Tertullian · a new plain-English translation from the original language
[1] But even in the very transactions of life and human intercourse, at home and abroad, down to the care of household vessels, he marked out every kind of distinction, so that with these legal disciplines meeting them at every turn, people would never for a moment be free of regard for God. For what could make a man more blessed than that his will should be in the law of the Lord, and that he should meditate on the law of the Lord day and night? A law which was not promulgated by the harshness of its author, but by the reasoning of the highest kindness — one that tamed the people's hardness rather than caused it, and hammered a raw faith into obedience through laborious observances — not to touch here on the law's hidden meanings, its spiritual and prophetic sense, figured almost throughout in every argument. [2] For now it suffices to say, put simply, that it joined man to God in obligation, such that only one who takes no delight in serving God would have cause to condemn it. And to assist this benefit of the law — not burden — that same goodness of God appointed the prophets as well, teaching what is worthy of God: to remove wickedness from the soul, to learn to do good, to seek out judgment, to give judgment for the orphan and justify the widow, to love inquiry, to flee the touch of the wicked, to release the oppressed unbroken, to tear up the unjust bond, to break bread for the hungry and bring the homeless into your house, to cover the naked when you see him, and not to despise your own kin, to restrain the tongue from evil and the lips from speaking deceit, to turn from evil and do good, to seek peace and pursue it, to be angry and not sin — that is, not to persist in anger or grow savage — not to enter into the counsel of the wicked, nor take a stand in the path of sinners, nor take a seat among the scornful. But where instead? [3] Behold how good and how pleasant a thing it is for brothers to live together as one, pondering the Lord's law by day and by night — for it is indeed better to rely on the Lord than to rely on man, and to place one's hope in the Lord rather than in man. What recompense, after all, can a man gain from God? He becomes like a tree set beside flowing streams, bearing its fruit each season, its leaves never withering, and everything he undertakes comes to fruition. But whoever is innocent and clean of heart, who has not invoked God's name for nothing nor sworn falsely against his neighbor, that one shall obtain a blessing from the Lord and mercy from God his deliverer. [4] The Lord keeps watch over those who fear him and who place their hope in his compassion, so as to rescue their souls from death — eternal death, that is — and sustain them through famine — the famine, that is, of everlasting life. Numerous are the trials of the just, yet the Lord rescues them from every one. Costly, in the Lord's regard, is the passing of those devoted to him. He guards every bone of theirs, so that not a single one is shattered. He will ransom the souls of those who serve him. These few citations we have brought forward out of so many scriptures of the Creator, and I think nothing further is now lacking to the testimony of God the best — since these already sufficiently seal both the precepts of his goodness and its promised rewards.
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