abundant grace of the New Testament; but, forgetful of the greater degree of perfection which it demands from us, they endeavour to show that there is another God beyond Him who created the world. 1248Chapter XXIX.—Refutation of the arguments of the Marcionites, who attempted to show that God was the author of sin, because He blinded Pharaoh and his servants. 1250Chapter XXX.—Refutation of another argument adduced by the Marcionites, that God directed the Hebrews to spoil the Egyptians. 1254Chapter XXXI.—We should not hastily impute as crimes to the men of old time those actions which the Scripture has not condemned, but should rather seek in them types of things to come: an example of this in the incest committed by Lot. 1257Chapter XXXII.—That one God was the author of both Testaments, is confirmed by the authority of a presbyter who had been taught by the apostles. 1259Chapter XXXIII.—Whosoever confesses that one God is the author of both Testaments, and diligently reads the Scriptures in company with the presbyters of the Church, is a true spiritual disciple; and he will rightly understand and interpret all that the prophets have declared respecting Christ and the liberty of the New Testament. 1269Chapter XXXIV.—Proof against the Marcionites, that the prophets referred in all their predictions to our Christ. 1272Chapter XXXV.—A refutation of those who allege that the prophets uttered some predictions under the inspiration of the highest, others from the Demiurge. Disagreements of the Valentinians among themselves with regard to these same predictions. 1275Chapter XXXVI.—The prophets were sent from one and the same Father from whom the Son was sent. 1283Chapter XXXVII.—Men are possessed of free will, and endowed with the faculty of making a choice. It is not true, therefore, that some are by nature good, and others bad. 1288Chapter XXXVIII.—Why man was not made perfect from the beginning. 1291Chapter XXXIX.—Man is endowed with the faculty of distinguishing good and evil; so that, without compulsion, he has the power, by his own will and choice, to perform God’s commandments, by doing which he avoids the evils prepared for the rebellious. 1294Chapter XL.—One and the same God the Father inflicts punishment on the reprobate, and bestows rewards on the elect. xxxv