And now blush if thou canst, Novation; cease to deceive the unwary
with thy impious arguments; cease to frighten them with the subtlety of
one particular. We read, and adore, and do not pass over the heavenly
judgment of the Lord, where he says that He will deny him who denies
Him. But does this mean the penitent? And why should I be taking
pains so long to prove individual cases of mercies? Since the mercy of
God is not indeed denied to the Ninevites, although strangers, and
placed apart from the law of the Lord, when they beseech it on account
of the overthrow announced to their city. Nor to Pharoah himself,
resisting with sacrilegious boldness, when formerly he was stricken with plagues from heaven, and turning to Moses and to his brother,
said, “Pray to the Lord for me, for I have sinned.” At once the anger of
God was suspended from him. And yet thou, O Novation, judgest and
declarest that the lapsed have no hope of peace and mercy.
A Treatise Against the Heretic Novatian by an Anonymous Bishop
A Treatise Against the Heretic Novatian by an Anonymous Bishop
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