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ACTS XIV. 14, 15.
"Which when the Apostles, Barnabas and
Paul, heard of, they rent their clothes, and
ran in among the people, crying out and saying,
Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men
of like passions with you, and preach unto you
that ye should turn from these vanities unto the
living God, which made heaven, and earth, and
the sea, and all things that are therein."
MARK the vehemence with which all this is
done by the Apostles: "rent their clothes,
ran in, cried out," all from strong affection
of the soul, revolted by the things that were
done. For it was a grief, indeed a grief
inconsolable, that they should needs be thought
gods, and introduce idolatry, the very thing
which they came to destroy! This also was a
contrivance of the devil--but he did not
prevail. But what say they? "We also are men
of like passions with you." At the very outset
they overthrew the evil. They said not simply,
"Men," but "As ye." Then, that they may
not seem to honor the gods, hear what they add:
"Preaching unto you, that ye should turn from
these vanities unto the living God, Who made
heaven, the sea, and all things that are
therein." Observe how they nowhere mention
things invisible For they had learnt that one
should study not so much to say somewhat worthy
of God, as to say what is profitable for the
hearers. What then? if He be Maker of all
things, why does He not also attend to these
things by His Providence?--"Who in times
past suffered all nations to walk in their own
ways" (v. 16)-but wherefore He suffered
them, this he does not say, for at present he
keeps to the matter of immediate importance,
nowhere bringing in the name of Christ.
Observe, he does not wish to swell the
accusation against them, but rather that they
themselves should refer all to God.
"Nevertheless, He left not Himself without
witness, in that He did good, giving you rain
from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling your
hearts with food and gladness." (v. 17.)
See how covertly he puts the accusation "in
that He did good," etc. And yet if God did
this, He could not have "let them alone;" on
the contrary, they ought to be punished, for
that, enjoying so great benefits, they had not
acknowledged Him, not even as their feeder.
"From heaven," he says, "giving you
rain." Thus also David said, "From the
fruit of their corn and wine and oil were they
made to abound" (Ps. iv. 7), and in many
places speaking of Creation, he brings forward
these benefits: and Jeremiah mentions first
Creation, then Providence (shown) by the
rains, so that the Apostle here discourses as
taught from those Scriptures. "Filling," he
says, "with food and gladness." (Jer. v.
24.) With large liberality (filotimias)
the food is given, not merely for a frugal
sufficiency, nor stinted by the need. "And
saying these things, they scarcely stopped the
multitudes" (v. 18)--indeed by this very
thing they gained most admiration--"from
sacrificing to them." Do you observe that this
was the point with them to put an end to that
madness? "But there came," it says,
"certain Jews from Antioch and Iconium"
(v. 19).--Indeed children of the devil,
that not in their own cities only, but also
beyond them, they did these things, and as much
made it their study to make an end of the
preaching, as the Apostles were in earnest to
establish it!--"and having persuaded the
multitude and stoned Paul, they dragged him out
of the city." So then, the Gentiles regarded
them as gods, but these "dragged" him, "out
of the city, supposing he had been dead.
Having persuaded the multitude"--for it is
not likely that all thus reverenced them. In
the very city in which they received this
reverence, in the same were they thus terribly
ill treated. And this also profited the
beholders. "Lest any man," he says,
"should think of me above that which he seeth me
to be, or that he heareth aught from me."
(v. 20.)--"Howbeit as the disciples
stood round about him, he rose up and came into
the city." Here is fulfilled that saying,
"My grace is sufficient for thee, for My
strength is made perfect in weakness." (2
Cor. xii. 9.) Greater this than the
raising of the lame man! "Came into the
city." Do you mark the zeal, do you mark how
fervent he is, how set on fire! He came into
the city itself again: for proof that if on any
occasion he did retire, it was because he had
sown the word, and because it was not right to
inflame their wrath. Then they went over all
the cities in which they had been in danger.
"And on the morrow," it says, "he went
forth with Barnabas to Derbe. And when they
had preached the Gospel to that city, and had
taught many, they returned again to Lystra,
and to Iconium, and Antioch, confirming the
souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to
continue in the faith, and that we must through
much tribulation enter into the kingdom of
God." (v. 21, 22.) This they said,
this they showed. But it is purposely so done,
not only by the Apostles, but by the disciples
also, that they may learn from the very outset
both the might of the preaching, and that they
must themselves also suffer such things, that
they may stand nobly, not idly gaping for the
miracles, but much more (ready) for the
trials. Therefore also the Apostle himself
said, "Having the same conflict which ye saw
in me and heard." (Phil. i. 30.)
Persecutions succeeded to persecutions: wars,
fightings, stonings. These things, not less
than the miracles, both made them more
illustrious, and prepared for them a greater
rejoicing. The Scripture nowhere says that
they returned rejoicing because they had done
miracles, but (it does say that they
rejoiced), that "they were counted worthy for
that Name to suffer shame." (ch. v.
41.) And this they were taught of Christ,
saying, "Rejoice not that the devils obey
you." (Luke x. 20.) For the joy indeed
and without alloy is this, to suffer aught for
Christ's sake. "And that through much
tribulation:" what sort of cheering
(protroph) is this? how did they persuade
them, by telling them at the outset of
tribulations? Then also another consolation.
"And when they had appointed for them elders in
every Church, and had prayed with fasting,
they commended them to the Lord, on whom they
believed. (v. 23.) Do you mark Paul's
ardor?--Then other consolation: "Commended
them," it says, "to the Lord. And after
they had passed throughout Pisidia, they came
to Pamphylia. And when they had preached the
word in Perga, they went down into Attalia
(v. 24, 25): and thence sailed to
Antioch, from whence they had been recommended
to the grace of God for the work which they
fulfilled." (v. 26.) Why do they come
back to Antioch? To report what had taken
place yonder. And besides, there is a great
purpose of Providence concerned: for it was
needful that they should thenceforth preach with
boldness to the Gentiles. They come
therefore, reporting these things, that they
may be able to know them: and it is
providentially ordered, that just then came
those who forbade to keep company with the
Gentiles in order that from Jerusalem they
might obtain great encouragement, and so go
their ways with boldness. And besides, it
shows that in their temper there was nothing of
self-will: for they come, at the same time
showing their boldness, in that without the
authority of those (at Jerusalem) they had
preached to the Gentiles, and their obedience,
in that they refer the matter to them: for they
were not made arrogant, as (apenohqhsan)
having achieved so great successes.
"Whence," it says, "they had been
recommended to the grace of God for the work
which they had fulfilled." And yet moreover
the Spirit had said, "Separate Me Barnabas
and Saul for the work whereunto I have called
them." (ch. xiii. 2.) "And when they
were come, and had gathered the Church
together, they rehearsed all that God had done
with them, and how He had opened the door of
faith unto the Gentiles. And there they abode
long time with the disciples." (v. 27,
28.) For the city being great had need of
teachers.--But let us look over again what
has been said.
(Recapitulation.) "Which when the
Apostles," etc. (v. 14). First by the
sight they checked them, by rending their
garments. This did Joshua the son of Nun upon
the occasion of the defeat of the people. Then
think not that this action was unworthy of them:
for such was the eagerness, they would not
otherwise have restrained it would not otherwise
have quenched the conflagration (puran).
Therefore when need is to do something that is
fit to be done, let us not decline it. For if
even after all this they hardly persuaded them,
if they had not acted thus, what might have been
the consequence? For if they had not done
thus, they would have been thought to make a
show of humility (tapeinoqronein), and to be
all the more desirous of the honor. And observe
their language, how in rebuking it is
moderated, alike full of wonder and of rebuke.
This above all it was that hindered them, the
saying, "Preaching unto you to turn from these
vanities unto God." (v. 15.) We are men
indeed, they say, but greater than these: for
these are dead things, Mark how they not only
subvert (the false), but teach (the true),
saying nothing about things invisible--"Who
made," say they, "heaven and earth, and the
sea, and all things that are therein. Who in
times past," etc. (v. 16, 17.) He
names as witnesses even the years (in their
courses). "And there came thither certain
Jews," etc. (v. 19.) O that Jewish
madness! Among a people [that had so honored
the Apostles, they bad the hardihood to come,
and to stone Paul. "And they dragged him out
of the city," being afraid of those
(others),--"Supposing he had been dead."
"Howbeit," etc. "and came into the city."
(v. 20.) For that the spirits of the
disciples might not be downcast because they who
were accounted gods suffered such treatment,
they came in unto them and discoursed. "Then
on the morrow," etc. And observe, first he
goes forth to Derbe, and then comes back to
Lystra and Iconium and Antioch, (v. 21)
giving way to them while their passions are
roused, but when they have ceased, then
attacking them again. Do you mark, that it was
not by (supernatural) grace that they managed
all that they did, but by their own diligence?
"Confirming," it says "the souls of the
disciples:" episthrizontes, "further
establishing;" so that they were established,
but they added more thereto. "And that we
must," etc. (v. 22): they foretold
(this), that they might not be offended.
"And when they had appointed for them," etc.
Again the ordinations accompanied with
fastings: and again fasting, that purifying of
our souls. "And having prayed," it says,
"with fastings, they commended them unto the
Lord" (v. 23): they taught them to fast
also in their trials. Why did they not make
elders in Cyprus nor in Samaria? Because the
latter was near to Jerusalem, the former to
Antioch, and the word was strong there;
whereas in those parts they needed much
consolation, especially they of the Gentiles,
who behooved to have much instruction. "And
when they were come," etc. (v. 27.)
They came, teaching them that with good reason
had they been ordained by the Spirit. They
said not what they themselves, but "what God
had done with them." It seems to me, that
they mean their trials. It was not for nothing
that they, come here, nor to rest, but
providentially guided by the Spirit, to the end
that the preaching to the Gentiles might be
firmly established. And mark Paul's ardor.
He does not ask whether it be right to speak to
Gentiles, but he straightway speaks: therefore
it is that he says, "I did not refer myself to
flesh and blood." (Gal. i. 16.)
For it is indeed a great thing, a great, a
generous soul (like this)! How many have
since believed, and none of them all has shone
like him! What we want is earnestness,
exceeding ardor, a soul ready to encounter
death. Else is it not possible to attain unto
the Kingdom, not being crucified. Let us not
deceive ourselves. For if in war it is
impossible to come off safe while living
daintily, and trafficking, and huckstering and
idling, much more in this war. Or think ye not
that it is a war worse than all others?
(Infra, p. 204, note.) "For we
wrestle not," he says, "against flesh and
blood." (Eph. vi. 12.) Since even
while taking our meals and walking, and
bathing, the enemy is present with us, and
knows no time of truce, except that of sleep
only: nay, often even then he carries on the
war, injecting into us unclean thoughts, and
making us lewd by means of dreams. We watch
not, we do not rouse ourselves up, do not look
to the multitude of the forces opposed to us, do
not reflect, that this very thing constitutes
the greatest misfortune--that though surrounded
by so great wars, we live daintily as in time of
peace. Believe me, worse than Paul suffered
may have to be suffered now. Those enemies
wounded him with stones: there is a wounding
with words, even worse than stones. What then
must we do? The same that he did: he did not
hate those who cast stones at him, but after
they had dragged him out, he entered again into
their city, to be a benefactor to those who had
done him such wrongs. If thou also endurest him
who harshly insults thee, and has done thee
wrongs, then hast thou too been stoned. Say
not, "I have done him no injury." For what
injury had Paul done, that he should be
stoned? He was announcing a Kingdom, he was
bringing men away from error, and bringing them
to God: benefits these, worthy of crowns,
worthy of proclamation by voice of herald,
worthy of a thousand good things--not of
stones. And yet (far from resenting) he did
just the contrary. For this is the splendid
victory. "And they dragged him," (v.
19) it says, These too they often drag: but
be not thou angry; on the contrary, preach thou
the word with gentleness. Hath one insulted
thee? Hold thy peace, and bless if thou
canst, and thou also hast preached the word,
hast given a lesson of gentleness, a lesson of
meekness. I know that many do not so smart
under wounds, as they do under the blow which is
inflicted by words: as indeed the one wound the
body receives the other the soul. But let us
not smart, or rather feeling the smart let us
endure. Do you not see the pugilists, how,
with their heads sorely battered, they bite
their teeth into their lips, and so bear their
smarts kindly? No need to grind the teeth, no
need to bite (the lips). Remember thy
Master, and by the remembrance thou hast at
once applied the remedy. Remember Paul:
reflect that thou, the beaten hast conquered,
and he the beater, is defeated; and by this
hast thou cured the whole. It s is the turning
of the scale a moment and thou hast achieved the
whole: be not hurried away, do not even move,
thou hast extinguished the whole (fire).
Great eloquence of persuasion there is in
suffering aught for Christ: thou preachest not
the word of faith, but thou preachest the word
of patience (filosofias). But, you will
say, the more he sees my gentleness, the more
he sets upon me. Is it for this then that thou
art pained, that he increases thy rewards the
more? "But this is the way," you say, "to
make him unbearable." This is mere pretext of
thine own littleness of mind: on the contrary,
the other is the way to make him unbearable,
namely, that thou avenge thyself. If God had
known, that through forbearance of revenge, the
unjust became unbearable, He would not have
done this Himself: on the contrary, He would
have said, Avenge thyself: but He knew, that
other than this is the more likely way to do
good. Make not thou a law contary to God: do
as He bids thee. Thou art not kinder than He
that made us. He hath said, "Bear to be
wronged:" thou sayest, "I requite wrong for
wrong, that he may not become unbearable."
Hast thou then more care for him than God has?
Such talk is mere passion and ill temper,
arrogance and setting up laws against God's
laws. For even if the man were hurt (by our
forbearance), would it not be our duty to
obey? When God orders anything, let us not
make a contrary law. "A submissive answer,"
we read, turneth away wrath" (Prov. xvi.
1): not an answer of opposition. If it
profits thee, it profits him also: but if it
hurts thee who art to set him right, how much
more will it hurt him? "Physician, heal
thyself." Hath one spoken ill of thee?
Commend him thou. Hath he reviled thee?
Praise him thou. Hath he plotted against
thee? Do him a kindness. Requite him with the
contrary things, if at least thou at all carest
for his salvation and wish not thou to revenge
thine own suffering. And yet, you will say,
though he has often met with long-suffering from
me he has become worse. This is not thine
affair, but his. Wilt thou learn what wrongs
God suffered? They threw down His altars,
and slew His prophets (1 Kings xix. 10),
vet He endured it all. Could He not have
launched a thunderbolt from above? Nay, when
He had sent His prophets, and they killed
them, then He sent His Son (Matt. xxi.
37), when they wrought greater impieties,
then He sent them greater benefits. And thou
too, if thou seest one exasperated, then yield
the more: since this madness has greater need of
soothing (paramqias). The more grievous his
abuse of thee, the more meekness does he need
from thee: and even as a gale when it blows
strong, then it requires yielding to, so also
he who is in a passion. When the wild beast is
most savage, then we all flee: so also should
we flee from him that is angry. Think not that
this is an honor to him: for is it an honor we
show to the wild beast, and to madmen, when we
turn aside out of their way? By no means it is
a dishonor and a scorn: or rather not dishonor
and scorn, but compassion and humanity. Seest
thou not how the sailors, when the wind blows
violently, take down their sails, that the
vessel may not sink? how, when the horses have
run away with the driver, he only leads them
into the (open) plain, and does not pull
against them that he may not voluntarily exhaust
his strength? This do thou also. Wrath is a
fire, it is a quick flame needing fuel: do not
supply food to the fire, and thou hast soon
extinguished the evil. Anger has no power of
itself; there must be another to feed it. For
thee there is no excuse. He is possessed with
madness, and knows not what he does; but when
thou, seeing what he is, fallest into the same
evils, and art not brought to thy right senses
by the sight, what excuse can there be for
thee? If coming to a feast thou see at the very
outset of the feast some one drunken and acting
unseemly, would not he, who after seeing him
makes himself drunk, be much more inexcusable?
Just so it is here. Do we think it any excuse
to say, I was not the first to begin? This is
against us, that even the sight of the other in
that condition did not bring us to our fight
senses. It is just as if one should say, "I
did not murder him first." For this very thing
makes thee deserving of punishment, that even
upon the warning of such a spectacle thou didst
not restrain thyself. If thou shouldest see the
drunken man in the act of vomiting, retching,
bursting, his eyes strained, filling the table
with his filthiness, everybody hurrying out of
his way, and then shouldest fall into the same
state thyself, wouldest thou not be more
hateful? Like him is he that is in a passion:
more than he who vomits, he has his veins
distended, his eyes inflamed, his bowels
racked; he vomits forth words far more filthy
than that food; all crude what he utters,
nothing duly digested, for his passion will not
let it be. But as in that case excess of fumes
(kumwn), making an uproar in the stomach,
often rejects all its contents; so here, excess
of heat, making a tumult in the soul suffers him
not to conceal what it were right to leave
unsaid, but things fit and unfit to be spoken,
he says all alike, not putting the hearers but
himself to shame. As then we get out of the way
of those that vomit, so let us from those who
are angry. Let us cast dust upon their vomit:
By doing what? By holding our peace: let us
call the dogs to eat up the vomit. I know that
ye are disgusted at hearing this: but I wish
you to feel this same disgust when ye see these
things take place, and not to be pleased at the
thing. The abusive man is filthier than the dog
that returneth to its own vomit. For if indeed
having vomited once he were done with it, he
would not be like that dog: but if he vomits the
same things again, it is plain that he does so
from having eaten the same again. What then is
more abominable than such an one? What filthier
than that mouth which chews such food? And yet
this is a work of nature, but the other not or
rather both the one and the other are contrary to
nature. How? Since it is not according to
nature to be causelessly abusive, but against
nature: he speaks nothing then like a man, but
part as beast, part as madman. As then the
disease of the body is contrary to nature, so
also is this. And to show that it is contrary
to nature, if he shall continue in it, he will
perish by little and little: but if he continue
in that which is natural, he will not perish.
I had rather sit at table with a man who eats
dirt, than with one who speaks such words. See
ye not the swine devouring dung? So also do
these. For what is more stinking than the words
which abusive men utter? It is their study to
speak nothing wholesome, nothing pure, but
whatever is base, whatever is unseemly, that
they study both to do and say: and what is
worse, they think to disgrace others, while
they in fact are disgracing themselves. For
that it is themselves they disgrace is plain.
For, leaving out of the question those who
speak lies (in their railings), say it be some
notorious harlot, or even from the stage some
other (abandoned creature), and let that
person be having a fight with some other person:
then let the latter cast this up to the former
(what she or he is), and the former retort
upon the latter the same reproach: which of them
is most damaged by the words? For the former is
but called what in fact he or she is, which is
not the case with the other: so that the first
gets nothing more in the way of shame (than
there was before), while to the other there
accrues a great accession of disgrace. But
again, let there be some hidden actions (mod.
text eirgasmen>a "which have been
done"), and let only the person abusing know
of them: then, holding his peace until now,
let him openly parade (ekpompeuetw) the
reproach: even so, he himself is more disgraced
than the other. How? by making himself the
herald of the wickedness, so getting for himself
either the imputation of not being privy to any
such thing, or the character of one not fit to
be trusted. And you shall see all men forthwith
accuse him: "If indeed he had been privy to a
murder being done, he ought to have revealed it
all:" and so they regard him with aversion as
not human even, they hate him, they say he is a
wild beast, fierce and cruel: while the other
they pardon much rather than him. For we do not
so much hate those that have wounds, as those
that compel one to uncover and show them. Thus
that man has not only disgraced the other, but
himself as well and his hearers, and the common
nature of men: he has wounded the hearer, done
no good. For this reason Paul says: "If
there be any word that is good for edifying,
that it may minister grace unto the hearers."
(Eph. iv. 29.) Let us get a tongue
speaking only good things, that we may be lovely
and amiable.
But indeed, everything is come to that pitch of
wickedness, that many boast of the very things,
for which they should hide their faces. For the
threats of the many are of this kind: "thou
canst not bear my tongue," say they. Words,
these, worthy only of a woman, of an abandoned
drunken old hag, one of those that are dragged
(to punishment) in the forum, a procuress.
Nothing more shameful than these words, nothing
more unmanly, more womanlike, than to have your
strength in the tongue, and to think great
things of yourself because you can rail, just
like the fellows in processions, like the
buffoons, parasites, and flatterers. Swine
they are rather than men, who pride themselves
upon this. Whereas you should (sooner) have
buried yourself, and if another gave you this
character, should recoil from the charge as
odious and unmanly, instead of that you have
made yourself the herald of (your own) disgrace
(ubrewn). But you will not be able to hurt
him you speak ill of. Wherefore I beseech
you, considering how the wickedness is come to
such a height, that many boast of it, let us
return to our senses, let us recover those who
are thus mad, let us take away these councils
out of the city, let us make our tongue
gracious, let us rid it of all evil speaking,
that being clean from sins, we may be able to
draw down upon us the good-will from above, and
to have mercy vouchsafed unto us from God,
through the grace and compassion of His
only-begotten Son, with Whom to the Father,
together with the Holy Spirit, be glory,
might, honor, now and ever, world without
end. Amen.
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