8. That we must press on and persevere in faith and virtue, and in completion of heavenly and spiritual grace, that we may attain to the palm and the crown.

In the book of Chronicles: “The Lord is with you so long as ye also are with Him; but if ye forsake Him, He will forsake you.”52    2 Chron. xv. 2. In Ezekiel also:  “The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him in what day soever he may transgress.”53    Ezek. xxxiii. 12. Moreover, in the Gospel the Lord speaks, and says: “He that shall endure to the end, the same shall be saved.”54    Matt. x. 22. And again: “If ye shall abide in my word, ye shall be my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”55    John viii. 31, 32.  Moreover, forewarning us that we ought always to be ready, and to stand firmly equipped and armed, He adds, and says: “Let your loins be girded about, and your lamps burning, and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord when he shall return from the wedding, that when he cometh and knocketh they may open unto him.  Blessed are those servants whom their lord, when he cometh, shall find watching.”56    Luke xii. 35–37.  Also the blessed Apostle Paul, that our faith may advance and grow, and attain to the highest point, exhorts us, saying: “Know ye not, that they which run in a race run all indeed, yet one receiveth the prize?  So run, that ye may obtain.57    Oxford edition: “For every one that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things.” And they, indeed, that they may receive a corruptible crown; but ye an incorruptible.”58    1 Cor. ix. 24, 25. And again: “No man that warreth for God binds himself to anxieties of this world, that he may be able to please Him to whom he hath approved himself. Moreover, also, if a man should contend, he will not be crowned unless he have fought lawfully.”59    2 Tim. ii. 4, 5. And again: “Now I beseech you, brethren, by the mercy of God, that ye constitute your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God; and be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed in the renewing of your spirit, that ye may prove what is the will of God, good, and acceptable, and perfect.”60    Rom. xii. 1, 2. And again: “We are children of God: but if children, then heirs; heirs indeed of God, but joint-heirs with Christ, if we suffer together, that we may also be glorified together.”61    Rom. viii. 16, 17. And in the Apocalypse the same exhortation of divine preaching speaks, saying, “Hold fast that which thou hast, lest another take thy crown;”62    Rev. iii. 11. which example of perseverance and persistence is pointed out in Exodus, when Moses, for the overthrow of Amalek, who bore the type of the devil, raised up his open hands in the sign and sacrament of the cross,63    [Vol. i., Justin, pp. 242, 244; Barnabas, ibid., pp. 144, 145.] and could not conquer his adversary unless when he had stedfastly persevered in the sign with hands continually lifted up. “And it came to pass,” says he, “when Moses raised up his hands, Israel prevailed; but when he let down his hands, Amalek grew mighty. And they took a stone and placed it under him, and he sate thereon. And Aaron and Hur held up his hands on the one side and on the other side, and Moses’ hands were made steady even to the going down of the sun. And Jesus routed Amalek and all his people. And the Lord said unto Moses, Write this, and let it be a memorial in a book, and tell it in the ears of Jesus; because in destroying I will destroy the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.”64    Ex. xvii. 11–14.

CAPUT VIII.---INSISTENDUM ESSE ET PERSEVERANDUM IN FIDE ET VIRTUTE, ET COELESTIS AC SPIRITALIS GRATIAE CONSUMMATIONE, UT AD PALMAM ET CORONAM POSSIT PERVENIRI.

In Paralipomenon: Dominus vobiscum est, quamdiu et vos estis cum ipso. Si autem dereliqueritis eum, derelinquet vos (II Par. XV, 2). Item apud Ezechielem: Justitia justi non liberabit eum, in quacumque die exerraverit (Ezech. XXXIII, 12). Item in Evangelio Dominus loquitur et dicit: Qui perseveraverit usque in finem , hic salvus erit (Matth. X, 22). Et iterum: Si permanseritis in verbo meo, vere discipuli mei estis, 0661C et cognoscetis veritatem, et veritas liberabit vos (Joan. VIII, 31). Praemonens quoque nos paratos semper esse debere, et expeditos in procinctu firmiter stare, addit et dicit: Sint lumbi vestri praecincti , et lucernae ardentes; et vos similes hominibus exspectantibus dominum suum, quando revertatur a nuptiis; ut, cum venerit et pulsaverit, aperiant ei. Beati servi illi, quos adveniens dominus invenerit vigilantes (Luc. XII, 35). Item beatus 0662A apostolus Paulus, ut fides nostra proficiat et crescat et ad summa perveniat, hortatur dicens: Nescitis quoniam qui in studio currunt , omnes quidem currunt, unus tamen accipit palmam? Sic currite ut occupetis . Et illi quidem ut corruptibilem coronam accipiant, vos autem incorruptam (I Cor. IX, 24). Et iterum: Nemo militans Deo obligat se molestiis saecularibus, ut possit placere ei cui se probavit. Sed et si certaverit quis, non coronabitur, nisi legitime pugnaverit (II Tim. II, 4). Et iterum: Oro autem vos, fratres, per misericordiam Dei, ut constituatis corpora vestra hostiam viventem, sanctam, placentem Deo; nec configuremini saeculo huic, sed transformamini in renovatione spiritus , ad probandum quae sit voluntas Dei bona et placens et perfecta (Rom. XI, 1). Et iterum: 0662B Sumus filii Dei: si autem filii, et haeredes, haeredes quidem Dei, cohaeredes autem Christi; si quidem compatiamur, ut et commagnificemur (Rom. VIII, 17). Et in Apocalypsi eadem loquitur divinae praedicationis hortatio, dicens: Tene quod habes, ne alius accipiat coronam tuam (Apoc. III, 11). Quod exemplum perseverandi et permanendi designatur in Exodo, ubi Moyses, ad superandum Amalech, qui figuram portabat diaboli, in signo et sacramento crucis allevabat supinas manus. Nec vincere adversarium potuit, nisi postquam stabilis in signo allevatis jugiter manibus perseveravit. «Et factum est, inquit, cum levabat Moyses manus, praevalebat Israel; ubi autem submiserat manus, invalescebat Amalech. Et accepto lapide supposuerunt sub eo, et sedebat super 0662C eum. Et Aaron et Ur sustentabant manus ejus hinc et inde; et factae sunt manus Moysi stabiles usque in occasum solis. Et fugavit Jesus Amalech, et omnem populum ejus . Et dixit Dominus ad Moysen: Scribe hoc ut sit memoria in libro, et da in aures Jesu: quoniam deletione deleam memoriam Amalech de sub coelo (Exo. XVII, 11).»