Fathers of the Third Century: Tertullian: Part Fourth, Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen: Parts First and Second

FATHERS OF THE THIRD CENTURY: TERTULLIAN, PART FOURTH; MINUCIUS FELIX; COMMODIAN; ORIGEN, PARTS FIRST AND SECOND

ANTE-NICENE FATHERS VOLUME 4. TERTULLIAN, PART FOURTH; MINUCIUS FELIX; COMMODIAN; ORIGEN, PARTS FIRST AND SECOND.

FATHERS OF THE THIRD CENTURY: TERTULLIAN, PART FOURTH; MINUCIUS FELIX; COMMODIAN; ORIGEN, PARTS FIRST AND SECOND.

THE WRITINGS OF THE FATHERS DOWN TO A.D. 325

TERTULLIAN

Tertullian - Part Fourth

MINUCIUS FELIX

The Octavius of Minucius Felix

COMMODIANUS

The Instructions of Commodianus

ORIGEN

The Works of Origen

Prologue of Rufinus

Origen De Principiis

A Letter to Origen from Africanus - About the History of Susanna

A Letter from Origen to Africanus

A Letter from Origen to Gregory

Origen Against Celsus

TERTULLIAN

Tertullian - Part Fourth

I - On the Pallium

Chapter I - Time Changes Nations’ Dresses—and Fortunes

Chapter II - The Law of Change, or Mutation, Universal

Chapter III - Beasts Similarly Subject to the Law of Mutation

Chapter IV - Change Not Always Improvement

Chapter V - Virtues of the Mantle. It Pleads in Its Own Defence

Chapter VI - Further Distinctions, and Crowning Glory, of the Pallium

II - On the Apparel of Women

Book I

Chapter I - Introduction. Modesty in Apparel Becoming to Women, in Memory of the Introduction of Sin into the World Through a Woman

Chapter II - The Origin of Female Ornamentation, Traced Back to the Angels Who Had Fallen

Chapter III - Concerning the Genuineness of “The Prophecy of Enoch.”

Chapter IV - Waiving the Question of the Authors, Tertullian Proposes to Consider the Things on Their Own Merits

Chapter V - Gold and Silver Not Superior in Origin or in Utility to Other Metals

Chapter VI - Of Precious Stones and Pearls

Chapter VII - Rarity the Only Cause Which Makes Such Things Valuable

Chapter VIII - The Same Rule Holds with Regard to Colours. God’s Creatures Generally Not to Be Used, Except for the Purposes to Which He Has Appointed Them

Chapter IX - God’s Distribution Must Regulate Our Desires, Otherwise We Become the Prey of Ambition and Its Attendant Evils

Book II

Chapter I - Introduction. Modesty to Be Observed Not Only in Its Essence, But in Its Accessories

Chapter II - Perfect Modesty Will Abstain from Whatever Tends to Sin, as Well as from Sin Itself. Difference Between Trust and Presumption. If Secure Ourselves, We Must Not Put Temptation in the Way of Others. We Must Love Our Neighbour as Ourself

Chapter III - Grant that Beauty Be Not to Be Feared: Still It is to Be Shunned as Unnecessary and Vainglorious

Chapter IV - Concerning the Plea of “Pleasing the Husband.”

Chapter V - Some Refinements in Dress and Personal Appearance Lawful, Some Unlawful. Pigments Come Under the Latter Head

Chapter VI - Of Dyeing the Hair

Chapter VII - Of Elaborate Dressing of the Hair in Other Ways, and Its Bearing Upon Salvation

Chapter VIII - Men Not Excluded from These Remarks on Personal Adornment

Chapter IX - Excess in Dress, as Well as in Personal Culture, to Be Shunned. Arguments Drawn from I Cor. VII

Chapter X - Tertullian Refers Again to the Question of the Origin of All These Ornaments and Embellishments

Chapter XI - Christian Women, Further, Have Not the Same Causes for Appearing in Public, and Hence for Dressing in Fine Array as Gentiles. On the Contrary, Their Appearance Should Always Distinguish Them from Such

Chapter XII - Such Outward Adornments Meretricious, and Therefore Unsuitable to Modest Women

Chapter XIII - It is Not Enough that God Know Us to Be Chaste: We Must Seem So Before Men. Especially in These Times of Persecution We Must Inure Our Bodies to the Hardships Which They May Not Improbably Be Called to Suffer

III - On the Veiling of Virgins

Chapter I - Truth Rather to Be Appealed to Than Custom, and Truth Progressive in Its Developments

Chapter II - Before Proceeding Farther, Let the Question of Custom Itself Be Sifted

Chapter III - Gradual Development of Custom, and Its Results. Passionate Appeal to Truth

Chapter IV - Of the Argument Drawn from 1 Cor. XI. 5–16

Chapter V - Of the Word Woman, Especially in Connection with Its Application to Eve

Chapter VI - The Parallel Case of Mary Considered

Chapter VII - Of the Reasons Assigned by the Apostle for Bidding Women to Be Veiled

Chapter VIII - The Argument E Contrario

Chapter IX - Veiling Consistent with the Other Rules of Discipline Observed by Virgins and Women in General

Chapter X - If the Female Virgins are to Be Thus Conspicuous, Why Not the Male as Well?

Chapter XI - The Rule of Veiling Not Applicable to Children

Chapter XII - Womanhood Self-Evident, and Not to Be Concealed by Just Leaving the Head Bare

Chapter XIII - If Unveiling Be Proper, Why Not Practise It Always, Out of the Church as Well as in It?

Chapter XIV - Perils to the Virgins Themselves Attendant Upon Not-Veiling

Chapter XV - Of Fascination

Chapter XVI - Tertullian, Having Shown His Defence to Be Consistent with Scripture, Nature, and Discipline, Appeals to the Virgins Themselves

Chapter XVII - An Appeal to the Married Women

IV - To His Wife

Book I

Chapter I - Design of the Treatise. Disavowal of Personal Motives in Writing It

Chapter II - Marriage Lawful, But Not Polygamy

Chapter III - Marriage Good: Celibacy Preferable

Chapter IV - Of the Infirmity of the Flesh, and Similar Pleas

Chapter V - Of the Love of Offspring as a Plea for Marriage

Chapter VI - Examples of Heathens Urged as Commendatory of Widowhood and Celibacy

Chapter VII - The Death of a Husband is God’s Call to the Widow to Continence. Further Evidences from Scripture and from Heathenism

Chapter VIII - Conclusion

Book II

Chapter I - Reasons Which Led to the Writing of This Second Book

Chapter II - Of the Apostle’s Meaning in 1 Cor. VII. 12–14

Chapter III - Remarks on Some of the “Dangers and Wounds” Referred to in the Preceding Chapter

Chapter IV - Of the Hindrances Which an Unbelieving Husband Puts in His Wife’s Way

Chapter V - Of Sin and Danger Incurred Even with a “Tolerant” Husband

Chapter VI - Danger of Having to Take Part in Heathenish Rites, and Revels

Chapter VII - The Case of a Heathen Whose Wife is Converted After Marriage with Him Very Different, and Much More Hopeful

Chapter VIII - Arguments Drawn Even from Heathenish Laws to Discountenance Marriage with Unbelievers. The Happiness of Union Between Partners in the Faith Enlarged on in Conclusion

V - On Exhortation to Chastity

Chapter I - Introduction. Virginity Classified Under Three Several Species

Chapter II - The Blame of Our Misdeeds Not to Be Cast Upon God. The One Power Which Rests with Man is the Power of Volition

Chapter III - Of Indulgence and Pure Volition. The Question Illustrated

Chapter IV - Further Remarks Upon the Apostle’s Language

Chapter V - Unity of Marriage Taught by Its First Institution, and by the Apostle’s Application of that Primal Type to Christ and the Church

Chapter VI - The Objection from the Polygamy of the Patriarchs Answered

Chapter VII - Even the Old Discipline Was Not Without Precedents to Enforce Monogamy. But in This as in Other Respects, the New Has Brought in a Higher Perfection

Chapter VIII - If It Be Granted that Second Marriage is Lawful, Yet All Things Lawful are Not Expedient

Chapter IX - Second Marriage a Species of Adultery, Marriage Itself Impugned, as Akin to Adultery

Chapter X - Application of the Subject. Advantages of Widowhood

Chapter XI - The More the Wives, the Greater the Distraction of the Spirit

Chapter XII - Excuses Commonly Urged in Defence of Second Marriage. Their Futility, Especially in the Case of Christians, Pointed Out

Chapter XIII - Examples from Among the Heathen, as Well as from the Church, to Enforce the Foregoing Exhortation

VI - On Monogamy

Chapter I - Different Views in Regard to Marriage Held by Heretics, Psychic, and Spiritualists

Chapter II - The Spiritualists Vindicated from the Charge of Novelty

Chapter III - The Question of Novelty Further Considered in Connection with the Words of the Lord and His Apostles

Chapter IV - Waiving Allusion to the Paraclete, Tertullian Comes to the Consideration of the Ancient Scriptures, and Their Testimony on the Subject in Hand

Chapter V - Connection of These Primeval Testimonies with Christ

Chapter VI - The Case of Abraham, and Its Bearing on the Present Question

Chapter VII - From Patriarchal, Tertullian Comes to Legal, Precedents

Chapter VIII - From the Law Tertullian Comes to the Gospel. He Begins with Examples Before Proceeding to Dogmas

Chapter IX - From Examples Tertullian Passes to Direct Dogmatic Teachings. He Begins with the Lord’s Teaching

Chapter X - St. Paul’s Teaching on the Subject

Chapter XI - Further Remarks Upon St. Paul’s Teaching

Chapter XII - The Explanation of the Passage Offered by the Psychics Considered

Chapter XIII - Further Objections from St. Paul Answered

Chapter XIV - Even If the Permission Had Been Given by St. Paul in the Sense Which the Psychics Allege, It Was Merely Like the Mosaic Permission of Divorce—A Condescension to Human Hard-Heartedness

Chapter XV - Unfairness of Charging the Disciples of the New Prophecy with Harshness. The Charge Rather to Be Retorted Upon the Psychics

Chapter XVI - Weakness of the Pleas Urged in Defence of Second Marriage

Chapter XVII - Heathen Examples Cry Shame Upon This “Infirmity of the Flesh.”

VII - On Modesty

Chapter II - God Just as Well as Merciful; Accordingly, Mercy Must Not Be Indiscriminate

Chapter III - An Objection Anticipated Before the Discussion Above Promised is Commenced

Chapter IV - Adultery and Fornication Synonymous

Chapter V - Of the Prohibition of Adultery in the Decalogue

Chapter VI - Examples of Such Offences Under the Old Dispensation No Pattern for the Disciples of the New. But Even the Old Has Examples of Vengeance Upon Such Offences

Chapter VII - Of the Parables of the Lost Ewe and the Lost Drachma

Chapter VIII - Of the Prodigal Son

Chapter IX - Certain General Principles of Parabolic Interpretation. These Applied to the Parables Now Under Consideration, Especially to that of the Prodigal Son

Chapter X - Repentance More Competent to Heathens Than to Christians

Chapter XI - From Parables Tertullian Comes to Consider Definite Acts of the Lord

Chapter XII - Of the Verdict of the Apostles, Assembled in Council, Upon the Subject of Adultery

Chapter XIII - Of St. Paul, and the Person Whom He Urges the Corinthians to Forgive

Chapter XIV - The Same Subject Continued

Chapter XV - The Same Subject Continued

Chapter XVI - General Consistency of the Apostle

Chapter XVII - Consistency of the Apostle in His Other Epistles

Chapter XVIII - Answer to a Psychical Objection

Chapter XIX - Objections from the Revelation and the First Epistle of St. John Refuted

Chapter XX - From Apostolic Teaching Tertullian Turns to that of Companions of the Apostles, and of the Law

Chapter XXI - Of the Difference Between Discipline and Power, and of the Power of the Keys

Chapter XXII - Of Martyrs, and Their Intercession on Behalf of Scandalous Offenders

VIII - On Fasting

Chapter I - Connection of Gluttony and Lust. Grounds of Psychical Objections Against the Montanists

Chapter II - Arguments of the Psychics, Drawn from the Law, the Gospel, the Acts, the Epistles, and Heathenish Practices

Chapter III - The Principle of Fasting Traced Back to Its Earliest Source

Chapter IV - The Objection is Raised, Why, Then, Was the Limit of Lawful Food Extended After the Flood? The Answer to It

Chapter V - Proceeding to the History of Israel, Tertullian Shows that Appetite Was as Conspicuous Among Their Sins as in Adam’s Case. Therefore the Restraints of the Levitical Law Were Imposed

Chapter VI - The Physical Tendencies of Fasting and Feeding Considered. The Cases of Moses and Elijah

Chapter VII - Further Examples from the Old Testament in Favour of Fasting

Chapter VIII - Examples of a Similar Kind from the New

Chapter IX - From Fasts Absolute Tertullian Comes to Partial Ones and Xerophagies

Chapter X - Of Stations, and of the Hours of Prayer

Chapter XI - Of the Respect Due to “Human Authority;” And of the Charges of “Heresy” And “Pseudo-Prophecy.”

Chapter XII - Of the Need for Some Protest Against the Psychics and Their Self-Indulgence

Chapter XIII - Of the Inconsistencies of the Psychics

Chapter XIV - Reply to the Charge of “Galaticism.”

Chapter XV - Of the Apostle’s Language Concerning Food

Chapter XVI - Instances from Scripture of Divine Judgments Upon the Self-Indulgent; And Appeals to the Practices of Heathens

Chapter XVII - Conclusion

IX - De Fuga in Persecutione

Appendix

1. A Strain of Jonah the Prophet

2. A Strain of Sodom

3. Genesis

4. A Strain of the Judgment of the Lord

Five Books in Reply to Marcion

Book I - Of the Divine Unity, and the Resurrection of the Flesh

Part I - Of the Divine Unity

Part II - Of the Resurrection of the Flesh

Book II - Of the Harmony of the Old and New Laws

Book III - Of the Harmony of the Fathers of the Old and New Testaments

Book IV - Of Marcion’s Antitheses

Book V - General Reply to Sundry of Marcion’s Heresies

MINUCIUS FELIX

The Octavius of Minucius Felix

Chapter I - Argument: Minucius Relates How Delightful to Him is the Recollection of the Things that Had Happened to Him with Octavius While He Was Associated with Him at Rome, and Especially of This Disputation

Chapter II - Argument: The Arrival of Octavius at Rome During the Time of the Public Holidays Was Very Agreeable to Minucius. Both of Them Were Desirous of Going to the Marine Baths of Ostia, with Caecilius Associated with Them as a Companion of Minucius. On Their Way Together to the Sea, Caecillus, Seeing an Image of Serapis, Raises His Hand to His Mouth, and Worships It

Chapter III - Argument: Octavius, Displeased at the Act of This Superstitious Man, Sharply Reproaches Minucius, on the Ground that the Disgrace of This Wicked Deed is Reflected Not Less on Himself, as Caecilius’ Host, Than on Caecilius

Chapter IV - Argument: Caecilius, Somewhat Grieved at This Kind of Rebuke Which for His Sake Minucius Had Had to Bear from Octavius, Begs to Argue with Octavius on the Truth of His Religion. Octavius with His Companion Consents, and Minucius Sits in the Middle Between Caecilius and Octavius

Chapter V - Argument: Caecilius Begins His Argument First of All by Reminding Them that in Human Affairs All Things are Doubtful and Uncertain, and that Therefore It is to Be Lamented that Christians, Who for the Most Part are Untrained and Illiterate Persons, Should Dare to Determine on Anything with Certainty Concerning the Chief of Things and the Divine Majesty: Hence He Argues that the World is Governed by No Providence, and Concludes that It is Better to Abide by the Received Forms of Religion

Chapter VI - Argument: The Object of All Nations, and Especially of the Romans, in Worshipping Their Divinities, Has Been to Attain for Their Worship the Supreme Dominion Over the Whole Earth

Chapter VII - Argument: That the Roman Auspices and Auguries Have Been Neglected with Ill Consequences, But Have Been Observed with Good Fortune

Chapter VIII - Argument: The Impious Temerity of Theodorus, Diagoras, and Protagoras is Not at All to Be Acquiesced In, Who Wished Either Altogether to Get Rid of the Religion of the Gods, or at Least to Weaken It. But Infinitely Less to Be Endured is that Skulking and Light-Shunning People of the Christians, Who Reject the Gods, and Who, Fearing to Die After Death, Do Not in the Meantime Fear to Die

Chapter IX - Argument: The Religion of the Christians is Foolish, Inasmuch as They Worship a Crucified Man, and Even the Instrument Itself of His Punishment. They are Said to Worship the Head of an Ass, and Even the Nature of Their Father. They are Initiated by the Slaughter and the Blood of an Infant, and in Shameless Darkness They are All Mixed Up in an Uncertain Medley

Chapter X - Argument: Whatever the Christians Worship, They Strive in Every Way to Conceal: They Have No Altars, No Temples, No Acknowledged Images. Their God, Like that of the Jews, is Said to Be One, Whom, Although They are Neither Able to See Nor to Show, They Think Nevertheless to Be Mischievous, Restless, and Unseasonably Inquisitive

Chapter XI - Argument: Besides Asserting the Future Conflagration of the Whole World, They Promise Afterwards the Resurrection of Our Bodies: and to the Righteous an Eternity of Most Blessed Life; To the Unrighteous, of Extreme Punishment

Chapter XII - Argument: Moreover, What Will Happen to the Christians Themselves After Death, May Be Anticipated from the Fact that Even Now They are Destitute of All Means, and are Afflicted with the Heaviest Calamities and Miseries

Chapter XIII - Argument: Caecilius at Length Concludes that the New Religion is to Be Repudiated; And that We Must Not Rashly Pronounce Upon Doubtful Matters

Chapter XIV - Argument: With Something of the Pride of Self-Satisfaction, Caecilius Urges Octavius to Reply to His Arguments; And Minucius with Modesty Answers Him, that He Must Not Exult at His Own by No Means Ordinary Eloquence, and at the Harmonious Variety of His Address

Chapter XV - Argument: Caecilius Retorts Upon Minucius, with Some Little Appearance of Being Hurt, that He is Foregoing the Office of a Religious Umpire, When He is Weakening the Force of His Argument. He Says that It Should Be Left to Octavius to Confute All that He Had Advanced

Chapter XVI - Argument: Octavius Arranges His Reply, and Trusts that He Shall Be Able to Dilute the Bitterness of Reproach with the River of Truthful Words. He Proceeds to Weaken the Individual Arguments of Caecilius. Nobody Need Complain that the Christians, Unlearned Though They May Be, Dispute About Heavenly Things Because It is Not the Authority of Him Who Argues, But the Truth of the Argument Itself, that Should Be Considered

Chapter XVII - Argument: Man Ought Indeed to Know Himself, But This Knowledge Cannot Be Attained by Him Unless He First of All Acknowledges the Entire Scope of Things, and God Himself. And from the Constitution and Furniture of the World Itself, Every One Endowed with Reason Holds that It Was Established by God, and is Governed and Administered by Him

Chapter XVIII - Argument: Moreover, God Not Only Takes Care of the Universal World, But of Its Individual Parts. That by the Decree of the One God All Things are Governed, is Proved by the Illustration of Earthly Empires. But Although He, Being Infinite and Immense—And How Great He Is, is Known to Himself Alone—Cannot Either Be Seen or Named by Us, Yet His Glory is Beheld Most Clearly When the Use of All Titles is Laid Aside

Chapter XIX - Argument: Moreover, the Poets Have Called Him the Parent of Gods and Men, the Creator of All Things, and Their Mind and Spirit. And, Besides, Even the More Excellent Philosophers Have Come Almost to the Same Conclusion as the Christians About the Unity of God

Chapter XX - Argument: But If the World is Ruled by Providence and Governed by the Will of One God, an Ignorant Antipathy Ought Not to Carry Us Away into the Error of Agreement with It: Although Delighted with Its Own Fables, It Has Brought in Ridiculous Traditions. Nor is It Shown Less Plainly that the Worship of the Gods Has Always Been Silly and Impious, in that the Most Ancient of Men Have Venerated Their Kings, Their Illustrious Generals, and Inventors of Arts, on Account of Their Remarkable Deeds, No Otherwise Than as Gods

Chapter XXI - Argument: Octavius Attests the Fact that Men Were Adopted as Gods, by the Testimony of Euhemerus, Prodicus, Persaeus, and Alexander the Great, Who Enumerate the Country, the Birthdays, and the Burial-Places of the Gods. Moreover He Sets Forth the Mournful Endings, Misfortunes, and Deaths of the Gods. And, in Addition, He Laughs at the Ridiculous and Disgusting Absurdities Which the Heathens Continually Allege About the Form and Appearance of Their Gods

Chapter XXII - Argument: Moreover, These Fables, Which at First Were Invented by Ignorant Men, Were Afterwards Celebrated by Others, and Chiefly by Poets, Who Did No Little Mischief to the Truth by Their Authority. By Fictions of This Kind, and by Falsehoods of a Yet More Attractive Nature, the Minds of Young People are Corrupted, and Thence They Miserably Grow Old in These Beliefs, Although, on the Other Hand, the Truth is Obvious to Them If They Will Only Seek After It

Chapter XXIII - Argument: Although the Heathens Acknowledge Their Kings to Be Mortal, Yet They Feign that They are Gods Even Against Their Own Will, Not Because of Their Belief in Their Divinity, But in Honour of the Power that They Have Exerted. Yet a True God Has Neither Rising Nor Setting. Thence Octavius Criticises the Images and Shrines of the Gods

Chapter XXIV - Argument: He Briefly Shows, Moreover, What Ridiculous, Obscene, and Cruel Rites Were Observed in Celebrating the Mysteries of Certain Gods

Chapter XXV - Argument: Then He Shows that Caecilius Had Been Wrong in Asserting that the Romans Had Gained Their Power Over the Whole World by Means of the Due Observance of Superstitions of This Kind. Rather the Romans in Their Origin Were Collected by Crime, and Grew by the Terrors of Their Ferocity. And Therefore the Romans Were Not So Great Because They Were Religious, But Because They Were Sacrilegious with Impunity

Chapter XXVI - Argument: The Weapon that Caecilius Had Slightly Brandished Against Him, Taken from the Auspices and Auguries of Birds, Octavius Retorts by Instancing the Cases of Regulus, Mancinus, Paulus, and Caesar. And He Shows by Other Examples, that the Argument from the Oracles is of No Greater Force Than the Others

Chapter XXVII - Argument: Recapitulation. Doubtless Here is a Source of Error: Demons Lurk Under the Statues and Images, They Haunt the Fanes, They Animate the Fibres of the Entrails, Direct the Flights of Birds, Govern the Lots, Pour Forth Oracles Involved in False Responses. These Things Not from God; But They are Constrained to Confess When They are Adjured in the Name of the True God, and are Driven from the Possessed Bodies. Hence They Flee Hastily from the Neighbourhood of Christians, and Stir Up a Hatred Against Them in the Minds of the Gentiles Who Begin to Hate Them Before They Know Them

Chapter XXVIII - Argument: Nor is It Only Hatred that They Arouse Against the Christians, But They Charge Against Them Horrid Crimes, Which Up to This Time Have Been Proved by Nobody. This is the Work of Demons. For by Them a False Report is Both Set on Foot and Propagated. The Christians are Falsely Accused of Sacrilege, of Incest, of Adultery, of Parricide; And, Moreover, It is Certain and True that the Very Same Crimes, or Crimes Like to or Greater Than These, are in Fact Committed by the Gentiles Themselves

Chapter XXIX - Argument: Nor is It More True that a Man Fastened to a Cross on Account of His Crimes is Worshipped by Christians, for They Believe Not Only that He Was Innocent, But with Reason that He Was God. But, on the Other Hand, the Heathens Invoke the Divine Powers of Kings Raised into Gods by Themselves; They Pray to Images, and Beseech Their Genii

Chapter XXX - Argument: The Story About Christians Drinking the Blood of an Infant that They Have Murdered, is a Barefaced Calumny. But the Gentiles, Both Cruelly Expose Their Children Newly Born, and Before They are Born Destroy Them by a Cruel Abortion. Christians are Neither Allowed to See Nor to Hear of Manslaughter

Chapter XXXI - Argument: The Charge of Our Entertainments Being Polluted with Incest, is Entirely Opposed to All Probability, While It is Plain that Gentiles are Actually Guilty of Incest. The Banquets of Christians are Not Only Modest, But Temperate. In Fact, Incestuous Lust is So Unheard Of, that with Many Even the Modest Association of the Sexes Gives Rise to a Blush

Chapter XXXII - Argument: Nor Can It Be Said that the Christians Conceal What They Worship Because They Have No Temples and No Altars, Inasmuch as They are Persuaded that God Can Be Circumscribed by No Temple, and that No Likeness of Him Can Be Made. But He is Everywhere Present, Sees All Things, Even the Most Secret Thoughts of Our Hearts; And We Live Near to Him, and in His Protection

Chapter XXXIII - Argument: That Even If God Be Said to Have Nothing Availed the Jews, Certainly the Writers of the Jewish Annals are the Most Sufficient Witnesses that They Forsook God Before They Were Forsaken by Him

Chapter XXXIV - Argument: Moreover, It is Not at All to Be Wondered at If This World is to Be Consumed by Fire, Since Everything Which Has a Beginning Has Also an End. And the Ancient Philosophers are Not Averse from the Opinion of the Probable Burning Up of the World. Yet It is Evident that God, Having Made Man from Nothing, Can Raise Him Up from Death into Life. And All Nature Suggests a Future Resurrection

Chapter XXXV - Argument: Righteous and Pious Men Shall Be Rewarded with Never-Ending Felicity, But Unrighteous Men Shall Be Visited with Eternal Punishment. The Morals of Christians are Far More Holy Than Those of the Gentiles

Chapter XXXVI - Argument: Fate is Nothing, Except So Far as Fate is God. Man’s Mind is Free, and Therefore So is His Action: His Birth is Not Brought into Judgment. It is Not a Matter of Infamy, But of Glory, that Christians are Reproached for Their Poverty; And the Fact that They Suffer Bodily Evils is Not as a Penalty, But as a Discipline

Chapter XXXVII - Argument: Tortures Most Unjustly Inflicted for the Confession of Christ’s Name are Spectacles Worthy of God. A Comparison Instituted Between Some of the Bravest of the Heathens and the Holy Martyrs. He Declares that Christians Do Not Present Themselves at Public Shows and Processions, Because They Know Them, with the Greatest Certainty, to Be No Less Impious Than Cruel

Chapter XXXVIII - Argument: Christians Abstain from Things Connected with Idol Sacrifices, Lest Any One Should Think Either that They Yield to Demons, or that They are Ashamed of Their Religion. They Do Not Indeed Despise All the Colour and Scent of Flowers, for They are Accustomed to Use Them Scattered About Loosely and Negligently, as Well as to Entwine Their Necks with Garlands; But to Crown the Head of a Corpse They Think Superfluous and Useless. Moreover, with the Same Tranquillity with Which They Live They Bury Their Dead, Waiting with a Very Certain Hope the Crown of Eternal Felicity. Therefore Their Religion, Rejecting All the Superstitions of the Gentiles, Should Be Adopted as True by All Men

Chapter XXXIX - Argument: When Octavius Had Finished This Address, Minucius and Caecilius Sate for Some Time in Attentive and Silent Wonder. And Minucius Indeed Kept Silence in Admiration of Octavius, Silently Revolving What He Had Heard

Chapter XL - Argument: Then Caecilius Exclaims that He is Vanquished by Octavius; And That, Being Now Conqueror Over Error, He Professes the Christian Religion. He Postpones, However, Till the Morrow His Training in the Fuller Belief of Its Mysteries

Chapter XLI - Argument: Finally, All are Pleased, and Joyfully Depart: Caecilius, that He Had Believed; Octavius, that He Had Conquered; And Minucius, that the Former Had Believed, and the Latter Had Conquered

COMMODIANUS

The Instructions of Commodianus

The Instructions of Commodianus in favour of Christian Discipline, Against the Gods of the Heathens

I - Preface

II - God’s Indignation

III - The Worship of Demons

IV - Saturn

V - Jupiter

VI - Of the Same Jupiter’s Thunderbolt

VII - Of the Septizonium and the Stars

VIII - Of the Sun and Moon

IX - Mercury

X - Neptune

XI - Apollo the Soothsaying and False

XII - Father Liber—Bacchus

XIII - The Unconquered One

XIV - Sylvanus

XV - Hercules

XVI - Of the Gods and Goddesses

XVII - Of Their Images

XVIII - Of Ammydates and the Great God

XIX - Of the Vain Nemesiaci

XX - The Titans

XXII - The Dulness of the Age

XXIII - Of Those Who are Everywhere Ready

XXIV - Of Those Who Live Between the Two

XXV - They Who Fear and Will Not Believe

XXVI - To Those Who Resist the Law of Christ the Living God

XXVII - O Fool, Thou Dost Not Die to God

XXVIII - The Righteous Rise Again

XXIX - To the Wicked and Unbelieving Rich Man

XXX - Rich Men, Be Humble

XXXI - To Judges

XXXII - To Self-Pleasers

XXXIII - To the Gentiles

XXXIV - Moreover, to Ignorant Gentiles

XXXV - Of the Tree of Life and Death

XXXVI - Of the Foolishness of the Cross

XXXVII - The Fanatics Who Judaize

XXXVIII - To the Jews

XXXIX - Also to the Jews

XL - Again to the Same

XLI - Of the Time of Antichrist

XLII - Of the Hidden and Holy People of the Almighty Christ, the Living God

XLIII - Of the End of This Age

XLIV - Of the First Resurrection

XLV - Of the Day of Judgment

XLVI - To Catechumens

XLVII - To the Faithful

XLVIII - O Faithful, Beware of Evil

XLIX - To Penitents

L - Who Have Apostatized from God

LI - Of Infants

LII - Deserters

LIII - To the Soldiers of Christ

LIV - Of Fugitives

LV - Of the Seed of the Tares

LVI - To the Dissembler

LVII - That Worldly Things are Absolutely to Be Avoided

LVIII - That the Christian Should Be Such

LIX - To the Matrons of the Church of the Living God

LX - To the Same Again

LXI - In the Church to All the People of God

LXII - To Him Who Wishes for Martyrdom

LXIII - The Daily War

LXIV - Of the Zeal of Concupiscence

LXV - They Who Give from Evil

LXVI - Of a Deceitful Peace

LXVIII - To Ministers

LXIX - To God’s Shepherds

LXX - I Speak to the Elder-Born

LXXI - To Visit the Sick

LXXII - To the Poor in Health

LXXIII - That Sons are Not to Be Bewailed

LXXIV - Of Funeral Pomp

LXXV - To the Clerks

LXXVI - Of Those Who Gossip, and of Silence

LXXVII - To the Drunkards

LXXVIII - To the Pastors

LXXIX - To the Petitioners

LXXX - The Name of the Man of Gaza

ORIGEN

The Works of Origen

Chapter II - On Christ

Chapter III - On the Holy Spirit

Chapter IV - On Defection, or Falling Away

Chapter V - On Rational Natures

Chapter VI - On the End or Consummation

Chapter VII - On Incorporeal and Corporeal Beings

Chapter VIII - On the Angels

Book II

Chapter I - On the World

Chapter II - On the Perpetuity of Bodily Nature

Chapter III - On the Beginning of the World, and Its Causes

Chapter IV - The God of the Law and the Prophets, and the Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ, is the Same God

Chapter V - On Justice and Goodness

Chapter VI - On the Incarnation of Christ

Chapter VII - On the Holy Spirit

Chapter VIII - On the Soul (Anima)

Chapter IX - On the World and the Movements of Rational Creatures, Whether Good or Bad; And on the Causes of Them

Chapter X - On the Resurrection, and the Judgment, the Fire of Hell, and Punishments

Chapter XI - On Counter Promises

Book III

Preface of Rufinus

Chapter I - On the Freedom of the Will

Chapter I - On the Freedom of the Will, With an Explanation and Interpretation of Those Statements of Scripture Which Appear to Nullify It

Chapter II - On the Opposing Powers

Chapter III - On Threefold Wisdom

Chapter IV - On Human Temptations

Chapter V - That the World Took Its Beginning in Time

Chapter VI - On the End of the World

Book IV

Chapter I - That the Scriptures are Divinely Inspired

Chapter II - On the Inspiration of Holy Scripture, and How the Same is to be Read and Understood, and What is the Reason of the Uncertainty in it; and of the Impossibility or Irrationality of Certain Things in it, Taken According to the Letter

A Letter to Origen from Africanus - About the History of Susanna

A Letter from Origen to Africanus

A Letter from Origen to Gregory

Origen Against Celsus

Fathers Of The Church, Catholic Edition

Fathers of the Third Century: Tertullian: Part Fourth, Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen: Parts First and Second