State super vias et videte et interrogate de semitis antiquis quae sit via bona et ambulate in ea et invenietis refrigerium animabus vestris

7 Nov 2014

These are the Holy Things of God

Putatis autem nos occultare quod colimus, si delubra et aras non habemus? Quod enim simulacrum Deo fingam, quam, si recte existimes, sit Dei homo ipse simulacrum? Templum quod ei extruam, quum totus hic mundus, eius opere fabricatus, eum capere non possit? et quam homo latius maneam, intra unam aediculam vim tantae maiestatis includam? Nonne melius in nostra dedicandus est mente, in nostro imo consecrandus est pectore? Hostias et victimas Domino offeram, quas in usum mei protulit, ut reiiciam ei summ munus? ingratum est; quum sit litabilis hostia bonus animus, et pura mens, et sincera sententia. Igitur, qui innocentiam colit. Domino supplicat; qui iustitiam, Deo libat; qui fraudibus abstinet, propitiat Deum; qui hominem pericule surripit, haec Dei sacra sunt; sic apud nos religiosior est ille qui iustior. 

Minucius Felix, Octavius, Cap XXXII.

Do you then think that we conceal what we worship, if we have not temples and altars? Why, what image of God shall I make, since, if you should think rightly, man himself is the image of God? What temple shall I raise to Him, when this whole world, wrought by His work, cannot receive Him? And when I, a man, can dwell far and wide, shall I enclose the might of such great majesty within one little building? Were it not better that He should be dedicated in our mind, consecrated in our inmost heart? Shall I offer as victims and sacrifices to the Lord, things He has produced for my use, that I should throw back to Him His own gift? It is ungrateful. The victim fit for sacrifice is one of good spirit, and a pure mind, and a sincere judgment.Therefore he who cultivates innocence supplicates the Lord; he who attends to justice makes offerings to God; he who abstains from fraud propitiates God, and also he who snatches a man from danger. These are the holy things of God. So it is that he who is more religious among us is that man who is more just.

Minucius Felix, Octavius,Chap. 32

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