How Error Cannot Stand with Truth.
799.
Then Simon said:
Instruct us, therefore, how it can be consistent that he who causes divisions,
which divisions cause those who are divided to fall, can either seem to be good, or to have come for the salvation of men.
800.
Then Peter said:
I will tell you how our Master said that every kingdom and every house divided against itself cannot stand; and whereas He Himself did this, see how it makes for salvation.
801.
By the word of truth He certainly divides the kingdom of the world, which is founded in error, and every home in it, that error may fall, and truth may reign.
802.
But if it happen to any house, that error, being introduced by any one, divides the truth,
then, where error has gained a footing, it is certain that truth cannot stand.
803.
Then Simon said:
Yet it is uncertain whether your master divides error or truth.
804.
Then Peter said:
That belongs to another question;
805.
yet if you are agreed that everything which is divided falls, it remains that I show,
if only you will hear in peace, that our Jesus has divided and dispelled error by teaching truth.
The Book of Recognitions CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT
Divisions 806-830
RECOGNITIONS 2
Altercation.
806.
Then said Simon:
Do not repeat again and again your talk of peace,
yet expound briefly what it is that you think or believe.
807.
Peter answered:
Why are you afraid of hearing frequently of peace?
808.
For do you not know that peace is the perfection of law?
809.
For wars and disputes spring from sins; and where there is no sin, there is peace of soul;
yet where there is peace, truth is found in disputations, righteousness in works.
810.
Then Simon:
You seem to me not to be able to profess what you think.
811.
Then Peter:
I shall speak, but according to my own judgment, not under constraint of your tricks.
812.
For I desire that what is salutary and profitable be brought to the knowledge of all,
and therefore I shall not delay to state it as briefly as possible.
813.
There is one God; and He is the creator of the world,
a righteous judge, rendering to every one at some time or other according to his deeds.
814.
Yet now for the assertion of these things I know that countless thousands of words can be called forth.
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Simon's Subtlety.
815.
Then Simon said:
I admire, indeed, the quickness of your wit, yet I do not embrace the error of your faith.
816.
For you have wisely foreseen that you may be contradicted;
and you have even politely confessed, that for the assertion of these things countless thousands of words will be called forth, for no one agrees with the profession of your faith.
817.
In short, as to there being one God, and the world being His work, who can receive this doctrine?
818.
Neither, I think, any one of the Pagans, even if he be an unlearned man, and certainly no one of the philosophers; but not even the rudest and most wretched of the Jews, nor I myself, who am well acquainted with their law.
819.
Then Peter said:
Put aside the opinions of those who are not here, and tell us face to face what is your own.
820.
Then Simon said:
I can state what I really think;
yet this consideration makes me reluctant to do so,
that if I say what is neither acceptable to you, nor seems right to this unskilled rabble,
821.
you indeed, as confounded, will straightway shut your ears,
that they may not be polluted with blasphemy, forsooth,
and will take to flight because you cannot find an answer;
822.
while the unreasoning populace will assent to you, and embrace you as one teaching those things which are commonly received among them; and will curse me,
as professing things new and unheard of, and instilling my error into the minds of others.
Simon's Creed.
823.
Then Peter said:
Are not you making use of long preambles, as you accused us of doing, because you have no truth to bring forward?
824.
For if you have, begin without circumlocution, if you have so much confidence.
825.
And if, indeed, what you say be displeasing to any one of the hearers, he will withdraw;
and those who remain shall be compelled by your assertion to approve what is true.
826.
Begin, therefore, to expound what seems to you to be right.
827.
Then Simon said:
I say that there are many gods;
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yet that there is one incomprehensible and unknown to all, and that He is the God of all these gods.
828.
Then Peter answered:
This God whom you assert to be incomprehensible and unknown to all,
can you prove His existence from the Scriptures of the Jews,
829.
which are held to be of authority, or from some others of which we are all ignorant,
or from the Greek authors, or from your own writings?
830.
Certainly you are at liberty to speak from whatever writings you please,
yet so that you first show that they are prophetic; for so their authority will be held without question.
The Book of Recognitions CHAPTER TWENTY NINE
Divisions 831-860
RECOGNITIONS 2
Argument for Polytheism.
831.
Then Simon said:
I shall make use of assertions from the law of the Jews only.
832.
For it is manifest to all who take interest in religion, that this law is of universal authority,
yet that every one receives the understanding of this law according to his own judgment.
833.
For it has so been written by Him who created the world, that the faith of things is made to depend upon it.
834.
Whence, whether any one wishes to bring forward truth, or any one to bring forward falsehood, no assertion will be received without this law.
835.
Inasmuch, therefore, as my knowledge is most fully in accordance with the law, I rightly declared that there are many gods, of whom one is more eminent than the rest, and incomprehensible,
even He who is God of gods.
836.
Yet that there are many gods, the law itself informs me.
837.
For, in the first place, it says this in the passage where one in the figure of a serpent speaks to Eve, the first woman,
'On the day you eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall be as gods,' Genesis 3:5
that is, as those who made man;
838.
and after they have tasted of the tree, God Himself testifies, saying to the rest of the gods,
'Behold, Adam has become as one of us;' Genesis 3:22
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thus, therefore, it is manifest that there were many gods engaged in the making of man.
839.
Also, whereas at the first God said to the other gods,
'Let us make man after our image and likeness;' Genesis 1:26
840.
also His saying, 'Let us drive him out;' Genesis 3:22
841.
and again, 'Come, let us go down, and confound their language;' Genesis 11:7
all these things indicate that there are many gods.
842.
But this also is written,
'You shall not curse the gods, nor curse the chief of your people;' Exodus 22:28
843.
and again this writing,
'God alone led them, and there was no strange god with them,' Deuteronomy 32:12
shows that there are many gods.
844.
There are also many other testimonies which might be adduced from the law, not only obscure, but plain, by which it is taught that there are many gods.
845.
One of these was chosen by lot, that he might be the god of the Jews.
846.
But it is not of him that I speak,
but of that God who is also his God, whom even the Jews themselves did not know.
847.
For he is not their God, but the God of those who know him.
Peter's Answer.
848.
When Peter had heard this, he answered:
Fear nothing, Simon:
for, behold, we have neither shut our ears, nor fled;
849.
yet we answer with words of truth to those things which you have spoken falsely,
asserting this first, that there is one God, even the God of the Jews, who is the only God,
the Creator of heaven and earth, who is also the God of all those whom you call gods.
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850.
If, then, I shall show you that none is superior to Him, yet that He Himself is above all,
you will confess that your error is above all.
851.
Then Simon said:
Why, indeed, though I should be unwilling to confess it,
would not the hearers who stand by charge me with unwillingness to profess the things that are true?
The Answer, Continued.
852.
Listen, then, says Peter, that you may know, first of all, that even if there are many gods, as you say, they are subject to the God of the Jews, to whom no one is equal, than whom no one can be greater;
853.
for it is written that the prophet Moses thus spoke to the Jews:
'The Lord your God is the God of gods, and the Lord of lords, the great God.' Deuteronomy 10:17
854.
Thus, although there are many that are called gods,
yet He who is the God of the Jews is alone called the God of gods.
855.
For not every one that is called God is necessarily God.
856.
Indeed, even Moses is called a god to Pharaoh, and it is certain that he was a man; Exodus 7:1
and judges were called gods, and it is evident that they were mortal.
857.
The idols also of the Gentiles are called gods, and we all know that they are not;
858.
but this has been inflicted as a punishment on the wicked, that because they would not acknowledge the true God, they should regard as God whatever form or image should occur to them.
859.
Because they refused to receive the knowledge of the One who, as I said, is God of all,
therefore it is permitted to them to have as gods those who can do nothing for their worshippers.
860.
For what can either dead images or living creatures confer upon men, since the power of all things is with One?
The Book of Recognitions CHAPTER THIRTY
Divisions 861-890
RECOGNITIONS 2
Guardian Angels.
861.
Therefore the name God is applied in three ways:
either because he to whom it is given is truly God,
or because he is the servant of him who is truly;
862.
and for the honour of the sender, that his authority may be full,
he that is sent is called by the name of him who sends, as is often done in respect of angels:
863.
for when they appear to a man, if he is a wise and intelligent man, he asks the name of him who appears to him, that he may acknowledge at once the honour of the sent, and the authority of the sender.
864.
For every nation has an angel, to whom God has committed the government of that nation;
and when one of these appears, although he be thought and called God by those over whom he presides, yet, being asked, he does not give such testimony to himself.
865.
For the Most High God, who alone holds the power of all things, has divided all the nations of the earth into 72 parts, and over these He has appointed angels as princes.
866.
Yet to the one among the archangels who is greatest, was committed the government of those who, before all others, received the worship and knowledge of the Most High God.
867.
But holy men also, as we have said, are made gods to the wicked, as having received the power of life and death over them, as we mentioned above with respect to Moses and the judges.
868.
Wherefore it is also written concerning them,
'You shall not curse the gods, and you shall not curse the prince of your people.' Exodus 22:28
869.
Thus the princes of the several nations are called gods.
870.
But Christ is God of princes, who is Judge of all.
871.
Therefore neither angels, nor men, nor any creature, can be truly gods,
forasmuch as they are placed under authority, being created and changeable:
872.
angels, for they were not, and are;
men, for they are mortal;
and every creature, for it is capable of dissolution, if only He dissolve it who made it.
873.
And therefore He alone is the true God, who not only Himself lives, but also bestows life upon others, which He can also take away when it pleases Him.
No God But Jehovah.
874.
Wherefore the Scripture exclaims in name of the God of the Jews, saying,
'Behold, behold, seeing that I am God, and there is none else besides me,
I will kill, and I will make alive;
I will smite, and I will heal;
and there is none who can deliver out of my hands.' Deuteronomy 32:39
875.
See therefore how, by some ineffable virtue, the Scripture, opposing the future errors of those who should affirm that either in heaven or on earth there is any other god besides Him who is the God of the Jews, decides thus:
876.
'The Lord your God is one God, in heaven above, and in the earth beneath;
and besides Him there is none else.' Deuteronomy 4:39
877.
How, then, have you dared to say that there is any other God besides Him who is the God of the Jews?
878.
And again the Scripture says,
'Behold, to the Lord your God belong the heaven, and the heaven of heavens,
the earth, and all things that are in them:
879.
nevertheless I have chosen your fathers, that I might love them, and you after them.' Deut. 10:14-15
880.
Thus that judgment is supported by the Scripture on every side,
that He who created the world is the true and only God.
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