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| Chapter IX.
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Chapter IX.
It remains for us, lest ancient times may perhaps
have had the sacrament8270
| 8270 Tertullian means
martyrdom.—Tr. | (exclusively) their
own, to review the modern Christian system, as though, being also from
God, it might be different from what preceded, and besides,
therefore, opposed thereto in its code of rules likewise, so that its
Wisdom knows not to murder her own sons! Evidently, in the case of
Christ both the divine nature and the will and the sect are different
from any previously known! He will have commanded either
no martyrdoms at all, or those which must be understood in a sense
different from the ordinary, being such a person as to urge no one to a
risk of this kind as to promise no reward to them who suffer for Him,
because He does not wish them to suffer; and therefore does He say,
when setting forth His chief commands, “Blessed are they who are
persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of
heaven.”8271
The following
statement, indeed, applies first to all without restriction,
then specially to the apostles themselves: “Blessed shall
ye be when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all
manner of evil against you, for my sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad,
since very great is your reward in heaven; for so used their fathers to
do even to the prophets.” So that He likewise foretold their
having to be themselves also slain, after the example of the prophets.
Though, even if He had appointed all this persecution in case He were
obeyed for those only who were then apostles, assuredly through them
along with the entire sacrament, with the shoot of the name, with the
layer of the Holy Spirit, the rule about enduring persecution also
would have had respect to us too, as to disciples by inheritance, and,
(as it were,) bushes from the apostolic seed. For even thus again does
He address words of guidance to the apostles: “Behold, I send you
forth as sheep in the midst of wolves;” and, “Beware of
men, for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will
scourge you in their synagogues; and ye shall be brought before
governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the
Gentiles,” etc.8272
Now when He adds,
“But the brother will deliver up the brother to death, and the
father the child; and the children shall rise up against their parents,
and cause them to be put to death,” He has clearly announced with
reference to the others, (that they would be subjected to) this form of
unrighteous conduct, which we do not find exemplified in the
case of the apostles. For none of them had experience of a father or a
brother as a betrayer, which very many of us have. Then He returns to
the apostles: “And ye shall be hated of all men for my
name’s sake.” How much more shall we, for whom there exists
the necessity of being delivered up by parents too! Thus, by allotting
this very betrayal, now to the apostles, now to all, He pours out the
same destruction upon all the possessors of the name, on whom the name,
along with the condition that it be an object of hatred, will rest. But
he who will endure on to the end—this man will be saved. By
enduring what but persecution,—betrayal,—death? For to
endure to the end is nought else than to suffer the end. And therefore
there immediately follow, “The disciple is not above his master,
nor the servant above his own lord;” because, seeing the Master
and Lord Himself was stedfast in suffering persecution, betrayal and
death, much more will it be the duty of His servants and disciples to
bear the same, that they may not seem as if superior to Him, or to have
got an immunity from the assaults of unrighteousness, since this itself
should be glory enough for them, to be conformed to the sufferings of
their Lord and Master; and, preparing them for the endurance of these,
He reminds them that they must not fear such persons as kill the body
only, but are not able to destroy the soul, but that they must dedicate
fear to Him rather who
has such power that He can kill both body and soul, and destroy them in
hell. Who, pray, are these slayers of the body only, but the governors
and kings aforesaid—men, I ween? Who is the ruler of the soul
also, but God only? Who is this but the threatener of fires
hereafter, He without whose will not even one of two sparrows
falls to the ground; that is, not even one of the two substances of
man, flesh or spirit, because the number of our hairs also has been
recorded before Him? Fear ye not, therefore. When He adds, “Ye
are of more value than many sparrows,” He makes promise that we
shall not in vain—that is, not without profit—fall to the
ground if we choose to be killed by men rather than by God.
“Whosoever therefore will confess in me before men, in him will I
confess also before my Father who is in heaven;8273
| 8273 The words in the
Greek, though correctly rendered in our authorized version, are, when
translated literally, what Tertullian represents them to
be.—Tr. |
and whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I deny also before my
Father who is in heaven.” Clear, as I think, are the terms used
in announcing, and the way to explain, the confession as well as the
denial, although the mode of putting them is different. He who
confesses himself a Christian, beareth witness that he is
Christ’s; he who is Christ’s must be in Christ. If he is in
Christ, he certainly confesses in Christ, when he confesses himself a
Christian. For he cannot be this without being in Christ.
Besides, by confessing in Christ he confesses Christ too: since, by
virtue of being a Christian, he is in Christ, while Christ
Himself also is in him. For if you have made mention of day, you have
also held out to view the element of light which gives us day, although
you may not have made mention of light. Thus, albeit He has not
expressly said, “He who will confess me,” (yet) the conduct
involved in daily confession is not different from what is meant in our
Lord’s declaration. For he who confesses himself to be what he
is, that is, a Christian, confesses that likewise by which he is it,
that is, Christ. Therefore he who has denied that he is a Christian,
has denied in Christ, by denying that he is in Christ while he denies
that he is a Christian; and, on the other hand, by denying that Christ
is in him, while He denies that he is in Christ, he will deny Christ
too. Thus both he who will deny in Christ, will deny Christ, and he who
will confess in Christ will confess Christ. It would have been enough,
therefore, though our Lord had made an announcement about confessing
merely. For, from His mode of presenting confession, it might be
decided beforehand with reference to its opposite too—denial,
that is—that denial is repaid by the Lord with denial, just as
confession is with confession. And therefore, since in the mould in
which the confession has been cast the state of (the case with
reference to) denial also may be perceived, it is evident that to
another manner of denial belongs what the Lord has announced concerning
it, in terms different from those in which He speaks of confession,
when He says, “Who will deny me,” not “Who will deny
in me.” For He had foreseen that this form of violence also
would, for the most part, immediately follow when any one had been
forced to renounce the Christian name,—that he who had denied
that he was a Christian would be compelled to deny Christ Himself too
by blaspheming Him. As not long ago, alas, we shuddered at the
struggle waged in this way by some with their entire faith, which had
had favourable omens. Therefore it will be to no purpose to say,
“Though I shall deny that I am a Christian, I shall not be denied
by Christ, for I have not denied Himself.” For even so much will
be inferred from that denial, by which, seeing he denies Christ in him
by denying that he is a Christian, he has denied Christ Himself
also. But there is more, because He threatens likewise shame with shame
(in return): “Whosoever shall be ashamed of me before men, of him
will I also be ashamed before my Father who is in heaven.” For He
was aware that denial is produced even most of all by shame, that the
state of the mind appears in the forehead, and that the wound of shame
precedes that in the body.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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