Chapter XXIV.—General Conclusion.

Amid these reefs and inlets, amid these shallows and straits of idolatry, Faith, her sails filled by the Spirit of God, navigates; safe if cautious, secure if intently watchful. But to such as are washed overboard is a deep whence is no out-swimming; to such as are run aground is inextricable shipwreck; to such as are engulphed is a whirlpool, where there is no breathing—even in idolatry. All waves thereof whatsoever suffocate; every eddy thereof sucks down unto Hades. Let no one say, “Who will so safely foreguard himself? We shall have to go out of the world!”180    1 Cor. v. 10. As if it were not as well worth while to go out, as to stand in the world as an idolater!  Nothing can be easier than caution against idolatry, if the fear of it be our leading fear; any “necessity” whatever is too trifling compared to such a peril. The reason why the Holy Spirit did, when the apostles at that time were consulting, relax the bond and yoke for us,181    Acts xv. 1–31. was that we might be free to devote ourselves to the shunning of idolatry. This shall be our Law, the more fully to be administered the more ready it is to hand; (a Law) peculiar to Christians, by means whereof we are recognised and examined by heathens. This Law must be set before such as approach unto the Faith, and inculcated on such as are entering it; that, in approaching, they may deliberate; observing it, may persevere; not observing it, may renounce their name.182    i.e., cease to be Christians (Rigalt., referred to by Oehler). We will see to it, if, after the type of the Ark, there shall be in the Church raven, kite, dog, and serpent. At all events, an idolater is not found in the type of the Ark: no animal has been fashioned to represent an idolater. Let not that be in the Church which was not in the Ark.183    [General references to Kaye (3d edition), which will be useful to those consulting that author’s Tertullian, for Elucidations of the De Idololatria, are as follows: Preface, p. xxiii. Then, pp. 56, 141, 206, 231, 300, 360, 343, 360 and 362.]

CAPUT XXIV.

Inter hos scopulos et sinus, inter haec vada et freta idololatriae , velificata spiritu Dei fides navigat, tuta si cauta, secura si attonita . Caeterum inenatabile excussis profundum est, inextricabile impactis naufragium est, irrespirabile devoratis hypobrychium in idololatria: quicumque fluctus ejus offocant; omnis vortex ejus ad inferos desorbet . Nemo dicat: «quis tam tuto praecavebit? exeundum de saeculo erit;» quasi non tanti sit exire, 0695B quam idololatren in saeculo stare. Nihil esse facilius 0696A potest, quam cautio idololatriae, si timor ejus in capite sit. Quaecumque necessitas minor est periculo, tanto comparata. Propterea Spiritus Sanctus, consultantibus tunc apostolis, vinculum et jugum nobis relaxavit, ut idololatriae devitandae vacaremus. Haec erit lex nostra quo expedita, hoc plenius administranda, propria Christianorum, per quam ab ethnicis agnoscimur et examinamur: haec accedentibus ad fidem proponenda (Is., XXXIII; Matth., VII: Phil., III; Luc, X), et ingredientibus in fidem inculcanda est ut accedentes deliberent, observantes perseverent, non observantes renuntient sibi . Viderimus enim si secundum arcae (Gen., VII) typum et corvus et milvus et lupus et canis et serpens in Ecclesia erit, certe idololatres in arcae typo non habetur . Nullum animal in idololatren figuratum est: 0696B quod in arca non fuit, in Ecclesia non sit .