Tertullian — Apology (197)

“The oftener we are mown down by you, the more in number we grow; the blood of Christians is seed.”

Tertullian, a lawyer-turned-theologian from Carthage, wrote his Apology as a legal defense addressed to the governors of the Roman Empire. He argued that Christians were being condemned for a name, not for any crime, and that they were loyal, peaceful citizens.

It ends with one of the most quoted lines in Christian history: persecution only makes the faith grow.

Part of the Boston Made Reader’s special collection Courage, Conscience & Service. Every book and document here is free to read.