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PARALLEL HISTORY BIBLE - Job 26:8
CHAPTERS: Job 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42 
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LXX- Greek Septuagint - Job 26:8 δεσμευων 1195 5723 υδωρ 5204 εν 1722 1520 νεφελαις 3507 αυτου 847 και 2532 ουκ 3756 ερραγη νεφος 3509 υποκατω 5270 αυτου 847
Douay Rheims Bible He bindeth up the waters in his clouds, so that they break not out and fall down together.
King James Bible - Job 26:8 He bindeth up the waters in his thick clouds; and the cloud is not rent under them.
World English Bible He binds up the waters in his thick clouds, and the cloud is not burst under them.
Early Church Father Links Npnf-207 ii.xiii Pg 49
World Wide Bible Resources
Job 26:8
Early Christian Commentary - (A.D. 100 - A.D. 325) Anf-01 viii.ii.xli Pg 2
Ps. xcvi. 1, etc. This last clause, which is not extant in our copies, either of the LXX, or of the Hebrew, Justin charged the Jews with erasing. See Dial. Tryph., c. 73. [Concerning the eighteen Jewish alterations, see Pearson on the Creed, art. iv. p. 335. Ed. London, 1824.]
Anf-01 ix.vi.x Pg 4
Ps. xcvi. 1. and Esaias, “Sing unto the Lord a new hymn. His beginning (initium), His name is glorified from the height of the earth: they declare His powers in the isles.”3902 3902
Anf-01 viii.iv.lxxiii Pg 0
Anf-01 viii.iv.lxxiv Pg 0
Anf-02 vi.ii.i Pg 7.1
Repentance, men understand, so far as nature is able, to be an emotion of the mind arising from disgust8421 8421 “Offensa sententiæ pejoris;” or possibly, “the miscarriage of some,” etc. at some previously cherished worse sentiment: that kind of men I mean which even we ourselves were in days gone by—blind, without the Lord’s light. From the reason of repentance, however, they are just as far as they are from the Author of reason Himself. Reason, in fact, is a thing of God, inasmuch as there is nothing which God the Maker of all has not provided, disposed, ordained by reason—nothing which He has not willed should be handled and understood by reason. All, therefore, who are ignorant of God, must necessarily be ignorant also of a thing which is His, because no treasure-house8422 8422 Thesaurus. at all is accessible to strangers. And thus, voyaging all the universal course of life without the rudder of reason, they know not how to shun the hurricane which is impending over the world.8423 8423 Sæculo. [Erasmus doubted the genuineness of this treatise, partly because of the comparative purity of its style. See Kaye, p. 42.] Moreover, how irrationally they behave in the practice of repentance, it will be enough briefly to show just by this one fact, that they exercise it even in the case of their good deeds. They repent of good faith, of love, of simple-heartedness, of patience, of mercy, just in proportion as any deed prompted by these feelings has fallen on thankless soil. They execrate their own selves for having done good; and that species chiefly of repentance which is applied to the best works they fix in their heart, making it their care to remember never again to do a good turn. On repentance for evil deeds, on the contrary, they lay lighter stress. In short, they make this same (virtue) a means of sinning more readily than a means of right-doing.
Npnf-201 iii.xvi.iv Pg 33
Npnf-201 iii.xvi.i Pg 9
Anf-01 viii.iv.lxxiii Pg 0
Anf-01 viii.iv.lxxiv Pg 0
Anf-01 ix.vi.x Pg 5
Isa. xlii. 10, quoted from memory. And Jeremiah says: “Behold, I will make a new covenant, not as I made with your fathers”3903 3903
Anf-02 vi.ii.i Pg 22.1
Anf-01 ii.ii.xiii Pg 2
Jer. ix. 23, 24; 1 Cor. i. 31; 2 Cor. x. 17. ), being especially mindful of the words of the Lord Jesus which He spake, teaching us meekness and long-suffering. For thus He spoke: “Be ye merciful, that ye may obtain mercy; forgive, that it may be forgiven to you; as ye do, so shall it be done unto you; as ye judge, so shall ye be judged; as ye are kind, so shall kindness be shown to you; with what measure ye mete, with the same it shall be measured to you.”56 56
Anf-02 vi.iii.i.vi Pg 43.1
Anf-02 vi.iv.i.xi Pg 3.1
Anf-03 v.iv.v.xv Pg 36
Jer. ix. 23, 24. Similarly against the daughters of Sion does He inveigh by Isaiah, when they were haughty through their pomp and the abundance of their riches,4016 4016
Anf-03 v.iv.vi.v Pg 42
By Jeremiah, chap. ix. 23, 24. Unless, forsooth, the Creator enjoined us to glory in the god of Marcion.
Anf-01 ii.ii.xiii Pg 2
Jer. ix. 23, 24; 1 Cor. i. 31; 2 Cor. x. 17. ), being especially mindful of the words of the Lord Jesus which He spake, teaching us meekness and long-suffering. For thus He spoke: “Be ye merciful, that ye may obtain mercy; forgive, that it may be forgiven to you; as ye do, so shall it be done unto you; as ye judge, so shall ye be judged; as ye are kind, so shall kindness be shown to you; with what measure ye mete, with the same it shall be measured to you.”56 56
Anf-01 ix.vi.xviii Pg 16
Jer. ix. 24. He adds, “For in these things I delight, says the Lord,” but not in sacrifices, nor in holocausts, nor in oblations. For the people did not receive these precepts as of primary importance (principaliter), but as secondary, and for the reason already alleged, as Isaiah again says: “Thou hast not [brought to] Me the sheep of thy holocaust, nor in thy sacrifices hast thou glorified Me: thou hast not served Me in sacrifices, nor in [the matter of] frankincense hast thou done anything laboriously; neither hast thou bought for Me incense with money, nor have I desired the fat of thy sacrifices; but thou hast stood before Me in thy sins and in thine iniquities.”4020 4020
Anf-02 vi.iv.i.xi Pg 3.1
Anf-03 v.iv.v.xv Pg 36
Jer. ix. 23, 24. Similarly against the daughters of Sion does He inveigh by Isaiah, when they were haughty through their pomp and the abundance of their riches,4016 4016
Anf-03 v.iv.vi.v Pg 42
By Jeremiah, chap. ix. 23, 24. Unless, forsooth, the Creator enjoined us to glory in the god of Marcion.
Anf-01 ix.iii.xxxi Pg 3
Isa. xl. 12; 22. of the earth, as it were, in His hand, in whose sight its inhabitants are counted as grasshoppers, and who is the Creator and Lord of all spiritual substance, is of an animal nature,—they do beyond doubt and verily betray their own madness; and, as if truly struck with thunder, even more than those giants who are spoken of in [heathen] fables, they lift up their opinions against God, inflated by a vain presumption and unstable glory,—men for whose purgation all the hellebore3247 3247 Irenæus was evidently familiar with Horace; comp. Ars. Poet., 300. on earth would not suffice, so that they should get rid of their intense folly.
Anf-02 iv.ii.ii.xiii Pg 5.1
Anf-02 iv.ii.ii.xxxv Pg 8.1
Anf-01 ix.ii.xix Pg 3
Gen. i. 2. They will have it, moreover, that he spoke of the second Tetrad, the offspring of the first, in this way—by naming an abyss and darkness, in which were also water, and the Spirit moving upon the water. Then, proceeding to mention the Decad, he names light, day, night, the firmament, the evening, the morning, dry land, sea, plants, and, in the tenth place, trees. Thus, by means of these ten names, he indicated the ten Æons. The power of the Duodecad, again, was shadowed forth by him thus:—He names the sun, moon, stars, seasons, years, whales, fishes, reptiles, birds, quadrupeds, wild beasts, and after all these, in the twelfth place, man. Thus they teach that the Triacontad was spoken of through Moses by the Spirit. Moreover, man also, being formed after the image of the power above, had in himself that ability which flows from the one source. This ability was seated in the region of the brain, from which four faculties proceed, after the image of the Tetrad above, and these are called: the first, sight, the second, hearing, the third, smell, and the fourth,2881 2881 One of the senses was thus capriciously cancelled by these heretics. taste. And they say that the Ogdoad is indicated by man in this way: that he possesses two ears, the like number of eyes, also two nostrils, and a twofold taste, namely, of bitter and sweet. Moreover, they teach that the whole man contains the entire image of the Triacontad as follows: In his hands, by means of his fingers, he bears the Decad; and in his whole body the Duodecad, inasmuch as his body is divided into twelve members; for they portion that out, as the body of Truth is divided by them—a point of which we have already spoken.2882 2882 See above, chap. xiv. 2. But the Ogdoad, as being unspeakable and invisible, is understood as hidden in the viscera.
Anf-03 v.iv.iii.iv Pg 8
Gen. i. not as if He were ignorant of the good until He saw it; but because it was good, He therefore saw it, and honoured it, and set His seal upon it; and consummated2745 2745 Dispungens, i.e., examinans et probans et ita quasi consummans (Oehler). the goodness of His works by His vouchsafing to them that contemplation. Thus God blessed what He made good, in order that He might commend Himself to you as whole and perfect, good both in word and act.2746 2746 This twofold virtue is very tersely expressed: “Sic et benedicebat quæ benefaciebat.” As yet the Word knew no malediction, because He was a stranger to malefaction.2747 2747 This, the translator fears, is only a clumsy way of representing the terseness of our author’s “maledicere” and “malefacere.” We shall see what reasons required this also of God. Meanwhile the world consisted of all things good, plainly foreshowing how much good was preparing for him for whom all this was provided. Who indeed was so worthy of dwelling amongst the works of God, as he who was His own image and likeness? That image was wrought out by a goodness even more operative than its wont,2748 2748 Bonitas et quidem operantior. with no imperious word, but with friendly hand preceded by an almost affable2749 2749 Blandiente. utterance: “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.”2750 2750
Anf-03 v.v.xxvi Pg 17
Gen. i. 1, 2. —the very same earth, no doubt, which God made, and of which the Scripture had been speaking at that very moment.6381 6381 Cum maxime edixerat. For that very “but”6382 6382 The “autem” of the note just before this. is inserted into the narrative like a clasp,6383 6383 Fibula. (in its function) of a conjunctive particle, to connect the two sentences indissolubly together: “But the earth.” This word carries back the mind to that earth of which mention had just been made, and binds the sense thereunto.6384 6384 Alligat sensum. Take away this “but,” and the tie is loosened; so much so that the passage, “But the earth was without form, and void,” may then seem to have been meant for any other earth.
Anf-03 vi.iii.iii Pg 8
Gen. i. 1, 2, and comp. the LXX. The first thing, O man, which you have to venerate, is the age of the waters in that their substance is ancient; the second, their dignity, in that they were the seat of the Divine Spirit, more pleasing to Him, no doubt, than all the other then existing elements. For the darkness was total thus far, shapeless, without the ornament of stars; and the abyss gloomy; and the earth unfurnished; and the heaven unwrought: water8557 8557 Liquor. alone—always a perfect, gladsome, simple material substance, pure in itself—supplied a worthy vehicle to God. What of the fact that waters were in some way the regulating powers by which the disposition of the world thenceforward was constituted by God? For the suspension of the celestial firmament in the midst He caused by “dividing the waters;”8558 8558
Anf-03 v.iv.v.xxvi Pg 11
Gen. i. 2. Whose kingdom shall I wish to come—his, of whom I never heard as the king of glory; or His, in whose hand are even the hearts of kings? Who shall give me my daily4537 4537
Anf-03 v.v.xxiii Pg 3
Gen. i. 2. For he resolves6350 6350 Redigit in. the word earth into Matter, because that which is made out of it is the earth. And to the word was he gives the same direction, as if it pointed to what had always existed unbegotten and unmade. It was without form, moreover, and void, because he will have Matter to have existed shapeless and confused, and without the finish of a maker’s hand.6351 6351 Inconditam: we have combined the two senses of the word. Now these opinions of his I will refute singly; but first I wish to say to him, by way of general answer: We are of opinion that Matter is pointed at in these terms. But yet does the Scripture intimate that, because Matter was in existence before all, anything of like condition6352 6352 Tale aliquid. was even formed out of it? Nothing of the kind. Matter might have had existence, if it so pleased—or rather if Hermogenes so pleased. It might, I say, have existed, and yet God might not have made anything out of it, either as it was unsuitable to Him to have required the aid of anything, or at least because He is not shown to have made anything out of Matter. Its existence must therefore be without a cause, you will say. Oh, no! certainly6353 6353 Plane: ironical. not without cause. For even if the world were not made out of it, yet a heresy has been hatched there from; and a specially impudent one too, because it is not Matter which has produced the heresy, but the heresy has rather made Matter itself.
Anf-03 v.v.xxv Pg 3
Gen. i. 2. Of course, if I were to ask, to which of the two earths the name earth is best suited,6361 6361 Quæ cui nomen terræ accommodare debeat. This is literally a double question, asking about the fitness of the name, and to which earth it is best adapted. I shall be told that the earth which was made derived the appellation from that of which it was made, on the ground that it is more likely that the offspring should get its name from the original, than the original from the offspring. This being the case, another question presents itself to us, whether it is right and proper that this earth which God made should have derived its name from that out of which He made it? For I find from Hermogenes and the rest of the Materialist heretics,6362 6362 He means those who have gone wrong on the eternity of matter. that while the one earth was indeed “without form, and void,” this one of ours obtained from God in an equal degree6363 6363 Proinde. both form, and beauty, and symmetry; and therefore that the earth which was created was a different thing from that out of which it was created. Now, having become a different thing, it could not possibly have shared with the other in its name, after it had declined from its condition. If earth was the proper name of the (original) Matter, this world of ours, which is not Matter, because it has become another thing, is unfit to bear the name of earth, seeing that that name belongs to something else, and is a stranger to its nature. But (you will tell me) Matter which has undergone creation, that is, our earth, had with its original a community of name no less than of kind. By no means. For although the pitcher is formed out of the clay, I shall no longer call it clay, but a pitcher; so likewise, although electrum6364 6364 A mixed metal, of the colour of amber. is compounded of gold and silver, I shall yet not call it either gold or silver, but electrum. When there is a departure from the nature of any thing, there is likewise a relinquishment of its name—with a propriety which is alike demanded by the designation and the condition. How great a change indeed from the condition of that earth, which is Matter, has come over this earth of ours, is plain even from the fact that the latter has received this testimony to its goodness in Genesis, “And God saw that it was good;”6365 6365
Anf-03 v.v.xxx Pg 3
Gen. i. 2. as if these blended6427 6427 Confusæ. substances, presented us with arguments for his massive pile of Matter.6428 6428 Massalis illius molis. Now, so discriminating an enumeration of certain and distinct elements (as we have in this passage), which severally designates “darkness,” “the deep,” “the Spirit of God,” “the waters,” forbids the inference that anything confused or (from such confusion) uncertain is meant. Still more, when He ascribed to them their own places,6429 6429 Situs. “darkness on the face of the deep,” “the Spirit upon the face of the waters,” He repudiated all confusion in the substances; and by demonstrating their separate position,6430 6430 Dispositionem. He demonstrated also their distinction. Most absurd, indeed, would it be that Matter, which is introduced to our view as “without form,” should have its “formless” condition maintained by so many words indicative of form,6431 6431 Tot formarum vocabulis. without any intimation of what that confused body6432 6432 Corpus confusionis. is, which must of course be supposed to be unique,6433 6433 Unicum. since it is without form.6434 6434 Informe. For that which is without form is uniform; but even6435 6435 Autem. that which is without form, when it is blended together6436 6436 Confusum. from various component parts,6437 6437 Ex varietate. must necessarily have one outward appearance;6438 6438 Unam speciem. and it has not any appearance, until it has the one appearance (which comes) from many parts combined.6439 6439 Unam ex multis speciem. Now Matter either had those specific parts6440 6440 Istas species. within itself, from the words indicative of which it had to be understood—I mean “darkness,” and “the deep,” and “the Spirit,” and “the waters”—or it had them not. If it had them, how is it introduced as being “without form?”6441 6441 Non habens formas. If it had them not, how does it become known?6442 6442 Agnoscitur.
Anf-03 v.v.xxxii Pg 8
De spiritu. This shows that Tertullian took the spirit of Gen. i. 2 in the inferior sense. also Amos says, “He that strengtheneth the thunder6462 6462 So also the Septuagint. , and createth the wind, and declareth His Christ6463 6463 So also the Septuagint. unto men;”6464 6464
Anf-03 v.v.xxxii Pg 19
Gen. i. 2. refers to Matter, as indeed do all those other Scriptures here and there,6473 6473 In disperso. which demonstrate that the separate parts were made out of Matter. It must follow, then,6474 6474 Ergo: Tertullian’s answer. that as earth consisted of earth, so also depth consisted of depth, and darkness of darkness, and the wind and waters of wind and waters. And, as we said above,6475 6475 Ch. xxx., towards the end. Matter could not have been without form, since it had specific parts, which were formed out of it—although as separate things6476 6476 Ut et aliæ. —unless, indeed, they were not separate, but were the very same with those out of which they came. For it is really impossible that those specific things, which are set forth under the same names, should have been diverse; because in that case6477 6477 Jam. the operation of God might seem to be useless,6478 6478 Otiosa. if it made things which existed already; since that alone would be a creation,6479 6479 Generatio: creation in the highest sense of matter issuing from the maker. Another reading has “generosiora essent,” for our “generatio sola esset,” meaning that, “those things would be nobler which had not been made,” which is obviously quite opposed to Tertullian’s argument. when things came into being, which had not been (previously) made. Therefore, to conclude, either Moses then pointed to Matter when he wrote the words: “And darkness was on the face of the deep, and the spirit of God moved on the face of the waters;” or else, inasmuch as these specific parts of creation are afterwards shown in other passages to have been made by God, they ought to have been with equal explicitness6480 6480 Æque. shown to have been made out of the Matter which, according to you, Moses had previously mentioned;6481 6481 Præmiserat. or else, finally, if Moses pointed to those specific parts, and not to Matter, I want to know where Matter has been pointed out at all.
Anf-01 ix.iv.x Pg 2
Gen. xv. 5. and Him who, by His Son Christ Jesus, has called us to the knowledge of Himself, from the worship of stones, so that those who were not a people were made a people, and she beloved who was not beloved3374 3374
Anf-01 ix.vi.viii Pg 8
Gen. xv. 5. as John the Baptist says: “For God is able from these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.”3873 3873
Anf-01 ii.ii.x Pg 5
Gen. xv. 5, 6; Rom. iv. 3. On account of his faith and hospitality, a son was given him in his old age; and in the exercise of obedience, he offered him as a sacrifice to God on one of the mountains which He showed him.49 49
Anf-01 ii.ii.xiii Pg 2
Jer. ix. 23, 24; 1 Cor. i. 31; 2 Cor. x. 17. ), being especially mindful of the words of the Lord Jesus which He spake, teaching us meekness and long-suffering. For thus He spoke: “Be ye merciful, that ye may obtain mercy; forgive, that it may be forgiven to you; as ye do, so shall it be done unto you; as ye judge, so shall ye be judged; as ye are kind, so shall kindness be shown to you; with what measure ye mete, with the same it shall be measured to you.”56 56
Anf-02 vi.iii.i.vi Pg 43.1
Anf-02 vi.iv.i.xi Pg 3.1
Anf-03 v.iv.v.xv Pg 36
Jer. ix. 23, 24. Similarly against the daughters of Sion does He inveigh by Isaiah, when they were haughty through their pomp and the abundance of their riches,4016 4016
Anf-03 v.iv.vi.v Pg 42
By Jeremiah, chap. ix. 23, 24. Unless, forsooth, the Creator enjoined us to glory in the god of Marcion.
Anf-01 ii.ii.xiii Pg 2
Jer. ix. 23, 24; 1 Cor. i. 31; 2 Cor. x. 17. ), being especially mindful of the words of the Lord Jesus which He spake, teaching us meekness and long-suffering. For thus He spoke: “Be ye merciful, that ye may obtain mercy; forgive, that it may be forgiven to you; as ye do, so shall it be done unto you; as ye judge, so shall ye be judged; as ye are kind, so shall kindness be shown to you; with what measure ye mete, with the same it shall be measured to you.”56 56
Anf-01 ix.vi.xviii Pg 16
Jer. ix. 24. He adds, “For in these things I delight, says the Lord,” but not in sacrifices, nor in holocausts, nor in oblations. For the people did not receive these precepts as of primary importance (principaliter), but as secondary, and for the reason already alleged, as Isaiah again says: “Thou hast not [brought to] Me the sheep of thy holocaust, nor in thy sacrifices hast thou glorified Me: thou hast not served Me in sacrifices, nor in [the matter of] frankincense hast thou done anything laboriously; neither hast thou bought for Me incense with money, nor have I desired the fat of thy sacrifices; but thou hast stood before Me in thy sins and in thine iniquities.”4020 4020
Anf-02 vi.iv.i.xi Pg 3.1
Anf-03 v.iv.v.xv Pg 36
Jer. ix. 23, 24. Similarly against the daughters of Sion does He inveigh by Isaiah, when they were haughty through their pomp and the abundance of their riches,4016 4016
Anf-03 v.iv.vi.v Pg 42
By Jeremiah, chap. ix. 23, 24. Unless, forsooth, the Creator enjoined us to glory in the god of Marcion.
Anf-01 ix.ii.xix Pg 3
Gen. i. 2. They will have it, moreover, that he spoke of the second Tetrad, the offspring of the first, in this way—by naming an abyss and darkness, in which were also water, and the Spirit moving upon the water. Then, proceeding to mention the Decad, he names light, day, night, the firmament, the evening, the morning, dry land, sea, plants, and, in the tenth place, trees. Thus, by means of these ten names, he indicated the ten Æons. The power of the Duodecad, again, was shadowed forth by him thus:—He names the sun, moon, stars, seasons, years, whales, fishes, reptiles, birds, quadrupeds, wild beasts, and after all these, in the twelfth place, man. Thus they teach that the Triacontad was spoken of through Moses by the Spirit. Moreover, man also, being formed after the image of the power above, had in himself that ability which flows from the one source. This ability was seated in the region of the brain, from which four faculties proceed, after the image of the Tetrad above, and these are called: the first, sight, the second, hearing, the third, smell, and the fourth,2881 2881 One of the senses was thus capriciously cancelled by these heretics. taste. And they say that the Ogdoad is indicated by man in this way: that he possesses two ears, the like number of eyes, also two nostrils, and a twofold taste, namely, of bitter and sweet. Moreover, they teach that the whole man contains the entire image of the Triacontad as follows: In his hands, by means of his fingers, he bears the Decad; and in his whole body the Duodecad, inasmuch as his body is divided into twelve members; for they portion that out, as the body of Truth is divided by them—a point of which we have already spoken.2882 2882 See above, chap. xiv. 2. But the Ogdoad, as being unspeakable and invisible, is understood as hidden in the viscera.
Anf-03 v.iv.iii.iv Pg 8
Gen. i. not as if He were ignorant of the good until He saw it; but because it was good, He therefore saw it, and honoured it, and set His seal upon it; and consummated2745 2745 Dispungens, i.e., examinans et probans et ita quasi consummans (Oehler). the goodness of His works by His vouchsafing to them that contemplation. Thus God blessed what He made good, in order that He might commend Himself to you as whole and perfect, good both in word and act.2746 2746 This twofold virtue is very tersely expressed: “Sic et benedicebat quæ benefaciebat.” As yet the Word knew no malediction, because He was a stranger to malefaction.2747 2747 This, the translator fears, is only a clumsy way of representing the terseness of our author’s “maledicere” and “malefacere.” We shall see what reasons required this also of God. Meanwhile the world consisted of all things good, plainly foreshowing how much good was preparing for him for whom all this was provided. Who indeed was so worthy of dwelling amongst the works of God, as he who was His own image and likeness? That image was wrought out by a goodness even more operative than its wont,2748 2748 Bonitas et quidem operantior. with no imperious word, but with friendly hand preceded by an almost affable2749 2749 Blandiente. utterance: “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.”2750 2750
Anf-03 v.v.xxvi Pg 17
Gen. i. 1, 2. —the very same earth, no doubt, which God made, and of which the Scripture had been speaking at that very moment.6381 6381 Cum maxime edixerat. For that very “but”6382 6382 The “autem” of the note just before this. is inserted into the narrative like a clasp,6383 6383 Fibula. (in its function) of a conjunctive particle, to connect the two sentences indissolubly together: “But the earth.” This word carries back the mind to that earth of which mention had just been made, and binds the sense thereunto.6384 6384 Alligat sensum. Take away this “but,” and the tie is loosened; so much so that the passage, “But the earth was without form, and void,” may then seem to have been meant for any other earth.
Anf-03 vi.iii.iii Pg 8
Gen. i. 1, 2, and comp. the LXX. The first thing, O man, which you have to venerate, is the age of the waters in that their substance is ancient; the second, their dignity, in that they were the seat of the Divine Spirit, more pleasing to Him, no doubt, than all the other then existing elements. For the darkness was total thus far, shapeless, without the ornament of stars; and the abyss gloomy; and the earth unfurnished; and the heaven unwrought: water8557 8557 Liquor. alone—always a perfect, gladsome, simple material substance, pure in itself—supplied a worthy vehicle to God. What of the fact that waters were in some way the regulating powers by which the disposition of the world thenceforward was constituted by God? For the suspension of the celestial firmament in the midst He caused by “dividing the waters;”8558 8558
Anf-03 v.iv.v.xxvi Pg 11
Gen. i. 2. Whose kingdom shall I wish to come—his, of whom I never heard as the king of glory; or His, in whose hand are even the hearts of kings? Who shall give me my daily4537 4537
Anf-03 v.v.xxiii Pg 3
Gen. i. 2. For he resolves6350 6350 Redigit in. the word earth into Matter, because that which is made out of it is the earth. And to the word was he gives the same direction, as if it pointed to what had always existed unbegotten and unmade. It was without form, moreover, and void, because he will have Matter to have existed shapeless and confused, and without the finish of a maker’s hand.6351 6351 Inconditam: we have combined the two senses of the word. Now these opinions of his I will refute singly; but first I wish to say to him, by way of general answer: We are of opinion that Matter is pointed at in these terms. But yet does the Scripture intimate that, because Matter was in existence before all, anything of like condition6352 6352 Tale aliquid. was even formed out of it? Nothing of the kind. Matter might have had existence, if it so pleased—or rather if Hermogenes so pleased. It might, I say, have existed, and yet God might not have made anything out of it, either as it was unsuitable to Him to have required the aid of anything, or at least because He is not shown to have made anything out of Matter. Its existence must therefore be without a cause, you will say. Oh, no! certainly6353 6353 Plane: ironical. not without cause. For even if the world were not made out of it, yet a heresy has been hatched there from; and a specially impudent one too, because it is not Matter which has produced the heresy, but the heresy has rather made Matter itself.
Anf-03 v.v.xxv Pg 3
Gen. i. 2. Of course, if I were to ask, to which of the two earths the name earth is best suited,6361 6361 Quæ cui nomen terræ accommodare debeat. This is literally a double question, asking about the fitness of the name, and to which earth it is best adapted. I shall be told that the earth which was made derived the appellation from that of which it was made, on the ground that it is more likely that the offspring should get its name from the original, than the original from the offspring. This being the case, another question presents itself to us, whether it is right and proper that this earth which God made should have derived its name from that out of which He made it? For I find from Hermogenes and the rest of the Materialist heretics,6362 6362 He means those who have gone wrong on the eternity of matter. that while the one earth was indeed “without form, and void,” this one of ours obtained from God in an equal degree6363 6363 Proinde. both form, and beauty, and symmetry; and therefore that the earth which was created was a different thing from that out of which it was created. Now, having become a different thing, it could not possibly have shared with the other in its name, after it had declined from its condition. If earth was the proper name of the (original) Matter, this world of ours, which is not Matter, because it has become another thing, is unfit to bear the name of earth, seeing that that name belongs to something else, and is a stranger to its nature. But (you will tell me) Matter which has undergone creation, that is, our earth, had with its original a community of name no less than of kind. By no means. For although the pitcher is formed out of the clay, I shall no longer call it clay, but a pitcher; so likewise, although electrum6364 6364 A mixed metal, of the colour of amber. is compounded of gold and silver, I shall yet not call it either gold or silver, but electrum. When there is a departure from the nature of any thing, there is likewise a relinquishment of its name—with a propriety which is alike demanded by the designation and the condition. How great a change indeed from the condition of that earth, which is Matter, has come over this earth of ours, is plain even from the fact that the latter has received this testimony to its goodness in Genesis, “And God saw that it was good;”6365 6365
Anf-03 v.v.xxx Pg 3
Gen. i. 2. as if these blended6427 6427 Confusæ. substances, presented us with arguments for his massive pile of Matter.6428 6428 Massalis illius molis. Now, so discriminating an enumeration of certain and distinct elements (as we have in this passage), which severally designates “darkness,” “the deep,” “the Spirit of God,” “the waters,” forbids the inference that anything confused or (from such confusion) uncertain is meant. Still more, when He ascribed to them their own places,6429 6429 Situs. “darkness on the face of the deep,” “the Spirit upon the face of the waters,” He repudiated all confusion in the substances; and by demonstrating their separate position,6430 6430 Dispositionem. He demonstrated also their distinction. Most absurd, indeed, would it be that Matter, which is introduced to our view as “without form,” should have its “formless” condition maintained by so many words indicative of form,6431 6431 Tot formarum vocabulis. without any intimation of what that confused body6432 6432 Corpus confusionis. is, which must of course be supposed to be unique,6433 6433 Unicum. since it is without form.6434 6434 Informe. For that which is without form is uniform; but even6435 6435 Autem. that which is without form, when it is blended together6436 6436 Confusum. from various component parts,6437 6437 Ex varietate. must necessarily have one outward appearance;6438 6438 Unam speciem. and it has not any appearance, until it has the one appearance (which comes) from many parts combined.6439 6439 Unam ex multis speciem. Now Matter either had those specific parts6440 6440 Istas species. within itself, from the words indicative of which it had to be understood—I mean “darkness,” and “the deep,” and “the Spirit,” and “the waters”—or it had them not. If it had them, how is it introduced as being “without form?”6441 6441 Non habens formas. If it had them not, how does it become known?6442 6442 Agnoscitur.
Anf-03 v.v.xxxii Pg 8
De spiritu. This shows that Tertullian took the spirit of Gen. i. 2 in the inferior sense. also Amos says, “He that strengtheneth the thunder6462 6462 So also the Septuagint. , and createth the wind, and declareth His Christ6463 6463 So also the Septuagint. unto men;”6464 6464
Anf-03 v.v.xxxii Pg 19
Gen. i. 2. refers to Matter, as indeed do all those other Scriptures here and there,6473 6473 In disperso. which demonstrate that the separate parts were made out of Matter. It must follow, then,6474 6474 Ergo: Tertullian’s answer. that as earth consisted of earth, so also depth consisted of depth, and darkness of darkness, and the wind and waters of wind and waters. And, as we said above,6475 6475 Ch. xxx., towards the end. Matter could not have been without form, since it had specific parts, which were formed out of it—although as separate things6476 6476 Ut et aliæ. —unless, indeed, they were not separate, but were the very same with those out of which they came. For it is really impossible that those specific things, which are set forth under the same names, should have been diverse; because in that case6477 6477 Jam. the operation of God might seem to be useless,6478 6478 Otiosa. if it made things which existed already; since that alone would be a creation,6479 6479 Generatio: creation in the highest sense of matter issuing from the maker. Another reading has “generosiora essent,” for our “generatio sola esset,” meaning that, “those things would be nobler which had not been made,” which is obviously quite opposed to Tertullian’s argument. when things came into being, which had not been (previously) made. Therefore, to conclude, either Moses then pointed to Matter when he wrote the words: “And darkness was on the face of the deep, and the spirit of God moved on the face of the waters;” or else, inasmuch as these specific parts of creation are afterwards shown in other passages to have been made by God, they ought to have been with equal explicitness6480 6480 Æque. shown to have been made out of the Matter which, according to you, Moses had previously mentioned;6481 6481 Præmiserat. or else, finally, if Moses pointed to those specific parts, and not to Matter, I want to know where Matter has been pointed out at all.
Anf-01 ix.iv.x Pg 2
Gen. xv. 5. and Him who, by His Son Christ Jesus, has called us to the knowledge of Himself, from the worship of stones, so that those who were not a people were made a people, and she beloved who was not beloved3374 3374
Anf-01 ix.vi.viii Pg 8
Gen. xv. 5. as John the Baptist says: “For God is able from these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.”3873 3873
Anf-01 ii.ii.x Pg 5
Gen. xv. 5, 6; Rom. iv. 3. On account of his faith and hospitality, a son was given him in his old age; and in the exercise of obedience, he offered him as a sacrifice to God on one of the mountains which He showed him.49 49
Anf-03 v.iv.iii.iv Pg 8
Gen. i. not as if He were ignorant of the good until He saw it; but because it was good, He therefore saw it, and honoured it, and set His seal upon it; and consummated2745 2745 Dispungens, i.e., examinans et probans et ita quasi consummans (Oehler). the goodness of His works by His vouchsafing to them that contemplation. Thus God blessed what He made good, in order that He might commend Himself to you as whole and perfect, good both in word and act.2746 2746 This twofold virtue is very tersely expressed: “Sic et benedicebat quæ benefaciebat.” As yet the Word knew no malediction, because He was a stranger to malefaction.2747 2747 This, the translator fears, is only a clumsy way of representing the terseness of our author’s “maledicere” and “malefacere.” We shall see what reasons required this also of God. Meanwhile the world consisted of all things good, plainly foreshowing how much good was preparing for him for whom all this was provided. Who indeed was so worthy of dwelling amongst the works of God, as he who was His own image and likeness? That image was wrought out by a goodness even more operative than its wont,2748 2748 Bonitas et quidem operantior. with no imperious word, but with friendly hand preceded by an almost affable2749 2749 Blandiente. utterance: “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.”2750 2750
Anf-03 v.ix.xii Pg 9
Gen. i. 6, 7. and God also said, “Let there be lights (in the firmament); and so God made a greater and a lesser light.”7901 7901
Anf-03 vi.iii.iii Pg 10
Gen. i. 6, 7, 8. the suspension of “the dry land” He accomplished by “separating the waters.” After the world had been hereupon set in order through its elements, when inhabitants were given it, “the waters” were the first to receive the precept “to bring forth living creatures.”8559 8559 Animas. Water was the first to produce that which had life, that it might be no wonder in baptism if waters know how to give life.8560 8560 Animare. For was not the work of fashioning man himself also achieved with the aid of waters? Suitable material is found in the earth, yet not apt for the purpose unless it be moist and juicy; which (earth) “the waters,” separated the fourth day before into their own place, temper with their remaining moisture to a clayey consistency. If, from that time onward, I go forward in recounting universally, or at more length, the evidences of the “authority” of this element which I can adduce to show how great is its power or its grace; how many ingenious devices, how many functions, how useful an instrumentality, it affords the world, I fear I may seem to have collected rather the praises of water than the reasons of baptism; although I should thereby teach all the more fully, that it is not to be doubted that God has made the material substance which He has disposed throughout all His products8561 8561 Rebus. and works, obey Him also in His own peculiar sacraments; that the material substance which governs terrestrial life acts as agent likewise in the celestial.
Anf-03 v.iv.iii.iv Pg 8
Gen. i. not as if He were ignorant of the good until He saw it; but because it was good, He therefore saw it, and honoured it, and set His seal upon it; and consummated2745 2745 Dispungens, i.e., examinans et probans et ita quasi consummans (Oehler). the goodness of His works by His vouchsafing to them that contemplation. Thus God blessed what He made good, in order that He might commend Himself to you as whole and perfect, good both in word and act.2746 2746 This twofold virtue is very tersely expressed: “Sic et benedicebat quæ benefaciebat.” As yet the Word knew no malediction, because He was a stranger to malefaction.2747 2747 This, the translator fears, is only a clumsy way of representing the terseness of our author’s “maledicere” and “malefacere.” We shall see what reasons required this also of God. Meanwhile the world consisted of all things good, plainly foreshowing how much good was preparing for him for whom all this was provided. Who indeed was so worthy of dwelling amongst the works of God, as he who was His own image and likeness? That image was wrought out by a goodness even more operative than its wont,2748 2748 Bonitas et quidem operantior. with no imperious word, but with friendly hand preceded by an almost affable2749 2749 Blandiente. utterance: “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.”2750 2750
Anf-03 v.ix.xii Pg 9
Gen. i. 6, 7. and God also said, “Let there be lights (in the firmament); and so God made a greater and a lesser light.”7901 7901
Anf-03 v.v.xxvi Pg 6
Gen. i. 7. and called the firmament heaven,6370 6370 104:19
Anf-03 v.iv.iii.iii Pg 11
Gen. i. 14. Previous, then, to this temporal course, (the goodness) which created time had not time; nor before that beginning which the same goodness originated, had it a beginning. Being therefore without all order of a beginning, and all mode of time, it will be reckoned to possess an age, measureless in extent2734 2734 Immensa. and endless in duration;2735 2735 Interminabili. nor will it be possible to regard it as a sudden or adventitious or impulsive emotion, because it has nothing to occasion such an estimate of itself; in other words, no sort of temporal sequence. It must therefore be accounted an eternal attribute, inbred in God,2736 2736 Deo ingenita “Natural to,” or “inherent in.” and everlasting,2737 2737 Perpetua. [Truly, a sublime Theodicy.] and on this account worthy of the Divine Being, putting to shame for ever2738 2738 Suffundens jam hinc. the benevolence of Marcion’s god, subsequent as he is to (I will not say) all beginnings and times, but to the very malignity of the Creator, if indeed malignity could possibly have been found in goodness.
Anf-03 v.iv.vi.vi Pg 12
Gen. i. 14, inexactly quoted. it clearly follows that the ages belong to the Creator, and that nothing of what was fore-ordained before the ages can be said to be the property of any other being than Him who claims the ages also as His own. Else let Marcion show that the ages belong to his god. He must then also claim the world itself for him; for it is in it that the ages are reckoned, the vessel as it were5436 5436 Quodammodo. of the times, as well as the signs thereof, or their order. But he has no such demonstration to show us. I go back therefore to the point, and ask him this question: Why did (his god) fore-ordain our glory before the ages of the Creator? I could understand his having predetermined it before the ages, if he had revealed it at the commencement of time.5437 5437 Introductione sæculi. But when he does this almost at the very expiration of all the ages5438 5438 Pæne jam totis sæculis prodactis. of the Creator, his predestination before the ages, and not rather within the ages, was in vain, because he did not mean to make any revelation of his purpose until the ages had almost run out their course. For it is wholly inconsistent in him to be so forward in planning purposes, who is so backward in revealing them.
Anf-03 v.ix.xii Pg 10
Gen. i. 14; 16. But all the rest of the created things did He in like manner make, who made the former ones—I mean the Word of God, “through whom all things were made, and without whom nothing was made.”7902 7902
Anf-01 viii.iv.cxxi Pg 3
So Justin concludes from Deut. iv. 19; comp. chap. lv. [The explanation is not very difficult (see Rom. i. 28), but the language of Justin is unguarded.] as it is written, but no one ever was seen to endure death on account of his faith in the sun; but for the name of Jesus you may see men of every nation who have endured and do endure all sufferings, rather than deny Him. For the word of His truth and wisdom is more ardent and more light-giving than the rays of the sun, and sinks down into the depths of heart and mind. Hence also the Scripture said, ‘His name shall rise up above the sun.’ And again, Zechariah says, ‘His name is the East.’2414 2414
Anf-01 viii.iv.lv Pg 2
Deut. iv. 19, an apparent [i.e., evident] misinterpretation of the passage. [But see St. John x. 33–36.] God has given to the nations to worship as gods; and oftentimes the prophets, employing2120 2120 Or, “misusing.” this manner of speech, say that ‘thy God is a God of gods, and a Lord of lords,’ adding frequently, ‘the great and strong and terrible [God].’ For such expressions are used, not as if they really were gods, but because the Scripture is teaching us that the true God, who made all things, is Lord alone of those who are reputed gods and lords. And in order that the Holy Spirit may convince [us] of this, He said by the holy David, ‘The gods of the nations, reputed gods, are idols of demons, and not gods;’2121 2121
Anf-01 ix.iv.vii Pg 32
Deut. iv. 19. And Moses himself, being a man of God, was indeed given as a god before Pharaoh;3356 3356
Anf-02 iv.ii.ii.xxxv Pg 4.1
Anf-02 vi.iv.vi.xiv Pg 15.1
Anf-02 iv.ii.ii.xxxv Pg 8.1
Treasury of Scriptural Knowledge, Chapter 26VERSE (8) - Job 36:29; 38:9,37 Ge 1:6,7 Ps 135:7 Pr 30:4 Jer 10:13
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