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| Preface.
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Preface.
In the
four preceding books, my very dear friend, which I put forth to thee, all
the heretics have been exposed, and their doctrines brought to light, and
these men refuted who have devised irreligious opinions. [I have
accomplished this by adducing] something from the doctrine peculiar to
each of these men, which they have left in their writings, as well as by
using arguments of a more general nature, and applicable to them
all.4449
| 4449 Ex ratione universis
ostensionibus procedente. The words are very obscure. | Then I
have pointed out the truth, and shown the preaching of the Church, which
the prophets proclaimed (as I have already demonstrated), but which
Christ brought to perfection, and the apostles have handed down, from
whom the Church, receiving [these truths], and throughout all the world
alone preserving them in their integrity (bene), has transmitted
them to her sons. Then also—having disposed of all questions
which the heretics propose to us, and having explained the doctrine of
the apostles, and clearly set forth many of those things which were said
and done by the Lord in parables—I shall endeavour, in this the
fifth book of the entire work which treats of the exposure and refutation
of knowledge falsely so called, to exhibit proofs from the rest of the
Lord’s doctrine and the apostolical epistles: [thus] complying with
thy demand, as thou didst request of me (since indeed I have been
assigned a place in the ministry of the word); and, labouring by every
means in my power to furnish thee with large assistance against the
contradictions of the heretics, as also to reclaim the wanderers and
convert them to the Church of God, to confirm at the same time the minds
of the neophytes, that they may preserve stedfast the faith which they
have received, guarded by the Church in its integrity, in order that they
be in no way perverted by those who endeavour to teach them false
doctrines, and lead them away from the truth. It will be incumbent upon
thee, however, and all who may happen to read this writing, to peruse
with great attention what I have already said, that thou mayest obtain a
knowledge of the subjects against which I am contending. For it is thus
that thou wilt both controvert them in a legitimate manner, and wilt be
prepared to receive the proofs brought forward against them, casting away
their doctrines as filth by means of the celestial faith; but following
the only true and stedfast Teacher, the Word of God, our Lord Jesus
Christ, who did, through His transcendent love, become what we are, that
He might bring us to be even what He is Himself.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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