pounder of a new god; for perhaps I might be content with insisting on all occasions on this one point, that another Christ' is nowhere proclaimed. The Pharisees, however, w^ere in utter error concerning the law of the Sabbath, not observing that its terms were conditional, wlien it enjoined rest from labour, making certain distinctions of labour. For when it says of the Sabbath-day, " In it thou shalt not do any work of thine," '° by the word t/mie" it restricts the prohibition to human work — which every one performs in his own employ- ment or business — and not to divine work. Now the work of healing or preserving is not proper to man, but to God. So again, in the law it says, " Thou shalt not do any manner of work in it," '- except what is to be done for any soul,'^ that is to say, in the matter of de- ' Affectum.
2 Tunc demum.
3 Statum.
4 Non constanter tuebatur.
5 Non contristandi quam vacandi.
* [This adoption of an A mericanism is worthy of passing no- tice.]
7 Placet illi quia Creator indulsit.
9 That is, the Christ of another God.
" It is impossible to say where Tertullian got this reading. Perhaps his _LXX_. copy might have had (in Ex. xx. 10): Ou jronjfftis iv avTjj nav ipyov <tou, instead of <rv; every clause ending in (row, which follows in that verse. No critical authority, how- ever, now known warrants such a reading. [It is probably based inferentially on verse 9, " all i/ijr work."]
»3The LXX. of the latter clause of Ex. xii. 16 thus runs: wAtjv livering the soul; '* because what is God's work may be done by human agency for the salva- tion of the soul. By God, however, would that be done which the man Christ was to do, for He was likewise God.'s Wishing, therefore, to initiate them into this meaning of the law by the restoration of the withered hand, He inquires, "Is it lawful on the Sabbath-days to do good, or not? to save life, or to destroy it? " ''' In order that He might, whilst allow- ing that amount of work which He was about to perform for a soul,'^ remind them what works the law of the Sabbath forbade — even human works; and what it enjoined — even divine works, which might be done for the benefit of any soul,'^ He was called " Lord of the Sabbath," '5 because He maintained =^ the Sabbath as His own institution. Now, even if He had annulled the Sabbath, He would have had the right to do so,-' as being its /■ Lord, (and) still more as He who instituted it. But He did not utterly destroy it, although its Lord, in order that it might henceforth be plain that the Sabbath was not broken ^ by the Creator, even at the time when the ark was carried around Jericho. For that was really =3 God's work, which He commanded Himself, and which He had ordered for the sake of the lives of His servants when exposed to the perils of war. Now, although He has in a certain place expressed an aversion of Sab- baths, by calling thtm your Sabbaths,^* reckon- ing them as men's Sabbaths, not His own, because they were celebrated without the fear of God by a people full of iniquities, and lov- ing God " with the lip, not the heart," =5 He has yet put His own Sabbaths (those, that is, which were kept according to His prescrip- tion) in a different position; for by the same prophet, in a later passage, =* He declared them to be " true, and delightful, and inviola- ble." Thus Christ did not at all rescind the Sabbath: He kept the law thereof, and both in the former case did a work which was beneficial to the life of His disciples, for He indulged them with the relief of food when they were hungry, and in the present instance cured the withered hand; in each case inoo-a ffoti)9ijCT-6Tat iro.cr'o <fivxri- Tertullian probably got this read- ing from this clause, although the Hebrew is to this effect: " Save that which every man (or, every soul) must eat," which the Vul- gate renders: " Exceptis his, quas ad vescendum pertinent."
'4 Liberandae animse: perhaps saving life.
'5 In salutem animx: or, for saving life.
'7 Pro anima: or, for a life.
'8 Anirase omni: or, any life, =0 Tuebatur.
-' Merito.
=2 Destructum. We have, as has been dered this word by annul, destroy break.
^ Isa. Iviii. 13 and Ivi. a.
most convenient, ren- TERTULLIAN AGAINST MARCION.
[book IV, timating by facts, " I came not to destroy, the law, but to fulfil it, "' although Marcion has gagged ^ His mouth by this word.^ For even in the case before us He fulfilled the law, while interpreting its condition; moreover, He exhibits in a clear light the different kinds of work, while doing what the law excepts from the sacredness of the Sabbath* <z«rt^ while im- parting to the Sabbath-day itself, which from the beginning had been consecrated by the benediction of the Father, an additional sanc- tity by His own beneficent action. For He furnished to this day divine safeguards, ^ — a course which * His adversary would have pur- sued for some other days, to avoid honouring the Creator's Sabbath, and restoring to the Sabbath the works which were proper for it. Since, in like manner, the prophet Elisha on this day restored to life the dead son of the Shunammite woman,' you see, O Pharisee, and you too, O Marcion, how that it was proper e7nployment for the Creator's Sabbaths of old ^ to do good, to save life, not to destroy it; how that Christ introduced nothing new, which was not after the example,^ the gentle- ness, the mercy, and the prediction also of the Creator. For in this very example He fulfils '" the prophetic announcement of a specific healing: "The weak hands are strengthened," as were also " the feeble knees " " in the sick of the palsy.
CHAP. XIII. — Christ's connection with the CREATOR shown. MANY QUOTATIONS OUT OF THE OLD TESTAMENT PROPHETICALLY BEAR ON CERTAIN EVENTS OF THE LIFE OF JESUS — SUCH AS HIS ASCENT TO PRAYING ON THE MOUNTAIN; HIS SELECTION OF TWELVE APOSTLES; HIS CHANGING SIMON's NAME TO PETER, AND GENTILES FROM TYRE AND SIDON RESORTING TO HIM.
Surely to Sion He brings good tidings, and to Jerusalem peace and all blessings; He goes up into a mountain, and there spends a night in prayer," and He is indeed heard by the Father. Accordingly turn over the prophets, and learn therefrom His entire course. '^ " Into the high mountain," says Isaiah, "get 'I'hee up, who bringest good tidings to Sion; 2 Obstruxit.
3" Destroy"...It was hardly necessary for Oehler to para- phrase our author's characteristically strong sentence by, " since Marcion thought that he //«</ gagged," etc.
4 In other words, " permits to be done on the Sabbath."
5 Prasidia.
6 Quod, not qutty as if in apposition with preesidia.
lift up Thy voice with strength, who bringest good tidings to Jerusalem." '* "They were mightily '5 astonished at His doctrine; for He was teaching as one who had power." '^ And again: " Therefore, my people shall know my name in that day. ' ' What name does the prophet ?nea?i, but Christ's? "That I am He that doth speak — even I."'' For it was He who used to speak in the prophets — the Word, the Creator's Son. " I am present, while it is the hour, upon the mountains, as one that bring- eth glad tidings of peace, as one that pub- lisheth good tidings of good." '^ So one of the twelve (minor prophets), Nahum: "For behold upon the mountain the swift feet of Him that bringeth glad tidings of peace."" Moreover, concerning the voice of His prayer to the Father by night, the psalm manifestly says: " O my God, I will cry in the day-time, and Thou shalt hear; and in the night season, and it shall not be in vain to me."^ In another passage touching the same voice and place, the psalm says: " I cried unto the Lord with my voice, and He heard me out of His holy mountain. ' ' -^ You have a representation of the name; you have the action of the Evan- gelizer; you have a mountain for the site; and the night as the time; and the sound of a voice; and the audience of the Father: you havCj (in short,) the Christ of the prophets. But why was it that He chose twelve apostles," and not some other number? In truth, "^^ I might from this very point conclude =* of my Christ, that He was foretold not only by the words of prophets, but by the indications of facts. For of this number I find figurative hints up and down the Creator's dispensa- tion ^^ in the twelve springs of Elim;-'* in the twelve gems of Aaron's priestly vestment;*' and in the twelve stones appointed by Joshua to be taken out of the Jordan, and set up for the ark of the covenant. Now, the same number of apostles was thus portended, as if they were to be fountains and rivers which should water the Gentile world, which was formerly dry and destitute of knowledge (as He says by Isaiah: " I will put streams in the unwatered ground " =*); as if they were to be gems to shed lustre upon the church's sacred '5 In vigore. Or this phrase may qualify the noua thus: "They were astonished at His doctrine, in its might."
24 Interpretari.
CHAP. XIV.]
TERTULLIAN AGAINST MARCION robe, which Christ, the High Priest of the Father, puts on; as if, also, they were to be stones massive in their faith, which the true Joshua took out of the laver of the Jordan, and placed in the sanctuary of His covenant. What equally good defence of such a number has Marcion's Christ to show? It is impossi- ble that anything can be shown to have been done by him unconnectedly,' which cannot be shown to have been done by my Christ in connection (with preceding types).* To him will appertain the event ^ in whom is discov- ered the preparation for the same.* Again, He changes the name of Simon to Peter,^ inasmuch as the Creator also altered the names of Abram, and Sarai, and Oshea, by calling the latter Joshua, and adding a sylla- ble to each of the former. But why J^eter? If it was because of the vigour of his faith, there were many solid materials which might lend a name from their strength. Was it because Christ was both a rock and a stone? For we read of His being placed "for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence."*^ I omit the rest of the passage.' Therefore He would fain^ impart to the dearest of His dis- ciples a name which was suggested by one of His own especial designations in figure; be- cause it was, I suppose, more peculiarly fit than a name which might have been derived from no figurative description of Himself. » There come to Him from Tyre, and from other districts even, a transmarine multitude. This fact the psalm had in view: ''' And behold tribes of foreign people, and Tyre, and the people of the Ethiopians; they were there. Sion is my mother, shall a man say; and in her was born a man " (forasmuch as the God- man was born), and He built her by the Father's will; that you may know how Gen- tiles then flocked to Him, because He was born the God-man who was to build the church according to the Father's will — even of other races also.'° So says Isaiah too: " Behold, these come from far; and these from the north and from the west;" and these from the land of the Persians."" Concerning whom He says again: "Lift up thine eyes round about, and behold, all these have gathered themselves together." '^ And yet again: » Simpliciter: i.e., simply, or without relation to any types or prophecies.
= Non simpliciter, 3 Res.
4 Rei prasparatura.
5 Luke vi. 14. [Elucidation III.] *Isa. viri. 14; Rom. ix. 33; i Pet. ii. 8.
7 Caetera.
8 Affectavit.
9 De non suis: opposed to the de figuris suis ^eculiariier. [St. Peter was not the dearest of the Apostles though he was the foretnosi.'\ •o Ps. Ixxxvii. 4, 5, according to the Septuagint. " Mari. ^Isa. xlix. 18.
" Thou seest these unknown and strange ones; and thou wilt say in thine heart, Who hath begotten me these? But who hath brought me up these? And these, where have they been?"'" Will such a Christ not be (the Christ) of the prophets? And what will be the Christ of the Marcionites? Since perver- sion of truth is their pleasure, he could not be (the Christ) of the prophets.
CHAP. XIV. — Christ's sermon on the mount. IN manner and contents it so resembles THE creator's DISPENSATIONAL WORDS AND deeds. it SUGGESTS THEREFORE THE CON- CLUSION THAT JESUS IS THE CREATOR'S CHRIST. THE BEATITUDES.
I now come to those ordinary precepts of His, by means of which He adapts the pe- culiarity '5 of His doctrine to what I may call His official proclamation as the Christ.'* "Blessed are the needy" (for no less than this is required for interpreting the word in the Greek, '7 " because theirs is the kingdom of heaven."'^ Now this very fact, that He begins with beatitudes, is characteristic of the Creator, who used no other voice than that of blessing either in the first fiat or the final dedication of the universe: for "my heart," says He, " hath indited a very good word." '» This will be that " very good word " of bless- ing which is admitted to be the initiating prin- ciple of the New Testament, after the example of the Old. What is there, then, to wonder at, if He entered 07i His jnhiistry with the v^'y attributes ™ of the Creator, who ever in language of the same sort loved, consoled, protected, and avenged the beggar, and the poor, and the humble, and the widow, and the orphan? So that you may believe this pri- vate bounty as it were of Christ to be a rivulet streaming from the springs of salvation. In- deed, I hardly know which way to turn amidst so vast a wealth of goodwoxdiS like these; as if I were in a forest, or a meadow, or an orchard of apples. I must therefore look out for such matter as chance may present to me.^' In the psalm he exclaims: " Defend the fatherless and the needy; do justice to the humble and the poor; deliver the poor, and rid the needy out of the hand of the wicked." -* •5 Proprietatem.
'6 The original runs thus: " Venio nunc a# ordinarias sententi.is ejus, p^^r quas proprietatem doctrinae suae inducit ad edictum, ut ita dixerim, CarisV." There is here an allusion to the edict of the Roman praetor, that is, his />t(hlic announcement, in which he states (when entering on his office) the rules by which he will be guided in the administration of the same (see White and Riddle, Latin Diet. s. 7\ Edictum).
20 Affectibus.
21 Prout incidit.
TERTULLIAN AGAINST MARCION.
[book IV.
Similarly in the seventy-first Psalm: " In right- eousness shall He judge the needy amongst the people, and shall save the children of the poor." ' And in the following words he says of Christ: "All nations shall serve Him." ^ Now David only reigned over the Jewish na- tion, so that nobody can suppose that this was spoken of David; whereas-^*? had taken upon Himself the condition of the poor, and such as were oppressed with want, " Because He should deliver the needy out of the hand of the mighty man; He shall spare the needy and the poor, and shall deliver the souls of the poor. From usury and injustice shall He redeem their souls, and in His sight shall their name be honoured." ^ Again: " The wicked shall be turned into hell, even all the nations that forget God; because the needy shall not alway be forgotten; the endurance of the poor shall not perish for ever," * Again: "Who is like unto the Lord our God, who dwelleth on high, and yet looketh on the humble things that are in heaven and on earth! — who raiseth up the needy from off the ground, and out of the dunghill exalteth the poor; that He may set him with the princes of His people," ^ that is, in His own kingdom. And likewise earlier, in the book of Kings,* Hannah the mother of Samuel gives glory to God in these words: " He raiseth the poor man from the ground, and the beggar, that He may set him amongst the princes of His people (that is, in His own kingdom), and on thrones of glory " (even royal ones).^ And by Isaiah how He inveighs against the oppressors of the needy! " What mean ye that ye set fire to my vine- yard, and that the spoil of the poor is in your houses? Wherefore do ye beat my people to pieces, and grind the face of the needy?" ^ And again: " Woe unto them that decree un- righteous decrees; for in their decrees they decree wickedness, turning aside the needy from judgment, and taking away their rights from the poor of my people." ' These right- eous judgments He requires for the father- less also, and the widows, as well as for con- solation '° to the very needy themselves. " Do justice to the fatherless, and deal justly with the widow; and come, let us be reconciled," saith the Lord." " To him, for whom in every 2 Pi. Ixxii. II.
6 The books of "Samuel" were also called the books of " Kings."
10 Solatii.
" Tertullian seems to have read Sia\\ax9u))ifv instead of Sia- AcxSwuef, ^ft us reason together^ in his LXX.
Stage of lowliness there is provided so much of the Creator's compassionate regard, shall be given that kingdom also which is promised by Christ, to whose merciful compassion be- long, and for a great while have belonged,'^ those to whom the promise is made. For even if you suppose that the promises of the Creator were earthly, but that Christ's are heavenly, it is quite clear that heaven has been as yet the property of no other God whatever, than Him who ownS the earth also; quite clear that the Creator has given even the lesser promises (of earthly blessing), in order that I may more readily believe Him concerning His greater promises (of heavenly blessings) also, than (Marcion's god), who has never given proof of his liberality by any preceding bestowal of minor blessings. " Blessed are they that hunger, for they shall be filled." '* I might connect this clause with the former one, because none but the poor and needy suffer hunger, if the Creator had not specially designed that the promise of a similar bless- ing should serve as a preparation for the gos- pel, that so men might know it to be His.'^ For thus does He say, by Isaiah, concerning those whom He was about to call from the ends of the earth — that is, the Gentiles: " Be- hold, they shall come swiftly with speed:"'* swiftly, because hastening towards the fulness of the times; with speed, because unclogged by the weights of the ancient law. They shall neither hunger nor thirst. Therefore they shall be filled, — a promise which is made to none but those who hunger and thirst. And again He says: " Behold, my servants shall be filled, but ye shall be hungry; behold, my servants shall drink, but ye shall be thirsty." '^ As for these oppositions, we shall see whether they are not premonitors of Christ.'^ Mean- while the promise of fulness to the hungry is a provision of God the Creator. " Blessed are they that weep, for they shall laugh." '' Turn again to the passage of Isaiah: " Behold, my servants shall exult with joy, but ye shall be ashamed; behold, my servants shall be glad, but ye shall cry for sorrow of heart." ^ And recognise these oppositions also in the dispen- sation of Christ. Surely gladness and joyous exultation is promised to those who are in an opposite condition — to the sorrowful, and sad, and anxious. Just as it is said in the 125th Psalm: " They who sow in tears shall reap in joy."-' Moreover, laughter is as much an ■3 Jamdudum pertinent.
15 In evangelii scilicet sui praestructionem.
'8 An Christo praeministrentur.
CHAP. XV.J TERTULLIAN AGAINST MARCION.
accessory to the exulting and glad, as weeping is to the sorrowful and grieving. Therefore the Creator, in foretelling matters for laughter and tears, was the first who said that those who mourned should laugh. Accordingly, He who began (His course) with consolation for the poor, and the humble, and the hun- gry, and the weeping, was at once eager' to represent Himself as Him whom He had pointed out by the mouth of Isaiah: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the poor. " ' " Blessed are the needy, because theirs is the kingdom of heaven." ^ "He hath sent me to bind up the broken-heart- ed."* "Blessed are they that hunger, for they shall be filled." ^ " To comfort all that mourn."* " Blessed are they that weep, for they shall laugh."' "To give unto them that mourn in Sion, beauty (or glory) for ashes, and the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heavi- ness."^ Now since Christ, as soon as He entered on His course,' fulfilled such a min- istration as this. He is either, Himself, He who predicted His own coming to do all this; or else if he is not yet come who predicted this, the charge to Marcion's Christ must be a ridiculous one (although I should perhaps add a necessary'" one), which bade him say, " Blessed shall ye be, when men shall hate you, and shall reproach you, and shall cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's sake."" In this declaration there is, no doubt, an exhortation to patience. Well, what did the Creator sa}^ otherwise by Isaiah? " Fear ye not the reproach of men, nor be di- minished by their contempt."'- What re- proach? what contempt? That which was to be incurred for the sake of the Son of man. AVhat Son of man? He who (is come) accord- ing to the Creator's will. Whence shall we get our proof? From the very cutting off, which was predicted against Him; as when He says by Isaiah to the Jews, who were the instigators of hatred against Him: " Because of you, my name is blasphemed amongst the Gentiles;"'^ and in another passage: "Lay the penalty on'* Him who surrenders 's His own life, who is held in contempt by the Gen- • Gestivit.
2 Isa. Ixi. I.
4 Isa. Ixi. I.
9 Statim admissus.
»o Said in irony, as if Marcion's Christ deserved the rejection.
12 His reading of Isa. lu 7.
»4 Sancite.
15 Circumscribit tiles, whether servants or magistrates."'* Now, since hatred was predicted against that Son of man who has His mission from the Creator, whilst the Gospel testifies that the name of Christians, as derived from Christ, was to be hated for the Son of man's sake, because He is Christ, it determines the point that that was the Son of man in the matter of hatred who came according to the Creator's purpose, and against whom the hatred was predicted. And even if He had not yet come, the hatred of His name which exists at the present day could not in any case have possi- bly preceded Him who was to bear the name.'' But He has both suffered the penalty '* in our presence, and surrendered His life, laying it down for our sakes, and is held in contempt by the Gentiles. And He who was born (into the world) will be that very Son of man on whose account our name also is rejected.
CHAP. XV. SERMON ON THE MOUNT CONTIN- UED. ITS WOES IN STRICT AGREEMENT WITH THE creator's DISPOSITION. MANY QUOTA- TIONS OUT OF THE OLD TESTAMENT IN PROOF OF THIS.
"In the like manner," says He,'' "did their fathers unto the prophets." What a turncoat^ is Mai-cton' s Chnst \ Now the de- stroyer, now the advocate of the prophets! He destroyed them as their rival, by convert- ing their disciples; he took up their cause as their friend, by stigmatizing" their persecu- tors. But,^^ in as far as the defence of the prophets could not be consistent in the Christ of Marcion, who came to destroy them; in so far is it becoming to the Creator's Christ that He should stigmatize those who persecuted the prophets, for He in all things accom- plished their predictions. Again, it is more characteristic of the Creator to upbraid sons wath their fathers' sins, than it is of that god who chastizes no man for even his own mis- deeds. But you will say. He cannct be re- garded as defending the prophets simply be- cause He wished to affirm the iniquity of the Jews for their impious dealings with their own prophets. Well, then, in this case,^^ no sin ought to have been charged against the Jews: they were rather deserving of praise and ap- probation when they maltreated ="• those whom 16 Famulis at magistratibus. It is uncertain what passage this quotation represents. It sounds like some of the clauses of Isa. liii.
•7 Personam nominis.
^8 Sancitur.
20 Versipellem. An indignant exclamation on Marcion's Christ.
21 Suggillans.
22 Porro.
2* Suggillaverunt. This is Oehler's emendation; the commoa reading ya Jigiiraverunt.
TERTULLIAN AGAINST MARCION.
[book IV.
the absolutely good god of Marcioti, after so long a time, bestirred himself to destroy. I suppose, however, that by this time he had ceased to be the absolutely good god; = he had now sojourned a considerable while even with the Creator, and was no longer (like) the god of Epicurus 3 purely and simply. For see how he condescends" to curse, and proves himself capable of taking offence and feeling anger! He actually pronounces a 7voe! But a doubt is raised against us as to the import of this word, as if it carried with it less the sense of a curse than of an admonition. Where, however, is the difference, since even an admonition is not given without the sting of a threat, especially when it is embittered with a 7iJoe? Moreover, both admonition and threatening will be the resources of him s who knows how to feel angry. For no one will for- bid the doing of a thing with an admonition or a threat, except him who will inflict punish- ment for the doing of it. No one would inflict punishment, except him who was susceptible of anger. Others, again, admit that the word implies a curse; but they will have it that Christ pronounced the woe, not as if it were His own genuine feeling, but because the woe is from the Creator, and He wanted to