85. But perhaps on the opposite side it will be said that it ought to meet with disapproval, because an erroneous interpretation is generally put upon it. If such is our fear, we ought to erase the words of the Apostle, There is one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus49    1 Tim. ii. 5., because Photinus uses this to support his heresy, and refuse to read it because he interprets it mischievously. And the fire or the sponge should annihilate the Epistle to the Philippians, lest Marcion should read again in it, And was found in fashion as a man50    Phil. ii. 7., and say Christ’s body was only a phantasm and not a body. Away with the Gospel of John, lest Sabellius learn from it, I and the Father are one51    John x. 30.. Nor must those who now affirm the Son to be a creature find it written, The Father is greater thanI52    Ib. xiv. 28.. Nor must those who wish to declare that the Son is unlike the Father read: But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father53    Mark xiii. 32.. We must dispense, too, with the books of Moses, lest the darkness be thought coeval with God who dwells in the unborn light, since in Genesis the day began to be after the night; lest the years of Methuselah extend later than the date of the deluge, and consequently more than eight souls were saved54    Methuselah’sage was a favourite problem with the early Church. See Aug. de Civ. Dei, xv. 13, and de pecc. orig. ii. 23, where it is said to be one of those points on which a Christian can afford to be ignorant. According to the Septuagint, Methuselah lived for fourteen years after the deluge, so that more than ‘eight souls’ survived, and 1 Pet. iii. 20, appeared to be incorrect. According to the Hebrew and Vulgate there is no difficulty, as Methuselah is represented as dying before the deluge.; lest God hearing the cry of Sodom when the measure of its sins was full should come down as though ignorant of the cry to see if the measure of its sins was full according to the cry, and be found to be ignorant of what He knew; lest any one of those who buried Moses should have known his sepulchre when he was buried; lest these passages, as the heretics think, should prove that the contradictions of the law make it its own enemy. So as they do not understand them, we ought not to read them. And though I should not have said it myself unless forced by the argument, we must, if it seems fit, abolish all the divine and holy Gospels with their message of our salvation, lest their statements be found inconsistent; lest we should read that the Lord who was to send the Holy Spirit was Himself born of the Holy Spirit; lest He who was to threaten death by the sword to those who should take the sword, should before His passion command that a sword should be brought; lest He who was about to descend into hell should say that He would be in paradise with the thief; lest finally the Apostles should be found at fault, in that when commanded to baptize in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost, they baptized in the name of Jesus only. I speak to you, brethren, to you, who are no longer nourished with milk, but with meat, and are strong55    Heb. v. 12.. Shall we, because the wise men of the world have not understood these things, and they are foolish unto them, be wise as the world is wise and believe these things foolish? Because they are hidden from the godless, shall we refuse to shine with the truth of a doctrine which we understand? We prejudice the cause of divine doctrines when we think that they ought not to exist, because some do not regard them as holy. If so, we must not glory in the cross of Christ, because it is a stumbling-block to the world; and we must not preach death in connection with the living God, lest the godless argue that God is dead.

85. Homousion num improbandum, quia vitiose soleat intelligi.---Sed forte e contrario dicetur, idcirco 0537A improbari oportere, quia vitiose intelligi soleat. Hoc si timemus, deleamus in Apostolo quod dictum est: Mediator Dei et hominum homo Christus Jesus (I Tim.II, 5); quia ad auctoritatem haeresis suae Photinus hoc utitur: et non legatur a nobis, quia ab illo male intelligatur. Pereat quoque ad Philippenses scripta epistola, aut igni aut spongia: ne in ea Marcion relegat: Et habitu repertus ut homo (Philip. II, 7), phantasiam corporis confitens esse, non corpus. Non exstet Evangelium Joannis: ne Sabellius discat: 512 Ego et Pater unum sumus (Joan. X, 30). Neque isti nunc creaturae praedicatores scriptum habeant: Pater major me est (Joan. XIV, 28). Neque illi, qui dissimilem Patri Filium affirmare volunt, legant: De die autem et hora nemo sit, neque Angeli in coelis, neque 0537B Filius, nisi Pater solus (Marc. XIII, 32). Non sint quoque libri Moysi: ne tenebrae Deo, qui innascibilem lucem habitat, coaevae sint; quia in Genesi (I, 2) post noctem dies coepta sit: ne anni Mathusalae aetatem diluvii excedant (Gen. V, 26), et non tantum octo sint animae reservatae (I Pet. III, 20): ne clamorem Sodomorum repletis jam peccatis Deus audiens, tamquam ignorans clamorem, descendat ut videat an plena sint cum clamore peccata, et reperiatur Deus nescire quod sciret (Gen. XVIII, 21): ne quisquam quoque sepelientium sepulti Moysi sciat sepulcrum (Deut. XXXIV, 6); ne per haec, ut haeretici putant, diversa lex ipsa sibi hostis sit. Et quia haec ab his non intelliguntur, non legantur a nobis. 0538A Pereant quoque, si videtur (quod non ego dixerim, sed responsionis necessitas), omnia divina illa et sancta Evangelia salutis humanae: ne se invicem contraria dictorum opinione compugnent: ne missurus Dominus Spiritum sanctum ipse de Spiritu sancto natus legatur: ne mortem gladio denuntiaturus usuris, emi gladium passurus indicat (Matth. XXVI, 52): ne ad inferos descensurus, in paradiso sit cum latrone (Lucae XXII, 36): ne postremo apostoli reperiantur in crimine, qui baptizare in nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus sancti jussi (Matth. XXVIII, 19), tantum in Jesu nomine baptizaverunt (Act. X, 48). Vobis enim, Fratres, vocis dico, qui jam non lacte alimini, sed firmo cibo valetis (Hebr. V, 12): Numquid, quia ista sapientes mundi non intelligunt, 0538B et his stulta sunt, nos cum mundo sapientes erimus, ut haec stulta credamus? Et quia haec impiis caeca sunt, nos non lucebimus intellecta veritate doctrinae? Male sanctis rebus praejudicatur, si quia non sanctae a quibusdam habeantur, esse non debent. Non ergo gloriemur cruce Christi, quia scandalum mundo est: neque in vivente Deo mortem praedicemus, ne ab impiis mortuus Deus arguatur.