Tertullian's Consolation and Encouragement to the Martyrs in Prison in the Time of the Heathen Emperors, in the Year 200

You blessed and chosen martyrs of Jesus Christ, receive from me also something that may serve for your spiritual refreshment, in addition to the temporal comfort and support with which the lady, the church, has supplied you from her own breasts, and the brothers and sisters from their individual labor. For it is not profitable to nourish and cherish the body while the spirit is allowed to suffer hunger; and when help is given to what is weak, we should not neglect what is still weaker. However, I am not the person to address you. Nevertheless, the most accomplished soldiers are addressed not only by masters and their superiors, but also by plain persons and those of lower rank, receiving from them at times abundant and detailed exhortations. So it has often happened that the statements and admonitions of such persons have brought them notable advantage.

Therefore, you blessed, above all things do not grieve the Holy Spirit who has gone with you into prison; if He had not entered with you, you would not now be in bonds. Strive, therefore, to keep the Holy Spirit with you there, that He may lead you out of prison and bring you to the Lord. The prison is indeed the house of the devil, in which he keeps his household; but you have gone into prison in order to trample on him in his own house; for when you fought with him outside, you completely defeated him. Therefore he shall not say: "They are in my power, I will tempt them with disgraceful hunger, with apostasy, or with dissension among themselves." He will flee from your sight, and hide himself in his abyss, like a frightened, limping, sluggish, accursed and defeated serpent.

Moreover, he shall not be so successful in his kingdom as to stir up dissension among you, and set you against one another; but he shall find you equipped and armed with concord, since your peace is war to him. Even though some of you have not enjoyed this peace in your churches, they have usually obtained it through prayer, from their fellow martyrs in prison. You ought, therefore, to have and keep this peace among you, that you may impart the same to others. Other hindrances, such as parents, and so on, have gone with you to the prison door. From then on you are separated from the world, and much more from the perishable things of the world. It should not be a cause of fear and distress to you that you are separated from the world; for when we consider that the world is rather a prison, we can see that you have escaped from prison rather than been committed to it. For the world is filled with greater darkness, which darkens the minds of men. The world binds sinners with heavier chains, in order to keep their souls in bondage and security. The world exposes adulterous mankind to more ruinous impurities. In short, the world contains more prisoners, namely, the whole human family; and, moreover, it is awaiting a sentence, not this sentence of aldermen or judges, but the judgment of God. So, you blessed, you are now in a place of refuge or safety from the prison of the world; it is true, there is darkness in that refuge, but you are a light in that darkness. There are indeed prisoners there, but you are God's freedmen; there is a loathsome smell there, but you are a sweet savor. These judges have to look for a judge, but it is you who shall judge these judges. Second Corinthians 6, verse 2; Revelation 3, verse 21. Those may indeed be distressed who sigh after the wealth of this world, but a true Christian had already renounced the whole world while he was out of prison; and now that he is in prison he also renounces the prison. To you who have renounced the world, it does not matter in what part of the world you are. And if you have but some of the joy of this life, it is profitable dealing to lose or give up a trifling bargain, in order, by that, to gain a greater one. I refrain from mentioning the greatness of the reward and glorification to which the martyrs are called by God. Revelation 3, verse 21.

Still, we would here compare the life of the world and the life of the prison; the spirit gains more in prison than the body loses. Indeed, the body does not lose the necessities of life, because of the providence of the church and the love of the brothers and sisters; but the Spirit, moreover, makes such gains as are in every way advantageous to faith; for there (in prison) you see no strange gods; there you are not offended by their images; there you are not troubled by the great throng of men that gathers at the festivals of the heathen; you are not surrounded by foul stench; you are not terrified by the shrieks of the horrid shows, and by the fury and insolence of the tumult, when the heathen tragedians make such empty representations. You are not disgusted by the sight of public brothels; you are free from offense, from temptation, from evil thoughts, indeed, from persecution. The prison affords Christians all the advantages the prophets drew from their solitary wildernesses. The Lord used to withdraw from the people, so that He might have the more freedom in prayer, and in retirement from the world. Indeed, in the wilderness He showed His glory to His disciples. We will, therefore, discard the name prison, and put in its place the name separation; for though the body is shut away and confined there, yet all things are open to the spirit. Let the spirit then go out and wander abroad, not in shady orchards or spacious pleasure houses, but let it travel in the way that leads to God. Philippians 3, verse 20; Colossians 3, verse 2; Hebrews 13, verse 14. As often as you range abroad in the spirit, so often will you be beyond the confines of the prison. The feet are free from the shackles when the hands are lifted up to heaven; the mind carries the whole man with it, taking him wherever it goes; so our hearts should be wherever we should have our treasures. Matthew 6, verse 21.

But suppose it is so, you blessed, that the prison is irksome to Christians: still we must remember that we are called to the warfare of the living God. Ephesians 6; and all the more since we have taken the sacramental (baptismal) vow. Indeed, no soldier marches to war with joy and delight. He marches out to the battle, not from his bed, but from his tent, equipped and girded about, when the whole work is a succession of trouble, sorrow and turmoil; indeed, in peace they are free from labor. They teach with hardship to endure the fatigues of war; they march under arms, they drill in the field, dig ditches and saw wood for the various kinds of armaments and fortifications. All is one continued labor and toil, so that neither the body nor the mind may be influenced by fear; from the evening twilight till the dawn of day, from the heat of summer to the cold of winter, from the taking off of the coat till the putting on of the armor, from silence till clamor, from tranquillity till alarm.

Therefore, you blessed, accustom yourselves to all the hardships of the soldier, for the exercise and strengthening of the mind and body. You are now marching in a good contest, in which the living God is the dispenser of the prizes, and the Holy Ghost the keeper; the coronation is an everlasting jewel, the citizenship angelic existence in heaven, a glory that shall endure forever: therefore, it is Jesus Christ who dispenses the prizes to you, who has given you the anointing of the Holy Spirit, and advanced you to this grade of honor; may He withdraw you from lighter work before the day of battle, that you may be assailed with greater violence, and your strength be confirmed; for the combatants have to undergo severe discipline and exercise, in order that, by exertion, their physical powers may be improved. For to this end they are kept from sexual indulgence, rich food and strong drink; they are put under constraint, tormented and exercised; and the greater the preparatory exercise they take, the greater are their hopes of victory. Now they do it, says the apostle (First Corinthians 9, verse 25), to obtain a corruptible crown; but we shall obtain an eternal one. We should, therefore, make the prison a place of trial and exercise, so that we may be hardened to every misfortune and inconvenience, and so appear with the greater confidence before the judgment seat of Christ.

We are not unacquainted with the declaration of the Lord Jesus: "The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." We ought, therefore, not to fear or be dismayed, since the Lord declares that the flesh is weak; but He has told us beforehand that the spirit is willing and ready, in order that He might know which should be subject to the other, namely, that the flesh should serve the spirit, the weaker submit to the stronger, that the former might also acquire strength from the latter. The spirit should talk of the common eternal salvation, and not of the inconvenience of the prison, but should meditate on the contest, and on what greater hardships may still be in reserve. Perhaps the flesh will be terrified at the huge sharp sword, the lofty gallows, the ravenous beast, or the keen pain of the flames, and the many instruments of torment; then the spirit and the flesh will stand in opposition. Though this is great cruelty, many have suffered it with great joy; indeed, people have willingly desired and longed for it, in order to acquire honor and a name; and not only men but women. So, you blessed, you may know how to conduct yourselves according to the measure of your race.

It would take too much time to mention all who have been executed with the sword, under the influence of a strong desire for such a death. Among women there is Lucretia, who, having been violated, pierced her bosom with a dagger in the presence of her friends, so that she might leave behind her the fame of her chastity. Mutius burst off his right hand, in order, by that, to acquire a name. [n1283-2] How, also, that many other extraordinary hardships and tortures have been suffered for the gaining of worldly honor and fame, we leave out for brevity's sake; and we add that if temporal honor is worth so much torture and pain, endured through strength of mind, so that fire, sword, gallows, wild beasts and torture were despised for the reward of human fame, I may well say that this, our affliction, is extremely light in comparison with the heavenly glory and the divine reward. If glass is so valuable, how much more precious are jewels? Who, then, would not much rather suffer so much for a real, substantial good, when so many endure so much for one without substance. I now set aside the consideration of temporal fame; still the strife of indignation and that of martyrdom are alike, and so on.

This outward exercise, you blessed, the Lord has not allowed to come into the world to no purpose, but for our sakes, to warn us by it that we shall be put to shame and confusion at the last day, if we are afraid of suffering for the sake of truth, to salvation, what others have endured for the sake of vanity, to perdition, and so on. And in conclusion, let us consider the end or design of the creation of man, at which we must arrive, so that such reflection may stir us up to prepare ourselves resolutely to endure those calamities which fall alike on the willing and the unwilling (namely, the punishment of death, and so on). There is no person who would not still suffer for man's sake; why then should we hesitate or fear to suffer in the cause of God, who will repay us with the purest love, and with joy and everlasting glory? Meditate on this, you blessed.