PASSAGES OF SCRIPTURE RESPECTING THE CONSTANCY,
PATIENCE, AND LOVE OF THE MARTYRS.
“With the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth
confession is made unto salvation. Wherefore the scripture saith,
Whosoever believeth on Him shall not be ashamed; that is, the word
of faith which we preach: for if thou confess the word with thy
mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in thy heart that God hath
raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”[585] There is clearly
described the perfect righteousness, fulfilled both in practice and
contemplation. Wherefore we are “to bless those who persecute us.
Bless, and curse not.”[586] “For our rejoicing is this, the testimony
of a good conscience, that in holiness and sincerity we know God” by
this inconsiderable instance exhibiting the work of love, that “not in
fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation
in the world.”[587] So far the apostle respecting knowledge; and in
the second Epistle to the Corinthians he calls the common “teaching
of faith” the savour of knowledge. “For unto this day the same veil
remains on many in the reading of the Old Testament,”[588] not being
uncovered by turning to the Lord. Wherefore also to those capable
of perceiving he showed resurrection, that of the life still in the
flesh, creeping on its belly. Whence also he applied the name “brood
of vipers” to the voluptuous, who serve the belly and the pudenda,
and cut off one another’s heads for the sake of worldly pleasures.
“Little children, let us not love in word, or in tongue,” says John,
teaching them to be perfect, “but in deed and in truth; hereby
shall we know that we are of the truth.”[589] And if “God be love,”
piety also is love: “there is no fear in love; but perfect love
casteth out fear.”[590] “This is the love of God, that we keep His
commandments.”[591] And again, to him who desires to become a Gnostic,
it is written, “But be thou an example of the believers, in word, in
conversation, in love, in faith, in purity.”[592] For perfection in
faith differs, I think, from ordinary faith. And the divine apostle
furnishes the rule for the Gnostic in these words, writing as follows:
“For I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, to be content. I know
both how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in
all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to
abound and to lack. I can do all things through Him who strengtheneth
me.”[593] And also, when discussing with others in order to put them
to shame, he does not shrink from saying, “But call to mind the former
days, in which, after ye were illuminated, ye endured a great fight
of afflictions; partly, whilst ye were made a gazing-stock, both by
reproaches and afflictions; and partly, whilst ye became companions
of them that were so used. For ye had compassion of me in my bonds,
and took with joy the spoiling of your goods, knowing that you have a
better and enduring substance. Cast not away therefore your confidence,
which hath great recompense of reward. For ye have need of patience,
that, after doing the will of God, ye may obtain the promise. For yet
a little while, and He that cometh will come, and will not tarry. Now
the just shall live by faith: and if any man draw back, my soul shall
have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them that draw back unto
perdition, but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.”[594]
He then brings forward a swarm of divine examples. For was it not “by
faith,” he says, this endurance, that they acted nobly who “had trial
of mockeries and scourgings, and, moreover, of bonds and imprisonments?
They were stoned, they were tempted, were slain with the sword.
They wandered about in sheep-skins and goat-skins, being destitute,
afflicted, tormented, of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered
in deserts, in mountains, in dens, and caves of the earth. And all
having received a good report, through faith, received not the promise
of God” (what is expressed by a parasiopesis is left to be understood,
viz. ”alone“). He adds accordingly, “God having provided some better
thing for us (for He was good), that they should not without us be
made perfect. Wherefore also, having encompassing us such a cloud,”
holy and transparent, “of witnesses, laying aside every weight, and
the sin which doth so easily beset us, let us run with patience the
race set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our
faith.”[595] Since, then, he specifies one salvation in Christ of the
righteous,[596] and of us he has expressed the former unambiguously,
and saying nothing less respecting Moses, adds, “Esteeming the reproach
of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt: for he had
respect to the recompense of the reward, By faith he forsook Egypt,
not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured as seeing Him who is
invisible.”[597] The divine Wisdom says of the martyrs, “They seemed
in the eyes of the foolish to die, and their departure was reckoned a
calamity, and their migration from us an affliction. But they are in
peace. For though in the sight of men they were punished, their hope
was full of immortality.”[598] He then adds, teaching martyrdom to be
a glorious purification, “And being chastened a little, they shall be
benefited much; because God proved them,” that is, suffered them to
be tried, to put them to the proof, and to put to shame the author
of their trial, “and found them worthy of Himself,” plainly, to be
called sons. “As gold in the furnace He proved them, and as a whole
burnt-offering of sacrifice He accepted them. And in the time of their
visitation they will shine forth, even as sparks run along the stubble.
They shall judge the nations, and rule over the peoples, and the Lord
shall reign over them for ever.”[599]