Anf-03 v.iv.vi.xiii Pg 22
Ex. xx. 15; see above, book iv. chap. xxiv. p. 387.
—adopting such methods as they are apt (shamelessly) to charge upon Him in other particulars also. Are we then to suppose5805 5805 Scilicet verebatur.
that the apostle abstained through fear from openly calumniating God, from whom notwithstanding He did not hesitate to withdraw men? Well, but he had gone so far in his censure of the Jews, as to point against them the denunciation of the prophet, “Through you the name of God is blasphemed (among the Gentiles).”5806 5806
Anf-02 vi.iii.ii.vi Pg 14.1
Anf-02 vi.iv.ii.xiv Pg 5.1
Anf-02 vi.iv.iii Pg 13.1
Anf-02 vi.iv.iii Pg 144.1
Anf-02 vi.iv.v.v Pg 8.1
Anf-03 iv.ix.ii Pg 8
Deut. vi. 4, 5; Lev. xix. 18; comp. Matt. xxii. 34–40; Mark xii. 28–34; Luke x. 25–28; and for the rest, Ex. xx. 12–17; Deut. v. 16–21; Rom. xiii. 9.
Thou shalt not kill; Thou shalt not commit adultery; Thou shalt not steal; False witness thou shalt not utter; Honour thy father and mother; and, That which is another’s, shalt thou not covet. For the primordial law was given to Adam and Eve in paradise, as the womb of all the precepts of God. In short, if they had loved the Lord their God, they would not have contravened His precept; if they had habitually loved their neighbour—that is, themselves1144 1144 Semetipsos. ? Each other.
—they would not have believed the persuasion of the serpent, and thus would not have committed murder upon themselves,1145 1145 Semetipsos. ? Each other.
by falling1146 1146 Excidendo; or, perhaps, “by self-excision,” or “mutual excision.”
from immortality, by contravening God’s precept; from theft also they would have abstained, if they had not stealthily tasted of the fruit of the tree, nor had been anxious to skulk beneath a tree to escape the view of the Lord their God; nor would they have been made partners with the falsehood-asseverating devil, by believing him that they would be “like God;” and thus they would not have offended God either, as their Father, who had fashioned them from clay of the earth, as out of the womb of a mother; if they had not coveted another’s, they would not have tasted of the unlawful fruit.