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 XXX.—Of the Fact That, as the Prophecies Have Been Fulfilled, the God of Israel Has Now Been Made Known Everywhere.
46. Thus it was with a certain person named Lucan, one of their great declaimers in verse. For a long time, as I believe, he endeavored to find out, by his own cogitations, or by the perusal of the books of his own fellow-countrymen,132 Per suorum libros. who the God of the Jews was; and failing to prosecute his inquiry in the way of piety, he did not succeed. Yet he chose rather to speak of Him as the uncertain God whom he did not find out, than absolutely to deny the title of God to that Deity of whose existence he perceived proofs so great. For he says:
“And Judæa, devoted to the worship
Of an uncertain God.”133 […Et dedita sacris Incerti Judæa Dei.—R.]
—Lucan, Book ii. towards the end.
And as yet this God, the holy and true God of Israel, had not done by the name of Christ among all nations works so great as those which have been wrought after Lucan’s times up to our own day. But now who is so obdurate as not to be moved, who so dull134 Reading torpidus; for which others give tepidus, cool. as not to be inflamed, seeing that the saying of Scripture is fulfilled, “For there is not one that is hid from the heat thereof;”135 Ps. xix. 6. and seeing also that those other things which were predicted so long time ago in this same Psalm from which I have cited one little verse, are now set forth in their accomplishment in the clearest light? For under this term of the “heavens” the apostles of Jesus Christ were denoted, because God was to preside in them with a view to the publishing of the gospel. Now, therefore, the heavens have declared the glory of God, and the firmament has proclaimed the works of His hands. Day unto day has given forth speech, and night unto night has shown knowledge. Now there is no speech or language where their voices are not heard. Their sound has gone out into all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. Now hath He set His tabernacle in the sun, that is, in manifestation; which tabernacle is His Church. For in order to do so (as the words proceed in the passage) He came forth from His chamber like a bridegroom; that is to say, the Word, wedded with the flesh of man, came forth from the Virgin’s womb. Now has He rejoiced as a strong man, and has run His race. Now has His going forth been made from the height of heaven, and His return even to the height of heaven.136 [Ps. xix. 1–6, partly in citation, partly in allegorizing paraphrase.—R.] And accordingly, with the completest propriety, there follows upon this the verse which I have already mentioned: “And there is not one that is hid from the heat thereof [or, His heat].” And still these men make choice of their little, weak, prating objections, which are like stubble to be reduced to ashes in that fire, rather than like gold to be purged of its dross by it; while at once the fallacious monuments of their false gods have been brought to nought, and the veracious promises of that uncertain God have been proved to be sure.
CAPUT XXX. Deus Israel impletis prophetiis jam ubique innotuit.
46. Proinde quidam Lucanus magnus eorum in carmine declamator, credo et ipse diu quaerens, sive per suas cogitationes, sive per suorum libros, quisnam esset Judaeorum Deus; et quia non pie quaerebat, non inveniens; maluit tamen incertum Deum quem non inveniebat, quam nullum Deum dicere, cujus tam magna documenta sentiebat. Ait enim: 1064 Et dedita sacris Incerti Judaea Dei. (Lucanus, lib. 2, sub finem.)Et nondum Deus iste sanctus et verus Deus Israel, nondum per Christi nomen tanta in omnibus gentibus fecerat, quanta usque in hodiernum diem post Lucani tempora consecuta sunt. Nunc vero quis tam durus non flectatur? quis tam torpidus non ignescat, cum impletur quod scriptum est, quia non est qui se abscondat a calore ejus? quando jam clarissima luce manifestantur quae in eodem psalmo, unde versiculum istum commemoravi, tanto ante praedicta sunt? Coelorum enim nomine Apostoli Christi significati sunt, quod in eis Deus praesideret, ut Evangelium annuntiarent. Jam ergo coeli enarraverunt gloriam Dei, et opera manuum ejus annuntiavit firmamentum. Dies diei eructavit verbum, et nox nocti annuntiavit scientiam. Jam non sunt loquelae neque sermones, quorum non audiantur voces eorum. Jam in omnem terram exivit sonus eorum, et in fines orbis terrae verba eorum. Jam in sole, hoc est in manifestatione, posuit tabernaculum suum, quod est Ecclesia ipsius. Quia, ut hoc faceret, ipse, sicut ibi sequitur, tanquam sponsus processit de thalamo suo, id est, conjugatum Verbum carni humanae processit de utero virginali. Jam exsultavit ut gigas, et cucurrit viam. Jam a summo coeli facta est egressio ejus, et recursus ejus usque ad summum coeli. Et ideo rectissime sequitur versus, quem paulo ante commemoravi, Et non est qui se abscondat a calore ejus (Psal. XVIII, 1-7). Et adhuc isti fragiles contradictiunculas garrientes eligunt isto igne, sicut stipula in cinerem verti, quam sicut aurum a sorde purgari: cum et deorum falsorum jam fallacia monumenta frustrata sint, et illius incerti Dei veracia promissa certa jam facta sint.