Chapter 9
TERTULLIAN
(2) And this is the reason why He says first: 'The Spirit is willing,'4 so that you might understand that you have the strength of the Spirit as well as the weakness of the flesh, keeping in mind the nature of body and soul. Thus you may learn what it is you have to work with, and which should be subordinate to which—that is, the weak to the strong, and not be doing what you now do, begging off on the score of the weakness of the flesh, while paying no attention to the strength of the Spirit.
(3) He Himself begged of His Father that, if it might be possible, the chalice of suffering might pass from Him.5 You should offer the same prayer, but also imitate his firmness; pray, to be sure, but be sure you add: 'However, not what I will, but Thy will be done.' How can you pray thus, if you run away? How can you ask that the chalice pass, when you intend to do, not the will of the Father, but your own will?
Chapter 9 (1) Now, it is certain that the Apostles were true to every word of the teaching of God and they omitted not a line of the Gospel. Can you show me any place in which they have reinstated the divine command to flee from city to city?
They could never have adduced a precept of flight; that would have been so contrary to their own practice. Were they not writing their letters to the churches from prison, or from islands whither they had gone, not to escape, but were on precisely because they had confessed the faith? St. Paul tells
4 Matt. 26.41.
5 Cf. Matt. 26.39.
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us that we should support the weak,1 and he surely does not mean those who have fled. How could you support them if they were not there? By bearing with them? He tells us that we should support them if they have fallen through the weak ness of their faith. So, he wants the faint-hearted to be comforted2 and not encouraged to run away.
(2) When he counsels us not to give place to the evil,3 he is not telling us to try to escape from it, but he is suggesting that we restrain our anger. When he says that we must make the most of our time because the days are evil,4 he wishes us to make our earthly pilgrimage profitable not by flight, but by wisdom. Likewise, when he bids us to shine as the children of light,5 he is not telling us to hide in secret as do the children of darkness. He says we must stand firm—that does not mean to run madly away—and be girt [for battle],6 and can that mean flight? Does it not rather mean we must boldly profess our faith? He points out our weapons, too, which would hardly be of use to runaways; among them, the shield with which you may turn aside the darts of the Devil.7
That surely means that you must resist him and take the full force of his attack.
(3) Further, St. John tells us that we must be ready to lay down our lives for our friends;8 much more, then, for the Lord. How can runaways fulfill that precept? Finally, mind ful of what he had heard in his own Apocalypse as to the 1 Rom. 15.1.
2 1 Thess. 5.14.
3 Cf. Eph. 4.27.
4 Cf. Eph. 5.16.
5 Cf. Eph. 5.8.
6 Cf. Eph. 6.14.
7 Cf. Eph. 6.16.
8 1 John 3.16.
tertullian doom of the fearful,9 and speaking from personal knowledge, he warns us that we must cast out fear. 'There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear brings punishment' (He was, no doubt, thinking of the fire of the pool)4 and he who fears is not perfected in love'10—that is, love of God.
(4) Yet, who will flee from persecution, if not the man who fears? And, who will fear, if not the one who loves not? If you ask counsel of the Spirit,* 11 what will He approve more than that counsel of the Spirit? Indeed, by it almost all are advised to offer themselves for martyrdom, never to flee from it. Hence, I cannot help but quote it, as follows:
'If you are held up to infamy, that is good. He who does not suffer ignominy before men will know it before God.
Never be ashamed, because it is your very righteousness that sets you before the public gaze. Why are you ashamed of what is to your glory? You gain power, when you are before the eyes of men.' So also he tells us elsewhere: 'Do not then ask to die on bridal beds, or in miscarriages, or from gentle
9 Apoc. 21.8.
10 1 John. 4.18.
11 The 'Spirit' referred to is the 'Paraclete,' speaking through the mouth of Montanus and his associates, Prisca (or Priscilla) and Maximilla.
Revelation, the Montanists contended, had reached its full maturity in Montanus and his prophetesses. As a matter of fact, the revelations which the 'Paraclete' gave through them were considered a direct continuation of the prophetic mission of Christ and the Apostles.
Their utterances, the result of a new and last outpouring of the Spirit, were supposed to complete the Gospels by filling up the gaps which had been left therein. The following sentences contain two utterances of the 'Paraclete,' the second of which is paraphrased by Tertullian in De anima 55.5, as follows: 'If you lay down your life for God as the "Paraclete" recommends, then it will not be of some gentle fever in a soft bed, but in the torture of martyrdom.' Other effata of the Phrygian prophets are found in Tertullian's De pudicitia
21; De exhortatione castitatis 10; De resurrectione carnis 11.
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fevers; rather, seek to die a martyr that He may be glorified who suffered for you.'
Chapter 10 (1) Some will refuse to consider the divine commands in this matter and will turn instead to the worldly wisdom supposed to be contained in the Greek proverb: 'He who turns and runs away lives to fight another day.'1 And runs away again in the next battle? When is he going to win, if he runs away defeated? He surely acts as a fine soldier of his
Leader, Christ, who, having been so fully armed by the Apostle,2 takes to his heels at the first sound of the trumpet of persecution! I will give you a worldly answer to that one:
'Is it such a terrible thing to die?'
(2) He is going to die some way, anyhow, whether in victory or in defeat, and, even if he dies denying his faith, he will at least have faced and fought the tormentor. Personally,
I would rather be an object of pity than of shame. Far nobler is the soldier who is lost in battle than he who goes off completely free by running. O Christian, are you afraid of man?—you whom the angels should fear as their judge;3 you who should be feared by the demons, since you have received power over the devils, too;4 you who should be feared by the whole world, since the world will be judged by you, too.5
1 This Greek proverb is quoted by the second-century writer Aulus Gellius in his Noctes Atticae 17.21.
2 Cf. Eph. 6.13-17.
3 Cf. 1 Cor. 6.3.
4 Cf. Matt. 10.8; Mark 16.17.
5 Cf. 1 Cor. 6.2.