22 Sic non debuit Deus. This perhaps may mean, God ought not to have done this, etc.
29 Luke viii. 18; comp. Matt. xiii. 12.
30 That is, the natural man, the yuxikw=|.
32 Electionem. By this word our author translates the Greek ai!resij. Comp. De Praescr. Her. 6, p. 245, supra.
34 That is, "the goodness" of God.
35 Agnitionis, their Gnostic scheme.
36 Denique. This particle refers back to the argument previous ot its interruption by the allusion to Marcion and his followers.
37 Fructus, the enjoyment of God's works.
38 Apparebat. [Was not manifest.]
45 Deo ingenita "Natural to," or "inherent in."
46 Perpetua. [Truly, a sunblime Theodicy.]
50 See Bp. Bull on The State of Man before the Fall. Works, ii. 73-81.
52 "Eructavit cor. meum Sermonem optimum" Is Tertullian's reading of Ps. xlv. i., "My heart is inditing a good matter," A.V., which the Vulgate, Ps. xliv. 1, renders by "Eructavit cor meum verbum bonum," and the Septuagint by 'Echreicato h9 kardi/a mou lo/gon a0gaqo/n. This is a tolerably literal rendering of the original words, bw$+ db/d/ yb@ili #$had/
. In these words the Fathers used to descry an adumbration of the mystery of the Son's eternal generation from the Father, and His coming forth in time to create the world. See Bellarmine, On the Psalms (Paris ed. 1861), vol. i. 292. The Psalm is no doubt eminently Messianic, as both Jewish and Christian writers have ever held. See Perowne, The Psalms, vol. i. p. 216. Bishop Bull reviews at length the theological opinions of Tertullian, and shows that he held the eternity of the Son of God, whom he calls "Sermo" or "Verbum Dei." See Defensio Fidei Nicaenae (translation in the Oxford Library of the Fathers," by the translator of this work) vol. ii. 509-545. In the same volume, p. 482, the passage from the Psalm before us is similarly applied by Novatian: "Sic Dei Verbum processit, de quo dictum est, Eructavit cor meum Verbum bonum." [See vol. ii. p. 98, this series: and Kaye, p. 515.]
54 Dispungens, i.e., examinans et probans et ita quasi consummans (Oehler).
55 This twofold virtue is very tersely expressed: "Sic et benedicebat quae benefaciebat."
56 This, the translator fears, is only a clumsy way of representing the terseness of our author's "maledicere" and "malefacere."
57 Bonitas et quidem operantior.
63 There is a profound thought here; in his tract, De Paenit. 10, he says, "Where one or two are, is the church, and the church is Christ." Hence what he here calls Adam's "higher delights," even spiritual blessings in Christ with Eve. [Important note in Kaye, p. 304.]
65 Sexum Mariae. For the Virgin Mary gave birth to Christ, the Saviour of men; and the virgin mother the Church, the spouse of Christ, gives birth to Christians (Rigalt.).
73 He refers to Hermogenes see Adv. Hermog. chap. xxxii.
76 As the Marcionites alleged.
80 Ratio, or, "His reason." We have used both words, which are equally suitable to the Divine Being, as seemed most convenient.
81 Irrationaliter, or, "irrationally."
82 See above, book i. chap. xxiii. p. 288.
84 Rationale, or, "consistent with His purpose."
94 Ex dispositione. The same as the "universa disponendo" above.
96 Bonum jam suum, not bonitatem.
98 Libripens. The language here is full of legal technicalities, derived from the Roman usage in conveyance of property. "Libripens quasi arbiter mancipationis" (Rigalt.).
99 Quoniam (with a subj.) et hoc.
106 Our author's word invenitur (in the singular) combines the bonitas and ratio in one view.
107 The verb is subj., "deceret.