16. The Lord’s example followed by the Saints.

Our Lord therefore, as I said before, thus offered Himself for all; and the Saints having received this example from their Saviour (for all of them before His coming, nay always, were under His teaching), in their conflicts with their persecutors acted lawfully in flying, and hiding themselves when they were sought after. And being ignorant, as men, of the end of the time which Providence had appointed unto them, they were unwilling at once to deliver themselves up into the power of those who conspired against them. But knowing on the other hand what is written, that ‘the portions’ of man ‘are in God’s hand75    Ps. xxxi. 15.,’ and that ‘the Lord killeth76    1 Sam. ii. 6.,’ and the Lord ‘maketh alive,’ they the rather endured unto the end, ‘wandering about77    Heb. xi. 37, 38.,’ as the Apostle has said, ‘in sheepskins, and goatskins, being destitute, tormented, wandering in deserts,’ and hiding themselves ‘in dens and caves of the earth;’ until either the appointed time of death arrived, or God who had appointed their time spake unto them, and stayed the designs of their enemies, or else delivered up the persecuted to their persecutors, according as it seemed to Him to be good. This we may well learn respecting all men from David: for when Joab instigated him to slay Saul, he said, ‘As the Lord liveth, the Lord shall smite him; or his day shall come to die; or he shall descend into battle, and be delivered to the enemies; the Lord forbid that I should stretch forth my hand against the Lord’s anointed78    1 Sam. xxvi. 10, 11..’

16 Ὁ μὲν οὖν Κύριος οὕτως ἑαυτὸν προσῆγεν ὑπὲρ πάντων, ὡς προείρηται· οἱ δὲ ἅγιοι καὶ τοῦτον τὸν τύπον παρὰ τοῦ Σωτῆρος μαθόντες (παρ' αὐτοῦ γὰρ καὶ πρὸ τούτου καὶ ἀεὶ πάντες ἐδιδάσκοντο), πρὸς μὲν τοὺς διώκοντας ἀγωνιζόμενοι, νομίμως ἔφευγον, καὶ ζητούμενοι παρ' αὐτῶν ἐκρύπτοντο· ἀγνοοῦντες δέ, ὡς ἄνθρωποι, τοῦ ὁρισθέντος αὐτοῖς παρὰ τῆς Προνοίας χρόνου τὸ τέλος, οὐκ ἐβούλοντο παρέχειν ἁπλῶς ἑαυτοὺς ἐκδότους τοῖς ἐπιβουλεύουσιν· εἰδότες δὲ πάλιν τὸ γεγραμμένον, ὅτι «ἐν ταῖς χερσὶ τοῦ Θεοῦ εἰσιν οἱ κλῆροι» τῶν ἀνθρώπων καὶ «Κύριος θανατοῖ καὶ Κύριος ζωοποιεῖ», μᾶλλον ἕως τέλους ὑπέμενον, ὡς εἴρηκεν ὁ Ἀπόστολος· «περιερχόμενοι ἐν μηλωταῖς, ἐν αἰγείοις δέρμασιν, ὑστερούμενοι, κακουχούμενοι, ἐπὶ ἐρημίαις πλανώμενοι, καὶ ἐν σπηλαίοις καὶ ταῖς ὀπαῖς τῆς γῆς» κρυπτόμενοι, ἕως ἂν ἢ ὁ ὡρισμένος τοῦ θανάτου χρόνος ἔλθῃ, ἢ ὁ τὸν χρόνον ὁρίσας Θεὸς λαλήσῃ πρὸς αὐτοὺς καὶ παύσῃ τοὺς ἐπιβουλεύοντας, ἢ δηλονότι παραδῷ τοὺς διωκομένους τοῖς διώκουσιν, ὡς ἂν αὐτῷ δόξῃ καλῶς ἔχειν. Καὶ τοῦτο περὶ πάντων ἀπὸ τοῦ ∆αυὶδ ἔστι μαθεῖν καλῶς· ὅτε γὰρ κατὰ τοῦ Σαοὺλ παρώξυνεν αὐτὸν Ἰωάβ, ἔλεγεν αὐτός· «ζῇ Κύριος, ἐὰν μὴ ὁ Κύριος αὐτὸν παίσῃ ἢ ἔλθῃ ἡ ἡμέρα» τοῦ θανάτου αὐτοῦ, «ἢ καταβῇ εἰς πόλεμον καὶ προστεθῇ» εἰς τοὺς ὑπεναντίους, οὐ μὴ ἐποίσω «χεῖρά μου ἐπὶ χριστὸν Κυρίου».