I BESEECH you therefore, brethren, by the mercy of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing unto God, your reasonable service.
Tertullian
These must be "the bodies" which he "beseeches" the Romans to "present" as "a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God." But how a living sacrifice, if these bodies are to perish? How a holy one, if they are profanely soiled? How acceptable to God, if they are condemned? Come, now, tell me how that passage (in the Epistle) to the Thessalonians-which, because of its clearness, I should suppose to have been written with a sunbeam-is understood by our heretics, who shun the light of Scripture: "And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly.
Imported from an open dataset — not yet checked against the printed edition.