Note 738 — Chapter II

The pagan Lucian satirizes the Christian doctrine of the Trinity, “one in three and three in one”—Ἓν ἐκ τριῶν, καὶ ἐξ ἑνὸς τρία.—Philopatr., ad fine. Pliny mentions the Christian worship of Christ as God, “Carmenque Christo quasi Deo.”—Ep. ad Had. In response to the heathen accusation of worshipping a mere man, a crucified impostor—ἀνεσκολοπισμένον σοφιστὴν, (Luc., de Mort. Pereg.,) the Christians reply that he is also God: Υἱος καὶ πατὴρ εἷς ἄμφω κύριος—Clem., Paed., iii, 12; “Deus est et Dei Filius, et unus ambo.”—Tertul., Apol., 30. In contrast to Christian monotheism, Tertullian ridicules the polytheism of the heathen, and compares the contests of the gods in Homer to those of gladiators.—Ad. Nat., 10. Imitating the keen irony of Isaiah, he exclaims, “You make a cooking pot of Saturn, a frying pan of Minerva. Even the mice gnaw, the spiders defoul your gods.”—Ibid., ii, 12. The trinity of Plato and the Hindoo sages was a mere speculative subtlety. Tertullian spurned the fusion of philosophy and Christian doctrine. “Away with such mottled Christianity,” he exclaims.—De Præscrip. Hæret., c. 7. Compare his noble confession of faith in God, the eternal Spirit, an incorporeal essence, the true Prometheus who gave order to the world, concluding with the noble words, “We say, and before all men we say, and torn and bleeding under your tortures we cry out, ‘We worship God through Christ.’”—Apol., 17-22.