1. Christians were deprived of the right to defend themselves before their accusers and the court. They were also denied the due process of law, for they were prosecuted differently from criminals, though condemned likewise, for “the crime of murder, or sacrilege, or incest, or treason\u201d.<\/p>\n
And then, too, you do not in that case deal with us in the ordinary way of judicial proceedings against offenders; for, in the case of others denying, you apply the torture to make them confess\u2014Christians alone you torture, to make them deny;<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
2. Christians were persecuted for “the name” alone.<\/p>\n
\u201cA good man,\u201d says one, \u201cis Gaius Seius, only that he is a Christian.\u201d So another, \u201cI am astonished that a wise man like Lucius should have suddenly become a Christian.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Peculiarity of Evil<\/h4>\n
A thing is not good merely because multitudes go over to it; for how many have the bent of their nature towards whatever is bad! how many go astray into ways of error! It is undoubted. Yet a thing that is thoroughly evil, not even those whom it carries away venture to defend as good. Nature throws a veil either of fear or shame over all evil. For instance, you find that criminals are eager to conceal themselves, avoid appearing in public, are in trepidation when they are caught, deny their guilt, when they are accused; even when they are put to the rack, they do not easily or always confess; when there is no doubt about their condemnation, they grieve for what they have done. In their self-communings they admit their being impelled by sinful dispositions, but they lay the blame either on fate or on the stars.<\/p>\n
But what is there like this in the Christian\u2019s case? The only shame or regret he feels, is at not having been a Christian earlier. If he is pointed out, he glories in it; if he is accused, he offers no defence; interrogated, he makes voluntary confession; condemned he renders thanks. What sort of evil thing is this, which wants all the ordinary peculiarities of evil\u2014fear, shame, subterfuge, penitence, lamenting?<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Consent of the Governed<\/h4>\n
It is not enough that a law is just, nor that the judge should be convinced of its justice; those from whom obedience is expected should have that conviction too. Nay, a law lies under strong suspicions which does not care to have itself tried and approved: it is a positively wicked law, if, unproved, it tyrannizes over men.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Making of the Gods<\/h4>\n
The Delicious Sarcasm of Tertullian:<\/p>\n
It might be no slight solace to us in all our punishments, suffering as we do because of these same gods, that in their making they suffer as we do themselves. You put Christians on crosses and stakes:89 what image is not formed from the clay in the first instance, set on cross and stake? The body of your god is first consecrated on the gibbet. You tear the sides of Christians with your claws; but in the case of your own gods, axes, and planes, and rasps are put to work more vigorously on every member of the body. We lay our heads upon the block; before the lead, and the glue, and the nails are put in requisition, your deities are headless. We are cast to the wild beasts, while you attach them to Bacchus, and Cybele, and C\u00e6lestis. We are burned in the flames; so, too, are they in their original lump. We are condemned to the mines; from these your gods originate. We are banished to islands; in islands it is a common thing for your gods to have their birth or die. If it is in this way a deity is made, it will follow that as many as are punished are deified, and tortures will have to be declared divinities.<\/p>\n
Every god depended on the decision of the senate for his godhead. No god was he whom man in his own counsels did not wish to be so, and thereby condemned. The family deities you call Lares, you exercise a domestic authority over, pledging them, selling them, changing them\u2014making sometimes a cooking-pot of a Saturn, a firepan of a Minerva, as one or other happens to be worn down, or broken in its long sacred use, or as the family head feels the pressure of some more sacred home necessity. In like manner, by public law you disgrace your state gods, putting them in the auction-catalogue, and making them a source of revenue … Deity is struck off and farmed out to the highest bidder. But indeed lands burdened with tribute are of less value; men under the assessment of a poll-tax are less noble; for these things are the marks of servitude. In the case of the gods, on the other hand, the sacredness is great in proportion to the tribute which they yield; nay, the more sacred is a god, the larger is the tax he pays. Majesty is made a source of gain. Religion goes about the taverns begging.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Persecution of Christians 1. Christians were deprived of the right to defend themselves before their accusers and the court. They were also denied the due process of law, for they were prosecuted differently from criminals, though condemned likewise, for “the crime of murder, or sacrilege, or incest, or treason\u201d. And then, too, you do not in that case deal with us in the ordinary way of judicial proceedings against offenders; […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-771","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tertullian"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":938,"url":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/tertullian-divine-passions\/","url_meta":{"origin":771,"position":0},"title":"Tertullian: Divine Passions","author":"Nemo","date":"January 3, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"What would be said, if, when you thought the doctor necessary, you were to find fault with his instruments, because they cut, or cauterize, or amputate, or tighten; whereas there could be no doctor of any value without his professional tools?... Your conduct is equally unreasonable, when you allow indeed\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Tertullian"","block_context":{"text":"Tertullian","link":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/category\/tertullian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":994,"url":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/tertullian-the-glory-of-the-resurrected-body\/","url_meta":{"origin":771,"position":1},"title":"Tertullian on the Glory of the Resurrected Body","author":"Nemo","date":"January 13, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"The truth is, it is sown the barest grain, without a husk to cover it, without a spike even in germ, without the protection of a bearded top, without the glory of a stalk. It rises, however, out of the furrow enriched with a copious crop, built up in a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Tertullian"","block_context":{"text":"Tertullian","link":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/category\/tertullian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1015,"url":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/tertullian-ad-martyras\/","url_meta":{"origin":771,"position":2},"title":"Tertullian: Ad Martyras","author":"Nemo","date":"January 17, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"On Imprisonment You have no occasion to look on strange gods, you do not run against their images; you have no part in heathen holidays, even by mere bodily mingling in them; you are not annoyed by the foul fumes of idolatrous solemnities; you are not pained by the noise\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Tertullian"","block_context":{"text":"Tertullian","link":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/category\/tertullian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":827,"url":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/tertullian-freedom-of-religion\/","url_meta":{"origin":771,"position":3},"title":"Tertullian: Freedom Of Religion","author":"Nemo","date":"February 5, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Let one man worship God, another Jupiter; let one lift suppliant hands to the heavens, another to the altar of Fides;\u00a0let one\u2014if you choose to take this view of it\u2014count in prayer the clouds, and another the ceiling panels; let one consecrate his own life to his God, and another\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Tertullian"","block_context":{"text":"Tertullian","link":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/category\/tertullian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":878,"url":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/tertullian-the-souls-testimony\/","url_meta":{"origin":771,"position":4},"title":"Tertullian: The Soul’s Testimony","author":"Nemo","date":"December 26, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Call the soul before you, and put her to the question. Why does she worship another? why name the name of God? Why does she speak of demons, when she means to denote spirits to be held accursed? 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