Joy

Passages

Every passage tagged with this emotion in the Vela corpus. Search the body text, narrow by source or register, click through to a book’s profile to see how the passage sits with the rest of the work.

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• From The Decameron (1353)

  Take comfort, therefore, and be of good hope, for that a few days hence Messer Francesco is to go to Milan for provost, as indeed thou knowest, who hast for the love of me given him thy goodly palfrey; and whenas he shall be gone, I promise thee by my troth and of the true love I bear thee, that, before many days, thou shalt without fail foregather with me and we will give gladsome and entire accomplishment to our love. And that I may not have to bespeak thee otherwhiles of the matter, I tell thee presently that, whenas thou shalt see two napkins displayed at the window of my chamber, which giveth upon our garden, do thou that same evening at nightfall make shift to come to me by the garden door, taking good care that thou be not seen. Thou wilt find me awaiting thee and we will all night long have delight and pleasance one of another, to our hearts' content.' Having thus spoken for the lady, he began again to speak in his own person and rejoined on this wise, 'Dearest lady, my every sense is so transported with excessive joy for your gracious reply that I can scarce avail to make response, much less to render you due thanks; nay, could I e'en speak as I desire, there is no term so long that it might suffice me fully to thank you as I would fain do and as it behoveth me; wherefore I leave it to your discreet consideration to imagine that which, for all my will, I am unable to express in words. This much only I tell you that I will without fail bethink myself to do as you have charged me, and being then, peradventure, better certified of so great a grace as that which you have vouchsafed me, I will, as best I may, study to render you the utmost thanks in my power. For the nonce there abideth no more to say; wherefore, dearest lady mine, God give you that gladness and that weal which you most desire, and so to Him I commend you.' For all this the lady said not a word; whereupon Il Zima arose and turned towards the husband, who, seeing him risen, came up to him and said, laughing 'How deemest thou?

• From Under the Banner of Heaven (2003)

  Despite feeling like a fish out of water when he left his hometown and set up residence in the larger world, DeLoy says, “I loved college. Looking back, I suppose it was the beginning of the end for me. I stayed in the religion for another twenty years, but going to college in Cedar City was when I had my eyes opened. That’s where I took my first geology course. Afterward I came home and told Uncle Roy, ‘There’s a professor over there trying to tell us the earth is four and a half billion years old, but the religion says its only six thousand years old. How can that be?’ Which shows you why education is such a problem for the Work. You take someone like me, who was always as stalwart as could be, and then you ship him off to get an education and the guy goes and apostatizes on you. Happens over and over again. And every time it does, it makes the leaders more inclined to keep people from learning.” When DeLoy finally lost his faith and left the UEP, his three oldest kids were married and no longer living at home. These three children have remained in the religion, but he has worked hard to teach the other fourteen kids to think for themselves and to question what the UEP has inculcated. “Sometimes I worry about what would become of the little ones,” DeLoy muses, “if something happened to me and the wife—if we died. My older children would take the younger kids into their homes and look after them, but they’d be brought right back into the religion. I think those kids would be happy with that—they’d probably never know the difference. But they’d be stunted. They’d never get to exercise their imaginations.” To help prepare his children for this possibility, and to instill in them a healthy skepticism about religious dogma of all kinds, on December 31, 1999, DeLoy and Eunice loaded their entire brood into two vans (whenever the Bateman family travels anywhere together, at least two large vehicles are required to transport everyone) and made the three-hour drive to Las Vegas in order to ring in the new millennium. “We took ’em all down to the center of the Las Vegas Strip,” he explains, “which is supposedly one of the wickedest places on earth, and the first place God was going to destroy when the clock struck midnight. We went to the New York–New York Casino, and stood outside in the street there with thousands and thousands of other people as the ball dropped and they counted down the seconds to the year 2000. And you know what? The millennium came, and the world didn’t end. I think that made quite an impression on the kids.” DeLoy laughs hard, shaking his head.

• From The Decameron (1353)

  This story afforded unto all the company alike the utmost pleasure and solace, and it was much laughed of all at Fra Cipolla, and particularly of his pilgrimage and the relics seen and brought back by him. The queen, seeing the story and likewise her sovantry at an end, rose to her feet and put off the crown, which she set laughingly on Dioneo's head, saying, "It is time, Dioneo, that thou prove awhile what manner charge it is to have ladies to govern and guide; be thou, then, king and rule on such wise that, in the end, we may have reason to give ourselves joy of thy governance." Dioneo took the crown and answered, laughing, "You may often enough have seen much better kings than I, I mean chess-kings; but, an you obey me as a king should in truth be obeyed, I will cause you enjoy that without which assuredly no entertainment is ever complete in its gladness. But let that talk be; I will rule as best I know." Then, sending for the seneschal, according to the wonted usance, he orderly enjoined him of that which he should do during the continuance of his seignory and after said, "Noble ladies, it hath in divers manners been devised of human industry[336] and of the various chances [of fortune,] insomuch that, had not Dame Licisca come hither a while agone and found me matter with her prate for our morrow's relations, I misdoubt me I should have been long at pains to find a subject of discourse. As you heard, she avouched that she had not a single gossip who had come to her husband a maid and added that she knew right well how many and what manner tricks married women yet played their husbands. But, letting be the first part, which is a childish matter, methinketh the second should be an agreeable subject for discourse; wherefore I will and ordain it that, since Licisca hath given us occasion therefor, it be discoursed to-morrow OF THE TRICKS WHICH, OR FOR LOVE OR FOR THEIR OWN PRESERVATION, WOMEN HAVE HERETOFORE PLAYED THEIR HUSBANDS, WITH OR WITHOUT THE LATTER'S COGNIZANCE THEREOF." [Footnote 336: _Industria_ in the old sense of ingenuity, skilful procurement, etc.]

• From Augustine: A New Biography (2005)

  Augustine: You know how joyful we are to see the throng of your graces here. For we exult in our master god, of whom the apostle says, “For he is our peace, who brought both together as one.” [Ephesians 2.14] So we give thanks to the same one, our master and savior Jesus Christ. He is the one who let us understand how much our brother Emeritus loves unity even though we do not yet have him willing to share that unity. Let me tell you the principles that god wanted us to hear from Emeritus’s own mouth. As soon as he entered the church, standing in that place where we started our conversation with him, as the master inspired him, the master who informs the heart and controls the tongue, Emeritus said, “I cannot disagree with what you want, but I can want what I want.” See what he promised, when he said that he could not disagree with what we want. For if he could not disagree with what we want, he knows what we want. We want what you want: we all want what the master wants. But there’s no mystery about what the master wants. We can read his testament, the one that makes us his co-heirs. In it we hear “my peace I give to you, my peace I leave to you.” [ John 14.27] Whether early or late, then, Emeritus cannot disagree with what we want. But his second sentence leaves room for some delay—“I can want what I want.” He can want what he wants, but he can’t disagree with what we want. We see what he says he can do. For now he wants what he wants—but what he wants, god does not want. For what does he want now? He wants to be in dissent from the catholic church, to be still part of the Donatist communion, to be still a schismatic, to be still among those who say, “I belong to Paul, or I belong to Apollo, or I belong to Cephas.” But god does not want this—he rebukes this notion thus: “Christ is the one who is divided.” [1 Corinthians 1.12–13] So he can want what he wants, but just for now, just for the moment—but wanting what he wants will be reckoned to his shame, not his wisdom. For now this is what he wants, and he can want what he wants. But because he cannot disagree with what we want, then may god disagree with what he wants and may he do what we want. Don’t let this little delay bother you, my brothers, while he wants what he wants. But pray that he will do what he promised, that is, that he won’t disagree with what we want. And one and all [that is, the congregation that stood in the church in support of Augustine] cried out: “Either here or nowhere!”

• From House of Holes: A Book of Raunch (2011)

  He was tall and wore a white shirt. His shoulders weren’t enormously muscular, but wiry and graceful. There was something infinitely appealing about his shoulders. “Show me the tattoos you do not want,” Hax said. “Well, there are four.” “I can remove them.” He stood and held out his hand. “Come.” He took her to a massage room. “Undress.” “All the way?” “No, unless you have a tattoo under where your panties are.” “I do.” “Then take them off. Just common sense. I have to be able to see and touch your tattoos. Let me show you my body.” He pulled up his T-shirt. His coffee-colored chest had a bizarre overlay of blue and green patterns. “All these designs were tattooed onto women at one time. I lifted them, and now they’re on me. Such a sad thing that women tattoo themselves. It is a way of hiding.” “You think?” said Jessica. “In my case I did the one on my back, and then I liked it, and it was like building a collection of something.” “Yes. But it is collecting something that hides you. It is a way of not being naked while being naked. My job is to return you to your nakedness. Turn over and let me please see your pussy for a moment, if I may?” She turned. “Why do you have no hair on your pussy?” “I don’t know,” she said. “I just don’t. It’s the fashion.” “That, too, is a way of hiding. No hair means you are dressed in hairlessness. You are finding a way to be clothed when you aren’t clothed. Hair is your true nakedness. Do you want your true nakedness back?” Jessica nodded. “Can you do that?” He held out his hands. “These hands can do it. If we are lucky. You must make me feel your nakedness. If I feel it then your hair will grow and your tattoos will lift and come onto me. Try.” He put his hands gently on her hips and looked at her face. “Feel naked now.” He circled his hands over her hipbones and then pressed his thumbs gently into her stomach. “Breath in and feel naked,” he said. As he pressed she saw his chest muscles jump. “I will do this one first,” he said. He put both his hands over the flower on her breast. His touch was very light at first. “Feel,” he said. She began to feel an urgency coming from his hands. Her breast was glued to them. “You see how we are bonding.” Suddenly he flinched. “Oh,” he said, “here comes the pain of it.” “The pain of the tattoo?” “Yes, all of it is going in my arm at once.” “I’m sorry.” “It’s okay, it’s what happens. It’s lifting now. Wait, watch. Look in the air above your booby.”

• From Augustine: A New Biography (2005)

  Augustine now goes back to tell of their earlier adventures. They had been to Ancona in Italy, where there was a shrine to Stephen erected before the relics were found. “This man could have been cured at Ancona, but it did not come to pass for our sake, because it easily could have happened there. Many people know how many miracles were worked through blessed Stephen in that city, where his shrine had been of old.” (It seems that one of the bystanders at Stephen’s martyrdom had taken one of the stones that had been thrown at him and brought it to Ancona and made it the basis of the shrine. Misinformed people believed that Stephen’s arm was there, but it was only a stone that had bounced off Stephen’s elbow. Or not, as the case may be.) Then, just as Augustine starts to tell the story of one of the miracles of Stephen’s power that had occurred at Uzalis, suddenly there is an exciting interruption: …and while Augustine was saying these things, the people began to shout “THANK GOD! CHRIST BE PRAISED!” from the shrine of Stephen. In the middle of that continuous uproar, the sister, who had been cured, was brought in to the apse [of the main church]. When they saw her, the people continued shouting—no words, just noise, a mixture of joy and tears—and went on for a long time. When Augustine had calmed them he said, “It is written in the psalm ‘I have said it: I shall declare against myself what I have sinned against my master god, and you have forgiven the impiety of my heart.’ ‘I have said it, I shall declare’: I had not yet said it, but you forgave the sin. I commended this pitiful one—no longer pitiful—to your prayers. We determined to pray, and we were heard. Let our joy be our thanksgiving. The mother church was heard more swiftly than her mother was heard when she cursed her to misery.”335 And with that Augustine has the sense to bring his remarks to an end and let events take their course. He represented his god to these people, but the dead saint could commandeer the stage at will. No wonder Augustine preferred to make his name and solidify his influence in the world of texts. HOW AUGUSTINE’S RELIGION WORKED

• From History of the Christian Church: The Complete Set of Eight Volumes (1858)

  As Sunday was devoted to the commemoration of the Saviour’s resurrection, and observed as a day of thanksgiving and joy, so, at least as early as the second century, if not sooner, Friday came to be observed as a day of repentance, with prayer and fasting, in commemoration of the sufferings and death of Christ. 3. Annual festivals. There is no injunction for their observance, direct or indirect, in the apostolic writings, as there is no basis for them in the Decalogue. But Christ observed them, and two of the festivals, the Passover and Pentecost, admitted of an easy transformation similar to that of the Jewish into the Christian Sabbath. From some hints in the Epistles,693 viewed in the light of the universal and uncontradicted practice of the church in the second century it may be inferred that the annual celebration of the death and the resurrection of Christ, and of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, originated in the apostolic age. In truth, Christ crucified, risen, and living in the church, was the one absorbing thought of the early Christians; and as this thought expressed itself in the weekly observance of Sunday, so it would also very naturally transform the two great typical feasts of the Old Testament into the Christian Easter and Whit-Sunday. The Paschal controversies of the second century related not to the fact, but to the time of the Easter festival, and Polycarp of Smyrna and Anicet of Rome traced their customs to an unimportant difference in the practice of the apostles themselves. Of other annual festivals, the New Testament contains not the faintest trace. Christmas came in during the fourth century by a natural development of the idea of a church year, as a sort of chronological creed of the people. The festivals of Mary, the Apostles, Saints, and Martyrs, followed gradually, as the worship of saints spread in the Nicene and post-Nicene age, until almost every day was turned first into a holy day and then into a holiday. As the saints overshadowed the Lord, the saints’ days overshadowed the Lord’s Day. CHAPTER X.ORGANIZATION OF THE APOSTOLIC CHURCH.§ 58. Literature. I. Sources. The Acts represent the first, the Pastoral Epistles the second stage of the apostolic church polity. Baur (Die sogenannten Pastoralbriefe des Ap. Paulus, 1835), Holtzmann (Die Pastoralbriefe, 1880, pp. 190 sqq.), and others, who deny the Pauline authorship of the Epistles to Timothy and Titus, date the organization laid down there from the post-apostolic age, but it belongs to the period from A.D. 60–70. The Epistles to the Corinthians (1 Cor. 12:28) and to the Ephesians (4:11), and the Apocalyptic Epistles (Rev. 2 and 3) contain important hints on the church offices. Comp. the Didache, and the Epp. of Clement and Ignatius. II. General Works. Comp. in part the works quoted in ch. IX. (especially Vitringa), and the respective sections in the "Histories of the Apostolic Age" by Neander Thiersch (pp. 73, 150, 281), Lechler, Lange, and Schaff, (Amer. ed, pp. 495–545).

• From History of the Christian Church: The Complete Set of Eight Volumes (1858)

  His arrival in Rome, early in the year 61, which two years later was probably followed by that of Peter, naturally gave a great impulse to the growth of the congregation. He brought with him, as he had promised, "the fulness of the blessing of Christ." His very bonds were overruled for the progress of the gospel, which he was left free to preach under military guard in his own dwelling.501 He had with him during the whole or a part of the first Roman captivity his faithful pupils and companions: Luke, "the beloved physician" and historian; Timothy, the dearest of his spiritual sons; John Mark, who had deserted him on his first missionary tour, but joined him at Rome and mediated between him and Peter; one Jesus, who is called Justus, a Jewish Christian, who remained faithful to him; Aristarchus, his fellow-prisoner from Thessalonica; Tychicus from Ephesus; Epaphras and Onesimus from Colossae; Epaphroditus from Philippi; Demas, Pudens, Linus, Eubulus, and others who are honorably mentioned in the Epistles of the captivity.502 They formed a noble band of evangelists and aided the aged apostle in his labors at Rome and abroad. On the other hand his enemies of the Judaizing party were stimulated to counter-activity, and preached Christ from envy and jealousy; but in noble self-denial Paul rose above petty sectarianism, and sincerely rejoiced from his lofty standpoint if only Christ was proclaimed and his kingdom promoted. While he fearlessly vindicated Christian freedom against Christian legalism in the Epistle to the Galatians, he preferred even a poor contracted Christianity to the heathenism which abounded in Rome.503 The number which were converted through these various agencies, though disappearing in the heathen masses of the metropolis, and no doubt much smaller than the twenty thousand Jews, must have been considerable, for Tacitus speaks of a "vast multitude" of Christians that perished in the Neronian persecution in 64; and Clement, referring to the same persecution, likewise mentions a "vast multitude of the elect," who were contemporary with Paul and Peter, and who, "through many indignities and tortures, became a most noble example among ourselves" (that is, the Roman Christians).504 Composition and Consolidation of the Roman Church. The composition of the church of Rome has been a matter of much learned controversy and speculation. It no doubt was, like most congregations outside of Palestine, of a mixed character, with a preponderance of the Gentile over the Jewish element, but it is impossible to estimate the numerical strength and the precise relation which the two elements sustained to each other.505 We have no reason to suppose that it was at once fully organized and consolidated into one community. The Christians were scattered all over the immense city, and held their devotional meetings in different localities. The Jewish and the Gentile converts may have formed distinct communities, or rather two sections of one Christian community.

• From House of Holes: A Book of Raunch (2011)

  “Then Marcie lay down on her back and I saw my cock sticking straight up on her, and she pulled on it, and I said, ‘What do you want, baby?’ She said, ‘I want you to sit right down and rock on this big thick piece of rhubarb.’ So I straddled her, and I let myself sink down, and oh, shoot, was that nice. I started bouncing up and down on it, and it nailed me so good. She said, ‘Now tickle your clit, and you will come.’ So I found my clit, which was, as I say, a tiny little thing but quite sensitive, and I started rubbing and nubbing and scrubbing on it, and meanwhile I was bouncing up and down like a horse thief.” “Mmm,” said Mindy, dipping a finger deep and then circling. “And I think all the nerve connections were still being sketched in because I had something that I think was a very teeny orgasm, and then another little one, but bigger. And I thought, Shit, that’s it? That’s all? That’s a woman’s pussy orgasm? And then, whoa, my clit screamed out, and this incredible shaky feeling tore like a wrecking ball through my whole body.” “Was it mainly in your vagina or your clit?” “I don’t know, clit, vagina—it was all over the county, and I held her tits and looked up at her pretty face and let everything just flow through me, huhhh, huhhh.” Mindy’s breathing got fast and she said, “I’m going to come, Dune, mercy, I’m going to come!” Dune shuttled his finger over his clit, spanking it once, and he lifted himself up and he went, “Ahhhh, errrrrr, aaaahhh!” He frigged himself with the microphone and then he started hip-jouncing on the bed, and after he came he laughed and swore. He said, “This is just plain daffy, Mindy. I need my old dick back. Marcela’s going to want her pussy back soon, I know it. Will you go with me to Lila and dip your hands in the blue bowl and be the go-between?” “Sure,” said Mindy, “if I can get it on film.” [image "decoration" file=image_rsrc2SW.jpg] Rhumpa Visits the Pornmonster [image "decoration" file=image_rsrc2SX.jpg] A keeper named Harry, who wore short pants and had a little goatee, took Rhumpa to see the pornmonster. They went into the first airlock, and after the pressure equalized there they went into a second. It was darker there. The air was close, if not fetid. The hatch made a sucking sound and opened. They stood on the shore of a large underground lake, now the repository of the distilled contents of all the House of Holes’s pornsucker missions. Harry and Rhumpa went up a set of stairs hewn into the rock and stood on a balcony overlooking the lurid water, which glowed and glopped and slopped around the edges of the cavern. “It’s not terribly nice in here, is it?” said Rhumpa.

• From House of Holes: A Book of Raunch (2011)

  “No, you absolutely cannot fuck me, no,” she said. “But you can fuck my field. Stuff a bit of the blanket down that mole hole and then put your big cock in it. I want to watch your assbuns clench. Drive your cock into my field. Root yourself. I need to show you my whole pussy now. You want to see it?” She scooted so that Dave’s face, when he arched his neck up, was inches from her cuntgash. He listened to the luscious squelching at close range as she pulled the folds away from her clit. He closed and opened his eyes, and each time he opened them her succulent stovetop filled his vision, being stretched one way and another by her questing and well-practiced fingers. Supporting himself on his one arm, he guided his dick into the prickly wool of the blanket. He sank in deep. “I’m fucking the hole,” Dave said, and he saw her gaze travel to his assclenching maximus cheeks. She said, “Here’s all of me, Dave, nurse on my big clit so I can come.” He smelled her radiating vadge, and then, opening his soft lips, he slopped and slobbered his whole face into her pussy. He rolled his eyes up to look at her. Her head was thrown back. She was feeling good. He smiled into her pussy and then took a breath. “Look up at these great clouds,” he said, “while I suck your pussy and fuck the planet earth.” Chilli breathed. “I love this,” she said. She looked down at Dave’s mouth at her lettuce patch and watched his tongue do its wonderful work. “Edge us as close as you can, loverman.” Dave said, “Gluddle-luddle-luddle-luddle-luddle-luddle-luddle, mmmm.” “Take it out of the earth and milk your huge cock off for me. I want to see it. Please milk it off.” Dave pulled out of the crumbling earth hole and knelt close to her. “Here you go, sweet woman,” he said. “Haaahh!” Five days’ worth of sperm flowered out all over her stomach and breasts. “Now me,” Chilli said. “Jab that wicked tongue back inside me—that’s the way.” She held his head and moved her cuntal hand in slow connoisseurial ovals, and then, making her fingers rigid, she DJ’d herself, as if her clit was a scratch record. “Nnnnn, nnnn,” she said, frowning down at her frigging self. Her hips lifted off the blanket. “Oh, that’s good! Oh, shit, Dave, I’m a pornstar! Oh, juice it, juice it, I’M COMING!” [image "decoration" file=image_rsrc2SW.jpg] Ned Undergoes a Voluntary Head Detachment [image "decoration" file=image_rsrc2SX.jpg] Ned the golfer had incurred terrible debts at the House of Holes, and he was called into the main office. “Let’s see your body, please,” said Lila. Ned removed his shirt and pants. “Very nice,” she said. “And the underpants, please.” He stepped out of them with a smile, his jig swaying. She looked at him for a long time, tapping a pen on the arm of her chair.

• From History of the Christian Church: The Complete Set of Eight Volumes (1858)

  On his return from the Arabian retreat Paul began his public ministry in earnest at Damascus, preaching Christ on the very spot where he had been converted and called. His testimony enraged the Jews, who stirred up the deputy of the king of Arabia against him, but he was saved for future usefulness and let down by the brethren in a basket through a window in the wall of the city.411 Three years after his conversion he went up to Jerusalem to make the acquaintance of Peter and spent a fortnight with him. Besides him he saw James the brother of the Lord. Barnabas introduced him to the disciples, who at first were afraid of him, but when they heard of his marvellous conversion they "glorified God" that their persecutor was now preaching the faith he had once been laboring to destroy.412 He did not come to learn the gospel, having received it already by revelation, nor to be confirmed or ordained, having been called "not from men, or through man, but through Jesus Christ." Yet his interview with Peter and James, though barely mentioned, must have been fraught with the deepest interest. Peter, kind-hearted and generous as he was, would naturally receive him with joy and thanksgiving. He had himself once denied the Lord—not malignantly but from weakness—as Paul had persecuted the disciples—ignorantly in unbelief. Both had been mercifully pardoned, both had seen the Lord, both were called to the highest dignity, both could say from the bottom of the heart: "Lord thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee." No doubt they would exchange their experiences and confirm each other in their common faith. It was probably on this visit that Paul received in a vision in the temple the express command of the Lord to go quickly unto the Gentiles.413 Had he stayed longer at the seat of the Sanhedrin, he would undoubtedly have met the fate of the martyr Stephen. He visited Jerusalem a second time during the famine under Claudius, in the year 44, accompanied by Barnabas, on a benevolent mission, bearing a collection of the Christians at Antioch for the relief of the brethren in Judaea.414 On that occasion he probably saw none of the apostles on account of the persecution in which James was beheaded, and Peter imprisoned. The greater part of these four years was spent in missionary work at Tarsus and Antioch.

• From History of the Christian Church: The Complete Set of Eight Volumes (1858)

  Acta Petri et Pauli. A Catholic adaptation of an Ebionite work. The Greek and Latin text was published first in a complete form by Thilo, Halle, 1837-’38, the Greek by Tischendorf (who collated six MSS.) in his Acta Apost. Apoc. 1851, 1–39; English transl. by Walker in "Ante-Nicene Libr., " XVI. 256 sqq. This book records the arrival of Paul in Rome, his meeting with Peter and Simon Magus, their trial before the tribunal of Nero, and the martyrdom of Peter by crucifixion, and of Paul by decapitation. The legend of Domine quo vadis is here recorded of Peter, and the story of Perpetua is interwoven with the martyrdom of Paul. The pseudo-Clementine Homilies, of the middle of the second century or later, give a malignant Judaizing caricature of Paul under the disguise of Simon Magus (in part at least), and misrepresent him as an antinomian arch-heretic; while Peter, the proper hero of this romance, is glorified as the apostle of pure, primitive Christianity. The Correspondence of Paul and Seneca, mentioned by Jerome (De vir. ill. c. 12) and Augustin (Ep. ad Maced. 153, al. 54), and often copied, though with many variations, edited by Fabricius, Cod. Apocr. N. T., and in several editions of Seneca. It consists of eight letters of Seneca and six of Paul. They are very poor in thought and style, full of errors of chronology and history, and undoubtedly a forgery. They arose from the correspondence of the moral maxims of Seneca with those of Paul, which is more apparent than real, and from the desire to recommend the Stoic philosopher to the esteem of the Christians, or to recommend Christianity to the students of Seneca and the Stoic philosophy. Paul was protected at Corinth by Seneca’s brother, Gallio (Acts 18:12–16), and might have become acquainted with the philosopher who committed suicide at Rome in 65, but there is no trace of such acquaintance. Comp. Amédée Fleury: Saint-Paul et Sénèque (Paris, 1853, 2 vols.); C. Aubertin: Étude critique sur les rapports supposé entre Sénèque et Saint-Paul (Par. 1887); F. C. Baur: Seneca und Paulus, 1858 and 1876; Reuss: art. Seneca in Herzog, vol. XIV. 273 sqq.; Lightfoot: Excursus in Com. on Philippians, pp 268–331; art. Paul and Seneca, in "Westminster Review," Lond. 1880, pp. 309 sqq. II. Biographical and Critical. Bishop Pearson (d. 1686): Annales Paulini. Lond. 1688. In the various editions of his works, and also separately: Annals of St. Paul, transl. with geographical and critical notes. Cambridge, 1825. Lord Lyttleton (d. 1773): The Conversion and Apostleship of St. Paul. 3d ed. Lond. 1747. Apologetic as an argument for the truth of Christianity from the personal experience of the author. Archdeacon William Paley (d. 1805): Horae Paulinae: or The Truth of the Scripture History of Paul evinced by a comparison of the Epistles which bear his name, with the Acts of the Apostles and with one another. Lond. 1790 (and subsequent editions). Still valuable for apologetic purposes. J. Hemsen: Der Apostel Paulus. Gött. 1830.

• From History of the Christian Church: The Complete Set of Eight Volumes (1858)

  Luke is fond of words of joy and gladness.1017 He often mentions the Holy Spirit, and he is the only writer who gives us an account of the pentecostal miracle.1018 Minor peculiarities are the use of the more correct livmnh of the lake of Galilee for qavlassa, nomikov" and nomodidavskalo" for grammateuv", to; eijrhmevnon in quotations for rjhqevn, nu'n for a[rti, eJspevra for ojyiva, the frequency of attraction of the relative pronoun and participial construction. There is a striking resemblance between the style of Luke and Paul, which corresponds to their spiritual sympathy and long intimacy.1019 They agree in the report of the institution of the Lord’s Supper, which is the oldest we have (from A.D. 57); both substitute: "This cup is the new covenant in My blood," for "This is My blood of the (new) covenant," and add: "This do in remembrance of Me" (Luke 22:19, 20; 1 Cor. 11:24, 25). They are equally fond of words which characterize the freedom and universal destination of the gospel salvation.1020 They have many terms in common which occur nowhere else in the New Testament.1021 And they often meet in thought and expression in a way that shows both the close intimacy and the mutual independence of the two writers.1022 Genuineness.1023 The genuineness of Luke is above reasonable doubt. The character of the Gospel agrees perfectly with what we might expect from the author as far as we know him from the Acts and the Epistles. No other writer answers the description. The external evidence is not so old and clear as that in favor of Matthew and Mark. Papias makes no mention of Luke. Perhaps he thought it unnecessary, because Luke himself in the preface gives an account of the origin and aim of his book. The allusions in Barnabas, Clement of Rome, and Hermas are vague and uncertain. But other testimonies are sufficient for the purpose. Irenaeus in Gaul says: "Luke, the companion of Paul, committed to writing the gospel preached by the latter." The Muratori fragment which contains the Italian traditions of the canon, mentions the Gospel of "Luke, the physician, whom Paul had associated with himself as one zealous for righteousness, to be his companion, who had not seen the Lord in the flesh, but having carried his inquiries as far back as possible, began his history with the birth of John." Justin Martyr makes several quotations from Luke, though he does not name him.1024 This brings us up to the year 140 or 130. The Gospel is found in all ancient manuscripts and translations.

• From Sense and Sensibility (1811)

  It was only necessary to mention any favourite amusement to engage her to talk. She could not be silent when such points were introduced, and she had neither shyness nor reserve in their discussion. They speedily discovered that their enjoyment of dancing and music was mutual, and that it arose from a general conformity of judgment in all that related to either. Encouraged by this to a further examination of his opinions, she proceeded to question him on the subject of books; her favourite authors were brought forward and dwelt upon with so rapturous a delight, that any young man of five and twenty must have been insensible indeed, not to become an immediate convert to the excellence of such works, however disregarded before. Their taste was strikingly alike. The same books, the same passages were idolized by each—or if any difference appeared, any objection arose, it lasted no longer than till the force of her arguments and the brightness of her eyes could be displayed. He acquiesced in all her decisions, caught all her enthusiasm; and long before his visit concluded, they conversed with the familiarity of a long-established acquaintance. “Well, Marianne,” said Elinor, as soon as he had left them, “for _one_ morning I think you have done pretty well. You have already ascertained Mr. Willoughby’s opinion in almost every matter of importance. You know what he thinks of Cowper and Scott; you are certain of his estimating their beauties as he ought, and you have received every assurance of his admiring Pope no more than is proper. But how is your acquaintance to be long supported, under such extraordinary despatch of every subject for discourse? You will soon have exhausted each favourite topic. Another meeting will suffice to explain his sentiments on picturesque beauty, and second marriages, and then you can have nothing farther to ask.” “Elinor,” cried Marianne, “is this fair? is this just? are my ideas so scanty? But I see what you mean. I have been too much at my ease, too happy, too frank. I have erred against every common-place notion of decorum; I have been open and sincere where I ought to have been reserved, spiritless, dull, and deceitful—had I talked only of the weather and the roads, and had I spoken only once in ten minutes, this reproach would have been spared.” “My love,” said her mother, “you must not be offended with Elinor—she was only in jest. I should scold her myself, if she were capable of wishing to check the delight of your conversation with our new friend.” Marianne was softened in a moment.

• From Sense and Sensibility (1811)

  Little had Mrs. Dashwood or her daughters imagined when they first came into Devonshire, that so many engagements would arise to occupy their time as shortly presented themselves, or that they should have such frequent invitations and such constant visitors as to leave them little leisure for serious employment. Yet such was the case. When Marianne was recovered, the schemes of amusement at home and abroad, which Sir John had been previously forming, were put into execution. The private balls at the park then began; and parties on the water were made and accomplished as often as a showery October would allow. In every meeting of the kind Willoughby was included; and the ease and familiarity which naturally attended these parties were exactly calculated to give increasing intimacy to his acquaintance with the Dashwoods, to afford him opportunity of witnessing the excellencies of Marianne, of marking his animated admiration of her, and of receiving, in her behaviour to himself, the most pointed assurance of her affection. Elinor could not be surprised at their attachment. She only wished that it were less openly shown; and once or twice did venture to suggest the propriety of some self-command to Marianne. But Marianne abhorred all concealment where no real disgrace could attend unreserve; and to aim at the restraint of sentiments which were not in themselves illaudable, appeared to her not merely an unnecessary effort, but a disgraceful subjection of reason to common-place and mistaken notions. Willoughby thought the same; and their behaviour at all times, was an illustration of their opinions. When he was present she had no eyes for any one else. Every thing he did, was right. Every thing he said, was clever. If their evenings at the park were concluded with cards, he cheated himself and all the rest of the party to get her a good hand. If dancing formed the amusement of the night, they were partners for half the time; and when obliged to separate for a couple of dances, were careful to stand together and scarcely spoke a word to any body else. Such conduct made them of course most exceedingly laughed at; but ridicule could not shame, and seemed hardly to provoke them. Mrs. Dashwood entered into all their feelings with a warmth which left her no inclination for checking this excessive display of them. To her it was but the natural consequence of a strong affection in a young and ardent mind. This was the season of happiness to Marianne. Her heart was devoted to Willoughby, and the fond attachment to Norland, which she brought with her from Sussex, was more likely to be softened than she had thought it possible before, by the charms which his society bestowed on her present home.

• From Augustine: Philosopher and Saint (2005)

  7 Christian Platonist Lecture 2 Like other Church Fathers, Augustine combines concepts from Christianity and philosophy, especially the philosophy of Platonism. T his lecture centers on an extended thought experiment designed to introduce the student to key elements of Platonist thought that were attractive to Augustine, especially the concept of a nonbodily, eternal mode of being, and how that concept applies to God. Augustine and Philosophy • The Church Fathers often looked positively upon philosophy. • To understand Augustine, we need to understand the religious attractiveness of certain forms of pagan philosophy, especially Platonism. Platonist Philosophy Gave Augustine the Concept of God as a Nonbodily Being Some terminology to help us understand the question: What is a nonbodily mode of being? Objectives Upon completion of this lecture, you should be able to: • Explain the contrast between sensible things and intelligible things in Platonism. • Discuss the connection between the concept of a nonbodily mode of being and the concept of eternity. • Describe the relation of Understanding and Love in Augustine. • Explain why the philosophy of Platonism might be attractive to a religious thinker. 8 Lecture 2: Christian Platonist • Words to avoid: physical and concrete. • Words to use: bodily and corporeal. Sensible versus intelligible: • Sensible means “perceivable by the senses.” • Intelligible means “understood by the mind.” • Key metaphor: eye of the body versus mind’s eye. • Imagination is sensible, not intelligible. It’s easier to say what the intelligible is not, and there’s a reason for this: We’re familiar with sensible things but need to learn the intellectual hunger for an understanding of intelligible things. A Mathematical Example Imagine a geometry classroom where you’re looking at two kinds of triangles: one is drawn on the chalkboard; the other (which you can’t see with your bodily eyes) is the pure triangle that the mathematical proofs are really about. There comes a moment of insight when you suddenly understand what the proof is about. That moment has startling characteristics: • We say: “Aha! Now I see it!” • It is a moment of joy. • It is the satisfaction of that intellectual hunger. • It is like sexual desire and love. • But it is pure and clean, free from lust, jealousy, embarrassment, and À esh. How this mathematical example is connected with religion: • The Real Triangle is Eternal. • The Eternal is higher and more real than the sensible.

• From Sense and Sensibility (1811)

  Her exertions did not stop here; for she soon afterwards felt herself so heroically disposed as to determine, under pretence of fetching Marianne, to leave the others by themselves; and she really did it, and _that_ in the handsomest manner, for she loitered away several minutes on the landing-place, with the most high-minded fortitude, before she went to her sister. When that was once done, however, it was time for the raptures of Edward to cease; for Marianne’s joy hurried her into the drawing-room immediately. Her pleasure in seeing him was like every other of her feelings, strong in itself, and strongly spoken. She met him with a hand that would be taken, and a voice that expressed the affection of a sister. “Dear Edward!” she cried, “this is a moment of great happiness!—This would almost make amends for every thing!” Edward tried to return her kindness as it deserved, but before such witnesses he dared not say half what he really felt. Again they all sat down, and for a moment or two all were silent; while Marianne was looking with the most speaking tenderness, sometimes at Edward and sometimes at Elinor, regretting only that their delight in each other should be checked by Lucy’s unwelcome presence. Edward was the first to speak, and it was to notice Marianne’s altered looks, and express his fear of her not finding London agree with her. “Oh, don’t think of me!” she replied with spirited earnestness, though her eyes were filled with tears as she spoke, “don’t think of _my_ health. Elinor is well, you see. That must be enough for us both.” This remark was not calculated to make Edward or Elinor more easy, nor to conciliate the good will of Lucy, who looked up at Marianne with no very benignant expression. “Do you like London?” said Edward, willing to say any thing that might introduce another subject. “Not at all. I expected much pleasure in it, but I have found none. The sight of you, Edward, is the only comfort it has afforded; and thank Heaven! you are what you always were!” She paused—no one spoke. “I think, Elinor,” she presently added, “we must employ Edward to take care of us in our return to Barton. In a week or two, I suppose, we shall be going; and, I trust, Edward will not be very unwilling to accept the charge.” Poor Edward muttered something, but what it was, nobody knew, not even himself. But Marianne, who saw his agitation, and could easily trace it to whatever cause best pleased herself, was perfectly satisfied, and soon talked of something else. “We spent such a day, Edward, in Harley Street yesterday! So dull, so wretchedly dull!—But I have much to say to you on that head, which cannot be said now.”

• From The City of God

  One miracle was wrought among ourselves, which, though no greater than those I have mentioned, was yet so signal and conspicuous, that I suppose there is no inhabitant of Hippo who did not either see or hear of it, none who could possibly forget it. There were seven brothers and three sisters of a noble family of the Cappadocian Caesarea, who were cursed by their mother, a new-made widow, on account of some wrong they had done her, and which she bitterly resented, and who were visited with so severe a punishment from Heaven, that all of them were seized with a hideous shaking in all their limbs. Unable, while presenting this loathsome appearance, to endure the eyes of their fellow-citizens, they wandered over almost the whole Roman world, each following his own direction. Two of them came to Hippo, a brother and a sister, Paulus and Palladia, already known in many other places by the fame of their wretched lot. Now it was about fifteen days before Easter when they came, and they came daily to church, and specially to the relics of the most glorious Stephen, praying that God might now be appeased, and restore their former health. There, and wherever they went, they attracted the attention of every one. Some who had seen them elsewhere, and knew the cause of their trembling, told others as occasion offered. Easter arrived, and on the Lord's day, in the morning, when there was now a large crowd present, and the young man was holding the bars of the holy place where the relics were, and praying, suddenly he fell down, and lay precisely as if asleep, but not trembling as he was wont to do even in sleep. All present were astonished. Some were alarmed, some were moved with pity; and while some were for lifting him up, others prevented them, and said they should rather wait and see what would result. And behold! he rose up, and trembled no more, for he was healed, and stood quite well, scanning those who were scanning him. Who then refrained himself from praising God? The whole church was filled with the voices of those who were shouting and congratulating him. Then they came running to me, where I was sitting ready to come into the church. One after another they throng in, the last comer telling me as news what the first had told me already; and while I rejoiced and inwardly gave God thanks, the young man himself also enters, with a number of others, falls at my knees, is raised up to receive my kiss. We go in to the congregation:the church was full, and ringing with the shouts of joy, "Thanks to God! Praised be God! " every one joining and shouting on all sides, "I have healed the people," and then with still louder voice shouting again. Silence being at last obtained, the customary lessons of the divine Scriptures were read.

• From Sense and Sensibility (1811)

  Her own happiness, and her own spirits, were at least very certain; and she joined Mrs. Jennings most heartily in her expectation of their being all comfortably together in Delaford Parsonage before Michaelmas. So far was she, at the same time, from any backwardness to give Elinor that credit which Edward _would_ give her, that she spoke of her friendship for them both with the most grateful warmth, was ready to own all their obligation to her, and openly declared that no exertion for their good on Miss Dashwood’s part, either present or future, would ever surprise her, for she believed her capable of doing any thing in the world for those she really valued. As for Colonel Brandon, she was not only ready to worship him as a saint, but was moreover truly anxious that he should be treated as one in all worldly concerns; anxious that his tithes should be raised to the utmost; and secretly resolved to avail herself, at Delaford, as far as she possibly could, of his servants, his carriage, his cows, and his poultry. It was now above a week since John Dashwood had called in Berkeley Street, and as since that time no notice had been taken by them of his wife’s indisposition, beyond one verbal enquiry, Elinor began to feel it necessary to pay her a visit.—This was an obligation, however, which not only opposed her own inclination, but which had not the assistance of any encouragement from her companions. Marianne, not contented with absolutely refusing to go herself, was very urgent to prevent her sister’s going at all; and Mrs. Jennings, though her carriage was always at Elinor’s service, so very much disliked Mrs. John Dashwood, that not even her curiosity to see how she looked after the late discovery, nor her strong desire to affront her by taking Edward’s part, could overcome her unwillingness to be in her company again. The consequence was, that Elinor set out by herself to pay a visit, for which no one could really have less inclination, and to run the risk of a tête-à-tête with a woman, whom neither of the others had so much reason to dislike. Mrs. Dashwood was denied; but before the carriage could turn from the house, her husband accidentally came out. He expressed great pleasure in meeting Elinor, told her that he had been just going to call in Berkeley Street, and, assuring her that Fanny would be very glad to see her, invited her to come in. They walked up stairs in to the drawing-room.—Nobody was there. “Fanny is in her own room, I suppose,” said he: “I will go to her presently, for I am sure she will not have the least objection in the world to seeing _you_. Very far from it, indeed. _Now_ especially there cannot be—but however, you and Marianne were always great favourites. Why would not Marianne come?” Elinor made what excuse she could for her.

• From An Anomalous Jew: Paul Among Jews, Greeks, and Romans (2016)

  92 Paul: Apostle to the Gentiles and Jews? asked for a “word of exhortation.” Paul preached a sermon to the Israelites and God-fearers (Acts 13:16, 26) predicated on the premises of Jewish covenant history, with a narration of Jesus’ life and the apostolic interpretation of his death and resurrection (Acts 13:16-41). Luke notably reports that many Jews and devout proselytes “followed” Paul and Barnabas (Acts 13:43). The subse- quent Sabbath meeting does not go anywhere near as well with the Jews, who were “filled with jealousy.’ Paul and Barnabas responded by citing Isa 49:6 to the effect that, because of such recalcitrance, they will take their message to the Gentiles. The Gentiles rejoice at this news, and then the Jews petition God-fearing women and leading men to expel Paul and Barnabas (Acts 13:44- 52). As such, the Pisidian Antioch episode is paradigmatic of Lukan theology. Paul's speech is somewhat akin to Stephen’s in Acts 7, with its covenant history narration (though it retains clear points of contact with authentic Pauline tra- dition).°* The pattern of an initially positive reception among a small cohort of Jews, God-fearers, and proselytes, followed by Jewish antagonism and Roman complicity to persecution, occurs repeatedly throughout Paul’s missionary journeys. The Isa 49:6 theme also permeates Luke/Acts, to the effect that the role of Jesus as “light” to the Gentiles is continued in the ministry of Paul.°” Ironically, though Paul and Barnabas turn to the Gentiles (Acts 13:46),”° they still continue the pattern of starting with Jewish synagogues in the very next location—Iconium, where they speak to “Jews and Greeks” (Acts 14:1), with a similar cycle of opposition and persecution ensuing (Acts 14:2-7). The account of Paul and Barnabas in Lystra is anomalous, as they do not make it 68. See Dunn, Beginning from Jerusalem, 438. 69. Michael F. Bird, ““Light to the Nations’ (Isaiah 42:6 and 49:6): Intertextuality and Mission Theology in the Early Church,’ RTR 65 (2006): 127-28. 70. On these passages about “turning” to the Gentiles, Paul, later on in Corinth, utters a similar polemical remark indicting the Jews for their failure to believe and announces that he will instead focus on the Gentiles (Acts 18:6). Afterward, however, he again returns to the synagogues in Ephesus (Acts 18:19-20; 19:8-10). After his arrival in Rome, Paul takes the ini- tiative in summoning the Jewish leaders to hear his message (Acts 28:17-28). In Rome there is another “turning” to the Gentiles after disagreements among the Jews in Rome between those who believed his message and those who did not. That experience leads Paul to a citation from Isa 6:6-10 about Jewish hardness of heart, and he announces that God’s salvation will be sent to the more attentive Gentiles (Acts 28:26-29).