Section II: The Moral Law was Set Forth in the Church Even Before Moses, § 14.
SECTION II: THE MORAL LAW WAS SET FORTH IN THE CHURCH
EVEN BEFORE MOSES
The moral Law is eternal.
§ 14. However, one must not think that the moral Law began with the solemn publishing of the Decalogue or that it is held enclosed within its narrow confines. Rather, the moral Law was given and revealed to people even before that solemn publishing, immediately at the earliest beginning of the world. In fact, it was inscribed in their hearts at creation, since they were created in the image of God (Gen. 1:27), which consists of true righteousness and holiness (Eph. 4:24). The norm and mirror of this holiness and righteousness are set forth in the Law. Indeed, before the foundations of the world were set, this norm and rule of righteousness existed in God’s mind. The rabbinic scholars, who did not have a clear understanding of the teaching of their ancestors about this subject, converted this into worthless stories. According to Galatinus (Arcan., bk. 17, ch. 1, Advers. Judaeos) and Reuchlin (Cabala, ch. 3), they say, “God’s law was established two thousand years before the creation of the world and was written in dark fiery letters on a background of white fire.” People are commanded to be holy just as God is holy (Lev. 11:44; 1 Pet. 1:15). They are commanded to be merciful as our heavenly Father is merciful (Luke 6:36). They are commanded to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect (Matt. 5:48). Therefore surely God is holy, merciful, and perfect. But now, holiness, mercy, and perfection are not accidents in God but are His very essence. Therefore surely as God’s essence is eternal, so also God’s holiness, mercy, and perfection are eternal, and the expression and representation of His holiness, mercy, and perfection are set forth in the Law.
** Pererius (on Romans 2, disp. 6, no. 44):
The Law of Moses was given to no nation other than that of the Israelites and obligated no one else but the Hebrews: (1) because nowhere in the Bible do we read a command to Moses nor to any of the prophets to make known the Jewish Law among the nations in the way the apostles had a mandate to make the Gospel known; (2) because David says that God announced His just decrees and judgments only to Israel and not to other nations (Ps. 147[:19–20]); and (3) because circumcision applied only to the Jews, and the obligation of the Law of Moses lay in circumcision (Gal. 5[:3]).
On the contrary: (1) Surely the natural ideas [notitias naturales] inherent in the Gentiles in the first creation accorded with the Decalogue, and from this those ideas are called “the work of the Law.” The Decalogue is the public declaration of those ideas. Therefore those whom natural ideas bind, the Decalogue also binds. (2) The law about loving God and one’s neighbor also binds the Gentiles. But the sum of the Law of Moses consists in love. (3) Those in whom the transgression of a law is punished are themselves bound by that law. The transgression of the moral law is punished in the heathen (Romans 1; Leviticus 18; Ephesians 6). (4) Laws which used to bind only the Hebrew nation have no place in the New Testament. Yet the moral Law does have a place in the New Testament, for there it is repeated, explained, and taught. (5) Even the heathen whose minds are not utterly wicked retain what is contrary to what they abhor. However, even the heathen abhor the crimes forbidden in the Law of Moses (1 Cor. 5:1). Therefore even the heathen retain the opposite virtues along with their norms. As regards the arguments of Pererius, one must distinguish between the public exercise of a ministry and the prophetic office of the teachers of the church. The former pertained only to the Israelites; however, the latter is universal because when the prophets censured the sins of the heathen, they had no other norm except the Law of Moses (Isa. 34:16; Ezek. 22:10; Amos 2:7). Second, there is a distinction between the moral laws and the ceremonial and forensic laws. The former bind everyone, but the latter do not. Third, there are even some ceremonial matters in the moral Law which applied only to the Jews. Luther’s statements should be understood in the same way. **
The doing of the moral Law before Moses.
§ 15. Furthermore, in order to show clearly that the doctrine of the Law resounded in the church of God even before Moses and its solemn propagation on Mount Sinai, it is good to note how the individual commandments were revealed and repeated by the voice of God either immediately to the holy prophets or to God’s people through the patriarchs. We know well that the primeval law about not eating the fruit of the forbidden tree was given to our first parents (Gen. 2:17). Tertullian argues beautifully that it was the mother of all commandments (Adversus Judaeos, not far from the beginning, p. 133). He says:
At the beginning of the world, God gave Adam and Eve the law not to eat of the fruit of the tree planted in the middle of Paradise; if they disobeyed, they would die. This law would have been enough for them, had they kept it. Indeed, we can see all the commandments hidden in this law given to Adam. Afterward, they sprouted forth and were given through Moses, namely: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and your neighbor as yourself.” Also: “You shall not kill. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness. Honor your father and mother. You shall not covet what is another’s.” So the primordial law was given to Adam and Eve in Paradise as the mother and source of all the commandments of God. In the end, had they loved the Lord their God, they would not have acted against His command. Had they loved their neighbor—that is, had they loved themselves—they would not have believed the argument of the serpent. Thus they would not have committed murder against themselves by cutting themselves off from immortality and acting against God’s commandment. They also would have refrained from theft and would not have secretly tasted of the fruit of the tree, nor would they have tried to hide themselves in the woods from the sight of the Lord our God. They would not have become partners with the devil by believing his falsehood when he said that they would be like God. Thus they would not have offended God, their Father, who had formed them out of the dust of the earth as if from their mother’s womb. If they had not coveted what belonged to another, they would not have tasted the forbidden fruit. Therefore we can see that all the commandments of the later Law were specifically seated in this general, primordial law of God, which God ordained to be observed in regard to the fruit of the tree. Moreover, we also acknowledge that these commandments were published in their own, proper times.
Those are Tertullian’s words, who adds a bit later:
I contend that, before the Law of Moses was written on stone tablets, there was an unwritten law which our fathers knew and observed, etc. We understand that the Law of God existed even before Moses. It did not exist first on Horeb or on Sinai or in the wilderness, but was even older, existing first in the Garden of Eden. Later, it was reshaped for the patriarchs, and thus also for the Jews at certain times. The result is that we no longer focus our minds on the Law of Moses as if it were the principal law, but as a subsequent law which God revealed to the nations at a certain time and which He promised again and reshaped for the better through the prophets.
Of the First Commandment.
§ 16. The First Commandment forbids having other gods. It commands us to fear the true God above all things, to love Him, to trust in Him, and to obey Him. Now, when our first parents were prohibited from eating of the forbidden tree, they were by that very command required to fear and love the God who commanded this above all things. Furthermore, they were not to allow themselves to be moved away from obedience to this commandment by any allure. The gargantuan audacity in the case of the builders of the tower of Babel was severely punished in the confusion of tongues and their dispersal over the face of all the earth, and this warns people not to fight against God nor to make an idol of themselves and of their own pursuits, but rather to give all glory to God in true humility of heart (Gen. 11:9). When God commanded Abram “Walk before Me and be blameless” (Gen. 17:1), He thereby commanded Abram to love, venerate, and worship Him with all his heart and to arrange his entire life according to God’s will. For He is all-seeing, and His eyes are brighter than the sun. God even adds the promise: “I am God Almighty, El Shaddai.” That is: “Those who fear and worship Me will lack no good thing.” Gen. 15:1: “I am your shield and your very great reward.” When Abraham followed God’s commands and prepared to sacrifice his only son Isaac, God thereby showed him that he must love and obey God above all things (Gen. 22:3). Jacob commanded all his household who were with him to put away the foreign gods, and then hid those idols beneath an oak near Shechem (Gen. 35:2, 4). What else did he thereby institute other than the practice of the First Commandment about not worshiping idols?
Of the Second Commandment.
§ 17. The Second Commandment forbids profaning God’s name and prescribes calling upon it. The doing of this commandment always flourished among the patriarchs. In Gen. 4:26, when the Cainites had profaned the hallowing of God’s name, Enosh “began to call upon the name of the Lord.” In Gen. 12:7[–8] Abraham first built an altar to Jehovah Himself at Shechem, and then between the villages of Bethel and Ai, “and there he called upon the name of the Lord.” That is, Abraham built an altar in honor of the true God, and near it he preached, sacrificed, poured out his prayers, and proclaimed his prophecies about the coming Messiah to his hearers. Melchizedek, king of Salem, met Abraham returning from battle with a blessing. Gen. 14:20: “Blessed be God Most High, because He has delivered your enemies into your hand.” In this way he showed that people were to bless the Lord’s name not only because of all His spiritual benefits but also because of His temporal benefits. In Gen. 14:22 Abraham “raised his hand to Jehovah, God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth.” Here he reveals that one should swear only through God’s name. The households of Abraham and of the other patriarchs later observed this custom of taking an oath, as is revealed from the example of Eleazar (Gen. 24:3, etc.) and of Jacob (Gen. 31:53). In the third place, Abraham planted a grove near the well of Beersheba and “called there on the name of the Lord, the everlasting God” (Gen. 21:33). Isaac followed this example of his father and also “built an altar there and called upon the name of the Lord” (Gen. 26:25). In connection with reverence for the Second Commandment, there is the vow by which Jacob bound himself to the true God (Gen. 28:20). Fearing Esau’s savagery and stuck in dire straits, he turned to earnest prayers, and with these he commended himself and all his household to God (Gen. 32:9). Thus he teaches that in each and every calamity we should call upon the true God alone.
Of the Third Commandment.
§ 18. The Third Commandment, about keeping the Sabbath holy, is clearly sanctioned by God’s Word in Gen. 2:3: “God blessed the seventh day and made it holy.” That is, He purified it for divine worship and ordained it to be kept holy by hearing and meditating on the divine Word, by the use of the Sacraments, by ardent prayer, and by similar practices of piety. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil was like an altar and temple for our first parents, in which to render the worship due to God. In connection with this are the sacrifices of the fathers: those of Cain and Abel (Gen. 4:3–4), of Noah (Gen. 8:20), of Abraham (Gen. 22:13), etc. These were types of the one and only truly propitiatory sacrifice which Christ would offer on the altar of the cross. Offered in faith, they were part of the divine worship sanctioned by the Third Commandment. One should not imagine that the patriarchs thought up their sacrifices solely by the dictates of reason without a specific word of God. You see, besides the fact that the history of the church of all times bears witness that self-chosen acts of worship [ἐθελoθρησκείας] have never pleased God, the Epistle to the Hebrews (11:4) clearly teaches: “By faith Abel sacrificed.” But now, the correlate and object of faith is the Word of God (Rom. 10:17), and human reason does not grasp any analogous relation between the sacrifice of animals and the spiritual nature of God. Therefore the practice of sacrificing began not by the deduction of reason but from God’s command in His revealed Word. Furthermore, they followed the command and revelation of Him who always connects an external visible sign of grace to His word and before whom “obeying is better than sacrifice” (1 Sam. 15:22). Gen. 4:26: “At the time of Enosh men began to call upon the name of the Lord.” This is not to say that until then Adam, Eve, Abel, Seth, etc., made no use of prayers, but that the public ministry of teaching which had been weakened and hindered by the Cainite persecutions was restored at about that time. (See Luther’s commentary on this passage.)1 Gen. 5:22: “Enoch walked with God.” That is, he was the outstanding prophet and preacher of that period, and he burned for the work of the Lord with a singular zeal beyond that of others. He fought against the ungodly idolatry of the Cainites; he explained the promise of the woman’s Seed and fostered the hope of eternal life. The Epistle of Jude (v. 14) gives this interpretation of this clause. In Gen. 6:3, among the causes of the flood is included contempt for the ministry: “Men are flesh.” That is, people actually show that they do not want God’s Spirit to rule them. They do the lusts of the flesh without concern; they are unwilling to have the heralds of righteousness and instruments of the Holy Spirit reproach their sins. Therefore “My Spirit shall no longer contend with them,” etc. This contempt for the ministry was a very serious sin against the Third Commandment. Therefore God avenged it with the most serious of punishments.
Furthermore, whenever it says that the patriarchs built altars at which they invoked the name of the true God—as did Abraham (Gen. 12:7–8; 13:4; 21:33), Isaac (Gen. 26:25), and Jacob (Gen. 33:20; 35:7)—there an observance of the Third Commandment is being described, since they built those altars that they might approach them, teach the heavenly doctrine, offer sacrifices, give prayers and supplications, explain prophecies about the Messiah, and thank God for His benefits. In regard to Joseph, we read that in the land of Egypt “he instructed his princes and taught his elders wisdom” (Ps. 105:22). That is, he instructed the nobles of his kingdom in true religion and taught the Egyptians the heavenly wisdom from God’s Word.
Of the Fourth Commandment.
§ 19. The Fourth Commandment, about honoring one’s parents, is stated rather vaguely in Gen. 2:24: “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and cleave to his wife.” You see, the honor owed to parents is not removed by marriage, but only degrees are established. In Gen. 6:2, amid the causes of the flood is also listed that “the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive; and they took as their wives any they chose.” That is, in the selection of wives, they did not follow the advice of their parents but the impetus of blind passion. Verse 4: “There were also giants on the earth in those days,” that is, tyrants, so called from their proclivity for attacking. They would violently sweep over and oppress the weaker and poorer people even though, according to the mandate of the Fourth Commandment, they should have been “gentle fathers of the peoples.” In Gen. 9:25, because of the shameless eyes and disparaging tongue of Ham, Noah cursed his son Canaan. On the other hand, because of the reverence that Shem and Japheth showed their father, they received the reward of a blessing. On the basis of this, Chrysostom and Theodoret, in their commentaries on this passage, conclude correctly that God in His first creation engraved upon nature itself the law of honoring one’s parents. In Gen. 16:6, when the disobedient maid Hagar fled her mistress’s authority, the angel of the Lord brought her back and commanded her to humble herself under the hand of her mistress. In Gen. 18:19, God Himself commends strongly to Abraham the task of bringing up his family in the “admonition of the Lord” [Eph. 6:4]: “For I know that he will command his children and his household after him to keep the way of Jehovah, to do righteousness and judgment,” which is easily the chief part of the parental duty that is due their children. In Genesis 24, Rebecca married Isaac with the consent of the parents of both parties, which just as much belongs to the honoring of parents. The example of Isaac was followed by Jacob (Gen. 28:2); therefore both Ishmael and Esau were passed by, and he partook of the blessing. Joseph showed his obedience to his father (Gen. [37]:13). After various storms of calamities, he finally reached the harbor of happiness and of royal majesty with God’s guidance.
Of the Fifth Commandment.
§ 20. The Fifth Commandment, about not killing, is repeated by God’s clear voice in the story of Cain. Gen. 4:10: “The blood” (or, as it is in Hebrew, “the voice of the bloods”) “of your brother is crying to Me from the ground.” After all, not even the tiniest drop of unjustly shed blood is forgotten by God. He Himself sees it and inquires into it. That is why God proscribed Cain and struck him with the thunderbolt of a curse. Furthermore, note that not only does God rebuke Cain after the murder was committed, but Cain also heard (v. 6): “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen?” Therefore God Himself shows the true explanation of the Fifth Commandment, that not only outward homicide but also inner hatred and the flames of anger and jealousies are forbidden in it, just as Christ says (Matt. 5:22): “Whoever says to his brother: ‘Raca, fool,’ shall be liable to the judgment.” In Gen. 9:5 the voice of God Himself establishes capital punishment for murder: “For your blood I will surely require a reckoning. From the hand of all animals I will require it and from the hand of man. From the hand of every man’s brother I will require the soul of man.” Therefore God does not want a relative or stranger or any person to kill another. Verse 6: “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man will his blood be shed.” That is, the shedding will be done by a lawful magistrate to whom the sword has been committed. Therefore the Targum Onkelos provides the following paraphrase: “Whoever sheds the blood of man with witnesses, his blood will be shed as a result of the judges’ sentence.” In Gen. 13:7–8, after an argument had arisen between the shepherds of Abraham’s flock and the shepherds of Lot’s flock, Abraham told Lot: “Let there be no strife between you and me and between your herdsmen and my herdsmen, for we are brothers.” This teaches that by the law of love we are all brothers. Consequently, we should drive all strife away from ourselves. In Genesis 14, the example of Abraham shows that lawful wars, especially those by which an inflicted injustice is vindicated and a just defense is required, do not conflict with the Fifth Commandment. The war of Abraham was lawful; this is proved by its successful outcome, the blessing of Melchizedek, and the statement of God Himself (Isa. 41:2). In Gen. 18:24 Abraham intercedes for the people of Sodom. He showed a genuine love for them and especially for his stepbrother Lot. Thus the sense of the Fifth Commandment orders us to consider our neighbor’s ill fortune to be our own. In Gen. 32:3 Jacob earnestly searches out every path to reconciliation with Esau and gives up something of his own rights. The envy of his brothers who sold Joseph (Gen. [37]:28) is ultimately punished very seriously when, touched by the consciousness of that early crime, they say: “Truly we sinned against our brother, for we saw the distress of his soul when he begged us, and we did not listen. That is why this distress has come upon us” (Gen. 42:21). On the other hand, Joseph forgives with a peaceful heart whatever sins they had committed against him. This fraternal forgiveness is the primary virtue of the Fifth Commandment. He says, “Fear not, for am I in the place of God?” (Gen. 50:19). “Because God, as a father, grants forgiveness of sins, it is inappropriate for me to harbor undying anger.”
Of the Sixth Commandment.
§ 21. The Sixth Commandment, which prohibits adultery and promiscuous lusts, was sanctioned by God’s Word in Eden itself. Gen. 2:24: “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and cleave to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” According to the law of marriage, Christ testifies that not only promiscuous lusts and adultery but also polygamy and rash divorce are forbidden (Matt. 19:6). On the other hand, the apostle bears witness that the same law commands genuine and serious love in marriage (Eph. 5:30–31). In Gen. 6:2 unrestrained lusts are listed among the causes of the flood: “The sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive, and they took as their wives any they chose.” This teaches the sort of interpretation of the Sixth Commandment that not only the outward act of fornication but also the unlawful lust of the eyes is forbidden in it (1 John 2:16). Thus Christ says (Matt. 5:28): “Everyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already fornicated with her in his heart.” Therefore the sons of the patriarchs, whom Moses calls “the sons of God,” sinned against the Sixth Commandment in many ways. They indulged the lust of their eyes; they denied the hope of the promised Seed; they sought their wives from the women of the Cainites as they saw in them the fleeting beauty of form rather than true piety. Moreover, they married them without the consent of their parents. Those whom they joined to themselves on one day because of the blind impetus of lust were rejected on the next day. Also, because Venus grows cold without Ceres and Bacchus, they roused the flames of lust with feasts, debauchery, and musical instruments2 (as Christ testifies, Matt. 24:38). God eventually avenged these sins with the punishment of a horrible flood. In Gen. 12:17, Pharaoh is stricken with great plagues because of Abraham’s wife, Sarah, who had been carried off into Pharaoh’s house. In this way God revealed Himself as the defender of marriage and of the Sixth Commandment. In Gen. 19:11 the Sodomites are “punished with blindnesses”—that is, both of body and mind—because of their terrible lusts. In v. 24 they are completely destroyed by fire and brimstone rained down from heaven. In v. 33 drunkenness misleads Lot to become incestuous with his daughters, and thus he became his own son-in-law, father-in-law, father, husband, and grandfather, contrary to the law of nature. In Gen. 20:7 divine judgment pronounces death upon King Abimelech if he will not return Abraham’s wife, Sarah. By this action God shows that no one is exempted from obedience to the Sixth Commandment by the level of his office and, consequently, that the Persian law which allows the king to marry whomever he will is wicked and opposed to the law of nature. In Gen. 34:2 Dinah is taken immorally and loses her virginity. This sin of fornication the sons of Jacob call “folly” (v. 7)—that is, ungodliness and filth—for Scripture calls the ungodly “fools.” The wickedness of the rapist Shechem was punished with the sword (v. 26). In Gen. 35:22 the unchastity of Reuben is mentioned, and because of it he was rightly deprived of his position as the firstborn son (Gen. 49:[4]; 1 Chron. 5:1). In Gen. 38:8, Onan is commanded to marry his brother’s widow and to raise up children for his brother. This shows that many ideas sanctioned by the Law of Moses were in use before the Law. For instance, the rule about this matter is given by a special law in Deut. 25:5. However, because Onan sinned against the Sixth Commandment with his utterly filthy crime, the Lord killed him ([Gen. 38:]10). He was taken from the land of the living, surely by an unusual death. In v. [24] Judah condemns Tamar to death for adultery, even though she was pregnant as a result of her fornicating intercourse, since she had been promised to his son Shelah. From this it is clear that this law about capital punishment for adultery was in use even before Moses. In Gen. 39:8 Joseph rejects the advances of the adulterous woman. Later he is promoted to a royal throne of office, which confirms that God rewards chastity.
Of the Seventh Commandment.
§ 22. The Seventh Commandment, about not stealing, was likewise promulgated before Moses. In Gen. 2:15, while still in his state of perfection, Adam is commanded to take care of Eden and work in it. In Gen. 3:19 he is commanded to eat his bread by the sweat of his face. Therefore God commands the labors of one’s vocation, opposes sloth, and imposes sweat as punishment after the fall. In Gen. 6:11, among the causes of the flood is listed also the fact that “the earth was filled with iniquity.” The word 
properly signifies violence and overt injustice. Therefore this shows that pillage, theft, and robbery were commonplace for those antediluvian workers of violence, yet what they had taken unjustly was ultimately swallowed in the waters of the flood. Genesis 18 and 19 speak of the hospitality of Abraham and Lot through which, though unaware, they welcomed the angels—nay, God Himself (cf. Heb. 13:1[–2]). Because Laban lied to Jacob and cheated him of his wages ten times, God took away Laban’s flock and gave it to Jacob (Gen. 31:7, 9).
Of the Eighth Commandment.
§ 23. The Eighth Commandment, about avoiding lies and loving the truth, likewise was not only engraved naturally on the minds of people but also was repeated orally by the voice of God. When God asked Cain about his brother and he answered falsely that he did not know, God immediately chastised him for lying (Gen. 4:[10]). In Gen. 12:13 and 20:2 Abraham conceals the fact that Sarah is his wife and exposes Sarah’s chastity to great danger. Had God not averted that peril, Abraham would have implicated himself in very serious evils. In Gen. 29:25 Jacob sternly rebukes Laban’s lie when he substituted Leah in place of Rachel. Jacob’s sons lied that a beast had mangled their brother Joseph (Gen. 37:[31–33]). In the end they suffered the tragic pangs and torment of their conscience (Gen. 42:21).
Of the Ninth and Tenth Commandments.
§ 24. The Ninth and Tenth Commandments, about not coveting [de non concupiscendo], are declared by the voice of God Himself in such a way that they censure the inner depravity of our nature and the very root of sin, namely, corrupt concupiscence [concupiscentia]. Through the concupiscence of her eyes Eve was hurled into the pit of all evils. Gen. 3:6: “She saw that the tree was good for food and that it was a delight to the eyes and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise. Therefore she took of its fruit and ate.” That is, even the eye of her mind was corrupted because of the corrupt vision of her eyes as the devil outwardly questioned Eve with deceitful words, but inwardly he wounded her mind with the poisoned darts of corrupt concupiscence. Thus the ancients interpret the prophetic statement (Jer. 9:21): “Death broke in through the windows” and made an assault on the citadel of reason. God addressed Cain about the sin resting or “crouching” before his doors (Gen. 4:7). This was nothing else but the hidden evil of depraved concupiscence clinging tenaciously and deeply to human nature after the fall; this must be resisted through the Spirit, and its desires must be put to death. In Gen. 6:5 God complains not only about people’s outward and more serious crimes but also accuses the source thereof, namely, the corruption of their nature: “Every intention of the thoughts of their heart was only evil every day,” that is, “As a well keeps its water fresh, so the corrupted flesh of man continually renews its wickedness” (Jer. 6:7), unless that flesh is regenerated, reformed, and ruled by the Spirit of God. In Genesis 17 circumcision is instituted on that part of the body onto which the evil of corrupt lust especially thrusts itself in order to show that such evil is propagated through carnal begetting and that the lust of the flesh must be continually cut off by spiritual circumcision. In Gen. 19:26 Lot’s wife looks back because of her absurd concern for temporal things and her desire for burning Sodom and is turned into a pillar of salt. Our Savior bids us to remember her in Luke 17:32. Augustine (De civ. Dei, bk. 10, ch. 8): “She is set before us as a spice, that our heart not be occupied with an illicit concupiscence for worldly things.”
1 Lectures on Genesis (1535–45/1544–54), AE 1:327–30 (WA 42:241–43).
2 In ancient Roman mythology, Venus was the goddess of love, lust, sex, and fertility. Ceres was the goddess of agriculture, grain, and fertility. Bacchus was the god of wine, ecstasy, drunkenness, and revelry. In Gerhard’s era, these names were often used as personifications for the activities or qualities they represented.