Book of Heresies 1 part 6/9

This the pagans transfer with the names changed, asserting in the same manner that there was even an ark, as it were, in Greece after the flood; and what belongs to mere lateness of time in their most empty paganism is proclaimed by them as ancient with much lying; and what happened in Thessaly, in a small place, is taught by the thievish pagans as having happened everywhere, that is, in the whole world. For what indeed occurred after years in Thessaly, in a place at times quite small — that flood was made in the whole age, just as even the writing of those gentiles testifies.

There is another heresy which says that men are born according to the twelve signs of the zodiac, like those most empty astrologers, those advocates of every error and crime; and very many unlearned people, hearing these things, do not hesitate at times to forsake the law of God and to serve the vanities of the astrologers — whereby the apostolic saying is fulfilled: «They worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator.» And again: «See that no one deceive you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the elements of the world, and not according to Christ; for in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.»

They are therefore ignorant that those twelve signs of which they speak are diverse climates and diverse regions in the world appointed by God, so that they may be inhabited, and that the diverse temperaments of places and times have been established — namely the hot, the cold, the dry, and the moist — from the four corners of the age; from which, as if from springs full of their quality, blowing breaths burst forth, breathing upon one another with great inborn power and with a healthful mingling rightly existing; and again, when the mingling is diffused everywhere, a pleasant temperateness of well-being is thereby furnished to all the inhabitants; and thus the divine power, the sweet and prosperous life granted by the Lord to mortals, is acknowledged as bestowed and not unknown.

There is another heresy which says that the souls of poisoners, of the wicked, of murderers, and of others of that sort pass into demons and into cattle and beasts and serpents — being ignorant that the soul of a man, when it departs from the world, whether good or evil, that is, godly or ungodly, is led by an angel into an appointed place, so that in the future it may receive according to what it did while established in this world. But if anyone supposes this to happen so, he is seen to have fellowship rather with the paganism and vanity of the philosophers than with Christianity, since the apostle says: «We must all be made manifest before the tribunal of Christ, that each one may receive the things which he did in this body.» And again: «That you will not abandon my soul in hell.» And again:

«But in hell, who shall confess to you?» Therefore the nature of the soul is not turned into another nature; but when by its own will it despises and neglects God's commandment, and feigns not to cling to lawful and salutary pursuits, dedicating itself to the future judgment of punishments, it is found comparable — by reason of its character, not of others — only to cattle, not by nature but by behavior, as it is written. Therefore such men become like, not to the nature of cattle, but to their behavior, in this world: pagans, Jews, and very many others. For the Savior too, when he said to the Jews: «You are of your father the devil,» showed them to be alike not by nature, but by wicked behavior and brutish dispositions, in convicting and judging them. And John said to the Jews:

«Brood of vipers.» There are other heretics who say that the Lord descended into hell and proclaimed even there to all after death, so that confessing there they might be saved — though this is contrary, since the prophet David says: «But in hell, who shall confess to you?» And the apostle: «As many as have sinned without the law shall perish without the law.» But when the Lord says: «It shall be more tolerable for some than for that city which did not believe» — namely the teaching of the apostles and the gospel — he says, in comparison of many punishments, that they will endure lesser torments than those; yet he does not on this account affirm that they are saved.

For whoever supposes that the false poets and vain philosophers, who are rebels against God, can be saved, errs worse than they and dissents from the truth; since none but those vain poets and philosophers sowed the seeds of pagan impiety, the names of gods and goddesses, into the minds of men, while the prophet cries out concerning the future judgment, that it might here be remitted to him in repentance, saying: «Forgive me, that I may be refreshed, before I go and shall be no more.» If therefore the righteous, when they sin, have in this present life scarcely received pardon by repenting — as Solomon says: «And if the righteous shall scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?»

For if they had believed that God exists, they would not have sown the shameful names of gods and goddesses, and at the descent of Christ into hell they would have obtained pardon. Since therefore the impious and the enemies of God are everywhere, how shall those confessing there after death be saved? — when the apostle teaches that every man must die, and after this be judged, as it is written, before the tribunal of Christ, and receive according to what he did in this world. But the Savior confirms, saying of them that they did not even believe the Father; whence he declared them to be judged also. But whoever believed in the Father before Christ came in the flesh has passed from the judgment of the impious. Yet in comparison of sinners and of the impious there is a diversity of punishments and of strokes;

the absolution of both is not complete, but the justice of discrimination, and according to the sin a worthy recompense — even to those who under Noah had been swallowed up by the water, as Scripture has taught. There is another heresy which is in doubt concerning the census of the soul and supposes that it consists of the elements — as many most vain philosophers do — suspecting that the soul of man is now of fire, now of water, now of spirit, now of matter, now of a spring, now of atoms, now as it were of air; whereas the soul was made by the Lord out of nothing, namely, as it is written: «He who made all things out of nothing, that the things which were not might be.» The soul therefore, made by God, has been called the image of God, namely after the creation of the angels;

for man is lesser than the nature of the angels, as it is written: «You have made him a little lower than the angels.» But if he keep the commandments of the law, then he shall be as the angels. If therefore the angels are servants of God placed under the law, how much more is the soul of man under the law which has been proclaimed; and if it keep what is commanded it, then it ought to say what the Lord said to the apostles: «And if you have done all things, say that we are unprofitable servants: the things which were commanded us, we have performed.» There is another heresy which says of the Savior that he first was with the Father and so was born; and when they confess it thus simply, they administer diverse stumbling-blocks to men: for to be before, and afterward to be born, is in every way contrary.

And although his generation is twofold — one of the divinity, undefined and eternal, the other of the incarnation through the Virgin, temporal — and there is no doubt of it, nevertheless according to his divinity we ought to recognize that he was never lacking from being with the Father, nor was he who was with the Father always existing of himself and not known to be begotten of the Father, as certain ones, going astray, suppose.

Therefore if both are set forth with good interpretation, the foundation of right faith is shown, so that we may recognize him as begotten of the Father — this only Son properly so — yet not in time, but before all ages and all creation begotten of the Father properly, and may so recognize and believe, as is fitting, and not be ignorant that he abides with the Father forever and has always abided. There is therefore no separation or contrariety between being always, and having been, and having been begotten. For he is said to be always on account of his eternity, lest the Son be reckoned temporal; and he is said to be begotten because the Church, in its preaching, knows him to be born not of himself but of the Father.

Therefore the one must not be disjoined from the other, but the eternity of the Son and his generation must be conjoined, and joined together with his eternity; and concerning the Father the confession must thus be believed and held fast, that one Father, the begetter, be acknowledged by us, and one only Son of the Father, properly begotten of the Father. Therefore it is fitting that, by godly faith, both his being always and his being begotten be held, and that his eternal generation be not temporal, and that the true property and eternity of the only-begotten Son, of the Father and with the Father, be not unknown. But if anyone first confesses him to be unbegotten, and so afterward to have been begotten of the Father, he does not know what he confesses.

For when he thinks to escape one heresy, he runs into another worse one, by confessing the Son to be unbegotten — nay rather, by denying both the Father and the Son, and by proclaiming two unbegotten beings, and by denying the distinction between the one unbegotten Father and the one only-begotten Son properly of the Father. There are certain heretics who suppose that the Lord said through Moses concerning Pharaoh: «For this I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you»; and: «In hardening I will harden the heart of Pharaoh, that he let you not go.» And the apostle says: «Therefore it is not of him that wills, nor of him that runs, but of God that shows mercy.» But the apostle says this not as defining, but as disputing and teaching what is true, lest anyone suppose that God so spoke; for he ought to attend to what the Lord says:

«That I might show in you indeed all my power» — that is, my magnanimity, goodness, forbearance, which is poured out upon all in this age. For when he says it to him, he says it to every man set in a body, announcing it in prosperity, in temporal means and power; men who, when they attend to riches, become more sluggish and more negligent concerning the fear of Christ-God and his grace, and so forget their own end of salvation and become forgetful of the fear of God. For when Pharaoh himself was afflicted, he unwillingly came to know God, as it is written; and when again he was released by God, he returned like a dog to his own vomit.

And therefore the souls of all pagans, Jews, heretics, and rich men, as well as of sinners, are sometimes found to be despisers of God in prosperity; therefore instruction is useful and salutary to the human race in all things, as the prophet says: «It is good for me, Lord, that you have humbled me, that I might learn your justifications»; and again, concerning rebuke: «When he was slaying» — says the Lord — «the Jews, then they sought him, and watched early for him.» The blessed apostle therefore does not say either «let us not run» or «let us not be willing to serve God»; but first we ought to run by our own will, and then not with presumption and boasting, as though we deserved to be saved worthily by our own power and righteousness and not by the clemency of Christ.

For whoever runs with pride and presumption does not hope for protection from God, inasmuch as out of his own conduct he presumes righteousness for himself. And so the blessed apostle teaches us both to run and to will, and that it lies in our own will, so that in the very running of good works we may persevere in humility, and then at last may hope that salvation can be obtained from the Lord himself, as the Lord says: «And when you have done all things, say that we are most worthless servants»; and: «If the righteous is scarcely saved, where shall the sinner and the impious appear?» Therefore there are certain things in us in which we must run. But there are greater things which must be hoped for and obtained from God, as the apostle says: «You know not what you ask» — as, for instance, if anyone should say:

«I can be a martyr,» «I can be an apostle» — and does not say: «If God-Christ will» — that the increase of that gift and grace is indeed conferred by him, and is not procured by the empty presumption and boasting of men. For such a will is that of a man tempting and presuming, not of one seeking and supplicating that he may deserve to attain so great a dignity.

There are certain heretics, such as the Manichees and Gnostics and Nicolaitans and others, who dare to say of blessed David that he was not a prophet of Christ the Lord, nor a teacher and expounder of all the divine Scriptures, but was a writer of human song and of worldly matter — whereas he himself deserved, more than many, to proclaim to the human race the mysteries of the heavenly grace and the saving secret of Christ the Lord. For just as Christ the Lord granted diverse grace to other saints, so to this one he granted greater knowledge, the Lord saying: «I will give you,» he says, «the faithful holy things of David»; and: «I have found David the son of Jesse, a man who will do all the things that are in my heart,» says the Lord.

They are therefore ignorant that this man, King and Prophet David, was a swift and most powerful expounder of the divine Scriptures, sent forth by the Lord, so that what was foretold of old, and seen as present, and announced as future, all these things, gathered into a brief compass, might be proclaimed by him to the human race; and that in three verses of the first Psalm he might set forth all the power of things, the truth of the past, the present, and the future, announcing all the errors of every people and their diverse crimes, when he says:

«Blessed is the man who has not walked in the counsel of the ungodly» — that is, of the pagans — «and has not stood in the way of sinners» — namely of the Jews — «and has not sat in the seat of pestilence» — to be sure, of the heretics; and from this point onward, as it were from springs and abundant sources, he might teach the diverse seeds of iniquity destined to come upon the human race, so that, when these three evils — paganism, Judaism, and every heresy — were despised and condemned, the one true faith alone, that is, of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, being believed by all, might be worshiped.

For led by divine zeal, blessed David, at that time, when he saw men sacrificing to demons and not to God, set up in the city of Jerusalem four choirs according to the approaches of the world, seventy-two in each, with four men also appointed of the singers, and guarding the threshing-floor of God on every side, with also countless others outside. And in the midst, placed there, the most blessed David himself, the patriarch, sang together with the people; and as so great a witness and one foreordained by the Lord of the incarnation of Christ the Lord, he rendered the diverse joys and praises alike of the psalms by singing to none other than Christ the Lord himself, and three times daily, with the prayers——

——and with the song of the psalms also resounding, he delighted in everything together with the people, announcing the divine presence of Christ, and promising to the age the future joys concerning that matter; of whom the Lord too deigned to say that many were prophets and wise men and desired to see and hear the things which the apostles deserved to hear and see. For that even what among the Greeks seems to be wisdom is from the law and from the prophets, and especially from blessed David, is, according to its time, manifest to all. And therefore the poets and other wise men too, in their verses, by imitating, tried to fashion what they wished to say; and since they took these arguments from the law and the prophets, with the names changed,

in their haste to violate the rights of truth, they sowed into the age the diverse lies of their treachery. Hence, being ignorant of these things, very many worldly and unskilled men of temporal mind desire to worship and follow the pagan lies rather than the ancient and true secrets, the firm foundations, of the saving Christian law. From their own vanities, then — that is, from the historiographers of the Greeks — one can recognize how temporal and vain is the wisdom of the Greeks; which, when it is little by little recognized by their own people, is without doubt spurned, trampled, and daily condemned. There are other heretics who suffer no small error concerning the inequality of the Psalter, supposing that the whole book of the Psalter is not of the most blessed David:

and when they seek the history in order, they find an inequality — that is, they see clearly that those things which are last are placed first, and those which are first, last — and they suffer no small offense. For in the third Psalm he suffers persecution from his son, and in the hundredth and beyond it is treated of his fighting against the foreigner, whereas we find that he first fought with Goliath in his youth, but afterward in his old age sustained war from his own son. And although these things are to be understood spiritually of Christ, nevertheless those who diligently inquire into the history concerning the same blessed prophet are disturbed by no small stumbling-block.

Because, then, the Scripture of the Psalms says that after seventy-two psalms the hymns of David failed, and afterward again his ascription is announced in many psalms — about this too they complain, why it is so placed — not knowing that the diverse joys of the psalms were rightly imparted by the Lord to the blessed king and prophet. If therefore the ascriptions of others also are found in the psalms, nevertheless afterward the sum of the praise of things was granted by Christ to this author and founder, and that as to a prophet, a king, and a patriarch.

But concerning the inequality of the psalms according to history, those most diligent authors who interpreted it had said this: that often, when there was a captivity among the people of the Jews by the gentiles on account of idolatry — because the Jews worshiped idols together with them — and in these times the divine Scriptures too were sought out and burned by the gentiles; but if anyone had hidden away anything of the psalms, when peace afterward existed, those same divine Scriptures were sought again by a few holy men; and when they were found, those who were wise at that time — because there were no longer prophets, but priests — receiving them afterward, held back by fear, according to what they received from certain persons, thus composed both the text of the psalms and thus ordered them to be set forth in sequence.

If therefore the inequality is according to history, as many have said, this seems to be the reason. But that in the very inequality of the psalms there is a spiritual and equal knowledge of Christ to be recognized is manifest to the diligent — namely, that what is at the beginning, this same thing is also in the middle concerning Christ, and what was to be afterward, of the same was said beforehand everywhere. And therefore the apostle says: «Christ yesterday and today, the same also unto the ages,» he says, «of the ages.» For that the psalms were spoken by spiritual power is not in doubt, so that what was previously done by the devil concerning the impiety of idols, this crime committed under the Jews too by his seduction might be shown forth;

and that there is also of him the perversity of the heretics springing up daily at the end, the Catholic Church does not fail to know in its preaching. There are heretics holding a contrary opinion in the book of Genesis, that the Lord said to Cain: «You have sinned; be still; to you shall be his turning, and you shall rule over him.» For when he says: «You shall rule over him,» they think that he said to him: «You shall be lord of your brother.» And although, if anyone should so think — because Cain was older in birth than his most blessed brother Abel, since in the law too the elder by birth were greater also in honor, that is, by primogeniture — yet he does not say this: «You shall rule over him,» in the sense of «You shall be his lord,» which is in all respects contrary.

For if it were so, how did the Lord pass sentence of death upon him, because he had killed his brother, as it is written? Therefore Scripture does not here say that he should rule over his brother, so as to slay him; but: «You shall rule over your evil thought,» to be sure, which is in your free choice and in the will of every man, so that either he may cast out from his heart the evil thought sent in by the devil, or, by not casting it out, incur a perpetual crime. For just as Christ the Lord searched out the hidden things of the heart and mind of man, seeing him through, he convicted him of what he had thought, and warned him not to do that wicked deed and in this to sow into the age the way of parricide. As is said also in the Gospel:

«If you have wrath against your brother, go, be reconciled, and so afterward you shall offer your gift.» And David likewise says: «Be angry, and sin not.» And what is the manner of «Be angry, and sin not,» he himself follows up by explaining: «The things which you say in your hearts and on your beds, be pierced with remorse.» Solomon too: «If the spirit of the enemy that lords it should ascend in you, give it no place to dwell in you.» And the Lord says: «Whoever is angry with his brother without cause shall be liable to judgment.» And therefore the Lord taught that the thought and suggestion of the enemy must be driven out at once, lest, when it abides long in a man, it provoke him the more prone to perpetrate the crime.

There is a heresy which does not rightly understand concerning Cain, that after the fratricide which he had committed he asks the Lord rather to die than to be sent away, saying thus: «My cause is greater, if I shall be sent away,» and: «It shall be that everyone who finds me will kill me.» But the Lord, through this one man teaching as it were a general manner for all the human race, through repentance bestowed the abundant indulgence of his goodness, so that, the wickedness now ceasing, they might follow up the fruitfulness of good works and all might know for certain that it was to be embraced from him; the Lord saying:

«I do not desire the death of the sinner, so much as that he should turn back and live» — that the repentance for so great a crime might through him be laid open to all, and in it the abundant indulgence likewise, so that the good fruitfulness of penitents might be shown to men by the exhortation of God, whereby, perceiving it, they might desire to acquire for themselves salvation rather than death. Whence, as it were his own accuser and judge, when Cain in part brings forth himself, confessing that he had committed fratricide, he deserved to hear from the Lord that, if the fruit of good works should henceforth follow him, he would without doubt receive remission of so great a crime, and would no longer suspect any fear of death to be brought upon him by anyone.

Moreover he had also received a sign, that he might not be slain by anyone; and it was determined by heavenly sentence that whoever of men should have dared to lay hands upon him should suffer twice-seven punishments. For in him a feigned repentance, not a true one, was found, when he hears from the Lord: «Everyone who kills Cain shall pay seven vengeances.» Whence he also deserved to receive a sign on account of repentance, if only the fruitfulness of good works worthy of it should henceforth follow him. But we do not find that there was ever any good fruit of repentance in him; how much more that from his stock every impiety rather sprang up.

They who came after him, being heirs of their father's impiety and of the monstrousness of so great a crime, since they were unwilling to bear repentance for their evils, though blessed Noah announced it to them, persevering in wickedness, perished by the dreadful destruction of death through the flood — except only eight souls at that time, who were brought forth of the stock of the holy ones, and who deserved alone to escape the storm of so great a peril. There is a heresy which thinks that the stars are fixed in heaven, and not that, from treasuries and hidden places appointed by God, they suddenly come forth at evening by divine command, and at the appointed hours recognize the course and ministry enjoined upon their light:

which is found to be contrary and foreign to the Catholic faith, if anyone should so think, and he will be shown to have fellowship rather with pagan vanity and the empty opinion of the philosophers than with Christian knowledge. For Scripture so teaches the omnipotence of God, that it has announced that the heavenly bodies run together and run apart in a brief space from diverse treasuries, and that they are bestowed and lent by God in part for the adornment of heaven and for the sake of night and of light, and that at diverse intervals of the hours they are appointed as it were to return again to their own places, so that to those places from which they are commanded to go out daily, they are again appointed to return, with an angel presiding and impelling…

...so that they can in no way overstep their appointed course, and that thereby Christ's outpoured mercy might be made manifest to the whole human race, proclaiming that in this world He has granted an equal grace of goodness to the just and the unjust: 'Who makes His sun to rise upon the just and the unjust, and rains upon the good and the evil'; and: 'The stars,' He says, 'know their treasures and their appointed course day by day.' There are certain heretics who reject much of the Old Testament, namely Solomon's Ecclesiastes, a book written indeed in few sentences, yet containing for those who seek it the whole treasure of heavenly knowledge. For that he was wiser than all who came before him the Saviour Himself bore witness. When therefore they read:

'All is vanity of vanities, the things that are under heaven'; and: 'I desired,' he says, 'to possess,' as it is said, 'diverse things'; and: 'God gave to me,' he says, 'and behold all is vanity of vanities'—yet afterward he adds only this, that it is of God 'if a man eat and drink and do good to his soul.' But if he said that only this food or this drink of the present age, which is carnal, is profitable, and announced nothing else of the immortal life to come ***, then man's labour is spent in vain. Therefore that saying of the Apostle concerning certain people: 'Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we shall die' *** *** is assuredly the heresy of pagans and Epicureans, which is likened to the life of cattle.

Therefore: 'Man, being in honour, did not understand; he was compared to senseless beasts.' And so Solomon both announced the carnal life of men, granted by God amid much wealth, and no less proclaimed that the future glory of the angels resides in those few zealous ones who desire and believe. For if even a rich man in this age has done well, it is necessary that there too he should attain fellowship in the life to come.

For just as this earthly food has been given by God, so too that heavenly food is more to be desired out of the Law—indeed the faith of Christ the Lord, coming gloriously from the Law and the Prophets to those who long for it, which Mary chose rather than Martha, the Lord saying that Mary had chosen the better portion, which shall not be taken from her. Therefore if he said: 'Vanity of vanities are the things that are in the world,' he assuredly proclaimed these things as passing away, for the sake of that surpassing and everlasting glory to come, as the Apostle says: 'For the fashion of this world passes away, and its glory.'