4 Orisinalc instnimentum: which may mean " the document \rhich treats of the origin of all things."
8 Substantivum aliquid.
that particular thing which we regard as the origin of the other. On the other hand,' if we were to make such a statement as this, for example, " In the beginning the potter made a basin or a water- jug," the word be- ginning will not here indicate a material sub- stance (for I have not mentioned the clay, which is the beginning in this sense, but only the order of the work, meaning that the potter made the basin and the jug first, before any- thing else — intending afterwards to make the rest. It is, then, to the order of the works that the word beginning has reference, not to the origin of their substances. I might also explain this word beginning in another way, which would not, however, be inapposite.'" The Greek term for beginning, which is apxij, admits the sense not only of priority of order, but of power as well; whence princes and mag- istrates are called apxovre^. Therefore ir this sense too, begimiing may be taken for princely authority and power. It was, indeed, in His transcendent authority and power, that God made the heaven and the earth.
CHAP. XX. — MEANING OF THE PHRASE — IN THE BEGINNING. TERTULLIAN CONNECTS IT WITH THE WISDOM OF GOD, AND ELICITS FROM IT THE TRUTH THAT THE CREATION WAS NOT OUT OF PRE-EXISTENT MATTER.
But in proof that the Greek word means nothing else than beginning, and that begi?i- ning admits of no other sense than the initial one, we have that (Being) " even acknowledg- ing such a beginning, who says: "The Lord possessed '- me, the beginning of His ways for the creation of His works." '^ For since all things were made by the Wisdom of God, it follows that, when God made both the heaven and the earth /// principio — that is to say, in the beginning — He made them in His Wis- dom. If, indeed, beginning had a material signification, the Scripture would not have in- formed us that God made so and so iti prin- cipio, at the beginning, but rather ^.v principio, of the beginning; for He would not have created ifi, but of, matter. When Wisdom, however, was referred to, it was quite riglit to say, in the beginning. For it was \n Wis- dom that He made all things at first, because by meditating and arranging His plans there- in,''* He had in fact already done (the work of creation); and if He had even intended to create out of matter. He would yet have ef- fected His creation when He previously medi- 9 De cetero. 'o Non ab re tamen. '-"Condidit: "created." '•♦In qua: m Wisdom.
CHAP. XXll.]
AGAINST HERMOGENES.
tated on it and arranged it in His Wisdom, since It' was in fact the beginning of His ways: this meditation and arrangement being the primal operation of Wisdom, opening as it does the way to the works by the act of meditation and thought. = This authority of Scripture I claim for myself even from this circumstance, that whilst it shows me the God who created, and the works He created, it does not in like manner reveal to me the source from which He created. For since in every operation there are three principal things, He who makes, and that which is made, and that of which it is made, there must be three names mentioned in a correct narra- tive of the operation — the person of the maker, the sort of thing which is made,^ and the ma- terial of which it is formed. If the material is not mentioned, while the work and the maker of the work are both mentioned, it is manifest that He made the work out of noth- ing. For if He had had anything to operate upon, it would have been mentioned as well as (the other two particulars).* In conclusion, I will apply the Gospel as a supplementary testimony to the Old Testament. Now in this there is all the greater reason why there should be shown the material (if there were any) out of which God made all things, inasmuch as it is therein plainly revealed by whom He made all things. " In the beginning was the Word " 5 — that is, the same beginning, of course, in which God made the heaven and the earth,* — "and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made by Him, and without Him nothing was made."^ Now, since we have here clearly told us who the Maker was, that is, God, and what He made, even all things, and through whom He made them, even His Word, would not the order of the narrative have required that the source out of which all things were made by God through the Word should like- wise be declared, if they had been in fact made out of anything? What, therefore, did not exist, the Scripture was unable to mention; and by not mentioning it, it has given us a clear proof that there was no such thing: for if there had been, the Scripture would have mentioned it.
CHAP. XXI. — A RETORT OF HERESY ANSWERED. THAT SCRIPTURE SHOULD IN SO MANY WORDS TELL US THAT THE WORLD WAS MADE OF NOTHING IS SUPERFLUOUS.
But, you will say to me, if you determine ' Wisdom. = De cogitatu. 1 Species facti. •< Proinde.
that all things were made of nothing, on the ground that it is not told us that anything was made out of pre-existent Matter, take care that it be not contended on the opposite side, that on the same ground all things were made out of Matter, because it is not likewise ex- pressly said that anything was made out of nothing. Some arguments may, of course,^ be thus retorted easily enough; but it does not follow that they are on that account fairly admissible, where there is a diversity in the cause. For I maintain that, even if the Scrip- ture has not expressly declared that all things were made out of nothing — just as it abstains (from saying that they were formed) out of Matter — there was no such pressing need for expressly indicating the creation of all things out of nothing, as there was of their creation out of Matter, if that had been their origin. Because, in the case of what is made out of nothing, the very fact of its not being indicated that it was made of any particular thing shows that it was made of nothing; and there is no danger of its being supposed that it was made of anything, when there is no indication at all of what it was made of. In the case, however, of that which is made out of something, unless the very fact be plainly declared, that it was made out of something, there will be danger, until' it is shown of what it was made, first of its appearing to be made of nothing, because it is not said of what it was made; and then, should it be of such a nature '° as to have the appearance of having certainly been made of something, there will be a similar risk of its seeming to have been made of a far different material from the proper one, so long as there is an absence of statement of what it was made of. Then, if God had been unable to make all things of nothing, the Scripture could not possibly have added that He had made all things of nothing: (there could have been no room for such a statement,) but it must by all means have informed us that He had made all things out of Matter, since Matter must have been the source; because the one case was quite to be understood," if it were not actually stated, whereas the other case would be left in doubt unless it were stated.
CHAP. XXII. — THIS CONCLUSION CONFIRMED BY THE USAGE OF HOLY SCRIPTURE IN ITS HIS- TORY OF THE CREATION. HERMOGENES IN DANGER OF THE WOE PRONOUNCED AGAINST ADDING TO SCRIPTURE.
And to such a degree has the Holy Ghost 8 Plane.
9 Dum ostenditur: which Oehler and Rigalt. construe as "donee ostendatur." One reading has "dum «t"j ostenditur/' " so long as it is not shown."
"^ Ea conditione.
»' In totum habebat intelligi.
AGAINST HERMOGENES.
[chap. XXIV.
made this the rule of His Scripture, that whenever anything is made out of anything, He mentions both the thing that is made and the thing of which it is made. " Let the earth," says He, "bring forth grass, the herb yield- ing seed, and the fruit-tree yielding fruit after its kind, whose seed is in itself, after its kind. And it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after its kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after its kind."' And again: "And God said. Let the waters bring forth abun- dantly the moving creatures that have life, and fowl that may fly above the earth through the firmament of heaven. And it was so. And God created great whales, and every liv- ing creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind." '' Again afterwards: "And God said. Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beasts of the earth after their kind."^ If therefore God, when producing other things out of things which had been already made, indicates them by the prophet, and tells us what He has produced from such and such a source" (although we might ourselves suppose them to be derived from some source or other, short of nothing; 5 since there had already been created certain things, from which they might easily seem to have been made); if the Holy Ghost took upon Himself so great a con- cern for our instruction, that we might know from what everything was produced,^ would He not in like manner have kept us well in- formed about both the heaven and the earth, by indicating to us what it was that He made them of, if their original consisted of any material substance, so that the more He seemed to have made them of nothing, the less in fact was there as yet made, from which He could appear to have made them? There- fore, just as He shows us the original out of which He drew such things as were derived from a given source, so also with regard to those things of which He does not point out whence He produced them. He confirms (by that silence our assertion) that they were pro- duced out of nothing. " In the beginning," then, " God made the heaven and the earth." ^ I revere* the fulness of His Scrip- ture, in which He manifests to me both the Creator and the creation. In the gospel.
' what 4 Quid unde protulerit: properly a double question •was produced, and whence? ' 'Quid unde processerit: properly a double question = " what was produced, and whence? ' 8 Adoro: reverently admire.
moreover, I discover a Minister and Witness of the Creator, even His Word.' But whether all things were made out of any underlying Matter, I have as yet failed anywhere to find. Where such a statement is written, Her- mogenes' shop'° must tell us. If it is no- where written, then let it fear the woe which impends on all who add to or take away from the written word."
CHAP. XXIII. HERMOGENES PURSUED TO AN- OTHER PASSAGE OF SCRIPTURE. THE ABSURD- ITY OF HIS INTERPRETATION EXPOSED.
But he draws an argument from the follow- ing words, where it is written: "And the earth was without form, and void."'= For he re- solves '3 the word earth into Matter, because that which is made out of it is the earth. And to the word was he gives the same di- rection, as if it pointed to what had always existed unbegotten and unmade. It was without fonti, moreover, and void, because he will have Matter to have existed shapeless and confused, and without the finish of" a maker's hand.'" Now these opinions of his I will refute singly; but first I wish to say to him, by way of general answer: We are of opinion that Matter is pointed at in these terms. But yet does the Scripture intimate that, because Matter was in existence before all, anything of like condition 's was even formed out of it? Nothing of the kind. Mat- ter might have had existence, if it so pleased — or rather if Hermogenes so pleased. It might, I say, have existed, and yet God might not have made anything out of it, either as it was unsuitable to Him to have required the aid of anything, or at least because He is not shown to have made anything out of Matter. Its existence must therefore be without a cause, you will say. Oh, no! certainly '* not with- out cause. For even if the world were not made out of it, yet a heresy has been hatched therefrom; and a specially impudent one too, because it is not Matter which has produced the heresy, but the heresy has rather made Matter itself.
CHAP. XXIV. — EARTH DOES NOT MEAN MATTER AS HERMOGENES WOULD HAVE IT.
I now return to the several points '' by means of which he thought that Matter was signified. And first I will inquire about the 10 ( )fficina. '3 Redigit in.
'■« Inconditam: we have combined the two senses of the word. •5 Tale aliquid. '* Plane: ironical. •7 Articulos.
CHAP. XXVI.]
AGAINST HERMOGENES.
terms. For we read only of one of them, Earth; the other, namely Matter, we do not meet with. I ask, then, since Matter is not mentioned in Scripture, how the term earth can be applied to it, which marks a substance of another kind? There is all the greater need why mention should also have been made of Matter, if this has acquired the further sense of Earth, in order that I may be sure that Earth is one and the same name as Matter, and so not claim the designation for merely one substance, as the proper name thereof, and by which it is better known; or else be unable (if I should feel the inclination) to apply it to some particular species of Mat- er, instead, indeed,' of making it the common term'' of all Matter. For when a proper name does not exist for that thing to which a common term is ascribed, the less apparent ^ is the object to which it may be ascribed, the more capable will it be of being applied to any other object whatever. Therefore, even supposing that Hermogenes could show us the name'' Matter, he is bound to prove to us further, that the same object has the sur- name^ Earth, in order that he may claim for it both designations alike.
CHAP. XXV. THE ASSUMPTION THAT THERE ARE TWO EARTHS MENTIONED IN THE HIS- TORY OF THE CREATION, REFUTED.
He accordingly maintains that there are two earths set before us in the passage in ques- tion: one, which God made in the begin- ning; the other being the Matter of which God made the world, and concerning which it is said, "And the earth was without form, and void." ^ Of course, if I were to ask, to which of the two earths the name earth is best suited, 7 I shall be told that the earth which was made derived the appellation from that of which it was made, on the ground that it is more likely that the offspring should get its name from the original, than the original from the offspring. This being the case, another question presents itself to us, whether it is right and proper that this earth which God made should have derived its name from that out of which He made it? For I find from Hermogenes and the rest of the Ma- terialist heretics,^ that while the one earth » Nee utique.
2 Communicare.
3 We have construed Oehler's reading: " Quanto non corapa- ret" (i.e., by a frequent ellipse of Tertullian, quanto magis non comparet "). Fr. Junius, however, suspects that instead of " quanto " we should read " quando:" this would produce the sense, " since it is not apparent to what object it may be ascribed," etc.
4 Nominatam.
5 Cognominatam.
7 Quae cui nomen terrae accoramodare debeat. This is literally a double question, asking about the fitness of the name, and to which earth it is best adapted.
was indeed "without form, and void," this one of ours obtained from God in an equal degree' both form, and beauty, and sym- metry; and therefore that the earth which was created was a different thing from that out of which it was created. Now, hav- ing become a different thing, it could not possibly have shared with the other in its name, after it had declined from its con- dition. If earth was the proper name of the (original) Matter, this world of ours, which is not Matter, because it has become another thing, is unfit to bear the name of earth, seeing that that name belongs to some- thing else, and is a stranger to its nature. But (you will tell me) Matter which has under- gone creation, that is, our earth, had with its original a community of name no less than of kind. By no means. For although the pitcher is formed out of the clay, I shall no longer call it clay, but a pitcher; so likewise, although electriun '° is compounded of gold and silver, I shall yet not call it either gold or silver, but electrum. When there is a de- parture from the nature of any thing, there is likewise a relinquishment of its name — with a propriety which is alike demanded by the designation and the condition. How great a change indeed from the condition of that earth, which is Matter, has come over this earth of ours, is plain even from the fact that the latter has received this testimony to its goodness in Genesis, "And God saw that it was good; " " while the former, according to Hermogenes, is regarded as the origin and cause of all evils. Lastly, if the one is Earth because the other is, why also is the one not Matter as the other is? Indeed, by this rule both the heaven and all creatures ought to have had the names of Earth and Matter, since they all consist of Matter. I have said enough touching the designation Earth, by which he will have it that Matter is under- stood. This, as everybody knows, is the name of one of the elements; for so we are taught by nature first, and afterwards by Scrip- ture, except it be that credence must be given to that Silenus who talked so confidently in the presence of king Midas of another world', according to the account of Theopompus. But the same author informs us that there are also several gods.
CHAP. XXVI. — THE METHOD OBSERVED IN THE HISTORY OF THE CREATION, IN REPLY TO THE PERVERSE INTERPRETATION OF HERMOGENES.
We, however, have but one God, and but 8 He means those who have gone wrong on the eternity of matter.
9 Proinde.
'oA mixed metal, of the colour of amber.
AGAINST HERMOGENES.
[CHAI*. XWIIL one earth too, which in the beginning God made.' The Scripture, which at its very out- set proposes to run through the order thereof, tells us as its first information that it was created; it next proceeds to set forth what sort of earth it was."" In like manner with respect to the heaven, it informs us first of its crea- tion— " In the beginning God made the heaven: "3 it then goes on to introduce its arrangement; how that God both separated "the water which was below the firmament from that which was above the firmament," * and called the firmament heaven, = — the very thing He had created in the beginning. Similarly it (aftenvards) treats of man: "And God created man, in the image of God made He him."* It next reveals how He made him: "And (the Lord) God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul."' Now this is undoubtedly* the correct and fitting mode for the narrative. First comes a prefatory statement, then fol- low the details in full;^ first the subject is named, then it is described.'" How absurd is the other view of the account," when even before he '- had premised any mention of his subject. I.e. Matter, without even giving us its name, he all on a sudden promulged its form and condition, describing to us its qual- ity before mentioning its existence, — pointing out the figure of the thing formed, /'ut con- cealing its name! But how much more credi- ble is our opinion, which holds that Scripture has only subjoined the arrangement of the subject after it has first duly described its formation and mentioned its name! Indeed, how full and complete '^ is the meaning of these words: " In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth; but '"the earth was without form, and void," '5 — the very same earth, no doubt, which God made, and of which the Scripture had been speaking at that very moment."^ For that very "/^///"'^ is inserted into the narrative like a clasp, '^ (in its function) of a conjunctive particle, to ' Qualitatem ejus: unless this means " /ww He made it," like tht^ " qualiter fecerit " below.
8 Utique.
9 Prosequi.
'o Primo praefari, postea prosequi; nominare, deinde describere. This properly is a.n abstract statement, given with Tertullian's usual terseness: " First you.should (' decet ') give your preface, then follow up with details: first name your subject, then describe it."
" Alioquin.
•= Hermogenes, whose view of the narrative is criticised.
'3 Integer.
MAutcm.
'6 Cum maxime edixerat.
Jy 1 lie " autem" of the note just before this. Fibula.
connect the tnvo sentences indissolubly together: ""But the earth." This word carries back the mind to that earth of which mention had just been made, and binds the sense there- unto.'? Take away this "but," and the tie is loosened; so much so that the passage, " But the earth was without form, and void," may then seem to have been meant for any other earth.
CHAP. XXVII. — SOME HAIR-SPLITTING USE OF WORDS IN WHICH HIS OPPONENT HAD IN- DULGED.
But you next praise your eyebrows, and toss back your head, and beckon with your finger, in characteristic disdain, =° and say: There is the was, looking as if it pointed to an eternal existence, — making its subject, of course, unbegotten and unmade, and on that account worthy of being supposed to be Matter. Well now, for my own part, I shall resort to no affected protestation, =' but simply reply that " was " may be predicated of every- thing— even of a thing which has been created, which was born, which once was not, and which is not jw//- Matter. For of everything which has being, from whatever source it has it, whether it has it by a beginning or without a beginning, the word " 7£jas " will be predicated from the very fact that it exists. To whatever thing the first tense ^ of the verb is applicable for defi7iition, to the same will be suitable the later form ^^ of the verb, when it has to descend to relation. " Est " (it is) forms the essential part =■* of a definition, " erat " (it was) of a relation. Such are the trifles and subtleties of heretics, who wrest and bring into question the simple meaning of the commonest words. A grand question it is, to be sure,-^ whether "the earth was," which was made! The real point of discussion is, whether " being without form, and void," is a state which is more suitable to that which was created, or to that of which it was created, so that the predicate (jaas) may ap- pertain to the same thing to which the subject [that zvhich was^ also belongs."^ CHAP..XXVIII. — A CURIOUS INCONSISTENCV IN HERMOGENES EXPOSED. CERTAIN EXPRES- SIONS IN THE HISTORY OF CREATION VINDI- CATED IN THE TRUE SENSE.
But we shall show not only that this condi- tion -7 agreed with this earth of ours, but that '9 Alligat sensuin. =" Implied in the iinphatic tii. ^' Sine u lo lenocinio pronunciation is.
"Prima positio: the first inficcliun perhaps, i. c. the present tense.
-3 Declinatio: the past tense.
24 Caput.
25 Scilicet.
=* This seems to be the meaning of tiie obscure passage, " Ut ejusdem sit Urat cujus et quod erat. 27 Habitual.
ClIAP. XXIX.]
AGAINST HERMOGENES.
it did not agree with that other (insisted on by Hermogenes). For, inasmuch as pure ^Iattcr was thus subsistent with God,' with- out the interposition indeed of any element at all (because as yet there existed nothing but itself and God), it could not of course have been invisible. Because, although Hcn/iog- cncs contends that darkness was inherent in the substance of Matter, a position which we shall have to meet in its proper place,' yet darkness is visible even to a human being (for the very fact that there is the darkness is an evident one), much more is it so to God. If indeed it ' had been invisible, its quality would not have been by any means discovera- ble. How, then, did Hermogenes find out" that that substance was "without form," and confused and disordered, which, as being in- visible, was not palpable to his senses? If this mystery was revealed to him by God, he ought to give us his proof. I want to know also, whether (the substance in question) could have been described as "void." That certainly is "void" which is imperfect. Equally certain is it, that nothing can be im- perfect but that which is made; it is imperfect when it is not fully made.^ Certainly, you admit. Matter, therefore, which was not made at all, could not have been imperfect; and what was not imperfect was not "void." Having no beginning, because it was not made, it was also unsusceptible of any void-condi- tion.* For this void-condition is an accident of beginning. The earth, on the contrary, which was made, was deservedly called " void." For as soon as it was made, it had the condition of being imperfect, previous to its completion.