Behold the agitators
The restless insurrectionists [1]
Convict them for the title
The only name you find so egregious [2]
Justice is blind by nature
But hatred is only merited with open eyes [3]
What is the cause of your animosity?
What
Crime
Did we commit?
The wicked hide their shame
While these men make guilt their banner [4]
I wish that you would mimic
The souls you put to flight
What other crime is punished so incongruently?
Sentence us for our confession
While denial is cursed with acquittal [5]
Arrest for an accusation
On the grounds of words heard through the vine [6]
Pry perjury from men
Your idle sandals show are innocent [7]
Murder calls for the gallows
Martyrs will wear their honor on their necks
You show your own impotence
You know that we’re innocent
Investigate
The mother of villainy
But she’s not the harlot that you perceive
Her detractors
Quickly become her children [8]
Those who hate her soon find themselves
Lying at her breast [9]
We won't be crippled by bitterness
Our weapon drawn is forgiveness
We know well the scent of the dead and dying corpse [10]
But we’re redolent of true life and it’s source [11]
We may be captives in a cell
But captivated by the Author of freedom [12]
Though confined in solitude
We rest in infinite embrace [13]
I wish that you would mimic
The souls you put to flight
I wish you could have their freedom
Barring their chains [14]
Our
Crime
Was
Being named
[1] John Peter Lange, A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures: Matthew, note on Mat 27:22
[2] Tertullian, The Apology, ch. 1
[3] Ibid.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Justin Martyr, The First Apology, ch. 4
[6] Pliny the Younger, Letter to Emperor Trajan
[7] Emperor Trajan, Letter to Pliny the Younger
[8] Tertullian, The Apology, ch. 1
[9] Cyprian, Epistle IX, ch. 4
[10] Tertullian, To the Martyrs, ch. 2
[11] 2 Corinthians 2:15
[12] Tertullian, To the Martyrs, ch. 2
[13] Perpetua, The Passion of Perpetua and Felicitas, ch. 1
[14] Acts 26:29
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