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 XXIV.—Of the Fact that Those Persons Who Reject the God of Israel, in Consequence Fail to Worship All the Gods; And, on the Other Hand, that Those Who Worship Other Gods, Fail to Worship Him.
37. It is well understood, therefore, what these worshippers of images are convicted in reality of revering, and what they attempt to colour over.109 Reading colorare, as in the mss. Some editions give colere = revere. But even these new interpreters of Saturn must be required to tell us what they think of the God of the Hebrews. For to them also it seemed right to worship all the gods, as is done by the heathen nations, because their pride made them ashamed to humble themselves under Christ for the remission of their sins. What opinion, therefore, do they entertain regarding the God of Israel? For if they do not worship Him then they do not worship all gods; and if they do worship Him, they do not worship Him in the way that He has ordained for His own worship, because they worship others also whose worship He has interdicted. Against such practices He issued His prohibition by the mouth of those same prophets by whom He also announced beforehand the destined occurrence of those very things which their images are now sustaining at the hands of the Christians. For whatever the explanation may be, whether it be that the angels were sent to those prophets to show them figuratively, and by the congruous forms of visible objects, the one true God, the Creator of all things, to whom the whole universe is made subject, and to indicate the method in which He enjoined His own worship to proceed; or whether it was that the minds of some among them were so mightily elevated by the Holy Spirit, as to enable them to see those things in that kind of vision in which the angels themselves behold objects: in either case it is the incontestable fact, that they did serve that God who has prohibited the worship of other gods; and, moreover, it is equally certain, that with the faithfulness of piety, in the kingly and in the priestly office, they ministered at once for the good of their country, and in the interest of those sacred ordinances which were significant of the coming of Christ as the true King and Priest.
CAPUT XXIV. Non omnes Deos colunt, qui Deum Israel rejiciunt; nec eum colunt, qui alios colunt.
37. Notum est ergo, quid colere convincantur, et 1059 quid colorare conentur adoratores simulacrorum. Verum et ab istis novitiis Saturni interpretatoribus requirendum est, quid de Deo sentiant Hebraeorum. Etiam ipsis enim placuit omnes deos cum gentibus colere, cum eos superbos puderet pro peccatorum suorum remissione humiliari sub Christo. Quid ergo sentiunt de Deo Israel? Quem si non colunt, non omnes deos colunt: si autem colunt, non colunt sicut se coli jussit, quia et alios colunt, quos coli ille prohibuit. Per eos enim vates ista prohibuit, per quos haec ipsa quae nunc a Christianis eorum simulacra patiuntur, futura praedixit. Sive enim Angeli ad illos Prophetas missi sint, qui eis Deum omnium creatorem unum verum Deum, cui universa subjecta sunt, et per sensibilium rerum congruam speciem figurate ostenderent, et quemadmodum se coli praeciperet, indicarent; sive aliquorum in eis mentes per Spiritum sanctum ita sublimatae sint, ut eo visu ea viderent, quo et ipsi Angeli vident: constat tamen eos illi Deo servisse, qui alios deos coli prohibuit; servisse autem fide pietatis in regno et sacerdotio reipublicae suae, et Christum venturum verum regem ac sacerdotem significantibus sacris.