Chapter 6
TERTULLIAN
conclude from that example that we must not flee, since there is no safety in flight if God wills that we should stand.
Chapter 6 (1) 'But,' someone might say, 'in fleeing from city to city, he was merely following the precept, [of Christ].' Yes, that is an argument that was adduced by a certain indivi dual, who had himself fled. Others have done the same.
They do not want to understand the meaning of the Lord's command, but merely wish to use it as a cloak of their own cowardice. To be sure, the Lord's command might apply to certain persons, times, and circumstances. We read: 'When they begin to persecute you, flee from city to city.'1 But, I maintain that that text only applied to the persons of the Apostles, and to their times and circumstances; you can see this from the following words, which certainly refer exclu sively to the Apostles: 'Do not go in the direction of the Gentiles, nor enter a city of the Samaritans, but rather go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.'2
(2) But to us the way of the Gentiles is also open; in fact, that is where we were found and there will we walk till the end. No city is excepted in our case, but we preach through out the whole world; no special care for Israel has been laid upon us, except in so far as we are to preach to all nations. And, if we are caught, we will not be haled before the councils of the Jews, nor will we be scourged in their
1 Matt. 10.23.
2 Matt. 10.5,6.
FLIGHT IN TIME OF PERSECUTION
synagogues, but we will face the magistrates and courts of Rome.3
(3) So, it would seem that the precise circumstances of the Apostles even required the injunction to flee, since their primary obligation was to preach to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And, in order that the preaching [of the Gospel] might be fully accomplished in the case of those among whom this task had first to be carried out—that the children of the house might receive bread before the dogs4 5— the Apostles were commanded to flee then for a time. This was not that they might elude danger under the special title of persecution—in fact, He foretold that they would suffer persecutions and He taught them that they must be en dured0—but in order to help spread the Gospel. For, if they had been killed right at the beginning, the diffusion of the Gospel, too, would have been prevented.
(4) Nor was it His idea that they should secretly flee into some city, but openly proclaim the Gospel everywhere, and, for that very action, expose themselves to persecutions everywhere, until they had fulfilled their apostolate. For He said: 'You will not have gone through the towns of Israel.'6
So, the command to flee was restricted to the confines of Judea. But, for us now, there is no restriction to the boun daries of Judea for our preaching, now that the Holy Spirit has been poured out upon all flesh.7
(5) Therefore, St. Paul and the Apostles, ever mindful of the Lord's precept, solemnly testified to this before Israel,
3 Cf. Matt. 10.17,18.
4 Cf. Matt. 15.26.
5 Cf. Matt. 10.17,18.
6 Matt. 10.23.
7 Cf. Acts 2.17.
TERTULLIAN
which they had now filled with their doctrine: It was neces sary that the word of God should be brought to you first, but since you have rejected it and have not considered yourselves worthy of eternal life, behold we now turn to the Gentiles.
And, from that time, they turned away from Israel, as they had been taught by those who had gone before them, and they went into the ways of the Gentiles, and they entered into the cities of the Samaritans so that their sound might go forth into all the earth and their words unto the ends of the world.9
(6) Now, if the restriction concerning setting foot in the ways of the Gentiles and entering into the cities of the Samaritans has come to an end, why should not the command to flee come also to an end, since it was enunciated at the same time? Accordingly, from that time on, once they had covered Israel, the Apostles turned to the Gentiles; they did not flee from city to city, nor did they hesitate to suffer. In fact, St. Paul who, at a time when the command was still in force, had allowed himself to escape persecution by being let down [in a basket] from a wall,10 at the end of his apostolate and after the command was in abeyance did precisely the opposite. The disciples were begging him that under no circumstances should he go to Jerusalem, lest he suffer what
Agabus had foretold he would suffer, and he refused to ac cede to their kindly thoughts. 'What do you mean by weeping and troubling my heart? For I would wish not only to suffer bonds, but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of my Lord,
Jesus Christ.' And so, they all said: 'The Lord's will be done.'* 11 And what was the will of the Lord? Surely not that 8 Acts 13.46.
9 Ps. 18.5.
10 Cf. Acts 9.25.
11 Acts 21.10-14.