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After the whole people had been freed from all distress, and had
become assured of safety, certain persons again disturbed the city by
fabricating false reports, and were convicted. Wherefore this Homily
refers to that subject; and also to the admonition concerning oaths;
for which reason also, the history of Jonathan, and Saul, and that
of Jephthah, is brought forward; and it is shewn how many perjuries
result from one oath.
1. NOT a little did the devil yesterday disturb our city; but God
also hath not a little comforted us again; so that each one of us may
seasonably take up that prophetic saying, "In the multitude of the
sorrows that I had in my heart, thy comforts have refreshed my
soul." And not only in consoling, but Even in permitting us to be
troubled, God hath manifested His tender care towards us. For today
I shall repeat what I have never ceased to say, that not only our
deliverance from evils, but also the permission of them arises from the
benevolence of God. For when He sees us falling away into
listlessness, and starting off from communion with Him, and making no
account of spiritual things, He leaves us for a while; that thus
brought to soberness, we may return to Him the more earnestly. And
what marvel is it, if He does this towards us, listless as we are;
since even Paul declares that with regard to himself and his
disciples, this was the cause of their trials? For inditing his
second Epistle to the Corinthians, he speaks thus: "We would not,
brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia,
that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we
despaired even of life; but we had the sentence of death in
ourselves." As though he would say, "Dangers so great hung over
us, that we gave up ourselves for lost; and no longer hoped that any
favourable change would take place, but were altogether in expectation
of death." For such is the sense of that clause, "We had the
sentence of death in ourselves." But nevertheless, after such a
state of desperation, God dispelled the tempest, and removed the
cloud, and snatched us from the very gates of death. And afterwards,
for the purpose of shewing that his being permitted to fall into this
danger also was the result of much tender care for him, he mentions the
advantage which resulted from the temptations. which was, that he
might continually look to Him, and be neither high-minded, nor
confident. Therefore having said this, "We had the sentence of
death in ourselves;" he adds also the reason; "That we should not
trust in ourselves, but in God which quickeneth the dead." For it
is in the nature of trials to arouse us when we are dozing, or falling
down, and to stir us up, and make us more religious. When,
therefore, O beloved! thou seest a trial at one time extinguished,
and at another time kindled again, be not cast down! Do not despond,
but retain a favourable hope, reasoning thus with thyself, that God
does not deliver us into the hands of our enemies either because He
hates or abandons us, but because He is desirous to make us more in
earnest, and more intimate with Himself.
2. Let us not then be desponding; nor let us despair of a change for
the better; but let us hope that speedily there will be a calm; and,
in short, casting the issue of all the tumults which beset us upon
God, let us again handle the customary points; and again bring
forward our usual topic of instruction. For I am desirous to
discourse to you further concerning the same subject, to the end that
we may radically extirpate from your souls the wicked practice of
oaths. Wherefore it is necessary for me again to have recourse to the
same entreaty that I made before. For lately I besought you, that
each one taking the head of John, just cut off, and the warm blood
yet dripping from it, you would thus go home, and think that you saw
it before your eyes, while it emitted a voice, and said, "Abhor my
murderer, the oath!" What a rebuke did not effect, this an oath
effected what a tyrant's wrath was insufficient for, this the
necessity of keeping an oath brought about! And when the tyrant was
publicly rebuked in the hearing of all, he bore the censure nobly; but
when he had thrown himself into the fatal necessity caused by oaths,
then he cut off that blessed head. This same thing, therefore, I
entreat; and cease not entreating, that wherever we go, we go bearing
this head; and that we shew it to all, crying aloud, as it does, and
denouncing oaths. For although we were never so listless and remiss,
yet beholding the eyes of that head fearfully glaring upon us, and
threatening us if we swear, we should be more powerfully kept in check
by this terror, than by any curb; and be easily able to restrain and
avert the tongue from its inclination toward oaths.
3. There is not only this great evil in an oath, that it punishes
those who are guilty of it, both when violated, and when kept; a
thing we do not see take place with any other sin; but there is another
equally great evil attending it. And what is that? Why that ofttimes
it is utterly impossible even for those who are desirous, and even make
a point of it, to keep their oath. For, in the first place, he who
is continually swearing, whether willingly or unwillingly; knowingly
or unknowingly; in jest or in earnest; being frequently carried away
by anger and by many other things, will most surely become perjured.
And no one can gainsay this; so evident and generally allowed is the
fact, that the man who swears frequently, must also be a perjurer.
Secondly, I affirm, that although he were not carried away by
passion, and did not become the victim of perjury unwillingly and
unwittingly, yet by the very nature of the case he will assuredly be
necessitated both consciously and voluntarily to perjure himself.
Thus, oftentimes when we are dining at home, and one of the servants
happens to do amiss, the wife swears that he shall be flogged, and
then the husband swears the contrary, resisting, and not permitting
it. In this case, whatever they may do, perjury must in any case be
the result; for however much they may wish and endeavour to keep their
oaths, it is no longer possible; but whatever happens, one or other
of these will be ensnared in perjury; or rather both in any case.
4. And how, I will explain; for this is the paradox. He who hath
sworn that he would flog the man-servant or maid-servant, yet hath
afterwards been prohibited from this, hath perjured himself, not
having done what he hath sworn to do: and also, he hath involved in
the crime of perjury the party forbidding and hindering the oath from
being kept. For not only they who take a false oath, but they who
impose that necessity on others, are liable to the same accusation.
And not merely in houses, but also in the forum we may see that this
takes place; and especially in fights, when those who box with one
another swear things that are contrary. One swears that he will beat,
the other that he will not be beaten. One swears that he will carry
off the cloak, the other that he will not suffer this. One that he
will exact the money, the other that he will not pay it. And many
other such contradictory things, those who are contentious take an oath
to do. So also in shops, and in schools, it may generally be
observed that the same thing occurs. Thus the workman hath often sworn
that he will not suffer his apprentice to eat or drink, before he has
finished all his assigned task. And so also the pedagogue has often
acted towards a youth; and a mistress towards her maid-servant; and
when the evening hath overtaken them, and the work hath remained
unfinished, it is necessary either that those who have not executed
their task should perish with hunger, or that those who have sworn
should altogether forswear themselves. For that malignant demon, who
is always lying in wait against our blessings, being present and
hearing the obligation of the oaths, impels those who are answerable to
indifference; or works some other difficulty; so that the task being
unperformed, blows, insults, and perjuries, and a thousand other
evils, may take place. And just as when children drag with all their
might a long and rotten cord in directions opposite to each other; if
the cord snaps in the middle, they all fall flat upon their backs, and
some strike their heads, and some another part of the body; so also
they who each engage with an oath to perform things that are contrary,
when the oath is broken by the necessity of the case, both parties fall
into the same gulf of perjury: these by actually perjuring themselves,
and those by affording the occasion of perjury to. the others.
5. That this also may be rendered evident, not only from what
happens every day in private houses, and the places of public
concourse, but from the Scriptures themselves, I will relate to you
a piece of ancient history, which bears upon what has been said.
Once, when the Jews had been invaded by their enemies, and Jonathan
(now he was the son of Saul) had slaughtered some, and put the rest
to flight; Saul, his lather, being desirous to rouse the army more
effectually against the remainder; and in order that they might not
desist until he had subjugated them all, did that which was altogether
opposite to what he desired, by swearing that no one should eat any
food until evening, and until vengeance was taken of his enemies.
What, I ask, could have been more senseless than this? For when it
was needful that he should have refreshed those who were fatigued and
exhausted, and have sent them forth with renewed vigour against their
enemies, he treated them far worse than he had done their enemies, by
the constraint of an oath, which delivered them over to excessive
hunger. Dangerous, indeed, it is for any one to swear in a matter
pertaining to himself; for we are forcibly impelled to do many things
by the urgency of circumstances. But much more dangerous is it by the
obligation of one's own oath, to bind the determination of others;
and especially where any one swears, not concerning one, or two, or
three, but an unlimited multitude, which Saul then inconsiderately
did, without thinking that it was probable that, in so vast a number,
one at least might transgress the oath; or that soldiers, and soldiers
too on campaign, are very far removed from moral wisdom, and know
nothing of ruling the belly; more especially when their fatigue is
great. He, however, overlooking all these points, as if he were
merely taking an oath about a single servant, whom he was easily able
to restrain, counted equally on his whole army. In consequence of
this he opened such a door for the devil, that in a short time he
framed, not two, three, or four, but many more perjuries out of this
oath. For as when we do not swear at all, we close the whole entrance
against him, so if we utter but a single oath, we afford him great
liberty for constructing endless perjuries. And just as those who
twist skeins, if they have one to hold the end, work the whole string
with nicety, but if there is no one to do this, cannot even undertake
the commencement of it; in the same manner too the devil, when about
to twist the skein of our sins, if he could not get the beginning from
our tongues, would not be able to undertake the work; but should we
only make a commencement, while we hold the oath on our tongue, as it
were a hand, then with full liberty he manifests his malignant art in
the rest of the work, constructing and weaving from a single oath a
thousand perjuries.
6. And this was just what he did now in the case of Saul.
Observe, however, what a snare is immediately framed for this oath:
"The army passed through a wood, that contained a nest of bees, and
the nest was in front of the people, and the people came upon the
nest, and went along talking." Seest thou what a pit-fall was
here? A table ready spread, that the easiness of access, the
sweetness of the food, and the hope of concealment, might entice them
to a transgression of the oath. For hunger at once, and fatigue, and
the hour, (for "all the lands" it is said, "was dining)," then
urged them to the transgression. Moreover, the sight of the combs
invited them from without to relax the strain on their resolution. For
the sweetness, as well as the present readiness of the table, and the
difficulty of detecting the stealth, were sufficient to ensnare their
utmost wisdom. If it had been flesh, which needed boiling or
roasting, their minds would not have been so much bewitched; since
while they were delaying in the cookery of these, and engaged in
preparing them for food, they might expect to be discovered. But now
there was nothing of this kind; there was honey only, for which no
such labour was required, and for which the dipping of the tip of the
finger sufficed to partake of the table, and that with secresy.
Nevertheless, these persons restrained their appetite, and did not
say within themselves, "What does it concern us? Hath any one of us
sworn this? He may pay the penalty of his inconsiderate oath, for why
did he swear?" Nothing of this sort did they think; but religiously
passed on; and though there were so many enticements, they behaved
themselves wisely. "The people went on talking." "What is the
meaning of this word "talking?" Why, that for the purpose of
soothing their pain with words, they held discourse with one another.
7. What then, did nothing more come of this, when all the people
had acted so wisely? Was the oath, forsooth, observed? Not even so
was it observed. On the contrary, it was violated! How, and in
what way? Ye shall hear forthwith, in order that ye may also
thoroughly discern the whole art of the devil. For Jonathan, not
having heard his father take the oath, "put forth the end of the rod
that was in his hand, and dipped it in the honeycomb, and his eyes saw
clearly." Observe, who it was whom he impelled to break the oath;
not one of the soldiers, but the very son of him who had sworn it.
For he did not only desire to effect perjury, but was also plotting
the slaughter of a son, and making provision for it beforehand; and
was in haste to divide nature against her own self. and what he had
done aforetime in the case of Jephthah, that he hoped now again to
accomplish. For he likewise, when he had promised that the first
thing that met him, after a victorious battle. he would sacrifice,
fell into the snare of child-murder; for his daughter first meeting
him, he sacrificed her and God did not forbid it. And I know,
indeed, that many of the unbelievers impugn us of cruelty and
inhumanity on account of this sacrifice; but I should say, that the
concession in the case of this sacrifice was a striking example of
providence and clemency; and that it was in care for our race that He
did not prevent that sacrifice. For if after that vow and promise He
had forbidden the sacrifice, many also who were subsequent to
Jephthah, in the expectation that God would not receive their vows,
would have increased the number of such vows, and proceeding on their
way would have fallen into child-murder. But now, by suffering this
vow to be actually fulfilled, He put a stop to all such cases in
future. And to shew that this is true, after Jephthah's daughter
had been slain, in order that the calamity might be always remembered,
and that her fate might not be consigned to oblivion, it became a law
among the Jews, that the virgins assembling at the same season should
bewail during fortys days the sacrifice which had taken place; in order
that renewing the memory of it by lamentation, they should make all men
wiser for the future; and that they might learn that it was not after
the mind of God that this should be done, for in that case He would
not have permitted the virgins to bewail and lament her. And that what
I have said is not conjectural, the event demonstrated; for after
this sacrifice, no one vowed such a vow unto God. Therefore also He
did not indeed forbid this; but what He had expressly enjoined in the
case of Isaac, that He directly prohibited; plainly shewing through
both cases, that He doth not delight in such sacrifices.
8. But the malignant demon was labouring hard now again to produce
such a tragedy. Therefore he impelled Jonathan to the trespass. For
if any one of the soldiers had transgressed the law, it seemed to him
no great evil that would have been done; but now being insatiate of
human ills, and never able to get his fill of our calamities, he
thought it would be no grand exploit if he effected only a simple
murder. And if he could not also pollute the king's right hand with
the murder of his child, he considered that he had achieved no great
matter. And why do I speak of child-murder? For he, the wicked
one, thought that by this means he should compass a slaughter even more
accursed than that. For if he had sinned wittingly, and been
sacrificed, this would only have been child-murder; but now sinning
ignorantly, (for he had not heard of the oath), if he had been
slain, he would have made the anguish of his father double; for he
would have had both to sacrifice a son, and a son who had done no
wrong. But now to proceed with the rest of the history; "When he
had eaten," it is said, "His eyes saw clearly." And here it
condemns the king of great folly; shewing that hunger had almost
blinded the whole army, and diffused much darkness over their eyes.
Afterwards some one of the soldiers, perceiving the action, saith,
"Thy father sware an oath upon all the people, saying, cursed be the
man who eateth any food today. And the people were faint. And
Jonathan said, My father hath made away with the land." What does
he mean by the word, "made away with?" Why, that he had ruined,
or destroyed them all. Hence, when the oath was transgressed, all
kept silence, and no one dared to bring forth the criminal; and this
became afterwards no small matter of blame, for not only are those who
break an oath, but those also who are privy to it and conceal it,
partakers of the crime.
9. But let us see what follows; "And Saul said, Let us go down
after the strangers, and spoil them. And the priest said, Let us
draw near hither unto God." For in old times God led forth the
people to battle; and without His consent no one dared to engage in
the fight, and war was with them a matter of religion. For not from
weakness of body, but from their sins they were conquered, whenever
they were conquered; and not by might and courage, but by favour from
above they prevailed, whenever they did prevail. Victory and defeat
were also to them a means of training, and a school of virtue. And
not to them only, but to their adversaries; for this was made evident
to them too, that the fate of battle with the Jews was decided not by
the nature of their arms, but by the life and good works of the
warriors. The Midianites at least perceiving this, and knowing that
people to be invincible, and that to have attacked them with arms and
engines of war would have been fruitless, and that it was only possible
to conquer them by sin, having decked out handsome virgins, and set
them in the array, excited the soldiers to lasciviousness,
endeavouring by means of fornication to deprive them of God's
assistance; which accordingly happened. For when they had fallen into
sin, they became an easy prey to all; and those whom weapons, and
horses, and soldiers, and so many engines availed not to capture, sin
by its nature delivered over bound to their enemies. Shields, and
spears, and darts were all alike found useless; but beauty of visage
and wantonness of soul overpowered these brave men.
10. Therefore one gives this admonition; "Observe not the beauty
of a strange woman, and meet not a woman addicted to fornication. For
honey distils from the lips of an harlot, which at the time may seem
smooth to thy throat, but afterward thou wilt find it more bitter than
gall, and sharper than a two-edged sword." For the harlot knows not
how to love, but only to ensnare; her kiss hath poison, and her mouth
a pernicious drug. And if this does not immediately appear, it is the
more necessary to avoid her on that account, because she veils that
destruction, and keeps that death concealed, and suffers it not to
become manifest at the first. So that if any one pursues pleasure,
and a life full of gladness, let him avoid the society of fornicating
women, for they fill the minds of their lovers with a thousand
conflicts and tumults, setting in motion against them continual strifes
and contentions, by means of their words, and all their actions. And
just as it is with those who are the most virulent enemies, so the
object of their actions and schemes is to plunge their lovers into shame
and poverty, and the worst extremities. And in the same manner as
hunters, when they have spread out their nets, endeavour to drive
thither the wild animals, in order that they may put them to death, so
also is it with these women. When they have spread out on every side
the wings of lasciviousness by means of the eyes, and dress, and
language, they afterwards drive in their lovers, and bind them; nor
do they give over until they have drunk up their blood, insulting them
at last, and mocking their folly, and pouring over them a flood of
ridicule. And indeed such a man is no longer worthy of compassion but
deserves to be derided and jeered, since he is found more irrational
than a woman, and a harlot besides. Therefore the Wise Man gives
this word of exhortation again, "Drink waters from thine own
cistern, and from the fountain of thine own well." And again;
"Let the hind of thy friendship, and the foal of thy favours,
consort with thee." These things he speaks of a wife associated with
her husband by the law of marriage. Why leavest thou her who is a
helpmate, to run to one who is a plotter against thee? Why dost thou
turn away from her who is the partner of thy living, and court her who
would subvert thy life? The one is thy member and body, the other is
a sharp sword. Therefore, beloved, flee fornication; both for its
present evils, and for its future punishment.
11. Perchance we may seem to have fallen aside from the subject;
but to say thus much, is no departure from it. For we do not wish to
read you histories merely for their own sake, but that you may correct
each of the passions which trouble you: therefore also we make these
frequent appeals, preparing our discourse for you in all varieties of
style; since it is probable that in so large an assembly, there is a
great variety of distempers; and our task is to cure not one only, but
many different wounds; and therefore it is necessary that the medicine
of instruction should be various. Let us however return thither from
whence we made this digression: "And the Priest said, Let us draw
near unto God. And Saul asked counsel of God.
Shall I go down after the strangers? Wilt Thou deliver them into my
hands? But on that day the Lord answered him not." Observe the
benignity and mildness of God who loveth man. For He did not launch
a thunderbolt, nor shake the earth; but what friends do to friends,
when treated contemptuously, this the Lord did towards the servant.
He only received him silently, speaking by His silence, and by it
giving utterance to all His wrath. This Saul understood, and said,
as it is recorded, "Bring near hither all the tribes of the people,
and know and see in whom this sin hath been this day. For as the Lord
liveth, Who hath saved lsrael, though the answer be against Jonathan
my son, he shall surely die." Seest thou his rashness? Perceiving
that his first oath had been transgressed, he does not even then learn
self-control, but adds again a second. Consider also the malignity
of the devil. For since he was aware that frequently the son when
discovered, and publicly arraigned, is able by the very sight at once
to make the father relent, and might soften the king's wrath, he
anticipated his sentence by the obligation of a second oath; holding
him by a kind of double bond, and not permitting him to be the master
of his own determination, but forcing him on every side to that
iniquitous murder.
And even whilst the offender was not yet produced, he hath passed
judgment, and whilst ignorant of the criminal, he gave sentence. The
father became the executioner; and before the enquiry declared his
verdict of condemnation! What could be more irrational than this
proceeding?
12. Saul then having made this declaration, the people were more
afraid than before. and all were in a state of great trembling and
terror. But the devil rejoiced, at having rendered them all thus
anxious. There was no one, we are told, of all the people, who
answered. "And Saul said, Ye will be in bondage, and I, and
Jonathan my son, will be in bondage." But what he means is to this
effect; "You are aiming at nothing else, than to deliver yourselves
to your enemies, and to become slaves instead of free men; whilst you
provoke God against you, in not delivering up the guilty person."
Observe also another contradiction produced by the oath. It had been
fitting, if he wished to find the author of this guilt, to have made
no such threat, nor to have bound himself to vengeance by an oath;
that becoming less afraid, they might more readily bring the offender
to light? But under the influence of anger, and great madness, and
his former unreasonableness, he again does that which is directly
contrary to what he desires. What need is there to enlarge? He
commits the matter to a decision by lot; and the lot falleth upon
Saul, and Jonathan; "And Saul said, Cast ye the lot between me
and Jonathan; and they cast the lot, and Jonathan was taken. And
Saul said to Jonathan, Tell me, what hast thou done? And
Jonathan told him, saying, I only tasted a little honey on the top
of the rod which is in my hand, and, lo! I must die." Who is
there that these words would not have moved and turned to pity?
Consider what a tempest Saul then sustained, his bowels being torn
with anguish, and the most profound precipice appearing on either
hand! But nevertheless he did not learn self-control, for what does
he say? "God do so to me, and more also; for thou shall surely die
this day." Behold again the third oath, and not simply the third,
but one with a very narrow limit as to time; for he does not merely
say, "Thou shall die;" but, "this day." For the devil was
hurrying, hurrying him on, constraining him and driving him to this
impious murder. Wherefore he did not suffer him to assign any future
day for the sentence, lest there should be any correction of the evil
by delay. And the people said to Saul, "God do so to us, and more
also, if he shall be put to death, who hath wrought this great
salvation in Israel. As the Lord liveth, there shall not an hair of
his head fall to the ground; because he hath wrought a merciful thing
from God today." Behold how, in the second place, the people also
swore, and swore contrary to the king.
13. Now recollect, I pray, the cord pulled by the children, and
breaking, and throwing on their backs those who pull it. Saul swore
not once or twice, but several times. The people swore what was
contrary, and strained in the opposite direction. Of necessity then
it followed, that the oath must in any wise be broken through. For it
were impossible that all these should keep their oaths. And now tell
me not of the event of this transaction; but consider how many evils
were springing from it; and how the devil from thence was preparing the
tragedy and usurpation of Absalom. For if the king had chosen to
resist, and to proceed to the execution of his oath, the people would
have been in array against him; and a grievous rebellion would have
been set on foot. And again, if the son consulting his own safety had
chosen to throw himself into the hands of the army, he would
straightway have become a parricide. Seest thou not, that rebellion,
as well as child-murder, and parricide, and battle, and civil war,
and slaughter, and blood, and dead bodies without number, are the
consequences of one oath. For if war had perchance broken out, Saul
might have been slain, and Jonathan perchance too, and many of the
soldiers would have been cut to pieces; and after all the keeping of
the oath would not have been forwarded. So that it is not for thee to
consider that these events did not occur, but to mark this point, that
it was the nature of the case to necessitate the occurrence of such
things. However, the people prevailed. Come then, let us reckon up
the perjuries that were the consequence. The oath of Saul was first
broken by his son; and again a second and a third, concerning the
slaying of his son, by Saul himself. And the people seemed to have
kept their oath. Yet if any one closely examines the matter, they too
all became liable to the charge of perjury. For they compelled the
father of Jonathan to perjure himself, by not surrendering the son to
the father. Seest thou how many persons one oath made obnoxious to
perjury, willingly and unwillingly; how many evils it wrought, how
many deaths it caused?
14. Now in the commencement of this discourse I promised to shew
that perjury would in any case result from opposite oaths; but truly
the course of the history has proved more than I was establishing. It
has exhibited not one, two, or three individuals, but a whole
people, and not one, two, or three oaths, but many more
transgressed. I might also make mention of another instance, and shew
from that, how one oath caused a still greater and more grievous
calamity. For one oath entailed upon all the Jews the capture of
their cities, as well as of their wives and children; the ravages of
fire, the invasion of barbarians, the pollution of sacred things, and
ten thousand other evils yet more distressing. But I perceive that
the discourse is running to a great length. Therefore, dismissing
here the narration of this history, I beseech you, together with the
beheading of John, to tell one another also of the murder of
Jonathan, and the general destruction of a whole people (which did
not indeed take place, but which was involved in the obligation of the
oaths); and both at home, and in public, and with your wives, and
friends, and with neighbours, and with all men in general, to make an
earnest business of this matter, and not to think it a sufficient
apology that we can plead custom.
15. For that this excuse is a mere pretext, and that the fault
arises not from custom but from listlessness, I will endeavour to
convince you from what has already occurred. The Emperor has shut up
the baths of the city, and has given orders that no one shall bathe;
and no one has dared to transgress the law, nor to find fault with what
has taken place, nor to allege custom. But even though in weak health
perchance, men and women, and children and old men; and many women
but recently eased from the pangs of childbirth; though all requiring
this as a necessary medicine; bear with the injunction, willingly or
unwillingly; and neither plead infirmity of body, nor the tyranny of
custom, nor that they are punished, whereas others were the
offenders, nor any other thing of this kind, but contentedly put up
with this punishment, because they were in expectation of greater
evils; and pray daily that the wrath of the Emperor may go no
further. Seest thou that where there is fear, the bond of custom is
easily relaxed, although it be of exceedingly long standing, and great
necessity? To be denied the use of the bath is certainly a grievous
matter. For although we be never so philosophic, the nature of the
body proves incapable of deriving any benefit for its own health, from
the philosophy of the soul. But as to abstinence from swearing, this
is exceedingly easy, and brings no injury at all; none to the body,
none to the mind; but, on the contrary, great gain, much safety,
and abundant wealth. How then is it any thing but absurd, to submit
to the greatest hardships, when an Emperor enjoins it; but when God
commands nothing grievous nor difficult, but what is very tolerable and
easy, to despise or to deride it, and to advance custom as an excuse?
Let us not, I entreat, so far despise our own safety, but let us
fear God as we fear man. I know that ye shudder at hearing this, but
what deserves to be shuddered at is that ye do not pay even so much
respect to God; and that whilst ye diligently observe the Emperor's
decrees, ye trample under foot those which are divine, and which have
come down from heaven; and consider diligence concerning these a
secondary object. For what apology will there be left for us, and
what pardon, if after so much admonition we persist in the same
practices. For I began this admonition at the very commencement of
the calamity which has taken hold of the city, and that is now on the
point of coming to an end; but we have not as yet thoroughly put in
practice even one precept. How then can we ask a removal of the evils
which still beset us, when we have not been able to perform a single
precept? How can we expect a change for the better? How shall we
pray? With what tongue shall we call upon God? For if we perform
the law, we shall enjoy much pleasure, when the Emperor is reconciled
to the city. But if we remain in the transgression, shame and
reproach will be ours on every hand, inasmuch as when God hath freed
us from the danger we have continued in the same listlessness.
16. Oh! that it were possible for me to undress the souls of those
who swear frequently, and to expose to view the wounds and the bruises
which they receive daily from oaths! We should then need neither ad.
monition nor counsel; for the sight of these wounds would avail more
powerfully than all that could be said, to withdraw from their
wickedness even those who are most addicted o this wicked practice.
Nevertheless, if it be not possible to spread before the eyes the
shameful state of their soul, it may be possible to expose it to the
thoughts, and to display it in its rottenness and corruption. For as
it saith, "As a servant that is continually beaten will not be clear
of a bruise, so he that sweareth and nameth God continually will not
be purified of his sin." It is impossible, utterly impossible, that
the mouth which is practised in swearing, should not frequently commit
perjury. Therefore, I beseech you all, by laying aside this
dreadful and wicked habit, to win another crown. And since it is
every where sung of our city, that first of all the cities of the
world, she bound on her brow the name of Christians, so let all have
to say, that Antioch alone, of all the cities throughout the wold,
hath expelled all oaths from her own borders. Yea, rather, should
this be done, she will not be herself crowned alone, but will also
carry others along with her to the same pitch of zeal. And as the name
of Christians having had its origin here, hath as it were from a kind
of fountain overflown all the world, even so this good work, having
taken its root and starting-point from hence, will make all men that
inhabit the earth your disciples; so that a double and treble reward
may arise to you, at once on account of your own good works, and of
the instruction afforded to others. This will be to you the brightest
of diadems! This will make your city a mother city, not on earth,
but in the heavens! This will stand by us at That Day, and bring us
the crown of righteousness; which God grant that we may all obtain,
through the grace and lovingkindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, with
Whom to the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, be glory, now
and ever, and world without end. Amen.
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