Tertullian — De Fuga in Persecutione De Fuga in Persecutione (Tertullian)

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…

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 the true God , that all the followers of the truth , should be dealt with after the manner of the vilest criminals?), persecution therefore seems to proceed from the devil , by whom the injustice which constitutes persecution is perpetrated, we ought to know , as you have neither persecution without the injustice of the devil , nor the trial of faith without persecution , that the injustice necessary for the trial of faith does not give a warrant for persecution , but supplies an agency; that in reality, in reference to the trial of faith , which is the reason of persecution , the will of God goes first, but that as the instrument of persecution , which is the way of trial, the injustice of the devil follows. For in other respects, too, injustice in proportion to the enmity it displays against righteousness affords occasion for attestations of that to which it is opposed as an enemy, that so righteousness may be perfected in injustice , as strength is perfected in weakness. For the weak things of the world have been chosen by God to confound the strong, and the foolish things of the world to confound its wisdom. Thus even injustice is employed, that righteousness may be approved in putting unrighteousness to shame. Therefore, since the service is not of free-will , but of subjection (for persecution is the appointment of the…

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 abusing or punishing, it must be that their general occurrence is permitted or commanded by Him at whose will they happen even partially; by Him, I mean, who says, I am He who make peace and create evil , — that is, war , for that is the antithesis of peace. But what other war has our peace than persecution ? If in its issues persecution emphatically brings either life or death, either wounds or healing, you have the author, too, of this. I will smite and heal, I will make alive and put to death . I will burn them, He says, as gold is burned; and I will try them, He says, as silver is tried, for when the flame of persecution is consuming us, then the steadfastness of our faith is proved . These will be the fiery darts of the devil , by which faith gets a ministry of burning and kindling; yet by the will of God . As to this I know not who can doubt , unless it be persons with frivolous and frigid faith , which seizes upon those who with trembling assemble together in the church. For you say, seeing we assemble without order, and assemble at the same time, and flock in large numbers to the church, the heathen are led to make inquiry about us, and we are alarmed lest we awaken their anxieties. Do you not know that God is Lord of all? And if it is God's will , then you shall suffer persecution ; but if it is not, the heathen will…

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 remarks alone, that men should not flee in it. For if persecution proceeds from God , in no way will it be our duty to flee from what has God as its author; a twofold reason opposing; for what proceeds from God ought not on the one hand to be avoided, and it cannot be evaded on the other. It ought not to be avoided, because it is good ; for everything must be good on which God has cast His eye. And with this idea has perhaps this statement been made in Genesis, And God saw because it is good ; not that He would have been ignorant of its goodness unless He had seen it, but to indicate by this expression that it was good because it was viewed by God . There are many events indeed happening by the will of God , and happening to somebody's harm. Yet for all that, a thing is therefore good because it is of God , as divine, as reasonable; for what is divine, and not reasonable and good? What is good , yet not divine? But if to the universal apprehension of mankind this seems to be the case, in judging, man's faculty of apprehension does not predetermine the nature of things, but the nature of things his power of apprehension. For every several nature is a certain definite reality, and it lays it on the perceptive power to perceive it just as it exists. Now, if that which comes from God is good indeed in its natural state (for there is…