Note F, On C. Xviii. P. 246.
OF IDOLATRY
[Lumper (l. c. Art. 15.) places the “De Idololatria” in A.D. 198, on the following grounds. It was written during a period of great public rejoicings at Rome, (c. 15.) and so probably A.D. 198, on Severus’s victory over Albinus; since, of the two other occasions recorded, Severus’s accession, after the death of Julian, A.D. 193, (Xiphilin. lxxiv. 2.) is too early, that on his return from the East, A.D. 203, (Xiph. lxxvi. 1. Herodian. iii. 10.) too late. 2. It appears (c. 17.) that Christians might then hold office, which is very unlikely after the commencement of Severus’s persecution. 3. The expulsion also of the soothsayers from Italy (c. 9.) was probably on occasion of their being consulted about the life of Severus, just before the Parthian war, when he put many of them to death, A.D. 198. (Spartian in Sever, c. 15.)]
I. THE principal sin of mankind, the chief guilt of the world, the whole cause of its judgment, is idolatry. For though each separate crime hath its own special character, and is marked out for judgment under its own proper name also, yet is it summed up under the sin of idolatry. Set aside names: consider operations. An idolater is also a murderer. Askest thou whom he hath slain? If it addeth any thing to the comprehensiveness of the title, I answer, not a stranger, nor an enemy, but himself. By what snare? by that of his own error. By what weapon? by sin against God. By how many blows? by as many as are his idolatries. He who denieth that the idolater perisheth, will deny that the idolater committeth murder. In like manner thou mayest discover in the same man adultery and fornication; for he that serveth false gods, is without doubt an adulterer of the Truth, because every falsehood is an adultery. So also is he sunk in fornication: for who that dealeth with unclean spirits doth not go about defiled and corrupted? And therefore is it that the holy Scriptures use the word “whoredom” in reproach of idolatry. It constituteth fraud, methinks, if any take that which is another’s, or deny to another his due; and in truth fraud committed against man is a sin of the highest rank. But idolatry defraudeth God, denying Him His own honours, and bestowing them upon others, so that with fraud it joineth insult likewise. But if fraud, as well as whoredom and adultery, bring death, then in these ways also is idolatry equally unacquitted of the crime of murder. After such sins, thus deadly, thus swallowing up salvation, all the rest also in some measure, and each in its separate place, have their proper character represented in idolatry. In this is likewise the covetousness of this world. For what solemnity of idolatry is there without the trappings of dress and ornament? In this are all kinds of lasciviousness and drunkenness; seeing that these solemnities are chiefly frequented for the sake of feasting and gluttony and lust. In this is unrighteousness; for what is more unrighteous than that which knoweth not the Father of righteousness? In this also is vanity; for all the manner of it is vanity. In this is lying; for its whole substance is a lie. So it is that all are found in idolatry, and idolatry in all. But besides this, since all sins whatsoever are in their spirit contrary to God, and there is nothing contrary in its spirit to God, which is not accounted to belong to devils and unclean spirits, whose servants the idols are, without doubt whosoever committeth sin committeth idolatry; for he doeth that which pertaineth to the masters of idols.
II. But let all the various names of sins separate themselves unto their own proper acts, and idolatry remain for that, in which it itself consisteth; sufficient in itself is a name so much at enmity with God, a groundwork of crime so abundant, which putteth forth so many branches, diffuseth so many channels, that from hence is most fully derived the substance of the many shapes in which idolatry in all its breadth must be foreshunned. For in many ways it overthroweth the servants of God, and that not only when unrecognized, but also when disguised. Men for the most part imagine that idolatry is to be simply understood in these ways only; if a man either burn incense, or offer sacrifice, or keep a feast, or bind himself to any sacred rites or priestly offices: just as though one should suppose that adultery should be accounted to consist in kisses, and in embraces, and in actual carnal intercourse; or that murder should be counted to lie only in the shedding of blood and the taking away of life. But we know of a surety how much more widely the Lord disposeth these things, when He noteth adultery even in desire, if a man shall throw his eye lustfully and excite his mind immodestly; while He judgeth murder to consist even in a word of evil-speaking or railing, and in all violence of anger, and in neglect of charity towards a brother, as John teacheth that whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer. Otherwise both the wisdom of the Devil in his evil designs, and that of the Lord God in the rule whereby He guardeth us against the depths of the Devil, would lie within narrow compass, if we were judged for those sins only, which even the Heathens have determined should be punished. How shall our righteousness abound above the Scribes and Pharisees, as the Lord hath commanded, unless we shall have thoroughly perceived the abundance of that which is opposed to it, that is, of unrighteousness? But if the head of unrighteousness be idolatry, we must first be fore-armed against the abundance of idolatry, whilst we discover it not only in those things which are manifest. In former days there was for a long time no idol. Before that the contrivers of this monstrous thing burst forth, the temples were solitary, and the shrines empty, even as there remain unto this day, in some places, the traces of ancient times. Yet was there carried on, not nominally, but practically, idolatry. For even at this day it can be carried on, away from a temple, and without an idol. But when the Devil brought into the world the makers of statues and images and every kind of similitude, the handy-work of this curse of mankind, yet in its infancy, obtained both its name and advancement from the idols. Henceforth every craft, which in any manner produceth an idol, became the source of idolatry. For it mattereth nothing whether the moulder form, or the sculptor carve, or the embroiderer work it, for neither doth it matter for the material, whether the idol be formed of plaster, or of colours, or of stone, or of brass, or of silver, or of needle-work. For since even without an idol there can be idolatry, surely when there is an idol, it mattereth not of what sort it be, of what material, of what form, lest any should suppose that that only is to be accounted an idol, which is consecrated under a human form. To shew this, the interpretation of the word εἶδος is necessary: in the Greek it signifieth ‘form,’ hence the word εἴδωλον, being made as a diminutive, hath in the same manner in our language produced ‘formula.’ Wherefore every form or formula claimeth to be called an idol. Hence idolatry is every office and service concerned with any idol. Hence also every maker of an idol is in one and the same sin, unless the people were guiltless of idolatry, because they consecrated for themselves the image of a calf and not of a man.
IV. God forbiddeth an idol to be made as well as to be worshipped. As a thing, to be capable of being worshipped, must first be made, so, if it may not be worshipped, the first care must be that it be not made. For this cause the Divine law, in order to the rooting out of the materials of idolatry, proclaimeth, Thou shalt not make any image, adding likewise, nor the likeness of those things which are in heaven, and which are in the earth, and which are in the sea. Such crafts as these hath it wholly forbidden to the servants of God. Enoch had before foretold that “the dæmons and the spirits of the angels that fell away, would change into idolatry all the elements, the whole gear of the world, the things which are contained in heaven, in the sea, in the earth, so that they should be consecrated in the stead of God, in opposition to the Lord.” Human error therefore worshippeth all things, save the Creator Himself of all things. The images of these are idols: the consecration of those images, idolatry. Whatsoever idolatry doth, must needs be charged upon every maker of every idol. Finally, the same Enoch fore-condemneth, in his commination, both the worshippers of the idol and its makers together. And again, “I swear unto you, O sinners, that a just perdition is prepared against the day of blood. Ye that serve stones, and that make images of gold, and silver, and wood, and stone, and earthenware, and that serve phantoms, and devils, and spirits of ill name, and all false things not according to knowledge, ye shall find no help from them.” But Esaias saith, Ye are My witnesses whether there be any God besides Me. And they that fashion and carve images at that time were not. They are all vain, who do, according to their own pleasure, things which shall not profit them. And so afterwards the whole of that declaration testifieth against the makers as well as the worshippers, the close of which is, Know ye that their heart is ashes; and they do err, and no man can deliver his own soul. On which head David in like manner saith of the makers: Let them that make them be like unto them. And what shall I, a man with an indifferent memory, say? what farther proof can I supply? what can I repeat from the Scriptures? as though either the word of the Holy Spirit were not enough, or there were need of considering farther, whether the Lord hath first cursed and condemned the makers of those things, whose worshippers He curseth and condemneth!
V. We will surely reply with more pains to the excuses of craftsmen of this sort, who never ought to be received into the House of God, did men but know the law of that House. Now this saying which is wont to meet us, ‘I have nought else whereon to live,’ may be retorted somewhat sharply, ‘Therefore thou must live—if according to thine own laws, what hast thou to do with God?’ Then as to the proof which they dare to bring from Scripture, that the Apostle hath said, As every man hath been found, so let him abide. According to that interpretation then we may all abide in sin; for there is not one among us who hath not been found a sinner, since Christ came down for no other cause than to deliver sinners. Likewise they say, that the same Apostle hath taught, according to his own example, that every one should work with his own hands for his living. If this precept be maintained in respect of every sort of hands, methinks that thieves about the baths live by their own hands, and even robbers work with their hands that whereby they may live: likewise that forgers execute false writings—not surely with their feet, but—with their hands: and that players labour for their living not with their hands only, but with all their members. Let the Church then be open to all who support themselves by their own hands and their own labour, if no exception be made of those crafts which the law of God alloweth not.
But some man saith, in answer to our assertion that it is forbidden to make the likeness of any thing, ‘Why then did Moses in the wilderness make the likeness of a serpent in brass?’ Those figures are of a distinct character, which prepared the way for any hidden dispensation, not in abrogation of the law, but as an emblem of that which causeth them to be made. Otherwise, if we interpret these things, as the enemies of the law, do we also ascribe, as do the Marcionites, inconsistency to the Almighty? Whom they in this manner annul as being changeable, in that He in one place forbiddeth a thing, in another commandeth it. But if any one feigneth not to see that that image of the brazen serpent, after the manner of one hanging, signified a type of the Cross of the Lord, which was to deliver us from serpents, that is from the angels of the Devil, while it hanged up the Devil, that is the serpent, which had been slain by its means, (or whatever other interpretation of that figure hath been revealed to more worthy men,) so long as the Apostle declareth that all things happened at that time to the people in a figure, I am content that the same God, Who in the law forbad any likeness to be made, should by a special precept have interposed His command that the likeness of a serpent should be made. If thou obeyest the same God, thou hast His law, Thou shalt not make the likeness of any thing, if thou regardest also the command touching the likeness made afterwards, do thou also follow Moses’ example, and not make any image contrary to the law, unless God command thee likewise.
VI. If no law of God had forbidden idols to be made by us; if no voice from the Holy Spirit had denounced the makers of idols, no less than their worshippers; we might conclude for ourselves, from our own Sacrament, that such crafts are contrary to the Faith. For how have we renounced the Devil and his angels, if we make them? what sort of a putting away have we professed of those—I do not say with whom, but—by whom we live? Into what sort of enmity have we entered with those, to whom we are bound for the sake of our own maintenance? Canst thou deny with the tongue, what thou confessest with the hand? destroy by words, what thou buildest up by deeds? preach One God, who makest so many? preach the true God, who makest false gods? ‘I make them,’ saith one, ‘but I worship them not.’ As if there were any reason why he dare not worship them, other than that for which he ought likewise not to make them, namely, the sin committed in either case against God! But verily thou dost worship them, who providest that they may be worshipped. And thou worshippest them not with the spirit of any worthless savour of sacrifice, but with thine own; nor at the cost of the life of a beast, but of thine own life. To these thou offerest up thy mind: for these thou makest libations of thy sweat; for these thou kindlest thy wisdom. Thou art to them more than a priest, since it is through thee that they have a priest. Thy diligence is their glory. Deniest thou that thou worshippest that which thou makest? but they deny it not, to whom thou sacrificest that richer, better gilded, and more perfect victim, thine own salvation!
VII. The zeal of Faith might speak on this head all the day long, mourning that the Christian should come from the idols into the Church, from the workshop of the enemy into the house of God: that he should raise to God the Father hands that are the mothers of idols: should worship Him with those hands, which are themselves worshipped out of the Church in enmity to God: that he should approach those hands to the Body of the Lord, which bestow bodies on dæmons. Nor is this enough. It were a small matter that they should receive from other hands That Which they defile, but they themselves also deliver to others That Which they have defiled. Makers of idols are chosen into the ministry of the Church. Horrid sin! The Jews laid violent hands but once upon Christ: these every day assault His Body. O hands worthy of being cut off! Let them now consider whether it were said only in a figure, If thine hand offend thee, cut it off? What hands ought more to be cut off than those by which the Body of the Lord is offended?
VIII. There are also many other kinds of crafts, which, although they pertain not to the making of idols, do nevertheless, with the same sinfulness, make ready those things, without which idols can do nothing. For it mattereth nothing whether thou buildest or adornest; if thou furnishest a temple, an altar, or its chapel: if thou beatest out the gold leaf, or makest the ornaments, or even the niche: a work of this sort is the greater of the two, which giveth to the idol not its form but its dignity. If the necessity of a livelihood is so strongly pleaded, they have other sorts of work, which, without transgressing the line of religious duty, that is, without helping to form an idol, may help towards a living. The plasterer knoweth how to repair roofs, and to put on coats of plaster, and to dress a cistern, to form mouldings in relief, and to wreathe walls with many other ornaments besides images. The painter also, and the worker in marble and in brass, and every carver knoweth much easier branches of his own art. For he that formeth a statue, how much more easily doth he polish a slab! He that out of a linden tree carveth a Mars, how much more quickly doth he build a closet! There is no art which is not the mother or the sister of some other art. There is no one thing not dependent on another. The arts have as many branches as men have wants. But (thou wilt say) there is a difference in respect of wages and the price of labour. So is there also in the labour itself. The lesser pay is made up by the greater frequency of the work. How many walls are in want of statues? how many temples and shrines are built for idols? but what abundance of dwelling-houses, and courts, and baths, and insulated buildings. The sock and woman’s shoe are gilded every day; Mercury and Serapis not every day. Let luxury and pride suffice for the gains of handicraft: they are more abundant than all superstition. Pride will want, sooner than superstition, dishes and goblets. Luxury consumeth crowns also more than religious observance doth. Since therefore we exhort men to such kinds of craft, as touch not an idol, nor the things which belong to an idol, and since the same things are common both to man and idols, we ought to take care of this also, that nothing be required by any at our hands, with our knowledge, for the use of idols. Which thing if we allow of, and use not the means, so common, of hindering it, I do not think that we are free from the contagion of idolatry, whose hands are found employed, not in ignorance, in the service or for the honour and the use of devils.
IX. We observe among the trades certain professions also, which minister to idolatry. Of astrologers I need not even speak. But since one in these days hath challenged me to it, by defending his adherence to that profession, I will say a few words. I allege not that he honoureth idols, whose names he hath written in the heavens, to whom he hath assigned all the power of God, nor that on this account men think that God is not to be sought after, presuming that we are led by the unchangeable will of the stars. One thing only I advance, that those angels who forsook God, who were lovers of women, were also the discoverers of this curious art, and on that account were condemned by God. O Divine sentence, that standeth fast even on the earth, to which even those who know it not, bear witness! The astrologers are cast out as are their angels. Rome and Italy are closed against astrologers, as Heaven is against their angels. The same penalty of banishment belongeth both to disciples and masters. But wise men [Magi] and astrologers came from the east: (we know the connection of Magian wisdom and astrology with each other:) the interpreters of the stars therefore were the first to announce the birth of Christ: the first to bring Him gifts: on this account (methinks) they bound Christ unto them! What then? Will therefore the religion of those Magi, in these days also, plead for astrologers? Their science in these days forsooth concerneth Christ! watcheth for and foretelleth the star of Christ, not of Satan and of Mars and of every other of the same class of dead men! But in truth that science was allowed even to the days of the Gospel, that, Christ being born, none should thenceforth read the nativity of any man in the heavens. For therefore did they then offer to the infant Lord the frankincense, and the gold, and the myrrh, as the close of the sacrifices and of the glory of this world, which Christ was to take away. That therefore whereof the dream, no doubt by the will of God, warned these same wise men, namely that they should return to their own country, but by another way, not by that whereby they had come, was that they should not walk according to their former sect, and not lest Herod should pursue them, who did not pursue them, who did not even know that they departed by another way, since he did not even know the way by which they had come. And so we ought to understand it to mean the right way and the right religion. Wherefore it was the rather commanded that they should thenceforward ‘walk’ by another way. So also that other kind of Magic, which worketh by miracles, and set itself up in rivalry even against Moses, prolonged its day through the patience of God up to the times of the Gospel. For after that, Simon Magus, now become a believer, because he had still some thoughts remaining of the sect of sorcerers, namely, that, among the other miracles of his craft, he might sell the Holy Ghost also through the imposition of hands, was accused by the Apostles, and cast out from the faith. The other sorcerer, who was with Sergius Paullus, because he withstood the same Apostles, was punished by the loss of his eyes. And this the astrologers also, I believe, would have brought on themselves, if any had met with the Apostles. But when sorcery is punished, of which astrology is a species, surely the particular case is condemned in the general one. After the Gospel, thou canst no where find sophists, or Chaldæans, or enchanters, or diviners, or sorcerers, who were not manifestly punished. Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the inquirer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? Thou knowest nothing, O astrologer, if thou didst not know that thou wert to become a Christian: if thou didst know it, thou oughtest to have known this also, that thou couldest afterwards have nought to do with that art. That art would teach thee thine own danger, which foretelleth the climacterics of others. Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter. He cannot hope for the kingdom of Heaven, whose finger or whose rod abuseth Heaven.
X. We must enquire also concerning schoolmasters, and the other professors of learning. Or rather we cannot doubt that they are akin to idolatry in many shapes. First, because they must needs proclaim the gods of the Gentiles, declare their names, genealogies, fables, and all such things as adorn and honour them: then must they observe also their solemn rites and festivals, as men whose own revenues are thereby supplied. What schoolmaster without a table of the seven idols? Yet will he attend the five days’ festival. The very first payment from a new scholar he devoteth both to the honour and the name of Minerva; so that, though he be unprofaned by any idol, yet in word he may be said to eat of that which is offered to an idol. Why is there less of defilement in this than in that which a trade presents which is openly called after the name and honours of an idol? The Minervalia are as much sacred to Minerva, as the Saturnalia to Saturn, which at the time of the Saturnalia must of necessity be celebrated even by menial servants. Likewise must he catch at new years’ gifts, and the feasts of the seven hills, and of the winter solstice, and must demand all the presents pertaining to that of Caristia. On the feast of Flora the schools must be hung with garlands. The flamens’ wives and the ædiles offer sacrifice: the school is honoured by presents on the holidays specially appointed. The same thing is done on the birthday of an idol: every ‘pomp of the Devil’ is attended. Who will suppose that these things befit a Christian, save he who shall think that they are fitting also for one who is not a schoolmaster? We know it may be said, ‘If it be not lawful for the servants of God to teach literature, neither will it be lawful for them to learn it: and how then could any one be instructed in human wisdom, or be taught at all to think or to act, when literature is an implement for all the concerns of life? How can we set aside worldly studies, without which there can be no divine ones?’ Let us enquire therefore into the necessity of a literary education. Let us consider that in part it cannot be allowed, in part cannot be avoided. The believer is more capable of learning literature than of teaching it: for the nature of learning is different from that of teaching. If the believer teacheth literature, then while he teacheth the praises of idols therein introduced, without doubt he commendeth them; while he delivereth, he affirmeth them; while he mentioneth, he beareth testimony to them. The very gods he denoteth by that name, whereas the law forbiddeth (as we have said) that the names of gods be uttered, and that that name should be put upon a vain thing. Hence faith in the Devil first beginneth to be built up from the first beginnings of education. Ask whether he committeth idolatry, who catechizeth concerning idols! But when the believer learneth these things, if he already understandeth what he is, he neither receiveth them, nor alloweth them; much more if he hath long understood. And even where he hath but begun to understand, he must needs first understand that which he hath first learned, that is, the things concerning God and the Faith. Wherefore he will cast away these things, and receive them not, and will be as safe as one who knowingly receiveth poison from one who knoweth it not, and doth not drink it. Necessity is accounted an excuse for such an one, because he cannot learn in any other way. But it is as much more easy not to teach than not to learn letters, as it is more easy for the believing scholar not to approach all the other defilements of the schools belonging to public and private solemnities, than for the master not to frequent them.
XI. Suppose we consider all its other sins as touching their origins;—in the first place covetousness, the root of all evil; whereby some being ensnared, have made shipwreck concerning faith; (though covetousness is by the same Apostle called also idolatry;) next, lying, the servant of covetousness; (of false swearing, I say nothing, since it is not lawful to swear at all;)—doth commerce befit the servant of God? But if covetousness be away, which is the cause of getting gain, when the cause of getting gain ceaseth, there will be no longer need of commerce. But be it that there is some honesty in the trade, free from the anxiety of watchfulness against covetousness and falsehood; I think that that falleth into the sin of idolatry, which pertaineth to the very soul and spirit of idols, which pampereth every dæmon. Is not this, in very truth, the chief of all idolatries? No matter whether the same merchandize (I speak of frankincense, and other foreign productions used in sacrifice to idols) be used also by men for unguents in medicine, by us also as aids moreover in the burial of the dead. In truth, when the processions, when the priesthoods, when the sacrifices pertaining to idols are furnished by means of your dangers, your losses, your inconveniences, your anxieties, your journeyings to and fro, and your traffic, what else art thou proved to be than a purveyor to idols. Let no one argue that in this manner one might dispute against every kind of commerce. All sins of a graver cast, in proportion to the greatness of the danger, open a wider field for diligent watchfulness, that we not only abstain from them, but from those things through which they are committed. For though a thing be done by others, it maketh no difference, if it be done through me. In nothing ought I to be necessary to another, when he doeth that which is not lawful for me to do. Inasmuch as I am forbidden to do it, I ought to understand that I must take care that it be not done through me. Finally, in another case, wherein the guilt is no lighter, I abide by the same predetermination. For, whereas I am forbidden to commit fornication, I lend neither assistance nor connivance in this thing to others; for in that I have separated mine own flesh from brothels, I acknowledge that I cannot possibly exercise the trade of pandering, or any such gainful craft, for the sake of another. So likewise the prohibition against murder sheweth me that the master-gladiator also must be shut out from the Church: nor will he be guiltless of doing himself that which he helpeth others to do. But here, is a decision more in point. Suppose that the contractor for the public victims should come over to the faith, will you allow him to continue in that trade? or if a man already a believer should begin to drive the trade, will you think that he ought to be retained in the Church? I trow not; unless one is also to wink at the seller of frankincense, for to one trade it belongeth to supply the blood, to another the incense. If, before idols were in the world, idolatry, as yet unembodied in a shape, was carried on by means of such merchandize; if even now the work of idolatry is chiefly wrought without an idol by the burning of incense, doth not the seller of frankincense do the better service even to the dæmons? for idolatry can go on more easily without an idol than without the wares of the seller of frankincense. Let us appeal to the conscience of the believer himself. With what face will a Christian seller of frankincense, if he shall pass through the temples, spit or blow upon the smoking altars, for which he hath himself provided? with what consistency will he exorcise his own foster-children, to whom he hath given his own home as a store-house? If indeed he cast out a devil, let him not hug himself upon his faith, for he hath not cast out an enemy. He ought to prevail easily upon one whom he feedeth every day. No craft therefore, no calling, no trade, which supplieth any thing either for the furnishing or the making of idols, can be free from the name of idolatry, unless we understand idolatry to be something altogether different from the service and worship of idols.
XII. In vain we flatter ourselves about the necessity of man’s subsistence, if, after having sealed our faith, we say, ‘I have not whereon to live;’ for I will now answer this abrupt statement more at large. It is spoken too late. For thou oughtest to have considered this beforehand, after the example of that most prudent builder, who first counteth the cost of the work, and his own powers, lest, failing when he hath begun, he be afterwards put to shame. But even now thou hast the words of the Lord, and ensamples which take from thee all excuse. For what sayest thou? ‘I shall be poor.’ But the Lord calleth the poor, blessed. ‘I shall not have food.’ But, saith He, Take no thought for food. And for clothing we have a pattern, the lilies. ‘I had need of worldly substance.’ But ‘Thou must sell all things and distribute to the poor.’ ‘But I must provide for my children, and for them that come after them.’ No one putting his hand to the plough and looking back is fit for the work. ‘But I had entered into engagements to serve.’ No man can serve two masters. If thou wilt be the disciple of the Lord, thou must take up thy cross and follow the Lord: that is, thou must take up thy afflictions and crosses, or merely thy body which is after the fashion of a cross. Parents, wives, children, will be to be left for the sake of God. Dost thou doubt concerning trades, and business, and professions, even for the sake of children and parents? It was plainly shewn to us that pledges, and crafts, and business must be abandoned for the Lord’s sake, at the very time when James and John, being called by the Lord, left both their father and the ship: when Matthew was made to rise from the receipt of custom: when even for a man to bury his father was too much tardiness for Faith. No one of those, whom the Lord chose to Himself, said, ‘I have not whereon to live.’ Faith feareth not hunger; it knoweth that it must despise even hunger for the sake of God, not less than every sort of death. It hath learned not to regard the life; how much more the meat. How few have fulfilled these things! but the things which are hard with men, are easy with God.
XIII. Nevertheless we must so comfort ourselves concerning the kindness and the mercy of God, as not to indulge our wants even to the borders of idolatry, but to shun like a pestilence every breath of it even afar off, not only in those things of which we have before spoken, but in the whole range of human superstition, (whether in the service of its own gods, or of dead men, or of kings,) as of a thing which pertaineth to the same unclean spirits, sometimes by means of sacrifices and priestly ministrations, sometimes by shows and the like, sometimes by festivals. But of sacrifices and priesthoods what need have I to speak? and as touching shows and such like pleasures, we have already filled a book specially about them. In this place it is meet that we treat of festivals, and other extraordinary solemnities, in which we allow sometimes our wantonness, sometimes our fear, having fellowship with the Heathens in things pertaining to idols, contrary to the rule of our Faith. I shall first dispute this question, whether the servant of God ought to have fellowship in such matters even with the Heathens themselves, whether in respect of dress, or of meat, or any other particular of their rejoicing. The precept to rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep, was spoken by the Apostle concerning his brethren, when he exhorted them to be of one mind. But in these things light hath no fellowship with darkness, nor life with death: otherwise we annul that which is written: The world shall rejoice, but ye shall lament. If we rejoice with the world, we must fear lest we lament also with the world. But let us lament while the world rejoiceth, and then shall we hereafter rejoice while the world lamenteth. So also Lazarus, when in hell he obtained comfort in Abraham’s bosom, and the rich man on the other hand, when placed in the torment of the flame, did, by a rival retribution, make equal their vicissitudes of evil and good.
There are certain days for the dispensing of gifts which are the payment, with some of an honour due, with others of a debt for hired service. ‘Now then,’ thou sayest, ‘I shall receive mine own, or repay that which is another’s.’ If men have, through superstition, consecrated this custom among them, why dost thou, a stranger to all their vanities, take part in ceremonies devoted to idols? as if the rule concerning the day were fixed for thee also, so that thou canst not, except thou observe the day, either pay that which thou owest to a man, or receive that which is owed unto thee by a man! Tell me the form in which thou wouldest be sued. For why conceal thyself too, when by another’s ignorance thou defilest thine own conscience? If thou art not unknown to be a Christian, then thou art tempted, and thou actest, contrary to the knowledge of the other, as though thou wert not a Christian. But then again thou wilt be winked at! Thou hast been tried, and yielded up. Surely whether in the one way or the other thou art guilty of being ashamed of God. But whosoever shall be ashamed of Me before men, of him will I also be ashamed before My Father which is in Heaven.
XIV. But most men have now begun to think that it is pardonable if they do sometimes as the Heathen do, that the Name be not blasphemed. But the blasphemy, which is by all means to be avoided by us, is, methinks, this: If any one of us lead an Heathen to blaspheme with good cause, either by deceiving, or by injuring, or by despitefully using another, or by any other cause of just complaint, for which our Name is deservedly attacked, so that the Lord also is deservedly wroth. But, if it be said of every blasphemy, My Name is blasphemed through you, then are we all utterly lost; since the whole circus doth by wicked voices attack that Name for no fault. Let us cease, and the Name will not be blasphemed. Rather let it be blasphemed, whilst we are abiding in, not falling out of, our course of duty; whilst we are approved, not whilst we are reprobates. O blasphemy akin to martyrdom! which attesteth that I am a Christian, at the very time when it for that cause protesteth against me! To speak evil of our observance of the Religion is to speak well of our Name. If, he saith, I desired, to please men, I should not be the servant of Christ. But the same elsewhere commandeth that we should take care to please all men, even as I, saith he, please all men in all things. Did he forsooth please men by keeping the feast of Saturn, or the Kalends of January? or by patience and meekness, by gravity, by gentleness, by sincerity? In like manner when he saith, I am made all things to all men, that I may gain all, was he made an idolater to idolaters? an heathen to heathens? a worldly man to worldly men? For although he forbiddeth us not to company with idolaters, and adulterers, and other wicked persons, saying, For then must ye needs go out of the world, he doth not surely so change the restraints upon our conversation, that, because we must needs live and mingle with sinners, we may therefore also sin with them. It is one thing to live together, which the Apostle alloweth: another to sin together, which no one alloweth. We may live with the heathen: we may not die with them. Let us live with all men: let us rejoice with them in that we have a common nature, not a common superstition. We have the like souls with them, not the like Religion: we share the same world, not the same error. But if we have no right of fellowship in such matters with aliens, how much more sinful is it for brethren to assort together therein! Who can endure or maintain this? The Holy Spirit reproacheth the Jews for their feast days. Your sabbaths, saith He, and your new moons, and your ordinances, My soul hateth. And do we, to whom these sabbaths belong not, nor the new moons, nor the feast days once beloved of God, celebrate the feasts of Saturn, and of January, and of the Winter solstice, and the feast of Matrons? For us shall offerings flow in? presents jingle? sports and feasts roar? Oh! truer fealty of the Heathen to their own religion; which taketh to itself no rite of the Christians! No Lord’s Day, no Pentecost, even had they known, would they have shared with us! For they would be afraid, lest they should be thought Christians: we are not afraid lest we be openly declared to be heathens! If thou must needs have some indulgence for the flesh too, thou hast it; and thou hast not only as many days as they, but even more. For the heathen festival is on but one day in every year; thine upon every eighth day. Gather out the several solemn feasts of the Heathen, and set them out in order: they will not be able to make up a Pentecost.
XV. But, saith the Scripture, let your works shine: yet now-a-days it is our taverns and our gates that shine. In these times thou wilt find more doors of Heathen than of Christian men without their lamps and laurels. And of this kind of doings likewise what thinkest thou? If it be in honour of an idol, doubtless honour done to an idol is idolatry. If it be for the sake of a man, let us remember that all idolatry is committed for man’s sake; let us remember that all idolatry is worship paid to man, seeing that it is allowed even by their own worshippers, that the gods of the Heathens themselves were formerly men. Therefore it mattereth nothing whether that superstitious worship be paid to the men of a former or of the present age. Idolatry is condemned not on account of the persons who are set up in rivalry, but because of the services performed, which appertain unto dæmons. We must render unto Cæsar the things which are Cæsar’s: well that He hath added, and unto God the things which are God’s. What then are the things which are Cæsar’s? They are those, for instance, concerning which the question was then raised, whether tribute was to be given to Cæsar or not. Wherefore also the Lord required that the tribute money should be shewn to Him, and asked concerning the image, whose it was. And when He had heard that it was Cæsar’s, He said, Render unto Cæsar the things that are Cæsar’s, and unto God the things which are God’s. That is, render unto Cæsar the image of Cæsar, which is on the money, and unto God, the image of God, which is in man; so that thou givest unto Cæsar money, unto God thine own self. Otherwise, if all things be Cæsar’s, what will be God’s? Sayest thou then, ‘The lamps before my doors and the laurel on my door-posts are in honour of God?’ Surely it is not because they are an honour to God, but to him, who, in the stead of God, is honoured by such-like services, as far, that is, as they are seen, and saving those their effects, which are unseen, and appertain unto devils. For we ought to know of a surety, if there be any to whom, through ignorance of this world’s learning, it is not known, that the Romans had gods even of their doors, Cardea so called from ‘cardines,’ and Forculus from ‘fores,’ and Limentinus from ‘limen,’ and Janus himself from ‘janua:’ and surely we know that, although these be empty and feigned names, still when they are drawn aside to superstition, dæmons and every unclean spirit take them to themselves, as bound to them, by consecration; otherwise the dæmons have no individual names; but wherever they find a token of themselves, there also they find a name. Among the Greeks also we read of Apollo Thyræus, and the dæmons called Antelii, the guardians of doors. The Holy Spirit therefore, foreseeing these things from the beginning, foretold by the most ancient of the Prophets, Enoch, that even doors would become matters of superstition. For we see that other doors also, those in the baths, are worshipped. If therefore those things which are worshipped in the doors belong to these dæmons, then will both the lamps and the laurels belong to them. Whatsoever thou doest to the door, thou doest to the idol. In this place I bring a testimony from the authority even of God; for it is not safe to withhold whatsoever is revealed to one man alone, for the sake doubtless of all. I know a brother, who, because his servants had, on the sudden announcement of public rejoicings, hung a garland on his door, was in the same night grievously chastised in a vision. And yet he had neither himself hung the garland, nor ordered it to be hung, for he had beforehand gone abroad, and had blamed the act on his return. Thus are we in these matters judged in the sight of God according to the religious conduct of our households also. Wherefore as respects the honour due to kings or emperors, we have the rule sufficiently laid down that we ought to be, according to the precept of the Apostle, subject to magistrates and princes and powers, with all obedience; but this within the bounds of religious duty, and so long as we are separated from idolatry. For for this cause hath that example of the three brethren gone before, who being in other things obedient to King Nebuchadnezzar, most perseveringly refused honour to his image, proving that whatsoever exalteth the measure of human honour to the likeness of the Divine Majesty, is idolatry. So also Daniel, in other things leaning on Darius, continued so long in his obedience as he avoided peril to his religion. For, that he might not submit to that, he feared no more the king’s lions, than those did the king’s fiery furnace. Let those therefore who have no light, light their lamps daily: let those over whom fires are hanging fix to their door posts laurels, hereafter to be burnt. To them such things are fitting, as proofs of darkness, and omens of punishment. Thou art the light of the world, and a tree that ever flourisheth. If thou hast renounced temples, make not thine own door a temple. I have said too little. If thou hast renounced brothels, give not to thine own house the appearance of a new brothel.
XVI. But as touching the duties which belong to private or domestic solemnities, those of putting on the plain gown, or those of espousals, or of nuptials, or of giving a name to a child, I cannot think that any danger need be guarded against, from the taint of the idolatry which is concerned in them. For we must consider the causes, for which the service is performed; these I think to be in themselves clean, because neither the manly dress, nor the ring, nor the nuptial union, is derived from the honour paid to any idol. Finally, I do not find any dress cursed by God, save that of a woman upon a man. Cursed is every one, saith He, that putteth on a woman’s garment. But the gown, by its very name, is that of a man. Nor doth God forbid a marriage to be celebrated, any more than a name to be given. ‘But there are sacrifices attached to these things.’ Let me be summoned thither, and let not the fulfilment of my office and service be any sign of aiding at the sacrifice, and they may do just what pleaseth themselves. Would it were just what pleaseth themselves! and that we might not see those things, which it is unlawful for us to do. But since the Evil one hath so beset the world with idolatry, it will be permitted us to be present in certain matters, which admit us to do service to a man, not to an idol. Assuredly, if invited to act as a priest and to do sacrifice, I will not go, for this service properly pertaineth to the idol, nor will I ever act in such a matter by my counsel, by my purse, or by any other aid. If, being invited for the sake of the sacrifice, I stand by the sacrifice, I shall be a partaker in the idolatry. If any other cause attacheth me to him who is sacrificing, I shall be only a spectator of the sacrifice.
XVII. But what shall slaves and faithful freedmen do? and officers attending upon their lords, or their patrons, or chief magistrates when offering sacrifice? Even if one delivereth the wine to him who sacrificeth, nay if he assisteth even by a single word proper to the sacrifice, he will be accounted a minister of idolatry. Mindful of this rule, we can render our services even to magistrates and powers, like the patriarchs and others before us, who attended upon idolatrous kings up to the borders of idolatry. Hence the question arose but the other day, whether a servant of God may take upon himself the ministration of any dignity or authority, if, either through some favour, or even by cunning, he can keep himself pure from every sort of idolatry, according as Joseph and Daniel, who were pure from idolatry, had the ministration both of dignity and authority, stood conspicuous in the badge and the purple of all Egypt and Babylon. Let us allow then that a man may successfully contrive to move in any honourable office, and bear the name only of the office, and neither sacrifice, nor lend his authority to sacrifices, nor contract for victims, nor commit to others the care of temples, nor look after their revenues, nor exhibit shows at his own or the public expense, nor preside over their exhibition, nor make proclamation or edict for any solemnity, nor even take any oath; nor again, as respects acts of power, pass judgment on the life or honour of any, (for thou mightest allow of his doing so with regard to their money,) nor sentence to punishment, nor enact the sentence beforehand, nor put any man in bonds, nor shut up any in prison, nor inflict torture upon any, if indeed it be credible that such things can be done.
XVIII. But we must now treat of the appendages alone, and the outward pomp of such office. Each hath his own proper dress, as well for daily use, as for the honour and dignity of his office. Wherefore the purple, and the gold, the ornaments of the neck, were marks of dignity among the Ægyptians and Babylonians, in the same manner as in these days, the bordered, and the striped, and the palm-embroidered robes, and the golden crowns of the provincial priests; but not under the same conditions: for they were bestowed on those, who deserved the familiar friendship of kings, only for the sake of honour; (whence also they were called the ‘empurpled’ of kings, from ‘purpura,’ as men are called with us ‘candidates’ from ‘toga candida;’) but not that this appendage should be attached to priesthoods also, or any other offices pertaining to idols. For had it been so, surely men of such sanctity and constancy would at once have refused the polluted garments; and it would have appeared at once, as it did appear long afterwards, that Daniel had not served idols, and did not worship Bel and the dragon. The mere purple dress therefore was not even a mark of high office among the Barbarians, but of high birth: even as Joseph also, who had been a slave, and Daniel, who through captivity had changed his condition, obtained the rights of free-men in Babylon and Ægypt, wearing the dress of barbarian nobility. So to the believer among us, if need be, the bordered gown of boyhood, and the lady’s robe might be allowed, as marks of birth not of power; of family not of honour; of rank not of superstition. But the purple or other marks of dignity and power, being from the beginning devoted to the idolatry engrafted on dignity and power, bear the stain of their own profanation; since moreover these bordered and striped robes and laticlavi are put even upon the idols themselves, and the fasces and rods are carried before them. And with good cause: for devils are the rulers of this world: they bear the ensigns of one and the same body, the fasces and the purple robes. What point then wilt thou gain, if thou usest the dress, though thou do not the works of the office? No man can be accounted clean in unclean things. If thou put on a garment, which of itself is defiled, it may perchance not be defiled through thee, but thou canst not, through it, be clean. Moreover now thou that arguest concerning Joseph and Daniel, know that old things are not always to be compared with new, barbarous with civilized customs, things begun with things completed, things pertaining to slaves with things pertaining to free-men. For these men also were, in their estate, servants; but thou, who art no man’s servant, inasmuch as thou art Christ’s alone, Who hath also freed thee from the captivity of the world, oughtest to live according to the rule of the Lord. That Lord walked in humility and lowliness, having no certain home, for He saith, The Son of Man hath not where to lay His head: in dress unadorned, for else He would not have said, Behold, they that wear soft clothing are in king’s houses: finally in visage and aspect without beauty, as also Esaias had foretold. If He exercised no right of power even over His own people, to whom He rendered the mean office of a servant; if finally He avoided being made a king, though knowing that He was a King; He gave most fully a rule to His people, in thus melting away the loftiness and pomp as well of dignity as of power. For who should more have used these honours than the Son of God? what fasces, and how many, would attend Him forth! what purple glisten from His shoulders! what gold gleam from His head, if he had not determined that the glory of this world was foreign to Him and to His people! That glory therefore, which He would not have, He hath rejected; that which He rejected He hath condemned; that which He condemned He hath concluded under the ‘pomp of the Devil.’ For He would not have condemned, save what were not His own; but the things which are not of God could not be of any other save the Devil. If thou hast ‘renounced the pomp of the Devil,’ know that whatsoever thereof thou touchest, is idolatry; let even this admonish thee, that all the powers and dignities of the world are not only foreign, but likewise hostile to God, because through these are punishments devised against the servants of God, through these even the penalties prepared for the wicked, unknown. But thy birth and thy fortune are an hindrance to thee in resisting idolatry.’ To avoid this there can be no lack of remedies, for, though they be wanting, the single one at least remaineth, whereby thou art thus promoted to a richer dignity, not in earth but in Heaven.
XIX. Under this head we might seem to have determined the rule concerning the profession of the soldier also, which is something between dignity and power. But now ariseth this question, whether a believer can turn himself to the profession of a soldier, and whether a soldier can be admitted to the Christian Faith, even from the ranks, or one of a still lower grade, who is not obliged to deal with sacrifices or capital punishments. There is no agreement between the divine and human sacrament, the standard of Christ and the standard of the Devil, the camp of light and the camp of darkness. One soul cannot be bound to two masters, to God and to Cæsar. Even Moses carried a rod, and Aaron wore a clasp, and John was girt with a leather girdle, and Joshua the son of Naue led an army, and the people made war, if we choose to sport with the subject. But how will they make war, yea how will they be soldiers in peace, without the sword, which the Lord hath taken away? For even though soldiers came to John and received their rule of duty, even though a centurion was a believer, the Lord, in disarming Peter, thenceforth disarmed every soldier. No dress is lawful for us, which is assigned to an unlawful action.
XX. But seeing that the conversation, which is according to the Divine law, is put in peril not only by acts but even by words, (for as it is written, Behold the man and his deeds, so is it also written, Out of thy mouth thou shalt be justified, we ought to remember that the inroads of idolatry, whether through the fault of evil habit or of cowardice, must be guarded against even in words. The law forbiddeth the gods of the Heathens to be named, not indeed that we may not pronounce their names, which our daily converse compelleth us to mention. For we must often say: ‘Thou wilt find him in the temple of Æsculapius;’ or ‘I live in the street of Isis;’ and ‘he hath been appointed a priest of Jupiter;’ and many other things of like sort, since names of this kind are introduced even amongst men. For I honour not Saturn, if they have so called any by his name; I honour him no more than I honour Mark, if I call a man Mark. But it saith, The name of other gods shall not be mentioned, neither shall it be heard out of thy mouth. This hath it commanded, that we should not call them gods. For in the first part of the law also it is said, Thou shall not take the name of the Lord thy God for a vain thing, that is, ‘for an idol.’ He therefore that hath honoured an idol with the Name of God, hath fallen into idolatry. But if I must needs speak of these gods, I must add somewhat, whereby it may appear that I do not call them gods. For even Scripture nameth the gods, but addeth the words, their or of the nations; as David doth, when he had named the gods, when he saith, All the gods of the nations are devils. This, however, I have advanced, rather as preparatory to future remarks. But it is the fault of an evil habit to say, “by Hercules,” “so help me Jupiter’s son,” besides the ignorance of some who know not that they are swearing by Hercules. Moreover what else will an oath be, sworn by them whom thou hast forsworn, than a juggling of faith with idolatry? for who honoureth not those, by whom he sweareth?
XXI. But it is the fault of cowardice, when another bindeth thee by his own gods, through an oath or any other form of testimony, and thou, lest thou be discovered, remainest silent; for by remaining silent thou dost equally affirm that majesty of theirs, for the sake of which thou wilt seem to be bound. What doth it matter whether thou affirm the gods of the Heathens to be gods, by calling them, or by hearing them called so? whether thou swear by idols, or, being adjured by another, consent by thy silence? Why do we not recognize the devices of Satan, who taketh care to accomplish by the mouth of his own people, that, which he cannot accomplish by our mouth, instilling idolatry into us through our ears? Surely whosoever he be, in thus binding thee, he closeth with thee either as a friend or as an enemy: if as an enemy, then thou art summoned to do battle, and knowest that thou hast a fight to fight: if as a friend, how much more safely wilt thou turn thine answer to the Lord, so as to break the bond of the man, through whose means the Evil one sought to bind thee to the honour of idols, that is, to idolatry! All patience of this sort is idolatry. Thou honourest those to whom, when forced upon thee, thou hast yielded compliance. I know that a man, (whom God forgive,) when it was said to him in public during a dispute, ‘The wrath of Jupiter be upon thee,’ answered, ‘and upon thee also.’ What else could an Heathen have done, who believed Jupiter to be a god? Even if he had not retorted the curse in the name of the same god, nor of any one like unto Jupiter, he had affirmed that Jupiter was a god, through whom being cursed he had, by cursing again, shewn himself to have been angered thereby. For why shouldest thou be angry, when cursed in the name of one whom thou knowest to be nought? For if thou art made furious, thou at once provest him to be something, and the confession of thy fear will be idolatry. How much more, when thou cursest again by the god himself, dost thou do honour to Jupiter by the same means as he who provoked thee! But the believer ought in such a case to laugh, not to become furious: yea, according to the commandment, thou oughtest not to curse again even by God, but altogether to bless in God’s Name, that thou mayest both overthrow the idols, and proclaim God, and fulfil the law of righteousness.
XXII. In like manner he that hath been admitted into the Faith of Christ, will not endure to be blessed in the name of the gods of the Heathen, so that he will ever refuse the unclean blessing, and, by turning to God, will make it clean unto himself. To be blessed in the name of the gods of the Heathen is to be cursed in God’s name. If I shall give alms to any one, or do him any kindness, and he shall pray that his gods, or the presiding Genius of the colony, may be propitious to me, immediately my oblation or my work will be an honour to those idols, in whose name he repayeth me by the return of his blessing. But why should he not know that I did it for the sake of God, that both God may be the rather glorified, and devils not be honoured by that which I did for the sake of God? But ‘God seeth that I did it for His sake.’ Yea, and He likewise seeth that I was unwilling to shew that I did it for His sake, and that I have in some measure rendered that, which He hath commanded, an offering to an idol. Many say, no one is bound openly to avow himself: nor, as I think, to disown himself; for disown himself he doth, whosoever being treated in any matter as an Heathen dissembleth. And indeed all disowning is idolatry, even as all idolatry is disowning, either in deeds or in words.
XXIII. But there is a certain kind of such idolatry, both in deeds and in words, two-edged and hurtful on both sides, though it win upon thee, as though it were clear in both respects, nothing appearing to be done, because nothing is laid hold of as said. They who borrow money from the Heathen, bound by the faith of pledges, being adjured, give a bond of security, and so deny that they have knowledge of the oath. They want forsooth a time of persecution, and a seat of judgment, and the presence of the magistrate. Christ teacheth that we must swear not at all. ‘I have written,’ saith one, ‘but I have spoken nothing: it is the tongue, not the writing, which killeth.’ Here I appeal to Nature and to Conscience: to Nature, because although the tongue, being unmoved and silent, have no part in dictating, still the hand can write nothing, which the mind doth not dictate: though even to the tongue itself the mind dictateth either that which is conceived in itself, or that which hath been delivered by another. Now, let it be said, ‘another dictated;’ I here appeal to the Conscience, whether or no the mind conceiveth that which another hath dictated, and (be the tongue partaking or quiescent) transmitteth it to the hand? And well is it that the Lord hath said that sin is committed in the mind and in the conscience. “If,” saith He, “the evil desire or the evil thought come up into the heart of a man, thou art held guilty of the act.” Thou therefore hast given a bond of security, which surely hath come up into thine heart, since thou canst neither contend that thou didst not know, nor that thou didst not will it. For when thou gavest the bond, thou hadst knowledge of it, and when thou knewest, thou didst assuredly also will it; and thou art guilty as well in deed as in thought; nor canst thou, by the lighter charge, bar the graver one, so as to say that it is altogether rendered false, by thy giving a bond for that which thou dost not actually perform. ‘Yet I have made no denial, because I have sworn no oath.’ Nay, but notwithstanding thou hadst done nothing of this kind, yet thou wouldest be said to have sworn, if thou hast consented. Hath not a word understood in writing, and a mute sound in letters, its force? Again, Zacharias when he was punished by the loss of his voice for a season, having conferred with his mind, passeth over his useless tongue, dictateth from his heart to his hands, and pronounceth without a mouth the name of his son. In his pen there speaketh, and in his waxen tablet there is heard, a hand clearer than any sound, a writing more vocal than any mouth. Ask whether he hath spoken, who is found to have uttered words. Let us pray to the Lord that the necessity of such a contract as this may never press upon us: and should it chance to do so, may He give to our brethren the means of doing good to us, or to ourselves boldness to rid ourselves of all such necessity, lest these writings which deny our Religion, standing in the place of our words, be brought forward against us in the day of judgment, sealed with the seals no longer of advocates but of angels.
XXIV. Amidst these rocks and bays, amidst these shoals and straits of idolatry, Faith wafted onwards by the Spirit of God holdeth her course: safe while on her guard, secure while in amazement. But for those who are cast overboard, there is an abyss whence none can swim; for those who strike upon a rock, there is a wreck whence none can escape; for those who are swallowed up there is in idolatry a whirlpool where none can breathe: every wave thereof choketh, every eddy sucketh down to hell. Let no man say, ‘Who shall so safely guard himself? we must needs go out of the world.’ As if it were not as good to go out, as to remain an idolater in the world. Nothing can be easier than to guard against idolatry, if the fear of it be our chief fear; every necessity is of secondary account when compared with so great a peril. For this cause the Holy Spirit, when the Apostles in their days considered of the matter, loosened the bond and yoke which was upon us, that we might have nought to do, save to avoid idolatry. This shall be our law. The lighter its burden, the more perfectly should it be administered; a law proper to Christians, by which we are known and examined by Heathens. This must be propounded to such as are approaching towards the Faith, and inculcated on such as are entering upon the Faith, that they may deliberate while yet approaching, but when in the service may deny themselves. For it mattereth not whether, after the figure of the ark, the raven, and the kite, and the wolf, and the dog, and the serpent shall be in the Church: the idolater is assuredly not contained within the figure of the ark. No animal was made an emblem of the idolater. That which was not in the ark, may not be in the Church.
NOTE F, ON C. XVIII. P. 246.
Tertullian seems to understand the words of Isaiah 53:3. literally, as though the absence of every thing highly accounted of among men were part of His humiliation, (c. Marc. iii. 7. and adv. Jud. c. 14. “nec adspectu quidem honestus;” c. Marc. iii. 17. at length; de carne Christi c. 9. very explicitly;) T. however speaks of lowliness, of absence of any outward dignity or majesty to command respect, of what might readily be despised, not as M. Medina and others (ap. Moreau t. 1. Hæreses Tert. p. 54. Christus indecorus) say, that He was “non speciosus forma, sed fœdus et deformis.” Thus in the de c. C. “These, Matt. 13:54. were the words of persons despising His appearance. So that He had not a body even of human dignity (honestatis) much less of heavenly brightness.” It is also true, (as Moreau contends) that T. uses these terms, partly, in reference to His sufferings and indignities at the hands of men; as l. c. “Were even the prophets silent as to the absence of dignity (ignobili) in His aspect, His very sufferings, His very indignities, speak; the sufferings, of a human flesh, the indignities, of one undignified” (inhonestam), but not exclusively, since he argues that had He had the dignity of a heavenly countenance, they had not dared this; and adv. Jud. he distinguishes the “nec adspectu, &c.” from the rest. T., on the other hand, explains Ps. 45:2. exclusively of “spiritual beauty,” adv Marc. iii. 17. The passages of S. Clem. Alex. Pæd. iii. 1. τὴν ὄψιν αἴσχρον in reference to Is. 53. (coll. Strom, ii. 5.) will from the contrast, have the same meaning, of contrast with, and absence of, human beauty. So again, very plainly, Strom, vi. 17. (p. 293. ed. Sylb.) εὐτελὴς is opposed to a beautifulness, which would fix the mind on itself; “Not without purpose did the Lord will to employ a lowly form of body, lest any praising the comeliness and admiring the beauty, should be distracted from the things said;” and Strom. iii. 17. p. 202. “He Himself, the Head of the Church, passed the life in the flesh, unattractive and without form (ἀηδὴς καὶ ἄμορφος) teaching us to look up to the invisible (ἀειδὲς) and incorporeal of the Divine Cause.” In like way when Celsus had said, that whereas it was “impossible that whoso had something Divine above others, should not differ from others,” but that His form “was, as they say, small and δυσειδὲς and abject” (ἀγενὲς), Origen admits the δυσειδὲς, “but not, as Celsus explains it, abject, nor is it clearly shewn that it was small,” (c. Cels. vi. §. 65.) S. Basil, again, (in Ps. 44.) says only negatively that it “does not celebrate beauty of person, for we have seen Him and He hath no beauty, &c.” Is. 53. So S. Aug. in Ps. 43. §. 16. “As man He had neither beauty nor comeliness; but He was beautiful in form in That, whereby He is ‘above the sons of men.’ “ Ps. 45. “Therefore manifesting that forma deformis of the flesh,” &c. and on Ps. 118. “The Bridegroom Himself, lovely not in outward form but in excellency.”
It appears, further, that these writers do not rest on any tradition (for Celsus’, “they say,” implies, at most, only a current notion in his day,) but on an exposition of a prophecy; and, therefore, their words are not to be taken further than the prophecy bears, if interpreted of the outward form, “absence of outward comeliness.”
This same passage of Isaiah is by others interpreted of the “marring of His countenance” through His sufferings; (whence the Jews thought that He was near “fifty years old;”) and this is evidently the meaning of Thaddæus in the document from the Syriac, ap. Eus. i. 13. “of the power of His works and the mysteries which He spake in the world—of the lowness and meanness and humiliation of the Man, Who appeared visibly, and how He humbled Himself and died and minished His Divinity.” This T. himself joins with the other meaning, and S. Aug. gives it as the meaning, in Ps. 44. §. 3. and in Ps. 127. §. 8. “That Bridegroom than Whom nothing is more beautiful, of Whom Esaias said a little before, ‘We saw Him, and He had no beauty nor comeliness.’ Is then our Bridegroom unlovely? (fœdus)—He seemed unlovely to those who persecuted Him, and unless they had deemed Him unlovely, they had not assaulted, had not scourged, had not crowned with thorns, had not dishonoured Him with spittings; but because He seemed to them unlovely, they did those things unto Him, for they had not the eyes to which Christ would appear lovely—Those eyes are to be cleansed, that they may be able to see that light;” which gives a sort of comment on T.’s stronger language de carne Christi, 1. c. Theodoret explains Is. 53:2, 3. of His sufferings (in Ps. 44.)
This passage of S. Aug. further shews that these Fathers did not think of what we should mean by “meanness of countenance” and the like, but only a lowliness of the outward form, which (as is the case often now in such degrees of moral dignity as men may reach unto) had nothing attractive except for those who had a certain sympathy with it, and whose eyes were purified to see the hidden Majesty. Thus Origen, who admitted the δυσειδὲς imputed by Celsus, says, (Comm. in Matt. §. 100. t. iii. p. 906. ed. de la Rue al. Tr. 35.) “A tradition has come down to us of Him, that there were not only two forms in Him, one according to which all saw Him, another, according to which He was transfigured before His disciples in the mount, when His countenance also shone as the sun, but that He appeared to each according as he was worthy. And being the Same, He appeared as though He were not the Same to all;” (which O. likens to the Manna, Wisd. 16:20, 21.) “And this tradition does not appear to me incredible, whether as relates to the body, on account of Jesus Himself, that He appeared in different ways to men, or on account of the very nature of the Word, which does not appear alike to all.” And S. Jerome (in Ps. 44. Ep. 65. ad Princip. §. 8.) having explained Is. 53:2. of His sufferings, and Ps. 45. of the “beauty of His excellencies in a sacred and Adorable Body,” subjoins, “for had He not had in His countenance and eyes a sort of starry lustre, neither had the Apostles instantly followed Him, nor they who had come to seize Him fallen to the ground,” and this, (on S. Matt. 9:9.) he explains not to belong to the human countenance, but the Divinity gleaming through. “Certainly the very brightness and majesty of the hidden Divinity, which shone through in His human countenance, could at first sight draw beholders to Himself. For if the magnet and amber are said to have the power to join to themselves rings and straws, how much more could the Lord of all creatures draw to Himself whom He would!”