Ante-Nicene Christian Library; Translations Of The Writings Of The Fathers Down To A.D. 325, Volume 11: The Writings Of Tertullian, Volume 1

발행: 1869년

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lias informed us. Τhs reason which mado the universe out os diverso elemenis, so that ali things might be composed of posito substances in unity f void and solid, os animato and inanimate, os comprehensibio and incomprehensibi' of

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136 TERTULLIANUS fore, tho boundary and limit, that millenniat interspaco, hasbeen passed, When even the outWard fashion os the woridiiset which has been spread like a veil over the eternaleconomy, equalty a thing Oi time-passes aWay, then thewhole human race shali be raised again, to have iis duos meteil out according as it has merited in tho period of modor evit, and thereaster to have these patit out through thoimmeasurabie ages of eterni . And therelare aster this there is neither death nor repeated resurrections, but w shali be the fame that we are noW, and stili unchanged the servants of God, ever With God, clothed upon with tho propor substance of eternity; but the profane, and ait whoare not true Worshippers of God, in lihe manner consignedio the punishment of evertasting fire-that fire Which, frontiis very nature in deed, directly ministers to thoir incorruptibility. Τho philosophers are samiliar as meli as wo with ths distinction belween a common and a secret sire. Thus that which is in common uso is sar different froni that whichws seo in divine judgmenta, Whether strihing as thunder-bolis smin heaven, or bursting up out of the earth through

49. Theso are What are called presumptuous speculations in Our case alone; in the philosophers and poeta they ars re-garded as sublime speculations and illustrious discoveries. They are men of Wisdom, We are fοols. They are Worthy ofali honour, we aro soth to have the finger potnted at; naribesides that, we are even to have punishments inflicted on us

But let inings whicli ars the defence of virtus, is you Will, have no foundation, and give them duly the name of sancies, yet stili they are necessary ; let them be absurd is you Will,

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men and women, under the fear of neve ending punishmentand the liope of neve ending bliss. It is not, then, Wise tobrand as salse, nor to rogard as absurd, things the truth of hicli it is expedient to presume. on no ground is it right positively to condemn as bad What boyond ali doubi is pro- fitable. Thus, in fact, you are guilty of the Very presumptionof Which you accuse us, in condemning What is useful. Itis equalty out of the question to regard them as nonsensicat;

mean, Which, as quite innocuous, are never charged as crimesor punished. But in a thing of the hin d, it this be so indoeil,

objected to the confitch both fghis With ali his strength, and

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138 TERTULLIANUS

When victorious, he rejoices in the batile, becauso ho reapshom it glory and spoli. It is our battis to be summoned toyonr tribunali, that there, under fear of execution, me may battis for tho truth. But the dv is Won When the objectos the struggle is gained. This victory of Oura gives

Catana to the fires of AElna: what mentia resolution l Α certain foundress of Carthage gavo herself aWay in secondmarriage to the funerat pile: What a nobie mitness of herchastityi Regulus, not Wishing that his one liso fhould

tegan, having wearied out the executioner, at last bit ost hortongue and spat it in the face of the raging tyrant, stat stis ot at the fame time spit a V her pomer of speech, nor be

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APOLOGETICUS139 come, that might be har inclination. Zeno tho Eleatic, whenho was ashed by Dionysius What good philosophy did, on

casi statues in honour os persona such as these, and you putinscriptions upon images, and cui out epitaphs on tombs, thattheir names may never perlah. In so sar as yοu can is your monuments, you Jourselves afford a sori os resurrection totho dead. Yot ho who expecta tho truo resurrection hom

sacrifico tho Christians at their Wish, Hil us, tortum us, condemn us, Mind us to dust; your injustico is tho proof that we are innocent. Theresore it is of God's permitting, motof your mere Will,J that Wo thus sester. For but very lately, in condemning a Christian Woman to the pimp ratherthan to the lion, you made confession that a tiant on Ourpuri is considered among us something more terribio stana' punishment and any death. Nor does your cruei , homever exquisite, avail you; it is rather a temptation to us. The ostener κε are moWn doWn by you, the more in number

e gron; the blood of Christians is seed. Many of your Writers exhort to the co ageous bearing of pain and death, as Cicero in the Tusculana, as Seneca in his Chanees, asDiogenes, Pyrrhus, Callinicus. Αnd yet their wοrds do notfind so many discipies as Christians do, teachera not by Wordhbiit by their deeds. That very obstina you rati againstis the preceptress. For Who that contemptates it, is not

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110 TERTULLIANUS Oxcited is inquiro What is at the bottom os ill who, astor inquita, does not embrace our doctrines ' and whon ho lias Ombraced them, destres not to suffer that he may becomo partaker of the fulness of God's grace, that he may obtainfrom God complete foroueness, by giving in exchange his

biood Τ For that secures the remission os ali offences. Onthis account it is that Me retum thanis on the very spot foryour sentences. As the divine and humari are ever opposedio each other, When We are condemned by γοu, We are ae

quitied by the Ηighest.

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HE principat exime of tho human race, tho hi est

idolat . Set aside names, examine motas, the idolater is like ise a murderer. Do you inquire Whom ho has flain ΤΙΤ it contributes ought to tho aggravation of the indiciment,no stranger nor persones enemy, but his oWn self. ' Whatsnares Τ Those of his error. By What weapon ' The offencedono to God. By hoW many bloKs' As many as are his idolatrios. Ho who amrms that tho idolater perishes not, will assim that tho idolater has not committed murder. Further, Fou may recognise in the fame crime' adultery and fornication; for he who serves falso gods is doubiless an adulterer' of truth, because ait 'salsehood is adultery. So,too, he is sunk in fornication. For who that is a fellowworher With unclean spiriis, does not stath in generat pollution

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142 TERTULLIANUS and fornication Τ Αnd thus it is that the Holy Scripturos' usotho designation os fornication in their upbraiding os idolat . The essence of fraud, Ι tahe it, is, that any should selae whatis anothees, or refuso in another his due; and, os courae, fraud dono toWard man is a nam e of greatest crime. Well,

conferring on others, His hono s; so that to haud it also conjoins contumely. But is fraud, just much as fornicationand adultern entatis deast, then, in these cases, equialy vriththe former, idolat stands unacquitted of the impeachment

of mutaer. Aster such crimes, so pernicious, so devo ingos salvation, ali other crimes also, aster some manner, and separalely disposed in order, find their own essence represented in idolato. In it also are the concupiscenees of the w ld. For What solemni of idolato is mithout the cim cumstance of dress and ornament In it are Laeivisum aesand drunkennesses; since it is, for the most pari, for the in os fota, and stomach, and appetite, stat these solemnities are frequented. In it is unrighteoumeas. For What more umrighteous than it, Which knows not the Father of righteou ne In it also is uani , since iis Whole system is Vata. Init is mendaei , for iis Wholo substanco is false. Thus it comes to pass, that in idolato ali crimes are detected, and in ali crimes idolat . But even othemise, since ali faulis amour os opposition to God, but there is nothing Whichsavours of opposition to God Which is not assigned to demonsand unclean spirita, Whose property idola are; doubiles' Wh ever commits a fauit is chameable with idolato, for lio do that which perinins to the proprietors os idola.

CHAP. II.-uolatu considered in ira more limited aenae.

But let tho universat names of crimes Mindram to thospecialities of their own moris; let idolato romain in stat which it is itasti. Suffcient to itself is a namo so inimicalto God, a substanca os crime so copious, Which reaches forin

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the servants of God; and this not only When unperceived, but also When cloahed over. Μost men simply regard idolatryas to be interpreted in these senses alone, viz.: is one bum incense, or immolate fa VictimJ, or ove a sacrificiat binquet, or be bound to somo sacred functions or pri thoods ; just asii ono mero to regard adultery as to be accounted in hisses, and in embraces, and in actuat fleshly contact; or murder

malice, and God tho Lord's in tho Discipline by whicli Ho

CHAP. III.-uolatu: origin and meaning of the narae. Idol in ancient times there mas none. Betore tho artificere

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144 TERTULLIANUS solita and strines empty, just as to the present day in somo

places traces of the ancient practice remain permanently.

Yot idolatry used to be practised, not under that name, butin that function; sor even at this day it can be practised out-side a temple, and without an idol. But when tho devii introduced into the worid artificera os statues and of images, and of Overy kind of likenosses, that former rude businessos human disaster attained from idols both a name and a development. Thencesor ard every ari Whicli in any Wayproduces an idol instantly became a fount of idolat . Forit maes no difference Whether a mouider cast, or a carvergrave, or an embroiderer v eave the idolJ ; because netilioris it a question os materiai, whether an idol bo formed of gypsum, or of colours, or os Stone, or of bronete,' or of silver, or of threa l. For since even without an idol idolatry is committed, whon tho idol is there it mahes no differetice of What

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