And now what have I here, saith the Lord: for my people is taken away gratis. They that rule over them treat them unjustly, saith the Lord, and my name is continually blasphemed all the day long.
Tertullian
There is indeed a blasphemy that we must avoid completely, namely, that any of us should give a pagan any cause for blasphemy by deceit or injury or insult or some other matter justifying complaint in which the Name is deservedly blamed, so that the Lord is deservedly angry. But if the words "because of you my name is blasphemed" cover every blasphemy, then we are all lost, since the whole culture assails the Name, for no fault of ours, with its wicked outcries.… Our name is blessed when we are cursed for keeping our discipline.
Imported from an open dataset — not yet checked against the printed edition.