|
WHOEVER therefore climbs this height of evangelical perfection, is at
once raised by the merits of such virtue above every law, and disregarding
as trivial all that is commanded by Moses, recognizes that he is only
subject to the grace of the Saviour, by whose aid he knows that he attained
to that most exalted condition. Therefore sin has no dominion over him,
"because the love of God, which is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy
Ghost which is given to us," shuts out all care for everything else, and
can neither desire what is forbidden, or disregard what is commanded, as
its whole aim and all its desire is ever fixed on divine love, and to such
an extent is it not caught by the delights of worthless things, that it
actually does not take advantage of those things which are permitted. But
under the law, where lawful marriages are observed, although the rovings of
wantonness are restrained, and bound down to one woman alone, yet the
pricks of carnal lust cannot help being vigorous; and it is hard for the
fire, for which fuel is expressly supplied, to be thus shut in within
prearranged limits, so as not to spread further and burn up anything it
touches. As even if this objection occurs to it that it is not allowed to
be kindled beyond these limits, yet even while it is kept in check, it is
on fire because the will itself is in fault, and its habit of carnal
intercourse hurries it into too speedy excesses of adultery. But those whom
the grace of the Saviour has fired with the holy love of chastity, so
consume all the thorns of carnal desires in the fire of the Lord's love,
that no dying embers of sin interfere with the coldness of their purity.
The servants of the law then from the use of lawful things fall away to
unlawful; the partakers of grace while they disregard lawful things know
nothing of unlawful ones. But as sin is alive in one who loves marriage, so
is it also in one who is satisfied with merely paying his tithes and
firstfruits. For, while he is dawdling or careless, he is sure to sin in
regard to either their quality or quantity, or the daily distribution of
them. For as he is commanded unweariedly to minister to those in want of
what is his, although he may dispense it with the fullest faith and
devotion, yet it is hard for him not to fall often into the snares of sin.
But over those who have not set at naught the counsel of the Lord, but who,
disposing of all their property to the poor, take up their cross and follow
the bestower of grace, sin can have no dominion. For no faithless anxiety
for getting food will annoy him who piously distributes and disperses his
wealth already consecrated to Christ and no longer regarded as his own; nor
will any grudging hesitation take away from the cheerfulness of his
almsgiving, because without any thought of his own needs or fear of his own
food running short he is distributing what has once for all been completely
offered to God, and is no longer regarded as his own, as he is sure that
when he has succeeded in stripping himself as he desires, he will be fed
by God much more than the birds of the air. On the other hand he who
retains his goods of this world, or, bound by the rules of the old law,
distributes the tithe of his produce, and his firstfruits, or a portion of
his income, although he may to a considerable degree quench the fire of his
sins by this dew of almsgiving, yet, however generously he gives away his
wealth, it is impossible for him altogether to rid himself of the dominion
of sin, unless perhaps by the grace of the Saviour, together with his
substance he gets rid of all love of possessing. In the same way he cannot
fail to be subject to the bloody sway of sin, whoever chooses to pull out,
as the law commands, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, or to hate his
enemy, for while he desires by retaliation in exchange to avenge an injury
done to himself, and while he cherishes bitter hatred against an enemy, he
is sure always to be inflamed with the passion of anger and rage. But
whoever lives under the light of the grace of the gospel, and overcomes
evil by not resisting it, but by bearing it, and does not hesitate of his
own free will to give to one who smites his right cheek, the other also,
and to one who wants to raise a lawsuit against him for his coat, gives his
cloak also, and who loves his enemies, and prays for those who slander him,
this man has broken the yoke of sin and burst its chains. For he is not
living under the law, which does not destroy the seeds of sin (whence not
without reason the Apostle says of it: "There is a setting aside of the
former commandment because of the weakness and unprofitableness thereof:
for the law brought nothing to perfection;" and the Lord says by the
prophet: "And I gave them commands that were not good, and ordinances,
whereby they could not live", but under grace which does not merely lop
off the boughs of wickedness, but actually tears up the very roots of an
evil will.
|
|