These Heretics Brand the Christians as Simple Persons. The Charge Accepted, and Simplicity Eulogized Out of the Scriptures. - ANF03. Latin Christianity: Its Founder, Tertullian

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These Heretics Brand the Christians as Simple Persons. The Charge Accepted, and Simplicity Eulogized Out of the Scriptures.
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Chapter II.—These Heretics Brand the Christians as Simple Persons. The Charge Accepted, and Simplicity Eulogized Out of the Scriptures.

For this reason we are branded⁶⁶²⁹

⁶⁶²⁹ Notamur.
by them as simple, and as being merely so, without being wise also; as if indeed wisdom were compelled to be wanting in simplicity, whereas the Lord unites them both: “Be ye therefore wise as serpents, and simple as doves.”⁶⁶³⁰

⁶⁶³⁰ Matt. x. 16.
Now if we, on our parts, be accounted foolish because we are simple, does it then follow that they are not simple because they are wise? Most perverse, however, are they who are not simple, even as they are most foolish who are not wise. And yet, (if I must choose) I should prefer taking⁶⁶³¹

⁶⁶³¹ In the original the phrase is put passively: “malim eam partem meliori sumi vitio.”
the latter condition for the lesser fault; since it is perhaps better to have a wisdom which falls short in quantity, than that which is bad in quality⁶⁶³²

⁶⁶³² How terse is the original! minus sapere quam pejus.
—better to be in error than to mislead. Besides, the face of the Lord⁶⁶³³

⁶⁶³³ Facies Dei.
is patiently waited for by those who “seek Him in simplicity of heart,” as says the very Wisdom—not of Valentinus, but—of Solomon.⁶⁶³⁴

⁶⁶³⁴ Wisd. of Sol. i. 1.
Then, again, infants have borne⁶⁶³⁵

⁶⁶³⁵ Litaverunt: “consecrated.”
by their blood a testimony to Christ. (Would you say) that it was children who shouted “Crucify Him”?⁶⁶³⁶

⁶⁶³⁶ Tertullian’s words are rather suggestive of sense than of syntax: “Pueros vocem qui crucem clamant?”
They were neither children nor infants; in other words, they were not simple. The apostle, too, bids us to “become children again” towards God,⁶⁶³⁷

⁶⁶³⁷ Secundum Deum: “according to God’s will.”
“to be as children in malice” by our simplicity, yet as being also “wise in our practical faculties.”⁶⁶³⁸

⁶⁶³⁸ 1 Cor. xiv. 20, where Tertullian renders the ταῖς φρεσί (A.V. “understanding”) by “sensibus.”
At the same time, with respect to the order of development in Wisdom, I have admitted⁶⁶³⁹

⁶⁶³⁹ Dedi.
that it flows from simplicity. In brief, “the dove” has usually served to figure Christ; “the serpent,” to tempt Him. The one even from the first has been the harbinger of divine peace; the other from the beginning has been the despoiler of the divine image. Accordingly, simplicity alone⁶⁶⁴⁰

⁶⁶⁴⁰ i.e., without wisdom.
will be more easily able to know and to declare God, whereas wisdom alone will rather do Him violence,⁶⁶⁴¹

⁶⁶⁴¹ Concutere.
and betray Him.
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