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 out 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.
~ Cyprian Bishop of Carthage 249 AD
No comments:
Post a Comment