Historic writings

Council of Carthage

The Seventh Council of Carthage under Cyprian.[[cite:4673]]

Tertullian

Ye Servants of God, about to draw near to God, that you may make solemn consecration of yourselves to Him,[[cite:348]] seek well to understand the condition of faith, the reasons of the Truth, the laws of Christian Discipline, which forbid among other sins of the world, the pleasures of the public shows. Ye who have testified and confessed[[cite:349]] that you have done so already, review the s...

Tertullian

If, with the object of convicting the rivals and persecutors of Christian truth, from their own authorities, of the crime of at once being untrue to themselves and doing injustice to us, one is bent on gathering testimonies in its favour from the writings of the philosophers, or the poets, or other masters of this world’s learning and wisdom, he has need of a most inquisitive spirit, and a stil...

Clement of Alexandria

And if knowledge belong not to all (set an ass to the lyre, as the proverb goes), yet written compositions are for the many. “Swine, for instance, delight in dirt more than in clean water.” “Wherefore,” says the Lord, “I speak to them in parables: because seeing, they see not; and hearing, they hear not, and do not understand;”[[verse:MAT.13.13|Matt.

Zosimus

An apocryphal Jewish-Christian narrative about Abraham’s impending death, his heavenly journey, and the vision of divine judgment. The work survives in longer and shorter recensions, with the present form possibly shaped in the ninth or tenth century.

Athenagoras of Athens

By the side of every opinion and doctrine which agrees with the truth of things, there springs up some falsehood; and it does so, not because it takes its rise naturally from some fundamental principle, or from some cause peculiar to the matter in hand, but because it is invented on purpose by men who set a value on the spurious seed, for its tendency to corrupt the truth. This is apparent, in...

Cyprian

On the Unity of the Church.[[cite:3097]]

Unknown

The present translation of the Vision of Paul is made from the text of a Latin version, edited by Mr. M. R. James in the *Cambridge Texts and Studies*, ii., 3, p. 11 *ff*.—from a ms.

Origen

A collection of writings by Origen, the influential Alexandrian theologian and biblical scholar, preceded by an introductory note and a biographical account of his life and career. The front matter highlights his contributions to Scripture study, especially the Hexapla, while acknowledging controversies surrounding his theology.

Tertullian

I have thought it meet, my best beloved fellow-servant in the Lord, even from this early period,[[cite:338]] to provide for the course which you must pursue after my departure from the world,[[cite:339]] if I shall be called before you; (and) to entrust to your honour[[cite:340]] the observance of the provision. For in things worldly[[cite:341]] we are active enough, and we wish the good of eac...

Tertullian

We are not in any great perturbation or alarm about the persecutions we suffer from the ignorance of men; for we have attached ourselves to this sect, fully accepting the terms of its covenant, so that, as men whose very lives are not their own, we engage in these conflicts, our desire being to obtain God’s promised rewards, and our dread lest the woes with which He threatens an unchristian lif...

Cyprian

Treatises Attributed to Cyprian on Questionable Authority.

Unknown · c. 80–120

An early church manual on the two ways, baptism, prayer, and the Eucharist.

Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States

The proposed 1786 American Book of Common Prayer contains revised forms for worship, sacraments, rites, ceremonies, prayers, lessons, hymns, and articles of religion. It was prepared under the authority of the Protestant Episcopal Church convention held in Philadelphia in 1785.

Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America

The authorized liturgy of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States, containing services for daily prayer, the sacraments, rites and ceremonies, the Psalter, and related offices. It was ratified by the Church's General Convention on October 16, 1789.

Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America

The 1892 United States edition of the Book of Common Prayer, containing the Episcopal Church’s liturgy, sacramental rites, daily offices, Psalter, occasional services, and Articles of Religion. It was ratified by the bishops, clergy, and laity of the Protestant Episcopal Church in 1789 and authorized for use beginning in 1790.

Church of England

A proposed revision of the Church of England’s Book of Common Prayer, based on the 1662 book with additions and deviations approved in 1928. It includes revised liturgical orders, provisions for Holy Communion and the communion of the sick, alternative psalm appointments, and updated lectionaries, but was not authorized for church use because the 1928 Prayer Book Measure failed to receive Royal Assent.

Martin Luther

The importance of this Commentary on Galatians for the history of Protestantism is very great. It presents like no other of Luther’s writings the central thought of Christianity, the justification of the sinner for the sake of Christ’s merits alone.

Saint Ephraim the Syrian

**S. Ephraim's Prose Refutations of Mani, Marcion and Bardaisan.

Ephraim the Syrian

**S. Ephraim's Prose Refutations of Mani, Marcion and Bardaisan.