Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume IX/The Diatessaron of Tatian/The Diatessaron/Section XIII

Section XIII.

[1] I am sending you as lambs among wolves:&#160; be ye now wise as serpents, and [2] harmless as doves.&#160; Beware of men:&#160; they shall deliver you to the councils of the [3] magistrates, and scourge you in their synagogues; and shall bring you before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and against the nations.&#160; [4] And when they deliver you up, be not anxious, nor consider beforehand, what ye [5] shall say; but ye shall be given in that hour what ye ought to speak.&#160; Ye do not [6] speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaketh in you.&#160; The brother shall deliver up his brother to death, and the father his son; and the sons shall rise against their [7] parents, and put them to death.&#160; And ye shall be hated of every man because of [8] my name; but he that endureth unto the end of the matter shall be saved. &#160; When they expel you from this city, flee to another.&#160; Verily I say unto you, Ye shall not finish all the cities of the people of Israel, until the Son of man come.

[9, 10] A disciple is not superior to his lord, nor a servant to his master.&#160; For it is enough then for the disciple that he be as his lord, and the servant as his master.&#160; If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more the people [11] of his house!&#160; Fear them not therefore: &#160; for there is nothing covered, that shall [12] [Arabic, p. 51] not be revealed; nor hid, that shall not be disclosed and published.&#160; What I say unto you in the darkness, speak ye in the light; and what ye have told [13] secretly in the ears in closets, let it be proclaimed on the housetops.&#160; I say unto you now, my beloved, Be not agitated at those who kill the body, but have no power to [14] kill the soul.&#160; I will inform you whom ye shall fear:&#160; him which is able to destroy [15] soul and body in hell.&#160; Yea, I say unto you, Be afraid of him especially.&#160; Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing in a bond? and one of them shall not fall on the [16] ground without your Father.&#160; But what concerns you:&#160; even the hair of your heads [17, 18] also is numbered.&#160; Fear not therefore; ye are better than many sparrows.&#160; Every man who confesseth me now before men, I also will confess him before my Father [19] which is in heaven; but whosoever denieth me before men, I also will deny him before my Father which is in heaven.

[20] Think ye that I am come to cast peace into the earth?&#160; I came not to cast peace, [21] but to cast dissension.&#160; Henceforth there shall be five in one house, three of them [22] disagreeing with two, and the two with the three.&#160; The father shall become hostile to his son, and the son to his father; and the mother to her daughter, and the daughter to her mother; and the mother in law to her daughter in law, and the daughter [23] in law to her mother in law:&#160; and a man&#8217;s enemies shall be the people of his house.&#160; [24] Whosoever loveth father or mother better than me is not worthy of me; and whosoever [Arabic, p. 52] loveth son or daughter more than his love of me is not worthy of me.&#160; [25] And every one that doth not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of [26] me.&#160; Whosoever findeth his life shall lose it; and whosoever loseth his life for my sake shall find it.

[27] And whosoever receiveth you receiveth me; and whosoever receiveth me receiveth [28] him that sent me.&#160; And whosoever receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall take a prophet&#8217;s reward; and whosoever shall receive a righteous man [29] in the name of a righteous man shall take a righteous man&#8217;s reward.&#160; And every one that shall give to drink to one of these least ones a drink of water only, in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward.

[30] And when Jesus finished charging his twelve disciples, he removed thence to [31] teach and preach in their cities.&#160; And while they were going in the way they entered into a certain village; and a woman named Martha entertained him in her house.&#160; [32] And she had a sister named Mary, and she came and sat at the feet of our Lord, [33] and heard his sayings.&#160; But Martha was disquieted by much serving; and she came and said unto him, My Lord, givest thou no heed that my sister left me alone to [34] serve? speak to her that she help me.&#160; Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, [35] Martha, thou art solicitous and impatient on account of many things:&#160; but what is sought is one thing.&#160; But Mary hath chosen for herself a good portion, and that which shall not be taken from her.

[36] And the apostles went forth, and preached to the people that they might repent.&#160; [37] And they cast out many devils, and anointed many sick with oil, and healed them.&#160; [38, 39] And the disciples of John told him of all these things.&#160; And when John heard in [Arabic, p. 53] the prison of the doings of the Messiah, he called two of his disciples, and sent them to Jesus, and said, Art thou he that cometh, or look we for [40] another?&#160; And they came to Jesus, and said unto him, John the Baptist hath sent [41] us unto thee, and said, Art thou he that cometh, or look we for another?&#160; And in that hour he cured many of diseases, and of plagues of an evil spirit; and he gave sight [42] to many blind.&#160; Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and tell John everything ye have seen and heard:&#160; the blind see, and the lame walk, and the lepers are cleansed, and the blind hear, and the dead rise, and the poor have the gospel preached to [43] them.&#160; And blessed is he who doubteth not in me.

[44] And when John&#8217;s disciples departed, Jesus began to say to the multitudes concerning John, What went ye out into the wilderness to see? a reed shaken with the [45] winds?&#160; And if not, then what went ye out to see? a man clothed in soft raiment?&#160; Behold, they that are in magnificent garments and in voluptuousness are in the abode [46] of kings.&#160; And if not, then what went ye out to see? a prophet?&#160; Yea, I say unto [47] you, and more than a prophet.&#160; This is he of whom it is written,

I am sending my messenger before thy face

To prepare the way before thee.