AUGUSTINE AND THE VANDALS
56: 7. Heretical creed. The Arians were followers of Arius of Alexandria, who boldly denied the Divinity of Jesus Christ. The heresy was condemned by the Council of Nice, 325 A.D., but its baneful effects were widely felt for centuries.
56: 15. Apocalypse. Wonderful revelations made to St. John at Patmos concerning the Church, the final judgment, the future life.
57: 21. The Vandals. A barbarian race of Southern Germany, who in the fifth century ravaged Gaul, Spain, Italy, and Northern Africa.
59: 13. Montanists. A sect of the second century that believed in Montanus as a prophet, and in the near advent of Christ to judge the world.
60: 31. (a) The prophet. (b) Jeroboam. (a) Ahias. (b) The first king of Israel after the separation of the tribes; a man perverse and irreverent in his relations with God and subject.
59 to 70. The argument. The apology for flight in times of religious persecution, made by Athanasius, the great bishop of Alexandria, fourth century, and the cogent argument against it of Tertullian, a celebrated writer of the second century, show how circumstances, above all, Divine inspiration, justify opposite lines of action. St. Augustine's letter, written in his strong and luminous style, reconciles the two points of view.
71 to 74. The misery of irreligion. A profound analysis of the two classes of men without religion,—the one distorted, brutalized, and deadened; the other confused, wild, and hungering after what is to them indefinable, yet alone satisfying. Compare in its source, tenor, and effect the unhappiness of the "popular poet" Byron and that of Augustine.
76: 8. St. Monica. One of the greatest women of all times; a model of faith, constancy, and maternal love.
79: 23. Christianity a philosophy. Such it is accounted by many modern thinkers who, in spite of clear, full evidences of its divinity, affect to doubt or deny altogether the supernatural. These reduce the Gospels to a code of ethics, and regard Christ as merely a teacher of morality; the earnestness of Augustine would lead them by a short road to recognize and worship God in Jesus Christ.