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ST. AUGUSTINE

SERMONS (51-60) ON SELECTED LESSONS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT

[Translated by Rev. R. G. MacMullen.
Edited by Philip Schaff, D.D., LL.D.]

SERMON I.

[LI. BENEDICTINE EDITION.]

OF THE AGREEMENT OF THE EVANGELISTS MATTHEW AND LUKE IN THE GENERATIONS OF
THE LORD.

 1. MAY He, beloved, fulfil your expectation who hath awakened it: for
though I feel confident that what I have to say is not my own, but God's,
yet with far more reason do I say, what the Apostle in his humility saith,
"We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power
may be of God, and not of us."(1) I do not doubt accordingly that you
remember my promise; in Him I made it through whom I now fulfil it, for
both when I made the promise, did I ask of the Lord, and now when I fulfil
it, do I receive of Him. Now you will remember, beloved, that it was in the
matins of the festival of the Lord's Nativity, that I put off the question
which I had proposed for resolution, because many came with us to the
celebration of the accustomed solemnities of that day to whom the word of
God is usually burdensome; but now I imagine that none have come here, but
they who desire to hear, and so I am not speaking to hearts that are deaf,
and to minds that will disdain the word, but this your longing expectation
is a prayer for me. There is a further consideration; for the day of the
public shows(2) has dispersed many from hence, for whose salvation I exhort
you to share my great anxiety, and do you with all earnestness of mind,
entreat God for those who are not yet intent upon the spectacles of the
truth, but are wholly given up to the spectacles of the flesh; for I know
and am well assured, that there are now among you those who have this day
despised them, and have burst the bonds of their inveterate habits; for men
are changed both for the better and the worse. By daily instances of this
kind are we alternately made joyful and sad i we joy over the reformed, are
sad over the corrupted; and therefore the Lord doth not say that he who
beginneth, shall be saved, "But he that endureth unto the end shall be
saved."(3)

 2. Now what more marvellous, what more magnificent thing could our Lord
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and also the Son of man (for this also He
vouchsafed to be), grant to us, than the gathering into His fold not only
of the spectators of these foolish shows, but even some of the actors in
them; for He hath combated(4) unto salvation not only the lovers of the
combats of men with beasts, but even the combatants themselves, for He also
was made a spectacle Himself. Hear how. He hath told us Himself, and
foretold it before He was made a spectacle, and in the words of prophecy
announced beforehand what was to come to pass, as if it were already done,
saying in the Psalms, "They pierced My hands and My feet, they told all My
bones."(5) Lo! how He was made a spectacle, for His bones to be told! and
this spectacle He expresseth more plainly, "they observed and looked upon
Me." He was made a spectacle and an object of derision, made a spectacle by
them who were to show Him no favour indeed in that spectacle, but who were
to be furious against Him, just as at first He made His martyrs spectacles;
as saith the Apostle, "We are made a spectacle unto the world, and to
angels, and to men."(6) Now two sorts of men are spectators of such
spectacles; the one, carnal, the other, spiritual men. The carnal look on,
as thinking those martyrs who are thrown to the beasts, or beheaded, or
burnt in the flames, to be wretched men, and they detest and abhor them;
but others look on, like the holy Angels, not regarding the laceration of
their bodies, but admiring the unimpaired purity of their faith. A grand
spectacle to the eyes of the heart doth a whole mind in a mangled body
exhibit! When these things are read of in the church, you behold them with
pleasure with these eyes of the heart, for if you were to behold nothing,
you would hear nothing; so you see you have not neglected the spectacles
to-day, but have made a choice of spectacles. May God then be with you, and
give you grace with gentle persuasiveness to report your spectacles to your
friends, whom you have been pained to see this day running to the
amphitheatre, and unwilling to come to the church; that so they too may
begin to contemn those things, by the love of which themselves have become
contemptible, and may, with you, love God, of whom none who love Him can
ever be ashamed, for that they love Him who cannot be overcome: let them,
as you do, love Christ, who by that very thing wherein He seemed to be
overcome, overcame the whole world. For He hath overcome the whole world as
we see, my brethren; He hath subjected all powers, He hath subjugated
kings, not with the pride of soldiery, but by the ignominy of the Cross:
not by the fury of the sword, but by hanging on the Wood, by suffering in
the body, by working in the Spirit.(1) His body was lifted up on the Cross,
and so He subdued souls to the Cross; and now what jewel in their diadem is
more precious than the Cross of Christ on the foreheads of kings? In loving
Him you will never be ashamed. Whereas from the amphitheatre how many
return conquered, because those are conquered, for whom they are so madly
interested! still more would they be conquered were they to conquer. For so
would they be enslaved to the vain joy, to the exultation of a depraved
desire, who are conquered by the very circumstance of running to these
shows. For how many, my brethren, do you think have this day been in
hesitation whether they would go here or there? And they who in this
hesitation, turning their thoughts to Christ, have run to the church, have
overcome, not any man, but the devil himself, him that hunteth(2) after the
souls of the whole world. But they who in that hesitation have chosen
rather to run to the amphitheatre, have assuredly been overcome by him whom
the others overcame--overcame in Him who saith, "Be of good cheer, I have
overcome the world."(3) For the Captain suffered Himself to be tried, only
that He might teach His soldier to fight.

 3. That our Lord Jesus Christ might do this He became the Son of man by
being born of a woman. But now, would He have been any less a man, if He
had not been born of the Virgin Mary" one may say. "He willed to be a man;
well and good; He might have so been, and yet not be born of a woman; for
neither did He make the first man whom He made, of a woman." Now see what
answer I make to this. You say, Why did He choose to be born of a woman? I
answer, Why should He avoid being born of a woman? Granted that I could not
show that He chose to be born of a woman; do you show why He need have
avoided it. But I have already said at other times, that if He had avoided
the womb of a woman, it might have betokened, as it were, that He could
have contracted defilement from her; but by how much He was in His own
substance more incapable of defilement, by so much less had He cause to
fear the woman's womb, as though He could contract defilement from it. But
by being born of a woman, He purposed to show to us some high mystery.(4)
For of a truth, brethren, we grant too, that if the Lord had willed to
become man without being born of a woman, it were easy to His sovereign
Majesty. For as He could be born of a woman without a man, so could He also
have been born without the woman. But this hath He shown us, that mankind
of neither sex might despair of its salvation, for the human sexes are male
and female. If therefore being a man, which it behoved Him assuredly to be,
He had not been born of a woman, women might have despaired of themselves,
as mindful of their first sin, because by a woman was the first man
deceived, and would have thought that they had no hope at all in Christ. He
came therefore as a man to make special choice of that sex, and was born of
a woman to console the female sex, as though He would address them and say;
"That ye may know that no creature of God is bad, but that(5) unregulated
pleasure perverteth it, when in the beginning I made man, I made them male
and female. I do not condemn the creature which I made. See I have been
born a Man, and born of a woman; it is not then the creature which I made
that I condemn, but the sins which I made not." Let each sex then at once
see its honour, and confess its iniquity, and let them both hope for
salvation. The poison to deceive man was presented him by woman, through
woman let salvation for man's recovery be presented; so let the woman make
amends for the sin by which she deceived the man, by giving birth to
Christ. For the same reason again, women were the first who announced to
the Apostles the Resurrection of God. The woman in Paradise announced death
to her husband, and the women in the Church announced salvation to the men;
the Apostles were to announce to the nations the Resurrection of Christ,
the women announced it to the Apostles. Let no one then reproach Christ
with His birth of a woman, by which sex the Deliverer could not be defiled,
and to which it was in the purpose(6) of the Creator to do honour.(7)

 4. But, say they, "how are we to believe that Christ was born of a
woman?" I would answer, by the Gospel which hath been preached and is still
preached to all the world. But these men, blind themselves, and aiming to
blind others, seeing not what they ought to see, whilst they try to shake
what ought to be believed, endeavour to obtrude a question on a matter
which is now believed through all the earth. For they answer and say: "Do
not think to overwhelm us with the authority of the whole world--let us
look to Scripture itself, urge not arguments of mere(1) numbers against us,
for the seduced multitude favours you." To this I answer, in the first
place, "Does the seduced multitude favour me?" This multitude was once a
scantling. Whence grew this multitude, which in this increase was announced
so long before? For this which hath been seen to increase, is none other
than the same which was seen beforehand. I need not have said, it was a
scantling; once it was Abraham only. Consider, brethren; it was Abraham
alone throughout all the world at that time; throughout the whole world,
among all men, and all nations; Abraham alone to whom it was said, "In thy
seed shall all nations be blessed;"(2) and what he alone believed of his
own(3) single person, is exhibited as present now to many in the multitude
of his seed. Then it was not seen, and was believed; now it is seen, and it
is contested; and what was then said to one man, and was by that one
believed, is disputed now by some few, when in many it is made good. He who
made His disciples fishers of men, inclosed within His nets every kind of
authority. If great numbers are to be believed, what more widely diffused
over the whole world than the Church? If the rich are to be believed, let
them consider how many rich He hath taken; if the poor, let them consider
the thousands of poor; if nobles, almost all the nobility are within the
Church; if kings, let them see all of them subjected to Christ; if the more
eloquent, and wise, and learned, let them see how many orators, and
scientific(4) men, and philosophers of this world, have been caught by
those fishermen, to be drawn from the depth to salvation let them think of
Him who, coming down to heal by the example of His own humility that great
evil of maws soul, pride, "chose the weak things of the world to confound
the things which are mighty, and the foolish things of the world to
confound the wise" (not the really wise, but who seemed so to be), "and
chose the base things of the world, and things which are not, to bring to
nought things that are."(5)

 5. "Whatever you may choose to say," they say, "we find that in the place
where we read that Christ was born, the Gospels disagree with one another,
and two things which disagree cannot both be true;" for, says one, "when I
have proved this disagreement, I may rightly disallow belief in it, or, at
least, do you who accept the belief in it, shew the agreement." And what
disagreement, I ask, will you prove? "A plain one," says he, "which none
can gainsay." With what security, brethren, do you hear all this, because
ye are believers! Attend, dearly beloved, and see what wholesome advice the
Apostle gives, who says, "As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus our
Lord, so walk ye in Him, rooted and built up in Him, and established in the
faith;"(6) for with this simple and assured faith ought we to abide
stedfastly in Him, that He may Himself open to the faithful what is hidden
in Him; for as the same Apostle saith, "In Him are hid all the treasures of
wisdom and knowledge;"(7) and He does not hide them to refuse them, but to
stir up desire for those hidden things. This is the advantage of their
secrecy. Honour in Him then what as yet thou understandest not, and so much
the more as the veils which thou seest are more in number: for the higher
in honour any one is, the more veils are suspended in his palace. The veils
make that which is kept secret honoured, and to those who honour it, the
veils are lifted up; but as for those who mock at the veils, they are
driven away from even approaching them. Because then we "turn unto Christ,
the veil is taken away."(8)

 6. They bring forward then their cavillings,(9) and say "You allow
Matthew is an Evangelist." We answer: Yes indeed, with a godly confession,
and a heart devout, in neither having any doubt at all, we answer plainly,
Matthew is an Evangelist. "Do you believe him?" they say. Who will not
answer, I do? How clear an assent doth that your godly murmur convey! So,
brethren, you believe it in all assurance; you have no cause to blush for
it. I am speaking to you, who was once deceived, when as in my early
boyhood I chose to bring to the divine Scriptures a subtlety of criticising
before the godly temper of one who was seeking truth: by my irregular(10)
life I shut the gate of my Lord against myself: when I should have knocked
for it to be opened, I went on so as to make it more I closely shut, for I
dared to search in pride for that which none but the humble can discover.
How much more blessed now are you, with what sure confidence do you learn,
and in what safety, who are still young ones in the nest of faith, and
receive the spiritual food; whereas I, wretch that I was, as thinking
myself fit to fly, left the nest, and fell down before I flew: but the Lord
of mercy raised me up, that I might not be trodden down to death by passers
by, and put me in the nest again; for those same things then troubled me,
which now in quiet security I am proposing and explaining to you in the
Name of the Lord.

 7. As then I had begun to say, thus do they cavil. "Matthew," say they,
"is an Evangelist, and you believe him?" Immediately that we acknowledge
him to be an Evangelist, we necessarily believe him. Attend then to the
generations of Christ, which Matthew has set down. "The book of the
generation of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the son of Abraham."(1) How
the Son of David, and the Son of Abraham? He could not be shown to be so,
but by the succession of generations; for certain it is that when the Lord
was born of the Virgin Mary, neither Abraham nor David was in this world,
and dost thou say that the same man is both the Son of David, and the Son
of Abraham? Let us, as it were, say to Matthew, Prove thy word, for I am
waiting for the succession of the generations of Christ. "Abraham begat
Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren; and
Judas begat Phares and Zara of Thamar; and Phares begat Esrom; and Esrom
begat Aram; and Aram begat Aminadab; and Aminadab begat Naasson; and
Naasson begat Salmon; and Salmon begat Booz of Rachab; and Booz begat Obed
of Ruth; and Obed begat Jesse; and Jesse begat David the king."(2) Now
observe how from this point the genealogy is brought down from David to
Christ, who is called the Son of Abraham, and the Son of David. "And David
begat Solomon, of her that had been the wife of Urias; and Solomon begat
Roboam; and Roboam begat Abia; and Abia begat Asa; and Asa begat Josaphat;
and Josaphat begat Joram; and Joram begat Ozias; and Ozias begat Joatham;
and Joatham begat Achaz; and Achaz begat Ezekias; and Ezekias begat
Manasses; and Manasses begat Amon; and Amon begat Josias; and Josias begat
Jechonias and his brethren, about the time they were carried away to
Babylon; and after the carrying away into Babylon, Jechonias begat
Salathiel; and Salathiel begat Zorobabel; and Zorobabel begat Abiud; and
Abiud begat Eliakim; and Eliakim begat Azor; and Azor begat Sadoc; and
Sadoc begat Achim; and Achim begat Eliud; and Eliud begat Eleazar; and
Eleazar begat Matthan; and Matthan begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Joseph the
husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ." Thus then
by the order and succession of fathers and forefathers, Christ is found to
be the Son of David, and the Son of Abraham.

8. Now upon this thus faithfully narrated, the first cavil they bring is,
that the same Matthew goes on to say, "All the generations from Abraham to
David are fourteen generations; and from David until the carrying away into
Babylon are fourteen generations; and from the carrying away into Babylon
unto Christ are fourteen generations." Then in order to tell us how Christ
was born of the Virgin Mary, he went on and said, "Now the birth of Jesus
Christ was on this wise;"(3) for by the line of the generations he had
showed why Christ is called the Son of David, and the Son of Abraham. But
now it needed to be shown how He was born and appeared among men: and so
there follows immediately that narrative, by means of which we believe that
our Lord Jesus Christ was not only born of the everlasting God, coeternal
with Him who begat Him before all times, before all creation, by whom all
things were made; but was also now born from the Holy Ghost, of the Virgin
Mary, which we confess equally with the other; for you remember and know
(for I am speaking to Catholics, to my brethren), that this is our faith,
that this we profess and confess; for this faith thousands of martyrs have
been slain in all the world.

 9. This also which follows they like to laugh at, whose wish it is to
destroy the authority of the Evangelical books, that they may show as it
were that we have without any good reason believed what is said, "When as
His mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was
found with Child of the Holy Ghost. Then Joseph her husband being a just
man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her
away privily;"(4) for because he knew that she was not with child by him,
he thought that she was so to say(5) necessarily an adulteress. "Being a
just man," as the Scripture saith," and not willing to make her a public
example," (that is, to divulge the matter, for so it is in many copies),
"he was minded to put her away privily." The husband indeed was in trouble,
but as being a just man he deals not severely; for so great justice is
ascribed to this man, as that he neither wished to keep an adulterous wife,
nor could bring himself(6) to punish and expose her. "He was minded to put
her away privily," because he was not only unwilling to punish, but even to
betray her; and mark his genuine justice; for he did not wish to spare her,
because he had a desire to keep her; for many spare their adulterous wives
through a carnal love, choosing to keep them even though adulterous, that
they may enjoy them through a carnal desire. But this just man has no wish
to keep her, and so does not love in any carnal sort; and yet he does not
wish to punish her; and so in his mercy he spares her. How truly just a man
is this! He would neither keep an adulteress, lest he should seem to spare
her because of an impure affection, and yet he would not punish or betray
her. Deservedly indeed was he chosen for the witness of his wife's
virginity: and so he who was in trouble through human infirmity, was
assured by Divine authority.

 10. For the Evangelist goes on to say, "While he thought on these things,
behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in sleep, saying, Joseph,
fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife; for That which is conceived in
her is of the Holy Ghost.(1) And she shall bring forth a Son, and thou
shalt call His name Jesus." Why Jesus? "for He shall save His people from
their sins."(2) It is well known then, that "Jesus" in the Hebrew tongue is
in Latin interpreted "Saviour," which we see from this very explanation of
the name; for as if it had been asked, "Why Jesus?" he subjoined
immediately as explaining the reason of the word, "for He shall save His
people from their sins." This then we religiously believe, this most firmly
hold fast, that Christ was born by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary.

 11. What then do our adversaries say? "If," says one, "I shall discover a
lie, surely you will not then believe it all; and such I have discovered."
Let us see: I will reckon up the generations; for by their slanderous
cavillings they invite and bring us to this. Yes, if we live religiously,
if we believe Christ, if we do not desire to fly out of the nest before the
time, they only bring us to this--to the knowledge of mysteries. Mark then,
holy brethren,(3) the usefulness of heretics; their usefulness, that is, in
respect of the designs of God, who makes a good use even of those that are
bad; whereas, as regards themselves, the fruit of their own designs is
rendered to them, and not that good which God brings out of them. Just as
in the case of Judas; what great good did he! By the Lord's Passion all
nations are saved; but that the Lord might suffer, Judas betrayed Him. God
then both delivers the nations by the Passion of His Son, and punishes
Judas for his own wickedness. For the mysteries which lie hid in Scripture,
no one who is content with the simplicity of the faith would curiously sift
them, and therefore as no one would sift them, no one would discover them
but for cavillers who force us. For when heretics cavil, the little ones
are disturbed; when disturbed, they make search, and their search is, so to
say, a beating of the head at the mother's breasts, that they may yield as
much milk as is sufficient for these little ones. They search then, because
they are troubled; but they who know and have learnt these things, because
they have investigated them, and God hath opened to their knocking, they in
their turn open to those who are in trouble. And so it happens that
heretics serve usefully for the discovery of the truth, whilst they cavil
to seduce men into error. For with less carefulness would truth be sought
out, if it had not lying adversaries; "For there must be also heresies
among you," and as though we should enquire the cause, he immediately
subjoined, "that they which are approved may be made manifest among
you."(4)

 12. What then is it that they say? "See; Matthew enumerates the
generations, and says, that "from Abraham to David are fourteen
generations, and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are
fourteen generations, and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ
are fourteen generations." Now three times fourteen make forty- two; yet
they number them, and find them forty-one generations, and immediately they
bring up their cavilling and their insulting mockery, and say, "What means
it, when in the Gospel it is said that there are three times fourteen
generations, yet when they are numbered all together, they are found to be
not forty-two, but forty-one?" Doubtless there is a great mystery(5) here:
and glad are we, and we give thanks unto the Lord, that by the occasion of
cavillers we have discovered something which gives us in the discovery the
more pleasure, in proportion to its obscurity when it was the object of
search; for, as I have said before, we are exhibiting a spectacle to your
minds. From Abraham then to David are fourteen generations: after that, the
enumeration begins with Solomon, for David begat Solomon; the enumeration,
I say, begins with Solomon, and reaches to Jechonias, during whose life the
carrying away into Babylon took place; and so are there other fourteen
generations, by reckoning in Solomon at the head of the second division,
and Jechonias also, with whom that enumeration closes to fill up the number
fourteen; and the third division begins with this same Jechonias.

 13. Give attention, holy brethren, to this circumstance, at once
mysterious and pleasant; for I confess to you the feeling(6) of my own
heart, whereby I believe that when I have brought it forth, and you have
got taste of it, you will give the same report of it. Attend then. In the
third division, beginning from this Jechonias unto the Lord Jesus Christ,
are found fourteen generations; for this Jechonias is reckoned twice, as
the last of the former, and the first of the following division. "But why
is Jechonias," one may say, "reckoned twice?" Nothing took place of old
among the people of Israel, which was not a mysterious figure of things to
come:

and indeed it is not without good reason that Jechonias is reckoned twice,
because if there be a boundary between two fields, be it a stone, or any
dividing wall, both he who is on the one side measures up to that same
wall, and he who is on the other takes the beginning of his measurement
again from the same. But why this was not done in the first connecting link
of the divisions, when we number from Abraham to David fourteen
generations, and begin to reckon the fourteen others, not from David over
again, but from Solomon, a reason must be given which contains an important
mystery.(1) Attend then. The carrying away into Babylon took place when
Jechonias was appointed king in the room of his deceased father. The
kingdom was taken from him, and another appointed in his room; still the
carrying away unto the Gentiles took place during the lifetime of
Jechonias, for no fault of Jechonias is mentioned for which he was deprived
of the kingdom; but the sins rather of those who succeeded him are marked
out. So then there follows the Captivity and the passing away into Babylon;
and the wicked do not go alone, but the saints also go with them: for in
that Captivity were the prophets Ezekiel and Daniel, and the Three Children
who were cast into the flames, and so made famous. They all went according
to the prophecy of the prophet Jeremiah.

 14. Remember then, that Jechonias, rejected without any fault of his,
ceased to reign, and passed over unto the Gentiles, when the carrying away
unto Babylon took place. Now observe the figure hereby manifested
beforehand, of things to come in the Lord Jesus Christ. For the Jews would
not that our Lord Jesus Christ should reign over them, yet found they no
fault in Him. He was rejected in His own person, and in that of His
servants also, and so they passed over unto the Gentiles as into Babylon in
a figure. For this also did Jeremiah prophesy, that the Lord commanded them
to go into Babylon: and whatever other prophets told the people not to go
into Babylon, them he reproved as false prophets.(2) Let those who read the
Scriptures, remember this as we do; and let those who do not, give us
credit. Jeremiah then on the part of God threatened those who would not go
into Babylon, whereas to them who should go he promised rest there, and a
sort of happiness in the cultivation of their vines, and planting of their
gardens, and the abundance of their fruits. How then does the people of
Israel, not now in figure but in verity, pass over unto Babylon? Whence
came the Apostles? Were they not of the nation of the Jews? Whence came
Paul himself? for he saith, "I also am an Israelite, of the seed of
Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin."(3) Many of the Jews then believed in
the Lord; from them were the Apostles chosen; of them were the more than
five hundred brethren, to whom it was vouchsafed(4) to see the Lord after
His resurrection;(5) of them were the hundred and twenty in the house,(6)
when the Holy Ghost came down. But what saith the Apostle in the Acts of
the Apostles, when the Jews refused the word of truth? "We were sent unto
you, but seeing ye have rejected the word of God, lo! we turn unto the
Gentiles."(7) The true passing over then into Babylon, which was then
prefigured in the time of Jeremiah, took place in the spiritual
dispensation of the time of the Lord's Incarnation. But what saith Jeremiah
of these Babylonians, to those who were passing over to them? "For in their
peace shall be your peace."(8) When Israel then passed over also into
Babylon by Christ and the Apostles, that is, when the Gospel came unto the
Gentiles, what saith the Apostle, as though by the mouth of Jeremiah of
old? "I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers,
intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men. For kings, and for
all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in
all godliness and honesty."(9) For they were not yet Christian kings, yet
he prayed for them. Israel then praying in Babylon hath been heard; the
prayers of the Church have been heard, and the kings have become Christian,
and you see now fulfilled what was then spoken in figure; "In their peace
shall be your peace," for they have received the peace of Christ, and have
left off to persecute Christians, that now in the secure quiet of peace,
the Churches might be built up, and peoples planted in the garden(10) of
God, and that all nations might bring forth fruit in faith, and hope, and
love, which is in Christ.

 15. The carrying away into Babylon took place of old by Jechonias, who
was not permitted to reign in the nation of the Jews, as a type of Christ,
whom the Jews would not have reign over them. Israel passed over unto the
Gentiles, that is, the preachers of the Gospel passed over unto the people
of the Gentiles. What marvel then, that Jechonias is reckoned twice? for if
he were a figure of Christ passing over from the Jews unto the Gentiles,
consider only what Christ is between the Jews and Gentiles. Is He not that
Corner-stone? In a corner-stone you see the end of one wall, and the
beginning of another; up to that stone you measure one wall, and another
from it; therefore the corner-stone which connects both walls is reckoned
twice.

Jechonias then as prefiguring the Lord was, as it were, a type of the
corner-stone; and as Jechonias was not permitted to reign over the Jews,
but they went unto Babylon, so Christ, "the stone which the builders
rejected, is made the head of the corner,"(1) that the Gospel might reach
unto the Gentiles. Hesitate not then to reckon the head of the corner
twice, and you have at once the number written: and so there are fourteen
in each of the three divisions, yet altogether the generations are not
forty-two, but forty- one; for as when the order of the stones runs in a
straight line, they are all reckoned but once, but when there is a
deviation from the straight line to make an angle, that stone at which the
deviation begins must be reckoned twice, because it belongs at once to that
line which is finished at it, and to that other line which begins from it;
so as long as the order of the generations continued in the Jewish people,
it made no angle in the regular division of fourteen; but when the line was
turned that the people might pass over into Babylon, a sort of angle as it
were was made at Jechonias, so that it was necessary to reckon him twice,
as the type of that adorable Corner-stone.

16. They have another cavil. "The generations of Christ," say they, "are
numbered through Joseph, and not through Mar." Attend awhile, holy
brethren. "It ought not to be," they say, "through Joseph." And why not?
Was not Joseph the husband of Mary? "No," they say. Who says so? For the
Scripture saith by the authority of the Angel that he was her husband.
"Fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for That which is conceived in
her is of the Holy Ghost."(2) Again, he was commanded to name the Child,
though He was not born of his seed; "She shall bring forth a Son, and thou
shalt call His name Jesus."(3) Now the Scripture is intent on showing, that
He was not born of Joseph's seed, when he is told in his trouble as to her
being with child," He is of the Holy Ghost;" and yet his paternal authority
is not taken from him, forasmuch as he is commanded to name the Child; and
again the Virgin Mary herself, who was well aware that it was not by him
that she conceived Christ, yet calls him the father of Christ.

 17. Consider when this was. When the Lord Jesus, as to His Human Nature,
was twelve years old(4) (for as to His Divine Nature He is before all
times, and without time), He tarried behind them in the temple, and
disputed with the elders, and they wondered at His doctrine; and His
parents who were returning from Jerusalem sought Him among their company,
among those, that is, who were journeying with them, and when they found
Him not, they returned in trouble to Jerusalem, and found Him disputing in
the temple with the elders, when He was, as I said, twelve years old. But
what wonder? The Word of God is never silent, though it is not always
heard. He is found then in the temple, and His mother saith to Him, "Why
hast Thou thus dealt with us? Thy father and I have sought Thee sorrowing;"
and He said, "Wist ye not that I must be about My Father's service?"(5)
This He said for that the Son of God was in the temple of God, for that
temple was not Joseph's, but God's. See, says some one, "He did not allow
that He was the Son of Joseph." Wait, brethren, with a little patience,
because of the press of time, that it may be long enough for what I have to
say. When Mary had said, "Thy father and I have sought Thee sorrowing," He
answered, "Wist ye not that I must be about My Father's service?" for He
would not be their Son in such a sense, as not to be understood to be also
the Son of God. For the Son of God He was--ever the Son of God--Creator
even of themselves who spake to Him; but the Son of Man in time; born of a
Virgin without the operation of her husband, yet the Son of both parents.
Whence prove we this? Already have we proved it by the words of Mary, "Thy
father and I have sought Thee sorrowing."

 18. Now in the first place for the instruction of the women, our sisters,
such saintly modesty of the Virgin Mary must not be passed over, brethren.
She had given birth to Christ--the Angel had come to her, and said,
"Behold, thou shall conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a Son, and shalt
call His name Jesus.(6) He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of
the Highest."(7) She(8) had been thought worthy to give birth to the Son of
the Highest, yet was she most humble; nor did she put herself before her
husband, even in the order of naming him, so as to say," I and Thy father,"
but she saith, "Thy father and I." She regarded not the high honour(9) of
her womb, but the order of wedlock did she regard, for Christ the humble
would not have taught His mother to be proud. "Thy father and I have sought
Thee sorrowing." Thy father and I, she saith, "for the husband is the head
of the woman."(10) How much less then ought other women to be proud! for
Mary herself also is called a woman, not from the loss of virginity, but by
a form of expression peculiar to her country; for of the Lord Jesus the
Apostle also said, "made of a woman,"(11) yet there is no interruption
hence to the order and connection of our Creed(12) wherein we confess "that
He was born of the Holy Ghost and the Virgin Mary." For as a virgin she
conceived Him, as a virgin brought Him forth, and a virgin she continued;
but all females they called "women,"(1) by a peculiarity of the Hebrew
tongue. Hear a most plain example of this. The first woman whom God made,
having taken her out of the side of a man, was called a woman before she
"knew" her husband, which we are told was not till after they went out of
Paradise, for the Scripture saith, "He made her a woman."(2)

 19. The answer then of the Lord Jesus Christ, "I must be about My
Father's service," does not in such sense declare God to be His Father, as
to deny that Joseph was His father also; And whence prove we this? By the
Scripture, which saith on this wise, "And He said unto them, Wist ye not
that I must be about My Father's service; but they understood not what He
spake to them: and when He went down with them, He came to Nazareth, and
was subject to them."(3) It did not say, "He was subject to His mother," or
was "subject to her," but "He was subject to them." To whom was He subject?
was it not to His parents? It was to both His parents that He was subject,
by the same condescension by which He was the Son of Man. A little way back
women received their precepts. Now let children receive theirs--to obey
their parents, and to be subject to them. The world was subject unto
Christ, and Christ was subject to His parents.

 20. You see then, brethren, that He did not say, "I must needs be about
My Father's service," in any such sense as that we should understand Him
thereby to have said, "You are not My parents." They were His parents in
time, God was His Father eternally. They were the parents of the Son of
Man--"He," the Father of His Word, and Wisdom, and Power, by whom He made
all things. But if all things were made by that Wisdom, "which reacheth
from one end to another mightily, and sweetly ordereth all things,"(4) then
were they also made by the Son of God to whom He Himself as Son of Man was
afterwards to be subject; and the Apostle says that He is the Son of David,
"who was made of the seed of David according to the flesh."(5) But yet the
Lord Himself proposes a question to the Jews, which the Apostle solves in
these very words; for when he said, "who was made of the seed of David," he
added, "according to the flesh," that it might be understood that He is not
the Son of David according to His Divinity, but that the Son of God is
David's Lord; for thus in another place, when He is setting forth the(6)
privileges of the Jewish people, the Apostle saith, "Whose are the fathers,
of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, Who is over all, God blessed
for ever."(7) As, "according to the flesh," He is David's Son; but as being
"God over all, blessed for ever," He is David's Lord. The Lord then saith
to the Jews, "Whose Son say ye that Christ is?" They answered, "The Son of
David."(8) For this they knew, as they had learnt it easily from the
preaching of the Prophets; and in truth, He was of the seed of David, "but
according to the flesh," by the Virgin Mary, who was espoused to Joseph.
When they answered then that Christ was David's Son, Jesus said to them,
"How then doth David in spirit call Him Lord, saying, The Lord said unto my
Lord, Sit Thou on My fight hand, till I put Thine enemies under Thy
feet.(9) If David then in spirit call Him Lord, how is He his Son?"(10) And
the Jews could not answer Him. So we have it in the Gospel. He did not deny
that He was David's Son, so that they could not understand that He was also
David's Lord. For they acknowledged in Christ that which He became in time,
but they did not understand in Him what He was in all eternity. Wherefore
wishing to teach them His Divinity, He proposed a question touching His
Humanity; as though He would say, "You know that Christ is David's Son,
answer Me, how He is also David's Lord?" And that they might not say, "He
is not David's Lord," He introduced the testimony of David himself. And
what doth he say? He saith indeed the truth. For you find God in the Psalms
saying to David, "Of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy seat."(11)
Here then He is the Son of David. But how is He the Lord of David, who is
David's Son? "The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit Thou on My right hand."(9)
Can you wonder that David's Son is his Lord, when you see that Mary was the
mother of her Lord? He is David's Lord then as being God. David's Lord, as
being Lord of all; and David's Son, as being the Son of Man. At once Lord
and Son. David's Lord, "who, being in the form of God, thought it not
robbery to be equal with God;"(12) and David's Son, in that "He emptied
Himself, taking the form of a servant."(13)

 21. Joseph then was not the less His father, because he knew not the
mother of our Lord, as though concupiscence and not conjugal affection
constitutes the marriage bond.(14) Attend, holy brethren; Christ's Apostle
was some time after this to say in the Church, "It remaineth that they that
have wives be as though they had none."(15) And we know many of our
brethren bringing forth fruit through grace, who for the Name of Christ
practise an entire restraint by mutual consent, who yet suffer no restraint
of true conjugal affection. Yea, the more the former is repressed, the more
is the other strengthened and confirmed. Are they then not married people
who thus live, not requiring from each other any carnal gratification, or
exacting the satisfaction(1) of any bodily desire? And yet the wife is
subject to the husband, because it is fitting that she should be, and so
much the more in subjection is she, in proportion to her greater chastity;
and the husband for his part loveth his wife truly, as it is written, "In
honour and sanctification,"(2) as a coheir of grace: as "Christ," saith the
Apostle, "loved the Church."(3) If then this be a union, and a marriage; if
it be not the less a marriage because nothing of that kind passes between
them, which even with unmarried persons may take place, but then
unlawfully; (O that all could live so, but many have not the power!) let
them at least not separate those who have the power, and deny that the man
is a husband or the woman a wife, because there is no fleshly intercourse,
but only the union of hearts between them.

 22. Hence, my brethren, understand the sense of Scripture concerning
those our ancient fathers, whose sole design in their marriage was to have
children by their wives. For those even who, according to the custom of
their time and nation, had a plurality of wives, lived in such chastity
with them, as not to approach their bed, but for the cause I have
mentioned, thus treating them indeed with honour. But he who exceeds the
limits which this rule prescribes for the fulfilment of this end of
marriage, acts contrary to the very contract(4) by which he took his wife.
The contract is read, read in the presence of all the attesting witnesses;
and an express clause is there that they marry "for the procreation of
children;" and this is called the marriage contract.(5) If it was not for
this that wives were given and taken to wife, what father could without
blushing give up his daughter to the lust of any man But now, that the
parents may not blush, and that they may give their daughters in honourable
marriage, not to shame,(6) the contract is read out. And what is read from
it?--the clause, "for the sake of the procreation of children." And when
this is heard, the brow of the parent is cleared up and calmed. Let us
consider again the feelings(7) of the husband who takes his wife. The
husband himself would blush to receive her with any other view, if the
father would blush with any other view to give her. Nevertheless, if they
cannot contain (as I have said on other occasions), let them require what
is due, and let them not go to any others than those from whom it is due.
Let both the woman and the man seek relief for their infirmity in
themselves. Let not the husband go to any other woman, nor the woman to any
other man, for from this adultery gets its name, as though it were "a going
to another."(8) And if they exceed the bounds of the marriage contract, let
them not at least exceed those of conjugal fidelity. Is it not a sin in
married persons to exact from one another more than this design of the
"procreation of children" renders necessary? It is doubtless a sin, though
a venial one. The Apostle saith, "But I speak this of allowance,"(9) when
he was treating the matter thus. "Defraud ye not one the other, except it
be with consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and
prayer; and come together again, that Satan tempt you not for your
incontinency."(10) What does this mean? That you do not impose. upon
yourselves any thing beyond your strength, that you do not by your mutual
continence fall into adultery. "That Satan tempt you not for your
incontinency." And that he might not seem to enjoin what he only allowed
(for it is one thing to give precepts to strength of virtue, and another to
make allowance to infirmity), he immediately subjoined; "But this I speak
of allowance, not of commandment. For I would that all men were even as I
myself." As though he would say, I do not command you to do this; but I
pardon you if you do.

 23. So then, my brethren, give heed. Those famous men who marry wives
only for the procreation of children, such as we read the Patriarchs to
have been, and know it, by many proofs, by the clear and unequivocal
testimony of the sacred books; whoever, I say, they are who marry wives for
this purpose only, if the means could be given them of having children
without intercourse with their wives, would they not with joy unspeakable
embrace so great a blessing? would they not with great delight accept it?
For there are two carnal operations by which mankind is preserved, to both
of which the wise and holy descend as matter of duty, but the unwise rush
headlong into them through lust; and these are very different things. Now
what are these two things by which mankind is preserved? The first which is
confined to ourselves and relates to taking nourishment (which cannot of
course be taken without some gratification of the flesh), is eating and
drinking; if you do not this you will die. By this one support then of
eating and drinking does the race of man subsist, by a(11) law of its
nature. But by this men are only supported as far as themselves are
concerned; for they do not provide for any succession by eating and
drinking, but by marrying wives. For so is the race of man preserved;
first, by the means of life; but because whatever care they exercise they
cannot of course live for ever, there is a second provision made, that
those who are newly born may replace those who die. For the race of man is,
as it is written, like the leaves on a tree, or an olive, that is, or a
laurel, or some tree of this sort, which is never without foliage, yet
whose leaves are not always the same.(1) For, as it is written, "it
shooteth forth some, and casteth others," because those which sprout afresh
replace the others as they fall, for the tree is ever casting its leaves,
yet is ever clothed with leaves. So also the race of man feels not the loss
of those who die day by day, because of the supply of those who are newly
born; and thus the whole race of mankind is according to its own laws
sustained, and as leaves are ever seen on the trees, so is the earth seen
to be full of men. Whereas if they were only to die, and no fresh ones be
born, the earth would be stripped of all its inhabitants, as certain trees
are of all their leaves.

 24. Seeing then that the human race subsists in such sort, as that those
two supports, of which enough has now been said, are necessary to it, the
wise, and understanding, and the faithful man descends to both as matter of
duty, and does not fall into them through lust. But how many are there who
rush greedily to their eating and drinking, and make their whole life to
consist in them, as if they were the very reason for living. For whereas
men really eat to live, they think that they live to eat. These will every
wise man condemn, and holy Scripture especially, all gluttons, drunkards,
gormandizers, "whose god is their belly."(2) Nothing but the lust of the
flesh, and not the need of refreshment, carries them to the table. These
then fall upon their meat and drink. But they who descend to them from the
duty of maintaining life, do not live to eat, but eat to live. Accordingly,
if the offer were made to these wise and temperate persons that they should
live without food or drink, with what great joy would they embrace the
boon! that now they might not even be forced to descend to that into which
it had never been their custom to fall, but that they might be lifted up
always in the Lord, and no necessity of repairing the wastings of their
body might make them lay aside their fixed attention towards Him. How think
ye that the holy Elias received the cruse of water, and the cake of bread,
to satisfy him for forty days?(3) With great joy no doubt, because he eat
and drank to live, and not to serve his lust. But try to bring this about,
if you could, for a man who, like the beast in his stall, places his whole
blessedness and happiness in the table. He would hate your boon, and thrust
it from him, and look upon it as a punishment. And so in that other duty of
marriage, sensual men seek for wives only to satisfy their sensuality, and
therefore at length are scarce contented even with their wives. And oh! I
would that if they cannot or will not cure their sensuality, they would not
suffer it to go beyond that limit which conjugal duty prescribes, I mean
even that which is granted to infirmity. Nevertheless, if you were to say
to such a man, "why do you marry?" he would answer perhaps for very shame,
"for the sake of children." But if any one in whom he could have
unhesitating credit were to say to him, "God is able to give, and yea, and
will give you children without your having any intercourse with your wife;"
he would assuredly be driven to confess that it was not for the sake of
children that he was seeking for a wife. Let him then acknowledge his
infirmity, and so receive that which he pretended to receive only as matter
of duty.

 25. It was thus those holy men of former times, those men of God sought
and wished for children. For this one end--the procreation of children, was
their intercourse and union with their wives. It is for this reason that
they were allowed to have a plurality of wives. For if immoderateness in
these desires could be well-pleasing to God, it would have been as much
allowed at that time for one woman to have many husbands, as one husband
many wives. Why then had all chaste women no more than one husband, but one
man had many wives, except that for one man to have many wives is a means
to the multiplication of a family, whereas a woman would not give birth to
more children, how many soever more husbands she might have. Wherefore,
brethren, if our fathers(1) union and intercourse with their wives, was for
no other end but the procreation of children, it had been great matter of
joy to them, if they could have had children without that intercourse,
since for the sake of having them they descended to that intercourse only
through duty, and did not rush into it through lust. So then was Joseph not
a father because he had gotten a son without any lust of the flesh? God
forbid that Christian chastity should entertain a thought, which even
Jewish chastity entertained not! Love your wives then, but love them
chastely. In your intercourse with them keep yourselves within the bounds
necessary for the procreation of children. And inasmuch as you cannot
otherwise have them, descend to it with regret. For this necessity is the
punishment of that Adam from whom we are sprung. Let us not make a pride of
our punishment. It is his punishment who because he was made mortal by sin,
was condemned(4) to bring forth only a mortal posterity. This punishment
God has not withdrawn, that man might remember from what state he is called
away, and to what state he is called, and might seek for that union, in
which there can be no corruption.

 26. Among that people then, because it was necessary that there should be
an abundant increase until Christ came, by the multiplication of that
people in whom were to be prefigured all that was to be prefigured as
instruction for the Church, it was a duty to marry wives, by means of whom
that people in whom the Church should be foreshown might increase. But when
the King of all nations Himself was born, then began the honour of
virginity with the mother of the Lord, who had the privilege(1) of bearing
a Son without any loss of her virgin purity. As that then was a true
marriage, and a marriage free from all corruption, so why should not the
husband chastely receive what his wife had chastely brought forth? For as
she was a wife in chastity, so was he in chastity a husband; and as she was
in chastity a mother, so was he in chastity a father. Whoso then says that
he ought not to be called father, because he did not beget his Son in the
usual(2) way, looks rather to the satisfaction of passion in the
procreation of children, and not the natural feeling of affection. What
others desire to fulfil in the flesh, he in a more excellent way fulfilled
in the spirit. For thus they who adopt children, beget them by the heart in
greater chastity, whom they cannot by the flesh beget. Consider, brethren,
the laws of adoption; how a man comes to be the son of another, of whom he
was not born, so that the choice of the person who adopts has more right in
him than the nature of him who begets him has. Not only then must Joseph be
a father, but in a most excellent manner a father. For men beget children
of women also who are not their wives, and they are called natural
children, and the children of the lawful marriage are placed above them.
Now as to the manner of their birth, they are born alike; why then are the
latter set above the other, but because the love of a wife, of whom
children are born, is the more pure. The union of the sexes is not regarded
in this case, for this is the same in both women. Where has the wife the
pre-eminence but in her fidelity, her wedded love, her more true and pure
affection? If then a man could have children by his wife without this
intercourse, should he not have so much the more joy thereby, in proportion
to the greater chastity of her whom he loves the most?

 27. See too by this how it may happen, that one man may have not two sons
only, but two fathers also. For by the mention of adoption, it may occur to
your thoughts that so it may be. For it is said; A man can have two sons,
but two fathers he cannot have. But the truth is, it is found that he can
have two fathers also, if one have begotten him of his body, and another
adopted him in love. If one man then can have two fathers, Joseph could
have two fathers also; might be begotten by one, and adopted by another.
And if this be so, what do their cavillings mean, who insist that Matthew
has followed one set of generations, and Luke another? And in fact we find
that so it is, for Matthew has given Jacob as the father of Joseph, and
Luke Heli. Now it is true it might seem, as if one and the same man, whose
son Joseph was, had two names. But inasmuch as the grandfathers, and all
the other progenitors which they enumerate, are different, and in the very
number of the generations, the one has more, and the other fewer, Joseph is
plainly shown hereby to have had two fathers. Now having disposed of the
cavil of this question, forasmuch as clear reason has shown that it may
happen that he who has begotten a child may be one father, and he who has
adopted him another: supposing two fathers, it is nothing strange if the
grandfathers and the great grandfathers, and the rest in the line upwards
which are enumerated, should be different as coming from different fathers.

 28. And let not the law of adoption seem to you to be foreign to our
Scriptures, and that, as if it were recognised(3) only in the practice of I
human laws, it cannot fall in with the authority of the divine books. For
it is a thing established of old time, and frequently heard of in the
Ecclesiastical books(4)--that not only the natural way of birth, but the
free choice s of the will also, should give birth to a child. For women, if
they had no children of their own, used to adopt children born of their
husbands by their hand-maids, and even oblige their husbands to give them
children in this way; as Sarah, Rachel, and Leah.(6) And in doing this the
husbands did not commit adultery, in that they obeyed their wives in that
matter which had regard to conjugal duty, according to what the Apostle
saith: "The wife hath not power of her own body, but the husband; and
likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body, but the wife."(7)
Moses too, who was born of a Hebrew mother and was exposed, was adopted by
Pharaoh's daughter.(8) There were not then indeed the same forms of law as
now, but the choice of the will was taken for the rule of law, as the
Apostle saith also in another place, "The Gentiles which have not the law,
do by nature the things contained in the law."(9) But if it is permitted to
women to make those their children to whom they have not given birth, why
should it not be allowed men to do so too with those whom they have not
begotten of their body, but of the love of adoption. For we read that the
patriarch Jacob even, the father of so many children, made his
grandchildren, the sons of Joseph, his own children, in these words: "These
too shall be mine, and they shall receive the land with their brethren, and
those which thou begettest after them shall be thine."(1) But it will be
said, perhaps, that this word "adoption" is not found in the Holy
Scriptures. As though it were of any importance by what name it is called,
when the thing itself is there--for a woman to have a child to whom she has
not given birth, or a man a child whom he has not begotten. And he may,
without any opposition from me, refuse to call Joseph adopted, provided he
grant that he may have been the son of a man of whose body he was not born.
Yet the Apostle Paul does continually use this very word "adoption," and(2)
that to express a great mystery. For though Scripture testifies that our
Lord Jesus Christ is the only Son of God, it says, that the brethren and
coheirs whom He hath vouchsafed to have, are made so by a kind of adoption
through Divine grace. "When," saith he, "the fulness of time was come, God
sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them
that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons."(3)
And in another place: "We groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption,
to wit, the redemption of our body."(4) And again, when he was speaking of
the Jews, "I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my
brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh; who are Israelites, to whom
pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the testaments, and the giving
of the law; whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh
Christ came, Who is over all, God blessed for ever."(5) Where he shows,
that the word "adoption," or at least the thing which it signifies, was of
ancient use among the Jews, just as was the Testament and the giving of the
Law, which he mentions together with it.

 29. Added to this; there is another way peculiar to the Jews, in which a
man might be the son of another of whom he was not born according to the
flesh. For kinsmen used to marry the wives of their next of kin, who died
without children, to raise up seed to him that was deceased.(6) So then he
who was thus born was both his son of whom he was born, and his in whose
line of succession he was born. All this has been said, lest any one,
thinking it impossible for two fathers to be mentioned properly for one
man, should imagine that either of the Evangelists who have narrated the
generations of the Lord are to be, by an impious calumny, charged so to say
with a lie; especially when we may see that we are warned against this by
their very words. For Matthew, who is understood to make mention of that
father of whom Joseph was born, enumerates the generations thus: "This one
begat the other," so as to come to what he says at the end, "Jacob begat
Joseph." But Luke--because he cannot properly be said to be begotten who is
made a child either by adoption, or who is born in the succession of the
deceased, of her who was his wife--did not say, "Heli begat Joseph," or
"Joseph whom Hell begat," but "Who was the son of Heli," whether by
adoption, or as being born of the next of kin in the succession of one
deceased.(7)

 30. Enough has now been said to show that the question, why the
generations are reckoned through Joseph and not through Mary, ought not to
perplex us; for as she was a mother without carnal desire, so was he a
father without any carnal intercourse. Let then the generations ascend and
descend through him. And let us not exclude him from being a father,
because he had none of this carnal desire. Let his greater purity only
confirm rather his relationship of father, lest the holy Mary herself
reproach us. For she would not put her own name before her husband; but
said, "Thy father and I have sought Thee sorrowing."(8) Let not then these
perverse murmurers do that which the chaste spouse of Joseph did not. Let
us reckon then through Joseph, because as he is in chastity a husband, so
is he in chastity a father. And let us put the man before the woman,
according to the order of nature and the law of God For if we should cast
him aside and leave her, he would say, and say with reason, "Why have you
excluded me? Why do not the generations ascend and descend through me?"
Shall we say to him, "Because thou didst not beget Him by the operation of
thy flesh?" Surely he will answer, "And is it by the operation of the flesh
that the Virgin bare Him? What the Holy Spirit wrought, He wrought for
both." "Being a just man,"(1) saith the Gospel. The husband then was just
and the woman just. The Holy Spirit reposing in the justice of them both,
gave to both a Son. In that sex which is by nature fitted to give birth, He
wrought that birth which was for the husband also. And therefore doth the
Angel bid them both give the Child a name, and hereby is the authority of
both parents established. For when Zacharias was yet dumb, the mother gave
a name to her newborn son. And when they who were present "made signs to
his father what he would have him called, he took a writing-table and
wrote"(2)) the name which she had already pronounced. So to Mary too the
Angel saith, "Behold, thou shalt conceive a Son, and shalt call His name
Jesus."(3) And to Joseph also he saith, "Joseph, thou son of David, fear
not to take unto thee Mary thy wife; for That which is conceived in her is
of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a Son, and thou shalt call His
name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins."(4) Again it is
said, "And she brought forth a Son to him," s by which he is established to
be a father, not in the flesh indeed, but in love. Let us then acknowledge
him to be a father, as in truth he is. For most advisedly and most wisely
do the Evangelists reckon through him, whether Matthew in descending from
Abraham down to Christ, or Luke in ascending from Christ through Abraham up
to God. The one reckons in a descending, the other in an ascending order;
but both through Joseph. And why? Because he is the father. How the father?
Because he is the more undeniably(6) a father in proportion as he is more
chastely so. He was thought, it is true, to be the father of our Lord Jesus
Christ in another way: that is, as other parents are according to a fleshly
birth, and not through the fruitfulness of a wholly spiritual love. For
Luke said, "Who was supposed to be the father of Jesus."(7) Why supposed?
Because men's thoughts and suppositions were directed to what is usually
the case with men. The Lord then was not of the seed of Joseph, though He
was  supposed to be; yet nevertheless the Son of the Virgin Mary, who is
also the Son of God, was born to Joseph, the fruit of his piety and love.

 31. But why does St Matthew reckon in a descending, and Luke in an
ascending order? I pray you give attentive ear to what the Lord may help me
to say on this matter; with your minds now at ease, and disembarrassed from
all the perplexity of these cavillings. Matthew descends through his
generations, to signify our Lord Jesus Christ descending to bear our sins,
that in the seed of Abraham all nations might be blessed. Wherefore, he
does not begin with Adam, for from him is the whole race of mankind. Nor
with Noe, because from his family again, after the flood, descended the
whole human race. Nor could the man Christ Jesus, as descended from Adam,
from whom all men are descended, bear(8) upon the fulfilment of prophecy;
nor, again, as descended from Noe, from whom also all men are descended;
but only as descended from Abraham, who at that time was chosen, that all
nations should be blessed in his seed, when the earth was now full of
nations. But Luke reckons in an ascending order, and does not begin to
enumerate the generations from the beginning of the account of our Lord's
birth, but from that place, where he relates His Baptism by John. Now, as
in the incarnation of the Lord, the sins of the human race are taken upon
Him to be borne, so in the consecration of His Baptism are they taken on
Him to be expiated. Accordingly, St. Matthew, as representing His descent
to bear our sins, enumerates the generations in a descending order; but the
other, as representing the expiation of sins, not His own, of course, but
our sins, enumerates them in an ascending order. Again, St. Matthew
descends through Solomon, by whose mother David sinned; St. Luke ascends
through Nathan(9) another son of the same David, through whom he was purged
from his sin.(10) For we read, that Nathan was sent to him to reprove him,
and that he might through repentance be healed. Both Evangelists meet
together in David; the one in descending, the other in ascending; and from
David to Abraham, or from Abraham to David, there is no difference in any
one generation. And so Christ, both the Son of David and the Son of
Abraham, comes up to God. For to God must we be brought back, when renewed
in Baptism, from the abolition of sins.

 32. Now, in the generations which Matthew enumerates, the predominant"
number is forty. For it is a custom of the Holy Scriptures, not to reckon
what is over and above certain round numbers.(12) For thus it is said to be
four hundred years, after which the people of Israel went out of Egypt,
whereas it is four hundred and thirty.(13) And so here the one generation,
which exceeds the fortieth, does not take away the predominance of that
number. Now this number signifies the life wherein we labour in this world,
as long as we are absent from the Lord, during which the temporal
dispensation of the preaching of the truth is necessary. For the number
ten, by which the perfection of blessedness is signified, multiplied four
times, because of the fourfold divisions of the seasons, and the fourfold
divisions of the world, will make the number forty.(1) Wherefore Moses and
Elias, and the Mediator Himself, our Lord Jesus Christ, fasted forty days,
because in the time of this life, continence from the enticements of the
body is necessary. Forty years also did the people wander in the
wilderness.(2) Forty days the waters of the flood lasted.(3) Forty days
after His resurrection did the Lord converse with the disciples, persuading
them of the reality(4) of His risen body,(5) whereby He showed that in this
life, "wherein we are absent from the Lord"(6) (which the number forty, as
has been already said, mystically figures), we have need to celebrate the
memory of the Lord's Body, which we do in the Church, till He come.(7)
Forasmuch, then as our Lord descended to this life, and "the Word was made
flesh, that He might be delivered for our sins, and rise again for our
justification,"(8) Matthew followed the number forty; so that the one
generation which there exceeds that number, either does not hinder its
predominance--just as those thirty years do not hinder the perfect number
of four hundred--or that it even has this further meaning, that the Lord
Himself, by the addition of whom the forty-one is made up, so descended to
this life to bear our sins, as yet, by a peculiar and especial excellency,
whereby He is in such sense man, as to be also God, to be found to be
excepted from this life. For of Him only is that said, which never has been
or shall be able to be said of any holy man, however perfected in wisdom
and righteousness, "The Word was made Flesh."(9)

 33. But Luke, who ascends up through the generations from the baptism of
the Lord, makes up the number seventy-seven, beginning to ascend from our
Lord Jesus Christ Himself through Joseph, and coming through Adam up to
God. And that is, because by this number is signified the abolition of all
sins, which takes place in Baptism. Not that the Lord Himself had any thing
to be forgiven Him in baptism, but that by His humility He set forth its
usefulness to us. And though that was only the baptism of John, yet there
appeared in it to outward sense the Trinity of the Father, the Son, and the
Holy Ghost; and hereby was consecrated the Baptism of Christ Himself,
whereby Christians were to be baptized. The Father in the voice which came
from heaven, the Son in the person of the Mediator Himself, the Holy Ghost
in the dove.(10)

 34. Now, why the number seventy-seven should contain all sins which are
remitted in Baptism, there occurs this probable reason, for that the number
ten implies the perfection of all righteousness, and blessedness, when the
creature denoted by seven(11) cleaves to the Trinity of the Creator; whence
also the Decalogue of the Law was consecrated in ten precepts. Now the
"transgression" of the number ten is signified by the number eleven; and
sin is known to be transgression, when a man, in seeking something "more,"
exceeds the rule of justice. And hence the Apostle calls avarice "the root
of all evils."(12) And to the soul which goes a-whoring from God, it is
said, in the Person of the same Lord, "Thou wast in hope, if thou didst
depart from Me, that thou wouldest have something more." Because the sinner
then has in his transgression, that is, in his sin, regard to himself
alone--in that he wishes to gratify himself by some private good of his own
(whence they are blamed "who seek their own, not the things which are Jesus
Christ's;"(13) and charity is commended, "which seeketh not her own"(14));
therefore, this number eleven, by which transgression is signified, is
multiplied, not ten times, but seven, and so makes up seventy-seven. For
transgression looks(15) not to the Trinity of the Creator, but to the
creature, that is, to the man himself, which creature the number seven
denotes. Three, because of the soul, in which there(16) is a kind of image
of the Trinity of the Creator (for it is in the soul that man has been made
after the image of God); and four, because of the body. For the four
elements(17) of which the body is made up are known by all. And if any one
know them not, he may easily remember, that this body of the world, in
which our bodies move along, has, so to say, four principal parts, which
even Holy Scripture is constantly making mention of, East, and West, and
North, and South. And forasmuch as sins are committed either by the mind,
as in the will only, or by the works of the body also, and so visibly;
therefore the Prophet Amos continually introduces(18) God as threatening,
and saying, "For three and four iniquities I will not turn away," that is,"
I will not dissemble My wrath."(19) Three, because of the nature of the
soul; four, because of that of the body; of which two, man consists.

 35. So, then, seven times eleven, that is, as has been explained, the
transgression of righteousness, which has regard only to the sinner
himself, make up the number seventy-seven, in which it is signified, that
all sins which are remitted in Baptism are contained. And hence it, is that
Luke ascends up through seventy-seven generations unto God, as showing that
man is reconciled unto God by the abolition of all sin. Hence the Lord
Himself saith to Peter, who asked Him how oft he ought to forgive a
brother, "I say not unto thee(1) seven times, but until seventy times and
seven."(2) Now, whatever else can be drawn out of these recesses and
treasures of God's mysteries by those who are more diligent and more worthy
than I, receive. Yet have I spoken according to my poor ability, as the
Lord hath aided and given me power, and as I best could, considering also
the little time I had. If any one of you be capable of anything further,
let him knock at Him from whom I too receive what I am able to receive and
speak. But, above all things, remember this; not to be disturbed by the
Scriptures, which you do not yet understand, nor be puffed up by what you
do understand; but what you do not understand, with submissions wait for,
and what you do understand, hold fast with charity.

SERMON II.

[LII. BEN.]

OF THE WORDS OF ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL, CHAP. III. 13, "THEN JESUS COMETH
FROM GALILEE TO THE JORDAN UNTO JOHN, TO BE BAPTIZED OF HIM." CONCERNING
THE TRINITY.

 I. THE lesson of the Gospel hath set before me a subject whereof to speak
to you, beloved, as though by the Lord's command, and by His command in
very deed. For my heart hath waited for an order as it were from Him to
speak, that I might understand thereby that it is His wish that I should
speak on that which He hath also willed should be read to you. Let your
zeal and devotion then give ear, and before the Lord our God Himself aid ye
my labour. For we behold and see as it were in a divine spectacle exhibited
to us, the notice of our God in Trinity, Conveyed(4) to us at the river
Jordan. For when Jesus came and was baptized by John, the Lord by His
servant (and this He did for an example  of humility; for He showeth that
in this same humility is righteousness fulfilled, when as John said to Him,
"I have need to be baptized of Thee, and comest Thou to me?"(5) He
answered, "Suffer it to be so now, that all righteousness may be
fulfilled"(6)), when He was baptized then, the heavens were opened, and the
Holy Spirit came down upon Him in the form of a Dove: and then a Voice from
on high followed, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."(7)
Here then we have the Trinity in a certain sort distinguished. The Father
in the Voice,--the Son in the Man,- -the Holy Spirit in the Dove. It was
only needful just to mention this, for most obvious is it to see. For the
notice of the Trinity is here conveyed to us plainly and without leaving
room for doubt or hesitation. For the Lord Christ Himself coming in the
form of a servant to John, is doubtlessly the Son: for it cannot be said
that it was the Father, or the Holy Spirit. "Jesus," it is said,
"cometh;"(8) that is, the Son of God. And who hath any doubt about the
Dove? or who saith, "What is the Dove?" when the Gospel itself most plainly
testifieth, "The Holy Spirit descended upon Him in the form of a dove."(9)
And in like manner as to that voice there can be no doubt that it is the
Father's, when He saith, "Thou art My Son."(10) Thus then we have the
Trinity distinguished.

 2. And if we consider the places, I say with confidence (though in fear I
say it), that the Trinity is in a manner separable. When Jesus came to the
river, He came from one place to another; and the Dove descended from
heaven to earth, from one place to another; and the very Voice of the
Father sounded neither from the earth, nor from the water, but from heaven;
these three are as it were separated in places, in offices, and in works.
But one may say to me, "Show the Trinity to be inseparable rather. Remember
that thou who art speaking art a Catholic, and to Catholics art thou
speaking." For thus doth our faith teach, that is, the true, the right
Catholic faith, gathered not by the opinion of private(11) judgment, but by
the witness of the Scriptures,(12) not subject to the fluctuations of
heretical rashness, but grounded on Apostolic truth: this we know, this we
believe. This though we see it not with our eyes, nor as yet with the
heart, so long as we are being purified by faith, yet by this faith we most
lightly and most strenuously maintain--That the Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit are a Trinity inseparable; One God, not three Gods. But yet so One
God, as that the Son is not the Father, and the Father is not the Son, and
the Holy Spirit is neither the Father nor the Son, but the Spirit of the
Father and of the Son. This ineffable Divinity, abiding ever in itself,
making all things new, creating, creating anew, sending, recalling,
judging, delivering, this Trinity, I say, we know to be at once ineffable
and inseparable.

 3. What am I then about? See: The Son came separately in the Man; The
Holy Spirit descended separately from heaven in the form of a Dove; The
Voice of the Father sounded separately out of heaven, "This is My Son."
Where then is this inseparable Trinity? God hath made you attentive by my
words. Pray for me, and open, as it were, the folds(1) of your hearts, and
may He grant you wherewith your hearts so opened may be filled. Share my
travail with me. For you see what I have undertaken; and not only what, but
who I am that have undertaken it, and of what I wish to speak, and where
and what my position is, even in that" body which is corruptible, and
presseth down the soul, and the earthly habitation weigheth down the mind
that museth upon many things."(2) When therefore I abstract my mind from
the multiplicity of things, and gather it up into the One God, the
inseparable Trinity, that so I may see something which I may say of it,
think ye that in this "body which presseth down the soul," I shall be able
to say (in order that I may speak to you something worthy of the subject),
"O Lord, I have lifted up my soul unto Thee."(3) May He assist me, may He
lift it up with me. For I am too infirm in respect of Him, and He in
respect of me is too mighty.

 4. Now this is a question which is often proposed by the most earnest
brethren, and often has place in the conversation of the lovers of God's
word; for this much knocking is wont to be made unto God, while men say,
"Doeth the Father anything which the Son doeth not? or doeth the Son
anything which the Father doeth not?" Let us first speak of the Father and
the Son. And when He to Whom we say, "Be Thou my helper, leave me not,"(4)
shall have given good success to this essay of ours, then shall we
understand how that the Holy Spirit also is in no way separated from the
operation of the Father and the Son. As concerning the Father and the Son,
then, brethren, give ear. Doeth the Father anything without the Son? We
answer, No. Do you doubt it? For what doeth He without Him "by Whom all
things were made? All things," saith the Scripture, "were made by Him."(5)
And to inculcate it fully(6) upon the slow, and hard, and disputatious it
added, And without Him was not anything made."

 5. What then, brethren? "All things were made by Him." We understand then
by this that the whole creation which was made by the Son, the Father made
by His Word-- God, by His Power and Wisdom. Shall we then say, "All things"
indeed when they were created, "were made by Him," but now the Father doeth
not all things by Him? God forbid Be such a thought as this far from the
hearts of believers; be it driven away from the mind of the devout; from
the understanding of the godly !It cannot be that He created by Him, and
doth not govern by Him. God forbid that what existeth should be governed
without Him, when by Him it was made, that it might have existence! But let
us show by the testimony of the same Scripture that not only were all
things created and made by Him as we have quoted from the Gospel, "All
things were made by Him, and without Him was nothing made," but that the
things which were made are also governed and ordered by Him. You
acknowledge Christ then to be the Power and Wisdom of God; acknowledge too
what is said of Wisdom, "She reacheth from one end to another mightily, and
sweetly doth she order all things."(7) Let us not then doubt that by Him
are all things ruled, by whom all things were made. So then the Father
doeth nothing without the Son, nor the Son without the Father.

 6. But so a difficulty meets us, which we have undertaken to solve in the
Name of the Lord, and by His will. If the Father doeth nothing without the
Son, nor the Son without the Father, will it not follow, that we must say
that the Father also was born of the Virgin Mary, the Father suffered under
Pontius Pilate, the Father rose again and ascended into heaven? God forbid
!We do not say this, because we do not believe it. "For I believed,
therefore have I spoken: we also believe, and therefore speak."(8) What(9)
is in the Creed? That the Son was born of a Virgin, not the Father. What is
in the Creed? That the Son suffered under Pontius Pilate and was dead, not
the Father. Have we forgotten, that some, misunderstanding this, are called
"Patripassians," who say that the Father Himself was born of a woman, that
the Father Himself suffered, that the Father is the same as the Son, that
they are two names, not two things? And these hath the Church Catholic
separated from the communion of saints, that they might not deceive any,
but dispute in separation from her.

 7. Let us then recall the difficulty of the question to your minds. One
may say to me, "You have said that the Father doeth nothing without the
Son, nor the Son without the Father, and testimonies you have adduced out
of the Scriptures, that the Father doeth nothing without the Son, for that
'all things were made by Him;' and again, that that which was made is not
governed without the Son, for that He is the Wisdom of the Father,
'reaching from one end to another mightily, and sweetly ordering all
things.' And now you tell me, as if contradicting yourself, that the Son
was born of a Virgin, and not the Father; the Son suffered, not the Father;
the Son rose again, not the Father. See then, here I see the Son doing
something which the Father doeth not. Do you therefore either confess that
the Son doeth something without the Father, or else that the Father also
was born and suffered, and died and rose again. Say one or the other of
these, choose one of the two." No: I will choose neither, I will say
neither the one nor the other. I will neither say the Son doeth anything
without the Father, for I should lie were I to say so; nor that the Father
was born, suffered, and died, and rose again, for I should equally lie were
I to say this. "How then, saith he, will you disentangle yourself from
these straits?"

 8. The proposing of the question pleases you. May God grant His aid, that
its solution may please you too. See, what I am asking Him, that He would
free both me and you. For in one faith do we stand in the Name of Christ;
and in one house do we live under one Lord, and in one body are we members
under One Head, and by One Spirit are we quickened.(1) That the Lord then
may set both me who speak, and you who hear, free from the straits of this
most perplexing question, I say as follows: The Son indeed and not the
Father was born of the Virgin Mary; but this very birth of the Son, not of
the Father, was the work both of the Father and the Son. The Father indeed
suffered not, but the Son, yet the suffering of the Son was the work of the
Father and the Son. The Father did not rise again, but the Son, yet the
resurrection of the Son was the work of the Father and the Son. We seem
then to be already quit of this question, but peradventure it is only by
words of my own; let us see whether it is not as well by words divine. It
is my place then to prove by testimonies of the sacred books, that the
birth, and passion, and resurrection of the Son were in such sort the works
of the Father  and the Son, that whereas it is the birth, and passion, and
resurrection of the Son only, yet these three things which belong to the
Son only, were wrought neither by the Father alone, nor by the Son alone,
but by the Father and the Son. Let us prove each several point, you hear as
judges; the case has been already laid open; now let the witnesses come
forth. Let your judgment say to me, as is wont to be said to pleaders in a
cause, "Establish what you promise." I will do so assuredly, with the
Lord's assistance, and will cite the books of heavenly law. Ye have
listened to me attentively while proposing the question, listen now with
still more attention while I prove my point.

 9. I must first teach you concerning the birth of Christ, how it is the
work of the Father and the Son, though what the Father and the Son did work
pertains only to the Son. I will quote Paul; one competently versed in the
divine law. That Paul, I say, will I quote, who prescribes the laws of
peace, not of litigation, for lawyers at this day also have a Paul who
prescribes the I laws of the courts,(2) not the Christian's laws. Let the
holy Apostle show us then how the birth of the Son was the work of the
Father. "But" I saith he, "when the fulness of time was come,

God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the Law, to redeem them
that were under the Law."(3) Thus have ye heard him, and because it is
plain and express, have understood. See, the Father made the Son to be born
of a Virgin. For "when the fulness of time was come, God sent His Son;" the
Father sent His Christ. How sent He Him? "made of a woman, made under the
Law." The Father then made Him of a woman under the Law.

 10. Doth this peradventure perplex you, that I said of a virgin, and Paul
saith of a woman? Let not this perplex you; let us not stop here, for I am
not speaking to persons without instruction. The Scripture saith both, both
"of a virgin," and "of a woman." Where saith it, "of a virgin? Behold, a
virgin shall conceive, and bear a Son."(4) And "of a woman," as you have
just heard; here there is no contradiction. For the peculiarity of the
Hebrew tongue gives s the name of "women" not to such as have lost their
virgin estate, but to females generally. You have a plain passage in
Genesis, when Eve herself was first made, "He made her a woman."(6)
Scripture also in another place saith, that God ordered "the women" to be
separated "which had not known man by lying with him."(7) This then ought
now to be well established, and should not detain us, that so we may be
able to explain, by the Lord's assistance, what will deservedly detain us.

 11. We have then proved that the birth of the Son was the work of the
Father; now let us prove that it was the work of the Son also. Now what is
the birth of the Son of the Virgin Mary? Surely it is His assumption of the
form of a servant in the Virgin's womb. Is the birth of the Son ought else,
but the taking of the form of a servant in the womb of the Virgin? Now hear
how that this was the work of the Son also. "Who when He was in the form of
God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but emptied Himself,
taking upon Him the form of a servant."(8) "When the fulness of time was
come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman,"(9) who was "made(10) His
Son of the seed of David according to the flesh."(11) In this then we see
that the birth of the Son was the work of the Father; but in that the Son
Himself "emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant," we see that the
birth of the Son was the work also of the Son Himself. This then has been
proved; so let us pass on from this point, and receive ye with attention
that which comes next in order.

 12. Let us prove that the Passion also of the Son was the work of the
Father and the Son. We may see(1) that the Passion of the Son is the work
of the Father, since it is written, "Who spared not His own Son, but
delivered Him up for us all;"(2) and that the Passion of the Son was His
own work also, "Who loved me, and gave Himself for me."(3) The Father
delivered up the Son, and the Son delivered up Himself. This Passion was
wrought out for one, but by both. As therefore the birth, so the Passion,
of Christ, was not the work of the Son without the Father, nor of the
Father without the Son. The Father delivered up the Son, and the Son
delivered up Himself. What did Judas in it, but his own sin? Let us then
pass on from this point also, and come we to the resurrection.

 13. Let us see the Son indeed, and not the Father, rising again, but both
the Father and the Son working the resurrection of the Son. The
resurrection of the Son is the work of the Father; for it is written,
"Wherefore He exalted Him, and gave Him a name which is above every
name."(4) The Father therefore raised the Son to life again, in exalting,
and awakening Him from the dead. And did the Son also raise Himself?
Assuredly He did. For He said of the temple, as the figure of His own body,
"Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it again."(5) Lastly,
as the laying down of life has reference to the Passion, so the taking it
again has reference to the resurrection. Let us  see then if the Son laid
down His life indeed, and the Father restored His life to Him, and not He
to Himself. For that the Father restored it is plain. For so saith the
Psalm, "Raise Thou Me up, and I will requite them."(6) But why do ye wait
for a proof from me that the Son also restored life to Himself? Let Him
speak Himself; "I have power to lay down My life." I have not yet said what
I promised. I have said, "to lay it down;" and you are crying out already,
for you are flying past me. For well-instructed as ye are in the school of
your heavenly teacher, as attentively listening to, and in pious affection
rehearsing,(7) what is read, ye are not ignorant of what comes next. "I
have power," saith He, "to lay down My life, and I have power to take it
again. No man taketh it from Me, but I lay  it down of Myself, and take it
again."(8)

 14. I have made good what I promised; I have established my propositions
with, as I think, the strongest proofs and testimonies. Hold fast then what
you have heard. I will recapitulate it briefly, and entrust it to be stored
up in your minds as a thing, to my thinking, of the greatest usefulness.
The Father was not born of the Virgin; yet this birth of the Son from the
Virgin was the work both of the Father and the Son. The Father suffered not
on the Cross; yet the Passion of the Son was the work both of the Father
and the Son. The Father rose not again from the dead; yet the resurrection
of the Son was the work both of the Father and the Son. You see then a
distinction of Persons, and an inseparableness of operation. Let us not say
therefore that the Father doeth any thing without the Son, or the Son any
thing without the Father. But perhaps you have a difficulty as to the
miracles which Jesus did, lest peradventure He did some which the Father
did not! Where then is that saying, "The Father who dwelleth in Me, He
doeth the works?"(9) All that I have now said was plain; it needed to be
barely mentioned; there was no necessity for much labour to make it
understood, but only that care should be taken, that it might be brought to
four remembrance.

 15. I wish to say something further, and here ask sincerely both for your
more earnest attention, and your devotion to Godward. For none but bodies
are held or contained in places suited to the nature(10) of bodies. The
Divinity is beyond all such places: let no one seek for it as though it
were in space. It is everywhere invisible and inseparably present; not in
one part greater, and another smaller; but whole everywhere, and nowhere
divided. Who can see? Who can comprehend this? Let us restrain ourselves:
let us remember who we are; and of Whom we speak. Let this and that, or
whatever appertains(11) to the nature of God, be with a pious faith
embraced, with a holy respect entertained, and as far as is allowed us, as
far as is possible for us, in an unspeakable sort understood. Let words be
hushed: let the tongue be silent, let the heart be aroused, let the heart
be lifted up thither. For it is not of such a nature as that it can ascend
into the heart of man; but the heart of man must itself ascend to it. Let
us consider the creatures ("for the invisible things of Him from the
creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that
are made"(12)), if haply in the things which God hath made, with which we
have some familiarity of intercourse, we may find some resemblance, whereby
we may prove that there are some three things which may be exhibited(1) as
three separably, yet whose operation is inseparable.

 16. Come, brethren, give me your whole attention. But first of all
consider what it is that I promise; if haply I can find any resemblance in
the creature, for the Creator is too high above us. And peradventure some
one of us, whose mind the glare of truth hath, as it were, stricken with
sparks of its brightness, can say those words, "I said in my ecstasy."--
What saidst thou in thine ecstasy?--"I am cast away from the sight of Thine
eyes."(2) For it seems to me as if he who said this had lifted up his soul
unto God, and had been carried beyond himself, while they said daily unto
him, "Where is thy God?"- -had reached by a kind of spiritual contact to
that unchangeable Light, and through the weakness(3) of his sight had been
unable to endure it, and so had fallen back again into his own, as it were,
sick and languid state, and had compared himself with that Light, and had
felt that the eye of his mind could not yet be attempered to the light of
God's wisdom. And because he had done this in ecstasy, hurried away from
his bodily senses, and taken(4) up into God, when he was recalled in a
manner from God to man, he said, "I said in my ecstasy." For I saw in
ecstasy I know not what, which I could not long endure, and being restored
to my mortal estate,(5) and the manifold thoughts of mortal things from the
body which presseth down the soul, I said, what? "I am cast away from the
sight of Thine eyes." Thou art far above, and I am far below. What then,
brethren, shall we say of God? For if thou hast been able to comprehend
what thou wouldest say, it is not God; if thou hast been able to comprehend
it, thou hast comprehended something else instead of God. If thou hast been
able to comprehend Him as thou thinkest, by so thinking thou hast deceived
thyself. This then is not God, if thou hast comprehended it; but if it be
God, thou hast not comprehended it. How therefore wouldest thou speak of
that which thou canst not comprehend?

 17. Let us see then, if haply we cannot find something in the creature
whereby we may prove that some three things are exhibited(6) separately
whose operation is yet inseparable. But whither shall we go? To the heaven,
to dispute of the sun and moon and stars? To the earth, to dispute of
shrubs, and trees, and animals which fill the earth? Or of the heaven and
the earth itself, which contain all the things that are in heaven and
earth? How long, O man, wilt thou roam over the creation? Return unto
thyself, see, consider, examine thine own self. Thou art searching among
the creatures for some three things which are separately exhibited, whose
operation is yet inseparable; if then thou art searching for this among the
creatures, search for it first in thine own self. For thou art not other
than a creature. It is a resemblance thou art searching for. Wouldest thou
search for it among the cattle? For of God it was thou wast speaking, when
thou wast in search for this resemblance. Thou wast speaking of the Trinity
of Majesty ineffable, and because thou didst fail in contemplating(7) the
Divine Nature, and with becoming humility didst confess thine infirmity,
thou didst come down to human nature; there then pursue thine enquiry. Wilt
thou make thy search among the cattle, in the sun, or the stars? What of
these was made after the image and likeness of God? Thou mayest search in
thine own self for something more familiar to thee, and more excellent than
all these. For God made man after His own image and likeness. Search then
in thine own self, if haply the image of the Trinity bear not some vestige
of the Trinity. And what is this image? It is an image very different from
its model; yet different as it is, it is an image and a likeness
notwithstanding, not indeed in the same way as the Son is the Image, being
the Same Which the Father is. For an image is in one sort in a son, and in
another in a mirror. There is great difference between them. Thine image in
thy son is thine own self, for the son is by nature what thou art. In
substance the same as thou, in person other than thou. Man then is not an
image as the Only-begotten Son is, but made after a sort of image and
likeness. Let him then search for something in himself, if so be he may
find it, even for some three things which are exhibited s separately, whose
operation is yet inseparable. I will search, and do ye search with me. I
will not search in you, but do ye search in yourselves, and I in myself.
Let us search in concert, and in concert discuss our common nature and
substance.

 18. See, O man, and consider whether what I am saying be true. Hast thou
a body and flesh? I have, you say. For how am I in this place that I now
occupy, and how do I move from place to place? How do I hear the words of
one who is speaking, but by the ears of my body? How do I see the mouth of
him who is speaking, but by the eyes of my body? It is plain then that thou
hast a body, no need is there to trouble one's self about so plain a
matter. Consider then another point, consider what it is that acts through
this body. For thou hearest by means of the ear, but it is not the ear that
hears. There is something else within which hears by means of the ear. Thou
seest by means of the eye--examine this eye. What!

hast thou acknowledged the house, and paid no regard to him that inhabiteth
it? Doth the eye see by itself? Is it not another that sees by means of the
eye? I will not say, that the eye of a dead man, from whose body it is
plain the inhabitant hath departed, sees not, but any man's eye who is only
thinking of something else, sees not the form of the object that is before
him. Look then into thine inner man. For there it is rather that the
resemblance must be sought for of some three things which are exhibited
separately, whose operation is yet inseparable. What then is in thy mind?
Peradventure if I search, I find many things there, but there is something
very nigh at hand, which is understood more easily. What then is in thy
soul? Call it to mind, reflect upon it. For I do not require that credit
should be given me in what I am about to say; if thou find it not in
thyself, admit it not. Look inward then; but first let us see what had
escaped me, whether man be not the image, not of the Son only, or of the
Father only, but of the Father and the Son, and so consequently of course
of the Holy Ghost also. The words in Genesis are, "Let Us make man after
Our own image and likeness."(1) So then the Father doth not act without the
Son, nor the Son without the Father. "Let Us make man after Our own image
and likeness. Let us make," not, "I will make," or "Make thou," or "Let him
make," but, "Let Us make after," not "thine image," or "mine," but, "after
Our image."

 19. I am asking, I am speaking remember of a distant(2) resemblance. So
let no one say, See what he has compared to God! I have advertised you of
this already, and by anticipation have both put you on your guard, and have
guarded myself. The two are indeed very far removed from each other, as the
lowest from the Highest, as the changeable from the Unchangeable, the
created from the Creator, the human nature from the Divine. Lo! I apprise
you of this at first, that no one may say ought against me, because there
is so great a difference in the things whereof I am about to speak. Lest
then while I am asking for your ears, ye should any of you be getting ready
your teeth, remember I have undertaken merely to show, that there are some
three things which are separately exhibited, whose operation is yet
inseparable. How like or how unlike these things are to the Almighty
Trinity is no concern of mine at present; but in the very creatures of the
lowest order, and subject to change, we do find three things which may be
separately exhibited, whose operation is yet inseparable. O carnal
imagination! obstinate, unbelieving conscience! Why as concerning that
ineffable Majesty dost thou doubt as to that thing, which thou canst
discover in thine own self? For I ask thee, O man, hast thou memory? If
not, how hast thou retained what I have said? But perhaps thou hast
forgotten already what I said but a little while ago. Yet these very words,
"I said"--these two syllables, thou couldest not retain except by memory.
For how shouldest thou know they were two, if as the second sounded, thou
hadst forgotten the first? But why do I dwell longer on this? Why am I so
urgent? Why do I so press conviction? For thou hast memory; it is plain. I
am searching then for something else. Hast thou understanding? "I have,"
you will say. For hadst thou not memory, thou couldest not retain what I
said; and hadst thou not understanding, thou couldest not comprehend what
thou hast retained. Thou hast then this as well as the other. Thou
recallest thine understanding unto that which thou dost retain within, and
so thou seest it, and by seeing art fashioned into that state as to be said
to know. But I am searching for a third thing. Memory thou hast, whereby to
retain what is said; and understanding thou hast, whereby to understand
what is retained; but as touching these two, I ask again of thee, Hast thou
not with thy will retained and understood? Undoubtedly, with my will, you
will say. So then thou hast will.

 These are the three things which I promised I would bring home to your
ears and minds. These three things are in thee, which thou canst, number,
but canst not separate. These three then, memory, understanding, and will--
these three, I say, consider how they are separately exhibited,(3) yet is
their operation inseparable.

 20. The Lord will be my present help, and I see that He is present to
help me; by your understanding what I say, I see that He is present to help
me. For I perceive by these your voices how that you have understood me,
and I surely trust that He will still assist us, that you may comprehend
the whole. I promised to show you three things which are separately
exhibited whose operation is yet inseparable. See then; I did not know what
was in thy mind, and thou showedest me by saying, "Memory." This word, this
sound, this expression came forth from thy mind to mine ears. For before
that, thou hadst the silent idea of this memory, but thou didst not express
it. It was in thee, but it had not yet come to me. But in order that that
which was in thee might be passed on to me, thou didst express the very
word, that is, "Memory." I heard it, I heard these three syllables in the
word, "Memory." It is a noun, a word of three syllables, it sounded, and
came to my ear, and impressed(1) a certain idea on my mind. The sound has
passed away, but the word whereby the idea was conveyed, and the idea
itself, remains. But I ask, when thou didst pronounce this word, "Memory,"
thou seest certainly that it has reference to the memory only. For the
other two things have their own proper names. For one is called "the
understanding," and the other, "the will," not the "memory," but that one
alone is called "memory." Nevertheless, whereby didst thou work in order to
express this, in order to produce these three syllables? This word which
has reference to the memory only, both memory was engaged in producing in
thee, that thou mightest retain what thou saidst, and understanding, that
thou mightest know what thou retainedst, and will, that thou mightest give
expression to what thou knewest. Thanks be to the Lord our God! He hath
helped us, both you and me. For I tell you the truth, beloved, that I
undertook the examination and explanation of this subject with exceeding
fear. For I was afraid lest haply I might gladden the spirit of the more
enlarged in mind, and inflict on the slower capacities an afflictive
weariness. But now I see both by the attention with which you have heard,
and the quickness with which you have understood me, that you have not only
caught what I have said, but that you have anticipated my words. Thanks be
to the Lord!

 21. See then, henceforth I speak in all security of that which you have
already understood; I am inculcating no unknown lesson, but am only
conveying to you by recapitulation what you have already received. Now, of
these three things, one only has been yet named and expressed; "Memory" is
the name of one only of those three, yet all the three concurred in
producing the name of this single one of the three. The single word
"memory" could not be expressed, but by the operation of the will, and the
understanding, and the memory. The single word "understanding" could not be
expressed, but by the operation of the memory, the will, and the
understanding; and the single word "will" could not be expressed, but by
the operation of the memory and the understanding and the will. What I
promised, then, I think has been explained, that which I have pronounced
separately, I conceived inseparably. The three together have produced each
one of these, but yet this one which the three have produced has reference
not to the three, but to one. The three together have produced the word
"memory," but this word has reference to none but the memory only. The
three together have produced the word "understanding," but it has reference
to none but the understanding only. The three together have produced the
word "will," but it has reference to none but the will only. So the Trinity
concurred in the formation of the Body of Christ, but it belongs to none
but Christ only. The Trinity concurred in the formation of the Dove from
heaven; but it belongs to none but the Holy Spirit only. The Trinity formed
the Voice from heaven, but this Voice belongs to none but the Father only.

 22. Let no one then say to me, no one with unfair cavils try to press
upon my infirmity, saying, "Which then of these three, which you have shown
to be in our mind or soul, which of them(2) answers to the Father, that is,
so to say, to the likeness of the Father, which of them to that of the Son,
and which of them to that of the Holy Ghost?" I cannot say--I cannot
explain this. Let us leave somewhat to meditation and to silence. Enter
into thine own self; separate thyself from all tumult. look into thine
inner self; see if thou have there some sweet retiring place of conscience,
where there may be no noise, no disputation, no strife, or debatings; where
there will be not a thought of dissensions, and obstinate contention. Be
meek to hear the word, that so thou mayest understand. Perhaps thou mayest
soon have to say, "Thou wilt make me hear of joy and gladness, and my bones
shall rejoice;"(3) the bones, that is, which are humbled, not those that
are lifted up.

 23. It is enough, then, that I have shown that there are some three
things which are exhibited separately, whose operation is yet inseparable.
If thou hast discovered this in thine own self; if thou hast discovered it
in man; if thou hast discovered it in a being(4) that walketh on the earth,
and beareth about a frail "body, which weigheth down the soul;" believe
that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit may be exhibited separately, by
certain visible symbols, by certain forms borrowed from the creatures, and
still their operation be inseparable. This is enough. I do not say that
"memory" is the Father,--the "understanding" the Son,--and "will" the
Spirit; I do not say this; let men understand it how they will. I do not
venture to say this. Let us reserve the greater truths for those who are
capable of them: but, infirm as I am myself, I convey to the infirm only
what is according to our powers. I do not say that these things are in any
sort to be equalled with the Holy Trinity, to be squared after an analogy;
that is, a kind of exact rule of comparison. This I do not say. But what do
I say? See. I have discovered in thee three things, which are exhibited
separately, whose operation is inseparable; and of these three, every
single name is produced by the three together; yet does not this name
belong to the three, but to some one of the three. Believe then in the
Trinity, what thou canst not see, if in thyself thou hast heard, and seen,
and retained it. For what is in thine own self thou canst know: but what is
in Him who made thee, whatever it be, how canst thou know? And if thou
shalt be ever able, thou art not able yet. And even when thou shalt be
able, wilt thou be able so to know God, as He knoweth Himself? Let then
this suffice you, beloved I have said all I could; I have made good my
promise as ye required. As to the rest which must be added, that your
understanding may make advancement, this seek from the Lord.

SERMON III.

[LIII. BEN.]

ON THE WORDS OF THE GOSPEL, MATT. CHAP. V. 3 AND 8, "BLESSED ARE THE POOR
IN SPIRIT:" ETC., BUT ESPECIALLY ON THAT, "BLESSED ARE THE PURE IN HEART:
FOR THEY SHALL SEE GOD."

 1. By the return of the commemoration of a holy virgin, who gave her
testimony to Christ, and was found worthy(1) of a testimony from Christ,
who was put to death openly, and crowned invisibly, I am reminded to speak
to you, beloved, on that exhortation which the Lord hath just now uttered
out of the Gospel,(2) assuring us that there are many sources of a blessed
life, which there is not a man that does not wish for. There is not a man
surely can be found, who does not wish to be blessed. But oh! if as men
desire the reward, so they would not decline the work that leads to it! Who
would not run with all alacrity, were it told him, "Thou shalt be blessed"?
Let him then also give a glad and ready ear when it is said, "Blessed, if
thou shalt do thus." Let not the contest be declined, if the reward be
loved; and let the mind be enkindled to an eager execution of the work, by
the setting forth of the reward. What we desire, and wish for, and seek,
will be hereafter; but what we are ordered to do for the sake of that which
will be hereafter, must be now. Begin now, then, to recall to mind the
divine sayings, and the precepts and rewards of the Gospel. "Blessed are
the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."(3) The kingdom of
heaven shall be thine hereafter; be poor in spirit now. Wouldest thou that
the kingdom of heaven should be thine hereafter? Look well to thyself whose
thou art now. Be poor in spirit. You ask me, perhaps, "What is to be poor
in spirit?" No one who is puffed up is poor in spirit; therefore he that is
lowly is poor in spirit. The kingdom of heaven is exalted; but "he who
humbleth himself shall be exalted."(4)

 2. Mark what follows: "Blessed," saith He, "are the meek, for they shall
inherit the earth."(5) Thou wishest to possess the earth now; take heed
lest thou be possessed by it. If thou be meek, thou wilt possess it; if
ungentle, thou wilt be possessed by it. And when thou hearest of the
proposed reward, do not, in order that thou mayest possess the earth,
unfold the lap of covetousness, whereby thou wouldest at present possess
the earth, to the exclusion even of thy neighbour by whatever means; let no
such imagination deceive thee. Then wilt thou truly possess the earth, when
thou dost cleave to Him who made heaven and earth. For this is to be meek,
not to resist thy God, that in that thou doest well He may be well-pleasing
to thee, not thou to thyself; and in that thou sufferest ill justly, He may
not be unpleasing to thee, but thou to thyself. For no small matter is it
that thou shalt be well-pleasing to Him, when thou art displeased with
thyself; whereas if thou art well-pleased with thine own self, thou wilt be
displeasing to Him.

 3. Attend to the third lesson, "Blessed are they that mourn, for they
shall be comforted."(6) The work consisteth in mourning, the reward in
consolation; for they who mourn in a carnal sort, what consolations have
they? Miserable consolations, objects rather of fear. There the mourner is
comforted by things which make him fear lest he have to mourn again. For
instance, the death of a son causes the father sorrow, and the birth of a
son joy. The one he has carried out to his burial, the other he has brought
into the world; in the former is occasion of sadness, in the latter of
fear: and so in neither is there consolation. That therefore will be the
true consolation, wherein shall be given that which may not be lost, so
that they may rejoice for their after consolation, who mourn that they are
in(7) exile now.

 4. Let us come to the fourth work and its reward, "Blessed are they that
hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled."(8) Dost
thou desire to be filled? Whereby? If the flesh long for fulness, after
digestion thou wilt suffer hunger again. So He saith, "Whosoever drinketh
of this water shall thirst again."(9) If the remedy which is applied to a
wound heal it, there is no more pain; but that which is applied against
hunger, food that is, is so applied as to give relief only for a little
while. For when the fulness is past, hunger returns. This remedy of fulness
is applied day by day, yet the wound of weakness is not healed. Let us
therefore "hunger and thirst after righteousness, that we may be filled"
with that righteousness after which we now hunger and thirst. For filled we
shall be with that for which we hunger and thirst. Let our inner man then
hunger and thirst, for it hath its own proper meat and drink. "I," saith
He, "am the Bread which came down from heaven."(1) Here is the bread of the
hungry; long also for the drink of the thirsty, "For with Thee is the well
of life."(2))

 5. Mark what comes next: "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain
mercy."(3) Do this, and so shall it be done to thee; deal so with others,
that God may so deal with thee. For thou art at once in abundance and in
want--in abundance of temporal things, in want of things eternal. The man
whom thou hearest is a beggar, and thou art thyself God s beggar. Petition
is made to thee, and thou makest thy petition. As thou hast dealt with thy
petitioner, so shall God deal with His. Thou art at once full and empty;
fill the empty with thy fulness, that thy emptiness may be filled with the
fulness of God.

 6. Mark what comes next: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall
see God."(4) This is the end of our love; an end whereby we are perfected,
and not consumed. For there is an end of food, and an end of a garment; of
food when it is consumed by the eating; of a garment when it is perfected
in the weaving. Both the one and the other have an end; but the one is an
end of consumption, the other of perfection. Whatsoever we now do,
whatsoever we now do well, whatsoever we now strive for, or are in laudable
sort eager for, or blamelessly desire, when we come to the vision of God,
we shall require no  more. For what need he seek for, with whom God is
present? or what shall suffice him, whom God sufficeth not? We wish to see
God, we seek, we kindle with desire to see Him. Who  doth not? But mark
what is said: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."
Provide thyself then with that whereby thou mayest see Him. For (to speak
after the flesh) how with weak eyes desirest thou the rising of the sun?
Let the eye be sound, and that light will be a rejoicing, if it be not
sound, it will be but a torment. For it is not permitted with a heart
impure to see that which is seen only by the pure heart. Thou wilt be
repelled, driven hack from it, and wilt not see it. For "blessed are the
pure in heart, for they shall see God." How often already hath he
enumerated the blessed, and the causes of their blessedness, and their
works and recompenses, their merits and rewards! But nowhere hath it been
said, "They shall see God." "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is
the kingdom of heaven." "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the
earth." "Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted."
"Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, they shall be
filled." "Blessed are the merciful, they shall obtain mercy." In none of
these hath it been said, "They shall see God." When we come to the "pure in
heart," there is the vision of God promised. And not without good cause;
for there, in the heart, are the eyes, by which God is seen. Speaking of
these eyes, the Apostle Paul saith. "The eyes of your heart being
enlightened."(5) At present then these eyes are enlightened, as is suitable
to their infirmity, by faith; hereafter as shall be suited to their
strength, they shall be enlightened by sight. "For as long as we are in the
body we are absent from the Lord; For we walk by faith, not by sight."(6)
Now as long as we are in this state of faith, what is said of us? "We see
now through a glass darkly; but then face to face."(7)

 7. Let no thought be entertained here of a bodily face. For if enkindled
by the desire of seeing God, thou hast made ready thy bodily face to see
Him, thou wilt be looking also for such a face in God. But if now thy
conceptions of God are at least so spiritual as not to imagine Him to be
corporeal (of which(8) subject I treated yesterday at considerable length,
if yet it was not in vain), if I have succeeded in breaking down in your
heart, as in God's temple, that image of human form; if the words in which
the Apostle expresses his detestation of those, "who, professing themselves
to be wise became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God
into an image made like unto corruptible man,"(9) have entered deep into
your minds, and taken possession of your inmost heart; if ye do now detest
and abhor such impiety, if ye keep clean for the Creator His own temple, if
ye would that He should come and make His abode with you, "Think of the
Lord with a good heart, and in simplicity of heart seek for Him."(10) Mark
well who it is to whom ye say, if so be ye do say it, and say it in
sincerity, "My heart said to Thee, I will seek Thy face." Let thine heart
also say, and add, "Thy face, Lord, will I seek."(11) For so wilt thou seek
it well, because thou seekest with thine heart. Scripture speaks of the
"face of God, the arm of God, the hands of God, the feet of God, the seat
of God," and His footstool; but think not in all this of human members. If
thou wouldest be a temple of truth, break down the idol of falsehood. The
hand of God is His power. The face of God is the knowledge of God. The feet
of God are His presence. The seat of God, if thou art so minded, is thine
own self. But perhaps thou wilt venture to deny that Christ is God! "Not
so," you say. Dost thou grant this too, that "Christ is the power of God
and the wisdom of God?(1) "I grant it," you say. Hear then "The soul of the
righteous is the seat of wisdom."(2) "Yes." For where hath God His scat,
but where He dwelleth? And where doth He dwell, but in His temple? "For the
temple of God is holy, which temple ye are."(3) Take heed therefore how
thou dost receive God. "God is a Spirit, and must be worshipped in spirit
and in truth."(4) Let the ark of testimony enter now into thy heart, if
thou art so minded, and let Dagon fall.(5) Now therefore give ear at once,
and learn to long for God; learn to make ready that whereby thou mayest see
God. "Blessed," saith He, "are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."
Why dost thou make ready the eyes of the body? If He should be seen by
them, that which should be so seen would be contained in space. But He who
is wholly everywhere is not contained in space. Cleanse that whereby He may
be seen.

 8. Hear and understand, if haply through His help I shall be able to
explain it; and may He help us to the understanding of all the above-named
works and rewards, how suitable rewards are apportioned to their
corresponding duties. For where is there anything said of a reward which
does not suit, and harmonize with its work? Because the lowly seem as it
were aliens from a kingdom, He saith, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for
theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Because meek men are easily despoiled of
their land,(6) He saith, "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the
land."(7) Now the rest are plain at once; they are understood of
themselves, and require no one to treat of them at length; they need only
one to mention them. "Blessed are they that mourn." Now what mourner does
not desire consolation? "They," saith He, "shall be comforted." "Blessed
are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness." What hungry and
thirsty man does not seek to be filled? "And they," saith He, "shall be
filled." "Blessed are the merciful." What merciful man but wishes that a
return should be rendered him by God of His own work, that it may be so
done to him, as he doeth to the poor? "Blessed," saith He, "are the
merciful, for they shall obtain mercy." How in each case hath every duty
its appropriate reward: and nothing is introduced in the reward which doth
not suit the precept! For the precept is, that thou be "poor in spirit;"
the reward, that thou shalt have the "kingdom of heaven." The precept is,
that thou be "meek;" the reward, that thou shalt "possess

the earth." The percept is, that thou "mourn;" the reward, that thou shalt
be "comforted." The precept is, that thou "hunger and thirst after
righteousness;" the reward, that thou shalt "be filled." The precept is,
that thou be "merciful;" the reward, that thou shalt "obtain mercy." And so
the precept is, that thou cleanse the heart; the reward, that thou shalt
see God.

9. But do not so conceive of these precepts and rewards, as to think when
thou dost hear, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God,"
that the poor in spirit, or the meek, or they that mourn, or they who
hunger and thirst after righteousness, or the merciful, will not see Him.
Think not of those that are pure in heart, that they only will see Him,
whilst the others will be excluded from the sight of Him. For all these
several characters are the self-same persons They shall all see; but they
shall not see in that they are poor in spirit, or meek, or in that they
mourn, and hunger and thirst after righteousness, or are merciful, but in
that they are pure in heart. Just as if bodily works were duly assigned to
the several members of the body, and one were to say for example, Blessed
are they who have feet, for they shall walk; blessed are they that have
hands, for they shall work; blessed are they that have a voice, for they
shall cry aloud; blessed are they who have a mouth and tongue, for they
shall speak; blessed are they that have eyes, for they shall see. Even so
our Lord arranging in their order the members as it were of the soul, hath
taught what is proper to each. Humility qualifies(8) for the possession of
the kingdom of heaven; meekness qualifies for possessing the earth;
mourning for consolation; hunger and thirst after righteousness for being
filled; mercy for the obtaining mercy; a pure heart for seeing God.

10. If then we desire to see God, whereby shall our eye be purified? For
who would not care for, and diligently seek the means of purifying that eye
whereby he may see Him whom he longeth after with an entire affection? The
Divine record has expressly mentioned this when it says "purifying their
hearts by faith."(9) The faith of God then purifies the heart, the pure
heart sees God. But because this faith is sometimes so defined by men who
deceive themselves, as though it were enough only to believe (for some
promise themselves even the sight of God and the kingdom of heaven, who
believe and live evilly); against these, the Apostle James, incensed and
indignant as it were with a holy(1) charity, saith in his Epistle, "Thou
believest there is one God." Thou applaudest thyself for thy faith, for
thou markest how that many ungodly men think there are gods many, and thou
rejoicest in thyself because thou dost believe that there is but one God;
"Thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble."(2) Shall they also
see God? They shall see Him who are pure in heart. But who can say that
unclean spirits are pure in heart? And yet they also "believe and tremble."

 11. Our faith then must be different from the faith of devils. For our
faith purifies the heart; but their faith makes them guilty. For they do
wickedly, and therefore say they to the Lord, "What have we to do with
Thee?" When thou hearest the devils say this, thinkest thou that they do
not acknowledge Him? "We know," they say, "who Thou art: Thou art the Son
of God."(3) This Peter says, and is commended; the devil says it, and is
condemned. Whence cometh this, but that though the words be the same, the
heart is different? Let us then make a distinction in our faith, and not be
content to believe. This is no such faith as purifieth the heart.
"Purifying their hearts," it is said, "by faith."(4) But by what, and what
kind of faith, save that which the Apostle Paul defines when he says,
"Faith which worketh by love."(5) That faith distinguishes us from the
faith of devils, and from the infamous and abandoned conduct of men.
"Faith," he says. What faith? "That which worketh by love," and which
hopeth for what God doth promise. Nothing is more exact or perfect than
this definition. There are then in faith these three things. He in whom
that faith is which worketh by love, must necessarily hope for that which
God doth promise. Hope therefore is the associate of faith. For hope is
necessary as long as we see not what we believe, lest perhaps through not
seeing, and by despairing to see, we fail. That we see not, doth make us
sad; but that we hope we shall see, comforteth us. Hope than is here, and
she is the associate of faith. And then charity also, by which we long, and
strive to attain, and glow with desire, and hunger and thirst. This then is
taken in also; and so there will be faith, hope, and charity. For how shall
there not be charity there, since charity is nothing else but love? And
this faith is itself defined as that "which worketh by love." Take away
faith, and all thou believest perisheth; take away charity, and all that
thou dost perisheth. For it is the province of faith to believe, of charity
to do. For if thou believest without love, thou dost not apply thyself to
good works; or if thou dost, it is as a servant, not as a son, through fear
of punishment, not through love of righteousness. Therefore I say, that
faith purifieth the heart, which worketh by love.

 12. And what does this faith effect at present? What does it by so many
testimonies of Scripture, by its manifold lessons, its various and
plentiful exhortations, but make us "see now through a glass darkly, and
hereafter face to face." But return not now in thought again to this thy
bodily face. Think only of the face of the heart. Force, compel, press
thine heart to think of things divine. Whatsoever occurs to thy mind that
is like to a body, throw it off from thee. If thou canst not yet say, "It
is this," yet at least say, "It is not this." For when wilt thou be able to
say, "This is God"? Not even then, when thou shall see Him; for what thou
shalt then see is ineffable. Thus the Apostle says, that he "was caught up
into the third heaven, and heard ineffable words."(6) If the words are
ineffable, what is He whose words they are? Therefore as thou dost think of
God, perchance there is presented to thee the idea of some human figure of
marvellous and exceeding greatness, and thou hast set it before the eyes of
thy mind as something very great, and grand, and of vast extension. Still
somewhere thou hast set bounds to it. If thou hast, it is not God. But if
thou hast not set bounds to it, where can the face be? Thou art fancying to
thyself some huge body, and in order to distinguish the members in it, thou
must needs set bounds to it. For in no other way but by setting bounds to
this large body, canst thou distinguish the members. But what art thou
about, O foolish and carnal imagination! Thou hast made a large bulky body,
and so much the larger, as thou hast thought the more to honour God.
Another adds one cubit to it, and makes it greater than before.

 13. But "I have read," you will say. What hast thou read, who hast
understood nothing? Yet tell me, what hast thou read? Let us not thrust
back the babe in understanding with his play. Tell me, what hast thou read?
"Heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool."(7) I hear thee; I
have read it also: but it may be that thou thinkest thyself to have the
advantage, in that thou hast both read and believed. But I also believe
what thou hast just said. Let us then believe it together. What do I say?
Let us search it out together. Lo! hold fast what thou hast so read and
believed; "Heaven is My throne (that is, "my seat," for "throne,"(8) in
Greek, is "seat,"(9) in Latin), and the earth is My footstool." But hast
thou not read these words as well, "Who has meted out the heaven with the
palm of His hand ?"(10) I conclude that thou hast read them; thou dost
acknowledge them, and confess that thou believest them; for in that book we
read both the one and the other, and believe both. But now think a while,
and teach me. I make thee my teacher, and myself the little one. Teach me,
I pray thee, "Who is He that sitteth on the palm of His hand?"

 14. See, thou hast drawn the figure and lineaments of the members of God
from a human body. And perhaps it has occurred to thee to think, that it is
according to the body that we were made after the Image of God. I will
admit this idea for a time to be considered, and canvassed, and examined,
and by disputation to be thoroughly sifted. Now then, if it please thee,
hear me; for I heard thee in what thou wast pleased to say. God sitteth in
heaven, and meteth out the heaven with His palm. What! doth the same heaven
become broad when it is God's seat, and narrow, when He meteth it out? Or
is(1) God when sitting, limited to the measure of His palm? If this be so,
God did not make us after His likeness, for the palm of our hand is much
narrower than that part of the body whereon we sit. But if He be as broad
in His palm as in His sitting, He hath made our members quite unlike His.
There is no resemblance here. Let the Christian then blush to set up such
an idol in his heart as this. Wherefore take heaven for all saints. For the
earth also is spoken of all who are in the earth, "Let all the earth
worship Thee."(2) If we may properly say with regard to those who dwell on
the earth, "Let all the earth worship Thee," we may with the same propriety
say also as to those who dwell in heaven, "Let all the heaven bear Thee."
For even the Saints who dwell on earth, though in their body they tread the
earth, in heart dwell in heaven. For it is not in vain that they are
reminded to "lift up their hearts,"(3) and when they are so reminded, they
answer, "that they lift them up:" nor in vain is it said, "If ye then be
risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth
on the right hand of God. Set your affections on things above, not on
things on the earth."(4) In so far therefore as they have their
conversation there, they do bear God, and they are heaven; because they are
the seat of God; and when they declare the words of God, "The heavens
declare the glory of God."(5)

15. Return then with me to the face of the heart, and make it ready. That
to which God speaketh is within. The ears, and eyes, and all the rest of
the visible members, are either the dwelling place or the instrument of
some thing within. It is the inner man where Christ doth dwell, now(6) by
faith, and hereafter He will dwell in it, by the presence of His Divinity,
when we shall have known "what is the length, and breadth, and depth, and
height; when we shall have known also the love of Christ that surpasseth
knowledge, that we may be filled with all the fulness of God."(7) Now then
if thou wouldest enter into the meaning of these words, summon all thy
powers(8) to comprehend the breadth, and length, and height, and depth.
Wander not in the imagination of the thoughts through the spaces of the
world, and the yet comprehensible extent of this so vast a body. Look for
what I am speaking of in thine own self. The "breadth" is in good works;
the "length" is in long-suffering and perseverance in well-doing; the
"height" is in the expectation of rewards above, for which height's sake
thou art bidden "to lift up thy heart." Do well, and persevere in well-
doing, because of God's reward. Esteem earthly things as nothing, lest,
when this earth shall be smitten with any scourge of that wise One, thou
say that thou hast worshipped God in vain, hast done good works in vain,
hast persevered in good works in vain. For by doing good works thou hadst
as it were the "breadth," by persevering in them thou hadst as it were the
"length;" but by seeking earthly things thou hast not had the "height." Now
observe the "depth;" it is the grace of God in the secret dispensation of
His will. "For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been His
counsellor?"(9) and, "Thy judgments are as a great depth."(10)

 16. This conversation of well-doing, of perseverance in well-doing, of
hoping for rewards above, of the secret dispensation of the grace of God,
in wisdom not in foolishness, nor yet in finding fault, because one man is
after this manner and another after that; for "there is no iniquity with
God;"(11) apply this, I say, if you think good, also to the Cross of thy
Lord. For it was not without a meaning(12) that He chose this kind of
death, in whose power it was even either to die or not. Now if it was in
His power to die or not, why was it not in His power also to die in this or
the other manner! Not without a meaning then did He select the Cross,
whereby to crucify thee to this world. For the "breadth" is the transverse
beam in the cross where the hands are fastened, to signify good works. The
"length" is in that part of the wood which reaches from this transverse
beam to the ground. For there the body is crucified and in a manner stands,
and this standing signifies perseverance.

Now "the height" is in that part, which from the same transverse beam
projects upward to the head, and hereby is signified the expectation of
things above. And where is the "depth" but in t at part which is fixed m
the ground? For so is the dispensation of grace, hidden and in secret. It
is not seen itself, but from thence is projected all that is seen. After
this, when thou shalt have comprehended all these things, not in the mere
understanding but in action also ("for a good understanding have all they
that do hereafter),"(1) then if thou canst, stretch out thyself to attain
to the knowledge of the "love of Christ which passeth knowledge." When thou
hast attained to it, thou "wilt be filled with all the fulness of God."
Then will be fulfilled the "face to face." Now thou wilt be filled with all
the fulness of God, not as if God should be full of thee, but so that thou
shalt be full of God. Seek there, if thou canst, for any bodily face. Away
with such trifles from the eye of the mind. Let the child cast away his
playthings, and learn to handle more serious matters. And in many things we
are but children; and when we were more so than we are, we were borne with
by our betters. "Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no
man shall see God."(2) For by this is the heart purified; for that in it is
that faith "which worketh by love." Hence, "Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they shall see God."

SERMON IV.

[LIV. BEN.]

ON THAT THAT IS WRITTEN IN THE GOSPEL, MATT. V. 16, "EVEN SO LET YOUR LIGHT
SHINE BEFORE MEN, THAT THEY MAY SEE YOUR GOOD WORKS, AND GLORIFY YOUR
FATHER WHO IS IN HEAVEN:" AND CONTRARIWISE, CHAP. VI., "TAKE HEED THAT YE
DO NOT YOUR RIGHTEOUSNESS BEFORE MEN, TO BE SEEN OF THEM."

1. IT is wont to perplex many persons, Dearly beloved, that our Lord Jesus
Christ in His Evangelical Sermon, after He had first said, "Let your light
so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your
Father which is in heaven;"(3) said afterwards, "Take heed that ye do not
your righteousness(4) before men to be seen of them."(5) For so the mind of
him who is weak in understanding is disturbed, is desirous to obey both
precepts, and distracted by diverse, and contradictory commandments. For a
man can as little obey but one master, if he give contradictory orders, as
he can serve two masters,(6) which the Saviour Himself hath testified in
the same Sermon to be impossible. What then must the mind that is in this
hesitation do, when it thinks that it cannot, and yet is afraid not to
obey? For if he set his good works in the light to be seen of men, that he
may fulfil the command, "Let your light so shine before men, that they may
see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven;" he will
think himself involved in guilt because he has done contrary to the other
precept which says, "Take heed that ye do not your righteousness before men
to be seen of them." And again, if fearing and avoiding this, he conceal
his good works, he will think that he is not obeying Him who commands,
saying, "Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good
works."

2. But he who is of a right understanding, fulfils both, and will obey in
both the Universal Lord of all, who would not condemn the slothful servant,
if he commanded those things which could by no means be done. For give ear
to "Paul, the servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an Apostle, separated
unto the Gospel of God,"(7) both doing and teaching both duties. See how
his "light shineth before men, that they may see his good works. We commend
ourselves," saith he, "to every man's conscience in the sight of God."(8)
And again, "For we provide things honest, not only in the sight of God, but
also in the sight of men."(9) And again, "Please all men in all things,
even as I please all men in all things."(10) See, on the other hand, how he
takes heed, that he "do not his righteousness before men to be seen of
them. Let every man," saith he, "prove his own work, and then shall he have
glorying in himself, and not in another."(11) And again, "For our glorying
is this, the testimony of our conscience."(12) And that, than which nothing
is plainer, "If," saith he, "I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant
of Christ."(13) But lest any of those who are perplexed about the precepts
of our Lord Himself as contradictory, should much more raise a question
against His Apostle and say, How sayest thou, "Please all men in all
things, even as I also please all men in all things:" and yet also sayest,
"If I yet pleased men; I should not be the servant of Christ"? May the Lord
Himself be with us, who spake also in His servant and Apostle, and open to
us His will, and give us the means of obeying it.

 3. The very words of the Gospel carry with them their own explanation;
nor do they shut the mouths of those who hunger, seeing they feed the
hearts of them that knock. The intention of a man's heart, its direction
and its aim, is what is to be regarded. For if he who wishes his good works
to be seen of men, sets before men his own glory and advantage, and seeks
for this in the sight of men, he does not fulfil either of those precepts
which the Lord has given as touching this matter; because He has at once
looked to "doing his righteousness before men to be seen of them;" and his
light has not so shined before men that they should see his good works, and
glorify His Father which is in heaven. It was himself he wished to be
glorified, not God; he sought his own advantage, and loved not the Lord's
will. Of such the Apostle says, "For all seek their own, not the things
which are Jesus Christ's.(1) Accordingly, the sentence was not finished at
the words, "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good
works;" but there was immediately subjoined why this was to be done; "that
they may glorify your Father which is in heaven;" that when a man who does
good works is seen of men, he may have only the intention of the good work
in his own conscience, but may have no intention of being known, save for
the praise of God, for their advantage- sake to whom he is thus made known;
for to them this advantage comes, that God who has given this power to man
begins to be well-pleasing to them; and so they do not despair, but that
the same power might be vouchsafed to themselves also if they would. And so
He did not conclude the other precept, "Take heed that ye do not your
righteousness before men," otherwise than in the words, "to be seen of
them;" nor did He add in this case, "that they may glorify your Father
which is in heaven," but rather, "otherwise ye have no reward of your
Father which is in heaven." For by this He shows us, that they who are
such, as He will not have His faithful ones to be, seek a reward in this
very thing, that they are seen of men--that it is in this they place their
good--in this that they delight the vanity of their heart--in this is their
emptiness, and inflation, their swelling, and wasting away. For why was it
not sufficient to say, "Take heed that ye do not your righteousness before
men," but that he added, "that ye may be seen of them," except because
there are some who do their "righteousness before men;" not that they may
be seen of them, but that the works themselves may be seen; and the Father
which is in heaven, who hath vouchsafed to endow with these gifts the
ungodly whom He had justified, may be glorified?

 4. They who are such, neither do they account their righteousness as
their own, but His, by the faith of whom they live (whence also the Apostle
says, "That I may win Christ, and be found in Him, not having mine own
righteousness which is of the law, but that which is of the faith of
Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith;"(2) and in another
place, "That we may be the righteousness of God in Him."(3) Whence also he
finds fault with the Jews in these words, "Being ignorant of God's
righteousness, and wishing to establish their own righteousness, they have
not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God"(4). Whosoever then
wish their good works to be so seen of men, that He may be glorified from
whom they have received those things which are seen in them, and that
thereby those very persons who see them, may through the dutifulness(5) of
faith be provoked to imitate the good, their light shines truly before men,
because there beams forth from them the light of charity; theirs is no mere
empty fume of pride; and in the very act they take precautions, that they
do not their righteousness before men to be seen of them, in that they do
not reckon that righteousness as their own, nor do they therefore do it
that they may be seen; but that He may be made known, who is praised in
them that are justified, that so He may bring to pass in him that praises
that which is praised in others, that is, that He may make him that praises
to be himself the object of praise. Observe the Apostle too, how that when
he had said, "Please all men in all things, as I also please all men in all
things;"(6) he did not stop there, as if he had placed in that, namely, the
pleasing men, the end of his intention; for else he would have said
falsely, "If I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ;" but
he subjoined immediately why it was that he pleased men; "Not seeking,"
saith he, "mine own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be
saved."(6) So he at once did not please men for his own profit, lest he
should not be "the servant of Christ;" and he did please men for their
salvation's sake, that he might be a faithful Minister of Christ; because
for him his own conscience in the sight of God was enough, and from him
there shined forth in the sight of men something which they might imitate.

SERMON V.

[LV. BEN.]

ON THE WORDS OF THE GOSPEL, MATT. V. 22, "WHOSOEVER SHALL SAY TO HIS
BROTHER, THOU FOOL, SHALL BE IN DANGER OF THE HELL OF FIRE."

1. THE section of the Holy Gospel which we just now heard when it was read,
must have sorely alarmed us, if we have faith; but those who have not
faith, it alarmed not. And because it does not alarm them, they are minded
to continue in their false security, as knowing not how to divide and
distinguish the proper times of security and fear. Let him then who is
leading now that life which has an end, fear, that in that life which is
without end, he may have security. Therefore were we alarmed. For who would
not fear Him who speaketh the truth, and saith, "Whosoever shall say to his
brother, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire."(1) Yet "the tongue
can no man tame."(2) Man tames the wild beast, yet he tames not his tongue;
he tames the lion, yet he bridles not his own speech; he tames all else,
yet he tames not himself; he tames what he was afraid of, and what he ought
to be afraid of, in order that he may tame himself, that he does not fear.
But how is this? It is a true sentence, and came forth from an oracle of
truth, "But the tongue can no man tame."

 2. What shall we do then, my brethren? I see that I am speaking indeed to
a large assembly, yet, seeing that we are one in Christ, let us take
counsel as it were in secret. No stranger heareth us, we are all one,
because we are all united in one.(3) What shall we do then? "Whosoever
saith to his brother, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire: But the
tongue can no man tame." Shall all men go into hell fire? God forbid!
"Lord, Thou art our refuge from generation to generation:"(4) Thy wrath is
just: Thou sendest no man into hell unjustly. "Whither shall I go from Thy
Spirit?"(5) and whither shall I flee from Thee, but to Thee? Let us then
understand, Dearly beloved, that if no man can tame the tongue, we must
have recourse to God, that He may tame it. For if thou shouldest wish to
tame it, thou canst not, because thou art a man. "The tongue can no man
tame." Observe a like instance to this in the case of those beasts which we
do tame. The horse does not tame himself; the camel does not tame himself;
the elephant does not tame himself; the viper does not tame himself; the
lion does not tame himself; and so also man does not tame himself. But that
the horse, and ox, and camel, and elephant, and lion, and viper, may be
tamed, man is sought for. Therefore let God be sought to, that man may be
tamed.

 3. Therefore, "O Lord, art Thou become our refuge." To Thee do we betake
ourselves, and with Thy help it will be well with us. For ill is it with us
by ourselves. Because we have left Thee. Thou hast left us to ourselves. Be
we then found in Thee, for in ourselves were we lost. "Lord, Thou art
become our refuge." Why then, brethren, should we doubt that the Lord will
make us gentle, if we give up ourselves to be tamed by him? Thou hast tamed
the lion which thou madest not; shall not He tame thee, who made thee? For
from whence didst thou get the power to tame such savage beasts? Art thou
their equal in bodily strength? By what power then hast thou been able to
tame  great beasts? The very beasts of burden, as they are called, are by
their nature wild. For in their untamed state they are unserviceable. But
because custom has never known them except as in the hands and under the
bridle and power of men, dost thou imagine that they could have been born
in this tame state? But now at all events mark the beasts which are
unquestionably of savage kind. "The lion roareth, who doth not fear?"(6)
And yet wherein is it that thou dost find thyself to be stronger than he?
Not in strength of body, but in the interior reason of the mind. Thou art
stronger than the lion, in that wherein thou wast made after the image of
God. What! Shall the image of God tame a wild beast; and shall not God tame
His own image? 4. In Him is our hope; let us submit ourselves to Him, and
entreat His mercy. In Him let us place our hope, and until we are tamed,
and tamed thoroughly, that is, are perfected, let us bear our Tamer. For
oftentimes does our Tamer bring forth His scourge too. For if thou dost
bring forth the whip to tame thy beasts, shall not God do so to tame His
beasts (which we are), who of His beasts will make us His sons? Thou tamest
thine horse; and what wilt thou give thy horse, when he shall have begun to
carry thee gently, to bear thy discipline, to obey thy rule, to be thy
faithful, useful(7) beast? How dost thou repay him, who wilt not so much as
bury him when he is dead, but cast him forth to be torn by the birds of
prey? Whereas when thou art tamed, God reserveth for thee an inheritance,
which is God Himself, and though dead for a little time, He will raise thee
to life again. He will restore to thee thy body, even to the full number of
thy hairs; and will set thee with the Angels for ever, where thou wilt need
no more His taming hand, but only to be possessed by His exceeding(8)
mercy. For God will then be "all in all;"(9) neither will there be any
unhappiness to exercise us, but happiness alone to feed us. Our God will be
Himself our Shepherd; our God will be Himself our Cup;(10) our God will be
Himself our glory; our God will be Himself our wealth. What multiplicity of
things soever thou seekest here, He alone will be Himself all these things
to thee.

5. Unto this hope is man tamed, and shall his Tamer then be deemed
intolerable? Unto this hope is man tamed, and shall he murmur against his
beneficent Tamer, if He chance to use the scourge? Ye have heard the
exhortation of the Apostle, "If ye are without chastening, ye are bastards,
and not sons;(1) for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?
Furthermore," he says, "we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected
us, and we gave them reverence; shall we not much rather be in subjection
to the Father of spirits, and live?"(2) For what could thy father do for
thee, that he corrected and chastised thee, brought out the scourge and
beat thee? Could he make thee live for ever? What he could not do for
himself, how should he do for thee? For some paltry sum of money which he
had gathered together by usury and travail, did he discipline thee by the
scourge, that the fruit of his labour when left to thee might not be
squandered by thy evil living. Yes, he beats his son, as fearing lest his
labours should be lost; forasmuch as he left to thee what he could neither
retain here, nor carry away. For he did not leave thee anything here which
could be his own; he went off, that so thou mightest come on. But thy God,
thy Redeemer, thy Tamer, thy Chastiser, thy Father, instructeth thee. To
what end? That thou mayest receive an inheritance, when thou shalt not have
to carry thy father to his grave, but shall have thy Father Himself for
thine inheritance. Unto this hope art thou instructed, and dost thou
murmur? and if any sad chance befall thee, dost thou (it may be) blaspheme?
Whither wilt thou go from His Spirit? But now He letteth thee alone, and
doth not scourge thee; or He abandoneth thee in thy blaspheming; shalt thou
not experience His judgment? Is it not better that He should scourge thee
and receive thee, than that He should spare thee and abandon thee?

 6. Let us say then to the Lord our God, "Lord, Thou art become our refuge
from generation to generation." In the first and second generations Thou
art become our refuge. Thou wast our refuge, that we might be born, who
before were not. Thou wast our refuge, that we might be born anew, who were
evil. Thou wast a refuge to feed those that forsake Thee. Thou art a refuge
to raise up and direct Thy children. "Thou art become our refuge." We will
not go back from Thee, when Thou hast delivered us from all our evils, and
filled us with Thine own good things. Thou givest good things now, Thou(3)
dealest softly with us, that we be not wearied in the way; Thou dost
correct, and chastise, and smite, and direct us, that we may not wander
from the way. Whether therefore Thou dealest softly with us, that we be not
wearied in the way, or chastisest us, that we wander not from the way,
"Thou art become our refuge, O Lord."

SERMON VI.

[LVI. BEN.]

ON THE LORD'S PRAYER IN ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL, CHAP. VI. 9, ETC. TO THE
COMPETENTES.(4)

 1. THE blessed Apostle, to show that those times when it should come to
pass that all the nations should believe in Christ had been foretold by the
Prophets, produced this testimony where it is written, "And it shall be,
that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord, shall be saved."(5) For
before time the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth was called upon
amongst the Israelites only; the rest of the nations called upon dumb and
deaf idols, by whom they were not heard, or by devils, by whom they were
heard to their harm. "But when the fulness of time came," that was
fulfilled which had been foretold, "And it shall be, that whosoever shall
call upon the name of the Lord, shall be saved." Moreover, because the
Jews, even those who believed in Christ, grudged the Gospel to the
Gentiles, and said that the Gospel ought not to be preached to them who
were not circumcised; because against these the Apostle Paul alleged this
testimony, "And it shall be, that whosoever shall call upon the Name of the
Lord, shall be saved;"(6) he immediately subjoined, to convince those who
were unwilling that the Gospel should be preached to the Gentiles, the
words, "But how shall they call upon Him, in whom they have not believed?
or how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? or how shall
they hear without a preacher? or how shall they preach except they be
sent?" Because then he said, "how shall they call upon Him in whom they
have not believed?" ye have not first learnt the Lord's Prayer, and after
that the Creed; but first the Creed, where ye might know what to believe,
and afterwards the Prayer, where ye might know whom to call upon. The Creed
then has respect to the faith, the Lord's Prayer to prayer; because it is
he who believeth, that is heard when he calleth.

 2. But many ask for what they ought not to ask, not knowing what is
expedient for them. Two things therefore must he that prays beware of; that
he ask not what he ought not; and that he ask not from whom he ought not.
From the devil, from idols, from evil spirits,(7) must nothing be asked.
From the Lord our God Jesus Christ, God the Father of Prophets, and
Apostles, and Martyrs, from the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from God
who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all things in them, from Him must
we ask whatsoever we have to ask. But we must beware that we ask not of Him
that which we ought not to ask. If because we ought to ask for life, thou
ask it of dumb and deaf idols, what doth it profit thee? So if from God the
Father, who is in heaven, thou dost wish for the death of thine enemies,
what doth it profit thee? Hast thou not heard or read in the Psalm, in
which the damnable end of the traitor Judas is foretold, how the prophecy
spake of him "Let his prayer be turned into sin?"(1) If then thou risest
up, and prayest for evil on thine enemies, thy "prayer will be turned into
sin."

 3. You have read in the Holy Psalms, how that he who speaks in them
imprecates, as it would seem, many curses upon his enemies. And surely, one
may say, he who speaks in the Psalms is a righteous man; wherefore then
does he so wish evil upon his enemies? He does not wish, but he foresees,
it is a prophecy of one who is telling things to come, not a vow of
malediction; for the prophets knew by the Spirit to whom evil was appointed
to happen, and to whom good; and by prophecy they spake as if they wished
for what they did foresee. But how canst thou know whether he for whom
today thou art asking evil, may not to-morrow be a better man than thyself?
But you will say, I know him to be a wicked man. Well: thou must know that
thou art wicked too. Although it may be thou takest upon thyself to judge
of another's heart what thou dost not know; but as for thine own self thou
knowest that thou art wicked. Hearest thou not the Apostle saying, "Who was
before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy,
because I did it ingorantly in unbelief?"(2) Now when the Apostle Paul
persecuted. the Christians, binding them wherever he found them, and drew
them to the Chief Priests to be questioned and punished, what think ye,
brethren, did the Church pray against him, or for him? Surely the Church of
God which had learnt instruction from her Lord, who said as He hung upon
the Cross, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do,"(3) so
prayed for Paul (or rather as yet Saul), that that might be wrought in him
which was wrought. For in that he says, "But I was unknown by face to the
churches of Judaea which are in Christ: only they heard that he who
persecuted us in times past, now preacheth the faith which once he
destroyed; and they magnified God in me;"(4) why did they magnify God, but
because they asked this of God, before it came to pass?

 4. Our Lord then first of all cut off "much speaking," that thou mightest
not bring a multitude of words unto God, as though by thy many words thou
wouldest teach Him. Therefore when thou prayest thou hast need of piety,
not of wordiness. "For your Father knoweth what is needful for you, before
ye ask Him."(5) Be ye loth then to use many words, for He knoweth what is
needful for you. But lest peradventure any should say here, If He know what
is needful for us, why should we use so much as a few words? why should we
pray at all? He knoweth Himself; let Him then give what He knoweth to be
needful for us. Yes, but it is His will that thou shouldest pray, that He
may give to thy longings, that His gifts may not be lightly esteemed;
seeing He hath Himself formed this longing desire in us. The words
therefore which our Lord Jesus Christ hath taught us in His prayer, are the
rule and standard of our desires. Thou mayest not ask for anything but what
is written there.

 5. "Do ye therefore say," saith he, "Our Father, which art in heaven."
Where ye see ye have begun to have God for your Father. Ye will have Him,
when ye are new born. Although even now before ye are born, ye have been
conceived of His seed, as being on the eve of being brought forth in the
font, the womb as it were of the Church. "Our Father, which art in heaven."
Remember then, that ye have a Father in heaven. Remember that ye were born
of your father Adam unto death, that ye are to be born anew of God the
Father unto life. And what ye say, say in your hearts. Only let there be
the earnest affection of prayer, and there will be the effectual(6) answer
of Him who heareth prayer. "Hallowed be thy Name." Why dost thou ask, that
God's Name may be hallowed? It is holy. Why then askest thou for that which
is already holy? And then when thou dost ask that His Name may be hallowed,
dost thou not as it were pray to Him for Him, and not for thyself? No.
Understand it aright, and it is for thine own self thou askest. For this
thou askest, that what is always in itself holy, may be hallowed in thee.
What is "be hallowed?" "Be accounted holy," be not despised. So then you
see, that the good thou dost wish, thou wishest for thine own self. For if
thou despise the Name of God, for thyself it will be ill, and not for God.

 6. "Thy kingdom come."(7) To whom do we speak? and will not God's kingdom
come, if we ask it not. For of that kingdom do we speak which will be after
the end of the world. For God hath a kingdom always; neither is He ever
without a kingdom, whom the whole creation serveth. But what kingdom then
dost thou wish for? That of which it is written in the Gospel, "Come, ye
blessed of My Father, receive the kingdom which is prepared for you from
the beginning of the world."(1) Lo here is the kingdom whereof we say, "Thy
kingdom come." We pray that it may come in us; we pray that; we may be
found in it. For come it certainly will; but what will it profit thee, if
it shall find thee at the left hand? Therefore, here again it is for thine
own self that thou wishest well; for thyself thou prayest. This it is that
thou dost long for; this desire in thy prayer, that thou mayest so live,
that thou mayest have a part in the kingdom of God, which is to be given to
all saints. Therefore when thou dost say, "Thy kingdom come," thou dost
pray for thyself, that thou mayest live well. Let us have part in Thy
kingdom: let that come even to us, which is to come to Thy saints and
righteous ones.

 7. "Thy will be done."(2) What! if thou say not this, will not God do His
will? Remember what thou hast repeated in the Creed, "I believe in God the
Father Almighty." If He be Almighty, why prayest thou that His will may be
done? What is this then, "Thy will be done"? May it be done in me, that I
may not resist Thy will. Therefore here again it is for thyself thou
prayest, and not for God. For the will of God will be done in thee, though
it be not done by thee. For both in them to whom He shall say, "Come, ye
blessed of My Father, receive the kingdom prepared for you from the
beginning of the world;"(1) shall the will of God be done, that the saints
and righteous may receive the kingdom; and in them to whom He shall say,
"Depart ye into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his
angels,"(3) shall the will of God be done, that the wicked may be condemned
to everlasting fire. That His will may be done by thee is another thing. It
is not then without a cause, but that it may be well with thee, that thou
dost pray that His will may be done in thee. But whether it be well or ill
with thee, it will still be done in thee: but O that it may be done by thee
also. Why do I say then, "Thy will be done in heaven and in earth," and do
not say, "Thy will be done by heaven and earth?" Because what is done by
thee, He Himself doeth in thee. Never is anything done by thee which He
Himself doeth not in thee. Sometimes, indeed, He doeth in thee what is not
done by thee; but never is anything done by thee, if He do it not in thee.

 8. But what is "in heaven and in earth," or, "as in heaven so in earth?"
The Angels do Thy will; may we do it also. "Thy will be done as in heaven
so in earth." The mind is heaven, the flesh is earth. When thou dost say
(if so be thou do say it) with the Apostle, "With my mind I serve the law
of God, but with the flesh the law of sin;"(4) the will of God is done in
heaven, but not yet in earth. But when the flesh shall be in harmony with
the mind, and "death shall be swallowed up in victory,"(5) so that no
carnal desires shall remain for the mind to be in conflict with, when
strife in the earth shall have passed away, the war of the heart be over,
and that be gone by which is spoken, "the flesh lusteth against the Spirit,
and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are contrary the one to the
other; so that ye cannot do the things that ye would; "(6) when this war, I
say, shall be over, and all concupiscence shall have been changed into
charity, nothing shall remain in the body to oppose the spirit, nothing to
be tamed, nothing to be bridled, nothing to be trodden down; but the whole
shall go on through concord unto righteousness, and the will of God will be
done in heaven and in earth. "Thy will be done in heaven and in earth." We
wish for perfection, when we pray for this. "Thy will be done as in heaven
so in earth." In the Church the spiritual are heaven, the carnal are earth.
So then, "Thy will be done as in heaven so in earth;". that as the
spiritual do serve Thee, so the carnal being reformed may serve Thee also.
"Thy will be done as in heaven so in earth." There is yet another very
spiritual(7) meaning of it. For we are admonished to pray for our enemies.
The Church is heaven, the enemies of the Church are earth. What then is,
"Thy will be done as n heaven so in earth"? May our enemies believe, as we
also believe in Thee! may they become friends, and end their enmities! They
are earth, therefore are they against us; may they become heaven, and they
will be with us.

 9. "Give us this day our daily bread."(8) Now here it is manifest, that
it is for ourselves we pray. When thou sayest, "Hallowed be Thy Name," it
requires explanation how it is that it is for thyself thou prayest, not for
God. When thou sayest, "Thy will be done;" here again is there need of
explanation, lest thou think that thou art wishing well to God in this
prayer, that His will may be done, and not rather that thou art praying for
thyself. When thou sayest, "Thy kingdom come;" this again must be
explained, lest thou think that thou art wishing well to God in this prayer
that He may reign. But from this place and onwards to the end of the
Prayer, it is plain that we are praying to God for our own selves. "When
thou sayest," Give us this day our daily bread," thou dost profess thyself
to be God's beggar. But be not ashamed at this; how rich soever any man be
on earth, he is still God's beggar. The beggar takes his stand before the
rich man's house; but the rich man himself stands before the door of the
great rich One. Petition is made to him, and he maketh his petition. If he
were not in need, he would not knock at the ears of God in prayer. And what
doth the rich man need? I am bold to say, the rich man needeth even daily
bread. For how is it that he hath abundance of all things? whence but
because God hath given it him? What should he have, if God withdrew His
hand? Have not many laid down to sleep in wealth, and risen up in beggary?
And that he doth not want, is due to God's mercy, not to his own power.

 10. But this bread, Dearly beloved, by which our body is filled, by which
the flesh is recruited day by day; this bread, I say, God giveth not to
those only who praise, but to those also who blaspheme Him; "Who maketh His
sun to rise upon the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain upon the just
and on the unjust."(1) Thou praisest Him, and He feedeth thee; thou dost
blaspheme Him, He feedeth thee. He waiteth for thee to repent; but if thou
wilt not change thyself, He will condemn thee. Because then both good and
bad receive this bread from God, thinkest thou there is no other bread for
which the children ask, of which the Lord said in the Gospel, "It is not
meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs?"(2) Yes, surely
there is. What then is that bread? and why is it called daily? Because this
is necessary as the other; for without it we cannot live; without bread we
cannot live. It is shamelessness to ask for wealth from God; it is no
shamelessness to ask for daily bread. That which ministereth to pride is
one thing, that which ministereth to life another. Nevertheless, because
this bread which may be seen and handled, is given both to the good and
bad; there is a daily bread, for which the children pray. That is the word
of God, which is dealt out to us day by day. Our bread is daily bread; and
by it live not our bodies, but our souls. It is necessary for us who are
even now labourers in the vineyard,--it is our food, not our hire. For he
that hires the labourer into the vineyard owes him two things; food, that
he faint not, and his hire, wherewith he may rejoice. Our daily food then
in this earth is the word of God, which is dealt out always in the
Churches: our hire after labour is called eternal life. Again, if by this
our daily bread thou understand what the faithful(3) receive, what ye shall
receive, when ye have been baptized, it is with good reason that we ask and
say, "Give us this day our daily bread;" that we may live in such sort, as
that we be not separated from the Holy Altar.

 11. "And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors."(4) Touching
this petition again we need no explanation, that it is for ourselves that
we pray. For we beg that our debts may be for given us. For debtors are we,
not in money, but in sins. Thou art saying perchance at this moment, And
you too. We answer, Yes, we too. What, ye Holy Bishops, are ye debtors?
Yes, we are debtors too. What you! My Lord. (5) Be it far from thee, do not
thyself this wrong. I do myself no wrong, but I say the truth; we are
debtors: "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is
not in us."(6) We have been baptized, and yet are we debtors. Not that
anything then remained, which was not remitted to us in Baptism, but
because in our lives we are contracting ever what needs daily forgiveness.
They who are baptized, and forthwith depart out of this life, come up from
the font(7) without any debt; without any debt they leave the world. But
they who are baptized and are still kept in this life, contract defilements
by reason of their mortal frailty, by which though the ship be not sunk,
yet have they need of recourse to the pump. For otherwise by little and
little will that enter in by which the whole ship will be sunk. And to
offer this prayer, is to have recourse to the pump. But we ought not only
to pray, but to do alms also, because when the pump is used to prevent the
ship from sinking, both the voices and hands are at work. Now we are at
work with our voices, when we say, "Forgive us our debts, as we also
forgive our debtors." And we are at work with our hands when we do this,
"Break thy bread to the hungry, and bring the houseless poor into thine
house.(8) Shut up alms in the heart of a poor(9) man, and it shall
intercede for thee unto the Lord."(10)

 12. Although therefore all our sins were forgiven in the "layer of
regeneration," we should be driven into great straits, if there were not
given to us the daily cleansing of the Holy Prayer. Alms and prayers purge
away sins; only let not such sins be committed, for which we must
necessarily be separated from our daily Bread; avoid we all such debts to
which a severe and certain condemnation is due. Call not yourselves
righteous, as though ye had no cause to say, "Forgive us our debts, as we
also forgive our debtors." Though ye abstain from idolatry, from the
consolations(1) of astrologers, from the cures of enchanters, though ye
abstain from the seductions of heretics, from the divisions of schismatics;
though ye abstain from murders, from adulteries and fornications, from
thefts and plunderings, from false witnessings, and all such other sins
which I do not name, as have a ruinous consequence, for which it is
necessary that the sinner be cut off from the altar, and be so bound in
earth, as to be bound in heaven, to his great and deadly danger, unless
again he be so loosed in earth, as to be loosed in heaven; yet after all
these are excepted, still there is no want of occasions whereby a man may
sin. A man sins in seeing with pleasure what he ought not to see. Yet who
can hold in the quickness of the eye? For from this the eye is said to have
received its very name, from its quickness.(2) Who can restrain the ear or
eye? The eyes may be shut when thou wilt, and are shut in a moment, but the
ears thou canst only with an effort close: thou must raise the hand and
reach them, and if any one hold thy hand, they are kept open, nor canst
thou close them against reviling, impure, or flattering, and seducing
words. And when thou hearest any things thou oughtest not to hear, though
thou do it not, dost thou not sin with the ear? for thou hearest something
that is bad with pleasure? How great sins doth the deadly tongue commit!
Yea, sometimes sins of such a nature, that a man is separated from the
altar for them. To the tongue pertains the whole matter of blasphemies, and
many idle words again are spoken, which are not convenient. But let the
hand do nothing wrong, let the feet run not to any evil, nor the eye be
directed to immodesty; let not the ear be open with pleasure to filthy
talk; nor the tongue move to indecent speech; yet tell me, who can restrain
the thoughts? How often do we pray, my brethren, and our thoughts are
elsewhere, as though we forgot Before whom we are standing, or before whom
we are prostrating ourselves! If all these things be collected together
against us, will they not therefore not overwhelm us, because they are
small faults? What matter is it whether lead or sand overwhelm us? The lead
is all one mass, the sand is small grains, but by their great number they
overwhelm thee. So thy sins are small. Seest thou not how the rivers are
filled, and the lands are wasted by small drops? They are small, but they
are many.

 13. Let us therefore say every day; and say it in sincerity of heart, and
do what we say, "Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors." It
is an engagement, a covenant, an agreement that we make with God. The Lord
thy God saith to thee, Forgive, and I will forgive. Thou hast not forgiven;
thou retainest thy sins against thyself, not I. I pray thee, my dearly
beloved children, since I know what is expedient for you in the Lord's
Prayer, and most of all in that sentence of it, "Forgive us our debts, as
we also forgive our debtors;" hear me. Ye are about to be baptized, forgive
everything; whatsoever any man have in his heart against any other, let him
from his heart forgive it. So enter in, and be sure, that all your sins
which ye have contracted, whether from your birth of your parents after
Adam with original sin, for which sins' sake ye run with babes to the
Saviour's grace, or whatever after sins ye have contracted in your lives,
by word, or deed, or thought, all are forgiven; and you will go out of the
water as from before the presence of your Lord, with the sure discharge of
all debts.

 14. Now because by reason of those daily sins of which I have spoken, it
is necessary for you to say, in that $ daily prayer of cleansing as it
were, "Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors;" what will ye
do? Ye have enemies. For who can live on this earth without them? Take heed
to yourselves, love them. In no way can thine enemy so hurt thee by his
violence, as thou dost hurt thyself if thou love him not. For he may injure
thy estate, or flocks, or house, or thy man-servant, or thy maid-servant,
or thy son, or thy wife; or at most, if such power be given him, thy body.
But can he injure thy soul, as thou canst thyself? Reach forward, dearly
beloved, I beseech you, to this perfection. But have I given you this
power? He only hath given it to whom ye say, "Thy will be done as in heaven
so in earth. Yet let it not seem impossible to you. I know, I have known by
experience, that there are Christian men who do love their enemies. If it
seem to you impossible, ye will not do it. Believe then first that it can
be done, and pray that the will of God may be done in you. For what good
can thy neighbour's ill do thee? If he had no ill, he would not even be
thine enemy. Wish him well then, that he may end his ill, and he will be
thine enemy no longer. For it is not the human nature in him that is at
enmity with thee, but his sin. Is he therefore thine enemy, because he hath
a soul and body? In this he is as thou art: thou hast a soul, and so hath
he: thou hast a body, and so hath he. He is of the same substance as thou
art; ye were made both out of the same earth, and quickened by the same
Lord. In all this he is as thou art. Acknowledge in him then thy brother.
The first pair, Adam and Eve, were our parents; the one our father, the
other our mother; and therefore we are brethren. But let us leave the
consideration of our first origin. God is our Father, the Church our
Mother, and therefore are we brethren. But you will say, my enemy is a
heathen, a Jew, a heretic, of whom I spake some time ago on the words, "Thy
will be done as in heaven so in earth." O Church, thy enemy is the heathen,
the Jew, the heretic; he is the earth. If thou art heaven, call on thy
Father which is in heaven, and pray for thine enemies: for so was Saul an
enemy of the Church; thus was prayer made for him, and he became her
friend. He not only ceased from being her persecutor, but he laboured to be
her helper. And yet, to say the truth, prayer(1) was made against him; but
against his malice, not against his nature. So let thy prayer be against
the malice of thine enemy, that it may die, and he may live. For if thine
enemy were dead, thou hast lost it might seem an enemy, yet hast thou not
found a friend. But if his malice die, thou hast at once lost an enemy and
found a friend.

 15. But still ye are saying, Who can do, who has ever done this? May God
bring it to effect in your hearts! I know as well as you, there are but few
who do it; great men are they and spiritual who do so. Are all the faithful
in the Church who approach the altar, and take the Body and Blood of
Christ, are they all such? And yet they all say, "Forgive us our debts, as
we also forgive our debtors." What, if God should answer them, "Why do ye
ask me to do what I have promised, when ye do not what I have commanded?"
What have I promised? "To forgive your debts." What have I commanded? "That
ye also forgive your debtors." How can ye do this, if ye do not love your
enemies? What then must we do, brethren? Is the flock of Christ reduced to
such a scanty number? If they only ought to say, "Forgive us our debts, as
we also forgive our debtors," who love their enemies; I know not what to
do, I know not what to say. For must I say to you, If ye do not love your
enemies, do not pray; I dare not say so; yea, pray rather that ye may love
them. But must I say to you, If ye do not love your enemies, say not in the
Lord's Prayer, "Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors"?
Suppose that I were to say, Do not use these words. If ye do not, your
debts are not forgiven; and if ye do use them, and do not act thereafter,
they are not forgiven. In order therefore that they may be forgiven, ye
must both use the prayer, and do thereafter.

 16. I see some ground on which I may comfort not some few only, but the
multitude of Christians: and I know that ye are longing to hear it. Christ
hath said," Forgive, that ye may be forgiven."(2) And what do ye say in the
Prayer which we have now been discussing? "Forgive us our debts, as we also
forgive our debtors." So, Lord, forgive, as we forgive. This thou sayest,
"O Father, which art in heaven, so forgive our debts, as we also forgive
our debtors." For this ye ought to do, and if ye do it not, ye will perish.
When your enemy asks pardon, at once forgive him. And is this much for you
to do? Though it were much for thee to love thine enemy when violent
against thee, is it much to love a man who is a supplicant before thee?
What hast thou to say? He was before violent, and then thou hatedst him. I
had rather thou hadst not hated him even then: I had rather then when thou
weft suffering from his violence, thou hadst remembered the Lord, saying,
"Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."(3) I would have
then much wished that even at that time when thine enemy was violent
against thee, thou hadst had regard to the Lord thy God speaking thus. But
perhaps you will say, He did it, but then He did it as being the Lord, as
the Christ, as the Son of God, as the Only-Begotten, as the Word made
flesh. But what can I, an infirm and sinful man, do? If thy Lord be too
high an example for thee, turn thy thoughts upon thy fellow- servant. The
holy Stephen was being stoned, and as they stoned him, on bended knees did
he pray for his enemies, and say, "Lord, lay not this sin to their
charge."(4) They were casting stones, not asking pardon, yet did he pray
for them. I would thou wert like him; reach forth. Why art thou for ever
trailing thy heart along the earth? Hear, "Lift up thy heart," reach
forward, love thine enemies. If thou canst not love him in his violence,
love him at least when he asks pardon. Love the man who saith to thee,
"Brother, I have sinned, forgive me." If thou then forgive him not, I say
not merely, that thou dost blot this prayer out of thine heart, but thou
shall be blotted thyself out of the book of God.

 17. But if thou then at least forgive him, or let go hatred from thy
heart, it is hatred from the heart I bid thee forego, and not proper
discipline. What if one who asks my pardon, be one who ought to be
chastised by me! Do what thou wilt, for I suppose that thou dost love thy
child even when thou dost chastise him. Thou regardest not his cries under
the rod, because thou art reserving for him his inheritance. This I say
then, that thou forego from thy heart all hatred, when thine enemy asks
pardon of thee. But perhaps you will say, "he is playing false, he is
pretending." O thou judge of another's heart, tell me thine own father's
thoughts, tell me thine own thoughts yesterday. He asks and petitions for
pardon; forgive, by all means forgive him. If thou wilt not forgive him, it
is thyself thou dost hurt, not him, for he knows what he has to do. Thou
art not willing to forgive thine own fellow-servant; he will go then to thy
Lord, and say to Him, "Lord, I have prayed my fellow-servant to forgive me,
and he would not; do Thou forgive me." Hath not the Lord power to release
his servant's debts? So he, having obtained pardon from his Lord, returns
loosed, whilst thou remainest bound. How bound? The time of prayer will
come, the time must come for thee to say, "Forgive us our debts, as we also
forgive our debtors;" and the Lord will answer thee, Thou wicked servant,
when thou didst owe Me so great a debt, thou didst ask Me, and I forgave
thee; "shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellow-servant,
even as I had pity on thee?"(1) These words are out of the Gospel, not of
my own heart. But if on being asked, thou shall forgive him who begs for
pardon, then thou canst say this prayer. And if thou hast not as yet the
strength to love him in his violence, still thou mayest offer this prayer,
"Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors." Let us pass on to
the rest.

 18. "And lead us not into temptation. Forgive us our debts, as we also
forgive our debtors,"(2) we say because of past sins, which we cannot undo,
that they should not have been done. Thou canst labour not to do what thou
hast done before, but how canst thou bring about, that that which thou hast
done should not be done? As regards those things which have been done
already, that sentence of the prayer is thy help, "Forgive us our debts, as
we also forgive our debtors." As regards those into which thou mayest fall,
what wilt thou do? "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil."
"Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil," that is, from
temptation itself.

 19. Now these three first petitions, "Hallowed be Thy Name, Thy kingdom
come, Thy will be done as in heaven so in earth," these three regard the
life eternal, for God's Name ought to be hallowed in us always, we ought to
be in His kingdom always, we ought to do His will always. This will be to
all eternity. But "daily bread" is necessary now. All the rest that we pray
for from this article, regards the necessities of the present life. Daily
bread is necessary in this life; the forgiveness of our debts is necessary
in this life. For when we shall arrive at the other life, there will be an
end of all debts. In this life there is temptation, in this life the
sailing is dangerous, in this life something is ever stealing its way in
through the chinks of our frailties, which must be pumped out. But when we
shall be made equal to the Angels of God; no more need to say and pray to
God to forgive us our debts, when there will be none. Here then is the
"daily bread;" here the prayer that our "debts may be forgiven;" here that
we "enter not into temptation;" for in that life temptation does not enter;
here that we may be "delivered from evil;" for in that life there will be
no evil, but eternal and abiding good.

SERMON VII.

[LVII. BEN.]

AGAIN, ON MATT. VI. ON THE LORD'S PRAYER.

THE COMPETENTES.

 1. The order established for your edification requires that ye learn
first what to believe, and afterwards what to ask. For so saith the
Apostle, "Whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord, shall be
saved."(3) This testimony blessed Paul cited out of the Prophet; for by the
Prophet were those times foretold, when all men should call upon God;
"Whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord, shall be saved." And he
added, "How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And
how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? Or how shall
they hear without a preacher? Or how shall they preach except they be
sent?"(4) Therefore were preachers sent. They preached Christ. As they
preached, the people heard, by hearing they believed, and by believing
called upon Him. Because then it was most rightly and most truly said, "How
shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed?" therefore have ye
first learned what to believe: and to-day have learnt to call on Him in
whom ye have believed.

 2. The Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, hath taught us a Prayer; and
though He be the Lord Himself, as ye have heard and repeated in the Creed,
the Only Son of God, yet He would not be alone. He is the Only Son, and yet
would not be alone; He hath vouchsafed to have brethren. For to whom doth
He say, "Say, Our Father, which art in heaven?"(5) Whom did He wish us to
call our Father, save His own Father? Did He grudge us this? Parents
sometimes when they have gotten one, or two, or three children, fear to
give birth to any more, lest they reduce the rest to beggary. But because
the inheritance which He promiseth us is such as many may possess, and no
one be straitened; therefore hath He called into His brotherhood the
numberless brethren; who say, "Our Father, which art in heaven." So said
they who have been before us; and so shall say those who will come after
us. See how many brethren the Only Son hath in His grace, sharing His
inheritance with those for whom He suffered death. We had a father and
mother on earth, that we might be born to labours and to death: but we have
found other parents, God our Father, and the Church our Mother, by whom we
are born unto life eternal. Let us then consider, beloved, whose children
we have begun to be; and let us live so as becomes those who have such a
Father. See, how that our Creator hath condescended to be our Father!

 3. We have heard whom we ought to call upon, and with what hope of an
eternal inheritance we have begun to have a Father in heaven; let us now
hear what we must ask of Him. Of such a Father what shall we ask? Do we not
ask rain of Him, to-day, and yesterday, and the day before? This is no
great thing to have asked of such a Father, and yet ye see with what
sighings, and with what great desire we ask for rain, when death is feared,
when that is feared which none can escape. For sooner or later every man
must die, and we groan, and pray, and travail in pain, and cry to God, that
we may die a little later. How much more ought we to cry to Him, that we
may come to that place where we shall never die!

 4. Therefore is it said, "Hallowed be Thy Name." This we also ask of Him
that his Name may be hallowed in us; for Holy is it always. And how is His
Name hallowed in us, except while it makes us holy. For once we were not
holy, and we are made holy by His Name; but He is always Holy, and His Name
always Holy. It is for ourselves, not for God, that we pray. For we do not
wish well to God, to whom no ill can ever happen. But we wish what is good
for ourselves, that His Holy Name may be hallowed, that that which is
always Holy, may be hallowed in us.

 5. "Thy kingdom come."(1) Come it surely will, whether we ask or no.
Indeed, God hath an eternal kingdom. For when did He not reign? When did He
begin to reign? For His kingdom hath no beginning, neither shall it have
any end. But that we may know that in this prayer also we pray for
ourselves, and not for God (for we do not say, "Thy kingdom come," as
though we were asking that God may reign); we shall be ourselves His
kingdom, if believing in Him we make progress in this filth. All the
faithful, redeemed by the Blood of His Only Son, will be His kingdom. And
this His kingdom will come, when the resurrection of the dead shall have
taken place; for then He will come Himself. And when the dead are risen, He
will divide them, as He Himself saith, "and He shall set some on the right
hand, and some on the left."(2) To those who shall be on the right hand He
will say, "Come, ye blessed of My Father, receive the kingdom." This is
what we wish and pray for when we say, "Thy kingdom come;" that it may come
to us. For if we shall be reprobates, that kingdom will come to others, but
not to us. But if we shall be of that number, who belong to the members of
His Only- begotten Son, His kingdom will come to us, and will not tarry.
For are there as many ages yet remaining, as have already passed away? The
Apostle John hath said, "My little children, it is the last hour."(3) But
it is a long hour proportioned to this long day; and see how many years
this last hour lasteth. But nevertheless, be ye as those who watch, and so
sleep, and rise again, and reign. Let us watch now, let us sleep in death;
at the end we shall rise again, and shall reign without end.

 6. "Thy will be done as in heaven, so in earth."(1) The third thing we
pray for is, that His will may be done as in heaven so in earth. And in
this too we wish well for ourselves. For the will of God must necessarily
be done. It is the will of God that the good should reign, and the wicked
be damned. Is it possible that this will should not be done? But what good
do we wish for ourselves, when we say, "Thy will be done as in heaven, so
in earth"? Give ear. For this petition may be understood in many ways, and
many things are to be in our thoughts in this petition, when we pray God,
"Thy will be done as in heaven, so in earth." As Thy Angels offend Thee
not, so may we also not offend Thee. Again, how is "Thy will be done, as in
heaven, so in earth," understood? All the holy Patriarchs, all the
Prophets, all the Apostles, all the spiritual are as it were God's heaven;
and we in comparison of them are earth. "Thy will be done, as in heaven, so
in earth;" as in them, so in us also. Again, "Thy will be done, as in
heaven, so in earth;" the Church of God is heaven, His enemies are earth.
So we wish well for our enemies, that they too may believe and become
Christians, and so the will of God be done, as in heaven, so also in earth.
Again, "Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth." Our spirit is heaven,
and the flesh earth. As our spirit is renewed by believing, so may our
flesh be renewed by rising again; and "the will of God be done, as in
heaven, so in earth." Again, our mind whereby we see truth, and delight in
this truth, is heaven; as, "I delight in the law of God, after the inward
man." What is the earth? "I see another law in my members, warring against
the law of my mind?"(1) When this strife shall have passed away, and a full
concord brought about of the flesh and spirit, the will of God will be done
as in heaven, so also in earth. When we repeat this petition, let us think
of all these things, and ask them all of the Father. Now all these things
which we have mentioned, these three petitions, beloved, have respect to
the life eternal. For if the Name of our God is sanctified in us, it will
be for eternity. If His kingdom come, where we shall live for ever, it will
be for eternity. If His will be done as in heaven, so in earth, in all the
ways which I have explained, it will be for eternity.

 7. There remain now the petitions for this life of our pilgrimage;
therefore follows, "Give us this day our daily bread."(2) Give us eternal
things, give us things temporal. Thou hast promised a kingdom, deny us not
the means of subsistence. Thou wilt give everlasting glory with Thyself
hereafter, give us in this earth temporal support. Therefore is it "day by
day," and "to-day," that is, in this present time. For when this life shall
have passed away, shall we ask for daily bread then? For then it will not
be called, "day by day," but "to-day." Now it is called, "day by day," when
one day passes away, and another day succeeds. Will it be called "day by
day," when there will be one eternal day? This petition for daily bread is
doubtless to be understood in two ways, both for the necessary supply of
our bodily food, and for the necessities of our spiritual support. There is
a necessary supply of bodily food, for the preservation of our daily life,
without which we cannot live. This is food and clothing, but the whole is
understood in a part. When we ask for bread, we thereby understand all
things. There is a spiritual(3) food also which the faithful know, which ye
too will know, when ye shall receive it at the altar of God. This also is
"daily Bread," necessary only for this life. For shall we receive the
Eucharist when we shall have come to Christ Himself, and begun to reign
with Him for ever? So then the Eucharist is our daily bread; but let us in
such wise receive it, that we be not refreshed in our bodies only, but in
our souls. For the virtue which is apprehended there, is unity, that
gathered together into His body, and made His members, we may be what we
receive. Then will it be indeed our daily bread. Again, what I am handling
before you now is "daily bread;" and the daily lessons which ye hear in
church, are daily bread, and the hymns ye hear and repeat are daily bread.
For all these are necessary in our state of pilgrimage. But when we shall
have got to heaven, shall we hear the word,(4) we who shall see the Word
Himself, and hear the Word Himself, and eat and drink Him as the angels do
now? Do the angels need books, and interpreters, and readers? Surely not.
They read in seeing, for the Truth Itself they see, and are abundantly
satisfied from that fountain, from which we obtain some few s drops.
Therefore has it been said touching our daily bread, that this petition is
necessary for us in this life.

 8. "Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors."(6) Is this
necessary except in this life? For in the other we shall have no debts. For
what are debts, but sins? See, ye are on the point of being baptized, then
all your sins will be blotted out, none whatever will remain. Whatever evil
ye have ever done, in deed, or word, or desire, or thought, all will be
blotted out. And yet if in the life which is after Baptism there were
security from sin, we should not learn such a prayer as this, "Forgive us
our debts." Only let us by all means do what comes next, "As we forgive our
debtors." Do ye then who are about to enter in to receive a plenary and
entire remission of your debts, do ye above all things see that ye have
nothing in your hearts against any other, so as to come forth from Baptism
secure, as it were free and discharged of all debts, and then begin to
purpose to avenge yourselves on your enemies, who in time past have done
you wrong. Forgive, as ye are forgiven. God can do no one wrong, and yet He
forgiveth who oweth nothing. How then ought he to forgive, who is himself
forgiven, when He forgiveth all, who oweth nothing that can be forgiven
Him?

 9. "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil."(7) Will this
again be necessary in the life to come? "Lead us not into temptation," will
not be said, except where there can be temptation. We read in the book of
holy Job, "Is not the life of man upon earth a temptation?"(8) What then do
we pray for? Hear what. The Apostle James saith, "Let no man say when he is
tempted, I am tempted of God."(9) He spoke of those evil temptations,
whereby men are deceived, and brought under the yoke of the devil. This is
the kind of temptation he spoke of. For there is another sort of temptation
which is called a proving; of this kind of temptation it is written, "The
Lord your God tempteth (proveth) you to know whether ye love Him."(10) What
means "to know"? "To make you know," for He knoweth already. With that kind
of temptation, whereby we are deceived and seduced, God tempteth no man.
But undoubtedly in His deep and hidden judgment He abandons some. And when
He hath abandoned them, the tempter finds his opportunity. For he finds in
him no resistance against his power, but forthwith presents himself to him
as his possessor, if God abandon him. Therefore that He may not abandon us,
do we say, "Lead us not into temptation." "For every one is tempted," says
the same Apostle James, "when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed.
Then lust, when it hath conceived, bringeth forth sin; and sin, when it is
finished, bringeth forth death."(1) What then has he hereby taught us? To
fight against our lusts. For ye are about to put away your sins in Holy
Baptism; but lusts will still remain, wherewith ye must fight after that ye
are regenerate. For a conflict with your own selves still remains. Let no
enemy from without be feared: conquer thine own self, and the whole world
is conquered. What can any tempter from without, whether the devil or the
devil's minister, do against thee? Whosoever sets the hope of gain before
thee to seduce thee, let him only find no covetousness in thee; and what
can he who would tempt thee by gain effect? Whereas if covetousness be
found in thee, thou takest fire at the sight of gain, and art taken by the
bait of this corrupt food.(2) But if he find no covetousness in thee, the
trap remains spread in vain. Or should the tempter set before thee some
woman of surpassing beauty; if chastity be within, iniquity from without is
overcome. Therefore that he may not take thee with the bait of a strange
woman's beauty, fight with thine own lust within; thou hast no sensible
perception of thine enemy, but of thine own concupiscence thou hast. Thou
dost not see the devil, but the object that engageth thee thou dost see.
Get the mastery then over that of which thou art sensible within. Fight
valiantly, for He who hath regenerated thee is thy Judge; He hath arranged
the lists, He is making ready the crown. But because thou wilt without
doubt be conquered, if thou have not Him to aid thee, if He abandon thee:
therefore dost thou say in the prayer, "Lead us not into temptation." The
Judge's wrath hath given over some to their own lusts; and the Apostle
says, "God gave them over to the lusts of their hearts."(3) How did He give
them up? Not by forcing, but by forsaking them.

 10. "Deliver us from evil," may belong to the same sentence. Therefore,
that thou mayest understand it to be all one sentence, it runs thus, "Lead
us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." Therefore he added
"but," to show that all this belongs to one sentence, "Lead us not into
temptation, but deliver us from evil." How is this? I will propose them
singly. "Lead By delivering us from evil, He leadeth us not into
temptation; by not leading us into temptation, He delivereth us from evil.

 11. And truly it is a great temptation, dearly beloved, it is a great
temptation in this life, when that in us is the subject of temptation,
whereby we attain(4) pardon, if in any of our temptations we have fallen.
It is a frightful temptation, when that is taken from us, whereby we may be
healed from the wounds of other temptations. I know that ye have not yet
understood me. Give me your attention, that ye may understand. Suppose
avarice tempts a man, and he is conquered in any single temptation (for
sometimes even a good wrestler and fighter may get roughly handled(5)):
avarice then has got the better of a man, good wrestler though he be, and
he has done some avaricious act.

Or there has been a passing lust; it has not brought the man to
fornication, nor reached unto adultery, for when this does take place, the
man must at all events be kept back from the criminal act. But he "hath
seen a woman to lust after her;"(6) he has let his thoughts dwell on her
with more pleasure than was right; he has admitted the attack; excellent
combatant though he be, he has been wounded, but he has not consented to
it; he has beaten back the motion of his lust, has chastised it with the
bitterness of grief, he has beaten it back; and has prevailed. Still in the
very fact that he had slipped, has he ground for saying, "Forgive us our
debts." And so of all other temptations, it is a hard matter that in them
all there should not be occasion for saying, "Forgive us our debts." What
then is that frightful temptation which I have mentioned, that grievous,
that tremendous temptation, which must be avoided with all our strength,
with all our resolution; what is it? When we go about to avenge ourselves.
Anger is kindled, and the man burns to be avenged. O frightful temptation!
Thou art losing that, whereby thou hadst to attain pardon for other faults.
If thou hadst committed any sin as to other senses, and other lusts, hence
mightest thou have had thy cure, in that thou mightest say, "Forgive us our
debts, as we also forgive our debtors." But whoso instigateth thee to take
vengeance, will lose for thee the power thou hadst to say, "As we also
forgive our debtors." When that power is lost, all sins will be retained;
nothing at all is remitted.

 12. Our Lord and Master, and Saviour, knowing this dangerous temptation
in this life, when He taught us six or seven petitions in this Prayer, took
none of them for Himself to treat of, and to commend to us with greater
earnestness, than this one. Have we not said, "Our Father, which art in
heaven;" and the rest which follows? Why after the conclusion of the
Prayer, did He not enlarge upon it to us, either as to what He had laid
down in the beginning, or concluded with at the end, or placed in the
middle? For why said He not, if the Name of God be not hallowed in you, or
if ye have no part in the kingdom of God, or if the will of God be not done
in you, as in heaven, or if God guard you not, that ye enter not into
temptation; why none of all these? but what saith He? "Verily I say unto
you, that if ye forgive men their trespasses;"(1) in reference to that
petition, "Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors." Having
passed over all the other petitions which He taught us, this He taught us
with an especial force. There was no need of insisting(2) so much upon
those sins in which if a man offend, he may know the means whereby he may
be cured: need of it there was, with regard to that sin in which if thou
sin, there is no means whereby the rest can be cured. For this thou
oughtest to be ever saying, "Forgive us our debts." What debts? There is no
lack of them; for we are but men; I have talked somewhat more than I ought,
have said something I ought not, have laughed more than I ought, have eaten
more than I ought, have listened with pleasure to what I ought not, have
drunk more than I ought, have seen with pleasure what I ought not, have
thought with pleasure on what I ought not; "Forgive us our debts, as we
also forgive our debtors." This if thou hast lost, thou art lost thyself.

 13. Take heed, my brethren, my sons, sons of God, take heed, I beseech
you, in that I am saying to you. Fight to the uttermost of your powers with
your own hearts. And if ye shall see your anger making a stand against you,
pray to God against it, that God may make thee conqueror of thyself, that
God may make thee conqueror, I say, not of thine enemy without, but of
thine own soul within. For He will give thee His present help, and will do
it. He would rather that we ask this of Him, than rain. For ye see,
beloved, how many petitions the Lord Christ hath taught us; and there is
scarce found among them one which speaks of daily bread, that all our
thoughts may be moulded after the life to come? For what can we fear that
He will not give us, who hath promised and said, "Seek ye first the kingdom
of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you;
for your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things before ye ask
Him. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these
things shall be added unto you."(3) For many have been tried even with
hunger, and have been found gold, and have not been forsaken by God. They
would have perished with hunger, if the daily inward bread were to leave
their heart. After this let us chiefly hunger. For, "Blessed are they who
hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled."(4) But He
can in mercy look upon our infirmity, and see us, as it is said, "Remember
that we are dust."(5) He who from the dust made and quickened man, for that
His work of clay's sake, gave His Only Son to death. Who can explain, who
can worthily so much as conceive, how much He loveth us?

SERMON VIII.

[LVIII. BEN.]

AGAIN ON THE LORD'S PRAYER, MATT. VI. TO THE COMPETENTES.

 1. You have just repeated the Creed, where in brief summary is contained
the Faith. I have already before now told you what the Apostle Paul says,
"How shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed?"(6) Because
then you have both heard, and learnt, and repeated how you must believe in
God; hear to-day how He must be called upon. The Son Himself, as you heard
when the Gospel was read, taught His disciples and His faithful ones this
Prayer. Good hope have we of obtaining our cause, when such an Advocate(7)
hath dictated our suit. The Assessor of the Father, as you have confessed,
who sitteth on the right hand of the Father; He is our Advocate who is to
be our Judge. For from thence will He come to judge the quick and dead.
Learn then, this Prayer also which you will have to repeat in eight days
time. But whosoever of you have not repeated the Creed well, have yet time
enough, let them learn it; because on the Sabbath day(8) in the hearing of
all who shall be present, you will have to repeat it: on the last(9)
Sabbath day, when you will be here to be baptized. But in eight days from
to-day will you have to repeat this Prayer, which you have heard to-day.

 2. Of which the first clause is, "Our Father, which art in heaven."(10)
We have found then a Father in heaven; let us take good heed how we live on
earth. For he who hath found such a Father, ought so to live that he may be
worthy to come to his inheritance. But we say all in common, "Our Father."
How great a condescension! This the emperor says, and this says the beggar:
this says the slave, and this his lord.

They say all together, "Our Father, which art in heaven." Therefore do they
understand that they are brethren, seeing they have one Father. Now let not
the lord disdain to have his slave for a brother, seeing the Lord Christ
has vouchsafed to have him for a brother.

 3. "Hallowed be Thy Name, Thy kingdom come."(1) This hallowing of God's
Name is that whereby we are made holy. For His Name is always Holy. We wish
also for His kingdom to come; come it will, though we wish it not; but to
wish and pray that His kingdom may come, is nothing else than to wish of
Him, that He would make us worthy of His kingdom, lest haply, which God
forbid, it should come, and not come to us. For to many that will never
come, which nevertheless must come. For to them will it come, to whom it
shall be said, "Come, ye blessed of My Father, receive the kingdom prepared
for you from the foundation of the world."(2) But it will not come to them
to whom it shall be said, "Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting
fire."(3) Therefore when we say, "Thy kingdom come," we pray that it may
come to us. What is, "may come to us"? May find us good. This we pray for
then, that He would make us good; for then to us will His kingdom come.

 4. We go on, "Thy will be done as in heaven so in earth."(4) The Angels
serve Thee in heaven, may we serve Thee in earth! The Angels do not offend
Thee in heaven, may we not offend Thee in earth! As they do Thy will, so
may we do it also! And here what do we pray for, but that we may be good?
For when we do God's will (for He without doubt doeth His own will), then
is His will done in us. And we may understand in another and a right sense
these words, "Thy will be done as in heaven, so in earth." We receive the
commandment of God, and it is well-pleasing to us, well-pleasing to our
mind. "For we delight in the law of God after the inward man."(5) Then is
His will done in heaven. For our spirit is compared to heaven, but to the
earth our flesh. What then is "Thy will be done as in heaven, so in earth"?
That as Thy command is well- pleasing to our mind, so may our flesh consent
thereto; and so that strife be ended which is described by the Apostle,
"for the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the
flesh."(6) When the Spirit lusteth against the flesh, His will is even now
done in heaven; when the flesh lusteth not against the Spirit, His will is
now done in earth. There will be harmony complete when He will; be then the
contest now, that there may be victory hereafter. Thus again, "Thy will be
done as in heaven, so in earth," may be well understood, by making "heaven"
to be the Church, because it is the throne(7) of God; and "earth" the
unbelievers, to whom it is said, "Earth thou art, and unto earth shall thou
go."(8) When therefore we pray for our enemies, for the enemies of the
Church, the enemies of the Christian name, we pray that His will may be
done "as in heaven, so in earth," that is, as in Thy faithful ones, so in
Thy blasphemers also, that they all may become "heaven."

 5. There follows next, "Give us this day our daily bread."(9) It may be
understood simply that we pour forth this prayer for daily sustenance, that
we may have abundance: or if not that, that we may have no want. Now he
said "daily," for as long as it is called "to-day."(10) Daily we live, and
daily rise, and are daily fed, and daily hunger. May He then give us daily
bread. Why did He not say "covering" too, for the support of our life is in
meat and drink, our covering in raiment and lodging. Man should desire
nothing more than these. Forasmuch as the Apostle saith, "We brought
nothing into this world, neither can we carry anything out: having food and
covering," let us be therewith content."(12) Perish covetousness, and
nature is rich. Therefore if this prayer have reference to our daily
sustenance, since this is a good understanding of the words, "Give us this
day our daily bread;" let us not marvel, if under the name of bread other
necessary things are also understood. As when Joseph invited his brethren,
"These men," saith he, "will eat bread with me to-day."(13) Why, were they
to eat bread only? No, but in the mention of bread only, all the rest was
understood. So when we pray for daily bread, we ask for whatever is
necessary for us in earth for our bodies' sake. But what saith the Lord
Jesus? "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all
these things shall be added unto you."(14) Again, this is a very good sense
of, "Give us this day our daily bread," thy Eucharist, our daily food. For
the faithful know what they receive, and good for them it is to receive
that daily bread which is necessary for this time present. They pray then
for themselves, that they may become good, that they may persevere in
goodness, and faith, and a holy life. This do they wish, this they pray
for; for if they persevere not in this good life, they will be separated
from that Bread. Therefore, "Give us this day our daily bread." What is
this? Let us live so, that we be not separated from Thy altar. Again, the
Word of God which is laid open to us, and m a manner broken day by day, is
"daily bread." And as our bodies hunger after that other, so do our souls
after this bread. And so we both ask for this bread simply, and whatsoever
is in this life needful both for our souls and bodies, is included in
"daily bread."

 6. "Forgive us our debts,"(1) we say, and we may well say so; for we say
the truth. For who is he that lives here in the flesh, and hath no debts?
What man is there that lives so, that this prayer is not necessary for him?
He may puff himself up, justify himself he cannot. It were well for him to
imitate the Publican, and not swell as the Pharisee, "who went up into the
temple,"(2) and boasted of his deserts, and covered up his wounds. Whereas
he who said, "Lord, be merciful to me a sinner,"(3) knew wherefore he went
up. This prayer the Lord Jesus, consider, my brethren, this prayer the Lord
Jesus taught His disciples to offer, those great first Apostles of His, the
leaders of our flock.(4) If the leaders of the flock then pray for the
remission of their sins, what ought the lambs to do, of whom it is said,
"Bring young rams unto the Lord"?(5) You knew then that you have repeated
this in the Creed, because amongst the rest you have mentioned there "the
remission of sins." There is one remission of sins which is given once for
all; another which is given day by day. There is one remission of sins
which is given once for all in Holy Baptism; another which is given as long
as we live here in the Lord's Prayer. Wherefore we say, "Forgive us our
debts."

 7. And God has brought us into a covenant, and agreement, and a firm
bond(6) with Him, in that we say, "as we also forgive our debtors." He who
would say it effectually, "Forgive us our debts," must say truly, "as we
also forgive our debtors."(1) If this which is last he either say not, or
say deceitfully, the other which is first he says in vain. We say to you
then especially who are approaching to Holy Baptism, from your hearts
forgive everything. And ye faithful, who taking advantage of this occasion
are listening to this prayer, and our exposition of it, do ye wholly and
from your hearts forgive whatsoever ye have against any. Forgive it there
where God seeth. For sometimes a man remitteth with the mouth, and in the
heart retaineth; he remitteth with the mouth for men's sake, and retaineth
in the heart, as not fearing the eyes of God. But do ye remit entirely.
Whatever ye have retained up to these holy days,(7) in these holy days at
least remit. "The sun ought not to go down upon your wrath,"(8) yet many
suns have passed. Let then your wrath at length pass away also, now that we
are celebrating the days of the great Sun, of that Sun of which Scripture
saith, "Unto you shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in His
wings."(9) What is, "in His wings"? In His protection. Whence it is said in
the Psalms," Keep me under the shadow of Thy wings."(10) But as to others
who in the day of judgment shall repent, but all too late, and who shall
mourn, yet unavailingly, it hath been foretold by Wisdom what they shall
then say as they repent and groan for anguish of spirit, "What hath pride
profited us, or what good hath riches with our vaunting brought us? All
these things are passed away like a shadow." And, "Therefore have we erred
from the way of truth, and the light of righteousness hath not shined unto
us, and the Sun of righteousness rose not upon us."(11) That Sun riseth
upon the righteous only; but this sun which we see, God "maketh," daily "to
rise upon the good and evil."(12) The righteous attain to the seeing of
that Sun; and that Sun dwelleth now in our hearts by faith. If then thou
art angry, let not this sun go down in thine heart upon thy wrath; "Let not
the sun go down upon thy wrath;" lest haply thou be angry, and so the Sun
of righteousness go down upon thee, and thou abide in darkness.

 8. Now do not think that anger is nothing. "Mine eye was disordered
because of anger,"(13) saith the Prophet. Surely he whose eye is disordered
cannot see the sun; and if he should try. to see it, it were pain, and no
pleasure to him. And what is anger? The lust of vengeance. A man lusteth to
be avenged, and Christ is not yet avenged, the holy martyrs are not yet
avenged. Still doth the patience of God wait, that the enemies of Christ,
the enemies of the martyrs, may be converted. And who are we, that we
should seek for vengeance? If God should seek it at our hands, where should
we abide? He who hath never in any matter done us harm, doth not wish to
avenge Himself of us; and do we seek to be avenged, who are almost daily
offending God? Forgive therefore; from the heart forgive. If thou art
angry, yet sin not. "Be ye angry, and sin not."(14) Be ye angry as being
but men, if so be ye are overcome by it; yet sin not, so as to retain anger
in your heart (for if ye do retain it, ye retain it against yourselves),
lest ye enter not into that Light. Therefore forgive. What then is anger?
The lust of vengeance. And what is hatred? Inveterate anger. If anger
become inveterate, it is then called hatred. And this he seems to
acknowledge, who when he had said, "Mine eye is disordered because of
anger;" added, "I have become inveterate among all mine enemies."(13) What
was anger when it was new, became hatred when it was turned into long
continuance.(1) Anger is a "mote," hatred, a "beam." We sometimes find
fault with one who is angry, yet we retain hatred in our own hearts; and so
Christ saith to us, "Thou seest the mote in thy brother's eye, and seest
not (he beam in thine own eye."(2) How grew the mote into a beam? Because
it was not at once plucked out. Because thou didst suffer the sun to rise
and go down so often upon thy wrath, and madest it inveterate, because thou
contractedst evil suspicions, and wateredst the mote, and by watering hast
nourished it, and by nourishing it, hast made it a beam. Tremble then at
least when it is said, "Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer."(3)
Thou hast not drawn the sword, nor inflicted any bodily wound, nor by any
blow killed another; the thought only of hatred is in thy heart, and hereby
art thou held to be a murderer, guilty art thou before the eyes of God. The
other man is alive, and yet thou hast killed him. As far as thou art
concerned, thou hast killed the man whom thou hatest. Reform then, and
amend thyself, If scorpions or adders were in your houses, how would ye
toil to purify them, that ye might be able to dwell in safety? Yet are ye
angry, yea inveterate anger is in your hearts, and there grow so many
hatreds, so many beams, so many scorpions, so many vipers, and will ye not
then purify the house of God, your heart? Do then what is said, "As we also
forgive our debtors;" and so say securely," Forgive us our debts." For
without debts in this earth ye cannot live; but those great crimes which it
is your blessing to have been forgiven in Baptism, and from which we ought
to be ever free, are of one sort, and of another are those daily sins,
without which a man cannot live in this world, by reason of which this
daily prayer with its covenant and agreement is necessary; that as we say
with all cheerfulness, "Forgive us our debts;" so we may say with all
truth, "As we also forgive our debtors." So much then have we said as
touching past sins; what now for the future?

 9. "Lead us not into temptation:"(4) forgive what we have done already,
and grant that we may not commit any more sins. For whosoever is overcome
by temptation, committeth sin. Thus the Apostle James saith, "Let no man
say when he is tempted, he is tempted of God, for God cannot be tempted
with evil, neither tempteth He any man. But every man is tempted, when he
is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then lust, when it hath
conceived, bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth
death."(5) Therefore that thou be not drawn away by thy lust; consent not
to it. It hath no means of conceiving, but by thee. Thou hast consented,
hast as it were in thine heart admitted(6) her embrace. Lust has risen up,
deny thyself to her, follow her not. It is a lust unlawful, impure, and
shameful, it will alienate thee from God. Give it not then the embrace of
thy consent, lest thou have to bewail the birth; for if thou consent, that
is, when thou hast embraced her, she conceives, "and when lust hath
conceived, it bringeth forth sin." Dost thou not yet fear? "Sin bringeth
forth death;" at least, fear death. If thou fear not sin, yet fear that
whereunto it leads. Sin is sweet; but death is bitter. This is the
infelicity of men; that for which they sin, they leave here when they die,
and the sin themselves they carry with them. Thou dost sin for money, it
must be left here: or for a country seat; it must be left here: or for some
woman's sake; she must be left here; and whatsoever it be for which thou
dost sin, when thou shalt have closed thine eyes in death, thou must leave
it here; yet the sin itself which thou committest, thou carriest with thee.

 10. May sins then be forgiven; the past forgiven, and the future cease.
But without them there below thou canst not live; be they either lesser
sins, or small, or trivial. Yet let not even these small and trivial sins
be despised. With little drops is the river filled. Let not even the lesser
sins be despised. Through narrow chinks in the ship the water oozes in,(7)
the hold keeps filling, and if it be disregarded the ship is sunk. But the
sailors are not idle; their hands are active,(8)--active that the water may
be drained off from day to day. So be thy hands active, that thou mayest
pump from day to day. What is the meaning of" be thy hands active"? Let
them give, do good works, so be thy hands engaged "Break thy bread to the
hungry, and bring the poor and houseless into thine house; if thou seest
the naked, clothe him."(9) Do all thou canst, do it with the means thou
canst command, do it cheerfully, and so put up thy prayer with confidence.
It will have two wings, a double alms. What is "a double alms"? "Forgive,
and ye shall be forgiven. Give, and it shall be given unto you."(10) The
one alms is that which is done from the heart, when thou forgivest thy
brother his sin. The other alms is that which is done out of thy substance,
when thou dealest bread to the poor. Offer both, lest without either wing
thy prayer remain motionless.

 11. Therefore when we have said, "Lead us not into temptation," there
follows, "But deliver us from evil." Now whoso wishes to be delivered from
evil, bears witness that he is in evil. And thus saith the Apostle,
"Redeeming the time, because the days are evil."(1) But who is there "that
wisheth for life, and loveth to see good days"?(2) Seeing that all men in
this flesh have only evil days; who doth not wish it? Do thou what follows,
"Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips that they speak no guile: depart
from evil, and do good, seek peace, and ensue it;"(3) and then thou hast
got rid of evil days, and thy prayer, "deliver us from evil," is fulfilled.

 12. Therefore the three first petitions, "Hallowed be Thy Name, Thy
kingdom come, Thy will be done as in heaven, so in earth," are for
eternity. But the four following relate to this life, "Give us this day our
daily bread." Shall we ask day by day for daily bread, when we shall have
come to that fulness of blessing? "Forgive us our debts." Shall we say this
in that kingdom, when we shall have no debts? "Lead us not into
temptation." Shall we be able to say this then, when there will be no
temptation? "Deliver us from evil." Shall we say this, when there shall be
nothing from which to be delivered? Therefore these four are necessary,
because of our daily life, but the three first in reference to the life
eternal. But all things let us ask, with a view of attaining to that life,
and let us pray here, that we be not separated from it. Every day must this
prayer be said by you, when you are baptized. For the Lord's Prayer is said
daily in the Church before the Altar of God, and the faithful hear it. We
have no fear therefore as to your not learning it carefully, because even
if any of you should be unable to get it perfectly, he will learn it by
hearing it day by day.

 13. Therefore on the Saturday(4) when by the grace of God you will keep
the Vigil, you will have to repeat not the Prayer, but the Creed. For if
you do not know the Creed now, you will not hear that every day in the
Church, grad among the people. But when you have learnt it, that you may
not forget it, say it every day when you rise; when you are preparing for
sleep, rehearse your Creed, to the Lord rehearse it, remind yourselves of
it, and be not weary of repeating it. For repetition is useful, lest
forgetfulness steal over you. Do not say, "I said it yesterday, I have said
it today, I say it every day, I know it perfectly well." Call thy faith to
mind, look into thyself, let thy Creed be as it were a mirror to thee.
Therein see thyself, whether thou dost believe all which thou professest to
believe, and so rejoice day by day in thy faith. Let it be thy wealth, let
it be in a sort the daily clothing of thy soul. Dost thou not always dress
thyself when thou risest? So by the daily repetition of thy Creed dress thy
soul, lest haply forgetfulness make it bare, and thou remain naked, and
that take place which the Apostle saith, (may it be far from thee!) "If so
be that being unclothed,(5) we shall not be found naked."(6) For we shall
be clothed by our faith: and this faith is at once a garment and a
breastplate; a garment against shame, a breastplate against adversity. But
when we shall have arrived at that place where we shall reign, no need will
there be to say the Creed. We shall see God; God Himself will be our
vision; the vision of God will be the reward of our present faith.

SERMON IX.

[LIX. BEN.]

AGAIN, ON THE LORD'S PRAYER, MATT. VI. TO THE COMPETENTES.

 1. You have rehearsed what you believe, hear now what you are to pray
for. Forasmuch as you would not be able to call on Him, in whom you should
not first have believed; as saith the Apostle, "How shall they call on Him,
in whom they have not believed?"(7) Therefore have you first learned the
Creed, where is a brief and sublime rule of your faith; brief in the number
of its words, sublime in the weight of its contents.(8) But the prayer
which you receive to-day to be learned by heart, and to be repeated eight
days hence, was dictated (as you heard when the Gospel was being read) by
the Lord Himself to His disciples, and came from them unto us, since "their
sound went into all the earth."(9)

 2. Ye then who have found a Father in heaven, be loth to cleave to the
things of earth. For ye are about to say, "Our Father, which art in
heaven."(10) You have begun to belong to a great family. Under this Father
the lord and the slave are brethren; under this Father the general and the
common soldier are brethren; under this Father the rich man and the poor
are brethren. All Christian believers have divers fathers in earth, some
noble, some obscure; but they all call upon one Father which is in heaven.
If our Father be there, there is the inheritance prepared for us. But He is
such a Father, that we can possess with Him what He giveth. For He giveth
an inheritance; but He doth not leave it to us by dying. For He doth not
depart Himself, but He abideth ever, that we may come to Him. Seeing then
we have heard of Whom we are to ask, let us know also what to ask for, test
haply we offend such a Father by asking amiss.

 3. What then hath the Lord Jesus Christ taught us to ask of the Father
which is in heaven? "Hallowed be Thy Name."(1) What kind of blessing is
this that we ask of God, that His Name may be hallowed? The Name of God is
always Holy; why then do we pray that it may be hallowed, except that we
may be hallowed by it? We pray then that that which is Holy always, may be
hallowed in us. The Name of God is hallowed in you when ye are baptized.
Why will ye offer this prayer after ye have been baptized, but that that
which ye shall then receive may abide ever in you?

 4. Another petition follows, "Thy kingdom come."(2) God's kingdom will
come, whether we ask it or not. Why then do we ask it, but that that which
will come to all saints may also come to us; that God may count us also in
the number of His saints, to whom His kingdom is to come?

 5. We say in the third petition, "Thy will be done as in heaven, so in
earth."(2) What is this? That as the Angels serve Thee in heaven, so we may
serve Thee in earth. For His holy Angels obey Him; they do not offend Him;
they do His commands through the love of Him. This we pray for then, that
we too may do the commands of God in love. Again, these words are
understood in another way, "Thy will be done as in heaven, so in earth."
Heaven in us is the soul, earth in us is the body. What then is, "Thy will
be done as in heaven, so in earth"? As we hear Thy precepts, so may our
flesh consent unto us; lest, whilst flesh and spirit strive together, we be
not able to fulfil the commands of God.

 6. "Give us this day our daily bread,"(3) comes next in the Prayer.
Whether we ask here of the Father support(4) necessary for the body, by
"bread" signifying whatever is needful for us; or whether we understand
that daily Bread, which ye are soon to receive from the Altar; well it is
that we pray that He would give it us. For what is it we pray for, but that
we may commit no evil, for which we should be separated from that holy
Bread. And the word of God which is preached daily is daily bread. For
because it is not bread for the body, it is not on that account not bread
for the soul. But when this life shall have passed away, we shall neither
seek that bread which hunger seeks; nor shall we have to receive the
Sacrament of the Altar, because we shall be there with Christ, whose Body
we do now receive; nor will those words which we are now speaking, need to
be said to you, nor the sacred volume to be read, when we shall see Him who
is Himself the Word of God, by whom all things were made, by whom the
Angels are fed, by whom the Angels are enlightened, by whom the Angels
become wise; not requiring words of circuitous discourse; but drinking in
the Only Word, filled with whom they burst forth s and never fail in
praise. For, "Blessed," saith the Psalm, "are they who dwell in Thy house;
they will be always praising Thee."(6)

 7. Therefore in this present life, do we ask what comes next, "Forgive us
our debts, as we also forgive our debtors."(7) In Baptism, all debts, that
is, all sins, are entirely forgiven us. But because no one can live without
sin here below, and if without any great crime which entails separation
from the Altar, yet altogether without sins can no one live on this earth,
and we can only receive the one Baptism once for all; in this Prayer we
hear how we may day by day be washed, that our sins may day by day be
forgiven us; but only if we do what follows, "As we also forgive our
debtors." Accordingly, my Brethren, I advise you, who are in the grace of
God my sons, yet my Brethren under that heavenly Father; I advise you,
whenever any one offends and sins against you, and comes, and confesses,
and asks your pardon, that ye do pardon him, and forthwith from the heart
forgive him; lest ye keep off from your own selves that pardon, which comes
from God. For if ye forgive not, neither will He forgive you. Therefore it
is in this life that we make this petition, for that it is in this life
that sins can be forgiven, where they can be done. But in the life to come
they are not forgiven, because they are not done.

 8. Next after this we pray, saying, "Lead us not into temptation, but
deliver us from evil."(8) This also, that we be not led into temptation, it
is necessary for us to ask in this life, because in this life there are
temptations; and that "we may be delivered from evil," because there is
evil here. And thus of all these seven petitions, three have respect to the
life eternal, and four to the resent life "Hallowed be Thy name." This will
be for ever. "Thy kingdom come." This kingdom will be for ever. "Thy will
be done as in heaven, so in earth." This will be for ever. "Give us this
day our daily bread." This will not be for ever. "Forgive us our debts."
This will not be for ever. "Lead us not into temptation." This will not be
for ever. "But deliver us from evil." This will not be for ever: but where
there is temptation, and where there is evil, there is it necessary that we
make this petition.

SERMON X.

[LX. BEN.]

ON THE WORDS OF THE GOSPEL, MATT. VI. 19 "LAY NOT UP FOR YOURSELVES
TREASURES UPON EARTH," ETC. AN EXHORTATION TO ALMSDEEDS.

 1. EVERY man who is in any trouble, and his own resources fail him, looks
out for some prudent person from whom he may take counsel, and so know what
to do. Let us suppose then the whole world to be as it were one single man.
He seeks to escape evil, yet is slow in doing good; and as in this way
tribulations thicken, and his own resources fail, whom can he find more
prudent to receive counsel from than Christ? By all means, at least, let
him find a better, and do what he will. But if he cannot find a better, let
him come to Him whom he may find everywhere: let him consult, and take
advice from Him, keep the good commandment, escape the great evil. For
present temporal ills of which men are so sore afraid, under which they
murmur exceedingly, and by their murmuring offend Him who is correcting
them, so that they find not His saving Help;(1) present ills I say without
a doubt are but passing; either they pass through us, or we pass through
them; either they pass away whilst we live, or they are left behind us when
we die. Now that is not in the matter of tribulation great, which in
duration is short. Whosoever thou art that art thinking of to-morrow, thou
dost not recall the remembrance of yesterday. When the day after to-morrow
comes, this to- morrow also will be yesterday; But now if men are so
disquieted with anxiety to escape temporal tribulations which pass, or
rather fly over, what thought ought they to take that they may escape those
which abide and endure without end?

 2. A hard condition is the life of man. What else is it to be born, but
to enter on a life of toil? Of our toil that is to be, the infant's very
cry is witness. From this cup(2) of sorrow no one may be excused. The cup
that Adam hath pledged, must be drunk. We were made, it is true, by the
hands of Truth, but because of sin we were cast forth upon days of vanity.
"We were made after the image of God,"(3) but we(4) disfigured it by sinful
transgression. Therefore does the Psalm remind us how we were made, and to
what a state we have come. For it says "Though a man walk in the image (5)
of God." See, what he was made. Whither hath he come? Hearken to what
follows, "Yet will he be disquieted in vain."(6) He walks in the image of
truth, and will be disquieted in the counsel of vanity. Finally, see his
disquiet, see it, and as it were in a glass, be displeased with thyself.
"Though," he says, "man walk in the image of God," and therefore be
something great, "yet will he be disquieted in vain;" and as though we
might ask, How: I pray thee, how is man disquieted in vain? "He heapeth up
treasure," saith he, "and knoweth not for whom he doth gather it." See
then, this man, that is the whole human race represented as one man, who is
without resource in his own case, and hath lost counsel and wandered out of
the way of a sound mind; "Heapeth up treasure, and knoweth not for whom he
doth gather it." What is more mad, what more unhappy? But surely he is
doing it for himself? Not so. Why not for himself? Because he must die,
because the life of man is short, because the treasure lasts, but he who
gathereth it, quickly passeth away. As pitying therefore the man who
"walketh in the image of God," who confesseth things that are true, yet
followeth after vain things, he saith, "He will be disquieted in vain." I
grieve for him; "he heapeth up treasure, and knoweth not for whom he doth
gather it." Doth he gather it for himself? No. Because the man dies whilst
the treasure endures. For whom then? If thou hast any good counsel, give it
to me. But counsel hast thou none to give me, and so thou hast none for
thyself. Wherefore if we are both without it, let us both seek it, let us
both receive it, and both consider the matter together. He is disquieted,
he heapeth up treasure, he thinks, and toils, and is kept awake by anxiety.
All day long art thou harassed by labour, all night agitated by fear. That
thy coffer may be filled with money, thy soul is in a fever of anxiety.

 3. I see it, I am grieved for thee; thou art disquieted, and as He who
cannot deceive, assures us, "Thou art disquieted in vain." For thou art
heaping up treasures: supposing that all thy undertakings succeed, to say
nothing of losses, of so great perils and deaths in the prosecution of
every several kind of gain (I speak not of deaths of the body, but of evil
thoughts, for that gold may come in, uprightness(7) goeth out; that thou
mayest be clothed outwardly, thou art made naked within), but to pass over
these, and other such things in silence, to pass by all the things that are
against thee, let us think only of the favourable circumstances. See, thou
art laying up treasures, gains flow into thee from every quarter, and thy
money runs like fountains; everywhere where want presseth, there doth
abundance flow. Hast thou not heard, "If riches increase, set not your
heart upon them?"(8) Lo, thou art getting, thou art disquieted, not
fruitlessly indeed, still in vain. "How," thou wilt ask "am I disquieted in
vain? I am filling my coffers, my walls will scarce hold what I get, how
then am I disquieted in vain?" "Thou art heaping up treasure, and dost not
know for whom thou gatherest it." Or if thou dost know, I pray thee tell
me. I will listen to thee. For whom is it? If thou art not disquieted in
vain, tell me for whom thou art heaping up thy treasure? "For myself," thou
sayest, Dost thou dare say so, who must so soon die? "For my children."
Dost thou dare say this of them who must so soon die? It is a great duty of
natural affection(1) (it will be said) for a father to lay up for his sons;
rather it is a great vanity, one who must soon die is laying up for those
who must soon die also. If it is for thyself, why dost thou gather, seeing
thou leavest all when thou diest. This is the case also with thy children;
they will succeed thee, but not to abide long. I say nothing about what
sort of children they may be, whether haply debauchery may not waste what
covetousness hath amassed. So another by dissoluteness(2) squanders what
thou by much toil hast gathered together. But I pass over this. It may be
they will be good children, they will not be dissolute, they will keep what
thou hast left, will increase what thou hast kept, and will not dissipate
what thou hast heaped together. Then will thy children be equally vain with
thyself, if they do so, if in this they imitate thee their father. I would
say to them what I said just now to thee. I would say to thy son, to him
for whom thou art saving I would say, "Thou art heaping up treasure, and
knowest not for whom thou dost gather it." For as thou knewest not, so
neither doth he know. If the vanity hath continued in him, hath the truth
lost its power with respect to him?

 4. I forbear to urge, that it may be even during thy life thou art but
laying up for thieves. In one night may they come and find all ready the
gathering of so many days and nights. It may be thou art laying up for a
robber, or a highwayman. I will say no more on this, lest I call to mind
and re-open the wound of past sufferings. How many things which an empty
vanity hath heaped together, hath the cruelty of an enemy found ready to
its hand. It is not my place to wish for this: but it is the concern of all
to fear it. May God avert it! May His own scourges be sufficient. May He to
whom we pray, spare us! But if He ask thee for whom are we laying by, what
shall we answer? How then, O man, whosoever thou art, that are heaping up
treasure in vain, how wilt thou answer me, as I handle this matter with
thee, and with thee seek counsel in a common cause? For thou didst speak
and make answer, "I am laying up for myself, for my children, for my
posterity." I have said already how many grounds of fear there are, even as
to those children themselves. But I pass over the consideration, that thy
children may so live as to be a curse(3) to thee, and as thine enemy would
wish them; grant that they live as the father himself would have them. Yet
how many have fallen into those mischances, I have declared, and reminded
you of already. Thou didst shudder at them, though thou didst not amend
thyself. For what hast thou to answer but this, "Perhaps it may not be so"?
Well, I said so too; perhaps I say thou art but laying up for the thief, or
robber, or highwayman. I did not say certainly, but perhaps. Where there is
a perhaps, there is a perhaps-not; so then thou knowest not what will be,
and therefore thou "art disquieted in vain." Thou seest now how truly spake
the Truth, how vainly vanity is disquieted. Thou hast heard and at length
learnt wisdom, because when thou sayest, "Perhaps it is for my children,"
but dost not dare to say, "I am sure that it is for my children," thou dost
not in fact know for whom thou art gathering riches. So then, as I see, and
have said already, thou art thyself without resource; thou findest nothing
wherewith to answer me, nor can I to answer thee.

 5. Let us both therefore seek and ask for counsel. We have opportunity of
consulting not any wise man, but Wisdom Herself. Let us then both give ear
to Jesus Christ, "to the Jews a stumbling stone, and to the Gentiles
foolishness, but to them who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the
Power of God and the Wisdom of God."(4) Why art thou preparing a strong
defence for thy riches? Hear the Power of God, nothing is more strong than
He. Why art thou preparing wise counsels to protect thy riches? Hear the
Wisdom of God, nothing is more Wise than He. Peradventure when I say what I
have to say, thou wilt be offended, and so thou wilt be a Jew, "because to
the Jews is Christ an offence." Or peradventure, when I have spoken, it
will appear foolish to thee, and so wilt thou be a Gentile, "for to the
Gentiles is Christ foolishness." Yet thou art a Christian, thou hast been
called. "But to them who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the
Power of God and the Wisdom of God." Be not sad then when I have said what
I have to say; be not offended; mock not my folly, as you deem it, with an
air of disdain.(6) Let us give ear. For what I am about to say, Christ hath
said. If thou despise the herald, yet fear the Judge. What shall I say
then? The reader of the Gospel has but just now relieved me from this
embarrassment. I will not read anything fresh, but will recall only to your
recollection what has just been read. Thou wast seeking counsel, as failing
in thine own resources; see then what the Fountain of right counsel saith,
the Fountain from whose streams is no fear of poison, fill from It what
thou mayest.

 6. "Lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust
doth destroy, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for
yourselves treasures in heaven, where no thief approacheth, nor moth
corrupteth: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."(1)
What more dost thou wait for? The thing is plain. The counsel is open, but
evil desire lies hid; nay, not so, but what is worse, it too lies open. For
plunder does not cease its ravages; avarice does not cease to defraud;
maliciousness does not cease to swear falsely. And all for what? that
treasure may be heaped together. To be laid up where? In the earth, and
rightly indeed, by earth for earth. For to the man who sinned and who
pledged us, as I have said, our cup of toil, was it said, "Earth thou art,
and to earth shalt thou return."(2) With good reason is the treasure in
earth, because the heart is there. Where then is that, "we lift them up
unto the Lord?" Sorrow for your case, ye who have understood me; and if ye
sorrow truly, amend yourselves. How long will ye be applauding and not
doing? What ye have heard is true, nothing truer. Let that then which is
true be done. One God we praise, yet we change not, that we may not in this
very praise be disquieted in vain.

 7. Therefore, "Lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth;" whether ye
have found by experience how what is laid up in the earth is lost, or
whether ye have not so experienced it, yet do ye too fear lest ye should do
so. Let experience reform him whom words will not reform. One cannot rise
up now, one cannot go out, but all together with one voice are crying, "Woe
to us, the world is falling."(3) If it be falling, why dost thou not
remove? If an architect were to tell thee, that thy house would soon fall,
wouldest thou not remove before thou didst indulge in thy vain
lamentations? The Builder of the world telleth thee the world will soon
fall, and wilt thou not believe it? Hear the voice of Him who foretelleth
it, hear the counsel of Him who giveth thee warning. The voice of
prediction is, "Heaven and earth shall pass away."(4) The voice of warning
is, "Lay not up for yourselves treasure on earth."(5) If then thou dost
believe God in His prediction; if thou despise not His warning, let what He
says be done. He who has given thee such counsel doth not deceive thee.
Thou shalt not lose what thou hast given away, but shalt follow what thou
hast only sent before thee. Therefore my counsel is, "Give to the poor, and
thou shalt have treasure in heaven."(6) Thou shalt not remain without
treasure; but what thou hast on earth with anxiety, thou shall possess in
heaven free from care. Transport thy goods then. I am giving thee counsel
for keeping, not for losing. "Thou shall have," saith He, "treasure in
heaven, and come, follow Me," that I may bring thee to thy treasure. This
is not a wasting, but a saving. Why do men keep silence? Let them hear, and
having at last by experience found what to fear, let them do that which
will give them no cause of fear, let them transport their goods to heaven.
Thou puttest wheat in the low ground; (7) and thy friend comes, who knows
the nature of the corn and the land, and instructs thy unskilfulness, and
says to thee, "What hast thou done?" Thou hast put the corn in the flat
soil, in the lower land; the soil is moist; it will all rot, and thou wilt
lose thy labour. Thou answerest, What then must I do? Remove it, he says,
into the higher ground. Dost thou then give ear to a friend who gives thee
counsel about thy corn, and despisest thou God who gives thee counsel about
thine heart? Thou fearest to put thy corn in the low earth, and wilt thou
lose thy heart in the earth? Behold the Lord thy God when He giveth thee
counsel touching thine heart, saith, "Where thy treasure is, there will thy
heart be also."(8) Lift up, saith He, thine heart to heaven, that it rot
not in the earth. It is His counsel, who wisheth to preserve thy heart, not
to destroy it.

 8. If then this be so, what must be their repentance who have not done
thereafter? How must they now reproach themselves! We might have had in
heaven what we have now lost in earth. The enemy has broken up our house;
but could he break heaven open? He has killed the servant who was set to
guard; but could he kill the Lord who would have kept them, "where no thief
approacheth, neither moth corrupteth." How many now are saying, "There we
might have had, and hid our treasures safe, where after a little while we
might, have followed them securely. Why have we not hearkened to our Lord?
Why have we despised the admonitions of the Father, and so have experienced
the invasion of the enemy?" If then this be good counsel, let us not be
slow in taking heed to it; and if what we have must be transported, let us
transfer it into that place, from whence we cannot lose it. What are the
poor to whom we give, but our(1) carriers,(2) by whom we convey our goods
from earth to heaven? Give then: thou art but giving to thy carrier, he
carrieth what thou givest to heaven. How, sayest thou, does he carry it to
heaven? For I see that he makes an end of it by eating. No doubt, he
carries it, not by keeping it, but by making it his food. What? Hast thou
forgotten, " Come, ye blessed of My Father, receive the kingdom; for I was
an hungred, and ye gave Me meat:" and," Inasmuch as ye did it to one of the
least of Mine, ye did it to Me."(3) If thou hast not despised the beggar
that standeth before thee, consider to Whom what thou gavest him hath come.
"Inasmuch," saith he, "as ye did it to one of the least of Mine, ye did it
to Me." He hath received it, who gave thee wherewith to give. He hath
received it, who in the end will give His Own Self to thee.

 9. For this have I at divers times called to your remembrance, Beloved,
and I confess to you it astonishes me much in the Scriptures of God, and I
ought repeatedly to call your attention to it. I pray you to think of what
our Lord Jesus Christ Himself saith, that at the end of the world, when He
shall come to judgment, He will gather together all nations before Him, and
will divide men into two parts; that He will place some at His right hand,
and others on His left; and will say to those on the right hand, "Come, ye
blessed of My Father, receive the kingdom prepared for you from the
foundation of the world." But to those on the left, "Depart ye into
everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." Search out the
reasons either for so great a reward, or so great a punishment. "Receive
the kingdom," and "Go into everlasting fire." Why shall the first receive
the kingdom? "For I was an hungred, and ye gave Me meat." Why shall the
other depart into everlasting fire? "For I was hungry, and ye gave Me no
meat." What meaneth this, I ask? I see touching those who are to receive
the kingdom, that they gave as good and faithful Christians, not despising
the words of the Lord, and with sure trust hoping for the promises they did
accordingly; because had they not done so, this very barrenness would not
surely have accorded with their good life. For it may be they were chaste,
no cheats, nor drunkards, and kept themselves from evil works. Yet if they
had not added good works, they would have remained barren. For they would
have kept, "Depart from evil," but they would not have kept, "and do
good."(4) Notwithstanding, even to them He doth not say, "Come, receive the
kingdom," for ye have lived in chastity; ye have defrauded no man, ye have
not oppressed any poor man, ye have invaded no one's landmark, ye have
deceived no one by oath. He said not this, but, "Receive the kingdom,
because I was an hungred, and ye gave Me meat." How excellent is this above
all, when the Lord made no mention of the rest, but named this only! And
again to the others, "Depart ye into everlasting fire, prepared for the
devil and his angels. How many things could He urge against the ungodly,
were they to ask, "Why are we going into ever lasting fire!" Why? Do ye
ask, ye adulterers, menslayers, cheats, sacrilegious blasphemers,
unbelievers. Yet none of these did He name, but, "Because I was hungry, and
ye gave Me no meat.

 10. I see that you are surprised as I am. And indeed it is a marvellous
thing. But I gather as best I can the reason of this thing so strange, and
I will not conceal it from you. It is written, " As water quencheth fire,
so alms quencheth sin."(5) Again it is written, "Shut up alms in the heart
of a poor man, and it shall make supplication for thee before the Lord."(6)
Again it is written, "Hear, O king, my counsel, and redeem thy sins by
alms."(7) And many other testimonies of the Divine oracles are there,
whereby it is shown that alms avail much to the quenching and effacing of
sins. Wherefore to those whom He is about to condemn, yea, rather to those
whom He is about to crown, He will impute alms only, as though He would
say, "It were a hard matter for me not to find occasion to condemn you,
were I to examine and weigh you accurately and with much exactness to
scrutinize your deeds; but, "Go into the kingdom, for I was hungry, and ye
gave Me meat." Ye shall therefore go into the kingdom, not because ye have
not sinned, but because ye have redeemed your sins by alms. And again to
the others, "Go ye into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his
angels." They too, guilty as they are, old in their sins, late in their
fear for them, in what respect, when they turn their sins over in their
mind, could they dare to say that they are undeservedly condemned, that
this sentence is pronounced against them undeservedly by so righteous a
Judge? In considering their consciences, and all the wounds of their souls,
in what respect could they dare to say, We are unjustly condemned. Of whom
it was said before in Wisdom, "Their own iniquities shall convince them to
their face."(8) Without doubt they will see that they are justly condemned
for their sins and wickednesses; yet it will be as though He said to them,
"It is not in consequence of this that ye think, but 'because I was hungry,
and ye gave Me no meat.'" For if turning away from all these your deeds,
and turning to Me, ye had redeemed all those crimes and sins by alms, those
alms would now deliver you, and absolve you from the guilt of so great
offences; for, "Blessed are the merciful, for to them shall be shown
mercy." (1) But now go away into everlasting fire. "He shall have judgment
without mercy, who hath showed no mercy."(2)

 11. O that I may have induced you, my brethren, to give away your earthly
bread, and to knock for the heavenly! The Lord is that Bread. He saith, "I
am the Bread of life."(3) But how shall He give to thee, who givest not to
him that is in need? One is in need before thee, and thou art in need
before Another, and since thou art in need before Another, and another is
in need before thee, that other is in need before him who is in need
himself. For He before whom thou art in need, needeth nothing. Do then to
others as thou wouldest have done to thee. For it is not in this case as
with those friends who are wont to upbraid in a way one another with their
kindnesses; as, "I did this for thee," and the other answers, "and I this
for thee," that He wishes us to do Him some good office, because He has
first done such an office for us. He is in want of nothing, and therefore
is He the very Lord. I said unto the Lord, "Thou art my God, for Thou
needest not my goods."(4) Notwithstanding though He be the Lord, and the
Very Lord, and needeth not our goods, yet that we might do something even
for Him, hath He vouchsafed to be hungry in His poor. "I was hungry," saith
He, "and ye gave Me meat. Lord, when saw we Thee hungry? Forasmuch as ye
did it to one of the least of Mine, ye did it to Me."(5) To be brief then,
let men hear, and consider as they ought, how great a merit it is to have
fed Christ when He hungereth, and how great a crime it is to have despised
Christ when He hungereth.

 12. Repentance for sins changes men, it is true, for the better; but it
does not appear as if even it would profit ought, if it should be barren of
works of mercy. This the Truth testifieth by the mouth of John, who said to
them that came to him, "O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee
from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance;
And say not we have Abraham to our father; for I say unto you, that God is
able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. For now is the axe
laid unto the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that bringeth not
forth good fruit shall be cut down, and cast into the fire."(6) Touching
this fruit he said above, "Bring forth fruits worthy of repentance." Whoso
then bringeth not forth these fruits, hath no cause to think that he shall
attain(7) pardon for his sins by a barren repentance. Now what these fruits
are, he showeth afterwards himself. For after these his words the multitude
asked him, saying, "What shall we do then?" That is, what are these fruits,
which thou exhortest us with such alarming force to bring forth? "But he
answering said unto them, he that hath two coats, let him give to him that
hath none; and he that hath meat, let him do likewise." My brethren, what
is more plain, what more certain, or express than this? What other meaning
then can that have which he said above, "Every tree that bringeth not forth
good fruit, shall be cut down, and cast into the fire;" but that same which
they on the left shall hear, "Go ye into everlasting fire, for I was
hungry, and ye gave Me no meat." So then it is but a small matter to depart
from sins, if thou shalt neglect to cure what is past, as it is written,
"Son, thou hast sinned, do so no more." And that he might not think to be
secure by this only, he saith, "And for thy former sins pray that they may
be forgiven thee."(8) But what will it profit thee to pray for forgiveness,
if thou shall not make thyself meet to be heard, by not bringing forth
fruits meet for repentance, that thou shouldest be cut down as a barren
tree, and be cast into the fire? If then ye will be heard when ye pray for
pardon of your sins, "Forgive, and it shall be forgiven you; Give, and it
shall be given you."(9)


Taken from "The Early Church Fathers and Other Works" originally published
by Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co. in English in Edinburgh, Scotland, beginning in
1867. (LNPF I/VI, Schaff). The digital version is by The Electronic Bible
Society, P.O. Box 701356, Dallas, TX 75370, 214-407-WORD.

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