***********************SCHOOL OF CHRIST***********
"GOD HAS ALWAYS SOMETHING TO TEACH AND MAN ALWAYS HAS SOMETHING TO LEARN."
*IRENAEUS*
"SHE MUST NOT LEARN AS A CHILD, WHAT AFTERWARDS SHE WILL HAVE TO UNLEARN."
*JEROME*
"NOR COULD THERE BE ANY BETTER ORNAMENTS FOR THE EAR, THAN TRUE INSTRUCTION."
*CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA*
"TWO REASONS THE TEACHING OF SPIRITUAL THINGS IS INEFFECTUAL. FOR EITHER THE TEACHER IS COMMENDING WHAT HE HAS NO EXPERIENCE OF, AND IS TRYING WITH EMPTY SOUNDING WORDS, TO INSTRUCT HIS HEARER, OR ELSE, THE HEARER IS A BAD MAN AND FULL OF FAULTS AND CANNOT RECEIVE IN HIS HARD HEART, THE HOLY AND SAVING DOCTRINE OF THE SPIRITUAL MAN."
*JOHN CASSIAN*
"ONE TODAY WHO WAS A CONVERT, IS TODAY A BISHOP; ONE WHO WAS YESTERDAY IN THE AMPHITHEATER, IS TODAY, IN THE CHURCH; ONE WHO SPENT THE EVENING IN THE CIRCUS, STANDS IN THE MORNING AT THE ALTAR,"
*JEROME*
"LET HER BEGIN BY LEARNING THE PSALTER AND THEN, LET HER GATHER THE RULES OF LIFE OUT OF THE PROVERBS OF SOLOMON. FROM THE PREACHER, LET HER GAIN THE HABIT OF DESPISING THE WORLD AND ITS VANITIES. LET HER FOLLOW THE EXAMPLE SET IN JOB, OF VIRTUE AND PATIENCE. THEN LET HER PASS ON TO THE GOSPELS, NEVER TO BE LAID ASIDE, WHEN ONCE THEY HAVE BEEN TAKEN IN HAND. LET HER ALSO DRINK IN, WITH A WILLING HEART, THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES AND THE EPISTLES. AS SOON AS SHE HAS ENRICHED THE STOREHOUSE OF HER MIND WITH THESE TREASURES, LET HER COMMIT TO MEMORY THE PROPHETS, THE HEPTATEUCH, (THE FIRST SEVEN BOOKS OF THE CANONICAL JEWISH AND CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES), THE BOOKS OF THE KINGS AND OF THE CHRONICLES, THE ROLLS ALSO OF EZRA AND ESTHER. WHEN SHE HAS DONE ALL THESE, SHE MAY SAFELY READ THE SONG OF SONGS, BUT NOT BEFORE."
*JEROME*
******************SECOND BIRTH************************
"EVERY SOUL IS CONSIDERED AS HAVING BEEN BORN IN ADAM, UNTIL IT HAS BEEN REBORN IN CHRIST. MOREOVER, IT IS UNCLEAN UNTIL, IT HAS BEEN REGENERATED."
*TERTULLIAN*
**************************SECOND COMING*************
"FOR ALL THINGS, FOR THE MOST PART, ARE TWOFOLD IN OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST: A TWOFOLD GENERATION; ONE, OF GOD BEFORE THE AGES, AND ONE, OF A VIRGIN, AT THE CLOSE OF THE AGES: HIS COMING TWOFOLD; ONE, THE UNOBSERVED, LIKE RAIN ON A FLEECE; AND A SECOND, HIS OPEN COMING, WHICH IS TO BE. IN HIS FORMER ADVENT, HE WAS WRAPPED IN SWADDLING CLOTHES IN THE MANGER; IN HIS SECOND, HE COVERS HIMSELF WITH LIGHT AS WITH A GARMENT. IN HIS FIRST COMING, HE ENDURED THE CROSS, DESPISING SHAME; IN HIS SECOND, HE COMES ATTENDED BY A HOST OF ANGELS, RECEIVING GLORY."
*CYRIL OF JERUSALEM*
"THAT DAY LIES HIDDEN, THAT EVERY DAY, WE BE ON THE WATCH.
*AUGUSTINE*
"HE WHO LOVES THE COMING OF THE LORD, IS NOT HE WHO AFFIRMS IT IS FAR OFF, NOR IS IT HE WHO SAYS IT IS NEAR. IT IS HE WHO, WHETHER IT BE NEAR OR FAR, AWAITS IT WITH SINCERE FAITH, STEADFAST HOPE AND FERVENT LOVE."
*AUGUSTINE*
"WHEN YOU DO NOT EXPECT IT, HE WILL COME, BECAUSE HE WANTS THEM TO BE ANXIOUSLY WAITING AND CONSTANTLY ENGAGED IN VIRTUOUS PRACTICE. WHAT HE MEANS IS SOMETHING LIKE THIS: "IF THE GENERALITY OF MEN KNEW WHEN THEY WERE TO DIE, THEY WOULD STRIVE EARNESTLY ONLY, AT THAT HOUR."
*JOHN CHRYSOSTOM*
"THIS JESUS CHRIST WHO IS GONE UP, SHALL COME AGAIN, NOT FROM EARTH, BUT FROM HEAVEN: AND I SAY, "NOT FROM EARTH", BECAUSE THERE ARE MANY ANTI-CHRISTS TO COME AT THIS TIME, FROM EARTH."
*CYRIL OF JERUSALEM*
**************************************SEX************************
"GOD HAS FIXED THE BOUNDS OF LAWFUL DESIRE, NOT ONLY WITHIN THE WALLS OF ONE HOUSE, BUT ALSO, WITHIN THE NARROW LIMITS OF ONES BED."
*LACTANTIUS FIRMIANUS*
"WHAT IS UNLAWFUL IN CHURCH, CAN'T BE LAWFUL AT HOME."
*JEROME*
"THIS PASSION AND THIS IMPULSE IS FOUND IN MAN TO BE MORE VEHEMENTLY AND MORE INTENSE THAN IN ANY OTHER ANIMAL; EITHER BECAUSE GOD WISHED THAT MANKIND SHOULD SURPASS ALL OTHER CREATURES IN NUMBER, OR ELSE, HAVING GIVEN VIRTUE TO MAN ALONE, HE MEANT HIM IN CHECKING HIS PLEASURES TO WIN THE PRAISE AND GLORY OF SELF RESTRAINT."
*LACTANTIUS FIRMIANUS*
"THEY MUST BE FRANKLY TOLD, EITHER MARRY, IF THEY CANNOT CONTAIN, OR, TO CONTAIN, IF THEY WILL NOT MARRY."
*JEROME*
"WE ARE SO FAR FROM PRACTICING PROMISCUOUS INTERCOURSE, THAT WE ARE NOT EVEN ALLOWED A LUSTFUL GLANCE. WHAT COULD JUSTIFY ANY DOUBT AS TO THE PURITY OF THE LIFE LED BY THOSE WHO ARE NOT ALLOWED TO USE THEIR EYES FOR ANY OTHER PURPOSE THAN, THAT FOR WHICH GOD CREATED THEM, NAMELY TO LOOK IN THE LIGHT, FOR WHOM EVEN A LUSTFUL GLANCE IS CALLED ADULTERY! FOR THEM, THE COMING JUDGEMENT APPLIES, EVEN TO THOUGHTS."
*ATHENAGORAS*
******************************SILENCE************************
"THE SOUNDS OF OUR VOICE, LIKEWISE, SHOULD BE SUBDUED; ELSE, IF WE ARE TO BE HEARD FOR OUR NOISE, HOW LARGE WINDPIPES SHOULD WE NEED! BUT GOD IS THE HEARER NOT OF THE VOICE, BUT OF THE HEART."
*TERTULLIAN*
***************************SIN************************************
"SIN THEN IS.......A FEARFUL EVIL, BUT NOT INCURABLE."
*CYRIL OF JERUSALEM*
"AN ADULTERESS AGAINST CHRIST, IS MORE GUILTY THAN ONE AGAINST HER HUSBAND."
*SULPITIUS SEVERUS*
"A MAN, HELPED BY GOD CAN, IF HE WILL, BE WITHOUT SIN. BUT, ASK ME THE SECOND QUESTION, WHETHER OR NOT, THERE REALLY IS SUCH A SINLESS MAN, AND I WILL SAY, THAT I BELIEVE THERE IS NOT,(EXCEPT FOR JESUS)."
*AUGUSTINE*
"I SAID THAT IT WAS MY WISH NOT TO SIN AND YOU NO DOUBT, HAVE THE SAME DESIRE. THEREFORE, WHY IS IT NEITHER OF US CAN DO, WHAT EACH OF US WANTS TO DO?"
*JEROME*
"AT THE FALL, MANS NATURAL GIFTS WERE CORRUPTED THROUGH SIN, WHILE HIS SUPERNATURAL GIFTS, WERE ENTIRELY LOST."
*AUGUSTINE*
"THEIR INTERCOURSE TOOK PLACE AFTER THE TRANSGRESSION; UNTIL THEN, THEY HAD BEHAVED IN PARADISE LIKE ANGELS, NOT BURNING WITH DESIRE, NOR BESET BY OTHER PASSIONS, NOT SUBJECT TO THE NECESSITIES OF NATURE BUT, CREATED ENTIRELY INCORRUPTIBLE AND IMMORTAL, THERE THEY HAD NO NEED FOR THE PROTECTIVE COVERING OF GARMENTS."
*JOHN CHRYSOSTOM*
"BEFORE WE ARE BORN, WE ARE INFECTED WITH THE CONTAGION AND BEFORE WE SEE THE LIGHT OF DAY, WE EXPERIENCE THE INJURY OF OUR ORIGIN."
*AMBROSE OF MILAN*
"THIS FEAR IN ME IS.......OF LONG STANDING, THAT I SHOULD WIN HONOR FROM MEN, AT THE PRICE OF SINNING AGAINST GOD."
*SYNEIUS*
***************************SOCIAL GRACE***************
"THAT CLERGYMEN SOON BECOMES AN OBJECT OF CONTEMPT WHO, BEING OFTEN ASKED OUT TO DINNER, NEVER REFUSES TO GO."
*JEROME*
"ANSWER NOT A WORD UNTIL YOU HEAR."
*CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA*
"LET YOUR CONVERSATION BE MARKED WITH SUCH CONFIDENCE, THAT THE ENTRY OF A THIRD PERSON, SHALL NEITHER STARTLE YOU, NOR MAKE YOU BLUSH."
*JEROME*
"DO NOT, I PRAY, PUT OFF MODESTY, AT THE SAME TIME THAT YOU PUT OFF YOUR CLOTHES."
*CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA*
************************SOUL***********************************
"SO GREAT IS THE DIGNITY OF SOULS, THAT EACH ONE HAS FROM THE BEGINNING OF HIS BIRTH, AN ANGEL DELEGATED TO HIM."
*JEROME*
"THERE ARE THREE STATES OF THE SOUL----IGNORANCE, OPINION, KNOWLEDGE-----THOSE WHO ARE IN IGNORANCE ARE THE GENTILES, THOSE IN KNOWLEDGE THE TRUE CHURCH, AND THOSE IN OPINION, THE HERETICS."
*CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA*
"WE ARE CONVINCED THAT THERE EXIST TWO MEN IN EACH ONE OF US. THE ONE IS CONFESSEDLY A HIDDEN THING, WHILE THE OTHER STANDS APPARENT; ONE IS CORPOREAL, THE OTHER SPIRITUAL, ALTHOUGH THE GENERATION OF BOTH, MAY BE COMPARED TO THAT OF TWINS. FOR BOTH ARE REVEALED TO THE WORLD AS BUT ONE, FOR THE SOUL WAS NOT ANTERIOR TO THE BODY IN ITS ESSENCE; NOR IN REGARD TO ITS FORMATION, DID THE BODY PRECEDE THE SOUL: BUT BOTH THESE WERE PRODUCED AT ONE TIME; AND THEIR NOURISHMENT CONSISTS IN PURITY AND SWEETNESS."
*IRENAEUS*
*****************************THE STATE*********************
"GIVE TO CAESAR, WHAT IS CAESAR'S-- HIS IMAGE ON THE COIN; GIVE TO GOD, WHAT IS GOD'S--HIS IMAGE IN MAN, YOURSELF."
*TERTULLIAN*
"THE TAX THAT BELONGS TO CAESAR, IS NOT TO BE DENIED. THE CHURCH, HOWEVER IS GODS AND IT MUST NOT BE PLEDGED TO CAESAR."
*AMBROSE OF MILAN*
"CONSIDER THAT EVERY COMMAND OF THE EMPEROR WHICH DOES NOT OFFEND GOD, HAS PROCEEDED FROM GOD HIMSELF."
*THEONAS OF ALEXANDRIA*
"IF THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD DOES NOT GOVERN HUMAN AFFAIRS, THERE IS NO POINT IN TROUBLING ONESELF ABOUT RELIGION."
*AUGUSTINE*
"CAESAR IS MORE OURS THAN YOURS, FOR OUR GOD APPOINTED HIM."
*TERTULLIAN*
***************************SUFFERING**********************
"IT IS NOT THE SUFFERING, BUT THE CAUSE, THAT MAKES MEN MARTYRS."
*AUGUSTINE*
HE WHO FEARS TO SUFFER, CANNOT BE HIS WHO SUFFERED."
*TERTULLIAN*