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| Chapter LVI
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Chapter LVI.
Although, therefore, Celsus would, in his own
words, “drive us with all haste out of life,” so that
“such a race may become extinct from the earth;” yet we,
along with those who worship the Creator, will live according to the
laws of God, never consenting to obey the laws of sin. We will
marry if we wish, and bring up the children given to us in marriage;
and if need be, we will not only partake of the blessings of life, but
bear its appointed sorrows as a trial to our souls. For in this
way is divine Scripture accustomed to speak of human afflictions, by
which, as gold is tried in the fire, so the spirit of man is tried, and
is found to be worthy either of condemnation or of praise. For
those things which Celsus calls evils we are therefore prepared, and
are ready to say, “Try me, O Lord, and prove me; purge my reins
and my heart.”4953
For “no
one will be crowned,” unless here upon earth, with this body of
humiliation, “he strive lawfully.”4954
Further, we do not pay honours
supposed to be due to those whom Celsus speaks of as being set over the
affairs of the world. For we worship the Lord our God, and Him
only do we serve, and desire to be followers of Christ, who, when the
devil said to Him, “All these things will I give thee if thou
wilt fall down and worship me,” answered him by the words,
“Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou
serve.”4955
Wherefore we
do not render the honour supposed to be due to those who, according to
Celsus, are set over the affairs of this world; for “no man can
serve two masters,” and we “cannot serve God and
mammon,” whether this name be applied to one or more.
Moreover, if any one “by transgressing the law dishonours the
lawgiver,” it seems clear to us that if the two laws, the law of
God and the law of mammon, are completely opposed to each other, it is
better for us by transgressing the law of mammon to dishonour mammon,
that we may honour God by keeping His law, than by transgressing the
law of God to dishonour God, that by obeying the law of mammon we may
honour mammon.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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