1. As I am about to speak, beloved brethren, of patience, and to declare its advantages and benefits, from what point should I rather begin than this,

 2. Philosophers also profess that they pursue this virtue but in their case the patience is as false as their wisdom also is. For whence can he be ei

 3. But for us, beloved brethren, who are philosophers, not in words, but in deeds, and do not put forward our wisdom in our garb, but in truth—who are

 4. But what and how great is the patience in God, that, most patiently enduring the profane temples and the images of earth, and the sacrilegious rite

 5.  And that we may more fully understand, beloved brethren, that patience is a thing of God, and that whoever is gentle, and patient, and meek, is an

 6. Nor, beloved brethren, did Jesus Christ, our God and Lord, teach this in words only but He fulfilled it also in deeds. And because He had said tha

 7. And moreover, in His very passion and cross, before they had reached the cruelty of death and the effusion of blood, what infamies of reproach were

 8. And after all these things, He still receives His murderers, if they will be converted and come to Him and with a saving patience, He who is benig

 9. But if we also, beloved brethren, are in Christ if we put Him on, if He is the way of our salvation, who follow Christ in the footsteps of salvati

 10. Finally, we find that both patriarchs and prophets, and all the righteous men who in their preceding likeness wore the figure of Christ, in the pr

 11. But that it may be more manifestly and fully known how useful and necessary patience is, beloved brethren let the judgment of God be pondered, wh

 12. Whence every one of us, when he is born and received in the inn of this world, takes his beginning from tears and, although still unconscious and

 13. It is the wholesome precept of our Lord and Master: “He that endureth,” saith He, “unto the end, the same shall be saved ” and again, “If ye conti

 14. But patience, beloved brethren, not only keeps watch over what is good, but it also repels what is evil.  In harmony with the Holy Spirit, and ass

 15. Charity is the bond of brotherhood, the foundation of peace, the holdfast and security of unity, which is greater than both hope and faith, which

 16. What beyond —that you should not swear nor curse that you should not seek again your goods when taken from you that, when you receive a buffet,

 17. And moreover, also, for the varied ills of the flesh, and the frequent and severe torments of the body, wherewith the human race is daily wearied

 18. Thus Job was searched out and proved, and was raised up to the very highest pinnacle of praise by the virtue of patience. What darts of the devil

 19. And, beloved brethren, that the benefit of patience may still more shine forth, let us consider, on the contrary, what mischief impatience may cau

 20. Wherefore, beloved brethren, having diligently pondered both the benefits of patience and the evils of impatience, let us hold fast with full watc

 21. But since I know, beloved brethren, that very many are eager, either on account of the burden or the pain of smarting wrongs, to be quickly avenge

 22. But when shall come the divine vengeance for the righteous blood, the Holy Spirit declares by Malachi the prophet, saying, “Behold, the day of the

 23. But who is this that says that he has held his peace before, and will not hold his peace for ever?  Surely it is He who was led as a sheep to the

 24. Let us wait for Him, beloved brethren, our Judge and Avenger, who shall equally avenge with Himself the congregation of His Church, and the number

23. But who is this that says that he has held his peace before, and will not hold his peace for ever?  Surely it is He who was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and as a lamb before its shearer is without voice, so He opened not His mouth.  Surely it is He who did not cry, nor was His voice heard in the streets. Surely He who was not rebellious, neither contradicted, when He offered His back to stripes, and His cheeks to the palms of the hands; neither turned away His face from the foulness of spitting. Surely it is He who, when He was accused by the priests and elders, answered nothing, and, to the wonder of Pilate, kept a most patient silence. This is He who, although He was silent in His passion, yet by and by will not be silent in His vengeance. This is our God, that is, not the God of all, but of the faithful and believing; and He, when He shall come manifest in His second advent, will not be silent.54    [Ps. l. 3.] For although He came first shrouded in humility, yet He shall come manifest in power.

XXIII. Quis autem est hic qui tacuisse se prius dicit et non semper tacebit? Utique ille qui sicut ovis ad victimam ductus est, et sicut agnus coram tondente se , sine voce non aperuit os suum ; utique ille qui non clamavit, neque in plateis vox ejus audita est; utique ille qui non fuit contumax, neque contradixit, cum dorsum suum poneret ad flagella et maxillas ad palmas, faciem autem suam non avertit a foeditate sputorum; utique ille qui, cum accusaretur a sacerdotibus et senioribus, nihil respondit et, admirante Pilato, patientissimum silentium tenuit. Hic est qui , cum in passione tacuerit , in ultione postmodum non tacebit. Hic est Deus noster, id est, non 0637B omnium, sed fidelium et credentium Deus, qui, cum in secundo adventu manifestus venerit, non silebit. Nam, cum in humilitate prius fuerit occultus, veniet in potestate manifestus.