---
title: "Fathers of the Third Century: Tertullian, Minucius Felix, Commodian and Origen"
author: "Various Church Fathers"
translator: "S. Thelwall and others; A. Cleveland Coxe (ed.)"
languages: [en]
shelf: "Church Fathers"
section: 50 of 199
url: https://scriptura.si/works/church-fathers-tertullian-minucius-felix-commodian-origen/50/
cite: "Various Church Fathers, tr. S. Thelwall and others; A. Cleveland Coxe (ed.), Fathers of the Third Century: Tertullian, Minucius Felix, Commodian and Origen, section 50. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/church-fathers-tertullian-minucius-felix-commodian-origen/50/"
---

# Fathers of the Third Century: Tertullian, Minucius Felix, Commodian and Origen

*Various Church Fathers, tr. S. Thelwall and others; A. Cleveland Coxe (ed.)*

Tertullian, Minucius Felix, Commodian, and Origen's On First Principles and Against Celsus.

## 50. A Strain of the Judgment of the Lord · 6 of 12

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/church-fathers-tertullian-minucius-felix-commodian-origen/50/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/church-fathers-tertullian-minucius-felix-commodian-origen/50/#p-N

[¶0] 220 Of the mid-world, and hold the frosty star’s

[¶1] Riphæan citadels. Every colonist

[¶2] Of every land stands frighted here: the boor;

[¶3] The son of Atreus with his diadem

[¶4] Of royalty put off; the rich man mixt

[¶5] 225 Coequally in line with pauper peers.

[¶6] Deep tremor everywhere: then groans the orb

[¶7] With prayers; and peoples stretching forth their hands

[¶8] Grow stupid with the din!

[¶9] The Lord Himself

[¶10] Seated, is bright with light sublime; and fire

[¶11] 230 Potent in all the Virtues flashing shines.

[¶12] And on His high-raised throne the Heavenly One

[¶13] Coruscates from His seat; with martyrs hemmed

[¶14] (A dazzling troop of men), and by His seers

[¶15] Elect accompanied (whose bodies bright

[¶16] 235 Effulgent are with snowy stoles), He towers

[¶17] Above them. And now priests in lustrous robes

[¶18] Attend, who wear upon their marked front

[¶19] Wreaths golden-red; and all submissive kneel

[¶20] And reverently adore. The cry of all

[¶21] 240 Is one: “O Holy, Holy Holy, God!”

[¶22] To these the Lord will mandate give, to range

[¶23] The people in twin lines; and orders them

[¶24] To set apart by number the depraved;

[¶25] While such as have His biddings followed

[¶26] 245 With placid words He calls, and bids them, clad

[¶27] With vigour—death quite conquered—ever dwell

[¶28] Amid light’s inextinguishable airs,

[¶29] Stroll through the ancients’ ever blooming realm,

[¶30] Through promised wealth, through ever sunny swards,

[¶31] 250 And in bright body spend perpetual life.

[¶32] A place there is, beloved of the Lord,

[¶33] In Eastern coasts, where light is bright and clear,

[¶34] And healthier blows the breeze; day is eterne,

[¶35] Time changeless: ’tis a region set apart

[¶36] 255 By God, most rich in plains, and passing blest,

[¶37] In the meridian of His cloudless seat.

[¶38] There gladsome the air, and is in light

[¶39] Ever to be; soft is the wind, and breathes

[¶40] Life-giving blasts; earth, fruitful with a soil

[¶41] 260 Luxuriant, bears all things; in the meads

[¶42] Flowers shed their fragrance; and upon the plains

[¶43] The purple—not in envy—mingles all

[¶44] With golden-ruddy light. One gladsome flower,