Ante-Nicene Fathers • VOLUME 7
Lactantius, Venantius, Asterius, Victorinus & Others
SECTION 121
[1882] Lacerti, The arm from the elbow to the shoulder.
[1882] Lacerti, The arm from the elbow to the shoulder. [1883] Maturius funditur. [1884] i.e., pollex, as though from "polleo," to prevail. [1885] Abjectum. Chap. XI.--Of the Intestines in Man, and Their Use. It necessarily follows that I should begin to speak of the inward parts also, to which has been assigned not beauty,…
2,336 wordsSECTION 122But in the soles of the feet there is the same plan as in the hands, but yet very different: for since these are, as it were, the foundation
But in the soles of the feet there is the same plan as in the hands, but yet very different: for since these are, as it were, the foundations of the whole body, [1910] the admirable Artificer has not made them of a round appearance, lest man should be unable to stand, or should need other feet for standing, as is the case with q…
2,318 wordsSECTION 123[1916] In altum se abdiderit. [An interesting "evolution from self-consciousness," not altogether to be despised. In connection with the tri
[1916] In altum se abdiderit. [An interesting "evolution from self-consciousness," not altogether to be despised. In connection with the tripartite nature of man (of which see vol. iii. [179]p. 474), we may well inquire as to the seat of the psuche` and the pneuma, severally, on this hint.] [1917] Mobilitatis. [1918] Intenta d…
2,239 wordsSECTION 124[1938] Sed ego id in eo jure ab ancipiti vindico.
[1938] Sed ego id in eo jure ab ancipiti vindico. [1939] ii. 991. [1940] Et citra hoc opus homo resistit. The compound word "resistit" is used for the simple sistit--"stands." [1941] Sacramento [1942] Metitur, "measures." [1943] Corpusculum. The diminutive appears to imply contempt. [1944] The expression is too general, si…
2,328 wordsSECTION 125[1965] [See especially vol. iv. [182]p. 141 for the intermediary pauses of persecutions, while yet in many places Christians "died daily."]
[1965] [See especially vol. iv. [182]p. 141 for the intermediary pauses of persecutions, while yet in many places Christians "died daily."] Chap. IV. This long peace, [1966] however, was afterwards interrupted. Decius appeared in the world, an accursed wild beast, to afflict the Church,--and who but a bad man would persecute r…
2,233 wordsSECTION 126[1970] [Nothing easier than for these to pretend such a difficulty, in order to incite the emperor to severities. They may have found it con
[1970] [Nothing easier than for these to pretend such a difficulty, in order to incite the emperor to severities. They may have found it convenient to represent the sign of the cross as the source of their inability to give oracles.] Chap. XI. The mother of Galerius, a woman exceedingly superstitious, was a votary of the gods …
2,411 wordsSECTION 127[1977] 20th of November.
[1977] 20th of November. [1978] 1st of January. [1979] 13th of December. [1980] 1st of March. Chap. XVIII. Within a few days Galerius Cæsar arrived, not to congratulate his father-in-law on the re-establishment of his health, but to force him to resign the empire. Already he had urged Maximian Herculius to the like purpose,…
2,226 wordsSECTION 128[1982] [A course of conduct which, providentially, tended to stop the chronic severity against believers.]
[1982] [A course of conduct which, providentially, tended to stop the chronic severity against believers.] Chap. XXIII. But that which gave rise to public and universal calamity, was the tax imposed at once on each province and city. Surveyors having been spread abroad, and occupied in a general and severe scrutiny, horrible s…
2,338 wordsSECTION 129Chap. XXIX.
Chap. XXIX. Then Maximian returned into Gaul; and after having made some stay in those quarters, he went to Galerius, the enemy of his son, that they might confer together, as he pretended, about the settlement of the commonweal; but his true purpose was, under colour of reconciliation, to find an opportunity of murdering Galer…
2,244 wordsSECTION 130Chap. XXXV.
Chap. XXXV. This edict was promulgated at Nicomedia on the day preceding the kalends of May, [1987] in the eighth consulship of Galerius, and the second of Maximin Daia. Then the prison-gates having been thrown open, you, my best beloved Donatus, [1988] together with the other confessors for the faith, were set at liberty from …
2,210 wordsSECTION 131Chap. XLIII.
Chap. XLIII. Of the adversaries of God there still remained one, whose overthrow and end I am now to relate. Daia had entertained jealousy and ill-will against Licinius from the time that the preference was given to him by Galerius; and those sentiments still subsisted, notwithstanding the treaty of peace lately concluded betw…
2,473 wordsSECTION 132"All those places are, by your intervention, to be immediately restored to the Christians. And because it appears that, besides the places a
"All those places are, by your intervention, to be immediately restored to the Christians. And because it appears that, besides the places appropriated to religious worship, the Christians did possess other places, which belonged not to individuals, but to their society in general, that is, to their churches, we comprehend all s…
2,111 wordsSECTION 133There is a happy spot, retired [2012] in the first East, where the great gate of the eternal pole lies open. It is not, however, situated ne
There is a happy spot, retired [2012] in the first East, where the great gate of the eternal pole lies open. It is not, however, situated near to his rising in summer or in winter, but where the sun pours the day from his vernal chariot. There a plain spreads its open tracts; nor does any mound rise, nor hollow valley open [2013…
2,206 wordsSECTION 134[2056] Ingentes oculi; others read, "oculos."
[2056] Ingentes oculi; others read, "oculos." [2057] Hyacinthos; gems of this colour. [2058] Æquatur. [2059] i.e., the rays of the sun. [2060] Roseus; others read, "roseo honore." [2061] The pheasant. [2062] Magniciem. Some take this as denoting the name of a bird, but no such bird is known. [2063] Pergrave pondus; others…
2,601 wordsSECTION 135General Note.
General Note. A fine passage illustrating the gush of early Christian devotion at Easter, "breaking into all the heavenly joy of the new creation," will be found in Professor Milligan's remarkable work on The Resurrection of our Lord (London, Macmillan, 1884). The author is "professor of divinity and biblical criticism in the U…
2,281 wordsSECTION 136vii.
vii. Hence, also, whenever those who have been called to martyrdom for the true faith by the Church happen to fall in with any of those so-called martyrs of the Phrygian heresy, they always separate from them, and die without having fellowship with them, because they do not choose to give their assent to the spirit of Montanus …
1,598 wordsSECTION 137VICTORINUS
VICTORINUS [translated by the rev. robert ernest wallis, ph.d.] ON THE CREATION OF THE WORLD [2196] To me, as I meditate and consider in my mind concerning the creation of this world in which we are kept enclosed, even such is the rapidity of that creation; as is contained in the book of Moses, which he wrote about its creati…
2,200 wordsSECTION 138COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE OF THE BLESSED JOHN
[2215] Trabes. [There is no proof of seven heavens in Scripture.] [2216] Coma horribilis curabitur. [2217] Ps. xlv. 1 [Vol. i. [214]p. 213, this series.] [2218] John i. 1, 2, 3. [2219] 1 Cor. xv. 45-47. [2220] Rev. v. 6. [2221] Zech. iv. 10. [2222] Rev. iv. 5. [2223] Rev. iv. 5. [2224] Rev. i. 13. [2225] Lev. xxiii. 18…
2,202 wordsSECTION 139[2261] 1 Cor. xv. 53.
[2261] 1 Cor. xv. 53. [2262] Operantur, conjectured to be "vivunt." from the second chapter. 2. "I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience."] In the first epistle He speaks thus: I know that thou sufferest and workest, I see that thou art patient; think not that I am staying long from thee. "And that thou canst not …
2,592 wordsSECTION 1408. "Six wings."] These are the testimonies of the books of the Old Testament. Thus, twenty and four make as many as there are elders sitting
8. "Six wings."] These are the testimonies of the books of the Old Testament. Thus, twenty and four make as many as there are elders sitting upon the thrones. But as an animal cannot fly unless it have wings, so, too, the announcement of the New Testament gains no faith unless it have the fore-announced testimonies of the Old Te…
2,510 wordsSECTION 14112. "And I saw, when he had opened the sixth seal, there was a great earthquake."] In the sixth seal, then, was a great earthquake: this is
12. "And I saw, when he had opened the sixth seal, there was a great earthquake."] In the sixth seal, then, was a great earthquake: this is that very last persecution. "And the sun became black as sackcloth of hair."] The sun becomes as sackcloth; that is, the brightness of doctrine will be obscured by unbelievers. "And the en…
2,312 wordsSECTION 1422. "The court which is within the temple leave out."] The space which is called the court is the empty altar within the walls: these being s
2. "The court which is within the temple leave out."] The space which is called the court is the empty altar within the walls: these being such as were not necessary, he commanded to be ejected from the Church. "It is given to be trodden down by the Gentiles."] That is, to the men of this world, that it may be trodden under foo…
2,212 wordsSECTION 143[2298] [No hint here that this was a manifestation of the Blessed Virgin, the modern fiction of Rome. See vol. vi, [218]p. 355, this series.
[2298] [No hint here that this was a manifestation of the Blessed Virgin, the modern fiction of Rome. See vol. vi, [218]p. 355, this series.] [2299] [A noteworthy testimony to primitive interpretation.] [2300] [Compare Tertullian, De Fuga, vol. iv. [219]p. 117, this series.] [2301] Luke xxi. 21. [2302] 2 Thess. ii. 3, 4. fr…
2,498 wordsSECTION 1444, 5. "And I saw thrones, and them that sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them; and I saw the souls of them that were slain on acco
4, 5. "And I saw thrones, and them that sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them; and I saw the souls of them that were slain on account of the testimony of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast nor his image, nor have received his writing on their forehead or in their hand; and they reign…
1,226 wordsSECTION 145GENERAL NOTES BY THE AMERICAN EDITOR
GENERAL NOTES BY THE AMERICAN EDITOR 1. The whole subject of the Apocalypse is so treated, [2318] in the Speaker's Commentary, as to elucidate many questions suggested by the primitive commentators of this series, and to furnish the latest judgments of critics on the subject. It is so immense a matter, however, as to render ann…
1,506 wordsSECTION 146INTRODUCTORY NOTICE
INTRODUCTORY NOTICE TO DIONYSIUS, BISHOP OF ROME. [a.d. 259-269.] Dionysius is no exception to the rule that Latin Christianity had no place in Rome till after the Nicene Council. He was a Greek by birth, and reflects the spirit and orthodoxy of the Greek Fathers; and what we have from him is written in the Greek language. We…
2,207 wordsSECTION 147So there is one Father, not three Fathers; one Son, not three Sons: one Holy Ghost, not three Holy Ghosts.
So there is one Father, not three Fathers; one Son, not three Sons: one Holy Ghost, not three Holy Ghosts. And in this Trinity none is afore, or after other: none is greater, or less than another; But the whole three Persons are co-eternal together: and co-equal. So that in all things, as is aforesaid: the Unity in Trinity, a…
857 wordsSECTION 148THE TEACHING OF THE TWELVE APOSTLES.
THE TEACHING OF THE TWELVE APOSTLES. Introductory Notice To The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles. The interest so generally excited in the learned world by the ("Bryennios") discovery of a very primitive document, rendered it indispensable that this republication should be enriched by it, in connection with the Apostolic Cons…
2,237 wordsSECTION 1496. The Duæ Viæ, spoken of by Rufinus, may be the common source. We have no positive evidence, but the "two ways" form so prominent a topic i
6. The Duæ Viæ, spoken of by Rufinus, may be the common source. We have no positive evidence, but the "two ways" form so prominent a topic in most of these documents which indicate literary relationship, as to encourage this theory. If there was a common source, it probably contained only matter similar to chaps. i.-v., which wa…
1,200 wordsSECTION 150Chapter I.--The Two Ways; The First Commandment.
Chapter I.--The Two Ways; The First Commandment. 1. There are two ways, [2370] one of life and one of death; [2371] but a great difference between the two ways. 2. The way of life, then, is this: First, thou shalt love God [2372] who made thee; second, thy neighbour as thyself; [2373] and all things whatsoever thou wouldst shou…
988 wordsSECTION 151Chapter III. [2403] --Other Sins Forbidden.
Chapter III. [2403] --Other Sins Forbidden. 1. My child, [2404] flee from every evil thing, and from every likeness of it. 2. Be not prone to anger, for anger leadeth the way to murder; neither jealous, nor quarrelsome, nor of hot temper; for out of all these murders are engendered. 3. My child, be not a lustful one; for lust l…
1,052 wordsSECTION 152Chapter V. [2427] --The Way of Death.
Chapter V. [2427] --The Way of Death. 1. And the way of death [2428] is this: First of all it is evil and full of curse: [2429] murders, [2430] adulteries, lusts, fornications, thefts, idolatries, magic arts, witchcrafts, rapines, false witnessings, hypocrisies, double-heartedness, deceit, haughtiness, depravity, self-will, gre…
904 wordsSECTION 153Chapter VIII. [2447] --Concerning Fasting and Prayer (the Lord's Prayer).
Chapter VIII. [2447] --Concerning Fasting and Prayer (the Lord's Prayer). 1. But let not your fasts be with the hypocrites; [2448] for they fast on the second and fifth day of the week; but do ye fast on the fourth day and the Preparation (Friday). [2449] 2. Neither pray as the hypocrites; but as the Lord commanded in His Gospe…
1,186 wordsSECTION 154Chapter XI. [2470] --Concerning Teachers, Apostles, and Prophets.
Chapter XI. [2470] --Concerning Teachers, Apostles, and Prophets. 1. Whosoever, therefore, cometh and teacheth you all these things that have been said before, receive him. [2471] 2. But if the teacher himself turn [2472] and teach another doctrine to the destruction of this, hear him not; but if he teach so as to increase righ…
728 wordsSECTION 155Chapter XII. [2480] --Reception of Christians.
Chapter XII. [2480] --Reception of Christians. 1. But let every one that cometh in the name of the Lord be received, [2481] and afterward ye shall prove and know him; for ye shall have understanding right and left. 2. If he who cometh is a wayfarer, assist him as far as ye are able; but he shall not remain with you, except for …
786 wordsSECTION 156Chapter XV. [2497] --Bishops and Deacons; Christian Reproof.
Chapter XV. [2497] --Bishops and Deacons; Christian Reproof. 1. Appoint, therefore, for yourselves, bishops and deacons worthy of the Lord, men meek, and not lovers of money, [2498] and truthful and proved; for they also render to you the service [2499] of prophets and teachers. 2. Despise them not therefore, for they are your …
2,440 wordsSECTION 157We may accept as established the following positions:--
We may accept as established the following positions:-- 1. The Apostolic Constitutions are a compilation, the material being derived from sources differing in age. 2. The first six books are the oldest; the seventh, in its present form, somewhat later, but, from its connection with the Teaching, proven to contain matter of a v…
1,820 wordsSECTION 158Book I.
Book I. Concerning the Laity. Sec. I.--General Commandments. The apostles and elders to all those who from among the Gentiles have believed in the Lord Jesus Christ; grace and peace from Almighty God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, be multiplied unto you in the acknowledgment of Him. The Catholic Church is the plantation of …
2,434 wordsSECTION 159Concerning a Bad Woman.
Concerning a Bad Woman. VII. For let us learn what the sacred word says in the book of Wisdom: "My son, keep my words, and hide my commandments with thee. Say unto Wisdom, Thou art my sister; and make understanding familiar with thee: that she may keep thee from the strange and wicked woman, in case such a one accost thee with …
2,005 wordsSECTION 160Book II.
Book II. Of Bishops, Presbyters, and Deacons. Sec. I.--On Examining Candidates for the Episcopal Office. That a Bishop Must Be Well Instructed and Experienced in the Word. I. But concerning bishops, we have heard from our Lord, that a pastor who is to be ordained a bishop for the churches in every parish, must be unblameable…
2,370 wordsSource & rights
Historical text source: Christian Classics Ethereal Library. The downloaded text itself records Public Domain.