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Lactantius - Book IV. Of True Wisdom and Religion
General Notes by the American Editor
General Notes by the American Editor.
I.
(On cap. 29.)
Here we should look for something also concerning the Holy Spirit. But our author's principle is doubtless a reflection of the prevailing sentiment of the Church at this period, which was perhaps a violent exaggeration of our Lord's example (Mark iv. 33). And see something of this on p. 140, note 6, infra; also Matt. vii. 6.
II.
(On cap. 30.)
The simplicity with which our author gives a note of the Catholic Church, in accordance with African canons and the teaching of Cyprian, is very noteworthy. It never occurred to him that communion with any one particular See was the note. Hippolytus alone would have reminded him that the worst heretics had been in communion with both Zephyrinus and Callistus in his days (see vol. v. pp. [68]156 and [69]160; also Ibid., [70]125, [71]130), and that orthodoxy had been persecuted by these bishops of Rome.