriarch, what prophet, what Levite, or priest, or ruler, or at a later pe- riod what apostle, or preacher of the gospel, or bishop, do you ever find the wearer of a crown? 3 I think not even the temple of God itself was crowned; as neither was the ark of the testament, nor the tabernacle of witness, nor the altar, nor the candlestick crowned; though certainly, both on that first solemnity of the dedication, and in that second rejoicing for the restoration, crowning would have been most suitable if it were worthy of God. But if these things were figures of us (for we are temples of God, and altars, and lights, and sacred vessels), this too they in figure set forth, that the people of God ought not to be crowned. The reality must always correspond with the image. If, perhaps, you object that Christ Himself was crowned, to that you will 'a Tim. iv. 13. [This is a useful comment as showing what this ^aiAocij was. Our author translates it by /«««/«. Of which more when we reach the De Pallio.'^ ' John xiii. 1-5.
5 [But see Eusebius, Hist. B. v., cap. 24, whose story is exam- ined by Lardner, CreJ., vol. iv., p. 448.]
get the brief reply: Be you too crowned, as He was; you have full permission. Yet even that crown of insolent ungodliness was not of any decree of the Jewish people. It was a device of the Roman soldiers, taken from the practice of the world, — a practice which the people of God never allowed either on the occasion of public rejoicing or to gratify in- nate luxury: so they returned from the Baby- lonish captivity with timbrels, and flutes, and psalteries, more suitably than with crowns; and after eating and drinking, uncrowned, they rose up to play. Neither would the account of the rejoicing nor the exposure of the luxury have been silent touching the honour or dis- honour of the crown. Thus too Isaiah, as he says, " With timbrels, and psalteries, and flutes they drink wine, " * would have added " with crowns," if this practice had ever had place in the things of God.
CHAP. X.
So, when you allege that the ornaments of the heathen deities are found no less with God, with the object of claiming among these for general use the head-crown, you already lay it down for yourself, that we must not have among us, as a thing whose use we are to share with others, what is not to be found in the service of God. Well, what is so un- worthy of God indeed as that which is worthy of an idol? But what is so worthy of an idol as that which is also worthy of a dead man? For it is the privilege of the dead also to be thus crowned, as they too straightway become idols, both by their dress and the service of deification, which (deification) is with us a second idolatry. Wanting, then, the sense, it will be theirs to use the thing for which the sense is wanting, just as if in full posses- sion of the sense they wished to abuse it. When there ceases to be any reality in the use, there is no distinction between using and abusing. Who can abuse a thing, when the precipient nature with which he wishes to carry out his purpose is not his to use it? The apostle, moreover, forbids us to abuse, while he would more naturally have taught us not to use, unless on the ground that, where there is no sense for things, there is no wrong use of them. But the whole affair is meaning- less, and is, in fact, a dead work so far as con- cerns the idols; though, without doubt, a liv- ing one as respects the demons ^ to whom the religious rite belongs. " The idols of the heathen," says David, "are silver and gold." " They have eyes, and see not; a nose, and 5 [Compare De Idololatria, cap. xv., p. 70, siipra.l CHAP. XI.]
THE CHAPLET, OR DE CORONA.
99 smell not; hands, and they will not handle." ' By means of these organs, indeed, we are to enjoy flowers; but if he declares that those who make idols will be like them, they already are so who use anything after the style of idol adornings, " To the pure all things are pure: so, likewise, all things to the impure are impure;"^ but nothing is more impure than idols. The substances are themselves as creatures of God without impurity, and in this their native state are free to the use of all; but the ministries to which in their use they are devoted, makes all the difference; for I, too, kill a cock for myself, just as Socrates did for ^sculapius; and if the smell of some place or other offends me, I bura the Arabian product myself, but not with the same cere- mony, nor in the same dress, nor with the same pomp, with which it is done to idols. ^ If the creature is defiled by a mere word, as the apostle teaches, " But if anyone say. This is offered in sacrifice to idols, you must not touch it,"'» much more when it is polluted by the dress, and rites, and pomp of what is offered to the gods. Thus the crown also is made out to be an offering to idols; ^ for with this ceremony, and dress, and pomp, it is