The Instructor of Children (Ante 202 AD):
1, 6, 26, 1
“When we are baptized, we are enlightened. Being enlightened, we are adopted as
sons. Adopted as sons, we are made perfect. Made perfect, we are become
immortal. ‘I say,’ he declares, ‘you are gods and sons of the Most High.’ This
work is variously called grace, illumination, perfection, and washing. It is a
washing by which we are cleansed of sins; a gift of grace by which the
punishments due our sins are remitted.”
2, 10
“Because of its divine institution for the propagation of man, the seed is not to be
vainly ejaculated, nor is it to be damaged, nor is it to be wasted...To have coitus
other than to procreate children is to do injury to nature.”
Miscellanies (Post 202 AD):
6, 13, 107, 2
“Even here in the Church the gradations of bishops, presbyters, and deacons
happen to be imitations, in my opinion, of the angelic glory and of that
arrangement which, the Scriptures say, awaits those who have followed in the
footsteps of the Apostles, and who have lived in perfect righteousness according to
the Gospel.”
6, 14, 108, 4
“When we hear, ‘Your faith has saved you,’ we do not understand (The Lord) to
say simply that they will be saved who have believed in whatever manner, even if
works have not followed. To begin with, it was to the Jews alone that He spoke
this phrase, who had lived in accord with the law and blamelessly, and who had
lacked only faith in the Lord.”
6, 17, 157, 4
“The thoughts of virtuous men are produced by divine inspiration. The soul is
disposed in the way it is, and the will of God is conveyed to human souls, by
special divine ministers who assist in such service. For regiments of angels are
distributed over nations and cities; and perhaps some even are assigned to
particular individuals.”
7, 12, 70, 4
“And one is not really shown to be a man in the choice of a single life; but he
surpasses men, who, without pleasure or pain, has disciplined himself by marriage,
by the begetting of children, and by care for the household; who, in his solicitude
for the household, has been inseparable from God’s love; and who has withstood
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