Ante-Nicene Fathers • VOLUME 2
Fathers of the Second Century
SECTION 1
ANTE-NICENE FATHERS
ANTE-NICENE FATHERS TRANSLATIONS OF The Writings of the Fathers down to a.d. 325 The Rev. Alexander Roberts, D.D., AND James Donaldson, LL.D., EDITORS AMERICAN REPRINT OF THE EDINBURGH EDITION revised and chronologically arranged, with brief prefaces and occasional notes BY A. CLEVELAND COXE, D.D. VOLUME II FATHERS O…
2,330 wordsSECTION 2But the reader will now be eager to examine the following Introductory Notice of the translator:--
But the reader will now be eager to examine the following Introductory Notice of the translator:-- The Pastor of Hermas was one of the most popular books, if not the most popular book, in the Christian Church during the second, third, and fourth centuries. It occupied a position analogous in some respects to that of Bunyan's Pi…
1,404 wordsSECTION 3Book First.--Visions.
Book First.--Visions. Vision First. Against Filthy and Proud Thoughts, and the Carelessness of Hermas in Chastising His Sons. Chap. I. He who had brought me up, sold me to one Rhode in Rome. [21] Many years after this I recognised her, and I began to love her as a sister. Some time after, I saw her bathe in the river Tiber; …
2,376 wordsSECTION 4Chap. II.
Chap. II. Fifteen days after, when I had fasted and prayed much to the Lord, the knowledge of the writing was revealed to me. Now the writing was to this effect: "Your seed, O Hermas, has sinned against God, and they have blasphemed against [58] the Lord, and in their great wickedness they have betrayed their parents. And they …
2,593 wordsSECTION 5Chap. III.
Chap. III. On showing me these visions, she wished to retire. I said to her, "What is the use of my having seen all this, while I do not know what it means?" She said to me, "You are a cunning fellow, wishing to know everything that relates to the tower." "Even so, O Lady," said I, "that I may tell it to my brethren, that, hear…
2,533 wordsSECTION 6Chap. X.
Chap. X. On her ceasing to speak to me, those six young men who were engaged in building came and conveyed her to the tower, and other four lifted up the seat and carried it also to the tower. The faces of these last I did not see, for they were turned away from me. And as she was going, I asked her to reveal to me the meaning …
2,559 wordsSECTION 7Chap. III.
Chap. III. I asked her about the four colours which the beast had on his head. And she answered, and said to me, "Again you are inquisitive in regard to such matters." "Yea, Lady," said I, "make known to me what they are." "Listen," said she: "the black is the world in which we dwell: but the fiery and bloody points out that th…
985 wordsSECTION 8Book Second.--Commandments.
Book Second.--Commandments. Commandment First. On Faith in God. First of all, believe [152] that there is one God who created and finished all things, and made all things out of nothing. He alone is able to contain the whole, but Himself cannot be contained. [153] Have faith therefore in Him, and fear Him; and fearing Him, ex…
2,454 wordsSECTION 9Chap. IV.
Chap. IV. And again I asked him, saying, "Sir, since you have been so patient in listening to me, will you show me this also?" "Speak," said he. And I said, "If a wife or husband die, and the widower or widow marry, does he or she commit sin?" "There is no sin in marrying again," said he; "but if they remain unmarried, they gai…
2,446 wordsSECTION 10"This commandment exhibits the deeds of faith, that you may trust the works of the angel of righteousness, and doing them you may live to Go
"This commandment exhibits the deeds of faith, that you may trust the works of the angel of righteousness, and doing them you may live to God. But believe the works of the angel of iniquity are hard. If you refuse to do them, you will live to God." [191] [See Tob. iii. 8, 17. The impure spirit, and the healing angel. This apocr…
2,273 wordsSECTION 11Chap. II.
Chap. II. "Hear, then," says he, "foolish man, how grief crushes out the Holy Spirit, and on the other hand saves. When the doubting man attempts any deed, and fails in it on account of his doubt, this grief enters into the man, and grieves the Holy Spirit, and crushes him out. Then, on the other hand, when anger attaches itsel…
2,299 wordsSECTION 12Chap. III.
Chap. III. "I should like to know," say I, "in what way I ought to serve good desire." "Hear," says he: "You will practice righteousness and virtue, truth and the fear of the Lord, faith and meekness, and whatsoever excellences are like to these. Practising these, you will be a well-pleasing servant of God, [231] and you will l…
1,419 wordsSECTION 13Book Third.--Similitudes.
Book Third.--Similitudes. Similitude First. [244] As in This World We Have No Abiding City, We Ought to Seek One to Come. He says to me, "You know that you who are the servants of God dwell in a strange land; for your city is far away from this one. [245] If, then," he continues, "you know your city in which you are to dwell,…
2,214 wordsSECTION 14He showed me again many trees, some budding, and others withered. And he said to me, "Do you see these trees?" "I see, sir," I replied, "som
He showed me again many trees, some budding, and others withered. And he said to me, "Do you see these trees?" "I see, sir," I replied, "some putting forth buds, and others withered." "Those," he said, "which are budding are the righteous who are to live in the world to come; for the coming world is the summer [260] of the right…
2,210 wordsSECTION 15Chap. VI.
Chap. VI. "Hear," he answered: "the Son of God is not in the form [277] of a slave, but in great power and might." "How so, sir?" I said; "I do not understand." "Because," he answered, "God planted the vineyard, that is to say, He created the people, and gave them to His Son; and the Son appointed His angels over them to keep t…
2,269 wordsSECTION 16Chap. III.
Chap. III. Seeing them, therefore, so beaten and so badly used, I was grieved for them, because they were so tormented, and had no rest at all. And I said to the Shepherd who talked with me, "Sir, who is this shepherd, who is so pitiless and severe, and so completely devoid of compassion for these sheep?" "This," he replied, "i…
2,682 wordsSECTION 17Chap. II.
Chap. II. And the angel of the Lord ordered crowns to be brought; [313] and there were brought crowns, formed, as it were, of palms; and he crowned the men who had returned the branches which had offshoots and some fruit, and sent them away into the tower. And the others also he sent into the tower, those, namely, who had retur…
2,255 wordsSECTION 18Chap. IX.
Chap. IX. "And they who returned their branches two-thirds withered and one-third green, are those that were faithful indeed; but after acquiring wealth, and becoming distinguished amongst the heathen, they clothed themselves with great pride, and became lofty-minded, and deserted the truth, and did not cleave to the righteous,…
2,516 wordsSECTION 19Chap. V.
Chap. V. And on that day the building was finished, but the tower was not completed; for additional building was again about to be added, and there was a cessation in the building. And the six men commanded the builders all to withdraw a little distance, and to rest, but enjoined the virgins not to withdraw from the tower; and …
2,228 wordsSECTION 20Chap. XI.
Chap. XI. The virgins said to me, "The Shepherd does not come here to-day." "What, then," said I, "am I to do?" They replied, "Wait for him until he comes; and if he comes he will converse with you, and if he does not come you will remain here with us until he does come." I said to them, "I will wait for him until it is late; a…
2,386 wordsSECTION 21Chap. XVII.
Chap. XVII. "I understand, sir," I replied. "Now, sir," I continued, "explain to me, with respect to the mountains, why their forms are various and diverse." "Listen," he said: "these mountains are the twelve tribes, which inhabit the whole world. [373] The Son of God, accordingly, was preached unto them by the apostles." "But …
2,302 wordsSECTION 22Chap. XXVII.
Chap. XXVII. "And from the tenth mountain, where were trees which overshadowed certain sheep, they who believed were the following: bishops [389] given to hospitality, who always gladly received into their houses the servants of God, without dissimulation. And the bishops never failed to protect, by their service, the widows, a…
2,202 wordsSECTION 23[366] [Heb. i. 3. Hermas drips with Scripture like a honeycomb.]
[366] [Heb. i. 3. Hermas drips with Scripture like a honeycomb.] [367] [Isa. xxviii. 16; 1 Cor. iii. 11.] [368] This portion of the Leipzig Codex is much eaten away, and therefore the text is derived to a considerable extent from the translations. [369] [The tenacity with which Hermas everywhere exalts the primary importance …
2,364 wordsSECTION 241. The Phrygian enthusiasm, like the convulsionism of Paris [413] in the last century, was a phenomenon not to be trifled with; especially w
1. The Phrygian enthusiasm, like the convulsionism of Paris [413] in the last century, was a phenomenon not to be trifled with; especially when it began to threaten the West. This work was produced to meet so great an emergency. 2. "Fire fights fire," and prophesyings are best met by prophesyings. These were rare among the Orth…
2,426 wordsSECTION 25Chapter I.--The Greeks Claim, Without Reason, the Invention of the Arts.
I have enlarged upon the equivocal character of Tatian with melancholy interest, because I shall make sparing use of notes, in editing his sole surviving work, pronounced by Eusebius his masterpiece. I read it with sympathy, admiration, and instruction. I enjoy his biting satire of heathenism, his Pauline contempt for all philos…
1,063 wordsSECTION 26Chapter II.--The Vices and Errors of the Philosophers.
Chapter II.--The Vices and Errors of the Philosophers. What noble thing have you produced by your pursuit of philosophy? Who of your most eminent men has been free from vain boasting? Diogenes, who made such a parade of his independence with his tub, was seized with a bowel complaint through eating a raw polypus, and so lost hi…
724 wordsSECTION 27Chapter IV.--The Christians Worship God Alone.
Chapter IV.--The Christians Worship God Alone. For what reason, men of Greece, do you wish to bring the civil powers, as in a pugilistic encounter, into collision with us? And, if I am not disposed to comply with the usages of some of them, why am I to be abhorred as a vile miscreant? [426] Does the sovereign order the payment …
1,001 wordsSECTION 28Chapter VI.--Christians' Belief in the Resurrection.
Chapter VI.--Christians' Belief in the Resurrection. And on this account we believe that there will be a resurrection of bodies after the consummation of all things; not, as the Stoics affirm, according to the return of certain cycles, the same things being produced and destroyed for no useful purpose, but a resurrection once f…
1,238 wordsSECTION 29Chapter IX.--They Give Rise to Superstitions.
Chapter IX.--They Give Rise to Superstitions. Such are the demons; these are they who laid down the doctrine of Fate. Their fundamental principle was the placing of animals in the heavens. For the creeping things on the earth, and those that swim in the waters, and the quadrupeds on the mountains, with which they lived when exp…
867 wordsSECTION 30Chapter XI.--The Sin of Men Due Not to Fate, But to Free-Will.
Chapter XI.--The Sin of Men Due Not to Fate, But to Free-Will. How, then, shall I admit this nativity according to Fate, when I see such managers of Fate? I do not wish to be a king; I am not anxious to be rich; I decline military command; I detest fornication; I am not impelled by an insatiable love of gain to go to sea; I do …
1,222 wordsSECTION 31Chapter XIII.--Theory of the Soul's Immortality.
Chapter XIII.--Theory of the Soul's Immortality. The soul is not in itself immortal, O Greeks, but mortal. [461] Yet it is possible for it not to die. If, indeed, it knows not the truth, it dies, and is dissolved with the body, but rises again at last at the end of the world with the body, receiving death by punishment in immor…
718 wordsSECTION 32Chapter XV.--Necessity of a Union with the Holy Spirit.
Chapter XV.--Necessity of a Union with the Holy Spirit. But further, it becomes us now to seek for what we once had, but have lost, to unite the soul with the Holy Spirit, and to strive after union with God. The human soul consists of many parts, and is not simple; it is composite, so as to manifest itself through the body; for…
927 wordsSECTION 33Chapter XVII.--They Falsely Promise Health to Their Votaries.
Chapter XVII.--They Falsely Promise Health to Their Votaries. Concerning the sympathies and antipathies of Democritus what can we say but this, that, according to the common saying, the man of Abdera is Abderiloquent? But, as he who gave the name to the city, a friend of Hercules as it is said, was devoured by the horses of Dio…
952 wordsSECTION 34Chapter XIX.--Depravity Lies at the Bottom of Demon-Worship.
Chapter XIX.--Depravity Lies at the Bottom of Demon-Worship. But do you, who have not the perception of these things, be instructed by us who know them: though you do profess to despise death, and to be sufficient of yourselves for everything. But this is a discipline in which your philosophers are so greatly deficient, that so…
1,046 wordsSECTION 35Chapter XXI.--Doctrines of the Christians and Greeks Respecting God Compared.
Chapter XXI.--Doctrines of the Christians and Greeks Respecting God Compared. We do not act as fools, O Greeks, nor utter idle tales, when we announce that God was born in the form of a man. I call on you who reproach us to compare your mythical accounts with our narrations. Athené, as they say, took the form of Deïphobus for t…
796 wordsSECTION 36Chapter XXIII.--Of the Pugilists and Gladiators.
Chapter XXIII.--Of the Pugilists and Gladiators. I have seen men weighed down by bodily exercise, and carrying about the burden of their flesh, before whom rewards and chaplets are set, while the adjudicators cheer them on, not to deeds of virtue, but to rivalry in violence and discord; and he who excels in giving blows is crow…
905 wordsSECTION 37Chapter XXVI.--Ridicule of the Studies of the Greeks.
Chapter XXVI.--Ridicule of the Studies of the Greeks. Cease to make a parade of sayings which you have derived from others, and to deck yourselves like the daw in borrowed plumes. If each state were to take away its contribution to your speech, your fallacies would lose their power. While inquiring what God is, you are ignorant…
882 wordsSECTION 38Chapter XXVIII.--Condemnation of the Greek Legislation.
Chapter XXVIII.--Condemnation of the Greek Legislation. On this account I reject your legislation also; for there ought to be one common polity for all; but now there are as many different codes as there are states, so that things held disgraceful in some are honourable in others. The Greeks consider intercourse with a mother a…
1,108 wordsSECTION 39Chapter XXXII.--The Doctrine of the Christians, is Opposed to Dissensions, and Fitted for All.
Chapter XXXII.--The Doctrine of the Christians, is Opposed to Dissensions, and Fitted for All. But with us there is no desire of vainglory, nor do we indulge in a variety of opinions. For having renounced the popular and earthly, and obeying the commands of God, and following the law of the Father of immortality, we reject ever…
1,389 wordsSECTION 40Chapter XXXIV.--Ridicule of the Statues Erected by the Greeks.
Chapter XXXIV.--Ridicule of the Statues Erected by the Greeks. Worthy of very great honour, certainly, was the tyrant Bhalaris, who devoured sucklings, and accordingly is exhibited by the workmanship of Polystratus the Ambraciot, even to this day, as a very wonderful man! The Agrigentines dreaded to look on that countenance of …
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Source & rights
Historical text source: Christian Classics Ethereal Library. The downloaded text itself records Public Domain.