SPECT. 9 sqq. 10. Rev. 18, 20. 218 Terrors of the Day of Judgment. DE righteous which followeth? what the city of the new VI. 30. Jerusalem? And yet there remain other shows: that last and eternal Day of Judgment, the unlocked for, the scorned' of the Nations, when all the ancient things of the world, and all that are rising into life, shall be consumed in one fire? what shall then be the expanse of the show? Is. 14, whereat shall I wonder? whereat laugh? whereat rejoice? Ps. 52,6. whereat exult? beholding so many kings, who were Ps. 58, declared to be admitted into Heaven, with Jupiter himself and all that testify of him, groaning together in the lowest darkness? those rulers too, the persecutors of the Name of the Lord, melting amid insulting fires more raging than those wherewith themselves raged against the Christians: those wise philosophers moreover reddening before their own disciples, now burning together with them, whom they persuaded that there was nothing which appertained to God, before whom they affirmed that there were either no souls, or that they should not return again to their former bodies: poets too trembling before the judgmentseat, not of Rhadamanthus, not of Minos, but of the unlooked-for Christ. Then will the tragic actors be the more to be heard, because more loud in their cries amidst real affliction of their own: then the players to be recognized, more dissolute by far when dissolved by fire: then the charioteer to be gazed on, all red' upon his fiery wheel: then the wrestlers to be viewed tossing about, not in Y probably the Millennium, as in See on de Test. An. c. 4. p. 136. a A truth lies at the basis of the following painful description, since Scripture says, "The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance;" Tertullian, however, seems to have been hurried away by his imagination, and (as happens not uncommonly to people) in the vehemence of his description to have forgotten what he was describing-endless misery. Certainly, the righteous will "rejoice" in God's vengeance upon His enemies, (Ps. 58, 10, &c. Rev. 18, 20. xix. 1-3.) but it is not for the uninspired, to joy beforehand in the justice of God of Sight of the LORD: if things future such, what when come? 219 18. the theatre, but in the fire-unless perchance I may even then not desire to see them, as wishing rather to fix my gaze, never to be satisfied, on those who have furiously Ps.2, 12. raged against the Lord. This, I shall say, is He, the son John 5, of the carpenter or the harlots, the destroyer of the Sabbath, John 8, the Samaritan and Who had a devil. This is He, Whom 48. ye bought of Judas: this is He, Who was smitten with a reed and with buffetings, dishonoured with spittings, drugged with gall and vinegar. This is He, Whom the disciples stole secretly away, that it might be said that He Mat. 28, had risen again, or Whom the gardener removed, lest his lettuces should be injured by the crowds of visitors". Such 64. shows as these, such triumphs as these, what prætor, or consul', or quæstor, or priest, shall of his own bounty bestow upon thee? and yet we have them even now in some sort present to us, through Faith, in the imagination of the spirit. But what are those things which eye hath 1 Cor. not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man? Greater joys, methinks, than the circus, and both the theatres", and any race-course. Alluding to the Jewish blasphemy under the title of Panthera, Orig. c. Cels. i. 28. 32. Schabbat fol. 104, b. and Sanhedrin f. 67. a. ap. Wagenseil conf. lib. Toled. Jesch. p. 15. ubi pl. S. Jerome Ep. 14. (al. 1.) ad Heliod. §. ult. in part imitates this passage, and retains the word. b This last seems to be irony of Tertullian's. "This is a spectacle, which not prætor or consul exhibiteth to them, but He Who is Alone both before all things, and above all things, yea and of Whom are all things, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." de Spect. ap. Cypr. fin. Theatre and Amphitheatre. 13. Mat. 27, 2, 9. [Lumper (1. 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.)] DE VII. 1. I. THE principal sin of mankind, the chief guilt of the IDOL 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 con Idolatry may be committed manifoldly, not by overt act only. 221 stituteth 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 Col.3, 5. 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 DE VII. 3. 28. 3, 15. restored, 24. 222 Avoid idolatry in lesser shades, as adultery and murder ; sacrifice, or keep a feast, or bind himself to any sacred rites IDOL. 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 Mat. 5, noteth adultery even in desire, if a man shall throw his eye lustfully and excite his mind immodestly; while He judgeth v.22 sqq. murder to consist even in a word of evil-speaking or railing, and in all violence of anger, and in neglect of charity 1 John 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 altitu in the rule whereby He guardeth us against the depths of dines the Devil, would lie within narrow compass, if we were with A judged for those sins only, which even the Heathens have Rev. 2, determined should be punished. How shall our righteousness Mat. 5, 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 20. See on Apol. c. 25. |