Lactantius

Name: Ante-Nicene Fathers Vol. VI, A Treatise on the Anger of God Addressed to Donatus — Chap. V
Author: Lactantius

Ante-Nicene Fathers Vol. VI, A Treatise on the Anger of God Addressed to Donatus… (1885)

Summary

“Ante-Nicene Fathers Vol. VI, A Treatise on the Anger of God Addressed to Donatus — Chap. V”, published in 1885, is a work by Lactantius. It explores elements such as anger, kindness and hatred.

Quotes from Ante-Nicene Fathers Vol. VI, A Treatise on the Anger of God Addressed to Donatus… (Lactantius)

Lactantius, Ante-Nicene Fathers Vol. VI, A Treatise on the Anger of God Addressed to Donatus… (1885)

“ But if anger is unbecoming to a man, provided he be of wisdom and authority, how much more is so foul a change unbecoming to God! And if man, when he has authority and power, inflicts widespread injury through anger, sheds blood, overthrows cities, destroys communities, reduces provinces to desolation, how much more is it to be believed that God, since He has power over the whole human race, and over the universe itself, would have been about to destroy all things if He were angry. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Lactantius, Ante-Nicene Fathers Vol. VI, A Treatise on the Anger of God Addressed to Donatus… (1885)

“ Therefore the error of those is more consistent who take away at once both anger and kindness. For in opposite matters it is necessary to be moved to both sides or to neither. Thus, he who loves the good also hates the wicked, and he who does not hate the wicked does not love the good; because the loving of the good arises from the hatred of the wicked, and the hating of the wicked has its rise from the love of the good. There is no one who loves life without a hatred of death, nor who is desirous of light, but he who avoids darkness. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Lactantius, Ante-Nicene Fathers Vol. VI, A Treatise on the Anger of God Addressed to Donatus… (1885)

“ Because God is not liable to anger, therefore He is not moved by kindness; but in this manner: Because God is moved by kindness, therefore He is also liable to anger. For if it had been certain and undoubted that God is not liable to anger, then the other point would necessarily be arrived at. But since the question as to whether God is angry is more open to doubt, while it is almost perfectly plain that He is kind, it is absurd to wish to subvert that which is certain by means of an uncertainty, since it is easier to confirm uncertain things by means of those which are certain. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Lactantius, Ante-Nicene Fathers Vol. VI, A Treatise on the Anger of God Addressed to Donatus… (1885)

“ Since, when it falls upon the mind of any one, as a violent tempest it excites such waves that it changes the condition of the mind, the eyes gleam, the countenance trembles, the tongue stammers, the teeth chatter, the countenance is alternately stained now with redness spread over it, now with white paleness. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Lactantius, Ante-Nicene Fathers Vol. VI, A Treatise on the Anger of God Addressed to Donatus… (1885)

“ For if among men it appears praiseworthy to do good rather than to injure, to restore to life [1] rather than to kill, to save rather than to destroy, and innocence is not undeservedly numbered among the virtues,—and he who does these things is loved, esteemed, honoured, and celebrated with all blessings and vows,—in short, on account of his deserts and benefits is judged to be most like to God ”

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Source: Wikisource

Lactantius, Ante-Nicene Fathers Vol. VI, A Treatise on the Anger of God Addressed to Donatus… (1885)

“ If any master has in his household a good and a bad servant, it is evident that he does not hate them both, or confer upon both benefits and honours; for if he does this, he is both unjust and foolish. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Lactantius, Ante-Nicene Fathers Vol. VI, A Treatise on the Anger of God Addressed to Donatus… (1885)

“ He, therefore, who loves also hates, and he who hates also loves; for there are those who ought to be loved, and there are those who ought to be hated. And as he who loves confers good things on those whom he loves, so he who hates inflicts evils upon those whom he hates ”

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Source: Wikisource

Lactantius, Ante-Nicene Fathers Vol. VI, A Treatise on the Anger of God Addressed to Donatus… (1885)

“ But he addresses the one who is good with friendly words, and honours him and sets him over his house and household, and all his affairs; but punishes the bad one with reproaches, with stripes, with nakedness, with hunger, with thirst, with fetters: so that the latter may be an example to others to keep them from sinning, and the former to conciliate them; so that fear may restrain some, and honour may excite others. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Lactantius, Ante-Nicene Fathers Vol. VI, A Treatise on the Anger of God Addressed to Donatus… (1885)

“ Therefore they think that so great and so pernicious an evil ought to be absent from Him. And if anger and excitement are absent from Him, because it is disfiguring and injurious, and He inflicts injury on no one, they think that nothing else remains, except that He is mild, calm, propitious, beneficent, the preserver. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Lactantius, Ante-Nicene Fathers Vol. VI, A Treatise on the Anger of God Addressed to Donatus… (1885)

“ Those things are spoken speciously and in a popular manner, and they allure many to believe them; but they who entertain these sentiments approach nearer indeed to the truth, but they partly fail, not sufficiently considering the nature of the case. For if God is not angry with the impious and the unrighteous, it is clear that He does not love the pious and the righteous. ”

Lactantius

Summary

Quotes from Ante-Nicene Fathers Vol. VI, A Treatise on the Anger of God Addressed to Donatus… (Lactantius)

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