Teaching Christianity (continued)
armed with steel that has been gilded and set with gems, intent upon the battle he does indeed do what he does with those arms, not because they are valuable, but because they are arms. He is still himself, and supremely valiant, even when anger makes a weapon of whatever he breaks off.
(Vergil, Aeneid VII, 508)
The apostle is in full swing, concerned that for the sake of the ministry of the gospel the evils of this time should all be patiently borne, with the consolation of God's gifts. It is a great matter, and it is handled in the grand manner, while the embellishments of speech are not wanting either: Behold, he says, now is the acceptable time, now is the day of salvation. Giving no offense in any matter, that the ministry may not be objected to, but commending ourselves in all things as ministers of God in much patience, in tribulations, in necessities, in tight straits, in blows, in prisons, in riots, in labors, in vigils, in fasting, in chastity, in knowledge, in longsuffering, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in charity unfeigned, in the word of truth, in the power of God, with the weapons of justice in the right hand and in the left, through glory and dishonor, through ill repute and good repute, as seducers and yet truthful, as ones unknown and we are known, as though dying and behold we are alive, as fenced in and not done to death, as sad but always rejoicing, as in want but enriching many, as having nothing and possessing all things. See him still on fire: Our mouth is open to you, O Corinthians, our heart is enlarged (2 Cor 6:2–11), and the rest, which it would take too long to continue with.
43. Here he is again in full swing to the Romans, concerned that the persecutions of this world should be overcome with charity, in the certain hope of God's help. He handles it, though, both in the grand and the decorative manner. We know, he says, that for those who love God all