De Signaculo Crucis (Epigr. X)
The Necessity of the Cross
The author challenges those who mock the cross, reminding them of the apostles' struggle and the power of Christ's sacrifice.
Why do you hurl such insults at the innocent cross? Evil demons have never been driven away by the cross of Christ any more than your own companions are accustomed to be. It was no small fault of the apostles to have avoided the cross of Christ as He breathed out His spirit.
Baptism and the Sign of Salvation
Drawing on the metaphor of the Christian as a fish in the baptismal font, the author argues that the cross is the essential guide for navigating the life of faith.
Every Christian is called a fish by Tertullian, because of the water of the font in which we are dipped when we are small. But who can swim with their own arms without the most radiant cross? Yet we do not linger; for the cross will be yours, whether you favor it or deny it.
Read the original Latin
Cur tanta sufflas probra in innocuam crucem? Non plus maligni daemones Christi cruce Unquam fugati, quam tui socii solent. Apostolorum culpa non levis fuit Vitasse Christi spiritum efflantis crucem. Et Christianus quisque piscis dicitur Tertulliano, propter undae pollubrum, Quo tingimur parvi. Ecquis autem brachiis Natare sine clarissima potest cruce? Sed non moramur: namque vestra crux erit, Vobis faventibusve vel negantibus.
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