Tag: Augustine

Augustine, ScriptureLeave a comment

Uncertain statements

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And, indeed, (since some passages are more obscure than others), it cannot but be right—as we have shown above—that uncertain statements should be determined by certain ones, and obscure ones by such as are clear and plain; else there is fear that, in the conflict of certainties and uncertainties, of explicitness and obscurity, faith may be shattered, truth endangered, and the Divine Being Himself be branded as inconstant. Tertullian. 1885. “On the Resurrection of the Flesh.” In Latin Christianity: Its Founder, Tertullian, edited by Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe, translated by Peter Holmes, 3:560. The Ante-Nicene Fathers. … Continue reading Uncertain statements

AugustineLeave a comment

The soul

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For its salvation is endangered, not by its being ignorant of itself, but of the word of God. “The life,” says He, “was manifested,” not the soul. And again, “I am come to save the soul.” He did not say, “to explain” it. Tertullian. 1885. “On the Flesh of Christ.” In Latin Christianity: Its Founder, Tertullian, edited by Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe, translated by Peter Holmes, 3:532. The Ante-Nicene Fathers. Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Company. “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder … Continue reading The soul

AugustineLeave a comment

Call us…Sarmenticii

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Sarmenticii – fagot people. But the day is won when the object of the struggle is gained. This victory of ours gives us the glory of pleasing God, and the spoil of life eternal. But we are overcome. Yes, when we have obtained our wishes. Therefore we conquer in dying; we go forth victorious at the very time we are subdued. Call us, if you like, Sarmenticii and Semaxii, because, bound to a half-axle stake, we are burned in a circle-heap of fagots. This is the attitude in which we conquer, it is our victory-robe, it is for us a … Continue reading Call us…Sarmenticii

Augustine, HellLeave a comment

The most good God

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Moreover, it would be a more unworthy course for God to spare the evil-doer than to punish him, especially in the most good and holy God, who is not otherwise fully good than as the enemy of evil, and that to such a degree as to display His love of good by the hatred of evil, and to fulfil His defence of the former by the extirpation of the latter. Tertullian. 1885. “The Five Books against Marcion.” In Latin Christianity: Its Founder, Tertullian, edited by Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe, translated by Peter Holmes, 3:292. The Ante-Nicene … Continue reading The most good God

AugustineLeave a comment

That heresies should come

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Come now, you who would indulge a better curiosity, if you would apply it to the business of your salvation, run over the apostolic churches, in which the very thrones of the apostles are still pre-eminent in their places, IN THEIR OWN AUTHENTIC WRITINGS ARE READ, uttering the voice and representing the face of each of them severally. Achaia is very near you, (in which) you find CORINTH. Since you are not far from Macedonia, you have PHILIPPI; (and there too) you have the THESSALONIANS. Since you are able to cross to Asia, you get EPHESUS. Since, moreover, you are … Continue reading That heresies should come

AugustineLeave a comment

Thou hast the words of eternal life

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No man gets instruction from that which tends to destruction. No man receives illumination from a quarter where all is darkness. Tertullian. 1885. “The Prescription against Heretics.” In Latin Christianity: Its Founder, Tertullian, edited by Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe, translated by Peter Holmes, 3:249. The Ante-Nicene Fathers. Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Company. “From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him. Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away? Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? THOU HAST THE WORDS OF ETERNAL LIFE. … Continue reading Thou hast the words of eternal life

AugustineLeave a comment

No watered down Christianity

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What indeed has Athens to do with Jerusalem? What concord is there between the Academy and the Church? what between heretics and Christians? Our instruction comes from “the porch of Solomon,” who had himself taught that “the Lord should be sought in simplicity of heart.” Away with all attempts to produce a mottled Christianity of Stoic, Platonic, and dialectic composition! We want no curious disputation after possessing Christ Jesus, no inquisition after enjoying the gospel! With our faith, we desire no further belief. For this is our palmary faith, that there is nothing which we ought to believe besides. Tertullian. … Continue reading No watered down Christianity

Augustine, SalvationLeave a comment

We boldly assert and persistently maintain

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As for our own views, indeed, we know what was man’s origin, and we boldly assert and persistently maintain that death happens not by way of natural consequence to man, but owing to a fault and defect which is not itself natural; although it is easy enough, no doubt, to apply the term natural to faults and circumstances which seem to have been (though from the emergence of an external cause) inseparable to us from our very birth. If man had been directly appointed to die as the condition of his creation, then of course death must be imputed to … Continue reading We boldly assert and persistently maintain