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PARALLEL HISTORY BIBLE - Job 38:12
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 
VERSES: 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
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LXX- Greek Septuagint - Job 38:12 η 2228 1510 5753 3739 3588 επι 1909 σου 4675 συντεταχα φεγγος 5338 πρωινον 4407 εωσφορος δε 1161 ειδεν 1492 5627 την 3588 εαυτου 1438 ταξιν 5010
Douay Rheims Bible Didst thou since thy birth command the morning, and shew the dawning of the day its place?
King James Bible - Job 38:12 Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days; and caused the dayspring to know his place;
World English Bible "Have you commanded the morning in your days, and caused the dawn to know its place;
World Wide Bible Resources
Job 38:12
Early Christian Commentary - (A.D. 100 - A.D. 325) 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-01 vi.ii.xii Pg 20
Ex. xvii. 14. Behold again: Jesus who was manifested, both by type and in the flesh,1624 1624
Anf-01 ix.vi.xviii Pg 2
1 Sam. xv. 22. David also says: “Sacrifice and oblation Thou didst not desire, but mine ears hast Thou perfected;4008 4008
Anf-01 viii.iv.cxiv Pg 5
Ps. viii. 3. unless I understand His method of using words,2380 2380 Literally, “the operation of His words.” Editors have changed τῶν λόγων into τὸν λόγον or τοῦ λόγου: but there is no need of change. I shall not understand intelligently, but just as your teachers suppose, fancying that the Father of all, the unbegotten God, has hands and feet, and fingers, and a soul, like a composite being; and they for this reason teach that it was the Father Himself who appeared to Abraham and to Jacob. Blessed therefore are we who have been circumcised the second time with knives of stone. For your first circumcision was and is performed by iron instruments, for you remain hard-hearted; but our circumcision, which is the second, having been instituted after yours, circumcises us from idolatry and from absolutely every kind of wickedness by sharp stones, i.e., by the words [preached] by the apostles of the corner-stone cut out without hands. And our hearts are thus circumcised from evil, so that we are happy to die for the name of the good Rock, which causes living water to burst forth for the hearts of those who by Him have loved the Father of all, and which gives those who are willing to drink of the water of life. But you do not comprehend me when I speak these things; for you have not understood what it has been prophesied that Christ would do, and you do not believe us who draw your attention to what has been written. For Jeremiah thus cries: ‘Woe unto you! because you have forsaken the living fountain, and have digged for yourselves broken cisterns that can hold no water. Shall there be a wilderness where Mount Zion is, because I gave Jerusalem a bill of divorce in your sight?’2381 2381
Anf-01 ix.vi.xii Pg 11
Matt. xxi. 16; Ps. viii. 3. —thus pointing out that what had been declared by David concerning the Son of God, was accomplished in His own person; and indicating that they were indeed ignorant of the meaning of the Scripture and the dispensation of God; but declaring that it was Himself who was announced by the prophets as Christ, whose name is praised in all the earth, and who perfects praise to His Father from the mouth of babes and sucklings; wherefore also His glory has been raised above the heavens.
Anf-02 vi.ii.iv Pg 41.1
Anf-01 ix.ii.xv Pg 33
Ps. xix. 1. Hence also it comes to pass, that when the soul is involved in difficulties and distresses, for its own relief it calls out, “Oh” (Ω), in honour of the letter in question,2852 2852 The text is here altogether uncertain: we have given the probable meaning. so that its cognate soul above may recognise [its distress], and send down to it relief.
Anf-01 ii.ii.xxvii Pg 7
Ps. xix. 1–3.
Anf-01 viii.iv.lxiv Pg 8
Ps. xix. 1–6.
Anf-01 viii.iv.xxx Pg 3
Ps. xix. And that we, who have been made wise by them, confess that the statutes of the Lord are sweeter than honey and the honey-comb, is manifest from the fact that, though threatened with death, we do not deny His name. Moreover, it is also manifest to all, that we who believe in Him pray to be kept by Him from strange, i.e., from wicked and deceitful, spirits; as the word of prophecy, personating one of those who believe in Him, figuratively declares. For we do continually beseech God by Jesus Christ to preserve us from the demons which are hostile to the worship of God, and whom we of old time served, in order that, after our conversion by Him to God, we may be blameless. For we call Him Helper and Redeemer, the power of whose name even the demons do fear; and at this day, when they are exorcised in the name of Jesus Christ, crucified under Pontius Pilate, governor of Judæa, they are overcome. And thus it is manifest to all, that His Father has given Him so great power, by virtue of which demons are subdued to His name, and to the dispensation of His suffering.
rest. And I beheld that horn waging war against the saints, and prevailing against them, until the Ancient of days came; and He gave judgment for the saints of the Most High. And the time came, and the saints of the Most High possessed the kingdom. And it was told me concerning the fourth beast: There shall be a fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall prevail over all these kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall destroy and make it thoroughly waste. And the ten horns are ten kings that shall arise; and one shall arise after them;2027 2027 Literally, “And the ten horns, ten kings shall arise after them.” and he shall surpass the first in evil deeds, and he shall subdue three kings, and he shall speak words against the Most High, and shall overthrow the rest of the saints of the Most High, and shall expect to change the seasons and the times. And it shall be delivered into his hands for a time, and times, and half a time. And the judgment sat, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end. And the kingdom, and the power, and the great places of the kingdoms under the heavens, were given to the holy people of the Most High, to reign in an everlasting kingdom: and all powers shall be subject to Him, and shall obey Him. Hitherto is the end of the matter. I, Daniel, was possessed with a very great astonishment, and my speech was changed in me; yet I kept the matter in my heart.’ ”2028 2028
Anf-02 vi.iv.vi.xvi Pg 37.1
Anf-01 ix.vi.xxxiv Pg 90
Ps. xix. 6. they announced that very truth of His being taken up again to the place from which He came down, and that there is no one who can escape His righteous judgment. And those who said, “The Lord hath reigned; let the people be enraged: [even] He who sitteth upon the cherubim; let the earth be moved,”4329 4329
Anf-01 viii.iv.lxiv Pg 8
Ps. xix. 1–6.
Anf-01 viii.iv.xxx Pg 3
Ps. xix. And that we, who have been made wise by them, confess that the statutes of the Lord are sweeter than honey and the honey-comb, is manifest from the fact that, though threatened with death, we do not deny His name. Moreover, it is also manifest to all, that we who believe in Him pray to be kept by Him from strange, i.e., from wicked and deceitful, spirits; as the word of prophecy, personating one of those who believe in Him, figuratively declares. For we do continually beseech God by Jesus Christ to preserve us from the demons which are hostile to the worship of God, and whom we of old time served, in order that, after our conversion by Him to God, we may be blameless. For we call Him Helper and Redeemer, the power of whose name even the demons do fear; and at this day, when they are exorcised in the name of Jesus Christ, crucified under Pontius Pilate, governor of Judæa, they are overcome. And thus it is manifest to all, that His Father has given Him so great power, by virtue of which demons are subdued to His name, and to the dispensation of His suffering.
rest. And I beheld that horn waging war against the saints, and prevailing against them, until the Ancient of days came; and He gave judgment for the saints of the Most High. And the time came, and the saints of the Most High possessed the kingdom. And it was told me concerning the fourth beast: There shall be a fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall prevail over all these kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall destroy and make it thoroughly waste. And the ten horns are ten kings that shall arise; and one shall arise after them;2027 2027 Literally, “And the ten horns, ten kings shall arise after them.” and he shall surpass the first in evil deeds, and he shall subdue three kings, and he shall speak words against the Most High, and shall overthrow the rest of the saints of the Most High, and shall expect to change the seasons and the times. And it shall be delivered into his hands for a time, and times, and half a time. And the judgment sat, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end. And the kingdom, and the power, and the great places of the kingdoms under the heavens, were given to the holy people of the Most High, to reign in an everlasting kingdom: and all powers shall be subject to Him, and shall obey Him. Hitherto is the end of the matter. I, Daniel, was possessed with a very great astonishment, and my speech was changed in me; yet I kept the matter in my heart.’ ”2028 2028
Anf-03 v.iv.v.xi Pg 21
Ps. xix. 5, 6. By the mouth of Isaiah He also says exultingly of the Father: “Let my soul rejoice in the Lord; for He hath clothed me with the garment of salvation and with the tunic of joy, as a bridegroom. He hath put a mitre round about my head, as a bride.”3830 3830
Anf-03 iv.ix.xiv Pg 34
Or, “unto eternity.” Comp. Bible:Ps.89.35-Ps.89.37">2 Sam. (2 Kings in LXX.) vii. 13; 1 Chron. xvii. 12; Ps. lxxxix. 3, 4, 29, 35, 36, 37 (in LXX. Bible:Ps.88.38">Ps. lxxxviii. 4, 5, 30, 36, 37, 38). is more suitable to Christ, God’s Son, than to Solomon,—a temporal king, to wit, who reigned over Israel alone. For at the present day nations are invoking Christ which used not to know Him; and peoples at the present day are fleeing in a body to the Christ of whom in days bygone they were ignorant1475 1475
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-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-01 ix.iv.ix Pg 11
Ps. xxxiii. 6. But that He did Himself make all things freely, and as He pleased, again David says, “But our God is in the heavens above, and in the earth; He hath made all things whatsoever He pleased.”3372 3372
Anf-01 ix.ii.xxiii Pg 3
Ps. xxxiii. 6. And again, “All things were made by Him, and without Him was nothing made.”2931 2931
Anf-02 iv.ii.i.vii Pg 2.1
Anf-02 vi.ii.iv Pg 39.1
Anf-02 vi.iv.i.xvi Pg 4.1
Anf-03 v.v.xlv Pg 5
Spiritu Ipsius: “by His Spirit.” See Ps. xxxiii. 6. He is the Lord’s right hand,6596 6596
Anf-03 v.ix.vii Pg 14
Ps. xxxiii. 6. —that is to say, by the Spirit (or Divine Nature) which was in the Word: thus is it evident that it is one and the same power which is in one place described under the name of Wisdom, and in another passage under the appellation of the Word, which was initiated for the works of God7835 7835
Anf-03 v.ix.xix Pg 9
Ps. xxxiii. 6. Now this Word, the Power of God and the Wisdom of God, must be the very Son of God. So that, if (He did) all things by the Son, He must have stretched out the heavens by the Son, and so not have stretched them out alone, except in the sense in which He is “alone” (and apart) from all other gods. Accordingly He says, concerning the Son, immediately afterwards: “Who else is it that frustrateth the tokens of the liars, and maketh diviners mad, turning wise men backward, and making their knowledge foolish, and confirming the words7996 7996
Anf-03 v.ix.xix Pg 14
Ps. xxxiii. 6. Inasmuch, then, as the heaven was prepared when Wisdom was present in the Word, and since all things were made by the Word, it is quite correct to say that even the Son stretched out the heaven alone, because He alone ministered to the Father’s work. It must also be He who says, “I am the First, and to all futurity I AM.”8001 8001
Anf-01 ix.iii.iii Pg 11
Ps. xxxiii. 9, Ps. cxlviii. 5. Whom, therefore, shall we believe as to the creation of the world—these heretics who have been mentioned that prate so foolishly and inconsistently on the subject, or the disciples of the Lord, and Moses, who was both a faithful servant of God and a prophet? He at first narrated the formation of the world in these words: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth,”2996 2996
Anf-02 vi.iv.i.xvi Pg 4.1
Npnf-201 iii.vi.ii Pg 14
Npnf-201 iii.xvi.iv Pg 60
Anf-03 iv.iv.xx Pg 9
Ps. xcvi. 5. The LXX. in whose version ed. Tisch. it is Ps. xcv. read δαιμόνια, like Tertullian. Our version has “idols.” But this has been laid by me rather as a foundation for ensuing observations. However, it is a defect of custom to say, “By Hercules, So help me the god of faith;”329 329 Mehercule. Medius Fidius. I have given the rendering of the latter, which seems preferred by Paley (Ov. Fast. vi. 213, note), who considers it = me dius (i.e., Deus) fidius juvet. Smith (Lat. Dict. s.v.) agrees with him, and explains it, me deus fidius servet. White and Riddle (s.v.) take the me (which appears to be short) as a “demonstrative” particle or prefix, and explain, “By the God of truth!” “As true as heaven,” “Most certainly.” while to the custom is added the ignorance of some, who are ignorant that it is an oath by Hercules. Further, what will an oath be, in the name of gods whom you have forsworn, but a collusion of faith with idolatry? For who does not honour them in whose name he swears?
Anf-01 ix.iii.iii Pg 12
Gen. i. 1. and all other things in succession; but neither gods nor angels [had any share in the work].
Anf-01 viii.vi.xxviii Pg 5
Gen. i. 1. then the sun, and the moon, and the stars. For having learned this in Egypt, and having been much taken with what Moses had written in the Genesis of the world, he fabled that Vulcan had made in the shield of Achilles a kind of representation of the creation of the world. For he wrote thus:2568 2568 Iliad, xviii. 483. — “There he described the earth, the heaven, the sea, The sun that rests not, and the moon full-orb’d; There also, all the stars which round about, As with a radiant frontlet, bind the skies.”
Anf-01 ix.ii.xix Pg 2
Gen. i. 1. for, as they maintain, by naming these four,—God, beginning, heaven, and earth,—he set forth their Tetrad. Indicating also its invisible and hidden nature, he said, “Now the earth was invisible and unformed.”2880 2880
Anf-02 iii.ii.v Pg 5.1
Anf-02 iv.ii.ii.x Pg 6.1
Anf-02 vi.ii.viii Pg 30.1
Anf-02 vi.iv.vi.vii Pg 8.1
Anf-02 vi.iv.v.xiv Pg 17.1
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.iii Pg 11
Gen. i. 1. and as long as He continued making, one after the other, those things of which He was to be the Lord, it merely mentions God. “And God said,” “and God made,” “and God saw;”6160 6160
Anf-03 v.v.xix Pg 6
Gen. i. 1. just as it would have said, “At last God made the heaven and the earth,” if God had created these after all the rest. Now, if the beginning is a substance, the end must also be material. No doubt, a substantial thing6320 6320 Substantivum aliquid. may be the beginning of some other thing which may be formed out of it; thus the clay is the beginning of the vessel, and the seed is the beginning of the plant. But when we employ the word beginning in this sense of origin, and not in that of order, we do not omit to mention also the name of that particular thing which we regard as the origin of the other. On the other hand,6321 6321 De cetero. if we were to make such a statement as this, for example, “In the beginning the potter made a basin or a water-jug,” the word beginning will not here indicate a material substance (for I have not mentioned the clay, which is the beginning in this sense, but only the order of the work, meaning that the potter made the basin and the jug first, before anything else—intending afterwards to make the rest. It is, then, to the order of the works that the word beginning has reference, not to the origin of their substances. I might also explain this word beginning in another way, which would not, however, be inapposite.6322 6322 Non ab re tamen. The Greek term for beginning, which is ἀρχή, admits the sense not only of priority of order, but of power as well; whence princes and magistrates are called ἀρχοντες. Therefore in this sense too, beginning may be taken for princely authority and power. It was, indeed, in His transcendent authority and power, that God made the heaven and the earth.
Anf-03 v.v.xx Pg 12
Gen. i. 1. —“and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made by Him, and without Him nothing was made.”6333 6333
Anf-03 v.v.xxii Pg 9
Gen. i. 1. I revere6345 6345 Adoro: reverently admire. the fulness of His Scripture, in which He manifests to me both the Creator and the creation. In the gospel, moreover, I discover a Minister and Witness of the Creator, even His Word.6346 6346
Anf-03 v.v.xxvi Pg 3
Gen. i. 1. The Scripture, which at its very outset proposes to run through the order thereof tells us as its first information that it was created; it next proceeds to set forth what sort of earth it was.6367 6367 Qualitatem ejus: unless this means “how He made it,” like the “qualiter fecerit” below. In like manner with respect to the heaven, it informs us first of its creation—“In the beginning God made the heaven:”6368 6368
Anf-03 v.v.xxvi Pg 5
Gen. i. 1. it then goes on to introduce its arrangement; how that God both separated “the water which was below the firmament from that which was above the firmament,”6369 6369
Anf-03 v.v.xxix Pg 29
Cum cælo separavit: Gen. i. 1.
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-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-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-01 ix.iv.vii Pg 20
Jer. x. 11. For, from the fact of his having subjoined their destruction, he shows them to be no gods at all. Elias, too, when all Israel was assembled at Mount Carmel, wishing to turn them from idolatry, says to them, “How long halt ye between two opinions?3346 3346 Literally, “In both houghs,” in ambabus suffraginibus. If the Lord be God,3347 3347 The old Latin translation has, “Si unus est Dominus Deus”—If the Lord God is one; which is supposed by the critics to have occurred through carelessness of the translator. follow Him.”3348 3348
Anf-02 iv.ii.ii.xxxv Pg 8.1
Anf-03 v.iv.iv.xxiv Pg 35
Amos ix. 6. certainly not for Himself alone, but for His people also, who will be with Him. “And Thou shalt bind them about Thee,” says he, “like the adornment of a bride.”3468 3468
Anf-03 v.iv.v.xxxiv Pg 48
Ascensum in cœlum: Sept. ἀνάβασιν εἰς τὸν οὐρανόν, Amos ix. 6. See on this passage the article Heaven in Kitto’s Cyclopædia (3d edit.), vol. ii. p. 245, where the present writer has discussed the probable meaning of the verse. which Christ “builds”—of course for His people. There also is that everlasting abode of which Isaiah asks, “Who shall declare unto you the eternal place, but He (that is, of course, Christ) who walketh in righteousness, speaketh of the straight path, hateth injustice and iniquity?”4849 4849
Anf-03 v.iv.v.xxxiv Pg 55
See Isa. lii. 7, xxxiii. 14 (Sept.), and Amos ix. 6. Down in hell, however, it was said concerning them: “They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them!”—even those who did not believe them or at least did not sincerely4856 4856 Omnino. believe that after death there were punishments for the arrogance of wealth and the glory of luxury, announced indeed by Moses and the prophets, but decreed by that God, who deposes princes from their thrones, and raiseth up the poor from dunghills.4857 4857
Treasury of Scriptural Knowledge, Chapter 38VERSE (12) - Ge 1:5 Ps 74:16; 136:7,8; 148:3-5
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