Chapter IV.—The Christians Worship God Alone.

For what reason, men of Greece, do you wish to bring the civil powers, as in a pugilistic encounter, into collision with us? And, if I am not disposed to comply with the usages of some of them, why am I to be abhorred as a vile miscreant?5    [Dear Christians of those times; so Justin and all the rest appeal against this odium. Their name an offence, “cast out as evil,” but fragrant with unrequited love. Matt. x. 22–39.] Does the sovereign order the payment of tribute, I am ready to render it. Does my master command me to act as a bondsman and to serve, I acknowledge the serfdom. Man is to be honoured as a fellow-man;6    [1 Pet. ii. 17. This claim for man as man is the inspiration of Christianity. Terence breathes it from his wounded soul in slavery; and his immortal line, “Homo sum: humani nihil a me alienum puto” (Hæuntontimor., act. i. sc. 1, verse 25), looks as if it had been written in the second century of illumination.] God alone is to be feared,—He who is not visible to human eyes, nor comes within the compass of human art. Only when I am commanded to deny Him, will I not obey, but will rather die than show myself false and ungrateful. Our God did not begin to be in time:7    [Kaye’s Justin, pp. 56, 158.] He alone is without beginning, and He Himself is the beginning of all things. God is a Spirit,8    John iv. 24. not pervading matter, but the Maker of material spirits,9    [Over again Tatian asserts spirits to be material, though not fleshly; and I think with reference to 1 Cor. xv. 44.] and of the forms that are in matter; He is invisible, impalpable, being Himself the Father of both sensible and invisible things. Him we know from His creation, and apprehend His invisible power by His works.10    Rom. i. 20. I refuse to adore that workmanship which He has made for our sakes. The sun and moon were made for us: how, then, can I adore my own servants? How can I speak of stocks and stones as gods? For the Spirit that pervades matter11    [Over again Tatian asserts spirits to be material, though not fleshly; and I think with reference to 1 Cor. xv. 44.] is inferior to the more divine spirit; and this, even when assimilated to the soul, is not to be honoured equally with the perfect God. Nor even ought the ineffable God to be presented with gifts; for He who is in want of nothing is not to be misrepresented by us as though He were indigent. But I will set forth our views more distinctly.

4.1 ∆ιὰ τί γάρ, ἄνδρες Ἕλληνες, ὥσπερ ἐν πυγμῇ συγκρούειν βούλεσθε τὰς πολιτείας καθ' ἡμῶν; καὶ εἰ μὴ τοῖς τινων νομίμοις συγχρῆσθαι βούλομαι, τίνος χάριν καθάπερ μιαρώτατος μεμίσημαι; προστάττει φόρους τελεῖν ὁ βασιλεύς, ἕτοιμος παρέχειν. δουλεύειν ὁ δεσπότης καὶ ὑπηρετεῖν, τὴν δουλείαν γινώσκω. τὸν μὲν γὰρ ἄνθρωπον ἀνθρωπίνως τιμητέον, φοβητέον δὲ μόνον τὸν θεόν, ὅστις ἀνθρωπίνοις οὐκ ἔστιν ὁρατὸς ὀφθαλμοῖς, οὐ τέχνῃ περιληπτός. τοῦτον μόνον ἀρνεῖσθαι κελευόμενος οὐ πεισθήσομαι, τεθνήξομαι δὲ μᾶλλον, ἵνα μὴ ψεύστης καὶ ἀχάριστος ἀποδειχθῶ. θεὸς ὁ καθ' ἡμᾶς οὐκ ἔχει σύστασιν ἐν χρόνῳ, μόνος ἄναρχος ὢν καὶ αὐτὸς ὑπάρχων τῶν ὅλων ἀρχή. _π_ν_ε_ῦ_μ_α_ _ὁ_ _θ_ε_ό_ς, οὐ διήκων 4.2 διὰ τῆς ὕλης, πνευμάτων δὲ ὑλικῶν καὶ τῶν ἐν αὐτῇ σχημάτων κατασκευαστής, ἀόρατός τε καὶ ἀναφής, αἰσθητῶν καὶ ὁρατῶν αὐτὸς γεγονὼς πατήρ. τοῦτον διὰ τῆς ποιήσεως αὐτοῦ ἴσμεν καὶ _τ_ῆ_ς_ _δ_υ_ν_ά_μεως αὐτοῦ τὸ ἀόρατον τοῖς ποιήμασι καταλαμβανόμεθα. δημιουργίαν τὴν ὑπ' αὐτοῦ γεγενημένην χάριν ἡμῶν προσκυνεῖν οὐ θέλω. γέγονεν ἥλιος καὶ σελήνη δι' ἡμᾶς· εἶτα πῶς τοὺς ἐμοὺς ὑπηρέτας προσκυνήσω; πῶς δὲ ξύλα καὶ λίθους θεοὺς ἀποφανοῦμαι; πνεῦμα γὰρ τὸ διὰ τῆς ὕλης διῆκον, ἔλαττον ὑπάρχον τοῦ θειοτέρου πνεύματος, ὥσπερ δὲ ψυχῇ παρωμοιωμένον, οὐ τιμητέον ἐπ' ἴσης τῷ τελείῳ θεῷ. ἀλλ' οὐδὲ τὸν ἀνωνόμαστον θεὸν δωροδοκητέον· ὁ γὰρ πάντων ἀνενδεὴς 4.3 οὐ διαβλητέος ὑφ' ἡμῶν ὡς ἐνδεής. φανερώτερον δὲ ἐκθήσομαι τὰ ἡμέτερα.