The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.
Meaning of the quote
The quote means that when people are willing to suffer and even die for their beliefs, it helps their religion or cause grow stronger. Just like a seed that is planted in the ground and grows into a plant, the sacrifice of those who are killed for their faith helps their religion spread and become more powerful over time.
More quotes from Tertullian
Hope is patience with the lamp lit.
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The more you mow us down, the more numerous we grow; the blood of Christians is seed.
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The pleasure of those who injure you lies in your pain. Therefore they will suffer if you take away their pleasure by not feeling pain.
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The entire fruit is already present in the seed.
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Indeed heresies are themselves instigated by philosophy.
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Prevention of birth is a precipitation of murder.
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Nature soaks every evil with either fear or shame.
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Christians are made, not born.
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Arguments about Scripture achieve nothing but a stomachache and a headache.
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See how these Christians love one another.
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The usual complaint is, ‘I have no other way of earning a living.’ The harsh reply can be, ‘Do you have to live?’
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It is certain because it is impossible.
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Out of the frying pan, into the fire.
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Nothing that is God’s is obtainable by money.
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What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?
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He who flees will fight again.
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He who lives only to benefit himself confers on the world a benefit when he dies.
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You can judge the quality of their faith from the way they behave. Discipline is an index to doctrine.
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Two kinds of blindness are easily combined so that those who do not see really appear to see what is not.
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You cannot parcel out freedom in pieces because freedom is all or nothing.
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It is certain because it is possible.
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Fear is the foundation of safety.
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The first reaction to truth is hatred.
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Indeed it is better to postpone, lest either we complete too little by hurrying, or wander too long in completing it.
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Truth engenders hatred of truth. As soon as it appears, it is the enemy.
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Divorce these days is a religious vow, as if the proper offspring of marriage.
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The nature of rumor is known to all.
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The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.
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