{"collection":"chr","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/chr/ecf/106/1060011.htm","path":"chr/ecf/106/1060011.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/chr/ecf/106/1060011.htm","text":"13. \u201cBlessed are ye,\u201d says He, \u201cwhen men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad: for great 37 is your reward in heaven.\u201d Let any one who is seeking after the delights of this world and the riches of temporal things under the Christian name, consider that our blessedness is within; as it is said of the soul of the Church 38 by the mouth of the prophet, \u201cAll the beauty of the king\u2019s daughter is within;\u201d 39 for outwardly revilings, and persecutions, and disparagements are promised; and yet, from these things there is a great reward in heaven, which is felt in the heart of those who endure, those who can now say, \u201cWe glory in tribulations: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope: and hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.\u201d 40 For it is not simply the enduring of such things that is advantageous, but the bearing of such things for the name of Christ not only with tranquil mind, but even with exultation. For many heretics, deceiving souls under the Christian name, endure many such things; but they are excluded from that reward on this account, that it is not said merely, \u201cBlessed are they which endure persecution;\u201d but it is added, \u201cfor righteousness\u2019 sake.\u201d Now, where there is no sound faith, there can be no righteousness, for the just [righteous] man lives by faith. 41 Neither let schismatics promise themselves anything of that reward; for similarly, p. 8 where there is no love, there cannot be righteousness, for \u201clove worketh no ill to his neighbour;\u201d 42 and if they had it, they would not tear in pieces Christ\u2019s body, which is the Church. 43\n14. But it may be asked, What is the difference when He says, \u201cwhen men shall revile you,\u201d and \u201cwhen they shall say all manner of evil against you,\u201d since to revile 44 is just this, to say evil against? 45 But it is one thing when the reviling word is hurled with contumely in presence of him who is reviled, as it was said to our Lord, \u201cSay we not the truth 46 that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil?\u201d 47 and another thing, when our reputation is injured in our absence, as it is also written of Him, \u201cSome said, He is a prophet; 48 others said, Nay, but He deceiveth the people.\u201d 49 Then, further, to persecute is to inflict violence, or to assail with snares, as was done by him who betrayed Him, and by them who crucified Him. Certainly, as for the fact that this also is not put in a bare form, so that it should be said, \u201cand shall say all manner of evil against you,\u201d but there is added the word \u201cfalsely,\u201d and also the expression \u201cfor my sake;\u201d I think that the addition is made for the sake of those who wish to glory in persecutions, and in the baseness of their reputation; and to say that Christ belongs to them for this reason, that many bad things are said about them; while, on the one hand, the things said are true, when they are said respecting their error; and, on the other hand, if sometimes also some false charges are thrown out, which frequently happens from the rashness of men, yet they do not suffer such things for Christ\u2019s sake. 50 For he is not a follower of Christ who is not called a Christian according to the true faith and the catholic discipline.\n15. \u201cRejoice,\u201d says He, \u201cand be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven.\u201d I do not think that it is the higher parts of this visible world that are here called heaven. For our reward, which ought to be immoveable and eternal, is not to be placed in things fleeting and temporal. But I think the expression \u201cin heaven\u201d means in the spiritual firmament, where dwells everlasting righteousness: in comparison with which a wicked soul is called earth, to which it is said when it sins, \u201cEarth thou art, and unto earth thou shalt return.\u201d 51 Of this heaven the apostle says, \u201cFor our conversation is in heaven.\u201d 52 Hence they who rejoice in spiritual good are conscious of that reward now; but then it will be perfected in every part, when this mortal also shall have put on immortality. \u201cFor,\u201d says He, \u201cso persecuted they the prophets also which were before you.\u201d In the present case He has used \u201cpersecution\u201d in a general sense, as applying alike to abusive words and to the tearing in pieces of one\u2019s reputation; and has well encouraged them by an example, because they who speak true things are wont to suffer persecution: nevertheless did not the ancient prophets on this account, through fear of persecution, give over the preaching of the truth.\nVerum. The Vulgate more literally has bene.\n8:47 8:48\nThe Vulgate, following the Greek, has bonus,\u2014good man.\n8:49 8:50\n\u201cIt is not the suffering but the cause, that makes men martyrs.\u201d For, says Augustin in another place (En. in Ps. xxxiv. 23), if the suffering made the martyr, every mine would be full of martyrs, every chain drag them, every one beheaded with the sword be crowned. They who suffer for righteousness\u2019 sake, suffer for Christ\u2019s sake.\n8:51 8:52","title":"Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Vol. VI: Our Lord\u2019s ...","type":"page"}