Hilary of Poitiers

This is one instance of the illegitimate charity, now so common in the world, which founds the principles of moderation on skepticism instead of that divine love which is the glory of the Christian religion.

Auxentius, the Arian bishop of Milan, being opposed by Eusebius of Vercellae and by Hilary of Poitiers, imposed on Valentinian by a dexterous use of those ambiguities of speech in which the Arians all along excelled.

Nor is it to be wondered at that Valentinian should be deceived, since even to this day the patrons of Arianism, by largely dwelling on the perfections of the Son of God, with a cautious omission of the term consubstantial, in a similar way frequently prevail on many, who do not or will not understand the true grounds of the controversy, to suppose that the difference of opinion is merely verbal.

Hilary contended that, if this were really the case, the Arians could have no reason to avoid an explicit acknowledgment of the whole truth.

The reader may judge for himself whether in the general church we do not seem to behold the first and most dignified rulers degenerated.

Damasus, orthodox and violent in the support of orthodoxy, without humility and piety, is a stronger contrast with the primitive bishops, as Sharpe, Archbishop of St. Andrews in the time of Charles II, is to our first reformers.

The persecuted Luciferians may seem to resemble the Puritans of the same period, while such men as Eusebius of Vercellae and Hilary of Poitiers may be likened to Archbishop Leighton.

But though the spirit of the gospel probably prevailed most among the Luciferians, yet, as I have already observed, this spirit was still in a degree preserved among the inferior and obscure pastors of the general church.

He, he went to Gaul and tried to find there in the city of Treves, uh, a way of really understanding the faith even more.

So in that sense, he, he began reading all of the books that he could find, for example, on St. Hilary.

So we're seeing how one saint builds on the work of another.

And then he goes back to Stridonius, he goes back to Aquileia, and he begins putting a lot of those things into practice, um, and deepening his studies and questing for one of the great objectives of his life, which was the perfection of the Christian life in solitude.

Her story, which is closely connected with that of St. Paul, is referred to by Tertullian de Bapt.

117, about A.D. 200, as well as by Hilary of Poitiers and Jerome in the 4th century.

The acts of Paul and Thecla were at one time almost looked upon as included in the canon.

At Edessa also she read, besides the usual Bible lessons, some things concerning St. Thomas himself, page 32.

Patristic interpretation, early church fathers and mothers of Matthew keep talking about this idea.

People like Oregon or Hilary of Poitiers or Jerome or Augustine, they all talk about this seed of the gospel being carried by ordinary people all around the world and becoming this incredible witness to Jesus.

The history of the church certainly doesn't allow us to be triumphant.

Christian institutions, like every institution, can become pride.

And Leon Morris, who's great commentary on Matthew, he said that Matthew is expressing his conviction that Jesus is now, through his death and resurrection, the Lord of both the living and the dead.

An early church father, Hilary of Poitiers, develops the image a bit further.

So the graves were opened, he says, but the bands of death were loosed and many bodies of the saints which slept arose.

For illumining the darkness of death and shedding light upon the gloom of Hades, he robbed the spirits of death.

Besides these frequent references to the Bible lessons which describe the places she visited and the actions of holy men which are there connected with them, Etheria on page forty-three mentions in set terms the acts of St. Thecla as having been read by her or to her when she was at Seleucia.

Her story, which is closely connected with that of St. Paul, is referred to by Tertullian De Bapt one hundred seventeen, about A.D. two hundred, as well as by Hilary of Poitiers and Jerome in the fourth century.

The acts of Paul and Thecla were at one time almost looked upon as included in the canon.

At Edessa also she read, besides the usual Bible lessons, some things concerning St. Thomas himself, page thirty-two.

Amen.

I want to start with Hilary of Poitiers, Doctor of the Church, on the multiplication of the lobes.

He says, "...the swiftness of the process baffles sight.

Sight or sense cannot discover the mode of so noteworthy a miracle.

You can throw in, yeah, a couple of liberal Protestants in there.

But is this really the cohort that we want to join in believing in these long ages and rejecting what our fathers in the faith clearly believed? The logical conclusion, why do you need God at all when you explain everything without God? When Napoleon Bonaparte asked why his multi-volume treatise on the solar system made no mention of God as the creator, Laplace famously replied, Sire, I have no need of that hypothesis.

St. Hilary of Poitiers, doctor of the church, for there are many of those wise men of the world whose wisdom is folly with God.

They pin their faith to certain conclusions which they have reached by the process of logic.