2. A posteriori, from the Stable Government of all things and Direction of them to One End; whence also one may gather the protection of One God as supreme King, just as previously from this our AUTHOR also proved the Existence of God, § 10: see IRENÆUS’ book III adversus Hæreses, chapter XXV or XLI-XLVI, pages 223, 224, where he disputes against Marcion:[1] also compare GROTIUS’ de Veritate Christianæ Religionis, book I, § 3.
[1] Marcion (c. 85-160) was a Gnostic heretic from Sinope, Turkey. He was very influential in the early Church, in spite of being excommunicated. Marcion asserted that the God of the Old Testament was a lesser demiurge, a God of law, strict justice, and wrath. The God of the New Testament is a God of love and grace, revealed in Jesus Christ, and purely preached by Paul. It is not surprising that Marcion rejected all of the Old Testament, and the New Testament books that speak favorably of the God of the Old Testament. Marcion’s canon consisted of an expurgated edition of Luke and ten of Paul’s epistles.