Nonresistance

Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also. And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain. Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away.

SUMMARY: No longer shall the Law say, “An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth,” to him who counts no man his enemy, but all men his neighbors. Christians observe the new law, the old law being obliterated. “An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth,”—that is the expression of justice, but non-resistance is the expression of goodness and patience. If one gives you a blow upon your right cheek, turn to him the other also; and you shall be perfect. Nonresistance also includes not going to law with those who plunder and rob us, being patient concerning injuries, not correcting with violence the delinquencies of sins, not fighting in self-defense, not hitting the other person, not returning force, not injuring anyone at any time, and not making any resistance when apprehended. Both the provoker and provoked are blamed of hurting a man in the eyes of the Lord. He who returns an injury, desires to imitate that very person by whom he has been injured. It is in our own power to observe what is commanded. Do not hesitate to give, nor murmur when you give. Alms are to be denied to none. But woe to those who have and who take under false pretenses, or who are able to help themselves and want to take from others. Polycarp: Let us then continually persevere in our hope, and the pledge of our righteousness, which is Jesus Christ, “who bore our sins in His own body on the tree” “who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth,” but endured all things for us, that we might live in Him. Let us then be imitators of His patience; and if we suffer for His name’s sake, let us glorify Him. For He has set us this example in Himself, and we have believed that such is the case.

IRENAEUS: For no longer shall the law say, . . . “An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth,” to him who counts no man his enemy, but all men his neighbors, and therefore cannot stretch out his hand at all for vengeance.

ATHENAGORAS: For when they know that we cannot endure even to see a man put to death, though justly; who of them can accuse us of murder or cannibalism? Who does not reckon among the things of greatest interest the contests of gladiators and wild beasts, especially those which are given by you? But we, deeming that to see a man put to death is much the same as killing him, have renounced such spectacles. How, then, when we do not even look on, lest we should contract guilt and pollution, can we put people to death?

TATIAN: You have heard that it was said, 'Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth:' but I say to you, do not stand in opposition to the evil; but whoever smites you on your right cheek, turn to him also the other. And he that would sue you, and take your tunic, leave to him also your wrapper. And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two. And he that asks you, give to him: and he that would borrow of you, do not prevent him. And do not prosecute him that takes your substance. And as you desire that men should do to you, so do also to them.

TERTULLIAN: Who else, therefore, are understood but we, who, fully taught by the new law, observe these practices,—the old law being obliterated, the coming of whose abolition the action itself of beating swords into plows demonstrates? For the custom of the old law was to avenge itself by the vengeance of the sword, and to pluck out “eye for eye,” and to inflict retaliatory revenge for injury. But the new law’s custom was to point to clemency, and to convert to tranquillity the pristine ferocity of “swords” and “lances,” and to remodel the pristine execution of “war” upon the rivals and foes of the law into the pacific actions of “plowing” and “tilling” the land.

TERTULLIAN: Christ plainly teaches a new kind of patience, when He actually prohibits the reprisals which the Creator permitted in requiring “an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth,” and bids us, on the contrary, “to him who strikes us on the one cheek, to offer the other also, and to give up our coat to him that takes away our cloak.” No doubt these are supplementary additions by Christ, but they are quite in keeping with the teaching of the Creator. And therefore this question must at once be determined: Whether the discipline of patience is enjoined by the Creator? When by Zechariah He commanded, “Let none of you imagine evil against his brother,” He did not expressly include his neighbor; but then in another passage He says, “Let none of you imagine evil in your hearts against his neighbor.” He who counseled that an injury should be forgotten, was still more likely to counsel the patient endurance of it. But then, when He said, “Vengeance is mine, and I will repay,” He thereby teaches that patience calmly waits for the infliction of vengeance. Therefore, inasmuch as it is incredible that the same God should seem to require “a tooth for a tooth and an eye for an eye,” in return for an injury, who forbids not only all reprisals, but even a revengeful thought or recollection of an injury, in so far does it become plain to us in what sense He required “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth,”—not, indeed, for the purpose of permitting the repetition of the injury by retaliating it, which it virtually prohibited when it forbade vengeance; but for the purpose of restraining the injury in the first instance, which it had forbidden on pain of retaliation or reciprocity; so that every man, in view of the permission to inflict a second (or retaliatory) injury, might abstain from the commission of the first (or provocative) wrong. For He knows how much more easy it is to repress violence by the prospect of retaliation, than by the promise of indefinite vengeance. Both results, however, it was necessary to provide, in consideration of the nature and the faith of men, that the man who believed in God might expect vengeance from God, while he who had no faith (in order to restrain him) might fear the laws which prescribed retaliation. This purpose of the law, which it was difficult to understand, Christ, as the Lord of the Sabbath and of the law, and of all the dispensations of the Father, both revealed and made intelligible, when He commanded that “the other cheek should be offered (to the smiter),” in order that He might the more effectually extinguish all reprisals of an injury, which the law had wished to prevent by the method of retaliation, and which most certainly revelation had manifestly restricted, both by prohibiting the memory of the wrong, and referring the vengeance thereof to God.

TERTULLIAN: For men were of old accustomed to require “eye for eye, and tooth for tooth” and to repay with usury “evil with evil;” for, as yet, patience was not on earth, because faith was not either.

TERTULLIAN: So, too, “Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth,” has now grown old, ever since “Let none render evil for evil” grew young.

ORIGEN: Celsus [a pagan critic] extracts from the Gospel the precept, “To him who strikes you once, offer yourself to be struck again,” although without giving any passage from the Old Testament which he considers opposed to it. On the one hand, we know that “it was said to them in old time, 'An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth;'” and on the other, we have read, “I say unto you, 'Whoever shall smite you on the one cheek, turn to him the other also.'” But as there is reason to believe that Celsus produces the objections which he has heard from those who wish to make a difference between the God of the Gospel and the God of the law, we must say in reply, that this precept, “Whoever shall strike you on the one cheek, turn to him the other,” is not unknown in the older Scriptures. For thus, in the Lamentations of Jeremiah, it is said, “It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth: he sits alone, and keeps silence, because he has borne it upon him. He gives his cheek to him that smites him; he is filled full with reproach.” There is no discrepancy, then, between the God of the Gospel and the God of the law, even when we take literally the precept regarding the blow on the face. So, then, we infer that neither “Jesus nor Moses has taught falsely.” The Father in sending Jesus did not “forget the commands which He had given to Moses.” He did not “change His mind, condemn His own laws, and send by His messenger counter instructions.”

ARCHELAUS: “An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth,”—that is the expression of justice. And as to His injunction, that a man, when struck on the one cheek, should offer the other also, that is the expression of goodness. Well, then, are justice and goodness opposed to each other? Far from it! There has only been an advance from simple justice to positive goodness. The Didache: If one gives you a blow upon your right cheek, turn to him the other also; and you shall be perfect. If one compel you for one mile, go with him two. If one takes away your cloak, give him also your coat. If one take from you what is your own, do not ask for it back, for indeed you are not able. Give to every one that asks you, and do not ask for it back; for the Father wills that to all should be given of our own blessings, free gifts. Happy is he that gives according to the commandment; for he is guiltless. Woe to him that receives; for if one having need receive, he is guiltless; but he that receives not having need, shall pay the penalty, why he received and for what, and, coming into straits, confinement, he shall be examined concerning the things which he has done, and he shall not escape from there until he pays back the last farthing. But also now concerning this, it has been said, “Let your alms sweat in your hands, until you know to whom you should give.”

SECOND CLEMENT: Brothers and sisters, leaving willingly our sojourn in this present world, let us do the will of Him that called us, and not fear to depart out of this world. For the Lord says, “Be as lambs in the midst of wolves.” And Peter answered and said to Him, “What, then, if the wolves shall tear in pieces the lambs?” Jesus said to Peter, “The lambs have no cause after they are dead to fear the wolves; and in like manner, do not fear them that kill you, and can do nothing more to you; but fear Him who, after you are dead, has power over both soul and body to cast them into hell-fire.” And consider, brothers and sisters, that the sojourning in the flesh in this world is but brief and transient, but the promise of Christ is great and wonderful, even the rest of the kingdom to come, and of life everlasting. By what course of conduct, then, shall we attain these things, but by leading a holy and righteous life, and by deeming these worldly things as not belonging to us, and not fixing our desires upon them? For if we desire to possess them, we fall away from the path of righteousness.

ARISTIDES: Christians appeal to those who injure them, and try to win them as friends; they are eager to do good to their enemies.

POLYCARP: But He who raised Him up from the dead will raise up us also, if we do His will, and walk in His commandments, and love what He loved, keeping ourselves from all unrighteousness, covetousness, love of money, evil speaking, false witness; “not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing,” or blow for blow, or cursing for cursing, but being mindful of what the Lord said in His teaching.

JUSTIN MARTYR: For we will not require that you punish our accusers; they being sufficiently punished by their present wickedness and ignorance of what is right.

JUSTIN MARTYR: And concerning our being patient of injuries, and ready to serve all, and free from anger, this is what He said: “To him that smites you on the one cheek, offer also the other; and him that takes away your cloak or coat, do not forbid. And whoever shall be angry, is in danger of the fire. And every one that compels you to go with him a mile, follow him two. And let your good works shine before men, that they, seeing them, may glorify your Father which is in heaven.” For we ought not to strive; neither has He desired us to be imitators of wicked men, but He has exhorted us to lead all men, by patience and gentleness, from shame and the love of evil. And this indeed is proved in the case of many who once were of your way of thinking, but have changed their violent and tyrannical disposition, being overcome either by the constancy which they have witnessed in their Christian neighbors’ lives, or by the extraordinary forbearance they have observed in their fellow-travelers when defrauded, or by the honesty of those with whom they have transacted business.

IRENAEUS: Jesus commanded His disciples . . . not only not to strike, but even, when themselves struck, to present the other cheek to those that maltreated them; and not only not to refuse to give up the property of others, but even if their own were taken away, not to demand it back again from those that took it; and not only not to injure their neighbors, nor to do them any evil, but also, when themselves wickedly dealt with, to be long-suffering, and to show kindness towards those that injured them, and to pray for them, that by means of repentance they might be saved—so that we should in no respect imitate the arrogance, lust, and pride of others.

IRENAEUS: [The Gnostics] maintain that He suffered only in appearance. For if He did not truly suffer, no thanks to Him, since there was no suffering at all; and when we shall actually begin to suffer, He will seem as leading us astray, exhorting us to endure buffeting, and to turn the other cheek, if He did not Himself before us in reality suffer the same; and as He misled them by seeming to them what He was not, so does He also mislead us, by exhorting us to endure what He did not endure Himself. In that case, we shall be even above the Master, because we suffer and sustain what our Master never bore or endured. But as our Lord is alone truly Master, so the Son of God is truly good and patient, the Word of God the Father having been made the Son of man. For He fought and conquered; for He was man contending for the fathers, and through obedience doing away with disobedience completely: for He bound the strong man, and set free the weak, and endowed His own handiwork with salvation, by destroying sin. For He is a most holy and merciful Lord, and loves the human race.

IRENAEUS: The law of liberty, that is, the word of God, preached by the apostles who went forth from Jerusalem throughout all the earth, caused such a change in the state of things, that these nations did form the swords and war-lances into plowshares, and changed them into pruning-hooks for reaping the corn, that is, into instruments used for peaceful purposes, and that they are now unaccustomed to fighting, but when smitten, offer also the other cheek.

ATHENAGORAS: We have learned, not only not to return blow for blow, nor to go to law with those who plunder and rob us, but to those who smite us on one side of the face to offer the other side also, and to those who take away our coat to give likewise our cloak. But, when we have surrendered our property, they plot against our very bodies and souls, pouring upon us wholesale charges of crimes of which we are guiltless even in thought, but which belong to these idle praters themselves, and to the whole tribe of those who are like them.

ATHENAGORAS: But among us you will find uneducated persons, and artisans, and old women, who, if they are unable in words to prove the benefit of our doctrine, yet by their deeds exhibit the benefit arising from their persuasion of its truth: they do not rehearse speeches, but exhibit good works; when struck, they do not strike again; when robbed, they do not go to law; they give to those that ask of them, and love their neighbors as themselves.

ATHENAGORAS: But though such is our character, oh, why should I speak of things unfit to be uttered, the things said of us are an example of the proverb, “The harlot reproves the chaste.” For those who have set up a market for fornication and established infamous resorts for the young for every kind of vile pleasure, who do not abstain even from males, males with males committing shocking abominations, outraging all the noblest and comeliest bodies in all sorts of ways, so dishonoring the fair workmanship of God, for beauty on earth is not self-made, but sent here by the hand and will of God, these men, I say, revile us for the very things which they are conscious of themselves, and ascribe to their own gods, boasting of them as noble deeds, and worthy of the gods. These adulterers and homosexuals defame the eunuchs and the once-married, so that not even the governors of the provinces sent by you suffice for the hearing of the complaints against those, to whom it even is not lawful, when they are struck, not to offer themselves for more blows, nor when defamed not to bless: for it is not enough to be just, and justice is to return like for like, but it is incumbent on us to be good and patient of evil.

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: Manliness is to be assumed in order to produce confidence and forbearance, so as “to him that strikes on the one cheek, to give to him the other; and to him that takes away the cloak, to yield to him the coat also,” strongly, restraining anger. For we do not train our women like Amazons to manliness in war; since we wish the men even to be peaceable. I hear that the Sarmatian women practice war no less than the men.

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: Above all, Christians are not allowed to correct with violence the delinquencies of sins. For it is not those that abstain from wickedness from compulsion, but those that abstain from choice, that God crowns. It is impossible for a man to be steadily good except by his own choice. For he that is made good by compulsion of another is not good; for he is not what he is by his own choice. For it is the freedom of each one that makes true goodness and reveals real wickedness. And so through these dispositions God contrived to make His own disposition manifest.

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: The expression that rich men shall with difficulty enter into the kingdom is to be understood in a scholarly way, not awkwardly, or rustically, or carnally. For if the expression is used thus, salvation does not depend on external things, whether they be many or few, small or great, or illustrious or obscure, or esteemed or disesteemed; but on the virtue of the soul, on faith, and hope, and love, and brotherliness, and knowledge, and meekness, and humility, and truth, the reward of which is salvation. For it is not on account of comeliness of body that any one shall live, or, on the other hand, perish. But he who uses the body given to him chastely and according to God, shall live; and he that destroys the temple of God shall be destroyed. An ugly man can be profligate, and a good-looking man temperate. Neither strength and great size of body makes alive, nor does any of the members destroy. But the soul which uses them provides the cause for each. Bear then, it is said, when struck on the face; which a man strong and in good health can obey. And again, a man who is feeble may transgress from refractoriness of temper. So also a poor and destitute man may be found intoxicated with lusts; and a man rich in worldly goods temperate, poor in indulgences, trustworthy, intelligent, pure, chastened.

TERTULLIAN: Hippias, a pagan, is put to death laying plots against the state: no Christian ever attempted such a thing in behalf of his brothers and sisters, even when persecution was scattering them abroad with every atrocity. But it will be said that some of us, too, depart from the rules of our discipline. In that case, however, we count them no longer Christians.

TERTULLIAN: As for the Christians, however, in what does their case resemble this? No one is ashamed; no one is sorry, except for his former sins. If he is pointed at for his religion, he glories in it; if dragged to trial, he does not resist; if accused, he makes no defense. When questioned, he confesses; when condemned, he rejoices. What sort of evil is this, in which the nature of evil comes to a standstill?

TERTULLIAN: Hear what is predicted in Zechariah: “The Lord of hosts shall protect them; and they shall devour them, and subdue them with sling-stones; and they shall drink their blood like wine, and they shall fill the bowls as it were of the altar. And the Lord shall save them in that day, even His people, like sheep; because as sacred stones they roll,” thirty-one and so on. And that you may not suppose that these predictions refer to such sufferings as await them from so many wars with strangers, consider the nature of the sufferings. In a prophecy of wars which were to be waged with legitimate arms, no one would think of enumerating stones as weapons, which are better known in popular crowds and unarmed tumults. Nobody measures the copious streams of blood which flow in war by bowlfuls, nor limits it to what is shed upon a single altar. No one gives the name of sheep to those who fall in battle with arms in hand, and while repelling force with force, but only to those who are slain, yielding themselves up in their own place of duty and with patience, rather than fighting in self-defense.

TERTULLIAN: If one attempt to provoke you by manual violence, the monition of the Lord is at hand: “To him,” He says, “who smites you on the face, turn the other cheek likewise.” Let outrageousness be wearied out by your patience. Whatever that blow may be, conjoined with pain and insulting treatment, it shall receive a heavier one from the Lord. You wound that outrageous one more by enduring: for he will be beaten by Him for whose sake you endure. If the tongue’s bitterness break out in malediction or reproach, look back at the saying, “When they curse you, rejoice.” The Lord Himself was “cursed” in the eye of the law; and yet He is the only Blessed One. Let us servants, therefore, follow our Lord closely; and be cursed patiently, that we may be able to be blessed.

TERTULLIAN: What difference is there between provoker and provoked, except that the former is detected as prior in evil-doing, but the latter as posterior? Yet each stands blamed of hurting a man in the eye of the Lord, who both prohibits and condemns every wickedness. In evil doing there is no account taken of order, nor does place separate what similarity combines. And the precept is absolute, that evil is not to be repaid with evil.

COMMODIANUS: Many are the martyrdoms which are made without shedding of blood. Not to desire other men’s goods; to wish to have the benefit of martyrdom; to bridle the tongue, you ought to make yourself humble; not willingly to use force, nor to return force used against you, be a patient mind, understand that you are a martyr.

ORIGEN: The Savior said, “I say to you, do not resist evil;” . . . and in issuing certain other commands, conveys no other meaning than this, that it is in our own power to observe what is commanded. And therefore we are rightly rendered liable to condemnation if we transgress those commandments which we are able to keep.

ORIGEN: Neither Celsus [a pagan critic] nor they who think with him are able to point out any act on the part of Christians which savors of rebellion. And yet, if a revolt had led to the formation of the Christian commonwealth, so that it derived its existence in this way from that of the Jews, who were permitted to take up arms in defense of the members of their families, and to slay their enemies, the Christian Lawgiver would not have altogether forbidden the putting of men to death; and yet He nowhere teaches that it is right for His own disciples to offer violence to any one, however wicked. For He did not deem it in keeping with such laws as His, which were derived from a divine source, to allow the killing of any individual whatever. Nor would the Christians, had they owed their origin to a rebellion, have adopted laws of so exceedingly mild a character as not to allow them, when it was their fate to be slain as sheep, on any occasion to resist their persecutors. . . . Because Christians were taught not to avenge themselves upon their enemies (and have thus observed laws of a mild and philanthropic character); and because they would not, although able, have made war even if they had received authority to do so, they have obtained this reward from God, that He has always warred in their behalf, and on certain occasions has restrained those who rose up against them and desired to destroy them. For in order to remind others, that by seeing a few engaged in a struggle for their religion, they also might be better fitted to despise death, some, on special occasions, and these individuals who can be easily numbered, have endured death for the sake of Christianity, God not permitting the whole nation to be exterminated, but desiring that it should continue, and that the whole world should be filled with this health-giving and religious doctrine.

ORIGEN: “Christians also have,” says he, Celsus, a pagan critic, “a precept to this effect, that we ought not to avenge ourselves on one who injures us,” or, as Christ expresses it, 'Whosoever shall strike you on the one cheek, turn to him the other also.' “This is an ancient saying, which had been admirably expressed long before, and which they have only reported in a coarser way. For Plato introduces Socrates conversing with Crito as follows: 'Must we never do injustice to any?' “'Certainly not.' “'And since we must never do injustice, must we not return injustice for an injustice that has been done to us, as most people think?' “'It seems to me that we should not.' “'But tell me, Crito, may we do evil to any one or not?' “'Certainly not, O Socrates.' “'Well, is it just, as is commonly said, for one who has suffered wrong to do wrong in return, or is it unjust?' “'It is unjust. Yes; for to do harm to a man is the same as to do him injustice.' “'You speak truly. We must then not do injustice in return for injustice, nor must we do evil to any one, whatever evil we may have suffered from him.' Thus Plato speaks; and he adds, 'Consider, then, whether you are at one with me, and whether, starting from this principle, we may not come to the conclusion that it is never right to do injustice, even in return for an injustice which has been received; or whether, on the other hand, you differ from me, and do not admit the principle from which we started. That has always been my opinion, and is so still.' Such are the sentiments of Plato, and indeed they were held by divine men before his time.” . . . From these remarks it is evident, that when Jesus said “coarsely,” as Celsus terms it, “To him who shall strike you on the one cheek, turn the other also; and if any man be minded to sue you at the law, and take away your coat, let him have your cloak also,” He expressed Himself in such a way as to make the precept have more practical effect than the words of Plato in the Crito; for the latter is so far from being intelligible to ordinary persons, that even those have a difficulty in understanding him, who have been brought up in the schools of learning, and have been initiated into the famous philosophy of Greece. It may also be observed, that the precept enjoining patience under injuries is in no way corrupted or degraded by the plain and simple language which our Lord employs.

ORIGEN: Jesus’ words regarding turning the other cheek concern more than simply long-suffering. For it is against nature to be so arrogant as to hit the other person.

ORIGEN: “But if your enemy is hungry, feed him, if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for in doing this you will heap burning coals on his head.” Indeed the Lord also commands these things in the Gospels. . . . To the same extent that we not only do not retaliate against enemies and those who injure, but even offer good, to that same extent we heap up their punishments at the judgment of God—for their condemnation is truly just if they are convicted before the Lord for having inflicted evils upon those from whom they have received good things.

CYPRIAN: Christians cannot be conquered, but they can die; and by this very fact they are invincible, that they do not fear death; that they do not in turn assail their assailants, since it is not lawful for the innocent even to kill the guilty; but that they readily deliver up both their lives and their blood; that since such malice and cruelty rages in the world, they may the more quickly withdraw from the evil and cruel.

CYPRIAN: Believe in Christ, whom the Father has sent to quicken and restore us. Cease to hurt the servants of God and of Christ with your persecutions, since when they are injured the divine vengeance defends them. None of us Christians, when he is apprehended, makes resistance, nor avenges himself against your unrighteous violence, although our people are numerous and plentiful. Our certainty of a vengeance to follow makes us patient. The innocent give place to the guilty; the harmless acquiesce in punishments and tortures, sure and confident that whatsoever we suffer will not remain unavenged, and that in proportion to the greatness of the injustice of our persecution so will be the justice and the severity of the vengeance exacted for those persecutions. Nor does the wickedness of the impious ever rise up against the name we bear, without immediate vengeance from above attending it.

CYPRIAN: And because we may not hate, and we please God more by rendering no return for wrong, we exhort you while you have the power, while there yet remains to you something of life, to make satisfaction to God, and to emerge from the abyss of darkling superstition into the bright light of true religion. We do not envy your comforts, nor do we conceal the divine benefits. We repay kindness for your hatred; and for the torments and penalties which are inflicted on us, we point out to you the ways of salvation.

CYPRIAN: In the Epistle of Paul to the Romans: “Rendering to no man evil for evil.” Also in the same place: “Not to be overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.” Of this same thing in the Apocalypse: “And He said to me, 'Seal not the words of the prophecy of this book; because now the time is at hand. And let those who persist in hurting, hurt: and let him who is filthy, be filthy still: but let the righteous do still more righteousness: and in like manner, let him that is holy do still more holiness. Behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to render to every man according to his deeds.'”

THEONAS OF ALEXANDRIA: Do no one an injury at any time, and provoke no one to anger. If an injury is done to you, look to Jesus Christ; and even as you desire that He may remit your transgressions, also forgive them theirs.

LACTANTIUS: For religion is to be defended, not by putting to death, but by dying; not by cruelty, but by patient endurance; not by guilt, but by good faith: for the former belong to evils, but the latter to goods; and it is necessary for that which is good to have place in religion, and not that which is evil. For if you wish to defend religion by bloodshed, and by tortures, and by guilt, it will no longer be defended, but will be polluted and profaned. For nothing is so much a matter of free will as religion; in which, if the mind of the worshipper is disinclined to it, religion is at once taken away, and ceases to exist. The right method therefore is, that you defend religion by patient endurance or by death; in which the preservation of the faith is both pleasing to God Himself, and adds authority to religion. For if he who in this earthly warfare preserves his faith to his king in some illustrious action, if he shall continue to live, because more beloved and acceptable, and if he shall fall, obtains the highest glory, because he has undergone death for his leader; how much more is faith to be kept towards God, the Ruler of all, who is able to pay the reward of virtue, not only to the living, but also to the dead! Therefore the worship of God, since it belongs to heavenly warfare, requires the greatest devotedness and fidelity. . . . But we, on the contrary, do not require that any one should be compelled, whether he is willing or unwilling, to worship our God, who is the God of all men; nor are we angry if any one does not worship Him. For we trust in the majesty of Him who has power to avenge contempt shown towards Himself, as also He has power to avenge the calamities and injuries inflicted on His servants. And therefore, when we suffer such impious things, we do not resist even in word; but we remit vengeance to God, not as they act who would have it appear that they are defenders of their gods, and rage without restraint against those who do not worship them.

LACTANTIUS: Since, therefore, the Christian does injury to none, nor desires the property of others, and does not even defend his own if it is taken from him by violence, since he knows how even to bear with moderation an injury inflicted upon him, because he is endued with virtue; it is necessary that the just man should be subject to the unjust, and that the wise should be insulted by the foolish, that the one may sin because he is unjust, and the other may have virtue in himself because he is just.

LACTANTIUS: Constancy is a virtue; not that we resist those who injure us, for we must yield to these.

LACTANTIUS: Cicero says in those same books respecting Offices: “But if any one should wish to unravel this indistinct conception of his soul, let him at once teach himself that he is a good man who profits those whom he can, and injures no one unless provoked by injury.” Oh how he marred a simple and true sentiment by the addition of two words! For what need was there of adding these words, “unless provoked by injury?” that he might append vice as a most disgraceful tail to a good man and might represent him as without patience, which is the greatest of all the virtues. He said that a good man would inflict injuries if he were provoked: now he must necessarily lose the name of a good man from this very circumstance, if he shall inflict injury. For it is not less the part of a bad man to return an injury than to inflict it. For from what source do contests, from what source do fightings and contentions, arise among men, except that impatience opposed to injustice often excites great tempests? But if you meet injustice with patience, than which virtue nothing can be found more true, nothing more worthy of a man, it will immediately be extinguished, as though you should pour water upon a fire. But if that injustice which provokes opposition has met with impatience equal to itself, as though overspread with oil, it will excite so great an extreme fire, that no stream can extinguish it, but only the shedding of blood. Great, therefore, is the advantage of patience, of which the wise man has deprived the good man. For this alone causes that no evil happens; and if it should be given to all, there will be no wickedness and no fraud in the affairs of men. What, therefore, can be so calamitous to a good man, so opposed to his character, as to let loose the reins to anger, which deprives him not only of the title of a good man, but even of a man; since to injure another, as he himself most truly says, is not in accordance with the nature of man? For if you provoke cattle or horses, they turn against you either with their hoof or their horn; and serpents and wild beasts, unless you pursue them that you may kill them, give no trouble. And to return to examples of men, even the inexperienced and the foolish, if at any time they receive an injury, are led by a blind and irrational fury, and endeavor to retaliate upon those who injure them. In what respect, then, does the wise and good man differ from the evil and foolish, except that he has invincible patience, of which the foolish are destitute; except that he knows how to govern himself, and to mitigate his anger, which those, because they are without virtue, are unable to curb? But this circumstance manifestly deceived him, because, when inquiry is made respecting virtue, he thought that it is the part of virtue to conquer in every kind of contention. Nor was he able in any way to see, that a man who gives way to grief and anger, and who indulges these affections, against which he ought rather to struggle, and who rushes wherever injustice shall have called him, does not fulfill the duty of virtue. For he who endeavors to return an injury, desires to imitate that very person by whom he has been injured. Thus he who imitates a bad man can by no means be good. Therefore by two words he has taken away from the good and wise man two of the greatest virtues, innocence and patience. . . . Therefore patience is to be regarded as a very great virtue; and that the just man might obtain this, God willed, as has been before said, that he should be despised as sluggish. For unless he shall have been insulted, it will not be known what fortitude he has in restraining himself. Now if, when provoked by injury, he has begun to follow up his assailant with violence, he is overcome.

LACTANTIUS: It is not befitting that those who strive to keep to the path of justice should be companions and sharers in this public homicide. For when God forbids us to kill, He not only prohibits us from open violence, which is not even allowed by the public laws, but He warns us against the commission of those things which are esteemed lawful among men. Thus it will be neither lawful for a just man to engage in warfare, since his warfare is justice itself, nor to accuse any one of a capital charge, because it makes no difference whether you put a man to death by word, or rather by the sword, since it is the act of putting to death itself which is prohibited. Therefore, with regard to this precept of God, there ought to be no exception at all; but that it is always unlawful to put to death a man, whom God willed to be a sacred creature.

TERTULLIAN: Patience in losses is an exercise in bestowing and communicating. He who does not fear to lose, does not find it difficult to give. Else how will one, when he has two coats, give the one of them to the naked, unless he be a man likewise to offer to one who takes away his coat his cloak as well? How shall we fashion to us friends from mammon, if we love it so much as not to put up with its loss? We shall perish together with the lost mammon. Why do we find here, where it is our business to lose? To exhibit impatience at all losses is the Gentiles’ business, who give money the precedence perhaps over their soul; for so they do, when, in their greed of money, they encounter the gainful perils of commerce on the sea; when, for money’s sake, even in the forum, there is nothing which damnation itself would fear which they hesitate to try; when they hire themselves for sport and the camp; when, after the manner of wild beasts, they play the bandit along the highway. But us, according to the diversity by which we are distinguished from them, it becomes to lay down not our soul for money, but money for our soul, whether spontaneously in bestowing or patiently in losing. Barnabas: Do not be ready to stretch forth your hands to take, while you contract them to give. . . . Do not hesitate to give, nor murmur when you give. “Give to every one that asks you,” and you will know who is the good Recompenser of the reward.

THE DIDACHE: Do not be a stretcher forth of the hands to receive and a drawer of them back to give. If you have anything at all, through your hands you will give ransom for your sins. Do not hesitate to give, nor murmur when you give; for you will know who is the good repayer of the hire. Do not turn away from him that is in need, but share all things with your brother, and do not say that they are your own; for if you are partakers in that which is immortal, how much more in things which are mortal?

HERMAS: Practice goodness; and from the rewards of your labors, which God gives you, give to all the needy in simplicity, not hesitating as to whom you are to give or not to give. Give to all, for God wishes His gifts to be shared amongst all. They who receive, will render an account to God why and for what they have received. For the afflicted who receive will not be condemned, but they who receive on false pretenses will suffer punishment. He, then, who gives is guiltless. For as he received from the Lord, so has he accomplished his service in simplicity, not hesitating as to whom he should give and to whom he should not give. This service, then, if accomplished in simplicity, is glorious with God. He, therefore, who thus ministers in simplicity, will live to God. Keep therefore these commandments, as I have given them to you, that your repentance and the repentance of your house may be found in simplicity, and your heart may be pure and stainless.

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: Alms are to be given, but with judgment, and to the deserving, that we may obtain a recompense from the Most High. But woe to those who have and who take under false pretenses, or who are able to help themselves and want to take from others. For he who has, and, to carry out false pretenses or out of laziness, takes, shall be condemned.

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: “Make to yourself friends of the mammon of unrighteousness, that, when you fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations;” showing that by nature all property which a man possesses in his own power is not his own. And from this unrighteousness it is permitted to work a righteous and saving thing, to refresh some one of those who have an everlasting habitation with the Father. See then, first, that He has not commanded you to be solicited or to wait to be importuned, but yourself to seek those who are to be benefited and are worthy disciples of the Savior. Excellent, accordingly, also is the apostle’s saying, “For the Lord loves a cheerful giver;” who delights in giving, and does not spare, sowing so that he may also thus reap, without murmuring, and disputing, and regret, and communicating, which is pure beneficence. But better than this is the saying spoken by the Lord in another place, “Give to every one that asks you.” For truly such is God’s delight in giving. And this saying is above all divinity, not to wait to be asked, but to inquire oneself who deserves to receive kindness. . . . How then does man give these things? For I will give not only to friends, but to the friends of friends. And who is it that is the friend of God? Do not judge who is worthy or who is unworthy. For it is possible you may be mistaken in your opinion. As in the uncertainty of ignorance it is better to do good to the undeserving for the sake of the deserving, than by guarding against those that are less good to fail to meet in with the good. For though sparing, and aiming at testing, who will receive meritoriously or not, it is possible for you to neglect some that are loved by God; the penalty for which is the punishment of eternal fire. But by offering to all in turn that need, you must of necessity by all means find some one of those who have power with God to save. “Do not judge, then, that you will not be judged. With what measure you mete, it shall be measured to you again; good measure, pressed and shaken, and running over, shall be given to you.”

CYPRIAN: That alms are to be denied to none, also in the same place: “Give to every one that asks you; and from him who would wish to borrow, do not turn away.” Also in the same place: “If you will enter into life, keep the commandments.” “He says, 'Which?' “Jesus said to him, 'Do not kill, do not commit adultery, do not bear false witness, honor your father and mother: and, love your neighbor as yourself.' “The young man said to Him, 'All these things I have observed: what do I yet lack?' “Jesus said to him, 'If you will be perfect, go and sell all what you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.'”