Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume V/Cyprian/The Treatises of Cyprian/Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews/Book III/Part 6

6. That all good and righteous men suffer more, but ought to endure because they are proved.

In Solomon: &#8220;The furnace proveth the vessels of the potter, and the trial of tribulation righteous men.&#8221; Also in the fiftieth Psalm: &#8220;The sacrifice to God is a contrite spirit; a contrite and humbled heart God will not despise.&#8221; Also in the thirty-third Psalm: &#8220;God is nearest to them that are contrite in heart, and He will save the lowly in spirit.&#8221; Also in the same place: &#8220;Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but out of them all the Lord will deliver them.&#8221; Of this same matter in Job: &#8220;Naked came I out of my mother&#8217;s womb, naked also shall I go under the earth: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away: as it hath pleased the Lord, so it is done; blessed be the name of the Lord. In all these things which happened to him Job sinned in nothing with his lips in the sight of the Lord.&#8221; &#160; Concerning this same thing in the Gospel according to Matthew:&#160; &#8220;Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.&#8221; &#160; Also according to John: &#8220;These things have I spoken unto you, that in me ye may have peace. But in the world ye shall have affliction; but have confidence, for I have overcome the world.&#8221; &#160; Concerning this same thing in the second Epistle to the Corinthians: &#8220;There was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, that I should not be exalted.&#160; For which thing I thrice besought the Lord, that it should depart from me. And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee; for strength is perfected in weakness.&#8221; Concerning this same thing to the Romans: &#8220;We glory in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we also glory in afflictions: knowing that affliction worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope: and hope does not confound; because the love of God is infused in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, which is given unto us.&#8221; On this same subject, according to Matthew: &#8220;How broad and spacious is the way which leadeth unto death, and many there are who go in thereby: how straight and narrow is the way that leadeth to life, and few there are that find it!&#8221; Of this same thing in Tobias: &#8220;Where are thy righteousnesses? behold what thou sufferest.&#8221; &#160; Also in the Wisdom of Solomon: &#8220;In the places of the wicked the righteous groan; but at their ruin the righteous will abound.&#8221;