to be God, you have, in fact, already deter- mind that He is undoubtedly diverse from every sort of human conditions. Furthermore, although you allow, with others,^ that man was inbreathed by God into a living soul, not God by man, it is yet palpably absurd of you to be placing human characteristics in God rather than divine ones in man, and clothing God in the likeness of man, instead of man in the image of God. And this, therefore, is to be deemed the likeness of God in man, that the human soul have the same emotions and sensations as God, although they are not of the same kind; differing as they do both in their conditions and their issues according to their nature. Then, again, with respect to the opposite sensations, — I mean meekness, patience, mercy, and the very parent of them all, goodness, — why do you form your opinion of 3 the divine displays of these (from the human qualities)? For we indeed do not possess them in perfection, because it is God alone who is perfect. So also in regard to those others, — namely, anger and irritation: we are not affected by them in so happy a manner, because God alone is truly happy, by reason of His property of incorruptibility. Angry He will possibly be, but not irritated, nor dangerously tempted; * He will be moved, but not subverted. 5 All appliances He must needs use, because of all contingencies; as many sensations as there are causes: anger because of the wicked, and indignation be- cause of the ungrateful, and jealousy because of the proud, and whatsoever else is a hinder- ance to the evil. So, again, mercy on ac- count of the erring, and patience on account of the impenitent, and pre-eminent resources * on account of the meritorious, and whatsoever is necessary to the good. All these affections He is moved by in that peculiar manner of His own, in which it is profoundly fit^ that He should be affected; and it is owing to Him that man is also similarly affected in a way which is equally his own.
CHAP. XVII. — TRACE GOD's GOVERNMENT IN HISTORY AND IN HIS PRECEPTS, AND YOU WILL FIND IT FULL OF HIS GOODNESS.
These considerations show that the entire order of God as Judge is an operative one, and (that I may express myself in worthier words) protective of His Catholic^ and su- preme goodness, which, removed as it is from judiciary emotions, and pure in its own con- dition, the Marcionites refuse to acknowledge to be in one and the same Deity, " raining on the just and on the unjust, and making His sun to rise on the evil and on the good," « — a bounty which no other god at all exercises. It is true that Marcion has been bold enough to erase froni the gospel this testimony of Christ to the Creator; but yet the world itself is inscribed 7aiV/i the goodness of lis Maker, and the inscription is read by each man's conscience. Nay, this very long-suffering of the Creator will tend to the condemnation of Marcion; that patience, (I mean,) which waits for the sinner's repentance rather than his death, which prefers mercy to sacrifice,'" avert- ing from the Ninevites the ruin which had been already denounced against them," and vouchsafing to Hezekiah's tears an extension of his life," and restoring his kingly state to the monarch of Babylon after his complete repentance; '3 that mercy, too, which conceded to the devotion of the people the son of Saui when about to die,'* and gave free forgiveness to David on his confessing his sins against « Sutus. « Pariter. 3 Praesumitis.
[So of generation, Sonship, etc.]
4 Periclitabitur.
5 pA'ertetur.
6 Praestantiam, " Qua scilicet praestat praemia vel supplioia " (Rigalt.).
7 Condecet.
8 Catholic, because diffused throughout creation (Pamelius).
9 Matt. V. 45. T. predicates this (by the word pluentem\ strictly of the ''' goodness" of God, the guant.
'■ Jonah iii. 10. •=2 Kings XX. I.
>^1AP. XVIII.]
TERTULLIAN AGAINST MARCION.
the house of Uriah;' which also restored the house of Israel as often as it condemned it, and addressed to it consolation no less fre- quently than reproof. Do not therefore look at God simply as Judge, but turn your atten- tion also to examples of His conduct as the Most Good.* Noting Him, as you do, when He takes vengeance, consider Him likewise when He shows mercy. ^ In the scale, against His severity place His gentleness. When you shall have discovered both qualities to co-exist in the Creator, you will find in Him that very circumstance which induces you to think there is another God. Lastly, come and examine into His doctrine, discipline, pre- cepts, and counsels. You will perhaps say that there are equally good prescriptions in human laws. But Moses and God existed be- fore all your Lycurguses and Solons. There is not one after-age * which does not take from primitive sources. At any rate, my Creator did not learn from your God to issue such commandments as: Thou shalt not kill; thou shalt not commit adultery; thou shalt not steal; thou shalt not bear false witness; thou shalt not covet what is thy neighbour's; honour thy father and thy mother; and, thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. To these prime counsels of innocence, chastity, and justice, and piety, are also added prescriptions of humanity, as when every seventh year slaves are released for liberty; ^ when at the same period the land is spared from tillage; a place is also granted to the needy; and from the treading ox's mouth the muzzle is removed, for the enjoyment of the fruit of his labour before him, in order that kindness first shown in the case of animals might be raised from such rudiments ^ to the refresh- ment? of men.
CHAP. XVIII. — SOME OF GOD'S LAWS DEFENDED AS GOOD, WHICH THE MARCIONITES IMPEACH- ED, SUCH AS THE LEX TALIONIS. USEFUL PURPOSES IN A SOCIAL AND MORAL POINT OF VIEW OF THIS, AND SUNDRY OTHER ENACT- MENTS.
But what parts of the law can I defend as good with a greater confidence than those which heresy has shown such a longing for? — as the statute of retaliation, requiring eye for eye, tooth for tooth, and stripe for stripe.* Now there is not here any smack of a per- = Optimi.
3 Indulget.
4 Posteritas.
' Erudiretur.
7 Refrigeria. [i Cor. iz. 10.J mission to mutual injury; but rather, on the whole, a provision for restraining violence. To a people which was very obdurate, and wanting in faith towards God, it might seem tedious, and even incredible, to expect from God that vengeance which was subsequently to be declared by the prophet: "Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord."» Therefore, in the meanwhile, the commission of wrong was to be checked '° by the fear of a retribution immediately to happen; and so the permission of this retribution was to be the prohibition of provocation, that a stop might thus be put to all hot-blooded " injury, whilst by the permission of the second the first is prevented by fear, and by this deterring of the first the second fails to be committed. By the same law another result is also ob- tained," even the more ready kindling of the fear of retaliation by reason of the very savour of passion which is in it. There is no more bitter thing, than to endure the very suffer- ing which you have inflicted upon others. When, again, the law took somewhat away from men's food, by pronouncing unclean certain animals which were once blessed, you should understand this to be a measure for encouraging continence, and recognise in it a bridle imposed on that appetite which, while eating angels' food, craved after the cucum- bers and melons of the Egyptians. Recognise also therein a precaution against those com- panions of the appetite, even lust and luxury, which are usually chilled by the chastening of the appetite. '3 For "the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play."'* Furthermore, that an eager wish for money might be restrained, so far as it is caused by the need of food, the desire for costly meat and drink was taken out of their power. Lastly, in order that man might be more readily educated by God for fasting, he was accustomed to such articles of food as were neither plentiful nor sumptuous, and not likely to pamper the appetite of the luxurious. Of course the Creator deserved all the greater blame, because it was from His own people that He took away food, rather than from the more ungrateful Marcionites. As for the burdensome sacrifices also, and the trouble- some scrupulousness of their ceremonies '5 and oblations, no one should blame them, as if God specially required them for Himself: for He plainly asks, " To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? " and, '° Repastinaretur. ".^stuata. " Qua et alias. >3 Ventris. M Ex. xxxii. 6. '5 Operationes.
TERTULLIAN AGAINST MARCION, [book II.
" Who hath required them at your hand? " ' But he should see herein a careful provision - on God's part, which showed His wish to bind to His own religion a people who were prone to idolatry and transgression by that kind of services wherein consisted the superstition of that period; that He might call them away thei'efrom, while requesting it to be performed to Himself, as if He desired that no sin should be committed in making idols.
CHAP. XIX. — THE MINUTE PRESCRIPTIONS OF THE LAW MEANT TO KEEP THE PEOPLE DE- PENDENT ON GOD. THE PROPHETS SENT BY GOD IN PURSUANCE OF HIS GOODNESS. MANY BEAUTIFUL PASSAGES FROM THEM QUOTED IN ILLUSTRATION OF THIS ATTRIBUTE.
But even in the common transactions of life, and of human intercourse at home and in public, even to the care of the smallest ves- sels, He in every possible manner made dis- tinct arrangement; in order that, when they everywhere encountered these legal instruc- tions, they might not be at any moment out of the sight of God. For what could better tend to make a man happy, than having " his delight in the law of the Lord?" " In that law would he meditate day and night. ^ It was not in severity that its Author promulgated this law, but in the interest of the highest be- nevolence, which rather aimed at subduing ■* the nation's hardness of heart, and by labori- ous services hewing out a fealty which was (as yet) untried in obedience: for I purposely ab- stain from touching on the mysterious senses of the law, considered in its spiritual and pro- phetic relation, and as abounding in types of almost every variety and sort. It is enough at present, that it simply bound a man to God, so that no one ought to find fault with it, ex- cept him who does not choose to serve God. To help forward this beneficent, not onerous, purpose of the law, the prophets were also ordained by the self-same goodness of God, teaching precepts worthy of God, how that men should "cease to do evil, learn to do well, seek judgment, judge the fatherless, ^ and plead for the widow:"* be fond of the divine expostulations: ^ avoid contact with the wicked: ^ "let the oppressed go free: " « dismiss the unjust sentence.'" "deal their bread to the hungry; bring the outcast into ^ Industriam.
* Edomantis, cf. chap. xv. sh/' fin. and xxix. 5 Pupillo.
7 Quajstiones, alluding to Isa. i. 18: fieCre (cat £iaAexda>fiet>, \iyti Ktipiof.
" Alluding to Isa. Iviii. 6: " Loose the bands of wickedness."
o Isa. Iviii. 6.
'o A lax quotation, perhaps, of the nextc/ause in the same verse: " Break every yoke.
their house; cover the naked, when they see him; nor hide themselves from their own flesh and kin:"" " keep their tongue from evil, and their lips from speaking guile: depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pur- sue it: " '- be angry, and sin not; that is, not persevere in anger, or be enraged: '^ "walk not in the counsel of the ungodly; nor stand in the way of sinners; nor sit in the seat of the scornful.'"* Where then? "Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in uni-ty; " '5 meditating (as they do) day and night in the law of the Lord, because " it is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man; better to hope in the Lord than in man." '* For what recompense shall man receive from God? " He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither, and what- soever he doeth shall prosper." '^ " He that hath clean hands and a pure heart, who hath not taken God's name in vain, nor sworn de- ceitfully to his neighbour, he shall receive blessing from the Lord, and mercy from the God of his salvation."'* " For the eyes of the Lord are upon them that fear Him, upon them that hope in His mercy, to deliver their souls from death," even eternal death, "and to nourish them in their hunger," that is, after eternal life.'' " Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth them out of them all."=° "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints."" " The Lord keepeth all their bones; not one of them shall be broken."^ The Lord will redeem the souls of His servants.^ We have adduced these few quotations from a mass of the Creator's Scriptures; and no more, I sup- pose, are wanted to prove Him to be a most good God, for they sufficiently indicate both the precepts of His goodness and the first- fruits '"' thereof.
CHAP. XX. — THE MARCIONITES CHARGED GOD WITH HAVING INSTIGATED THE HEBREWS TO SPOIL THE EGYPTIANS. DEFENCE OF THE DIVINE DISPENSATION IN THAT MATTER.
But these " saucy cuttles " ""'^ (of heretics) •I Isa. Iviii. 7, slightly changed from the second to the third person.
HPs. i. I.
■5 Ps. cxxxiii. I.
'6 Ps. cxviii. 4.
'8 Ps. XXIV. 4, 5. He has slightly misquoted the passage.
'9 Ps. xxxiii. 18, 19, slightly altered.
22 Ps. xxxiv. 20, modified.
-4 Pra;inis.sa.
'•■3 Scpice isti. Pliny, in his Nat. Hist. ix. 29, says: " The males of the cuttles kind are spotted with sundry colours more dark and CHAI'. XXI.]
TERTULLIAN AGAINST MARCION.
under the figure of whom the law about things to be eaten ' prohibited this very kind of pis- catory ahment, as soon as they find themselves confuted, eject the black venom of their blas- phemy, and so spread about in all directions the object which (as is now plain) they sever- ally have in view, when they put forth such assertions and protestations as shall obscure and tarnish the rekindled light- of the Crea- tor's bounty. We will, however, follow their W'icked design, even through these black clouds, and drag to light their tricks of dark calumny, laying to the Creator's charge with especial emphasis the fraud and theft of gold and silver which the Hebrews were com- manded by Him to practise against the Egyp- tians. Come, unhappy heretic, I cite even you as a witness; first look at the case of the two nations, and then you will form a judg- ment of the Author of the command. The Egyptians put in a claim on the Hebrews for these gold and silver vessels. ^ The Hebrews assert a counter claim, alleging that by the bond * of their respective fathers, attested by the written engagement of both parties, there were due to them the arrears of that laborious slavery of theirs, for the bricks they had so painfully made, and the cities and palacee^ which they had built. What shall be your verdict, you discoverer * of the most good God? That the Hebrews must admit the fraud, or the Egyptians the compensation? For they maintain that thus has the question been set- tled by the advocates on both sides, ^ of the Egyptians demanding their vessels, and the Hebrews claiming the requital of their labours. But for all they say,* the Egyptians justly renounced their restitution-claim then and blackish, yea, and more firme and steady, than the female. If the female be smitten with the trout-speare, they will come to succour her; but she again is not so kind to them: for if the male be stricken, she will not stand to it, but runs away. But both of them, if they perceive that they be taken in such streights that they can- not escape, shed from them a certain black humor like to ink; and when the water therewith is troubled and made duskish, therein they hide themselves, and are no more seen " (Holland's Trans- lation, p. 250). Our epithet ''^ saucy cuttle " comes from Shakes- pere, 2 Henry iv. 2, 4, where, however, the word seems employed in a different sense. ' Deut. xiv.
2 Relucentem, " rekindled" by the confutation.
3 Vasa = the jewels and the raiment mentioned in Ex. iii. 22.
4 Nomine. [Here our author exhibits his tact as a juriscon- sult.]
5 Villis.
6 Elector.
7 For a discussion of the spoiling of the Egyptians by the Israelites, the reader is referred to Calmet's Commentary, on Ex. iii. 22, where he adduces, besides this passage of TertuUian, 'the opinions of Irenseus, adzi. Hceres. iv. 49; Augustine, contra Faust, ii. 71; Theodoret, Qutesi. in Exod. xxiii.; Clement of Alex. Stromat. i. i; of Philo, De Vita Moysis, i.; Josephus, Aniiqq. ii. 8, who says that " the Egyptians freely gave all to the Israelites;" of Melchior Canus, Loc. Theoll. i. 4. He also refers to the book of Wisdom, x. 17-20. These all substantially agree with our author. See also a full discussion in Selden, De Jure Nat. et Gentittm, vii. 8, who quotes from the Gemara, Sankedrin, c. ii. f. Q\a; and Beresliitk Rabba, par. 61 f., 68, col. 2, where such a tribunal as TertuUian refers to is mentioned as convened by Alexander the Oreat, who, after hearing tlie pleadings, gave his assent to the claims of the advocates of Israel.
■^Tamen.
there; while the Hebrews to this day, in spite of the Marcionites, re-assert their demand for even greater damages, ' insisting that, however large was their loan of the gold and silver, it would not be compensation enough, even if the labour of six hundred thousand men should be valued at only " a farthing " '° a day apiece. Which, however, were the more in number — those who claimed the vessel, or those who dwelt in the palaces and cities? Which, too, the greater — the grievance of the Egyptians against the Hebrews, or " the favour " " which they dispkiyed towards them ' Were free men reduced to servile labour, in order that the Hebrews might simply proceed against the Egyptians by action at law for injuries; or in order that their ofificers might on their benches sit and exhibit their backs and shoulders shamefully mangled by the fierce application of the scourge? It was not by a few plates and cups — in all cases the property, no doubt, of still fewer rich men — that any one would pronounce that compensation should have been awarded to the Hebrews, but both by all the resources of these and by the con- tributions of all the people.'- If, therefore, the case of the Hebrews be a good one, the Creator's case must likewise be a good one; that is to say, his command, when He both made the Egyptians unconsciously grateful, and also gave His own people their discharge in full '3 at the time of their migration by the scanty comfort of a tacit requital of their lo?ig servitude. It Was plainly less than their due which He commanded to be exacted. The Egyptians ought to have given back their men-children ''» also to the Hebrews.
CHAP. XXI. THE LAW OF THE SABBATH-DAY EXPLAINED. THE EIGHT DAYS* PROCESSION AROUND JERICHO. THE GATHERING OF STICKS A VIOLATION.
Similarly on other points also, you reproach Him with fickleness and instability for contra- dictions in His commandments, such as that He forbade work to be done on Sabbath-days, and yet at the siege of Jericho ordered the ark to be carried round the walls during eight days; in other words, of course, actually on a Sabbath. You do not, however, consider the law of the Sabbath: they are human works, not divine, which it prohibits. '5 For it says, "Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of 9 Amplius.
'o Singulis nummis. [Clem. Alex. Strom, i. 23. Vol. II., p. 336, sii/>ra.'\ '» Gratia Hebrajorum, either a reference to Ex. iii. 21, or mean- ing, perhaps, " the unpaid services of the Hebrews."
'2 Popularium omnium.
'i Expunxit.
14 Ex. i. 18, 22. [An ingenious and eloquent defence,] 3H TERTULLIAN AGAINST MARCION.
[book II.
[book II.
the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work." What work? Of course your own. The conclusion is, that from the Sabbath-day He removes those works which He had before enjoined for the six days, that is, your own works; in other words, human works of daily life. Now, the carrying around of the ark is evidently not an ordinary daily duty, nor yet a human one; but a rare and a sacred work, and, as being then ordered by the direct pre- cept of God, a divine one. And I might fully explain what this signified, were it not a tedious process to open out the forms ' of all the Creator's proofs, which you would, more- over, probably refuse to allow. It is more to the point, if you be confuted on plain matters ^ by the simplicity of truth rather than curious reasoning. Thus, in the present instance, there is a clear distinction respecting the Sab- bath's prohibition of human labours, not di- vine ones. Accordingly, the man who went and gathered sticks on the Sabbath-day was punished with death. For it was his own work which he did; and this ^ the law forbade. They, however, who on the Sabbath carried the ark round Jericho, did it with impunity. For it was not their own work, but God's, which they executed, and that too, from His express commandment.
CHAP. XXII. THE BRAZEN SERPENT AND THE GOLDEN CHERUBIM WERE NOT VIOLATIONS OF THE SECOND COMMANDMENT. THEIR MEAN- ING.
Likewise, when forbidding the similitude to be made of all things which are in heaven, and in earth, and in the waters. He declared also the reasons, as being prohibitory of all material exhibition* of a latent ^ idolatry. For He adds: " Thou shalt not bow down to them, nor serve them." The form, however, of the brazen serpent which the Lord after- wards commanded Moses to make, afforded no pretext* for idolatry, but was meant for the cure of those who were plagued with the fiery serpents.' I say nothing of what was figured by this cure.* Thus, too, the golden Cherubim and Seraphim were purely an orna- ment in the figured fashion' of the ark; adapted to ornamentation for reasons totally remote from all condition of idolatry, on ac- count of which the making a likeness is pro- ' Figuras.
* De absolutis.
3 [He wa.s not punished for gathering sticks, but for setting an example of contempt of the Divine Law. 7 4 Substantiam. SCaecsc.
*Titulum. [See Vol. II. p. 477, this series.] *See John iii. 14. 9 Exemplum.
hibited; and they are evidently not at variance with '° this law of prohibition, because they are not found in that form " of similitude, in reference to which the prohibition is given. We have spoken " of the rational institution of the sacrifices, as calling off their homage from idols to God; and if He afterwards re- jected this homage, saying, " To what pur- pose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? " '3 — He meant nothing else than this to be understood, that He had never really re- quired such homage for Himself. For He says, " I will not eat the flesh of bulls; " '* and in another passage: "The everlasting God shall neither hunger nor thirst." '^ Although He had respect to the offerings of Abel, and smelled a sweet savour from the holocaust of Noah, yet what pleasure could He receive from the flesh of sheep, or the odour of burn- ing victims? And yet the simple and God- fearing mind of those who offered what they were receiving from God, both in the way of food and of a sweet smell, was favourably ac- cepted before God, in the sense of respectful homage '* to God, who did not so much want what was offered, as that which prompted the offering. Suppose now, that some dependant were to offer to a rich man or a king, who was in want of nothing, some very insignificant gift, will the amount and quality of the gift bring dishonour '^ to the rich man and the king; or will the consideration '^ of the homage give them pleasure? Were, however, the de- pendant, either of his own accord or even in compliance with a command, to present to him gifts suitably to his rank, and were he to observe the solemnities due to a king, only without faith and purity of heart, and without any readiness for other acts of obedience, will not that king or rich man consequently exclaim: " To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? I am full of your solemnities, your feast-days, and your Sab- baths."'^ By calling them yours, as having been performed =" after the giver's own will, and not according to the religion of God (since he displayed them as his own, and not as God's), f/ie Alniighfy ift this passage, demon- strated how suitable to the conditions of the case, and how reasonable, was His rejection of those very offerings which He had commanded to be made to Him.