Author :
Publisher : Forgotten Books
ISBN 13 : 9781440063039
Total Pages : 282 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (63 download)
Book Synopsis The Apostolic Fathers, Vol. 33 by :
Download or read book The Apostolic Fathers, Vol. 33 written by and published by Forgotten Books. This book was released on 2015-07-14 with total page 282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from The Apostolic Fathers, Vol. 33: The Epistles of St. Ignatius and St. Polycarp This seems the most rational conclusion to which we can come, concerning the duration of miraculous powers in the Church; and by adopting it, we steer between two opposite opinions, both of which must be considered erroneous; one, which would strictly limit miracles to the age of the apostles, and assert that there was no instance of their being worked afterwards; and another, which maintains that the power of working them has never ceased, but is exercised to the present day, in the true Church. This is not the place for refuting the latter opinion and it is sufficient to say that the Protestant churches do not profess to exercise any such power. But the former Opinion must also be pronounced untenable, unless we say that all the persons who had worked miracles in the life time Of the apostles, were dead before the end of the century, or that they suddenly lost the power at the moment when John, the last of the apostles, died. The reader has already been reminded that Spiritual gifts were distributed in great abundance by Paul; and there is no reason to think that the other apostles were more sparing in communicating them. The gift of healing was undoubtedly exercised by many persons besides the apostles and it is scarcely possible to suppose that they were all dead before the time which has been fixed for the death of John. We must however conclude that they were becoming, almost. Daily, less numerous; and although the Christian writers of the second century say expressly that preternatural gifts of the Spirit were occasionally witnessed in their own day, they fully confirm the view which has been here taken of this subject, and show that instances of this kind were much more uncommon than they had been formerly. As the numbers of believers increased, and the churches became more settled, there was less need of these miraculous interferences to confirm the faith of believers, or to attract fresh converts; and we may now proceed to consider the state of some of the principal churches at the beginning of the second century. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
