On the Vanity of Idols: Showing that the Idols are Not Gods, and that God is One, and that Through Christ Salvation is Given to Believers.

 1. That those are no gods whom the common people worship, is known from this. They were formerly kings, who on account of their royal memory subsequen

 2. Melicertes and Leucothea are precipitated into the sea, and subsequently become sea-divinities. The Castors die by turns, that they may live. Æscul

 3. From this the religion of the gods is variously changed among individual nations and provinces, inasmuch as no one god is worshipped by all, but by

 4. But why do you think that the gods can avail on behalf of the Romans, when you see that they can do nothing for their own worshipers in opposition

 5. Kingdoms do not rise to supremacy through merit, but are varied by chance. Empire was formerly held by both Assyrians and Medes and Persians and w

 6. Of all these, however, the principle is the same, which misleads and deceives, and with tricks which darken the truth, leads away a credulous and f

 7. These spirits, therefore, are lurking under the statues and consecrated images: these inspire the breasts of their prophets with their afflatus, an

 8. Therefore the one Lord of all is God. For that sublimity cannot possibly have any compeer, since it alone possesses all power. Moreover, let us bor

 9. He cannot be seen—He is too bright for vision nor comprehended—He is too pure for our discernment nor estimated—He is too great for our perceptio

 10. But that Christ is, and in what way salvation came to us through Him, after this manner is the plan, after this manner is the means. First of all,

 11. Moreover, God had previously foretold that it would happen, that as the ages passed on, and the end of the world was near at hand, God would gathe

 12. And the Jews knew that Christ was to come, for He was always being announced to them by the warnings of prophets. But His advent being signified t

 13. Therefore when Christ Jesus, in accordance with what had been previously foretold by the prophets, drove out from men the demons by His word, and

 14. That they would do this He Himself also had foretold and the testimony of all the prophets had in like manner preceded Him, that it behoved Him t

 15.  And that the proof might not be the less substantial, and the confession of Christ might not be a matter of pleasure, they are tried by tortures,

9. He cannot be seen—He is too bright for vision; nor comprehended—He is too pure for our discernment; nor estimated—He is too great for our perception; and therefore we are only worthily estimating Him when we say that He is inconceivable. But what temple can God have, whose temple is the whole world? And while man dwells far and wide, shall I shut up the power of such great majesty within one small building? He must be dedicated in our mind; in our breast He must be consecrated. Neither must you ask the name of God. God is His name. Among those there is need of names where a multitude is to be distinguished by the appropriate characteristics of appellations. To God who alone is, belongs the whole name of God; therefore He is one, and He in His entirety is everywhere diffused. For even the common people in many things naturally confess God, when their mind and soul are admonished of their author and origin. We frequently hear it said, “O God,” and “God sees,” and “I commend to God,” and “God give you,” and “as God will,” and “if God should grant;” and this is the very height of sinfulness, to refuse to acknowledge Him whom you cannot but know.10    [See vol. iii. p 179 elucidation.]

0576B IX. Hic nec videri potest, visu clarior est; nec comprehendi, tactu purior est; nec aestimari, sensu major est: et ideo sic eum digne aestimamus dum inaestimabilem dicimus. Quod vero templum habere possit Deus , cujus templum totus est mundus? et cum homo latius maneat, intra unam aediculam vim tantae majestatis includam? In nostra dedicandus est 0577A mente, in nostro consecrandus est pectore. Nec nomen Deo quaeras: Deus nomen est illi. Illic vocabulis opus est ubi propriis appellationum insignibus multitudo dirimenda est: Deo, qui solus est, Dei vocabulum totum est. Ergo unus est, et ubique totus diffusus est . Nam et vulgus in multis Deum naturaliter confitetur, cum mens et anima sui auctoris et principis admonetur. Dici frequenter audimus, o Deus, et Deus videt, et Deo commendo, et Deus tibi reddat, et quod vult Deus, et si Deus dederit. Atque haec est summa delicti, nolle agnoscere quem ignorare non possis.