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| Chapter XXXI.—Recapitulation and application of the foregoing arguments. PREVIOUS SECTION - NEXT SECTION - HELP
Chapter XXXI.—Recapitulation and
application of the foregoing arguments.
1. Those,
then, who are of the school of Valentinus being overthrown, the whole
multitude of heretics are, in fact, also subverted. For all the arguments
I have advanced against their Pleroma, and with respect to those things
which are beyond it, showing how the Father of all is shut up and
circumscribed by that which is beyond Him (if, indeed, there be anything
beyond Him), and how there is an absolute necessity [on their theory] to
conceive of many Fathers, and many Pleromas, and many creations of
worlds, beginning with one set and ending with another, as existing on
every side; and that all [the beings referred to] continue in their own
domains, and do not curiously intermeddle with others, since, indeed, no
common interest nor any fellowship exists between them; and that there is
no other
God of all, but that that name belongs only to the
Almighty;—[all these arguments, I say,] will in like manner apply
against those who are of the school of Marcion, and Simon, and Meander,
or whatever others there may be who, like them, cut off that creation
with which we are connected from the Father. The arguments, again, which
I have employed against those who maintain that the Father of all no
doubt contains all things, but that the creation to which we belong was
not formed by Him, but by a certain other power, or by angels having no
knowledge of the Propator, who is surrounded as a centre by the immense
extent of the universe, just as a stain is by the [surrounding] cloak;
when I showed that it is not a probable supposition that any other being
than the Father of all formed that creation to which we belong,—
these same arguments will apply against the followers of Saturninus,
Basilides, Carpocrates, and the rest of the Gnostics, who express similar
opinions. Those statements, again, which have been made with respect to
the emanations, and the Æons, and the [supposed state of] degeneracy,
and the inconstant character of their Mother, equally overthrow
Basilides, and all who are falsely styled Gnostics, who do, in fact, just
repeat the same views under different names, but do, to a greater extent
than the former,3261
3261
Qui, though here found in all the mss., seems to have been rightly
expunged by the editors. | transfer those things which lie
outside3262
3262 The reference
probably is to opinions and theories of the heathen. | of the
truth to the system of their own doctrine. And the remarks I have made
respecting numbers will also apply against all those who misappropriate
things belonging to the truth for the support of a system of this kind.
And all that has been said respecting the Creator (Demiurge) to show that
he alone is God and Father of all, and whatever remarks may yet be made
in the following books, I apply against the heretics at large. The more
moderate and reasonable among them thou wilt convert and convince, so as
to lead them no longer to blaspheme their Creator, and Maker, and
Sustainer, and Lord, nor to ascribe His origin to defect and ignorance;
but the fierce, and terrible, and irrational [among them] thou wilt drive
far from thee, that you may no longer have to endure their idle
loquaciousness.
2. Moreover, those also will
be thus confuted who belong to Simon and Carpocrates, and if there be any
others who are said to perform miracles—who do not perform what
they do either through the power of God, or in connection with the truth,
nor for the well-being of men, but for the sake of destroying and
misleading mankind, by means of magical deceptions, and with universal
deceit, thus entailing greater harm than good on those who believe them,
with respect to the point on which they lead them astray. For they can
neither confer sight on the blind, nor hearing on the deaf, nor chase
away all sorts of demons—[none, indeed,] except those that are
sent into others by themselves, if they can even do so much as this. Nor
can they cure the weak, or the lame, or the paralytic, or those who are
distressed in any other part of the body, as has often been done in
regard to bodily infirmity. Nor can they furnish effective remedies for
those external accidents which may occur. And so far are they from being
able to raise the dead, as the Lord raised them, and the apostles did by
means of prayer, and as has been frequently done in the brotherhood on
account of some necessity—the entire Church in that particular
locality entreating [the boon] with much fasting and prayer, the spirit
of the dead man has returned, and he has been bestowed in answer to the
prayers of the saints—that they do not even believe this can be
possibly be done, [and hold] that the resurrection from the dead3263
3263 Comp. 2 Tim. ii.
17, 18. [On the sub-apostolic age and this subject of
miracles, Newman, in spite of his sophistical argumentation, may well be
consulted for his references, etc. Translation of the Abbé Fleury,
p. xi. Oxford, 1842.] | is simply an acquaintance with that
truth which they proclaim.
3. Since, therefore, there exist among them error and
misleading influences, and magical illusions are impiously wrought in the
sight of men; but in the Church, sympathy, and compassion, and
stedfastness, and truth, for the aid and encouragement of mankind, are
not only displayed3264
3264
“Perficiatur:” it is difficult here to give a fitting
translation of this word. Some prefer to read
“impertiatur.” | without fee or reward, but we
ourselves lay out for the benefit of others our own means; and inasmuch
as those who are cured very frequently do not possess the things which
they require, they receive them from us;—[since such is the
case,] these men are in this way undoubtedly proved to be utter aliens
from the divine nature, the beneficence of God, and all spiritual
excellence. But they are altogether full of deceit of every kind,
apostate inspiration, demoniacal working, and the phantasms of idolatry,
and are in reality the predecessors of that dragon3265 who, by means of a deception of the same kind, will with his tail
cause a third part of the stars to fall from their place, and will cast
them down to the earth. It behoves us to flee from them as we would from
him; and the greater the display with which they are said to perform
[their marvels], the more carefully should we watch them, as having been
endowed with a greater spirit of wickedness. If any one will consider the
prophecy referred to, and the daily practices of these men, he will find
that
their manner of acting is one and the same with the
demons.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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