Читать книгу Beyond the Horizon - Harry A. Renfree - Страница 74

March 08

Cyprian of Carthage, North Africa, became a martyr for his faith under the Roman Emperor Valerian in 285 AD. Among his many writings was a simple letter to his friend, Donatus, and although written many centuries ago, it really speaks to our times.

This seems a cheerful world, Donatus, when I view it from this fair garden, under the shadow of these vines. But if I climbed some great mountain and looked over the wide lands, you know very well what I would see—brigands on the high roads; pirates on the seas; in the amphitheaters men murdered to please applauding crowds; under all roofs misery and selfishness. It is really a bad world, Donatus, an incredibly bad world. Yet in the midst of it, I have found a quiet and holy people. They have discovered a joy which is a thousand times better than any pleasures of this sinful life. They are despised and persecuted, but they care not. They have overcome the world. These people, Donatus, are the Christians—and I am one of them.”3

Some things are just as bad . . . some worse since that writing. There are still brigands on our highways, and we still read of pirates on the seas. I don’t know of any amphitheaters where men are murdered to please applauding crowds, but we do have cruel mayhem in the wrestling ring and in the bullring for the same purpose. There are certainly many murders in our modern world. Under many roofs, there is misery and selfishness. We have a veneer of sophistication that was lacking in those early centuries, but human nature has not really changed that much. We have learned a host of new ways to gain the pleasures of this sinful life.

Yet in the midst of these troubling times, there continues to be a quiet and holy people who “have discovered a joy which is a thousand times better than any pleasure of this sinful life. They have overcome the world.”

Jesus Himself showed the way. In forty days of desperate temptation at the outset of His ministry, He was offered, among other temptations, “all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor” (Matthew 4:8). He was offered this if He would bow down before the Evil One, but He refused. And He led and taught His little handful of quiet and holy people.

As Cyprian wrote so long ago: “These people, Donatus, are the Christians—and I am one of them.” May that be our testimony too.