Chapter I.—On the Authority of the Gospels.
Chapter II.—On the Order of the Evangelists, and the Principles on Which They Wrote.
Chapter IV.—Of the Fact that John Undertook the Exposition of Christ’s Divinity.
Chapter IX.—Of Certain Persons Who Pretend that Christ Wrote Books on the Arts of Magic.
Chapter XIII.—Of the Question Why God Suffered the Jews to Be Reduced to Subjection.
Chapter XVII.—In Opposition to the Romans Who Rejected the God of Israel Alone.
Chapter XIX.—The Proof that This God is the True God.
Chapter XXII.—Of the Opinion Entertained by the Gentiles Regarding Our God.
Chapter XXIII.—Of the Follies Which the Pagans Have Indulged in Regarding Jupiter and Saturn.
Chapter XXVIII.—Of the Predicted Rejection of Idols.
Chapter XXXI.—The Fulfilment of the Prophecies Concerning Christ.
Chapter XXXIV.—Epilogue to the Preceding.
Chapter VI.—On the Position Given to the Preaching of John the Baptist in All the Four Evangelists.
Chapter VII.—Of the Two Herods.
Chapter XII.—Concerning the Words Ascribed to John by All the Four Evangelists Respectively.
Chapter XIII.—Of the Baptism of Jesus.
Chapter XIV.—Of the Words or the Voice that Came from Heaven Upon Him When He Had Been Baptized.
Chapter XVI.—Of the Temptation of Jesus.
Chapter XVII.—Of the Calling of the Apostles as They Were Fishing.
Chapter XVIII.—Of the Date of His Departure into Galilee.
Chapter XIX.—Of the Lengthened Sermon Which, According to Matthew, He Delivered on the Mount.
Chapter XXI.—Of the Order in Which the Narrative Concerning Peter’s Mother-In-Law is Introduced.
Chapter XXIX.—Of the Two Blind Men and the Dumb Demoniac Whose Stories are Related Only by Matthew.
Chapter XVII.—Of the Harmony of the Four Evangelists in Their Notices of the Draught of Vinegar.
Chapter X.—Of the Evangelist John, and the Distinction Between Him and the Other Three.
Chapter XVII.—In Opposition to the Romans Who Rejected the God of Israel Alone.
25. However, here is a matter which should meet with more careful consideration at their hands,—namely, what they take the God of Israel to be, and why they have not admitted Him to the honours of worship among them, in the way that they have done with the gods of other nations that have been made subject to the imperial power of Rome? This question demands an answer all the more, when we see that they are of the mind that all the gods ought to be worshipped by the man of wisdom. Why, then, has He been excluded from the number of these others? If He is very mighty, why is He the only deity that is not worshipped by them? If He has little or no might, why are the images of other gods broken in pieces by all the nations, while He is now almost the only God that is worshipped among these peoples? From the grasp of this question these men shall never be able to extricate themselves, who worship both the greater and the lesser deities, whom they hold to be gods, and at the same time refuse to worship this God, who has proved Himself stronger than all those to whom they do service. If He is [a God] of great virtue,71 Or, power—virtutis. why has He been deemed worthy only of rejection? And if He is [a God] of little or no power, why has He been able to accomplish so much, although rejected? If He is good, why is He the only one separated from the other good deities? And if He is evil, why is He, who stands thus alone, not subjugated by so many good deities? If He is truthful, why are His precepts scorned? And if He is a liar, why are His predictions fulfilled?
CAPUT XVII. In Romanos qui Deum Israel solum rejecerunt.
25. Verumtamen diligentius ab istis quaerendum est, quemnam putent esse Deum Israel; cur eum colendum non receperint, sicut aliarum gentium deos, quas Romanum subegit imperium; praesertim cum eorum sententia sit, omnes deos colendos esse sapienti. Cur ergo a numero caeterorum iste rejectus est? Si plurimum valet, cur ab eis solus non colitur? si parum aut nihil valet, cur contritis eorum simulacris ab omnibus gentibus solus pene jam colitur? Nunquam hujus quaestionis vinculo eximi poterunt, qui cum majores et minores deos colant, quos deos putant, hunc Deum non colunt, qui praevaluit omnibus quos colunt. Si enim magnae virtutis est, cur existimatus est improbandus? si parvae nulliusve virtutis est, cur tantum potuit improbatus? Si bonus est, cur a caeteris bonis solus separatur? si malus est, cur a tot bonis unus non superatur? Si verax est, cur ejus praecepta respuuntur? si mendax est, cur ejus praedicta complentur?