Of Patience - Tertullian
|
[8988]
Advanced Information
Translated by the Rev. S. Thelwall.
Text edited by Rev. Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson and
first published by T&T Clark in Edinburgh in 1867. Additional
introductionary material and notes provided for the American
edition by A. Cleveland Coxe, 1886.
Chapter I. Of Patience Generally; And Tertullian's Own Unworthiness to Treat
of It.
I Fully confess unto the Lord God that it has been rash enough, if not even
impudent, in me to have dared compose a treatise on Patience, for practising
which I am all unfit, being a man of no goodness; [8989] whereas it were
becoming that such as have addressed themselves to the demonstration and
commendation of some particular thing, should themselves first be
conspicuous in the practice of that thing, and should regulate the constancy
of their commonishing by the authority of their personal conduct, for fear
their words blush at the deficiency of their deeds. And would that this
"blushing" would bring a remedy, so that shame for not exhibiting that which
we go to suggest to others should prove a tutorship into exhibiting it;
except that the magnitude of some good things'just as of some ills too'is
insupportable, so that only the grace of divine inspiration is effectual for
attaining and practising them. For what is most good rests most with God;
nor does any other than He who possesses it dispense it, as He deems meet to
each. And so to discuss about that which it is not given one to enjoy, will
be, as it were, a solace; after the manner of invalids, who since they are
without health, know not how to be silent about its blessings. So I, most
miserable, ever sick with the heats of impatience, must of necessity sigh
after, and invoke, and persistently plead for, that health of patience which
I possess not; while I recall to mind, and, in the contemplation of my own
weakness, digest, the truth, that the good health of faith, and the
soundness of the Lord's discipline, accrue not easily to any unless patience
sit by his side. [8990] So is patience set over the things of God, that one
can obey no precept, fulfil no work well-pleasing to the Lord, if estranged
from it. The good of it, even they who live outside it, [8991] honour with
the name of highest virtue. Philosophers indeed, who are accounted animals
of some considerable wisdom, assign it so high a place, that, while they are
mutually at discord with the various fancies of their sects and rivalries of
their sentiments, yet, having a community of regard for patience alone, to
this one of their pursuits they have joined in granting peace: for it they
conspire; for it they league; it, in their affectation of [8992] virtue,
they unanimously pursue; concerning patience they exhibit all their
ostentation of wisdom. Grand testimony this is to it, in that it incites
even the vain schools of the world [8993] unto praise and glory! Or is it
rather an injury, in that a thing divine is bandied among worldly sciences?
But let them look to that, who shall presently be ashamed of their wisdom,
destroyed and disgraced together with the world [8994] (it lives in).
|
|
Chapter II. God Himself an Example of Patience.
To us [8995] no human affectation of canine [8996] equanimity, modelled
[8997] by insensibility, furnishes the warrant for exercising patience; but
the divine arrangement of a living and celestial discipline, holding up
before us God Himself in the very first place as an example of patience; who
scatters equally over just and unjust the bloom of this light; who suffers
the good offices of the seasons, the services of the elements, the tributes
of entire nature, to accrue at once to worthy and unworthy; bearing with the
most ungrateful nations, adoring as they do the toys of the arts and the
works of their own hands, persecuting His Name together with His family;
bearing with luxury, avarice, iniquity, malignity, waxing insolent daily:
[8998] so that by His own patience He disparages Himself; for the cause why
many believe not in the Lord is that they are so long without knowing
[8999] that He is wroth with the world. [9000]
Chapter III. Jesus Christ in His Incarnation and Work a More Imitable
Example Thereof.
And this species of the divine patience indeed being, as it were, at a
distance, may perhaps be esteemed as among "things too high for us; "
[9001] but what is that which, in a certain way, has been grasped by hand
[9002] among men openly on the earth? God suffers Himself to be conceived in
a mother's womb, and awaits the time for birth; and, when born, bears the
delay of growing up; and, when grown up, is not eager to be recognised, but
is furthermore contumelious to Himself, and is baptized by His own servant;
and repels with words alone the assaults of the tempter; while from being"
Lord" He becomes" Master," teaching man to escape death, having been trained
to the exercise of the absolute forbearance of offended patience. [9003]
He did not strive; He did not cry aloud; nor did any hear His voice in the
streets. He did not break the bruised reed; the smoking flax He did not
quench: for the prophet'nay, the attestation of God Himself, placing His own
Spirit, together with patience in its entirety, in His Son'had not falsely
spoken. There was none desirous of cleaving to Him whom He did not receive.
No one's table or roof did He despise: indeed, Himself ministered to the
washing of the disciples' feet; not sinners, not publicans, did He repel;
not with that city even which had refused to receive Him was He wroth,
[9004] when even the disciples had wished that the celestial fires should be
forthwith hurled on so contumelious a town. He cared for the ungrateful; He
yielded to His ensnarers. This were a small matter, if He had not had in His
company even His own betrayer, and stedfastly abstained from pointing him
out. Moreover, while He is being betrayed, while He is being led up "as a
sheep for a victim," (for "so He no more opens His mouth than a lamb under
the power of the shearer,")He to whom, had He willed it, legions of angels
would at one word have presented themselves from the heavens, approved not
the avenging sword of even one disciple The patience of the Lord was wounded
in (the wound of) Malchus. And so, too, He cursed for the time to come the
works of the sword; and, by the restoration of health, made satisfaction to
him whom Himself had not hurt, through Patience, the mother of Mercy. I pass
by in silence (the fact) that He is crucified, for this was the end for
which He had come; yet had the death which must be undergone need of
contumelies likewise? [9005] Nay, but, when about to depart, He wished to
be sated with the pleasure of patience. He is spitted on, scourged, derided,
clad foully, more foully crowned. Wondrous is the faith of equanimity! He
who had set before Him the concealing of Himself in man's shape, imitated
nought of man's impatience! Hence, even more than from any other trait,
ought ye, Pharisees, to have recognised the Lord. Patience of this kind none
of men would achieve. Such and so mighty evidences'the very magnitude of
which proves to be among the nations indeed a cause for rejection of the
faith, but among us its reason and rearing'proves manifestly enough (not by
the sermons only, in enjoining, but likewise by the sufferings of the Lord
in enduring) to them to whom it is given to believe, that as the effect and
excellence of some inherent propriety, patience is God's nature.
Chapter IV. Duty of Imitating Our Master Taught Us by Slaves. Even by
Beasts. Obedient Imitation is Founded on Patience.
Therefore, if we see all servants of probity and right feeling shaping their
conduct suitably to the disposition of their lord; if, that is, the art of
deserving favour is obedience, [9006] while the rule of obedience is a
compliant subjection: how much more does it behove us to be found with a
character in accordance with our Lord,'servants as we are of the living God,
whose judgment on His servants turns not on a fetter or a cap of freedom,
but on an eternity either of penalty or of salvation; for the shunning of
which severity or the courting of which liberality there needs a diligence
in obedience [9007] as great as are the comminations themselves which the
severity utters, or the promises which the liberality freely makes. [9008]
And yet we exact obedience [9009] not from men only, who have the bond of
their slavery under their chin, [9010] or in any other legal way are
debtors to obedience [9011] but even from cattle, [9012] even from
brutes; [9013] understanding that they have been provided and delivered
for our uses by the Lord. Shall, then, creatures which God makes subject to
us be better than we in the discipline of obedience? [9014] Finally, (the
creatures) which obey, acknowledge their masters. Do we hesitate to listen
diligently to Him to whom alone we are subjected'that is, the Lord? But how
unjust is it, how ungrateful likewise, not to repay from yourself the same
which, through the indulgence of your neighbour, you obtain from others, to
him through whom you obtain it! Nor needs there more words on the exhibition
of obedience [9015] due from us to the Lord God; for the acknowledgment
[9016] of God understands what is incumbent on it. Lest, however, we seem to
have inserted remarks on obedience [9017] as something irrelevant, (let us
remember) that obedience" itself is drawn from patience. Never does an
impatient man render it, or a patient fail to find pleasure [9018] in it.
Who, then, could treat largely (enough) of the good of that patience which
the Lord God, the Demonstrator and Acceptor of all good things, carried
about in His own self? [9019] To whom, again, would it be doubtful that
every good thing ought, because it pertains [9020] to God, to be earnestly
pursued with the whole mind by such as pertain to God? By means of which
(considerations) both commendation and exhortation [9021] on the subject
of patience are briefly, and as it were in the compendium of a prescriptive
rule, established. [9022]
Chapter V. As God is the Author of Patience So the Devil is of Impatience.
Nevertheless, the proceeding [9023] of a discussion on the necessaries of
faith is not idle, because it is not unfruitful. In edification no loquacity
is base, if it be base at any time. [9024] And so, if the discourse be
concerning some particular good, the subject requires us to review also the
contrary of that good. For you will throw more light on what is to be
pursued, if you first give a digest of what is to be avoided.
Let us therefore consider, concerning Impatience, whether just as patience
in God, so its adversary quality have been born and detected in our
adversary, that from this consideration may appear how primarily adverse it
is to faith. For that which has been conceived by God's rival, of course is
not friendly to God's things. The discord of things is the same as the
discord of their authors. Further, since God is best, the devil on the
contrary worst, of beings, by their own very diversity they testify that
neither works for [9025] the other; so that anything of good can no more
seem to be effected for us by the Evil One, than anything of evil by the
Good. Therefore I detect the nativity of impatience in the devil himself, at
that very time when he impatiently bore that the Lord God subjected the
universal works which He had made to His own image, that is, to man.
[9026] For if he had endured (that), he would not have grieved; nor would he
have envied man if he had not grieved. Accordingly he deceived him, because
he had envied him; but he had envied because he had grieved: he had grieved
because, of course, he had not patiently borne. What that angel of
perdition [9027] first was'malicious or impatient'I scorn to inquire:
since manifest it is that either impatience took its rise together with
malice, or else malice from impatience; that subsequently they conspired
between themselves; and that they grew up indivisible in one paternal bosom.
But, however, having been instructed, by his own experiment, what an aid
unto sinning was that which he had been the first to feel, and by means of
which he had entered on his course of delinquency, he called the same to his
assistance for the thrusting of man into crime. The woman, [9028]
immediately on being met by him'I may say so without rashness'was, through
his very speech with her, breathed on by a spirit infected with impatience:
so certain is it that she would never have sinned at all, if she had
honoured the divine edict by maintaining her patience to the end. What (of
the fact) that she endured not to have been met alone; but in the presence
of Adam, not yet her husband, not yet bound to lend her his ears, [9029]
she is impatient of keeping silence, and makes him the transmitter of that
which she had imbibed from the Evil One? Therefore another human being, too,
perishes through the impatience of the one; presently, too, perishes of
himself, through his own impatience committed in each respect, both in
regard of God's premonition and in regard of the devil's cheatery; not
enduring to observe the former nor to refute the latter. Hence, whence (the
origin) of delinquency, arose the first origin of judgment; hence, whence
man was induced to offend, God began to be wroth. Whence (came)the first
indignation in God, thence (came) His first patience; who, content at that
time with malediction only, refrained in the devil's case from the instant
infliction [9030] of punishment. Else what crime, before this guilt of
impatience, is imputed to man? Innocent he was, and in intimate friendship
with God, and the husbandman [9031] of paradise. But when once he
succumbed to impatience, he quite ceased to be of sweet savour [9032] to
God; he quite ceased to be able to endure things celestial. Thenceforward, a
creature [9033] given to earth, and ejected from the sight of God, he
begins to be easily turned by impatience unto every use offensive to God.
For straightway that impatience conceived of the devil's seed, produced, in
the fecundity of malice, anger as her son; and when brought forth, trained
him in her own arts. For that very thing which had immersed Adam and Eve in
death, taught their son, too, to begin with murder. It would be idle for me
to ascribe this to impatience, if Cain, that first homicide and first
fratricide, had borne with equanimity and not impatiently the refusal by the
Lord of his own oblations'if he is not wroth with his own brother'if,
finally, he took away no one's life. Since, then, he could neither have
killed unless he had been wroth, nor have been wroth unless he had been
impatient, he demonstrates that what he did through wrath must be referred
to that by which wrath was suggested during this cradle-time of impatience,
then (in a certain sense) in her infancy. But how great presently were her
augmentations! And no wonder, If she has been the first delinquent, it is a
consequence that, because she has been the first, therefore she is the only
parent stem, [9034] too, to every delinquency, pouring down from her own
fount various veins of crimes. [9035] Of murder we have spoken; but, being
from the very beginning the outcome of anger, [9036] whatever causes
besides it shortly found for itself it lays collectively on the account of
impatience, as to its own origin. For whether from private enmities, or for
the sake of prey, any one perpetrates that wickedness, [9037] the earlier
step is his becoming impatient of [9038] either the hatred or the avarice.
Whatever compels a man, it is not possible that without impatience of itself
it can be perfected in deed. Who ever committed adultery without impatience
of lust? Moreover, if in females the sale of their modesty is forced by the
price, of course it is by impatience of contemning gain [9039] that this
sale is regulated. [9040] These (I mention) as the principal delinquencies
in the sight of the Lord, [9041] for, to speak compendiously, every sin is
ascribable to impatience. "Evil" is "impatience of good." None immodest is
not impatient of modesty; dishonest of honesty; impious of piety; [9042]
unquiet of quietness. In order that each individual may become evil he will
be unable to persevere [9043] in being good. How, therefore, can such a
hydra of delinquencies fail to offend the Lord, the Disapprover of evils? Is
it not manifest that it was through impatience that Isreal himself also
always failed in his duty toward God, from that time when, [9044]
forgetful of the heavenly arm whereby he had been drawn out of his Egyptian
affliction, he demands from Aaron "gods [9045] as his guides; "when he
pours down for an idol the contributions of his gold: for the so necessary
delays of Moses, while he met with God, he had borne with impatience. After
the edible rain of the manna, after the watery following [9046] of the
rock, they despair of the Lord in not enduring a three-days' thirst;
[9047] for this also is laid to their charge by the Lord as impatience.
And'not to rove through individual cases'there was no instance in which it
was not by failing in duty through impatience that they perished. How,
moreover, did they lay hands on the prophets, except through impatience of
hearing them? on the Lord moreover Himself, through impatience likewise of
seeing Him? But had they entered the path of patience, they would have been
set free. [9048]
Chapter VI. Patience Both Antecedent and Subsequent to Faith.
Accordingly it is patience which is both subsequent and antecedent to faith.
In short, Abraham believed God, and was accredited by Him with
righteousness; [9049] but it was patience which proved his faith, when he
was bidden to immolate his son, with a view to (I would not say the
temptation, but) the typical attestation of his faith. But God knew whom He
had accredited with righteousness. [9050] So heavy a precept, the perfect
execution whereof was not even pleasing to the Lord, he patiently both
heard, and (if God had willed) would have fulfilled. Deservedly then was he
"blessed." because he was "faithful; "deservedly "faithful," because
"patient." So faith, illumined by patience, when it was becoming propagated
among the nations through" Abraham's seed, which is Christ," [9051] and
was superinducing grace over the law, [9052] made patience her pre-eminent
coadjutrix for amplifying and fulfilling the law, because that alone had
been lacking unto the doctrine of righteousness. For men were of old wont to
require "eye for eye, and tooth for tooth" [9053] and to repay with usury
"evil with evil; "for, as yet, patience was not on earth, because faith was
not either. Of course, meantime, impatience used to enjoy the opportunities
which the law gave. That was easy, while the Lord and Master of patience was
absent. But after He has supervened, and has united [9054] the grace of
faith with patience, now it is no longer lawful to assail even with word,
nor to say "fool" [9055] even, without "danger of the judgment." Anger has
been prohibited, our spirits retained, the petulance of the hand checked,
the poison of the tongue [9056] extracted. The law has found more than it
has lost, while Christ says, "Love your personal enemies, and bless your
cursers, and pray for your persecutors, that ye may be sons of your heavenly
Father." [9057] Do you see whom patience gains for us as a Father? In this
principal precept the universal discipline of patience is succinctly
comprised, since evil-doing is not conceded even when it is deserved.
Chapter VII. The Causes of Impatience, and Their Correspondent Precepts.
Now, however, while we run through the causes of impatience, all the other
precepts also will answer in their own places. If our spirit is aroused by
the loss of property, it is commonished by the Lord's Scriptures, in almost
every place, to a contemning of the world; [9058] nor is there any more
powerful exhortation to contempt of money submitted [9059] (to us), than
(the fact) the Lord Himself is found amid no riches. He always justifies the
poor, fore-condemns the rich. So He fore-ministered to patience "loss," and
to opulence "contempt" (as portion); [9060] demonstrating, by means of
(His own) repudiation of riches, that hurts done to them also are not to be
much regarded. Of that, therefore, which we have not the smallest need to
seek after, because the Lord did not seek after it either, we ought to
endure without heart-sickness the cutting down or taking away.
"Covetousness," the Spirit of the Lord has through the apostle pronounced
"a root of all evils." [9061] Let us not interpret that covetousness as
consisting merely in the concupiscence of what is another's: for even what
seems ours is another's; for nothing is ours, since all things are God's,
whose are we also ourselves. And so, if, when suffering from a loss, we feel
impatiently, grieving for what is lost from what is not our own, we shall be
detected as bordering on covetousness: we seek what is another's when we ill
brook losing what is another's. He who is greatly stirred with impatience of
a loss, does, by giving things earthly the precedence over things heavenly,
sin directly [9062] against God; for the Spirit, which he has received
from the Lord, he greatly shocks for the sake of a worldly matter.
Willingly, therefore, let us lose things earthly, let us keep things
heavenly. Perish the whole world, [9063] so I may make patience my gain!
In truth, I know not whether he who has not made up his mind to endure with
constancy the loss of somewhat of his, either by theft, or else by force, or
else even by carelessness, would himself readily or heartily lay hand on his
own property in the cause of almsgiving: for who that endures not at all to
be cut by another, himself draws the sword on his own body? Patience in
losses is an exercise in bestowing and communicating. Who fears not to lose,
finds it not irksome to give. Else how will one, when he has two coats, give
the one of them to the naked, [9064] unless he be a man likewise to offer
to one who takes away his coat his cloak as well? [9065] How shall we
fashion to us friends from mammon, [9066] if we love it so much as not to
put up with its loss? We shall perish together with the lost mammon. Why do
we find here, where it is our business to lose? [9067] To exhibit
impatience at all losses is the Gentiles' business, who give money the
precedence perhaps over their soul; for so they do, when, in their
cupidities of lucre, they encounter the gainful perils of commerce on the
sea; when, for money's sake, even in the forum, there is nothing which
damnation (itself) would fear which they hesitate to essay; when they hire
themselves for sport and the camp; when, after the manner of wild beasts,
they play the bandit along the highway. But us, according to the diversity
by which we are distinguished from them, it becomes to lay down not our soul
for money, but money for our soul, whether spontaneously in bestowing or
patiently in losing.
Chapter VIII. Of Patience Under Personal Violence and Malediction.
We who carry about our very soul, our very body, exposed in this world
[9068] to injury from all, and exhibit patience under that injury; shall we
be hurt at the loss [9069] of less important things? [9070] Far from a
servant of Christ be such a defilement as that the patience which has been
prepared for greater temptations should forsake him in frivolous ones. If
one attempt to provoke you by manual violence, the monition of the Lord is
at hand: "To him," He saith, "who smiteth thee on the face, turn the other
cheek likewise." [9071] Let outrageousness [9072] be wearied out by your
patience. Whatever that blow may be, conjoined [9073] with pain and
contumely, it [9074] shall receive a heavier one from the Lord. You wound
that outrageous [9075] one more by enduring: for he will be beaten by Him
for whose sake you endure. If the tongue's bitterness break out in
malediction or reproach, look back at the saying, "When they curse you,
rejoice." [9076] The Lord Himself was "cursed" in the eye of the law;
[9077] and yet is He the only Blessed One. Let us servants, therefore,
follow our Lord closely; and be cursed patiently, that we may be able to be
blessed. If I hear with too little equanimity some wanton or wicked word
uttered against me, I must of necessity either myself retaliate the
bitterness, or else I shall be racked with mute impatience. When, then, on
being cursed, I smite (with my tongue, ) how shall I be found to have
followed the doctrine of the Lord, in which it has been delivered that "a
man is defiled, [9078] not by the defilements of vessels, but of the
things which are sent forth out of his mouth." Again, it is said that
"impeachment [9079] awaits us for every vain and needless word." [9080]
It follows that, from whatever the Lord keeps us, the same He admonishes us
to bear patiently from another. I will add (somewhat) touching the pleasure
of patience. For every injury, whether inflicted by tongue or hand, when it
has lighted upon patience, will be dismissed [9081] with the same fate as,
some weapon launched against and blunted on a rock of most stedfast
hardness. For it will wholly fall then and there with bootless and fruitless
labour; and sometimes will recoil and spend its rage on him who sent it out,
with retorted impetus. No doubt the reason why any one hurts you is that you
may be pained; because the hurter's enjoyment consists in the pain of the
hurt. When, then, you have upset his enjoyment by not being pained, he must
needs he pained by the loss of his enjoyment. Then you not only go unhurt
away, which even alone is enough for you; but gratified, into the bargain,
by your adversary's disappointment, and revenged by his pain. This is the
utility and the pleasure of patience.
Chapter IX. Of Patience Under Bereavement.
Not even that species of impatience under the loss of our dear ones is
excused, where some assertion of a right to grief acts the patron to it. For
the consideration of the apostle's declaration must be set before us, who
says, "Be not overwhelmed with sadness at the falling asleep of any one,
just as the nations are who are without hope." [9082] And justly; or,
believing the resurrection of Christ we believe also in our own, for whose
sake He both died and rose again. Since, then, there is certainty as to the
resurrection of the dead, grief for death is needless, and impatience of
grief is needless. For why should you grieve, if you believe that (your
loved one) is not perished? Why should you bear impatiently the temporary
withdrawal of him who you believe will return? That which you think to be
death is departure. He who goes before us is not to be lamented, though by
all means to be longed for. [9083] That longing also must be tempered with
patience. For why should you bear without moderation the fact that one is
gone away whom you will presently follow? Besides, impatience in matters of
this kind bodes ill for our hope, and is a dealing insincerely with the
faith. And we wound Christ when we accept not with equanimity the summoning
out of this world of any by Him, as if they were to be pitied. "I desire,"
says the apostle, "to be now received, and to be with Christ." [9084] How
far better a desire does he exhibit! If, then, we grieve impatiently over
such as have attained the desire of Christians, we show unwillingness
ourselves to attain it.
Chapter X. Of Revenge.
There is, too, another chief spur of impatience, the lust of revenge,
dealing with the business either of glory or else of malice. But "glory," on
the one hand, is everywhere "vain; " [9085] and malice, on the other, is
always [9086] odious to the Lord; in this case indeed most of all, when,
being provoked by a neighbour's malice, it constitutes itself superior
[9087] in following out revenge, and by paying wickedness doubles that which
has once been done. Revenge, in the estimation of error, [9088] seems a
solace of pain; in the estimation of truth, on the contrary, it is convicted
of malignity. For what difference is there between provoker and provoked,
except that the former is detected as prior in evil-doing, but the latter as
posterior? Yet each stands impeached of hurting a man in the eye of the
Lord, who both prohibits and condemns every wickedness. In evil doing there
is no account taken of order, nor does place separate what similarity
conjoins. And the precept is absolute, that evil is not to be repaid with
evil. [9089] Like deed involves like merit. How shall we observe that
principle, if in our loathing [9090] we shall not loathe revenge? What
honour, moreover, shall we be offering to the Lord God, if we arrogate to
ourselves the arbitrament of vengeance? We are corrupt [9091] 'earthen
vessels. [9092] With our own servant-boys, [9093] if they assume to
themselves the right of vengeance on their fellow-servants, we are gravely
offended; while such as make us the offering of their patience we not only
approve as mindful of humility, of servitude, affectionately jealous of the
right of their lord's honour; but we make them an ampler satisfaction than
they would have pre-exacted [9094] for themselves. Is there any risk of a
different result in the case of a Lord so just in estimating, so potent in
executing? Why, then, do we believe Him a Judge, if not an Avenger too? This
He promises that He will be to us in return, saying, "Vengeance belongeth to
me, and I will avenge; " [9095] that is, Leave patience to me, and I will
reward patience. For when He says, "Judge not, lest ye be judged," [9096]
does He not require patience? For who will refrain from judging another, but
he who shall be patient in not revenging himself? Who judges in order to
pardon? And if he shall pardon, still he has taken care to indulge the
impatience of a judger, and has taken away the honour of the one Judge, that
is, God. How many mischances had impatience of this kind been wont to run
into! How oft has it repented of its revenge!How oft has its vehemence been
found worse than the causes which led to it!'inasmuch as nothing undertaken
with impatience can be effected without impetuosity: nothing done with
impetuosity fails either to stumble, or else to fall altogether, or else to
vanish headlong. Moreover, if you avenge yourself too slightly, you will be
mad; if too amply, you will have to bear the burden. [9097] What have I
to do with vengeance, the measure of which, through impatience of pain, I am
unable to regulate? Whereas, if I shall repose on patience, I shall not feel
pain; if I shall not feel pain, I shall not desire to avenge myself.
Chapter XI. Further Reasons for Practising Patience. Its Connection with the
Beatitudes.
After these principal material causes of impatience, registered to the best
of our ability, why should we wander out of our way among the rest,'what are
found at home, what abroad? Wide and diffusive is the Evil One's operation,
hurling manifold irritations of our spirit, and sometimes trifling ones,
sometimes very great. But the trifling ones you may contemn from their very
littleness; to the very great ones you may yield in regard of their
overpoweringness. Where the injury is less, there is no necessity for
impatience; but where the injury is greater, there more necessary is the
remedy for the injury'patience. Let us strive, therefore, to endure the
inflictions of the Evil One, that the counter-zeal of our equanimity may
mock the zeal of the foe. If, however, we ourselves, either by imprudence or
else voluntarily, draw upon ourselves anything, let us meet with equal
patience what we have to blame ourselves for. Moreover, if we believe that
some inflictions are sent on us by the Lord, to whom should we more exhibit
patience than to the Lord? Nay, He teaches [9098] us to give thanks and
rejoice, over and above, at being thought worthy of divine chastisement.
"Whom I love," saith He, "I chasten." [9099] O blessed servant, on whose
amendment the Lord is intent! with whom He deigns to be wroth!whom He does
not deceive by dissembling His reproofs!On every side, therefore, we are
bound to the duty of exercising patience, from whatever quarter, either by
our own errors or else by the snares of the Evil One, we incur the Lord's
reproofs. Of that duty great is the reward'namely, happiness. For whom but
the patient has the Lord called happy, in saying, "Blessed are the poor in
spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens? " [9100] No one,
assuredly, is "poor in spirit," except he be humble. Well, who is humble,
except he be patient? For no one can abase himself without patience, in the
first instance, to bear the act of abasement. "Blessed," saith He, "are the
weepers and mourners." [9101] Who, without patience, is tolerant of such
unhappinesses? And so to such, "consolation" and "laughter" are promised.
"Blessed are the gentle: " [9102] under this term, surely, the impatient
cannot possibly be classed. Again, when He marks "the peacemakers" [9103]
with the same title of felicity, and names them "sons of God," pray have the
impatient any affinity with "peace? "Even a fool may perceive that. When,
however, He says, "Rejoice and exult, as often as they shall curse and
persecute you; for very great is your reward in heaven," [9104] of course
it is not to the impatience of exultation [9105] that He makes that
promise; because no one will "exult" in adversities unless he have first
learnt to contemn them; no one will contemn them unless he have learnt to
practise patience.
Chapter XII. Certain Other Divine Precepts. The Apostolic Description of
Charity. Their Connection with Patience.
As regards the rule of peace, which [9106] is so pleasing to God, who in
the world that is prone to impatience [9107] will even once forgive his
brother, I will not say "seven times," or [9108] "seventy-seven times?
" [9109] Who that is contemplating a suit against his adversary will
compose the matter by agreement, [9110] unless he first begin by lopping
off chagrin, hardheartedness, and bitterness, which are in fact the
poisonous outgrowths of impatience? How will you "remit, and remission shall
be granted" you [9111] if the absence of patience makes you tenacious of
a wrong? No one who is at variance with his brother in his mind, will finish
offering his "duteous gift at the altar," unless he first, with intent to
"re-conciliate his brother," return to patience. [9112] If "the sun go
down over our wrath," we are in jeopardy: [9113] we are not allowed to
remain one day without patience. But, however, since Patience takes the lead
in [9114] every species of salutary discipline, what wonder that she
likewise ministers to Repentance, (accustomed as Repentance is to come to
the rescue of such as have fallen, ) when, on a disjunction of wedlock (for
that cause, I mean, which makes it lawful, whether for husband or wife, to
persist in the perpetual observance of widowhood), [9115] she [9116]
waits for, she yearns for, she persuades by her entreaties, repentance in
all who are one day to enter salvation? How great a blessing she confers on
each!The one she prevents from becoming an adulterer; the other she amends.
So, to, she is found in those holy examples touching patience in the Lord's
parables. The shepherd's patience seeks and finds the straying ewe:
[9117] for Impatience would easily despise one ewe; but Patience undertakes
the labour of the quest, and the patient burden-bearer carries home on his
shoulders the forsaken sinner. [9118] That prodigal son also the
father's patience receives, and clothes, and feeds, and makes excuses for,
in the presence of the angry brother's impatience. [9119] He, therefore,
who "had perished" is saved, because he entered on the way of repentance.
Repentance perishes not, because it finds Patience (to welcome it). For by
whose teachings but those of Patience is Charity [9120] 'the highest
sacrament of the faith, the treasure-house of the Christian name, which the
apostle commends with the whole strength of the Holy Spirit'trained?
"Charity," he says, "is long suffering; "thus she applies patience: "is
beneficent; "Patience does no evil: "is not emulous; "that certainly is a
peculiar mark of patience: "savours not of violence: " [9121] she has
drawn her self-restraint from patience: "is not puffed up; is not violent;
" [9122] for that pertains not unto patience: "nor does she seek her
own" if, she offers her own, provided she may benefit her neighbours: "nor
is irritable; "if she were, what would she have left to Impatience?
Accordingly he says, "Charity endures all things; tolerates all things; "of
course because she is patient. Justly, then, "will she never fail; "
[9123] for all other things will be cancelled, will have their consummation.
"Tongues, sciences, prophecies, become exhausted; faith, hope, charity, are
permanent: "Faith, which Christ's patience introduced; hope, which man's
patience waits for; charity, which Patience accompanies, with God as Master.
Chapter XIII. Of Bodily Patience.
Thus far, finally, of patience simple and uniform, and as it exists merely
in the mind: though in many forms likewise I labour after it in body, for
the purpose of "winning the Lord; " [9124] inasmuch as it is a quality
which has been exhibited by the Lord Himself in bodily virtue as well; if it
is true that the ruling mind easily communicates the gifts [9125] of the
Spirit with its bodily habitation. What, therefore, is the business of
Patience in the body? In the first place, it is the affliction [9126] of
the flesh'a victim [9127] able to appease the Lord by means of the
sacrifice of humiliation'in making a libation to the Lord of sordid
[9128] raiment, together with scantiness of food, content with simple diet
and the pure drink of water [9129] in con joining fasts to all this; in
inuring herself to sackcloth and ashes. This bodily patience adds a grace to
our prayers for good, a strength to our prayers against evil; this opens the
ears of Christ our God, [9130] dissipates severity, elicits clemency.
Thus that Babylonish king, [9131] after being exiled from human form in
his seven years' squalor and neglect., because he had offended the Lord; by
the bodily immolation of patience not only recovered his kingdom, but'what
is more to be desired by a man'made satisfaction to God. Further, if we set
down in order the higher and happier grades of bodily patience, (we find
that)it is she who is entrusted by holiness with the care of continence of
the flesh: she keeps the widow, [9132] and sets on the virgin the seal
[9133] and raises the self-made eunuch to the realms of heaven. [9134]
That which springs from a virtue of the mind is perfected in the flesh; and,
finally, by the patience of the flesh, does battle under persecution. If
flight press hard, the flesh wars with [9135] the inconvenience of
flight; if imprisonment overtake [9136] us, the flesh (still was) in
bonds, the flesh in the gyve, the flesh in solitude, [9137] and in that
want of light, and in that patience of the world's misusage. [9138] When,
however, it is led forth unto the final proof of happiness, [9139] unto
the occasion of the second baptism, [9140] unto the act of ascending the
divine seat, no patience is more needed there than bodily patience. If the
"spirit is willing, but the flesh," without patience, "weak," [9141]
where, save in patience, is the safety of the spirit, and of the flesh
itself? But when the Lord says this about the flesh, pronouncing it
"weak," He shows what need there is of strengthening, it'that is by
patience'to meet [9142] every preparation for subverting or punishing
faith; that it may bear with all constancy stripes, fire, cross, beasts,
sword; all which prophets and apostles, by enduring, conquered!
Chapter XIV. The Power of This Twofold Patience, the Spiritual and the
Bodily. Exemplified in the Saints of Old.
With this strength of patience, Esaias is cut asunder, and ceases not to
speak concerning the Lord; Stephen is stoned, and prays for pardon to his
foes. [9143] Oh, happy also he who met all the violence of the devil by
the exertion of every species of patience! [9144] 'whom neither the
driving away of his cattle nor those riches of his in sheep, nor the
sweeping away of his children in one swoop of ruin, nor, finally, the agony
of his own body in (one universal) wound, estranged from the patience and
the faith which he had plighted to the Lord; whom the devil smote with all
his might in vain. For by all his pains he was not drawn away from his
reverence for God; but he has been set up as an example and testimony to us,
for the thorough accomplishment of patience as well in spirit as in flesh,
as well in mind as in body; in order that we succumb neither to damages of
our worldly goods, nor to losses of those who are dearest, nor even to
bodily afflictions. What a bier [9145] for the devil did God erect in the
person of that hero! What a banner did He rear over the enemy of His glory,
when, at every bitter message, that man uttered nothing out of his mouth but
thanks to God, while he denounced his wife, now quite wearied with ills, and
urging him to resort to crooked remedies! How did God smile, [9146] how
was the evil one cut asunder, [9147] while Job with mighty equanimity
kept scraping off [9148] the unclean overflow of his own ulcer, while he
sportively replaced the vermin that brake out thence, in the same caves and
feeding-places of his pitted flesh! And so, when all the darts of
temptations had blunted themselves against the corslet and shield of his
patience, that instrument [9149] of God's victory not only presently
recovered from God the soundness of his body, but possessed in redoubled
measure what he had lost. And if he had wished to have his children also
restored, he might again have been called father; but he preferred to have
them restored him "in that day." [9150] Such joy as that'secure so
entirely concerning the Lord'he deferred; meantime he endured a voluntary
bereavement, that he might not live without some (exercise of) patience.
Chapter XV. General Summary of the Virtues and Effects of Patience.
So amply sufficient a Depositary of patience is God. If it be a wrong which
you deposit in His care, He is an Avenger; if a loss, He is a Restorer; if
pain, He is a Healer; if death, He is a Reviver. What honour is granted to
Patience, to have God as her Debtor! And not without reason: for she keeps
all His decrees; she has to do with all His mandates. She fortifies faith;
is the pilot of peace; assists charity; establishes humility; waits long for
repentance; sets tier seal on confession; rules the flesh; preserves the
spirit; bridles the tongue; restrains the hand; tramples temptations under
foot; drives away scandals; gives their crowning grace to martyrdoms;
consoles the poor; teaches the rich moderation; overstrains not the weak;
exhausts not the strong; is the delight of the believer; invites the
Gentile; commends the servant to his lord, and his lord to God; adorns the
woman; makes the man approved; is loved in childhood, praised in youth,
looked up to in age; is beauteous in either sex, in every time of life.
Come, now, see whether [9151] we have a general idea of her mien and
habit. Her countenance is tranquil and peaceful; her brow serene [9152]
contracted by no wrinkle of sadness or of anger; her eyebrows evenly relaxed
in gladsome wise, with eyes downcast in humility, not in unhappiness; her
mouth sealed with the honourable mark of silence; her hue such as theirs who
are without care and without guilt; the motion of her head frequent against
the devil, and her laugh threatening; [9153] her clothing, moreover,
about her bosom white and well fitted to her person, as being neither
inflated nor disturbed. For Patience sits on the throne of that calmest and
gentlest Spirit, who is not found in the roll of the whirlwind, nor in the
leaden hue of the cloud but is of soft serenity, open and simple, whom Elias
saw at his third essay. [9154] For where God is, there too is His
foster-child, namely Patience. When God's Spirit descends, then Patience
accompanies Him indivisibly. If we do not give admission to her together
with the Spirit, will (He) always tarry with us? Nay, I know not whether He
would remain any longer. Without His companion and handmaid, He must of
necessity be straitened in every place and at every time. Whatever blow His
enemy may inflict He will be unable to endure alone, being without the
instrumental means of enduring.
Chapter XVI. The Patience of the Heathen Very Different from Christian
Patience. Theirs Doomed to Perdition. Ours Destined to Salvation.
This is the rule, this the discipline, these the works of patience which is
heavenly and true; that is, of Christian patience, not false and
disgraceful, like as is that patience of the nations of the earth. For in
order that in this also the devil might rival the Lord, he has as it were
quite on a par (except that the very diversity of evil and good is exactly
on a par with their magnitude [9155] ) taught his disciples also a
patience of his own; that, I mean, which, making husbands venal for dowry,
and teaching them to trade in panderings, makes them subject to the power of
their wives; which, with feigned affection, undergoes. every toil of forced
complaisance, [9156] with a view to ensnaring the childless; [9157]
which makes the slaves of the belly [9158] submit to contumelious
patronage, in the subjection of their liberty to their gullet. Such pursuits
of patience the Gentiles are acquainted with; and they eagerly seize a name
of so great goodness to apply it to foul practises: patient they live of
rivals, and of the rich, and of such as give them invitations; impatient of
God alone. But let their own and their leader's patience look to itself'a
patience which the subterraneous fire awaits!Let us, on the other hand, love
the patience of God, the patience of Christ; let us repay to Him the
patience which He has paid down for us! Let us offer to Him the patience of
the spirit, the patience of the flesh, believing as we do in the
resurrection of flesh and spirit.
Elucidations.
I
Unless patience sit by his side, cap. i. p. 707.
Let me quote words which, many years ago, struck me forcibly, and which I
trust, have been blest to my soul; for which reason, I must be allowed,
here, to thank their author, the learned and fearless Dean Burgon, of
Chichester. In his invaluable Commentary on the Gospel, which while it
abounds in the fruits of a varied erudition, aims only to be practically
useful, this pious scholar remarks: "To Faith must be added Patience, the
'patient waiting for God, 'if we would escape the snare which Satan spread,
no less for the Holy One (i.e. in the Temp. upon the Pinnacle) than for the
Israelites at Massah. And this is perhaps the reason of the remarkable
prominence given to the grace of Patience, both by our Lord and His
Apostles; a circumstance, as it may be thought, which has not altogether
attracted the attention which it deserves." He then cites examples;
[9159] but a reference to any good concordance will strikingly exemplify the
admirable comment of this "godly and well-learned man." See his comments on
Matthew 4:7 and Luke 21:19
II
Under their chin, cap. iv. p. 709.
The reference in the note to Paris, as represented by Virgil and in ancient
sculpture, seems somewhat to the point:
"Et nunc ille Paris, cum semiviro comitatu.
Mæonia mentum mitra crinemq, madentem,
Subnixus, etc."
He had just spoken of the pileus as a "Cap of freedom," but there was
another form of pileus which was just the reverse and was probably tied by
fimbriæ, under the chin, denoting a low order of slaves, effeminate men,
perhaps spadones. Now, the Phrygian bonnet to which Virgil refers, is
introduced by him to complete the reproach of his contemptuous expression
(semiviro comitatu) just before. So, our author'"not only from men, i.e. men
so degraded as to wear this badge of extreme servitude, but even from
cattle, etc. Shall these mean creatures outdo us in obedience and patience?"
III
The world's misusage, cap. xiii. p. 716.
The Reverend Clergy who may read this note will forgive a brother, who
begins to be in respect of years, like "Paul the aged," for remarking, that
the reading of the Ante-Nicene Fathers often leads him to sigh'"Such were
they from whom we have received all that makes life tolerable, but how
intolerable it was for them: are we, indeed, such as they would have
considered Christians? "God be praised for His mercy and forbearance in our
days; but, still it is true that "we have need of patience." Is not much of
all that we regard as "the world's misusage," the gracious hand of the
Master upon us, giving us something for the exercise of that Patience, by
which He forms us into His own image? (Hebrews 12:3) Impatience of
obscurity, of poverty, of ingratitude, of misrepresentation, of "the slings
and arrows" of slander and abuse, is a revolt against that indispensable
discipline of the Gospel which requires us to "endure afflictions" in some
form or other. Who can complain when one thinks what it would have cost us
to be Christians in Tertullian's time? The ambition of the Clergy is always
rebellion against God, and "patient waiting" is its only remedy. One will
find profitable reading on this subject in Massillon [9160] de l'Ambition
des Clercs: "Reposez-vous sur le Seigneur du soin de votre destine: il saura
bien accomplir, tout seul, les desseins qu'il a sur vous. Si votre elevation
est son bon plaisir, elle sera, aussi son ouvrage. Rendez-vous en digne
seulement par la retraite, par la frayeur, par la fuite, par les sentiments
vifs de votre indignite c'est ainsi que les Chrysostome, les Gregoire, les
Basil, les Augustin, furent donnes a l'eglise." [9161]
Footnotes
[8988] [Written possibly as late as A.D. 202; and is credited by Neander and
Kaye, with Catholic Orthodoxy.]
[8989] "Nullius boni;" compare Rom. vii. 18.
[8990] [Elucidation I.]
[8991] i.e. who are strangers to it.
[8992] Or, "striving after."
[8993] Or, "heathendom"'saeculi.
[8994] Saeculo.
[8995] i.e. us Christians.
[8996] i.e. cynical = doglike. But Tertullian appears to use
"caninae" purposely, and I have therefore retained it rather than substitute
(As Mr. Dodgson does) "cynical."
[8997] i.e. the affectation is modelled by insensibility.
[8998] See Ps. lxxiv. 23 in A.V. It is Ps. lxxiii. in the LXX.
[8999] Because they see no visible proof of it.
[9000] Saeculo.
[9001] So Mr. Dodgson; and La Cerda, as qutoed by Oehler. See Ps. cxxxi.
1 in LXX., where it is Ps. cxxx.
[9002] 1 John i. 1.
[9003] I have followed Oehler's reading of this very difficult and much
disputed passage. For the expression, "having been trained," etc., compare
Heb. v. 8.
[9004] Luke ix. 51-56.
[9005] Or, "yet had there been need of contumelies likewise for the
undergoing of death?"
[9006] "Obsequium," distinguished by Doderlein from "obedientia," as a
more voluntary and spontaneous thing, founded less on authority than respect
and love.
[9007] Obsequii.
[9008] "Pollicetur," not "promittit."
[9009] Obedientiam.
[9010] "Subnixis." Perhaps this may be the meaning, as in Virg. Aen. iv.
217. But Oehler notices "subnexis" as a conjecture of Jos. Scaliger, which
is very plausible, and would mean nearly the same. Mr. Dodgson renders
"supported by their slavery;" and Oehler makes "subnixis" = "praeditis,"
"instructis." [Elucidation II.]
[9011] Obsequii.
[9012] Pecudibus," i.e. tame domestic cattle.
[9013] "Bestiis," irrational creatures, as opposed to "homines," here
apparently wild beasts.
[9014] Obsequii. For the sentiment, compare Isa. i. 3.
[9015] Obsequii.
[9016] See above, "the creaturesacknowledge their masters."
[9017] Obsequio.
[9018] "Oblectatur" Oehler reads with the mss. The editors, as he says,
have emended "Obluctatur," which Mr. Dodgson reads.
[9019] See the previous chapter.
[9020] See the previous chapter.
[9021] See chap. i.
[9022] [All our author's instances of this principle of the Proescriptio
are noteworthy, as interpreting its use in the Advs. Hoereses.]
[9023] "Procedere:" so Oehler, who, however, notices an ingenious
conjecture of Jos. Scaliger'"procudere," the hammering out, or forging.
[9024] Tertullian may perhaps wish to imply, in prayer. See Matt. vi. 7.
[9025] Facere. But Fulv. Ursinus (as Oehler tells us) has suggested a
neat emendation'"favere," favours.
[9026] See Ps. viii. 4-6.
[9027] Compare the expression in de Idol. iv., "perdition of blood" =
"bloody perdition," and the note there. SO here "angel of perdition" may =
"lost angel."
[9028] Mulier. See de Orat. c. xxii.
[9029] 1 Cor. vii. 3; compare also 1 Pet. iii. 7.
[9030] Impetu.
[9031] Colonus. Gen. ii. 15.
[9032] Sapere. See de Idol. c. i. sub fin.
[9033] Homo.
[9034] Matrix. Mr. Dodgson renders womb, which is admissible; but the
other passages quoted by Oehler, where Tertullian uses this word, seem to
suit better with the rendering given in the text.
[9035] Compare a similar expression in de Idol. ii. ad init.
[9036] Which Tertullian has just shown to be the result of impatience.
[9037] i.e. murder.
[9038] i.e. unable to restrain.
[9039] i.e. want of power or patience to contemn gain.
[9040] "Ordinatur;" but "orditur" has been very plausibly conjectured.
[9041] Mr. Dodgson refers to ad Uxor. i. 5, q. v. sub fin.
[9042] Or, "unduteous of duteousness."
[9043] i.e. impatient.
[9044] I have departed slightly here from Oehler's punctuation.
[9045] Ex. xxxii. 1; Acts vii. 39, 40.
[9046] i.e. the water which followed them, after being given forth by the
smitten rock. See 1 Cor. x. 4.
[9047] See Num. xx. 1-6. But Tertullian has apparently confused this with
Ex. xv. 22, which seems to be the only place where "a three-days' thirst" is
mentioned.
[9048] Free, i.e. from the bondage of impatience and of sin.
[9049] See Gen. xv. 6; Rom. iv. 3, 9, 22; Gal. iii. 6; Jas. ii. 23.
[9050] i.e. the trial was necessary not to prove his faith to God, who
knows all whom He accounts righteous, but "typically" to us.
[9051] Gal. iii. 16.
[9052] John i. 17; Rom. vi. 14, 15.
[9053] Matt. vi. 38, and the references there given.
[9054] Composuit.
[9055] See Matt. v. 22; and Wordsworth in loco, who thinks it probable
that the meaning is "apostate."
[9056] Ps. cxl. 3; Rom. iii. 13; Jas. iii. 8.
[9057] Matt. v. 44, 45.
[9058] Saeculo.
[9059] Subjacet.
[9060] This appears to be the sense of this very diffucult passage as
Oehler reads it; and of Fr. Junius' interpretation of it, which Oehler
approves.
[9061] 1 Tim. vi. 10. See de Idol. xi. ad init.
[9062] De proximo. See above, c. v. Deo de proximo amicus, "a most
intimate friend to God."
[9063] Saeculum.
[9064] Luke iii. 11.
[9065] Matt. v. 40; Luke vi. 29.
[9066] Luke xvi. 9.
[9067] "Alluding to Christ's words in Matt. x. 39" (Rigalt. quoted by
Oehler).
[9068] Saeculo.
[9069] Delibatione.
[9070] i.e. money and the like. Compare Matt. vi. 25; Luke xii. 23.
[9071] Matt. v. 39.
[9072] Improbitas.
[9073] Constrictus. I have rendered after Oehler: but may not the meaning
be "clenched," like the hand which deals the blow?
[9074] As Oehler says "the blow" is said to "receive" that which,
strictly, the dealer of it receives.
[9075] Improbum.
[9076] Matt. v. 11, 12; Luke vi. 22, 23.
[9077] Deut. xxi. 23; Gal. iii. 13. Tertullian's quotations here are
somewhat loose. He renders words which are distinct in the Greek by the same
in his Latin.
[9078] See Mark vii. 15, "made common," i.e.
profane, unclean. Compare Acts x. 14, 15 in the Greek.
[9079] Reatum. See de Idol. i. ad init., "the highest impeachment of the
age."
[9080] Matt. xii. 36. Tertullian has rendered by "vani et
supervacui."
[9081] Dispungetur: a word which, in the active, means technically "to
balance accounts," hence "to discharge," etc.
[9082] 1 Thess. iv. 13, not very strictly rendered.
[9083] Desiderandus.
[9084] Phil i. 23, again loosely rendered: e.g. = "to weigh
anchor," is rendered by Tertullian "recipi."
[9085] See Gal. v. 26; Phil. ii. 3.
[9086] Nunquam non.
[9087] i.e. perhaps superior in degree of malice.
[9088] i.e. of the world and its erroneous philosophres.
[9089] Rom. xii. 17.
[9090] Fastidientes, i.e. our loathing or abhorrence of sin. perhaps the
reference may be to Rom. xii. 9.
[9091] Isa. lxiv. 6.
[9092] Isa. lxiv. 8; 2 Cor. iv. 7.
[9093] Servulis.
[9094] Praesumpsissent.
[9095] Deut. xxxii. 35; Ps. xciv. 1; Rom. xii. 19; Heb. x. 30.
[9096] Matt. vii. 1; Luke vi. 37.
[9097] i.e. the penalty which the law will inflict.
[9098] Docet. But a plausible conjecture, "decet," "it becomes us," has
been made.
[9099] Prov. iii. 11, 12; Heb. xii. 5, 6; Rev. iii. 19.
[9100] Matt. v. 3.
[9101] Matt. v. 4.
[9102] Matt. v. 5.
[9103] Matt. v. 9.
[9104] Matt. v. 11, 12, inexactly quoted.
[9105] Exultationis impatientiae.
[9106] i.e. peace.
[9107] Impatientiae natus: lit. "born for impatience." Comp. de
Poeniten. 12, ad fin. "nec ulli rei nisi paenitentiae natus."
[9108] Oehler reads "sed," but the "vel" adopted in the text is a
conjecture of Latinius, which Oehler mentions.
[9109] Septuagies septies. The reference is to Matt. xviii. 21, 22.
Compare de Orat. vii. ad fin. and the note there.
[9110] Matt. v. 25.
[9111] Luke vi. 37.
[9112] Matt. v. 23, 24.
[9113] Eph. iv. 26. Compare de Orat. xi.
[9114] Gubernet.
[9115] What the cause is is disputed. Opinions are divided as to whether
Tertullian means by it "marriage with a heathen" (which as Mr. Dodgson
reminds us, Tertullian'de Uxor. ii. 3'calls "adultery"), or the case in
which our Lord allowed divorce. See Matt. xix. 9.
[9116] i.e. patience.
[9117] Luke xv. 3-6.
[9118] Peccatricem, i.e. the ewe.
[9119] Luke xv. 11-32.
[9120] Dilectio = . See Trench, New Testament Syn., s.v.
and with the rest of this chapter compare carefully, in the Greek, 1 Cor.
xiii. [Neander points out the different view our author takes of the same
parable, in the de Pudicit. cap. 9, Vol. IV. this series.]
[9121] Protervum = Greek
[9122] Proterit = Greek
[9123] Exicidet = Greek , suffers eclipse.
[9124] Phil. iii. 8.
[9125] "Invecta," generally = "movables", household furniture.
[9126] Or, mortification, "adflictatio."
[9127] i.e. fleshly mortification is a "victim," etc.
[9128] Or, "mourning." Comp. de Poen. c. 9.
[9129] [The "water vs. wine" movement is not a discovery of our own
times. "Drink a little wine," said St. Paul medicinally; but (as a great and
good divine once remarked) "we must not lay stress on the noun, but the
adjective; let it be very little."]
[9130] Christi dei.
[9131] Dan. iv. 33-37. Comp. de Poen. c. 12. [I have removed an
ambiguity by slightly touching the text here.]
[9132] 1 Tim. v. 3, 9, 10; 1 Cor. vii. 39, 40.
[9133] 1 Cor. vii. 34, 35.
[9134] Matt. xix. 12.
[9135] Ad. It seems to mean flesh has strength given it, by patience, to
meet the hardships of the flight. Compare the
of St. Paul in Col. ii. 23. [Kaye compares this with the De Fuga, as proof
of the author's freedom from Montanism, when this was written.]
[9136] Praeveniat: "prevent" us, before we have time to flee.
[9137] Solo.
[9138] [Elucidation III.]
[9139] i.e. martyrdom.
[9140] Comp. Luke xii. 50.
[9141] Matt. xxvi. 41.
[9142] "Adversus," like the "ad" above, note 21, p. 713.
[9143] Acts vii. 59, 60.
[9144] Job. See Job i. and ii.
[9145] "Feretrum"'for carrying trophies ni a triumph, the bodies of the
dead, and their effigies, etc.
[9146] Compare Ps. ii. 4.
[9147] i.e. with rage and disappointment.
[9148] Job ii. 8.
[9149] Operarius.
[9150] See 2 Tim. iv. 8. There is no authority for this statement of
Tertullian's in Scripture. [It is his inference rather.]
[9151] Si. This is Oehler's reading, who takes "si" to be = "an." But
perhaps "sis" (= "si vis"), which is Fr. Junius' correction, is better:
"Come, now, let us, if you please, give a general sketch of her mien and
habit."
[9152] Pura; perhaps "smooth."
[9153] Compare with this singular feature, Isa. xxxvii. 22.
[9154] i.e., as Rigaltius (Referred to by Oehler), explains, after the
two visions of angels who appears to him and said, "Arise and eat." See 1
Kings xix. 4-13. [It was the fourth, but our author having mentioned two,
inadvertently calls it the third, referring to the "still small voice," in
which Elijah saw His manifestation.]
[9155] One is finite, the other infinite.
[9156] Obsequii.
[9157] And thus getting a place in their wills
[9158] i.e. professional "diners out." Comp. Phil. iii. 19.
[9159] See 'A Plain Commentary on the Four Gospels, intended chiefly for
Devotional Reading. Oxford, 1854. Also (Vol. I. p. 28) Philadelphia, 1855.
[9160] See Opp. Tom. xi. p. 657. Ed. Migne.
[9161] Roberts, Alexander and Donaldson, James, Ante-Nicene Fathers: Volume
III, (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.) 1997.
Also, see links to 3500 other Manuscripts:
/believe/txv/earlych7.htm
E-mail to: BELIEVE
The main BELIEVE web-page (and the index to subjects) is at:
BELIEVE Religious Information Source - By Alphabet
http://mb-soft.com/believe/indexaz.html