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Ante-Nicene Fathers

Preface
Introductory Notice
Introductory Note to the First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians
Chapter I.—The salutation. Praise of the Corinthians before the breaking forth of schism among them.
Chapter II.—Praise of the Corinthians continued.
Chapter III.—The sad state of the Corinthian church after sedition arose in it from envy and emulation.
Chapter IV.—Many evils have already flowed from this source in ancient times.
1 Chapter V.—No less evils have arisen from the same source in the most recent times. The martyrdom of Peter and Paul.
Chapter VI.—Continuation. Several other martyrs.
Chapter VII.—An exhortation to repentance.
Chapter VIII.—Continuation respecting repentance.
Chapter IX.—Examples of the saints.
Chapter X.—Continuation of the above.
Chapter XI.—Continuation. Lot.
Chapter XII.—The rewards of faith and hospitality. Rahab.
Chapter XIII.—An exhortation to humility.
Chapter XIV.—We should obey God rather than the authors of sedition.
Chapter XV.—We must adhere to those who cultivate peace, not to those who merely pretend to do so.
Chapter XVI.—Christ as an example of humility.
Chapter XVII.—The saints as examples of humility.
Chapter XVIII.—David as an example of humility.
Chapter XIX.—Imitating these examples, let us seek after peace.
Chapter XX.—The peace and harmony of the universe.
Chapter XXI.—Let us obey God, and not the authors of sedition.
Chapter XXII.—These exhortations are confirmed by the Christian faith, which proclaims the misery of sinful conduct.
Chapter XXIII.—Be humble, and believe that Christ will come again.
Chapter XXIV.—God continually shows us in nature that there will be a resurrection.
Chapter XXV.—The phœnix an emblem of our resurrection.
Chapter XXVI.—We shall rise again, then, as the Scripture also testifies.
1 Chapter XXVII.—In the hope of the resurrection, let us cleave to the omnipotent and omniscient God.
Chapter XXVIII.—God sees all things: therefore let us avoid transgression.
Chapter XXIX.—Let us also draw near to God in purity of heart.
Chapter XXX.—Let us do those things that please God, and flee from those He hates, that we may be blessed.
Chapter XXXI.—Let us see by what means we may obtain the divine blessing.
Chapter XXXII.—We are justified not by our own works, but by faith.
Chapter XXXIII.—But let us not give up the practice of good works and love. God Himself is an example to us of good works.
Chapter XXXIV.—Great is the reward of good works with God. Joined together in harmony, let us implore that reward from Him.
Chapter XXXV.—Immense is this reward. How shall we obtain it?
Chapter XXXVI.—All blessings are given to us through Christ.
Chapter XXXVII.—Christ is our leader, and we His soldiers.
Chapter XXXVIII.—Let the members of the Church submit themselves, and no one exalt himself above another.
Chapter XXXIX.—There is no reason for self-conceit.
Chapter XL.—Let us preserve in the Church the order appointed by God.
Chapter XLI.—Continuation of the same subject.
Chapter XLII.—The order of ministers in the Church.
Chapter XLIII.—Moses of old stilled the contention which arose concerning the priestly dignity.
Chapter XLIV.—The ordinances of the apostles, that there might be no contention respecting the priestly office.
Chapter XLV.—It is the part of the wicked to vex the righteous.
Chapter XLVI.—Let us cleave to the righteous: your strife is pernicious.
Chapter XLVII.—Your recent discord is worse than the former which took place in the times of Paul.
Chapter XLVIII.—Let us return to the practice of brotherly love.
Chapter XLIX.—The praise of love.
Chapter L.—Let us pray to be thought worthy of love.
Chapter LI.—Let the partakers in strife acknowledge their sins.
Chapter LII.—Such a confession is pleasing to God.
Chapter LIII.—The love of Moses towards his people.
Chapter LIV.—He who is full of love will incur every loss, that peace may be restored to the Church.
Chapter LV.—Examples of such love.
Chapter LVI.—Let us admonish and correct one another.
Chapter LVII.—Let the authors of sedition submit themselves.
Chapter LVIII.—Blessings sought for all that call upon God.
Chapter LIX.—The Corinthians are exhorted speedily to send back word that peace has been restored. The benediction.
Introductory Note to the Epistles of Ignatius
Introductory Note to the Syriac Version of the Ignatian Epistles
Introductory Note to the Spurious Epistles of Ignatius
Introductory Note to the Writings of Justin Martyr
1 Chapter I.—Address.
1 Chapter II.—Justice demanded.
Chapter III.—Claim of judicial investigation.
Chapter IV.—Christians unjustly condemned for their mere name.
Chapter V.—Christians charged with atheism.
Chapter VI.—Charge of atheism refuted.
Chapter VII.—Each Christian must be tried by his own life.
Chapter VIII.—Christians confess their faith in God.
Chapter IX.—Folly of idol worship.
Chapter X.—How God is to be served.
Chapter XI.—What kingdom Christians look for.
Chapter XII.—Christians live as under God’s eye.
Chapter XIII.—Christians serve God rationally.
Chapter XIV.—The demons misrepresent Christian doctrine.
Chapter XV.—What Christ himself taught.
Chapter XVI.—Concerning patience and swearing.
Chapter XVII.—Christ taught civil obedience.
Chapter XVIII.—Proof of immortality and the resurrection.
Chapter XIX.—The resurrection possible.
Chapter XX.—Heathen analogies to Christian doctrine.
Chapter XXI.—Analogies to the history of Christ.
Chapter XXII.—Analogies to the sonship of Christ.
Chapter XXIII.—The argument.
Chapter XXIV.—Varieties of heathen worship.
Chapter XXV.—False Gods abandoned by Christians.
Chapter XXVI.—Magicians not trusted by Christians.
Chapter XXVII.—Guilt of exposing children.
Chapter XXVIII.—God’s care for men.
Chapter XXIX.—Continence of Christians.
Chapter XXX.—Was Christ not a magician?
Chapter XXXI.—Of the Hebrew prophets.
Chapter XXXII.—Christ predicted by Moses.
Chapter XXXIII.—Manner of Christ’s birth predicted.
Chapter XXXIV.—Place of Christ’s birth foretold.
Chapter XXXV.—Other fulfilled prophecies.
Chapter XXXVI.—Different modes of prophecy.
Chapter XXXVII.—Utterances of the Father.
Chapter XXXVIII.—Utterances of the Son.
Chapter XXXIX.—Direct predictions by the Spirit.
Chapter XL.—Christ’s advent foretold.
Chapter XLI.—The crucifixion predicted.
Chapter XLII.—Prophecy using the past tense.
Chapter XLIII.—Responsibility asserted.
Chapter XLIV.—Not nullified by prophecy.
Chapter XLV.—Christ’s session in heaven foretold.
Chapter XLVI.—The Word in the world before Christ.
Chapter XLVII.—Desolation of Judæa foretold.
Chapter XLVIII.—Christ’s work and death foretold.
Chapter XLIX.—His rejection by the Jews foretold.
Chapter L.—His humiliation predicted.
Chapter LI.—The majesty of Christ.
Chapter LII.—Certain fulfilment of prophecy.
Chapter LIII.—Summary of the prophecies.
Chapter LIV.—Origin of heathen mythology.
Chapter LV.—Symbols of the cross.
Chapter LVI.—The demons still mislead men.
Chapter LVII.—And cause persecution.
Chapter LVIII.—And raise up heretics.
Chapter LIX.—Plato’s obligation to Moses.
Chapter LX.—Plato’s doctrine of the cross.
Chapter LXI.—Christian baptism.
Chapter LXII.—Its imitation by demons.
Chapter LXIII.—How God appeared to Moses.
Chapter LXIV.—Further misrepresentations of the truth.
Chapter LXV.—Administration of the sacraments.
Chapter LXVI.—Of the Eucharist.
Chapter LXVII.—Weekly worship of the Christians.
Chapter LXVIII.—Conclusion.
Chapter I.—Introduction.
Chapter II.—Justin describes his studies in philosophy.
Chapter III.—Justin narrates the manner of his conversion.
Chapter IV.—The soul of itself cannot see God.
Chapter V.—The soul is not in its own nature immortal.
Chapter VI.—These things were unknown to Plato and other philosophers.
Chapter VII.—The knowledge of truth to be sought from the prophets alone.
Chapter VIII.—Justin by his colloquy is kindled with love to Christ.
Chapter IX.—The Christians have not believed groundless stories.
Chapter X.—Trypho blames the Christians for this alone—the non-observance of the law.
Chapter XI.—The law abrogated; the New Testament promised and given by God.
Chapter XII.—The Jews violate the eternal law, and interpret ill that of Moses.
Chapter XIII.—Isaiah teaches that sins are forgiven through Christ’s blood.
Chapter XIV.—Righteousness is not placed in Jewish rites, but in the conversion of the heart given in baptism by Christ.
Chapter XV.—In what the true fasting consists.
Chapter XVI.—Circumcision given as a sign, that the Jews might be driven away for their evil deeds done to Christ and the Christians.
Chapter XVII.—The Jews sent persons through the whole earth to spread calumnies on Christians.
Chapter XVIII.—Christians would observe the law, if they did not know why it was instituted.
Chapter XIX.—Circumcision unknown before Abraham. The law was given by Moses on account of the hardness of their hearts.
Chapter XX.—Why choice of meats was prescribed.
Chapter XXI.—Sabbaths were instituted on account of the people’s sins, and not for a work of righteousness.
Chapter XXII.—So also were sacrifices and oblations.
Chapter XXIII.—The opinion of the Jews regarding the law does an injury to God.
Chapter XXIV.—The Christians’ circumcision far more excellent.
Chapter XXV.—The Jews boast in vain that they are sons of Abraham.
Chapter XXVI.—No salvation to the Jews except through Christ.
Chapter XXVII.—Why God taught the same things by the prophets as by Moses.
Chapter XXVIII.—True righteousness is obtained by Christ.
Chapter XXIX.—Christ is useless to those who observe the law.
Chapter XXX.—Christians possess the true righteousness.
Chapter XXXI.—If Christ’s power be now so great, how much greater at the second advent!
Chapter XXXII.—Trypho objecting that Christ is described as glorious by Daniel, Justin distinguishes two advents.
Chapter XXXIII.—Ps. cx. is not spoken of Hezekiah. He proves that Christ was first humble, then shall be glorious.
Chapter XXXIV.—Nor does Ps. lxxii. apply to Solomon, whose faults Christians shudder at.
Chapter XXXV.—Heretics confirm the Catholics in the faith.
Chapter XXXVI.—He proves that Christ is called Lord of Hosts.
Chapter XXXVII.—The same is proved from other Psalms.
Chapter XXXVIII.—It is an annoyance to the Jew that Christ is said to be adored. Justin confirms it, however, from Ps. xlv.
Chapter XXXIX.—The Jews hate the Christians who believe this. How great the distinction is between both!
Chapter XL.—He returns to the Mosaic laws, and proves that they were figures of the things which pertain to Christ.
Chapter XLI.—The oblation of fine flour was a figure of the Eucharist.
Chapter XLII.—The bells on the priest’s robe were a figure of the apostles.
Chapter XLIII.—He concludes that the law had an end in Christ, who was born of the Virgin.
Chapter XLIV.—The Jews in vain promise themselves salvation, which cannot be obtained except through Christ.
Chapter XLV.—Those who were righteous before and under the law shall be saved by Christ.
Chapter XLVI.—Trypho asks whether a man who keeps the law even now will be saved. Justin proves that it contributes nothing to righteousness.
Chapter XLVII.—Justin communicates with Christians who observe the law. Not a few Catholics do otherwise.
Chapter XLVIII.—Before the divinity of Christ is proved, he [Trypho] demands that it be settled that He is Christ.
Chapter XLIX.—To those who object that Elijah has not yet come, he replies that he is the precursor of the first advent.
Chapter L.—It is proved from Isaiah that John is the precursor of Christ.
Chapter LI.—It is proved that this prophecy has been fulfilled.
Chapter LII.—Jacob predicted two advents of Christ.
Chapter LIII.—Jacob predicted that Christ would ride on an ass, and Zechariah confirms it.
Chapter LIV.—What the blood of the grape signifies.
Chapter LV.—Trypho asks that Christ be proved God, but without metaphor. Justin promises to do so.
Chapter LVI.—God who appeared to Moses is distinguished from God the Father.
Chapter LVII.—The Jew objects, why is He said to have eaten, if He be God? Answer of Justin.
Chapter LVIII.—The same is proved from the visions which appeared to Jacob.
Chapter LIX.—God distinct from the Father conversed with Moses.
Chapter LX.—Opinions of the Jews with regard to Him who appeared in the bush.
Chapter LXI—Wisdom is begotten of the Father, as fire from fire.
Chapter LXII.—The words “Let Us make man” agree with the testimony of Proverbs.
Chapter LXIII.—It is proved that this God was incarnate.
Chapter LXIV.—Justin adduces other proofs to the Jew, who denies that he needs this Christ.
Chapter LXV.—The Jew objects that God does not give His glory to another. Justin explains the passage.
Chapter LXVI.—He proves from Isaiah that God was born from a virgin.
Chapter LXVII.—Trypho compares Jesus with Perseus; and would prefer [to say] that He was elected [to be Christ] on account of observance of the law. Justin speaks of the law as formerly.
Chapter LXVIII.—He complains of the obstinacy of Trypho; he answers his objection; he convicts the Jews of bad faith.
Chapter LXIX.—The devil, since he emulates the truth, has invented fables about Bacchus, Hercules, and Æsculapius.
Chapter LXX.—So also the mysteries of Mithras are distorted from the prophecies of Daniel and Isaiah.
Chapter LXXI.—The Jews reject the interpretation of the LXX., from which, moreover, they have taken away some passages.
Chapter LXXII.—Passages have been removed by the Jews from Esdras and Jeremiah.
Chapter LXXIII.—[The words] “From the wood” have been cut out of Ps. xcvi.
Chapter LXXIV.—The beginning of Ps. xcvi. is attributed to the Father [by Trypho]. But [it refers] to Christ by these words: “Tell ye among the nations that the Lord,” etc.
Chapter LXXV.—It is proved that Jesus was the name of God in the book of Exodus.
Chapter LXXVI.—From other passages the same majesty and government of Christ are proved.
Chapter LXXVII.—He returns to explain the prophecy of Isaiah.
Chapter LXXVIII.—He proves that this prophecy harmonizes with Christ alone, from what is afterwards written.
Chapter LXXIX.—He proves against Trypho that the wicked angels have revolted from God.
1 Chapter LXXX.—The opinion of Justin with regard to the reign of a thousand years. Several Catholics reject it.
Chapter LXXXI.—He endeavours to prove this opinion from Isaiah and the Apocalypse.
Chapter LXXXII.—The prophetical gifts of the Jews were transferred to the Christians.
Chapter LXXXIII.—It is proved that the Psalm, “The Lord said to My Lord,” etc., does not suit Hezekiah.
Chapter LXXXIV.—That prophecy, “Behold, a virgin,” etc., suits Christ alone.
Chapter LXXXV.—He proves that Christ is the Lord of Hosts from Ps. xxiv., and from his authority over demons.
Chapter LXXXVI.—There are various figures in the Old Testament of the wood of the cross by which Christ reigned.
Chapter LXXXVII.—Trypho maintains in objection these words: “And shall rest on Him,” etc. They are explained by Justin.
Chapter LXXXVIII.—Christ has not received the Holy Spirit on account of poverty.
Chapter LXXXIX.—The cross alone is offensive to Trypho on account of the curse, yet it proves that Jesus is Christ.
Chapter XC.—The stretched-out hands of Moses signified beforehand the cross.
Chapter XCI.—The cross was foretold in the blessings of Joseph, and in the serpent that was lifted up.
Chapter XCII.—Unless the scriptures be understood through God’s great grace, God will not appear to have taught always the same righteousness.
Chapter XCIII.—The same kind of righteousness is bestowed on all. Christ comprehends it in two precepts.
Chapter XCIV.—In what sense he who hangs on a tree is cursed.
Chapter XCV.—Christ took upon Himself the curse due to us.
Chapter XCVI.—That curse was a prediction of the things which the Jews would do.
Chapter XCVII.—Other predictions of the cross of Christ.
Chapter XCVIII.—Predictions of Christ in Ps. xxii.
Chapter XCIX.—In the commencement of the Psalm are Christ’s dying words.
Chapter C.—In what sense Christ is [called] Jacob, and Israel, and Son of Man.
Chapter CI.—Christ refers all things to the Father
Chapter CII.—The prediction of the events which happened to Christ when He was born. Why God permitted it.
Chapter CIII.—The Pharisees are the bulls: the roaring lion is Herod or the devil.
Chapter CIV.—Circumstances of Christ’s death are predicted in this Psalm.
Chapter CV.—The Psalm also predicts the crucifixion and the subject of the last prayers of Christ on Earth.
Chapter CVI.—Christ’s resurrection is foretold in the conclusion of the Psalm.
Chapter CVII.—The same is taught from the history of Jonah.
Chapter CVIII.—The resurrection of Christ did not convert the Jews. But through the whole world they have sent men to accuse Christ.
Chapter CIX.—The conversion of the Gentiles has been predicted by Micah.
Chapter CX.—A portion of the prophecy already fulfilled in the Christians: the rest shall be fulfilled at the second advent.
Chapter CXI.—The two advents were signified by the two goats. Other figures of the first advent, in which the Gentiles are freed by the blood of Christ.
Chapter CXII.—The Jews expound these signs jejunely and feebly, and take up their attention only with insignificant matters.
Chapter CXIII.—Joshua was a figure of Christ.
Chapter CXIV.—Some rules for discerning what is said about Christ. The circumcision of the Jews is very different from that which Christians receive.
Chapter CXV.—Prediction about the Christians in Zechariah. The malignant way which the Jews have in disputations.
Chapter CXVI.—It is shown how this prophecy suits the Christians.
Chapter CXVII.—Malachi’s prophecy concerning the sacrifices of the Christians. It cannot be taken as referring to the prayers of Jews of the dispersion.
Chapter CXVIII.—He exhorts to repentance before Christ comes; in whom Christians, since they believe, are far more religious than Jews.
Chapter CXIX.—Christians are the holy people promised to Abraham. They have been called like Abraham.
Chapter CXX.—Christians were promised to Isaac, Jacob, and Judah.
Chapter CXXI.—From the fact that the Gentiles believe in Jesus, it is evident that He is Christ.
Chapter CXXII.—The Jews understand this of the proselytes without reason.
Chapter CXXIII.—Ridiculous interpretations of the Jews. Christians are the true Israel.
Chapter CXXIV.—Christians are the sons of God.
Chapter CXXV.—He explains what force the word Israel has, and how it suits Christ.
Chapter CXXVI.—The various names of Christ according to both natures. It is shown that He is God, and appeared to the patriarchs.
Chapter CXXVII.—These passages of Scripture do not apply to the Father, but to the Word.
Chapter CXXVIII.—The Word is sent not as an inanimate power, but as a person begotten of the Father’s substance.
Chapter CXXIX.—That is confirmed from other passages of Scripture.
Chapter CXXX.—He returns to the conversion of the Gentiles, and shows that it was foretold.
Chapter CXXXI.—How much more faithful to God the Gentiles are who are converted to Christ than the Jews.
Chapter CXXXII.—How great the power was of the name of Jesus in the Old Testament.
Chapter CXXXIII.—The hard-heartedness of the Jews, for whom the Christians pray.
Chapter CXXXIV.—The marriages of Jacob are a figure of the Church.
Chapter CXXXV.—Christ is king of Israel, and Christians are the Israelitic race.
Chapter CXXXVI.—The Jews, in rejecting Christ, rejected God who sent him.
Chapter CXXXVII.—He exhorts the Jews to be converted.
Chapter CXXXVIII.—Noah is a figure of Christ, who has regenerated us by water, and faith, and wood: [i.e., the cross.]
Chapter CXXXIX.—The blessings, and also the curse, pronounced by Noah were prophecies of the future.
Chapter CXL.—In Christ all are free. The Jews hope for salvation in vain because they are sons of Abraham.
Chapter CXLI.—Free-will in men and angels.
Chapter CXLII.—The Jews return thanks, and leave Justin.
Chapter I.—Reasons for addressing the Greeks.
Chapter II—The poets are unfit to be religious teachers.
Chapter III.—Opinions of the school of Thales.
Chapter IV.—Opinions of Pythagoras and Epicurus.
Chapter V.—Opinions of Plato and Aristotle.
Chapter VI.—Further disagreements between Plato and Aristotle.
Chapter VII.—Inconsistencies of Plato’s doctrine.
Chapter VIII.—Antiquity, inspiration, and harmony of Christian teachers.
Chapter IX.—The antiquity of Moses proved by Greek writers.
Chapter X—Training and inspiration of Moses.
Chapter XI.—Heathen oracles testify of Moses.
Chapter XII.—Antiquity of Moses proved.
Chapter XIII.—History of the Septuagint.
Chapter XIV.—A warning appeal to the Greeks.
Chapter XV.—Testimony of Orpheus to monotheism.
Chapter XVI.—Testimony of the Sibyl.
Chapter XVII.—Testimony of Homer.
Chapter XVIII.—Testimony of Sophocles.
Chapter XIX.—Testimony of Pythagoras.
Chapter XX.—Testimony of Plato.
Chapter XXI.—The namelessness of God.
Chapter XXII.—Studied ambiguity of Plato.
Chapter XXIII.—Plato’s self-contradiction.
Chapter XXIV.—Agreement of Plato and Homer.
Chapter XXV.—Plato’s knowledge of God’s eternity.
Chapter XXVI.—Plato indebted to the prophets.
Chapter XXVII.—Plato’s knowledge of the judgment.
Chapter XXVIII.—Homer’s obligations to the sacred writers.
Chapter XXIX.—Origin of Plato’s doctrine of form.
Chapter XXX.—Homer’s knowledge of man’s origin.
Chapter XXXI.—Further proof of Plato’s acquaintance with Scripture.
Chapter XXXII.—Plato’s doctrine of the heavenly gift.
Chapter XXXIII.—Plato’s idea of the beginning of time drawn from Moses.
Chapter XXXIV.—Whence men attributed to God human form.
Chapter XXXV.—Appeal to the Greeks.
Chapter XXXVI.—True knowledge not held by the philosophers.
Chapter XXXVII.—Of the Sibyl.
Chapter XXXVIII.—Concluding appeal.
Introductory Note to Irenæus Against Heresies
Preface.
Chapter I.—Absurd ideas of the disciples of Valentinus as to the origin, name, order, and conjugal productions of their fancied Æons, with the passages of Scripture which they adapt to their opinions.
Chapter II.—The Propator was known to Monogenes alone. Ambition, disturbance, and danger into which Sophia fell; her shapeless offspring: she is restored by Horos. The production of Christ and of the Holy Spirit, in order to the completion of the Æons. Manner of the production of Jesus.
Chapter III.—Texts of Holy Scripture used by these heretics to support their opinions.
Chapter IV.—Account given by the heretics of the formation of Achamoth; origin of the visible world from her disturbances.
Chapter V.—Formation of the Demiurge; description of him. He is the creator of everything outside of the Pleroma.
Chapter VI.—The threefold kind of man feigned by these heretics: good works needless for them, though necessary to others: their abandoned morals.
Chapter VII.—The mother Achamoth, when all her seed are perfected, shall pass into the Pleroma, accompanied by those men who are spiritual; the Demiurge, with animal men, shall pass into the intermediate habitation; but all material men shall go into corruption. Their blasphemous opinions against the true incarnation of Christ by the Virgin Mary. Their views as to the prophecies. Stupid ignorance of the Demiurge.
Chapter VIII.—How the Valentinians pervert the Scriptures to support their own pious opinions.
Chapter IX.—Refutation of the impious interpretations of these heretics.
Chapter X.—Unity of the faith of the Church throughout the whole world.
Chapter XI.—The opinions of Valentinus, with those of his disciples and others.
Chapter XII.—The doctrines of the followers of Ptolemy and Colorbasus.
Chapter XIII.—The deceitful arts and nefarious practices of Marcus.
Chapter XIV.—The various hypotheses of Marcus and others. Theories respecting letters and syllables.
Chapter XV.—Sige relates to Marcus the generation of the twenty-four elements and of Jesus. Exposure of these absurdities.
Chapter XVI.—Absurd interpretations of the Marcosians.
Chapter XVII.—The theory of the Marcosians, that created things were made after the image of things invisible.
Chapter XVIII.—Passages from Moses, which the heretics pervert to the support of their hypothesis.
Chapter XIX.—Passages of Scripture by which they attempt to prove that the Supreme Father was unknown before the coming of Christ.
Chapter XX.—The apocryphal and spurious Scriptures of the Marcosians, with passages of the Gospels which they pervert.
Chapter XXI.—The views of redemption entertained by these heretics.
Chapter XXII.—Deviations of heretics from the truth.
Chapter XXIII.—Doctrines and practices of Simon Magus and Menander.
Chapter XXIV.—Doctrines of Saturninus and Basilides.
Chapter XXV.—Doctrines of Carpocrates.
Chapter XXVI.—Doctrines of Cerinthus, the Ebionites, and Nicolaitanes.
Chapter XXVII.—Doctrines of Cerdo and Marcion.
Chapter XXVIII.—Doctrines of Tatian, the Encratites, and others.
Chapter XXIX.—Doctrines of various other Gnostic sects, and especially of the Barbeliotes or Borborians.
Chapter XXX.—Doctrines of the Ophites and Sethians.
Chapter XXXI.—Doctrines of the Cainites.
Preface.
Chapter I.—There is but one God: the impossibility of its being otherwise.
Chapter II.—The world was not formed by angels, or by any other being, contrary to the will of the most high God, but was made by the Father through the Word.
Chapter III.—The Bythus and Pleroma of the Valentinians, as well as the God of Marcion, shown to be absurd; the world was actually created by the same Being who had conceived the idea of it, and was not the fruit of defect or ignorance.
Chapter IV.—The absurdity of the supposed vacuum and defect of the heretics is demonstrated.
Chapter V.—This world was not formed by any other beings within the territory which is contained by the Father.
Chapter VI.—The angels and the Creator of the world could not have been ignorant of the Supreme God.
Chapter VII.—Created things are not the images of those Æons who are within the Pleroma.
Chapter VIII.—Created things are not a shadow of the Pleroma.
Chapter IX.—There is but one Creator of the world, God the Father: this the constant belief of the Church.
Chapter X.—Perverse interpretations of Scripture by the heretics: God created all things out of nothing, and not from pre-existent matter.
Chapter XI.—The heretics, from their disbelief of the truth, have fallen into an abyss of error: reasons for investigating their systems.
Chapter XII.—The Triacontad of the heretics errs both by defect and excess: Sophia could never have produced anything apart from her consort; Logos and Sige could not have been contemporaries.
Chapter XIII.—The first order of production maintained by the heretics is altogether indefensible.
Chapter XIV.—Valentinus and his followers derived the principles of their system from the heathen; the names only are changed.
Chapter XV.—No account can be given of these productions.
Chapter XVI.—The Creator of the world either produced of Himself the images of things to be made, or the Pleroma was formed after the image of some previous system; and so on ad infinitum.
Chapter XVII.—Inquiry into the production of the Æons: whatever its supposed nature, it is in every respect inconsistent; and on the hypothesis of the heretics, even Nous and the Father Himself would be stained with ignorance.
Chapter XVIII.—Sophia was never really in ignorance or passion; her Enthymesis could not have been separated from herself, or exhibited special tendencies of its own.
Chapter XIX.—Absurdities of the heretics as to their own origin: their opinions respecting the Demiurge shown to be equally untenable and ridiculous.
Chapter XX.—Futility of the arguments adduced to demonstrate the sufferings of the twelfth Æon, from the parables, the treachery of Judas, and the passion of our Saviour.
Chapter XXI.—The twelve apostles were not a type of the Æons.
Chapter XXII.—The thirty Æons are not typified by the fact that Christ was baptized in His thirtieth year: He did not suffer in the twelfth month after His baptism, but was more than fifty years old when He died.
Chapter XXIII.—The woman who suffered from an issue of blood was no type of the suffering Æon.
Chapter XXIV.—Folly of the arguments derived by the heretics from numbers, letters, and syllables.
Chapter XXV.—God is not to be sought after by means of letters, syllables, and numbers; necessity of humility in such investigations.
Chapter XXVI.—“Knowledge puffeth up, but love edifieth.”
Chapter XXVII.—Proper mode of interpreting parables and obscure passages of Scripture.
Chapter XXVIII.—Perfect knowledge cannot be attained in the present life: many questions must be submissively left in the hands of God.
Chapter XXIX.—Refutation of the views of the heretics as to the future destiny of the soul and body.
Chapter XXX.—Absurdity of their styling themselves spiritual, while the Demiurge is declared to be animal.
Chapter XXXI.—Recapitulation and application of the foregoing arguments.
Chapter XXXII.—Further exposure of the wicked and blasphemous doctrines of the heretics.
Chapter XXXIII.—Absurdity of the doctrine of the transmigration of souls.
Chapter XXXIV.—Souls can be recognised in the separate state, and are immortal although they once had a beginning.
Chapter XXXV.—Refutation of Basilides, and of the opinion that the prophets uttered their predictions under the inspiration of different gods.
Preface.
Chapter I.—The apostles did not commence to preach the Gospel, or to place anything on record until they were endowed with the gifts and power of the Holy Spirit. They preached one God alone, Maker of heaven and earth.
Chapter II.—The heretics follow neither Scripture nor tradition.
Chapter III.—A refutation of the heretics, from the fact that, in the various Churches, a perpetual succession of bishops was kept up.
Chapter IV.—The truth is to be found nowhere else but in the Catholic Church, the sole depository of apostolical doctrine. Heresies are of recent formation, and cannot trace their origin up to the apostles.
Chapter V.—Christ and His apostles, without any fraud, deception, or hypocrisy, preached that one God, the Father, was the founder of all things. They did not accommodate their doctrine to the prepossessions of their hearers.
Chapter VI—The Holy Ghost, throughout the Old Testament Scriptures, made mention of no other God or Lord, save him who is the true God.
Chapter VII.—Reply to an objection founded on the words of St. Paul (2 Cor. iv. 4). St. Paul occasionally uses words not in their grammatical sequence.
Chapter VIII.—Answer to an objection, arising from the words of Christ (Matt. vi. 24). God alone is to be really called God and Lord, for He is without beginning and end.
Chapter IX.—One and the same God, the Creator of heaven and earth, is He whom the prophets foretold, and who was declared by the Gospel. Proof of this, at the outset, from St. Matthew’s Gospel.
Chapter X.—Proofs of the foregoing, drawn from the Gospels of Mark and Luke.
Chapter XI—Proofs in continuation, extracted from St. John’s Gospel. The Gospels are four in number, neither more nor less. Mystic reasons for this.
Chapter XII.—Doctrine of the rest of the apostles.
Chapter XIII—Refutation of the opinion, that Paul was the only apostle who had knowledge of the truth.
Chapter XIV.—If Paul had known any mysteries unrevealed to the other apostles, Luke, his constant companion and fellow-traveller, could not have been ignorant of them; neither could the truth have possibly lain hid from him, through whom alone we learn many and most important particulars of the Gospel history.
Chapter XV.—Refutation of the Ebionites, who disparaged the authority of St. Paul, from the writings of St. Luke, which must be received as a whole. Exposure of the hypocrisy, deceit, and pride of the Gnostics. The apostles and their disciples knew and preached one God, the Creator of the world.
Chapter XVI.—Proofs from the apostolic writings, that Jesus Christ was one and the same, the only begotten Son of God, perfect God and perfect man.
Chapter XVII.—The apostles teach that it was neither Christ nor the Saviour, but the Holy Spirit, who did descend upon Jesus. The reason for this descent.
Chapter XVIII.—Continuation of the foregoing argument. Proofs from the writings of St. Paul, and from the words of Our Lord, that Christ and Jesus cannot be considered as distinct beings; neither can it be alleged that the Son of God became man merely in appearance, but that He did so truly and actually.
Chapter XIX.—Jesus Christ was not a mere man, begotten from Joseph in the ordinary course of nature, but was very God, begotten of the Father most high, and very man, born of the Virgin.
Chapter XX.—God showed himself, by the fall of man, as patient, benign, merciful, mighty to save. Man is therefore most ungrateful, if, unmindful of his own lot, and of the benefits held out to him, he do not acknowledge divine grace.
Chapter XXI.—A vindication of the prophecy in Isa. vii. 14 against the misinterpretations of Theodotion, Aquila, the Ebionites, and the Jews. Authority of the Septuagint version. Arguments in proof that Christ was born of a virgin.
Chapter XXII.—Christ assumed actual flesh, conceived and born of the Virgin.
2 Chapter XXIII.—Arguments in opposition to Tatian, showing that it was consonant to divine justice and mercy that the first Adam should first partake in that salvation offered to all by Christ.
Chapter XXIV.—Recapitulation of the various arguments adduced against Gnostic impiety under all its aspects. The heretics, tossed about by every blast of doctrine, are opposed by the uniform teaching of the Church, which remains so always, and is consistent with itself.
Chapter XXV.—This world is ruled by the providence of one God, who is both endowed with infinite justice to punish the wicked, and with infinite goodness to bless the pious, and impart to them salvation.
Elucidation
Preface.
Chapter I.—The Lord acknowledged but one God and Father.
Chapter II.—Proofs from the plain testimony of Moses, and of the other prophets, whose words are the words of Christ, that there is but one God, the founder of the world, whom Our Lord preached, and whom He called His Father.
Chapter III.—Answer to the cavils of the Gnostics. We are not to suppose that the true God can be changed, or come to an end because the heavens, which are His throne and the earth, His footstool, shall pass away.
Chapter IV.—Answer to another objection, showing that the destruction of Jerusalem, which was the city of the great King, diminished nothing from the supreme majesty and power of God, for that this destruction was put in execution by the most wise counsel of the same God.
Chapter V.—The author returns to his former argument, and shows that there was but one God announced by the law and prophets, whom Christ confesses as His Father, and who, through His word, one living God with Him, made Himself known to men in both covenants.
Chapter VI.—Explanation of the words of Christ, “No man knoweth the Father, but the Son,” etc.; which words the heretics misinterpret. Proof that, by the Father revealing the Son, and by the Son being revealed, the Father was never unknown.
Chapter VII.—Recapitulation of the foregoing argument, showing that Abraham, through the revelation of the Word, knew the Father, and the coming of the Son of God. For this cause, he rejoiced to see the day of Christ, when the promises made to him should be fulfilled. The fruit of this rejoicing has flowed to posterity, viz., to those who are partakers in the faith of Abraham, but not to the Jews who reject the Word of God.
Chapter VIII.—Vain attempts of Marcion and his followers, who exclude Abraham from the salvation bestowed by Christ, who liberated not only Abraham, but the seed of Abraham, by fulfilling and not destroying the law when He healed on the Sabbath-day.
Chapter IX.—There is but one author, and one end to both covenants.
Chapter X.—The Old Testament Scriptures, and those written by Moses in particular, do everywhere make mention of the Son of God, and foretell His advent and passion. From this fact it follows that they were inspired by one and the same God.
Chapter XI.—The old prophets and righteous men knew beforehand of the advent of Christ, and earnestly desired to see and hear Him, He revealing himself in the Scriptures by the Holy Ghost, and without any change in Himself, enriching men day by day with benefits, but conferring them in greater abundance on later than on former generations.
Chapter XII.—It clearly appears that there was but one author of both the old and the new law, from the fact that Christ condemned traditions and customs repugnant to the former, while He confirmed its most important precepts, and taught that He was Himself the end of the Mosaic law.
Chapter XIII.—Christ did not abrogate the natural precepts of the law, but rather fulfilled and extended them. He removed the yoke and bondage of the old law, so that mankind, being now set free, might serve God with that trustful piety which becometh sons.
Chapter XIV.—If God demands obedience from man, if He formed man, called him and placed him under laws, it was merely for man’s welfare; not that God stood in need of man, but that He graciously conferred upon man His favours in every possible manner.
Chapter XV.—At first God deemed it sufficient to inscribe the natural law, or the Decalogue, upon the hearts of men; but afterwards He found it necessary to bridle, with the yoke of the Mosaic law, the desires of the Jews, who were abusing their liberty; and even to add some special commands, because of the hardness of their hearts.
Chapter XVI.—Perfect righteousness was conferred neither by circumcision nor by any other legal ceremonies. The Decalogue, however, was not cancelled by Christ, but is always in force: men were never released from its commandments.
Chapter XVII.—Proof that God did not appoint the Levitical dispensation for His own sake, or as requiring such service; for He does, in fact, need nothing from men.
Chapter XVIII.—Concerning sacrifices and oblations, and those who truly offer them.
Chapter XIX.—Earthly things may be the type of heavenly, but the latter cannot be the types of others still superior and unknown; nor can we, without absolute madness, maintain that God is known to us only as the type of a still unknown and superior being.
Chapter XX.—That one God formed all things in the world, by means of the Word and the Holy Spirit: and that although He is to us in this life invisible and incomprehensible, nevertheless He is not unknown; inasmuch as His works do declare Him, and His Word has shown that in many modes He may be seen and known.
Chapter XXI.—Abraham’s faith was identical with ours; this faith was prefigured by the words and actions of the old patriarchs.
Chapter XXII.—Christ did not come for the sake of the men of one age only, but for all who, living righteously and piously, had believed upon Him; and for those, too, who shall believe.
Chapter XXIII.—The patriarchs and prophets by pointing out the advent of Christ, fortified thereby, as it were, the way of posterity to the faith of Christ; and so the labours of the apostles were lessened inasmuch as they gathered in the fruits of the labours of others.
Chapter XXIV.—The conversion of the Gentiles was more difficult than that of the Jews; the labours of those apostles, therefore who engaged in the former task, were greater than those who undertook the latter.
Chapter XXV.—Both covenants were prefigured in Abraham, and in the labour of Tamar; there was, however, but one and the same God to each covenant.
Chapter XXVI.—The treasure hid in the Scriptures is Christ; the true exposition of the Scriptures is to be found in the Church alone.
Chapter XXVII—The sins of the men of old time, which incurred the displeasure of God, were, by His providence, committed to writing, that we might derive instruction thereby, and not be filled with pride. We must not, therefore, infer that there was another God than He whom Christ preached; we should rather fear, lest the one and the same God who inflicted punishment on the ancients, should bring down heavier upon us.
Chapter XXVIII.—Those persons prove themselves senseless who exaggerate the mercy of Christ, but are silent as to the judgment, and look only at the more abundant grace of the New Testament; but, forgetful of the greater degree of perfection which it demands from us, they endeavour to show that there is another God beyond Him who created the world.
Chapter XXIX.—Refutation of the arguments of the Marcionites, who attempted to show that God was the author of sin, because He blinded Pharaoh and his servants.
Chapter XXX.—Refutation of another argument adduced by the Marcionites, that God directed the Hebrews to spoil the Egyptians.
Chapter XXXI.—We should not hastily impute as crimes to the men of old time those actions which the Scripture has not condemned, but should rather seek in them types of things to come: an example of this in the incest committed by Lot.
Chapter XXXII.—That one God was the author of both Testaments, is confirmed by the authority of a presbyter who had been taught by the apostles.
Chapter XXXIII.—Whosoever confesses that one God is the author of both Testaments, and diligently reads the Scriptures in company with the presbyters of the Church, is a true spiritual disciple; and he will rightly understand and interpret all that the prophets have declared respecting Christ and the liberty of the New Testament.
Chapter XXXIV.—Proof against the Marcionites, that the prophets referred in all their predictions to our Christ.
Chapter XXXV.—A refutation of those who allege that the prophets uttered some predictions under the inspiration of the highest, others from the Demiurge. Disagreements of the Valentinians among themselves with regard to these same predictions.
Chapter XXXVI.—The prophets were sent from one and the same Father from whom the Son was sent.
Chapter XXXVII.—Men are possessed of free will, and endowed with the faculty of making a choice. It is not true, therefore, that some are by nature good, and others bad.
Chapter XXXVIII.—Why man was not made perfect from the beginning.
Chapter XXXIX.—Man is endowed with the faculty of distinguishing good and evil; so that, without compulsion, he has the power, by his own will and choice, to perform God’s commandments, by doing which he avoids the evils prepared for the rebellious.
Chapter XL.—One and the same God the Father inflicts punishment on the reprobate, and bestows rewards on the elect.
Chapter XLI.—Those persons who do not believe in God, but who are disobedient, are angels and sons of the devil, not indeed by nature, but by imitation. Close of this book, and scope of the succeeding one.
Preface.
Chapter I.—Christ alone is able to teach divine things, and to redeem us: He, the same, took flesh of the Virgin Mary, not merely in appearance, but actually, by the operation of the Holy Spirit, in order to renovate us. Strictures on the conceits of Valentinus and Ebion.
Chapter II.—When Christ visited us in His grace, He did not come to what did not belong to Him: also, by shedding His true blood for us, and exhibiting to us His true flesh in the Eucharist, He conferred upon our flesh the capacity of salvation.
Chapter III.—The power and glory of God shine forth in the weakness of human flesh, as He will render our body a participator of the resurrection and of immortality, although He has formed it from the dust of the earth; He will also bestow upon it the enjoyment of immortality, just as He grants it this short life in common with the soul.
Chapter IV.—Those persons are deceived who feign another God the Father besides the Creator of the world; for he must have been feeble and useless, or else malignant and full of envy, if he be either unable or unwilling to extend external life to our bodies.
Chapter V.—The prolonged life of the ancients, the translation of Elijah and of Enoch in their own bodies, as well as the preservation of Jonah, of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, in the midst of extreme peril, are clear demonstrations that God can raise up our bodies to life eternal.
Chapter VI.—God will bestow salvation upon the whole nature of man, consisting of body and soul in close union, since the Word took it upon Him, and adorned with the gifts of the Holy Spirit, of whom our bodies are, and are termed, the temples.
Chapter VII.—Inasmuch as Christ did rise in our flesh, it follows that we shall be also raised in the same; since the resurrection promised to us should not be referred to spirits naturally immortal, but to bodies in themselves mortal.
Chapter VIII.—The gifts of the Holy Spirit which we receive prepare us for incorruption, render us spiritual, and separate us from carnal men. These two classes are signified by the clean and unclean animals in the legal dispensation.
Chapter IX.—Showing how that passage of the apostle which the heretics pervert, should be understood; viz., “Flesh and blood shall not possess the kingdom of God.”
Chapter X.—By a comparison drawn from the wild olive-tree, whose quality but not whose nature is changed by grafting, he proves more important things; he points out also that man without the Spirit is not capable of bringing forth fruit, or of inheriting the kingdom of God.
Chapter XI.—Treats upon the actions of carnal and of spiritual persons; also, that the spiritual cleansing is not to be referred to the substance of our bodies, but to the manner of our former life.
Chapter XII.—Of the difference between life and death; of the breath of life and the vivifying Spirit: also how it is that the substance of flesh revives which once was dead.
Chapter XIII.—In the dead who were raised by Christ we possess the highest proof of the resurrection; and our hearts are shown to be capable of life eternal, because they can now receive the Spirit of God.
Chapter XIV.—Unless the flesh were to be saved, the Word would not have taken upon Him flesh of the same substance as ours: from this it would follow that neither should we have been reconciled by Him.
Chapter XV.—Proofs of the resurrection from Isaiah and Ezekiel; the same God who created us will also raise us up.
Chapter XVI.—Since our bodies return to the earth, it follows that they have their substance from it; also, by the advent of the Word, the image of God in us appeared in a clearer light.
Chapter XVII.—There is but one Lord and one God, the Father and Creator of all things, who has loved us in Christ, given us commandments, and remitted our sins; whose Son and Word Christ proved Himself to be, when He forgave our sins.
Chapter XVIII.—God the Father and His Word have formed all created things (which They use) by Their own power and wisdom, not out of defect or ignorance. The Son of God, who received all power from the Father, would otherwise never have taken flesh upon Him.
Chapter XIX.—A comparison is instituted between the disobedient and sinning Eve and the Virgin Mary, her patroness. Various and discordant heresies are mentioned.
Chapter XX.—Those pastors are to be heard to whom the apostles committed the Churches, possessing one and the same doctrine of salvation; the heretics, on the other hand, are to be avoided. We must think soberly with regard to the mysteries of the faith.
1 Chapter XXI.—Christ is the head of all things already mentioned. It was fitting that He should be sent by the Father, the Creator of all things, to assume human nature, and should be tempted by Satan, that He might fulfil the promises, and carry off a glorious and perfect victory.
Chapter XXII.—The true Lord and the one God is declared by the law, and manifested by Christ His Son in the Gospel; whom alone we should adore, and from Him we must look for all good things, not from Satan.
Chapter XXIII.—The devil is well practised in falsehood, by which Adam having been led astray, sinned on the sixth day of the creation, in which day also he has been renewed by Christ.
Chapter XXIV.—Of the constant falsehood of the devil, and of the powers and governments of the world, which we ought to obey, inasmuch as they are appointed of God, not of the devil.
Chapter XXV.—The fraud, pride, and tyrannical kingdom of Antichrist, as described by Daniel and Paul.
Chapter XXVI.—John and Daniel have predicted the dissolution and desolation of the Roman Empire, which shall precede the end of the world and the eternal kingdom of Christ. The Gnostics are refuted, those tools of Satan, who invent another Father different from the Creator.
Chapter XXVII.—The future judgment by Christ. Communion with and separation from the divine being. The eternal punishment of unbelievers.
Chapter XXVIII.—The distinction to be made between the righteous and the wicked. The future apostasy in the time of Antichrist, and the end of the world.
Chapter XXIX.—All things have been created for the service of man. The deceits, wickedness, and apostate power of Antichrist. This was prefigured at the deluge, as afterwards by the persecution of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
Chapter XXX.—Although certain as to the number of the name of Antichrist, yet we should come to no rash conclusions as to the name itself, because this number is capable of being fitted to many names. Reasons for this point being reserved by the Holy Spirit. Antichrist’s reign and death.
Chapter XXXI.—The preservation of our bodies is confirmed by the resurrection and ascension of Christ: the souls of the saints during the intermediate period are in a state of expectation of that time when they shall receive their perfect and consummated glory.
Chapter XXXII.—In that flesh in which the saints have suffered so many afflictions, they shall receive the fruits of their labours; especially since all creation waits for this, and God promises it to Abraham and his seed.
Chapter XXXIII.—Further proofs of the same proposition, drawn from the promises made by Christ, when He declared that He would drink of the fruit of the vine with His disciples in His Father’s kingdom, while at the same time He promised to reward them an hundred-fold, and to make them partake of banquets. The blessing pronounced by Jacob had pointed out this already, as Papias and the elders have interpreted it.
Chapter XXXIV.—He fortifies his opinions with regard to the temporal and earthly kingdom of the saints after their resurrection, by the various testimonies of Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, and Daniel; also by the parable of the servants watching, to whom the Lord promised that He would minister.
Chapter XXXV.—He contends that these testimonies already alleged cannot be understood allegorically of celestial blessings, but that they shall have their fulfilment after the coming of Antichrist, and the resurrection, in the terrestrial Jerusalem. To the former prophecies he subjoins others drawn from Isaiah, Jeremiah, and the Apocalypse of John.
Chapter XXXVI.—Men shall be actually raised: the world shall not be annihilated; but there shall be various mansions for the saints, according to the rank allotted to each individual. All things shall be subject to God the Father, and so shall He be all in all.
Introductory Note
Elucidations
Introductory Note
Chapter I.—The Greeks Claim, Without Reason, the Invention of the Arts.
Chapter II.—The Vices and Errors of the Philosophers.
Chapter III.—Ridicule of the Philosophers.
Chapter IV.—The Christians Worship God Alone.
Chapter V.—The Doctrine of the Christians as to the Creation of the World.
Chapter VI.—Christians’ Belief in the Resurrection.
Chapter VII.—Concerning the Fall of Man.
Chapter VIII.—The Demons Sin Among Mankind.
Chapter IX.—They Give Rise to Superstitions.
Chapter X.—Ridicule of the Heathen Divinities.
Chapter XI.—The Sin of Men Due Not to Fate, But to Free-Will.
Chapter XII.—The Two Kinds of Spirits.
Chapter XIII.—Theory of the Soul’s Immortality.
Chapter XIV.—The Demons Shall Be Punished More Severely Than Men.
Chapter XV.—Necessity of a Union with the Holy Spirit.
Chapter XVI.—Vain Display of Power by the Demons.
Chapter XVII.—They Falsely Promise Health to Their Votaries.
Chapter XVIII.—They Deceive, Instead of Healing.
Chapter XIX.—Depravity Lies at the Bottom of Demon-Worship.
Chapter XX.—Thanks are Ever Due to God.
Chapter XXI.—Doctrines of the Christians and Greeks Respecting God Compared.
Chapter XXII.—Ridicule of the Solemnities of the Greeks.
Chapter XXIII.—Of the Pugilists and Gladiators.
Chapter XXIV.—Of the Other Public Amusements.
Chapter XXV.—Boastings and Quarrels of the Philosophers.
Chapter XXVI.—Ridicule of the Studies of the Greeks.
Chapter XXVII.—The Christians are Hated Unjustly.
Chapter XXVIII.—Condemnation of the Greek Legislation.
Chapter XXIX.—Account of Tatian’s Conversion.
Chapter XXX.—How He Resolved to Resist the Devil.
Chapter XXXI.—The Philosophy of the Christians More Ancient Than that of the Greeks.
Chapter XXXII.—The Doctrine of the Christians, is Opposed to Dissensions, and Fitted for All.
Chapter XXXIII.—Vindication of Christian Women.
Chapter XXXIV.—Ridicule of the Statues Erected by the Greeks.
Chapter XXXV.—Tatian Speaks as an Eye-Witness.
Chapter XXXVI.—Testimony of the Chaldeans to the Antiquity of Moses.
Chapter XXXVII.—Testimony of the Phœnicians.
Chapter XXXVIII.—The Egyptians Place Moses in the Reign of Inachus.
Chapter XXXIX.—Catalogue of the Argive Kings.
Chapter XL.—Moses More Ancient and Credible Than the Heathen Heroes.
Chapter XLI.
Chapter XLII.—Concluding Statement as to the Author.
Introductory Note
Theophilus to Autolycus
Chapter I.—Occasion of Writing This Book.
Chapter II.—The Gods are Despised When They are Made; But Become Valuable When Bought.
Chapter III.—What Has Become of the Gods?
Chapter IV.—Absurd Opinions of the Philosophers Concerning God.
Chapter V.—Opinions of Homer and Hesiod Concerning the Gods.
Chapter VI.—Hesiod on the Origin of the World.
Chapter VII.—Fabulous Heathen Genealogies.
Chapter VIII.— Opinions Concerning Providence.
Chapter IX.—The Prophets Inspired by the Holy Ghost.
Chapter X.—The World Created by God Through the Word.
Chapter XI.—The Six Days’ Work Described.
Chapter XII.—The Glory of the Six Days’ Work.
Chapter XIII.—Remarks on the Creation of the World.
Chapter XIV.—The World Compared to the Sea.
Chapter XV.—Of the Fourth Day.
Chapter XVI.—Of the Fifth Day.
Chapter XVII.—Of the Sixth Day.
Chapter XVIII.—The Creation of Man.
Chapter XIX.—Man is Placed in Paradise.
Chapter XX.—The Scriptural Account of Paradise.
Chapter XXI.—Of the Fall of Man.
Chapter XXII.—Why God is Said to Have Walked.
Chapter XXIII.—The Truth of the Account in Genesis.
Chapter XXIV.—The Beauty of Paradise.
Chapter XXV.—God Was Justified in Forbidding Man to Eat of the Tree of Knowledge.
Chapter XXVI.—God’s Goodness in Expelling Man from Paradise.
Chapter XXVII.—The Nature of Man.
Chapter XXVIII.—Why Eve Was Formed of Adam’s Rib.
Chapter XXIX.—Cain’s Crime.
Chapter XXX.—Cain’s Family and Their Inventions.
Chapter XXXI.—The History After the Flood.
Chapter XXXII.—How the Human Race Was Dispersed.
Chapter XXXIII.—Profane History Gives No Account of These Matters.
Chapter XXXIV.—The Prophets Enjoined Holiness of Life.
Chapter XXXV.—Precepts from the Prophetic Books.
Chapter XXXVI.—Prophecies of the Sibyl.
Chapter XXXVII.—The Testimonies of the Poets.
Chapter XXXVIII.—The Teachings of the Greek Poets and Philosophers Confirmatory of Those of the Hebrew Prophets.
Introductory Note
Chapter I.—Injustice Shown Towards the Christians.
Chapter II.—Claim to Be Treated as Others are When Accused.
Chapter III.—Charges Brought Against the Christians.
Chapter IV.—The Christians are Not Atheists, But Acknowledge One Only God.
Chapter V.—Testimony of the Poets to the Unity of God.
Chapter VI.—Opinions of the Philosophers as to the One God.
Chapter VII.—Superiority of the Christian Doctrine Respecting God.
Chapter VIII.—Absurdities of Polytheism.
Chapter IX.—The Testimony of the Prophets.
Chapter X.—The Christians Worship the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
Chapter XI.—The Moral Teaching of the Christians Repels the Charge Brought Against Them.
Chapter XII.—Consequent Absurdity of the Charge of Atheism.
Chapter XIII.—Why the Christians Do Not Offer Sacrifices.
Chapter XIV.—Inconsistency of Those Who Accuse the Christians.
Chapter XV.—The Christians Distinguish God from Matter.
Chapter XVI.—The Christians Do Not Worship the Universe.
Chapter XVII.—The Names of the Gods and Their Images are But of Recent Date.
Chapter XVIII.—The Gods Themselves Have Been Created, as the Poets Confess.
Chapter XIX.—The Philosophers Agree with the Poets Respecting the Gods.
Chapter XX.—Absurd Representations of the Gods.
Chapter XXI.—Impure Loves Ascribed to the Gods.
Chapter XXII.—Pretended Symbolical Explanations.
Chapter XXIII.—Opinions of Thales and Plato.
Chapter XXIV.—Concerning the Angels and Giants.
Chapter XXV.—The Poets and Philosophers Have Denied a Divine Providence.
Chapter XXVI.—The Demons Allure Men to the Worship of Images.
Chapter XXVII.—Artifices of the Demons.
Chapter XXVIII.—The Heathen Gods Were Simply Men.
Chapter XXIX.—Proof of the Same from the Poets.
Chapter XXX.—Reasons Why Divinity Has Been Ascribed to Men.
Chapter XXXI.—Confutation of the Other Charges Brought Against the Christians.
Chapter XXXII.—Elevated Morality of the Christians.
Chapter XXXIII.—Chastity of the Christians with Respect to Marriage.
Chapter XXXIV.—The Vast Difference in Morals Between the Christians and Their Accusers.
Chapter XXXV.—The Christians Condemn and Detest All Cruelty.
Chapter XXXVI.—Bearing of the Doctrine of the Resurrection on the Practices of the Christians.
Chapter XXXVII.—Entreaty to Be Fairly Judged.
Chapter I.—Defence of the Truth Should Precede Discussions Regarding It.
Chapter II.—A Resurrection is Not Impossible.
Chapter III.—He Who Could Create, Can Also Raise Up the Dead.
Chapter IV.—Objection from the Fact that Some Human Bodies Have Become Part of Others.
Chapter V.—Reference to the Processes of Digestion and Nutrition.
Chapter VI.—Everything that is Useless or Hurtful is Rejected.
Chapter VII.—The Resurrection-Body Different from the Present.
Chapter VIII.—Human Flesh Not the Proper or Natural Food of Men.
Chapter IX.—Absurdity of Arguing from Man’s Impotency.
Chapter X.—It Cannot Be Shown that God Does Not Will a Resurrection.
Chapter XI.—Recapitulation.
Chapter XII.—Argument for the Resurrection from the Purpose Contemplated in Man’s Creation.
Chapter XIII.—Continuation of the Argument.
Chapter XIV.—The Resurrection Does Not Rest Solely on the Fact of a Future Judgment.
Chapter XV.—Argument for the Resurrection from the Nature of Man.
Chapter XVI—Analogy of Death and Sleep, and Consequent Argument for the Resurrection.
Chapter XVII.—The Series of Changes We Can Now Trace in Man Renders a Resurrection Probable.
Chapter XVIII.—Judgment Must Have Reference Both to Soul and Body: There Will Therefore Be a Resurrection.
Chapter XIX.—Man Would Be More Unfavourably Situated Than the Beasts If There Were No Resurrection.
Chapter XX.—Man Must Be Possessed Both of a Body and Soul Hereafter, that the Judgment Passed Upon Him May Be Just.
Chapter XXI.—Continuation of the Argument.
Chapter XXII.—Continuation of the Argument.
Chapter XXIII.—Continuation of the Argument.
Chapter XXIV.—Argument for the Resurrection from the Chief End of Man.
Chapter XXV.—Argument Continued and Concluded.
Introductory Note
The Instructor
Elucidations
The Stromata, or Miscellanies
Chapter I.—Preface—The Author’s Object—The Utility of Written Compositions.
Chapter II.—Objection to the Number of Extracts from Philosophical Writings in These Books Anticipated and Answered.
Chapter III.—Against the Sophists.
Chapter IV.—Human Arts as Well as Divine Knowledge Proceed from God.
Chapter V.—Philosophy the Handmaid of Theology.
Chapter VI.—The Benefit of Culture.
Chapter VII.—The Eclectic Philosophy Paves the Way for Divine Virtue.
Chapter VIII.—The Sophistical Arts Useless.
Chapter IX.—Human Knowledge Necessary for the Understanding of the Scriptures.
Chapter X.—To Act Well of Greater Consequence Than to Speak Well.
Chapter XI.—What is the Philosophy Which the Apostle Bids Us Shun?
Chapter XII.—The Mysteries of the Faith Not to Be Divulged to All.
Chapter XIII.—All Sects of Philosophy Contain a Germ of Truth.
Chapter XIV.—Succession of Philosophers in Greece.
Chapter XV.—The Greek Philosophy in Great Part Derived from the Barbarians.
Chapter XVI.—That the Inventors of Other Arts Were Mostly Barbarians.
Chapter XVII.—On the Saying of the Saviour, “All that Came Before Me Were Thieves and Robbers.”
Chapter XVIII.—He Illustrates the Apostle’s Saying, “I Will Destroy the Wisdom of the Wise.”
Chapter XIX.—That the Philosophers Have Attained to Some Portion of Truth.
Chapter XX.—In What Respect Philosophy Contributes to the Comprehension of Divine Truth.
Chapter XXI.—The Jewish Institutions and Laws of Far Higher Antiquity Than the Philosophy of the Greeks.
Chapter XXII.—On the Greek Translation of the Old Testament.
Chapter XXIII.—The Age, Birth, and Life of Moses.
Chapter XXIV.—How Moses Discharged the Part of a Military Leader.
Chapter XXV.—Plato an Imitator of Moses in Framing Laws.
Chapter XXVI.—Moses Rightly Called a Divine Legislator, And, Though Inferior to Christ, Far Superior to the Great Legislators of the Greeks, Minos and Lycurgus.
Chapter XXVII.—The Law, Even in Correcting and Punishing, Aims at the Good of Men.
Chapter XXVIII.—The Fourfold Division of the Mosaic Law.
Chapter XXIX.—The Greeks But Children Compared with the Hebrews.
Elucidations
Chapter I.—Introductory.
Chapter II.—The Knowledge of God Can Be Attained Only Through Faith.
Chapter III.—Faith Not a Product of Nature.
Chapter IV.—Faith the Foundation of All Knowledge.
Chapter V.—He Proves by Several Examples that the Greeks Drew from the Sacred Writers.
Chapter VI.—The Excellence and Utility of Faith.
Chapter VII.—The Utility of Fear. Objections Answered.
Chapter VIII.—The Vagaries of Basilides and Valentinus as to Fear Being the Cause of Things.
Chapter IX.—The Connection of the Christian Virtues.
Chapter X.—To What the Philosopher Applies Himself.
Chapter XI.—The Knowledge Which Comes Through Faith the Surest of All.
Chapter XII.—Twofold Faith.
Chapter XIII.—On First and Second Repentance.
Chapter XIV.—How a Thing May Be Involuntary.
Chapter XV.—On the Different Kinds of Voluntary Actions, and the Sins Thence Proceeding.
Chapter XVI.—How We are to Explain the Passages of Scripture Which Ascribe to God Human Affections.
Chapter XVII.—On the Various Kinds of Knowledge.
Chapter XVIII.—The Mosaic Law the Fountain of All Ethics, and the Source from Which the Greeks Drew Theirs.
Chapter XIX.—The True Gnostic is an Imitator of God, Especially in Beneficence.
Chapter XX.—The True Gnostic Exercises Patience and Self-Restraint.
Chapter XXI.—Opinions of Various Philosophers on the Chief Good.
Chapter XXII.—Plato’s Opinion, that the Chief Good Consists in Assimilation to God, and Its Agreement with Scripture.
Chapter XXIII.—On Marriage.
Elucidations
Chapter I.—Order of Contents.
Chapter II.—The Meaning of the Name Stromata or Miscellanies.
Chapter III.—The True Excellence of Man.
Chapter IV.—The Praises of Martyrdom.
Chapter V.—On Contempt for Pain, Poverty, and Other External Things.
Chapter VI.—Some Points in the Beatitudes.
Chapter VII.—The Blessedness of the Martyr.
Chapter VIII.—Women as Well as Men, Slaves as Well as Freemen, Candidates for the Martyr’s Crown.
Chapter IX.—Christ’s Sayings Respecting Martyrdom.
Chapter X.—Those Who Offered Themselves for Martyrdom Reproved.
Chapter XI.—The Objection, Why Do You Suffer If God Cares for You, Answered.
Chapter XII.—Basilides’ Idea of Martyrdom Refuted.
Chapter XIII.—Valentinian’s Vagaries About the Abolition of Death Refuted.
Chapter XIV.—The Love of All, Even of Our Enemies.
Chapter XV.—On Avoiding Offence.
Chapter XVI.—Passages of Scripture Respecting the Constancy, Patience, and Love of the Martyrs.
Chapter XVII.—Passages from Clement’s Epistle to the Corinthians on Martyrdom.
Chapter XVIII.—On Love, and the Repressing of Our Desires.
Chapter XIX.—Women as well as Men Capable of Perfection.
Chapter XX.—A Good Wife.
Chapter XXI.—Description of the Perfect Man, or Gnostic.
Chapter XXII.—The True Gnostic Does Good, Not from Fear of Punishment or Hope of Reward, But Only for the Sake of Good Itself.
Chapter XXIII.—The Same Subject Continued.
Chapter XXIV.—The Reason and End of Divine Punishments.
Chapter XXV.—True Perfection Consists in the Knowledge and Love of God.
Chapter XXVI.—How the Perfect Man Treats the Body and the Things of the World.
Elucidations
Elucidations
Preface.
Apologetic.
Introductory Note.
The Hatred Felt by the Heathen Against the Christians is Unjust, Because Based on Culpable Ignorance.
The Heathen Perverted Judgment in the Trial of Christians. They Would Be More Consistent If They Dispensed with All Form of Trial. Tertullian Urges This with Much Indignation.
The Great Offence in the Christians Lies in Their Very Name. The Name Vindicated.
The Truth Hated in the Christians; So in Measure Was It, of Old, in Socrates. The Virtues of the Christians.
The Inconsistent Life of Any False Christian No More Condemns True Disciples of Christ, Than a Passing Cloud Obscures a Summer Sky.
The Innocence of the Christians Not Compromised by the Iniquitous Laws Which Were Made Against Them.
The Christians Defamed. A Sarcastic Description of Fame; Its Deception and Atrocious Slanders of the Christians Lengthily Described.
The Calumny Against the Christians Illustrated in the Discovery of Psammetichus. Refutation of the Story.
The Christians are Not the Cause of Public Calamities: There Were Such Troubles Before Christianity.
The Christians are Not the Only Contemners of the Gods. Contempt of Them Often Displayed by Heathen Official Persons. Homer Made the Gods Contemptible.
The Absurd Cavil of the Ass's Head Disposed of.
The Charge of Worshipping a Cross. The Heathens Themselves Made Much of Crosses in Sacred Things; Nay, Their Very Idols Were Formed on a Crucial Frame.
The Charge of Worshipping the Sun Met by a Retort.
The Vile Calumny About Onocoetes Retorted on the Heathen by Tertullian.
The Charge of Infanticide Retorted on the Heathen.
Other Charges Repelled by the Same Method. The Story of the Noble Roman Youth and His Parents.
The Christian Refusal to Swear by the Genius of Cæsar. Flippancy and Irreverence Retorted on the Heathen.
Christians Charged with an Obstinate Contempt of Death. Instances of the Same are Found Amongst the Heathen.
If Christians and the Heathen Thus Resemble Each Other, There is Great Difference in the Grounds and Nature of Their Apparently Similar Conduct.
Truth and Reality Pertain to Christians Alone. The Heathen Counselled to Examine and Embrace It.
The Heathen Gods from Heathen Authorities. Varro Has Written a Work on the Subject. His Threefold Classification. The Changeable Character of that Which Ought to Be Fixed and Certain.
Philosophers Had Not Succeeded in Discovering God. The Uncertainty and Confusion of Their Speculations.
The Physical Philosophers Maintained the Divinity of the Elements; The Absurdity of the Tenet Exposed.
Wrong Derivation of the Word Qeός. The Name Indicative of the True Deity. God Without Shape and Immaterial. Anecdote of Thales.
The Physical Theory Continued. Further Reasons Advanced Against the Divinity of the Elements.
The Changes of the Heavenly Bodies, Proof that They are Not Divine. Transition from the Physical to the Mythic Class of Gods.
The Gods of the Mythic Class. The Poets a Very Poor Authority in Such Matters. Homer and the Mythic Poets. Why Irreligious.
The Gods of the Different Nations. Varro's Gentile Class. Their Inferiority. A Good Deal of This Perverse Theology Taken from Scripture. Serapis a Perversion of Joseph.
The Power of Rome. Romanized Aspect of All the Heathen Mythology. Varro's Threefold Distribution Criticised. Roman Heroes (Æneas Included,) Unfavourably Reviewed.
A Disgraceful Feature of the Roman Mythology. It Honours Such Infamous Characters as Larentina.
The Romans Provided Gods for Birth, Nay, Even Before Birth, to Death. Much Indelicacy in This System.
The Original Deities Were Human—With Some Very Questionable Characteristics. Saturn or Time Was Human. Inconsistencies of Opinion About Him.
The Gods Human at First. Who Had the Authority to Make Them Divine? Jupiter Not Only Human, But Immoral.
Gods, Those Which Were Confessedly Elevated to the Divine Condition, What Pre-Eminent Right Had They to Such Honour? Hercules an Inferior Character.
The Constellations and the Genii Very Indifferent Gods. The Roman Monopoly of Gods Unsatisfactory. Other Nations Require Deities Quite as Much.
Inventors of Useful Arts Unworthy of Deification. They Would Be the First to Acknowledge a Creator. The Arts Changeable from Time to Time, and Some Become Obsolete.
Conclusion, the Romans Owe Not Their Imperial Power to Their Gods. The Great God Alone Dispenses Kingdoms, He is the God of the Christians.
It is Not to the Philosophers that We Resort for Information About the Soul But to God.
The Christian Has Sure and Simple Knowledge Concerning the Subject Before Us.
The Soul's Origin Defined Out of the Simple Words of Scripture.
In Opposition to Plato, the Soul Was Created and Originated at Birth.
Probable View of the Stoics, that the Soul Has a Corporeal Nature.
The Arguments of the Platonists for the Soul's Incorporeality, Opposed, Perhaps Frivolously.
The Soul's Corporeality Demonstrated Out of the Gospels.
Other Platonist Arguments Considered.
Particulars of the Alleged Communication to a Montanist Sister.
The Simple Nature of the Soul is Asserted with Plato. The Identity of Spirit and Soul.
Spirit—A Term Expressive of an Operation of the Soul, Not of Its Nature. To Be Carefully Distinguished from the Spirit of God.
Difference Between the Mind and the Soul, and the Relation Between Them.
The Soul's Supremacy.
The Soul Variously Divided by the Philosophers; This Division is Not a Material Dissection.
The Soul's Vitality and Intelligence. Its Character and Seat in Man.
The Soul's Parts. Elements of the Rational Soul.
The Fidelity of the Senses, Impugned by Plato, Vindicated by Christ Himself.
Plato Suggested Certain Errors to the Gnostics. Functions of the Soul.
The Intellect Coeval with the Soul in the Human Being. An Example from Aristotle Converted into Evidence Favourable to These Views.
The Soul, as to Its Nature Uniform, But Its Faculties Variously Developed. Varieties Only Accidental.
As Free-Will Actuates an Individual So May His Character Change.
Recapitulation. Definition of the Soul.
The Opinions of Sundry Heretics Which Originate Ultimately with Plato.
Plato's Inconsistency. He Supposes the Soul Self-Existent, Yet Capable of Forgetting What Passed in a Previous State.
Tertullian Refutes, Physiologically, the Notion that the Soul is Introduced After Birth.
Scripture Alone Offers Clear Knowledge on the Questions We Have Been Controverting.
Soul and Body Conceived, Formed and Perfected in Element Simultaneously.
The Pythagorean Doctrine of Transmigration Sketched and Censured.
The Pythagorean Doctrine Refuted by Its Own First Principle, that Living Men are Formed from the Dead.
Further Refutation of the Pythagorean Theory. The State of Contemporary Civilisation.
Further Exposure of Transmigration, Its Inextricable Embarrassment.
Empedocles Increased the Absurdity of Pythagoras by Developing the Posthumous Change of Men into Various Animals.
The Judicial Retribution of These Migrations Refuted with Raillery.
These Vagaries Stimulated Some Profane Corruptions of Christianity. The Profanity of Simon Magus Condemned.
The Opinions of Carpocrates, Another Offset from the Pythagorean Dogmas, Stated and Confuted.
The Main Points of Our Author's Subject. On the Sexes of the Human Race.
On the Formation and State of the Embryo. Its Relation with the Subject of This Treatise.
On the Growth of the Soul. Its Maturity Coincident with the Maturity of the Flesh in Man.
The Evil Spirit Has Marred the Purity of the Soul from the Very Birth.
The Body of Man Only Ancillary to the Soul in the Commission of Evil.
Notwithstanding the Depravity of Man's Soul by Original Sin, There is Yet Left a Basis Whereon Divine Grace Can Work for Its Recovery by Spiritual Regeneration.
Sleep, the Mirror of Death, as Introductory to the Consideration of Death.
Sleep a Natural Function as Shown by Other Considerations, and by the Testimony of Scripture.
The Story of Hermotimus, and the Sleeplessness of the Emperor Nero. No Separation of the Soul from the Body Until Death.
Dreams, an Incidental Effect of the Soul's Activity. Ecstasy.
Diversity of Dreams and Visions. Epicurus Thought Lightly of Them, Though Generally Most Highly Valued. Instances of Dreams.
Dreams Variously Classified. Some are God-Sent, as the Dreams of Nebuchadnezzar; Others Simply Products of Nature.
Causes and Circumstances of Dreams. What Best Contributes to Efficient Dreaming.
No Soul Naturally Exempt from Dreams.
The Absurd Opinion of Epicurus and the Profane Conceits of the Heretic Menander on Death, Even Enoch and Elijah Reserved for Death.
Death Entirely Separates the Soul from the Body.
All Kinds of Death a Violence to Nature, Arising from Sin.—Sin an Intrusion Upon Nature as God Created It.
The Entire Soul Being Indivisible Remains to the Last Act of Vitality; Never Partially or Fractionally Withdrawn from the Body.
Whither Does the Soul Retire When It Quits the Body? Opinions of Philosophers All More or Less Absurd. The Hades of Plato.
The Christian Idea of the Position of Hades; The Blessedness of Paradise Immediately After Death. The Privilege of the Martyrs.
Refutation of the Homeric View of the Soul's Detention from Hades Owing to the Body's Being Unburied. That Souls Prematurely Separated from the Body Had to Wait for Admission into Hades Also Refuted.
Magic and Sorcery Only Apparent in Their Effects. God Alone Can Raise the Dead.
Conclusion. Points Postponed. All Souls are Kept in Hades Until the Resurrection, Anticipating Their Ultimate Misery or Bliss.
Anti-Marcion.
Introduction, by the American Editor.
Introductory. Heresies Must Exist, and Even Abound; They are a Probation to Faith.
Analogy Between Fevers and Heresies. Heresies Not to Be Wondered At: Their Strength Derived from Weakness of Men's Faith. They Have Not the Truth. Simile of Pugilists and Gladiators in Illustration.
Weak People Fall an Easy Prey to Heresy, Which Derives Strength from the General Frailty of Mankind. Eminent Men Have Fallen from Faith; Saul, David, Solomon. The Constancy of Christ.
Warnings Against Heresy Given Us in the New Testament. Sundry Passages Adduced. These Imply the Possibility of Falling into Heresy.
Heresy, as Well as Schism and Dissension, Disapproved by St. Paul, Who Speaks of the Necessity of Heresies, Not as a Good, But, by the Will of God, Salutary Trials for Training and Approving the Faith of Christians.
Heretics are Self-Condemned. Heresy is Self-Will, Whilst Faith is Submission of Our Will to the Divine Authority. The Heresy of Apelles.
Pagan Philosophy the Parent of Heresies. The Connection Between Deflections from Christian Faith and the Old Systems of Pagan Philosophy.
Christ's Word, Seek, and Ye Shall Find, No Warrant for Heretical Deviations from the Faith. All Christ's Words to the Jews are for Us, Not Indeed as Specific Commands, But as Principles to Be Applied.
The Research After Definite Truth Enjoined on Us. When We Have Discovered This, We Should Be Content.
One Has Succeeded in Finding Definite Truth, When He Believes. Heretical Wits are Always Offering Many Things for Vain Discussion, But We are Not to Be Always Seeking.
After We Have Believed, Search Should Cease; Otherwise It Must End in a Denial of What We Have Believed. No Other Object Proposed for Our Faith.
A Proper Seeking After Divine Knowledge, Which Will Never Be Out of Place or Excessive, is Always Within the Rule of Faith.
Summary of the Creed, or Rule of Faith. No Questions Ever Raised About It by Believers. Heretics Encourage and Perpetuate Thought Independent of Christ's Teaching.
Curiosity Ought Not Range Beyond the Rule of Faith. Restless Curiosity, the Feature of Heresy.
Heretics Not to Be Allowed to Argue Out of the Scriptures. The Scriptures, in Fact, Do Not Belong to Them.
Apostolic Sanction to This Exclusion of Heretics from the Use of the Scriptures. Heretics, According to the Apostle, are Not to Be Disputed With, But to Be Admonished.
Heretics, in Fact, Do Not Use, But Only Abuse, Scripture. No Common Ground Between Them and You.
Great Evil Ensues to the Weak in Faith, from Any Discussion Out of the Scriptures. Conviction Never Comes to the Heretic from Such a Process.
Appeal, in Discussion of Heresy, Lies Not to the Scriptures. The Scriptures Belong Only to Those Who Have the Rule of Faith.
1 Christ First Delivered the Faith. The Apostles Spread It; They Founded Churches as the Depositories Thereof. That Faith, Therefore, is Apostolic, Which Descended from the Apostles, Through Apostolic Churches.
All Doctrine True Which Comes Through the Church from the Apostles, Who Were Taught by God Through Christ. All Opinion Which Has No Such Divine Origin and Apostolic Tradition to Show, is Ipso Facto False.
Attempt to Invalidate This Rule of Faith Rebutted. The Apostles Safe Transmitters of the Truth. Sufficiently Taught at First, and Faithful in the Transmission.
The Apostles Not Ignorant. The Heretical Pretence of St. Peter's Imperfection Because He Was Rebuked by St. Paul. St. Peter Not Rebuked for Error in Teaching.
St. Peter's Further Vindication. St. Paul Not Superior to St. Peter in Teaching. Nothing Imparted to the Former in the Third Heaven Enabled Him to Add to the Faith. Heretics Boast as If Favoured with Some of the Secrets Imparted to Him.
The Apostles Did Not Keep Back Any of the Deposit of Doctrine Which Christ Had Entrusted to Them. St. Paul Openly Committed His Whole Doctrine to Timothy.
The Apostles Did in All Cases Teach the Whole Truth to the Whole Church. No Reservation, Nor Partial Communication to Favourite Friends.
Granted that the Apostles Transmitted the Whole Doctrine of Truth, May Not the Churches Have Been Unfaithful in Handing It On? Inconceivable that This Can Have Been the Case.
The One Tradition of the Faith, Which is Substantially Alike in the Churches Everywhere, a Good Proof that the Transmission Has Been True and Honest in the Main.
The Truth Not Indebted to the Care of the Heretics; It Had Free Course Before They Appeared. Priority of the Church's Doctrine a Mark of Its Truth.
Comparative Lateness of Heresies. Marcion's Heresy. Some Personal Facts About Him. The Heresy of Apelles. Character of This Man; Philumene; Valentinus; Nigidius, and Hermogenes.
Truth First, Falsehood Afterwards, as Its Perversion. Christ's Parable Puts the Sowing of the Good Seed Before the Useless Tares.
None of the Heretics Claim Succession from the Apostles. New Churches Still Apostolic, Because Their Faith is that Which the Apostles Taught and Handed Down. The Heretics Challenged to Show Any Apostolic Credentials.
Present Heresies (Seedlings of the Tares Noted by the Sacred Writers) Already Condemned in Scripture. This Descent of Later Heresy from the Earlier Traced in Several Instances.
No Early Controversy Respecting the Divine Creator; No Second God Introduced at First. Heresies Condemned Alike by the Sentence and the Silence of Holy Scripture.
Let Heretics Maintain Their Claims by a Definite and Intelligible Evidence. This the Only Method of Solving Their Questions. Catholics Appeal Always to Evidence Traceable to Apostolic Sources.
The Apostolic Churches the Voice of the Apostles. Let the Heretics Examine Their Apostolic Claims, in Each Case, Indisputable. The Church of Rome Doubly Apostolic; Its Early Eminence and Excellence. Heresy, as Perverting the Truth, is Connected Therewith.
Heretics Not Being Christians, But Rather Perverters of Christ's Teaching, May Not Claim the Christian Scriptures. These are a Deposit, Committed to and Carefully Kept by the Church.
Harmony of the Church and the Scriptures. Heretics Have Tampered with the Scriptures, and Mutilated, and Altered Them. Catholics Never Change the Scriptures, Which Always Testify for Them.
What St. Paul Calls Spiritual Wickednesses Displayed by Pagan Authors, and by Heretics, in No Dissimilar Manner. Holy Scripture Especially Liable to Heretical Manipulation. Affords Material for Heresies, Just as Virgil Has Been the Groundwork of Literary Plagiarisms, Different in Purport from the Original.
No Difference in the Spirit of Idolatry and of Heresy. In the Rites of Idolatry, Satan Imitated and Distorted the Divine Institutions of the Older Scriptures. The Christian Scriptures Corrupted by Him in the Perversions of the Various Heretics.
The Conduct of Heretics: Its Frivolity, Worldliness, and Irregularity. The Notorious Wantonness of Their Women.
Heretics Work to Pull Down and to Destroy, Not to Edify and Elevate. Heretics Do Not Adhere Even to Their Own Traditions, But Harbour Dissent Even from Their Own Founders.
Loose Company Preferred by Heretics. Ungodliness the Effect of Their Teaching the Very Opposite of Catholic Truth, Which Promotes the Fear of God, Both in Religious Ordinances and Practical Life.
Heresy Lowers Respect for Christ, and Destroys All Fear of His Great Judgment. The Tendency of Heretical Teaching on This Solemn Article of the Faith. The Present Treatise an Introduction to Certain Other Anti-Heretical Works of Our Author.
Elucidations.
The Five Books Against Marcion.
Introductory Notes.
Preface. Reason for a New Work. Pontus Lends Its Rough Character to the Heretic Marcion, a Native. His Heresy Characterized in a Brief Invective.
Marcion, Aided by Cerdon, Teaches a Duality of Gods; How He Constructed This Heresy of an Evil and a Good God.
The Unity of God. He is the Supreme Being, and There Cannot Be a Second Supreme.
Defence of the Divine Unity Against Objection. No Analogy Between Human Powers and God's Sovereignty. The Objection Otherwise Untenable, for Why Stop at Two Gods?
The Dual Principle Falls to the Ground; Plurality of Gods, of Whatever Number, More Consistent. Absurdity and Injury to Piety Resulting from Marcion's Duality.
Marcion Untrue to His Theory. He Pretends that His Gods are Equal, But He Really Makes Them Diverse. Then, Allowing Their Divinity, Denies This Diversity.
Other Beings Besides God are in Scripture Called God. This Objection Frivolous, for It is Not a Question of Names. The Divine Essence is the Thing at Issue. Heresy, in Its General Terms, Thus Far Treated.
Specific Points. The Novelty of Marcion's God Fatal to His Pretensions. God is from Everlasting, He Cannot Be in Any Wise New.
Marcion's Gnostic Pretensions Vain, for the True God is Neither Unknown Nor Uncertain. The Creator, Whom He Owns to Be God, Alone Supplies an Induction, by Which to Judge of the True God.
The Creator Was Known as the True God from the First by His Creation. Acknowledged by the Soul and Conscience of Man Before He Was Revealed by Moses.
The Evidence for God External to Him; But the External Creation Which Yields This Evidence is Really Not Extraneous, for All Things are God's. Marcion's God, Having Nothing to Show for Himself, No God at All. Marcion's Scheme Absurdly Defective, Not Furnishing Evidence for His New God's Existence, Which Should at Least Be Able to Compete with the Full Evidence of the Creator.
Impossibility of Acknowledging God Without This External Evidence Of His Existence. Marcion's Rejection of Such Evidence for His God Savours of Impudence and Malignity.
The Marcionites Depreciate the Creation, Which, However, is a Worthy Witness of God. This Worthiness Illustrated by References to the Heathen Philosophers, Who Were Apt to Invest the Several Parts of Creation with Divine Attributes.
All Portions of Creation Attest the Excellence of the Creator, Whom Marcion Vilifies. His Inconsistency Herein Exposed. Marcion's Own God Did Not Hesitate to Use the Creator's Works in Instituting His Own Religion.
The Lateness of the Revelation of Marcion's God. The Question of the Place Occupied by the Rival Deities. Instead of Two Gods, Marcion Really (Although, as It Would Seem, Unconsciously) Had Nine Gods in His System.
Marcion Assumes the Existence of Two Gods from the Antithesis Between Things Visible and Things Invisible. This Antithetical Principle in Fact Characteristic of the Works of the Creator, the One God—Maker of All Things Visible and Invisible.
Not Enough, as the Marcionites Pretend, that the Supreme God Should Rescue Man; He Must Also Have Created Him. The Existence of God Proved by His Creation, a Prior Consideration to His Character.
Notwithstanding Their Conceits, the God of the Marcionites Fails in the Vouchers Both of Created Evidence and of Adequate Revelation.
Jesus Christ, the Revealer of the Creator, Could Not Be the Same as Marcion's God, Who Was Only Made Known by the Heretic Some CXV. Years After Christ, and That, Too, on a Principle Utterly Unsuited to the Teaching of Jesus Christ, I.e., the Opposition Between the Law and the Gospels.
Marcion, Justifying His Antithesis Between the Law and the Gospel by the Contention of St. Paul with St. Peter, Shown to Have Mistaken St. Paul's Position and Argument. Marcion's Doctrine Confuted Out of St. Paul's Teaching, Which Agrees Wholly with the Creator's Decrees.
St. Paul Preached No New God, When He Announced the Repeal of Some of God's Ancient Ordinances. Never Any Hesitation About Belief in the Creator, as the God Whom Christ Revealed, Until Marcion's Heresy.
God's Attribute of Goodness Considered as Natural; The God of Marcion Found Wanting Herein. It Came Not to Man's Rescue When First Wanted.
God's Attribute of Goodness Considered as Rational. Marcion's God Defective Here Also; His Goodness Irrational and Misapplied.
The Goodness of Marcion's God Only Imperfectly Manifested; It Saves But Few, and the Souls Merely of These. Marcion's Contempt of the Body Absurd.
God is Not a Being of Simple Goodness; Other Attributes Belong to Him. Marcion Shows Inconsistency in the Portraiture of His Simply Good and Emotionless God.
In the Attribute of Justice, Marcion's God is Hopelessly Weak and Ungodlike. He Dislikes Evil, But Does Not Punish Its Perpetration.
Dangerous Effects to Religion and Morality of the Doctrine of So Weak a God.
This Perverse Doctrine Deprives Baptism of All Its Grace. If Marcion Be Right, the Sacrament Would Confer No Remission of Sins, No Regeneration, No Gift of the Spirit.
Marcion Forbids Marriage. Tertullian Eloquently Defends It as Holy, and Carefully Discriminates Between Marcion's Doctrine and His Own Montanism.
The Methods of Marcion's Argument Incorrect and Absurd. The Proper Course of the Argument.
The True Doctrine of God the Creator. The Heretics Pretended to a Knowledge of the Divine Being, Opposed to and Subversive of Revelation. God's Nature and Ways Past Human Discovery. Adam's Heresy.
God Known by His Works. His Goodness Shown in His Creative Energy; But Everlasting in Its Nature; Inherent in God, Previous to All Exhibition of It. The First Stage of This Goodness Prior to Man.
The Next Stage Occurs in the Creation of Man by the Eternal Word. Spiritual as Well as Physical Gifts to Man. The Blessings of Man's Free-Will.
Marcion's Cavils Considered. His Objection Refuted, I.e., Man's Fall Showed Failure in God. The Perfection of Man's Being Lay in His Liberty, Which God Purposely Bestowed on Him. The Fall Imputable to Man's Own Choice.
This Liberty Vindicated in Respect of Its Original Creation; Suitable Also for Exhibiting the Goodness and the Purpose of God. Reward and Punishment Impossible If Man Were Good or Evil Through Necessity and Not Choice.
If God Had Anyhow Checked Man's Liberty, Marcion Would Have Been Ready with Another and Opposite Cavil. Man's Fall Foreseen by God. Provision Made for It Remedially and Consistently with His Truth and Goodness.
Man, Endued with Liberty, Superior to the Angels, Overcomes Even the Angel Which Lured Him to His Fall, When Repentant and Resuming Obedience to God.
Another Cavil Answered, I.e., the Fall Imputable to God, Because Man's Soul is a Portion of the Spiritual Essence of the Creator. The Divine Afflatus Not in Fault in the Sin of Man, But the Human Will Which Was Additional to It.
Another Cavil Met, I.e., the Devil Who Instigated Man to Sin Himself the Creature of God. Nay, the Primeval Cherub Only Was God's Work. The Devilish Nature Superadded by Wilfulness. In Man's Recovery the Devil is Vanquished in a Conflict on His Own Ground.
If, After Man's Sin, God Exercised His Attribute of Justice and Judgment, This Was Compatible with His Goodness, and Enhances the True Idea of the Perfection of God's Character.
The Attributes of Goodness and Justice Should Not Be Separated. They are Compatible in the True God. The Function of Justice in the Divine Being Described.
Further Description of the Divine Justice; Since the Fall of Man It Has Regulated the Divine Goodness. God's Claims on Our Love and Our Fear Reconciled.
Evil of Two Kinds, Penal and Criminal. It is Not of the Latter Sort that God is the Author, But Only of the Former, Which are Penal, and Included in His Justice.
The Severity of God Compatible with Reason and Justice. When Inflicted, Not Meant to Be Arbitrary, But Remedial.
To the Severity of God There Belong Accessory Qualities, Compatible with Justice. If Human Passions are Predicated of God, They Must Not Be Measured on the Scale of Human Imperfection.
Trace God's Government in History and in His Precepts, and You Will Find It Full of His Goodness.
Some of God's Laws Defended as Good, Which the Marcionites Impeached, Such as the Lex Talionis. Useful Purposes in a Social and Moral Point of View of This, and Sundry Other Enactments.
The Minute Prescriptions of the Law Meant to Keep the People Dependent on God. The Prophets Sent by God in Pursuance of His Goodness. Many Beautiful Passages from Them Quoted in Illustration of This Attribute.
The Marcionites Charged God with Having Instigated the Hebrews to Spoil the Egyptians. Defence of the Divine Dispensation in that Matter.
The Law of the Sabbath-Day Explained. The Eight Days' Procession Around Jericho. The Gathering of Sticks a Violation.
The Brazen Serpent and the Golden Cherubim Were Not Violations of the Second Commandment. Their Meaning.
God's Purposes in Election and Rejection of the Same Men, Such as King Saul, Explained, in Answer to the Marcionite Cavil.
Instances of God's Repentance, and Notably in the Case of the Ninevites, Accounted for and Vindicated.
God's Dealings with Adam at the Fall, and with Cain After His Crime, Admirably Explained and Defended.
The Oath of God: Its Meaning. Moses, When Deprecating God's Wrath Against Israel, a Type of Christ.
Other Objections Considered. God's Condescension in the Incarnation. Nothing Derogatory to the Divine Being in This Economy. The Divine Majesty Worthily Sustained by the Almighty Father, Never Visible to Man. Perverseness of the Marcionite Cavils.
The Tables Turned Upon Marcion, by Contrasts, in Favour of the True God.
Marcion's Own Antitheses, If Only the Title and Object of the Work Be Excepted, Afford Proofs of the Consistent Attributes of the True God.
Introductory; A Brief Statement of the Preceding Argument in Connection with the Subject of This Book.
Why Christ's Coming Should Be Previously Announced.
Miracles Alone, Without Prophecy, an Insufficient Evidence of Christ's Mission.
Marcion's Christ Not the Subject of Prophecy. The Absurd Consequences of This Theory of the Heretic.
Sundry Features of the Prophetic Style: Principles of Its Interpretation.
Community in Certain Points of Marcionite and Jewish Error. Prophecies of Christ's Rejection Examined.
Prophecy Sets Forth Two Different Conditions of Christ, One Lowly, the Other Majestic. This Fact Points to Two Advents of Christ.
Absurdity of Marcion's Docetic Opinions; Reality of Christ's Incarnation.
Refutation of Marcion's Objections Derived from the Cases of the Angels, and the Pre-Incarnate Manifestations of the Son of God.
The Truly Incarnate State More Worthy of God Than Marcion's Fantastic Flesh.
Christ Was Truly Born; Marcion's Absurd Cavil in Defence of a Putative Nativity.
Isaiah's Prophecy of Emmanuel. Christ Entitled to that Name.
Isaiah's Prophecies Considered. The Virginity of Christ's Mother a Sign. Other Prophecies Also Signs. Metaphorical Sense of Proper Names in Sundry Passages of the Prophets.
Figurative Style of Certain Messianic Prophecies in the Psalms. Military Metaphors Applied to Christ.
The Title Christ Suitable as a Name of the Creator's Son, But Unsuited to Marcion's Christ.
The Sacred Name Jesus Most Suited to the Christ of the Creator. Joshua a Type of Him.
Prophecies in Isaiah and the Psalms Respecting Christ's Humiliation.
Types of the Death of Christ. Isaac; Joseph; Jacob Against Simeon and Levi; Moses Praying Against Amalek; The Brazen Serpent.
Prophecies of the Death of Christ.
The Subsequent Influence of Christ's Death in the World Predicted. The Sure Mercies of David. What These are.
The Call of the Gentiles Under the Influence of the Gospel Foretold.
The Success of the Apostles, and Their Sufferings in the Cause of the Gospel, Foretold.
The Dispersion of the Jews, and Their Desolate Condition for Rejecting Christ, Foretold.
Christ's Millennial and Heavenly Glory in Company with His Saints.
Examination of the Antitheses of Marcion, Bringing Them to the Test of Marcion's Own Gospel. Certain True Antitheses in the Dispensations of the Old and the New Testaments. These Variations Quite Compatible with One and the Same God, Who Ordered Them.
St. Luke's Gospel, Selected by Marcion as His Authority, and Mutilated by Him. The Other Gospels Equally Authoritative. Marcion's Terms of Discussion, However, Accepted, and Grappled with on the Footing of St. Luke's Gospel Alone.
Marcion Insinuated the Untrustworthiness of Certain Apostles Whom St. Paul Rebuked. The Rebuke Shows that It Cannot Be Regarded as Derogating from Their Authority. The Apostolic Gospels Perfectly Authentic.
Each Side Claims to Possess the True Gospel. Antiquity the Criterion of Truth in Such a Matter. Marcion's Pretensions as an Amender of the Gospel.
By the Rule of Antiquity, the Catholic Gospels are Found to Be True, Including the Real St. Luke's. Marcion's Only a Mutilated Edition. The Heretic's Weakness and Inconsistency in Ignoring the Other Gospels.
Marcion's Object in Adulterating the Gospel. No Difference Between the Christ of the Creator and the Christ of the Gospel. No Rival Christ Admissible. The Connection of the True Christ with the Dispensation of the Old Testament Asserted.
Marcion Rejected the Preceding Portion of St. Luke's Gospel. Therefore This Review Opens with an Examination of the Case of the Evil Spirit in the Synagogue of Capernaum. He Whom the Demon Acknowledged Was the Creator's Christ.
Other Proofs from the Same Chapter, that Jesus, Who Preached at Nazareth, and Was Acknowledged by Certain Demons as Christ the Son of God, Was the Creator's Christ. As Occasion Offers, the Docetic Errors of Marcion are Exposed.
Out of St. Luke's Fifth Chapter are Found Proofs of Christ's Belonging to the Creator, E.g. In the Call of Fishermen to the Apostolic Office, and in the Cleansing of the Leper. Christ Compared with the Prophet Elisha.
Further Proofs of the Same Truth in the Same Chapter, from the Healing of the Paralytic, and from the Designation Son of Man Which Jesus Gives Himself. Tertullian Sustains His Argument by Several Quotations from the Prophets.
The Call of Levi the Publican. Christ in Relation to the Baptist. Christ as the Bridegroom. The Parable of the Old Wine and the New. Arguments Connecting Christ with the Creator.
Christ's Authority Over the Sabbath. As Its Lord He Recalled It from Pharisaic Neglect to the Original Purpose of Its Institution by the Creator the Case of the Disciples Who Plucked the Ears of Corn on the Sabbath. The Withered Hand Healed on the Sabbath.
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.
Christ's Sermon on the Mount. In Manner and Contents It So Resembles the Creator's Dispensational Words and Deeds. It Suggests Therefore the Conclusion that Jesus is the Creator's Christ. The Beatitudes.
Sermon on the Mount Continued. Its Woes in Strict Agreement with the Creator's Disposition. Many Quotations Out of the Old Testament in Proof of This.
The Precept of Loving One's Enemies. It is as Much Taught in the Creator's Scriptures of the Old Testament as in Christ's Sermon. The Lex Talionis of Moses Admirably Explained in Consistency with the Kindness and Love Which Jesus Christ Came to Proclaim and Enforce in Behalf of the Creator. Sundry Precepts of Charity Explained.
Concerning Loans. Prohibition of Usury and the Usurious Spirit. The Law Preparatory to the Gospel in Its Provisions; So in the Present Instance. On Reprisals. Christ's Teaching Throughout Proves Him to Be Sent by the Creator.
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 Relation of Christ to the Creator.
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. Explanation of Christ's Apparent Rejection Them.
Comparison of Christ's Power Over Winds and Waves with Moses' Command of the Waters of the Red Sea and the Jordan. Christ's Power Over Unclean Spirits. The Case of the Legion. The Cure of the Issue of Blood. The Mosaic Uncleanness on This Point Explained.
Christ's Connection with the Creator Shown from Several Incidents in the Old Testament, Compared with St. Luke's Narrative of the Mission of the Disciples. The Feeding of the Multitude. The Confession of St. Peter. Being Ashamed of Christ. This Shame is Only Possible of the True Christ. Marcionite Pretensions Absurd.
The Same Conclusion Supported by the Transfiguration. Marcion Inconsistent in Associating with Christ in Glory Two Such Eminent Servants of the Creator as Moses and Elijah. St. Peter's Ignorance Accounted for on Montanist Principle.
Impossible that Marcion's Christ Should Reprove the Faithless Generation. Such Loving Consideration for Infants as the True Christ Was Apt to Shew, Also Impossible for the Other. On the Three Different Characters Confronted and Instructed by Christ in Samaria.
On the Mission of the Seventy Disciples, and Christ's Charge to Them. Precedents Drawn from the Old Testament. Absurdity of Supposing that Marcion's Christ Could Have Given the Power of Treading on Serpents and Scorpions.
Christ Thanks the Father for Revealing to Babes What He Had Concealed from the Wise. This Concealment Judiciously Effected by the Creator. Other Points in St. Luke's Chap. X. Shown to Be Only Possible to the Creator's Christ.
From St. Luke's Eleventh Chapter Other Evidence that Christ Comes from the Creator. The Lord's Prayer and Other Words of Christ. The Dumb Spirit and Christ's Discourse on Occasion of the Expulsion. The Exclamation of the Woman in the Crowd.
Christ's Reprehension of the Pharisees Seeking a Sign. His Censure of Their Love of Outward Show Rather Than Inward Holiness. Scripture Abounds with Admonitions of a Similar Purport. Proofs of His Mission from the Creator.
Examples from the Old Testament, Balaam, Moses, and Hezekiah, to Show How Completely the Instruction and Conduct of Christ Are in Keeping with the Will and Purpose of the Creator.
Parallels from the Prophets to Illustrate Christ's Teaching in the Rest of This Chapter of St. Luke. The Sterner Attributes of Christ, in His Judicial Capacity, Show Him to Have Come from the Creator. Incidental Rebukes of Marcion's Doctrine of Celibacy, and of His Altering of the Text of the Gospel.
Parables of the Mustard-Seed, and of the Leaven. Transition to the Solemn Exclusion Which Will Ensue When the Master of the House Has Shut the Door. This Judicial Exclusion Will Be Administered by Christ, Who is Shown Thereby to Possess the Attribute of the Creator.
Christ's Advice to Invite the Poor in Accordance with Isaiah. The Parable of the Great Supper a Pictorial Sketch of the Creator's Own Dispensations of Mercy and Grace. The Rejections of the Invitation Paralleled by Quotations from the Old Testament. Marcion's Christ Could Not Fulfil the Conditions Indicated in This Parable. The Absurdity of the Marcionite Interpretation.
A Sort of Sorites, as the Logicians Call It, to Show that the Parables of the Lost Sheep and the Lost Drachma Have No Suitable Application to the Christ of Marcion.
The Marcionite Interpretation of God and Mammon Refuted. The Prophets Justify Christ's Admonition Against Covetousness and Pride. John Baptist the Link Between the Old and the New Dispensations of the Creator. So Said Christ—But So Also Had Isaiah Said Long Before. One Only God, the Creator, by His Own Will Changed the Dispensations. No New God Had a Hand in the Change.
Moses, Allowing Divorce, and Christ Prohibiting It, Explained. John Baptist and Herod. Marcion's Attempt to Discover an Antithesis in the Parable of the Rich Man and the Poor Man in Hades Confuted. The Creator's Appointment Manifested in Both States.
The Judicial Severity of Christ and the Tenderness of the Creator, Asserted in Contradiction to Marcion. The Cure of the Ten Lepers. Old Testament Analogies. The Kingdom of God Within You; This Teaching Similar to that of Moses. Christ, the Stone Rejected by the Builders. Indications of Severity in the Coming of Christ. Proofs that He is Not the Impassible Being Marcion Imagined.
The Parables of the Importunate Widow, and of the Pharisee and the Publican. Christ's Answer to the Rich Ruler, the Cure of the Blind Man. His Salutation—Son of David. All Proofs of Christ's Relation to the Creator, Marcion's Antithesis Between David and Christ Confuted.
Christ and Zacchæus. The Salvation of the Body as Denied by Marcion. The Parable of the Ten Servants Entrusted with Ten Pounds. Christ a Judge, Who is to Administer the Will of the Austere Man, I.e. The Creator.
Christ's Refutations of the Pharisees. Rendering Dues to Cæsar and to God. Next of the Sadducees, Respecting Marriage in the Resurrection. These Prove Him Not to Be Marcion's But the Creator's Christ. Marcion's Tamperings in Order to Make Room for His Second God, Exposed and Confuted.
Concerning Those Who Come in the Name of Christ. The Terrible Signs of His Coming. He Whose Coming is So Grandly Described Both in the Old Testament and the New Testament, is None Other Than the Christ of the Creator. This Proof Enhanced by the Parable of the Fig-Tree and All the Trees. Parallel Passages of Prophecy.
How the Steps in the Passion of the Saviour Were Predetermined in Prophecy. The Passover. The Treachery of Judas. The Institution of the Lord's Supper. The Docetic Error of Marcion Confuted by the Body and the Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Woe Pronounced on the Traitor a Judicial Act, Which Disproves Christ to Be Such as Marcion Would Have Him to Be. Christ's Conduct Before the Council Explained. Christ Even Then Directs the Minds of His Judges to the Prophetic Evidences of His Own Mission. The Moral Responsibility of These Men Asserted.
Other Incidents of the Passion Minutely Compared with Prophecy. Pilate and Herod. Barabbas Preferred to Jesus. Details of the Crucifixion. The Earthquake and the Mid-Day Darkness. All Wonderfully Foretold in the Scriptures of the Creator. Christ's Giving Up the Ghost No Evidence of Marcion's Docetic Opinions. In His Sepulture There is a Refutation Thereof.
Conclusions. Jesus as the Christ of the Creator Proved from the Events of the Last Chapter of St. Luke. The Pious Women at the Sepulchre. The Angels at the Resurrection. The Manifold Appearances of Christ After the Resurrection. His Mission of the Apostles Amongst All Nations. All Shown to Be in Accordance with the Wisdom of the Almighty Father, as Indicated in Prophecy. The Body of Christ After Death No Mere Phantom. Marcion's Manipulation of the Gospel on This Point.
Dr. Holmes' Note.
Elucidations.
Additional Note.
Introductory. The Apostle Paul Himself Not the Preacher of a New God. Called by Jesus Christ, Although After the Other Apostles, His Mission Was from the Creator. States How. The Argument, as in the Case of the Gospel, Confining Proofs to Such Portions of St. Paul's Writings as Marcion Allowed.
On the Epistle to the Galatians. The Abolition of the Ordinances of the Mosaic Law No Proof of Another God. The Divine Lawgiver, the Creator Himself, Was the Abrogator. The Apostle's Doctrine in the First Chapter Shown to Accord with the Teaching of the Old Testament. The Acts of the Apostles Shown to Be Genuine Against Marcion. This Book Agrees with the Pauline Epistles.
St. Paul Quite in Accordance with St. Peter and Other Apostles of the Circumcision. His Censure of St. Peter Explained, and Rescued from Marcion's Misapplication. The Strong Protests of This Epistle Against Judaizers. Yet Its Teaching is Shown to Be in Keeping with the Law and the Prophets. Marcion's Tampering with St. Paul's Writings Censured.
Another Instance of Marcion's Tampering with St. Paul's Text. The Fulness of Time, Announced by the Apostle, Foretold by the Prophets. Mosaic Rites Abrogated by the Creator Himself. Marcion's Tricks About Abraham's Name. The Creator, by His Christ, the Fountain of the Grace and the Liberty Which St. Paul Announced. Marcion's Docetism Refuted.
The First Epistle to the Corinthians. The Pauline Salutation of Grace and Peace Shown to Be Anti-Marcionite. The Cross of Christ Purposed by the Creator. Marcion Only Perpetuates the Offence and Foolishness of Christ's Cross by His Impious Severance of the Gospel from the Creator. Analogies Between the Law and the Gospel in the Matter of Weak Things, and Foolish Things and Base Things.
The Divine Way of Wisdom, and Greatness, and Might. God's Hiding of Himself, and Subsequent Revelation. To Marcion's God Such a Concealment and Manifestation Impossible. God's Predestination. No Such Prior System of Intention Possible to a God Previously Unknown as Was Marcion's. The Powers of the World Which Crucified Christ. St. Paul, as a Wise Master-Builder, Associated with Prophecy. Sundry Injunctions of the Apostle Parallel with the Teaching of the Old Testament.
St. Paul's Phraseology Often Suggested by the Jewish Scriptures. Christ Our Passover—A Phrase Which Introduces Us to the Very Heart of the Ancient Dispensation. Christ's True Corporeity. Married and Unmarried States. Meaning of the Time is Short. In His Exhortations and Doctrine, the Apostle Wholly Teaches According to the Mind and Purposes of the God of the Old Testament. Prohibition of Meats and Drinks Withdrawn by the Creator.
Man the Image of the Creator, and Christ the Head of the Man. Spiritual Gifts. The Sevenfold Spirit Described by Isaiah. The Apostle and the Prophet Compared. Marcion Challenged to Produce Anything Like These Gifts of the Spirit Foretold in Prophecy in His God.
The Doctrine of the Resurrection. The Body Will Rise Again. Christ's Judicial Character. Jewish Perversions of Prophecy Exposed and Confuted. Messianic Psalms Vindicated. Jewish and Rationalistic Interpretations on This Point Similar. Jesus—Not Hezekiah or Solomon—The Subject of These Prophecies in the Psalms. None But He is the Christ of the Old and the New Testaments.
Doctrine of the Resurrection of the Body, Continued. How are the Dead Raised? and with What Body Do They Come? These Questions Answered in Such a Sense as to Maintain the Truth of the Raised Body, Against Marcion. Christ as the Second Adam Connected with the Creator of the First Man. Let Us Bear the Image of the Heavenly. The Triumph Over Death in Accordance with the Prophets. Hosea and St. Paul Compared.
The Second Epistle to the Corinthians. The Creator the Father of Mercies. Shown to Be Such in the Old Testament, and Also in Christ. The Newness of the New Testament. The Veil of Obdurate Blindness Upon Israel, Not Reprehensible on Marcion's Principles. The Jews Guilty in Rejecting the Christ of the Creator. Satan, the God of This World. The Treasure in Earthen Vessels Explained Against Marcion. The Creator's Relation to These Vessels, I.e. Our Bodies.
The Eternal Home in Heaven. Beautiful Exposition by Tertullian of the Apostle's Consolatory Teaching Against the Fear of Death, So Apt to Arise Under Anti-Christian Oppression. The Judgment-Seat of Christ—The Idea, Anti-Marcionite. Paradise. Judicial Characteristics of Christ Which are Inconsistent with the Heretical Views About Him; The Apostle's Sharpness, or Severity, Shows Him to Be a Fit Preacher of the Creator's Christ.
The Epistle to the Romans. St. Paul Cannot Help Using Phrases Which Bespeak the Justice of God, Even When He is Eulogizing the Mercies of the Gospel. Marcion Particularly Hard in Mutilation of This Epistle. Yet Our Author Argues on Common Ground. The Judgment at Last Will Be in Accordance with the Gospel. The Justified by Faith Exhorted to Have Peace with God. The Administration of the Old and the New Dispensations in One and the Same Hand.
The Divine Power Shown in Christ's Incarnation. Meaning of St. Paul's Phrase. Likeness of Sinful Flesh. No Docetism in It. Resurrection of Our Real Bodies. A Wide Chasm Made in the Epistle by Marcion's Erasure. When the Jews are Upbraided by the Apostle for Their Misconduct to God; Inasmuch as that God Was the Creator, a Proof is in Fact Given that St. Paul's God Was the Creator. The Precepts at the End of the Epistle, Which Marcion Allowed, Shown to Be in Exact Accordance with the Creator's Scriptures.
The First Epistle to the Thessalonians. The Shorter Epistles Pungent in Sense and Very Valuable. St. Paul Upbraids the Jews for the Death First of Their Prophets and Then of Christ. This a Presumption that Both Christ and the Prophets Pertained to the Same God. The Law of Nature, Which is in Fact the Creator's Discipline, and the Gospel of Christ Both Enjoin Chastity. The Resurrection Provided for in the Old Testament by Christ. Man's Compound Nature.
The Second Epistle to the Thessalonians. An Absurd Erasure of Marcion; Its Object Transparent. The Final Judgment on the Heathen as Well as the Jews Could Not Be Administered by Marcion's Christ. The Man of Sin—What? Inconsistency of Marcion's View. The Antichrist. The Great Events of the Last Apostasy Within the Providence and Intention of the Creator, Whose are All Things from the Beginning. Similarity of the Pauline Precepts with Those of the Creator.
The Epistle to the Laodiceans. The Proper Designation is to the Ephesians. Recapitulation of All Things in Christ from the Beginning of the Creation. No Room for Marcion's Christ Here. Numerous Parallels Between This Epistle and Passages in the Old Testament. The Prince of the Power of the Air, and the God of This World—Who? Creation and Regeneration the Work of One God. How Christ Has Made the Law Obsolete. A Vain Erasure of Marcion's. The Apostles as Well as the Prophets from the Creator.
Another Foolish Erasure of Marcion's Exposed. Certain Figurative Expressions of the Apostle, Suggested by the Language of the Old Testament. Collation of Many Passages of This Epistle, with Precepts and Statements in the Pentateuch, the Psalms, and the Prophets. All Alike Teach Us the Will and Purpose of the Creator.
The Epistle to the Colossians. Time the Criterion of Truth and Heresy. Application of the Canon. The Image of the Invisible God Explained. Pre-Existence of Our Christ in the Creator's Ancient Dispensations. What is Included in the Fulness of Christ. The Epicurean Character of Marcion's God. The Catholic Truth in Opposition Thereto. The Law is to Christ What the Shadow is to the Substance.
The Epistle to the Philippians. The Variances Amongst the Preachers of Christ No Argument that There Was More Than One Only Christ. St. Paul's Phrases—Form of a Servant, Likeness, and Fashion of a Man—No Sanction of Docetism. No Antithesis (Such as Marcion Alleged) in the God of Judaism and the God of the Gospel Deducible from Certain Contrasts Mentioned in This Epistle. A Parallel with a Passage in Genesis. The Resurrection of the Body, and the Change Thereof.
The Epistle to Philemon. This Epistle Not Mutilated. Marcion's Inconsistency in Accepting This, and Rejecting Three Other Epistles Addressed to Individuals. Conclusions. Tertullian Vindicates the Symmetry and Deliberate Purpose of His Work Against Marcion.
Elucidations.
Other Anti-Heretical
The Opinions of Hermogenes, by the Prescriptive Rule of Antiquity Shown to Be Heretical. Not Derived from Christianity, But from Heathen Philosophy. Some of the Tenets Mentioned.
Hermogenes, After a Perverse Induction from Mere Heretical Assumptions, Concludes that God Created All Things Out of Pre-Existing Matter.
An Argument of Hermogenes. The Answer: While God is a Title Eternally Applicable to the Divine Being, Lord and Father are Only Relative Appellations, Not Eternally Applicable. An Inconsistency in the Argument of Hermogenes Pointed Out.
Hermogenes Gives Divine Attributes to Matter, and So Makes Two Gods.
Hermogenes Coquets with His Own Argument, as If Rather Afraid of It. After Investing Matter with Divine Qualities, He Tries to Make It Somehow Inferior to God.
The Shifts to Which Hermogenes is Reduced, Who Deifies Matter, and Yet is Unwilling to Hold Him Equal with the Divine Creator.
Hermogenes Held to His Theory in Order that Its Absurdity May Be Exposed on His Own Principles.
On His Own Principles, Hermogenes Makes Matter, on the Whole, Superior to God.
Sundry Inevitable But Intolerable Conclusions from the Principles of Hermogenes.
To What Straits Hermogenes Absurdly Reduces the Divine Being. He Does Nothing Short of Making Him the Author of Evil.
Hermogenes Makes Great Efforts to Remove Evil from God to Matter. How He Fails to Do This Consistently with His Own Argument.
The Mode of Controversy Changed. The Premisses of Hermogenes Accepted, in Order to Show into What Confusion They Lead Him.
Another Ground of Hermogenes that Matter Has Some Good in It. Its Absurdity.
Tertullian Pushes His Opponent into a Dilemma.
The Truth, that God Made All Things from Nothing, Rescued from the Opponent's Flounderings.
A Series of Dilemmas. They Show that Hermogenes Cannot Escape from the Orthodox Conclusion.
The Truth of God's Work in Creation. You Cannot Depart in the Least from It, Without Landing Yourself in an Absurdity.
An Eulogy on the Wisdom and Word of God, by Which God Made All Things of Nothing.
An Appeal to the History of Creation. True Meaning of the Term Beginning, Which the Heretic Curiously Wrests to an Absurd Sense.
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.
A Retort of Heresy Answered. That Scripture Should in So Many Words Tell Us that the World Was Made of Nothing is Superfluous.
This Conclusion Confirmed by the Usage of Holy Scripture in Its History of the Creation. Hermogenes in Danger of the Woe Pronounced Against Adding to Scripture.
Hermogenes Pursued to Another Passage of Scripture. The Absurdity of His Interpretation Exposed.
Earth Does Not Mean Matter as Hermogenes Would Have It.
The Assumption that There are Two Earths Mentioned in the History of the Creation, Refuted.
The Method Observed in the History of the Creation, in Reply to the Perverse Interpretation of Hermogenes.
Some Hair-Splitting Use of Words in Which His Opponent Had Indulged.
A Curious Inconsistency in Hermogenes Exposed. Certain Expressions in The History of Creation Vindicated in The True Sense.
The Gradual Development of Cosmical Order Out of Chaos in the Creation, Beautifully Stated.
Another Passage in the Sacred History of the Creation, Released from the Mishandling of Hermogenes.
A Further Vindication of the Scripture Narrative of the Creation, Against a Futile View of Hermogenes.
The Account of the Creation in Genesis a General One, Corroborated, However, by Many Other Passages of the Old Testament, Which Give Account of Specific Creations. Further Cavillings Confuted.
Statement of the True Doctrine Concerning Matter. Its Relation to God's Creation of the World.
A Presumption that All Things Were Created by God Out of Nothing Afforded by the Ultimate Reduction of All Things to Nothing. Scriptures Proving This Reduction Vindicated from Hermogenes' Charge of Being Merely Figurative.
Contradictory Propositions Advanced by Hermogenes Respecting Matter and Its Qualities.
Other Absurd Theories Respecting Matter and Its Incidents Exposed in an Ironical Strain. Motion in Matter. Hermogenes' Conceits Respecting It.
Ironical Dilemmas Respecting Matter, and Sundry Moral Qualities Fancifully Attributed to It.
Other Speculations of Hermogenes, About Matter and Some of Its Adjuncts, Shown to Be Absurd. For Instance, Its Alleged Infinity.
These Latter Speculations Shown to Be Contradictory to the First Principles Respecting Matter, Formerly Laid Down by Hermogenes.
Shapeless Matter an Incongruous Origin for God's Beautiful Cosmos. Hermogenes Does Not Mend His Argument by Supposing that Only a Portion of Matter Was Used in the Creation.
Sundry Quotations from Hermogenes. Now Uncertain and Vague are His Speculations Respecting Motion in Matter, and the Material Qualities of Good and Evil.
Further Exposure of Inconsistencies in the Opinions of Hermogenes Respecting the Divine Qualities of Matter.
Other Discrepancies Exposed and Refuted Respecting the Evil in Matter Being Changed to Good.
Curious Views Respecting God's Method of Working with Matter Exposed. Discrepancies in the Heretic's Opinion About God's Local Relation to Matter.
Conclusion. Contrast Between the Statements of Hermogenes and the Testimony of Holy Scripture Respecting the Creation. Creation Out of Nothing, Not Out of Matter.
Introductory. Tertullian Compares the Heresy to the Old Eleusinian Mysteries. Both Systems Alike in Preferring Concealment of Error and Sin to Proclamation of Truth and Virtue.
These Heretics Brand the Christians as Simple Persons. The Charge Accepted, and Simplicity Eulogized Out of the Scriptures.
The Folly of This Heresy. It Dissects and Mutilates the Deity. Contrasted with the Simple Wisdom of True Religion. To Expose the Absurdities of the Valentinian System is to Destroy It.
The Heresy Traceable to Valentinus, an Able But Restless Man. Many Schismatical Leaders of the School Mentioned. Only One of Them Shows Respect to the Man Whose Name Designates the Entire School.
Many Eminent Christian Writers Have Carefully and Fully Refuted the Heresy. These the Author Makes His Own Guides.
Although Writing in Latin He Proposes to Retain the Greek Names of the Valentinian Emanations of Deity. Not to Discuss the Heresy But Only to Expose It. This with the Raillery Which Its Absurdity Merits.
The First Eight Emanations, or Æons, Called the Ogdoad, are the Fountain of All the Others. Their Names and Descent Recorded.
The Names and Descent of Other Æons; First Half a Score, Then Two More, and Ultimately a Dozen Besides. These Thirty Constitute the Pleroma. But Why Be So Capricious as to Stop at Thirty?
Other Capricious Features in the System. The Æons Unequal in Attributes. The Superiority of Nus; The Vagaries of Sophia Restrained by Horos. Grand Titles Borne by This Last Power.
Another Account of the Strange Aberrations of Sophia, and the Restraining Services of Horus. Sophia Was Not Herself, After All, Ejected from the Pleroma, But Only Her Enthymesis.
The Profane Account Given of the Origin of Christ and the Holy Ghost Sternly Rebuked. An Absurdity Respecting the Attainment of the Knowledge of God Ably Exposed.
The Strange Jumble of the Pleroma. The Frantic Delight of the Members Thereof. Their Joint Contribution of Parts Set Forth with Humorous Irony.
First Part of the Subject, Touching the Constitution of the Pleroma, Briefly Recapitulated. Transition to the Other Part, Which is Like a Play Outside the Curtain.
The Adventures of Achamoth Outside the Pleroma. The Mission of Christ in Pursuit of Her. Her Longing for Christ. Horos' Hostility to Her. Her Continued Suffering.
Strange Account of the Origin of Matter, from the Various Affections of Achamoth. The Waters from Her Tears; Light from Her Smile.
Achamoth Purified from All Impurities of Her Passion by the Paraclete, Acting Through Soter, Who Out of the Above-Mentioned Impurities Arranges Matter, Separating Its Evil from the Better Qualities.
Achamoth in Love with the Angels. A Protest Against the Lascivious Features of Valentinianism. Achamoth Becomes the Mother of Three Natures.
Blasphemous Opinion Concerning the Origin of the Demiurge, Supposed to Be the Creator of the Universe.
Palpable Absurdities and Contradictions in the System Respecting Achamoth and the Demiurge.
The Demiurge Works Away at Creation, as the Drudge of His Mother Achamoth, in Ignorance All the While of the Nature of His Occupation.
The Vanity as Well as Ignorance of the Demiurge. Absurd Results from So Imperfect a Condition.
Origin of the Devil, in the Criminal Excess of the Sorrow of Achamoth. The Devil, Called Also Munditenens, Actually Wiser Than the Demiurge, Although His Work.
The Relative Positions of the Pleroma. The Region of Achamoth, and the Creation of the Demiurge. The Addition of Fire to the Various Elements and Bodies of Nature.
The Formation of Man by the Demiurge. Human Flesh Not Made of the Ground, But of a Nondescript Philosophic Substance.
An Extravagant Way of Accounting for the Communication of the Spiritual Nature to Man. It Was Furtively Managed by Achamoth, Through the Unconscious Agency of Her Son.
The Three Several Natures—The Material, the Animal, and the Spiritual, and Their Several Destinations. The Strange Valentinian Opinion About the Structure of Soter's Nature.
The Christ of the Demiurge, Sent into the World by the Virgin. Not of Her. He Found in Her, Not a Mother, But Only a Passage or Channel. Jesus Descended Upon Christ, at His Baptism, Like a Dove; But, Being Incapable of Suffering, He Left Christ to Die on the Cross Alone.
The Demiurge Cured of His Ignorance by the Saviour's Advent, from Whom He Hears of the Great Future in Store for Himself.
The Three Natures Again Adverted to. They are All Exemplified Amongst Men. For Instance, by Cain, and Abel, and Seth.
The Lax and Dangerous Views of This Sect Respecting Good Works. That These are Unnecessary to the Spiritual Man.
At the Last Day Great Changes Take Place Amongst the Æons as Well as Among Men. How Achamoth and the Demiurge are Affected Then. Irony on the Subject.
Indignant Irony Exposing the Valentinian Fable About the Judicial Treatment of Mankind at the Last Judgment. The Immorality of the Doctrine.
These Remaining Chapters an Appendix to the Main Work. In This Chapter Tertullian Notices a Difference Among Sundry Followers of Ptolemy, a Disciple of Valentinus.
Other Varying Opinions Among the Valentinians Respecting the Deity, Characteristic Raillery.
Yet More Discrepancies. Just Now the Sex of Bythus Was an Object of Dispute; Now His Rank Comes in Question. Absurd Substitutes for Bythus Criticised by Tertullian.
Less Reprehensible Theories in the Heresy. Bad is the Best of Valentinianism.
Other Turgid and Ridiculous Theories About the Origin of the Æons and Creation, Stated and Condemned.
Diversity in the Opinions of Secundus, as Compared with the General Doctrine of Valentinus.
Their Diversity of Sentiment Affects the Very Central Doctrine of Christianity, Even the Person and Character of the Lord Jesus. This Diversity Vitiates Every Gnostic School.
The General Purport of This Work. The Heretics, Marcion, Apelles, and Valentinus, Wishing to Impugn the Doctrine of the Resurrection, Deprive Christ of All Capacity for Such a Change by Denying His Flesh.
Marcion, Who Would Blot Out the Record of Christ's Nativity, is Rebuked for So Startling a Heresy.
Christ's Nativity Both Possible and Becoming. The Heretical Opinion of Christ's Apparent Flesh Deceptive and Dishonourable to God, Even on Marcion's Principles.
God's Honour in the Incarnation of His Son Vindicated. Marcion's Disparagement of Human Flesh Inconsistent as Well as Impious. Christ Has Cleansed the Flesh. The Foolishness of God is Most Wise.
Christ Truly Lived and Died in Human Flesh. Incidents of His Human Life on Earth, and Refutation of Marcion's Docetic Parody of the Same.
The Doctrine of Apelles Refuted, that Christ's Body Was of Sidereal Substance, Not Born. Nativity and Mortality are Correlative Circumstances, and in Christ's Case His Death Proves His Birth.
Explanation of the Lord's Question About His Mother and His Brethren. Answer to the Cavils of Apelles and Marcion, Who Support Their Denial of Christ's Nativity by It.
Apelles and His Followers, Displeased with Our Earthly Bodies, Attributed to Christ a Body of a Purer Sort. How Christ Was Heavenly Even in His Earthly Flesh.
Christ's Flesh Perfectly Natural, Like Our Own. None of the Supernatural Features Which the Heretics Ascribed to It Discoverable, on a Careful View.
Another Class of Heretics Refuted. They Alleged that Christ's Flesh Was of a Finer Texture, Animalis, Composed of Soul.
The Opposite Extravagance Exposed. That is Christ with a Soul Composed of Flesh—Corporeal, Though Invisible. Christ's Soul, Like Ours, Distinct from Flesh, Though Clothed in It.
The True Functions of the Soul. Christ Assumed It in His Perfect Human Nature, Not to Reveal and Explain It, But to Save It. Its Resurrection with the Body Assured by Christ.
Christ's Human Nature. The Flesh and the Soul Both Fully and Unconfusedly Contained in It.
Christ Took Not on Him an Angelic Nature, But the Human. It Was Men, Not Angels, Whom He Came to Save.
The Valentinian Figment of Christ's Flesh Being of a Spiritual Nature, Examined and Refuted Out of Scripture.
Christ's Flesh in Nature, the Same as Ours, Only Sinless. The Difference Between Carnem Peccati and Peccatum Carnis: It is the Latter Which Christ Abolished. The Flesh of the First Adam, No Less Than that of the Second Adam, Not Received from Human Seed, Although as Entirely Human as Our Own, Which is Derived from It.
The Similarity of Circumstances Between the First and the Second Adam, as to the Derivation of Their Flesh. An Analogy Also Pleasantly Traced Between Eve and the Virgin Mary.
The Mystery of the Assumption of Our Perfect Human Nature by the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity. He is Here Called, as Often Elsewhere, the Spirit.
Christ, as to His Divine Nature, as the Word of God, Became Flesh, Not by Carnal Conception, Nor by the Will of the Flesh and of Man, But by the Will of God. Christ's Divine Nature, of Its Own Accord, Descended into the Virgin's Womb.
Christ Born of a Virgin, of Her Substance. The Physiological Facts of His Real and Exact Birth of a Human Mother, as Suggested by Certain Passages of Scripture.
The Word of God Did Not Become Flesh Except in the Virgin's Womb and of Her Substance. Through His Mother He is Descended from Her Great Ancestor David. He is Described Both in the Old and in the New Testament as “The Fruit of David's Loins.”
Holy Scripture in the New Testament, Even in Its Very First Verse, Testifies to Christ's True Flesh. In Virtue of Which He is Incorporated in the Human Stock of David, and Abraham, and Adam.
Simeon's “Sign that Should Be Contradicted,” Applied to the Heretical Gainsaying of the True Birth of Christ. One of the Heretics' Paradoxes Turned in Support of Catholic Truth.
Divine Strictures on Various Heretics Descried in Various Passages of Prophetical Scripture. Those Who Assail the True Doctrine of the One Lord Jesus Christ, Both God and Man, Thus Condemned.
Conclusion. This Treatise Forms a Preface to the Other Work, “On the Resurrection of the Flesh,” Proving the Reality of the Flesh Which Was Truly Born, and Died, and Rose Again.
Elucidations.
The Doctrine of the Resurrection of the Body Brought to Light by the Gospel. The Faintest Glimpses of Something Like It Occasionally Met with in Heathenism. Inconsistencies of Pagan Teaching.
The Jewish Sadducees a Link Between the Pagan Philosophers and the Heretics on This Doctrine. Its Fundamental Importance Asserted. The Soul Fares Better Than the Body, in Heretical Estimation, as to Its Future State. Its Extinction, However, Was Held by One Lucan.
Some Truths Held Even by the Heathen. They Were, However, More Often Wrong Both in Religious Opinions and in Moral Practice. The Heathen Not to Be Followed in Their Ignorance of the Christian Mystery. The Heretics Perversely Prone to Follow Them.
Heathens and Heretics Alike in Their Vilification of the Flesh and Its Functions, the Ordinary Cavils Against the Final Restitution of So Weak and Ignoble a Substance.
Some Considerations in Reply Eulogistic of the Flesh. It Was Created by God. The Body of Man Was, in Fact, Previous to His Soul.
Not the Lowliness of the Material, But the Dignity and Skill of the Maker, Must Be Remembered, in Gauging the Excellence of the Flesh. Christ Partook of Our Flesh.
The Earthy Material of Which Flesh is Created Wonderfully Improved by God's Manipulation. By the Addition of the Soul in Man's Constitution It Became the Chief Work in the Creation.
Christianity, by Its Provision for the Flesh, Has Put on It the Greatest Honour. The Privileges of Our Religion in Closest Connection with Our Flesh. Which Also Bears a Large Share in the Duties and Sacrifices of Religion.
God's Love for the Flesh of Man, as Developed in the Grace of Christ Towards It. The Flesh the Best Means of Displaying the Bounty and Power of God.
Holy Scripture Magnifies the Flesh, as to Its Nature and Its Prospects.
The Power of God Fully Competent to Effect the Resurrection of the Flesh.
Some Analogies in Nature Which Corroborate the Resurrection of the Flesh.
From Our Author's View of a Verse in the Ninety-Second Psalm, the Phœnix is Made a Symbol of the Resurrection of Our Bodies.
A Sufficient Cause for the Resurrection of the Flesh Occurs in the Future Judgment of Man. It Will Take Cognisance of the Works of the Body No Less Than of the Soul.
As the Flesh is a Partaker with the Soul in All Human Conduct, So Will It Be in the Recompense of Eternity.
The Heretics Called the Flesh “The Vessel of the Soul,” In Order to Destroy the Responsibility of the Body. Their Cavil Turns Upon Themselves and Shows the Flesh to Be a Sharer in Human Actions.
The Flesh Will Be Associated with the Soul in Enduring the Penal Sentences of the Final Judgment.
Scripture Phrases and Passages Clearly Assert “The Resurrection of the Dead.” The Force of This Very Phrase Explained as Indicating the Prominent Place of the Flesh in the General Resurrection.
The Sophistical Sense Put by Heretics on the Phrase “Resurrection of the Dead,” As If It Meant the Moral Change of a New Life.
Figurative Senses Have Their Foundation in Literal Fact. Besides, the Allegorical Style is by No Means the Only One Found in the Prophetic Scriptures, as Alleged by the Heretics.
No Mere Metaphor in the Phrase Resurrection of the Dead. In Proportion to the Importance of Eternal Truths, is the Clearness of Their Scriptural Enunciation.
The Scriptures Forbid Our Supposing Either that the Resurrection is Already Past, or that It Takes Place Immediately at Death. Our Hopes and Prayers Point to the Last Great Day as the Period of Its Accomplishment.
Sundry Passages of St. Paul, Which Speak of a Spiritual Resurrection, Compatible with the Future Resurrection of the Body, Which is Even Assumed in Them.
Other Passages Quoted from St. Paul, Which Categorically Assert the Resurrection of the Flesh at the Final Judgment.
St. John, in the Apocalypse, Equally Explicit in Asserting the Same Great Doctrine.
Even the Metaphorical Descriptions of This Subject in the Scriptures Point to the Bodily Resurrection, the Only Sense Which Secures Their Consistency and Dignity.
Certain Metaphorical Terms Explained of the Resurrection of the Flesh.
Prophetic Things and Actions, as Well as Words, Attest This Great Doctrine.
Ezekiel's Vision of the Dry Bones Quoted.
This Vision Interpreted by Tertullian of the Resurrection of the Bodies of the Dead. A Chronological Error of Our Author, Who Supposes that Ezekiel in His Ch. XXXI. Prophesied Before the Captivity.
Other Passages Out of the Prophets Applied to the Resurrection of the Flesh.
Even Unburied Bodies Will Be Raised Again. Whatever Befalls Them God Will Restore Them Again. Jonah's Case Quoted in Illustration of God's Power.
So Much for the Prophetic Scriptures. In the Gospels, Christ's Parables, as Explained by Himself, Have a Clear Reference to the Resurrection of the Flesh.
Christ Plainly Testifies to the Resurrection of the Entire Man. Not in His Soul Only, Without the Body.
Explanation of What is Meant by the Body, Which is to Be Raised Again. Not the Corporeality of the Soul.
Christ's Refutation of the Sadducees, and Affirmation of Catholic Doctrine.
Christ's Assertion About the Unprofitableness of the Flesh Explained Consistently with Our Doctrine.
Christ, by Raising the Dead, Attested in a Practical Way the Doctrine of the Resurrection of the Flesh.
Additional Evidence Afforded to Us in the Acts of the Apostles.
Sundry Passages of St. Paul Which Attest Our Doctrine Rescued from the Perversions of Heresy.
The Dissolution of Our Tabernacle Consistent with the Resurrection of Our Bodies.
Death Changes, Without Destroying, Our Mortal Bodies. Remains of the Giants.
No Disparagement of Our Doctrine in St. Paul's Phrase, Which Calls Our Residence in the Flesh Absence from the Lord.
Sundry Other Passages of St. Paul Explained in a Sentence Confirmatory of Our Doctrine.
The Old Man and the New Man of St. Paul Explained.
It is the Works of the Flesh, Not the Substance of the Flesh, Which St. Paul Always Condemns.
St. Paul, All Through, Promises Eternal Life to the Body.
Sundry Passages in the Great Chapter of the Resurrection of the Dead Explained in Defence of Our Doctrine.
The Same Subject Continued. What Does the Apostle Exclude from the Dead? Certainly Not the Substance of the Flesh.
In What Sense Flesh and Blood are Excluded from the Kingdom of God.
The Session of Jesus in His Incarnate Nature at the Right Hand of God a Guarantee of the Resurrection of Our Flesh.
From St. Paul's Analogy of the Seed We Learn that the Body Which Died Will Rise Again, Garnished with the Appliances of Eternal Life.
Not the Soul, But the Natural Body Which Died, is that Which is to Rise Again. The Resurrection of Lazarus Commented on. Christ's Resurrection, as the Second Adam, Guarantees Our Own.
Death Swallowed Up of Life. Meaning of This Phrase in Relation to the Resurrection of the Body.
The Change of a Thing's Condition is Not the Destruction of Its Substance. The Application of This Principle to Our Subject.
The Procedure of the Last Judgment, and Its Awards, Only Possible on the Identity of the Risen Body with Our Present Flesh.
Our Bodies, However Mutilated Before or After Death, Shall Recover Their Perfect Integrity in the Resurrection. Illustration of the Enfranchised Slave.
From This Perfection of Our Restored Bodies Will Flow the Consciousness of Undisturbed Joy and Peace.
Our Flesh in the Resurrection Capable, Without Losing Its Essential Identity, of Bearing the Changed Conditions of Eternal Life, or of Death Eternal.
All the Characteristics of Our Bodies—Sex, Various Limbs, Etc.—Will Be Retained, Whatever Change of Functions These May Have, of Which Point, However, We are No Judges. Analogy of the Repaired Ship.
The Details of Our Bodily Sex, and of the Functions of Our Various Members. Apology for the Necessity Which Heresy Imposes of Hunting Up All Its Unblushing Cavils.
Our Destined Likeness to the Angels in the Glorious Life of the Resurrection.
Conclusion. The Resurrection of the Flesh in Its Absolute Identity and Perfection. Belief of This Had Become Weak. Hopes for Its Refreshing Restoration Under the Influences of the Paraclete.
Elucidations.
Satan's Wiles Against the Truth. How They Take the Form of the Praxean Heresy. Account of the Publication of This Heresy.
1 The Catholic Doctrine of the Trinity and Unity, Sometimes Called the Divine Economy, or Dispensation of the Personal Relations of the Godhead.
Sundry Popular Fears and Prejudices. The Doctrine of the Trinity in Unity Rescued from These Misapprehensions.
The Unity of the Godhead and the Supremacy and Sole Government of the Divine Being. The Monarchy Not at All Impaired by the Catholic Doctrine.
The Evolution of the Son or Word of God from the Father by a Divine Procession. Illustrated by the Operation of the Human Thought and Consciousness.
The Word of God is Also the Wisdom of God. The Going Forth of Wisdom to Create the Universe, According to the Divine Plan.
The Son by Being Designated Word and Wisdom, (According to the Imperfection of Human Thought and Language) Liable to Be Deemed a Mere Attribute. He is Shown to Be a Personal Being.
Though the Son or Word of God Emanates from the Father, He is Not, Like the Emanations of Valentinus, Separable from the Father. Nor is the Holy Ghost Separable from Either. Illustrations from Nature.
The Catholic Rule of Faith Expounded in Some of Its Points. Especially in the Unconfused Distinction of the Several Persons of the Blessed Trinity.
The Very Names of Father and Son Prove the Personal Distinction of the Two. They Cannot Possibly Be Identical, Nor is Their Identity Necessary to Preserve the Divine Monarchy.
The Identity of the Father and the Son, as Praxeas Held It, Shown to Be Full of Perplexity and Absurdity. Many Scriptures Quoted in Proof of the Distinction of the Divine Persons of the Trinity.
Other Quotations from Holy Scripture Adduced in Proof of the Plurality of Persons in the Godhead.
The Force of Sundry Passages of Scripture Illustrated in Relation to the Plurality of Persons and Unity of Substance. There is No Polytheism Here, Since the Unity is Insisted on as a Remedy Against Polytheism.
The Natural Invisibility of the Father, and the Visibility of the Son Witnessed in Many Passages of the Old Testament. Arguments of Their Distinctness, Thus Supplied.
New Testament Passages Quoted. They Attest the Same Truth of the Son's Visibility Contrasted with the Father's Invisibility.
Early Manifestations of the Son of God, as Recorded in the Old Testament; Rehearsals of His Subsequent Incarnation.
Sundry August Titles, Descriptive of Deity, Applied to the Son, Not, as Praxeas Would Have It, Only to the Father.
The Designation of the One God in the Prophetic Scriptures. Intended as a Protest Against Heathen Idolatry, It Does Not Preclude the Correlative Idea of the Son of God. The Son is in the Father.
The Son in Union with the Father in the Creation of All Things. This Union of the Two in Co-Operation is Not Opposed to the True Unity of God. It is Opposed Only to Praxeas' Identification Theory.
The Scriptures Relied on by Praxeas to Support His Heresy But Few. They are Mentioned by Tertullian.
In This and the Four Following Chapters It is Shewn, by a Minute Analysis of St. John's Gospel, that the Father and Son are Constantly Spoken of as Distinct Persons.
Sundry Passages of St. John Quoted, to Show the Distinction Between the Father and the Son. Even Praxeas' Classic Text—I and My Father are One—Shown to Be Against Him.
More Passages from the Same Gospel in Proof of the Same Portion of the Catholic Faith. Praxeas' Taunt of Worshipping Two Gods Repudiated.
On St. Philip's Conversation with Christ. He that Hath Seen Me, Hath Seen the Father. This Text Explained in an Anti-Praxean Sense.
The Paraclete, or Holy Ghost. He is Distinct from the Father and the Son as to Their Personal Existence. One and Inseparable from Them as to Their Divine Nature. Other Quotations Out of St. John's Gospel.
A Brief Reference to the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Luke. Their Agreement with St. John, in Respect to the Distinct Personality of the Father and the Son.
The Distinction of the Father and the Son, Thus Established, He Now Proves the Distinction of the Two Natures, Which Were, Without Confusion, United in the Person of the Son. The Subterfuges of Praxeas Thus Exposed.
Christ Not the Father, as Praxeas Said. The Inconsistency of This Opinion, No Less Than Its Absurdity, Exposed. The True Doctrine of Jesus Christ According to St. Paul, Who Agrees with Other Sacred Writers.
It Was Christ that Died. The Father is Incapable of Suffering Either Solely or with Another. Blasphemous Conclusions Spring from Praxeas' Premises.
How the Son Was Forsaken by the Father Upon the Cross. The True Meaning Thereof Fatal to Praxeas. So Too, the Resurrection of Christ, His Ascension, Session at the Father's Right Hand, and Mission of the Holy Ghost.
Retrograde Character of the Heresy of Praxeas. The Doctrine of the Blessed Trinity Constitutes the Great Difference Between Judaism and Christianity.
Postscript.
Elucidations.
Ethical.
Introductory Notice.
Preface.
Argument.—When the Saints Were Apprehended, St. Perpetua Successfully Resisted Her Father's Pleading, Was Baptized with the Others, Was Thrust into a Filthy Dungeon. Anxious About Her Infant, by a Vision Granted to Her, She Understood that Her Martyrdom Would Take Place Very Shortly.
Argument. Perpetua, When Besieged by Her Father, Comforts Him. When Led with Others to the Tribunal, She Avows Herself a Christian, and is Condemned with the Rest to the Wild Beasts. She Prays for Her Brother Dinocrates, Who Was Dead.
Argument. Perpetua is Again Tempted by Her Father. Her Third Vision, Wherein She is Led Away to Struggle Against an Egyptian. She Fights, Conquers, and Receives the Reward.
Argument. Saturus, in a Vision, and Perpetua Being Carried by Angels into the Great Light, Behold the Martyrs. Being Brought to the Throne of God, are Received with a Kiss. They Reconcile Optatus the Bishop and Aspasius the Presbyter.
Argument. Secundulus Dies in the Prison. Felicitas is Pregnant, But with Many Prayers She Brings Forth in the Eighth Month Without Suffering, the Courage of Perpetua and of Saturus Unbroken.
Argument. From the Prison They are Led Forth with Joy into the Amphitheatre, Especially Perpetua and Felicitas. All Refuse to Put on Profane Garments. They are Scourged, They are Thrown to the Wild Beasts. Saturus Twice is Unhurt. Perpetua and Felicitas are Thrown Down; They are Called Back to the Sanavivarian Gate. Saturus Wounded by a Leopard, Exhorts the Soldier. They Kiss One Another, and are Slain with the Sword.
Elucidations.
Elucidations.
Introductory Notice.
Appendix
Introductory Note.
Argument: Minucius Relates How Delightful to Him is the Recollection of the Things that Had Happened to Him with Octavius While He Was Associated with Him at Rome, and Especially of This Disputation.
Argument: The Arrival of Octavius at Rome During the Time of the Public Holidays Was Very Agreeable to Minucius. Both of Them Were Desirous of Going to the Marine Baths of Ostia, with Cæcilius Associated with Them as a Companion of Minucius. On Their Way Together to the Sea, Cæcillus, Seeing an Image of Serapis, Raises His Hand to His Mouth, and Worships It.
Argument: Octavius, Displeased at the Act of This Superstitious Man, Sharply Reproaches Minucius, on the Ground that the Disgrace of This Wicked Deed is Reflected Not Less on Himself, as Cæcilius' Host, Than on Cæcilius.
Argument: Cæcilius, Somewhat Grieved at This Kind of Rebuke Which for His Sake Minucius Had Had to Bear from Octavius, Begs to Argue with Octavius on the Truth of His Religion. Octavius with His Companion Consents, and Minucius Sits in the Middle Between Cæcilius and Octavius.
Argument: Cæcilius Begins His Argument First of All by Reminding Them that in Human Affairs All Things are Doubtful and Uncertain, and that Therefore It is to Be Lamented that Christians, Who for the Most Part are Untrained and Illiterate Persons, Should Dare to Determine on Anything with Certainty Concerning the Chief of Things and the Divine Majesty: Hence He Argues that the World is Governed by No Providence, and Concludes that It is Better to Abide by the Received Forms of Religion.
Argument: The Object of All Nations, and Especially of the Romans, in Worshipping Their Divinities, Has Been to Attain for Their Worship the Supreme Dominion Over the Whole Earth.
Argument: That the Roman Auspices and Auguries Have Been Neglected with Ill Consequences, But Have Been Observed with Good Fortune.
Argument: The Impious Temerity of Theodorus, Diagoras, and Protagoras is Not at All to Be Acquiesced In, Who Wished Either Altogether to Get Rid of the Religion of the Gods, or at Least to Weaken It. But Infinitely Less to Be Endured is that Skulking and Light-Shunning People of the Christians, Who Reject the Gods, and Who, Fearing to Die After Death, Do Not in the Meantime Fear to Die.
Argument: The Religion of the Christians is Foolish, Inasmuch as They Worship a Crucified Man, and Even the Instrument Itself of His Punishment. They are Said to Worship the Head of an Ass, and Even the Nature of Their Father. They are Initiated by the Slaughter and the Blood of an Infant, and in Shameless Darkness They are All Mixed Up in an Uncertain Medley.
Argument: Whatever the Christians Worship, They Strive in Every Way to Conceal: They Have No Altars, No Temples, No Acknowledged Images. Their God, Like that of the Jews, is Said to Be One, Whom, Although They are Neither Able to See Nor to Show, They Think Nevertheless to Be Mischievous, Restless, and Unseasonably Inquisitive.
Argument: Besides Asserting the Future Conflagration of the Whole World, They Promise Afterwards the Resurrection of Our Bodies: and to the Righteous an Eternity of Most Blessed Life; To the Unrighteous, of Extreme Punishment.
Argument: Moreover, What Will Happen to the Christians Themselves After Death, May Be Anticipated from the Fact that Even Now They are Destitute of All Means, and are Afflicted with the Heaviest Calamities and Miseries.
Argument: Cæcilius at Length Concludes that the New Religion is to Be Repudiated; And that We Must Not Rashly Pronounce Upon Doubtful Matters.
Argument: With Something of the Pride of Self-Satisfaction, Cæcilius Urges Octavius to Reply to His Arguments; And Minucius with Modesty Answers Him, that He Must Not Exult at His Own by No Means Ordinary Eloquence, and at the Harmonious Variety of His Address.
Argument: Cæcilius Retorts Upon Minucius, with Some Little Appearance of Being Hurt, that He is Foregoing the Office of a Religious Umpire, When He is Weakening the Force of His Argument. He Says that It Should Be Left to Octavius to Confute All that He Had Advanced.
Argument: Octavius Arranges His Reply, and Trusts that He Shall Be Able to Dilute the Bitterness of Reproach with the River of Truthful Words. He Proceeds to Weaken the Individual Arguments of Cæcilius. Nobody Need Complain that the Christians, Unlearned Though They May Be, Dispute About Heavenly Things Because It is Not the Authority of Him Who Argues, But the Truth of the Argument Itself, that Should Be Considered.
Argument: Man Ought Indeed to Know Himself, But This Knowledge Cannot Be Attained by Him Unless He First of All Acknowledges the Entire Scope of Things, and God Himself. And from the Constitution and Furniture of the World Itself, Every One Endowed with Reason Holds that It Was Established by God, and is Governed and Administered by Him.
Argument: Moreover, God Not Only Takes Care of the Universal World, But of Its Individual Parts. That by the Decree of the One God All Things are Governed, is Proved by the Illustration of Earthly Empires. But Although He, Being Infinite and Immense—And How Great He Is, is Known to Himself Alone—Cannot Either Be Seen or Named by Us, Yet His Glory is Beheld Most Clearly When the Use of All Titles is Laid Aside.
Argument: Moreover, the Poets Have Called Him the Parent of Gods and Men, the Creator of All Things, and Their Mind and Spirit. And, Besides, Even the More Excellent Philosophers Have Come Almost to the Same Conclusion as the Christians About the Unity of God.
Argument: But If the World is Ruled by Providence and Governed by the Will of One God, an Ignorant Antipathy Ought Not to Carry Us Away into the Error of Agreement with It: Although Delighted with Its Own Fables, It Has Brought in Ridiculous Traditions. Nor is It Shown Less Plainly that the Worship of the Gods Has Always Been Silly and Impious, in that the Most Ancient of Men Have Venerated Their Kings, Their Illustrious Generals, and Inventors of Arts, on Account of Their Remarkable Deeds, No Otherwise Than as Gods.
Argument: Octavius Attests the Fact that Men Were Adopted as Gods, by the Testimony of Euhemerus, Prodicus, Persæus, and Alexander the Great, Who Enumerate the Country, the Birthdays, and the Burial-Places of the Gods. Moreover He Sets Forth the Mournful Endings, Misfortunes, and Deaths of the Gods. And, in Addition, He Laughs at the Ridiculous and Disgusting Absurdities Which the Heathens Continually Allege About the Form and Appearance of Their Gods.
Argument: Moreover, These Fables, Which at First Were Invented by Ignorant Men, Were Afterwards Celebrated by Others, and Chiefly by Poets, Who Did No Little Mischief to the Truth by Their Authority. By Fictions of This Kind, and by Falsehoods of a Yet More Attractive Nature, the Minds of Young People are Corrupted, and Thence They Miserably Grow Old in These Beliefs, Although, on the Other Hand, the Truth is Obvious to Them If They Will Only Seek After It.
Argument: Although the Heathens Acknowledge Their Kings to Be Mortal, Yet They Feign that They are Gods Even Against Their Own Will, Not Because of Their Belief in Their Divinity, But in Honour of the Power that They Have Exerted. Yet a True God Has Neither Rising Nor Setting. Thence Octavius Criticises the Images and Shrines of the Gods.
Argument: He Briefly Shows, Moreover, What Ridiculous, Obscene, and Cruel Rites Were Observed in Celebrating the Mysteries of Certain Gods.
Argument: Then He Shows that Cæcilius Had Been Wrong in Asserting that the Romans Had Gained Their Power Over the Whole World by Means of the Due Observance of Superstitions of This Kind. Rather the Romans in Their Origin Were Collected by Crime, and Grew by the Terrors of Their Ferocity. And Therefore the Romans Were Not So Great Because They Were Religious, But Because They Were Sacrilegious with Impunity.
Argument: The Weapon that Cæcilius Had Slightly Brandished Against Him, Taken from the Auspices and Auguries of Birds, Octavius Retorts by Instancing the Cases of Regulus, Mancinus, Paulus, and Cæsar. And He Shows by Other Examples, that the Argument from the Oracles is of No Greater Force Than the Others.
Argument: Recapitulation. Doubtless Here is a Source of Error: Demons Lurk Under the Statues and Images, They Haunt the Fanes, They Animate the Fibres of the Entrails, Direct the Flights of Birds, Govern the Lots, Pour Forth Oracles Involved in False Responses. These Things Not from God; But They are Constrained to Confess When They are Adjured in the Name of the True God, and are Driven from the Possessed Bodies. Hence They Flee Hastily from the Neighbourhood of Christians, and Stir Up a Hatred Against Them in the Minds of the Gentiles Who Begin to Hate Them Before They Know Them.
Argument: Nor is It Only Hatred that They Arouse Against the Christians, But They Charge Against Them Horrid Crimes, Which Up to This Time Have Been Proved by Nobody. This is the Work of Demons. For by Them a False Report is Both Set on Foot and Propagated. The Christians are Falsely Accused of Sacrilege, of Incest, of Adultery, of Parricide; And, Moreover, It is Certain and True that the Very Same Crimes, or Crimes Like to or Greater Than These, are in Fact Committed by the Gentiles Themselves.
Argument: Nor is It More True that a Man Fastened to a Cross on Account of His Crimes is Worshipped by Christians, for They Believe Not Only that He Was Innocent, But with Reason that He Was God. But, on the Other Hand, the Heathens Invoke the Divine Powers of Kings Raised into Gods by Themselves; They Pray to Images, and Beseech Their Genii.
Argument: The Story About Christians Drinking the Blood of an Infant that They Have Murdered, is a Barefaced Calumny. But the Gentiles, Both Cruelly Expose Their Children Newly Born, and Before They are Born Destroy Them by a Cruel Abortion. Christians are Neither Allowed to See Nor to Hear of Manslaughter.
Argument: The Charge of Our Entertainments Being Polluted with Incest, is Entirely Opposed to All Probability, While It is Plain that Gentiles are Actually Guilty of Incest. The Banquets of Christians are Not Only Modest, But Temperate. In Fact, Incestuous Lust is So Unheard Of, that with Many Even the Modest Association of the Sexes Gives Rise to a Blush.
Argument: Nor Can It Be Said that the Christians Conceal What They Worship Because They Have No Temples and No Altars, Inasmuch as They are Persuaded that God Can Be Circumscribed by No Temple, and that No Likeness of Him Can Be Made. But He is Everywhere Present, Sees All Things, Even the Most Secret Thoughts of Our Hearts; And We Live Near to Him, and in His Protection.
Argument: That Even If God Be Said to Have Nothing Availed the Jews, Certainly the Writers of the Jewish Annals are the Most Sufficient Witnesses that They Forsook God Before They Were Forsaken by Him.
Argument: Moreover, It is Not at All to Be Wondered at If This World is to Be Consumed by Fire, Since Everything Which Has a Beginning Has Also an End. And the Ancient Philosophers are Not Averse from the Opinion of the Probable Burning Up of the World. Yet It is Evident that God, Having Made Man from Nothing, Can Raise Him Up from Death into Life. And All Nature Suggests a Future Resurrection.
Argument: Righteous and Pious Men Shall Be Rewarded with Never-Ending Felicity, But Unrighteous Men Shall Be Visited with Eternal Punishment. The Morals of Christians are Far More Holy Than Those of the Gentiles.
Argument: Fate is Nothing, Except So Far as Fate is God. Man's Mind is Free, and Therefore So is His Action: His Birth is Not Brought into Judgment. It is Not a Matter of Infamy, But of Glory, that Christians are Reproached for Their Poverty; And the Fact that They Suffer Bodily Evils is Not as a Penalty, But as a Discipline.
Argument: Tortures Most Unjustly Inflicted for the Confession of Christ's Name are Spectacles Worthy of God. A Comparison Instituted Between Some of the Bravest of the Heathens and the Holy Martyrs. He Declares that Christians Do Not Present Themselves at Public Shows and Processions, Because They Know Them, with the Greatest Certainty, to Be No Less Impious Than Cruel.
Argument: Christians Abstain from Things Connected with Idol Sacrifices, Lest Any One Should Think Either that They Yield to Demons, or that They are Ashamed of Their Religion. They Do Not Indeed Despise All the Colour and Scent of Flowers, for They are Accustomed to Use Them Scattered About Loosely and Negligently, as Well as to Entwine Their Necks with Garlands; But to Crown the Head of a Corpse They Think Superfluous and Useless. Moreover, with the Same Tranquillity with Which They Live They Bury Their Dead, Waiting with a Very Certain Hope the Crown of Eternal Felicity. Therefore Their Religion, Rejecting All the Superstitions of the Gentiles, Should Be Adopted as True by All Men.
Argument: When Octavius Had Finished This Address, Minucius and Cæcilius Sate for Some Time in Attentive and Silent Wonder. And Minucius Indeed Kept Silence in Admiration of Octavius, Silently Revolving What He Had Heard.
Argument: Then Cæcilius Exclaims that He is Vanquished by Octavius; And That, Being Now Conqueror Over Error, He Professes the Christian Religion. He Postpones, However, Till the Morrow His Training in the Fuller Belief of Its Mysteries.
Argument: Finally, All are Pleased, and Joyfully Depart: Cæcilius, that He Had Believed; Octavius, that He Had Conquered; And Minucius, that the Former Had Believed, and the Latter Had Conquered.
Elucidations.
Introductory Note.
Preface.
God's Indignation.
The Worship of Demons.
Saturn.
Jupiter.
Of the Same Jupiter's Thunderbolt.
Of the Septizonium and the Stars.
Of the Sun and Moon.
Mercury.
Neptune.
Apollo the Soothsaying and False.
Father Liber—Bacchus.
The Unconquered One.
Sylvanus.
Hercules.
Of the Gods and Goddesses.
Of Their Images.
Of Ammydates and the Great God.
Of the Vain Nemesiaci.
The Titans.
The Montesiani.
The Dulness of the Age.
Of Those Who are Everywhere Ready.
Of Those Who Live Between the Two.
They Who Fear and Will Not Believe.
To Those Who Resist the Law of Christ the Living God.
O Fool, Thou Dost Not Die to God.
The Righteous Rise Again.
To the Wicked and Unbelieving Rich Man.
Rich Men, Be Humble.
To Judges.
To Self-Pleasers.
To the Gentiles.
Moreover, to Ignorant Gentiles.
Of the Tree of Life and Death.
Of the Foolishness of the Cross.
The Fanatics Who Judaize.
To the Jews.
Also to the Jews.
Again to the Same.
Of the Time of Antichrist.
Of the Hidden and Holy People of the Almighty Christ, the Living God.
Of the End of This Age.
Of the First Resurrection.
Of the Day of Judgment.
To Catechumens.
To the Faithful.
O Faithful, Beware of Evil.
To Penitents.
Who Have Apostatized from God.
Of Infants.
Deserters.
To the Soldiers of Christ.
Of Fugitives.
Of the Seed of the Tares.
To the Dissembler.
That Worldly Things are Absolutely to Be Avoided.
That the Christian Should Be Such.
To the Matrons of the Church of the Living God.
To the Same Again.
In the Church to All the People of God.
To Him Who Wishes for Martyrdom.
The Daily War.
Of the Zeal of Concupiscence.
They Who Give from Evil.
Of a Deceitful Peace.
To Ministers.
To God's Shepherds.
I Speak to the Elder-Born.
To Visit the Sick.
To the Poor in Health.
That Sons are Not to Be Bewailed.
Of Funeral Pomp.
To the Clerks.
Of Those Who Gossip, and of Silence.
To the Drunkards.
To the Pastors.
To the Petitioners.
The Name of the Man of Gaza.
Elucidation.
Introductory Note.
Preface.
Life.
Exegetical Works.
Critical Works.
Apologetical Works.
Dogmatic Works.
Practical Works.
Editions of Origin.
Prefatory Notice.
Origen De Principiis.
Letters
Origen Against Celsus.
Preface.
Introductory Notice.
The Refutation of All Heresies.
Contents.
The Proœmium.—Motives for Undertaking the Refutation; Exposure of the Ancient Mysteries; Plan of the Work; Completeness of the Refutation; Value of the Treatise to Future Ages.
Thales; His Physics and Theology; Founder of Greek Astronomy.
Pythagoras; His Cosmogony; Rules of His Sect; Discoverer of Physiognomy; His Philosophy of Numbers; His System of the Transmigration of Souls; Zaratas on Demons; Why Pythagoras Forbade the Eating of Beans; The Mode of Living Adopted by His Disciples.
Empedocles; His Twofold Cause; Tenet of Transmigration.
Heraclitus; His Universal Dogmatism; His Theory of Flux; Other Systems.
Anaximander; His Theory of the Infinite; His Astronomic Opinions; His Physics.
Anaximenes; His System of “An Infinite Air;” His Views of Astronomy and Natural Phenomena.
Anaxagoras; His Theory of Mind; Recognises an Efficient Cause; His Cosmogony and Astronomy.
Archelaus; System Akin to that of Anaxagoras; His Origin of the Earth and of Animals; Other Systems.
Parmenides; His Theory of “Unity;” His Eschatology.
Leucippus; His Atomic Theory.
Democritus; His Duality of Principles; His Cosmogony.
Xenophanes; His Scepticism; His Notions of God and Nature; Believes in a Flood.
Ecphantus; His Scepticism; Tenet of Infinity.
Hippo; His Duality of Principles; His Psychology.
Socrates; His Philosophy Reproduced by Plato.
Plato; Threefold Classification of Principles; His Idea of God; Different Opinions Regarding His Theology and Psychology; His Eschatology and System of Metempsychosis; His Ethical Doctrines; Notions on the Free-Will Question.
Aristotle; Duality of Principles; His Categories; His Psychology; His Ethical Doctrines; Origin of the Epithet “Peripatetic.”
The Stoics; Their Superiority in Logic; Fatalists; Their Doctrine of Conflagrations.
Epicurus; Adopts the Democritic Atomism; Denial of Divine Providence; The Principle of His Ethical System.
The Academics; Difference of Opinion Among Them.
The Brachmans; Their Mode of Life; Ideas of Deity; Different Sorts Of; Their Ethical Notions.
The Druids; Progenitors of Their System.
Hesiod; The Nine Muses; The Hesiodic Cosmogony; The Ancient Speculators, Materialists; Derivative Character of the Heresies from Heathen Philosophy.
System of the Astrologers; Sidereal Influence; Configuration of the Stars.
Doctrines Concerning Æons; The Chaldean Astrology; Heresy Derivable from It.
The Horoscope the Foundation of Astrology; Indiscoverability of the Horoscope; Therefore the Futility of the Chaldean Art.
Impossibility of Fixing the Horoscope; Failure of an Attempt to Do This at the Period of Birth.
Another Method of Fixing the Horoscope at Birth; Equally Futile; Use of the Clepsydra in Astrology; The Predictions of the Chaldeans Not Verified.
Zodiacal Influence; Origin of Sidereal Names.
Practical Absurdity of the Chaldaic Art; Development of the Art.
Prodigies of the Astrologers; System of the Astronomers; Chaldean Doctrine of Circles; Distances of the Heavenly Bodies.
Further Astronomic Calculations.
Theory of Stellar Motion and Distance in Accordance with Harmony.
Theory of the Size of the Heavenly Bodies in Accordance with Numerical Harmonies.
Waste of Mental Energy in the Systems of the Astrologers.
Mention of the Heretic Colarbasus; Alliance Between Heresy and the Pythagorean Philosophy.
System of the Arithmeticians; Predictions Through Calculations; Numerical Roots; Transference of These Doctrines to Letters; Examples in Particular Names; Different Methods of Calculation; Prescience Possible by These.
Quibbles of the Numerical Theorists; The Art of the Frontispicists (Physiognomy); Connection of This Art with Astrology; Type of Those Born Under Aries.
Type of Those Born Under Taurus.
Type of Those Born Under Gemini.
Type of Those Born Under Cancer.
Type of Those Born Under Leo.
Type of Those Born Under Virgo.
Type of Those Born Under Libra.
Type of Those Born Under Scorpio.
Type of Those Born Under Sagittarius.
Type of Those Born Under Capricorn.
Type of Those Born Under Aquarius.
Type of Those Born Under Pisces.
Futility of This Theory of Stellar Influence.
System of the Magicians; Incantations of Demons; Secret Magical Rites.
Display of Different Eggs.
Self-Slaughter of Sheep.
Method of Poisoning Goats.
Imitations of Thunder, and Other Illusions.
The Burning Æsculapius; Tricks with Fire.
The Illusion of the Sealed Letters; Object in Detailing These Juggleries.
The Divination by a Cauldron; Illusion of Fiery Demons; Specimen of a Magical Invocation.
Mode of Managing an Apparition.
Illusive Appearance of the Moon.
Illusive Appearance of the Stars.
Imitation of an Earthquake.
Trick with the Liver.
Making a Skull Speak.
The Fraud of the Foregoing Practices; Their Connection with Heresy.
Recapitulation of Theologies and Cosmogonies; System of the Persians; Of the Babylonians; The Egyptian Notion of Deity; Their Theology Based on a Theory of Numbers; Their System of Cosmogony.
Egyptian Theory of Nature; Their Amulets.
Use of the Foregoing Discussions.
The Astrotheosophists; Aratus Imitated by the Heresiarchs; His System of the Disposition of the Stars.
Opinions of the Heretics Borrowed from Aratus.
Invention of the Lyre; Allegorizing the Appearance and Position of the Stars; Origin of the Phœnicians; The Logos Identified by Aratus with the Constellation Canis; Influence of Canis on Fertility and Life Generally.
Symbol of the Creature; And of Spirit; And of the Different Orders of Animals.
Folly of Astrology.
The Hebdomadarii; System of the Arithmeticians; Pressed into the Service of Heresy; Instances Of, in Simon and Valentinus; The Nature of the Universe Deducible from the Physiology of the Brain.
Note.
Contents.
Recapitulation; Characteristics of Heresy; Origin of the Name Naasseni; The System of the Naasseni.
Naasseni Ascribe Their System, Through Mariamne, to James the Lord's Brother; Really Traceable to the Ancient Mysteries; Their Psychology as Given in the “Gospel According to Thomas;” Assyrian Theory of the Soul; The Systems of the Naasseni and the Assyrians Compared; Support Drawn by the Naasseni from the Phrygian and Egyptian Mysteries; The Mysteries of Isis; These Mysteries Allegorized by the Naasseni.
Further Exposition of the Heresy of the Naasseni; Profess to Follow Homer; Acknowledge a Triad of Principles; Their Technical Names of the Triad; Support These on the Authority of Greek Poets; Allegorize Our Saviour's Miracles; The Mystery of the Samothracians; Why the Lord Chose Twelve Disciples; The Name Corybas, Used by Thracians and Phrygians, Explained; Naasseni Profess to Find Their System in Scripture; Their Interpretation of Jacob's Vision; Their Idea of the “Perfect Man;” The “Perfect Man” Called “Papa” By the Phrygians; The Naasseni and Phrygians on the Resurrection; The Ecstasis of St. Paul; The Mysteries of Religion as Alluded to by Christ; Interpretation of the Parable of the Sower; Allegory of the Promised Land; Comparison of the System of the Phrygians with the Statements of Scripture; Exposition of the Meaning of the Higher and Lower Eleusinian Mysteries; The Incarnation Discoverable Here According to the Naasseni.
Further Use Made of the System of the Phrygians; Mode of Celebrating the Mysteries; The Mystery of the “Great Mother;” These Mysteries Have a Joint Object of Worship with the Naasseni; The Naasseni Allegorize the Scriptural Account of the Garden of Eden; The Allegory Applied to the Life of Jesus.
Explanation of the System of the Naasseni Taken from One of Their Hymns.
The Ophites the Grand Source of Heresy.
The System of the Peratæ; Their Tritheism; Explanation of the Incarnation.
The Peratæ Derive Their System from the Astrologers; This Proved by a Statement of the Astrological Theories of the Zodiac; Hence the Terminology of the Peratic Heretics.
System of the Peratæ Explained Out of One of Their Own Books.
The Peratic Heresy Nominally Different from Astrology, But Really the Same System Allegorized.
Why They Call Themselves Peratæ; Their Theory of Generation Supported by an Appeal to Antiquity; Their Interpretation of the Exodus of Israel; Their System of “The Serpent;” Deduced by Them from Scripture; This the Real Import of the Doctrines of the Astrologers.
Compendious Statement of the Doctrines of the Peratæ.
The Peratic Heresy Not Generally Known.
The System of the Sethians; Their Triad of Infinite Principles; Their Heresy Explained; Their Interpretation of the Incarnation.
The Sethians Support Their Doctrines by an Allegorical Interpretation of Scripture; Their System Really Derived from Natural Philosophers and from the Orphic Rites; Adopt the Homeric Cosmogony.
The Sethian Theory Concerning “Mixture” And “Composition;” Application of It to Christ; Illustration from the Well of Ampa.
The Sethian Doctrines to Be Learned from the “Paraphrase of Seth.”
The System of Justinus Antiscriptural and Essentially Pagan.
The Justinian Heresy Unfolded in the “Book of Baruch.”
The Cosmogony of Justinus an Allegorical Explanation of Herodotus' Legend of Hercules.
Justinus' Triad of Principles; His Angelography Founded on This Triad; His Explanation of the Birth, Life, and Death of Our Lord.
Oath Used by the Justinian Heretics; The Book of Baruch; The Repertory of Their System.
Subsequent Heresies Deducible from the System of Justinus.
Contents.
The Ophites the Progenitors of Subsequent Heresies.
Simon Magus.
Story of Apsethus the Libyan.
Simon's Forced Interpretation of Scripture; Plagiarizes from Heraclitus and Aristotle; Simon's System of Sensible and Intelligible Existences.
Simon Appeals to Scripture in Support of His System.
Simon's System Expounded in the Work, Great Announcement; Follows Empedocles.
Simon's System of a Threefold Emanation by Pairs.
Further Progression of This Threefold Emanation; Co-Existence with the Double Triad of a Seventh Existence.
Simon's Interpretation of the Mosaic Hexaëmeron; His Allegorical Representation of Paradise.
Simon's Explanation of the First Two Books of Moses.
Simon's Explanation of the Three Last Books of the Pentateuch.
Fire a Primal Principle, According to Simon.
His Doctrine of Emanation Further Expanded.
Simon Interprets His System by the Mythological Representation of Helen of Troy; Gives an Account of Himself in Connection with the Trojan Heroine; Immorality of His Followers; Simon's View of Christ; The Simonists' Apology for Their Vice.
Simon's Disciples Adopt the Mysteries; Simon Meets St. Peter at Rome; Account of Simon's Closing Years.
Heresy of Valentinus; Derived from Plato and Pythagoras.
Origin of the Greek Philosophy.
Pythagoras' System of Numbers.
Pythagoras' Duality of Substances; His “Categories.”
Pythagoras' Cosmogony; Similar to that of Empedocles.
Other Opinions of Pythagoras.
The “Sayings” Of Pythagoras.
Pythagoras' Astronomic System.
Valentinus Convicted of Plagiarisms from the Platonic and Pythagoric Philosophy; The Valentinian Theory of Emanation by Duads.
The Tenet of the Duad Made the Foundation of Valentinus' System of the Emanation of Æons.
Valentinus' Explanation of the Existence of Christ and the Spirit.
Valentinus' Explanation of the Existence of Jesus; Power of Jesus Over Humanity.
The Valentinian Origin of the Creation.
The Other Valentinian Emanations in Conformity with the Pythagorean System of Numbers.
Valentinus' Explanation of the Birth of Jesus; Twofold Doctrine on the Nature of Jesus' Body; Opinion of the Italians, that Is, Heracleon and Ptolemæus; Opinion of the Orientals, that Is, Axionicus and Bardesanes.
Further Doctrines of Valentinus Respecting the Æons; Reasons for the Incarnation.
Valentinus Convicted of Plagiarisms from Plato.
Secundus' System of Æons; Epiphanes; Ptolemæus.
System of Marcus; A Mere Impostor; His Wicked Devices Upon the Eucharistic Cup.
Further Acts of Jugglery on the Part of Marcus.
The Heretical Practices of the Marcites in Regard of Baptism.
Marcus' System Explained by Irenæus; Marcus' Vision; The Vision of Valentinus Revealing to Him His System.
Marcus' System of Letters.
The Quaternion Exhibits “Truth.”
The Name of Christ Jesus.
Marcus' Mystic Interpretation of the Alphabet.
His System Applied to Explain Our Lord's Life and Death.
Letters, Symbols of the Heavens.
Respecting the Generation of the Twenty-Four Letters.
Why Jesus is Called Alpha.
Marcus' Account of the Birth and Life of Our Lord.
The System of Marcus Shown to Be that of Pythagoras, by Quotations from the Writings of Marcus' Followers.
Their Cosmogony Framed According to These Mystic Doctrines of Letters.
The Work of the Demiurge Perishable.
Marcus and Colarbasus Refuted by Irenæus.
Contents.
Heresy Compared to (1) the Stormy Ocean, (2) the Rocks of the Sirens; Moral from Ulysses and the Sirens.
The System of Basilides Derived from Aristotle.
Sketch of Aristotle's Philosophy.
Aristotle's General Idea.
Nonentity as a Cause.
Substance, According to Aristotle; The Predicates.
Aristotle's Cosmogony; His “Psychology;” His “Entelecheia;” His Theology; His Ethics; Basilides Follows Aristotle.
Basilides and Isidorus Allege Apostolic Sanction for Their Systems; They Really Follow Aristotle.
Basilides Adopts the Aristotelian Doctrine of “Nonentity.”
Origin of the World; Basilides' Account of the “Sonship.”
The “Great Archon” Of Basilides.
Basilides Adopts the “Entelecheia” Of Aristotle.
Further Explanation of the “Sonship.”
Whence Came the Gospel; The Number of Heavens According to Basilides; Explanation of Christ's Miraculous Conception.
God's Dealings with the Creature; Basilides' Notion of (1) the Inner Man, (2) the Gospel; His Interpretation of the Life and Sufferings of Our Lord.
The System of Saturnilus.
Marcion; His Dualism; Derives His System from Empedocles; Sketch of the Doctrine of Empedocles.
Source of Marcionism; Empedocles Reasserted as the Suggester of the Heresy.
The Heresy of Prepon; Follows Empedocles; Marcion Rejects the Generation of the Saviour.
The Heresy of Carpocrates; Wicked Doctrines Concerning Jesus Christ; Practise Magical Arts; Adopt a Metempsychosis.
The System of Cerinthus Concerning Christ.
Doctrine of the Ebionæans.
The Heresy of Theodotus.
The Melchisedecians; The Nicolaitans.
The Heresy of Cerdon.
The Doctrines of Apelles; Philumene, His Prophetess.
Contents.
An Account of Contemporaneous Heresy.
Source of the Heresy of Noetus; Cleomenes His Disciple; Its Appearance at Rome During the Episcopates of Zephyrinus and Callistus; Noetianism Opposed at Rome by Hippolytus.
Noetianism an Offshoot from the Heraclitic Philosophy.
An Account of the System of Heraclitus.
Heraclitus' Estimate of Hesiod; Paradoxes of Heraclitus; His Eschatology; The Heresy of Noetus of Heraclitean Origin; Noetus' View of the Birth and Passion of Our Lord.
Conduct of Callistus and Zephyrinus in the Matter of Noetianism; Avowed Opinion of Zephyrinus Concerning Jesus Christ; Disapproval of Hippolytus; As a Contemporaneous Event, Hippolytus Competent to Explain It.
The Personal History of Callistus; His Occupation as a Banker; Fraud on Carpophorus; Callistus Absconds; Attempted Suicide; Condemned to the Treadmill; Re-Condemnation by Order of the Prefect Fuscianus; Banished to Sardinia; Release of Callistus by the Interference Of Marcion; Callistus Arrives at Rome; Pope Victor Removes Callistus to Antium; Return of Callistus on Victor's Death; Zephyrinus Friendly to Him; Callistus Accused by Sabellius; Hippolytus' Account of the Opinions of Callistus; The Callistian School at Rome, and Its Practices; This Sect in Existence in Hippolytus' Time.
Sect of the Elchasaites; Hippolytus' Opposition to It.
Elchasai Derived His System from Pythagoras; Practised Incantations.
Elchasai's Mode of Administering Baptism; Formularies.
Precepts of Elchasai.
The Heresy of the Elchasaites a Derivative One.
The Jewish Sects.
The Tenets of the Esseni.
The Tenets of the Esseni Continued.
The Tenets of the Esseni Continued.
The Tenets of the Esseni Continued.
The Tenets of the Esseni Continued.
The Tenets of the Esseni Continued.
The Tenets of the Esseni Concluded.
Different Sects of the Esseni.
Belief of the Esseni in the Resurrection; Their System a Suggestive One.
Another Sect of the Esseni: the Pharisees.
The Sadducees.
The Jewish Religion.
Conclusion to the Work Explained.
The Extant Works and Fragments of Hippolytus. Exegetical.
Dogmatical and Historical.
Appendix to the Works of Hippolytus. Containing Dubious and Spurious Pieces.
Introductory Notice to Cyprian.
I.— To Donatus.
II.— From the Roman Clergy to the Carthaginian Clergy, About the Retirement of the Blessed Cyprian.
III.— To the Presbyters and Deacons Abiding at Rome. A.D. 250.
IV.— To the Presbyters and Deacons.
V.— To the Presbyters and Deacons.
VI.— To Rogatianus the Presbyter, and the Other Confessors. A.D. 250.
VII.— To the Clergy, Concerning Prayer to God.
VIII.— To the Martyrs and Confessors.
IX.— To the Clergy, Concerning Certain Presbyters Who Had Rashly Granted Peace to the Lapsed Before the Persecution Had Been Appeased, and Without the Privity of the Bishops.
X.— To the Martyrs and Confessors Who Sought that Peace Should Be Granted to the Lapsed.
XI.— To the People.
XII.— To the Clergy, Concerning the Lapsed and Catechumens, that They Should Not Be Left Without Superintendence.
XIII.— To the Clergy, Concerning Those Who are in Haste to Receive Peace. A.D. 250.
XIV.— To the Presbyters and Deacons Assembled at Rome.
XV.— To Moyses and Maximus, and the Rest of the Confessors.
XVI.— The Confessors to Cyprian.
XVII.— To the Presbyters and Deacons About the Foregoing and the Following Letters.
XVIII.— Caldonius to Cyprian.
XIX.— Cyprian Replies to Caldonius.
XX.— Celerinus to Lucian.
XXI.— Lucian Replies to Celerinus.
XXII.— To the Clergy Abiding at Rome, Concerning Many of the Confessors, and Concerning the Forwardness of Lucian and the Modesty of Celerinus the Confessor.
XXIII.— To the Clergy, on the Letters Sent to Rome, and About the Appointment of Saturus as Reader, and Optatus as Sub-Deacon. A.D. 250.
XXIV.— To Moyses and Maximus and the Rest of the Confessors.
XXV.— Moyses, Maximus, Nicostratus, and the Other Confessors Answer the Foregoing Letter. A.D. 250.
XXVI.— Cyprian to the Lapsed.
XXVII.— To the Presbyters and Deacons.
XXVIII.— To the Presbyters and Deacons Abiding at Rome.
XXIX.— The Presbyters and Deacons Abiding at Rome, to Cyprian.
XXX.— The Roman Clergy to Cyprian.
XXXI.— To the Carthaginian Clergy, About the Letters Sent to Rome, and Received Thence.
XXXII.— To the Clergy and People, About the Ordination of Aurelius as a Reader.
XXXIII.— To the Clergy and People, About the Ordination of Celerinus as Reader.
XXXIV.— To the Same, About the Ordination of Numidicus as Presbyter.
XXXV.— To the Clergy, Concerning the Care of the Poor and Strangers.
XXXVI.— To the Clergy, Bidding Them Show Every Kindness to the Confessors in Prison.
XXXVII.— To Caldonius, Herculanus, and Others, About the Excommunication of Felicissimus.
XXXVIII.— The Letter of Caldonius, Herculanus, and Others, on the Excommunication of Felicissimus with His People.
XXXIX.— To the People, Concerning Five Schismatic Presbyters of the Faction of Felicissimus.
XL.— To Cornelius, on His Refusal to Receive Novatian's Ordination.
XLI.— To Cornelius, About Cyprian's Approval of His Ordination, and Concerning Felicissimus.
XLII.— To the Same, on His Having Sent Letters to the Confessors Whom Novatian Had Seduced.
XLIII.— To the Roman Confessors, that They Should Return to Unity.
XLIV.— To Cornelius, Concerning Polycarp the Adrumetine.
XLV.— Cornelius to Cyprian, on the Return of the Confessors to Unity.
XLVI.— Cyprian's Answer to Cornelius, Congratulating Him on the Return of the Confessors from Schism.
XLVII.— Cornelius to Cyprian, Concerning the Faction of Novatian with His Party.
XLVIII.— Cyprian's Answer to Cornelius, Concerning the Crimes of Novatus.
XLIX.— Maximus and the Other Confessors to Cyprian, About Their Return from Schism.
L.— From Cyprian to the Confessors, Congratulating Them on Their Return from Schism.
LI.— To Antonianus About Cornelius and Novatian.
LII.— To Fortunatus and His Other Colleagues, Concerning Those Who Had Been Overcome by Tortures.
LIII.— To Cornelius, Concerning Granting Peace to the Lapsed.
LIV.— To Cornelius, Concerning Fortunatus and Felicissimus, or Against the Heretics.
LV.— To the People of Thibaris, Exhorting to Martyrdom.
LVI.— To Cornelius in Exile, Concerning His Confession.
LVII.— To Lucius The Bishop of Rome, Returned from Banishment.
LVIII.— To Fidus, on the Baptism of Infants.
LIX.— To the Numidian Bishops, on the Redemption of Their Brethren from Captivity Among the Barbarians.
LX.— To Euchratius, About an Actor.
LXI.— To Pomponius, Concerning Some Virgins.
LXII.— Cæcilius, on the Sacrament of the Cup of the Lord.
LXIII.— To Epictetus and to the Congregation of Assuræ, Concerning Fortunatianus, Formerly Their Bishop.
LXIV.— To Rogatianus, Concerning the Deacon Who Contended Against the Bishop.
LXV.— To the Clergy and People Abiding at Furni, About Victor, Who Had Made the Presbyter Faustinus a Guardian.
LXVI.— To Father Stephanus, Concerning Marcianus of Arles, Who Had Joined Himself to Novatian.
LXVII.— To the Clergy and People Abiding in Spain, Concerning Basilides and Martial.
LXVIII.— To Florentius Pupianus, on Calumniators.
LXIX.— To Januarius and Other Numidian Bishops, on Baptizing Heretics.
LXX.— To Quintus, Concerning the Baptism of Heretics.
LXXI.— To Stephen, Concerning a Council.
LXXII.— To Jubaianus, Concerning the Baptism of Heretics.
LXXIII.— To Pompey, Against the Epistle of Stephen About the Baptism of Heretics.
LXXIV.— Firmilian, Bishop of Cæsarea in Cappadocia, to Cyprian, Against the Letter of Stephen. A.D. 256.
LXXV.— To Magnus, on Baptizing the Novatians, and Those Who Obtain Grace on a Sick-Bed.
LXXVI.— Cyprian to Nemesianus and Other Martyrs in the Mines.
LXXVII.— The Reply of Nemesianus, Dativus, Felix, and Victor, to Cyprian.
LXXVIII.— The Reply to the Same of Lucius and the Rest of the Martyrs.
LXXIX.— The Answer of Felix, Jader, Polianus, and the Rest of the Martyrs, to Cyprian.
LXXX.— Cyprian to Sergius, Rogatianus, and the Other Confessors in Prison.
LXXXI.— To Successus on the Tidings Brought from Rome, Telling of the Persecution.
LXXXII.— To the Clergy and People Concerning His Retirement, a Little Before His Martyrdom.
Elucidations.
Preface.
Heads of the Following Book.
That idols are not gods, and that the elements are not to be worshipped in the place of gods.
That God alone must be worshipped.
What is God's threatening against those who sacrifice to idols?
That God does not easily pardon idolaters.
That God is so angry against idolatry, that He has even enjoined those to be slain who persuade others to sacrifice and serve idols.
That, being redeemed and quickened by the blood of Christ, we ought to prefer nothing to Christ.
That those who are snatched from the jaws of the devil, and delivered from the snares of this world, ought not again to return to the world, lest they should lose the advantage of their withdrawal therefrom.
That we must press on and persevere in faith and virtue, and in completion of heavenly and spiritual grace, that we may attain to the palm and the crown.
That afflictions and persecutions arise for the sake of our being proved.
That injuries and penalties of persecutions are not to be feared by us, because greater is the Lord to protect than the devil to assault.
That it was before predicted that the world would hold us in abhorrence, and that it would stir up persecutions against us, and that no new thing is happening to the Christians, since from the beginning of the world the good have suffered, and the righteous have been oppressed and slain by the unrighteous.
What hope and reward remains for the righteous and for martyrs after the conflicts and sufferings of this present time.
That we receive more as the reward of our suffering than what we endure here in the suffering itself.
Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews.
Heads.
That the Jews have fallen under the heavy wrath of God because they have forsaken the Lord, and have followed idols.
Also because they did not believe the prophets, and put them to death.
That it was previously foretold that they would neither know the Lord, nor understand, nor receive Him.
That the Jews would not understand the Holy Scriptures, but that they would be intelligible in the last times, after that Christ had come.
That the Jews could understand nothing of the Scriptures unless they first believed in Christ.
That the Jews should lose Jerusalem, and should leave the land which they had received.
Also that they should lose the Light of the Lord.
That the first circumcision of the flesh is made void, and the second circumcision of the spirit is promised instead.
That the former law which was given by Moses was to cease.
That a new law was to be given.
That another dispensation and a new covenant was to be given.
That the old baptism should cease, and a new one should begin.
That the old yoke should be made void, and a new yoke should be given.
That the old pastors should cease and new ones begin.
That Christ should be the house and temple of God, and that the old temple should cease, and the new one should begin.
That the ancient sacrifice should be made void, and a new one should be celebrated.
That the old priesthood should cease, and a new priest should come, who should be for ever.
That another Prophet such as Moses was promised, to wit, one who should give a new testament, and who rather ought to be heard.
That two peoples were foretold, the elder and the younger; that is, the old people of the Jews, and the new one which should consist of us.
That the Church which before had been barren should have more children from among the Gentiles than what the synagogue had had before.
That the Gentiles should rather believe in Christ.
That the Jews would lose while we should receive the bread and the cup of Christ and all His grace, and that the new name of Christians should be blessed in the earth.
That the Gentiles rather than the Jews attain to the kingdom of heaven.
That by this alone the Jews can receive pardon of their sins, if they wash away the blood of Christ slain, in His baptism, and, passing over into His Church, obey His precepts.
Heads.
That Christ is the First-born, and that He is the Wisdom of God, by whom all things were made.
That Christ is the Wisdom of God; and concerning the sacrament of His incarnation and of His passion, and cup and altar; and of the apostles who were sent, and preached.
That the same Christ is the Word of God.
That Christ is the Hand and Arm of God.
That Christ is at once Angel and God.
That Christ is God.
That Christ our God should come, the Enlightener and Saviour of the human race.
That although from the beginning He had been the Son of God, yet He had to be begotten again according to the flesh.
That this should be the sign of His nativity, that He should be born of a virgin—man and God—a son of man and a Son of God.
That Christ is both man and God, compounded of both natures, that He might be a Mediator between us and the Father.
That Christ was to be born of the seed of David, according to the flesh.
That Christ should be born in Bethlehem.
That Christ was to come in low estate in His first advent.
That He is the righteous One whom the Jews should put to death.
That Christ is called a sheep and a lamb who was to be slain, and concerning the sacrament (mystery) of the passion.
That Christ also is called a Stone.
That afterwards this Stone should become a mountain, and should fill the whole earth.
That in the last times the same mountain should be manifested, and upon it the Gentiles should come, and on it all the righteous should go up.
That Christ is the Bridegroom, having the Church as His bride, from which spiritual children were to be born.
That the Jews would fasten Christ to the cross.
That in the passion and the sign of the cross is all virtue and power.
That in this sign of the Cross is salvation for all people who are marked on their foreheads.
That at mid-day in His passion there should be darkness.
That He was not to be overcome of death, nor should remain in Hades.
That He should rise again from the dead on the third day.
That after He had risen again He should receive from His Father all power, and His power should be everlasting.
That it is impossible to attain to God the Father, except by His Son Jesus Christ.
That Jesus Christ shall come as a Judge.
That He will reign as a King for ever.
That He Himself is both Judge and King.
Preface.
Heads.
Of the benefit of good works and mercy.
In works and alms, even if by smallness of power less be done, that the will itself is sufficient.
That charity and brotherly affection are to be religiously and stedfastly practised.
That we must boast in nothing, since nothing is our own.
That humility and quietness are to be maintained in all things.
That all good and righteous men suffer more, but ought to endure because they are proved.
That we must not grieve the Holy Spirit, whom we have received.
That anger must be overcome, lest it constrain us to sin.
That brethren ought to support one another.
That we must trust in God only, and in Him we must glory.
That he who has attained to trust, having put off the former man, ought to regard only celestial and spiritual things, and to give no heed to the world which he has already renounced.
That we must not swear.
That we must not curse.
That we must never murmur, but bless God concerning all things that happen.
That men are tried by God for this purpose, that they may be proved.
Of the benefits of martyrdom.
That what we suffer in this world is of less account than is the reward which is promised.
That nothing is to be preferred to the love of God and Christ.
That we are not to obey our own will, but the will of God.
That the foundation and strength of hope and faith is fear.
That we must not rashly judge of another.
That when we have received a wrong, we must remit and forgive it.
That evil is not to be returned for evil.
That it is impossible to attain to the Father but by His Son Jesus Christ.
That unless a man have been baptized and born again, he cannot attain unto the kingdom of God.
That it is of small account to be baptized and to receive the Eucharist, unless one profit by it both in deeds and works.
That even a baptized person loses the grace that he has attained, unless he keep innocency.
That remission cannot in the Church be granted unto him who has sinned against God (i.e., the Holy Ghost).
That it was before predicted, concerning the hatred of the Name.
That what any one has vowed to God, he must quickly repay.
That he who does not believe is judged already.
Of the benefit of virginity and of continency.
That the Father judgeth nothing, but the Son; and that the Father is not glorified by him by whom the Son is not glorified.
That the believer ought not to live like the Gentile.
That God is patient for this end, that we may repent of our sin, and be reformed.
That a woman ought not to be adorned in a worldly fashion.
That the believer ought not to be punished for other offences, except for the name he bears.
That the servant of God ought to be innocent, lest he fall into secular punishment.
That there is given to us an example of living in Christ.
That we must not labour noisily nor boastfully.
That we must not speak foolishly and offensively.
That faith is of advantage altogether, and that we can do as much as we believe.
That he who believes can immediately obtain (i.e., pardon and peace).
That believers who differ among themselves ought not to refer to a Gentile judge.
That hope is of future things, and therefore that our faith concerning those things which are promised ought to be patient.
That a woman ought to be silent in the church.
That it arises from our fault and our desert that we suffer, and do not perceive God's help in everything.
That we must not take usury.
That even our enemies must be loved.
That the sacrament of faith must not be profaned.
That no one should be uplifted in his labour.
That the liberty of believing or of not believing is placed in free choice.
That the secrets of God cannot be seen through, and therefore that our faith ought to be simple.
That no one is without filth and without sin.
That we must not please men, but God.
That nothing that is done is hidden from God.
That the believer is amended and reserved.
That no one should be made sad by death; since in living is labour and peril, in dying peace and the certainty of resurrection.
Of the idols which the Gentiles think to be gods.
That too great lust of food is not to be desired.
That the lust of possessing, and money, are not to be sought for.
That marriage is not to be contracted with Gentiles.
That the sin of fornication is grievous.
What are those carnal things which beget death, and what are the spiritual things which lead to life.
That all sins are put away in baptism.
That the discipline of God is to be observed in Church precepts.
That it was foretold that men should despise sound discipline.
That we must depart from him who lives irregularly and contrary to discipline.
That the kingdom of God is not in the wisdom of the world, nor in eloquence, but in the faith of the cross, and in virtue of conversation.
That we must obey parents.
And that fathers also should not be harsh in respect of their children.
That servants, when they have believed, ought to serve their carnal masters the better.
Moreover, that masters should be the more gentle.
That all widows that are approved are to be held in honour.
That every person ought to have care rather of his own people, and especially of believers.
That an elder must not be rashly accused.
That the sinner must be publicly reproved.
That we must not speak with heretics.
That innocency asks with confidence, and obtains.
That the devil has no power against man unless God have allowed it.
That wages be quickly paid to the hireling.
That divination must not be used.
That a tuft of hair is not to be worn on the head.
That the beard must not be plucked.
That we must rise when a bishop or a presbyter comes.
That a schism must not be made, even although he who withdraws should remain in one faith, and in the same tradition.
That believers ought to be simple, with prudence.
That a brother must not be deceived.
That the end of the world comes suddenly.
That a wife must not depart from her husband; or if she should depart, she must remain unmarried.
That every one is tempted so much as he is able to bear.
That not everything is to be done which is lawful.
That it was foretold that heresies would arise.
That the Eucharist is to be received with fear and honour.
That we are to live with the good, but to avoid the evil.
That we must labour not with words, but with deeds.
That we must hasten to faith and to attainment.
That the catechumen ought now no longer to sin.
That judgment will be according to the times, either of equity before the law, or of law after Moses.
That the grace of God ought to be without price.
That the Holy Spirit has frequently appeared in fire.
That all good men ought willingly to hear rebuke.
That we must abstain from much speaking.
That we must not lie.
That they are frequently to be corrected who do wrong in domestic duty.
That when a wrong is received, patience is to be maintained, and vengeance to be left to God.
That we must not use detraction.
That we must not lay snares against our neighbour.
That the sick are to be visited.
That tale-bearers are accursed.
That the sacrifices of the wicked are not acceptable.
That those are more severely judged, who in this world have had more power.
That the widow and orphans ought to be protected.
That one ought to make confession while he is in the flesh.
That flattery is pernicious.
That God is more loved by him who has had many sins forgiven in baptism.
That there is a strong conflict to be waged against the devil, and that therefore we ought to stand bravely, that we may be able to conquer.
Also of Antichrist, that he will come as a man.
That the yoke of the law was heavy, which is cast off by us, and that the Lord's yoke is easy, which is taken up by us.
That we are to be urgent in prayers.
Elucidations.
Other Writings
Introductory Notice to Novatian, a Roman Presbyter.
Preface.
Novatian, with the View of Treating of the Trinity, Sets Forth from the Rule of Faith that We Should First of All Believe in God the Father and Lord Omnipotent, the Absolute Founder of All Things. The Works of Creation are Beautifully Described. Man's Free-Will is Asserted; God's Mercy in Inflicting Penalty on Man is Shown; The Condition After Death of the Souls of the Righteous and Unrighteous is Determined.
God is Above All Things, Himself Containing All Things, Immense, Eternal, Transcending the Mind of Man; Inexplicable in Discourse, Loftier Than All Sublimity.
That God is the Founder of All Things, Their Lord and Parent, is Proved from the Holy Scriptures.
Moreover, He is Good, Always the Same, Immutable, One and Only, Infinite; And His Own Name Can Never Be Declared, and He is Incorruptible and Immortal.
If We Regard the Anger, and Indignation, and Hatred of God Described in the Sacred Pages, We Must Remember that They are Not to Be Understood as Bearing the Character of Human Vices.
And That, Although Scripture Often Changes the Divine Appearance into a Human Form, Yet the Measure of the Divine Majesty is Not Included Within These Lineaments of Our Bodily Nature.
Moreover, that When God is Called a Spirit, Brightness, and Light, God is Not Sufficiently Expressed by Those Appellations.
It is This God, Therefore, that the Church Has Known and Adores; And to Him the Testimony of Things as Well Visible as Invisible is Given Both at All Times and in All Forms, by the Nature Which His Providence Rules and Governs.
Further, that the Same Rule of Truth Teaches Us to Believe, After the Father, Also in the Son of God, Jesus Christ Our Lord God, Being the Same that Was Promised in the Old Testament, and Manifested in the New.
That Jesus Christ is the Son of God and Truly Man, as Opposed to the Fancies of Heretics, Who Deny that He Took Upon Him True Flesh.
And Indeed that Christ Was Not Only Man, But God Also; That Even as He Was the Son of Man, So Also He Was the Son of God.
That Christ is God, is Proved by the Authority of the Old Testament Scriptures.
That the Same Truth is Proved from the Sacred Writings of the New Covenant.
The Author Prosecutes the Same Argument.
Again He Proves from the Gospel that Christ is God.
Again from the Gospel He Proves Christ to Be God.
It Is, Moreover, Proved by Moses in the Beginning of the Holy Scriptures.
Moreover Also, from the Fact that He Who Was Seen of Abraham is Called God; Which Cannot Be Understood of the Father, Whom No Man Hath Seen at Any Time; But of the Son in the Likeness of an Angel.
That God Also Appeared to Jacob as an Angel; Namely, the Son of God.
It is Proved from the Scriptures that Christ Was Called an Angel. But Yet It is Shown from Other Parts of Holy Scripture that He is God Also.
That the Same Divine Majesty is Again Confirmed in Christ by Other Scriptures.
That the Same Divine Majesty is in Christ, He Once More Asserts by Other Scriptures.
And This is So Manifest, that Some Heretics Have Thought Him to Be God the Father, Others that He Was Only God Without the Flesh.
That These Have Therefore Erred, by Thinking that There Was No Difference Between the Son of God and the Son of Man; Because They Have Ill Understood the Scripture.
And that It Does Not Follow Thence, that Because Christ Died It Must Also Be Received that God Died; For Scripture Sets Forth that Not Only Was Christ God, But Man Also.
Moreover, Against the Sabellians He Proves that the Father is One, the Son Another.
He Skilfully Replies to a Passage Which the Heretics Employed in Defence of Their Own Opinion.
He Proves Also that the Words Spoken to Philip Make Nothing for the Sabellians.
He Next Teaches Us that the Authority of the Faith Enjoins, After the Father and the Son, to Believe Also on the Holy Spirit, Whose Operations He Enumerates from Scripture.
In Fine, Notwithstanding the Said Heretics Have Gathered the Origin of Their Error from Consideration of What is Written: Although We Call Christ God, and the Father God, Still Scripture Does Not Set Forth Two Gods, Any More Than Two Lords or Two Teachers.
But that God, the Son of God, Born of God the Father from Everlasting, Who Was Always in the Father, is the Second Person to the Father, Who Does Nothing Without His Father's Decree; And that He is Lord, and the Angel of God's Great Counsel, to Whom the Father's Godhead is Given by Community of Substance.
Two Notes by the American Editor.
Novatian, a Roman Presbyter, During His Retirement at the Time of the Decian Persecution, Being Urged by Various Letters from His Brethren, Had Written Two Earlier Epistles Against the Jews on the Subjects of Circumcision and the Sabbath, and Now Writes the Present One on the Jewish Meats.
He First of All Asserts that the Law is Spiritual; And Thence, Man's First Food Was Only the Fruit Trees, and the Use of Flesh Was Added, that the Law that Followed Subsequently Was to Be Understood Spiritually.
And Thus Unclean Animals are Not to Be Reproached, Lest the Reproach Be Thrown Upon Their Author; But When an Irrational Animal is Rejected on Any Account, It is Rather that that Very Thing Should Be Condemned in Man Who is Rational; And Therefore that in Animals the Character, the Doings, and the Wills of Men are Depicted.
To These Things Also Was Added Another Reason for Prohibiting Many Kinds of Meats to the Jews; To Wit, for the Restraint of the Intemperance of the People, and that They Might Serve the One God.
But There Was a Limit to the Use of These Shadows or Figures; For Afterwards, When the End of the Law, Christ, Came, All Things Were Said by the Apostle to Be Pure to the Pure, and the True and Holy Meat Was a Right Faith and an Unspotted Conscience.
But, on the Ground that Liberty in Meats is Granted to Us, There is No Permission of Luxury, There is No Taking Away of Continence and Fasting: for These Things Greatly Become the Faithful,—To Wit, that They Should Pray to God, and Give Him Thanks, Not Only by Day, But by Night.
Moreover, We Must Be Careful that No One Should Think that This Licence May Be Carried to Such an Extent as that He May Approach to Things Offered to Idols.
Introductory Notice.
Introductory Note.
Acknowledged Writings.
For Eight Years Gregory Has Given Up the Practice of Oratory, Being Busied with the Study Chiefly of Roman Law and the Latin Language.
He Essays to Speak of the Well-Nigh Divine Endowments of Origen in His Presence, into Whose Hands He Avows Himself to Have Been Led in a Way Beyond All His Expectation.
He is Stimulated to Speak of Him by the Longing of a Grateful Mind. To the Utmost of His Ability He Thinks He Ought to Thank Him. From God are the Beginnings of All Blessings; And to Him Adequate Thanks Cannot Be Returned.
The Son Alone Knows How to Praise the Father Worthily. In Christ and by Christ Our Thanksgivings Ought to Be Rendered to the Father. Gregory Also Gives Thanks to His Guardian Angel, Because He Was Conducted by Him to Origen.
Here Gregory Interweaves the Narrative of His Former Life. His Birth of Heathen Parents is Stated. In the Fourteenth Year of His Age He Loses His Father. He is Dedicated to the Study of Eloquence and Law. By a Wonderful Leading of Providence, He is Brought to Origen.
The Arts by Which Origen Studies to Keep Gregory and His Brother Athenodorus with Him, Although It Was Almost Against Their Will; And the Love by Which Both are Taken Captive. Of Philosophy, the Foundation of Piety, with the View of Giving Himself Therefore Wholly to that Study, Gregory is Willing to Give Up Fatherland, Parents, the Pursuit of Law, and Every Other Discipline. Of the Soul as the Free Principle. The Nobler Part Does Not Desire to Be United with the Inferior, But the Inferior with the Nobler.
The Wonderful Skill with Which Origen Prepares Gregory and Athenodorus for Philosophy. The Intellect of Each is Exercised First in Logic, and the Mere Attention to Words is Contemned.
Then in Due Succession He Instructs Them in Physics, Geometry, and Astronomy.
But He Imbues Their Minds, Above All, with Ethical Science; And He Does Not Confine Himself to Discoursing on the Virtues in Word, But He Rather Confirms His Teaching by His Acts.
Hence the Mere Word-Sages are Confuted, Who Say and Yet Act Not.
Origen is the First and the Only One that Exhorts Gregory to Add to His Acquirements the Study of Philosophy, and Offers Him in a Certain Manner an Example in Himself. Of Justice, Prudence, Temperance, and Fortitude. The Maxim, Know Thyself.
Gregory Disallows Any Attainment of the Virtues on His Part. Piety is Both the Beginning and the End, and Thus It is the Parent of All the Virtues.
The Method Which Origen Used in His Theological and Metaphysical Instructions. He Commends the Study of All Writers, the Atheistic Alone Excepted. The Marvellous Power of Persuasion in Speech. The Facility of the Mind in Giving Its Assent.
Whence the Contentions of Philosophers Have Sprung. Against Those Who Catch at Everything that Meets Them, and Give It Credence, and Cling to It. Origen Was in the Habit of Carefully Reading and Explaining the Books of the Heathen to His Disciples.
The Case of Divine Matters. Only God and His Prophets are to Be Heard in These. The Prophets and Their Auditors are Acted on by the Same Afflatus. Origen's Excellence in the Interpretation of Scripture.
Gregory Laments His Departure Under a Threefold Comparison; Likening It to Adam's Departure Out of Paradise. To the Prodigal Son's Abandonment of His Father's House, and to the Deportation of the Jews into Babylon.
Gregory Consoles Himself.
Peroration, and Apology for the Oration.
Apostrophe to Origen, and Therewith the Leave-Taking, and the Urgent Utterance of Prayer.
Elucidations.
Dubious or Spurious Writings.
Introductory Note.
Extant Fragments. Containing Various Sections of the Works.
Containing Epistles, or Fragments of Epistles.
Elucidations.
Exegetical Fragments.
Note by the American Editor.
Anatolius and Minor Writers.
Introductory Notice.
Translator's Biographical Notice.
Translator's Biographical Notice.
Translator's Biographical Notice.
Translator's Biographical Notice.
Translator's Biographical Notice.
Elucidations.
Other Writers
Introductory Notice.
The Excellence of the Christian Philosophy; The Origin of Heresies Amongst Christians.
The Age of Manichæus, or Manes; His First Disciples; The Two Principles; Manichæan Matter.
The Fancies of Manichæus Concerning Matter.
The Moon's Increase and Wane; The Manichæan Trifling Respecting It; Their Dreams About Man and Christ; Their Foolish System of Abstinence.
The Worship of the Sun and Moon Under God; Support Sought for the Manichæans in the Grecian Fables; The Authority of the Scriptures and Faith Despised by the Manichæans.
The Two Principles of the Manichæans; Themselves Controverted; The Pythagorean Opinion Respecting First Principles; Good and Evil Contrary; The Victory on the Side of Good.
Motion Vindicated from the Charge of Irregularity; Circular; Straight; Of Generation and Corruption; Of Alteration, and Quality Affecting Sense.
Is Matter Wicked? Of God and Matter.
The Ridiculous Fancies of the Manichæans About the Motion of Matter Towards God; God the Author of the Rebellion of Matter in the Manichæan Sense; The Longing of Matter for Light and Brightness Good; Divine Good None the Less for Being Communicated.
The Mythology Respecting the Gods; The Dogmas of the Manichæans Resemble This: the Homeric Allegory of the Battle of the Gods; Envy and Emulation Existing In God According to the Manichæan Opinion; These Vices are to Be Found in No Good Man, and are to Be Accounted Disgraceful.
The Transmitted Virtue of the Manichæans; The Virtues of Matter Mixed with Equal or Less Amount of Evil.
The Destruction of Evil by the Immission of Virtue Rejected; Because from It Arises No Diminution of Evil; Zeno's Opinion Discarded, that the World Will Be Burnt Up by Fire from the Sun.
Evil by No Means Found in the Stars and Constellations; All the Evils of Life Vain in the Manichæan Opinion, Which Bring on the Extinction of Life; Their Fancy Having Been Above Explained Concerning the Transportation of Souls from the Moon to the Sun.
Noxious Animals Worshipped by the Egyptians; Man by Arts an Evil-Doer; Lust and Injustice Corrected by Laws and Discipline; Contingent and Necessary Things in Which There is No Stain.
The Lust and Desire of Sentient Things; Demons; Animals Sentient; So Also the Sun and the Moon and Stars; The Platonic Doctrine, Not the Christian.
Because Some are Wise, Nothing Prevents Others from Being So; Virtue is to Be Acquired by Diligence and Study; By a Sounder Philosophy Men are to Be Carried Onwards to the Good; The Common Study of Virtue Has by Christ Been Opened Up to All.
The Manichæan Idea of Virtue in Matter Scouted; If One Virtue Has Been Created Immaterial, the Rest are Also Immaterial; Material Virtue an Exploded Notion.
Dissolution and Inherence According to the Manichæans; This is Well Put, Ad Hominem, with Respect to Manes, Who is Himself in Matter.
The Second Virtue of the Manichæans Beset with the Former, and with New Absurdities; Virtue, Active and Passive, the Fashioner of Matter, and Concrete with It; Bodies Divided by Manichæus into Three Parts.
The Divine Virtue in the View of the Same Manichæus Corporeal and Divisible; The Divine Virtue Itself Matter Which Becomes Everything; This is Not Fitting.
Some Portions of the Virtue Have Good in Them, Others More Good; In the Sun and the Moon It is Incorrupt, in Other Things Depraved; An Improbable Opinion.
The Light of the Moon from the Sun; The Inconvenience of the Opinion that Souls are Received in It; The Two Deluges of the Greeks.
The Image of Matter in the Sun, After Which Man is Formed; Trifling Fancies; It is a Mere Fancy, Too, that Man Is Formed from Matter; Man is Either a Composite Being, or a Soul, or Mind and Understanding.
Christ is Mind, According to the Manichæans; What is He in the View of the Church? Incongruity in Their Idea of Christ; That He Suffered Only in Appearance, a Dream of the Manichæans; Nothing is Attributed to the Word by Way of Fiction.
The Manichæan Abstinence from Living Things Ridiculous; Their Madness in Abhorring Marriage; The Mythology of the Giants; Too Allegorical an Exposition.
The Much-Talked-of Fire of the Manichæans; That Fire Matter Itself.
Elucidation.
Introductory Notice.
Introduction.
Marcella.
The Difficulty and Excellence of Virginity; The Study of Doctrine Necessary for Virgins.
Virginity a Plant from Heaven, Introduced Late; The Advancement of Mankind to Perfection, How Arranged.
By the Circumcision of Abraham, Marriage with Sisters Forbidden; In the Times of the Prophets Polygamy Put a Stop To; Conjugal Purity Itself by Degrees Enforced.
Christ Alone Taught Virginity, Openly Preaching the Kingdom of Heaven; The Likeness of God to Be Attained in the Light of the Divine Virtues.
Christ, by Preserving His Flesh Incorrupt in Virginity, Draws to the Exercise of Virginity; The Small Number of Virgins in Proportion to the Number of Saints.
Theophila.
Marriage Not Abolished by the Commendation of Virginity.
Generation Something Akin to the First Formation of Eve from the Side and Nature of Adam; God the Creator of Men in Ordinary Generation.
An Ambiguous Passage of Scripture; Not Only the Faithful But Even Prelates Sometimes Illegitimate.
Human Generation, and the Work of God Therein Set Forth.
The Holy Father Follows Up the Same Argument.
God Cares Even for Adulterous Births; Angels Given to Them as Guardians.
The Rational Soul from God Himself; Chastity Not the Only Good, Although the Best and Most Honoured.
Thaleia.
Passages of Holy Scripture Compared.
The Digressions of the Apostle Paul; The Character of His Doctrine: Nothing in It Contradictory; Condemnation of Origen, Who Wrongly Turns Everything into Allegory.
Comparison Instituted Between the First and Second Adam.
Some Things Here Hard and Too Slightly Treated, and Apparently Not Sufficiently Brought Out According to the Rule of Theology.
A Passage of Jeremiah Examined.
The Whole Number of Spiritual Sheep; Man a Second Choir, After the Angels, to the Praise of God; The Parable of the Lost Sheep Explained.
The Works of Christ, Proper to God and to Man, the Works of Him Who is One.
The Bones and Flesh of Wisdom; The Side Out of Which the Spiritual Eve is Formed, the Holy Spirit; The Woman the Help-Meet of Adam; Virgins Betrothed to Christ.
The Dispensation of Grace in Paul the Apostle.
The Doctrine of the Same Apostle Concerning Purity.
The Same Argument.
Paul an Example to Widows, and to Those Who Do Not Live with Their Wives.
The Doctrine of Paul Concerning Virginity Explained.
Virginity a Gift of God: the Purpose of Virginity Not Rashly to Be Adopted by Any One.
Theopatra.
The Necessity of Praising Virtue, for Those Who Have the Power.
The Protection of Chastity and Virginity Divinely Given to Men, that They May Emerge from the Mire of Vices.
That Passage of David Explained; What the Harps Hung Upon the Willows Signify; The Willow a Symbol of Chastity; The Willows Watered by Streams.
The Author Goes on with the Interpretation of the Same Passage.
The Gifts of Virgins, Adorned with Which They are Presented to One Husband, Christ.
Virginity to Be Cultivated and Commended in Every Place and Time.
Thallousa.
The Offering of Chastity a Great Gift.
Abraham's Sacrifice of a Heifer Three Years Old, of a Goat, and of a Ram Also Three Years Old: Its Meaning; Every Age to Be Consecrated to God; The Threefold Watch and Our Age.
Far Best to Cultivate Virtue from Boyhood.
Perfect Consecration and Devotion to God: What It is.
The Vow of Chastity, and Its Rites in the Law; Vines, Christ, and the Devil.
Sikera, a Manufactured and Spurious Wine, Yet Intoxicating; Things Which are Akin to Sins are to Be Avoided by a Virgin; The Altar of Incense (a Symbol Of) Virgins.
The Church Intermediate Between the Shadows of the Law and the Realities of Heaven.
The Double Altar, Widows and Virgins; Gold the Symbol of Virginity.
Agathe.
The Excellence of the Abiding Glory of Virginity; The Soul Made in the Image of the Image of God, that is of His Son; The Devil a Suitor for the Soul.
The Parable of the Ten Virgins.
The Same Endeavour and Effort After Virginity, with a Different Result.
What the Oil in the Lamps Means.
The Reward of Virginity.
Procilla.
What the True and Seemly Manner of Praising; The Father Greater Than the Son, Not in Substance, But in Order; Virginity the Lily; Faithful Souls and Virgins, the One Bride of the One Christ.
The Interpretation of that Passage of the Canticles.
Virgins Being Martyrs First Among the Companions of Christ.
The Passage Explained; The Queens, the Holy Souls Before the Deluge; The Concubines, the Souls of the Prophets; The Divine Seed for Spiritual Offspring in the Books of the Prophets; The Nuptials of the Word in the Prophets as Though Clandestine.
The Sixty Queens: Why Sixty, and Why Queens; The Excellence of the Saints of the First Age.
The Eighty Concubines, What; The Knowledge of the Incarnation Communicated to the Prophets.
The Virgins, the Righteous Ancients; The Church, the One Only Spouse, More Excellent Than the Others.
The Human Nature of Christ His One Dove.
The Virgins Immediately After the Queen and Spouse.
Thekla.
Methodius' Derivation of the Word Virginity: Wholly Divine; Virtue, in Greek—ἀρετή, Whence So Called.
The Lofty Mind and Constancy of the Sacred Virgins; The Introduction of Virgins into the Blessed Abodes Before Others.
The Lot and Inheritance of Virginity.
Exhortation to the Cultivation of Virginity; A Passage from the Apocalypse is Proposed to Be Examined.
The Woman Who Brings Forth, to Whom the Dragon is Opposed, the Church; Her Adornment and Grace.
The Works of the Church, the Bringing Forth of Children in Baptism; The Moon in Baptism, the Full Moon of Christ's Passion.
The Child of the Woman in the Apocalypse Not Christ, But the Faithful Who are Born in the Laver.
The Faithful in Baptism Males, Configured to Christ; The Saints Themselves Christs.
The Son of God, Who Ever Is, is To-Day Begotten in the Minds and Sense of the Faithful.
The Dragon, the Devil; The Stars Struck from Heaven by the Tail of the Dragon, Heretics; The Numbers of the Trinity, that Is, the Persons Numbered; Errors Concerning Them.
The Woman with the Male Child in the Wilderness the Church; The Wilderness Belongs to Virgins and Saints; The Perfection of Numbers and Mysteries; The Equality and Perfection of the Number Six; The Number Six Related to Christ; From This Number, Too, the Creation and Harmony of the World Completed.
Virgins are Called to the Imitation of the Church in the Wilderness Overcoming the Dragon.
The Seven Crowns of the Beast to Be Taken Away by Victorious Chastity; The Ten Crowns of the Dragon, the Vices Opposed to the Decalogue; The Opinion of Fate the Greatest Evil.
The Doctrine of Mathematicians Not Wholly to Be Despised, When They are Concerned About the Knowledge of the Stars; The Twelve Signs of the Zodiac Mythical Names.
Arguments from the Novelty of Fate and Generation; That Golden Age, Early Men; Solid Arguments Against the Mathematicians.
Several Other Things Turned Against the Same Mathematicians.
The Lust of the Flesh and Spirit: Vice and Virtue.
Tusiane.
Chastity the Chief Ornament of the True Tabernacle; Seven Days Appointed to the Jews for Celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles: What They Signify; The Sum of This Septenary Uncertain; Not Clear to Any One When the Consummation of the World Will Be; Even Now the Fabric of the World Completed.
Figure, Image, Truth: Law, Grace, Glory; Man Created Immortal: Death Brought in by Destructive Sin.
How Each One Ought to Prepare Himself for the Future Resurrection.
The Mind Clearer When Cleansed from Sin; The Ornaments of the Mind and the Order of Virtue; Charity Deep and Full; Chastity the Last Ornament of All; The Very Use of Matrimony to Be Restrained.
The Mystery of the Tabernacles.
Domnina.
Chastity Alone Aids and Effects the Most Praiseworthy Government of the Soul.
The Allegory of the Trees Demanding a King, in the Book of Judges, Explained.
The Bramble and the Agnos the Symbol of Chastity; The Four Gospels, that Is, Teachings or Laws, Instructing to Salvation.
The Law Useless for Salvation; The Last Law of Chastity Under the Figure of the Bramble.
The Malignity of the Devil as an Imitator in All Things; Two Kinds of Fig-Trees and Vines.
The Mystery of the Vision of Zechariah.
Arete.
The True and Chaste Virgins Few; Chastity a Contest; Thekla Chief of Virgins.
Thekla Singing Decorously a Hymn, the Rest of the Virgins Sing with Her; John the Baptist a Martyr to Chastity; The Church the Spouse of God, Pure and Virgin.
Which are the Better, the Continent, or Those Who Delight in Tranquillity of Life? Contests the Peril of Chastity: the Felicity of Tranquillity; Purified and Tranquil Minds Gods: They Who Shall See God; Virtue Disciplined by Temptations.
Elucidations.
General Note.
General Note.
Introductory Notice.
The Seven Books of Arnobius Against the Heathen. (Adversus Gentes.)
Elucidations.
Introductory Notice
Introductory Notice to Lactantius.
The Divine Institutes
Preface.—Of what great value the knowledge of the truth is and always has been
Chap. I.—Of religion and wisdom
Chap. II.—That there is a providence in the affairs of men
Chap. III.—Whether the universe is governed by the power of one God or of many
Chap. IV.—That the one God was foretold even by the prophets
Chap. V.—Of the testimonies of poets and philosophers
Chap. VI.—Of divine testimonies, and of the Sibyls and their predictions
Chap. VII.—Concerning the testimonies of Apollo and the gods
Chap. VIII.—That God is without a body, nor does he need difference of sex for procreation
Chap. IX.—Of Hercules and his life and death
Chap. X.—Of the life and actions of Æsculapius, Apollo, Neptune, Mars, Castor and Pollux, Mercury and Bacchus
Chap. XI.—Of the origin, life, reign, name and death of Jupiter, and of Saturn and Uranus
Chap. XII.—That the stoics transfer the figments of the poets to a philosophical system
Chap. XIII.—How vain and trifling are the interpretations of the stoics respecting the gods, and in them concerning the origin of Jupiter, concerning Saturn and Ops
Chap. XIV.—What the sacred history of Euhemerus and Ennius teaches concerning the gods
Chap. XV.—How they who were men obtained the name of gods
Chap. XVI.—By what argument it is proved that those who are distinguished by a difference of sex cannot be gods
Chap. XVII.—Concerning the same opinion of the stoics, and concerning the hardships and disgraceful conduct of the gods
Chap. XVIII.—On the consecration of gods, on account of the benefits which they conferred upon men
Chap. XIX.—That it is impossible for any one to worship the true God together with false deities
Chap. XX.—Of the gods peculiar to the Romans, and their sacred rites
Chap. XXI.—Of certain deities peculiar to barbarians, and their sacred rites; and in like manner concerning the Romans
Chap. XXII.—Who was the author of the vanities before described in Italy among the Romans, and who among other nations
Chap. XXIII.—Of the ages of vain superstitions, and the times at which they commenced
Chap. I.—That forgetfulness of reason makes men ignorant of the true God, whom they worship in adversity and despise in prosperity
Chap. II.—What was the first cause of making images; of the true likeness of God, and the true worship of him
Chap. III.—That Cicero and other men of learning erred in not turning away the people from error
Chap. IV.—Of images, and the ornaments of temples, and the contempt in which they are held even by the heathens themselves
Chap. V.—That God only, the creator of all things, is to be worshipped, and not the elements or heavenly bodies; and the opinion of the stoics is refuted, who think that the stars and planets are gods
Chap. VI.—That neither the whole universe nor the elements are God, nor are they possessed of life
Chap. VII.—Of God, and the religious rites of the foolish; of avarice, and the authority of ancestors
Chap. VIII.—Of the use of reason in religion; and of dreams, auguries, oracles, and similar portents
Chap. IX.—Of the devil, the world, God, providence, man, and his wisdom
Chap. X.—Of the world, and its parts, the elements and seasons
Chap. XI.—Of living creatures, of man; Prometheus, Deucalion, the Parcæ
Chap. XII.—That animals were not produced spontaneously, but by a divine arrangement, of which God would have given us the knowledge, if it were advantageous for us to know It
Chap. XIII.—Why man is of two sexes; what is his first death, and what the second and of the fault and punishment of our first parents
Chap. XIV.—Of Noah the inventor of wine, who first had knowledge of the stars, and of the origin of false religions
Chap. XV.—Of the corruption of angels, and the two kinds of demons
Chap. XVI.—That demons have no power over those who are established in the faith
Chap. XVII.—That astrology, soothsaying, and similar arts are the invention of demons
Chap. XVIII.—Of the patience and vengeance of God, the worship of demons, and false religions
Chap. XIX.—Of the worship of images and earthly objects
Chap. XX.—Of philosophy and the truth
Chap. I.—A comparison of the truth with eloquence: why the philosophers did not attain to it. Of the simple style of the scriptures
Chap. II.—Of philosophy, and how vain was its occupation in setting forth the truth
Chap. III.—Of what subjects philosophy consists, and who was the chief founder of the academic sect
Chap. IV.—That knowledge is taken away by Socrates, and conjecture by Zeno
Chap. V.—That the knowledge of many things is necessary
Chap. VI.—Of wisdom, and the academics, and natural philosophy
Chap. VII.—Of moral philosophy, and the chief good
Chap. VIII.—Of the chief good, and the pleasures of the soul and body, and of virtue
Chap. IX.—Of the chief good, and the worship of the true God, and a refutation of Anaxagoras
Chap. X.—It is the peculiar property of man to know and worship God
Chap. XI.—Of religion, wisdom, and the chief good
Chap. XII.—Of the twofold conflict of body and soul; and of desiring virtue on account of eternal life
Chap. XIII.—Of the immortality of the soul, and of wisdom, philosophy, and eloquence
Chap. XIV.—That Lucretius and others have erred, and Cicero himself, in fixing the origin of wisdom
Chap. XV.—The error of Seneca in philosophy, and how the speech of philosophers is at variance with their life
Chap. XVI.—That the philosophers who give good instructions live badly, by the testimony of Cicero; therefore we should not so much devote ourselves to the study of philosophy as to wisdom
Chap. XVII.—He passes from philosophy to the philosophers, beginning with Epicurus; and how he regarded Leucippus and Democritus as authors of error
Chap. XVIII.—The Pythagoreans and Stoics, while they hold the immortality of the soul, foolishly persuade a voluntary death
Chap. XIX.—Cicero and others of the wisest men teach the immortality of the soul, but in an unbelieving manner; and that a good or an evil death must be weighed from the previous life
Chap. XX.—Socrates had more knowledge in philosophy than other men, although in many things he acted foolishly
Chap. XXI.—Of the system of Plato, which would lead to the overthrow of states
Chap. XXII.—Of the precepts of Plato, and censures of the same
Chap. XXIII.—Of the errors of certain philosophers, and of the sun and moon
Chap. XXIV.—Of the antipodes, the heaven, and the stars
Chap. XXV.—Of learning philosophy, and what great qualifications are necessary for its pursuit
Chap. XXVI.—It is divine instruction only which bestows wisdom; and of what efficacy the law of God is
Chap. XXVII.—How little the precepts of philosophers contribute to true wisdom, which you will find in religion only
Chap. XXVIII.—Of true religion and of nature. whether fortune is a goddess, and of philosophy
Chap. XXIX.—Of fortune again, and virtue
Chap. XXX.—The conclusion of the things before spoken; and by what means we must pass from the vanity of the philosophers to true wisdom, and the knowledge of the true god, in which alone are virtue and happiness
Chap. I.—Of the former religion of men, and how error was spread over every age, and of the seven wise men of Greece
Chap. II.—Where wisdom is to be found; why Pythagoras and Plato did not approach the Jews
Chap. III.—Wisdom and religion cannot be separated: the Lord of nature must necessarily be the Father of every one
Chapter IV.—Of wisdom likewise, and religion, and of the right of father and lord
Chap. V.—The oracles of the prophets must be looked into; and of their times, and the times of the judges and kings
Chap. VI.—Almighty God begat his Son; and the testimonies of the Sibyls and of Trismegistus concerning Him
Chap. VII.—Of the name of Son, and whence he is called Jesus and Christ
Chap. VIII.—Of the birth of Jesus in the spirit and in the flesh: of spirits and the testimonies of prophets
Chap. IX.—Of the Word of God
Chap. X.—Of the advent of Jesus; Of the fortunes of the Jews, and their government, until the passion of the Lord
Chap. XI.—Of the cause of the incarnation of Christ
Chap. XII.—Of the birth of Jesus from the Virgin; of his life, death, and resurrection, and the testimonies of the prophets respecting these things
Chap. XIII.—Of Jesus, God and man; and the testimonies of the prophets concerning him
Chap. XIV.—Of the priesthood of Jesus foretold by the prophets
Chap. XV.—Of the life and miracles of Jesus, and testimonies concerning them
Chap. XVI.—Of the passion of Jesus Christ; that it was foretold
Chap. XVII.—Of the superstitions of the Jews, and their hatred against Jesus
Chap. XVIII.—Of the Lord’s passion, and that it was foretold
Chap. XIX.—Of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus; and the predictions of these events
Chap. XX.—Of the departure of Jesus into Galilee after his resurrection; and of the two testaments, the old and the new
Chap. XXI.—Of the ascension of Jesus, and the foretelling of it; and of the preaching and actions of the disciples
Chap. XXII.—Arguments of unbelievers against the incarnation of Jesus
Chap. XXIII.—Of giving precepts, and acting
Chap. XXIV.—The overthrowing of the arguments above urged by way of objection
Chap. XXV.—Of the advent of Jesus in the flesh and spirit, that He might be mediator between God and man
Chap. XXVI.—Of the cross, and other tortures of Jesus, and of the figure of the lamb under the law
Chap. XXVII.—Of the wonders effected by the power of the cross, and of demons
Chap. XXVIII.—Of hope and true religion, and of superstition
Chap. XXIX.—Of the Christian religion, and of the union of Jesus with the Father
Chap. XXX.—Of avoiding heresies and superstitions, and what is the only true Catholic Church
General Notes by the American Editor
Chap. I.—Of the non-condemnation of accused persons without a hearing of their cause; from what cause philosophers despised the sacred writings; of the first advocates of the Christian religion
Chap. II.—To what an extent the Christian truth has been assailed by rash men
Chap. III.—Of the truth of the Christian doctrine, and the vanity of its adversaries; and that Christ was not a magician
Chap. IV.—Why this work was published, and again of Tertullian and Cyprian
Chap. V.—there was true justice under Saturnus, but it was banished by Jupiter
Chap. VI.—After the banishment of justice, lust, unjust laws, daring, avarice, ambition, pride, impiety, and other vices reigned
Chap. VII.—Of the coming of Jesus, and its fruit; and of the virtues and vices of that age
Chap. VIII.—Of justice known to all, but not embraced; of the true temple of God, and of His worship, that all vices may be subdued
Chap. IX.—Of the crimes of the wicked, and the torture inflicted on the Christians
Chap. X.—Of false piety, and of false and true religion
Chap XI.—Of the cruelty of the heathens against the Christians
Chap. XII.—Of true virtue; and of the estimation of a good or bad citizen
Chapter XIII.—Of the increase and the punishment of the Christians.
Chap. XIV.—Of the fortitude of the Christians
Chap. XV.—Of folly, wisdom, piety, equity, and justice
Chap. XVI.—Of the duties of the just man, and the equity of Christians
Chap. XVII.—Of the equity, wisdom, and foolishness of Christians
Chap. XVIII.—Of justice, wisdom, and folly
Chap. XIX.—Of virtue and the tortures of Christians, and of the right of a father and master
Chap. XX.—Of the vanity and crimes, impious superstitions, and of the tortures of the Christians
Chap. XXI.—Of the worship of other gods and the true God, and of the animals which the Egyptians worshipped
Chap. XXII.—Of the rage of the demons against Christians, and the error of unbelievers
Chap. XXIII.—Of the justice and patience of the Christians
Chap. XXIV.—Of the divine vengeance inflicted on the torturers of the Christians
Chap. I.—Of the worship of the true God, and of innocency, and of the worship of false Gods
Chap. II.—Of the worship of false gods and the true God
Chap. III.—Of the ways, and of vices and virtues; and of the rewards of heaven and the punishments of hell
Chap. IV.—Of the ways of life, of pleasures, also of the hardships of Christians
Chap. V.—Of false and true virtue; and of knowledge
Chap. VI.—Of the chief good and virtue, and or knowledge and righteousness
Chap. VII.—Of the Way of Error and of Truth: that It is Single, Narrow, and Steep, and Has God for Its Guide
Chap. VIII.—Of the errors of philosophers, and the variableness of law
Chap. IX.—Of the law and precept of god; of mercy, and the error of the philosophers
Chap. X.—Of religion towards God, and mercy towards men; and of the beginning of the world
Chap. XI.—Of the persons upon whom a benefit is to be conferred
Chap. XII.—Of the kinds of beneficence, and works of mercy
Chap. XIII.—Of repentance, of mercy, and the forgiveness of sins
Chap. XIV.—Of the affections, and the opinion of the Stoics respecting them; and of virtue, the vices, and mercy
Chap. XV.—Of the affections, and the opinion of the Peripatetics respecting them
Chap. XVI.—Of the affections, and the refutation of the opinion of the Peripatetics concerning them; what is the proper use of the affections, and what is a bad use of them
Chap. XVII.—Of the affections and their use; of patience, and the chief good of Christians
Chap. XVIII.—Of some commands of God, and of patience
Chap. XIX.—Of the affections and their use; and of the three furies
Chap. XX.—Of the senses, and their pleasures in the brutes and in man; and of pleasures of the eyes, and spectacles
Chap. XXI.—Of the pleasures of the ears, and of sacred literature
Chap. XXII.—Of the pleasures of taste and smell
Chap. XXIII.—De tactus voluptate et libidine, atque de matrimonio et continentiâ
Chap. XXIV.—Of repentance, of pardon, and the commands of God
Chap. XXV.—Of sacrifice, and of an offering worthy of God, and of the form of praising God
Chap. I.—Of the world, and those who are about to believe, and those who are not; and in this the censure of the faithless
Chap. II.—Of the error of the philosophers, and of the divine wisdom, and of the golden age
Chap. III.—Of nature, and of the world; and a censure of the Stoics and Epicureans
Chap. IV.—That all things were created for some use, even those things which appear evil; on what account man enjoys reason in so frail a body
Chap. V.—Of the creation of man, and of the arrangement of the world, and of the chief good
Chap. VI.—Why the world and man were created. How unprofitable is the worship of false gods
Chap. VII.—Of the variety of philosophers, and their truth
Chap. VIII.—Of the immortality of the soul
Chap. IX.—Of the immortality of the soul, and of virtue
Chap. X.—Of vices and virtues, and of life and death
Chap. XI.—Of the last times, and of the soul and body
Chap. XII.—Of the soul and the body, and of their union and separation and return
Chap. XIII.—Of the soul, and the testimonies concerning its eternity
Chap. XIV.—Of the first and last times of the world
Chap. XV.—Of the devastation of the world and change of the empires
Chap. XVI.—Of the devastation of the world, and its prophetic omens
Chap. XVII.—Of the false prophet, and the hardships of the righteous, and his destruction
Chap. XVIII.—Of the fortunes of the world at the last time, and of the things foretold by the soothsayers
Chap. XIX.—Of the advent of Christ to judgment, and of the overcoming of the false prophet
Chap. XX.—Of the judgment of Christ, of Christians, and of the soul
Chap. XXI.—Of the torments and punishments of souls
Chap. XXII.—Of the error of the poets, and the return of the soul from the lower regions
Chap. XXIII.—Of the resurrection of the soul, and the proofs of this fact
Chap. XXIV.—Of the renewed world
Chap. XXV.—Of the last times, and of the city of Rome
Chap. XXVI.—Of the loosing of the devil, and of the second and greatest judgment
Chap. XXVII.—An encouragement and confirmation of the pious
General Note
The Preface.—The plan and purport of the whole Epitome, and of the Institutions
Chap. I.—Of the divine providence
Chap. II.—That there is but one God, and that there cannot be more
Chap. III.—The testimonies of the poets concerning the one God
Chap. IV.—The testimonies of the philosophers to the unity of God
Chap. V.—That the prophetic women—that is, the Sibyls—declare that there is but one God
Chap. VI.—Since God is eternal and immortal, he does not stand in need of sex and succession
Chap. VII.—Of the wicked life and death of Hercules
Chap. VIII.—Of Æsculapius, Apollo, Mars, Castor and Pollux, and of Mercurius and Bacchus
Chap. IX.—Of the disgraceful deeds of the gods
Chap. X.—Of Jupiter, and his licentious life
Chap. XI.—The various emblems under which the poets veiled the turpitude of Jupiter
Chap. XII.—The poets do not invent all those things which relate to the gods
Chap. XIII.—The actions of Jupiter are related from the historian Euhemerus
Chap. XIV.—The actions of Saturnus and Uranus taken from the historians
Chap. XX.—Of the gods peculiar to the Romans
Chap. XXI.—Of the sacred rites of the Roman gods
Chap. XXII.—Of the sacred rites Introduced by Faunus and Numa
Chap. XXIII.—Of the Gods and sacred rites of the barbarians
Chap. XXIV.—Of the origin of sacred rites and superstitions
Chap. XXV.—Of the golden age, of images, and Prometheus, who first fashioned man
Chap. XXVI.—Of the worship of the elements and stars
Chap. XXVII.—Of the creation, sin, and punishment of man; and of angels, both good and bad
Chap. XXVIII.—Of the demons, and their evil practices
Chap. XXIX.—Of the patience and providence of God
Chap. XXX.—Of false wisdom
Chap. XXXI.—Of knowledge and supposition
Chap. XXXII.—Of the sects of philosophers, and their disagreement
Chap. XXXIII.—What is the chief good to be sought in life
Chap. XXXIV.—That men are born to justice
Chap. XXXV.—That immortality is the chief good
Chap. XXXVI.—Of the philosophers,—namely, Epicurus and Pythagoras
Chap. XXXVII.—Of Socrates and his contradiction
Chap. XXXVIII.—Of Plato, whose doctrine approaches more nearly to the truth
Chap. XXXIX.—Of various philosophers, and of the antipodes
Chap. XL.—Of the foolishness of the philosophers
Chap. XLI.—Of true religion and wisdom
Chap. XLII.—Of religious wisdom: the name of Christ known to none, except himself and his father
Chap. XLIII.—Of the name of Jesus Christ, and his twofold nativity
Chap. XLIV.—The twofold nativity of Christ is proved from the prophets
Chap. XLV.—The power and works of Christ are proved from the scriptures
Chap. XLVI.—It is proved from the prophets that the passion and death of Christ had been foretold
Chap. XLVII.—Of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the sending of the apostles, and the ascension of the saviour into heaven
Chap. XLVIII.—Of the disinheriting of the Jews, and the adoption of the Gentiles
Chap. XLIX.—That God is one only
Chap. L.—Why God assumed a mortal body, and suffered death
Chap. LI.—Of the death of Christ on the cross
Chap. LII.—The hope of the salvation of men consists in the knowledge of the true God, and of the hatred of the heathens against the Christians
Chap. LIII.—The reasons of the hatred against the Christians are examined and refuted
Chap. LIV.—Of the freedom of religion in the worship of God
Chap. LV.—The heathens charge justice with impiety in following God
Chap. LVI.—Of justice, which is the worship of the true God
Chap. LVII.—Of wisdom and foolishness
Chap. LVIII.—Of the true worship of God, and sacrifice
Chap. LIX.—Of the ways of life, and the first times of the world
Chap. LX.—Of the duties of justice
Chap. LXI.—Of the passions
Chap. LXII.—Of restraining the pleasures of the senses
Chap. LXIII.—That shows are most powerful to corrupt the minds
Chap. LXIV.—The passions are to be subdued, and we must abstain from forbidden things
Chap. LXV.—Precepts about those things which are commanded, and of pity
Chap. LXVI.—Of faith in religion, and of fortitude
Chap. LXVII.—Of repentance, the immortality of the soul, and of providence
Chap. LXVIII.—Of the world, man, and the providence of God
Chap. LXIX.—That the world was made on account of man, and man on account of God
Chap. LXX.—The immortality of the soul is confirmed
Chap. LXXI.—Of the last times
Chap. LXXII.—Of Christ descending from heaven to the general judgment, and of the millenarian reign
Chap. LXXIII.—The hope of safety is in the religion and worship of God
Elucidations
Other Works
General Note
Introductory Notice
Introductory Notice
Elucidations
Introductory Notice.
Introductory Notice.
Note by the American Editor.
Introductory Notice.
Introductory Notice.
Introductory Notice.
The Recognitions of Clement.
1 Introductory Notice.
Clement's Early History; Doubts.
His Distress.
His Dissatisfaction with the Schools of the Philosophers.
His Increasing Disquiet.
His Design to Test the Immortality of the Soul.
Hears of Christ.
Arrival of Barnabas at Rome.
His Preaching.
Clement's Interposition on Behalf of Barnabas.
Intercourse with Barnabas.
Departure of Barnabas.
Clement's Arrival at Cæsarea, and Introduction to Peter.
His Cordial Reception by Peter.
His Account of Himself.
Peter's First Instruction: Causes of Ignorance.
Instruction Continued: the True Prophet.
Peter Requests Him to Be His Attendant.
His Profiting by Peter's Instruction.
Peter's Satisfaction.
Postponement of Discussion with Simon Magus.
Advantage of the Delay.
Repetition of Instructions.
Repetition Continued.
Repetition Continued.
Repetition Continued.
Friendship of God; How Secured.
Account of the Creation.
Account of the Creation Continued.
The Giants: the Flood.
Noah's Sons.
World After the Flood.
Abraham.
Abraham: His Posterity.
The Israelites in Egypt.
The Exodus.
Allowance of Sacrifice for a Time.
The Holy Place.
Sins of the Israelites.
Baptism Instituted in Place of Sacrifices.
Advent of the True Prophet.
Rejection of the True Prophet.
Call of the Gentiles.
Success of the Gospel.
Challenge by Caiaphas.
The True Prophet: Why Called the Christ.
Anointing.
Adam Anointed a Prophet.
The True Prophet, a Priest.
Two Comings of Christ.
His Rejection by the Jews.
The Only Saviour.
The Saints Before Christ's Coming.
Animosity of the Jews.
Jewish Sects.
Public Discussion.
Sadducees Refuted.
Samaritan Refuted.
Scribes Refuted.
Pharisees Refuted.
Disciples of John Refuted.
Caiaphas Answered.
Foolishness of Preaching.
Appeal to the Jews.
Temple to Be Destroyed.
Tumult Stilled by Gamaliel.
Discussion Resumed.
Speech of Gamaliel.
The Rule of Faith.
Two Comings of Christ.
Tumult Raised by Saul.
Flight to Jericho.
Peter Sent to Cæsarea.
Welcomed by Zacchæus.
Simon Magus Challenges Peter.
Power of Habit.
Curtailment of Sleep.
Need of Caution.
Prudence in Dealing with Opponents.
Simon Magus, a Formidable Antagonist.
Simon Magus: His Wickedness.
Simon Magus: His History.
Simon Magus: His History.
Simon Magus: His Profession.
Simon Magus: His Deception.
Simon Magus, at the Head of the Sect of Dositheus.
Simon Magus and Luna.
Simon Magus: Secret of His Magic.
Simon Magus, Professes to Be God.
Simon Magus, Professed to Have Made a Boy of Air.
Simon Magus: Hopelessness of His Case.
Men Enemies to God.
Responsibility of Men.
Disputation Begun.
The Kingdom of God and His Righteousness.
Righteousness the Way to the Kingdom.
Righteousness; What It is.
Simon Refuses Peace.
Peter's Explanation.
Principles on Which the Discussion Should Be Conducted.
Simon's Interruption.
Questions and Answers.
Consistency of Christ's Teaching.
Peace and Strife.
Peace to the Sons of Peace.
Peace and War.
Simon's Challenge.
Authority.
Order of Proof.
How Error Cannot Stand with Truth.
Altercation.
Simon's Subtlety.
Simon's Creed.
Argument for Polytheism.
Peter's Answer.
The Answer, Continued.
Guardian Angels.
No God But Jehovah.
The Serpent, the Author of Polytheism.
Polytheism Inexcusable.
Christ Acknowledged the God of the Jews.
Simon's Cavil.
Peter's Answer.
The Supreme Light.
Simon's Presumption.
The Sixth Sense.
Reductio Ad Absurdum.
Simon's Blasphemy.
How Simon Learned from the Law What the Law Does Not Teach.
Simon's Objections Turned Against Himself.
No God Above the Creator.
Simon's Inconsistency.
Simon's God Unjust.
The Creator Our Father.
The Creator the Supreme God.
Imagination.
Peter's Experience of Imagination.
Peter's Reverie.
Andrew's Rebuke.
Fallacy of Imagination.
Existence and Conception.
The Law Teaches of Immensity.
The Visible and the Invisible Heaven.
Faith and Reason.
Adjournment.
Separation from the Unclean.
The Remedy.
Pearls Before Swine.
Second Day's Discussion.
Simon a Seducer.
Simon Claims the Fulfilment of Peter's Promise.
Simon's Arrogance.
Existence of Evil.
Not Admitted by All.
Manner of Conducting the Discussion.
Desire of Instruction.
Common Principles.
Freedom of the Will.
Responsibility.
Origin of Evil.
God the Author of Good, Not of Evil.
“Who Hath Resisted His Will?”
No Goodness Without Liberty.
The Visible Heaven: Why Made.
Why to Be Dissolved.
Corruptible and Temporary Things Made by the Incorruptible and Eternal.
How the Pure in Heart See God.
Diligence in Study.
Peter's Private Instruction.
Learners and Cavillers.
Against Order is Against Reason.
Learning Before Teaching.
Self-Evidence of the Truth.
God Righteous as Well as Good.
God's Justice Shown at the Day of Judgment.
Immortality of the Soul.
Proved by the Success of the Wicked in This Life.
Cavils of Simon.
“Full of All Subtlety and All Mischief.”
Simon's Subterfuges.
Sight or Hearing?
A Home-Thrust.
Simon's Rage.
Simon's Vaunt.
Attempts to Create a Disturbance.
Simon's Retreat.
Peter's Benediction.
Peter's Accessibility.
False Signs and Miracles.
Self-Love the Foundation of Goodness.
God to Be Supremely Loved.
Ten Commandments Corresponding to the Plagues of Egypt.
Simon Resisted Peter, as the Magicians Moses.
Miracles of the Magicians.
Truth Veiled with Love.
Good and Evil in Pairs.
Uselessness of Pretended Miracles.
Ten Pairs.
The Christian Life.
A Deserter from Simon's Camp.
Declaration of Simon's Wickedness.
Peter Resolves to Follow Simon.
Zacchæus Made Bishop of Cæsarea; Presbyters and Deacons Ordained.
Invitation to Baptism.
Twelve Sent Before Him.
Arrangements Approved by All the Brethren.
Departure of the Twelve.
Peter Prepares the Cæsareans for His Departure.
More Than Ten Thousand Baptized.
Tidings of Simon.
Farewell to Cæsarea.
Contents of Clement's Despatches to James.
The Old Workman.
Genesis.
A Friendly Conference.
The Question Stated.
Freedom of Discussion Allowed.
The Other Side of the Question Stated.
The Way Cleared.
Instincts.
Simple and Compound.
Creation Implies Providence.
General or Special Providence.
Prayer Inconsistent with Genesis.
A Creator Necessary.
Mode of Creation.
Theories of Creation.
The World Made of Nothing by a Creator.
Doctrine of Atoms Untenable.
The Concourse of Atoms Could Not Make the World.
More Difficulties of the Atomic Theory.
Plato's Testimony.
Mechanical Theory.
Motions of the Stars.
Providence in Earthly Things.
Rivers and Seas.
Plants and Animals.
Germination of Seeds.
Power of Water.
The Human Body.
Symmetry of the Body.
Breath and Blood.
The Intestines.
Generation.
Correspondences in Creation.
Time of Making the World.
A Contest of Hospitality.
Arrangements for To-Morrow.
“The Form of Sound Words, Which Ye Have Heard of Me.”
The Chief Man's House.
Recapitulation of Yesterday's Argument.
Genesis.
The Rainbow.
Types and Forms.
Things Apparently Useless and Vile Made by God.
Ordinate and Inordinate.
Motions of the Sun and Moon.
Sun and Moon Ministers Both of Good and Evil.
Chastisements on the Righteous and the Wicked.
Chastisements for Sins.
God's Precepts Despised.
The Flood.
Evils Brought in by Sin.
“No Rose Without Its Thorn.”
Everything Has Its Corresponding Contrary.
An Illustration.
The Two Kingdoms.
Origin of Evil.
The Old Man Unconvinced.
Sitting in Judgment Upon God.
The True Prophet.
His Deliverances Not to Be Questioned.
Ignorance of the Philosophers.
End of the Conference.
Probation.
A Difficulty.
A Suggestion.
Free Inquiry.
Good and Evil.
Peter's Authority.
Clement's Argument.
Admitted Evils.
Existence of Evil on Astrological Principles.
How to Make Progress.
Test of Astrology.
Astrology Baffled by Free-Will.
People Admitted.
No Man Has Universal Knowledge.
Clement's Disclosure.
“Would that All God's People Were Prophets.”
Gentile Cosmogony.
Family of Saturn.
Their Destinies.
Doings of Jupiter.
A Black Catalogue.
Vile Transformation of Jupiter.
Why a God?
Folly of Polytheism.
Dead Men Deified.
Metamorphoses.
Inconsistency of Polytheists.
Buttresses of Gentilism.
Allegories.
Cosmogony of Orpheus.
Hesiod's Cosmogony.
Allegorical Interpretation.
Allegory of Jupiter, Etc.
Other Allegories.
Uselessness of These Allegories.
The Allegories an Afterthought.
Like Gods, Like Worshippers.
Writings of the Poets.
All for the Best.
Further Information Sought.
Explanation of Mythology.
Interpretation of Scripture.
A Word of Exhortation.
Earnestness.
All Ought to Repent.
The Sure Word of Prophecy.
“A Faithful Saying, and Worthy of All Acceptation.”
Errors of the Philosophers.
God's Long-Suffering.
Philosophers Not Benefactors of Men.
Christ the True Prophet.
Appion and Anubion.
A Transformation.
Excitement in Antioch.
A Stratagem.
Simon's Design in the Transformation.
Great Grief.
How It All Happened.
A Scene of Mourning.
A Counterplot.
A Mine Dug.
A Case of Conscience.
A Pious Fraud.
A Competition in Lying.
Success of the Plot.
Truth Told by Lying Lips.
Faustinianus is Himself Again.
Peter's Entry into Antioch.
Peter's Thanksgiving.
Miracles.
Success.
Happy Ending.
The Clementine Homilies.
Introductory Notice.
The Morning of the Discussion.
Simon's Design.
His Object.
Snares Laid for the Gentiles.
Use of Errors.
Purgatory and Hell.
What is Impiety?
Wiles of the Devil.
Uncertainty of the Scriptures.
Simon's Intention.
Distinction Between Prediction and Prophecy.
The Same.
Prophetic Knowledge Constant.
Prophetic Spirit Constant.
Christ's Prophecies.
Doctrine of Conjunction.
Whether Adam Had the Spirit.
Adam Not Ignorant.
Reign of Christ.
Christ the Only Prophet Has Appeared in Different Ages.
The Eating of the Forbidden Fruit Denied.
Male and Female.
Two Kinds of Prophecy.
The Prophetess a Misleader.
Cain's Name and Nature.
Abel's Name and Nature.
The Prophet and the Prophetess.
Spiritual Adultery.
The Signal Given.
Apostolic Salutation.
Faith in God.
Invitation.
Works of Creation.
Extent of Creation.
“These are a Part of His Ways.”
Dominion Over the Creatures.
“Whom to Know is Life Eternal.”
Simon's Challenge.
Defects Ascribed to God.
Peter's Answer.
“Status Quæstionis.”
Was Adam Blind?
God's Foreknowledge.
God's Decrees.
Sacrifices.
Disparagements of God.
Foreknowledge of Moses.
Test of Truth.
The True Prophet.
His Teaching Concerning the Scriptures.
His Teaching Concerning the Law.
Other Sayings of Christ.
Other Sayings of Christ.
Other Sayings.
Teaching of Christ.
Teaching of Christ.
Teaching of Christ.
Flight of Simon.
Peter's Resolution to Follow.
Successor to Be Appointed.
Monarchy.
Obedience Leads to Peace.
Zacchæus Appointed.
The Bishopric.
Nolo Episcopari.
Danger of Disobedience.
Duties of Church Office-Bearers.
“Marriage Always Honourable.”
“Not Forsaking the Assembling of Yourselves Together.”
“Hear the Bishop.”
Various Duties of Christians.
Ordination.
Baptisms.
Introductory Notice.
Translator's Introductory Notice.
Apocryphal Gospels.
The Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles.
Apocryphal Apocalypses.
Introductory Notice.
The Epistles of Zephyrinus
The Epistles of Pope Callistus
The Epistle of Pope Urbanus First
The Epistle of Pope Pontianus
The Epistle of Pope Anterus
The Epistles of Pope Fabian
Decrees of Fabian.
Introductory Notice.
Introduction to Ancient Syriac Documents.
Remains of the Second and Third Centuries
Introductory Notice.
Introduction
Introduction
Introduction.
Introduction
Introduction
Introduction
Introduction
Introduction
Introduction
Introduction
Introduction
Introduction
Introductory Note.
Note by the American Editor.
Elucidation.
Note.
Preface.
Introduction.
Introduction.
Introduction.
Introduction.
Introduction.
Introduction.
Introductory Notice to 1st Clement.
Additional Introduction.
The Salutation. Praise of the Corinthians Before the Breaking Forth of Schism Among Them.
Praise of the Corinthians Continued.
The Sad State of the Corinthian Church After Sedition Arose in It from Envy and Emulation.
Many Evils Have Already Flowed from This Source in Ancient Times.
No Less Evils Have Arisen from the Same Source in the Most Recent Times. The Martyrdom of Peter and Paul.
Continuation. Several Other Martyrs.
An Exhortation to Repentance.
Continuation Respecting Repentance.
Examples of the Saints.
Continuation of the Above.
Continuation. Lot.
The Rewards of Faith and Hospitality. Rahab.
An Exhortation to Humility.
We Should Obey God Rather Than the Authors of Sedition.
We Must Adhere to Those Who Cultivate Peace, Not to Those Who Merely Pretend to Do So.
Christ as an Example of Humility.
The Saints as Examples of Humility.
David as an Example of Humility.
Imitating These Examples, Let Us Seek After Peace.
The Peace and Harmony of the Universe.
Let Us Obey God, and Not the Authors of Sedition.
These Exhortations are Confirmed by the Christian Faith, Which Proclaims the Misery of Sinful Conduct.
Be Humble, and Believe that Christ Will Come Again.
God Continually Shows Us in Nature that There Will Be a Resurrection.
The Phœnix an Emblem of Our Resurrection.
We Shall Rise Again, Then, as the Scripture Also Testifies.
In the Hope of the Resurrection, Let Us Cleave to the Omnipotent and Omniscient God.
God Sees All Things: Therefore Let Us Avoid Transgression.
Let Us Also Draw Near to God in Purity of Heart.
Let Us Do Those Things that Please God, and Flee from Those He Hates, that We May Be Blessed.
Let Us See by What Means We May Obtain the Divine Blessing.
We are Justified Not by Our Own Works, But by Faith.
But Let Us Not Give Up the Practice of Good Works and Love. God Himself is an Example to Us of Good Works.
Great is the Reward of Good Works with God. Joined Together in Harmony, Let Us Implore that Reward from Him.
Immense is This Reward. How Shall We Obtain It?
All Blessings are Given to Us Through Christ.
Christ is Our Leader, and We His Soldiers.
Let the Members of the Church Submit Themselves, and No One Exalt Himself Above Another.
There is No Reason for Self-Conceit.
Let Us Preserve in the Church the Order Appointed by God.
Continuation of the Same Subject.
The Order of Ministers in the Church.
Moses of Old Stilled the Contention Which Arose Concerning the Priestly Dignity.
The Ordinances of the Apostles, that There Might Be No Contention Respecting the Priestly Office.
It is the Part of the Wicked to Vex the Righteous.
Let Us Cleave to the Righteous: Your Strife is Pernicious.
Your Recent Discord is Worse Than the Former Which Took Place in the Times of Paul.
Let Us Return to the Practice of Brotherly Love.
The Praise of Love.
Let Us Pray to Be Thought Worthy of Love.
Let the Partakers in Strife Acknowledge Their Sins.
Such a Confession is Pleasing to God.
The Love of Moses Towards His People.
He Who is Full of Love Will Incur Every Loss, that Peace May Be Restored to the Church.
Examples of Such Love.
Let Us Admonish and Correct One Another.
Let the Authors of Sedition Submit Themselves.
Submission the Precursor of Salvation.
Warning Against Disobedience. Prayer.
Prayer Continued.
Prayer Continued—For Rulers and Governors. Conclusion.
Summary and Conclusory—Concerning Godliness.
Hortatory, Letter Sent by Special Messengers.
Blessings Sought for All that Call Upon God.
The Corinthians are Exhorted Speedily to Send Back Word that Peace Has Been Restored. The Benediction.
Introductory Notice to 2nd Clement.
Introduction.
Introduction.
Introduction.
Origen's Commentary on the Gospel of John.
How Christians are the Spiritual Israel.
The 144,000 Sealed in the Apocalypse are Converts to Christ from the Gentile World.
In the Spiritual Israel the High-Priests are Those Who Devote Themselves to the Study of Scripture.
The Study of the Gospels is the First Fruits Offered by These Priests of Christianity.
All Scripture is Gospel; But the Gospels are Distinguished Above Other Scriptures.
The Fourfold Gospel. John's the First Fruits of the Four. Qualifications Necessary for Interpreting It.
What Good Things are Announced in the Gospels.
How the Gospels Cause the Other Books of Scripture Also to Be Gospel.
The Somatic and the Spiritual Gospel.
How Jesus Himself is the Gospel.
Jesus is All Good Things; Hence the Gospel is Manifold.
The Gospel Contains the Ill Deeds Also Which Were Done to Jesus.
The Angels Also are Evangelists.
The Old Testament, Typified by John, is the Beginning of the Gospel.
The Gospel is in the Old Testament, and Indeed in the Whole Universe. Prayer for Aid to Understand the Mystical Sense of the Work in Hand.
Meaning of “Beginning.” (1) in Space.
(2) in Time. The Beginning of Creation.
(3) of Substance.
(4) of Type and Copy.
(5) of Elements and What is Formed from Them.
(6) of Design and Execution.
The Word Was in the Beginning, I.e., in Wisdom, Which Contained All Things in Idea, Before They Existed. Christ's Character as Wisdom is Prior to His Other Characters.
The Title “Word” Is to Be Interpreted by the Same Method as the Other Titles of Christ. The Word of God is Not a Mere Attribute of God, But a Separate Person. What is Meant When He is Called the Word.
Christ as Light; How He, and How His Disciples are the Light of the World.
Christ as the Resurrection.
Christ as the Way.
Christ as the Truth.
Christ as Life.
Christ as the Door and as the Shepherd.
Christ as Anointed (Christ) and as King.
Christ as Teacher and Master.
Christ as Son.
Christ the True Vine, and as Bread.
Christ as the First and the Last; He is Also What Lies Between These.
Christ as the Living and the Dead.
Christ as a Sword.
Christ as a Servant, as the Lamb of God, and as the Man Whom John Did Not Know.
Christ as Paraclete, as Propitiation, and as the Power of God.
Christ as Wisdom and Sanctification and Redemption.
Christ as Righteousness; As the Demiurge, the Agent of the Good God, and as High-Priest.
Christ as the Rod, the Flower, the Stone.
Of the Various Ways in Which Christ is the Logos.
“And the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
In What Way the Logos is God. Errors to Be Avoided on This Question.
Various Relations of the Logos to Men.
That the Logos is One, Not Many. Of the Word, Faithful and True, and of His White Horse.
He (This One) Was in the Beginning with God.
How the Word is the Maker of All Things, and Even the Holy Spirit Was Made Through Him.
Of Things Not Made Through the Logos.
Heracleon's View that the Logos is Not the Agent of Creation.
That the Logos Present in Us is Not Responsible for Our Sins.
“That Which Was Made Was Life in Him, and the Life Was the Light of Men.” This Involves the Paradox that What Does Not Derive Life from the Logos Does Not Live at All.
How No One is Righteous or Can Truly Be Said to Live in Comparison with God.
Is the Saviour All that He Is, to All?
How the Life in the Logos Comes After the Beginning.
How the Natures of Men are Not So Fixed from the First, But that They May Pass from Darkness to Light.
Heracleon's View that the Lord Brought Life Only to the Spiritual. Refutation of This.
The Life May Be the Light of Others Besides.
The Higher Powers are Men; And Christ is Their Light Also.
How God Also is Light, But in a Different Way; And How Life Came Before Light.
The Life Here Spoken of is the Higher Life, that of Reason.
Different Kinds of Light; And of Darkness.
Christ is Not, Like God, Quite Free from Darkness: Since He Bore Our Sins.
How the Darkness Failed to Overtake the Light.
There is a Divine Darkness Which is Not Evil, and Which Ultimately Becomes Light.
John the Baptist Was Sent. From Where? His Soul Was Sent from a Higher Region.
Argument from the Prayer of Joseph, to Show that the Baptist May Have Been an Angel Who Became a Man.
John is Voice, Jesus is Speech. Relation of These Two to Each Other.
Significance of the Names of John and of His Parents.
The Prophets Bore Witness to Christ and Foretold Many Things Concerning Him.
The Six Testimonies of the Baptist Enumerated. Jesus' “Come and See.” Significance of the Tenth Hour.
How John Was a Witness of Christ, and Specially of “The Light.”
The Work is Taken Up After a Violent Interruption, Which Has Driven the Writer from Alexandria. He Addresses Himself to It Again, with Thanks for His Deliverance, and Prayer for Guidance.
How the Prophets and Holy Men of the Old Testament Knew the Things of Christ.
“Grace and Truth Came Through Jesus Christ.” These Words Belong to the Baptist, Not the Evangelist. What the Baptist Testifies by Them.
John Denies that He is Elijah or “The” Prophet. Yet He Was “A” Prophet.
There Were Two Embassies to John the Baptist; The Different Characters of These.
Messianic Discussion with John the Baptist.
Of the Birth of John, and of His Alleged Identity with Elijah. Of the Doctrine of Transcorporation.
John is a Prophet, But Not the Prophet.
John I. 22.
Of the Voice John the Baptist is.
Of the Way of the Lord, How It is Narrow, and How Jesus is the Way.
Heracleon's View of the Voice, and of John the Baptist.
John I. 24, 25. Of the Baptism of John, that of Elijah, and that of Christ.
Comparison of the Statements of the Four Evangelists Respecting John the Baptist, the Prophecies Regarding Him, His Addresses to the Multitude and to the Pharisees, Etc.
How the Baptist Answers the Question of the Pharisees and Exalts the Nature of Christ. Of the Shoe-Latchet Which He is Unable to Untie.
Comparison of John's Testimony to Jesus in the Different Gospels.
Of the Testimony of John to Jesus in Matthew's Gospel.
Of the Testimony in Mark. What is Meant by the Saviour's Shoes and by Untying His Shoe-Latchets.
Luke and John Suggest that One May Loose the Shoe-Latchets of the Logos Without Stooping Down.
The Difference Between Not Being “Sufficient” And Not Being “Worthy.”
The Fourth Gospel Speaks of Only One Shoe, the Others of Both. The Significance of This.
How the Word Stands in the Midst of Men Without Being Known of Them.
Heracleon's View of This Utterance of John the Baptist, and Interpretation of the Shoe of Jesus.
The Name of the Place Where John Baptized is Not Bethany, as in Most Copies, But Bethabara. Proof of This. Similarly “Gergesa” Should Be Read for “Gerasa,” In the Story of the Swine. Attention is to Be Paid to the Proper Names in Scripture, Which are Often Written Inaccurately, and are of Importance for Interpretation.
Jordan Means “Their Going Down.” Spiritual Meanings and Application of This.
The Story of Israel Crossing Jordan Under Joshua is Typical of Christian Things, and is Written for Our Instruction.
Of Elijah and Elisha Crossing the Jordan.
Naaman the Syrian and the Jordan. No Other Stream Has the Same Healing Power.
The River of Egypt and Its Dragon, Contrasted with the Jordan.
Of What John Learned from Jesus When Mary Visited Elisabeth in the Hill Country.
Of the Conversation Between John and Jesus at the Baptism, Recorded by Matthew Only.
John Calls Jesus a “Lamb.” Why Does He Name This Animal Specially? Of the Typology of the Sacrifices, Generally.
A Lamb Was Offered at the Morning and Evening Sacrifice. Significance of This.
The Morning and Evening Sacrifices of the Saint in His Life of Thought.
Jesus is a Lamb in Respect of His Human Nature.
Of the Death of the Martyrs Considered as a Sacrifice, and in What Way It Operates to the Benefit of Others.
1 Of the Effects of the Death of Christ, of His Triumph After It, and of the Removal by His Death of the Sins of Men.
The World, of Which the Sin is Taken Away, is Said to Be the Church. Reasons for Not Agreeing with This Opinion.
Jesus Comes to Capernaum. Statements of the Four Evangelists Regarding This.
The Discrepancy Between John and the First Three Gospels at This Part of the Narrative, Literally Read, the Narratives Cannot Be Harmonized: They Must Be Interpreted Spiritually.
What We are to Think of the Discrepancies Between the Different Gospels.
Scripture Contains Many Contradictions, and Many Statements Which are Not Literally True, But Must Be Read Spiritually and Mystically.
Paul Also Makes Contradictory Statements About Himself, and Acts in Opposite Ways at Different Times.
Different Accounts of the Call of Peter, and of the Imprisonment of the Baptist. The Meaning of “Capernaum.”
Why His Brothers are Not Called to the Wedding; And Why He Abides at Capernaum Not Many Days.
How Christ Abides with Believers to the End of the Age, and Whether He Abides with Them After that Consummation.
Heracleon Says that Jesus is Not Stated to Have Done Anything at Capernaum. But in the Other Gospels He Does Many Things There.
Significance of Capernaum.
Why the Passover is Said to Be that of the “Jews.” Its Institution: and the Distinction Between “Feasts of the Lord” And Feasts Not So Spoken of.
Of the Heavenly Festivals, of Which Those on Earth are Typical.
Spiritual Meaning of the Passover.
In the First Three Gospels the Passover is Spoken of Only at the Close of the Ministry; In John at the Beginning. Remarks on This. Heracleon on the Passover.
Discrepancy of the Gospel Narratives Connected with the Cleansing of the Temple.
The Story of the Purging of the Temple Spiritualized. Taken Literally, It Presents Some Very Difficult and Unlikely Features.
Matthew's Story of the Entry into Jerusalem. Difficulties Involved in It for Those Who Take It Literally.
The Ass and the Colt are the Old and the New Testament. Spiritual Meaning of the Various Features of the Story. Differences Between John's Narrative and that of the Other Evangelists.
Various Views of Heracleon on Purging of the Temple.
The Temple Which Christ Says He Will Raise Up is the Church. How the Dry Bones Will Be Made to Live Again.
That the Son Was Raised Up by the Father. The Charge Brought Against Jesus at His Trial Was Based on the Incident Now Before Us.
The Temple of Solomon Did Not Take Forty-Six Years to Build. With Regard to that of Ezra We Cannot Tell How Long It Took. Significance of the Number Forty-Six.
The Temple Spoken of by Christ is the Church. Application to the Church of the Statements Regarding the Building of Solomon's Temple, and the Numbers Stated in that Narrative.
The Account of the Building of Solomon's Temple Contains Serious Difficulties and is to Be Interpreted Spiritually.
Further Spiritualizing of Solomon's Temple-Building.
The Promises Addressed to Jerusalem in the Prophets Refer to the Church, and are Still to Be Fulfilled.
Of the Belief the Disciples Afterwards Attained in the Words of Jesus.
The Difference Between Believing in the Name of Jesus and Believing in Jesus Himself.
About What Beings Jesus Needed Testimony.
How Jesus Knew the Powers, Better or Worse, Which Reside in Man.
Origen's Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew
Introduction.
Concerning Those Who Asked Him to Show Them a Sign from Heaven.
Why the Pharisees Asked a Sign from Heaven.
The Answer of Jesus to Their Request.
Why Jesus Called Them an Adulterous Generation. The Law as Husband.
Concerning the Leaven of the Pharisees.
The Meaning of Leaven. Jesus' Knowledge of the Heart.
Relative Magnitude of Sins of the Heart and Actual Sins.
The Leaven Figurative Like the Water Spoken of by Jesus to the Woman of Samaria.
Concerning the Question of Jesus in Cæsarea, Who Do Men Say that I Am? Different Conceptions of Jesus.
The Answer of Peter.
The Promise Given to Peter Not Restricted to Him, But Applicable to All Disciples Like Him.
Every Sin—Every False Doctrine is a “Gate of Hades.”
The “Gates of Hades” And the “Gates of Zion” Contrasted.
In What Sense the “Keys” Are Given to Peter, and Every Peter. Limitations of This Power.
Relation of the Former Commission Given by Jesus to the Disciples, to His Present Injunction of Silence. Belief and Knowledge Contrasted.
Gradual Growth in Knowledge of the Disciples.
Reasons for that Gradual Knowledge.
Jesus Was at First Proclaimed by the Twelve as a Worker and a Teacher Only.
Importance of the Proclamation of Jesus as the Crucified.
Why Jesus Had to Go to Jerusalem.
The Rebuke of Peter and the Answer of Jesus.
Importance of the Expressions “Behind” And “Turned.”
Peter as a Stumbling-Block to Jesus.
Self-Denial and Cross-Bearing.
Reference to the Saying of Paul About Crucifixion with Christ.
The Less of Life; And the Saving of It.
Life Lost to the World is Saved.
The Exchange for One's Life.
The Coming of the Son of Man in Glory.
The Word Appears in Different Forms; The Time of His Coming in Glory.
The Simpler Interpretation of the Promise About Not Tasting of Death.
Standing by the Saviour.
Interpretation of “Tasting of Death.”
Meaning of “Until.” No Limitation of Promise.
Scriptural References to Death.
Concerning the Transfiguration of the Saviour.
Force of the Words “Before Them.”
The Garments White as the Light.
Jesus Was Transfigured—“As He Was Praying.”
Discussion of the Saying of Peter.
Figurative Interpretation of the Same.
The Meaning of the “Bright Cloud.”
Relation of Moses and Elijah to Jesus. The Injunction of Silence.

Other Sources

Introduction
Preface
Introduction
Additional Note
Preface to the Online Edition
Preface
Translator's Preface
Explanatory Note in the Greek
Preface to the Greek Edition
I. Of the Inspiration of the Divine Scripture
II. That the Divine Scripture is closed up and sealed
III. Why the Inspired Books are Twenty-two in Number
IV. Of the Solecisms and Poor Style of Scripture
V. What is much speaking, and what are the many books? The whole Inspired Scripture is One Book
VI. The whole Divine Scripture is One Instrument of God, perfect and fitted for its Work
VII. Of the special character of the Persons of Divine Scripture
VIII That we need not attempt to correct the Solecisms of Scripture, etc
IX. Scripture uses the same Terms in different Significations.
X. Stumbling-blocks in Holy Scripture
XI. On Heretical Interpretation of Holy Scripture
XII. We ought not to despair in reading the Scriptures if we find Difficulties in them
XIII. Philosophy in relation to Holy Scripture
XIV. The Use of Logic in the Study of Scripture
XV. A Reply to the Objection that the Truths of Christianity have been better expressed by the Greeks. Our Lord's Body, etc.
XVI. On the Divisions among Christians
XVII. May we give Heathen Titles to the Supreme God?
XVIII. The simplicityof Christian Faith, etc.
XIX. Faith in Christ commendable and accordant with the original Moral Notions of Mankind. How Jesus being God could have a Mortal Body
XX. Man and the Irrational Creatures
XXI. Free Will
XXII. The Dispersion of Mankind, and the Confusion of Tongues
XXIII. Fate, Astrology, etc
XXIV. Matter is not Uncreated, or the Cause of Evil
XXV. God's Foreknowledge, Predestination, etc.
XXVI. Scripture Blessings. What things are really Good and Evil
XXVII. The Hardening of Pharaoh's Heart
Introduction