Augustine of Hippo (AD 354 – AD 430) believed and used a Bible that included the disputed ending of Mark, chapter 16, verses 9-20. He supports his theology by and makes references to several verses from this section in his writings.
On the Soul and Its Origin, Book 2, Chapter 17
And as a counterbalance against this condemnation, the Lord exhibits the help of His salvation alone, saying, He that believes, and is baptized, shall be saved; but he that believes not shall be damned. Mark 16:16
On the Soul and Its Origin, Book 2, Chapter 23
Everything, therefore, which you find in the books that he [apparently Vincentius Victor, rlv] has addressed and forwarded to you, I beg you to consider with sobriety and vigilance; and you will perhaps make fuller discoveries than I have myself of statements which deserve to be censured. And as for such of their contents as are worthy of praise and approbation — whatever good you have learned therein, and by his instruction, which perhaps you were really ignorant of before, tell us plainly what it is, that all may know that it was for this particular benefit that you expressed your obligations to him, and not for the manifold statements in his books which call for their disapproval — all, I mean, who, like yourself, heard him read his writings, or who afterwards read the same for themselves: lest in his ornate style they may drink poison, as out of a choice goblet, at your instance, though not after your own example, because they know not precisely what it is you have drunk yourself, and what you have left untasted, and because, from your high character, they suppose that whatever is drunk out of this fountain would be for their health. For what else are hearing, and reading, and copiously depositing things in the memory, than several processes of drinking? The Lord, however, foretold concerning His faithful followers, that even if they should drink any deadly thing, it should not hurt them. Mark 16:18 And thus it happens that they who read with judgment, and bestow their approbation on whatever is commendable according to the rule of faith, and disapprove of things which ought to be reprobated, even if they commit to their memory statements which are declared to be worthy of disapproval, they receive no harm from the poisonous and depraved nature of the sentences.
Augustine refers to Mark 16 in his Homily 4 on the First Epistle of John.
You heard while the Gospel was read, Go, preach the Gospel to the whole creation which is under heaven. Consequently, the disciples were sent every where: with signs and wonders to attest that what they spoke, they had seen.
Augustine’s Harmony of the Gospels introduces verses from Mark 16:9-20 when comparing and harmonizing the accounts in the four Gospels. For example:
The Harmony of the Gospels, Book III, Chapter 24
Mark also attests these facts; for, after telling us how the women went out from the sepulchre, trembling and amazed, and said nothing to any man, he subjoins the statement, that the Lord rose early the first day of the week, and appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had cast seven devils, and that she went and told them who had been with Him, as they mourned and wept, and that they, when they heard that He was alive, and had been seen of her, believed not.
The Harmony of the Gospels, Book III, Chapter 25
Mark likewise mentions that He appeared first to Mary Magdalene...
...He appeared next to those two, of whom Cleophas was one, and regarding whom Luke presents us with a complete narrative, while Mark gives us only a very brief notice.
Mark tells us how Jesus “upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen Him after He was risen.”
There are a number more of these in Chapter 25, of which these are samples.
Note: I was unable to find much biography on Vincentius Victor. He is sometimes described as of Mauretania Caesariensis, and a Rogatist who converted to Caecilianism. See, for example, The Contours of Donatism: Theological and Ideological Diversity in Fourth Century North Africa. The theologies of Augustine and Victor are mostly immaterial to the discussion the last 12 verses of Mark. What is more important is that Augustine and those to whom he wrote, and apparently Victor as well, would have recognized Mark 16:9-20 as authoritative.
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