Chapter 32

§ 1.

Moreover the following impious maxim of theirs concerning actions is refuted by the doctrine of the Lord: that which saith,¹ that they ought to be versed in all deeds, even ever so bad ones. But with Him not only the adulterer is cast out, but even he who wishes to be such; and not only will the slayer be guilty of murder unto damnation, but he also who is angry with his brother without a cause. He bade men not only not hate, but even love their enemies: He forbade not only perjury, but swearing at all: and not only ill speaking of neighbours, but even for any one to say Racha and Fool,² or else, that such persons are guilty even to Hell fire: and that one should not only refrain from striking, but when stricken themselves should offer the other cheek also: and be so far from denying another man’s ownership in things, as even to refrain from demanding our own back from such as may have taken them: and so far from hurting our neighbours, and doing them any evil, that even those who are ill-used, should be great-hearted, and practise kindness towards them, and pray for them that they may repent and be saved: we in no respect imitating other men’s insolence and lust and pride. Since then He Whom they boast to be their Teacher, and say that He had a much better and braver soul than others, gave very careful order that some things should be done as good and noble, and that from others we should abstain, not only from the works, but also from such thoughts as lead to the works, as being bad, and hurtful, and depraved: how is it that they, styling such a Teacher braver and better than the rest, and then evidently ordaining things contrary to His doctrine, are not confounded? And yet if there were nothing really bad, nor again good, but in men’s opinion alone some things unjust, some just; He would not of course have said in His doctrine,³ But the righteous shall shine as the Sun in the kingdom of their Father: but the unjust and those who do not works of righteousness He will send into everlasting fire,⁴ where their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched.⁵

§ 2.

And again, while they say, that they must take part in every work and in all kinds of conversation,⁶ in order that, if it be possible, they may accomplish all in one visit unto life, and so pass into the perfect state: nevertheless those among things which appertain unto virtue, which have in them labour, and honour, and skill, which also all approve as good, those we find not that they have at all endeavoured to perform. For if all work and every sort of working must be gone through; first, they had need learn all arts, whatever they be, which are either completed in discoursing by words, or in works done, and again such as are learned by self-restraint, and are acquired by labour and thought and perseverance, as for instance every kind of Music, and Calculation, and Geometry, and Astronomy, and whatsoever is conversant in discoursing by words: and again the Whole of Medicine, and the science of herbs, with such other sciences as have been wrought out for the health of man; and painting, and statuary, and brass-founding, and cutting of marble, and the like of these: after these again every kind of rural skill, of farriery, and of the shepherd’s art, and those of manufacturers, (which are said to pervade all arts); and those which relate to the sea, or wait on the body; the hunter’s skill again, and the soldier’s, and the King’s, and whatever there are; whereof, though they work all their life long, they cannot learn fully the tenth, nay, nor the 1000th part. And whereas of all these they try not to learn any,—they who say that in their own persons men must be conversant in every kind of work,—they go aside into pleasures and wantonness, being thus judged by themselves according to their own doctrine; i.e., wanting as they do all that I have now said, they will pass into the chastisement of fire. Yea, and while they emulate the philosophy of Epicurus, and the Cynic’s denial of all moral differences, they boast of having Jesus for their Master: Who, as we have shewn, withdraws His Disciples not only from works, but from words too and thoughts of evil.

§ 3.

And whereas they say,⁷ that they have their souls of the same orb (so to speak) with Jesus, and are like Him, and sometimes even better; when they are brought into comparison with the works, which He wrought for the benefit and confirmation of man, nothing equal, nor like, nor second, are they found to work, which may come into the comparison. If by any chance they do anything, they do it, as we said, by magic, and so fraudfully endeavour to mislead the unthinking: furnishing no profit or advantage to those on whom they say they work miracles, but bringing in boys as yet ungowned⁸, and deluding men’s eyes, and shewing visions which presently cease, and last not for the least drop of time, they prove themselves not like our Lord Jesus, but rather like Simon the Sorcerer. And it is indisputable too from the fact of our Lord’s rising from the dead on the third day, and shewing Himself to His Disciples, and in their sight being taken up into Heaven, that they dying, and not rising again, and not being manifested to any, are convicted of having souls in nothing like unto Jesus.

§ 4.

And if they will say that the Lord did such works in mere phantasy,⁹ we will refer them to the Prophets, and from them make it plain, that all things concerning Him were so foretold, and so happened, and that He alone is the Son of God. Wherefore also in His Name those who are truly His Disciples, having received the grace from Him, fulfil the same for the benefit of the rest of men, according as each of them hath received the gift from Him. For some cast out devils really and truly, so that often those same persons, who are purged of the evil spirits, become believers, and are in the Church. Others again have foreknowledge of things future, and visions, and prophetic sayings: And others heal the sick by the imposition of their hands, and restore them whole. And before now, as we have said, dead persons have been raised, and have abode with us a good number of years. And what shall I say? There is no numbering the gifts, which in all the world the Church hath received from God, and in the name of Jesus Christ crucified under Pontius Pilate, exercises daily for the benefit of the nations, neither deceiving any, nor stripping them of their money.¹⁰ For as she hath freely received of God, so also she freely ministers.

§ 5.

Nor doth she work anything by Angelical invocations,¹¹ nor by incantations, nor by any other evil inquisitiveness: but in cleanness, and purity, and openness directing her prayers to the Lord Who made all things, invoking also the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, she works miracles, for the good of men, not to beguile them. If therefore even now the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ worketh benefits, and cureth most substantially and truly all men everywhere believing in Him; and not so the name of Simon, nor of Menander, nor of Carpocrates, nor of any other: it is clear that He being made man had His conversation with His own creation;—that He truly wrought all things by the power of God, as seemed good to the Father of all, as the Prophets foretold. But what those things were will be specified in those proofs which are taken from the Prophets.