Chapter XXXII.—Argument:  Nor Can It Be Said that the Christians Conceal What They Worship Because They Have No Temples and No Altars, Inasmuch as They are Persuaded that God Can Be Circumscribed by No Temple, and that No Likeness of Him Can Be Made.  But He is Everywhere Present, Sees All Things, Even the Most Secret Thoughts of Our Hearts; And We Live Near to Him, and in His Protection.

“But do you think that we conceal what we worship, if we have not temples and altars?  And yet what image of God shall I make, since, if you think rightly, man himself is the image of God?  What temple shall I build to Him, when this whole world fashioned by His work cannot receive Him?  And when I, a man, dwell far and wide, shall I shut up the might of so great majesty within one little building?  Were it not better that He should be dedicated in our mind, consecrated in our inmost heart?  Shall I offer victims and sacrifices to the Lord, such as He has produced for my use, that I should throw back to Him His own gift?  It is ungrateful when the victim fit for sacrifice is a good disposition, and a pure mind, and a sincere judgment.104    According to some editions, “conscience.”  Therefore he who cultivates innocence supplicates God; he who cultivates justice makes offerings to God; he who abstains from fraudulent practices propitiates God; he who snatches man from danger slaughters the most acceptable victim.  These are our sacrifices, these are our rites of God’s worship; thus, among us, he who is most just is he who is most religious.  But certainly the God whom we worship we neither show nor see.  Verily for this reason we believe Him to be God, that we can be conscious of Him, but cannot see Him; for in His works, and in all the movements of the world, we behold His power ever present when He thunders, lightens, darts His bolts, or when He makes all bright again.  Nor should you wonder if you do not see God.  By the wind and by the blasts of the storm all things are driven on and shaken, are agitated, and yet neither wind nor tempest comes under our eyesight.  Thus we cannot look upon the sun, which is the cause of seeing to all creatures:  the pupil of the eye is with drawn from his rays, the gaze of the beholder is dimmed; and if you look too long, all power of sight is extinguished.  What! can you sustain the Architect of the sun Himself, the very source of light, when you turn yourself away from His lightnings, and hide yourself from His thunderbolts?  Do you wish to see God with your carnal eyes, when you are neither able to behold nor to grasp your own soul itself, by which you are enlivened and speak?  But, moreover, it is said that God is ignorant of man’s doings; and being established in heaven, He can neither survey all nor know individuals.  Thou errest, O man, and art deceived; for from where is God afar off, when all things heavenly and earthly, and which are beyond this province of the universe, are known to God, are full of God?  Everywhere He is not only very near to us, but He is infused into us.  Therefore once more look upon the sun:  it is fixed fast in the heaven, yet it is diffused over all lands equally; present everywhere, it is associated and mingled with all things; its brightness is never violated.  How much more God, who has made all things, and looks upon all things, from whom there can be nothing secret, is present in the darkness, is present in our thoughts, as if in the deep darkness.  Not only do we act in Him, but also, I had almost said, we live with Him.

CAPUT XXXII.

ARGUMENTUM.---Neque dici potest Christianos occultare quod colunt, quoniam nulla delubra, nullasque aras 0338B habent. Persuasum siquidem ipsis est non posse Deum ullo templo circumscribi, aut fingi illius simulacrum. 0339A Ubique autem praesens, omnia videt, etiam secretiores mentis nostrae cogitationes; ac prope cum illo et in ejus vivimus sinu.

(XXVI) Putatis autem nos occultare quod colimus, si delubra et aras non habemus? Quod enim simulacrum Deo fingam, quum, si recte existimes, sit Dei homo ipse simulacrum? Templum quod ei exstruam, quum totus hic mundus, ejus opere fabricatus, eum capere non possit? et, quum homo latius maneam, intra unam aediculam vim tantae majestatis includam? Nonne melius in nostra dedicandus est mente, in nostro imo consecrandus est pectore? Hostias et victimas Domino offeram, quas in usum mei protulit, ut rejiciam ei suum munus? ingratum est; quum sit 0339B litabilis hostia bonus animus, et pura mens, et sincera sententia. Igitur, qui innocentiam colit, Domino supplicat; qui justitiam, Deo libat; qui fraudibus 0340A abstinet, propitiat Deum; qui hominem periculo surripit, optimam victimam caedit. Haec nostra sacrificia, haec Dei sacra sunt; sic apud nos religiosior est ille qui justior. At enim, quem colimus Deum, nec ostendimus nec videmus: immo ex hoc Deum credimus, quod eum sentire possumus, videre non possumus. In operibus enim ejus et in mundi omnibus motibus virtutem ejus semper praesentem aspicimus, quum tonat, fulgurat, fulminat, quum serenat. Nec mireris si Deum non videas: vento et flatibus omnia impelluntur, vibrantur, agitantur; et sub oculos tamen non venit ventus et flatus. In sole adeo, qui videndi omnibus causa est, videre non possumus; radiis acies submovetur, obtutus intuentis hebetatur: et, si diutius inspicias, omnis visus exstinguitur. 0340B Quid? ipsum solis artificem, illum luminis fontem possis sustinere, quum te ab ejus fulgoribus avertas, a fulminibus abscondas? Deum oculis 0341A carnalibus vis videre, quum ipsam animam tuam, qua vivificaris et loqueris, nec aspicere possis, nec tenere? (XVII) Sed enim Deus actum hominis ignorat, et, in coelo constitutus, non potest, aut omnes obire, aut singulos nosse. Erras, o homo, et falleris. Unde enim Deus longe est, quum omnia coelestia terrenaque, et quae extra istam orbis provinciam sunt, Deo cognita, plena sint? Ubique non tantum nobis proximus, sed infusus est. In sole adeo rursus intende: coelo adfixus, sed terris omnibus sparsus est; pariter praesens ubique interest et miscetur omnibus, nusquam enim claritudo violatur. Quanto magis Deus, auctor omnium ac speculator omnium, a quo nullum potest esse secretum, tenebris interest, interest cogitationibus nostris quasi alteris tenebris. Non tantum 0341B sub illo agimus, sed et cum illo, ut prope dixerim, vivimus.