To Demetrianus

Introduction

ARGUMENT. CYPRIAN, IN REPLY TO DEMETRI- ANUS THE PROCONSUL OF AFRICA, WHO CON- TENDED THAT THE WARS, AND FAMINE, AND PESTILENCE WITH WHICH THE WORLD W.4S THEN PLAGUED MUST BE IMPUTED TO THE CHRISTIANS BECAUSE THEY DID NOT WORSHIP THE GODS J FAIRLY URGES (HAVING ARGUED THAT ALL THINGS ARE GRADUALLY DETERIORATING WITH THE OLD AGE OF THE WORLD) THAT IT WAS RATHER THE HEATHENS THEMSELVES WHO WERE THE CAUSE OF SUCH MISCHIEFS, BECAUSE THEY DID NOT WORSHIP GOD, AND, MOREOVER, WERE DISTRESSING THE CHRISTIANS WITH UNJUST PER- SECUTIONS.'^

I. I had frequently, Demetrianus, treated with contempt your railing and noisy clamour with

6 Luke ii. 37.

^ [On the Amen see Elucidation V. See vol. i. p. 186. J

^ [Written a.d. 252.]

9 Next, having reproached him with the unaccustomed kinds of tortures with which he tormented the Christians more severely than any other criminals, not for the purpose of making them confess, hut of making them deny their faith, he shows the impotence of the gods. — as well because they themselves cannot defend themselves, and so Demetrianus, who pretended to avenge them, should rather be wor- shipped by them, than himself worship them: — as because, when ev- pelled by Christians from possessed bodies, they themselves confess what they are. Nor indeed must the fall of kings, the destruction of

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sacrilegious mouth and impious words against the one and true God, thinking it more modest and better, silently to scorn the ignorance of a mistaken man, than by speaking to provoke the fury of a senseless one. Neither did I do this without the authority of the divine teaching," since it is written, " Speak not in the ears of a fool, lest when he hear thee he should despise the wisdom of thy words ; " ^ and again, " An- swer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou I also be like unto him." ^ And we are, moreover, I bidden to keep what is holy within our own knowledge, and not e.xpose it to be trodden down by swine and dogs, since the Lord speaks, saying, " Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you." ■* For when you used often to come to me with the desire of contra- dicting rather than with the wish to learn, and preferred impudently to insist on your own views, which you shouted with noisy words, to patiently listening to mine, it seemed to me foolish to contend with you ; since it would be an easier and slighter thing to restrain the angry waves of a turbulent sea with shouts, than to check your madness by arguments. Assuredly it would be both a vain and ineffectual labour to offer light to a blind man, discourse to a deaf one, or wis- dom to a brute ; since neither can a brute ap- prehend, nor can a Wind man admit the light, nor can a deaf man hear.

2. In consideration of this, I have frequently held my tongue, and overcome an impatient man with patience ; since I could neither teach an imteachable man, nor check an impious one with religion, nor restram a frantic man with gentleness. But yet, when you say that very many are complaining that to us it is ascribed that wars arise more frecjuently, that plague, that famines rage, and that long droughts are suspend- ing the showers and rains, it is not fitting that I should be silent any longer, lest my silence should begin to be attributed to mistrust rather than to modesty ; and while I am treating the false charges with contempt, I may seem to be acknowledging the crime. I reply, therefore, as well to you, Demetrianus, as to others whom per- haps you have stirred up, and many of whom, by sowing hatred against us with malicious words, you have made your own partisans, from the

property, and such like evils which accompanied the persecutions of Christians as a punishment from Heaven, he judged not to be pun- ishments, because they were shared by the Christians themselves; in- asmuch as all these things are a joy to them rather than a punishment. Accordingly, while there is time, he urges him to return to a better mind, or at least to dre.^d the judgment and an ever burning fiery Gehenna. In this tract Cyprian partly imitates Tertullian's Apology and his treatise to Scapula, partly the Octavius of Minucius Felix.

■ Some add. "and name."

^ Prov. xxiii. 9.

3 Prov. xxvi. 4.

4 Matt. vii. 6. •

budding forth of your own root and origin, who, however, I believe, will admit the reasonableness. of my discourse ; for he who is moved to evil by the deception of a lie, will much more easily be moved to good by the cogency of truth.

3. You have said that all these things are caused by us, and that to us ought to be at- tributed the misfortunes wherewith the world is now shaken and distressed, because your gods are not worshipped by us. And in this behalf, since you are ignorant of divine knowledge, and a stranger to the truth, you must in the first place know this, that the world has now grown old,, and does not abide in that strength in which it formerly stood ; nor has it that vigour and force which it formerly possessed. This, even were we silent, and if we alleged no proofs from the sacred Scriptures and from the divine declara- tions, the world itself is now announcing, and bearing witness to its decline by the testimony of its failing estate. s In the winter there is not such an abundance of showers for nourishing the seeds ; in the summer the sun has not so much heat for cherishing the harvest ; nor in the spring season are the corn-fields so joyous ; nor are the autumnal seasons so fruitful in their leafy prod- ucts. The layers of marble are dug out in less quantity from the disembowelled and wearied mountains ; the dmiinished quantities of gold and silver suggest the early exhaustion of the metals, and the impoverished veins are strait- ened and decreased day by day ; the husband- man is failing in the fields, the sailor at sea, the soldier in the camp, innocence in the market, justice in the tribunal, concord in friendships,, skilfulness in the arts, discipline in morals. Think you that the substantial character of a thing that is growing old remains so robust as that wherewith it might previously flourish in its youth while still new and vigorous? Whatever is tending downwards to decay, with its end nearly approaching, must of necessity be weak- ened. Thus, the sun at his settinsr darts his ravs with a less bright and fiery splendour ; thus, in her declining course, the moon wanes with exhausted horns ; and the tree, which before had been green and fertile, as its branches dry up, becomes by and by misshapen -in a barren old age ; and the fountain which once gushed forth liberally from its overflowing veins, as old age causes it to f.iil, scarcely trickles with a sparing moi: Uire. This is the sentence passed on the world, this is God's law, that everything that has had a beginning should perish, and things that have grown should become old, and that strong things should be- come weak, and great things become small, and that, when they have become weakened and di- minished, they should come to an end.

S [Elucidation'VI. See Commodian, vol. iv. 219.]

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4. You impute it to the Christians that every- thing is decaying as the world grows old. What if old men should charge it on the Christians that they grow less strong in their old age ; that they no longer, as formerly, have the same faculties, in the hearing of their ears, in the swiftness of their feet, in the keenness of their eyes, in the vigour of their strength, in the freshness of their organic powers, in the fulness of their limbs, and that although once the life of men endured be- yond the age of eight and nine hundred years, it can now scarcely attain to its hundredth year? We see grey hairs in boys — the hair fails before it begins to grow ; and life does not cease in old age, but it begins with old age. Thus, even at its very commencement, birth hastens to its close ; ' thus, whatever is now born degenerates with the old age of the world itself; so that no one ought to wonder that everything begins to fail in the world, when the whole world itself is already in process of failing, and in its end.

5. Moreover, that wars continue frequently to prevail, that death and famine accumulate anxi- ety, that health is shattered by raging diseases, that the human race is wasted by the desolation of pestilence, know that this was foretold ; that evils should be multiplied in the last times, and that misfortunes should be varied ; and that as the day of judgment is now drawing nigh, the censure of an indignant God should be more and more aroused for the scourging of the human race. For these things happen not, as your false complaining and ignorant inexperience of the truth asserts and repeats, because your gods are not worshipped by us, but because God is not worshipped by you. For since He is Lord and Ruler of the world, and all things are carried on by His will and direction, nor can anything be done save what He Himself has done or allowed to be done, certainly when those things occur which show the anger of an offended God, they happen not on account of us by whom God is worshipped, but they are called down by your sins and deservings, by whom God is neither in any way sought nor feared, because your vain superstitions are not forsaken, nor the true reli- gion known in such wise that He who is the one God over all might alone be worshipped and petitioned.

6. In fine, listen to Himself speaking ; Him- self with a divine voice at once instructing and warning us : " Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God," says He, "and Him only shalt thou serve." ^ And again, " Thou shalt have none other gods but me." 3 And again, " Go not after other gods, to serve them ; and worship them not, and pro- voke not me to anger with the works of your

I [Wisd. y. 13.] ^ Deut. vi. 13.

3 Ex. XMXX. 3.

hands to destroy you."-* Moreover, the prophet, filled with the Holy Spirit, attests and denounces the anger of God, saying, " Thus saith the Lord Almighty : Because of mine house that is waste, and ye run every man to his own house, therefore the heavens shall be stayed from dew, and the earth shall withhold her fruits : and I will bring a sword upon the earth, and 'upon the corn, and upon the wine, and upon the oil, and upon men, and upon catde, and upon all the labours of their hands." s Moreover, another prophet repeats, and says, " And I will cause it to rain upon one city, and upon another city I will cause it not to rain. One piece shall be rained upon, and the piece whereon I send no rain shall be withered. And two and three cities shall be gathered into one city to drink water, and shall not be satisfied ; and ye are not converted unto me, saith the Lord." ^

7. Behold, the Lord is angry and wrathful, and threatens, because you turn not unto Him. And you wonder or complain in this your obsti- nacy and contempt, if the rain comes down with unusual scarcity ; and the earth falls into neglect with dusty corruption ; if the barren glebe hardly brings forth a few jejune and pallid blades of grass ; if the destroying hail weakens the vines ; if the overwhelming whirlwind roots out the olive ; if drought stanches the fountain ; a pes- tilent breeze corrupts the air ; the weakness of disease wastes away man ; although all these things come as the consequence of the sins that provoke them, and God is more deeply indignant when such and so great evils avail nothing ! For that these things occur either for the discipline of the obstinate or for the punishment of the evil, the same God declares in the Holy Scrip- tures, saying, " In vain have I smitten your chil- dren ; they have not received correction." ? And the prophet devoted and dedicated to God an- swers to these words in the same strain, and says, " Thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved ; Thou hast scourged them, but they have refused to receive correction." ^ Lo, stripes are inflicted from God, and there is no fear of God. Lo, blows and scourgings from above are not wanting, and there is no trembling, no fear. What if even no such rebuke as that interfered in human affairs? How much greater still would be the audacity in men, if it were secure in the impunity of their crimes !

8. You complain that the fountains are now less plentiful to you, and the breezes less salu- brious, and the frequent showers and the fertile earth afford you less ready assistance ; that the elements no longer subserve your uses and your pleasures as of old. But do you serve God, by

* Jer. XXV. 6. 5 Hag. i. 9.

^ Amos iv. 7.

^ Jer. ii. 30. [Compare Aug., d'iy o/Go(i,fassim.'\

^ Jer. V. 3.

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whom all things are ordained to your service ; do you wait upon Him by whose good pleasure all things wait upon you?' From your slave you yourself require service ; and though a man, you compel your fellow- man to submit, and to be obedient to you ; and although you share the same lot in respect of being born, the same con- dition in respect of dying ; although you have like bodily sul)stance and a common order of souls, and although you come into this world of ours and depart from it after a time with equal rights, 2 and by the same law ; yet, unless you are served by him according to your pleasure, unless you are obeyed by him in conformity to your will, you, as an imperious and excessive exactor of his service, flog and scourge him : you afflict and torture him with hunger, with thirst and nakedness, and even frequently with the sword and with imprisonment. And, wretch that you are, do you not acknowledge the Lord your God while you yourself are thus exercising lordship ? ^

9. And therefore with reason in these plagues that occur, there are not wanting God's stripes and scourges ; and since they are of no avail in this matter, and do not convert individuals to (iod by such terror of destructions, there remains after all the eternal dungeon, and the continual fire, and the everlasting punishment ; nor shall the groaning of the suppliants be heard there, because here the terror of the angry God was not heard, crying by His prophet, and saying, '' Hear the word of the Lord, ye children of Israel : for the judgment of the Lord is against the inhabitants of the earth ; because there is neither mercy, nor truth, nor knowledge of God upon the earth. But cursing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, is l)roken out over the land, they mingle blood with blood. Therefore shall the land mourn, with every one that dwelleth therein, with tlie beasts of the field, with things that creep on the earth, and with the fowls of heaven ; and the fishes of the sea shall languish, so that no man shall judge, no man shall rebuke." •♦ God says He is wrath- ful and angry, because there is no acknowledg- ment of (iod in the earth, and God is neither known nor feared. The sins of lying, of lust, of fraud, of cruelty, of impiety, of anger, God rebukes and finds fault with, and no one is converted to innocency. Lo, those things are happening which were before foretold by the words of God ; nor is any one admonished by

' Some read, " But you do not serve God, by whom all things are ordained to your service; you do not wait upon Him, " etc.

- [" /Equali jure et pari lege." This would have furnished ground for Jefferson's famous sentence in the American Declaration of Inde- pendence. See also Franklin's sentiment, vol. i. p. 552, note 9. There IS a very remarkable passage in Massillnn which might have engen- dered the French Revolution had it been known to the ueople. See Petit Careme, On Palm Sunday, p 189, etc., ed. 1745. J

■5 Some add, " over man."

■♦ Hos. iv. 1-4.

the belief of things present to take thouglit fc what is to come. Amongst those very misfor- tunes wherein the soul, closely bound and shut up, can scarcely breathe, there is still found opportunity for men to be evil, and in such great dangers to judge not so much of them- selves as of others. You are indignant that God is angry, as if by an evil life you were deserving any good, as if all things of that kind which happen were not infinitely less and of smaller account than your sins.

10. You who judge others, be for once also a judge of yourself; look into the hiding-places of your own conscience ; nay, since now there is not even any shame in your sin, 5 and you are wicked, as if it were rather the very wickedness itself that pleased you, do you, who are seen clearly and nakedly by all other men, yourself also look upon yourself. For either you are swollen with pride, or greedy with avarice, or cruel with anger, or prodigal with gambling, or flushed with intemperance, or envious with jeal- ousy, or unchaste with lust, or violent with cru- elty ; and do you wonder that God's anger increases in punishing the human race, when the sin that is punished is daily increasing? You complain that the enemy rises up, as if, though an enemy were wanting, there could be peace for you even among tlie \'ery togas of peace. You complain that the enemy rises up, as if, even although external arms and dangers from barbarians were repressed, the weapons of domes- tic assault from the calumnies and wrongs of powerful citizens, would not be more ferocious and more harshly wielded within. You complain of barrenness and flimine, as if drought made a greater famine than rapacity, as if the fierceness of want did not increase more terribly from grasping at the increase of the year's produce, and the accumulation of their price. You com- plain that the heaven is shut up from showers, although in the same way the barns are shut up on earth. You complain that now less is pro- duced, as if what had already been produced were given to the indigent. You reproach plague and disease, while by plague itself and disease the crimes of individuals are either detected or increased, while mercy is not manifested to the weak, and avarice and rapine are waiting open- mouthed for the dead. The same men are timid in the duties of affection, but rash in quest of impious gains ; shunning the deaths of the dying, and craving the spoils of the dead, so that it may appear as if the wretched are probably forsaken in their sickness for this cause, that they may not, by being cured, escape : for he who enters so eagerly upon the estate of the (\\\x\'i,. probal>!y desired the sick man to perish.

5 Some texts read, " fear or shame in sinning."

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11. So great a terror of destruction cannot give the teaching of innocency ; and in the midst of a people dying with constant havoc, nobody considers that he himself is mortal. Everywhere there is scattering, there is seizure, there is tak- ing possession ; no dissimulation about spoiling, and no delay.' As if it were all lawful, as if it were all becoming, as if he who does not rob were suffering loss and wasting his own property, thus every one hastens to the rapine. Among thieves there is at any rate some modesty in their crimes. They love pathless ravines and deserted solitudes ; and they do wrong in such a way, that still the crime of the wrong-doers is veiled by darkness and night. Avarice, however, rages openly, and, safe by its very boldness, exposes the weapons of its headlong craving in the light of the market-place. Thence cheats, thence poi- soners, thence assassins in the midst of the city, are as eager for wickedness as they are wicked with impunity. The crime is committed by the guilty, and the guiltless who can avenge it is not found. There is no fear from accuser or judge : the wicked obtain impunity, while modest men are silent ; accomplices are afraid, and those who are to judge are for sale. And therefore by the mouth of the prophet the truth of the matter is put forth with the divine spirit and in- stinct : it is shown in a certain and obvious way that God can prevent adverse things, but that the evil deserts of sinners prevent His bringing aid. " Is the Lord's hand," says he, "not strong to save you ; or has He made heavy His ear, that He cannot hear you? But your sins separate between you and God ; and because of your sins He hath hid His face from you, that He may not have mercy." ^ Therefore let your sins and of- fences be reckoned up ; let the wounds of your conscience be considered ; and let each one cease complaining about God, or about us, if he should perceive that himself deserves what he suffers.

12. Look what that very matter is of which is chiefly our discourse — that you molest us, although innocent ; that, in contempt of God, you attack and oppress God's servants. It is little, in your account, that your life is stained with a variety of gross vices, with the iniquity of deadly crimes, with the summary of all bloody rapines ; that true religion is overturned by false superstitions ; that God is neither sought at all, nor feared at all ; but over and above this, you weary ^ God's servants, and those who are dedi- cated to His majesty and His name, with unjust persecutions. It is not enough that you yourself do not worship God, but, over and above, you persecute those who do worship, with a sacrile-

' Or, " no pretence." Some add, " no fear."

^ Isa. lix. I.

3 Or, "distress; " v. l.

gious hostility. You neither worship God, nor do you at all permit Him to be worshipped ; and while others who venerate not only those foolish idols and images made by man's hands, but even portents and monsters besides, are pleasing to you, it is only the worshipper of God who is dis- pleasing to you. The ashes of victims and the piles of cattle everywhere smoke in your temples, and God's altars are either nowhere or are hid- den. Crocodiles, and apes, and stones, and ser- pents are worshipped by you ; and God alone in the earth is not worshipped, or if worshipped, not with impunity. You deprive the innocent, the just, the dear to God, of their home ; you spoil them of their estate, you load them with chains, you shut them up in prison, you punish them with the sword, with the wild beasts, with the flames. Nor, indeed, are you content with a brief endurance of our sufferings, and with a simple and swift exhaustion of pains. You set on foot tedious tortures, by tearing our bodies ; you multiply numerous punishments, by lacerat- ing our vitals ; nor can your brutality and fierce- ness be content with ordinary tortures ; your ingenious cruelty devises new sufferings.

13. What is this insatiable madness for blood- shedding, what this interminable lust of cru- elty? Rather make your election of one of two alternatives. To be a Christian is either a crime, or it is not. If it be a crime, why do you not put the man that confesses it to death ? If it be not a crime, why do you persecute an in- nocent man? For I ought to be put to the torture if I denied it. If in fear of your pun- ishment I should conceal, by a deceitful false- hood, what I had previously been, and the fact that I had not worshipped your gods, then I might deserve to be tormented, then I ought to be compelled to confession of my crime by the power of suffering, as in other examinations the guilty, who deny that they are guilty of the crime of which they are accused, are tortured in order that the confession of the reality of the crime, which the tell-tale voice refuses to make, may be wrung out by the bodily suffering. But now, when of my own free will I confess, and cry out, and with words frequent and re- peated to the same effect bear witness that I am a Christian, why do you apply tortures to one who avows it, and who destroys your gods, not in hidden and secret places, but openly, and publicly, and in the very market-place, in the hearing of your magistrates and governors ; so that, although it was a slight thing which you blamed in me before, that which you ought rather to hate and punish has increased, that by declaring myself a Christian in a frequented place, and with the people standing around, I am confounding both you and your gods by an open and public announcement?

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14. Why do you turn your attention to the weakness of our body? why do you strive with the feebleness of this earthly flesh? Contend rather with the strength of the mind, break down the power of the soul, destroy our faith, conquer if you can by discussion, overcome by reason ; or, if your gods have any deity and power, let them themselves rise to their own vindication, let them defend themselves by their own majesty. But what can they advantage their worshippers, if they cannot avenge them- selves on those who worship them not? For if : he who avenges is of more account than he who is avenged, then you are greater than your gods. And if you are greater than those whom you worship, you ought not to worship them, but rather to be worshipped and feared by them as their lord. Your championship defends them when injured, just as your i)rotection guards them when shut up from perishing. You should be ashamed to worship those whom you your- self defend ; you should be ashamed to hope for protection from those whom you yourself protect.

15. Oh, would you but hear and see them when they are adjured by us, and tortured with spiritual scourges, and are ejected from the possessed bodies with tortures of words,' when howling and groaning at the voice of man and the power of Cod, feeling the stripes and blows, they confess the judgment to come ! Come and acknowledge that what we say is true ; and since you say that you thus worship gods, believe even those whom you worship. ()r if you will even believe yourself, he — i.e., the demon — who has now possessed your breast, who has now darkened your mind with the night of ignorance, shall speak concerning yourself in your hearing. You will see that we are entreated by those whom you entreat, that we are feared by those whom you fear, whom you adore. You will see that under our hands they stand bound, and tremble as captives, whom you look up to and venerate as lords : assuredly even thus you might be confounded in those errors of yours, when you see and hear your gods, at once upon our interrogation betraying what they are, and even in your presence unable to conceal those deceits and trickeries of theirs.

16. What, then, is that sluggishness of mind ; yea, what blind and stupid madness of fools, to be unwilling to come out of darkness into light, and to be unwilling, when bound in the toils of eternal death, to receive the hope of immor- tality, and not to fear Cod when He threatens and says, " He that sacrifices unto any gods, but unto the Lord only, shall be rooted out?"^ And again : " They worshipped them whom

' [Vol. iii. pp. 176, 180.] '^ Ex. .\xii. 30.

their fingers made ; and the mean man hath bowed down, and the great man hath humbled himself, and I will not forgive them." ^ Why do you humble and bend yourself to false gods ? Why do you bow your body captive before foolish images and creations of earth? Cod made you upright ; and while other animals are dovvnlooking, and are depressed in posture bend- ing towards the earth, yours is a lofty attitude ; and your countenance is raised upwards to heaven, and to Cod. Look thither, lift your eyes thitherward, seek Cod in the highest, that you may be free from things below ; lift your heart to a dependence on high and heavenly things. Why do you prostrate yourself into the ruin of death with the serpent whom you worship ? Why do you fall into the destruction of the devil, by his means and in his company? Keep the lofty estate in which you were born. Continue such as you were made by Cod. To the posture of your countenance and of your body, conform your soul. That you may be able to know Cod, first know yourself. Forsake the idols which human error has in\-ented. Be turned to Cod, whom if you implore He will aid you. Believe in Christ, whom ■* the Father has sent to quicken and restore us. Cease to hurt the servants of Cod and of Christ with your persecutions, since when they are injured the divine vengeance defends them.

1 7. For this reason it is that none of us, when he is apprehended, makes resistance, nor avenges himself against your unrigliteous \iolence, al- though our people are numerous and plentiful. Our certainty of a vengeance to follow makes us patient. The innocent give place to the guilty ; the harmless acquiesce in punishments and tortures, sure and confident that whatsoever we suffer will not remain unavenged, and that in proportion to the greatness of the injustice of our persecution so will be the justice and the severity of the vengeance exacted for those per- secutions. Nor does the wickedness of the impious ever rise uj) against the name we bear, without immediate vengeance from above at- tending it. To say nothing of the memories of ancient times, and not to recur with wordy commemoration to frecjuently rei)eated ven- geance on behalf of Cod's worshippers, the instance of a recent matter is sufficient to prove that our defence, so S]ieedily, and in its speed so powerfully, followed of late in the ruins of things, 5 in the destruction of wealth, in the waste of soldiers, and the diminution of forts. Nor let any one think that this occurred by chance, or think that it was fortuitous, since long ago Scripture has laid down, and said, " Vengeance

3 Isa. ii. 8.

* Some read, " the Son whom."

S Or, according to som«, " of kings."

46:

is mine ; I will repay, saith the Lord." ' And again the Holy Spirit forewarns, and says, " Say not thou, I will avenge myself of mine enemy, but wait on the Lord, that He may be thy help."^ Whence it is plain and manifest, that not by our means, but for our sakes, all those things are hap- pening which come down from the anger of God.

18. Nor let anybody think that Christians are not avenged by those things that are happening, for the reason that they also themselves seem to be affected by their visitation. A man feels the punishment of worldly adversity, when all his joy and glory are in the world. He grieves and groans if it is ill with him in this life, with whom it cannot be well after this life, all the fruit of whose life is received here, all whose consolation is ended here, whose fading and brief life here reckons some sweetness and pleasure, but when it has departed hence, there remains for him only punishment added to sorrow. But they have no suffering from the assault of present ■evils who have confidence in future good things. In fact, we are never prostrated by adversity, nor are we broken down, nor do we grieve or murmur in any external misfortune or weakness of body : living by the Spirit rather than by the flesh, we overcome bodily weakness by mental strength. By those very things which torment and weary us, we know and trust that we are proved and strengthened. ^

19. Do you think that we suffer adversity equally with yourselves, when you see that the same adverse things are not borne equally by us and by you ? Among you there is always a clamorous and complaining impatience ; with us there is a strong and religious patience, always quiet and always grateful to God. Nor does it claim for itself anything joyous or prosperous in this world, but, meek and gentle and stable against all the gusts of this tossing world, it waits for the time of the divine promise ; for as long as this body endures, it must needs have a common lot with others, and its bodily condition must be common. Nor is it given to any of the human race to be separated one from another, except by withdrawal from this present life. In the meantime, we are all, good and evil, con- tained in one household. Whatever happens within the house, we suffer with equal fate, until, when the end of the temporal life shall be at- tained, we shall be distributed among the homes either of eternal death or immortality. Thus, therefore, we are not on the same level, and equal with you, because, placed in this present workLand in this flesh, we incur equally with you the annoyances of the world and of the flesh ; for since in the sense of pain is all punishment,

' Rom. xit. 19. - Prov. XX. 22. ■5 [Beautiful triumph of faith, " peace in believing! "]

it is manifest that he is not a sharer of your pun- ishment who, you see, does not suffer pain equally with yourselves.'*

20. There flourishes with us the strength of hope and the firmness of faith. Among these very ruins of a decaying world our soul is lifted up, and our courage unshaken : our patience is never anything but joyous ; and the mind is al- ways secure of its God, even as the Holy Spirit speaks through the prophet, and exhorts us, strengthening with a heavenly word the firmness of our hope and faith. "The fig-tree," says He, " shall not bear fruit, and there shall be no blos- som in the vines. The labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat. The flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls. But I will rejoice in the Lord, and I will joy in the God of my salvation." 5 He says that the man of God and the worshipper of God, depending on the truth of his hope, and founded on the stedfastness of his faith, is not moved by the attacks of this world and this life. Although the vine should fail, and the olive deceive, and the field parched with grass dying with drought should wither, what is this to Christians? what to God's ser- vants whom paradise is inviting, whom all the grace and all the abundance of the kingdom of heaven is waiting for? They always exult in the Lord, and rejoice and are glad in their God ; and the evils and adversities of the world they bravely sufter, because they are looking forward to gifts and prosperities to come : for we who have put off our earthly birth, and are now cre- ated and regenerated by the Spirit, and no longer live to the world but to God, shall not receive God's gifts and promises until we arrive at the presence of God. And yet we always ask for the repulse of enemies, and for obtain- ing showers, and either for the removal or the moderating of adversity ; and we pour forth our prayers, and, propitiating and appeasing God, we entreat constantly and urgently, day and night, for your peace and salvation.

21. Let no one, however, flatter himself, be- cause there is for the present to us and to the profane, to God's worshippers and to God's op- ponents,^ by reason of the equality of the flesh and body, a common condition of worldly troubles, in such a way as to think from this, that all those things which happen are not drawn down by you ; since by the announcement of God Himself, and by prophedc testimony, it has previously been foretold that upon the unjust should come the wrath of God, and that perse- cutions which humanly would hurt us should not

■* Or, " whom you do not see not to sufferwith yourself." 5 Hab. iii. 17.

*> Otherwise read, " to us the worshippers of God, and to His pro- fane opponents."

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be wanting ; but, moreover, that vengeance, which should defend with heavenly defence those who were hurt, should attend them.

2 2. And how great, too, are those things which in the meantime are happening in that respect on our bebalf ! Something is given for an ex- ample, that the anger of an avenging God may be known. But the day of judgment is still future which the Holy Scripture denounces, say- ing, " Howl ye, for the day of the Lord is at hand, and destruction from God shall come ; for, lo, the day of the Lord cometh, cruel with wrath and anger, to lay the earth desolate, and to destroy the sinners out of it." ' And again : " Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, burning as an oven ; and all the aliens and all that do wickedly shall be as stubble, and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord." ^ The Lord prophesies that tlie aliens shall be burnt up and consumed ; that is, aliens from the divine race, and the profane, those who are not spiritually new-born, nor made children of God. For that those only can escape who have been new-born and signed with the sign of Christ, God says in another place, when, sending forth His angels to the destruction of the world and the death of the human race, He threatens more terribly in the last time, saying, " Go ye, and smite, and let not your eye spare. Have no ]iity upon old or young, and slay the virgins and the little ones and the women, that they may be utterly destroyed. But touch not any man upon whom is written the mark." ^ Moreover, what this mark is, and m what ])art of the body it is placed, (jod sets forth in another place, saying, "Go through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon tlie foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof." •* And that the sign pertains to the passion and blood of Christ, and that whoever is found in this sign is kept safe and unharmed, is also proved by God's testi- mony, saying, " And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses in which ye shall be ; and I will see the blood, and will protect you, and the plague of diminution shall not be upon you when I smite the land of Egypt." 5 What previously preceded by a figure in the slain lamb is fulfilled in Christ, the truth which fol- lowed afterwards. As, then, when I'>gypt was smitten, the Jewish people could not escape ex- cept by the blood and the sign of the lamb ; so also, when the world shall begin to be deso- lated and smitten, whoever is found in the blood and the sign of Christ alone shall escape."

' Isa. xiH. 6-9.

2 Mai. iv. I.

3 Ezek. ix. 5.

* Ezek. ix.4. 5 F.x. xii. 13.

* (I-^ek. ix. a;

Rev, vii. 3, ix. 4.J

23. Look, therefore,^ while there is time, to the true and eternal salvation ; and since now the end of the world is at hand, turn your minds to God, in the fear of God ; nor let that power- less and vain dominion in the world over the just and meek delight you, since in the field, even among the cultivated and fruitful corn, the tares and the darnel have dominion. Nor say ye that ill fortunes happen because your gods are not worshipped by us ; but know that this is the judgment of God's anger, that He who is not acknowledged on account of His benefits may at least be acknowledged through His judgments. Seek the Lord even late ; for long ago, God, forewarning by His prophet, exhorts and says, " Seek ye the Lord, and your soul shall live." ** Know God even late ; for Christ at His coming admonishes and teaches this, saying, " This is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent." 9 Believe Him who deceives not at all. Believe Him who foretold that all these things should come to pass. Believe Him who will give to all that believe the reward of eternal life. Believe Him who will call down on them that believe not, eternal punishments in the fires of Gehenna.

24. What wdll then be the glory of faith? what the punishment of faithlessness? When the day of judgment shall come, what joy of believers, what sorrow of unbelievers; that they should have been unwilling to believe here, and now that they should be unable to return that they might believe ! An ever-burning Gehenna will burn up the condemned, and a punishment devouring with living flames ; nor will there be any source whence at any time they may have either respite or end to their torments. Souls with their bodies will be reserved in infinite tor- tures for suffering. Thus the man will be for ever seen by us who here gazed ui)on us for a season ; and the short jpy of those cruel eyes in the persecutions that they made for us will be compensated by a perpetual spectacle, accord- ing to the truth of Holy Scripture, which says, " Their worm shall not die, and their fire shall not be (juenched ; and they shall be for a vision to all flesh." '° And again : " Then shall the righteous men stand in great constancy before the face of those who have afflicted them, and have taken away their labours. When they see it, they shall be troubled with horrible fear, and shall be amazed at the suddenness of their un- expected salvation ; and they, repenting and groaning for anguish of spirit, shall say within themselves. These are they whom we had some

7 Or, according to some readings, "' Be wise, therefore." * Amos V. 6. 9 John xvii. 3. '° Ita. Lxvi. 24.

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time in derision, and a proverb of reproach ; we fools counted their Hfe madness, and their end to be without honour. How are they numbered among the children of God, and their lot is among the saints ! Therefore have we erred from the way of truth, and the light of righteous- ness hath not shined upon us, and the sun rose not on us. We wearied ourselves in the way of wickedness and destruction ; we have gone through deserts where there lay no way ; but we have not known the way of the Lord. What hath pride profited us, or what good hath the boasting of riches done us? All those things are passed away like a shadow." ' The pain of punishment will then be without the fruit of peni- tence ; weeping will be useless, and prayer in- effectual. Too late they will believe in eternal punishment who would not believe in eternal life.

25. Provide, therefore, while you may, for your safety and your life. We offer you the wholesome help of our mind and advice. And because we may not hate, and we please God more by rendering no return for wrong, we ex- hort you while you have the power, while there yet remains to you something of life, to make satisfaction to God, and to emerge from the abyss of darkling superstition^ into the bright light of true religion. We do not envy your comforts, nor do we conceal the divine bene- fits. We repay kindness for your hatred ; and for the torments and penalties which are inflicted on us, we point out to you the ways of salva- tion. Believe and live, and do ye who persecute us in time rejoice with us for eternity. When you have once departed thither, there is no longer any place for repentance, and no possi- bility of making satisfaction. Here life is either lost or saved ; here eternal safety is provided for by the worship of God and the fruits of faith. Nor let any one be restrained either by his sins or by his years from coming to obtain salvation. To him who still remains in this world no re- pentance is too late. The approach to God's mercy is open, and the access is easy to those who seek and apprehend the truth. Do you en- treat for your sins, although it be in the very end of life, and at the setting of the sun of time ; and implore God, who is the one and true God, in confession and faith of acknowledgment of Him, and pardon is granted to the man who confesses, and saving mercy is given from the divine good- ness to the believer, and a passage is opened to immortality even in death itself. This grace Christ bestows ; this gift of His mercy He con- fers upon us, by overcoming death in the trophy of the cross, by redeeming the believer with the

' Wisd. V. 1-9.

'^ " From the deep and darkling night of superstition " is another reading.

price of His blood, by reconciling man to God the Father, by quickening our mortal nature with a heavenly regeneration. If it be possible, let us all follow Him ; let us be registered in His sacrament and sign. He opens to us the way of life ; He brings us back to paradise ; He leads us on to the kingdom of heaven. Made by Him the children of God, with Him we shall ever live ; with Him we shall always rejoice, restored by His own blood. We Christians shall be glo- rious together with Christ, blessed of God the Father, always rejoicing with perpetual pleasures in the sight of God, and ever giving thanks to God. For none can be other than always glad and grateful, who, having been once subject to death, has been made secu"^e in the possession- of immortality.3