Free Choice of Will Unless the human race have the power of avoiding evil and choosing good by free choice, they are not accountable for their actions, of whatever kind they be. But that it is by free choice they both walk uprightly and stumble, we thus demonstrate. We see the same man making a transition to opposite things. Now, if it had been fated that he were to be […]
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Justin Martyr: The Spirit of Prophecy
When you hear the utterances of the prophets spoken as it were personally, you must not suppose that they are spoken by the inspired themselves, but by the Divine Word who moves them. For sometimes He declares things that are to come to pass, in the manner of one who foretells the future; sometimes He speaks as from the person of God the Lord and Father of all; sometimes as […]
Read moreBarnabas: Sanctify the Heart and the Day
A sacrifice to God is a broken spirit; a smell of sweet savour to the Lord is a heart that glorifieth Him that made it. “Behold, saith the Lord, I will take away from these, that is, from those whom the Spirit of the Lord foresaw, their stony hearts, and I will put hearts of flesh within them,” because He was to be manifested in flesh, and to sojourn among […]
Read moreIgnatius of Antioch
The Harp of God Wherefore it is fitting that ye should run together in accordance with the will of your bishop, which thing also ye do. For your justly renowned presbytery, worthy of God, is fitted as exactly to the bishop as the strings are to the harp. Therefore in your concord and harmonious love, Jesus Christ is sung. And do ye, man by man, become a choir, that being […]
Read moreThe Martyrdom of Polycarp
Gracing His Captors He might have escaped into another place; but he refused, saying, “The will of God be done.” So when he heard that they were come, he went down and spake with them. And as those that were present marvelled at his age and constancy, some of them said. “Was so much effort made to capture such a venerable man?” Immediately then, in that very hour, he ordered […]
Read moreIrenaeus: Against Heresies
Conscience in Sacrifice For at the beginning God had respect to the gifts of Abel, because he offered with single-mindedness and righteousness; but He had no respect unto the offering of Cain, because his heart was divided with envy and malice, which he cherished against his brother, as God says when reproving his hidden [thoughts], “Though you offer rightly, yet, if you do not divide rightly, have you not sinned? […]
Read moreClement of Rome: First Epistle to the Corinthians
Compassion and Confidence in Prayer Ye were inwardly filled with His doctrine, and His sufferings were before your eyes. Thus a profound and abundant peace was given to you all, and ye had an insatiable desire for doing good, while a full outpouring of the Holy Spirit was upon you all. …Ye did, with true earnestness of mind and a godly confidence, stretch forth your hands to God Almighty, beseeching […]
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