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On Patience

Tertullian

Chapter 14

About this work

Author: Tertullian

Chapter XIV.—The Power of This Twofold Patience, the Spiritual and the Bodily. Exemplified in the Saints of Old.

With this strength of patience, Esaias is cut asunder, and

‹ Chapter 13 Chapter 15 ›

ceases

not

to

speak

concerning

the

Lord

;

Stephen

is

stoned

,

and

prays

for

pardon

to

his

foes

.

Oh

,

happy

also

he

who

met

all

the

violence

of

the

devil

by

the

exertion

of

every

species

of

patience

!

—

whom

neither

the

driving

away

of

his

cattle

nor

those

riches

of

his

in

sheep

,

nor

the

sweeping

away

of

his

children

in

one

swoop

of

ruin

,

nor

,

finally

,

the

agony

of

his

own

body

in

(

one

universal

)

wound

,

estranged

from

the

patience

and

the

faith

which

he

had

plighted

to

the

Lord

;

whom

the

devil

smote

with

all

his

might

in

vain

.

For

by

all

his

pains

he

was

not

drawn

away

from

his

reverence

for

God

;

but

he

has

been

set

up

as

an

example

and

testimony

to

us

,

for

the

thorough

accomplishment

of

patience

as

well

in

spirit

as

in

flesh

,

as

well

in

mind

as

in

body

;

in

order

that

we

succumb

neither

to

damages

of

our

worldly

goods

,

nor

to

losses

of

those

who

are

dearest

,

nor

even

to

bodily

afflictions

.

What

a

bier

for

the

devil

did

God

erect

in

the

person

of

that

hero

!

What

a

banner

did

He

rear

over

the

enemy

of

His

glory

,

when

,

at

every

bitter

message

,

that

man

uttered

nothing

out

of

his

mouth

but

thanks

to

God

,

while

he

denounced

his

wife

,

now

quite

wearied

with

ills

,

and

urging

him

to

resort

to

crooked

remedies

!

How

did

God

smile

,

how

was

the

evil

one

cut

asunder

,

while

Job

with

mighty

equanimity

kept

scraping

off

the

unclean

overflow

of

his

own

ulcer

,

while

he

sportively

replaced

the

vermin

that

brake

out

thence

,

in

the

same

caves

and

feeding

-

places

of

his

pitted

flesh

!

And

so

,

when

all

the

darts

of

temptations

had

blunted

themselves

against

the

corslet

and

shield

of

his

patience

,

that

instrument

of

God’s

victory

not

only

presently

recovered

from

God

the

soundness

of

his

body

,

but

possessed

in

redoubled

measure

what

he

had

lost

.

And

if

he

had

wished

to

have

his

children

also

restored

,

he

might

again

have

been

called

father

;

but

he

preferred

to

have

them

restored

him

“

in

that

day

.

”

Such

joy

as

that

—

secure

so

entirely

concerning

the

Lord

—

he

deferred

;

meantime

he

endured

a

voluntary

bereavement

,

that

he

might

not

live

without

some

(

exercise

of

)

patience

.

Notes

1
Acts vii. 59, 60.
2
Job. See Job i. and ii.
3
“Feretrum”—for carrying trophies in a triumph, the bodies of the dead, and their effigies, etc.
4
Compare Ps. ii. 4.
5
i.e. with rage and disappointment.
6
Job ii. 8.
7
Operarius.
8
See 2 Tim. iv. 8. There is no authority for this statement of Tertullian’s in Scripture. [It is his inference rather.]