Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series • VOLUME 11
Sulpitius Severus, Vincent of Lerins & John Cassian
SECTION 81
Chapter XXXIX.
Chapter XXXIX. Solomon in the beginning of his reign surrounded the city with a wall. To him while asleep God appeared standing by him, and gave him the choice of whatever things he desired. But he asked that nothing more than wisdom should be granted him, deeming all other things of little value. Accordingly, when he arose fro…
1,065 wordsSECTION 82Chapter XLII.
Chapter XLII. In his room Abiud his son held the kingdom at Jerusalem for six years, although he is said in the Chronicles [314] to have reigned three years. Asab his son succeeded him, being the fifth from David, as he was his great-great-grandson. He was a pious worshiper of God; for, destroying the altars and the groves of t…
1,130 wordsSECTION 83Chapter XLIV.
Chapter XLIV. At that time, Ahab, king of Samaria, coveted the vineyard of Naboth, which was adjacent to his own. And as Naboth was unwilling to sell it to him, he was cut off by the wiles of Jezebel. Thus Ahab got possession of the vineyard, though he is said at the same time to have regretted the death of Naboth. Acknowledgin…
708 wordsSECTION 84Chapter XLVI.
Chapter XLVI. But Jeu possessed the kingdom of Joram. After the death of Ochozia in Judæa, when he had reigned one year, his mother, Gotholiah, seized the supreme power, having deprived her grandson (whose name was Joas) of the government, he being at the time but a little child. But the power thus snatched from him by his gran…
814 wordsSECTION 85Chapter XLVIII.
Chapter XLVIII. The remarkable faith of the Ninevites is related to have been manifested about these times. That town, founded of old by Assure, the son of Sem, was the capital of the kingdom of the Assyrians. It was then full of a multitude of inhabitants, sustaining one hundred and twenty thousand men, and abounding in wicked…
761 wordsSECTION 86Chapter L.
Chapter L. To him succeeded Ezekias his son, a man very unlike his father in character. For, in the beginning of his reign, urging the people and the priests to the worship of God, he discoursed to them in many words, showing how often, after being chastened by the Lord, they had obtained mercy, and how the ten tribes, having b…
747 wordsSECTION 87Chapter LII.
Chapter LII. The government then passed to his son Josia. He is related to have been very pious, and to have attended to divine things with the utmost care, profiting largely by the aid of the priest Helchia. Having read a book written with the words of God, and which had been found in the temple by the priest, in which it was …
1,176 wordsSECTION 88Book II.
Book II. Chapter I. The times of the captivity have been rendered illustrious by the predictions and deeds of the prophets, and especially by the remarkable persistency of Daniel in upholding the law, and by the deliverance of Susanna through the divine wisdom, as well as by the other things which it accomplished, and which we…
953 wordsSECTION 89Chapter III.
Chapter III. Accordingly, as the prophet interpreted the matter, the image which was seen furnished a representation of the world. The golden head is the empire of the Chaldæans; for we have understood that it was the first and wealthiest. The breast and the arms of silver represent the second kingdom; for Cyrus, after the Chal…
836 wordsSECTION 90Chapter V.
Chapter V. At this period of time, Nabuchodonosor elated with prosperity, erected a golden statue to himself of enormous size, and ordered it to be worshiped as a sacred image. And when this was zealously gone about by all, inasmuch as their minds had been corrupted by the universal flattery which prevailed, Annanias, Azarias, …
929 wordsSECTION 91Chapter VII.
Chapter VII. Those, therefore, who were possessed of power along with him, stimulated by envy, because a foreigner belonging to a captive nation had been placed on a footing of equality with them, constrain the king, who had been corrupted by flattery, to enact that divine honors should be paid to him for the next thirty days, …
925 wordsSECTION 92Chapter IX.
Chapter IX. In the meantime, those Jews, who, as we have said above, returned into their native land by the permission of Cyrus, attempted to restore their city and temple. But, being few and poor, they made but little progress, until, at last, after the lapse of about a hundred years, while Artaxerxes the king ruled over the P…
975 wordsSECTION 93Chapter XI.
Chapter XI. There was at that time at Babylon one Nehemiah, a servant of the king, a Jew by birth, and very much beloved by Artaxerxes on account of the services he had rendered. He, having inquired of his fellow-countrymen the Jews, what was the condition of their ancestral city; and having learned that his native land remaine…
730 wordsSECTION 94Chapter XII.
Chapter XII. At this period of time we think Esther and Judith lived, but I confess that I cannot easily perceive with what kings especially I should connect the actions of their lives. For, while Esther is said to have lived under King Artaxerxes, I find that there were two Persian kings of that name, and there is much hesitat…
1,141 wordsSECTION 95Chapter XIV.
Chapter XIV. To this series of events it will be right that I should append an account of the doings of Judith; for she is related to have lived after the captivity, but the sacred history has not revealed who was king of the Persians in her day. It, however, calls the king under whom her exploits were performed by the name of …
1,270 wordsSECTION 96Chapter XVI.
Chapter XVI. When this became known to Judith (a widow woman of great wealth, and remarkable for beauty, but still more distinguished for her virtue than her beauty), who was then in the camp, she thought that, in the distressed circumstances of her people, some bold effort ought to be made by her, even though it should lead to…
806 wordsSECTION 97Chapter XVIII.
Chapter XVIII. For, first of all, under king Seleucus, the son of Antiochus the great, a certain man called Simon accused to the king on false charges Onias the priest, a holy and uncorrupted man, and thus tried, but in vain, to overthrow him. Then, after an interval of time, Jason, the brother of Onias, went to Antiochus the k…
894 wordsSECTION 98Chapter XX.
Chapter XX. At that time, Matthathias, the son of John, was high-priest. When he was being forced by the servants of the king to obey the edict, with marvelous courage he set at naught the profane enactments, and slew, in the presence of all, a Hebrew who was publicly performing profane acts. A leader having thus been found, re…
766 wordsSECTION 99Chapter XXII.
Chapter XXII. Judah, on the defeat of the enemy, returned to Jerusalem, and bent his mind on the purification and restoration of the temple, which having been overthrown by Antiochus, and profaned by the Gentiles, presented a melancholy spectacle. But as the Syrians held the citadel, which being connected with the temple, but s…
702 wordsSECTION 100Chapter XXIV.
Chapter XXIV. While these things are going on in Judæa, a certain young man educated at Rhodes, by name Alexander, gave himself out as being the son of Antiochus (which was false), and assisted by the power of Ptolemy, king of Alexandria, came into Syria with an army. He conquered Demetrius in war, and slew him after he had rei…
995 wordsSECTION 101Chapter XXVII.
Chapter XXVII. Then Herod, a foreigner, the son of Antipater of Askelon, asked and received the sovereignty of Judæa from the senate and people of Rome. Under him, the Jews began for the first time to have a foreigner as king. For as now the advent of Christ was at hand, it was necessary, according to the predictions of the pro…
1,048 wordsSECTION 102Chapter XXX.
Chapter XXX. So then, after the departure of Nero, Galba seized the government; and ere long, on Galba being slain, Otho secured it. Then Vitellius from Gaul, trusting to the armies which he commanded, entered the city, and having killed Otho, assumed the sovereignty. This afterwards passed to Vespasian, and although that was a…
1,000 wordsSECTION 103Chapter XXXII.
Chapter XXXII. After Adrian, the churches had peace under the rule of Antoninus Pius. Then the fifth persecution began under Aurelius, the son of Antoninus. And then, for the first time, martyrdoms were seen taking place in Gaul, for the religion of God had been accepted somewhat late beyond the Alps. Then the sixth persecution…
739 wordsSECTION 104Chapter XXXIV.
Chapter XXXIV. Through the kind efforts of the same queen, the cross of the Lord was then found. It could not, of course, be consecrated at the beginning, owing to the opposition of the Jews, and afterwards it had been covered over by the rubbish of the ruined city. And now, it would never have been revealed except to one seeki…
719 wordsSECTION 105Chapter XXXVI.
Chapter XXXVI. Accordingly, they first attack and condemn in his absence Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria, a holy man, who had been present as deacon at the Synod of Nicæa. For they added to the charges which false witnesses had heaped up against him, this one, that, with wicked intentions, he had received [366] Marcellus and P…
891 wordsSECTION 106Chapter XXXVIII.
Chapter XXXVIII. But then the Arians, seeing that stratagem did not succeed, determined to proceed by force. For it was easy for those to attempt and carry out anything who were supported by the favor of the monarch, whom they had thoroughly won over to themselves by wicked flatteries. Moreover, they were by the consent of all …
1,054 wordsSECTION 107Chapter XL.
Chapter XL. In the meantime, the Arians, not secretly, as before, but openly and publicly proclaimed their monstrous heretical doctrines. Moreover, they interpreted after their own views the Synod of Nicæa, and by the addition of one letter to its finding, threw a sort of obscurity over the truth. For where the expression Homoo…
851 wordsSECTION 108Chapter XLII.
Chapter XLII. In the meantime in the East, after the example of the West, the emperor ordered almost all the bishops to assemble at Seleucia, a town of Isauria. At that time, Hilarius, who was now spending the fourth year of his exile in Phrygia, is compelled to be present among the other bishops, the means of a public conveyan…
765 wordsSECTION 109Chapter XLIV.
Chapter XLIV. But these, the fewer they became, showed themselves all the more powerful; as the most steadfast among them was to be reckoned our friend Foegadius, and Servatio, bishop of the Tungri. As these had not yielded to threats and terrors, Taurus assails them with entreaties, and beseeches them with tears to adopt milde…
1,180 wordsSECTION 110Chapter XLVI.
Chapter XLVI. There follow the times of our own day, both difficult and dangerous. In these the churches have been defiled with no ordinary evil, and all things thrown into confusion. For then, for the first time, the infamous heresy of the Gnostics was detected in Spain--a deadly [385] superstition which concealed itself under…
882 wordsSECTION 111Chapter XLVIII.
Chapter XLVIII. And then Instantius, Salvianus, and Priscillian set out for Rome, in order that before Damasus who was at that time the bishop of the city, they might clear themselves of the charges brought against them. Well, their journey led them through the heart of Aquitania, and being there received with great pomp by suc…
831 wordsSECTION 112Chapter L.
Chapter L. Thus, then, all whom the process embraced were brought before the king. The bishops Ydacius and Ithacius followed as accusers; and I would by no means blame their zeal in overthrowing heretics, if they had not contended for victory with greater keenness than was fitting. And my feeling indeed is, that the accusers we…
1,072 wordsSECTION 113The COMMONITORY
The COMMONITORY OF Vincent of Lérins, For the Antiquity and Universality of the Catholic Faith Against the Profane Novelties of all Heresies: Translated by Rev. C. A. Heurtley, D.D., The Lady Margaret's Professor of Divinity in the University of Oxford, and Canon of Christ Church. Introduction. Very little is known of t…
2,335 wordsSECTION 114Chapter I.
[421] §§ 65 sqq. A Commonitory [422] For the Antiquity and Universality of the Catholic Faith Against the Profane Novelties of All Heresies. Chapter I. The Object of the Following Treatise. [1.] I, Peregrinus, [423] who am the least of all the servants of God, remembering the admonition of Scripture, "Ask thy fathers and th…
963 wordsSECTION 115Chapter II.
Chapter II. A General Rule for distinguishing the Truth of the Catholic Faith from the Falsehood of Heretical Pravity. [4.] I have often then inquired earnestly and attentively of very many men eminent for sanctity and learning, how and by what sure and so to speak universal rule I may be able to distinguish the truth of Catho…
2,099 wordsSECTION 116Chapter V.
Chapter V. The Example set us by the Martyrs, whom no force could hinder from defending the Faith of their Predecessors. [12.] But it may be, we invent these charges out of hatred to novelty and zeal for antiquity. Whoever is disposed to listen to such an insinuation, let him at least believe the blessed Ambrose, who, deplorin…
754 wordsSECTION 117Chapter VI.
Chapter VI. The example of Pope Stephen in resisting the Iteration of Baptism. [15.] Great then is the example of these same blessed men, an example plainly divine, and worthy to be called to mind, and meditated upon continually by every true Catholic, who, like the seven-branched candlestick, shining with the sevenfold light …
1,076 wordsSECTION 118Chapter VII.
Chapter VII. How Heretics, craftily cite obscure passages in ancient writers in support of their own novelties. [19.] This condemnation, indeed, [443] seems to have been providentially promulgated as though with a special view to the fraud of those who, contriving to dress up a heresy under a name other than its own, get hold …
733 wordsSECTION 119Chapter VIII.
Chapter VIII. Exposition of St. Paul's Words, Gal. i. 8. [21.] When therefore certain of this sort wandering about provinces and cities, and carrying with them their venal errors, had found their way to Galatia, and when the Galatians, on hearing them, nauseating the truth, and vomiting up the manna of Apostolic and Catholic d…
920 wordsSECTION 120Chapter X.
Chapter X. Why Eminent Men are permitted by God to become Authors of Novelties in the Church. [27.] But some one will ask, How is it then, that certain excellent persons, and of position in the Church, are often permitted by God to preach novel doctrines to Catholics? A proper question, certainly, and one which ought to be ver…
1,800 wordsSource & rights
Historical text source: Christian Classics Ethereal Library. The downloaded text itself records Public Domain.