A Good Example

Sed si benefacientes, patienter sustinetis... Notandum attentius quam summe conditionem servorum glorificet, quos benefacientes et absque culpa, vapulantes a dominis crudelibus et improbis, imitatores esse dominicae passionis affirmat. Audis autem quia passus est pro nobis, et gaudes quia pro te mortuus est, attende quod sequitur: Relinquens vobis exemplum ut sequamini vestigia ejus. Exemplum tribulationum non deliciarum, contumeliarum, flagellorum, dolorum, opprobriorum, spinarum, crucis, vulnerum, mortis. In psalmo scriptum est: Propter verba labiorum turoum ego custodivi vias duras. Propter quae verba labiorum Dei nisi quibus promittit vitam aeternam? Sancta Beda, In Primam Epistolam Sancti Petri, Cap II Source: Migne PL 93.54a-b

But if doing good, you patiently endure...1 It must be noted with all attention how he highly glorifies the the state of slaves, who doing good and lacking fault, are beaten by their cruel and immoral masters, affirming them to be imitators of the Lord's passion. And you who hear that He suffered for us, and rejoice that He died for us, look to what follows: Leaving to you an example, that you follow in His steps. 2 An example of tribulations not pleasures, of contumely, of whippings, of sorrow, of shame, of thorns, of the cross, of wounds, of death. In the Psalm it is written: 'Because of the words of your lips I have kept the hard ways.' 3 And because of what words of the Lord, unless the promise of eternal life? Saint Bede, Commentary on the First Letter of Peter, Chap 2 1 1 Pet 2.20 2 1 Pet 2.21 3 Ps 16.4