1. Although, beloved brethren, it is unfitting, while my speaking to you receives this indulgence, to profess any trepidation, and it very little beco

 2. For there is indeed, unless I am mistaken, even in the very power of conscience, a marvellous fear which at once disturbs and inflames us whose po

 3. For consider what glory it is to set aside the lusts of this life, and to oppose a mind withdrawn from all commerce with nature and the world, to a

 4. Therefore, since martyrdom is the chief thing, there are three points arising out of it on which we have proposed to ourselves to speak: What it is

 5. For what is there in these speeches other than empty discourse, and senseless talk, and a depraved pleasure in meaningless words? As it is written:

 6. The whole of this tends to the praise of martyrdom, the whole illuminates the glory of suffering wherein the hope of time future is beheld, wherein

 7. For there is no doubt how much they obtain from the Lord, who have preferred God’s name to their own safety, so that in that judgment-day their blo

 8. For what is so illustrious and sublime, as by a robust devotion to preserve all the vigour of faith in the midst of so many weapons of executioners

 9. Moreover, beloved brethren, regard, I beseech you, this consideration more fully for in it both salvation is involved, and sublimity accounted of,

 10. Thus, whenever the soldier returns from the enemy laden with triumphant spoils, he rejoices in his wounds.  Thus, whenever the sailor, long harass

 11. If you fear to lose salvation, know that you can die and, moreover, death should be contemned by you, for whom Christ was slain. Let the examples

 12. For it is a great glory, beloved brethren, to adorn the life of eternal salvation with the dignity of suffering: it is a great sublimity before th

 13. And now, beloved brethren, I shall come to that point whence I shall very easily be able to show you how highly the virtue of martyrdom is esteeme

 14. And, to pass over everything else, we ought to remember what a glory it is to come immaculate to Christ—to be a sharer in His suffering, and to re

 15. Wherefore, beloved brethren, with a firm faith, with a robust devotion, with a virtue opposed to the fierce threatenings of the world, and the sav

 16. Moreover, beloved brethren, so great is the virtue of martyrdom, that by its means even he who has wished to slay you is constrained to believe. I

 17. But if ambitious dignity deter you, and the amount of your money heaped up in your stores influence you—a cause which ever distracts the intention

 18. For Abraham also thus pleased God, in that he, when tried by God, spared not even his own son, in behalf of whom perhaps he might have been pardon

 19. It now remains, beloved brethren, that we are bound to show what is the advantage of martyrdom, and that we should teach that especially, so that

 20. A horrible place, of which the name is Gehenna, with an awful murmuring and groaning of souls bewailing, and with flames belching forth through th

 21. But those by whom God has always been sought or known, have never lost the position which Christ has given them, where grace is found, where in th

 22. For you deserve, O excellent martyrs, that nothing should be denied to you who are nourished with the hope of eternity and of light whose absolut

 23. There is nothing, then, so great and venerable as the deliverance from death, and the causing to live, and the giving to reign for ever. This is f

 24. What then, beloved brethren, shall I chiefly relate, or what shall I say? When all dignified titles thus combine in one, the mind is confused, the

 25. Let it present itself to your eyes, what a day that is, when, with the people looking on, and all men watching, an undismayed devotion is struggli

 26. Consider what it is, beloved brethren: set before your perceptions and your minds all the endurance of martyrdom. Behold, indeed, in the passion o

 27. But now, beloved brethren, lest any one should think that I have placed all salvation in no other condition than in martyrdom, let him first of al

 28. And to return to the praise of martyrdom, there is a word of the blessed Paul, who says:  “Know ye not that they who run in a race strive many, bu

 29. He said this who suffered, and who suffered for this cause, that he might imitate the Lord and assuredly he wished us also to suffer for this cau

 30. Therefore, beloved brethren, although this is altogether of the Lord’s promise and gift, and although it is given from on high, and is not receive

28. And to return to the praise of martyrdom, there is a word of the blessed Paul, who says:  “Know ye not that they who run in a race strive many, but one receiveth the prize? But do ye so run, that all of you may obtain.”25    1 Cor. ix. 24.  Moreover also elsewhere, that he may exhort us to martyrdom, he has called us fellow-heirs with Christ; nay, that he might omit nothing, he says, “If ye are dead with Christ, why, as if living in the world, do ye make distinctions?”26    Col. ii. 20; “decernitis.” Because, dearest brethren, we who bear the rewards of resurrection, who seek for the day of judgment, who, in fine, are trusting that we shall reign with Christ, ought to be dead to the world. For you can neither desire martyrdom till you have first hated the world, nor attain to God’s reward unless you have loved Christ. And he who loves Christ does not love the world. For Christ was given up by the world, even as the world also was given up by Christ; as it is written, “The world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.”27    Gal. vi. 14. [Compare Ep. xxv. p. 303, supra.] The world has been an object of affection to none whom the Lord has not previously condemned; nor could he enjoy eternal salvation who has gloried in the life of the world. That is the very voice of Christ, who says:  “He that loveth his life in this world, shall lose it in the world to come; but he that hateth his life in this world, shall find it in the world to come.”28    Matt. x. 39. Moreover, also, the Apostle Paul says: “Be ye imitators of me, as I also am of Christ.”29    1 Cor. vi. 4.  And the same elsewhere says: “I wish that all of you, if it were possible, should be imitators of me.”30    1 Cor. vii. 7.

XXVIII. Atque ut ad laudem martyrii redeam, vox est beatissimi Pauli dicentis: Nescitis quoniam qui in agone currunt, multi certant, unus autem accipit palmam? Vos autem sic currite ut omnes comprehendatis (I Cor. IX, 24). Sed et alibi, quod ad martyrium possit hortari, cohaeredes nos Christi vocavit. Quin etiam, ne quid omitteret, Si cum Christo, inquit, commortui estis, quid tamquam viventes in hoc saeculo decernitis0801D (Coloss. II, 20)? Etenim, charissimi fratres, qui resurrectionis praemia sustinemus, qui judicii diem quaerimus, qui denique regnaturos nos esse cum Christo confidimus, saeculo mortui esse debemus. Nam nec poteris optare martyrium, nisi ante oderis saeculum, nec pervenire ad Dei praemium, nisi amaveris Christum. Qui autem amat Christum, non amat saeculum. Christus enim abjectus est saeculo, sicut 0802A et saeculum Christo, ut scriptum est: Mundus mihi crucifixus est, et ego mundo (Gal. VI, 14). Nemini amabilis fuit mundus quem non ante damnaverit Dominus, nec salute potuit frui aeterna qui mundi gloriatus est vita. Vox est ista Christi dicentis: Qui in hoc saeculo amaverit animam suam, in futuro perdet illam; qui autem in hoc saeculo oderit illam, in futuro inveniet eam (Matth. X, 39). Sed et apostolus Paulus: Imitatores, inquit, mei estote, sicut et ego Christi (I Cor. VI, 1). Et alibi ipse: Volo vos omnes, ait, si fieri potest, imitatores meos esse (I Cor. VII, 7).