Peace has its palms and crowns as well as persecution. 275

which is in heaven; who maketh His sun to rise on the good and on the evil, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. If to men it is happy and glorious to have children like them, and it then more pleases them to have begotten them, when the engraffed progeny reflects its father in answering lineaments; how much more doth God the Father rejoice, when a man is spiritually born in such sort, that the divine nobleness is confessed by his acts and deserts! What palm of righteousness, what crown is it, to be such an one that God says not of you, I have nourished and Is. 1, 2. brought up children, but they have rebelled against Me; but rather Christ approves you, and invites you to the reward, saying, Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the Mat. 25, Kingdom which is prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

34.

9. By these meditations the mind is to be strengthened, dearest brethren, by such exercises to be hardened against all the darts of the Devil. Let divine reading be before the operatio. eyes, good works in the hands, thoughts of the Lord in the understanding. Let continual prayer be never intermitted. Let saving works be held on in. Let us be ever occupied in spiritual acts, that whensoever the Enemy approaches, however often he may attempt to come, he may find our breast both closed and armed against him. For that is not a Christian man's only crown, which is gained in the time of persecution. Peace too has its crowns, and when through manifold and multiplied assailance we become conquerors, and our Adversary is downfallen and subdued, with such we are crowned. To have subdued lust, is the palm of continency. To have resisted anger and injuriousness, is the crown of patience. It is a triumph over avarice, to despise money. It is the glory of faith, to endure the evil things of the world, through reliance in the things to come. And he who is not proud in prosperity, earns glory from his humility. And he who is disposed to the mercifulness of cherishing the poor, obtains the recompense of a heavenly treasure. And he who knows not to be jealous, but with one heart and with gentleness loves his brethren, is honoured with the reward of love and peace. In this race-course of virtues we are running day by day; to these palms and crowns of righteous

276

Exhortations against envy and malevolence.

TREAT. ness without intermission of time we come. To these that

XII. you too may come, who were possessed by jealousy and

illwill, cast away all that malice, by which you before were held, re-enter anew with saving steps into the path of life eternal. Pluck out the thorns and thistles from your breast, that the seed of the Lord may enrich you with a fertile produce, and the divine and spiritual corn may grow up in the wealth of a fruitful harvest. Eject the poison of gall, put from within you the venom of discord; let the mind be purged, which the serpent's blackness had defiled, and all the bitterness which had gathered itself within, be softened by the gentleness of Christ. If you take both your meat and drink from the sacrament of the Cross, let that wood which at Mara availed in a figure to give sweetness of taste, in you in verity avail from giving gentleness to a softened bosom. You will not toil for a medicine to aid your renewing health; there get your cure, where you received your wound. Love them whom you hated before, be affectionate to them, whom with unjust detraction you envied. Imitate good men, if you are able to follow; but if you cannot follow them, at least be glad and gratulant with men who are better than yourself. Make yourself their partner in oneness of affection, make yourself coheir in the fellowship of kindness and the bond of brotherhood. Your debts will be forgiven when you yourself forgive; your sacrifices will be accepted, when you come unto God in peace. Your thoughts and acts will be divinely guided, when you consider those things which are Prov. 16, divine and righteous; as it is written, Let the heart of a man 1. Sept. consider righteous things, that his steps may be directed by God. You have indeed many things to consider: consider Paradise, whither Cain returns not, who through jealousy slew his brother. Consider the heavenly kingdom, to which the Lord admits none, but them that are of one heart and of one mind. Consider that they only can be called the children of God, who are peaceable; who in heavenly birth and by a divine law, are united and respond to the similitude of God the Father and of Christ. Consider that we are standing beneath the eyes of God; that while Himself beholds and judges us, we run through the career of our conversation and living; that then at last we may attain

to the privilege of seeing Him, if when now He sees us, we please Him in our conduct; if we present ourselves worthy of His grace and indulgence; if we who are to be accepted in His Kingdom for ever, are accepted first in this world.

TREATISE XIII.

EXHORTATION UNTO MARTYRDOM.

ADDRESSED TO FORTUNATUS.

[It is uncertain whether the following collection of passages from Scripture was made on occasion of the persecution of Gallus, or of Decius, or of Valerian; the earliest date is 252, the latest 257. Fortunatus was probably the Bishop of that name who was present at the Council of Carthage, A. D. 256.]

TREAT.

vid. supra, viii. 2. ix. 2.

Preface.

You asked me, most dear Fortunatus, in a season when XIII. the load of persecutions and troubles is lying hard upon us, and when in the end and conclusion of this world, the hostile time of Anti-Christ is making close its approach, to gather exhortations out of the divine Scriptures, for the training and establishment of the brethren's minds; and thus to hearten the soldiers of Christ unto their heavenly and spiritual combat. I needs must obey that so natural request of yours, so far as my poor powers extend, furnished with the aids of divine inspiration; by drawing forth from the precepts of the Lord, arms as it were and defences, for brethren who are to be in battle. It is little, that we stimulate God's people by the trumpet of our voice, unless we uphold the faith of those who believe, and their courage dedicated and devoted to God, by divine readings. And what can more suitably or more fully coincide with my own duty and solicitude, than to make ready by ceaseless exhortations, a congregation divinely to me intrusted, an army posted in the heavenly camp, against the weapons and darts of the Devil? A soldier cannot fitly go to battle, unless he has first acquired his training on the field; nor will he who aims at the crown of mastery be rewarded on the stadium, unless he has made provision beforehand, for using and ascertaining his strength. It is

Scripture to be committed to each believer to use for himself. 279

an old enemy, an ancient foe, with whom we are waging the warfare. Six thousand years are now well nigh complete, since the Devil became the antagonist of man". He has discovered, in this long process of ages, all the methods of temptation, all arts and snares whereby we may be overthrown. If he find the soldier of Christ unprepared, if untrained, if unsolicitous, wanting watchfulness of the whole heart, he ensnares his ignorance, beguiles his unthoughtfulness, betrays his inexperience. But if any withstand him, who keeps the instructions of the Lord, and holds himself in strength unto the steps of Christ, then must he be conquered; because Christ, whom we confess, is unconquerable. That I might not, dearest brother, extend my discourse too far, and fatigue either the hearer or the reader by the large amount of what I write, I have collected my topics together; so that placing first the headings, which every one ought to acquaint himself with and to remember, I subjoin passages from the Word of the Lord, confirming the proposition I have laid down, by the authority of divine Scripture; and thus I may be thought, not so much to have sent you a Treatise of my own, as to supply others with the means of making one. Individuals will find increased advantages ensuing from this. If I were to give to any man a garment finished and made, it would but be my garment which another was wearing; and having been made for me, without respect to the proportions of his stature and make, he might find it less suitable for him. But now, I am sending you the very wool and the purple, from the Lamb by whom we were redeemed and made alive; and when you receive it, you will fashion for yourself a coat to your pleasure, finding contentment in it the rather, as being a garment personally and privately your own; and you will also place what we have sent before the view of others, that they too may finish it according to their choice, and covering that their old nakedness, may all appear in Christ's garments, robed

a The belief that the world would last only 6000 years seems to have come from the Jews, and that Christ's coming was in the sixth thousand from the dates in the Septuagint version. vid. Pseudo-Justin. Quæst. 71. Iren. Hær. v. c. 28. §. 3. Lactant. Instit. vii. 14.

Hilar. in Matth. c. 17. §. 2. Hieron. in Psalm 89, (90.) ad Cyprian. Ep. 140. Ed. Vallars. Augustin (Civ. Dei, xx. 7.) favours it, but elsewhere (in Ps. 89. §. 5.) condemns it. Ambros. in Luc. vii. 7. seems to dissent also.