tion in the matter of such a precept. This, however, was not the case with my God, for" He always and everywhere enjoined that the poor, and the orphan, and the widow should be protected, assisted, refreshed; thus by Isaiah He says: " Deal thy bread to the hun- gry, and them that are houseless bring into thine house; when thou seest the naked, cover him."" By Ezekiel also He thus describes the Just man: " His bread will he give to the hungry, and the naked will he cover with a garment."'^ That teaching was even then a sufficient inducement to me to do to others what I would that they should do unto me. Accordingly, when He uttered such denuncia- tions as, "Thou shalt do no murder; thou shalt not commit adultery; thou shalt not steal; thou shalt not bear false witness," ''• — He taught me to refrain from doing to others what I should be unwilling to have done to myself; and therefore the precept developed in the Gospel will belong to Him alone, who anciently drew it up, and gave it distinctive point, and arranged it after the decision of His own teaching, and has now reduced it, suitably to its importance, 's to a compendious formula, because (as it was predicted in an- other passage) the Lord — that is, Christ — "was to make (or utter) a concise word on earth." '^ CHAP. XVII. — CONCERNING LOANS. PROHIBI- TION OF USURY AND THE USURIOUS SPIRIT. THE LAW PREPARATORY TO THE GOSPEL IN ITS provisions; so in the PRESENT IN- STANCE. ON REPRISALS. CHRIST'S TEACH- ING THROUGHOUT PROVES HIM TO BE SENT BY THE CREATOR.
And now, on the subject of a loan, when He asks, " And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye?"'' compare with this the following words of Eze- kiel, in which He says of the before-men- tioned just man, " He hath not given his money upon usury, nor will he take any in- crease " '^ — meaning the redundance of inter- est,'9 which is usury. The first step was to eradicate the fruit of the money lent,=° the more easily to accustom a man to the loss, should it happen, of the money itself, the in- " At enim. The Greek oAAa yip- >- Isa. Iviii. 7.
'? Kzek. xviii. 7.
j6" Recisum sermonem facturus in terns Dominus. This reading of Isa. x. 23 is very unlike the oriKinal, but (as frequently happens in Tertullian) is close upon the SeptuaKint version: "On Aoyof a\ivif.t\i.y\}i.ivav Kiipio? 7roi»j<rei iv rrj oiitoDn«r)j oAjj. [Rom.
•7 Luke vi. 34. [Bossuet, Traite de Pusure, Opp. ix. 48.] 'S F.zek. xviii. 8. [Huet, R^f^ne Social, etc., p. 334. Pans, 1S58.] ■1 Literally, what redounds to the loan. - Iructum fenoris: the intcp-st.
CHAP, xvn.} TERTULLIAN AGAINST MARCION.
terest of which he had learnt to lose. Now this, we affirm, was the function of the law as preparatory to the gospel. It was engaged in forming the faith of such as would learn,' by gradual stages, for the perfect light of the Christian discipline, through the best pre- cepts of which it was capable,- inculcating a benevolence which as yet expressed itself but falteringly.3 For in the passage of Ezekiel quoted above He says, " And thou shalt re- store the pledge of the loan " ■• — to him, cer- tainly, who is incapable of repayment, be- cause, as a matter of course. He would not anyhow prescribe the restoration of a pledge to one who was solvent. Much more clearly is it enjoined in Deuteronomy: "Thou shalt not sleep upon his pledge; thou shalt be sure to return to him his garment about sunset, and he shall sleep in his own garment." s Clearer still is a former passage: " Thou shalt remit every debt which thy neighbour oweth thee; and of thy brother thou shalt not re- quire it, because it is called the release of the Lord thy God." * Now, when He commands that a debt be remitted to a man who shall be unable to pay it (for it is a still stronger argu- ment when He forbids its being asked for from a man who is even able to repay it), what else does He teach than that we should lend to those of whom we cannot receive again, inasmuch as He has imposed so great a loss on lending? "And ye shall be the children of God."^ What can be more shameless, than for him to be making us his childreti, who has not permitted us to make children for ourselves by forbidding mar- riage?^ How does he propose to invest his followers with a name which he has already erased? I cannot be the son of a eunuch! Especially when I have for my Father the same great Being whom the universe claims for its! For is not the Founder of the uni- verse as much a Father, even of \\\ men, as (Marcion's) castrated deity, ^ who is the maker of no existing thing? Even if the Creator had not united male and female, and if He had not allowed any living creature whatever to have children, I yet had this relati(^ to Him'° before Paradise, before the fall, before the expulsion, before the two became one."
I Quorundam tunc fideni. ^Prirais quibusque prseceptis.
3 Balbutientis adhuc benignitatis. [Elucidation IV.]
4 Pignus reddes dati (i.e., fenoris) is his reading of a clause in Ezek. xviii. i6.
7 Luke vi. 35. In the original the phrase is, v\.o\ toC ui^iVtou.
8 One of the flagrant errors of Marcion's belief ot God. See above, chap. xi. 9Quam spado, 'o Hoc eram ejus.
"Ante duos unum. Before God made Adam and Eve one flesh, "I was created Adam, not became so by birth." — Fr. Junius.
I became His son a second time," as soon as He fashioned me '^ with His hands, and gave me motion with His inbreathing. Now again He names me His son, not begetting me into natural life, but into spiritual life.'* " Be- cause," says He, "He is kind unto the un- thankful and to the evil." '5 Well done,'* Marcion! how cleverly have you withdrawn from Him the showers and the sunshine, that He might not seem to be a Creator! But who is this kind being'' which hitherto has not been even known? How can he be kind who had previously shown no evidences of such a kindness as this, which consists of the loan to us of sunshine and rain? — who is not des- tined to receive from the human race (the homage due to that) Creator, — who, up to this very moment, in return for His vast liberality in the gift of the elements, bears with men while they offer to idols, more readily than Himself, the due returns of His graciousness. But God is truly kind even in spiritual bless- The utterances '^ of the Lord are ings.
ings.
sweeter than honey and honeycombs." '^ He then has taunted =° men as ungrateful who deserved to have their gratitude — even He, whose sunshine and rain even you, O Mar- cion, have enjoyed, but without gratitude! Your god, however, had no right to complain of man's ingratitude, because he had used no means to make them grateful. Compassion also does He teach: " Be ye merciful," says He, " as your Father also that had mercy upon you."-' This injunction will be of a piece with, "Deal thy bread to the hungry; and if he be houseless, bring him into thine house; and if thou seest the naked, cover him;"" also with, "Judge the fatherless, plead with the widow." -^ I recognise here that ancient doctrine of Him who "prefers mercy to sacrifice." =" If, however, it be now some other being which teaches mercy, on the ground of his own mercifulness, how hap- pens it that he has been wanting in mercy to me for so vast an age? " Judge not, and ye shall not be judged; condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned; forgive, and ye shall be forgiven; give, and it shall be given unto you: good measure, pressed down, and run- ning over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye meas- ly Denuo.
'3 Me enixus est.
•4 Non in animam sed in spiritum.
'S Euge.
'7 Suavis.
18 Eloquia.
=° Suggillavit.
21 Reading of Luke vi. 3^.
22 Isa. Iviii. 7.
TERTULLIAN AGAINST MARCION.
[book IV.
ure withal, it shall be measured to you again."' As it seems to me, this passage announces a retribution proportioned to the merits. But from whom shall come the retri- bution? If only from men, in that case he teaches a merely human discipline and rec- ompense; and in everything we shall have to obey man: if from the Creator, as the Judge and the Recompenser of merits, then He compels our submission to Him, in whose hands ^ He has placed a retribution which will be acceptable or terrible according as every man shall have judged or condemned, acquitted or dealt with, 3 his neighbour; if from (Marcion's god) himself, he will then exercise a judicial function which Marcion denies. Let the Marcionites therefore make their choice: Will it not be just the same inconsistency to desert the prescription of their master, as to have Christ teaching in the interest of men or of the Creator? But " a blind man will lead a blind man into the ditch." " Some persons believe Marcion. But "the disciple is not above his master." 5 Apelles ought to have remembered this — a corrector of Marcion, although his disciple.* The heretic ought to take the beam out of his own eye, and then he may convict' the Christian, should he sus- pect a mote to be in his eye. Just as a good tree cannot produce evil fruit, so neither can truth generate heresy; and as a corrupt tree cannot yield good fruit, so heresy will not produce truth. Thus, Marcion brought noth- ing good out of Cerdon's evil treasure; nor Apelles out of Marcion's.^ For in applying to these heretics the figurative words which Christ used of men in general, we shall make a much more suitable interpretation of them than if we were to deduce out of them two gods, according to Marcion's grievous expo- sition.' I think that I have the best reason possible for insisting still upon the position which I have all along occupied, that in no passage to be anywhere found has another God been revealed by Christ. I wonder that in this place alone Marcion's hands should have felt benumbed in their adulterating labour.'" But even robbers have their qualms now and then. There is no wrong-doing with- out fear, because there is none without a guilty » Apud quem. sMensus fuerit.
' De discipulo.
7 Revincat.
8 Luke vi. 41-4S. Cerdon is here referred to as Marcion's master, and Apelles as Marcion's pupil.
pScandalum. See above, book i. chap, ii., for Marcion's per- verse application of the figure of the good and the corrupt tree.
>o In hoc solo adulterium Marcionis manus stupuisse miror. He means tliat this passage has been left uncorrupted by M. (as if his kand failed in the pruning process), foolishly for kim.
conscience. So long, then, were the Jews cognisant of no other god but Him, beside whom they knew none else; nor did they call upon any other than Him whom alone they knew. This being the case, who will He clearly be "that said, " Why callest thou me Lord, Lord? " '-^ Will it be he who had as yet never been called on, because never yet revealed;'s or He who was ever regarded as the Lord, because known from the beginning — even the God of the Jews? Who, again, could possi- bly have added, " and do not the things which I say? " Could it have been he who was only then doing his best '^ to teach them? Or He who from the beginning had addressed to them His messages '^ both by the law and the prophets? He could then upbraid them with disobedience, even if He had no ground at any time else for His reproof. The fact is, that He who was then imputing to them their ancient obstinacy was none other than He who, before the coming of Christ, had ad- dressed to them these words, "This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart standeth far off from me." '* Otherwise, how absurd it were that a new god, a new Christ, the revealer of a new and so grand a religion should denounce as obstinate and disobedient those whom he had never had it in his power to make trial of!
CHAP. XVin. — CONCERNING THE CENTURION's FAITH. THE RAISING OF THE WIDOW's SON. JOHN BAPTIST, AND HIS MESSAGE TO CHRIST; AND THE WOMAN WHO WAS A SINNER. PROOFS EXTRACTED FROM ALL OF THE RELA- TION OF CHRIST TO THE CREATOR.
Likewise, when extolling the centurion's faith, how incredible a thing it is, that He should confess that He had " found so great a faith not even in Israel,"'' to whom Is- rael's faith was in no way interesting! '' But not from the fact (here stated by Christ) '' could it have been of any interest to Him to approve and compare what was hitherto crude, nay, I might say, hitherto naught. Why, however, might He not have used the example of faith in another "^ god? Because, " Videbitur.
'3 Editus.
'4 Teraptabat. Perhaps, " was tampering with them," '5 Eloquia.
«7 Luke vii. i-io.
'SComp. Epiphanius, Metres, xlii., Refut. 7, for the same argu- ment: Ei avht iv TcjJ 'l<Tpar)\ roiavTHfv iricTLV (vpev, k.t.\. " If He found not so great faith, even in Israel, as He discovered in this Gentile centurion. He does not therefore condemn the faith of Israel. For if He were alien from Israel's God, and did not per- tain to Him, even as His father, He would certainly not have in- ferentially praised Israel's faith " (Oehler).
'9 Nee exinde. This points to Christ's words, " I have not /bund such faith in Israel." — Oehler.
^J Alienae fidei.
CHAT. XVIII.]
TERTULLIAN AGAINST MARCION.
if He had done so, He would have said that no such faith had ever had existence in Israel; but as the case stands,' He intimates that He ought to have found so great a faith in Israel, inasmuch as He had indeed come for the pur- pose of finding it, being in truth the God and Christ of Israel, and had now stigmatized - it, only as one who would enforce and uphold it. If, indeed. He had been its antagonist,^ He would have preferred finding it to be such faith,* having come to weaken and destroy it rather than to approve of it. He raised also the widow's son from death.- This was not a strange miracle.*^ The Creator's prophets had wrought such; then why not His Son much rather? Now, so evidently had the Lord Christ introduced no other god for the working of so momentous a miracle as this, that all who were present gave glory to the Creator, saying: " A great prophet is risen up among us, and God hath visited His people. "7 What God? He, of course, whose people they were, and from whom had come their prophets. But if they glorified the Creator, and Christ (on hearing them, and knowing their meaning) refrained from cor- recting them even in their very act of invok- ing^ the Creator in that vast manifestation of His glory in this raising of the dead, undoubtedly He either announced no other God but Him, whom He thus permitted to be honoured in His own beneficent acts and miracles, or else how happens it that He quietly permitted these persons to remain so long in their error, especially as He came for the very purpose to cure them of their error? But John is offended ^ when he hears of the miracles of Christ, as of an alien god.'° Well, I on my side " will first explain the reason of his offence, that I may the more easily ex- plode the scandal '^ of our heretic. Now, that the very Lord Himself of all might, the Word and Spirit of the Father, '^ was operating and preaching on earth, it was necessary that the portion of the Holy Spirit which, in the form I Ceterum. ' Suggillasset.
3 yEraulus.
4 Earn talem, that is, the faith of Israel.
6 Documentum.
8 Et quidera adhuc orantes.
9Comp. Epiphanius, Hxres. xlii., Schol. 8, cum Refut.; Ter- tuUian, De Prcescript. Hceret. 8; and De Bapt. 10.
'o Ut ulterius. This is the absurd allegation of Marcion. So Epiphanius (Le Prieur).
" Ego.
'^Scandalum. Playing on the word '■'■ scandaliim'''' in its ap- plication to the Baptist and to Marcion.
>3 " It is most certain that the Son of God, the second Person of the Godhead, is in the writings of the fathers throughout called by the title of Spirit, Spirit of God, etc.: with which usage agree the Holy Scriptures. See Mark ii. 8; Rom. i. 3, 4; i Tim. iii. 16; Heb. ix. 14; i Pet. iii. 18-20; also John vi. 63, compared with 56." — Bp. Bull^ Def. Nic. Creed (translated by the translator of this work), vol. I. p. 48 and note X. [The whole passage should be consulted. 1 of the prophetic gift,'" had been through John preparing the ways of the Lord, should now depart from John, '5 and return back again of course to the Lord, as to its all-embracing original.'* Therefore John, being now an or- dinary person, and only one of the many,'^ was offended indeed as a man, but not be- cause he expected or thought of another Christ as teaching or doing nothing new, for he was not even expecting such a one.'^ No- body will entertain doubts about any one whom (since he knows him not to exist) he has no expectation*or thought of. Now John was quite sure that there was no other God but the Creator, even as a Jew, especially as a prophet. '9 Whatever doubt he felt was evidently rather^" entertained about Him^' whom he knew indeed to exist but knew not whether He were the very Christ. With this fear, therefore, even John asks the question, "Art thou He that should come, or look we for another? " -^ — simply inquiring whether He was come as He whom he was looking for. "Art thou He that should come?"/.^. Art thou the coming One? "or look we for another?" i.e. Is He whom we are expecting some other than Thou, if Thou art not He whom we expect to come? For he was supposing,^^ as all men then thought, from the similarity of the miraculous evidences, =" that a prophet might possi- bly have been meanwhile sent, from whom the Lord Himself, whose coming was then expected, was different, and to whom He was superior. ^5 And there lay John's difficulty. =* He was in doubt whether He was actually come whom all men were looking for; whom, moreover, they ought to have recognised by His predicted works, even as the Lord sent word to John, that it was by means of these very works that He was to be recognised.'" Now, inasmuch as these predictions evidently related to the Creator's Christ — as we have proved in the examination of each of them — it was perverse enough, if he gave himself '4 Ex forma prophetici moduli.
'5 Tertullian stands alone in the notion that St. John's inquiry was owing to any withdrawal of the Spirit, so soon before his mar- tyrdom, or any diminution of his faith. The contrary is expressed by Origen, Hoinil. xxvii., on Luke vii.; Chrysostora on Matt. xi.; Augustine, Sermon. 66, de Verbo; Hilary on Matthew; Jerome on Matthew, and Epist. 121, ad Algas.; Ambrose on Luke, book V. § 93. They say mostly that the inquiry was for the sake of his disciples (Oxford Library o/the Fathers, vol. x. p. 267, note e). [Elucidation V.]
•* Ut in massalem suam summam, '7 Unus jam de turba.
'8 Eundem.
'9 Etiam prophetes.
-° Facilius.
21 Jesus.
23 Sperabat.
-4 Documentorum.
"% Major.
^ Scandalum.
TERTULLIAN AGAINST MARCION.
[book IV.
out to be not the Christ of the Creator, and rested the proof of his statement on those very evidences whereby he was urging his claims to be received as the Creator's Christ. Far greater still is his perverseness when, not be- ing the Christ of John,' he yet bestows on John his testimony, affirming him to be a prophet, nay more, his messenger, = applying to him the Scripture, "Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall pre- pare thy way before thee." ^ He graciously" adduced the prophecy in the superior sense of the alternative mentioned by the perplexed John, in order that, by affirming that His own precursor was already come in the person of John, He might quench the doubt = which lurked in his question: "Art thou He that should come, or look we for another?" Now that the forerunner had fulfilled his mission, and the way of the Lord was prepared. He ought now to be acknowledged as that (Christ) for whom the forerunner had made ready the way. That forerunner was indeed "greater than all of women born; " * but for all that. He who was least in the kingdom of God ^ was not subject to him;^ as if the kingdom in which the least person was greater than John belonged to one God, while John, who was greater than all of women born, belonged himself to another God. For whether He speaks of any "least person" by reason of his humble position, or of Himself, as being thought to be less than John — since all were running into the wilderness after John rather than after Christ ("What went ye out into the wilderness to see?"') — the Creator has equal right" to claim as His own both John, greater than any born of women, and Christ, or every " least person in the kingdom of heaven," who was destined to be greater than John in that kingdom, although equally per- ' That is, not the Creator's Christ — whose prophet John was — therefore a different Christ from Him whom John announced. This is said, of course, on the Marcionite hypothesis (Oehler).
2 Angelum.
3 Luke vii. 26, 27, and Mai. iii. 1-3.
4 Eleganter.
5 Scrupulum.
7 That is, Christ, according to Epiphanius. See next note.
^Comp. the Refutation of Epiphanius (Hares..\lii. Re/ut. 8): " Whether with reference to John or to the Saviour, He pro- nounces a blessing on such as should not be offended in Himself ur in John. Nor should they devise for themselves whatsoever things they heard not from him. He also has a greater object in view, on account of which the Saviour said this; even that no one should think that John (who was pronounced to be greater than any born of women) was greater than the Saviour Himself, be- cause even He was born of a woman. He guards against this mis- take, and says, ' Blessed is he who shall not be offended in me.' He then adds, ' He that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.' Now, in respect of His birth in the flesh, the Saviour was less than he by the space of six months. But in the kingdom He was greater, being even his God. For the Only-be- gotten came not to say aught in secret, or to utter a falsehood in His preaching, as He says Himself, ' In secret have I said nothing, but in public, etc. (Koi' re Trpbs '\u>avvi\v i\ot.,., oAAa fierd 7ropp7)<rta?)." — Oehler.
• Tantundem competit creatori.
taining to the Creator, and who would be so much greater than the prophet," because he would not have been offended at Christ, an itifinnity which then lessened the greatness of John. We have already spoken of the for- giveness "of sins. The behaviour of "the woman which was a sinner," when she cov- ered the Lord's feet with her kisses, bathed them with her tears, wiped them with the hairs of her head, anointed them with ointment, '^ produced an evidence that what she handled was not an empty phantom,"* but a really solid body, and that her repentance as a sin- ner deserved forgiveness according to the mind of the Creator, who is accustomed to prefer mercy to sacrifice. '^ But even if the stimulus of her repentance proceeded from her faith, she heard her justification by faith through her repentance pronounced in the words, " Thy faith hath saved thee," by Him who had declared by Habakkuk, "The just shall live by his faith." '^ I CHAP. XIX. — THE RICH WOMEN OF PIETY WHO FOLLOWED JESUS CHRIST'S TEACHING BY PARABLES. THE MARCIONITE CAVIL DERIVED FROM Christ's remark, when told of his MOTHER AND HIS BRETHREN. EXPLANA- TION OF Christ's apparent rejection of THEM.
The fact that certain rich women clave to Christ, "which ministered unto Him of their substance," amongst whom was the wife of the king's steward, is a subject of prophecy. By Isaiah the Lord called these wealthy ladies — " Rise up, ye women that are at ease, and hear my voice"'' — that He might prove '^ them first as disciples, and then as assistants and helpers: "Daughters, hear my words in hope; this day of the year cherish the mem- ory of, in labour with hope." For it was "in labour" that they followed Him, and " with hope " did they minister to Him. On the subject of parables, let it suffice that it has been once for all shown that this kind of language " was with equal distinctness prom- ised by the Creator. But there is that direct mode of His speaking*" to the people — " Ye shall hear with the ear, but ye shall not understand"*' — which now claims notice as " Major tanto propheta.
'2 De remissa.
17 Isa. xxxii. g, 10. Quoted as usual, from the LXX.: VvvaiiKt<t 7rAou<rtai ai/o<rT»jT6, Kai aKOvtrore t^s ^u>vr\<; fjLOv Ovyarepef <r eKniSi ei<TaKov<TaTt Xdyovs fioi/. 'H/tepa$ enovToO ixftiav iT0ir)<ra<T8t €v bSvvyj fi€T cATTtfios •8 Ostenderet.
»9 Eloquii.
20 Pronunciatio.
CHAP. XIX.]
TERTULLIAN AGAINST MARCION, having furnished to Christ that frequent form of His earnest instruction: "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.'" Not as if Christ, actuated with a diverse spirit, permitted a hearing which the Creator had refused; but because the exhortation followed the threaten- ing. First came, " Ye shall hear with the ear, but shall not understand;" then followed, " He that hath ears to hear, let him hear." For they wilfully refused to hear, although they had ears. He, however, was teaching them that it was the ears of the heart which were necessary; and with fJicse the Creator had said that they would not hear. There- fore it is that He adds by His Christ, " Take heed how ye hear," ^ and hear not, — mean- ing, of course, with the hearing of the heart, not of the ear. If you only attach a proper, sense to the Creator s admonition ^ suitable to the meaning of Him who was rousing the people to hear by the words, " Take heed how ye hear," it amounted to a menace to such as would not hear. In fact,'' that most merciful god of yours, who judges not, neither is angry, is minatory. This is proved even by the sen- tence which immediately follows: "Whoso- ever hath, to him shall be given; and who- soever hath not, from him shall be taken even