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| Chapter X.
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Chapter X.
So, when you allege that the ornaments of the
heathen deities are found no less with God, with the object of claiming
among these for general use the head-crown, you already lay it down for
yourself, that we must not have among us, as a thing whose use we are
to share with others, what is not to be found in the service of God.
Well, what is so unworthy of God indeed as that which is worthy of an
idol? But what is so worthy of an idol as that which is also worthy of
a dead man? For it is the privilege of the dead also to be thus
crowned, as they too straightway become idols, both by their dress and
the service of deification, which (deification) is with us a second
idolatry. Wanting, then, the sense, it will be theirs to use the thing
for which the sense is wanting, just as if in full possession of the
sense they wished to abuse it. When there ceases to be any
reality in the use, there is no distinction between using and abusing.
Who can abuse a thing, when the precipient nature with which he wishes
to carry out his purpose is not his to use it? The apostle, moreover,
forbids us to abuse, while he would more naturally have taught us not
to use, unless on the ground that, where there is no sense for things,
there is no wrong use of them. But the whole affair is
meaningless, and is, in fact, a dead work so far as concerns the idols;
though, without doubt, a living one as respects the demons409
| 409 [Compare De
Idololatria, cap. xv., p. 70, supra.] | to whom the religious rite belongs.
“The idols of the heathen,” says David, “are silver
and gold.” “They have eyes, and see not; a nose, and
smell not; hands, and they
will not handle.”410
By means of these
organs, indeed, we are to enjoy flowers; but if he declares that those
who make idols will be like them, they already are so who use anything
after the style of idol adornings. “To the pure all things are
pure: so, likewise, all things to the impure are
impure;”411
but nothing is more
impure than idols. The substances are themselves as creatures of
God without impurity, and in this their native state are free to the
use of all; but the ministries to which in their use they are devoted,
makes all the difference; for I, too, kill a cock for myself, just as
Socrates did for Æsculapius; and if the smell of some place or
other offends me, I burn the Arabian product myself, but not with the
same ceremony, nor in the same dress, nor with the same pomp, with
which it is done to idols.412
| 412 [He seems to know no use
for incense except for burials and for fumigation.] | If the creature is
defiled by a mere word, as the apostle teaches, “But if any one
say, This is offered in sacrifice to idols, you must not touch
it,”413
much more when it is
polluted by the dress, and rites, and pomp of what is offered to the
gods. Thus the crown also is made out to be an offering to
idols;414
| 414 [Kaye (p. 362)
defends our author against Barbeyrac’s animadversions, by the
maxim, “put yourself in his place” i.e. among the
abominations of Paganism.] | for with this ceremony, and dress, and pomp,
it is presented in sacrifice to idols, its originators, to whom its use
is specially given over, and chiefly on this account, that what has no
place among the things of God may not be admitted into use with us as
with others. Wherefore the apostle exclaims, “Flee
idolatry:”415
certainly idolatry
whole and entire he means. Reflect on what a thicket it is, and how
many thorns lie hid in it. Nothing must be given to an idol, and
so nothing must be taken from one. If it is inconsistent with faith to
recline in an idol temple, what is it to appear in an idol dress? What
communion have Christ and Belial? Therefore flee from it; for he
enjoins us to keep at a distance from idolatry—to have no close
dealings with it of any kind. Even an earthly serpent sucks in men at
some distance with its breath. Going still further, John says,
“My little children, keep yourselves from idols,”416
—not now from idolatry, as if from the
service of it, but from idols—that is, from any resemblance to
them: for it is an unworthy thing that you, the image of the living
God, should become the likeness of an idol and a dead man. Thus far we
assert, that this attire belongs to idols, both from the history of its
origin, and from its use by false religion; on this ground, besides,
that while it is not mentioned as connected with the worship of God, it
is more and more given over to those in whose antiquities, as well as
festivals and services, it is found. In a word, the very doors, the
very victims and altars, the very servants and priests, are crowned.
You have, in Claudius, the crowns of all the various colleges of
priests. We have added also that distinction between things altogether
different from each other—things, namely, agreeable, and things
contrary to reason—in answer to those who, because there happens
to be the use of some things in common, maintain the right of
participation in all things. With reference to this part of the
subject, therefore, it now remains that the special grounds for wearing
crowns should be examined, that while we show these to be foreign, nay,
even opposed to our Christian discipline, we may demonstrate that none
of them have any plea of reason to support it, on the basis of which
this article of dress might be vindicated as one in whose use we can
participate, as even some others may whose instances are cast up to
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