The Five Books Against Marcion.

 Book I. Wherein is described the god of Marcion. …

 Chapter I.—Preface. Reason for a New Work. Pontus Lends Its Rough Character to the Heretic Marcion, a Native. His Heresy Characterized in a Brief Inve

 Chapter II.—Marcion, Aided by Cerdon, Teaches a Duality of Gods How He Constructed This Heresy of an Evil and a Good God.

 Chapter III.—The Unity of God. He is the Supreme Being, and There Cannot Be a Second Supreme.

 Chapter IV.—Defence of the Divine Unity Against Objection. No Analogy Between Human Powers and God’s Sovereignty. The Objection Otherwise Untenable, f

 Chapter V.—The Dual Principle Falls to the Ground Plurality of Gods, of Whatever Number, More Consistent. Absurdity and Injury to Piety Resulting fro

 Chapter VI.—Marcion Untrue to His Theory. He Pretends that His Gods are Equal, But He Really Makes Them Diverse.  Then, Allowing Their Divinity, Denie

 Chapter VII.—Other Beings Besides God are in Scripture Called God.  This Objection Frivolous, for It is Not a Question of Names. The Divine Essence is

 Chapter VIII.—Specific Points.  The Novelty of Marcion’s God Fatal to His Pretensions. God is from Everlasting, He Cannot Be in Any Wise New.

 Chapter IX.—Marcion’s Gnostic Pretensions Vain, for the True God is Neither Unknown Nor Uncertain.  The Creator, Whom He Owns to Be God, Alone Supplie

 Chapter X.—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

 Chapter XI.—The Evidence for God External to Him But the External Creation Which Yields This Evidence is Really Not Extraneous, for All Things are Go

 But even if we were able to allow that he exists, we should yet be bound to argue that he is without a cause. For he who had nothing (to show for hims

 Chapter XIII.—The Marcionites Depreciate the Creation, Which, However, is a Worthy Witness of God. This Worthiness Illustrated by References to the He

 Chapter XIV.—All Portions of Creation Attest the Excellence of the Creator, Whom Marcion Vilifies. His Inconsistency Herein Exposed. Marcion’s Own God

 Chapter XV.—The Lateness of the Revelation of Marcion’s God. The Question of the Place Occupied by the Rival Deities. Instead of Two Gods, Marcion Rea

 Chapter XVI.—Marcion Assumes the Existence of Two Gods from the Antithesis Between Things Visible and Things Invisible. This Antithetical Principle in

 Chapter XVII.—Not Enough, as the Marcionites Pretend, that the Supreme God Should Rescue Man He Must Also Have Created Him. The Existence of God Prov

 Chapter XVIII.—Notwithstanding Their Conceits, the God of the Marcionites Fails in the Vouchers Both of Created Evidence and of Adequate Revelation.

 Chapter XIX.—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

 Chapter XX.—Marcion, Justifying His Antithesis Between the Law and the Gospel by the Contention of St. Paul with St. Peter, Shown to Have Mistaken St.

 Chapter XXI.—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

 Chapter XXII.—God’s Attribute of Goodness Considered as Natural The God of Marcion Found Wanting Herein. It Came Not to Man’s Rescue When First Wante

 Chapter XXIII.—God’s Attribute of Goodness Considered as Rational. Marcion’s God Defective Here Also His Goodness Irrational and Misapplied.

 Chapter XXIV.—The Goodness of Marcion’s God Only Imperfectly Manifested It Saves But Few, and the Souls Merely of These. Marcion’s Contempt of the Bo

 Chapter XXV.—God is Not a Being of Simple Goodness Other Attributes Belong to Him. Marcion Shows Inconsistency in the Portraiture of His Simply Good

 Chapter XXVI.—In the Attribute of Justice, Marcion’s God is Hopelessly Weak and Ungodlike.  He Dislikes Evil, But Does Not Punish Its Perpetration.

 Chapter XXVII.—Dangerous Effects to Religion and Morality of the Doctrine of So Weak a God.

 Chapter XXVIII.—This Perverse Doctrine Deprives Baptism of All Its Grace. If Marcion Be Right, the Sacrament Would Confer No Remission of Sins, No Reg

 Chapter XXIX.—Marcion Forbids Marriage. Tertullian Eloquently Defends It as Holy, and Carefully Discriminates Between Marcion’s Doctrine and His Own M

 Book II. Wherein Tertullian shows that the creator, or demiurge, whom Marcion calumniated, is the true and good God.

 Chapter I.—The Methods of Marcion’s Argument Incorrect and Absurd.  The Proper Course of the Argument.

 Chapter II.—The True Doctrine of God the Creator. The Heretics Pretended to a Knowledge of the Divine Being, Opposed to and Subversive of Revelation.

 Chapter III.—God Known by His Works. His Goodness Shown in His Creative Energy But Everlasting in Its Nature Inherent in God, Previous to All Exhibi

 Chapter IV.—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-

 Chapter V.—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 Libert

 Chapter VI.—This Liberty Vindicated in Respect of Its Original Creation Suitable Also for Exhibiting the Goodness and the Purpose of God.  Reward and

 Chapter VII.—If God Had Anyhow Checked Man’s Liberty, Marcion Would Have Been Ready with Another and Opposite Cavil. Man’s Fall Foreseen by God. Provi

 Chapter VIII.—Man, Endued with Liberty, Superior to the Angels, Overcomes Even the Angel Which Lured Him to His Fall, When Repentant and Resuming Obed

 Chapter IX.—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 Div

 Chapter X.—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

 Chapter XI.—If, After Man’s Sin, God Exercised His Attribute of Justice and Judgment, This Was Compatible with His Goodness, and Enhances the True Ide

 Chapter XII.—The Attributes of Goodness and Justice Should Not Be Separated. They are Compatible in the True God. The Function of Justice in the Divin

 Chapter XIII.—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

 Chapter XIV.—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

 Chapter XV.—The Severity of God Compatible with Reason and Justice. When Inflicted, Not Meant to Be Arbitrary, But Remedial.

 Chapter XVI.—To the Severity of God There Belong Accessory Qualities, Compatible with Justice. If Human Passions are Predicated of God, They Must Not

 Chapter XVII.—Trace God’s Government in History and in His Precepts, and You Will Find It Full of His Goodness.

 Chapter XVIII.—Some of God’s Laws Defended as Good, Which the Marcionites Impeached, Such as the Lex Talionis. Useful Purposes in a Social and Moral P

 Chapter XIX.—The Minute Prescriptions of the Law Meant to Keep the People Dependent on God. The Prophets Sent by God in Pursuance of His Goodness.  Ma

 Chapter XX.—The Marcionites Charged God with Having Instigated the Hebrews to Spoil the Egyptians. Defence of the Divine Dispensation in that Matter.

 Chapter XXI.—The Law of the Sabbath-Day Explained. The Eight Days’ Procession Around Jericho. The Gathering of Sticks a Violation.

 Chapter XXII.—The Brazen Serpent and the Golden Cherubim Were Not Violations of the Second Commandment. Their Meaning.

 Chapter XXIII.—God’s Purposes in Election and Rejection of the Same Men, Such as King Saul, Explained, in Answer to the Marcionite Cavil.

 Chapter XXIV.—Instances of God’s Repentance, and Notably in the Case of the Ninevites, Accounted for and Vindicated.

 Chapter XXV.—God’s Dealings with Adam at the Fall, and with Cain After His Crime, Admirably Explained and Defended.

 Chapter XXVI.—The Oath of God: Its Meaning. Moses, When Deprecating God’s Wrath Against Israel, a Type of Christ.

 Chapter XXVII.—Other Objections Considered. God’s Condescension in the Incarnation.  Nothing Derogatory to the Divine Being in This Economy. The Divin

 Chapter XXVIII.—The Tables Turned Upon Marcion, by Contrasts, in Favour of the True God.

 Chapter XXIX.—Marcion’s Own Antitheses, If Only the Title and Object of the Work Be Excepted, Afford Proofs of the Consistent Attributes of the True G

 Book III. Wherein Christ is shown to be the Son of God, Who created the world to have been predicted by the prophets to have taken human flesh like

 Chapter I.—Introductory A Brief Statement of the Preceding Argument in Connection with the Subject of This Book.

 Chapter II.—Why Christ’s Coming Should Be Previously Announced.

 Chapter III.—Miracles Alone, Without Prophecy, an Insufficient Evidence of Christ’s Mission.

 Chapter IV.—Marcion’s Christ Not the Subject of Prophecy. The Absurd Consequences of This Theory of the Heretic.

 Chapter V.—Sundry Features of the Prophetic Style: Principles of Its Interpretation.

 Chapter VI.—Community in Certain Points of Marcionite and Jewish Error. Prophecies of Christ’s Rejection Examined.

 Chapter VII.—Prophecy Sets Forth Two Different Conditions of Christ, One Lowly, the Other Majestic. This Fact Points to Two Advents of Christ.

 Chapter VIII.—Absurdity of Marcion’s Docetic Opinions Reality of Christ’s Incarnation.

 Chapter IX.—Refutation of Marcion’s Objections Derived from the Cases of the Angels, and the Pre-Incarnate Manifestations of the Son of God.

 Chapter X.—The Truly Incarnate State More Worthy of God Than Marcion’s Fantastic Flesh.

 Chapter XI.—Christ Was Truly Born Marcion’s Absurd Cavil in Defence of a Putative Nativity.

 Chapter XII.—Isaiah’s Prophecy of Emmanuel. Christ Entitled to that Name.

 Chapter XIII.—Isaiah’s Prophecies Considered. The Virginity of Christ’s Mother a Sign. Other Prophecies Also Signs. Metaphorical Sense of Proper Names

 Chapter XIV.—Figurative Style of Certain Messianic Prophecies in the Psalms. Military Metaphors Applied to Christ.

 Chapter XV.—The Title Christ Suitable as a Name of the Creator’s Son, But Unsuited to Marcion’s Christ.

 Chapter XVI.—The Sacred Name Jesus Most Suited to the Christ of the Creator.  Joshua a Type of Him.

 Chapter XVII.—Prophecies in Isaiah and the Psalms Respecting Christ’s Humiliation.

 On the subject of His death, I suppose, you endeavour to introduce a diversity of opinion, simply because you deny that the suffering of the cross was

 Chapter XIX.—Prophecies of the Death of Christ.

 It is sufficient for my purpose to have traced thus far the course of Christ’s dispensation in these particulars. This has proved Him to be such a one

 Chapter XXI.—The Call of the Gentiles Under the Influence of the Gospel Foretold.

 Chapter XXII.—The Success of the Apostles, and Their Sufferings in the Cause of the Gospel, Foretold.

 Chapter XXIII.—The Dispersion of the Jews, and Their Desolate Condition for Rejecting Christ, Foretold.

 Chapter XXIV.—Christ’s Millennial and Heavenly Glory in Company with His Saints.

 Book IV. In Which Tertullian Pursues His…

 In Which Tertullian Pursues His Argument. Jesus is the Christ of the Creator. He Derives His Proofs from St. Luke’s Gospel That Being the Only Histor

 Chapter II.—St. Luke’s Gospel, Selected by Marcion as His Authority, and Mutilated by Him.  The Other Gospels Equally Authoritative.  Marcion’s Terms

 In the scheme of Marcion, on the contrary, the mystery edition the

 Chapter IV.—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

 On the whole, then, if that is evidently more true which is earlier, if that is earlier which is from the very beginning, if that is from the beginnin

 Chapter VI.—Marcion’s Object in Adulterating the Gospel. No Difference Between the Christ of the Creator and the Christ of the Gospel. No Rival Christ

 Chapter VII.—Marcion Rejected the Preceding Portion of St. Luke’s Gospel. Therefore This Review Opens with an Examination of the Case of the Evil Spir

 Chapter VIII.—Other Proofs from the Same Chapter, that Jesus, Who Preached at Nazareth, and Was Acknowledged by Certain Demons as Christ the Son of Go

 Chapter IX.—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 Offi

 Chapter X.—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 Gi

 Chapter XI.—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. Argum

 Chapter XII.—Christ’s Authority Over the Sabbath. As Its Lord He Recalled It from Pharisaic Neglect to the Original Purpose of Its Institution by the

 Chapter XIII.—Christ’s Connection with the Creator Shown. Many Quotations Out of the Old Testament Prophetically Bear on Certain Events of the Life of

 Chapter XIV.—Christ’s Sermon on the Mount. In Manner and Contents It So Resembles the Creator’s Dispensational Words and Deeds. It Suggests Therefore

 Chapter XV.—Sermon on the Mount Continued. Its Woes in Strict Agreement with the Creator’s Disposition.  Many Quotations Out of the Old Testament in P

 Chapter XVI.—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

 Chapter XVII.—Concerning Loans. Prohibition of Usury and the Usurious Spirit. The Law Preparatory to the Gospel in Its Provisions So in the Present I

 Chapter XVIII.—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 Sinn

 Chapter XIX.—The Rich Women of Piety Who Followed Jesus Christ’s Teaching by Parables. The Marcionite Cavil Derived from Christ’s Remark, When Told of

 Chapter XX.—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 Unc

 Chapter XXI.—Christ’s Connection with the Creator Shown from Several Incidents in the Old Testament, Compared with St. Luke’s Narrative of the Mission

 Chapter XXII.—The Same Conclusion Supported by the Transfiguration. Marcion Inconsistent in Associating with Christ in Glory Two Such Eminent Servants

 Chapter XXIII.—Impossible that Marcion’s Christ Should Reprove the Faithless Generation. Such Loving Consideration for Infants as the True Christ Was

 Chapter XXIV.—On the Mission of the Seventy Disciples, and Christ’s Charge to Them.  Precedents Drawn from the Old Testament.  Absurdity of Supposing

 Chapter XXV.—Christ Thanks the Father for Revealing to Babes What He Had Concealed from the Wise. This Concealment Judiciously Effected by the Creator

 Chapter XXVI.—From St. Luke’s Eleventh Chapter Other Evidence that Christ Comes from the Creator. The Lord’s Prayer and Other Words of Christ.  The Du

 Chapter XXVII.—Christ’s Reprehension of the Pharisees Seeking a Sign.  His Censure of Their Love of Outward Show Rather Than Inward Holiness. Scriptur

 Justly, therefore, was the hypocrisy of the Pharisees displeasing to Him, loving God as they did with their lips, but not with their heart.  “Beware,”

 Chapter XXIX.—Parallels from the Prophets to Illustrate Christ’s Teaching in the Rest of This Chapter of St. Luke. The Sterner Attributes of Christ, i

 Chapter XXX.—Parables of the Mustard-Seed, and of the Leaven. Transition to the Solemn Exclusion Which Will Ensue When the Master of the House Has Shu

 Chapter XXXI.—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 Di

 Chapter XXXII.—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 Applicat

 Chapter XXXIII.—The Marcionite Interpretation of God and Mammon Refuted. The Prophets Justify Christ’s Admonition Against Covetousness and Pride. John

 Chapter XXXIV.—Moses, Allowing Divorce, and Christ Prohibiting It, Explained. John Baptist and Herod. Marcion’s Attempt to Discover an Antithesis in t

 Chapter XXXV.—The Judicial Severity of Christ and the Tenderness of the Creator, Asserted in Contradiction to Marcion. The Cure of the Ten Lepers. Old

 Chapter XXXVI.—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 M

 Chapter XXXVII.—Christ and Zacchæus. The Salvation of the Body as Denied by Marcion. The Parable of the Ten Servants Entrusted with Ten Pounds.  Chris

 Chapter XXXVIII.—Christ’s Refutations of the Pharisees. Rendering Dues to Cæsar and to God. Next of the Sadducees, Respecting Marriage in the Resurrec

 Chapter XXXIX.—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

 Chapter XL.—How the Steps in the Passion of the Saviour Were Predetermined in Prophecy. The Passover. The Treachery of Judas. The Institution of the L

 Chapter XLI.—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 Bef

 Chapter XLII.—Other Incidents of the Passion Minutely Compared with Prophecy. Pilate and Herod. Barabbas Preferred to Jesus. Details of the Crucifixio

 Chapter XLIII.—Conclusions. Jesus as the Christ of the Creator Proved from the Events of the Last Chapter of St. Luke. The Pious Women at the Sepulchr

 Book V. Wherein Tertullian proves, with respect to St. Paul’s epistles, what he had proved in the preceding book with respect to St. Luke’s gospel.

 Chapter I.—Introductory. The Apostle Paul Himself Not the Preacher of a New God.  Called by Jesus Christ, Although After the Other Apostles, His Missi

 Chapter II.—On the Epistle to the Galatians. The Abolition of the Ordinances of the Mosaic Law No Proof of Another God. The Divine Lawgiver, the Creat

 Chapter III.—St. Paul Quite in Accordance with St. Peter and Other Apostles of the Circumcision. His Censure of St. Peter Explained, and Rescued from

 Chapter IV.—Another Instance of Marcion’s Tampering with St. Paul’s Text.  The Fulness of Time, Announced by the Apostle, Foretold by the Prophets. Mo

 Chapter V.—The First Epistle to the Corinthians. The Pauline Salutation of Grace and Peace Shown to Be Anti-Marcionite. The Cross of Christ Purposed b

 Chapter VI.—The Divine Way of Wisdom, and Greatness, and Might. God’s Hiding of Himself, and Subsequent Revelation. To Marcion’s God Such a Concealmen

 Chapter VII.—St. Paul’s Phraseology Often Suggested by the Jewish Scriptures. Christ Our Passover—A Phrase Which Introduces Us to the Very Heart of th

 Chapter VIII.—Man the Image of the Creator, and Christ the Head of the Man.  Spiritual Gifts. The Sevenfold Spirit Described by Isaiah. The Apostle an

 Chapter IX.—The Doctrine of the Resurrection. The Body Will Rise Again. Christ’s Judicial Character. Jewish Perversions of Prophecy Exposed and Confut

 Chapter X.—Doctrine of the Resurrection of the Body, Continued. How are the Dead Raised? and with What Body Do They Come? These Questions Answered in

 Chapter XI.—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

 Chapter XII.—The Eternal Home in Heaven. Beautiful Exposition by Tertullian of the Apostle’s Consolatory Teaching Against the Fear of Death, So Apt to

 Chapter XIII.—The Epistle to the Romans. St. Paul Cannot Help Using Phrases Which Bespeak the Justice of God, Even When He is Eulogizing the Mercies o

 Chapter XIV.—The Divine Power Shown in Christ’s Incarnation. Meaning of St. Paul’s Phrase. Likeness of Sinful Flesh. No Docetism in It. Resurrection o

 Chapter XV.—The First Epistle to the Thessalonians. The Shorter Epistles Pungent in Sense and Very Valuable. St. Paul Upbraids the Jews for the Death

 Chapter XVI.—The Second Epistle to the Thessalonians. An Absurd Erasure of Marcion Its Object Transparent. The Final Judgment on the Heathen as Well

 Chapter XVII.—The Epistle to the Laodiceans. The Proper Designation is to the Ephesians. Recapitulation of All Things in Christ from the Beginning of

 Chapter XVIII.—Another Foolish Erasure of Marcion’s Exposed. Certain Figurative Expressions of the Apostle, Suggested by the Language of the Old Testa

 Chapter XIX.—The Epistle to the Colossians. Time the Criterion of Truth and Heresy. Application of the Canon. The Image of the Invisible God Explained

 Chapter XX.—The Epistle to the Philippians. The Variances Amongst the Preachers of Christ No Argument that There Was More Than One Only Christ. St. Pa

 Chapter XXI.—The Epistle to Philemon.  This Epistle Not Mutilated.  Marcion’s Inconsistency in Accepting This, and Rejecting Three Other Epistles Addr

Chapter XV.—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.

“In the like manner,” says He,1661    Luke vi. 26. “did their fathers unto the prophets.”  What a turncoat1662    Versipellem. An indignant exclamation on Marcion’s Christ. is Marcion’s Christ! Now the destroyer, now the advocate of the prophets! He destroyed them as their rival, by converting their disciples; he took up their cause as their friend, by stigmatizing1663    Suggillans. their persecutors. But,1664    Porro. in as far as the defence of the prophets could not be consistent in the Christ of Marcion, who came to destroy them; in so far is it becoming to the Creator’s Christ that He should stigmatize those who persecuted the prophets, for He in all things accomplished their predictions. Again, it is more characteristic of the Creator to upbraid sons with their fathers’ sins, than it is of that god who chastizes no man for even his own misdeeds.  But you will say, He cannot be regarded as defending the prophets simply because He wished to affirm the iniquity of the Jews for their impious dealings with their own prophets. Well, then, in this case,1665    Hic. no sin ought to have been charged against the Jews: they were rather deserving of praise and approbation when they maltreated1666    Suggillaverunt. This is Oehler’s emendation; the common reading is figuraverunt. those whom the absolutely good god of Marcion, after so long a time, bestirred himself1667    Motus est. to destroy. I suppose, however, that by this time he had ceased to be the absolutely good god;1668    Deus optimus. he had now sojourned a considerable while even with the Creator, and was no longer (like) the god of Epicurus1669    That is, apathetic, inert, and careless about human affairs. purely and simply. For see how he condescends1670    Demutat. to curse, and proves himself capable of taking offence and feeling anger! He actually pronounces a woe! But a doubt is raised against us as to the import of this word, as if it carried with it less the sense of a curse than of an admonition. Where, however, is the difference, since even an admonition is not given without the sting of a threat, especially when it is embittered with a woe? Moreover, both admonition and threatening will be the resources of him1671    Ejus erunt. who knows how to feel angry. For no one will forbid the doing of a thing with an admonition or a threat, except him who will inflict punishment for the doing of it.  No one would inflict punishment, except him who was susceptible of anger. Others, again, admit that the word implies a curse; but they will have it that Christ pronounced the woe, not as if it were His own genuine feeling, but because the woe is from the Creator, and He wanted to set forth to them the severity of the Creator in order that He might the more commend His own long-suffering1672    Sufferentiam. in His beatitudes. Just as if it were not competent to the Creator, in the pre-eminence of both His attributes as the good God and Judge, that, as He had made clemency1673    Benignitatem. the preamble of His benediction so He should place severity in the sequel of His curses; thus fully developing His discipline in both directions, both in following out the blessing and in providing against the curse.1674    Ad maledictionem præcavendam. He had already said of old, “Behold, I have set before you blessing and cursing.”1675    Deut. xxx. 19. Which statement was really a presage of1676    Portendebat in. this temper of the gospel. Besides, what sort of being is that who, to insinuate a belief in his own goodness, invidiously contrasted1677    Opposuit. with it the Creator’s severity? Of little worth is the recommendation which has for its prop the defamation of another. And yet by thus setting forth the severity of the Creator, he, in fact, affirmed Him to be an object of fear.1678    Timendum. Now if He be an object of fear, He is of course more worthy of being obeyed than slighted; and thus Marcion’s Christ begins to teach favourably to the Creator’s interests.1679    Creatori docere. Then, on the admission above mentioned, since the woe which has regard to the rich is the Creator’s, it follows that it is not Christ, but the Creator, who is angry with the rich; while Christ approves of1680    Ratas habet. the incentives of the rich1681    Divitum causas.—I mean, their pride, their pomp,1682    Gloriam. their love of the world, and their contempt of God, owing to which they deserve the woe of the Creator. But how happens it that the reprobation of the rich does not proceed from the same God who had just before expressed approbation of the poor? There is nobody but reprobates the opposite of that which he has approved. If, therefore, there be imputed to the Creator the woe pronounced against the rich, there must be claimed for Him also the promise of the blessing upon the poor; and thus the entire work of the Creator devolves on Christ.—If to Marcion’s god there be ascribed the blessing of the poor, he must also have imputed to him the malediction of the rich; and thus will he become the Creator’s equal,1683    Erit par creatoris. both good and judicial; nor will there be left any room for that distinction whereby two gods are made; and when this distinction is removed, there will remain the verity which pronounces the Creator to be the one only God. Since, therefore, “woe” is a word indicative of malediction, or of some unusually austere1684    Austerioris. exclamation; and since it is by Christ uttered against the rich, I shall have to show that the Creator is also a despiser1685    Aspernatorem. of the rich, as I have shown Him to be the defender1686    Advocatorem. of the poor, in order that I may prove Christ to be on the Creator’s side in this matter, even when He enriched Solomon.1687    1 Kings iii. 5–13. But with respect to this man, since, when a choice was left to him, he preferred asking for what he knew to be well-pleasing to God—even wisdom—he further merited the attainment of the riches, which he did not prefer. The endowing of a man indeed with riches, is not an incongruity to God, for by the help of riches even rich men are comforted and assisted; moreover, by them many a work of justice and charity is carried out. But yet there are serious faults1688    Vitia. which accompany riches; and it is because of these that woes are denounced on the rich, even in the Gospel. “Ye have received,” says He, “your consolation;”1689    Luke vi. 24. [See Southey’s Wesley, on “Riches,” vol. ii. p. 310.] that is, of course, from their riches, in the pomps and vanities of the world which these purchase for them.  Accordingly, in Deuteronomy, Moses says:  “Lest, when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, as well as thy silver and thy gold, thine heart be then lifted up, and thou forget the Lord thy God.”1690    Deut. viii. 12–14. In similar terms, when king Hezekiah became proud of his treasures, and gloried in them rather than in God before those who had come on an embassy from Babylon,1691    Tertullian says, ex Perside. (the Creator) breaks forth1692    Insilit. against him by the mouth of Isaiah:  “Behold, the days come when all that is in thine house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in store, shall be carried to Babylon.”1693    Isa. xxxix. 6. So by Jeremiah likewise did He say: “Let not the rich man glory in his riches but let him that glorieth even glory in the Lord.”1694    Jer. ix. 23, 24. Similarly against the daughters of Sion does He inveigh by Isaiah, when they were haughty through their pomp and the abundance of their riches,1695    Isa. iii. 16–24. just as in another passage He utters His threats against the proud and noble: “Hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth, and down to it shall descend the illustrious, and the great, and the rich (this shall be Christ’s ‘woe to the rich’); and man1696    Homo: “the mean man,” A.V. shall be humbled,” even he that exalts himself with riches; “and the mighty man1697    Vir. shall be dishonoured,” even he who is mighty from his wealth.1698    Isa. v. 14. Concerning whom He says again: “Behold, the Lord of hosts shall confound the pompous together with their strength:  those that are lifted up shall be hewn down, and such as are lofty shall fall by the sword.”1699    Isa. x. 33. And who are these but the rich? Because they have indeed received their consolation, glory, and honour and a lofty position from their wealth. In Psalm xlviii. He also turns off our care from these and says: “Be not thou afraid when one is made rich, and when his glory is increased: for when he shall die, he shall carry nothing away; nor shall his glory descend along with him.”1700    Ps. xlix. 16, 17. So also in Psalm lxi.: “Do not desire riches; and if they do yield you their lustre,1701    Relucent. do not set your heart upon them.”1702    Ps. lxii. 11. Lastly, this very same woe is pronounced of old by Amos against the rich, who also abounded in delights. “Woe unto them,” says he, “who sleep upon beds of ivory, and deliciously stretch themselves upon their couches; who eat the kids from the flocks of the goats, and sucking calves from the flocks of the heifers, while they chant to the sound of the viol; as if they thought they should continue long, and were not fleeting; who drink their refined wines, and anoint themselves with the costliest ointments.”1703    Amos vi. 1–6. Therefore, even if I could do nothing else than show that the Creator dissuades men from riches, without at the same time first condemning the rich, in the very same terms in which Christ also did, no one could doubt that, from the same authority, there was added a commination against the rich in that woe of Christ, from whom also had first proceeded the dissuasion against the material sin of these persons, that is, their riches. For such commination is the necessary sequel to such a dissuasive.  He inflicts a woe also on “the full, because they shall hunger; on those too which laugh now, because they shall mourn.”1704    Luke vi. 25. To these will correspond these opposites which occur, as we have seen above, in the benedictions of the Creator: “Behold, my servants shall be full, but ye shall be hungry”—even because ye have been filled; “behold, my servants shall rejoice, but ye shall be ashamed”1705    Isa. lxv. 13.—even ye who shall mourn, who now are laughing.  For as it is written in the psalm, “They who sow in tears shall reap in joy,”1706    Ps. cxxvi. 5. so does it run in the Gospel: They who sow in laughter, that is, in joy, shall reap in tears. These principles did the Creator lay down of old; and Christ has renewed them, by simply bringing them into prominent view,1707    Distinguendo. not by making any change in them. “Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets.”1708    Luke vi. 26. With equal stress does the Creator, by His prophet Isaiah, censure those who seek after human flattery and praise: “O my people, they who call you happy mislead you, and disturb the paths of your feet.”1709    Isa. iii. 12. In another passage He forbids all implicit trust in man, and likewise in the applause of man; as by the prophet Jeremiah: “Cursed be the man that trusteth in man.”1710    Jer. xvii. 5. Whereas in Psalm cxvii. it is said: “It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man; it is better to trust in the Lord than to place hope in princes.”1711    Ps. cxviii. 8, 9. Thus everything which is caught at by men is adjured by the Creator, down to their good words.1712    Nedum benedictionem. It is as much His property to condemn the praise and flattering words bestowed on the false prophets by their fathers, as to condemn their vexatious and persecuting treatment of the (true) prophets. As the injuries suffered by the prophets could not be imputed1713    Non pertinuissent ad. to their own God, so the applause bestowed on the false prophets could not have been displeasing to any other god but the God of the true prophets.

CAPUT XV.

Secundum haec, inquit (Luc, VI), faciebant Prophetis patres eorum. O Christum versipellem, nunc destructorem, nunc assertorem Prophetarum! Destruebat ut aemulus, convertens discipulos eorum; sibi asserebat ut amicus, sugillans insectatores eorum. Porro, in quantum non congruisset Christo Marcionis assertio Prophetarum, ad quorum venerat destructionem; in tantum congruit Christo Creatoris sugillatio in insectatores Prophetarum, quos in omnibus adimplebat; vel quia magis Creatoris est delicta patrum filiis exprobare, quam ejus Dei, qui nec propria cujusque castigat. Sed non statim, 0391C inquis, Prophetas tuebatur si iniquitatem Judaeorum affirmatam volebat, quod nec cum Prophetis suis pie egissent. Atquin nulla hic iniquitas exprobanda erat Judaeis, laudandis potius et probandis, si eos figuraverunt, ad quorum destructionem post tantum aevi Deus optimus motus est. Sed puto jam et non optimus jam aliquid et cum Creatore moratus, nec in totum Epicuri deus . Ecce enim demutat in maledictionem, et ostendit eum se esse qui novit offendi et irasci: Vae enim dicit. Sed fit nobis quaestio de verbi istius qualitate, quasi non tam maledictionis sit, quam admonitionis. Et quid caussae interest, quando et admonitio non sit sine aculeo comminationis, 0392A maxime per Vae amarior facta? Et admonitio autem et comminatio, ejus erunt qui norit irasci. Nemo enim admonebit, et nemo comminabitur ne quid faciat, nisi quid factum vindicabit: nemo vindicarit, nisi qui norit irasci. Alii agnoscunt quidem verbum maledictionis, sed volunt Christum sic Vae pronuntiasse, non quasi ex sententia sua proprie, sed quod Vae a Creatore sit, et voluerit illis asperitatem Creatoris opponere, quo suam supra in benedictionibus sufferentiam commendaret: quasi non Creatori competat, qua utrumque praestanti, et bonum Deum et judicem; ut quia praemiserat in benedictionibus benignitatem, subjiceret etiam in maledictionibus severitatem, amplitudinem disciplinae utriusque instruendae, tam ad benedictionem sectandam, 0392B quam ad maledictionem praecavendam. Nam et ita praemiserat (Deuter. XXX, 19): Ecce posui ante vos benedictionem et maledictionem. Quod etiam in hanc Evangelii dispositionem portendebat. Alioquin, qualis est ille, qui, ut suam insinuaret bonitatem, Creatoris opposuit asperitatem ? Infirma commendatio est, quae de alterius destructione fulcitur. Atqui opponens asperitatem Creatoris, timendum eum confirmavit: si timendum, magis utique obaudiendum quam negligendum; et incipit jam Christus Marcionis Creatori docere. Tunc, si Vae Creatoris est, quod in divites spectat, ergo Christus non est divitibus offensus, sed Creator; et ratas habet Christus divitum causas, superbiam dico, et gloriam, et saeculi studia, et Dei incuriam, per quae Vae merentur a 0392C Creatore. Sed quomodo non ejusdem sit divites reprobare, qui supra mendicos probarit? Nemo non contrarium ejus quod probaverit reprobat. Itaque si Creatori deputabitur maledictio in divites, ejusdem defendetur benedictio in mendicos; et totum jam opus Christi, Creatoris est. Si Deo Marcionis adscribetur benedictio in mendicos, ejusdem imponetur et maledictio in divites; et erit par jam Creatoris, tam bonus quam et judex; nec erit jam discrimini locus, quo duo Dei fiunt; sublatoque discrimine, supererit unum Deum renuntiari Creatorem. Igitur Vae, si et vox maledictionis est, vel alicujus austerioris inclamationis, et a Christo dirigitur in divites, debeo Creatorem divitum quoque aspernatorem probare, sicut 0393A probavi mendicorum advocatorem, ut Christum in hac quoque sententia Creatoris ostendam, locupletantis quidem Salomonem (III Reg. III), sed quia , permissa sibi optione, maluit ea postulare quae sciebat Deo grata, sapientiam, et meruerat etiam divitias consequi, quas non magis voluit: quamquam et divitias praestare, non incongruens Deo sit, per quas et divites solatio juvantur, et multa inde opera justitiae et dilectionis administrantur. Sed accidentia vitia divitiis, illa in Evangelio quoque, Vae divitibus, adscribunt: Quoniam, inquit, recepistis advocationem vestram; utique ex divitiis, de gloria earum, et saecularibus fructibus. Itaque in Deuteronomio (Deut. VIII, 12) Moyses: Ne, inquit, cum manducaveris, et repletus fueris, etdomos magnas aedificaveris, pecoribus 0393Bet bubus tuis multificatis , et pecunia et auro, exaltetur cor tuum, et obliviscaris Domini Dei tui. Quemadmodum et Ezechiam regem thesauris inflatum, et de eis potius quam de Deo gloriatum apud illos qui ex Perside advenerant, insilit per Esaiam (Is. XXXIX, 6): Ecce dies veniunt, et auferentur amnia quae in domo tua sunt; et quae patres tui congesserunt, in Babylonem transferentur. Sic et per Hieremiam (Jerem. IX, 22) quoque edicit : Ne glorietur dives in divitiis suis; et qui gloriatur, scilicet in Deo glorietur. Sic et in filias Sionis invehitur per Esaiam (Is. III, 15), cultu et divitiarum abundantia inflatas; comminabundus et alibi (Is. V, 14) nubilibus et superbis: Dilatavit orcus animam suam, et aperuit os suum, et descendent inclyti et magni et divites (hoc erit Christi 0393Cvae super divites): et humiliabitur homo; utique exaltatus divitiis: et inhonorabiturvir; utique ob substantiam honorabilis. De quibus et rursus (Is. X, 23): Ecce Dominus virtutum conturbabit gloriosos cum valentia, et elati comminuentur, et ruent gladio sublimes: qui magis quam divites? Quia receperunt scilicet advocationem suam, gloriam et honorem, sublimitatem ex divitiis . A quibus avertens nos et in Psalmo quadragesimo octavo: Ne timueris, inquit, cum dives factus fuerit homo, et cum abundabit gloria ejus; quoniam cum morietur, non tollet omnia, nec descendet cum illo gloria sua. Item in sexagesimo primo: Ne desideraveritis divitias; et si relucent, ne adjeceritis0394Acor. Idipsum postremo verbum vae, olim per Amos in divites affluentes deliciis destinatur: Vae , inquit (Amos. VI, 4), qui dormiunt in lectis eburneis, et deliciis fluunt in thoris suis; qui edunt haedos de gregibus caprarum, et vitulos de gregibus boum lactantes, complodentes ad sonum organorum. Tamquam perseverantia deputaverunt, et non tamquam fugientia: qui bibunt vinum liquatum, et unguentis primariis unguntur. Igitur, etsi tantummodo dehortantem a divitiis ostenderem Creatorem, non etiam praedamnantem divites etiam verbo ipso quo et Christus, nemo dubitaret ab eodem adjectam in divites comminationem per vae Christi, a quo ipsarum materiarum, id est, divitiarum dehortatio praecucurrisset: comminatio enim dehortationis accessio est. Ingerit: 0394BVae etiam saturatis, quia esurient; etiam ridentibus nunc, quia lugebunt. His respondebunt illa, quae supra benedictionibus opposita sunt apud Creatorem: Ecce qui mihi serviunt, saturabuntur; vos autem esurietis (Is. LXV, 12); utique quia saturati estis. Et: Ecce qui mihi serviunt, oblectabuntur; vos autem confundemini; utique ploraturi qui nunc ridetis. Sicut enim in Psalmo (Ps. CXXV, 6), qui seminant in lacrymis, in laetitia metent: ita in Evangelio, qui in risu seminant, scilicet laetitia , in lacrymis metent. Haec olim Creator simul posuit, Christus solummodo distinguendo, non mutando, renovavit: Vae, quum vobis benedixerint homines: secundum haec faciebant et pseudoprophetis patres illorum. Aeque Creator benedictionis et laudis humanae sectatores incusat per Esaiam (Is. III, 12): Populus meus, qui vos beatos dicunt, 0394Cseducunt vos, et vias pedum vestrorum disturbant. Prohibet et alias fidere omnino in hominem, sic et in laudem hominis, ut per Hieremiam (Jerem. XVII, 5): Maledictus homo, qui spem habet in homine. Nam et in Psalmo centesimo decimo septimo , : Bonum est fidere in Dominum, quam fidere in hominem. Et: Bonum est sperare in Dominum, quam sperare in principes. Ita, totum quod ab homine captatur, abdixit Creator, nedum benedictionem. Pseudoprophetas autem laudatos sive benedictos a patribus eorum, tam ejus est exprobrare, quam prophetas vexatos et recusatos: sicut injuriae prophetarum non pertinuissent 0395A ad Deum ipsorum; ita nec gratiae pseudoprophetarum displicuissent, nisi Deo prophetarum.