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If the Platonists prefer to call these angels gods rather than
demons, and to reckon them with those whom Plato, their founder and
master, maintains were created by the supreme God, they are welcome
to do so, for I will not spend strength in fighting about words. For
if they say that these beings are immortal, and yet created by the
supreme God, blessed but by cleaving to their Creator and not by
their own power, they say what we say, whatever name they call these
beings by. And that this is the opinion either of all or the best of
the Platonists can be ascertained by their writings. And regarding
the name itself, if they see fit to call such blessed and immortal
creatures gods, this need not give rise to any serious discussion
between us, since in our own Scriptures we read, "The God of
gods, the Lord hath spoken;" and again, "Confess to the God of
gods;" and again, "He is a great King above all gods." And
where it is said, "He is to be feared above all gods," the reason
is forthwith added, for it follows, "for all the gods of the nations
are idols, but the Lord made the heavens." He said, "above all
gods," but added, "of the nations;" that is to say, above all
those whom the nations count gods, in other words, demons. By them
He is to be feared with that terror in which they cried to the Lord,
"Hast Thou come to destroy us?" But where it is said, "the God
of gods," it cannot be understood as the god of the demons; and far
be it from us to say that "great King above all gods" means "great
King above all demons." But the same Scripture also calls men who
belong to God's people" gods:" "I have said, Ye are gods, and
all of you children of the Most High." Accordingly, when God is
styled God of gods, this may be understood of these gods; and so,
too, when He is styled a great King above all gods.
Nevertheless, some one may say, if men are called gods because they
belong to God's people, whom He addresses by means of men and
angels, are not the immortals, who already enjoy that felicity which
men seek to attain by worshipping God, much more worthy of the title?
And what shall we reply to this, if not that it is not without reason
that in holy Scripture men are more expressly styled gods than those
immortal and blessed spirits to whom we hope to be equal in the
resurrection, because there was a fear that the weakness of unbelief,
being overcome with the excellence of these beings, might presume to
constitute some of them a god? In the case of men this was a result
that need not be guarded against. Besides, it was right that the men
belonging to God's people should be more expressly called gods, to
assure and certify them that He who is called God of gods is their
God; because, although those immortal and blessed spirits who dwell
in the heavens are called gods, yet they are not called gods of gods,
that is to say, gods of the men who constitute God's people, and to
whom it is said, "I have said. Ye are gods, and all of you the
children of the Most High." Hence the saying of the apostle,
"Though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in
earth, as there be gods many and lords many, but to us there is but
one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in Him; and
one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by Him."
We need not, therefore, laboriously contend about the name, since
the reality is so obvious as to admit of no shadow of doubt. That
which we say, that the angels who are sent to announce the will of God
to men belong to the order of blessed immortals, does not satisfy the
Platonists, because they believe that this ministry is discharged,
not by those whom they call gods, in other words, not by blessed
immortals, but by demons, whom they dare not affirm to be blessed,
but only immortal, or if they do rank them among the blessed
immortals, yet only as good demons, and not as gods who dwell in the
heaven of heavens remote from all human contact. But, though it may
seem mere wrangling about a name, yet the name of demon is so
detestable that we cannot bear in any sense to apply it to the holy
angels. Now, therefore, let us close this book in the assurance
that, whatever we call these immortal and blessed spirits, who yet are
only creatures, they do not act as mediators to introduce to
everlasting felicity miserable mortals, from whom they are severed by a
twofold distinction. And those others who are mediators, in so far as
they have immortality in common with their superiors, and misery in
common with their inferiors (for they are justly miserable in
punishment of their wickedness), cannot bestow upon us, but rather
grudge that we should possess, the blessedness from which they
themselves are excluded. And so the friends of the demons have nothing
considerable to allege why we should rather worship them as our helpers
than avoid them as traitors to our interests. As for those spirits who
are good, and who are therefore not only immortal but also blessed,
and to whom they suppose we, should give the title of gods, and offer
worship and sacrifices for the sake of inheriting a future life, we
shall, by God's help, endeavor in the following book to show that
these spirits, call them by what name, and ascribe to them what nature
you will, desire that religious worship be paid to God alone, by whom
they were created, and by whose communications of Himself to them they
are blessed.
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