The Saints Fled for Our Sake

The flight of the saints, then, was neither blameworthy nor unprofitable. If they had not avoided their persecutors, how would it have come about that the Lord sprang from the seed of David? Or who would have preached the good news of the word of truth? It was for this reason that the persecutors hunted the saints: so that there might be no one to teach, as the Jews charged the apostles. But for this reason the saints endured all things: so that the good news might be preached. See, then: though they were engaged in this struggle with their enemies, they did not spend the time of their flight unprofitably, nor did they forget the welfare of others while they were persecuted. As ministers of the good word, they did not begrudge sharing it with everyone. So even while they fled they preached the good news, warned of the wickedness of those who plotted against them, and strengthened the faithful by their encouragement. [a]

So the blessed Paul, having found it so by experience, declared in advance, “All who desire to live godly lives in Christ will suffer persecution.” And so he at once prepared those who fled for the trial, saying, “Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.” For though troubles are continual, “yet trouble produces endurance, and endurance proven character, and proven character hope, and hope does not put us to shame.” And the prophet Isaiah, when such affliction was expected, urged them and cried aloud, “Come, my people, enter your rooms and shut your doors. Hide yourself for a little moment, until the anger has passed by.” And so too the Preacher, who knew of the plots against the righteous, said, “If you see the oppression of the poor, and the violent perverting of judgment and justice in a province, do not be astonished at the matter. For one who is higher than the highest watches, and there are higher ones over them. Moreover, there is the profit of the earth.”

He had his own father David as an example, who had himself experienced the sufferings of persecution, and who supports those who suffer with the words, “Be of good courage, and he will strengthen your heart, all you who put your trust in the Lord.” For those who endure in this way, he says, not man but the Lord himself “will help them and rescue them, because they put their trust in him.” “For I too waited patiently for the Lord, and he inclined to me and heard my cry. He brought me up out of the lowest pit, and out of the mire and clay.” This shows how profitable to the people and how fruitful of good the flight of the saints is, however the Arians may think otherwise.