Page:History of Heresies (Liguori).djvu/113

Rh the world? St. Paul says of Christ, "For he must reign until he hath put all his enemies under his feet" (Cor. xv. 25); so, when our Lord has conquered his enemies, he will reign no longer. In the book of Genesis it is said of the crow that left the ark, "That it did not return till the waters were dried up" (Gen. viii. 7); docs it then follow that it returned to the ark when the waters were dried up? Away, then, with arguments of this sort, says St. Jerome ; the Scripture here tells, not what was done, but what was not done—not what took place, but what did not. The second proof Elvidius adduces is taken from the text already mentioned (Matt. i. 25): "She brought forth her first-born son;" therefore, if he was her first-born, she must have had others after. St. Jerome answers this: The Lord commanded, that for every first-born a certain ransom should be paid a month after the birth (Numbers, xviii. 15, 16). Here, then, says St. Jerome, according to Elvidius, one might say: "How can I be obliged to pay a price for my first-born after a month; how can I tell whether I shall ever have a second? I must wait till a second is born to me, and then I can pay for the first-born." But the Scripture says itself, that the first-born is that which first "openeth the womb." The same is declared in Exodus, where it says: "The Lord slew every first-born in the land of Egypt" (Exod. xii. 29). Here there is no doubt, but that the text speaks of only-born as well as first-born. His third argument is from the text of St. Luke (viii. 19): "His mother and brethren came to him." Therefore, he had brothers; but St. Jerome proves, from a great many passages in the Scriptures, that first-cousins are also called brothers, and the brothers referred to in that text are St. James and St. John, the children of the other Mary, the sister of the Mother of God.

2. Jovinian shall now occupy our attention. He was a monk in Milan; and after spending the early years of his life in the austere practices of monastic life—fasting on bread and water, going barer ooted, and labouring with his hands—he forsook his monastery, and went to Rome, where, as St. Ambrose informs us, he began to disseminate his errors. After falling into this impiety he abandoned his mortified manner of living—went shod, and clothed in silk and linen garments—nourished and dressed his hair—frequented taverns, and indulged in play, banquets, delicate dishes, and exquisite wines—and still professed all along to be a monk, and led a life of celibacy, to avoid the responsibility of marriage. Preaching a doctrine pleasing to the senses, he soon had many followers of both sexes in Rome, who, having previously led chaste and mortified lives, now abandoned themselves to luxury, and got married. Jovinian was first condemned by Pope Siricus, in a Council, held in Rome, in the year 390, and soon after, in another Council, held