Opening the library…
The Epitome of the Divine Institutes
Lactantius
A condensed presentation of Lactantius’s apologetic project, summarizing his case against pagan worship and his account of divine providence, true religion, justice, and Christian hope.
I will now say what wise religion,
“God the Son of God must be known,”
as those examples which I have brought forward in my books declare. Him the prophets, filled with the inspiration of the Divine Spirit, proclaimed; of whom especially Solomon in the book of Wisdom, and also his father, the writer of divine hymns—both most renowned kings, who preceded the times of the Trojan war by a hundred and eighty years—testify that He was born of God. His name is known to none, except to Himself and the Father, as John teaches in the Revelation. Hermes says that His name cannot be uttered by mortal mouth. Yet by men He is called by two names—Jesus, which is Saviour, and Christ, which is King. He is called Saviour on this account, because He is the health and safety of all who believe in God through Him. He is called Christ on this account, because He Himself will come from heaven at the end of this dispensation to judge the world, and, having raised the dead, to establish for Himself an everlasting kingdom.
[This refers to the Spirit of the Father, as Cyprian (vol. v. p. 516), “My heart hath breathed out a good Word.”]
De suis spiritibus.
[Plato does not speak dogmatically, but with a marvellous intuition of truth. The Son is “begotten, not made.”]
This is an error. Both David and Solomon lived after the supposed taking of Troy.
In sæculi hujus consummatione.