Chapter XVII.—Trace God’s Government in History and in His Precepts, and You Will Find It Full of His Goodness.

These considerations show that the entire order of God as Judge is an operative one, and (that I may express myself in worthier words) protective of His Catholic577    Catholic, because diffused throughout creation (Pamelius). and supreme goodness, which, removed as it is from judiciary emotions, and pure in its own condition, the Marcionites refuse to acknowledge to be in one and the same Deity, “raining on the just and on the unjust, and making His sun to rise on the evil and on the good,”578    Matt. v. 45. T. predicts this (by the word pluentem) strictly of the “goodness” of God, the quam.—a bounty which no other god at all exercises.  It is true that Marcion has been bold enough to erase from the gospel this testimony of Christ to the Creator; but yet the world itself is inscribed with the goodness of its Maker, and the inscription is read by each man’s conscience.  Nay, this very long-suffering of the Creator will tend to the condemnation of Marcion; that patience, (I mean,) which waits for the sinner’s repentance rather than his death, which prefers mercy to sacrifice,579    Hos. vi. 6. averting from the Ninevites the ruin which had been already denounced against them,580    Jonah iii. 10. and vouchsafing to Hezekiah’s tears an extension of his life,581    2 Kings xx. i. and restoring his kingly state to the monarch of Babylon after his complete repentance;582    Dan. iv. 33. that mercy, too, which conceded to the devotion of the people the son of Saul when about to die,583    1 Sam. xiv. 45. and gave free forgiveness to David on his confessing his sins against the house of Uriah;584    2 Sam. xii. 13. which also restored the house of Israel as often as it condemned it, and addressed to it consolation no less frequently than reproof. Do not therefore look at God simply as Judge, but turn your attention also to examples of His conduct as the Most Good.585    Optimi. Noting Him, as you do, when He takes vengeance, consider Him likewise when He shows mercy.586    Indulget. In the scale, against His severity place His gentleness. When you shall have discovered both qualities to co-exist in the Creator, you will find in Him that very circumstance which induces you to think there is another God. Lastly, come and examine into His doctrine, discipline, precepts, and counsels. You will perhaps say that there are equally good prescriptions in human laws. But Moses and God existed before all your Lycurguses and Solons. There is not one after-age587    Posteritas. which does not take from primitive sources.  At any rate, my Creator did not learn from your God to issue such commandments as: Thou shalt not kill; thou shalt not commit adultery; thou shalt not steal; thou shalt not bear false witness; thou shalt not covet what is thy neighbour’s; honour thy father and thy mother; and, thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. To these prime counsels of innocence, chastity, and justice, and piety, are also added prescriptions of humanity, as when every seventh year slaves are released for liberty;588    Lev. xxv. 4, etc. when at the same period the land is spared from tillage; a place is also granted to the needy; and from the treading ox’s mouth the muzzle is removed, for the enjoyment of the fruit of his labour before him, in order that kindness first shown in the case of animals might be raised from such rudiments589    Erudiretur. to the refreshment590    Refrigeria. [1 Cor. ix. 10.] of men.

[CAPUT XVII.]

Nam et dexteram, et oculos ostendunt: quam 0304C semotam a judicariis sensibus, et in suo statu puram nolunt Marcionitae in eodem Deo agnoscere, pluentem super bonos et malos, et solem suum oriri facientem super justos et injustos (Matth., V. 45): quod alius Deus omnino non praestat. Nam etsi hoc quoque testimonium Christi in Creatorem Marcion de Evangelio eradere ausus est, sed ipse mundus inscriptus est , et omni a conscientia legitur; et erit haec ipsa patientia creatoris in judicium Marcionis: illa patientia, quae exspectat poenitentiam potius peccatoris, quam mortem; et mavult misericordiam, quam sacrificium (Os., VI, 6); avertens jam destinatum exitium Ninivitis, et largiens spatium vitae Ezechiae lacrymis, et restituens statum regni Babylonis tyranno poenitentiam functo. Illam 0305A dico misericordiam, quae et filium Saulis moriturum ex devotione populo concessit: et David, delicta in domum Uriae confessum, venia liberavit: et ipsum Israel toties restituit, quoties judicavit; toties refovit, quoties et increpuit. Non solum igitur judicem aspiciens, convertere et ad optimi exempla. Notans cum ulciscitur, considera cum indulget. Repende austeritati lenitatem: cum utrumque conveneris in Creatore, invenies in eo et illud, propter quod alterum Deum credis. Veni denique ad inspectationem doctrinarum, disciplinarum, praeceptorum, consiliorumque ejus. Dices forsitan, haec etiam humanis legibus determinari. Sed ante Lycurgos et Solonas omnes, Moses et Deus. Nulla posteritas non a primordiis accipit. Tamen non a tuo Deo didicit Creator 0305B meus praescribere : Non occides; non adulterabis; non furaberis; non falsum testimonium dices; alienum non concupisces; honora patrem et matrem; et: diliges proximum tuum ut temetipsum. Ad haec innocentiae, pudicitiae, et justitiae, et pietatis principalia consulta, accedunt etiam humanitatis praescripta: cum septimo quoque anno servitia libertate solvuntur (Levit., XXV); cum eodem tempore agro parcitur, egenis cedendo locum; bovi etiam terenti vincula oris remittuntur ad fructum praesentis laboris, quo facilius in pecudibus praemeditata humanitas in hominum refrigeria erudiretur.