Anf-01 ix.vi.xxxii Pg 2
[Thus far we have a most edifying instruction. The reader will be less edified with what follows, but it is a very striking example of what is written: “to the pure all things are pure.” Tit. i. 15.]
With respect to those actions, again, on which the Scriptures pass no censure, but which are simply set down [as having occurred], we ought not to become the accusers [of those who committed them], for we are not more exact than God, nor can we be superior to our Master; but we should search for a type [in them]. For not one of those things which have been set down in Scripture without being condemned is without significance.” An example is found in the case of Lot, who led forth his daughters from Sodom, and these then conceived by their own father; and who left behind him within the confines [of the land] his wife, [who remains] a pillar of salt unto this day. For Lot, not acting under the impulse of his own will, nor at the prompting of carnal concupiscence, nor having any knowledge or thought of anything of the kind, did [in fact] work out a type [of future events]. As says the Scripture: “And that night the elder went in and lay with her father; and Lot knew not when she lay down, nor when she arose.”4230 4230
Anf-02 vi.iv.iii Pg 268.1
Anf-03 iv.vi.x Pg 5
Tit. i. 15.
but nothing is more impure than idols. The substances are themselves as creatures of God without impurity, and in this their native state are free to the use of all; but the ministries to which in their use they are devoted, makes all the difference; for I, too, kill a cock for myself, just as Socrates did for Æsculapius; and if the smell of some place or other offends me, I burn the Arabian product myself, but not with the same ceremony, nor in the same dress, nor with the same pomp, with which it is done to idols.412 412 [He seems to know no use for incense except for burials and for fumigation.]
If the creature is defiled by a mere word, as the apostle teaches, “But if any one say, This is offered in sacrifice to idols, you must not touch it,”413 413
Treasury of Scriptural Knowledge, Chapter 1
VERSE (15) - Lu 11:39-41 Ac 10:15 Ro 14:14,20 1Co 6:12,13; 10:23,25,31
