On Flight during Persecution.

 1.  My brother Fabius, you very lately asked, because some news or other were communicated, whether or not we ought to flee in persecution.  For my pa

 2.  If, because injustice is not from God, but from the devil, and persecution consists of injustice (for what more unjust than that the bishops of th

 3.  Seeing therefore, too, these cases occur in persecutions more than at other times, as there is then among us more of proving or rejecting, more of

 4.  Well, then, if it is evident from whom persecution proceeds, we are able at once to satisfy your doubts, and to decide from these introductory rem

 5.  But, says some one, I flee, the thing it belongs to me to do, that I may not perish, if I deny it is for Him on His part, if He chooses, to bring

 6.  Nay, says some one, he fulfilled the command, when he fled from city to city.  For so a certain individual, but a fugitive likewise, has chosen to

 7.  Let us now see whether also the rest of our Lord’s ordinances accord with a lasting command of flight.  In the first place, indeed, if persecution

 8.  He sometimes also fled from violence Himself, but for the same reason as had led Him to command the apostles to do so:  that is, He wanted to fulf

 9.  The teaching of the apostles was surely in everything according to the mind of God:  they forgot and omitted nothing of the Gospel.  Where, then,

 10.  But some, paying no attention to the exhortations of God, are readier to apply to themselves that Greek versicle of worldly wisdom, “He who fled

 11.  Thus ought every servant of God to feel and act, even one in an inferior place, that he may come to have a more important one, if he has made som

 12.  So far, my brother, as the question proposed by you is concerned, you have our opinion in answer and encouragement.  But he who inquires whether

 13.  But also to every one who asks me I will give on the plea of charity, not under any intimidation.  Who asks? He says.  But he who uses intimidati

 14.  But how shall we assemble together? say you how shall we observe the ordinances of the Lord?  To be sure, just as the apostles also did, who wer

1.  My brother Fabius, you very lately asked, because some news or other were communicated, whether or not we ought to flee in persecution.  For my part, having on the spot made some observations in the negative suited to the place and time, I also, owing to the rudeness of some persons, took away with me the subject but half treated, meaning to set it forth now more fully by my pen; for your inquiry had interested me in it, and the state of the times had already on its own account pressed it upon me.  As persecutions in increasing number threaten us, so the more are we called on to give earnest thought to the question of how faith ought to receive them, and the duty of carefully considering it concerns you no less, who no doubt, by not accepting the Comforter, the guide to all truth, have, as was natural, opposed us hitherto in regard to other questions also.  We have therefore applied a methodical treatment, too, to your inquiry, as we see that we must first come to a decision as to how the matter stands in regard to persecution itself, whether it comes on us from God or from the devil, that with the less difficulty we may get on firm ground as to our duty to meet it; for of everything one’s knowledge is clearer when it is known from whom it has its origin.  It is enough indeed to lay it down, (in bar of all besides,) that nothing happens without the will of God.  But lest we be diverted from the point before us, we shall not by this deliverance at once give occasion to the other discussions if one make answer—Therefore evil and sin are both from God; the devil henceforth, and even we ourselves, are entirely free.  The question in hand is persecution.  With respect to this, let me in the meantime say, that nothing happens without God’s will; on the ground that persecution is especially worthy of God, and, so to speak, requisite, for the approving, to wit, or if you will, the rejection of His professing servants.  For what is the issue of persecution, what other result comes of it, but the approving and rejecting of faith, in regard to which the Lord will certainly sift His people?  Persecution, by means of which one is declared either approved or rejected, is just the judgment of the Lord.  But the judging properly belongs to God alone.  This is that fan which even now cleanses the Lord’s threshing-floor—the Church, I mean—winnowing the mixed heap of believers, and separating the grain of the martyrs from the chaff of the deniers; and this is also the ladder of which Jacob dreams, on which are seen, some mounting up to higher places, and others going down to lower.  So, too, persecution may be viewed as a contest.  By whom is the conflict proclaimed, but by Him by whom the crown and the rewards are offered?  You find in the Revelation its edict, setting forth the rewards by which He incites to victory—those, above all, whose is the distinction of conquering in persecution, in very deed contending in their victorious struggle not against flesh and blood, but against spirits of wickedness.  So, too, you will see that the adjudging of the contest belongs to the same glorious One, as umpire, who calls us to the prize.  The one great thing in persecution is the promotion of the glory of God, as He tries and casts away, lays on and takes off.  But what concerns the glory of God will surely come to pass by His will.  And when is trust in God more strong, than when there is a greater fear of Him, and when persecution breaks out?  The Church is awe-struck.  Then is faith both more zealous in preparation, and better disciplined in fasts, and meetings, and prayers, and lowliness, in brotherly-kindness and love, in holiness and temperance.  There is no room, in fact, for ought but fear and hope.  So even by this very thing we have it clearly proved that persecution, improving as it does the servants of God, cannot be imputed to the devil.

CAPUT PRIMUM.

0103A

Quaesisti proxime, Fabi frater , fugiendum necne sit in persecutione, quod nescio quid annuntiaretur. Ibidem ego oblocutus aliquid pro loco ac tempore, et quarumdam personarum importunitate, semitractatam materiam abstuli mecum, plenius eam de stylo nunc renuntiaturus, utpote quam mihi et tua consultatio commendarat, et conditio temporum suo jam nomine injunxerat. Quanto enim frequentiores imminent persecutiones, tanto examinatio procuranda est, quomodo eas excipere fides debeat. Procuranda autem examinatio penes vos, qui , si forte, Paracletum non recipiendo deductorem omnis veritatis, merito adhuc etiam aliis quaestionibus obnoxii estis. Igitur 0103B consultationi tuae ordinem quoque induimus, animadvertentes ante determinari oportere de statu ipsius persecutionis, utrum a Deo obveniat , an a diabolo, quo facilius de obitu ejus constare possit. Omnis enim rei inspectio, auctore cognito, planior. Satis est quidem praescribere nihil fieri sine Dei voluntate. Sed non statim hac sententia caeteris retractatibus locum dabimus, ne a praesenti articulo avocemur, si quis responderit: Ergo et malum a Deo, et delictum a Deo; nihil jam in diabolo, nihil etiam in nobis ipsis. De persecutione nunc quaeritur. Circa hanc interim dixerim nihil fieri sine Dei voluntate, respiciens eam in primis dignam Deo esse, et, ut ita dixerim, necessariam, ad probationem scilicet servorum ejus sive reprobationem. Quis est enim exitus 0103C persecutionis, quis effectus alius, nisi probatio et reprobatio fidei, qua suos utique Dominus examinavit? Hoc omne judicium est persecutio per quam quis aut probatus aut reprobatus judicatur. Porro judicium soli Deo competit. Haec pala illa , quae et nunc Dominicam aream purgat, Ecclesiam scilicet, confusum acervum fidelium eventilans, frumentum martyrum et paleas negatorum. Haec enim , scalae quas somniat Jacob, aliis ascensum in superiora, aliis descensum ad inferiora demonstrantes. Sic et agonem intelligi capit persecutionem. A quo certamen edicitur, nisi a quo corona et praemia proponuntur? Legis edictum agonis istius in Apocalypsi, quibus praemiis ad victoriam invitet, vel maxime illos 0103D qui proprie vicerint in persecutione, vincendo luctati, 0104A revera non adversus carnem et sanguinem, sed adversus spiritalia (Ephes, VI, 12) nequitiae. Ita agnosces ad eumdem agonothetam pertinere certaminis arbitrium, qui invitat ad praemium. Totum quod agitur in persecutione, gloria Dei est probantis et reprobantis, imponentis et deponentis. Quod autem ad gloriam Dei pertinet, utique ex voluntate illius eveniet. Sed quando Deus magis creditur, nisi cum magis timetur, nisi in tempore persecutionis? Tunc Ecclesia in attonito est; tunc et fides in expeditione sollicitior et disciplinatior in jejuniis et stationibus, et orationibus, et humilitate, in alterutra diligentia et dilectione , in sanctitate et sobrietate. Non enim vacatur nisi timori et spei. Adeo et ex hoc ipso ostenditur nobis non posse diabolo 0104B deputari eam, quae meliores efficit Dei servos.